[1995-11-20-WCW-Nitro] Hulk Hogan vs Sting

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Putting this match on Nitro seemed like a huge waste of a PPV main event that could have drawn money, but I guess that's the story of Bischoff-era WCW. Hogan enters by coming through the crowd and wears a dumb mask. He gets booed LOUDLY, and the whole thing is a waste of time, because he doesn't even sneak attack him or anything. He just pats him on the back. Both guys try here, but a dream match like this needs a strong storyline to work, and the only person in the building siding with Hogan being Bischoff clouded things. I think they wanted a more divided crowd. Factoring all of that out (which is tough), Hogan does his usual nice arm takedown stuff he always does when he wants to wrestle, and I love him catching Sting in a bearhug off of the Stinger splash attempt. But then Hogan's Hulk Up just gets so much heel heat that I can't ignore it.

 

The Dungeon of Doom run in for the DQ and attack both guys. The Giant comes down to double chokeslam Hogan and Sting but Savage stops him with a chair, then eats a chokeslam for his trouble before Hogan and Sting run him off.

[Tim Evans]

I got a laugh out of Mongo saying "my brother and I used to fight like this all the time but we still love each other" and Heenan goes "Yeah but he's nine". Mongo totally no sells it. Match was ok but Hogan's Zorro mask just look silly.

[El-P]

Uninspired match which goes in no clear direction. First they brawl, then they do matwork, then Sting attacks Hogan's leg. They don't work the obvious tweener dynamic at all except Hogan doing a (very) few heelish things. Him hulking up in that context made no sense and the crowd really shits on him anyway so he should have gone a lot more heelish. Waste of PPV money too, it's amazing they gave such a huge match away on free-TV. Worked as it was, it didn't feel like a huge money match either. Sting wearing Hulkamania colors to get Hogan back on the good side is so geeky on his part.

[Zenjo]

Hogan probably imagined that the crowd would be supporting them both or possibly in his favour. Even during the best NWO moments it was rare for Hogan to get as much heel heat as he did here. Putting Hogan/Sting on TV actually did end up working because a memorable PPV encounter could've made Starrcade 97 less successful.

[PeteF3]

Pretty disjointed match famous for the MASSIVE negative reaction Hogan gets. The boos are audible over his entrance music and just get louder as the match goes on. It made the Albany crowd at the '92 Royal Rumble look subdued. Yeah, the brawling on the floor leading to Hogan doing his trademark takedown spots didn't make any sense to me, either, and a lot of the big moments just don't feel big, due to the throwaway nature of such a dream match and the seeming inevitability of the run-in fuck finish.

 

Giant continues to be booked very well, though. They took the 1989 Zeus template and applied it to a guy with a little more upside.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hulk Hogan vs Sting - WCW Nitro 11/20/95

A massive main event and something that really cements Nitro as the show. This is the last gasp of Dark Side Hulk Hogan as returns to the Red & Yellow at WWIII. Sting is in the Red & Yellow tonight as a nice touch. Hogan does this weird thing where he is wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask and comes from behind on Sting and…taps him on the shoulder. Pretty anti-climatic. If the desired effect was to keep Hogan babyface it was not working so not surprise they went back to the Red & Yellow. 
 

This is babyface vs babyface and it is interesting match because they don’t work the Hogan formula. I don’t know if that’s because they didn’t want to heel Sting OR even worse the crowd cheers as Hogan is beaten up. They opt for a high speed start. Sting works in his usual strike routine. Hogan some of his signature spots. Some Sting Dropkicks. Hogan hits a suplex on the floor. It is very noisy wrestling which is pretty normal for these compressed Nitro matches. They work at a good clip and it is a lot of action. After Sting’s crossbody it feels like they ran out of all their high spots so then they decide to work the mat which is a weird choice. Hogan does that little bit of wrestling he knows. The cross armbreaker looked lame and Hogan just relinquished it anyways. They work a headlock. The coolest spot of the match is Hogan catching Sting in a bear hug on a Stinger Splash attempt. Sting very weakly kicks the leg a couple of times to do the Scorpion Deathlock. When Hogan breaks the hold and goes into the Hulk Up the boo birds are out in full force. When he missed the Leg Drop, massive pop! Scorpion Deathlock and to the surprise of no one the Dungeon hits the Ring. Dungeon attacks Sting. Savage eats a Chokeslam. Hogan and Sting send the Giant over the top rope with a chair to sell the Battle Royale on Sunday.

This was a fine babyface vs babyface match. They clearly needed a producer as they lost the plot mid-way through. It obviously had crowd heat and was interesting just because of who they are. The work was just good. The booking was strange. Why did the Dungeon tip their hand and attack Sting? Why come out at all? There were ways to get around this but they were just lazy. I think this was a good idea to put on TV because it would never be a clean finish so no one feels cheated out of money and makes Nitro feel like a huge deal. Nothing that has to be seen but an interesting novelty match. ***