WCW Nitro 17-24th March 1996

I hope all of my readers had a very Merry Christmas. Mine could have been better: my DVD player has stopped working and I’m in the process of getting a new one. Luckily I’ve got a PC with a DVD drive, so I can still watch and review shows.

WCW Nitro 17th March 1996

TV Title match- Lex Lugar (c) vs Loch Ness
This match never got started, as The Giant attacked Loch Ness before the match even begun. Lugar then simply had to walk into the ring, wait for the countout, and get the easiest victory of his career- n/a

Public Enemy vs The Steiners
The match was billed as a brawl between two tough teams, but to be honest, there was a lot of wrestling here as opposed to it being an all out brawl. And the match was enjoyable: it had a hot crowd who loved the Steiners, and all of the wrestling was vey solid and hard hitting, if not especially crisp. Rocco Rock accidentally puts himself through a table, and the Steiners hat Grunge with a Doomsday Bulldog for three- **1/2

Arn Anderson vs The Booty Man
I love how the fans were booing Booty Man and cheering Anderson, the complete opposite of what it should have been. The story of this match saw Anderson use stalling heel tactics a lot and pick his shots, while Booty Man made firey (and ineffective) comebacks. Following some outside stuff with Kimberly and Woman, Anderson was distracted long enough for Booty Man to knee him in the face for three. Pretty dull match- *

Road Warriors vs Nasty Boys
This was, unlike the first tag match, an all out brawl. They threw lots of hard punches and headbutts, and brawled all around the ring area. The match settled down a little later on, turning into a battle of LOD’s power vs Nasty Boys’ strikes. The Steiners interfered, attacking the Nasty Boys, and Animal used part of his entrance armour as a weapon to knock out Knobbs for three. A solid tag match- **3/4

Texas Tornado Match- Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan vs Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage
Again, this match for me was just a little too long: as before, too much time is put into the main events and not enough onto the undercard, but in this case I feel it was justified since the undercard matches all felt about right time wise. It wasn’t too much different from the tag matches of previous weeks involving Hogan and Flair, and this formula is annoying me somewhat. It was decent enough though, if only for Flair’s exchanges with Hogan in the ring and with Savage. Brian Pillman interfered, even though I thought he quit WCW, and the match is a no contest- **

WCW Nitro 24th March 1996

Belfast Bruiser vs Randy Savage
A very intriguing match on paper, with the bruiser fresh off smashing Steven Regal’s face apart at Uncensored. Bruiser aimed to do pretty much the same to Savage, using hard hitting strikes and throwing him all around the ringside area. it followed the usual Savage formula, but the style of the Belfast Bruiser made this work very well. Savage made his usual end of match comeback, getting the Elbow for three. Good, enjoyable opening match- ***

US Title Match- Konnan (c) vs Mr JL
JL is receiving another mini push following a victory over Dean Malenko in the Cruiserweight title tournament. The match was decent, but I often get the feeling with Konnan that he’s unnecessarily flashy, and it meant this match didn’t have a lot of structure or flow. Konnan got three with a Powerbomb assisted by the ropes into a pinning combination. Despite it’s structural issues, a decent match- **

Disco Inferno vs Booty Man
It’s clear this match was setup for comedy purposes as opposed to wrestling one’s (because Disco Inferno has been on like two Nitro’s until now). And the match was pretty much a squash, with Disco getting no offense and Booty Man using that Running Knee Strike to get three- SQ

Tag Team Title Match- Sting and Lex Lugar (c) vs American Males
Eric Bischoff was right in his analogy about this match having Dropkicks: there was plenty of them. There was nothing wrong with this match at all, although it was hardly anything special: just your average, formula tag team match. It was played up as student vs teacher with Sting apparently bringing Bagwell into the business a few years earlier (kayfabe wise I believe). Sting got the fall with a Cross Body on Riggs- **1/4

WCW Title Match- Ric Flair (c) vs The Giant
A battle of heel vs heel again, but the fans started to favour The Giant, if only for his sheer destructive power which Flair seemed to be able to do little about early on. The Giant misses a Top Rope Splash and a Corner Splash, allowing Flair into it, and he had to blatantly cheat to get any kind of control. Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan interfered, and The Giant gave Chokeslam’s to both, before a DQ was called because of their interference. Very solid match though- **1/2

Overall, I thought there was nothing wrong with either of the two shows. The Road Warriors/Nasty Boys and Savage/Bruiser matches are the two you should watch, but the rest are nothing special, although not awful either (other than perhaps the Anderson/Booty Man match). A solid recommendation for these.

7/10

Chikara The Crushing Weight Of Mainstream Ignorance

Chikara presented this show back in 2006, and from previous reviews that I’ve read of this show, it is one that is a good starting place for any new fans to Chikara. So I have high hopes coming into this. Commentary is as always on rotation, with your commentators being Bryce Remsburg, Mike Quackenbush, Chris Hero, Ultramantis Black, Larry Sweeney and Leonard F Chikarason.

We start with a Claudio Castagnoli promo, first talking about his awesome jacket and then saying he will defeat Equinox tonight because he’s 6 foot 5 and Equinox is not. Seems logical enough.

Match 1

‘Double C’ Claudio Castagnoli vs Equinox

A funny little moment at the start of the show see’s the announcer announce Claudio as one half of the Campeon de Parejas, but Claudio doesn’t have his belt so he runs back to the locker room and gets it. With Claudio able to have great matches with just about any light-heavyweight, this was pretty good stuff, and about the best singles match I’ve seen Equinox have. Claudio wrestled with a power style, throwing Equinox around (at one point throwing him right over the top rope to the floor), while Equinox fought back with lucha moves (he wasn’t botching a lot of moves tonight like he usually does) and came close to pinning Claudio near the end. However Claudio would win this via pinfall with a big European Uppercut- ***

We got a promo with The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple, where Ultramantis talks about being betrayed by Hallowicked who decide to team with Delirious, then says that tonight he and Hydra will crush the ants. Ultramantis’s promo’s have improved quite a bit since the last one that I saw in 2005.

