Ok, we're moving on to the Month of November in WCW television now, and into the build up for the very first World War 3 Pay Per View. Let's see how this goes.
WCW Monday Nitro 10-30-95
Production fuck up: During the opening recap of Halloween Havoc, they forget to turn on Mongo's mic before he starts to speak
Sgt. Craig "Pit Bull" Pittman vs Eddie Guerrero
The jacket Eddie wears during his entrance is pretty awesome
Why are they making Eddie work a match with such a slow pace?
also, Pittman is making Eddie look really light with the way he's doing his slams
I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: GOD DAMN Eddie is fast
I haven't seen enough of Pittman's other matches to tell if he's actually any good or not, but these two just really do not work well together
Eddie picks up the win on a surprise roll up
Recap of some of the feuding going on between Scott Norton and Shark, and I really just don't care at all
Heenan has disappeared during the commercial break
Shark vs Scott Norton
Well, I was expecting two big slow guys having a big slow guy match, but Norton isn't as slow as he looks. Shark still is, however, and so the match still pretty much blows
cut away for a few moments to see that Heenan has gone into the audience and is having a meal with Sunny Onoo.
Only real highlight is when Norton goes for a cross body which could have been cool except he doesn't get enough distance on it.
Both men brawl on the outside and the match ends in a double count out despite the fact that we never see nor hear the ref counting. The two men brawl to the back. This brings the bizarre finish counter up to 4, I believe.
Cut back to Heenan having his meal. We overhear some of the conversation and Heenan calls WCw Saturday Night "Saturday Night Main Event". These WCW guys seem to have a hard time remembering which company they're in. Heenan then receives some sort of pay off from Ohno
Recap of the horsemen reforming at Halloween Havoc
The Horsemen come out to the ring. Pillman hold up the 4 fingers despite the fact that there are currently only 3 of them.
Damn, Pillman is fantastic on the mic.
but yeah, a great horsemen promo on Sting here
Also, WCW seems really ahead of the game here, as they announce that next nitro the fans get to pick which matches they want to see. I mean it's probably still rigged, but it's really interesting to see them doing a gimmick like that all the way back in 1995
Sabu vs Disco Inferno
Don't care what anyone else thinks, Disco Inferno is awesome.
Which one of these guys is supposed to be the face? Both have been booked as heels up until this point.
Huh, we're actually getting some Sabu chants from the crowd which seems odd since they've been dead for all of his other matches so far
Sabu picks up another win in yet another short but fun match.
And Sabu runs to the back to get a table to put Disco Inferno through, but disco inferno rolls out of the way.
Apparently it's a Japanese table as well. That's gotta hurt.
Lex Luger and Meng (with taskmaster) vs The American Males (Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs)
The American Males have such a cheesy gimmick, and it's freakin' awesome
and they go to commercial as soon as the match starts. This is supposed to be the main event match too, so I have no idea what they're trying to do here
Also, there's not really anything at stake here. The American Males aren't really a part of the whole Luger story, so it's not really like there's a question of who's going to end up winning. Seems kind of odd to put a nothing match in the main event slot of your show
Meng is boring.
Bagwell pins Luger but the ref is distracted. Luger puts Bagwell in the torture rack and gets the win.
Wait, doesn't it make Luger and Meng look kind of weak when they need interference to be able to win the match. I mean I'm only bringing this up because they're both supposed to be part of the big heel power stable.
Mongo sprays Heenan with some silly string. Unrelated to everything else going on, but amusing nonetheless
Recap of the end of Hogan vs Giant
The Giant has the WHC belt for some reason. Luger Hart Giant and Sullivan cut a promo on hogan. Giant vs Hogan rematch promised for next week. Given the quality of their last match, I'm not all that excited
WCW Monday Nitro: 11/06/95
Savage is apparently still injured from the events at Halloween Havoc
Cobra vs the Giant
Seems like we're not getting the match against hogan we were promised, but it is announced as a title match
Giant immediately hits the chokeslam and pins him. I don't think it's even fair to call it a match
Gene Okerlund checks in from the heel locker room to introduce some of the wrestlers in the running for the main event mach that the audience can call in to vote one
Schiavone checks in from the face locker room and does the same thing
We check in with Hogan, Savage and some random drunk guy at Venice Beach. Macho Man has apparently joined the "dark side" too and started to wear black. This segment just flat out sucks
Taskmaster (with Jimmy Hart) vs Renegade
Oh god, this guy's still around? Please let this match be over quickly.
...and sullivan botches a slingshot Senton
and mercifully it's over as Sullivan picks up the victory.
Ric Flair give a promo from the heel locker room. It's not one of his best.
Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero
Finally, something that I can get excited about, as this week's nitro has been terrible so far. These guys could have a great match in their sleep
HEY THANKS FOR CUTTING AWAY FROM THE ONLY GOOD MATCH ON THE FUCKING CARD TO SHOW SUNNY ONOO's FUCKING ENTOURAGE. NOT LIKE I WANTED TO ENJOY THE MATCH OR ANYTHING
GOD DAMN Chris, you're gonna kill someone with that Powerbomb.
Chris gets the 3 count but Eddie's feet are on the rope. If it means more Eddie vs Chris matches I'm all for it, since they're fucking awesome
Sting cuts a short promo on flair
The fans apparently pick Sting and Flair for the main event. Kind of funny how it works out that the two guys that currently have a major feud going on, and the two guys who they gave promo time to on the show end up winning. Nothing suspicious about that at all. Nope. Guess I really can't complain about the match-up though.
Ric Flair vs Sting
Crowd is absolutely crazy for this match.
I'm not really sure what I can add other than these two really know how to put on an amazing match I mean This is a PPV quality mach that they're giving away on what is essentially (from what I understand) still the B show.
Flair hits Sting with a pair of brass knuckles, but it's only good enough for a 2 count. God damn
Sting picks up the win by locking him the the scorpion death lock after hitting a Superplex. he refuses to break the hold after the match ends, and then in another clusterfuck post match scenario Luger comes down to come to flair's aid but then JL and Eddie come out and try to talk him into breaking the hold, and then James Sullivan Comes out too. eventually they pull sting off of flair.
Then Luger gets through security and sting breaks free and goes to attack flair again, but when Luger get's to the ring he actually doesn't end up attacking and just ends up talking to him which gets him to stop and I have no fucking idea what's going on
Jimmy Hart comes out and reveals that he slipped a clause into the contract for the hogan vs Giant match saying that if hogan got disqualified he would lose the championship, which explains some of the stuff we've been seeing. Giant is immediately stripped of the title anyway pretty much arbitrarily
It's then revealed that the now vacant championship will go to the winner of the 60 man battle royal at World War 3.
but seriously, what's the point of having a dramatic reveal that the giant is the champion due to that hidden stipulation if you're going to strip him of it about a minute after the reveal? I don't get it.
This has got to be one of the most unbalanced episodes of a wrestling show I've ever seen. The first half of the show was borderline unwatchable, but the last two matches were so awesome that it made up for it
WCW MONDAY NITRO: 11/13/1995
D'awww, Mongo's dog is dressed up like superman and he's lifting him up and flying him over the announce table. IT'S SO CUTE.
Hulk hogan delivers a promo, and now that they've finally gone whole hog with this darker hulk hogan thing, I don't hate it nearly as much. He's in a long black hooded robe wearing black gloves and a completely black mask covering the top half of his face. It doesn't look half bad in that graveyard setting
the black lines on his face look stupid though, and the promo isn't very good, but i kind of dig the "phantom of the wrestling ring" look
also he and Macho Man are going after Meng apparently. He also now suspects Sting of being in league with the Dungeon, possibly because of what happened with Luger last week
Meng vs Randy Savage
Savage starts by sneaking up on Meng and attacking him from behind.
boring match.
Macho Man wins with the elbow drop, but Savage is then attacked by Luger, Shark, and Taskmaster. Next segment please
I can't tell if Nitro is supposed to be the A show or the B show at this point in time. It seems like most of the feuds get developed on WCW Saturday Night, but the main event feuds all happen on Nitro. Just seems kind of weird.
Kensuki (sic) Sasaki vs Chris Benoit
During the commentary Heenan accidentally calls World War 3 "War Games" which makes me feel a bit better since I've been mentally doing the same thing
marking out for the first WCW appearance of the multiple German suplexes (2 german suplexes then a bridging dragon suplex) and Benoit gets the win.
Also apparently Bischoff can't count, since this is how the commentary for it plays out: *benoit hits the first suplex* "...another standing switch into a German suplex by Benoit. Sasaki up..." *benoit hits the 2nd suplex* "A THIRD German Suplex"
He does actually get the name of the dragon suplex right, which is surprising, given that the commentators seem to generally not know the names of moves, or at least they haven't up until this point.
Solid match, but not as exciting as the one with Eddie the previous week. Also it was pretty short.
Also Benoit is a member of the horsemen now. Guess that happened on WCW Saturday Night.
