February '96

Monday Night Wars February '96

Raw/Nitro Feb 5th

Monday Night Raw 5/2/96 (2.5 Stars)

Raw's go home show for IYH (No taping next week due to the prestigious Westminster Dog Show) opened with the big tag match booked last week between Yokozuna/Owen and HBK/Diesel. Whenever Yoko was in the ring the "action" slowed down dramatically. Shawn/Diesel get revenge here and pick up the win after Yokozuna was counted out after getting superkicked by Shawn. He smacked Jim Cornette around post-match for yelling at him, presumably Jim was telling him if he dropped a few pounds that wouldn't have happened. 1-2-3 Kid defeated Hakushi in an entertaining match (MOTN) and Bret Hart retained his WWF Title in the main against Undertaker after the match ended in a no contest due to Diesel interfering. A great card on paper and although the opener wasn't to my taste, it was still ok. The main event wasn't great, but overall Raw's action was passable. The show ended with a bizarre Billionaire Ted skit that closed with Vince telling us, while a Ted Turner smear article was declined by the Wall Street Journal, Turner's financial reports will be published in the New York Times on Sunday, alluding to the fact that it's one of the same. WCW Nitro 5/2/96 (2 Stars)

Nitro's go home show has ANOTHER WORLD TITLE MATCH open the card. This devalues the title and quite frankly gets boring. Savage defeats Beniot via DQ after Woman turns heel and chokes him, giving Arn and Flair time for a beatdown. We got some run in's involving Hogan and The Giant for good measure, and Benoit never got an immediate rematch, meaning there was no real reason to put the title on the line in the first place! While it wasn't a terrible match in itself and I understand it was all build for the PPV, the title stipulation really turned me off as it telegraph's a screwy finish this early on the card. The team of Arn Anderson and Pillman defeated Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morris via DQ after a mystery man attacked AA with a broom, causing a distraction and allowing Sullivan and Morris time to beat Brian Pillman with a strap! Ric Flair defeated Buff Bagwell and the only reason I'm even mentioning that is because it's the best match I will see on this episode of Nitro. Luger/Sting successfully defended their newly won titles against The Road Warriors in a god awful match, after Jimmy Hart slipped his big steel rod to Lex Luger for the advantage. Far too much going on during this show, and outside of the opener which I personally disliked for reasons previously explained, the rest of the card was hot garbage. Opinions are heavily affected by my mood at the time, and tonight I wasn't in the mood for WCW's BS. The constant shenanigans, the run-ins during the opener and the inconsistent quality of wrestling. Raw wins the point this week, although maybe Pepe (Steve Mongo's dog) can place at the dog show and get one back for team Nitro.

SuperBrawl VI

The card opens with The Nasty Boys defeating Public Enemy in a street fight. It wasn't particularly good but then again, I'm not sure it was ever supposed to be. Johnny B. Badd defeated DDP to retain the services of Diamond Doll, 6 million dollars (DDP kept her bingo winnings after they split apparently) and his TV Title! Why do these guys keep wagering her? They must not rate her as a valet very much. It was a solid match anyway. Sting & Luger successfully defended the tag titles against Harlem Heat. This one really dragged, although there was a chance of redemption as the winners were scheduled to face The Road Warriors later that night. One Man Gang lost the WCW US Title to Konnan on Main Event a week prior, and lost to him again here. Whereas the last match suffered from being too slow and a lack of crowd interest, this one was just bad. Even though it was "only a mid-tier title" One Man Gang was nowhere near good enough to be anywhere near one. The "I respect you" strap match between Brian Pillman and Kevin Sullivan was next. Pillman uttered the famous worked shoot line "I respect you booker man" right off the bat and walked away (Kevin Sullivan was the booker at the time) Keep in mind the whole idea of a "smart fan" was relatively new. So most likely it would have gone over the heads of the mainstream PPV buying audience. And those that were familiar with the term "booker" would have believed it was legit. The story here is that Bischoff 'fired' Pillman after getting into a shouting match with him backstage, so he could work his loose cannon gimmick in ECW. The idea was they wouldn't tell anyone about it so when he eventually returned to WCW (spoiler, he never did) they could play it off more realistically. Also, allegedly the whole thing was 100 percent Pillman's idea, who sat down and planned it all out with booker Kevin Sullivan. Anyway, AA would come out for an impromptu strap match with Sullivan. Flair breaks it up and tells them to get on the same page. Memorable moment but only in retrospect. Luger and Sting finally face the Road Warriors. I say finally because Luger does a bit where he refuses to come to the ring that lasts over 5 minutes! Another boring tag match that ended in a count-out. Luckily, Flair and Savage proceed to have an excellent cage match together. The best bout between the pair I've seen so far, discounting their classic at GAB '95. The commentary team did a great job of selling the cage and Flair got his ass out 3 times which must be a record, even for him! Flair wins number 13 after Miss Elizabeth turns on Savage, slipping Ric Flair her shoe to use as a weapon. It's rumoured that Hogan and his wife Linda were trying to reunite Randy and his ex wife Elizabeth backstage. In the main-event, Hulk Hogan escaped the cage first in his match with The Giant, before holding off all 8 members of the DOD, including new member Loch Ness (British legend Giant Haystacks) all while using his notoriously weak looking chair shots. My only question is this. Why didn't Flair/Savage go last? Call it a double main-event all you like, but the last match on the card is the real main event! While individually the majority of matches weren't PPV quality, they weren't ALL terrible either. Flair/Savage was good enough to earn it a decent rating

