Henderson

This kind of stuff is what hypes me up to keep putting these shows up! I really enjoy when you guys are getting excited about things taking shape and the predictions are always welcome! It is also pretty entertaining to me to see how right or wrong you guys are with your guesses. Hopefully nothing disappoints! We're inching closer to me catching up with my game and this all has me really looking forward to playing it again!

Week 3, October 1996 LIVE from the Worcester Centrum - Worcester, NY Attendance: 13,108 Monday Nitro manages to go through their opening video followed by panoramic shots of the crowd and a large pyro display; Something they haven't been able to open with for quite some time. Cameras then switch to the announce booth where, oddly this week, Eric Bischoff welcomes everyone along with Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay. Bischoff says that WCW is steamrolling toward Halloween Havoc with just less than two weeks to go. Scott Steiner has managed to get the attention of the NWO and has high hopes to take the world heavyweight title from Hollywood Hogan and Steve Austin has made no secret of wanting to get his hands on the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Bischoff says tonight will be a huge night because the finals for the Television title tournament will be decided and the Outsiders will defend their tag team titles against the Total Package Lex Luger and Scott Steiner. Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay give their rundown of recent WCW events and their thoughts as WCW heads into one of the biggest PPV's of the year - Halloween Havoc. Before long, we're set for the first match of the night as Harlem Heat's music begins playing. Booker T vs Dave Taylor vs This match probably should have been much better, but it was apparent that Taylor's on-going knee injury was still giving him problems and limiting his ability in the ring. Still though, they managed to put on a pretty competitive match but it was clear that Booker was the stronger of the two. Booker did a great job of getting all of his signature spots in and put the match away at 8:02 after hitting a Missile Dropkick. Winner: Booker T Rating: 66 - Backstage in the arena, we're shown a huge fight taking place. Really, it's just a total beatdown of Scott Norton, which isn't the usual type of scene. Finlay has Norton down on the concrete but what clearly helped was a chair and trash can that were completely mangled. Finlay yells at Norton about being the toughest man in WCW, something Norton has been out to prove for awhile now. With Norton down and out, it looks like he may have finally met his match with Finlay. - Rating: 57 Mr. JL vs "Sting" vs The crowd got on their feet when "A Man Called Sting" began blaring from the speakers but those loud cheers quickly turned to boo's when "Sting" walked out. Not fooling the crowd a bit, "Sting" paused at the ramp to give a "WOOO!" but only received a loud chorus of boo's in return. He acted like this shocked him as he continued to the ring and posed on the middle rope. The two locked up, but "Sting" quickly took control, hitting all the usual spots that the real Sting does; jumping face smash, jumping elbows, and a clothesline later, "Sting" gave out another "WOOO" to the booing crowd. "Sting" then hit a pair of Stinger Splashes as JL dropped to the mat. A Scorpion Deathlock was locked on in the middle of the ring, but then the crowd got on their feet again, looking toward the entrance.... Bischoff: Wait a minute.....That's...... Heenan: That's Sting!!! Bischoff: It is, but........Different..... - The Real Sting climbs the steps to the ring and gets right in, still with "Sting" holding the Scorpion Deathlock in. The real Sting walks up behind the fake one and grabs him by the hair, which causes him to drop the submission hold. Sting bends the fake backward and locks him under his arm, dropping him with a reverse DDT. Sting jumps up and picks up the fake again before rushing to the ropes and hitting his own face smash. Clearly showing the fake Sting how it's properly done, Sting again picks up the fake and props him in the corner, patting him on the shoulder. Sting goes to the opposite corner and rushes in, hitting a huge Stinger Splash. The fake drops to the mat and then Sting locks in his own Scorpion Deathlock. The fake taps out wildly but the Stinger's in no mood to release the hold. - Winner: No contest Rating: 51 - Sting's still got the hold locked in as the NWO makes their presence. All three get right in the ring, which causes Sting to merely look in their direction. When all three get in the ring, Sting finally drops the hold, but rather than fight, Sting just turns and looks at them all. All three men give Sting a round of applause as Brian Pillman has a microphone. - Pillman: Well, well, well, ladies and gentlemen!! Let's give it up for the REAL Stinger!!!!!!! As a matter of fact, Sting, the NWO would also love to give you a warm welcome! Sting, I think you should give credit where credit is due, my friend....The NWO never played you for a fool we never said you couldn't be trusted, and we never played ourselves off as something we weren't!! The same, I'm afraid, can't be said for your WCW co-horts! They called you a liar! They called you a sellout!! They said they didn't trust you or believe you!!! They turned their back on YOU, Sting! You should join the NWO, Sting!! Because when you join the NWO, you join a true family who will never let you down!!! What do ya think, Big Man??? Nash: Stinger, if I could quote my favorite American poet, I think it's time you... Break on through...... To the other side..... Hall: I got a question, for you Sting. You've been carrying that WCW banner, high-fiving the little kids, doing the right thing, and being the company man for such a long time - And doing a great job, too! You've bent over backwards for WCW, and what do ya have to show for it??? They told you to stick it, Sting! So we brought him (points to fake Sting) out here, and imposter - And no one knows about imposters better than us!!! We bring him out here, because we knew it would get to you! You join the NWO, Sting, and you never have to worry about people turning their back on you again! Sting: That, right there, is your cheap imitation! You get what ya pay for, don't ya?!?! The real Sting may........ Or may not be......In your price range. But the only thing for sure about Sting..... Is nothin's for sure. - Sting drops the mic and exits the ring, heading back up the aisle and toward the stage. - Bischoff: He didn't join the NWO! Heenan: He didn't say no! Bischoff: No, but he didn't say yes, either! Tenay: I don't think we could make a conclusion either way, he just said nothing's for sure! Bischoff: Fans, we've got to take a break, don't go away!! Rating: 100 Television Title Tournament: Dean Malenko vs John Tenta vs Malenko was at a great size disadvantage for this match but he didn't appear to back down much at all, taking the fight straight to Tenta. The Man of 1,000 holds did a superior job attacking the legs of Tenta to keep him grounded and prevent him from using his size. His mistake was when he went for a sunset flip. He wasn't able to budge the big man who dropped all his weight down on him in return. After the near fall, Tenta began to take control. Tides turned once again when Malenko dodged a corner splash attempt and after hitting an impressive back body drop on Tenta, Malenko looked like he was going to look to finish things with a Texas Cloverleaf.... Diamond Dallas Page made his way out from the stage entrance and to ringside, where he got Malenko's attention just as he grabbed Tenta's legs. Malenko quickly dropped them and went over to the ropes, yelling at DDP who was below on the floor. The distraction was enough to allow Tenta to recover and get to his feet and rushed Malenko. After crushing him, Malenko dropped to the mat where Tenta promptly bounced off the ropes, hitting the Earthquake Splash and getting the win at 10:10, moving on to the TV Title Tournament final. Winner: John Tenta Rating: 64 Mean Gene: Ladies and gentlemen, join me in welcoming my guests at this time; two men who need no introductions, The Enforcer Arn Anderson and the Nature Boy Ric Flair!!! - Double A and Flair make their way out to the Nature Boy's theme song, rather than the galloping horses, though both pause at the bottom of the ramp to throw up the Horsemen sign. The climb in the ring and meet Mean Gene in the middle as they look out at the capacity crowd and Mean Gene gets down to his questions. - Mean Gene: Arn Anderson, if I may, I'm going to start with you tonight. Former Horsemen member and now proud NWO member Brian Pillman, who happens to be the United States champion, had some things to say about you on Saturday Night, particularly that he "owns" you. Now, it doesn't take a genius to realize that Brian Pillman has some long over-due payback coming his way. Arn: Mean Gene, the fact of the matter is this; Brian Pillman has got a big mouth when he has other people standing beside him, and Pillman, when you joined the NWO, your mouth got a whole lot bigger! It's funny, cause I don't see that mouth moving quite as much when you're all by yourself. Now I'm sure you're proud of yourself because after you turned on the Horsemen, that was the beginning of the end of the Horsemen. Ever since then, we've been in shambles. That's partially my fault. Well let me fill you in on a little something. My career's never been about titles, it's just been about being the best. Arn Anderson is synonymous with the Television title, but the United States title isn't one that I've ever held. That's something I plan on changing come Halloween Havoc, because Brian Pillman, it is true that you have payback coming your way, and I see that payback coming in just under two weeks! The fact that you happen to be the United States champion will make it all that much sweeter when I get my revenge on you, and I beat you to within an inch of your life! Mean Gene: And not too far behind will be his NWO friends, I'm sure. Nature Boy, you've had an uphill battle for the last several weeks. You've been the target of the NWO's brutal attacks and you've also had Steve Austin nipping at your heels for a match. He has issued you a challenge for Halloween Havoc and you haven't yet given a response. Flair: I haven't given Austin a response because I don't find Steve Austin to be worthy of a response! Steve Austin was the one who turned his back on the Horsemen, just like his pal Brian Pillman! Steve Austin isn't capable of doing one single thing all on his own accord! He's got to ride everyone else's coattails to success! Well despite choosing to leave the Horsemen, Austin still wants to ride the coattails of Arn Anderson and Ric Flair! Mean Gene, I'm not sure why Austin thinks.... - Austin's music hits and he walks out onto the stage, but stops short before walking down the ramp. He's got a mic in hand and also all three men's attention in the ring. - Austin: You know what I hear any time you open up your mouth, Ric Flair?!? Nothing but a buncha crap!!!! The simple fact is, I've come out here for several weeks now and called you out for a match! I've made no mistake that I want you in the ring, and I want to finish you off, once and for all! I've made it crystal clear of what I think of you, but you're too damn afraid to accept a match with me!! You go on and on about being the dirtiest player in the game and the greatest wrestler to lace up a pair of boots, but you've done everything you can to dodge Steve Austin! Well if you ask me, it's because you're nothing more than a coward! You're too much of a chicken to take me on in a match, and you've just proven it in front of everyone! Flair: You know what Austin?!?!? You want me in a match at Halloween Havoc, then you're on!! As a matter of fact, there's nothing I can't wait for more than to get my hands on you and teach you a lesson!!! You want a match?!?! YOU GOT IT! Rating: 100 TV Title Tournament: Diamond Dallas Page vs Wrath vs Both men were on their game in this match and the crowd responded well to both. Wrath brought several high-impact moves to the match but DDP did his best as well with some hard hitting moves and strikes. Wrath was used to dominating his opponents fairly quickly, so it was clear as the match went longer, Wrath struggled. DDP was able to hit a swinging neckbreaker, discuss clothesline, and a flapjack before signaling for the Diamond Cutter. Wrath was able to shove DDP off to the ropes but on rebound, DDP was able to reverse a clothesline attempt from Wrath into the Diamond Cutter for the win at 10:51 and move into the TV title finals. Winner: DDP Rating: 72 ** The Following Announcement Has Been Paid For By the New World Order ** Hogan: Ya know something, brothers?!?! The NWO is firmly in control, I mean we've got the NWO world title, we've got the Tag Team titles, and we've got the United States title!!!! Pillman: Gee, Hulkster, what title's DON'T we have?!?! Hogan: Oh yeah! The TV title!! Could there be a more fitting title for Hollywood and the NWO than a Television title?!? Hall: Oh I don't know Hulkster, the defending clause could be a schedule breaker....Big Kev, why don't you go after the title?? Nash: You kidding? I work limited dates... Hogan: Well then I guess we'll just have to find someone else.... Rating: 99 Earl Robert Eaton vs Ricky Steamboat vs Earl Eaton wasn't as on his game quite as much on his game this week as he was last week but it was ok because the Dragon was. Steamboat was clearly feeling it tonight as he hit several of his patented arm drags and hit several chops to Eaton. Steamboat got the win at 10:15 after a Flying Cross Body for the pin. Winner: Ricky Steamboat Rating: 73 After the bell sounds and Steamboat is celebrating his victory, Eddie Guerrero walks out to the stage. Eddie's dressed in street clothes, so it appears he isn't here for a fight. Eddie has a microphone and tells the Dragon that he's overstayed his welcome in WCW and that he should've stayed retired. Eddie says he wants to finish Steamboat's career once and for all at Halloween Havoc and challenges him to put his career on the line. Steamboat gets a microphone and says the challenge is accepted and he'll show Eddie that he's still got a few lessons to give. Rating: 99 Eric Bischoff and Dusty Rhodes are at the bottom of the entrance ramp where they hype up the final for the TV Title Tournament between John Tenta and Diamond Dallas Page. Bischoff says the match will take place at Halloween Havoc and the new champion will be crowned then. A brief video highlight of both men are shown before the segment ends. Rating: 73 Tag Team Titles: Scott Steiner & Lex Luger vs The Outsiders (c) vs All four men could barely have performed better and the crowd was excited for the pairing of Luger and Steiner. The Outsiders spent the beginning of the match making fun of their competitors physiques and taunted them with poses of their own. The crowd fired back when Luger and Steiner simultaneously posed back and caused Hall to back into his corner. His response was flicking his toothpick in the face of Steiner, which was a mistake. Steiner fired off with his attack and had both Outsiders reeling. The champions came back with some offense of their own and isolated Luger from his corner. After some time in control, Luger was able to make the hot tag to Steiner, who came in with fury and tossed Hall easily with suplexes before Nash rushed in. Nash didn't have much better luck as he was tossed overhead by Steiner easily. Just as things looked to be going the challengers way, Hollywood Hogan and Brian Pillman made their way to the ring. Steiner had Scott Hall locked in a front face lock, ready to lift him for the Steiner Screwdriver when Pillman rushed in the ring and hit him from behind with the US title. Hogan came in and went after Luger as the referee called for the bell, signaling this a DQ at 17:31. Winners by DQ: Scott Steiner & Lex Luger Rating: 82 In typical NWO fashion, Scott Steiner and Lex Luger are mercilessly beat down and the referee was the only one attempting to intervene. Hogan easily dispatched the referee over the top rope before continuing the assault and dropping some legs on Steiner. Nitro fades out with the NWO continuing their attack and Scott Hall getting out the spray cans. All the while on commentary, Bobby Heenan exclaims that no one is coming out to help WCW. Rating: 90 Final Show Rating: 87

Technically Wonderful(Paul Orndorff, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Eddy Guerrero) vs. American Males and Hardy Boyz Comments: Bunkhouse Buck vs. Randy Savage Comments: Brian Pillman vs. Sting Comments: WCW World Television Title Match Diamond Dallas Page defends vs. Road Warrior Hawk Comments: Blue Bloods vs. Rock 'N' Roll Express Comments: Though I'd like the BB's to win! WCW World Heavyweight Title Match Hulk Hogan defends vs. The Great Muta Comments: Comments On Diary In General: I love how we both have the same timeline and while things are going to be similar, you've completely made this timeline your own. Keep it up!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the WCW Hotline Report! I'm Mean Gene Okerlund bringing you all of the latest news and rumors of the wrestling world! Lots of news to report about company relationships. WCW has reportedly adopted a friendly attitude with All Japan Women's Wrestling. If my speculation is correct, this could mean seeing female wrestlers from Japan wrestle on WCW programming in the near future. In the first week of October, it was announced that WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling were no longer at war. That all apparently changed again this week when SMW once again declared war on WCW. This could coincide with their recent gain in size to "Medium." I tried reaching out to owner Jim Cornette for a comment, but, unsurprisingly, he hasn't returned my calls. The relationship between WCW and the WWF continues to decline after Eric Bischoff announced in a press conference earlier this week that they were taking a "hostile attitude" toward the WWF. Fans might have been surprised to see a considerable increase in muscle size with Eddie Guerrero this week on Nitro. Those in the inner offices are under the belief that Guerrero's "star quality" has dramatically increased since putting on more weight. There have been some internet rumors going around that Guerrero achieved this increase under some....questionable means. The Television title tournament continued this weekend on WCW Saturday Night when John Tenta defeated Alex Wright. That set the stage for the semi-finals, pitting Dean Malenko taking on John Tenta and Diamond Dallas Page against Wrath. Both semi-final matches will take place this week on Monday Nitro. Here is the official lineup for this week's Monday Nitro! Week 3, October 1996 LIVE from the Worcester Centrum - Worcester, NY Tag Team Titles: Lex Luger & Scott Steiner vs The Outsiders (c) Ricky Steamboat vs Earl Robert Eaton TV Title Tournament: Diamond Dallas Page vs Wrath TV Title Tournament: Dean Malenko vs John Tenta Mr. JL vs "Sting" Booker T vs Dave Taylor

Week 2, October 1996 LIVE from the North Sydney Community Forum - North Sydney, Nova Scotia Attendance: 1,602 - Nitro opens this week after the intro video and goes straight into a scrambled video package from last week's Monday Nitro where Sting declared himself a free agent. The video features several moments involving Sting during the war with the NWO thus far, culminating to Fall Brawl where Sting destroys the NWO in War Games before walking out. This is all done with Sting's voiceover promo from last Monday night. The video ends and the arena is shown. It's a noticeably smaller crowd as Tony says WCW has branched out to Canada and there is a heavy aura of doom in the air as the announce team all discuss Sting's declaration of being a free agent and what that means, particularly, for WCW. Bobby Heenan says that Sting's been torn apart from the inside out, that his own best friend didn't believe or trust him and he's now broken. No one but Sting knows what this means for WCW as he's in the driver's seat. Schiavone says that WCW has a great opportunity to regain some lost momentum from Fall Brawl because tonight there are two title matches; The Faces of Fear will take on the Outsiders for the titles and in tonight's main event, Scott Steiner will try and capture the United States title from Brian Pillman. Tony also says the TV title tournament continues here tonight and it starts off with the first match tonight! TV Title Tournament: Wrath vs Lance Storm vs Wrath's recent matches have not been very long and he has dominated throughout. While Wrath still brought a massive display of power to this match, Lance Storm impressed with his own ability to match up with speed and also his own strength. Storm made a huge mistake though when he attempted one too many high-flying moves. As Storm leapt off the top rope for a splash, Wrath caught him in mid air and slammed him down hard to the canvas. The only thing left to do now was hit the Meltdown, which he did, scoring the win and moving on in the tournament at 9:59. Winner: Wrath Rating: 49 Steve Austin is backstage in a black back drop and glares into the camera. It's clear he's ready for a promo and begins when the person off camera gives him his cue that it's ready to go. Austin: Nature Boy Ric Flair, it seems to me that your schedule is wide open right now and after seeing an utterly embarrassing effort from you at Fall Brawl, I shouldn't stoop so low to share a ring with you! As a matter of fact, if I wanted to move on and not waste any more time on you or Arn Anderson, it'd probably be better for my own career! But that ain't the way Steve Austin goes about doing business! Nuh Uh! See, Ric Flair, the fact of the matter is, you went ahead and pissed me off! So like any other man, I ain't just gonna let that go and move on.....What I'm gonna do, Ric Flair, is make you regret that you ever got side tracked with that little NWO feud of yours and took your eye off the real prize! I'm gonna make you regret that you took Steve Austin for granted! It seems to me, Nature Boy, that every ounce of sense you used to have has been lost! Well if it takes me beating that sense back into you, then that's exactly what I'll do, and I ain't got any problem in doing it! Save the date, Ric Flair, and I don't wanna hear no excuses, because at Halloween Havoc, I'm gonna beat you to within an inch of your pathetic little life! And that's the bottom line! Rating: 100 Tag Team Titles: The Faces of Fear vs The Outsiders (c) vs Normally these two teams are tearing up their matches and have really gotten the fans into their work but this match did not work out. Both teams could not get coordinated with one another and several moves were botched. The Barbarian had a particularly bad match and while Hall and Nash had solid performances, they couldn't salvage the match. Nash got the pin at 8:17 with a Powerbomb. Winners: The Outsiders Rating: 67 After returning from a commercial break, cameras are in a hallway backstage where Eddie Guerrero and Ricky Steamboat are in the midst of a chaotic brawl. Both men are clubbing blows to the other and neither is establishing dominance over the other before a group of official rush in to separate the two. They're clearly on a path toward a match and Halloween Havoc just happens to be around the corner..... Rating: 82 Mean Gene: Ladies and gentlemen, we're LIVE in Nova Scotia, Canada and we have a big night still ahead! Joining me right now is a man who has had a whole lot of mixed emotions over the last couple of weeks, please welcome the Total Package, Lex Luger! Mr. Luger, last week, we finally heard from Sting and he had a lot to say about the events of the last couple of weeks, in particular, mentioning you AND indicating that you could...Stick it.... Luger: You know, Mean Gene, if there's anyone who should be sorry for what's occurred over the last couple of weeks, it shouldn't be Sting, it should be myself. We all know that the NWO is willing to stoop to the lowest levels possible in order to gain an advantage, and I fell for it hook, line, and sinker! Now I could come out here and give you a long list of excuses, but that doesn't change the facts that I screwed up! Stinger! I said it last week, and I'm saying it again here tonight; I'm sorry! I should've trusted you! After all we've been through together, I know you better than that! It was a stupid thing for me to think you'd join the NWO and I need you back standing by my side to take on the NWO! I have no doubt that the two of us together can take them out for good! Sting, I know you're probably not going to come out here tonight and accept my apology, so I'm just going to have to prove to you each week that I'm sorry! You know where to find me, you have my number, and whatever it takes, I'll redeem myself one way or another! Mean Gene: We'll all have to wait and see, Lex Luger, but I think we can all safely assume that Sting is not here tonight. Rating: 100 Dirty Dick Slater vs Fit Finlay vs It's been awhile since we last saw Slater on Nitro. August, as a matter of fact where he teamed with Bunkhouse Buck in a losing effort against the American Males. The crowd couldn't have cared less, though. Both men had an equal performance in the ring, believe it or not, but Finlay got the win at 6:11 with the Tombstone. Winner: Fit Finlay Rating: 48 We go backstage where Dean Malenko is standing with his manager, Francine, who looks full of New York attitude before she begins. Francine: Let me explain something to all of you people in that arena and watching at home right now, you are looking at Dean Malenko, the next, most dominant Television champion in WCW history. It just so happens that he also has the best manager known in the wrestling business! It doesn't matter who Dean-baby needs to beat in this stupid little tournament that WCW put on, he's gonna run through the "competition" before the ink even dries on the contracts! Last Monday he finished off that joke named Brad Armstrong and his next match will be just the same. If he needs to cash in his......Insurance policy to assure that, then he'll do it; BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! Rating: 37 TV Title Tournament: Earl Robert Eaton vs Diamond Dallas Page vs The second round of the TV title tournament continues with this match. It began pretty slow and the crowd weren't much into it. Things drastically changed halfway through though. Both competitors put on a heck of a performance and ended up getting the crowd feeding into the match as a grueling back and forth battle ensued and several near falls. The announcers even started commenting on Eaton's performance and calling back to his days as "Beautiful Bobby" and his tag team dominance. On the other hand, they complimented DDP's ability and the fact he continues to be a standout star in WCW with a very bright future. The crowd were on their feet when Eaton went for his top rope legdrop but Page managed to get out of the way. A Diamond Cutter later ended it at 14:10 and paved the way for DDP to enter round 3. Winner: DDP Rating: 71 Mean Gene is backstage in the interview area following another commercial break. He announces that his next guest is the Nature Boy Ric Flair. Mean Gene tells Flair that Steve Austin had some comments and a challenge for him for Halloween Havoc and wanted his thoughts and if he would be responding to the challenge. Flair: My thoughts?!? You want my thoughts on Steve Austin!? Let me see if I can condense them all down into this interview for you, ok Gene? Steve Austin is nothing more than a punk. A PUNK! He couldn't hack it as a Horseman because he's a victim of his own hype! Steve Austin thought he was bigger than the Horsemen and he's not! HE'S NOT! In fact, Austin isn't even capable of carrying around Ric Flair's jockstrap, let alone facing me in a match! Myself and Double A tried to show Steve Austin the way in WCW! We spent so much time and effort trying to mold him and Brian Pillman! Austin didn't wanna be molded, he wanted to do what he wanted to do! Austin has no idea how to be a team player and that's why he had a problem in going after the NWO! It wasn't about the Horsemen, it was about Austin!! It was about Austin because that's all he is, a selfish punk! So if Austin wants a piece of the Nature Boy, then he's just gonna have to get in line, daddy, because the Nature Boy is far from finished with Hulk Hogan and the NWO! WOOOOO! Rating: 100 Jacques Rougeau vs Arn Anderson vs This was somewhat of a homecoming for Rougeau, who's hometown isn't far away in another province, Quebec. As a result, Rougeau got a pretty good reaction from the crowd and he enjoyed playing up to the crowd. This resulted in the Enforcer, who was accompanied to the ring by the Nature Boy, to play the part of the heel and hit some dirty cheap shots. Double A had an exceptional performance and ended up hitting his signature Spinebuster followed by the Double A DDT for the win at 7:46. Winner: Arn Anderson Rating: 80 After the bell rang, the crowd jumped to their feet as Steve Austin ran out and dove in the ring. He wasted no time getting to his feet and going full-on assault mode on Ric Flair. Flair didn't back down himself as the two went at it. With the crowd electric, Arn Anderson also jumped in the mix but it was more of an effort to separate the two. Austin, having none of it, wasted no time and hit a low blow on the Enforcer, dropping him to his knees before continuing the attack on Flair. Austin may have forgotten that he was trying to get the jump on the dirtiest player in the game, though, because Flair hit his own low blow on Austin. This resulted in Austin bailing from the ring and retreating up the aisle as Flair and Anderson regrouped in the ring. Rating: 94 United States Title: Scott Steiner vs Brian Pillman (c) vs Ordinarily, this would be an extremely competitive matchup featuring two very capable workers who can handle a variety of styles in the ring. While this remained true, Scott Steiner had to worry about the company that Pillman had with him to the ring, which was in the form of the tag team champions Outsiders and the World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hogan. The NWO was bringing out all the heavy hitters in this match and Steiner had to constantly look over his shoulder at every turn. The NWO tried relentlessly to interfere during the match. The referee let quite a bit go, seeing as how high the stakes were in this match, and trying not to fault Steiner for something he couldn't control. In addition, the referee didn't want to disqualify the NWO because it's been well established at this point to be their goal in order to hang onto their titles. Still though, it was a solid match and Scott Steiner slowly took control. After hitting a series of clotheslines and suplexes, Steiner put Pillman in the corner and perched him on the top rope. Steiner went to climb up for the Frankensteiner but Scott Hall jumped on the apron, causing a distraction. Steiner took care of Hall and promptly dropped him but Kevin Nash was quick to follow. Steiner again was able to drop Nash from the apron and turn his attention back to Pillman, but by this time, it was too long. This allowed Pillman to recover and he pushed Steiner off the ropes, who crashed down to the mat. Pillman stood on the top rope and waited for Steiner to get back to his feet and when he did, he leapt off with the Air Pillman. He connected and the referee counted, but Steiner was able to kick out just before the 3! The crowd erupted which gave Steiner a second wind to begin a comeback. Pillman was reeling and Steiner was firmly in control. Things looked good as Hall and Nash were down on the floor and just starting to get back to their feet. Steiner motioned that it was over and everyone watching was sure to see a new US champion crowned. Steiner brought Pillman back to his feet and got him in a front face lock, preparing to lift him for the Steiner Screwdriver. Just as he went to lift Pillman, Steiner was struck from behind by the world title and Hollywood Hogan! This unfortunately forced the referee to call for the bell at 16:25. Winner by DQ: Scott Steiner Rating: 82 In typical NWO fashion, things didn't stop when the bell rang, however. Hogan continued his assault and Hall and Nash were now climbing in the ring. Pillman recovered enough to start getting a couple of kicks in also and the beatdown started. Nash put Steiner in position for the Powerbomb and was helped by Hogan, Hall, and Pillman to finish it. The NWO was all smiles and arrogant taunting as the spray paint made its appearance yet again at the ending of a Monday Nitro. This time, Scott Steiner found his back painted "NWO" and the Nitro credits appeared on the screen as Hogan yelled into the camera, taunting the entire time and also spray painting the lens, causing Nitro to go to black. Rating: 97 Final Show Rating: 87

