Monday Night Raw: Raw Bowl 1-1-96 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, January 1st, 1996
Bob Carpenter Center
Newark, Delaware

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We get a Raw Bowl preview including them hyping up Billionaire Ted and all of that crap. They even have a marching band performing in the crowd. Lawler is wearing his custom Browns jersey. I think a lot of people hated this, but it's stupid fun in my opinion. 

Raw Bowl 
Smoking Gunns vs. Owen Hart & Yokozuna vs. Razor Ramon & Savio Vega vs. Sid & 1-2-3 Kid

They show Brother Love in the locker room while Owen and Yoko are entering for whatever reason. Goldust's usher presents Razor with a box of flowers and he takes them and hits him over the head with it. Goldust is shown lurking. Bart Gunn and Owen start things off. After they make contact, Owen tags in Billy Gunn and the two partners have to make contact. They do some basic stuff and then tag in both Owen and Yoko. Obviously that doesn't take much and they are able to tag out. Earl Hebner is wearing a white hat like the football refs do and the mat is green. All of these types of things are nice little touches. Now that I'm thinking about it, was this the first ever multi-tag team match in WWF history? Bart hits a delayed vertical suplex on Sid, which is pretty impressive. They show Brother Love again in the back. Kid misses a kick in the corner and gets hung up, but it's his own corner, so Sid is able to help him recover. Razor finally gets his hands on the Kid, but then Kid calls a timeout. Razor hits the Razor's Edge anyways and that's a penalty. Then DiBiase gets on the apron and that may be a penalty too. Sid then attacks Razor from behind and the Kid is able to eliminate Razor. Savio claims to have called timeout, but the referee declines. Lawler then does the Magistrator, showing us how Razor was eliminated. Owen misses Bart with a top rope splash and Bart is able to tag in Billy. He takes care of the entire opposition, including Jim Cornette. Kid gets a cheap shot in to slow down his momentum. Yoko gets up for the splash, but Bart pulls him out of the way and they move Owen in there. Billy rolls over and pins Owen despite Yoko calling for timeout. Sid quickly comes in and attacks Billy. Sid hits a big chokeslam on Billy. Lawler keeps interviewing some Ashley lady and she has the charisma of a zucchini. Kid goes off the top, but out comes Razor and he shoves him off behind the referee's back and the Gunns win the first and only Raw Bowl. This was goofy fun, with my only complaint being all the stupid football puns from Vince and Lawler. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Lawler claims that Shawn Michaels is definitely retiring. 

We go to the Wrigley's Halftime Report with Dok Hendrix. We have a countdown clock in the corner and we go to Jim Ross who says that Diesel told him that he's going to kick the king's can. Dok then runs over the announced card for Royal Rumble and then we go back to Vince and Lawler. 

We are now going to see the Hog Pen match from In Your House. Here is my review from that show.

Hog Pen Match
Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Henry Godwinn

Godwinn misses with the slop bucket outside the ring but then about a minute later is able to shove some in the face of Helmsley. Helmsley recovers and takes control. The action goes out to the aisle and Helmsley throws Godwinn into the metal door of the hog pen. Helmsley goes for the Pedigree in front of the hog pen but Godwinn counters it. Helmsley is able to catch himself on the fence and hits an elbow drop off of it. They head back to the ring and Godwinn runs into a boot from Helmsley in the corner. It doesn't take long for the match to go back to the pen and Helmsley this time is thrown into the metal door. Godwinn hits the Slop Drop right outside the pen. Godwinn charges at Helmsley and he gets dumped into the pen to win the match to remain undefeated in singles competition. He swats away Hillbilly Jim's arm as he raises it so Godwinn attacks him and military presses him in the pen. Helmsley's back is bleeding pretty good and then he does a spot where he keeps slipping in the mud. The pigs want nothing to do with him though. This was a fun enough novelty of a match even if it wasn't anything great in terms of action. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Next week, Hakushi takes on Jeff Jarrett and then they're going to show another match from In Your House. No better way to insult the paying audience then to give away two of the matches for free. As someone who did not order the show, I was excited, but that's beside the point. 

King Mabel vs. Diesel

Diesel attacks Mabel, hits the big boot and picks up the quick victory. He then throws Mo in the ring and gives him a Jackknife. He's got a new attitude and he's taking it to WCW. Stay tuned! For the time being, Diesel will be in the Royal Rumble. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Lawler and Vince fight over interviewing Diesel and Lawler eventually says he'll do it. He tries to, but Diesel takes Ashley instead and heads to the back. 

Brooklyn Brawler presents the Smoking Gunns with the Lombardi Trophy. Steve Lombardi, get it? The Gunns smash it and attack the Brawler. 

