Smelly watches every Nitro-era Nitro, Thunder, Clash, and PPV while sitting and sometimes maybe standing

[SirSmUgly]

Fall Brawl 1997 notes:

Link to follow-up Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/7/#findComment-1294073

• The Eddy Guerrero/Chris Jericho opener is on one of those WWE DVD collections I have - maybe Eddy's Cheating Death, Stealing Life? - so I have re-watched it more recently than I've re-watched most 1997 WCW. It's a very good opener, and Eddy's got a lot of heat on him, so a title change is the right choice. The match is also quite good, which is no surprise. Jericho keeps Eddy grounded, which makes sense. He's the bigger guy, so he needs to lean on Eddy. Eddy was just the bigger wrestler on the previous Nitro against Rey, and Eddy works as the big man by hitting a series of bombs. It's cool to see that Jericho's work as a big man is more focused on leaning on Eddy and working him into pinning positions. Two different approaches for smaller guys being the bigger wrestler in the match, both effective. One of the nice things about this Cruiserweight division is that you could see how wrestlers would change their approach depending on whether or not they were the bigger or smaller cruiser in the ring, and it feels like each of these wrestlers has a distinct approach to each of those situations. That's a little something that makes this division work so well.

 

• Anyway, Eddy wins this with a Frog Splash after he reverses a Jericho superplex attempt. The Cruiserweight title had quite the journey in 1997, especially this Syxx -> Jericho -> Wright -> Jericho -> Eddy -> Rey series of switches that happens only over a few months. It works, though, because everyone is so good that it's believable that the competition would be tight enough to have guys straight up beat each other at a moment's notice. It also helps that the matches were no less than good and the one at the end of this series of switches is a stone cold classic. Not a Stone Cold classic, a la Austin/Angle at Summerslam '01, but a stone cold classic. 

 

• The Steiner Brothers and Harlem Heat have a decent match, though it's nothing special, and it feels like these teams have been feuding off and on for a loooooooooong time. The Steiner Brothers' tag titles victory has been held off for probably, what, a year almost at this point? Bischoff needs to move it along with some of these arcs. Scott Steiner and Booker T continue to build the chemistry that would carry through to their matches in 2000 and 2001, which generally delivered IIRC. Though I am somewhat cold w/r/t the entertainment level of this bout, I must say that the crowd is quite into the whole thing. I did fall for Harlem Heat getting a finish off the Heatseeker, but it's only a 2.9, and Stevie falls to a clothesline/bridging back suplex combo only seconds later. The Steiners are finally the number one contenders to the tag titles, which since they cleanly beat the Outsiders like six or seven months previous to this match, should have been their status way the heck earlier. 

 

• Alex Wright and Ultimo Dragon have a rematch of their Clash 35 TV title encounter. As good as that match was, this match is verging on dreadful. Commentary tries to find a narrative through line, though there really isn't much of one, at least in kayfabe. However, I wonder if the champ called each match. Dragon was the champ on the excellent Clash encounter, but Wright's the champ in the rematch, and it looks like he ran out of ideas pretty quickly. He has an awful, crowd-killing heel control segment that genuinely felt like it was twenty minutes long. Around the time he was two minutes into about eight minutes of working a shitty chinlock over two separate match segments, I felt like I could see it on the poor fella's face that he was out of ideas and trying to figure out what to do. This match was entirely too long, and while the finishing segment was fine in a vacuum (Wright counters a Dragon Sleeper and wins with a German Suplex), it did zero to get the crowd back. I didn't expect a match as good as the Clash match or anything, but this was well below any reasonable expectations that I had for it. 

 

• Gene Okerlund points out Tony Schiavone's lapse in throwing it over to him for a segment. Then, the nWo's "Arn Anderson Sketch Guys" (Nash, Syxx, Konnan, and Buff) storm through said segment, and Okerlund has the nerve to talk about how rude they are. Oh, as rude as pointing out a momentary pause that your buddy on commentary made when throwing it over to you? That level of rude? Anyway, the nWo knocked out Curt Hennig, but not really because it's a ruse (both in the kayfabe and shoot senses). The Horsemen are WCW's team for War Games tonight in a late switch by acting WWF Commissioner acting WCW Commissioner Roddy Piper, so the nWo countered by buying off Hennig. Oops! In Piper's defense, his decision was because Luger and DDP, two members of that team, have been beefing lately. 

 

• Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring to wrestle Dean Malenko because none of the other Horsemen wanted him in their group and chose to pursue Curt Hennig instead. Oops! Jarrett is not long for WCW - he'll be back on Raw in mid-October - so this is his WCW PPV swan song. For now, at least. It's a pretty good match, and really, watching Jarrett's whole run this past year has made me re-evaluate him. He was in a number of good bouts and a couple that were great, or at worst verged on great, against Giant and Benoit. He came in as a face who was excited about TRADITION, though, and that killed him dead almost immediately. The dude just comes off as naturally unlikeable, but he's a terrible heel and a great fighting babyface in the ring. The reverse is true in his character work (though his heel ringwork during this run was good, just not as good as his babyface work). When he comes back to WCW in 1999, he's going to get the biggest push of his life as a heel who kabongs dudes with guitars, and I can't blame him for then doing that for the next decade because he got over doing it. You do what gets you over, I understand that, but it's a shame because aesthetically, he's so much better working as a face. The caveat is that this comes from someone who thought his "sympathetic dad trying to hold things together for his kids" period in TNA after his first wife passed was far and away the best version of him in that company.

 

• I digress as much as Taz apparently does. Jarrett wins this match with the Figure Four and ostensibly gets another shot at Mongo McMichael and the U.S. Championship at Halloween Havoc, but that'll never happen. It's interesting that Bischoff booked Jarrett to win here when Jarrett was so close to being out of contract and hadn't agreed to a new one. 

 

• The "Arn Anderson Sketch Guys" cut a promo. They plan to retire the Four Horsemen in War Games tonight. Well, the Three Horsemen. Wow, these guys cannot settle on four active Horsemen for anything this year. 

