Superstar Sleeze

Surprised I didnt watch a full review of this back in the day. I know I did a big Nitro rewatch in college of all the 95 Nitros stitching together a bunch of these via a youtube playlist. I think this 2015 post came from a Nitro rewatch that went from the beginning to WWIII (I remember thats where I stopped last time). I havent decided if I am going to stop this watch at the end of 1995 or at Uncensored WCW United States Champion Sting vs Ric Flair - WCW Nitro 11/6/95 I thought this was even better than their match from the first Nitro. Surprisingly, Flair works really strong in this match. Flair tends to work small against Sting and 90s Flair is more oriented to cheating and bumping. Even though this is from 1995 and against Sting, Flair works really strong. Flair has definitely been the in-ring MVP of these Nitros. He always comes in and lights it up. Ton of energy, outworking the whole roster and just bringing the fun. Coming out of Halloween Havoc, not surprisingly, Sting came out hot manhandling Flair beating him from pillar to the post. As you can expect in this match there were Press Slams early and often throughout the match. I really liked the transition from this fast-break start from Sting with Flair not only getting suplex on the floor but consolidating that advantage by moving out of the way Sting who crashes and burns on the railing on a Stinger Splash. Awesome transition! Really enjoyed the Flair heat segment. Although we missed a low blow during the ad break, which is a bummer. Flair is just hammering Sting and working the knee. Figure-4 was a good mid-match climax. Sting reverses and Mongo has never seen that before. The Sting no-sell after the Figure-4 was INCREDIBLE! I love a well-timed No-Sell. It was incredible. The classic stare as Flair was throwing heavy hands and having no effect. Inject that shit into my veins, brutha. Guess what! A press slam! Flair eye poke which gets back on top, which I liked as a transition. They do some 80s spots with Flair's foot on the ropes, the bridge into a backslide. Flair is feeling it tonight! Press slam off the top. Sting is walloping Flair in the corner, but the ref is forced to break the action. Flair clocks Sting with knuckledusters. 1-2-NO! I bit on that. I figure he wins here by nefarious means to set up the WWIII match. ANOTHER STING HULK-UP! Love it! Final Press slam! Scorpion Deathlock! He doesnt let go. It takes Luger whispering something in Sting's ear to let it go. Great shades of grey booking here as Sting & Luger walk out. It plays on Sting & Luger's real-life friendship but Luger is DOD 4 Life. Is he friend or foe? Looks like Macho Man needs to find out. I love all this shades of grey booking in the Nitro 6 main event scene. Great, high energy match. Really enjoyed this. *** 3/4

Yes I think the better comp is Hogan/Andre than Hogan/Taker. Here is my review of the finish of Halloween Havoc: GIANT CHOKESLAM~! HELL YEAH! 1-2-NO! HULK-UP~! DROPS THE LEG! JIMMY HART NAILS THE REF WITH THE BIG GOLD BELT! Hogan does not see that it is Jimmy Hart who does it. So Jimmy Hart is able to nail him too! Here comes Randy Savage and Lex Luger, but whose side is he on? Luger attacks Savage. Here is the YEH-TAY~! YEH-TAY humps Hogan in the ass and then Savage. Luger RACKS them both. Michael Buffer says twice the title cant change hands on a DQ. Giant is declared the winner by DQ. I assume it is because Jimmy Hart was aligned with Hogan and when he hit the ref that counted as being in favor for Hogan, but that is dumb. It turns out the Nov 6th Nitro that Jimmy Hart put a clause in the contract that Giant could win the title on DQ. I dont mind the shady contract fine print. I think thats good heel shit, but I think declaring Giant winner by DQ is a stretch. I think it would have been better if Jimmy Hart clearly hit Giant with the title and then it is revealed on Nitro the next night or the 6th of November that it was a double cross. It is strange they waited a whole week for the big Jimmy Hart reveal. During The Giant’s squash of Cobra (Morse code as entrance theme was bizarre who green lit that. Chokeslam 1-2-3), Bischoff kept saying he is not the real champion and he stole it. But why not beat us over the heads with the DQ finish. Which would only amp up the juice when Jimmy Hart reveals he put the “title can change hands on a DQ” clause in the contract. Furthermore I see the reason why they has Jimmy Hart hit the ref and call it a DQ victory for Giant it was because lawyer could strip The Giant due to “dubious nature” of DQ. Again why not come out and say it, we believe Jimmy Hart intentionally hit the ref to screw Hogan out of the title and ensure his new charge would be champion. It is also this weird implied shit. Just say it. Jimmy Hart is great here and it is his last run on top before being condemned to First Family WCW Thunder purgatory. He was awesome. Dont feel like making a match review but I really thought the Taskmaster’s squash of Renegade was really effective. Renegade came out hor and then Sullivan took over on the floor thanks to Jimmy’s distraction. Good clubbing blows. The Tree of Woe and Double Stomp finishes it. What I really loved was all the character work. Jimmy taunting Renegade you could have been the next Hulk Hogan. Renegade was Hogan’s big surprised at Uncensored just 8 months prior with Jimmy Hart guiding him to WCW TV Title victory. Now Jimmy is taunting him. The cherry on top is after Sullivan beats the shit out of him he wipes off the makeup and Jimmy taunts him saying “You’re just Rick now. You’re just Rick” that should be remembered as an all time angle. But they just move along so fast. I wish they actually started the promo gloating about how they humiliated the Renegade. That should have been a bigger deal. It is not always about execution it is also about promotion. Excellent execution but promotional follow through was not there for the Renegade angle.

