WCW Monday Nitro (September 16, 1996)

Original Airdate: September 16, 1996

From Asheville, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko (hour one); Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan (hour two)

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Rey Mysterio Jr v Juventud Guerrera: Rey grabs him in a hold almost right away, but Guerrera drops him with a neckbreaker for two, and he absolutely PLANTS him with a fallaway slam for two. Great execution there. Rey sweeps the leg to shake him off, and he pounds on it, but runs into a backelbow as they criss cross. Another one goes Rey's way with a spinheel kick, and they trade chops on the ropes, dominated by Guerrera. Rey tries to send him over the top with a monkeyflip, but Guerrera springboards back at him, so Rey blocks with a dropkick. That sends Guerrera to the outside, and Rey is on him with a springboard flying rana on the floor! Back in, Guerrera gets control with a flying legdrop for two, and he blasts the champion with a dropkick, but gets backdropped to the apron. He lands safely and sends Rey to the outside with a springboard spinheel kick, and a baseball slide sets up a springboard moonsault press on the floor. Guerrera with a springboard 450 splash for two on the way back in, as Larry goes on a rant about how they should be trading holds on the mat instead. Where's Tenay? Guerrera takes him to the top for a rana off for two, as we cut to outside of the building, where the nWo's propaganda guys are handing out flyers. I appreciate the angle, but save it for a shitty match, idiots. Guerrera takes Rey up again, this time for a powerbomb off the top, but Mysterio counters with a rana down, and that's enough at 8:14. I love how Rey could counter that move with a discernable change of direction, as opposed to the way most guys just roll through with the existing momentum. Nonstop action here, though I didn't appreciate them slotting a commercial break and the nWo bullshit during it. *** ¼

Mike Tenay is backstage with Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael, and they promise to put a hurting on Lex Luger and Sting later tonight. Assholes, it's that kind of attitude that got us here in the first place!

Glacier vignette. More?! The guy has already debuted on TV, stop already!

Diamond Dallas Page v Ice Train: I love the look Train gets on his face when he's sizing an opponent up. Train knocks him around to start, with Page selling everything like there's no tomorrow. That must have been really jarring for Train, coming off of the Scott Norton match the night before. Page suckers him into getting his throat snapped across the top rope to turn the tide, and Dallas dives off the top with a flying clothesline. Page with a swinging neckbreaker for two, and he's even overselling the freaking KICK OUTS. DDP with a clothesline, but Train blocks the Diamond Cutter, and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. He starts making a comeback, and a bearhug slam leads to a powerslam for two. Frogsplash gets two, and we cut to the back again, where the nWo propaganda kids have taken over a WCW merchandise stand with signs that read 'who wants this crap?' That's fantastic. Unfortunately, they slot this over the fucking FINISH of the match, which replays show happened when Page threw Teddy Long's towel in behind referee Nick Patrick's back, causing Patrick to think Train submitted at 4:43. I love a good angle as much as the next guy, but stop ruining the fucking matches! ¾*

1-2-3 Kid is spotted sitting in the crowd in a Jim Morrison t-shirt, with the announcers identifying him as such, though noting that he's 'formerly of the WWF,' and that he is no longer associated with them. Except, you know, that you're calling him 1-2-3 Kid. They could have just said 'the Kid,' or something

AAA Americas Title Match: Konnan v Super Calo: This is billed as a 'Mexican Heavyweight Title' match, but I don't think it's actually a sanctioned defense of the Americas Title that Konnan actually held at this point. Mike Tenay joins us for commentary here. Konnan with a clothesline right away, but Calo counters the rolling clothesline with a crucifix for two, and a criss cross ends in Calo sending him to the outside with a wheelbarrow armdrag. He follows with a SICK looking somersault tope, but takes too long getting to the top rope on the way back in, and Konnan armdrags him off for one. Konnan grounds him in a hold to wear him down for a gutwrench powerbomb for two, but Calo escapes a crucifix powerbomb, and sends the champ back to the outside. He dives with a springboard bodypress on the floor, so Konnan throws a dropkick to the knee on the way back in, and hits an inverted DDT for two. Rolling clothesline puts Calo down for another hold, though Konnan seems more interested in using his hands to throw gang symbols than getting a submission. Konnan goes to the middle rope, but Calo dropkicks him into a sitting position, and brings him down with a headscissors. Dropkick sends Konnan to the outside, and Calo is on him with a baseball slide to set up a slingshot somersault senton splash on the floor. Calo follows with a missile dropkick out there, but he misses a corner dropkick on the way back in, and Konnan drops him with a package DDT for two. Whiplash into a cradle gets two, so he takes Calo to splash mountain at 6:46. Calo seemed hell bent on leaving the ring with a broken bone, but Konnan looked sluggish here, and couldn't really hang with him. ** ½

