wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Monday Nitro 07.01.96
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Written: 10.31.25
-Happy Birthday to my sister! Though her birthday will be over by the time this is published. No matter, love you sis!
-We have arrived to the go home show for Bash at The Beach. So expect constant hype on the Hostile Takeover and the mystery third man. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Hour One: Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko
-Announce Team: Hour Two: Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan
-The US Air Arena, Landover, MD
-Diamond Dallas Page interrupts Larry and Tony as he claims his Lord of The Ring ring has been stolen. He wants the building locked down and everyone searched.
-We go back to last week where Nash and Hall (still not named) come through the crowd with ball bats as armed police hit the ring. Great visual!
WCW World Tag Team Titles: Harlem Heat (c) vs. The Steiner Brothers
-Booker and Scott and again, I like to remind it was these two that had the final World Title Match in WCW history (non WWE owned). Booker buries a knee to the ribs and sends Scott into the corner. Scott comes out with a belly-to-belly suplex to pop the crowd. Gorilla Press Slam and a clothesline sends Booker to the floor. The Steiners hit their pose in the ring as Harlem Heat regroup on the floor. We head to a commercial break at 1:51.
-60 seconds Peacock commercials!
-Back at 2:53 with The Horsemen and all the ladies sitting in the VIP Section. Remember when Evolve had a VIP Section? Rick with a German Suplex on Stevie followed by a clothesline for two as Booker breaks up the count. Scott in and he fights for a backslide which gets two. Overhead release belly-to-belly suplex. Stevie gets in a shot to the eyes and both men tag out. Colonel Parker is out and has a cellphone which has Tony thinking he could be the one calling Harlem Heat. We all know it’s Sherri. Booker lands a Harlem Side Kick and comes off the top to get a two count. He heads up again, but Rick meets him up there and gets a suplex. Scott back in and he hits a butterfly powerbomb for two. Stevie gets a knee to the back from the apron and Booker hits a sweet superkick. Powerslam from Stevie followed by an elbow for two. Stevie hits a sidewalk slam and Booker tags in to come off the top with a splash for two as Rick makes the save. Double clothesline leaves both men down. Tag to Rick and he runs wild with slams and right hands and then clotheslines. Powerslam to Booker but Stevie makes the save. All four men in the ring! Frankensteiner plants Booker, but no count as Scott isn’t legal. Scott and Stevie brawl to the floor as Rick comes off the top with a bulldog. No cover as they prep for the proper version of the movie, but Parker uses his cane to deck Rick. Booker covers for the pin at 9:09.
Winners and Still WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat via pin at 9:09
-Fun match with a weird ending. Seemed like something got messed up as they wanted to repeat the bulldog spot. ***
-Gene is at The Vip Table and interviews the Horsemen. Arn notes for the first time since they Mid 80s all four Horsemen are in a match together. Woman wants Liz to tap her money source so they get a full time driver. Flair living high off Savage’s money in a wonderful touch.
-Glacier! Blood Runs Cold! July 1996! Well, it is July at this point.
Disco Inferno vs. Kurasawa
-Tony calls Hall and Nash The Outsiders and that obviously stuck. I used to put my sister’s friend in an armbar around this time and yell out “Kurasawa” repeatedly. She was a Bret Hart fan while my sister was a Shawn Michaels fan, so Mania XII was fun at my house when they decided to watch it with me. Lock-up to start and Disco works the arm but takes a shot to the ribs. Karate posing from Kurasawa and Disco responds with Disco Kung Fu. It doesn’t work and Kurasawa drops him. Running elbow in the corner and Disco bails to the floor where he kicks the steps in anger and hurts his foot. Disco begs off in the ring before going to the eyes. Kurasawa with a Samoan Drop and he stomps away. A kick sends Disco flying into the corner. Backdrop Suplex before we get Disco’s music playing. Some chubby guy in a disco suit distracts the ref and for some reason The Disco Ball drops from the ceiling. Disco uses it to hit Kurasawa weakly in the back and that gets the pin at 3:42.
