Thunder – November 15, 2000: Wrestlers Doing Wrestling
Thunder Date: November 15, 2000
Location: Evening News Arena, Manchester, England
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray
We’re still in England and we’re still creeping towards Mayhem where the inevitable Scott Steiner title reign is coming. Things are right back down in the depths where they were a few weeks ago and now the nice run they were on is over. Hopefully the stories make sense tonight. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Monday, which isn’t the best idea in the world.
Scott Steiner is angry on arrival and beats up a security guard.
Big Vito vs. Reno
We actually get a bit of the history leading up to this, which is basically I hit you and you hit me. They slug it out on the floor with Reno taking over, including a dropkick to the ribs for the first real advantage. Vito comes back with a clothesline and the good looking Mafia kick, followed by the equally good looking top rope elbow. There’s something about that move that makes it hard to screw up. Since this is starting to be entertaining, here are Jindrak and O’Haire with the former offering a distraction and the latter offering a superkick to Vito’s jaw. Roll of the Dice gives Reno the easy pin.
Rating: D+. Not enough time to go anywhere of course here and they didn’t need to have interference in a match like this. It also doesn’t help that Vito continues to lose no matter who he’s in there against. Reno doesn’t seem to be going anywhere but at least he got a win here, even if it’s over someone who should get better treatment.
Post match Reno challenges Vito for the Hardcore Title at Mayhem.
Here’s Ric Flair with something to say. He wants an answer on what Mike Sanders is going to do about the Cruiserweight Title (which was brought up on Monday) and also we’re getting a Hardcore Title match between Bam Bam Bigelow and champion Crowbar. As for Mayhem, it’s going to be the final match between General Rection and Lance Storm. Amen to that one.
Lance Storm puts the Canadian sticker back on the US Title and wants Booker T. for the World Title tonight.
Hardcore Title: Crowbar vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Crowbar is defending and stands in the ring while Bigelow pulls out the tables. Just get straight to it I guess. Crowbar goes outside and sends Bigelow through one such table leaning up against the apron, followed by some trashcan lids to the head back inside. Well to be fair, trashcans and tables go together.
Bigelow sends him into a table but it doesn’t break. See, British furniture is quality. A splash misses Crowbar and puts Bigelow through the table, allowing Crowbar to send him outside for a chair shot to the back. Crowbar dropkicks a chair into Bigelow’s face but he comes back with a BIG chair shot of his own, or at least a very loud one. Bigelow puts Crowbar under the table for what appears to be a headbutt, only to have Mike Awesome come out and shove him off, giving Crowbar the pin to retain.
Rating: D+. This was more entertaining than most of the hardcore matches and that chair shot had a lot to do with it. Crowbar continues to be the most entertaining guy in this division though unfortunately it means he’s still here being wasted instead of doing something interesting. Fun enough match here though and that’s all you can ask for in these things.
Booker is tired of being disrespected and would love to fight Storm tonight.
Bigelow jumps Awesome in the back.
The Misfits are devastated by the loss of Major Gunns and contemplate splitting up. Realizing that means unemployment, Rection says they should stick together and they’ll keep going for now.
Kwee Wee vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kidman vs. Corporal Cajun vs. Lieutenant Loco vs. Elix Skipper
Elimination rules for the #1 contendership. Loco suplexes Skipper down to start and it’s already time for the women to get into it because that’s what they’re for in WCW. Cue AWALL to yell at Gunns so the women are thrown out, which is probably best for everyone. Cajun and Loco start double teaming Skipper….until the referee does his job by disqualifying them for being in the ring at the same time.
We get a rare break in a match and come back with Kidman baseball sliding Kwee Wee in the corner so Mysterio can hit the Bronco Buster. Skipper comes back in with a dropkick, allowing Kwee Wee to faceplant Kidman for a quick elimination. Kwee Wee holds Mysterio so Skipper can add a top rope spinwheel kick to eliminate Rey, getting us down to one on one. Before Kwee Wee can get anywhere, here’s Jim Duggan to help Skipper, only to have Meng come out and nail Skipper to give Kwee Wee the pin and the title shot.
Rating: C. They could have cut this down to three or four people and it would have been a much better match but any time I get to see Meng and Kwee Wee together, my world is just a little bit brighter. Kwee Wee vs. Sanders doesn’t do much for me but the division is such a death trap right now that it doesn’t make much of a difference.
The Boogie Knights aren’t worried about facing Konnan and a mystery partner tonight.
Ric Flair has a mystery opponent for Sanders tonight.
This week’s interview is with Buff Bagwell, who is frustrated over his lack of a chance around here. He’s been around for a long time but for some reason he’s never been given the ball. For some reason he’s never been given the chance like Luger, Sting and Jarrett. Somehow he’s never had a singles title, which actually surprises me even to this day. You would think he might get a token US Title run in there somewhere. Buff wants Jarrett at Mayhem.
Mike Sanders is on the phone with Jeff (presumably Jarrett) and thinks Buff has no respect for the veterans. So he doesn’t respect himself?
WCW World Title: Booker T. vs. Lance Storm
Booker is defending of course and I still don’t understand why the champ is always on in the middle of the show. Before the match, Storm demands respect before he brings dignity back to the WCW World Title. They trade arm holds to start before Booker kicks him down for a standoff. Storm gets in a shot of his own and they head outside with Storm sending him into the barricade to take over.
Back in and Storm hits that great looking superkick, followed by a springboard missile dropkick for two. The Bookend is countered into a neckbreaker for two and that annoying horn in the crowd keeps honking. Booker comes back with the ax kick but gets thrown into the Mapleleaf on the bad knee. I know he’s not tapping but point here for actually setting up some drama here. Booker gets out to the floor for the break for a bit, only to have Storm counter a suplex into a DDT for two back inside. Storm follows Booker to the top and shoves him down, only to dive into the Bookend to retain the title.
Rating: B. I had a great time with this one and both guys looked awesome. It’s amazing what happens when you let two talented wrestlers have some time to work a good match. Storm continues to be one of the shining stars of WCW and I almost always enjoy whatever he’s doing out there. Good stuff.
Team Canada runs in after the match but Booker quickly dispatches them, including a Bookend to Gunns. Stevie loses his mind with laughter.
The Boogie Knights are in the back, talking about whether Konnan will find a partner. Disco has an idea but he’ll need money. Gee I wonder what that means.
Cruiserweight Title: Mike Sanders vs. ???
There’s no opponent yet but here’s Ric Flair to say he has good news and bad news. First of all, this is going to be a non-title match. The bad news is it’s a non-title match because the opponent is almost 100lbs over the cruiserweight limit.
Mike Sanders vs. Kevin Nash
Nash starts with a very slow motion right hand, which Tony describes as high gear. Sanders gets thrown across the ring again and a side slam gets two as we see security holding the Thrillers back. Nash kicks him in the head and takes the straps down but here are the Thrillers for the DQ.
Rating: D. This was an angle instead of a match and another example of how bad things are if you’re a cruiserweight in 2000 WCW. Nash was squashing Sanders for about three minutes before the Thrillers came in, showing how valuable the Cruiserweight Title really is. At least Sanders didn’t get…..yeah I can’t finish that. This was a horrible way to treat a champion and proof that they need to keep the bigger guys FAR away from the top cruiserweights unless they change a whole lot first. Also well done on making back to back champions look bad.
The Thrillers beat Nash down.
Post break Nash is having his knee looked at.
The Cat/Konnan vs. Boogie Knights
Cat is of course a surprise partner. Wright grabs a wristlock to start before it’s off to Konnan, who somehow is the workhorse of his team. Some cheating has Konnan in trouble and Disco gets in a few good stomps. I still feel sorry for him having such a goofy gimmick because he really good work well in the ring. Back up and Cat tags himself in for a variety of kicks, followed by that dancing elbow to Disco.
It’s off to Wright for a quick double clothesline, though to be fair Cat had been wrestling for a good 45 seconds straight. Konnan comes in and blocks the Chartbuster but the referee gets bumped. Cue Kronik to chokeslam Konnan because the referee seems to be dead, allowing Disco to get the cheap pin.
Rating: D. What else are you expecting in a match like this? The Knights are underrated workers but Miller is one of the worst in the company at the moment. Konnan continues to be fine while still looking horribly lazy most of the time. At least he gets a reaction though and that’s what matters most.
Plug for Goldberg’s book.
Lex Luger is annoyed at not being in Goldberg’s book, which he can’t put down. He was there when Goldberg’s career began and he’s going to be there when the career ends.
Goldberg vs. Buff Bagwell
Goldberg starts fast with a gorilla press drop but Buff grabs the double arm DDT. That means it’s time for posing but Goldberg is on his feet first. The spear and the Jackhammer make Goldberg 19-0 in a hurry.
Goldberg helps him up post match.
Booker leaves.
Lethal Lottery Finals: Scott Steiner vs. Sting
Winner gets a title shot the night after Mayhem. Steiner hammers on him to start but gets backdropped to the floor where Sting hits him with a ball bat. They go to the announcers’ table (Sting: “Hey Stevie.”) with Steiner going face first into the wood. Back in and Steiner counters the Stinger Splash with a belly to belly. There are the pushups and a slam for two, followed by another belly to belly. Steiner is ticked off at the near fall so he cranks on both arms at once instead. We get the choking in the Tree of Woe but more pushups allow Sting to make his comeback, including a quick Death Drop for the pin out of nowhere.
Rating: D. So the solution to building up Sting is to have him get pinned clean in the middle of the ring. Sting winning is the only thing that makes sense here though because they built up this idea of getting a title shot the night after Mayhem. As usual they stop thinking with because they’d rather do a gimmick than set up something that makes long term sense.
Post match Steiner beats Sting down with the pipe and puts him in a straitjacket. A huge beatdown ends the show and puts Sting on the shelf until the final Nitro.
Overall Rating: D+. It much be a WCW law that the shows have to get weaker as they go. They would have been much better off closing with Booker vs. Storm for the World Title instead of setting up a #1 contender in the main event but they’re the “draws” I guess so therefore they must go on last. You would think the British shows would be better but somehow WCW manages to screw that up as well.
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Thunder Date: October 25, 2000
Location: Alltel Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray, Mike Tenay
It’s the final show before Halloween Havoc and hopefully Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett gets a little more time this week. This show is now being taped after Monday Nitro so there’s a chance that some of the guys might not be up to their usual speed. On top of that there’s the chance that WCW could manage to put on a show full of errors that could defy all logic and intelligence. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
The opening video focuses on the three big matches at Halloween Havoc. They’re building those up very well.
Hardcore Title: Reno vs. Kwee Wee
Reno is defending because this title is still a thing for reasons that I don’t quite get. Kwee Wee brings out pink garbage cans. Where would you get one of those? They start slugging it out with the trashcan lids with the champ getting the better of it and dropping a knee onto the lid onto Kwee Wee’s head. To sum up the value of the title, Stevie points out that Reno wasn’t brought to Australia for the two week tour. Yeah a champion wasn’t brought in for two weeks and I don’t think anyone noticed he was gone.
Kwee Wee tries to load up a table but gets hit in the face with a trashcan for his efforts. Well that’s what he deserves. They fight into the crowd but are quickly up to DJ Ran’s booth. I feel like I’m back up in 1999’s area. That goes nowhere so they come back to the ring where Paisley breaks up a Roll of the Dice. Not that it matters as Kwee Wee misses what looked like an elbow drop, setting up the Roll of the Dice to retain the title.
Rating: D. What do you want me to say here? One uninteresting guy beat up a slightly interesting guy with a bunch of nothing weapons shots as the announcers talked about how no one missed the Hardcore Champion being gone for over two weeks. This division needs to die in a hurry because it’s so uninteresting by now.
Post match Paisley gets a Roll of the Dice until AWOL (challenging for the title at the pay per view) comes out for the save.
Buff Bagwell insists that he and Stacy Keibler are just friends. He’s the stuff though.
Here are the Thrillers, minus Stasiak, with something to say. Problem #1 with the Thrillers: they’re picking Shawn Stasiak to turn face out of all the options they have. Nash calls the Thrillers the future and wants Stasiak out here right now. Shawn does as he’s told and says that Nash is like Bobby Knight, making him at least the second and probably twentieth person to make that comparison. Nash isn’t going to tolerate this and says that Shawn needs to assume the position for a cricket bat spanking. For some reason Stasiak does as he’s told again but Palumbo blocks the bat from connecting….and that’s that. Ok then.
Buff Bagwell vs. MI Smooth
Smooth is still a thing? Buff poses a lot to start so Smooth kicks him in the ribs. Now why has no one else ever thought to do that? Well apparently Buff has because Smooth makes the mistake of posing and gets kicked in the ribs as well. They keep up their slow offense with Buff avoiding a splash in the corner and hitting the double arm DDT. A Blockbuster puts Smooth away in a hurry.
David Flair comes in to go after Buff’s blood but eats a DDT.
Here’s the Cat with Miss Jones to challenge Mike Sanders to a mixed tag. “You can bring a woman or put one of the Thrillers in drag.” Well they’ve been humiliated enough times otherwise so why not. Sanders brings out Leia Meow and tells her she can either wrestle or lose her job.
The Cat/Ms. Jones vs. Mike Sanders/Leia Meow
The guys get things going and Cat kicks Sanders right in the face to knock him outside, meaning it’s already off to the women. To be fair, they’re more interesting than anything the men were going to do. Meow is annoyed at Mike though and rides him around while Cat puts a cup over Sanders’ face. Mike gets up for a sunset flip, earning him a shot to the face and a double pin from the women. This would be another match where they tried to be funny and failed about as hard as they could have.
Booker T. and Sting are ready for their six man tag tonight.
The big interview this week is with Goldberg, who spends a good deal of time sucking up to the Australian fans before moving on to talk about the Streak and Starrcade 1998. That brings us back to the new Streak and Goldberg knows how he’s going to beat Kronik. Of course he won’t tell us how he’s going to do that because he’d rather tell us how he regrets beating up David Flair, though it had to be done. Praise for everyone who has gotten him here and a plug for his book ends this mostly worthless interview.
Big Vito vs. Vampiro
This could be fun. They actually go to the mat to start with Vampiro getting the better of it (that’s not surprising) before just stopping to stare at the crowd. Vito doesn’t attack because he’s not an MI Smooth fan, meaning it’s time for a slugout with Vito getting the better of it (of course).
They head outside with Vito sending him into the barricade before dropping the top rope headbutt for two. It wasn’t quite a swan but maybe an ostrich with a bad limp. The top rope elbow gets the same and it’s off to a sleeper of all things. You don’t often see that on a heel. Vampiro fights out (because it was a sleeper) and gets in a spinwheel kick for two of his own. A legdrop gets the same for Vito but his top rope splash hits knees. The Nail in the Coffin puts Vito away.
Rating: C. Fine enough but Vito has fallen through the floor since Russo left. Vampiro was fine but he better lose to Awesome on Sunday if Awesome is getting a World Title match the next night on Nitro. Vito is fine in this jobbing role but right now they need new names. To be fair though, was anyone thinking that it was going to be Vito?
Lance Storm/Elix Skipper vs. Corporal Cajun/Lieutenant Loco
Storm is still ticked off about the parody which wasn’t very funny in the first place. Cajun starts with Storm and hits a reverse White Noise for no cover as Storm is right back up. Well so much for that. It’s off to Skipper who eats a clothesline, only to have Storm enziguri him from the apron.
Tenay’s big news of the match: Elix Skipper DID NOT play in the Canadian Football League. Remember when Mike did a five or six part documentary series on lucha libre? Now this is what we’re stuck with instead. A quick X Factor gets Cajun out of trouble and it’s a double tag to bring in Storm and Loco. Everything breaks down and Duggan has to be taken out by Rection and AWOL. Gunns accidentally hits Loco with the Canadian flag but Loco rolls through for a pin on Storm anyway.
Rating: D+. There were some decent spots in there but I’m so sick of seeing these teams fight. I can’t believe that The Gunns thing is even an issue anymore as they stopped trying to make her Canadian (and to make the male fans drool over her) a long time ago. Storm has lost almost all of his momentum, though a lot of that is due to fighting a guy named General Rection.
Jeff Jarrett and Kronik say they’ll win tonight.
Halloween Havoc video.
