From
We start with Hulk Hogan, who has moved on from hanging out on the beach with random homeless people to hanging out by himself at a haunted house in
Randy Savage v Meng: And speaking of bad Halloween costumes, Meng is still sporting that odd looking mask/cape thing that makes one of the most imposing guys in wrestling look like a dork. Savage runs in from the crowd for a sneak attack, and they spill to the outside right away, where Macho sends him into the post. Savage is dressed like the prototype of his later nWo character here. Back in, Savage ropechokes him, and uses a bodyslam, so Kevin Sullivan distracts him. That allows Meng to recover enough to block the flying axehandle, and he superkicks Randy out of the ring. Meng sends him into the guardrail and post out there, then back in for some chopping. I like how the announcers are suddenly making a stink about Jimmy Hart carrying the megaphone around like he might use it as a weapon, but never said boo about it when he was managing the good guys. Meng literally spends a full minute beating on Savage in the corner, before hitting a bodyslam to set up a flying splash - which misses. Randy then rams him into Jimmy's megaphone, and the Flying Elbowdrop wraps up at 4:51. I hate to say it, because I love the guy, but maybe Vince had a point about not wanting to use Savage as more than an occasional special attraction anymore. He looked terrible here, and has looked terrible for a while now. The character was still great, but his in-ring performances were getting increasingly lazy. After the bell, he's jumped by Lex Luger and Shark, who target his arm as they do a beat down. I have to question Luger's intelligence for wearing a Rolex Day-Date out to the ring for something so physical. Even Flair knew that you put that shit away, unless you're just cutting a promo. This aired opposite the Survivor Series report, a Shawn Michaels promo, and an Ahmed Johnson squash over on RAW, and I'd call it a push with RAW. DUD
Chris Benoit v Kensuke Sasaki: Chris goes right at him, but runs into a clothesline while trying to get cute during a criss cross, and Sasaki drops him with a crisp vertical suplex. Sasaki with a nice powerslam for two, and he thumps Benoit with another clothesline, so Chris fires back with chops. Sasaki railroads him into the corner to cut that off, and hits a one-handed bulldog, followed by a bodyslam for one. Snapmare sets up a chinlock to weaken Benoit for an elbowdrop for two, but a tilt-a-whirl is blocked, and Benoit topples him for two. Sasaki tries a press-slam, but Chris counters with two-alarm rolling German suplex into a bridging dragon suplex for three at a brisk 2:40. Short, but had mojo. Call this segment a win over RAW, which was airing a post-match interview with Ahmed Johnson, and shilling a calendar. ** ¼
WCW Television Title Match: Johnny B. Badd v Eddie Guerrero: Feeling out process to start, with both guys evenly matched, and both looking crisp. It should be noted that the Network's captioning crew, which somehow make sense of Ahmed Johnson promos on a regular basis, keep referring to McMichael as 'Mango,' instead of 'Mongo.' Maybe the same guys are also doing old SNL episodes? Badd nails him with an elbow to block a charge, and hits a slingshot legdrop for two. Eddie fires back with a flying rana for two, but Badd blocks a superplex with a gourdbuster. He leaps with a flying sunset flip, but Guerrero counters with a somersault cradle, leading to a reversal sequence that ends in Eddie taking a bump over the top! Johnny follows with a somersault plancha, then back in with a slingshot splash, but Guerrero dodges for two. German suplex, but Badd reverses, so Guerrero counters with a sloppy victory cradle for two. Sunset cradle gets two, and a magistral cradle is worth two. The announcers have no clue how to call that last one. Badd responds by unloading on him with lefts, as Heenan talks about how Eddie would be better off if he'd just cheat. Might be something to that, someone should mention it to Eddie. Guerrero's mustache here looks terrible. Things nearly break down into a brawl, but the referee calms things down, and Johnny works a headlock. Eddie side suplexes free, and hits a slingshot somersault senton splash for two, but Badd reverses a tombstone for two. Corner whip works, but the follow-up charge doesn't, and Guerrero delivers a tornado DDT for two. Criss cross results in both guys throwing bodypresses at the same time, leaving both down, and leading to a slugfest as they recover - just as the ten minute time limit expires at 9:03. You'd think with Turner money backing them, they could at least get a stopwatch that worked. This was a good babyface/babyface match. Some flow issues at points, but solid overall. The bulk of this was opposite the great Diesel/Hart segment to buildup Survivor Series over on RAW, but the rest was up against a silly Karate Fighters segment, and a Mabel squash. Give WCW the slight edge here, though the Diesel/Hart segment was very compelling. ** ½
Gene Okerlund brings Giant, Kevin Sullivan, and Jimmy Hart out for an in-ring interview. This is nothing more than hype for World War 3, and not especially exciting hype, either. Probably doesn't hurt that Sullivan and Hart are two of my least favorite promos in wrestling, too. Giant's not more better, but he's a rookie anyway, and at least he looks imposing. I will say that Sullivan's impression of Hulk Hogan's selling is pretty funny, though. This aired opposite the entrances for the RAW main event, and I'd give RAW the edge there, since that was a hyped up match with a highly telegraphed turn coming, while Nitro's segment was largely pointless
Sting v Dean Malenko: Sting's WCW Untied States Title isn't on the line tonight, but at least there isn't any bullshit time travel involved in that decision. It's announced that Sting will face Hulk Hogan next week, which is pretty big as far as dream matches go in 1995. And this was still early enough in the shows run that we hadn't come to expect them to under deliver with big matches like that, as long as they pop the desired rating. Feeling out process to start, with Sting in control for the most part. Dean throws a dropkick at the knee to take control, and he grounds Sting in a leglock. Corner charge misses, allowing Sting to try for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Malenko is in the ropes. He grounds Sting in a grapevine, but the Stinger slugs free, so Dean dropkicks the leg again, and goes back to the leglock. Sting escapes, and tries a running powerslam, but gets countered with a bridging German suplex for two. Dean tries a dropkick next, but Sting dodges - only to miss the Stinger Splash. That allows Malenko a missile dropkick, but Sting counters the Texas Cloverleaf with a small package at 7:40. Nothing special, but watchable. Afterwards, Okerlund comes out to get words with Sting to hype up the dream match with Hogan for next week. I'd give them the edge over RAW for the match, since Razor/Sid was terrible, and the bout itself finished up before the big turn angle even started on the other channel. But the post match stuff goes to RAW, since the Kid turn was a bigger hook than Sting cutting a promo. Call the whole thing a push. *
BUExperience: WCW again brings the goods in the ring where RAW falls short, but the WWF had more compelling angles, as opposed to Nitro’s endless Dungeon of Doom bullshit. Call it a win for the first non-live Nitro, but hardly a blowout.
Monday
Night Wars Rating Chart
11/13/95
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||
Show
|
RAW
|
Nitro
|
Rating
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2.6
|
2.0
|
Total Wins
|
5
|
3
|
Win Streak
|
2
|
|
Better Show (as of 11/13)
|
2
|
7
|
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