SirSmUgly

At home with a heart issue until later in 2001, based on what I can tell.

Show #275 – 29 January 2001 "The one that wisely brings the eternal Dusty/Flair feud into a new millennium" They have switched up some of this Nitro intro as we head out of January, including more Sean O’Haire and a lot more Crowbar, if I’m seeing right. I see that I was wrong a few reviews ago: Tom Brady and the Patriots won next year – right, that was the 9/11 season – and oh yeah, Trent Dilfer was carried by his elite defense headed by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to a Super Bowl victory to cap off the 2000/01 NFL season. We’re in Baltimore tonight, and it's almost needless to say that there are quite a few Ravens jerseys visible in the crowd pan. Jamie (K)noble wrestles Shannon Moore, Elix Skipper, and Jimmy Yang (w/Leia Meow) in a Four Corners match, which would be good except that there are tags, which makes it bad. My enthusiasm for this bout has been dampened. Everyone does many dives and counters to start, but man, I don’t get why WCW had three hot Four Corners bouts in the spring of 1999 in which all four men were legal at the same time from the jump and then went away from that style of Four Corners bout again. Who is even legal now? All four men are in the ring and attempting pinfalls that are being legally counted. Shannon Moore fucks up a spot while trying to use Skipper as a step stool, so he makes up for it by taking a mean back bump all the way to the floor. That sets off another round of dives to the floor. Baltimore, feeling themselves, chants NEW YORK SUCKS. This show actually could use Vince Russo, who I’d hope would have the wherewithal to tell this crowd that he doesn’t care about the Super Bowl because he’s a Jets fan anyways. Wait, what am I saying; this show couldn’t use Vince Russo at all. No wrestling show could. Meanwhile, the rules of this match that were set out at the start don’t matter anymore. Shannon Moore lands a Super Showstopper on Noble while Skipper and Yang are indisposed at ringside; that move gets three. That was a nice, mindless MOVEZ exhibition to start this show. CEO Ric Flair and Road Warrior Animal are here for the CEO’s weekly proclamation. The CEO tries to show the camera the Armani label on his tie before he gets in the ring and attempts to heel on the Ravens. It’s weak heeling. He finally moves on to complaining about Commissioner Cat; he’s going to send opponent after opponent after the Cat in matches for the commissionership, which honestly, I almost hope the Cat loses because they need to retire that position already. The CEO moves on and, can you believe this, pillories Nash and Page for being hungover and maybe even still a bit drunk at Thunder. Now, that’s heel hypocrisy! He shows selective footage of Page and Nash laid out last week on the TurnerTron, which he pretends is proof of his accusation. CEO Flair feels that this sort of behavior is a demerit against Nash’s status as a number one contender, so he books the big man against Totally Buff in a handicap match to keep that number one contender’s position; any interference on Nash’s behalf, the CEO declares, will lose him that title shot. We cut to Nash tossing stuff around in anger in his dressing room. Finally, Flair addresses a WCW contract that he’s been holding the whole promo. He says that he’s going to offer someone an important opportunity to join his team, but he doesn’t say who that person will be; instead, he heads back down the ramp and to his office, WOOing and claiming that he will sleep with many of the mothers of the fans in this crowd all the while. Promo: SuperBrawl: Revenge is coming, and it’s probably going to be pretty good! Bischoff really settled on Tony S. and Scott Hudson as his Nitro team going forward in the short term? Insanity. This is a mediocre team on its best day [EDITOR'S NOTE: Hudson was flat-out awful all night once again in my humble opinion]. Tony S./Tenay is somewhat better on commentary over on Thunder, but I would hope-slash-assume that Bischoff was planning on Tony S./ almost anyone else for the Nitro reboot that he was planning. Jeff Jarrett does a classic Aaron Sorkin-style walk-‘n-talk with CEO Flair and Road Warrior Animal; he wants DDP on Nitro tonight, but CEO Flair wants him to wait for the PPV. Jarrett is an irritable guy though, so he refuses. Some unconvincing WCW tech awkwardly bumps into Midajah and even more awkwardly checks on her just so that Scott Steiner can do his shitty leg breaking maneuver with the pipe. The tech, woodenly: AW, MY LEG. Let’s stop it with the bad pipe leg breaking deal, WCW creative team. It’s not working for me. Commissioner Cat (w/Ms. Jones) defends his commissionership next; why wouldn’t he use the power of his commissionership to alter the match rules as he goes along to counter CEO Flair? Oh, here we go, he gets on the mic and says that if anyone comes out here along with his opponent, they’re suspended for thirty days. OK, that’s fine, I guess, but the issue is that CEO Flair would immediately reverse that suspension after the Cat lost. Sean Stasiak comes out here with Mark Jindrak; Stasiak is allowed to talk for some reason; he's the Cat's opponent and says that when he becomes commissioner after winning this match, he’s giving himself and Jindrak – who “carried those damn teams anyway” – a tag title shot at SuperBrawl. Boy, this is a sudden breakup of the Thrillers, which is a shame. They’ve been together long enough that something more long-term in the build to the breakup was probably needed. As Stasiak tries to get the catchphrase AW, DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT over, you and I both know that shit would never have happened even if WCW stuck around for a million billion years. Ms. Jones gets so agitated by his shitty stick work that she kicks him right in the head; the bell rings, and we cut to a monitor, where an unhappy Palumbo and O’Haire are annoyed with Stasiak’s pre-match boasting. As for this match, it’s Stasiak/Cat, so it’s not good or anything, but they try hard, have an entertaining obligabrawl with a couple of spots around the commentary table, and then work a solid finishing run. There are a couple of close two-counts, the Cat stuffing a sunset flip with a hip swivel and a chop, and a Stasiak counter of a Feliner with a nice lariat. Can Stasiak actually put the Cat away and become commissioner? No. He whiffs on a senton splash from the top and gets drilled with a Feliner for three. I mean, maybe it was kinda good, actually? I enjoyed it well enough, at least. Bumper: Nash vs. Totally Buff, later tonight and a Randy Savage sighting in a Slim Jim commercial. Hugh Morrus jumps THE WALL, BROTHER as TW,B stands sentinel outside Chavo Jr.’s locker room. He tosses TW,B right through the door itself, cracking it into splinters, and laughs maniacally as he leaves. Chavo Jr. hears the noise and finds his bodyguard decimated. Well, not literally. He hasn’t lost ten percent of his bodily functionality. But you know what I mean. Supreme toady Mike Sanders tells Crowbar that he’s blown his chances to join the CEO’s elite team so far, but Sanders has gotten one more chance for Crowbar to impress the elite: a match against Lance Storm. Earlier today: DDP has an autograph signing for his book, and in his WCW debut, AJ Styles DESPERATELY wants to skip to the front of the line. Acting like a dopey frat boy sure does come easily to ol' AJ. Styles tangles with another person in line - Air Paris, I’m thinking, though it’s kinda hard to see his face - but it’s a whole insurance fraud sort of deal where the presumed Paris takes a dive when Page comes over to break things up. Styles loudly claims that Page punched Paris. OK, sure, let’s see where this goes. The guy CEO Flair signed to that contract shows up, but we cut to break before we can see him. When we come back, Chavo Jr. freaks out about not having a tag partner now that THE WALL, BROTHER is incapacitated, but Totally Buff try to settle the guy down. They tell him that they have a partner for him and that he just needs to trust them. If I’ve learned anything from Jake Roberts, whenever a wrestler tells you to trust them (whether as a shoot or in kayfabe), you probably should do the opposite [EDITOR'S NOTE: "Probably" does not mean "definitely!"]. As Gene Okerlund opens his interview with Jeff Jarrett, he reminds Jarrett that CEO Flair has warned Jarrett away from DDP until SuperBrawl. Jarrett blows off Gene's concern trolling and then challenges Page to a fight in the middle of the ring tonight. Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. (w/Tygress) walk the ramp to face Chavo Guerrero Jr. and someone. Who might that someone be? It turns out to be Road Warrior Animal, actually, which surprises me. Flair's elite didn’t screw over Chavo. Chavo, upon finding out who his partner is, goes from nervous to thrilled in the space of a couple seconds. Still, these are the former WCW World Tag Team Champs in the other corner. They are a formidable foe, and they get off to a quick start against Chavo Jr., culminating in a Misterio springboard legdrop for two. Chavo reverses a whip into the corner and tries to slow things down, but he soon finds himself pancaked, baseball slid right in the groin, and hit with a Bronco Buster. Chavo is in deep trouble; he tries to slow Kidman with chops and European uppercuts, but he runs again, eats a Kidman lariat, and then has to kick out at two after Misterio tags in and immediately scores an Asai moonsault. Discretion is the better part of valor, it finally dawns on Chavo, and he does the Eddy knee scootch over to Animal to hug his leg and get a tag. Now, look, Animal killing these smaller dudes is necessary considering Animal’s role as the heavy in this angle, and Rey and Kidman do some excellent bumping for him, but he should have a bit more trouble with the former tag champs, though they do double up on him, take out his knees, and land a double dropkick to his head. Animal survives that, dispatches of Kidman, and counters a Rey springboard rana attempt with a sitout powerbomb. All that’s left is for him to tag Chavo back in so that Chavo can get an easy three count. That match was fun as hell, I must say. I think this counts as a WCW-ass WCW matchup, too, so it sits right in the center of that awesome Venn diagram that charts good matches and WCW-ass WCW matchups. Outro tease: Who will sign with CEO Ric Flair's elite group? Outro reminder: CEO Flair has stacked the deck against Kevin Nash…again. I see that Bischoff being back in charge of these shows has led to all these outros and bumpers coming back. Bisch really liked using them in 1995 and then updated them and put them back in the rotation in 1999 when they changed to the new logo and set, so I’m not surprised that they’re back once more. CEO Ric Flair (sans Road Warrior Animal) re-enters the ring to unveil the CEO's new signing. Speaking of Road Warrior Animal, after his reveal at Sin, my expectations are extremely low. But wait! CEO Flair leapt right over that low bar by bringing out Dustin Rhodes! Well, I know that Rhodes and Flair end up feuding, so this alliance won’t last long. Our crooked CEO harasses Scott Hudson for a pen while Rhodes peruses the contract and endures a few GOOOOOOOOOLDUST chants. Maybe those chants put him in a bad mood because he informs the CEO that he thinks the CEO is an unworthy partner, much as his father does. The CEO suggests that Rhodes leave the ring immediately rather than put hands on him, which of course leads Rhodes to put hands on him. CEO Flair is like, Unhand me, you brute, and Dustin is like, Nay, I shall give you quite the beating, and then here is Road Warrior Animal. Hey, Animal is using Vince Russo’s theme, I just noticed, as he runs to the ring and brawls with Rhodes. Eventually, the numbers game gets to Dustin, but he actually fights back and turns the tide before Animal is able to punt him low. The heels start putting in work on Dustin until papa Dusty Rhodes comes to the ring for the save (and gets a very nice babyface pop besides). I remember some of the online discourse at the time lamenting another Dusty/Flair feud in 2001, but I think this is a poetic feud upon which to wrap up WCW’s existence, and I both enjoyed it on original run and am looking forward to watching it again now. Dusty winds up Bionic Elbows for everyone’s heads while the crowd chants DUSTY DUSTY DUSTY. I wonder if Dusty remembers that when Ric Flair was WCW President rather than WCW CEO, Flair (allegedly) promised him a lead commentary position and then failed to come through on that promise in storyline. Baltimore thinks that RIC FLAIR SUCKS as Flair throws a conniption outside the ring. Dusty says that this feud AIN’T ABOUT [HIM], so I guess he won't be referring to his beef with Ric in '99. Dusty instead indicates that Dustin has been sidelined by the same WCW brass that CEO Flair is buddies with and warns the CEO that the new ownership isn’t going to be having any of that “holding the Rhodes Family back” stuff. He also goes against Eric Bischoff’s directive and drops a cuss when talking about kicking CEO Flair’s ass in Baltimore throughout the ‘80s. Baltimore loves the hell out of Dusty, who is a walking charisma machine. The heels hit the ring again after Dusty dresses them down, and the heels get their asses beat again. That segment ruled. Say what you will about Dusty and Ric, but they can still talk, and when they turn it on even a little bit on the mic, they are compelling. Bumper: More Nash/Totally Buff hype. Lance Storm (w/Team Canada) gives the office of World Championship Wrestling’s CEO his full support. Then, he stands at attention for the Canadian National Anthem, which Crowbar (w/Daffney) figures is a good time to get the jump on him. Alas, the bell has not yet rung, so Mike Awesome and Elix Skipper stomp him out and Storm doesn’t get disqualified for it. Once the bell actually rings, Crowbar and Storm proceed to have a fun little bout. This contest seesaws back and forth; the end comes after a fairly lengthy display of counter wrestling for television. Both men counter into and out of Tombstone piledriver attempts and Crowbar ends that exchange of counters with a reverse DDT. This gets a close two count, as does Crowbar’s follow-up back elbow and springboard splash/springboard moonsault combo. Crowbar is on the hunt for a big win; he even drops that running apron splash to the floor which has to have destroyed his knees by now. Back in the ring, Crowbar stuffs Storm's attempt at multiple Germans and then looks for a super Frankensteiner that is countered (in a fairly ugly spot) into a Canadian Maple Leaf that induces a Crowbar tap out. Ending aside, that was fun stuff. Outro bumper: You can probably guess what’s being hyped for later tonight by now. CEO Ric Flair wants Lance Storm, after that showing, to wrestle the Cat for the position of WCW Commissioner at SuperBrawl. Storm agrees, pleasing the CEO, but that pleasure turns to consternation when Jeff Jarrett walks by and shares his determination to confront DDP tonight no matter that CEO Flair wishes otherwise. Here is Jeff Jarrett now! I’m looking forward to Jarrett/Page, which will probably get about fifteen minutes at SuperBrawl and almost guarantees to be good. However, Jarrett as a character is just so lost in this WCW run. It’s funny that he looked more like a guy who might belong in WCW’s main event in 1997 than he has at any point since he came back to be cemented into that position in 1999. Anyway, Page comes down, but some cops cut him off and cuff him, which explains the whole setup that Styles and Paris were in on earlier. Air Paris is pressing charges, y’all! Jarrett demands that the ref count Page out as the cops lead Page to the county jail. Moments ago: CEO Flair loves the inequitable policing system that is taking DDP to jail for no fucking reason, just like a true heel. HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Shane Douglas has to defend the WCW United States Championship against Rick Steiner tonight. The Cat apparently booked this match, and CEO Flair probably still hates Douglas deep down, so this match stands! Douglas tries to insult the Ravens, but he can’t effectively heel on a team that just won, you know, the fucking Super Bowl, so his heeling falls flat. Wait, hold on, CEO Flair apparently changed this to a non-title match. Remember how the United States Championship was the least badly booked WCW title in 2000? Well, it’s ending its run in WCW proper (I don’t count the WWF Invasion version) like so: Hugh Morrus > Shane Douglas > Rick Steiner > Booker T., with three title swaps in three months. Bless your hearts, WCW bookers. Rick Steiner walks down here and beats unholy hell out of Douglas. Douglas gains control on an ugly counter inverted atomic drop spot in which he pushed the ref in the way of Rick Steiner to delay Steiner’s dive. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy isn’t this a DQ? They soon fuck up another spot, this time a simple hip toss. Shane Douglas sucks, man. He’s just awful. I don’t see how that second one was Rick Steiner’s fault at all. The earlier spot just seemed like everyone was slightly off. This match is too long. That’s really the issue here. Ricky kicks out of a Pittsburgh Plunge and counters a chain-assisted haymaker with a Steinerline and a diving bulldog for, uh, 2.9. Why are we wasting a kickout on that move, which has been treated like death, on Shane Douglas of all people? Ricky Steiner follows up with a Death Valley Driver (no VR) for three, and no, I am not calling it a Steiner Driver no matter how much you insist upon it, Tony S. and Hudson. Steiner plays call-and-response with the crowd after the match. Outro bumper: It’s almost time for the main event! It’s time for the main event! Totally Buff duels Kevin Nash, with Nash’s title shot at SuperBrawl on the line. I forgot to mention earlier that Totally Buff were wearing Ravens jerseys when they were talking to Chavo Jr. backstage, and they come out here in those jerseys, waving Baltimore Ravens pennants. Lex Luger finally heels on Baltimore's football team properly by passionately arguing that actually the Cleveland Browns won that Super Bowl and that the Colts left town in the first place because Baltimore sucks. Then, he points out that Ray Lewis stabbed a dude to death and shouldn’t have even been able to anchor that championship defense from his home in Cell Block D (true, actually). The Ravens’ Special Teams Coach comes over the railing to confront the heels, but he doesn’t even get on the apron and throw a punch. Finally, a heel actually managed to tick off the crowd by effectively insulting their championship team tonight! By the way, these fellas are complete idiots in the best of ways. Luger: “I’m the Total Package!” Buff: “And I’m Buff!” Luger: “And that’s why we’re called…” Buff, with a stupid look on his face: “TOTALLY…BUFF! **cackles like a dipshit**” Apart from a short period of time right after he injured his neck, Buff should never have been anything but a heel past 1996. After ads, Kevin Nash walks out for this six-minute Nitro Special. It’s not a great match, nor does it need to be. It’s just a short match for Nash to endure punishment and overcome it so that he looks like a threat against Scott Steiner. In fact, Nash avoids a Luger Torture Rack, makes a comeback, and hits Luger with Snake Eyes and a Jackknife. He covers, but Buff Bagwell hits a double-arm DDT on the ref. A new ref comes to the ring, which is good for Nash. On the other hand, Alex Wright is the ref, which is bad for Nash. Wright refuses to count to three and then attacks Nash, but Nash is able to fight him off, dump Luger to ringside, and Jackknife Buff for three. The Cat runs to the ring, having wisely assigned himself as a backup ref, and counts one…two…and Alex Wright yanks him out of the ring. The Cat quickly tosses Wright into the guardrail, then slides right back into the ring and completes the three count. Pretty good gagaful finish, and if Nash is going to kill off dudes in a one-on-two, Buff and Luger are the right guys to kill off. Nash hits a Scott Hall catchphrase to celebrate after the match and then calls out Scott Steiner for a show-ending brawl that we don’t even get to see as the show fades to black, dammit! I wish WCW could have stayed in a Fusient-might-acquire-us holding pattern for a full 2001/2002 season of Nitro on TBS. It might have all fallen apart at some point, but Bischoff overseeing this show again with a fresh look at the television and a clear direction for Nitro's production and presentation and giving generally solid directions to the creative team – establish the cruiserweight division again, mix legends into midcard angles for the older fans in our audience alongside some of the newer faces that are to be pushed – makes for a decent show. The problem is that if Fusient had bought the company and Kellner had given Nitro a spot on TBS for a year to see if it was worth keeping the show for the longer term, Bischoff would surely have brought his old buddy Hulk Hogan back and ruined this very nice moment that WCW is having right now. 3 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