Week 1, October 1996 LIVE from Freedom Hall - Louisville, KY Attendance: 17,723 Monday Nitro opens this week with an aura of darkness. The usual Monday Nitro intro video plays but when it finishes, cameras go straight to the announce booth where Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay welcome everyone for joining in. Tony says that just 24 hours ago at Fall Brawl, things were set straight, Sting was an innocent man, and no one believed him, including himself. Tony says it was a dark night for WCW as not only did so many people doubt Sting, but the NWO prevailed at the end of War Games. Bobby Heenan says that he never once doubted Sting and Tony and the rest of WCW should be ashamed of themselves. Both Tenay and Schiavone had to roll their eyes at the abrupt backtracking from "The Brain." Tony says it was a fake Sting that attacked Lex Luger and it was a fake Sting that emerged last night and fooled so many people. Sting showed up to take out the NWO but rather than finish the match and score the victory for WCW, Sting walked out, leaving Team WCW stunned. It allowed the NWO to sneak attack and score the win. No one knows what's in store for WCW now that the NWO continues to gain in power each week. Not only that, but---- Sting abruptly walks out without any announcement or theme music. The crowd tonight is mostly subdued and interested in what Sting is going to do. Tony says that there's no doubt that this is the real Sting as he heads to the ring and gets a microphone. Sting: I want a chance to explain something that happened last Monday night at Nitro! Last Monday Night, I was on an airplane flying from LA to Atlanta; when I got to Atlanta, I tuned into TV to Nitro, and I thought I was watching a rerun! It was a very convincing film..... Often imitated but never duplicated though!!! And what else did I see?!? I saw people, I saw wrestlers, I saw commentators, and I saw best friends doubt......The Stinger! That's right! Doubted the Stinger.....So, I heard Lex Luger say "I know where he lives, I know where he works out, I'm gonna go get him! So I said to myself, "I'll just go into seclusion..." I'll wait and see what happens on Saturday Night, and I tuned in Saturday Night, and what'd I see???? I saw more of the same, more doubt! Which brings me to FALL BRAWL! I knew I had to get to Fall Brawl to get face to face with the Total Package to let him know that it wasn't me. And what I got outta that was; No.....Sting.....I DON'T BELIEVE YOU STING! Well all I gotta say is, I have been mediator! I have been BABYSITTER for Lex Luger! And I have given him the benefit of the doubt about a thousand times in the last 12 months. And I've carried the WCW banner, and I have given my blood, my sweat, and my TEARS for WCW! So for all of those fans out there, all those wrestlers, and people that never doubted the Stinger....I'll stand by YOU, if you stand by ME! BUT! But, for all of the people, all of the commentators, and all of the best friends who did doubt me, you can STICK it! From now on, I consider myself a Free Agent. But that doesn't mean you won't see the Stinger.....From time to time, I'm gonna pop in when you least.....Expect it. Rating: 100 TV Title Tournament: Brad Armstrong vs Dean Malenko vs WCW took a quick break after Sting's impromptu promo and when Nitro returned, the commentators were still reeling. As such, much of their focus wasn't on this second round match of the TV title tournament. It was a solid opening match for Nitro and Armstrong continued to do his best to prove his worthy of competing in bigger matches. The issue was, Armstrong had to also contend with Malenko's manager, Francine. She found a way to get involved at every opportunity. Dean would distract the referee repeatedly to allow Francine to get cheap shots in on Armstrong. When it looked like Brad was going to overcome the odds, Malenko locked in the Texas Cloverleaf, getting the submission win at 13:26 and moving on to the 3rd round. Winner: Dean Malenko Rating: 75 Mean Gene: Ladies and gentlemen, we are fresh off the heels of Fall Brawl and getting into Nitro here tonight, we have plenty to digest! Here with me at this time is a man who competed last night against Brian Pillman for the United States championship, a man who fell short of claiming that title, not due to deeds of his own, but rather due to the NWO, and mainly Hollywood Hogan, helping out Brian Pillman. Scott Steiner, I'm sure you have a few things to address after last night! Steiner: That's one hell of an understatement, Mean Gene! Last night, I did what I said I was gonna do, and that's beat the crap out of Brian Pillman! The only thing I didn't do was beat Pillman for the US title! But Gene, everybody knows that it wasn't because Pillman was the better man last night! If it weren't for Hollywood Hogan, you'd be looking at a new United States champion right now! Well Hogan! I ain't afraid of you and you barked up the wrong tree, my man! You wanted to get in my business last night when you saw your fellow NWO member was gonna lose, and lose bad! So Hogan, if you wanna get in my business, I'm gonna get in your business! Hogan! I'm calling you out right now to put that title of yours on the line for Halloween Havoc! If you're a real man, Hogan, you'll accept my challenge and then you can count your days as world champion down! Rating: 100 Wrath vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Poor Chavo. This was another match where he takes on Wrath and another match that he gets dismantled. Wrath won at 7:18 with the Meltdown. Winner: Wrath Rating: 57 DDP cuts a promo where he hypes up the Television title tournament and the fact that next week on Nitro, he will face Earl Robert Eaton. He says that Eaton will feel the bang next week! Rating: 90 Mean Gene is backstage with Ricky Steamboat and Harlem Heat. Gene lets everyone know that the Dragon is teaming with Harlem Heat next up in a 3 vs 3 tag team match and also asks Steamboat about his match last night against Eddie Guerrero. Steamboat says if Eddie is happy with himself having to cheat to win, then so be it. In either case, he isn't yet finished with Eddie and the match up next will be another way for the Dragon to get back at him. Harlem Heat says that tonight they team up with Steamboat and they're still on the path to reclaim their tag titles. The Outsiders have avoided Harlem Heat long enough and time is running out for them. Rating: 82 Eddie Guerrero & Faces of Fear vs Ricky Steamboat & Harlem Heat vs Despite the odd pairings, mostly for Eddie and the Faces of Fear, the crowd was actually pretty into this. Eddie gave an exceptional performance which probably helped the match quite a bit but all competitors really brought their A-game to this match. Eddie spent most of the match trying to avoid Steamboat and the crowd went wild when he was finally able to get his hands on him. The match ended at 13:09 when Eddie, having enough, walked to the back and got himself counted out. Winners by Count-out: Steamboat & Harlem Heat Rating: 79 Mean Gene: Ladies and gentlemen, WCW Monday Nitro continues and with me now is a man who competed last night in War Games, and a man who probably has several mixed emotions right now; the Total Package Lex Luger. Luger: You know, Mean Gene, for someone who has had a long and storied career such as myself, I should've been able to realize when the wool was being pulled over my eyes. Sting always stood up for what was right and Sting always put the very foundation of WCW squarely on his shoulders! Stinger! I should've trusted you, I never should've doubted you, and from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry! What you said is 100% the truth! I haven't always been such a great friend to you but you've always stood by my side through thick and thin! You've given me the benefit of the doubt more than I deserved and I should've at least given you that same respect! Gene, if there's one thing I'm not going to give up on, is trying to express how sorry I am for not trusting Sting. Rating: 89 Steve Keirn vs Fit Finlay vs Steve Keirn might best be known for the role of "Skinner." Fit Finlay didn't really care what Keirn is known for, he just wanted to get some momentum recovered. He was able to do this in convincing fashion by hitting the Tombstone for the win at 7:35. Winner: Fit Finlay Rating: 47 Hugh Morrus vs Brian Knobbs vs Not a very impressive match and the crowd really didn't care much about it. Hugh Morrus picked up the win at 8:30 after hitting the No Laughing Matter moonsault. Winner: Hugh Morrus Rating: 58 Hogan: Well ya know something, my fellow NWOites?!?!? The physical force that is the NWO just keep steamrolling over anyone who wants to get in the path of the train, brother! Even after WCW turned its back on Sting, he still couldn't use his brain enough to officially join the NWO, so we had to go out and find an even better Sting! Now some other little chump wants to start throwing Hollywood's name around and call me out! Scott Steiner, you're nothing but a little pebble on the bottom of my boot, brother! You have the gall to call me out and challenge me for the NWO heavyweight title when you haven't even made anything of yourself! Well you just happened to catch Hollywood in a very giving mood, my man! Just because things have been going the NWO's way has me feeling generous! You want a match against me at Halloween Havoc?!? Well if you have a death wish, then I'll be more than happy to help you out with that! At Halloween Havoc, you're gonna fall victim to your own stupidity! Rating: 100 Tag Team Titles: Lex Luger & Arn Anderson vs The Outsiders (c) vs Demeanors between competitors couldn't be any different. The Outsiders were joking and all fun and games while Lex Luger and Arn Anderson were focused and clearly not interested in joking around. The announcers thought this was an odd pairing but figured with both men teaming last night at War Games, their alliance could continue for one more day. All men were giving an excellent performance and the crowd was eating everything up. Every time Hall and Nash tried toying with Luger and Anderson, they put them in their place with hard hitting moves. When Luger was the legal man, it looked like he was getting ready to wrap up the match. He hit his signature clotheslines and prepared for the forearm smash. He turned only to meet Kevin Nash, who hit him over the head with the tag team title belt. The referee, of course, didn't see this as he was distracted. Hall took the opportunity to hit the Outsider's Edge while Nash took out Anderson on the apron. The referee counted the pin and the match was over at 12:20, resulting in yet another WCW loss to the NWO. Winners: The Outsiders Rating: 80 In typical post-match NWO fashion, things are far from over. The bell rings but Brian Pillman makes his way down to the ring and the NWO beat-down commences. It isn't long into the attack, though, when the crowd suddenly roars to life. The cameras switch to catch who's at full sprint toward the ring... Ric Flair slides in the ring and immediately goes after Brian Pillman. The crowd go absolutely crazy as Flair hits rapid-fire punches to Pillman. Scott Hall comes over to try and help but Flair furiously attacks Hall. The crowd loves every second as Luger and Anderson start to recover and mount their own attacks. The NWO is finally reeling as Team WCW give life to their defense. The cheers slowly start to change to boo's though, as more people emerge from the entrance. Hollywood Hogan comes out with the newest NWO member, though this time the announcers are positive that this isn't the real Sting. Both men walk toward the ring as Hogan taunts out to anyone who's paying attention. Once they get in the ring, Hogan uses the world title belt to attack the WCW defenders. All three men take a beating at the hands of the NWO and Ric Flair gets the worst beating out of them all. "Sting" hits several Stinger Splashes on all three men and then the spray paint makes its appearance. Nitro fades out as Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair all once again get "NWO" spray painted on their backs as they're sprawled out on the ring mat, beaten. The announcers are heard asking where the real Sting is as the cameras go to black. Rating: 91 Final Show Rating: 78

Week 4, September 1996 LIVE From Milwaukee County Stadium - Milwaukee, WI Attendance: 53,000 (SELLOUT!) In typical WCW fashion, Fall Brawl opens up with a great shot of the sold out arena in Milwaukee. The crowd is all excited as the camera pans around the arena. Tony Schiavone is heard welcoming everyone to this highly anticipated event where WCW will finally get their hands on the core of the NWO and look to extract some revenge, as in recent months it has been the NWO firmly in control. Tony now hopes tonight is the night for WCW to put down the NWO. Bobby Heenan doesn't see it that way, he see's the NWO only getting stronger as they've now apparently been able to get Sting to join their ranks. Sting hasn't been seen for a month and just returned this past Monday on Nitro and turned his back on his best friend - Lex Luger. Dusty Rhodes says it was something never even envisioned and unfathomable, Sting turning his back on WCW and joining the New World Order. He thinks WCW has a very tough road ahead as not only is WCW still reeling from Sting turning his back on everyone, but team WCW is also at a numbers disadvantage going into War Games with it only being Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Lex Luger. After their intro, there's a quick hype video showing the very birth of the NWO at Bash at the Beach to where everything currently is, culminating with Sting attacking Lex Luger this past week. Music starts to play and Fall Brawl is kicking off with its first match of the night. Falls Count Anywhere: Scott Norton vs Fit Finlay vs After Norton was able to prove his toughness against Mike Barton, he went on continuing to claim to be the toughest wrestler in all of WCW. Fit Finlay was the next one to step up to the plate and challenge Norton on the "toughest man" title in WCW. This is another feud that has mostly played out on WCW Saturday Night with a few interactions on Nitro's. It wasn't a long match though both men were extremely physical with each other. They used the ability to fight anywhere to both their advantage. The fight spilled out of the ring and into the stands, which the crowd enjoyed and proved it to be a great way to open the show. Fall Brawl is typically a more physical show of the year and these two were the definition of hard-hitting. They were also very evenly matched and just when one man thought to have the advantage, the other would climb back and mount his own physical comeback. The match ended at 8:17 when Fit Finlay was able to hit his Tombstone Piledriver on the stage entrance. Winner: Fit Finlay Rating: 56 Tenay: I'm backstage here with the three men representing WCW tonight inside the steel cage and War Games; Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and the Total Package Lex Luger. You three men have quite the uphill battle in front of you later tonight as not only are you at a numbers disadvantage, but you also have to be able to cope with Sting turning his back on you three and the whole of WCW as you stand across that ring from him later tonight. Flair: Mike Tenay, it's no secret that myself and Sting have had numerous battles over the years. It's no secret that me, and me alone, is the person responsible for Sting making it in this sport! It's no secret that if it weren't for the Nature Boy, Sting would still be trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life! STING! When you first got into wrestling, pal, you were as green as the color of my trunks! You didn't know what you wanted to do in this sport! Hell, you didn't know if you even wanted to be a wrestler! Then you got with the Nature Boy and I made a star out of you! You have nothing to be thankful for aside from the Nature Boy! All the money you've made, all the success, all the big houses, all of it! You owe it to me! Now, as far as it goes for me......All this can be blamed on me! I made you what you are today! So because of that, it's also my responsibility why WCW is where it's at right now! Why you turned your back on your best friend, WCW, and all the little Stinger's out there! It's all my fault! If I didn't make you a superstar, then none of this would've ever happened! So tonight, I take responsibility! But don't think for one second that means the Nature Boy is gonna roll over and give up! There is no giving up! I'm going to make you regret the worst decision of your life, pal!!! And then when I'm done with that, I'm gonna make you bleed! I'm gonna make you sweat, and, BY GOD, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU PAY THE PRICE! Anderson: Call me crazy, but I said all along that Sting couldn't be trusted. Well turns out, what I cautioned everyone on came to fruition. I'm not here to brag, I'm not here to gloat, I'm simply here to do one thing, and one thing only, and that's inflict an unbearable amount of pain on Sting and the rest of the NWO. As for you, Luger, I'm gonna tell you right now, my trust only runs so far, and son, my trust is near its end. If you even think about pulling a fast one on us like Sting did, you're gonna be in a world of hurt....... Luger: Double A, I told you and the Nature Boy that I was with the two of you from the beginning, I'm standing by your side as we head into battle, and if I had any inkling of suspicion that Sting would turn on not only me, but WCW as a whole, I never would've stood out and proclaimed that Sting and I were on the same page. I never would've spoken for him, and I never would've demanded that we be a part of War Games. Now, I'm telling the both of you right here, straight up, you can trust me, and I have your back! Now, as far as------ There's a commotion off screen that gets everyone's attention. That attention turns into tension as Flair braces himself, Luger clinches his fists and takes a half step back, and Arn Anderson, collected as always, remains stone faced. Sting steps in view, his back to the camera. Sting holds up his hands in attempts at peace, but he can tell by the looks on everyone's faces, they're in no mood... Sting: Hoooolllld on, hold on! All I gotta say is, it wasn't me! It wasn't me on Monday Night, Lex! Luger: I'll tell you what.....We got War Games coming up later tonight, I saw you, I looked you right in the face before you cheap-shotted me and Stinger.....I know it was you, I can't believe you, and I DON'T believe you! Sting: If you can't believe me, then SO BE IT! I'll see you in awhile! Rating: 95 Dean Malenko vs Perry Saturn vs While Saturn was clearly out wrestled by Dean Malenko in this match, it gave him a great opportunity to show his value to a large audience. While he might not have stood up to Malenko's technical ability in the ring, Saturn was quicker than Dean and also had some great power moves like his exploder suplex and several other suplex variations. The great equalizer in the match happened to be Malenko's manager, Francine. She was able to make her presence known several times through the match and ultimately cost Saturn the victory. After a distraction and interference, Malenko was able to roll up Saturn for the victory at 13:22. Winner: Dean Malenko Rating: 71 Mean Gene is backstage with Harlem Heat, who give a short and sweet interview about the Outsiders. Stevie Ray says that the Outsiders cheated their way to another win this past Monday on Nitro but that just tells them that the Outsiders can't beat Harlem Heat in a fair fight. There's no worry though because the two brothers from Harlem are used to unfair fights and if you can't beat them, join them. Rating: 83 Ricky Steamboat vs Eddie Guerrero vs Steamboat gave a short interview prior to the match saying he was going to teach some respect to Guerrero but that didn't turn out to be the case. Eddie made a point throughout the match to hit cheap shot after cheap shot and yelled out several times asking Steamboat how much more "respect" he was going to try and teach. Eddie spent a large amount of time taunting the Dragon which eventually turned around to hurt him. There were several high-flying moves from both competitors though Eddie was clearly the more agile one. After a brief comeback by Steamboat, Eddie was able to halt the momentum with a low blow. After beating the Dragon on the mat, Guerrero climbed to the top rope and hit the Frog Splash for the victory at 16:01. Winner: Eddie Guerrero Rating: 79 Following the match, Steve Austin is backstage, alone, and ready to cut a promo as he stares confidently into the camera. Austin: I've been backstage all day so far for Fall Brawl, looking at the board, seeing who's got a match and who doesn't, and guess what!?! Steve Austin is once again left off the board. It's almost like some sort of punishment that I don't find any value in wasting my time on the NWO and would rather forge my own path. I couldn't give a damn about the NWO and my only sole purpose right now in WCW is to beat the living hell out of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson! I spent way too much time and way too much effort in going after Lex Luger and trying to show that the Four Horsemen were a force to be reckoned with! All that was thrown out the window the second those two idiots decided to team up with Luger for War Games! That's fine.....Ric Flair, you may have been real busy leading into Fall Brawl but it looks to me that your schedule's wide open after tonight. So, Ric Flair, you better make sure your calendar is clear after tonight, because your ass is mine! Rating: 100 TV Title Tournament: Diamond Dallas Page vs Hugh Morrus vs Another first round matchup for the TV title saw two very capable men have a less than stellar performance. It's not really clear what caused both men to have lackluster performances, but they have both definitely done better. Morrus used his size to his advantage but ended up missing his No Laughing Matter moonsault. This allowed DDP to hit the Diamond Cutter for the win and advance in the tournament. The final count was at 10:07. Winner: DDP Rating: 64 Scott Steiner gives a short pre-match interview before heading out for his match. Steiner says that he dominated as Television champion and he's going to dominate as United States champion. Steiner says that he's quickly on the rise in WCW and it's only a matter of time before he gets ahold of the world title. First of all though, Steiner says that Brian Pillman is his and he's walking out of Fall Brawl the US champion. Rating: 100 US Title: Scott Steiner vs Brian Pillman (c) vs Even though the majority of the hype was surrounding War Games, this match was easily the match of the night. Steiner and Pillman matched up extremely well and their quickness and speed, matched with their physical moveset really got the crowd into it. Pillman isn't the biggest guy but he still proved that he can hit some big spots. After several minutes of Scott Steiner being in control, the crowd became distracted as someone emerged from the entrance and made their way to ringside... Hollywood Hogan made his way to ringside which also got Steiner's attention. Once Scott Steiner saw Hogan standing outside, he took the opportunity to flip Hogan off, which generated a loud cheer from the crowd. Steiner turned his attention back toward Pillman and looked to end things. As Steiner ran and bounced off the ropes, Hogan hit Steiner from behind with the world title, causing him to drop to the mat. Pillman used the opportunity to climb the top rope after he was able to recover. Pillman jumped off to hit a top rope splash and got the victory at 13:02. Winner and STILL US Champion: Brian Pillman Rating: 83 The Amazing French Canadians vs American Males vs The crowd used this match as an opportunity to come down from the excitement from the previous match, though all men put forth their best effort. There wasn't much different in this match compared to their other matches they've had against each other. Unfortunately for the Males, some miscommunication between Bagwell and Riggs cost them the victory at 11:41, bringing their record against the French Canadians to 0-3. Winners: Amazing French Canadians Rating: 58 TV Title Tournament: Mike Barton vs Earl Robert Eaton vs This is the final match in the TV title tournament. One thing that was looked over was the fact that this past Saturday Night showcased three other tournament matches; John Tenta beat Jim Duggan, Lance Storm beat David Taylor, and Wrath beat Brian Knobbs. Earl Eaton was looking to change the fortune of his Blue Blood partners and move on in the tournament in the hopes of keeping the TV title within the Blue Bloods. There were many who thought with Barton's recent exposure he would be successful, but Eaton proved to still be a tricky veteran. Eaton won the match at 7:37 with a neck breaker to move on! Winner: Earl Robert Eaton Rating: 55 The NWO are backstage and cut a pre-match promo. Hogan says that all the pieces are in place and that the NWO is continuing on their efforts to completely take over WCW and put it out of its misery. They got one step closer this past Nitro when Sting finally saw the light and decided to get on the black and white express. Kevin Nash says that while Sting is off getting ready for the big match, Brian Pillman was prepared to fight in War Games until Sting decided to join. The NWO knows that Pillman had his own grueling match earlier and would hate for him to pull double duty, so they tell him he can sit this one out. Pillman started the winning night for the NWO and it will be capped off with the NWO winning War Games and they'll let new recruit do the honor of spray painting the backs of the losers. Rating: 95 War Games: Team WCW vs NWO vs It's been said many times that the tension could be cut with a knife, but that was even more apparent during the introductions to this match. In usual War Games fashion, both teams are usually waiting outside the cage while the clock counts down for the next entry. Tonight, things were a bit different as the entrances were made separately. Starting things off for War Games tonight was the Enforcer and Scott Hall. Anderson came out first followed by Scott Hall, who's entries were completely randomly drawn, of course. Hall was a bit reluctant to step through the cage door and through the ropes as he didn't have the rest of the NWO out to help him just yet. Hall no sooner got through the ropes before Anderson started the attack. The crowd exploded as Anderson began his assault and didn't let up. Hall attempted to go to the second ring to escape the Enforcer, but it was no luck. Tony Schiavone said that the NWO would have the next entry into the match as the time counted down and they all speculated if it would be Sting. The time continued to count down and Arn Anderson remained firmly in control the entire time. As the time went below 10 seconds, the sold out crowd began to count along before it reached zero and the buzzer sounded, bringing the next competitor out for War Games... Kevin Nash comes out and runs to the ring. The announcers all knew the NWO had this next entry though they all voiced concern when they saw it was Nash. With a face of fury and focus, Nash got to the cage door and the referee opened it. Nash wasted no time rushing in and climbing over the top rope where he went straight for the second ring. Arn Anderson continued working over Scott Hall until Nash reached him and clubbed him hard from behind. Nash was relentless and gave his partner plenty of time to recover. Nash put Anderson in the corner and began a barrage of knee lifts followed by his back elbows. Scott Hall recovered enough to join Nash in the beating of Arn Anderson, who was now finding himself on the end of a relentless attack. For the first time in the War Games match tonight, the cage was used as a weapon as the Outsiders sent the Enforcer into the cage several times. The crowd now began to get to their feet as the clock was counting down closer to WCW's turn for an entry and once again when it reached 10, the sold out crowd began counting down in unison. The buzzer sounded and Lex Luger rushes out from the entrance. The crowd cheers as Luger rushes toward the ring but again Bobby Heenan remains skeptical that he can be trusted. The question is answered as Luger enters and goes right after Kevin Nash. It almost seemed like the crowd sighed in relief as well as Luger hit repeated blows on Nash which rejuvenated the crowd's excitement. Anderson and Hall paired off while Nash and Luger paired off. Things appeared to be more even though both sides would take opportunities to double team when presented. The two minute timer continued to count down as the announce booth had heavy speculation if this next NWO entry would be Sting. The timer reached 10 seconds, the crowd counted along, and then the buzzer sounded. Hollywood Hogan comes out but doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to get inside the cage. He walks casually toward the ring and reaches the cage door, which the referee unlocks and opens. As Hogan climbs in, he's reaching in his tights and pulls out some kind of powder. He approaches Luger and throws it in his face, blinding him and then does the same to Anderson. The NWO already had the numbers advantage and now they have an even bigger one with both Luger and Anderson blinded and being beaten. Dusty points out that the match can't end until all competitors are inside so this is nothing more than a brutal gang attack that can't be stopped. Heenan says that both the NWO and WCW are down to their final entries and we all now know that Sting will be the final entry of the night. The clock is counting down and WCW will have the next entrant and he knows that Ric Flair is wildly pacing backstage for that buzzer to sound. The NWO beatdown continues inside the cage as the Outsiders hold Luger by both arms, who's on his knees on the mat. The Outsiders hold him up as Hogan hits punch after punch. Electricity begins to fill inside the arena as the clock reaches 10 seconds. The crowd loudly count along and when the buzzer sounds, the "roof blows off the joint" according to Bobby Heenan. The Nature Boy rushes out at lightning speed as he rushes to the ring. The official barely gets the door open as Flair reaches the cage and he rushes in. The crowd is going nuts as Flair kicks a low blow on Nash and then on Hall before he turns his attention on Hogan. The crowd get even louder as Flair grabs Hogan and begins scratching his eyes, causing Hogan to back into the corner. Flair doesn't let up a bit as he continues to rake Hogan's eyes, digging his fingers in as much as possible. Once he lets go of that, he goes in and begins biting Hogan's forehead. The crowd is wild as Flair bites into Hogan. Once he lets go, Hogan is bleeding and Flair continues the attack in the corner with punches of his own. The Enforcer was able to recover enough to get ahold of Kevin Nash and Luger was able to do the same as he turned his attention to Scott Hall. The fight was even now and WCW was firmly in control. The crowd was loving the on-going beatdown of the NWO but the clock counting down was a reminder to everyone of what lie ahead. It was a stark contrast this time as the counter reached 10 seconds. The crowd didn't count along as the seconds ticked away and when the buzzer sounded, there was almost an eerie quiet in the arena, despite it holding 53,000 fans. Sting came out as the final entrant for the NWO. Like Hogan, he also wasn't in much of a rush to get to the ring and was casual about his purpose. After shedding his jacket, Sting climbed in the ring and began unloading on the first person he got to, which happened to be Ric Flair. Flair didn't see Sting approach as he was focused on Hollywood Hogan and as he began his attack, this caught the attention of Arn Anderson and Lex Luger, who slowly stopped their own assaults as they saw what Sting was doing to Flair. Sting delivered kicks and punches to Flair before Luger walked over to Sting and spun him around by the shoulder. After looking at Luger for a brief second, Sting sent a swift kick to the stomach of Luger, doubling him over. Arn Anderson then rushed in to try and defend Luger but Sting started the assault on the Enforcer as well. The crowd was in a hush and couldn't believe what they were witnessing as Sting continued the assault on Anderson. The rest of the NWO was now able to recover as well and restarted their own attacks. Hall, Nash, and Hogan held the three WCW team members in the corner and motioned for Sting to hit some Stinger Splashes. He did this to all three men before screaming out in his trademark yell, which was promptly returned with boo's from the sold out crowd. Heenan: Why is the clock counting down?! WCW doesn't have another entrant! The crowd, and announcers, were probably too stunned to notice before now that the timer was indeed still counting down. Technically, WCW still had one final entrant, however, there were no other announced members on Team WCW. In any rate, the timer continued to count down and though the assault was still happening inside the ring, much to the dismay of the crowd, their interests were piqued when the timer reached 10. Each second ticking away closer to zero generated more wonder inside the arena and more heads turned toward the entrance. When it finally reached zero and the buzzer sounded, there was a moment when nothing happened, followed by someone rushing out into the aisle, doing nothing but creating even more confusion... Heenan: What the----- Tony: It's Sting!!!!!!!!! Heenan: But Sting's already in the ring with the NWO! The crowd begin their renewed excitement as yet another Sting emerges and sprints toward the cage. The door opens and Sting steps in and hits the first person he encounters - Scott Hall. The crowd erupts as this Sting begins his own barrage of an attack on the NWO, downing Hall, Nash, and then Hogan. Finally Sting meets Sting face to face in the middle of the ring, with the first Sting entrant stopped dead in his tracks as he's now for sure staring in the face of the real Sting. The announcers all realize they were fooled by an imposter from the NWO as the real Sting begins his attack on the fake Sting. The crowd once again is going crazy as the real Sting's moves are unmistaken. Sting sends the fake into the corner before he rushes in with a Stinger Splash of his own. The real Sting decimates the entire NWO group inside the steel cage and in the process, team members of WCW start to come to and see what's taking place in the ring. Flair, Anderson, and Luger all are frozen still in shock as they see the real Sting attacking all of the NWO members, complete with seeing the imposter down in the corner and beaten. After all are beaten down, Sting turns Luger toward him and yells Sting: IS THAT PROOF ENOUGH FOR YOU!? With the NWO beaten down all at the hands of one man, Sting turns and exits the ring just as abruptly as he entered it. Sting heads back up the aisle and exits the arena, leaving a shocked team WCW standing in the ring. The shock of the moment allowed the NWO to recover as they still have the numbers advantage. The Outsiders and fake Sting take turns beating down all three members of WCW, followed up with Hollywood Hogan hitting multiple Leg Drops on all three. They then tell the fake Sting to lock the Scorpion Deathlock on Lex Luger, who is clearly too beaten to continue. The referee calls the bell as Luger's unresponsive, officially marking the win for the NWO at 20:42. Winners: NWO Rating: 78 The bell sounds but the fight doesn't end after that. "Sting" releases the Deathlock on Luger but the NWO make good on their promise to leave the members of WCW beaten on the mat and getting spray painted. The NWO take their time taunting the crowd as Luger, Anderson, and Flair all receive the letters N.W.O. sprayed on their bodies. The gloating and taunting continues as the credits for Fall Brawl appear on the screen and the picture fades to black. Rating: 86 Final Show Rating: 74

