The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Monday Nitro June 1996

The Furious Flashbacks – WCW Monday Nitro June 1996

The Hostile Takeover begins

Sorry this has been so long in the making but I got distracted trying to do season one of NXT. Which went fine until I hit episode 11 and discovered I couldn’t find it anywhere. Hit a brick wall. So I figured ‘fuck it’ I’ll just go back to where I was.

3rd June 1996.

Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. They’re here for hour one. They pimp the return of the Rock N’ Roll Express and Sting/Luger against the Steiners. We go to Gene Okerlund who has Shark. He says he’s not shaving the other half of his head because he’s using the humiliation as motivation. He also ditches his stupid Shark gimmick by pointing out he’s a man and his name is Robert Poulson. No wait, John Tenta.

John Tenta v Big Bubba Rogers

Bubba is still goofing around with Tenta’s hair. Tenta grabs the scissors off him and Bubba runs off. So its either a DQ or a count out. Either way N/R.

High Voltage v Faces of Fear

And this would demonstrate the downside to Nitro going two hours. They go from all killer, no filler to this horseshit. High Voltage suck, which is why you’ve never heard of them. They’re the kind of thing WCW ended up doing a lot towards the end. They’re blatantly too green to be on TV and they make a mess of their double teams. It doesn’t help that Barbarian isn’t helpful in any way and just wants to get his high spots in. Meng sleepwalks through his bits and finishes with the superkick. DUD. I’m reminded by Tony that High Voltage came out of the WCW Power Plant, which explains a few things. Let’s just not speak of them again.

BACKSTAGE Okerlund has Sting & Luger. The latter says he’s been painted as the bad guy but blames the Steiners. Rick & Scott show up to call Luger cheap. Sting defends Luger so Scott starts ranting. It’ll be ON…later.

Disco Inferno v Sgt Craig Pittman w/Teddy Long

Disco is starting to get over so naturally he’s jobbing to the heatless Pittman. Incidentally we’re only three matches in and the ‘first hour’ of Nitro is looking like a wasteland. They kick things off by fucking up an armdrag. Oh come on, guys. An armdrag? Disco tries to save the match with mannerisms, which doesn’t work because Pittman’s timing issues just destroy everything. Pittman goes after the Code Red but Disco quits before its on because he values his disco dancing moves too much. ¼*. Pittman was awful here. Just awful.

Lord Steven Regal v Jim Duggan

At least they’re pushing the right guy in this one. Regal is lined up to face Sting, which was a FANTASTIC match. They’re trying to give him a warm up here with a ‘similar’ wrestler in Duggan. Hacksaw whips the yokels into a patriotic fervour, allowing Regal to break out his own mannerisms. They’re a combination of confused and disgusted. Its an almost perfect marriage. I feel bad for Regal here because he has to bump around making this a contest when he should go through Duggan like shit through a goose. The Bluebloods come out as Duggan sets for the Three Point Stance. They prevent his cheating (2×4 AND taped fist) allowing Regal to score a cheeky roll up win. ½*. Duggan’s dubious tactics merely covered his lack of gameplan (outside of cheating).

POST MATCH Okerlund gets words with Regal. We get footage of Regal backhanding Sting, which got him heavily fined (for hitting someone? Huh?). He reiterates that he wants Sting at his best so he can beat the best. We cut to arguing between Benoit & Sullivan. Trouble-a-brewin’. Benoit inherited Pillman’s feud. It ended up putting him on the map.

Kevin Sullivan v Prince Iaukea

Iaukea gets no introduction and no offence. Double stomp finishes. Squash!

POST MATCH Okerlund is in there again. Sullivan & Jimmy Hart do some shilling for the PPV. Hart takes exception to Sullivan’s issues with the Horsemen. Sullivan brings up Hogan and says Hulkamania isn’t dead.

Rock N’ Roll Express v Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

I remember the RNR looking ancient during a WWF run after this. They look a quarter to ancient here. I have no idea why WCW hired them. Name value, perhaps? We’re counting down to HOUR TWO as the match starts. Bad time planning. As hour two starts a fuckload of pyro goes off. Hey, there’s a match going on! The actual bout is like something you’d see on a Legend’s card. Morton can still bump but he’s too old for it to count. They’re not getting babyface love, they’re getting old man sympathy. Its kinda sad. RNR get stereo Figure Four’s as Flair starts bumping like a crazy person. Man, he’ll put anyone over. Pee Wee Anderson gets to shove him over twice during one sequence. Bischoff attempts to make it more interesting by going all Joey Styles and calling EVERYTHING. To be fair to these four they’re turning back the clock and having a mini-classic. Morton bringing the selling, the Horsemen the double teaming and Gibson the hand to hot tag. The Horsemen work the arm and illegally double team, do needless ‘no tag’ switches behind the ref’s back. ANDERSON SPINEBUSTER…for 2. Morton almost sneaks a win with an inside cradle to block the Fig Four. Bobby Heenan decides to pop down to the ring at this juncture (he was rumoured to be cornering the Horsemen @ the next PPV). He whispers something to Woman. Hot tag to Gibson, which gets very little reaction. That hot tag was dead long before this, which is part of the problem. They’re trying to wrestle a match from wrestling’s past. Woman sneaks in an eye rake, Arn hits a DDT and that’s all she wrote. ***. Old school tag match featuring old school wrestlers. I wouldn’t want to see it every week, because they’re too samey, but it was a nice change of pace. It was also nice to see a match with solid structure. Even if it was heavily reliant on formula.

