Welcome to the Retro Express. This is where we’re taking a stroll down memory lane at wrestling history. This post is part of an ongoing series where we’re reviewing every episode of WCW Nitro from start to finish. Links to the previous posts are at the bottom of this post. We hope you enjoy.
This pay-per-view was an improvement on the last “WCW” pay-per-view that we reviewed in the nWo Souled Out show. That’s not saying much, given how disastrous that show was, but it does make this show seem fantastic by comparison. Although I don’t rate it nearly as well as other pay-per-views in 1996, there were a number of good matches that you could sink your teeth into. It just lacked truly quality matches in the same vain of Starrcade for example. There was no Ultimo Dragon vs. Dean Malenko for example that blew me away. We had a few good matches, some bad ones but nothing remarkable or disastrous. As the kids these days would say, this was a pretty “mid” wrestling pay-per-view but a decent wrestling show nevertheless.
Date: February 23rd, 1997
Brand: WCW
City: San Francisco, California
Attendance: 13,324
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
Rowdy Roddy Piper was shown being released from Alcatraz. As shown on the Nitro before this pay-per-view, he’d been there for seven days and seven nights. He breathed heavily, walking out of his cell like a zombie as he growled. A guard went up to him and Piper responded saying that he knew his way. Piper jogged down the steps and roared as he made his way out of Alcatraz. Piper said: “it was time to pay the Piper”. He called Hogan an endangered species before getting onto a boat. He grabbed a pole of the boat and was on his way to the Cow Palace.
This was Piper being as nuts as you’d think as he came very close to just pole dancing and grinding on the pole of this boat.
Dean Malenko © vs Syxx for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
They showed what Syxx had done in the past couple of months in WCW, stealing the United States Championship from Eddie Guerrero and now Dean Malenko’s Cruiserweight Championship. That all led to this match for Dean’s title that was currently in the possession of Syxx!
Dean started beating up Syxx as the bell rang. Dean hit a big dropkick to a huge pop and laid in forearms to Syxx in the corner. Dean hit a Brainbuster for a two count but pulled Syxx up before three. He did this a few times as Dean mentioned previously that he wanted to teach Syxx a lesson and Syxx took a shot at his deceased father on the previous episode of Nitro. Dean even used closed fists as Dean wanted to punish Syxx.
Syxx slapped Dean which led to an absolutely smooth and fabulous Powerslam spot. Dean kicked away at Syxx in the corner. Dean positioned Syxx in the tree of woe position and Dean followed this up with a dropkick to the knee of Syxx.
Dean went for the Cloverleaf submission but Syxx booted him away and was selling his knee for about a minute or so. Dean did a crossbody to Syxx that sent them both crashing over the top rope. Dean regained possession of his title as he was beating up Syxx on the outside.
In a cool spot, Syxx tried a spin kick which Dean ducked, and then followed up by dropping Syxx with a hard clothesline. Syxx then forgot to sell his knee as he unloaded with multiple kicks in the corner. Syxx then hit the Bronco Buster which I don’t think I’ve actually seen him do yet as part of this WCW series! This may have been the first time he did the move that would become synonymous with Syxx and the rest of his career.
Syxx locked on a sleeper hold which Dean got out of with a suplex. Syxx did a double axe handle guillotine on Dean, as Dean’s head was draped under the ropes. Syxx hit a suplex and followed this up with a top rope leg drop for a two count. Syxx went back to the sleeper hold. Dean eventually locked on his own hold before both men crashed into each other head first.
Syxx was crotched ion the top rope and this lead to Dean going for the back suplex from the top rope, which Syxx countered. Syxx grabbed the Cruiserweight belt but Eddie Guerrero came out to do a tug of war with Syxx. Dean grabbed Syxx which led to a triple threat tug of war. Syxx however yanked the title away and hit Dean with it, while the referee was looking at Eddie. Syxx got the pin to win the Cruiserweight Championship.
Match Rating: ***1/4. It felt like an inevitably that Syxx would eventually win a championship. Syxx had been pushed as a single star while in the flock of the New World Order. This was his second singles feud and he was always with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, so he may as well win the championship if he’s been pushed so much. It’s more championships for the New World Order and frustrating to see Dean Malenko drop the title about a month or so after winning it. It’s becoming bothersome to see this title become hot-shotted, especially given the quality of some of the matches. We reviewed the match from last month where Dean won the title from Ultimo Dragon, which may have been one of the greatest cruiserweight matches in WCW history. A month later and they’ve already put the title on somebody else.
The match was fine but nowhere near in the realm of other cruiserweight title matches in the previous year.