Disco Inferno vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Sean O’Haire
Same idea as Monday and there’s nothing wrong with that. O’Haire takes over with some big right hands before both smaller guys get in shots to the head through the ropes. Disco trips and pulls Sean to the floor for some posting before dropping Rey with a bulldog. Rey’s moonsault is caught in midair for a powerslam, only to have Disco get in a shot to take over again.
Disco can’t launch Rey high enough for a hurricanrana but it looks enough like a dropkick to work. Rey takes Disco to the floor with a hurricanrana as the partners start fighting outside. Kidman climbs the post to bulldog Disco but Rey dives on Jindrak instead of covering. Back inside and it’s Sean with the springboard Seanton Bomb on Disco for the pin.
Rating: C. This wasn’t as fun as the match on Monday but that’s due to having inferior talent here. I’m liking the idea of splitting up the triple threat tag match into two triple threat singles matches as it gives you something to keep the build going while not having any team actually lose. It’s almost like whoever is running this show has a better idea of how wrestling works without needing to use a lead pipe or whatever brilliant idea the writers have thought of this week.
Jeff Jarrett/Kronik vs. Goldberg/Booker T./Sting
Makes as much sense as any other main event they could put on. Jeff talks some basic trash before the match. Booker’s comeback is to tell Jeff to shut up because he isn’t the best talker in the world. Booker and Jarrett get things going with a couple of kicks putting the champion in early control. Goldberg comes in and gets to face Adams as Mike says the Streak can be broken if Goldberg gets pinned here. I can go with that.
A single right hand puts Adams down so it’s off to Sting vs. Clark with the painted one avoiding a knee in the corner. There’s a very early Deathlock but Adams makes a save. It’s already back to Booker who scores with a spinning forearm, only to eat a DDT. Jarrett comes in but takes a swinging neckbreaker to put both guys on the mat.
Booker is smart enough to tag in Goldberg and Sting at the same time as everything breaks down. Goldberg’s spear hits the post but he easily kicks out of Clark’s cover. High Times plants Goldberg but Sting comes in with a low blow. Seriously? That’s our hero? Scott Steiner comes out to go after Booker, allowing Sting to hit the Death Drop on Jarrett for the pin.
Rating: C-. Not bad here with the pace being kept up throughout and an actually clean(ish) pin. I’m not sure on having Sting pin Jarrett this close to a pay per view but you take what you can get where you can get it. At least Goldberg didn’t get to kick out of High Times just yet, though you know he’s going to no sell the thing on Sunday.
Post match Steiner hits Booker with the pipe, allowing the heels to destroy their upcoming opponents to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. This could have been a lot worse but they’re doing a miserable job of setting up Halloween Havoc. Even after watching this show, I’m still not sure what the majority of the card is supposed to be or why I’m supposed to care. The three main events are fine enough but there’s a firm limit on how far those things can carry a show with a DNA match (whatever that is) on the card as well.
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Monday Nitro – October 16, 2000: Going Back Down (Under)
Monday Nitro #262 Date: October 16, 2000
Location: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray, Mark Madden
We’re still in Australia and that’s been a good thing so far. Halloween Havoc is in less than two weeks and we’ve got the main event set but the main story seems to be more about humiliating the Natural Born Thrillers at every given chance. Other than that we have Goldberg trying to recreate the Streak with the Sid Vicious formula of knocking people out and counting it as a win. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Tag Team Titles: Boogie Knights vs. Mark Jindrak/Sean O’Haire
Disco and Wright are challenging in a rematch from last week where the Knights pinned the champions. This is different from Thunder where the champions were pinned again as Thunder resulted in a title change whereas the previous match was restarted. Before the match, Alex rambles in German and Disco says the Thrillers are barred from ringside. The champs try to get in a cheap shot from behind to start but Disco gets a quick one off a swinging neckbreaker.
Alex gets two off a powerslam as Madden wonders why Wright has no hair. Jindrak hits Disco from the apron to take over as the fans are yelling at Disco because heel vs. heel matches aren’t a good idea. Mark puts Disco on the top rope for some hard shots to the jaw and everything breaks down, meaning it’s time for a ref bump. The Seanton Bomb misses and Disco gives Mark the Chartbuster, only to have Kronik come in with High Times to Disco. Tony: “It’s the hired guns of Mark Sanders.” Wright gets beaten down as well, allowing Jindrak to retain the titles.
Rating: D. More of the same here but at least the champions didn’t get pinned again. I can live with them being laid out with a finisher because there was no count but having them pinned twice on TV in a week was a huge bullet to their credibility. The Knights are a nice team and fit together well. I’m actually digging their stuff as both of them are good in the ring when they cut out the comedy stuff.
Sanders tells Nash that they’re about to take over WCW. Nash says he’s too hung over to do anything tonight.
Goldberg arrives.
The Thrillers come in to see the Cat and Miss Jones to talk about Nash being annoyed. Cat yells at them so Sanders makes Sting vs. Nash tonight. That’s not it though as Cat makes it a lumberjack match. Boy it’s convenient that Nash just said not to book him.
Team Canada vs. Misfits in Action
Before the match, Storm talks about being sick of Australia and promises to give Rection a preview of Halloween Havoc. It’s Loco/Cajun/AWOL for the Misfits here with Rection nowhere in sight. Skipper and Loco get things going and here’s Rection through the crowd to pull Storm off the apron. So why not just have him come out with them in the first place? Security quickly ejects him as Duggan comes in to beat on Loco.
AWOL gets the tag and is immediately dropkicked in the knee so it’s back to Loco as the beating continues. Everything breaks down (of course) and the referee gets bumped (of course), allowing Cajun to dropkick Skipper through the table (of course). Gunns slides in a chair to the wrong man but Storm’s shot to Loco’s back only gets two. Instead it’s the Maple Leaf making Cajun tap a few seconds later.
Rating: D. I’m getting tired of this same match structure over and over. You’re almost guaranteed a ref bump and some interference, but above all else you’re almost guaranteed that Team Canada will beat the Misfits with Gunns screwing something up. This has been the story for months now and it stopped being interesting when it started.
Here are Shane Douglas and Torrie to insult the fans. Shane invited the Filthy Animals to come out here for a fight right now.
Shane Douglas vs. Filthy Animals
Yes a heel is in a handicap match against non-jobbers. In this case that would be Konnan/Mysterio/Tygress, meaning we’re in our third match and are already on our fourth stable. The Animals destroy Shane until he maces them for a quick DQ.
Post match Konnan gets handcuffed to the ropes while Shane piledrives (not a shoulder breaker Tony) Mysterio.
Stasiak and Palumbo are mad about getting beaten up by Goldberg so Nash tells them to drop it.
Mysterio is put in an ambulance.
Shawn Stasiak/Chuck Palumbo vs. Crowbar/Mike Awesome
Nash is on commentary. Awesome and Palumbo get things going as Nash wants the 70s music abolished. Palumbo springboard dropkicks Awesome to the floor and the fans start chanting for Mike. A Stasiak baseball slide hits Palumbo by mistake and it’s time for an argument, allowing Awesome to dive over the top to take them both down. Things settle back down to Palumbo headscissoring Crowbar down to set up a superkick out to the floor.
Crowbar hurricanranas Palumbo and drops a slingshot legdrop on Stasiak for two. It’s back to Awesome who gets crotched on top and superplexed as Nash and Madded continue to riff on the match by talking about how horrible a student Stasiak is. Stasiak hits Palumbo by mistake and an Awesome Splash is enough to pin Shawn.
Rating: D. Even when they bring someone up to help bolster the roster they can’t help but screw things up. Nash was the star here because he’s the coach with the stupid kids under his wings and as usual, the Thrillers are made to look like losers. They’re going out of their way for this stuff at the moment and I have no idea what the point of this could be. I’m sure they’re doing this to draw money or whatever because that’s all WCW was ever about.
Nash throws a chair into the ring ala Bobby Knight to make sure you know this is ALL about Nash instead of anyone else.
Douglas is proud about what he did and wants a World Title shot tonight. Torrie calls Pamela Paulshock a very bad word.
David Flair wants Buff Bagwell in a DNA match at Halloween Havoc, whatever that is. Sanders gives him the match but has a job for David tonight.
Johnny the Bull vs. Kwee Wee
Fallout from the Lava Lamp Lounge. Kwee Wee monkey flips him to start and Johnny snaps his ankle, giving Kwee Wee a pin in about twenty seconds.
Johnny is taken out on a stretcher.
Here’s the Cat with Miss Jones for a chat. Cat hates Madden (join the club) but wants to dance. They both dance but Cat says he isn’t out here to dance. Instead he wants to beat up Mike Sanders because there isn’t room for two commissioners. Sanders comes out and says he doesn’t have time tonight but he’ll beat Cat up at Halloween Havoc. Cue Kronik to go after Cat (who makes drug references) but Goldberg comes to the ring and says bring it. Sanders holds Kronik back and Kronik accuses Goldberg of believing their own hype. A lot of trash talk keeps this going for a bit but nothing happens.
WCW World Title: Shane Douglas vs. Booker T.
Scott Steiner is on commentary. I’m so glad that WCW gave this the proper fifteen minutes of build that it deserved. The bell rings and we cut to Konnan telling Tygress to wait on him because he has something to do. Stevie talks about having his money on Booker in Vegas as Booker kicks Shane in the face. Torrie trips Booker but we cut to the fans for no logical reason. Couldn’t we cut to Torrie instead?
They fight to the floor with Shane getting the better of it, followed by a top rope clothesline for two. We hit the chinlock as Steiner wants to know why Shane isn’t going after the knee. Fair point but then again Steiner is a known genius. The reverse Hennig neck snap gets two on the champ but Steiner is telling Shane to go after the knee. If the knee is already bad, wouldn’t it be better for Steiner to have two injured body parts?
Booker fights out of a neck crank with a spinebuster and Steiner is suddenly the best analyst in the company. As in he’s calling moves and explaining what Shane should be doing to stay on the injuries. Torrie puts a chain on Shane’s hand but Kidman runs out for a save. That brings Steiner out of the chair to attack Kidman so here’s Konnan to jump Steiner. Now Jarrett comes out to attack Konnan, leaving Booker to Bookend Shane to retain the title.
Rating: D+. The neck stuff was fine and Steiner was entertaining in a very different way than usual but the five people interfering continues to make you want to scream SETTLE DOWN ALREADY. I’m still not sure why Shane got a title shot in the first place other than saying he wanted one but stranger things have happened in WCW.
Post break, Midajah yells at Kidman in Spanish and Steiner wants to fight Kidman tonight.
David Flair vs. Goldberg
This is Sanders’ brilliant idea because when you think about a way to get rid of Goldberg, you think of David Flair. Before the match, here’s Ric Flair to do commentary. Goldberg doesn’t want to fight David so he shoves David away, followed by the spear and Jackhammer for the pin in about a minute.
Ric stares at Goldberg before checking on David.
Kidman says he’s as tight with the Filthy Animals as Pamela is in her top. He’s ready for Steiner tonight. Konnan doesn’t like Scott either.
Scott Steiner vs. Kidman
Before the match, Steiner does a profanity laced version of AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE before beating up a fan. Steiner throws Kidman around to start and tries a powerbomb but thankfully some things are sacred and Kidman faceplants him. That’s about it for Kidman though as Steiner gives him the super Angle Slam, followed by the Recliner to end the squash.
Preview of a profile on Goldberg airing on CNN.
Konnan vs. Jeff Jarrett
Jarrett interrupts Konnan as he allows Tygress to feel his hat but the rolling clothesline drops Jeff to the floor. Konnan has a chair knocked out of his hands and Jeff blasts him instead, allowing them to head back inside. A faceplant drops Jeff and it’s time for a Bronco Buster until Shane Douglas comes out to grab Tygress. Torrie goes after her as well, allowing Jeff to bring in the guitar, which hits Tygress by mistake. The Stroke puts Konnan away in a hurry.
Jarrett puts Konnan in the Scorpion.
Earlier this week, Kevin Nash had his own beer made. Ok then.
Kevin Nash vs. Sting
Lumberjack match with almost everyone we’ve seen tonight and a few others around the ring. Nash, in theory still hung over, goes right for Sting to start and fires off the knees in the corner. Sting knocks him to the floor for a beating by the Misfits and it’s time to work on Nash’s knee. The Scorpion is on in a hurry but the Thrillers helps pull Nash to the ropes. Back in and the Stinger Splash is broken up with a raised boot and Nash takes over again. Snake Eyes sets up a neck crank as I wouldn’t mind if they got to the brawl instead of going through the motions like this.
Steiner and Booker get in a fight while Nash cranks on Sting’s neck as everyone fights on the floor, setting off a GOLDBERG chant. Sting fights back with a bunch of clotheslines but the referee gets bumped on a Stinger Splash attempt. Cue Jeff with a guitar to knock Sting cold though and give Nash the pin.
Rating: D. What else were you expecting here? Lumberjack matches almost always go this way and there’s almost no way around it. Jarrett just hitting him with the guitar for the win was probably better than having whatever other nonsense they might have gone with here. At least the hung over stuff didn’t amount to anything, which is definitely the best for everyone involved.
Nash pulls down the straps and Tony freaks out but nothing happens to end the show.
Overall Rating: D-. The overbooking has brought the show back down to normal (well normal by WCW 2000 standards) and it’s still just as annoying. You had all of the screwy endings and the far too short matches because everything had to be packed in to a single show. There’s really no reason why a three hour Raw has fewer matches than a two hour episode of Nitro. On top of that, aside from the two main events, WCW has done a horrible job of setting up the pay per view. I have almost no idea what the other matches are and the limited build we’ve gotten goes nowhere. Bad show again and for all the worst reasons.
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Monday Nitro – September 25, 2000: Robbing the Grave
Monday Nitro #259 Date: September 25, 2000
Location: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, Mark Madden
We have arrived. If you’ve read this far, you probably know what’s coming and you know there’s no way around it. Tonight we’re in Vince Russo’s hometown and he’s in a cage match for the WCW World Title. This is a show I’ve been dreading for a long time, even though it was pretty obviously coming months ago. Let’s get to it.
We open with a video designed like an inspirational sports story on Vince Russo, who has climbed the ladder to earn his destiny here in his hometown. Ignore the lines about him “growing up and wanting to be WCW Champion” as he would have gotten the WWWF and the WCW World Title didn’t exist until he was nearly thirty years old.
Opening sequence.
Earlier today Russo and Jeremy Borash arrived with JB now acting as Russo’s biggest fan. Russo: “WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP???”
Big Vito vs. Johnny the Bull
The announcers swoon over Vito’s sister Maria, who is sitting in the front row. This is a stick ball bat vs. a kendo stick match because those are different things (as well as extra phallic objects along with the pipe and baseball bat). Vito slugs away in the corner but gets taken down by a stick shot to the ribs.
The fans chant for Vito (also from New York of course) as he’s down in the corner, followed by a spinwheel kick from Johnny. Naturally the announcers preview the swimsuit contest later as they’re not even hiding the cheap ratings ploy. Vito comes back with some stick shots of his own and kicks Johnny into the ropes, setting up even more stick shots.
That would be the kendo stick of course because Vito is just that versatile. Cue Reno with a kendo stick of his own to lay out Vito before tying him in the Tree of Woe for sticks to the ribs. Maria jumps the barricade to shield Vito….and THAT’S the DQ instead of Reno pounding on him for a minute and a half.
Rating: D. The only good thing here was the very pretty Maria but I have a feeling where this is going. You know she’s related to one of them and there’s some backstory here, which to be fair is a much more interesting and coherent story (in theory at least) than most of the goofy stuff we get around here.
According to the announcers, that was an I Quit match and Maria did the submitting for him. I’m so glad they got around to that after plugging MAJOR GUNNS IS GOING TO BE IN A BIKINI LATER!
The announcers preview the main event.
Earlier this week, David Flair hijacked a pay phone and it’s attached phone book to find the baby father’s address. Thank goodness they showed him finding the address at THIS phone booth because there’s no other phone booth on the planet.
Here are Jarrett/Steiner/Midajah with something to say. Jarrett promises us a new champion tonight because the hometown boy is going to bring home the gold. Steiner can’t believe that people boo him when they cheer for the New York sports teams. We get an insult to a New York Jet and some shots at Goldberg before Steiner introduces Russo for some sucking up to the fans.
