Nitro is live from Jacksonville, Florida as things are getting hotter towards World War 3 and its massive 60-man battle royal, which is now for the recently vacated WCW title. We kick off Nitro with...
I have zero damn clue. Hogan has gone from emo to executioner. He wants Macho Man to bring hte head of Meng on a silver platter. Hogan feels a strange presence with Sting since he may have sided with Luger, but Hogan is focused on the hit list and will deal with the Stinger later. If Sting is with Sullivan, he'll be placed on the top of the list. Hogan has gone full on insane and I love it.
Speaking of Savage and Meng, this is our opening match for this edition of Nitro. Savage sneak attacks Meng to get the match started. He throws Meng out of the ring and rams him into the steps and ring post. Savage smashes Meng into the guardrail while Sullivan yells in anger at ringside. Back in the ring, Savage continues to choke and rake Meng. Body slam by Savage, who then sets up for the elbow. Sullivan tries to get involved, but gets knocked off the buckle by Savage. Savage goes up for an ax handle, but gets caught by Meng, who finally gains control.
Meng takes Savage to the outside and throws him into the barricade and steel post. He brings Savage back into the ring and takes him to the corner, ripping off his shirt and laying in chops and boots to the chest. He chokes Savage as Sullivan and Jimmy Hart mock the downed Macho Man. Meng continues the offense in the corner with some more hard chops and stomps. He lands a body slam and goes up top for the flying headbutt, but Savage avoids. He throws Meng into Hart and slams him down. Elbow drop gets the win for Savage in a decent enough, but like all Savage matches, rushed match.
The Dungeon of Doom show up after the match and continue the assault on Savage, with Lugaer injuring the arm by smashing around the ring. We go to break with Luger still dominant over Savage.
Up next, it's Kensuki Sasaki taking on the newest member of the Four Horsemen Chris Benoit. Benoit starts with some attacks on Sasaki, but Sasaki comes right back with a clothesline and suplex. Powerslam by Sasaki who covers for two. Sloppy elbow strike and a clothesline follow. Benoit tries to come back out of the corner, but Sasaki continues to work him down with a stiff bulldog that sees Benoit's head bounce off the mat. Hard body slam and a cover by Sasaki for two. Sasaki goes for a chinlock, then for a tilt-a-whirl, only for Benoit to counter with a cross body for a two count. An exchange of holds until Benoit gets in the triple German suplexes for the win in a really stiff encounter.
Up next, it's a television title match. TV Champ Johnny B. Badd defending against Eddie Guerrero (no longer written as Eddy). It's becoming evident to me that there's a lot of faith in Eddie and Benoit right now to be the work horses for Nitro. Back and forth early on as both men are evenly matched. Eventually, Badd catches Eddie with a back breaker. Cover only gets a two. Eddie ducks a clothesline and lands a headscissores and a trip, covering for one. Single-leg trip by Badd, who covers for one. Elbow to the face and a slingshot leg drop. Badd continues to cover Eddie, but he continues to kick out. Eddie uses the ropes to hit a hurricanrana, covering for two.
Eddie sets Badd up for a superplex, but Badd throws him off and hits a sunset flip off the top, but we get some more counters. Eddie lunges at Badd, but Badd dodges, sending him tumbling outside. Badd Mood (somersault plancha) over the top rope on to Eddie by Badd. He brings Eddie back in and goes for a slingshot, only for Eddie to dodge. Cover only gets a two for Eddie. Eddie rolls over on Badd and covers for two. Badd putts Eddie on his shoulders, but Eddie turns it into a roll up for two. Mahistrol cradle by Eddie for another two. Badd follows up with some stiff rights to Eddie. After some stalling, Eddie comes back with some punches, but it becomes a brawl between both men. Badd knocks down the ref to continue the punches as both men are laying fists. The ref separates them as things cool down.
Headlock by Badd is turned into a back suplex from Eddie, who follows with a slingshot senton. Cover only gets a two as there is only two minutes remaining. Eddie tries a tombstone piledriver, but Badd turns it around to one of his own. Cover only gets a two count (Undertaker would be taping his fists over this). Eddie comes back with a tornado DDT as a minute remains. Cover only gets a two however. Both men collide into each other as the time limit finally happens. Both men brawl as the bell rings.
