So I don’t have to put up with schmucks saying I don’t care about women’s wrestling.

I have no idea why many people would care about this, but apparently it’s a story.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/269182/UPDATED:-El-Generico-Reportedly-Signs-With-WWE.htm

I’m not a big fan of the guy but apparently he’s got a decent following online.  This is more of the international push that WWE is on which isn’t a bad idea at all.  I see no issue with this signing.

Thoughts?

New Year’s Revolution 2005
Date: January 9, 2005
Location: Coliseo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Attendance: 15, 764
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler

So for no apparent reason, we’re in Puerto Rico for this one. This is more or less all about one match: the Elimination Chamber. The title has been vacated (a Puerto Rican tradition) because there had been a double pin in a match with HHH, Edge and Benoit.

Jericho, Orton and Batista are being thrown in there because we need six people and they’re the other three big guys on Raw at the moment. Shawn is guest referee for no apparent reason. Other than that the big match is Kane vs. Snitsky. See what I mean when I say it’s about one match? Let’s get to it.

The opening video is the epitome of generic. It just says that the Chamber is big and bad and all that. There’s nothing else mentioned about the rest of the card at all which isn’t likely a good sign.

Raw Tag Titles: Eugene/William Regal vs. Christian/Tyson Tomko

Regal and Eugene are past their peak of intrigue but at least it’s about to end. However it’s because Eugene destroys his knee in this and is out for about 6 months because of it. For once the Spanish announce team serves a perfect function. I have no idea what I mean by that either. Christian is completely lacking credibility at this point but he’ll be heading to TNA later in the year.

Eugene is wearing a Hogan shirt for no apparent reason. It’s a comedy match in case you didn’t get it. This is where the Eugene character needed to go away. Good night Christian deserves better than this. And Eugene hits the floor and slaps hands with the fans for no apparent reason. He follows this up to dive under the ring. I already hate this match. We get an airplane spin as I would love to hear Gorilla and Jesse argue over Eugene.

The intellectually challenged one Hulks Up and tags Regal in. Well at least he’s willing to let someone else in for the glory part. Oh man Christian gets a shot in on the nose and Regal is bleeding badly. Too much cocaine I guess. Christian pulls Eugene off the apron and Regal gets there for a tag but there’s no partner. Can I get some Wah Wah Wah music? This is running way too long at this point.

Eugene gets a big old pop for the hot tag. He cleans house but lands totally on his knee, ripping it to pieces and putting him on the shelf for six months. He’s more or less dead weight now and I don’t think the others know it yet. To his credit though he hobbles up and gets a bad rollup on Tomko whose shoulder was up but to be fair he did what he could. He gets taken out on a stretcher.

Rating: B-. It was a formula tag match but the ending changes the whole thing. It’s fairly clear that the champions retained here, but I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say B-. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. Eugene gets bonus points for finishing the match though so there we are.

In the back, Christian and Tomko run into Edge. Edge says he has an idea.

We recap Trish and Lita, which makes me think I have to give them credit for coming up with a story rather than saying we know we’ve got nothing else so here you go. Trish is the heel here and had been all evil when Lita lost her baby. She responded by breaking Trish’s nose.

Trish says she’s ready.

Women’s Title: Trish Stratus vs. Lita

How many times did these two fight, about a million? Ross calls it a tag title for no apparent reason. I love her theme song actually. Trish’s cleavage is big enough to hide a small country in. They fight for a bit before Trish goes to the floor. Lita goes to the apron and throws a Thesz Press at Trish, and rips HER knee to shreds.

Literally, two matches and two torn knees. She would be out for a few months also as she ripped her ACL. They actually continue the match though for about another three minutes before Lita just has nothing left and the Chick Kick gives Trish another title.

Rating: N/A. Not fair to grade them on this at all. As for a grade, I’d go with DD. That’s of course for Dogma and Dreams, which was my textbook in my political theory class. What did you think it was for?

Edge wants out of the Chamber and offers his spot to Christian, Bischoff says no and Shawn shows up to say he’ll call it fairly. Thanks for your presence here Shawn. Again, why aren’t you in the actual match?

Intercontinental Title: Shelton Benjamin vs. Maven

No backstory here at all as it’s more or less just a random title match. This was more or less the last ditch effort to make Maven mean a thing. Amazingly enough it didn’t work at all. Shelton is WAY over here as this was right before the hottest period of his career and four months before the match with Shawn that made him the hottest thing on the planet and is still his career highlight.

The heat on Maven is excellent. He cuts a promo in the middle of the match, saying that he doesn’t know how many people here speak English. He’s getting some very decent heat here. I’m almost impressed. He throws in a little Spanish, telling the fans to shut their mouths. This is a fine idea but this has gone on five minutes.

