WCW Nitro
Airdate: July 15th, 1996
Arena/Location: Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, FL
Commentators: Hour One: Larry Zbyszko and Tony Schiavone. Hour Two: Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan
Tony and Larry welcome us to Nitro. They say that the nWo is there. Larry wonders if there will be a fourth man recruited into this group. We go back to the footage of Hulk Hogan’s heel turn, before we go to the first match!
Match One: Fire and Ice vs. The Steiner Brothers
The two Scotts work most of the early going on of this matchup. Neither man can get an advantage for long, but Scott Steiner seems to gain control before the break by throwing Scott Norton out of the ring. Teddy Long makes his way down to the ring, before we go to the commercial. After the break, Ice Train is now in control of Rick Steiner. Rick however begins to come back as he uses the suplexs and slams the Steiners are famous for on Train Rick tries to put Ice Train away, but to no avail.
After a few more minutes of action, Rick is the legal man on his team, Norton on his, and Scott Steiner on the floor. Ice Train and Norton double team Rick Steiner for a few seconds, before Ice Train goes for a splash on Rick, Rick dodges, and instead hits his partner. Rick hit’s a German Suplex into a cradle pin on Ice Train, and wins. Too bad it was against the illegal partner.
Winners by pinfall: The Steiner Brothers
It’s bad when you botch and Tony Schiavone catches it as well. The screw up at the end does hurt the match, which was otherwise relatively an average bout. **¼
Mean Gene at the entranceway interviewing Big Bubba, Kevin Sullivan, and Jimmy Hart. Meng and Barbarian show up about halfway through the interview. Guess they miss their cue. Bubba, Sullivan, and Hart all cut promos on various people in WCW.
Before the break, we get a quick video of Dean Malenko hyping up his match against Billy Kidman. That should be good.
We get another Blood Runs Cold video. It’s the same one from last week.
Mean Gene welcomes us back to WCW, as he interviews Fire and Ice. Norton says Ice Train has been screwing things up, Ice Train says there are things they can do in the rules. Teddy Long interrupts their interivew segment to tell them they make a great tag team. Norton responds by pushing Long down. Dissention in the ranks!
Match Two: Billy Kidman vs. Dean Malenko
Damn, Kidman doesn’t even look old enough to be wrestling. Jimmy Hart comes out during Malenko’s entrance and talks to him briefly, but Dean just brushes him aside.
This felt like the typical High flyer vs. Dean Malenko match that has been normal as of late, but condensed into six minutes. Dean was able to make Billy Kidman tap after three powerbombs and the Texas Cloverleaf.
Winner by submission: Dean Malenko
Great match for the time it had. Dean Malenko I would like to see what these could do with twice or three times the amount of time. ***.
Mean Gene interviewing Kevin Greene. He’s upset at what Hulk Hogan has done. He then cuts a promo on Mongo McMichael. There may or may not be a confrontation between Greene and Mongo. Does anyone care?
We get a quick promo of Harlem Heat cutting a promo on Col. Rob Parker and the tag team of Rough and Ready. I guess they’re next!
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