WCW Champions as of October 8th, 1995:
- Heavyweight: Hulk Hogan [defeated Ric Flair, July 17th, 1994]
- US: Sting [defeated Meng, June 18th, 1995]
- TV: DDP [defeated Renegade, September 17th, 1995]
- Tag-Team: The American Males[defeated Harlem Heat, September 18th, 1995]
Live from Chicago, Illinois with Steve “Mongo” McMichael, Eric Bischoff, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
Bobby says that there’s a restraining order on The Giant, so he can’t come in the building. All the tough World Champions go and get restraining orders. Sting shows up and says he’s gonna solve the beef between Luger & Macho.
The Shark vs Sting [C] – US Heavyweight Championship
Poor John Tetna, such a nice guy, and such a lame-ass gimmick. Poor guy even changed his tiger tattoo into a shark. He starts off heavy on Sting as soon as he enters the ring. A powerslam, a leg-drop, and that’s all he gets in before Stinger nails him with the Stinger-splashes and a cross-body off the top rope into a pin.
Sting pins The Shark after a cross-body at 1:17 | *
We get a recap of Hogan being beaten & shaved.
Sabu vs Mr. JL
Sabu starts off with his typical somersaults & off-the-rope leg drops, forcing Jerry to answer back with his own high-risk maneuvers. The crowd seems to be digging it as they chant very loudly “HOGAN SUCKS!” They head outside with Sabu hitting JL with a crossbody, following it up with Air Sabu into the guardrail. Back in the ring they trade clotheslines and such until Lynn is able to hit Sabu with a fantastic DDT from the top rope. After an attempted missile-dropkick that Sabu turned into a powerbomb, he slaps JL in a Camel Clutch, and the ref calls it due to Jerry being out. For as short as it was, this was a hell of a match. Fast paced, innovative, and very hard-hitting. No surprise when you’ve got a guy like Jerry Lynn in there with Sabu. Good stuff.
JL is passed out while in the Camel Clutch at 4:28 | **1/2
Mean Gene Interview:
Stinger & Lex are in the ring, then call for Macho in order to settle the beef. Savage comes out dressed like a piece of Rick James’ furniture. Sting’s big solution is if Macho & Luger win their respective matches at Halloween Havoc, then they meet later that evening. Everyone agrees to that stipulation. Macho Man is still dressed like an idiot.
We get footage of a limo pulling up outside, and out comes a man who is now in WCW, all the way from Japan where he dominated; Chris Benoit, and he’s rocking the absolute lamest hair ever.
Disco comes out to dance for the crowd, much to the dismay of others, but not your scribe. Especially since he brought his own boombox to play while others themes are going on. Hawk comes out and intimidates Disco, who backs down. As he walks away, Disco grabs some kid’s hat and places it on Hawk’s spike without him knowing. Wow, I actually remember that very thing from back when I was a kid. I was a die-hard WWF’er, but would catch a snippet of Nitro during their replays. For some reason, Disco doing that was burned into my brain, and until I saw it right now, I couldn’t remember who placed the hat on Hawk’s spike. It’s pretty funny how doing something so simple like that completely takes away every ounce of bad-ass that Hawk had.
Big Bubba vs Road Warrior Hawk
They were actually having the beginning of what looked to be a great big-man match. But then Disco started dancing, Hawk started beating on the Fever, and was counted out.
Hawk is counted out at 1:39 | No Rating
Mean Gene Interview:
Gene calls for Hogan, and YES! It’s Darkside Hogan! Alright! It’s about time! Man, the crowd is booing him out of the building. Haha, he even has a black neckbrace, that’s true darkness. You think Darth Vader uses a flesh-color band-aid? I don’t think so. Gene tries to flip and make it seem like the crowd is booing because Hulkster is in black, and not because he’s been shoved down their throats for the last year and a half. He compares them shaving his mustache to burning the American Flag. Sounds about right. He then says he’s gonna beat up Gorgeous George in heaven.
Outside, we see The Giant has arrived in the monster-truck, leading me to believe this is his everyday vehicle. The Zodiac is riding in the truck-bed, leading me to believe thats how he dresses everyday.
Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson – Steel Cage
Flair starts off with chops & punches until Arn rams him head-first into the cage. He holds that momentum until he tries an escape and Flair dumps him crotch first on the ropes. He tries to get it back with a Spinebuster, but Flair answers by throwing Arn into the cage multiple times. Brian shows up, but the cage actually keeps him out. Flair tries to put Double A in the Figure-4, but Arn hits him with a taped fist and grabs the pin. Dammit, I’m getting a hankering for some PPV, because these Nitro matches are teases. C’mon, Arn & Flair in the cage and it’s less than 5 minutes? There really isn’t much to say about the match.
Arn hits Flair with the international object and gets the pin at 4:24 | **
Afterward, Flair hits the announce booth and lets it be known he’s gonna search the earth for a tag-partner to take on Arn & Brian, but if he can’t, he’ll take’em on himself.
Unfortunately, that’s where my show ends. So, I won’t be able to tell you guys what’s coming up next week, or even provide promotional consideration. Although I’m sure as usual it’s Crossfire, Str8 Gangster No Chaser, and Hot Pockets.
Two of the 4 matches went less than 2 minutes, but it was made up for with a decent Arn & Flair match, and a more than exceptional bout between Sabu & Mr. JL. We finally got to Darkside Hogan, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted in the world. I can’t wait until we get to the promos where Macho has also become dark, prompting him to wear a weird mask and brandish a broadsword while Hogan speaks. Also, the YE-TAY is coming.
Till next week, dig it…
