wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WCW Monday Nitro 9.30.96
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Written: 02.01.26
-Run Time: 1:36:37
-Plugs: Halloween Havoc 1993
-Announce Team: Schiavone and Larry Z (Hour One), Eric, The Brain, and Tenay (Hour Two)
-Cleveland, OH
-Recap of the nWo taking over last week and debuting their nWo racing team. Tony is calling bull on the nWo claiming they have Kyle Petty.
-We go to Eric Bischoff at the desk and he is all about the history of WCW and their roots back to 1905. He runs through the World Champions and how it might not mean anything to the nWo, but it means a lot to a many people. He calls Syxx a 180 lb wimp and calls the rest of the nWo a bunch of dirtbags. He is on fire as he says the biggest mistake he ever made was bringing Hogan into WCW. He calls them thugs and tells them it is going to start, Funny enough, the crowd is chanting “nWo” as he cuts this ticked off promo.
WCW World Tag Team Titles: Public Enemy (c) vs. El Technico and Juventud Guerrera
-So, Technico is Billy Kidman under a mask because Psychosis couldn’t make the show due to visa issues apparently. PE are fresh off beating Harlem Heat for the Tag Titles and as of this show, they are pencilled in to defend the Titles against The Outsiders at Halloween Havoc. Juvie starts with Rock and I would have loved seeing Juvie vs The Rock after WCW folded, but it never happened. Juvie misses a baseball slide and gets run into the railing and then back into the ring. Hard whip to the corner, so Technico gets the tag. PE breaks out the Demolition Decapitation for two as Juvie makes the save. Everyone in the ring for a second as Juvie goes flying over the top off a backdrop. They turn Technico’s mask around to blind him and hit the assisted cannonball for the pin at 2:05.
Winners and Still WCW World Tag Team Champions: Public Enemy via pin at 2:05
-This was what it needed to be as PE needed a dominant win after winning the Tag Titles. We know what happens with them and The Outsiders, but for now they needed built up as a threat. This worked! SQUASH
-Rock puts Technico through the table for good measure.
-Hacksaw Jim Duggan commercial where he is pushing us to put a WCW t-shirt for 19.95.
-Mike Tenay is backstage with Chris Benoit, Mongo and Debra. Mongo is ticked off and says the nWo was real impressive going 60 on 1 against Savage. Eh, few years before they would get close to 60 members. They aren’t the Don Callis Family. Benoit vs. Rick Steiner tonight and Mongo is here because no Horsemen is going to be left alone.
-The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order (not anymore).
-The nWo are celebrating backstage and Ted Dibiase notes WCW is paying for this commercial time because they lost at WarGames. Hogan has a young Nick with him, dressed in nWo gear. Nash makes jokes about Ross Perot and tells Mongo, “that Debra wants me.” Again, my man is just so entertaining when he is left loose. They order room service for their room at the Marriott.
-The preceding announcement has been paid for by the New World Order (not anymore).
Dean Malenko vs. Alex Wright
-Dean is carrying Rey Mysterio’s mask around after removing it on Saturday Night. I always remember Dusty giving Tony a hard time about not helping and only throwing a coat over Rey’s head. Wright gets back control, but Dean rolls out and gets a one count. Wright with a fireman’s carry, but Malenko with a trip and he works over the knee. He turns into a Half Crab, but Wright fights it off. Dean floats into a front face lock, but Wright counters to a hammerlock. Dean gets another take down into a two count. Wright bridges up and gets a reverse chinlock. Dean breaks with a belly-to-back suplex which gets a two count. We take a break at 2:28.
-Again, no commercials for me!
-Wright with an armdrag, but Dean sends him to the floor. He sends Wright into the railing and doesn’t follow up. He waits for Wright, who tries a sunset flip, but Dean punches him in the face. Alex fires up in the corner and gets a backdrop. European Uppercuts followed by an enziguiri. He sends Dean to the corner, but he floats over to the apron. Dean off the top and misses a cross-body. Wright gets a roll-up for the pin at 5:16.