Russo lists off some great names in New York sports and says his name is going up in the rafters next to theirs. However, now he lives in Atlanta, where they have NASCAR, the Georgia Bulldogs (having a bad year at this point), cousins breeding with cousins and John Rocker. Russo doesn’t care much for Rocker, who went on some big rant about how much he hates New York City around this time. Cue Sting and Booker on the screen because we’re still not done talking about Russo. Sting says he has Booker’s back tonight but for now, Russo needs to turn around. Russo does just that and Goldberg is in the crowd.
Mike Sanders comes in to see Kronik, who are out of the tag team battle royal as per Russo’s orders. So the Thrillers are officially errand boys?
Tag Team Titles: Battle Royal
Rey Mysterio/Juventud Guerrera, Mark Jindrak/Sean O’Haire, 3 Count (all three members), Harris Brothers, Corporal Cajun/Lieutenant Loco, Jung Dragons (Jamie-San/Kaz Hayashi)
Last team standing wins the vacant titles and both members have to be eliminated. It’s a brawl to start of course as Konnan sits in on commentary, promising vengeance on Disqo and the Duck. Hayashi takes an H Bomb and is eliminated a few seconds later, laving Jamie-San on his own. Shane is sent over the top and through a table (of course) and here’s Kronik, who may or may not actually be in the match.
The Harris Brothers are put out in seconds and it’s time for Kronik to clean house. Adams dumps Jamie-San and Shannon, meaning all of 3 Count is eliminated because we missed Evan somewhere. There go the Misfits until security comes in to mace Kronik. We’re down to just the Thrillers vs. the Animals with Juvy fighting back as the Animals take over.
Rey gets crotched though (Hudson: “He got his bronco busted.”) and a Seanton Bomb makes it even worse. Cue Disqo to hit Juvy with the Duck (no effect of course), allowing Jindrak and O’Haire to dump him. The bell rings but Rey is still in, which we’ll call a referee screwup. O’Haire crotches Rey on top and Jindrak clotheslines him out for the titles.
Rating: D. More overbooked nonsense here as they could have just as easily done O’Haire/Jindrak vs. the Animals with the same finish or had the Animals defend in the battle royal. Instead they vacate the titles and have Kronik taken out for no explained reason (likely for not destroying Stevie well enough on Thunder), only to have Kronik make the entire division look like a joke. Well done indeed, as usual.
Pamela Paulshock is in the back with Howard Stern’s Wack Pack. Guess what they have to say. Of note, Paulshock is in a fur coat, which will come into play later. Nash and the Thrillers come in to interrupt them with Nash getting the only good line as he refers to Beetlejuice (a dwarf) as Elix.
Insane Clown Posse vs. Mike Awesome
This is over the bus and seems to be hardcore. Before the match, Violent J says Vampiro is out due to a broken spleen or something. We hear about some JCW wrestlers being hardcore but Mike is dead, just like the 70s. J actually isn’t a bad talker. Awesome drives the bus into the arena (thank goodness he was behind the wheel and right outside) and comes out swinging a fire extinguisher.
Shaggy hits him in the head with a trashcan and they pull Awesome on top of the bus. J is knocked off the engine and through a table, followed by an Awesome Bomb onto the top of the bus to Shaggy, who falls down to the concrete for the pin. This was a segment disguised as a match and really didn’t need to do that big spot.
David Flair, now with a camera in his car, goes to Chuck E. Cheese for directions. Since there’s already a camera set up inside, David is seen yelling at a worker and then searching through the ball pit for the father.
Here are Cat and Ms. Jones with the former calling out Russo. Cat is going to have Booker’s back tonight and promises to fire anyone who tries to interfere tonight. This brings out Mike Sanders with a ball bat. Mike: “Did somebody say Natural Born Thrillers?” Cat: “No. I said natural born ratings killers.” Egads man even the roster knows your show sucks at this point. The crowd swears at Sanders so the audio cuts out for a few moments before Sanders tells Cat to reverse that threat of a firing. The fight is on so here are Nash and the Thrillers for the big beatdown. Mark: “SPAY THE CAT!”
It’s time for the bikini contest with Gene and Pamela (still in fur coat) as emcees and the Wack Pack as judges. By the way: this is opening the second hour against Raw. The contestants (Chae, Chiquita, Torrie Wilson, Tygress, Paisley, Leia Meow and Major Gunns) come out and kind of disrobe, as some of them take their robes off while some open them but don’t take them off. Gunns goes last and has an American swimsuit, drawing out Jim Duggan to take her to the back.
The judges aren’t sure who wins so Pamela decides it’s time to take off her coat, naturally revealing a barely there top. She wins, so the actual contestants fight until Midajah comes out for one of the worst slams I’ve ever seen on Meow. The women looked good but when I can be watching Trish and Lita actually starting to develop as characters and having matches, this stops doing anything for me. Oh and over on Raw: Austin was recently back from injury and opening the show before Rock and Benoit had a World Title match later on. Guess how the ratings went.
Steiner is in the back for an interview when Goldberg attacks him.
Here are Disqo and his Duck, the former of whom doesn’t think much of the Animals. He wants to introduce his new partner but gets beaten down by Steiner. Scott calls out Goldberg, who immediately accepts but wants it in a cage with no referee.
Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner
Inside Caged Heat with ten seconds’ build. They brawl on the floor with Goldberg choking away as the cage is lowered. Goldberg throws him inside as the bell rings and my head shakes at how stupid this company really is. Steiner gets beaten down for the first minute or so until Scott comes back with a spinning belly to belly. A top rope clothesline puts Goldberg down, only to have him come back with a butterfly suplex.
There’s a low blow to put Goldberg down as Midajah comes out and just walks in to hand the pipe to Steiner. However, the New York Jet that Steiner insulted earlier jumps the barricade and keeps Steiner from leaving. Goldberg comes back with a spear (right into the pipe for no effect because the script doesn’t call for it) before walking out to win.
Rating: D-. Whenever you hear people praise Steiner vs. Goldberg, the automatic question is why didn’t they do it again at Starrcade. Well apparently that’s because they did it here, eight days later, inside the Cell in a match that didn’t even make five minutes and was more about a member of the New York Jets than any kind of revenge. Oh and again: THEY ANNOUNCD THIS SIX MINUTES BEFORE THE BELL.
You might think that the rematch of one of the most physical matches ever inside a cage would be a good way to open against this week’s Raw, but that spot was reserved for women in swimsuits, High Pitch Eric and Crackhead Bob. It’s the same short term thinking and the hope that people just happened to change the channel during the commercials for Raw and tune in to see whatever the latest thing WCW was rushing through at this point. I mean, it’s not like anyone was going to buy a pay per view to see these two fight so why not just throw it out here?
Goldberg says Russo is next.
Jeff Jarrett hits Beetlejuice with the guitar.
Booker promises backup for the main event. Thankfully he also has some devastating catchphrases to do some early damage to the boss.
General Rection vs. Jeff Jarrett
Rection shrugs off Jarrett’s early attack in the corner but misses a top rope elbow. Madden accuses the General of being a draft dodger as a sitout powerbomb gets two on Jeff. Cue Team Canada for a distraction, allowing Duggan to hit Rection with the board, setting up the Stroke to give Jeff the pin. Nothing match.
Jarrett puts Rection in the Figure Four until the Misfits come out for the save. That fails of course because the Misfits suck so it’s Sting coming out for the real save. The Canadians run but Storm wants Sting in a non-title match right now.
Sting vs. Lance Storm
This could be interesting. Joined in progress after a break with Storm in control and hitting that great dropkick for two. Three straight clotheslines have Storm in trouble but he crotches Sting on top. An elbow sends Storm to the floor where the Stinger Splash that always hits the barricade hits the barricade again. Back in and Storm gets two off a powerbomb but Sting starts his usual comeback. Storm however is CANADIAN and counters the Deathlock attempt into the Maple Leaf. After the rope is reached, Sting suplexes him down and puts on the Death Drop for the pin.
Rating: C. Fine little match here, even though it was a clean pin on the US Champion. To be fair though, it was Sting instead of some goon to set up a title shot. I can actually live with that a lot more easily as Sting is one of the biggest names ever in WCW and a loss doesn’t do him that much damage. On a related side note: Lance Storm lost and regained the US Title from Terry Funk on the house show circuit over the weekend. As you might guess, this wasn’t mentioned on TV.
David Flair goes inside and demands that the father come out. Then it turns out he has the wrong house so he goes next door but no one is home. Apparently the guy is out of town, whoever he is. How the person who tells David that the father isn’t home knows who the father is isn’t clear as they somehow never said the guy’s name.
Russo, in football pads and carrying a helmet, promises to win tonight.
The cage is lowered.
WCW World Title: Vince Russo vs. Booker T.
You can win by pin or escape and JB is on commentary. Russo jumps him with the bat to start as a bunch of people are guarding the door to keep Russo inside. Back up and Russo blasts him in the chest with the bat and throws in a ladder. There’s a third bat shot so Russo can go up and tear the roof open, only to have the wrestlers waiting on him. Sting repels down from the ceiling to stop Russo as well, allowing Booker to slam him for the champ’s first offense.
Russo loses the helmet and gets punched in the face, followed by a superkick. They head outside for some slow brawling but LEX LUGER of all people returns to give Russo a lead pipe through the cage. Therefore, Russo gets to beat the champ down even more before shoving the referee down. The EMTs get beaten down….save for one who is Ric Flair. Ric beats Russo down until the Thrillers come out to brawl with everyone at ringside, leaving Booker to ax and side kick Russo.
Like any schnook though, Booker grabs the mic for his catchphrase instead of leaving. Cue Goldberg to slowly come down the ramp, which freezes Booker at the door for absolutely no reason. Even Scott Hudson screams at Booker to leave. Instead he lets Goldberg in as Scott Steiner comes out to guard the door. Goldberg spears Russo through the cage wall to make him the champ, but Booker high fives Goldberg anyway to end the show.
Rating: Vince Russo. I wrote most of this on Monday but I had to wait a few days to be able to start talking about it. This is something that I knew was coming but I actually had to take a break and process what I just sat through. The match itself is of course inconsequential but the big thing here is of course, Russo, as always.
I’m actually struggling to come up with a way to rip on this match. It’s one of those things that you know is horrible on all counts but it’s hard to go into why. Above all else, and this is a spoiler (for a show fifteen and a half years old), the problem is that this show meant nothing. Booker would get the title back a week later by beating Jeff Jarrett, making this whole thing a big waste of time.
This was Russo’s last match in WCW as his injuries (the real ones, not the ones that caused him to have brain surgery like two weeks ago) kept him out of the ring. I know I’m supposed to feel sorry for him about that but I’ve sat through six months of Russo putting himself over Flair, Goldberg, and now Booker for the title. Now I’m supposed to care about his injuries and feel bad that he had to vacate the belt and not wrestle anymore?
The whole thing was nothing more than a vanity project for Russo as he’s actually turned the promotion and the company’s World Title into a trophy for himself. I mean, I know we talk about Hogan and his friends turning the company into a huge vanity project that was all a playground for themselves, but that’s exactly what Russo has managed to do here. This whole company is now about Russo and whatever makes him look good.
Why would ANYONE want to watch this company again? It’s not about the wrestling or the title anymore. They have now decided that Russo getting to win a title that he “wanted since he was a kid” was more important than Booker, Goldberg (the two of whom looked like morons to end the show) or anything else that could possibly be going on here.
Oh and on top of that: Russo dominated WAY too much of the match. Remember St. Valentine’s Day Massacre when Austin fought McMahon, and by fought I mean absolutely destroyed for most of the match until a low blow slowed Austin down for like thirty seconds? This was Russo beating on Booker with a bat until a bunch of interference changed things around and set up the finish.
Finally, and speaking of McMahon, no this isn’t the same thing as when McMahon won the title a year earlier. For one thing, McMahon winning the title was a nice surprise as he was a face at the time and gave the fans something they wanted to see, unlike Russo who gave himself something he wanted to see. It also helped that McMahon had taken a loss or two here and there. Like him or not, you can’t deny that McMahon will get beaten whenever the story calls him for him to.
Third, look at where the promotions were at the time. The WWF was on fire and absolutely crushing WCW in the ratings. Russo’s title win came when WCW hadn’t won a night in the Monday Night Wars in nearly two years. The solution is to give the heel writer (as in the person who isn’t the owner or the official boss) the title to make himself feel better in his hometown while taking it off Booker. In other words, everything was about Russo instead of something that might have helped advance a storyline. But hey, people still talk about this so Russo is totally justified in all of this right?
Overall Rating: F. In addition to the disaster that was the main event, we also have the rest of the show to make WCW look ridiculous. I can’t emphasize this enough: they gave away Steiner vs. Goldberg II in a nothing five minute match inside the Cell. That gets no time, but Russo’s cage match is given a week’s build because he’s a draw and a star?
In addition to that you have the usual way too high amount of gimmick matches for no logical reason other than “PEOPLE LOVE GIMMICK MATCHES”, wrestling that either has no time or is such a mess because they have nowhere to go without doing some stupid story. Oh and there’s the swimsuit contest, which made the women look like even bigger wastes of time than Russo thinks they are.
Overall, you can’t say this was the death of WCW because the company had clearly gone under way earlier than this though. Instead, this was taking WCW’s casket out of the tomb and robbing whatever Russo could get out of it for the sake of making himself look good. It’s one of those shows where you know what’s coming and it’s so depressing because there’s nothing that can be done about it. They made it clear a long time ago that this place is all about Russo and now they’ve only confirmed it. Normally I would say something like “enjoy your title Russo because you’ve killed it” but that would probably just make him laugh.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of the Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume IV at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
Monday Nitro #258 Date: September 18, 2000
Location: Dom Cardillo Arena, Kitchner, Ontario, Canada Commentators: Scott Hudson, Mark Madden, Tony Schiavone
We’re past Fall Brawl and the big story is Booker getting the World Title back. It’s pretty clear that Scott Steiner is the next big challenger after his big win over Goldberg in one of WCW’s better matches of the year. The sad part is the match wasn’t even that great but WCW has gone so far down hill in match quality that it’s the best they can do. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
Rey Mysterio/Tygress vs. Natural Born Thrillers
That would be Jindrak/O’Haire/Palumbo/Stasiak (on commentary)/Sanders and this is still under elimination rules as we’re continuing last night’s match where it left off. Mysterio kicks Jindrak down to start but Mark grabs a fireman’s carry neckbreaker before bringing in O’Haire for a sitout powerbomb. For some reason Mark feels the need to hold Rey down for the Seanton Bomb, which hits Jindrak by mistake. That sets up a double pin with Tygress pinning Jindrak and Rey pinning O’Haire at the same time.
Stasiak pops up off commentary and crotches Rey so Palumbo can jump on his back. Palumbo plants Rey with a lifting sitout Pedigree (nice move actually) as Kwee Wee comes out and hits Stasiak with a chair, allowing Tygress to pin Stasiak at the same time Palumbo pins Rey. Geez people stop with the double pins. Why would the referee even count those things? So it’s Palumbo/Sanders vs. Tygress so it should be interesting to see how lame they can make the Thrillers look here.
The referee shoves Palumbo into a rollup for the pin so it’s one on one. Sanders slowly takes his shirt off so Tygress grabs a sleeper, only to get snapmared down. Rey springboards back in with a dropkick to set up a Stuff Buster (X-Factor with a lot of gyrations) for the final pin (with more gyrations).
Rating: F. What the heck was that? You just had Tygress and Rey Mysterio pin the Natural Born Thrillers in five minutes for the sake of what? A storyline that involves Paul Orndorff who wasn’t actually in the arena that night? That’s their best idea? Tygress gets some pins, Rey gets some pins, and the Thrillers look like bigger goofs than usual? So much for whatever momentum this company had from last night.
Kevin Nash is sitting in the back and says the Thrillers need a coach. Of course he has nothing to say about losing the title last night because, as we’ve established over the years, the World Title means nothing to Kevin Nash.
Post break, Nash has apparently been accepted as the Thrillers’ coach. His game plan for the night winds up spelling out YOU SUCK.
Stills of Booker winning the title and Steiner vs. Goldberg from last night.
We go to the back for Goldberg’s entrance but it’s Vince Russo instead because of course it is. Yeah it’s not Steiner getting this entrance but Russo, because he’s the real winner you see. Russo gets lost in the back because his sense of direction is overshadowed by his MANLINESS. We get a MANLY walk down the aisle as Russo does Goldberg’s poses before pulling out a registered letter. The letter, addressed to Mr. Russo your honor SIR, is from Goldberg which says he’s unworthy of working for someone like Vince Russo.
