Thunder
Date: May 17, 2000
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Attendance: 3,066
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

I saw this on the WCW Vault channel so let’s take a look at this again. Thunder is of course an all time disaster of a wrestling show and we are at the point where WCW has more or less given up. The draw for this show is the Millionaires Club vs. the New Blood, with WCW thinking the fans would get behind the old rich wrestlers. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of recent carnage and chaos with no context whatsoever. This feels like a scene from a sitcom where someone is tasked with making a simple film but instead goes nuts and turns it into some art house deal which makes no sense but they blame the audience for not getting it (Diane did it on Cheers).

Opening sequence, featuring a countdown to the start of thunder. Isn’t the point of thunder that you don’t know when it’s going to start?

The New Blood arrives in a school bus, because that’s cool. Shane Douglas takes roll because Eric Bischoff has put him in charge. This leads to a fight with Konnan and here is the Millionaires Club, plus the Misfits In Action, running in for the brawl. Hulk Hogan, all in black with FUNB on his back (oh 2000 WCW, you glorious disaster), steals the keys to the bus.

Commentary welcomes us to the show and tells us that Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo aren’t here tonight. Dang I picked a good one.

Here is the Millionaires Club and the Misfits In Action, with Hulk Hogan saying they just stole the keys to the bus. Whatever Shane Douglas had planned is out the window because the Millionaires Club is booking the show tonight. Cue the New Blood, with Douglas telling Hogan to shut up. Hogan mocks Billy Kidman for the match at Slamboree and wants a rematch at the Great American Bash. If Hogan wins, he gets a World Title match at Bash At The Beach (DUN DUN DUN) and the match seems to be made.

As for tonight, Hogan wants to face Horace, but Jeff Jarrett cuts them off, saying he wants his World Title back. Cue champion Ric Flair (who would win and lose the title again before the end of the month) to deck Jarrett with the title and the big brawl is on again. So The Millionaires Club has already outsmarted the young, athletic guys and beaten them up twice inside of five minutes.

In the back, Konnan and Shane Douglas argue again, with Konnan and the rest of the Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and the Disco Inferno) walking out.

Misfits In Action vs. Filthy Animals

We also get Major Gunns, who is rather quickly oogled. Corporal Cajun plays to the crowd to start but gets jumped from behind, only for Inferno to get caught in the wrong corner for some running splashes. Gunns comes in for a chest to the face before it’s back to Guerrera for some dropkicks to Stash’s leg (with Schiavone getting Stash’s rank wrong, even if PRIVATE STASH makes more sense).

Mysterio comes in to take over on Rection (because…yeah that’s his name) in the corner, but the Bronco Buster is cut off. A powerbomb out of the corner drops Mysterio and it’s off to Loco vs. Konnan. Cue Shawn Stasiak (who is also part of the New Blood) to jump Loco for the DQ at 3:18.

Rating: C. Why do I have a bad feeling that this is going to be the best match on the show? You had a bunch of talented wrestlers in the ring here but there is only so much you can do when the match barely gets three minutes, especially with interference for a DQ ending. Also, it might be nice to have commentary explain why Stasiak was out there, but I’m assuming it just a battle of the stables.

Post match the MIA gets beaten down but Booker T. makes the save. Gunns gives Loco mouth to mouth. This allows commentary to talk about her lung capacity, because this is what WCW 2000 was like. And that’s the real reason this match existed: to put Major Gunns over.

The Millionaires Club is happy, though Lex Luger goes to deal with something.

Booker T. is happy to be with the Misfits In Action and their FUBAR (FU Bischoff And Russo) shirts. He’s ready to declare all out war.

Hulk Hogan vs. Horace

This is a rematch from Nitro where Horace used a chair to win. Before the match, Hogan says he never did anything to deal with Horace’s father (Hogan’s brother) and now it’s time to teach Horace something. In the back, Horace decks Kidman so he can take Torrie Wilson with him. Hogan jumps Horace on the way in and hits a clothesline to send Horace outside. Horace is sent into the steps and Hogan whips out a table but takes too long, allowing Horace to fight back.

That lasts all of three seconds as Hogan fights back and Heenan and Tenay get into it over Hogan giving Horace chores when he was a kid. Heenan: “You have servants for that!”. Back in and Hogan whips him with a belt, followed by a clothesline with said belt. Wilson gets up for a distraction and gets in a kiss on the cheek from Horace, which draws Kidman out to jump Horace. Hogan is back up to chair Horace in the back, sends Kidman through the table, and gets the pin at 3:56.

Rating: D. And yeah there you go: Hogan squashes Horace and beats up Kidman at the same time, just to show you that this isn’t so much a competition as much as it is the Millionaires Club having target practice. I get that Horace wasn’t going to be the next big thing, but this was domination and that doesn’t help anyone but Hogan. Also, Stasiak interfering in the previous match draws a DQ but Hogan can use a belt, a chair, and shrug off interference and the referee is fine with it?

Post match Hogan kisses Wilson, who seems to love it. Just in case you didn’t get that Hogan is the star here.

Lex Luger is in a car and wants to go find a gym. He’s told “go down here and make a right, you can’t miss it”, which is quite the detailed set of directions.

Post break, Luger winds up at a gym and finds Chuck Palumbo lifting so Luger beats him up with a muscle bar and various other things. Luger whips him with a belt, which is the second segment in a row with the same weapon. He drops a 40lb weight on his ribs too and then throws it away, totally showing that it isn’t fake in the slightest. Luger pours a protein shake over him for a bonus as the New Blood gets humiliated again.

Ralphus and Norman Smile have “t-sherts fer sale” in the parking lot because they need to eat.

Hardcore Title: Terry Funk vs. Ernest Miller

Funk is defending and calls Miller out. Miller comes to the stage and threatens to whip the old piece of junk, earning himself a DDT for two. A neckbreaker gets the same but Miller kicks him in the head and they fight to the back. They brawl with various items and a chair to the head drops Funk. We hear about Funk’s career, with Heenan sounding very respectful of him, as Funk comes back with a trashcan. A bag of popcorn to the head rocks Funk and he gets sent into a steel door.

The door is slammed down onto Funk before Miller lifts it up. Tenay: “If he hadn’t lifted the door, how could Funk have kicked out?” They go outside where Miller spins a rake around and hits him in the face. Smiley and Ralphus t-shert stand is broken up and Funk beats on Ralphus’ car with a chair. Funk breaks that up and throws him into the (open) hood of the trunk. Smiley tries to sell Miller a shirt and gets yelled at, so Smiley chairs him into the trunk, where Funk gets the pin to retain at 5:41.

Rating: C+. This started off lame but then Funk turned into his usual amazing self and got the stupid thing over. WCW’s hardcore stuff was stupid and Bischoff going after Funk and the Hardcore Title wasn’t much better, but sweet goodness Funk could make it work just due to talent, willpower and effort. Far more entertaining than it had any right to be.

Post break, Normal Smiley and Ralphus are arrested for selling bootleg merchandise.

Here is Mike Awesome with a stretcher to announce that he’s facing Diamond Dallas Page in am ambulance match at the Great American Bash. He wants an ambulance match right now though and we have a taker.

Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome

Steiner’s US Title isn’t on the line in an ambulance match. Steiner says that he’s not in the Millionaires Club or the New Blood but wants to give Awesome a beating. Awesome gets knocked to the floor to start where he grabs a chair to throw inside. Steiner pulls that out of the air (dang) and throws it back at Awesome. Some suplexes drop Awesome and Steiner gets the Recliner but Goldberg’s music starts playing.

We cut to the back where Tank Abbott imitates Goldberg’s entrance. Steiner stands still and watches the whole thing as Abbott comes into the arena. Cue Rick Steiner to help Abbott beat up Scott, with Awesome getting up to help. Cue the Goldberg monster truck into the arena, with Scott throw Abbott and Rick onto the hood. The truck drives away (no driver is seen) and Awesome jumps into the ambulance, which is enough for Scott to win at 4:54.

Rating: F. When I watch these shows, it starts to make me wonder just how much they spent on this nonsense. Not only did they have two vehicles in the match, but Awesome basically walked out, making the ambulance COMPLETELY unnecessary. I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s that “oh who cares” mentality that helped kill WCW.

The New Blood continues bickering.

Chris Kanyon is in a halo in his hospital room and has weakness in his extremities. Now he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore because he just wants to walk again. Mike Tenay asks why Kanyon got involved in the cage match at Slamboree, where Mike Awesome threw him off the cage to injure him.

Kanyon keeps mentioning Diamond Dallas Page and Tenay brings up their history, but Page is up walking around while Kanyon is here. It’s true that Page has done a lot for him and he was here with him the night of the injury. Since then, Page is on the road wrestling but he’s calling multiple times a day. He hopes Page survives. Say it with me: then Kanyon turned on Page.

Kronik calls Shane Douglas, who wants to fight him in a three way dance. The New Blood walks out on him.

During a break, Kronik broke into Douglas’ locker room and dragged him to the ring.

Bryan Clark vs. Bryan Adams vs. Shane Douglas

So this is a triple threat instead of a handicap match due to reasons. Kronik double teams him to start and Clark hits the Meltdown (pumphandle powerslam), followed by Adams hitting an F5. Cue the Wall with a table so Douglas can go through it, setting up High Times (double chokeslam) to give Clark the pin at 3:05.

Rating: D-. As much as I enjoy seeing Douglas get beaten down, it makes me wonder why this was a thing that happened. It was another case of the old guys getting to wreck one of the “new” stars (ignore that Douglas had been around since the mid 80s) and make him look worthless. Other than making the Millionaires Club look great, how does this help anyone?

Here is World Champion Ric Flair (for the fifteenth time) and he can’t believe it happened again. Flair puts over Jeff Jarrett as a great wrestler and says he got lucky to win, but that’s what he did. He respects Jarrett, who isn’t the World Champion anymore. Now though, Flair needs to get his personal life in order. His son has been corrupted by Vince Russo, a skinny little Italian kid who grew up in New York. Like everyone else, Russo wanted to be like Bruno Sammartino, the champion of the WWWF (yes he got the extra W in there).

Then Russo’s dad bought him the cable and he saw Ric Flair in Atlanta and that’s what Russo wanted to be. Russo’s dad panicked because a good Catholic boy can’t be like the Nature Boy. Russo had no muscles, girlfriends or long limousines, so he could he be Flair? Now Russo is grown up and the only thing he has is a checkbook. Russo couldn’t control anyone from Flair to Sting to Hulk Hogan but he still wanted to be Flair.

But he’s still just a skinny little boy with no muscles and now Flair is the champ again. Now the title belongs to the old generation again (oh that doesn’t sound as good as WCW thinks it does) and the title is all that matters. Since Russo can’t have Flair, he’s trying to do it through Flair’s son. Cue Jeff Jarrett to interrupt to say he’s sick of hearing this and the brawl is on.

Cue Crowbar and David Flair to jump Flair (with Daffney screaming as only she could) but Arn Anderson runs in with a pipe for the save. Anderson says he’s old school too and last week, Russo opened up a sleeping dog. Anderson wakes up grumpy and he was happy with working backstage, doing whatever he could.

The reality though is he’s a wrestler and when he comes home and sees one of his kids playing with matches, he doesn’t care about women’s groups, because he’ll take off his belt and whip some discipline into his son. David needs to stop listening to that guy from New York City because he’s 0-everything. Anderson holds up the Four Horsemen sign and says it’s time for a Horsemen beating. Sweet goodness that Horsemen song is still amazing.

Other than that though, this was straight fire from Ric, who was doing one of those promos that makes him sound like he’s a cross between insane and the most passionate man in wrestling. That’s one of the reasons he’s a legend, but it brings up the big problem: he’s doing this to deal with Vince Russo. Put him against pretty much anyone else (excluding Jarrett because it just wasn’t going to happen) and this would have been outstanding stuff. As it is, it’s just more proof that Flair could still bring it when he was trying.

Vampiro is in the back with a Sting mask…which he lights on fire.

Here is Sting in the ring to say he’s this close to snapping. Tonight, he’s taking Vampiro out right here in Louisiana. Cue Vampiro to say “Stinger”, which Tenay interprets as “he just called him STEVE”, and ask about Sting not finishing the job in the cage last night. Maybe there is a little bit of Sting that likes Vampiro and wants to be like him. Vampiro challenges Sting to an Inferno match at the Great American Bash, where you have to light your opponent on fire to win. Sting: “You’re psycho man.”

They aren’t doing that match, but Vampiro says sting doesn’t have a choice. Then the ropes, or at least some parts of them, light on fire. Ignore the guy with the blowtorch lighting them on fire on camera of course. Then the fire goes out so Sting stands on the ropes to pose. So Sting is Undertaker and Vampiro is Kane? That’s bad.

Shane Douglas is worried about Bischoff and Russo being mad at them and sends Jeff Jarrett to fix things.

Crowbar/Jeff Jarrett/David Flair vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

Non-title and Ric is in street clothes after Daffney’s screaming music plays by mistake. We cut to the back where Anderson has been beaten down by David and company so here is Jarrett to jump Ric on the stage. Ric fight back and they get inside but here are David and Crowbar to beat Ric down. David Figure Fours Ric but here is Kevin Nash….and Ric small packages Daffney for the win at 1:23.

Post match Ric gets the Figure Four on Daffney and Nash no sells a chair shot from Jarrett. With the villains dispatched, Ric collapses on the ramp, which Flair has said was part of a legitimate inner ear issue and not a storyline.

The New Blood gets on their bus but the Millionaires Club runs in to TURN THE BUS OVER (because that’s a thing) and the Goldberg monster truck charges at the bus to end the show.

Overall Rating: F. WOW. Normally I would say I have no idea where to start, but in this case, it’s somehow all about Bischoff and Russo. The whole point of this show is that the two of them weren’t here and the New Blood was completely massacred by the Millionaires Club all night as a result.

