WCW Monday Night Nitro Review!

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Nasty Boys are up to face The Public Enemy on this Nitro. Bischoff admits over the air that the competition from the NWO and the WWF is intense. That WWF has instigated a lawsuit they filed and that WCW will not go anywhere. That this company will last and no one is gonna stop them. Heenan claims that everyone for WCW is here tonight and they won't want none from anyone.

The brawl begins as Bischoff jokes this match won't be pretty and not to expect any pretty technical moves as this will be a brawl. WCW has a split camera to show this hardcore brawl happening in and outta the ring. During the match they discuss how Colonel Parker isn't happy with what has happened with his woman Sister Sherri. He doesn't like anyone getting involved with her. Finally like 5 minutes into this clusterfuck brawl , Grunge and Rock do a tag team move together .

Both men try another one and put Saggs through a table as he moves and both guys eat the table. Rock is thrown back into the ring after that move and Knobbs makes the pin. Brian Knobbs then tells the Harlem Heat they are as Nasty as they wanna be. To bring it on Heat , the Steiners and more. Post match out comes Okerlund to interview them. Saggs doesn't give a crap over the NWO and other letters. They all will enter Nastyville and go down like those 2 saps just did.

Bischoff promotes Eddie Guerrero winning the Battle Bowl ring from Diamond Dallas Page at the Clash of Champions and then Page going angry heel on him , beating him down after it. Then throws the referee out and nails a 2nd diamond cutter and a super diamond cutter off the top rope on Eddie. Chavo comes out pissed and has demanded this match for revenge against Page after those evil actions.

Page gets the early heel advantage on the young Chavo Guerrero and is out to teach him a lesson for getting involved. During the match they discuss Nick Patrick and his recent actions. Bischoff promotes Fall Brawl and the WCW Executive Committee is there to discuss who will get a shot at NWO. Page is still incensed over losing his Battle Bowl ring. He is just destroying Chavo and won't go for the pin and each time he has it , pulls up Chavo. Mocking the Guerrero's each time. Then as he goes for the diamond cutter , Chavo reverses it and gets the shocking pin.

After this Page goes crazy and grabs the belt outta Patrick's pants and starts whipping Chavo with it. Nick Patrick can't stop Page as the other referee Randy Anderson comes out and grabs it. Anderson scolds Patrick for not getting involved and getting it back. Post match Gene Okerlund gets after Patrick after this and Patrick claims he is like a cop who needed backup in this situation. Then he's accused of the NWO stuff and Patrick claims he's never betrayed WCW. At the end Okerlund ends the interview by hinting that Nick has a new home thanks to some money he's recently gotten.

Bischoff promotes American Males vs Harlem Heat and brings up what happened 11 months ago in September 18th , 1995 as the Males pulled off the shocking upset against the Heat for the WCW World tag team titles. The American Males come out as Heenan claims the name sounds like something Postal employees would use and the Heat aren't male cheerleaders. Which basically if you explained the Males in WCW ....the weird clapping and all...its like they were male cheerleaders.

Out comes the Heat who cut a promo on the way to the ring as they rip the Nasty's for what happened on WCW Saturday Night. The Outsiders still haven't showed up yet and Bischoff claims he doesn't think there is a 4th guy. The Heat seem on in this match and get an early advantage. In ring Nick Patrick has came back down after seemingly leaving after the Page/Guerrero match.

Bagwell finally makes the hot tag and starts to clear the ring , then looks very close to possibly winning the tag titles again. Bischoff hints maybe Patrick is giving a slow count but it can't be seen. Then as the action breaks down Stevie Ray pushes Bagwell off the top rope into a power slam by Booker T for the pin. It was a pretty short , sweet tag team match.

After another Glacier promo the big Main Event is up. Its Horsemen vs Sting/Luger as you have to wonder what the surprise is tonight. Bischoff challenges the NWO to come get it if they want as the roster is at full strength tonight. Then Sting gets on the mic and wants the other 2 Horsemen to come on out . He wants them all out there as Anderson waves them on out puzzled by Sting's wanting this. Bischoff believes Sting's went nuts as Okerlund has got into the ring and his coat is off.

Then Sting claims his surprise is this , they need to work together for WCW. That even though he can't trust Flair or Anderson they are WCW as much as they are. They also know that War Games is coming in 30 days and its a Horsemen invention. That no offense to Benoit or McMichael , they want to have them 4 unite and face the NWO. That Sting and Luger wanna team with Flair and Anderson.

AA gets on the mic that he questions if Luger and his pecs can handle the horror that is WAR GAMES. Luger claims he is up to the challenge and that Anderson knows he's been in a WAR GAMES before against him. He questions AA and asks did he ever slack up or anything. Sting is asked if he can put the little Stingers behind him for one night. That this is a war gonna happen and that the Outsiders are gonna have to damn well kill him , because he don't plan on tapping. Sting claims he's crossed that line before in a War Games and will do it again.

Flair gives his approval of this and that he knows both men. That they will walk the path together for that one night. But he leaves the final decision to Benoit and Mongo. Since they are Horsemen and they have to agree. Benoit puts over waiting his entire life to be a Horsemen and its an honor he loves. But he has never been steered wrong by Flair or Anderson and he will back their decision. Mongo then gives his approval of the deal and threatens that both guys better hold up their end against the NWO. The deal seems done as they shake and leave the ring.

After a commercial we get a NWO vignette. The Outsiders are in Rome Italy they claim on a brief vacation. They discuss the things they have done and the big stupid Giant and costing him the WCW World tag team title. They joke about being Gladiators and how that the Horsemen beat up Booty Man and then they beat up Booty Man. They claim that NWO isn't about friendship , its about business. Hall and Nash leave a short message to the boys of WCW ...don't call us , we'll call you.

Out comes The Giant in his angry pissed mood. Then outta nowhere THE MADNESS is out and he jumps the Giant with a chair. He starts laying into him with the chair as the referee manages to finally get it away from him. The Giant then starts to destroy Savage for this. Heenan puts over the anger and intensity the Giant now has. That the NWO has awoken a sleeping Giant. As he looks to finish him off with a choke slam , Savage low blows him !

Savage then stops Jimmy Hart from nailing him with a chair and throws him out. He has the chair as he starts laying out the members of the Dungeon of Doom in epic style. Eventually Savage knows he's gotta get outta there and he takes off , leaving the angry Giant with the Dungeon in ring. Then he hurdles the top rope and takes off running down the ramp ! Holy ****....that is how athletic Paul Wright was then.

Back on camera Bischoff claims the match never got started (even though the bell rung once they got in ring). They joke that Savage did this because he wasn't happy with Giant losing to Hogan and dropping the ball. Then at the end Bischoff announces that the WARGAMES match has been announced. Its Flair/Anderson teaming with Sting/Luger in the cage against the NWO.


The Bad - There was some clunkers on this show as the Nastys/Public Enemy and Disco Inferno/Scott Norton shows us. I mean did anyone expect Disco to beat the huge Norton ? I don't think so. Anyhow basically this Nitro seemed to be building up the Main Event of the next PPV anyhow. Plus there was no Hogan showing up and the Outsiders send in a tape from Rome (or was that Denver ?) .

The Nick Patrick stuff is already starting to get boring as almost every match he does , the announcers question what he does. I mean its a decent angle and it shows the detail WCW was doing with it. But its becoming a distraction as they question each 3 count he seems to do.


OVERALL : ***1/2 outta 5. Even with some clunker matches , Nitro did have 2 decent matches in Benoit/Eaton and Malenko/Regal. That last one was just so epic fun to watch them do reversals and cartwheels in ring in spots. Like one man would do a cartwheel and then a spot or two later the other guy would. The big build was to Fall Brawl and War Games as WCW was quick to give is the Main Event of it and the 2nd match and program Giant/Savage. So it was a hot decent show for that.

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WCW Monday Nitro - August 26th , 1996



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

This Nitro is coming to you LIVE , RED HOT and more from Palmetto , Florida folks. Shiavone is pumped and he's doing the countdown to Fall Brawl. We start right off with a damn fine cruiserweight match as its Billy Kidman facing the debuting Juventud Guerrera ! Shiavone tells us that Juventud means "young warrior" and things start off pretty damn quick between both men.

Juventud is wearing the mask at this point of his career and he does a damn hard powerbomb to Kidman onto the floor outside. He then does a pisaino into a leg drop onto him outside. He does a 360 spin as he flips over the top rope into the ring onto Kidman. His flashy moves catch him as Kidman catches him from the ropes into a power bomb. This is becoming a pretty damn good battle as Larry sells that this is like a war between both young guys. Kidman gets some close pins but can't put him away.

Kidman nails his finisher , the shooting star press and nearly pins Juventud . But he nails the reverse huriciana off the top rope to pin Kidman. What a damn fun match and the two guys battled hard. Kidman has nothing to be ashamed of there. In ring Gene Okerlund interviews Juventud . Psychosis is out with an injury so Guerrera will now face Konnan at Fall Brawl. Juventud knows a little English and his promo is broken between both that and Mexican. Its not a good one as if I can't understand it at home watching , imagine the fans in the arena.

Anyhow even Okerlund is having problems here as he finally gets word backstage in his ear piece to end this promo. As instead of fans taking to Guerrera as the face against Konnan , are booing him. It ends as Juventud seems a bit miffed at not being able to finish his broken English/Mexican promo. As they go to break it seems Okerlund is explaining why he cut him off in ring.

We get a whole new vignette of Glacier combating air and this time he's using a bo stick to beat Air's ass. Thus far its the final Nitro of August and he's still not shown up yet. Back to Tony and Larry who discuss the WARGAMES ....THE MATCH BEYOND. This one is gonna have Sting & Luger with Flair & Anderson. We get clips from last week as Sting makes the offer and Flair seals the deal. Benoit and Mongo agree to it . After this , we see Larry discuss the 5 Kingdoms that will rule the world from history books.

The next match is up as Marcus Bagwell and Jim Powers are teaming together for tonight. The announcer claims that Bagwell's partner is injured and with him. But there is no Scotty Riggs. Teddy Long is out with Jim Powers for tonights tag team match and at the ramp he tells Bagwell that he can trust him. They are facing the Dungeon of Doom with Sullivan and Big Bubba. Jimmy Hart is out there as Shiavone tries to sell Sullivan as a big threat at this stage. But beyond being a devious manager type , at this point Sullivan's lack of size and body made it comical against guys like Powers.

Powers starts off with Sullivan and quickly takes control. Its really bad to see Sullivan who really doesn't seem at all a physical match against Powers really. Big Bubba is finally tagged in and its a better match up at least. In a funny comical spot , Bagwell is back dropped and supposed to land on his feet and leap frog over Bubba to make the hot tag to Powers. Instead , he lands on his knees , and crawls between his legs to make the tag. It was a nice making lemonade from lemons spot.

This tag match hasn't been half bad as they have kept Sullivan tagged outta the match due to his limitations right now. Powers seemingly beats Big Bubba as Larry realizes Bubba's shoulder came up as does Nick Patrick. No one tells Bagwell and Powers who celebrate the win they believe they have. He orders the restart of the match which the Dungeon of Doom as Shiavone claims that Patrick counted the 1,2,3 and the controversy continues. Post match Teddy Long gets in his face and tells him how he screwed over his guys.