Match 2

The Order Of The Neo Solar Temple (Ultramantis Black and Hydra) vs The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant)

This is Ultramantis Black and Hydra’s first match as a tag team. Hydra’s whole gimmick is that he think he’s a huge, powerful sea monster and can throw wrestlers around the ring, but in reality he’s very small and can’t lift either of his opponents. The match was decent, but nothing that memorable and the weakest of the matches on this show, not to mention the four men (well, maybe not Ultramantis) are lacking seasoning and some of their moves are a little sloppy. The Colony were impressive at times though, with some nice double team moves. Ultramantis Black would pin Fire Ant with a Tiger Driver ‘98 for the three count- *3/4

Match 3

Lance Steel vs Lance Steel

That’s not a typo, this is the good Lance Steel vs the evil Lance Steel, and I can already tell that’s it’s going to be hard to keep track of which Lance Steel is which, and the fans have near no idea who to boo after the opening bell since they are the same person (in storyline terms of course). I think the evil one is the yellow booted Lance Steel and the red booted one is the technico. Looking past the face that Lance Steel is wrestling himself, this was a good, fun match in the old school style of good vs evil although the crowd were pretty much dead (for obvious reasons as they didn’t know who to cheer for), and there was some great counter wrestling near the end. The finish was smart, as the evil Lance Steel brought a chair into the ring, then when Bryce Remsburg put it outside of the ring he switched places with the good Lance Steel so Bryce lectured the wrong man, and this distracted him long enough for the evil version to lock in the Boston Crab for the submission- **3/4

Match 4

Up In Smoke (Cheech and Cloudy) vs North Star Express (Darin Corbin and Ryan Cruz)

Two of the indy scene’s most impressive young tag teams here, and this was some good tag team action. Not everything was crisp and fluent but these two teams are growing in team skill and do a lot of nice double team moves. Not to mention that there was some very good high flying, high impact wrestling here too, and the match got especially good towards the end. The North Star Express would come out on top when Cruz pins Cheech after the Cruz Control (not his finisher, the double team finisher of the NSE)- ***

After the match, the two teams shake hands, a sign of Up In Smoke turning from rudos to technicos.

Eddie Kingston cuts a promo, saying that Larry Sweeney broke an unwritten rule of pro wrestling when he tried to end his career at the YLC, and then asks the question as to whether Sweeney is ready to face his rage in their match.

Match 5

‘The King Of Diamonds’ Eddie Kingston vs ‘Sweet and Sour’ Larry Sweeney

A good, smartly worked match that told a good story as Kingston was injured from the previous show after being choked over the top rope by Sweeney, so Sweeney worked over the throat and neck during the match effectively. When Sweeney got too cocky and started disrespecting Kingston, it cost him as Kingston fought back with hard hitting moves. After Sweeney looked to have the match won with a Piledriver (working on that neck), Kingston escaped and after countering a second Piledriver he rolled up Sweeney for the three count. This was about the best way to advance the feud in my opinion- ***1/4

Next the good lance Steel comes out and challenges the evil Lance Steel to a Loser Leaves the Present match.

Chris Hero cuts a promo, saying that he’s the best worker in the world and a king, and despite Shane Storm being a hard worker he’s just a peasant compared with him and he will win tonight.

Shane Storm and Jigsaw then cut a promo, saying that tonight Jigsaw will be taking Icarus’s hair, while he will be battling Chris hero. Before he can go any further Arik Cannon comes in and asks if he can team with them in a six man tag next month (they were going to ask Quack, typical).

Match 6

Chris Hero vs Shane Storm

A great match, with Hero basically schooling Storm in the way that he controlled this match at times, although when Storm was able to get in his moves he looked great and Hero made Storm look like he could beat him. Hero wrestled a hard hitting and technical style, and this was a fine example of how good Hero can be. Storm was very much the underdog, fighting back when he could with high flying lucha moves, and came close with a few near falls. Hero would win it with a rollup after a knockout forearm- ***1/2

Mike Quackenbush is next to cut a promo, saying that tonight he starts his hunting down of the Kings of Wrestling, and he will be starting with Gran Akuma. He says the Kings of Wrestling are no longer the hunters but the hunted.

Match 7

Gran Akuma vs ‘Lightning’ Mike Quackenbush

A match that I was really looking forward to here with two of my favourite wrestlers. Quackenbush used lots of his crisp lucha style offense, while Akuma worked over the back of Sweeney with hard hitting moves, strikes and submissions. The result was a very good match with good psychology and crisp and believable offense. Akuma used a lot of big moves near the end, but could not put Quack away, and this would come back to haunt him as Quackenbush would pin Akuma with the Quackenbush Driver 3 (QD3)- ***1/4

Match 8

Young Lions Cup- ‘The Anarchist’ Arik Cannon vs Jon Moxley

Cannon’s gimmick in Chikara is that he yells “Oh Yeah” like in the Kool-Aid adverts. It’s as annoying as it sounds, but it doesn’t take away from the wrestling since he doesn’t do it all that often. The match ended up being fun, but I’ll admit that I’ve seen better Young Lions Cup matches before. This match was fairly slow and mat based, using lots of submission and strikes as well as lots of playing to the crowd from both men. The match ended with Arik Cannon retaining with the Glimmering Warlock. Despite being quite impressive, Jon Moxley was never seen in Chikara again past this show- **1/2

Icarus cuts a promo saying that he’s already taken one of Jigsaw’s masks, and says that Jigsaw shouldn’t be worried about his mask being taken, he should be worried about his career being ended.