POST MATCH Okerlund is in there again. He asks some seriously dumb questions, which Flair ignores and goes off on an unintelligible rant. Heenan shows up to address the management situation. He says he retired. Flair screams “what about the girls?” at him repeatedly until Heenan says he won’t manage but he will coach. He heads up to join Bischoff. Heenan runs down NFL and football players in general for not knowing how to do anything without coaching.

WCW title – The Giant (c) v Ice Train

This is how they’re booking Giant as champ. He squashes nobodies. On the upside, he’s winning but on the flipside he’s not wrestling anyone who’d get title shots if Hogan were champ. Or Sting. Its like Jimmy Hart, as manager, doesn’t trust Giant against the big shots. So he’s feeding him wins. Like Mickey was in Rocky III. Where’s Clubber Lang to shake this guy up? YOU’RE A CHUMP, BALBOA! There is ONE move in this match and it’s the chokeslam. Literally.

POST MATCH Scott Norton runs in to try and Clubber Lang his way into the title picture. Giant takes offence and chokeslams him. Twice. Giant then takes offence at Hogan video packages because *he* is the champ. He threatens Luger as an afterthought.

Scott “Flash” Norton v Hugh Morrus

“Flash” hasn’t gotten up from the chokeslams yet. Hugh finds this amusing but Bischoff thinks Norton is having a seizure. I don’t think that word means what you think it means. Morrus wastes time setting up the moonsault. Norton “catches” him. Or not. That was the finish so they’re boned. -*. Amazing how a match that short can be that bad.

POST MATCH we go to a video package of Mongo & Kevin Greene. The whiteboard ‘game plan’ is hilarious, possibly unintentionally so. “YOU GOTTA PENETRATE THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE ON THEIR SIDE OF THE BALL” – Greene. They decide to ask Randy Savage to manage their team to even the score.

Steiner Brothers v Sting/Lex Luger

Bischoff is busy trying to get Savage on the phone. Randy was banned from wrestling because he went insane(r). But the ban doesn’t apply to managing so he’ll be in the football players corner against the Horsemen. When the call is done Bischoff says the tag titles are on the line but because of him talking I didn’t hear that announcement. Luger takes heat, which makes more sense than it would have done a few months back. Now Sting can get the hot tag with his more exciting offence. Plus he can renew that war with Scott Steiner. Luger saves after the Frankensteiner allowing the Scorpion Deathdrop. Rick saves Scott from the Rack. They do a nice spot where Luger goes to do a suplex on the floor, the very move he complained about, and Rick kicks him in the gut. The same action they complained about. Its cute. Giant strolls out here to deliver a weak chokeslam on Rick on the floor. That’s a DQ. **1/4.

POST MATCH Luger goes after the Giant but can’t get him over so everyone piles on. The lesson being that Giant can’t be bested in singles but he’s also alone. With no one to back him up he’s vulnerable and it’s the first sign of that since his debut.

And we’re done.

No we’re not.

SCOTT HALL comes out to confront Bischoff again. He reminds Bischoff that he started a war that “we” are going to finish. Sting becomes the first WCW wrestler to square off with Hall. Sting tells him he’s lost and he’s “in the jungle, baby”. Sting points out Hall is on his own so screw the 3 on 3, he wants 1 on 1. TOOTHPICK for Sting. Hall says he has a big surprise for Sting next week.

The 411 – 7.0

As a show its middling at best but the ongoing storyline is captivating. The Horsemen are keeping the workrate ticking over while the arrival of Hall drives the storyline. The wrestling is decent in places (Horsemen & Steiners/Sting/Luger) but the show itself has become unmissable because of the impending nWo story. At the time it was shocking. In retrospect its still entertaining.

10th June 1996.

Hour One! Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. They hype the Great American Bash. Oddly enough Joe Gomez gets mentioned. Tony hypes the Horsemen Vs Mongo/Greene match. He also hypes the title match tonight pitting Giant against Scott Norton. Then they swing to the money footage of Scott Hall getting in Sting’s face last week.