Solid match. I liked the intensity, the fact that both men felt evenly matched (though Eddie's moves felt more crisp). I especially liked that this became more intense as it went on with both men just wanting to pound the crap out of each other. That feels particularly refereshing in a babyface vs babyface encounter. However, there were parts where it was way too obvious they were stalling for time to get to the draw decision, but otherwise I liked this and would love to see these two go at it again.
Mean Gene is with the Taskmaster, Jimmy Hart and The Giant. Kind of a retread going on with Hart talking about how they screwed Hulk Hogan. Only with Hart flaunting his former Hogan jacket. Sullivan brings up how he stayed up at night for 10 years thinking about how to kill Hulkamania, and now with World War 3's battle royal, he's assured that Giant is the odds on favorite. Giant says that when it's all said and done, there can be only one and that's him. The Hulk Hogan legend will end forever and he will be WCW champion forever.
Up next, it's the main event of the evening. Dean Malenko faces former WCW United States champion Sting (who had lost it just recently to Kensuke Sasaki in a New Japan event). The same Sting who left with Lex Luger last week and the same Sting who will have to face Hulk Hogan next week. In other words, a man who has a massive target on his back. Malenko gets in a waistlock on Sting, but Sting breaks free. Sting gives a "woo" to the fans. Dean locks in a headlock, but Sting breaks free and no-sells a Malenko shoulder block. Sting catches Malenko with a slam. He goes for a handshake, but Malenko denies it.
Malenko reverses a whip and lands a dropkick to the knee. This begins Dean's leg-based offense as we go to break. When we return, Dean has a leg lock in. We see that during the break, Malenko quickly broke free of an attempted scorpion death lock. Sting escapes the hold then fights out of the corner. Dean reverses a whip and lands another dropkick to the knee. He continues the offense on the knee as Sting grabs at his face, trying to break free. Sting reverses a whip attempt and catches Malenko, only to be caught in a german suplex, bridging for a two count. Sting avoids a dropkick and goes for a stinger splash, but Malenko avoids and lands a missile dropkick. Texas Cloverleaf is turned into a roll up, getting the three for Sting.
A really good match. Slow, but the good kind of slow wrestling. Malenko looked good, despite looking like he'd be treated poorly in-ring as the smaller competitor compared to Sting, but Sting took most of Dean's offense and in the end it took a desperation roll-up to earn Sting the victory. Thus not making Malenko look weak in the end. Exactly the kind of booking I like. Shame it was rushed, like a lot of these matches on this edition, but it's good for what we still got.
Mean Gene is in the ring with Sting. Gene asks about the situation with Luger and the match with Hogan next week. Sting says he has nothing against Hogan, but he never dreamed that Hogan would come knocking at his door looking for him. He brings up the "little dog" comments a few weeks back. Sting is a big dog and if he wants to check the list of those who have gotten in his face over the years, his list is pretty big. He's looking forward to facing Hogan.
A strong edition of Nitro this week, but I will say it does feel like any other episode. A lot of solid matches that suffer from unfortunate rushed match booking. Even the match with the time limit in Guerrero/Badd felt like it would have benefited with more time. That said, Benoit/Sasaki was wicked stiff, Sting/Malenko was great, Savage/Meng was your average Savage match and the shenanigans surrounding everything else was pretty much what we've dealt with the past few weeks. Nothing really felt new in terms of the storylines. And yes, I know I say that with a Nitro that had Hogan dressed like an executioner. But it just felt like filler until we get closer to World War 3. So in the end, I give Nitro a strong B+.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #10: RAW
While Nitro had the better matches this week, I felt Raw handled their hour a bit better. From the antics of Helmsley and Godwinn to them finally turning the 1-2-3 Kid heel, it all worked well. But what won Raw the week was the interview with Bret Hart and Diesel. It didn't feel campy or over the top. The focus from minute one was about the match, the past interference, and both men wanting to know who is the better man and more deserving of the championship. It made a lackluster build for Survivor Series a bit more justified. Nitro, while having great in-ring, felt like nothing really advanced in terms of storylines leading to their pay per views. So, Raw earns its fourth win after a dry spell.
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