Thunder Interlude – show number one hundred and forty-five – 24 January 2001 "The WCW Gang is adept at building threats again" A Peacock glitch keeps kicking me back to the page full of 2000 WCW shows on both Nitro and Thunder’s landing pages…Even this app doesn’t want it to end…Let’s Thunder, folks… After our opening, Tony S. welcomes us to another Wednesday night of wrestling on TBS…Wait, is this 2001 or 2025?...Anyway, I guess the “Stevie Ray on commentary” experiment is over, and WCW is worse off for it… Ooh, a Shane Helms/Elix Skipper opener!...No, wait, this is a Gauntlet Match for number one contendership for the cruiserweight title…BOOOO, maybe? [Editor's note: No, it's YAAAAAY]...Helms and Skipper start, and after one is pinned or submits, another contender comes out and takes his place…Skipper and Helms work at the speed of the WWF Royal Rumble game built on NAOMI for arcades and a faithful Dreamcast port…I just wanted to see these two wrestle each other for ten minutes…Helms twists away from a Play of the Day attempt and hoists Skipper up for a vertebreaker that gets three… Evan Karagias is the next guy out…Helms knows that he needs to end it early, so he immediately scores a Vertebreaker for three after Karagias misses a crossbody…Billy Kidman is our next competitor…Helms and Kidman work a series of quick counters…Kidman escapes a Nightmare on Helms Street and gets two on a Sky High…Helms hits an X-Plex (bridging German with arm trap) for two…Kidman and Helms do nice work to reverse into and out of a Kid Krusher > Vertebreaker > Kid Krusher finish that moves Billy Kidman into a match against Jimmy Yang (w/Leia Meow) after a ghost commercial break… This has been pretty enjoyable stuff. I am surprised that Helms isn’t getting a return match against Chavo Jr. at SuperBrawl, though…My memory had them feuding for three months straight, not off and on for three months…What I liked about Helms’s run in this match is that he looked like a threat and really established that Vertebreaker…If I were booking this, I might have flip-flopped Yang and Kidman and had Helms beat Yang with one of the secondary finishers that he’s trying to establish before eating a pinfall… Yang trips Kidman and drives his head into the buckles, giving him control, but Kidman turns things around with a double-underhook sit-out facebuster…They trade close two counts and a series of counters…All of these matches would be interesting ten or fifteen minute matches…The cruiserweight division looks interesting for the first time in a long time…After a struggle on the top rope, Kidman hooks Yang and drops a Super Kid Krusher for three… Jamie (K)noble rushes down the aisle and immediately unloads on Kidman scoring a couple of two counts, but Kidman manages to land a gourdbuster after flipping behind Noble on a slam attempt. Kidman goes up, but Noble is simply too fresh…He quickly recovers, catches Kidman, and lands a Super Frankensteiner for two…They do a fun as hell reversal sequence around swapping in and out of Kid Krushers and jumping Tombstones before Noble wins that battle and lands one of the latter for three…Rey Misterio Jr. (w/Tygress) is the next man out…There are ten men in this thing, by the way…I think Rey is number seven, and I fully expect him to make it to the end, at least…The ace of this division drops Noble with a bulldog and hits a springboard diving headbutt to cap things off and win a pinfall… Alright, I can confirm that I very much like this match…Lash LeRoux is next out, but he doesn’t last long…Rey puts him away with a split-legged moonsault before Mike Tenay can even hype a potential Chavo Jr./Lash grudge match…Here’s Shannon Moore…We’re at nine right now, so there should be one more cruiserweight left after we get a pinfall here…Rey, as the ace of this division, counters a Shannon Moore dropdown attempt and leaps on top of Moore, bridging over for three.. OK, so Kaz Hayashi is the last man out…Kaz buries Rey with a spinning sitout powerbomb for two, but Rey uses his pace against him…He induces Kaz to charge and then dodges...Kaz wraps his shoulder around a post; then, Rey sits Kaz up top and lands a super bulldog for three…This was a really well-booked scramble that accomplished a number of things…It showcased this diverse group of cruisers, established a pecking order, and got a couple of midcarders who they might want to push more later on some shine (Helms winning two straight matchups, Noble getting a pinfall on Kidman and having that be treated like a big deal at the desk)…This is the type of thing that helps people remember this final era of WCW fondly…They’re actually bringing structure and coherence to this division, which we haven’t really had since Nash was put in charge of the booking… Glacier is here to help Norman Smiley find his way in WCW again!...Glacier: “Norman, always remember – I WILL WATCH YOUR BACK”…I was a teenager when I originally saw this, so I will respond to Glacier’s proclamation while watching it here in 2025 by using the colloquialisms of today’s teens: That’s straight cap…Glacier’s cappin’… The Cat and Ms. Jones enter the ring to discuss how he is (kayfabe) building the SuperBrawl card, which honestly sounds (shoot) awesome: Scott Steiner vs. Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett vs. DDP, and Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Rey Misterio Jr….For tonight’s show, the Cat books Jarrett against Hugh Morrus and Steiner/Road Warrior Animal vs. KroniK…The Cat is so proud of the cards that he’s booking that he dances before leaving…We cut to CEO Ric Flair’s office backstage, where he tells everyone in his Elit not to worry because they have a master plan to counter the Cat’s booking…Someone sticks a middle finger right in the camera as the segment ends… OK, I think I hazily recall watching this Thunder on original run now…That Gauntlet Match seemed vaguely familiar as I watched through it, and I definitely remember this Norman Smiley match against Mike Awesome (w/Major Gunns)…Smiley has enough confidence to dance right in front of Awesome, whose face shows consternation before he just decides to lariat this guy…Norm basically gets rolled out here…Awesome lands a bunch of aesthetically pleasing offense, but cannot put Smiley away…Awesome pelts Smiley with punches, but here’s Glacier to watch Norm’s back!... Norm gets so excited to see Glacier that he forgets that Awesome is behind him…Awesome lands a huge release German…Glacier is too busy slapping hands and taking pictures at ringside to even notice that Norm is getting his ass whipped in there…Awesome tosses Norm to the floor right at Glacier’s feet, but Glacier is waving at a few fans and doesn’t notice…I mean, I love this dumb angle…Glacier is busy shaking hands with Tenay and Tony S. while Norm fights for his life...Norm is again distracted as he begs Glacier for help, so Awesome simply plants himself up top, drops a diving lariat, and then scores an Awesome Bomb for three… After the match, as Awesome is all the way back up the ramp, Glacier jumps in the ring and strikes a battle pose…He’s all like YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN…Then, he congratulates himself for watching Norm’s back and does his whole kata routine, I think is what you call it…Smiley tries to get Glacier to help him up, but Glacier shoves him away so that he can continue his routine…I don’t care what anyone says…I unabashedly love this soon-to-be-aborted angle… Totally Buff runs down Crowbar for losing to Chavo Jr….That’s not elite, dammit!...But they offer Crowbar one more chance tonight…They encourage him as he walks off, then immediately shit-talk him as he leaves…Luger is not a fan of Crowbar’s look, which is almost needless to say… Alright, we have Kwee Wee and not Angry Allan tonight…He’s all lovey-dovey with Paisley…Kwee Wee still wants to be part of CEO Flair’s Elite…He offers an open challengeanyone in the audience…Some plant in a Goldberg shirt wants to take the challenge…Kwee Wee goes all Angry Allan and beats the shit out of this fan while Paisley pleads for him to stop…I don’t think this fella's character work is quite good enough to pull off the dissociative identity disorder gimmick…I don’t hate the idea itself, but it’s not right for him as a performer…I don’t buy it when his personality changes at all… Next up: Jeff Jarrett KABONGs Hugh Morrus, probably, which is going to give the big guy another (kayfabe, this time) concussion…Tony S. teases the unnamed Eric Bischoff’s plans on commentary by asking no one in particular what the new ownership thinks about all the KABONGINGs and then musing on what they must think about this Goldberg forced retirement deal…Maybe they might want to address that issue, Tony S. ponders...Meanwhile, Jarrett cuts a mediocre promo before the mach…Apparently, in stuff we missed on his show, Morrus attacked Jarrett backstage…We’ll collect any and all cuts together in a list later on in this review… This match is a cromulent televised bout…Morrus takes advantage early, so Jarrett baits him into an obligabrawl outside the ring…Jarrett kicks his ass, even jabbing him in the ribs with a chair...Jarrett continues his assault inside the ring, stuffing a couple of Morrus comeback attempts with quick counterattacks…Morrus gets a boot up on a diving fist and finally gets a comeback to stick…He goes up and drops an elbow as THE WALL, BROTHER sneaks his way down to the ringside area…TW,B tries another chokeslam as Morrus goes up for a No Laughing Matter, but Morrus blocks it…However, he doesn’t block a chokeslam that the ref doesn’t see because he's wrenching Jarrett’s guitar away from him…Jarrett’s like, OK, fine, ref, I’ll put down the guitar; you’ve convinced me that this is wrong and an unsporting thing to smash my opponent with, then simply walks over and drills a down-and-out Morrus with a Stroke for three…The heels prepare a Morrus KABONGing, but DDP runs in from the crowd and makes the save…Aw, I wanted to see Morrus get KABONG’d, dammit!... There’s a Tenay interview that addresses Sid’s injury that I bet the morons at the WWE Network cut from this Thunder of episode…I am interested in that…Crowbar (w/Daffney) wrestles Da/oR (w/Ra/oD)…You can guess what happens in this match…Wait, before the match…Daffney: *screams into a (broken, or the spot would have been even better) megaphone*…Ra/oD: *walks over to rip that megaphone out of her hand and stomp on it*…Daffney: *screams even louder, runs away*…My comparatively dull description doesn’t do justice how funny I found that little spot…Daffney does her little call-and-response spot where she screams at the crowd and the kids in the crowd scream back…I just really like Daffney…She’s a fun character…Oh yeah, the match…Crowbar gets killed, makes a comeback, gets Twin Magic’d, takes the L…Just as you probably guessed… Here is Bam Bam Bigelow for a match against Rick Steiner…Ugh…Honestly, this is fine for what it is…It’s not good, but Steiner throws a mean forearm in there…Bigelow sells the shot throughout the match, though he probably doesn’t need to sell it all that much…OK, there’s a neat spot where Steiner hoists Bigelow into an overhead suplex…Yeah, this match is just fine and didn’t deserve my initial ugh reaction…Steiner eventually finishes Bammer with a couple of DDTs and a diving bulldog from the top…He threatens CEO Flair after the match… The heels come out of a dressing room, having given someone the business…When the Cat walks up to see what’s going on, CEO Flair pretends to mollify him…While he’s pretending to do that, he slips some brass knucks on and sucker punches the Cat…The camera shows us that the Insiders have been laid out…After a ghost break, Rick Steiner and KroniK are checking on the Insiders…Steiner tells KroniK to go to the ring for their main event, and he’ll watch over the fallen Insiders…KroniK leaves, and that’s when Shane Douglas pops in and hits a chain-assisted rabbit punch on Steiner… This week in stuff the morons at the WWE Network cut from this episode of Thunder: Jeff Jarrett makes fun of Hugh Morrus for being a sad sack fruit booty; Morrus responds by attacking Jarrett…Shane Douglas asks Bam Bam Bigelow to take Rick Steiner down, saying that he’ll put in a good word for Bammer with CEO Flair if Bammer pulls it off…Gene Okerlund interviews a delusional Glacier and his “deserves better even though this is a funny angle” sidekick Norman Smiley…KroniK tells Gene Okerlund that they’ve got their own elite running buddies and are joined by Kevin Nash and DDP…Rick Steiner promises Bigelow a beating in an interview with Okerlund…The Sid medical segment happens; Tenay interviews Sid’s doctor…I’m still sad that Sid is done in big-time wrestling as a result of this injury and WCW’s death… Alright, our Thunder main event pits Scott Steiner and Road Warrior Animal against KroniK…Steiner gets a mic before the match and laments KroniK’s choice to align with the Cat over aligning with both he and CEO Flair…Then, he promises to put Kevin Nash out of wrestling at SuperBrawl…This is your typical WCW major TV show main event…I do like that Clark hits his apron senton and takes out both Steiner and Animal…That’s a lot of meaty men crashing into one another on that spot…There’s some good work in here, especially between Steiner and Clark…They do a neat Meltdown > overhead suplex reversal spot…Clark does hit a Meltdown on Animal, but Steiner makes the save on the cover…I feel like this match, and what Steiner has given to KroniK during it, has made KroniK legit look like they’re at that upper level more than any of the midcarder squashes they’ve done…Totally Buff and the Cat run down…I don’t love that Animal elbows his way out of a High Times, but whatever, you’ve got to make him seem capable and not like a face-painted Virgil…Scotty is distracted by attacking the Cat outside the ring, so he can’t save his tag partner when KroniK traps Animal again and completes a High Times the second time around that gets three…However, the numbers are not on the babyfaces’ side, and they’re destroyed by the heels after the match… This was another breezy show that actually accomplished building guys as threats…(K)noble, Helms, and KroniK all came out of this show looking stronger…I genuinely enjoyed it, with my only complaint being that Chavo Jr. didn’t get booked…WOOOOO…

I just want a new 2D Rayman. Or a new 3D one. Go ask Nintendo to help you fund one, Guillermot.

Dammit, I'm in.

I don't respect deathmatch wrestling or cornballs who tell me that I have to love all the parts of something to love the thing in general. Don't @ me with this kind of nonsense again, you goof.

The bumps in which Foley's head smacked against concrete or the guardrail were harder to watch for me than the Cell bumps, and that's saying something considering how hard I now find it to watch the chokeslam bump through the roof.

Cornette explaining what the doctor said about Foley's tooth getting into his nose squicked me out badly. Oh man, his explanation made my teeth hurt. Assuming you, like me, are not a deathmatch person: Is Hell in a Cell the most destructive pro wrestling match stateside in terms of its negative influence on modern workers? It mixes destructive Japanese deathmatch violence and destructive American style bumps from high places with such potency, and it happened on PPV for a hot company in an extremely hot period for professional wrestling. At the point where Mick pulls out the thumbtacks, I always feel exhausted in a bad way by this thing. Guys kill themselves for a five dollar bill and a hot dog in random gyms doing this sort of nonsense because of this match.

If we're talking "favorite luchador who never got a sniff at a push in WCW," Silver King is my answer. Really fun working big against smaller wrestlers and really fun working small against bigger wrestlers. I love a wrestler who knows how to make themselves bigger or smaller depending on their opponent (it's one of my favorite things about Scott Hall's work). If you count the two weeks' worth of push that Silver King and El Dandy got as the WCW version of Los Fabulosos (managed by Stacy Keibler, no less) as "a sniff at a push," then I think my answer is probably Lizmark Jr.

Nothing much in this Nintendo Direct for me, but happy for the Rhythm Heaven and Tomodachi fans. That Dotemu Marvel brawler looks interesting, and of course, I'm in on a new Hot Shots Golf.

And to top it all off, Foley did a run-in on the main event later that night. Bananas.

