What the World Was Watching: WCW Monday Nitro – November 27, 1995

Reviews, Shows, TV Shows

Monday Nitro

-Eric Bischoff, Steve “Mongo” McMichael, and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan are in the booth and are coming to us live from Salem, Virginia. Bischoff informs us that “Macho Man” Randy Savage won the World War 3 battle royal and is the new WCW World Champion. However, there’s controversy because Hogan went under the bottom rope and feels he wasn’t justly eliminated. Okay, this always bothered me. You created a controversy to get the title off of Hogan and then when you transitioned it to Savage you didn’t make it definitive. What good does that do for your company and what does it do for Savage?

-We see clips from World War 3 where Hogan abandoned the “dark side” persona and burned his black garb along with a copy of the Wrestling Observer.

-Opening Contest for the Television Championship: Johnny B. Badd (Champion w/Kimberly) vs. Diamond Dallas Page:

Kimberly had joined Badd at World War 3 and Badd their routine isn’t perfected yet as Badd holds down the second rope instead of pulling it open for her. Page brings a bouquet of roses to the ring and looks distraught. He gives the roses to Kimberly and cheap shots Badd. Now THAT was sweet. Page pounds away and gives Badd a tilt-a-whirl slam off the ropes for two. Kimberly digs through the roses and finds a chain as Page hits a tilt-a-whirl sidewalk slam for two. Kimberly is conflicted about what to do with the chain as Badd hits a headscissors off the ropes for a double KO. Page asks for the chain, but Kimberly throws it under his legs to Badd who clocks Page with it for the win at 2:11. After the match, Badd inquires whether Kimberly was throwing the chain to him or Page and Kimberly just says that he won the match and that’s all that matters. Oh man, Jesse Ventura would have a field day with that one. The match wasn’t much, but I enjoyed the story. Grade: D+

-In what has become a weekly ritual, “Mean” Gene Okerlund interviews “The Taskmaster” Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. Sullivan asks Hart what Luger is doing running around with Sting and that if Luger wouldn’t have broken an armbar on Sting last night Savage wouldn’t have been able to compete in the battle royal. Hart responds by saying that Luger and Sting are friends and it will take a while to break that bond and that there is a big plan. Should you be announcing that publicly? Good intensity by Sullivan in this segment, but it ended prematurely.

-Cutie Suzuki & Mayumi Ozaki vs. Bull Nakano & Akira Hokuto (w/Sonny Ono):

Suzuki & Ozaki double-clothesline Hokuto, but Nakano pulls Suzuki out of the ring and that allows Hokuto to dominate Ozaki. Hokuto tags Nakano and Nakano tosses Ozaki around by the hair. Ozaki eventually tags Suzuki, who comes in and delivers a German suplex to Hokuto for two. Suzuki tries a body press off the ropes, but Hokuto gives her a fall away slam and tags Nakano. Nakano goes for her gullitone leg drop off the top rope, but it misses and Suzuki and Ozaki her from the top rope for two. My god. Nakano reverses a double suplex on her own and tags Hokuto. Hokuto powerbombs Ozaki for two before Suzuki breaks it up. Ozaki delivers a hurricanrana for two, but when she holds Hokuto for a Suzuki dive, Hokuto moves and Ozaki takes the blow. Hokuto delivers a Northern lights suplex for two. Nakano gets the tag and blocks a sunset flip for two before Ozaki breaks it up. Suzuki and Ozaki knock Nakano to the floor, but Hokuto knocks them both out in turn. Nakano holds Suzuki and Ozaki in place for a Hokuto cannonball off the top rope, but they move and Nakano eats it. Back in, Suzuki and Ozaki run into a Nakano double clothesline and Hokuto missile dropkicks them both. Hokuto delivers a brainbuster on Suzuki for the pin at 5:25. This was a fast paced match that put about 50% of the WCW roster to shame. It’s also a match where 85%+ of the crowd probably saw the ladies come out and wanted no part of it but quickly changed their mind after the opening bell. Grade: C+

