Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Monday Nitro 11.06.95

-Time for my weekly dose of Nitro! Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Mongo
-Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, FL
-Attendance: 9,500

-Eric welcomes us to the show and tonight WCW is interactive as the fans can call in and decide tonight’s Main Event. In this case the fans get to choose 1 wrestler from the red locker room (Ric Flair, Meng, DDP, Blue Bloods, Big Bubba, Shark, and Scott Norton) and 1 from the blue locker room (Sting, Johnny B. Badd, Jim Duggan, Dave Sullivan, Alex Wright, Nasty Boys, Mr. J.L.). Geez, I wonder who the fans are going to choose?

-The fans are clearly going to pick Flair and Sting, but even Eric hints at that just to make sure the fans are aware of what they need to do.

Cobra vs. The Giant (w/ Jimmy Hart)

-Cobra has quite possibly the worst music ever. Giant is wearing the WCW Title as has Penzer announce this as a WCW Title Match. Cobra is Jeff Farmer, who goes on to become nWo Sting in 1996. So, technically future nWo members explode! Choke Slam and see ya later at 17 seconds.

Winner: The Giant via pin at 17 seconds
-This is exactly what it should have been and they didn’t mess around. SQUASH

-Gene Okerlund is in the red locker room with all the heels, while Tony is in the blue locker room. Sting wants us to know he wants Flair really bad. Again, just to make sure we really know what to vote for here.

-World War 3 commercial! 3 Rings! 3 Giants!

-Hulk Hogan video package as he is back in Venice Beach to get in touch with his roots. He and Randy Savage are still wearing all black. Other than the painted beard, they both are nWo here which is still fascinating to see some 8 months before The Turn.

Kevin Sullivan (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Renegade

-With Hogan and Savage away I guess they have to let the Dungeon of Doom run wild a bit. Renegade sprints to the ring and hits a clothesline that dumps Sullivan to the floor. Renegade gets distracted by Hart and there is some story here as Renegade was brought into WCW by Hart and Hogan. So he is out for revenge on Hogan’s behalf. Sullivan beats him up on the floor and delivers a right hand back in the ring. Jimmy Hart just keeps yelling that Renegade could have been the next Hulk Hogan, and sadly, that may have been the pitch they gave him. Renegade back with a powerslam and a handspring elbow in the corner. He misses a Splash and gets hung up in the Tree of Woe. Running knee and double stomp for the middle ropes gets Sullivan the pin at 2:43.

Winner: Kevin Sullivan via pin at 2:43
-Not good and this was them ending The Renegade character having any kind of spot. I understand why he signed up for as I am sure he was being promised the world and this was his big break, but they did him no favors. DUD

-More fun in the locker room as the lights go out in the middle of Gene talking to the various heels.

-WCW Saturday Night plug: Arn Anderson vs. Kurasawa.

Chris Benoit vs. Eddie Guerrero

-This is what made Nitro great as you got things like the openers with The DOD and then they put these two out there. Benoit hits Eddie very hard with an elbow and gets a snap suplex with stank on it. Heavy chop followed by a belly to back suplex. Eric talks about the cruiserweight championship coming soon and who both men want that gold. I don’t think Benoit ever competed in the division. Benoit with a Lion-Tamer and it’s the legit one and not The Walls that Jericho had to use in WWF thanks to working bigger guys. Powerbomb is countered and Eddie gets a pair of arm-drags and then a tilt-a-whirl slam. Leaping back elbow sends Benoit to the floor. Benoit knows a dive is coming and moves, but Eddie is a step ahead and leaps off the top onto Benoit in the aisle with a dive. Cool! Nice brainbuster back from Eddie! He heads up top, but Benoit meets him up there and gets a top rope superplex for two. Nasty powerbomb as he just folded Eddie in half and it gets two. Short-arm clothesline. He tries to bury a knee to the ribs, but Eddie counters with a roll-up. Benoit is out though and gets a German Suplex into a bridge for two. Nothern Lights Suplex gets two. Benoit drops Eddie on the top rope. He tries a suplex back in the ring, but it’s blocked, so they just start punching each other in the face. Benoit tries to bring him back in with a belly to back suplex, but Eddie turns and lands on top for the pin at 6:29. Heenan rightly points out that Benoit had both feet hooked under the bottom rope. Eric is kind of a dick as he tells Bobby they have no time for a replay.

