WCW Monday Nitro - MOnday, July 8th, 1996
WCW Monday Nitro - Monday, July 8th, 1996
- Quick Hits: Bash at The Beach was amazing last night! If you didn’t get a chance to watch it and are not too fond of spoilers then don’t read on. If you did watch it then it is hard to deny that WCW played with the emotions of a lot of people last night; that’s what made the show so stinking great! Let’s hope this episode of Nitro carries on where the PPV left off. In my opinion WCW has more momentum as of the last 24 hours than any sports or entertainment company in the history of television; I am not even kidding.
- We get the WCW Monday Nitro opening sequence and pyro. We are live with WCW Monday Nitro on TNT from Disney MGM in Orlando with Tony and Larry on the call! Tony says last night was the most shocking event in the history of our sport; you’ve got that right! Later on in hour 2 we will take a look back at last night. Larry says he is disgusted with Hogan and will not comment beyond that. We also take a look at some of the matches from last night. Tonight Rey Misterio Jr. will take on Dean Malenko for the cruiserweight title in our opening bout. The Nitro set is set up behind the bleachers and we are outdoors for tonight’s action!
- Match #1: WCW Cruiserweight Championship - Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (c)
- This match was not an instant classic, but it was not a snooze festival either. The match was fast paced with an exchange of holds and an early 1 for Malenko. Misterio was fast and furious and seemed to get under Dean’s skin from the beginning. Rey had a couple of botches he had to shrug off during the match and Malenko hit him with a brain buster out on the floor to really swing the momentum in his favor for a while. The contrast in styles made for an amazing match at times with Malenko really battling to keep Misterio grounded. Plenty of high flying from Rey and plenty of technical stuff from the man of 1000 holds helped give us several near falls. During the match Tony says the FCC fined him for not keeping his emotions in check last night. The two men wrestled in the ring, on the apron, and out to the floor at various points in the match. Malenko had the match won at one point and yanked Rey up off the mat. Rey got the win and takes the title via Frankensteiner.
- Your Winner: And NEW WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Misterio Jr. via pinfall at 12:32
- Mean Gene is with the Steiners and Nasty Boys backstage. The two will meet in a #1 contenders match tonight. Scott rambles about Harlem Heat and calls the Nasty Boys fat & ugly; but says he respects their wrestling ability. The Nasty’s say all they care about is winning and taking the Steiners down Nasty Boulevard. Rick smells Harlem Heat and says he is coming after them. --- That was annoying and not necessary ---
- Coming up! New U.S. Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair
- We get a Glacier Hype Video that was worse than the Steiner/Nasty’s promo. I wonder if Glacier is a Sega Genesis man or Super Nintendo man? All kidding aside I am not a fan of the Mortal Kombat rip off, what’s next Streets of Rage or Street Fighter characters?
- You can order an encore of Bash at The Beach tomorrow at 8 pm.
- The announcers continue to reflect on last night.
- Match #2: The Blue Bloods (Regal & Taylor) w/Jeeves vs. Big Bubba Rogers & Hugh Morrus w/Jimmy Hart
- Another match that was not too bad, just very short. I say not too bad for the reason that WCW didn’t force either team on us and the match was a fairly quick ordeal rather than a typical run-on filler. Before the match we looked at Tenta vs. Bubba last night. The big guys tried to establish the match as a brawl but were thwarted. A USA chant broke out for a few seconds. John Tenta attacked Bubba and battled him back to the back allowing the Blue Bloods to isolate Morrus and double team him. Taylor got the pin for the Blue Bloods.
- Your Winner: The Blue Bloods via pinfall at 3:09
- Up Next: The Nitro Debut of Psychosis!
- We also get a look at a WCW Saturday Night preview for this weekend’s upcoming show!
- Match #3: Eddie Guerrero vs. Psychosis
- Another great match between two great competitors. During the match Rey Misterio is shown talking in a video package giving his opinion on Hulk Hogan’s actions last night. Eddie and Psychosis meanwhile exchanged holds in the ring as the crowd became restless. Psychosis was very nimble throughout the match but Eddie was able to establish himself early. There were several spots outside of the ring including one where Psychosis hit a moonsault from the top onto Eddie at ringside. Eddie got the win with a frog splash.
- Your Winner: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall at 8:35
- Mean Gene is with Jimmy Hart and The Dungeon of Doom. WCW Champion the Giant and Kevin Sullivan along with Jimmy Hart play up the stunned coworker role over the Hogan turn. Hart says he is at a loss for words. Sullivan says he is upset because Hogan destroyed Hulkamania himself when he wanted to do it. We look at some footage from last night. The Giant says as long as he is the champion and as long as he stays that way WCW will be ok and that people should not worry about Hogan or the new world order as the Huckster labeled the trio last night. I wonder what the WWF reaction to all of this is?
- Match #4: WCW Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Match: The Steiners vs. The Nasty Boys
- This match just didn’t do it for me although I got the result I wanted. The Steiner’s got the win when Colonel Parker decked Sags with his cane instead of Scott Steiner. Bischoff is now on commentary with Bobby Heenan for hour 2.
