WCW Monday Night Nitro Review!

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Monday Night Nitro - July 8th , 1996



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Eric Bischoff , Larry Zbyszko and Bobby Heenan

Tony welcomes us to Orlando Florida and the biggest epic change in pro wrestling that would ever be seen. Shiavone claims that Hogan turned his back on the fans and World Championship Wrestling. He plugs the 2nd hour with pictures that will tell the story of what happened. Then he shows us pictures of Rey Mysterio vs Pscosis and then Disco Inferno/Dean Malenko.

The match that kicks off this show in Orlando Florida and MGM studios ....Rey Mysterio vs Dean Malenko. This show has a very small time set up weirdly. Taking place outside among a small Nitro crowd (imagine an Impact Zone type size crowd , outside. This one is for the WCW Cruiserweight title. This one starts pretty damn quick with Mysterio using his speed and quick moves to his advantage.

This match is a great kick off as Malenko/Mysterio are just great to watch. The two men start having a series where Malenko tries to slow Mysterio down and use moves and submissions . With the show being outside you can see how warm it is in Florida in the middle of summer as Malenko is starting to sweat heavy. Shiavone decides to take some seconds during this great match to apologize to fans at home for his hard language where he told Hulk Hogan to go straight to hell at the end.

Malenko controls much of the match and Mysterio finally fights back each time and finally is starting to make the comeback. In a holy **** move , Mysterio back flips off the ropes onto the outside to Malenko , nearly killing them both on the asphalt ! Both men take awhile to get up and they keep going. Mysterio gets some close falls against him and soon Dean fights back in awesome fashion with a gut buster from the top rope. Then as he can't finish Mysterio , he gets pissed at the guy and fucks up by not pinning him when he should have. This comes back to haunt him as Mysterio gets the sneaky roll up pin and win ! The new WCW Cruiserweight champion ! WHAT A GREAT MATCH.

Backstage in the locker room (taped earlier) Gene Okerlund interviews the Nasty Boys and the Steiner Brothers. One of these teams will face Harlem Heat for the WCW World tag team titles at Hog Wild. The Steiners and Nasty may respect each other , but they sure as hell don't like each other. One of them will win and face the Heat. Its a nice promo between them all.

Another Blood Runs Cold promo airs for Glacier. This time they show his eye. Shiavone plugs the encore of Bash at the Beach. A day no one will forget and nearly 20 years later they haven't. We see Mickey Mouse on the globe from Disney.

Out comes Big Bubba and Hugh Morrus , the Laughing Man with Jimmy Hart. In a weird change of pace the Dungeon of Doom will be facing ...The Blue Bloods. Lord Steven Regal and Dave Taylor ! The Earl of Eaton is even with them. Its a rare heel vs heel tag team match. The crowd chants USA for the heel Dungeon of Doom team out there.

Shiavone brings up the discord happening each Saturday morning with the Blue Bloods for those who don't watch (and many didn't give a crap) . The Blue Bloods start off brawling as suddenly the match derails as John Tenta arrives and takes Tenta off to brawl with him into the parking lot. Which allows the Bloods to double team and beat Hugh Morrus.

After a plug for WCW Magazine , Shiavone then plugs 2 hours of Saturday Night with the Dungeon of Doom and Randy Savage. In ring we see Eddie Guerrero vs Pscosis. This again should be a great match. Backstage Mysterio speaks on how all the Mexican children were so hurt and betrayed by the Hulkster. He then after speaking in some Mexican he says in English "He betrayed us".

This match is kicking off in high awesome fucking gear as Guerrero/Pscosis is going at 100 mph. Soon as the match rolls along , Pscosis concentrates on Guerrero's arm and shoulder where he had landed outside. Shiavone claims next week Hogan will appear live to give his side of the story as Larry is disgusted so bad by this. Back to action , Guerrero nearly wins in the same fashion that Mysterio had defeated Malenko earlier that night.

Guerrero at one point nearly kills himself into the turnbuckle with his same hurt shoulder. Then as this solid match gets to the near finish , Eddie gets the 5* frog splash for the win ! The replays show some of the classic moments of this.

We cut to Gene Okerlund as the audio at 1st seems off. As he brings up Hulk Hogan as he asks Jimmy Hart about everything going with Hogan. From their history did he see something like him going with these Outsiders ? Hart seems very down and claims he has no comment. Then Sullivan speaks about how he wished for a year and half with Jimmy Hart to destroy Hulkamania and now the man himself did it. That he's getting paid back for his evil by a mad man named Chris Benoit when he looks in the mirror.

Sullivan mentions the New World Order coming and he looks a bit worried over things. Then he claims that Okerlund could be outta a job. But the Giant stops him and claims , he's still WCW World Champion and he took the belt from Hogan last time and he can do it again. This makes Sullivan a little happy but his face tells the story as he is in fear of the NWO.

We return as the Nasty Boys come out to face the Steiner. Shiavone promotes the 2nd hour hard with Flair , Sting and Luger involved. Plus the photos of Hogan. The Nasty's meanwhile are in trouble as the power and speed of the Steiners are a tough thing to handle. And the fact the Nasty Boys aren't at all good wrestlers like Public Enemy.

Shiavone starts the countdown clock to hour #2 as the Nasty's realize they have to go to what works and its using a steel chair on Scott Steiner. Bischoff gets handed the main announcing deal from Shiavone . At least they didn't rush this pretty ok tag match to a rushed conclusion. Suddenly as the match goes , we see Sister Sherri and Colonel Tom Parker get involved. Parker by accident nails Jerry Saggs with the cane as he makes an uh oh look. As he didn't seem to wanna hit Saggs as the Steiners will face Harlem Heat.

END OF PART #1

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What makes the finish look lackluster is the hard camera missed it all and the camera from far away made the 3 count. Bischoff apologizes for not being at the PPV and what he saw. Then we come back to Okerlund who is interviewing the Nasty Boys who seem to pledge a change is coming. That they aren't gonna play nice since they don't as much referees and security like a Sting or Luger get as a team. Knobbs himself claims that the NWO and Hogan seem to have the right idea. That they are doing whatever the hell they want , whenever the hell they wanna do it. Like the Nastys used to do.

The next match is Jim Powers vs Ric Flair of the US Title. The fire works go off for Ric Flair and its playing some havoc with the audio at times. Slick Ric has the ladies escort him out for this match. Powers himself wasn't a "newbie" wrestler or young in the business at this stage. In fact Jim Powers had been wrestling since 1984 and was trained by Big John Studd. He worked in the WWF for years before being let go in the early 1990's. His biggest claim to fame was his short lived tag team with Paul Roma , Young Stallions in the WWF.

Its not a bad match as Powers is in very good shape and keeps Flair on his toes in spots of this match. Heenan and Bischoff discuss Hogan and the NWO. And they question where do they go from here. During the match , Heenan decides to drop the pretense that Powers is a rookie and claims he's seen this man for a few years work and he knows his way around a ring.

Flair being the pro he is and man , gives Powers all the Sting spots at times. Even letting Powers throw him off the top rope in a slam as he yells Noooo. Its why Ric Flair was such a pro working because as he told , he'd give his best for everyone. And by doing that he'd make his matches really solid. And this throw away match is really a very decent one. As Flair makes it worth watching. Even when he cheats at the end using Woman to help him make Powers submit. The rest of the Horsemen come out to celebrate with Flair.

Post match Gene Okerlund decides to speak with Flair , Anderson and Mongo. Benoit isn't there as AA himself cuts a promo on how things went good and bad last night. Anderson isn't happy that Hogan stomped on everyones hearts. That yes he went after him with a vengeance but he claims Hogan is supposed to stand for something. Mongo talks about the Apocalypse on WCW and its the 4 Horsemen. Flair cuts a promo that is just insanely classic Ric Flair ..."Outsiders , Insiders , until you can heal the sick , wake the dead , and drive little girls right outta their head .....Giant , Giant there is a new champ in town ! A man who can go ALL NIGHT LONG !"

Flair ends the promo by dancing a Mexican dance as Okerlund tries to not laugh as the segment ends. Back to Bischoff who tells Heenan that they have a lot of great athletes in WCW and they don't have to worry about things. Heenan himself claims that they don't have to be down , they need to get back and fight these jokers.

The next match is Chris Benoit vs "The Pitbull" Criag Pittman . The Crippler looks in a pissed , angry as **** mood as the bruise on his face shows. And this match begins very solid as Pittman and Benoit start off very hot. But the anger of Benoit can't be stopped. The fury and rage he has . At one point Teddy Long uses Benoit's fury against him. At the end as Pittman is locked in the Crippler Crossface and won't tape , Long realizes he could be seriously hurt and throws the towel in as his manager. Post match Benoit looks in the camera and warns Sullivan what is ahead.

The Main Event is up as out comes Sting vs Arn Anderson. Out comes Sting as he seems a bit distracted as he glances over at the WCW barrier. In a nice moment he stops and walks over to some little kids who are allowed to be at ringside and touches their hands. Before the match begins Arn offers to shake Sting's hand as he says he respects him for what he did last night. But Sting doesn't like or trust Arn and declines .

Heenan during the announcing claims that he warned Bischoff and everyone a long , long time ago that Hogan wasn't the man everyone thought. They get word that they likely will have some guests tonight , much to their dismay. Taking a break from the match WCW airs yet another Glacier promo promoting his debut coming soon in July.

The match rolls along inside as the two men are having a solid exchange and a classic AA spine buster. Bischoff claims a black limo has arrived at the place. Sting plays the face in peril role as Arn takes the heel advantage. At times Sting tries to rally and he gets cut off by Anderson. This match shows just how good Sting as a worker was. How he could sell his character and for people. They show the black limo parked outside.

Finally the limo empties and its Nash and Hall who emerge and start to come inside. Sting has no clue they are there as fans go insane. WCW security keep them from the ring as Sting and Anderson stop. Savage joins them and after they start to go , AA jumps Sting and he ends up paying the price. Sting locks in the scorpion death lock and gets the submission as he makes Hall & Nash watch. Savage tries to go after them as the security keeps em at bay.

Post match a very hurt Sting talks about how he should have known about Hogan all along. That when him , Luger and Savage would travel together , he'd go by limo. That he only cared to make a cameo appearance and that he once walked on the dark side. Then Sting tears into him for turning his back on the children and how he told those kids to stick it. Well he can stick it. Then Okerlund asks Savage about Hollywood Hogan.

Savage claims he has a special message for Hollywood but he can't say it because of the crowd at Disney. That he wants Hogan to multiply it by 9000 and it involves the Sahara desert. That is taste of what he wants to do to Hogan. Outside Okerlund joins Hall & Nash as they are by the limo. Both guys are in a happy mood as Gene claims they came here and things started to crumble. Nash promotes that Hogan built pro wrestling and he will be there next week. That these fans will have to deal with it.

Hall & Nash waive and say hello Hulk , waiving to him. "This portion of WCW Nitro was brought to you by the Outsiders and Hulk Hogan..." Hall chimes. Okerlund questions about his job security as Hall claims that he will always have a job with the New World Order. They plug that Hogan is on a film set filming a movie as Hall rips that no good punk Randy Savage for being jealous of Hogan.

