WCW Monday Nitro (January 29, 1996)

Original Airdate: January 29, 1996

From Canton, Ohio; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan. Not something new, but it’s worth noting that having Lex Luger slamming a dude who is dressed just like Davey Boy Smith every week in the opening graphics is a great bit of subtle shade throwing on WCWs part

Hulk Hogan v Ric Flair: We give the WWE shit about running the same matches over and over again today, but they ain't got nothing on the first few months of Nitro. Hulk has his parade of beauties with him again this week, and you can just see the daggers in Linda's eyes as she has to play second fiddle to Elizabeth again. Liz looks like she got some shopping done while they were out in Vegas, too. Feeling out process to start, as if this isn't their millionth match. And it's the same old shit each time, too. Hogan overpowering, Flair trying chops and getting no-sold, just going through the motions. Hulk clotheslines him over the top, and sends Flair into the guardrail out there, leading Ric to beg off as they had back in. Hogan ignores him and hits a corner clothesline, but the referee steps in as he's unloading in the corner, and Flair takes advantage by clipping the leg. Ric goes to work in the corner, but a trip to the top rope goes predictably badly. Seriously, I'm as much of a Flair fan as anyone, and I'll openly acknowledge him as a master class level worker, but Bret Hart's criticisms of his work were right on the money. Hogan starts no-selling, and a corner whip flips Flair to the floor, where Hulk goes after him with a backrake. Ric goes to the eyes to buy time, which allows Jimmy Hart to get some cheap shots in while they're out there. Inside, Ric hits a kneebreaker to set up the Figure Four, but Hogan reverses. Flair tries a vertical suplex, but Hogan reverses that as well, so Ric throws the chops, but Hulk no-sells. Charge in the corner hits an elbow, however, allowing Flair to retain control. He drops Hulk with a side suplex for two, but it triggers the HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! But Hart distracts the referee, so no count. That draws Arn Anderson in sporting brass knux, but Hulk fights him off, and goes back to Flair. Arn is undeterred, however, and decides to steal Liz's shoe, passing it to Ric to bash Hulk with for the pin at 14:25. For those keeping score, out of some one hundred matches together, that marks the first and only pinfall victory Flair ever had over Hogan. This aired opposite the Diesel/Bulldog match, In Your House report, and Billionaire Ted skit over on RAW, and I'd give WCW the edge. Funny that this happened at literally the same exact moment that the WWF was making fun of Hogan for never putting anyone over on the other channel. * ½

The Road Warriors v The Faces of Fear: So, apparently that masked tag team with Warlord was a super short lived thing for Barbarian. Animal and Barbarian start, and predictably get into a power showdown. Barbarian puts him down first, using a big boot, but he runs into a powerslam, and Animal drops an elbow. Tags all around, and Meng hammers Hawk into taking a piledriver, but it gets totally no-sold. Hawk fires off a clothesline and a powerslam to set up a fistdrop, and Meng bails to regroup. Animal tags back in to work a wristlock on Meng, but he runs into a cheap shot from Barbarian, and Meng clotheslines the Road Warrior down. The ring is almost too small for these massive dudes to work in. Funny bit, as Barbarian decides to establish dominance by getting in Hawk's space, and doing a headbutt drop on Animal right out of the Road Warrior corner. Bad ass! The Faces cut the ring in half on Animal, working hard, and resisting even a single nervehold. Barbarian comes off the middle with a pair of flying clotheslines, but Animal blocks the second with a clothesline of his own, and there's the hot tag to Hawk - Roseanne Barr the door! Looked like Animal was supposed to block the first one, but forgot. Barbarian gets Hawk onto the top for a superplex, but Animal pulls Barbarian off into an electric chair to set up the Doomsday Device, only for Meng to shove Hawk off the top. That allows Barbarian to piledrive Animal, but a second attempt at it is stopped by Hawk with a flying clothesline for the pin at 9:06. Like the middle rope clothesline spot earlier, looked like Barbarian had to repeat it, because Hawk missed his mark on making the save. This was just four big dudes throwing each other around for ten minutes, and there ain't nothing wrong with that. This aired opposite the debut of Phineas Godwinn in a tag match against the Bodydonnas, an update on the Vader/Gorilla Monsoon situation, and the surprise introduction of Roddy Piper as interim President of the WWF over on RAW. I'd give the WWF the overall advantage head to head, though both shows featured guys making intriguing returns. **