And now he’s leaving. He changes his mind at 9 and turns back to the ring. Literally 5 seconds after he gets in he gets rolled up for a pin. He gets on the mic and says he wants another match because that didn’t count. Shelton comes in, the bell rings, he hits the Exploder Suplex and it’s over in 5 seconds.

Rating: N/A. WHAT WAS THE FREAKING POINT OF THIS??? Literally this was ten minutes that just made no sense at all and there were two “matches”. What in the heck was going on here? I flat out do not get this, but if it was an actual match it would fail and fail hard.

Hassan says that Ross and Lawler are in trouble and that he’s not nervous. He calls Puerto Rico second rate. The crowd has been white hot all night so this gets them really going.

Muhammad Hassan vs. Jerry Lawler

To say Hassan was hated is an understatement. He actually was considered for a run with a world title and I was fine with that. The bell sounds really weird for some reason. And Ross goes with Lawler to the ring so there is zero commentary for this match. Um, ok? Lawler is of course completely over here and this is just a basic storyline to get Hassan over. The lack of commentary is just weird to see in a match.

It’s like watching the match in the arena which is kind of cool actually but it’s leaving me with far less material to go with. Daivari tries to steal Ross’ hat. Lawler gets in some basic stuff here but it’s more or less a total squash here and that’s just fine. This match does get some time and the best thing with that is they have Lawler get in some offense to keep Hassan from just dominating the entire time.

This is where Lawler is incredibly valuable: he’s still loved enough and in good enough shape that you can throw him in a match when you need to in order to put someone over or make someone seem evil. The fans however aren’t as enthralled by this as a boring chant starts.

I mean really, that chant is boring. Can’t they be the slightest bit original? Lawler survives the cobra clutch and we get the showdown with Lawler and Daivari. It winds up with Lawler walking into a downward spiral for the win though.

Rating: C-. The match should have gone a bit shorter but this was fine. It gave Hassan the win he needed and blew off the storyline so that’s all you can ask for I guess. This was fine I guess but it was really nothing special at the end of the day. The commentary thing really was weird and hurt it I think.

Orton and Batista have a really badly acted showdown. Orton wants to know if Batista is going to beat up HHH or kiss up to him. Why do I picture Vince drooling over the second possibility?

Wrestlemania Recall: Mania 12 and the iron man. I guess this was a way to let Ross get back to the announce booth.

Coach joins Ross for commentary until King gets back. I guess Ross is no Joey Styles.

We recap Kane vs. Snitsky. More or less Lita was Kane’s wife and was pregnant and in a match vs. a jobber named Gene Snitsky, Kane was pushed onto Lita and she lost her baby. Snitsky and Kane feuded, and Kane jobbed. And people wonder why no one takes him seriously.

Kane vs. Gene Snitsky

We get the Ross lingo of bowling shoe ugly, translating into we know it’s going to suck but it’s all we’ve got. And yeah it’s crap. The problem here is that no one cares about Gene at all and he and Kane are more or less the exact same style. When it’s Taker there’s at least the chance that he can shift things up a bit. Here that just isn’t going to happen as it’s nothing but big men using power moves and the occasional work with weapons even though there are disqualifications in this match.

There’s at least a reason this is happening but we’re at 8 minutes here and this is showing no signs of actually ending anytime soon. These guys should have no more than like 10 at the very most. And now we’re at 10 or so. Oh joy indeed. It’s the same exact stuff going on all day here too: power moves from both guys, one guy hits two power moves in a row, resthold, start it all over again.

Snitsky bites Kane’s ear in there somewhere for a reference to a boxing match nearly 8 years old. Oh and they’ve also managed to kill the best crowd I can remember in awhile. This is just boring. FINALLY Kane hits a tombstone to no pop to get the pin.

Rating: D-. Seriously, 12 minutes for these two? Are you freaking KIDDING me? Against a small guy, Kane might have maybe been able to make this passable. This was just freaking stupid though and it was painful to watch.

We get the ad for the 2005 Rumble: West Side Story version. For the life of me, someone made money for coming up with this. That blows my mind to this day. “We’ll step into the ring and reach an understanding. When the smoke has cleared I’ll be the last man standing.” I wonder why no one was watching back then.

Lawler is back.

We go poolside for some reason to see the Divas and Simon Dean from earlier in the day. Maria and Christy….wow. For no apparent reason Val Venis, Rosey, Hurricane and a guy I couldn’t see get a Diva on all of their shoulders and we have a big chicken fight. Christy wins by pulling Maria’s top off and shoving her in the water. They looked great, but what the heck was the point of this?

