Raw History: Episode #160 and Reliving Nitro: Episode #36

Raw History
Episode #160
May 20th, 1996 | Civic Auditorium in Sioux City, Iowa

I’ve decided to start giving you guys a rundown of the current champions before each show. Maybe it’ll help clear up the picture of the time period.

WWF Champion: Shawn Michaels since 3/31/96
WWF Intercontinental Champion: Goldust since 4/22/96
WWF Tag Team Champions: The Godwins since 5/19/96

LAST NIGHT ~ Footage from the show in Madison Square Garden is quickly shown. Phineas kissed Sunny! We’ll see more later tonight!

Steve Austin w/ Ted Dibiase def. Marc Mero w/ Sable in 9:40
Vince is pretty smitten with Sable. Maybe that’s why he respects Brock Lesnar so much. They go through an exchange of holds in the first portion of the match. Mero hits a cross body for his first big move, so Austin retaliates by bullying him with an elbow and shoulder block. Austin has to take a powder when Mero speeds up the pace. It develops into a slugfest, which is better suited for Austin. He sends Mero outside leading into a commercial. Returning, Austin hits the Bret Hart second rope elbow for two. Austin starts to wear down Mero. It’s time for the Mero babyface rally, which includes an incredibly overdone double axe handle. Dibiase trips Mero to stop his momentum. Savio Vega runs out and whips Austin in the back with the strap. This was going pretty well up until the finish. Good back and forth TV match. They’d go on to have an awesome match the following month. **½

Marc Mero argues with Savio Vega about costing him the match.

KUWAIT ~ Vince talks over a video package of Ahmed Johnson being loved by the Kuwait fans. It’s hilarious because he talks about how sad things are over there and he tries to make Ahmed out to be some kind of national hero for them.

We see video of the Ultimate Warrior signing a bunch of autographs for his comic book. I remember buying that as a kid.

Savio Vega def. 1-2-3 Kid w/ Ted Dibiase in 8:09
Here we have the final WWF match of the 1-2-3 Kid. He’ll be back on these reviews soon enough and his eventual WWF return was under the X-Pac name. Dibiase joins commentary to bash Savio. These two start slow but things pick up when Savio takes them both over and out on a spinning heel kick. That actually stops as Savio slows it with a chinlock. Dibiase mocks him with “chauffer boy” chants. Kid turns it around because of that. He’s in control through the break. Kid’s offense is way disinterested. You could tell he checked out. He misses a splash, so Savio rolls him into a pin and wins. Ho hum effort from both men. **

Steve Austin is back to beat on Savio Vega. Kid holds him so Austin can tie up Savio with the strap. This match sure is getting a good chunk of the go home show build huh? Austin slaps him and they put the boots to him.

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ~ Highlights from last night’s show. I would like to see these all get uploaded to the WWE Network. Hillbilly Jim and Henry Godwin looked for Phineas and found Sunny coming out of their locker room. They met the Bodydonnas for the Tag Team Titles. We get great camera shots of Sunny in her short skirt. She taunted Phineas throughout, who responded by planting a wet one on her and then proceeded to win the Tag Team Titles! On the Free-4-All this Sunday, the Godwins defend those new titles against the returning Smoking Gunns.

Jim Ross interviews Paul Bearer in the arena. Lots of purple lighting. Bearer says that Goldust will pay. JR wants to speak to the Undertaker and it is revealed that he’s just chilling in a casket. He speaks while lying in the casket, saying he will seal Goldust’s fate there. It gets shut as Mankind shows up and ties something around it to keep it shut. Goldust is out too, flirting with Bearer. Mankind then beats the crap out of the casket with a steel pole.

British Bulldog w/ Clarence Mason and Jim Cornette vs. Jake Roberts ended in a no contest at 11:23
Before the match, Cornette announces that Mason has drawn up a restraining order for Diana Smith on Shawn Michaels. Gorilla Monsoon comes out to read over the document. Gorilla understands the terms, so he boots Diana from ringside so Shawn can do commentary. The match is pretty much pointless since the focus is on Lawler throwing accusations at Michaels. He brings up Pamela Anderson and Playgirl. Bulldog works the leg because he’s just looking for something to do to kill time. The match just drags on with nothing happening. Diana Smith decides to say screw it and come to the ring. She gets in Shawn’s face and he says he won’t hit a woman, so he clocks Cornette instead. Bulldog comes out to brawl with Shawn as the show ends.