Goldberg has failed the fans over and over and is clearly a total disgrace and loser, so therefore he resigns from WCW. On top of that, all the children should be looking up to Russo, just like Goldberg is now. Russo finally calls out Steiner and praises him for getting rid of Goldberg once and for all.
Steiner rants about how awesome he is and how he won the battle of the monsters last night. All he wanted to do was beat Goldberg up so he owes the fans an apology for ruining his career. This draws a GOLDBERG SUCKS chant but Steiner cuts it off by saying he wants the World Title. Therefore, next week, he’s guaranteeing that he’s the next World Champion. It doesn’t matter who wins tonight because he’ll beat Sting or Booker for the title. Russo doesn’t think so but here’s Jeff Jarrett before he can elaborate.
Sting didn’t beat him on Thunder so Jarrett deserves the title shot. Before that goes anywhere, Russo cuts them off because HE is the boss with all the power around here. Now it’s Nash coming out to say that he should have the first title shot and the fans seem pleased. For some reason this means a tag match with the winner getting a title shot next week. It’s going to be Steiner/Jarrett vs. Nash/…..Russo, who has wanted to be WCW World Champion his whole life, because he deserves to be champion. The shocked look on Nash’s face makes me want a Super Shredder spinoff movie.
Post break Steiner and Jarrett say this can’t happen. Wouldn’t they want this to happen?
Torrie Wilson/Shane Douglas vs. Kwee Wee/Paisley
This is the result of an open challenge from Shane. Allegedly this is a mixed tag but for some reason only Paisley is on the apron. Kwee Wee gets two off an early clothesline as Torrie (in a racecar themed outfit for some reason) jumps up to the apron, only to get kissed by her non-partner. Shane grabs the Franchiser for two because Paisley wants to fight Torrie. Instead Shane fakes a tag to Torrie and Franchises Paisley for the pin with a five count for no logical reason.
Post break, Russo is telling Nash his plan (it involves getting heat and a hot tag) but Nash gets the chalk and writes BITE ME.
Booker and Sting get in a fight in the back before their match tonight.
Disqo is in Cat’s office….and he has a duck. Apparently Disqo thinks Cat sucks as Commissioner and wants his job. Cat: “YOU’RE RUNNING AROUND WITH A BLOW UP GOOSE!” A match is made for Disqo getting to be Commissioner for a day, but if he loses then Rey and Juvy are stripped of the Tag Team Titles.
Disqo vs. The Cat
Before I can retype the stipulations, Cat kicks him in the face for the pin, meaning Rey and Juvy lose the titles.
The Animals run Disqo off.
Nash says he’s out of the tag match so Steiner and Jarrett can work it out themselves.
Disqo bails.
We see Mike Tenay’s interview with David Flair where Flair beats up the mailman.
MI Smooth is in the ring and calls out David for a chat. Apparently Smooth knows something about the father of the baby if the price is right. This brings out David with a crowbar but Smooth calms him down. Smooth has a video tape that shows who the father is. David pays but beats Smooth down with the crowbar instead.
Russo suggests Kronik for the tag match but gets yelled at for his efforts.
David makes a guy play the tape because he can’t go buy a VCR.
Terry Taylor sends Mike Sanders to see Russo, who sends Sanders to take a tape to Kronik.
WCW World Title: Booker T. vs. Sting
Booker is defending but Sting drives him into the corner to start. A clothesline puts the champ down, only to have him pop up with a side kick. The Death Drop is countered into a Bookend attempt but Sting reverses into a Fujiwara Armbar of all things. The Deathlock is loaded up but here’s Jarrett for the DQ because of course it’s Jarrett.
Steiner comes in to help with the beatdown, including a guitar shot to Sting. The heels put on matching submission holds.
Sanders gives Kronik the tape. That would be the audio tape because there are two tapes running around at the moment.
Jimmy Hart tells David that there’s a VCR in Smooth’s limo. That earns him another beating.
Kronik has heard the tape and freaks out because it was Jarrett and Steiner insulting them earlier. Russo makes a match for later.
Here’s Team Canada with Storm bragging about last night’s success before introducing Jim Duggan as the newest member. Duggan has cut his hair and shaved his face, making him look almost unrecognizable. He’s tired of fighting for a country that takes him for granted and treats him like garbage. When he fought Goldberg and was taken away in an ambulance, all he heard was a GOLDBERG chant. Now it’s all about Jim Duggan (or Dude Love, as this is the same promo that he used to turn heel after Wrestlemania XVI). Cue the Misfits and it’s time for a six man.
Misfits in Action vs. Team Canada
The Misfits, heels here, clear the ring to start as the fans tell them that they suck. Loco sends Rection into the corner for a splash to Skipper, followed by a running clothesline from Cajun. Storm comes in for some misdirection, allowing the tag off to Duggan. The retired guy that is. A-Wall chokeslams Skipper through the table as Rection comes in to clean house. Everything breaks down and Duggan hits Rection with the board (fine with the referee) for the pin.
Rating: D+. The wrestling wasn’t bad actually and the story is there, but the problem lies in the main character. Who in the world wants to see Jim Duggan as anything more than a comedy goof, let alone as one of the more important heels in the midcard? It’s a decent enough story, but not with Duggan involved.
Post match Duggan hits Rection in the knee with the board.
Steiner and Jarrett yell at Russo.
Mike Awesome and Gary Coleman arrive with Gary freaking out over getting beaten down last night. Why did he ride with Awesome then? Vampiro and the Clowns approach the empty bus.
Kronik vs. Jeff Jarrett/Scott Steiner
Never mind of course as Nash and the Thrillers come out first with the former insulting Kronik. Sanders and Johnny are chosen to go out and beat up Kronik with predictable results. More Thrillers come out until it’s just O’Haire and Jindrak remaining for what could be an interesting match. Naturally that doesn’t happen as Steiner and Jarrett come in with a pipe, followed by the Stroke for the pin.
Russo goes to someone’s dressing room.
Vampiro and the Clowns have spray painted the bus.
Russo comes in to see Sting (thank goodness there was a camera in there already) and asks him to be the partner tonight. Apparently people have been saying Sting doesn’t have it anymore so it’s SHOWTIME FOLKS.
There’s going to be a swimsuit contest next week to crown Miss WCW. Howard Stern’s Wack Pack will be the judges. You can see it coming from here.
Mike Awesome comes out to rant about Vampiro and the Clowns making it very hard for him to be happy. Therefore, he wants a hardcore match with Vampiro RIGHT NOW.
Vampiro vs. Mike Awesome
Vampiro pounds away with the kendo stick to start but Awesome sends him to the floor for the big dive. They head into the crowd with Vampiro diving off a wall, drawing a badly censored chant. Back to ringside for some cookie sheets, which Tony thinks is worse because it’s industrial size. Vampiro’s superplex is broken up and Awesome scores with a top rope clothesline, only to get hit in the head with a trashcan. An Awesome Bomb through at able at ringside puts Vampiro away.
Rating: D+. Decent hardcore brawl here but it’s more sad than anything else. Awesome is far better than this due to athleticism alone but he’s stuck in some humorous gimmick, which likely exists for the sake of giving the writers something to laugh at. Oh and why is there a Hardcore Champion if we’re having hardcore matches like this with the title never being mentioned?
Booker goes in to see Russo, which freaks the boss out.
David has seen the tape and storms off to find Stacy.
Sting/Vince Russo vs. Jeff Jarrett/Scott Steiner
Booker comes out instead of Russo, giving us something like the fourth different combination for this match. Whoever gets the fall gets the title shot next week, so I’m assuming Booker is off next week if he gets the pin. It’s a brawl to start with Sting getting two off a top rope splash.
There’s the Deathlock on Jarrett but Midajah hits Booker with the pipe. Cue Miss Jones to pull Midajah out and slam her as a tag match breaks out. It’s Booker playing Ricky Morton for a bit and it’s Jeff slapping on a sleeper. Booker finally fights up with a suplex to break things up, allowing the hot tag to Sting. Normally that wouldn’t make sense but Booker really doesn’t have anything to lose here.
Everything breaks down again and cue Kronik to go after Jarrett. Steiner kicks Booker low and puts on the Recliner but here comes Russo, looking like he’s been destroyed. Scott goes after Russo, allowing Booker to hit Steiner in the face with the bat. Booker puts Russo on top of Steiner for the pin and the title shot as the rules of this match are thrown out even further.
Rating: D. As usual, this could have been a nice tag match had they actually let us see a tag match but instead it was a big mess with so many storylines going on at once that it was hard to keep track of. The problem boils down to the fact that you could have the same match without Kronik but they’re thrown in there just because. When something can be taken away with no changes to the story, it’s unnecessary.
Overall Rating: F+. This was one of your run of the mill Russo shows with a lack of character motivation (Nash not seeming interested in wanting the title back), WAY too much Russo and a main event that kept changing over and over. It’s really not much of a draw to tell me to keep watching so I can find out who is teaming with Vince Russo in a match where he might become #1 contender for a match next week. There wasn’t a lot of wrestling here either, which would have cut down on the need for all the backstage stuff, though again that’s standard Russo. Not a good show here but it’s only going to get worse.
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Thunder – September 6, 2000: Goldberg Breaks Canada
Thunder Date: September 6, 2000 Location: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray
We’re getting closer to Fall Brawl and we’re now past the big waste of time known as WarGames 2000. In theory that means it’s time to crank up the storylines but who knows what that could mean around here. To be fair though Thunder was actually a really good show last week so maybe I have some hope here. Let’s get to it.
Opening sequence.
MI Smooth takes the Natural Born Thrillers to the Power Plant.
Kwee Wee vs. Lieutenant Loco
This has potential and is a #1 contenders match. Before they can get anything going, here are Elix Skipper and Major Gunns for commentary. Kwee Wee grabs a slam to start and stomps Chavo in the corner before throwing him down with a quick suplex. That’s fine with Chavo as he comes back with a quick brainbuster but can’t get the tornado DDT. They’re flying through this. Instead he shoves Kwee Wee away, only to get crotched by Paisley, allowing Kwee Wee to drop him with a hanging DDT for the pin and the title shot.
Rating: C. As usual, letting the wrestlers wrestle is the best idea they can have around here. Kwee Wee is still working hard in the ring but there’s no way around this stupid gimmick. I mean, what is he supposed to do with a gimmick that is destined to stay a goofy comedy guy instead of anything serious?
Post match the three women (Tygress as the third) get in a fight, only to have Skipper pull Gunns away before the MIA can save her.
The announcers talk about the history between Goldberg and Bret Hart. I don’t know if WCW knew that Hart wasn’t going to be able to get in the ring again but this is pretty close to false advertising by implying that this was leading to a match.
The sitdown interview is with David Flair and Miss Hancock before their wedding on Monday. It’s about time they built that thing up.
We go back to the Power Plant with the Thrillers returning to their old stomping grounds. They offer to give the guys in the ring some training but Mike Graham actually gets Sanders in a Figure Four. The beatdown is on and the Thrillers leave them laying. A guy cleaning the floor gets beaten up too and it’s time for the big showdown with Paul Orndorff. They let themselves into his office and Paul tries to throw them out to no avail. Orndorff asks what happened to them but the Thrillers beat him down as well. Security finally breaks it up but this did its job.
It’s time for the sitdown interview with David Flair and Miss Hancock. Tenay gets right to the point by asking if Ric will be there. Didn’t we cover that on Monday with Arn? David hasn’t talked to his family but they’re welcome to come if they like. Mike calls Hancock a gold digger (she was reaching into David’s pockets for something) before asking if David will be a better father than Ric. They argue over whether that’s personal or not (it kind of is Mike) and that’s it. Mike gives them six months at most. So Gene’s gimmick is that he’s a dirty old man and Tenay’s is that he’s just a jerk while doing interviews? How does this help anything?
Goldberg is looking for Hart.
Clip from before Nitro of the Harris Twins beating Kronik down in a bar.
Kronik vs. 3 Count
Well last week the Dragons were beaten down so I guess it’s 3 Count’s turn. The band calls out the big guys and the beating is quickly on. Helms gets in a quick superkick on Clark but Karagias eats the full nelson slam. Not that it matters as the Harris Twins appear, drawing Kronik up the ramp for a countout. After destroying 3 Count of course.
Post match Tank Abbott comes out and pummels 3 Count to make sure they get nothing out of this show.
Bret is here and has security guarding his locker room. Smart.
Crowbar says he’s ready for Troy Martin (Shane Douglas). Again I ask: how does this help anything? Yeah that’s his real name and how does that make me want to see their match any more?
It’s time to make things even worse as we have the debut of the Lava Lamp Lounge, as in Mike Awesome’s 70s themed talk show. Apparently he isn’t just into fat chicks anymore because there’s enough Vitamin A to go around. His guest tonight: Paula Pamshock (exactly as he said it).
As expected Awesome hits on her with some of the worst lines you’ve ever heard until Jeff Jarrett comes out for the interruption. Jarrett: “You look like a cross between John Travolta in Saturday Night Live and Austin Powers.” That might be worse than Paula Pamshock. It’s the big brawl with the set being destroyed but Okerlund runs out to save Pamela from the guitar shot, which takes Awesome out instead. Predictable but fine, save for the horrible screwing up lines.
Crowbar vs. Shane Douglas
Now remember: real names were used so this is a big deal. Before the match, Shane rips on Goldberg because that’s still supposed to be a thing. Crowbar has taped ribs so Shane goes after them before the bell, only to get punched and bitten in the corner. A baseball slide sends Shane to the floor and Crowbar, with the bad ribs, does his splash off the apron. Maybe it’s because he’s crazy?
Shane gets smart and sends Crowbar ribs first into the barricade a few times before throwing on an abdominal stretch back inside. The hold is broken as quickly as most other abdominal stretches are after 1958 and Crowbar starts whipping him with a belt. The northern lights suplex and Death Valley Driver get two each on Shane but Crowbar goes after Torrie (for interfering) and walks into the Franchiser for the pin.
Rating: D. This could have been good had Crowbar remembered he had bad ribs to start and if I didn’t have to listen to Shane doing his really weak heel stuff before the match. I’m really not sure what they’re going for with Shane at the moment as the feud with Kidman hasn’t been mentioned in a week, though I’m sure it’s supposed to be a big enough deal that we just go with it.
Post match Daffney comes out to brawl with Torrie. Ozzy (the boyfriend) comes out but gets beaten down by Shane. This brings out Madusa of all people to drop Shane with an enziguri.
Goldberg beats up the security guards and there’s no Bret inside.
Here’s Bret with something to say. He wants to know what happened to wrestling with people like Mike Awesome being wasted in stuff like that segment he was just in. Vince Russo has the stroke around here but everyone knows he’s the best in the world. Bret has beaten everyone in the WWF and now he’s beaten everyone here too, including Goldberg. The only person that ever gave him a chance was Vince Russo, who gave him title shots the second he got here.
We see the Bret Killer Kick from Starrcade, which cost him millions of dollars. “I couldn’t even buy that ranch I wanted.” Goldberg claims to be some kind of animal activist but he treated Bret worse than any animal. Cue Goldberg to say if this was the normal version of him, he’d have already taken Bret’s head off. Believe it or not, he has some remorse. There are times where he wishes it was him that got his head kicked off. Bret wishes that every day because all Goldberg cares about is his merchandise being on the shelf.
Goldberg says he was doing his job but every night he has to wonder. When Goldberg was growing up, Bret was one of the people he looked up to. Goldberg is 34 here so the timing doesn’t work here, but he tries to leave because Bret isn’t worth it anymore. Bret says Goldberg isn’t the real thing and that’s enough to get him back in the ring. Cue Scott Steiner with a pipe to lay Goldberg out and put him in the Recliner.
WCW Motorsports, with Vampiro completely out of character.
Steiner leaves the building.
Tag Team Titles: Filthy Animals vs. Harris Brothers
The Brothers are challenging while Konnan/Disqo do commentary. Juvy starts fast with a springboard dropkick to we’ll say Ron before it’s off to Don for some no selling and power beating. A sideslam gets two and it’s already Juvy in trouble. It’s back to Ron (like it matters) who gets kicked in the face and taken down by a springboard bulldog.
Rey finally gets the tag as everything breaks down, including Tygress coming in for a Bronco Buster. Juvy gets kicked low but here’s Kronik because we didn’t have enough interference yet. Kronik lays out Disqo for no apparent reason before Clark throws Rey at one of the Brothers for the pin to retain.