Match 9

Hair vs Mask Match- Icarus w/Gran Akuma vs Jigsaw w/Shane Storm

It’s Icarus’s hair vs Jigsaw’s mask in this match. This match was great and also quite long, being given significant time to build. Personally I would have taken five minutes or so off of it, but with our without it the match was still very good. We saw lots of matwork and submission wrestling to go alongside the high flying, plus with the stipulation this had the big match feel and made it that little bit more special than the usual match that these two would have with each other. The match got very hot near the end with both men kicking out of each others finishers, and Jigsaw being attacked on the outside by Gran Akuma, nearly getting counted out but still coming back in at 19. Jigsaw would eventually win the match with a second rope Jig N’Tonic. Excellent main event match overall- ***3/4

After the match, Icarus tries to run away, but when he goes the one way, Jolly Rodger comes back and stops him, then when he try’s to go the other way Mister Zero returns and stops him. He finally gets put in the chair and has his hair shaven off. Gran Akuma takes him to the back but then Mike Quackenbush takes him back. He has a ton more cut off before going to the back again.

NOTE: I’ll be doing more reviews after Christmas. Happy holiday to all readers.

WCW Nitro 26th February-10th March 1996

26.2.96

Big Bubba Rogers vs Sting
An enjoyable big man style opener, with a good heel/face dynamic. Rogers hat Sting hard here and pushed the ref’s leniency, while Sting used his agility, moving around the ring at speed rather than trying to match power with Rogers. Rogers came out looking like he could hang with Sting, and Sting also came out looking strong, so the match did it’s job perfectly. Shortly after a nasty Piledriver by Sting, and a few moments of back and forth offense, Sting pinned Rogers with the Cross Body. Good stuff- **3/4

The Renegade vs Lex Lugar w/Jimmy Hart
Obviously at this point The Renegade is little more than a glorified jobber, so this was essentially an extended squash for Lugar. To be fair, The Renegade did get some moves in here, but largely Lugar controlled the match. The match wasn’t anything special though, and went on a bit too long. After Jimmy Hart pushed The Renegade off the top rope, Lugar won following the Torture Rack- *1/4

Harlem Heat vs Road Warriors
Despite these two teams being two of my favourites, I really didn’t especially enjoy this particular match. It’s not that there was anything particularly wrong with it: the wrestling was solid enough. But the match just felt a bit dull and didn’t hold my attention, and the crowd didn’t seem all that into it either, possibly because it went slightly too long and too slow. Harlem Heat had the match won with a Harlem Hangover on Hawk, but the ref was distracted, then Animal booted him in the face and that got three- *3/4

Arn Anderson, Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan (w/ Woman and Miss Elizabeth) vs Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Booty Man
Yes, yet another god awful Ed Leslie gimmick: then again he’s an awful wrestler so I guess it’s deserved. And since he was in the ring for a good portion of this match, the match quality suffered. When he was in the ring, the match was pretty average, but it was better when Savage and Hogan were in there (yes, I would rather watch Hogan than Ed Leslie, that’s how awful he is). With the early portion controlled by the three faces, Savage got distracted by the two women on the outside and was isolated from his corner. Hogan and Booty Man made the tag, cleaned house and Hogan got three on Anderson with the leg Drop- *1/2

No Nitro the next week, so we quickly jump to the 10th for our next episode

10.3.96

Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs The Giant
Duggan stood pretty much no chance here, thank goodness. He tried punches, and punches, and punches again, but they didn’t work. The Giant then used his power and some clubbing strikes to destroy him. The only significant thing that happened during the match was Brian Pillman showing up in the crowd and being escorted out: he was supposedly going to come back for the Doomsday Cage match but never did. Meanwhile a brief Duggan fightback begun, including using tape around his hands which was completely illegal, but eventually got hit with the Chokeslam for three- *1/2

The Steiner Brothers vs Road Warriors
Oh boy, this is what I’ve been waiting for. In my opinion, this is the best tag match WCW had in all of 1996: just awesome stuff from beginning to end. The crowd were red hot, and both teams hit very hard and essentially beat the living hell out of each other from start to finish. They were just working so stiff here, and the match was never slow at any stage. The best bits would probably be the exchanges between Scott Steiner and Hawk, since the exchanges of Rick and Animal weren’t quite as awesome. The finish came when Animal hat Rick with a loaded Elbow pad, and that got three. Fantastic stuff, and one of the hardest hitting tag matches you’ll see- ***3/4

Television Title Match- Lex Lugar (c) vs Alex Wright
A decent match, better than I had expected considering Lugar was over the hill and Wright was still in the early stages of his career. Wright got a few moves in early on before Lugar slowed the match down and worked over Wright’s back to setup the Torture Rack. Lugar also got in Wright’s face here, essentially trying to teach his young opponent a lesson. Wright fought back, and came close to winning the belt, but Jimmy Hart distracted him and allowed Lugar to hit a Powerslam for three- **1/4

Lumberjack Strap Match- Arn Anderson, Ric Flair and Kevin Sullivan vs Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Booty Man
The lumberjacks were too busy fighting with each other for much of the match to have any real effect on what went on. The stipulations on this match didn’t really do a lot for me to begin with, and other than some use of the straps they could probably have done the same match without them. The match was not all that different from the previous week, other than Hogan’s team dominated a lot more. Hogan got three following a leg Drop on Flair in such a one sided match it was almost a squash- *1/4

It’s a mixed bag again to be honest. Other than the opener, the first Nitro is pretty poor, but the second show has an excellent tag match between the Steiner’s and Road Warriors that you should really go out of your way to see, while the rest of the show is average. So I’d recommend tracking down the two good matches, and giving the rest of these shows a miss

6.5/10

This is the final review in my archive of stuff I wrote for PWChronicles. I have some other reviews lying about from other sites I worked for, but I’ll be looking to do some new reviews fairly soon.