That’s where we are: a group of young, talented wrestlers got beaten up by the old (and also talented) wrestlers because Bischoff and Russo weren’t there to save them. Meanwhile, the Rock, HHH, Benoit, Jericho, Angle, the Hardys, the Dudleys, Edge and Christian and more were tearing it up on Raw and Smackdown. It’s a miracle WCW lasted as long as they did. Flair’s promo was awesome, but as usual that’s not enough to save this mess.

Oddly enough, for some reason I remembered a lot about this show, which I’ve only seen once since it originally aired. I remember Luger saying “great set man” to Palumbo in the gym, the Hogan kiss and the bus being overturned. I’m not sure what that says, but there are memorable points even in this kind of a wretched show.

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Monday Nitro #276
Date: February 5, 2001
Location: Bankcorpsouth Center, Tupelo, Mississippi
Commentators: Scott Hudson, Tony Schiavone

Things are starting to build up towards SuperBrawl and the unbelievably fresh MEGA SHOWDOWN between Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash because that’s what’s going to get the young’uns talking about WCW as they walk through the airport. If nothing else maybe we can go a full week without Animal squashing two cruiserweights for the sake of…..what was the point of that again? If pushing Animal is their idea of drawing money, close the doors now. Let’s get to it.

On a side note: I’ve been doing this series for about five and a half years, have a month and a half to go and NOW they’re being put on the Network? Hopefully they at least get the rest of them up before I wrap this show.

We actually open with Flair and Animal in the ring, yelling at Nash in the aisle. They insult each other and Flair tells Nash to come say that to his face. Animal comes to meet Nash in the aisle and is quickly beaten down, leaving Flair all alone to take a big boot. As luck would have it, the rest of the troops arrive in the back with Mike Sanders telling them what’s going on.

Nash keeps beating on Flair and starts ripping his clothes off because that’s what you do to a man in his 50s. Flair’s pants are ripped off, revealing University of Florida underwear. Nash takes down the straps and loads up the Jackknife as the troops come out. They back off due to the threat of Nash breaking Ric’s neck but Nash says he has a negotiator with….the Cat.

Nash cranks on Ric’s neck as Cat says he’s running the show tonight. Ric makes some weird noises which translate to Cat being in charge here. First up, Steiner will be fighting four cruiserweights in one match tonight. Once he gets done with that, he can fight Diamond Dallas Page. If THAT’S not enough, Steiner can defend the title against Kevin Nash and a mystery partner. If Nash wins, Flair has to resign at midnight tonight. Got all that?

After a break, Flair is still leaving the ring.

Scott Steiner vs. Jung Dragons/Noble and Karagias

The beating is on quickly as Steiner is in street clothes. Yang dares to break up the push-ups with a springboard Fameasser and all four combined finally get in some offense on the champ. Steiner kicks out of a four man cover and it’s time for the suplexes. Everyone is out so Steiner puts three of them on top of each other for a triple Recliner for the win.

Rating: F. If this is the new direction for the cruiserweights, they might as well bring back Oklahoma and Madusa to fight over the title instead. If nothing else it might be a bit less embarrassing and one sided than going through this kind of a mess again. Steiner just beat up four people, one of them a former Cruiserweight Champion, in three minutes. Those are four of the people who worked hard and put their bodies on the line at Starrcade in a ladder match and this is their reward about six weeks later. Why would those people want to stick around at this point if this is as good as it gets for them?

Flair rants about what happened tonight.

The good guys are ready and Cat gives Brian Adams a match with Buff tonight.

Rick Steiner is ready to win the US Title. Wasn’t the rule that Flair couldn’t know about it?

Gene asks Adams about Animal hitting Brian Clark in the head with a chair last week on Nitro, which now apparently has blue ring skirts that say Thunder and has replays with a THUNDER graphic in the corner. Anyway the point is Kronik is tough.

Buff is WAY too fine with this match and Flair is all happy. Totally Buff vs. Kronik is made for SuperBrawl because let’s have them go four times in about six weeks.

US Title: Rick Steiner vs. Shane Douglas

Shane is defending and has a big cast on his hand. A few shots to the head and back have Rick in trouble but the referee takes a chair away from the champ. Rick pops back up and sends Shane outside for a ram into the announcers’ table but Douglas gets in a shot on the way back in.

The reverse Hennig necksnap has Rick in trouble for all of five seconds before he starts coming back with the usual. The Steiner Bulldog is knocked out of the air with a cast shot, only to have Rick suplex him a few more times. Shane might as well just quit now as Steiner clearly isn’t going to sell a thing for him. The Steiner Driver gives us a new champ in a clean pin.

Rating: D-. Sure why not. I mean you’re pushing Scott to the moon so why not give his less talented brother the midcard title? This was basically wiping Shane out as Steiner took everything he had and just shrugged it off, as he does to everyone else around here. Bad match of course, but then again when is the last time Rick had a good one?

Steiner does his catchphrases post match.

Flair tells Chavo Guerrero Jr. that he has a special opponent for him from Mexico.

Here’s Dustin Rhodes to say Ric Flair will never forget his name. Ric comes up on screen and says Dustin is fired, meaning his mic is cut and we abruptly go to a commercial.

Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Non-title. They start fast with Steiner hammering away but running into a swinging Rock Bottom for two. The fight heads outside as the announcers talk about how Page’s mission is to hit a Diamond Cutter. Not beat Steiner or any nonsense like that, but just hit his finisher to soften Steiner up for Nash. You know, our real hero.

Steiner takes over and puts Page in the Tree of Woe for the upside down choke, followed by a suplex. We hit the elbow into the push-ups but Steiner spends too much time posing, allowing Page to come back with right hands. The spinning belly to belly gets two so Steiner shoves the referee. Page gets in a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere as the referee calls for the DQ.

Rating: D+. The time really hurt this one but I could picture these two having a strong match if they were allowed to actually go somewhere. Page doing his big comebacks against the monster Steiner has potential though I really can’t imagine Page pulling it off. The formula would be similar to the famous Goldberg match though and that works just fine.

Page leaves through the crowd but he gets beaten down by Jeff Jarrett and a returning Kanyon.

Back from a break and Page can barely walk.

Jarrett and Kanyon run off in a limo.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. El Nino

Non-title and Nino is a pretty small guy under a mask. Chavo quickly takes him down to start as the announcers point out how few Mexican cruiserweights are left. Chavo runs him over and gets two off a suplex to start. A springboard cross body is countered into a backbreaker for two before Chavo starts firing off chops. Nina sends him to the floor for a nice plancha but stops for a lap around the ring.

The delay lets Chavo suplex him on the floor but Nino snaps off a top rope hurricanrana. Chavo takes him down again and puts on a chinlock as the announcers finally start paying attention again. Nino snaps off a headscissors but takes an ax handle to the back. Back up and Nino does the 619 around the ropes, followed by a sitout bulldog. The springboard seated senton gives Nino the big upset.

Rating: C+. I’m not really sure what the point was in having Mysterio (they weren’t exactly hiding it) win here, or why Flair would give him this match in the first place but it’s not like Chavo is a champion who shouldn’t be losing here or anything. The match was fine and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do with some more time, though I’m not wild on having them fight this close to the pay per view.

Of course it’s Rey Mysterio.

Lance Storm/Mike Awesome vs. Chuck Palumbo/Sean O’Haire

Non-title. Before the match, Storm promises to become the first Canadian Commissioner at SuperBrawl. Awesome and O’Haire get things going for a chop off until Awesome throws him down with a German suplex. O’Haire rolls to the floor so Mike takes him down with a plancha over the top. In the meantime, Storm missile dropkicks Palumbo down as I’m not sure who I’m supposed to be cheering for as the Canadians are definitely wrestling like good guys.

Back in and O’Haire blasts Storm with a clothesline before Palumbo gets two off a powerslam. Awesome gets drawn in so the champs can stomp Storm in the corner. Not that it matters as Storm hits a leg lariat and makes the tag, only to have Awesome get caught in a hot shot.

Not that it matters as Awesome comes back with a slam on Sean to set up the Awesome Splash with Palumbo making the save. Everything breaks down and it’s time to fire off some big kicks. Storm gets poked in the eye and grabs the Mapleleaf on Awesome by mistake. He eventually realizes what’s going on but gets sent outside, setting up the Jungle Kick into the Seanton Bomb for the pin.

Rating: B-. If he had even the slightest bit of charisma, Storm could have been money as a face. Awesome on the other hand could have been amazing no matter what role you put him in, save for a fat chick thriller or That 70s Guy. There aren’t many names above Awesome on the “What if” list in WCW and it’s a shame that he never did anything in WWE either.

Jindrak and Stasiak think that was luck.

Buff Bagwell vs. Brian Adams

There’s no bell as Adams superkicks Buff in a surprising bit of offense. The gorilla press and a clothesline put Bagwell on the floor as the announcers hype up a No Substitution match at SuperBrawl, which is apparently going to lead to a handicap match because Clark is out with an injury. Back in and Buff scores with a dropkick before we hit the chinlock less than three minutes in.

Another chinlock keeps things slow, which is probably best given Buff’s questionable motivation from week to week. Back up and a double clothesline lets them lay around even more. You know, in case two chinlocks didn’t cover their resting quota. Cue Luger but Clark comes out to intercept him. Buff gets two off a double arm DDT until Animal decks Clark from behind. Adams comes back with a full nelson slam but the bell rings…..for a time limit draw…..at 5:44.

Rating: F. For five minutes and forty four seconds. Fine enough if WCW just has to have TV time limits back (as if any WCW TV match ever comes close to ten minutes at this point) but how in the world do you get it THAT wrong? I can understand even up to like two minutes but this felt more like a five minute time limit where they forgot to cut the time. I know WCW thinks its fans are the stupidest people on the planet but I think they can tell time. The match was what you would expect from Bagwell vs. Adams anyway so the time was hardly the only problem here.

Adams gets racked post match.

Flair tells Scott Steiner that there’s no interference in the match tonight. Steiner doesn’t care and goes to the ring. I’m glad Flair’s neck is fine after nearly having it broken an hour and a half ago.

Adams says these attacks just make Kronik stronger. He wants Luger on Thunder.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Kevin Nash/???

Steiner is defending and the mystery partner is…..Rick Steiner because Kevin Nash is a stupid man. I’m assuming Nash gets the title if Rick pins Scott. Rick suplexes him into a right hand from Nash and it’s time to go outside. Scott sends Rick into the crowd but gets pulled back in by Nash. The champ begs away until he can hit Nash low and spit at his brother. A backbreaker gets two on Nash but Rick forearms Scott in the back, knocking him into a side slam. Snake Eyes and a big boot set up the Jackknife but Rick comes in and turns on Nash because of course. Scott pins Nash to retain.

Rating: D. You knew it was coming because, again, WCW thinks its fans are going to fall for the same stuff time after time. I know I’ve said it before but here it is again: no one cares about Rick Steiner, who somehow got to work twice tonight and picked up the US Title in the process. If nothing else though, I’m scared of who will be the next face to help fight Flair and company, though I’m sure it’s likely to be Dustin or Dusty because COWBOYS ARE AWESOME.

The Steiners go to celebrate as Nash says he’s got some more left. Cue Page with a chair to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. There was some good wrestling in the middle but having four Steiner matches in a night is a bit too much for me. They’re making Scott look like a monster but can anyone explain to me why the cruiserweights had to get squashed? You can’t throw the Mamalukes, as in the designated jobbers of the tag division, out there to get beaten up? It’s not like they’re doing anything else or putting on awesome matches when they’re in the ring like the cruiserweights are doing.

I’ll give them this though: there’s a goal in mind here with getting Scott over as a monster. While it may not be the best story long term, at least it’s something and could build up to a big moment when someone takes the title off of him. That’s a lot better than proving Vince Russo’s MANLINESS or having Sting turn heel despite not really being a heel or whatever else was going on a year or so ago. Now if they can get rid of Rick Steiner and actually have Scott as the top heel instead of sharing the spot with Flair we might get to a more interesting story, but this is a good enough step.

Unfortunately it’s not a great show because as usual WCW has no idea how to cut back on the focusing so much on the same story. The stable war thing is getting annoying as WCW has done it so many times but the bigger problem is how they keep hammering that story home. It’s by far the biggest thing going on here and if you don’t like that, don’t bother watching. That’s a WCW/Bischoff trope and it has never worked for me, much like it doesn’t here.

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Thunder
Date: January 31, 2001
Location: Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone

I’m running out of things to say about these intros. We have less than two months to go in this company and it’s most likely a skippable B-show with a main event between two midcarders who don’t have an interesting feud. Or maybe a tag match with two members of a heel stable against a semi-regular tag team. I would offer a suggestion of a great cruiserweight match with two people being elevated to new heights but that’s not the WCW way. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Monday’s events, including a big focus on the return of the Rhodes Family.

Cat is willing to give Rick Steiner a US Title shot at SuperBrawl, provided Ric Flair doesn’t find out about it. Good thing he’s just the CEO and doesn’t watch the show or look at the pay per view card. It’s always cool to see wrestlers act like a fan.

Opening sequence.

Billy Kidman vs. Shane Helms

Helms goes straight at him to start until charging into a raised boot in the corner. Kidman tries a wheelbarrow suplex but gets flipped out to the floor, allowing Shane to hit a good looking dive off the top. They head into the crowd with Kidman hitting a quick dive off the barricade before taking Shane back inside. Helms grabs a fireman’s carry into a facebuster before a running neckbreaker drops Kidman again.

A middle rope fist drop ala Jerry Lawler gets two for Shane and for some reason Kidman reaches out under the bottom rope for a tag. Helms’ front facelock slows things down a bit and a chinlock makes it even worse. Back up and Kidman grabs a belly to back suplex into a side slam for two.

