March 22, 2009
Matt Peddycord
The Powerdriver Review

WCW Monday Nitro
December 18, 1995
Augusta, GA
Civic Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Randy Savage (11/26/1995)
WCW U.S. Champion: Kensuke Sasaki (11/13/1995)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (10/28/1995)
WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd (10/29/1995)

Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and that Emmy-award winning Steve “Mongo” McMichael.

Just before anything can happen, ALUNDRA BLAYZE comes up behind the announce table and proclaims that she is Madusa and always has been as far as she is concerned. She brings up the WWF Women’s title and drops it in the trash can. Well as far as Vince is concerned, Madusa can consider herself BLAACKBALLLED! Heenan’s blank stare as he slowly turns his head to the camera is priceless. Mongo says he’s tired of wrestlers coming up behind him, so he brings in William Perry to watch over his…backside? I think this Madusa thing insulted Vince McMahon more than it made a buzz in the wrestling interweb world – mainly because it wasn’t very creative and simply done for *shock* value.

Ric Flair vs. Eddie Guerrero
About a month ago on Nitro, Flair decided not to wrestle Eddie and had Pillman wrestle in his place. Well, Eddie beat Pillman and now we get to see what might have been. Of course, the commentators make no mention of this. Flair tries to ground Eddie to start, but the guy keeps on popping back up to his feet. Flair puts on the brakes to avoid a big right hand as he comes off the ropes. He takes a second to woo, so Eddie dropkicks him in the back of the head. Guerrero delivers a pair of drop toeholds and roughs up Flair’s hair. After Flair takes a breather on the floor, he comes back in and chops Eddie. Guerrero flips out of a back suplex and nails Flair with another dropkick. He tries a third one, but Flair puts on the brakes again. Eddie blocks a hiptoss and gets a backslide for 1-2-NO! Flair blocks a corner charge with his boot and nails Eddie with the Rolling Knee Drop. Eddie fights out of the corner and hits a Tornado DDT for 1-2-NO! Eddie walks the ropes and drills Flair with a flying headscissors. Cover, 1-2-NO! Flair knocks Eddie off the top rope to send him crashing hard to the floor. The fall screws up his knee and Flair takes advantage. Back inside, Flair hooks on the FIGURE-FOUR right where he can grab the ropes. Eddie fights off the pain for a little bit, but the leverage gets to him and the ref counts his shoulders 1-2-3. (7:36) Boy, these two had some great matches on Nitro. **½

Arn Anderson jumps in the ring to congratulate Flair on his win. Okerlund comes into the ring to get a word with these two. Arn reminds us all what they did to Paul Orndorff last week. When you mess with one of the Horsemen, you mess with the whole bunch and they’re not a bunch you want to mess with is the general theme Arn is trying to convey. Kevin Sullivan and Jimmy Hart show up. Apparently Pillman has “knocked” the Dungeon of Doom and Sullivan won’t stand for it. Never seen someone in charge of so little let it go to their head like that. He specifically tells Arn to keep Pillman on a short leash or heads will roll. Flair’s cool with it, but Arn is NOT. When you mess with one of the Horsemen, you mess with the whole bunch and they’re not a bunch you want to mess with is the general theme Arn is trying to convey once again.

Now Sgt. Craig Pittman comes by the announce table (does he know what a microphone is for?) to ask Bobby Heenan to manage him to the World title. Heenan’s like “WTF BRO? CAN’T YOU SEE I DON’T THAT ANYMORE?” but in a much nicer cowardly way. He tells Pittman to go see Jimmy Hart. And Pittman walks away.

Lex Luger (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Marcus Bagwell (w/Scotty Riggs)
It’s time for Luger’s weekly squashing of the American Males. This week Bagwell, next week Riggs. Out of a tie-up, Luger takes Bagwell over with a hiptoss. Bagwell battles back with a monkey flip to put Luger on the apron to act all pissed. When Luger turns to look down at Jimmy Hart, Bagwell dropkicks him down to the guardrail. After Luger dishes out some pounding, Bagwell moves away from a corner charge and unloads with an offensive flurry of backdrops and clotheslines. A splash from Bagwell hits knees. Luger delivers the powerslam and finishes Bagwell off with the TORTURE RACK. (3:08) Post-match, Luger tells Okerlund AND THE WORLD that he is the uncrowned world champion. ¾*

Sting vs. Earl Robert Eaton (w/Jeeves)
The only thing that seems to matter to WCW right now is Flair, Luger, Sting, and Savage. Not a whole lot of physical interaction between these two in the first two minutes as Sting is messing around with the crowd. Eaton works an armbar and misses a Flying Knee Drop (since he couldn’t do the Alabama Jam anymore because he’s British). Stinger Splash! SCORPION DEATHLOCK! That’s it. (3:59) Another squash. ½*

Afterwards, Gene Okerlund meets Sting in the ring. Same old stuff. Even Sting seems to be tired talking about Starrcade. He finishes up by saying he’s been world champion five times, and it’s time for one more.

WCW World Champion Randy Savage vs. The Giant (w/Kevin Sullivan & Jimmy Hart)
Savage leaps on Giant’s back early on to take him out with a sleeper. Heenan brings up a great point – if Giant was fall backwards, Savage would be done. Giant flips Savage off him and gets a word of encouragement from Jimmy Hart. Savage knees Giant into Jimmy to knock him to the floor. Savage feels a slam coming on, but Giant stops that with a forearm. Big man power stuff follows. We go to a commercial break during a bearhug. After that, Savage leaps to his feet and claws at the Giant’s face. Sullivan distracts Savage while Giant regroups. Savage charges Giant and gets caught for a backbreaker. After a choke lift, Savage rolls out to the floor. Giant follows him out and presses Savage back into the ring OVER the top rope. Giant climbs…to the…top…rope! He attempts some sort of splash, but Savage wisely rolls out of the way. Giant is down! MACHO ELBOW! Cover, 1-2-NO! Giant LAUNCHES Savage off him. A STANDING DROPKICK puts Savage on the floor. On the outside, Giant peels the protective mats away to suplex Savage. That doesn’t exactly work as Savage is close enough to the ring to hook the ropes with his legs to prevent the fall. You can’t tell if that was a botch or not. Back in, Giant looks to finish off Savage with the CHOKESLAM! Giant delivers a leg drop possibly to screw with Hogan and covers for 1-2-WHAT! Hogan slides into the ring and breaks up the pin with a chairshot. There’s your DQ. (7:30) He begins to hit everything that moves including referees (except Savage) with that chair until Mongo and the Fridge go over to calm him down. HUGE “Hogan” chants go up. Completely different compared to last week. You also have to remember – Hogan is on probation for all the prior shenanigans and attacks he’s pulled over the last few months! *½

After the break, Gene Okerlund talks with Hogan and Savage. Gene thinks Hogan could be suspended for all he did tonight. Hogan’s pissed that everybody else is getting title matches but him. An angry Giant interrupts Hogan’s interview, causing Hogan to run him down with the chair again. Hogan becomes like human Pong – bouncing back and forth between Giant and Sullivan with chairshots. Well that was pretty cool. Okay, back to the ring. After Starrcade, Hogan wants a title shot against Savage when he gets past the winner of the triangle match. You have to love how Hogan will suck up to Savage just so he can take his belt back. No matter who walks out of Starrcade the champ, Hogan is getting a title shot on the New Year’s Day edition of Nitro.