This is my continued look into the most profitable era in wrestling history for an extensive breakdown of what I am doing click here.
NITRO:
We begin the show with Tony Schiavoni and Larry Zybysko talking about the main event between Lugar and Sting vs Steiners and the Rock and Roll Express vs Flair and Arn Anderson with the revelation that Bobby Heenan is going to be the manager for the horsemen at Bash at the Beach. We get a recap of Shark getting his head shaved and we head to Mean Gene who is standing by to interview Shark. The interview talks about his embarrassment and that his name is not the Shark but John Tenta. this brings us to our first match. Tony and Larry did an excellent job of hyping the remainder of the show and giving us insight that flowed nicely. the interview by Tenta was ugh even with the greatness of Mean Gene setting him up. 2 Stars
Big Bubba Rodgers vs John Tenta starts with Tenta beating the hell out of Bubba. Tony takes the time to say that the advertised Vader and Johnny B Badd are no longer with the company and will not be here tonight. Back to the action where Bubba gets counted out trying to avoid Tenta who is chasing him around the ring with scissors. match cuts to a brief promo from Sting on Scott Steiner and Michael and Kevin Green letting us know we they are here tonight. We head to commercial. From a match perspective I am saying WTF just happened? From a storyline it was OK but nothing I am interested in. 1 Star
Back from commercial for High voltage (Ruckus and Chaos) vs the Faces of Fear (Meng and the Barbarian) High Voltage has an amazing look, Two huge chiseled guys that work really well together but ran into the unstoppable force. Belly to belly of the top rope by the barbarian leads to the double diving headbutt. Chaos tried to save his partner but Meng delivers a Mafia kick to Ruckus for the pin fall. This was a sprint of a match that accomplished two things. First it made the Faces of Fear look like world beaters and it introduced us to a really impressive new tag team. I'm looking forward to seeing how High Voltage improves in weeks to come. Considering all that this match accomplished I am thinking 2.5 stars is in order.
We head back stage for Mean Gene interviewing the tag team champs Sting and Luger. Gene needs to cut Luger off to get him back on track since he started the promo going in the wrong direction. Sting calls out Luger for instigating the brawl last week and Luger defends himself. Rick Steiner interrupts and they argue about what happened last week and pushing and shoving improves. Gene ends the interview by being disgusted with what just happened and vows to never interview any of them again if that's how they are going to act. SOOOOO much happened here that I am trying to wrap my head around it. Seeds being planted of dissension between Luger and Sting and the friendship with the Steiners. Mean Gene controlled the interview and kept things moving along which just shows how great he has been for the last couple decades. We also got excitement to build for the main event. Such a great segment that shows how good things like this can be done. 4 Stars
Disco inferno vs SGT. Craig Pittman with Teddy Long is up next. Disco hurts his hand trying to punch Pittman's head. Very short uneventful match with Pittman getting the submission win after trying to apply the Code Red and disco gives up before he can. Disco explains he gave up so quickly so he could continue to dance and if the move was applied it would have hurt him to much. Decent character work by disco but this match did nothing for either man involved. It cemented Disco as a comedy wrestler but did nothing to help out Pittman. 0 Stars
After the commercial break we come back to Tony and Larry discussing the backstage interview where Lord Steven Regal backhanded Sting on the Main Event. Regal is in the ring to square off against Hacksaw Jim Duggan. match is okay nothing to write home about outside of some great heel work from Regal. Squire Dave Taylor and Earl Robert Eaton come out to surround the ring. The Blue Bloods cause the distraction and Regal gets the roll up to score the pinfall. The match itself was uneventful and maybe 1.5 stars. The interview that followed didn't take the usual direction that Regal normally does. He was fined and told us that he paid double the fine and has credit so he can say what he wants now. He brings up that he wants Sting at his best and will do what he can to bring it out. This wasn't his best work, however the short but sweet promo got out what it needed too. the entire production was 2 Stars and only because of Regal's bicep pose at the end.