In a change of pace, Shane grabs a double underhook and pulls back on the arms for a submission attempt. The hold is broken with Kidman scoring off a dropkick and backdrop for two. Kidman’s superplex is broken up though and Shane gets two off a top rope sunset flip (that’s always cool looking). The Kid Crusher is countered into the Vertebreaker but Kidman flips out of that as well. He takes Shane into the corner where Shane flips out again, setting up the Vertebreaker for the big upset.

Rating: B. As usual the cruiserweights are just awesome around this time and it almost never gets boring watching them. I’ve been digging the heck out of Chavo lately but it’s really time for someone to take the title off of him and turn the belt into something more valuable. Helms is the best bet and I’m almost sure this is the launching pad for him to move up to the title scene.

Here are Scott Steiner and Midajah with the champ insulting everyone he can think of but focusing on Dustin Rhodes, who was stupid for not taking the sure thing on Monday. Steiner even rips up Dustin’s contract, which is at least better than eating it. Cue Kronik to ask about a fight but Totally Buff jump them from behind. Rick Steiner tries to make the save but gets guitared by Jeff Jarrett. Kronik takes the real beating and I’m sure this means Luger/Bagwell vs. Kronik for the third time this month on Thunder.

Post break, Flair makes Jarrett vs. Rick Steiner and Totally Buff vs. Kronik.

Ron Harris vs. Lash Leroux

Don has a doctor’s note but the referee has a solution to prevent more twin magic (which implies that someone actually watches these matches, which makes me skeptical): drawing an X on Ron’s hand with a marker…..which the Harrises take away before the bell rings. Ron pounds Lash with the intensity you’ve come to expect from a Harris Brother match.

Lash quickly dropkicks him to the floor and it’s already time for the switch as Don throws the marker back in with the referee thinking it fell out of his pocket. Well to be fair the referees are often rather stupid so play it up a bit. Don gives him the H Bomb for the pin. Now why do I have a feeling no one is going to watch this and say, suspend Don from ringside?

Some guy laughs at Kwee Wee and tells him to crawl back into the closet he crawled out of.

Chavo Guerrero says he needs a better challenger than Rey Mysterio. As he’s talking, Hugh Morrus sneaks in and jumps Wall.

Norman Smiley wants to make sure Glacier will have his back and is given an affirmative.

Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire think Mark Jindrak and Shawn Stasiak are just jealous of the Tag Team Titles.

Ric Flair gives Mike Sanders a match with Konnan and tells him to come up with something dirty.

Norman Smiley vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

There’s no Glacier to start so Norman is even more freaked out than usual. Norman makes the mistake of trying to work on Bigelow’s arm but actually takes him down. Unfortunately there’s not much of a way around Bigelow’s power as he shoves Norman to the floor, allowing him to look around for Glacier. Back in and the beating continues as Glacier comes out, just in time to see Norman take Greetings From Asbury Park for the pin.

Post match and post Bigelow leaving, Glacier says he’ll always have Norman’s back.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Rick Steiner

Jeff wants the countout like he got over Page on Monday but Steiner is, you know, here. Steiner takes it to the floor to avoid having to wrestle, only to have Shane Douglas come out in a hurry. The chain shot hits Jeff by mistake and Steiner gets in a bad looking Death Valley Driver for the fast pin.

Kwee Wee vs. Scotty O

Scotty is a Power Plant guy who would wind up in OVW for a long time and the person who laughed at Kwee Wee earlier. Kwee Wee slaps him in the face and it’s Angry Alan time with something like Dalton Castle’s Bang-A-Rang planting Scotty. A jawbreaker doesn’t get Scotty out of trouble as Kwee Wee folds him in half with a belly to back. Some hard shots to the head and a face plant set up a German suplex as this is a total squash. A piledriver puts Scotty away.

Rating: D. Kwee Wee continues to be an interesting “what if” case as he certainly had some in ring abilities and good charisma but he’s stuck with one of the gimmicks that are just going to cripple your career. Even a regular haircut and dark tights would have done him a world of good but there was no way this was ever going to be taken seriously.

Sean O’Haire/Chuck Palumbo vs. Mamalukes

Non-title. Palumbo and Vito, in street clothes instead of his gear, get things going before Johnny comes in for a quick double team to take over. A double spinebuster plants Sean for two with Palumbo making the save. Vito grabs a swinging neckbreaker followed by a gorilla press from Johnny to send O’Haire flying but he hot shots the Bull to take over for the first time. It really is amazing what happens when you get rid of Jindrak and Stasiak and let the two more talented wrestlers represent the team.

O’Haire doesn’t quite jump all the way over Palumbo as he tries to land on Johnny’s back (more on Palumbo’s head) but it looked good in theory. Everything breaks down and it’s O’Haire elbowing Johnny in the face on the floor. The Jungle Kick to Vito sets up the Seanton Bomb for the pin.

Rating: C. Not bad here as the Mamalukes are really gelling as the jobbers to the stars tag team. There’s just enough there that you could buy them pulling off an upset and making this non-title made it even more possible. O’Haire and Palumbo need more seasoning as a team but you can see the chemistry there.

Post match Jindrak and Stasiak run in and want a title shot. The champs agree and get beaten down.

Scott Steiner, Jarrett and Flair are off to jail, presumably to annoy Page.

Sanders gives Reno his match against Konnan and tells him to tap out in a hurry. I think I feel a stupid plan coming on.

Totally Buff say they beat Goldberg and he beat Kronik so they can beat Kronik. You know who else beat Kronik? YOU TWO, YOU PISTACHIO HEADS!

Konnan vs. Reno

Konnan calls him Reno Riggins in a joke that probably goes over 99% of the fans’ heads. They trade arm holds to start but Konnan does a nice roll over into a quickly broken ankle lock. The rolling lariat drops Reno and something like Kofi Kingston’s SOS gets two. Konnan grabs the Tequila Sunrise and Reno taps before the hold is on.

Sanders comes out to say things aren’t always what they seem. Reno hits a quick Roll of the Dice. Wait so they just gave up a clean submission for the sake of hitting a move after the match? Indeed, that was a stupid plan.

Totally Buff vs. Kronik

For the third time this month. Bagwell takes the heel beating you would expect him to take to start off with Kronik hitting all of their standard power moves, including a big gorilla press from Adams. He always was good at that. Luger comes in for an elbow to Clark’s jaw but a tag back to Adams breaks everything down. Buff saves Lex from High Times, only to have Animal blast Clark with a chair so Adams can take the Blockbuster for the fast pin.

Rating: D. And you thought the Usos vs. the Club was overdone. This is another match that I never see again but in this case I never wanted to see it in the first place. Animal interfering wasn’t shocking and it keeps him from falling asleep in his soup for another week. Bad match of course, but I do like Adams’ press slams.

Flair and company arrive at the jail but Page made bail an hour ago. Ok pause for a second. WCW acknowledges that Nitro and Thunder are taped on the same nights. Now did Page get arrested on Monday and make bail Wednesday or did he get arrested and make bail less than three hours later? Anyway they go into Page’s cell for no apparent reason and find a letter he’s left them to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. There’s some good stuff here and the wrestling is enough to carry it over a lot of the really uninteresting storyline stuff but the show still doesn’t work that well. There’s only so much you can do when your main story is so all over the place and Page is leaving letters in prison while Nash is just not here. If they threw someone younger into the main event scene it might be ok but as it stands they’re destroying the other good stuff they having going on.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Thunder
Date: January 24, 2001
Location: Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone

We’re still just living in Ric Flair’s WCW as he and the Elite (the unofficial name at the moment) destroy everything in sight, though to be fair it’s more interesting than the Sid Rules The World stuff we sat through for so long. It’s getting closer to SuperBrawl with Kevin Nash getting the World Title shot against Scott Steiner because we’re just that lucky. Let’s get to it.

Cruiserweight Contender Countdown

I could go for this no promo to start thing. This is basically a singles version of Tag Team Turmoil with the winner getting the title shot at SuperBrawl. Works for me. Shane Helms and Elix Skipper get things going and it’s already time to run the ropes. Elix grabs a quick suplex for two and spins off the middle rope into a legdrop for two more. The Play of the Day is countered into a Vertebreaker for the very fast pin. Oh so it’s one of those gauntlet matches.

Evan Karagias is in at #3 (of 10) and misses an early top rope Lionsault, setting up the Vertebreaker for the second pin in less than two minutes. Kidman is in at #4 and quickly knocks Shane outside for a nice plancha. Back in and a TKO into a facebuster onto the knee drops Kidman but there’s no selling since this is a cruiserweight match. Instead Kidman grabs the BK Bomb but Shane pops back up for two off the X Plex. Another Vertebreaker is countered into the Kid Crusher to get rid of Shane. They’re certainly in the “hurry up and get your stuff in” formula.

Yang is in at #5 (with a much more covered up Leia Meow) as we take a break. Back with Yang grabbing a neckbreaker across the top rope. A headscissors sends Kidman face first into the mat and Yang gets two more off something like an Iconoclasm. For absolutely no logical reason, Yang sits on the second rope to try and suplex Kidman to the floor. Instead Kidman hits a super Kid Crusher for the elimination.

It’s Jamie Noble in at #6 and scores with a missile dropkick, only to get caught in a reverse suplex. Kidman throws him down with a belly to belly suplex and takes Jamie to the top for a super Michinoku Driver and another near fall. Noble better win if they let him kick out of that. Jamie gets in a jumping tombstone to put Kidman away and Rey Mysterio is in at #7.

Rey quickly sends him outside and slides under the bottom rope into a tornado DDT on the floor. I don’t think I’ve seen him do that one since, or at least not very often. Back in and Jamie catches a springboard in a sitout powerbomb for two, only to have Rey hit his sitout bulldog. A springboard diving headbutt gets rid of Jamie and it’s Lash Leroux in at #8. Lash grabs a tilt-a-whirl side slam and a seated dropkick gets two. Rey counters what looked like a BK Bomb into a faceplant (he’s Kidman’s partner after all) before a split legged moonsault eliminates Leroux.

Shannon Moore is in at #9 with something like a springboard Rough Ryder for an early two. A Whisper in the Wind misses but Shannon lands on his feet, only to have Rey trip him down into a bridging pin to get us down to the final two. Kaz Hayashi is in at #10 and kicks the winded Rey, because a gauntlet match causes you to be winded after four minutes in the ring. A helicopter bomb gets two for Kaz but Rey sends him shoulder first into the post. Rey takes it up top for a super sitout bulldog and the pin, giving him the title shot against Chavo.

Rating: B-. These matches are hit and miss for me as they’re a lot of fun but at the same time I take issue with these clean falls taking place in about a minute each. If you can pin someone that fast here, why can’t you do it that quickly in a regular match? That being said, the match was fast paced and entertaining, which is SO much more fun than the main events that I have to watch at double speed to stay awake.

Jeff Jarrett laughs at Hugh Morrus for losing on Monday and gets punched out. Laughing ensues.

Glacier video, followed by Norman Smiley actually meeting his hero. Glacier says he has Norman’s back tonight.

Here are the Cat and Miss Jones with something to say. He announces the same three matches we already knew about for the pay per view before making Jarrett vs. Morrus and Scott Steiner/Animal vs. Kronik for tonight. That means it’s time to dance.

Ric Flair has a master plan. Can we ever have a villain with just a plan? Why does everything have to be a master plan?

Shane Douglas tells Bam Bam Bigelow that he can be in Flair’s group if he beats Rick Steiner tonight.

Norman Smiley vs. Mike Awesome

I could go for more of Major Gunns in black with the red maple leafs. No Glacier in sight and Norman looks a bit nervous. They run the ropes to start but stop. WIGGLE TIME! Awesome slowly pounds him down as the announcers discuss the improvement Awesome has undergone. Norman gets in a clothesline and loads up the Big Wiggle (Tenay: “Is he looking for Glacier?”), only to be run over again. Tony has to cut off Tenay from talking about the main event but a neck crank from Awesome pulls Tony into the 1997 style of commentary all over again.

Cue Glacier, with Tony acting like this is some huge deal. Glacier takes his sweet time (you might say he’s moving like a gl…..yeah that’s bad even for me) and stops to wave at the fans, allowing Awesome to suplex a distracted Norman. A slingshot splash gets two for Awesome, followed by a powerslam for the same. Glacier’s music is still playing as he walks around the ring. Tony: “The match is still going on. Of course it is.” The Awesome Bomb finally puts Smiley away.

Rating: D. I’m amazed but somehow this superhero worship is actually a step up over the hardcore stuff. Glacier is just a comedy guy here and that’s all he needed to be, especially given how much of a joke his first run really was. Smiley vs. Glacier could be an amusing angle but somehow Glacier would probably wind up going over.

Post match Glacier gets in the ring and tells Awesome to bring it as Mike leaves. Glacier does the post match karate demonstration and shoves Norman away.

Post match Gene Okerlund rips on Glacier, who is oblivious to everything wrong with what he just did. Norman collapses and Glacier says he’s here to clean up the evils of WCW. This was actually kind of funny.

Here are Kwee Wee and Paisley with something to say. Kwee Wee, calm again here, issues another open challenge and we’re already on a fan before he can even get the words out of his mouth. Kwee Wee drags him over the barricade and gives the plant a piledriver until security drags Kwee Wee away. If they were actually serious about pushing him, WCW would let him be Alan Funk (or any other name that doesn’t bring back Terry) and take away the pink and the glitter, but I’m sure the lack of getting over is his fault at this point.

Kronik says Animal and Steiner are going to get smoked tonight.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Hugh Morrus

Before the match, Jarrett goes on about how he’s beaten Page before and he can do it again at SuperBrawl. Morrus charges the ring and hammers away with the smile on his face. The announcers ignore the match in the first minute to talk about the main event as Morrus gets two off a powerslam.