Booker T v Scott Steiner

This would be WCW title material 3/4 years later. Plus it shows WCW kinda knew what they were doing. They recognised these two were the talented two of their respective teams. Oddly enough they’d end up as partners in TNA. That team however, sucked. These guys are rocking in ’96 though. Scott is all power and suplexes up against Booker’s kicks and speed. But they can both wrestle so its not just a battle of opposites. Scott gets the Tiger bomb, Booker the Axe kick. They trade the big spots. Larry criticises their lack of basics, which was already a dying art in 1996. I like that its so back and forth that neither guy gets the chance to take an advantage. Scotty’s White Thunder would set up the Frankensteiner but Booker grabs the ropes and hits a sidekick. Booker opts for a Superfly Splash rather than the Harlem Hangover and misses. Scotty is able to grab the stunned Booker for a belly to belly and that’s a somewhat surprising pin. **3/4. All business opener. Loaded with action. The fatigue selling at the very finish was out of left field considering the lack of selling before it. But hey, I’ll take this over what Nitro has been producing on its recent undercards.

POST MATCH Okerlund gets Scott to discuss the Steiners Vs Fire & Ice at the PPV. Urgh, who booked that? There must be a winner! Debra McMichael interrupts. Debra? Scotty says Deb looks upset so he lets her take his interview time. WHAAAA? He didn’t even hit on her. Debra is concerned that “Steven” might go a bit crazy and hurt someone at the PPV. Okerlund effectively says Flair deserves it. Debra wants them to talk it out and not have the match.

Jim Powers v DDP

Squash! Tony makes me laugh by referencing Battlebowl and the Lord of the Ring. Wow, WCW was progressing SO fast at this point. They’re still referencing stuff that stank a few months back but the company is already way beyond that. Powers is enhancement, as he has been his whole career. Even with the Young Stallions he was still counting lights more often than not. Shame, he’s not a bad worker. Just a bit too vanilla. Page nonchalantly works the midsection. Powers mounts the comeback but when his near fall is a dropkick I’m just not buying him as a threat. He walks into the Diamond Cutter and its over. The move is already getting popped. ½*.

BACKSTAGE Okerlund gets Konnan. He’s up against the “legendary South American” wrestler El Gato at the PPV. This is one of those legends where they just made a name up and put a mask on someone. In this case Pat Tanaka.

Meng v Sting

Meng is aggressive but Sting matches it. They’re wailing on each other, which makes this better than it should be. Meng gets crotched, which is a cheap shot by Sting and the Scorpion Deathlock finishes. *1/2. That was energetic and extremely short. Maybe this is the best use of Meng. Don’t let him get tired enough to go the nerve holds.

BACKSTAGE Debra is trying to get the match called off. Bobby Heenan meets with her and invites her to meet with Flair. “Come this way, toots”. The Horsemen ladies chase her off and then Flair takes out Renegade for kicks.

Jim Duggan v ‘Squire’ Dave Taylor

Tony says appropriate replacements will come in for the now injured Renegade and Joe Gomez. So Gomez won’t debut in the main event of Nitro? I’m shocked. Luger & Sting will sub in and the titles are on the line! This is the proverbial clash of styles. Taylor wants to slow it down. Hacksaw wants to do goofy stuff. Somehow Duggan wins with a “taped fist” shot. He just punched him with a roll of tape. I’m sure that’s against the rules. And lame. ¼*. He can’t even tape his fist up properly. What a goon.

SHILL Great American Bash. Specifically Malenko v Mysterio Jr.

BACKSTAGE Okerlund has Big Bubba. Jimmy Hart says Tenta didn’t cut it in the Dungeon of Doom. Bubba says the “entire world” has been laughing at Tenta for years now they can laugh at his face thanks to his haircut.

WCW title – The Giant (c) v Scott Norton

We get the countdown to HOUR TWO before Giant’s arrival. The world champ waits for HOUR TWO before coming down. Eric Bischoff & Bobby Heenan take over. Um, hour two or not its still the same show. “A man who is known by only one word; the Giant” – Eric “Mathematics” Bischoff. Norton tries to jump the champ, which gets him NOTHING. Giant hits a sweet powerslam and even shows some brains. He dodges an attack near the ring post. CHOKESLAM ON THE FLOOR! Naturally that’ll do it. ¾*.

POST MATCH Luger runs in here! That gets him an ass kicking. Luger kicks Giant in the balls to save himself another table chokeslam and the Dungeon of Doom run him off. Luger goes to the announce table to say the rule book is out the window.

SHILL The Nasty Boys hand Dennis Rodman one of their ugly vests. Also Kevin Greene was on the Tonight Show. Jay Leno makes fun of him. Hey, celebrities Hogan knows!