Rating: D. I’d still love to hear the pitch meeting where the Harris Brothers got jobs for so long. Was there really any good reason to go with the other than they’re big and look alike? I’m really not sure what the appeal is of them looking alike as they wrestle the same style anyway. At least with a team like the Usos you get something entertaining more often than not. The Harris Brothers are just big generic power guys who happen to be identical. That warrants employment for some reason.
Video on WarGames, which means the whole show.
After the show, Booker and his friends/family promised to get the title back at Fall Brawl. Cool moment, which is why it wasn’t on Nitro but Russo got to talk about 18 times.
Video on Sting vs. Vampiro, which is continuing for whatever reason.
Sting vs. Vampiro
Anything goes and we’re getting the Clowns on commentary to make this show so much better. The Clowns introduce themselves and offer “Tony Zimbabwe” three dollars to shill for JCW. This is also NOT for the JCW Title because Sting hasn’t beaten Mad Man Pondo. They head outside to start with Vampiro sending him into the barricade before taking it into the crowd.
We get the usual punching and walking until Sting takes it back to ringside for a whip into the barricade of his own. Sting goes face first into the announcers’ table so J can get in a right hand to the head. The Iranian Judo Attack (a clothesline) puts Sting down but he pops up and sends the Clowns running away. A lame chair to the head drops Vampiro and they head back inside as the Clowns freak out that Tony has lost his coloring book.
Vampiro comes back with chops but we might have some stolen food stamps. The Olive Loaf Chop staggers Sting but he slams Vampiro off the top for a comeback. Vampiro starts in on the leg (with the Saline Sam Coconut Crunch Lock) before kicking Sting in the face. There’s the Stinger Splash but but Shaggy throws the JCW Title at Sting’s leg. Not that it matters as the Death Drop knocks Vampiro silly for the pin. However, JCW rules say the loser wins and $5 of your ticket cost will go into Violent J’s pockets.
Rating: D+. The commentary was absolutely hilarious and the wrestling was really just there as a backdrop. The Clowns may not be the best wrestlers in the world (or really even close) but at leas they’re good for something around here. I really wish we could get past this Sting vs. Vampiro nonsense, but what in the world could they have for either guy next?
Post match Sting gets beaten down until Great Muta makes the save.
Goldberg is in the ring and calls out Bret Hart for a fight right here. Instead he gets Team Canada because they’re all the same right?
Team Canada vs. Goldberg
Goldberg yawns through the Canadian national anthem and the Canadians argue over who has to start. Storm throws Skipper at Goldberg and it’s a spear to the Cruiserweight Champion in about ten seconds. There goes Storm up the ramp but General Rection cuts him off. Back in and the spear into the Jackhammer ends Storm with ease. So much for the titles meaning anything around here.
Overall Rating: D+. This was a story heavy show but not in the stupid way that Nitro tends to go. I can live with a show that focuses on talking and setting up things for later, but it really doesn’t matter if the stories don’t have the chance to go anywhere when every Monday gets more and more insane. We’ve actually reached the point where Thunder is the bright spot in WCW and I’m not sure how to handle that.
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Thunder Date: August 30, 2000
Location: Tuscon Convention Center, Tuscon, Arizona
Commentators: Stevie Ray, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay
This is another case where just getting up to a coherent show would be a huge improvement over what they had on Monday. Thunder isn’t usually the best show in the world but at least it has a tendency to make sense. Nash is the World Champion now, which could actually work if he puts Booker over at the pay per view. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap from Nitro. Normally editing things down to a few minutes works but in this case, the show is still a disaster.
Here’s Team Canada with the captured Major Gunns in the ring. Elix Skipper says “Show me the Canadian money!” Gunns has to hold the flag and rolls her eyes throughout Storm’s speech about how we all want to be Canadians. The Canadian national anthem plays so Gunns drops the flag and rips her top off to reveal an American flag bra. Cue Team Canada’s opponents.
Team Canada vs. Kronik
Storm is sent to the floor and Adams launches Skipper down on top of him. We settle down with Clark stomping away at Skipper in the corner. Tony promises the announcement of a first time ever match this coming Monday on Nitro. A double shoulder drops Skipper and he dives backwards into a full nelson slam, only to have Storm springboard in with a clothesline for two. Tony: “One, two, HE ALMOST BEAT HIM!” Yeah because the US Champion getting a pin would be shocking.
Adams clotheslines both guys down and brings in Clark for the Meltdown on Skipper for two. Storm breaks up High Times and goes for the flag, only to have Gunns jab him between the legs. The full nelson slam and High Times puts Storm away, because why not pin the US Champion in a nothing match?
Rating: C-. Not the worst power vs. speed match as I could watch Storm being that smooth in the ring all day. The guy just looks natural flying around at a level that almost no one else reaches. I didn’t like the ending but at least the match leading up to it was good enough and we’re off to a nice start.
Post match here’s General Rection comes down to try to save Gunns but the Canadians fight back, drawing out the rest of the Misfits for the save. The Canadians get away with Gunns.
The Natural Born Thrillers are ready for a limo but it’s Nash and Steiner. The new champ wants to have fun tonight “and that’s a shoot.”
We see a clip of the Thunder Tailgate Party. Ignore Vito still wearing the Hardcore Title, making this a month old at least.
Here are Steiner, Jarrett, Nash and the Thrillers (you knew the mega heel stable was coming) with Scott going first. Apparently he isn’t allowed to call Goldberg all the names he wants because the corporate sponsors won’t let him. Some villain. He got hit in the face with a pipe on Monday and has the banged up eyes to prove it. After Steiner swears a bit (that’s more like it), he promises to take care of Goldberg at Fall Brawl.
Nash talks about winning the World Title for the fifth time on Monday. Stevie: “And no one remembers the first four.” Well to be fair those, three of those reigns combined to last about two weeks. He’s watched the tape back a few times and sees why Jarrett played it so fair during the match: Jeff wanted Nash to win the title on his own, because Nash wanted to do it for the people. Gee I just thought it was bad writing.
The fans actually cheer the line (save for Daffney and the Crowbar look-a-like, who are in the audience for some reason) and Nash chuckles. All that means is more people willing to pay another $30 at an autograph signing because their picture has the belt in it. Nash touts the Thrillers as the future and says Goldberg is out in the desert so there’s no one to stop them tonight.
Cue Booker to say he has a clique of his own, so here are Vito, Awesome and the Filthy Animals. So the clique known as the Animals are part of an even bigger clique? You think you might be overdoing this faction war stuff? Booker is worried about the guys in the ring taking over WCW and the fight is on until security makes the save.
A few notes here. First, I don’t really see why this is a problem since we’ve established that Cat is more powerful than Russo. Second, this was actually a well done segment with the storyline being laid out right in front of us. That’s one area where Russo excels: he can set up a big story really, really well.
Unfortunately that brings us to the third point: we’re going to have to see where this goes and that’s Russo’s downfall. He can set stuff up but at some point he has to execute those stories and the whole thing collapses. On top of that, if you’ve seen one Russo faction war story, you’ve seen them all. Thankfully this one is off to a good start though and you have to take the little things while you can. Oh and ignore the setup having plot holes the size of Russo’s MANLY biceps of course.
Back from a break and we see Nash taking over the control booth during the commercial. Apparently he’s in charge now and sends Reno to face Mike Awesome.
Rection wants Storm at Fall Brawl. For AMERICA. And Gunns.
Wedding invitation for a week from Monday.
Reno vs. Mike Awesome
Awesome is in ring gear here, which really makes me wonder why the 70s thing existed. He doesn’t wear the stuff to the ring and wrestles the same so why do it other than to amuse the writers? Awesome elbows him in the face to start and throws him down with a German suplex for no cover.
The slingshot shoulder gets two for Mike and we hear about War Games 2000 airing this Monday on Nitro, meaning it’s the first time ever both A, on TV and B, for the World Title. Thanks for giving us a full FIVE DAYS notice for this huge match. Reno gets in a shot to the ribs but stops to go after Daffney’s boyfriend (Ozzie) for no apparent reason. Stevie: “How did they get front row seats in this venue?” Back in and Mike grabs the Awesome Bomb for a quick pin. Stevie: “BUT HOW DID THEY GET THE SEATS TONY???”
Rating: D+. Another match that didn’t have enough time to go anywhere and the Ozzie stuff didn’t make much sense. Reno is yet another guy with a great look who could have been something if he was given the chance. Awesome did his usual but he was really just a warm body here, which is yet another waste of talent.
Reno beats up Ozzie and Daffney throws popcorn.
During the break, Jarrett jumped Awesome until Jimmy Hart and Finlay of all people broke it up. I like this attacks during the break stuff. There’s something so fake about having nothing happen until we’re back from a commercial.
This week’s sitdown interview is with Paul Orndorff earlier today in the empty arena. Tony asks about Orndorff being in charge of the Power Plant. Paul calls the students his kids and he’s so proud of all of them. The Power Plant is brutal but he’s looking for the best of the best (I guess Batista isn’t considered that great).
Orndorff keeps the students working hard and has them clean the place because they need to learn that no one is above anything. Tony brings up the Natural Born Thrillers having no respect for Orndorff and claiming that it was their talent that got them here. Mike Sanders called Orndorff a miserable old man and that’s more than enough for Paul.
It’s time for an old school rant with Paul talking about how these kids are ungrateful and how they were nothing before he got hold of them. Tony keeps egging him on by saying how often the Thrillers talk like this and you can see Orndorff getting madder and madder because this is what he gets every time he tries to help someone. Really good stuff from Orndorff here as he gets the role perfectly and nailed it, as most old school guys can.
Back live and here are the Thrillers with signs about Orndorff, including “Your best match was against Vader” and “Aren’t you dead yet?” The signs are turned around to spell out WE RULE.
Steiner hits Reno with a pipe for losing.
Booker says his knee is fine and he’s ready for Mike Sanders tonight.
Tag Team Titles: Rey Mysterio/Juventud Guerrera vs. Sean O’Haire/Mark Jindrak
Jindrak and O’Haire are challenging, as ordered by Nash and company. Before we get started, O’Haire says we’ll make it fair by letting Disqo be on the team. Or we could just have a tag match but that might make too much sense. Konnan sits in on commentary. O’Haire slams Disqo down to start and hits that sweet springboard clothesline of his. Disqo gets in a few shots and wisely brings in Juvy for some quick legdrops.
Off to Rey for the Bronco Buster but he dives into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. It’s off to Jindrak who gets two off a clothesline, followed by a nice Torture Rack neckbreaker for two more. Mark misses a dropkick though and it’s off to Juvy for some dropkicks of his own. In the melee, O’Haire gets in a quick tag, allowing Jindrak to throw Juvy into the air for a powerslam from Sean.
Juvy rolls to the floor so Sean hiptosses him over the top and back inside. There’s something awesome about small people being thrown around like that. Back in and the hot tag brings in Rey as everything breaks down. O’Haire kicks Disqo in the face but Juvy breaks up the Seanton Bomb and pulls Sean down with a hurricanrana. A quick Rey legdrop between the legs retains the titles.
Rating: B-. Now this is how you do the power vs. speed formula. This worked really well back and forth, even if the idea of the champions having the advantage goes completely against face/heel psychology. Jindrak and O’Haire’s good looking tandem stuff makes up for it though, along with Juvy and Rey bumping like pinballs.
Mike Sanders gets Booker T. tonight. Jarrett comes in and says he’s booked himself in a match that could end his career. Just give us the comedy reveal already.
Steiner attacks Jindrak and O’Haire as well.
Mike Sanders vs. Booker T.
Sanders tells Booker to bring it so here’s a livid Mr. T. Booker drops him with an early clothesline and hammers away with right hands in the corner. The ax kick, side kick and Book End put Sanders away in barely a minute.
Post break Booker is limping and Sanders gets beaten down as well.
Jarrett is getting his blood pressure checked before his big intimidating match.
Big Vito vs. Chuck Palumbo
This is the result of a Vito challenge. They trade early slams for two until Vito grabs a suplex and drops the top rope elbow. The top rope headbutt misses though and Palumbo hits a nice top rope shoulder for two of his own. Not that it matters as Vito hits him in the ribs and scores with the implant DDT for another quick win. So much for Nash’s boys being, you know, good.
Steiner beats up Palumbo as well. Good for him as Palumbo should be able to last two minutes against Big Vito.
Harris Twins vs. Misfits in Action
AWOL/Rection here. It’s a big fight to start as is almost always the custom in tag matches around here. The Misfits take over with AWOL working over we’ll say Don as things settle down. Since that’s too calm for WCW, here’s Storm with Major Gunns for a distraction. AWOL goes through a table because what else is he supposed to do. The H Bomb is broken up by Rection, who loads up No Laughing Matter, only to have Skipper come out and hit him with the flag. Isn’t that disrespecting the Maple Leaf? We’re still not done though as Kronik comes in for High Times on Ron, setting up No Laughing Matter for the pin.
Rating: D. Well you knew something like this was coming. Who in the world thought we needed five people running in and a weapon shot on a quick TV match? The Misfits are another team that could go somewhere if there weren’t so many factions on the show that take up space. We’re currently at seven stables and counting (Misfits, Thrillers, Team Canada, Nash’s group, Booker’s group, Filthy Animals, Dark Carnival) so how exactly are the Misfits supposed to stand out?
AWOL saves Rection from Storm.
Leia Meow whips the Dragons for losing so much. If they don’t get better, they have to lick her boots. Ok then.
Steiner and Nash interrupt Jarrett at prayer and offer to have his back out there tonight. Jarrett has to do this himself.
Jeff Jarrett vs. ???
It’s Kwee Wee. There’s nothing else to say here and if you’ve ever watched wrestling before, you knew a swerve was coming the whole way. Jarrett jumps him at the bell as Paisley sits in on commentary. Kwee Wee gets slugged down as Stevie talks about keeping his yaks intact. A hiptoss and back elbow put Jarrett down but he sidesteps a missile dropkick.
Jeff loads up the Stroke but throws him down when Mike Awesome comes out for a distraction. A quick rollup gets two on Jeff but the referee gets rid of Awesome, allowing Jeff to….do nothing. Kwee Wee tries what looks like a powerbomb but drops Jarrett for two instead. The Stroke wraps it up pretty quick.
Rating: D. Nothing to see here as you could see the joke from the second they announced this in the first place. At least in this case they weren’t really trying to hide it which makes this a lot easier to sit through. Nash and Steiner playing along helped and at least the match was short enough.
Here’s Shawn Stasiak for an arm wrestling challenge. As you might expect, here’s Orndorff to answer as well as scare Stasiak half to death. Paul almost has it won but then punches Shawn in the face like a ticked off veteran should. There’s a piledriver for Stasiak before Orndorff grabs a chair and fights off the rest of the Thrillers. This REALLY hasn’t been their night but Orndorff is already better than most of the people on this show.
Cat and Ms. Jones get here.
Here’s Cat in the arena to call out Nash, who works for Russo who works for Cat. Therefore it’s time for Cat vs. Nash….which doesn’t actually start as Cat has to beat up Steiner and Jarrett. Nash comes in with a ball bat because THE CAT is just so tough. Jones tries to slap Jeff but gets guitared, which finally draws out Booker to help. The Thrillers come out and keep the beating going to end the show. I have no idea why the Animals, Awesome or Vito didn’t come out to help but that’s continuity for you.
Overall Rating: B-. This was the best Thunder in probably a year at least. Well at least the first half was as the rest turned into another goofy mess. The key thing here is they toned down all the ridiculous insanity and just told their big story with wrestling matches. That’s one of the things that drives me craziest about Russo: there’s good(ish) stuff buried deep under the mess, but there’s so much bad to get through that it’s hard to keep trying. Still though, awesome first hour this week and not a bad enough second hour to kill it.
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Monday Nitro #254 Date: August 21, 2000
Location: Kansas Coliseum, Wichita, Kansas
Attendance: 5,211
Commentators: Scott Hudson, Tony Schiavone, Stevie Ray
Dang we’re flying through August. I’m not sure why but it feels like this month is going by faster than any has in months. Maybe I’m just talking about this because I don’t want to talk about what’s going on in WCW at the moment. We’re almost up to Fall Brawl and the main feud is still Booker T. vs. Kevin Nash. Let’s get to it.