Mike Tenay (where the fuck is Okerlund?) strolls over to talk to the Kid, and he's just here to check out the show, since he's heard that Nitro is the hottest one out there today. Oh, and he thinks it's just a gosh darn shame that the nWo won WarGames last night. Just a gosh. darn. shame

Hugh Morrus v Brad Armstrong: Hugh powers him around to start, so Brad starts using speed to stick and move, and a pair of dropkicks send Morrus to the outside. He regroups out there, and manages to power Armstrong into the corner on his way back in, but a charge misses, and Brad uses a hiptoss. Morrus quickly cuts him off with a clothesline, so Brad tries a small package, but it only gets two. Morrus cuts him off again with a powerslam, and the flying moonsault hits, but he gets arrogant with the cover, and cradled at 3:55. Kind of fitting that this happened on the same show that Sean Waltman debuted on. ½*

Outside, the nWo's limo has arrived, and they're toasting their victory and deception at Fall Brawl. Why is fake Sting even still with them? Like, he had a job to do, and he did it. Now go home, weirdo

Randy Savage v Scott Norton: Macho is looking surprisingly chipper after everything that happened to him last night. But he's still sporting the WrestleMania IX hat, so I get it. It's a great hat. They start fighting in the aisle before the bell, with Savage controlling, and hitting a flying axehandle on the floor. He sends Scott into some chairs before taking things inside, but a criss cross ends badly when Norton hits a Samoan drop for two. Scott with a backbreaker for two, as the announcers discus the Sting situation. Apparently he was off promoting a tour in Japan during those times he was MIA, though you'd think WCW would have, like, known that. Unless he just went rogue and showed up in Japan talking about some tour no one had ever booked or heard of. I don't know. Sting's a complex guy. Anyway, Norton with a powerbomb and a short-clothesline, followed by a powerslam for two. Avalanche misses, allowing Macho a ten-punch, but Norton drops him with an inverted atomic drop before things get away from him. Backdrop, but Savage blocks with a kick to the face, and he adds a clothesline. He dumps Norton to the outside for a few trips into the guardrail, and a bodyslam on the floor follows. I like how Scott isn't dumb enough to totally no-sell Savage like he does everyone else, but even his selling is more like he's just inconvenienced than actually hurt. He manages to drop Macho with a DDT for two, and a shoulderbreaker follows, so Macho rolls to the outside before he gets covered. Norton follows to send him into the post, but Randy reverses, and whacks him with a chair for good measure - only to get DQ'd at 6:38. Savage keeps unloading with the chair, so more referee's run out to try and stop him, and Nick Patrick ends up getting nailed in the process. Not much, but definitely more interesting than the Roberts/Sultan negative-star affair that opened RAW. ½*

Big Bubba Rogers v Glacier: Glacier's entrance - with the laser show and snow falling - is pretty cool, but the character feels dead on arrival. They keep the cold blue light over the ring for the whole match, which sees Glacier dominate Bubba with martial arts in the early going. Bubba suckers him into a cheap shot, and he hits a bodyslam, before stopping to mock Glacier's kata. That allows Glacier to recover, and it's more martial arts strikes to take control, before finishing Bubba off with a spinkick at 2:42. Not much as a match, but it was certainly a mood. Call it a win for Nitro over the dull (if technically superior) Gunns match against Holly and Pug over on RAW. DUD