They keep teasing a "monster" announcement for a new entrant in the Royal Rumble. 

They announce Owen Hart, British Bulldog, Dory Funk Jr., Savio Vega, King Mabel, Bam Bam Bigelow, Barry Horowitz, Yokozuna, Tatanka and the big surprise, Vader. He gets a vignette showing off his skills. 

Now it's time for the beginning of the both legendary and terrible Billionaire Ted skits. Yes, this includes Nacho Man, the Huckster and Scheme Gene. Keep in mind that this is the same company that just trotted out Bob Backlund in the main event of their last Raw. 

This episode was all over the place. The Raw Bowl stuff was a blast and took up a good portion of the show. The inclusion of the Hog Pen match was kind of odd and makes this kind of hard to rate as a whole. The Diesel build continued and we got the Vader announcement. I'd say this was more bad than good. 

Overall Rating: 51%

Superstars 12-30-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, December 30th, 1995

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Unfortunately, this is a 1995 recap show rather than an actual episode of Superstars. We get a Todd Pettengill narrated introduction before sending us to Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect in the television studio. They briefly talk about the top stars before going into Bam Bam Bigelow (does he even work here any more?) and Lawrence Taylor. 

This leads to Todd doing a terrible old timey sports announcer voice as they show us the story of Bam Bam and LT. We get highlights of the match, which was solid for what it was. Vince is his phony mood today and sounds like he's running an infomercial. They show Bob Backlund declaring that he's running for president before the first commercial break. 

We get our next 1995 Superstar Moment and it's Jerry Lawler and his nosebleed as he dangled over the cage match between Isaac Yankem and Bret Hart. This leads into the Kiss My Foot match. They go through this one more quickly than the LT one and focus more on Lawler's comeuppance. That then leads into Isaac Yankem. 

They then go back to Survivor Series...1994? They talk about Owen making Martha to throw the towel in and costing Bret the title. This leads to a highlight package of Bret's 1995 up until Survivor Series 1995. Jim Ross then narrates a brief moment where they show Bret/Diesel for a second. 

Even though it's a recap show, we still have to see Dok Hendrix for the Slam Jam. He talks about Bret Hart vs. Undertaker and we hear from Paul Bearer and Undertaker. Taker says the creatures of the night are calling for him to win the WWF title. He then talks about the big match between Ahmed Johnson facing Jeff Jarrett. He'll tell us about 4 new names later on. They then show fake Bill Clinton flirting with Sunny. 

We come back to Barry Horowitz's first victory and then Vince and Perfect mocking JR's call. That naturally leads into them talking about...Razor Ramon. They recap the saga with 1-2-3 Kid. It's interesting how much focus is going to be put on him and Diesel when they are going to be leaving 4 months or so. 

They go on to start talking about Razor's new rival, Goldust. Vince thinks Goldust is just getting in the head of Razor. Perfect then says that he'll interview Razor next week. 

It's time to pretend that Jeff Jarrett didn't leave for a few months over a contract dispute. They hype up the Royal Rumble match and remind us that he won't be in the actual Rumble match thanks to Gorilla Monsoon. 

It's now time to talk about Kama and the feud with Undertaker. This is kind of surprising since Kama is basically a nothing at this point. It's time to talk about Mabel too and he's also basically a nothing. Diesel isn't too happy about Undertaker's title shot. 

We get a clip of the Smoking Gunns winning the tag titles from Owen Hart and Yokozuna. 

They start talking about Diesel and basically openly admit how he was booked poorly by kissing babies and doing media appearances. They think his schedule may have caused him to lose the WWF title and they show a few highlights of the Survivor Series match and his interview the next night. 

It's back to Dok for the Slam Jam. He announces some new entrants starting with British Bulldog and we hear from him and Jim Cornette. Savio Vega gets a rare interview spot and he's also in the Rumble. He's my pick to go all the way. Dok then announces King Mabel and Dory Funk Jr...

It's time to talk about the heartbreak around Shawn Michaels. We get to hear "Tell Me A Lie" one more time. 

Next week we get Ahmed Johnson vs. Jerry Lawler and Skip vs. Rad Radford. Vince asks Perfect his favorite moment and of course it is him coming back and Vince does some terrible comedic acting. Ted DiBiase says his best moment was acquiring Sid. Henry Godwinn's favorite was slopping DiBiase and throwing Hunter Hearst Helmsley in the mud. Bret's was winning the WWF Championship. They then go back to Mr. Perfect who is still rambling. Hilarious.

1995 in many regards is the worst year in WWF history. A weak roster, poor booking and watering down the product with monthly pay-per-views really left a sour taste in most people's mouths. However, this is the year I fell back in love with wrestling. I don't really know what it was that drew me back in to pro wrestling, but I was hooked once again. With that being said, this recap wasn't really that great. It didn't really do anything particularly well and Vince was pretty poor as a host here. 

