The SmarK Rant for WCW Monday Nitro – 10.30.95
I’ve just come to accept that I’ll never get to see the 9/25 episode.
Live from Dayton, OH
Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan & Mongo
Sgt. Craig Pittman v. Eddie Guerrero
Pittman has to be a tough guy because he wears a string of bullets around his neck while walking through pyro. That’s just a bad idea. Eric notes that lots of people are “faxing in to WCW” looking for results of Halloween Havoc, but we won’t know until the tape arrives later. What kind of a batshit crazy organization is this? How can they not have a tape of their own PPV broadcast from the night before? What exactly is WCW’s fax number and how did people get it? SO MANY QUESTIONS RAISED. Pittman throws Eddie around, but Eddie takes him down, so Pittman gets a clothesline for two and starts working on the arm. Pretty nice belly to belly suplex gets two. Eddie blocks a rollup and gets a bodypress for two, but Pittman suplexes him again as this is going beyond style clash and into complete trainwreck. Eddie thankfully rolls him up for the pin at 5:31 to end it. So, so, so awkward. ½*
Scott Norton v. The Shark
Sharkalanche with the suplex and elbow for two to start, but Norton comes back with a flying shoulderblock that nearly misses, but still gets two. They clothesline each other for the double count (at 90 seconds in?!) while Heenan is seen dining with Sonny Onoo. They fight to the floor and both are counted out at 2:45. Total waste of time. DUD
Tony Schiavone makes his Nitro debut, interviewing the newest version of the Four Horsemen following last night’s betrayal of Sting. Pillman in particular is just having the time of his life out there, yukking it up with Flair and living his dream. Nothing much here, as Arn’s explanation is “Everyone’s been bugging us for two years about when the Horsemen would come back…well be careful what you wish for.” And that’s really all you need.
Disco Inferno v. Sabu
Now HERE’S a style clash. Sabu interrupts the dancing and destroys him with a pair of springboard dropkicks, but Disco gets a clothesline off a hairtoss and stops to dance again. Disco pounds away with elbows in the corner, but misses a charge and gets slingshot legdropped for the pin at 2:25. Disco was several miles out of his league here, especially at this point in his career. * Sabu tries to put him through a table after the match, but the table no-sells and holy shit that probably hurt. Maybe prep the table next time, geniuses.
Lex Luger & Meng v. The American Males
Oh, this is gonna be a squash. Luger (and his new manager Jimmy Hart) of course is suddenly a heel after Halloween Havoc, but apparently no one in the building realizes it. Did Luger bring Scotty Riggs with him as a flagbearer as a condition of jumping ship, I wonder? Meng starts kicking the shit out of Riggs and we take a break right away, returning with Riggs slugging it out with Luger before walking into a Hart Attack clothesline. What’s kind of weird here is that the Males had just lost the tag titles “two days ago” (in reality a month ago) but there was literally no mention of it on the show and they just kind of said “Oh, by the way, the Heat will defend the tag titles this Saturday”. I mean, I know we’d all like to forget their tag title reign, but that’s quite the burial. Riggs is ugmo in peril and Meng gets a backbreaker, but Riggs gets a sunset flip on Luger for two. Meng continues beating on him, but it’s hot tag Bagwell and he backdrops Luger all over the place. Jimmy Hart distracts the ref, however, and Meng kicks Riggs in the head to set up the torture rack at 10:45. As suspected, this was a very very extended squash for the Dungeon. *
Last night, Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger betray Hulk Hogan and all sorts of wacky stuff happens, resulting in the Giant winning the World title in his first match because of a Vince Russo-style “He didn’t read the fine print” plot twist. This, however, was not established until next week, probably because they hadn’t figured it out yet. Regardless, Giant will “defend” “his” “title” next week.
The Pulse
Wow, two greasy turds in a row doesn’t bode well for the future of this show. I give it another five years, maybe five years and a few months at most, before it goes off the air.
It's right here on youtube, Scott. I also have a pretty sweet dvd-r copy if you need it.
ReplyDeleteI want it in the archives on the Network and will not shut up about it until it arrives there. WE THE PEOPLE.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this already established? http://network.wwe.com/video/v35532359
ReplyDelete9/25 episode is ON the Network. I e-mailed you da link, chief. Gotta search "Nitro 82" in search function.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't work on Roku.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't work on Roku. I will not watch on computer like a jerk.
ReplyDeleteJust saw that reply, damn! There's one match on the show that is a must see only because it's the best match these two mid card dudes (and not anyone you'd ever expect, ever) probably ever have. Hopefully they get it fixed!
ReplyDeleteDon't do it son, how's that Nitro going to help your putting?
ReplyDeleteOh man, you're missing out on probably the greatest episode in wrestling history. ECW invaded(who knew those random Sabu matches were leading anywhere?), Ricky Steamboat came out of retirement to have a 5 star match with Flair(their best ever imo) and who can forget that shocking main event? The Mega Powers against The Giant and the corpse of Andre!
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of despi, despic---augh, lack of respect does that Eric whatshisname show...
