Raw 162
Back at In Your House: Beware of Dog, Stone Cold lost the Caribbean Strap Match against Savio Vega. As a result, Ted DiBiase was forced to leave the WWF for good. Sad for Ted, but good for Stone Cold. Austin still beats Bob Holly tonight in the first round of the King of the Ring Tournament with the Million Dollar Dream though. I guess he just misses his buddy.
After that, Mankind destroys Barry Horowitz. In a post-match interview, he tells Jim Ross, “of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most.” Somewhere, a Spencer Gifts owner’s ears just perked up.
I should mention that throughout the show, we cut to Goldust to get his take on the goings-on. He’s laying on a chaise lounge wearing a feather boa and the Intercontinental Championship belt around his junk and nothing else. Is this supposed to balance out having Sunny dance around in skimpy outfits?
Typical Hollywood elite.
The final match is another in the first round of the King of the Ring Tournament that sees Hunter Hearst Helmsley go down to Jake the Snake. I know Jake used to cut a great promo back in the day, but so far I don’t think he’s been on the mic once yet. It’s kind of sad to see Raw struggling the way it is right now.
Nitro 38
Nitro starts by continuing to degrade Shark (or John Tenta, as he wants to be known now) by having him keep half of his head shaved. I feel bad for him, but it’s still a step up from his Shark gimmick at least. In his first match as John Tenta, he faces the man who shaved him, Big Bubba Rogers, and wins via countout. A win’s a win, I guess.
Tenta demonstrates what exactly went wrong.
Later we get the Rock and Roll Express against Ric Flair & Arn Anderson who are wearing the jerseys of Mongo and Kevin Greene. After the match, Bobby the Brain tells us that he’ll be accompanying Flair and Anderson to the ring at Great American Bash not as their manager, but as their coach. I’m not sure what the difference is, but it’s nice to have Bobby up in the mix, even if that means he won’t be on commentary.
After that, Ice Train faces the Giant and gets jobbed out in five seconds. His partner Scott Norton runs out to help his buddy and gets a chokeslam for his effort as well. The Giant then grabs a mic and asks why we keep being shown video packages for Hulk Hogan, a man who isn’t even wrestling with the company, when it’s the Giant who is the World Champion. Honestly, he’s got a good point.
Here's the entire match. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
Near the end of the show, we get a training montage with Mongo and Kevin Greene. We see them struggle to agree on a plan of attack for their upcoming match, but then they strike on the idea of getting their own coach - Macho Man Randy Savage. He may be barred from wrestling with the WCW, but it doesn’t say anywhere in the rules that he can’t coach!
Finally, the show ends with Razor Ramon showing back up to beleaguer Eric Bischoff again. This time though, Sting is there to confront him. After a heated exchange, Sting hauls off and slaps Razor in the face, which prompts Razor to threaten Sting with a “big surprise" next week...
Verdict: Maybe Raw will start getting their act together after their next pay per view. Until then, I don’t see Nitro ending it’s domination any time soon. They don’t even need to do that much. Simply by having twice the show that Raw has, they’ll win every time.
Winner this week: Nitro
Score to date: Nitro 25, Raw 10
(Television Ratings: Raw - 2.3; Nitro - 3.0)