Winner: Alex Wright via pin at 5:16
-Weird they would have Dean lose there knowing he had a PPV CW Title Match at Halloween Havoc. I assume it was a surprise for the sake of one as Eric used focus groups and fans told them they liked surprise wins. **
-Back to Saturday Night as Randy Savage loses to Bubba by DQ after throwing Mark Curtis after the ring and punching Nick Patrick. Liz watches from the aisle! Savage just piling up losses before the match with Hogan, though I understand the story. The man is out of control and doesn’t care about winning until he gets to Hogan.
-Mike Tenay is in the aisle and brings out Randy Savage, but he’s a no show.
-Halloween Havoc commercial featuring Randy Savage! Slim Jim is giving away a Monster Truck plus more prizes, like a stay in Vegas with tickets to Halloween Havoc. Ric Flair interrupts and he wants to win the sweepstakes. Even in a Slim Jim commercial, Flair has two beautiful women with him. If they started brawling during the commercial, I bet it’s at least ***.
Jim Powers (w/ Teddy Long) vs. Eddie Guerrero
-Nick Patrick is the ref and is wearing a neck brace after the attack from Savage. Powers with a side headlock. He runs Eddie over with a shoulder tackle, but gets caught with a leg lariat. Eddie with a slam followed by a sling shot senton for two. Powers back with forearms. Eddie tackles him and they start trading blows. Powers sent into the corner, but Eddie misses an elbow. Powers with an overhead belly to belly suplex for two. Eddie gets sent from corner to corner and Powers gets a clothesline for two. nWo fans pop up in the crowd with their signs which has Larry pissed off. Powers with a vertical suplex for two and back to a reverse chinlock. Loud “nWo” chant! Powers buries a knee to the gut for another two count. Eddie fights back from the corner, but gets dropped with a right hand. The crowd doesn’t care one bit about this match. Eddie blocks a charge in the corner and gets a belly-to-back suplex. Eddie up, but Powers meets him and brings him down with a superplex for two. Eddie with a small package for two. Eddie slides out of a powerslam and gets a German Suplex with three though Powers apparently kicked out at 6:27.
Winner: Eddie Guerrero via pin at 6:27
-This was rather boring as the crowd was checked out. Jim Powers is another one that just seems out of place during this time. The ending was weird too as I guess they wanted to continue the Patrick angle in with guys in the mid card. *
-Eddie doesn’t agree with the decision and seems disappointed. Teddy Long yells at Nick Patrick, but Tony thinks Nick made the right call. Long and Patrick nearly getting into it has more crowd heat than the match.
-Back to The Marriott where The Nasty Boys show up. Nash and Hall thank them for doing business but would also like to see what they got. Giant makes peace as he says they are here to party. The room service gets brought in as Hall calls them rednecks and mentions NASCAR. Sags says this is more than WCW ever did for them. Sags does a Bischoff impression by talking out of his ass. I guess the Nasty Boys are nWo!
-Mike Tenay is backstage with Arn Anderson, Woman, and Liz. As always, Liz looks great. Arn says they all say down because they discussed everything with Liz. They all agreed they made mistakes and they needed to stay stronger. He questions why she wasn’t in Japan. They are going to win or lose as a cohesive unit. Woman tells her business is business and wants to know what she was doing last week. Liz says it is more complicated than people know.
Hugh Morrus vs. Brad Armstrong
-The bell sounds as we have 60 seconds left in the first hour of this show. Amstrong does all he can to avoid Morrus to start, but gets caught in the corner. Morrus misses a splash in the opposite corner. Armstrong with a hip toss followed by a dropkick as we reach hour two and that means Eric, Brain, and Tenay take over on commentary. Another dropkick from Armstrong, but he gets caught with a powerslam. Eric doesn’t think the Nasty Boys are part of the nWo and are just getting suckered in. Huh, wonder how he would know that? Morrus hooks a reverse chinlock as we get another match that the crowd is falling asleep. Armstrong with a backslide for two. Small package for two. Morrus back with a running clothesline. Brad slides out of a slam and tries a Side Russian Leg Sweep, but Morrus blocks with the ropes. No Laughing Matter hits twice and that gets the pin at 4:22.
Winner: Hugh Morrus via pin at 4:22
-Not getting the best matches tonight. 1/2*
-Arn and Woman are still giving Liz a hard time as they want her to take her heart out of it.
