June 24th, 1996
Charlotte, North Carolina
LIVE FROM THE QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUTH
WCW World Champion: The Giant (since 4/29/96)
WCW US Champion: Konnan (since 1/29/96)
WCW Tag Team Champions: Sting & Lex Luger (since 1/22/96)
WCW TV Champion: Lex Luger (since 3/6/96)
WCW Cruserweight Champion: Dean Malenko (since 5/18/96)
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Backstage, Mean Gene has Luger, Sting, & Macho Man to talk about conquering The Outsiders and fighting for WCW. Harlem Heat and The Steiner’s interrupt. They basically say they’ll have their backs in fighting for WCW, but tonight they’re taking those tag titles. It’s a triangle match for the WCW Tag Team Championships later on!
1) Blue Bloods (Lord Steven Regal & Dave Taylor) vs. Public Enemy
This is an interesting dynamic with the stiff, british style of Regal & Taylor and the brawling of Public Enemy. It only goes a few minutes and Johnny Grunge uses the cast to get the pin on Taylor.
Match rating - **
2) Kevin Sullivan (w/ Jimmy Hart) vs. Kip Abee
Sullivan charges the ring and this goes to the crowd IMMEDIATELY and ends up in the stands. Sullivan squashes this man and Jimmy Hart cuts a promo with him afterwards about the tag team match they have against Benoit & Anderson coming up. They’re in horseman country and they just embarrassed a jobber and they’re gonna do the same to Benoit in Daytona Beach in two weeks.
GLACIER IS COMING
3) Dean Malenko vs. “Hard Work” Bobby Walker
DEANNNNN. He works over Mr. Walker while Disco Infern i comes out and does his dance and whatever else, distracting from the match. Malenko makes short work of his opponent and Disco comes face to face with him post match and says Dean is boring the crowd so he came out to liven the place up. Dean defends the Cruserweight title against him at Bash at the Beach so that’s what they’re building towards.
4) Eddie Guerrero vs. The Barbarian
Eddie worked his ass off as always and honestly gave Barbarian a hell of a match. Five minutes but a god damn solid five. The finish with Barbarian going for a superplex and Eddie turning it into a crossbody / sorta falling onto him and getting the three count was just brilliant. Why do I wanna see this happen again?
Match rating - **3/4
After the match, Mean Gene interviews Eddie, but it gets cut short which sucks because Eddie is great :(
5) Chris Benoit & Arn Anderson vs. Rock N Roll Express
This kicks off Hour Two. It’s a Benoit/Anderson tag so I fucking love it. Just fantastic work. They run the briefcase schtick w Mongo again which gets Benoit & Anderson the cheap victory over RnR.
Match rating - **1/2
After the match, Joe Gomez runs down and gets smacked up by the Horsemen and Mongo for even trying to get involved. Officials run down as well as Macho Man to clear the ring.
Meanwhile, Mean Gene is with Ric Flair and the girls in a “safe, secure location” and Flair is riled the fuck up. The Horsemen are back. MACHO MAN! KEVIN GREEN! WE’RE LOCKED UP, WE’RE SECURED AND TONIGHT IN CHARLOTTE WE MIX WITH BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE. And here comes Benoit, Anderson and Mongo. Flair tells them to show the camera their rings, everyone is shouting shit as we shift to commercial and Mean Gene has had enough and tells Flair to “GIVE IT A REST!” Amazing.
6) Alex Wright vs. Diamond Dallas Page
I love DDP’s music, I cannot lie to ya. And also ALEX WRIGHT! A young king. This is fun, but hella short. Both guys get what they can in. DDP wins with the Diamond cutter.
Match rating - **1/4
After the match, DDP puts over the Diamond Cutter and how dangerous it is. DDP faces Jim Duggan in a taped fist match at Bash at the Beach and tells Duggan to tape his whole body if he has to, he’s not taking his title of the Lord of the Ring from him because nobody can.
Mean Gene has Kevin Greene for an interview up on the ramp when we get back from commercial.
7) “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. VK Wallstreet
Squash. Went too long even for that. Bye.
Match rating - 1/2*
8) Sting & Lex Luger (c) vs. The Steiner Bros vs. Harlem Heat - WCW World Tag Team Title Match
I was really stoked for this match, and had no idea that it would turn into almost more of an angle than an actual match. Before that breaks down, it’s a fine enough three way tag. Then it breaks down and it was honestly sick as fuck. So, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall invade through the crowd. They have baseball bats in hand and immediately, Sting and the Steiners unite to square up with them. Meanwhile, Luger and Stevie are still going at it and Stevie sneaks the pin with help from Book while everyone's back is turned so we get a fucking title change in the midst of this face off. Security and police officers storm the ring while this is happening to stand with Sting and The Steiners. This could have easily came off so corny, but it somehow worked.. amazingly. Nash & Hall look like more of a threat than ever. Honestly, considering I never saw any of this and only know Nash & Hall from their WWF work mainly, this was the first time I felt that "Outsiders" aurora from them and a segment involving them. With that in mind, this definitely needs to be notebooked as one of the key segments from this period of time. The officers had their hands on their guns on their waist bands. Sting and the Steiners try to coax them into the ring. Nash and Hall slowly back away while the commentary team hypes up the danger these two pose and how strong of a force WCW is for standing up against them. AHHH!! My favorite close to a Nitro so far during this whole saga/project. Fucking cool as shit. Cameras cut to Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan up in the booth. Heenan walks out because he wants no part in all this anymore and Tony reinforces that WCW backs down from no one.
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