They head outside with Jeff already resorting to cheating with a chair to the ribs. Jeff starts in on the knee but does that always stupid looking jump off the top with the sole intention of landing on a raised boot. Morrus gets in a top rope elbow but cue the Wall to try a chokeslam. That’s broken up but Jeff goes for the guitar, allowing Wall to get in the chokeslam on the second try. A Stroke gives Jeff the pin.

Rating: D+. This was better than it should have been and at least they’re going forward towards a logical match like Wall vs. Morrus. I mean, no one is going to want to see it and it won’t draw any money but at least it’s logical, which is a step up for WCW. It’s also good to see Jarrett back in the midcard where he belongs instead of teasing more World Title runs.

Ron Harris vs. Crowbar

Of course, and to make matters worse, Daffney has a megaphone. Harris starts fast by pounding Crowbar in the corner and planting him with a side slam. A quick cross body gives Crowbar two and I’d assume that’s it for his offense. Harris takes him outside for a whip into the barricade, allowing Don to get in some stomping. Back in and Ron grabs a sleeper followed by a clothesline but something like a Death Drop gives Crowbar a breather. He scores with a moonsault and it’s time for TWIN MAGIC! The neck brace switches and Don ends Crowbar with something like a Rock Bottom.

Rating: F. This is the new WCW: a place where Crowbar and Kwee Wee, who have worked very hard to get over the genius characters of as close to gay as we can get without saying it and battling car wash guy who thinks it’s 1974, are treated like morons and jobbers because RICK STEINER, LEX LUGER AND THE FREAKING HARRIS TWINS need pushes. In other words, take every single problem WCW has had with its booking over the years and do it again because we need to show how it’s going to be different this time.

Rick Steiner is willing to beat up Bam Bam Bigelow to prove a message to Shane Douglas.

We go to a long video of Tenay meeting with an orthopedic surgeon to talk about Sid’s leg injury. Basically he snapped it like a pencil and will be on crutches for up to three months and then in therapy for up to a year. Like Sid or not, that’s one of the worst injuries you’ll ever see.

Rick Steiner vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

If Bigelow wins, he’s on Flair’s team. They slug it out to start until Rick grabs a belly to belly, followed by a Steiner Line and another belly to belly. Good to see he’s going versatile this week. Bigelow comes back with a quick slam and the flying headbutt hits way too early. Greetings From Asbury Park is countered with a DDT, followed by an elbow drop for two. Another DDT sets up the Steiner Bulldog for the pin, despite Bigelow not really being touched as he went down.

Ric Flair knocks out the Cat with brass knuckles. We also see Nash and Page laid out.

Rick Steiner tells Kronik to go to the ring for the main event while he takes care of these three. So he’s a repetitive wrestler and a trained medic? Shane comes in and hits Rick with his chain.

Kronik vs. Scott Steiner/Road Warrior Animal

Before the match, Steiner yells at Kronik for making a horrible decision. He’s ready for Nash too because Nash is going to get the same treatment that Booker T. and Sting received. Animal and Clark get things going, preventing that LOD vs. Demolition reunion showdown that we were all looking forward to. Stereo shoulders give us a stalemate so Animal’s clothesline and elbow drop get two.

Adams comes in and we get the REAL showdown, only to have Animal bring in Steiner to stomp on Adams in the corner. A quick full nelson slam puts Scott down and the heels bail outside where Clark takes them down with a flip dive off the apron. Back in and Scott plants him with a butterfly powerbomb, meaning it’s time for the push-ups.

Steiner charges into a boot though and the hot tag (Tenay’s words) brings in Clark to clean house. The Meltdown gets two on Animal but here’s Totally Buff to break up High Times. Animal breaks up the full nelson slam as Buff chokes Cat on the floor. Now the High Times is good enough to pin Animal. Tenay pushes this as a major upset, despite Kronik being former multiple time Tag Team Champions and Steiner/Animal never teaming before.

Rating: D. I actually didn’t hate this as there’s a simple idea here and the younger (I think?) guys went over clean. It gets really tiring seeing an established team losing to two guys who happen to be good tag wrestlers with their regular partners but WCW actually went with the logical ending here. I’m as shocked as you are but this could have been a lot worse.

Steiner comes back in with the pipe to beat Kronik down and end the show.

Overall Rating: D. I know the running line about WCW is that everything goes down after the cruiserweights but this was one of the worst cases I’ve seen in a long time. This Elite story isn’t even warmed over NWO at its best and the wrestling is getting weaker and weaker every single show. At the end of the day though, it’s seeing people like the Harris Twins, Totally Buff and Rick Steiner getting so much TV time. These people just are not interesting and it’s showing more and more with each passing show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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Thunder
Date: January 17, 2001
Location: Allen County Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Attendance: 4,836
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

We’re coming off an interesting show Monday where things have changed a bit yet still feel very much the same. In this case Ric Flair is now all evil for reasons that aren’t clear (and will remain that way because this is WCW) and the remaining faces are fighting against the latest NWO. It’s certainly better than what we’ve been having but I don’t see much of a shelf life for this one. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Sunday and Monday. You know, the early part of Monday before they did this show in front of a dead crowd.

There’s a new opening.

Here are Cat and Miss Jones to get things going. Cat gets straight to the point: he wants to clean up WCW and Flair isn’t going to keep Goldberg gone forever. Well to be fair no one really believed his career was completely over anyway. Cat wants Totally Buff out here right now so here are Luger and Buff with the latter making fun of the shape of Cat’s mouth.

Luger one ups him by botching Ric Flair’s job title, referring to him as the President of WCW. I know it’s not that complicated but it’s three letters long and Luger can’t remember? Cat makes fun of Buff’s hat so they come to the ring, only to have Kronik come out for the save, prompting Cat to set up a match between them tonight. Dance time!

Here’s Kwee Wee, or Angry Alan more than likely, to issue an open challenge to anyone because he’s not happy with being left out of Flair’s group (which needs a name). Unfortunately it’s quickly answered.

Kwee Wee vs. Rick Steiner

This would be Kwee Wee’s reward for all the effort into making this stupid character work. Steiner takes him down with a suplex right at the bell and it’s time to go outside for a whip into the barricade. A wicked Steiner Line is followed by a bunch of right hands to the face as Rick asks if this is what Kwee Wee really wants. Kwee Wee doesn’t think too much of Steiner barking at Paisley but his objection is stopped cold with a German suplex, followed by the Steiner Bulldog to complete the destruction in a hurry.

Steiner says that’s it for the audition and Flair can come get him (Steiner) if he wants him.

Hardcore Title: Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Meng

Meng is defending. Bigelow jumps him to start and makes the mistake of hitting him in the head. That’s fine with Meng so Bigelow hits him in the back with a few chair shots for maybe 14% more effect. They stay on the floor with Meng going over the announcers’ table and Bigelow going into the steps. In other words, it’s the exact same thing that happens in almost every hardcore match.

Back in and Bigelow actually works on the leg because this is the match where you expect psychology. Meng shrugs it off (of course) and no sells a DDT, setting up the Death Grip. For some reason that’s not enough for a pin though and Meng goes up for a top rope splash to retain.

Rating: D. What were you expecting here? Meng wasn’t exactly someone worth seeing on his best days so having him be an even more unstoppable monster wasn’t exactly the right way to go. It doesn’t help that Bigelow had been wrestling the exact same match for at least a year and it wasn’t getting any better.

On top of that, this was it for the Hardcore Title as the WWF would sign Meng away and put him in the Royal Rumble just for the fun of it. Now some people might think WCW would put their champions under contract to make sure no one steals them away like this but they had more important things to worry about, such as finding a justification for Lex Luger being a top heel in 2001.

Glacier video.

Norman Smiley gets a fan letter back from Glacier, who says he’ll have Norman’s back. Giddiness ensues.

Team Canada arrives.

Lash Leroux and The Wall apologize to Hugh (yes they call him Hugh) about having Chavo’s back too often lately.

Don Harris now has a neck brace and will never be able to wrestle again, leaving Ron to wrestle as a singles guy. Norman comes in and challenges him to a match later. I won’t even bother making fun of this.

Ric Flair, Scott Steiner, Midajah and some women arrive. WCW does know that they tell people this is being taped on the same night right? As in the fans should know there’s no reason for Flair and Steiner to leave and come back for the second show.

Norman Smiley vs. Ron Harris

The announcers actually treat Don’s “injury” as a big serious thing because Bischoff is in charge again and announcers have to be this stupid. We hit a LONG stall session to start before Norman armdrags him down a few times. A dropkick lets Norman start dancing and it’s time to stall again.

Tony starts listing off the reasons why the Twins can’t switch again as Ron comes back in with a kick to the face. A side slam gets two so Ron throws him outside and into the barricade. That goes nowhere so Norman makes his comeback with clotheslines and a little spanking. The referee yells at Norman for attacking in the ropes and the Twins switch, allowing Don to give Norman a big side slam for the pin.

Rating: F. Norman jobs, the Harris Twins win, and it’s time for the announcers to start treating us like idiots while acting like idiots themselves. This is indeed life in WCW because Bischoff really does believe he’s smarter than everyone else and that they would actually fall for the most obvious trick in the history of wrestling.

Totally Buff vs. Kronik

Just like last week. Adams slowly powers Luger around to start but Lex has that veteran smirk on his face. I’d smirk too if I got paid this much money to do so little. A gorilla press drops Luger and a piledriver gets two with Bagwell coming in for the save. We get a double tag so Clark can powerslam Bagwell, followed by a belly to back suplex. Adams DDT’s the heels down at the same time but Luger pops up with a clothesline so the old guys (as in the bad ones) can take over. Everything breaks down and it’s Jarrett coming in with the guitar to knock Clark out for the pin.

Rating: D-. How in the world do you have a new creative team and fresh stories (well as fresh as the NWO can be) and still have the same ending from last week? This was horribly dull stuff as Luger might as well have been holding up a sign saying “I’m not trying and I get paid for it” and Bagwell was Bagwell.

Page comes out for the save but Flair and company come out to beat him down. Flair makes Page vs. Jarrett for the main event and calls the team The Elite. That might be the most overused name I’ve heard of in wrestling history.

Billy Kidman vs. Mike Awesome

Before the match, Lance Storm says the war between the Filthy Animals and Team Canada is far from over but they will have the last laugh. Kidman has bad ribs coming in but shrugs off an early beating to dropkick Awesome out to the floor. A crossbody off the apron only hurts the ribs even worse but he’s still able to hit a slingshot legdrop for two.

Awesome gets smart and throws Kidman in the air for a crash down onto the ribs, followed by a splash for a near fall. A powerslam looks to set up the Awesome Splash but it only hits mat to keep things going. Awesome hits a top rope clothesline for two but the Awesome Bomb is countered with a Bodog for two. For reasons of general stupidity, Kidman goes up for the shooting star, only to get crotched back down. Now the Awesome Bomb connects for the pin.

Rating: C+. I liked the idea of this match when it was mentioned on Nitro and it was about what I expected. These two worked a nice power vs. speed match though the ribs didn’t really cost Kidman in the end. The latest stable war isn’t the most interesting thing in the world but that’s what you get in a Bischoff run company.

The Canadians go to cut Kidman’s hair but the Animals run in for the save.

Chavo Guerrero says he was auditioning for Flair when he attacked Morrus on Monday.

Video recap of Nitro.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Hugh Morrus

Morrus (PICK A NAME ALREADY) runs him over to start and throws him up for a gorilla press. That means it’s time for the choking before Morrus puts him on the top, only to eat a tornado DDT for two. It’s time to start in on Hugh’s leg because this show hasn’t died enough already. After that eats up some time, Morrus (called Rection by the announcers) comes back with chops, only to get taken down into another leg lock. A sitout powerbomb plants Chavo but cue the Wall to chokeslam Morrus off the top to give Chavo the pin. The announcers are shocked and call Morrus the heart and soul of WCW.

Rating: D+. Somehow that’s one of the better matches of the night so far despite Chavo laying on the mat for a long stretch and working on the leg, which of course went nowhere. Now we get the implosion of the Misfits, which I’m sure you were all looking forward to. It’s another bad match on a LONG show full of them.

Post break, Chavo says he tried to preach to the other Misfits but couldn’t get through to them.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Before the match, Jarrett addresses the Hoosiernuts. Tenay: “Hoosiernuts? Oh we’re in Indiana.” Basically he’s smart and Page is dumb so come get yours you string bean slapnut. Page starts fast with a clothesline out to the floor but they head back inside before the announcers have to run away. Jeff gets in a few stomps but Page slugs away and gets two off a Batista Bomb. That earns Page a low blow and things slow right back down. Page blocks a kick to the ribs but eats an enziguri which puts Jarrett down as well for absolutely no reason.

Jeff breaks up a sunset flip with a right hand but kneels down so Page can pull him down for two. It’s time for the required Jarrett sleeper hold which has never won a match. Two arm drops bring Page back to life and a sleeper drop (which Tony calls a version of a Diamond Cutter because Tony isn’t that bright) puts both guys down again. A spinning Rock Bottom gets two for Page but the Diamond Cutter is countered, only to have the heels come in for the DQ.

Rating: C. Typical fine match between these two with nothing all that interesting but nothing too bad. You knew the ending was coming as we’ve flashed back to 1998 when a few basic moves were enough to bring out the troops for the DQ because things might get too interesting otherwise.

