83 Weeks - Nitro Watchalong 02.24.97 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Welcome back to 83 Weeks as we continue our look back at 25 years ago in World Championship Wrestling.

Fire up the Peacock Machine! Let’s get to Monday Nitro - season 3 episode 8. We’ll count it down.

3-2-1!

We are one night removed from SuperBrawl and all everyone is talking about is Randy Savage being the newest member of the nWo.

But what is going on in professional wrestling at the time is hot and heavy and we haven’t really talked about it as we open with Jeff Jarrett - who is kind of not really but sort of a Horseman teaming with Steve McMichael to take on the Public Enemy.

Shawn Michaels loses his smile - the WWF is moving Raw to 2 hours…ECW is becoming a focused part of the WWF as well. On the other channel going up against you at this very moment is the Manhattan Center Raw - where ECW invades, Ken Shamrock debuts and Legion of Doom returns. Do you think at this point Vince is just throwing anything together to try and combat WCW’s continued success on Monday night?

This show itself draws 8,856 with 6,762 paid for $104,418. Did you ever have an issue with Zane Bresloff telling Dave Meltzer exact gate figures?

Public Enemy finally gets the win - and I say finally even though the match is only like 5 minutes because it’s 5 minutes too long - when McMichael hits Jarrett with the briefcase. So the night before Jarrett beats him to become a Horseman and tonight McMichael costs himself the match.

Flair & Arn come out and say they need to come together. McMichael says that Jarrett is like his brother in that no one but him gets to slap him around. Does…any of this Eric make sense? No wonder Jeff thinks he’s a Horseman none of this shit makes any sense!

Next up it’s Galaxy … which we’ll later see more of as Damian taking on Jim Duggan. Why the hell is a luchadore in there with Jim Duggan Eric?

It’s 3 minutes and 14 seconds too long but Duggan gets the win. Duggan than challenges Hulk Hogan…HULK HOGAN? WHY ERIC, WHY?

Tell me this was never an actual plan?

It’s reported in the Observer at this time that TBS is under the understanding that there will be another two hour show coming to the station from WCW.

“TBS, Ted Turner's original cable superstation that basically got off the ground nearly two decades ago through Atlanta Braves baseball and Georgia Championship Wrestling, has decided its future is to go back to its past. TBS will begin its own live two-hour prime time wrestling show at some time in the not too distant future, perhaps as early as the May sweeps. Although it has been heavily rumored within the industry about it being a Thursday night show, and the odds are probably better than it will be on Thursday than any other night, the decisions as to what night and when it will start will probably not be made for another few weeks. The idea of doing the show had just come up in the past week or two, and was finalized by Eric Bischoff in a meeting with TBS on 2/14. The show would largely be funded by TBS with a weekly financial package that would make it basically impossible for WCW to be a losing money proposition at any time in the near future. It is expected that WCW will now try to add talent, rather than subtract, in order to fill up four live hours plus five other taped hours between national major cable and syndication every week. The show will either air on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday on TBS. Obviously Monday is out the window, Sunday would conflict with the PPV shows, and Saturday already has its traditional show. Thursday is the most likely date because the other nights would have too many baseball preemptions during the summer.

Of course this brings up the obvious question of what point does oversaturation hit. It was largely believed in September of 1995 when Bischoff and Turner came up with what became Nitro, a prime time show to go head-to-head with Vince McMahon's successful Monday Night Raw, that the competition would drive down both live attendance and PPV buy rates for both companies, plus divide up a finite group of wrestling fans so both show's ratings would be unimpressive. As history has shown, that turned out not to be the case. If anything, the addition of Nitro revitalized a wrestling industry that had been largely at a lull since a combination of scandals, weak booking and an inability to create new stars had taken it down several levels in 1992.

The competition changed the entire face of pro wrestling booking. Long-term ideas for the most part were dropped based on constant changes made both to fool a public with more access to information and to win on Mondays. By loading up on established names from the past, creating new stars, particularly high fliers who were generally thought to only have a career internationally, and booking PPV quality matches on a weekly basis, Nitro held its own with Raw from the start. The combination of expanding to two hours and the introduction of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, both of which happened simultaneously in late May, led to WCW dominating the ratings each and every Monday.”

Eric, you've long said you’ve disagreed with adding Thunder. Do you think Dave is correct in his assessment of over saturation coming to the business?