Replays show that Bubba's arm came up seconds late , where he should have brought it up like 3-5 seconds right when Patrick brings his hand down for the 3 count. Larry is supposed to sell it as happening , but anyone can see that Big Bubba was pinned at home. Post match Gene Okerlund interviews the Dungeon of Doom as he jokes they got by the skin of their teeth there. Bubba claims they have another win and he now wants all the title shots. Bubba is also tired of the silly Glacier spots of him coming to WCW..."He's coming , he's coming....well come on then ! I'll let ya have a little bit of this !"

Jimmy Hart gets on the mic and tries to sell Glacier about blood running cold. So it appears they are setting up things with Glacier's 1st program when he comes in eventually. Sullivan gets on the mic and accuses Okerlund of still being friends with Hogan and that he was on Hulk's boat. Okerlund claims it was Bischoff and jokes , "Did he have hair ?" Sullivan replies he was bald...like he is. Then Sullivan cuts a promo on Benoit and the Horsemen saying they believe they are the last line of defense. When accused of possibly greasing Patrick's palm for the win , he counters and tells Gene that everyone is allowed to make a mistake...like him hanging around Hulk Hogan.

Backstage Okerlund interviews Luger and Sting as he brings up the Benoit/Mongo challenge to them. Luger is ready for the gut check of them tonight. Sting himself doesn't like that Flair and Anderson are seemingly questioning his fortitude and he never , ever runs from a challenge like that. So he will question Flair and Anderson's.

Mike Enos comes out alone at first and then out comes Dick Slater with a towel around his head. He is facing Chavo Guerrero Jr. I'll just call him Chavo Guerrero more or less for this review. Tony promotes that Randy Savage will face Hollywood Hogan at Halloween Havoc coming in October. But first he has to face and make it past The Giant at Fall Brawl in September.

Enos is beating on Chavo and actually does a fall away slam onto Chavo outside the ring. Sitting ringside in a dark mood is Konnan who has changed his look more it appears. Shiavone brings up his attitude change he's made. Enos meanwhile gets a few near pins on Chavo in ring and nails a weird type of slam that lands on his knee. It hurts Enos and as he locks in a figure four. Then in a weird deal , referee Randy Anderson gets thumbed in the eye as he tries to fix his vision and rolls over to the side.

This allows Dick Slater to throw the towel off , get in ring and work over Chavo. He has Enos put the towel over his head and act like him outside while Anderson tries to fix his vision and doesn't realize its Slater in ring. Then outta nowhere Chavo rolls him in a small package for the pin. They both aren't happy as Larry jokes , they can't claim the wrong man is in the ring or it would be a DQ.

Okerlund interviews Chavo who is fired up angry. Yelling for Diamond Dallas Page to come out and face him and not be a coward. That he took out his uncle Eddie and then him. That at Fall Brawl he's gonna teach him to not be a coward. A fun commercial airs from WCW about the official WCW Monday Nitro t-shirt with Okerlund and Heenan. Where Heenan is wearing it backwards and claims that Okerlund has his head on backwards.

Out comes Jerry Lynn as Mr.JL . He is facing Rey Mysterio Jr , which should be a good match. Rey taunts Malenko , claiming he knows Dean wants it , so come and get it. Shiavone reveals that JL isn't from Mexico but has spent a lot of time in Japan and elsewhere. Mysterio starts off pretty hot and plays to the crowd in a good spot. Then Tony reveals that a camera has found Hogan and the Outsiders who take a light stand and go to the Turner Broadcasting video truck and start spray painting N-W-O on the truck. Then NWO 4 Life.

Shiavone is angry over this and hopes that the NWO has plenty of money because Turner will send them a big bill for destroying that truck. They both muse what jerks they are and how there isn't a 4th man because its all a game. In ring Lynn has the advantage and is using a submission until Mysterio fights back. At the top of the ramp , Malenko watches and studies Mysterio. Larry claims he's thinking which one of the 1,000 holds he'll use to beat Mysterio for the Cruiserweight title.

Lynn is going at a slow pace more or less to let Mysterio do the fast paced stuff. He's using more power moves and submissions in this one. This one isn't as exciting as I thought it would be. During this match Tony promotes that more stars from Mexico will be making their debuts on Nitro. He brings up a man named Super Calo . He promotes the 2nd hour as the Nitro countdown clock begins.

Bischoff welcomes us to hour 2 as the fire works and pyro goes off. This match between Mysterio/Lynn is still going on as he continues to do physical moves and submissions. Things start to pick up as both men go outside the ring as Mysterio does a hurucirana outside the ring from the ring steps on Lynn. He gets back in ring and nails his finisher on Mr. JL to win the match.


End of Part #1

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Backstage we see Okerlund interview Benoit and Mongo with the ladies around them. Gene starts off by saying he heard that Bears coach at the time Dave Wannstedt wanted him to come outta retirement and play for the Bears again. Take in mind Wannstedt cut McMichael loose that 1994 off-season due to age (he was 36) and were supposed to believe that he wants a 38 year old DT back ? Uh huh....sure Geno.

Unlike last week where Mongo and Benoit gave their blessing , Steve claims they really didn't ...what ? Anyhow in a funny touch Gene has Woman playfully nudge him as usual and she jokingly asks how his good buddy Hogan is doing. Okerlund brushes that aside and claims , I'm beyond reproach. Benoit cuts a promo and claims that Sting and Luger need to look in his eyes. He's a hungry beast inside right now and he doubts that they have that same mentality anymore. He will see tonight.

Bischoff promotes the Savage/Hogan match at Halloween Havoc and how he can hopefully regain the now NWO Wold title. Savage being hit with a chair by Hogan 2 weeks ago is shown. Then last week as he claims he's just gonna MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. And he's gonna TURN IT LOOSE....OOOOOHH YEAAAH. The MADNESS can't be contained. We show Savage beating the Dungeon of Doom with a chair. Bischoff claims..."The hopes of WCW depend on a lunatic named Macho Man Randy Savage...."

Okerlund again is interviewing someone. The guy is busy as hell tonight. I hope he's getting a good paycheck for this. Anyhow he's interviewing Macho Man. Savage claims he's QUIET....BUT DEADLY RIGHT NOW ! He then goes into his being in THE ZONE and how he don't care , you don't care , nobody cares !! Okerlund claims he cares which Savage stares and goes..."I DON'T CARE IF YOU CARE !!" OOhhhh yeaaah.....

The music plays for Hacksaw Jim Duggen as he comes out. He's sadly facing The Giant , who isn't in a good mood at all right now. Hacksaw wants to use the 2x4 against Hart and the Giant. The referee manages to get it from him as the match begins. After an attempt at a football tackle , Hart gets involved and outside the ring Duggen chases him. The fans are hot for Hacksaw in this.

Hacksaw is giving it his all and using double forearm smashes and more to rock the Giant. He's showing its not so easy but the Giant uses the top rope and catches him. He locks on a bear hug as Duggen won't tap as America surges through him. The over confidence of The Giant at times costs him and then outta nowhere down through the crowd walks....TED DIBIASE ! Holy ****....the fans all point and stare. Bischoff and Heenan know automatically who Dibiase is and both wonder what the hell is he there for.

In ring in a fun comedic moment Hacksaw loads his fist with tape as the Giant dares him. He hits him as the Giant shakes it off and dares him to do it again. More tape he wraps like a huge boxing glove now...as he wallops and rocks the Giant. Duggen goes to do more as Jimmy Hart jumps up on the apron and has his prized 2x4. After they scuffle it allows The Giant to grab and choke slam him. They cut to Dibase sitting there as he slowly counts on his fingers...1...2...3...4...and next week...5.

Bischoff wonders if that is a threat or a warning from the NWO. But is he for the NWO ? Maybe he's a Horsemen perhaps. The Giant is angry and pissed at Savage for blaming him for the loss at Hog Wild. He questions why Savage wasn't there ....because he doesn't have the guys. The Giant claims he will destroy Savage and go face Hogan at Halloween Havoc. After the interview Okerlund comically cleans the camera lens where the Giant spewed and spit on it close as he jokes people can be messy. In ring Duggen has gotten to his feat and fans chant USA for him.

A promo for Fall Brawl WAR GAMES is shown as the NWO is heading into battle with WCW. The Rock & Roll Express is out to face Flair/Anderson. This would have been a great main event match from 1986 folks. Flair promotes taking on Hall & Nash. Ted Dibiase nods and watches as Bischoff promotes that he's possibly a 5th member of the Horsemen. Which pretty much makes the whole 4 Horsemen deal look silly. Then Bischoff gets dark and claims that he's possibly the 4th NWO member and the 5th one will show up next week.

The Rock & Roll Express still can do a solid tag team affair at this point. Morton and Gibson has wrestled Flair & Arn a ton and likely know everything they can hit in spots . In a weird twist on the whole playing Ricky Morton role ....Robert Gibson plays the face in peril in this tag match and takes the beating. Its a weird thing to see Gibson play that role since he's usually in the hot tag role and cleans house. Finally he makes the hot tag as things break down .

Morton finally falls prey to the Horsemen dirty tricks from Nancy. Post match Okerlund stands at ringside to interview Flair & Arn as comically Nancy again loves to touch him and get him frazzled as he asks Elizabeth to help him. AA claims that there is a time to ogle the women and this ain't it as Okerlund gets razzed for Nancy's touching him playfully. Anderson promotes that sands of time is ticking short and that WAR GAMES is something the Horsemen were 1st in and they will be in the last one. That this will be the last one for them. AA claims that the NWO just don't have it in them to come face to face with someone.

Flair gets on the mic and they discuss Hogan possibly submitting to him 2 weeks ago. Its there Flair cuts his insane wild promo. Claiming that Hogan looked him in the eyes..."HE SAID....SLICK RIC....RIC FLAIR....YOU ARE TOO MUCH MAN FOR ME !! WHOOOO WHOOOOO !!!" How this man hasn't had a stroke on TV is insane. Flair looks like he's gonna explode literally onscreen. This WAR GAMES is in Winston Salem , NC. The home of the Horsemen as Flair puts it.

After the insane promo , we get another vignette of Glacier and he seemingly shows off Vader's "White Castle of Fear". Back to Nitro we see the debut of Chris Jericho as he's pretty excited. He's facing Alex Wright as the Das Wunderkid is ready and flips into the ring. Bischoff puts over the talent WCW's bringing in from all over the globe as Wright is from Germany. As he keeps discussing what a young talent Wright is , Heenan jokes if Bischoff paid on a car note for him.

In one athletic spot , Jericho claps for that spot and fans do as well. Heenan is impressed by the young Jericho as he does his jump drop kick from using the turnbuckle to knock Wright off the apron. Both men are using some great high risk moves and things are getting pretty physical. Bischoff then seemingly names the future finisher of Jericho's in an off hand fashion by accident as Jericho slams into Wright in the corner by saying "Its like hitting the Walls of Jericho".

Wright then does a crazy high risk move as his face hits the guard rail as he jumps from the top rope. As the referee is ready to count out Wright and award Jericho the win , he stops him. He then demands the match be a No Contest and no one wins as fans and Heenan are stunned. He goes outside and post match with Okerlund claims he doesn;t wanna win that way. That beating someone like Alex Wright this way isn't the right thing to do and he wants to win fairly in ring with his ability.

Jericho claims that unlike a former hero he liked named Hulk Hogan and the NWO , they'd take wins like that. But him and Alex will fight for WCW til the end. Time is growing short as Okerlund has to end the promo quick.

