WCW Monday Nitro 2/5/1996

WCW Monday Nitro 2/5/1996

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/12/wcw-monday-nitro-1291996.html

Eric Bischoff, Steve McMichael and Bobby Heenan are on commentary.

They talk about tonight's card.   

WCW World Title - "Macho Man" Randy Savage (c) vs Chris Benoit

Woman and Miss Elizabeth are with Macho. They roll on the ropes. CB drops Macho with shots and throws him out. Macho is sent into into the rails then thrown in. CB pulls down Macho inside. CB tries to catapult him and fails. CB hits chops. CB knee chokes Macho then chinlocks him.

CB snap suplexes him. CB slams him then hits a nice top rope diving headbutt. CB chops him in the corner then backdrops him. CB elbows him over then legdrops him. CB backbreakers him and Macho eye rakes him.

Macho hits some shots to the gut and CB headbutts him. CB foot chokes him. Macho pulls CB out by the arm. Macho is sent into the post. Macho lariats him. Woman gets on the apron. CB back body drops Macho over the top. CB tries to tope Macho but Macho moves and CB bangs his head right off the concrete. Macho hits a top rope elbow drop.

Ric Flair comes out and grabs Liz. Macho goes after Ric as he hides behind Liz. Woman than chokes Macho from behind, turning on him for the DQ.

Thoughts: I never really got why Macho was coming out with all the girls and it didn't make sense for him to come with out with Woman since in kayfabe, he was still with Liz (I suppose anyway). CB did a nasty tope where he missed and banged his head off the concrete. Macho took a nice back body drop out too. I wasn't a fan of this though as it was really one-sided and not super exciting.

Macho is beaten up by Flair and Arn. Hulk Hogan then comes out with a chair and nails Arn and CB with it.

Mean Gene Okerlund tries to talk to Hulk after. Staff come out to walk Macho to the back. Gene says this doesn't bode well for Superbrawl. Gene says he doesn't know what's going on. Hulk says they gotta put a stop to Flair and says he wants a match with Flair.

Ric Flair then comes in and nails Hulk from behind. Gene and Liz don't tell Hulk even though they see Ric. Ric pounds on Hulk and eye rakes him. Liz doesn't try to help at all. The Giant and The Zodiac come out. Giant chairs hulk in the back. Zodiac tries to stop Giant from doing more. Macho then comes back out and takes the chair from Giant. Giant, Zod and Ric leave.

Macho asks why Liz didn't warn Hulk about the blindside and says what he will do to Ric can't be said on TV. Hulk holds his taped up eye and Macho says to get some help.

Thoughts: I'm glad Macho brought up Gene and Liz standing there and not saying anything while Hulk got blindsided. That was hard to understand.

The Dungeon of Doom (Hugh Morrus and The Taskmaster) vs The Four Horsemen (Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman)

This came about due to The DoD attacking Arn and BP from behind during a discussion in the ring last week.

Hugh backs up BP in the corner. BP hits Hugh and chops him. Hugh gorilla press slams BP then does the same to Arn. They say a respect match has been signed between BP and Task.

BP messes with a camera. BP lariats Task. Task no sells it then chops on BP. Task forearms BP. BP kicks Hugh from the apron. Hugh lifts him by the throat and is hit from behind. Arn spinebusters Hugh. 

BP works on Hugh in the corner and slaps him. Arm snapmares Hugh and chinlocks him. Hugh top wristlocks Arn and BP clips Hugh in the legs. Hugh is 2v1'd in the corner then thrown out. BP sends Hugh into the rail. Arn knee drops Hugh.

Hugh clubs on BP then BP and Task go at it hard. They trade some legit looking shots. BP is put in tree of woe and Task running knees him. BP no sells it and chops him. Task takes him down and bites his face. BP and Task go at it hard and Task rakes BP's face. Arn takes Task out of the ring and they go to the back. Arn tries to piledriver Task near the stage and someone from backstage hits Arn with a broom.

Hugh back body drops BP on the floor. Hugh slams him and Task grabs a belt. The DoD are DQ'd.