WCW Nitro 12th-19th February 1996

12/2/96

Hugh Morrus vs Randy Savage
Savage is angry due to the acts of the Horsemen at Superbrawl, and he took his frustrations out on Morrus with punches, strikes and rakes of the eyes. Morrus was able to get some offense in on Savage, using his size advantage here to overpower him. Morrus missed the No Laughing matter, then hat two consecutive Elbows for three- **

Scotty Riggs vs Loch Ness
Loch Ness was the brief attempt to bring the well past his sell by date Giant Haystacks to the United States, which failed pretty miserably. Based upon this match alone it’s easy to see why he didn’t stick around. Riggs does a whole lot of Dropkicks and stuff, then as Riggs came off the top he botches a Slam, then hits two Elbow Drops for three- DUD

Devon Storm vs Konnan
Wow, a Devon Storm sighting. On Nitro. Storm at this point essentially copies Sabu’s moveset almost move for move. After some high risk moves, Konnan nearly botches a Powerbomb  on the concrete, but mamaged to hit it. After that, Konnan hat a load of lucha and power moves, and also locked in the Tequila Sunrise (before it was his finisher). Following a brief Storm fightback, Konnan hat a Powerbomb from the top rope, and rolled it into a pinning combination for three. This felt like your modern day indy spotfest: loads of moves without rhyme or reason, but at this time it would have seemed extremely innovative. It was entertaining, I’ll give it that- **1/4

Arn Anderson vs Hulk Hogan
A decent enough main event, with Arn being able to have a solid match here with Hogan, and actually going over (who says Hogan never jobbed to anyone). it had a fair bit of matwork, with Hogan working on Arn’s arm (briefly before forgetting about it the rest of the match), and Anderson went after the injured eye of Hogan (which he hurt at Superbrawl). Anderson got the Spinebuster, but Hogan kicked out and did his usual fightback, but put Anderson in the Figure 4 Leg Lock. Following interference from Ric Flair, powder to the eyes and a high heel shoe shot, Hogan was pinned for three- **

19/2/96

Hulk Hogan vs Arn Anderson
A rematch of their match from last week, with Hogan trying to get revenge (and get his win back). It wasn’t all that different to their previous match to be honest, barring Hogan dominating a lot more: Hogan dominated much of the early portion of the match by systematically destroying Anderson (notice the loud Hogan Sucks chants). Anderson barely got anything in here at all, with Hogan completely dominating, and then putting Anderson in the Figure 4. Kevin Sullivan ran in, and so did Randy Savage. Despite Savage not getting physically involved, Hogan was somehow DQ’ed and Anderson won. Pure stupidity- *1/4

Alex Wright vs Loch Ness
Not learning from his awful showing last week, they gave Loch Ness Alex Wright to destroy, and it was pretty bad once again. Loch Ness causes Wright to nearly botch a Sleeper. After Wright does close to a million Dropkicks, Loch Ness kicks him in the stomach and then pins him following that Elbow Drop. Another dull, boring squash, but at least they didn’t botch  stuff all over the place like last time- 1/4*

Belfast Bruiser vs Brad Armstrong
Finally, a match that may actually be worth watching. This was a good match, with lots of back and forth mat wrestling, and the Belfast Bruiser taking time to throw hard strikes and generally beat the hell out of him. Armstrong’s technical moves are so crisp, and he really in great to watch, but he didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities to use them here, with the Bruiser going after both his arms and legs with submission holds. Armstrong went for a move off the ropes, but the Bruiser caught him with a Tilt A Whirl Slam for three- **3/4

WCW World Title Ric Flair (c) vs Randy Savage
Not only is this a match for the title, but is lso a grudge match after Flair took basically everything from Savage’s life. Savage basically came in with a plan to straight out fight Flair, throwing punches, strikes and going after the women at ringside. Flair was able to take advantage of Savage’s lack of focus to control the match with his usual style. In the end the match turned into a really great and entertaining match, thanks to the new fire in Savage and Flair being his usual self. The match got stupid when Savage looked to have the match won, with Kevin Sullivan, Arn Anderson and Hulk Hogan running in, and this lead to Flair winning following an Arn Anderson Spinebuster- ***1/2

Yeah, a bit of a mixed bag once again. The first show is pretty much throwaway, with the only worthwhile thing to watch being the Storm/Konnan match. The second show is considerably better, with good matches in the main event World Title bout and the Bruiser/Armstrong match. But I can’t overlook the awful Loch Ness matches either.

6/10

WCW Nitro 29th January-5th February 1996

29/1/96

Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan
Another match that really deserves to be the main event, but is only the opener: in this case I feel it diminishes the value of this match which had been a dream match only two years earlier. The match was solid and entertaining, and pretty much what you would expect it to be, but as I mentioned in previous reviews, the match doesn’t have that special feel that made their first match so memorable. But it was still pretty solid from a workrate standpoint, with Flair cheating and working on the leg of Hogan, and Hogan making his usual big comebacks. Hogan got the Legdrop, but Jimmy Hart distracted the ref. Arn Anderson interfered, throwing Miss Elizabeth’s shoe to Flair, and he spiked Hogan with it for three. Surprisingly good.- ***1/4

Faces of Fear vs Road Warriors
This is the Nitro return of the Road Warriors after they reformed at the Clash Of The Champions, and the return of The Faces Of Fear. Solid tag team match, with hard hitting power moves throughout and lots of big strikes. The Road Warriors came across as a real force here, and Hawk looked a lot better here than he did in any of the singles matches he had been in during 1995. The Faces of Fear kept up pretty well with the Road Warriors, but the match was generally not as exciting when they were in control (not to say that they didn’t do some good stuff, but they both weren’t especially charismatic so the crowd died a bit). Hawk got the fall with a Top Rope Clothesline on The Barbarian- **3/4

Sherri Martel vs Madusa
As I’ve said before, womens wrestling’s not really my thing, so I’m probably not the best person to call this match.