End of part #2

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Back in ring with no entrances is The Steiner Brothers and the Blue Bloods. In a comical heel breakdown as the Blue Bloods are near splitting , Dave Taylor and Bobby Eaton argue over who should start the tag match. Eaton claims he always starts and its Taylor's turn as they argue outside. Rick Steiner grows impatient and comes and knocks their heads together to settle this.

The team continues to go through problems against the Steiner's who argue after Eaton takes a beating in ring. This match ends in quick fashion as the Blue Bloods problems continue. And they lose due to their finisher as well. Post match as Okerlund goes to interview the Steiner's in ring Taylor hits Eaton and its ON. Beautiful Bobby fires back as Rick cheers him on. Scott and Rick incite both guys to fight and get a kick outta this. The two fight up the ramp as referees try and keep them separated.

At Fall Brawl they will face the Harlem Heat for the WCW Tag team titles. Rick Steiner showing his confused , lovable dog faced gimmick cuts a promo that he can't wait til Halloween Havoc. Scotty chuckles and claims its Fall Brawl and they will meet the Heat there. Heenan and Bischoff taunt the NWO to bring that spray paint and we will see what happens at Fall Brawl.

Now its time for the Main Event between Benoit/McMichael vs Sting/Luger. Bischoff tries to back up that dumb bullshit claim that Dave Wannstedt wants Mongo back for the Bears. Luger & Sting come out and things start off with an explosion. Sting and Benoit kick and punch each other senseless. While Mongo and Luger go at it. Eventually things settle into a normal tag team match as order gets restored by the referee. In ring Benoit slaps Luger yelling , "You think you got it ? You think you got this ?"

Luger plays the face in peril in this tag match as he finally makes the hot tag to Sting. Then him and Benoit go at it. They have a very decent chemistry in ring for sure. Outside the ring though as Mongo and Luger battle , Hollywood Hogan appears with the spray paint. Mongo slowly stalks him around the ring as this gives the Outsiders the best chance to jump him and they take down Mongo.

Hall & Nash take out Mongo and in history ....Steve McMichael is the very 1st ....1st WCW guy to have NWO spray painted on his back. In ring they dismantle Benoit & Sting then spray NWO on their backs. Flair & Anderson try to make the save but Hogan sprays Flair in the eyes and he then gets his head and spray paints a black streak like a skunk to mock Flair. In ring fans throw garbage as the NWO laugh and mock them all. The crowd is angry at the destritction of all the good guys as the NWO comes to the announce booth for fun.

Hogan gets on the headset and goes..."Heeeeeres the NWO...." They spray paint NWO at the announce booth after chasing Heenan and Bischoff off. Then Hogan rips himself by going ..."Anything less would be uncivilized !" The show ends with Dibiase counting down 5 members of the NWO !


The Bad - There was few little bad things on this episode of Nitro. Beyond the slow pace of Mysterio/Lynn (Mr. JL) and the Blue Bloods/Steiner's match and the missed finish by Big Bubba , things were very good and full of impact.

The whole Juventud Guerrera promo was just very badly done and ill-timed. I have no idea what WCW was thinking doing this. The fans turned quick against the young Guerrera .

The whole BS story of the Chicago Bears wanting Steve McMichael back was so insanely dumb , that no one in their right minds would believe it. WCW was in a big spot with McMichael as they were trying their damnest to justify his pay check (which I heard was absurd due to Turner Sports) and his character. They were trying to get him over best they could.


OVERALL : ****1/2 Outta 5. Perhaps one of the best Nitros in weeks , this one had some very solid debuts , some solid matches and the 1st NWO spray paint attack ! This show would feature the debuts of Chris Jericho and Juventud Guerrera , plus the WCW debut of Ted Dibiase . Who seemed to hint at the future possible members of the NWO coming soon. And the words....NEXT WEEK.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - September 2nd , 1996



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

Shiavone welcomes us to Labor Day ...1996. The end of summer and the 2nd year of Nitro begins now. The 4 Horsemen vs Dungeon of Doom in a 8 man tag match tonight. Sting and Luger will be in action as well. Larry claims there is no forgiveness , this IS WAR GAMES now. Last week is shown where Hogan , Nash and Hall sprayed N-W-0 on some trucks. Then we see Ted Dibiase arrive and point out 4-5 on his fingers for this next week.

Diamond Dallas Page is out to start the night off and he's facing Das Wunderkid , Alex Wright . Page starts off in control with an arm bar but the Wunderkid fires back and soon knocks him outta the ring. In a cool spot Wright shows he can high fly as well , going over the top rope in a body splash on Page. Then the tide turns as Alex tries a flying body press , missing completely and hitting the ropes.

Page nails a picture perfect side soto slam as the fans do pop for it. He then nails a pretty decent power bomb as he stands and makes the diamond cutter sign to symbolize the finisher. But Wright reverses from it and after Page hits the turnbuckle , he nails a belly to belly slam. Then a minute later as Page hits the turnbuckle , Wright monkey flips off him and Page races forwards and nails the diamond cutter finisher for the win ! The fans pop for that one. Nice finish.

Gene Okerlund decides to interview Nick Patrick as he's accused for being slow on the draw tonight as well. Patrick is angry at Okerlund's claims he's on his case and telling lies. That WCW's board of directors has cleared him of any wrong doing. That he's gonna enforce the law and its what he's paid to do. That he will do it for everyone no matter who they are or how big they are.

After this we go to a weird WCW Shop commercial as Gene interviews Bagwell as he advertises his WCW shirt he's wearing.The ladies dig it as Gene wants it for that reason. Backstage with Okerlund again is Colonel Parker and Sherri. He came to woo twinkle eyes herself with some gifts. Sherri opens the small box first and its a leather vest with fringe. He is gonna take Sherri back to his farm so she can ride his prized stud , John Henry . The next one is a jacket as Sherri loves her man so happy.

In ring is the Harlem Heat defending the WCW World tag team titles against Buddy Valentino and Greg Valentine. Shiavone points out that this is the debut of new referee Mark Curtis. Nicknamed the smallest referee in the business , Curtis was trained to be a pro wrestler. He had been in Smokey Mountain , ECW and WCW at this point.

Steve Ray even questions why Valentine is in ring against him and playfully mocks him before they lock up. Coming down to the ring is Ted Dibiase as fans pop and watch him walk to his seat. Between two young children as well. This match really isn't much of anything thus far as Valentino stuns me and actually delivers a drop kick. Its one more move I'd never thought would happen.

Shiavone announces that Mike Teney will now join the WCW announce team on Nitro. He will join them on Nitro from now on. The match is over just as quick as it began. The Heat finish by nailing the Harlem hangover on Valentino. Gene Okerlund interviews them post match about the Nasty Boys facing them at Fall Brawl. Stevie Ray claims to bring those 2 fat slobs suckas on. Then Booker T calls them losers as outta the book comes Nasty Boys who jump them . To send a message on Booker T , they deliver a spiked pile driver on him in the ring. Then they finish beating down Stevie Ray.

We go to commercial as we see Glacier kicking the ass of the air. Him doing moves and more. Comically WCW doesn't even claim when he's arriving anymore. After that we return as Dean Malenko vs Chris Jericho. Mike Teney arrives and will be helping to call this one. This should be pretty damn good as both men start to try each other out. This is Jericho's 2nd appearance on Nitro.

Teney reveals the past of Jericho from Canada to Japan. He also brings up that they never have met up in the travels. The fans start a small ECW chant for both men as the reversals and more happen. Its so quick and fun , Jericho has a brief advantage and lasts til Malenko nails him with a clothesline. Taking control of this match with some great solid moves.

During the match suddenly Dibiase gets up and decides to leave as security walks ahead of him. They question why he could be leaving so soon. In the match Malenko locks on a leg scissors around Jericho's throat and keeps it on for awhile. But Chris stands with him and drops back , powering out of it. Of course Malenko isn't fully down and nails a double arm suplex seconds later.

Malenko locks on a stretch hold and eases it into an abdominal stretch but Jericho manages to get free. Seconds later to cut off a Jericho rally , Malenko delivers a spring board off the turnbuckle into a bulldog on Jericho ! But then a couple minutes later Jericho has started to rally back and nails a great cross body off the turnbuckle onto Malenko outside the ring . Right into the camera view , which looks pretty damn cool.

Jericho tries a tombstone pile driver , Malenko reverses into a spike pile driver and delivers it. This match has been damn good. Jericho nearly gets a near pin in a dragon suplex into a bridge , but Malenko kicks out. Then seconds later Jericho reverses outta Malenko's double arm type move he was trying into a forward roll and gets the surprise WIN ! Its a shock as Malenko is even stunned. Jericho celebrates with fans as WCW promotes how hot the Cruiserweights are.

We get a vignette of Rey Mysterio Jr and Super Calo who will be facing each other at Fall Brawl. Super Calo will be going for the WCW Cruiserweight title. Back from commercial Shiavone promotes WCW Saturday Night. The Blue Bloods have split as Squire David Taylor will face Earl Robert Eaton.

Coming to the ring is Brad Armstrong as I'm surprised to see him on Nitro. Brad has his USA jacket on as he's gonna need it and maybe the entire troops to handle The Giant tonight. Armstrong is in good shape and starts off quick nailing 2 drop kicks on Giant and starts slugging him. Fans pop as the Giant throws him across the ring. Then he comically tries to log on a rest hold behind him and it fails. This match is going bad quick as Giant starts the beat down on him.

The black limo arrives as it backs in. Shiavone wonders if its the NWO arriving as usual. In a comical spot Armstrong tries a roll up on the Giant and wriggles and escapes to get over him. Then is tossed and nearly choke slammed by him. Armstrong rallies back and after dropping him throat first across the ring , drop kicks him off the top rope into the turnbuckle. He charges into the turnbuckle and runs right into the Giant's hand. Then is choke slammed for the loss to end this.

We get a NWO vignette as Hogan tells us how the NWO is stylin ! THE NWO IS THE WAY TO GO !! They left the Giant layin and now the entire WCW will fall to their feet. Hogan then claims how he beat the dirtiest player in the game as he cried. "World Crybaby Wrestling...." Sting will be stung at War Games. Luger will be hung , Flair won't even be there and Arn , he won't be Arn anymore ! He knows what works now brother...his new friends told him ya gotta bond together for business reasons.


END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Bischoff welcomes us to hour #2 as its a 3 man booth now with Teney joining them as well. We get another replay of Hogan and the NWO spray painting the trucks ...tagging it with the NWO name. Then the attack on the Horsemen , Sting and Luger . The 1st spray painting attack basically on WCW TV. The guys taking over the announce booth is also shown from last week.

Teney questions if Dibiase will be joining the 4 Horsemen perhaps and questions what it means. Out comes Ron Studd who Mike Teney says was trained by Big John Studd and took his last name as a show of respect. Studd is facing THE MADNESS and that is no easy task at all. Ron Studd starts off in some control and uses his size and height for that advantage.

Backstage we see Hall , Nash and Hogan get outta the limo as Hulk spots the camera. Telling the mystery person to stay in the limo since there is a camera there. In ring Studd is in control until , Savage is able to get him thrown outside the ring. He nails a double ax handle off the top rope to the outside. In a cool spot , Savage body slams Studd. Then climbs the top rope and nails the ELBOW FROM THE SKY as its over. THE MADNESS could not be contained ! OOhhh yeaaaah.