We go from that to a statue of the Virgin Mary. The irony here kills me as 3 of the 4 girls in there were in Playboy at one time or another. Oh never mind it’s Christopher Columbus. I’m a Protestant so there you are.

We recap the chamber which more or less is Benoit and HHH both pinned Edge so the title was held up. The other three were just thrown in so we could have a major gimmick match.

Raw World Title: Chris Jericho vs. HHH vs. Edge vs. Batista vs. Chris Benoit vs. Randy Orton

The order of the people coming in was preset through a Beat the Clock challenge. Not wild on that but I can certainly life with it as it’s not a terribly huge deal. HHH and Batista have been arguing as HHH thinks it’s about him and Batista is more or less the hottest thing on the freaking planet at this point with no one being able to even come close to touching him.

There was no way he was winning here though as that was clearly being saved for Mania. Ross is WAY too excited for this. Evolution argues a bit in the back before the match as we’re just killing time now. Bischoff does a big long intro as they might as well have him saying I’m stalling here. A LONG explanation of the rules from Lillian follows as at least she’s something to look at.

Shawn is the referee here and gets a great pop. Edge, HHH, Orton and Batista who is coming in last are all in pods. We’re at about 15 minutes since the last match ended and we’re not only halfway through the intros yet. Ok so 23 minutes after the Kane match ends, Benoit and Jericho get going. Good to see that they’re going fast here. Any combination of these two and Angle means entertainment so I can’t complain at all here.

With Shawn in there also, you’re looking at over 15 IC Title reigns if my math is right. Yep this is still awesome. Like I said, these two are really hard to mess up. I did say that didn’t I? Oh ok. Well this pairing is hard to mess up. So now, like I said, these two are really hard to mess up. Benoit gets the top rope suplex and lands on his head. That simply can’t be good. The chamber really is an awesome sight.

Oh I think the chamber order is random other than Batista. HHH is in third. Good night that’s a lot of IC Title reigns. He more or less destroys both Canadians as they can’t look good in the same match as HHH right? Well to be fair they’re both worn down so that’s fine. Benoit has a DEEP cut on his forehead. Jericho blocks a Pedigree to put HHH on the cage outside the ring. The Chamber really is an amazing spectacle.

Everyone is down and it’s Edge. Yeah it is random other than the final spot. I like that actually. He spears or hits Edgecutions on everyone. He needs to go back to that when he returns. Edge breaks out a belly to belly. That’s a new one on me from him. Jericho is having the tar beaten out of him by everyone but somehow HHH is standing tall. Who would have seen that? He gets another Pedigree countered and he hits the steal again.

Jericho gets busted open but it’s a girly man cut. Edge avoids the crossface. HHH is bleeding on the nose. He’s also managing to control more of this match than everyone else is somehow. Now who would have predicted something like THAT? Jericho takes a Pedigree just in time for Orton to come in with everyone down. Orton had been hot as all goodness about 4 months ago so he was promptly given a one month reign to get the belt off Benoit to put it back on HHH.

Orton never beat him again in that run and he hasn’t been that hot since. But hey, HHH got another title reign out of it right? The fans are chanting RKO. See what I mean? More or less everyone in this whole match is over as free beer in a frat house other than HHH but whatever. Jericho gets an RKO as he’s just not having a good night.

Benoit gets a diseased crossface on Orton. He’s up on one knee and it’s really just a chinlock with the arm down. Benoit puts HHH in the Sharpshooter but Orton hits an RKO on him. Why he wouldn’t wait until HHH tapped is beyond me but whatever. Edge accidentally spears Shawn and then Orton but there’s no referee. He yells at Shawn and suddenly is out cold and Jericho hits a Lionsault after the chin music to put Edge out.

Jericho gets out of his second Pedigree. That’s three times he’s been set up for it. Dang does HHH just like having Canadians between his legs? Benoit hits a MASSIVE swandive headbutt from the top of the pod before being put in both the Walls of Jericho AND THE CROSSFACE. He hangs on FOR THIRTY SECONDS before Batista comes in for the save. Yeah, that’s not completely insane or ridiculous or anything like that.

He’s just been in a 15 minute mega cage match and then taken a former world champion’s finisher after being in the Sharpshooter for a decent while earlier and now has two MORE world champion finishing moves on him, but he can hang on for 30 seconds. Do you see why he’s so freaking hated? It’s ALL Batista here and the crowd is way into him. Oh and HHH is back up 30 seconds later. That is just freaking stupid on so many levels.