The Giant vs Randy Savage
Savage comes out from the crowd to sneak attack The Giant, and for some reason this causes a DQ. Completely stupid, idiotic finish to what could have been a decent match- DUD

5/2/96

WCW World Title Match- Chris Benoit vs Randy Savage (c)
Obviously WCW’s politics weren’t as bad during this time to allow people like Benoit to actually get a title match. This was a good, intense match, with Benoit aggressivly going after Savage with hard hitting strikes and power moves. This followed the Savage formula match for this time however, with Savage being beaten up for mos of the match before fighting back near the end. Because of that I can’t call it anything more than a good match, due to it being too one sided considering who won the match. Benoit crashes and burns on a Suicide Dive, Savage puts him back in the ring and hits the Elbow. Ric Flair interferes though, and causes the DQ- ***

Dungeon Of Doom (Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morris) vs Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman)
This match between two heel stables came about because of Pillman’s crazy antics the previous week that irritated Kevin Sullivan. Strangely enough, the Dungeon Of Doom ended up being the faces in this match. Morrus used his power to toss around his opponents, but the Horsemen isolated him from his corner with double team moves, and wore him down with submissions. Sullivan made the tag eventually and went crazy on Pillman before Anderson took him out of the match. Sullivan and Anderson brawled around the arena before someone had Anderson with a broom. I think the Dungeon of Doom got DQed, or Anderson was counted out: they never said and The Dungeon Of Doom seemed to be celebrating- **

Ric Flair vs Marcus Bagwell
This was a solid enough match, but while the crowd loved Bagwell, I don’t think they ever truly believed he stood a chance here. With that being said, Bagwell got a lot of the offense here and looked good, like he could have beaten Flair. Flair at times though schooled Bagwell and slowly wore him down. Despite a brief fightback towards the end, Bagwell submitted to the Figure 4 Leg Lock- **1/4

WCW Tag Team Title Match- Sting and Lex Lugar (c) vs Road Warriors
This match wasn’t anything special, but it was still decent. It had some good energy though, and was mostly a battle of power with the two teams exchanging a variety of slams, and various strikes. Sting and Lugar wore down Animal with strikes and some rest holds (thus making the match slower compared with the energetic start). Hawk and Sting start brawling outside the ring, and during the distraction Lugar smashes Animal with the megaphone to the back to get three- **

Again, there’s a few things that are worth watching here, in paticulair the Savage/Benoit and Flair/Hogan matches, as well as the Road Warriors return. The rest can easily be skipped, but two solid shows overall.

6.5/10

WCW Nitro 15th-22nd January 1996

15th January 1996

Lex Lugar vs Randy Savage
This apparently is Randy Savage’s fourth attempt at beating Lex Lugar in singles competition. The match went all around ringside for the first few minutes, then in the ring they went back and forth, exchanging punches, elbows and slams, and both weren’t afraid to break the rules. Savage went for the Elbow, but missed, then Lugar put him in the Torture Rack for the submission- *3/4

Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock) vs American Males (Scotty Riggs and Marcus Bagwell)
This is of course Public Enemy’s Nitro debut. It was a big clash of styles, with the Males wrestling their usual basic tag team style, while Public Enemy just looked to brawl. The match didn’t really click that well as a result, as these two teams aren’t really well suited to work with one another. Out of nowhere, Grunge rolled up Bagwell for three- *1/4

After the  match, in a memorable moment, Rocco Rock puts Marcus Bagwell through two stacked tables with a Flip Senton off the top rope.

WCW World Title Match- Ric Flair (c) vs Sting
Just when I thought there was nothing worth watching on this show. Seeing as it was Flair and Sting, this was a good match. Sting dominated early using his size advantage to overpower Flair. Flair on the other hand looked to slowly and methodically wear down Sting, with a series of chops, strikes and work on the leg to setup the Figure 4. The final few minutes were the big highlight of the match, where several near falls were exchanged and the crowd was red hot. Lex Lugar ran in to stop Jimmy Hart interfering, but accidentally hitting Sting with the megaphone, and Flair locked the Figure 4 for three. A great match until the lousy ending- ***1/4

Hulk Hogan vs Meng
Meng jumps Hogan right at the bell and works over Hogan for most of the match with a series of strikes and submissions. Hogan’s attempts to fightback don’t payoff for longer than a minute, and Meng looks like he has the match tied up. But of course Hogan makes his usual comeback, and gets the Big Boot followed by a shot with Meng’s spike for three. And the match was pretty average- *

22nd January 1996

WCW World Title- Randy Savage vs Ric Flair (c)
Personally, this is a pretty good way to open a show. The match was good, but not a classic like you would expect. Flair worked over Savage slowly and methodically, going after his injured arm for much of the match, with Savage making brief fightbacks filled with punches and top rope moves. Flair cheated a fair bit here as well, and the ref began to get a bit angry at him for doing so on such a regular basis. Savage goes for the Elbow, but the ref is distracted and Arn Anderson runs in. He accidentally hits Flair with a taped fist, and Savage hits the Elbow for three. New Champion. The ending was really well done and the crowd loved it, and the match itself was good- ***1/4

Dean Malenko vs Brian Pillman
This match to me would have been better before Pillman became the Loose Cannon. It was still a good match, but Pillman spends much of it shouting at fans, the camera and everything else. Malenko’s an excellent wrestler though and forced a good match out of Pillman here at a time where he was on a downward spiral (Pillman, not Malenko). The crowd were pretty much dead however. Pillman won the match via pinfall despite the face that Malenko’s leg was tied up in the ropes, so a bit of a stupid finish- ***

