WCW Monday Nitro (April 15, 1996)

Original Airdate: April 15, 1996

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

Handicap Match: Hulk Hogan v Arn Anderson and Kevin Sullivan: I like how Bischoff opens almost every episode with a jab at the WWF. Like, it's the very first thing out of his mouth most weeks. The heels attack Hulk together, but he fights them off, and puts each in an ugly figure four. Kevin manages to save Arn long enough for the heels to pound Hogan, so the Booty Babe runs down to stand in his corner for extra motivation. Maybe she should try slapping his ass like she does to motivate Beefcake. Never mind, her mere presence pumps the Hulkster up, and he beats both heels with ease. To the outside, Hogan uses a chair on them, so Jimmy Hart tries aiding in the assault, and Hulk is nice enough to sell a bit when he's down against three guys by himself. Back in, they try a spike piledriver, but Hulk sends Arn into Sullivan with a catapult, and the Legdrop finishes Kevin at 4:22. Oh, but Hulk's not done, no no. Next he wants to beat-up Woman and Elizabeth for good measure. He forces them both into the ring (with Booty Babe disturbingly excited at the prospect of the potential woman beating), but even the rednecks in the crowd are, like, dude no. Luckily, he turns his attention to Hart instead, so Jimmy throws powder into his eyes. Hulk no-sells that, of course, and beats Hart up until Giant comes out to make the save with a Chokeslam. Hulk no-sells THAT as well though, and then beats Giant up. Gene Okerlund comes in next to try and get a word, and nearly gets caught with some friendly fire, but Hulk stops short, thankfully. This was just ridiculous, with Hulk's unchecked ego totally out of control. Definitely give RAW the edge with a solid Mero/Cassidy opener, and a review of the Michaels/Diesel feud. DUD

Street Fight: The Nasty Boys v Public Enemy: The Nasties attack from behind in the aisle, and beat the Enemy down with weapons at ringside, but Rocco Rock dives at Jerry Sags with a somersault plancha. Meanwhile, Brian Knobbs slugs it out with Johnny Grunge in the ring, as we get the dreaded split screen that budgets more space for the logo than the action. The Enemy take over by using trashcans, but Rock misses a flying legdrop on Sags, and gets dumped to the outside, where Knobbs is already beating Grunge with a table. A good brawl can be, well, good, but there's just no flow to this one. It's just a collection of weapon shots, and it started dragging after the first two minutes. The Enemy go for the kill on Knobbs, but Grunge misses a dive off the top to put himself through a table, and Brian pins him at 9:17. This was pretty aimless, dragging on for way too long for a match that didn't really build to a climax. It was just guys hitting each other with weapons for ten minutes, with no real story or psychology to it. This aired opposite the Austin/Gunn match over on RAW, and I'd give the WWF the advantage. DUD

Randy Savage v Earl Robert Eaton: Eaton doing Churchill's 'V for victory' thing is a nice touch, though as a kid, I thought he was just holding up a peace sign all the time, and didn't get where this character was coming from. Macho unloads in the corner, and backdrops Eaton over the top, then follows to send Robert into the post. Back in, Randy snapmares him to set up an elbowdrop for two, so Eaton goes to the eyes, and tosses Randy over the top. Robert dives off the apron with a flying elbowdrop into the aisle - which the camera totally misses because they're focused on some guy wearing a Fred Flintstone costume in the crowd. Glad to see they've got their priorities straight. Back in, Eaton keeps going to the eyes to keep Savage from making a comeback, and he clips the knee to put him down for a figure four. Eaton grabs a Four Horsemen t-shirt to wave in front of Macho's face while applying the hold, but that just revs him up, and Randy reverses. Savage drops him throat-first across the top rope next, and a bodyslam sets up the Flying Elbowdrop, but Jeeves pulls at Macho's ankle to stop it. Savage chases him up the aisle, but Eaton has recovered and tries a sneak attack - only to get backdropped on the floor. Back in, Macho hits another bodyslam to set up another Flying Elbowdrop - sticking it this time at 4:02. This was actually a lot of fun, and could have probably been something awesome with another five minutes. And then afterwards, Macho wants to give Eaton another Elbow, but a bunch of babyfaces run out to try and stop him, so Savage dives right over them with it anyway! Gotta love crazy, intense Savage. He's dragged away in handcuffs for his actions, which seems a little unfair considering Hogan was beating up women and managers earlier on with absolutely no oversight. This aired opposite a Vader interview, Sunny music video, and the first part of the Goldust/Vega title match, and I'd call it a win for Nitro. **

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Lex Luger and Sting v Ric Flair and Giant: Lex doesn't even bother bringing his TV title belt out with him, so he must not be feeling it this week. The yellow tights/boots coupled with blue pads was a good look for Flair. He starts with Sting, and they do their usual feeling out process. Sting press-slams Flair out of the ring at Giant, and back in, Lex does the same! Giant catches him each time, and violently forces Ric back in, until Flair loses it, and smacks his partner with a chop. Uh oh, that was a bad mistake. And, indeed, Giant chases his ass back to the dressing rooms, and the match is nearly off. They return, so Luger continues slamming Flair around with ease, but runs into trouble with Giant in the corner, and Flair is quick to clip the leg. Giant with a vertical suplex as the challengers start to work Luger over, and Flair looks to put it away with the Figure Four, but gets caught using Woman for leverage. Giant comes in to press-drop Luger, and Flair throws some chops, but a trip to the top ends badly when Lex slams him down. That's enough for the hot tag to Sting, and it's press-slam city for Flair. Dropkick and a cross corner whip flip Flair to the apron, and Sting takes him upstairs with a vertical superplex. Scorpion Deathlock looks to finish, but Woman throws a cup of coffee at him to break - only for the referee to see it, and DQ the challengers at 13:18. Weak finish to an otherwise decent match. Afterwards, Giant flips out and Chokeslams everyone, and since it's not Hogan out there, the babyfaces actually, you know, sell. This aired opposite the Goldust/Vega match and an exclusive interview with Bret Hart over on RAW, and I'd give the WWF the edge. *

BUExperience: The first two segments of this weeks show were horrible, and though the last two were much better, the WWF delivered a significantly more consistent and entertaining hour.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	4/15/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	3.1	2.8
Total Wins	12	14
Win Streak	2
Better Show (as of 4/15)	8	17