WCW Monday Nitro (October 23, 1995)

Original Airdate: October 23, 1995

From Huntsville, Alabama; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

Randy Savage v Kurasawa: Savage shoves Colonel Robert Parker before the bell, earning him a whopping from Kurasawa, who throws strike after strike at the Macho Man. He literally unloads nothing but stiff looking kicks and chops for the first two minutes, before finally using a backdrop driver for two. He dumps Savage to the outside for a baseball slide, and works the arm on the way back in. More strikes, but a second baseball slide misses, and Macho dodges a kick against the post out there to rattle Kurasawa. Back in, Kurasawa tries to go back after the arm, but Savage clotheslines him down, and the Flying Elbowdrop finishes at 8:00. Pretty much all punch-kick, but Savage was go good at building sympathy that it wasn't unwatchable. This was airing opposite the battle royal on RAW, which was also all punch-kick stuff. Call it a push. ½*

The lights suddenly die as the announcers run down the card for tonight, and the Master appears on a throne at the top of the arena. He yells about Hulk Hogan, while revealing a giant slab of ice that supposedly contains the Dungeon of Doom's secret weapon for Halloween Havoc. Give it to him, Master's booming voice got this over. I mean, yeah, it's the same kind of 'over' as those animatronics while you wait in line for a ride at Universal, but it worked on that level. This directly segues into Gene Okerlund doing an interview with Kevin Sullivan and Giant in front of the block of ice to hype up the main event for Havoc. The angle suffered from getting too silly at points (like the heels shaving Hogan's mustache off as major plot point, or Hogan's visit into their lair), as well as the Dungeon’s lineup being really weak, but the basic concept for the angle wasn't a bad one, and Giant was certainly their best bet at getting it over as far as looking like an actual threat to Hogan

After the commercial break, Gene brings Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart out for their rebuttal, and Hulk is looking like he's on his way into the courthouse or something, wearing his all black gear and doo rag. Bonus points for color coordinating his neck brace. Both of these segments aired opposite the lengthy battle royal over on RAW, and I'd give Nitro the edge here, since they were hyping up their big angle

Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko v Eddie Guerrero and Mr. JL: JL is subbing for an injured Alex Wright here. Benoit starts with Guerrero, and they trade off on the mat as they feel each other out. Tag to Malenko, but Eddie bails to avoid a tandem move, so Dean thinks fast, and dives out after him with a plancha. Benoit tries to add a tope, but Eddie dodges, and Chris hits his own partner out there! Guerrero then calls in JL, assisting him in a dive onto both Chris and Dean on the outside! The dust settles on Eddie dominating Dean, but he runs into a leg lariat during a criss cross. Guerrero manages to fight back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and it's back to JL for an alley-oop in the corner. Dean manages to side suplex JL, and he tags to Benoit, but Chris runs into a headscissors. Reversal sequence ends in Malenko taking a cheap shot to put JL down, and he and Chris cut the ring in half. JL manages to fight Malenko off with a backslide for two, and he capitalizes with a jumping backelbow to allow the hot tag to Eddie - Roseanne Barr the door! Guerrero and JL try whipping them into each other, but it backfires, so Wright trips Dean up from the floor, and JL hooks Malenko in a victory roll at 10:00! And then afterwards, Brian Pillman runs out to hit Guerrero with a DDT in the aisle, while flashing the four fingers. Good stuff here, with lots of action, and moves not commonplace in the US at this point. Certainly much better than the lame Avatar debut airing opposite on RAW. ** ¾

Harlem Heat v Sting and Lex Luger: The announcers note that you can call the WCW Hotline now to hear all about 'In Your Outhouse' from last night. Look, they're not wrong, but that's kinda ballsy considering their own output on pay per view so far this year. They literally shit out SEVERAL contenders for worst pay per view ever in 1995, and they're sitting there all high and mighty criticize? Three out of four guys in this match are wearing yellow and red, with Luger as the sole exception. No wonder no one trusted him. Booker T starts with Sting, and a criss cross ends in Sting hitting a dropkick. He hiptosses Booker over the top, and hits a backdrop during another criss cross on the way back in. Tag to Lex for a 2^nd rope flying axehandle, but he runs into a boot from Booker, and Stevie Ray tags in to work a nervehold. Well, Luger's certainly got nervehold experience, at least. The Heat work Lex over, but Booker misses the Harlem Hangover, and Lex makes the tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Stinger Splash on Booker! Stinger Splash on Stevie! Scorpion Deathlock for Booker, but Stevie breaks it up, so Lex unloads on him. That results in the Heat tandem suplexing Lex, but Booker doesn't notice Sting coming off the top with a flying clothesline at 8:00. Match quality wise the Women's title match over on RAW was slightly better, and had the intrigue of a title change going for it, though I'd give Nitro the edge for star power. Overall call this segment a push. ¾*

Giant then runs out to hit Sting and Luger with chokeslams, and man, his initial version of the move where he rode the guy down to the mat is much better than what it eventually became. Anyway, that leads to Hulk Hogan running down to make the save, and the crowd is going fucking wild as he slugs it out with Giant! The big finish sees the block of ice from earlier start to crack, and we see the still unnamed Yeti pop out, just as we go off the air! Great timing there to hook you in for Halloween Havoc. I mean, sure, Yeti is a punch line now, but at the time he still hadn’t humped Hogan yet. This was a much better closing segment than Shawn Michaels crying over on RAW

BUExperience: A much better episode than RAW this week. Despite coming off of a pay per view, RAW felt very skippable, while Nitro did a good job of hyping up the main event for Halloween Havoc, and delivered a very focused hour. They also had the best match of the showdown. Nitro was becoming consistently better than RAW in their first six weeks head-to-head, and the ratings reflected that this week.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	10/23/1995
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.2	2.6
Total Wins	3	2
Win Streak		1
Better Show	1	5