WCW Tag Team Title Match- Harlem Heat (c) vs Sting and Lex Lugar
A solid tag match, but I feel these two teams don’t work that well together. The match went back and forth a bit early on, before Harlem Heat isolated Sting from his corner with a series of double team moves, strikes and rest holds. Sting was finally able to make the tag when Booker T missed the Harlem Hangover, but the ref didn’t see it. Jimmy Hart hands something to Lugar, who then makes the tag, and hits Stevie Ray (I Think) with it to get three. New Tag Team Champions- **1/4

Hulk Hogan vs One Man Gang
Suffice to say, this match was about as good as it sounds: not at all good in any way. The entire match was basically Hogan throwing punches and One Man Gang slamming Hogan once, Splashing Hogan once and playing to the crowd. Hogan does the Andre Slam followed by the Leg Drop to win it- 1/4*

Both shows have their fair share of good and bad stuff. The first show’s only good point was the Flair/Sting match, and the second show was good up until the pointless Hogan match which you could have called an extended squash if you want. Still, the two Flair matches and the Malenko/Pillman match are well worth watching, and possibly the Harlem Heat tag match as well, but skip the rest.

6.5/10

WCW Nitro 1st-8th January 1996

For now commentary is still done by Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and the god awful Steve McMichael.

1st January 1996

Arn Anderson vs Randy Savage
Anderson jumps Savage before the bell rings, but Savage made a quick fightback here outside the ring. They ended up having a good match here, not a match that you’d rate at the level of Flair/Savage from the previous week, but a good match all the same. Savage was looking to hurt Anderson here after losing the belt to his tag partner Ric Flair, while Anderson was smart and went after Savage’s injured arm. The ref took a quick bump, then Anderson went for a brass knuckles shot, but Savage took them, punched Anderson with them and got three- **3/4

Steven Regal vs Chris Benoit
Before this match begins, I’ll say that I will be reviewing an episode of Pro from 1995 at some point that features an excellent match between these two. And this to was a great match, with fantastic back and forth technical wrestling. There’s not a lot else that needs to be said other than that they exchanged holds and counter holds throughout this one, with the occasional big move to try and end the match. Benoit missed a Body Press to the outside, hitting the concrete hard, and Regal rolled him back into the ring for three- ***1/4

Super Assassins vs Lex Lugar and Sting
The Super Assassins didn’t stay around long, as The Warlord left WCW, leaving The Barbarian to team with Meng in the Faces of Fear. A decent match, but much of the early portion of the match was focused on Craig Pittman talking to Steve McMichael about something at the announce booth. When we fully focused on the match, The Super Assassins were in control of Sting, working him over by using their power. Barbarian missed a Diving Headbutt, and Lugar made the tag and cleaned house. Sting and Lugar got a simultaneous Scorpion Deathlock and Torture Rack to get the submission on both Assassins- **

Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan
A decent main event, but this match didn’t have the same big time feel their first match had so it was never going to be to that same standard. Hogan made his usual no sell comebacks, and used his size advantage to overpower Flair, while Flair went to work on the leg to setup for the Figure 4. Despite interference from Jimmy hart, Hogan made his usual comeback and got the Legdrop, but more interference led to Hogan no selling a brass knuckles shot, with Flair getting DQ’ed eventually- **1/2

8th January 1996

Chris Benoit vs Alex Wright
Benoit jumps Wright before he even gets his ring jacket off. And much of the match is Benoit dominating Wright with hard hitting strikes and well executed suplexes, with Brian Pillman interfering a few times. Wright makes a fightback, using a mix of high flying moves and pinning combinations, and then tried to slow the match down a little with some submission holds. Brian Pillman interferes again, and the distraction allowed Benoit back into the match. Benoit got the Dragon Suplex for three. A good, back and forth match overall, minus Pillman’s interference which went nowhere to be honest- ***

Steven Regal vs Eddie Guerrero
This match ended up being quite similar to the Regal/Benoit match last week, in that they exchanged holds and counter holds for much of the match, all of which were near perfectly executed. every time. The big difference from that match is that Eddie also did a lot of high flying here as well, realising that Regal had the advantage when it comes to mat wrestling skill. Guerrero also used a few very unique pinning combinations here. Regal very much looked to wear down Guerrero on the mat, and his strategy was working until Guerrero got a Backslide out of nowhere for three. Great stuff again from Regal- ***1/4

DDP vs Sting
DDP really started to improve as an all round performer in this year, turning from snobbish, rich midcard heel to main event babyface. At this time he was still in a feud with Johnny B Badd, so wasn’t on Sting’s level yet. Sting had the early advantage, but DDP soon stopped him, and started wearing Sting down with holds, as well as blatantly cheating. Sting fought his way out of a Chinlock, made a big fightback and hat the Stinger Splash. They went back and forth for the next few minutes, before Sting got the Scorpio Deathlock out of nowhere for the submission. Solid enough wrestling here, but it felt like they could have gone longer and it would have been even better as a result- **1/4

Four Horsemen (Ric Flair and Arn Anderson) vs Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage
Personally, I’m not surprised that Nitro went to two hours later in the year: the main event’s at this time would often be quite long meaning undercard matches would have to be short, and this was a prime example. That’s not to say that this was a bad match: I personally thought that it was a solid main event once again that was well wrestled. The Flair/Savage exchanges were the best part of the match in my opinion, and they really entertained. Savage was worked over for a prolonged period of the match, before getting the hot tag to Hogan who cleaned house. Anderson got the Spinebuster on Hogan, but Hogan no sold, and got the Big Boot and Leg Drop for three. Decent action here, but perhaps too long- **

I have to say that it was two very good show overall. The two Steven Regal matches were the highlights of the show, although Benoit’s match with Alex Wright was also very good. There was no match I’d put below ** here, so I can highly recommend both episodes