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the WCW Hotline Report, I'm Mean Gene Okerlund here to bring you this week's special report with the full lineup for Fall Brawl! World Championship Wrestling is still reeling from the apparent change in Sting to join the New World Order. That devastation continued into WCW Saturday Night where Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, and Lex Luger all appeared together and all appeared unified, though the very visible shock and disappointment was clear. All three men stated they will forego finding another partner, as that would just open the gates for someone else to turn on them at War Games. Instead, the three men will represent WCW to take on the NWO in a match very heavily favored for the NWO based on numbers. I can't say this is the smartest idea in the world as the very well-being of WCW rests in their hands, but I can certainly understand it. Here is the lineup for Fall Brawl which will also include three matches for the TV title tournament! Week 4, September 1996 LIVE From Milwaukee County Stadium - Milwaukee, WI War Games: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, & Lex Luger vs NWO (Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, & Sting) TV Title Tournament: Mike Barton vs Earl Robert Eaton The Amazing French Canadians vs American Males US Title: Scott Steiner vs Brian Pillman (c) TV Title Tournament: Diamond Dallas Page vs Hugh Morrus Ricky Steamboat vs Eddie Guerrero Dean Malenko vs Perry Saturn Falls Count Anywhere: Scott Norton vs Fit Finlay

Week 4, September 1996 LIVE from the Lawrence Joel Coliseum - Winston-Salem, NC Attendance: 14,600 (SELLOUT!) A ton of excitement is in the air as this edition of Monday Nitro kicks off. Fireworks fill the arena and WCW is heading into the highly anticipated Fall Brawl Pay Per View. The announce booth welcomes everyone to turning in and Tony Schiavone says tonight will be a defining moment for WCW as Ric Flair has demanded that Sting appear here tonight or he will not be welcome to team with him, Arn Anderson, and Lex Luger inside War Games. Tony says that Mean Gene Okerlund has been camped out at the doors all day long and so far, he's not seen Sting. Bobby Heenan wonders why Sting hasn't shown up anywhere since Road Wild and even then that was a limited appearance. He thinks something questionable is in the air going on between him and Lex Luger, as Luger's repeatedly come out and supposedly speaking for Sting. After Hulk Hogan, Bobby Heenan doesn't trust anyone appearing what they are. Nitro heads right away to the first match of the night. Scotty Riggs vs Carl Oulette vs Both competitors were accompanied by their tag team partners for this match, which resulted in the crowd paying more attention to the partners than the guys participating in the match. Marcus Bagwell and Jacques Rougeau continued to taunt and mess with one another during the match. This culminated in Rougeau using the French Canadian flag as Riggs bounced into the ropes. The only issue is this was done right in front of the referee when Jacques thought he wasn't looking. Scotty Riggs got the victory at 7:37 by DQ. Winner by DQ: Scotty Riggs Rating: 53 Following the match, all four men start brawling. Marcus Bagwell was able to toss Jacques from the ring and then immediately clothesline Carl Oulette over the top rope to put an end to the brawl. Rating: 52 Austin: Let me make one thing perfectly clear to anyone who might be too dumb to understand simple English. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, the two of you fit into that very category because let me tell you just who in the hell I am! I'm Steve Austin. I ain't Stunning anymore, I'm not a nice guy, I've got a bad attitude, and I'm real real thin on my patience. The fact I was able to hold my patience with the two of you for so long is a miracle in itself! When I first joined the Horsemen, I made it a point to reestablish the Four Horsemen to be the most dominant, feared, tough as nails group that they USED to be! For awhile, we succeeded in that, but don't make any mistake that Ric Flair and Arn Anderson were key members in that! If it weren't for myself and Brian Pillman, the Horsemen would be what they've always been - outdated and pathetic! Ric Flair, you won that world title and then all the common sense left your brain! I said it this past weekend on Saturday Night, and I'll say it again here, I am official done with the Four Horsemen! I'm officially done with trying to resurrect a dinosaur! And I am, without a doubt, 100% done with being anyone else's whipping boy! From here on out, Steve Austin is gonna take matters into my own hands and I'm gonna do whatever I feel like doing at anyone's expense, and if you or anybody else don't like it, then I give anyone the open opportunity to do something about it! Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, if the two of you wanna go around wasting your time with the NWO, be my guest! Steve Austin will go ahead to kick people's ass and win titles, And THAT's the bottom line! Rating: 100 Scott Armstrong vs Wrath vs The combined entrance times were longer than this match was. Wrath was completely dominating in this match and put things away at 5:14 with the Meltdown. Winner: Wrath Rating: 43 - We're taken backstage and out in the parking area where a limo is slowly pulling up. Mean Gene Okerlund is seen for the first time tonight, microphone in hand, and rushing toward the limo as it came to a stop. Mean Gene speculates that this could be Sting arriving to the arena. No one exits from the limo and Gene walks up and knocks on the window several times. Gene guesses that whoever is inside isn't interested in talking right now but he assures fans that he's going to keep trying to get some kind of reaction from whoever is inside. Rating: 67 Steve Armstrong vs Fit Finlay vs Matches on this Nitro so far continue to fall flat, the Armstrongs continue their struggles in those matches, and this match especially fell flat, resulting in the crowd chanting "boring" very quickly after the bell. Finlay put everyone out of their misery by getting the win at 6:20 with the Tombstone Piledriver. Winner: Fit Finlay Rating: 36 Mean Gene takes a break apparently from trying to get someone to open the limo door as Nitro returns from a commercial break. Gene brings out WCW Executive President Eric Bischoff and says that this is about the Television title as champion Lord Steven Regal picked up a pretty severe injury earlier this week and will be out of action and unable to defend the title. Bischoff walks out to a mostly non-reaction from the crowd as he climbs in the ring and shakes hands with Mean Gene. Bischoff says that as important as the TV title is to WCW, it's certainly had a rough go of things for the last several months. Steven Regal is a 4 time Television champion, but despite that, Eric Bischoff can't, in good conscious, keep the title on him until he's able to return from his injury, which is said to be at least 6 months. As a result, Regal has been stripped of the TV title and what better way to establish a new champion then having a tournament. Bischoff says the tournament starts right here tonight with the next two matches and will culminate at Halloween Havoc to crown a new champion. Rating: 76 TV Title Tournament: Alex Wright vs Sgt. Craig Pittman vs Sgt. Pittman makes a rare appearance on Monday Nitro and it's for an opportunity to continue in the newly-born TV title tournament. Unfortunately for both competitors, this match fell even more flat than Steve Armstrongs. Alex Wright picked up the win at 8:05 and the right to continue on in the tournament. Winner: Alex Wright Rating: 29 TV Title Tournament: Brad Armstrong vs Big Bubba Rogers vs It is for sure an Armstrong night tonight on Nitro and Brad was hoping to turn the fortune around for the family. He had a tough task taking on someone like Big Bubba though. Both were evenly matched in the ring and Armstrong surprised everyone when he kept toe to toe with the former corrections officer. Brad got the win at 9:37 after hitting the Russian Legsweep, celebrating like he won the world title. Winner: Brad Armstrong Rating: 64 Back from a quick break and Eddie Guerrero and Ricky Steamboat are backstage in a verbal argument. They continue to jaw at one another before a few officials come into the scene to separate the two men, who still continue to verbally berate the other. They walk off with the hopes of intimidating the other ahead of their Fall Brawl match. Rating: 82 Hugh Morrus vs Scott Steiner vs Scott Steiner was in prime form tonight ahead of Fall Brawl and tossed Morrus around like he was a lightweight. Steiner didn't let up a bit as he dominated Morrus and picked up the win at 7:32 after a FrankenSteiner. Winner: Scott Steiner Rating: 77 After a few moments to reset, the sound of trumpets slowly begin to fill the arena. The theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey plays and the sold out crowd in Winston-Salem immediately jump to their feet in a roar. The cheer gets even louder as the Nature Boy and the Enforcer walk out onto the stage. Flair takes a minute to look out at the capacity crowd before both walk to the ring. As they get in, Mean Gene is also climbing in the ring. After looking out for a few moments, the music fades off and business kicks off. Mean Gene: Nature Boy, you and the Enforcer are out here for one reason, and I think we all know what that reason is! On Saturday Night, you demanded that Sting appear here tonight, as he hasn't been seen since Road Wild! You also said that if he fails to appear here tonight, then you will find a new partner for War Games. It's getting late in the evening, Nature Boy, and so far Sting hasn't appeared. Flair: Gene, you know as well as anyone that Ric Flair is a man of his word! I've said for the past 2 weeks that Sting needs to walk down that aisle, step into this ring, look me in the eye and tell me that he's with the Nature Boy! I've allowed Lex Luger to come out here and speak on Sting's behalf. I've allowed Lex Luger to step in the spot for War Games after our own Horsemen failed to step up to the plate....Now an ex-Horseman, let me just make that clear....And I've done all that I can in good faith to let Sting join us for War Games! The only problem is, the Stinger can't make it a point to show up to work for a month, so now we're left wondering just where in the hell he stands! So right now, Lex Luger, I told you Saturday Night that Sting better be here.....Well it looks to me that we've got a few issues to iron out! So what I want right now is the Total Package to walk out here right now and tell me why his supposed best friend can't stand up to his own deal! It doesn't take long before Lex Luger walks out onto the stage and heads to the ring. Luger makes his walk to the ring with no music and clearly frustrated. After climbing through the ropes, Luger approaches Anderson and Flair and begins to make his case. Luger: Nature Boy, you know, and Arn Anderson, you know as well, that I've come out here the last few weeks and tried to be a man of reason! I've come out here in good faith and in the name and well-being of WCW, and despite a long history of problems we've all had with one another, I recognized that WCW needs it's very best to go toe-to-toe with the NWO inside War Games! I'm able to admit, Nature Boy, that you and Arn Anderson are two of the pillars of WCW just like the Stinger is a pillar of WCW, and even the Total Package is becoming a pillar of WCW! Now Sting is my best friend, Ric Flair, and to be completely honest with you, I don't know where the Stinger is! I haven't seen him, I haven't spoken to him, and he hasn't returned my calls. I've come out here the last few weeks and spoken for the Stinger because I've known him for a long time and I know he just relishes the opportunity to step into the ring against the NWO at War Games and get some much needed payback! I know he'd be willing to set aside differences with you and the Enforcer for the good of WCW! How do I know that?!?! Because Sting is the most stand-up guy you or I have ever known, and you know it! So, Nature Boy, I know you demanded Sting be out here tonight and tell you himself straight to your face that he's with you, but I just don't know where he is. Flair: Well then it seems to me, Lex Luger, that we've got a major problem that we've got to deal with. Somewhere down the line, we had a breakdown of commu----- - Flair is cut off as the NWO music begins to blare from the speakers. Flair immediately gets wide-eyed as he turns his attention to the stage where lights are flashing and someone appears through the fog. - Pillman: Oh man.....Oh man! I'm so incredibly, deeply sorry to break up this great, wonderful meeting that's going on there in that ring, but I just couldn't help but come out here and tell you all just how emotional it is! Look at the three of you standing there, relying and putting the very well-being of WCW on Sting! All three of you just so completely uneasy about where, oh where, is Sting?!?! Well let me tell you all that you needn't look very far, because as a matter of fact, Sting IS at this arena tonight and it just so happens that I know exactly where the Stinger is..... But there's just one problem that we have here........It is true that Sting will be participating in War Games this Sunday, but I'm afraid that I've got to break some bad news, and a few hearts along the way... Sting will be participating in War Games, but he's teaming with the NWO, not with the three of you pathetic morons who stand in the ring! How do I know this???? Because Sting's outside in the limo and he's been finalizing his deal inside that limo with the NWO Heavyweight Champion! As a matter of fact, they're probably celebrating right now over a bottle or two of champagne! HAHAHAH! - Flair, livid at the news, explodes out of the ring. Brian Pillman see's this well ahead of time and makes his exit from the stage. Nitro fades out to a commercial with a stunned commentary booth and Ric Flair rushing off the side to the backstage area as Nitro fades out to another break. - Rating: 93 After the break, Mean Gene is backstage with Harlem Heat and Sensuous Sherri. They talk about their big opportunity coming up to reclaim their tag team titles tonight. Booker says it's a mistake for the Outsiders to push off Harlem Heat like they're a piece of trash on the side of the street but they're fine with being the underdogs. It'll make it all that much sweeter when they get their gold back. Booker also says after they beat the Outsiders tonight and if Ric Flair still needs a replacement for Sting, the Nature Boy doesn't have to look far. Rating: 78 Tag Team Titles: Harlem Heat vs The Outsiders (c) vs The crowd was electric for this match and firmly behind Harlem Heat. The Outsiders took their time locking up with the Heat as Scott Hall and Booker T started things off. Hall took his time to flick his toothpick in Booker's face which promptly resulted in a Booker T slap across Scott Hall's face. After rubbing the side of his face for a moment, Scott Hall tagged in Kevin Nash and told Booker he's in big trouble now! Nash faked Booker out with a lockup as he met him with a lifting knee to the gut. Nash cut off Booker from there and put him in the NWO corner for some abuse. Each time the referee would shove Nash off and threaten a 5-count DQ, Scott Hall would take the opportunity to choke Booker. After three times of this happening, Stevie Ray rushed in, having enough of the double teaming. All hell broke loose from this point forward in the match. A wild brawl ensued and both teams took to clubbing the other. Brian Pillman made his way down to the ring during the chaos and held the top rope down as Booker tried rushing the ropes for an attack. This caused Booker to tumble over the top rope to the floor and the Outsiders started double teaming Stevie Ray. The referee tried to break it up and with his focus in the ring, Pillman attacked Booker T on the floor. After Stevie was knocked down and the referee was able to get Scott Hall back in his corner, he saw Booker on the floor and began the count. Booker wasn't able to recover before the referee reached the 10 count and counted Harlem Heat out at 13:18. Winners by Count-out: The Outsiders Rating: 82 - After the bell and the Outsiders cheap celebration, cameras go to the announce booth where they begin to wrap up the night and discuss Fall Brawl. All are stunned over Pillman's announcement regarding Sting but Dusty Rhodes cautions that no opinions should be given until we hear directly from Sting himself. Tony holds his hand to his headset and says there's activity going on out back and they're getting cameras there. The cameras transition to the backstage area by the limo and Lex Luger is approaching it. He knocks on the windows and tries to open the door, which is locked. There's no response coming from the limo which causes a frustrated Luger to kick the door before he's approached by someone..... Hollywood Hogan gets Luger's attention, who now begins to walk toward Hogan, threatening a confrontation and starting War Games early. As Luger approaches Hogan and leaves the limo behind him, he doesn't see the door start to open and a figure step out..... Luger turns as Hogan points behind him and he looks on, confused as Sting is standing in front of him. Luger asks what he's doing as a swift kick is delivered to Luger's gut, doubling him over... Sting starts clubbing forearms across Luger's back as he falls to the ground. Luger is on the ground as Hogan joins in with kicking Luger as he's helpless on the ground. When they think the damage is done, Hogan motions for Sting to get back in the limo, which he does and Hogan follows behind. The door closes and the limo then speeds off with the camera focusing on a downed Lex Luger as the credits roll and the screen fades to black. - Rating: 85 Final Show Rating: 86

Welcome aboard! I hope you and everyone else are enjoying it so far! The wild ride is just beginning!

