WCW Monday Nitro – January 29, 1996
Canton, Ohio
Commentators: Eric Bischoff, Steve “Mongo” McMichael and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Bischoff, Mongo and Heenan discuss the card, which features the World Heavyweight Title on-the-line as “Macho Man” Randy Savage defends against The Giant. The Road Warriors will be in action. Sister Sherri and Madusa will get their hands on each other. First, it’s the latest chapter in the rivalry between “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. Hulk isn’t in the Main Event tonight?!?
Match 1: “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair w/ Jimmy Hart vs. Hulk Hogan w/ Miss Elizabeth
Result/Analysis: Flair via pinfall (11:25 shown) after spiking Hogan in his left eye with Elizabeth’s high heel shoe which was taken off by the interfering Arn Anderson. Well, the brass knuckles tactic failed this time so the next best bet for a cheating victory for Flair, is, of course, the opposing manager’s footwear! Forgetting the wacked ending, and forgiving Hogan for not just losing a match to Flair without shenanigans just once, this was one of their better matches. Jimmy Hart interferes repeatedly. Flair actually gets to work Hogan’s legs to prep for the figure-four. And Hogan, yeah, he does his usual schtick with Flair taking bumps to sell even the basic offense. Savage and Elizabeth tend to Hogan outside the ring after the match with Hogan bleeding from his blade job to sell the heel spike. Hogan lost so will he be set back in his quest to be named the #1 Contender?
Rating: ***
WCW Saturday Night promo: Flair/Dean Malenko, Lex Luger/Eddie Guerreo, Public Enemy, Sting and The Taskmaster will be in action. I used to love that unopposed one hour of wrestling!
Match 2: The Faces of Fear [Meng & Barbarian] vs. The Road Warriors [Hawk & Animal]
Result/Analysis: The Road Warriors via pinfall (9:06) as Hawk pins Barbarian after a flying clothesline. Believe it not, the far superior tag-team was The Faces of Fear. The Road Warriors look as bad as you can and their ring rust showed. Hawk looks disinterested and frankly, under the influence. Animal blows several spots. The finish is altered on the fly twice it appears and I’d have re-thought the decision to re-hire The Road Warriors after this performance. If not for Meng and Barbarian cutting the ring in half and softening the injured back of Animal, which, legit had kept him on the shelf, this match would have been a total train wreck. Oh, and Heenan called The Road Warriors “The Legion of Doom” during and after the match. Yeah, that’s not good.
Rating: *1/2
The Taskmaster, joined by Hugh Morrus, is in the ring with “Mean” Gene Okerlund. Kevin Sullivan communicates he’s got a problem with The Four Horsemen, specifically, Arn Anderson, whom he always thought was a man of his word. Okerlund shows video footage of recent disagreements between The Dungeon of Doom and The Four Horsemen and defends Anderson as being the voice of reason. Anderson and Brian Pillman walk out as AA wants to respond. You see, Taskmaster doesn’t believe Pillman is Horsemen material so he wants Anderson to remove him as a Horsemen or suffer the consequences. Anderson again lectures Pillman about his antics and selfish behavior. He promises “tough love” since his lectures or a slap to his face didn’t previously work. He removes his belt to which Pillman cowers for forgiveness. Sullivan swipes the belt, however, and proceeds to beat Anderson with it. Pillman plays coward outside the ring. With Anderson down, Sullivan goes outside and similarily whips Pillman repeatedly. Anderson regroups and DDT’s Morrus before chasing away Sullivan. An irate AA re-enters the ring to assert The Four Horsemen police their own. He demands a match with Sullivan (and his stooge (Morrus) ) from the executive committee. Pillman says something unintelligible to have the last word. (Effective segment with storyline advancement)
Match 3: Sister Sherri vs. Madusa
Result/Analysis: Sherri via pinfall (1:48). The backstory here is Sherri refused to job. Madusa, gets to lay Sherri out, though, unbeknownst to Sherri after the match, however, as Sherri was being punished for showing up intoxicated on a recent tour of Japan. My thought is Madusa, who left the WWF as the Women’s Champion, throwing the belt into a trash can on Nitro to boot, loses in under two minutes to a valet. I’d be throwing it down, too, if I was Madusa. This rivalry continues …
Match 4: WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The Giant vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (c) w/ Miss Elizabeth
Result/Analysis: No match. Savage sneak attacks The Giant with the title belt and the referee immediately tosses aside the contest. Flair runs out and he and The Giant lay waste to Savage over several minutes. Hogan finally shows up brandishing a steel chair with his eye heavily bandaged as he waylays every Dungeon of Doom member like a mad man as they individually rush the ring before tending to Savage. Meanwhile, Flair has commandeered the broadcast table and he cuts a rambling promo ranting about SuperBrawl, Savage and Hogan. Naitch was unhinged here. Classic!
The Verdict: Flair beats Hogan, yes, with shenanigans. Flair goes unhinged. Those two things make this Nitro a thumbs up. There’s storyline advancement heading into SuperBrawl but the overall card will likely be thrown together. WCW wasn’t the best at building a pay-per-view. The Road Warriors looked atrocius so that was the low point. No Sting/Lex Luger was disappointing. Nitro > Raw.
The Sharpshooter’s Verdict 