Monday Nitro #50
Date: August 26, 1996
Location: Manatee Civic Center, Palmetto, Florida
Attendance: 1,384
Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff, Tony Schiavone
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
We’re up to a milestone here and we get something important to make it mean something: tonight is the unveiling of the fourth member of the NWO which Eric will screw up and sound like a moron but we’ll get to that later. The main event here is Luger/Sting vs. the other Horsemen which defeats the purpose of what they said last week but whatever. I hope this is as good as what they had last week. Let’s get to it.
By the way, you might remember me talking in the last review about how WCW would be getting some of its better known names soon and two of them arrive tonight.
Is there a reason why Hogan in the yellow and red is still in the opening sequence?
Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman
Here’s new name #1 in the form of Guerrera. He’s the lesser of the two names. Both are 22 here so this is going to be incredibly fast paced. Kidman only have a few WCW appearances before this so he’s practically a newcomer as well. Yeah based on what I can find this is his third Nitro match so he’s not exactly well known.
They run the ropes very fast and a Kidman powerslam gets two. They both hit the floor and Larry corrects Tony’s Spanish. They chop it out on the apron and Guerrera manages to get a sunset bomb onto the floor with a THUD. Juvy follows it up with a pescado (called by Tony) into a guillotine legdrop on the outside. Back in a springboard corkscrew splash with Tony calling every move by the proper name. Eric in his ear ruined him.
Kidman catches Juvy coming off a springboard into a powerbomb for another two. It’s weird to see Kidman being the power guy in a match. Slingshot legdrop gets two. Juvy has a Mexican Heavyweight Title match at Fall Brawl. Kidman loads up the Shooting Star but Juvy kicks out at two. I didn’t expect that. Billy goes up again but Juvy goes up faster and hits a spinning hurricanrana (called by Tony complete with proper accents) for the pin.
Rating: B+. You give two young Cruiserweights and you get a great match. This would be WCW’s idea for the next four years or so and it worked very well for the most part. This was good stuff and the crowd was in awe of most of it. It’s what happens when you give two guys a few minutes. This was like four minutes long and the whole thing worked. I’m more stunned by Tony though. The difference is unreal.
Juvy speaks some Spanish and is booed. His English isn’t much better. I speak some Spanish and I’m not sure what he’s saying.
Here’s a clip from The Crow: City of Angels for some reason. Foreshadowing for Sting perhaps?
Glacier is STILL coming.
We get a clip from last week where Sting/Luger hooked up with the Horsemen for WarGames.
Big Bubba/Kevin Sullivan vs. Jim Powers/Marcus Bagwell
I guess Riggs was busy delivering pizza. He’s there with them and injured. That must have been a nasty pepperoni. Sullivan jumps Powers and it’s a brawl to start. Powers fires off a dropkick and the Dungeon is having some issues. The American Powers clear the ring and we slow things down. Off to Bagwell vs. Sullivan but Bubba comes in again. Ok so it’s Bubba vs. Bagwell. Bubba gets him in powerbomb position but Bagwell punches his way out of it.
The second attempt goes the other way though and we’re into the expected result now. Tree of Woe hits Bagwell but he avoids a splash and brings in Powers. TIME FOR GENERIC OFFENSE!!! Powers hits a cross body for a very close two on Bubba but Patrick changes his mind and says it was two. The match is restarted and the Bubba Slam ends Powers. So that’s why this match exists.
Rating: C-. The match was kind of a weird choice until we got to the ending. I was shocked when the three went down and the replay shows that it was a clean pin. That’s a nice touch as it shows how corrupt he is/might be. Powers was so generic it was pitiful though and he dragged things down. Not a good match but good storytelling.
Bubba says he’s not going to be overlooked anymore and calls out Glacier. WHEN IS HE COMING??? He would finally debut in two weeks. Sullivan is worried about Hogan and claims to have seen Gene with Hogan on a boat a week ago. Gene says it was Eric. Sullivan says he was bald. Now it’s time to talk about the Horsemen. It must be the late 90s then.
Sting and Luger say there are no guarantees about anything and it’s weird that they’re fighting the Horsemen tonight. They think Flair and Anderson want to test them and that’s not nice.
Chavo Guerrero vs. Mike Enos
Hogan vs. Savage for Halloween Havoc, as in two months from now, is announced. That’s if Savage lives through his match with Giant at Fall Brawl. Larry says we’d have a chance if Giant gets the shot instead. Chavo tries to speed things up but Enos catches him in a dive over the top and this a fallaway slam on the floor. Enos puts him in a powerslam position and carries him up the steps. That was impressive.
Konnan is in the audience. Enos keeps destroying him as this has been one sided for the first two minutes or so. He throws Chavo in an over the shoulder backbreaker and then a powerslam for two. Chavo gets in a shot and puts on a weird looking figure four. Enos thumbs him in the eye and his partner Dick Slater comes in for some help. Slater tries a spinning toe hold but Chavo rolls him up and the referee wakes up to see Chavo pin the wrong man. It counts as the referee only saw legs in leather pants.