The good guys come out for the brawl with Tony saying they won’t stop until someone dies to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. Oh yeah this show has died again. This was another episode with zero effort and almost no storyline development. We have another big storyline with the heel group vs. the face group and they brawled a lot to end the show. It’s pretty clear that they’re not trying at this point, but the question is (assuming you don’t know they have two months left) what are they waiting for? A pay per view just ended and now they’re just waiting around again? For what? Another horrible show here as Thunder gets more and more worthless every week.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Monday Nitro #273
Date: January 15, 2001
Location: Allen County Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Attendance: 4,836
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson

We’re past Sin and heading towards SuperBrawl with the big story being Scott Steiner retaining the World Title after Sid Vicious broke his leg. However the interesting thing (work with me here) was the Mystery Man being revealed as Animal, who sided with Steiner and Jeff Jarrett. Oh and Goldberg is retired. Forever. Let’s get to it.

Of note: this is the first TV show under the new Eric Bischoff regime. He had some influence on last night’s pay per view but I’m not sure if it was full control or not.

Quick recap of the World Title match and Goldberg’s loss.

We see some exclusive footage from after the show with Ric Flair hugging Steiner as Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger watch on. So yeah, Flair is the big villain again.

The announcers recap the big stories of last night and show us the HORRIBLY graphic footage of Sid’s leg being snapped like a twig. That still makes me cringe.

Here are Luger and Bagwell in suits to what sounds like a funeral march. A group of jobbers follow them out with a coffin and we get an In Memory Of graphic for Goldberg. The announcers continue to act all shocked that Flair was behind it. HE’S RIC FLAIR. HE’S EVIL. Why does this continue to surprise you? Bagwell cries as the casket is opened to reveal…..a copy of Goldberg’s book, a spear and a jackhammer. The fans are absolutely livid over this stuff so points for getting the fans to boo.

Luger thinks Goldberg would have wanted this outpouring of emotion because they were great friends. The music is still playing as Bagwell tries to get the fans to keep chanting GOLDBERG. Luger asks if anyone has a special Goldberg story and would like to let us hear it so here’s a crying Jarrett to put a guitar on top of the casket. Jarrett has one memory above all others and eventually gets around to talking about how Goldberg never beat him. Goldberg is a long list of adjectives slap nuts and Tony freaks out that no one can stop this from continuing.

Now it’s time for Scott Steiner to come out with Midajah, who is wearing a veil for a bizarrely creepy look. Steiner takes credit for getting rid of Sid before switching over to Goldberg. Scott didn’t hurt him but at Fall Brawl, he gave Goldberg the worst defeat of his career. Goldberg just wasn’t man enough to stay on top so there’s no rematch. For a genuinely awesome evil moment, Steiner spits in the coffin….and there’s Goldberg’s music.

We cut to his locker room door and it’s Ric Flair and Animal coming out. After a break (oh yeah this is going on for a LONG time) Flair is in the ring to say this is the NEW WCW. Flair goes on about how awesome a collection of talent we have here and how he was behind the Tag Team Title change, the demise of Goldberg and Sid’s injury. The announcers are still shocked that Flair did this.

Flair talks about all the great wrestlers they have and how any of them could destroy anyone at any given time. Tony brings up an important question: WHY DID FLAIR DO THIS??? He’s been talking for a good while now and there hasn’t been an actual explanation for why he did all of this. It doesn’t get any better as Flair says he’ll be interviewing everyone all night long and gets to find out their stance: they can either become one of the group or be handed over to them.

Cue Kevin Nash to say he left Big Sexy back in Indianapolis and brought the killer here instead. Nash is sounding far more intense than usual here. Tonight he wants to face Steiner before he comes to kill Flair. Nash isn’t alone either as here are Diamond Dallas Page and Rick Steiner (great) to help even things up a bit. Kevin says he wants a title shot against Scott tonight but Flair says he makes the matches.

Cue Commissioner Cat to say not so fast because the title match is on, FINALLY ending this segment at nearly half an hour. Good grief people. I know it’s a new regime but we shouldn’t be a fourth of the way into the show after one segment, especially when we didn’t even get a reason for why Flair did all this. Nash and Page as the top faces make sense as there’s the simple problem of there being no one else around to fill the spots. I’m fine with the latest NWO story but this could have been cut WAY down.

After a break, Flair asks Crowbar if he’s going to be a team player. Crowbar says he’s always been a loner so he’s going to keep doing that way. Apparently Flair is going to give him a chance to prove his skills right now.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Crowbar

Chavo is defending and I’m oddly intrigued by this. Feeling out process to start before the champ getting in a kick to the face, followed by a top rope hurricanrana. The announcers keep wondering how Crowbar is going to be able to fight without trashcans. So are chairs just not good enough for them anymore? Chavo dives off the apron to take Crowbar down again but that means the fight heads outside where Crowbar is in better shape.

Back in and a slingshot legdrop gets two on the champ, only to have Chavo come back with chops and uppercuts. A Death Valley Driver plants Chavo for a delayed two but he blocks a top rope hurricanrana to get a breather. The tornado DDT is broken up as well and Crowbar gets a near fall off a northern lights suplex. Chavo is sent out to the floor again and Crowbar scores with his apron splash. Instead of going for the pin though, it’s time for a chair but Chavo slingshots out to drive Crowbar face first into the chair. Somehow that’s not a DQ so Chavo takes him back inside for the tornado DDT to retain.

Rating: C+. Stupid ending aside, this was still entertaining enough and that’s all it needed to be for the story. I’m assuming Crowbar isn’t going to get the invite to the new stable, which thankfully means he isn’t the nothing wrestler that WCW has presented him as for months. Good little match here as Chavo continues to get better and better every week.

Bam Bam Bigelow (He still works here?) accepts Totally Buff’s offer to be on the team.

Rey Mysteiro Jr./Billy Kidman vs. 3 Count

Again, this should be good. They start fast with some 3 Count miscommunication to give the Animals some early control. Shane hurricanranas Kidman out to the floor, leaving Rey to take a sitout powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for two. Kidman is right back in for the save and it’s a Bronco Buster for Helms.

There are no tags anywhere in sight so far. Shannon takes Kidman out with a flip dive and lands on his feet just to show off. Rey dives on both of them before Shane dives on all three of them. Back in and Kidman snaps off a top rope hurricanrana for two but eats a superkick from Shane. The Vertebreaker is broken up to prevent broken vertebrates and Kidman adds the Kid Crusher for the pin.

Rating: B. There were no tags in the entire match but sweet goodness this felt like an old cruiserweight match for the first time in far too long. It’s really cool to see Mysterio and Kidman show off how awesome they can still be in the ring while 3 Count can more than go with anyone. Really fun stuff here, even though it barely broke three minutes.

Post match Team Canada runs in to go after the Animals because this feud is still going. Storm grabs the mic and asks Kidman if he wants a hair vs. hair match against Mike Awesome. Kidman accepts, giving us what could be one heck of a match.

Cat thanks Kronik for their help last night and gives them a Tag Team Title match as a reward. No charge for this one.

Team Canada beats Kidman down.

Flair offers Chavo a spot on the team, which still seems to be called The New WCW. Chavo doesn’t seem interested but Ric tells him to go chase the Nitro Girls and have some tequila before they talk about it tomorrow. Chavo leaves and Mike Sanders comes in to suck up but Ric thinks he was just trying to make a spot. Flair makes him his new pet project to make him the new Dirtiest Player in the Game. Oh and don’t worry about Kronik getting the Tag Team Titles back.

Totally Buff goes up to General Rection because we haven’t flown through enough stuff tonight. Rection doesn’t say anything and looks a bit stunned.

Tag Team Titles; Kronik vs. Sean O’Haire/Chuck Palumbo

Kronik is challenging. Palumbo punches Adams around to start but gets thrown to the floor, allowing Clark to hit his flip dive off the apron. Tony: “HAS HE EVER DONE THAT???” Scott: “Of course he has.” It’s off to O’Haire vs. Adams with the full nelson slam planting the champ for two. Clark comes in for some chops as the announcers say any move could be your last as Sid proved last night. Palumbo gets the tag and is promptly suplexed, only to have O’Haire break up the Meltdown.

Adams tries to come in but the distraction just lets Sean nail Clark in the back of the head. A DDT plants O’Haire though and the hot tag brings in Adams as everything breaks down. High Time gets two on Sean with Chuck making the last second save. Cue Jindrak and Stasiak for a distraction though, allowing Palumbo to score with the Jungle Kick on Adams. Clark gets beaten down on the floor (Hudson: “WHERE IS THE REFEREE?”) as Adams is superplexed to set up the Seanton Bomb for the pin to retain the titles.

Rating: D+. They kept this moving to make sure people didn’t realize how weak Kronik becomes in an actual match but you knew the screwy finish was coming. Thankfully they have the titles on the best pairing as Jindrak and Stasiak are some of the least interesting guys I’ve seen in a good while.

Kidman can’t wrestle so Konnan is taking his place.

O’Haire and Palumbo yell at Jindrak and Stasiak because they didn’t need the help. Sanders and Reno come in to make peace.

Konnan vs. Mike Awesome

Hair vs. hair…..so I guess Kidman’s hair is on the line since Konnan is bald. Indeed that’s the case with Flair popping up on screen to make that clear. Konnan gets beaten down in the corner to start until he snaps off a headscissors to take over. Awesome stops a charge in the corner with a raised boot and a belly to back suplex gets two. Back up and Konnan wristdrags him out of the corner and it’s time to fight on the floor.

Awesome chairs him in the ribs but dives off the steps right into a chair shot to the head. Back in and Mike raises a boot to stop Konnan (looked horrible as Konnan had already landed when he hit the boot), only to have the Awesome Bomb countered into a faceplant (nice nod to Kidman, who can’t be powerbombed you see). A spinebuster sets up the Awesome Splash for two so Awesome goes back up, only to get caught in a super DDT for the pin and Mike’s hair.

Rating: C-. Dang it I really wanted to see Kidman vs. Awesome but instead we got Konnan’s slow offense to mess things up. Kicking out of the Awesome Splash was a big stretch, especially when you could probably have done the same thing with the splash missing but why do that when you can push Konnan harder?

Post match Konnan snips off the back of Awesome’s hair until Team Canada makes the save.

Chavo tries to talk to Rection but the General really doesn’t want to hear it.

Storm tells Awesome that they’ll get the last laugh.

Tickets go on sale for SuperBrawl: Revenge (great title) on Saturday, or less than a month before the show.

Here’s Cat to say send someone out here for him to fight.

The Cat vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bigelow runs him over and stomps away with a belly to back getting two. The announcers talk about how important this match is as Bigelow chokes away, only to miss a charge in the corner. A chop and the dancing elbow get two on the big man, followed by the Feliner for the very quick pin.

Post match it’s dance time.

US Title: Shane Douglas vs. General Rection

Shane is defending after winning the title last night. Before the match, Shane asks how the fans like him now. Apparently the title weighs 16lbs. Good piece of trivia. Rection starts with right hands and clotheslines for two but Shane comes back with right hands of his own. That’s fine with Rection who wins a slugout and kicks Shane in the ribs. The top rope elbow misses though as Rection takes too much time getting to the top. It’s already chain time but Rection gets to his feet and press slams Shane before throwing the chain out. Cue Chavo to sneak in a chain shot so Shane can get the cheap pin to retain the title.

Post break Rection holds his head and almost cries about how much he wants to fight Chavo. He’s tired of being General Rection or Hugh Morrus but he’s going to finish Chavo’s career. Hopefully that means it’s time for a better name. Like one that’s not a pun.

WCW World Title: Kevin Nash vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending and I think you know what’s coming here. Scott easily takes him into the corner and hammers away to start before Nash spins him around and does the same. A clothesline puts Scott outside and an angry Nash stays on him with the right hands. I’d be mad too if I was asked to wrestle twice in one night.

Scott gets in a shot to the ribs and a spinning belly to belly gets two back inside. The Push-Up Elbow lets the champ show off a bit and a delayed backbreaker sets up a bow and arrow hold. Nash starts fighting up and scores with the side slam but can’t cover because he’s gassed after three and a half minutes. Snake Eyes and the big boot set up the Jackknife and here come the troops for the DQ.

Rating: C. Shockingly watchable match here with both guys working hard and faster than I’ve seen in a long time. Of course the lack of any drama about the ending didn’t help things but that’s par for the WCW course. Still though, for who was in there and how the ending was going to go, this was a glorified miracle.

The remaining good guys come in for the brawl to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Yeah it was actually good and it’s a strong sign for the start of the Bischoff regime. Unfortunately it’s nothing we haven’t seen before and I have no reason to believe that WCW won’t screw this up by the time Thunder airs in two days. The new NWO isn’t going to last long with Lex Luger and Jeff Jarrett as the second and third in command but at least it’s something coherent and focused for a change, which is a far cry from the disasters that WCW tends to put on.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Thunder
Date: January 10, 2001
Location: X-Cel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 4,500
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Stevie Ray, Tony Schiavone

It’s the final show before Sin and things aren’t looking all that interesting. The four way for the World Title has the potential to be an absolute disaster as Sid/Steiner/Jarrett don’t have the best chemistry in the world and it’s just asking for trouble whenever WCW brings in a surprise. The rest of the show isn’t looking great either so let’s get to it.

Ric Flair welcomes us to the show and talks about everything that’s going on over the WCW version of the World Title. Tonight it’s going to be Steiner defending the title against Sid because the Starrcade main event can be given away less than a month later on Thunder. The Mystery Man is in the room off camera and Flair promises to have him go after Steiner if things get out of hand. Enjoy the show. I’m sure I won’t but it’s a nice idea.

Opening sequence.

The announcers talk for a long time about the upcoming show.

Shane Douglas buys the Natural Born Thrillers’ services for the night.

Big Vito/Kwee Wee vs. Chuck Palumbo/Sean O’Haire

Johnny the Bull is with Vito and Kwee Wee. The announcers spend most of the match talking about how good Paisley looks (a fair point) as Palumbo drives Vito into the corner to start. A Japanese armdrag puts Chuck down before Kwee Wee comes in for two off a back elbow. Stevie thinks Kwee Wee looks like a Dragon Ball Z reject as Vito comes in to work on Palumbo. Tony tries to dub these Thrillers as the Power Plant Connection.