Thoughts: The Task/BP part of this looked legit. I believe it was part shoot. And if it wasn't, it was well worked. It was a heel vs heel match otherwise though. The crowd didn't really know how to react. We didn't get much wrestling here and the finish wasn't clean. Props to the ref though for disqualifying the heels just for bringing a weapon in.

Hugh holds BP down and Task whips BP with a belt after. Arn comes back down to ringside and BP walks off in anger.

Ric Flair vs Marcus Bagwell

MB = Marcus Bagwell

Woman comes out with Ric. Paul Orndorff comes up to the commentators. He says the funny thing about payback is that you never know when it'll happen. Heenan calls him "the broom man", saying he was the one who attacked Arn with the broom.

MB headlock takeovers Ric. We are told Macho has taken Hulk to the hospital. Ric chops up MB then stomps him in the corner. MB back body drops him and lariats him over. MB lariats him over the top. MB lariats him on the floor.

Ric and MB trade chops for punches. MB hits a punch flurry and staggers Ric. MB then drops him with a punch for 2. MB back body drops Ric then dropkicks him for 2. MB misses a dropkick. MB cradles him for 2.

They collide in the middle and somehow MB falls over the top off of it. Woman gets on the apron and Ric boots MB outside. Ric knee drops him. They trade inside. MB hits back hands and punches. Ric boots him out of the corner for 2. MB throws Ric off the top then lariats him. 

MB superplexes Ric for 2. MB goes for a slingshot splash but Ric gets his knees up. Ric figure fours him and taps him out.

Thoughts: Bagwell was really good here some nice fiery comebacks and lots of decent shots. He put up a good fight against Ric and Ric did his job. The figure four finish was not built up to well at all though. I liked this one but I'm not sure why it got so much time or why they chose Bagwell.

Macho comes out and chases down Flair. Flair runs to the back. Doug Dillinger and security try to stop Macho but he pulls a guard down hard and chases.

WCW World Tag Team Title Match - Lex Luger & Sting (c) vs. The Road Warriors

Animal throws Sting down off the lock-up. Animal throws Sting. Animal misses an elbow drop and Sting facebusters him. Sting top rope diving lariats Animal for 2.

Lex and Hawk go at it. Lex piledrivers Hawk. Hawk no sells it and lariats Lex. Hawk flying shoulders him then fist drops him. Hawk hits a corner lariat. Sting hits a corner splash and Animal breaks up the scorpion deathlock attempt. 

Animal hits spears to the gut of Sting and knocks him over. Animal runs the ropes and Lex pulls the top rope down on Animal. Sting doesn't seem happy. Lex stomps Animal in the ring. Animal boots Lex out of the corner. Lex slams Animal then elbow drops him. We apparently lost power for a bit but this version of the show corrects the issue.

Sting front facelocks Animal. Lex hits shots on Animal then powerslams him. Animal backdrops Lex for 2. Sting breaks the pin up. Hawk throws Sting out. Lex suplexes Animal. Animal no sells it. Animal powerslams Lex. Jimmy Hart gets in the ring and drops some kind of weapon he has. Animal grabs Jimmy and Lex hits Animal in the back with the weapon. Lex then pins Animal.

Thoughts: The match was just a match for the most part. It had a dirty finish and wasn't that great. All the guys were on the back halfs of their careers and they didn't get the time or the spot to have the dream match this really should have been.

Mean Gene interviews Hawk and Animal after. Hawk says they are demanding a rematch. Gene brings up Animal's back problems and says it looks like Lex went after it. Animal says nobody can beat them fair and squash. Animal says they want a match between the winners of Harlem Heat vs Sting and Luger. Hawk says you don't wanna do this to them but they did and now they pay the price.

The commentators close the show. Heenan says the faces will be on their own in Superbrawl in the cage match.

Overall thoughts: It was an easy to watch show as usual. Nothing was great but the matches are all going somewhere and they kept this one moving. I don't think they put over Superbrawl as well as they could have though and the undercard wasn't built up that well. I'd give this one a 6 out of 10 and I thought it was good.