Happy Saturday Everyone!
I reviewed WWF In Your House 16 last week and decided to review some WCW this week. I went to CageMatch.net to find some highly rated shows and I noticed that this Nitro is very well regarded. So, let’s have a look at Nitro #43 and see how good it is. It’s happening the night after Bash at the Beach 1996 I believe.
You can view the card by clicking below;
The event is emanating from Orlando, Florida on the 8th of July 1996
Calling the action are Bobby Heenan, Eric Bischoff, Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone
The show is outside tonight at Disney MGM Studios, as the announce team confirms that we are indeed coming the day after Bash at the Beach 1996, where Hulk Hogan has gone Heel and joined up with the nWo.
Opening Match
WCW World Cruiserweight Title
Champ: The Ice Man Dean Malenko Vs Rey Mysterio Jr
Malenko defeated The Disco Inferno back at BATB whilst Rey tore the house down with Psicosis in the opener, and we actually get some still images of those matches from the pay per view. I bet it was horrible wrestling outside in Florida in July due to the heat, but it’s at least a cool different looking visual set up, which is appreciated in an age where so many wrestling shows always look the same regardless of where they are being held, especially in WWE.
They have a really fun match here, with Rey using his speed to frustrate Malenko in the early going until Malenko is able to catch the challenger with a back breaker for the cut off. Rey’s fast paced offence looked good there and Malenko was a good base for him outside of one notable botch where Rey appeared to be going for some kind of flippy roll-up and Malenko lost his grip on him. Aside from that though, it was an effective babyface shine.
Malenko is very convincing on offence whilst working the heat, with Rey taking some nice bumps and generally selling well. The crowd gets into the match and clearly wants Rey to win as they chant and clap for him whilst Malenko is working him over and react whenever it looks like Rey will fight back. As per usual, Larry Z is very annoying on commentary when it comes to his dismissive way of talking about the lighter weight wrestlers. He knows his father in law was the NWA Junior Heavyweight Champion right?
Malenko really puts a hurting on Rey in the heat, including a brutal looking Brain Buster on the mats outside the ring at one stage, which draws boos from the crowd. Rey eventually fights back by countering a slam attempt from Malenko into a cross body and then follows up with an Asai Moonsault, although he doesn’t get all of it. Both wrestlers sell it though and don’t rush or panic, meaning they don’t lose the crowd when they go to the near falls back inside the ring.
Malenko gets an all-time great Gut Buster from the top onto Rey at one stage, but he makes the mistake of pulling Rey up so that he can punish him further, which I’ve never really liked as a spot as it makes one wrestler look dumb and the other one look weak. It’s all part of a story they are telling though, as Rey snaps a rana soon after to win the belt to a big pop, beginning a story where Malenko had to treat Rey more seriously in a future rematch where he won the belt back.
WINNER AND NEW CHAMPION: REY MYSTERIO JR
RATING: ***1/3
Thoughts: There were a couple of botches in this one and I personally didn’t like the stuff with Malenko pulling Rey up at two, even though I could see what story they were trying to tell with it. That sort of storytelling just isn’t for me. The match itself was still good fun though, with an invested crowd really adding to it
Mean Gene Okerlund is backstage with The Steiner Brothers and The Nasty Boys, as they’ll be wrestling later on and the winner will get a shot at Hog Wild. The Steiner’s may respect their opponents, but there’ll still be bringing the pain later. This was four crazy men yelling at each other whilst Mean gene looked worried, which made it an entertaining segment.
Coming up, Ric Flair!
We get a vignette for Glacier, who was a Mortal Kombat themed martial arts gimmick. They famously plugged his first match for months, to the point that he couldn’t possibly live up to the hype, even though he was fine as a mid-card wrestler once he’d bedded in.
Match Two
The Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal and Squire David Taylor) w/ Earl Robert Eaton and Jeeves Vs The Dungeon of DOOM (Big Bubba Rogers and The Laughing Man Hugh Morrus) w/ The Mouth of the South Jimmy Hart
It’s a classic random Nitro mix and match bout, as seemingly random participants are drawn out of a tombola to wrestle one another. Case in point, both of these teams are Heels and have no pre-existing issue, but they are just having a match here on Nitro for the heck of it. Big Bubba lost to John Tenta on the pay per view when Tenta hit him in the face with a roll of quarters inside a gym sock. In Aberdeen they call that one that “Socky Toddy”……..probably…….
