WCW From the Beginning

MONDAY NITRO (Mar. 4, 1996)

Chris Candido pinned Ice Train after a Hotshot in 8:13.
Rating: 3/4*

Chris Candido is trying to prove to his mentor DDP that he'd be a worthy challenger for the TV Title. Candido beat Ice Train, a wrestler he gave up quite a bit of size to, then asked again for a title shot.

Page said that's good but Candido still has a long way to go. Page in fact has found his next opponent, and announced that next week he will defend his TV Title against one of the greatest in the world, Jushin Thunder Liger. 

Scott Norton defeated Sabu by disqualification in 7:21.
Rating: *

WCW matchmakers seemed to catch on tonight that normal matches aren’t going to settle the score between Norton and Sabu, as well as Disco Inferno. After tonight’s match ended when Sabu assaulted Norton with a chair, it was announced that at Uncensored, the three men will face off in a 3-way tables match. 

Interview with Randy Savage

Savage comes to the ring with three glasses and a bottle of champagne. He hands one glass to Gene Okerlund and pours drinks in all three glasses. 

Okerlund looks confused until Savage finally speaks, “One for you Mene Gene, One for me as we celebrate.” Savage then takes the third glass and pours it out onto the mat, “And pouring one out in memory of Sting.”

Savage then took credit for injuring Sting saying there’s no way he is making it to Uncensored and he demanded Sting come to Nitro next week and hand the World title belt over to him.  

Davey Boy Smith pinned Marcus Bagwell with the Running Powerslam in 4:53.
Rating: * ¼

Davey Boy Smith was very impressive in tearing through Four Horsemen member Bagwell. He ended the match so quickly, the rest of the group didn’t have the chance to rush the ring to interfere.

The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T) when Sags defeated Booker by countout.
Rating: * ½

Harlem Heat got a taste of their own medicine. Before their scheduled match against the Nasty Boys, they were jumped by both the Road Warriors and the Steiner Brothers. Each team then tried to take Harlem Heat’s match, which led to the Steiners and Warriors beginning to fight each other. 

It'll go down in the record book as a countout win for the Nastys.

Jeff Jarrett pinned Steve Austin after a figure-four leglock in 13:51.
Rating: *** 1/4

Steve Austin was out to get revenge on new Horsemen member Jeff Jarrett for his guitar attack last week. He was well on his way to getting his revenge before the Horsemen made their presence felt. 

Ric Flair passed a pair of brass knuckles to Jarrett who used them to knock out Austin while the ref was distracted. Jarrett put an unconscious Austin in the Figure Four and picked up a pin. 

After the match, the rest of the Horsemen jumped in and attacked Austin. Davey Boy Smith tried to run down to help, but Anderson and Bagwell went out to meet him and the two fought Smith all the way to the back. 

In the ring, Flair began yelling at Austin “You know what you’re problem is Austin?! You’re jealous of me. You want to be the Nature Boy. But you can never be the Nature Boy!”

Flair then pulled out scissors and started snipping away at Austin’s flowing blonde hair. 

A number of officials finally had to run down to try to stop Flair as the show faded out. 

UNCENSORED 96 (March 24, 1996)

No-Countout-No-DQ-Match:
The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) defeated The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) when Meng pinned Sags with a kick in 13:32.
Rating: * 1/4

The animosity between these two teams goes back a long ways and came to a head in a violent affair to kick off tonight’s show. The four men brawled all around ringside. 

Knobbs set up Barbarian on a trash can and tried to go for a flying elbow, but Barbarian moved and Knobbs landed on the trash can. Meanwhile, Sags came into the ring with a chair ready to attack, but Meng caught him, kicking the chair into Sags’ face. 

David Taylor, Fit Finlay and Lord Steven Regal defeated Konnan, Psicosis and Super Calo when Regal pinned Calo after a dragon suplex in 15:05.
Rating: ** ½

Lord Steven Regal’s European group picked up a big victory over Konnan’s Mexican contingent. Whether or not they accomplished their mission of proving their style’s supremacy is up for debate since it took Fit Finlay using a pair of brass knuckles, knocking out Super Calo and allowing Regal to hit him with a suplex, to get the job done.

Table Triangle Match:
Sabu defeated Disco Inferno and Scott Norton.

         x Norton put Disco through a table in 6:29
        x Sabu put Norton through a table in 14:14

Rating: ***

While all three men had a strong dislike for each other, Norton and Sabu were at least willing to fight out their differences. Disco rathered hide under the ring and let the other two fight. It worked briefly, but soon the other two caught on with Norton dragging Disco out of his hiding spot by his feet and Sabu splashing down on him with a chair. Norton quickly powerbombed him through a table to eliminate Disco. 

Sabu and Norton then got a real fight in. Sabu had Norton up against a table leaning in the corner and attempted to run in and splash through it. Norton, however, caught him, turned around and went to power bomb Sabu through it, but Sabu slipped out of it, pickup a chair and threw it at Norton’s head. 

From there, Sabu set the table up, put Norton on top of it, and delivered an Arabian Facebuster crashing Norton through the table. 

