1996 Discussion

Discuss 1996 in Nitro

Ric Flair Vs Sting – Nitro 15/01/1996
The World Title is on the line, and yes, that means that Ric Flair won it at Starrcade! Shame his first title defence is against Sting, who is quickly becoming my most hated WCW guy during this poll lol. Hopefully some earlier Sting stuff will change that.

This seems to be a much better match than most Sting matches on this set so far, and I’m only half way into it. There was a couple of weird Sting spots early on (and of course, PRESS SLAM~!), but Flair was his usual awesome self and the rest of what Sting did was actually good too. Really loved the transition into Flair’s big control segment, with Sting going for a Stinger Splash while Flair was against the ropes (but not in the corner), only for Flair to move and Sting to crash and burn. Didn’t make Sting look like a retard this time either lol.

Finishing stretch is a bit meh with Sting hitting a billion press slams (god I hate that move), but the actual finish was good as they teased more dissention between Sting and Luger.

Match is probably on par with their other match, minus a retarded spot from Sting.

Ric Flair Vs Randy Savage – Nitro 22/01/1996
It’s weird, I’m a big fan of Flair and Savage, but just like their last match, I’m not paying that much attention to it. I’m watching the screen but not really taking anything in. It was solid enough I guess, but just didn’t hold my interest.

Oh, and get this. Savage wins the belt back. Yeah. How fucking pointless was Flair’s title win? And why not do it on PPV? Or at least the main event of the fucking show?

Dean Malenko Vs Brian Pillman – Nitro 22/01/1996
Good stuff here. Pillman is really getting his crazy gimmick over, by taunting Malenko instead of continuing to beat him down, screaming at the camera, and not going for a cover after moves like the tornado DDT lol.

Finish was retarded though (fuck me, how many dumb finishes have we had on this set so far? Was Russo playing both sides at this time?), but kept Malenko looking strong I guess?

Hulk Hogan Vs Ric Flair – Nitro 29/01/1996
Hulk Hogan? Nope. PIMP Hogan sounds more like it! Guy comes out with 4 women lol!

Shit, this match is... GOOD. Flair looks awesome when controlling the match, and Hogan does a good job of selling the leg as Flair attacks it, as well as making us believe that he won’t be able to come back into the match.

Jimmy Hart on the outside is great too, constantly attacking Hogan when he gets thrown out, and is all around a little shit.

As well as the match turning out to be good, the biggest surprise for me was the fact that FLAIR WINS. Sure, Arn gets involved (and gets beat up), and Jimmy Hart attacks Miss Elizabeth on the outside and throws a shoe into the ring for Flair to stab Hogan in the eye with, but a Flair victory over Hogan is a rarity in the wrestling world lol.

Tons of fun to watch, and some really good action too. Won’t make my list, but I’m still shocked at how good this turned out to be.

Randy Savage Vs Chris Benoit – Nitro 05/02/1996
Match starts with back and forth hugging around the entire ring lol. Oh, and this is a title match apparently. Didn’t even see Savage come out with the belt...

Solid match here, but I gotta admit I was expecting something better. Everything was a little too slow for my liking given the 2 men involved. Benoit was good on offence, and he was dominant for 90% of the match too, but he was more methodical than intense and stiff. It was still good stuff, but just not what I was expecting. Savage was great at selling the beating too.

In the end though, the rest of the Horsemen come down to make sure Benoit isn’t pinned or anything as he takes himself out with a Suicide Dive (no ummm... sick joke intended?). Women joins the Horsemen here too btw.

Arn Anderson Vs Hulk Hogan – Nitro 12/02/1996
If anyone can make me excited to see a Hulk match, its Arn motherfucking Anderson (McQueen’s second favourite Anderson!).

Anderson keeps getting the better of Hogan thanks to his way superior wrestling skills, but Hogan just no sells everything and knocks the shit out of Arn, even though he only has one good eye lol.

Hogan has revenge on his mind, as it was fellow Horsemen Ric Flair that injured his eye, so Hogan wants to take out Arn to send a message to Flair. Poor Arn takes multiple head and arm shots into the ring post, and Hogan even heels it up by choking Anderson with his wrist tape!

