WCW Monday Nitro (October 2, 1995)

Original Airdate: October 2, 1995

From Denver, Colorado; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan. I always found it weird that the classic Nitro announce table has the commentators with their back to the action. I mean, I know they watch on monitors anyway, but it just seems strange

Before we can get off the ground, Ric Flair shows up, and promises it's going to be a 'mile high night' for Arn Anderson. TMI, bro

Career Threatening Match: Lex Luger v Randy Savage: Only Luger's career is on the line here. That also proves that Luger's not quite the brightest bulb in the bunch. He has a promised title match with Hogan somewhere down the line, but because Savage is calling him out, he decides to put his career on the line? And if he failed here, where would he go? ECW? Even Bobby Heenan brings that up. And, yeah, I know he was a mole, and all that, but if anything, this only makes him sketchier. An intense lockup battle sees them tumble out of the ring, so Randy invites Lex back in, but Luger would rather climb in himself then let Savage hold the ropes open for him. Oooooooohhh. Lex shoves him hard into the corner off another lockup, but makes the mistake of slapping Savage, and gets knocked back to the floor with a backelbow. Randy follows him out for a vertical suplex out there, but Lex counters into a neckbreaker - only for Randy to cradle him on the way back in for two. Lex responds by press-slamming him, but Savage counters a hiptoss into a backslide - only for Lex to reverse for two. Good sequence there. It wasn't the kind of fast bridging reversal sequence you'd normally see, but rather both guys fighting tooth and nail for the hold, with Lex only able to reverse by using the ropes. Criss cross ends in a double knockout spot, and Randy's up first for a flying axehandle, but Luger gutpunches him to block. Savage responds by tossing him out of the ring for a flying axehandle, then drops him across the rail for good measure, but gets reversed going into the post. Back in, a corner whip reversal puts the referee down, and Randy manages a bodyslam to setup the Flying Elbowdrop in the confusion. Cover, but the referee is down, so no count. Cue The Giant, and one Chokeslam later, Lex Luger hooks the Torture Rack at 12:30. RAW was airing the 1-2-3 Kid/Razor Ramon match opposite this, and while that was good action with a good angle, the advantage was definitely WCWs, because this was a huge money match, with an excellent angle surrounding it. **

Disco Inferno comes out to dance for us all. Thankfully, this didn't lead to the debut of the Nitro Boys

Eddie Guerrero v Dean Malenko: This is Malenko's WCW debut, and Eddie is still a newcomer himself. Initial lockup goes to a stalemate, but when Dean makes the mistake of offering a clean break, Eddie shoves him across the ring. Test-of-strength also ends in a draw, but a well worked reversal sequence on the mat ends in Eddie holding a hammerlock. Criss cross ends in Malenko hitting a dropkick, and he hits a whiplash into a somersault cradle for two - triggering a pinfall reversal sequence that ends in Eddie hitting a lariat. Meanwhile, we go to a split-screen, as Hulk Hogan arrives at the arena, and tells Jimmy Hart that not even '10,000 screaming Hulkamaniacs' can store him from going after The Giant tonight. Hulk then stops to cut a FULL FUCKING PROMO in the middle of the damn match. Man, people have always said that Hogan could and would do anything to insert himself in the hottest programs, but never has he taken it so literally. Eddie holds Dean in a headlock, but Dean counters to a full-nelson - triggering another reversal sequence that ends in Dean snapmarring him for two. Eddie tries a monkeyflip in the corner, but Dean blocks, so Guerrero uses a headscissors to put both guys on the floor, then slams Dean out there to give him some breathing room - which he uses to get to the top rope, and nail a recovering Malenko with a flying bodypress into the aisle. Back in, Eddie hits a brainbuster to setup the Frogsplash, but Dean lifts the knees to block. That leads to another reversal sequence, and Eddie manages to drop to his knees to reverse a cradle for the pin at 5:42. The random Hogan crap really killed their momentum, but this was still really exciting stuff that was way ahead of its time for the big two in 1995 - and definitely better than the squashtastic stuff RAW was airing opposite. ***

Gene Okerlund brings Hulk Hogan out for an in-ring interview, which kinda makes his interruption of the last match all the more douchey. Hulk looks like such an old man with the neck brace. I'm all for getting the angle over, but seriously, it's shit like this that gave the WWF so much material with the Billionaire Ted stuff. So, after cutting another promo on the Giant, Hulk hops out of the ring to slap hands with some fans (despite never, ever doing that before), until some old lady attacks him. What's hilarious is that Taskmaster is so poorly disguised here that the fans just laugh at it more than boo. And NOW, while hiding in a literal sea of people, he feels the need to disguise himself, but when he was attacking Randy Savage on a beach a couple of weeks ago, he thought wearing his wrestling gear was the best strategy? No wonder no one took the Dungeon of Doom seriously! They don't even have a proper costume department! So, anyway, Taskmaster beats Hogan with a cane, until Giant and Zodiac come down, and throw fuel on the fire by shaving Hulk's mustache off - which the announcers note, 'goes beyond inflicting bodily hurt.' So, almost breaking his neck is just ‘whatever,’ but now that they’ve shaved his mustache off, NOW we should be worried? They do understand that the top of Hulk’s lip and the top of Hulk’s head are different, and that the hair will quickly grow back, right? They could have at least had Zodiac do the clipping. Talk about missed opportunities! Stupid stuff, but it DID provide us with the funny visual of Hogan sporting a Hitler mustache, which if this show had aired in 2015 would undoubtedly generate a pretty awesome meme

Halloween Havoc promo

Ric Flair v Arn Anderson: Ric goes right at him with chops, but gets reversed going into the corner, and backdropped on the rebound for two. Anderson goes after the arm on the mat, but Ric maneuvers him into the corner for more chops. Ric's muffin top is pretty abundant at this point. Arn reverses him into the corner again to trigger the Flip, and Flair capitalizes on Anderson trying the usual clothesline on the apron follow-up by dropping down, and causing Arn to go flying over the top. Nice. More chops out there, as I notice a weird brown spot on Ric's tights. Wow, fat and possibly covered in shit. Not a good look for the Nature Boy. Arn manages a backdrop out there, and back in, Ric begs off, but Arn won't hear it, and unloads. Flair goes to the eyes to take the pep out of his step, but Anderson reverses him into the ropes, and hits the spinebuster for two. Arn tries an armbar next, but Ric counters into a sleeper - reversed by Anderson. Flair side suplexes his way out, and he slaps on the Figure Four - stupidly applying it only inches from the ropes. And, of course, Arn quickly grabs them, and bails. Flair follows out with a flying axehandle, but Arn blocks him with a gutpunch - only to have a piledriver on the floor countered with a backdrop. In again, Flair holds the top rope to block a DDT attempt, and schools Arn with some nicely timed mounted punches that looked great on camera. Figure Four, and this time they're in the middle, but here's Brian Pillman to save for a DQ at 8:31. Afterwards, Anderson and Pillman beat Flair down, but no one shaves anything, so it's not that bad, really. This was aired opposite the Hart/Lafitte match on RAW (which was also a rematch from the last PPV), and while that match was a much better, I'd give Nitro the edge because neither Flair or Anderson were trying to convince us that they pass their time between wrestling matches as literal pirates. *

BUExperience: This was a better show than RAW this week, but both shows hit hard with significant star power, and focused storytelling, and both had a strong night in the ratings.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	10/2/1995
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.5	2.5
Total Wins	2	1
Win Streak	n/a	n/a