With Starrcade coming closer, Nitro is live once again in Augusta, Georgia. It's Bischoff, Heenan, Mongo (and Pepe) at the table bringing us info on tonight's show. Our main event of the evening is "Macho Man" Randy Savage defending his WCW title against The Giant. But never mind all that...
The former Alundra Blayze shows up at the announce position. She says that her name is Madusa and it's always been Madusa. She holds up the WWF Women's championship and...
Throws it in a trash can. She says that she used to be called Alundra Blayze, but now she's here where the big boys play, and now it's also where the big girls play.
So, what just happened? How did that just happen? Well, as stated on the December 11th Raw review the women's division of the WWF was discontinued as Alundra Blayze was fired. Eric Bischoff, seeing this as a perfect opportunity to get people talking, suggested Debrah Micelli (Blayze/Madusa's real name) bring the belt to Nitro and pull this stunt. This stunt would lead Micelli to be blacklisted by the WWF for almost 20 years until she was brought back to the company in 2015 with her induction to the WWF Hall of Fame. It's almost a weird sense of schadenfreude to see the WWF be embarrassed like this after choosing to kill off one of the best parts of their product in the mid-90's.
We're not done with the announce position as we have NFL legend William "The Refridgerator" Perry. He gives Heenan one hell of a handshake.
Opening action for Nitro is Ric Flair taking on Eddie Guerrero. After a bit of stalling early on, the two finally lock up, and exchange some holds but Eddie continues to escape Flair's attempts. Eddie whips Flair, but Flair stops momentum, only for Eddie to kit a dropkick. Slap to Flair by Eddie who pulls a patented Flair strut to some heat. Flair exits the ring for a second, then comes back and tries to get offense on Eddie, but Eddie reverses and lands some dropkicks. Flair avoids a dropkick and tries a figure four, only for Eddie to get a roll up for two.
Backslide by Eddie, but Flair kicks out at two. Flair takes Eddie to the corner and hits a chop. Eddie reverses a whip to the corner, but eats a boot from Flair. Flair follows up with an exposed knee drop. He chops Eddie some more in the corner as Eddie fights out. Eddie blocks a clothesline and follows with a safe looking back drop. He hits a beautiful tornado DDT. Cover, but Flair kicks out at two. Rope jump hurricanrana by Eddie who covers for two. Eddie goes back up, but Flair falls to the rope, sending Eddie crashing on the outside, hurting his knee. Flair stomps the knee into the guardrail and hits a couple chops. He brings Eddie back in and continues stomping the leg. Figure Four by Flair (with some assist from the ropes) as Eddie tries to fight out. But eventually Eddie passes out, giving Flair the win. A good match between two greats, but I wish there was more fire to it.
Mean Gene is with Arn and Flair as Flair continues to stomp on Eddie. Arn says that they are on a roll. Last Saturday was Johnny B. Badd, last Monday was Paul Orndorff and tonight it's Eddie Guerrero. Arn says he respects Orndorff but the law of physics says that every action has an opposite and equal reaction. The Horsemen have two ground rules, don't put personal achievement ahead of the group, and if you jump on one of them you jump on all of them.
Before Flair can speak, Sullivan and Jimmy Hart interrupt the Horsemen. He talks about how Pillman bad mouthed the Dungeon of Doom last week. They better keep Pillman on a short leash, or he'll be looking for him. Arn says that if they come looking for Pillman, they might just find Flair and Anderson. Sullivan says there are no allegiances in WCW and leaves.
Sgt. Craig "Pitbull" Pittman comes up to the announce booth. He asks Bobby Heenan to manage him, to which Heenan says that he doesn't manage anymore, but he does promise that he can give him someone to help. Pittman says that if he doesn't get a manager soon, he's not going to take any prisoners.
Lex Luger's in action next against American Males member Marcus Alexander Bagwell. Hiptoss by Luger early on. Elbow to the back of the head by Luger. Bagwell reverses a whip and hits a really slow monkey flip, a dropkick and a hiptoss. Luger tries to cool down on the apron, but gets dropkicked off. Luger comes back in and rams Bagwell into teh buckle. Scotty Riggs makes it to ringside to support Bagwell, who stops a ram into the buckle and gives on to Luger. Luger whips Bagwell to the buckle, but misses an elbow strike. Strikes by Bagwell followed by a back body drop and some clotheslines. Luger reverses a whip, but Bagwell hits a forearm. Splash attempt, but Luger gets knees to the ribs of Bagwell. Powerslam followed by a torture rack gets a win for Luger in a quick match. Kinda slow, but inoffensive.
Mean Gene interviews Luger and Jimmy Hart. Hart says again that Luger is the uncrowned champion. Luger says he's breathless with anticipation as he plows through every star in WCW. He brings up again about how if not for Hulk Hogan he would be champion. He promises to become champion soon.