Now with WWF adding a two hour live program every week in Raw - was this too much wrestling or considering it would take another year for Thunder to get off the ground - the wrestling was good and the products were good but we’re capable of being over exposed?

Joe Gomez and Hugh Morrus…Morrus gets the win in just over 3 minutes. This is just a bunch of mid card shit that no one cares about right?

Speaking of shit no one cares about … La Parka against Ice Train. I know Eric everyone loves the cruiserweights but this attempt to mix them in with guys they’re not familiar with and just there to lose…do you see why people complained about their treatment at the time?

I mean Parka drags a good match out of Ice Train but these guys are just wasted here…

Next up we get Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho taking on the Faces of Fear. It’s odd though that Eddie & Chris are teaming up coming off facing each other at Superbrawl when we just saw the same exact thing between Jeff & McMichael. Is that something someone should’ve caught do you think?

This match…actually kicks a lot of ass. The future heels of Jericho & Eddie would’ve been tremendous as a tag team don’t you think?

This has some outstanding psychology in it and then Malenko comes out and gets his revenge from Superbrawl on Eddie and turns on him leading to the Faces of Fear winning. Even Meltzer would call this a shockingly good match with great psychology.

Next up…more luchadores but this time against each other! Rey vs. Juvi!

They get a little more than 5 and Meltzer calls it a classic specaultar albeit short match. I don’t actually think it’s that great but it’s a decent little sprint. Was everyone sold on Rey and Juvi at this point?

Pat Tanaka comes out next - to the future Goldberg’s music mind you - to take on Prince Iaukea. Iaukea does not seem ready for prime time but gets the win in under 3 minutes. He’s not over in the slightest bit…you realize this quickly right?

Ultimo Dragon and Dean Malenko are up next. How come no one could decide between the names of Ultimo and Ultimate for Dragon?

These two are just…really two of the best wrestlers at the time. There’s one botch in this match with Dragon slipping on a springboard but you want to see two guys who can just go this is it. The finish though…after about 9 minutes Malenko smacks Sonny Onoo around for getting involved and then chokes Ultimo for the 5 count DQ. Something you don’t see often do you Eric?

Were you hoping to be able to pull some personality out of Dean? Or did you think the killer Iceman gimmick worked better as a heel?

From the Observer: “It's a shame WCW hasn't figured out something to do with Dragon and seen to have a problem about putting him over in any way. You'd think even if his ability wasn't enough for a break, that since he gives the boss' best friend a reason to be on TV, that would be a reason to get a push as well.”

What say you Eric?

Did Ultimo and Sonny get along?

Outback Jack…no wait I’m sorry Dave Taylor is out next. What is that get up?

Then the future rising babyface…DDP. The Outsiders come out quickly and DDP hits the diamond cutter and it’s nWo beatdown time. Savage ends up attacking DDP and hitting him with the spray can and spray paints him. Was it Randy’s idea to work with Dallas?

A fan hits the ring - was this something you thought made better TV or were you always upset when this happens because it happens a lot in this era.

From the Observer: “A fan hit the ring during the brawl which was funny because the fan forgot to sell Hall & Savage's punches but at least he ran away quickly. Savage then put on an NWO t-shirt. Savage dropped some elbows on him and Page did a stretcher job. They did an interview where they presented Savage with Elizabeth and Elizabeth smiled for the first time in months.”

Now I gotta ask Eric. Elizabeth’s story makes very little sense. She’s bullied into the nWo and wants nothing to do with Savage before that. Now Savage is in the nWo and she’s all excited. What happens with this story arc?

Was it uncomfortable for these two to be put back together like this?

Did Elizabeth voice any concerns about it?

Lex Luger & the Giant come out to defend their WCW World Tag Team titles against Harlem Heat but you interrupt and strip them of the titles they won last night. This is two pay-per-views in a row with the same thing happening - I know it’s all about building heat - but at some point you have to give the fans something to cheer for…was this too much two months in a row?

Lex agrees to this in exchange for all the titles being on the line at Uncensored…and that never actually happens but first IT’S STING….WITH THE NWO?

What is the original idea behind all the titles being on the line at Uncensored since it never did happen?

The Omni advance for the March 3rd Nitro looks strong at 9,000 tickets for $117,000. We have covered that show in the archives so be sure to check that out at adfreeshows.com. Of course that’s the show where Harvey Schiller strips you of all your power…Roddy Piper has in-ring trials for Uncensored…

To finish up Eric…do you know where you’re at with Dennis Rodman negotiations going into Uncensored?