WCW Nitro 9/9/1996

Written By: Matt Peddycord

WCW Monday Nitro
September 9, 1996
Columbus, GA
Civic Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (8/10/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Ric Flair (7/7/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (7/27/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Lord Steven Regal (8/20/1996)
WCW World Cruiserweight Champion: Rey Mysterio (7/8/1996)

HOUR NUMBER ONE! Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko.

Super Calo vs. Pat Tanaka
Well look at Pat Tanaka with some facial hair and dressed like Hop Sing. Yeah, I watch TV Land. What of it? Looks like he was going for the Fu Manchu and instead just decided to let the evil flow through him into a full-on goatee. Super Calo makes his Nitro debut here right before heading to Fall Brawl for a Cruiserweight title shot against Rey Mysterio. He’s one of my faves to watch at least in my childhood. Naturally, Mike Tenay joins us for better insight than Tony or Larry could possibly provide. Calo hits Tanaka with a couple dives off the top. They go to the floor where Calo delivers a somersault plancha. Meanwhile outside the Civic Center, nWo t-shirt wearing “youngsters” are bringing in boxes of nWo flyers! Jeepers! Back inside, Tanaka connects with his signature jumping forearm. He blocks a rana with a powerbomb for two. Looks like Tanaka wants a gutwrench superplex, but Calo falls on top on the way down for the 1-2-3. (2:23) A little messy, but kind of exciting. ¾*

In the back, Gene Okerlund gets a word with Rick Steiner. He’s facing Lex Luger because he knows he could have beat him last week! Yeah, those tie-ups with Rick Steiner are brutal! Lex comes by to tell Rick that he’s on the top of his game right now heading into Wargames. Good for him, bad for Rick. The DFG still knows he can beat Lex.

The first nWo t-shirt ad. BUY THE SHIRT! All proceeds go to the Ric Flair retirement fund.

So Glacier finally debuted – on WCW’s C show, WCW Pro. Boy, that’s the big time right there. All they really give us is his light show entrance accompanied with loads of snow falling from the ceiling.

The Nasty Boys vs. The Amazing French Canadians
The Quebecers have come to WCW! There had been talk for a while, but they’re finally here. Jacques whacks Sags with the Canadian flagpole to take over. The AFC give him a couple QUEBEC CRASHES while those “youngsters” pass out the nWo flyers. Larry Z grabs one to find out what it says on it. The flyer has the now logo and says “You haven’t seen bad, but it’s coming.” Does that mean Johnny B Badd is coming back to WCW? Does that mean Giant and John Tenta are having an Ironman match tonight? What could this mean?! Knobbs breaks up the pin on those QUEBEC CRASHES. Pierre heads up again and while the ref is busy with Rougeau, Knobbs nails Oulette with the Quebec flagpole. Cover by Sags, 1-2-3. (3:27) Gene Okerlund joins the Nasties in the ring. They want the tag belts and they’re NOT with the nWo, so SHUT UP ABOUT IT. *

Scott Norton vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (w/Teddy Long) – Submission Match
This is to get Norton ready for Fall Brawl when he battles Ice Train in a submission match. Norton shuts down Pittman with his Flashback (armbreaker DDT). Down on the floor, Pittman eats the post and then Norton brings Pittman back inside for the FUJIWARA ARMBAR. Teddy Long yells at Pittman to not give up and being a Marine, you know, Semper Fi and all that stuff, he does what he’s told and refuses to quit, so Ice Train comes out and throws in the towel for Pittman to prevent the man from getting his arm broken. (3:00) Norton and Ice Train go nose-to-nose, but they keep their hands off each other. ½*

In the back, Gene Okerlund has Ric Flair, Arn Anderson and Lex Luger for an interview – but where’s Sting? Lex sticks up for his buddy, but Flair and Arn question Sting’s reliability. Mongo and Benoit stop by to tell Flair and AA that they knew they couldn’t count on anybody but the Four Horsemen themselves. Lex Luger says not to worry, because Sting will be there at Fall Brawl.