Johnny B Badd vs Eddie Guerrero
I'm excited for this match. A guy who has done nothing but put on good matches since I've started watching, against one of my two favorite wrestlers of all time
Actually I'm kind of surprised with how much faith they seem to have in Benoit. He made his in ring debut only like a month ago, and they've already made him a member of the horsemen.
these guys really seem to want at each other, but I'm not sure why
huh, they still have time limits apparently.
time expires, the match ends in a draw but the two keep brawling.
but then they hug afterward. This is some really wonky storytelling
Still a damn good match.
Bischoff announces that hulk hogan wants to fight Sting next week on Nitro
Jimmy Hart/Giant/Taskmaster promo again. They've done this promo every week for the past 3 weeks, and it's almost literally the exact same goddamn thing every time. Some more predictable stuff about how The Giant is going to win the WHC at The Royal Rumble World War 3
Dean Malenko vs Sting
3/4 of The Radicalz have had matches on this nitro, all in a row. I'd say that's a recipie for success
they're booking Malenko like he's a lot smaller than he actually is. I mean yeah he's smaller than the main-eventers, but it's not like he's as short as Eddie either.
Sting picks up the victory with a surprise roll up in a pretty solid match
Sting cuts a promo on Hogan
I'm wondering how often the "Sting is part of a group of faces, and then shenanigans happen that cause everyone to be suspicious of him but it turns out in the end that he's a good guy after all" thing is used, because I know they use that as part of the NWO angle as well.
WCW Monday Nitro: 11/20/1995
The show opens with hype for the Hogan/Sting main event
Scott Norton vs Shark
Welp, talk about a way to kill my enthusiasm for the show right off the bat
Norton picks up the victory.
Taskmaster and Jimmy Hart cut a promo. Jimmy Hart is endorsing Sting, which is probably supposed to make us suspicious of Sting's motives, but I'm just not buying it.
You know as silly as this whole angle with Hulk Hogan kind of is, I have to give him some props for actually venturing away from his normal face character for the sake of the angle. I mean can you imagine John Cena doing something like that nowadays? I sure can't.
Yay, Disco Inferno getting more screen time. and then Eddie chases him off.
Eddie Guerrero vs Ric Flair
I didn't know these two ever wrestled each other. This is going to be awesome.
God damn it. Flair comes out in street clothes so we're not getting that match. I'd be more pissed, but since his replacement is Brian Pillman I can't be too angry, as the match will still be pretty damn good
Eddie Guerrero vs Brian Pillman
Flair comes out and says that he's not going to wrestle the match because he's far too focused on sting to compete against Eddie, so Brian is taking his place. Still, what a disappointment.
Brian starts out by acting like a matador, trying to lure Eddie into charging with his red coat. Eddie responds by giving a brilliant "I can't believe I have to deal with this shit" look.
Eddie Guerrero hits the frog splash and picks up the victory. Pretty solid match, but what else can you expect from these two.
Recap of Macho Man getting his arm injured by the DoD.
Big Bubba Rogers (bossman) vs Road Warrior Hawk
Bischoff foreshadowing WWF superstars showing up out of nowhere and joining WCW. Interesting to hear, even if he's just doing it to hype WW3.
am I sure I'm not watching WWF circa 1997 here?
Almost thought Bossman was going for the 619 there with the way he hung Hawk on the 2nd rope and then started charging at the ropes right next to him, but alas, we don't get to see something nearly that ridiculous
Bubba tapes up his fist and runs back to the ropes to get some momentum to hit Hawk, but is tripped by Jim Duggan and hawk pins him for the win.
Well isn't that a novelty, a match in WCW between two big guys that didn't suck
the downside is that eventually we'll have to see Jim Duggan wrestle.
Sting vs Hogan
Macho Man comes out to hogan's music with his arm in a sling, beckoning for hogan to come out, but Hogan isn't entering
but it turns out Savage is just serving as a distraction so hogan can get the drop on sting.
They still haven't explained the whole thing between Luger and Sting.
Hogan completely whiffs with a clothesline, but sting sells it anyway
Hogan's no sell powers, Activate!
but he whiffs on the leg drop of doom, and sting locks in the sharpshooter.
The Dungeon comes out and attacks sting for some reason despite the fact that they were endorsing him earlier in the show since hogan clearly doesn't want to take a clean loss. Hogan and sting start working together and manage to old off The Dungeon.
The show ends with Sullivan and Hart coming up to yell at Bischoff which doesn't make much sense in kayfabe
So yeah, a couple of Final thoughts before World War 3:
Why bother even doing that whole Luger/Sting thing if you're not going anywhere with it?
Why haven't I seen anything from Alex Wright in like over a month now?
and finally, Will the World War 3 match be as big of a Clusterfuck as I'm expecting it to be? I'm not sure how it can turn out any other way when you have 20 guys in each of the 3 rings at the same time.
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