Batista throws Jericho into a cameraman to give us a cool camera shot. In a cool looking spot, Batista spinebusters Benoit and then spinebusters (spinebusts?) Jericho on top of him. That’s followed by an AWESOME Batista Bomb to eliminate Jericho and it’s an all Evolution final. Why my stars and garter belts, who would have seen this coming? So more or less it’s now Orton vs. the world. The crowd is relatively quiet but they’re popping at various times to make sure they’re still alive.

Orton stays alive and manages to get a low blow and an RKO to end Batista. HHH sits back and lets him get pinned which would become an issue on Raw later on. Orton gets the RKO but Batista stayed in and Flair gets in somehow so Batista can more or less end Orton with a clothesline that was a secondary finisher back in the day. Why did we need Flair to stop him? I mean it’s not like Shawn can do anything about Batista. Also why are referees so freaking dumb?

He saw the RKO and then Batista is behind him and all of a sudden Orton is down and HHH is in the same spot. How dumb are you man? The Pedigree ends this. A massive HHH worshipping festival takes us out.

Rating: B. Once Jericho was out, there might as well have just been a big celebration for HHH then as it was obvious he was going to win the whole thing. The drama was lacking badly for a long time here and in the end it was little more than a cheap way to get HHH his tenth title reign.

Edge, Benoit and Jericho had little purpose in this at all as it was always going to come down to those three. This was good though as the violence was all there and the gimmick is always cool. Not terrible but not epic like some others. The time here, 35 minutes, is about perfect though for one of these things.

Overall Rating: D+. This was just not a very good show at all. There is just nothing at all to talk about on it as it felt like something between a Raw and a PPV. The wrestling is ok at best and other than HHH getting his title back that he had already, nothing really happened here.

Hassan winning shocks no one, Trish gets another meaningless title reign and Eugene is hurt so the tag titles are changed soon after this. I mean, I don’t get it. What’s the appeal of this? The main event is good but by no means required viewing.

Other than that, take a rather large pass on this one. It’s not terrible, but it’s just not good. As much as people are going to get on me, it reminded me of Genesis a lot: decent wrestling throughout, but nothing at all that makes you really have to see the show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I’m watching the 2005 Rumble and there’s a stretch in the early part with an amazing group of talent coming in one after another.  My task for you all: rank the talent in the ring at the moment.  The guys in the match currently are: Guerrero, Benoit, Mysterio, Benjamin, Edge, Booker T and Chris Jericho.  I’m looking for what order you think they have in overall talent, not prestige or accomplishments.  My order:1. Chris Jericho

2. Chris Benoit

3. Edge

4. Shelton Benjamin

5. Rey Mysterio

6. Eddie Guerrero

7. Booker T

At the end of the day, there isn’t a wrong answer to this question.

Give me lists.  NOW!

Yesterday (Tuesday) saw a new record for most views to my site in a single day.  The old record took about nine months to break.  This one took three weeks.  Thank you all for continuously showing up and reading my rambling thoughts.  I can’t say enough how much I appreciate it.

KB

I had some technical issues so I had to tweek a few things on the All Reviews page.  Everything should be the same but if you find a problem with it or any of the other pages listed along the top of the site or on any other other lists of reviews, please let me know.

KB

As confirmed by WWE.comAlberto Del Rio beat Big Show in a last man standing match to win the World Heavyweight Title.  I’m very surprised by this and the field is now open for guesses on what it means for the Rumble and Mania, but I can’t imagine Del Rio holding the title until then.  Also for you trivia people, this is the first time the title has changed hands on Smackdown since 2011.

Thoughts/predictions?

I spend so much time talking about how awesome 1997 was that I might as well watch all of the Raws from that year. This is the year where the WWF was completely destroyed by WCW, but they were planting the seeds for their return to glory. This year includes the Border War storyline which was the setup for Austin’s rise to the top of the wrestling world. I’ll be doing two episodes at a time of this year followed by two each from 2003, as that way I can have everything from 1997-2003. Let’s get to it.

Monday Night Raw
Date: January 6, 1997
Location: Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York
Attendance: 6,855
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

We’re less than two weeks away from the Rumble, which means a lot of stuff is going to start happening on raw in a hurry. Sid is currently world champion, having taken the title from Shawn in MSG at Survivor Series. He then beat Bret at IYH 15 to do what likely no one else did in this era: beat Bret and Shawn in PPV title matches. Like I said though, the focus at the moment is the Rumble so let’s get to it.

Also for the next few weeks, the show is still just one hour. That would change in February.

Vader wants a piece of Bret Hart.

We recap the debut of Shotgun Saturday Night, which arguably is the start of the Attitude Era.

