WCW Monday Nitro (October 21, 1996)

Original Airdate: October 21, 1996

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

Last week, Randy Savage cried and ran away like a little girl to build up his main event title shot at Halloween Havoc

Bobby Eaton v Chris Jericho: He's back to being plain 'Bobby,' at this point, apparently getting dumped by the Blue Bloods. And he's OVER with this crowd, too. And speaking of the crowd, Syxx and nWo Sting are hanging out in the crowd, causing a ruckus. Larry complaining about Syxx not having permission to record the show on his camcorder is such a sad bit. Like, they're regularly storming the set and beating guys bloody, and his great concern is a photo release? Jericho dominates the opening criss cross and takes Bobby down in an armbar, but Eaton powers to a vertical base, and wins the next criss cross with a sloppy powerslam for two. Looked like they were on different pages there. Bobby grounds him in a wristlock, but Jericho counters to a hammerlock, and throws a spinheel kick to send Eaton to the apron. Chris blasts him with a springboard dropkick out there, but gets his throat snapped across the top rope while bringing him back in, and Bobby throws a backelbow for two. Armbar, but Jericho turns it into a slugfest, and both guys end up out on the floor. Bobby tries sending him into the post, but gets reversed, and Jericho backdrops him into the aisle. Back in, Chris unloads with chops, but walks into a swinging neckbreaker, and Eaton goes up with a flying kneedrop for two. Jericho fires back with a jumping sidekick, and a missile dropkick quickly follows for the pin at 6:58. Pretty good match here, and the crowd was hot for all of it. I wish they got an extra five minutes to really turn it into something special. Afterwards, Jericho cuts a promo on Syxx ahead of their showdown at Halloween Havoc. ** ¼

Rey Mysterio Jr video package. He really likes the rana

Dean Malenko v Jimmy Graffiti: 'Jimmy Graffiti' feels like such a WWF gimmick, while 'Gigolo Jimmy Del Ray' would probably be more at home in WCW. In a nice touch, he has spray-paint all over his hands. Still, such a weird gimmick to use on a pasty white guy in his 30s. They trade wristlocks to start, pretty evenly matched, until Dean takes him to the mat in a crossface. Jimmy escapes, and drops him with a floatover DDT for two, followed by an elbowdrop for two. Sitout powerbomb gets two, and a criss cross ends in Graffiti throwing a superkick for two, so Dean dumps him into the corner to buy time. He's able to knock Graffiti out of the ring, and a snapmare sets up a chinlock on the way back in, as nWo Sting hangs out in the crowd. Larry continues to object to the recording, dagnabbit. Malenko with a side suplex for two, so Jimmy tries a somersault cradle for two, but Dean quickly cuts him off. Leg lariat gets Malenko two, and a cross corner clothesline sets up a hanging vertical suplex. Texas Cloverleaf, but Graffiti blocks, and uses an Oklahoma roll for two to try and steal this one. Malenko fights him off with a bodypress that sends both tumbling over the top (complete with Jimmy taking a nasty bump on the apron), but he still manages to send Dean into the post out there. Graffiti with a flying dropkick on the way back in, but Dean catches him in the Cloverleaf at 6:45. Another good match tonight, with both guys working hard. ***

Diamond Dallas Page v Sgt. Craig Pittman: They must be saving all the angles for the second hour tonight, because it's just match, match, match here, with no downtime in-between. Page jumps him from behind, and hits a forward falling piledriver for two, before dumping Pittman to the outside. The crowd is just on fire tonight. DDP follows to the outside, but gets bashed into the post out there, and Pittman takes control on the way back in. Code Red looks to finish, but referee Nick Patrick is all distracted, and Page makes the ropes by the time he 'notices.' Diamond Cutter finishes at 2:51. Afterwards, Teddy Long argues the officiating with Patrick, but Nick defends his call to Schiavone, and again denies accusations of being the nWo's masked referee (a running gag on Saturday Night). DUD

Jeff Jarrett v Ron Studd: Ric Flair comes out before the bell to get a closer look at Jeff's strut, and shake his hand. "Are they gonna compare the size of their... noses?" asks Larry. Jeff gets Studd in the corner for a ten-punch right away, but Ron reverses a whip into the ropes, and chucks Jarrett with a two-handed chokeslam. Studd tries a suplex, but Jarrett manages to reverse (damn!), and the Figure Four finishes at 1:28. Between associating him with Flair, and booking him to squash a dude twice his size in under two minutes, you have to imagine they had huge plans for Jarrett at this point. Afterwards, Jeff cuts a promo on Giant ahead of Halloween Havoc, and Flair promises to be in his corner for the match, as Giant looks on from out in the crowd. I love how poor Studd is always used to put over guys who are facing Giant at bigger shows. But, hey, it's a job. ¼*

Lex Luger v Roadblock: Roadblock tries a charge, but Lex easily dodges, and gets him in the corner for a ten-punch count. Roadblock tries an inverted atomic drop to shake him off, but Luger clotheslines him over the top instead, and Roadblock flips the fuck out. He pulls Lex out, but gets reversed into the post, and Luger hits a bodyslam on the way back in, as Arn Anderson pops in to cut a promo. Roadblock fires off a clothesline, but Lex blocks a powerbomb attempt, so Roadblock goes back to the clothesline well again. Kneedrop gets him two, and he manages an avalanche before Lex randomly starts no-selling him, and the Torture Rack finishes at... nope, Lex dropped him. He actually tries again, but Roadblock's fat ass is just too much, and he drops him again. Bless his heart, Luger tries a third time, and it works at 3:48. The messed up Rack's actually made this better, because Luger played it off perfectly, and it got you behind each attempt. Luger was a total pro. This aired opposite the Owen/Sid opener on RAW, and I'll give the WWF the edge. ¼*

nWo t-shirt ad. Oddly, despite all the wrestling clothing I owned in the 90s, I never had that one. But then, I don't think I ever owned any WCW merchandise, outside of toys

