Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Monday Nitro 5.13.96

-Two weeks to go! Let’s get to it!

-Announce Team: Eric Bischoff, Mongo, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-Nashville, TN

-This is the go home show for Slamboree and my review for that is here. Also, this show is only 42 minutes long which seems short. Was something cut?

-Eric Bischoff welcomes us to the show and Lex Luger gets his third chance to make it to a World Title Match against The Giant. In a fantastic touch they cut to last night as Luger camped out by the arena doors to make sure he didn’t miss the match tonight. That’s great as Luger is in a lawn chair with a blanket, fruit and a flashlight to do some reading. I will miss Sept 95 to May 96 Lex Luger!

The Steiner Brothers vs. The Public Enemy

-PE gets the already in the ring treatment. Bischoff notes that Randy Savage was fined $50,000 and barred from the building after attacking a ref last week. Scott starts with Rock and catches him with a Gorilla Press and throws him onto Grunge. Rick comes in and hits a double clothesline to send both member of PE to the floor. The commentary team goes over that Rick and Scott are on different teams at Slamboree. Grunge and Rick have a go and Grunge clubs him down. Steiner gets a shoulder tackle and catches a leaping Grunge with a powerslam. Elbow gets a two count as Rock breaks the count. Scott in and he dumps Grunge with an overhead belly-to-belly. All four men start brawling on the floor and this is what we want to see. Rock accidentally decks Grunge on the apron as Rick ducks. Rock just ignores it though and keeps control of the match. He hits a slam and heads up, but Rick knocks him off balance and he crotches himself. Rick slams him down and tags Scott back into the match. Tilt-a-whirl slam! Scott sets for a top tope belly-to-belly, but Grunge sneaks in and slams him down. Rock comes off the top before tagging out to Grunge. He hits a slam and drops an elbow PE double team with an assisted Swanton off the middle of the top rope. Bischoff puts over the added power of centrifugal force. Rock up top but he misses a traditional Swanton and hot tag to Rick. Bischoff notes Nitro will be 2 hours starting on May 27. Cool! That’s my birthday and I think something else happens. Everyone in the ring again! Grunge goes to dive over the top, but lands on Rock. Grunge gets rolled back in the ring and a Frankensteiner gets the pin at 6:49.

Winners: The Steiner Brothers via pin at 6:49
-Solid match! Steiner matches are kind of made for TV sprints as they just hit their suplexes and clotheslines and pop the crowd. PE was fun in WCW in 96 before they fell out of favor. **1/2

Chris Benoit vs. Squire David Taylor (w/ Jeeves)

-Lockup and Taylor gets a heel trip. He grabs a leg, but Benoit powers out to break. Taylor grabs the leg and we repeat as Benoit powers out again. Benoit plays to the crowd and Taylor catches him with a strike and then hits a European Uppercut. Benoit tries a monkey flip, but Taylor just stomps him in the face. Bischoff throws a shout-out to Hulk Hogan and brings up The Hawks are facing elimination against Orlando in the NBA playoffs. I appreciate the sports updates that Nitro provides at times. Benoit gets a small run, but a European Uppercut ends it. Taylor off the apron with a double ax to the back. Back in the ring Benoit uses leverage to pull Taylor into the corner. Taylor hits an Electric Chair Drop and then a SOS Slam into a pin for two. Apparently Mongo has left the desk as he wants to go talk to Savage who is outside the arena. Benoit gets a Dragon Suplex for the pin at 4:22.

Winner: Chris Benoit via pin at 4:22
-Just a match as even commentary was focused on a thousand other things. Taylor kind of dominated this one before taking the loss. Weird! **

-Gene is outside the arena and Mongo shows up. He has words about Flair messing with his family and tells a crazed Randy Savage he has a plan. Security surrounds Savage to keep him from getting into the arena. Savage tells Gene he is going to take WCW and turn it upside down. Savage says he doesn’t mind dragging a dead tag partner to a win on Saturday.

-Blood runs cold! Again, Glacier crawled so Veer could eventually walk.