In ring Gene Okerlund will talk to Randy Savage who has a busy month and half ahead. 1st he will face Giant at Fall Brawl due to Savage's blaming him for failing against Hogan and losing the WCW World title. THE MADNESS proclaims he wants to have Fall Brawl tonight ! Savage claims he's living on the edge all the time and if your not living on the edge , your wasting your time ...ooohh yeaaah ! Then the MADNESS claims he will guarantee victory against both men because he loves pressure on himself ! OOOHHH YEAAAAAHH ...DIG IT !!

Sting & Luger come out now. Bischoff claims thanks everyone for the success of WCW Monday Nitro. That it premiered a year ago and the critics claimed it wouldn't last. But now WCW is the top ranked wrestling program right now. Rick and Scott Steiner are out next as this should be an interesting tag team match. Bischoff puts over the friendship all 4 men have.

Outside the ring we see the 4 Horsemen run to where the black limo is. Arn opens the door as he tells everyone they aren't there. Benoit claims they must be in the building already and they all run back to the building to be ready for this. Back in ring we see this match start and suddenly , Nick Patrick calls for the bell ? WTF ? Then he claims Nick Patrick suddenly claims that Luger bumped into him after Rick shoved him. He calls a DQ and awards the match to the Steiners. All 4 men aren't at all happy. Lex and Sting stalk Nick Patrick as he runs like hell from that.

Now its time for the main event as Jimmy Hart comes out with the Dungeon of Doom. Kevin Sullivan , Big Bubba , Barbarian and Meng. The Horsemen come out with the women of course. Bischoff claims that Nick Patrick is being chased through the arena as Randy Anderson will be the referee for this match. McMichael and Sullivan start the match and Mongo basically fucks up 2-3 spots in quick fashion with Sullivan to start.

Bubba is tagged in and things go better for Mongo as he delivers some offense. In a fun spot a couple minutes later Barbarian and Benoit chop and slap the hell outta each other. Bischoff claims the police have arrived backstage to talk to Sting and Luger as we see them after Patrick. Luger yells he knows Patrick has sold out to the NWO as the guy runs like hell. We see Ted Dibiase get into the black limo as Sting in anger throws a brick right into the window to get at him ! Then in crazy as hell territory....Sting and Luger steal a police car as the "cop" just stares at them as they jump into it to chase after Dibiase's limo !

Flair and Meng are chopping each other as Slic Ric then low blows the guy. Then as Sullivan gets into the ring Flair manages to low blow him and others. Backstage we see the cop reporting his car stolen which he's relaxed. Back in ring Sullivan nails the tree of woe in the corner on Arn Anderson. AA soon makes the hot tag to Benout as this match is complete chaos at times as Benoit/Sullivan brawl in the middle of the ring and forget about who is there.

Meng and Barbarian start working over Benoit and in a wicked spot , Barbarian nails a hard power bomb on him. Flair jumps in and actually saves Benoit from a beating in ring and out at times. This 8 man has broken down into basically letting Benoit work the match 70% of it and play Ricky Morton as the face in peril. Both teams are cheating like hell and its pretty funny to watch.

Then Barbarian and Meng get too over confident as they try a double head butt off the top rope on Benoit. He moves and they make the hot tag. Soon the match breaks into chaos as Benoit lays out Jimmy Hart and everyone is brawling. Then he argues with Women as the two have some sparks. She helps Flair beat Sullivan with holding his hands as he locks on the figure four.

Then more insanity breaks loose as the NWO has arrived as they jump everyone. Taking down Flair , Anderson and Benoit outside as they beat on the Dungeon of Doom. In ring we see Hogan , Hall and Nash in control. Heenan takes off as suddenly out comes the Giant ! The fans pop as the Giant gets in ring and stares down all 3 men. Then suddenly ...he grabs Barbarian and choke slams him ! Then he choke slams Mongo and Meng. He gives the sign for the NWO as everyone is stunned as he's joined the New World Order !

Randy Savage arrives as he has a steel chair and is laying into everyone. But as he goes after Hogan , he gets tackled and they soon start beating down on Savage. Hogan drops a couple leg drops on the Macho Man. As the Horsemen try to get back in ring , Hogan paints a yellow streak down Savage's back ! The Horsemen and Dungeon both slowly get to their feet in ring as the NWO go to the announce booth.

Hogan proclaims , is there any question on WHO THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE in pro wrestling is....its the NWO. The Giant claims he got a phone call from Ted Dibiase who wants to talk business. The Giant is all about business. He brags up Hogan's cars and motorcycles as Hulk spits on the WCW Nitro sign. As he's relaxing , Hall sees the WCW guys coming as a brawl happens there next.

At the end the Giant and Hogan get back at the announce booth as Hulk claims he got Giant a big movie role soon since he knows Arnold. They mock a stupid little man (Ric Flair) and say the catchphrase , whether ya like it or ya don't like it....its the best thing happening today ! The show ends as the Dungeon of Doom carry a wounded painted Savage to the back.

The Bad - The worst match was likely the squash match with Harlem Heat. A fact it was such a squash that Greg Valentine barely got in ring time in that match. It was so silly even Stevie Ray mocked the team before he locked up with them.

The Giant's heel turn was so outta the blue , it made you question why WCW would do that. Of course it was the fact that for 3 months the NWO was just 3 members (Hall , Nash and Hogan) and they had been teasing a 4th member since August. So they had to deliver a 4th one. Its just , it took one of WCW's growing big face characters away from them and it made you question why the Giant would join a heel group that had left him beaten down once or twice before this.

There was a trend starting to happen with WCW/NWO as the war was going on. The NWO would somehow at the end of each encounter seemingly stand tall and more powerful. Eventually there had to be a defeat ahead soon...right ?


OVERALL : ***1/2 OUTTA 5. The show had some pretty ok matches with Page/Wright and the Dungeon/Horsemen 8 man tag. The best match of the night goes to Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko. That was a pretty damn solid match. The angle was hot for the NWO and the shocking turn of the Giant made everyone I'm sure at home do a WTF. Its no shock Vince was losing massively to WCW. He wouldn't be airing a show until September 6th on Friday.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - September 9th , 1996



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

Tony Shiavone welcomes us to an electrified Nitro as fireworks go off. Were 1 week away from WAR GAMES .....WCW vs NWO. Shiavone brings up how the balance of power seems to be going to the New World Order. After the Giant turned and joined the group last week. We see clips of last weeks arrival and departure of Ted Dibiase , the NWO arriving and the Giant heel turn.

Shiavone plugs that they still don't know who the 4th man will be in WAR GAMES cage as the Giant has a match against Randy Savage at Fall Brawl. Entrance music hits and out comes Pat Tanaka to start the show off. Tanaka is an old hand and had pretty much worked in every major North American company you could name.... AWA , CWA , WWF , ECW , WCW ....

Tanaka is actually coming out to.... Bill Golberg's music ? WTF ? Anyhow he's facing Super Calo in this match to prop Calo up for his match against Rey Mysterio Jr at Fall Brawl for the Cruiserweight Championship. Mike Teney comes out to discuss Calo's Nitro debut. Tanaka starts off in brief control but Calo starts high flying and nails some moves off the top rope.

In a cool move Calo does a forward moon sault over the top rope outside. His feet bang the guard rail as he seems ok. Outside meanwhile teenagers working for the NWO have arrived and have some papers to pass around. Back in ring Tanaka has taken control and Calo tries a frankensteiner but Tanaka catches and does a sit down power bomb.

Tanaka goes for a super plex and Calo reverses mid air and lands onto him for the win. Not that impressive a debut , but it does its job. Tanaka sadly was enhancement talent at this stage and is more known for his tag team work as part of Badd Company in the AWA and his run in the WWF as part of the Orient Express. Backstage Gene Okerlund speaks to the Dogface Gremlin Rick Steiner about Nick Patrick. The lovable Rick claims he had him beat if not for Patrick and all. Ask Sting and his brother.

Lex Luger comes out and tries to be nice and tells Rick he's done more singles wrestling and he's at the top of his game. That Sting and his brother aren't here. Rick tells Lex he can beat him so lovable nice. Lex doesn't believe it as he walks off. After this we go to a NWO vignette as Hall & Nash promote the NWO T-shirts (yes folks I own one) and all proceeds go to the Ric Flair retirement fund. (Well that didn't seem to work did it ?)

WCW discusses the debut of Glacier who showed up on....WCW Pro ? WTF ? They promoted this guy so hard , so long he finally appears on a C show for the company ? They obviously know this entire thing is a waste of fucking time folks. That is millions wasted. Anyhow coming to the ring is the debut of the Amazing French Canadians.

Yes folks its the former Quebecers from the WWF ; Jacques Rougeau & Carl Ouellet. For Carl Ouellet he was pushed outta the WWF by Shawn Michaels and his pals months ago due to crap he did backstage. Ouellet is even wearing the eye patch deal when he was a pirate , then they wave their flags. The two men are facing the Nasty Boys as I even debate the thinking behind this one.

The fans love The Nasty's , but before the match begins Rougeau knows exactly what he needs to do to get the crowd more heat in this. He gets on the mic and the two men start to sing the Canadian national anthem. Fans go ape **** as the Nasty's jump them. Out in the crowd the kids are passing around those NWO propaganda papers. Larry gets fed up and walks over and takes the stack and throws away from the kid. Then shows Tony what was wrote on the paper.

Rougeau and Ouellet start off in control as they use the flag to nail Knobbs with one of the flags. Both men start working so well as a team and do some nice double team tag moves. One is Ouellet climbing the top rope as Rougeau holds him to balance , then he flips over and does a type of moonsault with his partners help. He delivers two of those to Saggs.

The match however is going along as suddenly in comedic payback as Rougeau is late to leave the ring , Knobbs grabs the other flag. The referee is distratced trying to concentrate on him as Knobbs levels Ouellet with the flag. This allows Saggs to get the cheap win. The fans pop for this as the Amazing French Canadians aren't happy. And well lucky for us the Nasty's didn't have to work long in this match.

Okerlund interviews the Nasty Boys post match as he brings up last weeks sneak attack on the Harlem Heat. The fans are solid behind the Nasty's and being part of Nastyville. Saggs claims people been pointing fingers at him and Knobbs for being pals with Hogan. That they are part of the NWO. Then Saggs jokes the WCW World tag team titles are in WCW....and all they care about is those tag titles. Knobbs gets on the mic and claims he could give 2 hells what the NWO does , all he cares about is WCW.

We return from commercial with no entrance or either Craig Pittman or Scott Norton. This match is a special "hold vs hold" match. Norton has the full nelson submission hold while Pittman has the armbar submission. They can only win by those holds. Norton will face Ice Train at the Fall Brawl PPV. Pittman starts off fast against Norton and takes him nearly down to his feet.

But Norton uses his strength to turn the tide and momentum as he arm drops Pittman hurting his shoulder. Then outside the ring he throws him into the ring post and centers his attack on the shoulder. In ring Norton locks on Pittman's submission as he screams in pain. Teddy Long who is his manager wants him to give up but he won't let Long end the match.

Out comes Ice Train who tells Long to end this and he throws the towel in to stop it. Pittman never gave up as Train backs Norton down. They check on the hurt Pittman. Backstage Okerlund talks to 3/4ths of the Fall Brawl WCW team (Flair , Anderson and Luger). Flair isn't happy that Sting isn't here and demands him to show up. Lex claims he doesn't know where Sting is at right now but he'll be there. Mongo and Benoit arrive and rip Lex for this. But as Lex proclaims ...one man has always stood behind World Championship Wrestling ...and its Sting !