Finally Bischoff shows the pictures of what happened at Bash at the Beach. Then where Hogan turned and created the New World Order. Post match the three men celebrate as garbage is thrown in. Shiavone is still stunned about the things he said and what he done. Heenan rips Hogan that people like him and others grew this business. At the end he removes his head set as Bischoff plugs the encore of the PPV and will see people next week.


The Bad - Beyond the Blue Bloods/Dungeon of Doom match and the ok tag match with Nasty Boys/Steiners , this Nitro was very solid for in ring action. More than likely the best wrestling Nitro in weeks.


OVERALL : **** outta 5. WCW took one of the all-time legendary faces in the industry and turned him heel. It was a hell of a damn gamble as Hogan himself wasn't sure of it. But they spent a night HARD SELLING it to an epic level and showed how you turn a long standing face heel. You also saw the roster themselves react. Good and bad guys all seemed to be impacted by Hogan's turn. Sullivan realizing if a good guy Hogan could be dominate , imagine a Hogan with no rules and no ethics to hold him back. Then you had Arn Anderson who felt dismayed that the good guy he battled against so hard as he claimed , would turn his back on it all. Your supposed to stand for something he claims. Mysterio tells Mexicans that Hogan betrayed them all . Sting is angry over the children being hurt by Hogan and Savage is pissed his pal hurt him. So this is how you turn someone heel.

People muse how you can turn John Cena heel , after years of being a face. Well Vince needs to watch this Nitro and realize this is how you do it. Cena's heel turn needs to effect everyone like Hogan's heel turn did. Everyone should feel that heel turn and struggle to accept it.

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WCW Monday Night Nitro - July 15th , 1996




Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

WCW is still at MGM Studios at Disney , outside. Again this is a weird location to see them do a live show...2 weeks in a row. Shiavone promotes the big epic change in WCW as Hogan turned bad. He will be there tonight. Then we see the replay of Bash at the Beach where Hulk did the leg drop around the world. Where he betrayed WCW. Larry claims who else will join this New World Order after Hogan ?

The 1st match up is Fire & Ice vs Steiners. Larry and Tony discuss how the NWO will start recruiting as they worry about who else will join. Who will come in from outside WCW. Who will join within WCW. Shiavone brings up that Sting , Savage , Flair and the Giant aren't here tonight. That he never imagined a day he'd want to stand behind The Giant of all people. Lex Luger is there tonight.

The match is going very slow due to Scott Norton's size. He is using very big physical power moves and actually pushing Scott Steiner around. Both joke that not many guys like this can push Scotty Steiner around. Eventually Scotty powers back and makes the comeback. In a show of his physical power , he overhead slams Norton !

During the match as Ice Train and Rick Steiner are in the ring , out comes Teddy Long to watch this match. He is scouting perhaps Fire & Ice as we learn. Larry during this match proclaims that WCW is about competition and this roster is the best in the world . During this match its weird to see them play Scotty Steiner as the weaker member of the team as he is forced at times to make the hot tag at times.

Of course something during this match breaks down due to possibly running too long. At one point Rick Steiner grabs Ice Train and back suplexes him and rolls over in a half pin that even looked off after Scott Norton had by accident took a splash from him. I suspect that Bischoff likely called for the match to end then and change things up since Nitro was booked on the fly and this finish is what we saw.

Post match Gene Okerlund talks to the Dungeon of Doom as Kevin Sullivan brings up how everyone is staying on guard due to Hogan's turn to the dark side. That Jimmy Hart has a plan. That Jimmy Hart is gonna go out and recruit whoever he can to destroy the Horsemen. Big Bubba himself discusses taking down Lex Luger as well. At one point Norton and Train walk by arguing as Okerlund promotes this .

After a brief promo going to break from Dean Malenko facing Billy Kidman later and another Glacier vignette , we return to Okerlund interviewing Fire & Ice. Norton blames Train for the team being on such a horrible losing streak. Train claims he wants to do things by the rules. Up walks Teddy Long who feels this team has a lot of potential and wants them to stay together. He gets thrown to the ground by Norton as he claims this team could end as far as he's concerned and challenges Ice Train it appears. Train accepts this and claims they will hook it up sooner than he thinks !

Dean Malenko vs Billy Kidman is up now as Dean walks out. Up walks Jimmy Hart who is trying to recruit him for the Hog Wild PPV coming in August. I believe this is Kidman's 1st WCW appearance on Nitro and he looks so young. In fact Kidman at this point is 22 years old and is having a very solid match against Malenko. Even as a young inexperienced guy working against the established veteran Malenko , he's given some good offense.

But Dean is a wrestling machine and he's teaching young Kidman a lesson in ring and then smashes his leg into the ring post . We even get some great rollups and reversals sequence from the two during this. At one point Malenko goes on an insane spell of a brainbuster , power bomb and into his Texas cover leaf submission. Kidman gave it his all , but damn if Dean Malenko not fucking on in this.

After the match Gene Okerlund talks to Kevin Greene. Even Greene is dismayed at what happened to his hero Hulk Hogan. That he hurt the kids and he hurt him. Because as a kid in the 1980's he grew up saying his prayers and taking his vitamins (steroids). But Greene isn't there for Hogan , he's there to kick Mongo McMichaels ass and cuts a promo they don't have to wait til after the season to get it on. He doesn't have to catch a plane for 2 hours so it gives him enough time to do this.

Harlem Heat cuts a small promo going to break. They aren't pleased with Colonel Tom Parker and his new team Rough n Ready. They discuss how he can't be burning the candle at both ends and trying to manipulate them. After we return from break as Shiavone against promotes the big Hogan promo coming in hour 2 , we see who Rough & Ready are. Its Mike Enos and Dick Slater. Called "Dirty" Dick Slater , he had a long career up til this point in pro wrestling and was a 20+ year veteran.

Also comically Slater had been and out of Colonel Parker's "Stud Stable" before this and even was part of the team that beat the Harlem Heat in 1995. Also Parker is seeing Sister Sherri and co-manager of the Harlem Heat in this as it boggles the mind of Larry and Tony. Also we see some heat as Slater isn't happy to have Sherri and Parker together. The fans are clearly behind the Harlem Heat in this match , which seems to be WCW testing a potential face turn perhaps with the team.

Shiavone brings up that Sting is Japan and not there. Then Larry brings up how people in World Championship Wrestling can't trust anyone. Even as they muse about Sting. In the match Slater shows his Dirty Dick side as he takes Booker T outside as the two guys slam him on the concrete and work him over. During the match Sherri and Parker are busy with things as this situation still has the announce team question what the hell this match is about.

As they work over Booker the fans again get behind the Heat. Parker distracts the referee to possibly help his Rough & Ready team as he seems to be sensing they are close. Slater goes to work over Booker T as suddenly , Sherri jumps up on the apron and gives him a kiss which throws a disgusted Slater off. It allows Booker T to roll him up for the pin. Parker isn't happy it appears as Sherri celebrates with her men. This I believe was Dick Slater's last match. You see after one televised match with Enos , Slater blew out 2 vertebrae in his back and it ended his career.

After a cool Rey Mysterio vignette , Meng lets Jimmy Hart cut a promo on facing Arn Anderson when they return from break. Once they do Greene removes his shirt and wants to face Mongo. But he won't show up. So he tells Gene that he'll be back by February once the season ends for his ass. In ring Madusa faces Malia Hosaka from Japan. Hosaka was trained by Killer Kowalski and had a 25 year career that ranged from ECW to WWF as well. Also interesting fact , Hosaka actually substituted for Madusa at ECW November to Remember 1993.

This is a pretty solid women's match as the countdown clock begins. Madusa eventually uses a back suplex pin to beat Hosaka to end hour #1 . The 2nd hour begins with fire works as Bischoff is ready. He awaits Hogan and the Outsiders. After this Arn Anderson cuts a promo before they go to commercial break as he promotes his match against Meng.

Once they return we see that Hall & Nash have taken tarps and covered up the giant W-C-W logo letters with N-W-O. Behind Bischoff and Heenan they cover the 3rd letter. As again Heenan worries about them not just having a 3rd member. He also claims that this plan was obviously in the works awhile and maybe even before Hogan signed with WCW.

Anderson vs Meng begins as Bischoff claims its a slap in the face to see those letters covered. Nash and Hall sip drinks and are relaxed as hell. The fans in this match are behind the Horsemen. The fireworks go off and it adds a war element like blasts are going off as fans keep turning to look up at Hall & Nash. Meng is in control of this match at the start as AA decides he needs to cheat to get ahead so he slams Meng's legs against the ring post.

End of Part #1

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As the match rolls along , out comes the Barbarian as Jimmy Hart talks strategy with him by the ring. Bischoff as they go to commercial proclaims that its WCW Nitro , not New World Order and someone needs to take that down. Hall & Nash watch from the top when they return. The fans watching start a Razor chant. Meng is just so much for AA as he is beating him down and then outside the ring Jimmy Hart mocks him with the megaphone.

Bischoff brings up how Luger is going against Doctor's orders to show up and wrestle. As he has a detached retina in his eye due to what happened at Bash at the Beach. They bring up the guts that Luger has for showing up to work with Hogan and the Outsiders there. Barbarian helps Meng win by nailing from behind as Meng nails the super kick. Getting the win over Arn Anderson.

We return as Gene Okerlund interviews Mongo. Its brought up to Mongo that Kevin Greene was looking for him and he taunts Greene for playing for a small change contract and an expansion team like the Carolina Panthers. Mongo claims he's carrying all his money in a briefcase before this that he counts a lot. So he's mocking a guy for not carrying his life savings in a briefcase. Debra pretty much saves the entire deal and cuts a promo about her husband is a 15 year veteran and would eat guys like Greene for fun. She goes on to discussing how Greene needs to stay in football. At this point you wonder if Debra could be the wrestler and Mongo the bodyguard.

The Horsemen music hits as out comes the serious Chris Benoit. Its Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero as we see. Bischoff promotes Guerrero/Flair at the Hog Wild PPV. This one should be good. The fans are behind Eddie it appears and Benoit starts the match quick ! Then yells in Guerrero's face taunting him as he starts the beat down.

This match becomes the 2nd best match of the night in quick fashion as both men have a great chemistry in ring. After trading moves and reversals , suddenly Bischoff has the camera pan away to show the missing Hall & Nash from the letters. Its to claim they are gone but us sitting at home would rather watch Guerrero/Benoit right now.

In a damn awesome spot Benoit nearly power bombs Eddie through the ring as hard it hit. A fact it made Heenan claim he felt it from the announce booth. Heenan brings up a good point , why are the WCW guys allowing Hall & Nash to do this . Why don't they stand up for the company. Then later in the match Guerrero pays Benoit back with a pretty hard super-plex off the top rope. WCW seems intent on letting this one go long (as they should) and they eventually go outside the ring.

Benoit has his back to the ramp as outta the back comes Dean Malenko who jumps him and throws him into the ring railing. He crashes head first into it as Benoit can't answer the 10 count before Guerrero. He rolls back outside as well. Such a shame this was the ending to this solid match. Before we go to commercial Big Bubba and Jimmy Hart warn Lex Luger about the Main Event.