Up next, it's Earl Robert Eaton (with Jeeves) taking on Sting. Arm drag early on from Sting. Headlock by Eaton is turned into a monkey flip from the Stinger. Sting plays to the crowd a bit as we get some more stalling. Sting works the arm some more, but Eaton gets in some strikes, including a punch to the jaw. He chokes Sting on the ropes and gets in a headlocked punch. Snapmare and a cover only gets two for Eaton. He then goes into an arm bar. Sting lands some forearms, and a hiptoss, only to get caught in a backbreaker. Eaton goes to the top and tries a flying knee drop, but Sting avoids contact. Stinger splash connects. Sting then finishes off with the Scorpion Death Lock for the quick win in a simple match.
Mean Gene is with Sting. He talks about the triangle match at Starrcade, to which Sting says that everyone knows what he thinks about Ric Flair. But as it comes to his best friend Lex Luger, he's not happy about his comments about "going through all the talents". All he's gotta say is that he's been champ five times and he wants to make it six.
Main event time is up next. The Giant challenges WCW champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage for the championship. Savage ducks offense early on, using quickness over force. He gets Giant in the corner and lands some elbows and tries for the sleeper. Giant makes it to the ropes, but Savage keeps the hold locked in. Giant finally throws him off. Savage comes back by kneeing Giant into Jimmy Hart. He tries a slam, but Giant swats him down. Hard whip to the buckle, a boot and a big elbow to the back of the head.
Another whip to the buckle and a low boot to the gut. Big body slam by Giant. He then locks in a bearhug as we go to break. When we return, Giant is still in control, slamming Savage to the mat. He tries a chokeslam, but Savage begins to rake the eyes (like a face would). Clothesline knock down spot, but on the third clothesline, Giant catches Savage and hits a backbreaker. Cover, but Savage gets hit foot on the ropes. Double hand choke slam sends Savage rolling out of the ring.
Giant lifts Savage over his head and throws him in the ring. Giant then goes to the top rope for a very awkward splash (scarily he nearly falls off), but Savage dodges. Savage follows up with a patented elbow drop. Cover, but Giant throws him off forcefully at two. Savage rolls to the outside and Giant continues offense. He pulls out the ring mat and Goes for a suplex
But Savage makes the save on the rope, causing Giant to hit the floor. Giant recovers, and hits a big chokeslam and a leg drop . We're having a great match.
And here comes Hogan-Senpai to ruin it. He clobbers everyone with a chair. Giant, Sullivan, even the referee (all this, might I add, while under some weird form of probation). Mongo and Refrigerator Perry play peacemaker, and Hogan just goes ahead and smacks Perry with a chair (which Perry mostly no-sells). Hogan yells at the two of them and goes to check on Savage.
Mean Gene is with Hogan who is still crying about everyone getting a title shot but him. Flair's on probation and he's getting one, Giant's on probation and he got one. Wah wah wah, brother! Giant heads to the ring, but Pittman and Taskmaster hold him down.
But Hogan continues playing chair whack-a-mole. Then he goes back in the ring and says "Ooh Yeah"! Savage's catchphrase! What in god's name is going on? Savage says he needed Hogan's help tonight, but Hogan sure didn't need his. Hogan says it's all going crazy in the WCW, and he's sick of the probation. His name is still on that belt (It's been two damn months now!), he wants a match. Savage says that he has to defend against Flair next week on Nitro, and Hogan says good luck. What is he just gonna smash Flair with a steel chair too? Savage says that if and when he wins at Starrcade, he will give Hogan a title shot right after. Hogan says he has respect for William Perry and Mongo, but don't get in his or Savage's arena, because he'll destroy them too. Full on Prick Hogan in motion.
I enjoyed this Nitro a bit more than the last few weeks. Hogan's pissing and moaning soured it, but I can't help but find some humor in his smashing everyone with chairs like some red and yellow whirling dirvish. This Nitro also earns some big points for the Madusa trash can incident and a really good Giant/Savage match despite the mess of an ending. As for the rest of the show, Sting/Eaton and Luger/Bagwell were pretty bland and I wish Guerrero/Flair had more heat to it. And we mercifully didn't spend every minute of this show postulating on what side Lex Luger is on, which is a massive plus. Overall, this Nitro earns a B.
After a few weeks of Raw creeping up, it was Nitro making a comeback this week. Raw played it safe with some simple matches coming off of In Your House 5 and continued the sappy Shawn Michaels pity party. Over on Nitro however, there was far more intrigue with Madusa throwing the WWF Women's title in the trash can, and Hogan killing people while kvetching over not getting a title match is somewhat fun to watch. In the end, Nitro had more to offer this week, and it's back on track with its eigth win. Next week, Nitro goes unopposed so this means that we end 1995 with Nitro earning more wins for better product than Raw. What does that say for 1996? We'll find out soon.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #15: NITRO
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