WCW Monday Nitro (November 25, 1996)

Original Airdate: November 25, 1996

From Salisbury, Maryland; Your Host is Tony Schiavone with Larry Zbyszko (hour one) and with Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan (hour two)

WCW United States Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Lex Luger v Arn Anderson: They note that Giant is walking around with the belt, but it is not legally his, so a tournament is the only way to solve it. If only everything in life worked like WCW. Stolen car? Tournament! Rolex got taken? Tournament! The crowd chants for Luger at the bell, as they did after the main event at the PPV the night before as well. Even the kids in the nWo shirts in the front row are popping for him. Lex dominates the first sequence and knocks Arn to the outside with a shoulderblock, and sends him into the post on the way back into the ring. Luger goes to work on the arm, which the announcers do a good job of getting over as a strategy, but it still seems like a weird choice given that Anderson has a TAPED UP BACK. Arn fights him off with a drop-toehold, but the arm is battered, and he fails to get a hold applied on the mat, allowing Luger to work a hammerlock. Lex with a pair of pointed elbowdrops to the arm, but Arn manages to grab a chinlock to ground him for a bit. Lex slugs free, so Anderson uses a drop-toehold into the turnbuckles to cut him off, and a snapmare sets up a kneedrop. 2^nd rope axehandle, but Luger uses a backelbow to block, so Arn kicks him down low to cut him off again. Anderson chokes him down and gives him a catapult under the bottom rope for two, Arn still selling the arm all the while. He dumps Lex to the outside, but Luger dodges a chop against the post out there, and he rams Arn's taped up back into it. Inside, Luger hits a vertical suplex and a backbreaker, as Giant shows up in the crowd to rant that he's the true champion, and that this tournament is a sham. Lex tries to stay focused with a powerslam, but gets distracted in the corner, and Anderson drops him with a DDT. Cover, count, but Luger is in the ropes at two. Arn goes up, but Luger crotches him on the top before he can dive. He goes for the Torture Rack, but Arn manages to block, so Lex clotheslines him over the top. He dives with an axehandle from the apron, but Anderson gutpunches him to block. Piledriver on the floor, but Lex counters with a backdrop, and he slaps on a Rack in the aisle for a double countout at 14:23. Not a great match, but it had good psychology, and (as is often the case during this period of Nitro) a hot crowd. Everything is better with a hot crowd. The ending was stupid, though. Still better than the Bret/Owen and Execution/Floyd matches on RAW. ** ¼

Eric Bischoff leads the nWo out for an interview, and Larry immediately tells Tony not to 'leave (him) stranded' this time. Seriously, Larry? After the nWo manhandled him and you just stood there like mannequin last time? Larry comes across like such a fake tough guy, which is fine for a heel, but with the nWo storyline he's become a de facto babyface now. Vincent, especially, looks just so fucking happy to be there. Like, seriously, this dude's career was nowhere, and now he's making bank hanging around with the coolest guys in wrestling, and not taking any bumps. So they're giving the entire WCW roster 30 days to sign nWo contracts, or else. That draws the American Males out to jump on that offer, but Scotty Riggs has second thoughts, so Marcus Bagwell drops him with a neckbreaker to cement his position. Larry rightly notes that they pulled this same trick on the Nasty Boys, so Bagwell better be careful. This aired opposite the shouty-shouty Shawn Michaels interview on RAW, and both segments weren't great, but the Nitro one felt less desperate and tryhard

Diamond Dallas Page v Disco Inferno: Page attacks before the bell, and unloads in the corner, as Tony hypes up that they will have info on Starrcade tickets in the next segment. He also said the same thing during the first match, so maybe stop fucking teasing us, Tony. I've got my paper and pencil ready, motherfucker. Page misses a charge in the corner to allow Disco a swinging neckbreaker, and he's so excited about it that he delivers another one. Page responds by just punching the shit out of him, and he floats over into the Diamond Cutter at 2:17. Not much to it, but at least it was energetic. Afterwards, Gene Okerlund comes out to chat, and Page notes that the nWo wants him because he's got the coolest finisher on the roster. Gene gets right into the hard hitting questions, asking about his relationship with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash ("yeah, I managed him a little bit"; "my first tag team partner"), but Page notes that that's not 'here nor there.' I like that they're actually acknowledging that history, but without getting too specific, because pulling on the Vinnie Vegas thread too much is obviously not a very good idea. But Page still won't give a firm answer on whether or not he'll join the nWo's ranks. This aired opposite the Karate Fighters segment and Rocky/Sincere match on RAW. The matches were about equal, but I'll give Nitro the edge since the Page/nWo angle at least has some intrigue, which nothing on RAW did. ¼*

WCW Television Title Match: Lord Steven Regal v Tony Pena: Schiavone finally ponies up that Starrcade info. Interesting that tickets only went on sale a month before the actual event. Pena tries to match Regal on the mat in the early going, but that goes badly for him. Regal pops him with an uppercut in the corner, so Pena fires back with chops, so Regal uses and holds a drop-toehold on him. Pena makes the ropes, so Regal pounds the shit out of him in the corner, but Pena reverses a cross corner whip. Pena with a backelbow and a DDT for two, but Regal manages a butterfly suplex for two. Pena tries more chops, but Regal takes him down into the Stretch to finish at 3:05. This was a lot more back-and-forth and stiff than I was expecting. This aired against part of the Mero/Gunn match on RAW, and we'll call it a push, with maybe a slight edge to RAW for star power. *