Winner: Eddie Guerrero via pin at 6:29
-Not as good as their match a few weeks back, but still good and light years better than what happened in the first two matches. ***

-Gene back in the blue room and Sting hates Ric Flair. The Nasty Boys actually try to bring up facing The Blue Bloods, but who are they kidding?

-Nov 7th Fall Brawl gets released on VHS! I loved going to Suncoast Video, National Record Mart, and then FYE to get wrestling VHS tapes.

-Eric lets us know what we all expected, the fans have voted for Sting vs. Flair. Shocking, but at the same time it was the right decision.

Sting vs. Ric Flair

-No robe for Flair which is weird to see! Sting lands a right hand, stomps Flair to the mat and then lands more right hands. Gorilla Press Slam! To the corner for the mounted punches as the crowd counts along. Flair Flip in the corner, but he doesn’t even make the opposite corner as Sting mows him down with a clothesline. They fight on the floor and Sting just stares at Flair as he fires off chops. Flair is able to slow Sting down and get a suplex on the floor, but Sting is back up. Flair begs off and moves as Sting tries a Stinger Splash. He heads all railing as we take a break at 1:49.

-World War 3 commercial! 3 Rings! 3 Giants!

-60 seconds of Peacock commercials!

-Back at 3:22 with Flair in control back in the ring. Bischoff notes that Flair landed a kicks to the balls while we were away, though he says it in a more tasteful way. Flair hooks the figure-four and Heenan is calling this one over. Flair uses the ropes for leverage and Sting has to fight off his back to avoid being counted down. God bless the woman in the front row pointing at the ropes to let the ref know Flair is cheating. Sting fires up and turns over the pressure, but Flair immediately releases. He lands a kick to the knee, but Sting stares him down. Chops and punches have no effect! Sting with another Gorilla Press Slam! He sends Ric across the ring with a throw and get a dropkick. Flair goes to the eyes to break the momentum and pitches Sting to the floor. Flair comes off the apron with a double ax and goes back to the eyes. Flair grabs a chair, buy Randy Anderson stops that. Flair puts his hands on Anderson, but no DQ. Bischoff notes they have a special announcement and big news after the conclusion of this match. Flair goes for a cover and has his feet on the middle ropes, but Sting is out each time. The fans are all over Flair for his cheating. They go through a reversal sequence. Sting bridges up and gets a backslide for two. Flair back to the eyes and heads up, but Sting is there and slams him down. Flair begs off in the corner, but Sting unloads with right hands. Sting moves the ref away while Flair loads up his hand. He catches Sting with an international object. He struts and drops an elbow, but Sting is out at two. Chop and strut, but Sting flexes and stares. This never gets old! Sting with a third Gorilla Press Slam! He brings Flair down with a top rope superplex. Sting hooks The Scorpion Deathlock and Flair gives up at 10:53.

Winner: Sting via submission at 10:53
-It’s Sting vs. Flair and 99% of the time it’s going to be good to awesome. This was in the middle, but I can watch these two wrestle every week. ***3/4

-Sting refuses to release the hold and really, after what happened at Havoc, I can’t blame him. More refs are out. Eddie, JL,and Dave Sullivan plead with Sting as well but he is out for blood! Duggan pulls Sting off and here is Lex Luger. Sting rushes back in the ring and hooks the hold again. Luger is the Sting whisperer and gets Sting to release the hold. Sting and Luger leave together. Intrigue!

-We get the breaking news from Jimmy Hart as he is in the ring with Giant and Kevin Sullivan. Hart says he signed the contract for Hogan and there was an added stipulation that Hogan would lose the Title if he was disqualified. Gene brings a lawyer who says Jimmy did have power of attorney. WCW brass has a statement that strips Giant of the World Title due to the nature of the DQ. The winner of World War 3 Battle Royal is the new World Champion. The Giant is not happy as we get some Hogan chants. Sullivan says nobody can beat The Giant in a battle royal and convinces him to give up the belt.

-Eric and crew hype the World War 3 Battle Royal and Bobby guarantees someone is going to get hurt.

-Next week: Randy Savage vs. Meng, Johnny B. Badd vs. Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko vs. Sting. That last match has me intrigued as it’s fun when WCW would take their new workhorses and throw them in there with the Main Event stars.

-Thanks for reading!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

The first fifteen or so minutes was awful, but the last two matches saved this one big time and gave us a good show. We also have a direction for World War 3 as they are going The Royal Rumble 92 route, which is fine. They have a new concept and putting The World Title up for grabs immediately gives it more importance than it would have had. As always, this show is an easy watch at just under an hour and I won't lie as the nostalgia is a big thing as well.