WCW Monday Nitro (December 11, 1995)

Original Airdate: December 11, 1995

From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

Eddie Guerrero v Mr. JL: Eddie wins the opening criss cross with a shoulderblock, and he puts JL on his ass with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Bodyslam sets up a slingshot somersault senton splash, and Eddie uses a saito suplex for two. He puts JL in an abdominal stretch, but JL counters a powerbomb with an armdrag, so Eddie cracks his nuts with an inverted atomic drop. JL keeps coming with a headscissors to send Guerrero to the outside, and JL uses a springboard dropkick to keep Guerrero on the floor. JL dives off the apron with a somersault senton, then rolls Guerrero in to get a two count out of it. Vertical suplex gets two, and a corner dropkick follows, but Eddie blocks a second charge with a sunset cradle for the pin at 4:30. Too short to really get off the ground, but fun action to kick start the hour. Define advantage for Nitro over the Owen Hart squash that aired opposite on RAW. ** ½

Lex Luger comes out to flex. Call this a push with RAW airing Diesel chasing off Owen and Yokozuna, as well as the opening moments of the women's match

Paul Orndorff v Disco Inferno: Heenan notes that Orndorff's new theme music is going to hit "#1 on the Hit Parade!" I love the guy, but clearly pop culture was rapidly passing the Brain by in the mid-90s. He's like season five Don Draper. Disco attacks before the bell, and stomps Paul down in the corner, but misses a charge, and eats an inverted atomic drop. Orndorff clotheslines him and delivers a facebuster to set up his pointed elbowdrop, followed by a pretty vicious looking side suplex to finish at 2:24. Dropped Disco right on his head there. This is notable for being Orndorff's last career match (save for a few one offs), though no one knew that at the time. This aired opposite the rest of the women's match as well as Shawn Michaels' first appearance since the collapse, so I'd give the WWF the firm advantage here. ¼*

Gene Okerlund brings the Horsemen out for an interview, with Brian Pillman really hitting his stride as he goes off on most of the roster to varying degrees. It's a real shame he fell apart physically when he did, because he was tailor-made for the Attitude Era. And speaking of guys who fell apart physically, Paul Orndorff takes exception to some of the comments, and comes out to get in their faces, but ends up getting beaten down in classic Horsemen style, including a spike piledriver on the concrete. Orndorff is in bad shape following that, to the point where Heenan even abandons his post to check on him as he gets stretchered off. Felt like they were going for the same vibe the WWF did with the Michaels injury a few weeks prior, but didn't quite have the same finesse. Still a good segment, though. This aired opposite the rest of the Michaels segment, as well as an Ahmed Johnson squash on RAW, and I'd give WCW the overall advantage, since Pillman was entertaining as hell on the microphone, and they did a good job of getting the beating over as serious

Lex Luger v Jim Duggan: More flexing from Luger. It's seriously a shame that they turned him face so soon in 1993, because that Narcissist gimmick could have had legs. Duggan knocks him around early on, and knocks Lex to the outside, as we cut away from the match to watch Orndorff getting carried away by EMTs. See, that right there is the big difference between their version and the WWF's. The WWF stopped the show cold, with even the announcers not talking. Here they're playing it seriously, but still continuing the show like business as usual. Also, people cared a lot more about Shawn Michaels than Paul Orndorff, so obviously that's a big factor as well. Anyway, back to the match, as Duggan works Luger over in dull fashion, but gets distracted by Jimmy Hart, and wrapped up with the Torture Rack at 2:43. It should be noted that the finish got a major babyface pop from the crowd. This sucked, but I suppose it gets the edge over RAW, since they were basically airing nothing but various promo spots opposite, as well as a lame interview with the Million Dollar Corporation. DUD

Gene Okerlund brings WCW World Champion Randy Savage out to discuss Savage's busy schedule as of late. I would have marked out if Macho would have said something like, 'it's nothing compared to the to the busy touring schedule I had in my announcing days a few years back,' or whatever. Another point for Nitro over RAWs Corporation interview that no one cared about