-Eric says he is out and walks off without really explaining where he is going. Tenay tries to connect the dots and wonders if he is going to see what is happening with the nWo in the hotel and Heenan wonders if he is going to see where Savage is.
Chris Jericho vs. Arn Anderson (w/ Woman)
-The crowd is alive for this one as we have a little bit of star power with Arn out there. Tony joins Heenan and Tenay on commentary. Heenan asks of Eric is going to be part of the nWo and Tony shoots back, no. About that! Jericho takes Arn down and works the knee. Arn forces a break and goes after the arm. Jericho reverses and breaks Arn down to the mat. Arn with shoulders to the gut as we see Liz watching on a monitor in the back. Jericho fakes a sling shot plancha and ends up coming off the apron with a clothesline. Woman gets in Jericho’s face, which lets Arn rush from behind and land a right hand. Back in the ring Arn drops a knee to the face as we see Liz leave the monitor in the back. Arn gets a slam and heads to the middle ropes, but gets caught on the way down with a dropkick. Jericho with a chop and he kind of lands a spinning back kick. Backdrop from Jericho. Springboard shoulder tackle on the apron and Jericho follows by hitting a back elbow off the top rope for two. Lionsault misses, though Jericho lands on his feet, but is doubled over and Arn plants him with a DDT for the pin at 5:39.
Winner: Arn Anderson via pin at 5:39
-Another slow match that started with a hot crowd, but kind of died. The finish was pretty slick though. **
-nWo t-shirt commercial! BUY THE SHIRT!
-We see Liz leaving the arena with bags packed!
M. Wallstreet vs. Lex Luger
-So, he has dropped the VK as I guess they don’t need to take that subtle of a shot at Vince. That, or the WWE legal team made a call. Luger controls with a hammerlock, but Wallstreet reverses and Luger reverses back. Luger drops a leg on the arm as we WRESTLING to start this one. Lockup and Wallstreet lands a knee to the gut and sends Luger into the corner. Lex back with a hiptoss and he drops an elbow for a two count. Side headlock, but Wallstreet shoves off and sends Luger through the ropes and to the floor. Wallstreet runs Luger head first into the railing and seems content taking a count-out win. Luger beats the count, so Wallstreet gets an abdominal stretch and uses the top rope for leverage. The ref catches him on third try and that forces a break. The announcers are just ignoring this match as they still talk about the nWo, Savage, and Bischoff. Wallstreet gets another two count and hooks a reverse chinlock. Luger elbows his way out, but runs into a knee. Wallstreet drops a leg for two. SECRET ALLIANCE WITH HOGAN. Actually, Wallstreet did end up in the nWo. Oh man, the Rock N Roll Express have a match later. They hung around WCW a lot longer than I remembered. Wallstreet continues with a chinlock as we have another match that has bored the crowd. They finally wake as Luger starts punching his way out, but Wallstreet cuts him off again. Ugh! Why is Wallstreet dominating Luger for over six minutes in this match? Wallstreet misses a charge and Luger gets a roll-up for two. Small package for two. Luger hits the running forearm for two. Wallstreet back with his leaping clothesline. Suplex is countered and Luger gets The Rack for the submission at 7:27.
Winner: Lex Luger via submission at 7:27
-Longer than needed. This was like a Savage match where he would get dominated the entire match and hit one move before finish with The Flying Elbow. Luger should have steamrolled Wallstreet here. *
-Tony talks about how they didn’t trust Sting, so they have a peace offering. The WCW #29 Car has been painted with Sting on the hood. WCW sure loved their stock car racing! Oh, and Monster Trucks!
The Faces of Fear (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. The Rock N Roll Express
-Are we sure they still don’t have a large chunk of the roster in Japan? I am surprised Meng and Barbarian never ended up in the nWo. If you need someone on your side to make it seem like you can fight off the entire WCW roster, I’d go with Meng. Morton starts Meng and Morton goes with a hit and run strategy. It doesn’t work as he gets caught in the corner. He tries a sleeper, but Meng easily breaks. Morton avoids a backdrop and goes back to the sleeper. Meng breaks again, but misses a charge in the corner and back to the sleeper. Meng runs Morton into the corner to break and makes the tag to Barbarian. He clubs Morton down but misses a clothesline. Blind tag to Gibson, who hits a dropkick for two. Both RNR members try a cover and still, only gets two. Barbarian misses a charge in the corner and Gibson gets a sunset flip for two. They throw to a break at 3:32.