Eventually Arn regains control with an elbow to the eye, and Flair comes out with Miss Elizabeth to watch on as his buddy Arn takes out Hulkamania!

SPINEBUSTER~!

NO SELL OF THE SPINEBUSTER~!

HULK UP~!

BULLSHIT~!

Hogan continues to send a message to Flair by locking in the Figure Four to Arn! Flair gets pissed and comes in to help, but Hogan displays his WRASSLIN skills and rolls up Flair at the same time! The ref gets Flair out of there, and Women throws power into the eyes of Hogan, and Arn decks him with a shoe just like Flair did a few weeks before... and ARN ANDERSON PINS HULK HOGAN.

This was some serious fun shit. Arn is Arn, and Hogan being more aggressive was actually pretty good too. Finish was crazy but well done, and Arn getting the win was just awesome.

Ric Flair Vs Randy Savage – Nitro 19/02/1996

*sigh*

Not another match between these two. I don’t think I have the attention span to sit through it. I honestly don’t know what it is about these two wrestling but I just don’t care. Their WM match was great (even if I didn’t love it as much as most people), but anything they seem to be doing in WCW just bores me.

Wait... Flair is the champion again? Fuck me, how many times is this belt gonna change hands lol? No wonder Flair won so many world titles.

Finally, something good from them lol. Good pace, plenty of HATE~! from Savage who has some great punches btw. He also uses Flair’s figure four against him, and even cheats a bit using the ropes for leverage because he wants to punish Flair before he beats him.

There is an awesome battle near the end of the match when Savage comes back from a Flair control segment, with Flair chopping Savage and knocking him down, only for Savage to jump back up and jab Flair in the face. Repeat about 4 times before Flair finally breaks down. Awesome.

Finish is... fucked up lol. Liz gets on the apron and distracts the ref, and Women throws a show into the ring but Savage catches it and levels Flair. Kevin Sullivan shows up for some fucking reason and seems to be chasing Women? Oh, and apparently Savage only got a 2 count too, and Hogan shows up as well to get Sullivan... who is actually on Flair’s side? Anyway, while all this is going on, Arn drops Savage with a DDT, and Flair gets the win.

But that’s not all. Oh no. Ladies and Gentlemen, the debut of quite possibly the biggest, most awesome superstar in HISTORY.

The Booty Man.

Aside from a strange finish and the debut of a man who I want to DIE, this was a great match!

Road Warriors Vs Steiner Brothers – Nitro 11/02/1996
This was supposed to be The Nasty Boys Vs Road Warriors... but fuck knows what happened to them and the Steiners show up instead lol.

This is great to watch. Steiners are just launching the Road Warriors around for the most part of the match, but at least they work over Animal and get him to be FIP for a while, so it’s a little more than just a MOVES~! fest lol. Pretty awesome to see the likes of Hawk and Animal getting suplexed and thrown around everywhere given their reputation and whatnot.

In the end though, a shot to Rick by Animal with a spiked something that they wear gets the Road Warriors the win.

Randy Savage Vs Finlay – Nitro 25/03/1996
Great 5 minute match here. Finlay is his vicious and awesome self, just beating the fuck out of Savage who sells the offence really well. In the end though, Savage uses his quickness to avoid Finlay running into him, and Finlay goes head first into the ring post, allowing Savage to hit the Elbow Drop and get the 3 count!

Ric Flair Vs The Giant – Nitro 25/03/1996
As I was watching this, I was thinking that Andy might be crazy enough to have this match as his #100. Then when the match finished, I was thinking that I would have it as my #100 lol. This is the most fun I’ve had watching a match in quite some time. Even more fun that watching Lalwer and Miz in a TLC match lol.

Starts off with Flair being a cocky bastard, only to find out that nothing he tries is working against The Giant, who just stands there and takes everything Flair throws at him without moving an inch.

Then The Giant goes on the offense, with simple shit like a press slam (which is actually done WELL here. Take notes Stinger!), and Flair sells everything like a fucking gun shot. At one point he rolls out of the ring to go to the back, but Giant just picks him up over his shoulder and carries him back to the ring to endure more punishment.