NOTES: Ever since the WCW Cruiserweight Championship was introduced and won by Shinjiro Otani in March 1996, the championship had already changed hands five times prior to this match. With Syxx’s victory, this became the 6th title change and therefore the seventh Cruiserweight title reign in less than a year. Syxx was responsible for the 6th title change… how ironic.
Mean Gene Okerlund was backstage plugging the WCW Hotline before interviewing Diamond Dallas Page. Big Bubba was out of action so DDP had a mystery opponent to wrestle from the nWo. DDP listed all the members of the nWo including Hogan, Syxx, the Outsiders who were all wrestling on SuperBrasl. After about a minute or so teasing who it could be, Okerlund just revealed it to be Buff Bagwell. That’s all that happened in this segment.
Konan, La Parka and Villano IV vs. Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo and Ciclope
If I had to pick a match from this show to recommend that you should go back to watch, this one would certainly be my pick. This match was not an all-time great match or even a technically sound wrestling match. This was an absolute crazy, train-wreck of a trios match that was a joy to watch! Sometimes, you don’t need all the spots to be perfect, and not all of them were here, but there was a lot of fun spots to appreciate in this trios match!
Ciclope and Villano wrestled for a bit, trading arm drags before getting into a shoving match. Konan and Juventud got tagged in with Juventud taking a massive bump for a Konan clothesline. Juventud did a headscissors takeover and followed this up with a front dropkick. Konan pulled off a wheelbarrow German suplex before destroying the rest of the opposing team! This included a Powerbomb towards Ciclope.
There were big bumps taken by everyone here. Calo did his dangerous looking springboard plancha again as he had done on Nitro against Rey Mysterio Jr. He tried a springboard dropkick but landed on his stomach on the outside. It did not look pretty.
Parka did a chair-assisted suicide dive onto Calo on the outside. Villano and Ciclope were the slowest moving competitors of the match and not as co-ordinated in the match as the rest of the wrestlers. As I wrote that last sentence, Ciclope then did a springboard crossbody to the outside which he completely missed! As Bobby Heenan put it: “he missed the runway on that one”!
Juventud did a 450 splash in which he may have hit the head of Villano. La Parka got tagged and did a corkscrew splash onto Juventud. Juventud did a smooth springboard hurricanrana on Parka and into the ring. Konan and Villiano did a doomsday device to Juventud.
Then we got an incredible spot. Konan and Villano did a double team submission om Juventud where they’d grab the legs, roll over and apply a double team leg submission. Calo and Ciclope broke this up by applying the same hold and rolling over Konan and Villano! It turned from a two-on-one advantage for Konan and Villano into a two-on-three DISADVANTAGE! As three men were all locked in a submission at the same time, Parka attempted a pin fall on one of the men applying the hold!
I don’t watch a lot of Mexican wrestling promotions or lucha libre promotions like AAA or CMLL. However, in 20 years of watching wrestling, I’ve never seen a spot like this! Even after watching Rey Mysterio in WWE and WCW, after watching the Lucha Bros in AEW and everything in Lucha Underground, I’d never seen a spot like this at it was excellent!
Konan pressed Juventud to the outside. Then Konan and Villano did a spot where they grabbed the legs of Ciclope and Calo. They sat down, stretched the legs to which Mike Tenay called this “The Star”! This was followed up by La Parka hitting Juventud with an electric chair drop. Parka applied a surfboard submission and rolled into the middle of The Star as all the submission moves were applied simultaneously! The fans were going nuts for this.
As all six men were in the ring wrestling and I was thinking about how blatant it was that they weren’t tagging in and out, Bobby Heenan said: “I’ll give you a thousand dollars if you can tell me who the legal guy in the ring is”!
Team Juventud all did dropkicks together and then they all did suicide dives together. They all were crashing down to the floor and onto the other team. Juventud missed everyone and just hit the guard rail! It was such a wild chaotic six man tag, and I loved it.
Juventud tried a roll up on Konan. Konan hit a huge Crucifix Powerbomb. Juventud kicked out at two and Tenay proclaimed that he kicked out but the referee rang the bell anyway! Team Konan got the win.
This match was such a clutter of crazy spots where some were executed superbly and some were executed horribly. It was a giant mess and I loved it.
Match Rating: ***3/4
They were showing fans screaming and one fan had a “Hi Grandpa” sign in the midst of this wrestling show. That was sweet.
Prince Iaukea © vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. for the WCW World Television Championship
For those that did not read my review of the go-home episode of Nitro, you may be confused as to how Prince Iaukea is the WCW World Television Champion! All my reviews are at the bottom of this page but I’ll briefly sum it up here! Lord Steven Regal was the champion after beating Lex Luger. He started a gimmick where he would defend the title on Nitro but every time he defended the title, he would retain the title by time limit draw. This was supposed to lead to a championship match between him and Rey Mysterio Jr. where the time limit would be lifted. Instead, he defended the title against Iaukea on Nitro where he was pinned in three minutes and lost the title.
