Post by anthonymm13 on Aug 25, 2021 22:43:40 GMT 1
MONDAY NITRO (Sept. 4, 1995)
WCW has entered a new era with the premier of WCW Monday Nitro, an hourlong live broadcast every Monday night. Tonight’s landmark broadcast comes from the Mall of America in Minneapolis with a commentary team of Erich Bischoff, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and former NFL All-Pro with the Chicago Bears, Steve McMichael.
The first Monday Nitro takes place less than two weeks before Fall Brawl. World champion Hulk Hogan is scheduled to put his title on the line against Four Horseman member, Stunning Steve Austin.
Also, War Games will feature Harley Race’s group of Ron Simmons, Davey Boy Smith and Meng against Big Van Vader and the Nasty Boys. Each team still has one more member to announce.
Alex Wright pinned Chris Candido with the Reverse Neckbreaker in 8:11.
Rating: ***
(Alex Wright retained the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)
The show opened with Alex Wright successfully defending his TV title against “The Diamond in the Rough” Chris Candido. In the process, Wright had to fight off the interference of Diamond Dallas Page, Candido’s mentor, to secure the win.
Sting made Ric Flair submit to the Scorpion Death Lock in 11:02.
Rating: *** 1/4
With WCW entering a new era, it's only appropriate to match up two WCW stalwarts who were there at the very beginning. Sting and Ric Flair renewed their old rivalry tonight.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the match came outside the ring midway through. To everyone’s surprise, former World Champion Lex Luger appeared in the aisleway, spent a few minutes simply watching the match then walked off, likely without Sting or Flair even noticing he was there.
Sting got the win, making Flair submit to the Scorpion Death Lock, but nearly immediately after, Horsemen Marcus Bagwell and Arn Anderson rushed to the ring to attack Sting.
Sting got aid from The Steiner Brothers and Johnny B. Badd who fought off the Horsemen. Conspicuous by their absence during all this was Horseman Steve Austin, and sworn Horsemen enemy Randy Savage, who also left Sting hanging back at Bash at the Beach.
Davey Boy Smith and Ron Simmons defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) when D.B. Smith pinned Knobbs with the Running Powerslam in 9:43.
Rating: ** 1/2
Three men have been revealed for each team for the upcoming Wargames. Harley Race will send Davey Boy Smith, Ron Simmons and Meng into the double cage. Big Van Vader will lead the opposing team and has recruited The Nasty Boys to join him.
Smith & Simmons fought the Nastys tonight with Race's two coming on top after Meng gave them an added assist.
Hulk Hogan pinned Meng with the Big Leg Drop in 10:32.
Rating: -* 3/4
(Hulk Hogan retained the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)
In the night's main event, Hogan scored a win over Meng. Smith and Simmons attempted to run in after but were fought off. However, this gave Steve Austin an opportunity to come in and blindside Hogan.
Austin didn't get any help from his fellow Horsemen but did get back up from Race's group. Vader, however, ran down to fight against Race's group. Following him into the ring was Lex Luger.
Race, Luger's former manager when he was last in WCW, thought Luger was back to join his side, but he soon joined Vader in helping fight off.
Hogan went to thank both but Vader simply left the ring. Luger however remained as Hogan confronted him to ask what his deal is. Luger said he was back in WCW to be where the Big Boys Play, tired of fighting against kids. He also threw out a warning to Hogan that was out to regain the world title.
The two continued to exchange words until Luger offered a challenge for next week, to which Hogan accepted.
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on WCW Saturday night, Sting confronted Randy Savage, asking him where he's been lately. Savage never showed up for their tag match at Bash at the Beach, and last week Savage was nowhere to be found when the Horsemen attacked Sting on Nitro.
Savage referred back to a few months ago when Sting elected not to team with Savage against the Horsemen and instead joined Hogan. He said he left Sting on his own so he now knows what that feels like, but if he wanted to know where Savage is, he said he'll be in the ring at Nitro.
Also on Saturday night, the other three Horsemen confronted Steve Austin asking him where he was when they went against Sting. Austin said he was busy preparing for the biggest match of his life, challenging Hulk Hogan for the world title. So excuse him if he wasn't around every time Flair needed him to fight a battle for him.
Flair said since their inception, the mission of the Horsemen was to control the world title, but that was Flair's job, not Austin's. Flair then asked Austin to surrender his title match to Flair. Austin refused and Flair said if that's the case, then Austin is on his own at Fall Brawl. Austin's partner, Marcus Bagwell, said they were still tag champs and he'll have Austin's back when they defend their titles against The Steiners on Monday Nitro.
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MONDAY NITRO (Sept. 11, 1995)
Sabu pinned Paul Roma with the Triple Jump Moonsault in 7:11.
Rating: ** 3/4
The second edition of WCW Monday Nitro opened with the WCW debut of Sabu. Sabu scored an impressive victory, beating Paul Roma in pretty quick fashion. After the match, Sabu wasn't done, splashing Roma through a table.
Randy Savage and Sting battled to a double countout in 8:54.
Rating: ** 1/4
In what had to be a disappointing sight to Hulk Hogan and many within WCW, Sting and Savage aimed to settle their differences. The two had a brutal brawl with no real resolution as they fought outside the ring for a double countout.
The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated
Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Steve Austin when S. Steiner pinned Austin with the Frankensteiner in 12:21.
Rating: ** 3/4
(The Steiner Brothers won the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)
With Horsemen Bagwell & Austin putting their world tag titles up against the Steiners, Ric Flair seemed to keep his word about leaving Austin on his own. When Austin got in trouble, at a time when you'd normally see the Horsemen rush in, Flair and Anderson were nowhere to be found. And as a result, the Steiners won the titles off the Horsemen.
Lex Luger defeated Hulk Hogan by disqualification in 12:21.
Rating: **
(Hulk Hogan retained the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)
[Ron Simmons interfered against Lex Luger.]
Luger, who has agreed to join Vader's team at War Games, had the world title match against Hulk Hogan that they agreed to last week, but Harley Race's group, also now including a fourth man, Scott Norton, ran in and attacked everyone.
Vader and the Nasty Boys came down to fight off their War Games opponents and all eight men who will be locked in the cage in less than a week, fought to the back.
Meanwhile, Austin tried to sneak up on Hogan, but Hogan caught him. He hit him with a big boot and was prepared to finish him off with a leg drop but Bagwell came back and pulled Austin to the outside to safety.
Card rating: ** 1/4
