WCW From the Beginning

MONDAY NITRO (May 20, 1996)

Interview with the Four Horsemen

Nitro opened up with all four Horsemen in the ring standing side by side as an angry Ric Flair spoke, claiming he was robbed of the world title and demanded another match with Luger. At the same time he complained about Steve Austin’s return. 

But all four couldn’t see Austin sneaking in from the crowd, climbing over a set of four empty front row seats, picking up one of the chairs as he climbed over the guardrail and slid into the ring behind the Horsemen. He swung it and smacked Flair in the back. He went to the far left side of the line and smacked Bagwell in the face with it, then to the other side and hit Davey Boy in the face. He then jabbed Arn Anderson in the ribs with it then smacked him in the back. 

With everyone now down, he repeatedly pounded on Flair with the chair. He then threw it down and picked up the mic. Austin said “You thought you got rid of me, you wanted to take out Stunning Steve Austin. Well congratulations you son of bitch. You did it. Stunning Steve Austin is gone, but now here to stay is Stone Cold Steve Austin.” He hit everyone with the chair one more time before leaving.

Harlem Heat (Stevie Ray and Booker T) defeated The Ultimate Males (Alex Wright and Scotty Riggs) when Booker pinned Riggs with the Axe Kick in 8:07.
Rating: ** 1/2

After beating the Road Warriors in their grudge match last night, Harlem Heat wants to get back into the picture for the world tag titles. After beating the team that took the belts away from them, they called out the new champs Faces of Fear. 

The Faces of Fear came out, and as has been typical, they responded with a string of words in Tongan. 

Chris Candido pinned Disco Inferno with the Blonde Bombshell in 7:52.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Chris Candido retained the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)

Candido had yet another successful title defense, this time beating Disco Inferno. After the match, Diamond Dallas Page came to the ring on crutches. Candido let him in the ring and proudly showed off his title belt to his mentor, only to have DDP slap it away. 

DDP said he made the TV title one of the most prestigious in the sport and claimed Candido is throwing his hard work away. He railed against Candido for fighting against, as he put it “fossils and comedy acts.” Page’s hit list included Great Muta, Johnny B. Badd, Ricky Steamboat, Eddie Guerrero, while Candido’s has Shark and Honky Tonk Man. 

DDP challenged Candido to be more like him, find the best and beat the best to become a truly great champion. 

Konnan pinned Lord Steven Regal after a sitdown faceslam in 11:11.
Rating: *** 1/4

A continuation at what’s become a pretty intense feud, Konnan scored another victory over Regal. Afterwards, as Konnan was getting his hand raised in victory, he was blindsided by Chris Candido who started pummeling the Mexican Champion. 

Candido said he was now taking after Page, the greatest champion he’s known. He’s picking out the best to fight and wants Konnan. 

Backstage with the Horsemen

Flair found WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle in the back, asking what he’s gonna do about his title shot and about this madman Austin running around. 

Bockwinkle said Flair’s right, there was so much interference in the title match at Slamboree, there should be another match with a clear winner, and Flair won’t have to worry about Austin next week when he faces Luger for the title in a steel cage. 

Big Van Vader pinned Jeff Jarrett with the Vader Bomb in 11:55.
Rating: *** 3/4

After beating Randy Savage, Vader said he wants the world title. To send a message to Luger, he’s going to take out any friend Luger may have. Luger doesn’t have many, but Jarrett is close enough. 

Vader made an example of Jarrett, hitting a couple Vader Bombs before finally putting Double J away. As the show ended, Vader was seen screaming into the camera pointing to Jarrett and saying that’s going to be Luger. 

MONDAY NITRO (May 27, 1996)

La Parka, Psychosis and Villano IV defeated Super Calo, Lizmark Jr. and Juventud Guerrera when La Parka pinned Lizmark Jr. after a powerslam in 8:02.
Rating: ***

Nitro has been extended to a two-hour show each week beginning with tonight’s broadcast. The supersized show opened with a 6-man Luchador match that was high-flying and highly entertaining. 

At one point, Psychosis was up against the railing when Juventud flew at him knocking both men over into the crowd. Fortunately, it was at a spot where there were four empty front row seats. 

La Parka earned the win for his team catching Lizmark Jr. coming off the top rope with a powerslam.

Booker T pinned The Barbarian with the Axe Kick in 9:56.
Rating: ** ¾

Harlem Heat wants a shot at The Faces of Fear and the world tag titles. But tonight in singles action, the brothers made a statement when Booker T picked up a win over The Barbarian.

