1995 Discussion

Discuss 1995 in Nitro.

Brian Pillman Vs Jushin Liger – Nitro 04/09/1995
I’ve heard some really, really great things about their previous matches, but I’ve yet to see them lol (I’ll get to it). Can’t say I’ve heard anything about this match, and around half way into it (its only short), I can see why.

Botches botches botches. And pointless high flying moves for the hell of it. As an actual match, it’s not good, BUT being on the first episode of Nitro I can see why these two were put in a match together and why they went out there and did nothing but cool looking moves.

Won’t come anywhere near my list, but hey, it was enjoyable to watch for the most part and I did get a laugh with some of the botches... especially when a couple of botches were from the same move . Oh, and the last minute or so of the match has plenty of awesomeness, though the finish is shit lol.

Ric Flair Vs Sting – Nitro 04/09/1995
The main event for the first ever Nitro. Flair is Flair, but I’m not expecting much from 1995 Flair, and Sting is a guy I’ve never cared much for. Maybe this poll will change my opinion of the guy.

Oh look. It’s Lex Luger. He just showed up from where all the wrestlers come out from. Meaning he obviously had to be backstage. Wouldn’t it have been better if he had come through the crowd like Hall did in 96?

Well, another match that won’t come close to my top 100. Sting does about 50 press slams to Flair, and umm... one or two other moves maybe. Very little to this match at all, it’s just the same shit over and over and over and over again until the finish that sucks (another sucky finish for the first Nitro?!?!).

Best part of the match is ARN showing up in similar fashion to Luger lol, then decking Flair after the match, sending him away, then making his way back to the ring where Sting is to grab his jacket. He ain’t leaving that with Sting dammit.

Sabu Vs Mr. J.L. – Nitro 09/10/1995
Oh goodie, a Sabu match...

Wait, isn’t Mr. J.L. actually Jerry Lynn? What the fuck is this, ECW???

Huh, so Sabu CAN have a match without botching every single move. You learn something new every day. Match is actually decent. Short, and entertaining. Not much else though, but it didn’t have to be. It’s a random TV match, and so far the best on this set.

Ric Flair Vs Arn Anderson – Nitro 09/10/1995
It’s a steel cage match! Arn defeated Flair at Fall Brawl with help from Pillman, and now Flair wants some revenge.

He takes the fight to his former Enforcer and knocks him for 6 in the early going, but unfortunately for Flair, Arn has the SPINEBUSTER in his arsenal, and once its hit, Flair is fucked.

Arn tries to escape the cage, but Flair stops him. He wants Arn inside the cage so he can kick his arse, and maybe throw his face into the side of the cage a few times too lol.

Not much to this match either (seems to be a pattern with this set so far), but we do get some HATE~! As both men rip each other’s faces apart with the cage every so often.

Pillman shows up and tries to get in the cage, but gets knocked down, then Arn decks Flair with a loaded punch and picks up the second win in a row over Flair!

Fun, but way too short considering they had a feud going.

Eddie Guerrero Vs Chris Benoit – Nitro 16/10/1995
Fuck yeah. One of the things I’m most looking forward to with this WCW Poll is the amount of sub 10 minute matches these guys has had.

Just looked this match up, and it’s the same one that’s on the Benoit DVD (Hard Knocks), and I rated it ****. Hopefully it holds up!

Some awesome action that you should expect out of these two and a lot of is looks stiff as hell too. Great arm work from Benoit, which gives us plenty of great spots as he targets it. Eddie flies around during his hope spots, which not only looks cool but makes sense because his arm is fucked and he needs to rely on his legs to take Benoit down and try to win. Great selling of the arm by Eddie too, and nice to see him continue to sell it when he makes a comeback and even hits a few moves that require the use of his arm.

The false finish from the powerbomb is perhaps the best thing ever. How Eddie didn’t crumple then and there I will never know.

Actual finish is good too, with Eddie instinctively throwing a punch at Benoit, which just hurts his arm, allowing Benoit to hit a Full Nelson suplex for the 123.

