WCW Monday Nitro (September 25, 1995)

Original Airdate: September 25, 1995

From Florence, South Carolina; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan – in front of a heavily papered crowd. I mean, sure, over half the tickets were giveaways, but it looks better on TV than running high school gyms, and that’s what counts during this era

Alex Wright v Disco Inferno: For the record, when I look at Disco's tights, I see white and gold. Disco attacks before the bell, and tosses Alex out to the floor so he can have full use of the ring space for his boogie dancing. Alex responds with a springboard dropkick, and a spinheel kick follows for two. Alex returns the favor by dumping him, but instead of dancing, follows with a plancha. Back in, Alex tries throwing him off his game with a cartwheel, but Disco quickly stunguns him, and hits a pointed elbowdrop. Cross corner backelbow and a lariat follow, and Disco adds a short-clothesline, but takes too long climbing to the top rope, and Wright dropkicks him off. Alex makes a comeback with some European uppercuts and a jumping backelbow for two, but Disco blocks a backdrop, and side suplexes Wright. Swinging neckbreaker, but Wright counters into a backslide for the pin at 4:00. This aired opposite the first half of the Jannetty/Skip match over on RAW, and while both were good, I'd probably give RAW the edge because Jannetty was making his return, and the WWF had Sunny shaking her ass, and not Disco Inferno. **

Backstage, Hulk Hogan (or 'the biggest name in the history of this sport,' as Bischoff calls him) is sporting a neck brace following Fall Brawl, and challenges Giant to a match at Halloween Havoc

Gene Okerlund brings Randy Savage out for an in-ring interview, with Savage still distrustful of Lex Luger. I guess maybe he was having some identity issues over who stabbed Vince in the back harder? Speaking of the WWF, Savage's outfit tonight is one that looks to have been specifically made for when he was a commentator for RAW, with 'UNCUT' 'UNCOOKED' 'UNCENSORED' printed on the hat. Anyway, Luger immediately runs out and gets in Macho's face, and they get into a dick measuring contest that results in both guys agreeing to a Career Match for next week. Another good segment from these two

Halloween Havoc promo

Sgt. Craig Pittman v Kurasawa: Pittman goes right after him, and starts working the arm, but Kurasawa kicks him out of the ring to stop the effort, then follows with a baseball slide. Kurasawa pills up the floor mats for a nasty backdrop driver on the exposed concrete, then snapmares him on the way back in. Kurasawa goes after the arm aggressively, but Pittman gets into the ropes to escape, so Kurasawa starts kicking at him again. Pittman manages to backdrop him out off of a charge, then follows with a few shoulder-first rams into the apron. Back in, Pittman overhead suplexes him, and slaps on the Code Red, but Kurasawa is in the ropes. Series of short-backelbows, but Kurasawa counters the fourth alarm with a fujiwara armbar, so Pittman counters back with an inverted gutwrench. German suplex, but Kurasawa reverses for the pin at 4:30. Not well worked, exactly, but well paced, and entertaining. Still, would give the edge to RAW here, as they were showing a title match that ended in a title switch. * ½

Gene Okerlund brings Brian Pillman and Arn Anderson out for an in-ring interview, as they taunt Ric Flair. Hey, at least Flair kept buying suits into the 90s. Arn looks like he hasn't seen the inside of a Macy’s since 1987. Come on, man! You guys ran a show from the largest shopping mall in America just weeks prior! For shame!

Randy Savage v Taskmaster: Savage chases him around to start, but runs into an attack from Zodiac on the floor, and gets posted. Inside, Taskmaster pounds away, then back out, he drops Savage cock first onto the rail. Wow, that's how you know they mean business. They don't just want to end Hulkamania for today, they want to make sure there's no Hulkamania tomorrow either. And, hey, Savage never did have children, did he? Macho manages a backdrop on the floor, and hits a flying axehandle on the way back in. That draws Zodiac back in, and Savage beats him up - getting himself DQ'd at 2:58 for pushing the referee in the process. Afterwards, Macho keeps beating them both up, until Giant makes the save. He destroys Savage, so a couple jobbers run down, but can't stop him. Alex Wright can't either, so finally Lex Luger runs in. He gets killed, too, but that should make Savage trust that he isn't a part of the Dungeon of Doom, right? Though it was a good angle, it was a real shit match, and was airing just opposite the finish of the Smoking Gunns' title win, so again, advantage WWF. DUD

Halloween Havoc promo

Lex Luger v Meng: For some reason, they're using a photo of Luger during his 1991 title run in the pre-match graphic. Lex is still down from the Giant's assault as the bell sounds, and Meng rushes in to capitalize. Much choking follows. From Meng, not Luger, to be clear. Well executed piledriver gets two, and Meng chops him into the corner for more choking. We should have known he was a double agent. Where is Luger more at home than choking? Not to mention, Giant put him out with a CHOKEslam after the last match! The signs were all there, I tell you! Nervehold, and a sloppy gutwrench backbreaker gets two. Lots of empty seats on the TV side here. You'd think if they were papering the crowd, they'd at least make sure the seats that are most visible by the hard camera would have butts in them. This is what happens when you fire Mick Foley! Meng with a legdrop for two, and he keeps things at a snails pace with a chinlock. Samoan drop sets up a 2^nd rope splash, and even though Lex gets up before he leaps, Meng is such a nice guy that he dives anyway - and misses, of course. Luger starts throwing clotheslines, so Meng pulls an object out of his boot, and jabs Lex in the throat with it for the pin at 6:46. This was airing opposite the Bulldog/Undertaker main event on RAW, and not only was that a better match, but it had a better angle to boot. ¼*

BUExperience: Though this show obliterated RAW for Nitro’s first competitive ratings win, it was not the better of the two programs this week. RAW had better wrestling, better angles, a semi-popular stars return, a title switch, and they were coming off of a pay per view. While this Nitro was far from horrible, outside of the Savage/Luger bits, this was all entirely forgettable, water treading stuff

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	9/25/1995
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	1.9	2.7
Total Wins	2	1
Win Streak	n/a	1