Billy Kidman v Lord Steven Regal

Kidman is making his Nitro debut and is a flippy hand-slapping babyface. Regal manhandles him but, as a good heel, allows Kidman to hit a bunch of stuff at speed. Catching the Lord by surprise. Regal dodges a flip and finishes with the Liontamer. *. Pretty cool for a jobber match. Regal suplexing cruisers is always fun.

POST MATCH Sting runs in and slaps Regal as a receipt. Regal’s reactions are fantastic. Once again, he should have been champion somewhere at some point. Just a waste not having him as a world champ.

Nasty Boys v Public Enemy

They might as well throw the rulebook away. Neither team has any interest in sticking to it. There’s a lot of brawling. PE are better at it. Nasties stuff looks a bit too contrived for my liking. Even in their strongest areas. IE; brawling. The match is fucking ugly but just as they go to the ad break Saggs hits a MASSIVE jumping piledriver. That’s blatantly a finish. There are some wrestlers who use too many finishers as transitions. Not that I’d actually classify Saggs as a wrestler. Or Knobbs. Or Grunge. Basically this is a match designed to see how many other workers Rocco can carry. Bischoff puts Grunge over for wrestling with a broken arm and segues into badmouthing Shawn Michaels. Rocco bails for a garbage can. That goes nowhere. Grunge uses his cast on Knobs…for 2. That was a finish too. Saggs grabs the garbage can for the DQ. ½*. Way long for what it was. The Nasties stunk this up something fierce. I say that but if PE had worked as stiff as them the match might have worked. As it stands…it didn’t.

WCW tag titles – Sting/Lex Luger (c) v Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

They’re talking about Horsemen Vs NFL at the PPV, which went 20 minutes and SUCKED. I’ll talk about the PPV at the end of this Nitro. Luger is full on face here and dominates the early going. So the Horsemen try to slow it down and take the fire out of the champs. For the most part the Horsemen just bounce around selling though, which shows you where WCW’s money is. They know Sting & Luger have to stay strong for the nWo invasion. They know the Horsemen’s main focus is on Mongo. Although I’d question their need to turn him. Luckily Flair & Arn are both phenomenal sellers. Just when it looks as if they’ll get steamrollered Sting gets picked off with the ANDERSON SPINEBUSTER. Flair sneaks in a fake back injury to allow some cheating. Heenan is screaming about missed opportunities as Arn doesn’t take an opening for the DDT. He bribes Bischoff $50 to go to ringside and give advice. Every time the Horsemen get something going Arn tries something slightly riskier than usual and he misses. Luger has a great babyface run of clotheslines and powerslams. When he’s on, he’s on. The Giant casually strolls into the ring for the DQ finish. Another one? Fuck me. ***. Sporadically good with four classic wrestlers involved.

POST MATCH Scott Steiner makes the save with a chair. Giant then stands off against Luger, Steiner and Sting. They’re putting him over. I’ll give them credit. He promises that Luger goes out on a stretcher on Sunday. Heenan goes off on one against Savage then quickly bails because…

SCOTT HALL is here. Bischoff wants to know where the big surprise is. Behind you! KEVIN NASH IN THE HOUSE! He says they’re not here to play and that everyone in WCW is scared of them. “This show is about as interesting as Marge Schott reading excerpts from Mein Kampf”. He goes on to call WCW wrestlers old fossils on dialysis. Bischoff promises on Sunday to give them a reply. Bischoff heightens the realism by giving the ‘cut’ gesture to the camera.

The 411 – 7.0

Another intriguing Nitro. Nash’s arrival highlighted the fact that neither Outsider has been named as yet. And they don’t look like they’re here to take part in a wrestling angle. It was clever booking. Some of the wrestling was good this week too. Steiner-Booker in particular.

GREAT AMERICAN BASH

The Outsiders showed at the PPV and Nash powerbombed Bischoff through a table. Giant defended against Luger in a bit of an anticlimactic main event. Elsewhere Sting had a great match with Steven Regal and Malenko & Mysterio went one better with a stellar cruiserweight title match. The much hyped Horsemen Vs NFL clash finished with a Mongo heel turn. Benoit made a name for himself in a dated, but at the time thrilling, falls count anywhere against Kevin Sullivan. Filler aside (DDP-Bagwell, Tenta-Bubba, Steiners-Fire & Ice, Konnan title defence) it was a good show. WCW was building momentum at a frightening rate and taking the battle to the WWF. To be fair to Titan the same month, the exact same month, they pulled the trigger on Steve Austin. He won King of the Ring and spawned his Austin 3:16 catchphrase.

17th June.

