WCW Monday Nitro - October 30th 1995

• Nitro kicks off with Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve “Mongo” McMichael telling us how shocking and industry changing last night’s PPV was. They will be showing us footage from the PPV later in the broadcast but there’s important news to kick off; Macho Man Randy Savage is injured. More on that later but it means that in this opening match, Eddy Guerrero takes his place against Sgt. Craig “Pitbull” Pittman. One of these men went on to have an incredible, storied career and one of them is Craig Pittman. This is an ok match, mostly thanks to Eddy flying around with springboards and hurricanranas and he picks up the win with a victory roll. The crowd pops big for him and the commentators were really strong in putting over how great he is - Eddy is going places.

• Next up, The Shark from the Dungeon of Doom takes on Scott Norton. Remember about two months ago when Shark tried to interfere in a Norton vs. Macho Man match and accidentally cost him? That’s the aftermath of that, but I’m not sure why its taken so long to get this match booked! The story of this match is two big girthy men bumping tummies BUT Shark AKA John Tenta is one of the better big men in wrestling history and Norton has a great reputation from Japan (personally I’m not familiar) so they move fast and bump hard for each other so it's quite good! They fight to the outside and the match ends via double count out. I’m sure we’ll see a rematch. 

• During the previous match, Bobby Heenan left commentary and went to have a lavish catered meeting with a mysterious Japanese business man. This was also mentioned by Tony last night during the PPV too. The Brain seems to be striking up some kind of business deal with someone from Japan. Money changes hands in a white envelope.

• In the ring, Tony Schiavone recaps Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman vs. Sting and Ric Flair match last night at Halloween Havoc, specifically that Flair turned on his own partner (predictably) and reformed the Four Horsemen alongside Arn and new member Pillman. Who will be the fourth man? He brings out Flair, Arn and Pillman to talk about it. Pillman comes across like a mad man as he recaps the events and repeats Flair’s “symbol of excellence” line about the Horsemen. A dynasty, the greatest team on Earth. Arn and Flair say that this has been two years in the making and next week on Nitro, the Horsemen ride again! I guess we’ll find out who their other member is then.

• Little bit of a side note; Harlem Heat recaptured the WCW World Tag Team Championships on WCW Saturday Night last week. 
• Sabu faces Disco Inferno, who has been on Nitro every week but hasn’t wrestled for a while. Sabu picks up the win in a short match with a springboard crossbody and then after the match, beats up Disco and tries to drive him through a table at ringside with another big springboard splash over the ropes. Disco moves and Sabu bounces off the table. This is the last we’ll be seeing of Sabu; I’m not sure what happened but this is his last WCW match. He went back to ECW.

• In the ring, new Dungeon of Doom member Lex Lugar teams up with Meng to take on the American Males. Jimmy Hart and Taskmaster are at ringside too and Jimmy is full of the evil laughs, clearly very happy with his new role in the Dungeon and as Lugar’s manager. After a commercial break, they show us the footage from the end of Halloween Havoc where Lugar and Jimmy turned on Hogan and along with the Yeti, beat up Hogan and Macho and left them laying. In the ring, the Dungeon of Doom’s top names are assembled and The Giant is wearing Hogan’s WCW World title belt. Schiavone takes issue and says that it's NOT Giant’s title because you can’t win a championship via disqualification. This is a good promo actually as Jimmy says that he might explain why he got so sick of Hogan next week but now we all know what Taskmaster meant when he said “there is darkness in Hogan’s own home”. He was talking about his best friend and manager Jimmy Hart. Giant says he will defend “his belt” next week on Nitro and Tony Schiavone ends the show by saying next week will be an interactive episode of Nitro and fans will actually get to call in and vote for the matches! That’s pretty cool, and that’s how Nitro ends. So Giant is not officially the WCW World Champion but he does have the belt and intends on defending it as if it is his. 

WCW Monday Nitro - November 6th 1995

• Nitro kicks off with an explanation of tonight’s gimmick; there’s a red locker room containing all the heels and a blue locker room containing all the faces. Fans can call in and decide who faces who from the two locker rooms. This is Bischoff taking advantage of the fact that Nitro was live every week and sticking it to the WWF once again. Macho Man is here tonight but is still not cleared to wrestle due to injury so is going nuts backstage, apparently. I’m sure we’ll see him at some point tonight. 