8/10

WCW Nitro 25th December 1995

Lex Lugar vs Scotty Riggs
Part two of Lex Lugar against the American Males. Strangely enough, Riggs actually did better here than his partner did the previous week, and maybe WCW thought Riggs could become a bigger star than Bagwell would: they were proven wrong within the year. This much like the previous week’s match wasn’t anything special, and went a bit too slow at times for my liking. Eventually Lugar got the Powerslam and Torture Rack to get the submission- *1/2

Big Bubba vs Sting
A solid big man match here, which went back and forth. Not only did they exchange power moves, but they also exchanged a variety of wrestling holds, and both men were also able to display their agility (Bubba at one point hit a Dropkick). So I thought the match worked well, due to both men’s similar style (i.e. agile big man style). Sting was able to roll up Rodgers with a Small package for three- **1/2

Dean Malenko vs Mr JL
Good stuff here. The match moved at a frantic pace, with great mat wrestling, as well as some power moves by Malenko and high flying by JL. LJ actually had a lot more of the match than I thought he would. Following a Top Rope Gutbuster, Malenko rolled through into what the announcer called the Malenko Leg Lock for the submission- **3/4

WCW World Title- Randy Savage (c) vs Ric Flair
I rate this match at around the same level as their match at Starrcade, perhaps even slightly higher, as it was a solid match, but they have had much better encounters in the past. The match actually differed from the usual Randy Savage match at this time, in that Savage had a lot of the early part of the match, and Flair could only get into the match by cheating and through interference from manager Jimmy Hart. Flair wore down Savage in the ring, with Savage making brief fightbacks, but never for a long period of time. Savage made a big fightback, and then the match went back and forth, with both men getting near falls. Savage however would retain the title via DQ when Lex Lugar ran in- ***

Great episode this week. The main event was of course going to be good, seeing as it’s Savage and Flair, and personally I thought this was better than their upcoming Starrcade match. There was also two more good matches in Sting/Rodgers and Malenko/JL. I can easily recommend watching this episode.

7.5/10

However, we aren’t quite done yet, as it’s time to do  review of the good points and bad points of Nitro in 1995.

Good Points
International Stars Arrival- The influx of talent from Japan and ECW, such as Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko, instantly helped make the undercard a lot more enjoyable. Benoit and Guerrero’s first match in particular was superb, and is well worth watching if you a fan of either.
Sting/Ric Flair- These two were on and off involved with each other during Nitro. The y had a great match on the first episode, then teamed against Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman to great effect, before having another great match with each other after Flair’s turn at Halloween Havoc.  And of course don’t forget the excellent Arn Anderson/Ric Flair feud.
Randy Savage- He may have only been there because he was Hogan’s running buddy, but he didn’t phone in his performances. His matches were a bit formulatic at this stage, but he had great matches with Ric Flair and Scott Norton that were really fun to watch. So while his matches had their flaws, he was still a great entertainer willing to put his body on the line.

Bad Points
Steve McMichael- Why? Why did they think it was a good idea to put him on commentary. He contributed absolutely nothing to the announcing team, and he often rambled on about stuff that wasn’t even relevant. It’s little reason he became a wrestler in 1996 because he couldn’t cut it in the announce booth.
Hulk Hogan- Ok, maybe I’m being a little harsh here. He had a couple of good matches, most notably with Sting. But the man was too overhyped (as always), and when he was around there was little attention paid to anyone else (most notably a Dean Malenko/Eddie Guerrero having a cut halfway through so we could see Hogan getting out of his limo).
Poor building of feuds- Now this is a bit of a difficult one to explain. Now WCW did build their major feuds pretty well for the most part. But what I’m talking about is the unexplained gaps between a feud starting and progress being made to build it. The biggest example of this was when Shark accidentally cost Scott Norton his match against Randy Savage, but Norton took roughly six weeks to do anything about it.

WCW Nitro 11th-18th December 1995

11th December 1995

Eddie Guerrero vs Mr JL
Due to a late recording this match is joined in progress. A shame that it wasn’t quite the full match as what we saw was excellent. They exchanged high flying moves, all of which were perfectly executed, and the match went back and forth. The match did suffer from a lack of heat however, but then again that isn’t a surprise due to this being the cruiserweight division. Guerrero won this match- **3/4

Disco Inferno vs Paul Orndorff
Not only was this pretty much Paul Orndorff’s last major competitive match, it was also a bizarre clash of styles and personalities. And no mention of these two both being heels. It was an average match to be honest, with not a lot of crowd heat, and it was pretty basic. Orndorff won it with a nasty Backdrop Driver, the only big move of the entire match- *

Lex Lugar vs Jim Duggan
Again, very average, basic stuff here, with not a lot to see. The best bit was the crowd chanting for the heel Lugar over the face Duggan. Essentially an exchange of punches and various other strikes for the bulk of the match, with Lugar locking in the Torture Rack at the end after a Jimmy Hart distraction for the win- 3/4*

Sting and Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair and Arn Anderson
While I wasn’t sure what to expect on paper, this actually turned out to be a pretty good tag team match, with great crowd heat. They worked this very smartly, by having Sting work the bulk of the match (after Hogan got taken out by a Lex Lugar Torture Rack), and then having Hogan get the hot tag near the end to clean house. Although I should note that Hogan was practically booed out of the building here, and Flair got the biggest pop of the night. Hogan got the fall following the Leg Drop on Anderson- **3/4

18th December 1995

This is the infamous episode where Alundra Blayze shows up, and dumps the WWF Woman’s Title in the garbage.

