Written By: Matt Peddycord
WCW Monday Nitro
January 29, 1996
Canton, OH
Civic Center
The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Randy Savage (1/22/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: One Man Gang (12/27/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting & Lex Luger (1/22/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd (10/29/1995)
Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and that Emmy-award winning Steve “Mongo” McMichael.
Although unannounced so they can show it on the weekend syndies (and that’s fine with me), Konnan pins One Man Gang to win the U.S. title in a nothing match prior to the live broadcast.
Hulk Hogan (w/Elizabeth) vs. Ric Flair (w/Jimmy Hart)
The group of five women has now been narrowed down the ones we know: Debra, Linda Hogan, and Woman. They only serve to clap for Elizabeth as she makes her way down to the ring. Heenan makes some cracks about Kevin Greene since he lost Super Bowl XXX a day earlier to Aikman and the Cowboys. Bischoff and Mongo make some, “If he was here right now…” comments, so Heenan responds with “Greene’s busy right now. He’s signing up for Pop Warner football this year.” Nice. Hogan NO-SELLS everything to start. Should that really surprise you? FINALLY, Flair clips Hulk from behind. After some commercials, Flair is taking Hogan to school. As soon as I say that, he gets slammed down from the top. Flair catches Hulk with a back elbow to put him down again. Jimmy tries to grab Hogan, but he gets kicked back into the guardrail. HERE COMES HOGAN! He nails Flair off the apron after his Flair Flip. Flair goes to the eyes to slow Hulk down again and then throws him out so Jimmy can put the boots to him. Back in, Flair hits the shinbreaker and then applies the FIGURE-FOUR! Hogan reverses. Mongo tries putting over Flair by saying that he hasn’t seen too many people who could reverse the figure-four. Now I KNOW he’s seen a Ric Flair match before. Hogan reverses a suplex and starts NO-SELLING chops again. Hogan eats another back elbow and then takes a back suplex. He gives it the old fish flop sell. Delayed cover by Flair gets two. Hulk Up, Big Boot, LEGDROP! Jimmy’s on the apron and gets chased down to the floor by Hogan. Arn Anderson runs in and gets nailed by Hulk while Jimmy goes over and grabs Elizabeth! With Arn on the floor, he goes over and grabs one of Elizabeth’s shoes! He hands it over to Flair who pops Hogan in the eye with the high heel shoe during a pin attempt! I would have given Hogan an extra Rolling Knee Drop just for fun, but instead Flair just covers Hogan for 1-2-3! (11:03 shown) It took Flair four years and seventy matches, but he finally pinned Hogan. Hulk bleeds while Savage and Liz try and console him while he’s down on the floor. **
WCW Saturday Night! Watch it! 6:05PM eastern time! TBS! Ric Flair battles Dean Malenko! Lex Luger takes on Eddie Guerrero! Public Enemy will do stuff! Don’t forget Sting will be there! Oh yeah, and The Giant and Kevin Sullivan might show up too! It’s the MUTHASHIP! PAY WINDAHS AND ALL THAT PLUNDAH, BABY!
The Road Warriors vs. The Faces of Fear
I know this is the in-ring return of the Road Warriors, but is the debut of the Faces of Fear as a team? Barbarian was one of the Super Assassins not that long ago. Four guys who don’t like to sell things, so I wonder who is going to sell first? Animal and Barbarian start us off. They shove each other around until Barbarian hits a big boot. Looks like the first to sell is Animal! Just as I say that, he reverses a whip into a powerslam and then hits a jumping elbow drop. Now we get Hawk vs. Meng. Hawk NO-SELLS Meng! He nails Meng with a clothesline and then drills him with a powerslam and the jumping fist drop! That sends the FOF out to the floor. Back in, Animal gets a tag and runs into a knee off the apron from Barbarian. Now the FOF go after Animal’s formerly injured back with STEREO DIVING HEADBUTTS! Nice. That gets two. Animal fights out of a camel clutch from Meng, but then gets dumped out to Barbarian for a whip into the railing. Back in, Meng lands a dropkick and chokes Animal down on the mat. Holy crap, Barbarian tags in and hits a powerbomb! Cover, 1-2-NO! Animal messes up a spot where he clotheslines Barbarian as he comes off the middle-rope. They do it again and this time Animal does it right. HOT TAG TO HAWK! Meng stops a DOOMSDAY DEVICE by shoving Hawk off the top rope. Hawk runs Meng into the ringpost, but then Barbarian is WAYYY out of position for the finish. Geez, and this was such a good power match. Barbarian hits Animal with a piledriver while Hawk has to go around the ring and over to the opposite corner. Barbarian sets Animal up again for the piledriver, but this time Hawk knocks him down with a Flying Clothesline for 1-2-3. (9:05) Like I said, this started out like the great POP/LOD big man matches of old, but the last several minutes didn’t turn out so well for either team. **¼
Gene Okerlund is in the ring with Kevin Sullivan and Hugh Morrus. Sullivan is MAD at Arn Anderson, so here comes Double A and Brian Pillman. Sullivan tells Arn that he promised to keep Pillman in line. If Arn doesn’t discipline Pillman, then they both will have to suffer the consequences. So Arn gives Pillman a tongue lashing like he’s his dad. Arn takes off his belt to show Pillman some “tough love” and that’s when Morrus and Sullivan attack. Sullivan grabs the belt and starts whipping Pillman. WHIP HIM! WHIP HIM LIKE A DOG! Arn DDTs Morrus and shoves Sullivan off Pillman to send him away. As Morrus and Sullivan head to the back, Arn demands a match with them next week on Nitro.
Sister Sherri vs. Madusa
So while Col. Parker was “smitten” with Sherri, we all got SWERVED at the Clash when we found out that his “fried pie” was in fact Madusa. Gene is in the ring like he’s about to interview Sherri when Madusa is shown up on the top rope ready for a flying crossbody. Sherri turns around and gets nailed as Gene gets the heck outta dodge. They go to the floor where Sherri takes a bad bump into the steps. Madusa delivers a snap suplex, but then gets nailed in the throat with a jab from Sherri. Back in, Madusa kicks back. Sherri trips her up and legdrops Madusa in the vagina. Madusa attempts to slam Sherri off the top, but Sherri counters into a small package for 1-2-3. (1:48) Why are they making Sherri out to be the heel? She was the one who was cheated on – not Madusa? Afterwards, Madusa leaves Sherri laying after bouncing her head on the mat a bunch of times. Whatever. Sherri would be fired from WCW pretty soon after this because of her addiction of pain killers, but she’ll be back by summertime to manage Harlem Heat back to the tag titles. ¼*
What’s a tough-guy cop in LA need to catch a serial killer? If you’re Sly Stallone, only a toothpick – and Brigitte Nielsen of course! It’s the only Stallone movie worse than Rhinestone – it’s Cobra – next on TNT!
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Randy Savage vs. The Giant
No match. Savage comes through the crowd and attacks Giant from behind with the championship belt. And just like that, the ref throws out the match. In comes Flair who along with his big buddy, proceeds to destroy Savage. This goes on for several minutes until a bandaged-up Hogan runs down with a chair to clear the ring. He takes out One Man Gang and Hugh Morrus as well. While Hogan tends to Savage, Flair and Giant head up to the announce table. Flair goes into his crazy man routine. It’s always hilarious. Bischoff and Mongo leave, allowing Heenan to take control and put Flair and Giant over for just taking out both Hogan and Savage. At Superbrawl in the pair of cage matches, Flair and Giant are going to finish them both off once and for all. WOOOOOO! And we out.