Eventually Flair gets a bit of good luck and avoids a Giant Stinger Splash, and The Giant flies over the top rope like a Cruiserweight. From here, with the aid of Women and Liz, Flair starts to choke out The Giant with some wire and The Giant looks to be in trouble... for about 2 minutes.

Once The Giant gets back to his feet, Flair is fucked again. Chokeslam! The Giant looks to become the new World Champ, but Liz and Women run into the ring! While the ref is distracted, Arn runs in and decks The Giant with a chair! Kevin Sullivan comes in and takes the chair away from Arn, but The Giant turns around and sees Sullivan with the chair! Arn quickly points to Sullivan, showing The Giant who hit him with a chair, and fuck me I burst out laughing as Arn dances with pure joy as The Giant picks up Sullivan for a Chokeslam. He doesn’t dance for long though, as The Giant thinks Arn is laughing at HIM, and gives him a Chokeslam for good measure. The ref throws the match out, and The Giant leaves the ring as 3 men are laid out.

Supermegaawesomefun.

Steiner Brothers Vs Road Warriors Vs Nasty Boys - Nitro 01/04/1996
A month or so ago the Nasty Boys were set to face the Road Warriors, but they got taken out and the Steiners showed up to take their place. We still don’t know who attacked the Nastys, but who cares? Triple threat tag match!

Fuck me. You’ve got 3 teams known for being hard hitting stiff fuckers, and you put them all in the ring together. Bombs are getting thrown, stiff shots for everyone and plenty of nonstop action. It’s actually pretty fucking awesome to watch lol. Guys are making blind tags constantly, the Road Warriors and Nasty Boys keep attacking each other on the outside when they aren’t in the match, and the Steiners are throwing suplexes as often as possible, and also take a turn at being the FIP team with Warriors and Nasty Boys kinda working together to keep them down.

In the end, Public Enemy show up, take out the Nasty Boys, and one of the PE is dressed to look like Knobbs, and rolls himself in the ring to take the 3 count! Steiners win!

I could seriously have watched this shit all day. It got a decent amount of time to start with, but I wouldn’t have minded 30 minutes of it lol.

Sting and Lex Luger Vs Ric Flair and The Giant – Nitro 15/04/1996
I predict a press slam to happen in this match. More than once. Perhaps one from everyone except Flair.

LMFAO at Luger and Sting nearly botching their ENTRANCE. Lex did his pose and Sting nearly walked into Luger’s elbow. Funny shit that isn’t helping me like Sting still .

Fuck me, Mongo actually has to ask Bischoff what happens to the belts in this match, because as well as Sting and Luger being tag champs (which are the ONLY belts on the line), Flair is world champ and Luger is TV champ. He seriously has to ask if the other belts could change hands or not.

Press Slam! PRESS SLAM!

At least it was a cool spot, with The Giant catching him and throwing him back into the ring, followed by Luger doing the same with Giant again throwing him back in, causing Flair to run at The Giant with a chop, that does absolutely nothing, and Flair disappears to the backstage area!

We go to a commercial break and Flair and The Giant are back in the match, with Flair taking another beating before tagging in his partner.

Oh for fucks sake Sting. How retarded are you? Flair has the figure four locked in on Lex... and gets some help from Women who adds more leverage to the hold. Sting runs into the ring and instead of attacking Flair and breaking the hold... goes after Women.

Wanna know how this match ends? Women throws coffee at Luger, who ducks and it goes into Sting’s face instead. I swear to fucking god Russo was sending in finishes to WCW while working for WWF.

Some decent stuff, mostly from Flair and The Giant who have great chemistry together as opponents. The rest was pretty bad though.

Finlay Vs Steven Regal – Nitro 29/04/1996
It’s the parking lot brawl baby! Within the first 20 seconds Finlay drives his leg through a fucking window. That alone should tell you what you can expect from this one lol.

I think my favourite part of the match had to be when the camera man sits inside a car and points the camera at the passenger door window, and Finlay just rams Regal’s face into it... and it doesn’t break.

Regal gets his own back though, by actually smashing Finlay’s head through a window lol. Gottal love Bischoff going crazy on commentary and constantly telling the production truck to zoom out .

Holy shit at the Piledriver on top of the car that gets Regal the win. Jesus that looked sick.