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Mean Gene Okerlund bringing you this week's WCW Hotline Report! We are heading into the final Monday Nitro before Fall Brawl and War Games and things are definitely heating up! The World Wrestling Federation held their "In Your House" Pay Per View for the month of September. The main event of the night saw Psycho Sid Vicious defeat The British Bulldog for the WWF World Heavyweight title. Let's see if he can have a better reign than Davey Boy Smith. Sticking with WWF news; the apparent experiment with the Ultimate Warrior as their figurehead has ended. Vince McMahon was apparently not happy with how Warrior was performing as the company focus and, much to the fury of Warrior, was removed. In going in a totally different direction, they have selected Shawn Michaels to be the new figurehead. Michael's is said to be "extremely happy" at the change. ECW has fallen in size and are now considered "small." Jerry Sags and Teddy Long are no longer with WCW as their contracts expired. We wish them the best going forward. In some major news; Television Champion Lord Steven Regal suffered a significant injury at a house show earlier this week. Word is he sustained a complete ACL tear and is expected to be out of action for at least 6 months. Regal is set to meet with a doctor later this week to evaluate his options. I'm told that Eric Bischoff will address the TV title situation this week on Nitro. Some big events took place this weekend on WCW Saturday Night! Steve Austin said he is officially done with the Four Horsemen after their alliance with Lex Luger. Austin said that the Nature Boy and Enforcer are now in the center of his sights. Continuing with Horsemen business, Ric Flair was furious that Sting again was absent from Saturday Night this week and remains unseen since Road Wild last month. Flair told Lex Luger that he demands Sting make an appearance this week on Monday Nitro or else he will not be welcome on the team for War Games. Tune in to Nitro to see if Sting will respond to the Nature Boy. Here is the card for Monday Nitro! Week 4, September 1996 LIVE from the Lawrence Joel Coliseum - Winston-Salem, NC Tag Team Titles: Harlem Heat vs The Outsiders (c) Hugh Morrus vs Scott Steiner Brad Armstrong vs Big Bubba Rogers Alex Wright vs Sgt. Craig Pittman Steve Armstrong vs Fit Finlay Scott Armstrong vs Wrath Scotty Riggs vs Carl Oulette

Week 3, September 1996 LIVE from the Molson Centre - Montreal, Quebec Attendance: 15,000 (SELLOUT!) Monday Nitro kicks off this week with a crowd shot of the sold out arena as WCW visits Canada for the first time for the show! The crowd is amped up and ready for action this week as Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay welcome everyone to the weekly show. A recap video is played from last week's Nitro where Harlem Heat and Lex Luger confronted Ric Flair and Arn Anderson after claiming they wanted the NWO inside War Games at Fall Brawl. The video then transitioned into the main event where Lex Luger came in for the save to help Flair and Anderson. The video once again transitioned into this weekend on WCW Saturday Night where Lex Luger said he came out to help the two Horsemen and Sting would have if he were in the arena, signaling that it should be them that is inside the cage at Fall Brawl. Tony says there's a ton to unpack regarding that situation and we're just now under 2 weeks away from Fall Brawl. Tony says the main event tonight is a tag team match between the Outsiders and Ric Flair and Arn Anderson and it will be for the WCW tag team titles. In the meantime, we're kicking off the night with our first match! Eddie Guerrero vs Scott Steiner vs Eddie Guerrero comes out not as noticeably happy-go-lucky as fans were accustomed. Despite his change of attitude, the match was superb and highly competitive. Steiner utilized his superior mat-based wrestling skill to his advantage while Eddie used his flying skills. Steiner was still able to do some of his own high-flying offense to his advantage but Eddie was the better performer in the match, though just barely. The match ended in 14:45 when Steiner was able to connect with a top rope Frankensteiner for the win. Winner: Scott Steiner Rating: 74 Again this week, Mean Gene is starting his work early tonight. He welcomes out once again to Nitro Ric Flair and Arn Anderson who come out to a good reaction from the crowd. Flair's popularity has noticeably jumped since last month and the crowd has really taken to him since his battles with the NWO have begun. Gene wastes no time getting down to business as Flair and Anderson take their place. Mean Gene: Nature Boy, last week on this program, you and the Enforcer took on Brian Pillman and Scott Hall. Things broke down during the match and you and Arn Anderson found yourselves vastly outnumbered until Lex Luger ran off the NWO. This all happened after the Total Package and Harlem Heat made their case to be a part of War Games at Fall Brawl. Then, this past weekend on Saturday Night, Lex Luger said it was he, not Harlem Heat, that came down to help you and the Enforcer, adding in that Sting would also be there to help if he were in the building.... Flair: Mean Gene, if there's anyone who knows the history of Lex Luger and Sting better than myself and the Enforcer, I'm yet to meet them! I've had a lot to think about, and the Enforcer's had a lot to think about since last week and I'm humble enough to admit when someone has a point, and Lex Luger, you've got a point! So what I'm asking right now is for you, Lex Luger, and you, Sting, to come out here right now, because the Nature Boy and the Enforcer have something to say to the both of you! - There's a buzz in the air as Flair and Anderson turn toward the entrance to await the arrival of Sting and Lex Luger. Mean Gene is beside himself and asks if he should be worried about any kind of physical confrontation before he's assured by Arn Anderson with a pat on the shoulder. - - A moment goes by before Lex Luger comes walking out from the entrance and heads to the ring with no music, and, notably, no Sting. - Gene: Lex Luger, you've been asked out here along with Sting, so where is he??? Luger: Mean Gene, the Stinger's not here again tonight, but you could say I'm somewhat of an ambassador again for the Stinger here tonight. Nature Boy, I'm sure you've had a lot to think about over the last week, but you can't deny the fact that last week, I came out here to help you and the Enforcer where no one else did! Flair: Like I said, Luger, I'm not ashamed to admit you made one hell of a point last week. The fact is, while me and the Horsemen were just concerned about ourselves, you and Sting stepped up to the plate against the Outsiders! You did it when nobody else was! So the way I see it, Luger, is you and Sting have more claiming rights to be in War Games than anyone else! But...BUT! The way I also see it, is War Games was a match created by the Horsemen, for the Horsemen, so it wouldn't seem right if a match that holds the very fate of WCW in its proverbial hands took place without the Horsemen! Everyone knows that Steve Austin has his own issues with the direction that the Horsemen are headed, so I'll say this right now to you, and believe me, pal, this is only gonna be a one time offer.....So Sting may not be here again tonight, but since you're out here to speak for him, I'm only gonna say this once! Me and the Enforcer are willing to step inside War Games with you and Sting to take on the NWO if that's what you want...But like I said, big man, this offer is only going to be extended once, so you better be able to decide right here tonight! You said you're able to speak for Sting on this topic, so I've gotta know, and the Enforcer has to know, right now! Luger: Nature Boy, we've had our own battles as recent as just a few weeks ago. Arn Anderson, the same goes for you. Neither one of you are strangers to me or the Stinger! But what that also means is that you both are very familiar with the kind of people we are! You know we hold up our end of the deal, and you both know that we're able and willing to set our own differences aside for the good of WCW! After we're done getting the NWO out of here, if you both want to go back to battling me and the Stinger, well then you have my full on blessing! But as far as War Games goes, I'll watch your backs, the Stinger will watch your backs, and together I don't think there's anyone the NWO can put forward to defeat us! Anderson: Hold on just a minute, Lex Luger. There's just one thing I've gotta say about this whole situation. Now me and the Nature Boy have spoken at length about this and we're both in agreement, cause there's nothing more precious in this business than a best friend and someone you can count on! That's what I have with the Nature Boy and that's what you have with Sting....But I've got to ask you, Lex Luger....You've got the body, for sure...You've chiseled yourself into perfection and, dare I say, no one's done it better! But, and that's a big but, War Games isn't for the faint of heart! War Games isn't for the weak! War Games is as vicious as it comes and you've got to be willing to dig deep down into the pits of yourself to maybe do things you wouldn't normally do! When you're being brutally attacked by several people all at one time, you've got to have the guts to be able to withstand it! You've got to be able to never give up and never surrender! You've got to be even nastier than the other men standing across that ring from you! Can you do it, Luger?!? Are you able to find that mean streak that's necessary for War Games??? Because if not, me and Ric Flair will find someone else who does! On the flip side, and since you're out here to speak for him cause he ain't here, what about Sting??? He's always been so concerned about being a role model for all those little Stingers. He's always been about being the good guy! He's always been about doing the right thing! Can Sting find that vicious streak deep down within himself? Can Sting, for one night, and one night only, not care about what all those little Stinger's think??? Can he take one night where he might have to NOT do the right thing???? Cause see, War Games isn't about doing the right thing! War Games is about being more violent than your opponents! War Games isn't about talent, War Games is about brutality! So my question, Lex Luger, is can you and Sting be all of those things??? If so, you've got a deal. Luger: Arn, Sting and I are no strangers to War Games and we've been in it just about as much as you and the Nature Boy. In all those times, in all those years of being in War Games, some of those times even against the both of you, have you ever asked those questions and not been able to say that me and the Stinger are more than capable of holding our own??? Sting and I have no problem being violent, and especially if it is in the name of WCW! Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, you both have a deal! Rating: 95 Scott Norton & Big Bubba Rogers vs Fit Finlay & Diamond Dallas Page vs This match mostly centered around the new feud between Scott Norton and Fit Finlay. Diamond Dallas Page vastly out performed all the other competitors in this match and the crowd took to him well. In a bit of a shock, Big Bubba got the pin fall victory over Diamond Dallas Page at 9:37, albeit after some dirty underhanded tactics. Winners: Norton & Bubba Rating: 68 Lex Luger vs Lord Steven Regal vs This was quite a good match and the crowd were solidly behind the Total Package, who had tons of momentum going for him in this match. It was a classic good guy vs bad guy match as Regal tried to cheat as much as possible but it was mostly thwarted by Luger. Lex used a ton of power moves to keep Regal rocking through most of the match. After a few clotheslines and the bionic forearm, it was time for the Torture Rack, which Luger locked in and got the submission at 11:46. Winner: Lex Luger Rating: 78 Following a commercial break, Steve Austin is in a backstage promo area and begins as soon as Nitro returns. Austin: After months of running through WCW, after months of proving dominance, after months of making a name for myself and after months of making the Four Horsemen a dominant faction once again, what happens??? The leaders of the Four Horsemen decide to run off track and start playing second fiddle to the NWO! I have done everything I could possibly do to make the Horsemen a feared group once again! Nobody was afraid of the Horsemen for a long time and all of that changed at the flip of a dime when Steve Austin joined the Horsemen! Well Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, if the two of you wanna go run in the shadow of the NWO and play right in their hands, be my guest! I sure as hell ain't gonna play second fiddle to no one and I'm not gonna waste my time with it! The sad reality is the decisions the two of you are making cost us the United States championship and it cost us Brian Pillman turning his back on the two of you and joining the NWO! All because of you both losing focus on what's really important; Dominance and titles! Well if that's what you want, that's what you want, but I sure as hell don't want to be a part of it! So the way I see it, you go off and play with the NWO. You go off and team up with people I've just spent months fighting against, all in the name of the Horsemen! You go and trash every ounce of legitimacy I've built back up for the Horsemen! You go do that, and I'll go and do my thing because if there's one thing Steve Austin can't stand is wasting my time! Rating: 100 Remaining backstage but this time in the interview position, Mean Gene is with Harlem Heat and Sensuous Sherri. Harlem Heat say their priority is getting back the tag team titles and they're not going to stop until they get them back. Booker T says that if the Outsiders are going to avoid them for Fall Brawl, then right here next week on Monday Nitro, they want a tag team title match. If Arn Anderson and Ric Flair end up winning the titles tonight, then next week they beat them for the belts. For Harlem Heat, it isn't about friendships, it's about dominating the tag team division and winning titles. Booker says that after they reclaim the tag belts, they want the gold...Hulk Hogan, they're coming for you......... SUCKA! Rating: 81 Earl Robert Eaton vs Brad Armstrong vs The Earl once again had himself a rough week as he tried to relive his glory days. Brad Armstrong continues to be considered a major player in WCW. Armstrong got one step closer to that goal after he was able to get the win at 7:30 following a Russian Legsweep. Winner: Brad Armstrong Rating: 54 The Dragon is backstage for a promo, talking about Eddie Guerrero. His promo is very similar to the one from last week, which is why it didn't come off nearly as well as the one a week before. Steamboat again mentions that he's going to show Eddie what happens when you turn on a Dragon. Rating: 66 The Amazing French Canadians vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. & Scott Armstrong vs The Amazing French Canadians (no, not the Quebecers) continued their climb up the WCW tag team ladder and Jacques was on fire tonight, most likely because he was in front of his hometown crowd. His performance, while very good, was also leaps ahead of all the other competitors. Rougeau picked up the win for his team at 9:32 after making Armstrong submit in the Boston Crab. Winners: The Amazing French Canadians Rating: 63 A hype video is played for Wrath. It's mostly a collection of several matches where he's dominating his opponents and hitting many high-impact moves along with a series of highlights of his Meltdown finisher. Rating: 38 Another backstage interview segment this time features Scott Steiner. Mean Gene says that despite a loss of the TV title, Scott Steiner has continued to be on the war path in WCW and in dominant fashion. Steiner says that years of hard work and determination are beginning to pay off and while his brother's out of action, he's going to try and have the greatest singles run that he possibly can. Steiner says there's no limit for his success and wants to go down as the best athlete, not just in WCW, but in the entire world. Steiner wants to be a champion that people can be proud of and mentions that Brian Pillman isn't that. Steiner gives warning to Brian Pillman that he might be in the NWO and the NWO might be in War Games, but Pillman is also obligated to defend that belt. Steiner says he's coming for Pillman and the US title one way or another. Rating: 96 Tag Team Titles: Arn Anderson & Ric Flair vs The Outsiders vs This tag team match started much like the one did last week, however, the Outsiders worked very well as a team and managed to cut Flair off early on. They took turns with quick tags and isolated Flair on their side of the ring before Flair was able to turn the tides after a low blow. Anderson had managed to distract the referee to allow Flair to hit the illegal move. Flair was able to make a tag and things continued to go back and forth for awhile for both teams. It was turning into an actual wrestling match until the Enforcer was able to hit a Spinebuster on Scott Hall. As it looked like the Horsemen were going to try and end the match, Hollywood Hogan and Brian Pillman made their way to the ring. Pillman, naturally, got in the ring first and wasted no time brawling with Ric Flair. Hogan got in the ring and both he and Nash went after Arn Anderson. Once Hall was able to recover, he joined in the beat down on Flair. Unable to gain control of the match and due to the interference, the referee officially declared this match a no contest at 17:24. Winners: No Contest Rating: 75 As the bell continued to sound, the NWO ignored that along with the referee trying to separate the men. Kevin Nash tossed the referee from the ring as the attack by the NWO on the remaining Horsemen continued. The crowd roared to life as Lex Luger emerged from the entrance and ran to the ring, all while Bobby Heenan again remained skeptical that Luger could be trusted. Luger slid in the ring and was immediately attacked by Hogan and the world title, along with Scott Hall. Luger never even had a chance to help as he was beaten down in the ring alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Hall hit the Outsider's Edge on Ric Flair while Hogan hit a series of Leg Drops on Luger. Once they were all satisfied with their attack and ensured that all the men were down, the spray paint made it's appearance. Luger, Flair, and Anderson all got "NWO" painted on their backs as the Nitro credits appeared on the screen. Nitro faded out as Hogan was yelling into the camera that no one was going to be able to stop the NWO. Rating: 88 Final Show Rating: 82

Thanks again for all the support! I think everyone who puts in the effort on a diary deserves recognition! It definitely isn't easy.

Week 2, September 1996 LIVE from the Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, CA Attendance: 19,000 (SELLOUT!) Monday Nitro opens with the usual intro video followed by various crowd shots of the arena. The sold out crowd is in a frenzy tonight and excited for WCW action. Following a series of fireworks explosions, cameras go to the announce booth where Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes welcome everyone. Tony starts off by saying that we are now a week removed from yet another blindside attack by the NWO, as United States Champion Brian Pillman turned his back on his fellow Horsemen and joined the NWO. Bobby remains concerned because the NWO now has the top two prizes in WCW, the world heavyweight title and the US title. The NWO have made it clear they're looking to hold every title WCW has to further tighten their grip on the destruction and death of WCW. The Horsemen group themselves seems to be up in the air not only with Pillman's defection, but also because there was already visible tension from Steve Austin, as he didn't agree with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson's focus turning toward battling the NWO. Heenan says that he wouldn't trust Austin as far as he could throw him. Austin said this weekend on WCW Saturday Night that while he has no interest in joining the NWO, he also has no problem with Pillman and can see why he wanted to get away from the Horsemen. Later that same night, Arn Anderson gave a grim warning to Pillman that he has no idea the Pandora's box he just opened. Speaking of Austin and the Horsemen, we're ready for our first match of the night! Steve Austin vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Steve Austin came out by himself as the announce team mentioned that Ric Flair and Arn Anderson were not seen arriving to the arena just yet. The opening match was given a generous amount of time which the crowd were firmly in to. Steve Austin gave an excellent performance in the ring, only to be out shone by Ric Flair later on. Chavo did his best to remain competitive and put in some decent offense, but it wasn't enough in the end as Austin hit the Stunner at 14:10 for the victory. Winner: Steve Austin Rating: 81 - Immediately following the match, cameras go backstage to the parking area where a limousine is pulling up. The driver quickly gets out and walks to the back of the car to open the door. The crowd cheers with excitement as the Nature Boy first steps out followed by the Enforcer. Ric appears to be a man on a mission tonight, intense as ever as he heads toward the interior of the arena. Arn walks at his side, with his ever present intense look on his face. Some reporter attempts to get a word from both men but Flair quickly cuts him off, saying Brian Pillman is nothing short of a dead man and he painted a target on his own back. He says no one leaves the Horsemen without paying the price and bleeding, and Pillman better have checked with the local hospital to stock up on his blood type, because Pillman's going to bleed all over Anaheim tonight! Flair says he'll have more to say later on and right now he doesn't want to be bothered. - Rating: 95 Nitro returns from a short commercial break to Mean Gene Okerlund backstage in the interview area with the new WCW Tag Team Champions, the Outsiders. Gene says that the former champions - Harlem Heat - issued a challenge to the Outsiders for a rematch at Fall Brawl for the title belts. Kevin Nash took the question, cocky and confident as ever as he leans an arm on Mean Gene's shoulder. This generates a displeased look from Gene, who simply looks down at Nash's arm and the back up at him. Nash says that the Outsider's would love nothing more than to give Harlem Heat a rematch for the belts and have a night of fine displays of professional wrestling, however, it looks like the Outsider's plate may be just a little full for Fall Brawl. Scott Hall says that everyone wants a piece of the NWO and there's only so many of them to go around. As it looks, Fall Brawl just won't work out for their rematch demand. Rating: 83 Hugh Morrus & John Tenta vs The James Boys vs The Armstrongs put up a valiant fight, but were no match in the end for the pure size and strength of Hugh Morrus and John Tenta. The heavyweights just toyed with the pair as if there was any alternate outcome. John Tenta hit the Tenta Splash on Scott Armstrong followed by Morrus hitting the No Laughing Matter moonsault for the victory at 10:16. Winners: Hugh Morrus & John Tenta Rating: 46 We're backstage once again as Fit Finlay is backstage at a table. Scott Norton walks into the picture and shoulder bumps Finlay. Norton stops and stares at Finlay, who looks back at Norton in return before Norton just walks off down the hallway, leaving Finlay to wonder what that was all about. It appears there may be the beginnings of a feud... Rating: 65 Steamboat: Eddie Guerrero, I put my trust in you. I tried to take you under my wing because I saw potential in you. What'd you do? You betrayed that trust. You betrayed that friendly gesture I gave you. You slapped my hand away when I had it extended and outstretched to help you! Eddie, you may have caught me off guard at Road Wild, you may have succeeded then, but I promise you, you will not have that same luck twice. Once a traitor, always a traitor, Eddie Guerrero. I challenge you. I challenge you to a match at Fall Brawl and in that match, there will be no mercy, there will be no time outs, there will be no pleading! I will show you what happens when you betray a Dragon! Rating: 85 Earl Robert Eaton vs Diamond Dallas Page vs The former Beautiful Bobby showed everyone in this match that he can still pull out some good moves every once and awhile. Diamond Dallas Page proved that he's an up and comer in WCW and put on a solid performance. This was pretty much a straightforward wrestling match as Eaton didn't look to cheat too much. DDP got the victory at 10:03 with a Diamond Cutter. Winner: Diamond Dallas Page Rating: 76 Nitro returns from another commercial break to Mean Gene standing in the center of the ring. Horses begin to gallop in the arena which brings the crowd to their feet as the music of the 4 Horsemen play and Ric Flair and Arn Anderson emerge from the stage entrance and head to the ring. Mean Gene: Nature Boy, Arn Anderson, you undoubtedly want to touch on the events from last week, but I can't help notice there's another current member of the Horsemen missing. Flair: Gene Okerlund, I'll field that one. It's real simple with me and the Enforcer! You're either a Horseman and you run with the Horsemen, or you're not, and you don't! Steve Austin has his opinion on the direction of where the Horsemen are headed, well let me tell you this, Austin - The Horsemen were created by, and will always be run by, the two men you see standing in this ring right now! You fall in line and hop on, or you get off the train and get outta the way, pal! This isn't some kind of democracy where your vote counts! So if you want to piss and moan around and complain about the Horsemen, after last week's events pal, I have no interest in dealing with you too!! Now as to Pillman!!!!! Pillman!!!!!! You're a punk! A PUNK! The nerve you had last week to turn your back on the two people who made you in this sport?!?!!? Pillman, when I get my hands around your skinny little neck tonight, God as my witness, I'm never gonna let go!!! You, without a doubt, tonight, will pay the price for what you did! Not only that, Pillman, but you're gonna bleed all over this ring! You're going to wish you never turned your back on me and the Enforcer! But it won't end after tonight! After I make you suffer! Oh no! It doesn't end there because Fall Brawl is coming up and War Games needs a match! I'm gonna do, and the Enforcer's gonna do, what we should've done from the very beginning! We're going to end the NWO once and for all! We're going to make all of you scream and beg for mercy! The Horsemen are going to stand inside that steel cage and show the NWO why that match was created FOR the Horsemen! Mean Gene: Now wait a minute, Nature Boy! There's only two of you if you're saying Steve Austin is in limbo and there's 4 members, at least, of the NWO! You can't go into War Games at a disadvantage like that!!! Flair: The hell we can't, Gene! The hell we can't! If you think for one second that the Enforcer and I are intimidated by some punks and cowards like the NWO, then you've had the wool pulled over your eyes too! They woke up a beast last week, Gene, that they're going to regret they ever messed with! Not only tha---- - Flair's attention is moved to a couple of men who are now entering the ring. The crowd had started just a few moments earlier looking in the direction of the entrance, but cameras didn't follow. They back up to see who's entering the ring. - Mean Gene: Hold on just a minute; Harlem Heat?! What are you gentlemen doing out here?! Booker T: Now hold on just a damn minute, Mean Gene! Let's get one thing straight, right now. Nature Boy, I know you've got revenge to get on Brian Pillman and the NWO, but facts are this; the Horsemen aren't the only ones who are looking at getting some revenge on the NWO! What you're doing is holding the tag team titles hostage for Fall Brawl, meaning Harlem Heat can't get the titles back that we never shoulda lost in the first place! We just heard the Outsider's earlier say they're too busy to defend the tag titles against Harlem Heat at Fall Brawl, so I say this; We may not like each other, and that's fine and all, but that don't mean we can't team up with each other to take care of business! And facts are, there's nothing more WCW than the Horsemen and Harlem Heat! So the way I see it, Nature Boy, is the two Horsemen can team up with the two brother's from Harlem, and take out all those punk cowards in the NWO! - After a loud crowd reaction to the offer, yet one more person emerges from the stage entrance, which this time the camera catches. - Luger: Booker T, Stevie Ray, I appreciate the fact that the two of you come out here and want to stick up for WCW, but I can't help but come out here to correct you on a few things. Namely, if anyone's going to have a spot at War Games, it's going to be myself and the Stinger! From day one, me and the Stinger are the two guys who have been standing up for WCW against the Outsiders and the NWO! The fact of the matter is, the Outsiders turned you down for a title rematch at Fall Brawl, so now you want to get your hands on them inside War Games! I can appreciate that and everything, and Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, I know you both want to get back at Brian Pillman for what he did last week, but those facts also remain the same! Me and the Stinger are a sure lock for War Games, and anyone else, including the four of you, are going to have to battle it out yourselves! Sting begged anyone else to step up to the plate to defend WCW and it's not my fault or anyone else's fault that you all showed up late to the game! Now that the Macho Man is out for the foreseeable future, you all can decide amongst yourselves who's gonna be in! Mean Gene: Speaking of Sting, Lex Luger, where is he?! Luger: The Stinger's not here tonight, Gene, but I can promise you, I have his blessing in all of this! Me and the Stinger aren't asking anyone's permission to be in War Games or team with people; we're DEMANDING that we're two of the men in that match fighting for WCW! As far as I'm concerned, this is non-negotiable and if anyone of you or anyone else in the back has a problem with it, then they can take it up with me or the Stinger in this ring! Mean Gene: Oh my goodness!!! I wouldn't want to be any of the members of the NWO right now, as they clearly have people coming after them in all directions! Tony, Bobby, Dusty Rhodes, back to you all! Rating: 95 Scotty Riggs vs Wrath vs This was a quick match and Scotty Riggs' impressive dropkick wasn't enough to get him to overcome the shear power of Wrath. The match ended at 6:38 after Wrath hit the Meltdown. Winner: Wrath Rating: 53 Mean Gene continues to get his work in on tonight's Nitro as he's now backstage with the TV Champion. Gene asks Regal about the challenge he's received from Brad Armstrong. Regal laughs and says it isn't even a real challenge. Someone like Brad Armstrong has no business being in the same building as the lordship, much less the same wrestling ring. If Armstrong is really interested in receiving the beating of his life, then he'll give him one at Fall Brawl. Rating: 88 Arn Anderson & Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman & Scott Hall vs This match was pure chaos from the beginning. The NWO made their way to the ring first and Ric Flair and Arn Anderson sprinted to the ring and began fighting before the bell even sounded. The referee tried his best to gain control of the match and get both teams to their corners, but just when it looked like things were under control, the brawl would erupt again. Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash made their way to the ring during the wild fight and would get involved at every given opportunity. It was impossible for the referee to have eyes everywhere. At one moment he would be paying attention to the fight going on between Brian Pillman and Ric Flair and the other NWO members would beat on Arn Anderson. Things traded this way until the match was finally under some sort of control, getting the illegal man to his corner. Anderson took over the match and maliciously beat down Pillman, who mercifully tagged out to Scott Hall. Hall didn't fare any better though, as the Enforcer took the fight straight to one half of the tag team champions. Some double team moves and cheap shots allowed the NWO to take control, which they did for considerable time, cutting Anderson off from making a tag to the Nature Boy. Each time Anderson got close to tagging, the NWO would cut it off. This caused not only the crowd to build with tension and excitement, but Flair became a man possessed, determined to get tagged in the ring. Anderson was eventually able to dodge an attack from Brian Pillman and allowed him to make the hot tag to Flair. When I say "hot tag", I mean HOT. The roof blew off the arena when the tag was made and Flair entered on fire. Pillman quickly bailed out of the ring and Hall entered, but Flair stopped him in his tracks. After several chops and a low blow right in front of the referee, Hall dropped to the mat. Flair motioned for the Figure Four and grabbed Hall's leg, and that's when all hell broke loose. The NWO rushed the ring and Nash hit a clubbing blow to the back of Flair's neck. The referee immediately called for the bell at 18:08, but that didn't matter. Winners by DQ: Ric Flair & Arn Anderson Rating: 93 The bell rang but the NWO continued their assault. Nash floored the referee with a big right hand as Hollywood Hogan began laying the boots in on Flair. Pillman had now re-entered the ring and was joining in on the beatdown. Before long, cans of spraypaint were starting to be distributed among the NWO members before the crowd blew up again in excitement... The Total Package rushed to the ring while on commentary Bobby Heenan said he could be a new member of the NWO. This generated shocking denials from Dusty and Tony as Luger slid in the ring and rushed at every NWO member still in the ring. Pillman, Hall, and Nash all bailed from the ring before Luger could get his hands on them. Hogan had already bailed out while Luger was running to the ring. Nitro faded to an end as Luger was helping Flair and Anderson to their feet, while maintaining holding the NWO off from entering the ring again. Rating: 90 Final Show Rating: 92