Sting comes out and decides he wants to talk about what's been going on. In a weird touch, he does the whole promo with his back to the hard camera. Good stuff here, as he rants at everyone for not only doubting him, but also not believing him when he directly said it wasn't him who turned nWo. Especially Lex Luger, who he gave the benefit of the doubt to so many times since his return to WCW. That's actually a great set up for a program with Luger, but by the time Sting came back, it was already all forgotten about anyway. Call this a win for WCW over Gorilla Monsoon refuting claims that Razor and Diesel were coming back to the WWF, and the lame Cornette public workout bit over on RAW

Ric Flair and Arn Anderson v Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Chris Jericho: The Horsemen miss their cue, as Miss Elizabeth refuses to go out to the ring with them tonight, despite Flair's efforts to convince her otherwise. And then before the match starts, Kid stands up on his chair with a remote control in hand, and nWo flyers fall from the ceiling at the click of a button. In rare form tonight, the announcers actually immediately clue in that he's the newest member of the nWo, as opposed to doing their usual 'BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?' shtick. So, with nWo flyers littering the ring, Anderson and Jericho start us off, and Chris actually dominates. He dives at Anderson with a missile dropkick for two, and a criss cross ends in Arn getting knocked to the outside with a spinheel kick. Tags made all around, and Flair trades off with Bagwell on the mat, as the announcers talk about the nWo's list of demands following their win last night. Apparently, they want their own TV show. Think maybe they'll settle for a pay per view, instead? Flair goes to town with chops, but Bagwell responds with fists, as the crowd makes target practice out of them with balled up flyers. Anderson tries to take a cheap shot, but Bagwell fights him off, and uses a slingshot sunset flip on Flair for two. Backslide gets two, and a small package is worth two. Man, these fans just won't quit with the trash. And it's a babyface/babyface match too, they're just being assholes. Arn and Chris go again, and this time the Horsemen are able to cheat their way into control, and they cut the ring in half on Jericho. Meanwhile, we cut to the nWo partying outside, now joined by the Kid to make it official. Back to the ring as Jericho makes the hot tag to Bagwell, and he goes for the kill with a bridging fisherman suplex on Anderson, but Flair saves. That allows Woman to claw him in the eyes, and Flair slaps on the Figure Four at 11:05. The match felt like they were just going through the motions between all the angles and stuff. I'd actually give the WWF the advantage here, with a good Owen/Mero tournament match, and a taped appearance from Bret Hart. *

Handicap Match: Lex Luger v Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael: So, with Sting gone, Lex is forced to go it alone. Serves him right, the prick. Funny moment, as Debra McMichael picks up one of the flyers on the way down to the ring, and can barely tear the paper in half. They must have spent the big bucks at Staples. Benoit starts for the Horsemen, and he pounds luger with rights, but runs into a backdrop. That allows Lex to takeover, but only for a moment, as Chris tags out, and the Horsemen double team. McMichael tries a powerbomb, but Lex fights him off with a backdrop, and he knocks Benoit off of the apron for good measure. Chris tags in and schools him, but Lex turns the tables in the corner, so McMichael takes a cheap shot to allow Benoit a snap suplex. Steve tags in for some mounted punches, then back to Benoit to put the boots to him. The Horsemen work him over for a bit, until Luger just kind of randomly decides to start making a comeback, and it's Torture Rack time for Benoit. Lex gets it on, but here come Flair and Anderson for the DQ at 5:55. Hey, a rare non-nWo run-in finish. Luger fights off all four of the Horsemen initially, but eventually gets overwhelmed, and destroyed. Maybe if he wasn't such a distrustful jerk he'd have a friend to run out and save him. Call this a push with the Sid/Faarooq match over on RAW. ½*

And, we close with the nWo (still partying out in their limo), who officially dub Kid as Syxx

BUExperience: The nWo stuff continues to be intriguing and sweeping, even if the matches themselves are increasingly becoming an afterthought. That’s not a bad TV formula though, as they do a good job of engaging us with the angles every week, and then shows like Fall Brawl delivered on the in-ring side, so you can’t really complain.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	9/16/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.1	3.7
Total Wins	17	29
Win Streak		12
Better Show (as of 9/16)	11	34