Clothesline by Hogan followed by some head punches. Arn tries to escape, but Hogan gets a knee in. He tries to throw Arn into the post, but Arn turns it around to a strike into the buckle. Flying clothesline by Arn is countered by Hogan who then chokes Arn and bites him, you know, like a hero. I nag on it, but I've never realized just how Hogan seems like the most successful babyface to wrestle with a heel moveset. Hogan hits a clothesline in the corner, then throws Arn over the ropes. Hogan then grabs a piece of shirt from the crowd and chokes Arn again.
Hogan brings Arn back in and Hits a punch to the head. Arn reverses a whip and catches Hogan's boot, only to be kicked away and his face constantly smacked into the mat. Loud "Hogan Sucks" chants start to rain as Arn gets in an elbow to the face and a knee drop. He tries to stomp Hogan, but Hogan grabs the foot and punches Arn back outside. Hogan gets a stomp to he groin and brings Arn back in. Thumb to the eye by Arn who whips Hogan in the corner, but again Hogan recovers with some knees. Arn tries a DDT, but Hogan does not go down. Instead he starts the hulk up. Whip and boot. Hogan plays to the crowd, then locks in a figure four.
Savage comes in and takes out Kevin Sullivan as the referee calls for the bell. Hogan things he's won, but instead the referee calls a DQ because he saw Savage in the ring. So Arn technically gets another win. Hogan cries in the ring as Arn wisely gets the hell out of here.
Up next, Alex Wright takes on Loch Ness. While I have some faith in Das Wunderkind to try to get a good match out of Haystacks, I foresee another Scotty Riggs situation. Wright tries to avoid contact early, then foolishly tries a hammerlock, only to be thrown off. He tries a waistlock, but he can't even get his arms around. Dropkicks in the corner by Wright, followed by a sleeper. Loch Ness then throws him off, and catches him in a bearhug. Wright breaks free and hits more dropkicks in the corner. He hits some running elbows, but gets caught with a weak boot an a dropping elbow that gets the win for Loch Ness in a "better, but still not good" match.
Up next, Brad Armstrong is in action against The Belfast Bruiser AKA Fit Finlay. Finlay takes Armstrong to the corner early, then begins to work the wrist. He then grinds at the face and follows with an elbow and a European uppercut. Headlock by Finlay followed by a takedown. He then continues to stretch Armstrong as "USA" chants can be heard from the crowd. Armstrong blocks a ram to the buckle with one of his own, but Finlay comes back super quick. Another headlock takedown and a shoulder block by Finlay, but Armstrong turns it into a hiptoss, covering for two.
Headlock takedown by Armstrong, but Finlay escapes. He pulls Armstrong out and smashes him face-first into the ring apron. Armstrong manages to throw Finlay outside, but Finlay grabs him and starts smashing the leg on the apron and the steel post. Back in the ring as Finlay puts in a leg lock, stretching it tightly. Armstrong breaks free, but sells the damage to the leg. Back body drop by Armstrong, who then hits a cross body that sends both men over the ropes. Both men get back in as Finlay tries a back slide for two. Armstrong boots Finlay out of the corner, then hits a facebuster and back suplex. Finlay catches him with a tilt-a-whirl slam and covers for the win in a solid match. A bit slow in spots, but both guys worked really good together.
It's main event time. The WCW title is on the line as Ric Flair (with Woman and Elizabeth) defends against Randy Savage. The WCW title finally doesn't have Hogan's name on it (took 'em five months), but now it has Savage's name on it during Ric Flair's current run. But, considering how fast title changes have been in WCW, this shouldn't surprise me at all at this point. And at least in this case they excuse it by saying that it's more mind games by Ric Flair. Savage spits at Flair then goes in, blocking a chop with several punches and throws to the corner, followed by a big back body drop.
Savage starts the corner punches, but Flair turns it around with an inverse back body drop, sending Savage rolling outside. Boot to the head by Flair who throws Savage over the guardrail, then hits some chops. Savage then chases Woman off up the entrance way, but then returns to the ring before he gets counted out, only to be elbowed by Flair. Flair distracts the ref as Woman rakes the eyes ("Eric Bischoff: I'm sure she used the fingernails to rake the eyes". No, she used her knuckles, clearly). Flair brings Savage back in and hits another chop.
Rights by Savage who throws Flair to the corner, but Flair hits an elbow and a patented Flair flop. Flair goes to the top rope, but Savage throws him off. Savage then locks in a figure four (both Savage and Hogan have been apeing the Figure Four lately). Flair grabs the ropes, forcing the break (after Savage keeps the pressure on for a lot longer than he should). Flair gets a knee to the midsection, but Savage comes back with a sleeper, only to be caught with a back suplex by Flair. Headlock and shoulder spot by Savage. Both men avoid contact until Flair lands a back elbow on the Macho Man.
Suplex by Flair, who lands hard on the back of his head. He follows with a kick to the midsection. Chops by Flair and punches by Savage. Flair damages Savage's knee, then locks in a figure four of his own. Savage manages to turn the lock around, forcing a break by Flair. Savage is still selling the weakened knee, but turns a hiptoss into a backslide for two. Savage blocks a right with one of his own and covers for two. Super stiff chop to the chest by Flair as Savage goes down like he took a gunshot. Savage begins no-selling damage however as he gets up from every chop and lands some stiff strikes of his own.
More corner punches by Savage, who then blocks Flair's inverse atomic drop attempt with another strike. Long back body drop by Savage who then gets Flair in the patented corner flip and clothesline spot. Savage then follows up with an ax handle. Elizabeth distracts the referee as Woman throws the shoe in. But Savage catches it and nails Flair. Cover, but Flair kicks out. While this is happening Sullivan is being chased at ringside by Hogan.
Arn comes in and hits a DDT on Savage while Hogan beats down on Sullivan. Cover by Arn gets the win for Flair as all hell is breaking loose. Flair and the rest take down Hogan, but a mysterious man in white shows up and attacks the heels. Why, it's a non-Zodiaced Brutus Beefcake. He chases the heels up the ramp while Hogan checks on Savage. Flair makes it up to the commentary table and yells that Hogan went down for the second time. But Beefcake chases them off.
Hogan starts yelling and crying some more that the Booty Man (Booty Booty Booty Man, if you will), can get it done. Yes, Ed Leslie is now the Booty Man. Savage wants his belt from Bischoff, but when Bischoff says no, Hogan almost decks him. The faces, ladies and gents. Hogan and Savage scream about a six man tag next week, and keeps screaming "Booty Booty Booty Booty Man" as we end Nitro.
A decent enough episode of Nitro this week. Arn and Hogan was basic Hogan stuff, Savage and Flair was really good, but once again devolved into bollocks and nonsense by the end, just to give us a debut of Ed Leslie's new stupid gimmick. Booty Man. Good lord, what were they huffing? Loch Ness is still a big pile of nothing, while Finlay and Brad Armstrong put in a good few minutes of stretching. Overall, while Nitro devolved into its usual chaos, it was still a far more compelling hour than last week's nonsense. B- is the rating this week.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #22: RAW
Billionaire Ted shlock aside, Raw was a stronger show this week coming off of In Your House 6. With good matches featuring Janetty and Ringmaster, Tatanka and Taker, and Razor and Goldust. It feels like they're going full bore into Wrestlemania with a lot of momentum. Nitro however, felt like a lot of the same matches and same chaos that we've gotten week after week. That's not always a bad week, but this week my interest was more tuned towards Raw. And thus Raw returns after a few weeks behind to earn their tenth win.
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