WCW Monday Nitro (November 27, 1995)

Original Airdate: November 27, 1995

From Salem, Virginia; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

WCW Television Title Match: Johnny B. Badd v Diamond Dallas Page: Page brings a bouquet of roses to try and smooth things over with Diamond Doll (now in Badd's corner), and he jumps Johnny before the bell. Not sure beating up her friends is the best way to convince her you're not a jerk anymore, but what do I know? Page pounds on Badd, as Doll discovers a thick chain hidden in the bouquet. "It's a sterling silver bracelet," declares Heenan. As Doll tries to figure out what the deal is with this chain, Page continues to destroy Johnny, hitting a tilt-a-whirl slam for two, but walking into a headscissors takedown. He calls for the chain, but Badd catches it instead, and DDP gets knocked out for the pin at 2:10 - leading to some confusion over whether she meant to pass the weapon to Page or Badd. The match was basically just background for the angle, but still better than the shitty Ahmed Johnson match and angle over on RAW. ½*

Gene Okerlund brings Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart out to have a shortness convention. I'm torn because I actually like this angle with Luger turning heel and joining the Dungeon, but still hanging out with babyface Sting, but hate Jimmy Hart and Kevin Sullivan. RAW was airing an update on Shawn Michaels opposite this, so I'd give them the advantage

Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto v Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki: Wow, two rematches from the previous nights pay per view in a row. Is this Nitro in 1995, or RAW in 2018? Akira tries charging both babyfaces at the bell, but that goes badly. She manages to choke Ozaki down in the corner, and Bull tags in to hairwhip her a couple of times. Akira comes off the top with an assist for a chokeslam for two, so Cutie tags in to full-nelson suplex Akira for two. Bodypress, but Akira catches her in a fallaway slam - only for Bull to miss a flying legdrop. Back to Ozaki for a tandem flying double stomp for two, but an attempt at a tandem vertical suplex gets reversed, and Akira hits them both with splashes before powerbombing Ozaki for two. Again, but Ozaki counters with a rana for two, and Cutie comes off the top - only to hit her partner! That allows Akira a bridging northern lights suplex for two, and Bull sit-down splashes her for two. Bobby notes Nakano is "bigger than a Honda." Literally everything about that sentence would inspire negative hashtag campaigns today. Akira hits both babyfaces with a double flying dropkick, and Cutie eats a muscle buster at 5:24. Basically just a more compact version of the previous nights match. This actually aired opposite a tag team match featuring Japanese women over on RAW as well, in an interesting bit of counter programming. I mean, how often do you think that ever happened? I'd give this match a slight edge quality wise, but call the overall segments a push since both featured workers mostly unfamiliar to mainstream American audiences, and probably meant bathroom breaks for a large part of both audiences. * ½

Hulk Hogan v Hugh Morrus: Morrus is apparently the newest member of the Dungeon of Doom, though he's been booked like a total jobber in his few WCW appearances thus far. Hulk only wrestled a handful of matches on free TV in all of 1995, and almost always against top tier guys, so I'm frankly surprised they'd waste a Hogan TV match on him. Hogan knocks him around to start, and actually bothers working a hammerlock on this goof. I get what you're going for, but save that for when you're in their with actual stars. Hogan resorts to biting him, and a cross corner clothesline connects, but a second one is countered with a 2^nd rope flying clothesline. Nice camera angle on that one. Hugh hammers him, and a bodyslam sets up the No Laughing Matter - though Morrus totally overshoots it. No matter, Hogan HULKS UP!! anyway. Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! 3:41! This was crap, but had the good fortune of airing opposite the Brother Love segment that was busy dying a slow death over on RAW. DUD

Gene Okerlund brings new WCW World Champion Randy Savage out, Macho wearing an outfit that would be considered loud even by his standards. So you can imagine. Savage celebrates his new title, but here comes Hulk Hogan (who has taken the time to put on a new doo-rag in the two minutes since we last saw him) to bitch that he was screwed at World War 3 since he never went out over the top. And, I mean, he's not wrong, but Macho's supposed to be your best friend, so maybe don't be such an asshole about it? Anyway, he wants to show the tape of what happened to prove his point to Randy, but as it's playing, the feed cuts out right at the most crucial moment. Before we have too much time to reflect on that, Giant runs out to attack Hogan and Savage, so Sting tries to save, but that goes nowhere, since any villain is Hogan's to stop at his leisure. And, indeed, Hulk grabs a chair and literally beats Giant all the way across the building with it, with Giant not even fighting back, since God forbid anyone get heat on the great Hulk Hogan for more than five consecutive seconds. This aired opposite the rest of that terrible Brother Love segment, a Hunter Hearst Helmsley squash, and an Owen Hart promo over on RAW, and I'd give Nitro the advantage here since this segment was coming off the big title change and controversy from the pay per view the night prior

Sting and Lex Luger v Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman: Sting and Anderson start, with Arn quickly whipping him into a cheap shot from Pillman to set up a rotating spinebuster - Luger breaking the cover at two. He takes his own cheap shot at Arn to allow Sting a one-handed bulldog, and Brian gets one as well. Sting and Luger take turns press-slamming both Horsemen to clean house, and the dust settles on Lex and Arn. Luger is not shy about using cheap tactics as he fights off both Horsemen, and he passes back to Sting for the Stinger Splash on Anderson. Scorpion Deathlock, but Pillman comes off the top to break it up - a shove from Luger sending him flying right into Sting, and resulting in speculation over whether or not that was intentional. That doesn’t even make sense. If Lex’s goal was the break the hold, why even bother shoving Pillman? He was about to dive on his own anyway. If he wanted the hold broken, he could have sat back and watched it happen without raising any suspicion. Anyway, Arn hits Sting with an inverted atomic drop as the Horsemen cut the ring in half, but Luger gets sick of waiting for the tag, and just comes in swinging - allowing Sting to roll Brian up at 5:36. As noted earlier, I dig this angle, with the announcers questioning the motive behind literally every breath Luger takes, even if it doesn’t always make complete sense. Ric Flair runs out after the bell (to a massive pop) to help his compadres beat Sting and Luger down, so Hulk Hogan runs in for the save, but still has his own issues with Luger, which Sting has to get in the middle of again. All this was definitely better than the Undertaker/Mo match and extracurriculars over on RAW, both in terms of match quality and star power. * ½

BUExperience: Last week, I was shocked Nitro beat RAW. This week I’m not, though I am surprised they did the exact same numbers as last week, despite massive variances in quality.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	11/27/95
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.3	2.5
Total Wins	5	5
Win Streak		2
Better Show (as of 11/27)	3	8