1.) DDP vs. Johnny B. Badd
Much better than their prior PPV encounter. DDP seems more capable here, probably because he and Badd are more comfortable working together now, and DDP is aware of his limitations.
3.25 / 5
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2.) "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Big Bubba Rodgers
Both these guys suck as wrestlers. But to be fair, I expected this to be worse than how it turned out. Regardless, it's a typical brawl that requires very little skill to pull off.
Rated: 1 / 5
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3.) Japanese Women's Tag Team Match
Cutie Suzuki/Mayumi Ozaki vs. Bull Nakana/Akira Hokuto
Now this is where the Japanese ladies show all American wrestlers how it's done. A couple missteps here and there, but otherwise high impact tag team wrestling with great coordination. I normally don't like tag team matches, but this is a major exception. This is the match of the night right here.
Rated: 3.5 / 5
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4.) Kensuki Sasaki vs. Chris Benoit
Solid wrestling bout between these two, as expected.
Rated: 3.25 / 5
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5.) Lex Luger vs. Randy Savage
I give up. I keep expecting these two to eventually hit a stride to put on a solid match, but it just doesn't happen. At best, their matches together are mediocre.
[Edit: their best outing that resulted in a decent match was in a later episode of Nitro on December 4, 1995]
Rated: 2 / 5
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6.) Ric Flair vs. Sting
This match never picked up enough steam. It stayed one or two gears lower than I was hoping for. A very slow-paced match, which would've been forgivable if the maneuvers weren't getting monotonous. They pull the same schtick of maneuvers and reactions at least 2 times in this bout, maybe even 3.
Rated: 2.5 / 5
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7.) 60 Man, 3-Ring, Battle Royal
It sucked. Too much going on between the 3 screens to be invested in any one encounter going on. The whole 3-ring gimmick was a terrible idea. Nothing all that interesting happened until the last 10 minutes (this match went on for too long), and even then what did happen wasn't all that noteworthy.
Rated: 1 / 5
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Big improvement over the last PPV. I would've preferred seeing a match featuring Eddie Guerrero over one of the lesser matches. Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Johnny B. Badd, Sting, Ric Flair, and Brian Pillman are easily the best talent I've seen so far since Nitro began (Randy Savage seems capable of pulling off a good match when he really wants too, and I keep hoping Lex Luger would put more effort into the matches beyond those loud grunts and moans he makes whenever he takes/receives a hit). They should be the ones headlining each PPV, having matches with each other or some upcoming talent. That would make the PPVs overall better. Really wish Hulk Hogan would stop hogging the spotlight; he's overrated as hell.
Story-wise, the only one I was interested in up to this point was Ric Flair's feud with Arn Anderson. But that's been over and done with ever since the last PPV. The only interesting storylines now are Flair's feud with Sting, and Savage's Feud with Luger. But Savage and Luger don't seem capable of having good matches with each other, and the Flair vs. Sting matches have grown tiresome (I preferred the match they had on Nitro's debut episode over the one they had here).
Heard things get better in 1997. Just need to make it through 1996, and the rest of 1995. Here's hoping Starrcade is good.