Ric Flair vs Eddie Guerrero
Guerrero doesn’t even get a proper entrance: why? This is of course a follow up to the Guerrero/Pillman match a couple of weeks back, where Flair didn’t feel Guerrero was worth his time. Much of this match was the younger athlete getting the advantage over the veteran, essentially proving himself as a more capable wrestler than Flair thought he was. Flair on the other hand slowed the match down and worked at his own pace. And I think this worked well as I really enjoyed this match. Guerrero eventually passed out in the Figure 4 Leg Lock which let Flair win the match- ***

Lex Lugar vs Marcus Bagwell
Bagwell also doesn’t get an intro: this time i don’t care as much. It was a decent match but nothing more, with solid wrestling at times and sloppy wrestling at others. Bagwell’s offense was limited here as it was pretty much an extended squash, and Lugar got the win following the Torture Rack- *1/4

Earl Robert Eaton vs Sting
As you can see, the first three matches on this show have involved the three title contenders for the Triangle match at Starrcade. I thought this was a good match, but I’ve seen these two wrestle so many times, and they never seem to do anything different with one another. So if you’ve seen any of their matches in the past, you will know what to expect here. Eaton missed the Tower Of London, and Sting hat the Stinger Splash before locking the Scorpion Deathlock for the submission- **1/2

WCW World Title Match- Randy Savage (c) vs The Giant
The Giant claims the belt is his after he was stripped of the title after the infamous(ly bad) Halloween Havoc match with Hulk Hogan, so he gets a shot to win the belt back here. A decent main event match, which as per usual followed the Randy Savage 95 formula: Savage gets beatdown for the majority of the match, other than brief fightbacks, and then gets the Elbow right at the end for three. But The Giant didn’t follow the script, throwing Savage right off him after the Elbow before three. Not to mention the Giant hat a Dropkick and missed a Top Rope Splash.  The Giant had the match won with the Chokeslam, but Hulk Hogan ran in with a chair to cause the DQ- **1/4

There was some pretty good action here: nothing overly special, but still some good stuff that may be worth a watch. The main event and Guerrero/JL are the best bits on the first episode, while the second episode has a great opener and some solid action in the second part of the show. So I can again give this a solid recommendation.

7.5/10

WCW Nitro 27th November-4th December 1995

27th November 1995

Johnny B Badd vs DDP
Personally, this feud annoyed me a bit, because while I respect Johnny B Badd as a wrestler, his character was a little annoying, and when he joined up with Kimberly it got even more annoying. The match was solid, but there was way too much of a focus on Kimberly at ringside and not enough on the actual match. DDP asked her to give him a chain that was in a bunch of flowers, but she gave it to Badd who hat DDP with it, and this lead to Badd getting three- *3/4

Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki vs Akira Hokuto and Bull Nakano
Personally I’m not really a fan of joshi or women’s wrestling (much like I’m not a fan of deathmatches), so I probably can’t give the best opinion on this match. So I’ll skip this one due to me not being the best person to review it- n/r

Hugh Morrus vs Hulk Hogan
There’s obviously little chance for Morrus here in his Nitro debut, against Hogan who has left the darkside. This was your average Hogan match: Morrus dominated for much of this match, hitting the No Laughing Matter, but Hogan kicked out, hulked up and got three with the Leg Drop- *

Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman vs Sting and Lex Lugar
Solid tag team main event here, with Sting and Lugar looking to overpower their opponents while Pillman and Anderson looked to wrestle a more mat based match. Lugar and Sting practically dominated the opening couple of minutes, but when Sting got Anderson in the Scorpion Deathlock, Lugar pushed Pillman off the top and he accidentally hat Sting. Sting was then worked over by Anderson and Pillman, and there was constant problems between Sting and Lugar. Lugar finally has enough and runs in, then shortly after Sting gets a rollup for three- **

Steve McMichael Commentary Botch of the Week: “My grandma told me if it looks like a skunk, and smells like a skunk, then your a skunk” So that must mean Steve McMichael is a skunk right. Very confusing.

4th December 1995

WCW Tag Title Match- American Males vs Harlem Heat (c)
The titles changed hands on Saturday Night a few weeks earlier. This went much like their earlier match, with the American Males using their speed and several double team moves, while Harlem Heat looked to overpower their opponents. When Col parker came out, the match became unimportant with the soap opera taking precedence. Riggs takes an extended beating from Harlem Heat, but they got too cocky and Riggs made the tag. Following a brief fightback, Booker T got the Harlem Hangover on Bagwell for three- **1/4

Sting vs Kurusawa
This match saw Sting go for all his usual spots, while Kurusawa employed a strategy of working over the arm of Sting to setup for the Armbar. It didn’t go all that long to be honest, with Sting making a quick fightback after a brief beatdown, then hat the Stinger Splash and locked in the Scorpion Deathlock for the submission- *

Scott Norton vs The Giant
A battle of the big men, although Norton is not quite as big as The Giant. And it was a pretty solid, short, big man match. Norton was barely able to get any offense in here at all, but lifted The Giant for an Atomic Drop. Norton couldn’t get The Giant off his feet, and eventually he fell to the Chokeslam- *3/4

WCW World Title Match- Lex Lugar vs Randy Savage (c)
A bit of an average match to be honest, that wasn’t really that exciting, and was a bit too slow. As you would expect, it was Lugar using his power against Savage’s speed. They also played off of Savage’s arm injury a few weeks earlier, by having Lugar go after it, and Savage retaliating by going after Lugar’s arm. But the armwork was way too slow at times. Savage retained his title Lugar untied the turnbuckle pad, but ran himself into it by accident, and Savage got the Elbow. But Jimmy Hart interfered, and Ric Flair ran in for the DQ- *1/2

Steve McMichael Commentary Botch Of The Week: Regarding the Lex Lugar/Randy Savage match “Go to the bathroom, flush that remote, you don’t want to miss this one.” Surely if you went to the bathroom to flush the remote you would miss the match. Any why would you put the remote down the toilet anyway.

There’s not a lot to see on either of these two shows. The only match that’s really worth watching is the Tag Team Title match on the December 4th show. Other than that you can easily skip past these two shows. Not recommended

4/10