–WCW Primehad a new match featuring Big Bubba Rogers and Mark Starr.
–Prime “MOOO” Match of the Week: Big Bubba Rogers (19-5-1) pins Mark Starr (1-10) after the Big Bubba Slam at 2:59:
Chris Cruise has taken over Tony Schiavone’s commentary slot for Prime but thankfully Dusty Rhodes is still around to call the “MOOOO” match of the week. Starr dazes Rogers in the early going with some punches but runs in a spinebuster and it is a Rogers squash from that point forward. This is the second time that Rogers defeated Starr in 1995 as he also squashed him on the March 25 WCW Saturday Night telecast.
–And now onto WCW Pro where Cruise, Dusty, and Larry Zbyszko call the action. These matches were taped in Dalton, Georgia on July 25. According to thehistoryoffwwe.com, the taping drew a crowd of 1,000 fans.
–Opening Contest: Meng & Kurasawa (w/Colonel Robert Parker) defeat Tim Horner & Torin Reader when Kurasawa makes Reader submit to a Fujiwara armbar at 4:35:
As noted in the backstage news snippets, Kurasawa was Manabu Nakanishi of New Japan Pro Wrestling who won the 1995 Young Lions Cup. This match served as his debut and showcased the Meng-Kurasawa pairing the day before The Clash of the Champions where both men are facing Sting and Road Warrior Hawk. Sadly, it is not exciting since both men chop and choke Horner for an eternity and then destroy Reader, including their version of Total Elimination where Meng does a thrust kick and Kurasawa does a leg sweep.
–After the bell, the heels continue to beat up Reader before WCW officials intervene. Reader sells his arm like Kurasawa broke it.
–Alex Wright (41-3-1) pins Chris Kanyon after a German suplex at 5:40:
Cruise tells fans that Wright will face Diamond Dallas Page tomorrow night at The Clash of the Champions. After several minutes of mat wrestling, Wright tosses Kanyon to the floor and does a plancha. That should set up Wright’s finisher in the ring but the action continues, with Wright doing a Liontamer and then opting for….a hammerlock? Wright later busts out a superduperplex and uses a German suplex to prevail. This got a lot of time for a squash but that allowed Wright to showcase some new moves.
–The Shark (w/Kevin Sullivan) pins Larry Santo after a falling clothesline in 59 seconds:
The Shark does not inherit Avalanche’s win-loss total because WCW presented the Shark as a new wrestler and never acknowledged his old persona. The Shark blitzes Santo and bites him a few times en route to victory.
–Cruise interviews Sullivan and the Shark. Sullivan tells Hulk Hogan that WCW Main Event will be his downfall as he will not make it out of that show to get through the rest of the Dungeon of Doom.
–A video package hypes Randy Savage.
–Cruise interviews Savage, who Cruise announces will be doing commentary tomorrow night on WCW Main Event. Savage says he is going to tell it like it is and that he and Sting are going to watch Hulk Hogan’s back tomorrow night.
–Ric Flair & Arn Anderson (1-0) defeat Steve & Scott Armstrong when Flair pins Scott after a figure-four leglock at 9:22:
Steve was a former tag team partner with Tracy Smothers, wrestling as the Southern Boys and the Young Pistols in the early 1990s. He also had a brief run with the WWF in 1992 as Lance Cassidy and then worked for Smoky Mountain Wrestling between 1993-1995. Teaming with his brother is not going to get him out of the “jobber to the stars” category, but the Armstrongs do provide another team for WCW’s tag ranks which are in dire need of a new talent. Flair and Anderson put on a clinic of cheating, with Flair tossing Steve over the top rope behind the referee’s back, raking Scott’s eyes, and then later choking Steve with his knee as he argues with the referee. The Armstrongs are outwitted by the heels at every turn, although Scott catches Anderson with a superkick, forcing Flair to break up the fall. At the end, Flair takes out Scott’s knee during a suplex, allowing Anderson to plant Scott with a DDT and then Flair tags in and applies the figure-four for the victory. Rating: **¼
–Cruise interviews Flair and Anderson. Anderson indicts the American education system and action movie stars to say that Vader lives in fantasy land if he thinks he can defeat he and Flair at The Clash of the Champions. Flair vows to make Vader handicapped for life because he dared to cross he and Anderson.
The Last Word: Outside of the boring squash at the beginning of the broadcast, this show had some perfectly acceptable wrestling and provided some sufficient hype for The Clash of the Champions. There has not been a lot of time to hype the handicap main event for that show but the interviews by all of the participants are making it seem like a can’t miss affair.
Up Next: WCW Worldwide for August 5!