We’re in Richmond, Virginia. Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko have joined the OFFICIAL commentary position. Not just hanging out at ringside. Tony is also subbing in for Bischoff later because of his powerbomb off Nash. Tony doesn’t name either Hall or Nash, which is interesting. They’re still fabing the shit out it. They carry on to talk about potential WCW representatives at Bash at the Beach. Tony finally plugs Malenko-Mysterio re-match tonight and mentions Mongo joining the Horsemen. We throw to Bischoff interviewing Hall & Nash last night. It’s the “medium sized mang” promo. I love it. Tony tells to stay tuned for further footage, which means the powerbomb. Sweet.

Stevie Ray v Rick Steiner

Take back what I said last week. That was obviously a fluke. When Stevie Ray is hitting moves its actually an ok match but then he has a weird thing where he pauses after EVERYTHING. What are you doing? Rick clearly isn’t pleased and suplexes Stevie on his head. Bulldog gets only 2. Stevie then busts out a wicked powerslam…and stands there doing nothing. What is wrong with you? Rick finishes with a Steinerline. ¼*.

POST MATCH Booker runs in to sidekick Rick out of nowhere. Scott saves Rick from the Harlem Hangover and takes the bullet instead. I like that. It shows how close the Steiners are as brothers and makes Scott’s eventual turn all the more shocking.

Disco Inferno v Joe Gomez

Gomez looks like Motley Crue’s guitar player. Not actually Nikki Six. He just looks like he should be playing guitar for Motley Crue. Does that make sense? Gomez sure knows a lot of rookie offence. Hey, a Japanese armdrag. Boo. Disco is not the man to carry him. Hell, a lot of the crowd are popping Disco. Mainly because he’s better. He does the celebratory pin though, you know the one, and Gomez rolls him up for the win. ½*. Meh. Disco won’t lose any heat by jobbing. Gomez needed to win after being made to look like a chump last week. But hey, he’s going nowhere fast.

BACKSTAGE Debra McMichael says she turned for the money. Flair butts in to say that he’s on top of the world and tells Savage he’ll hurt him bad tonight. Aside from whispering half his promo and screaming the other half this was relatively sane for Naitch.

Arn Anderson/Chris Benoit v American Males

Males get booed loudly. Horsemen country, baby. Arn gets popped huge for punching Bagwell off the apron in a cheap shot. Bagwell has a little more attitude about him. Turning him heel was definitely an improvement even if I hated Buff. The Males heat is audible. There’s two reasons really. 1. Horsemen country, baby. 2. They’re goody two-shoes, pretty boys. As Bagwell tries to pose he’s greeted with a sea of four fingers being held up. Benoit, to his credit, even makes Bagwell look great. How do you do that? I can’t believe how much the crowd LOVE the Horsemen. Riggs finds himself in the wrong part of town and gets illegally double teamed for the loss. **1/4. Quite enjoyable. I can’t get over how Benoit made Bagwell look not just competent but really good.

POST MATCH Okerlund gets a word with the winners. Arn says the fans are cheering because they did what they said they were going to. He stops off to badmouth Kevin Sullivan for not being a Horseman. Crowd are cheering like motherfuckers during the promo. Horsemen country, baby.

Big Bubba w/Jimmy Hart v John Tenta

Re-match from the PPV. The PPV match wasn’t very good. The John Tenta showcase isn’t the highlight reel that other wrestlers can do. He does bust out a dropkick, to be fair. Bubba looks sluggish too. He’s walking around, sweating profusely and when he does his baseball slide punch there’s a pause for him to collect himself. Jimmy Hart tries the megaphone shot, which gets him Atomic dropped out of the ring. Tenta hits a pair of powerslams to win with his feet bizarrely, for a face, on the rope. ¼*. Tenta was trying at least.

POST MATCH Bubba starts wailing on Tenta with a sock of quarters. FUCCK, he hit him square in the eye. Totally unprotected. Then again in the ear. There’s stiffing people and there’s taking liberties. Bubba was taking liberties here. Disgraceful.

BACKSTAGE Randy Savage cuts a nutty comeback promo. Well, its nutty by normal standards but not by his. I guess he and Flair took chill pills earlier.

Randy Savage v Ric Flair

We head into hour two as Savage makes his way out here. With Heenan joining the team its now a 3-man unit as Zbyszko won’t go away. Naitch is cornered by THREE women. Kevin Sullivan’s, Randy Savage’s and Steve McMichael’s. Although all of them famously moved on to Benoit, Luger & Austin. All of which ended in either spousal abuse or death. Or both. Wrestling isn’t all fun and games.