Two notes before we get to the show. First of all, of the 5,200 people here, about 3,000 were comped. Second, there was a house show two nights before this show in Sioux City, Iowa. The show’s main event: Stevie Ray vs. Jeff Jarrett. I don’t know if that’s a regular main event for WCW at this point, but add it to the list of reasons this company is on its last legs.
We open with a recap of Russo’s shoot from last week where he wanted to fire Goldberg. Thankfully this turns into a video about Goldberg beating up a bunch of people instead. As in something people might want to watch.
Russo is on the phone with Scott Steiner, who he promises that tonight is the night. Jeff Jarrett comes in and says they need to get rid of Goldberg. Russo assures him that it’s going to work.
We see a clip of Team Canada being awesome on Thunder.
Cruiserweight Title: Elix Skipper vs. Lieutenant Loco
Skipper is defending and Lance Storm is on commentary. Rection is outside as well and starts a USA chant to get things going. They start fast (likely due to having almost no time) with Loco uppercutting the champ into the corner. A belly to back suplex looks to set up an early frog splash but Lance breaks it up with a flag shot. Rection and Storm start brawling at ringside as Skipper brings in a chair, only to have it quickly taken away. That’s the point though as Elix slips on his Grey Cup ring to knock Loco out for the pin.
We cut to the back less than five seconds after the pin to see Goldberg arriving.
Russo is on the phone with Scott and asks if he’s ready. For some reason we cut to another camera shot of Steiner saying he’s ready. Why was that camera set up?
Here’s Russo with a bunch of security and something to say. Russo talks about wanting to get off TV but they keep pulling him back in. And wouldn’t you know it, they brought him right back into one of the show’s top stories. Right now his problem is Goldberg, who runs through the crowd to take out security. Since Russo is MANLY though, Goldberg isn’t allowed to touch him due to the contract.
Therefore, Russo has an offer Goldberg can’t refuse. He pulls out a release for Goldberg which will include full payment of his contract and he can show up next Monday anywhere he wants. The papers are quickly ripped up so Russo runs his mouth even more, talking about how Jarrett, Nash and Steiner all want a piece of Goldberg tonight. Russo brings up Goldberg’s girlfriend (Beth, though I doubt I’m going to remember that) and that’s enough for Goldberg to snap. Steiner pops up on screen and he breaks into a hotel room. We see Goldberg’s girlfriend freaking out so Goldberg runs off, naturally leaving Russo posing in the ring.
Wait we’re not done yet though as Booker T. comes out to deal with Russo. You know, because so many people want to. Booker wants Russo to tell Nash that he’ll be waiting all night for the big man. Russo is NO ONE’S delivery service though because Russo made Booker. Booker was at the bottom of WCW, where Russo thinks he should still be.
So wait, is this the real Russo or was it the real Russo when he said Booker deserved to be in the main event at Bash at the Beach? Or am I just stupid for trying to figure all this out? Anyway, Booker kicks him down and gets in an ax kick for one of the few times you’ll see Russo take a beating.
Goldberg rides off on his motorcycle.
Russo yells at the Natural Born Thrillers (now with shirts) and gives Palumbo the World Title shot if Nash isn’t here on time.
Corporal Cajun/Major Gunns vs. Paisley/Kwee Wee
So Papaya is officially gone. Paisley shoves Gunns off the apron to start and Gunns…stares. Ok then. The guys start (thank goodness) with Cajun getting two off a right hand. It’s off to Gunns for one off a middle rope sunset flip before tagging Cajun back in. Paisley comes in to stand in the corner so Cajun can catapult Kwee Wee into her. Everything breaks down and the women are of course horrible. Cajun launches Gunns off the middle rope into a cross body for the pin. The guys were watchable at best and they were definitely the better part. Oh and the wrong music plays when the Misfits win.
The losers beat down the winners post match.
Russo tells Steiner to be ready for Goldberg.
Here are Tank and 3 Count to sing Tank’s new song (including lyrics about tearing out your spleen and chewing on your bladder) but Tank thinks the band screwed up. Tank goes to leave but Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse come out to beat all four of them down. Vampiro says this is the Dark Carnival and says Juggalo Championship Wrestling is officially taking over. He holds up the JCW Title, which is somehow still around in 2016. Vampiro rants about politics and promises that he’s just getting started with Steve Borden. Tank gets back in to clear the ring out and wants a JCW Title match tonight.
Here are the Natural Born Thrillers (minus Palumbo, who is getting ready) for their debut promo. Sanders gets the mic (thank goodness) and talks about spending the last two years watching the A-list stars draw below average ratings. There’s a man at the Power Plant who has been treating them like like garbage. Sanders introduces the team and says Palumbo is going to be champion by the end of the night. Opportunity has been knocking and they’re going to give the kids someone to look up to, the men a reason to get into the gym and the women a fantasy for every night.
Cue the Filthy Animals (because Russo LOVES faction wars) with Konnan saying he thought Tank Abbott’s promos were bad. Konnan rants about them never paying any dues and having no experience in this sport. They’ve never held a title or worked at this a day in their life. Konnan’s verdict: they ain’t got it like that.
Natural Born Thrillers vs. Filthy Animals
Konnan is the odd man out and it’s O’Haire/Jindrak/Sanders in the ring. Stasiak and Konnan are on commentary (talking about Stasiak’s pet gorilla) as Rey fires off rights and lefts at Jindrak. Konnan says the Tag Team Titles are on the line here but for some reason I don’t think that’s accurate. A tilt-a-whirl slam takes Jindrak down as Konnan wants to know how Stasiak hurt his knee when he just stands in the corner and poses.
It’s off to Disqo for an elbow drop as I’m trying to figure out when the Animals turned face. Madden says this is better than watching a bunch of old guys, which Konnan refers to a traveling wax museum doing a legdrop a clothesline and posing. O’Haire and Sanders double team Disqo down to take over before it’s Jindrak coming in with a springboard clothesline. A quick Russian legsweep takes Mark down (Disqo was always totally watchable in the ring) and it’s off to Juvy with a springboard spinwheel kick.
Juvy takes Mark down with a middle rope hurricanrana and it’s time for Rey, who is quickly crotched to change control again. Konnan ribs on the Natural Born Thrillers name in a funny bit as Sanders launches Rey into an O’Haire powerslam for two. A sick Batista bomb gets two more on Rey with Disqo having to make the save.
Rey takes Mark down with a headscissors and the hot tag brings in Juvy to clean house. Disqo DDT’s Jindrak and it’s Bronco Busters all around. Tygress hits one of her own so Konnan can debut FACE FULL OF STUFF. Everything breaks down until it’s Sanders debuting the 3.0 (Randy Orton’s backbreaker) for the pin on Disqo.
Rating: B-. Probably high but I have to take what I can get on these shows. Above all else this got some time (a bit over eight minutes, an eternity on Nitro) and the match was able to go somewhere. Konnan was actually really good on commentary here and made me want to see the Animals win and was making me laugh at the same time. This is the kind of match that WCW needed to have a lot more of, but you would have to be crazy to think any of these guys were getting past the Tag Team Titles, which is where so many of WCW’s problems came from: the introduction was good but it never materialized.
We see Goldb….oh wait make sure to keep the camera on O’Haire hitting the Seanton bomb on Tygress. Ok we’ve got the violence on the woman in so now we can go to see Goldberg arrive at the hotel.
Tygress is helped to the back.
Palumbo is getting the shot tonight because Nash just isn’t here. Well at least they’re finally going somewhere with the “they’re always late” idea.
WCW World Title: Booker T. vs. Chuck Palumbo
Booker is defending and oh sweet Russo is guest referee (naturally not even selling the beatdown from earlier). The champ works on a hammerlock to start and drops him with a quick Harlem side kick. A suplex drops Palumbo but Booker tweaks his knee again. Booker rolls him up for no count and yeah we’re doing this gem again. Palumbo gets in a shot for a very fast two and fires off some of those awesome right hands.
Booker’s sunset flip out of the corner gets Russo crawling around but stopping before one. A powerslam gets a fast near fall but Booker blasts him with a spinning forearm. The champ grabs a flapjack and Spinaroonis up, only to have the Thrillers hit the ring. Reno Rolls the Dice on Booker until Vito runs out with the stickball bat for the save. Now it’s Nash coming in with a chair to Booker’s head for a fast counted three from Booker.
Oh of course not as the Cat comes out to say Eric Bischoff made him the Commissioner and Russo is the writer. That means they’re equal (HUH?) so this match isn’t over. Wouldn’t that mean he’s overriding Russo which doesn’t work if they’re equal? The Thrillers are ejected and Booker is still officially champion because the match never ended. Booker wants to keep the match going so Cat appoints himself as referee. Good thing he had a referee shirt under his regular shirt (of course) as Russo takes over on commentary. Booker does his quick finishing sequence and retains with the Book End.
Rating: D. I lost track of what I was watching here. In other words, it’s another one of WCW’s major problems at this point: things going so fast that you can barely keep track of the match, let alone the show. It also brings up the question of why was Nash late, because apparently he arrived in between the start of the match and the four minute mark, which is quite the lucky timing. Anyway, Palumbo was trying but there was WAY too much going on to showcase anyone.
Goldberg is almost at the room! Seriously that’s how Tony put it.
Post break Goldberg gets in the ring and finds a note on the mirror saying they’re back at the arena. So it’s another movie episode.
JCW Title: Tank Abbott vs. Vampiro
Vampiro is defending and the Insane Clown Posse has taken over commentary, in whatever their over the top characters are of course. One of them dubs Tank “Pink Rabbit” and the other calls him “Hank Sandwich.” I’m not a fan of the Clowns but I remember their commentary being some of the funniest stuff I had ever heard. Vampiro kicks “Frank Rabbit’s” leg as the announcers try to figure out what Tank’s leg is made of. Tank punches the referee by mistake and then goes after Vampiro, drawing the Clowns into the ring. Muta comes in and mists Tank but 3 Count runs in for the save as this is thrown out.
Scott Steiner drags Goldberg’s girlfriend into the arena. As usual, women in a Russo promotion are helpless.
Russo gives Vito a match with Nash tonight.
Hardcore Title: Kronik vs. Norman Smiley
Smiley is the reluctant champion and asked for this match. Adams is in street clothes (I don’t want to see that street) so he sits in on commentary while Clark is left alone in the ring. Smiley, who wants to lose the title, starts swinging a kendo stick until Clark takes it away. I think you can figure out what’s going to happen next so I’ll let you put the pieces together yourself.
Clark kicks a trashcan into his face so Smiley goes outside and slaps Adams. That earns Norman a full nelson slam from Adams and the Meltdown from Clark as we’re just waiting on the Harris Twins. Adams goes to get a table (and finds smoke under the ring for some reason) before sitting back on commentary as the Twins come in and lay out Kronik with a chain. An H Bomb through a table retains Norman’s title, much to his chagrin.
Rating: F. It’s rare that a TV show gives me more than one match where I don’t know what to say but Russo has pulled it off. The match was just a backdrop for the comedy angle and another run-in to set up a match that almost no one wants to see. Kronik needed to get out of the tag division but the Harris Twins were the best opponents they could get? What did I do to get stuck with this?
Cat tells Lance Storm that Carl Oulette’s work visa has been denied so Storm is defending the US Title in a tag match against Mike Awesome and General Rection. Storm’s partner is a surprise. Oh dear.
Steiner tells Goldberg’s girlfriend that she’s a pawn.
Vito goes on a rant about how Russo isn’t his friend but tonight he’s going to fight the biggest guy in WCW.
Kevin Nash vs. Big Vito
Nash pounds him into the corner to start because Vito has been getting a very moderate push tonight so we need to crush him before it gets out of hand. There’s the boot choke but Vito escapes Snake Eyes and scores with the Mafia kick. A suplex and legdrop get two on Nash but he comes right back with a bit boot and side slam for two. Now Snake Eyes works and a chokeslam gets two. The straps go down and Nash scores with the Jackknife, only to have Booker come in (with his music playing for all of a second and a half) for the DQ.
Rating: D. As usual Nash doesn’t let anyone get in anything significant on him, though at least the Mafia kick got to make contact. You knew Vito wasn’t going to win here because he’s a main eventer though and Vito is in his early 30s. Nothing to see here as usual but at least Booker got in a shot on Nash.
Vito won’t get medical attention. I’m guessing that’s his rub.
US Title: Lance Storm/??? vs. General Rection/Mike Awesome
Storm is defending and whoever gets the pin gets the title. The Canadian flag comes out and Storm gets in some shots at the fans, only to be cut off by Jeff Jarrett’s music. Rection and Awesome get no music for reasons that aren’t clear. The production staff is way off tonight. Rection knocks Storm into the corner to start before dropping him with a gorilla press. Jeff is smart enough to kick Rection in the back, allowing Storm to nail a superkick to take over.
Jarrett breaks up a cover by Storm as the match is already getting too confusing. Rection misses a top rope elbow but Awesome tags himself in as everything breaks down. A big powerbomb puts Storm down with Jeff having to make a save, leaving Rection to hit No Laughing Matter on the champ. Cue Skipper to make a save of his own and Jeff adds a guitar shot to Mike (which might have been meant for Storm) to let Lance retain the title.
Rating: D. Another match with a bunch of stuff crammed into less than four minutes, meaning there was almost no way to catch everything. That just should not happen in a match this short, even if it was designed to set up a feud with Awesome vs. Jarrett and continue the Rection vs. Storm feud, which really isn’t of note anyway.
Steiner drags the girlfriend to the ring because she’s there to make men look dominant and powerful. Scott rants about how Goldberg started this before calling her a rather bad name for a woman as well as ugly. Goldberg slowly walks out until Jarrett hits him in the back with a chair. The villains double team Goldberg as the girlfriend watches in fear. Booker tries to make a save but Nash comes in. Goldberg fights back until Rick Steiner runs out with a pipe to put Goldberg down. They handcuff him in the corner and Steiner puts the girlfriend in the Recliner right in front of Goldberg to end the show (two minutes before the hour).
Overall Rating: D-. It takes a lot to make me uncomfortable watching wrestling. When you’ve been watching for nearly thirty years, you really do think you’ve seen everything. However, the way Russo books women on his shows are actually making me cringe. From what I can count, the following women were on this show: Beth, Major Gunns, Paisley and Tygress. Here’s what happened to them:
Major Gunns – Nothing
Tygress – Seanton bomb
Paisley – Splashed by Kwee Wee
Beth – Kidnapped, called an ugly b**** and put in the Steiner Recliner
Keep in mind that Goldberg vs. Steiner is happening because Goldberg (at least off camera) put Midajah through a table. Assuming you believe the plans that were only abandoned because the company went under, Russo was going to get to be announced as the father of Miss Hancock’s baby (no word on whether it would have been consensual).
Watching these shows is like some weird therapy as Russo tries to work out his horrible issues with women. On these shows, women are regularly beaten up, treated like garbage, jump from one man to another (Paisley), breaking a man’s heart because she doesn’t get that he’s crazy about her (Crowbar), or put in mud matches. This stuff keeps happening and it’s getting more and more disturbing to watch almost every single week.
Other than that though, this show was your usual borderline disaster with the stories feeling more like a straight to video movie and the wrestling ranging from not bad to barely worth the time. The baseline problem of this show continues to be having too much going on, leaving little time to actually build anything up. The Thrillers are a nice idea but there’s no reason to believe they’re going anywhere long term. It’s fine to see them get pushed though, even it it means nothing. Bad show overall, even with the talent trying its hardest to shine through.
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Thunder Date: August 16, 2000
Location: Riverside Coliseum, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
Attendance: 3,264
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, Stevie Ray
With New Blood Rising out of the way, it’s time to crank up the horrible again as this past Monday went insane all over again. We’re building towards a double main event at Fall Brawl with Kevin Nash vs. Booker T. for the World Title and Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner in a battle of the monsters. Let’s get to it.
Kevin Nash is in the back when Rick Steiner comes up to argue about who should be the #1 contender. The solution: Nash vs. Steiner tonight. If Steiner wins, his brother gets the title shot. Well at least they’re not jobbing Scott again.
Team Canada arrives, minus Jacques Rougeau (allegedly over not wanting to do a job). Cat comes up to say it’s going to be Team Canada vs. three Americans. Can one of them please not be the Cat?
Kronik vs. Juggernaut/Ladies’ Choice/Michelle Starr/Rockford 2000
Jobbers of course and Kronik promises to beat them in less than two minutes. I don’t think this requires too much of an explanation as it’s total destruction with Clark taking them to the floor and powerbombing one onto the bodies of the other two. The full nelson slam and High Time pins Juggernaut in a hurry.