Overall Rating: 40%

Starrcade 1995 Review

Wednesday, December 27th, 1995
Nashville Municipal Auditorium
Nashville, Tennessee

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Well, my main gripe is that I had no idea what the matches were tonight and they kick off the show running through them really quickly as part of the short intro. We're then welcomed by Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes and Bobby Heenan. 

Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Liger

We get some good wrestling, which is shocking, I know. The crowd is behind Benoit because of this being the World Cup. Liger shows off some of his submission mastery by putting on about 3 holds in the matter of a minute. This was the obvious choice for the opener and it is paying dividends because Benoit really hasn't been featured a ton on Nitro lately. He hits a superplex and that gets a nice pop from the crowd. Benoit misses with the diving headbutt and Liger hits a sitdown powerbomb for a 2 count. Benoit comes back with some German suplexes and then a traditional powerbomb. He hits the diving headbutt this time and out comes Kevin Sullivan with Jimmy Hart pulling him back. It distracts Benoit and Liger sort of hits a hurricanrana into a pin and picks up the victory. A rare botch by Liger. This was a solid match and made the whole World Cup thing feel important. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Eddie Guerrero is with Mean Gene and he struggles getting out his words on how he felt about Kevin Sullivan interfering. This is a great example of how far Eddie came in his time from WCW to headliner in WWE. 

Koji Kanemoto vs. Alex Wright

Kanemoto is not someone I am familiar with other than the one time I watched this show years ago. The crowd chants "USA" despite neither man being from there. Wrestling fans at their finest. Wright hits a dive over the top rope and to the floor. Kanemoto kind of no sells it and yells at a fan instead. This one has kind of felt like a bunch of moves here so far. Kanemoto then hits a dive of his own. Kanemoto hits a moonsault and decides not to pin Wright and the announcers are baffled. Wright hits a German suplex into a bridge and gets a 2 count. Kanemoto comes off the top rope and Wright hits him with a dropkick. He then climbs up top and hits a big missile dropkick. Wright hits a superplex and gets a 2 count. Kanemoto then sneaks in a pinfall and picks up the victory to go up 2-0. This was not a bad match, but I didn't really get the story they were trying to tell. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Mean Gene hypes up the hotline before talking to Sonny Ono. He talks about wanting to go up 5-0, which Mean Gene corrects him and says they would stop at 4-0. Sonny then says that maybe he'll buy WCW and Iowa because everything in America is for sale. 

Masahiro Chono vs. Lex Luger

It really is crazy to me how over Luger is in WCW coming off an absolutely awful first half of 1995 in WWF. Chono hits a big boot and finall slows down Luger. For the record, Luger is the first of the 3 competitors to represent WCW that is actually from America. Chono slaps on the STF and this match has really slowed down quickly after a solid start. Dusty makes fun of Tony for knowing the names of moves. Chono goes off the top rope and Luger hits him with a back elbow. He throws him up in the Torture Rack and that's all. He celebrates with Jimmy and they insist the crowd is cheering him because of the World Cup. I don't think that's the case here. This was pretty meh.

Match Rating: *

Mean Gene is now with Sting. Sting is so cheesy, but there really is something about his honesty that is enjoyable. 

Johnny B. Badd vs. Masa Saito

Ono gets on the mic and says that Kimberly is everything that is wrong with America and then she gets on the mic and this is all bad. Saito is 53 years old here. After some stalling, they begin to start slapping chests. I'm not sure I've ever seen Badd do that. The crowd is absolutely dead for this one as Saito is slowly just working on Badd. Badd makes a comeback and hits a sunset flip off the top rope for a 2 count. Badd grabs Ono on the apron and Saito attacks him and we get kind of a botched finish with Saito struggling to get Badd over the top. He eventually does and we get a DQ finish to tie everything up at 2-2. Badd dropkicks Saito out of the ring and this was all not very good. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Jimmy Hart and Luger are with Mean Gene. This is what WCW is all about according to Luger. He calls Savage a pathetic, one-armed champion. This is a really long interview for some reason. 

Shinjiro Ootani vs. Eddie Guerrero 

Please explain to me why Ric Flair doesn't have a match against NJPW and why Sting's match is right before the triangle match? I always felt like WCW was stupid about things like that. Our first bit of action ends with Guerrero hitting a hurricanrana. Guerrero slaps on the Boston crab and Dusty plays the role of Gorilla Monsoon saying that he isn't doing it correctly. Eddie hits a couple of high impact moves with a powerbomb and brainbuster. Ootani comes back with a springboard missile dropkick and then a dive to the floor. We're kind of getting some slower action than I thought and then they are hitting some high impact moves. Eddie hits a top rope hurricanrana and a sit down powerbomb for a 2 count. Eddie hits a springboard reverse crossbody to Ootani on the floor. Guerrero hits a hurricanrana into a pin and we get a few counters into pins and Ootani gets the better of it for the victory. This was a solid match that felt like it could have been better had they worked a little bit better pace. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

Savage has a backstage interview with Mean Gene and we get a very early 90s style interview here from him in a great way. This was a fun moment. 

