Nitro Charged: WCW Monday Nitro: July 1st, 1996

It's zero hour time. Bash at the Beach is on its way in one week as we kick off nitro. However, we open Nitro with Diamond Dallas Page brings up that his Lord of the Ring ring has been stolen. He wants the building shut down and everyone strip searched. He promises to play detective and get to the bottom of this tonight. We also get the recap of Harlem Heat winning the tag team titles amidst the fray of the end of last week's Nitro. Schiavone mentions that Hall and Nash will be here tonight, but still no word on the third man. Zybysko mentions that this Sunday will bring a new world order.

-WCW World Tag Team Titles: Harlem Heat vs The Steiner Brothers-

Booker is on the phone with someone as the pair make their way to the ring, with Tony and Larry assuming it must be Sister Sherri on the other line. Booker and Scott start things off with some shoves, following into a headlock and shoulder block spot. Booker blocks a hiptoss  and rams Scott into the buckle. Scott gets a boot and hits a belly to belly. He follows that with a press slam and a clothesline that sends Booker over the ropes. We see security sitting around ringside in case of any interference from Hall, Nash, or the third man.

We return from break with the Horsemen at Ric Flair's buffet table, watching the match as Stevie Ray clotheslines Rick Steiner. Rick gets in a German suplex and covers, but Booker breaks it. Tag to Scott. who tries a backslide, but barely gets a one. He does hit a belly to belly. Tags to Rick and Booker as we see Colonel Parker at ringside holding his wallet. Rick Steiner lands some clotheslines, but Booker comes back with a Harlem Side Kick. Booker follows with a cross body off the top for two. Booker goes up again, but Rick counters into a belly to belly off the second buckle. Slow cover, but Booker kicks out.

Underhook powerbomb by the newly tagged Scott. Stevie gets a knee to Scott's back as Booker hits a mafia kick. Tag to Stevie who hits a powerslam and an elbow, covering for two. Tag back to Booker as Stevie hits a sidewalk slam and Booker lands a really nice top rope splash. Cover, but Rick makes the save. Scott ducks a clothesline and both men collide. Tag to Rick who cleans house. Powerslam on Stevie, but Booker breaks it. Both Steiners brawl as Scott hits a stiff frankensteiner. Scott covers, despite not being legal. Stevie brawls with Scott on the outside while Rick hits the bulldog. They go for the top rope bulldog, but Colonel Parker lays Rick out with his walking stick. Cover and the three as Harlem Heat retain.

A really good opener. Lots of fast paced work, barely any "face in peril" work and the right kind of length for a tag title opener. Even Stevie Ray was decent in this match, and praising Stevie Ray isn't something I do often, let me tell you that. The Colonel Parker stuff is intriguing at the very least. Considering the original plan in 1993 was for them to essentially be prisoners bought by Parker in a card game. Because let me remind you that wrestling has always been racist nonsense.

Mean Gene heads to the buffet table as he interviews the Horsemen, Debra, Elizabeth and Woman. He mentions the attack on Joe Gomez and Renegade from Nitro a few weeks back as well as the attack on the Rock and Roll Express last week. Debra says that her husband is one of the best athletes ever and she's high maintenance, but he'll be making more money here than in the NFL. That doesn't explain the attacks, but okay. Elizabeth rubs in that there's plenty of money to go around from you know who (Savage). Arn says is that they're not the supreme court, but they do run the wrestling world. For the first time since the mid-eighties, the Four Horsemen will come together against Gomez, Renegade and Rock and Roll. Benoit says he's silent but violent. Mongo says he's played for seedier people in Chicago, and money makes the monkey dance. When told that Randy Savage is being restrained, he gets on the table and starts to woo.

Glacier Promo. We've done it people, we've made double digits! Ten weeks and counting since the promos began airing, and despite the advertisement saying July 1996, don't hold your icy breath on that.

-Kurasawa VS Disco Inferno-

Disco dances in the ring before cutting the music. He asks the fans if they want to see him dance (they kind of already did), so he plays his music, only to be interrupted by Kurasawa's theme. Some arm work from both men early on. Kurasawa catches Disco with a kick to the midsection. Both men exchange some taunts with Disco showing off his best Karate Kid taunts. But his best kung fu attempts is met with a stiff chop to the chest. Kurosawa sends Disco to the outside. Disco kicks the steps and injures his foot. Kurasawa brings him back in, and hits a Samoan drop. He stomps Disco and lands a big kick. He follows with a back drop. Suddenly Disco's music starts playing.

Suddenly someone in an Elvis jumpsuit shows up while the disco ball comes down. Disco hits Kurasawa with the disco ball and gets the cheap win. Fun little match, but felt like it lost its place by the end.

