WCW Monday Nitro (August 5, 1996)

Original Airdate: August 5, 1996  

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko. We’re still outdoors at Disney-MGM here

We start with a recap of the attack from the nWo last week, and in response, this week there are wrestlers stationed around ringside to prevent any further attacks. That's a nice touch. I mean, any booker can put a bunch of uniformed security guys out there, but using the actual WCW wrestlers makes it feel so much more personal

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: Harlem Heat v The Rock 'n' Roll Express: After some debate, we get Booker T and Ricky Morton to start, and Ricky's attempts at trash talk are just sad. Much like everything about Ricky Morton by 1996, honestly. At least the Heat are treating them like the joke they are here. Booker dominates, so Ricky tags Robert Gibson in for some double teaming, and they manage to clothesline the champ over the top. He passes to Stevie Ray on the way back in, but the Express actually manage to dominate him, shockingly. They cut the ring in half, but Stevie shrugs them off, and a double team from the champs leaves Morton down. The Heat go to work on him, but keep losing focus as Colonel Robert Parker bickers with Sister Sherri on the outside. It doesn't take much focus against the Express though, so it doesn't really change anything, and the Heat continue cutting the ring in half with ease. Booker misses a dive off the middle rope to allow the hot tag to Gibson, and Roseanne Barr the door! How sad is it that the hot tag didn't even get a courtesy pop. Makes sense though, this crowd of casuals wouldn't really be familiar with the Express from their glory days. Anyway, the Express make a comeback, but Gibson puts his hands on Sherri, and that ends badly for him at 10:24. Way too long for such a boring match. DUD

Gene Okerlund brings the Nasty Boys out to talk about their relationship with Hollywood Hogan, but they're being evasive about joining the nWo, so Lex Luger and Sting come out to confront them, and there's stinking business all over the place!

Glacier teaser. Yes, he still hasn't debuted. After all this hype, pretty much anyone would have been a disappointment

Madusa v Malia Hosaka: They measure each other a bit to start, until Madusa uses a slingshot sunset flip for two, but Hosaka slips out of a bodyslam. She tries a rollup, but Madusa holds the ropes to block, so Hosaka starts throwing her around the ring by the hair. Hosaka with a bootchoke and a catapult underneath the bottom rope, but Madusa fires back with a spinkick. Hosaka sweeps the leg to cut her off, and she uses a figure four, though I'm pretty sure I mastered that hold better on my friends in fifth grade than Hosaka does here. Madusa gets the ropes, so Hosaka starts pulling at the hair, and rubbing Madusa's face into the canvas. Madusa throws rights to mount a comeback, as we see that a limousine has pulled up outside of the venue. Madusa with a gutwrench suplex for two, so Hosaka tries a sunset flip, but Madusa is in the ropes. She takes Hosaka upstairs for a vertical superplex, so Sonny Onoo distracts her to prevent a cover, and Hosaka steals a pinfall at 4:38. That finish looked terrible, and the bulk of the match was very awkward. ¾*

Alex Wright v Chris Benoit: Benoit takes him to school in the corner right away, but Wright manages to turn the tables on him, and he hits a hiptoss. Bodyslam gets one, and a dropkick sends Chris to the outside, where he stops to regroup. Back in, they trade wristlocks, with Benoit not shy about taking cheap shots. Criss cross ends in Wright hitting a monkeyflip, and a pair of headscissor takedowns lead to an armdrag into an armbar. Wright with a cross corner whip, but a charge misses, and Chris nails him with a knee. Side suplex gets the Crippler two, and he drops Wright front-first across the top rope for two. Another knee, but Alex counter with a schoolboy for two, so Chris cuts him off with a snap suplex for two. Abdominal stretch, but Wright manages an armdrag to escape, and Benoit scrambles to cut him off again. He gets Alex grounded in a camel clutch, when suddenly Jimmy Hart shows up, and starts yelling at Woman for stepping out on Kevin Sullivan. She won't listen, so Dean Malenko comes out to try and drag her to the back. That distracts Benoit, and he dives after Dean - the two of them brawling until Chris is counted out at 8:22. Looked like they were being anchored by the Florida heat here. ** ¼

Randy Savage v Lord Steven Regal: Feeling out process to start, with a surprising lack of stalling from Regal. They must not be getting much time. Not to say that he doesn't stall SOME, of course. Savage gets annoyed with him and uses a turnbuckle smash and a rake across the ropes to put Steven down for some blatant choking and eye gouging, but Regal returns fire with an uppercut. He gets Macho down in a crossface, but it doesn't go anywhere, so he dumps him to the outside for a trip into the post. Back in, Regal unloads in the corner, but Savage returns fire, as Luger and Sting randomly show up to hang out in the front row. They could have at least bothered to put on shirts. Savage keeps destroying Regal until Steven bails, so Randy throws him right into the chairs where Sting and Luger are hanging out. Nice audience participation! Back in, the Flying Elbowdrop ends it clean at 6:18. ¼*

We're into the second hour now, but Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan are no-shows, so Luger and Sting go check out the black limo - only to find it empty, with only a funeral wreath inside. Oh shit, Undertaker is the fourth man! They head back to the ring with the wreath, where Okerlund is with Savage, talking about how Macho will challenge whoever is world champion one week from tonight. That's nice, but Sting wants to talk about the wreath! I mean, it's all symbolic and stuff! Finally, Savage just destroys the wreath so poor Sting can stop being so afraid of it. This aired opposite the Lawler/Montoya match over on RAW, and I'd give the edge to the WWF