Tenzan vs. Randy Savage

I still think it's so weird that they booked a triangle match where the winner faces Savage and then made these guys be part of the World Cup. Why not have some of your other wrestlers take those spots? The crowd is pretty quiet for a Savage match, which tells you how this World Cup is going. Tenzan mostly dominates and it's pretty plotting. HE hits a top rope headbutt, but it's not enough. Dusty Rhodes trying to tell Savage how to do a suplex is fun. Savage goes up top and hits the elbow drop for the win. He ties it up for WCW, leaving it up to Sting. Who could have seen that coming? 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Flair cuts a promo and I'm starting to feel like this is WrestleMania VIII all over again. Flair's hair during this era is such a crime. 

Kensuke Sasaki vs. Sting

The crowd is definitely a little more invested in Sting here tonight. Does anyone actually care who wins the World Cup though? Sasaki puts Sting into the Scorpion Death Lock and Tony is just amazed. It doesn't take long for Sting to make his comeback and he slaps him in the Scorpion Death Lock. Sasaki lasts for a few, but he eventually has to tap. This was nothing. 

Match Rating: *

Gene is now in the ring with all of the WCW competitors who participated and talks about how historic this night is. I promise you it isn't. Again, we get "U-S-A" chants even though Wright, Guerrero and Benoit aren't from there. Gene wants this to become an annual event. Don't worry, it won't be. 

Triangle Match
Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair vs. Sting

All three of these guys are entertaining in their own way, but so far I haven't been captivated. I should note that in this variation of the three person match, one competitor stands on the apron and has to be tagged in. So this is a lot less chaotic than what we are accustomed to these days. We finally get our first tease of the Luger/Sting friendship, but they let it go. It really is amazing that Vince dumped so much money on the Lex Express and it failed miserably and all he had to do was jump back over to WCW in a surprise move and he's over big time. Flair finally makes it Luger vs. Sting and we get a slow build. They eventually get going and Sting gets Luger down and calling for timeout. This match is starting to feel like it's been going on forever at this point. This just isn't really a compelling match for whatever reason. Luger gets Sting up in the Torture Rack and Sting's leg hits the referee. This allows Flair to interfere and knock both men out of the ring. Sting tries to get back in before the 10 count, but Luger grabs his arm and both men are counted out. Flair advances to take on Savage. This was like watching paint dry way too often considering who was involved. 

Match Rating: **

WCW Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage

We're getting some more mediocre action here and then out comes...Paul Orndorff in a neck brace? Why is he anywhere near a main event in 1995? Savage gets Flair outside, but Flair hits Savage in the midsection on the way down from his top rope double ax handle. I really wanted to like this show, but it's actually worse than I remember. This is just so dead. I'm not sure which is worse. WCW having a hot TV product and better roster, but then mostly not delivering on pay per view or WWF having a terrible roster and having occupational gimmicks? Jimmy Hart distracts the ref and throws the megaphone to Flair. Savage takes it away and hits Flair with it. Jimmy still has the ref distracted. Flair is bleeding and Savage hits the top rope elbow drop. Out comes Pillman, but Savage throws him off the top rope. Out comes Arn Anderson and he hits Savage with the brass knuckles. Flair is your new champion and that wakes the crowd up. I mean that was a lot of shenanigans for such a short match. WCW just never executed those as well for whatever reason. Pillman takes the title belt and whips Savage with it while Flair celebrates. 

Match Rating: **

Like I said, I really wanted to like this show. It just didn't click. The World Cup was pointless and the main events didn't deliver what you would expect from these guys. It wasn't terrible and the Liger match was solid, but that just isn't enough to make you ever need to see this. 

Overall Rating: 46%

Monday Nitro 12-25-95 Review

Original Airdate: Monday, December 25th, 1995
Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center
Augusta, Georgia

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We get a taped episode of Nitro this week with it being Christmas and all. Raw did not run a show, but I guess Nitro saw this as an easy opportunity to get some late night viewers ahead of their big show on the 27th. 

Lex Luger vs. Scotty Riggs

Riggs actually gets a lot of offense in here for some reason. I actually always kind of liked Riggs but also haven't really watched him wrestle since the 90s. Luger finally turns things around and hits a big suplex for a 2 count. Riggs tries to get a burst in, but misses with a missile dropkick. The crowd gets to their feet knowing the Totrture Rack is coming up and they are indeed correct. This was a spirited little match here. It's crazy how much more confident Luger is in this run compared to his WWF run. 