Therefore, the match changed from Regal vs Mysterio Jr. to Prince Iaukea vs Rey Mysterio Jr. I think I would have preferred the original match but that’s how we got here. Six months ago, Lex Luger was the Television Champion and now it was Prince Iaukea!
After all of that, The Prince had zero reaction coming out!
Rey and Iaukea wrestled on the ground for a bit. Rey Mysterio somehow knocked down The Prince with a shoulder tackle. I’ve been watching Rey Mysterio wrestle since 2003 and I’ve never seen him knock anyone down with a shoulder tackle!
Prince did a dive to the outside and gained the heat of the match. This included a Gorilla Press into a backbreaker. The Prince was dropkicked in mid-air by Mysterio. Iaukea tried a Powerbomb but was hurricanranna’d to the outside.
Rey did a rolling Senton to The Prince on the floor, which could not have been great for the Prince as Rey landed on his stomach. Rey did multiple springboard moonsaults throughout this match. Iaukea did a Samoan Drop from the top rope as Regal made his way down to the ring.
Rey and Iaukea struggled with a top rope hurricanrana spot. Then Regal pulled Rey from the apron and onto the floor. This somehow was enough as Regal rolled him back into the ring and Iaukea got the pin.
The Prince, for some reason, gave the title to Rey after the match, as he was not happy about the finish. However, Rey gave it back and didn’t accept it.
To me, there wasn’t much to this match. This was clearly not Rey Mysterio at his best. The Prince was OK although there were a few times where they were not on the same page. It didn’t do it for me and the finish was extremely weak. Regal pulling Rey from the apron did more damage than anything Iaukea did.
I get Iaukea felt he was not worthy of being the champion with that finish but Rey was the one beaten by this apron spot. No one really looked good coming out of this other than Lord Steven Regal, who didn’t even hit a move. He just pulled Rey from the apron.
Match Rating: **1/2
Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed The Giant. The Giant had one arm that was ridiculously oiled up compared to the rest of his body! The Giant talked about how bad the Outsiders drive (in reference to the Outsiders running the Steiner Brothers off the road on the last episode of Nitro) and their psyche. He said the Outsiders wanted The Giant to be insane but he insisted he wasn’t erratic. He said he was gonna play the game how he wanted to play it. He said he was the conductor and the Outsiders were going to be playing the instruments. This was… a promo. Not a strong promo from The Giant in my opinion.
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Buff Bagwell
Bagwell spit at Page to which DDP slapped him in response. DDP and Bagwell worked on each other’s arms to kick off the match. They wrestled for a bit until DDP hit a sweet looking swinging neckbreaker which got a huge pop.
Bagwell mocked DDP and then started to stomp him out in the ring. Bagwell hit a tornado DDT which looked like a tornado Diamond Cutter, since DDP tried to fight out of it.
DDP tried a small package for a two count. He followed this up with a school boy roll up. Bagwell kept arguing with the referee that his early pinfall attempt was a three count. He did this once, he did twice and then did it a third time, which is a crucial rule when it comes to comedy! Always do things in three! Eventually, on the third attempt, referee Scott Dickinson had enough. Bagwell pushed him and Dickinson pushed him back to a big pop from the crowd. He cornered Bagwell as Bagwell pleaded for mercy. This was great and the fans were into this too!
DDP hit a big lariat after Bagwell had caught a kick from him. The fans started chanting for DDP. DDP dropped Bagwell with the Atomic Drop and then unloaded with a combination of punches. DDP hit a spinning sit-out Powerbomb for a two count.
Bagwell tried a pin using the ropes but DDP kicked out of it. DDP tried a school boy roll up which got a two count. DDP tried a Diamond Cutter which Bagwell countered into a backslide pin attempt. Bagwell hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a two count. Bagwell wanted the referee to count DDP out for a ten count. Bagwell posed as DDP struggled his way back up. Bagwell inexplicably broke up the count on the outside. Bagwell tried a neckbreaker but this was turned around into a Diamond Cutter by DDP.
The nWo then ran out to chase DDP out of the ring, with the match being thrown out. For the second PPV in a row, DDP wrestled a member of the nWo and the match got thrown out.
Match Rating: **3/4 – This was actually a decent match before the match got thrown out. There was a lot of moves, the fans were into the match and the finish was well executed before the nWo ran out. Why DDP couldn’t beat Buff Bagwell, I have no idea. He was one of their biggest babyfaces at the time. Just let him win a match on pay-per-view clean.
