WCW Monday Nitro (July 1, 1996)

Original Airdate: July 1, 1996

From Landover, Maryland; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko (hour one); Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan (hour two)

Diamond Dallas Page comes out to interrupt the opening because his Lord of the Ring ring is missing, and he wants everyone in the building strip searched. Not starting with Tony and Larry, I hope. And speaking of Larry, Page trying to get him to stop talking so he can properly interrupt was probably harder work than anything he'd done in the ring up until that point in his career

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Harlem Heat v The Steiner Brothers: Booker T starts with Scott Steiner, and Scott quickly takes him down with a fireman's carry. That fires up the man in the flame outfit, and we get a big criss cross, won by Booker with a knee. He corner whips Scott, but eats boot on the follow-up charge, and Steiner plants him with a belly-to-belly suplex, followed by a press-slam. Clothesline sends Booker over the top, so Stevie Ray runs in with a sneak attack, but Rick Steiner cuts him off, and the challengers clean house. Meanwhile, the Horsemen show up to hang out at the VIP table/block the view of the poor fans sitting in that section. Rick hits Stevie with a German suplex, and Scott uses a backslide for one. Overhead suplex follows, so Stevie goes to the eyes, and that's enough for a tag to Booker, as Colonel Robert Parker shows up at ringside. Rick hits Booker with a powerslam and a clothesline, but eats boot on a charge, and Booker swipes at him with the Harlem Sidekick. Flying bodypress gets two, and a bodyslam sets up something off the top, but Steiner stops it with a belly-to-belly superplex for two! Tag to Scott for a butterfly powerbomb for two, but he runs into a cheap shot from Stevie, and Booker drills him with a superkick. Stevie tags in to powerslam him for two, and a bodyslam sets up a sidewalk slam/flying splash combo with Booker for two. Criss cross results in a double knockout spot, and Rick gets the hot tag - Roseanne Barr the door! Rick with a powerslam on Booker, but Stevie breaks up the count, so Scott hits the Frankensteiner, and Rick comes off the top with a flying bulldog on Booker. The challengers go for the kill, but Parker crotches Rick on the top, and Booker covers to retain at 10:02. Solid action here. ** ½

Gene Okerlund joins the Horsemen at their table to discuss the rampage they've been on, what with their harassing the likes of Joe Gomez and the Rock 'n' Roll Express. Yeah, that's not something I'd be especially proud of if I were them

Glacier teaser. He's entering the realm this July! But, wait, WE'RE IN JULY NOW!! IT COULD BE ANY TIME!!

Disco Inferno v Kurasawa: Kurasawa works the arm early on, as Disco complains that all this wrestling guff is interfering with his dancing schedule. Kurasawa with a savate kick, so Disco challenges him to a martial arts showdown, which quickly turns into more dancing. Well, there is dance fighting. Maybe that's what he was going for. Kurasawa keeps kicking him around, so Disco throws a tantrum on the outside, but ends up hurting his foot when he kicks the steps in anger. Back in, Kurasawa hits a Samoan drop, and a backdrop driver follows, but suddenly Disco's music starts up, and an Elvis impersonator shows up. This distracts Kurasawa for some reason, allowing Disco to whack him with his disco ball for the pin at 3:46. This was really silly and stupid, but Disco is so committed to the role that he makes whatever he's involved with work. DUD

Diamond Dallas Page v Scotty Riggs: Page shakes down members of the production crew in the aisle looking for his ring, but it's nowhere to be found. Page takes out his frustrations on Scotty in the corner, and drops him with a side suplex to start, but Riggs fires back with a bodypress. Dallas gets pissed and straight-up decks him for two, and he grabs an abdominal stretch. Yeah, I know when I get really mad, my go-to is usually an abdominal stretch too. Riggs tries a sunset cradle for two, but quickly gets pounded down again, and Page adds a pump-handle backbreaker. I always liked how DDP made interesting modifications to moves. He tries another pump-handle, but Riggs slips free, and sends Page to the outside with a dropkick. Scotty dives after him with a springboard bodypress, and he takes Dallas in for a jumping axehandle for two. Bodyslam, but Page counters to the Diamond Cutter at 5:41. I've seen worse. Of course, I've seen better too. Afterwards, Okerlund catches up with Page in the aisle to talk about Bash at the Beach, but Page would rather frisk Gene than talk. And check out all the cops they have lining the aisles in case the Outsiders show up! That's a great touch! ½*

Randy Savage v Greg Valentine: This is Valentine's return to WCW for the first time since October 1992, and he honestly looks like he hasn't aged a day since then. It's like he stepped out of a time machine from the Bill Watts era, ready to work. Savage wrecks Flair's buffet table on his way to the ring, just to be a dick. Feeling out process to start, with Valentine dominating. He whips Macho into the corner, but hits boot as he charges, and Randy tries a front-facelock. Valentine dumps him, so Randy drags him out with him for a trip into the guardrail, but he gets dumped a second time while trying to bring things back inside. In, Greg bootchokes him, and hits a backbreaker for two, as I fight the urge to go sleepy time time. Macho makes a quick comeback with a bodyslam, but a flying axehandle ends badly, and Valentine hooks the leg for two. Side suplex follows, but Savage actually gets up first despite taking the move, and the Flying Elbowdrop finishes at 5:10. Weird finish, but I guess they wanted it to line up exactly with the start of the second hour. ¼*

Just as Bischoff gives a huge speech about how WCW isn't afraid of the Outsiders, and won't back down to them, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash show up in the crowd, making their way to the front row, where they're immediately met by security. Oh, but they've got tickets, so there's not much WCW can do about it! Hall offering Doug Dellinger popcorn to try and smooth things over is pretty hilarious. I also like how they bought three seats, so they can have a little buffer. This aired opposite the entrances for the Michaels/Jannetty match on RAW, and already Nitro has a distinct advantage

Glacier teaser. Inside him burns the fury of a warrior! Not an ultimate warrior, but close enough!

