Public Enemy sneak attack the Males to start things off. Riggs ducks a clothesline while Bagwell hits a diving clothesline, taking out both Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge. Planchas from both American Males keep the Public Enemy down. Eric Bischoff brings up Brian Pillman's recent automobile accident and wishes him a speedy recovery. Shoulder block on Riggs by Grunge, but Riggs comes back with a hiptoss, a body slam, and a dropkick. Double hiptoss and double dropkick by the males on Rocco Rock. Fast tags from the males who work the arm, however Public Enemy regain control on Bagwell.
Scoop slam from Grunge who tags in Rocco Rock, who hits a springboard moonsault. Cover, but Riggs makes the save. Tag to Grunge as the duo hit a double flapjack. Bagwell tries to come back with a back drop, but Grunge kicks him down. Facelock on Bagwell by Grunge who then throws him into Rock's boot. Guillotine by Rocco Rock while the referee is distracted. Bagwell manages a springboard cross body, but Public Enemy regain control. Double clothesline from Grune and Rock.
rock slams Bagwell then follows up with an elbow drop. Tag to Grunge who slams Bagwell and hits a leg drop. Tag to Rock who goes up for a splash, but Bagwell avoids. Hot tag to Riggs and a tag to Grunge. House of fire dropkicks from Riggs while Bagwell gets throws over the ropes by Rock. They then throw Riggs over the top rope, which still counts as a disqualification.
They then set Riggs up on the table and dow the "Enemy Sandwich" spot that we saw last week. Still looks goofy to me. A decent opener, although a bit too much "face in peril" for my liking. Plus, yet another deflating disqualification ending.
Mean Gene is in the ring with a pair of women named Emily and Cherry. They're here to announce the drawings for the Slamboree Lethal Lottery. Essentially what we have in store at Slamboree is a series of tag matches which will feature teams formed by random drawings. Each winning team throughout the night will meet later on in the "Battle Bowl" match where the winner will be crowned Lord of the Ring and receive a world title shot at The Great American Bash. Teams announced by Okerlund tonight for the Lethal Lottery are Hugh Morrus and Meng vs Barbarian and Bobby Walker, plus Stevie Ray and Big Bubba Boss Man taking on "Fire and Ice" Scott Norton and Ice Train. Okerlund opens more envelopes that reveal a match that will feature Ric Flair and Randy Savage teaming up against Arn Anderson and Eddie Guerrero. And with Savage's intent on wanting to murder Flair, that should be interesting.
Speaking of Eddie Guerrero, he's in action next against Chris Benoit. Benoit takes Eddie to the corner and flashes the Horseman hand signal. Eddie pushes him right back. Fast arm drags and a dropkick by Eddie sends Benoit to the outside. He goes up to dive at Benoit, but Benoit backs away. Benoit drops Eddie with an armbar takedown, then hits a back suplex. Benoit is in control as we go to break. When we return, Benoit keeps a chinlock applied until Eddie tries to break free. Eddie ducks a clothesline and hits a nice headscissors. Benoit chops Eddie down. He tries a sidewalk slam, but Eddie uses his leg to block, and hits a side suplex.
Benoit hits a bridging German suplex for two. Another cover still only gets a two. He rams Eddie into the buckle and lays fists. Both men exchange shots, but Eddie manages to knock Benoit down. Benoit throws Eddie through the ropes to the outside. Eddie gets back to the top buckle and hits a nice hurricanrana, covering for two. Benoit catches Eddie, but Eddies slides behind and tries a roll up, but Benoit uses the ropes to get the cover and the win on Eddie. Great fast paced match, but felt way too rushed. Definitely wouldn't have been against this being a tad longer.
Mean Gene is with a vice president of WCW Rob Garner. Randy Savage comes out for this interview, considering the fact that he has to tag with Flair is concerning. Garner says that they're concerned with his actions in and outside of WCW. He says Savage's actions are unacceptable. If his actions won't cease, the ramifications will be severe. An angry Savage says that the big wigs are getting too comfortable. He tells Flair that he'll be the tag partner from hell and he'll do what he wants, because nobody will stop him. He won't beat city hall, he'll blow it up. Garner says that Savage needs a psychiatrist. He threatens to slap Garner, but controls himself and walks off.
Up next, Hacksaw Jim Duggan is in action against Meng. Meng tries to keep away from Hacksaw early, but Hacksaw getts in on the attack early on. Hacksaw continues to beat down on Meng who can barely gets in the ring. Bischoff spoils the Raw results again while we continue the stalling. Meng finally gets in as Savage continues to pummel. Meng finally comes back with some strikes and a back rake. He chokes Duggan on the ropes then hits some body blows. He follows up with a choke in the ropes. Duggan tries to come back with punches, but Meng knocks him back down. Meng continues to choke and rake Duggan. Gingerly stomps by Duggan who tries to ram Meng into the buckle. However, almost like a Tatanka of the babyface days, Meng just no-sells it. Nerve hold from Meng until Duggan breaks free with more punches.