Fucking awesome sub 10 minute match that holds up perfectly. My current #13 based on my ****+ ratings list that I am currently using for my list. I’m expecting the list to change as I re-watch everything else on it, but right now this could still end up in my top 20 overall because I fucking love it so much.

Ric Flair Vs Sting – Nitro 06/11/1995
Guessing this is following the PPV where Flair recruits Sting as his tag partner against Arn and Pillman, where it all turned out to be a plan against Sting... I guess... and Flair was in fact with Arn and Pillman and they were bringing back the 4 Horsemen. Why they had to “fake” a break up and have matches against each other and then randomly go after Sting, I don’t know .

Oh hey, look, its Sting hitting a press slam. And doing the same shit he did in his last match with Flair. I’m shocked. NOT.

LMAO at how fucking retarded Sting is here btw. On the outside, Flair hits a suplex, and is clearly in control. He struts, he wooooos, and he leans against the guard rail. Then you see him shaking his head and saying “no”, and it turns out Sting is running at him for a Stinger Splash. 10 points for who can figure out what’s going to happen here. Yep, Flair moves, and Sting goes crashing into the guard rail. Wouldn’t have been retarded had Sting been in control and had put Flair on the guard rail himself or something, but the fact that Flair was in control and was just leaning against the damn thing because he WANTED TO, meaning that Flair was perfectly healthy and in no way in trouble making him easily able to move out of the way makes it fucking retarded. It’s going to take a lot for me to change my opinion of Sting if he keeps this shit up.

At least Flair makes up for that shit for the rest of the match when he works over Sting in the ring, and does his best to stay in control and keeping the name “dirtiest player in the game” alive and well as he does it.

Sting makes his Hogan like comeback, and hits is boring as shit offence over and over again, then locks in the Scorpion Death Lock for the win, and refuses to let go until about 5 random guys (and Eddie Guerrero) show up to get him off. Fuck knows where Arn and Pillman where, and LMFAO at the announcers making a huge deal about Luger coming to the ring, only for him to show up about 5 minutes later after getting lost on his way of something.

This match did have plenty of good in it, mostly from Flair. Sting had his moments, and showed some nice HATE~!, but his offence is seriously on the level of what IWC John Cena haters think is all he can do. And I never hear people moan about Sting’s offence, he’s always just mentioned as some big legend...

Sting Vs Dean Malenko – Nitro 13/11/1995
Nice little match here, with Sting showing his power advantage early on (and yes, he does hit a press slam), forcing Malenko to take out the legs of the Stinger. Some nice leg work, a couple of hope spots by Sting before getting cut down again with shots to the legs, and then a shock rollup win at the end as Sting counters a Cloverleaf attempt.

For a 5 minute match between a main event guy like Sting and a WCW newcomer, this was really good.

Sting Vs Hulk Hogan – Nitro 20/11/1995
Hogan’s music hits, and everyone starts booing lol. Savage comes out, pointing to the back for a while as Hogan doesn’t show up. Then he finally comes out of the crowd dressed all in black and wearing a mask, and sneaks up behind Sting... only to turn Sting around and NOT attack him. So what the fuck was the point?

Also, why is Hogan heel? And what happened to Hogan’s moustache? And why is Savage with Heel Hogan? Is Savage heel? Why is Hogan against Sting? Probably should go back and watch the Nitro shows from this time lol.

Oh boy is this dull. The crowd don’t give a shit about anything Hogan does, and unfortunately Hogan controls most of the match. Things pick up a little at the end as Sting comes back and goes after Hogan’s leg, but there is nothing great here.

Then the Dungeon of Doom show up and do what they do best; make shit worse. Yeah, that’s it. Could have been one of Nitro’s biggest matches, but nope.

Nakano and Hokuto Vs Ozaki and Suzuki – Nitro 27/11/1995
A female Japanese tag!

Screaming. Crazy moves. Constant movement. That pretty much sums up this match. They never seem to slow down unless they are going for a cover, and half the time the women on the apron just randomly gets on the ropes for a high flying move, and just waits there until her partner sees her and makes the tag lol.