Hulk Hogan and Sting v Ric Flair and Arn Anderson: The crowd reactions are incredible here, as we're in Horsemen country, and the crowd isn't shy about supporting their hometown heroes. I'm surprised Hogan, with all his creative control, would allow himself to be booked against Flair in Charlotte. His ego must have been firing on all cylinders if he seriously thought he could get any love from this crowd. I mean, WCW crowds weren't exactly giving him the warmest of receptions most of the time anyway, why push it? Wow, there's a dude in the front row who literally looks like the ugliest and stupidest person I have ever seen in my life. I won't say who, but this guy takes the ugly stupid cake. Sting and Arn start, and the crowd is just tripping over themselves to cheer for the Horsemen. Sting manages to press-slam Anderson after getting dominated for a bit, and Hulk tags in, getting absolutely torn to shreds by the fans. It gets even worse when Arn decides to pass right over to Ric, and they sure don't appreciate the Hulkster no-selling all of Flair's stuff, either. I'd bet that if Hulk didn't reinvent himself with the heel turn the next year, he'd have retreated back to the WWF at the earliest possible date. Though, who knows, because what's a few jeers compared to that sweet, sweet Turner money, along with a much less rigorous schedule? Hulk cross corner whips Flair into flipping onto the apron for Sting to clothesline, so Anderson sneaks in, but Hogan no-sells all of his stuff, too. Would it kill him to at least switch it up a little? It's like he's purposely rubbing it in their faces. Flair goes to the eyes to slow Hulk down, and the Horsemen work him over with quick tags, but Hulk pretty quickly fights them off again. Tag to Sting, and he hits Flair with a hiptoss and a dropkick for two, but at least sells when Ric fires back with a knee. Pinfall reversal sequence ends in Sting hooking a backslide for two, and Sting slams Arn off the top to set up the Scorpion Deathlock, but Flair saves. Sting responds by trying to put HIM in the hold, but Arn saves with a DDT, popping the house big time! Hulk, of course, protests by threatening the hit the referee, but that doesn't get him much love from the hostile crowd. Or from Lex Luger, who runs out, and puts Hogan in the Torture Rack out on the floor! Meanwhile, the Horsemen cut the ring in half on Sting, destroying his knee with glee, and the Figure Four draws a big ovation. Even the illegal leverage isn't a problem with there people, and Hogan is still standing there on the apron acting like he's going to blow the roof off the joint if he gets tagged. Funny bit as Sting makes the tag behind the referee's back (due to a distraction from Anderson), but the crowd is quick to inform the official that no tag was made! Sting fights Flair off with a slam off the top for two, but fails to make the tag, and Arn comes in to work him over. Sting counters a backdrop with the facebuster, and the crowd is actively telling the referee that Sting used the hair! Ha! Tag to Hogan, and the lack of crowd support is embarrassing. There's, like, two guys clapping, and everyone else is annoyed. Arn manages to drop him with a rotating spinebuster to a big pop, but Hulk no-sells, because of course he does. Legdrop on Anderson finishes at 13:27, but before the place can riot, Pillman runs in to jump Hulk and Sting. Luger runs back out to object to them beating Sting (though he's cool with them attacking Hulk), and he tries to get Sting out of there before the Horsemen change their minds, but Sting wants to help Hulk. He pushes past Lex to save the Hulkster, as Randy Savage runs out to stick his nose in as well, so Sting decks him! Big pop for that! Hulk gets in between and cool their jets, but the crowd still can't stand him, and pelt him with his own merchandise, in a funny bit. That's true hate. It's one thing to throw trash, another to throw your own property. They weren't reinventing the wheel with this match, but it was fun, and the crowd reactions were awesome to watch. This was also a lot more exciting than the well-worked-but-dull Hart/Backlund match over on RAW. ** ¼

BUExperience: They’re still going 50/50 in the ratings, but Nitro has been the better show in almost every head-to-head meeting with RAW thus far, and more consistently putting on the kind of episodes that make you want to tune in again to see what happens next. That’s not to say that they aren’t trotting out their share of bad ideas, but in general they’ve been taking RAW to school as far as booking exciting TV – something the WWF used to excel at.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	12/11/95
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.5	2.6
Total Wins	6	6
Win Streak		1
Better Show (as of 12/11)	3	10