WCW Saturday Night – December 23, 1995:
I’m happy to see this return.
The layout continues to really vibe well with me, as someone who enjoys good formatting with a show. I will say with this show, the grey background distracted me as I was reading, though. I maybe would adjust the brightness or colour code of that for future shows.
Mr. JL getting a good push is nice to see, as he was absurdly underutilised in his run in WCW. I feel like when the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship inevitably makes its first appearance here, JL will be a standout contender. I wonder if we’ll even get the mask off him at some point – how can you even hide Jerry Lynn’s face anyway? Devon Storm never really impressed me, that said. I would suspect Koji Kanemoto will retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but it’s good to see life breathe in this division.
Harlem Heat’s interview was fine, and when I think of mid-1990s tag teams, themselves and the Road Warriors immediately spring to mind.
It’s an interesting tandem, seeing Renegade and Crash as a tag team. I’m a little sad that we won’t be seeing Hugh Morrus cackle randomly and do moonsaults for the next few years, but it gives Renegade something substantial to do, so it doesn’t hurt too much. Surprising to see Jerry Flynn as part of WCW so early – he and Mike Enos are a bit of a nothin’ happenin’ team. Naturally it gave the Iron Outlaws their needed debut wins. At least with the biker gimmick, Eric Bischoff will be happy.
Brian Pillman causing anarchy, destroying Ric Flair’s limousine – what could have been, huh? You have a knack for writing his Loose Cannon dialogue, I will say. I’m interested to see future matches with he and Flair. I think a win over him will really make him, but as far as pushing Pillman truly over the edge, repeat losses to Flair would be a fantastic way to go about it.
A side note, but I really am surprised you let Steve Austin go, too.
Scotty Riggs always got tarred with a bad brush in my mind. Very underutilised, competent talent who was never given the right gimmick to work with. I’m always happy to see Brother Bruti lose in this period, so I am on-board with this. Who are Wrath and Fury? I take it Wrath is Bryan Adams, but I wonder who Fury is intended to be…
The Dungeon of Doom are a fascinating bunch of village people, and I’m curious to see how we progress into 1996 with them still a prominent function. Jimmy Hart playing the ringleader here worked, as unserious a face as I find him. That said, the Dungeon of Doom are so outlandishly campy anyway, it somehow works.
Decent exposition for Disco Inferno, who is still a new face at this point. As much as I can’t stand the guy, this character was very over here. Kendall Windham was always an odd one. The size and physique was there, but that was literally about all he had going for him. This was a choice way to break him out and show more character, even if Kendall as Disco’s fellow dancer is an odd choice. Col. Robert Parker was fun to have around.
One day, I’m hopeful Norman Smiley gets fair shake. Meng getting the win here was the best outcome to go with though, as you continue to develop him as a credible star.
Their matches in 1995 were always very good, no doubt thanks to the heavy scripting. Happy to see Johnny B. Badd and Diamond Dallas Page get another opportunity to display it on this show. I like frustration setting in for DDP in losing, and admittedly I never did see the point of Maxx Muscle in his cabinet. I wouldn’t mind seeing Big Bubba Rogers with a slow-burn face turn.
Sabu and Brian Pillman made for a crazy main event, though one that may have gone on too long at 14:00. Pillman taking the win was the expected outcome, and I really liked Chris Benoit in hot pursuit of Pillman. Oh, another match that should have been in this period. I think it’s clear Pillman will be sticking around in 1996, as opposed to you letting him go and do crazier things in ECW and the WWF in 1996. It’s great to see, as this butterfly effect can imply Pillman never gets in the car wreck, or addicted to drugs. The future is promising.
WCW Monday Nitro – December 25, 1995:
Hot way to start as per usual with Sting and Scott Norton going at it. Very 1990s WCW match here, and I like that a lot. I’ll bet this would be a good feud in a few years time, too. Good way to keep Norton strong by not exactly giving up to the Scorpion Deathlock, although tapping out actually wasn’t really a thing for WCW until 1996 from what I can recall. That said, if this was taped from Japan, this made more sense. I’m not too sure how submissions worked in New Japan, admittedly.
I’m glad to see you use this show as a blend of a Year in Review for WCW Monday Nitro in 1995, as well as an original show with elements taken from an NJPW tour.
Lion Do, huh. He’ll never last…good win for Chris Benoit, and I liked the touch of having it be contested for the WCW World Television Championship. Just a note about the timeline, though – I don’t recall Super Liger debuting until the January 4 Tokyo Dome show in 1996. Perhaps I’ve got things twisted, or this is creative liberty of course – not like a week matters, anyway.
I do admire your decision to bring Scott Hall in inside of Lex Luger on that first edition of Nitro. It set for a compelling base for what became a successful fall season of WCW in the framework of this diary.
I suppose we are going to be seeing a lot more of Scott Norton, based off of the angle interrupting Sting and Great Muta’s match from Japan. Norton was still on the rise in 1995, and this could certainly propel him to greater heights as we proceed into the new year.
As someone who missed out on Hulk Hogan being written off, that was a really well-written segment that made a lot of sense. I suspect it will be a matter of time before Hogan returns to take on the Dungeon of Doom, and really, this was the sort of thing that should have happened to cast doubt in Hogan’s character. A real way to build heat before the grand return, and surefire way to overthrow Randy Savage as WCW World Heavyweight Champion (or maybe not, brother).
I can’t speak any more words on how impressed I was with this edition of Nitro. While I would have liked more emphasis on the Christmas aspect when not in Japan, I really liked the inclusion of inserted Japan tour matches with this show. As someone who is always keen on unconventional television for pro-wrestling, this episode really worked, and served well as a buffer between the end of 1995 and the start of 1996.