Show #274 – 23 January 2001 "The one with a glimmer of hope for WCW's survival (that gets stamped out in about six weeks, but it was nice while it lasted)" The original post date for this episode is 24 years after the final Nitro ended. I would have tried harder to line up the final Nitro review for the thread with this date had I any foresight. Alas, I have none. Recap: Goldberg is gone, but Kevin Nash is still here and the Cat is in charge again (though only somewhat, since there’s also a CEO). The top heels and faces are grouping together for one more big feud built around a heel stable. Last week: CEO Flair’s Elite sit around, having guzzled a ton of chicken wings and watching Sid injure his leg on repeat; they snap a few chicken bones after seeing the injury one more time and laugh uproariously. They also show this fucking injury again, but it’s on a CRT television that is being recorded on a camera that isn't in 4K, so it's not that graphic. This is extremely despicable heel nonsense, by the way, in an old-school way. We don’t need heels kidnapping people and torturing them in the bowels of the arena for them to act irredeemably. Tony S. lets us know that Eric Bischoff and Fusient are transitioning into the ownership role here in WCW. HAHA NOPE. Tony and Hudson think that CEO Flair heard about the pending sale of the company and suddenly decided that he needed to consolidate power because his mortal enemy Eric Bischoff is on his way back (though they don’t mention Bischoff’s name directly). That is actually a fantastic way to justify this heel turn. I have to give WCW Creative credit for using this Bischoff deal to explain what was a nonsensical heel turn. I just wrote “I have to give WCW Creative credit” and sincerely meant it. Spooky. CEO Flair and his team of elite stars and also Road Warrior Animal open the show with an address of the crowd. Actually, Scott Steiner isn’t here nor Jeff Jarrett, but I’ll leave the opening line unedited because what the fuck is Road Warrior Animal doing in this group, with his face-painted Virgil-of-the-group ass? Our unfair CEO gives his own reasoning for turning heel: “When you surround yourself with greatness, YOU. STAY. GREAT.” Sure, that can also be true as well. My headcanon says both are true. The CEO teases an announcement of Scott Steiner’s opponent for SuperBrawl Revenge. He tosses out Goldberg’s name as a possibility, then remembers that he’s been forcibly retired. He tosses out Sid’s name as another possibility, then remembers that he’s sitting at home healing his leg. He eventually settles on Alex Wright as the number one contender, which is pretty funny. Wright dances onto the stage while Buff and Luger do terrible versions of his dance. Wright yells ACHTUNG, ACHTUNG, HIER IST ALEX WRIGHT, and before he can even enjoy his moment in the spotlight, a somber Kevin Nash interrupts him. Wright is like THIS IS MEINE ZEIT, but he’d better get geist before Nash destroys him. In fact, Nash ignores him until Wright throws a punch, at which point Nash Jackknifes Wright through the stage to a pop. Big Kev thinks that this makes him the number one contender, which is reasonable in the context of this traveshamockery of a contendership choice. The CEO disagrees, but Commissioner Cat agrees with his disagreement. I get a kick out of Luger stepping between the ropes, the Cat telling Luger to come down here so Nash can powerbomb him on top of Luger, and Luger considering it briefly before stepping back into the ring. The Cat says that he has already booked Nash/Scotty Steiner for SuperBrawl, so the CEO counters with a stipulation that to keep his place in the match, Nash has to beat Buff Bagwell tonight – and Lex Luger will be the special guest ref for the bout. The commissioner counters by noting that he’s already booked Luger for the night, and Luger’s opponent DDP appears to join the babyfaces at the top of the ramp. The Cat likes the idea that maybe whoever wins between Page and Luger should fill that special guest ref spot. Then, he crotch chops. The CEO says that if Nash or Buff interferes in that match, they’re suspended – Flair, to a surprised Buff: “I’m the CEO; I gotta be fair” – and this screams that a non-Buff heel will be interfering. Maybe this offers an opportunity for Rick Steiner’s final WCW heel turn? [Editor's note: It absolutely does not.] Mike Sanders, in his new role as CEO Flair’s lackey, lets Chavo Jr. know that while the CEO sees a lot in him, he’s also brought in two new cruiserweights that might be future competition for Chavo and advises that Chavo watch the match closely. Chavo agrees, then mentions something about a little “problem” he mentioned to CEO Flair that Sanders says is taken care of; he lets Chavo and THE WALL, BROTHER know that they’ve got a chance to solve that problem in a tag match against General Rection and Lt. Loco later tonight. TW,B is fired up to destroy his former squad mates. Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, and Midajah arrive, and the rest of CEO Flair’s Elite rushes up to them and lets Steiner know what went down while he was en route to the building. Mike – oh, excuse me, Michael - Modest is back for another cup of coffee in WCW. His opponent is a young Christopher Daniels, though the guy looks pretty much like he does now facially. He has hair, is the big difference. I love that WCW is trying to rebuild its Cruiserweight division. Daniels leapfrogs to the top rope, slips, and piledrives himself. That’s the Christopher Daniels that I know and am able to mostly tolerate! It’s at least fun to watch Modest bully Daniels, who looks fucking awful out here tonight. Modest looks solid as usual, though. After an obligabrawl, Modest tosses Daniels around inside the ring, eats a bit of offense on a Daniels comeback, and then lands a Sonya Blade-style headscissors as Daniels is on the top rope. Both men trade bombs, but it’s Modest’s cradle neckbreaker that – no, Daniels gets a boot on the ropes, then slips behind Modest as Modest tries to run with him on his shoulders and hits an Angel’s Wings for a close two count. Both men trade chops before they tumble to the floor on a Modest crossbody against the ropes, which is when Scott Steiner’s music hits and Steiner kills him some cruiserweights. Is this the middle of 1999 or something? Fuck off, WCW. Steiner does a shitty looking leg-breaker move with his lead pipe to both guys, then grabs a mic and complains about the desk calling Sid’s broken leg a freak accident (which it was). He pretends that Sid crashed into his well-built chest while diving off the top rope, and let me get what he said about Sid in staccato, *ahem*: HE FELT THE POWER, AND THAT POWER SENT HIS LEG DOWN TO THE MAT, SHATTERED HIS LEG AND HIS DREAMS OF EVER BECOMING WORLD CHAMPION AGAIN. Scotty claims that he has destroyed the legs of these two “bu-br-ju-jabronies” in the ring so that Sid has company in the hospital, lists off all the other guys he has put out of WCW, and warns Kevin Nash that he well may meet the same fate at SuperBrawl. Unhinged Scott Steiner on the mic is very good, and you know what, Daniels kinda sucks, so I don’t actually care that this cruiserweight match was ruined. This happened during the break: Steiner clubbed an EMT and knocked Daniels off the stretcher and onto the floor *sings* JUST BECAAAAAAAUSE. Kwee Wee is once again in Angry Allan mode tonight and therefore is all outta smooches for his cute valet Sharmell. He yells out another open challenge and is probably going to get his ass kicked again while Sharmell thinks, I bet I could upgrade from this chump to a real-life world champion. Yes, you could, Queen. He gets in the face of a worker whom I don’t recognize acting as a security mook and slaps him. The security guard advances and gets his ass beaten. Kwee Wee's manhood has been restored after he was annihilated on Thunder and therefore he has replenished his smooches for Sharmell, but c’mon, she can do better, dude. It's lecture time with Lance Storm, who is serious about this feud between Team Canada and the Filthy Animals. He talks about it like an actual war – “both sides have suffered casualties” – and I’m thinking that having to wrestle General Rection for month after month has turned his poor brain to Jell-O. He challenges Konnan to a match tonight, and Konnan and the Animals respond about halfway through the playing of “O Canada.” Oh no, Konnan is doing mic work. Here’s the roulette, placed after he fails to recognize Canadian contributions in pretty much every major war in the modern era. Then, he tries to do intricate mat work with Storm. If you like counter-wrestling holds moved into and out of at quarter-speed, then have I got a match for you! The seconds all brawl at ringside, including the ladies. Meanwhile, Storm shoves his way out of a sit-out facebuster, then scoots under Konnan on a rope run and grabs Konnan’s leg, rolling up and into a Canadian Maple Leaf in the center of the ring that induces a tapout from Konnan. Inoffensive stuff. Shane Douglas asks Totally Buff if CEO Flair is considering adding him to the team of elites, and Totally Buff totally says he is, but Douglas needs to take Commissioner Cat out of the picture first. General Rection is seeing ghosts, man, it’s like he was in Vietnam, or at least saw the director’s cut of Apocalypse Now, and his psyche is fucked, fellas. Gene Okerlund still works here; he asks Rection and Cpl. Cajun about recent developments in the slow death of the Misfits in Action. Rection is too out of it to talk, so Cajun talks first, and even though he’s wearing glasses, I can see his eyes flit around as he tries to stay on track with his comments. He manages to do so, basically saying that he's sorry about giving Chavo a friendly ear the past few weeks. As soon as he says that he’ll stay with Rection until the end, Rection disbands the MIA (yesssssss!) and then tries to pretend that the reveal that he’s going back to being Hugh Morrus means that shit’s going down (hahahaha NO). Imagine that Mankind decided to go back to being Cactus Jack, but then take it down about a billion notches; you now have imagined the emotional heft of Rection's declaration in this promo segment. Who shall guest star as referee in the Kevin Nash/Buff Bagwell match for later tonight? Well, there will be more drama in the thing if Lex Luger does, so I’m going to guess that he wins this match against Diamond Dallas Page that is next up. Luger walks over to the desk and intimates that he’s got his own little backup plan for this bout off-mic. Luger is physically done, but he’s so good at the little things that I think he’s fun to watch. For example, after Page bullies him and Luger has to step through the ropes for a rope break, Page pushes him and smiles at him. The look on Luger’s face is one of pure chagrin, and it makes me laugh. I’ve been underrating Lex Luger’s facial expressions for years, and that’s on me for not being observant enough. Luger is entirely overmatched early on, so after kicking out of a couple of covers at two, he goes to Plan A – Attack Page’s Balls. A back kick and an inverted atomic drop give him a bit of offensive control. Page quickly comes back, but Luger is able to stick a boot in and then land a clothesline for two. I mean, it was technically a lariat, but he barely moved his arm. He lands a lariat to stuff another Page comeback attempt, and that was an actual lariat where his arm appreciably moved. For some reason, Luger thinks that his ministrations on offense have worked, so he takes time to pose and is immediately beaten up and pulled crotch-first into the post by Page. DDP lands a few buckle bonks, then goes up and hits a diving lariat. Rather than covering, he calls for a Diamond Cutter, and we cut to a camera shot that shows Jeff Jarrett (w/KABONGing guee-tar) walking down the ramp. Ah, Plan B - KABONG is Jeff Jarrett's favorite backup plan, and actually is also his primary plan half the time in these matches. Slick Johnson takes a ref bump off of, get this, Diamond’s taunt. I am not fucking kidding about this. Page goes BANG and moves his arms backward, and Slick has to position himself to take an elbow to the solar plexus. You know what happens next – KABONG, Torture Rack, match over. WCW and shitty ref bumps: Name a more iconic duo. Wait, okay, hold on. Name a WCW duo that is third-most iconic. The Mamalukes are back together after having basically been destroyed in their feud with Reno for some reason. No one cares about any of these guys, of course, but Vito got over as a babyface with the crowd and probably needed to win that feud. Shawn Stasiak and Mark Jindrak are their opponents tonight. For a match mostly worked by guys who I don’t think very much of at all, this is pretty fun. Vito and Johnny the Bull quick-tag and double-team their way through a fun little opening shine segment. Jindrak is out here doing Asai moonsaults in the heel control segment, and look at this, Stasiak and Jindrak hit a dual side slam/kip-up/elbowdrop combo that I really like for a cocky heel team. What I’m saying is that this match is straight up good, and I’m somewhat surprised at this. Vito and Jindrak both try arm drags at the same time, which takes them both to the mat and leads to the hot tag. Vito disposes of Stasiak with a lariat that sends Stasiak spilling to the floor – good! Vito talks to the ref and causes him to miss Stasiak saving Jindrak with a diving fist to the back of Johnny the Bull’s head – bad! The finish is awful and almost spoils the whole thing despite the good work in the match itself. Vito pins Stasiak as Jindrak pins the Bull. OK, so the ref is unsure of who is legal, but remember that it’s Jindrak and the Bull after the hot tag. Palumbo and O’Haire run to the ring, get on the apron, and try to tell the ref that yes, it’s Jindrak who is legal. They grab him while making their case. He, uh, disqualifies Stasiak and Jindrak because not they, but a couple of guys they know, grabbed him and shook him a bit. That is nonsensical. I want to suggest this match as worth watching, and I will because I genuinely enjoyed it and would watch it again on YouTube, but that finish is dreadful. Some ads that would normally play here don’t, and we’re back to the Thrillers arguing with one another in a backstage hallway while Mike Sanders laments the lack of teamwork within the group. CEO Flair walks up to Sanders and peels him away; he suggests that Sanders step back from the argument and figure out how to out-think them to bring them back in line. Put the United States Championship on the Cat! Then, let him transition it along to Rick Steiner if you must. I’d prefer transitioning it to a heel who was actually hot, but I’m not sure they have any at that U.S. title level right now. Blah blah DEEP FRIED HICKS blah blah I LIKE RIC FLAIR NOW blah blah COMMISSIONER THE CAT, GET YER HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA FRANCHISED. The Cat, joined by Ms. Jones, slaps hands on the way to the ring before responding to Douglas. The Cat insults a fan, books Jeff Jarrett against DDP at SuperBrawl, and apparently seems to think that he’s going to wrestle Douglas for the U.S. Championship. CEO Ric Flair pops up on the TurnerTron and is like LOLOL NAH, THIS MATCH IS FOR YOUR COMMISSIONERSHIP AND ALSO IT'S NO DQ, STUPID. Douglas and the Cat proceed to have a watchable enough match, mostly because it’s short. I like that the Cat uses all the buckles in the corner for his buckle bonks spot. Mike Sanders tries to interfere; it goes poorly for him. Sean O’Haire tries to interfere, and as one of the two competent Thrillers, he actually lands a kick on the Cat. However, Rick Steiner stops Douglas from using his chain and gives the Cat space to drill Douglas with a Feliner for three. The sweetening on this audio is entirely incommensurate with the shorts of the crowd. Rick Steiner tries to dance along with the Cat after the match, and it is fantastic. Can Chavo Guerrero Jr. and THE WALL, BROTHER put Hugh Morrus and Lash LeRoux down for good? Hell, I’m rootin’ for ‘em! TW, B works hard in there, but really, everyone does. Morrus himself has probably had the best run of matches in his life over the last month, for whatever that amounts to, and I’d say that it’s in large part because he tries his ass off in there every night. I assume a lot of the shitty ways he acted as a trainer at the WWE Performance Center is because he really did bust his ass every night and never got over because no matter how hard he tried, he’d never be anything more than a nondescript midcarder. I bet watching a steady stream of charismatic athletes in great shape show up in Orlando and immediately be better at everything than he was just because they had raw talent without much development was rough. Not to play pop psychologist on the internet, but I’m going to play pop psychologist on the internet: I bet that had him all fucked up mentally. Chavo Jr. is so good at making blown spots come off okay. In this particular example, he and Lash can’t execute what looks like a backbreaker spot, but Chavo smoothly moves to the next spot. Anyway, Morrus is over-emotional and goes at TW,B outside the ring; Chavo is left alone with Lash and rolls him up for three. Morrus gets a measure of revenge after the match by pressing Chavo onto TW,B after the match, but it’s another L for Brigadier General Hughton DeMott Morrus-Rection VI, and I, for one, am getting a huge kick out of that. Lex Luger enters the ring to referee the match between Buff Bagwell and Kevin Nash while the fellas on commentary point out that Goldberg didn’t ask to have to recreate his original winning streak while also not stating Vince Russo’s name. According to the deep dive on the WCW sale done by the fellas over at Between the Sheets, Eric Bischoff was actually in charge from around Sin to the final Nitro, so if that’s true, I’m assuming that Vince Russo is persona non grata for that reason, even down to mentioning his name. Lex Luger promises to be fair (lies) and to get physically involved to make sure that he calls it as he sees it (true). Kevin Nash enters the ring to start the final segment of the night, and Buff Bagwell misreads the situation. Nash isn’t making stupid jokes, but Buff wants to pose and giggle, which would be fine if Nash were inclined to pose-offs. As it is, he’s pissed at Buff for costing him the tag titles and generally being a pest, so he knees Buff as Buff is mid-pose. This is fine as a Nitro Special main event, with Luger being the opposite of even-handed, which is the only way that Buff stays in the match at all. Luger’s count on a Nash pinfall attempt is probably a five- or six-second two-count, which is pretty good heel nonsense. Strangely, though, when Nash comes after him and yanks him a bit, he doesn’t DQ him; instead, he mule kicks him in the nuts. Buff gets a chair, and Luger takes it away from him, but holds it in front of Nash’s face while yelling NO CHAIRS so that Buff can dropkick it into his face. Lex tries to get Nash into place for a Blockbuster, but Nash moves, and Buff misses. Nash lands a Jackknife on Buff and pulls a Steve Austin by using an unconscious Luger’s hand to make the pinfall. The babyfaces from last week head back out here this week to brawl after the match is over. This was an illogical finish – why would CEO Flair let this stand? Why didn’t Luger DQ Nash when he had the chance – but the wrestling itself was perfectly cromulent. This was the weakest Nitro probably since December of 2000, but it was watchable enough and advanced storylines, so I have no major complaints here. I’m looking forward to SuperBrawl, actually. The card is shaping up nicely so far. 2.25 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

This was one of the more sensible signs that made it into a video - off-topic, but not some sort of hating-ass sign about inferior games and characters. I'll actually give you an example of a sign that I agreed with, but didn't like at all, and a sign that I thought was a clever way to mix video games and the actual wrestling show the fan was at. I'm a ten-pin and Canadian five-pin bowler and a conoisseur of bowling vidya games. Some guy had a sign in one of these that said Nestor's Funky Bowling > Animaniacs Ten Pin Alley. This is entirely true - and I'm one of probably nine people to own Nestor's Funky Bowling for the Virtual Boy (which had TWO bowling games in its American release lineup of, like fourteen games). Ten Pin Alley has terrible pin physics even for its day, but that's not the point. The point is that it's a deep-pull wink and nod about how dumb these comparison signs trying to catch Maffew's attention are while also being a dumb comparison sign that is trying to catch Maffew's attention. Annoying. On the other hand, someone made a replica of the Sting fan sign in WCW/nWo Revenge. That was neat, especially considering that Sting was actually on AEW's roster! More wrestling signs that call out wrestling games in a relevant way, please!

