WCW Monday Nitro (February 5, 1996)

Original Airdate: February 5, 1996

From Lakeland, Florida; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

WCW World Title Match: Randy Savage v Chris Benoit: Man, they were running world title matches practically every week. They fight hard over the initial lockup, with Benoit getting control, and dumping the champion to the outside. Chris sends him into the guardrail out there, then forces Savage back inside for a brutal lariat. He tries a catapult underneath the bottom rope next, but Savage blocks, so Benoit starts unloading with chops in the corner instead. He grounds Randy in a chinlock, but Savage fights free, so Benoit snap suplexes him. Bodyslam sets up a flying headbutt, with no cover, since winning the title isn't really Benoit's primary objective here. Chris absolutely drills him with a side suplex for two. Knife-edge chop sets up a legdrop, leaving Savage trying to hide in the corner, but Benoit stays on him with a backbreaker. Randy manages to dump him to the outside to try and buy time, but attempting to send Chris into the post out there backfires on the champion. A charge on the way back in does as well when Benoit backdrops him over the top, but Benoit's attempt at a tope results in him nearly killing himself on the rail. Randy rolls him in for the Flying Elbowdrop, but here's Ric Flair! He corners Elizabeth, so Macho goes after him - only to have Woman turn on him, choking Savage for the DQ at 8:17! Yep, Woman choking someone on Chris Benoit's behalf. Not at all awkward to watch now. The match was okay, but it felt like Savage was struggling to keep up with Benoit. This would have been awesome if it was the Savage of ten years earlier, though. Afterwards, the Horsemen (minus Brian Pillman) beat Macho down after the bell, but Hulk Hogan runs out with a chair to save. He really loved running in with a chair during this period, didn't he? I like to imagine that it was the same chair every week, traveling with him from town to town. Perhaps he even had a nickname for it. Like Mr. Chairy, or something equally creative. He does have creative control, after all. Hogan then stops to cut a promo, but Flair runs out to attack while Hulk's back is turned, and Giant comes out to beat on Hogan with his chair. No! A heel turn by Mr. Chairy? Enough is enough! And apparently Zodiac agrees, because he intervenes until Savage is able to chase the heels off. This aired opposite the Michaels/Diesel versus Bulldog/Yokozuna match and a Mankind teaser over on RAW, and I'd give WCW the advantage here. The match itself was only okay, but the overall segment had a lot of energy and excitement. ** ½

Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman v Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morrus: Pillman starts with Morrus, and you know Pillman is doing an incredible job of acting crazy when Hugh freakin' Morrus seems like the sane one. Morrus sends Pillman running for the hills following a press-slam, so Brian takes out his frustrations out on the camera man. He heads in to face Sullivan, who no-sells a clothesline. He fires back with a punch, but Pillman no-sells that, and both guys tag. Very shoot-ish style sequence there. Anderson drops Morrus with a rotating spinebuster, then back to Pillman, with Morrus looking like he doesn't especially want to cooperate with Brian. This is a really weird fucking match. Arn comes back in to chinlock Morrus, as the Horsemen continue cutting the ring in half. Sullivan eventually gets the tag, and gets right into slugging it out with Brian. He manages to put Pillman in a tree of woe, but Brian basically no-sells everything, and they start scrapping on the mat. Again, very shoot-ish. Arn comes in to try and salvage things, and he takes Sullivan to the outside. They brawl over to the entrance area, where someone whacks Arn with a broomstick from off-screen. That allows Sullivan to head back to the ring, where Morrus is hitting Pillman with a flying moonsault. He then holds Pillman down for Kevin to whip with a strap, and the referee awards it to the Horsemen by DQ at 7:17. Shitty match, but really interesting to watch. Easily one of the weirdest matches of this era, as they were kinda doing the Vince Russo 'everything you're watching is fake, except for what you're watching right now' thing, well before that was really an established trope. And also much, much more subtly than the stuff in the later part of the 90s. Pillman was unbelievably engaging during this period. This aired opposite the good Kid/Hakushi match, and Vader related segments with Clarence Mason and Gorilla Monsoon over on RAW, and I'd give the WWF the advantage. ½*

Ric Flair v Marcus Alexander Bagwell: Paul Orndorff comes out during the entrances, stopping over at the announce position to imply that he was the one who hit Anderson with the broom in the last match. Flair already has Woman with him here, which is a big step up for her after spending all that time with Sandman. Champagne and Cadillac's trump cheap beer and Toyota Tercel's. Bagwell tries to work a headlock to start, but Flair goes to town with chops in the corner, until Marcus backs the fuck off. Bagwell manages to reverse a cross corner whip to set up a backdrop, and he clotheslines the Nature Boy over the top. Marcus chases after him with a clothesline on the floor, then back in, where Flair begs off to sucker Bagwell into a cheap shot. Hey, if you're stupid enough to fall for it after twenty years of seeing that routine, you deserve it. Bagwell fights through some chops in the corner, and backdrops Ric before dropkicking him for two. Flair dodges a second dropkick, and tries for the Figure Four, but Bagwell counters with a cradle for two. He forces Ric into a criss cross, but ends up getting dumping over the top, and Flair goes to work in the corner again. Bagwell fights back again, but misses a charge, and Flair covers for two. He goes up, but Marcus slams him down, and throws a clothesline for two. Flair tries coming back with a suplex, but Bagwell maneuvers him onto the top turnbuckle for a vertical superplex for two! Ric is giving him a lot here. Bagwell with a bodyslam to set up a slingshot splash, but Flair lifts his knees to block, and the Figure Four finishes at 7:01. Ric refuses to let off the hold after the bell, resulting in Savage running in to chase him off. Damn good stuff, with Flair making him look like a real threat, and Bagwell working hard to make the most of the opportunity to shine. Much better than the boring ass Hart/Undertaker match opposite on RAW. ***

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Sting and Lex Luger v The Road Warriors: I always hated the way WCW officials tended to hold up the belts like they were cheap garbage before title matches. Sting starts with Animal, and they size each other up. After initially getting overpowered, Sting manages a one-handed bulldog and a flying clothesline for two, and both guys decide to tag. Lex hits a quick piledriver, but Hawk no-sells as usual, and clotheslines him. Jumping shoulderblock and a fistdrop follow, and Luger begs off for the tag. Hawk whacks Sting with a corner clothesline, but Sting fires back with the Stinger Splash, drawing Animal in to break up the Scorpion Deathlock. He criss crosses with Sting, so Luger takes the opportunity to pull the top rope down, and Animal goes crashing over the top. The champions cut the ring in half, but Luger gets side suplexed while trying to go for the Torture Rack, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Lex manages a vertical suplex on Animal, but it gets no-sold, and he eats a powerslam. That brings Jimmy Hart in, allowing Luger to whack Animal with the megaphone, and the champions retain at 8:37. Nothing special, but watchable. Call this a push with RAW, since they were getting into the chaotic finish of the Hart/Undertaker match in the early part of this one (which was better), but then were running their weekly therapy session with the terrible Billionaire Ted skit for the later part (which was worse). *

BUExperience: Like the opposing RAW, Nitro offered a stacked card this week, with pay per view caliber matches up and down. This was also a very focused hour, with lots of build for SuperBrawl VI, and no filler at all. A better show than RAW this week.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	2/5/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.7	2.9
Total Wins	9	10
Win Streak		2
Better Show (as of 2/5)	4	14