Gene Okerlund brings Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morrus out to talk about what a little shit Brian Pillman is being. That draws Pillman and Arn Anderson out so they can talk face-to-face, with Sullivan telling Anderson he better get Brian in line, or the alliance with the Dungeon of Doom is off. Arn totally agrees, and decides to beat some discipline into Pillman, but before he can, Sullivan and Morrus attack the Enforcer! They beat Arn down, allowing Sullivan the pleasure of going to work on Pillman himself, but Arn fights Morrus off, and saves Pillman. See, he agrees that Pillman is out of control, but the Horsemen police themselves, and they don't take too kindly to outsiders intervening. This was interesting stuff, much more adult oriented than most anything the WWF did in this era. I always liked when the Horsemen were presented like a mafia family, as opposed to goofy foils. This aired opposite the Mankind teaser, and the opening bit of the Michaels/Yokozuna main event on RAW, and I'd give Nitro the edge

Sister Sherri v Madusa: This is an impromptu match, as Okerlund attempts an in-ring interview with Sherri to discuss having her wedding broken up at the Clash of the Champions last week, but Madusa interrupts with a flying bodypress, and they go at it in street clothes. She unloads on Sherri with kicks, but gets swept down, and Sherri bashes her legs into the post. To the outside, Sherri tries a whip into the steps, but gets reversed, and Madusa vertical suplexes her out there. Back in, Madusa keeps going to work with kicks, but Sherri takes her down, in what looked a little stiff. Sherri goes up, but Madusa slams her off, only for Sherri to roll through for the pin at 1:48. And then Madusa totally loses her shit, attacking Sherri from behind with a German suplex, and bashing her head into the mat repeatedly (and aggressively). Apparently Sherri wasn't aware that Madusa was planning to suplex her after the bell, and she was knocked silly in the process. This aired opposite more of the Shawn/Yoko main over on RAW, and I'd call the segments a push there. RAW had the most entertaining character of either promotion, but WCWs angle was much more intense than the action in the actual match the WWF was running. ¼*

WCW World Title Match: Randy Savage v Giant: Macho has the parade of women with him again, with Liz again getting a separate entrance from the others. Hulk may have had lust in his eyes once upon a time, but Linda's got the daggers man, daggers. Savage uses the women to distract Giant so he can attack from the crowd, going ballistic with the title belt as a weapon, and the referee refuses to start the match, awarding it to Giant by DQ. Not really sure how you can disqualify someone in a match that hasn't started yet, but I'm not a trained referee type person. So Ric Flair runs out to help Giant beat Savage down, and he decks the referee for good measure. Hopefully that doesn't result on a DQ on Flair's permanent record. Flair and Giant destroy the Macho Man, beating on him for an extended period until Hulk Hogan finally runs out with a chair to make the save. That draws the rest of the Dungeon of Doom out, but Hogan fights them all off single handedly, since of course he does. Meanwhile, Flair and Giant retreat to the announce position, where he cuts an unhinged promo on Hogan and Savage to close the show, acting so crazy that all the announcers except Heenan bail. Just get Brian Pillman back out there. This was a good, wild angle to close the show, but I actually dug the WWF's angle with Shawn and Diesel against Camp Cornette slightly better.

BUExperience: Both shows were pretty entertaining this week, but I’d give the WWF the overall win. Barely, though. Nitro was a strong effort, but it felt like the same guys fighting the same battles in the same angles they’ve been pushing for months now, and RAW at least felt like they were exploring some newer territory.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	1/29/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.4	2.8
Total Wins	9	9
Win Streak		1
Better Show (as of 1/29)	4	13