Nitro Charged: WCW Monday Nitro: May 6th, 1996

Daytonaaaaaaaa! Nitro is live as we're only two weeks away from Slamboree. We have a WCW World Title match tonight, Sting in action aganst Lord Steven Regal, and Dean Malenko taking on Jushin "Thunder" Liger. But opening action is Hugh Morrus taking on Randy Savage. Sneak attack by Morrus starts things off before Savage can even get inside the ring. He pounds down on Savage and throws him throat-first into the guardrail. He then throws Savage into the apron and breaks the ten count. He body slams Savage to the floor. He grabs Savage's hat and glasses and puts it on his head. He puts on the jacket (or at least half of the jacket), only for Savage to grabs the glasses and grind them into his eye socket. He chokes Morrus with the jacket, hanging him over the ropes. Ref calls for the bell as it's thrown off. He then brings Morrus back in and hits an elbow drop right to the chest.

Savage covers Morrus with one foot, but the referee shoves him off and raises Morrus' arm. Savage responds by slapping the ref hard across the face then throwing Morrus out of the ring. He tears the shirt of the ref then body slams him. He goes up for an elbow drop, and connects. After several minutes of referee abuse, the security and police officers finally make it to the ring to force Savage out of the ring.

As well as WWF this week, WCW also paid tribute to Ray Stevens. But instead of just a graphic early on, we get a mention of one of Ray's favorite charities, which is shilled.

Up next, it's Dean Malenko taking on Jushin "Thunder" Liger. We also have learned that Otani has won the new WCW Cruiserweight Championship and will defend it at Slamboree. Headlock takedown with a quick escape to start. Another attempt at a takedown by Malenko is turned into a hammerlock from Liger. He works the wrist, but Malenko rolls out, only for Liger to roll and trip up Malenko. Cover, but not even a one. After some dodges from both men, Liger lands an enziguri. However, never mind that, we see Ric Flair decked in a tuxedo with Woman and Elizabeth as they head to a fancy table complete with fine food and fine wine. With Savage out of the building, of course they'd be out here burning more of Macho Man's money. Liger hits a nice brainbuster and covers for two.

After a commercial break, Malenko is in control, hitting a fast dropkick, then working on the leg with a leg lock until Liger makes it to the rope. Malenko returns to the leg lock, grapevining the leg. Roll up by Liger for two, followed by a cartwheel back elbow. He whips Malenko to the corner and hits a nice flipping kick, then sets Malenko for a superplex, changing it to a dropkick that sends Malenko to the outside. Big flying splash to Malenko on the outside.

He brings Malenko back in and tries another cartwheel, but gets caught. An exchange of covers from both men, but neither can keep the other down. Malenko sends Liger over the ropes. Liger gets on the top buckle, but Malenko catches him with a massive gut buster off the top buckle. He tries an alely oop of sorts, but Liger drops his weight, covering for two. An exchange of spots until Malenko gets an underhook powerbomb for the win.

Excellent match. Fast paced, plenty of back and forth, a lot less focus on hard hitting impact and more technical work. Exactly what I expected from both men. A shame the Flair stuff felt like it interrupted the match a tad, but it could have been much worse.

Mean Gene is with Flair, Elizabeth and Woman. Flair says that Robin Leach couldn't get invited to the kinds of parties the Nature Boy throws. He said tonight he shown all the men what makes the nature boy go round and round, right Macho Man? He lets Okerlund have a sip of champagne. He turns his focus to Lethal Lottery at Slamboree and his tag partner by fate Randy Savage and takes on Double A and Eddie Guerrero. He promises to eliminate Savage. Woman says that Flair will end up on top. Flair then makes a mention to Debra McMichael and offers her a glass of champagne, but she pours it on the ground instead. Flair says that she's from Texas, but before it's over she's gonna find out why he's an all around cowboy, much to the disgust of Mongo.

Another vignette for Glacier. Same one as last week. Blood runs cold. My memory has just been sold. My angel is the centerfold. Angel is the centerfold.

Up next, we have Sting taking on Lord Steven Regal. Regal's eye is still stitched up from the parking lot brawl from last week. After some stalling, Sting throws Regal to the corner then hits a back body drop. He tries a Scorpion Death Lock, but Regal gets to the ropes and starts to retreat as we go to break. When we return, Sting gets in a shoulder block on Regal. Regal stalls some more until we get some arm work from Sting. Regal grabs the ropes, forcing a break. More stalling until Regal takes Sting down and applies a wristlock.

He takes both arms and chokes in Sting until Sting turns it around into a hold of his own. Regal breaks free and reapplies his hold. Sting flips Regal over his head to break the hold. Thumb to the eye from Regal who starts laying in fists and uppercuts. Regal whips Sting, but Sting reverses it, catching Regal with a dropkick and some arm drags. Slam and a clotheslines follow. Stinger Splash misses. Regal tries an underhook move, but Sting turns it into a cover for the win in a decent match. A bit too much stalling, but the work we got for its briefness was still great.

The main event was supposed to be Lex Luger challenging the Giant for the WCW title, but oddly enough, there's no sign of Luger. Out instead is "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. According to announcer David Penzer, Duggan is filling in for Luger instead. Hacksaw goes in on the attack early, attacking the Giant before he can get over the ropes. He almost throws the referee over the ropes, which would mean more referee violence tonight. Hacksaw returns to attacking the midsection, but Giant takes him to the corner and chokes him with his boot. Clubbing blow to the back of Duggan followed by shoving his butt into him in the corner. Hacksaw rolls out of another, only to get caught by another forearm. More offense from the GIant including a boot in the corner and shoulder attacks. Giant shoves Duggan to the outside, then brings him back in. Giant tries an elbow in the corner, but Duggan escapes. He tries to tape his fists, but gets caught with a chokeslam, Giant gets the win in a basic brawl.

Giant continues the assault on Duggan post-match with another chokeslam. We see Cobra show up, only to get caught with a chokeslam. Cuban Assassin gets a chokeslam, Alex Wright is next. Ric Flair then shows up with a wooden chair, smashing it over Giant's head, but Giant no-sells. Sting shows up and hits an ax handle.Sting begins to clip the leg and attacks Jimmy Hart. Several big punches make the Giant woozy and another ax handle knocks him down. He tries for a Scorpion death Lock, and succeeds, only for Jimmy Hart to nail him with the megaphone.

All of a sudden Lex Luger shows up with a briefcase. Giant and Jimmy Hart make their retreat. Mean Gene is in the ring with a broken microphone. He asks where Luger has been. Sting asks the same thing, saying that this was a mess that Luger caused. Luger makes an excuse that he missed his flight as the two argue and we go off the air.

A great episode of Nitro this week. Good opening angle as we see just how depraved Randy Savage has become since this whole Elizabeth thing began, while Ric Flair, ever the prick as he is, is continuing to enjoy the spoils of someone else's money. The shades of grey with Luger continue once more after weeks of him seemingly being more on the level with Sting, suddenly he's trying to avoid wrestling the Giant, continuing this whole alliance with Jimmy Hart. In terms of in-ring, Malenko and Liger was great, Sting vs Regal was good, and Duggan vs Giant was certainly a match. It's amazing how fresh this show has gotten without Hulk Hogan. Let the good times roll. The rating this week is a B+.

WHO WON THE WAR WEEK #31: NITRO

Other than Goldust's antics, I can't really say there was much to Raw this week that was worth coming back to. Kind of a mediocre show in honesty. Meanwhile, Nitro offered better matches and their storylines are actually becoming more intriguing. Will Raw get back on track? We'll have to see, but Nitro gets the seventeenth win in this weekly battle of better show.

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

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