Eddie Guerrero vs Chris Benoit - WCW Nitro 11/6/95 Interesting that they just trotted this back out there two weeks later without much fanfare. They didnt bring up the first match or the tag match from a couple weeks ago (remember when Wright tripped Malenko). Bizarre. I agree with the consensus that the October match is the classic, but this is still very good. I know there's a Saturday Night match from around this time that is also really good. The reason this is not as good they dont have the same touchstone of Eddie's arm injury to keep going back to and connecting segment to segment. Benoit came out firing. All high intensity, high impact moves that looked excellent per usual, suplexes, clotheslines, spinebuster, Liontamer. It was a little too move list-y. Eddie started armdragging his way out of trouble which I liked as a transition but he could so much impact to the head would have liked a little more selling. I LOVE Eddie's Superman Puffed Out Splash to the floor he does. Someone should crib that Just by puffing your chest out it makes the move look a million times cooler. Eddie hits a brainbuster. Benoit just blows off all selling and hits a superplex. See what I mean. It is well-executed match, but is missing that connective tissue and that psychology that takes it to the next level. THIS EXCEEDED THE POWERBOMB FROM 10/16 HOLY FUCKING SHIT! HE THREW HIM DOWN! DAMN! Again the German Suplex and Northern Light Suplex from Benoit looked great, but still too move list-y. They go with the Marty Sleeze finish. Whenever I would wrestle my brother who is 7 years younger than me when we were kids, the most often used finish is I would attempt a belly to back suplex, but my brother would shift his weight and land on top for the three. In the few times, I won it was usually due to tap out from the Butterfly Lock (imagine hooking someone for a Butterfly Suplex, but instead as a submission hold). Anyways, Eddie shifts his weight on a Benoit suplex and wins even though Benoit's feet are under the ropes. Eddie stole a win against Pittman last week and here wins another with technique. They clearly like both Benoit and Eddie. They protected Benoit and Eddie is winning matches. The series is tied 1-1, and the tiebreaker is on Saturday Night, I believe which is a great match. ***1/2

Watched this again and I vaguely remembered Hogan & Savage in all black and cutting a promo on the beach, but I dont forgot about the psychedelic guitarist and the wicked bizarre homeless guy. So bizarre. How did Bischoff & Sullivan green light this to be shown on Nitro. Savage looked cool as fuck. Look shaving the Fu-Manchu is a big a deal, but we are at about a month since it happened. He could grow it back, it is conscious choice at this point to stay shaven. It would be cool to make it a point that it would stay shaven until he got his revenge and rid the world of the Dungeon, but classic Hogan that never comes up. I do love the whole Nitro 6 Friend or Foe booking. Savage is going to find out if Sting can be trusted.