• There’s some glitches at the start of the show as the ring announcer’s audio is too low to be heard and the Dungeon of Doom’s theme song plays for a moment before being cut off and replaced by Cobra’s. He’s in the opening match against, to no one’s shock, a member of the DoD; The Giant. He’s led to the ring by Jimmy Hart and based on what he said last week I can only assume that this match is unofficially for Giant’s stolen WCW World title. Giant threatens Dave Penzer (the ring announcer) and forces him to declare this as a title match. That’s a nice touch. He immediately plants Cobra with a chokeslam and pins him in about 8 seconds. 

• Backstage Mean Gene and Tony Schiavone are standing by in the two locker rooms to plug tonight’s phone-in. The fans only get to vote for the main event and looking at the list of names, it seems pretty obvious what it's going to end up being. Later, Ric Flair cuts a promo on Sting, pretty much guaranteeing my hunch.

• Earlier this week in Venice Beach, California Hulk Hogan went back to his roots alongside Macho Man. Hogan says that Macho has joined him on the dark side and now sees what they need to do. They have a hit list which includes all of the Dungeon of Doom. Macho says that he is going to go to Nitro and back to the light side to see who can and can’t be trusted. Whatcha gonna do when the dark side of Hulkamania destroys you? This is all a little bit odd, it feels like Hogan had an idea but lacks the subtly to do it properly and so hits us over the head with the messaging.

• The Taskmaster faces The Renegade. As you might recall from Fall Brawl, the Renegade was managed by Jimmy Hart so he comes out and distracts him with his megaphone so that Taskmaster can destroy him with ease. Taskmaster beats him with a double stomp off the middle rope and then post match, Jimmy Hart uses a beer to wash Renegade’s face paint off. He screams at him that he could have been the next Hulk Hogan but instead he’s just “plain old Rick”. Wow.

• As Bischoff provides the weekly plug for the matches on WCW Saturday Night I get a chance to provide a little update myself; Bobby Heenan’s business deal last week was with Japanese businessman Sonny Onoo to see Japanese wrestlers take over WCW’s weekend shows. I’m not sure how commentator Heenan has permission to do that but it’s done!
• Chris Benoit faces Eddy Guerrero in a rematch from his debut. Benoit won last time but Eddy is on a roll with a string of victories now. This is a good match with lots of crisp suplexes and slams. Eddy comes across as a tough babyface with a lot of heart and counters an attempted suplex from the apron and back into the ring into a crossbody. Benoit’s foot was on the ropes but the referee counted three anyway, so Eddy’s string of wins continues!
• The results of the fan vote are in and, as expected, tonight’s main event is a non-title match between United States Champion Sting and Nature Boy Ric Flair. Last week, Flair told us we’d see the Horsemen ride again this week but there’s been no mention of it so far as he struts to the ring solo. He doesn’t even have one of his robes on! I’m sure we’ll see Arn and Pillman at some point. The Nature Boy avoids a Stinger Splash on the outside and Sting’s ribs bounce off the metal railing. He takes over and slowly works over his leg, hammering it and locking in the Figure Four. Sting is an AWESOME babyface, enduring it for a while before getting a burst of adrenaline and no-selling. The fans went nuts for his big muscle pose while still in the FF. Sting bounces Flair around, throwing him around with a military press but Flair continues to use pokes to the eye and a well timed low blow to stay in the fight. This was a great match and despite Flair using a concealed weapon to rock Sting in the jaw, he fights back and puts down Flair with a superplex and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock to get the submission victory. Sting refuses to break the hold as referees and other wrestlers plead with him to let it go but he won’t - he is determined to make Flair pay for what he did! Eventually they do manage to get him to release the hold but the damage is done - Flair is hurt! Sting refuses to let it go and runs back to the ring, locking it in a second time! Newly heel Lex Lugar comes down and quietly pushes through the various babyfaces to talk to his friend Sting. He talks some sense to him and Sting DOES release the hold. It seems that despite Sting being a face and Lex being a heel, their friendship transcends all of that. The two of them leave together which surprises everyone. Great stuff here from the match itself to the story between Sting and Lex.

• In the main event segment, Jimmy Hart, The Taskmaster and The Giant are in the ring. Mean Gene Okerlund reminds us that Giant is NOT the real champion, he only stole the belt. Jimmy Hart gleefully explains that he had power of attorney over Hulk’s matches and while he was distracted doing charity work and running around with Macho Man, he changed the contract for the Halloween Havoc match. In the small print it says that the title CAN change hands via disqualification. That means that The Giant is in fact the real and official WCW World Heavyweight Champion! The Taskmaster gloats that he has taken Hogan’s red and yellow, he has taken his moustache and now he has taken his World title! Mean Gene brings a WCW official into the ring to check that this will hold up. He confirms that it is legal but The Giant is NOT the World Champion either. WCW management decided to strip The Giant of the title and put it on the line at World War 3 in the 60-man Battle Royal! The show ends with promotion for next week; Macho Man will be back in the ring and Johnny B Badd defends the TV title against Eddy Guerrero, and I’m sure lots more! 