Over the weekend on WCW Saturday Night, Ric Flair wouldn't let Chavo Guerrero out of the Figure Four after a match, so Eddie Guerrero came in for the save - only to get beat down himself while trying to help

WCW United States Title Match: Ric Flair v Booty Man: Flair attacks from behind while Booty is busy shaking it, and they spill to the outside right away, where Ric unloads with chops. Back in, Flair keeps hammering him, and goes low just for kicks. Like, he wasn't even in trouble, he just felt like hitting him in the balls. Into the corner, Booty slugs back, as Heenan shows up at ringside, but he has no idea where Eric is. Meanwhile, Flair puts Booty down and slaps on the Figure Four, but gets busted using the ropes, so the Horsemen just run in and destroy Booty for the DQ at 3:01. Really? Freakin' BOOTY MAN couldn't do a clean job for Ric Flair? Fuck off. The Horsemen deliver an extended beat down afterwards (with all the WCW wrestlers acting as ringside security totally unmoved by any of it), and even Okerlund climbs into the ring and just starts casually talking to them like they're not in the middle of kicking the shit out of a guy. Arn notes that when the New World Order is put into place, it signals the beginning of the end times. Well, he was sort of right about that. This aired opposite a pretty good Bodydonnas/New Rockers match, and I'll give the WWF the edge again. DUD

We get another lengthy recap of the nWo attack and carnage from last week. It was a great angle and everything, but I feel like I've seen it a million times already. Give RAW the edge with their Shawn Michaels sit-down interview, and live event highlights


We get another nWo paid announcement clip, this time with them making fun of the WCW guys after last weeks attack. This came off as effortlessly cool and edgy. And, in a great touch, the video cuts off in the middle, because Luger and Sting have forced their way into the production truck, and personally put a stop to it. This aired opposite the first part of the lengthy battle royal main event on RAW, and it's a definite Nitro advantage

Hog Wild ad

WCW World Title Match: Giant v Sgt. Craig Pittman: I'd really love to get a look at the Championship Committee's books from '96, because I need to know how in the hell both Booty Man and Pittman are qualifying for title shots here. And at the two top belts, no less. Giant destroys him at the bell, shrugging Craig off with ease, and unloading in the corner. Pittman manages to dodge him, and starts throwing these cool jumping headbutts, but he just bounces off the world champion, and the Chokeslam finishes at 2:08. Afterwards, Giant has words for Hollywood Hogan, just as the limo pulls back into the complex again, though nothing comes of it. This aired opposite more of the battle royal, and I'd call it a push. DUD

Glacier teaser

Over the weekend on WCW Saturday Night, Sting and Randy Savage were beating the Nasty Boys, when Steve McMichael and Debra came out and stole his briefcase back. Yeah, but so what? I mean, not even Savage would be dumb enough to actually keep the money inside of it after getting it back, would he? No, wait, fuck it, better question: why would there have been money in it anyway? Like, even when Savage got the case back, are we expected to believe that Mongo's just been walking around with it from town to town since the Great American Bash? Surely he's passed a Chase at some point!

The Nasty Boys v Lex Luger and Sting: Luger and Sting are just all over the show this week. Jerry Sags starts with Lex, and immediately pounds him down in the corner, but a fiery Luger turns the tables. He cross corner whips Jerry, but eats boot on the charge, and Brian Knobbs tags in for a double team. Knobbs goes to work, but misses a charge of his own, and Sting tags in. Sting throws a jumping clothesline and a pair of turnbuckle smashes ahead of a bulldog for two, so Sags trips him up as he runs the ropes, and Knobbs capitalizes with an elbowdrop. The Boys take control and go to work, until Knobbs lands on a boot while trying a dive off the middle rope, and Lex gets the hot tag. He looks to finish Sags with the Torture Rack, but Knobbs saves, so Sting runs in, and Roseanne Barr the door! The brawl spills to the outside, where Sags accidentally collides with Rick Steiner (out for security), and that sends in Jerry getting clobbered by the Steiner brother. He's rolled back in, where Sting is ready with the Scorpion Deathlock at 6:46. The match sucked, but seeing Barbarian (on security detail) casually sipping a bottle of water in the background for the whole match is funny shit. Afterwards, Okerlund comes out to talk to Luger and Sting, because apparently we haven't heard from them enough for one week yet. Anyway, the whole thing is just a set up for them to go over to the black limo, this time backed up by all the workers that have been surrounding the ring all night. Sting rips open the door, and whoever was inside chucks a bag at him, and speeds off. Or, well, slowly pulls away to avoid running over a bunch of kids. The bag has the Turner logo on it, and that cliffhanger is where we go off the air this week. The Network actually then shows Sting opening the bag (which happened after the show ended), and there's a note inside saying that Rey Mysterio was right last week... there is a fourth man. And maybe a fifth. I'm guessing this was supposed to air, but the show ran out of time. Good way to end, though the match itself sucked, and I'd give the overall advantage to RAW. ½*

BUExperience: Nitro was hardly terrible, but I liked RAW better this week. Outside of the overarching nWo angle, there just wasn’t much out of WCW this week, while RAW felt more energetic and eventful.  

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	8/5/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.8	3.0
Total Wins	17	25
Win Streak		8
Better Show (as of 8/5)	11	30