Category: WCW Monday Nitro (1995-2001)

This show is notable for two things and everything else is just an afterthought.

First off, before we can get the show rolling, the former Alundra Blayze – now Madusa – shows up to dump her WWF Women’s title into some trash bin and states her intentions to play with some big people… assuming they show up. Apparently, people were upset by this turn of events; acting like it was some huge betrayal that the reigning WWF Women’s Champion would jump onto a competing sports entertainment show and dump their championship title into the trash. So damaging was this act that WWF never featured another women’s match until Sable became a thing in 1998… for better or worse.

Remember, the people crying foul over Madusa showing up on Nitro with the Women’s title are the very same people who allowed Ric Flair to parade on television with the Big Gold Belt for a few months just to stick it to WCW. It only goes to show that if they do it, it’s fine, but if the other guys do it, it’s the gravest sin of all. This is why nobody takes wrestling seriously even beyond the whole “real vs fake” argument that honestly should have died off in the last century.

The other notable piece of business was the conclusion of the World title bout between champion Randy Savage and challenger THE GIANT, which ended in a DQ when SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR Hulk Hogan cracked Giant with a chair… and then Sullivan shows up and Hogan hits him with a chair too… why is this notable? I’m not sure, but it’s Hogan being a dick and something is mentioned about him being on probation and… oh wait, he’s getting a title shot against whoever comes out of Starrcade as the champion.

Everything else in between is stuff that happened and was completely forgettable.

So this is the show that saw the end of the wrestling career of one “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff.

You folks remember Mr. Wonderful? Wrestlemania main eventer, once had a cage match with Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event? Eventually jumped to WCW and formed a tag team with former Horseman Paul Roma? Yeah, Mr. Wonderful wasn’t feeling wonderful until he had a chance encounter with Gary Spivey – that psychic with the ridiculous hair – and then he had a bit of a revival that ended with his mirror breaking and he needed Gary’s help again… at which point, he got a new mirror.

So he has a match with Disco Inferno and he beats the guy with a pretty slick back suplex… and then he runs into the Horsemen, they have a spat, and next thing you know, they’re given poor Mr. Wonderful a spike piledriver that pretty much put him out of wrestling forever. So ends the career of Paul Orndorff… which was going to end sooner or later due to years of lingering neck issues, so this was a way to write him off. Some psychic you turned out to be, Gary, you fucking hack.

The main event featured Hulk Hogan teaming with WCW World Champion Randy Savage against Flair and Arn Anderson… and since this is Charlotte, NC – Flair Country, pretty much – the crowd is very much against Hogan, who does his usual thing because he’s delusional… so, of course, Hogan wins and there’s a brawl afterwards… eh. I’ve seen worse.

Let’s keep this short.

Harlem Heat retain their tag titles over the American Males; a perfectly acceptable match for the most part. Sting submits some New Japan guy with the Scorpion, but promises he won’t hold back if Lex wins the title tonight (spoiler: he doesn’t). Giant CHOKESLAMS Scott Norton because that’s all we can think of with this guy; have him CHOKESLAM big dudes and shit. And then there was the main event that saw Randy Savage defend the WCW title against Lex Luger… a pretty good match for about ten minutes or so before Hogan and Flair run in for the DQ. Don’t ask me how they got a DQ because I’m not sure I know. Something happened during a pin and then there was a DQ.

You know… I’m enjoying these shows for the most part because they’re nice, easy watches. I’d appreciate it if you kept that going for a little while longer and save the fuck finishes for the nWo days next year. Thanks.

It’s the World War 3 go-home show, where they open the show with Hulk Hogan’s promo where he ditched his black clothes for his usual red and yellow stuff… amazing that we’re opening with this promo and not recapping the main event that saw the Macho Man Randy Savage win his first WCW World title and Hogan being SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR and stuff.

But first, we have a brief match where Johnny B Badd punches DDP in the face for the pinfall win, which makes Diamond Doll Kimberly happy because… reasons… Johnny eventually goes away and they eventually slap in the Booty Man. How long before that happens? Should I even care at this point?

Kevin Sullivan is complaining to Jimmy Hart about something, who assures Sullivan that “he has a plan.” Oh, goodie.

In a rare women’s match on this program, Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto defeated Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki in a fun joshi match. How long before Madusa shows up to trash the WWF Women’s title so that she can get in on this action?

Hulk Hogan squashes newcomer Hugh Morris (a.k.a. future former WWE trainer Bill DeMott) and then we get the eventual confrontation between Hogan and new WCW champ Macho Man that is interrupted by a run-in from Giant, who kills Macho and runs aways from Hogan, who is held back by Sting… this leads to Sting and Lex Luger to win a match over Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson, which leads to a Horseman ambush that is run off by Hulk Hogan, who also wants to kill Luger, but is stopped by Sting. I wonder if maybe Sting should have just let Hogan kill everyone; then we wouldn’t have that whole nWo business next year.