Pretty sure they work stiffer and hit some better moves than 90% of the entire male WCW roster lol. Entertaining shit, but also very weird to watch .

Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman Vs Sting & Lex Luger – Nitro 27/11/1995
What’s the best way to start a Sting match? No, not a press slam you fuck. An Arn Anderson SPINEBUSTER. Oh yeah.

Fuck. Press slam. From BOTH Sting and Luger. Not liking where this is going...

Arn continues to save shit though by bumping around like only Arn can, and we get some fun stuff with Luger “outsmarting” the heels and bumping them around. Ironically though it’s Luger than aids Arn and Pillman in the match when Luger launches Pillman off the ropes, right into Sting (by accident, but you know they will play it up as tension between Sting and Luger, which is what they were doing storyline wise at the time).

Not sure if the finish was supposed to be a 3 count or not, because Pillman kicks Sting off him just as the ref rings the bell, and Sting goes flying right into a DDT from Arn in a pretty spectacular looking spot tbh. Then Flair shows up and takes out Luger as the 3 Horsemen tear Sting and Luger apart, which could have been a DQ finish if the pinfall wasn’t supposed to happen.

Some good stuff here, and all of it was Arn. He bumps around, he is made to look foolish, he capitalises on the mistake of Luger when he throws Pillman into Sting, and that DDT spot at the end was just awesome. Shame this couldn’t have gone longer though.

Eddie Guerrero Vs Mr. J.L. – Nitro 11/12/1995
Nothing here but back and forth MOVES~! action. Fun to see the first time, but no reason to watch it again.

Ric Flair Vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro 18/12/1995
It’s 2 week before Starrcade, where Eddie will be in the WCW Vs Japan competition thing, and Flair... is probably involved with the World Title lol. Cool to see these two, both of who have important matches at the PPV in less than 2 weeks, face each other in a match.

With two natural entertainers and great wrestlers, how can you NOT enjoy this? Flair being Flair is awesome, and Eddie taking Flair down and mocking Flair is just as awesome.

Nothing really worth mentioning for the better part of the match, but there is nothing horrible either. It’s just pure fun to sit through. However, once Eddie takes a bump off the ropes and hurts his knee, things pick up in a HUGE way as Flair looks vicious as fuck going after the leg.

The finish sees Flair locking in the Figure Four, and using the ropes for leverage. Eddie refuses to give up, and ends up passing out and getting pinned while still in the hold. Gave Flair a nice win going into the PPV, and keeps Eddie looking strong too.

Like.

Ric Flair Vs Randy Savage – Nitro 25/12/1995
Savage is the WCW Champion, and his belt is up for grabs tonight against the Nature Boy who is looking for his 12th World Title win. Who will go to Starrcade as Champion? And why is Starrcade on a Wednesday? And why is there a World Title match on TV 2 days before a PPV?

Savage has an injured arm going into this match. Apparently he hurt it when he was slam choked on the floor by The Giant. Seriously. SLAM CHOKED. And Heenan of all people said it! Maybe being in WCW made him randomly go stupid every now and then. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to commentating with Dusty a few years ago.

Heenan makes up for that mistake by giving us a scientific explanation as to why Flair gave Savage a low blow.

Match gets around 15 minutes, the longest on this disc, but honestly I can’t remember ANY of it before the last 2 minutes. It wasn’t bad, just... there and nothing more. Oh, and the finish was a bullshit DQ ending too when Luger comes down and attacks Savage. Also, why did Flair not go after Savage’s bad arm?

Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrero/Mr. JL (WCW Monday Nitro, 10-23-95)
High paced STF. Match was pretty much secondary to John Tenta and Scott Norton fighting in the back and Bischoff talking about how the Taskmaster is getting into Hulk Hogan’s head. Not a lot else going on, and while it was easy to watch, it won’t make my list. **1/4

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero -Nitro (10/16/95)
Utterly fantastic. One of those matches that just puts someone on the map. You could really tell WCW had high hopes for Benoit the way this was layed out because he looked like an animal. Eddie played his role perfectly as he always does. Powerbomb Cal eluded to was one the best EVER. Easily one of the best sub 10 minute matches I can ever recall seeing. If we ever do indeed do a sub 10 minute poll, I could see this easily being my #2 or #3. Gonna have a bit of Benoit on my list I’m sure, and this’ll be in the upper half. ***3/4

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero – Nitro (11/6/95)
Another good one. Gonna get old saying that. ***1/4

Chris Benoit v Eddy Guerrero (Nitro 16/10/95)
--Awesome for eight or something minutes, but I won't put it on my list; I can guarantee I'll find 100 better matches. Not complaining at all though, pre-ten minute matches almost don't get better. They fit the arm work with Eddy in there shockingly well with only five or something minutes remaining and Eddy sold it perfectly while they still managed to keep up the hurricanranas and dives they were doing before. "Top 100 matches under twelve minutes" would be a godly poll.

Chris Benoit v Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 10/16/95)
- I watched so many Eddy/Benoit matches last year that I struggle to differentiate between them all. This is the one that always sticks out, though. It's on Benoit's Hard Knocks DVD, so I think that makes it their only WCW match to get the WWE DVD treatment (and will very likely stay that way), but other than that, it's THAT powerbomb that I'll never forget. I mentioned Meng's MURDEROUS powerbomb on Eddy yesterday, but this one is even more ridiculously nasty. Match goes about 8 minutes and is probably the perfect "Nitro Style" match; they fit plenty of nifty stuff in, both guys get to bust out their spots, etc. There aren't as many momentum shifts here either, so Benoit gets a nice "run" on offence while Eddy sells the arm. Finish pays off the arm work as well, and this is just really good stuff. Gonna go back and watch the rest of their matches at some point, I think. Not sure if I'll wind up listing this, but it has as good a shot as a million other things, I suppose. ***1/2

Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero - Nitro 10/16/95
Terrific match. Worried at the beginning that it'd turn exhibition-y, but then Benoit took a vicious posting, and Eddy chased him and forearmed the post. Opening sprint was fun, but it took off once Benoit started to work the arm. Eddy's selling was great. Mid-90s babyface Eddy is probably worst Eddy, but he still ruled here and busted out tons of slick hope spots and ate a disgusting powerbomb from Benoit. Really, the nastiest. Finish rules a ton and bumps the match up 10 spots or something.

Jushin Lyger Vs Flyin' Brian - September 4th 1995
This is still a fucking good wee match and the perfect opening to Nitro, fast paced, good matwork, good flying around the ring just... good. What's not good is FUCKING MONGO MCMICHAEL, never has the name Mongo been more fucking appropriate. But yeah, there's really not much to say about this match, it's 10 minutes of fluid as hell wrestling from two of the best, it might make my list in the bottom 10, maybe.

Chris Benoit v Eddie Guerrero 16/10/1995
8 minutes of perfection. They fit in nice exchanges and some great arm work on Eddie and build up to his highflying well and of course Eddie takes time to grab his arm throughout this. Motherfuckingawesome powerbomb as well, in hindsight that should have been the finish but I always dig Benoit using the bridging full nelson.

***1/2

Sting vs. Ric Flair (Nitro, 09/04/95)
Very "routine" match, which I suppose is to be expected from these two. And why not? What they do works, and keeps the crowd happy. It's a fun little TV match that's remembered more for Luger showing up than anything remarkable in the ring. The commentary is a bit brutal at times, like when Sting hits a superplex, Mongo claims that the ring just moved 2 feet and now his monitors aren't working due to the impact. Yeah, hyperbole would be putting it lightly. Sting was actually a lot more over here than I remembered him being in '95, he doesn't manage to fuck anything up and compliments Flair nicely. Pretty much exactly what you would expect here from reading it on paper. Nothing special, but significant for the sheer fact that it's the very first Nitro ME ever.