With Superbrawl on its way, WCW is live for another edition of Nitro. Pillman and Arn take on Hugh Morrus and the Taskmaster. The WCW Tag Titles on the line as Sting and Luger take on the Road Warriors. Plus Ric Flair against Marcus Alexander Bagwell. But to complete this night of Four Horsemen action, it's Chris Benoit taking on "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Savage still flanked by Woman and Elizabeth. All four people in this match are dead now. Just a little bit of depression to start our show.
Both men roll around in a grapple until the referee forces a break, allowing for Benoit to get some cheap shots. He throws Savage to the outside and rams him into the barricade. He brings Savage back in and whips him, landing a forearm. Benoit chops Savage in the corner with some stiff, loud chops. He then follows with a hair pull slam. He continues to pummel Savage and follows with a chinlock, then a snap suplex. He then throws Savage head fist into the buckle and hits a scoop slam. He goes up for the diving headbutt, connecting.
A punch drunk Savage wanders around the ring until Benoit hits a chop and a back suplex, covering for two. Stiff elbow to the sternum followed by a leg drop by the Crippler. Benoit hits a backbreaker, but Savage manages to rake the face. Savage tries to fight back, but Benoit hits a headbutt, and chokes Savage with his boot. Benoit manages throw Benoit outside, but his recovering offense is stopped as Benoit throws him into the post. Savage does come back with a clothesline. Woman distracts the ref while Benoit throws Savage to the outside. He goes for a (for lack of a better term I swear) suicide dive...
No wonder the man had the brain of a 90 year old by the end.
Benoit smacks his head on the guardrail off the dive. Savage brings Benoit back in and hits an elbow. Flair shows up at ringside and grabs Elizabeth. Woman then grabs and chokes Savage as Arn shows up and the two stomp down Savage as Woman laughs on. Ol' One-eyed Hogan makes the save and hits Flair and Arn with chairs. As for the match itself, it's basically every Savage match at this point. Heel gets 90% of the offense and Savage gets the super quick comeback by the end to get the win.
Mean Gene comes to the ring to try to get some answers as to what the hell just happened, but Hogan is more focused on the safety of Savage for once. When Savage is taken off, Hogan says that they need to put a stop to Flair. He gets into talking about the Giant, but this allows for Flair to sneak up behind him and punch the injured eye. He begins to grind the eye and hits some punches. The Giant and Zodiac appear as Giant lays him out with a chair. Zodiac tries to stop him while Savage goes back and grabs the chair. He sends the heels in retreat. Savage yells at Elizabeth about not warning Hogan about Flair, but Mean Gene said that she tried to. Savage checks on a bloody Hogan as we finally go to break.
Up next, it's Dungeon of Doom members Taskmaster and Hugh Morrus taking on Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson. This stems from the prior week when Arn was about to belt Pillman before the Dungeon of Doom got some cheap shots in on the two members of the Horsemen. Morrus and Pillman start. Chops by Pillman just lead to Morrus laughing them off. He gets Pillman up and hits a press slam, and follows with one for Arn. Pillman starts to take his anger on the cameraman as the Horsemen take a breather.
He returns and bites the face of Sullivan. He hits a clothesline to no effect. Tags to Morrus and Arn. Pillman gets a cheap shot, to no effect. Arn catches Morrus with a spinebuster. He starts to stomp down Morrus as he tags in Pillman. Hard slap by Pillman who tags Arn back in. Headlock takedown into a facelock from Double A. Tag to Pillman who takes the leg out of Morrus then throws him to the corner and tags in Arn. They keep Morrus cornered to the annoyance of Sullivan. Arn throws Morrus outside and Pillman slams him into the guardrail.
Pillman hits a hard chop then throws Morrus in the corner. Morrus breaks free and finally tags in Sullivan as both men just tear into each other. Tree of woe into a running knee by Sullivan, but Pillman no-sells and both are back on the mat just tearing into one another ot the point that their tag partners have to break it up. Arn brawls with Sullivan up the entrance way while Pillman battles with Morrus.
Arn tries to piledrive Sullivan on the floor, but from behind the curtains, Paul Orndorff smacks Arn with a broom. Pillman gets back dropped on the floor by Morrus. Sullivan then whacks Pillman with a strap while Morrus hits a moonsault. He hits a few more strap shots before Pillman makes his exit in what felt like the shootiest brawl that ever shot.
We're far from done with Ric Flair and the Horsemen as up next, it's Marcus Alexander Bagwell taking on Ric Flair (with Woman). We see Orndorff make his way to the announce position saying that you never know when payback is going to happen, hence the brooming. Headlock takedown by Bagwell is turned into a cover by Flair for two. We learn that Savage has taken Hogan to the hospital and might be on his way back to the building. Irish whip and a back drop by Bagwell, followed by some clotheslines, one sending Flair over the top rope. He then follows with a big running clothesline on the outside.
