WCW Monday Nitro - September 4th 1995

• The very first episode of WCW’s flagship show was broadcast from the Mall of America in Minneapolis Minisota and to be fair to WCW, already feels light years more up to date than the WWF did in 1995. The opening show card is pretty awesome!

• The broadcast team is company president Eric Bischoff (which wasn’t acknowledged on TV yet), Steve “Mongo” McMichael from the NFL and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Bischoff wastes no time taking a shot at the WWF, welcoming Mongo to “the big time” after his appearances in the WWF earlier in the year.

• The first match is Japan’s Jushin Thunder Liger vs. WCW’s Brian Pillman. This is a babyface vs. babyface match and it’s smart of WCW to kick off the show with a match which is VERY different from anything the WWF was giving us in 1995. The action is fast paced from the word go and Bischoff hammers home WCW’s catchphrase “where the big boys play” while promising lots of surprises and excitement in this Live hour of television. I’m a big fan of both of these guys - Liger didn’t retire until 2020 and maintained a very high standard of wrestling well into his 50s. They go back and forth with dives in and out of the ring and Liger hits a gorgeous powerbomb and a top rope hurricanrana, both for close near falls. Pillman reverses a slam into a small package to pick up the win in a really good opening match. The two shake hands and hug after the match to a big cheer as well.

• In a pre-taped video, Eric Bischoff speaks to WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan who is promoting his restaurant “Pasta-mania”. That was a real thing and, to no one’s surprise, it didn’t last very long. He says that his match tonight on the first episode of Nitro with Big Bubba is now for his WCW World title because he wants to put the title on the line. It’s a classic Hogan promo where he promises to win this one for all of his little Hulkamanias and Pastamaniacs. 

• That won’t be the only championship match tonight; WCW United States Champion Sting defends the gold against his old rival and fellow main eventer “Nature Boy” Ric Flair! I probably don’t need to give an introduction to either of these legends - two of the biggest stars in wrestling history. Before the match can start, the commentators are flabbergasted to see the WWF’s Lex Lugar walk down the ramp! He gets a “Lugar” chant from the fans and Sting and Flair seem as shocked to see him as anyone else. Lugar wrestled for the WWF 48 hours go on a non-televised event and did a run in during the main event of WWF’s Summerslam PPV less than two weeks ago so to find out that he’s back in WCW like this was a HUGE shock to everyone. He’s ushered to the back by security so the match can start.

• Flair and Sting have worked together so many times and bump and move so smoothly with Sting powering the Nature Boy around the ring and the wily veteran begging for mercy. Sting uses military press after military press to throw Flair around. He is, just like his theme song says, as strong as a bull and quick as a cat. Both these lads are awesome so even running on autopilot and giving it about 50% effort this is still really good! After a commercial break, Arn Anderson comes down to the ring. He along with Flair were members of the infamous Four Horsemen and the commentators are quick to explain that these two have been having issues for a while but Bobby Heenan assures us that Flair and Anderson have patched things up! Flair locks Sting in the Figure Four and uses the ropes for an illegal advantage but when he gets caught, he refuses to stop and so the referee disqualifies him. He won’t release the hold so Arn Anderson breaks it up by force and sends Flair scurrying off with a right hand. Anderson and Flair are still at odds and have a match with each other at the next PPV. 

• Before we can move on, Scott Norton comes through the crowd and starts acosting the commentary team. He gets in Eric Bischoff’s face and says that he signed a contract and is sick of not wrestling. It’s hard to tell exactly what he’s saying as it's off mic but football player McMichael gets in his face. Before that can turn physical, Macho Man Randy Savage runs down and tells Norton that if he wants competition and to fight someone with a reputation he can wrestle him right now! Macho and Norton want to go but Bischoff gets in his face and says that this match is NOT signed and that if he gets in the ring he’ll never wrestle for WCW ever again. This is chaotic! 

• There’s a video package promoting the arrival of another new WCW talent, the death defying Sabu who he signed from ECW. Sabu will be around soon…but not for very long. More on him later. There’s also a video for the debuting Mike Rotundo formerly known as IRS in the WWF. He takes multiple shots at the WWF in his video, slagging “the new generation” and saying that he’s sure the IRS will be watching but ends by telling us his new gimmick name - Michael Wallstreet.

