Photo Credit: Logopedia, WWE
This series is something that I have been thinking about for a while. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to write something like this due to the WWE network shutting down, but luckily, all episodes of W.C.W. Monday Nitro can be found on Foxtel.
What Monday Night Wars?
For those that may not know, I am a big pro wrestling fan. A friend introduced it to me when I was ten years old. There have been moments when I haven’t watched it for a while, but I tend to pick it up again.
For the longest time, I mainly hired World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) Videos whenever I went to the video store, mainly because they didn’t have any W.C.W. videos back then.
Around late 1996, when a friend of David’s family got pay T.V. (cable T.V. for any American reading) installed, he invited me around to watch wrestling. When my friend said wrestling, I assumed it was W.W.F., but to my surprise, it was World Championship Wrestling. W.C.W. World Wide used to be on one of the free-to-air stations on a Saturday morning, I enjoyed it, but I was obsessed with the New York promotion.
However, it wasn’t the same ole Dubya C Dubya; it was the cool W.C.W. The New World Order was running roughshod over the place. From that episode, I was hooked.
I have never understood why Turner Network Television (T.N.T.) would show Nitro on a Friday night back then, but I think it was the better night to have it on. Monday Night Raw wouldn’t appear on pay tv screens in Australia until 1997, and it would be aired on a Tuesday. So I never really got to change from one to the other; I was lucky enough to watch them both.
W.C.W. Nitro’s Debut
Watching the very first episode was like stepping back into a time machine. It was a fun watch, and I think I will enjoy going through and watching each episode.
W.C.W.’s debut episode was held on September 4 1995, and wasn’t held in an arena as many of the other Nitros would be; this one was held in The Mall of America. That’s right, a mall was the first place, and I didn’t find it that bad. Watching people on the escalators when they went to an overhead shot was sometimes distracting because it made me wonder what shops were open and why they didn’t close them down during the matches.
On Commentary that night was Eric Bischoff, Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, and Steve ‘Mongo’ McMichael. This lineup would change over time as some would take on different roles.
‘Flyin’ Brian Pillman vs Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger
Two talented Light-Heavyweight wrestlers in Pillman and Liger, were kicking off the action for the night. The Light-Heavyweight championship was deactivated at this stage, and the Cruiserweight Championship wouldn’t exist until 1996.
On paper, this was an excellent match to have up first; it was still good but could have blown people away. I know who both men are, but when I was younger, I only knew about Liger from what David told me, and I wouldn’t;t see Pillman wrestle until he went to the W.W.F. in 1997.
There were a couple of spots that were almost botched. A moonsualt by Liger looked slightly off the mark, and Pillman stood there for what looked like an awkward 30 seconds. The other one was when Liger did a hurricanruna from the top rope, it looked like he landed on his head, but he was fine.
In the end, Pillman won when he turned a German suplex attempt by Liger into a cradle for the pin. I feel the same; Dave Meltzer rated the match three and a half stars.
Sting vs ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair
Two legends who have had numerous classic matches over the years meeting once again to continue their rivalry. At this point in his career, Sting was still portraying his Surfer gimmick, and he was the United States Champion.
A bit was going on in this match; at the beginning, Lex Lugar came down the aisle to watch this. At the time, this was a big deal. Luger was last seen wrestling for the W.W.F.; somehow, no one noticed his contract had lapsed. Sting let Bischoff know, and while he wasn’t keen to sign him at first, the Stinger talked him into it. Security would tell Luger to leave ringside.
There were a few bright spots in the match. I always enjoyed it when Sting would do a Stinger Splash, and Flair always knew how to sell moves, and he did well here. While it wasn’t one of their classics, it was enough to entertain the crowd.
The match ended in a no contest when Arn Anderson came out and interfered by attacking Flair. This set up a match between the pair for Fall Brawl 95. Dave Meltzer gave it three and a quarter stars. I’m not a fan of this quarter business, so I will give it three.
Scott Norton wants to fight
After the end of the Sting/Flair match, Scott ‘Flash’ Norton came out and started to shout at Eric Bischoff at the commentary desk, looking back we all know that Bischoff was the man in charge, but I don’t know if it was known back then so it just looked like he was a bit crazy. Anyway, Macho Man Randy Savage came out and challenged Norton. I’m guessing they couldn’t do it then and there because of time constraints (Nitro started as an hour show), so the ‘contract’ was signed for the next episode of Nitro.
Michael Wallstreet Vignette
Mike Rotunda, known by some W.W.F. New Generation fans as the evil taxman gimmick Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S. get it!), cut a pre-recorded interview. He made a couple of quips at the W.W.F., but it was not much of note. Looking back at Rotunda, he was a talented wrestler; it’s a shame he only held tag team gold in the big promotion.
Hulk Hogan vs Big Bubba for the World Heavyweight Championship
Two men who are no strangers to each other met in the main event. They wrestled one another in the 80s in the W.W.F. when Bubba was known as the Big Boss Man, their feud would recommence in W.C.W. I liked Bubba when he was a face, but looking back, he was also a good heel.
This was a pretty standard Hogan match. Bubba had Hogan in trouble at times, but he was still wearing the red and yellow, so he ‘Hulked Up’ no selling punches, and then it was the big boot to the face before finishing the opponent off with the leg drop. Bubba never stood a chance. Meltzer gave it two and a quarter; I’m going with one and a half.
Post-match, the Dungeon of Doom came out to attack Hogan, but he fought them off with the help of Luger. Both men bumped into each other and almost threw a punch before pulling it back. Hogan was shocked to see Luger there; Sting and the Macho Man came out to ensure things didn’t escalate. The two men had words before Hogan told Luger that he would put his title on the line against him in the main event of next week’s Nitro.
Thank you for joining me for my first blog on episode one of W.C.W Monday Nitro. If there are ways I can improve this, please let me know in the comments.