Match Rating: *3/4

Mean Gene is with Sting and asks about his relationship with Luger. Sting hates it and says that they are friends. He's going to be taking on Big Bubba after the commercial break. 

Big Bubba vs. Sting

Bubba gets in less offense than Riggs did before Sting hits him with a single hand bulldog. He hits another one outside the ring. Bubba slows things down. We then get kind of a weird finish where Sting goes up to the top rope. Bubba gives him a thumb to the eye and goes for a suplex. Sting counters that into an inside cradle and picks up the win. 

Match Rating: *

Mean Gene is now in a Santa hat to interview Lex Luger and Jimmy Hart. He says he and Sting have been friends for 10 years and that's how it is going to remain. Out comes Craig Pittman and he asks Jimmy Hart to manage him. Jimmy makes Pittman take his shirt off and compares his body to Luger and asks why he would want to manage someone like him. Whatever. 

Dean Malenko vs. JL

Malenko hits a dropkick to the back of JL when he's turned around and we are under way. JL hits a somersault dive off the apron onto Malenko on the floor to shift the momentum. We get some more back and forth action that would later define this division. JL hits a sit down powerbomb and that gets a 2 count. Malenko sets up for a powerbomb but turns it into a stun gun. Malenko has him on his shoulders on the second rope and hits a leaping gutbuster. Malenko puts on the leg lock and that's all for JL. I've really enjoyed the genesis of the cruiserweight division here. 

Match Rating: **

Mean Gene is with Ric Flair and Jimmy Hart says what Kevin Sullivan was rude to interrupt him last week. Jimmy says that he owes Flair for saving him a couple of weeks ago and he always pays his debts. He wants to go down with him when he wins the title tonight and Flair is good with it. 

WCW Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage

I am really enjoying this episode tonight. I'm not really sure what else they have planned here with 18 minutes left in the show. Make sure to call your pay per view provider now to make sure you have Starrcade. You know, the show we have hardly talked about other than the main event. Savage gets a Figure Four locked in really early in the match for some reason. He grabs the ropes like 3 times before Savage has to finally break it. We go outside the ring but we have to take a commercial break. When we come back, they are near the entrance ramp and he throws Savage into the guardrail. This match feels a little disjointed and we get another commercial break. They are heavy into selling how injured Savage is here in this match and as always, Savage is selling like a pro. Flair puts on the Figure Four for a lengthy amount of time. Savage gets out and Flair goes up top. You know how this ends and that's with Flair being thrown off. Savage reverses a piledriver and the crowd is kind of flat for this even though they have been good the majority of both episodes. Jimmy Hart gets on the apron and Savage knocks him off. Out comes Luger and we have a DQ finish. Out comes Sting and he goes after Flair and both faces stand tall. They bump into each other and start shoving intensely. I like ending the show with those two guys being the last thing you see. The match was pretty flat, but I am good with that ending. 

Match Rating: *1/4

I liked this show overall, even if the Savage/Flair match was disappointing. It was easy to digest and really the only major gripe is I still have no clue what the other matches are for Starrcade other than New Japan will be there. Maybe they talked more about those matches on Saturday Night? 

Overall Rating: 62%

Superstars 12-23-95 Review

Original Airdate: Saturday, December 23rd, 1995
Stabler Arena
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

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You'd think we'd get a recap of In Your House, but instead it's just a quick blurb about Ted Dibiase's Santa Clause, since that is definitely the one thing on every fan's mind. 

WWF Tag Team Championship Match
Skip & Rad Radford vs. Smoking Gunns

We get a spirited opening sequence from Billy and Skip that leads to Skip rolling out of the ring to step away. The Gunns hit a double side Russian leg sweep on Radford for a 2 count. A distraction from Sunny allows Skip to dive off the apron. Their advantage doesn't last long with Billy being tagged in. Skip gets a thumb to his eye, but Bart comes in and throws Skip off the top rope into Radford and the champions retain. They kept up a pretty good pace and got a lot in a fairly short match. After the match, Sunny grabs the mic and berates Radford. She tells him that he's fired and then slaps him. Skip attacks him from behind and they bolt to the back. 

Match Rating: **

We go to Dok Hendrix's house for the Slam Jam. He talks Royal Rumble and we hear from one of the first participants, Diesel, and he wants his title back. Owen Hart then talks about putting Shawn Michaels away. Don't forget about Jeff Jarrett vs. Ahmed Johnson. 

