Sunday, July 15, 2012

WCW Monday Nitro - 2/5/96

Welcome to Randy Savage's backyard here in Lakeland, Florida! The countdown to Superbrawl VI continues as Savage faces Chris Benoit, Flair faces Marcus Alexander Bagwell, and Sting & Luger put their World Tag Team Titles on the line against the Road Warriors, Hawk and Animal! Also in attendance tonight is a still blinded Hulk Hogan! Its a fairly sparse show, all things considered, so lets get on with it.

Benoit comes out first and is getting heel heat for the first time as far as I can remember. Savage next, accompanied by Woman, the current Nancy Sullivan and future Nancy Benoit, and Miss Elizabeth. The bell rings and there's a tight and brutal lockup that the ref pulls apart followed by Chris Benoit taking control of the match. He absolutely brutalizes Savage. Strikes, holds, knife-edge chops, suplexes, everything. Benoit, having sufficiently worn Savage down, slashes his throat and lands the diving headbutt but refuses to pin. A vertical suplex later and Benoit picks up a two count. Savage gets to his feet and clotheslines Benoit. Benoit tosses Savage out the ring and goes for the suicide dive. Savage moves out of the way and Benoit crashes face first into the concrete. It is absolutely gruesome. Savage peels Benoit off the floor, puts him back in the ring, and hits his diving elbow. Flair runs in to make the save and Savage bails out of the ring to head him off. As Flair leads him in a chase around the ring, Woman creeps up behind and cheap shots him. Arn Anderson runs out next and the two men brutally assault savage. Hogan, face covered with butterfly bandages, runs out with the chair to make the save. Anderson and Flair escape with Woman and Savage is stretchered out.
Mean Gene shows up with a microphone and begins to interview Hogan when Flair comes back and lays Hogan out. He tears off Hogan's bandages and the blood starts pouring again. The Giant runs out now and nails Hogan with the chair. He goes for a second shot, but the Zodiac is there to protect Hogan again. This buys Savage enough time to run back in and make the save. Savage grabs the mic, blames Elizabeth for not protecting Hogan, and calls for a medic to help the bloodied Hulk Hogan

Second, we have a heel vs heel tag match between the Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan & Hugh Morris and Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Three out of four men in this match have "crazy dude" as their gimmick and the only one halfway believable is Brian Pillman. Pillman stands in the ring with his cane before the bell and crosses himself with it while screaming at the top of his lungs. The bell rings and Pillman and Morris lock up. Morris overpowers him and military press slams both Horsemen. Sullivan and Anderson tag in and Pillman goes after a cameraman on the outside. Bischoff says, using his "Legit Executive VP Voice," if Pillman goes after another non-wrestler again he is going to be fired from WCW. Morris and Sullivan change places and Anderson hits the Spinebuster in spectacular fashion. The Horsemen start working over Morris and I would say it was for the hot tag if both teams weren't getting equally booed. Pillman is on the apron, taking swings at fans and screaming. Sullivan comes in off the 'cold tag' and so does Pillman. Sullivan ties Brian up in the old "Tree of Joey Lawrence" and hits a shoulder block into an illegal choke. Anderson breaks it up and beats Sullivan all the way back to the curtain. He goes for the spike piledriver but a broom peaks out the curtains and nails him in the head. Sullivan runs back down to the ring where Hugh Morris is beating up Pillman. Sullivan whips Pillman with the strap, drawing a DQ. Morris lands a moonsault and pins Pillman to the mat so Sullivan can whip him. AA comes back and makes the save and Bischoff announces a strap match between Sullivan and Pillman at Superbrawl on Sunday.

Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Ric Flair is next on the card. Flair comes down to the ring accompanied by Woman. Paul Orndorff shows up on commentary as the match starts and says he was the person who hit AA with the broom. Wrapped that plothole up quickly. Flair starts toying with Bagwell and dominates the early match. A series of clotheslines, though, starts knocking Flair around. Flair low blows Bagwell to get back in control. Flair's chops give way to Bagwell's punches, Flair flops. Bagwell stands him back up, hits a dropkick, and gets a two count. Flair goes goes for the Figure Four, Bagwell squeaks out. An irish whip sequence follows with a bunch of missed clotheslines. Flair, stuffing a crossbody, knocks Bagwell unconvincingly from the ring. Like, he just stumbles backwards into the ropes, pauses for a second, then does a backflip to the floor. Woman distracts the ref so Flair can roll out, beat up Bagwell on the floor, and roll him back in. Bagwell's chest is just like mad red. Flair picks up a quick two count, locks in the Figure Four, and wins the match via submission. Flair thumbs the eye of the ref and refuses to release the hold, prompting Savage to make the save and force the breakup.

Tonight's main event is the tag team title match between Sting & Luger and the Road Warriors. The crowd is solidly behind the Road Warriors, chanting "LoD" super loud. Sting and Animal tie up, Animal reverses and overpowers Sting at every turn. Luger and Hawk both tag in. Luger botches a  piledriver on Hawk so Hawk no-sells. Sting tags in, hits a Stinger Splash, and locks Hawk in the Scorpion Death Lock. Animal breaks it up, then immediately tags in along with Luger. Luger starts working Animal over to build the hot tag. Luger is cheating a lot, very obviously. Suddenly, the power in the building goes out and we lose feed for like ten seconds. Nothing missed but Mongo seems to think the WWF set off an EMP in the arena or something. A Legion of Doom chant fires up Animal, he takes down Luger and goes for the pin. Sting breaks it up, Hawk grabs him and drags him out of the ring. While Sting and the ref's backs are turned, Jimmy Hart heads down to ring side and gives Luger a lead pipe. He nails Animal with it, tosses it out the ring, pins, and retains his belts. Sting is pissed at Luger as they leave the arena.

Gene heads down to ringside and interviews the Road Warriors. They want a rematch for the title. They know Sting & Luger cant take them in a clean fight, so they're going to have to go extreme. Who ever wins between the Harlem Heat and Sting & Luger on Sunday are going to have to face Hawk and Animal. Ooh, what a rush!

Brother Count: Thanks to Road Warrior Hawk, we reached a total of four brothers tonight. .0666 brothers per minute.

Did Hogan Go Over? Nope, he died again!

The Pepe Award for Pepe's Costume: A french maid outfit. I don't know.

Move of the Match: Not so much a cool bit of offense, but Benoit faceplanting off that suicide dive was just so incredibly brutal I don't know how he finished the match.

American Males Memorial Buff Bagwell Sighting: Buff had an entire match with the stylin, profilin, limousine ridin, jet flyin, kiss-stealing, wheelin, dealin, son of a gun this week.

The VK Wallstreet Award for the Boys Up North: When Mongo immediately assumed the WWF was shelling the arena when the power went out, he said, "We like the competition taking shots at us, that means we're on top and they're just trying to catch up, baby." Tell me, Mongo, what's the difference between VK Wallstreet and Billionaire Ted?

Mongo Sucks: "Now, if I was at home with you, I'd get you a beer or two." It is not clear who this is addressed at. Also, "I thought I was at a Grateful Dead concert, all the big lighters came out!"

Broski of the Week: Boy wearing a bright blue scarf wrapped around his head like a bonnet and a homemade Hulkamania poncho.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY: At Superbrawl VI ($27.95 from your PPV provider) you will be seeing:
Hogan vs the Giant in a steel cage!
Savage vs Flair in a steel cage!
Konnan vs One Man Gang for the United States Title!
Sting & Luger vs Harlem Heat for the World Tag Team Titles!
Public Enemy vs the Nasty Boys in a street fight!
Sullivan vs Pillman in a winner-gets-respect strap match!

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