Winner: Disco Inferno via pin at 3:42
-Dumb ending to a short, bad match. Disco had a CW Title Match in six days and this is how they get him seen as a threat? DUD
Scotty Riggs vs. Diamond Dallas Page
-Tony mentions they are in the home of the Washington Capitals (Crosby > Ovechkin) and Washington Bullets. Yes kids, the Wizards were once called The Bullets. The Commanders weren’t the first Washington team to change their name. We get an insert promo from Jim Duggan who claims he doesn’t have The Ring. Page yells out for his ring before hitting a belly-to-back suplex. Riggs ducks a clothesline and gets a cross-body for one. He rushes to his feet and eats a right hand for two. Page goes to the eyes and hooks an abdominal stretch. Page uses the top rope for more leverage for good measure. I approve! The ref catches Page and kicks his arm off the ropes. That gives Riggs a chance to hit a hip-toss. Page blocks a sunset flip with a right hand and then hits a clothesline. Pump Handle Back Breaker from Page but no cover. He goes for another but Riggs counters into a roll-up for two. Clothesline sends Page to the floor. Riggs with a springboard dive to the floor and he sends Page into the railing. Back in the ring he lands a flying forearm for two, but he’s no Tito. Slam is countered into a Diamond Cutter for the pin at 5:38.
Winner: Diamond Dallas Page via pin at 5:38
-This was fine. Page continues to roll in the midcard as he slowly puts all the pieces together. **1/4
-Gene stops DDP in the aisle to get an interview. He mentions Page has to defend his Lord of The Ring against Duggan in a taped fist match. Page is more concerned with finding the ring than the match and wants Gene to check his pockets.
Greg “The Hammer” Valentine vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage
-Remember when this was a 2nd round match in the WWF Championship Tournament at WrestleMania IV? Savage is still wearing the face paint to show he is united as a team with Sting and Luger. Lockup and Hammer gets back control, but Savage gets to the ropes. Side headlock by Savage, but Valentine shoves off and gets a drop toe hold. Savage kicks him away and we have a stalemate to start. Hammer drops an elbow to the back of the head and comes off the middle ropes with a double axe. Larry notes a win give Greg a “big reputation,” and now I have the Taylor Swift song stuck in my head. Savage runs Hammer into the railing, but gets caught coming through the ropes. They head back to the floor and now Savage gets sent into the railing. Hammer drops an elbow out there and then another one with Savage draped over the top rope. Savage getting dominated by Valentine days before The Hostile Takeover Match is kind of weird. Savage snaps and starts firing off right hands. He gets a slam and heads up, but Hammer catches him with an elbow on the way down for two. Belly-to-back suplex leaves both men down, but Savage is up first. He comes off the top with The Flying Elbow and gets the pin at 5:16.
Winner: Randy Savage via pin at 5:16
-I guess the idea is Valentine knocked himself out with the belly-to-back and Savage went right for his big move and the win. Weird match. *
-Two seconds after the match, the pyro goes off to indicate hour two has begun and Eric immediately throws to a commercial break.
-Back to Eric and Bobby at the announce desk. They have armed police around the desk. Bischoff calls out Nash and says he didn’t scare anyone with what he did at The Great American Bash.
-The crowd starts rumbling and sure enough, Hall and Nash are heading towards the ring. Heenan being terrified is a fantastic touch! Security try to toss them, but they have tickets. Nash: “we came to see the Big Boys.” AWESOME! It can be stated enough how much these two just looked like mega stars since their debut.
-Glacier: Blood Runs Cold! July 1996! Again, Glaciers are slower than they though as that date was just a tad off.
WCW World Heavyweight Championship: The Giant (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. John Tenta
-Giant with a head-butt at the ball that rocks Tenta. Chop from The Giant. Tenta responds with a right hand, so Giant chops him a few more times. Tenta fires back and hits a splash in the corner. A second try, but Giant rushes out of the corner with a clothesline. Giant stomps a mud hole in the corner and chokes with his boot. Slam from The Giant and he did it was ease. He drops a head-butt to the ribs as Hall and Nash don’t look impressed. Nerve hold which is never good to see in a match. Thankfully this one only goes a few seconds before Giant goes back to chopping. Butt Splashes in the corner. Tenta goes to the eyes, but that only angers Giant so he goes crazy with strikes in the corner. Eric wants to know who the third man is and says they have a right to know. Heenan calls WCW out for revealing their three men without demanding they do the same. Tenta blocks a charge in the corner and comes off the middle ropes with a clothesline. Nice! DROPKICK knocks The Giant down. Tenta decks Hart for good measure. Sullivan out to distract Tenta which lets Giant land a kick and the Chokeslam finishes at 6:36.
