Week 2
Nitro: 9/11/95
Miami, FL
We’ve got a big name World Title match tonight, Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger!
I think it’s awesome that Bischoff put Luger in a Nitro main event immediately. Luger was all over WWF TV just two weeks prior.
This is the go home PPV for Fall Brawl ’95.
Mongo looks ridiculous with glasses.
Bischoff says that Vader has gown AWOL. I think Vader was just fired. Anyway, he’s out of the War Games match.
Sabu vs. Alex Wright
We’re not in ECW are we anymore Sabu?
Sabu takes Wright over the top with a frankensteiner.
Sabu uses a chair as a springboard…but Wright moves and Sabu leg lariats the railing!
Awesome backflip off the top from Wright…which transitions into a German Suplex.
Sabu gets the three on Alex Wright after a top rope victory roll…but Sabu continues the attack and drives Wright through a table!
Alex Wright wins by DQ in 3:58. Ref reverses the decision. Pretty fun 4 minute match with nice spots. Good showing off of Sabu and Wright.
Here comes Ric Flair!
Flair compares himself to Joe Montana and Arn Anderson to Lawrence Taylor. Uh…
Lex Luger comes out to tell Flair “he’s too much” and leaves. Ok?
What an odd segment that was. I mean the interview was fine…but the Luger cameo was what?
Sting vs. VK Wallstreet
Wallstreet is an absolute Million Dollar Man ripoff here.
Bischoff says that “Shawn Michaels beat the big guy with a superkick!” I’m sure Vince McMahon had a heart attack right there. HBK vs. Sid was the main event on RAW…which was taped on August 28th, 1995.
Bischoff says of Wallstreet: “It’s all about power, it’s all about money, and that’s why he’s in WCW”. You think Hogan said that about his contract negotiation?
A very heavy anti-WWF segment here. Bischoff points out Luger was wrestling for the WWF nine days ago but left because he wanted competition. Ouch.
Sting pins Wallstreet in 4:13. Crossbody off the top for the win. Too short for my tastes, but it was fine and the crowd was into it.
Bischoff makes sure that we watch Saturday Night for the debut of Disco Inferno!
Scott Norton vs. Randy Savage
Norton was treated as a big deal early on. No one remembers his debut on the first Nitro…and by this time next year he’d be wrestling Ice Train.
Savage is selling like a million bucks for Norton at least.
Randy Savage pins Scott Norton in 5:39. The Dungeon of Doom hit the ring, and Norton and The Shark bump heads and Shark falls on Norton’s legs. This let’s Savage drop the big elbow for the win. Pretty weird finish. Dungeon of Doom attack Savage as a precursor to War Games. Weird to build up Norton to have him lose right away though.
WCW World Championship: Hulk Hogan© vs. Lex Luger
Hogan does put Luger over like a million bucks here. Well, right until he survives the Torture Rack.
We get the Hulk Up as well. Crowd kinda died during it.
Hulk Hogan wins by DQ in 5:28. Dungeon of Doom ruins this one too. Hogan of course legdropped Luger…so much for putting him over.
Sting and Savage run in, but the DOD don’t attack Luger! Now Hogan doesn’t trust him. This would set up the untruthworthy Luger deal. Sting defends him. How didn’t this lead to the Megapowers vs. Sting and Luger?
Luger will be Vader’s replacement this Sunday! Well, at least that’s what Sting wants. Savage is against him. Hogan, the deciding vote, says yes. Savage is brilliant here.
A solid outing for Nitro again, but I thought some things missed this time around. I liked Sabu vs. Wright…but the reverse decision blows. I don’t think anyone thought Wallstreet was beating Sting…and the announcers decided to use that time to talk about the WWF anyway. Flair’s interview was there. Scott Norton was put over in losing, but he wasn’t really the right guy to draw anyway. Hogan vs. Luger…booked as a dream match and all, went a mere 5 minutes. I feel like they could have cut Sting vs. Wallstreet here. It may have been the best quality match involving a big name, but also the least important.
That being said…we still got a show full of nonstop action, and Hogan put on his working boots for Luger for 4 minutes and 45 seconds. Savage did too. It’s also a good sign that the Nitro rating barely moved…even though it was up against RAW this week.
For the record I am all for Bischoff giving away the RAW results.
TV Rating: 2.4 (-0.1)
Grade: B+
RAW: 9/11/95
Canton, Ohio
Now that Vince saw what the competition was offering it was time to outshine them and own Monday Nights.
