Featuring a post BFG world, Knockouts Tag Titles back from the dead, the return of a TNA legend, Audio Sweetener in a world gone mad, Burnside’s Good Ol’ Days, NEW CHAMP, a Raven and Russo Classic Clip, Worth A Thousand Words, and much more!

Classic Clip Link

Worth 1000 Words:

Photo #1 — Photo #2 — Photo #3 — Photo #4 — Photo #5

Photo #6 — Photo #7 — Photo #8 — Photo #9 — Photo #10

This I remember. Nitro was struggling and spiraling out of control. They had a big show in the shadow of New York City, out in Long Island, and went back to basics. 80s Hogan versus 80s heel Flair. I’ll make a prediction: If you’ve seen the 1994 Bash at the Beach match you’ve seen this match and all others after it. It was the template for what they would do with their molds, and I have somewhat of a bias against it.

I don’t have a big review for this match. I watched it with a friend straight through and it was well worked for the style they were going for. It’s what I expected – a typical Hogan domination of a cheating heel Flair. My problem is that I’m not a fan of this formula match. I don’t get why Flair would continually go for body blocks and get knocked down over and over. I don’t like that Hogan no sells everything, including Flair’s cheating ways half the time. I thought Flair going for the knee didn’t provide as much as I wanted out of it. But I say all this as a hypocrite because I have enjoyed the Flair half of the formula in other match ups, just not with Hogan. I don’t have much more to give to this match. It might fare better in the hands of another opinion. 2 ½ and 5/10.

Nash, Sid, and Steiner is the oddest team I’ve seen in some time. Why did Sid have a job, why did Nash bother to show up, and isn’t that the wrong Steiner for 1999 WCW? The faces all get separate entrances because they’re bigger starts and apparently this makes the entrance less weird. Goldberg comes out to some Megadeath song, which has me puzzled as hell. 1999 WCW. Hogan comes out to his original crappy Hogan face theme, the belt, and the red and yellow. This was the re-debut of the look. I could care, but that’s probably why it’s on the set. I usually like six man’s, and here I’m trying to figure out who is gonna carry this – and I should with SIX guys there.

The atmosphere is pretty awesome at the start. That gains it some credit and leeway with me. The first few minutes is Hogan in there laying out what would later be his Rock match from Mania, in the sense it’s all well layed out to pop a ready and willing nostalgic crowd. Hogan clears the ring of all three opponents and it’s 1985 again. I’ll go with it even if it’s not my thing. Nash versus Goldberg is next. It’s simple and awesome, thanks to the crowd, and I like everything until Sid is tagged in. That’s kept short too, and now the workhorse – believe it or not – named Sting gets in.

The do a ref bump after the initial short match ups that is terrible, and it sets off a clever, but mistimed chain of events that ends with Hogan killing people with chair shots while Sting gets the Scorpion Death Lock on Nash. A new ref comes in to see Nash quickly pass out. That’s your super star studded main event. A good lay out with bad timing that was a bit short. The crowd gets the 7th man award. 2 ½ and 5/10.

First things first. If you are wondering who is the bigger neon sign for P.E.D.s, it’s actually looking like Savage, who has gone to the slicked back pony tail look. Hogan is still huge, but he’s just as much a warning for skin cancer as he might be for anything else. This match is odd, as the fans don’t react for anything the guys do at first, and then pop huge for Hogan smacking two of Macho’s THREE valets against each other (they end up attacking each other and leaving). Bish is such a real like a-hole that I thought Hogan was the heel, but apparently it’s Macho. They move decently for old men. This will probably be a very simple heel-face dynamic. They mastered this a decade earlier.

There’s just something so fake and cartoony about Hogan’s offense that even when it’s smooth it looks dull and lifeless to me. I know I’m in the minority, but I never thought what Hogan possessed was charisma, so much as obnoxious energy and odd movement. Hogan tears Macho apart on offense, uses a chair at some point, and I try to stay awake. The crowd is into it from time to time, usually not when they stay in the ring though.

Really odd moment when they do the reversal to get the heat, as Macho recklessly tosses his third valet, Gorgeous George, into Hogan. Macho and women make me nervous. He wears out Hogan was some hard belt shots and a chair. Really basic slow moving stuff – and not Ric Flair or Bret Hart basic – but I like Macho’s control segment more than Hogan’s. Taste is most likely the culprit. The crows somewhat commits to booing this, and I somewhat commit to paying attention.

Bischoff is excruciating to listen to on commentary. What a geek, especially as Hogan does the comeback. Hogan is far too concerned with playing to the crowd than winning, and that’s a whole ideological argument in and of itself, but it allows time for Sid to interfere. This went from boring to terrible fast. Sting is out to save Hogan for no reason. This match must be no DQ. Macho hits Hogan with a chain and Hogan drops like he’s dead. It was his best movement all match. Nash is in to power bomb Macho. It’s a fine line between brilliantly woven and over booked, and over booked it when no one cares about the feuds woven together in a federation. This is that, though Hogan gets a pop for winning the title from Macho here. I believe this was the third time Macho won a title on a PPV and lost it to Hogan the next day. How did Hogan fuck him politically like that so often? 1 ¾ stars and 3/10.