Arn Anderson cuts the best damn promo telling Luger he called ahead to Winston Salem , NC Hospital to reserve a room. Because he knows he's gonna get hurt...its WAR GAMES. People get hurt in this match and they will too for sure. But he intends to inflict as much hurt and payback on Hogan and company for what they did to him months ago !

After commercial WCW seems in disarray as Shiavone promotes with Sting not being there. We get a clip of Diamond Dallas Page attacking Eddie Guerrero at Clash of Champions in August post match. Where he nailed 3 diamond cutters on him. Then Chavo got involved and he too was attacked by Page post match after a win. Page will face Chavo Guerrero at the Fall Brawl PPV.

Joe Gomez is out to face Juventud Guerrera , who will face Konnan at the Fall Brawl PPV for the Mexican Heavyweight Championship. Teney brings up the pasts of Mysterio (he's 21 years old here folks) and Guerrera (he's 20) and what Juventud means (Youth Warrior). Guerrera starts off in quick fashion with his high risk offense on Gomez. Getting him outta the ring.

In a cool spot Juventud tries to do a head scissors to bring Gomez back into the ring , which the bigger guy fucks up and it gets booed for how sloppy it is. Gomez then fucks up coming off the top rope as Juvie catches him with a drop kick. Then Juventud nails his twist into a splash finisher (a name Teney called it) to end this sloppy match. Guerrera was solid , its just Gomez was the wrong guy to face in this.

Post match Okerlund interviews Nick Patrick who claims that Luger intentionally hit him as Gene calls this absolute garbage. Then he cries how Luger & Sting chased him outta the building. Okerlund claims a court term about evidence and he's been involved too many things to claim he's an innocent victim in this. Patrick swears his innocence and claims he will enforce the letter of the law from WCW. Okerlund jokingly brings up Patrick's new cars and rolex.

Outside the arena as it rains , Hogan and the NWO are passing out flyers on cars. Its pretty wild as we soon see Dibiase talks to someone in the limo as he holds an umbrella. There is another person and he's there tonight !

Rick Steiner comes out for his match as Shiavone questions Luger's past possibly returning. That maybe he and Patrick are in cahoots together to throw that match. After discussing that as Lex arrives , Larry claims that given Savage's mental state and condition after the weeks of beatings ....Luger would be the guy WCW should have their hopes on to beat Hogan.

Luger and Steiner shake hands as the match begins as Rick locks on a headlock and surprises Lex by using his mat wrestling to take him over. Then seconds later Lex takes down Rick and does his pose . Shiavone brings up the money the NWO has by Ted Dibiase as both men are testing each other out. Finally things start to break loose as Luger nails a clothesline !

END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Hour #2 begins as Bischoff welcomes us to the match and suddenly the Dogface Gremlin nails a clothesline as the fans bark. In a cool damn spot Rick shows his power he has and does a belly to belly (which is nearly an overhead slam type) on Lex. He is in control beating Luger with some pretty solid offense mixed with some hard kicks.

Then the tide turns quick as Luger is thrown into the turnbuckle and explodes outta the corner with a monster clothesline. He nails a power slam and signals the torture rack finisher. Then out runs Nick Patrick yelling for Luger. To come with him as he follows Patrick. Outside we see Dibiase talking and Sting's voice , but no image of him. The entire audio seems weirdly like it was from a couple weeks ago where Sting gave a speech to the Horsemen.

Suddenly Luger arrives in the rain and demands to know where Sting is as Dibiase is acting innocent. Suddenly from the Limo comes ....Sting ? WTF ...he attacks Luger with the other NWO members. They beat up Luger as everyone puts the boots to him as Dibiase's driver assists. Well Luger revives and throws that driver across the parking lot as Ted runs like hell with Hogan !

Back at the announce booth they are stunned at what they saw with Sting possibly turning. Heenan muses that Patrick likely lured Luger out there for the attack. We get Bischoff showing , what Shiavone showed from last week involving Nick Patrick. For...**** knows what reason. Both men chased Shiavone all the way to the back and stealing a policeman's car. Comically no one seemed to care that two men stole a police car. Shiavone then shows us an image of Ted Dibiase getting in the limo to signal he's part of the NWO like were morons for some reason after the events of last week where Giant turned and cut his promo.

They replay all the clips of the wild main event from last week where Giant turned. After all that is aired we get a replay of moments ago where it seems Sting has turned against WCW. Then we get a NWO announcement. The official t-shirt folks......BUY THE SHIRT !

After commercial the WCW guys are out there ...Knobbs , Rick Steiner , Amazing French Canadians and Luger as they search the limos. Even Scott Norton is there. Teney questions the non-leadership of WCW as Heenan claims they should have all united months ago. Billy Kidman comes out to face Rey Mysterio Jr in what should be a damn good match finally.

Kidman is young as Teney brings up that with more experience he will become a star. Mysterio has a bandage on his lower abs , so he must have had a brief injury at this point. This starts off quick as soon both men go in and outta the ring. Kidman nails a beautiful splash from the top rope. Then Mysterio comes back and nails a roll up pin ? WTF ? Its over this quick ? It was just starting to be awesome and it ends.

Jimmy Hart brings out the Faces of Fear (Meng and Barbarian) in this tag team match. Out comes the Public Enemy in what should be a complete typical garbage match. The Faces of Fear jump the PE as this brawl begins and soon its all 4 guys fighting it out. Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge don't have the brute power that the FoF have. Suddenly thr 4 man brawl stops and it becomes a normal tag team match.

Out runs the Leprechaun as he runs around outside the ring and even spooks Jimmy Hart for no reason. He then runs back to the backstage area ? WTF was this about ? Anyhow the match suddenly stops and starts again as a normal tag match. Nitro cuts to backstage as we see a sore Luger with the Horsemen. AA isn't sad that Luger lost a friend and he lost a teammate . But he is sad that one man who never left and was counted on just betrayed them. He's sick to his stomach and hurt.

Okerlund questions who can ya trust ? He demands Luger give an answer , but Luger is PISSED. He tells Arn he's gonna really do this match as its PERSONAL now at Fall Brawl. Flair claims if Luger wants to RIDE ....HE CAN....AT WAR GAMES ! BLOOD , SWEAT , TEARS......WHHOOOOOO !! WHOOOO !! Flair is ready to go insane ...LOCK THE DOOORS !! WHOOO !!

Meanwhile in ring the Public Enemy are being beaten up by the Faces of Fear. Rocco Rock manages a big boot in the corner to Barbarian but can't make the hot tag to Grunge. Then Meng cuts down Rock as he tries again to rally. He eventually makes that hot tag to Grunge and tries a double noggle knocker to both men and they shake it off. As the 4 men brawl the most silly comedic ending begins.

Outside the ring Barbarian brawls with Grunge and lays him onto the table that the PE have brought down. A minute or two passes as Jimmy Hart comes over and holds Grunge's feet as the two men seemingly have the spot too planned out early. Its like Grunge keeps raising up to chat with Jimmy. Barbarian climbs the top rope and comes off , as Hart is finally pushed away and he eats the table.

Rock has ANOTHER table he has brought and sets it up in ring as fans pop for this carnage. The PE made the symbol for putting Meng into it. Rock nails the moonsault off target some and that should be it right ? Noooo ...this keeps going as everyone is like , why didn't Rock pin the guy ? Instead Barbarian is back in ring and the 4 men brawl some more.

Meng seems to have mercifully ends this as he locks in his death grip. The Barbarian comes over as does Jimmy Hart to stop him as he has won the match. In a show of respect they allow PE to leave the ring without further carnage. They must have respected them for this possibly. In ring is the Dungeon of Doom stable with new members like Konnan and Maxx.


End of Part #2

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Okerlund interviews them all as Big Bubba taunts Glacier some more to bring it on karate man. Konnan gets on the mic and claims Sullivan's a dark man and leader of some gang wars . They are angry at the Giant and want Savage to take him out .

This NWO vignette promotes the "Demise of WCW" and how Ted Dibiase has more money than Ted Turner. That the NWO World title is Ted's belt . Nash claims its the rules of the street , you tag it ...you own it. Hall taunts that WCW wants them so bad , but do they really...want it ? The battle plan as Ted proclaims...come in and create confusion , chaos ! Ted wants his own segment and champions. NWO-4-LIFE as Hall claims.

Heenan claims after this he knows Dibiase's mindset after seeing him for years. John Tenta comes out to face Randy Savage. The MADNESS is out as the MACHO MAN throws off his shades , hat and jacket , then charges the ring ! But he quickly runs into a brick wall named John Tenta who starts off in control. Bischoff quickly makes a statement where Heenan had during the FoF/PE match announced Meng as "Haiku". That Heenan screwed up and that he has no affiliation with that company since the early 1990's and he is in fact a WCW worker named Meng....thank you. (Because Vince was suing over any petty **** right now folks)

Savage gets outta the ring as he manages to escape from Tenta. He then gets a steel chair and lays into Tenta . The referee oddly lets this continue for **** knows what reason. He then gets Tenta in ring and nails the elbow from the sky once. He climbs up ready to drop a 2nd as suddenly Teddy Long appears yelling that the NWO is back....and he needs to come with him.

The Madness stops his destruction of John Tenta to follow Teddy Long to the back. The limo pulls off as Savage arrives , and they find the 2nd limo. Everyone is outside in the rain as the entire roster of Dungeon of Doom , Public Enemy , Horsemen and others have found more spray paint. They start painting WCW on the limo , but the rain is washing the paint off.

As Bischoff and the other muse about the NWO and war ahead. Bischoff is about to muse about the company's critics when Arn Anderson appears and gets on the headset. He cuts a promo claiming they laid the original path for a group like the NWO. That the 4 Horsemen started this all a decade ago in 1985. Arn is more hurt because the "constant" thing in life was the Stinger in WCW.

Bischoff claims he made some failures as Flair cuts him off and rips into Hogan ...claiming he needs to walk that aisle and put up or shut up at Fall Brawl. Finally Bischoff admits maybe he made his mistakes in believing so much in Hogan that started this , at the end we see a replay of Sting's possible turn as it ends.


The Bad - Dear lord this was a bad match list of Nitro. Some matches barely ran a few minutes as it seemed WCW had oddly been booked by Vince Russo. We had matches barely go and suddenly they would end by Super Calo a couple minutes in or Rey Mysterio Jr. This is likely the worst wrestling Nitro in ....well months. Not one match was worth watching and the ones that could have been (Tanaka/Calo , Mysterio/Kidman) ended so damn quick , it didn't help either match.

That Guerrera/Gomez match had little highlights and was pretty bad. Given that Gomez is a taller match who really shouldn't be in there against a cruiserweight who moves so quick. It ended thankfully quick enough in this case.

How terrible is Glacier a character ? Someone they spent a couple million bucks on suddenly doesn't debut on Nitro (the flagship show) or hell ...even the B show (WCW Saturday Night). Its the C show folks barely saw in syndication.

You think Vince McMahon spends the 3 hours of WWE RAW running down things that happened in his shows ? On this Nitro we had 2 flashbacks to events of last week , in 2 different hours. Then we got a flashback of events that happened earlier that night . In all it went on for so many minutes. Minutes that could have been dedicated to actual giving Kidman/Mysterio TV time.


