Andrew Lutzke
November 6th, 1995
RAW
Bulldog vs. Marty Jannetty
Marty cheats early with an eye poke and Vince is fine with it. Bulldog is announced as have already secured the December PPV’s World title shot. Marty with an enziguri but Marty is downed with a suplex and a long head lock. Marty finally escapes but is beheaded by a clothesline. Marty is sent to the floor and we get more headlocks. Marty finally gets free but the Bulldog evades the fist drop from the top rope and is nailed with a DDT instead. Bulldog gets a power slam out of nowhere to win a disappointing match.
“Bill Clinton” will be at Survivor Series.
Bulldog and Cornette threatened Shawn not to cross the Bulldog during the “Wild Card” match at Survivor Series.
Clips of Bam Bam Bigelow challenging Goldust.
Terry Richards vs. HOG
This is noteworthy because Richards went on to be Rhyno. HHH has been pestering HOG recently and had his slop removed from ringside during a match. SMELL THE BUYRATE!! Slop drop wins it after 90 seconds. HHH sneak attacks HOG after and pedigrees him onto the concrete, then pours his slop over him.
Bret Hart and Hakushi vs. Jerry Lawler and Isaac Yankem
Barry Horowitz joins the babyfaces. Yankem pounds on Bret to start but Hart quickly uses technical wrestling to wrench at Isaac’s arm and take over. Hakushi enters via a flying headbutt to the arm. Hakushi knocks Yankem into the corner and does a mini-bronco buster. Hakushi tries a somersault elbow and Isaac wallops him down. Yankem tries to toss him over the top but Hakushi catches the ropes and launches himself back in with a big dropkick that sends Yankem to the floor. He’s caught in a follow up plancha attempt and driven into the ring post and the ring edge back first. Lawler tags in, trolls Bret and then piledrives Hakushi. Then another. Get the body bag. Yankem bear hugs Hakushi. Lawler tries a top rope attack and Hakushi strikes him in the throat on the way down. Bret finally tags in and he wipes out both heels. Bret slaps the Sharpshooter on Yankem but Lawler tries to hit Bret with a chair, so Horowitz grabs it and the ref DQ’s the faces. So the guy headlining the next PPV just teamed up with low card guys to wrestle an announcer and a dentist. Take all my money now Vince!
Nitro
WCW is running a 1-900 fan call in to determine the main event. I think they ran this gimmick once before on WCW Saturday Night. Bischoff basically tells us to vote for Flair vs. Sting.
Randy Savage is still not medically cleared but he is in the back going crazy.
Cobra vs. The Giant
WCW Production fucks up and plays the Dungeon of Doom’s music first before switching to Cobra’s music – then when they fix it they cut off the ring announcer’s mic. The Giant is wearing the WCW title even though Hogan is officially still the champ as far as we know. What a debut bout for the Giant. 1 move. Choke slam. 1-2-3.
Mean Gene is with Scott Norton, DDP, The Shark, Big Bubba and The Blue Bloods. These are the heel choices for the call in vote. Norton and Shark start to brawl.
J.L., Sting, The Nasty Boyz, Hacksaw Duggan, Dave Sullivan and Alex Wright are the babyface counterparts in the call in vote.
We go to Venice Beach, California where Randy Savage and Hogan are hanging out with a biker who looks like Donald Gibb from Revenge of the Nerds and Bloodsport fame. Savage is in black as he is also joining the darkside. Savage says Hogan is too invested in this and he needs Randy to take the high road to find out who is on their side. A street merchant plays a song about Hulkamania. LULZ.
Kevin Sullivan vs. The Renegade
Renegade charges in with a series of clotheslines that send Sullivan to the floor. Jimmy Hart distracts Renegade and Sullivan attacks him and crotches him on the barricade. Taskmaster double stomps him and chops away. Kevin hits knees on a senton attempt and Renegade powerslams Sullivan. A follow up charge misses and another double stomp wins it. Hart and Sullivan wipe the paint off of Renegade to take the stench of Hulkamania off of him.
Sullivan and Norton shove each other in the back and the LIGHTS GO OFF. Who is running this production? Flair cuts a promo in the dark because he’s awesome. The light comes back on and Flair works it into the promo. Oh WCW…
Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero
This is a rematch of the best match in Nitro history. Benoit attacks Eddy before the bell. Vicious snap suplex. Hard chop. Crisp back drop. High altitude spinebuster and Eddy ends up in a Liontamer. Eddy rallies with a flying arm mare and a plancha to the floor. Eddy gets caught on the top rope and is superplexed. Nasty powerbomb. Eddy gets some roll up near falls off of Benoit’s offense. Benoit hits a back suplex and tries another but Eddy tries to escape and ends up with a belly to belly suplex. They slug it out on the apron and Eddy lands on top of Benoit for the pin with Chris’ feet tangled in the ropes. Terrible refereeing job! Match didn’t have the same flow as their classic from a few weeks earlier and felt more like an exhibition of moves.
Masa Chono, Justin Liger, Kensuke Sensaki, and Masa Saito are with Sonny Onoo at ringside.
Sting vs. Ric Flair
Sting is all over Flair right away with punches and a press slam. Flair is flipped to the floor and beat up there too. Flair finally gets some offense and suplexes Sting on the floor – but Sting no sells it. A Stinger splash misses and Sting eats the barricade. Flair works the leg and locks in the figure four. Sting finally no sells the move and rolls out of it. Sting no sells some chops and punches and Sting press slams Flair again and drops him with a clothesline. A poke to the eye stops that momentum. Flair claws at Sting’s eyes and tries to use a chair, but the ref snags it away. Flair uses the ropes for a series of 2 counts and I’m pretty sure it’s the same ref that just blew the call with Benoit.
Flair is slammed off the top rope as you start to get the feeling that these two could have this match with their eyes closed. Sting grabs the ref and carries him away. Flair blasts him with brass knuckles and only gets 2. Sting press slams Flair again and superplexes Flair. Scorpian Death Lock and Flair quits. Sting refuses to release the hold. JL and Eddy come out and try and convince Sting to let the move go. Dave Sullivan comes in as well. Lex Luger tries to come down but WCW officials block him. Hacksaw Jim Duggan comes in and finally that’s enough to pull Sting off. Sting charges the ring and reapplies the move. Luger makes it to the ring and says something to Sting and Sting lets go of the hold and walks off with Lex. That certainly won’t help convince Hogan and Savage to trust Sting.
Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart and The Giant promo. Hart makes fun of Hogan’s movies and then reveals he had power of attorney to sign the stipulation at Halloween Havoc that Hogan would lose the title at Havoc if he lost by DQ. A WCW attorney comes to the ring and declares that Hogan lost on dubious terms and thus the belt is vacated and the new champion will be determined in the 60 man World War 3 battle royal. Sullivan tosses the belt at the attorney and says the Giant will win the title anyway. It’s odd that they keep referencing Nick Bockwinkel as WCW commissioner and yet he has made zero appearances on Nitro.
Good show overall.
Final Thoughts:
Ric Flair doing a promo in the dark, plus an intriguing development in the World title picture vs. a dull RAW with mind boggling booking for the main event. Nitro wins this week easily.