Post match the Harris Twins appear on the screen with a challenge before riding away on their bikes.
Mark Madden and Gene Okerlund are getting ready in the back. Yes they’re actually doing this.
Disqo can’t convince the Filthy Animals to let Mike Sanders join. He’d be better at talking than any of them so I don’t see their objection.
Vampiro yells at Muta and throws an ax.
Here’s David Flair to call out Miss Hancock. After a lot of lame lines about how amazing she is, David drops to a knee to propose. Before he can get the question out though, here’s MIA for no apparent reason to destroy him. Wall chokeslams him a few times before the team leaves. Hancock, ever the nice person, yells at David for screwing this up too and leaves, only to stop to dance a bit. Ok then.
The MIA says no one touches Major Gunns like David did on Monday. Tonight they’re going to war with Team Canada and Rection promises to bring the US Title back to America.
Crowbar and Daffney saw what happened to David but Daffney says she’s over him. This gives Crowbar hope but a guy comes up with candy and flowers for her from the secret admirer. She continues to be oblivious to Crowbar’s feelings for her. Given that Russo is writing, can we set a timer before Crowbar snaps and beats her up?
Rey Mysterio/Juventud Guerrera vs. Mark Jindrak/Sean O’Haire
I don’t think the titles are on the line here. Sanders is with the Animals here, or “Above Mike Average” according to Tony. Disqo lets Mike talk for a bit and gets a glare from Konnan. Juvy pounds on Jindrak in the corner to start but he gets caught in the wrong corner. On commentary, Konnan says any combination of the Animals can defend the titles. It’s quickly off to Mysterio vs. O’Haire with Rey charging into a powerslam as Tygress makes it a five person commentary booth.
Everything breaks down and Juvy uses Rey as a springboard to take Jindrak down and a bulldog does the same. Back up and Sean sends Rey in for a tilt-a-whirl side slam, followed by a backdrop to send Juvy outside. There’s the Seanton bomb to Rey and Sanders turns on Konnan (shocking), allowing Palumbo (no Stasiak) and Reno to come in and beat on the Animals for the DQ.
Rating: C-. The match was fine until the obvious and nonsensical ending. Was there any reason to have Sanders out there with the Animals in the first place if he was just going to turn on them a few minutes later? It was actually working because you had talented guys having a match but of course that wasn’t going to last around this time.
Okerlund asks Norman Smiley for help but Smiley is too busy trying to get out of the hardcore division. With no help coming, Gene thinks about doing a hurricanrana.
Tank Abbott is annoyed at 3 Count and tells them to get back to the studio to fix the new song. 3 Count doesn’t seem pleased but are you going to argue with Tank?
Demon vs. Great Muta
No Vampiro anywhere in sight to start. Muta fires off some kicks but charges into a boot in the corner. Demon slowly beats on Muta with his really lame offense, including a snapmare and suplex for two. Thankfully Muta, who is more uninterested here than horrible, comes back with his kicks and starts working on the knee. Cue Vampiro to make sure this doesn’t get interesting as Demon makes his comeback. Vampiro throws Muta a kendo stick, which the referee doesn’t seem to mind, to beat Demon down again. The dragon screw leg whip is broken up by an enziguri, only to have the green mist set up Muta’s moonsault for the quick pin.
Rating: D. Nothing to see here as this story continues to bore everyone half to death. I have no idea why I’m supposed to care about Vampiro, Demon and Muta having these random matches against each other while Vampiro tries to be a less talented (and shorter) Undertaker. Another dull match though with Muta just going through the motions, though can you blame him?
Post match Demon gets beaten down some more and Vampiro promises to destroy Sting.
Someone knocks on Rick Steiner’s door but there’s no one there.
Madden insults Pamela and promises to beat up her sugar daddy tonight. Who knew Gene was loaded?
Misfits in Action vs. Team Canada
Rection/Loco/Cajun here. The fans go off on the Misfits for interrupting the Canadian national anthem which is still odd to see. Skipper can’t keep up with Cajun to start and gets caught in a quick suplex so it’s off to Loco and Carl (with his hard to spell last name, though apparently he’s now known as the Rage). A headscissors staggers Carl so he grabs Loco and hits one heck of a chokeslam to knock him silly.
It’s off to Skipper for a suplex before handing it to Storm for a great looking dropkick. Loco finally gets in a DDT to Storm and makes the hot tag off to Rection. Everything breaks down as Rection cleans house, including No Laughing Matter on Carl, only to have Skipper nail him with the Cruiserweight Title. Storm grabs the Maple Leaf to make Rection tap.
Rating: D+. Quick and mostly inoffensive here but there really isn’t much to see. Team Canada winning in Canada was the only option but the Misfits really aren’t the most interesting team in the world. Does anyone remember why they started in the first place at this point? Now they’re just a military themed midcard stable which has been done so many times before.
Post match Cat comes out and makes himself vs. Storm with the US Title and commissionership on the line.
US Title: The Cat vs. Lance Storm
Storm is defending so Cat elbows him in the face to start, only to dance too much and get caught in a sunset flip. A jawbreaker and shoulder (with Storm landing on his feet) drop Cat but he pops up with the Feliner. The referee takes his sweet time counting though, likely meaning Carl was late running to the ring with the Canadian flag for the DQ.
Cat promises vengeance on Nitro.
Rick Steiner yells at Pamela (why do people hate her so much?) and a piece of the set falls on him. Scott Steiner comes in to yell at people.
Mark Madden vs. Gene Okerlund
Let’s get this over with. Madden is in a Steelers jersey and says when he kills Okerlund, every coroner on the planet will swear it was old age. Gene is in what looks like a local hockey jersey, a Canada hat and sunglasses. They make it a street fight just because. Before the match, we have a posedown with Madden teasing taking his shirt off. A single forearm drops Mark but he comes back with a few chokes.
Cue Smiley but Carl (WAY too much of him tonight) cuts him off. This brings out Vito to fight Carl as Gene gives Madden a right hand for the most awkward two count of all time. Madden loads up a Vader Bomb but here’s Pamela to hit him low and give Gene the pin. Too short to rate but they kept this goofy enough to prevent this from being horrible.
Pamela kisses Gene during the celebration.
Here’s your weekly sitdown interview, this time with Jeff Jarrett. Jeff talks about wrestling being ahead of the curve for years and they’re right in the middle of that at the moment. He sees the problem as people learning to wrestle in six months at the Power Plant and then showing up on Nitro without learning how this business works. Quite true actually. The fans are the only ones that can change that but Jeff goes into a discussion of wrestlers who want it because they’ll put in the effort to learn every time they’re in the ring.
As for leaving the WWF, Jeff hasn’t looked back and knows it was the right decision. Jeff thinks WCW is starting to get it, even though they’re down right now. Tony brings up the New Blood Rising match and calls it the match of the year. Jeff doesn’t agree (good) and thinks he could have done better. The match was good and he respects Booker T., who should be a model of what wrestlers should be. Jeff wants to bring the workrate up in WCW but backstage issues have been causing them a lot of problems. Imagine what could happen if they kept going in the right direction.
This interview, while far less infuriating because Jeff was absolutely right on a lot of things he was saying, continues the trend of having no real point. Jarrett was out of character here, which probably confused most of the fans watching this. It made sense to me because I got what was going on, but most fans would have been wondering why he was so nonchalant about losing to Booker and wasn’t threatening Tony with a guitar.
In other words, these things continue to only entertain people who already know what Jarrett or others are talking about and really offer little to the masses. Hence why it’s longer than any match on the show, because that’s what these shows exist for: to entertain everyone other than the viewers at home.
Kidman tells Vito that he’ll have his back against Carl tonight. Apparently Vito vs. Reno is family business.
Big Vito vs. Carl Ouellet
Carl jumps him to start and gets in a quick slam, only to miss a middle rope legdrop. Vito hits his own legdrop, followed by a top rope elbow (still looks pretty good) for two. Back up and Carl grabs a powerslam but his top rope splash hits knees. A middle rope headbutt gets two more for Vito as they’re moving far better than you would expect here. They chop it out until Vito knees him in the ribs, setting up the inverted DDT for the fast pin.
Rating: C-. Much better than I was expecting here, even though I really didn’t need to see Carl involved in three different matches tonight. Vito isn’t ever going anywhere with his generic Italian character but he does seem to actually be working hard with it. Ouellet on the other hand needs to get out of here already as he’s just not that good.
Post match Reno comes in and Rolls the Dice on Vito, only to have Kidman come out and dropkick a chair into Reno’s face. Palumbo, O’Haire, Jindrak and Sanders run in and eventually lay Kidman out, only to have the Filthy Animals run in for the save. Storm and Skipper come in but are held off, only to have Mike Awesome run out to clear the villains away.
Rick Steiner is being taken away in an ambulance, apparently due to being hit with a pipe by Goldberg. Glad to know we didn’t have time to see that.
Here’s Kevin Nash for his weekly non-match. Hall isn’t here because they were out having a good time last night and he’s not recovered yet. So Scott is just traveling around the world, following WCW wherever they go? That’s rather sad. Nash isn’t going to bother calling out Goldberg tonight because he knows Bill is scared of him. That brings him to Booker, who he’ll take the title from at Fall Brawl. Cue Booker to disagree, even though he respects Nash. They’ll give the people what they want at Fall Brawl but Nash promises not to go after Booker tonight. They shake hands and Nash lays Booker out with the usual to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. This was actually one of the better Thunders in a good while despite the show just being there. Nothing on this show really mattered and they’re just kind of meandering towards Fall Brawl with no real direction. Now that being said, I’ll take a lame show over the horrible Nitros they’ve been airing anytime. Nothing on here was so bad that I didn’t want to keep watching (Madden vs. Okerlund was short and it involved Pamela) and there was very little shooting (angle wise at least) to mess it up. Somehow this passes for better in WCW these days though, which is just sad.
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Over the last few years I’ve redone my ratings for the Big Four WWE PPVs so why not do it for the big TNA show? We’re approaching the tenth show in the series and there’s always a chance it’s going to be the last. Every day until the 2014 Bound For Glory, I’ll be posting a brand new review of a Bound For Glory. Let’s get to it.
Bound For Glory 2005 Date: October 23, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West
This is still pretty early in the company’s run but things are starting to roll. Jeff Jarrett is the top guy in the company, which makes perfect sense given that he’s the owner. His opponent tonight is supposed to be Kevin Nash but there are some shenanigans afoot. Other than that we have Daniels vs. Styles in a thirty minute Iron Man Match for the X-Division Title. Let’s get to it.
The opening video starts by showing the awesome voiceover guy, which I don’t remember ever seeing before. He talks about the year of three hour pay per views that have led us to this. They’re already treating Bound For Glory like the biggest show of the year and that’s an important thing to have to look forward to.
Samoa Joe vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
No story here as this is a dream match. Joe has the full Polynesian entrance here which really does look cool. He’s still unbeaten here and is the hottest act in the company. We have to get rid of the streamers due to the pesky Japanese tradition. Liger tries some shoulders and just bounces off the big man. He asks Joe to try one of his own and takes Joe down with a drop toehold.
The fans are split on who to cheer for here as Joe is sent to the floor. A big baseball slide and dive take Joe down again. Back in and Joe hits a quick Samoan drop before a big knee gets two. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Joe hits his snap powerslam for two. Liger fights up and hits a quick Liger Kick in the corner before stepping on Joe’s foot to suplex him over.
A top rope splash gets two on Joe but he comes back with an enziguri. Liger escapes what looked to be a superplex attempt and nails the Liger Bomb for two. The signature open palm thrust gets another near fall on Joe but he’s able to crotch Jushin on the top. The MuscleBuster and Koquina Clutch are enough to keep Joe undefeated.
Rating: C. The match felt like they were trying to have a passing of the torch/dream match and it only kind of worked. Given that the match wasn’t even seven and a half minutes long, this must have been a short nap kind of dream instead of a long slumber. It was good enough but I don’t think people were expecting Liger to be the first to beat Joe.
We see some fans at the arena earlier in the day at TNA’s version of Axxess.
Simon Diamond tells his fellow Diamonds in the Rough to start getting it together.
Diamonds in the Rough vs. Apolo/Sonni Siaki/Shark Boy
The Diamonds are Diamond, Elix Skipper and David Young (who lost like 99 matches in a row), Apolo is a Puerto Rican star and Siaki is a Samoa guy with a good look. Shark Boy chops at Simon to start and hits a kind of one knee Codebreaker. Diamond nails a quick clothesline and blocks a Dead Sea Drop (Diamond Dust), only to have Sharky bite his trunks. Off to Apolo vs. Skipper with Apolo nailing a quick RKO for two. A kind of half nelson slam puts Skipper down again but Simon distracts the referee, allowing Young to get in a cheap shot.
Back to Skipper who knocks Apolo out of the air for two but Apolo pops up and throws Skipper into the air for an RKO. The hot tag brings in Siaki to clean house but the Diamonds all come in for a triple team. Apolo nails Young with a TKO but Skipper uses both guys as a springboard to botch a hurricanrana on Siaki. Everything breaks down with almost everyone hitting a big dive. Shark Boy hammers on Simon outside as David hits his spinebuster for the pin on Siaki.
Rating: C-. Just a quick match here with both teams looking decent, though most of the guys weren’t much to see. Apolo was a guy I always liked but he only got to do so much here. The Diamonds were almost the 3MB of their day minus the comedy. They had the talent but the constant losing didn’t help them.
We take a quick look at the four way from the preshow.
Also on the preshow, Raven and Larry Zbyszko continued their stupid feud over Raven wanting the title and Larry wanting him to quit. Security broke it up and Rhino came out to yell at Raven, asking where his edge went. He thinks a girl got into Raven’s head and wound up goring him in half. They both want the title shot later in the night.
NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett accuses Nash of hiding from the beating that is coming to him. Larry Zbyszko can throw anyone he wants at Jarrett. Throw all the names in the hat if you want to. Screw Jeff Hardy, screw Rhino, screw Abyss, screw Sabu and screw Raven. Monty Brown comes in and tells Jarrett to say screw Monty to his face. Brown says he can smell the fear in Jarrett. Jeff tells him to go take care of a ticked off Texan and Brown promised to Pounce said Texan.
Lance Hoyt vs. Monty Brown
Tenay dedicates this show to the recently passed away Crusher. Hoyt is a big guy who wound wind up in WWE and Japan a few years later. Brown hammers him down but Hoyt comes back with a shoulder block and clothesline. A kind of flapjack puts Brown on the floor and Hoyt follows him out with a huge dive over the top. Back in and Monty fires off some loud chops but Hoyt hits him just as hard. Lance goes up top for his moonsault but Bonty shoves him down to the floor.
Back in and Brown slams him down before shouting a lot. Hoyt nails (kind of) a big boot to the face and hits the moonsault for two. Lance goes to the middle rope but dives into an Alpha Bomb (picture starting with a slam but Monty flips them into the air for a powerbomb) for two. Hoyt grabs a chokeslam for two, only to have Monty pop up with the Pounce for the pin.
Rating: C+. I was really liking this one with Hoyt throwing everything he could at Brown but Monty surviving everything and hitting one of the biggest moves in TNA for the pin. Hoyt had something but when his gimmick in WWE was “I’M INTENSE!”, he didn’t have a ton of hope. Good match.
Video on some TNA guys in Japan.
The 3 Live Kru says they’re united and aren’t worried about Team Canada tonight. Kip James (Billy Gunn) comes in to offer his support. Ron Killings (R-Truth) and BG James (Road Dogg) like the idea but Konnan hates Kip being involved and walks out.
Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru
This would be Bobby Roode/Eric Young/A-1 vs. BG James/Konnan/Ron Killings. These teams have feuded with each other for months and traded the Tag Team Titles a few times back in 2004. James does the 3 Live Kru version of the New Age Outlaws intro. Young and Konnan get things going with Konnan rolling around a lot and sending Eric into the corner. He takes out all three Canadians on his own and throws his shoe at Young (regular spot for him) to knock Eric outside. Killings does a kind of What’s Up on Roode and the Kru stands tall.
Bobby settles down but gets taken down by a headscissors from Killings. Kip James is sitting on the entrance ramp as James and Killings stomp on Roode. Bobby finally comes back with a full nelson slam for two and we look at Kip. Tenay: “That’s Kip James!” This is a much odder comment after Tenay just got done discussing what was on Kip’s shirt.