VK Wallstreet vs. Ric Flair (w/ Woman and Miss Elizabeth)

-Flair dances with Liz and kisses Woman’s hand as he makes his entrance. Again, for those that don’t know, the VK is a dig at Vince McMahon. I always liked when companies did that. Subtle shots that went over my head as a kid. See also, Virgil/Vincent. This is an interesting pairing as both men are heels, but we know the crowd will be cheering for Flair. VK with a side headlock, but Flair backs him into the corner. Shoulder tackle and he fires off chops, but VK LUGERS up and eats the chops before delivering his own. Backdrop to Flair who starts yelling for God. He begs off in the corner and then rolls to the floor and struts. He dances with Woman as well because well, he’s Ric Flair. Back in Flair gets a shoulder tackle, but runs into a leg trip and VK hooks an ankle. He works the leg and uses the rope for leverage as we take a break at 3:02.

-60 seconds Peacock commercials!

-Back at 4:08 with Wallstreet sending Flair into the corner and he flips over and to the floor. Wallstreet follows and fires off right hands. Flair Flop! Flair tries to go up top for some reason and gets slammed down. Another backdrop! Samoan Drop gets two as Flair gets his foot on the bottom rope. Flair uses the tights to send Wallstreet to the floor. VK back in with a sunset flip for two and then a backslide for two. Clothesline sends Flair over the top to the floor. This has been wonderful! VK follows and tries a high knee, but Flair moves and VK goes knee first into the post. Uh oh! Flair runs the knee into the post again. Back in the ring he hooks the figure four and Woman offers a helping hand. VK gives it up at 6:57.

Winner: Ric Flair via pin at 6:57
-This was fun as Flair gave Wallstreet a lot and VK was out there working. This might be the last good IRS/VK match. I wish it would have gone a little longer. ***

-Flair goes over to his VIP Table and Gene is there to interview. Flair asks if he looks like he is dead as he kisses Liz up and down her arms. Gene brings up Debra, and Flair calls out Mongo for being a d lineman while he was Joe Namath. He hugs Liz and Woman: “look at my wide receivers.” That’s a great line and flex by Flair.

-We are back after a commercial break and Eric is apologizing for Flair’s language. I must have missed something or perhaps that’s what they cut out to make this episode only 42 minutes. We also don’t get any entrances for Giant or Luger. Weird!

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: The Giant (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Lex Luger

-Luger talks some trash, so Giant pushes him away. Luger runs at Giant with a series of shoulder blocks and nothing doing. Clothesline and nothing! He goes for a slam and Giant pushes him out of the ring. Giant with a suplex, but Luger slips out and hits a series of clotheslines. He comes off the second rope, but gets caught and Giant runs him into one corner and then the opposite corner. Giant sends Luger into the corner and chokes with his boot. Luger ducks a series of clotheslines and hits the steel forearm, but nothing to The Giant. Bischoff makes sure to note that forearm knocked Yokozuna out for ten minutes. Cool! Giant gorilla presses Luger back into the ring. Luger attacks while Giant is on the apron and hits him enough to knock him off, but he lands on his feet. Giant pulls Luger out by the feet and chokeslams him through Flair’s VIP Table for the DQ at 4:04.

Winner: Lex Luger via pin at 4:04
-This was more angle advancement than match, but it made Giant look like a BEAST and table bumps were mind blowing back then. *

-Flair and the women bail as Jimmy Hart tries to pull Giant off Luger. Sting is out to protect Luger, and Giants opts to walk away.

-Gene is out to get an interview, but Sting tells him to get out as it’s not the time.

-We get a replay of the chokeslam through the table and again, it was pretty heavy for 1996.

-Eric and crew wrap things up at the desk as they hype Giant vs. Sting at Slamboree.

-Thanks for reading!

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Just a easy show to watch with good stuff happening all over the place. Nothing blow away in the ring, but I am just into everything happening in the Main Event scene. Flair and Luger have been killing it in their roles and Giant was actually dominant and scary at this point before he started losing and changing sides all the time. This show just makes me happy each week.