Sean gets two off a clothesline and we hit the choking. We get an Angry Alan appearance but Stevie is too busy asking the referee’s name. Sean and Vito clothesline each other and it’s off to Kwee Wee for some house cleaning. A DDT plants Palumbo for two with O’Haire making the save. Cue Reno to beat on Johnny and Vito, leaving Kwee Wee to take a Jungle Kick and the Seanton Bomb for the pin.

Rating: D+. I like most of the people in this match but it ran too long to get to the obvious ending with the Thrillers going over before their title match on Sunday. That’s the right call, though there might be something better than beating a random pairing before their title shot. And yeah I know it’s going to be a “random” pairing of the Thrillers but they’re not really hiding that it’s Palumbo/O’Haire.

Shane Douglas wants General Rection to find some partners for a six man tag again himself and the Thrillers.

The Misfits are watching and apparently Cajun and AWALL can’t wrestle tonight because of something about a blood test.

Lance Storm/Elix Skipper vs. Rey Mysterio/Billy Kidman

Jim Duggan is on commentary. Mysterio and Skipper get things going as Stevie asks Duggan if he’s going to call the Penalty Box match down the line. Kidman comes in for something like a sitout H Bomb but Storm gets in a cheap shot from the apron to take over. Duggan says he’d be willing to put the women in the box on Sunday and Stevie is THRILLED.

Kidman gets crotched on top again and it’s time for some Canadian double teaming. A top rope ax handle to the back keeps Kidman in trouble as the announcers talk about Sunday’s match like it’s a hockey game. Kidman’s comeback is quickly broken up as Duggan rants about how boring it was to talk to Team Canada. Skipper gets two off a dragon suplex but makes the mistake of trying a powerbomb on Kidman. For some reason Stevie thinks it’s called the Space Jam and even Tony groans at how stupid that sounded.

The tag brings in Mysterio to bulldog Storm and get two off his springboard splash. Everything breaks down (Duggan: “NO TAGS! PENALTY BOX! PENALTY BOX! PENALTY BOX!”) and Kidman suplexes Skipper for two. The women get into it as the Bronco Buster is broken up by a raised boot. Awesome’s attempted powerbomb on the floor is broken up by Konnan (because Kidman needs help against powerbombs) but Rey springboards into the Maple Leaf for the submission.

Rating: C+. Annoying commentary aside, this was quite the fun match. It’s a case of having four talented wrestlers and letting them take their time to set up a good performance. The Penalty Box match is going to be a mess but you have to expect that in a gimmick match on pay per view with Duggan involved.

The Misfits try to get their blood test but the Thrillers knock them out with ether. This feels like a WAY too complicated story that they’re setting up.

Post break Cajun and AWALL are ruled out of tonight’s six man tag. Rection yells at them as they vomit.

Shane and the Thrillers are very happy. Notice the bottle with a big ETHER label on it.

Kronik wants to hurt Totally Buff for the attack on Monday.

We run down the Sin card.

Morrus rants about how he’s ready for whatever odds but he happens to have partners in the Insiders. Nash spanks Gene for reasons I don’t want to know.

Steiner jumps Sid in the back.

Shane Douglas/Mark Jindrak/Shawn Stasiak vs. Insiders/General Rection

The good guys storm the ring and it’s a brawl to start with the villains being cleared out of the ring. Page clotheslines Jindrak a few times to start as Tenay brings up an interesting point: Page is going to be thrown off by mystery opponents because he can’t do his extensive planning. Lines like that make me miss good commentary because it actually tells you something instead of having the announcers sound stupid. Stasiak comes in and wants Nash, who is perfectly happy to kick Stasiak in the face. Rection adds a top rope elbow before it’s off to Shane for a bunch of kicks to the ribs.

Shane is right back out so Shawn gets his chance to beat on Rection in the corner. The Thrillers take turns stomping on Rection as Stevie yells about Shane not going in to beat on Rection when he has the chance. Shane comes in and Stevie isn’t happy with that either because there’s no pleasing him. The reverse Hennig neck snap sets up a front chancery as everything breaks down. Cue the Thrillers to go after the Insiders which somehow doesn’t warrant a DQ. In the melee, Shane gets powerslammed for the pin.

Rating: D+. So Stevie is never happy, the referee doesn’t call that a DQ and Shane gets pinned four days before his title shot. The Insiders continue to wrestle some of the better matches on the show but it’s mostly due to them working at such a slow pace that it’s harder for them to screw something up. Not a good match and it really didn’t set up much for Sunday, which has to be expected.

The Thrillers are ready for Sunday. Stasiak and Gene almost get in a fight and Gene threatens to have his guys from New Jersey break Shawn’s legs. Wait, MEAN GENE HAS MAFIA CONNECTIONS??? Why is this the least surprising thing I’ve ever heard?

Don Harris vs. Meng

Meng has the Hardcore Title with him and both Twins jump him at the bell, which of course isn’t a DQ. Meng fights back against Don and splashes him for two. They fight to the floor with Don taking over before going back inside to drop Meng with a clothesline. Some clubberin puts Harris down but it’s time for some twin magic, only to have Meng suplex Ron for the pin.

Kwee Wee comes out for the save from the post match beatdown, earning himself an H Bomb. Meng Death Grips both of them and beats up Jamie Noble, who comes out for no apparent reason.

Glacier vignette, with Norman Smiley saying he hopes Glacier got his fan letters.

Here’s the Cat with something to say. He promises to whip Sanders on Sunday but here’s Sanders for a “bombshell.” Apparently Miss Jones was hired to be the Commissioner’s assistant and since Sanders is still the Commissioner, she’ll be coming with him. So yes, they’re doing another damsel in distress/woman being held against her will story.

Ric Flair is on the phone with someone named Bill. Tenay thinks it’s Clinton.

Kronik vs. Totally Buff

It’s a brawl to start with Clark side slamming Buff for two to start. We hit a chinlock on Bagwell for a bit before Luger comes in to take half of a double clothesline. Buff hits Adams low to break up a full nelson slam but we cut to the back to see Goldberg arrive. Back in the arena it’s Luger and Adams clotheslining each other to set up a double tag. Clark cleans house as I guess Kronik is the face team here. Everything breaks down with Buff taking over until Goldberg comes out to almost no reaction. The spear misses Buff and hits Adams by mistake for the DQ.

Rating: F. This was a way to wait around for Goldberg to come out and that’s really not interesting. Totally Buff looked as worthless as any team I’ve ever seen out there as they were clearly not trying and just collecting a check before they could run away from Goldberg at the end. This story is so uninteresting and it’s killing Goldberg’s momentum.

WCW World Title: Sid Vicious vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending but first of all Sid has to cut a rambling promo about how he’s going to win on Sunday like he did at Starrcade. Scott slowly pounds him down in the corner to start but Sid carefully walks him to the middle of the ring for a backdrop. A legdrop sends Scott rolling out to the floor where Midajah hits Sid with the pipe.

Back in and Steiner kicks Sid in the chest as the announcers debate Stevie’s height. Off to a chinlock with no torque from Steiner. Sid pretty easily gets up and kicks Scott in the face before sending him outside again. That goes nowhere so Sid chokeslams him for two back inside, only to have the Mystery Man jump the barricade and come in to break up the powerbomb for the DQ.

Rating: D-. This is WCW’s main event scene in a nutshell: two older guys who are both CRAZY fighting a slow paced and boring match that people don’t seem all that interested in because we’re waiting on some mystery man to come in for the finish. It’s another bad match and Sunday is looking worse and worse every day.

Sid fights them both off and unmasks the Mystery Man as Jeff Jarrett. The real Mystery Man comes out to stand next to Ric (with Tony calling him a mystery partner over and over) to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. It started off well with the long wrestling matches and limited talking but as usual we had the star power dragging everything down as only WCW can do. They’re getting back to being a combination of insultingly bad as well as dull and that’s a really scary place to be. Oh and then I get a three hour show in a few days. Great indeed.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume II at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FWZZ2UA

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Monday Nitro #272
Date: January 8, 2001
Location: X-Cel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Attendance: 4,500
Commentators: Scott Hudson, Disco Inferno, Tony Schiavone

We’re finally back after several weeks off and it’s the go home show for Sin. The big question is still who is the mystery man but it seems that something is up as Sid has been put in the title match on Sunday after winning last week on Thunder. Other than that we have the continuing saga of Goldberg and a career jobber masquerading as a guy we’re supposed to take seriously facing Totally Buff because Bagwell isn’t allowed loose on his own. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Ric Flair with a bunch of security to open things up. Flair says Sin is going to be the biggest pay per view of the year, which to be fair it will be so far. Of course it’s also the worst but that’s probably the case for a long time. Like, as long as it takes to get to the next WCW show. Anyway Flair thinks no one likes Sanders as Commissioner so it’s time for him to put that job on the line against the Cat.

On top of that, Sid is now in the World Title match at Sin after taking Jarrett’s place but Ric isn’t sure if Sid or Jarrett should be in the match. This brings out Jarrett, probably to yell at Flair for that statement not making sense. Jarrett says Sid DIDN’T beat him because someone interfering and hitting Sid in the back isn’t a DQ for storyline reasons. Flair doesn’t buy the idea that Steiner will be cool with Jarrett in the title match so there won’t be a three way dance.

Cue Steiner who isn’t happy with this ruling. That’s fine with Ric, who makes it a four way dance with Steiner defending against Sid, Jarrett and the Mystery Man. Scott says it’s really going to be a tag match so Flair shows us clips of Jarrett lying about being in the contenders tournament and accidentally hitting Steiner with a guitar at Starrcade. Therefore tonight, Steiner is going to face Jarrett for the title. Scott says he’s coming for Flair soon.

Goldberg arrives and wants to find Kronik.

Sanders makes Ron Harris vs. the Cat for tonight. Ron has a bit of hair here so they’re not identical.

Shane Douglas wants to be in the World Title match so Flair gives him Sid tonight. Shane: “At Sin, US Title and World Title. Never been done.” So I guess he’s next.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Shannon Moore

Non-title and Shane Helms is out for commentary. Chavo isn’t ready to go yet though as he would rather put the title on the line, meaning that if he loses tonight then Shane is left out of Sin.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Shannon Moore

Chavo is defending and gets punched out to the floor to start. Back in and some leg lariats in the corner have Chavo in trouble until he counters one into a backbreaker to take over. We hit a seated abdominal stretch from the champ for a bit before a victory roll gets two for Moore. The champ punches him down again but Moore counters a slam into a small package for two. Off to a chinlock on Shannon for all of ten seconds, followed by a springboard Fameasser for two on the champ. Shannon’s sleeper slam is broken up though and Chavo grabs a brainbuster to retain.

Rating: C+. They’re doing something interesting here with Chavo playing mind games with Shane but more importantly they have a story. After all that time of the title being worthless and having one weak story after tonight, it’s really refreshing to see some time and effort being put into things again.

Shane saves Shannon from a beatdown.

Sanders beats up Kwee Wee for no apparent reason until Big Vito makes the save for even less of a reason.

Flair is with Buff and Luger again for some reason.

Ron Harris vs. The Cat

The Twins are identical again and as you might expect, they beat Cat down to start. Ron slowly works Cat over and sends him into the barricade to avoid having to actually wrestle. Back in and Cat gets in some kicks but takes his sweet time dancing into an elbow. The Twins switch and Miss Jones’ protest lets them hit an H Bomb to give Ron the easy pin.

Post break Cat proves how awesome he is by dancing.

Hugh Morrus asks Sid to leave a little bit of Shane for him on Sunday.

Jarrett and Steiner argue. I’m sure this isn’t going to be a swerve.

Sanders is making a Minnesota Massacre match with Big Vito and Kwee Wee vs. some randomly selected opponents. The Thrillers just happen to have their gear tonight in case they’re the RANDOMLY selected opponents. Anyone who interfered in this match will be subject to every penalty Sanders can find for them.

Luger has gotten Kronik a match against Goldberg and Sarge. If they win tonight, Goldberg is fired. Kronik wants pay but apparently they’re doing their job so no pay. Disco: “THEY’RE WRESTLING FOR FREE??”

Billy Kidman vs. Lance Storm

Before the match, Storm challenges the Filthy Animals to a penalty box match, which he’s kind enough to quickly explain. Disco ignores the match to complain about Kronik wrestling for free after taking so much money from he and Alex Wright over the last month and a half. Storm shrugs off Kidman’s right hands to start and drops him ribs first over the top rope.

Awesome throws in a chair behind the referee’s back but Storm opts to wedge it in the corner instead. A Regal Roll gets two for Storm as the USA chants start up. Storm grabs an abdominal stretch for a bit before getting dropkicked out of the air to start Kidman’s comeback. The BK Bomb gets two but Storm scores with a superkick for the same. Storm gets kicked into the chair in the corner for two as Gunns pulls the referee out, triggering the required stable brawl. In the melee, Kidman hits a quick Kid Crusher for the pin.

Rating: C+. Would you expect these two to have a bad match? Storm working on the ribs to set up the eventual Mapleleaf was a good idea but you had to have the stupid brawl on the floor because that hasn’t been done to death in WCW lately. Also it’s nice to see Kidman getting wins but I’m not wild on Storm taking a pin.

Shane Douglas vs. Sid Vicious

Shane complains about being in this town and jumps Sid as he gets in the ring. They’re quickly on the floor with Sid sending him into the barricade and dropping Shane across the announcers’ table. Back in and as Disco incorrectly says Shane hasn’t had a title since he’s been in WCW as Shane pulls out the chain. That’s fine with Sid who kicks Shane in the face and drops a leg. A chokeslam drops Douglas though and the powerbomb gives Sid the easy pin.