The fans chant New Age Outlaws as A-1 powerslams Killings down for two. Killings finally comes back with the spinning forearm and BG comes in off the hot tag. The shaky knee drop gets two on Eric as everything breaks down. Roode sneaks in the hockey stick to knock BG out and give Eric the pin.
Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere but this feud was long since dead by this point. We had seen them fight so long and the fans just wanted the New Age Outlaws to reunite anyway. They just needed something fresh and having them fight again isn’t the right idea.
Post match BG gets beaten down until Kip makes the save. Team Canada holds Konnan for Kip to hit with a chair but he cleans house instead.
Shane Douglas asks Zbyszko who is getting the title shot tonight but Larry is waiting on a phone call. Someone is getting a shot tonight though.
Video on Ultimate X, basically explaining the concept for new fans. For those of you unfamiliar, there are four tresses at corners of the ring with two ropes about ten feet above the ring connecting the tresses. You climb the tresses and get across the polls to pull down the red X at their intersection to win. This transitions into recapping tonight’s match for a future X-Division Title match, which doesn’t have much of a story other than they all want the title shot.
Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Bentley
Bentley is Shawn Michaels’ cousin and has a good looking woman named Traci with him. Williams tries to climb first but get double teamed for his efforts. Petey gets back in and hammers on both guys, including a few suplexes to Sabin. Bentley catches Petey in a wheelbarrow suplex but has to pull Sabin off the ropes with a kind of atomic drop. Both good guys are down so Petey tries to climb but Traci offers a distraction by slamming his face into her chest.
It almost works as Bentley is most of the way to the X until both other guys make the save. Sabin sends Bentley into the corner and hits a running release buckle bomb to send Williams onto Matt. Petey comes back with a wicked tornado DDT on Bentley but Sabin goes up for the X. That goes nowhere and it’s Williams dropping a leg to Sabin on the apron.
Williams nails a hurricanrana off the apron to take Bentley down, leaving him as the only man halfway standing. His knee is banged up though and both other guys come in with Bentley taking both opponents down. Sabin and Matt go for the X but it’s Sabin with a HUGE powerbomb off the cables to put all three down again. This time it’s Petey and Sabin going up with Petey kicking him into a Tree of Woe and standing on his crotch to sing O Canada.
Bentley gets back up and shoves Petey to the floor. Williams’ coach Scot D’Amore: “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” Sabin shoves Bentley to the floor, leaving him all alone. Instead of going for the X though, he busts out a moonsault press to take out Williams and Bentley. Sabin goes up again but Bentley spears him off the cables…..and the X falls down.
The match completely stops so the crew can hang it up again. Bentley is the only one thinking as he throws Williams to the floor and hits a dive to try to distract the crowd. Sabin joins them on the floor as the crew gets it hung up again. Sabin and Bentley both go for it but crash down, dropping the X again. Williams catches it and the referee says that’s good enough to prevent further embarrassment.
Rating: C. The ending just kills this match but you can’t blame that on the wrestlers. They were having a good match until the structure messed up and threw them off. It looks really bad for TNA as the announcers had to point out that you’re not supposed to win that way, but really what else could they do? These matches are always tricky and make you think they should just be having a ladder match.
Bentley is livid.
We look at AMW joining forces with Jeff Jarrett and helping him get the World Title back. They then destroyed the recently arrived Team 3D, setting up a HILARIOUS funeral for Ray and D-Von. They also destroyed the Naturals to win the Tag Team Titles, setting up tonight’s rematch.
Tag Team Titles; Naturals vs. AMW
The Naturals are Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas and the champs have Gail Kim in their corner. It’s a big brawl to start with the Naturals in full control on the floor. Things settle down with Stevens vs. Storm in the ring but the Naturals double team him into a running powerbomb against the barricade. Harris gets double teamed in the ring as Storm stumbles up the ramp.
The Naturals go after him to keep up the beating and both champs are sent into the barricade. Douglas chokes Harris with tape until Gail Kim offers a distraction, allowing Harris to send him into the metal tress. Andy is busted open and AMW goes after the cut as we get down to a regular tag match. Eye of the Storm gets two on Andy but he’s able to get over to the corner for the hot tag.
Stevens cleans house and Storm hits Harris by mistake. Storm misses a pair of superkicks and gets nailed by Stevens for two. Gail throws in some powder but Stevens knocks it into Harris’ face, causing him to hit the Cataonic on James. The Naturals hit AMW’s Death Sentence for two on Harris. They load up the Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) but Gail comes in to break it up. Douglas goes after her but Harris gets up and handcuffs him to the barricade. More distractions let Storm bust a beer bottle over Stevens’ head, setting up the Death Sentence to retain the titles.
Rating: B. This was a really solid brawl with the Naturals getting as close as they could to winning the titles. AMW had only won the belts back a few days before this so they weren’t about to drop them this fast. They’re the best team TNA ever had and there’s no reason to have them lose this fast. It also helps that they so rarely beat the Naturals, who were billed as the team AMW couldn’t figure out for awhile.
Video on Monster’s Ball. The idea was the guys are held without food, water or human contact for twenty four hours before the match though I believe this is the last time that idea was used. There isn’t much of a story here other than all four guys are hardcore and want to be the best.
James Mitchell says Abyss will be ready.
Jeff Hardy vs. Sabu vs. Rhino vs. Abyss
Anything goes and weapons are encouraged. Rhino and Abyss attack Hardy to start but Sabu pelts a chair at them to break it up. Sabu and Rhino head out to the floor, allowing Hardy to hit Poetry in Motion on Abyss, followed by a big dive over the top to nail him on the floor as well. All four guys head into the crowd and Sabu is already bleeding from the eye. Hardy dives off a wall onto Abyss and all four are back at ringside. Jeff pours out a trashcan full of weapons as Sabu hits a big springboard plancha to take out Rhino.
The Whisper in the Wind drops Abyss but he counters the Twist of Fate into Shock Treatment. Rhino starts cleaning house with a chair and Hardy uses Sabu to set up another Poetry in Motion on Abyss. Now Rhino destroys everyone with a kendo stick but the Gore is countered by Abyss’ chokeslam. Hardy and Abyss fight to the floor while Rhino whips Sabu with a weightlifting belt. Abyss pounds Hardy up against the stage and sets up a table next to it.
Sabu bridges a table between the ring and the barricade as Hardy nails Abyss with a chair and puts him on the table by the stage. Sabu drives Rhino through the table at ringside while Hardy climbs the set and dives OVER THE STAGE for a Swanton through Abyss through the tables. That was INSANE. Rhino wedges a chair in the corner but Sabu avoids the Gore and hits a quick Triple Jump Moonsault for two. Abyss is back in and throws Sabu through a table, only to get Gored through another table. Jeff is somehow not dead and hammers away on Rhino, only to get piledriven off the middle rope to give Rhino the pin.
Rating: B. That Hardy spot was incredible and the rest of the brawl was really good as well. They just let four guys beat the tar out of each other and about thirteen minutes and the results worked really well. Rhino’s piledriver to end it looked awesome as well, making the whole thing violent fun.
Zbyszko announces a ten man gauntlet match for tonight’s shot at the title. The participants have all competed already tonight. Shane thinks that’s unfair to Jarrett.
We recap Daniels vs. Styles for the X-Division Title in an Iron Man match. This is actually a rematch after Styles won the first Iron Man match. Daniels said he could beat any three X-Division wrestlers in fifteen minutes. Styles of course was the third guy and the brawl set up the rematch here.
X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Thirty minute Iron Man match and AJ is defending. Daniels jumps him before the bell and hammers away in the corner with forearms and chops. A gorilla press drops AJ but he comes back right hand hands and a backbreaker. AJ hits a nice running back elbow to knock Dnaiels to the floor. Back in and Daniels counters the drop down into a dropkick spot with a right hand but AJ comes back with a dropkick of his own to put Daniels down.
They head to the floor with AJ getting a big running start to dive over the barricade and take Daniels down. Back in and Styles works on a headlock as we hit 25:00 to go. Daniels tries to roll him up to escape and finally reverses into an armbar. AJ spins out of a wristlock into one of his own before taking Daniels down for another headlock. In a clever bit, Daniels tries AJ’s dropdown dropkick spot but AJ holds the ropes and nails him in the head for two.
Back up and AJ sends him into all six buckles for a near fall. Off to a Last Chancery on Daniels as we hit 20:00 to go. Daniels escapes and hits a quick high collar suplex to put both guys down. Christopher starts in on the neck but switches to a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. He hooks a neck crank but has to kick out of a few rollups from the champion. Daniels puts on a Koji Clutch to keep Styles in trouble but AJ makes the ropes.
A slingshot moonsault gets two on AJ so Daniels just hammers him with forearms to the head. We’re halfway through the match and AJ comes back with the springboard moonsault into the reverse DDT to get a breather. Some clotheslines and a spinwheel kick drop Daniels again and a suplex gets two. There’s a pumphandle gutbuster for the same but Styles’ springboard is caught in a Death Valley Driver for a very close two.
Daniels flips him off the top into a sitout slam for two more and frustration is setting in. Styles suplexes Daniels into a neckbreaker for two but charges into a Blue Thunder Bomb. BME connects for two and Christopher is stunned. We hit 10:00 left as AJ lifts him up into a Torture Rack before spinning Daniels down with a powerbomb for two. Daniels avoids a charge in the corner and knees AJ to the floor where he bounces off the steps. As soon as AJ gets up he turns around into a suicide dive to put both guys down on the floor.
They try to get back in but AJ nails the Pele to put Daniels back on the floor. AJ follows him out with a HUGE flip dive and both guys are down again. They slowly get to the apron but Daniels belly to back suplexes Styles onto the floor again, leaving both guys in an even bigger heap that before. Daniels gets back in with five minutes to go and kicks AJ back to the floor. Back in again and they slug it out with AJ getting the better of it at four minutes left.
They trade rollups for two each before Styles misses a Pele. More rollups get two each and AJ tries a Tajiri handspring, only to get caught in a release German suplex with three minutes to go. AJ scores with a discus lariat to put both guys down until two minutes left. Styles avoids a charge and hits a high cross body but Daniels rolls through for two.
Another forearm exchange sends Daniels to the ropes at a minute left on the clock. An enziguri gets two on Daniels but he comes back with one of his own, only to have AJ counter Angel’s Wings with a suplex. Styles tries a rollup but shifts over to the Styles Clash for the pin with two seconds left to retain the title.
Rating: A-. This took its time but that’s kind of the point of the match. They were countering everything each other had and learning as the match went which is one of my favorite things to see. It’s really hard to screw up a match between these two and this is one of their better ones because the match was still fresh at this point. One other great thing: AJ didn’t just survive. He beat Daniels with his finishing move.
Promo for Genesis.
Gauntlet For The Gold
This is a ten man Royal Rumble with the winner getting a World Title shot immediately after. The first two wrestlers fight for two minutes and there’s a new entrant every minute with over the top and to the floor eliminations. Samoa Joe comes in at #1 and Ron Killings at #2 with Killings mocking Joe’s dancing for the first fifty seconds or so. Joe sends him into the corner for the Facewash but Killings pulls himself to the top rope for a Blockbuster. A Downward Spiral drops Joe again and Killings goes for the elimination until Sabu (with a chair) is in at #3.
Both guys in the ring get pelted with the chair and a Triple Jump Moonsault crushes Killings. Joe nails Sabu with the chair and Lance Hoyt is in at #4. Lance kicks everyone in the face and Joe plants Sabu with a DDT. Abyss is in at #5 and immediately stares down Joe. They chop it out and grab each other by the throat but Killings breaks it up. Jeff Hardy is in at #6 and the ring is really getting full.
Sabu’s cut has opened up again as Hardy hammers on everyone in sight. The guys are getting tired now as Monty Brown is in at #7. He Pounces Sabu and throws Jeff to the apron. It’s a botched spot though as they were both supposed to go out, so Monty has to jump over and eliminate himself. Don West is trying to say Brown didn’t understand the rules to cover for that horrible looking spot.
Rhino, who can barely walk, is in at #8. He gets in a brawl with Hoyt and puts the big man out before getting hammered down by Abyss. Kip James (who didn’t wrestle tonight) is in at #9 and takes everyone down with clotheslines and punches. A Fameasser drops Abyss and AJ Styles is in at #10 to screw over Raven one more time. Styles can barely move either so Abyss hammers on him in the corner. Sabu was put out off camera so we have a final grouping of Joe, Killings, James, Abyss, Styles and Rhino.
Everything slows down until AJ carries Truth to the apron. Kip tries to eliminate him and falls out to get us down to five. He saved Killings in the process though so Ron kicks AJ down. AJ gets all ticked off and muscles Killings over the top. Kip tries to make a save but referees shove him away, sending Killings down to the floor. Joe puts AJ in the choke but Abyss puts them both out. Rhino nails a Gore out of nowhere and tosses Abyss out for the title shot.
Rating: C-. There was only so much they could do here as half of the guys had to sell injuries. I’ll give them this though: there were a bunch of guys in there that could conceiveably win so this wasn’t the most obvious ending in the world. It’s nothing great but at least they kept it quick and only had a few dead spots.
NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhino
MMA fighter Tito Ortiz is guest referee for no apparent reason. Jeff has Gail Kim with him and brings out a casket, again for no apparent reason. Jarrett stomps away at Rhino to start and nails him with a nice dropkick. He slides under the ropes for an uppercut and sends Rhino into the barricade over and over. Rhino is busted open and being slammed into the announcers’ table doesn’t help things. Now it’s a shot into the casket as Rhino has had no offense.
Back in and a pair of top rope clotheslines drop Rhino and Jeff is getting cocky. He goes up again but Rhino catches him by the throat and kicks the champ low. The Gore misses though and Gail Kim goes up top, only to get caught in midair by Tito. He takes her to the floor, allowing Jarrett to stop a Gore with the guitar shot. Tito comes back in for a two count and Jeff is stunned. Now AMW comes out with another guitar, earning them both right hands from Ortiz. Rhino avoids the guitar shot and Gores Jarrett down for the pin and the title.
Rating: D+. You have to give this a break as it was much more about telling a story than the match itself. The idea was Rhino being beaten down so much all night and hitting one big move to win the title. It actually works as the Gore is the kind of move you can hit out of nowhere for a pin and it really worked here. The match didn’t last long enough but to be fair, Rhino had wrestled half an hour already with half of that coming in a very violent match.
AMW beats Rhino down post match until 3 Live Kru makes the save. Team Canada comes out to take out the Kru and the casket is brought into the ring. There’s a guitar shot to knock Rhino into the casket. Jarrett poses on the casket with the belt until Team 3D returns to beat down Jarrett’s army. Rhino gets out of the casket as Eric Young takes a 3D and is thrown into the casket to end the show. I REALLY hate that ending as it makes this all about Team 3D instead of the new champion. That just wasn’t needed.
Overall Rating: B+. This was an awesome show with some very good matches in the middle and nothing really bad. It felt like the biggest show of the year and was probably the best TNA show of their first year on pay per view. Rhino winning was a nice moment to go out on, even though he only held the title a month. The key thing though is they gave us this moment. You don’t need a big reign as long as you have the big win. That’s a lesson more wrestling companies need to learn. Really solid show here and one of TNA’s best ever.
As I do with the WWE shows, I’ll be comparing my original rating to the new ones and offering a quick final thought on the new version.
Ratings Comparison
Samoa Joe vs. Jushin Thunder Liger
Original: D+
Redo: C
Apolo/Shark Boy/Sonny Siaki vs. Diamonds in the Rough
Original: D+
Redo: C-
Monty Brown vs. Lance Hoyt
Original: C
Redo: C+
Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru
Original: D
Redo: D+
Chris Sabin vs. Petey Williams vs. Matt Bentley
Original: D+
Redo: C
America’s Most Wanted vs. The Naturals
Original: B
Redo: B
Jeff Hardy vs. Sabu vs. Rhino vs. Abyss
Original: B
Redo: B
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels
Original: A
Redo: A-
Gauntlet Match
Original: C-
Redo: C-
Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett
Original: C
Redo: D+
Overall Rating
Original: B+
Redo: B+
Still one of TNA’s best, which says a lot given how fast they had to change the main event around. Remember that: the less Nash in the main event, the better your show is.