Rating: D+. This was pretty weird. I don’t get the point in not letting Chavo get a clean win over Enos. I mean….it’s Mike Enos. Does he need to be protected all of a sudden? The point of this was to have Chavo get a win to build him up for Page and while this does that, it’s kind of a weird way to get to that ending.
Chavo yells about Page after the match and says he can’t wait for his match with Page at Fall Brawl.
There’s an ad for Saturday Night and here’s something I didn’t know: Lex Luger is TV Champion. According to what I can find, Regal beat him on this Saturday for the title.
Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Mr. JL
Jerry Lynn. Rey is holding his chest after an arm drag that opens the match. Rey works on the arm and the chest might have just been selling. They’re starting a lot slower here so maybe they’re going to have some time to work with. Both guys get in some quick shots but nothing is substantial yet. Hulk Hogan is outside the arena and let’s go look at them and the Outsiders. They go over to the Turner truck and spray paint NWO on the side of it.
After a minute of that, back to our wrestling match. Tony insists there is no fourth man and let’s watch more production truck painting. Rey has on a camel clutch which is a weird look for him. We take a break and come back with JL holding an abdominal stretch. Tony says that was vandalism. THEN WHY DON’T YOU HAVE THEM ARRESTED??? You have them on tape but the cops are never going to be called are they? This would get pushed to even dumber levels when the Steiners were almost murdered but we’ll get to that later.
Rey takes over with a flip dive and Malenko is here scouting for their title match at Fall Brawl. That match wouldn’t happen for some reason, I’d bet on an injury. Tony gives the false line about the WCW Title dating back to 1905. JL fakes Rey out and takes over. A sitout powerbomb gets two on Rey. Another attempt is countered into a sunset flip for two by Rey.
JL puts on a Boston Crab as Larry talks about how different sizes of necks are easier or harder to hurt. It’s off to a half crab now. We begin the countdown for hour #2 as JL gets a two count on a belly to back suplex. Rey rolls through something to get two. LET THE FIREWORKS BE LAUNCHED!!! They seem to energize Rey as he sends JL to the floor but is sent into the post to give JL the advantage again. Rey hooks a headscissors to send him flying up the aisle. Back in Rey sends him in and hits what we would call the West Coast Pop for the pin.
Rating: B-. Pretty good match here but it was like a car that kept trying to start but couldn’t quite get the engine going. It’s not bad but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from these two. The ending came from absolutely out of nowhere. The idea was supposed to be Rey escaping with a win I think, but it didn’t quite come off like that, partially due to the slower pace of this one.
Mongo and Benoit talk about Sting and Luger. They’ve changed their minds about who should be in WarGames.
We get a clip from two weeks ago with Hogan popping Savage in the back with the chair. This leads to the backstory of Savage vs. Giant. This leads to Savage saying he’ll win the title at Halloween Havoc and he’ll beat Giant at Fall Brawl.
Jim Duggan vs. The Giant
The bell is after a break. Duggan charges into him and that doesn’t work. Hart grabs his leg and the chase is on. Duggan throws Jimmy’s jacket at Giant and it actually works, letting him get in some shots. Heenan, ever the brilliant one, says that Hogan wants to get his hands on the Outsiders. Duggan keeps firing off shots and makes Giant slam into the post. The ring actually moved.
The problem is that Giant is getting mad and clotheslines Duggan on the top rope. The announcers say there is no fourth or fifth man and Duggan is caught in a bearhug. After he gets bored of that he changes over to ram into Duggan in the corner like…well like he would do as Big Show. Someone is here and the crowd looks at him: it’s Ted DiBiase. This would be the best thing that ever happened to the WWF which I’ll explain in a minute. Giant misses an elbow and Duggan goes for the tape but it has no effect. A second shot knocks Giant back a bit. And there’s a chokeslam and pin.
Rating: C-. Duggan tried and that makes this match work. Giant sold the punches and the DiBiase factor helped make this exciting. It’s not like it’s a classic or anything but the little (as in Duggan) guy chopping away at the monster is a cool thing to see, even if the match wasn’t a contest at all. Nothing great but it was what it was and the ring moving spot was very cool.
As for DiBiase, the reason it was such a great thing for WWF is he had been managing Austin and when DiBiase was gone, there was nothing for Austin to do so they threw their hands up and said let Austin be himself, which is a Texas redneck. The rest is history.
DiBiase holds up four fingers then says next week and holds up a fifth finger. Eric, ever the moron, thinks Ted is the fifth Horseman and is going to come out of retirement. Yeah because the Horsemen have been talking about bringing in a fifth guy so much right? It’s not like there’s another group with three guys that have been talking about adding a fourth and fifth right?
Giant talks about getting the title shot against Hogan and beating Savage to get that shot.