Rating: D. Well so much for that idea. I’m very glad that the #1 contender for the US Title got squashed six days before his title shot because Sid wouldn’t have been the same otherwise. Douglas is just one of those guys who is a career midcarder outside of ECW and he’s actually growing on me in that role.

Steiner and Jarrett come out and beat Sid into the crowd after the match.

Flair says Jarrett and Steiner are suspended if they don’t try their hardest tonight. On top of that, Jim Duggan is guest referee for the Penalty Box match. Duggan just looks weird with that short hair.

Here’s Terry Funk to say he’s the king of hardcore wrestling. He’s tired of Flair giving him these nobodies like Crowbar in hardcore matches so he wants the cream of the crop. Funk wants Goldberg, Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page in hardcore matches. Cue Crowbar to call Funk an old man but it wasn’t supposed to be this way. Funk says he’s the man who started ECW because he’s the extreme wrestler in the world today.

Crowbar talks about how he’s the representation of everything Funk is afraid of. As he’s talking, Daffney plays with sparklers and a Sin logo pops up with its own sound effects. Crowbar keeps being serious and says on Sunday he’s going to become the new face of the hardcore revolution. The brawl is on until Meng comes out and puts them both in the Tongan Death Grip. Daffney gets a superkick for her efforts. Meng leaves with the Hardcore Title.

Jimmy Hart DJ challenge.

Someone goes into an office and swaps an envelope from a black suit jacket. That might be the same envelope that Sanders said contained the RANDOM opponents for Vito and Kwee Wee.

Kronik vs. Goldberg/Dewayne Bruce

Bruce has a broken arm. It’s a brawl in the aisle to start with Goldberg punching Adams, leaving Clark to dismantle Bruce like the career jobber he is. The announcers basically scream at Kronik to go after Bruce until thinks settle down to Adams clotheslining Sarge for two. Bruce gets in a quick DDT and Goldberg comes in before being tagged. Yeah he already had one leg in when he was tagged but the referee is fine with all this. Goldberg cleans house as only he can but Totally Buff comes out to beat on Bruce. As this is going on, Goldberg ends Adams with the usual.

Rating: D. As was mentioned, WHY ARE THEY NOT GOING AFTER BRUCE? All you really have to do is distract Goldberg and then beat WCW’s answer to the Brooklyn Brawler and Goldberg is gone. Kronik continues to look worthless but I guess they can be credited with trying to fight Goldberg at the same time.

Totally Buff break the cast off Bruce’s arm and beat down everyone, including Kronik for some reason.

Here’s Sanders to pull the names out of the envelope for the Minnesota Massacre. The first three names drawn are Sanders himself, Chuck Palumbo, Sean O’Haire…..and the Insiders.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kevin Nash vs. Mike Sanders vs. Chuck Palumbo vs. Sean O’Haire

Officially this is a five way last man standing match so I’m assuming elimination rules. The Thrillers work as a team of course and wrap Nash’s leg around the post before punching Page a lot. Disco: “Page is a tremendous competitor. I understand he’s been doing yoga.” O’Haire and Palumbo superkick each other so Sanders is the only man left but a low blow lets him join the club. Cue the rest of the Thrillers but Kwee Wee, Big Vito (Weren’t they guaranteed to be in this?) and Johnny the Bull cut them off. The Insiders hit their finishers on the Thrillers to win, despite it not being a team match and no counting from the referee.

Rating: F. Do you know the rules of this match? It was a five way last man standing match with two winners and no count from the referee while the people who were announced for the match weren’t actually involved. Oh and more #1 contenders get beaten down in a glorified handicap match six days before their title shot.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett

Steiner is defending but says he doesn’t care what Ric says because he won’t fight his friend. Here’s Flair to say the title is on the line or Steiner is stripped of the belt and Jarrett is out of the Sin main event. Jarrett shoves Midajah for some reason to give Steiner even more reason to pummel him severely. Steiner drops him with a gorilla press but Jeff shrugs it off. A clothesline has a bit more effect for the champ and it’s time for the elbow drop pushups.

Jeff’s perfect dropkick puts Steiner down and a high cross body gets two on the champ. Steiner tilt-a-whirl slams him and ties Jeff in the Tree of Woe for some choking. They head outside with Jeff being sent into the barricade and slammed onto the announcers’ table. Back in and Jeff can’t get the Stroke as Steiner suplexes him instead. Cue Sid to beat on Steiner though as I guess we have a no contest.

Rating: D+. You know, it actually wasn’t out of the question to have them change the title here in a surprise and then give it back to Steiner on Sunday. Jarrett was fine here and Steiner was his normal self, even if they were just doing all their signature stuff with absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Now the Mystery Man comes in to beat on Jeff and a big brawl end the show.

Overall Rating: D. Standard Nitro here with nothing really standing out and WCW managing to screw up something as simple as a last man standing match. I really don’t want to see Sin as the card has the potential to be one of the worst in a long time, especially the (likely) unmasking of the Mystery Man. Bad show here but that’s really the norm these days.

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Thunder
Date: December 20, 2000
Location: Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Attendance: 2,872
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Stevie Ray

This is the final show for the year for WCW as the next two Nitros are canceled due to Christmas and New Year’s Day while next week’s Thunder is a Best Of show. Believe it or not, WCW is actually on a roll at this point, or at least as much of a roll as you can be on with one good show. Let’s get to it.

The opening recap focuses on the World Title situation which might be more interesting if Lance Storm was involved but instead we’re getting Steiner, Jarrett and another mystery man. Steiner’s last surprise challenger was Sid so this could be anyone from Rollerball Rocco to Flyboy Rocco.

Ric Flair is in the back of his limo and talks about how great the pay per view is going to be. The Mystery Man is hyped up again and we hear about tonight’s tag team battle royal.

Opening sequence.

Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Jamie Noble

Noble is challenging. Before the match, Chavo talks about being ready to face Shane Helms at Sin. However, if he somehow loses here, it would be a rematch at Sin and Shane would be left out in the cold. What an odd threat. Noble starts fast with a dropkick and slam before putting on a quickly broken up STF. Chavo is sent out to the floor and grabs his title but goes back inside so Noble can roll him up for two.

What appears to be a low blow puts Jamie down and Chavo’s dropkick gets two more. Jamie gets in a quick neckbreaker and fires off some right hands to send Chavo backing into the corner. Noble loads up a superplex but here’s Shane to hold Noble’s leg, allowing Chavo to send him down. A frog splash and the brainbuster retain Chavo’s title.

Rating: C. This wasn’t the most exciting match in the world but I’m really digging the storytelling here. It’s a basic, logical story that makes you wonder how Chavo is going to get out of this at Sin. That’s the kind of thing that would have done WCW a world of good in their main events over the last year or so. A lot of the time a basic story will give you more positives than almost any overly complicated story like a big swerve and a heel stable headed by a corrupt boss.

Crowbar is ready for Terry Funk at Sin.

Cat rides up to Flair on an ATV (Which you can WIN!) and asks for a match with Scott Steiner tonight. Flair, realizing that Cat has no chance of actually beating Steiner, is fine with this.

Bam Bam Bigelow is ready for Crowbar tonight.

Here’s Jim Duggan in street clothes with something to say. Duggan doesn’t want to take up too much of our time so we can get back to the show. He’s made a decision and it’s caused him some issues. About three months ago, it was decided that he needed to retire because it was past his time.

For twenty years, Duggan has shared his life with us because this is who he is. Then he made the mistake of turned his back on his country and gave up on everything. Now he needs to apologize for everything, including to his father, his wife and his children. Above all else though, he wants to apologize to the fans. After those twenty years, they deserve an apology because he can only hope they understand. I like the idea here and it’s another story that is always going to work but couldn’t this be used on someone with a bit more upside than Jim Duggan?

After a break, Duggan is leaving but Mike Awesome offers him a ride after the show is over.

The Natural Born Thrillers are ready for the battle royal and Gene Okerlund’s insults don’t seem to sway them. Stasiak insults Okerlund and that’s about it.

Hugh Morrus thanks Duggan and accepts his apology. There will be no taking Hugh’s beer though.

Tag Team Battle Royal

3 Count, Jung Dragons, Meng/Kwee Wee, Filthy Animals, Noble and Karagias, Harris Twins, Sean O’Haire/Mark Jindrak, Perfect Event

The winners get a title shot at the pay per view. The fight starts during the entrances and it only takes one member being eliminated for a team to be out. Yang is eliminated early to get rid of the Dragons and thankfully clear the ring out a bit, which would go much faster if there wasn’t a referee included.

Noble and Karagias go out next as those pesky cruiserweights are being cleared out. Everyone slowly beats on everyone until 3 Count is eliminated. This nonsense is getting ridiculous. Cue Vito to beat on Reno (standing at ringside with the Thrillers) and Johnny the Bull of all people to make a return and blast Sanders with a kendo stick.

We get a Mamalukes reunion as Meng is eliminated by the Twins, only to have them get eliminated as a result. We’re back from a break with Kidman/Mysterio, Jindrak/O’Haire and Perfect Event. The Thrillers clean house because it’s four against two meager cruiserweights. A dropkick eliminates Kidman so we’re down to the Thrillers….who split the win, basically repeating the same idea that 3 Count had in the ladder match at Starrcade.

Rating: D-. Make sure to treat those cruiserweights like they’re the most worthless things in the world. I mean you have SHAWN STASIAK out there to get a title shot and stand tall. The idea is fine but it’s really not going to hurt you to let some of the other teams look like something important on the way to having these two teams stand tall.

Sanders runs his mouth a lot post match. Apparently any two of these Thrillers will be challenging the Insiders but we won’t know until Sin. Riveting indeed.

Scott Steiner shouts that Flair doesn’t control him and he wants that Mystery Man tonight.

Konnan vs. Elix Skipper

Konnan does his catchphrases, which I really should understand by this point. They start screwing stuff up early as Konnan botches something off the ropes, prompting the camera to cut away to the crowd in a never good sign. Back with Konnan getting stomped down and put in a chinlock for a bit. The rolling clothesline and a reverse DDT put Elix down, only to have him get to the apron for a springboard missile dropkick. We hit the chinlock again because Konnan needs to rest three minutes in. A springboard legdrop gets two for Skipper but Konnan hits another rolling lariat and grabs the Tequila Sunrise for the tap out.

Rating: D-. And that’s ALL on Konnan, who looked like a disaster out there, barely being able to do anything without being worn out in a short TV match. Skipper was doing his usual stuff but Konnan is a big deal in another country so it’s time for Elix to lose cleanly. Thanks for the cool spots but drawing power from years ago is all that matters.

Jeff Jarrett is ready for Scott Steiner at Sin. I can’t believe we have to sit through more Jarrett main events. Was anyone asking for that?

The Misfits yell at Hugh Morrus over him accepting Duggan’s apology while turning his back on Chavo. Morrus says the difference is Chavo not realizing what he’s doing is wrong. Point to Morrus on that one.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Crowbar

Bigelow is still limping. Crowbar is quickly thrown into the corner for an Avalanche because what else is someone Bigelow’s size going to do at this point in his career. A huge toss sends Crowbar flying but Bigelow makes the mistake of screaming at Daffney who easily destroys him with some more vocal eruptions. Crowbar gets smart and goes after the knee before they take it outside. Bigelow sends him into the barricade but gets his eyes raked by the banshee, allowing Crowbar to chop block him down. Cue Meng to lay out Crowbar, allowing Bigelow to mostly botch Greetings From Asbury Park for the quick pin.

Rating: D. I’m not sure what’s worse: Bigelow going over Crowbar or the fact that these two just had a better match without weapons than they’ve had with them in what feels like years. These guys are capable of wrestling a coherent match with a simple story in Bigelow’s knee injury but for some reason they’re stuck with the weak weapons stuff most of the time.

Norman Smiley is still too excited about Glacier returning but is told he has a match. It’s a makeup match from a few weeks ago.

Norman Smiley vs. Goldberg

Norman is in street clothes. Goldberg actually gives him a few seconds before the spear and Jackhammer make it 33-0.

Shane Douglas pays Kronik off.

The sitdown interview this week is with Ric Flair, who won’t say who the Mystery Man is despite Tenay asking him over and over. Why Ric just doesn’t say “it’s a MYSTERY” isn’t clear. Flair praises Steiner’s abilities but says the title has a big target that comes with it. The title is all that matters though, unlike this interview which was the same stuff that Flair has been saying for weeks now.

Ernest Miller is ready for his title shot.

Shane Douglas/Kronik vs. Filthy Animals

Shane does the same promo he always does before the match, which to be fair still works well enough. Douglas is about to start with Morrus but brings in Adams before there’s any contact. I’m not a Shane fan but he knows how to use the most basic heel stuff to good results. Morrus clotheslines Adams and brings in Lash for an ax handle.

The dancing punches don’t seem to work so Lash settles for kicking Adams low. It’s not exactly a crushing blow however as Adams takes over with an easy slam and brings in Clark for the first time. Lash’s offense has about as much effect as you would expect so it’s off to Wall for a showdown that could set wrestling back a hundred years.

Clark uses a drop toehold of all things so he can tag in Shane for the reverse Hennig necksnap. Raise your hand if that’s the sequence you were expecting. Wall gets in a spinebuster on Shane as everything breaks down. Clark gives Lash a Meltdown for no cover, followed by Morrus slamming Shane and hitting the moonsault for two. Adams cleans house with a chair though and the Franchiser puts Morrus away to give us a reason for a rematch at Sin.

Rating: D+. This actually didn’t suck as they went with a simple formula until right up to the ending. Kronik as partners for hire isn’t the worst idea in the world and it’s a lot better than having them be paid off for half of a fifteen minute match and not being able to read a stopwatch. Douglas isn’t great either but he’s as good as any other midcard heel so him getting Morrus again worse as well as anything else would.