I’m happy to see this return.
The layout continues to really vibe well with me, as someone who enjoys good formatting with a show. I will say with this show, the grey background distracted me as I was reading, though. I maybe would adjust the brightness or colour code of that for future shows.
Mr. JL getting a good push is nice to see, as he was absurdly underutilised in his run in WCW. I feel like when the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship inevitably makes its first appearance here, JL will be a standout contender. I wonder if we’ll even get the mask off him at some point – how can you even hide Jerry Lynn’s face anyway? Devon Storm never really impressed me, that said. I would suspect Koji Kanemoto will retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but it’s good to see life breathe in this division.
Harlem Heat’s interview was fine, and when I think of mid-1990s tag teams, themselves and the Road Warriors immediately spring to mind.
It’s an interesting tandem, seeing Renegade and Crash as a tag team. I’m a little sad that we won’t be seeing Hugh Morrus cackle randomly and do moonsaults for the next few years, but it gives Renegade something substantial to do, so it doesn’t hurt too much. Surprising to see Jerry Flynn as part of WCW so early – he and Mike Enos are a bit of a nothin’ happenin’ team. Naturally it gave the Iron Outlaws their needed debut wins. At least with the biker gimmick, Eric Bischoff will be happy.
Brian Pillman causing anarchy, destroying Ric Flair’s limousine – what could have been, huh? You have a knack for writing his Loose Cannon dialogue, I will say. I’m interested to see future matches with he and Flair. I think a win over him will really make him, but as far as pushing Pillman truly over the edge, repeat losses to Flair would be a fantastic way to go about it.
A side note, but I really am surprised you let Steve Austin go, too.
Scotty Riggs always got tarred with a bad brush in my mind. Very underutilised, competent talent who was never given the right gimmick to work with. I’m always happy to see Brother Bruti lose in this period, so I am on-board with this. Who are Wrath and Fury? I take it Wrath is Bryan Adams, but I wonder who Fury is intended to be…
The Dungeon of Doom are a fascinating bunch of village people, and I’m curious to see how we progress into 1996 with them still a prominent function. Jimmy Hart playing the ringleader here worked, as unserious a face as I find him. That said, the Dungeon of Doom are so outlandishly campy anyway, it somehow works.
Decent exposition for Disco Inferno, who is still a new face at this point. As much as I can’t stand the guy, this character was very over here. Kendall Windham was always an odd one. The size and physique was there, but that was literally about all he had going for him. This was a choice way to break him out and show more character, even if Kendall as Disco’s fellow dancer is an odd choice. Col. Robert Parker was fun to have around.
One day, I’m hopeful Norman Smiley gets fair shake. Meng getting the win here was the best outcome to go with though, as you continue to develop him as a credible star.
Their matches in 1995 were always very good, no doubt thanks to the heavy scripting. Happy to see Johnny B. Badd and Diamond Dallas Page get another opportunity to display it on this show. I like frustration setting in for DDP in losing, and admittedly I never did see the point of Maxx Muscle in his cabinet. I wouldn’t mind seeing Big Bubba Rogers with a slow-burn face turn.
Sabu and Brian Pillman made for a crazy main event, though one that may have gone on too long at 14:00. Pillman taking the win was the expected outcome, and I really liked Chris Benoit in hot pursuit of Pillman. Oh, another match that should have been in this period. I think it’s clear Pillman will be sticking around in 1996, as opposed to you letting him go and do crazier things in ECW and the WWF in 1996. It’s great to see, as this butterfly effect can imply Pillman never gets in the car wreck, or addicted to drugs. The future is promising.
WCW Monday Nitro – December 25, 1995:
Hot way to start as per usual with Sting and Scott Norton going at it. Very 1990s WCW match here, and I like that a lot. I’ll bet this would be a good feud in a few years time, too. Good way to keep Norton strong by not exactly giving up to the Scorpion Deathlock, although tapping out actually wasn’t really a thing for WCW until 1996 from what I can recall. That said, if this was taped from Japan, this made more sense. I’m not too sure how submissions worked in New Japan, admittedly.
I’m glad to see you use this show as a blend of a Year in Review for WCW Monday Nitro in 1995, as well as an original show with elements taken from an NJPW tour.
Lion Do, huh. He’ll never last…good win for Chris Benoit, and I liked the touch of having it be contested for the WCW World Television Championship. Just a note about the timeline, though – I don’t recall Super Liger debuting until the January 4 Tokyo Dome show in 1996. Perhaps I’ve got things twisted, or this is creative liberty of course – not like a week matters, anyway.
I do admire your decision to bring Scott Hall in inside of Lex Luger on that first edition of Nitro. It set for a compelling base for what became a successful fall season of WCW in the framework of this diary.
I suppose we are going to be seeing a lot more of Scott Norton, based off of the angle interrupting Sting and Great Muta’s match from Japan. Norton was still on the rise in 1995, and this could certainly propel him to greater heights as we proceed into the new year.
As someone who missed out on Hulk Hogan being written off, that was a really well-written segment that made a lot of sense. I suspect it will be a matter of time before Hogan returns to take on the Dungeon of Doom, and really, this was the sort of thing that should have happened to cast doubt in Hogan’s character. A real way to build heat before the grand return, and surefire way to overthrow Randy Savage as WCW World Heavyweight Champion (or maybe not, brother).
I can’t speak any more words on how impressed I was with this edition of Nitro. While I would have liked more emphasis on the Christmas aspect when not in Japan, I really liked the inclusion of inserted Japan tour matches with this show. As someone who is always keen on unconventional television for pro-wrestling, this episode really worked, and served well as a buffer between the end of 1995 and the start of 1996.