Old school opening sequence still rocks.

Mankind vs. Owen Hart

Both guys are heels here and Owen is a tag champion. It’s amazing how different things look here with the set just being the big RAW letters. Owen takes him down almost immediately and tries the Sharpshooter but Mankind makes the rope. Mankind, who is looking SLIM here, jabs Owen in the throat to take over. There’s the running knee in the corner and Mankind screams in his face a lot.

Owen grabs the arm but has to fight off the Claw to slow him down all over again. Hart bites down on the leather thing Mankind uses for said Claw before punching him in the face some more. A Cactus Clothesline puts both guys on the floor where Owen blasts Mankind in the ribs with a Slammy and drops him over the barricade stomach first. Back in and Owen stays on the ribs to knock Mankind to the mat.

Off to an abdominal stretch from Owen as we get some good psychology from a Stu Hart student. Who would have seen that coming? Mankind escapes the hold but gets taken down by an enziguri, sending him back out to the floor. Mankind finds something like a drink tray to blast Owen in the head as we take a break. Back with Mankind in control but having a neckbreaker reversed into a DDT for no cover. Hart goes up but jumps into the Claw which he rolls through out of nowhere to escape. Owen is sent shoulder first into the post and walks into a piledriver out of nowhere for the pin.

Rating: B. Good solid wrestling match here with both guys working well together. That’s no surprise as these two are wrestlers who seem to fit together with anyone. Mankind was still pretty new here and was viewed as incredibly bizarre, which would be the case for most of 1997 until he became more of a strange tough guy.

Shawn and the Lotharios are looking forward to Sid’s interview later.

More from Shotgun with Ahmed beating up D’Lo Brown on the streets of New York. Literally.

Here are Fake Razor and Fake Diesel as Honky Tonk Man is now on commentary. He’s looking for a new protege at the moment.

Razor Ramon/Diesel vs. Doug Furnas/Phillip LaFon

Diesel and LaFaon start. Ok so LaFon has the short hair. Got it. Kane had one thing going for him in this angle: he actually looked like Diesel. Razor on the other hand looks like he’s wearing a homemade Halloween costume. Off to Razor for a fallaway slam before he misses a charge. Tag off to Furnas for a quick headlock before Razor cranks on the arm for a bit. The announcers talk about the main event until it’s off to Diesel.

We get some classic big man clubbering before Razor hooks an abdominal stretch. We take a break and come back with Diesel hitting a side slam for two. Furnas can’t fight out of the corner and we stay in the slow beatdown segment. Furnas finally escapes and makes the tag to LaFaon who fires off forearms and kicks to take the imposters down. A dropkick gets two on Diesel and things break down again. A Frankensteiner gets two on Ramon and a middle rope Hart Attack gets the pin on Diesel.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t bad but it went on WAY too long. It felt like it was supposed to be a squash but it wound up being a long match which didn’t make any of these guys look any good. Fake Razor and Diesel didn’t work at all and I don’t think anyone was actually entertained by them. Does it seem like I have nothing at all to say here?

We recap Goldust and HHH last week where Marlena was injured.

More Shotgun with Marlena flashing Sultan to save Goldust.

Bret wants Shawn to interfere in his match tonight. He isn’t worried about Vader either.

Here’s Sid for a chat. Sid goes on a rant about how he’s going to destroy Shawn in San Antonio. I think that’s what he’s talking about at least, as Sid isn’t the easiest guy in the world to understand. He might have been wishing Shawn a spicy pasta. Shawn comes out to do commentary and some stripping.

Bret Hart vs. Vader

Not bad for a main event. Vader is feuding with Taker at this point and yesterday, Vader’s manager Jim Cornette got destroyed on Superstars. Vader pounds Hart in the corner and sends him to the floor but Hart sends him into the steps to reverse control. Back in and Bret works on the arm on the mat but it doesn’t last long due to Vader running Bret over. A middle rope clothesline puts Bret down again and Austin is watching in the back as we take a break.

Back with Vader running over Bret again for no cover. A HUGE middle rope splash gets two but the moonsault takes WAY too long to set up. Bret starts in on the Five Moves of Doom which has Shawn cracking some very funny lines about how Bret is repetitive. Bret goes up for the middle rope elbow but gets shoved to the floor instead. Sid comes in out of nowhere and steals a cameraman. During the distraction, Austin comes out and Stuns Bret on the floor. That and a Vader Bomb are enough for the kind of upset pin on the Hitman.

Rating: C+. This was Bret’s bread and butter: beating on guys bigger than he was. The interference was a bit much but the matches these four would combine to have over the upcoming weeks would be more than worth it. Bret getting screwed again would be a major factor in the coming weeks and months, which made things very awesome.