Okerlund brings Rick Steiner out so he can make clear that the Steiner Brothers are 110% WCW. Well, with those kind of math skills, I don't think the nWo would want him anyway

The Outsiders do a paid nWo spot, promoting their t-shirt. "Twenty bucks each or two for forty. If you buy a million of 'em, it's only twenty million dollars!" Tremendous

WCW United States Title Tournament Quarterfinal Match: Eddie Guerrero v Konnan: Konnan tries smacking him around at the bell, but Eddie uses speed to fight him off, and Konnan ends up on the outside in short order. Eddie dives after him with a flying bodypress, but Konnan manages a pop-up flapjack on the way back in, as we cut away from the match so they can set off all the pyro to mark the start of the second hour. "The hour that set the precedent for the second hour," notes Tony. Konnan wisely works a chinlock while they get that out of their systems, and he hits a corner dropkick once it's over. Konnan with a fisherman's suplex for two, and he holds Eddie in a modified hammerlock for a bit before dropping him on his head with a powerbomb. Fisherman buster gets two, and a gutwrench powerbomb is worth two. Konnan grounds him with a grapevine, and a bodyslam sets up a dive, but Eddie blocks with a dropkick. Guerrero mounts a comeback, but Konnan fights off the Flying Frogsplash with a superplex for two - Konnan stopping his own count. And he immediately pays for it as Eddie topples him during a powerbomb for the pin at 5:23. They were trying, but they had no heat to work with here. * ½

Big Bubba Rogers v Rick Steiner: Steiner looks like such a fucking dork tonight. Bubba throws fists right away, and he dumps Rick into the corner with a turnbuckle smash, but a charge is countered with a suplex. Bubba bails, so Rick bashes his head together with Jimmy Hart's, then dives with an axehandle from the apron to knock Bubba into the steps. Bubba beats the count, so Steiner greets him with a bodyslam, and adds an elbowdrop for two. German suplex gets two, but Rick misses a corner charge, as Sting shows up in the rafters, and he's heading towards the ring! Meanwhile, Steiner hits a 2^nd rope bulldog, and he clotheslines Bubba over the top as Sting continues to cut a path through the crowd. He makes it to the ring and hits Steiner with the Scorpion Deathdrop as payback for questioning his allegiance, and Bubba adds a splash at 3:16. Okay then. ¾*

Lee Marshall calls in from Dayton, Ohio with the 1-800-COLLECT Road Report

Rey Mysterio Jr v Psychosis: They fight over a wristlock to start, as Ultimo Dragon shows up near the entrance to observe. Boy, some of those J-Crown title belts look so shitty. Psychosis manages a pop-up flapjack, and he dumps Rey over the top, but Mysterio beats the count back inside. Psychosis greets him with a bodyslam to set up a flying legdrop for two, but a splash mountain off the middle rope is countered with a rana, and Rey makes a quick cover at 2:21. Too short to be anything, but it was fun while it lasted. ½*

Okerlund brings Chris Benoit out to rant about Kevin Sullivan. I know it's a wrestling promo, and I know it didn't mean anything at the time (or even that it's related to what happened later), but holy shit does Benoit come across like a fucking serial killer here

We take a look back at last night's contract signing segment at World War 3 between WCW World Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper. And I mean a good look, as they replay the entire segment

Jeff Jarrett v Alex Wright: At least in the WWF Jarrett would mix it up with his outfits. That alone made him more interesting. Jeff outsmarts Wright to control in the early going, but Alex ducks a clothesline, and uses a pair of headscissor takedowns. Dropkick follows, but Wright gets dropped with a snake-eyes in the corner, and Jeff hits a straddling ropechoke. Irish whip, but Wright reverses, and throws a leg lariat. Cross corner backelbow sets up a slingshot splash for two, but a cross corner leg lariat misses, and Jarrett slaps on the Figure Four at 2:18. What's with all the quickie matches tonight? Gotta make room for that full twenty-some minute contract signing segment replay, I guess. *

Harlem Heat v The Faces of Fear: Stevie Ray starts with Meng, and he pounds him into the corner for a clothesline right away, but Meng wins a slugfest. He ropes Stevie down with the ropes, but Stevie throws a big boot during a criss cross, so Barbarian comes in with one of his own. That draws Booker T in to hit Barbarian with a Harlem Sidekick, and the Heat hit Meng with a combo. The Faces respond with a combo of their own for two, and the referee just can't maintain order here. The Faces with stereo headbutt drops for two, but Stevie is back in without a tag, and Roseanne Barr the door, we've got a kettle on! Meng hits Booker with a backbreaker for two, but Stevie cuts off a powerbomb attempt, and here comes the nWo to attack everyone for a no contest at 4:09. This was just biding time until the run-in. ¼*

BUExperience: Mostly quickie matches this week, and not much focus on anything other than the nWo angle, but it certainly felt a lot lighter than the sludge that was the competing RAW.

Monday Night Wars Rating Chart

	11/25/96
Show	RAW	Nitro
Rating	2.1	3.1
Total Wins	17	39
Win Streak		22
Better Show (as of 11/25)	18	36