Glacier pinned Van Hammer after the Cryonic Kick in 7:36.
Rating: ** 1/4

Tonight saw the debut of a heavily promoted rookie, Glacier, who uses a mix of wrestling and martial arts. Glacier came to the ring with a spectacular entrance with blue and white laser lights and “snow” falling around ringside.

In his debut match, Glacier was impressive in getting a win over a returning Van Hammer, putting him away with a vicious kick to the head.

Konnan defeated Chris Candido by disqualification in 13:19.
Rating: *** 1/2
(Chris Candido retained the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)
[Lord Steven Regal interfered against Konnan.]

Candido showed a bit more aggressive side than we’ve been accustomed to seeing from him, which was needed against a wrestler Konnan’s calibur. 

The two delivered a great match which sadly was left inconclusive. Candido was in control, but Konnan countered an attempted top-rope powerbomb into a facebuster. 

But with both men down, Steve Regal ran in and started pounding away at Konnan causing a DQ. This upset Candido who wanted to beat Konnan and blamed Regal for costing him the chance. Regal told Candido if he wanted to face the best, Regal claimed to be the greatest TV champ of all-time. Candido challenged him for next week, Regal accepted, then the two began brawling. 

Johnny B. Badd defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr. by disqualification in 9:01.
Rating: * 1/4
[Eddie Guerrero interfered against Johnny B. Badd.]

Badd came to the ring and called out Eddie Guerrero. He said while they have unfinished business to settle, he realizes Guerrero is still hurt and it wouldn’t be fair to fight tonight. So Badd said he found an opponent to fill Guerrero’s spot. Eddie asked who, but didn’t like the answer as his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. came to the ring. 

Badd dominated the inexperienced Chavo as Eddie looked on. But despite being in control, Badd refused to end the match instead kept hitting moves on Chavo. Finally, Eddie rushed the ring to attack Badd ending the match. 

But with his hurt knee, Badd was able to handle Eddie and ended up leaving both Guerreros lying in the ring. 

The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and The Unforgiven (Barry Windham and Justin Bradshaw) battled to a double countout in 12:01.
Rating: *** ½

This was a return match from a few weeks ago that the Unforgiven won by using the ring bell. This time, the fight between the two spilled out of the ring and onto the floor where both teams were more concerned with wailing away on the other instead of getting back in the ring.

Cage Match:
Lex Luger made Ric Flair submit to the Torture Rack in 11:43.
Rating: *** 3/4
(Lex Luger retained the WCW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.)

While the cage kept Stone Cold Steve Austin from attacking Flair, it also kept the Horsemen from interfering as well. That didn’t stop Flair at one point, though, for trying to call for backup. Only no one came. Instead, shots of the Horsemen locker room were shown with Anderson, Bagwell and Davey Boy all laid out. Austin then came out from the back with a chair and a cooler. He put the chair up in the entryway, opened a beer and sat there to watch the match. 

Flair was incensed, but it did little good. With the match closed out to any outside help, Luger put away Flair, making him submit to the Torture Rack.

Rick Rude comes to broadcast area

As announcers Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve “Mongo” Michael were closing out the broadcast, in an unexpected appearance, former 3-time world champ Rick Rude came to the broadcast area and grabbed a mic. 

“It’s been almost two years since I’ve been in a WCW ring. And no, this isn’t my illustrious return. Nobody invited me here, nobody even knew I was coming. But here I am. If you want to know where I’ve been all this time, I’ll tell you. In my last match working for this company, I broke my back. I went home to rest and try to recover and see if I was able to come back. But I soon realized my in-ring career was over. And while I was home, laid up, how did WCW decide to reward me for the years I’ve put into this company? The blood, sweat and tears I gave for this company? I get a pink slip coming to my door via Fed Ex. In the eyes of the new executive vice president Eric Bischoff, if I couldn’t get in the ring, I was worthless. That was the day I decided, to hell with WCW. My mission was once to get back in the ring and win more titles, but that’s changed. My mission now is to burn this company to the ground. I am declaring war on WCW. My army is ready. Is yours?” 

With that, Rude threw the mic at Bischoff on commentary and walked out. 

MONDAY NITRO (June 3, 1996)

Animal defeated Shark by disqualification in 9:17.
Rating: 1/2*
[Scott Norton interfered against Animal.]

With his partner injured during their match at Slamboree, Animal was going for a singles run. There are some that aren’t taking kindly to him being around and included in that is Scott Norton. 

