We're hot off the events of Uncensored 1996 with a big Nitro episode. Three title matches as Konnan defends his US title on the line against Mr. J.L, Sting and Luger defending against the American Males, and finally in our main event, we have The Giant challenging Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. But opening action is Randy Savage taking on The Belfast Bruiser. Both men exchange lock ups, but neither can get the other down. Headlock takedown by Finlay turned into a shoulder block and a quick cover for two. Finlay then locks in a sleeper hold only for Savage to break free. Savage takes Finlay to the corner with a shoulder block, but Finlay quickly takes him down, working in a stiff elbow to the nose.
Hard European uppercuts from FInlay. He tries to ram Savage into the buckle, but Savage counters with a ram of his own. Finlay begs Savage off, but Savage comes back with a slam to the mat, a clothesline and a running knee that sends Finlay out of the ring. Savage goes on the attack, but Finlay sends Savage crashing hard on the steel post. Finlay drops Savage throat-first on the guardrail. Finlay rams Savage's shoulder into the post, then throws him over the guardrail. Finlay brings Savage back in and hits a short arm clothesline, covering for two. Savage fights back with some shots to the midsection of FinlayHe throws Finlay to the buckle. Finlay crashes into the post, allowing Savage to hit the elbow drop for the win in a basic Savage brawl match.
Mean Gene is with WCW Champion Ric Flair (with Woman and Elizabeth). Flair says that tonight, they'll slave a real life walkin' talkin' fire breathing giant. When it's over, he'll look down at the giant and sing "I got the whole world in my hands". So that's where Bray Wyatt ripped that off from. On the subject of being knocked out by Lex Luger, he says he hasn't looked at Luger for what he is, a man who wants to be where he is. Luger, for the err in judgment, he's now on the long list of people who won't style and profile with the nature boy.
The first of our three title matches is up next. J.L taking on Konnan. Konnan whips J.L to the corner, but J.L jumps the ropes and rams Konnan's head into the buckle, then hits some fast headscissors that takes Konnan outside of the ring. He goes for a dive over the ropes, but Konnan escapes. Konnan returns to the ring and hits some arm drags, transitioning into a facelock, which J.L escapes. Lots of fast escapes and counters from J.L. DDT from Konnan who then plays to the crowd.
Flipping senton by Konnan who covers for two. Surfboard stretch on J.L from Konnan. While this is going down, the attention of the commentry team has changed to focusing on news backstage that Savage is kicking doors down to get his hands on Ric Flair. J.L turns things around into an arm bar then whips Konnan, only for Konnan to get another arm drag in. Full nelson by Konnan turned into another escape from J.L who hits a spin kick. So far it's been evenly matched. Chop in the corner and a whip by J.L. He goes up top and hits a missile dropkick on the back of the head. Cover, but Konnan gets the ropes.
Konnan reverses a whip and gets a stiff gutwrench powerbomb. Cover only gets a two. Gory special turned into a roll up by J.L for two. Konnan tries a monkey flip, but Konnan escapes, rolling J.L for two. Konnan goes up on the buckle, but J.L catches him witha middle rope DDT. Cover, but Konnan kicks out again at two. Konnan reverses a whip and catches J.L with an Alabama Slam and a roll up for the win in an okay enough match. Lots of good counters, but somehow not as exciting as I'd have hoped from both men.
DISCO FEVER! DISCO FEVER! BIG BROTHER BOOTY! It's our next match, Disco Inferno taking on the Booty Man. Disco takes Booty to the corner, only for Booty to escape him and essentially tell Disco to kiss his ass. This angers Disco who runs at Booty, only to be rammed into the turnbuckle. Jabs from Booty, followed by some atomic drops. We see the Booty Babe at ringside. She spanks Booty Man who rubs his ass some before punching Disco and hitting the high knee for the quick win. Thank god I'm not forced to watch a 18 minute Ed Leslie match two nights in a row.
Up next, we have tag team titles in action as The American Males take on Sting and Lex Luger. Seemingly at random, Eric Bischoff talks about how Tony Schiavone's real first name is Noah. Well that's definitely a factoid. More awesomeness from Luger as he heads to the ring. Whenever Sting is looking, Luger high-fives the crowd. When Sting turns his back, Luger is scowling and unwilling to touch the fans. Further proof that Vince booking Luger as a babyface felt like a big mistake.
Headlock by Luger on Riggs. Riggs escapes and hits several dropkicks. Back body drop follows. Luger tries to ram Riggs into the buckle, but Riggs comes back with a ram of its own. It proves ineffective as Luger comes back with a big clothesline. He attacks Bagwell who begins to brawl with Luger until both partners calm the situation down. Bagwell comes in an goes at Luger, who backs off. Tag to Sting. Shoudler block by Sting, and a big back body drop from Bagwell.