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Mean Gene Okerlund here with this week's WCW Hotline Report! What an up and down week we've had in the wrestling world! This past Monday Night on Nitro, everyone was shocked as the WCW United States champion Brian Pillman turned on his fellow Horsemen Ric Flair and Arn Anderson, revealing himself to be the 4th member of the NWO! Arn Anderson had something to say about it this weekend on WCW Saturday Night, which I'll get in to later during my Saturday Night recap. Tensions seemed on high with the Horsemen lately as Ric Flair and Arn Anderson were increasingly becoming more involved with the NWO, something fellow members Steve Austin and Brian Pillman did not appear to agree with. It's unknown for how long Brian Pillman was colluding with the NWO, but they had been mentioning a 4th man for quite some time. In WCW house show news during the week, there are reports that Hollywood Hogan sustained a strained patellar tendon. While this isn't expected to keep him out of action, I am told the recovery time for this particular injury can take more than a year. In the meantime, it's thought that Hogan will be severely limited in the ring until this injury fully heals. Lanny Poffo is no longer with World Championship Wrestling. His contract came to an end earlier this week and WCW didn't have any interest in renewing the deal. Poffo hasn't been used in quite a long time and WCW was just waiting for the deal to expire. Officials didn't want to release Poffo from his contract for fear that Randy Savage would become upset. The Undertaker has renewed his WWF contract. It is reportedly for 3 years at a lucrative $339,600 per month with a 20% take from events and a 55% merchandise cut as incentives. I have no information if WCW meddled in the contract negotiations, but I would bet they certainly did. Here are the results from WCW Saturday Night this weekend! Brad Armstrong def. Big Bubba Rogers The Amazing French Canadians (No, not the Quebecers) def. Paul Roma & Perry Saturn Dave Taylor def. Jim Duggan Hugh Morrus def. Brian Knobbs Dean Malenko def. Lenny Lane Lance Storm def. Charlie Haas During Saturday Night, WCW President Eric Bischoff gave an update on the Macho Man Randy Savage's condition stemming from the brutal attack he received from the NWO on Nitro. He reported that Savage has a "severe injury" though he did not disclose what that injury is or how long he might be out of action. Dean Malenko also suffered a dislocated shoulder in his match against Lenny Lane. He will be out of action, but he is expected to make it back in time for Fall Brawl. Steve Austin was interviewed on Saturday Night. He stated while he has no problem with Brian Pillman, he's not interested in joining the NWO but stated he also doesn't like the direction that the Horsemen are headed. It appears as though the Horsemen may be falling apart before our very eyes. Harlem Heat challenged the Outsiders to a tag team title rematch at Fall Brawl. We'll have to wait to see if the Outsiders will give a response. Arn Anderson gave a very intense interview, stating he hopes that Brian Pillman is aware of the huge mistake he's made. He vowed to get revenge on Pillman for turning his back on the Horsemen and joining a "group of thugs." Here is the lineup for this week's Monday Nitro! Arn Anderson & Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman & Scott Hall Scotty Riggs vs Wrath Earl Robert Eaton vs Diamond Dallas Page Hugh Morrus & John Tenta vs The James Boys Steve Austin vs Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Week 1, September 1996 LIVE from the River Center - Des Moines, Iowa Attendance: 15,666 - WCW Monday Nitro kicks off the month of September 1996 with loud fireworks and shots of an excited crowd. As the cameras move over to the broadcast booth, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes welcome everyone to the show. In what's become an all-too common visual for WCW since Bash at the Beach, all announcers appear to be solemn and grief stricken. Tony Schiavone tells everyone that if they missed Road Wild last night, WCW has taken yet another blow as now "Hollywood" Hogan claimed the WCW world championship from the Nature Boy Ric Flair. He says WCW continues to get beaten down at every turn. Bobby Heenan says if it isn't bad enough that Hogan and the NWO now have the top prize in the sport, Hogan defaced the world title last night as he spray painted "NWO" on the belt. He thinks there are very, very dark days ahead for WCW now that the NWO seem to be firmly in control. Dusty Rhodes thoughts are wondering where Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting all were last night as the NWO viciously attacked Ric Flair and Arn Anderson before spray painting the title. This comes after all three men had claimed to be watching Flair's back earlier in the night. All the talk of the NWO having a 4th man all appeared to be a ruse to get everyone looking over their shoulders. It seems that it worked, because now the NWO has to the top title in WCW and the foundation of WCW seems to be slowly crumbling before our very eyes. Tony hopes that we're able to get answers to all of that here tonight, and Ric Flair will probably be asking them also. Schiavone does tell us that tonight's main event will be Scott Hall in his first singles match against Ric Flair. As of right now, we're going straight to the ring to begin Nitro! - Wrath vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs This opening match actually was given a decent amount of time, but don't mistake it for Chavo being much of a challenge for the heavyweight. Poor Chavito spent the majority of the match just taking punishment all around the ring. Chavo did manage to get a few offensive moves in but one too many high-flying moves was his doom. As Chavo jumped from the top rope, Wrath caught him with a kick to the gut. As Chavo was doubled over, Wrath locked him in the prep for the Meltdown and hitting it to get the pinfall win at 9:56. Winner: Wrath Rating: 40 The match is over and some new music begins to play over the speakers in the arena. All are confused as the guitar screeches its riff until the words "New, New, New World Order" is heard. All three NWO members make their way out onto the stage. Hogan comes out last as Hall and Nash point toward the entrance. As he emerges from the fog, the spray painted world title belt is in his hands as he struts out, acting like he's playing the guitar with it. The NWO all head to the ring full of confidence and light-hearted behavior. Hall and Nash get in the ring and taunt out to the crowd followed by the world champion, who raises the title with both hands and jogs around the ring. The music dies off and Hogan has a microphone. Hogan: I'll allow all you people to soak in the greatness that's standing in front of you right now!! Between Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and now the NWO world champion in the ring, you all are witness to the greatest group to ever exist in the history of professional wrestling! Last night at Road Wild, I took that skinny, flabby, loud mouth idiot Ric Flair and made an example outta him! And that example I made was that when it comes to the NWO, you're either with us or against us!!! And if you decide to be against us, then you're going to be in a whole world of hurt, brother! I proved last night that Ric Flair was nothing more than a placeholder for my getting the title back, and it's a cold hard fact for the rest of that WCW locker room that this world title right here isn't gonna leave sight of the NWO! This is now the NWO's world title, and I don't care who wants to come after it, not only do they have to deal with me, but they also have to deal with the Outsiders! As a matter of fact, this world title is just as much Scott Hall's and Kevin Nash's as it is mine, brother! That's because the NWO is a family! We stick together, we watch each other's back, we're there for one another, dude!!! Unlike WCW, which is coming apart at the seams as we speak! Did you see last night where Sting, Lex Luger, and the Macho Man were all claiming to have Ric Flair's back!?!?! Well where were all of them when the NWO took over!?!? Where were all of them when Ric Flair and Arn Anderson were getting their butts kicked by us!?! They proved that they're nothing but all talk and no action!! Or maybe it's just because they're afraid of the three Gods of wrestling that are in this ring right now! Maybe they know they don't stand a chance against Hollywood Hogan and the NWO! Maybe the rest of the 4 Horsemen know that too and that's why they didn't want any part of the NWO! Well let this be a lesson to the rest of those wrestlers in the back; the NWO is taking over and you can either jump on the train as it steamrolls down the tracks, or you can just get run over, dude! Either way, there's a new sheriff in town, there's a new standard set, and it's by the three guys you see standing in the ring right now! Rating: 96 Fit Finlay & Brian Knobbs vs Hugh Morrus & Scott Norton vs This was an odd mash-up of talent in, what I guess, was an attempt to see if anyone had chemistry. All men were nearly equal as far as in-ring performance went. Hugh Morrus and Scott Norton picked up the win at 9:50 after Morrus hit the No Laughing Matter on Knobbs. Winners: Hugh Morrus & Scott Norton Rating: 60 - Following the match, cameras return to the announce booth where Tony Schiavone gives a recap from Road Wild. This one features Ricky Steamboat getting brutally attacked by Steve Austin and Brian Pillman after he lost. Eddie Guerrero ran out to make what looked like a save as he ran off Austin and Pillman, however, in a shocking twist, Guerrero turned at attacked Steamboat. As the clip finishes, Ricky Steamboat is in the ring and it looks like he has something to say. - Steamboat: Over the past few weeks, there's been quite a bit of disappointment going around. First, it was with Hulk Hogan turning his back on all the fans and wrestlers. Then last night, I was disappointed again when another person I thought was a friend, turned their back on me. Eddie Guerrero, over the past few weeks, I took you under my wing. I tried to help you forge your own path in WCW. I thought you were appreciative and receptive to that....But last night, you proved, not that you're strong, but that you're weak. You're a weak man, Eddie Guerrero! It takes a weak man to strike another from behind. It takes a weak man to turn his back on his friends. It takes a weak man to hit and run....I'm not mad at you, Eddie, I'm disappointed in what you've become. You just----- - Steamboat is blindsided once again, this time mid speech. Eddie ran in from the crowd, hopping the barrier and sliding in the ring behind Steamboat. Eddie clubs him on the back of the neck with a forearm before laying in the kicks as Steamboat's down. The crowd boo's loudly as Eddie takes a second from his attack to look out at the crowd. Eddie smiles before quickly leaving the ring and going over to the ring announcer before shoving him off his chair. Eddie grabs the chair and folds it before sliding back in the ring. Eddie hits Steamboat a few times with the chair, who yells out in pain on every strike. Seeing his work complete, Eddie slowly drops the chair and leaves the ring. He heads up the aisle as Nitro fades to a commercial break. - Rating: 88 TV Title: Perry Saturn vs Lord Steven Regal (c) vs Nitro returns from break for the next match. Regal makes his way out with his newly won TV title, defeating Scott Steiner just the night before. Saturn proved to be no small challenge for Regal's first defense of his new title reign and the match turned out to be excellent. Both men delivered hard strikes to the other. While Regal is the king of European uppercuts, Saturn showed that he's well-trained in them also. The two traded several of the strikes before Regal gained the advantage. The match came to an end though at 11:52 when Regal got the submission with the Regal Stretch. Winner: Lord Steven Regal Rating: 75 Following the match, Mean Gene meets Regal at the bottom of the entrance ramp. Drenched in sweat, the new TV champion claims that he's the best WCW Television champion in history and to prove it, he'll put his title on the line against anyone who wants to challenge for it. Mean Gene asks "anyone??" and Regal confidently repeats "Anyone!" Regal thinks there isn't one bloody person foolish enough to want to get in the ring with a premiere athlete like himself. About that time, Brad Armstrong comes out and marches right up to Mean Gene and Regal. The TV champ has a completely bewildered look on his face and can't grasp why someone like Brad Armstrong would come out to confront him. As a matter of fact, Regal asks "Just what in the bloody hell are you doing out here???" Armstrong says he's wanted to get the TV title for a long time now and he's got no issue taking on Regal. Armstrong says that not only is he going to take the TV title from him, but he'll also send him back across the pond where he belongs. This results in Armstrong getting slapped across the face by Regal before the champion exits back up the ramp. Rating: 83 American Males vs Amazing French Canadians vs More tag action on Nitro tonight as the Amazing French Canadians, no, not the Quebecers, have a return match from last night against the American Males. The Males look to change their luck from the previous night where they lost. Rougeau and Oulette again showed great teaming and made quick tags to isolate Scotty Riggs, who took a lot of punishment in this match. Bagwell ended up getting the hot tag and had the crowd into it as he battled both Canadians. With Oulette tossed out of the ring, the Males hit a double dropkick on Rougeau and looked to have the match in hand. Riggs told Bagwell to hold up Rougeau, to his confusion, but did anyway. Riggs exited the ring and grabbed the Quebec flag that the Canadians brought to the ring with him and Riggs aimed to hit Rougeau as he was held by Bagwell. The referee warned Riggs, but he rushed anyway to hit Rougeau. Jacques ducked out of the way and bashed Bagwell in the head with the flag instead. This allowed Oulette enough time to recover and took Riggs out as Rougeau made the pin on Bagwell, getting the win at 9:56. Winners: Amazing French Canadians Rating: 63 Mean Gene is in the ring for an interview and the crowd get on their feet as Horses neigh and gallop out of the speakers. The 4 Horsemen music plays and all 4 members walk out. The festivities are kept to a minimum tonight from Ric Flair, who looks focused and unhappy. Arn looks intense as ever while Steve Austin and the US champion Brian Pillman are more easy going and unaffected. They all get in the ring and the music begins to fade out and Flair takes the point for the interview. Mean Gene: Nature Boy, I can tell that you've got quite a few things to talk about here tonight, I'm sure, centered around last evenings events. Flair: Mean Gene Okerlund, I'm going to spare you all the usual talk and cutting up that you usually get from the Nature Boy and I'm going to cut to the chase! Last night at Road Wild, Hulk Hogan, Hollywood Hogan, whatever he wants to go by now, cemented his position he now has in the professional wrestling world....And that's that he's nothing more than a cheap, low-life, knock off Nature Boy wanna be! Hogan!!! I invented the bag guy playbook, pal, and the only thing you're doing is trying to emulate everything that Ric Flair originated! Not only that, but last night after you had to cheat your way to winning that title, you had the audacity...You had the NERVE to spray paint the most prestigious world title this earth has ever known, pal! So many greats that have come before us like Jack Briscoe, Harley Race, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, Dory Funk Jr.....Have all held that worlds title that you were low enough to spraypaint!!! All the blood, all the sweat, all the tears that all those men have put behind that world title! All that I've put behind that world title!!! You did nothing but spit in the face of tradition as soon as you sprayed that world title! What you did last night is on the same level as desecrating the Mona Lisa, the Statue of Liberty, or the Roman Coliseum!! Hogan, if you think you're finished with Ric Flair, you've got another thing coming, pal!!!! Not only am I going to come after you to take the title back, but I'm just going to be out to completely end you! You spit in the face of tradition, and tradition, pal, is gonna come back to kick you in the ass! Gene: Ric, last night you had Sting, Lex Luger, and the Macho Man all claim to have your back, but when you and Arn Anderson were getting attacked by the NWO, they were nowhere to be found. We haven't seen or heard from any of them yet tonight, what are your thoughts??? Flair: I'll get to all of them later, but the fact of the matter is, I don't look for anyone to have my back other than the Horsemen! I've got my best friend by my side, Steve Austin, and the loose cannon, the United States champion Brian Pillman! I don't need anyone else to watch my back! Now Hogan, Hall, and Nash were going around claiming to have a 4th member....Bogus or not, I don't care! I'm saying, right here, right now, I want the NWO at Fall Brawl in War Games!!! There's four of us, there's supposedly four NWO guys, and I want them in War Games! Hogan, I'm gonna make your life a living hell and inside War Games, there's no escape! You think you and the Outsiders are tough?!?! Pal, you haven't seen what tough is until you have the Horsemen staring you down inside that locked steel cage! The NWO belong to the Horsemen at War Games! - As Flair makes his announcement, the crowd goes wild but Austin and Pillman seem less than pleased. Mean Gene notices this and starts to get their opinion. - Mean Gene: Now wait a minute, Nature Boy...It appears that all of the Horsemen may not agree with your position...Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, you don't want to take on the NWO at Fall Brawl inside War Games?? Pillman: Mean Gene, as much as you'd love to get the dirt on the Horsemen, it's not your place to interfere. Anything I might have to say to the Nature Boy on the topic is none of your business. Mean Gene: I'm just noticing there may be some dissention in the ranks, that's all. Austin: There ain't no dissention, Gene Okerlund, and what you need to do is just stand there and hold that microphone while we conduct our interview, and if you can't do as simple a thing as that, then maybe we should just send you backstage and find another spot for you! Now Brian may not want to give his view on this, but the two of us have spoken enough to each other about it, so I've got no problem stating facts....And the facts are, Ric, that while you and Arn Anderson have been putting more effort and energy into the NWO, me and Brian have been working our tails off and trying to keep the Horsemen on the same path that we originally all wanted...And that's to make the Horsemen the most dominant, feared group within WCW! Instead, what you and Arn have done, is nothing but try to play catchup to the NWO. The truth is, I couldn't give a rats ass about Hulk Hogan or the NWO! As a matter of fact, I left WCW the first time because I couldn't stand Hogan! Now you're wanting to tie us down at Fall Brawl and put us in War Games against the NWO?? Ric, where your head should be at is reclaiming that world title at Fall Brawl against Hogan, not War Games! Running around and chasing the NWO's tail does nothing but make the Horsemen look weak and ridiculous! Brian should be defending his US title at Fall Brawl, and that leaves me and Arn Anderson to go after the tag team titles! Second place don't get no prize in this business, Ric, and quite frankly, I'm losing my patience as far as keeping the status of the 4 Horsemen alive! Arn Anderson: Now hold on just a minute. Let me remind the two of you that without the Nature Boy and without Arn Anderson, the 4 Horsemen don't exist! As good as you are, Austin, and you, Brian Pillman, make no mistake, you're a part of the Horsemen because me and the Nature Boy saw something in the two of you. Let me ask you, Steve, what kind of status do the Horsemen have if we just stand by and let the NWO run roughshod over WCW and do whatever they want? Where does our status lie if we let other guys like Sting, Luger, and Savage handle the NWO? And furthermore, where were those guys last night when they claimed to be watching and having our back? The time to stand by and do nothing is over, so you two can either get in line or we'll find two other guys who will! We clearly have a few things to go over, and we're not gonna do it out here in front of everybody, so Gene, you can consider this interview over. Gene: Oh my! Tony, back to you! Rating: 100 - Nothing can improve the mood and invigorate a crowd like Alex Wright and his great German Bratwurst, yeah yeah baby! - Dean Malenko vs Alex Wright vs Das Wunderkind gets the crowd on their feet for this match as Dean Malenko and Francine look to be the bratwurst kryptonite. Alex spends a large portion of the match dancing for Francine, who amazingly appears to be immune. He put up a great fight but the more he danced, the more it appeared to infuriate Malenko. Dean was able to lock in the Texas Cloverleaf for the submission victory at 8:24 and, unfortunately, send the German bratwurst packing. Winner: Dean Malenko Rating: 68 Following a commercial break, cameras go backstage where the Macho Man Randy Savage is finally arriving to the arena. Savage gets no further than shutting the trunk lid from getting his bags before he's jumped from behind. Hall and Nash have metal bars that they beat Savage down with while Hogan lays in kicks. Once Savage is surely unable to put up any resistance, Hogan directs the Outsiders to hold Savage up. They grab him by each arm and bring up to his knees while Hogan starts laying in punches. Off in the distance, the NWO can hear a commotion from someone approaching. The drop their hold of Savage and run off while the camera zooms in on Savage who is clearly hurt. Rating: 99 Ric Flair vs Scott Hall vs Nitro returned from its last commercial to the entrances for both wrestlers. Flair was first and came out by himself while Scott Hall was flanked by both Nash and Hogan. As soon as Hall started to step through the ropes, Flair was on him. The crowd was lit from then on during the match. Hogan and Nash would do their best to distract and interfere, but Flair was completely on fire and handled them before they could make an impact. Hall was rocked and reeling as Flair went on like a man possessed. It continued like this until the referee was pulled in the corner by Hall as Flair rushed in. With the ref out of the picture, the NWO saw the opportunity to pounce. Nash and Hogan got in the ring as Flair was working on Hall and getting ready for the Figure Four. Nash hit a huge clubbing blow to the back of Flair before turning him around and hitting him with a Jacknife. Hogan then took the opportunity to hit the Leg Drop on Flair before they helped Scott Hall to his feet. They motioned for Hall to hit the Outsider's Edge as Hogan helped him with Flair. After crashing down to the mat, Kevin Nash slapped the referee across the face to wake him up just enough to be able to count the pin, officially ending the match at 19:42. Winner: Scott Hall Rating: 100 - The bell rings but Hogan tosses the referee through the ropes and out to the floor. Nash picks up Flair and again hits him with a Jacknife. As the NWO continue their assault, the crowd comes to life as Arn Anderson rushes down to the ring. The Enforcer slides under the rope into the ring but doesn't get very far before Hogan starts pummeling him also. The NWO are in clear control as they're beating down Flair and Anderson, with no end in sight. Hogan hits a series of Leg Drops on Flair as Hall hits the Outsider's Edge on Anderson. With the two down and out, Hogan takes the opportunity to pull a spray can from his tights. Nash also has a spray can and they flip both Anderson and Flair over and appear to be getting ready to spray paint them as the crowd comes to life again.. The US Champion Brian Pillman comes rushing out from the stage and sprints to the ring with a steel chair in hand. He dives in the ring and gets up to his feet before the NWO have a chance to pounce on him. Pillman rushes toward Hogan who was approaching him, but hit the brakes, trying like hell to back off from the loose cannon. Hogan escapes the ring as Pillman then rushes toward Hall and Nash, who also want nothing to do with the US champion. Flair is completely down but with the NWO bailed out of the ring, Pillman helps Anderson to his feet and checks to make sure he's ok. Arn, dazed but shaking the cobwebs loose, starts to challenge the NWO back in the ring. - Tony: OH MY GOD!!!!! - When things looked to be even, Arn Anderson again crashed down to the mat, only it wasn't from Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, or Kevin Nash. The crowd all gasp as a vicious chair shot hit Arn Anderson from behind, originating from the swing by Brian Pillman. Pillman drops the chair and then takes off his Horsemen t-shirt to reveal an NWO shirt underneath. - Dusty: Brian Pillman is the NWO's 4th man!!!!!! - Pillman laughs hysterically while the rest of the NWO re-enter the ring, all giving the new reveal a high five. Hogan hands the can of spray paint to Pillman who spray paints "NWO" on Anderson's back before doing the same to Ric Flair. The NWO continue to celebrate their latest swerve while the audience tries to grasp what they've just seen. Nitro's credits appear on the screen before fading to black. - Rating: 99 Final Show Rating: 97