Flair & Savage had a great series in early 1996 that drew big houses for non-televised shows and provided a few solid PPV outings. While both guys are past their best by 1996 they still have their moments. This one is driven by hatred and for once Liz is a factor. She smacks Savage around the chops to kick-start a big brawl on the floor. This provokes Tony into describing the ladies as The Witches of Eastwick. Flair gets next to nothing and bumps like a maniac. No surprises there. It’s also not shocking that Savage misses a high risk spot and that’s what turns the tide. Tony is busy talking about the nWo (well, Nash & Hall), which would become a trait of Nitro. They fuck up Flair’s trademark ‘throw me off the ropes’ spot. How do you get that wrong? Savage was just late, which isn’t like him. Flair pulls out an International Object and KO’s Savage…for 2. He spent too long stylin’ and profilin’. Savage bumps the ref in order to get in a low blow. BIIIIIIIG ELBOW. The girls try to stop him but he delivers another one regardless. Benoit runs in and this is done. Piledriver for Benoit. Arn is out here. He’s despatched. Mongo with the briefcase full of Savage’s alimony. Savage gets KO’d…again and Flair scores the pin. **1/2. A wee bit overbooked. If they wanted Mongo to get the win they didn’t need the rest of the Horsemen too. Surely. It can be a numbers game without it being 7 on 1. While the match was a bit of a mess it had the kind of energy and presence that you can’t buy.

BACKSTAGE Okerlund talks about cliques. Jimmy Hart warns Kevin Sullivan the Horseman can’t be trusted. Ever. Sullivan tries to ignore the Outsiders in favour of declaring war on the Horsemen. So the two heel groups get to pair off while the nWo slide in to steal their spot. Giant calls out any or all of the Horsemen.

BLOOD RUNS COLD. Glacier. Coming July 1996.

LAST NIGHT We get further stills from Nash powerbombing Bischoff, Mongo’s heel turn and the Men’s room brawl between Benoit & Sullivan. Tony urges us to buy the encore presentation tomorrow night. We cut to Okerlund who has Rey Mysterio Jr. Rey has no charisma at all. Like, zero. Keep that in mind youngsters. Everyone with in-ring doesn’t necessarily need promos to get over in wrestling.

Rey Mysterio Jr v Dean Malenko

YAY! If there’s one guy who can keep Rey’s flippy spot-heavy antics reigned in, its Deano Machino. Tony calls last night’s PPV the best one, ever, which is an exaggeration but it was a good show. When Rey is on, he’s fantastic and he’s ON here. His rope stuff is borderline sensational. Its not quite as great as that once in a lifetime match with Eddy @ Halloween Havoc ’97 but not far off. Malenko makes a point of using his superior size and power, which is rare for him. But he knows his strengths go beyond that and he specifically uses power to set up his submissions and mat work. Rey by contrast does things that don’t make sense. Like flipping off the top when angling for a superplex. Don’t get it. Malenko immediately takes over again with the abdominal stretch. Then he chains that submission into the STF. However he doesn’t force Rey to get out. He just gives up and goes to something else. SWANK POWERBOMB. Malenko’s iceman persona showing as Rey kicks out. No frustration. Just onto the next hold. Rey is capable of surprising Malenko though and that can be a difference maker. In particular a reversal into the rail followed by a diving rana on the floor. Crowd are really getting into this now with Rey producing Mexican stuff they’ve never seen before. Plus Malenko’s style gels SO well. Like shifting his balance to allow Rey to flatten him on a counter then countering another satellite move into an inverted DDT to finish. ***3/4. A little bit dated compared to the better PPV match but highlighted by innovation, excitement and smooth countering. I missed this kind of thing on Nitro. They’ve not been pushing the workers recently.

WCW title – The Giant (c) v Scott Steiner

Intriguing title bout. Steiner has bad ribs to give him an out when he jobs. Amazing that Giant is unstoppable and unbeatable as champion. Even Steiner’s best isn’t good enough here. But once Giant lost this title, to Hollywood Hogan next month, he never won it again. But this is also the company that only gave Goldberg one title run. To be fair to WCW, he’s not particularly over. Giant is highly effective here, destroying Steiner’s ribs, but its not interesting. Which is probably a reflection on why his push is about to hit the wall. The commentators are talking about the three WCW wrestlers who’ll face the Outsiders. They’ve narrowed it down to the top 6 on win/loss records. They’ll draw three at random. So Sting, Luger, Savage, Hogan, Giant and Flair? Steiner gets in a cheeky low blow before going after the knee. We get the Princess Bride sleeper as Steiner goes to his third desperation play. When that fails T-BONE SUPLEX!!! T-BONE ON THE GIANT! Crowd goes INSANE when that hits. Steiner hits Giant with the chair but he ignores it. CHOKESLAM. 1-2-3. **3/4. Seriously great little title match. Steiner’s freaky power Vs Giant’s incredible durability. They clicked something sweet.

POST MATCH Okerlund prepares for the drawing of the WCW Three for Bash at the Beach. Okerlund also coins the term “Outsiders” to describe Hall & Nash. Okerlund confirms the six names I guessed during the last match and Hogan’s name gets booed. Okerlund tells us what happened in the draw instead of doing it in front of the audience. Urgh, lame. Of course its Sting, Luger & Savage. But then you knew that.