Slamboree 1996 Results

Animal and Booker T fought Hawk and Lex Luger to a double countout in 6:52
Public Enemy def. Chris Benoit and Kevin Sullivan in 4:43
Rick Steiner and the Booty Man def. Scott Steiner and Sgt. Craig Pittman in 8:22
Jim Duggan and VK Wallstreet def. The Blue Bloods in 3:47
Dick Slater and Earl Robert Eaton def. Disco Inferno and Alex Wright in 2:57
Barbarian and DDP def. Meng and Hugh Morris in 5:17
Fire and Ice def. Big Bubba and Stevie Ray in 3:33
Randy Savage and Ric Flair def. Eddie Guerrero and Arn Anderson in 4:06
WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Dean Malenko [c] def. Brad Armstrong in 8:34
Eaton and Slater def. Duggan and Wallstreet in 4:09
Public Enemy def. Flair and Savage via forfeit
DDP and Barbarian def. Booty Man and Rick Steiner in 5:07
WCW US Championship: Konnan [c] def. Jushin Thunder Liger in 9:29
DDP wins Battlebowl in 9:38
WCW Championship: The Giant [c] def. Sting in 10:39

Reliving Nitro
Episode #36
May 20th, 1996 | Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana

WCW World Heavyweight Champion: The Giant since 4/29/96
WCW United States Champion: Konnan since 1/29/96
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting and Lex Luger since 1/22/96
WCW Television Champion: Lex Luger since 3/6/96
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Dean Malenko since 5/18/96

Mongo is not on commentary because last night, he accepted a challenge from Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. His partner? Kevin Greene, who had just competed in the Super Bowl. He’s busy training. Nitro is 90 minutes tonight and I don’t know if that’s going to be permanent going forward.

The Steiner Brothers and Fire and Ice wrestle to a double countout in 5:27
Man, that PPV the night before seems so pointless. Outside of giving DDP some kind of relevant win, it didn’t accomplish much. Ice Train gives Scott Steiner a taste of his own medicine with a belly to belly suplex. Scott does a much better one to respond. Scott continues to toss his big opponents around with little to no effort. Scott also hits a forearm off the top to the outside. Rick comes in and trades blows with Ice Train. Norton and Scott battle on the other side of the ring. Norton does a cool shoulder breaker into the ring post as the double countout gets called. Rick and Ice Train fight up the ramp after Norton nails a release German. Two teams just hossing it out. I really dug this as a preview to their really fun PPV tag coming up. **½

Ric Flair w/ Elizabeth and Woman def. Eddie Guerrero in 17:04
Eddie was Arn Anderson’s partner last night and used by them to get Flair a cheap win, leading to this. They start with some basic work on the mat. Eddie seems to get the advantage, causing the ladies at ringside to scream. Eddie’s speed leads to some dropkicks that send Flair to take a breather outside. Ric goes for a chair but referee Randy Anderson stops him from using it. Since he is getting the upper hand, Eddie mocks Flair’s strut. He lights Flair up with chops and we get the Flair flop. After a break, Eddie gets two on a rollup. Flair hits a back suplex and goes for the Figure Four but Eddie reverses into a small package for two. Eddie catches a Flair kicks and slaps the Figure Four on him! Flair reaches the ropes and rolls outside. Eddie tries to dive onto him but Flair moves and he hits the guardrail. Now it’s time for Flair to go to work, hitting a chop block. Eddie fights back after leg work with a tornado DDT for two. He walks the top rope and snaps off a rana. The Frog Splash connects but Eddie’s leg is too hurt to cover. Flair takes advantage and applies the Figure Four, complete with short punches to the hurt leg. Woman helps add leverage for him to stop Eddie from turning it over and he gets his shoulders pinned to the mat. Wow. Easily the best match in Nitro history so far. This should have been a star making performance for Guerrero, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t nothing of note for a while. Typical WCW. The leg work was well done, Eddie sold it well for the most part and Flair let him get in a ton to make sure he looked great. ****

Mean “BAH GAWD” Gene interviews Ric Flair at ringside about Macho Man reportedly being in the arena. He makes sexual references about Elizabeth and then says he doesn’t care about Mongo picking Greene. After talking smack, Ric joins commentary with a bunch of food. He tells Bobby that he can touch the girls, but Bischoff has to keep his hands to himself.