Eddie Guerrero © vs. Chris Jericho for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
The graphics showed this as being a match for the WCW World Television Championship in a production error. They wrestled for control, with Jericho gaining the advantage with a wrist lock. Eddie countered this and worked on the leg of Jericho for a bit.
The commentators did a fantastic job in hyping up the new blood and this new generation of Jericho and Eddie, making you believe that you were watching the genesis of greatness for both men. In both of these cases, they both would achieve greatness in the 21st century so the announcers were spot on.
Jericho and Eddie battled for the test of strength which Jericho won and turned into a suplex. Jericho did a stalling suplex and both men traded arm drags. Jericho locked on a high-angle Boston Crab. This was not exactly the “Walls of Jericho” and Jericho wasn’t putting all of his weight down but it was a Boston Crab nevertheless.
Jericho applied a chin lock, slowing the match down. Jericho had a Torture Rack of some kind locked in and then dropped Eddie with some sort of Torture Rack Backbreaker.
Jericho missed a top rope crossbody which give Eddie a chance to get back into the match. Eddie hit a Powerbomb for a two count. Eddie dropped Jericho with the Brainbuster and called for the Frog Splash. Jericho evaded the Frog Splash attempt and then unleashed a huge release German Suplex. Eddie got some height and distance on this suplex as well.
Jericho followed this up with a belly to belly suplex. Jericho dropkicked Eddie to the floor and followed this up with a top rope splash to the outside. Eddie tried a backslide for a two count. Eddie and Jericho both tried spin wheel kicks at the same time. There was an awesome spot when Jericho went for a suplex but, in a smooth tranisiton, this turned into a victory roll pin fall attempt by Eddie.
Jericho hit a super kick and it occurred to me at this point of the match just how many superkicks I’ve seen Jericho pull off during these WCW reviews. Jericho was throwing around superkicks in 1997 and now, in 2023, works for a wrestling companies where two of their EVPs throw around super kick parties all the time!
Eddie tried a tornado DDT but Jericho stopped it and turned it into a Northern Lights Suplex. Eddie eventually rolled Jericho up and got the pin.
I thought this was a fine match. There were some great spots here but it was just missing the heel vs. face dynamic and Jericho wasn’t a strong enough “heel” in the match at this point in his career. This was missing the drama for it to really be elevated into something greater but it was still a fine match.
Match Rating: ***1/4
Faces of Fear vs. Harlem Heat vs. Public Enemy in a three corners tag team match
It was announced that this match was no longer a number one contendership match for the WCW tag team titles, because of the Steiners getting involved in the car accident that was shown on Nitro. It was also shown that Rocco Rock shaved this head.
I love how Tony Schiavone said we should all know the rules of the triangle match. Dusty responded by asking: “well what if they don’t?” as not everyone would know what the rules of a triangle match were. I sure as hell know how inconsistent this concept is in wrestling. WWE, AEW, WCW, TNA and other promotions all have their own interpretations on the rules!
NOTE: For those interested, the rules for this particular triangle match were that two men would be in the ring and could tag out to anyone on the apron. First pin fall or submission won the match. I don’t think it could have ended in a disqualification!… maybe a count out. I dunno, it’s WCW.
Barbarian hit a Powerslam on Rocco Rock. Stevie Ray worked on Rocco in the ring. Grunge got tagged in and battled both members of Harlem Heat. Booker punched Grunge in the gut and Grunge took a fabulous bump where he was somehow elevated and took a big back bump!
It’s weird seeing Public Enemy in just a regular tag match where they weren’t just having fights around the ring like most of their Nitro matches! Booker worked on Grunge for a long time.
Meng tagged himself in and worked on Booker in the ring. Faces of Fear clobbered Booker in the corner which caused Dusty Rhodes to mark out. Barbarian hit a belly to belly Suplex from the top rope as the commentators argued about sumo wrestling. Barbarian turned Booker inside out with a lariat.
Meng hit a Piledriver. The Faces of Fear hit a double headbutt on Booker. For the second time tonight, Bobby Heenan lost track of who the legal man was in the match! Faces of Fear hit the backdrop powerbomb spot again which they pulled off fine. Everybody just started fighting in the ring.
Rocco tried a top rope Rolling Senton which Barbarian caught for a powerbomb. Grunge charged into both men to break it up and Public Enemy somehow got the pin.
I have no idea when Public Enemy got the tag as I was sure Barbarian and Booker T were the legal men but I guess the referee was fine with it.