-Hugh Morrus vs. Hulk Hogan:

Hogan wrestles Morrus to the mat, but Morrus goes to the eyes. Morrus fires away, but misses an elbow drop and Hogan blasts him with a clothesline. However, Morrus gets a reverse flying clothesline off the second rope when he’s whipped into the corner and he slams Hogan. Morrus hits the No Laughing Matter, but that only gets two. It’s hulk up time and you know the rest of the story by 3:41. Both guys did good considering the time they were given. Grade: D+

-Okerlund interviews WCW World Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage and congratulates him on his World War 3 victory. Savage says that as champion he’s going to go on a reign of terror. So who’s the Napoleon in this story? Okerlund reminds Savage of last night’s controversy and that brings Hogan out. Hogan says the title still has his name on it and when he asks for the footage to be replayed it prematurely cuts out. The Giant comes out, chokeslams Savage in the aisle, and follows Hogan to the ring. Sting comes out and when the Giant lifts him up, Hogan grabs a chair and smashes it into the Giant’s back several times, knocking him out of the ring. When a referee tries to break it up, Hogan elbows him in the face and keeps beating the Giant with the chair until he flees to the back. I’m a big mark for wrestlers having a move done to them on the concrete floor, especially during this era, so I loved the Giant’s chokeslam on Savage. Bischoff points to how Sting tried to get Hogan to stop beating on the Giant to further the “what side is Sting on” storyline.

-“The Enforcer” Arn Anderson & “Flyin’” Brian Pillman vs. Sting & Lex Luger:

Sting and Anderson start and Anderson gets the early advantage. Anderson whips Sting into the ropes, where Pillman kicks Sting in the back of the head and Anderson hits the spinebuster, but Luger breaks up the pinfall before a count is made. Sting recovers and destroys both men and we get a brief four-way brawl that finishes with Sting and Luger giving Anderson and Pillman gorilla press slams. Anderson and Pillman bail and regroup. Back in, Anderson has words with Luger and demands that Sting tag him in and Sting obliges. Luger goes under a double-clothesline from the heels and then shoves Anderson into Pillman, who crashes into the guardrail. Luger hits Anderson with a forearm off the ropes, and tags Sting who gives Anderson a Stinger’s splash. Sting applies a Scorpion Deathlock and Pillman goes to the top rope to break it up. Luger runs over on the apron and tosses him off the top rope, but Pillman crashes onto Sting and breaks the hold. The heels use the opportunity to work over Sting and keep him isolated from Luger. Luger interjects himself without being tagged as Nick Patrick stands there like an idiot and when Luger finally wanders back to his corner, Sting rolls up Pillman and gets the pin at 5:36. Well that finish came out of nowhere. This was one of the most disjointed tag team matches that I’ve ever seen and how are we supposed to see Anderson and Pillman as threatening when they are constantly made to look like idiots on Nitro? Grade: D

-After the match, Ric Flair comes down and ambushes Luger and the Three Horsemen beat on Luger and Sting before Hogan rushes down and makes the save. Hogan doesn’t for sell Flair and he unloads on him until Pillman and Anderson pull Flair out of the ring. Hogan helps Sting to his feet and goes to punch Luger, but Sting stops him.

-Bischoff tells us that there isn’t an update on Randy Savage’s condition.

The Final Report Card: From a storyline perspective this show was effective but from an in-ring perspective it didn’t offer very much. The tag team match at the end is an afterthought and is pretty bad when you consider the abilities of the wrestlers involved. You could tell they were trying to put together a match but had to do it at 180 mph because of the time constraints and it didn’t click.

Monday Night War Rating: 2.5 (vs. 2.3 for Raw)

Show Grade: D+

Logan Scisco has been writing wrestling reviews for Inside Pulse since 2005. He considers himself a pro wrestling traditionalist and reviews content from the 1980s-early 2000s. Most of his recaps center on wrestling television shows prior to 2001. His work is featured on his website (www.wrestlewatch.com) and he has written three books, available on Amazon.com.