Xanta Klaus vs. Scott Taylor

Well, this is a pretty infamous bad gimmick played by Balls Mahoney. We do hear from DiBiase and he lets us know that he's searching high and low for his next top superstar. Xanta puts on the Camel Clutch and gets the easy win. I see big things for this guy in the near future. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Buddy Landel vs. Matt Hardy

Landel has already been entered into the Royal Rumble. Huge if true. I mean, what were they really hoping to get out of Landel in 1996? It's easy to see why they ended up signing Hardy, as he always does a good job of selling for his opponents. Landel wins with an elbow drop. That should tell you all you need to know. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We see the Undertaker/Diesel confrontation from In Your House. 

Henry Godwinn vs. Brooklyn Brawler

We come back from commercial and the bell rings for this match with no entrance for Godwinn. There's also some awkward silence before Vince starts talking. We hear from Godwinn and he talks about being in the Royal Rumble. The stakes just keep getting higher with all of these top stars being entered in. Brawler tries to go off the top rope, but Godwinn slams him off and then hits the Slop Drop for the easy win. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

We get a recap of what transpired between Goldust and Razor Ramon at In Your House. 

British Bulldog vs. Marty Jannetty

Marty has been pretty sharp for the most part during his 15th return to the company here. Marty has a good flurry of hip tosses and dropkicks before Bulldog slows it down. We come back from commercial break and Bulldog hits a delayed vertical suplex. We get some back and forth wrestling from here. Marty goes up top but Cornette pulls Bulldog out of the ring. Jannetty hits him with a baseball slide. Back in the ring, Marty goes up top again and Bulldog catches him and puts him up for the running powerslam for the win. Even Mr. Perfect was impressed with this match. This was a good Superstars main event. 

Match Rating: **1/2

We go back to Dok and he keeps hyping up how shocked we'll be at the names trying to get into the Royal Rumble. Diesel, Owen Hart and Buddy Landel but then we go to the title match, Bret Hart vs. Undertaker. We hear from both competitors. 

It's time for the special music video of Shawn Michaels, who will definitely never compete again. This is the famous "Tell Me A Lie" music video. 

They actually kind of pulled out a good episode of Superstars out of nowhere. Both feature matches delivered and the rest was very easy to digest. The Rumble is looking pretty weak so far outside of the main event, so that has to be a bit of a concern. 

Overall Rating: 53%

Monday Nitro 12-18-95 Review

Monday, December 18th, 1995
Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center
Augusta, Georgia

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Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael kick off the show. They are interrupted by Madusa, better known as Alundra Blayze in WWF. She says that she's always been Madusa and she puts the WWF Women's Championship in the garbage can and we get one of the more famous moments from the early days of the Monday Night Wars. It obviously went on to change nothing in the long run. Now McMichael brings up William "Refrigerator" Perry and he squeezes Heenan's hand and that's all. Alrighty then. 

Ric Flair vs. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie is already in the ring here, but you have to love Eddie continuing to get his shot to shine here on Nitro. We get a slow burn here to start, but the crowd is into it. Eddie tries a few quick pin attempts just to rattle Flair a little. They trash Mike Tyson and I have no recollection of which fight they are referring to, nor do I really care. Guerrero hits a springboard hurricanrana and for whatever reason, that didn't get much of a reaction. Eddie falls out of the ring and hurts his knee. Flair slaps on the Figure Four and Flair is able to gain some extra leverage from the top rope while the ref checks on Eddie. Eddie passes out and Flair gets the victory by pinfall. This one never really got going. 

Match Rating: *1/4

Arn Anderson comes out and joins Flair for an in ring interview with Mean Gene. Arn talks about Paul Orndorff and says that he got to see what happens when you mess with the Horsemen. Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart come out and interrupt. Sullivan talks about the respect he has for Arn, but he wants them to keep Brian Pillman on a short list. Arn tells him that if you come looking for Pillman, he might just find the Horsemen. 

Sgt. Craig Pittman comes out and interrupts the announce team and he is so green that he doesn't even know that he has to hold a mic so that people can hear him. He says he's been doing his homework and he realized that Bobby Heenan used to be one of the great managers. He must have spent a lot of time to uncover that information. He then asks Heenan to manage him, but Heenan says he can only help behind the scenes and not in the ring. I bet you not one person was talking about this after it happened. 

Lex Luger vs. Marcus Bagwell

Luger misses in the corner and Bagwell gets a little bit of offense in. Luger comes back pretty quickly with a powerslam. He puts him up in the Torture Rack and that's all. This was just a high profile squash, as it should have been. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Mean Gene now interviews Hart and Luger. Hart reminds us that Luger is the uncrowned champion and Gene says that he's just a top contender. 

They hype up Saturday Night and it actually has a few moderately good matches. 