Lee Marshal phones in from Phoenix with another 1-800-COLLECT Road Report

Harlem Heat v The American Males: The Heat's WCW World Tag Team Title is not on the line tonight. Stevie Ray starts with Scotty Riggs, and gets right to pounding him in the corner. Cross corner whip follows, but Scotty fights him off over there, and throws a dropkick. Bodypress, but Stevie catches him in a slam, so Riggs tags out. The Males uses a double backelbow for two, but Booker T gets the tag, so Marcus Alexander Bagwell hiptosses his ass over the top. Nice bump there. Back in, Bagwell keeps it going with a backdrop and a dropkick, and a big clothesline sends Booker spiraling to the mat. Booker is overselling like crazy for Bagwell here. A cheap shot from Stevie turns the tide, and the Heat go to work, as the Outsiders show up to watch from the stands. MUCH bigger reaction for them than for Syxx, 'Sting,' or Giant. I mean, the entire crowd literally turns their back on the match to interact with them instead. They've got on those nose strips to mock the Heat, which is pretty funny. Oh, and they have a camcorder, so hopefully Larry doesn't have an aneurism. Marcus fights Booker off long enough for the tag, and Riggs comes in hot, Roseanne Barr the door. Nick Patrick doesn't approve, however, and he sends Bagwell back to the apron - allowing the Heat a quick double team for the pin on Riggs at 7:50. The parts with Booker/Bagwell were good. The rest, not so much. This aired opposite the Gunns/Godwinns match on RAW, and we'll give Nitro a slight edge. ¾*

The Faces of Fear v The Fantastics: The Fantastics try to double up on Meng to get control, but he pretty much absorbs whatever they throw at him, and backdrops Bobby Fulton into a powerbomb by Barbarian. Barbarian slams him around a bit before passing back to Meng for a side suplex, followed by a piledriver for two. Stereo headbutt drop gets the Faces two, so Fulton tries a spinheel kick on Meng, but it gets ignored. Still enough for the tag to Tommy Rogers, and Tommy manages to dive off the top with a flying dropkick on Barbarian, and Roseanne Barr the door! The Fantastics tandem suplex Barbarian to set up stereo 2^nd rope dropkicks, and Tommy tries a flying bodypress from there, but gets caught and killed at 5:21. Engaging enough, but this was opposite Bret Hart's big return/announcement on RAW, so not a chance they have the edge over RAW here. ¾*

Once again, in case you forgot, Randy Savage cried and ran away like a little girl last week. But, please, buy Halloween Havoc!

nWo Sting v JL: The entire nWo (minus Hollywood Hogan) hang out at ringside for this one. 'Sting' hits a one-handed bulldog right away, but JL slips out of a bodyslam, and forces a criss cross. He tries a bodypress, but 'Sting' catches him in a slam, and hits the Stinger Splash to set up the Scorpion Deathlock. He gets it on, but before JL can quit, the real Sting shows up, looking much different than when we last saw him. He's basically got the full 'crow' look down, except that his face paint is almost all white at this point. He attacks 'Sting' for the DQ at 1:40, and then gives him a full beat down, with the rest of the nWo not doing anything to stop it. Once he's done with the imposter, the nWo come in, but instead of attacking, they offer Sting a spot in the group. Scott Hall gets a funny line in here about how they brought out a 'bogus imposter,' because 'nobody knows about that better than us,' while gesturing at Kevin Nash. Ha! They make a pretty good case, and Sting doesn't turn them down, but rather just tells them that he's not sure he's in their price range, and walks out. nWo Sting then getting back up and posing with the group after everything that just happened is especially funny. This aired opposite a segment on Karate Fighters on RAW, and that's an easy win for WCW. DUD

We're supposed to get Randy Savage versus Chris Benoit to close the show, but Bischoff cuts Macho (dressed in all black, including the hat and shades) off on his way to the ring, and wants to show him another video. Oh good, maybe we're finally getting Goodfellas, yay! But no, instead it's Hollywood Hulk Hogan, on the set of 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. He's acting like a total prick to director Sean McNamara, but he's got Giant there as backup, so he gets away with it. Anyway, they commandeer the camera equipment, and Hogan forces Elizabeth to make the video Savage saw last week. You know, the one that caused him to cry and run away like a little girl. Do we have another clip of that? Once the (overlong) video is over, Bischoff tries to get a word with Savage, but Randy just stands there silently. He looks like he might be crying again, but it's hard to tell with the shades. Finally, he decides to speak, and basically Hogan is gonna die at Havoc. At least, after weeks of Savage being made to look like a fool at the hands of the nWo, he finally gets to bring some intensity to push the pay per view. This aired opposite the Mero/HHH match and Perfect angle, and I'll give the WWF the edge there

BUExperience: A decent episode, with a few good matches, a solid push for Havoc, and Sting’s big return... but I liked RAW better. It was leaner, featured two really great angles, and the match of the night.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	10/21/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.6	3.2
Total Wins	17	34
Win Streak		17
Better Show (as of 10/21)	15	34