There is another Glacier promo and eventually after an hour nearly , Bischoff has someone remove the tarps off the W-C-W letters. Bischoff wishes that Sting , Savage , Flair or the Giant was there. Because he's worried about things . The Main Event is now up as its Luger vs Big Bubba. Luger comes out and I had long forgotten he also was TV Champion and this match is for the TV Title !

For a guy with a detached retina , Luger is dominant to start the match. Storyline wise , Bubba concentrates on Luger's head and eye. Its claimed that Lex has a concussion as well. Which years later wouldn't be a joking/storyline type thing anymore. Outside the arena , the Outsiders emerge from a limo as the two men pose by it. While Luger and Bubba continue in ring.

This isn't a terrible match because both Luger and Bubba know what they need to do and work against each other. Its a decent back and forth match for this. Then out strolls Hall & Nash as Jimmy Hart had tried distracting the referee. He used it on Big Bubba but his back is turned as the Outsiders get him. Then out comes Hulk Hogan. He's all in black with Hulskter weight belt.

No one is there as they beat down Luger. Then Hogan slaps Luger in the face mocking him for fun. He helps up Big Bubba who is surprised as Hogan seems to be possibly inviting him into the group. They shake hands as suddenly Hall nails him as Hulk laughs. They beat down Big Bubba and toss him outta the ring like garbage. As a signal to WCW and the Dungeon of Doom.

Gene Okerlund isn't happy as he comes out to interview Hogan. Its there Hogan tells Gino he wishes he could have done this 2 years ago , brother. Then he as Hulk Hogan is bigger than the industry and they will do what they want. Hogan brings up how he brought their children down the right path , but then these people have the gall to boo him ? THEY CAN STICK IT , BROTHER !

Hogan mocks Sting and how he was nothing but a skinny little bodybuilder 2 years ago. That he shook in his boots when they met. Savage he mocks for his divorce. That he's always gonna be bigger than wrestling and the New World Order will rule wrestling. Fans get so angry they toss garbage into the ring like at Bash at the Beach. Hogan claims that the Renegades (Hall & Nash) will set the trend for Hulk Hogan and the industry in the 1990's. Hogan teases on who he can bring inside or outside WCW.

"Because where Hulk Hogan goes , is where pro wrestling goes."

Hogan then brings up how he's not gonna lead the kids anymore. He also won't fool around that skinny punk Savage or that crybaby Sting. He's going after The Giant and take the WCW World title. Then he challenges the entire WCW locker room to come out if they want it. All 3 of them all mock and challenge the locker room as the Steiners and others come out . The Dungeon of Doom , 4 Horsemen and Steiners come out to challenge the NWO. The show ends there.


The Bad - What the hell is up with that Steiner finish against Fire & Ice ? Its a very sloppy type pin and I think even Rick Steiner was thrown off by it all. I believe the referee likely told him Bischoff wanted to end the match early as no one seemed ready for it.

Nothing against the Harlem Heat getting a shot at being faces with the Outsiders coming into WCW , but Rough & Ready ? Slater sadly could have been hurt before this match as he didn't look so good in it. Plus I doubt people felt Mike Enos would give either Harlem Heat guy a serious challenge.

Beyond the weird finish with the Steiners and this pretty bad tag team match , WCW as a whole had 2 very solid damn matches with Malenko/Kidman and Benoit/Guerrero. They also had an ok Main Event with Luger/Big Bubba awhile. My knock is the finish of Benoit/Guerrero as it sadly would have been nice to see a time limit draw perhaps instead of a count out.


OVERALL : **** Outta 5. 2 solid matches carry this Nitro as well as Bischoff wisely holding Hogan back til the final 15-20 minutes. A lost art in pro wrestling , Bischoff hard sold Hogan speaking for the entire Nitro and made fans stay til the end. Nowadays hot promos or things are sold too quick without building fans to stick. This is how Nitro kicked RAW's ass for 2+ years. By using the 1st hour with solid matches and promotion to hype the 2nd hour.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - July 22nd , 1996



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

This week's Nitro again weirdly is at MGM Studios. This has been a weird set of Nitros to see and I never expected to see them at this location so many weeks straight. Right when the NWO angle would kick off. Shiavone brings up some celebrities and we see that Bischoff and WCW honored Muhammad Ali at Halloween Havoc 1994. Its a very nice video image and him getting a plaque at the end.

Shiavone runs down the whole NWO and Outsiders actions last week. They don't know what will happen with them and Larry claims you can't trust anybody. To kick off this episode we see Squire David Taylor with Jeeves. Out comes Scott Norton who has broken up Fire & Ice by leaving his partner Ice Train at Saturday Night's show. They will face each other at Hog Wild.

This is a weird as hell match up for the fact , Norton is a heel and just left his partner as a heel. So is David Taylor essentially. The fans start USA chants quickly and this match is here to promote Norton. And in a dumb angry move the match ends a minute or two in as Scott Norton throws Taylor over the top rope getting a DQ. Then he starts beating the Squire down outside the ring awhile til the referee stops him. Norton walks off angry.

As we go to commercial , V.K Wallstreet cuts a promo on facing Mexican champion Konnan. He knows international markets and superstars. He's heard he's a big star. We return as Okerlund's mic isn't fully on until he starts halfway into talking as the Horsemen , or 3/4ths of the Horsemen. Ric Flair is absent as AA claims he's a guy who has a plan and loves to showboat. Nancy Sullivan is behind Chris clearly symbolizing her relationship with him it seems. Mongo cuts a promo on how he can't wait to face pretty boys like Sting , Luger and Savage and beat them up. (I'm sure all 3 burst into laughter backstage)

Benoit cuts a promo on telling Sting and Luger , they will learn what the Crippler is all about. Its all he has to say and he comes across as bad ass as usual. Now is the Konnan/Wallstreet singles match as Rotunda takes advantage quick. Konnan is just ready and looks pretty damn good. Even dressed in his bright colored Mexican wrestling garb.

There is a few kinks in this match as Konnan and Rotunda have never faced each other before. At one point Konnan pauses like 5 seconds and Rotunda has to do something quick. Its a small complaint as both are doing a decent job in this match. He decides to use more mat based , submission style work on Konnan and its a good strategy for an older , slower wrestler. The finish itself was pretty decent as well as they had Wallstreet catch him in a fall away slap and pin attempt , then Konnan crucifixes him back for the pin.

Gene Okerlund interviews Sting , Luger and Savage together after that match. Flair is late to Nitro as that is being played up. Luger isn't worried about Flair as he's more pissed over the NWO beating him up. His eye has healed up awful fast. Sting again tells Hogan he can stick it for sure in his big fat limo. Savage is feeling THE MADNESS ! He wants Flair , he wants Hogan , he wants the Horsemen and he wants the Outsiders ! LETS DO THIS ....OOOHHH YEAAAH DIG IT !

We get our 1st real look at Glacier aka WCW's Sub-Zero. Who is busy doing fancy karate moves to thin air. How in the **** did we expect this to be good then ? Shiavone then decides to take us to another weird vignette that seems aimed at the gay male dynamic . As Jim Powers , Joe Gomez , Renegade and Alex Wright all are on a beach of some kind and all wearing WCW Nitro shirts. They walk towards the camera removing said shirts to show off their bodies. This promo is meant to promote them facing the Dungeon of Doom.

Yes WCW decided that 4 guys removing shirts and showing off their bodies was the best way to promote them in this Nitro match. Anyhow Shiavone promotes that a new member is joining the Dungeon of Doom tonight. It sounds so serious as Sullivan , Barbarian and Hugh Morrus come out. Then out comes the newest member of the Dungeon of Doom ....the Leprechaun. Or Braun the Leprechaun who is DeWayne Bruce actually. Bruce is famous for being the trainer of the Power Plant and pretty much nearly killing a reporter in a training exercise and mocking him over kayfabe.

As the match begins Shiavone claims there is trouble going on in the production area as a camera is being sent back to look. The camera in the back finds Nash & Hall in the production area goofing around. Having fun as they play with things. Nash jokingly asks for the brain center and they go to where the show is being directed as they both become directors. Telling the cameras to pan the crowd. They claim to be looking for someone there and as security finally arrives , Hall threatens to sue them if they touch him. "Ground control to Major Tom , pan the crowd." - Nash.

Comically the Outsiders leave finally with security getting them from the production truck. We really didn't miss anything from this match as Bruce as the Leprechaun acting mentally insane around the ring apron. As Jim Powers is struggling , out comes Teddy Long who gives him a pep talk about being a good talent. He obviously loves men who remove their shirts to show off the body. His pep talk goes nowhere as the Giant suddenly comes out and starts choke slamming EVERYONE in sight !

The Giant makes a statement as he kicks out Wright as the final guy. Him showing he owns the ring and is World Champion. Gene Okerlund comes out to do an interview with him and how Hogan has challenged him. Or demanded he put that belt up. The Giant proclaims he as WCW World Champion is about defending that championship and he did last week in Japan. Giant then claims he is the cancer that World Championship Wrestling can't find a solution for. And he claims WCW has came to him and asked for what they can do against Hogan and the NWO , he's gonna choke slam his ass at Sturgess at Hog Wild .

In ring with no real entrance is Diamond Dallas Page and Prince Iaukea (Michael Laauli Hayner) who I believe is making his 1st WCW Nitro appearance here. Iaukea has only been in pro wrestling a year at this point and trained by Dean Malenko. Backstage its told that Hayner impressed Kevin Sullivan with his respect and love of the business that he gave him the Iaukea name from his friend King Curtis Iaukea. King Curtis gave the young man permission to use the name and was also impressed at his work inside the ring.

The Prince is showing some skills but Page is clearly on his push. Page throws Prince into the turnbuckle and he bounces off the ropes into a diamond cutter. Before we go to a commercial , Chavo Guerrero cuts a promo as he can't wait to challenge Dean Malenko. He's faced his uncle Eddie a lot , but never have faced him yet. Then when we return we see the brutal Sullivan/Benoit war in matches and brawls they have had. At one point , Nancy begs Chris to stop from beating her estranged husband up. But he's the f'n Crippler and keeps putting the boots to him.

Dean Malenko vs Chavo Guerrero is up now as out comes the man of 1,000 holds. The ICE MAN. They show what happened last week with Benoit. Shiavone questions if Malenko is a member of the Dungeon of Doom or paid off by them. The match starts off awesome as Chavo shows just how athletic and talented he was then at 26. I believe Chavo is also making his 1st Nitro appearance in this.

Hour #2 starts as the countdown clock isn't shown and its just them going to hour #2 with some fire works going off. Malenko takes control of things during the match as Bischoff promotes the tough test ahead for Dean Malenko as he's facing Benoit at Hog Wild. The fireworks have screwed up Heenan's mic it seems and seconds later they manage to get his sound hooked back up. Bischoff then promotes his Bikers PPV which was more a vanity project to himself more or less.