This was a very clunky match. This involved mostly Harlem Heat and Faces of Fear just slowly getting heat which was a bit tedious but, to their credit, everybody was fine in pulling off their respective spots. Even Public Enemy were fine in this match. I’ll say this was an OK match.
Match Rating: **
Steve “Mongo” McMichael w/Debra vs. Jeff Jarrett. If Jarrett won, he would become a member of the Four Horsemen
This match started with Jeff getting the better of Mongo, which upset the former football player. This then led to a spot where Mongo charged at Jeff in the corner and smacked his face into the top turnbuckle. I laughed at how cartoony is looked!
Mongo hit a Powerslam as Mongo appeared to be the crowd favourite for this match. Mongo did two chop blocks on Jeff. Debra distracted her own husband as Jeff took advantage of this.
Jeff locked on an Abdominal Stretch and as Jeff grabbed the ropes, Debra smacked the ropes to “make it a fair fight” according to the commentators. Mongo hit a Gorilla Press and then clotheslined Jeff to the floor.
Debra tried to wipe down Jeff with a towel, which Mongo stopped and then started choking Jeff with the towel. Jeff hit a face buster and regained control of the match
Jeff and Mongo somehow botched a clothesline. Jeff hit it and then Mongo walked forward and fell to his back, screaming. I have no idea what Mongo thought the spot was supposed to be but Jeff just looked down at him, frustrated.
Jeff locked on a sleeper hold and Mongo reversed this into one of his own. Jeff cancelled this out with a back suplex. Debra turned around to the camera and said that she didn’t know which one to help. All the announcers screamed “help your husband!” in unison!
Mongo hit a shaky looking side walk slam, where Mongo didn’t have a lot of grip on Jeff at first. Mongo hit somewhat of a belly to back suplex. Jeff hit a top rope crossbody. Jeff was then thrown into the referee, who got hit for the ref bump.
The finish saw Mongo demand Debra give him his briefcase. Mongo grabbed Debra by her sash out of frustration with his wife. As this happened, Debra threw the briefcase into the ring. Jeff grabbed it and hit Mongo in the head as Jeff got the pin. Debra then winked at the camera following the finish.
This Four Horsemen dynamic during the Nitro years has been astounding to watch since I started this series, and nothing exemplified this more than this finish. Jeff Jarrett was apparently a babyface, who the fans hated and Mongo did not trust. We had Mongo who was the husband being whipped by his wife, who had a crush on Jarrett. Then we had Debra, who was married to Mongo and had a crush on Jeff.
In this finish, Mongo grabbed his woman and became frustrated. It came off as Mongo being the abusive husband, even though Debra was the one that was screwing over Mongo each and every week. In this scenario, Mongo was just frustrated with this wife but they shot it to tease that maybe he grabbed her by the hair. I even had to rewind it to check whether he grabbed her sash or her hair.
She threw the briefcase to Jeff and Jeff cheated, using the briefcase, to win the match. They screwed him over and somehow it feels that all three people involved her were heels. How are you supposed to root for anyone in this storyline? Mongo had been yelling at his wife each week and forcefully grabbed her during the finish. Debra was screwing over HER OWN HUSBAND each week and Jeff was taking advantage of this.
I’m well aware that this storyline will continue but can we have at least one person in this storyline, who comes off as likeable?
Match Rating: *1/2. I didn’t think this was good at all. This was not a great night for Mongo. Jeff wasn’t particularly good either but he was in there with Mongo and it felt like he was holding back because he was having to work with Mongo. I was not a fan of this match at all.
Chris Benoit w/Woman vs. Taskmaster w/Miss Jacqueline and Jimmy Hart in a San Francisco Death Match. Jacqueline and Woman would be strapped together
We had a chaotic trios match earlier on in the night and this was another chaotic match, where it pretty much resembled nothing else that was on the show. The trios match was just a crazy wrestling match. This was a crazy fight involving four different people and the fans just ate it up.
This was a rare instance where Woman was not shown in a dress. She was in street clothes and she was looking absolutely fabulous on this evening. Woman and Jacqueline yelled at each other before everybody started fighting as the bell rang. The fans erupted with glee at the sight of this!
The girls whipped each other as Taskmaster worked on Benoit in the ring. Woman continued to “spank” Jacqueline with the whip as Tony put it. Taskmaster hit a Butterfly Suplex. The girls were back in the ring as Woman continued the whip beat-down on Jacqueline.
Taskmaster got in the middle of it but Woman ended up crotching him with the strap. Benoit tried to save Woman from Jacqueline but he got whipped too. The girls were unstrapped as Taskmaster choked Benoit with the strap. Jacqueline kicked Benoit in the balls and Woman responded by kicking Taskmaster in the balls. Dusty screamed: “SHE KICKED HIM IN THE THING”!