Thunder Interlude – show number one hundred and forty-four – 17 January 2001 "The WCW Gang is simply better off wrestling longer television matches" WCW has lately dropped the pre-intro stuff they have been doing off and on for the past couple of years…We go right into the THUNDERRRRRRRR intro… Fort Wayne appears to be hot for even more pro wrestling… Commissioner Cat (w/the lovely Ms. Jones) has a few decrees to make…He declares himself the People’s Champion Commissioner…I’ve mentioned this before, but I love that the Cat’s story as a character is that he was an unserious scumbag heel until the point at which Russo and Bischoff put him into power, which is when the responsibilities of his job gradually turned him babyface…It’s like how some people are completely unserious adults until they become parents when suddenly, they lock in and seem like totally different people…That makes a nice contrast with Mike Sanders, who was immediately corrupted even further by gaining power…This is one of the low-key best character progressions that WCW has managed to pull off during the Nitro Era, right up there with turning Disco from a dancing comedy heel goof into a fiery fightin’ babyface in late ‘97/early ‘98… Our fair commissioner is sickened by Totally Buff, who he doesn’t mention by name for a large chunk of his rant against them, so Tenay has to clarify for the viewers on commentary…The commish threatens to use the violence of his feet and fists along with the violence of authoritarian power to bring these fellas to heel…Totally Buff don’t like the sound of this, and they walk out onto the ramp to say so…The Cat rudely indicates that he does not want to hear it, but Luger says that they only take orders from the WCW President, though Flair is now the CEO, not the President of WCW…He held the title of prez back in ’99…Easy mistake to make, though, considering WCW's love of confusing, overlapping authority figures…Totally Buff advances on the Cat, who is a fiery fightin’ babyface ready to take them on by himself, but KroniK rushes the ring and sends Totally Buff packing…The Cat books them against KroniK before they make a complete escape…The Cat then tries to teach Bryan Clark to cut a rug, but Clark is absolutely not trying any of that stuff while the cameras are rolling… As Kwee Wee (w/Paisley) enters the ring, I find out that Meng had one more WCW match before he signed a contract with the WWF…He’s defending the WCW Hardcore Championship against Bam Bam Bigelow in its swan song later tonight…Meanwhile, Kwee Wee is not going to give Paisley her usual pre-match peck on the lips because he's so focused that he is Angry Allan tonight…He yells about the CEO not inviting him to be part of the WCW Elite…He says that he’ll beat up anyone in the back to show how bad he is… Rick Steiner answers that challenge, chuckling about how he's going to kill this dude…So, Ricky Steiner’s in his “carelessly kill dudes until they all contemplate beating the shit out of him on the final Nitro” mode…Ricky Steiner only semi-carelessly kills Kwee Wee on this night…I am looking forward to Steiner semi-carelessly killing Shane Douglas soon, I have to be honest…Woooooof, Steiner barely gets Kwee Wee over on a belly-to-belly…He almost spiked him…Steiner pretends that he’s offended that anyone would want to join that mean ol’ CEO Ric Flair’s team, but he’s obviously just mad that a pink-wearing fashion designer like Kwee Wee would try to be on the same team as a bunch of *cough* REAL MEN…Ricky hits a bulldog from the top to end the match and follows up by also hitting his shitty catchphrase after the match, the latter of which is somehow over as a chant-along… Alright, let’s pack Meng and the WCW Hardcore Championship off for realsies and truesies this time around…Bam Bam Bigelow walks out expecting to win the title, but I suspect that he’s in the middle of a losing streak that will turn him babyface again…Bammer hurts his forearm trying to hit this Oceanic spectacle of cranial strength in the head…He tries a chair shot next…That doesn’t work…Here we are with some smashy and a bit of trashy…They spill across the commentary table…I have no idea why Meng is taking so many unprotected chair shots to the dome… Mostly, Bigelow does logical, if plodding, work on Meng’s knee to try and keep him down…It’s definitely different from the typical hardcore match…I appreciate that these fellas are trying something a bit different for this type of bout…Bigelow thinks he’s done enough work to keep Meng from popping up and lands a DDT, but Meng isn’t a mere mortal…He pops up and tries a TDG…Bammer blocks it, so Meng goes low while Bigelow is going high and scoop slams Bammer…He then goes up and hits a meaty frog splash for three…Yeah, that finish was actually good enough to tip this over into Charming Uniquity territory…I love that the last hardcore title bout was a weird little deviation from the norm… Hype video: I’d have thought they had dropped this Glacier/Norman Smiley angle even earlier than I know that they actually dropped it had this Glacier hype video not shown just now…They haven’t mentioned that angle on major television for a couple of weeks, now…Norm is so excited about Glacier’s return in the back…A WCW tech gives Norm a folder with a Glacier promo photo in it, signed with a note from Glacier that Norm can call on him anytime he needs him…This gives Smiley a newfound confidence… Mike Awesome is upset that his hair looks reasonably decent now…He’s more upset that the Animals forced him to get a haircut than he is at the haircut itself…Fair enough!... CEO Flair and a few skeezers who probably all share the same bottle of Dom gainfully employed ladies get out of a limo, along with Scott Steiner and Midajah…They make their way into the arena in a triumphant mood… These Jeff Jarrett t-shirts need to move, dammit, so they’ve put together a little Jarrett video package for Tony S. to pitch over the top of… I love that Norman Smiley got over as a midcard heel and then a midcard babyface, and all WCW Creative did in response was to put the guy into dumb angle after dumb angle…Screamin’ hardcore champ…Unemployed backyarder and less memorable buddy of Ralphus…Now he’s doing a thing where he has no faith in himself without Glacier’s support…And he’s going to be jobbing to Da/oR…One o’ them Harris Bros. is in a neck brace to sell a neck injury from Meng’s TDG a week or so ago…Norm walks Da/oR through a watchable match…It’s a really slow affair, though…Da/oR wanders around outside the ring when he can’t get control, and Ra/oD catches Norm’s attention so that he brother can jump the guy… There’s an obligabrawl, and it’s just a bit much, man…Let’s move this along…Back in the ring, Norm hits a trio of clotheslines and teaes a Wiggle…He lands a swinging slamand then teases a Wiggle before dropkicking Da/oR in the ass…That sends Da/oR outside the ring, and he switches places (and neck collars) with Ra/oD…Ra/oD hops in the ring and hits a quick side suplex for three…Fire the Harris Bros. and cut a little more fat before you sell, Turner… Totally Buff and KroniK tangle in the next segment…Tony S. teases General Rection vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. for later…I’m actually interested in a match involving General Hughton Morrus-Rection IV…I can’t believe it…I get a kick out of Luger and Buff hiding behind the fellas at the desk, but trying to play it off like they’re not hiding at all…Luger massages Tony S.’s shoulders and then pats him on the back…Then, when deciding who will start the match, Buff butters up Luger: I THINK YOU SHOULD GO FIRST, YOU’RE BIG **poses like Luger often does**…Luger's response is to gladhand Buff, hug the guy, and as soon as he turns around, roll his eyes…HAHAHAHAHAHA…I do remember liking Totally Buff, and it quickly has become apparent why I felt that way (and still do)… Of course, this match has to actually enter the ring at some point, but it’s also perfectly cromulent…The matchups tonight haven’t pitted the top tier of WCW’s workers against one another, but they haven’t been all that bad…And as much as I complained about how long these matches are, I do think that’s ultimately better than putting on a bunch of three-minute specials like they did throughout the year of 2000…I mean, you’re probably not too excited about Totally Buff having a heel control segment, sure, and you’d be right not to get too excited about it…But it's fine, you know?...Adams stays in FIP jail for quite a while, and that’s even though he manage to hit a double DDT and start a small comeback that gets stuffed by a Luger metal forearm… Eventually, Clark gets a hot tag, but as he sets up for a Meltdown, Jeff Jarrett jogs to the ring and KABONGs Clark…Slick Johnson is too focused on Adams and Luger going at it to notice it, so he simply turns around and counts three as Buff covers Clark…Jarrett and Totally Buff prepare to celebrate, but Diamond Dallas Page pops into the ring and throws punches at all three men…The heels bail and rejoin CEO Ric Flair at the top of the ramp…The CEO is not a fan of Page’s antics, and he books Page against Jeff Jarrett in tonight’s Thunder main event… Team Canada is, as usual, somewhat dour tonight…Major Gunns is pretty perky most of the time, and sometimes Elix Skipper has bursts of joy, but Awesome and Storm are habitual bummers…Storm declares that the Animals have won the most recent battle in their war with Team Canada, but (as Stevie Ray might say if he were here, which he is not, unfortunately) it’s still on like neckbones…The Animals come to the ring…Rey’s wearing a shirt with the initials of the Filthy Animals on it in that Ruff Ryders font style…You know the one if you were into late ‘90s/early aughts rap… Billy Kidman, with wrapped ribs, wrestles Mike Awesome in tonight’s bout…They have a decent big man vs. little man bout…Kidman actually drops a running SSP off the apron (!!) in his early shine segment…That’s the first time he’s dropped an SSP of any type on television in a long time...Back in the ring, Awesome targets the ribs, using his power and size advantage to attack them…Awesome tosses Kidman out to his compatriots at ringside, and Storm takes the chance to send him into the railing…Awesome soon follows and does his own damage, including a chair shot to the ribs outside the ring that the ref sees, and, uh, is that not a DQ?...I guess we’re back to an “if it happens outside the ring, it’s not illegal enough to disqualify someone for” deal like WCW did in 1998?...I wish that when CEO Ric Flair was still a babyface, he had set forth that we were reverting to an older, stricter way of refereeing matches… Awesome looks ascendant, but he takes too long to drop a top-rope splash…Kidman moves, then makes a spirited comeback in which he scores a series of punches and a sunset flip for a two count…Awesome is able to use Kidman’s momentum against him to land a Hot Shot into the buckles, then lands a diving lariat from the top for two…Awesome looks for an Awesome Bomb, but Kidman slides out of it and uses his position to hook Awesome for a rebound bulldog…It only gets two…Kidman gets caught trying a whip to the corner, but when Awesome reels him in for another Awesome Bomb, Kidman flips the calendar back to late 1998 and turns it into a facebuster, then immediately goes up top for an SSP…Alas, Awesome catches him and clubs him into a seated position…He hoists him from there into an Awesome Bomb for three…That was a very good television match!...Elix gives Awesome some scissors…The Animals chase them off…Konnan gets the scissors and teases that he’s going to cut Gunns’s hair, but Team Canada and ref Scott James stop him…This is the good thing about longer matches across the board…When two solid workers get in there, they’ll have something worth watching more often than not, rather than rushing through everything and leaving me feeling unfulfilled… It's Chavo Jr.!...I’m looking forward to watching him be a grizzled vet who just can’t keep up with the nutty, devil-may-care types in the Temple when I do my Lucha Underground watch…I should want General Rection to win this thing tonight based on the storyline, but considering the performers themselves, I obviously want Chavo to kick the shit out of this goof…Chavo Jr. immediately bails and considers his options, taunting this big goof all the time…Chavo finally gets the ring, eats a stiff back elbow, and scrambles back outside again… Chavo realizes that he’s got to get on his bike, but Rection catches his boot to the midsection after chasing Chavo down and then proceeds to beat the crap out of him…Chavo simply cannot figure out how to deal with the size and weight advantage of his opponent…But there’s one thing Chavo has over Rection, and that’s brains…Let’s see if Chavo can come up with a plan that would make his Uncle Eddy proud…Chavo lands a desperation DDT out of a bearhug for a close two count…Since Rection’s brain, besides being less impressive than Chavo’s, has also been rattled quite a lot recently, that DDT gives Chavo an opening to work Rection over…The cruiserweight champ is able to land a basement dropkick and then start working over Rection’s left knee… If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying, right?...Chavo tries very hard by using the ropes as leverage on a kneelock…Mickey Jay catches him and makes him give up the hold, but Chavo goes right back to work…That work, which is a series of chops, just wakes up the concussed Rection…Rection hits a few chops of his own and pursues Chavo into the corner…Chavo drops down and grabs Rection’s tights, then dumps him head first into the buckles…Chavo goes back to the knee (and occasionally the head) while Rection, when he’s got momentum, uses his power advantage to toss Chavo around and throw fists…Chavo Jr. might be lugging this guy to the best match he’s had on WCW television… Rection lands a sit-out powerbomb and looks for a No Laughing Matter…A-WALL ostensibly comes out here to cheer Rection on, but actually comes out here to chokeslam Rection off the ropes…Chavo gets the cover for three…Cpl. Cajun was the guy who teased a turn the most, so of course, THE WALL, BROTHER is the one to turn first…Despite this, I very much liked this match…It also helps that I am into the storyline…I don’t remember TW,B being Chavo Jr.’s heavy, but that also sounds interesting…I dig it, is what I’m saying!... After what would normally have been a series of ads, TW,B and Chavo Jr. talk with Scott Hudson in the back…TW,B is basically like, This dude Chavo is a baller, and Rection is kind of a doofus…But he says it worse than that…They should have finally popped the WCW Hardcore Championship on TW,B, Meng leaving for the WWF as the champion be damned… This week in stuff the morons at the WWE Network cut from this episode of Thunder: Dissension is teased as Cpl. Cajun and THE WALL, BROTHER do not see eye-to-eye with General Rection or even refer to General Rection by that name or title, opting to just call this doofus "Hugh"…One o’ them Harris Bros. sells the neck injury in an interview with hapless Scott Hudson that was sequentially before the match with Norman Smiley…I guess that WCW has stopped using both Pam Paulshock and Gene Okerlund at this point, possibly...I know for sure that Paulshock is gone at the very end of 2000, but I don’t know for how long Okerlund hangs on…Chavo Jr. talks to Scott Hudson before his match with the General and says that he attacked Rection to impress CEO Flair…Oh wow, I just realized that if the Fusient deal had closed, we were headed for yet another Bischoff/Flair feud with babyface Bischoff bringing back the deposed babyfaces to take out heel CEO Flair’s Elite…YUCK…Not as bad as what we got with the Invasion storyline, but at least that storyline did give us Austin/Angle, so it’s probably a (theoretical) wash…There wasn’t as much missing from this episode as from the past bunch of Thunders… Jeff Jarrett insists on talking before his match with DDP…It’s not great!...Jarrett does note that he’s once again on the side with all the devious heels who are happy to use numbers and nefarious plans to beat up the dopey fiery babyface…Here comes our dopey fiery babyface now!...By the time they hook up, there are only eight minutes of time left in this recording…They do my least favorite transition early on, but at least I can justify it that Jarrett was simply too fresh to toss in the ring before following after him under the bottom rope…These fellas sprint…They’re trading two counts almost immediately…There are also two standing ten-counts in here…They packed like twenty minutes of match into eight minutes…This main event is actually a great example of why I’ll live with the occasional aimless or boring longer match…A lot of these shorter matches are worked as sprints, but endless sprints are not fun!... So, Jarrett locks on a sleeper, but Page works his way out of it only to find himself locked back into it when Jarrett bounces off the ropes…Page works his way up, slings Jarrett into the ropes again, and this time locks Jarrett in a sleeper, but he immediately plummets downward, landing a sleeper drop that sparks what I’m pretty sure is a third standing ten-count from the ref…Page covers at Billy Silverman’s count of eight, but he only gets two…Page gets two more on a uranage, then goes up top and lands a diving lariat…Rather than going for the cover, he signals for a Diamond Cutter…Jarrett shoves him away but he strikes back with a lariat…That’s when CEO Flair’s Elite rush the ring and attack Page, sparking a disqualification…Kevin Nash, KroniK, and the Cat are soon in to brawl with the heels and even up the numbers…Tony S. as the show fades to black, overdramatically: THEY WON’T STOP UNTIL SOMEONE DIES…That call was absurd... It's too bad that War Games isn’t until Fall Brawl 2001 and that Fall Brawl 2001 doesn’t exist because I could absolutely go for a traditional War Games match between these groups…Ah, well, at least we got another good show…WOOOO…

Went online and watched Botchamania for the first time in a very long time - first all the old ones that are up on YouTube, and second, the newer ones. Three observations: 1. We need to retire table spots in which someone dives onto someone else who is laying prone on the table. The risk-to-meaningful-move ratio is completely out of whack. Kind of like ladder matches need to go because these dangerous ladder bumps mean nothing. 2. A lot of botches come from guys not doing the one thing they're expected to do outside the ring on their spots, and that's position themselves to catch a fucking dive. 3. AEW fans have terrible opinions on video games (generally speaking, not the AEW fans who post here). EDIT 4. And a bunch of the talking stuff in the videos doesn't constitute a botch. If Charlotte Flair, while heeling, says that no one has ever made her tap out, she's just being a lying (or extremely selective in her memory) heel; she's not making a mistake. Maffew can be a funny guy, and I appreciate his creativity with these videos, but sometimes I wonder if he actually gets the basics of pro wrestling.

Luger's fumblemouth only makes some of his promos funnier. He'd gotten more fumblemouthed over the years, which of course culminated in the YOUR T-SHIRTS ARE TOO TIGHT, BILLY promo that is an absolute classic.