Recap of the Diamond Dallas Page/Guerrero family feud.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Joe Gomez
Boy, this was a mess and doesn’t make Juvi look very good going into Fall Brawl when he battles Konnan. His moves weren’t hitting Gomez flush at all and I don’t know if that was Gomez or Juvi’s fault, but either way it doesn’t make him look all that great. They quickly go home as the Hilo Con Plancha (springboard corkscrew splash) gets the win over Gomez. (2:12) The finish was about the only thing that connected. ¼*

Gene Okerlund has ref Nick Patrick with him to allow Patrick to explain why he DQ’ed Lex last week. Same old stuff. Everybody hates him because Gene keeps stirring the pot, even though he’s just doing his job. LIES! LIES! LIES! They’re all lies! Nick Patrick threatens to take Gene to court if he doesn’t shut his dirty mouth.

We go to the parking lot where the new World order are placing their flyers on everybody’s cars out in the pouring rain! Meanwhile, Ted DiBiase is standing outside the limo under an umbrella talking to somebody inside the car. Who’s he talking to? Don’t watch Raw. Stay tuned to Nitro!

WCW Saturday Night! Watch it IF YOU WEEL! 6:05PM eastern! TBS! Diamond Dallas Page takes on Jim Duggan. Rick Steiner meets Kurasawa! He’s still here? Plus, Lex Luger, Scott Norton, Chris Benoit, the Nasty Boys, and more will be in action! It’s the MUTHASHIP! PAY WINDAHS AND PLUNDAH, BABY!

HOUR NUMBER TWO! Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay.

Rick Steiner vs. Lex Luger
This was match of the night as everything had been kept real short up to this point. They shake hands at the start to show that there’s no animosity. Lex connects with a shoulderblock off a headlock, but then Rick takes Lex to the mat where we all know Rick would own him. Luger gets to his feet, but charges into a Steinerline. Lex hits the STEEL PLATED BIONIC FOREARM SMASH for two. Luger leapfrogs into a powerslam for two. Rick delivers an Overhead Belly to Belly Suplex for two. Lex grabs the ropes to avoid a German suplex, but gets nailed with another Steinerline. Luger explodes out of the corner with another STEEL PLATED BIONIC FOREARM SMASH, hits the Powerslam, and calls for the TORTURE RACK. Wait a minute, Nick Patrick runs down and calls for Luger to come out to the parking lot. Rick wins via countout. (6:58) This was getting good, but it’s about get SERIOUS. **

Now we’ve got a camera right behind Ted DiBiase. We can’t see in the limo, but we can hear someone talking and the voice belongs to STING. Sounds like a soundbyte I’ve heard Sting say about a year ago about whether or not to trust Luger. All the same and as far we know, Sting is in the nWo’s limo! Lex Luger confronts DiBiase and asks him where Sting is. And just like that, Sting pops out of the limo and starts beating Luger down to the ground. The rest o the nWo come out of a second limo to join in on the beatdown. DiBiase even puts the boots to Luger. Out of anger, Lex grabs the chauffeur and slings him about twenty feet as the nWo retreat to their cars. Poor Lex.

A recap video of last week airs: The Four Horsemen go after the nWo’s limo to find that there’s nobody inside. Nick Patrick DQ’s Lex Luger for lightly bumping into him. Sting throws a cinder block through the nWo limo car door window, then he and Lex steal a cop car to go after them. Fast forward to the end of the main event, Woman assists Flair in some extra leverage to help defeat Kevin Sullivan. Next up, the nWo attacks both the Horsemen and the Dungeon of Doom. Giant looks to save everybody, but then he chokeslams the Faces of Fear and embraces the nWo as the fifth member. Now Savage storms the ring with a chair, but a low blow stops him as the new World order proceed to paint a yellow streak down his spine. And then something happened that you never thought to see, the Dungeon of Doom helping Randy Savage to the back.

Moments Ago: Sting jumps out the nWo limo and starts attacking Lex Luger. Now considering it was raining and there was a wide shot angle of Sting, you probably thought that this guy was for sure Sting. Especially if you were ten years old like I was, so yeah I believed this was Sting. The problem was that at Wargames, you can’t have wide shots for everything and it certainly isn’t raining inside of a building, so it became obvious that this man was in fact not Sting at all once you get to Fall Brawl.