The Dungeon appear to be working as the babyfaces tonight, being that it’s the first Nitro after the 4th of July so there’s very little chance that the British lads will get cheered here from the ignoramus Americans in the crowd. Both teams do stuff until Tenta starts fighting with Bubba and that allows The Brits to nearly kill Morrus with a double back suplex for the three count.
WINNERS: THE BLUE BLOODS
RATING: N/A
Thoughts: Too short to rate, but it wasn’t bad or anything. Tony calls that a “sensational” win. Nah, second tier Sunderland defeating Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup Final was sensational, The Blue Bloods defeating The Dungeon of DOOM on Nitro is at best “mildly impressive”
The WCW Magazine is hyped.
WCW Saturday Night is also hyped, although I think they didn’t really bother treating that show as important when Thunder came along in 1998, as they basically handed it over to Jimmy Hart and he just booked veterans he liked for it.
Match Three
Psicosis Vs Eddy Guerrero
We get a pop-in promo from Rey Mysterio Jr here, as Rey is all upset about Hulk Hogan going Heel. This is one of those matches where if it was booked on Dynamite these days then the usual suspects would probably complain that they were putting on a good match for the sake of it. Eddy was getting a US Title shot at Hog Wild, whilst Psi had been in a very good match on the pay per view the night before, so they’ve been matched up here so that they can showcase themselves.
Eddy shines on Psi to start, and the crowd enjoys it, with the wrestling being good from both competitors. Psi eventually manages to soup can Eddy out to the floor and then follows with a big twisting plancha to the floor for the cut off, leading to Psi working Eddy over back inside the ring. Psi targets Eddy’s arm and shoulder back inside the ring, with the idea being that Eddy hurt it when he tumbled to the floor earlier, which makes sense from a psychology standpoint and Eddy does a good job selling it.
Psi locks in a full cross arm breaker at one stage and they treat it more as a rest hold, which of course wouldn’t work today as even the most casual of wrestling fans knows that if you get that locked in then it’s an immediate submission due to how mainstream the UFC has become as a Sports Entertainment promotion. Eddy sells enough for Psi here that he makes him look like a genuine contender, but he also does a good job of being a gutsy babyface who won’t give up, leading to Eddy eventually catching Psi with a Superplex and following with the Frog Splash for the three count.
WINNER: EDDY GUERRERO
RATING: ***3/4
Thoughts: This was a darn good match for free TV in 1996, as Eddy sold consistently throughout and made Psi look good before picking up the victory. Both wrestlers gained something from this as a result and it helped get them both over.
Mean Gene is in the entrance way with Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and WCW World Champ The Giant. Hart is lost for words at Hulk Hogan going Heel, whilst Sullivan is angry that Hogan went Heel because now that means Sullivan can’t kill Hulkamania as Hogan has already killed it himself. Giant doesn’t really care about Hogan’s Heel turn, as Giant is World Champ and he doesn’t intend to lose it anytime soon.
Match Four
WCW World Tag Team Title #1 Contender Match
The Nasty Boys (Knobbs and Sags) Vs The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott)
The sun has now gone down, but it still looks as humid as gorillas arm pit out there if the Steiner’s being drenched in sweat after merely walking to the ring is anything to go by. These two teams had a fun mini-feud in WCW back in 1990 before The Nasty’s jumped to the WWF, with the matches usually revolving around both teams just beating the dill pickles out of one another, and they dip right back into that here, with all four wrestlers just throwing down from the opening bell.
The Nasty’s focus more on brawling and double team moves, whilst The Steiner’s go more for suplexes and throws. I think both teams were babyfaces at the time, but as I type that, Jerry Sags clocks Scott Steiner with a chair outside the ring, which I guess means The Nasty’s are working as Heels for this one? The second hour starts during the match, which I always though was dumb that they did that in the middle of the match as it took away from the action in the ring.