Norton ran in during the match and began attacking Animal. 

Rick Rude arrives

Much like in previous weeks, there was a set of four empty front row seats right next to ringside. Early in the night, Rick Rude came down through the crowd and sat in one of the seats.

Dean Malenko made Mr. J.L. submit to the Texas Cloverleaf in 6:13.
Rating: ** 1/2
(Dean Malenko retained the WCW WORLD CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE.)

Malenko retained his title with a dominant win over JL. It was also announced that Malenko’s next defense will be at The Great American Bash against the man who nearly knocked Malenko out of the Cruiserweight tournament, Ultimo Dragon. 

Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated Johnny B. Badd and Ricky Steamboat when E. Guerrero pinned Steamboat after a Frog Splash in 7:49.
Rating: ***

After last week’s encounter with Eddie Guerrero and his nephew Chavo, Johnny B. Badd turned to his old friend Ricky Steamboat to partner against him. Steamboat agreed, not because he supports Badd, but because he feels Badd has got down the wrong path since they stopped teaming up. 

During the match, Badd did a few cheapshots that drew Steamboat’s ire. When Steamboat tried to admonish him, Badd sucker punched him and left. 

The Guerreros went on to win the match, but after helped Steamboat up and helped him to the back.

Lord Steven Regal and Chris Candido battled to a draw in 15:00.
Rating: ***
(Chris Candido retained the WCW TELEVISION TITLE.)

The champion Candido threw out the challenge for this match and Regal, a four-time former champion gladly accepted. While Konnan has been Regal’s biggest rival lately and has unfinished business with Candido, he chose to take the route of letting the match play out, but watching it from the ramp. 

However, nothing was settled anyway as the 15-minute time limit couldn’t produce a winner. 

The Boss pinned Prince Iaukea with the Boss Slam in 3:11.
Rating: ** 1/4

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been seeing vignettes of The Boss undergoing a change from his law and order police officer persona to a mafia mob boss. The new Boss re-debuted tonight against a WCW rookie Prince Iaukea who could do little against the bigger, stronger Boss.

Randy Savage comes to the ring

After his diatribe last week, Rick Rude has been quiet simply sitting in his seat watching the show. But out of nowhere, Randy Savage came to ringside and grabbed a mic and went right in front of Rude. 

“Rick Rude, the two of us have never crossed paths. I came to WCW two years ago, right at the time you left. The last two years, this place has been my home. There have been some ups and downs, there’s a lot of people here I don’t see eye-to-eye with, but through it all, I bleed WCW colors. So if you got a problem with WCW, you got a problem with me. You’re upset with WCW cause you got hurt in a match? Take a freaking Advil and get over yourself. You say you got an army, all I see is you, me and an open ring.”

Rude’s calm expression never changed during Savage’s speech. He then reached for the mic and Savage handed it to him. 

“You have absolutely no idea what’s going on around here, or the hornet’s nest you’re about to kick up. We’ll see you next week.”

Rude then threw the mic back at Savage, got out of his seat and left.

The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian) defeated David Taylor and Fit Finlay when Barbarian pinned Finlay after a kick to the head in 7:33.
Rating: *
(The Faces of Fear retained the WCW WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES.)

The world tag champs had another successful title defense, however the celebration didn’t last long. Almost immediately after the final bell rang, Harlem Heat rushed the ring and attacked the champs. 

Arn Anderson, Davey Boy Smith and Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated
The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and Jeff Jarrett when D.B. Smith pinned J. Jarrett with the Running Powerslam in 15:49.
Rating: ***

For tonight’s main event, Jeff Jarrett teamed with old Horsemen enemies, the Steiners. But the brothers have new problems of their own with Barry Windham and Justin Bradshaw, the Unforgiven. 

Midway through the match, the Unforgiven showed up and fought the Steiners all the way to the back, essentially leaving Jarrett in a 3-on-1 situation. 

The Horsemen easily put away their nemesis to win the match but then kept stomping away at Jarrett after the bell. That was until the glass shattered and Stone Cold Steve Austin ran down to the ring. 

Austin hit, what he’s calling Stone Cold Stunners on all the Horsemen leaving them laying. Jarrett got up and tried to offer Austin his hand, but Austin gave Jarrett a stunner as well. With everyone out in the ring, Austin climbed to the second turnbuckle, someone threw him a beer and he drank it before raising his hands up victoriously. 

Card rating: ** 1/4