The commentators were actually great during this match because they were all super invested into everything that was going on. Dusty Rhodes was just screaming his head off as all of this action was going on and it does help to have the announcers shown to be excited watching the product!
The girls started whooping the arses of the men. The girls unintentionally worked together to clothesline the men with the belt. They started whipping each other again. Benoit and Taskmaster stopped to watch it briefly and then proceeded to throw punches at each other!
Taskmaster and Benoit fought up the ramp as the girls were still in the ring. The referee was nowhere near the men by the way. The match was Benoit vs. Taskmaster and the refereee was focused on the girls in the ring!
Woman started choking Jacqueline as the men fought to the back. The men were fighting in a parking lot. Taskmaster scoop slammed Benoit into a small vehicle. Both men attacked each other with the lightest looking trash can they could find! Jacqueline was shown choking Woman with a strap. Less said about that, the better.
The men battled back into the arena. Taskmaster did the Tree of Woe knee smash. Taskmaster hit the double foot stomp but the pin was broken up by Woman with the strap.
Benoit came back up and hit Taskmaster with a Piledriver. Jacqueline then started raining punches down on Jacqueline. Benoit grabbed a table as Jacqueline started choking Woman with the strap.
Benoit placed Taskmaster on the table. Jacqueline came in to protect her man by lying on top of him. This did not stop Benoit, who dived and smashed into both Taskmaster and Jacqueline as the table did not break. The fans roared with approval following this spot as Benoit covered Taskmaster underneath the table for the pin.
Benoit, Jacqueline and Taskmaster were all down as Woman and Jimmy Hart attended to them. This was a segment were it was difficult to determine if anyone actually got hurt. Arn Anderson showed up on the ramp but then promptly left. The referees came out along with Paul Orndorff, Lee Marshall and others. Terry Taylor came out with EMTs. Woman and Jimmy were actually holding hands during this, I guess selling the idea that this was such an awful situation that they “broke character”? I don’t know. I couldn’t find answers online as to whether these were shoot injuries or not.
They actually had stretchers for all three wounded people. They all were loaded into ambulances. Jacqueline and Taskmaster were loaded into the same ambulance and Jacqueline did not look secure in the slightest when she was positioned onto the ambulance! Woman went with Benoit but Jimmy Hart for some reason did not go with Taskmaster and Jacqueline. This was were the illusion somewhat broke for me as, if this was legitimate, I find it hard to believe that the wrestlers would have been loaded like this as we saw here!
This was an absolutely wild match. Everyone involved played their part superbly. Other than the finish, the brawling and the battles went absolutely fine. It was played up as a death match and a crazy fight and that’s exactly what it was. Woman and Miss Jacqueline added to the usual dynamic between Sullivan and Benoit in these matches. I thought it was a great match.
Match Rating: ***1/2
The Outsiders © w/Syxx vs. The Giant for the WCW Tag Team Championship (If The Giant won, Lex Luger would be his tag team partner)
Going into this match, we did not know if Lex Luger would be teaming with The Giant or not against the Outsiders for the WCW Tag Team Championship. Lex Luger tried to get clearance after the Outsiders attacked him with pipes. However, Bischoff would not approve it but Luger insisted that he would still show up at SuperBrawl. The match was promoted as The Giant vs The Outsiders for the titles. If The Giant won, he and Luger would be champions.
Nash and Hall did rock, paper, scissors to determine who would start off the match. Scott Hall won. Hall threw the tooth pick at Giant as Hall tried to rattle and make The Giant mad. Hall tried to do a hammerlock and Giant hit one elbow to rock Hall and stop him. Hall started throwing punches and chops in the corner to which Giant responded by chopping Hall.
Giant scoop slammed Hall and sent him across the ring. There was a lot of stalling early on in the match. Hall spit at Giant which got Giant a little red. It was here where Hall tagged in Kevin Nash. Nash hit a lariat in the corner but Giant followed this up with one of his own. Giant dropkicked Nash over the top rope as he ran wild on the Outsiders for a bit.
Giant picked up Nash and drilled him into the ring post. Giant hit a big elbow drop. Syxx jumped off the top rope and hit Giant with the belt which knocked Giant loopy. Hall hit a top rope bulldog as the Outsiders got the heat on The Giant.
Nash kneed Giant in the corner which Hall followed up with a clothesline in the corner. Hall would get cheap shots in, including a Guillotine leg drop. Syxx did a jumping high kick which missed Giant by a full mile which even the announcers called out.