Bischoff and Heenan are handling the call now, as we see that Col. Parker and Sister Sherri (Harlem Heat’s managers) are watching the match. Parker heads down to the ring and clocks Sags with his walking cane, which gives The Steiner Brothers the win. I’m not sure if they explained why Parker did that or not. It’s a pretty flat out of nowhere finish for the match and the crowd doesn’t really react to it as a result.
WINNERS: THE STEINER BROTHERS
RATING: *1/2
Thoughts: This was going along fine until the second hour started, and then it kind of fell apart with the finish coming out of nowhere and them losing the crowd with it as a result
Mean Gene interviews The Nasty Boys in the ring, who are angry that Col. Parker cost them the match there. They also don’t condone what Hulk Hogan did, but they also don’t see a problem with it. The Nasty’s seem to like the idea of this whole nWo thing, which led to them trying to join only to then get beaten up by the group and treated like goobers.
Match Five
WCW United States Title
Champ: The Nature Boy Ric Flair w/ Debra McMichael, Miss Elizabeth and Woman) Vs Jim The Paperweight Powers
I honestly have no idea why I’ve given Powers that nickname, as I wrote down the match listing before starting the review and that’s what I had down for him. Answers on a postcard I guess. Flair had defeated Konnan for the belt at the pay per view thanks to Woman giving Konnan one of the all-time greatest low blows. Flair of course is more than happy to make his opponent look good here, as he bumps around for Powers in the early going and Powers looks decent.
Flair ends up throwing Powers out to the floor, where Woman cheap shots him, but Powers recovers from that and continues to work Flair over with standard babyface fare such as leapfrogs and side headlock takedowns. Flair just starts punching Powers in the face after a certain point, which makes sense as Powers has been focusing on wrestling here so far, so Flair trying to turn it into a fight and essentially conceding the wrestling contest makes him look more villainous.
Flair heads up top following that, which goes about how you’d expect, as Powers has taken the majority of this match and Flair hasn’t really got any momentum going. Flair has done a good job in trying to make Powers look good and Powers has settled into the broomstick role well enough, but the downside is that I don’t think the crowd has ever really bought Powers as a potential winner here. Powers eventually misses a charge in the corner and Flair methodically destroys Powers’ legs before going to the Figure Four for the win, with Woman helping out by pulling on Flair’s arms in order to give him some more leverage of course.
WINNER AND STILL CHAMPION: RIC FLAIR
RATING: **1/4
Thoughts: Flair didn’t really need the cheating at the end with Woman helping to give him more leverage in the hold, but that’s Ric Flair being Ric Flair. Even when he can beat someone like Powers clean and no one would question him for it, he still has to protect his lower mid-card opponent after giving him the majority of the match. The match itself was solid action, although I don’t think anyone really bought that Powers had a chance to win and that meant the crowd heat wasn’t really there for it, even though Flair did everything he could to try and make Powers look like a proper challenger until it was time to go to school. Seeing Flair destroy his opponent’s leg, lock in the Figure Four and win was almost jarring considering he rarely did that to top stars because most of them didn’t want to lose by submission. You can forget that Flair was actually very good and believable when it came to being a submission master, as he so rarely got to do it against people higher up the card
Mean Gene has some promo time with The Horsemen somewhere in the building. Arn Anderson says that there were highs and lows at the pay per view, as Mongo and Flair won whilst Anderson and Benoit lost. Anderson is mad that Hulk Hogan went Heel, as The Horsemen are honest about how evil they are, but Hogan actually pretended to be a good guy, so his betrayal is even worse. Hey, that’s actually a logical reason for Anderson to be mad about Hogan’s Heel turn. Kudos!
Bischoff and Heenan think WCW will start fighting back now that they know who the third man is. We also see still images of Lex Luger being taken out on a stretcher at the pay per view, meaning that Craig Pittman will replace him in the next match.
Match Six
Sgt. Craig Pittman w/ Teddy Long Vs Crippler Chris Benoit
Benoit’s face is all bruised up following a tag match against Sullivan and Giant on the pay per view, although the announce team doesn’t really mention it, which seems like a strange thing to do as it would get the brutality of match from the pay per view over and tell the story that Benoit might be at a disadvantage here seeing as Pittman didn’t have a gruelling match the previous night.