Chavo had only been wrestling 2 years before this so he was pretty new at this. Malenko starts to teach the young Guerrero a wrestling lesson as suddenly out comes Jimmy Hart as Malenko isn't happy. He starts yelling at Hart to leave as its screwing his concentration up. Chavo starts to rally back as Hart keeps staying around. Malenko stops the rally and locks in the Texas coverleaf finisher and makes Chavo tap.

As we go to commercial Meng and Jimmy Hart cut a promo. He's facing Ice Train and as Jimmy Hart claims , tonight the Ice Man is gonna be cold as Ice after Meng gets done with him. Bischoff and Heenan worry over the Outsiders and NWO doing what they have. They promote the Hog Wild PPV and what is coming August 10th with Hogan vs Giant for the WCW World title.

Ice Train vs Meng is up next as Bischoff promotes him as a big future star and could be huge. That he has improved so much and could be a big time future star. That pretty much didn't happen as Teddy Long is watching and managing this guy. This match isn't pretty because its basically two brawling , power guys essentially. Meng is a force of nature and can't be denied as he's beating up Ice Train. Then Train tries to rally back and makes a key mistake , trying to head butt Meng .


End of Part #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Ice Train to his credit keeps rallying back , but Meng is just so tough. In a spot to show you how warm it is in Florida , the camera is close near the turnbuckle as Train smacks the sweat off Meng with chops into the camera. The match soon goes outside as suddenly outta nowhere comes Scott Norton who smashes Meng into the ring post. As he tells the camera , the only reason he's done this is to save Ice Train for the PPV so he won't have an excuse for what happens to him there.

We go to a promo as WCW airs the best vignette of Hogan's turn and "hostile takeover" of WCW. How things are going and how Sting and Savage have fought back against the NWO. Then we get the spot where they hung the N-W-O letters and how they took out Lex Luger. Then Hogan's challenge to the Giant and how he wants the WCW World title.

Eddie Guerrero cuts a promo as we go to commercial about facing Psychosis tonight. He claims that his dad taught him to never overlook a challenge and he won't now. Another vignette of Glacier airs kicking the air and more. As again it sadly looks pretty damn silly folks. Finally its time for the Psychosis/Guerrero match as this could be pretty damn good.

Guerrero tells us walking down the ramp that this is what its all about , Disney and MGM Studios. Don't even think of turning that channel ! The fans are hot for him in this crowd. During this fast paced solid match , Heenan brings up how the family have all said Eddie Guerrero was said to be the best of the family and a star. They seemed to predict pretty right on that one. The announcers are selling his US Title match against Ric Flair at Hog Wild.

Psychosis does a cool ass spinning kick off the top rope , then after knocking him outta the ring does a dive through the ropes outside at him. Bischoff promotes AAA and WCW's talent relationship with that company. The two men then do a bunch great reversals and more into pin attempts. Guerrero finally to finish this awesome match nails a frankensteiner off the top rope and climbs back up and nails his 5* frog splash finisher.

Now its time for the Main Event as out comes Mongo and Chris Benoit. The 3 ladies lead them out as there is no Ric Flair. He's not out there and neither is Arn Anderson. Meanwhile a white limo has arrived as Arn Anderson has tried to look inside the tented windows and see who is there. They question if Flair is in the limo but AA finally comes to the ring as Anderson huddles with Benoit and Mongo. He has taken Flair's place.

Sting leads the good guys out ready for this main event 6 man tag match. Bischoff wonders if Flair has joined the NWO possibly and if he's in the limo. The match starts quick but basically breaks down into a wild affair to cover the fact , Mongo still isn't a good wrestler and they have to do small spots with him to cover the weakness. Which with Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit , the best 2 guys to cover one dudes weakness possible. They start working over Sting to start the real part of this tag team match.

Heenan and Bischoff sell a drop kick from Mongo like its the 2nd coming of Lou Thez on crack cocaine. The drop kick for the record was so completely done wrong and landed so weird on Sting , it didn't look like any drop kick I have seen. As the match flows Sting basically has to try his ass off to make Mongo do good at his spots. At one point Sting has to hook Mongo's arm to make him drag him back into the corner to take the heel beatdown . Which is so funny to see a face wrestler pretty much wanna be beat down like that.

Eventually with AA in ring , Sting makes the hot tag as the match breaks down into all 6 men brawling. Eventually outside the ring Woman and Debra fight over who to hand the life savings of Macho Man to in ring. Savage sees that he can finally get his money back and put it in a bank hopefully , and uses the briefcase as the ref is distracted to nail Benoit from behind as Luger pins him. The Horsemen lose this one as they go to the back.

In ring post match Okerlund talks with Sting as he promotes the tag match him and Luger have against the Outsiders they have at Hog Wild. Sting claims its gonna be a real , real bad day for the Outsiders at Hog Wild . Luger is pissed and claims he's about to snap like THE MADNESS next to him. He is angry at how he's gonna punch their teeth down their throats. Savage claims he's gonna be at HOG WILD too and they have a date , so don't be late !

And unlike the past few weeks , WCW Nitro ends in a calm way after that promo. With no answer of who is in the white limo.

The Bad - This episode of Nitro had some freaking bad comical moments. From the matches (Norton/Taylor , Ice Train/Meng , Dungeon of Doom 8 man tag) to the vignettes . It was so bad that during a 6 man Main Event tag match , Mongo was exposed so badly in ring Sting had to personally nearly take him by the hand and lead him into spots.

The funniest spot had to be WCW's idea that to sell an 8 man tag match with Jim Powers , Alex Wright , Joe Gomez and Renegade they needed to have them walk on a beach towards the camera and remove their WCW Nitro shirts. Like they were in some low budget porno production. The addition of an insane Leprechaun didn't help since well , we already had the additions of seeing a Mummy and Yeti join Sullivan's odd group. I am sure Santa is around the corner waiting for his spot in the Dungeon of Doom.

The worst part was that conventional wisdom should have been to limit Mongo to one or two spots pure the tag match , let him tag out. Instead he was so bad in the spots , he blew it big time. It was more comical to see Sting basically have to take his arm and make him hook him , to drag him to the ropes. Nitro ends in a weird sense of calm for the week which was odd as well. Maybe even the Outsiders couldn't save this show.


OVERALL : **1/2 . Basically only 2 real matches was worth watching and that was Malenko/Chavo Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero/Psychosis. Both matches were good for what they were and helped ease the pain of some horrible ideas. You know its bad when the highlight of a Nitro is where Nash & Hall go into the production truck. You know the show isn't that good when that is considered a highlight.

[Camx]

What the heck? 90's WCW? Do I like this? Or hate it? Talk about flashbacks I never thought I'd have.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

What the heck? 90's WCW? Do I like this? Or hate it? Talk about flashbacks I never thought I'd have.

Well for a lot of good wrestling , WCW had it. They also had some clunkers as the above post shows.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - July 29th , 1996



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

For the 4th week , WCW Nitro is again at the Disney/MGM Studios at Orlando , Florida. Shiavone runs down the complete Nitro and matches for the 2 hour telecast. He promotes how for the last 2 months , WCW has been under attack by the New World Order. Larry calls them the New World Oder. They show a video from last Saturday as the Outsiders filmed themselves ready to cowardly jump Sting alone , as Luger was lured away. They end up beating up Sting and leaving by his car.

Mike Enos comes out alone as Colonel Robert Parker isn't with him. Its brought up that Sister Sherri has cost Rough and Ready as a team a few matches. That she has kissed Dick Slater repeatedly to lose. Hacksaw Jim Duggen's music hits as he comes out ready for a FIGHT ! The announcers discuss that Ric Flair could possibly be a part of the NWO. That he was gone mysteriously last week and could have been in that limo. Tony brings up that Flair always wants to be on top of a situation and see's how the NWO is gaining power.

As the match begins Enos tries matching power with Hacksaw. That is like trying keep an alcoholic from drinking. Eventually Enos realizes he actually has more brain cells that Hacksaw has lost in his lifetime. So he takes advantage and throws him outside to take control of the match. Duggen maybe years past the whole USA gimmick being huge , but fans love the guy. The kids and more chant USA and boo Enos in this. They even do the Hoooooooo yell to try and get Hacksaw back into this.

Duggen eventually feels the power of AMERICA surge through him and rallies back. Enos is able to cut him off from the comeback but grows so over confident and tries a dumb top rope move. Then as the tied starts to again Enos starts beating Hacksaw in the corner , where the referee gives the 5 count to stop him. As he turns his back with the referee , Duggen winds his taped fist up and levels Mike Enos for the win. Weirdly this isn't a DQ as even Larry questions this.

In ring Gene Okerlund decides to talk to Hacksaw about the NWO. Then the simple USA lovin Hacksaw questions why his good buddy and pal would turn on everyone. Duggen brings up how they'd travel together for years , how they visited Make A Wish people together. That his wife held his babies when they were born and now , its all gone. Duggen doesn't wanna wrestle Hogan , he just wants to beat him up for this.

Shiavone promotes Chavo Guerrero , The Giant , Brian Knobbs and more on WCW Saturday Night. The music hits as its Ric Flair. This was scheduled last week but now this week , Flair is out with Benoit and Mongo. They are really gonna make Mongo work again after the disaster we saw last week ? Man alive this could be some foolish people. Nancy Sullivan as she walks out is near Chris Benoit .

They are facing Randy Savage , Sting and Lex Luger. Savage goes right at Flair as he unleashes THE MADNESS. Then soon enough Sting vs Flair is in ring. This match is a complete insane brawl with all 6 men brawling to start it as the referee has to go outta the ring. We go to commercial as Glacier continues his karate moves against the air. Kicking the most ass against the air that could be possible. Air -0 Glacier - 1 . Take that you bastard air , you won't screw with Glacier this week.

Sting seems pretty pumped this week as he's likely in anger over his being jumped by the NWO. Soon enough after Sting beats up Flair in ring , he ducks out and Savage starts beating his ass comically. Then he goes back in and Sting continues the job. Savage gets tagged in as Flair plays mind games as he kisses Elizabeth and this sets THE MADNESS off as he goes after him ! Its complete funny insanity as Flair goes to run outside the ring as THE MADNESS can't be stopped. Beating him to the ring again.

This insane fun ends and stops suddenly as Mongo gets tagged in. Savage tags in Lex Luger who now gets saddled with carrying Mongo for awhile in this. The best move Mongo has is a headlock and he uses it and tags out. Flair is the MVP of this match as he tags in and sells for each guy and takes a comical beating from them all. Once Benoit gets in he starts to go to work as Larry claims he's a darn machine !

The good guys are totally cutting the bad guys off as they make some comebacks for most of this match. Mongo keeps his spots short and sweet , then tags Benoit in to run the match pretty much. You can tell how hot Florida is again as Sting and Benoit are drenched in sweat due to how much they have done in ring thus far. Flair and Sting have a fun series into a backslide showing just how agile Flair was at this point to do all that in a sequence.

Sting and Flair have such a fun chemistry they do the figure four slapping spot and Sting powering outta it. Larry then in a spot complains over what he feels is a slow count from referee Nick Patrick on Sting . Claiming he's never liked the guy since he's a jerk. As the match is going solid Jimmy Hart suddenly runs out and yells that a camera needs to go to the back as the Outsiders are out there. Hart climbs on the apron begging everyone to come to the back as people need help.