Show #273 – 15 January 2001 "The one that confirms it; WCW did indeed have something positive going in early 2001" This feeling that I feel; what is it? After I finished reviewing Sin, I was actually looking forward to seeing what would happen next in multiple WCW storylines. Could it be? Do I actually look forward to typing LET’S NITROOOOOOOOO with a bit of anticipation now? Recap: Sin had some shocking events, both shoot and scripted. Goldberg, Meng, and Sid are out; Road Warrior Animal is back in. Yeesh, that’s a terrible trade for WCW programming. Exclusive footage: After Sin goes off the air, Road Warrior Animal celebrates with Totally Buff, the heel remnants of nWo 2000, and CEO Ric Flair. It's a well-earned celebration considering that they have successfully destroyed their opps in two matches’ worth of show time. The crowd is very quiet, mostly because they probably are pissed that they’re not getting Goldberg when they acquired tickets at a point where they probably expected to see him! Unnecessary fucking replay from multiple angles and at multiple speeds: They show Sid fracturing his leg again, but I sure as fuck didn’t look at the screen! You can tell that CEO Ric Flair has gone fully evil because he’s taken an idea that Vince Russo used on him by bringing out a casket and having a funeral for Goldberg’s career. They’ve got Goldberg’s visage on the screen with a birth and death date: 9/22/97 – 1/14/01. That doesn’t quite match up with the birth and death date of the Nitro Era of course, but it’s close enough that there is a bummer-ass parallel here, folks. Buff’s fake-ass sobbing over the coffin is hilarious, as is Luger pretending to comfort him. Luger actually pulls Buff away from the coffin as Buff tries to hang onto it, HAHAHAHA. By the way, inside the coffin are a literal spear and jackhammer as well as a copy of Goldberg’s book. These two scumbags are too much, man. As Luger eulogizes Goldberg’s career, here are some signs on the hard cam sign behind him: GOLDBERG WAS ROBBED; WHERE’S STING?; WHERE THE HELL IS THE ROCK?!; WWF: TNN’S POP, WCW: TNT’S FLOP. I mean, next week’s Nitro is getting pushed to Tuesday so that TNT can show The Pretender 2001 in its normal spot on Monday, so that last sign basically nailed how AOL Amalgamated’s TV division feels about things. Is that a Jamie Kellner family member waving that particular sign around? If there’s one thing kinda unfortunate about Sin that I haven’t mentioned, it’s that the Cat was the only unabashed babyface to win a match on that show (the Jung Dragons had not been established as faces until they were attacked after they won their match). I get that it’s meant to set up the CEO’s power stable, but it feels like this Fort Wayne crowd is already sort of beaten down, and the funeral, while entertaining to me, has sapped this crowd of its energy. After Totally Buff gets done pretending to be sad about Goldberg being cooked, they ask if anyone else has anything to share about Goldberg. Jeff Jarrett certainly does! Mostly, he wants to talk about how Goldberg never beat him. Really? Not even in 1997? I’m going to check this later. Also, he calls the guy a SLAPNUTS one final time, which of course he would. The crowd, which was booing these heels, halfway pops when Luger introduces Scott Steiner and HIS FREAK OF THE WEEK, HIS FAVORITE FREAK, MIDAJAH. Fantastic, Luger. I am bummed that Steiner didn’t retire Goldberg straight up, but okay. Steiner crows about putting Sid out of wrestling right along with Sting and Booker T. before giving his thoughts on Goldberg. In fact, the first thing he says is this: BILL GOLDBERG, AT FALL BRAWL, I MAY NOT HAVE HURT YOU, BUT I GAVE YOU THE WORST DEFEAT OF YOUR CAREER. What? Anyway, after telling Goldberg that he wasn’t “man enough to stay on top” (heh heh heh) and hocking a loogie into the coffin, Goldberg’s music plays! Goldberg’s locker room door opens! The crowd pops! And after CEO Ric Flair and Road Warrior Animal pop their heads out, the crowd’s pop dies down. But it’s okay! Flair is out here to heel it up – oops, no, wait, the crowd echoes his WOOOOOO. He calls a fan in the crowd FAT BOY, so that works to – oops, my bad, the crowd chuckles and one guy applauds appreciatively. He tells another fan that he or maybe Steiner might fuck his wife, which is so over the line that – oops, everyone in the crowd laughs. WCW and turning people heel who everyone wants to cheer: Name a more iconic couple. Oops, WCW and shitty finishes. OK, name another more iconic couple. CEO Flair is basically like, We run this bitch now, we’re the best, hey ladies, feel free to daydream about getting some dick from any or all of us. The CEO plans to interview everyone else in the back tonight to see what they produce in their jobs and to let the losers and chumps go as a cost-cutting measure. Huh, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Kevin Nash, who is no fan of Bill Goldberg and who should be really into joining this heel group, shouldn’t he, interrupts the proceedings. The crowd pops for a babyface finally showing up to cut into this heel celebration. Nash lets Flair know that he’s less “Big Sexy” and more “Big Beat the Shit Out Of Scott Steiner and Also Ric Flair Guy” and challenges Steiner to a title match tonight. Flair warns Nash that he seems to be talking big for someone who is all by his lonesome, so Nash introduces a couple of buddies to back him up: DDP, for one, and Rick Steiner for two. OK, hold on, wait up just one second. Why would anyone who had seen any of the television in the last eighteen months not assume that Rick is going to backstab Nash? Nash wants his title match; CEO Flair doesn’t want to give it to him. Alas, he forgot that in his hatred for Mike Sanders, he willingly let a cocky babyface seize the commissionership back. I do actually like the storyline beat that Sanders is so fucking annoying that Flair, who had dotted every other “i” and crossed every other “t” to make sure that he was consolidating power at Sin, decided to let Sanders dangle instead of bringing him into the fold and having a commissioner who would work with him instead of push back against him. I mean, Sanders is a supreme brown noser who loves proximity to power almost as much as he loves wielding power himself! Socially climbing his way up the Russo regime was how he got into that commissionership in the first place! This was a mistake by CEO Flair, though an understandable one because Sanders really is an unlikeable dick. The Cat and Ms. Jones make it out here, as I was alluding to earlier, and the Cat books the match against Flair’s wishes. This was twenty-plus minutes of talking across two segments that I actually enjoyed…and on WCW programming, no less. This has to go on a good list just for that. After a ghost ad break, CEO Flair asks Crowbar and Daffney if they’re on board with him and his crew. Crowbar wants to be a fence-sitter, but the CEO demands that Crowbar make the right decision before walking away. Our first match pits Chavo Guerrero Jr. against the aforementioned Crowbar (w/Daffney, whose shirt declares her to be a hellion. Wait, why is Crowbar lecturing Daffney in the aisle? I don’t like that. Tony S. mentions that Meng is the hardcore champion, which should be the last time that belt is mentioned on WCW television, or at least the last time it is mentioned on Nitro. Chavo and Crowbar wrestle for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship tonight; they have a solid TV match. Chavo outwrestles Crowbar to start and dives onto him from the top rope. Crowbar is frustrated, but he’s able to channel that frustration into a slingshot splash/Asai moonsault combo that gets two. Crowbar chops Chavo in the corner, which is a mistake, as Chavo is a chopping machine (he also has a nice European uppercut. Chavo tries to follow up with a whip, but Crowbar reverses it and yanks Chavo into a DVD (no VR) for two. Crowbar hoists Chavo into a sitting position up top, but Chavo holds the ropes when Crowbar tries a Super Frankensteiner. Crowbar stumbles to his feet and wanders toward the corner, where Chavo tries a tornado DDT that gets blocked; shortly after, Chavo tries a leaping DDT from the top that Crowbar turns into a Northern Lights with a bridge for two. There’s a nasty spot here where Crowbar backdrops a charging Chavo, but Chavo doesn’t make it over the ropes, lands on the top rope in fact, and then violently falls to the mat. Crowbar knocks Chavo to the floor, then follows with a running splash from the apron. After tossing Chavo inside, Crowbar goes up to the top rope to finish it…but man, he’s addicted to chairs after months of hardcore wrestling, so he gets down, grabs a chair, raises it to cheers, sets it up outside the ring, and is immediately facebustered into it by Chavo, who has had plenty of time to recover in the meantime. One brainbuster back in the ring later, and Chavo completes another defense of his gold. Forget solid, that was genuinely good. Totally Buff pitches Bam Bam Bigelow on membership in their elite group, and Bigelow’s proud smile as they gas him up is hilarious. He looks genuinely appreciative of their superlatives toward him. Bammer readily agrees to join them. Two Count is back together for a tag match against Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman (w/Tygress), and this match immediately pops off. All four guys go at it, obviously working at pace and landing counter after counter. Some of their stuff isn’t hit entirely smoothly, but most of it is well-worked. I’m not even going to try and capture every spot here, which should give you an idea of the pacing. Even the camera has a hard time keeping up with all the spots at one point. Moore lands a plancha to Kidman outside the ring and lands on his feet. These fellas all dive on one another. After all my complaints about not running more Tornado Tags, I’m going to be the typical unpleasable wrestling fan and say that I sort of wish this was worked more conventionally, though I guess since both of these teams are babyfaces, the heat section wouldn’t be as effective. Kidman hits Helms with a sweet top rope rana, but Helms scores a Sugar Smack and sets Kidman up for a Vertebreaker. Rey breaks that up with a fist to the solar plexus; Kidman follows up by twisting Helms into Kid Krusher position and executing it for three. That hits a good list just for being an incredibly fun video game sprint. I like empty calories sometimes, too. By the way, Rey and Kidman are still very over as a babyface tag team. Mike Awesome jogs down, followed by the rest of Team Canada, who are still interested in continuing their feud with the Animals even though they beat them at Sin. Team Canada lays them out before security backs them off; Storm gets a mic and challenges Kidman to a hair-vs.-hair match on behalf of his faux-Canadian compatriot Awesome. Well, since Mike Awesome ends this WCW with short hair, I’m guessing that Kidman goes two-for-two in hair matches in his WCW career. KroniK congratulates the Cat on winning the commissionership back and asks him nicely for a tag title shot at O’Haire and Palumbo, and the Cat gladly grants it (though oddly, he’s worried about having to pay them for, um, working a tag title match). They joke with one another before the Cat leaves. Team Canada isolates and jumps Kidman in the back. CEO Flair tries to lure Chavo Jr. onto his side with solid persuasive arguments and a fruit platter. Chavo is unsure – what he’s doing now as a lone wolf is working for him – but the CEO says that he used to slam back tequila with Chavo Sr. when they were working together back in the day, and he suggests that Chavo slam back some tequila himself and sleep on his decision. Wow, these two are all buddy-buddy. On the other hand, Mike Sanders is next into the interview room, and he’s immediately copping pleas and apologizing to CEO Flair for acting like a complete dickhead toward him. The CEO actually calls it all water under the bridge and in fact says he’d like to coach Sanders up to be the Next Dirtiest Player in the Game. Sanders is thrilled to be clinging like a barnacle, or like Virgil, to the next powerful person who is asserting that power. He mentions that the Cat booked KroniK against his guys in a tag title match, and the CEO assures him that things will work out okay. Totally Buff pitches General Rection for some reason; Luger mentions that Rection has been granted a rematch for the United States title tonight. Rection is baffled by their aggressive pitch, which Totally Buff takes as awed speechlessness. KroniK walks to the ring for their tag title match. Let’s see if or how CEO Flair spoils things. As Palumbo and O’Haire walk to the ring, I wonder if they are the final WCW tag champions. Palumbo and Adams throw sweet punches at one another before Palumbo shoulderblocks Adams to the mat. That was pretty rad, honestly. Palumbo runs the ropes, but Adams sidesteps him and tosses him to the floor; the disoriented Palumbo wanders into range of Bryan Clark, who runs the apron and hits a rolling senton that clears the cameraperson out. When Palumbo makes it back into the ring he wisely tags out; Adams throws a few hands, but he shoots Adams to the ropes and O’Haire does his spot where he runs up them and backflips over the charging Adams before following up with a jumping heel kick. Hey, this is also a pretty fun little match, I’m thinking, as Adams regains control with a full nelson slam that only gets two because Palumbo breaks the pinfall attempt up with a boot. Clark tags in and dominates O’Haire, who hits a throat thrust and dizzily stumbles over to Palumbo for a much-needed tag. This match seems to indicate that Palumbo and O’Haire are indeed threats, but KroniK’s experience advantage has them headed for victory; as I type that, Palumbo pops in and scores a Jungle Kick on Clark after a bit of team misdirection. This puts Clark in peril, but he survives a beating and makes a hot tag to Adams. Adams lands a pretty sweet dropkick where he got way the hell off the ground in the midst of that attack; Clark recovers and helps Adams score a High Times, but Palumbo snakes his way back into the ring and stops the count. That key save gives Jindrak and Stasiak enough time to walk down the ramp; Adams is distracted at their arrival, and Palumbo catches him with a Jungle Kick. He and Adams struggle over a top rope move as two things happen: 1) Jindrak and Stasiak jump Adams outside the ring, which should be a DQ, but isn’t, and 2) O’Haire goes up top in the opposite corner. He waits for Adams to win the struggle and hit a superplex, then immediately drops a Seanton Bomb on Adams that we miss because the production truck is on drugs and cuts frantically away from that so we can see Stasiak and Jindrak throwing soupbones. Palumbo covers for three, and you know what? That was another quality TV match. Did someone in charge suddenly remember that Nitro is WCW’s flagship television show and should therefore have multiple good matches on it each week? WCW’s trainer tells Billy Kidman that he can’t be cleared to wrestle Mike Awesome tonight; Kidman and the rest of the Animals chatter at one another. The Cat and Ms. Jones wander up and ask what all the hullabaloo is about; Konnan explains the issue and says that he wants to take Kidman’s place. The Cat eyes Konnan’s bald dome, but he allows it as long as Kidman’s hair is on the line. He also shows a complete lack of confidence in Konnan by tossing a wig laying on a table nearby at Kidman and suggesting that he may want to get it fit. Sudden turn alert! Sudden turn alert! Palumbo and O’Haire are upset at Jindrak and Stasiak giving them unwanted help in their matches. Where the fuck did this even come from? They gladly accepted outside help literally 24 hours ago. If I’d had more foresight, Sudden Turn Alert! would have been a consistent feature in these reviews. These four square up to one another until Mike Sanders and Reno show up and calm things down. Well, Sanders calms things down. Reno stands there like a doofus. Sanders tries to give an inspirational speech to keep the team focused and feeling togetherness, but Palumbo and O’Haire aren’t buying it. Konnan (w/Tygress) substitutes for Billy Kidman against Mike Awesome (w/absurd dub of whatever his theme now is) in this match where everyone’s hair is on the line. As that match starts, CEO Flair pops up on the TurnerTron to make it clear that Konnan losing will cause Kidman to get his hair shaved, but I felt that the Cat had already made that clear by tossing the wig at Kidman. I guess allowing Konnan to take Kidman's place was supposed to be a swerve attempt on the heels rather than a straight-up substitution with Kidman’s hair still on the line a couple segments ago? I don’t know, whatever, it’s fine. We got to the point that we were going to be at with this stipulation either way. I wish this were Awesome/Misterio Jr. instead. I mean, the match isn’t bad, but Awesome/Misterio Jr. would have had the drama of whether or not the giant killer Rey could find a way to beat the dynamic big man. But like I said, this match is decent. Konnan slips out of Awesome’s Awesome Bomb attempt and lands a facebuster for 2.8. Awesome slams Konnan to the mat as Konnan tries to follow up, then lands a Frog Splash for an immaculately timed 2.9 from Konnan. Awesome goes back to the well, but Konnan is playing possum and meets him up top. They struggle over a top rope move, but Konnan wins that struggle, lands an ugly top-rope DDT, and pins Awesome cleanly. Well, in tribute to Wesley Willis (R.I.P.), let me just type a few of his appropriate lyrics here: CUT THE MULLET! CUT THE MULLET! CUT THE MULLET! CUT THE MULLET! Konnan only snips some of Awesome’s hair before Storm and Skipper chase him off. So, in an angle that I am still quite interested in, Chavo Jr. walks up to General Rection. Chavo’s got his gold over his shoulder, too. He speaks in a conciliatory tone, trying to apologize to Rection. He attempts to broker peace between them and suggest that they go their separate ways, parting as friends rather than enemies, but Rection blows him off. What a dick. Mike Awesome is freaking out over his hair loss backstage while his stablemates try to calm him down. This poor guy has kayfabe struggled his whole WCW run with the exception of when he routinely beat the shit out of Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse. The Cat and Ms. Jones are next in the ring; the Cat believes in the power of the fans to lift him to new heights and then tells CEO Flair that he can beat whomever Flair booked against him tonight. Flair booked Bam Bam against the Cat, and the eager-to-impress Bam Bam fires off plenty of offense to start, culminating in a back suplex that keeps the Cat down for two. Man, I sure hope the fans give their power to the Cat soon. Yep, he makes a comeback, hits his signature spots, and lands a sliding superkick for three. Ah, this is how Bigelow turns face, isn’t it? He’s going to be shunned by the elites for failing to be as elite as they are. The Cat dances and is maybe even more over than I remember him being as a midcard babyface. Look at this doofus Shane Douglas with his title belt. I can’t believe that I’m looking forward to Rick Steiner beating this guy for the gold. Douglas seems not to be allowed to say ASS on Turner Networks anymore, which actually improves his little catchphrase immensely because he now delivers it like this: COME ON AND GET YOUR HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA FRANCHISED. Much, much, much better. Rection runs to the ring for this rematch, and as wthn their match at Sin, I find myself unoffended by any of it, which is basically a win for any singles match between these two. I will note that this is the quietest this crowd has been all night with the exception of being dejected during Goldberg’s funeral. Rection dominates, but whiffs on a Savage Elbow. Douglas lands a Pittsburgh Plunge and then goes for a chain, but he’s slow to pull it from his boot, and Rection cuts him off. Douglas loses the chain, and Rection tosses it away and chokes Douglas near the ropes. As ref Bronco Lubich Scott James tries to pull Rection off of Douglas, Chavo Jr. sneaks up, retrieves the chain, wraps it around his fist, and scores a knockout on Rection. James is baffled by what must have happened to cause Rection to go from choking someone to laying on the mat unconscious, but he didn’t see it, so it might as well not have happened! Douglas covers, gets three, and gets out of dodge with his gold. After a space for a series of sales pitches that Peacock simply didn't insert into this show, Mike Tenay interviews an emotionally overwhelmed Rection. If this guy Hugh Morrus-Rection had any likeability, I would feel bad for him right now, but he’s got the charisma and likeability of a sack of quick-dry concrete, so I just think it’s kinda funny that he’s back to being a sad sack fruit booty fuck up who can’t do anything right. Rection sells the accumulated head injuries he's take over the last fwe shows and declares Chavo Jr. to be entirely fucked when he lays hands on him. It's time for our Nitro Special main event! Scott Steiner (w/Midajah) is first out. Midajah spots a sign that is derogatory toward Scott Steiner or something because I can see her notice it, and then I can read her quick process of what she wants to do with it on her face; she decides to rip it away and trash it. I feel like she had a lot of fun doing that, and I'm glad that she made the decision to go for it. Kevin Nash walks out alone, and we get this thing started with about six minutes to go. Nash works with intensity, controlling the match early, and the crowd is very behind him. Especially the ladies, considering the pitch of the cheers. Steiner weathers the storm and gains control, scores a belly-to-belly, an elbowdrop, and push-ups. He then works a surfboard that actually looks good for once. Nash works up from it and then outbrawls Steiner in the corner before reversing an Irish whip and landing a side slam that he can’t keep the cover on because he’s selling a rib injury from Steiner’s earlier offense. They both get up at the same time, and Nash wins a punch-up and scores a Snake Eyes. Steiner even begs off, not that this stops Nash from scoring a big boot. Nash pulls down the straps, which means that it’s time for fuckery! Totally Buff, Road Warrior Animal, and Jeff Jarrett save Steiner’s title by spoiling the match; DDP and Rick Steiner charge down the ramp to make a save as the show ends. The crowd was hot for this entire thing. Call me crazy, but I liked this show an awful lot. It had good wrestling matches and baited a bunch of storyline hooks that I’m snapping at. Of course, a Nitro builds some serious momentum for the first time in a long time and is immediately moved off its regular Monday time slot the next week. What else would any wrestling fan who has watched this company expect, though? It is the history of the Tottenham WCW. 4 out of 5 Stinger Splashes.