 

• Wrath and Mortis vs. the Faces of Fear is a nice way to give Vandenberg's guys something to do besides wrestle Glacier and Ernest Miller, neither of whom have been on TV lately, come to think of it. This has been a good mini-feud on TV for the past month. People love that backdrop/powerbomb combo move the Faces of Fear do. It wakes them up a bit. This is another solid match. I love that Tony S. calls the ref "Shooter" Curtis, a little shout out to the Busaiku knee/facelock two-piece he served up to some bum who rushed the ring last Nitro. Vandenberg gets involved and his boys have some nice offense in control - the match is pretty much a bombfest starting about three minutes in - and we get a tower superplex spot that actually makes sense because Mortis, who is on top of the tower with Barbarian, is also hurt! It leads to a hot tag, and the desk talks about how the move backfired because Mortis didn't control his fall. Sometimes, people all sell that move, but it always seems so contrived and the selling is often cursory before getting to the next move. This one helped stitch the match together.

 

• Meng double-Tongan Death Grips Vandenberg and Mortis, but while he's doing that, Wrath dispatches of Barbarian and catches Meng from behind with a Death Penalty for three. Vandenberg really does whatever he needs to when it means that his guys will win. Top-class manager, that guy is. 

 

• Oh no, Benoit does a ton of talking in this Three Horsemen interview. I like that he just delivers his pitiful attempts at insults as though they're really good ones, so maybe people will also think that they're good insults, I'll say that much. I mean, he doesn't fool me. They stink. But I appreciate the "fake it 'til you make it" approach. 

 

• WCW is always down a man in these big matches against the nWo. This is like the third time this has happened in a major match on a WCW PPV in 1997. The Giant had to wrestle the Outsiders alone, WCW was down a guy in that big triple-threat elimination match against the Horsemen and the nWo, and now this. Plus we got a tag title match that ended up being one-on-one for the tag titles when Scott Hall went to rehab and Scott Steiner got removed from the match in a stupid way to even it up. Bischoff really loved this booking trope, huh?

 

• The Giant is wrestling Scott Norton? They really have nothing better to do with LE GEANT~? Vinnie McMahon Jr. booking the Big Show like ass for a huge chunk of Show's run there is a fairly common talking point, but I'm not sure the booking of WCW babyface Giant, who is very over, is pointed to as a massive error like it should be. Bischoff is wasting this guy. Not that this matchup is bad. It's another solid match. The Giant suplexes Norton on the floor, and it rules. But look, the Giant deserves better. He already killed Savage off, sure, but there are other options. The Outsiders have been ducking the Steiners. The Steiners have wrestled Harlem Heat about five hundred times the last few months. Why not shunt Hall or Nash into a quickie feud with the Giant? Hall's probably the best option as a) he can eat a loss and be just fine, and b) he is excellent when he's wrestling small against a bigger babyface. So, the match: The Giant does a kip-up and a dropkick and the crowd loves it and it's pretty great! Chokeslam, three, huge pop for the big man. Can we give him something to do that isn't "uh, we're all out of ideas, I guess let's turn him heel again?" 

 

• Lex Luger and Dallas Page have our second Clash 35 return match of the night; they face off against Scott Hall and Randy Savage. The crowd is VERY into the face team. Luger kills the heels, but during DDP's FIP segment, Hall stomps Luger out in the no man's land between the two rings until Luger's wedged between the rings. Everybody else goes into both rings and does all sorts of fun spots to differentiate this tag match from the previous tag matches. Scott Hall knocks out Mark Curtis because why the fuck not, so Larry Zbyszko comes down and faces off with Scott Hall, which distracts Hall enough for Luger to pull himself out from between the rings and sneak up behind. Larry Z. shoves Hall backwards into a Luger schoolboy, then counts a quick three. The nWo does this sort of fuckery all the time to their benefit, so I'll allow it. 

 

• It's War Games! What was the last good one of these? 1994, yeah? 1996 was actually pretty decent, I think. That could ostensibly be the last good one. Or maybe tonight's War Games, considering that I remember zero about it! But probably not. Let's run through this thing. First in are Chris Benoit [Horsemen 1] and Buff Bagwell [nWo 1]. Tony S. whines about no one coming out to help the Horsemen and fill the open spot in the match. Hey, Ric Flair's ineffectual leadership made this mess, and they should have to deal with it. Benoit tries to finish Bagwell early, which makes a ton of sense! He whiffs on a flying headbutt, though. Oops! The crowd chants for Sting. Mmm, I think maybe the Horsemen have gone to that well and pissed in it one too many times at this point, WCW fans.

 

• The five minute period ends with, and you will be shocked to find this out, the heels having won the coin toss to enter next and hold a two-on-one advantage. The nWo feels right at home with a one-man advantage at this point. Konnan [nWo 2] enters in time to miserably fail at helping Buff beat up Benoit, at least for awhile. Finally, the heels are on top for the last minute of the period. Mongo McMichael [Horsemen 2] enters at the end of that period and cleans house with clotheslines and slams and clubberin' and such. The Horsemen basically dominate this period, and when it ends, Syxx [nWo 3] enters the match. 

 

• You know what the issue is with this match? I don't buy the hatred. They needed more than two weeks to build this match up. They sort of hot-shotted the feud with the retirement and then the follow-up mockery of said retirement happening in such a compressed space. So, Syxx gets in and basically gets murdered; it might as well be three-on-three for 45 seconds of this period. Finally, Benoit is distracted by trying to wrap Syxx into knots, and the nWo grabs control of the match. Meanwhile, Curt Hennig comes down with his arm in a sling. It looks like he'll be participating. What courage, Tony S. says! That poor rube. 

 

• Ric Flair [Horsemen 3] enters the ring and WOOOs and chops and Syxx is in here getting his ass beat, pretty much. The Horsemen run both rings for the full two minutes, until Kevin Nash [nWo 4], gains entrance. Nash wrecks Flair, wrecks Benoit, and big boots Mongo off of Buff. Though Curt Hennig is at ringside, the crowd chants for Sting. Apparently, the only people with a shorter memory than Sting are WCW fans. The nWo keeps control until the period ends, at which point Curt Hennig [Horsemen 4] enters the ring and the Match Beyond begins. Hennig rips off his sling, takes out some handcuffs, and strikes the Horsemen with them. The crowd is making noise at this turn of events, but I feel like the noise is essentially, Hey, this is bullshit. This could just be my interpretation. Actually, they telegraphed the Hennig turn reasonably well over the past few weeks of shows, but we're in Winston-Salem, and I think this crowd just wants to see the Horsemen win. The nWo handcuffs Mongo and Benoit to the cage and then beat Flair down. Whenever Mongo or Benoit spits at an nWo member trying to get them to surrender, the crowd flares up with a cheer, but no, you're not getting any catharsis, Winston-Salem. The nWo basically obliterates Flair, and they threaten to crush Flair's head in the cage door before Mongo surrenders to save Flair...which of course doesn't work. Hennig slams the cage door on Flair anyway. The crowd is at an uncomfortably low buzz after that spot, but don't worry - the only thing that got killed tonight is Winston-Salem as a drawing town! 

