April 22, 2009
Matt Peddycord
The Powerdriver Review

WCW Monday Nitro
February 19, 1996
Salisbury, MD
Wicomico Civic Center

The current WCW champs were as follows:
WCW World Champion: Ric Flair (2/11/1996)
WCW U.S. Champion: Konnan (1/29/1996)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Sting & Lex Luger (1/22/1996)
WCW World Television Champion: Johnny B. Badd (2/18/1996)

Your hosts are Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, and that Emmy-award winning Steve “Mongo” McMichael. I think Mongo might be drunk tonight.

STEVE GRISSOM WON A RACE! Who cares.

Hulk Hogan vs. Arn Anderson (w/Woman)
Hulk gets his rematch with Arn for jobbing to a high heel shoe last week. It’s the same stuff we saw last week with Hogan destroying AA the whole time by using his typical cheating tactics. During this match, Bischoff shills an upcoming episode of Baywatch where you can see Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Kevin Sullivan and the first mention of Vader since he went “AWOL” last September. Of course, Bischoff caps off the mention of Vader by saying that Vader “left with his tail between his legs after a rather physical confrontation with Paul Orndorff.” What an a-hole Bischoff is. Heenan changes the subject quickly by paying attention to the match going on in the ring. The shilling continues from Bischoff during Arn’s total annihilation: he mentions a new cruiserweight title to be revived in WCW’s near future. It looks to be curtains for Arn once Hogan hits the Big Boot. Instead of finishing him off with the LEGDROP, Hulk grabs the Figure-Four. That brings out Kevin Sullivan, but it also brings out Randy Savage, who intercepts the interference. Since Sullivan was knocked out of the ring as soon as he got in there, the ref turns around and only sees Savage in the ring and calls for the bell to disqualify Hogan. ARNS WINS AGAIN! (7:02) Just plain pathetic knowing that Hulk had to get THAT much offense to job to somebody as great as Arn Anderson. ½*

Loch Ness (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Alex Wright
Wright tries the same UNSUCCESSFUL strategy Scotty Riggs attempted last week, and is just as unsuccessful. At least he holds on long enough to change his gameplan and grab a sleeper. Doesn’t do much good though, as Loch Ness throws him off. Wright fights out of a bearhug and hits a pair of jumping back elbow smashes in the corner. Loch Ness kicks off a third one and finishes Wright with the ELBOW DROP. (2:21) What a fat. ¼*

WCW Saturday Night! Watch it! 6:05PM eastern! TBS! WCW World Television Champion Johnny B. Badd defends against Chris Benoit! WCW U.S. Champ Konnan battles Scott Armstrong! The Road Warriors should be there! And the WCW world tag team champions Lex Luger and Sting will team up to take on Public Enemy! That show looks better than what we’re watching now! It’s the MUTHASHIP! PAY WINDAHS AND ALL THAT PLUNDAH, BABY!

Belfast Bruiser vs. Brad Armstrong
Belfast Bruiser loves to fight and Finlay loves to fight, but Belfast Bruiser likes long graying hair, mustaches, and wearing leather studded jackets with half of a shoulder pad attached to it instead of prancing around with an annoying little midget. Then again, that same midget can splash and knock down seven people at once who are two and three times his size, so maybe Finlay is better off not being the Belfast Bruiser. Anyways, he’s here in WCW to hurt Lord Steven Regal for things he did over in England a LONG time ago. Former WCW light heavyweight champion Brad Armstrong is BACK since SMW closed down for good. I missed that guy. According to Mongo, this is a rematch from Saturday Night due to the Blue Bloods ruining the match to get at the Bruiser. Alright, Bruiser brutalizes Armstrong on the mat to start by turning his arm in ways it shouldn’t go and clawing at his face. Armstrong gets a break, but gets caught in a headlock and standing surfboard. Bruiser levels Brad with a forearm and takes him over with a cravat, but Armstrong comes back with a quick hiptoss for two. Bruiser escapes a headlock and slams Armstrong’s sternum on the apron. Armstrong gets his leg posted, then gets stuck in a half crab. Bruiser transitions by sticking his foot behind Armstrong’s knee and pulls back on his toes to stretch the hamstrings! Armstrong elbows out, but then they both go crashing over the top rope to the floor. Back in, Bruiser delivers a backslide for two. Armstrong catches him with a boot in the corner and hits a face slam. Nice back suplex by Brad, but then he runs into a tilt-a-whirl slam for 1-2-3. (6:47) Bruiser gets booed, but he’s just here to beat up Regal. He’s not here to make friends. Good little match. **¾

Coming up next on TNT, high school is a breeze when you’re a werewolf. Check out Jason Bateman in Teen Wolf Too! Let the crap fest begin! Then at 1AM, buying a home is usually a good investment, but not for Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. Fall into The Money Pit! Well that movie wasn’t so bad, but I’m a Tom Hanks fan.

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair (w/Elizabeth & Woman) vs. Randy Savage
This is Savage’s first shot at Flair since Liz turned on him and traded in those pretty dresses in for something slutty. Savage is much more calm than you would expect him to be. You’d think he’d be going bonkers all over Flair, but that’s not the case. He’s even got his fancy cowboy hat and the flowing streamers ring jacket on. Flair struts, so Savage shows him what he thinks of that with a huge loogie. Savage jabs away and backdrops Flair, but an atomic drop out of the corner slows him down and causes him to roll out to the floor. Flair follows him out and throws Savage into the front row. Savage chases Woman away and then turns around into an elbow from Flair. Once it’s safe to do so, Woman comes back over and claws Savage’s face. Back in the ring, Savage wins a slugfest, but runs into an elbow. Flair Flop! Savage slams Flair off the top and grabs a Figure-Four. Flair reaches the ropes and goes low on Savage. Next up, he counters a sleeper with a back suplex. Flair catches Savage with another back elbow, which Elizabeth applauds. Stalling suplex by Flair connects. He follows up with the FIGURE-FOUR! Savage reverses out, but the damage is done. Savage fires back, but Flair continues to shut him down with a chop. Savage spits at Flair again, so you KNOW he means business. Flair tries to counter the ten-count punch again with an atomic drop, but this time Savage sees it coming and nails Flair. He whips Flair in for the Flair Corner Flip and catches him with a clothesline on the apron. Savage delivers a Flying Double Ax Handle, which cues Elizabeth to get up on the apron. Meanwhile, Woman throws in a high heel shoe! Savage intercepts the throw and nails Flair! Cover, 1-2-NO! Here comes Kevin Sullivan. The way it looked, Woman broke up the pin with her other shoe! Of course, the ref sees NONE of this. Hogan runs down and starts beating up Sullivan while Arn runs in and DDTs Savage. Flair covers and gets the three-count. (11:23) These two were rocking and rolling all the way up to the end with the ton of interference. ***

With Hogan and Savage outnumbered 3-to-2, the BOOTY MAN makes his debut and cleans house on the heels. The crowd is dumbfounded while the announcers all play stupid as to who this guy is or used to be like two weeks ago. Flair, Arn, and Sullivan take over the announce table again like last week, but this time it’s not as awesome. Hogan, Savage, and the Booty Booty Booty Booty Booty Booty Booty Man (Hogan’s words, not mine) chase them away immediately and make a six-man challenge for next week. Alright, we out.