[1995-12-04-WCW-Nitro] Lex Luger vs Randy Savage

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Pretty okay action with lots of good selling. There's a ref bump and then we get TONS of run-ins. We start with Jimmy Hart. Savage manhandles him, and Flair comes behind and decks Savage with brass knucks. Luger is covering Savage but the ref is still out. Hogan catches Flair on the way back. He can't touch anyone because he's on probation. He's about to hit Luger, Sting comes in to calm him down, and he ends up accidentally punching Sting instead and they start fighting with Savage trying to make piece. Sting says Luger is just mixed up in the head and as his best friend, he's trying to help him get his head on straight. He says that they didn't give him a chance, which is why he turned on them. Some version of this plays itself out every week on Nitro for the rest of the year. Sting was already established as so dumb by this point that I guess making him dumb with Luger wasn't hurting anything that wasn't already established.

[Tim Evans]

So why is Jimmy Hart managing Luger? I mean Luger helped Sting try to eliminate Giant in the battle royal. LOL at Bischoff getting shots in at Vince over HBK. Talking about how WCW wrestlers fight through injury even though Savage admitted he was injured at the ppv.

[El-P]

The match was actually really good. Simple as hell but very efficient, with Savage trying to injure Luger's right arm. Luger's selling was excellent. Flair's run in was pretty damn funny, and this is the first step toward a renewed Flair vs Savage feud. The post-match arguing worked well, I didn't think Sting came off dumb here, more like really faithfull to his old friendship with Luger to the point of finding him excuses. And since Savage is basically a psycho and Hogan is an asshole, well, why not ?

[PeteF3]

Pretty decent action down the stretch, with Savage doing a great job of selling the arm (ALL PART OF THE PLAN, BROTHER). Finish is a clusterfuck but it looked for a few seconds like they'd actually put the title on Luger. Then some intrigue as Hogan--on "probation" for clobbering a ref last week--puts his hands on Randy Anderson to break up the count. The crowd is once again not appreciative of Hogan's involvement but he's a little more justified this time--his buddy was down 3 to 1, after all. Then Hogan accidentally punches Sting(!) in the process of going after Luger--I had no memory of this so that got a big "oooh" from me. Once again we get the babyfaces bickering with each other. This is something that as mentioned, happens a *lot* on these early Nitros, but this is still pretty compelling stuff with guys being remarkably consistent from week to week (Hogan points out that it was Savage who had Luger pegged correctly from the start.) HUGE missed opportunity not to run the MegaPowers vs. Luger & Sting on PPV.

[Superstar Sleeze]

On 12/5/2014 at 3:16 AM, PeteF3 said:

HUGE missed opportunity not to run the MegaPowers vs. Luger & Sting on PPV.

Hell Yeah Brutha! Damn I would have paid good money to see that. 
 

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Macho Man Randy Savage vs Total Package Lex Luger - WCW Nitro 12/4/95

An extended Nitro by about 10 minutes looks like the overruns have started. I thought the first half was pretty skippable. Harlem Heat vs American Males was fine but nothing you have to see. It is funny how the Spinaroonie was so much bigger of a deal in WWE but was used so much better as a transition to Harlem Sidekick and the Harlem Hangover is always sick to see. Sting vs Kurosawa wicked short. Kurosawa worked the arm. Sting said not tonight brutha. Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock. They hyped Scott Norton in action so I thought he get a win over Shark or Hugh Morris but then Giant came out. Weird they didn’t hype a Giant appearance as this is his lengthy match on Nitro. Giant big times Norton but Norton gets him up for an Atomic Drop to the big pop. Norton comes off top. Chokeslam. Over. Fun little hoss match. Flair is with Charles Barkley not much is said but cool as fuck. 
 

Savage vs Luger single handedly save the show and have a total hidden gem. These two have terrific chemistry. The Nitro matches of 95 far outshine the PPV matches of 95 so watch these bad boys. Significant departure from the Savage babyface formula. Savage starts out very aggressive, usual scrappy tenacious Pitbull dog energy from Savage. Luger weathers the storm and hits a clothesline. You think we are going into heat as is custom for babyface Savage. Nah nah. Savage catches Luger on the outside and back on attack with a top rope double axehandle. Luger gets the suplex. Heat Segment? Think again. Missed elbow drop by Luger. Savage works the arm?!? Savage has had a bad arm for months now so Everton expected his arm to get worked over not Luger’s. How many times do you get to see Savage work the arm. It is good to work. A mixture of holds and slamming the arm into hard metal objects. I wish there was a nice punctuation mark on this control segment with a near fall but otherwise great. I LOVED THE Transition! Luger sidesteps Savage who crashes and burns into guardrail!

Luger sells his arm very well in his heat segment. Again it is solid work by Luger on Macho Man but I wish we got like a powerslam as a sort of punctuation mark before they transitioned to the finish stretch they used a head collision on rope running to level the plying field. Jimmy Hart took off the turnbuckle pad so of course Macho Man rams the Total Package’s head into the exposed buckle. The reeling Total Package wipes out the ref. Macho Man Elbow Drop! Flair it out COLD COCKS MACHO MAN with Knuckledusters. He puts the Package on top. Hogan says not on my watch. Kicks Flair’s ass and stops the ref from counting three and that gets the match thrown out. He is hauls off to clock Luger but hits Sting instead! GREAT BOOKING!

The promo after is great pro wrestling theatre everyone is true to their character different motivations. Sting wants to straighten his friend out and wants the Mega Powers to cut him and Luger slack. Hogan and Macho rightfully dont trust Luger and you can see why they don’t trust Sting. Next weeks a big match tag match with Hogan/Sting Vs Horsemen they clear the air but definite dissension on the babyface side. 
 

Loved the match. Just missed two-three big moments to make truly great but this is a really good Lo-fi match. Love these two together. *** 3/4