The 411 – 8.5

A blowaway show. The first hour is mostly miss but as soon as we hit Flair/Savage it was gold down the stretch. Shame they couldn’t use the Outsiders in any way or do a live draw instead of having Okerlund announce it happened earlier. Things like that; its just mistakes the WWE wouldn’t make. Not that they don’t make mistakes. Just not ones like this.

Sidenote: in case anyone was wondering how long this column will go on for…I have another year’s worth of Nitro’s until they run out (with only two episodes missing). If someone has a source for me to continue after June 1997 feel free to email me the link. No downloading though. I’m strictly about streaming. Not that I encourage illegal activities but hey, its not like the WWE is going to let me borrow all the Nitro episodes for review purposes. Cheers, thanks.

June 24th 1996.

We’re in Charlotte, North Carolina. Horsemen Country. Hosts are Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbyszko. Bischoff is still off recovering from the PPV powerbomb. Tony plugs Bash at the Beach as the most important event in WCW history. You could argue that isn’t hyperbole for a change. It really was their most important show. Crowd is already chanting for Flair so naturally he doesn’t wrestle tonight.

BACKSTAGE Okerlund has Sting, Luger & Savage who have taken to wearing the facepaint of Sting to show unity. Sting suggests the attack on Bischoff was cowardly and they should have gone after a wrestler if they wanted to make a real impact. Its pointed out that the Outsiders want 3 guys and there’s only 2 of them. Scott Steiner shows up to point out he’s got Sting’s back BUT he wants the tag titles too. Harlem Heat interject as well as we’ve got a triangle match for the tag straps in the main event.

The Blue Bloods v Public Enemy

This is yet another attempt to push the tag teams. Its been an on/off push for some time. Taylor & Regal are competing with Eaton in their corner. Suddenly PE are faces. Maybe just by default with the hated opponents. Shame Regal’s push has been derailed by the arrival of the Outsiders. His Sting feud was great while it lasted. Regal discovers that Rocco is technically strong despite the goofy attire and antics. But Regal is better…so Rocco dropkicks him. Great mannerisms from Regal and even dancing mockery from the man. Taylor is less excellent. He tries a roll up…into the corner buckle. Oops. Regal comes back in to avoid flipping and breaks out the mockery again. Tony mentions that Nash & Hall are here calling them “the gentlemen who attacked Eric Bischoff”. Fabed! The match is notably slower and less interesting when Regal & Rocco are out of play. At least Rocco isn’t carrying three guys this week. Grunge uses the illegal cast to bash the hopeless Taylor in the head for the win. **. Grunge couldn’t adapt to the Blue Bloods style like Rocco could so the match didn’t have much in the way of consistency. Rocco Vs Regal would one hell of a singles match though.

Kevin Sullivan v Kent Ahee

Kent is just a warm body for Sullivan to recreate his Benoit match from the last PPV with. They make it up into the bleachers before Sullivan is disqualified. N/R.

POST MATCH Jimmy Hart jumps in the ring for an interview. Not that the wrestlers used the ring. Crowd want Flair.

BLOOD RUNS COLD! Glacier is coming in July. That’s next week? Maybe.

“Hardwork” Bobby Walker v Dean Malenko

If anyone can reign Walker in its Malenko but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Malenko sensibly makes it about holds and counterholds then walks Walker through them. You can see him waiting to make absolutely certain Walker is ready for certain spots. He just doesn’t trust him. I doubt anyone did. So this isn’t a good Malenko match but it shows what an outstanding worker he was. There are guys who’d have gone in there and just let Walker stink up the joint. Malenko considers it a challenge to make him look competent. Powerbomb sets up the Cloverleaf and Disco Inferno shows up to distract. Urgh, Malenko should have finished Walker off first. So now they’re wrestling while Disco strolls into the ring to DANCE to his theme music. Malenko switches to all BUSINESS, dropkicks Walker into Disco and finishes with the Northern Lights. **1/2. The proverbial broomstick match from one of the greatest workers of this era. Maybe THE greatest.

POST MATCH Malenko gets mic time. Disco claims he showed up to boost ratings because Malenko was “stinking up the joint”. Malenko claims he doesn’t need 1000 holds to beat Disco, just the one.

Barbarian v Eddy Guerrero

This is another of those proving ground matches. Sure, Eddy is great against great wrestlers but how is he with the scrubs that Hogan can have over matches with? Obviously Eddy has the speed advantage and avoids Barbarian in the early going. When that doesn’t work for him he switches to countering power with lucha, which Barbarian can’t deal with. Barbarian does manage to get that SWANK powerbomb he does. Then a pumphandle bomb. You’d think he was the one getting the push. The good news for Eddy is the fans get a big “Eddy” chant going. Barbarian can’t quite understand what Eddy keeps going for, which causes confusion and even booing from the savvy Charlotte fans. Barbarian breaks out a judo throw off the top! Wow, he’s really breaking out the cool stuff for this one. Eddy counters a superplex and lands on top for the finish. **. A solid match but the small mistakes took the sheen off it. Most importantly; the right guy went over and it saddens me that Eddy’s big push isn’t going to happen in 1996.