(2.5 Stars)

WCW Monday Nitro Feb 12th

WCW Nitro 12/2/96 (2.5 Stars)

Randy Savage defeats Hugh Morris in a nuts and bolts match. No, that's not a stipulation. It was just a very basic match. Loch Ness makes both his Nitro in-ring debut and light work of Scotty Riggs, because of course he did, he's Giant Haystacks for goodness' sake! He was billed as being 679 pounds on the night although the commentary team referred to him as being 700. Regardless he legitimately weighed 699 towards the end of his career! A big reason for his signing, apart from Sullivan being a fan of European wrestling, was in order for WCW to facilitate a stronger relationship with Japan, with whom Loch Ness had worked for prior. Flair comes out lying prone on a stretcher with Woman and Miss Elizabeth either side, before popping up and cutting a great promo saying he now has a lady either side of him and a title around his waist. Wooo! Konnan defeats Dangerous Devon Storm in a good match which utilised some of the leaping chair spots Devon had brought over from ECW where he worked as Crowbar. WCWs commentary team pops for this of course, trying to sell another company's style as innovative and as if it was the first time it was seen on U.S TV! Arn Anderson takes on Hogan in the main-event. This has already piqued my interest as it's one of the few times Hogan has been involved in a "competitive match" during an episode of Nitro. Hogan is actually pinned believe it or not! This would be his second pinfall on Nitro in only 3 weeks! Allegedly he was getting a lot of heat backstage, and Hogan proposed the idea himself, in order to alleviate some of the ill will towards him (mostly from Flair) Although it took Miss Elizabeth's makeup powder, a high-heeled shoe and Ric Flair himself interfering to do so. Not a bad show overall. I enjoyed the variation of styles and always felt engaged in something. Nitro was going unopposed so no points awarded this week

In Your House 6 (Rage in the Cage)

This was a 2 hour PPV with the 3 hour time slot still reserved for PPVs not carrying the IYH moniker. Jake the Snake defeated Tatanka on the pre show. We then receive the news that Vader has been reinstated and view Sunny frolicking in the sea telling us viewer discretion is advised before the main card finally starts. Razor Ramon defeated 1-2-3 Kid in a fun 'Crybaby match' Razor got most of the fans to cheer for him while in a sleeper hold that lasted a solid 2 minutes. That speaks volumes about his popularity and engagement with the audience at the time, even if the prolonged spot took me out of the match a bit. Razor puts the Kid in a nappy as per the stipulation. HHH pinned Duke Droese. If I never have to watch these guys wrestle again I'll be fine with that. They aren't bad matches but as I've stated before, I'm not a huge HHH fan to begin with, his gimmick at the time was terrible and I couldn't care less about this "feud" Yokozuna yells at Jim Cornette backstage before his match against Corny's right hand man British Bulldog. Dok Hendrix (Michael Hayes) would note this is the first time in almost 3 years that Yokozuna would speak for himself. This is interesting because his gimmick was that he was Japanese with many believing this. Yet here he spoke perfect English. As Davey worked a physical style and Yoko wasn't very mobile at this point, this wasn't as terrible as you may think. Jim smashes Yokozuna with his tennis racket causing the DQ and Vader runs down to set up a feud that most likely had Vince, in his own mind at least, counting money. HBK pinned Owen to retain his title shot at Mania in what can only be described as a barn burner. Even Shawn's entrance was amazing, which saw him swing down from the roof of the IYH set with a level of charisma and swagger only he and few others possess. The match itself was set up brilliantly as people who saw their brief encounter on Raw would have been relishing this one, knowing what these guys could pull off. Bret retained in the main-event steel cage match against Diesel, setting up his Mania match with Shawn. I enjoyed this bout and the finish was excellent. Both men wrestled a tough and physical contest, only for Taker to pull Diesel under the ring, allowing Bret Hart to escape. This was done really well and it was a stark contrast to WCW blowing through angles and rushing big moments. Overall a solid card from top to bottom, and even though the main event isn't "critically acclaimed" in my opinion at least, the last two matches are worth viewing (3 Stars)

Raw/Nitro Feb 19th

Monday Night Raw 19/2/96 (2.75 Stars)