-Scotty Riggs VS Diamond Dallas Page-

Page is still angry over his missing Lord of the Ring. We cut to Hacksaw Jim Duggan who says that he doesn't wear no rings, no earrings, no necklaces. Just a roll of tape and a 2 X 4. Page throws Riggs into the buckle and hits a back suplex. Riggs catches a cross body, but Page comes back with a punch to the face. He's still screaming over his ring as he continues offense. Page goes the IRS route of the abdominal stretch with the held rope. Eventually referee Nick Patrick kicks him off, allowing for Riggs to get a hiptoss.

 Stunner-like Jawbreaker by Page follows. Riggs tries a sunset flip, but Page punches him. Only to weakly cover and gets rolled up by Riggs for two. Pumphandle slam into a backbreaker. He teases a second, but Riggs conters into a roll up for two. Dropkick by Riggs sends Page outside. Springboard cross body by Riggs on the outside. He throws Page back in and hits a headbutt. Cover, but Page gets the foot on the rope. Page turns a slam into a Diamond Cutter. Cover and the three in a decent match. Page continues to improve every week in innovating counters into the diamond cutter.

Mean Gene interviews an annoyed Diamond Dallas Page who says that everyone in WCW are jealous about him. When it comes to the taped fist match with Duggan, he says if he catches him with the diamond cutter, it's over. He starts to check the pockets of Okerlund who seems legit annoyed by this.

-Greg "The Hammer" Valentine VS "Macho Man" Randy Savage-

Savage has on the Sting war paint as he heads to the ring. He then goes to the buffet table and throws the food around.  Back and forth early on mixed with some stalling. In other words, any other Savage match. Valentine hits an ax handle off the second rope. He follows with some forearms in the corner. Savage gets a boot and drops an ax, covering for two.  Savage rams Valentine into the rail, but upon returning to the ring, Valentine throws him out and follows with a barricade smash of his own.
He lands an elbow drop to the floor and returns to the ring. Savage slowly crawls the apron, but Valentine lays in some elbows to the neck. Valentine continues working on Savage, landing a rib breaker, covering for two. Tony and Larry suggest that maybe Valentine is the third man. Meanwhile, Savage regains control and goes for an ax handle, only for Valentine to get a shot to the midsection. Back suplex as both men collapse. Savage bounces back up and hits an elbow drop. Cover and the three right as the second hour begins. An okay match, but very basic Macho Man stuff.

Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan take the table for hour two. Security surrounding the announce table since this is Eric's first appearance since being put through the tables at The Great American Bash. He asks Nash who he was trying to impress, because nobody is afraid of them. The crowd start to react as sure enough, Hall and Nash come through the crowd, holding popcorn and cola. Security tells them to leave, but they flash their tickets. So their appearance is totally legal.

-WCW World Heavyweight Championship: John Tena VS The Giant-

Up next, it's Sharkquake challenging The Giant for the WCW Title.  Tenta is still without music, and still sporting half a haircut. Giant lands a headbutt early on. An exchange of strikes between both big men with Tenta getting contol with a whip to the buckle and a corner splash. He stalls on a second, getting caught with a clothesline. More security is on the way to ensure Hall and Nash don't jump the rail. Giant chokes Tenta wtih his boot in the corner and hits some more punches. Easy scoop slam on the Sharkquake and drops a headbutt to the lower region.

Giant continues to strike on Tenta, keeping the offense. Giant thrusts his hips into Tenta in the corner, then boots him down. Tenta rakes the face, but Giant continues to lay elbows. Tenta eventually comes back with clotheslines, including one off the middle rope. A dropkick takes Giant to the ground. Jimmy Hart and Kevin Sullivan distract Tenta, allowing for Giant to hit a chokeslam for the win in a slow, slow match.

Bubba grabs the clippers and now adds to his shave job on Tenta by shaving half of his beard off. After they leave Tenta in the ring, the Dungeon of Doom are interviewed by Okerlund. Jimmy Hart says that this is an example of what will happen to Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit. Bubba said that he busted Tenta with nickels a few weeks ago, and at Bash at the Beach, he'll do worse in the silver dollar on a pole match. Giant says that Tenta's first fatal mistake was leaving the Dungeon of Doom. The chokeslam was the price he had to pay, next Bubba will shave his entire body. He says the Horsemen are jealous, since he has the title. He promises to leave the Four Horsemen as four geldings at Bash at the Beach.  Sullivan is clearly distracted by something (Hall and Nash I guess?) and just walks off.

We get a hype video for Rey Mysterio Jr. Mostly showing off his work against Malenko  both at the Great American Bash and the episode of Nitro the night after. But never mind that, as Hall and Nash grab a mic and walk their way to the broadcast table. They mock Bischoff for his fall at the Bash as Security swarm the two (Nash dropping a really noticable F bomb). Savage, Sting and Luger show up along with the Steiners. DDP, The Dungeon of Doom and more begin to come out as Hall and Nash are held back. A paranoid Heenan brings up that this might not be over. The third man could still be here.