Outside in the back Arn Anderson and Marcus Bagwell are down from a baseball bat attack. Scotty Riggs comically runs out and stops from attacking Nash , deciding to look at Bagwell. Riggs isn't the brightest guy clearly as Hall lays him out. Then in an awesome damn spot , Nash catches Rey Mysterio and spears him into the truck. The Outsiders leave as Savage jumps on the limo top and rides off Everyone has left the match as the Horsemen and the good guys realize , that they are now in this together.

Its complete chaos as everyone is down , screaming , yelling , crying. Loud trucks and more are heard. Eddie checks on Rey , Luger checks on Riggs as Sting checks on Bagwell. Mysterio claims there was 4 guys , but they only saw 2 of them as Shiavone claims. The Horsemen isn't happy with what happened to AA outside. Woman begs for help for Arn Anderson as the medical people go to help them. In an iconic spot that Shiavone points out , the medics remove Mysterio's mask as Rey covers his face quickly.

Alex Wright and others claim there was 4 men there as Tony and Larry muse that there is 3 of them with Hogan. So where and who is the 4th ? In a spot Meng wants to check on Anderson , claiming he is there to show respect. Benoit gets in his face intense as Meng keeps trying to talk. Hart tries to cool things down saying Meng isn't there to fight.

End of Part #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The 2nd hour begins as usually the announcers trade positions. Now all 4 just sit there and all scared and mentally exhaust. Heenan brings up having nerve damage in his hand due to a neck injury. He's too scared to stay and asks Bischoff if he can guarantee his safety. Bischoff tells him right now nothing is guaranteed but tells Bobby he can do what he needs to do. So Heenan bows outta this broadcast worried over his health for his family , leaving a 3 man booth of Shiavone , Zbyszko , and Bischoff.

Eric brings up that Eddie Guerrero was supposed to face Mysterio to start hour #2. He wants to go ahead and get things started as Shiavone brings up the American Males was up next and they can't go either. That the matches are done so Bischoff has to line up the backup matches for Nitro. The fans can't see what is happening backstage right now due to how Nitro is filmed at this venue and start a boring chant . They see an empty ring as Tony explains and wanna see some matches happen.

Eventually they are loaded into ambulances to take the wounded WCW guys away. The fans in the arena start a brief NWO chant which is the first for the group. Tony apologizes for the lack of matches and that they will get things started as soon as possible. Bischoff announces they have the stand by matches now in place finally. In a spot , Sting and Flair travel with their friends in the ambulance .

So the stand by match is High Voltage vs The Steiner Brothers. This is a new team making their 2nd Nitro appearance. High Voltage were Robbie Rage and Kenny Kaos , two very built young guys. They were also best friends in real life who went to the WCW Power Plant and trained. During the opening of the match , Rick Steiner makes sure to keep half his gaze behind him in case the NWO return.

The young guys seem to start off good and are doing very well against the Steiner's til the veteran tag team takes control. Scott is on as usual and seems ready to beat down the both guys for awhile. Then Rick gets in and the fun continues as Rage & Kaos can't seem to handle the Steiner's . Scotty nails a version of a piledriver for the win , which pleased the crowd. The finisher is pretty intense and seems like a bit of the Undertaker's tombstone.

The last ambulance pulls away as the show goes to commercial. The next match when they return was supposed to be Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio for the WCW Cruiserweight title. But with Mysterio's injury , that can't happen. So tonight this stand by match is Big Bubba with Jimmy Hart vs Eddie Guerrero. Coming to the ring Big Bubba and Jimmy seem a bit distracted by the NWO attack and look behind them.

Guerrero is pissed over his pal being hurt and after Big Bubba show boats by paint brushing him with a punch , Guerrero charges back in and knocks him outta the ring. Bubba uses his power to get control of this match and taunts Eddie. But as he keeps taunting him , Guerrero makes comebacks each time. Bubba even tries a silly pin and stunned when Eddie kicks out.

Bubba stays in control of this match and its a lot better than expected. Its 2 guys with conflicting styles. A power big man wrestler versus a smaller type who uses his quickness and wrestling skill. Bischoff claims that the national news is contacting him over the beat down by the NWO. I heard the Republicans stopped the Whitewater Investigation to find out if there was a 4th NWO member....

At one point you can tell Big Bubba is getting gassed from the heat and all. He goes and talks to the camera and seems wore out from staying with the faster Guerrero. He then locks on a long rest hold to gather some steam for more. Finally Guerrero manages to get the win as Bubba tried to get Hart's megaphone. Post match he blames Jimmy and they argue a few seconds , but they leave together.

As we go to commercial the 1st NWO B & W vignette airs. And its a beauty folks for how drastic as hell it looks. Its so wild to watch as the 3 men discuss the NEW...WORLD....ORDER. With all 3 cutting fun promos about Billionaire Ted. In fact here is the vignette.



The NWO becomes more than a heel stable as Hogan proclaims now its a wrestling organization. After the long vignette WCW returns as we see a replay of the entire Outsiders attack on Arn Anderson , The American Males and Rey Mysterio . The lawn dart with Mysterio is replayed because its so epic cool. Tony brings up that AA was supposed to face The Giant for the WCW World title.

Greg Valentine will face The Giant for the WCW World Title instead. The Hammer has drew the unlucky card of facing that monster The Giant. This match doesn't look to favor the older , slower Valentine and as we watch , it goes pretty fast. The Giant delivers 2 choke slams and beats Valentine in ease. The fans actually cheer the Giant as he seems surprised by this. He wants Hogan to listen real quick about something as he talks to Okerlund post match.

The Giant suddenly starts to cut a silly Hogan promo and then stops to tell fans how easy its easy to fall for a con. A con man like Hulk Hogan who did this act. The Giant puts over while Hogan is doing movies and hanging with 2 pals , he's been defending and beating the best of WCW. Then he claims that everyone in WCW needs to bond together or they will all fall alone. Jimmy Hart then pledges and swears at Hog Wild they will take Hogan out ! The show ends as we get to see Mysterio eat the trailer head 1st to end this Nitro.


The Bad - Unlike last week's sense of calm ending , this one EXPLODED quick. While the savage destruction backstage of the Outsiders laying out guys was pretty damn cool , a big problem was the fans at the Nitro had no clue what was happening backstage. They didn't have a WCW screen to watch it on and after 20-25 minutes , they grew restless and a bit irked at no action.

Another problem was the substitute matches , while the High Voltage/Steiner's was a decent one to put on and fans enjoyed it ....why would you think to do Valentine/Giant ? What Earth did anyone seriously believe that Greg Valentine , a guy years from his high peak in the WWF was a serious main event challenger to The Giant ? Of the huge talent roster in World Championship Wrestling ....you do this ?


OVERALL : **** Outta 5 . Beyond the lack of real quality matches after the 6 man Tag match ended abruptly , this Nitro had the NWO show its impact. We saw them attack Sting 1st in a TV spot days earlier and then attack guys backstage. The chaos and insanity backstage is one of those moments that made the NWO so scary real as a heel faction. In fact its an element missing from current WWE broadcasts. The NWO would jump people outside the arena as we saw in the parking lot and it added a "realistic" type vibe to things.

Nash himself on a WWE Legends Round Table said that is why the NWO worked so well. It was like a more reality based product and group invading WCW. Its why fans latched onto it. The whole fire trucks and ambulances , while Woman cried for help added a dynamic to WCW's program. It all seemed so friggen real.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Nitro - August 5th , 1996



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

WCW Nitro opens again at ....Disney , MGM Studios again. This makes the 5th straight Nitro to be filmed here . Its gotta be a cost cutting move perhaps with the Sturgess show on PPV being a free gate. So to cut some costs Bischoff is having this done awhile. As the show begins Shiavone shows 4 empty chairs in the front that was oddly empty and perhaps for the NWO . Who is the 4th member ? Also they mock the fact their security sucks pretty bad. So bad the WCW wrestlers have decided to watch for each other as the Dungeon of Doom have gathered around the ring.

The 4 chairs again are empty in the front as Shiavone wonders what is happening there. Out comes the Rock N Roll Express folks. 5 Time World tag team titles and Shiavone brings up that he was announcing when they won that 1st World tag team title in the 1980's. Of course Shiavone can't say NWA World tag team titles since those words can't be said on WCW TV. Morton & Gibson are facing Harlem Heat in a title match. This should be interesting.

Showing respect , Booker T requests to wrestle Ricky Morton. That he wants to face him as Stevie Ray tags him in. Both men share a look of this should be fun. They both then play to the camera and this begins. Booker is younger , faster , bigger than Ricky. Also the fans seem to be behind the Heat in this one. So the R's gotta play the heel roles and they do this as Morton does a heelish move to get an advantage.

At commercial , Randy Savage personally has Slim Jim sales go through the roof . As Morton & Gibson do heel actions , then the Heat do it as pay back. The fans themselves are behind the Harlem Heat in this one. Outside Colonel Parker and Sherri distract Booker T at times as he keeps telling the two they need to watch this match. Shiavone brings up the fact that the Harlem Heat really don't need either one. They have so much talent and Booker gets in and showcases it against Morton.

After playing Ricky Morton through the match , he makes the hot tag and the two start working click. They deliver the finisher , double drop kick and as Sherri tries to kiss Gibson , he shoves her back outside. Parker gets angry and eats a fist from Gibson for getting on the apron. This distracts Gibson from Booker who gets the Harlem kick and gets pinned. It was a nice finish and one where weirdly the R & R Express for being older , didn't look half bad.

The Nasty Boys are interviewed by Gene Okerlund about the friendship of Hogan with them. That they are his friends and they won't turn their backs on who he is. Sting and Luger get angry because the Nastys won't condemn Hogan and demand to know where they stand. The Nastys tell them they stand for themselves basically and it almost gets a fight as Gene stops it and tells em to save it for tonight. Knobbs himself claims they know that Hogan's doing what they'd do and its Nasty !

At commercial its Glacier vs. Air for the 3rd or 4th week in a row. That pussy Air loses as usual as Glacier showcases what he is all about. Air never stood a chance. In fact its Glacier 2 --- Air 0.

Tony and Larry promote Madusa's match with Bull Nakano at Hog Wild. Sonny Oono brings out Malia Hosaka to face Madusa in this singles match. WCW was trying to make the signing of Madusa worth while since it was basically a big middle finger to Vince McMahon in months earlier. Hosaka is pretty talented and I brought her up weeks ago in a review I did where she competed. The fans chant USA repeatedly since Madusa is dressed in the American Flag tights. Hosaka does like an indian death lock submission and its pretty cool.

In a surprise finish , Oono gets involved as Madusa drop kicks him off the apron , as suddenly Hosaka manages to nail a move on her. Then Oono holds her legs so they can get the win. A black limo has arrived as Tony and Larry question what that could be about . Once they return from commercial Shiavone shows clips from 3 weeks ago where Malenko cost Benoit the match against Eddie Guerrero then. Shiavone brings up the business arrangement that Malenko claims he did with Jimmy Hart on Saturday Night. If he can beat Benoit he gets Rey Mysterio in a Cruiserweight title match.

