WCW Monday Nitro (February 19, 1996)

Original Airdate: February 19, 1996

From Salisbury, Maryland; Your Hosts are Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael, and Bobby Heenan

Hulk Hogan v Arn Anderson: Hulk, still pissed over what happened last week, blitzes Anderson to start. Arn bails, but Hulk is on his tail to choke the Enforcer with his own jacket on the outside, then inside for the axe bomber. Hulk tries a turnbuckle smash, but Arn reverses, only to have a 2^nd rope flying axehandle blocked when Hulk throws a right hand. Hogan blatantly chokes him on the mat, blatantly goes to the eyes, and then acts surprised when a large portion of the crowd shits all over him. It was one thing when he used to do stuff like that against some big monster, but Anderson is significantly smaller than he is (both in height and bulk), and it just makes him come off like a bully. To the outside, Hulk continues to cheat outrageously, then inside for a series of three facebusters, followed by grinding Anderson's face into the mat. Anderson manages to block a corner charge with an elbow, but Hulk quickly starts no-selling, and Arn takes a bump over the top off of a punch. Hogan follows to hit a low blow out there, but Arn manages to rake the eyes on the way back in. Hey, he hasn't even broken a quarter of the rules Hogan has here. Arn tries for the DDT, but Hulk won't even go down for it, and he big boots the Enforcer to set up an ugly figure four. That brings Kevin Sullivan out, but Randy Savage cuts him off - only to hit the ring before Sullivan, and thus get Hogan disqualified at 6:04. Hulk was dominant on his way to eating a pin last week, but this was an outright squash this week, coupled with a horrible finish. But hey, technically Anderson gets the win, so clearly Hulk is a team player, right? Hogan came off like a complete douche here, even from a kayfabe perspective. So painfully obnoxious. His character during this period reminds my of that Office episode where Michael goes to improv class, and every single one of his improvisations end in him running around and shooting all the other players. This aired opposite the Goldust/Ramon IC title match over on RAW, and I'd give the WWF a firm edge, both for the match quality and the angle. ¼*

Alex Wright v Loch Ness: WCW's having all sorts of technical difficulties with the camera in the aisle this week. Wright makes Loch Ness chase him around in the early going, but he stupidly tries to work a wristlock, and gets clobbered. And not only a wristlock, the idiot tries an OVERHEAD wristlock, or all things. Serves him right to get clobbered. The guy is, like, three times your size! Not only are you giving up massive amounts of leverage, but there's clearly no way you're going to overpower him! Throw dropkicks or leg lariats or something, fool. Wright, learning nothing, then decides to try a waistlock, despite Loch Ness being so big that Alex can't even get his arms all the way around his waist. He finally smartens up and tries throwing a few dropkicks, then latches on with a sleeper - giving us a look at Loch Ness' most terrifying attribute: his teeth. Loch Ness snapmares Alex off, and he grabs a bearhug, but Wright manages to slug free. Pair of dropkicks corner the fatty, and Alex hits a corner backelbow, but a second charge is blocked with a boot, and Loch Ness drops an elbow for the pin at 2:22. I get that the dude was pushing fifty and morbidly obese (and had undiagnosed cancer), so I get that his work is going to be limited at best, but that's exactly why he shouldn't be booked every damn week. This aired opposite basically nothing on RAW, but I'd still call it a push. DUD

Belfast Bruiser v Brad Armstrong: Brad looks like the goofiest goof to ever goof during his entrance. Bruiser grabs a wristlock right away, and wrenches on that for a bit. Snapmare gets him two, so Brad threatens to start throwing fists, and Bruiser stalls. Yeah, pretty sure Bruiser would win that particular exchange. Bruiser takes him down in a headlock next, then shifts to a bow-and-arrow, before using another snapmare to set up a shoulderblock. Brad manages to reverse a turnbuckle smash, so Bruiser simply decks him, and cranks on a cravat. Bruiser with another shoulderblock, but a third is countered with a hiptoss for two, and Armstrong grounds him in a side-headlock. Bruiser slugs free and bashes Brad's face into the apron, but gets dumped over the top while looking for a follow-up, and they spill to the outside. Bruiser bashes Brad's leg into the post out there, but Armstrong beats the count, so Bruiser punishes him with a half-crab into a stepover-toehold. Brad slugs free, and manages a backdrop, followed by a bodypress that sends both men tumbling over the top. Both beat the count, with Bruiser able to hook a backslide for two as they do. He misses a charge in the corner, however, allowing Armstrong a two-handed bulldog, followed by a side suplex. Bodypress, but Bruiser counters with a tilt-a-whirl slam for the pin at 6:50. I didn't have any expectations going in, but it was turning into a hell of a match by the end. This aired opposite Vader showing up to squash Aldo Montoya and Barry Horowitz, an Ultimate Warrior vignette, 1996 Sunny being 1996 Sunny, a Bob Backlund bit, and the first part of the Ringmaster/Jannetty match, and I'd give WCW a slight edge, though RAWs variety had a lot of appeal as well, especially since this match didn't have any stars, and you had to have the patience to stick with it long enough for it to start getting good. * ½

WCW World Title Match: Ric Flair v Randy Savage: It's been just over a week since they last had a televised match against each other, so I guess we're due. The belt still has 'Macho Man' on the nameplate, which seems weird, given that Flair had already held it so many times before, so it's not like they didn't have one for him around. Randy blitzes him at the bell, but runs into an inverted atomic drop, and ends up regrouping on the outside. Flair follows to dump his challenger over the rail into the crowd, and the security guards are having a ball watching this. Savage gets distracted and goes after Elizabeth in the aisle, so Flair decks him to stop that effort, and Woman rakes the eyes. Back in, Flair unloads, but Savage slams him off the top when Ric goes up, and Randy capitalizes with a figure four! Ric makes the ropes, so Savage tries a sleeper next, but Flair escapes with a side suplex. He's still dazed though, allowing Macho to cover him for two, and they stagger up to trade fists. Criss cross ends in Flair whacking him with a backelbow, and the champion adds a hanging vertical suplex. Kneebreaker sets up the Figure Four, but Savage reverses, and hooks a backslide for two. Randy with a right hand for two, so Flair cracks him with a chop, leading to a slugfest. Into the corner, Macho unloads with a ten-punch, as he starts mounting a comeback. That cues Woman to toss Flair her shoe, but Savage catches it, and whacks the champion with it - only to get jabbed in the eye when he goes for the cover. This brings Kevin Sullivan out, but Hulk Hogan is hot on his tail, and in the chaos, Arn Anderson is able to sneak in to drop Savage with a DDT for Flair to pin at 11:29. Just business as usual for them here. Afterwards, the heels attack both Savage and Hogan, but Booty Man runs in to make the save - with the announcers making no connection between him and all the other characters Ed Leslie had appeared for WCW as over the last year and a half. After getting chased away, the heels take refuge over at the announce position, but Booty chases them away from there as well, and then Hogan comes over to rant and rave, making a challenge to the three heels for a six-man next week. This aired opposite a Mankind vignette, the Undertaker/Tatanka match, and a new Billionaire Ted skit. Give RAW the slight edge there. * ½

BUExperience: Same old same old from WCW this week. Though the competing RAW wasn’t a very good show, I’d still give them the advantage head-to-head, since at least they were trying new things, and had loads of variety, while Nitro was basically in cruise control with no new ground broken.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	2/19/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	3.1	2.9
Total Wins	10	10
Win Streak	1
Better Show (as of 2/19)	5	14