Earl Robert Eaton vs. Sting

Here's a squash match that I can get behind. The Luger/Sting story continues the most intriguing thing going in WCW. We get a lot of talking about other stuff during this one. Eaton misses with a top rope knee drop and Sting makes his comeback. He hits a Stinger Splash and slaps on the Scorpion Death Lock for the quick win. 

Match Rating: 1/2*

Sting talks with Mean Gene and he talks about how many little kids Flair disappointed and that he'll be the WCW Champion at Starrcade. 

WCW Championship Match
The Giant vs. Randy Savage

We get Giant manhandling Savage to start. Giant tosses Savage over the top rope from the floor to put him back in the ring. We get a fun moment where Giant misses off the top rope and Savage runs up top and hits the top rope elbow drop. Giant then throws Savage off at the 2 count. Giant lifts up the padding on the outside of the ring and goes for a suplex. Savage grabs the ropes and Giant falls to the floor. Back in the ring, Giant hits a chokeslam but for some reason doesn't go for the cover. He hits a leg drop and out comes Hogan and hits him with a chair. Sullivan tries to help, but Hogan shoves him off. He hits Giant with the chair a few more times and out of the ring. For some reason McMichael and Perry try to stop Hogan and he kind of hits Perry with the chair. We have a very pro-Hogan crowd here tonight, which hasn't been the case on most other nights. The match was fun for the length they were given. 

Match Rating: **

Mean Gene is with Savage and Hogan and out comes Giant again. Sullivan and Pittman try to hold him back and that allows Hogan to come out and hit him with a chair. He then runs back in the ring and says that he's sick of this probation stuff. He tells Savage that he owes him a title shot. Unhinged Hogan is slightly better than what we've been seeing I guess. 

A lot of stuff was crammed into this episode, but I'm not sure any of it was really worth anything to me. I appreciate the effort though they do seem to be putting into most every episode though. It would be nice if they would actually give us a reason to care about Starrcade though. 

Overall Rating: 51%

Off The Grid, Volume 59: Beach Blast 1993 Review

Sunday, July 18th, 1993
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Biloxi, Mississippi

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Off The Grid, Volume 59:

Eric Bischoff and Missy Hyatt welcome us to the show and then immediately pass it off to Tony Schiavone and Jesse Ventura. Jesse is of course at the bar with a group of young ladies before getting escorted to the announce table. Jesse having goggles on his head is a nice touch. This just feels like stalling for the sake of stalling. 

WCW Television Championship Match
Ron Simmons vs. Paul Orndorff

If Orndorff is disqualified, he loses his title. Within 2 minutes of the match, I have no clue why they chose this to open the show. Simmons puts on a Figure Four but Orndorff is right by the ropes. Orndorff pulls Simmons out of the ring and risks DQ by slamming his head on a TV monitor. For a title that has a time limit on it, it feels like we passed it 5 minutes ago. I still have to sit through Maxx Payne and Erik Watts on this show. Simmons hits a powerslam out of nowhere and gets a 2 count. Simmons hits a flurry of moves and goes for the cover after a vertical suplex but Orndorff grabs the bottom rope. Orndorff goes for a piledriver and Simmons blocks it. He goes for it again and Simmons hits a back body drop that sends Orndroff over the top rope and to the floor. The ref rings the bell for a disqualification because WCW has terrible rules. This was a terrible opening match.

Match Rating: 1/2*

Missy Hyatt is with Paul Orndorff and Equalizer. Do we really need more of this? Equalizer has to be one of the worst wrestlers to ever be employed by WCW. Missy is so bad in this role too. 

Erik Watts vs. Lord Steven Regal

The announcers come out and tell us that "Hey, maybe Watts will learn something here". I'm not sure what they are going for so far, but it's not working. Regal finally turns up the intensity but then misses a knee drop. Watts puts on the STF but Sir William slaps him. The distraction works and Regal rolls him up for the win. This was awful and had no business on pay per view. 

Match Rating: 1/4*

Too Cold Scorpio & Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce

Don't go messin' with a country boy. This one at least is waking up the crowd and probably would have been a much better choice for the opener. We'll see if they can keep up this pace. I think Scorpio may have more success in WWF if he would have been on the roster during this time rather than 1996. The faces get a longer advantage than expected before the heels use traditional heel tag team wrestling. Pierce hits a really nice gutwrench powerbomb for a 2 count. This has really just been a solid match. Scorpio gets a hot tag and hits a superkick. He hits a big splash off the top rope, but Tex breaks up the pin attempt. All four men are in the ring and they throw the two big Texans into each other. Bagwell hits a back suplex and Scorpio hits the 450 splash for the win. Nice match. 