I really like that idea! I thought it might be because he knew he was on his way out and wanted to mark the seven-ish years he was with the company. Maybe it was a bit of both, but I didn't think of your perspective.

Sin notes: Before I write anything else, I have to tell you that there’s a big-ass banner that seems to spoil the result of the United States Championship match. What the heck is that all about, Peacock?! Though I’d get a huge kick out of Shane Douglas winning the title only to lose it to Rick Steiner the next night in Raven/Goldberg redux (except much shittier), so let’s hope that happens. OK, now to the show! We’re three PPVs away from the end (WCW’s end, not my Nitro Era reviewing end, as I still have to cover the four or five PPVs that I skipped at the start of this project when I was only planning to write about Nitro). I’m surprised that there are still things that I remember that haven't yet happened, and for that matter, things that are happening that I totally forgot even though I was watching the weekly programming again at this point. Shane Douglas wins the U.S. Championship? I must have blocked that out to save my own sanity. I can’t believe there’s going to be no more WCW soon! This is all a little surreal even though I lived through it and have had time to process the end of WCW since it was, y'know, 24 years ago. I’ll never get over it. Opening hype video: All the seven deadly sins are listed, with pictures of wrestlers flashing up after each one. Greed gets an early mention – see you in March for your own show, Greed! The sin of wrath pops up there, but bafflingly, they don’t show an image of Bryan Clark right after they show that one. Swing and a miss. Shane Helms tells Shannon Moore to chill backstage and let him take Chavo Guerrero Jr. one-on-one; then, he makes his way to the ring to challenge for the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Now, before I go any further, I should mention that I “watched” this PPV on scramblevision, mostly because I was absolutely not spending any of my relatively small high schooler’s paycheck on a frickin’ WCW PPV at this point. I’ve never actually seen this PPV, though, so this is a neat perspective from which to revisit this show. Chavo Jr. outworks Shane on the mat to start, but Shane works his way into things and manages to reverse his way into top position on the ground. He does it once, then twice, and lets Chavo know that he can beat him that way, too. Chavo, in response, chops the shit out of the guy. He shoots Helms in, but Helms maneuvers behind him and hits some arm drags. We’ve got a strikes vs. speed contrast going here as Helms ducks a clubbing lariat and hits a headscissors, then turns around an arm drag attempt, hoists Chavo into fireman’s carry position, and lands a facebuster across his knee. Chavo plays possum, though, and gets Helms to rush in, then sends him outside the ring. Chavo heads out there as well, but his plans to win an obligabrawl go awry, though he does get a spot of control when the match gets back in the ring based on my least favorite transition. I do mean only a spot of control, too, as Helms immediately scores one flash pin for two, then another. Chavo looks overmatched by a determined Helms, so that means it’s time to go to the sack shots! Chavo flapjacks the shit out of Helms to reverse a piledriver attempt and then knees him right in the balls. Scott James apparently did learn that you should stop a guy from doing that sort of thing in his classes at the Bronco Lubich school of wrestling, but Chavo ignores him and tosses Helms to the floor, then pounds his chest. Back in the ring, Chavo gets two. Earlier today, as Tony S. reminds me, the Raiders got Tuck Rule’d, as a way for him to talk about underdogs like Helms having a good day that Sunday. Ugh, Tommy Brady. That guy fuckin’ SUCKS. Except for at football, I guess. Helms soon makes his own underdog’s comeback and lands a reverse neckbreaker that puts both guys down for a ten count. Shane crawls over and covers at nine, but only gets about 2.5. Both men throw fisticuffs in the center of the ring after that, but a Chavo whiff allows Helms to get behind him with a bridging back suplex for two. Helms flings Chavo Jr, into the corner and Sugar Smacks him on the rebound, but Chavo gets his boot on the ropes when Helms covers him. Alas, Helms tries too much high-risk stuff; Chavo dumps him to the floor on a monkey flip attempt, then follows with a crossbody from the top to the floor. This match is actually – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – a HOT CRUISERWEIGHT OPENER. Chavo rolls Helms back in the ring and covers for two, then tries a brainbuster. Helms blocks it, so Chavo clubs him a bit and tries it again; Helms leaps behind him and then hip tosses Chavo to the floor when Chavo charges. Helms goes up and scores a frog crossbody from the top to the floor, paying Chavo back for the previous corner-to-floor dive that he ate a minute ago. Looking to put it away, Helms tosses Chavo Jr. back in the ring and attempts a diving sunset flip, but it only gets another 2.5. Time to unload with my impact stuff, Helms thinks (in kayfabe, at least), and he tries a Samoan Drop that only gets two. He calls for the Vertebreaker, but Chavo works out of it and into a weak full nelson that Helms easily breaks; Helms grabs Chavo for a Nightmare on Helms Street, which only gets 2.7. Helms sets up for another NoHS, but his pause to signal it allows Chavo to break away by kneeing Helms in the face and then driving Helms backward into the buckles. Chavo’s trying to get out of dodge with a win, so he tries his Tornado DDT, but Helms blocks it and hooks Chavo, who reverses, is reversed, and reverses Helms back into Brainbuster position, which he executes for three. That match ruled. Sorry young padawan Helms, you did your best against the vet, but you’ve clearly still got much to learn. Tony S. and Scott Hudson are a suboptimal PPV team, but I can deal with it. Hudson is better in a two-man booth rather than how they’ve been using him on color in a three-man booth. In the two-man booth, he doesn’t have to try and keep up with a quicker, wittier, and more entertaining color partner. Pre-tape: Mike Tenay tries to get some scoops as CEO Ric Flair arrives at the building. He asks about who the Mystery Man is. CEO Flair is like LOL no dude, shove off. This is a lot of hype for the less entertaining Road Warrior, man. Vito and Johnny the Bull interview with Gene Okerlund backstage. Apparently, Johnny the Bull is not allowed at ringside for Vito’s match against Reno. What was the point of bringing Marie/a in, and where is she? Wait, Vito says to Reno YOU EVEN TOOK MY GIRL FROM ME; DOESN’T MATTER. So were they related or not? Someone please explain! Ah, I bet Russo intended them to be related and also fucking one another when he set this story in motion and Taylor et al. were like Nah, we think that running incest angles is unnecessary, but that latter team also didn’t care enough to clarify any of these relationships. Vito and Reno have a headed match where they both work with energy and try hard, but ultimately, does anyone care about this feud? None of this heat they’re trying to pay off has actually been generated. These guys are acceptable pro wrestlers, so they put together something cromulent here. I think the extra effort and energy with which they work this bout really helps even if big picture, this match doesn't mean much; sometimes, just trying hard is meaningful enough. Some fans try to start a YOU FUCKED UP chant on a weird Irish whip spot into a weak Vito enziguri, but meh, it wasn't the worst blown spot. There is quite a bit of obligabrawling in this match. They even try hard at that, so it works for me. Vito is out there bouncing around, begging for a push. He’s one of those guys who is too corny for me to ever really like or take too seriously, but I respect that he goes out there and busts his ass every night. Reno also generally tries, but he has an anti-personality. The guy is a bore. Scott Hudson sounds like a jackass talking about how Reno paid KroniK to beat him up so that he could better throw Vito off the scent. No, please, don’t try to justify that. Just let us forget that it ever happened so that we can hold together the façade, the suspension of disbelief, the shimmering mirage that this angle has ever made at least minimal sense. So, after a fairly lengthy Reno onslaught, Vito lands a superkick to trigger his comeback. Vito lays Reno out and hits a Big Vito Special Savage Elbow, fuck you, you don’t rename the Savage Elbow, you absolute prick, and it’s a weak one that I have decided is the kayfabe reason that Reno takes back over and is able to try a Roll of the Dice. Vito blocks it and lands an overhead suplex for two, then tries a Paisan Plunge that get reversed into a suplex in turn by Reno. Who will finally win this decent brawl? It’s Reno, who flips behind Vito on a suplex attempt and scores a Roll of the Dice that lightly nestles Vito’s head against his pec for three. Why in the fuck is Reno winning so many matches? Still, this was decent stuff. Backstage, Commissioner Mike Sanders insults KroniK, which is probably one of the least wise things one might do. He asserts his leadership as commissioner, then pays Adams to help him out tonight. Alas, when that “brave little man” as Adams calls him leaves, Clark comes up with a bigger roll of cash and lets Adams know that Sanders has been outbid. The Jung Dragons (w/Leia Meow) resume their feud with Evan Karagias and Jamie (K)noble. The chyron lists them as Evan (K)noble and Jamie Karagias. Bless your hearts, WCW production crew. Kaz and Karagias have a fun opening that ends with Kaz landing a nice release German on Karagias; Noble enters the ring, but is taken care of by Yang, and both Dragons get on the apron and hit stereo Asai moonsaults on Karagias and Noble at ringside. Indianapolis seems to be interested in pacey wrestling and intricate spots tonight, so they’ve had a pretty good show so far for their tastes. This match is worked not quite arcade-style, but it is worked at a really consistent pace and with lots of nice counters. Kaz Hayashi is quietly one of the most wasted wrestlers on this roster and has been since he started working for the company. I’m baffled that Lenny Lane or Prince Iaukea spent significant amounts of time with the cruiserweight belt, for example, when you could just put Kaz with a talker and put it on him to at least have some dope matches. So, Kaz is deep in trouble as FIP after he dives into a Karagias counter dropkick. He manages to survive a series of combo moves like a guillotine legdrop/side slam combo; he also survives some really crisp Noble offense and a Karagias press slam into a spinebuster. Karagias going mini-Goldberg on the other cruisers is low-key one of the more fun things that happens in late-stage WCW matches. Of course, he immediately fucks up an Asai moonsault by slipping. He really needs to only leave the ground for power moves. That whiff doesn’t allow Yang to get a hot tag, but Yang kicking Noble square in the jaw does. Noble doesn’t make the stereo tag on his end; instead, he turns around to meet Yang and gets his ass kicked, eating a wicked Dragon Screw that leaves him incapacitated. Well, nearly incapacitated, as he gets up in time to back suplex Yang when Yang backflips away from Karagias in the corner. Karagias dives onto Kaz, so only Yang and Noble are left. We get a false finish that fools me; Yang turns a top-rope rana into a diving powerbomb for 2.9, but Kaz breaks that up just in the nick of time, then positions Yang and hits a perfect 450 Splash, which probably explains why he keeps trying complex aerial shit. Sometimes, he does actually hit it clean. I have found this match to be fun as hell, but the fun has got to be coming to an end. Kaz hits a leaping DDT and tries to transition into a submission, but Noble breaks that up and hits a jumping Tombstone that Yang breaks up. Yang hits a flipping fireman’s carry slam, but misses a top rope move. Noble tries to capitalize, hooks Yang…and Yang turns that into a desperation small package that gets a flash three count. Very good stuff! Karagias and Noble heel it up by attacking the Dragons after the bell, which is weird since the Dragons heeled on them first, but okay, sure, who cares? The match was very good, list-worthy in fact, and there are only two months left in this company, so I can’t get too fussed about the weird face-heel alignment nonsense. Note: The last nine matches to have made the Good Matches list at this point have included at least one cruiserweight. I think death’s door WCW and early days TNA were sniffing around a counter-programming strategy to settle in as a strong number two company that AEW finally got right, which is centering your company’s house style around pacey matches full of counter-counter-counter spots. The crowd has enjoyed this show so far, and so have I, though I do not dare hope that Sin is somehow the Last Great (or at Least Good) WCW PPV. This is usually where things head downhill, about three matches into the PPV. Totally Buff get out of a neat car and compliment one another. If that car doesn’t make it through the night because of an angle, that would be a damned shame. Luger and Bagwell get excited about sending Goldberg home for good; Luger lets slip that they’re going to have someone run down and attack them to get Goldberg disqualified intentionally if they can’t just finish Sarge off. That’s…a pretty good plan, actually. I have to give them credit for that one. Can Mike Sanders and the Cat put together, if not a good match, a decent match? I’m hoping so. I want this show to keep its momentum going. Actually, Sanders getting his comeuppance in a decent match would be good enough for me; Sanders really is a smug bitch, y’know? He’s a solid heel character. Sanders gets in the ring and does his typical deal, then calls the Cat (w/the lovely Ms. Jones) down to the ring. It’s pretty remarkable how into this show the fans seem to be. Maybe if Bischoff had bought this company, he would have been better off staying in the Midwest, maybe ranging between Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Denver, instead of going out to Vegas and putting on wrestling shows in front of dead crowds. The Cat gets a mic and asks for his mother to be called, which means he is serious, folks. The Cat is, like, very over as a babyface, and he and Sanders do a BOOOO/YEAHHHH spot. Wow, Indianapolis digs WCW even at this late stage of its existence. As for the match, it starts out decently. Sanders does everything he can to sucker the Cat in, cheap shot him, and so forth, and the crowd actually cares about the Cat’s comebacks, so Sanders’s cutoffs land nicely. The Cat launches a comeback that looks like it might stick, landing ten punches in the corner, so Sanders is like WHOOPS, TIME FOR A TESTES TAP, and he’s back on top with a kick and a Shinonomake that the Cat quickly fights up from. The Cat blocks a sunset flip, crotch chops, strikes Sanders, and then lands a Boogie Elbow. Sanders begs off; the crowd begs the Cat to hit Sanders. But it’s another ruse! Sanders grabs the Cat’s pants and tosses him to the floor, then goes after a chair, but Ms. Jones tries to rip it away. She fails, and Sanders backs her off, but he turns around. That’s a mistake, as Ms. Jones kicks him; the chair clatters to the ground, and Jones picks it up and stalks Sanders while wielding it while Sanders backs away. Sanders gets back to the ring and continues to beg off, but it’s yet another ruse, as Stasiak and Jindrak rush down and attack the Cat on the other side of the ring. Good thing that the Cat put a down payment on KroniK’s services! They make the save without Sanders’s knowledge, at least until Adams distracts the ref and Clarke attacks Sanders, stuffing the money Sanders paid them into Sanders's mouth. That makes Sanders easy pickings for the Cat’s follow-up Feliner, which gets three and a really nice pop. I cannot fucking believe that I’m typing this, but this match was more than decent. It was good! It was textbook heel cutoffs and jibber jabber, with the dastardly heel barely dodging his comeuppance until he couldn’t dodge it any longer. This is the third match in four that is on the Good Matches list, and the match that didn't make that list was at least solid. I’m starting to believe. That’s probably a mistake. I’ll tamp down my expectations. But man, this show has been quite enjoyable so far. Backstage, CEO Ric Flair plays a bit of audio back for Goldberg, and he hears about Luger and Buff’s plan, but since I know that our unfair CEO is secretly heeling, it’s obvious that this is actually a quite clever set-up in which CEO Flair can now make this match no disqualification, and Goldberg will have nary a suspicion that the fix is in. The CEO introduces Goldberg to a couple of fans backstage whom he knows and asks Goldberg to meet them; Goldberg signs a foam hand and takes a picture for the fan, and this very fan-friendly dude is being sent home soon, but of course, this serves to make us even madder at Flair, Luger, and Bagwell for screwing him over, GRRRRR. Which it does, at least for me, GRRRRR. Jeff Jarrett makes the first wrong step on this show by cutting a mediocre promo about the main event with Gene Okerlund in the back, but it’s not egregiously bad or anything like that. The Thunder tag match pitting Kidman and Misterio Jr. against Storm and Skipper with Duggan on commentary actually did get me excited for Team Canada vs. the Filthy Animals in this Canadian Penalty Box match with Duggan as the ref. WCW’s going to have to fuck up the layout of the match due to the gimmick for this match to be anything less than solid. Team Canada rolls up in their repainted bus; they exit and make their way to the ring while Tony S. runs down the history of the feud between them and the Animals so far. Storm grabs a mic before the match and says that they’ll be winning this match even though Hacksaw is obviously going to be in the tank for the Animals, like, come on, it’s so obvious. Halfway through “O Canada,” the Animals’s theme music cuts in; the Animals make it to the ring, and referee Duggan lays out the rules and promises to be a fair arbiter of this athletic contest. He won’t be having double-teaming, low blows, outside interference, or also anyone hitting him. Any rulebreakers have to get in the box and stay there until the red light cuts off (though for how long that light will be on, he is not clear about), which means that they can exit the penalty box and rejoin the bout. I actually think this match stip is interesting; you could build a neat little