Oh wait…the show is taped.
Yes, taped back in August. Next week’s show is as well. Fun fact that Lex Luger was in a the dark match for this show.
The WWF is coming off a pretty awful Summerslam (a one match care if there ever was one, although The Kid vs. Hakushi was fine too). Now they’ve lost one of their main players, how will Vince respond? Despite a pretty good talent roster, somehow this meant more pushing for Mabel. No idea why.
The main event here is a match that was originally scheduled for Summerslam: HBK vs. Sid for the IC Title. Watching Nitro first though…Bischoff told us how that would turn out.
We have The Bulldog vs. Razor too. Two pretty big matches!
No idea why the WWF went to this terrible intro in 1995…especially when the classic RAW theme outright owned.
Razor Ramon vs. The British Bulldog
The Bulldog just turned heel on Diesel. Ramon just lost the IC title Ladder Match…and also had problems with Dean Douglas.
The Bulldog cutting his hair short was a great look for him.
This has been a solid back and forth contest so far. Good heat for Davey Boy.
Accidental ref bump…leads to Douglas attacking Ramon after Ramon had hit the Razor’s Edge.
Kid makes the save…and takes an awesome bump off the apron!
British Bulldog wins by DQ in 7:10. Kid comes off the top, but misses the Bulldog and hits Razor. Shouldn’t Razor win by DQ? Anyway, pretty good opening segment.
Vince interviews Kid and Razor, and it turns into an argument with Kid and Ramon when Vince says Kid cost Razor the match. Kid says last week (during tennis?) Razor cost him the match. He challenges Razor to a match for next week! He makes sure to point out he beat Razor the first time. Ramon accepts.
Weird poem from Todd Pettengill. Anyway, Yokozuna and Owen vs. Mabel and Mo next week I guess?
The Smokin’ Gunns vs. Rad Radford and The Brooklyn Brawler
No idea who’s winning this one.
Smokin’ Gunns win when Bart Gunn pins The Brawler in 2:46. It was an action packed 3 minutes at least. Did the Gunns ever name that sidewalk slam flying legdrop combo?
Goldust promo. No idea what he’s talking about…but who cares. It owns. References The Undertaker here, interestingly enough. The Goldust character is brilliant.
I like that they use the helicopter stock footage that would appear in The Rock’s 2003 heel titantron.
D.D.S. Isaac Yank’em vs. Scott Taylor
Two Attitude wrestlers here!
Awful chokeslam there. Funny what a long way that move has come for the future Kane.
Yank’em pins Taylor in 2:14. He wins with the DDS…which yes…is a DDT. How many people switched to Savage vs. Norton here?
In Your House hype. All the matches set already it looks like. It doesn’t look too bad!
WWF Intercontinental Championship
Shawn Michaels© vs. Sycho Sid
No one knows how to get a solid match out of Sid like Shawn does.
Shawn makes Sid look amazing here.
Awesome nip up from Sid, which led to a chokeslam.
Shawn Michaels pins Sid in 7:21. Three superkicks…one of them a real superkick, gets Shawn the win. Shawn bumps everywhere for Sid, and it leads to a very good match…even if it’s a bit short.
In retrospect, it’s odd that Vince allowed Shawn to do a striptease in the middle of the ring.
One last backstage interview with Diesel and HBK before we call it a night.
The show had a very good beginning and end, but it’s hard to care about any of that stuff in the middle. Thanks to Nitro, RAW squash matches would begin to be phased out. Unless you thought people were sticking around for The Brooklyn Brawler and Scott Taylor.
That along hurts the show enough. The 5 minute In Your House commercial is bothersome too. Nothing is built up (on RAW at least) yet a whole card is set already? Should I be watching Superstars instead?
Again…the opener and main were good.
TV Rating: 2.5
Grade: B
Weekly Review
Watching Nitro made me feel like WCW had so much talent they had to get in on the show. Watching RAW made me wonder why the WWF didn’t use all their top guys. Now that Nitro set that standard, RAW would have to catch up.
Even though Shawn vs. Sid was the better match in terms quality, Hogan vs. Luger was a huge deal with the WCW World Title on the line and everything. Nitro had an action packed show from top to bottom. RAW had a good start and good ending with stuff no one cared about in the middle.
Plus, Bischoff told you what would happen anyway…
Great start for Nitro ratings wise. First week of competition and they lose by merely 0.1. Not bad at all.
TV Ratings Score: 1-0 RAW
Grade Score: 1-0 Nitro