The "medium sized mang" now had the "big mang" alongside him
Listen to our June 1996 WCW podcast, reviewing all the news in The Outsiders angle.
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Subscribe to the podcast via: iTunes | RSS Feed | Email Newsletter
A break from the usual format this month, I'll instead present you with a week by week of the invasion angle involving Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, followed by some potted highlights of the rest of the month – there really isn't much else!
Week 1 – June 3rd
At the very end of the show, Hall once again confronted Eric Bischoff at his commentary position. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Hall didn't have a lot to say, he did at least get to rough up Bischoff's hair. Thankfully, Sting is on hand to give this segment an edge, he says let's forget about help "All I see is you and me". Razor promises Sting his "big surprise" will be hear next week.
Week 2 – June 10th
Again, at the very end of the show (they're good at that) Hall is back. This time Bischoff is more defiant – "you promised us a big surprise, where is he?". As Bischoff turns around he is greeted by the giant sight of Kevin Nash. Nash cuts his famous promo "look at the adjective, play", before wondering why Bischoff couldn't find a paleontologist to dust off some of the fossils in the back to get WCW a team. Bischoff says by Sunday they'll have a team.
The Great American Bash – Read about that here
Week 4 – June 24th
After the fantastic angle of June 16th at the Bash, we'd have to wait eight days until we saw the pair again. This time they stormed from the risers, through the fans and down to the ring carrying baseball bats. If the angle at the pay per view didn't signal "intensity" - this did in spades. Particularly when Hall smashed the bat into the ring steps three times. The segment closed with the Steiners, Luger and Sting (who were in the main event) in the ring flanked by police carrying side-arms. Awesome, awesome segment.
As for the rest of the month...
WWF
To say things were quiet would be an understatement, Raw spent the entire month reeking of mid-card, feeling the effects of not only the departures of Hall and Nash but also the absence of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels not wrestling on TV either. Noteworthy things that did happen:
McMahon says "farewell" to Hall/Nash: “Speaking of last hurrahs, no longer associated with the World Wrestling Federation in any manner, Big Daddy Cool Diesel as well as “The Bad Guy” Razor Ramon, and it has been reported that both indviduals intend to palm themselves off as the stars they once were in the World Wrestling Federation and furthermore perpetuate some sort of ruse that they are under contract to the WWF with a rival organisation”.
Brian Pillman – Brian Pillman appeared on Hardcore TV this month, and was even mentioned on Nitro, but it was Raw where he ended up. After a babyface sombre press conference, Pillman reverted to his heel character in time for the King Of The Ring. His segment on Raw right before the Austin match where he demands money from McMahon having been in the company a week is great.
Steve Austin vs The Undertaker – File this one under "big name matches that didn't mean very much yet". Austin, despite coming off his King Of The Ring victory, was still pretty cold, and Undertaker had just lost to Mankind himself. Add to that the sheer obviousness of the Goldust interference and the fact that Nash and Hall were wreaking havoc on the other channel, and this came across pretty badly.
WCW
The first full month of two hour Nitros probably exposed that WCW didn't yet have enough to fill the time. Hall and Nash was still an appendix on the final couple of minutes of the show, still, there was some good stuff.
Flair/Arn Goad The Footballers – With Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Kevin Greene off training, it was left to home players Ric Flair and Arn Anderson to do the heavy lift. On the June 3rd Nitro both came out in NFL jersey's of one of the opposition. Arn struggled to kit his McMichael jersey off "not only are we tougher athletes, apparently we’re way too big". The segment ends with Bobby Heenan confirming he would be "coaching" the team at the pay per view.
Steiners and Luger/Sting Heat Up – While both Sting and Luger had other issues to deal with, their rivalry with The Steiners is a great one. Neither particularly face or heel, just four tough dudes who wanna fight. Their rivarly bubbled throughout the month, with the Steiners nicely saying they'd have their back against Hall and Nash when the time came. After all of that, Harlem Heat ended the month as tag champions!
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