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WCW Monday Nitro Omnibus Thread


Zakk_Sabbath

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Per Hollywood Cibernetico's suggestion in the What Are You Watching thread, I decided to start this (especially since my plan is to start Nitro from the beginning as I did with Raw) and I'd like to jib-jab about it with other dudes.

 

I just finished the second episode (had a few errands to run this afternoon) so just a couple thoughts:

 

  • Holy shit-- Alex Wright vs. SABU. I was not-so-blissfully unaware of this match until today. What the hell was with that table at the end? At first glance I'm like "Oh, a classic WCW gimmick table (ala the balsa wood chairs)" but it actually looked harder to break than a standard press board table. What a weird match. That reverse rana spot was pretty rad. Sabu wasn't around much longer after the Halloween Havoc match with Mr. JL ,right?
  • This was also my first taste of pre-NWO Scott Norton. This was pre-internet for me by about 2 years, so for anyone who was around at that time: any hype surrounding him? I know he was a champion in Japan during the NWO era (and seemed perfect for it) but for a guy of his size... I dunno, it's not like he was doing Vader-saults. I'm a little confused at the context... was he in there with Savage because he was poised to become a big star, or was he just fodder for Savage on the road to War Games?
  • Hogan/Luger was pretty much as expected. Their matches from summer/fall 1997 are a little more romanticized in my mind, partly because the NWO was happening, partly because I was the right age to be eating wrestling up, and partly because this is the second week in a row with Nitro ending on a pretty below-par Hulk promo. I had to take time off from watching Raw, so I'm only into the KOTR hype where Luger is teaming with Davey Boy-- didn't see much more out of him here than I did in a lot of those tags (save for Owen/Yoko).

 

EDIT: Said it in the other thread, but it bears repeating... Mongo's Fucking Chihuahua!!!

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Sabu shows up and slings tables for a few shows early on as I recall. 

 

Also, Public Enemy didn't have the ECW aura, but they were still fun. The tag division gets REALLY fun because you've got PE, the Nasties, Harlem Heat, the Steiners, and for a short time the Road Warriors all fighting it out. Plus, at some point the Amazing French Canadians show up and have fun TV matches with pretty much all of those teams.

 

I haven't seen this stuff in maybe a year-and-a-half, and I'm trying to wait until I get caught up on RAW to start Nitro, but I'm so excited.

 

There is a Disco/Paul Orndorff match that made me laugh in the first few shows as well, by the way. It sucks that Orndorff got injured because I was excited to see him feuding with the Horsemen. 

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It might be a physiological thing. Nitro only had 286 episodes, so WWE starting episode 1 at 79 will bring the number well past 286. Again, I am just pulling a theory out of my ass, but I am sure there is someone in WWE who is thinking that if they are REALLY going to sell 'The War' the Nitro would have to be around at least half of Raw's life span. #WWElogic.

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It might be a physiological thing. Nitro only had 286 episodes, so WWE starting episode 1 at 79 will bring the number well past 286. Again, I am just pulling a theory out of my ass, but I am sure there is someone in WWE who is thinking that if they are REALLY going to sell 'The War' the Nitro would have to be around at least half of Raw's life span. #WWElogic.

 

 

Maybe 1-79 will end up being the last episodes of Saturday Night being THA MUTHASHIP before it became the B/C show?

 

 

 

EDIT: I know this is the Nitro thread, but I just wanted to say: I hope once Nitro gets into 1998, they start putting up at least the first few months of Thunder, because going through the early years of Raw without Superstars/Action Zone etc. was pretty boned, and there was quite a few things that went on there that would help give context. Off the top of my head, I can say that there was JJ stripping Sting of the title after Starrcade (plus his first words since '96), the debut of the Wolfpac, and tons of fun stuff with Jericho-- and that's just angle-wise.

 

But of course I'm that special kind of dork that wants to re-watch a pre-Eugene Nick Dinsmore vs. a pre-Demon Dale Torborg, and judging by WCW B-Show thread here, I'm not alone.

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"The Great Train Store."

 

I've watched that Luger debut countless times over the years, be it repeat Nitro viewings, documentaries, best-of compilations, etc. but every single time...

 

"The Great Train Store."

 

I was, and remain, a huge WCW fan but there's something about the silliness of holding the first Nitro in a mall that I honestly just can't help but shake my head at, given how it all ended up for them. It's just so very... WCW.

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I watched the first episode on the live stream, but I can't find anything from before November in the on demand section. 

 

Sucks, cuz I totally forgot Sabu was even in WCW until this thread. 

 

They're organized weirdly, just select by year on the drop-down, they're all there. It's like that on both PC and PS3 but I;ve been watching all night

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No worries bruh.

 

 

Man, I forgot Eddy used to come out to Juvi's music. If TNA can ever afford Del Rio ever goes to TNA, they should totally use that as his music-- it's stock music anyway.