Match Rating: ***

Jesse interviews Regal after the match. He tells Orndorff that he's on a mission to win the TV title back. He kicks it to Bischoff and they talk about this big grudge match coming up between Maxx Payne and Johnny B. Badd by showing us one thing that happened. 

Maxx Payne vs. Johnny B. Badd

Payne comes out playing guitar and Badd is wearing a pink mask. Badd goes right for him and starts throwing right hands. Payne takes control and slows the match down. He gets his finisher locked in but Badd is right by the ropes. Badd hits a dive over the top and they brawl outside. Back in the ring, Badd hits a crossbody off the top rope and gets the win? I mean, I didn't need to see any more of this, but I am surprised it was that quick. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

WCW Tag Team Championship Match
Arn Anderson & Paul Roma vs. Hollywood Blonds

This is obviously a master class in how to start a match when you have the crowd invested. We also get lots of Jesse complaining about closed fists and Tony having to agree. With that being said, not a whole lot of note happens here in the first 10 minutes of the match, but I am invested. Roma finally gets Arn in for the hot tag and he hits a big DDT. The ref is distracted and Austin breaks up the pin attempt. Roma makes a few mistakes of accidentally distracting the referee when Arn has pin attempts and Jesse is all over him. Arn and Pillman collide and only Pillman can make the tag. Arn sort of half suplexes Austin over the top and to the floor and this leads to my favorite argument as to why it isn't a disqualification. Arn finally makes the tag to Roma and they get a nearfall after Arn hits an illegal spinebuster. We get another ref distraction that hurts their team and Austin rolls up Roma for the victory. This was a fine match, but it never really got beyond that. They could have easily shaved 5 minutes off and no one would have noticed. 

Match Rating: ***

Bischoff and Missy try to hype up the Iron Man match, but fail. 

Iron Man Challenge For The United States Championship
Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes

I'm glad that Jesse feels the same way about Rhodes' music as I do. They do have a timer here for the match. We get a real slow burn here to start and the timer goes away until the 25 minute mark. To say that they are starting slow would be an understatement. We are at the 10 minute mark and Jesse lets us know that there have been no pinfalls. There has hardly been any action, let alone pinfall attempts. Rude finally hits a Rude Awakening and finally gives us a pin. I would write about this match, but something would actually have to be happening in order to do so. Rude has him in the sleeper hold and looks to be out. Miraculously, his hand doesn't hit the third time and he starts to battle out of it. Things finally pick up with about 4 minutes left. Rhodes hits a bulldog and ties it up at 1-1. Rhodes is giving it all he can, but Rude is able to kick out each time. Rhodes slaps on the sleeper hold with a little over 30 seconds left. Rude uses a jawbreaker to release the hold. Rhodes hits a DDT and the time runs out when the ref gets to the 1 count. I mean the last few minutes were fine, but having to watch 20+ minutes of nothing to get to that finish felt like torture. 

Match Rating: 3/4*

NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Ric Flair vs. Barry Windham

There already has been more action in the first 90 seconds than there was in the first 25 minutes of the last match. The crowd is a little flat for a Flair match here though. Things slow down a bit and it's really quiet. I honestly don't think Flair can believe it. Windham hits a superplex and even that doesn't really get a response. Flair does his usual spin over the top turnbuckle and runs up to the top. He actually hits a dive of some sort, but Windham rolls him over and gets a 2 count. Flair slaps on the Figure Four and then the referee counts 3 with Windham's shoulders on the mat and that is one of the uglier finishes you will see, but that's WCW for you. This show has sucked. 

Match Rating: **

Even Flair's post-match interview with Jesse is flat. He can't be happy with that finish. 

We go to Bischoff and Missy again just in case this didn't show suck enough yet. 

Sid & Vader vs. Davey Boy Smith & Sting

It should come as no surprise, but after some really flat matches, Sting understood the assignment. His energetic offense doesn't last long, as Sid isn't having it. Sting and Davey Boy wake up the crowd with a double clothesline off the top rope. Davey Boy hits a delayed vertical suplex on Vader to a good reaction. We do get a small but audible "Vader" chant going even though the majority of the crowd are behind the faces. Sting gets a hot tag and he unloads on both big men. It doesn't last long and we're back to the big men dominating. The match breaks down and Sid takes Sting to the entrance ramp. Vader hits a moonsault on Davey Boy. Sting runs in and dives on Vader to prevent a pin attempt. Davey goes for a crucifix pin attempt and gets Vader down and pulls off the victory. This was everything it needed to be and while it wasn't good enough to be a show saver, it saved it from being a complete turd of a show. Great work by all four men. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

This was not a good show at all. 1993 WWF is always destroyed for its quality, but it really was just American wrestling in general. Like in WWF, there are some good things happening, but on some nights it just isn't enough. 

Overall Rating: 38%