Classic Report: WCW Monday Nitro Debut

WCW Monday Nitro 9.4.95

I’ll start off by saying that I never really caught most of the early Nitro episodes, so this will be the first time I’ve ever seen the debut episode of Nitro. I always wanted to see more of Nitro and now thanks to the Network for 9.99 that is possible. I’ll also say that my ratings will purely be based on entertainment. I’m not Bret Hart or Ric Flair, so I don’t feel like I can say with certainty how good a match is based on technical skill. Instead, I’ll go with entertainment value.

Before I get started with the episode I want to say that the introduction for Nitro is far better than Raw’s intro. The Nitro theme remains the best in my opinion and really fits the show well with a snappy introduction. Bischoff and Mongo welcome us to Nitro. Bobby Hennan interrupts them quickly. Hennan pokes fun at Mongo as Bischoff announces that Hogan will be here. We kick things off with Jushin “Thunder” Liger.

I don’t know if Jushin Liger had his iconic theme then but he’s not using it. His opponent is Brian Pillman, starting Nitro off with a rematch from Superbrawl II.

Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman
The two men circle leading to a lock up and arm ringer that Liger flips out of countering. Jushin gets Pillman in a headlock and they trade whips. Jushin hits him with a corner Koppou Kick! Jushin chops him in the corner and leaps over Pillman leading to a moonsault. 1..2..kickout. Liger quickly grounds Pillman in a chinlock. Pillman fights to a vertical base, but Liger has him cornered with chops. Pillman is charged and leaps over hitting a headscissors. Pillman corners Liger hitting some chops of his own. Pillman catches a running Liger with a boot to the face and he follows with a diving hurricanrana! 1..2..kickout. Pillman puts Liger in an abdominal stretch. Then, he pins him with a magistral cradle. 1..2..kickout. They trade whips and Liger ducks leading to a drop toe hold into a surfboard. The crowd loves this and erupts for the surfboard as Liger pushes him into the air with it. Liger pulls him back down quickly as Pillman gets up slowly. Pillman counters a whip with a headscissors takeover. Pillman goes flying over the top rope and Liger hits him with a rolling senton from the apron. A loud USA chant erupts. Pillman ends up suplexing Liger from the apron and goes up top hitting a cross body on Liger. Pillman goes to the well too many times and Liger counters as both men are up top. Liger hits a top rope snap suplex! 1..2..kickout. Liger goes up top as well but is caught with a beautiful dropkick. 1..2..kickout. Pillman chops Liger and whips him, but Liger sees it coming hitting a brutal Thunder Fire Powerbomb! 1..2..kickout. Liger brings Pillman up top and hits a Frankensteiner. 1..2..kickout. Liger pushes Pillman into another corner but Pillman fights out hitting a Tornado DDT. 1..2..kickout. Pillman goes for a German Suplex, and Liger reverses with a go behind going for one of his own, yet Pillman counters that with a victory roll. 1..2..3.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Brian Pillman: @ 6:53 via pin
RATING: ****
MATCH THOUGHTS: This was the perfect way to start off Nitro and show Nitro as a true alternative to the WWF. The work by Pillman and Liger exceeds that of a lot of modern day matches. These two were always ahead of their time and pulled off as great of match as you can in 6-7 minutes. Awesome work that makes me excited for the rest of Nitro. On top of all that, the crowd got into both guys and loved the match.

Both men shake hands after the match and the crowd cheers that. They show highlights from the match.

Sting with pink, purple, and black facepaint is here and has a message for Ric Flair. “Nature Boy, there is nobody that can walk that aisle like I can when it comes to getting in your face. And there is nobody that can hook the scorpion deathlock better than yours truly.”

Earlier today, WCW caught up with WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan. Hulk Hogan has pastamania at the Mall of America. Hogan speaks to the surrounding kids and Bischoff. “Whose the greatest wrestler in the world? You know something, Eric Bischoff. Tonight, on Monday Nitro pastamania and all my hulkamaniacs are running wild. And I’ve eaten so many Hulkaroos(??) that I kind of feel sorry for Big Bubba brother, because tonight brother first time on TNT I’m putting the WCW Title on the line. And with Pastamania running through my brain who is going to beat Big Bubba brother? And with all my hulkamaniacs tearing their WCW shirts off, I’m going give Big Bubba a dose of my Hulkaroo up there and body slam him again. Big Bubba better slim up that waistline brother when Hulkamania runs wild on you.”