WCW World Title Match: Giant v John Tenta: Nash offers Tenta some popcorn during the entrances, because he's awesome. They trade off with chops to start, which quickly turns into fists, and Tenta controls. Avalanche hits, but a second one is countered with a clothesline, and Giant puts the boots to him. Giant with an elbowdrop, and he takes his challenger into the corner for a bootchoke. Giant with a bodyslam, as we get a look at the freakin' battalion of cops WCW has stationed right in front of where the Outsiders are seated. They're handling this angle so uncharacteristically perfectly. Giant keeps working Tenta over in such dull fashion that Nash has got to be licking his chops at the notion that someone with such poor workrate could hold the top title in his new promotion. Finally, Tenta fights him off in the corner, and he makes a comeback, but runs into trouble from the Dungeon of Doom, and the Chokeslam finishes him off at 6:40. The announcers note that the impact was a "twelve on the Richter Scale," just to be cute. Afterwards, Big Bubba Rogers comes in and shaves Tenta's beard off, since this needs to maintain its status as the weirdest feud in history. Afterwards, Gene catches up with them in the aisle so everyone can hype up their matches for the Bash. This aired opposite the Michaels/Jannetty match on RAW, and I'd give the WWF a solid advantage there. –½*

Rey Mysterio Jr hype video. I like how they only have two matches to work off of, but still find enough footage for a video simply because Rey is so damn interesting to watch. This aired opposite highlights of the Sunny slopping angle on RAW, and I'd give the WWF the edge

The Outsiders decide to leave their seats and stroll around the crowd, and they've gotten hold of a live microphone somehow. They push their way over the barricade and make their way towards Bischoff, but are quickly blocked by the massive wall of cops WCW assembled, along with a bunch of workers, heel and face alike. Randy Savage immediately tries to fight the cops, since he's Randy Savage. The end result is them getting removed from the building, with Nash chanting 'Attica' the whole way. Tremendous! This was much better than the rest of the Sunny angle, and house show highlights that RAW had on against it

Backstage, Jim Duggan has found Page's ring, but instead of returning it, he makes fun of it like it came from the Liberace House of Crap! That draws Page in to confront him, so Duggan throws the ring at him, then punches him in the face. Last time we let Hacksaw run the lost-and-found, I'll tell you that. This aired opposite part of the Mankind/Droese match, and I'd call it a slight win for WCW, if only because that match was terribly boring

Eight-Man Tag Team Match: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, and Steve McMichael v Renegade, Joe Gomez, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express: This is perhaps the most lopsided match I've ever seen. Arn starts with Ricky Morton, and tries to toss him into the Horsemen corner, but gets reversed into the babyface corner instead, and all eight guys come in to brawl. The Horsemen end up on the outside, and man, Debra should have worn low-cut dresses a lot more often. Dust settles on Flair and Morton, and Ricky quickly hits a rana, then brings Robert Gibson in for stereo dropkicks, so Flair passes back to Arn before things go further south. Robert nails Arn with a leg-feed enzuigiri, so the Enforcer brings young Benoit in to rip into this guy. Gibson manages a hiptoss before getting pounded, so he passes to Renegade, but Benoit gobbles him up in the heel corner. Over to Flair to pop him with a chop, but Renegade manages a pair of clotheslines, and he passes to Gomez, who goes right after Flair in the corner. Cross corner whip flips Flair onto the apron for Renegade to abuse, and Gomez hits a backdrop for two. Flair is just going out of his way to make all the goofs on the babyface side look like total stars here. Benoit comes in to savage Gomez in the corner, and it's over to McMichael to get his licks in. Even while only having to do a minimum amount of stuff, he still looks awkward and goofy. The Horsemen work Joe over, and it says a lot about Joe Gomez's position on the card when he's the one getting worked over while teaming with Ricky freakin’ Morton.  This match also really makes clear the difference between a worker like Flair and a worker like Benoit. Benoit is almost too good, in the sense that he's so technically gifted and so well conditioned that very few workers can keep up with him, and most end up getting exposed while trying to hang. Meanwhile, Flair can elevate lesser workers, and actually make them look better/smoother than they normally are, as opposed to exposing them. And that's probably the most times you'll ever see the word 'exposed' typed in relation to Ric Flair in sentences the whole family can enjoy. Gomez manages to fight Anderson off long enough to get the hot tag to Renegade, and Roseanne Barr the door! Renegade goes for the kill on Flair, but Mongo shoves him off the top rope to prevent a dive, and Ric slaps on the Figure Four at 11:50. Afterwards, the Horsemen try to corrupt Okerlund with promises of yacht parties, fancy cars, and lots of women. Yeah, I don't think you'd have to convince him too hard. This aired opposite a really dull Goldust/Mero RAW main event, and it's a win for Nitro. Kind of sad when two major stars can't even pull off a better match than Renegade and a fossilized Rock 'n' Roll Express, but there you go. * ¼

The announcers are ready to sign off, but there's a commotion going on backstage, as the Outsiders are trying to get back in, but the police force stop them. They came off like the two coolest guys in the world here. Hall trying to bribe them with donuts is inspired, as is Nash's response when one officer tells him to hurry up getting into his car ("in good time, I've got bad knees!")

BUExperience: RAW had the best match of the showdown, but Nitro was a little better overall, and did a good job hyping up the Bash. Everything involving the Outsiders was gold, and must-see stuff.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	7/1/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.6	3.3
Total Wins	17	20
Win Streak		3
Better Show (as of 7/1)	9	27