Winner and Still WCW World Heavyweight Champion: The Giant via pin at 6:36
-It was an okay big man match and continued Giant’s dominant title run. *
-Bubba is out after the match and shaves half of Tenta’s goatee.
-Gene interviews the Dungeon of Doom and they hype their matches at the PPV. Giant tells Tenta his first mistake was crossing The Dungeon of Doom. Next he calls The Horsemen jealous as they want to be elite. He knows they want his Championship, but promises they will leave as 4 geldings.
-Saturday Night: The American Males vs. Rock N Roll Express, DDP in singles action. Same with Benoit and we get Sting/Luger/Savage in a 6 Man Tag.
-Video package hyping Rey Mysterio Jr. Smart!
-They cut the video short though as Hall and Nash have a microphone. They are taking over early and point out Bischoff. Nash asks if he has any frequent flyer miles left. Heenan is ready to bail as Nash drops an F bomb. Security steps between them and the WCW wrestlers coming out from the back. We have The Dungeon of Doom standing next to The Steiners and others to put over how much of a big deal this is. Nash: “You’re going to need more than this.” He then starts chanting “Attica,” as the armed police force them to leave. Just chaos and the great kind. What’s great is this seems chaotic, but is only the beginning of what’s to come.
-Gene is backstage and brings in Jim Duggan. He talks about talking a crap and when he looked down he found DDP’s ring. Page rushes in and calls Duggan a thief and a liar. Duggan puts the ring on the ground and then tapes his feet and decks Page as he stands up. That’s pretty cheap!
The Rock N Roll Express, Joe Gomez, and The Renegade vs. The Four Horsemen (w/ Elizabeth, Woman, and Debra)
-Liz is back in the black leather! Just noting that for the history books. Arn starts with Morton and they have done this a few thousand times. It quickly breaks down with everyone in the ring and The Horsemen bail to the floor to regroup. We start over with Flair and Morton this time. Again, this is old hat for them. Chops from Flair in the corner, but Morton fires back and gets a backdrop and then a rana. Double dropkick from the Express gets two. Gibson in and he runs Flair over with a shoulder. Arn gets the tag and gets caught with an enziguiri. Benoit next and that gets a pop from the crowd. Gibson sends him across the ring with a hip-toss. Renegade in and that draws some boos. Benoit fires off chops in the corner and lays in the boots. Flair back in but he will let anyone get offense on him so Renegade gets a few clotheslines. Gomez sends Flair into the corner where he flips over and tries to run the apron, but Renegade drops him. Backdrop back in the ring, but Flair realizes the ref is out of position and hits a lot blow. Benoit back in and he’s all kind of intense as he beats Gomez down in the corner and talks trash. Mongo gets in as they are still protecting him in these matches as he comes along. He slaps Gomez around for a bit and tags back to Flair. He drops a knee for a two count. Arn back in and Gomez gets a sunset flip thanks to help from Morton, but it only gets two. Gomez with right hands but gets drilled with a spinebuster. No count as The Express break the count. Back to Benoit but Gomez gets a backslide for two. That annoyed Benoit so he just goes crazy with hammer fists. Flair matches him as he fires punch after punch. Small Package gets two as Gomez countered the figure-four attempt. Arn back in to cut off a tag and he works over the knee. The Horsemen with quick tags as they are just destroying Gomez. Mongo with a powerslam as Bischoff notes The Invasion will make Normandy look tame. He quickly realizes how bad that sounds and apologizes to any veterans. Tag to Renegade and he runs wild. Power slam to Flair and everyone is in the ring. Mongo hits Renegade with the briefcase and Flair gets the Figure-Four for the win at 11:50.
Winners: The Four Horsemen via pin at 11:50
-The Horsemen dominated and this didn’t need 12 minutes. It got kind of boring as while it was cool to see the Horsemen team as a unit for the first time, they were never in any danger of losing. **1/2
-Gene interviews The Horsemen and Flair notes Benoit is “silent by deadly.” Ugh! Flair dances with Woman and Liz says she will be picking up the tab. Woman flirts with Gene as they continue that hilarious running joke.
-Eric and Bobby try to wrap up the show but throw to the back. Hall and Nash are being escorted out by the police and making jokes as they leave. Nash is nice enough to offer to buy doughnuts. He then tells the cop he has bad knees. Shoot comment! They drive off in a car and that is the way we close the build to Bash at The Beach. I hope they have something planned for that Third Man reveal.
-Thanks for reading!