WCW Monday Nitro - November 13th 1995

• Nitro kicks off with a message from the now former WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan. He has been fully consumed by the dark side but says it quakes with fear because he’s there. He says that tonight, his “brother of the road” Macho Man will bring them the head of Meng - the first name on the destruction hitlist of Hulkamania. Hogan also mentions that he doesn’t know where Sting’s head is after last week; is he friend or foe? Sting is certainly still friendly with Lex Lugar but does that mean he’s friendly with the rest of the Dungeon of Doom too? He tells Sting that if he is with Taskmasker then his name will move to the top of the destruction hitlist. Weirdly, Hogan doesn’t even mention his title. Later in the show, Bischoff tells us that Hulk Hogan will be on Nitro next week and he wants a match with Sting! That catches all three announcers off guard. 

• I don’t mention it but every week, Mongo has his little dog dressed in a different costume at the announce desk. This week Pepe is dressed up as Superdog. Very cute. 
• The opening match is Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Meng (with the Taskmaster). Macho Man, still dressed in black and white and on the dark side with Hogan, comes through the crowd and jumps Meng from behind. The Mega Powers are taking no prisoners when it comes to the Dungeon of Doom. Meng looks good here and chops the life out of Macho - you can tell they liked Meng backstage as he was always positioned strongly. Macho wins with the top rope elbow but gets no time to celebrate as he’s jumped by The Shark and Lex Lugar who focuses on his arm, wrapping it around the ring post over and over. Randy is hurt and hurt badly, still selling his arm.

• WCW’s working relationship with New Japan gives us Kensuki Sasaki vs. Chris Benoit. I’m not familiar with Sasaki but this is a good, physical match. Most of New Japan’s involvement is on the weekend shows so it's nice to see it on Nitro. Benoit hits the same bridging Dragon suplex he used to win his debut to pick up the victory here. Eric Bischoff tells us that Benoit is the newest member of the Four Horsemen? That’s news to me, I can only assume that it came up on WCW Saturday Night main event! Benoit, Pillman, Arn and Flair are a hell of a group. 

• Johnny B Badd defends the World Television Championship against Eddy Guerrero. They shake hands before the match like good babyfaces but do also both look very serious and intense. I like that - friendly but competitive. The action is fast paced; Eddy is awesome, so quick and nimble as he flies around the ring. Badd does his best to keep up and isn’t terrible either; he’s a lot better here than I ever saw from him in the WWF as Marc Mero. With it being so evenly matched, tempers flare and it turns into a brawl with furious tackles and right hands. The referee calms things down and gets them back to wrestling. They go back and forth and get near falls with a gorgeous tombstone piledriver and a big crossbody but the time limit expires at 10:00 and this match is a draw. Both men looked great here and are frustrated with the draw. Tempers continue to flare and they shove and slap at each other until finally relaxing and shaking hands to remain babyfaces. Good stuff! 

• In the ring, Mean Gene interviews The Giant, Taskmaster and Jimmy Hart and repeats his previous threats and claims. He is the One True Immortal, he is going to end Hulkamania, he will be WCW World Champion forever. Not much of a promo but they’re putting all of the focus in the World War 3 battle royal on Hogan and Giant. 

• In the main event, Sting faces Dean Malenko. I’m not even going to mention Sting’s United States title because he hasn’t had the title belt with him for weeks at this point. I guess his focus isn’t on that championship but it still seems weird that he isn’t carrying it with him everywhere. The commentators haven’t even mentioned that he is the champion since before Halloween Havoc but I checked and he was definitely still the title holder. I actually spoke too soon as the match continued - it’s very good by the way, Sting wins with a roll up and Malenko looked really strong in defeat - Bischoff mentions that Sting will be defending his United States title in Tokyo against Kensuki Sasaki. That match is actually listed as having taken place on the same date as this episode of Nitro so I guess Sting wrestled twice on this day? Or the Japan match was pre-taped and aired on November 13th. Either way, I’ll talk about that next week I’m sure! After a commercial break, Sting is still in the ring to talk about Hulk Hogan and his comments earlier as well as his match with the Hulkster next week on Nitro. Sting tells Hogan that he needs to get his head right and that he has NOTHING against him. He says that his relationship with Lex Lugar has nothing to do with him or the Dungeon of Doom and its none of Hogan’s business. The show ends with the commentators discussing it - can Hogan trust Sting? Heenan calls him a paranoid wreck after so many people have turned on him lately and predicts Sting is next! 