match around the babyfaces committing an infraction and struggling to hang on against heel onslaughts while they’re down a man. The first person to go to the box is Skipper, though, after he forgets himself and spells Storm without a legal tag. Awesome gets in Duggan’s face and jaws at him, then bumps up against him as he gives up on the argument; Duggan sends him to the box as well. OK, so the babyface shine is the faces trying to kill off Storm while they have a two-man advantage. Yeah, that’s also logical early-match layout. The Animals unload on Storm, tagging in and out quickly, but it’s simply too early in the match for them to put Storm down for good; after what is at most a minute, the light cuts off and Storm’s partners are let out of the box. Skipper makes a proper tag to Storm and then attacks Kidman; they work a nice sequence that ends with a Kidman side suplex. Awesome tries to help out by grabbing Kidman by the hair and yanking him down on a rope run, but that is very illegal, and Duggan sees it, so Awesome is back in the box. Storm yanks on Duggan’s sleeve , so Duggan sends him to the box, and it’s Skipper’s turn to endure hell. Konnan rolls Skipper up in a sweet octopus hold, but he can’t get a submission and moves on quickly; it’s so fun when a team has an advantage and up the pace trying to finish the match. I’m not sure if this is a better match than it would be as a straight trios tag with no stips, but this is a) still pretty good and b) interesting because of how they’re working the stip. Skipper actually makes a comeback on his own even without his partners, lands a missile dropkick into a standing position, and then tags to Awesome. Awesome drops Konnan and Duggan’s creaky ass takes a minute to get down there and count it (Awesome, aggravated: C’MONNNNN); he only gets two. The ladies argue outside the ring, and Duggan tells them to back away from one another; meanwhile Kidman and Rey try to link up on a Bronco Buster, which Duggan cuts off; since at least one of those men is not legal and have been in the ring for five seconds, I guess, Duggan sends them both to the box. Tygress grabs some, uh, water or baby oil maybe, and squirts it all over Gunns, which obviously gets a huge pop. Konnan could stop selling entirely in the ring and no one would notice. Gunns dives onto Tygress, but Duggan goes outside and pulls them apart, then sends them both to the box. Meanwhile, Elix is making a kayfabe mistake – and Tony S. points this out as I type this – by putting Konnan in a chinlock while his team has a three-on-one advantage. The desk does a good job of pointing out that Skipper is a rookie who doesn't always make the best strategic choices and that Konnan is getting a huge break. Indeed, the babyfaces get out of the box just in time for Konnan to nail Storm with a sitout facebuster and crawl toward a hot tag. Kidman manages the hot tag and rolls Storm; he can only get two on a Sky High, so he sends Storm outside the ring with a jawbreaker over the rope and tags Rey. Everything breaks down from here; the long and short of it is that a huge brawl at ringside, plus Tygress hitting a FACE FULLA STUFF, sends everyone to the box except for the legal men – Rey and Storm – and Major Gunns at ringside. Kidman gets back out of the box, tags in, and lands a Kid Krusher for 2.9 in a pinfall attempt that is only stopped when Awesome gets out of the box and breaks it up. Awesome lands an Awesome Bomb on Rey, but neither of them are legal competitors; meanwhile, Storm is a legal competitor, and he manages to duck legal competitor Kidman's enziguri and lock on a Canadian Maple Leaf that Duggan reluctantly recognizes Kidman submitting to, ending the match. What a strange, enjoyable little match. I think the stip was a challenge to work around, but for the first time that they’ve run this stipulation, it was well-worked and genuinely brought something new and interesting to this typical six-man tag style. I think it’s a good match, but a better fit for the Charming Uniquity list, especially since this is probably going to be the only one of these matches in WCW’s history. Maybe we’ll get one more in the next couple of months? We’ll see. Either way, it was certainly unique. Former Commissioner Mike Sanders is extremely downcast in his interview with Mike Tenay. He swears revenge on KroniK and the Cat, then kicks it over to Palumbo (who cuts a shitty promo) and O’Haire (who cuts a passable one). Palumbo, O’Haire, and Tenay all almost say “Outsiders” and manage to stop themselves and say “Insiders” instead. The Insiders are stretching in their locker room, bored by the reveal that Palumbo and O’Haire will be their opponents. I’m sure they guessed it considering Palumbo and O’Haire have been consistently tagging the last couple of weeks, but Jindrak and Stasiak have not. Hype video: Let’s get rid of this fucking WCW Hardcore Championship already! Meng is going to get rid of this fucking WCW Hardcore Championship already! I read that he handed it over to his Faces of Fear compatriot Barbarian at a house show after he left, but WCW chose not to do anything else with the belt or the division. Hold on, Daffney tosses a drink in Terry Funk’s face as Funk comes down the ramp, so Funk drags her over the railing by her pigtails, and Crowbar flies up out of nowhere and clobbers Funk with a few chair shots to the head. They smash, they trash, they go into the restroom in WCW’s favorite fucking trope that hasn’t been exciting since 1996. They try to mix up their approach to this match type by doing things like having Funk try to break Crowbar’s ankle and then having Crowbar give him that same medicine, but this is generally the same ol’ shit. I’ll just tell you the finish of this trash bout: Meng mostly lets Funk and Crowbar beat each other with plundah for the first few minutes, which probably keeps him fresh enough to win the match in the end. He kicks a chair into Crowbar’s face, then TDGs Funk to win it. In the middle of all that were actually some pretty cool non-trash-attack moves, including Meng coming off the top twice (!!), including with a sweet Frog Splash on the Funker (!!!). This was better than it had any right to be, and those Meng spots from the top meant more than Crowbar doing a stage dive in the same bout. Well, since Meng is rolling out after tonight, let me say that I have a soft spot for him and will miss him in the time we have left with WCW; this guy is one of my favorite gatekeepers. He was fun in that role in 1995 and still fun in that role in 2001. Enjoy being heel Rikishi’s ineffective back-up and wrestling four-minute Sunday Night Heat matches, buddy. You earned it. Commissioner Cat and Ms. Jones prepare to leave the building when CEO Flair meets him, congratulates him, and offers him his limo for the night, making sure to get him out of the way for later. Gene Okerlund interviews Sid. While the improved finishes on tonight’s show are, as far as I have found out, attributable to Johnny Ace working in creative, I would like to implore Sid to maybe raise a stink about Laurinaitis suggesting that Sid come off the top during the finishing run of his match. Hype video: The Insiders and the Animals look to put a definitive end to their feud over the tag titles next. Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire are alone as they enter the ring for their tag title shot tonight. We’ll see if it stays that way. DDP has some new nondescript rock theme that doesn't get me fired up. He stops on the ramp and waits for Nash to walk out to the Wolfpac theme, which still rules and also doesn’t give me hives anymore on account of it’s not playing while Hulk Hogan walks down the ramp holding the big gold belt and wearing flannel. The Thrillers' music plays again, and Sanders and the rest of the Thrillers make their way out. Sanders says that he’s learned how to be a coach from Nash and therefore will be making substitutions where necessary as the match progresses. CEO Ric Flair, who normally might think Sanders is being a funny sneak, actually doesn’t like this guy at all even though they’re both heels at this point. He walks onto the stage, security trailing him, and sends the rest of the Thrillers to the back. When the match starts, though, it’s solid. Palumbo is a decent worker and tries hard, and he and DDP have an energetic opening where they hock loogies at one another before Page stays one step ahead of Palumbo with a lariat and then a uranage for two. Palumbo figures out that he’s getting his ass beat in there, so he manages to bail and slow things down. Nash and O’Haire tag in next; Nash controls O’Haire with power, so O’Haire instead goes to the air, backflips over a charging Nash in the corner, and lands a superkick that allows the heels to get some control. Palumbo is really busting his ass in here, throwing nice rights with intensity, but he gets hoisted, eats buckle on a Snake Eyes, and eats a splash against the ropes before Page tags back in. Page is in control until O’Haire kicks him in the back on a rope run; though he dispatches of O’Haire, that allows Palumbo to jump Page and spark an extended FIP run. The young heels are cocky; they let Page crawl toward Nash, but kick him away from a tag while taunting Nash. This show has been good enough that I’m somewhat exhausted from all the energy that everyone is showing tonight. Maybe, as everyone thinks that Eric Bischoff and Fusient are taking over at this point, they’re all trying a little harder to position themselves for the new regime? Obviously, I couldn’t say, but I’d guess that it would be a factor. Page manages to stop the onslaught by reversing a Palumbo Tombstone attempt and hitting one of his own. Ref Billy Silverman counts all the way to eight before both men are able to move and hit tags; Nash tears through his opposition with fists, boots, and side slams. The other Thrillers defy CEO Flair's orders andpour down the ramp, but the real concern for the Insiders is Lex Luger, who hops the guardrail and grabs a chair. Page chases him off, but Luger leaves the chair in the ring (though it doesn't mean anything to the finish). Nash looks for a Jackknife, but Buff Bagwell runs in the ring dressed as a tech and clobbers Nash with a wrench; O’Haire follows up with a Seanton Bomb, and Silverman finally makes it back to the ring after trying to chase Page and Luger down and counts the three. The finish was the first weak one of the show, which is too bad as the match before it was really well-worked and full of intensity. I think what came before was so good that even with the wonky finish, I’d recommend that you pop it on a YouTube list full of good WCW matches. Mike Tenay interviews the celebrating Thrillers; Sanders feels a bit better about his night so far. CEO Ric Flair enters another limo, declaring to the nearby cameraperson that IT’S TIME. Alright, so we’re getting into the part of the night that is mostly going to be not great, but I feel okay declaring Sin to be, if not the last great WCW PPV, the last good one (at least for now, though I doubt Greed has much chance to be good since everyone in the company knew that Nitro and Thunder were cancelled by then). I’d recommend anyone watch this show for the first two hours of action. Shane Douglas comes to the ring for his United States Championship bout against General Rection, which is a) a First Blood Match and b) a Chain Hanging Over the Ring Match. Douglas talks like this feud with Rection has built even half the intensity of the Insiders and Thrillers going at it. It has not. I cannot believe they put the U.S. title on Shane! Why would they do that?! Then again, they put it on David Flair and, oh yeah, General Rection, so I suppose that actually, it’s whatever. Jamie Tucker is a competent referee unlike **Stevie Ray voice** that sorry Scott James, so he is smart enough to check Douglas for a second chain, which he finds and confiscates. These fellas then have a perfectly dull match that no one in their right mind would give a single solitary fuck about. It’s not offensive. It’s just between two guys who have the stench of mediocrity all over them. I’ve now written over 5,400 words about this show, so forgive me for not closely noting every knuckle lock, arm wringer, and choke in this match. They do a ton of limb work in a First Blood Match. I appreciate Tony S. and Hudson asserting that by working limbs, each man is trying to disable his opponent so he can take free shots at busting them open when they can’t move, but this is a dumb way to work this match. I will say that if this were just a regular-ass match, the bulk of it would have worked much better. That chain is very high above the ring, so Rection grabs a ladder, sets it up, and goes to get it, which he accomplishes – good for him! – but which allows Douglas to shove the ladder over – bad for him! – and then, since the ladder also takes out the ref – very bad for him! – Douglas is able to take a second hidden chain out of his boot and wallop Rection with it to bust him open and win the United States Championship. Gene Okerlund talks to Scott Steiner and Midajah backstage; Steiner says that he is GOING DOWN AS HISTORY AS THE GREATEST WORLD CHAMPION OF ALL TIME. He does correct himself, to be fair. A-WALL and Cajun try to comfort Rection, who is discomfited. Rection yells I GOT NOTHIN’ and storms off. **whispers** Hey, buddy, you know who’s still a champion? Yeah, that’s right. Chavo is. HAHAAAAAAA. Hype video: Are you ready for a result that completely shocked me when it originally happened? If so, here comes Totally Buff vs. Goldberg and Sarge! Michael Buffer introduces the first of the final two bouts of the night; he explains the stipulations, and you know what, WCW did hold to “Goldberg is banned for the rest of his life.” They didn’t go back on that stip, and I don't care about the circumstances, I have to give a wrestling company credit for holding to a retirement stip! I remembered this all wrong; I thought it was Goldberg versus Totally Buff in a handicap match and that Sarge turned on Goldberg and helped attack him from his spot in the crowd. That is obviously incorrect. Michael Buffer’s Ring Announcing Quality Control: If I ever lose all my marbles, my madness mantra will be this: INVERTED LIFT AND SLAM, INVERTED LIFT AND SLAM, INVERTED LIFT AND SLAM. HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA This is a small thing that bothers me, but I’ll mention it while the heels stall and then Goldberg beats them up after they can’t stall anymore: Why wouldn’t Nash and Page come out here and screw over Luger and Buff after Luger and Buff did the same to them two matches ago? Unless they were stretchered out – which they weren’t – they should be looking for revenge. HAHAHAHA, so Goldberg tosses Luger toward his corner, then tells Buff to tag Luger so that he can catch a beating, too. Buff, worried look on his face: **points to himself** ME?!?! Yes, you, you dope. For some reason, Goldberg tags Sarge in after popping up from a Buff suplex and punishing Bagwell. This makes zero sense, man. Leave that bum on the apron. He’s got a broken arm and was a non-Giant, non-Meng member of the Dungeon of Doom. He’s a no-hoper at this point. Sure enough, Sarge loses control of the match and catches a beatdown. The crowd is into Sarge finally making a hot tag after enduring a beating, I’ll say that much. Goldberg pumphandles Buff into the lights. It’s rad. Meanwhile, Luger walks over and harasses that Goldberg fan from backstage. Goldberg peels off and saves the fan from a Luger attack; the fan responds by macing him. Luger then hits Goldberg with a couple of chair shots as the crowd dies. Are…are they going to job Goldberg to a spritz of mace? It’s not exactly a fucking taser, now is it? Goldberg still blindly fights back, so Luger lands a series of chair shots to the back and head, then positions Goldberg on his shoulders for a Super Blockbuster that actually keeps Goldberg down for three. This was, um, quite the finish! I mean, Johnny Ace tried, I guess! Indianapolis is bummed. Yeah, I have to say that this might be, after Hogan turning heel, the most surprising WCW result/finish during the Nitro Era. This whole deal would have been better if the fan was packing a taser, just for Goldberg's final WCW loss to include a callback to Goldberg’s first WCW loss. The fellas at commentary are so shocked as the crowd applauds Goldberg back up the ramp that they don’t even think to connect CEO Ric Flair with the kid…or remember that CEO Flair has been meeting with Totally Buff backstage at the last couple weeks of Nitro. But if you remember, dear reader, you might be guessing that a SWERVE, BRO is coming. And yes, it is a SWERVE, BRO because there is zero reason for CEO Ric Flair to turn heel. None. Zero. Zip, zilch, nada. Alright, I’ve been tense about watching this main event all night. I just do not want to see Sid’s leg jutting at a weird angle. Jeff Jarrett walks out first, followed by Sid, and followed in turn by Scott Steiner (w/HIS FAVORITE FREAK Midajah). Road Warrior Animal will be out here later, of course. CEO Ric Flair cuts into Buffer’s introduction to tell Steiner so. Steiner runs off to confront Flair, andJarrett has to stop him and explain that he might just use his title if he doesn’t get in there and defend it. Jarrett and Steiner work this like a handicap match in which they attack Sid and Jarrett doesn’t try to win. The match is fine, but Sid should absolutely not be getting on the top rope, which he does, and uggghhhh, and then Road Warrior Animal gets out here and CEO Ric Flair turns heel for some nonsensical reason. So, yeah. This match gets an incomplete grade for the injury. Poor Sid was laying there with a broken leg for like minutes, though, just painfully waiting for Animal to wander out here. Animal looks like a jackass in his face paint, by the way. IT’S 2001; REIMAGINE YOUR LOOK, YOU IMBECILE. Yeah, this show definitely petered out toward the end, but the first seven matches were collectively strong and the last three matches ranged from “fine” to “can’t be graded due to severe shoot injury,” which is easily the best that any WCW PPV has managed since the middle of 1998. If I could point to one show (again, so far) that epitomizes the feelings of goodwill that fans tend to have toward WCW's BBSHSWTL Era, it would be this one.

Funk's WCW run is in a weird spot because he got overused early in 2000, like they ran the poor guy into the ground, and then sometimes he cuts these throwback heel promos that the crowd doesn't seem to get, but how can you not love the guy? He really does try his best; it's just that he's doing it in a dumb division within a company that doesn't creatively care about it.