 

• Riiiiiiiight HERE is where I've decided that WCW starts being inexorably booked into the ground. Not Starrcade 1997 or 1998, not the Fingerpoke of Doom Nitro, not Vince Russo's first turn as booker. Here. 

Link to follow-up Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/7/#findComment-1294415

[SirSmUgly]

Halloween Havoc ’97 notes:

Link to go-home Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/7/#findComment-1297006

• The opener between Ultimo Dragon and Yuji Nagata was interesting. At first, it felt a bit meandering, but at one point, Tenay mentions floating bone chips in Dragon’s arm, and not long after that, Nagata counters a top-rope rana by knocking Dragon to the apron and then draping his arm across the cables. That played into a great finish where Dragon locked on the Dragon Sleeper for the second time, but Nagata quickly and easily slips out and locks on a nasty armbar for the submission win. Post-match, Onoo puts Dragon out of wrestling with a kick, which I guess means that Dragon was headed back to Japan or Mexico for the upcoming future. Besides some sweet Nagata kicks, the best move in the match was a fan using his sign to revive Dragon after Dragon hit a moonsault to the floor and tumbled down the aisle. How thoughtful!

 

• Disco risks making some casual misogynistic remarks while cutting an interview backstage, so Jacquelyn comes to the table and tries to give Disco the business. Jackie's wearing a sweet Harlem Heat-themed bit of wrestling gear. 

 

• It's Gedo?! Of Jado and Gedo?! OK, sure! Ah, he's wrestling Chris Jericho. They just threw this match on the card, which makes sense because this card seemed like it was missing a match or two compared to other PPV cards around this time. Tenay puts Gedo over on commentary, and while TNA Tenay was a joke and the man isn't a very good lead PBP man, he is perfect in his role as secondary knowledgeable PBP/commentator hybrid in a three-person booth. I prefer three-person booths to two-person booths, but you have to be wise about how you book the two color commentator roles, or it can be awful. This is a four-man booth for the early matches as both Dusty and Heenan are there along with Tony S., but even though sometimes Dusty and Heenan are quiet for awhile, it still works. 

 

• Oh, the match! It's fine. Gedo is a dick and Jericho is a fiery babyface, and both men play their roles well. Jericho's not a good enough athlete to do that top-rope Frankensteiner, though. The match sort of gets ugly after that spot, though I did like Gedo's kneebreaker reversal. Gedo badly misses a top-rope dive, like he wasn't even close to Jericho, and submits to the Lion Tamer. They show the botched Frankensteiner again for some reason on replay. Tenay tried to sell it as Gedo blocking it, but Jericho was the one who crawled over and tried to get the cover after it happened. Hey, they can't all be winners, but no need to show it again!

 

• Debra correctly tells Gene Okerlund that he talks too much, and therefore, this interview was a success. Mongo storms in and wants his money back from Debra, but that didn't really work for Randy Savage w/r/t Elizabeth. Mongo should know since he spent some of that money as a Horseman. 

 

• There's not much I can say about one of the greatest matches to take place on American soil ever. Rey Misterio Jr. and Eddy Guerrero put on an all-time classic. I genuinely don't know how any booker worth his salt could watch this match and not think that he has two future main eventers. Rey's not the greatest on the mic, but he's fine and is the perfect fiery, never-say-die babyface. He's basically Ricky Steamboat for that era. Eddy is an elite heel and a pretty great face, though in fairness he only became a great face in his WWE run. Still, these two are clearly money and guys that you should build a company around. For as much as Vinnie Jr. gets shit for not pushing guys who are smaller, etc., even he mostly understood the money that was in these two. Misterio couldn't even get to U.S. Championship status in WCW, if I recall correctly. They had this guy in the mix for the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship instead of in Hugh Morrus's spot. I digress, but only because there's nothing else to say about the tight work, wild counters, and despicable heel Eddy getting his comeuppance that hasn't been said before. 

 

• Hogan and Bischoff do a kayfabe version of Shawn Michaels declaring the workplace to be entirely unsafe and refusing to wrestle unless Bret Hart Sting isn't allowed back in the building. This thing goes on FOREVER, though. Geez, man, they needed to fill some time this PPV, didn't they?

 

• Debra is out here with Alex Wright, which is a downer. I was hoping for Goldberg after the go-home Nitro. Wright/Mongo's not the worst matchup, and they did plant some seeds for Debra first abhorring and then being desperate enough to turn to Wright weeks ago, but I wanted to see Goldberg/Mongo. BOOOOO. Wright's jacket is dope. However, his snazzy jacket probably isn't going to make him the favorite against Mongo. He does manage to outwrestle the guy for the most part, but Mongo has the POWAAAAA. They have an okay match, but the end is the best part, as we get GOLDBEEEERG running in after Mongo hits a Tombstone and spearing and Jackhammering Mongo right behind the distracted ref who SOMEHOW hears and feels none of Goldberg murdering Mongo. The guy refuses to turn around! I mean, if it were on the other side of the ring, okay, I could suspend my disbelief, but come on. They should have had a ref knockout instead. Anyway, Goldberg is paid with Mongo's Super Bowl ring for killing Mongo. Goldberg kills Wright post-match just for fun. Whatever, as dumb as the ref distraction came off, I still enjoyed the match. 

 

• Now Savage and Liz are backstage to talk about stuff. By "stuff," I mean "Page." Also, Liz doesn't really talk, per the typical routine. Savage manages to promote Slim Jim while cutting his promo. What a professional. 