POST MATCH Okerlund gets a word with Eddy about Uncensored (from way back in March, Eddy’s been in Japan). Eddy says he’s got no complaints and he’d like another US title shot. Crowd continue to boo. Charlotte can be a tough crowd. Okerlund quizzes Eddy on the Outsiders and he calls them disrespectful and wishes he was on the WCW team at the PPV.

Arn Anderson/Chris Benoit w/Mongo v Rock n’ Roll Express

RNR get heat, which shows this really is Horsemen Country. No Flair out here though, which has the crowd in a mood. As the match begins we hit Hour Two! Bobby Heenan takes over with Larry. Tony spends most of the match talking about the Outsiders, which is the most important angle in the company so I can live with that, I guess. Double A looks energised here in Horsemen Country. Mongo does what he does best; stands around laughing at others misfortune while wearing sunglasses. Perfect. Benoit seems to enjoy giving Morton a shoeing. He’s used to more competitive opponents so he gets to dominate more than usual. They avoid the extended heat segment, which has been done a million times. Mongo eventually sneaks in a briefcase shot to KO Gibson. Horsemen win it. **1/2.

POST MATCH Joe Gomez runs in here (he’s wrestling Mongo at the PPV). Mongo lays him out with the briefcase. Randy Savage & Kevin Greene make the save.

BACKSTAGE Ric Flair (and the ladies) get interview time. Flair makes me chuckle by calling his newest recruit “Steve Mongo”. The rest of the Horsemen join us while Flair sings to end the interview. He’s not even got the mic on him. We cut to Heenan who reminds us we still don’t know who the Outsiders third guy is, which gives them an advantage.

Alex Wright v DDP

Tony is still talking about the Outsiders. He tells us if we only buy one PPV this year, make it Bash at the Beach. This is a huge contrast to Nitro’s beginnings where the PPV’s were an afterthought. But they knew they had a home-run coming up. Page & Wright have a basic match, which was probably planned out by DDP. It looks pre-planned. Most of it involves DDP standing around and taking spots off the ropes, which are way too slow to realistically connect. Wright slips behind DDP for a waistlock and as he looks over DDP’s shoulder he sets himself up for the Diamond Cutter. ¾*. Not a good match. DDP’s structure wasn’t getting the job done at this point but he’d go on to have decent matches with it and without it he sucked.

POST MATCH Kevin Greene gets an obvious promo where he says he wants revenge on Mongo but he has to wait after the season finishes to do so. Even though he plays for the Carolina Panthers he still gets booed.

VK Wallstreet v Randy Savage

Rotunda is the very definition of a solid hand. Unspectacular and consistent. Crowd still wants Flair and are VOCAL about it. VK uses Greene’s stupidity and inexperience to his advantage. He baits him into the ring and then cheats while the ref deals with Greene. VK runs through his basics until Savage slams him once and goes for the Elbow. VK has the common sense to roll out of the way. But then Greene runs him into the post. Another slam and the Big Elbow finishes. *.

WCW tag titles – Sting/Lex Luger (c) v Steiner Brothers v Harlem Heat

Heat are the natural heels due to the popularity of the other two teams. Tony points out that, as they don’t begin the match, the champs could lose the titles without ever entering the ring. Steiners are out to make this match their playground. Suplexes & clotheslines aplenty. Then Scott tags out to Sting, which is a bit of a ‘huh?’ moment. Booker pops the crowd by missing a sidekick and landing groin first on the ropes. Owww. Booker & Sting is a really good match up. They ever think of doing that one in singles? Crowd still wants Flair btw. They’re going to be disappointed. Luger gets a hot tag and starts cleaning house but that’s the cue; OUTSIDERS IN THE HOUSE with baseball bats. Security runs into the ring to stop it and Booker sneaks in a roll up for the tag titles! **1/4.

POST MATCH the WCW wrestlers get a stand off with the armed Outsiders. The security have GUNS to keep the Outsiders at bay. A replay shows that Luger took the fall but he wasn’t bothered. Tony wraps it up by saying that WCW aren’t going to take this lying down.

The 411 – 7.5

Another strong showing. The wrestling was decent throughout and naturally the focus on the Outsiders is the driving force for the show. We’ll be back in July when Hulk Hogan has a decision to make.

The 411: Its definitely a red letter month for WCW. Their storylines were gathering pace and, for once, there was a massive payoff coming in the form of Hollywood Hogan…and the nWo.
Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]