Benoit vs Alex Wright is up as Nancy and Elizabeth lead the Crippler out who has bad intentions for Wright it seems. Its said that Hart has already helped Malenko secure a Cruiserweight title match against Mysterio for WCW Saturday Morning (yes Wrestling once aired at 9am on TBS folks) . Benoit starts fast as Wright has to fire back and he surprisingly starts to beat Benoit at his own game !

During the match they keep looking at the black limo and who the 4th man could be. Will he be at Hog Wild this Sunday ? This match meanwhile has been incredible and its pretty awesome to watch Wright and Benoit go at full speed and do various reversals and more. What makes this more weird of a match is outside the Dungeon of Doom are doing security it seems. Benoit doesn't care as he is about beating Wright in ring.

You can see the frustration Benoit is having trying to beat Das Wunderkid in this match. He uses Wright's hair to throw him into the ground and tries more submission moves to wear him down. During the match out comes Jimmy Hart who tries to tell Nancy she needs to leave the Horsemen. That Benoit will never win a championship and she's making "him" crazy doing this and that Elizabeth is a user. Then out comes Malenko who tries to abduct her personally. Benoit sees him and sees his chance for payback. Losing this match by count out basically.

Benoit then smashes Dean's face into the ring post , the barricade , the bleachers and finally throws him into the tree. Note to Malenko ...never cross the Crippler's path ever. He drags him to the back as we go to commercial. Once we return Tony shows the black Limo and the match we get is Lord Steven Regal (with Jeeves) vs Randy "Macho Man" Savage....ooooooh yeeaaaah.

The MADNESS is ready for Regal as he comes out. But surprisingly Regal starts the match off and is in control of it . He even does a fancy leg sweep move and does a good counter. Regal is a good mat wrestler as we see and is working a very solid match against Savage. But how long can he control THE MADNESS ? Then Regal makes a mistake ...he mocks Savage and tempting THE MADNESS is just dumb.

After 2-3 weeks away the WCW Countdown clock is back for hour #2. Shiavone acts scared over something and hour 2. Both Bischoff and Heenan aren't there and they learn suddenly that they will have to call the entire show. Tony explains that Bobby walked off the set outta fear last week and now this. Suddenly out comes Luger & Sting who decide to come and sit in 2 of the empty seats in the front. Perhaps to watch Savage's back.

Shiavone claims that the Dungeon of Doom and Scott Norton is out as well in this odd night watching the ring. At one comical part , Savage throws Regal into the seats as Sting & Luger moves. Eventually Savage nails the ELBOW FROM THE SKY ! After the match Sting and Luger decide to go visit the black limo and investigate. Inside Sting finds a wreath with "Condolences on the Death of WCW" .

In ring we see Gene Okerlund as he will interview Randy Savage. From what we learn Savage will get the 1st WCW World title shot from whoever wins between Hogan & The Giant. But as Savage cooly explains..."I cuuuut a liiiittle deaaal because I had to....DIG IT , OOOOH YEAAAH !" Sting & Luger detail what the wreath says and Savage claims the Outsiders believe in these games and they don't want none of anyone. Then in a comical spot Sting sets up like Lucy and lets Savage kick the ball like Charlie Brown in the ring with the wreath and it goes flying !

Tony is wondering where Bischoff and Heenan is. Then Larry claims he believes possible foul play is involved. They bring up guys onscreen around the ring and them backstage. We go to WCW Saturday where Flair tries to hurt Chavo Guerrero and taunt Eddie. Post match an angry Eddie claims he has added fuel to this fire and will take what Flair covets most and thats the US Title. Rey Mysterio acts hurt still and tries to tell Kevin Nash how he feels.


End of Part #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Speaking of insane , out comes Booty Man . Are we really having this on a WCW Nitro ? Shiavone brings up how the Nasty's don't seem angry with Hogan and claim to be his friends still. Is the Booty Man ? Out comes Ric Flair who is brought out by all 3 women. Then WCW does it usual crazy game as Shiavone claims as US Champion , Flair is #1 contender to the WCW World title . But isn't Savage the new #1 contender minutes ago ? WTF ?

Arn Anderson is out to watch Flair's back as his arm is taped. Then we see Mongo and Benoit by the tree. The power of Hulkamania has clearly left the coke fueled Booty Man as Flair is putting it on him. Finally Shiavone claims Heenan has arrived as he comes over as he discusses what happened last week. Heenan isn't happy since he came here and has been sitting back there and no clue what is going on. He knows Bischoff is always on time and something is up. In ring Flair and the Horsemen decide to destroy The Booty Man.

The Dungeon of Doom don't care as the Horsemen are trying to take him out. Anderson then takes the chair and smashes his leg. Shiavone claims its a message for Hogan and the NWO. Kimberly is crying for him as Flair puts the figure four back on. Okerlund begs Anderson to end this as he was a victim and now he's doing this. Anderson claims that the NWO is in the Bible as the beginning of the end of times. AA brags up that NWO may hurt them , but the Horsemen will send one to the morgue.

Benoit and Mongo cut promos and finally Flair yells for Hogan to watch this as he stomps on Booty Man outside the ring. Then comes back in ring and that just because one day he woke up and thought he was a "bad man" that he is. Flair claims he left his best friend laying after what he did to his best friend AA. "Here's your best friend , come get him !"

Shiavone shows the wild insane attack from last week that happened where people were taken out and Rey Mysterio was used as a lawn dart by Kevin Nash. Savage goes body surfing on the limo .

We return as Larry claims if Hogan believes he's the anti-Christ he needs to shave his crazy beard he's growing. Then as we go to commercial the 2nd FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE NEW WORLD ORDER airs. Its there the 3 do funny jokes on Luger and Sting. How they lured Lex away and then had some fun batting practice on some of WCW's finest ! Hogan brags how Hall & Nash beat everyone up. Hall claims they need to know if Billionaire Ted needs any help for the Atlanta Braves ?

Hogan claims his birthday is coming August 11th and he can't wait to be WCW World Champion and make the title into the NWO. This corporation has to break a few eggs as Hall claims and the vignette suddenly ends as I wondered if my internet was broke. Shiavone learns that Luger and Sting turned it off and where its coming from. The guy claims he just gets sent the vignettes as paid announcements to air and he isn't responsible. Both accuse the guys of working for the NWO and they finally leave

One of the main events is Craig Pittman as he's drawn the unlucky card of facing The Giant. Shiavone almost makes me wanna laugh as he claims that Giant can't look past Pittman since well....Pittman's done so much right ? In a comical spot Pittman does this weird dumb head jump off into the Giant as he'd bounce off the ropes as its having no effect. He eats a choke slam for that silliness. Then as he goes to do it again post match , Teddy Long gets in and begs him off from doing it. The Giant throws him to the side and decides to choke slam Long for this.

Post match Okerlund interviews the Giant and Jimmy Hart , as Hart is acting all brave. Until the black limo arrives and he gets behind The Giant. As the Giant tells Okerlund that he's never bragged at being a nice guy. That he's never wanted to be a role model. And he's not sorry for those people he just put down. That he'd take anyone out as he threatens Okerlund and Hart. That all he has ever wanted as a kid is to be WCW World Champion and he dares Hogan to show up at the PPV for what is ahead.

Shiavone brings up how Savage had retrieved his briefcase of money and in a dumb way , carried it to the ring on WCW Saturday Night when him and Sting faced the Nastys....and lost it again. So basically Savage had his life savings in that briefcase , gets it back and loses that **** again ? Maybe he's suffering from too much MADNESS right now. Because I can't believe someone would be that dumb to do this.

Now its the time for the Main Event of the Nasty Boys vs Sting/Luger. For protection out comes the Steiner Brothers who are friends of Luger and Sting. They bring up that Sting is wearing yellow and purple face paint to symbolize WCW. This match can go 2 ways , it can be absolute terrible since its the Nastys or its gonna stun us all.

The Nastys get the advantage in this match as Knobbs trips up Sting and it allows Saggs and him to start beating him down. What surprises is me , is how many times Sting played the Ricky Morton/face in peril role in 1996 to Luger. Luger cheers him on to make the hot tag. The match breaks down after Sting makes the hot tag and Luger and Saggs go outside. Its there Saggs by accident hits Rick Steiner. Then in payback Rick nails the Steinerline !

He gets thrown back in and Sting hooks the Scorpion Death Lock for the win. They both hope Sting makes Hall or Nash tap good with it. Back from commercial Gene Okerlund is in ring and discusses the black limo. In a show of how good WCW was with kids , they have 2 young children get in ring and one does Luger's pose down . I just wonder whatever happened to both kids now ? They'd be around their mid to late 20's about now.

Okerlund brings up the limo as Sting & Luger joke about the limo and going to investigate it. That they so hope Hall and Nash is there. But Lex claims they wouldn't be that stupid. As Sting gets there he opens the door as someone jerks it back and screams as they get thrown a bag. Inside the bag as Sting unzips it in the AFTER SHOW EXCLUSIVE we see that a hand done note reads..."YOUR RIGHT , THERE IS 4 GUYS....BUT IS THERE 5 ? SEE YA AT STURGESS." Both joke over this bag that has a Turner logo on it. The show finally ends from that.


The Bad - I wish we could have seen more of Benoit/Wright. Those two guys were putting on a damn good match there awhile. Its a shame they had to end it with typical type finish as we saw. Of course Benoit exacted his physical revenge on Malenko after weeks of waiting.

I dreaded seeing The Booty Man. But I get the sense behind why they did this in a way. Booty was considered Hogan's best pal so of course the Horsemen would look to take him out. Flair wants Hogan and it seems that the general idea is he's gonna be the guy to potentially face Hogan soon. After Macho Man gets his shot.

The last 2 weeks WCW has trotted out some insane challengers for the Giant to destroy. Last week it was an old Greg Valentine and now this week its a real young Craig Pittman . The case of both is 2 guys no one would ever consider challenges for The Giant really. I mean this was building him to face Hogan at the PPV in this big title match too. Of course in a cool scene we saw Teddy Long eat a choke slam. Which is always cool to see.


OVERALL : **** Outta 5. Even with no insane NWO appearance and the Outsiders wrecking havoc on Nitro , the suspense was there with the black limo and rumored 4th member. Who and where is he ? The matches were also good as Harlem Heat/Rock n Roll Express , Savage/Regal , and Benoit/Wright kept me watching. Its a shame for the Benoit one it ended that way. But I can forgive it as Benoit would get his revenge !

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Nitro - August 12th , 1996



Your Hosts - Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

Finally after 5 long weird weeks filming Nitros at MGM Studios at Disney , WCW Nitro is being held at Casper , Wyoming ! Yes folks ...finally Nitro after a month and half is back on the road. The crowd looks pretty damn hot and full for this show. Shiavone proclaims that this is a very , very dark day in WCW history. Hulk Hogan is now the new WCW World champion and he's desecrated the championship spraying NWO on it. Larry is so disappointed and angry at WCW that no one stood up for WCW against Hall & Nash when they cost WCW the World title. He even isn't happy with Luger and Sting.