That was a crazy promo from Hogan but entertaining in a way.

They take a subtle shot at Raw with Mongo saying people should only watch these matches.

Before the match starts Lex Luger walks out and puts his arms against his side. Bischoff tells them to get the camera off of him. Loud Luger chants go throughout the arena as Flair and Sting watch on shocked despite their match starting.

WCW United States Championship: Ric Flair vs. Sting(c)
Sting gets a loud pop as expected. Sting and Flair finally begin to circle after the initial shock. Flair woos at Sting and the crowd plays along. They lock-up and Sting does his own woo taunt. They lock-up again and Flair gets the headlock, he is pushed off and hits a shoulderblock. Sting starts leap frogging Flair before hitting a military press. Flair calls for a timeout, but he runs into another military press slam. Sting hits a hiptoss and a perfect dropkick! Flair ends up escaping the ring on the dropkick. Flair takes his time and the crowd chants Sting loudly. The announce team still puts over Luger walking out. Flair comes back into the ring and they lock hands leading to an eye poke. The fans boo that and Flair starts chopping Sting in the corner. Sting starts no selling the chops to the delight of the crowd. Sting taunts Flair and lifts him in another military press slam. Flair kicks him in the gut and Flair ends up cross bodying Sting over the rope! Both men are outside the ring and Flair starts chopping Sting again. Sting again no sells and catches Flair in another military press into the ring. They trade whips and Sting misses a Stinger Splash but sees Flair move. Quickly, he hits the one-armed bulldog. Sting goes for another but Flair catches him with an elbow. Flair starts stomping Sting. They take a commercial break and we return with Sting down. Flair goes up top and Sting sees it coming. Sting throws him off. They trade whips and another military press slam. Arn Anderson walks out as Sting misses a Superfly Splash. Anderson watches carefully. Flair lifts Sting in a stalling vertical suplex. Sting gets right back up. Sting with some clotheslines and the Flair whip leads to a Sting clothesline. Sting has him cornered and does the ten punches. Sting connects on a hip toss and puts Flair in the corner. Flair rakes the eyes as Sting slowly climbs up. Flair pushes him off and goes for a hip toss leading to two reversals into a headlock takeover headscissors. They trade backslides for 2. Sting puts Flair into the corner and gets the suplerplex. Sting looks at Anderson, and Flair takes advantage chopblocking him. Flair gets the Figure Four. Sting pounds on his chest and tries to reverse it. Flair doesn’t want him to. Flair grabs the rope, but the referee sees it. Anderson steps into the ring when Flair grabs the rope. The referee gives Sting the victory.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Sting @ 8:44 via DQ
RATING: ***1/2
MATCH THOUGHTS: The match was good as anyone would expect from a Sting and Flair match. Also, it was nice to see Flair in a match where he still moved like Ric Flair. His motions used to be more fluid and quick. He’s also in great shape unlike his more modern day matches. The DQ ending for me only hurts it a little because it is a TV match. My only other gripe was Sting’s reliance on the military press. He probably could have added more variety to his moves; nevertheless, another great match on the debut episode of Nitro.

Anderson gets in Flair’s face and takes his shirt off. The crowd pops loudly for this. Flair and Arn start brawling! They start beating the hell out of each other. Anderson comes back near the ring but only gets a shirt teasing a confrontation with Sting. Scott Norton starts arguing with the announce team. Norton tells Mongo he sucks. Savage comes out of nowhere and mentions Flash Gordon. Savage asks Norton if he wants a reputation how about Macho Man Randy Savage. Randy says let’s do it right now. Savage gets in the ring and Bischoff demands that security come out to separate them.

Bischoff says let’s take a look at another great athlete coming to WCW Sabu. They show a highlight of Sabu that shows his best. Mean Gene talks about buying 10 acres of land here in 1973. Mean Gene wants to congratulate the winner of the WCW sweepstakes and it is Mike Hill who wins the Harley Davidson.