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Lex Luger and Sting (c) def. The Faces of Fear in 7:49
I mean, I’m writing that this is for the titles because WCW did that a lot of TV, but I don’t believe they were make it clear. Ric Flair does a great job putting over Sting on commentary. He says that he’s a great athlete but had to go through the Giant last night. Flair also says that he saw Liz eyeing Luger, which is interesting considering their future. The Faces of Fear work over Sting while Flair makes a joke about the Four Horsemen hand sign meaning something different now that he’s with Liz and Woman. I shit you not. Sting takes a huge top rope belly to belly from Barbarian in possibly the most impressive move of the night. Bischoff believes in Luger now, but Heenan keeps trying to say that he’s crooked. Hot tag to Luger and you know what time it is. SCREAMING CLOTHESLINES! Luger saves Sting from a superplex. Sting splashes Meng and Luger gets the pin. Fun match. They worked tag formula well and the dynamic between Sting and Luger continues to be a highlight. ***

Outside, Mean Gene interviews Macho Man. He can’t get into the building again. Gene says there is a meeting of higher ups right now to determine Savage’s future in the business. Randy is very cool throughout this this until he gets paranoid and thinks Gene might be setting him up. He tries to run in but fails miserably thanks to security.

BLOOD RUNS COLD! Glacier is coming!

Diamond Dallas Page def. Brad Armstrong in 4:35
Brad Armstrong has a stars and stripes jacket and is one of the most generic people ever. DDP is fresh off of a Battlebowl win. Good idea to showcase him here. In less than a year, he’ll be one of WCW’s hottest acts. Commentary discusses how DDP went from having a lot of money last year to losing to the Booty Man and being really broke. A mysterious benefactor is behind him and helping him now. DDP and Armstrong do a lot of nothing for most of the match, which somehow lasts through a break. After an elbow, DDP wins with the Diamond Cutter. Just here to put DDP over. It went a bit long considering the men involved. *

DDP does his first self-high five and lets out a GOOD GAWD when Gene interviews him. He puts over his win in Battlebowl and the “Lord of the Rings” thing that he won. He says that the one person he wants to thank is himself. DDP calls out the Giant because he wants the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Gene takes us back to still images from last night. Supposedly, it shows that WCW officials are unsure if DDP’s foot touched the floor before he won. The image clearly shows him pulling a Shawn Michaels with just the one foot down. Gene botches the entire explanation. They won’t take the “Lord of the Rings” from him but he won’t get the WCW Title shot either. Instead, Lex Luger will face the Giant at the Great American Bash. DDP rightfully loses his cool.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: The Giant (c) w/ Jimmy Hart def. Arn Anderson w/ Kevin Sullivan in 3:38
So Flair gets to come out with two women, while Arn gets the Taskmaster? Unfair. Sullivan talks with Hart about just wanting to make sure Arn gets a fair shot. Flair keeps talking about some kind of plan. Arn is all about making sure the Giant looks like a monster. He bumps for him, takes breathers and bails to avoid punishment. Arn chops him down to size but Giant counters a DDT attempt into a chokeslam and retains. Fine for what it was. Kudos to Arn for working hard. *½

Eric Bischoff ends the show by saying that starting next week, Nitro will run for two hours each week, from 8PM to 10PM EST.

Raw Rating: 2.3
Nitro Rating: 3.1

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

Raw: Mediocre stuff tonight. I thought the first two matches were fine, while also enjoying the flashes to what happened in the Garden. The Undertaker segment was okay and all of the closing stuff sucked. Having the match go on for too long with no payoff and just cutting made it all feel like a waste of time. 5.0

Nitro: A damn good television show. The show got off to a strong start with a solid tag team brawl that set up something for the PPV. The Guerrero/Flair match was the best in Nitro history so far and really made Eddie look like a star. The Tag Team Title match was also very enjoyable. The show took a bit of a dive near the end as the final two matches lacked but at least they accomplished their goals. All in all, a lot of fun.8.0