History Of WCW Monday Nitro - Episode One: "The Shot Across The Bow - From A Luger"

Opening Bout: "Flyin'" Brian Pillman Vs. Jushin 'Thunder' Liger

This match, from top to bottom was like a highlight reel of the most technical wrestling on offer anywhere in the United States at the time outside of WWE pay per view. While the WWE was creating a face-heel takeover-mid-spot-face comeback architectural blueprint for the way a televised match would look, WCW were developing a style that couldn't be replicated at house shows all over the country, and were always pushing the style of wrestling into a more athletic and improvised-looking match style. It was this kind of wrestling that appealed to me as a kid. The match begins with an exchange of corner spots, Liger hitting his overhead heel kick, and it ends with Liger cross-bodying Pillman to the mat to regroup. Pillman's work here is crisp, and explosive. This is the man at the top of his game. Back to the corner, and a hurancanrana out to the center of the ring, back to a whip exchange and to the corner with another rana to the center of the ring. A mishap with communication causes a wince as Liger and Pillman hit the mat awkwardly for a pin attempt. It looked like the natural flow of the match Pillman was putting on at the time, two ranas and a pin attempt wasn't common knowledge to Liger. The pin attempt gets things back on track. They go into a seated octopus into a leverage pin attempt. Then, it's a whip into the ropes for a Liger drop toehold into a Romero Special. It's actually the best transition into that hold I've seen, dropping it into a Romero Facelock. Bischoff has pretty generic commentary for the holds, and we see a flipping standing senton from the apron to Pillman. Apparently, they also wanted to show that the old school booking 'No tossing outside of the ring, no leaping from the post' era was over. Pillman leaps outside from the post to hit Liger with a splash. The match is just an amazing show of transitions and classic puro style wrestling, and gets a big thumbs up from me. Pillman finishes with reverse schoolboy, and it's a good start. He gets the win at around the 8 minute mark. Damned good match to start off with, and you've got people in the mall stopping and watching from the balconies. Great match, great start to a new show. Definitely got me asking 'Whoa, what's next?!'. I was also a huge Pillman fan from the time he started as a plucky midcarder and through his career with Austin as the Hollywood Blondes. Watching this old tape makes me miss the interstitial wrestler promos about the upcoming bout on the card. Apparently Sting's fighting Ric Flair - because he's Sting and Flair's Flair, but they're fighting for the United States Heavyweight Championship. This situation, with Hogan coming in and dropping Flair out of the top spot - has me thinking about the modern era, and how the more things change, the more they stay the same. You've got Flair, about to languish in the mid-card while Hogan does pretty much nothing at the top of the card. Much like fans wanting to see Bryan at the top of the card, and we're getting force fed Batista instead. Let's see if their match is anything to write home about. Pastamania is running wild! Bischoff interviews Hogan at Pastamania in the Mall of America. Hogan's looking good, physically, Jimmy Hart's his manager - they booked him as the broker to bring Hogan to WCW. A good little piece of business that made Jimmy Hart's life a little easier in terms of health. Hogan turns the promo for Pastamania for his upcoming bout with 'Big Bubba' - If you were just tuning in out of curiosity, you'd wonder who the hell 'Big Bubba' was, and why the hell Hogan was selling pasta and claiming its health benefits. Bubba Rogers is also known as the Big Boss Man, Ray Traylor, and one of the best big men in the business. Even now, he was riding high on a run as one of the top heels in the WCW as part of the periphery of the Dungeon of Doom, a cultish heel stable run by Kevin Sullivan.