ReplyDeleteIn my own, personal RAW review, I sounded like I was mocking the spot saying, "...and -- SURPRISE! Ambrose appears out from under the box instead like fucking Houdini..."
ReplyDeleteI actually laughed my ass off when I saw it because I believe Ambrose is so insane, he actually bends time and space and adheres to the same physics as a character in a Looney Tunes short.
WWE must've done some massive mojo on some folks if they're totally cool with DQ non-finishes on a $55/NINENINETYNINEMAGGLE show.
ReplyDeleteDid cole really say that about kofi?
ReplyDeleteSo, you love the man and didn't mean to put him on blast, but called him out in an article where you know the comment section is a bunch of rabid dogs with plenty of anti Andy sentiment? Somehow your sincerity feels less than sincere.
ReplyDeleteThe 9/26 show was in the live stream Monday. This is weird.
ReplyDeleteI remember Pittman being an absolute, well... Pitbull during his 1st year in WCW, and looked like a total badass. Then Teddy Long started managing him, which set his career back like 5 years. Seriously, he went from threat to green rookie. We talk about Dibiase and Whippleman being career killers, Teddy Long was not that far behind!
ReplyDeleteSo watch it on your computer? Or hour smart phone? Or your game system? Or ask for the network beamed into your head package?
ReplyDeleteDoom got a lot better when they went from Woman to Teddy Long.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was just an isolated incident then. But man, Pittman was good pre-long. As a mark, I knew that the moment he grabbed his opponent's arm, IT WAS OVER. He was like the Andersons on steroids.
ReplyDeleteI DON'T KNOW!!!
ReplyDeleteCommercial for WrestleMania 31 -- about 10 miles down the freeway from us, actually.
ReplyDeleteVery lucky, thinking of going to it?
"Riggs is ugmo in peril"
ReplyDeleteWhat in the holy blue thunder is an ugmo? Wait, do I want to know? I don't think I want to know...
You know, for all the talk Bischoff did about how he didn't like Luger, Lex certainly had a fairly strong push the first year he was around - a part of the main event storyline, tag titles with Sting, TV champ at the same time, plus getting world title matches constantly. And the Sept. 25 Nitro - when he basically destroyed the whole roster? - man, Scott, wish you could review that.
Yeah I remember that. Even Chris Jericho mentioned that in his book.
ReplyDeleteThere is seriously zero excuse for me to have still read neither of his books. As much as a non-reader as I am, I need to get on that ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThey are both great but the original is still the best IMO. Can't wait for the third.
ReplyDeleteI seriously don't get calling one half of the premier pretty boy tag team of that time an ugmo.
ReplyDeleteMan, I have family out there I could stay with and save a bunch of money...if I wasn't buying an engagement ring rather soon-ish I'd absolutely be making this trip. I hope they do the Cowboys' stadium next year because I have family there too.
ReplyDeleteHave you SEEN him?
ReplyDeleteMany times and I wouldn't call him an Ugmo. Riggs' looks and ability to attract woman was the man reason he was ever employed at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall having any massive mojo done on me, but I mostly enjoyed the show. Yeah, the finish was sucked but the best PPV ever had a screwjob finish, so that's not the end of the world. Top-to-bottom, I enjoyed the show. Cesaro/Sheamus was awesome, Rhodes/Usos wasn't far behind, and the IC and WWE title matches were both pretty good.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Riggs had a nice body but a face only a mother could love.
ReplyDeleteHe's a butterface.
I agree that it was forgettable, but I mostly enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteYes, but most wrestling show reviewers think snark and sarcasm is a substitute for actual criticism, and their "critique" basically boils down to "This sucks because it's not how I wanted it to happen."
ReplyDeleteNo way dude. The irresistible. Their Unpredictable.
ReplyDeleteAMERICAN MALES~!
Some people on here are clearly a little bit Jelly!
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm not Jelly. I'd love to be Scotty Riggs and get STDs from hairy ring rats. I mean, who wouldn't?!
ReplyDeleteAMERICAN MALES~!
I could realistically go; it's only a 4-5 hour drive from me and I don't work the next day
ReplyDeleteLosing the recording of the finish. Seriously underrated stupidity. Everyone talks about all the other dumb WCW stuff, and this often gets overlooked. I mean, technology wasn't great then but it's not like this was the 60's. I had a tape of it on my VCR. Logically, they could've called any number of fans to get it if their one and only recording of it was broken.
ReplyDeleteWell this is the same company that gave Jericho a $0.00 paycheck. I blame the mail room.
ReplyDeleteDid they? Don't remember that story. But for the tape, I mean we all suspend belief a bit when following wrestling, but that was really, really stupid. What a logic gap - how can they not have a recording of their own show?
ReplyDeleteSame thing happened after the next PPV, world war 3, right? they were gonna show footage on Nitro about Hogan getting screwed in the battle royale, then the tape suddenly went blank. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteWe want Flair! We want Flair! Oh, wait, wrong show.
ReplyDeleteI was there live & remember thinking I had seen the Rock transform into a mega star.
ReplyDelete