Photos are shown of Hall & Nash as things broke down as Luger went for the rack on Scott Hall and his foot hit referee Nick Patrick. Then later Patrick seemed to clip Luger's knee by either accident or on purpose. Then as Shiavone claims Patrick seemed to deliver a quick count on Luger. Larry doesn't wanna rip Patrick since he's a very small guy as a referee and was hit in the face by accident.

So to start Nitro , were getting a giant 8 man tag as High Voltage and Rough n Ready are out to face the Dungeon of Doom. This is basically Kevin Sullivan , Hugh Morrus , Meng and Barbarian. Sullivan has decided to drop his Taskmaster look as either A) This match was thrown together backstage so damn quick and he didn't have his ring gear or B) He's changing his character more. What is shocking is I thought Dick Slater's last TV match was weeks ago. So mu mistake. The Faces of Fear (Meng & Barbarian) are pretty much still with the Dungeon of Doom.

This isn't gonna be a pretty 8 man tag match folks. Because Barbarian , Meng and Hugh Morrus involved. Sullivan isn't doing much in this match as I have to wonder again if he was planned for the show and just came in. Then outta nowhere a quick finish as Meng wins. Post match we see that Rough N Ready beat up Kaos , their own partner for his losing to Meng. This match was a rushed , quick one and it really made me question why it was pushed out so quick.

Out comes Sting and Luger as they come out to talk. Shiavone hands them a mic as Lex and Sting aren't happy with what happened last night. They don't want anymore controversies and challenge the Outsiders to come out ...right now ! Sting taunts the NWO and questions if they have any guts , they will come out right now . The fans are hot for this as the two want Hall & Nash. Sting continues to taunt them as they won't come out as he claims they only come out when they can pick their spots and finally he goes ..."Go ahead and bring the baseball bats if ya want !"

As we go to commercial another vignette of Glacier airs as he kicks and beats up Air some more. At this point Air can't even do anything as a challenge to the mighty Glacier. We return as Diamond Dallas Page didn't get an entrance and will face Renegade who has dropped the face paint look. Of course Renegade is still doing a bit of that Warrior shtick like shaking his head and acting like he channels The Gods . Page of course is on his push as we know and Renegade doesn't have the power of Hulkamania fueling him anymore either.

Tony announces that the New World Order has a response to the challenge of Sting & Luger tonight. Right after this match , they have a response ready. The fans are so hot they even cheer the Renegade to make a comeback against Page. This match hasn't been bad actually as Page has likely planned it out so well. Even the finish is perfect as Page counters a suplex into a neckbreaker and finally the Diamond Cutter finisher for the win.

Backstage we see that Hogan , Hall and Nash are together. Both taunt that they do this when they are ready , even when they have the gear. Hall claims that they are blaming their loss on a fine referee like Nick Patrick....a senior....SENIOR official. Hogan claims that the Outsiders can go have a workout possibly and then they claim WCW hasn't even figured out who the 4th and 5th members are yet. Hogan gloats over the big size of the title as he claims he may redesign the belt. Hall claims they need to remove the name plate of The Giant because he's a big dumb loser. "Don;t call us boys , we'll call you." - Nash.

Konnan vs Jim Powers is next as both men don't have an entrance . Konnan has changed his attire as his bright colored Mexican garb he'd wear is now replaced by just black tights. Powers gets the early advantage by dumping the new heelish Konnan outside. Shiavone brings up that Konnan has changed his attitude due to how Hogan became NWO. Which again shows the impact of the heel turn had on more people.

Back in ring Konnan takes advantage and has his aggressive attitude on show. Of course Powers battles back and as the match rolls along , Konnan suddenly uses the ropes to bridge pin Powers down. As the referee can likely see this. Konnan looks into the camera angry and says Viva La Mexico. Post match , Gene Okerlund interviews Konnan about what is happening and how he compares himself to Hogan.

Konnan tells him if he don't pay his checks , shut up. Then Konnan tells the disrespectful fans he doesn't care. He claims he doesn't like the NWO but has a full proof plan and then a Viva La Mexico to finish. Shiavone announces as soon as they return from commercial that Sting/Luger vs The Outsiders will happen tonight.

Then out comes Ron Studd ....who ? Studd is clearly maybe a wink , wink to Big John Studd maybe. Anyhow for this Studd he's drawn the unlucky card of facing Chris Benoit. Who eyes Studd like he's nothing. In fact Shiavone plays up that this is the debut of Ron Studd. Who is over 7 foot tall ! Ok in reading this is no relation to John Studd and is in fact Ron Reis who was trained by Big John Studd. Bobby Heenan wasn't at all happy that Reis used the Studd name and once derided the guy in a WCW Magazine over it. Reis would play The Yeti and more dumb characters for sure in WCW.

In ring Benoit walks right up to Ron Studd and just tells him what he thinks of him. Its one of the coolest moments as Benoit has no damn fear of ANYONE.....let alone some new guy named Ron Studd. Then he slaps the guy repeatedly ! It makes Studd snap and its pretty awesome . Shiavone puts over that Benoit fears no man and within minutes he chops the big tree named Ron Studd down and starts taking apart his knee. The fans pop like crazy for Benoit as he flashes the 4 Horsemen sign.

Larry brings up how the personal issues with Dungeon of Doom and 4 Horsemen are allowing the NWO to take over. That people aren't uniting due to these issues. Shiavone brings up how Woman (Nancy) stopped Benoit from taking apart Sullivan and hurting his neck during one match. In a cool as **** scene , Benoit super plexes Ron Studd off the top rope. After the pin Benoit warns The Giant over something as he shows the 4 fingers.

Post match we see Gene Okerlund interview Chris Benoit . Gene flirts a little with Nancy and then its brought up that Benoit vs Giant will be at the Clash of Champions. Benoit on the mic puts over what a talent and great worker he is. But as much respect as he has for Malenko , he's a man on a purpose. And the Horsemen have a purpose that will happen. Then he warns the Giant , "You are tall in stature , you are big in ...stature ...but I will chop you down this Thursday."

Shiavone shows more pictures once we return from commercial. As we see Harlem Heat vs Steiners at Hog Wild. Where the Steiner brothers were screwed over by interference by Sister Sherri and Colonel Parker. They have a rematch set for tonight . As the countdown begins for hour 2. Then Bischoff welcomes us to hour #2 as Heenan and Bischoff are fully back for the 1st time in 2 weeks. The Steiners vs Harlem Heat will kick off this 2nd hour.

Heenan questions Bischoff where he was at last week , but Bischoff claims he was taking care of some business. Bischoff puts over how Hogan has stolen the hearts and minds of millions of fans , now he's taken the WCW World title. The Heat come out with the tag team belts as they taunt being champs. Colonel Parker and Sherri seem happy as a couple.


End of Part #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Scott and Rick starts off in a blaze of anger as they beat down the Heat. Eventually the ref gets things under control more as Scotty soon takes over the match in ring and it becomes a normal tag team match. The Steiner's stay in control going into commercial and out as both are tagging in and out. Finally in a nice heel tactic , Rick chases Booker outside the ring and gets nailed by Stevie Ray. This gives the Harlem Heat the most offense they have had in this tag match.

The finish breaks down as suddenly Sherri grabs Scotty's leg as he tries to superplex Booker inside. Then Colonel Parker somehow gets into the ring and falls over Booker as he's going for the pin. Nick Patrick gets props for calling the DQ in this match as he awards the match to the Steiner's. But the belts don't change hands. Post match the Harlem Heat argue with Sherri and Parker.

Back from commercial Bischoff promotes some of the shocking things seen. Hogan's actions to Booty Man is talked about. Then Bischoff shows the video of what Madusa did to Bull Nakano's motorcycle after her win. The fans start a huge WEASEL chant for Heenan as they love Bobby there. We get pictures of Rey Mysterio vs Ultimate Dragon from Hog Wild. Bischoff has to cut Heenan off quick as they have a match they have to get to on time.

Rey Mysterio is out to face Ultimate Dragon in this rematch for the Cruiserweight match. Dragon blows the mist as Sonny Oono is with him. This should be a damn good fast paced match. Damn as soon as I typed that Dragon nails a jump side kick to Mysterio's face ! Dragon is showcasing his talent in ring from his cartwheel and flips into the turnbuckle elbow to the sprint power bomb. Mysterio comes back with his offense and this high risk , high flying match is just damn wild to see as Rey does a somersault over the top rope to the floor outside on Dragon.

Words can't explain at how fast and effortlessly the Dragon seems to move. How he hangs over the top rope , flips back in and more. We nearly get a near pin and champion with a double arm back suplex from him. The fans boo Dragon as he looks surprised at what he's doing. But as Ultimate Dragon gets over confident , Rey uses his experience to trick him and gets the shocking surprise roll up pin. This match was just damn good and so short for what we saw.

Back from commercial , Bischoff promotes Randy Savage vs Ric Flair for the US Title. We see pictures of Flair vs Guerrero at Hog Wild as Flair managed to retain the title. Savage has waited weeks and months to get his hands on Flair seemingly and now will face him as Bischoff claims. Woman and Elizabeth escort Flair to the ring as he has some fun. Heenan worries if Flair should take this match more serious than what he is right now. Because he's facing THE MADNESS and he doesn't care.

Savage is wearing the WCW colors like Sting did last week and seems ok. Then he throws off his stuff and charges the ring ready to kick some Nature Boy ass. The MADNESS is coming Ric ! Savage is so brutal he tries to gouge , bite , and steps on Flair's face at one point. Heenan claims Savage can give a crap for the US Title , he's out to beat up Flair for fun.

As the match flows , Flair is able to use Elizabeth to low blow a distracted Savage. He has the heel advantage awhile til the angry Savage rallies back awhile. During the match Heenan brings up that Hogan doesn't wear red and yellow anymore. Its all black because its about himself now and has always been. Flair focuses on Savage's left knee during his time in control.

This match has been fun to watch the tide turn so many times. Savage and Flair both know each other so well and what works as the fans are behind this one. During one spot Flair by accident tries a running clothesline and nails the referee . The two men go outside the ring and start brawling. Savage pulls the mat away to pile drive Flair on the ground. Then out comes Hogan as he carries a chair. He nails Savage in the back and them cracks him with a head shot. Inside the ring Nick Patrick never sees this.

Outside the ring Flair is never touched as they bring up why Hogan never touched him. Flair crawls back into the ring and covers Macho Man for the win. Bischoff and Heenan muse about the 4th man. They say he never made a move towards Ric Flair as we see.

They show the pictures of Hogan at Hog Wild vs the Giant. This PPV aired on Saturday as we learn. We see the Outsiders get involved as Hogan cracks the Giant with the belt and win the WCW World Title. Then out comes the Booty Man with the birthday cake for Hogan. Its there Hollywood claims what a brother he is to him., How he loves him and then he has Nash and Hall destroy him. Symbolizing to Flair and the Horsemen he doesn't give a **** for The Booty Man and the attack did nothing. Then he spray paints the N-W-O on the title.