Week 4, August 1996 LIVE from Sturgis, North Dakota Attendance: 65,000 - WCW Road Wild opens up with a shot of the vast countryside, full of mountains, running horses, and then finally a shot of a large group of motorcyclists all heading to one place - Sturgis. The unique backdrop for the PPV is a complete WCW thing. Set out in the middle of an open field and the sun just on the verge of lowering behind the gorgeous mountains, Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes, and Bobby the Brain Heenan welcome everyone to the show. There is much talk of the main event tonight, the WCW World Heavyweight title match as champion Ric Flair defends against Hulk Hogan, who now is apparently to be referred to as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan of the NWO. Bobby Heenan says there's much more tonight on the line than just the WCW world title, but the very foundation of WCW itself. Heenan is concerned that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are sure to be around during the main event and if Ric Flair and WCW fall to Hollywood Hogan and the NWO, things could look very very troubling for the future. Dusty Rhodes adds in the fact that the NWO have also been talking of another mystery man, a 4th member of the NWO and says they very well could show up tonight to play a part in the main event. Either way, things are looking very severe for WCW and this war and "Hostile Takeover" that the NWO have claimed. Tony tells us that Ric Flair is standing by with the Enforcer, Arn Anderson. - Flair: Hogan! It's you and me tonight for the largest prize in our sport! The Worlds Heavyweight Championship! Now I know that you and I have had battles in the past. We're no stranger to one another, but the fact is, while you were up in New York dodging a real challenge, I was up and down the roads, throughout the country, defending the championship against all challengers, not just my buddies night after night! See Hogan, I lived the life! I STILL live the life! I style and profile, looking only as I can look! I defend the most prestigious title in the history of professional wrestling, and then afterwards, I take a woman home and show her why they call me the Nature Boy! I'm a co-founding member of the greatest faction, not just in WCW history, but wrestling history! A think you're trying to emulate, but Hogan! I promise you, you and your little group will never even walk in the shadow of the 4 Horsemen! Live up the night, Hogan!!!! Because after I'm through with you tonight in the main event, you can go cry in the arms of the Outsiders! Bring a 4th man out if you want, but tonight the Nature Boy is in pristine condition, and I'll kick anyone's ass who wants to step up to the plate, big man! WOOOOOOOOO! Rating: 100 Television Title: Lord Steven Regal vs Scott Steiner (c) vs Road Wild kicks off the first match for the TV title. Scott Steiner has been on a mission to break out as a singles competitor following a severe injury to his brother, Rick. In true form, Scott has fulfilled much of that as he's held the TV title since May of this year. Much of that time has been filled with Lord Steven Regal trying to win his title back. Though he's failed along the way, he claims it to be just because he doesn't want to win it back just yet. The two men finally clash again here tonight and Regal began trying to toy with Steiner. This caused Steiner to have a short fuse and shortly later began pummeling on the Blue Blood. Through the match, both competitors were fairly evenly matched and it was a good opening match for the biker crowd. Regal got a ton of heat as he taunted the bikers and Regal constantly acted like there was a foul stench in the air. Surprisingly, Regal also kept this match fairly clean. While he cheated and used dirty tactics whenever the referee turned around, he didn't overly cheat or use illegal weapons to his advantage. What resulted was a nice technical encounter between to extremely capable wrestlers. Regal was able to catch Steiner in the Regal Stretch and forced the surprising submission at 14:11 to reclaim the TV title. Winner and NEW Champion: Lord Steven Regal Rating: 82 United States Title: Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman (c) vs The title matches continue for Road Wild as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat comes out first. This match was put together at the last minute which originated after the Monday Nitro main event as Steamboat took on Arn Anderson. The US champion was accompanied by fellow Horsemen member Steve Austin and the two looked extremely confident going into the match. Austin and Pillman traded off distracting the referee repeatedly as they cheap shot the Dragon at every opportunity. Steamboat did his best to fight them off, but it was essentially a handicap match. Steamboat's performance again was pretty disappointing, but Pillman did a nice job at cleaning up any sloppy work. Pillman, with a ton of assistance from Austin, hit the Air Pillman at 13:46 and got the win. Winner: Brian Pillman Rating: 74 - Despite the bell sounding and the referee raising Pillman's arm, Austin entered the ring and the two immediately began attacking the already fallen Steamboat. Both men were hitting brutal shots on the Dragon and Pillman lifted him to his feet, holding him so Austin could begin pummeling him with his fists. Suddenly the crowd came to life as the beatdown continued and the camera panned to see someone run out. - - Eddie Guerrero sprints out and slides into the ring just as Austin is starting to hit Steamboat with his fists as he's held by Pillman. Eddie shoves Austin down to the mat and then rushes toward Pillman. Pillman was able to see it coming though and released his hold on Steamboat and quickly dove out of the ring. Austin and Pillman regrouped outside on the floor while Eddie challenged them to get back in the ring and fight. The crowd was loving it as Austin and Pillman refused any further confrontation and turned to walk back up the aisle. Eddie turned to see Steamboat still collapsed on the mat and lifted him to his feet to check on him. Steamboat motioned that he was ok and, holding his head, took a couple steps toward the ropes as Eddie remained in the center of the ring, looking out at the loud crowd. Suddenly... Tony: My God!!!! - Out of nowhere, Eddie kicked a vicious low blow to Ricky Steamboat!!! The Dragon never saw it coming as his back was to Eddie. The crowd all gasped at once as Steamboat again collapsed on the mat, this time for a very different reason. Eddie just looked down with a sinister smile as Steamboat groaned and writhed on the mat in pain. - Tony: He acted like he was helping Steamboat and then he brutally hit him with a low blow!!! Heenan: I know!!!! I love it! - Eddie wasn't done after the low blow, however. He grabbed Steamboats arm and dragged him to the center of the ring. Guerrero quickly exited at the corner and began climbing the turnbuckles, pausing halfway up to look out at the crowd who were now loudly booing the star. Eddie perched to the top and leapt off, hitting Steamboat with a hard Frog Splash. Guerrero got to his feet and again looked down at Steamboat before slowly exiting the ring and heading up the aisle. - Rating: 100 Diamond Dallas Page vs Dean Malenko vs The respect these two had for one another at the beginning of their feud had long since been thrown out the window. As the weeks progressed, Dean Malenko began preying on DDP's manager, the Diamond Doll. Just a couple of weeks ago, things progressed even further when Malenko introduced his own manager, Francine. The men were both accompanied by their managers tonight, and while Francine did her best to intimidate the Diamond Doll, she did her best to avoid any altercation, remaining in the corner of DDP. The two men started off trading rapid fire punches, as DDP clearly had a score to settle with Malenko. The brawl delved into some good offensive wrestling holds and moves. The crowd did liven up a bit when Francine got on the apron to interfere with DDP as he looked to be going for a Diamond Cutter. This brought the Diamond Doll to sprint around to that side of the ring and pull Francine down from the apron. After yelling at the Doll, Francine attempted to slap the Doll, who blocked it and hit a slap of her own. Francine dropped to the floor as DDP hit a Diamond Cutter on Malenko and scored the win at 11:37. Winner: Diamond Dallas Page Rating: 76 Following a short promotional break to hype next month's PPV - Fall Brawl, we return to the backstage interview area. Mean Gene Okerlund is looking dapper as usual in his tuxedo and standing with him is Lex Luger. Mean Gene: Lex Luger, after weeks and weeks of trying, Steve Austin has managed to get you one on one here tonight, which he says, is to finally settle the score between you and the 4 Horsemen. Meanwhile you seem to be extremely preoccupied in another battle that's been brewing with the New World Order. You seem to be getting stretched pretty thin, Mr. Luger.... Luger: Ya know, Gene, for weeks on end, Steve Austin's been running his mouth about how things aren't over between me and the 4 Horsemen. Now I'm not sure if Austin knows this, but I have a much longer history with the Horsemen and am no stranger to issues with Arn Anderson and Ric Flair. I don't know what Austin's problem is or why he thinks things aren't finished between us, but I can assure you that tonight will be the end of it! Steve Austin, I haven't had a problem with the 4 Horsemen since last year and I was perfectly fine with doing my own thing, and you guys doing yours. But for some reason, that just wasn't good enough and you just wanted to keep poking the bear. Now I'm fully aware that you've got your own blinders on, Austin, and can't see anything other than the Horsemen in your eyes, but the fact is, WCW's been at war for the last several months and there's only been a couple other guys to stand up against the NWO, and I'm one of them! It's no secret that two-front war's are never very successful for those fighting them, so the way I see it, I've got two choices. I can focus all my time and energy and completely steamroll through you and the rest of the Horsemen to shut your mouth for good, or I can stick with my best friend and the Macho Man and try to keep WCW from getting taken over! Well, Steve Austin, it's an easy decision because without WCW, there are no 4 Horsemen, there is now feud between Lex Luger and Steve Austin, and there is no Monday Nitro! So what I'm going to do tonight is write the last chapter in our book and finish you off, once and for all! After that, all my focus is going to be on taking out the NWO! You can join me, or you can just watch from the sidelines. Rating: 90 Falls Count Anywhere: Mike Barton vs Scott Norton vs The feud between Mike Barton and Scott Norton continues on. Both have been trying to prove to be the toughest wrestler in WCW while proving their worth at the same time. This falls count anywhere match was nothing but an unorganized train wreck as both competitors fought outside the ring, in the crowd, briefly backstage, and in the ring. Any kind of weapon that was within reach, was used. Barton was limited somewhat by the cast on his arm, which ended up being a target by Norton. After hitting a powerbomb outside the ring, Norton pinned Barton at 10:30 for the win. Winner: Scott Norton Rating: 60 Mean Gene is backstage again, this time with the tag team champions Harlem Heat and Sensuous Sherri. Gene asks if they're ready ahead of their big title defense against the Outsiders. Booker says that Harlem Heat, if they're ever ready for anything, is a fight. Tonight they're going to show the Outsiders that the two brothers from Harlem aren't to be messed with and they've got another thing coming if they think they're walking out of Sturgis with tag team gold. Stevie Ray says they're bigger, stronger, better athletes, and have run the tag team division in WCW for so long for good reason, and that's because they're the best tag team in WCW, and the Outsiders are gonna find out. Tag Team Titles: The Outsiders vs Harlem Heat (c) vs The Outsiders took their time getting to the ring and again took their time locking up with Harlem Heat. Scott Hall started off the match against Booker T who did his signature toothpick toss into the face of Booker. Hall was extremely amused and began laughing and slapping his leg while looking at Kevin Nash for approval. Booker was less than pleased and Hall's smile quickly vanished when Booker began wailing away on Hall. Things got serious after this point and the Outsiders knew there weren't going to be any games played tonight. Both teams worked skillfully and Harlem Heat showed great ability to hang with the seasoned Outsiders and didn't back down at all from dishing out heavy offense. Things took a turn, however, when the fight between Booker T and Kevin Nash spilled out to the floor after a pin breakup. Hall and Stevie Ray were the legal wrestlers and Stevie stood on the second rope to look down on the fight on the floor. This allowed Hall to grab Stevie in position for the Outsider's Edge, which he hit. The pin was counted at 14:34 and new tag team champions were crowned. Winners and NEW tag team champions: The Outsiders Rating: 83 Following the Outsider's victory with their newly won tag team titles, cameras return backstage in the interview area where Mean Gene is standing by with Sting. Mean Gene takes a breath and Sting has his hands on his hips, as they've both just witnessed the Outsiders capture the titles. Mean Gene: Ladies and gentlemen, the night goes on and I'm standing by with Sting. Sting, we all just saw what happened. I'd like to get your thoughts on everything going on with the NWO. Sting: Ya know, Gene, WCW is at a pivotal, crucial time right now! WCW is being attacked by an outside group of thugs and jerks, and their all-out mission is to destroy WCW! We all saw what just happened. Harlem Heat did the best they could, but they couldn't hold up against the Outsiders! Now they're holding the tag team titles! My only hope is that in tonight's main event, the Nature Boy Ric Flair is able to hold off the NWO and Hulk Hogan because Gene, if they get the tag team titles AND the world heavyweight title in their grasp, all in the same night, WCW is in deep, deep trouble! Mean Gene: Sting, you mentioned Hulk Hogan, who now is apparently going by "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Sting: I don't care what name he wants to go by, Mean Gene, he's nothing but a turncoat, a coward, and someone who let fame and fortune go to his head! The fact of the matter is, I'm the one who stood up since day one that Scott Hall wanted to throw his weight around and start making threats to people. I put that WCW banner on my back and stood up for WCW because I AM WCW! Now it's no secret that me and the Nature Boy have had a long history with each other, and as much as I don't trust Ric Flair, I trust the NWO even less! So while I don't trust him, I'll do what I can to make sure tonight's main event remains a fair main event! Rating: 86 Steve Austin vs Lex Luger vs Austin went right after Luger as soon as the opening bell sounded. Luger, for his part, seemed to be equally focused and picked up his offense. Both men were equally matched as they went back and forth and struggled to get an advantage. Luger's superior strength eventually won him the favor over Austin and hit several high-impact moves like a powerslam, several clotheslines, and running corner attacks. Austin would manage to get an advantage when Luger would miss a charge. Austin would also go for several rapid cover attempts to end the match quickly, to no avail. Austin also tried using the ropes for leverage during a couple pin attempts, only for the referee to catch him in the act. As the match progressed, Luger had Austin reeling after hitting several more clotheslines. Luger went for his bionic forearm and hit it, then calling for the Torture Rack, which brought the crowd on their feet. Luger lifted Austin and he wildly submitted at 16:13. Luger didn't even celebrate his victory, just yelled at the downed Austin that things were now over and then exited the ring and walked to the back. Winner: Lex Luger Rating: 85 Big Bubba Rogers vs Brad Armstrong vs Normally this would be a decent opening match and Bubba actually performed quite well, but after so many high-profile matches already taking place before this one, this gave the crowd an ability to use the bathroom or visit the concession stands. The match itself didn't take long and didn't feature many big moves from either man. Bubba got the win at 7:40 with the Bubba Slam. Winner: Big Bubba Rogers Rating: 64 American Males vs Amazing French Canadians vs This was another match that would've probably benefited more to being earlier or put on the pre-show, but in any case, it allowed the crowd to take a breather from all of the action. Bagwell was the performer of the match while the Amazing French Canadians, no, not the Quebecers, did what they could to prove to be a contender in the tag team division. Carl Oulette ended up getting the pin fall win over Bagwell at 8:22 after hitting the Cannonball. Winners: Amazing French Canadians Rating: 56 - The World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair is backstage with Arn Anderson. Flair's dressed in his gear and has one of his elaborate robes on as he's warming up for the match. The Enforcer is hyping the Nature Boy up when Savage walks in the picture. This causes Flair to stop in his tracks and Anderson just merely postures up and stares at Savage. The Macho Man holds up his hands in submission and tells them he's not here for a fight. Savage says it's actually the opposite. While the Macho Man says he doesn't like Flair and Anderson, WCW is more important than all of the issues they have with one another. Savage says once they deal with the NWO, then they can go back to fighting each other, but until then, Savage has their back. - Rating: 100 World Heavyweight Title: Hollywood Hogan vs Ric Flair (c) vs Hollywood Hogan was the first to enter for this highly anticipated matchup. Strutting out in full confidence and dressed all in black with a new 5 o'clock shadow on his face, Hogan taunts the crowd all the way to the ring, but, as Heenan points out, he was all alone. The Nature Boy made his elaborate entrance next, full of fireworks and the classic Nature Boy confidence. It's also pointed out that the Enforcer, Arn Anderson accompanies the world champion to the ring. Heenan wonders if this match will turn out to be who can cheat the most and get away with it, and if that's the case, he's taking the Nature Boy. Hogan starts out trying to stall as much as possible, but this only causes Flair to become more irate, eventually going out to the floor to attack Hogan. As Hogan's beaten around the ringside area, Flair sends him back in the ring where the attack continues, despite Hogan trying to beg off the Nature Boy. The crowd is firmly on the side of Flair as he delivers chop after chop to Hogan. Flair knocks Hogan down and goes for an early Figure Four, only to have Hogan kick him off, which sends Flair through the ropes and crashing to the floor outside. Hogan gets up and meets Flair on the floor and now it's his turn to dish out punishment. Hogan kicks and punches Flair all around ringside and also grabs camera cables to choke the world champion with. The referee threatens to disqualify Hogan but he keeps at it. Flair rolls in the ring and Hogan follows behind. Flair gets to his knees and begs Hogan off, as the Nature Boy still can't help but stoop to some of his classic traits. Hogan closes and in taunts Flair with the punishment he's getting ready to dish out, but Hogan gets too close to Flair and as the Enforcer has the referee distracted, Flair delivers one hell of a low blow to Hogan. The crowd cheers loudly in delight as the dirtiest player in the game gets to his feet and begins to strut around the ring. The attack continues on until Flair rushes the corner and climbs to the top rope, which never works in his case. Hogan catches Flair and tosses him hard to the mat with a press slam. After taking a back body drop and a back suplex, Flair gets right up to his feet before doing his Flair flop to the mat. Hogan taunts out to the crowd but they just boo loudly back at Hogan, who seems to soak in the boo's. Hogan grabs Flair by the hair and begins to pull him up, just for the Nature Boy to again drop to his knees and hit a low blow on Hogan. With Hogan down, Flair exits the ring and grabs his world title, bringing it into the ring. Flair plans on hitting Hogan with the belt right in front of the referee and as he waits for Hogan to get up on his knees, Flair takes position. Hogan slowly gets up to his knees and Flair starts to rush in with the world title, but the referee gets in his way and grabs the title. Flair argues with the referee, who threatens to disqualify the Nature Boy. After a brief struggle, the referee takes possession of the title and drops it in the corner. Flair moves in to grab Hogan, who has made it in the corner, bracing himself. As Flair grabs Hogan from behind, Hogan mule kicks Flair, hitting him with his own low blow. About this time, the crowd's attention has turned toward the stage entrance... The Outsiders make their way toward the ring and once there, Kevin Nash immediate takes out Arn Anderson, who's standing on the floor outside the ring. The referee see's the attack taking place on the floor and is yelling for Nash to back off. This allows Hall to get in the ring and grab the world title in the process. Hall goes to hit Flair with it, but Flair dodges and when Hall turns around, he's met with a low blow of his own! The crowd is electric as Flair sends Scott Hall to the outside also but what he doesn't notice is Hollywood Hogan picking up the world title. Flair turns and is met with the gold belt hitting him square in the head. Flair's busted open as a result and Hogan tosses the belt to the side and covers Flair. The referee turns around to see the cover and counts, hitting the three count at 23:27 and trash immediately begins filling the ring. Winner and NEW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan Rating: 81 The bell sounds and Nash and Hall get in the ring. Nash grabs Flair before giving him a Jacknife Powerbomb and then shoves him out of the ring under the bottom rope. While Nash is handling Flair, Arn Anderson attempted to get in the ring and defend his friend, but Hall was able to cut him off, sending him through the ropes and to the floor as well. Hogan taunts the crowd as he high five's Hall and Nash. Nash has something in his hand and gives it to Hogan. Heenan is shocked as he says Hogan has a can of spray paint! Hall holds the title while Hogan spray paints the title belt with the letters N.W.O! Hollywood Hogan has just defaced the most prized possession in wrestling history! Road Wild fades out with the image of Hollywood Hogan holding the defaced WCW World Title spray painted NWO while Bobby Heenan yells out asking where Sting, Macho Man, and Lex Luger all are. Rating: 95 Final Show Rating: 85

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the WCW Hotline Report and we have some information to go over as we near toward Road Wild! In some big news, Scott Hall was sent home from Monday Nitro this week after showing up clearly under the influence and in no condition to perform. As such, he was sent home and reportedly fined. I'm told that Scott Hall was said to be "furious" from this and Kevin Nash was extremely angry at how the incident was handled. As a result of suffering a lengthy injury and injuring a worker due to sloppy work just days before, Kevin Sullivan has been released from his WCW contract. Mike Barton, who was injured from an errant move from Sullivan, was said to be very happy from the result. Might there be dissention in the ranks of the 4 Horsemen? This was briefly touched upon this Monday on Nitro but seemed to be laid to rest by Arn Anderson. However, later in the week on WCW Saturday Night, Steve Austin in a more clear statement said that he's annoyed that the 4 Horsemen spend so much time on the NWO. The belief is that Austin thinks the Horsemen are becoming side tracked on the NWO, who he doesn't think is their problem. Just days after Smoky Mountain Wrestling declared war on WCW, they have reportedly "fallen" back to "small" size. This drop in size comes after they signed new broadcasting deals. It's possible some viewed their declaration of war against WCW to be too ambitious, which cost them significantly. The World Wrestling Federation held SummerSlam last weekend. This show went without their world champion, the British Bulldog, not defending his title or even having a match on the show. The Macho Man Randy Savage has reportedly renewed his WCW contract. The deal is said to be for 2 years at $258,000/month. It's unknown if the WWF tried to offer Savage a deal. Road Wild has shaped up to be a huge show! Here is the official card! WCW Heavyweight Title: Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair (c) American Males vs Amazing French Canadians Big Bubba Rogers vs Brad Armstrong Steve Austin vs Lex Luger Tag Team Titles: The Outsiders vs Harlem Heat (c) Falls Count Anywhere: Mike Barton vs Scott Norton Diamond Dallas Page vs Dean Malenko United States Title: Ricky Steamboat vs Brian Pillman (c) Television Title: Lord Steven Regal vs Scott Steiner (c)