 

• Disco gets to do a solid stalling heel act here in his match against Jacquelyn. Quality work on his part. A DISCO SUCKS chant fires up even though people enjoyed dancing like goofs during his entrance five minutes ago. The desk has been terrible during this match talking about Hogan's walkout instead of helping to build the anticipation of Jackie getting her hands on Disco. She finally does (and gets two on a sunset flip). I was going to say something about Jackie not wearing, like, a sports bra or a top that would be more functional, but I didn't want to get all Smellynetico, and sure enough, her boob came out on a drop-toehold. The crowd popped for it, as did the desk. They do a great spot where Disco circles the ring, and Jackie's just smart enough to wait at a cutoff point and catch him. She beats his ass for a bit, and he bails and decides to take the countout loss...except Jackie chases him down and tackles him in the aisle. She backs him toward the ring and basically outsmarts him the whole time they're back in there. It's like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, sort of. Specifically one where Bugs is dressed up as a woman and has coconuts in his chest area to stand in for boobs. I mean, I can't believe they let her go out there in that top! Anyway, she hits a nice floatover DDT to a huge pop and it WAS very cool. Disco rolls through a crossbody for two, but is upset that it wasn't three and gets schoolboyed - schoolgirled, I mean - for three. I enjoyed it! Disco could have just done this months ago and kept getting paid. Imagine. 

 

• Ric Flair is all fire and brimstone righteous anger when he gets in the ring with Curt Hennig. Flair gets his robe back that the nWo took and cut the arms out of last PPV, but of course, commentary has fallen apart and is talking about Hogan. Terrible. We have this blood feud going on in the ring, it's been built up so well, and commentary have the orders to talk about Hogan. It's maybe the first time that it's been so bad that I think it is now detracting from the show. Hennig and Flair have this good back-and-forth match where Hennig tries to take as many shortcuts as possible and Flair fires up and through it; the U.S. Championship belt comes into play, and Flair eventually wraps it around Hennig's face and stomps it. Flair gets DQ'ed and destroys a couple refs so that he can try to strangle Hennig. Konnan and Vincent have to pull Hennig away while the refs peel Flair away. This was a good match that was hurt pretty badly by the awful commentary. 

 

• Savage cuts an '80s-ass Real Audio WCWwrestling.com promo with Mark Madden, but he's so good at this because he's playing the yelling down a bit and just doing VINTAGE MACHO MAN on the mic. I think there's room for his promo style in 1997, but he needs to cut the yelling a bit. 

 

• J.J. Dillon is back to talk about contract shenanigans with Gene Okerlund. Lots of UPS truck-level flash and sizzle! Bischoff comes out to talk office politics with Dillon and, look, the main event is back on, that's all you need to know. 

 

• Scott Hall and Lex Luger (w/special guest ref Larry Zbyszko) is a match that I'm into, though very weirdly, Luger hasn't had much TV time on Nitro to hype this match. Hall and Larry Z. have been all up in the videos, though. Hall toothpicks Larry Z. at the start and gets punished for it, but the match settles into lots of holds and Hall trying to cheat with Larry Z. watching him like a hawk. Hall's tan is a bit much, even for a group with Hulk Hogan in it. I'm not sure this match needed long surfboard spots, though. I mean, it's really dull and slow-moving, lots of "sit in a hold" spots. I'm not asking for another Rey/Eddie or anything, but these guys can go, and Hall knows how to wrestle as the overwhelmed smaller wrestler against a babyface powerhouse, even as big as he is. Hall tries to swing at Larry Z. and gets backdropped over the top rope as Z. ducks. The crowd is very, very into Larry Zbyszko, Troubleshootin' Ref. Finally, the match picks up, as Syxx and Bischoff try to run interference outside. Syxx is able to kick Luger when Bischoff has Larry Z. distracted, and Hall hits a Razor's Edge for three. Larry Z. asks for instant replay, though, and once he sees it, he restarts the match, which makes me wonder why all refs don't do this. Hall finally comes back to the ring and gets racked, so Syxx hits a kick and causes the DQ, and Bischoff and Hall jump Larry Z. Luger was a complete afterthought in this whole match. I think it stunk from booking to the work itself. 

 

• Randy Savage/Dallas Page is fine, I suppose. The crowd is tired and only somewhat wakes up when there's a crowd brawl, and I blame the previous match. The brawling is probably more exciting back in 1997, but man, Page head-first tossing Savage into the tombstones in the mock graveyard and bashing him over the head with them is great in any year. They try to wake the crowd up with all sorts of plunder, and they're generally successful at it - most of the credit goes to Liz breaking shit over the ref's head and choking Page with a cable. That was pretty good, and a great escalation of this match, because of her actions contrasting with her formerly demure character portrayal. Kimberly coming out to drag her away also riled up the crowd. But this is just okay, I think. It's an okay match in an okay-ish quadrilogy of PPV matches. I also don't get jobbing Page for like the third time in a row. This needed to be a feud ender won definitively by Page, underdog status be damned. The underdog's got to win the big one sometimes. Of course, Savage attacks Page on the stretcher post-match, so I'm sure WCW will continue this IMO somewhat mediocre feud all the way through to Starrcade. 

 

• Hogan and Piper have had two WCW PPV matches to diminishing returns, but the first one was legitimately a very good match and the second one was solid. I was interested in this third match, a cage match main event between the two, because I remember more of the discourse surrounding the match more than I remember the match itself. I don't think that Hogan and Piper deserve shit for being old guys who don't work hard because they absolutely do. I think the issues with the match largely surround the use of the cage, which is opened almost immediately with little struggle and which leads to a ringside brawl that basically we just saw a more amplified version of in the previous match. Consider the Michaels/Undertaker HiaC match at Badd Blood; Michaels got murdered and had to resort to utterly desperate measures halfway through the match to bust out of there. He had to jack a cameraman up and take advantage of the medics coming to scramble out. Here, everyone's out of the cage inside the first five minutes and there's run-in interference. The cage is rendered meaningless almost immediately. Hogan's trying his hardest to get over a desperation to escape Piper and the cage with his vocalizing, but it's not convincing considering how easily the confines of the cage are subverted. 

