BRM Reviews the 10/16/1995 Nitro

[Big Red Machine]

We opened the show with a recap of the events of WCW Pro. Specifically, RIC FLAIR ASKED STING TO BE HIS PARTNER for his match tonight against Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman. Sting said okay, but he warned Flair “if you swerve me... if you swerve me just the slightest little bit: somewhere down the line- at Halloween Havoc for starters- I’m gonna leave you for dead!”
You see, Sting KNOWS that Flair is a treacherous snake with a history of evilly tricking people and stabbing them in the back. But he also sees a man in need, coming to him for help, and on the off chance that Flair isn’t trying to trick him, he can’t turn Flair away. It just wouldn’t be moral. 100% AWESOME!
The other awesome thing about all of this is that it reminded me of a time when wrestling companies would put important storyline events on ALL of their shows, so that people would have to watch them all, and they would ALL get good ratings. Are you listening to me, WWE?

WCW TV TITLE MATCH: Diamond Dallas Page(c) (w/the Diamond Doll) vs. Johnny B. Badd- no rating. Good segment.
Well… on the opposite side of the competency spectrum, we have this. Remember the really awesome US Title #1 contendership match between Pillman and Johnny B. Badd at Fall Brawl a few weeks ago. Well at one point on a previous Nitro, they told us that Johnny’s title shot would take place on that week’s episode of WCW Saturday Night. We who only watch Nitro were never told this until right now, but apparently that match never happened. Why? Well apparently DDP slashed the tires on Johnny’s car causing him to miss the match. Two questions here:
1. This seems like major news. Why are we not hearing about it until right now?
2. Why was the Sting vs. Johnny B. Badd title match not simply rescheduled?

While Johnny was on his way to the ring, we were told that regardless of the outcome of tonight’s title match, these two guys would wrestle each other at Halloween Havoc. Paige was immediately disqualified for hitting Johnny B. Badd in the back of the head with the title belt while Johnny was doing his entrance. He also counted his own pin on Johnny and fired off his “Badd Blaster” confetti gun in celebration like the biggest jerk in the world. This was all a very good segment, but why announce the Halloween Havoc match before this match when the entire point of this match was to set that match up?


EDDIE GUERRERO vs. CHRIS BENOIT- 6.75/10
Great fast-paced technical wrestling with a good story. There were several things in here that I, watching this in 2014, had to rewind in order to believe what I saw, so I can only imagine how mind-blowing this must have been for 1995. Best match in the history of Nitro so far.

MEAN GENE PLUGS THE WCW HOTLINE- all of his leads tonight involve non-kayfabe news about the WWF that makes WWF look bad.

MEAN GENE INTERVIEWS THE GIANT-
Giant’s entrance music appears to consist entirely of Kevin Sullivan laughing evilly. Sullivan said that by shaving Hogan’s mustache off, he has been trying to get him to give in to his evil side, which he has mostly succeeded at because Hogan showed up wearing all black last week. He said that the young Hulkamaniacs only followed Hogan because he is a winner, and when Giant beats him at Halloween Havoc, all of those Hulkamaniacs will stop following Hogan and instead become “the Children of the Dungeon of Doom.”
The Giant then cut a promo that was… not so good. He said he would murder Hogan during their monster truck battle on top of Kobo Hall (I’ve been reviewing this show for weeks now, and I still cannot believe it every time I type that), then pull Hogan’s “invisible carcass” (not sure how he plans on finding it in the wreckage) out of the car, and “strip” the world title from him.

“HACKSAW” JIM DUGGAN vs. MENG- 1.25/10
Disco Inferno came out to dance before the match. Again… why hasn’t he been punished in any way for eating up TV time like this?
A very short brawl, but the fans were definitely into it.

HULK HOGAN PROMO-
Hogan is all dressed in black again, and so is Jimmy Hart. He was standing in front of an American flag in a gray color scale, with “Hulk Hogan” stamped on it in black… so give WCW some points for good imagery. This as a good way to get over the “Hogan is giving in to his evil side” storyline.
Then take some of those points away, because to also help get this point across, Hogan kept referring to his fans has “Hulkamaniods.”
In addition to his “best friend and confidant,” Hogan has now also bestowed Jimmy Hart with the title of “Guarder of the WCW World Heavyweight Title.” Really? JIMMY HART, the 165 lbs weakling? THAT is who you are going to appoint as the official guardian of the title? Or may I’m not being fair to Hogan, and a guarder” is a completely different job that just happens to sound like Hogan forgot the world “guardian.”
Hogan said that The Giant has never yet looked him in the eyes. I find this hard to believe, considering that they have been face to face multiple times now. He talked about Hulkamania being so powerful that it could “bring promoters to their knees” and called his opponent a “big stinky Giant.” Yeah… this isn’t selling this match to me at all.
Jimmy Hart said he was concerned about what Hogan planned to do to Sullivan and Giant at the PPV. Hogan told Jimmy that he had better stay out of it, and then proceeded to threaten to murder the people making his monster truck if he wasn’t happy with it.
His last line was good, but the promo really didn’t make me want to see this PPV in any way at all.

RIC FLAIR & STING vs. ARN ANDERSON & BRIAN PILLMAN- 4.25/10
Sensing a trap, Sting actually didn’t come out, so Flair actually had to wrestle alone against Arn and Pillman… and he kicked both of their asses for a few minutes. Then, once Arn hit a spinebuster, Sting ran out to give Flair someone to tag. Flair was the babyface in peril for a bit, but eventually made the hot tag and Sting ran wild, and the babyfaces eventually won by count-out when Arn and Pillman were too worn down to get back into the ring.

MEAN GENE INTERVIEWS FLAIR & STING- he also tells us that Flair & Sting will wrestle Pillman & Arn at Halloween Havoc. They put each other over, and Sting explains his actions for anyone who didn’t get the idea.

A great Nitro. The best one so far.