Might be looking at my #99 or something here, because I NEED this match to make the top 100 lol.

Ric Flair Vs The Giant – Nitro 29/04/1996
Woo, another singles match between these two!

Did you know? There are two things you don’t mess with when it comes to a country boy. His DOG and his wife.

God bless Mongo.

Similar start to their last match, with Flair running into The Giant and falling over then stalling for time on the outside. Then, being the dirtiest player in the game (get a damn shower Ric!), Flair resorts to thumbs to the eye, lows blows and knuckle dusters to take The Giant down!

Flair, instead of going for a pin on the big man, lets his ego get the better of him and locks in the figure four! The Giant steals a spot from The Undertaker and sits up while in the figure four, grabs Flair by the throat and hits a Chokeslam! New Champion!

Shorter than the other match, but still fun. A step below it for sure though.

Chris Benoit vs Lord Steven Regal (WCW Monday Nitro, 1-1-96)
About as good a match as you can put together in less than 6 minutes. Ending was bizarre. **1/4

Chris Benoit vs Alex Wright (WCW Monday Nitro, 1-8-96)
DAS WUNDERKIND. Another really solid short match from Nitro. Alex Wright had just come on the scene and Benoit makes sure to test his limits. Wright looked really good for being 19. **

Chris Benoit vs Randy Savage (WCW Monday Nitro, 2-5-96, WCW Title match)
Pretty much with Cal. This was more than solid, but it felt a little like they were holding back or something. Still good for less than 10 minutes, but I was expecting a little more. **1/2

Chris Benoit/Arn Anderson vs Buff Bagwell/Scotty Riggs (WCW Monday Nitro, 6-17-96)
Horsemen are heels but the crowd loves ‘em. Here they kind of just make short work of the opposition. Not a lot to see. *1/4

The Four Horsemen vs The Dungeon of Doom (WCW Monday Nitro, 9-2-96)
At one point in this, Flair started low blowing three of the DoD members, and when Big Bossman got in the ring, Flair cocked back his low blowin’ arm and Bossman fell to the ground out of fear. That should warrant a nomination right there. Match is pretty good, gets a bit of time, but it doesn’t transcend into anything that is going to make a lot of people eager to vote for it. **3/4

Chris Benoit vs Rick Steiner (WCW Monday Nitro, 10-7-96)
This was solid enough. Started out with some cool punches and I was thinking this might rule, but then they kind of lost focus. Not huge on Rick Steiner getting worked over, and nothing changed in this. Best part was easily the “bump” that Mongo took when Rick hit him with the briefcase. REWIND MATERIAL, as Andy would say. *3/4

Chris Benoit vs Hector Guerrero (WCW Monday Nitro, 11-4-96)
Sullivan cuts a box promo where he tells Benoit he’ll see him in the bathroom in Baltimore. What a weirdo. Match is pretty well rounded. Benoit’s shoulder is slightly less taped then it was with Jericho, but it’s still a bull’s eye for Hector. Hector has some really unorthodox offense and it’s kinda neat to see. Already think he’s better than Chavo. Benoit works the midsection and hour #2 of Nitro starts, so they have a shit ton of pyro going off as the match goes on. Yeah, good luck trying to get the crowd’s attention while sparklers are coming out of every orifice in the building, guys. Ending is shitty, but if you pay enough attention to the match and ignore the pyro and crowd going nuts for something in the back of the arena and the announcers talking about the match that every wants to see (Piper vs. Hogan......*facepalm*), then you’ll find a good one. ***

Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett (WCW Monday Nitro, 11-11-96)
Starts off catch as catch can until Benoit chops Jarrett in the face. Rest of the match is pretty intense. Benoit takes a ridiculous bump off the suplex over the top rope and Sting of all people walks in and takes out Jarrett for a DQ. Enjoyed this. **

Chris Benoit vs Steven Regal (WCW Monday Nitro, 12-2-96)
Regal gets busted open from headbutts about 50 seconds into this. Unfortunately, WCW then cuts to a wide shot for the rest of the match. NWO is also doing inside joke commentary. You’ve seen what these guys can do, and with a little over 6 minutes, they went out and had a good one. ***