 

Anyway, awesome Eddy/Malenko match on episode 4. It might seem a little tame in comparison to their ECW stuff or their later WCW stuff, but I've been watching Hogan and the Dungeon of Doom on top all night. If I never hear "THAT BIG STINKY GIANT" ever again, I'll be fine with it. Definitely the best match since Pillman/Flair last week.

 

EDIT: This fucking guy:

 

 

EDIT 2: Loving the shit out of Arn/Flair, too. Really exceeded my expectations for both guys at that point in time (which sounds funny to say, given that Arn had about another year and a half left and Flair had, y'know, another 12)

 

EDIT 3: Just started Episode 5, and I have to say, the "Wrestler Crashes Announce Table At The Top of the Show To Talk 30 Seconds of Shit" gimmick is so. much. better. than someone coming out to talk for 20 minutes at the top of Raw like it's a fucking SNL monologue. Sure, WCW fell into that shit too once Hogan was on top with the NWO, but I've got a little while until all that.

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As fun as it's been watching all these Nitros, I can't bring myself to actually watch any of the pay-per-views they are building up to. (1995 Nitro anyway.)

 

Yeah, I gave War Games a shot but it was the drizzling shits. I've seen the upcoming Halloween Havoc with the Monster Sumo Match on VHS when I was a kid, and... yeah, no desire to revisit that one, either.

 

On the other hand, THE DARK SIDE OF HULKAMANIA IS HERE TO RUN WILD ON THAT BIG STINKY GIANT, DUDE.

 

EDIT #1000: Of course the second I start talking shit, they lay an Arn/Flair cage match on me...

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As fun as it's been watching all these Nitros, I can't bring myself to actually watch any of the pay-per-views they are building up to. (1995 Nitro anyway.)

 

Yeah, I gave War Games a shot but it was the drizzling shits. I've seen the upcoming Halloween Havoc with the Monster Sumo Match on VHS when I was a kid, and... yeah, no desire to revisit that one, either.

 

On the other hand, THE DARK SIDE OF HULKAMANIA IS HERE TO RUN WILD ON THAT BIG STINKY GIANT, DUDE.

 

EDIT #1000: Of course the second I start talking shit, they lay an Arn/Flair cage match on me...

 

I am on the same episode as you, and I must say that I am now a bigger fan of the Disco Inferno than I ever was before.  Just the visual of him holding a boombox playing his entrance theme while other people are making their entrance is fantastic.

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As fun as it's been watching all these Nitros, I can't bring myself to actually watch any of the pay-per-views they are building up to. (1995 Nitro anyway.)

 

Yeah, I gave War Games a shot but it was the drizzling shits. I've seen the upcoming Halloween Havoc with the Monster Sumo Match on VHS when I was a kid, and... yeah, no desire to revisit that one, either.

 

On the other hand, THE DARK SIDE OF HULKAMANIA IS HERE TO RUN WILD ON THAT BIG STINKY GIANT, DUDE.

 

EDIT #1000: Of course the second I start talking shit, they lay an Arn/Flair cage match on me...

 

I am on the same episode as you, and I must say that I am now a bigger fan of the Disco Inferno than I ever was before.  Just the visual of him holding a boombox playing his entrance theme while other people are making their entrance is fantastic.

 

 

I'm out of likes but you're on the money, there. I'm sure I'll be tired of him by the time he's working Jacqueline a year and a half from now.

 

 

 

Bizarre side note: this match with Eddy is the first time I've watched a Benoit match since he was the biggest dick ever. Not feeling great about it.

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I never really watched WCW. I was a WWF kid growing up, almost never consistently had cable, and then pretty much tuned out on wrestling during my high school years/The Attitude Era, so I'm going to dive right in with the Nitro stuff. I wish there was some Saturday Night stuff up so I could watch everything, but, eh, I can't complain too much.

 

I decided I'd start with the PPV prior to Nitro starting, which was Bash at the Beach, then I realized there was a Clash after that, but decided to watch Bash anyway. I'm working on some writing I want to get done at the same time, so I'm half-invested, at best, but that's actually cool because it means I can go back and watch it again later and not be all like 'ugh, I already watched this!'. I'm also high on painkillers, because it makes me want to write more, so...

 

Anyway, knocked out Bash, the Clash, and the first two episodes of Nitro. I'm on Fall Brawl right now, and this stuff is pretty cool. The Flair/Arn stuff is weird, because they're supposed to be BFFs FOREVER-EVAH. Dungeon of Doom is...maybe the crappiest stable I've ever seen. I mean, really, you're making Meng do this? He's too awesome for it.

 

I do like that it seems like there's more of an emphasis on actual wrestling than I remember from WWF, but that might just be because of all the stuff I've read online in my years that kinda pushes that agenda.

 

OH, I almost forgot... I LOVE Harlem Heat. I LOVE Sherri Martel. It's a match made in heaven.

 

I'll do my best to be involved in this thread. I really want to be more involved with DVDVR in general, as it's been an oasis for me in the vast desert of awful that is wrestling opinion on the interwebtubez.

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