[1997-01-20-WCW-Nitro] Randy Savage returns

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Hugely memorable angle for me. Randy Savage returns to WCW after being absent since Halloween Havoc. He puts a chair in the middle of the ring and says he's been blackballed. He's not leaving until he speaks to someone with some power, so he stages a sit-in and tells Eric Bischoff to kiss his ass.

 

Chavo comes out for his match and pleads with Savage to get out of the ring for a few minutes before finally getting beat up for his troubles. Maxx Muscle follows and meets the same fate, as does referee Mickey Jay and even Doug Dillinger! Alex Wright too. Who would dare hit Alex Wright? The crowd is going crazy.

 

Finally, Sting descends from the rafters and confronts Savage. After a few mind games, Savage leaves through the crowd with Sting. This was a really cool, outside-the-box angle.

[Childs]

I remember thinking the Savage/Sting pairing was intriguing but then feeling disappointed with the payoff. After 16 years, I still enjoyed this segment. We'll see about the rest.

[soup23]

Crowd looks huge and they come unglued with Macho coming out and putting the chair in the middle of the ring. Savage wearing black and white is very suggestive. Savage says he has been blackballed and hes not leaving until he talks to someone that has major stroke.

 

Chavo comes out looking about 12 years old and Macho points to the exit. Chavo declines and gets his ass beat. Maxx doesnt fare much better and the crowd is going nuts. Mickey Jay and Dillenger and even Alex Wright are the rest of the casualties.

 

Sting descends and is able to whisper some things to Macho to convince him to leave with him through the crowd. This was awesome.

[Bigelow34]

One of my all time favorite Nitro moments. The crowd was just ballistic.

[Zenjo]

I loved this segment. It was fresh, different, exciting and added another layer of intrigue to the ongoing storylines. Savage was such a loose cannon badass here. They made a mistake having him join the NWO.

[Kevin Ridge]

Savage makes his return to a big crowd response. He wants to Bischoff to know he can kiss his ass. He does a sit down in the ring. Come on Chavo, why you going to try mess things up with Savage of all people. Crowd are hot for Savage. Doug Dillinger was smart enough to get out of there once he was pushed down. Fabulous French Canadiens!

[BackToBionic]

Three months later and Schiavone still has to say "Slim Jim's Halloween Havoc" instead of just "Halloween Havoc". Slim Jim really had an ironclad clause in that contract.

 

Anyways, yeah I remember this crystal clear. I think I remember it even more because I went to my first televised show a few weeks later when Page did a similar thing (which may or may not be on the yearbook).

[El-P]

One of the all-time memorable moment on Nitro. Savage takes Nitro hostage, looking like the coolest mofo bad ass ever, and the crowd is going crazy for each and every moves he makes. Sting coming down the rafters and playing mind games was the icing on the cake. These two playing phantoms of Nitro for a while was very intriguing, and I agree Savage finally joigning the nWo without much of a factor for a change of heart looks like a disapointing pay-off after this awesome angle.

[PeteF3]

Goddamn, I had no recollection that Bret quitting and Savage's shock return were going on at the same time. People were expecting Savage to end up in the WWF pretty much until this very moment. This feels like WCW's high watermark to this point in history. An electric crowd in a jam-packed arena that felt like the center of the sports universe in 1997. A '97 Raw-type segment with the announcers frantically trying to stay on format while their show gets hijacked, then the debut of Sting's rappel-from-the-rafters entrance which is an awesome moment. Huge amounts of intrigue here, but I agree with the general disappointment of this not really going anywhere.

[raul]

this was a great segment. one of the top moments for me in this MNW watch so far.

[KB8]

I actually had very little recollection of this so holy shit was I way into it. Savage popping folk in the mouth, shoving old ass heads of security on their keisters, telling Bischoff to kiss his ass, all in front of a rabid crowd; man this ruled. The stuff with Sting might've come across as a touch confusing or corny at the time, but I'd guess every single person in that arena were too busy flipping out to care. 

[JKWebb]

I just want to copy/paste Bigelow34.  This is one of my favorite Nitro moments, and I remember being on the edge of my seat for this in 1997.  It holds up too!  What a scene - the crowd was on fire for this.