Week 4, August 1996 LIVE from The Pit - Albuquerque, New Mexico Attendance: 17,764 - Monday Nitro kicks off this week with lots of excitement, as usual as WCW heads into their August PPV, Road Wild. Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Dusty Rhodes welcome everyone to tuning in and much of the intro talk surrounds last week's reveal by the NWO that they supposedly have a 4th person in the ranks. Heenan finds this extremely troubling as he says after Hogan shocked everyone and turned his back, it literally could be anyone out of the locker room to be the 4th member. Dusty Rhodes points out that it doesn't even have to be a person already in the WCW locker room! The NWO is literally capable of pulling anyone out of the hat and he see's this as likely to further devastate WCW to its foundation. The crowd excitement this week isn't wasted, as "The Man Called Sting" begins blaring through the arena speakers and Tony tells us we're starting Nitro off hot with the first match of the night! - Sting vs Meng vs Meng's no stranger to singles competition in WCW, though he's most usually seen teaming with his Faces of Fear partner, The Barbarian. Though this match wasn't very long, word going around backstage is that Meng has really impressed WCW officials with his recent performances, which he had another solid one in this match. Sting was completely on fire for this match as he fed off of the rowdy crowd and had his offense impactful and quick. Sting won the match following a pair of corner Stinger Splashes, a face smash, and then climbed to the top rope to deliver his Stinger Splash. The 3 was counted at 7:43. Winner: Sting Rating: 79 - Dean Malenko is walking backstage with his new manager revealed just last week, Francine. She walks clutching Malenko's arm and both have sick smiles on their faces. They both come to a stop when they see someone backstage and the camera pans to catch who it is... - The Diamond Doll is all by herself and Malenko and Francine see the opportunity. They close in on her before the Diamond Doll even see's them coming and when she finally does, it's too late. Doll cowers into the nearest corner as Francine gets within inches of her face. She begins berating the Doll and threatening her, all the while stating Diamond Dallas Page can't do anything about it. Francine again reiterates that a new bitch has arrived in WCW, and it's her. Malenko begins to close in, looking sadistic and predatory when there's suddenly commotion off camera.... - Diamond Dallas Page rushes in like a ball of fire, causing Francine and Malenko to desperately rush out of the line of fire. They manage to escape before Page can reach them and embraces the Diamond Doll. The villain's rush off while DDP yells out threats at them and claiming Malenko to be a dead man as the camera fades out. - Rating: 60 Mean Gene is starting his work early tonight as he's at the bottom of the ramp and ready to introduce his guest. Gene asks everyone to join him in welcoming the WCW Television Champion - Scott Steiner! "Steinerized" plays through the speakers and the TV champ walks out to a great ovation from the crowd. Gene gets down to business and says that over the last several weeks and PPV's, Lord Steven Regal and the Blue Bloods have been a royal thorn in his side and that he and Regal will once again battle at Road Wild for the TV title. Steiner corrects Gene and says Regal's been a royal pain in his ass, which gets a laugh from Mean Gene and a loud cheer from the crowd. Steiner says Regal's claimed for weeks that he can beat Steiner whenever he wants, he's just been choosing to toy with Steiner. Steiner says if Regal thinks he can take the TV title at any time, then he's going to really enjoy seeing his reaction after Steiner beats him down yet one more time at Road Wild. Steiner says after Road Wild, he's moving on to new challenges and new opponents and finished wasting his time on Steven Regal. Rating: 94 Fit Finlay vs Lex Luger vs Nitro continued to keep fans on their feet for the matches, this time featuring the Total Package. This was another pretty quick match featuring a member of Team WCW, though Luger's opponent wasn't up to the same level that Sting's was earlier. Luger got all of his offense and signature spots in, finishing the match at 7:57 with the Torture Rack. Winner: Lex Luger Rating: 79 Big Bubba Rogers vs Eddie Guerrero vs Bubba and Eddie had a difficult task ahead of them, having to follow the first two matches of the night by two of WCW's biggest names, but they did a pretty good job. In fairness, pretty much all of the success had to do with Eddie's ability in the ring, though Bubba knows how to put on a decent enough match. In what could be seen as a surprise to some, Eddie won the match at 11:08 with a Frog Splash Winner: Eddie Guerrero Rating: 71 - Mean Gene continues his Nitro duties as he's backstage with the Macho Man Randy Savage in the interview area. Mean Gene kick starts the questions which surround the NWO and Hulk Hogan claiming last week that they now reportedly have a 4th member. Gene wants to know what this means going forward, as it could be anyone! The Macho Man, intense as always, says he doesn't care who the 4th man is, or if they even have a 4th man. The Macho Man will continue to be very careful going forward though, and if the coward Hogan is saying they have a 4th man, then they probably do have a 4th man. Savage says a lot of people didn't believe the Outsiders had a 3rd man for Bash at the Beach and the reveal was just like a slap to the face. Regardless, Savage says he doesn't care who it is because that person will also have a target on their back, and the Macho Man's the one with the gun! - Rating: 100 Mike Barton vs John Tenta vs Mike Barton came into this match clearly favoring his injured arm, displayed with a cast. While this clearly limited his performance, it didn't prevent him from going toe to toe against the former sumo Tenta. Barton continued to prove he's tough as nails as he won the match with his diving headbutt at 7:41. Winner: Mike Barton Rating: 56 - Nitro continues from a commercial break with Mean Gene in the center of the ring and ready to introduce his next guests for an interview. Lights begin to flash and the sound of galloping horses bring the crowd to their feet as he introduces the 4 Horsemen and the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. - Mean Gene: Nature Boy Ric Flair, seeing as you're the world heavyweight champion, I'm going to kick it off with you, sir! We're less than a week away from Road Wild, where you will face Hulk Hogan for that title. You can expect that the Outsider's won't be far away during that match, Nature Boy.... Flair: Ohhh MEAAAAAAN!!!! WOOOOOOOOO! GENE! We are LIVE here tonight in Albuquerque, and I'm feeling - OH SO GOOD! Hulk Hogan and I are no stranger to one another! We've faced each other before, pal, but the roles seem to be a bit reversed! See, before, I was the bad guy, I was the one cheating, I was the one taunting the fans and pointing to a guy like that one in the front row and tellin' him to keep his mouth shut or I'd steal his girl and make a woman outta her!!! WOOO! Hulk Hogan was the one walking around, high fivin' the little kids, telling them to train, say their prayers, and eat their vitamins! Well while Hogan may now be walking around telling the fans to stick it, the Nature Boy hasn't changed! If you think just because I have some fans cheering me now that I'm gonna stop cheating and --- You keep your mouth shut, fat boy, or I'll take your mother home and make a woman outta her! You keep your mouth shut! ---You've got another thing comin!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOO! Mean Gene: Oh my, Ric Flair!!! This crowd definitely is on your side! But you've got to factor in the Outsiders and now the New World Order is also claiming to have a 4th member! You've got to be looking over your shoulder! Flair: 3 members, 4 members, Gene, the New World Order can throw out as many members as they want! I've got my own group watching my back and providing my security! If you think for one second that I'm worried about anyone the NWO can toss my way when I have someone like Steve Austin watching my back, you're sadly mistaken, pal! As a matter of fact, if the NWO wants to take any lessons on how to be a ruthless and feared group, they might wanna go back and watch some tapes and take notes of the 4 Horsemen! Compared to the Horsemen, the NWO are nothing but a bunch of amateurs! Hogan! At Road Wild, pal, you're gonna have to stoop down a lot lower than the Nature Boy if you want this title, and that's fact! - The crowd loves it as a pause is taken in the interview. While Flair was speaking, specifically mentioning his name and taking care of the NWO, Steve Austin was visibly perturbed. Mean Gene: Steve Austin, I couldn't help but notice you don't seem to be on the same page as your fellow Horsemen. You have a long awaited date with destiny, and Lex Luger, at Road Wild, what are your thoughts? Austin: Well Gene Okerlund, I don't do very well at hiding my opinion, and if I don't like something, I'll flat out say it! But the fact of the matter is, I'm a member of the 4 Horsemen and that's where my loyalty lies first! Now, if I don't like something that one of the Horsemen say, I sure as hell aren't going to air it out right here in front of you and all these people! If you wanna know what my thoughts are about the NWO, I'll tell ya that I couldn't give a rats ass about the NWO! If you wanna know where my thoughts are about the placement of the Horsemen, I'll tell ya that the Horsemen are at the top, and everyone and everything else is at a distant second! I'm not gonna stand around and waste my time worrying about anyone else or any other group because the Horsemen are the number one group in WCW and the Horsemen don't take a backseat to nobody! If you wanna know where my focus is, it is, without a doubt, 100% focused toward Lex Luger this Sunday at Road Wild and taking him out! He's managed to dodge me long enough with excuses, well that all comes to an end on Sunday! There will be no excuses, he won't be able to find other matches against someone else, and he won't be able to avoid me anymore! After I'm done with Lex Luger and after Road Wild, I'm gonna move on to going after what we originally had in mind, and that's getting every title in WCW! Just because the NWO came along doesn't mean the Horsemen need to change any plans! My focus is where it always has been and that's never changed, and that's making sure the Horsemen stay atop WCW right where we belong, and that ain't playing second fiddle to anyone! Mean Gene: I think that says it pretty clear. Arn Anderson, you've heard what your fellow Horsemen have had to say, what final word do you want to add?? Anderson: Gene, I always consider my words and think before I speak, but Steve is right, the Horsemen are up here, and everyone else is down here.....As far as everything else is concerned, what you see out here are 4 Horsemen. We're all united and we're all on the same page, and Sunday is going to be another successful day of being a Horsemen. Rating: 100 Wrath vs Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs This was a pretty quick match that saw Wrath use his impressive strength. Nothing too fancy, just a ton of power moves by Wrath who picked up the win at 6:56 after hitting the Meltdown. Winner: Wrath Rating: 6:56 Bunkhouse Buck & Dirty Dick Slater vs American Males vs It's been some time since we've seen the team of Buck and Slater on Monday Nitro. As a matter of fact, after checking records, their last match on Nitro was in October 1995, where they also faced and won, against the American Males. Slater and Buck are mostly regulated to Saturday Night and Main Event broadcasts. Scotty Riggs and Marcus Bagwell were hoping to change the result from their prior Nitro encounter in this match. The Males were successful tonight and did it in short order with some nice double team moves. Bagwell got the win over Buck at 7:56 after hitting a Missile Dropkick. Winners: American Males Rating: 61 The tag team champions are walking backstage after Nitro return from a commercial break. They collectively thank the Harlem gods when they stumble upon another person backstage, which causes them to stop. Kevin Nash is all by himself and appearing to get a cup of coffee. Nash turns around to see the two brothers, who look less than pleased and ready for a fight. Nash holds up his hands to the champions and says he was just minding his own business and getting a refreshment as he's enjoying the exciting show tonight. Stevie Ray says if they wanted to stoop as low as the Outsiders, they would've jumped him before he even turned around. Booker says he knows his buddy Scott Hall is hiding around somewhere and they're more than happy to start the fight now rather than wait for Road Wild. Nash backs off saying he doesn't have his wrestling gear, he hasn't had the proper time to stretch, and Scott Hall isn't here tonight. Nash backs away and says that they will just have to wait for Sunday. Rating: 73 Ricky Steamboat vs Arn Anderson vs The Dragon is another guy who can't seem to escape the grasp of the Horsemen. The Nature Boy accompanied the Enforcer to the ring, which only added to the crazy hot crowd. Steamboat was not nearly as on his game tonight as he had been in other matches, but the skill of Arn Anderson caused most of that to subside. Despite being a fan favorite, Flair attempted several times to get involved in the match, only to have Steamboat thwart his attempt, causing the crowd to lose their minds even more. The back and forth continued until 15:48 when Double A hit the DDT for the victory. Winner: Arn Anderson Rating: 91 - Following the bell and as Anderson celebrates his victory with Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan makes his way out and slowly walks down the aisle toward the ring. Hogan stops just short of the ring and stays outside on the floor, who Anderson and Flair notice shortly after. This causes Flair to dive out to the floor where he rushes Hogan. Hogan attempted to turn and run up the aisle, but Flair was too quick. As soon as Flair got his hands on Hogan, the crowd exploded. The Nature Boy starts to pummel Hogan who tries to cover up and mount some sort of defense. Hogan manages to get a cheap shot in that slows Flair long enough to allow Hogan to start his own offense. The two men trade blows back and forth as officials start to get to them. The fight continues on with officials trying to break them up as Nitro's credits show on the screen and fades to black. - Rating: 100 Final Show Rating: 92

Week 3, August 1996 LIVE from Freedom Hall - Louisville, KY Attendance: 17,538 - Nitro kicks off for the 3rd week of August but instead of the usual fireworks and intro by the announce booth, Lex Luger and Sting are backstage, looking intense, and ready to cut a promo! - Sting: Lex, it feels SO good to be on Monday Nitro tonight, and despite all of the heartbreak, all of the emotions, all the betrayal, I've never been able to see so clearly! Hulk Hogan! What you did at Bash at the Beach will come back to bite ya! It may not come back to bite you tonight, or next week, or right now, but it will come back to bite you when you least expect it! You can do whatever to me, the Total Package, and the Macho Man, but you went out there and told all those fans, all those little kids, all those HULKAMANIACS, to "stick it?!?!?" No....YOU stick it, Hulk! YOU STICK IT! But onto tonight.....Lex, you've had the 4 Horsemen after you for what feels like forever...Well here in just a few minutes, I'm gonna take on Brian Pillman. That might not be the same as taking on Steve Austin, but maybe, just maybe I can have a little luck in shutting them up! The Horsemen can't seem to understand that there are some things going on that are bigger than the Horsemen! Luger: Ya know, Stinger, the things you and I have had to deal with in the last few months is bordering on the level of ridiculous! I came back in to WCW to be able to travel again with my best friend! I came back to reestablish a name for myself and compete for the greatest wrestling organization on the planet! I came back to have fun, win some titles, and prove that without a doubt, the Total Package Lex Luger is one of the greats! Well instead of most of those things happening, I've been thrust in a never-ending feud with the 4 Horsemen all while trying to defend WCW at the same time....Now call me crazy, but I hadn't been in WCW for a couple of years, but here I am immediately defending the honor of WCW right alongside you! You'd think that guys like Ric Flair and some others, names that are synonymous with WCW, would be quick to step up to the plate and defend it from the Outsiders! But no! They're all too worried about taking care of themselves. You know what?? I'd have it no other way, because I get to stand beside my best friend and defend WCW our way, and I've even gained another friend in the Macho Man! After what happened at Bash at the Beach, Steve Austin is going to severely regret barking up the wrong tree and wanting a match with me at Road Wild! Austin! I can promise you that it's not going to be a cake walk for you and at the end of the night, you're gonna be looking up at the lights and giving up to the Torture Rack! Rating: 72 Sting vs Brian Pillman vs The wrestlers make their entrances for this opening match of Monday Nitro this week while Tony Schiavone gives us the introduction to the show. During Sting's entrance, Tony tells us that we have a busy night planned and that Sting and Lex Luger appear to be ultra-focused on the New World Order while everything else seems to have taken a backseat. This non-title match starts off with Pillman attempting to taunt Sting, only he again seems in no mood tonight for messing around. The match resulted in Sting showing a more aggressive nature than is typical for him. What resulted was the United States champion spending a large portion of the match taking a beating. Pillman eventually had enough and exited to the floor where he grabbed his US title and made his way toward the back. The referee counted him out at 12:01. Winner by Countout: Sting Rating: 81 - Dean Malenko is backstage, ready to cut a promo. Malenko is standing all by himself with a dark backdrop. A sinister smile on his face and a brief laugh begins his promo. - Malenko: It seems that Diamond Dallas Page has gotten all worked up over nothing....See, just a couple weeks ago, I happened to have........Contact......With the Diamond Doll. Well Page, jealousy is just like all your stupid outfits, it doesn't look good on you! Maybe I touched a nerve and you're afraid I'm going to take the Diamond Doll away from you? Well I can assure you Page, that isn't happening. That isn't happening not because the Diamond Doll doesn't want me. Trust me, she does. She was begging for me to pick her up and carry her out of your dressing room....No, I'm not going to take her, because I already have my own valet, and it's someone so much better than yours....... - Dean looks off camera and someone new appears at the side of Dean Malenko. She gives a smile and a quick kiss on his cheek which causes Malenko to give a devilish smile to the camera. The woman begins to speak in her New York accent. - Francine: That's right, Dean! Who could ever possibly think the Diamond Doll would be better than me at anything! She's nothing more than a two-bit bimbo who can barely skate by on her looks. Me? I'm all woman, all the time, and I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. The Diamond Doll better think twice before ever getting involved, because I'll slap all 4 layers of makeup off her face and then I'll claw the eyes off that moron Diamond Dallas Page. There's a new bitch in town, Diamond Doll, and you're looking at her! Rating: 49 Big Bubba Rogers vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Poor Chavo. He tried as best he could to use his quickness, but he was floored at every turn by the much larger Bubba. He mercifully put the match away at 7:08 after hitting the Bubba Slam. Winner: Big Bubba Rogers Rating: 58 - After a commercial break, Nitro returns to the backstage area where the Macho Man is going to cut a promo. Savage delivers a much needed shot in the arm of energy after the last two segments didn't exactly blow minds. Savage says that he's far from finished with Hulk Hogan, who's more concerned about spending time in Hollywood than he is a wrestling ring. Savage says he will get his hands on Hogan, it's not a question of if, but WHEN! - Rating: 93 Fit Finlay vs Diamond Dallas Page vs DDP left the Diamond Doll in the back and didn't bring her down to ringside, probably deciding after seeing the promo with Dean Malenko and his new manager Francine. While not a long match, this was a pretty close, good match as both Finlay and DDP matched well with each other. DDP secured the win at 8:47 after hitting the Diamond Cutter. Winner: DDP Rating: 72 - After a break, Nitro returns to its seeming night of lackluster segments. Larry Zbyszko is standing by with Mike Barton. God bless Mike Barton, as he tries, but he just doesn't seem to be charismatic enough to get the fans to care. He says that in his battle with Scott Norton, they've taken each other through hell and back in their attempts to self-crown the toughest wrestler in WCW. Barton thinks that the only way to settle it once and for all is by a Falls Count Anywhere match at Road Wild. He says he knows that being the tough guy Norton is, he won't turn down that challenge in 1,000 years. - Rating: 62 Brad Armstrong vs Jacques Rougeau vs In this match, most people would expect the skilled veteran Jacques Rougeau to easily handle the "lesser" viewed wrestler Brad Armstrong. It's no secret that the youngest Armstrong has somewhat of a cult following in WCW as he's been a mainstay in the promotion for years. People would be even more shocked that Armstrong actually performed better than Rougeau in this match. They were then more shocked again when Armstrong won the match over the skilled Canadian at 8:29 after hitting his Russian Legsweep! Winner: Brad Armstrong Rating: 54 - As the night progressed, some may have started to get nervous that Mean Gene wouldn't have his usual duties tonight on Nitro. Not to worry, as Mean Gene was standing by in the backstage interview position following another commercial break. Gene welcomed everyone back and claimed Nitro was now in the "shank of the evening" as he welcomed his next guests.. - - Harlem Heat step in with their manager Sensuous Sherri. Gene says that they've recently become targets of the NWO as the Outsiders have made it clear they want the tag team titles. Booker T handles most of the interview when he says that Harlem Heat have become the best tag team in WCW through hard work and not backing down from a fight. He says things won't be any different now that Hall and Nash are coming after them. Booker says if the Outsiders want a fight and want to come after their titles, the Road Wild is gonna be a fight and they'll have to pry the titles out of their hands. Stevie Ray finishes up the interview by saying that the Outsiders are real good when they're attacking people from behind, but we'll all see how good they are when they have to face two boys from the streets of Harlem face to face. - Rating: 77 Tag Team Titles: Blue Bloods (Eaton & Taylor) vs Harlem Heat (c) vs Booker T and Stevie Ray had pretty good performances in this match and they made it a point to make quick work of the Blue Bloods. As skilled and talented as the Earl and Squire are, they were no match for Harlem Heat, who were out to prove a point in this match. Booker got the crowd on their feet as he climbed the corner and hit the Harlem Hangover on Earl Eaton to win the match at 7:49. Winners: Harlem Heat Rating: 65 - Mean Gene's work continues tonight as following the match, he's backstage with Lord Steven Regal. Gene says that Regal's got a spot in the Television title match at Road Wild, however, his opponent might not be against the current champion Scott Steiner and he could instead be facing Steve Austin for the title, should Austin come out victorious in his match tonight. Regal says that it's no concern of his who he faces at Road Wild because he's going to take back the title that rightfully belongs to him. He also says that we'll see about him facing Austin instead of Steiner. Regal says he's allowed Steiner to hold the title this long because he simply wants him to be overconfident heading into Road Wild. Nitro fades out to take the final commercial break of the night. - Rating: 80 - Nitro returns from commercial to a backstage promo by the NWO. The camera is dark and the color is black and white and Hogan begins speaking after a few taunts by all. - Hogan: Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the greatest professional wrestler to walk the Earth in the history of wrestling?!?! Hall: Why, you are, Hollywood! Hogan: That's right! There's no more of that Hulkster crap, brother! From now on, I'm gonna go by what I really am on top of being the greatest professional wrestler on the planet, I'm also the biggest movie star that Hollywood has today! From this point forward, brother, I'm Hollywood Hulk Hogan, because not only did I make professional wrestling what it is today, I've also made Hollywood successful with all of my movies I've made! All of that will be cemented at Road Wild when I take the world title away from that old washed-up loser Ric Flair! And you know what, brother?!?! Nash: What's that, Hollywood? Hogan: Something tells me that the New World Order might have not just three members, dude, but a little birdie tells me that there's a 4th person in the ranks! Hall: Say it ain't so, Hollywood! Another mystery man??? Hogan: Well the New World Order works in mysterious ways, my friend. We've made it clear that the New World Order is taking over and that this 4th member just can't wait to get in the middle of it, dude! But we're not gonna reveal our new member right away! We're gonna give it a little time to let the WCW locker room stew over yet another one of its members abandoning the sinking ship that is WCW! At Road Wild, not only am I going to bring the world title to the NWO, but maybe, just maybe the 4th person will be revealed! Nash: It's for sure riveting television, Hulk. I guess everyone's just going to have to tune in! Rating: 100 Television Title: Steve Austin vs Scott Steiner (c) vs Not only were the crowd hyped for the main event between these two, but there was also the buzz in the air regarding a potential 4th member of the NWO. During the match, the broadcast booth couldn't stop talking about the potential of another betrayal to WCW and how WCW could survive another loss so quickly after Hulk Hogan, now proclaiming to be Hollywood Hogan, had turned his back on everyone. Bobby Heenan thinks this again could all be a ruse by Hogan, Hall, and Nash to create division amongst the WCW backstage. Regardless, Steve Austin and Scott Steiner took the fight to one another and Austin didn't cower to the massive Scott Steiner. A long back and forth battle played about between the two with several near falls by both men. As the match progressed, the crowd began to boo as Lord Steven Regal made his presence known. Regal walked to the ringside area which caught the attention of Scott Steiner, who was in control of the match. The distraction was enough to cause Austin to mount a comeback of his own. As Austin prepared to launch his final attack, he whipped Steiner into the ropes. As Steiner hit the ropes, Regal jumped on the apron and clubbed Steiner from behind with a blow. This was done right in front of the referee, who called for the bell at 16:40, resulting in Scott Steiner retaining the TV title. Austin wasn't too please with this either, who quickly exited the ring and ran after Lord Regal, who hightailed it up the aisle and disappeared in the back. Nitro faded out as Steiner made it back to his feet and had his arm raised by the referee. Winner by DQ: Scott Steiner Rating: 77 Final Show Rating: 84

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm Mean Gene Okerlund bringing you the first Hotline Report for the month of August! Jumping right into WCW news; WCW has extended broadcasting deals with a number of providers. These are all international deals that will bring WCW programming to areas of Canada and Mexico. I reported not long ago that WCW and Smoky Mountain Wrestling had gotten on friendly terms. That all has abruptly changed as they "declared war" this week on WCW. It's unknown what caused this change in attitude other than them getting a little of an over-inflated ego with their size increase. They have also extended several TV broadcasting deals. I reached out to Eric Bischoff for a reaction on this change and he seemed extremely unconcerned with SMW becoming a serious threat to WCW. Tensions ran high this past Monday night on Nitro. Mike Barton faced the Taskmaster Kevin Sullivan in a dark match before the airing on Nitro. During the match, Barton became injured following a careless move by Sullivan. He's received a Smith's Fracture which has caused Barton to claim he doesn't want to be paired with Sullivan ever again and has even told other wrestlers he "hates" Sullivan. Barton did appear on Nitro programming later in the night to brawl with Scott Norton, so it doesn't look like it will keep him out of wrestling action, though he will be impacted in his performance. In a bit of karma, Kevin Sullivan also sustained a Complete Lateral Collateral Ligament tear during a house show this week. He will reportedly be out of action for at least the next 6 months. There have been several retirements this week, notably Paul Orndorff, Dory Funk Jr, and Mae Young. We wish them all the best in their retirement! Here are this week's Monday Nitro matches! Week 3, August 1996 LIVE from Louisville Freedom Hall - Louisville, KY TV Title: Steve Austin vs Scott Steiner (c) Tag Team Titles: Blue Bloods (Taylor & Eaton) vs Harlem Heat (c) Brad Armstrong vs Jacques Rougeau Fit Finlay vs Diamond Dallas Page Big Bubba Rogers vs Chavo Guerrero Jr Brian Pillman vs Sting