• In the main event, WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan takes on Big Bubba Rogers, who WWF fans know as The Big Bossman. Hogan gets a big pop and comes out with his manager and best friend Jimmy Hart. I kind of love Hogan’s WCW theme song, which was written by Jimmy Hart. The continued references to the WWF continue with Bobby Heenan telling us that Rogers used to be a prison guard. The commentators take this match to talk about Fall Brawl and it’s WarGames main event - Hogan and friends will battle The Dungeon of Doom, who I’m excited to introduce and talk about! In short - it's a stable of heavily gimmicked jobbers, brought together by mysterious powers and united in their goal to destroy Hulkamania. Good luck boys.

• Hogan acts like a bit of a heel in this match, continually bullying the referee for telling him off for things like eye pokes and right hands. He even uses Jimmy Hart’s jacket to smother and choke Bubba while Jimmy distracts the referee. This match ends the way you’d expect it to - Hogan no-sells, Hulks up and puts down Bubba with the big boot and Immortal Leg Drop combo to retain the WCW World Heavyweight title. He poses and celebrates until he’s interrupted by the Dungeon of Doom! The Taskmaster, The Zodiac, Kamala, The Shark and Meng run down and attack but the Hulkster fights them off. He’s rescued by Lex Lugar - who seems to have sorted things out with security since earlier - followed by Sting and Randy Savage. They try to calm things down and after a commercial break, Mean Gene Okerlund is in the ring to find out what's going on. Lex explains that he is back in WCW and he is here for one reason and one reason only - to become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. He wants a shot at Hogan’s title. Lex says that he’s sick of playing around with kids, he’s here to be where the Big Boys play. Hogan and Lugar go back and forth and make sure to hammer home the key points; only the WCW title matters and “the other place they both came from” is the minor leagues. Hulk tells Lex that he doesn’t have anything to prove and he can have a title shot next week on Nitro! That’s a big main event scheduled for next week’s show and the episode ends with the pair of them shoving at each other while Macho Man, Sting and Jimmy Hart try to stop it from devolving into a brawl! 

• This was an exciting show with debuts, big angles and matches set up for next week and the PPV. It flew by! Little bit of trivia; two men appeared in person on both the first ever episode of WWF Monday Night Raw and WCW Monday Nitro. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Mean Gene Okerlund. 

WCW Monday Nitro - September 11th 1995

• Episode 2 of Nitro took place in Miami Florida and already it's clear that WCW had vastly superior production values at this point in time. They had the full Turner media empire behind them as seen with panning helicopter shots of the city and all the pyro. They pioneered having their weekly show in a big arena two years before the WWF did too. It’s the same commentary trio as last week and they kick off with a replay of last week’s Lex Lugar and Hulk Hogan promo to hype tonight’s main event; another WCW World title match, this time between those two. Hogan said that he would remain champion “forever and a day” twice last week.
• In other big news, Vader is AWOL and will no longer be on Team Hogan at Fall Brawl in the WarGames match. They must have thought Vader would return at some point as they’re careful not to bury him. I wonder if we’ll find out who his replacement is tonight?

• The opening match is the debuting Sabu taking on Germany’s Alex Wright. Heenan and Bischoff are good here, getting over Sabu’s in-ring style which is basically flips and dives and risky moves with no consideration for his own well being. He dives in and out of the ring and uses a steel chair as a launch pad but misses Wright and crashes into the metal security rail! This was a good match and Sabu picks up the win with a big slam off the top rope but then ruins it for himself by getting a table and crashing onto Alex with a springboard to the outside. The referee decides to reverse his decision and retroactively disqualifies Sabu for that. This was good, even if I didn’t like the finish.

• In the ring, Gene Okerlund interviews Ric Flair, an 11 time World Champion at the time. He talks about his old running mate and main man Arn Anderson and says that it's a disappointment that Arn now puts so much focus on his wife and child rather than “styling and profiling” and running wild with himself. He talks about the Four Horsemen and calls that group the symbol of excellence in wrestling history but before he can wrap up, Lex Lugar comes down to the ring. Flair changes direction and starts to put over The Total Package and tells Hogan he has no chance against this man! Lugar says that Flair never changes and then…just leaves? I’m not sure why he came out? That was odd as they’re both all smiles and it wasn’t played off as mysterious. Flair must have thought so too as he leaves after that as well. 

