On the 15th April 1996 on Monday Nitro, the main event featured a tag match between WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & The Giant (Paul Wight, later to be known as The Big Show in WWF/E) versus WCW World Tag Team Champions Sting and Lex Luger. Lex Luger was also the WCW Television Champion. The bout was a re-run of a tag team main event the previous week (where the tag team titles had been on the line) which had fallen apart before it really got going. That bout was a more ambitious re-run of a non-title tag team match the week before that. In both cases, thrown coffee had caused the match to disintegrate. Yes, coffee: along with being hit in the head with a womans shoe, there was no more deadly foreign object in 1996 WCW than hot coffee. Why have I emphasised who held what title in a nothing tag team match like this? After all, its not like Eric Bischoff would book three of the four top titles in the company to be on the line in the same match on free television, right? Of course he would. The rules of the match stated that the person being pinned would lose his title to the person pinning him. If Flair were to pin Luger, Flair would become the WCW Television Champion and one half of the WCW World Tag Team Champions, as well as retaining his own WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The Giant was the only one with nothing to lose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQELBHBJBg There were plenty of stories to be told here based on the previous two weeks shenanigans: Luger and Sting were at odds, and would need to cooperate to retain their tag titles but would one or both decide to abandon the team in order to chase Flairs world title? The Giant hadnt yet been pinned in WCW (to my recollection), and was in the middle of a push: he also wasnt getting on with Flair (although, to be fair nobody was). None of these points were emphasised, not even on commentary, and the stakes at play hadnt even really been promoted or publicised the match simply took place. Theres far worse going on here than singles titles potentially changing hands in an impromptu main event on free TV though the matchs commentary made it very clear that anyone could pin anyone. Presumably in order to capitalise on each teams well-documented tensions, you could actually pin your own tag team partner to win their title. Its never explained how this could possibly work: how you could legally pin your own partner, given that only one of you can be the legal man at any one point. Flying coffee became the main factor in the finish once again as Flair tried to gain an advantage over his opponent, only to throw the scalding liquid in The Giants face by mistake, causing the referee to ring the bell and The Giant to flip out and challenge his partner for the world title because apparently coffee to the face makes you a number one contender. Of course, neither the ring announcer nor the commentary team made it clear who had actually won. Was that a DQ finish? Did Flair get disqualified for assaulting his own partner? How does that work? Youre not allowed to bring a hot beverage on a bus - can we establish a moratorium on them at ringside as well? Go on, then - give us your favourite example of a stupid, brainless or just badly executed finish to a match. Whats the worst youve ever seen?
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