Giant made his own comeback on the Outsiders where Syxx tried to get involved again. Giant caught him and threw him into Nash. Hall grabbed Syxx’s title and hit Giant. Then Kevin Nash somehow hit the Jacknife Powerbomb on The Giant which looked amazingly clean. The Giant was a huge dude to hit with a powerbomb but Nash somehow pulled it off, which was insane to see.
It was here when Lex Luger showed up. Eric Bischoff tried to stop him but Luger threw Bischoff down. Luger got on the apron. Luger got the tag and ran wild on Hall, Nash and Syxx. Luger locked on the torture rack on Kevin Nash as the referee excitedly rang for the bell as The Giant and Lex Luger apparently won the tag titles. Giant followed this up with a chokeslam on Hall.
I’d be STUNNED if this result stood. Even Tony alluded to this as he brought up what happened at Souled Out, where the Steiners were stripped of the titles the next night.
The finish was great and, to be fair, the psychology of the match was excellent. However, The Giant wasn’t particularly great here other than taking the Jacknife Powerbomb. The match featured a lot of stalling and was very slow paced until The Giant made his own comeback. The fans went nuts for Luger and to their credit, the fans were super into the finish.
I guess the biggest caveat is whether the finish will actually stand or not. I guess we’ll have to find out on our next WCW Nitro review 😉
Match Rating: **1/2
Hollywood Hogan © w/Ted DiBiase and Vincent vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
There’s not much to say about this match. It’s Rowdy Roddy Piper with a replacement hip in 1996 against Hollywood Hogan. All they could do was punches and brawling, which wasn’t particularly great here with these two aging wrestling superstars.
I think Hogan called Piper a “chickenshit” after he picked up and spit at Piper’s kilt. Bobby Heenan claimed Piper never slept in Alcatraz. How he’d be awake and alive at this point is astounding to me! Surely your body would shut down if you didn’t get any sleep after going nearly 200 hours without sleep!
Hogan walked out as Piper ran out and attacked him. Piper punched away and gauged the eyes of Hogan. Piper low blowed Hogan right in front of the referee. That was somehow not a disqualification.
Piper choked Hogan with his shirt and bit Hogan. Again, not a disqualification. Hogan crawled up the ramp as Piper continued to choke him out. Bobby Heenan growling “crawl you coward” was a nice touch.
Piper used a chair. Again, not a disqualification. Hogan low blowed Piper but Piper no-sold it and proceeded to gauge Hogan’s eyes! I guess no sleep and Alcatraz made Piper invulnerable to punches to the balls!
Piper attacked Wallstreet and Vincent as they both came up on the apron to help.
It was all Piper beating up Hogan. Hogan pleaded for mercy but Piper continued to beat him up. For a moment, Piper pulled at Hogan and we saw Hogan’s bare white arse which was completely different pigmentation to his tanned body!
Sting and “Macho Man” Randy Savage came out and made their way down the ramp. They actually showed up during the go-home segment of the Nitro before this. On that episode, Randy Savage stopped Sting from confronting the New World Order and getting involved. This time, Sting stopped Savage but Savage ignored him. Savage came down to ringside to watch the rest of the match.
Piper and Hogan started throwing punches as the fans chanted, “We Want Sting”. After this chant, Sting left as Hogan and Piper continued to fight!
Hogan continued to rake the back and get the heat on Piper for a while. Hogan drove Piper back first into the ring post. Hogan worked on the leg of Piper. Piper and Hogan were on their knees throwing punches as both men were gassed. Hogan locked on the bearhug as Savage watched on.
Hogan missed an elbow drop. Hogan low blowed Piper. However Piper was able to lock Hogan in the sleeper hold. Savage watched on as Hogan was locked in the hold.
Piper wore him down. The referee raised Hogan’s hand once, twice and then thrice as Piper had seemingly won the WCW World title as the fans started to cheer. However, as Piper celebrated, Savage pulled Hogan’s feet towards the rope. The referee noticed this and waived off the finish. As the referee was distracted, Savage put brass knuckles in Hogan’s hands. The match restarted and Hogan punched out Piper and retained the WCW World title.
Savage attacked Piper too, spray-painted Piper and continued to beat up Piper with Hogan. They hit Leg Drops and Elbow Drops as the show ended.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage… had joined the New World Order…
Match Rating: 1/2*
It’d been pretty common knowledge to me as a wrestling fan that Randy Savage would join the New World Order. This was spoiled to me a LONG TIME ago although I wasn’t really sure how it was done. Having watched Savage with Sting in the past month and their sudden interest in the title match on the Nitro before this, I was very underwhelmed with this turn.
