Well folks, I am back once again! I must say, I was taken aback last week with the premier episode of WCW Nitro. It took me a bit to revamp my perspective and expectations to what was the norm for 1995. I was excited to see what came next, as I knew we would be making our way through some groundbreaking times.

WCW Nitro
Monday, September 11, 1995
Miami, Florida

We kicked off the show with a recap of the inaugural episode of Nitro, including the Hogan promo with all 11 “brother” uses. Vader is reported as AWOL, which is impacting the upcoming PPV. This is because he has left WCW due to backstage disputes. His video package is still on the show intro, albeit a short clip. Eric Bischoff, Steve “Mongo” McMichael and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan are on commentary.

Sabu vs. “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright

Sabu starts off hot with high impact moves, taking the match outside. Wright avoids a leg lariat off a chair to gain the upper hand outside the ring. Wright hit a missile dropkick off the top rope and got some serious height on it. A top rope superplex and springboard leg lariat from Sabu has him rolling before a German suplex. Sabu wins with a top rope victory roll type maneuver. After the match, Sabu beats down Wright and sets him up on top of a table. Sabu hits a cross body block from the top rope, driving Wright through the match. Referee Nick Patrick reverses the decision and awards the win to Alex Wright. This match looked sloppy. Early on, Sabu looked like he hurt his tailbone or quad. There was miscommunication throughout and a fair amount of improvisation.

Winner: Alex Wright via reversed decision/disqualification due to post match attack by Sabu

After the break, “Mean” Gene is out in the ring to interview Ric Flair. Flair started talking about Arn Anderson and Lex Luger walks down in full ring gear. Flair hyped up Luger for 20 seconds, Luger says, “You’re too much,” and walked off, the promo ends. How bizarre, it didn’t seem to serve any purpose at all.

WCW United States Championship
Sting (c) vs V.K. Wallstreet

The next match is the debut of V.K. Wallstreet(Mike Rotunda/IRS) facing Sting who is defending the United States Championship. Sting has the neon green tights with matching green and black facepaint, love that look. Eric Bischof drops the results of Monday Night Raw in case anyone was considering changing channels. The match starts and Sting gains the upper hand quickly with a hip toss and two big dropkicks. Wallstreet tosses Sting outside the ring to get control, but Sting attempts a slingshot clothesline to get back in. It didn’t look like he got all of it, came up short. Wallstreet stays in charge until Sting mounts his comeback with a clothesline and a stinger splash in the corner. Sting climbs up to the top rope and hits a cross body block to pick up the victory. An average match, nothing too special though.

Winner: Sting via pinfall (still WCW United States Champion)

“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Scott Norton

Now we see Scott Norton versus “Macho Man” Randy Savage. I haven’t seen any of Norton’s work before, but the name is familiar. The crowd pops pretty big for Savage’s entrance, and I can’t lie, I did too. Norton jumps the gun and starts hitting Savage as he gets in the ring. Randy still has his entrance gear on. Norton keeps mouthing off to “Mongo” Steve McMichael(on commentary). Savage starts making his comeback, hitting a double ax handle from the top to the outside. He rolls Norton back in and goes up to the top rope to attempt something. Norton catches Savage and holds him in a bearhug for a few seconds. Norton continues the attack on the back with strikes and a big jackknife powerbomb for a 2 count. Norton hits a pair of backbreakers and a military press slam before running his mouth at Savage again. A powerslam on Savage garners another near fall. Norton hits a draping DDT on Savage(years before Randy Orton!) and goes for a top rope move but Savage counters it into a facebuster to start his comeback. The Dungeon of Doom comes out, Shark falls on Norton’s feet which holds him down while Savage hits his elbow drop for the pin. Not a bad match at all, fun to see Savage in his prime and still very over with the crowd.

Winner: Randy Savage via pinfall

WCW World Championship
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Lex Luger

The main event is Lex Luger making his in ring debut, challenging Hulk Hogan for the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Hogan thinks he has the upper hand early, but Luger no sells a series of moves including a suplex. Luger tries a suplex of his own and Hogan no sells that as well. Luger locks Hogan in the torture rack, Luger thinks he’s won, but the ref hasn’t rung the bell. Luger quickly covers, but Hogan kicks out at 2 and begins the classic Hulk-up we’re used to. A big boot and leg drop leads to a cover but the Dungeon of Doom come back out to cause the disqualification. Sting and Macho Man come out to help clear the ring of the heels. Luger and Hogan almost come to blows again before break. The match was typical big hoss match for Hogan. He ate some offense, but it was limited. He came back and was set up for the win if not for the DQ finish.

Winner: Hulk Hogan via disqualification (still WCW World Champion)

Gene Okerlund is in the ring and Hogan is cutting a promo wondering where Luger stands. Sting tries to convince Savage and Hogan to bring Luger onto their War Games team. Savage doesn’t want it, but Hogan asks Luger if he wants in. Luger agrees to join them as long as he gets a world heavyweight title shot down the line.

Overall Thoughts

Another episode down, another week further into WCW Nitro. While we didn’t see a match quite on par with the previous week’s opening bout, it was still entertaining to see the big players all in the show. The hard part about these shortened run times(45 minutes) was not having the time to feature many midcard talents. All in all, a serviceable episode for this week! Tune in next week as we see the aftermath of War Games!