Raw kicks off with an IC title match between Razor Ramon and Goldust. Razor wins via count-out. The 'bad guy' calls out Goldust saying he's not interested in the title. He wants "his ass" Far from ideal wording towards a man who supposedly wanted your ass, but in a VERY different way! Diesel/Taker is announced for Mania 12. Vader then made his way to the ring and assaulted Aldo Montoya (Justin Credible) and Barry Horrowitz in the ring while they were waiting for a tag match with the Bodydonnas. The Ringmaster defeats Marty Jannetty in a good contest. Marty is perhaps underrated in terms of his singles in-ring work, as I've seen nothing but solid wrestling from him so far, even if he came across as bland at times. We see a Mankind promo before Undertaker defeats Tatanka in the main-event. This wasn't a bad match but could be described as formulaic. Taker's presence alone made it entertaining. Mid match, Diesel smashes Taker's casket, with the dead man seeing a replay of this post-match. We see a "Larry Fling" skit making fun of Ted and WCW, and Raw is off the air. Solid show from top to bottom, although maybe if they used time dedicated to making unfunny skits on promoting their own show instead, they'd fare slightly better. WCW Nitro 19/2/96 (2.25 Stars)

Over on Nitro, AA defeats Hogan via DQ in a rematch of last week's contest after Savage tried to stop outside interference. Loch Ness beats Alex Wright with his first offensive move of the match (an elbow drop) and Belfast Bruiser (Finlay) defeats Brad Armstrong. Ric Flair retained his World title against Savage in the main-event. AA hit Savage with a DDT while the ref had his back turned. Hogan and a "mystery" Booty Man (Brutus the Barber Beefcake) ran down to break things up, in order to help Savage. Edward Leslie (Booty Man) and Hogan, were extremely close friends in real life. It's believed Hogan may have been doing his friend a favour in getting him signed by WCW. While the main-event was good, it wasn't good enough to warrant some of the crap we saw before it. Raw had mostly solid wrestling, as well as excellent promo work from Razor and tension built between Diesel/Taker. Raw takes the point

Raw/Nitro Feb 26th

Monday Night Raw 26/2/96 (2.5 Stars)

Jake Roberts defeats Isaac Yankem in a match that's short and sweet. A promo plays for the return of the ULTIMATE WARRIOR! Diesel pins Bob Holly before Taker shows off his magic tricks popping in and out of the ring. Ahamed Johnson pinned Al Snow working yet another gimmick as Shinobi, and we see another Mankind promo as he talks to his rat George. It's creepy and well delivered, he seemed genuinely deranged. Jerry Lawler FINALLY says something accurate as he described Shawn and Bret as the "Two biggest egos in the WWF" ahead of their entertaining in-ring promo together promoting Mania. Yokozuna takes on Davey and Owen in a main-event handicap match. It ends in DQ as Vader runs in, only for Ahamed Johnson and Jake Roberts to come to his aid. A basic show that served solely to build Mania, but I don't necessarily have a problem with that. It's only once a year after all. WCW Nitro 26/2/96 (2.25 Stars)

Sting defeats Big Bubba in a surprisingly good match to open Nitro as Bischoff gives away Raw's results again mocking the Diesel and Bob Holly match. Luger & Sting accept a Chicago Street fight with The Road Warriors. Lex Luger, despite being from Chicago, is confused by the rules. Not sure if this was supposed to be comedy or not, but whatever. Luger then defeats a knockoff Ultimate Warrior in Renegade, after Jimmy Hart interferes. Sting comes out unhappy over Jimmy's involvement, getting in Luger's face. The Road Warriors go over Harlem Heat in a fun tag bout, before Hogan, Savage and The Booty Man defeat AA, Flair and Sullivan in a 6-man tag main-event. I hate 6 man tags, especially in the main-event spot. It's usually a case of lazy booking if you ask me. This match is heavily buried online but perhaps ironically, I didn't think it was that bad. I must also note there was an energetic elderly lady in the front row who stole the show and garnered a lot of attention. I'm torn whether I score Raw slightly higher or call it a draw. I enjoyed Raw more, but it's VERY close. Neither show had a defining match up that you could look at and say "that takes it" You could even argue that Nitro had more quality matches with the opener and the tag. But perhaps ironically, the Bob Holly match that Eric made fun of, combined with Shawn and Bret's promo, wins Raw the final point of the month

Summary and scores

Raw could be better, but then again, so could Nitro. WCW could have been doing so much more with the likes of Eddie and Beniot. WWF had the right angles heating up at the right time going into Mania, whereas Nitro had too many run-ins and an over reliance on the DOD/Hogan stuff which was getting old quickly. Nitro's lead narrows as Raw wins every point of the month. The scores are: WCW 13-6 WWF with 4 draws.

Match of the Month: Shawn Micheals Vs Owen Hart (IYH 6)