15-Man Battle Royal for the vacant WCW UNITED STATES TITLE:
Davey Boy Smith won a 15-man Battle Royal:
        x Candido threw out D. Malenko
        x Shark threw out Candido
        x Duggan threw out Regal
        x Sabu threw out Page
        x A. Anderson threw out Duggan
        x A. Anderson threw out Sabu
        x Konnan threw out Bagwell
        x E. Guerrero threw out Badd
        x E. Guerrero threw out A. Anderson
        x Norton threw out Shark
        x J. Jarrett threw out Konnan
        x D.B. Smith threw out Norton
        x J. Jarrett threw out E. Guerrero
        x D.B. Smith threw out J. Jarrett
Rating: *** 1/4
(Davey Boy Smith won the WCW UNITED STATES TITLE.)

For the second time in his career, Davey Boy Smith is the United States champion, tossing out the newest Horseman Jeff Jarrett in the end to win the match.

Among others, Eddie Guerrero also had a good run in the match before being eliminated by Jarrett. 

Earlier in the match, Sabu threw out TV champion Diamond Dallas Page who became livid. Once Sabu was eliminated, DDP came back to ringside and hit Sabu with a Diamond Cutter on the floor.

[HAIR VS HAIR]:
Ric Flair pinned Steve Austin after a low blow in 20:45.
Rating: ***

Flair had been claiming Austin was jealous of Flair and trying to be like him. He even went as far as clipping Austin’s blonde hair, which led to tonight’s match. 

Flair had his Horsemen, Arn Anderson, Marcus Bagwell and Jeff Jarrett in his corner. To counter, Austin had newly crowned US champion Davey Boy Smith, who’s been having his own problems with the Horsemen in his. 

The third installment of the Austin/Flair rivalry was another great match. Austin was intent on finally getting past Flair and looked like he would finally do it. He hit Flair with a Stun Gun, but before he could go for the pin, Bagwell and Jarrett pulled Flair out of the ring by his legs. 

While the referee was talking to them, Anderson tried to sneak into the ring with a chair, but Davey Boy also slipped in the ring holding up his title belt. But as everyone faced off, Smith turned and clocked Austin in the head with the belt. 

Flair came back in the ring and hit Austin with a low blow for good measure and then pinned him. All four Horsemen, plus Davey Boy Smith, attacked Austin after the match with Flair taking the razor and shaving the head of the nearly unconscious Austin. 

Four Corners Match:
The Ultimate Males (Alex Wright and Scotty Riggs) defeated
The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner),
The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal) and Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T):
        x Stevie Ray pinned S. Steiner in 13:45
        x Booker pinned Hawk in 17:03
        x Wright pinned Booker in 22:04
Rating: ** 1/2
(The Ultimate Males retained the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)

There was a lot of hatred in the ring between all the teams, especially the three challengers. And it seems, that’s what kept anyone for taking the belts since all three were more focused on each other. 

The Road Warriors hit their Doomsday Device on Scott Steiner, but Harlem Heat wanted to take the credit for the elimination, attacking the Warriors and then pinning Scott. From there, Heat and the Warriors took aim at each other with Stevie Ray hitting Hawk with a slapjack and Booker getting the pin. 

Harlem Heat was then left to go after the champs and tried to use the same cheapshot tactics. However, the Warriors refused to sit back and let that happen. They came back to the ring and behind the ref’s back, Animal smacked Booker with a chair. Alex Wright didn’t see what happened, but still covered and pinned Booker to retain the titles. 

But after the match, after Harlem Heat cleared the ring, the champs were celebrating when two men came out of the stands and brutally attacked them. One was Barry Windham, who had a run in with Alex Wright back during World War 3. The other looked like a clone of Windham, tall and cowboyish. Together they decimated the champs. 

Gene Okerlund tried to catch up with Windham after the beating. Windham said he owed Alex Wright a butt kicking and tonight was the night before it. He said he noticed Wright picked up a partner since they last met so he found one of his own, someone that reminded him of himself 10 years ago. He introduced his partner as Justin Bradshaw and said we can refer to them as The Unforgiven. 

Triangle Cage Match for the vacant WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE:
Randy Savage defeated Big Van Vader and Lex Luger when Savage pinned Luger with the Flying Elbowdrop in 21:29.
Rating: **** 1/4
(Randy Savage won the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)

Randy Savage is once again World Champ, beating Vader and Lex Luger inside a cage. While Vader has been a strong ally of Savage, even he was caught off guard when Savage came to the ring with his ex-wife Miss Elizabeth. 

Despite it being a triangle match, Savage and Vader kept their alliance strong early, but Luger did his best to survive the doubleteam. But soon, Savage and Vader began arguing about who would be the one to put Luger away and the two seemed to agree to fight for it. 

Late in the match, Miss Elizabeth came into play, pulling out some mace from her purse. Luger was up against the cage after taking out Savage. Vader though was closing in on Luger when Miss Elizabeth went to spray Luger, but Luger ducked and Vader was the one blinded. Luger took down Vader with a vicious forearm. 

But Savage came from behind striking Luger, knocking him down. Miss Elizabeth then passed the Mace can through the cage to Savage who then sprayed Luger with it and hit him in the head with the can. He went up and hit his flying elbow to pin Luger and win the title. 

Card rating: *** 1/4