Chris Benoit vs Chris Jericho (WCW Monday Nitro, 12-30-96)
Match is almost exactly 4 minutes, and it’s probably the best sub 5 minute match I’ve ever seen. Like, it’s not just something that you’d say is good for the time given, it’s actually a good match. They squeezed a ton of great stuff into this without making it feel rushed or making it feel spotty. Jericho hits a missile dropkick to the outside and lands on his feet to start things off, so you know this is gonna have your attention. Benoit constantly gets annoyed with Jericho throughout most of the match and Jericho manages to keep fighting. Jericho makes an inevitable mistake and Benoit puts him down for good, but Jericho again inches closer to beating Benoit. Probably overrating this, but I think having a match this good is a lot harder than having a great match that goes 20 minutes. Has a real shot at my bottom 5. ***

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro (4/22/96)
“Worst” of the bunch so far, but even then, this was still pretty solid for the amount of the match that was shown (6 minutes). Couple awkward exchanges and some sloppiness, but other than that, this was perfectly acceptable. **1/4

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro (7/15/96)
More solid stuff, but this felt more like a theme park ride than a match with the setup of the complex. This is down in Florida and there are like 50 old people sitting in chairs surrounding the ring. Another basic match between the two with the bizarre environment thrown in. **1/2

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro (10/28/96)
Both guys are selling injuries heavily here, so the match suffers in quality as they both really drive home the fact that neither guy is at 100%. Easily the worst match they had up to this point, but that’s to be expected when the point of the match is to be constantly hurt. *1/2

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro (11/18/96)
Felt like I was watching this match in fast forward after the speed of the last one. Mat work based submissions make up the bulk of this. Mostly just Benoit torturing Guerrero. Then the pace picks up big time and they run through a bunch of impressive stuff before Benoit squeaks out a win. Much better than the last few matches. ***1/4 - ***1/2

Chris Benoit vs Eddie Guerrero - Nitro (12/23/96)
Semi finals of the US Title tournament. Winner faces DDP at Starrcade and both guys go out there and make it seem like they want it more than anything. Finishing stretch is as good as these guys have done and the crowd was really into this. ***1/4

Dean Malenko vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr. - Nitro 7/8/96
Less limb work and more fun, but the commentary wasn't nearly as good, and I thought the sprint finishing stretch from the GAB match was better than anything they did here. Still a fun little match. Really whacky spot where Rey totally whiffed an Asai moonsault. Dean did the annoying thing where he had Rey beat but lifted him up before the 3 count. These two clearly had chemistry; I'm hoping the Halloween Havoc match fully clicks because I feel like I should vote for one of their matches but these two and the Clash match all fall a tad short.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman - Nitro 08/26/96
This was Juvi's WCW debut and for 4 minutes that fucker went all out with all that lucha shit that I can't pronounce! Kidman didn't look weak either but he did look stupid since going for a second SSP cost him the match. Can't ask for much better in such a short match. Seriously considering listing this one.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Psicosis - Nitro 07/08/96
This one seemed to get going in a standard aimless TV match direction until Psicosis caught Eddy's shoulder and worked on it for the rest of the match. That work wouldn't equal a win though, Eddy sold the shoulder well and 'fought through the pain' to get the win. Stuff got kinda slow in parts with some control spots going a little too long for my liking. Crowd didn't seem to interested either and the announcers wouldn't shut up about Hogan. No complaints otherwise, can't see this making my list though.

Eddy Guerrero vs. Ric Flair - Nitro 05/20/96
Another great TV match, goes over 15 minutes and it just flies by! Both guys really shine here. Everybody gets their usual spots in, crowd are popping, I'm entertained. It's all good. Don't want to blabber on and on about it, just check it out.

***1/2-***3/4

Steven Regal vs. Randy Savage - Nitro 8/5/96
Match is under 7 minutes but a lot of fun. Won't vote for it, but I liked Regal controlling and taunting early and I loved Savage going wild and dragging his face against the top rope. Then there are a bunch of fireworks and Sting and Luger come out. DISTRACTIONS.

