This review is dedicated to the memories of Randy Anderson, John "The Shark" Tenta, Randall Mario "Randy Savage" Poffo, Raymond Louis "Bobby" Heenan, "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, Steve "Mongo" McMichael and Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea.
Hulk Hogan (w/Randy "Macho Man" Savage) vs. Sting, WCW Monday Nitro, Macon Coliseum, Macon, GA, November 20, 1995
Historical background: This was the first-ever match between Hulk Hogan and Sting. At the time, Hogan was dressing in black having embraced the dark side in his war with The Dungeon of Doom, which had come together over the summer for the purpose of destroying Hulkamania. He had to lose his famous mustache for a movie role, so the Dungeon shaved it off on the October 2nd Nitro, which caused Hogan to snap and temporarily abandon the traditional yellow and red. At WCW Halloween Havoc 1995 on October 29th, Hogan's manager Jimmy Hart turned on Hogan and sided with the Dungeon, with Hogan's opponent The Giant (The Big Show) being declared the winner and new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. It would be revealed that Hart had put a stipulation in the contract that said the title could change hands on a disqualification. Giant was subsequently stripped of the belt to set up the belt being decided in the ridiculous 60-man battle royal at WCW World War III 1995 on November 26th.
Sting walks to the ring first wearing yellow and red facepaint and gear, which the commentators acknowledge. Randy Savage, with his arm in a sling, makes his way out and looks to be signaling for Hogan, but Hulk comes out of the crowd wearing a mask. Sting is still looking toward the entrance and doesn't see Hogan until Hogan taps Sting on the shoulder. Hogan disposes of the mask and says something to Sting that doesn't get picked up by the audio. Hogan shoves Sting, and Sting responds with a kick to the gut and starts punching and kicking away to cheers. Sting goes for a cross-corner whip but Hogan reverses it and follows with a clothesline in the corner. Hogan punches Sting in the head and Sting does a dramatic sell, stumbling to a further side of the ring. Hogan punches Sting a few times in the corner and referee Randy Anderson warns Hogan about using closed fists. Hogan chops Sting in the corner. Hogan whips Sting across the ring but Sting ducks Hogan's clothesline and hits a dropkick. Sting dropkicks Hogan again and Hogan goes over the ropes to the floor. Hogan grabs Sting's feet and drags him out under the bottom rope to the floor and punches Sting in the head, Hulk sends Sting face-first into the edge of the ring. Hogan drags Sting over to the guardrail and smashes Sting into it. Hogan hits a vertical suplex on the floor. The crowd is visibly booing Hogan, who was still a face at this point. Hogan rolls Sting back into the ring and follows him. Sting charges at Hogan but Hogan drops down and Sting bounces off the ropes and charges the other way. Hogan rakes Sting's back. Hogan whips Sting across but Sting comes back with a crossbody for 2. They circle each other, tie up and Hogan grabs a headlock. Hogan then does a go-behind into a hammerlock which Sting reverses into a hammerlock of his own. Hogan responds with a drop-toehold. Hogan says something to Savage about seeing whether Sting is "with us or against us." Hogan grabs Sting's arm and locks on a cross-armbreaker! Hogan changes it to a regular armbar. Sting gets back to his feet and applies an armwringer. Sting cranks on the arm, bringing Hogan to his knees. Hogan gets back to his feet and goes back to Sting's arm. Hogan locks on a full nelson. Hogan transitions into a headlock. Sting backs Hogan into the ropes and tries to push him across but Hogan holds onto the headlock. Hogan goes into a headlock takedown but Sting rolls Hogan up for a 2 count. Hogan controls with the headlock again. Sting rolls Hogan over for another 2 count. Back to their feet and Hogan holds onto the headlock and walks Sting into a corner. Clean break, and Sting kicks Hogan in the gut. Out of the corner, Sting kicks away at Hogan's leg. Sting does a cross-corner whip and follows with the Stinger Splash, but Hogan catches Sting and walks out of the corner with Sting in a bear hug. Hogan releases the hold and Sting collapses to the mat. Hogan whips Sting into the ropes and Sting comes off but Hogan kicks Sting in the gut. Hogan whips Sting into the ropes again and when Sting comes off Hogan elbows Sting in the head. Hogan covers for 2. Back to their feet and Hogan hits a belly-to-back suplex. It gets 2. Hogan hits a second vertical suplex for another 2 count. Hogan tries to whip Sting into the ropes but Sting counters and whips Hogan into the ropes and follows with a kick to Hogan's leg. Then another kick. Then a third kick to knock Hogan down. Sting works over the leg and applies the Scorpion Deathlock. Hogan powers out of the hold and starts the Hulk-up routine, no-selling Sting's punches. Hogan hits the three punches and whips Sting across the ring and hits the Big Boot. Hogan goes for the legdrop but Sting moves out of the way. Hogan sells missing the legdrop and Sting locks on the Scorpion Deathlock again, with Hogan pleading, "He's gonna break my leg!" Then...THE DUNGEON OF DOOM ATTACKS! "The Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, The Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake), Meng, "The Laughing Man" Hugh Morrus, and The Shark all run in and attack Hogan and Sting, resulting in a no-contest. Hogan and Sting join forces to fight them, successfully clearing the ring. Then Jimmy Hart leads The Giant down to the ring. Giant grabs Hogan and Sting by their throats for a double Chokeslam, but Savage blasts The Giant with a chair. Giant then Chokeslams Savage instead. Hogan and Sting grab the chair and use it to send Giant over the ropes to the floor. The actual match, with Hogan doing suplexes and chain wrestling and submissions, was really good. ***1/2.
You can watch the match here.