Lex Luger & Meng vs American Males - WCW Nitro 10/30/95 Doesn’t feel like a main event but they wanted to do the Halloween Havoc footage and the Dungeon promo to close the show. The juxtaposition of Luger teaming with Sting last week in the main event against Harlem Heat is cool with his teaming against Dungeon 4 Life buddy Meng against American Males. Meng had a grueling contest with Luger the previous night and seemed kind of pissed when Sullivan didnt let him get the win over Luger especially after Meng got the upset over Luger about a month ago on Luger after Giant choke slammed him before the match. I wish they played up some friction here with Luger and Meng. Honestly I wish this was Luger and Giant but that would have been too squashy for a main event. Pretty typical condensed TV time tag match. American Males work like an 80s blowjob babyface tag attacking the Package’s arm with frequent tags. The Dungeon uses a Hart Attack to take control. Meng steam rolls Riggs. Bagwell is a house afire. He looks Ring compared to Luger here. When they were doing Buff vs Luger I feel like they were the same size. Meng gets a cheap shot and Luger racks him up. They show the entirety of Halloween Havoc ending from Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger turn to Yet-TAY humping Hogan. Only the core four of the Dungeon is out to talk Giant, Luger, Sullivan and Jimmy Hart. Meng got sent to the back and no Yeti. If it was just these four and I’d even take Meng I would say this is a kickass heel stable. Jimmy Hart with a nice nod to history that he was Sullivan’s only manager. Sullivan is so good at this Satanist, Hulkamania hating camp. Giant is green but he gets his point across. They don’t mention the whole Jimmy Hart snuck in a clause where if Giant wins by DQ he wins the title. It is weird. Why wouldn’t Bischoff be decrying Giant as a fake champion because he won the match by DQ? Giant said he was going to keep but that implies someone would try to take it away because of the DQ but no one was saying that. A weird beat to miss, After 6 weeks, WCW’s rogue gallery is rejuvenated with Dungeon at their apex and Horsemen reunited. Also no Hogan, Savage or Sting on the show. A very dark pall has been cast on the Land Where The Big Boys Play.

Eddie Guerrero vs Sgt. Craig Pittman - WCW Nitro 10/30/95 Im really becoming a Pittman guy. He seems like one of those guys they forgotten to smarten up before he went out to the Ring. I love guys like that. He also kind of reminds me of Tom Howard. If you’re going to do a military gimmick this is the way to do it. Unfortunately I am reviewing this 48 hours after the fact because work got in the way bur I remember this heading uniting good territory before it got cut short with a lame ending. Pittman was tossing Eddie around to start. Imposing his will and manhandling Eddie. Eddie throws Pittman which gets a reaction out of Pittman that leads to a speed versus arm fight. Pittman attacks the arm and Eddie uses a leg lariat and a high springboard reverse crossbody. There’s an AWESOME gut wrench powerbomb from Pittman. Then all of a sudden Eddie just rolls up Pittman with the midsection version of a victory roll, Whats that called. I enjoyed their rough dynamic. Pittman is uncooperative and it gave it a competitive feel. *** It was a strange Nitro coming off a pretty hot Halloween Havoc (three major heel turns) but they had this match then a random Shark vs Norton match (not a huge Tenta guy and always wanted to like Norton but it was decent 2 minute hoss fight that ends in a DCO. Shark threw around Norton a bit before Norton made his comeback, bodyslam of Tenta got a pop. ) before we finally get to Flair. Then Sabu/Disco (this would have gotten huge heat in Philadelphia and especially in ECW. Imagine Disco in the FBI oh my God. Disco is the Nitro clown and he has been used great. Sabu hauling off with those punches were great. They let Disco get a little offense but this is all Sabu in another 2-ish minute match. The slingshot somersault leg drop is sick. Sabu wants to put Disco through a table but ends up denting table in a sickening this. An enjoyable couple minutes) before we finally get to Luger. But when we do get to Luger it is a tag match with Meng against American Males. Which is kinda lame main event. Odd Nitro Layout.