Ric Flair/Arn Anderson vs. Rock and Roll Express
Bischoff still thinks DiBiase will be the fifth Horseman. Thankfully he figures out the NWO idea and Heenan dismisses it. The Express speed things up and hit the double dropkick on Flair which if this was ten years earlier would have blown the roof into orbit. Gibson gets caught in the Horsemen corner and Flair hammers away. It’s weird seeing Gibson being the one being beaten down.
Flair and Anderson double team as only the Horsemen can do. Heenan has gotten to the point where DiBiase will be in the cage match at WarGames. Hot tag to Morton minus the crowd heat and he cleans house. He and Flair mistime something as Morton is waiting on a move but Flair stays in the corner. Everything breaks down and Morton is PLANTED by the DDT and we’re done.
Rating: C. It’s just a squash but seeing the Express as jobbers is always weird. They would pop in every few months, usually losing to this team. Also it was weird seeing Gibson being the one that was in there the majority of the match. There’s only so much you can say about a squash though so we’ll call this one fine.
Anderson says the NWO’s time is almost up. He knows we won’t see the Outsiders again tonight because we know they’re here now and we won’t see them face anyone like men. Flair insists Hogan gave up at the Clash.
Glacier is coming. That would be in two weeks.
Alex Wright vs. Chris Jericho
Here’s your other debut. Jericho is a face here and they start off exchanging some speed moves with both attempting dropkicks at the same time. Jericho takes him down with an armbar and is already telling the referee to ASK HIM. Spinewheel kick (called an elbow by Eric) takes Wright down and the springboard dropkick (called an inverted dropkick by Eric) sends Jericho to the floor.
Jericho plays to the crowd but takes too long and jumps into a dropkick for Wright to take over. A spinning cross body off the top gets two. Jericho gets launched over the top and might hit his feet on the steps. Wright dives over the top and goes face first into the guardrail. Wright can’t get back in but Jericho says he doesn’t want to get the win that way and asks for a no contest, which he is granted.
Rating: C+. Interesting debut here for the Ayatollah as he is clearly a face and wouldn’t take what likely would have been a countout win. He had a lot of his trademark moves down already like ASK HIM and the springboard dropkick so he had a lot of the tools already. He’s more known for his heel stuff though so we’re a little bit away from that. Still though, good stuff.
Jericho says he’s not accepting a win like that because that’s not the best of his ability. Somebody might have taken that win and that’s Hogan. The fans are booing this as Jericho says the two of them will fight for WCW.
Steiner Brothers vs. Blue Bloods
The bell rings immediately as we get back. It’s Taylor/Eaton in this incarnation. They’re arguing over who starts so Rick rams their heads together. Eaton winds up starting and gets suplexed by Rick. He cleans house and the Steiners do their pose. The Blue Bloods get in another argument and Scott is in there all of 5 seconds. Eric runs down the card for Fall Brawl which includes Benoit vs. Jericho. The Blue guys try a Doomsday Device but with a cross body instead. Rick lands right on his head in a SCARY bump. He’s perfectly fine and rolls through for the pin. There might have been 90 seconds of contact here.
Taylor beats up Eaton post match. Or does Eaton beat up Taylor? They fight either way.
The Steiners say they’ll win the titles at Fall Brawl. Rick gets his PPVs wrong.
Steve McMichael/Chris Benoit vs. Sting/Lex Luger
It’s a brawl to start with Benoit going beast mode on Sting. Mongo gets taken down by Luger and they’re officially starting. Off to Benoit with the Horsemen in control. Neckbreaker and legdrop get two. Back to Mongo who has improved to the point where he looks a lot more comfortable in the ring. He has the basics down now which he didn’t have at all to start.
Hot tag to Sting who pounds away on Benoit. I didn’t realize he was that much bigger than Chris. He loads up the Scorpion but Mongo breaks it up. Luger is finally getting up but Mongo posts him to stop that. A top rope splash eats knees as does the swan dive. Hogan is here and Mongo gets him in his sight. Hogan has spray paint in his hand. The Outsiders jump Monogo and the match is thrown out.
Rating: D+. The match was really just there as a means to get us to the post match stiff which is something that is going to become really common on Nitro. Benoit was really intense here and pounding away on Sting a lot. Mongo….he’s improved a lot but that’s not saying much considering how bad he was to start. He looks watchable out there now though which is a big step up. He’d never get much better though.
Mongo gets beaten down and might be the first recipient of the paint job. Razor’s Edge to Benoit and a Jackknife to Sting. Flair and Anderson run out for the save but the numbers and spray paint catch up to them. The crowd is way into this. Both guys take paint in the eyes and Flair has his hair painted. The NWO storms the broadcast booth and spray paint the WCW sign to end the show.
Overall Rating: B-. Still a good show but not as good as last week’s. Having the arrival of a lot of people and the further build to Fall Brawl was a good way to run the show tonight, especially with the addition of the fifth member next week. However around that point it starts to get out of control. Once Syxx arrives it goes downhill with the bodyguards and B-Team being brought in. Still though, this was a good show and it’s cool to see this while it lasts.
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