Monday Nitro 1-1-96 Review

Monday, January 1st, 1996
The Omni
Atlanta, Georgia

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Eric Bischoff welcomes into 1996 along with Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael. Bischoff says that just in case you were vacationing in a third world country, Ric Flair is the new WCW Champion. What a weird comment. 

Arn Anderson vs. Randy Savage

Savage runs in and Arn is ready for it. Savage fights him off and tosses him out of the ring. They remind us of Savage not being healthy during his title reign and that he's the ultimate working man's champion. McMichael is sick of all the interference, so Heenan says he should do something about it. Arn rams Savage's arm into the ring post and goes to work on it. Bischoff is more annoying than normal so far here. Arn hits a DDT and gets a big pop from the Atlanta crowd. Arn tries to use a foreign object but Savage is able to knock it out of Arn's hand. He hits him with a right hand and picks up the victory. Brian Pillman and Chris Benoit are out but its too late, as Savage escapes to the back. This was a decent enough TV match.

Match Rating: **

Steven Regal vs. Chris Benoit

Classic WCW with having Benoit just out in the ring and then having him go to the back and come right back out for his match. We see Hank Aaron in the audience, which is pretty cool. We get a piledriver reversal by Benoit and he is able to hit it on Regal. Benoit misses with a dive to the outside. Regal rolls him into the ring and picks up the victory? All they talk about is how the other Horsemen are always around and then they have two of them job in the first matches of the night. This was disappointing. 

Match Rating: *

Mean Gene is in the ring now with Pillman, Anderson and Benoit. Pillman isn't happy about them being 0-2. Benoit said it took pure luck for Regal to beat him tonight. Sure. Benoit then makes a comment about naked women in the limo and you can tell Gene is about to lose it. Arn tells them they prosper as a unit. Out comes the Dungeon of Doom. Giant grabs Zodiac and Sullivan and drags them back. 

Super Assassins vs. Sting & Lex Luger

I completely forgot that Warlord was with WCW ever during this time period. And here we go again with Sgt. Craig Pittman. This time he wants to talk to McMichael while two of their absolute top stars are wrestling. He wants Mongo to be his manager. Mongo declines but says to that he doesn't need anyone because he used to be a Sgt. and he's got this. Meanwhile, the Assassins are taking care of business here. Sting tags in Luger but the referee doesn't see it and the beatdown continues. Luger finally gets tagged in and gets Warlord up in the Torture Rack. He lasts a lot longer than most because they want to wait for Sting to get the Scorpion Death Lock in too. No surprise that the Atlanta crowd loves their Sting and Luger victory here. 

Match Rating: *1/2

Mean Gene interviews Jimmy Hart and Giant. Jimmy asks Gene if he's standing in a hole or if he's really that short, which is great. 

Clash of the Champions is coming January 23rd. 

WCW Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan

Look at me watching these two wrestle twice in the same day. We get the usual stuff here with these two. Despite these two having quite a few matches up to this point, the crowd is just 100% behind this. Hogan hits the big boot and out comes Jimmy Hart. He distracts Hogan and Arn Anderson comes from behind and nails Hogan. Hogan of course no sells it and being the idiot that he is, shows the referee and he calls for the bell. Pillman is out here and Giant and Savage. Savage saves Hogan and the heels back off? The match was good enough for what it was but nothing more. 

Match Rating: **

We hear from Savage and Hogan and we find out they will face Flair and Anderson next week. Bischoff brags about being #1 and that numbers talk. 

This was a pretty good show, but they continue to just stick to the big names and not really feature so many of their midcard stars. I'm not sure when that shifts but I am looking forward to it. For the meantime, this was an entertaining hour of pro wrestling. 

Overall Rating: 61%