Mean Gene is here to interview Hacksaw Jim Duggan, who apparently needed to tell us that he took a dump. Lovely. But in his turd turmoil, he just happened to find the DDP's Lord of the Ring (Mean Gene slips up and says it's the King of the Ring). He promises to bring it back to Page if he wants it back this Sunday. This leads to Page storming the ring and calling Hacksaw a thief. He throws the ring and then socks him with the wrapped fist, like a face does.

-Joe Gomez, Renegade & The Rock and Roll Express VS The Four Horsemen-

Our main event begins with a big brawl between all eight men. The faces control the ring while the Horsemen regroup. When things calm down it's Flair and Ricky Morton to get things started proper. Flair struts his stuff and takes Morton to the corner with a stiff chop. Morton comes back with a whip to the corner, a back drop, and a hurricanrana. Double dropkick by Morton and Gibson. cover for two. Gibson comes in, as does Arn. Arn works the midsection, but gets caught with an enziguri. Tag to Benoit. Headlock and shoulder block spot followed by a hiptoss by Gibson.

Tag to Plain old Rick. Benoit chops Renegade into the Horsemen corner and beats him down. Tag to Ric who lays in a chop. Renegade lands some clotheslines and tags in Gomez. Ric retreats, but Gomez gets him with some punches in the corner and a patented Flair corner flip. Back body drop and a cover only gets two for Gomez. Thumb to the eye by Flair who tags Benoit back in. Super stiff chops and stomps in the corner from Benoit. He throws Gomez to the Horsemen corner as we finally see Mongo get the tag in. Stiff forearm from Mongo followed by a some hairpull slams. Tag to Flair who hits another chop and a knee drop. Cover only gets a two.

Tag to Arn. Gomez tries a sunset flip, gets an assist from Morton with a punch, but only gets a two. Arn comes back with a beautiful spinebuster. Cover, but it's quickly borken up. Tag to Benoit. Gomez gets a backslide, but Benoit quickly gets up and punches the everloving hell out of Gomez. Tag to Ric who continues the peppering. Figure Four is turned into a roll up, but Flair kicks out at two. Arn comes in and stun guns Gomez into the ropes. Tag back to Ric who drops the knee to Gomez's knee. Tag to Benoit who drops his weight on the injured leg. Back in goes Mongo who drops Gomez with a slam and an elbow.

Tag to Arn, but Gomez gets a knee lift. Tag to Ric who boots Gomez into the tag of Renegade who cleans house on Flair and Benoit. Powerslam connects. Renegade goes up, but Mongo throws the briefcase, knocking him off the buckle. Figure Four gets the win for the Horsemen in a squash of a main event.

Another interview with the Horsemen as Mongo says that he doesn't care about Mike Ditka, this is his team right here. Benoit says that he hasn't beaten Sullivan enough and promises the title will be back where it belongs when they beat the Giant. Arn says that they're back at full strength and heads are gonna roll. Flair is interviews about his match with Konnan and he says that the Nature Boy will become the U.S. Champion one more time. Gene has lost full control of the promo as we go to break. We return with Bischoff giving off one more big shill for the Bash at the Beach and the six-man tag as we end the show with Hall and Nash being driven out of the arena by security. Hall and Nash hop in their car and leave as we fade to black.

This was a really good episode of Nitro. The in-ring was okay enough, with the strongest match easily being the opener with The Steiner Brothers taking on Harlem Heat. Kurasawa and Disco was chuckle worthy, DDP looked good in his match with Scotty Riggs, Giant and Tenta was an okay enough squash, Savage was Savage, and the Horsemen looked like beasts in the main event tag match. But what was the highlight of the show was everything involving Hall and Nash. They were used perfectly in this match as it was obvious that their mission was to antagonize and cause panic as we're only a week away from Bash at the Beach. There was good build on that, the ambiguity of the mysterious third man, and the feel that these guys, more than anybody else who has stepped foot into WCW, are legitimate threats. This angle has been a masterfully booked piece of television. And that's enough to earn this Nitro a solid A rating for this week.

WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #39: NITRO

Raw was also pretty good this week, with a great Shawn/Marty match, some good heel work from Jerry Lawler and a solid enough main event with Goldust and Marc Mero. But Nitro just felt like a bigger show this week with everything feeling like it has major stakes into the future of WCW. You can't help coming out of this show and actually feeling hyped for Bash at the Beach. Win #23 for Nitro.

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
April 1st, 1996
April 15th, 1996
May 27th, 1996
June 23rd, 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
April 22nd, 1996
April 29th, 1996
May 6th, 1996
May 13th, 1996
May 20th, 1996

June 3rd, 1996

June 10th, 1996
June 17th, 1996
July 1st, 1996