Finlay vs. Steven Regal - Parking Lot Brawl - Nitro 4/29/96
Already watched this back when I first started watching stuff and thought it'd have a decent shot at my list. Re-watch almost guaranteed it a spot. Just a nutty little match with a bunch of bonkers spots. Also re-watched the Dustin/Foley FCA match and thought as far as crazy 6-minute matches go, it was about on par with this bad boy. So I'll probs vote for both, but in the bottom quarter.

Chris Benoit vs. Steve Regal – WCW Nitro 01/01/96
A lot of the stuff used in the previous two matches was re-used here, like the Electric Chair Drop and the jumping Tombstone. The beginning was cool with the head-butts exchange but after that the match stays stuck in the same gear the whole time. Just as things were starting to get good, the match ends out of nowhere. The actual ending was Benoit being hurt after missing a cross-body, so Regal just rolls him into the ring and pins him, completely killing any momentum the match had. At the same time, it’s good enough for 6 minutes.

Belfast Bruiser vs. Steve Regal – WCW Nitro 04/29/96 (Parking Lot Brawl)
A few of us have already covered how good this one is so no need to review it for a second time. It’s still really refreshing to watch the sheer balls-to-the-wall action in this one.

Chris Benoit vs. Dave Taylor – WCW Nitro 05/13/96
Not a whole lot to this one. It's merely a typical quick-ass Nitro match. But I will say, Taylor is a whole lot more athletic than I thought he’d be, the dude’s built like Regal yet he’s doing flips into the ring and cross-bodies. It’s like Benoit intended to include an electric chair spot in every match with the Bluebloods. Really forgettable contest, Mongo walking off commentary to talk to Savage seemed more important than the match itself.

Chris Benoit vs. Steve Regal – WCW Nitro 12/02/96
I noticed Regal got busted open in the early stages of this but this was actually hard to pay attention to. Hall and Nash did commentary and didn’t talk about the match and the visual was kept on the hard camera as wide as possible, that shit made it next to immpossible to keep up, for me anyway. It’s your general goodness from both these guys, match didn’t seem to be anything too special but at least the match continued this time after the missed plancha. Even still, it’s above average quality for Nitro.

Ric Flair vs. Sting - Nitro 01/15/96
I can dig this. It’s nothing extraordinary, and I’m sure they’ve repeated the stuff in this match a thousand times. But for me, it never gets old. The chemistry between these two always feels special, something always just feels right about Sting/Flair. For 10 minutes, I wouldn’t expect much more from these two. I would’ve rathered a clean finish or even anything that didn’t involve Luger but that’s really my only complaint. Probably won’t touch my list but it has as good a chance as any match between these two.

Brian Pillman vs. Dean Malenko – Nitro 01/22/96
For 6 minutes, it’s hard to find stuff better than this. They managed to tell a decent story in such a small amount of time. Pillman’s crowd taunting, arrogant self was the perfect contrast to Malenko’s “Iceman” persona. All-nonsense takes on no-nonsence. Everything was crisp, cool and the finish was pretty unique too. Again, has as good a shot at the list as anything but this is definitely one of my favorite sub-10 minute matches so far in the Poll.

Randy Savage vs. Chris Benoit – Nitro 02/05/96
Well this certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. For 99% of the match, Savage gets his ass kicked, but Benoit makes ONE mistake and it costs him the match. That’s actually ALL there is to it. Savage was the World Champ here too, so it was pretty surprising to see him booked so weak apart from the finish. I won’t be voting for this, can’t see why it was included on the Greatest Nitro matches set either. Wasn’t exactly ‘great’ even by Nitro standards. I’m hopeful that there’s better matches out there between these two.

Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho - Nitro 12/30/96
The only way I can describe this match is: Intense Sprint. I think this was just as good as Pillman/Malenko actually. For a little over 4 minutes, both guys go absolutely full speed, no messing about, no silly antics, no overbooking, just two guys doing the best they possibly could in an extremely short span of time. Benoit was just a complete bad-ass here, while Jericho, even at this point (a few months after his debut), didn't seem to have a whole lot of crowd support. Granted, I think it's matches like this that quickly got him some attention. This'll definitely end up on the list. More than likely at the lower end though.

Belfast Bruiser vs. Brad Armstrong (Nitro 2/19/96)
Rematch, this time possibly without interference.

