Nitro Charged!: WCW Monday Nitro: October 2nd, 1995

Nitro is mile high in Denver, Colorado.  I haven't made much mention to Mongo's pet Pepe. But before we can get to mentioning the crap he has his dog wearing, Ric Flair comes up to the announce desk and promises a mile high night for Arn Anderson because tonight Ric gets his chance at a rematch against his former Four Horsemen protege. We also recap the heated confrontations with Lex Luger and Randy Savage, leading to our opening match of the evening. If Luger loses, he leaves WCW.

Luger and Savage lock up and are pulling at each other for a good minute until the two men tumble to the outside and continue to lock up as we go to break. When we return, Savage is back in the ring, inviting Luger to come on back. Luger throws Savage into the corner and gives a flex. Savage throws Luger in the corner and lands an elbow. Luger makes his escape, but Savage gives chase. He tries for a suplex, but Luger turns it around into a neckbreaker on to the mat. Luger takes Savage back in, but Savage rolls him into a small package for two. Luger presses Savage over his head and slams him to the mat.

Savage gets a boot in on Luger (who gives an overselling yell) and attempts a backslide, but Luger turns it around,  but eventually Savage tries to get him down, only for Luger to use his ropes to block. Luger goes for a backslide of his own, covering for two. Both men collide into each other. Savage recovers first and goes to the top rope, only to be caught with a shot to the midsection by Luger. Savage throws Luger to the outside and lands an ax handle off the top buckle. He then drops Luger throat first into the steel guardrail. Savage gets a knee to the back and whips Luger into the buckle, only for Luger to crash into the referee. Savage goes up top for the elbow and connects, covering, but there's no referee.

The Giant shows up again and attacks Savage with the chokeslam. He makes his exit as Luger locks in the torture rack for the win.  I really enjoyed this match. It wasn't any technical marvel, but it worked to sell the bad blood between both men and how evenly matched they are. Plus we continue to question where Luger's loyalties lie as we get more interference from the Dungeon of Doom with Luger untouched this week.

Disco Fever! Disco Fever! We're supposed to have a match between Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero, but instead we have Disco Inferno dancing like a fool. However, Guerrero is quick to spoil the party. Eddy yells at Disco as he heads to the ring. Eddy Guerrero, undoubtedly the most famous of the legendary Guerrero wrestling family taking on "the man of 1000 holds" Dean Malenko.

Malenko takes Guerrero to the corner. Eddy slaps him down and Dean just kips right back up. Test of strength by Eddy is countered into a monkey flip from Dean, but Eddy lands right on his feet. Malenko takes him down, but Eddy locks in a hammerlock. Shoulder block by Eddy, but Dean is quick to dodge offense and gets in a nice dropkick to the chest. Eddy reverses a whip, but Dean catches him. Both men attempt roll ups and headscissors. This is an amazing match so far...

Too bad we cut in the middle to focus on Hogan-Senpai! Despite Jimmy Hart's concerns, Hogan is hear to deal with that stinky giant, brother. Hogan's going to hunt the Giant down in Denver. This is literally two minutes of tv time when we should be focusing on technical talent in the ring.

Back ot action. Eddy dodges a full nelson, but Dean takes him down for a cover for two. Eddy reverses a whip, but Dean catches him as both men go to the outside. Slam to the outside by Eddy who goes up top and dives on to Dean on the outside. Eddy takes Dean back in and lands a brainbuster. He goes up top for the frog splash, but Dean gets his knees up. Back and forth switches, but Eddy gets the better, covering for three in an awesome back and forth exhibition. Shame they were interrupted by Hogan, and a shame it felt like it needed to be extremely rushed, but what we got was still epic work by technical wizards.

Mean Gene is in the ring to interview Hulk Hogan. Hogan had to do some soul searching, but after talking to a kid having a double lung surgery, he's ready to rip his shirt off and head to the back to rip apart the Giant. He slaps hands with fans at ringside.

But what's this!? An old lady throws powder into the eyes of Hogan and jumps the rail, while Gene screams "THERE'S A WOMAN! WITH A CANE!" The woman canes Hogan multiple times as the Zodiac and Giant make their way to the ring.

Why it was the Taskmaster all along. The Giant removes the neck brace of Hogan and twists the neck again. But that's not all, as Sullivan pulls out the clippers and shaves the iconic mustache of the Hulkster. The American Males try to make the save, but get destroyed. The Nasty Boys try their luck, only to eat more chokeslams. Heenan cackles as Hogan is laid out in the ring.

It's time for our main event. It's a rematch between Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Flair isn't stylin' and profilin' tonight, he's focused on revenge. Back body drop by Arn early on, who covers for two. He returns to the arm work much like back at Fall Brawl, locking a hammerlock. Flair takes Arn to the corner and lands a series of hard chops and punches to the face. Flair struts and lands a strike to the back. Flair goes for more chops, but Arn gets in a thumb to the eye.  He whips Flair over the ropes, but Flair sends Arn flying out of the ring.

Flair whips Arn hard into the guardrail. Flair tries to chop down Arn, but gets another thumb to the eye and a back body drop to the mat. Arn throws Flair into the ring as Flair begs off Double A. Arn hits more strikes, including a headbutt to the midsection. Flair gets in a thumb to the eye of his own, but Arn comes back with a spinebuster. Slow cover only gets a two count. Arn locks in a chicken wing arm bar. Flair turns things around into a sleeper, only for Arn to go for one of his own. Flair easily escapes and lands a back suplex.

Flair takes Arn to the corner, but eats an elbow to the face. However Flair is quick to get a back elbow in and locks in the figure four, only for Arn to quickly grab the rope. Flair goes up top, but Arn gets a shot to the midsection. Arn tries a piledriver to the outside, but Flair gets in a back drop, landing hard into the mat. Arn goes for a DDT back in the ring, but Flair grabs the rope to avoid it. He drives in some fists to the face of Arn and struts. Arn gets an elbow to the back of Flair's har and goes to the second rope. However Flair gets a chop in and locks in the figure four again.

Pillman shows up again and attacks Flair, causing the disqualification. Both Arn and Pillman attack Flair, stretching and stomping him down. The duo leave, satisfied with their assault. After the break, we learn that Ric Flair and Arn Anderson will wrestle again next week on Nitro inside a steel cage.  Plus Sting takes on Shark, plus Sabu vs Mr. J.L and Hark vs Big Bubba.

Another excellent episode of Monday Nitro. Savage and Luger served as a great brawl between two bitter rivals that continued to throw in the question of what Luger's ties to the Dungeon of Doom are. Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko put on a great technical showcase that sadly felt way too brief and was even more sadly interrupted by Hulk Hogan. Part of me got a great sense of joy watching his mustache get shaved off as we continue to see the Giant be built up as an unstoppable force. Arn and Flair was another solid match, though not as good as Fall Brawl, and ultimately just felt like the same outcome as that match. Overall, Nitro was a great show, an easy sit, and definitely worth the watch. Not perfect, and with some annoyances that bogged it down for me, it gets an A-.

WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #4: RAW

I feel Raw was a far better use of their hour this week. Mainly due to how I liked the continuing destruction of the Razor Ramon/1-2-3 Kid match as well as the excellent Bret Hart/Jean Pierre LaFitte match. It also flowed at a much better pace, making for an easier sit admittedly than Nitro this week. So, at this point, Raw is coming back, tying up Nitro in this war. Will things change next week as Raw has a big six-man tag and Nitro features Flair and Arn again inside the cage?