The first six minutes of this are actually pretty good by Hogan match standards. The fans hate him and chant “Hogan sucks”. Bret doesn’t get much babyface heat, but he keeps the match moving, outwrestling Hogan. Hogan cheats to win, and works over Bret’s already injured knee well. Then, at the six minute mark, Sting runs down and I remember this match. The first Bret-Hulk match was a total angle match.

Typically bad Nitro story telling for the main events. Bret is no more hurt than any other wrestler getting beat up, but Sting runs down with the Wolf Pack and decides now the match will be he and Hogan. Okay, that’s a lame bait-and-switch. For some reason they bring a stretcher down for Bret right away, even though he hasn’t given up and the injury is garden variety stuff. Sting does do his job, and the fans get into the new match. Hogan then beats up Sting while the NWO black and white beats up the Red and black (confused yet), and Bret Hart limps back to the ring. Sting now has Hogan beat, and Bret turns on him. Bret makes sure to bounce around, so we know the knee is okay, so apparently all the knee work and guard rail shots Hogan gave him were “fake”. Fans just throw shit at the ring, and why wouldn’t you. Hogan and Bret destroy Sting, and I am effectively dumber for having watched the last ten minutes. Rarely does anything involving Hogan ever turn out entertaining. Not really a match, and only a half decent angle. 2 stars and 4/10.

This was, and still may be, the most famous match up on NITRO. It certainly may be a watershed moment, as the match that would have made millions on PPV given a build to Starcade in December was put together in one short week by Bischoff, mad to win a ratings battle he’d begun losing a few months earlier.

The match is not as good as I remember. That’s not to say that what I remembered was a miraculous classic, but I remember the match having a story. This had little in the way of flow or story. At eight minutes, it looked pretty thrown together with the idea of just getting to Goldberg’s big comeback/finish being the one thing laid out. The crowd, which is a big one in Goldberg’s hometown of Atlanta, isn’t hot for the match either. The pop at the end after he gets the spear/jackhammer win is good, but my memories made it something more. This match was a shame on a few levels. 2 and 4/10.

What can you say about two mega-stars getting it on one more time? Past their primes? Sure. Could it be fun? Definitely. Will it be good? Macho gives a lot of effort and Hogan seems to have his perfectly decent match boots on whenever he makes it on this list. I’m game.

Hogan is trying way too hard to involve the Disciple (Beefcake Ed Leslie) in his career and in this match. Poor Macho comes out with the belt and the look of a placeholder. Twice WCW gave him the belt so he could job to Hogan the next night. Macho looks like he’s still got something though as he heads to the ring. He always had a good look and decent gear (okay, maybe the late WWF in WCW run was a bit much).

I’m just not in the mood for short punches and eye gouges tonight. Oh yeah, can’t forget bad chokes where Hogan moves his head around like he’s choking Macho real hard. Even the Disciple gets in the act of crappy offensive heel work. I’m bored out of my mind, and the live crowd struggles to stay engaged and boo (the heel, not the match).

Macho takes to average chair shots that were not really necessary to the story (though in fairness it is no DQ), and the offense of Hogan slowly continues. Macho’s come backs are okay, but his selling is the only thing keeping more sort of in the match. Hogan works on the knee and Macho really tries to make it matter. It doesn’t, but I appreciate the gutsy performance. Christ, Hogan gets out the weight belt and whips and chokes Macho. This is horribly bad stuff now.

One of the few highlights is Macho coming back, whipping Hogan with the belt, and doing the big elbow. Of course he sells the knee right after, which would be awesome in a match with someone else who had a flow. Not old man Hogan though. Shock of the century: Hogan pulls out a spinning toe hold and figure four. How odd. Match has gotten above 2 star range though.

The Disciple comes in and wipes out ref Patrick. Boring walking around beatings ensue. Nash is out. He power bombs Hogan. Bret Hart out. He puts Hogan on Macho for the pin in 16 minutes. Bret’s a douche. Piper can’t believe the heel turn. I yawn remembering I hated this the first time. 2 ¼ and 4/10.

The big guns from the NWO against a bunch of WCW main event babyfaces. Cool with me. I like the personalities, not to mention Sting’s epic entrance music. Somehow Sting is the champ, the Giant has a neck brace, and Macho is back face with Liz at his side. WCW was/is so confusing.

