WCW Monday Nitro (December 4, 1995)

Original Airdate: December 4, 1995

From Phoenix, Arizona; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Harlem Heat v The American Males: It's interesting how Bagwell's journey from fresh faced babyface to slimy heel was progressive. Like, he's still a babyface here, but he's already dressing like a wannabe boy band member, and has the hair and goatee of a male stripper. Stevie Ray starts with Scotty Riggs, and pounds on him in the early going, but runs into a pair of dropkicks for one. Stevie fights him off with a sidewalk slam, and it's over to Booker T to try the Harlem sidekick, but Riggs ducks, and hits a jumping double-ax. Tag to Marcus Alexander Bagwell with a sunset flip for two, and he armdrags Booker into an armbar, as we spot Colonel Robert Parker watching from the aisle. Riggs wins a criss cross with a dropkick on Booker, but he misses a charge in the corner, and Stevie slams him. Meanwhile, Parker presents Sister Sherri with a gift at ringside, the camera crew focusing all of its attention on them as the Heat cut the ring in half on Riggs. The Heat kill Scotty with a tandem gourdbuster, but Booker hits knees while trying a pump-splash, and Bagwell gets the tag - Roseanne Barr the door! He catches Booker with a bridging fisherman's suplex, but Stevie saves at two, and Booker finishes Marcus off with the Harlem Hangover at 7:48. Riggs looked terrible throughout here. Nitro actually started about ten minutes early tonight, so this ran unopposed, with only the climax of the bout competing with RAWs opening moments. * ¼

Gene Okerlund brings Sting and Lex Luger out to discuss their longtime, close, personal friendship. Literally almost nothing was said here, and certainly nothing we didn't already know. This aired opposite the Bulldog/Holly match over on RAW, and I'd call the segments a push

Sting v Kurasawa: Somewhere, someone reading this is wondering why the bass player fought a filmmaker. Sting quickly sends him over the top following a dropkick and a clothesline, but Kurasawa pulls him out after him, and throws a few strikes. In, Kurasawa hits a knee, and he wrenches at the arm of the Stinger. Kurasawa with a flurry of chops in the corner, but Sting slugs at him, and hits a pair of turnbuckle smashes. Stinger Splash follows, and the Scorpion Deathlock finishes at 2:39. I miss the days when the announcers used to talk about how guys had their signature moves 'perfected,' and hence they were more devastating than some other wrestler using the same move. Just little things. I'd give the advantage to RAW with the climax of the Bulldog/Holly match, and the rambling Bob Backlund promo. DUD

Giant v Scott Norton: They measure each other to start, until Giant gets the advantage with a forearm and a kneelift, allowing him a bodyslam. Norton counters a short-clothesline with an atomic drop, and he manages a few turnbuckles smashes, but can't get Giant off his feet. Scott goes up with a flying clothesline, but Giant catches him in the Chokeslam, and he's done at 2:45. This aired opposite the In Your House report and Bob Backlund attacking a sound engineer on RAW, and I'd give the WWF a slight edge here, though both sides were sucking hard head-to-head. ¼*

Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair out for an in-ring interview, with the Nature Boy bringing Charles Barkley along with him. We talk about how annoying it is when the heels act like babyfaces today, but were they really any better at drawing the line back then? Isn't Flair supposed to be a major heel, who just turned on Sting? Why is he rubbing elbows with the local hometown sports hero? And it's not like this segment even went anywhere! It was literally Flair and Barkley coming out, with Charles endorsing Ric, and then Flair making a joke about Barkley joining the Horsemen. That's it, goodbye. Not at all appropriate for a heel. I'm shocked Hogan didn't take that spot, honestly. This aired opposite the Ramon/Douglas title match on RAW, and I'd call the segments a push

WCW World Title Match: Randy Savage v Lex Luger: I never got why Savage had such a hard-on for Luger. They were all buddy-buddy in the WWF, but as soon as Luger showed up in WCW, Savage suddenly can't trust him? And speaking of the WWF, Macho must have been thrilled to walk into the ring as world champion, just a year after leaving the place that told him he was done as a main eventer. Luger wants to play nice at the bell, but that doesn't go well for him, and Macho chokes him down in the corner, but runs into a clothesline. They spill to the outside, where Lex tries a flying axehandle off of the apron, but gets blocked with a punch to the gut, and Savage hits a proper flying axehandle for two on the way back in. Turnbuckle smash follows, and Macho puts him down with a backelbow for two. Vertical suplex, but Luger reverses, only to miss an elbowdrop. That allows Randy to wrench the arm on the ropes, and he works the part. Macho uses the guardrail, the post, the turnbuckles, and everything else as he destroys Luger's arm, but misses a dive off of the apron, and hits the rail himself! That allows Lex to take control on the way back in, and he hits a clothesline for two, all while nicely selling all the damage to the arm. Luger with a series of three pointed elbowdrops for two, and then three standard elbowdrops for two. Not exactly innovative offense, but I'm digging the psychology for Luger having to keep it simple since the arm is wrecked. They spill to the outside again, where Randy reverses a whip into the rail, and a clothesline gets him two on the way back in. Turnbuckle smash into an exposed buckle puts Lex down for the Flying Elbowdrop, but the referee is down, and there's no one around to count! That draws Ric Flair out, and he knocks Savage silly with a set of knux, with Jimmy Hart then quickly putting Luger over Savage's corpse. Unfortunately for Ric, he has to deal with Hulk Hogan, who shoves the recovering official to stop him from counting the pin on Savage, but that results in a DQ win for Luger at 17:00. Afterwards, Hogan beats Luger down, so Sting runs in for the save, and he gets in Hulk's face until Savage steps in to calm things down again. This was significantly better than the two pay per view matches between these two that preceded it though, and it was especially nice to see Savage veering from his usual formula. I mean, how often did you see babyface Savage control the bulk of a match, instead of just getting beaten down before making a quick comeback? This aired opposite the Brother Love segment and the Sid/Jannetty main event on RAW, and I'd give Nitro the definite advantage here. **

After the commercial break, Gene Okerlund is in the ring with Savage, Hogan, and Sting, as Sting again has to publicly plead a case for his friendship with Hogan. Man, what a jerk Hulk came off as. I like this angle, but in no way was it making Hulk look like the babyface, if that was the intention. What kind of friend makes his other friends swear their loyalty to him every week? This was a fine closing segment, though I'd give RAW the advantage since they were airing an update on Shawn Michaels, and that was a hotter angle

BUExperience: This wasn’t a great episode by any means, as it was mostly the main characters flogging the same talking points they have been for weeks with little in new developments, though I’d say it was slightly better than RAW this week.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	12/4/95
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.6	2.4
Total Wins	6	5
Win Streak	1
Better Show (as of 12/4)	3	9