Out of context, this is a great promo. All three shine with vim and vigor. Brian Pillman definitely have watched his fair share of Double A promos, but he comes in with a ton of piss & vinegar. Mocking Sting as he is trying to tag Flair was really good. Anderson and Flair were on fire. With context, it is a little frustrating, whats the timeline here? When did Flair, AA and Pillman agree to reform? Was Sting always the mark? Or did Flair earn the respect of the Horsemen two weeks prior on 10/16 and then they concocted the plot? In classic pro wrestling, they wanted Flair heel and they wanted a big angle and they didnt give a shit how they got there. In any other medium, the producer or director would nix it, but in pro wrestling it is anything goes whether or not it makes sense. It is sad that pro wrestling doesnt get held to a higher standard.

Sting & Lex Luger vs Harlem Heat - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 Sting has grown out a beard and is wearing red & yellow just like Hogan said! Maybe Hogan was right. They were definitely trying to push the narrative that anyone can turn heel. Big spot for Harlem Heat who have not yet regained their titles. Some heelish behavior from Sting like an arm drag on Booker T over top rope to the floor which the ref rules accidental but Also an eye take later to save Luger on the heat segment. Luger takes a boring heat segment. Booker had some solid spots but nothing too exciting. He missed Harlem Hangover. Sting has a great house afire the best part of the match. Stinger Splashes for everyone. Scorpion Deathlock broken up. Stevie Ray is preoccupied with Luger and Sting hits flying clothesline on Booker T to win. Dungeon of Doom hits the Ring they try to push the Sting heel narrative but he eats the Chokeslam along with Luger. Savage is out. Hogan sans Fu-Manchu and neck brace but still rocking the Dark Side gear goes toe to toe with The Giant. I thought this one of the weaker Nitros especially since I thought the Oct 2nd and 16th were the two best. This was a really good ending going into Halloween Havoc

Eddie Guerrero & Mr. JL vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 Apparently Alex Wright was supposed to be Eddie’s tag partner. Eddie/Benoit coming off their classic banger but this is nothing special. They get plenty of time about ten minutes but it is pretty pedestrian. Benoit/Malenko play nominal heels. They do heel miscommunication on the floor. Benoit dives on Malenko and then Eddie Alley-Oops JL on the heels. Malenko hits JL on the ropes to set up heat segment. It was a fine heat segment. Benoit and Malenko hit their usual high impact offense. The JL transition to hot tag was weak just a back elbow after a lot of good high impact moves. Eddie had a good an Arm Drag Headscissors takedown, then in a bizarre moment Alex Wright trips Malenko so JL got the Victory Roll. Weird finish takes this down a notch. Heatless and pedestrian. Pillman DDT Eddie on the ramp. Unprovoked attacks are the lamest way to set up new feuds. I assume this is the start of Loose Canon but still lame.

Randy Savage vs Kurasawa - WCW Nitro 10/23/95 No Savage last week. Savage has an injured arm which becomes a point of contention between Hogan/Bischoff and Meltzer later on. This gives the commentary an excuse to discuss the Savage/Luger feud. Kurasawa is put over as a dangerous martial arts expert that broke Hawk’s arm. We saw Hawk two weeks take on Bossman in a short match that looked like it was going to lead to a Hawk/Disco feud which actually might have been fun. Bossman looked good in that match with his right hands but with WCW going small in the midcard and the main event scene full there was no room for Bossman. Pretty standard babyface Macho Man match. He takes a ton of offense early. Kurasawa had some good kicks but eventually ran out of things to do. Kurasawa kicked the Ring post. Savage drove him throat first into the rope and Big Elbow. Nothing to see here.

Hogan sounds like Donald Trump in this promo. Paranoid, aggrieved, bitching & moaning, trying to act rough but is a total chump. I love Bischoff Matrix Booking where the Nitro Six (Hogan, Savage, Sting, Luger, Flair and Giant) are all at each others throats but this came off unprovoked which is the problem. It felt really random. Dark Side Hogan just sounds like whiny, insecure Hogan not a Bad Man.

