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WCW Monday Nitro - September 25, 1995

by Scrooge McSuck

- Last week on Monday Nitro, The American Males (and their obnoxiously bad music) upset Harlem Heat for the Tag Team Championship, Mr. Wonderful (He is so Wonderful!) defeated Johnny B. Badd and has obnoxiously bad music too, and in the Main Event, Ric Flair defeated Flyin' Brian clean. Elsewhere, Randy Savage and Lex Luger continue to tease an in-ring confrontation, and the Giant, son of Andre, has it in for Hulk Hogan and Hulkamania.

- Over on Monday Night Raw, the Smoking Gunns regained the WWF Tag Titles from Yokozuna and Owen Hart after an announcement rendering the result of the previous night's PPV pointless. Marty Jannetty made yet another return, after an 18-month hiatus, and had a solid match with Bodydonna Skip, and in the Main Event, a so-so match with the Undertaker and Davey Boy Smith that had a crappy finish. Not too bad of a show, says I.

- Eric Bischoff, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, and Steve "Mongo" McMichael are on hand to call all the action and make awful jokes, unless otherwise noted.

"Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright vs. The Disco Inferno:

Call me crazy, but I always liked Disco Inferno. It's a cheesy gimmick, but the guy was clearly into his role and having fun with it. Sometimes commitment to the character is all you need (and to be fair, he was a decent worker, too). Didn't these two end up forming a team called The Boogie Nights a few years later? Disco attacks from behind and tosses Wright to the floor. Wright with a shoulder to the midsection and a springboard dropkick. Whip to the corner and Wright connects with a spinning heel kick for two. Wright dumps Disco out and follows with a no-hands dive over the top rope. Back in the ring and a criss-cross ends with a sloppy Stun Gun. Disco follows Wright into the corner with an elbow and pounds away with rights. Disco with a running clothesline and some dancin' to celebrate. He heads to the top rope (very... slowly...), and gets knocked down with a dropkick. Wright unloads with rights and comes off the ropes with a twisting back elbow. Disco with a back suplex, but a swinging neck breaker is countered with a back slide, and Wright gets the three count at 4:02. *1/2 Too short to really go anywhere, but the action was decent, and it allowed two younger names a chance to get some exposure.

- WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hulk Hogan, with overly exaggerated neck brace, cuts a promo about not missing a workout. He's going to take that "no good, stinky, Giant" down, BROTHER! Hogan promises to build a bigger and stronger Hulkamania Monster Truck to get even with that no good, nasty, Giant! After he refuses to job in a Monster Truck Challenge, he's going to put his WCW Title on the line and slam him through the mat and "laid to rest right next to your father." Wow... way to shit on Andre The Giant's legacy, Hulk. You jackass.

- "Mean" Gene Okerlund brings out Randy Savage and Lex Luger for another confrontation. Luger wants Savage in the ring... NEXT WEEK in Denver, CO! He's willing to put his alleged future title shot on the line, and if he loses, he will leave WCW. That's more notice than ge gave the WWF.

Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Kurasawa (w/ Col. Robert Parker):

Not to be a douche, but this match is going to tank. I could've sworn Pittman was a heel, but Kurasawa recently(ish) broke the arm of Road Warrior Hawk, so who the hell knows. I just hope this is short. I don't get the logic behind Parker managing a Japanese import, but it's WCW for you. Pittman with a headbutt to the midsection to start. He grabs the knuckles and throws Kurasawa overhead. Kurasawa no-sells and kicks away, knocking Pittman to the floor. Pittman tries climbing back in, but Kurasawa baseball slides him back down. Kurasawa pulls back the floor padding and overhead slams Pittman onto the exposed concrete. Back inside, Kurasawa with a variation of a snapmare and some arm work. Pittman sends Kurasawa to the floor and starts working over his shoulder. Back in the ring, Pittman with a sloppy over-head belly-to-belly suplex and a diving headbutt. He grabs the Code Red (cross armbreaker), but Kurasawa has his feet in the ropes. Kurasawa goes for the arm, but Pittman counters with a gutwrench suplex. They trade waistlocks until Kurasawa takes Pittman over with a German Suplex, and it's good for three at 4:26. ** Surprisingly good match, but it was definitely one of those matches that I can see people not liking. The arm work didn't factor into the finish, but it was clean, so points for that.