 

• It also doesn't help that we get a multiple Stings gambit as part of the match - and the aftermath, in which a face wins and is immediately beaten up rather than the crowd getting a chance to enjoy a win for themselves. Honestly, you can criticize this match for being poor for a lot of reasons, but the workers aren't one of them. They genuinely put in as much effort as they could. But the cage being a non-factor + many Stings = dud. Especially having a "fan" run in and get beaten up. 

 

• This show went south almost immediately after Jackie/Disco, though you could make the argument that the commentary for that match was so bad that the show tanked during the match. 

Link to follow-up Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/7/#findComment-1299343

 

[zendragon]

2 hours ago, SirSmUgly said:

Uncensored ’96 notes:

Link to go-home Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/2/#findComment-1214130

• Though I love WCW, its enduring reputation as a company (specifically in the Nitro Era) means that it’s probably right somehow that I’m ending the watch on Uncensored ’96 and a random 2000 Europe-only PPV.

 

• Uncensored 2000 is probably the worst WCW PPV of all time, but let’s find out together if Uncensored ’96 can give it a run!

 

• I don’t think it will, mind you, but that main event is vile. And the Alliance to End Hulkamania didn’t even work! It took Vince Russo’s scrawny ass to end Hulkamania in WCW! Shameful stuff on the part of the heels.

 

• The intro to this year’s show is all about the promotion of the clusterfuck cage match in which two guys fight off about fifty. Bummer.

 

• I don’t see why WCW hates Tupelo so much. What did Tupelo ever do to this company? Two straight Uncensored PPVs is too much for any city, much less a smaller one like Tupelo. Call me a typical self-important West Coast progressive if you must, but I am personally offended on Tupelo’s behalf!

 

• Well, at least our opener includes Eddy Guerrero! And, oh no, I'm going to dial that enthusiasm back a bit because his opponent is WCW United States Champion Konnan. THE FIRST ITERATION OF THE FILTHY ANIMALS PRE-EXPLODE. Since, as we have established in an earlier review, Konnan drops the gold to Flair, this match might well end with Eddy jobbing to fucking Konnan. I’m rooting for a DQ. Tony S. reminds us that this is the only title match on the whole show, which is bananas. Pay-per-views happen on TV! Book the TV champion on these shows! The whole point of the TV title is that you can stick it on a good worker who spits out fun eight-to-ten minute matches and then have them do that on your broadcasts!

 

• Anyway, Konnan ups his mat game a bit here and Eddy is Eddy. This is a pretty easy watch, especially considering that Konnan is a part of the proceedings. Eddy is just one of those guys who is extremely watchable. He has this nice legbar-into-Figure-Four transition that is just so aesthetically pleasing, as one example. Konnan works hard, but you watch his sequences right after Eddy’s, and boy, the gap in what we as kids would often call “technical wrestling skill” is apparent as heck.

 

• The first few minutes are enjoyable, with lots of reversals on the mat and both guys slowly trying to assert their leverage over one another and twist one another into knots. I’m a sucker for this sort of thing if worked even remotely competently, and between the two, this certainly is. When they fire up and do a quick sequence of trips and rope runs, the crowd is into the escalation, and they clap and do a little yelling when Konnan frustratedly slaps Eddy and Eddy responds with a slap of his own. An ED-DY chant starts up because Tupelo recognizes that Eddy rules. Konnan tries to get a KON-NAN chant going, and it does in a portion of the crowd, but the rest of Tupelo is like Steve Buscemi in that they collectively say Nah, fuck all that and redouble their noise on the ED-DY chant.

 

• I think I’d go so far as to say that I like this match enough to watch it again at some point, and we’re not even at the finish. Eddy keeps getting bested in sequences and bailing; Dusty and Heenan are doing a fine job on color of discussing the kayfabe strategy of both men in the ring. It’s the sort of solid match with good commentary that people think of when they think of how enjoyable WCW could be when it stuck to focusing on the wrestling in the ring.

 

• Eddy armdrags Konnan to the floor; Konnan is the one to walk it out this time. He gets back in the ring and tries to monkeyflip Eddy; Eddy floats through the air, lands on his feet, and reels off a run of crisp offense ending with a top rope splash to Konnan on the floor; then, he slaps hands with an excited kid at ringside. This man was pretty much born to be a professional wrestler. If you told me a mad scientist who was also an avid fan created him in a lab, I would believe you.

 

• Konnan and Eddy trade close two counts on flash pinfall attempts (and a Konnan lariat with a regular ol’ lateral cover). Konnan tries to end the match with a bomb, specifically a crucifix bomb, but it only earns two. The champion goes to the top, where he is caught by Eddy, but he rectifies that mistake by shoving Eddy all the way out to the floor and following up with a suicide dive. Konnan tries to then suplex Eddy back into the ring and stuffs a go-behind with another lariat and another two-count. He decides to go up again and gets caught again, but this time, he can’t keep Eddy from landing a superplex.

 

• How will this match end? If I didn’t know the title lineage, I’d think that Eddy had a pretty good shot at taking this one. His 2.8 off a super small package had me going, and I knew that couldn’t be the end. As it turns out, Konnan accidentally (?!?!) headbutts Eddy in the balls and gets a quick three count, which is a weak finish, but which doesn’t take away from the rest of this match being very enjoyable. Konnan tries to make friends in the end, but Eddy is not willing to patch things up on account of Konnan headbutting him in the sack. Fair!

 

• What I think I like about WCW’s house style the most, particularly on PPV undercard signles bouts, is the long feeling-out processes that would sometimes happen. That’s something that got me into the bout as wrestlers would progressively pick up the pace, with the kayfabe idea being that as wrestlers lost their cool/got impatient/got tired/picked up small injuries from the mat work, the question for the viewer would be who would make the big mistake that cost them the match. I don’t feel like that happened in the same way in other companies, even in matches that had feeling-out processes, and I feel like most matches from about 2002 on in the companies I’ve watched have openings that are more action-y and tend to be centered around establishing character beats or very simple action-focused narratives than about building a narrative of move/counter-move (e.g.: monster heel shoves face off of three straight offense attempts, tosses him to ringside, face looks at heel as if he doesn’t know what to do with him, heel does a taunt in the ring, Michael Cole points out the obvious about the face having a size disadvantage and the heel being cocksure about his ability to control the ring). 