Ok so I defended the Dungeon of Doom last week, but yeah this is pretty horrible. If they just kept it to Sullivan, Giant, Jimmy Hart and Luger it would have been a strong heel stable, but this shit is ridiculous. I forgot other people besides Tony Schiavone call him the YET-TAY, which is why I still call those Yeti cups Yet-TAYs and get weird looks from my wife. The Rare White Bengal Tiger always cracks me up. I was today years old when I realized that Rare White Bengal Tiger is Hulk Hogan. Sullivan is very good at this type of camp. Giant is fine besides the Laugh at the end.

Wait why is the cage match bad? I loved the hell out of it. Ric Flair & Sting vs Arn Anderson & Brian Pillman - WCW Nitro 10/16/95 This is literally an inverse of the famous Halloween Havoc match that happens two weeks later. Instead of Sting going it alone for most of the match, Flair had to go it alone most of the match to prove to the Stinger that this was on the up and up. Just like I loved the Havoc match I loved this! Too much was made of in 90s that heels had to look tough and be the equals of babyfaces. Most heels should never be equal of babyfaces. Most heels should be worse than their babyface opponents and it is that insecurity that drives them to heelish behavior such as cheating and excessive violence. The idea of a heel being a babyface’s equal for the most part is an inherently flawed idea. In this match, heels are bumping and stooging, Ric Flair is KING-SIzed! My God this was 80s Crockett in 1995! WOOOOOO! 80s Crockett the babyfaces take so much and we see that here. I fucking love babyface Flair and him just unloading on the heels here at every turn was great. Even when you think the heels had him, he kept the party going all night long. He trapped Double A in Figure-4. Then you figure Pillman would splash. Nuh Uh. Pillman misses and Flair puts him in the Figure-4. This is the fist-pumping shit missing in most wrestling today. You were cheering each and every punch and chop. You wanted your team to run up the score. You weren’t worried about Arn is looking weak or man they need to get Pillman over. You were excited because fucking Flair was cooking, damn torpedos, fire away brutha. I am not a huge sports fan and always prefer games to be close but I love all Boston sports fans that relish blow outs. I might not enjoy the game but I enjoy on their behalf seeing how happy that makes them. Flair’s babyface shine rules. Flair gets kicked in the back of the head by Pillman. They work a much shorter heat segment here as Sting comes out. Then when Sting gets the hot tag. He blows the roof off the place working one of the best Hot Tags ever. He is working King-Sized. It feels like 80s Crockett. He is slinging bodies and dropping Stinger Splashes from the sky. The only thing keeping this from Havoc level is they opt for the count out victory for the babyfaces. Sting in 1995 being the most insider wrestler always worried about swerved and shooting straight is funny. That high five was so fucking 90s and I am here for it. Tremendous piece of business. *** 3/4

Ill cover The Giant and Kevin Sullivan promo first. Everyone gets on the Dungeon of Doom who being campy and hokey but I love it. I have this shit 9 million times more believable and entertaining than Wyatt Family or anything of that ilk. I really enjoyed Sullivan's promo. There was a method to the madness. He declares victory because The Hulkster has gone to the Dark Side and this will destroy Hulkamania and Giant will end it physically. Short, sweet, menacing, logical. Hogan on the other hand was fucking all over the place. The Evil within Hulk Hogan is real, trying to reinvent himself into a Mafia Boss handling the Family Business, then shouting out Hulkster cliches about protecting training, prayers and vitamins. I think what he was trying to get at was he needed to embrace the Dark Side and become a little Evil to defeat Evil, but came out all fucked up.

Rewatched this came away enjoying this as much as I remember. It had even more psychology and logical progression than I remembered. But it was "slower" than I remember. I think what has happened is I have changed not this match. So much wrestling in the past ten years feels like it is done in "fast forward" or with "motion smoothing on" that this feels slow in comparison but in a good way. They were letting things breathe. The highspots still pop off huge like Eddie's dive to the floor and that MUTHA OF ALL POWERBOMBS! Great match!