They start off with everyone doing a hot brawl. Hogan and Macho go at it. Hall sells like crazy for Sting. The Giant and Nash cancel each other out. Hogan gets Sting all alone in the ring once everyone gets to their tag corners. Hogan sells as well as Hogan can sell, and then we get the big men. Nash vs Giant. Heels cheat to win in a cool spot where Giant picks up Hall/Hogan and Nash gets him from behind. I’m really hoping The Giant won’t be the one selling during the heat since they already gave away Sting/Hogan right away. If anything it should be Macho selling, since he’s the best out there other than maybe Hall.

The heels tag in and out a lot and it has movement because of that. Hogan stuff against the Giant is wholly bad. Also, Bischoff at ringside during matches sucks. He has no idea what to do out there and draws no heat, helps in no spots, and isn’t a great mouthpiece for all this talent. What a mark he is/was. Anyways, this heel control segment goes on forever with logical triple teaming because he’s so big, but it’s horribly boring because Giant couldn’t sell BEFORE the neck brace. It’s worse now.

Macho gets the hot tag and Giant stops selling. So while Macho is milking that he wants at Hogan, Nash runs all the way to the back while Giant slowly walks after him. The crowd is distracted from the Macho/Hogan match up. Macho does make this a great “tag match” for about 30 seconds, than Hogan cronie Beefcake runs in. Schiavone has to pretend he doesn’t know who this new NWO recruit is, and all of us just wish we could forget him forever. Crap finish with Hogan covering Macho after the interference to a less than average match. 2 ¼ and 4/10.

Crowd is out of control hot for this, so it plays better watching year’s later than live when you were thinking about how bad the booking was. It’s actually really cool to watch a lot of these matches without being bogged down with the hours of programming and bad booking to kill your enthusiasm. Hogan does work pretty hard in the Nitro main events he has once every blue moon. He gets the advantage with belt shots and stays on Sting until Sting decides he’s had enough and comes back hard on Hogan. Hogan powders out but Sting follows and beats him up on the outside.

Heenan and Teney are pretty good in the announce booth. Very dramatic and serious stuff. Hogan sells a nut shot great, I’ll give him that. Hogan’s actual wrestling doesn’t do it for me, but he’s motivated as all hell here. The big boot mid match actually looks quick/strong. The eb and flow of this thing is well played, and the fans are in love with Sting. He sells a little longer, getting a few hope spots, then comes back with the Stinger Splash and… we’re outta time. That’s it. It just ends like that. It’s the 6:05 TBS finish. Bummer. That was a really good Hogan match for the six minutes shown. 3 and 6/10.

This must have been a competitive Monday Night Wars week since they’ve flown in Buffer to announce the main event. Plus you’ve got Hogan actually wrestling a top pushed babyface DDP. I’m already looking down the aisle for the run-in, folks.

“Self High Five” is still one of the best kick offs to a theme song ever. DDP is announced as being from the famous Jersey Shore. I love it. I’m becoming a retro-active DDP mark in my late twenties now. Heenan sells the heck out of DDP and this match, so for that night he was still on. DDP has his ribs taped up so you know the story of this match already. “th-th-the biggest icon in wrestling” comes down playing his belt like guitar, akin to when he would strum on his ball sack (shout out to MFP).

I’m getting the impression this may be the episode where they officially moved to three hours. Back story of DDP’s ribs is Hogan came out dressed as Sting and hit them with a bat the night before, meaning the Halloween Havoc PPV promoted an angle for Nitro. Backwards, huh? Hogasn uses a freakin’ wristlock/hammer lock early to out-wrestle DDP. My God. DDP tries to brawl back and this thing looks ugly as sin. Thankfully Hogan talks down to him and works the ribs, so some sanity prevails. Hogan needs to stick to a formula, not necessarily the same one, to look good. Calling Pat Patterson.

They tease the Diamond cutter and Hogan freaks on the outside. I like the effort to tell a story. Hogan bails again outside after a DDP come back. Crowd chanted for Hogan for a bit, then got quiet. Not the hottest crowd for a Nitro, but perhaps they are torn between egos and age in the ring.

Hogan short cuts to his control segment like a good heel, so you get several minutes of bad Hogan offense, but good DDP selling. Hogan’s chops are surprisingly solid tonight, and he throws a back drop suplex on the floor! I’ve seen it all now. Haha.

DDP coming from underneath is somewhat compelling to me, and both men are trying, but I enjoy the announcing a lot more than the match. I can’t believe I miss Tony Schiavone. Match does progress well as Hogan keeps beating him down at the ribs, but can’t keep him down for the pin. Hogan does connect with the crowd while heeling – it needs to be said. DDP fights back from underneath to a lukewarm response. Hogan is moving like a man with a broken back. Big boot hits but leg drop misses. DDP signals for the cutter but a fake Sting is down at ringside. You knew this wasn’t going down cleanly. DQ finish in 11:30 and the entire NOW comes down. Oh well. I see Syxx is still employed, as is Virgil/Vincent. The real Sting clears the ring as Hall and Hennig take multiple great bumps for Sting, though the process of feeding the Sting had gotten ridiculous looking by this point. 2 ½ and 5/10.