- Your Winner: The Steiner Brothers at 6:08
- Post Match: Mean Gene is with the Nasty Boys for comments. Sags says change is inevitable and it will be a cold day in hell before they give up on winning the Tag Titles. They say they don’t condone what Hogan did but that they don’t see anything wrong with it.
- Heenan tells Bischoff he has been saying all along that Hogan is no good.
- Match #5: WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (w/ Debra, Woman, and Miss Elizabeth) vs. Jim Powers
- This match is kind of pointless. I wish they had given Konnan his rematch tonight, that would be nice but I am assuming they are saving it for PPV. Nothing against Mr. Powers, but he is not in Flair’s league although he gets the best of the Nature Boy early and gets a close 2 count off a takedown and headlock. The match wasn’t too bad, Flair did his normal routine and made the young Powers look pretty good at first before playing up the heel role and going on to win the match. Lots of comedy and shenanigans by Flair. Powers kept getting attacked by Woman on the outside and Flair was able to turn around any offensive Powers tried to mount in the ring. Flair got the win via submission with the Figure Four. Post match the Four Horseman came out.
- Your Winner: Ric Flair via submission at 5:48
- Mean Gene is with the Horseman and Flair’s stable of ladies. Of course he asks Arn about last night. He says what Hogan did makes him want to puke and that Hogan can shove off with his hypocrisy. He says at least the Horseman never claimed to be role models, Hogan did. Mongo rants. Flair puts his guys over and addresses the Outsiders saying unless they can heal the sick that they are nothing to the Horsemen. Not much to this promo other than a very hyper Ric Flair.
- Back from commercial Bischoff and Heenan try to see the good in what WCW has to fight this war with putting over Macho, Sting, The Giant, and Lex. They say WCW is going to take the fight to the 3 men of the new world order of wrestling and show them that they can’t contend with the WCW roster. We still don’t have an update on Lex’s condition.
- Match #6: Chris Benoit vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (w/ Teddy Long)
- A squash match for filler! Yay! Really, that is about all this was! Long tossed in the towel when Benoit took out Pittman with the crossface.
- Your Winner: Chris Benoit via submission at 2:44
- Commercial time? Yep!
- Match #7: Sting vs. Arn Anderson
- This is our main event of the evening. Not a bad match as Sting and Arn gave the crowd something to end the night on a high note with as it pertains to in-ring action. Stinger didn’t really play up being injured from the big fight last night. Early on Bischoff says that the new world order has arrived backstage and WCW is running low on security. Sting is aggressive throughout the match and early on dominates Arn. Heenan says all anyone is talking about is last night; you’ve got that right! Sting takes Arn to the outside and Arn threatens to walk away from the match as we get confirmation that Hogan, Hall, and Nash are indeed in the backstage area. Back from commercial Sting is still thumping Arn who turns it around via a reversal into a Double A spine buster. The announcers build up the danger that the fans could be in with the Outsiders and Hogan now camped out in a limo. The match continues with Double A in control now off of that aforementioned spine buster. Soon the camera cuts to the back and Hall and Nash are shown walking towards the ring as Arn and Sting battle on unaware even as they approach ringside only to be blocked by security. Sting and Anderson finally notice them and stop fighting as Savage joins them. Anderson takes advantage and tries to sneak attack Sting but is stopped and forced to submit to the scorpion Deathlock.
- Your Winner: Sting via submission at 12:18
- Post Match: Savage goes after the Outsiders as Sting mans the top turnbuckle and begs Hall and Nash to come get some. Mean Gene gets in the ring with Sting. Sting is upset and pacing as security escorts the Outsiders out. Sting tells Gene he is not surprised that Hall and Nash did what they did, but that he is surprised by Hogan’s actions but should have known because Hogan has always thought he was bigger than WCW. He tears into Hogan and says he made a mistake by not calling him out, he says Hogan made a bigger mistake by turning on his Maniacs though. He says its good Hogan told his fans to believe in themselves because they sure as hell can’t believe in him. Sting says Hogan is the one who can stick it, not the kids. Savage says he has a message for Hollywood Hogan; he just can’t say it on TV. He tells Hogan to take and multiply the worse thing he can think of and it’s just a little grain of sand compared to what he wants to do to Hogan. We cut to commercial with Gene still in the ring with an angry Savage and Sting.
- Gene is with the Outsider’s at their limo when we come back. Nash says WCW took a beating last night and so did the fans. He says the fans are unappreciative of Hogan who is not here this week. Hall waves to Hogan through the camera. Hall says this portion of Nitro is brought to you by the Outsider’s and Hogan. He says they kept their word and kicked WCW’s butt and crashed the party. Apparently Hogan is on a movie set. Hall says Savage is jealous and Lex faked and injury.
- We take a look at last night complete with Hogan coming out and attacking Macho Man before the fans began to pelt the ring with debris and garbage. The crowd is still roaring as we go through last night with Bischoff and Heenan. After our look back is complete Mr. Heenan goes off on Hogan. The announcers plug next week and that’s a wrap for this week’s episode of WCW Monday Nitro!