WCW Monday Nitro - November 20th 1995

• We waste no time and go into a rematch from three weeks ago; The Shark vs. Scott Norton. This isn’t as good as their first match and is a lot shorter; Norton slams Shark and pins him to win the match. Shark bounces up and no-sells it and they shove each other a bit so it seems like their feud might not be over despite how clean this victory was. 

• Mean Gene speaks to Jimmy Hart and The Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan. Hart tries to twist the knife between Sting and Hogan, talking about how Hogan has abandoned Sting and his friendship for his new best buddy Randy Savage. Taskmaster puts the focus back on the vacant World title and how desperate everyone is to win it. Bobby Heenan joins in and goads Hogan - he has no friends and needs to look over his shoulder. Everyone is going to turn on him now because even for Savage, winning the World title is more important. 

• The next match is scheduled to be Eddy Guerrero vs. Ric Flair but first we get a little Disco Fever with Disco Inferno coming out to dance and strut his stuff until Eddy interrupts him with his entrance. When Flair comes out he isn’t dressed to compete, but he has fellow Horsemen Brian Pillman with him who is. Seems like we might be getting a replacement. Flair says that he is too focused on Sting and their match at World War 3 to wrestle Eddy tonight so Pillman will take care of this for him, calling Eddy “light work”. Bischoff calls this a huge insult to Guerrero. These two are awesome wrestlers and lightning fast so this is obviously very good. They hit duelling dives from the top rope to the floor and in the ring Eddy hits the brainbuster and after a tussle on the top rope, follows with the Frog Splash to get the victory! Awesome.

• There’s a medical update on Randy Savage after Lex’s furious attack on his arm last week. He might not be able to compete at World War 3 but Bischoff plays devil’s advocate; what if Macho is faking his injury so that he can shock and surprise Hogan at the PPV and win the World title? He reminds us that when Macho Man first came to WCW he was very blunt and open about wanting that World title.
• Road Warrior Hawk faces Big Bubba Rogers. Bischoff says that Hawk shocked the world when he left the WWF and came to WCW so who is to say he won’t shock the world again and win the title at the PPV? Whenever someone (mostly Gene and Bischoff) mention the WWF, it’s censored. I’m not sure if that’s a WWE name change thing or if it's them being petty and removing all of WCW’s shots at them out of pettiness. Probably a WWE thing. Bubba is in the middle of a feud with Jim Duggan off of Nitro and they’re slated for a Taped Fist match at World War 3. I’ll obviously get a chance to talk about them both when I cover the PPV. Bubba dominates Hawk, mostly with chokes and punches. He tapes up his fist with a roll of coins in his hand but before he can use the illegal right hand, Jim Duggan runs down and trips him! He falls, bounces his head off his own fist and Hawk gets the victory. 

• The main event is legitimately the biggest match they’ve done on Nitro to date. Sting comes out in the red and yellow; Heenan says that he’s taunting Hogan but Bischoff says that he’s trying to bring Hogan back to the light side. When Hogan’s music hits there’s loud boos and Macho Man comes out first with his arm in a sling. Hogan comes through the crowd wearing a mask, still all in black but stops short of literally jumping Sting from behind - it was just a little bit of mind games.

• Sting is aggressive and rocks Hogan early; there’s some deep story telling going on here with Hogan’s crumbling psyche, his feud with the Dungeon of Doom, this paranoia about trusting his friends, Sting’s relationship with Lex Lugar holding strong despite the heel/face divide. It’s clever! The crowd is mostly behind Sting (as am I, I think he’s awesome). To my surprise, this is a proper match. I was sure it would just be an angle and end quickly but the two work back and forth. Sting works on Hulk’s leg and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock but he powers up out of it and starts to Hulk Up. It gets a lot of boos - the fans are sick of him. Sting avoids the big Immortal Leg and tries for a second Scorpion Death Lock but we’ll never know if he would have tapped out as the Dungeon of Doom run down and attack Macho at ringside followed by Hogan and Sting in the ring. The match ends via disqualification and the three babyfaces fight off the Dungeon until The Giant comes down to even the odds. He super impressively picks up both Sting and Hogan at once for chokeslams but Macho saves them with a chair shot. Giant no-sells that and chokeslams Macho Man but then Hogan and Sting work together to clear him out of the ring too! Sting and Hogan are united and it seems like The Hulkster has his answer as to whether Sting is on his side or not. The commentary trio give us a big final push and hard sell for the PPV and we’re out!