Pittman flings Benoit around to start, with Benoit taking some very impressive bumps for it all, but Benoit fights back with his usual array of chops and stomps. Pittman has a brief fightback but Benoit locks him in the crossface soon after. Pittman won’t submit, so Long submits on his clients behalf, which is a dumb finish by modern standards but in the 90’s it was still seen as taboo for babyfaces to submit because MMA wasn’t as popular yet so tough people tapping out hadn’t been normalised.
WINNER: CHRIS BENOIT
RATING: *1/4
Thoughts: This started out looking like it might be a fun mean guy match with both wrestlers flinging one another around and locking one another in punishing holds, but Benoit didn’t really get to do much other than kick and punch, and before it could really get going they took it home
Pittman seems unhappy with his manager stopping the match there, but he wasn’t getting out of that hold and it was definitely the right call. Again, these days you probably would have just seen Pittman tap out because refusing to tap is generally seen as a stupid thing to do in modern wrestling.
Main Event
The Enforcer Arn Anderson Vs Sting
Anderson tries a piledriver out on the floor early doors here, but Sting back body drops out of it to counter, leading to Anderson stalling on the floor as we take a break for another Glacier vignette. Yeah there was no way that character had a chance to live up to the hype. Back from the ads, Anderson gets Spine Buster for a double down, as this match has kind of meandered to be honest, to the point that it feels like they’re almost filling time until the nWo shows up, which isn’t ideal for a Main Event match.
The wrestling itself has been fine, but it doesn’t feel like it’s had much rhythm or structure to it. Anderson works Sting over following the Spine Buster, showing that he’s been watching his IRS tapes by going to the rope assisted Abdominal Stretch. Anderson tries to get a submission victory with THE DREADED YOUNG LION BOSTON CRAB, but Sting refuses to tap out, whilst we see that a limo has pulled up, which probably has the nWo inside it. Well, they’ve been essentially teasing an appearance from Hogan all night, so it wouldn’t shock me if it’s them.
Sting eventually catches Anderson coming off the second rope and makes the comeback, as the crowd heat isn’t quite what you’d want here but Sting has his fans in the arena who are getting into him. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall come down to ringside to try and cause some bother, with both Anderson and Sting stopping their match in a nice touch seeing as they may be enemies but they are still WCW guys. Eventually the fight picks up again and Sting goes to The Scorpion Deathlock for the submission victory.
WINNER: STING
RATING: **
Thoughts: Kind of just two fellers having a match, but it picked up once Anderson got the heat. I’m glad they actually did a proper finish instead of having the standard nWo Finish™
Randy Savage has come out and wants a piece of Hall and Nash whilst Mean Gene does an interview with Sting in the ring. Sting says he should have known that Hogan would have turned on WCW when he was more interested in travelling in limo’s rather than showing respect for the WCW roster. Sting is especially mad that Hogan has turned his back on the kids though, which leads to The Stinger getting pretty emotional. That was a great promo from Sting actually that captured the general mood over the Heel turn quite well. Randy Savage joins Sting in the ring, to add his two cents, as he can’t say what he actually wants to say due to them being at Disney. The gist is that Savage is very angry, and he gets that across quite well.
Mean Gene is by the limo with Hall and Nash for some interview time, and they’re pretty confident that WCW won’t be bouncing back. Hulk Hogan will be on the show next week to address the fans. Nash kind of stumbles through the promo to be honest, but Hall does a solid job. The general gist is that the nWo gave WCW a beating at the pay per view and they rub it in.
We close with still images of Hulk Hogan going Heel at the pay per view. I guess that’s supposed to be them delivering on Hogan being on the show? They were implying quite heavily that we’d see Hogan earlier on, but that might have been Tony getting a bit excited.
In Conclusion
The crowd got tired as this one wore on (possibly due to the heat maybe?), but they were into it for the first half and there were two great matches for free TV here, so for the standards of the time thid show was very watchable. They are probably better episodes of the show out there, but this was still a solid effort from WCW and I get why it has mostly positive reviews over on Cage Match. The outdoor setting was nice as something different, as it’s always fun for a company to keep things fresh from a presentation perspective now and then.
Recommended show