Bischoff is going to get us more information on Scott Norton when he can. They promote WCW Saturday Night with Sting and Savage vs. The Blue Bloods (wish I could see that one!). We take a look at another new athlete making his way to WCW. Mr. Wallstreet says the new generation is the few generation. He is here in WCW because it is about power and money. Mr. Wallstreet is as great as Sting, Vader, Hogan, and others. Mr. Wallstreet is sure the IRS is watching but he is sure we won’t forget him.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Bubba vs. Hulk Hogan(c)
Bubba taunts Hogan as they slowly circle. Hogan soaks in the crowd adulation. He pushes Bubba into a corner and flexes his muscles. Bubba circles again and gets a headlock on Hogan. Bubba keeps him in the headlock while taunting him. Hogan ducks under a whip and shoulderblocks Bubba off his feet. Loud Hogan chants go throughout the arena. They go to the test of strength and Hogan gets the advantage until a boot to the midsection. Bubba starts hitting him with clubbering blows in the corner and a corner splash. Bubba apparently knows Martial Arts. Hogan reverses Bubba’s corner attempt with punches. Bubba gets an eyepoke and lifts him in a body slam dropping him with a rib breaker. Bubba with more clubbering blows in the corner. Hogan almost whiffs on the boot but hits it better the second time. Hogan attacks him with mounted punches and threatens the referee. Mongo questions this. Bubba regains the advantage and gets a draped rope guillotine. Bubba attacks Jimmy Hart instead of capitalizing on Hogan’s weakness. Hogan chokes Bubba with Jimmy Hart’s shirt as Hart distracts the referee. Hogan punches him while hockey shirting him. Hogan gets a running corner clothesline and some punches. Hogan lifts Bubba in a body slam and drops a few elbows. Then, Hogan steps on his eyes. Bubba finally fights back with some kicks and corner knee lifts. Bubba body slams Hogan. Bubba headbutts Hogan and throws his head into the turnbuckle. Bubba misses a second corner charge and Hogan fires away with punches. He is caught in the Bossman Slam. 1..2..kickout. Hogan begins to hulk up but Bubba starts pounding his face. Hogan continues to hulk up and blocks the punch. Hogan starts hitting a few punches of his own and a big boot followed by a leg drop. 1..2..3.

OFFICIAL RESULT: Hulk Hogan @ 7:10 via pinfall
RATING: **
MATCH THOUGHTS: I finally see what people mean when they say Hogan works really heelish. Hogan used a referee distraction and threatened a referee. Even Mongo questioned Hogan’s acts at one point. Regardless, the match wasn’t anything offensive but it was certainly a step down from the first two matches. The crowd loved it though, so I can’t fault the match too much. This match was not that bad, but nothing to go out of your way to see.

Hulk Hogan celebrates after the match with Jimmy Hart. Hogan tells Big Bubba to kiss his ass, and the Dungeon of Doom runs in. Hogan starts fighting all of them off but Luger comes in and lays half of them out. Luger and Hogan almost trade punches. Hogan asks the crowd what to do. They get into each other’s faces. Savage and Sting separate the two of them. Hogan tells Luger to go back where he came from. The crowd chants Luger.

Mene Gene is here to straight things out. Hogan says Luger has no business in his backyard. Luger explains why he is here, “I’ll make it clear, right up front. I’m here for one reason, and one reason only. People say that you’re the number one wrestler in the world today. You wear that WCW belt around your waist.” Luger says that makes him the only World champion. Luger doesn’t let Hogan cut him off. Luger has been where he’s been and beaten the same people he’s beaten. Luger says he’s sick of playing around with kids. Luger doesn’t care when but he wants a shot. Hogan says that he’ll be the Champion forever and a day. Hogan gives Luger a due, but when you get in Hogan’s face. Hogan says if Luger extends his hand they’ll face off for the World Title next Monday. They end up pushing each other and get separated.

Luger and Hogan will go against each other for the World Title next week. Sabu and Mr. Wallstreet will be there. They announcers sign us off.

The 411: The debut episode of Nitro was an awesome episode of wrestling. The shortened time made for a quick entertaining show. Everything led to something else and promoted the next week of wrestling, while delivering great action in the ring. I have to say after watching lackluster Raws as of late, this is a breath of fresh air. I’m not sure if the following Nitros will continue the trend, but this was a near flawless start. Nitro challenged Raw from the onset, and I loved watching it. You start with the Junior Heavyweights and follow with your go to guys in Sting and Flair. The beginning of the Anderson and Flair feud was a nice touch, and the ending promo with Hogan and Luger was probably the first time shades of gray moved a story-line, with Luger being good but wanting Hogan's title. Awesome debut for Monday Nitro!

Final Score:  9.0   [  Amazing ]