-We are back immediately because this isn’t Peacock and I don’t have commercials. Morton in and he gets a sunset flip for two. Roll-up for two. Barbarian runs him over with a clothesline. Meng back in and he STICKS Morton with a piledriver for two as Gibson makes the save. Meng decks him for sticking his nose into the match. Reverse atomic drop and Barbarian in with a boot to the face and again, Gibson makes the save. Powerbomb wakes the crowd up a bit. That gets two. I was digging the Faces of Fear around this time and they got over enough they were enough of a threat to face The Outsiders for the Tag Titles by the end of the year. Sadly, this is another match going longer than needed. Meng hooks a camel clutch as that goes for a bit. Morton sent to t he corner and now a bear hug. Morton punches his way out but gets cut off from making the tag. Another whip and this time Morton hits a cross-body as I think they wanted to do that spot the last time and it got screwy on them. Barbarian back in and he drops an elbow for two. Slam and back to Meng. Double Head Butt gets two as Gibson saves again. Barbarian misses the top rope head butt and the cold tag is made to Gibson. He hits an enziguiri to no reaction and everyone is in the ring. Double drop kick to Meng and they decided to go after Jimmy. Barbarian hits a boot to the back of the head and that gets the pin at 9:18.
Winners: The Faces of Fear via pin at 9:18
-So with commercials this went well over 10 minutes. This was a super long SQUASH basically as they dominated The Express and shook off most of their offense. Again, way longer than needed and the crowd was checked out. 3/4*
-The Public Enemy come out to brawl with The Faces of Fear and I don’t think that went anywhere.
-Back to The Marriott as the nWo party continues. Kyle Petty joins the party and I am sad we didn’t have a camera catching Tony’s reaction. Kyle cuts a solid heel promo for a non-wrestler as he takes a dump on WCW. Hogan calling Savage “The Nacho Man,” is funny as they took the WWF slander and used it on their show.
Chris Benoit (w/ Mongo and Debra) vs. Rick Steiner
-They throw to a break after each guy makes their entrance and we get a Halloween Havoc commercial.
-Back with the opening bell and Benoit backs Rick into a corner. Nothing doing, so we start again. Benoit with chops but runs into a back elbow. They start trading right hands. German Suplex throws Benoit across the ring and that gets one of the bigger reactions of the night. This crowd is dying for any kind of excitement at this point. Benoit bails to the floor and catches Rick coming back into the ring. He hits the hooking clothesline and more chops in the corner. Rick punches back and buries a knee in the back while hooking a chinlock. He misses an elbow, so Benoit catches him with a head butt. Snap suplex from Benoit and he talks trash. More chops in the corner. Rick gets a boot up to block a charge and hits a Steiner-line. He catches a leaping Benoit with a powerslam in a spot, Rick always loved doing. That gets two! Debra on the apron to distract the ref and Mongo blasts Rick with a briefcase as he tries a top rope suplex. Benoit falls back on top for the win at 4:22.
Winner: Chris Benoit via pin at 4:22
-Yeah give The RNR Express 10 plus minutes in 1996, but give these guys less than five minutes. *1/4
-Tony signs off and says we get to hear from the nWo one more time. Liz is now in the hotel room and Giant is telling her about all the movies he is doing thanks to Hogan. It seems Hogan is offering Liz movie deals to join the nWo. Vincent comes in with a present, but we don’t see what it is as the camera follows Liz to the hall way and Savage meets her. He loses his mind and yells son of a bitch a lot as he questions what he deal is. Liz screams and I mean, that kind of made Savage look like a raving lunatic there and was kind of uncomfortable. I want to know what was in the present! Also, the nWo had to have heard Savage outside their room. I assume they beat his up again or at least, Savage is insane enough to rush in and try to fight nine men by himself. Weird ending!
-Thanks for reading!
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