Bagwell tries to slam Sting, but the Stinger hits several slams of his own. After a show of respect, Bagwell tags in Scotty Riggs. Some arm work by Sting and a tag to Luger. Luger hits a couple strikes and tries a back drop, but Riggs leapfrogs and hits a slam. Tag to Bagwell as they hit a double hip toss. Splash by Bagwell who covers for two. Bagwell tries a slingshot cross body, but Luger evades, going in for the kill immediately with stomps and strikes. All while Sting looks on confused.
Bagwell ducks a clothesline and hits a forearm. Tags to Sting and Riggs. Sting hits a hiptoss, but Riggs comes back with a body slam. Small package from Riggs barely gets two. Riggs ducks a clothesline, but Sting comes back with a cross body for the win in a decent tag match. They booked both teams to feel evenly matched, but at least this didn't feel too lengthy. Post-match, Luger almost leaves with all three title belts, but hands Sting his tag belt. Sting raises the arms of the American Males while Luger celebrates on his own.
Up next is our main event. The WCW World Title on the line as the Giant takes on champion Ric Flair. Woman and Elizabeth throw the money of Randy Savage to the crowd. Savage tries to run at Flair, but security holds him back. Woman gives Savage a slap as Flair is all smiles. Flair tries to stare down Giant, but the Giant just shoves him with ease. Flair tries to regroup, then hit shoulder block, but no such luck. Giant press slams Flair and follows with another even more impressive press slam. Flair rolls out of the ring and starts to walk up the entrance way, but Giant grabs him and carries him right back in.
Flair continues to try to attack Giant, but nothing affects him. Nice vertical suplex from Flair. Flair dives at Giant, but gets caught in a rib breaker. Giant goes up top for a massive splash, but Flair rolls out of the way. However, the Giant remains unaffected from Flair's offense. Giant tries a corner splash, but Flair avoids again, sending the big man over the top rope. Flair then grabs a cord of some sort from Woman and begins to choke Giant with it.
With the Giant weakened for the first time, Flair thumbs his eye and starts hitting in punches. Giant swats him down, but flair is right back with more strikes. Low blow from Flair while the referee is distracted. Woman starts choking Giant with a cord (knowing how Nancy passed from being choked, this does kinda make me feel uneasy). Flair goes up and as always gets throws off the buckle. Giant takes the strap down and calls for the choke slam while Flair flops like a fish. Chokeslam from Flair. Elizabeth and Woman defend Flair while Arn shows up and hits Giant with a chair for the DQ.
HOWEVER, Kevin Sullivan grabs the chair from Arn and the Giant immediately thinks that the Taskmaster was the one who betrayed him. Clever. Giant chokeslams Sullivan while Arn laughs it off. Giant then goes after Arn and hits a chokeslam to the enforcer. Jimmy Hart tries to control the chaos while he himself is in a panic. Woman and Elizabeth are in a panic as well while the Giant just walks off pissed.
I enjoyed this episode of Nitro. First off, the lack of Hogan really made this an easy sit, but the in-ring was actually solid for the most part. Not perfect as J.L and Konnan was a bit messy and Savage and Finlay felt like every Savage singles match in WCW. But we got a mercifully brief Booty Man match, a decent tag title match and a really well booked title match. Everything played out well, Giant being near-unstoppable, Flair having to cheat at every turn to survive, and the ending which continues to cause dissension within the Dungeon of Doom. All really good stuff. For the Nitro after the dull Uncensored, we come back strong. Strong enough for a B+ rating.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #26: NITRO
Raw was a decent at best final show before Wrestlemania, but nothing within was truly that solid. Nitro however had an hour that flowed quite well and continued to build intrigue and further storylines. Plus it had Lex Luger, who has been the show MVP for months now. Nitro gets win number 14.
RAW:
September 25th, 1995
October 2nd, 1995
October 23rd, 1995
November 13th, 1995
November 20th, 1995
December 4th, 1995
December 11th, 1995
January 1st, 1996
January 22nd, 1996
February 19th, 1996
February 26th, 1996
March 11th, 1996
NITRO:
September 11th, 1995
September 18th-21st, 1995
October 9th, 1995
October 16th, 1995
October 30th, 1995
November 6th, 1995
November 27th, 1995
December 18th, 1995
January 8th, 1996
January 15th, 1996
January 29th, 1996
February 5th, 1996
March 18th, 1996
March 25th, 1996
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