Flair begs off Bagwell in the corner, allowing for him to get in a cheap shot. He chops Bagwell, but Bagwell comes back with some punches of his own. Clothesline by Bagwell who covers for two. Whip to the corner and a back drop by Bagwell, followed by a dropkick. Cover only gets a two. He tries another dropkick, but Flair grabs the ropes to avoid damage. Flair tries a figure four, but Bagwell rolls him up for two. Both men criss cross cross...
and then Bagwell just sorta clotheslines himself over the top rope. I mean you could say it was from the forearm by Flair which caused his momentum to knock him backwards like that, but however you slice itm that just looked dumb. Woman distracts the ref while Flair gets in a boot to Bagwell on the outside. He brings Bagwell back in and hits a knee drop to the head. Bagwell fights out of the corner with some terrible looking punches. Whip to the corner, but Flair gets in a boot and a cover for two.
Flair goes to the top rope, but gets thrown off as always. Clothesline by Bagwell, followed by a superplex. Cover still only gets a two. Scoop slam by Bagwell who then goes to the ropes for a slingshot splash, but Flair gets the knees to the gut. Figure four by Flair gets the win. Decent enough match, definitely Bagwell's bet showing. Although his offense is definitely some of the weakest I've seen. His punches are the punches you think of when someone tells you that wrestling is fake. Just soft whiffers with really no damage to them. Otherwise, he held his own well enough with Flair, and Flair continues his dominance going into Superbrawl.
It's time for the main event. The WCW World Tag Team Championship on the line as Sting and Luger take on the Road Warriors. Sting and Animal start. Animal manages to shove Sting early on. Headlock by Sting is thrown off easily by Animal. Scoop slam by Animal. He goes for an elbow, but Sting escapes and hits a big facebuster. He then goes up top for a clothesline. Cover only gets a two. Tags to Luger and Hawk. Elbow by Luger followed by a piledriver which Hawk no-sells.
Clothesline and a falling forearm by Hawk. Tag to Sting. Hawk whips Sting into the corner and hits a clothesline. He whips Sting again, but sting reverses, catching Hawk with a Stinger Splash. He tries a scorpion death lock, but Animal breaks it. Tag to Animal who gets in a couple shoulders to the gut, followed by a shoulder block. Luger grabs the rope, sending Animal tumbling out. Tag to Luger who goes in on some strikes and boots. Animal gets a boot out of the corner and hits some forearms, but Luger stops his momentum. Slam by Luger followed by some elbow drops. We jump cut a bit due to some technical difficulties. According to Bischoff, the power in the arena went out.
Doesn't appear to have affected the match as we still have a face-in-peril Animal being worked on by Sting. Long front facelock by Sting. He tags in Luger who continues to hit some shots and a powerslam. Animal finally gets some momentum with a back suplex. Cover, but Sting pulls at his hair. Luger hits a suplex while Sting and Hawk brawl outside. Animal no-sells a suplex and hits a powerslam. Jimmy Hart shows up with a foreign object. Luger uses it on Animal to get the win and the retention. Luger celebrates, while Sting is far from thrilled. A decent enough tag match with some "face-in-peril", but continues the angle of "Can Luger Be Trusted".
Okerlund is with Hawk and Animal. Hawk demands another tag title match against the winners of Sting/Luger vs Harlem Heat at Superbrawl. Animal says that he has back problems, but the past is in the past. They will beat everybody if they have to, but they want their shot. They promise to get some revenge on Sting and Lex Luger.
This was a really strong go-home show to Superbrawl. All good matches this week that had the right amount of time, and did great work in building storylines. From Woman turning on Savage, Elizabeth seemingly becoming untrustworthy, Flair and Giant taking out Hogan, a seemingly real-life feud with Pillman and Sullivan resulting in a fracas, and Luger continuing to be untrustworthy as his heelishness gains another tainted victory for Sting and himself. It was a nearly perfect hour of wrestling excitement, which feels pretty rare for this day and age. Other than maybe some slippy spots in Sting/Bagwell, I can't find any real complaints. Plus Hogan gets laid out again, which is always a rating booster for me. It actually made me excited to go into Superbrawl, perhaps even more so than In Your House. And as such, this solid episode of Nitro earns a well deserved A.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #21: NITRO
Raw was strong this week as well with Diesel's assault on Bret and Undertaker, Yokozuna's face turn, and a solid match between Hakushi and the 1-2-3 Kid. But the stench of Billionaire Ted polluted what was otherwise a great way to hype up In Your House 6. Nitro on the other hand was no-nonsense, and offered a more exciting product that used its hour perfectly. Nitro earns its twelfth win as we head into Superbrawl in high spirits.
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