Ok, so things look a little different here now. In case you missed it, I put out a poll asking which era of WWF readers would like us to cover alongside the WCW Nitro reviews. Well, the votes are in and the public has decided that I should review RAW week by week alongside Nitro. Because of this, I have made the executive decision to merge both reviews into one instead of two separate posts, comparing and contrasting the two shows. This is a side project and so articles will continue to come out as and when they are ready. Let’s get on with the review.
WCW Nitro
Alex Wright defeated Disco Inferno
Kurasawa (w/ Col. Robert Parker) defeated Sgt Craig Pittman
The Task Master (w/ Zodiac) defeated Randy Savage by DQ
Meng defeated Lex Luger (w/ Jimmy Hart)
WWF RAW
Marty Jannetty defeated Skip (w/ Sunny)
The Smoking Gunns defeated Owen Hart & Yokozuna (c) to win the WWF Tag Team Titles
The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated The British Bulldog (w/ Jim Cornette) by DQ
NITRO
The show opened with fireworks galore as Bischoff bangs the announce desk excitedly while Mongo’s dog Pepe looks frozen stiff. The miniature dog even has a saddle strapped to it. Almost as if Mongo rode in on it. A terrifying thought. The arena looks a little grander this week, with a longer isle and more fans in attendance.
Nitro feels like the more unpredictable show, both for better and worse. Matches like Alex Wright/Disco Inferno and Kurasawa/Craig Pittman are matches you just wouldn’t see on WWF TV. The wrestling on Nitro is a lot less patterned and while that can lead to some sloppy spots, it makes things more interesting.
Nitro does often feel less polished and funnily enough, rawer. It also still feels like a show with an identity crisis. You can tell Bischoff wants to switch focus and provide a more serious product, but that is no easy task with the Task Master and Zodiac running around while commentators warn that a “Shark” may crash the party. Ed Leslie has always been a buffoon, but the Zodiac character may be his finest moment.
The Savage/Task Master match ended up just being a backdrop for Giant to appear and chokeslam the Macho Man, followed by some jabroni’s from the back and finally Lex Luger, who presumably came out to just shout at a prone Savage rather than aid him in any way. The segment did serve its purpose though: make Giant looks strong so that he can be fed to Hogan.
I love Meng. I always have. But that main event was dire. Granted he’s in there with Luger. A guy who thought it was acceptable to deliver a clothesline and take a bump off it. Nitro is still in its infancy, but that’s four shows in the books now and not a single great match to speak of. Hopefully, that is something they can rectify soon.
RAW
RAW starts off with a recap of what went down on the previous nights In Your House 3 PPV. Cornette flipping his lid at Gorilla was a little hokey, but the intro package did a good job of filling TV fans in on what had happened the night before.
The opener was a decent match, with Marty Jannetty back for about his eighth stint. You can tell this must have been a short-notice return, as Jannetty looked completely out of shape, going as far as to wear a sleeveless top. It was great to see Sunny in a managerial role here too. She was such a talent back in 1995 and it really is sad how her story has unfolded since.
The Smoking Guns picking up the tag titles was a nice surprise for the show but I could have absolutely done without Shawn Michaels and Diesel coming out to hog the spotlight. I remember this post-match well from back when it first aired and while it did make a little sense given the events of In Your House the night before, even watching back in the day my little 10-year-old underdeveloped wrestling brain could see that HBK & Diesel didn’t need to be out there.
Taker and Bulldog had a solid enough main event before King Mabel waddled down to ringside for the DQ. This brought the two dudes with no self-awareness back out – this time to save the day. To make things even more ridiculous once the ring is cleared it’s Diesel’s music that hits instead of Undertakers. Then, the icing on the cake is that we go to a commercial with everyone still in the ring and come back to Shawn and Diesel once again coming out. This time to Shawn’s music. They must have literally walked to the back and done a 180 the second they got through the curtain.
The highlight of this last appearance is Vince at the announce desk dancing to Shawn’s music. He is absolutely besotted with the heartbreak kid. Something that will continue right up until 1998. The worst part of this ending is that they haven’t even come out for an interview. They just pose for the fans as the show goes off the air. If you ever needed proof that the Kliq had Vince’s ear in 1995, this is the show for you.
-Craig 🧐