After break we come back to a promo package setting up the the upcoming falls count anywhere match between Kevin Sullivan and Chris Benoit at the Great American Bash. Sullivan heads to the ring against the Nitro debut of Prince Iaukea. Really short squash match that did nothing for Iaukea and the start to his career. This entire segment was a throw away. the only thing it made me want to do is watch the Benoit promos leading up to the Great American Bash. The clips that they showed before this match showed an intense and very underrated talker in Benoit at his best. Mean Gene is in the ring to interview Jimmy Hart and the Taskmaster. Jimmy is upset that Sullivan is forming a friendship with Arn Anderson and Ric Flair. Sullivan explains that he is doing it because when Hogan is coming back and coming after them. He said like Pillman he is going to rid the horsemen of another "serpent". Sullivan should never have a mic in his hands ever. Another throw away segment that should only be watched for the Benoit promo's ahead of it. .5 stars
The legendary Rock and Roll Express makes their return to WCW and their debut on Nitro against Ric Flair and Arn Anderson to bridge from the first to the second hour and we throw it mid match to Eric Bishoff and Bobby Heenan. Fireworks go off in the middle of the match to indicate the start of the second hour. Flair is at the top of his game and is an incredible heel. Four legends in the ring and all four announcers have spent way to much time talking about the upcoming match between the Horsemen and Steve McMichael and Kevin Green. Arn Anderson taking a time out was classic heel work and a double figure four by Morton and Gibson gets the crowd on their feet. Flair gets his usual referee pushing spot and sells the push back like he got shot in the face. Phenomenal heel work by the horsemen as we go to break, Heenan leaves the broadcast both to head to ringside to give advise to Woman and Miss Elizabeth. Hot tag to Robert Gibson who comes in like a house of fire. With the referee distracted by Ricky Morton, woman rakes the eyes of Gibson, AA hits the DDT and Flair gets the cover. Mean Gene talks to the horsemen and Arn is so smooth talking about how he is bigger than football players. Flair is going to have a stroke during an interview someday and Heenan adds an amazing heel manager promo. Four legends on the mic put on a must see promo. Heenan declares he will never manage again but he will coach the Horsemen at the Great American Bash. This match and promo was easily 4 stars. Flair and Anderson pull out all the classic heel tricks including the fake tag and the double team moves to really get the crowd going. This was a great pay per view quality match that was ruined by the announcers talking about every thing else, the pyro going of after the match had started, and the commercial break. WCW gets a -1 star for their lack of focus on what was a great segment.
Hogan video package promotes the return of Hogan at Hog Wild in August. We head to the ring for a Heavyweight title match pitting Icetrain vs the Giant.
The Giant makes quick work of Ice Train as he delivers a choke slam. Scott Norton comes to the ring to confront The Giant and gets a pair of choke slams for his trouble. Giant goes to ringside and complains about Hogan getting a video package when he is the champ. He runs down the list of guys he's beaten and calls out Lex Lugar at the Bash at the Beach. 0 Stars.
The next scheduled match is Scott Norton vs Hugh Morrus. Morrus comes out checks on Norton and delivers a leg drop and pins him with one finger. Norton kicks out and Morrus drops a few elbows before going up to hit The No Laughing Matter. Norton bats away the moonsault and punches him in the face a couple times which resulted in a pin. 0 Stars. This is probably the perfect example of how to bury a guy. Scott Norton is a tag team guy that was beaten down by the heavyweight champion. He over came a beating by a fresh Morrus to get the win. Morrus will never be taken seriously after that.
Cut to a package showing Kevin Greene and Steve McMichael training. The only thing that came out of it is that they want Randy Savage to be their coach. At least they progressed the story 1 Star.
Main event time between Sting and Lex Lugar vs The Steiner Brothers. During the entrances we get a review of the heat between the two teams in the ring and Bobby Heenan pandering for Savage to stay at home. Savage calls and accepts the offer to coach, Heenan begs Savage to stay home. We then head to a commercial break. Some good in ring performances results with Sting and Rick Steiner out on the floor. The Giant comes out and delivers one of the worst choke slams I have ever seen. Giant pulls down the top rope and low bridges Scott Steiner. Scott teams up with Sting and Lugar to clear the ring of the Giant. 3 Stars for the in ring product that happened before all the Giant shenanigans that took the overall grade of the match down to roughly 2 Stars
More Pandering by Heenan for Savage to stay at home as Razor Ramon saunters to the announce booth. He challenges Bishoff to continue the war and Sting comes out to confront Razor. A tooth pick to the face and a slap by Sting brings out security. Razor announces he has a big surprise for all of WCW next week. 5 Stars. So many questions and still no answers. Other that the announcement by Vince on Raw about Ramon and Deisel no longer being employed there is nothing that lets us know why Razor is on WCW TV. He states he is bringing the war to Bishoff but why? What is the surprise? Two weeks in a row with a great cliffhanger to end the show. If you could get through this show you were definitely treated to greatness at the end of it.
Two out of nine matches were good, one of which was per view quality. A great ending to the show with Razor Ramon's continued mystery and the inclusion of Sting as the face of WCW. The only two good matches were cut by commercial breaks and the commentators talked about every thing and anything other than what was happening in the ring. Badly miss timed production spots and bad wrestling made this a very hard show to watch. It was saved by the Horsemen and Razor Ramon. This entire show was only 2 Stars.
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