Thunder Interlude – show number one hundred and forty-three – 10 January 2001 "The WCW Gang rides tag matches and fun commentary to a positive score" Let’s go on right ahead into the Thunder opening together, no time to waste… Well it’s our go-home show to Sin…I’ll stop here before the opening and wave an early goodbye to Sid, who had an extremely fun WCW run this go-round with one of my favorite feuds and matches (against Goldberg) in WCW history on his list of successes…He’s also got the Benoit match and in general was one of the rare bright spots in the worst three-month period of television that WCW ever put on in early 2000…Really, my overall conclusion regarding Sid’s use is that WCW didn’t get nearly enough out of him…His pairing with Savage had a ton of potential (and a funny little Thunder moment in which he demanded a driver OPEN THE TRUNK, STUPID on the somewhat aptly numbered Thunder show number sixty-nine)…That ended shortly because Savage left the company in August… Then, they had him sitting at home for most of 2000 after stripping him of the world title in April…He was a very over babyface on a show that desperately needed stars, so I don’t get it…Give him more dates and throw more money at him if you need to…At least he didn’t come back and heel it up as a member of the Millionaire’s Club, though…Between that ill-advised heel turn and the equally as ill-advised heel turn on Hulk Hogan back in March, WCW’s creative was doing the same shit it loved to do with Bret Hart, Ric Flair, and hell, even KroniK to a lesser degree…Just let your popular babyfaces be babyfaces, dammit…Anyway, this little period of Sid’s career is a certified check mark for his legacy, at least in my eyes…And he’s out of pro wrestling as a big-time player after this week is over…He was a young forty, mostly because he took so much time off television…I wonder, if not for the leg injury, would he have had a tiny WWF run in the mid-aughts that we’d fondly remember?... We go right to the commentary table, where Tony S. announces a Scott Steiner/Sid Vicious title match for tonight which makes no fucking booking sense…I hate, hate, hate these title match giveaways on free television a few days before the PPV…KroniK will also be wrestling Totally Buff… After a ghost ad break, we come back to Mike Sanders freaking out about something alongside the other Thrillers…Shane Douglas walks up and asks for some help with harassing the Misfits in Action into the ground…He’s got cash that he was going to use to hire the now occupied KroniK, and he offers it to the Thrillers if they assist him…That catches Sanders's interest… Stevie Ray continues to hate on his future sister-in-law Paisley, saying that she’s really driven down Kwee Wee’s stock since she joined him…He Man Wimmen Hater Mike Tenay agrees, obviously, over Tony S.’s protests…Anyway, Kwee Wee and Big Vito are tagging up against Palumbo and O’Haire…Paisley wears Vito’s jacket and big-ass hat at ringside…Again, adorable…Women wearing men’s clothing that is way too big for them is always a winner with me…Tony S., addressing Stevie’s persistent questions about Paisley’s sudden change in wardrobe: “You got yak problems, Stevie”…Hilarious… Oh yeah, you wanted to know about this match, probably…It’s perfectly cromulent, as you might guess…Stevie says that Kwee Wee “looks like a reject from that Dragonball Z show,” which is truly amazing, eleven out of ten, you can’t possibly do commentary any better than that…I swear that this match is solid!...It’s just that Tony S. and Stevie Ray are the best…Seriously, one of my minor disappointments in WCW’s coming death is that we didn’t get any more of Stevie and Tony on commentary… Vito is FIP…Stevie and Tony debate on whether or not Palumbo and O’Haire have the same level of continuity that they do when wrestling with their usual partners…Palumbo does some decent heeling, kicking Vito’s arm as he reaches helplessly for a tag…But of course, there’s a hot tag eventually…Russo’s not around, so the tag matches actually have all their typical segments now…Kwee Wee hits a fiery comeback…It’s pretty entertaining, actually…O’Haire stops a Kwee Wee run of offense…This causes the match to break down…Reno shoots down the ramp and attacks Johnny the Bull, who is standing at ringside, with a Roll of the Dice…Vito comes over to help, but gets hit with a stickball bat instead…That leaves Kwee Wee in a one-on-two situation, and he falls to a Seanton Bomb in short order…Decent opener!...After the match, the heels continue piling on the offense to make sure that they’ll leave ‘em laying when the segment is over… Hacksaw Duggan joins commentary…He says that he’s going to do his “gosh awful best” as referee at Sin…So he’s admitting even his best sucks, then, is what I’m getting from that comment…The Filthy Animals come to the ring…Konnan hits the roulette…Tygress demands that whatever their theme is be played so they can stand at attention, as Lance Storm does for “O Canada”…We get this ‘90s Eurodance dub and not whatever hip-hop theme they were using at this time…For once, Team Canada gets to cut off someone else’s music with their theme…It looks like this match will be a tag bout pitting Storm and Skipper against Kidman and Rey… Stevie asks the hard questions of Duggan on commentary regarding his heel turn from a few months ago…Tenay appreciates Stevie's approach to journalism…This is an even better match than the previous tag match…Rey and Kidman are a really fun team with quite a bit of experience tagging together at this point…They put Elix through the wringer in the shine segment…Kidman ignores the first spot that is supposed to end that shine segment (Storm kneeing him in the back on a rope run), so they just do that shit again, and Storm sticks a knee into Kidman’s back successfully in kayfabe this time around…Kidman is now the FIP, but I sort of wish that the shine was longer… One match after praising Jamie Tucker for being good at spotting interference in a tag match, Stevie once again tears into Scott James missing interferences…Holy shit, a U-S-A chant causes Duggan to ask if everyone hears it…He calls this inspirational chant one that evokes from him a BIG HO…Stevie, after a slight pause, hits a flat “What”…It takes Duggan a couple of seconds to get why Stevie was asking, after which he says OHHHH, I GOT IT…I get why some people wouldn’t like this commentary team, and it depends on how you take Stevie's work...Stevie is always making comments about the refereeing, asking for clarification on the matches that are coming up (like asking Duggan how this penalty box thing is going to work), and generally being entertaining as hell to me… There are many things in WCW that weren’t as good the second time around as they were the first time around…There are some things that I wasn’t a huge fan of before, but watching them now, I enjoyed them much more…There are too many things that sucked then sucked as bad or worse on rewatch…But Stevie’s commentary is a rare thing that I really liked back then that I think I like even more now…Coming out of that late ‘99/early ’00 period where nobody could find it in them to give a shit on commentary (understandably), Stevie has really livened things up again with his approach… The match in the ring is very good, particularly for a TV tag…Elix has a nice cutoff of a Kidman comeback in which he stops short and sticks Kidman with a DDT…Holy shit, Duggan is hilarious on commentary after Tony S. asks him how Team Canada acted behind the scenes…First, he gets a laugh out of me with this: “And Prime Time, all he wanted to talk about was **mocking high-pitched squeaky voice** HIS HOUSE, HIS HOUSE!” Then, Tony asks him about what Major Gunns was like, and Duggan's response is to chuckle lasciviously while Stevie, lawyerly in tone, informs Duggan that he doesn’t have to answer that…What the fuck, man… Meanwhile, Elix scores a NASTY Dragon Suplex with a bridge on Kidman for 2.8…Kidman manages to catch Elix when Skipper, of course, tries a powerbomb…That sparks the hot tag…Rey explodes with offense, but he and Storm fuck up a springboard spot…Eh, they save it well enough…The match breaks down when Skipper attacks Rey…Mike Awesome springs into action at ringside and attacks Kidman…Rey rids the ring of Skipper, but that delay allows Storm to stick a boot up as Rey leaps in for a Bronco Buster…Gunns and Tygress go at it…Stevie yells LOOKIT THE YAKS and Duggan’s crazy ass says, and I swear he did, “That’s a whole different kind of box! PENALTY BOX PENALTY BOX PENALTY BOX”…I…Did he mean to do that?...Was he double entendre-ing there?...I can’t even…By the time Storm catches a Rey springboard and eases Rey to the mat in a Canadian Maple Leaf, scoring a tap out, I am rushing to add this whole dope-ass TV segment to one of my good lists… We come back from what normally would have been a commercial break to Douglas and the Thrillers cackling about how their plan worked…We didn’t see that plan on account of a certain group of fucking morons who work at the WWE Network…Oh hell, let’s just do this now for the segments related to this angle… This week in stuff the morons at the WWE Network cut from this episode of Thunder which made it harder to understand this latest battle in the Shane Douglas/General Rection war: OK, so after Shane Douglas hired the Thrillers, Sanders booked the Misfits against Douglas, Stasiak, and Jindrak…Cajun and A-WALL still need to get a physical done to be cleared to wrestle…After that last tag match, Cajun and A-WALL went in search of the doctors, but were jumped by the Thrillers beforehand and taken out of the match… We’ll do the regular version of that section later on to cover the rest of what was cut… Okerlund interviews Rection, who says that he got two replacements for Cajun and A-WALL…Those replacements are the Insiders…Nash swats Okerlund on the ass… OK, that Shane Douglas, Shawn Stasiak, and Mark Jindrak versus General Rection and the Insiders match is next…I like all the tag matches on this show…More tag matches, please!...But first, less Shane Douglas doing pre-match promos, please!...Here’s another perfectly watchable match…It’s not as good as the previous match, but that’s obvious…Anything that makes guys like Stasiak and Rection watchable is good with me…Jindrak is totally outclassed by Page and throws a Christian Cage-like mat-smacking temper tantrum before tagging out to Stasiak…Stasiak calls out Nash…That goes poorly for him as you’d imagine…Of course the doofus who loses control of the match and ends up as FIP – both shoot and in kayfabe – is Rection…Tony S. informs us that the U.S. title match at Sin is now a First Blood Match, which is totally unnecessary…It doesn’t even make sense in the context of the feud, which started because Torrie got crushed in the corner…It should be a Dopey Valet With Bad Mic Skills on a Pole Match, logically…I mean, at least in the sense that Vince Russo defines the term “logic”… So, Rection takes some punishment…Douglas is so boring as a heel in control…Wait, hold on, just as I typed that, he cut off Rection as Rection crawled toward his corner with a weak boot once, then twice, but the best part is after that. He then backs up for one more targeted move and yells OHHHHH YEAH, HAHAHAAAAAAAA before landing his neck snap…That was pretty funny…The only thing I like about Shane Douglas is when he goes HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…The Thrillers rush the ring and attack Nash and Page as Rection goes for a hot tag…Douglas tries a chain shot, but Slick Johnson catches his arm and causes him to drop the chain…Douglas, disoriented, shuffles forward into a Rection powerslam that gets three…Rection immediately rolls outside, grabs a chair, and wards off the Thrillers...That was the best possible trios tag with this combination of wrestlers… Gene Okerlund wants Stasiak to back the hell off before he interviews Mike Sanders, who speaks for the rest of the Thrillers per usual…Sanders is certain that the Insiders and the Cat are both going down at Sin…Stasiak mad dogs Okerlund, who chuckles and promises to send a few buddies back home who pack crowbars to do a number on Stasiak’s ACLs… I don’t get why the Harris Bros. pulling a Twin Magic was a spot in that Nitro match against the Cat…I thought it was supposed to be a handicap match…Maybe it was actually one-on-one…I didn’t register that during the watch, but you know what?...I don’t care that much…One or both of the Harris Bros. is next wrestling Meng…Tony S. tells us that it’s one of Da/oR, not both of them…Obviously, both of these guys get their shots in on Meng…I miss all the tag matches from earlier…They try another Twin Magic, but Ra/oD eats a back suplex for three (!!)…The Harris Bros. attack Meng after the match…Kwee Wee makes a failed save before the Harris Bros. see a chance to attack a black woman and grab Paisley (sorry, but it was on a tee)…Kwee Wee pulls her out of the ring to safety, and Meng is able to get back up and lock a pair of TDGs on these shitty-ass brothers…Meng goes buckwild and beats up a couple of cruiserweights who try to stop him from clearing out referees…The TDG is still over as a move, even considering that this is a taped Thunder with crowd juicing… The Cat’s in a suit tonight, so he’s not wrestling…He’s with the extremely lovely Ms. Jones…He promises to get his job back from Mike Sanders at Sin…Well, since CEO Ric Flair is about to turn heel, he probably needs a babyface commissioner as a foil, so I’m thinking the Cat actually might win…I mean, WCW doesn’t need a) Flair to turn heel or b) a babyface foil for Flair in the commissionership position or for that matter c) a commissionership at all…But you know what I mean, if you’re a booking committee that is way better than any other committee since like 1998, but your ideas are still kinda hinky sometimes, you’d need to balance that back out… A fam who may or may not be a plant – maybe he’s not – is a Sanders backer, and the Cat calls him out and insults him (while fans lean away and point at him, trying to stay out of the line of fire)…Stop telling people you will EAT THEIR ASS LIKE A POT OF COLLARD GREENS, Cat…Unless, of course, you are preparing to have consensual analingus with them, which I guess in that case, you should totally tell them that…Sanders hits the stage to respond…He does his whole facetious “grizzled vet” routine on the mic…He also drops a BOMBSHELL on the Cat…The crowd chants WE WANT FAT ASS at the poor fan who I sort of hope is a plant at this point, and the Cat says, HEY MIKE, THEY WANT YOUR MOM and fake laughs…Sanders does that whole AT LEAST I KNOW WHO MY MOM IS thing which is absurd…Unless the Cat is adopted, I guess?...Still, no shame in that…The bombshell, by the way, is that Ms. Jones is technically the Commissioner’s Assistant, so she should technically work for him…They have a tiny mic battle, it seems to be agreed that she will work for whoever wins at Sin, and then the Cat and Jones dance…Well, maybe the Cat loses since I think Ms. Jones is off television soon, so they could just have Sanders fire her off-screen...This mostly existed to eat up a chunk of programming run, but the Cat yelling at random fans is a decent time… Great, back to tag matches!...Totally Buff faces KroniK, who should at least be face-leaning tweeners at this point…The latter team rules the ring from the jump, as Clark sends Luger to ringside while Adams hits Buff with a side slam for two…Clark tags in and the match settles down…Buff gets ragdolled for the first couple of minutes, barely surviving until he can hit a jawbreaker on Adams and change the tide of the match…No, scratch that tide changing…Adams explodes with a double clothesline on Totally Buff…No, wait, scratch that scratch of the tide changing…Buff low blows Adams as he sets up a Full Nelson Slam on Luger…OK, so Goldberg pulls up to the arena and hustles into the building…Apparently, we missed CEO Flair giving Goldberg a call…We’ll get there in a paragraph or two… Meanwhile, there’s an Adams hot tag…Clark tries a Meltdown, but Luger attacks him…The match breaks down…Goldberg slides into the ring…He runs at Buff with a spear…Buff bails out and he crushes Adams…Totally Buff take the opportunity to head out…Goldberg’s fine with destroying KroniK too, though…He grabs a mic and offers them some more of that work…They don’t want some more of that work, so Goldberg instead threatens Totally Buff… OK, while we’re here, let’s also say an early goodbye to Goldberg…WCW fumbled the bag…That’s it, that’s all I have to say about Goldberg…Glad he at least went on to get a couple of nice WWE paydays, though… This week in stuff the morons at the WWE Network cut from this episode of Thunder that has nothing at all to do with the latest chapter in the Shane Douglas/General Rection war: I can't find anything about CEO Flair calling Goldberg, so who knows what the commentators were talking about with a Flair phone call...Here's stuff that apparently definitely happened...KroniK are focused on getting back at Totally Buff in an interview with Okerlund…Extended hype for the only WCW Sin card there ever would be…Scott Steiner attacks Sid backstage…That’s it, but I have to mention that WCW’s marketing or whoever was responsible for PPV names seemingly got so disheartened by the end that when they were asked to start thinking up new names for some of their PPVs, they were just like FUCK IT, LET’S SEND THE EXECS AN EMAIL LISTING THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, AND ALSO SIN GENERALLY, WHICH MAKES EIGHT NEW NAMES AND NOW WE CAN ALL GO TAKE LONG LUNCHES OR PLAY MINESWEEPER INSTEAD OF DOING WORK FOR THIS COMPANY THAT MIGHT NOT EXIST SOON…I’m sorry AOL Amalgamated didn’t just keep WCW and renew Nitro and Thunder…I would have really enjoyed the August 2001 PPV WCW Gluttony… Syko Sid Vicious wrestles Scott Steiner for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in our main event…Before the match, Vicious has more footage he’d like played…Where’s the footage?...Sid claims that he beat Scott Steiner at Starrcade, actually…He yells a lot…Basically, he’s going to win the title and keep it no matter how many opponents he has at Sin…We don’t get any footage, dammit… After a series of spectral sales ads, commentary talks about the Fatal Fourway not having all the men in the ring at once or something…I don’t know, we’ll find out when I watch this show…Sid rolls Steiner early, but when he goes outside to follow up his attack, Midajah pops him in the back with the lead pipe…Steiner takes over after that…He can’t get three on a belly-to-belly, though…Steiner manages to go low after leaping into a goozle, but he immediately gets caught on a duckdown and DDT’d (!!)…Sid makes his comeback and even wins an obligabrawl, but when he sets up for a powerbomb in the ring, a man in the Mystery Man costume attacks Sid…Sid wards off his attack and yanks off the mask…It’s Jeff Jarrett…Meanwhile, CEO Ric Flair walks onto the stage with the Mystery Man beside him…That’s our show… More tag matches, more Tony S., and more Stevie Ray, please…Thunder remains the most consistently watchable (non-WCWSN?) WCW television show in the Nitro Era to the dying end…WOOO…

Maricopa County is as Wild West as you can get. "I'll build it/run it/do it on tribal land" is a regular shady businessman approach down that way, whether it's realistic or not.

I propose that we buy a failing, uninsurable condo in Florida and then run Game of Death-style fight competitions in that sucker. We'd make so much money, folks.

RTSes on console, though...I can't do it. I think it's neat that Nintendo is going deep on these releases, especially from some of the Japanese third parties who published with them in the early '90s.

I will say this about Tony Khan - he targeted the whales in the wrestling fandom effectively (probably because he is one on the ultimate level, financially). Who cares if you only get 650K watching your show if those ratings make your network happy AND most of that 650K is happy to spend their spare entertainment dollars on your wrestling show because they are deep into the hobby as you are? It'd be too easy to say that TK was just the guy with using his inheritance money and connections to do wrestling for hardcores at a better production level, etc., than others. That's a risk he took with that money, this idea that he could get a sizable group of modern hardcore fans to stay invested in his proudct, and he did well to capitalize on his cash and connections and basically develop a stable second national wrestling company to fill what was a nearly two-decade-long vacuum.