OVERALL : ** outta 5. This episode began the introduction to the next era of Sting that would begin. His change would be considered a huge turning point for himself and WCW. We would see how shocking things would go. Also this episode marked a growing frustration with the NWO , they had started to take over nearly every segment of Nitro and it was impacting matches and more.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - September 16th , 1996



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

Nitro is in Asheville , NC folks as Shiavone welcomes us to the show on ....T----N-----T ! Shiavone reveals that he has bad news to report. The NWO won WAR GAMES and Larry reveals WCW had the world in their hands but they didn't trust Sting. We see pictures of each man who entered the War Games cage from Nash , Anderson , Hogan and others. Then we get the debut in ring of the Fake Sting. The impostor Sting he beat up later and then in anger Sting left everyone to fall apart without him.

In a surprise touching scene Elizabeth tries to save her ex-husband Randy Savage from being destroyed worse by the Giant and NWO. Hogan paints NWO on the back of her dress as she covers him. The NWO is at full force folks and they pass out flyers as people walk in. Its part of the list of demands if they won at Fall Brawl and WCW has to do it.

The 1st match is up and its Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Mysterio Jr. This one should be good and hopefully WCW gives it time. Mysterio retained his WCW Cruiserweight Title after defeating Super Calo at Fall Brawl. Shiavone apologizes personally to Sting for being fooled by the NWO. Then he claims he made the same mistake about Flair. In a cool spot to open this match Mysterio does a behind the back submission back breaker on Juvie. Then Juvie takes control and does a quick version of a fall away slam !

Mysterio gets in control and starts working over Guerrera's leg. Then the tide turns just as quick as Juvie nails a back elbow after Mysterio is caught running from the ropes. Seconds later Mysterio nails a flying spin wheel kick ! Holy crap this is turning fast as Guerrera is back in control again. A minute later as Juventud Guerrera tries to leap back into the ring and springing from the top rope , Rey catches him with a drop kick to the stomach ! This forces Guerrera outside as Mysterio right seconds before they go to commercial does a huricarana onto Guerrera as he jumps from the ring outside !

This match is insane for the speed and pace. Back from commercial , Guerrera gets back in control. Both announcers point out that Mysterio has his ribs taped up and given his high paced offense , no wonder. As Mysterio is outside the ring Juvie decides to do a back moon sault onto Mysterio and pays the price himself for it as he is shaken up some.

Shiavone believes that Guerrera's head likely smacked the floor as he seems shook up. Larry blames the high risk moves and how they have to dial it down. Back in ring Juventud nails a 360 splash as he flips over the top rope into a pin attempt on Rey. Seconds later Juvie sits Rey on the top turnbuckle ...gets behind him and on Rey's shoulders as he jumps and turns , then nails a hell of a frankensteiner off that turnbuckle ! Holy **** this is awesome as a match. So awesome Shiavone decides to show up a tailgate party that fans of the NWO is having outside. WTF WCW ?

We come back just in time to see Guerrera try a power bomb off the turnbuckle as suddenly Rey reverses it somehow in mid air into a frankensteiner pin ! HOLY **** again . That was so spectacular as a reversal....its 20 years later and still a hell of a reversal. Great opening match folks. Shiavone claims this is the 1st time he's ever seen a power bomb from the top turnbuckle be reversed into a frankensteiner.

Backstage we go as Mike Teney is doing this interview segment. Mongo isn't happy with Lex Luger and claims he told Lex how it would go if Sting didn't do his job at War Games. Debra claims Steve beat up various guys in the NFL , so he won't fair any better. Its a tag team match as Benoit will have to carry Mongo in this it appears. Benoit claims that Sting and Lex crossed the Horsemen and they better prepare themselves to pay the price !

Shiavone after commercial claims that everyone has been talking about Glacier's debut on WCW Pro last Sunday (they weren't). We then go to a vignette where Raymond LLoyd (Glacier) discusses his path to WCW. How he was inspired by Bruce Lee to do martial arts as the Glacier character is fully seen and so insanely silly , its hard to describe. As he kicks air and does his usual crap , Lloyd claims he traveled thousands and thousands of miles to Japan and found Master Splinter in Japan. Ok not Master Splinter , but he found some old guy to teach him martial arts.

Then he traveled back to America where he was taught pro wrestling so he combined the two and has a vast superior form of skills set now. Glacier claims his armor and mask he wears to the ring is a symbol of warriors . His eye makeup is a symbol of ice. He then claims he wears a symbol for peace I think on the costume. The shield on his back is a Japanese symbol of evil. Because evil is always behind his back ? WTF ?

Out with Teddy Long is Ice Train. He is wearing a towel over his head to try and likely get whatever influence of heat from Taz he can muster. In ring is Diamond Dallas Page as he stretches to prepare. Train is like 2-3 times the size of Page and uses his strength to start the match. In a nice impressive shoulder block as Page runs into Train , he gets knocked clear outta the ring.

Page gets the advantage soon after and delivers a nice swinging neck breaker. Then is tossed across the ring after a pin attempt. After Page cuts off a short lived Train rally , he signals for the diamond cutter. This fails as Train rallies and nails a pretty big belly to belly suplex. Page tries to hit this big guy , only pissing him off. He nails a huge running power slam and nearly gets the win .

After a big splash another near pin , Long jumps up on the apron as he weirdly stands there a few seconds and gets back down. Then after we cut to some more NWO teenagers passing around flyers , they police tape themselves around the WCW merch tables so no one can buy anything. Meanwhile in ring the bell sounds as we return and we never see the finish on TV. In fact according to Long , Page grabbed at his towel he carried and threw it as Train locked on the full nelson submission ! Nick Patrick being Nick Patrick , he awards the match to Page.

The replay shows us what happened as Long had climbed back up on the apron and as Page frails his arms around , grabs the towel and it costs Ice Train. The NWO guys have their own t-shirts and more to sell as they hold up signs of "Who wants this crap ?"

After a Konnan promo , we see the former 1,2,3 Kid sitting with fans at ringside. Larry guesses he's likely with the NWO. Coming to the ring we see Super Calo as he's ready to face Konnan for the Heavyweight Championship (AAA Americas World Title). This belt was actually only carried by Konnan and vacated by October when Konnan left to wrestle just for WCW. They tried reviving it in 2004 , but only 1 guy had it and was retired finally by 2006.

In ring Calo starts off quick against the new heel Konnan . Both men do reversals and hit the ropes a number of times until Calo knocks Konnan outta the ring. He delivers a wild suicide dive as Teney calls the moves. Back in ring Calo is slow as Konnan catches him and nails a super plex and then locks in a nice submission. He stands him up and does a pretty nice roll into a power bomb onto Calo.

Seconds later as Konnan is once again outside the ring , Calo does a nice springboard off the top rope into a backwards placha onto Konnan. Back in ring as Calo is in control , after hitting the ropes , Konnan nails a smooth drop kick to Calo's knee. Then delivers a hell of a clothesline on him. Calo tries a frankensteiner off the turnbuckle on Konnan but the size and weight doesn't work as Konnan lands awkwardly onto him halfway.

Then after being knocked outside the ring , Calo runs and slingshots himself over the top rope , landing right onto Konnan's chest. Then he does another high risk move seconds later as Calo comes off with a front moonsault onto him outside the ring. Back in ring Calo crashes and burns into the corner on Konnan as he moves. Then Konnan nails a hard brainbuster onto him and I'm stunned...Calo kicks out ! Then he does a flap jack and....CALO KICKS OUT AGAIN ! Konnan gives a look of ...WTF do I have to do ? So he delivers a very hard power bomb and finally....finally defeats Super Calo !

Mike Teney goes over and interviews the former 1,2,3 Kid after the match who plays comedic dumb as he claims he was on a plane from Japan and been working some dates there. So he jokingly asks who won the big War Games match and as Teney tells him ...."Oh gosh darn it...." Teney is less than convinced at this acting.

Hugh Morrus comes down to the ring as he laughs coming to the ring as he waits on Brad Armstrong. Which shocks me this is actually a match were getting on WCW Nitro. Shiavone again personally apologizes to Sting yet again. Larry and Tony put over how quick a big man Morrus is and he can fly through the air quick. The fans in Asheville actually start a "Lets Go Brad" chant.

Morrus isn't laughing as he is knocked outta the ring by Armstrong. Morrus manages to get the advantage after he delivers a vicious clothesline . Shiavone promotes the 2nd hour as we get the 1 minute count down clock. Morrus nails the No Laughing Matter finish and plays around as a goofball. He then slowly makes the arrogant cover as Armstrong rolls him up for the shocking surprise win !


END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Back from commercial Teney waits to interview Macho Man , Randy Savage. The MADNESS is rocking his rainbow tights , his WCW Monday Nitro shirt and gold hat. Teney decides to show Randy pictures of what happened at Fall Brawl. And how he was jumped by the NWO during the match and lost in ring . The Madness gets a shot at Hogan at Halloween Havoc. Randy quotes a rhyme of living fast n dyin hard. They are sharing planet Earth at the same time and it won't last. He's down to one marble ....and its slippin away ! OOOOHHH YEAAAAH......

Bischoff cuts to the back as the NWO have arrived in limos , in party mode ! NWO Sting is with them as Hogan claims there is no one left to beat up in WCW after last night. Back to the match Scott Norton is caught by a crazed Savage as he brawls with him. Savage is soon caught in ring as Norton uses his strength advantage against THE MADNESS ! During the match , Bischoff reveals that next week a lot of the big heavy hitters will be doing a New Japan tour and he never realized this would happen when he lined the tour up months earlier.

Savage keeps trying to rally back but the size advantage is what is hurting him. Then he finally catches Norton with a clothesline outta nowhere and turns the tide. He throws him outta the ring one way , brawls outside then after throwing him in ring ...throws him outta the other side. Norton finally nails a DDT to take control again. Outside the ring Norton misses a running elbow smash into the ring post. Then THE MADNESS EXPLODES. He throws Dave Penzer outta his chair and takes it. Smashing Norton over the head 2-3 times.

Randy Anderson (the referee) tries to stop Savage and he's tossed to the side so he can deliver another chair shot ! Nick Patrick is smacked as he gets up making a pained face. Before we go to commercial Big Bubba cuts a fun promo proclaiming that Glacier can wax on , wax off , take a tiger karate stance and that crap won't work in WCW.

Glacier comes out as he seems to do a karate routine at the top of the ramp. Snow flakes (fake paper mache) falls as Glacier gets in ring and does his entire karate routine some more as he strikes poses. Before the match begins Glacier does a bow to the referee and strikes a martial arts stance. He delivers some moves but he keeps taking these karate stances and its so silly. Bubba grabs his leg in a comedic way and slaps him across the face a few times ...before eating a drop kick.

The match is happening in a blue screen type deal as to make Glacier seem special. The fans aren't caring that match as Bubba is control a few seconds. So many round kicks and more. Bischoff is loving this sense he loves martial arts as he calls each spin and side kick. Finally he nails a spinning side kick to end this crap fest. The fans don't seem to really care.

Back from commercial we see Sting arrive and he gets in ring to talk. He doesn't face the camera as he talks to the fans in attendance and he was so dismayed angry at how his friends and more doubted his alliegance to the company. That his best pal Lex Luger didn't believe in him like he did for him for the past year. That he gave his blood , sweat and tears for WCW ...so he now pledges to stand by the fans if they stand by him. The rest ...WCW , former friends and announcers can STICK IT. He's now a free agent and he leaves. The announce team is stunned at this.