Week 2, August 1996 LIVE from the Hilton Coliseum - Ames, Iowa Attendance: 14,000 (SELLOUT!) - Monday Nitro kicks off this week with much more excitement and fanfare than last week. Though WCW is still reeling from the turn of Hulk Hogan, WCW has seemingly begun to find their footing in the aftermath. Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay welcome everyone to this week's edition of Monday Nitro and Tony tells us that we have a ton of things to catch up on from this weekends WCW Saturday Night! He tells us that the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Nature Boy Ric Flair responded to the challenge last week by Hulk Hogan and that the match is now official for Road Wild later this month. Bobby says he's concerned because the stakes have never been higher for WCW or for the Nature Boy. He says that Flair better bring nothing other than his "A" game otherwise Hulk Hogan and this NWO is going to have the biggest prize in our sport. The tag team champions Harlem Heat responded to last weeks attack by the Outsiders, telling them to try attacking them head on, and many other events that we'll get into later on! For now, Ricky Steamboat has requested an interview to kick start Nitro off this week, and he's walking to the ring to meet Mean Gene! - Mean Gene: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, you asked me out here just now because you apparently have something on your mind....Often less spoken, whenever you have something to say, there's no doubt it's something big! Steamboat: Gene, what I have to say isn't anything Earth shattering, so before you go run off to your hotline to report some big news, let me just lay that out there. No, what I have to say, I think you and a lot of these people can agree with, is something I've had to process over the last week. I had a little interview last week about it, but I still can't get it out of my head. Hulk Hogan, what you did at Bash at the Beach is inexcusable. What you did is pathetic. Really, when it all comes down to it, Hulk Hogan, what you did was flat out disappointing. You turned your back on all of the wrestlers who've stood beside you for years. Not only that, but you turned your back on all the fans who made you what you are today. Who provided you with all the money you have. Who provided you with all the big houses, nice cars, and who made you popular enough to star in movies! You threw it all away, Hulk. If I didn't know you so well, if we didn't travel the roads together for so long, maybe I wouldn't be so devastated and disappointed. So Hulk, what I want to do is settle this in the ring! I want you in this ring RIGHT NOW so maybe I can knock just a little bit of sense back into your brain! I'm not taking no for an answer, Hulk! Get out here right now and face me in the ring! Rating: 92 Ricky Steamboat vs Hulk Hogan vs To everyone's amazement, Hulk Hogan actually came out from the stage entrance. The fact he was alone was another shock to everyone, though Heenan warned that the Outsiders couldn't be too far behind. Hogan came down to the ring and got right in, walking up to Steamboat as Mean Gene tried his best to exit the ring quickly. A few words were exchanged between the two, a referee made his way to the ring, and after a shove from Hogan, Steamboat started lighting Hogan up with punches and chops. The bell rang as Steamboat unloaded with a fury rarely seen as Hogan tried desperately to cower and avoid attack. Steamboat sent Hogan into the ropes and on return, hit Hogan with a huge karate chop, dropping him to the mat. The crowd was on fire for Steamboat's offense but a cheap poke to the eye stopped the Dragon, and the crowd, in their tracks. As Hogan tried to recover from the assault, he worked on punishing blows to Steamboat. After a few minutes, Steamboat was able to regain the offensive after Hogan missed a wild clothesline, but a low blow by Hogan, which was conveniently missed by the referee, got Hogan back in charge. After sending Steamboat into the ropes and hitting a big boot, a Leg Drop was all that was left to finish it at 9:48. Winner: Hulk Hogan Rating: 76 United States Title: Perry Saturn vs Brian Pillman (c) vs Another exciting match followed featuring two top future prospects for WCW. Being a member of the 4 Horsemen has given the US champ great exposure and Perry Saturn has done a great job in recent weeks by giving breakout performances. It seems that each week a new batch of fans are cheering for Saturn. This match continued a fast-paced night for Nitro and Saturn scored a few close calls, which made Pillman step up his game a bit. Pillman was ultimately successful in defending his title, getting the pin at 10:05 with an Air Pillman. WCW went on to take their first break of the night. Winner: Brian Pillman Rating: 81 Back from break and the Macho Man's music immediately is playing. This brings the crowd to their feet as the Macho Man walks out and heads straight toward the arena. This Macho Man is a different version of the energetic and colorful man that crowds the world over have been used to in over 10 years. Savage is now intense and dressed in black as he grabs a microphone and his music fades out. Savage: The Nature Boy Ric Flair came out on Saturday Night and told Hulk Hogan he's on for Road Wild! But what the Nature Boy failed to remember is that the Macho Man's got first dibs on that scum of the Earth called Hulk Hogan! Hulk Hogan, I said right here last week that I want to end your rotten career, and I wanna do it at Road Wild! You crossed a line at Bash at the Beach that, even for you, was lower than low! Then you have the gutless sense to blame it on the Macho Man for not being nice to you?!?! Hulk Hogan, all you've ever done throughout my entire career is steal the spotlight away every time it gets focused on someone else! Jake the Snake Roberts?!?!? Steal the spotlight away! Macho Man Randy Savage?!? Steal the spotlight away! The Ultimate Warrior?!? Steal the spotlight away! Bret the Hitman Hart?!?! Steal the spotlight away! Sting?!?! Steal the spotlight away! Big Van Vader?!?! Steal the spotlight! It's nothing but a recurring theme for you, Hulk Hogan! I didn't make you turn your back on the locker room or all of these fans and all the fans around the world! You chose to do that yourself! You did it because that's your true self, Hogan. A spineless, gutless, selfish coward whose only care in life is about yourself! I've known that for years and never let it out! Your turn on me at Bash at the Beach wasn't so shocking to me because I've always known your true colors! All these people though, unfortunately had the wool pulled over their eyes for so many years and didn't know any better! So Ric Flair, you want Hulk Hogan at Road Wild?!? Well so do I! So here's what we're gonna do! Ric Flair, I challenge you to a match right here tonight for the WCW World Title, cause there ain't nothing that's going to keep me from beating the living hell out of Hulk Hogan at Road Wild!! - The crowd erupts at the challenge laid down by the Macho Man and the anticipation of the world champion's response. It doesn't take long before the galloping of horses begins to echo throughout the arena. The crowd remains on their feet as the theme for the 4 Horsemen plays and out walks not just the world champion Ric Flair, but all of the Horsemen, seen together for the first time in a while in unison. Flair's all smiles as he's dressed in a suit and tie with the world title over his shoulder and he also already has a microphone in hand. - Flair: Did I....... Did I..... Did I....Just hear you correctly, Randy Savage, that you - WOO! Want a title shot right here tonight against the Nature Boy?!?! All because you want yet another shot at Hulk Hogan??? Don't get me wrong, Savage. I know you've got to settle a score with Hogan! Lord knows we all have a score to settle with him after what he did but the fact that you think you have first dibs makes me think you have it a bit confused! See, I'M the World's champion, in case you forgot about that! It seems to me that most people have forgotten the fact that Ric Flair's the heavyweight champion of the world! Everyone else has been running around here calling the shots except the Nature Boy! The fact also remains that if Ric Flair were involved in the match at Bash at the Beach, those unfortunate events with Hulk Hogan never would've even happened because I never would've given the Outsiders time to breathe!!!! But the fact I am the World's champion may just benefit you here tonight, Savage, because the Nature Boy doesn't back down from a fight and the Nature Boy and the Horsemen don't take a backseat to anyone! You want a match tonight, YOU GOT ONE! WWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Rating: 100 Faces of Fear vs Cobra & Brian Knobbs vs This was an interesting paring and little is known why Brian Knobbs didn't have his usual tag team partner - Jerry Sags. What is known is that regardless, this team never stood a chance against the powerhouses of the Faces of Fear. They easily handled both these competitors and it was hardly a competitive matchup. The Barbarian got the pin at 9:39 after hitting the Kick of Fear on Cobra. Winners: Faces of Fear Rating: 67 Nitro continues on, this time switching to the backstage area. Mike Barton and Scott Norton are in the midst of a wild brawl. Both men are hitting clubbing blows on the other in between using anything they can get their hands on as weapons - Trash cans, trash can lids, doorways, garage grates, tables, you name it. Officials rush into the area to try and separate the two and clearly the feud between them is still on-going. Rating: 55 Nitro transitions into a backstage interview segment where Mean Gene is standing by with an annoyed and unhappy-looking Diamond Dallas Page. Mean Gene gets into his questions while DDP stands with his hands on his hips. Mean Gene: What a Nitro so far and still to come is the big world title match between world champion Ric Flair and Randy Savage. Joining me right now, however, is Diamond Dallas Page. Page, over the course of the last few weeks, you've been involved in a battle with Dean Malenko, a battle which up until recently looked to be rather cordial and full of mutual respect. Things all changed over the weekend on Saturday Night. Let's take a look! - Cameras switch to a recording from WCW Saturday Night over the weekend. Shown is the valet/manager of Diamond Dallas Page backstage where she is aggressively approached by Dean Malenko. Malenko gets in her face and taunts and intimidates the Diamond Doll to the point she cowers in the corner. This doesn't take long before DDP bursts in and shoves Malenko away. This results in a brief fight where DDP is left laid out before Malenko laughs and goes off screen. Cameras return to Nitro where DDP is clearly not happy with the series of events. - Mean Gene: DDP, I'd gather that is the source of your displayed anger here tonight. DDP: You know what, Mean Gene??? I thought things were pretty good between me and Dean. I thought it was just two guys, respecting the hell out of one another and appreciating each other's skills. That all changed this weekend on Saturday Night! I couldn't care less about him laying me out. That's all part of being a wrestler...But someone who's not a wrestler is the Diamond Doll! She didn't get into this business to get intimidated by no one! She's not a wrestler, either, so the fact that Dean Malenko threatened her doesn't sit well with me. I guess he feels better when he's threatening a woman.....Well good luck with that, buddy. Dean Malenko's gonna pay at Road Wild and he's gonna feel the Diamond Cutter! Rating: 72 Sting vs Arn Anderson vs The semi-main event of the night was actually advertised as the actual main event, until the unexpected challenge by the Macho Man to the world champion. Sting was on absolute fire tonight and the crowd was eating it all up. While Sting maintained his excited personality and amazing speed, he also came across as intensely focused and ready for a fight. Bobby Heenan commented that the NWO has already changed people's demeanor drastically. Arn Anderson played up his role rather well but the two were very evenly matched. Sting's performance matched that of Ric Flair tonight, as they both were rating a 97/100. After a pair of Stinger Splashes, Arn Anderson submitted to the Scorpion Deathlock at 16:27 in a great match. Winner: Sting Rating: 86 Another interview segment with Mean Gene, this time with Television champion Scott Steiner. Gene says that Lord Steven Regal proclaimed on Saturday Night that he will become a 4-time TV champion at Road Wild as he takes on Steiner. Steiner says that Regal shouldn't give up his pro-wrestling job because he sucks at predicting the future. Steiner says he looked into his own crystal ball and at Road Wild, Regal's going to get a royal ass whipping, courtesy of the greatest athlete in WCW. Steiner says since winning the TV title, he's not backed away from any challenge and Road Wild will be no different! Rating: 95 Steve Austin is backstage for his own promo. He again discusses Lex Luger and how things still aren't over between him and the Horsemen. Austin says that Luger's been dodging the Horsemen, primarily Steve Austin himself, and using the battle with the Outsiders and NWO as the excuse. Austin says that there's only two guarantees in life - Dying and getting an ass whipping from Steve Austin. Luger needs to stop caring so much about the NWO and start focusing on Steve Austin, because one way or another, he will get him in the ring and he will beat the living crap out of him. Austin says Luger better wake up and recognize that the NWO shouldn't be his top concern, it should be the Horsemen. Rating: 100 World Title: Randy Savage vs Ric Flair (c) vs To date, this is the best match that WCW has put on since beginning Monday Nitro. Not only were Sting and Ric Flair on their game tonight, but so was the Macho Man. Savage was rated a 96/100 performance for this match, just one off from Flair and Sting. This was a grueling back and forth display of wrestling and psychology by two of the best to step foot in the ring. Savage was intense and Flair was calculating. Both men were laying everything the had out on the table which created a fantastic drama in front of the sold out crowd and those tuning in at home. The two spilled out onto the floor to fight several times despite multiple warnings by the referee. Both Savage and Flair would back the other into the corner and deliver multiple strikes, refusing to give a break. The referee warned both men and after each warning, nearly found themselves disqualified after pushing the referee into the corner. Heenan exclaimed that the men should just be allowed to fight it out. The crowd never sat down from beginning to end bell in this match. When it was clear the match was beginning to draw to a close, Randy Savage began to get a slight advantage. About the time Savage was hitting a series of moves, heads began to turn toward the stage/entrance. It was soon apparent why; Hulk Hogan was making his way toward the ring, again all by himself. Savage hit a clothesline on Flair followed by a bodyslam. With the world champion down, Savage saw the opportunity to go for his finish, so he exited to the apron and climbed the corner. Savage was oblivious to Hogan's presence, otherwise he would've probably taken off after the turncoat. Savage prepared to leap off the top, but just before he was able to do so, Hogan climbed the steps and pushed Savage off the top. Just as quickly as he moved up, Hogan got down to the apron before the referee could see the interference. Savage crashed hard to the mat, hurt and already exhausted from the battle. Flair struggled himself to get to his feet, but finally did so, seeing the Macho Man down on the mat. Flair wasted no time applying the Figure Four, which Savage laid on the mat. With his shoulders down, the referee counted 3 at 20:04. Winner: Ric Flair Rating: 95 Following the bell, Hogan laughs it up and taunts into the camera as he makes his way up the aisle and toward the back. He doesn't see the Macho Man getting back to his feet and seeing Hogan in the aisle. This enrages Savage who immediately takes off, exiting the ring and going full sprint up the aisle. He finally meets Hogan, who's back is still to him and knocks Hogan down with a clubbing blow to the back of the head. Savage pounces on Hogan and hits him with rapid fire shots. The crowd is going nuts, the announcers are all rooting the Macho Man on, and officials flood in to try and break up the fight as the ending credits show on the screen and Nitro fades out. Rating: 100 Final Show Rating: 96

WCW World Television Title Match Diamond Dallas Page defends vs. Johnny B. Badd Comments: BANG! Zodiac vs. Road Warrior Hawk Comments: Brian Pillman vs. Ric Flair Comments: By DQ

Very cool! I hope I can keep entertaining everyone with my story!

Week 1, August 1996 LIVE from the Orlando Arena - Orlando, FL Attendance: 14,822 - WCW Monday Nitro kicks off this week with a notable different feeling. Instead of all the usual fireworks and fanfare, the atmosphere is definitely subdued. There's no pyro, there's no introduction by the broadcast booth. There's a panned shot of the packed arena and then Nitro simply fades into the intro video. - Tony Schiavone: Fans, less than 24 hours ago at Bash at the Beach, the unthinkable happened. All of us here are in even more shock than we were at the ending of last night's program. We've had more time to process it and that makes it even more unmanageable. In case any of you missed it, Hulk Hogan turned his back on WCW. Not just WCW, but he turned his back on all of you fans. All of the fans that have supported him over the years. All of you that have made Hulk Hogan what he is, he threw it all away last night. I said it to end the program last night, and I'll say it again. Hulk Hogan, you can go to hell. Bobby Heenan: You know, Tony, I'm never bashful about gloating or bragging and I've never held back at any opportunity I have to say I told you so, but this??? I get absolutely no pleasure out of this. For years I've said Hulk Hogan isn't a man to be trusted. For years I've said Hulk Hogan is hiding something. For years I knew Hogan to be what he was, a snake just waiting in the grass to strike. I've always been told I'm crazy for that, people looking at me like I have 6 eyes, but last night proved all that. Never in my life, Tony, have I regretted being right about something, until now. Tony: Well said, Brain. I think we're all just overwhelmed with a feeling of being sick to our stomach. Dusty Rhodes: It's just like getting punched in the gut, if you will....Hulk Hogan, in an instant, sucked all of the air out of the arena last night and it was all for his own personal gain. All the talk of sayin' your prayers, eatin' your vitamins, and trainin'....All for nothing, cause last night he turned his back on all that when he said all the fans can stick it...And Tony, I think tha------What the hell is this?!? - As Dusty's talking, there's a commotion in the crowd and lights on the stage begin to flash. Soon after, figures begin to emerge from the stage which generates a ton of boos from the crowd - Dusty: Oh you've gotta be kiddin' me!! He needs to get the hell outta here! - Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan all walk out into the arena. All men are gloating and cutting up as they head to the ring. It doesn't take long before the crowd begin throwing trash at the three men as they step inside the ropes. The laugh and taunt out at the crowd and Mean Gene gets into the ring for the abrupt interview. - Mean Gene: Hulk Hogan, you've got a lot of nerve coming out here to start the show with your two new friends....I'm still in shock by what you did last night and judging by this crowd response, so are all of these people!! Hogan: Well first of all, brother, all these fans can shut up if they wanna hear what I have to say!!! - This only encourages even more boos and trash to come from the crowd but Hogan seems to soak it up. - Hogan: In case all of these people were too stupid to catch it last night, allow me to formally introduce ourselves...This is the New World Order of wrestling, brother! And let me tell you something else, Mean Gene....You've got a lotta nerve talking to me like that, jack! So this is the one and only warning I'm gonna give you, because the next time, brother, I'll make sure you leave this ring on a stretcher just like Lex Luger did last night, dude! Mean Gene: WHOAA!!! I'll have my attorney on you faster than you can write the check, Hulk Hogan! Hogan: And I'll make sure your hand never writes, or holds a microphone, ever again! Now as to last night....All day long people have tried to come up to me and ask why I joined forces with the Outsiders! Well it was an easy decision to make, brother! And the answer is because these two are the future of wrestling! These two have my back! These two are thankful for what Hulk Hogan provides, unlike that no good, ungrateful little piece of trash Randy Savage! Going all the way back to Halloween Havoc 1995, Randy Savage wanted to blame me for all his misfortunes! Well what he should've done, brother, is take a look in the mirror and own up to his own failings! Despite that, I went out of my way to be a friend to the Macho Man and what'd he do!?!? He did nothing but continue to take me for granted and blame me for why he couldn't cut the mustard as world champion! He blamed me for his losses! He blamed me for just being a failure in life! Even when he challenged me to matches, I tried to talk sense into him! Well, brother, you can't talk sense into someone who's already crazy! When he challenged me to a career match, I told him I didn't want to do it! I didn't want to end his career, but he left me no choice! So that's what I did! I ended the Macho Man's career and what'd he do, Mean Gene?!?! He still blamed Hulk Hogan! I tried to reconcile with him after that and he still cut me out of his life! I did everything I possibly could, and he still blamed me....But that's not all, brother..... Not only did the Macho Man blame me, but all of these fans took me for granted to! I gave each and every one of these people something to look up to! I gave all these people a hero! I gave all of these people and all those wrestlers in the back a platform to make money and have a wrestling business, and at every opportunity, everyone spat in the face of Hulk Hogan!! But not the Outsiders! The Outsiders are loyal! The Outsiders saw the money train and they jumped aboard, brother! And now it's Hulk Hogan's turn! Now it's Hulk Hogan's turn to spit right back at all of you low life's and tell you how I really feel!!! Because as I look out at this crowd tonight, you all make me sick brother! The New World Order is going to take over every aspect of wrestling and when all these people, and everyone in WCW is beaten down to a bloody pulp, then, just then you people might realize what a God of professional wrestling Hulk Hogan truly is! Maybe then all you people will realize the gold that's standing here in this ring right now! Maybe then all you idiots can appreciate what you have!! It's only just beginning, Mean Gene, and the takeover officially began last night! I've already said the Outsiders are the future...Well as to the future of Hulk Hogan?!? Ric Flair's been walking around with something that belongs to me, dude! So Ric Flair, I want my title back, and at this month's Pay Per View - Road Wild, I'm gonna get it back dude, and then all you people will finally realize what a real world champion looks like again! Rating: 100 Kevin Sullivan vs Stevie Ray vs Under normal circumstances, Kevin Sullivan would've been more than pleased to see the destruction of Hulkamania, however, tonight he didn't seem to be too happy. After the opening promo, WCW had to take a commercial break, and when Nitro returned, these two men were already in the ring. It was nothing too pretty, but Stevie Ray won the match at 8:10 with the Heat Seeker. Winner: Stevie Ray Rating: 71 Nitro fades into a pre-taped promo with Marcus Bagwell sitting down with a dimly lit background. Bagwell voices his complete shock and disappointment of Hulk Hogan turning his back on the fans and WCW last night. Bagwell says he grew up idolizing Hulk Hogan and how Hogan made Bagwell want to start training and get into professional wrestling. Bagwell doesn't know where WCW goes from here. Rating: 68 Diamond Dallas Page vs Big Bubba Rogers vs This was another fairly straight forward match and DDP has some good work in the ring. DDP won the match at 8:44 with the Diamond Cutter, a move that is seemingly getting more and more popular each week. Winner: Diamond Dallas Page Rating: 64 After a quick break, Nitro returns to another pre-taped promo where this time Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is seated in a dimly lit backdrop. Steamboat expresses his sadness and disappointment in Hulk Hogan turning on the fans. The Dragon says that they've both wrestled for years but their paths have never really crossed. There seemed to be two constants that the fans could always count on, which was Ricky Steamboat and Hulk Hogan to be two good guys that fans could always rally behind....Well now it doesn't seem to be the case and Hulk Hogan has tossed away everything he's worked to achieve for 15 years. Rating: 78 The Amazing French Canadians vs Paul Roma & Perry Saturn vs The Amazing French Canadians (No, not the Quebecers) look to pick up their momentum with a win over Paul Roma and Perry Saturn. Roma and Saturn seem to be a tryout of a tag team who seemed to work well together. Saturn had a good performance in the ring, but it wasn't enough to overcome the experienced team. The Canadians picked up the win at 10:30 with the Cannonball. Winner: Amazing French Canadians Rating: 53 Scotty Riggs vs Scott Norton vs Norton looked to continue his momentum coming off of his victory last night, and that's exactly what he did. He was able to put away Scotty Riggs in convincing fashion in 8:15 with a shoulder breaker. Winner: Scott Norton Rating: 52 Following another break, Mean Gene is standing at the end of the stage ramp where he introduces his next guest... Luger walks out in jeans and a shirt and clearly not in a good mood. There's no playing up to the crowd and Mean Gene gets to his questions, sensing Luger isn't in any mood for festivities. Gene asks Luger about being taken out early in the match last night and what the future has in store for the Total Package, as Steve Austin has also been trying at every turn to get to Luger. Luger says that bad luck and misfortune resulted in Luger getting knocked unconscious last night and that if he didn't get injured, he might have been able to stop Hulk Hogan for doing what he did. Luger says it makes him sick to his stomach to see little kids crying because their hero turned his back on them. Luger says things are far from over between him and the New World Order, as they're calling themselves. As for Steve Austin, Luger says he's in no mood and that Austin's been nothing but like a little tiny dog nipping at his heels for weeks on end. Luger says if Austin wants a match so bad, he'll get it at Road Wild and that's going to be the last of any talk of Austin wanting to step foot in the ring with the Total Package. Rating: 98 Brad Armstrong vs Lord Steven Regal vs If there were two men seemingly totally un-phased by Hulk Hogan's actions last night, it'd be these two. Regal is supremely confident after having a hand in last night's TV title match and that confidence spilled over into this match. Armstrong put up a great fight in this match but it wasn't enough in the end. Regal won at 13:02 with the Regal Stretch in a good match. Winner: Steven Regal Rating: 82 Things switch to the backstage area where once again, the Outsiders are making their presence known. To the absolute disgust of the broadcast booth, Hall and Nash are viciously beating Harlem Heat down. Their usual weapons of choice are baseball bats as they beat the tag team champions. Officials rush in, but well too late after all the damage has been inflicted. Perhaps this is a message that the Outsiders are coming for the titles. Rating: 75 Mean Gene is backstage outside of the locker room door of the Macho Man Randy Savage. He knocks on the door, as he's trying to get people's reactions from Hulk Hogan last night. After a few moments, the door flies open and Savage appears, though like Luger, he looks to be in no mood for questions. Gene continues on though, like the professional he is. Savage is unhinged and wide-eyed, not even wearing his usual sunglasses as he says that Hulk Hogan made the biggest mistake of his life last night and he's going to make him pay. Savage says he's going to dismantle Scott Hall right here tonight because after last night's events, he went straight to the WCW front office and demanded payback tonight. After he tears through Hall, he's coming straight after Hulk Hogan and he's going to end his pathetic career! Rating: 100 Scott Hall vs Randy Savage vs The crowd were on fire for this match, simply put. Hall came out first followed by the Macho Man, who sprinted to the ring to get his hands on Scott Hall. The fight was on from there and Savage was like a man possessed. He didn't give Scott Hall any chance to mount an offense and any time he did manage to get a shot in, Savage used any kind of dirty move he could to get the advantage quickly back. The crowd and the broadcast booth loved this from Savage, who was more than living up to his name. Savage continued the match firmly in control until it was time to end it. About the time Savage hit a bodyslam on Hall to prepare for his elbow, a couple of guys emerge from the stage entrance... Savage was climbing the ropes that faced away from the entrance, so Savage didn't see Nash and Hogan approaching as he climbed the ropes. Just before jumping, Nash reached Savage and pushed him off the top, which resulted in Savage crashing hard to the mat. Scott Hall was able to recover enough to lift Savage for the Outsider's Edge. Hall got the pin fall victory at 18:51. Winner: Scott Hall Rating: 82 The attack of course continues after the bell as Hall, Nash, and Hogan all take turns beating on the Macho Man. The referee steps in to try and stop the attack, only to have Hulk Hogan toss him easily from the ring. Hall and Nash hold Savage as Hogan pummels away on him but this assault doesn't last too long as the crowd roar to life. The cameras pan just in time to see Sting and Lex Luger rushing from the entrance.. Luger and Sting slide in the ring which promptly results in the NWO bailing out of the ring. Luger and Sting were just a hair's length from getting their hands on them before they exited. Sting and Luger are clearly flustered while the attitudes are totally different for the NWO on the outside. They're all smiles and taunts as Luger and Sting check on the Macho Man, who get him to his feet. The scene fades out with two very different reactions from the two trio's. Rating: 86 Final Show Rating: 78