For starters, Savage and Hogan were mortal enemies three months ago. Eric Bischoff had blacklisted Savage from WCW in storyline so he sided with Sting in an anti-hero role of some sort. He came out there at the end to screw Piper, which undercut the story of Piper hating Hogan SO MUCH that he went to Alcatraz with the purpose of turning into a fighting machine. In fact, this feud started at Halloween Havoc 1996 RIGHT AFTER Hogan wrestled Savage in the main event!
Maybe there’s a promo coming from Savage which would explain this turn other than him having no other choice but to join them. However, I don’t know how you could go from mortal enemies to friends in the space of a few months. I realise there’s a whole bunch of wrestling stories where that has happened but this was the biggest storyline WCW had. This turn seemed like such a huge let down.
I get why Savage is in the group, with The Giant leaving and the group needing another huge singles star. After Hogan and Bischoff, the next big singles star the nWo had was probably Syxx. Therefore, I get Savage joining but the execution was not great to me.
I guess we’ll see where this goes but this was a flat-ending to a fine wrestling show. The chaotic trios match and death match really saved this pay-per-view. This was not exactly a SUPER brawl.
….OK I’ll leave now.
WCW Nitro Reading Order
- #1 – September 4th 1995
- #2 – September 11th 1995
- WCW Fall Brawl 1995 – September 17th 1995
- #3 – September 18th 1995
- #4 – September 25th 1995
- #5 – October 2nd 1995
- #6 – October 9th 1995
- #7 – October 16th 1995
- #8 – October 23rd 1995
- WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 – October 29th 1995
- #9 – October 30th 1995
- #10 – November 6th 1995
- #11 – November 13th 1995
- #12 – November 20th 1995
- WCW World War III 1995 – November 26th 1995
- #13 – November 27th 1995
- #14 – December 4th 1995
- #15 – December 11th 1995
- #16 – December 18th 1995
- #17 – December 25th 1995
- WCW Starrcade 1995 – December 27th 1995
- #18 – January 1st 1996
- #19 – January 8th 1996
- #20 – January 15th 1996
- #21 – January 22nd 1996
- #22 – January 29th 1996
- #23 – February 5th 1996
- WCW Superbrawl VI – February 11th 1996
- #24 – February 12th 1996
- #25 – February 19th 1996
- #26 – February 26th 1996
- #27 – March 11th 1996
- #28 – March 18th 1996
- WCW Uncensored 1996 – March 24th 1996
- #29 – March 25th 1996
- #30 – April 1st 1996
- #31 – April 15th 1996
- #32 – April 22nd 1996
- #33 – April 29th 1996
- #34 – May 6th 1996 (Nitro)/May 6th 1996 (RAW)
- #35 – May 13th 1996
- WCW Slamboree 1996 – May 19th 1996
- #36 – May 20th 1996
- #37 – May 27th 1996
- #38 – June 3rd 1996
- #39 – June 10th 1996
- WCW The Great American Bash 1996 – June 16th 1996
- #40 – June 17th 1996
- #41 – June 24th 1996
- #42 – July 1st 1996
- WCW Bash At The Beach 1996 – July 7th 1996
- #43 – July 8th 1996
- #44 – July 15th 1996
- #45 – July 22nd 1996
- #46 – July 29th 1996
- #47 – August 5th 1996
- WCW Hog Wild 1996 – August 10th 1996
- #48 – August 12th 1996
- WCW Clash of the Champions #33 – Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair
- #49 – August 19th 1996
- #50 – August 26th 1996
- #51 – September 2nd 1996
- #52 – September 9th 1996
- WCW Fall Brawl 1996 – September 15th 1996
- #53 – September 16th 1996
- #54 – September 23rd 1996
- #55 – September 30th 1996
- #56 – October 7th 1996
- #57 – October 14th 1996
- #58 – October 21st 1996
- WCW Slim Jim’s Halloween Havoc 1996 – October 27th 1996
- #59 – October 28th 1996
- #60 – November 4th 1996 (Nitro)/November 4th 1996 (RAW)
- #61 – November 11th 1996
- #62 – November 18th 1996
- WCW World War III 1996 – November 24th 1996
- #63 – November 25th 1996
- #64 – December 2nd 1996
- #65 – December 9th 1996
- #66 – December 16th 1996
- #67 – December 23rd 1996
- WCW Starrcade 1996 – December 30th 1996
- #68 – December 30th 1996
- #69 – January 6th 1997
- #70 – January 13th 1997
- #71 – January 20th 1997
- WCW Clash of the Champions #34 – Ultimo Dragon (c) vs Dean Malenko
- nWo Souled Out 1997 – January 27th 1997
- #72 – January 27th 1997
- #73 – February 3rd 1997
- #74 – February 10th 1997
- #75 – February 17th 1997
The Armbar Express 