 

• This match kind of did that, but also, the feeling-out process was longer and more protracted and focused on who could get through the other’s defenses first and force a mistake. In any case, I think WCW’s openings of this type have  a different feel because the progression of the action doesn’t come off as so limited to a few stock narratives like a lot of the other televised wrestling that I’ve seen. It feels a lot more like the handful of Lou Thesz matches I’ve seen where he’s obviously grappling for an opening with his opponent, or maybe like WoS in that there is a lot of work done on the mat to build to a later opening for the wrestler or maybe to induce an opponent to make a mistake five rounds later. I’m not sure if I’m entirely making sense here, but what I can definitely say is that I do like these longer opening segments in WCW undercard singles matches, even if they sometimes feel a bit aimless. When they don’t feel aimless, they’re great at making me suspend my disbelief and get into the kayfabe strategy of the match, so the benefits to them far outweigh any potential negatives.

 

• Gene Okerlund teases an interview with an (allegedly) pants-shitting Col. Robert Parker. First, though: Chat online with the Giant, who makes goofy facial expressions while messaging with you on Compuserve! I forgot that Giant/Loch Ness happened, but it’s happening tonight. Well, at least there will be spectacle in that whole deal. Col. Parker and Dick Slater step into the picture; Parker promotes his match with Madusa that is also booked for this show. He hypes it by cutting a goofy-ass promo that cracks me up in which he promises to beat Madusa for Gene, Elvis, the populace of Tupelo, and THE MALE AGENDA. Okerlund and Slater find this rant to be pretty funny, and they’re not wrong!

 

• YEAH, it’s a Lord Steven Regal (w/Jeeves) sighting! He’s wrestling Fit Finlay in a match that people love, but that I remember thinking was a little long in the tooth and (here's a word that will show up quite a bit in this review) aimless in my last viewing. Then again, Finlay walks the aisle, slaps Jeeves, and then clobbers Regal with his studded jacket. They proceed to beat the shit out of each other. I hope to admit that my last analysis of this match was dead wrong, I’ve got to tell you, and Finlay swinging for the fences on a lariat and then kicking Regal in the spine gets a pop from Tupelo and also from me.

 

• Those last moves apparently wake Regal up, who throws a couple of meaty European uppercuts and then snugly locks Finlay in a cravat, transitioning into a chinlock that traps Finlay’s arm so that Regal can throw a few punches. This is another counter-wrestling opening that spends time on the mat, but with way more hard strikes and Finlay tossing Regal into the rail and post in a brawl outside the ring.

 

• What I think is better than the stiffness of this match is the meanness. Here’s what I mean, for one example: Finlay sinks in an armbar…and then petulantly slaps Regal in the face with the back of his hand while locking him up. That slap didn’t hurt and wasn’t stiff, but it was disrespectful. That sort of thing does it for me more than stiff lariats do. Then again, these men were in what will likely end up being the first match from the Nitro Era to make the My Favorite Matches List because they piledrove each other on the hoods of tiny Japanese cars, so who am I to make a case for subtlety?

 

• These fellas throw tons of strikes at one another, and all of them look great. Most of them sound pretty good, too. They also actually work their holds; either the person giving the hold is cranking it or otherwise active in doing something to enhance it or the person in the hold is working their way out of it. I still think this match gets a bit more praise than I’d give it, but I do like it and think that I’d rate it more highly than the last time I saw it.

 

• Both men fight over a chair on the floor; then, they fight over a suplex on the apron. Regal wins that, suplexes Finlay from the ring and to the floor, and then drops a Cactus Elbow variant besides. The other thing about this match that I think makes it especially notable is Regal working like he particularly doesn’t like this Northern Irish heathen and doing out-of-character stuff like dropkicks or that apron elbow drop. Heenan and Dusty struggle with their geography, unsure of how far Ireland is from London, as part of a discussion about the geopolitical drivers of Regal’s rage toward Finlay that is making him wrestle so aggressively tonight. Tony S., on the other hand, is genuinely enjoying the beating that these men are giving one another and therefore focuses on that rather than on the interesting and complex internal politics of the United Kingdom.

 

• OK, I should have started a special feature called IT’S DUSTY TIME in which I recounted the best of Dusty’s eclectic vocabulating and prosciferating on commentary, especially as someone who also believes in adding new words with telligible definitions to our lexicon. Anyway, it’s too late for me to do that, but IT’S DUSTY TIME anyway. Commenting on an exchange in which Regal halts his attack to talk shit to Finlay and gets a palm strike right in the face as a response: “Well, when you take out time from your busy schedule to discuss somethin’, things like that can happen. You see there? Lord Steven Regal wanted to soliloquate with him, wanna go ‘head and repetend him for somethin’, and brother, he left-hooked him and you see what’s happened now, Regal’s on the bad end of that.” MAGNIFICENT.

 

• This match is very much one where two men beat the shit out of each other for twenty minutes, going slower and slower because in kayfabe all the brawling has taken it out of them and because in reality, they have worked their asses off and are probably exhausted. They fight up the aisle and toss one another into the DOOMSDAY CAGE. At that point, Robert Eaton and Dave Taylor rush the ring and put the boots to Finlay, which sparks a DQ. Oh yeah, that’s the other reason this match didn’t land for me as well; Finlay wins by DQ instead of the bout having a more definitive finish. Finlay gets up and rushes down all three Blue Bloods after the bout because HIS NAME IS FINLAY, AND HE LOOOOOOVES TO FIGHT. Good match and certainly good-list worthy, but they had a better match on Nitro destroying Datsuns in my opinion.

 

• Tony S. kicks it back to Gene Okerlund, who interviews Jimmy Hart and the Giant. Look, I appreciate worked heights and weights, but billing Loch Ness at 750 pounds is a stretch. The Giant says he’s not going to rhyme or offer up a riddle, but he does send up a weak metaphor before threatening to take the gold from Ric Flair on the upcoming Nitro. After kicking it back to the desk, we go back to Okerlund so that Okerlund can pimp the WCW Hotline and a rumor that one wrestler is leaving the ring for Hollywood. Alas, Hulk Hogan has no acting talent, so it unfortunately isn’t him. Okerlund then interviews Loch Ness, who cuts a barely passable promo on the Giant. Apparently, Jimmy Hart denied Loch Ness a shot at Hogan in the cage, which is—oh, who cares. The punchline of this interview is Gene basically being like FIX YOUR TEETH, DUDE and Loch Ness cutting a glare at Okerlund that apparently indicates the big man’s distrust of dentists or fluoride, or maybe just annoyance at Okerlund’s out-of-pocket, rude behavior.