Sid powerbombs Jose Lothario’s (Shawn’s manager and mentor) son in the back. Shawn runs to the back to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Long matches aside, you could see the pure talent in this company that would wind up saving the company in the long run. WCW had the star power, but at the end of the day this is wrestling, and if you can’t deliver a decent match, you’re going to lose some fans. It would take time, but eventually it would work out in the end.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I did this one specifically for this series so today you get a double shot.

Monday Nitro
Date: January 8, 2001
Location: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, Disco Inferno

It’s the go home show for Sin and since this is 2001 WCW, odds are things are going to make a lot more sense than they did the year before. Scott Steiner is world champion and is getting ready to face Sid and Jeff Jarrett in a fourway on Sunday. That’s only three names though, because the fourth man is a MYSTERY MAN who is running around in a mask at the moment. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Ric Flair who is CEO of the company and flanked by security here. Flair sucks up to the Vikings fans so apparently he’s a face here. He talks about how awesome WCW is but he has business to attend to. Apparently no one wants Mike Sanders to be Commissioner because Sanders won it in a match. Flair isn’t sure but there might have been outside interference to win the job. I guess Flair doesn’t watch his own matches. Anyway, Sanders has to defend the job on Sunday.

As for the world title, Scott Steiner interfered in some match on Thunder so Flair isn’t sure who to put in the main event. Yeah it’s six days before the PPV and they don’t have a main event. Here’s Jarrett to say he’s already in the three way on Sunday, so Sid shouldn’t get in because Sid didn’t beat him. Logical enough I guess. Flair says Jarrett is being a Tennessee Titan (how is that an insult?) and says there’s no three way on Sunday.

This brings out world champion Scott Steiner who wants the three way with Jarrett and the Mystery Man. Instead, it’s going to be a fourway with Sid thrown into the mix. Steiner freaks so Flair shows us a clip of Steiner and Jarrett arguing over Jarrett getting into a qualifying match for the PPV title shot. Now we get a clip from Starrcade where Jeff accidentally hit Steiner with a guitar. Wouldn’t Steiner know both of these things already? Tonight it’s Steiner vs. Jarrett for the title.

Goldberg and Sarge, as in Buddy Lee Parker, get here. Goldberg is looking for Kronik.

Mike Sanders complains about being put in the match on Sunday. Tonight it’s Ron Harris vs. the Cat, as in Sanders’ opponent at Sin.

Shane Douglas yells at Flair in the back and gets a match with Sid as a result. If Shane wins, he might get into the title match.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Shannon Moore

Moore is in 3 Count here which is always awesome. Chavo is Cruiserweight Champion but this is non-title for no apparent reason. The last days of WCW didn’t get much right but Chavo was on fire around this time so the match should be good. Apparently Shane Helms, Moore’s 3 Count teammate and guest commentator for this match, gets a shot on Sunday. Chavo runs his mouth to Helms before the match to hype Sunday. Actually he does even better than that and makes this a title match. If he loses, his rematch is Sunday so Helms is locked out on Sunday.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero vs. Shannon Moore

Shannon jumps him to start and hits some Hardy style offense, including a kind of Whisper in the Wind and Poetry in Motion minus a Matt in the corner. Chavo comes back with a belly to back suplex and some HARD chops. Off to a modified chinlock as Chavo yells trash at Helms. After we kill some time in that, Shannon fights up and gets a fast two off a victory roll. A small package gets the same and it’s back to the chinlock. That goes nowhere so Guerrero settles for a dropkick for two.

Moore comes back with a spinning springboard Fameasser for a near fall of his own before putting Chavo on the top. He tries a springboard something but botches it badly, falling down without touching Chavo at all. A headscissors puts Chavo down for two but he can’t hit a sleeper slam (second Billy Gunn move of the match). Chavo grabs a brainbuster (by name only as it was really a suplex) to retain out of nowhere.

Rating: C. This was your usual cruiserweight spot fest but that’s perfectly fine. At the end of the day this had a lot of untapped potential with Shane wanting to get the title shot but not wanting to screw over his partner at the same time. Instead, Helms sat on the floor and did nothing at all. That’s WCW for you: the one time character development would be good, they don’t do it.

Shane chases Chavo off to prevent another brainbuster.

Kwee Wee and Paisley (Sharmell) arrive and Sanders beats up Kwee Wee (the resident flamboyant gay character) for no apparent reason. Big Vito makes the save for an even less apparent reason.

Luger and Bagwell are in the back standing there. Nothing is said, nothing is done. Ok then.