After the break, WCW heads over to one of the limos, finds some cans of yellow spray paint inside, and starts spraying the car.

WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio vs. Billy Kidman
Kind of interesting considering their rivalry in ‘98-’99. Total squash though. Rey headscissors Kidman to the floor and whips him into the guardrail and gives him a somersault headscissors into the steps. Bischoff sounds like he just lost his best friend. Back in, Kidman blocks a springboard move with a dropkick. Flying splash from Kidman gets two. Enough of this, Rey rolls to the apron and levels Kidman with a springboard somersault senton for the 1-2-3. (1:38) Why so short? Easily the best of the three cruiserweight matches tonight. ¾*

Public Enemy vs. Faces of Fear (w/Jimmy Hart)
Much like every Public Enemy match in WCW, it turns into a split screen brawl. The crazy Leprechaun from the Dungeon of Doom shows up and chases Jimmy Hart around only to run right to the back. During the match, we cut to the back for the Four Horsemen and Luger’s reaction to what Sting has done. For the first time ever, AA says he’s at a loss for words. Lex says he’s going to go find Sting right now. Whether Sting is on board or not, Flair and the Horsemen are going to Wargames to beat up Hogan and the nWo. Well Benoit has a match with Jericho already, but don’t worry – they’ve still got MONGO. Back in the ring, Rocco Rock is playing face in peril. Once Grunge gets the hot tag, he attempts a DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER on the Faces of Fear. What a big dumb mistake. Grunge puts on the brakes to prevent a double backdrop as Rocco runs by with a double bulldog. Oh, but that does hurt them? Barbarian and Rocco head to the floor. Rocco gets put on the PE’s table and as Jimmy Hart holds onto Rocco, Barbarian climbs to the top turnbuckle. Before anything can happen, Jimmy gets kicked off into the guardrail. Rocco moves and Barbarian goes crashing through the table. Back inside, Meng gets put on another table, so Rocco moonsaults him through it. Umm, DQ? That won’t stop the Faces of Fear though. That just makes them madder. Meng grabs the TONGAN DEATH GRIP on Johnny Grunge and gets the win. (10:42) The rest of the Dungeon of Doom join the Faces of Fear and Jimmy Hart. That means Kevin Sullivan, Big Bubba, Hugh Morrus and the newest members: Maxx Muscle and Konnan. Bubba is more worried about Glacier than making a challenge to the new World order like everyone is in the group. ¾*

The following announcement has been paid for the new World order: DiBiase makes his demands for when they defeat WCW at Wargames. They want their own TV time and their own tag team tournament.

Randy Savage vs. John Tenta
Pretty typical match. Savage goes for a slam and fails. They go to the floor where Savage nails with a couple chairshots to take over. Umm, DQ? Flying Double Ax Handle sets up the MACHO ELBOW. He delivers another one, but Teddy Long calls for Randy Savage to come to the back. Once again, the new World order helps a guy win via countout. (3:00) And we go to the back. One of the limos drives off as they leave one of their limos behind. Savage searches the car and all he finds is yellow spray paint, so the WCW guys make good use of it and spray the WCW letters on it. ¼*

Before we go, the Four Horsemen head over to the announce position. Arn takes Bobby’s headset and accuses Hogan of always wanting to be a Horsemen, which is why he’s picking up every thug and cutthroat in the world to be on his side – now he’s got Sting. Before he hands the headset over to Ric, he vows to take Sting’s head off in the cage. SUNDAY NIGHT! HOLLYWOOD HOGAN! YOU DON’T HAVE A CHANCE! WINSTON SALEM! YOU WILL NOT LEAVE TOWN ALIVE.

Now Bischoff agrees that bringing Hulk Hogan to WCW two years ago was a mistake. Oh boy.

And the card is set for Fall Brawl. WOOOOOOO.

– WARGAMES: Luger, ???, Flair & Arn vs. The nWo
– The Giant vs. Randy Savage
– WCW World Tag Team Champions Harlem Heat vs. The Nasty Boys
– Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho
– WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Super Calo
– “Mexican Heavyweight Champ” Konnan vs. Juventud Guerrera
– Scott Norton vs. Ice Train
– Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.