In a weird tag team , we have Marcus Bagwell and Chris Jericho teaming together . Then as the Horsemen music hits , we don't see anyone come out. Ric Flair is talking to Midd Elizabeth and trying to get her to come out. But she's in fear of the NWO and wants to stay back there. Arn Anderson claims if she's scared let her stay there then.

After they come out , we see 1,2,3 Kid stand up on his chair and hit the switch. Then suddenlu the arena is flooded with NWO flyers. Like a scene from GI Joe where balloons fell for Cobra. And the flyers keep falling folks. Its pretty funny flyers as one reads "NWO - Now Your Paying Our Bills..." and "NWO - WE WILL TV OUR WAY !" The wrestlers all take turns trying ro clear the ring of these flyers as they aren't happy.

The match finally starts as Anderson and Jericho start it. Jericho takes an early advantage as his quick moves and more . Jericho tags into Bagwell as Anderson tags in Flair. Bischoff claims as part of the demands made by the NWO , they want their own TV show. In a nice fun spot Bagwell and Flair trade punches and Bagwell nails some funny offense. The Horsemen keep trying to cheat but the youthful energy of Bagwell and Jericho keep foiling that.

Once outside the ring Flair's emotions show. Angry over the match and how the NWO is littering the ring with trash , Flair storms around and throws a bunch of the flyers. AA calms him down and the two get back in ring as they soon take over the match. Both heels start working over Jericho as Bagwell keeps trying to save him. Flair and Anderson work over Jericho's leg to set him up for the figure four.

Back outside we see Hogan welcome 1,2,3 Kid into the NWO. The group has grown as we see a boombox type deal as we see Sting's speech from weeks ago as they play it. The NWO Sting laughs . This impostor Sting is actually Jeff Farmer ....the former wrestler named "Cobra" who was around a short while in WCW 1995. Anyhow back in ring the match ends as Bagwell has made the hot tag and cleaning house. Woman suddenly gets involved and scratches his eyes , as AA nails a big DDT to set up Flair and the figure four. Patrick has no clue Woman is holding Flair's arms as he counts down Bagwell for the pin.

The other 2 Horsemen are out as Mongo/Benoit come out to face Luger ....and maybe Sting ? And no Sting as Lex comes out alone to face Mongo and Benoit. Lex starts off pretty hot in this match as he has control early. He's maintaining control as Mongo nails him in the corner to get the Horsemen the advantage as they start working over Luger.

Mongo and Benoit make some good tags as Mongo is just asked to do a few things in ring as Benoit keeps the matches pace in control. Suddenly the fans in the arena look up as there seems to be a fight possibly in the stands. Luger rallies back and starts to take down both men . He locks on the torture rack on Benoit and looks close to winning as suddenly out comes the Horsemen.

Luger is taking down each member as the numbers get to him and Mongo clips him with a tackle. Bischoff gets a note that the newest member of the NWO will be called ...Syxx. As the beatdown continues Bischoff takes us outside where the NWO grabs a camera man as the NWO party inside a limo. Hogan brings up that next week the entire WCW will be over in Japan except for....Macho Man. Hogan gloats more about taking over next week and getting some backstage passes from Ted Turner.

The show ends as a beaten Luger is left laying.

The Bad - The Elizabeth turn made no sense given she had watched Savage for months upon months take beatings from the Horsemen and Ric Flair. Its so illogical even Larry would bring up how to make jokes about it.

The Horsemen all blaming Lex Luger illustrated how wonky WCW's booking could be really. Its clear they too didn't trust Sting and they too lost by that same reason. Wouldn't you have banned together with Luger to take the fight to NWO out in the parking lot ? Instead they beat down Luger which really pleased the NWO since everyone was not uniting as they should have.

Glacier debuts and its a big dud. The fact the only one excited to call Glacier's moves was Bischoff. And nearly every move was kicks it seems. At the end the audience was confused as they had no clue what to make of this.


OVERALL : **** outta 5. After last weeks bad in ring action , this week had some great matches (Mysterio/Guerrera , Konnan/Super Calo) and some old school type flavor (Flair/Anderson vs Jericho/Bagwell). Anyhow this Nitro had good wrestling action , good storyline as the NWO doesn't even come into the building and they still grab attention . Plus the debut of Syxx (Sean Waltman). Anyhow the story was revealed years later that Waltman was actually supposed to debut a month or 2 ago and be in the cage at War Games. Well the WWF wouldn't send him his release and he waited....and waited so he could sign with WCW .

[SUPERECWFAN1]

WCW Monday Night Nitro - September 23rd , 1996



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

Tony Shiavone welcomes us to another live WCW Monday Nitro and warns us that many of the top WCW names aren't in the building since they are in Japan. We see that the NWO have put an ad in the USA Today claiming tonight is NWO Monday Nitro. "While the Boys are Away , the Big Boys will Play." We get a repeat of what happened last week at Fall Brawl where Savage was beating the Giant and actually....body slammed him !

We go to earlier today where fans were being handed NWO flyers by the street team. Some ripped them up and tossed them away. Others took them and seemed happy. One guy tries to talk into the camera and its comical to see it fail. Tonight to start Nitro we will see Kevin Sullivan and Konnan in a tag match. They will be facing Brad Armstrong and Juventud Guerrera.

Konnan starts off quick and delivers a nick back suplex on Juvie , folding him up good. But Juventud unleashes his high risk offense and soon knocks Konnan outta the ring and does a flying cross body outta the ring onto him. Juvie is having the advantage until Konnan wraps him up and delivers a hard brain buster suplex onto him. But after this Konnan reaches for the tag as Sullivan won't tag in. Then he delivers more to him and he still won't tag in.

Brad Armstrong is in and they trade moves as Konnan lays him out with a power bomb as Sullivan wants in. He tags him and the guy gets pinned. Post match Konnan is wondering what the hell is going on as he gets to talking to Sullivan as Big Bubba nails him from behind. This starts a double team as Konnan still gets at Sullivan as Kevin stops it. He proclaims that this was an initiation into the Dungeon of Doom and he wanted to prove Konnan's worthiness. He passed as Konnan proclaims he is Dungeon of Doom ! Spewing saliva onto the camera lens. Its part of a gang initiation deal as Mike Teney claims.

Shiavone shows last week where the NWO in the limo taunt how they will be on RAW this week and that Savage will be alone on Nitro. Backstage with Teney is Randy Savage , as he knows he's been PUBLIC TARGETED by them. The Madness knows he's a ....MARKED MAN OOOOHH YEAAAH. The entire pressure of the world he proclaims is turned upside down ! Savage then claims he was booked for the Japan tour but decided to take himself outta it so either he gets beat up or the NWO does ! HALLOWEEN HAVOC IS VERY SCARY , AND HES NOT SCAAAARED ....OOOOHHH YEEEAAHH DIG IT !!!

"Mean" Mike Enos is out alone as Rough N Ready is pretty much done at this stage as I posted shows ago that Dick Slater suffered a career ending back injury. Enos is facing Chris Jericho who as Shiavone claims is becoming a sensation. He took Benoit to the limit at Fall Brawl . The match starts quick as Enos and Jericho bounce off the ropes and Enos misses him. Then Jericho delivers a spinning heel kick. But his advantage doesn't last long as Jericho gets back in control.

After Jericho locks on an arm bar rest hold , Enos uses his power to drop him across the top rope , giving him the control of the match. Later in the match in a surprise move , Enos does a running clothesline off the apron as Jericho is on the floor. A couple minutes later Enos sits the steel ring steps up and suplexes Jericho on them...ouch. Back in ring Enos works over Jericho some more and locks on a bear hug submission.

As Chris tries to rally back , Enos delivers a power slam on to him. Then seconds later he locks on a Boston crab submission on Jericho as Jericho rallies a little from it. Then he locks on a standing back breaker , with Jericho over his shoulder. But Chris rallies back and reverses outta it and takes control with a clothesline. Jericho a couple minutes later tries a frankensteiner on Enos from the top turnbuckle. But its blocked and Mike delivers a pretty big power bomb from the top rope.

Enos gets a near pin fall as Jericho kicks out barely. Then in a weird as hell spot , Enos catches a running Jericho in what seems to be a power slam. Instead Jericho manages to reverse the move into a dizzy type power slam of his own and gets the pin ! After a commerxial we see Gold- I mean Pat Tanaka come out to that music. Pretty weird to hear that music for him.

Tanaka is facing Glacier , who does his funny martial arts moves at the top of the ramp. WCW drops pieces of confetti as snow and its the blue light treatment for him. Glacier gets in the corner and does his Sub-Zero pose on the turnbuckle. The fans watch this weird deal as they don't seem at all into it. Glacier starts the match and does his weird martial arts posing and delivers a palm strike. Then a spinning leg sweep. Tanaka finally delivers a wrestling move and its a power bomb.

Glacier however recovers as Tanaka has his mind elsewhere to taunt the fans. He delivers a spinning wheel kick and lays him out. Then as the promotion for Glacier hits ridiculous levels as Tony and Larry proclaim was a success Glacier has been in WCW. He's had 2 matches on Nitro (3 altogether) and they claim the NWO may wanna recruit him.

Tony Shiavone promotes WCW Saturday Night with a lackluster lineup beyond Dean Malenko and Randy Savage the week ahead. Olympic Silver Medal winner Matt Ghaffari is watching this Nitro it seems. Possibly Bischoff was trying to sign him. Ghaffari would actually go onto have a brief MMA career (he'd fight 1 match) and actually become a pro wrestler at the age of 43 and work for NOAH and Hustle. Ghaffari actually looks like modern day Kurt Angle with his shaved head and all.

The Public Enemy come out with the table to be ready for the WCW World tag team champions , the Public Enemy. Both men taunt those who wanna take em on sucka ! Colonel Parker and Sister Sherri are still together as we see. Before the match Larry sends strong words for Nash and Hall , claiming they couldn't wrestle outta a paper back.

This starts off quick as Grunge is dumped outta the ring , but he gets back in ring and delivers a flying clothesline off the top rope. But the strength of the Heat is too much as they soon take advantage of Johnny Grunge . The worst sloppy part of this is Stevie Ray and Grunge who move so badly and so fake , you can tell its not real .

Once we return from commercial its Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge in ring as Rock finally makes the hot tag. Grunge clears the ring , he starts to shimmy and shake. Too much partying as Larry claims before a match is done. The Heat will be facing the Outsiders soon as its claimed , and Larry feels more hope for them , than he does Randy Savage being the last hope of WCW at Halloween Havoc.

Grunge is taking some punishment as Nick Patrick and Rock argue over things. Later in the match Booker T delivers a side kick and seems to be waiting on a spot to happen perhaps as he fools around as Larry claims he should make the pin. Grunge kicks out as Stevie Ray tries a pin as Rock keeps Nick Patrick distracted. Then we see backstage the NWO has arrived with the full group. Larry questions why they didn't lock the door. "Except no imitations , NWO is here...ha ha..." - Kevin Nash.