- "Mean" Gene Okerlund is back with the Enforcer, Arn Anderson, and Flyin' Brian Pillman. Flair wants a tag match with Anderson and Pillman, and has been looking, unsuccessfully for a tag partner, particularly Sting. No way Sting could trust Flair... could he? Not to get off topic, but it's amazing to think that someone with Arn's look, regardless of in-ring ability and promo skills, would never get a look because he looks like someone's middle aged father who's never been to a Gym.

- This Saturday Night at 6:05 on the SuperStation, the American Dream Dusty Rhodes makes his debut as Co-Host, the NEW Tag Team Champions, the American Males, will be in Action, and the Taskmaster and The Giant respond to Hulk Hogan's comments. In the Main Event, Sting defends the US Title against Johnny B. Badd, who earned a title shot at Fall Brawl.

"Macho Man" Randy Savage vs. "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan (w/ The Zodiac):

I don't see this being very good, but it's one of those matches that has some interest to me because it wasn't something we've seen countless times. Remember last week? This match was set up via an attack on the set of Baywatch. Cross-promoting at it's best! Savage chases Sullivan around the ring to start and gets laid out with a clothesline at the hands of the Zodiac. Sullivan pounds away and tosses Savage back to the floor. He crotches Savage across the security rail and takes him down with a clothesline. Only 2-minutes in and it's dragging. Savage to the top rope with a double axehandle. He brings Zodiac in because and tosses the referee for the Disqualification at 3:01. He slams Sullivan onto Zodiac and comes down on Zodiac with the Elbow. The Giant makes his way to ringside and plants Savage with the Chokeslam. A few jobbers come out and get laid out. Alex Wright tries jumping off the top rope and gets caught in a bearhug and slammed down. Lex Luger casually comes down the aisle and is the final victim before the segment ends. 1/4* Standard babyface Savage formula: get his ass whooped the entire match before making the big comeback, but in this case, throw a lame Disqualification in the way.

"The Total Package" Lex Luger vs. Meng:

Well, this sure isn't fair. Luger is still laid out in the ring, so Meng bum rushes the ring and puts the boots to him. Meng with choking and there's BREAKING NEWS... Hulk Hogan will be on Nitro next week, in Denver, CO! Meng with more choking in the corner, followed by a Piledriver for a two count. Luger's loud over-selling is always fun to listen to. Meng with a snap suplex for two, then grabs hold of the Tongan Death Grip. Luger rallies back to his feet and escapes with elbows to the midsection. He unloads with rights, but Meng boots him and takes him over with a gutwrench suplex. Meng changes up the restholds by grabbing a chinlock. Leg drop gets two, back to the chinlock. Meng with a Samoan Drop, but a dive from the second rope goes wrong. I thought he no-sold shots to the head. Meng meets knee on a charge. Luger kicks him away and follows him into the corner with a clothesline... and falls on his ass? The referee pulls Luger away from Meng, opening the door for Meng to pull out a foreign object, bop Luger, and cover for three at 6:47. DUD Ugly match to close the show with. Luger was practically squashed and did a pinfall job, and Meng still has to cheat despite everything, so neither man looks really good. How did this win the raffle for longest match honors?

- Hype for next week! WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan will be here! The NEW Tag Team Champions the American Males will be here! Lex Luger faces Randy Savage in the hottest Main Event yet! For the second week in a row, the on-screen graphics are ignored, as we see images of the Nasty Boys and yet-to-debut Dean Malenko, but Bischoff is too ignorant to mention it, or someone didn't tell him on the format sheet about it. Little stuff like that was never a problem in the WWF. Just saying. Another little note: During the hype, Heenan actually name drops "WWF" when talking about Luger's stipulation of leaving WCW if he loses to Savage.

Final Thoughts: The show started off hot, then slowly fell apart. Another strong promo continues to build towards the tag team encounter at Halloween Havoc between Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Flyin' Brian, and the promo work between Savage and Luger was fine, but we closed the show with poor work from the booker and ended the night with a DUD. With 2 of the 4 matches turning out to be alright (those 2 being undercard filler) and the above mentioned promos building toward future matches, there's enough to salvage the entire hour. I'd probably give Monday Night Raw the thumbs up for the week.

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