Ernest Miller vs. Ron Harris

Miller has Ms. Jones, a decent looking Hispanic chick who dances with him, in his corner. Both Harris Brothers get in the ring and Miller says he may be mad but he’s not crazy. He says he has no beef with them but they look like baby Frankensteins and the beating is on. We finally get down to Ron pounding on Miller on his own for a few minutes until the Cat (Miller) comes back with his kicks and dancing elbow. The referee gets in Miller’s face and the twins switch. Not that it matters as they come in and hit their H Bomb finisher for a fast pin. Nothing to see here, other than somehow overbooking a two minute match.

Post break, Miller dances in the back.

General Rection wishes Sid luck.

Jarrett tells Steiner to not let Flair get in his head. There are enough people in there already.

Mike Sanders and the Natural Born Thrillers and the commissioner makes Vito/Kwee Wee vs. two “randomly selected opponents.”

Luger and Bagwell tell Kronik that Sarge and Goldberg have been talking trash about them. A non-sanctioned match is made for later.

Here’s Team Canada (Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Elix Skipper and Major Gunns) to talk about their opponents on Sunday: the Filthy Animals. Tonight it’s Storm vs. Kidman but on Sunday, the Canadians want a Penalty Box match. If you break a rule, you go to the box. I guess the match is made.

Lance Storm vs. Billy Kidman

Kidman hits a fast rana to take over but he gets draped over the top rope to slow him down. Awesome throws in a chair which Storm wedges between the top and middle ropes but Kidman slows him up to avoid being rammed. Storm hits a backbreaker and bends Kidman over his knee for a bit. We hit the abdominal stretch for a bit before Storm springboards into a dropkick to put both guys down.

Kidman speeds things up and hits a BK Bomb (Sky High) for two before Storm hits a superkick for the same. Kidman’s kickout sends Storm’s head into the chair (not a DQ for no apparent reason) and Kidman rolls him up for two, as Awesome pulls Billy to the floor. A brawl breaks out but it’s STILL not a DQ. Kidman hits the Kid Crusher (Killswitch) for the pin.

Rating: C-. Again the match was fine but they overbooked it with weapons and interference that just wasn’t needed. I get the brawling on the floor between the teams, but at the same time, did we really need to see everything else going on? That kind of stuff can get really annoying and distracting after awhile and that moment was about a year ago in WCW.

Shane Douglas vs. Sid Vicious

Shane jumps him to start but Sid will have none of this selling stuff. We quickly head to the floor where Sid sends him into the barricade to put Shane in even more trouble. Douglas gets dropped face first onto the announce table as the beating continues. Back in and Shane hits Sid low to take over for a bit. Sid comes back with a big boot but Shane pokes him in the eye to break up a chokeslam. The second attempt connects though and a powerbomb ends this quick. Not much above a squash here.

Steiner and Jarrett jump Sid as he leaves.

Flair says Sanders is out of control but he thinks things will work out for the best. If Steiner and Jarrett don’t go their hardest, they’re both suspended and Steiner is stripped of the belt. Also the penalty box match is on and Jim Duggan is referee for no apparent reason. Duggan says he’ll call it fair. Why isn’t he wearing a shirt?

Here’s Hardcore Champion Terry Funk with something to say. He says he’s the king of hardcore and it’s about time for the CEO to realize he’s the king. Flair wants to destroy him by putting him against nobodies like Crowbar. Apparently if Funk associates with nobodies like that, he’ll become one. Gee, GREAT way put over young talent there guys. Funk wants GOLDBERG in a hardcore match. Or Steiner. Or Page. Crowbar finally comes out with a chair (and Daphne dancing with sparklers for some reason) to say he stood toe to toe with Funk at Starrcade. Crowbar idolized Funk growing up apparently. Funk: “You should idolize me.”

Funk says there wouldn’t be hardcore in this country if not for him because he started ECW. Is this an attempt to turn Funk heel? Crowbar says he’s tougher than anyone Funk has ever fought and on Sunday, he’ll take the title from Funk. He promises to take the torch from Funk and become the new leader of hardcore. He charges the ring now but Funk bails. Ok so Funk is a heel. That makes a lot more sense.

Meng sneaks up on Funk and hits him with a chair but can’t put Funk down. He kicks Daphne instead and Death Grips both Funk and Crowbar (literally through the wooden chair Crowbar was holding) and takes the belt, saying (!!!) that if they want the belt, come take it from him. Meng would win the title on Sunday and sign with WWF, returning to the company at the Rumble. You know, because putting a title on a guy you don’t have signed to a contract (in other words, EXACTLY what WCW exploited with ECW) was stupid.