Back in ring Grunge rallies back and nails a swinging neck breaker and finally makes the hot tag to Rocco Rock who clears the ring until he gets caught and a double head butt sets him down. The match soon breaks down into all 4 men brawling as soon Rock is pushed back into the ring and his foot lays on the rope. Nick Patrick sees this and stops the count as seconds later , Stevie Ray tries a small cradle pin and its reversed. EVERYONE IS STUNNED ....the Public Enemy ....THE PUBLIC ENEMY are the new WCW World tag team champions !

The fans go crazy as Rock and Grunge celebrate this win with the title. Larry jokes Grunge has the right to party now as the fans celebrate with them in the stands. Doing the PE hand wave with them. After commercial we come to hour 2 as the fire works go off and more happens. Bischoff welcomes us to hour #2 as he claims the heat is on and the threat is real with the NWO there. And someone new....

Greg Valentine comes out and as Randy Savage is here. THE DANGER ZONE is real ....oooohhh yeah. Bischoff brags up the Macho Man's courage at coming out with a group targeting him. Savage is hitting the turnbuckles and as Valentine shoves him down and they start to fight soon after. The Hammer takes the MADNESS to the ground and starts working him over. Then seconds later throws him outta the ring.

Savage is completely insane as he charges back in and Valentine dumps him outta the ring again. Bischoff claims that Super Calo before Nitro aired , had to go to the hospital as he dislocated his elbow in a match. He sends good thoughts to him. The Madness suddenly explodes as he throws Valentine into the ring railing and grabs a steel chair. He lays him out as the referee oddly doesn't call a DQ.

He brings the chair in ring as referee Mark Curtis tries to wave him to stop. That isn't gonna happen as Savage comes off the top rope and lays out Valentine with it. That finally gets the DQ. After tossing Curtis outta the ring , suddenly here comes the NWO . We get Hall , Nash and Syxx. All 3 men start beating on Randy Savage. Hall delivers the Outsiders Edge finisher as Elizabeth watches on scared.


END OF PART #1

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Nash delivers his jackknife power bomb as fans toss garbage into the ring as the NWO celebrates. Its then we see Nash proclaim it looks like they are taking over. Giant gets on the mic and tells each man good job as he high fives them and mockingly goes to Savage who can't give him one. Then we see Show introduce the all-time greatest pro wrestler in the world and who made it what it is , the largest arms in the world and more.....HOLLYWOOD HOGAN. Hogan comes out and strikes some poses with his NWO World title.

Bischoff taunts that Hogan believes he's Elvis as Heenan proclaims he believes he's even bigger than Elvis. They stand up Savage and hold him so Hogan can smack him. He's held as Hogan drops a leg drop and does his pose. In a comical moment Nash grabs a Slim Jim and beats him with it as Hogan laughs over this. Hogan calls the NWO-ITES now as the fans do pop for this. That he can't see them clearly due to the lights shining off Savage's bald head. So he takes some black spray paint and sprays his head.

The NWO come to the announce booth as Nash and Hall make Bischoff stay there to announce. They force him into the seat , Hall promises him to do the job and do it well ok. The Outsiders are on commentary as the rest gather around in a fun group shot. Then Hall welcomes the newest member of the NWO , Ted Dibiase's head of security....Vince (Vincent). Its ....Virgil (from WWF days). Yes folks , Bischoff paid for the former Virgil to be called Vincent to mock Vince McMahon.

Nash claims they could take over basketball as they have taken over pro wrestling. Bischoff asks if they can take a break and wants to go , but Vince keeps his hand there so he can't move. The NWO promote their shirt as it now comes in GIANT-SIZE. Hall welcomes us back to the 1st ever NWO Monday Nitro after the vignette for the shirt.

Hall then mocks Nascar and claims the NWO could take over it. If they only had a car...huh a car. So outta the back comes the NWO Nascar ! Its pretty cool actually. The NWO as Nash claims they didn't just get any driver , they got themselves an outlaw in Kyle Petty to drive the NWO Nascar. Comically the NWO car wouldn't last long in Nascar.

In ring the Giant is special guest announcer. He announces Jim Powers vs VK Wallstreet , courtesy of the NWO. Nash and Hall make jokes that Powers is obviously juicing good. "Jimmy ...ya looookin good." - Nash. VK Wallstreet is out as they compliment his looking good in his suit and tie. The Outsiders decide to go take a closer look as Ted Dibiase and Vince stand guard over him.

This singles match suddenly becomes an impromptu handicap match against Jim Powers. The Outsiders start to take apart Powers as Randy Anderson departs as referee claiming he wants no part in this. Nick Patrick comes out and claims we need order in this match and will take part. Now its the Giant vs Powers who playfully skips around the ring. While Giant destroys Powers in ring , Hogan is tagging the building with spray paint. The match ends in ring as we go to Hogan who knocks on the Nasty Boys locker room door.

Hogan hugs both men and claims he has always been close to them as friends , even if they disagreed with him. That he has some business to discuss with them as the Outsiders have a match tonight. He hands them his room key as he wants them to drink some champagne and go ahead take the WCW World title ok. They decide to go since Hulk's always been a friend to the Nasty's.

After commercial the Giant is still in ring as ring announcer and now Hogan and Outsiders are back. Comically Hogan is wearing Savage's hat and they put it on Bischoff to have some laughs. Taunting Bischoff to ...SNAP INTO IT. Hall claims Savage is having a Slim Jim break. Hacksaw Jim Duggen is out next as he waves ole glory and waves the American flag.

Duggen is supposed to face Ron Studd as the NWO claims they are changing this match up as Nash and Hogan attack Studd. They claim they have special thing in store for Duggen as its the debut of Syxx . Who will face Duggen as he swings the 2x4 as they both run for cover. Hogan proclaims that NOBODY gets in the way of the NWO. Duggen finally gets the 2x4 taken away ss the match starts as Syxx isn't having it so easy to start.

The match isn't going well for Syxx as he's he's taking it to him as Nick Patrick keeps warning him for closed fists. Hogan claims that after Syxx gets done with Hacksaw , they may have to have a personal talk with him. Its then Hogan claims that Ted Dibiase is Trillionare Ted . Duggen goes for the pin , as Giant pulls him outta the ring and delivers a choke slam on the outside. Once thrown back in , Syxx makes the cover for the win. Bischoff protests Duggen had Syxx beat as he questions what the NWO wants so he can go.

Hogan proclaims that Bischoff knows the list of demands and he should join them. Ted even claims , if ya can't beat em....join em. We get a WCW Magazine promo as we can learn about Glacier and how Randy Savage feels about his former friend Hogan. After that we see NWO Sting make his in ring debut as Hogan laughs as he comes out to Sting's WCW music.

NWO Sting is doing the crazy Sting howl and beats his chest as Bischoff claims the real one is in Japan. NWO Sting is facing a jobber named Bo LaDue as he does all of Sting's offense pretty much. Ted mocks this match as he proclaims that "Bo LaDue is putting up a hell of a struggle against our man Sting !" The fans start a loud Sting chant as NWO Sting locks on the Scorpion deathlock finisher.

With Bischoff , Hogan laughs and mocks Elizabeth tending to Savage's wounds. Ted Dibiase claims we will return for the 1st ever NWO World Tag Team tournament match. High Voltage is out as Bischoff claims that Amazing French Canadians were scheduled here. But as the NWO claims , changes could be made as they have done. Hall and Nash question what the hell Carl Ouellet and Jacques Rougeau are saying . In ring the two men start to sing the Canadian National Anthem.


END OF PART #2

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Ted can't take anymore of this as the Outsiders finally come down to the ring , all happy smiling. Giant proclaims that Hall & Nash are the Dynamic Duo as announcer. The French Canadians take off with the flag as Bischoff questions if they were bought off. But Hogan claims that the AFC were smart and left , they took a powder because they knew what was ahead. High Voltage isn't as smart as the tag match starts.

Hall soon takes control of a young Kenny Kaos as he smashes him into the corner. Dibiase proclaims the NWO wants to win at all costs as Bischoff questions what more they can accomplish since they run things tonight. Nash is tagged in as Hogan and Dibiase claim they wanna destroy WCW and make it into the NWO . That ratings and more show the NWO is the most powerful organization going !

Finally the Outsiders allow Kaos to tag in Rage as he doesn't seem to be faring any better. Hogan claims he will beat up Macho Man up once more for his children. Then Hogan proclaims how he has BUILT EMPIRES in every company he has been in. That he has taken business up huge in companies he's been a part of. WCW couldn't keep pace with sold our arenas , tickets , and ratings. The NWO and Outsiders are b-b-bad to the bone !

Nash and Hall gloat and act arrogant as they mock the High Voltage. Hogan then claims that The Nasty Boys have always been his friends and supported him. He's gonna stay close to his pals like them and they get a chance where WCW doesn't. Finally mercifully the Outsiders finish off Kaos as both men stand over him and get the win. Ted Dibiase claims that they WANT IT ALL. They want the Cruiserweight championship , Tag team titles , ...ALL OF IT.

The champagne will be flowing tonight guys. Hogan holds up the WCW Magazine claiming that even they are exploiting the Outsiders as they are on the cover. The Macho Man's hat gets passed around as Giant wears it to the side comically at the end. We get a replay of NWO destroying Savage as they laugh and mock what they do.

Hogan and Nash laugh about the upcoming movie he's making as its a 3 Ninja's sequel. Ted compliments Giant on his ring announcing tonight as Nash does a near Vince McMahon voice , "We just took over your company WCW , how do ya feel !!" Then as the show is ending Hall looks at Giant and asks..."Is Andre really your daddy ?" The Giant looks at him , "Lets not even go there..." They all say good night as they pose and wave to the camera as it ends.

The Bad - This week's Nitro took a pretty big dive as far as in ring match quality goes. Of course the show did have Konnan vs Brad Armstrong and Juventud Guerrera as well as Jericho/Enos. But overall matches wasn't as good in ring as the match quality just doesn't equal what we saw last weeks show.

The silliest deal is Glacier who after a debut last week where he looked less than impressive as Bischoff was selling his kicks as being huge , WCW proclaims how he's on a roll ! Its the most insane comical deal as if you watch the audience they just sit there shaking their heads. The company was clearly doing real life characters in Hall & Nash , now you had Glacier who was basically playing Sub-Zero on WCW TV.

The NWO clearing the ring was getting weirdly comical at this stage as no one seemed to give a damn to help anyone. WCW guys would bail quick on everyone as the Amazing French Canadians showed us or the fact no one came to bail out Macho Man. They could sit and berate the company for an hour nearly and take Bischoff hostage and no one seemed to give a crap.

Speaking of the NWO , only Bischoff would sign a guy (Mike Jones ...aka Virgil) and make him a member of the NWO. Where as right til this point the NWO was a strong faction - Hogan , Hall , Nash and Giant. You suddenly had Syxx join (which ok he did have talent in ring) with NWO Sting and Vince which watered the NWO concept down. The entire point of Vince's signing was to laugh at Vince McMahon by the way. Calling the character Vincent was a dig at Vincent McMahon we learned.


OVERALL : *** outta 5. What made WCW click here was the "anything can happen" vibe of the live show. Yes the NWO's repeated attacks were getting old. But the company had this vibe flowing and unlike Vince's taped product , things weren't as good. You could watch and think what would happen there. You just never knew what to expect with the NWO and who or what would show next.

[hardcoalstudios]

Wow this is great stuff. Thanks. I'd been watching the old Nitro's online lately. What a crazy time that was. Sometimes even during a midcard match the live audience was so loud and into it. Great stuff.