Finlay ends up looking WAY better here, and we get a better match too. More intense, and a lot more offense from the Bruiser too. Plus, some of those awesome “little things” that most guys don’t even attempt to do. One of my favourites in this match is when Armstrong backs Finlay into a corner, and Finlay starts to act like he’s going to go after a leg... and then blasts Brad in the face with a fucking elbow. And then once he has control of the match again... goes after the leg!

We get a clean finish here too, which is nice.

Really good match, lots of action and plenty of awesome Finlay. Won’t vote for it, but it’s probably worth a watch anyway.

Steven Regal vs. Chris Benoit - Nitro 01/01/1996
No “technical” shit at the start of this one, instead both men are just going for broke with as much brutal offence as they can get it before the other counters lol.

When Benoit gets the better of a STIFF~! Exchange, Regal switched up his game and goes to the match instead, which gives him control of the match, until he gets cocky and tries to go back to brawling with the Crippler, and gets a German suplex for his troubles.

Benoit misses a diving headbutt down the line, and Regal seems to be pissed that Benoit would even attempt to headbutt him... so he unleashes a bunch of headbutts and palm thrusts to the head while Benoit is down on the mat. One of the many fun things these guys do in the match lol.

In the end Benoit makes another mistake with a high flying move and Regal gets the win.

Add the start of the previous match with the rest of this match and you’d have something list worthy no doubt. Instead it’s just another really good match that most likely won’t make my list.

Steven Regal vs. Eddie Guerrero - Nitro 08/01/1996
Has a very “exhibition-y” feel, but is still extremely enjoyable imo with Regal believing he is better than everyone and Guerrero being fairly new in WCW and out to prove himself against the likes of Regal. Lots of exchanges and back and forth action for the first half of the match, but once Regal really gets in control the match picks up and turns into something pretty good.

Regal dominates Eddie for a while, using his typical and awesome offence, but in the end Eddie gets a big upset victory.

Another good TV match for Regal in 96. Starts off exhibition-y as I said, but that’s still fun to watch and once they get past it the match really gets good. Would have liked for these two to have had a feud in say, 97 or something, and then again in WWE in 2005 before Eddie passed away.

Steven Regal vs. Sting - Nitro 06/05/1996
12 minutes left on this disc... and 2 matches to go. Not looking good .

Last week was the parking lot brawl, so Regal is hurt and taped up, which is bad when you are against someone like Sting who likes to Press Slam people a bazillion times in a match.

LOL at Sting making fun of Regal by doing some of his poses but making them really gay... all the while Sting is wearing PINK.

Regal doesn’t take kindly to been mocked and essentially called gay, so he unleashes the viciousness on Sting until Sting makes his superman come back. Sting wins.

Fun for the 6 minutes it gets, but nothing beyond that.

Steven Regal vs. Randy Savage - Nitro 05/08/1996
The early going sees Regal out wrestle the Macho Man, and Regal couldn’t look any more pleased with himself lol. So Savage kicks him in the gut and rakes his face across the top rope. LOL.

Some nice back and forth action with Regal out wrestling Savage, Savage resorting to brawling which leads to Regal bringing out those forearms and uppercuts... but the commentators are more concerned about the fact it’s now the second hour of Nitro, Sting and Luger are coming out and there are numerous other wrestlers out around the ring too for protection in case the NWO show up.

In between all the “excitement” for Sting and Luger and “anticipation” of a possible NWO run in, Savage hits the big elbow and picks up the win.

Fun match, but everything else BUT the match was more important for the show. Shame really, a 10 minute+ match between these two with no NWO possibly showing up bullshit could have been awesome.

Steven Regal vs. Dean Malenko - Nitro 19/08/1996
A ton of rather “pointless” flipping and moving around as both men try to out-do the other and gain control, and bugger me sideways its fun as shit. Regal eventually gets fed up of constantly moving and rolling around and shit, so he decks Malenko in the face and begins to wear down the Ice Man. Regal spends some time working over the next of Malenko, so when Dean gets the chance, he drops Regal on his head and neck with 2 German suplexes, the first being a release that sends Regal all the way over and it looks awesome. Roll up to end it is disappointing, but ah well. Fun little TV match, and 2 more to go on this disc with potential to be better.