We go to an office in the back (presumably Sanders’) where someone changes the envelope that he had earlier with the names for the match later.

Kronik vs. Goldberg/Dwayne Bruce

The idea here is that Goldberg has to match his old winning streak to get another title shot and if he loses, he’s out of WCW. Bruce is a tiny trainer and has a broken arm thanks to Luger and Bagwell. Adams jumps Goldie in the aisle as Clark beats up Bruce in the ring. Clark, ever the genius, goes out to help beat up Goldberg instead of beating up the career jobber with a broken arm. Even SCHIAVONE says this is stupid.

Clark sends Bruce’s arm into the post as the two of them officially start the match. Off to Adams as Hudson panics. There’s a gorilla press to Bruce but he counters a suplex into a bad DDT. Hot tag to Goldberg, Kronik gets in some offense, Goldberg remembers he’s Goldberg, house is cleaned, Jackhammer, pin. Not enough of the actual match to rate but it was nothing of note.

During Goldberg’s offense, Luger and Bagwell came out and ripped the cast off of Bruce’s arm and beat on the broken arm for a good while. They beat Goldberg up as well and Luger decked Adams for no apparent reason.

Here’s Sanders to pick the names to face Kwee Wee/Big Vito. If your name IS NOT in the envelope, you’re banned from ringside. Apparently this is a last man standing match for no apparent reason. The names are Sanders, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire (all Natural Born Thrillers) and then the fourth and fifth are DDP and Nash, making it a 3-2 handicap last man standing match. Sure why not. Oh and Page and Nash are tag champions who just happen to be defending against O’Haire and Palumbo on Sunday.

Natural Born Thrillers vs. The Insiders

It’s a huge brawl to start of course with Page getting beaten down by Chuck in the corner. The camera work sucks here as they keep focusing on one thing when a simple wide shot would be perfect. Palumbo and O’Haire superkick each other so only Sanders is left standing. Page hits him low to put all five guys down. Everybody gets up at about 8 thank goodness and Page cleans house. The other Thrillers try to run in but Kwee Wee and Vito (weren’t they supposed to be in this?) hold them off. Page and Nash win with their finishers. This wasn’t even three and a half minutes long.

Rating: F. This was not only bad, but REALLY stupid at the same time. We have the challengers for Sunday with a man advantage and they lose in less than four minutes in a match where you have to stay down longer than for a regular pin? This company deserves to go out of business. Oh and of course Page/Nash would drop the belts on Sunday, because this match means nothing at all.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett

Steiner says he would beat anyone thrown out here tonight but he gets to face his friend instead. Actually he isn’t and Flair can get over it. Jarrett is in the back and says it’s not happening either. Post break here’s Jeff to say the two of them are tired of this c-o-n-spiracy stuff so the match isn’t happening until Sunday. Flair comes out and says have the match and Jeff is all okey dokey so there’s the bell.

Jarrett pulls back the guitar but Midajah (Steiner’s chick) warns Scott and the beating begins. Steiner charges into some boots in the corner to put him down and Jeff chokes away a bit. A jawbreaker and atomic drop stop a Steiner comeback and a top rope cross body gets two. Steiner comes back with a tilt-a-whirl side slam but stops to pose instead of covering.

Jeff gets put in the Tree of Woe so Steiner can choke a bit and we head outside. Jeff is whipped into the barricade a few times before Steiner slams him onto the announce table. A WEAK low blow slows Steiner down and back inside we go. Back in and Steiner blocks the Stroke before getting two off the belly to belly. Sid and the Mystery Man run in for the double DQ.

Rating: D. This was pure filler with an ending that should have been seen coming a mile away. Steiner was all muscle and dominance and we didn’t have time to see if that would mesh with Jarrett’s basic style. Make no mistake: Jarrett could wrestle with anybody but Steiner was a hard style to work with. The match was nothing at all though.

The fans bark because they think it’s Rick Steiner (it’s not) and a big brawl ends the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible, but the lack of star power and the BIG barrier between the old and new guys really stands out here. WCW was long past dead at this point so it’s not like it matters in the long run anyway. Sin was built up well and wound up being a pretty decent show if I remember right, but overall there’s just nothing worth seeing here with some head scratching booking, pretty lame matches and nothing that makes me want to watch Sin. Again though, the company was dead by this point anyway and the stuff that happened at Sin was just filling time until they closed the doors.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

According to him.

http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/269101/Pope-DAngelo-Dinero-Done-With-TNA.htm

At the end of the day, he hasn’t done anything of note in years so I can’t say I’ll miss him that much.

Thoughts?