 

• Well, we had two good matches stretching over forty-ish minutes of this two hour, forty minute long show, so now it’s time for Uncensored to live down to its reputation for the rest of our time together! Col. Robert Parker wrestles Madusa. Parker is in a suit and bolo tie. Wait, he gets rid of the tie and jacket, but otherwise, he is not exactly dressed for a fight. Madusa is breaking the flag code as usual, of course. Parker wins a couple of collar-and-elbows and is very proud of himself (Parker, hitting double biceps and grinning, yelling excitedly: LOOK AT THAT!). Madusa is amused at Parker thinking he’s doing something out here and immediately arm drags him. Look, what this match has going for it is a woman beating up a man, which Southern wrestling fans love as evidenced by not only my reviews, but Tupelo immediately getting behind Madusa and giving her a nice pop for body slamming Parker.

 

• Dick Slater walks out to support Parker, which doesn’t really keep Parker from getting his ass whipped. Madusa manages a struggle back suplex with a bridge, but Slater surreptitiously knocks her bridging leg out from under her. Parker then quickly covers and leans his considerable weight on her for three. This was the least of the man-vs-woman matches on WCW PPV from this era. Give me Jacquelyn/Disco or Gorgeous George/Charles Robinson instead any day.

 

• Hey, it’s Lee Marshall, who stands in front of a very stupid diagram of the DOOMSDAY CAGE that has been scrawled on a blackboard behind him. Forget that for now, though: Right now Marshall interviews the Road Warriors. Hawk and Animal can’t decide who starts the promo, but Animal wins out and yells about KICKIN’ BUTT as he usually does before Hawk promises to give Booker T. and Sting, reluctant tag partners as they are, severe brain damage that will cause them to be unable to control their bodily functions.

 

• Diamond Dallas Page is still trying to get Kimberly back, but instead of having a good match with Johnny B. Badd in which he fails to do so, he’s going to job to the goddam Booty Man in a "DDP leaves wrestling if he loses" match. FUCK. First, we get a Slamboree commercial. OK, Dave Penzer reiterates that the stip is that DDP has to retire if he loses, so maybe he won’t job to the goddam Booty Man. Two fans fall for the ol' hand-slap fakeout as Page comes to the ring. Meanwhile, here comes this dumbass fucking Ed Leslie, no Kimberly in sight. She is the only worthwhile part of his act. Hey, so what’s the kayfabe story on Kim and Page getting back together off-screen after this angle? Maybe Page humbling himself after all the losses he took, even with his Battlebowl victory at Slamboree, is what did it?

 

• Anyway, this is a match with Zodiac Disciple Booty Man, so suffice it to say that even though DDP is in this, I still just want it to be over. Page’s stalling is entertaining, of course, and Page gets what he can out of this bum. A significant chunk of this match really is Page complaining, stalling, and losing arguments with referee Nick Patrick. That’s smart: Page realizes that he should be entertaining by refusing to engage with Leslie for as long as he can. When he does engage with Leslie, he comically bumps for Leslie’s offense. OK, so here’s my big example: Booty Man wins a buckle bonk spot in the corner that ends with Leslie smashing Page’s face into the mat. Page wobbles to his feet, bumps through the ropes to the floor, woozily walks smack into the post, and then stumbles backwards and flips over the guardrail. Straight Looney Tunes stuff, sure, but it works for a goofy match with a guy like the Booty Man. It helps that Heenan points out that this sort of escalating bad outcome is par for the course for Page recently.

 

• Hey, it’s Kimberly! She comes to ringside in a cheerleader’s outfit that matches design with Booty’s attire. This match is too long despite Page being entertaining pretty much on his own. Page gets some control, finally, and Kimberly gets on the apron to try and encourage Booty. There is a long headlock spot. Page loses after taking a knee to the chest. Bad match, but very good performance from Page. I don’t recall the angle that allows Page not to retire from wrestling as one of the stips for this match claimed he would have to, and I watched the lion’s share of the TV from this time!

 

• Interview duty once again for Gene Okerlund: He talks to Jimmy Hart and Lex Luger. Hart says that tonight will be the last night that he leads Luger to the ring, then leaves Lex a custom airbrushed jacket and quotes a Bud Light commercial from 1991. Overcome with emotion, Hart runs off all upset while Luger talks about the danger of this stupid Doomsday Cage and having to dip out on Sting and that Chicago Street Fight that he talked Sting and the Road Warriors into in the first fucking place, which is prime scumbag shit on his part.

 

• The winner of Loch Ness vs. Giant (w/Jimmy Hart) gets a shot at Ric Flair’s big gold belt on Nitro. Flair working his formula against Loch Ness would have been entertaining, actually. Not nearly as entertaining as Flair/prime athleticism Giant, but entertaining. Nessie walks out to Rey Misterio Jr.’s future music. No, not any of his rap themes. The first theme. There’s not a ton to say about this match, but big huge dudes throwing soupbones is always interesting on a baseline level to me. The Giant misses a corner splash and tumbles over the corner strut and all the way out to the floor because he is a very good athlete, and that big bump spot is a great visual. Loch Ness hitting an elbow (and then missing another one) is a cool “mass of humanity collapsing on one another/whiffing entirely” couple of spots. Then, since Giant can’t get Loch Ness up in the chokeslam, he simply legdrops Nessie for three in a nice, Hogan-hating touch. This was perfectly fine – better than Hogan/Haystacks would have been, in fact.