Other than a fun women’s match, not much else going on for this show beyond some story progression. If nothing else, the show wasn’t boring, but it was just there.

Scott Norton defeated Shark (a.k.a. John Tenta) in a short match, Eddie Guerrero defeated Brian Pillman in a slightly longer but still short match… it was fun while it lasted… Road Warrior Hawk defeated Big Bubba Rogers with an assisted trip-up from Hacksaw Duggan, who challenges Rogers to a taped fist match at the PPV… just the one, apparently.

And in the main event, which featured Hogan and Sting going at it… and the crowd openly going for Sting over supposed sportsman of the year Huckster… the match ends with a run-in from the Dungeon of Doom and that’s where Nitro ends.

These shows have their moments, but clearly, the more time they spend on this stupid Dungeon Of Doom feud, the more these shows drag out despite their short run time. I’m almost considering throwing in the towel at this point, but fortunately, this was the go-home for World War 3… and I know what happens on the next Nitro.

But that’s next week.

I’ll save it for after the break… not much to say about this one other than…

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Nov. 13th, 1995) – WTF”

We have an interactive hotline where WCW fans can call it and decide who will main event tonight’s edition of Nitro. You see, people were claiming that WWE had been pioneers of sports entertainment interactivity with their Taboo Tuesday/Cyber Sunday gimmick PPVS in the mid-2000s, but WCW revolutionized that concept in 1995… WITH FUCKING TELEPHONES.

And what did WCW fans book with their amazing power of phones?

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Nov. 6th, 1995) – The Power Of… Something Or Other”

It’s the Halloween Havoc post-show… we apparently have a new WCW World Champion in the Giant… Jimmy Hart has turned on Hulk Hogan… Lex Luger has turned on Macho Man… Ric Flair has turned on Sting… that must have been a very exciting show, I wonder if I had seen it.

Oh…

Anyway, on with Nitro.

Continue reading “WCW Monday Nitro (Oct. 30th, 1995) – Post Mortem”

We open the show with Randy Savage struggling against some New Japan guy whose name I don’t remember before getting a comeback and hitting the elbow for the win. This is followed by a Dungeon Of Doom promo threatening the end of Hulkamania and then that’s followed by another Hulk Hogan in black promo, who continues to tease his evil side that we’d be more familiar with in later years, but that’s besides the point.

And there’s a block of ice ready to burst or something.

Eddie Guerrero and Mr. JL defeated Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit with an assist from an injured Alex Wright, who tripped up Malenko with his crutch, allowing JL to nail Malenko with the dealiest move in modern day pro wrestling: the dreaded ROLL UP FOR THE PIN. And then Brian Pillman comes out and nails Guerrero on his way to the back. A pretty solid match with four talented workers. It’s worth noting that JL is subbing for Alex Wright, who was supposed to be Guerrero’s partner, but was injured. Nothing against Wright, but we got a slightly better match out of it with the swap.

The main event of the show Sting & Lex Luger duke it out against Harlem Heat in a pretty ho-hum main event that saw Sting pin Booker after landing a flying lariat. This is followed by the Giant coming to attack the babyfaces, which prompts Hogan and Savage to chase after Giant… but then the ice break and out comes THE YET-AY… who is a tall guy in a mummy costume… thank fuck they called it THE YET-AY and not the Yeti, which is the name of the abominable snowman, not a mummy. You morons.

Anyway, the YET-AY emerges and the feed dies… and that was Nitro, everyone… the go-home show for Halloween Havoc… was the debut of the YET-AY. I sure can’t wait to watch that PPV!

Oh wait… 

Today’s episode of Nitro opens with a clip from WCW Saturday Night where Ric Flair is pleading with Sting to be his partner in his feud against Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman… and of course, Sting accepts because he’s a stupid idiot babyface and we all know what’s going to happen when this match takes place at Halloween Havoc. Though, to be fair, Sting did warn Flair that if Ric went bad, he’d be left for dead… and, well, that didn’t happen.

There’s a DDP/Johnny B. Badd interaction that goes nowhere, which is followed by a short but great Eddie Guerrero/Chris Benoit match that sees Benoit win with a Dragon Suplex, followed by a Giant/Kevin Sullivan promo… at some point, Mean Gene even pimps the WCW Hotline. Meng murders Jim Duggan with his Golden Spike thing… I kinda preferred the Tongan Death Grip myself, but we’re still ways off from that, are we? And then, Hogan comes out in his black get-up to try and convince us that he’s an evil bastard… well, there’s some truth to that, but this promo is mostly laughable.

And in the main event, Ric Flair & Sting defeated Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman in a fun match that saw Flair do most of the work before he tags in Sting and he does a billion splashes to win the match. And then he agrees to be Flair’s partner at Halloween Havoc… in the same match-up we saw on Nitro… on free TV… and they want you to pay for the rematch… where Flair will turn on Sting. That’s not a spoiler; that’s business as usual.

A couple good matches in this hour-long show makes this an easy watch.