WCW Monday Nitro, Memphis, TN
A request! This and the last match both came in as requests in late January when Ice Train passed away at age 58. Apologies for how long it took (and some of the other recent posts), it’s just I — well, why get into it? We’re all here to have a good time. Which I am now currently not, which is why I am watching a lot of wrestling.
ANYWAYS, Ice Train is now managed by fathead Teddy Long and has this sick ass music. This is a great sicko/rando “first hour of Nitro” match.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
Loser manager Long stops at the entrance ramp to give one of his patented loser pep talks to one of his loser clients (I like Teddy and love his JTTS stable), then shouts, “WEST SIDE!” because it’s 1997. La Parka recently gave Lex Luger quite a test on Saturday Night, Tony informs me. Good for the fella!
This match starts and they’re talking about Piper and Hogan, Tony and Larry do not care about this. Train awkwardly shoves La Parka over. La Parka responds by ripping shots at the big guy, who hits a leapfrog, a shitty hiptoss, another, and then a sick running lariat. La Parka throwing dropkicks and flying spinwheel kicks, Ice Train just sort of wanders outside so Parka can dive on him, which Ice doesn’t really catch so much as absorb.
They both just sorta go back into the ring after that. These two have no chemistry as we’d normally think of it, so you know what they’re doing to work around that? Throwin’ shots. Parka unleashes a couple great right hands, but Ice Train levels him with a running lariat.
Train almost doesn’t catch La Parka flying out of the corner, but then does catch him with raw power pulling La Parka back up and slamming him down. La Parka wasn’t as husky as he got when older, obviously, but this is still a, what, 240, 250 lb guy.
Wait hang on, something has happened in The Back Area! The Outsiders are standing over Lex Luger with pipes. Nash delivers a terrible line. He and Hall and wearing Giant and Luger shirts, respectively.
Anyway, back in the ring, Train hits a belly-to-belly for two and grabs a chinlock. Out of that, powerslam and a big splash, and Ice Train has the win, enough time has been killed so that they could get to the Luger injury angle backstage.
Fun Certified Nitro Match that would really never have happened anywhere but the gleefully bloated WCW of the time. There’s a lad in a cool Kansas City Chiefs jacket in the front row who was real into the Ice Train’s big win.
Did you know Ice Train went 17-1 in WCW singles matches in 1997, according to Cagematch? His only loss came to Chris Benoit on the April 7 Nitro. Go figure. Pro wrestling is a stats game now.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 
Now that’s a stat!