The fans erupt in boos as Hogan comes out to talk to Gene Okerlund. Hogan gloats that the WCW title has been transformed into the New World Title belt. Then he claims there is NO STOPPING the NWO right now. Okerlund brings up Flair will challenge him at Clash of Champions. Hogan claims he didn't want Flair to have a mark on his head or anything. That he spared Flair for the Clash so he can wipe him out there . Then Hogan claims once The Outsiders finish with Stinky (Sting) and Flexy Lexy (Luger) he's gonna start changing the names of everyone in WCW.

"I'm changing the names of everyone ...from now on Ric Flair's name will be Stupid Little Man. Stupid Little Man , if I could do that to my best friend (Booty Man) on Saturday and if I could do this to Macho Man another friend....what do you think I'm gonna do to you ?" - Hulk Hogan.

Bischoff returns from commercial and claims that Savage was stretchered out seconds ago. Heenan claims his neck was being looked at. Then Bischoff shows what happened to Arn Anderson 2 weeks ago. Chaos is happening as Bischoff claims that something is going on in the truck. The Outsiders won't come out as Bischoff looks for them , then out comes Hall & Nash through the crowd. The fans pop like crazy for the cool duo. Luger comes out alone as Sting seems missing right now.

Heenan wonders if Sting was taken out possibly by the NWO. Luger takes them both on alone . Then playing mind games , Sting comes through the crowd and jumps Nash as payback. Hogan isn't at ringside for this as the Outsiders . The planned Anderson/Giant match may not happen as this one seems to be taking over. This isn't a normal tag as all 4 men are just going at it as they don't care. Nick Patrick doesn't seem to be caring as Sting was thrown over the top rope as Sting doesn't care.

Then as Sting , stinger splashes Nash , he goes to do Hall and it appears Patrick pulls Hall outta the way. As this match is happening , outta the back comes the Horsemen as they seemingly came out to take up for Luger and Sting. Flair seems to say he came out to take up for Sting. After they shared the ambulance together weeks ago. Once they share the replay they show that Patrick moved Hall outta the ropes.

In an interview post match Flair tells Okerlund that he may not like Luger and Sting , but they are WCW and he's gonna play ball with em. Flair claims that Hogan proclaims he's Immortal but he's gonna come at him. That Nash can try Mongo on for size and Hall can try The Crippler and see what happens ! They promote Clash of Champions as the show ends and Flair struts and goes crazy !


The Bad - The 1st match was clearly thrown together at the last possible second as Bischoff seemed to want a match to air that 1st 5-8 minute segment , then Luger & Sting to come out. In fact Sullivan didn't seem really prepared at all for wrestling that time and wore street clothes. But this was the unpredictable nature of a Nitro. As some have said , Bischoff would change up the show as it ran to do things to counter WWF.

Glacier's vignettes are getting more wore out than usual. Back in June , WCW promoted him as arriving in July. Well , July came and went and this is the 1st August show. So will he be showing up anytime soon ? Or will he be kicking and beating up air some more ?


OVERALL : ***1/2 outta 5. Unlike last week's show that has an anything can happen vibe , this weeks show basically scaled down more on that and went with straight ahead deception as we saw. Nick Patrick was beginning his heel referee run with this episode. Then we Ultimate Dragon/Rey Mysterio which was pretty damn good. But the rest weren't anything special as matches. Benoit/Studd , Page/Renegade weren't really matches anyone demanded. The Main event of Outsiders vs Luger/Sting just ends in a smazz ending as no one wins or loses.

One of the moments fans should see here is that Hogan clearly tells Flair and the Horsemen , he doesn't care about his friends. As he taunts Flair he makes a point to call him "Stupid Little Man" and how if he doesn't care for someone he loves (Booty) what will he do to him soon ? Its all very intriguing as well as Konnan's heel turn.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Nitro - August 19th , 1996



Your Hosts - Tony Shiavone , Larry Zbyszko , Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan

Shiavone welcomes us to WCW Nitro and things are RED HOT folks. This week kicks right off with action from the get go as Tony proclaims. Its a rematch of what happened at the Clash of Champions. Between Hacksaw Jim Duggen and VK Wallstreet. Comically on Thursday at the Clash , Hacksaw tried loading up his fist to be taped and as he winded the tape up , it snared the referee and it cost him the match after Wallstreet rolled him up. Larry claims that it should have been a DQ and why should Duggen get a rematch for that ?

Nick Patrick is the referee for this and controversy surrounds him anyhow. The fans are clearly behind Hacksaw with a huge USA chant and a loud Hooooooo yell. This match has Duggen nailing all his spots as Wallstreet (Rotunda) sells for him like a champ and then makes his heel comeback. The fans again get behind Hacksaw as Shiavone claims WCW is starting to seemingly turn the corner against this war with the NEW WORLD ORDER. He then promotes the Giant as having revenge possibly against Hogan and the NWO.

Eventually Hacksaw knocks himself and Wallstreet down in his comeback move. He then feels the power of AMERICA surging through his body and regains full strength. He reaches into his tights and tries to tape his fist up as Nick Patrick grabs it away. Wallstreet grabs it from him as Patrick tries to stop him taping his fist as Duggen surprises us all and has a 2nd roll of tape and fixes his fist to lay ut Wallstreet for the pin.

Post match in the ring is Gene Okerlund as he speaks to Duggen about "Hollywood Hogan" now. Duggen himself decides that unlike others who rant and rave what they plan to do to Hogan , he calls him Terry. That he wants to speak to him as a man. Outta the back comes Savage as fans pop like crazy Duggen seems on guard as Savage claims he's not here to fight him and they share the same issue with Hogan pretty much. That in this lifetime and the next he will get Hollywood Hogan. Okerlund replays what happened last week when he was blasted with a chair.

Tonight Savage faces The Giant and the Giant did offer for The Madness to step aside if need be so he can face Hogan, but Savage won't do that. In fact he claims he's got a lot going on and the 15,00,000 stitches in his head to prove it. So he won't back down from his match tonight with The Giant. Away from that we see Tony and Larry discuss how motivated the Giant seems as at the Clash they had him bury Chris Benoit in 15 seconds after a drop kick and choke slam. After seemingly building Benoit to give him a challenge. (Its WCW they'd do this dumb **** all the time)

They try to claim that Woman (Nancy) and Chris was having some issues as she was talking to him and had a hold of his jacket. Of course its still a burial job in essence. The next match up is Earl Robert Eaton as Tony claims there is some problems with the Blue Bloods. That Regal has basically said he plans to chase after singles gold and he's not happy with the group. Benoit is facing Eaton in singles action as him and Nancy tease some tension there.

Comically Eaton is Benoit's former tag team partner from his 1st stint in WCW. Back in 1992/1993 , Benoit was brought into WCW and was needing some seasoning clearly. So fast forward a couple years and some Japan work , and Benoit is clearly ready. This match has Benoit in PISSED mode as he is destroying Bobby Eaton. Smashing him into the ring post and beating him outside the ring. Woman even gets involved and helps Benoit with kicking Eaton while the match is going on.

Tony promotes WARGAMES : The Match Beyond which he claims no one knows what teams are yet , but its coming. Larry brings up his experience in it and its a pretty physical dangerous match. Shiavone claims that since 1990 there has been more men injured in Wargames than any other match in history of WCW. While this is happening , Earl Eaton makes a short lived come back but fails as Benoit nails his diving head butt and seemingly rubs his head after the move and pin.

Another Glacier vignette airs as this one tells us to "Enter the realm" and then how blood runs cold. That we all have the spirit of a warrior. Glacier is coming to WCW at some point. If he ever decides to. After that we return from commercial as the tag team Triangle match is happening as Harlem Heat vs Steiner Brothers vs Lex Luger/Sting. As the match is going on , out come the Outsiders at the top of the ramp. Suddenly Patrick calls a DQ outta nowhere as Patrick defends his decision to Okerlund post match. That a great referee can see things outta 2 different ways. But he claims he knows its a bad break again for the Steiners.

Then at the same Clash later we see Flair having Hogan locked into the figure four with another referee watching. Tony questions if Hogan said he gave up before that referee was pulled over by Hogan and knocked out while in the move. The Outsiders hit the ring and beat up on Ric Flair. The match is thrown out as all 3 beat on Flair.

Backstage we see Okerlund speak to Luger and Sting as they claim to have some new strategy against tonights usual foes ...the Horsemen. Luger jokes they have a new way of approaching the Horsemen. Sting agrees with that and claims to have a new life at WCW and while its never been a catwalk , he has a surprise in store for them all.

To soften the mood out comes that dancing fool....Disco Inferno folks. The fever is on as he dances like crazy. His music ends as does the dancing as out comes Scott Norton. Tony promotes how a couple weeks ago Norton served as security for everyone at ringside . Disco is over matched badly by this as Disco has speed on his side. But he's so comical silly he tries to dance and Norton just beats up on him.

Poor Disco tries begging Norton off and seems to offer any peaceful thing he can as soon he starts crawling on all 4's comically to get away from him. Norton then plays with Disco as he taunts Ice Train in the camera. As Disco seems to get ready to do a move to Norton and gets a brief small advantage , he again plays n dances as Norton destroys him ! Then makes him tap submission wise.

Backstage we see Okerlund interview Teddy Long and Ice Train. Teddy apologizes for not being at Hog Wild due to the savage choke slam he took that Monday night from the Giant. He also claims Norton was just awarded that PPV match against Train but never defeated him yet. We see Train has his shoulder and arm bandaged up to play up an injury and even after the PPV match we see him jumped by Norton as he chats online at the computer with fans of WCW Live. He pledges that Norton won't always be able to jump him from behind , one day he's gonna have to look him in the eyes and go one on one.

Lord Steven Regal comes out in singles action as the kids clearly don't like the guy. The Blue Bloods problems likely could be the problem of Regal who is clashing with people claim Larry. Regal is facing Dean Malenko and this could be a pretty damn solid singles match folks. It starts off with some solid technical mat wrestling work.

Between the awesome cartwheels , reversals and more both guys do , this is spectacular to watch. At his size Regal can actually do a pretty cool cartwheel folks. Regal's size allows him to take an early heel advantage of Malenko. Nick Patrick is the referee of this and they discuss the whole situation with him as Tony claims he's never seen a fast count from Patrick and doesn't believe he'd do that.

As the match goes , Regal concentrates on working Malenko's neck with submission holds and moves towards it. Then Malenko briefly rallies back. As they try for reversals and pins , Malenko does a side step of Regal's attempted leg sweep and then does a side roll into a cradle pin and gets the 3 count and win. Much to Regal's anger at losing that one.

After the match the Horsemen all come out as as the countdown clock begins. AA cuts a promo that he doesn't really care if someone doesn't like him like Sting & Luger said. That they have clashed for years with them and they know who they are and vice versa. Flair cuts the promo and proclaims that the 2 pretty boys will be forced to walk that aisle ....can they style and profile. As the 2nd hour begins it looks like Nitro will go to commercial as Flair discusses Hogan and his promo ..."Hollywood Hogan ...unlike Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth the NATURE BOY has more playing time than them combined ...WHOOOO !!"

End of Part 1