He tries to knock Meng with a shoulder block, but Meng comes back, knocking him down. Back into the nerve hold as we get the arm drop, but Duggan breaks free on the third drop. He throws Meng into the buckle again, forgetting Meng no-sells that. Meng tries some elbow drops, but misses them all. Atomic drop from Duggan followed by a body slam. He goes to tackle Meng in the corner, but Meng avoids. Meng pummels Duggan constantly. Duggan tries to hit Meng with the 2X4, but Meng gets a kick to the face in. Cover, but Duggan gets his foot on the ropes. Duggan then tapes his fist and nails Meng with a punch for the win in an okay at best brawl. Your basic Hacksaw affair.
Okerlund is back with more names for the Lethal Lottery. Alex Wright and Disco Inferno take on Earl Robert Eaton and Diry Dick Slater. Also, Lord Steven Regal will team with The Belfast Bruiser taking on V.K Wallstreet and Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Up next, it's a winner take all situation as our main event is up next. Sting and Lex Luger defending their WCW World Tag Team Titles and Lex Luger's World Television Title against Ric Flair and The Giant as Flair's WCW Title is also on the line. Kind of reminds me of In Your House 3 with this similar stipulation. And we know how that ended, so spoiler alert. Flair is once again making passes at Mongo's wife Debra as he heads to the ring. Savage runs to the ring, and tries to get at Flair, but security guards are immediately on him and handcuff him, while Flair gets some stomps in.
Giant takes Sting in the corner until Sting manages some dropkicks and clotheslines, but none take the big man down. Bearhug attempt is broken by Sting and Luger who double clothesline Giant over the ropes. Sting then press slams Flair and has a hard time clotheslining Flair over the ropes. Tags to Luger and Flair. Flair whips Luger and hits a chop, but Luger no-sells it. Press slam to Flair yet again followed by some more clotheslines. Patented Flair flop as Luger tags in Sting. Sting starts to hit ten count punches, but stops at eight to hit a hiptoss and a dropkick.
Flair gets in an elbow to the face of Sting. He then goes up top, which means, yep, he gets thrown off. Sting sets Flair up on the buckle and hits a superplex. Flair crawls to the ouside. Sting tries to splash him, but crashes into the barricade. Woman rakes the eyes of Sting as Luger is far more concerned. Tag to Giant who puts his weight on Sting. Tag back to Flair who sets up Sting for a suplex, connecting after a nice stall. Sting no-sells, of course and hits a clothesline. Luger is tagged in and brawls with Flair as we see Woman holding another cup of coffee. Powerslam by Luger.
Giant goes for a chokeslam, but Sting keeps diving off the top buckle with chop blocks. Giant won't let go as Sting keeps pummeling him. Eventually Sting manages to break it, and send the big man crashing down. While all this happens, Woman hands Flair the coffee...
But Sting and Luger duck it, causing Flair to accidentally throw it in the Giant's face. This leads to a disqualification as Flair runs away and the Giant is in a rage in the ring. Overall, another really rushed main event, which is a shame as it was again, starting to get fun. Flair comes back with a towel and begs for forgiveness. Giant isn't willing to accept the apology as Flair rolls away and keeps his distance. Okerlund is in the ring and talks to Giant about the situation. Giant says that the coffee burned, but it lit a fire in his soul (Wat). He tells Flair that he wants a match for the title next week. Flair says he tried to apologize, but now he's mad. He says that Giant better apologize, or next week, he'll kick his big ass. Giant chases Flair off as we end this edition.
A good episode of Nitro, but I do feel like it suffered a lot from feeling extremely rushed. This is particularly noticeable with the Benoit/Eddie match and the main event, which, just like In Your House 3, ends with a total tease. All that build up that any title can change hands, but we end on a DQ with no definitive winner. And not even cleverly like how In Your House 3 ended, but just yet another use of the coffee finish. It was still a logical ending to continue the build on this Flair/Giant feud. Overall, not a strong Nitro, but definitely a step up from the last few weeks. I'll give it a B.
WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #29: NITRO
Pretty average week for both shows, but I will say that Nitro felt like an easier sit. Raw relied on too many squash matches and really only had one highlight in the decent Goldust/Savio title match. That aside, Nitro was no saint either with two DQ endings and a tease of a main event, but there were still some good matches and some good build going into Slamboree in May. Win #15 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
April 1st, 1996
April 15th, 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 22nd, 1996
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