• A second match and a second debut; Michael Wallstreet has already been renamed V.K. Wallstreet. That’s a reference to Vince K. McMahon - subtle. He must have impressed someone because he has a shot at Sting’s WCW United States Championship already. During this match, Eric Bischoff gives us the first taste of one of his most infamous dirty tricks telling fans who might consider changing the channel not to bother; Raw is pre-taped and “Shawn Michaels beats the big guy in the main event”. That won’t be the last time and it had Vince McMahon tearing his hair out. It’s nice seeing the former IRS in actual wrestling gear and he seems to be moving a lot faster than when I last saw him in the WWF. He was never a bad wrestler, just a bit boring.  Sting wins this with a crossbody off the top rope to retain his title. Interestingly during this, Bischoff mentions that the Brian Pillman vs. Johnny B Badd match at Fall Brawl will crown the number one contender for the US title. 

• Right into the next match with Macho Man Randy Savage taking on Scott Norton. Norton’s ring gear looks silly with his belly poking out but he’s a legit badass who made his big name for himself in Japan. He spends the match mouthing off at Mongo on commentary, apparently wanting to fight the former NFL great at some point. Norton works on Randy’s back and dumps him with a pretty rough looking powerbomb for a near fall. He spikes him with a DDT as Savage’s legs are balanced on the top rope which looked so ugly that it was probably dangerous. The Dungeon of Doom comes down to try and attack Randy but he knocks out Shark who lands on Norton’s legs and pins him to the mat. Randy hits the diving elbow to win the match and then quickly escapes before the rest of the Dungeon can attack him. What a bunch of goofs. The commentators hammer home that with Vader now gone and with Savage apparently having a bad back, Team Hogan is now potentially down two men for Fall Brawl!

• In the main event, Lex Lugar (who Bischoff takes great joy in telling us was wrestling for the WWF just 9 days ago until he got bored “playing with kids”) challenges Hulk Hogan. I mentioned previously that I love his WCW theme so here it is for those of you who’ve never heard it. 

• If you need evidence that fans were starting to get sick of Hogan, the match begins with some Lugar chants. This is legitimately these men’s first ever match against each other. Hogan actually mat wrestles and chain wrestles a little but Lugar no-sells a suplex and pops back up to make Hogan bug out with a big muscle pose. There’s boos when Hogan does the same thing moments later. Lugar gets Hogan up into his Torture Rack finisher, bouncing him up and down but then stupidly releases Hogan early thinking he’s won the match. Hogan didn’t submit and then he kicks out of the pin attempt. I’m not sure why Lugar released the hold early - what an idiot - but it backfires now when The Hulkster Hulks up and puts down Lex with the Big Boot and Immortal Leg Drop combo. The Dungeon of Doom rushes the ring to break up the pin and cause a disqualification. Macho and Sting run down to try and even the odds and the three mega main event babyfaces clear the comedy jobbers out of the ring with ease. The DoD didn’t lay a finger on Lex and apparently that’s suspicious as Hogan accuses him of being in cahoots with them!

• After a commercial break, Mean Gene is in the ring to clear things up and make sense of all of this. Hogan talks about being a man short for WarGames and asks Lugar directly why the DoD didn’t attack him? Macho agrees with Hogan but Sting defends his buddy Lex; they’re friends going back a long time! Sting keeps the peace and suggests that Lex join them and take Vader’s place at WarGames. Macho doesn’t trust Lex and says he’d rather do it 3 vs. 4. Macho then turns it around again and says that the Dungeon attacked both himself and Hulk tonight but didn’t lay a finger on HIM either? He smells a rat. They hold a vote and while Macho won’t vote for Lex to join, Hogan does which means that Lex Lugar is now on the team! Lex says that he will ONLY be on their team if Hogan promises him another World title match in the future. That’s actually pretty reasonable!