Post break, Morrus yells at the Misfits.

Here’s Team Canada with something to say. After the now traditional complaining about the Presidential elections, Storm rips on Duggan for turning his back on Canada. Of course cue Duggan again and amazingly the fans go INSANE with patriotism. By that I mean they do nothing and WCW pipes in USA chants. Duggan goes in for the fight and hangs on, only to have Mike Awesome come in and take him out to become the newest member of the team.

Post break, Awesome declares himself the Canadian Career Killer. I would have gone with the guy fighting to become World Champion because he’s the kind of guy that might get some attention because he’s an athletic freak but this is a major step up from That 70s Guy.

WCW World Title: Scott Steiner vs. The Cat

Cat is challenging of course. Steiner pounds him in the back and stomps Cat in the corner because this is Scott Steiner vs. the Cat. The Push-Up elbow gets two and a backbreaker allows Scott to yell at Ms. Jones. Cat comes back with a few kicks, including one to put Steiner on the floor. We get the catfight as Cat stays on Steiner, including a shot to the throat back inside. Never mind though as we get the spinning belly to belly, only to have the Mystery Man come out and distract Steiner, setting up the Feliner for two. A t-bone suplex sets up the Recliner and we’re done.

Rating: D. Yeah this was exactly what you would expect with the Cat basically getting destroyed and only a few kicks keeping this from being a squash. At the very least, and I do mean VERY least, Cat is able to work a match without looking like he’s about to have a mild heart attack during the match. That’s something isn’t it?

Steiner chases after the Mystery Man to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. They’ve had worse shows but it’s definitely a big letdown after Monday. This was all about the questionable decisions like having Konnan go over Skipper clean and WCW thinking Bam Bam Bigelow is anything but nostalgia in the year 2000. It’s a pretty standard WCW show for the time: a decent opener and then a bunch of uninspiring stories centered around people who aren’t all that interesting in the first place.

That’s it for WCW 2000 as the only thing left is a Best of Thunder show and I don’t think anyone is going to be wanting to read that. This year is definitely divided into different sections. The earliest part of the year, as in from the start up through Russo/Bischoff resetting things, is flat out boring. The stories weren’t any good and the shows were just big wastes of time as Sid held the title for months at a time.

Then it was the New Blood Era where we were supposed to buy that the younger guys were important, even though it was Jeff Jarrett and his thirteen year career running things for the new generation. The rest of the main event was all the old guys being treated as the heroes while the actual new blood was lucky to get a midcard title shot here and there. On top of that you had Russo and Bischoff turning the show into a circus as the fans turned away in droves.

Oh and always remember: Vince Russo is MANLY and can hold on in the Figure Four for over a minute because even though there was a problem in there, they couldn’t possibly change the story to protect the move and make Russo look like any normal person in one of the most famous finishing holds of all time.

Then Russo left and Booker T. won the World Title a few times and things got a little bit better, only to have him drop it to Scott Steiner (which was fine) to make sure the most technically sound main eventer they had went away. Booker winning was a genuinely cool moment as he remains one of the only people in WCW to have a traditional rise up the card before winning the title. After that, the show fell back into the same problems it had earlier in the year: boring stories, lame wrestling, the entertaining people being shoved to the side so the “draws” could get all the glory.

WCW was almost entirely dead coming into 2000 and their Hail Mary of Russo and Bischoff working together failed more spectacularly than anyone could have ever imagined. The company was more than living on borrowed time and they didn’t do themselves any favors by going with the things people didn’t want to see while getting rid of the stuff that wasn’t like the WWF. Yeah Raw was on fire at this point, but WCW was standing in the way of the flames to burn themselves alive. This year was nothing short of a disaster all around and a fitting way to set up the final months of the company.

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Thunder
Date: December 13, 2000
Location: Centurytel Center, Bossier City, Louisiana
Commentators: Konnan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

It’s the final show before the biggest show of the year and the big match announced for tonight is Sgt. Dewayne Bruce vs. Lex Luger. Odds are Sid and Steiner aren’t going to be in the arena tonight because the idea for the match seems to be based on them being apart as long as possible before we get to the pay per view. Let’s get to it.

We open with the traditional Nitro recap, which begins with Crowbar and Terry Funk. Not the World Title situation, but a guy in the 70s with a female friend who dresses in 60’s clothes getting beaten up by a guy who won his first World Title nearly thirty years before this show. Only in WCW.

Mike Sanders welcomes us to the show and gives Chavo Guerrero Jr. the Perfect Event. He’s welcome to find a partner if he wants but otherwise, we’ll just make it a handicap match.

Ric Flair cuts into the interview and demands that Sanders makes sure Lance Storm sings the National Anthem. Sid and Steiner are welcome to fight tonight because Ric is tired of trying to keep them apart. Finally, Sanders will be facing Diamond Dallas Page tonight.

Opening sequence.

Tony: “THIS MUST BE THUNDER!”

Evan Karagias/Jamie Noble vs. 3 Count

Evan is still in the 3 Count entrance video because no one cares enough to fix it. They start brawling and here are the Jung Dragons to make it a three way dance.

Evan Karagias/Jamie Noble vs. 3 Count vs. Jung Dragons

Karagias springboards in with a double clothesline to take out the Dragons before grabbing a neckbreaker on Yang. We settle down to Evan vs. Noble vs. Shane because teams mean nothing around here. Jamie suplexes Shannon and Konnan seems to be having a great time on commentary.

It’s off to Kaz as Konnan talks about what sounds like OMEGA, which isn’t something you often hear about. Everything breaks down and a Vertebreaker (no reaction from commentary) plants Kaz. We get a ladder brought in before Shannon plants Evan with a Fameasser (Bottoms Up here), only to have Noble and Karagias superplex Shane, allowing Evan to steal the pin.

Rating: C. Best match WCW has had in weeks and it was just ok by these guys’ standards. The ladder match should be a blast and at least they have Chavo waiting on the winners instead of whatever nightmare a match against Sanders would have been. It’s also nice of WCW to get this out of the way before it could pick the show up later on.

Scott Steiner beats up Kwee Wee as part of a contest where you can win an ATV.

Storm says he doesn’t know the words to the National Anthem so he can’t sing it. Duggan: “I KNOW THE WORDS! I’LL TEACH YOU!”

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Perfect Event

Non-title and Chavo doesn’t have a partner. Stasiak gets things going as Konnan makes some references to bathhouses. We see the Misfits watching from the back as Chavo gets in Stasiak’s face and takes Palumbo out to the floor. Palumbo can’t get a delayed vertical suplex and gets clotheslined for two, only to have Stasiak make an easy save. Stasiak puts Chavo down again and we see the Misfits clearly wanting to come out and make the save. Chuck dropkicks Chavo in the back as Stasiak flapjacks him for a near fall. In the back again, Lash is told to stay in the back and we cut to a double flapjack putting Chavo away.

Rating: D+. Did Chavo turn face and no one told us? He was slapping hands on the way to the ring and you can’t expect someone to be booed when they’re fighting two heels at a time. If nothing else this makes the Misfits look like heels, which certainly wasn’t what they were going for here. This was a mess of an idea and as usual I doubt they have any idea what’s going on.

Sid is on the phone and says to not let Steiner leave the building because he’s ten to fifteen minutes away.

Meng finds Kwee Wee down on the floor (because he hasn’t gotten any assistance in roughly fifteen minutes) and wants revenge on Steiner.

Reno and Big Vito beat up Bam Bam Bigelow for hitting on Marie. Well at least he has good taste.

Sarge is ready to fight Luger tonight.

The music lessons continue. Duggan: “OH SAY CAN YOU SEE???” Storm: “Who is Jose?”

Luger yawns and reads a magazine.

Video on Sid vs. Steiner.

Video of Goldberg on the Man Show.

Flair gives Meng a World Title shot tonight.

Here’s Storm to sing the National Anthem. Storm doesn’t want to sing so here are the Cat and Ms. Jones to interrupt, complete with a picnic basket to enjoy the performance. The music sings and Storm misses his start before going into “blah blah blah” for the lyrics. Storm screws up again so Cat tells Duggan to sing instead. Duggan is glad to do it and gets about halfway through until Cat throws hot dogs at Storm. That’s enough to set up a match.

The Cat vs. Jim Duggan

Duggan forearms him a few times but tells Storm he doesn’t want to fight. Cat is sent outside for a beating from Skipper but Duggan says not so fast. The 2×4 is loaded up but Duggan sees a “Hacksaw, come home” sign. He hits Storm by mistake and that’s enough to make Duggan rip off the Canadian shirt. The Feliner (more like a kick to the arm) puts Duggan away in a hurry.

Post match, Storm gives Cat one of the best looking superkicks I’ve ever seen, including some tuning up the band. Tony: “What was he stomping on the mat for?” After the Canadians leave, Cat helps Duggan to his feet.

Video of Sarge training people. It’s two people but they are indeed people.

Steiner isn’t worried about Sid or Meng.

Luger hits Goldberg in the head with a baseball bat. And I’m sure charges are coming later tonight right? Naturally the announcers treat this like Luger going to catering.

Sid calls in and needs directions.

Sgt. Dewayne Bruce vs. Lex Luger

Luger has his old face music here. The fans chant for Goldberg as Luger drops to a knee and offers a test of strength. Bruce kicks him down a few times so Luger pulls out a wooden baseball bat to knock him cold. The Rack gives Luger the easy win.

Luger keeps stomping on Bruce and shouts for Goldberg to get out here.

Post break Luger bails as fast as he can.

Page thinks it’s funny that he’s almost twenty years older than Sanders.

Reno and Vito are ready for Kronik. They’ll be having the same match on Sunday so you might as well just do the swerve tonight.

Bruce is checked out for neck and rib injuries.

Daffney wants Crowbar to drop the 70’s thing.

Video on Starrcade’s big matches, the same one that aired on Nitro.

Reno/Big Vito vs. Kronik

Reno and Adams start it off with Brian hitting a cool gorilla press gutbuster for an early two. A double elbow drops Adams though as the crowd is just gone for this. The full nelson slam plants Reno and it’s off to Clark for a beating in the corner. For some reason Clark sends Reno into the corner for a tag off to Vito. That’s quite the arrogance.

Vito Mafia Kicks him for two, only to get suplexed down for the same. They head outside and this is more intense than it really should be but at least they’re working hard. A Russian legsweep sends Vito into the barricade and seems to wake him up a bit, only to have Adams put on a chinlock. Cue Jarrett and the Harris Twins to knock Konnan out cold in an attempt to wake the crowd up. An F5 gets two on Vito and it’s off to Reno, who walks into High Times for a very quick pin.

Rating: C. This was much better than I was expecting but the swerve that you can almost guarantee for Sunday really isn’t something I’m looking forward to. It’s ok to just have a team be a team for a bit without having some big screwy finish thrown in. Vito and Reno are basically the new and improved Mamalukes and the idea is actually working better than it has any right to.

Kronik keeps up the beating but Vito fights them off.

The sitdown interview this week is with Shane Douglas, who talks about coming through the ranks to get here and wanting the best competition. There are a lot of demons in his closet but he wants to face them all. We hear about Torrie being gone without the words “Torrie” or “Wilson” actually being used and Shane insists that they were much closer than just friends. Shane is ready for Morrus on Sunday and wants to use the US Title as a stepping stone to the World Title.

The Thrillers have laid out Kevin Nash.

Mike Sanders vs. Diamond Dallas Page

We recap the Thrillers attacking Nash’s knee (which was either last night if you listen to Tony or Monday night if you follow the graphic) before we get going. They slap each other in the face to start before Page easily takes over and sends Sanders to the floor with a Cactus Clothesline.

Back to the announcers’ table for the first time in a whole match and it’s time to hear from Sid. He’s STILL lost because it takes an hour and a half to find what is likely the biggest building in a city whose population was 56,000 people at the time. Page starts slugging away in the corner before Pancaking him down for two. The Diamond Cutter hits but the Thrillers come in for the DQ.

Rating: D. Of course this was about Page beating up one of the younger guys who was treated like a joke of a threat. I think I’ve vented about my issues enough times now, assuming there’s any doubt about what’s wrong with this mess. Just give Page and Nash the titles back so they can have their second big moment.

Page beats up four Thrillers for a bit until Palumbo and Stasiak come in for the real beatdown.

WCW World Title: Meng vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner is defending and Meng has Paisley in his corner for reasons that still aren’t exactly clear. Before the match, Steiner talks about how Flair’s hired killer can’t even find the arena. Meng goes right after him to start and stomps Steiner down like any given jobber. The champ bails out to the floor for a bit before taking Meng down with a belly to belly.

A belly to belly superplex is broken up and Meng hits a half decent middle rope clothesline. He follows it up with a top rope splash for two but Steiner suplexes him again to take over. Midajah goes after Meng and it’s time for a catfight. The Tongan Death Grip is easily broken up and a t-bone sends Meng flying. Sid comes out as Steiner grabs the Recliner to retain.

Rating: C+. I’m a fan of Meng and the few times he’s gotten a chance to have a big match have turned out quite well. He did just fine beating on Steiner and looking good as a monster for the champ to survive while never being any kind of a real threat to take the title. Plus he found the arena.

Sid beats Steiner up in slow motion and chokeslams him to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Why do I have a feeling that Thunder is never going to reach this level again? There was some good action tonight in spite of the traditional bad booking. I still can’t get over the fact that Sid COULDN’T FIND THE ARENA. That’s their big idea: he got lost on the way there. I mean, you can’t just say he’s there or doing an interview or anything else besides making him look stupid? As usual, WCW decides to go with the worst possible idea and the company suffers as a result.

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