 

• Still standing in front of the diagram, Lee Marshall brings in Sting and Booker T. for an interview. Book cuts in immediately and swears revenge on the Road Warriors for costing he and Stevie a shot at the tag titles back at SuperBrawl. Then, he calls himself a “straight OG brotha.” Nothing notable in Book's promo, you're probably thinking, but you forget that Sting has yet to talk. The Stinger cuts in and repeats Booker's claim; Sting asking Booker if he’s truly “a straight OG brotha from Harlem, from the streets” is delightfully hilarious. Actually, low-key, I think whenever Sting and Booker are in one another’s orbits, they end up being fun together in one way or another, and this is true all the way through the existence of the Main Event Mafia. WCW really needed to pair them together more often. Sting tries to fire Book up by asking him questions about his toughness and rep and also by giving him a few light pushes to the chest; Booker responds as such: “Don’t make me knock you out right now, sucka.” See, these two are gold together! Whoa, then Sting calls the Road Warriors “Brothers in Paint,” which is ridiculous as that is a name reserved for legendary tag team Sting and Vampiro, long did they tag together. Anyway, Booker and Sting fire each other up, and this promo honestly made me want to see them just keep tagging together as an odd couple team. I liked their chemistry in this promo so much that I’m putting said promo on a good list.

 

• Unfortunately, we have to have the match after that segment. I hate to say that about a tornado tag, too. WCW never does these matches when they have the chance, so my instinct is to praise them when they do. My memory of this match is that this was a long, aimless brawl and that I thought it would be much better than it was when I first saw it, then again years later when I second saw it. The third time around? It’s still long, but I like it better. There are a couple of spots that the crowd is clearly into, particularly Road Warrior Animal crotching Sting and then Sting getting a measure of revenge by crotching Road Warrior Hawk a couple minutes later.

 

• Later on, as Booker tries to get a submission with an armbar in the ring, Sting dispatches of Animal, grabs a chair, and comes back to the ring to batter Hawk with it. Booker stands Hawk up, and Sting rings him up with a chair straight to the dome. That would be a fair finish in my opinion, but neither Sting nor Booker sees Animal walk back to the ring and grab the chair that they dropped; Animal hits the nominal babyfaces with it, and I say that because the crowd boos Animal and then cheers Booker for a Houston Side Kick that he lands on Animal.

 

• So, the first nine or ten minutes is good, but here is about where things drift into a territory that feels never-ending in its dullness. I again think if this match had gone twelve minutes with the wonky finish it gets, it would have been considerably better. As it is, WCW has once again made a mistake by not having a TV title match on the show that would eat up eight or ten minutes and allow them to shorten at least one matches that probably needed to be shorter. They put that title on Lex Luger – a mistake since he doesn’t need it and probably isn’t the best candidate for having the sort of entertaining TV matches that the belt holder needs to work. It was also a mistake to keep DDP’s losing streak going so long, in retrospect. They should have had Page get a last chance against Badd for the belt and win it this time around before Badd left for New York  though that wouldn’t help this particular card since Page was already booked to try and carry Ed Leslie to something watchable earlier tonight. Anyway, WCW did not utilize the TV title very well at all by this point, though they got much better with booking it through 1997 to about the middle of 1998.

 

• Dusty calls Booker’s aborted Spinaroonie a “whirlybird,” and this will be the only time I ever type this: Mark Madden’s call of that move was better than Dusty’s. Yuck. I feel incredibly dirty after typing those keys in that order to make that particular meaning using those particular symbols to express an idea. The crowd has lost energy at this point because this match keeps on going and going and going and going, much like, to speak of ‘90s commercials, the Energizer Bunny. They do wake up anytime someone’s penis gets pummeled, though. But boy, this goes on forever, uninspired and tired brawling abounding everywhere. We’re now twenty minutes in and the match hasn’t even made it backstage to set up for the finish.

 

• The crowd also gets up for Sting trying to survive, I will say that. There’s a long Sting beatdown during which the crowd claps for him and a kid insistently yells GET UP, STING from somewhere in the crowd. Sting’s comebacks all get cut off repeatedly, but I think it works to some degree, except that Sting eventually just walks away from one aborted comeback to go find weapons while Booker takes his place in receiving an ass kicking instead of us getting a full-blown Sting comeback. It sort of works that Sting comes back swinging a pair of brooms, but it doesn’t get the same noise that a protracted Sting comeback would…and Animal just cuts Sting off anyway.

 

• We are twenty-five fucking minutes in. You know what, I’ll tell you when they get done with the boring, aimless brawling and make it backstage for the finish. Finally, twenty-seven minutes in, Booker decides that he’s had enough of this match and walks out. Agreed, Book, but unfortunately, here comes Animal to keep fighting him. Animal bumps Luger while Luger pumps up backstage before the Doomsday Cage bout, then whiffs on a clubbing shot to Booker after Booker moves out of the way. Said clubbing shot instead hits Luger, knocking him into a garbage can. Luger, of course, is immediately enraged and attacks Animal. Stevie Ray hops in from off screen and helps Luger kick the shit out of Animal; Jimmy Hart grabs some tape and uses it to attach the down-and-out Animal to a pole backstage.

 

• After considering his newfound advantage in numbers, Booker is suddenly inspired to keep fighting! He goes back to the ring and beats up Hawk, but whiffs on a Houston Hangover. Stevie is there to whack Hawk with a chair anyway, and Booker covers for three to a surprisingly big pop. This absolutely did not need to go twenty-eight minutes! Stevie took that chair he was wielding backstage to beat Animal with it (Stevie: I WANT MY TITLES BACK, SUCKA) while Sting and Booker celebrated their victory in the ring. That made me laugh for some reason. I do think that the Road Warriors pissing two teams off at once and losing the numbers game in this big match is actually a good wonky finish in principle. Would that it happened in minute fourteen instead.

 

• Speaking of matches that are way too long, let’s have this extremely aesthetically ugly main event already. So, Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage have to work from the bottom to the top of the Doomsday Cage. They have to beat the guys scattered on each level of the cage before moving down to the next level and beating those guys, etc. It’s like a reverse The Raid scenario.

 

• Michael Buffer introduces this two-on-eight clusterfuck. Well, here we go with what is somewhat strangely our final Michael Buffer’s Ring Announcing Quality Control segment because I started this segment at a chronologically later point in WCW’s history before jumping back to this sho: Calls the Doomsday Cage “The Tower of Doom,” calls the Mega Powers “The Mega Force.” He recovers from there. Anyway, The Alliance to End Hulkamania includes Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Meng, Barbarian, Zeus Z-Gangsta, and the Final So holy shit, no, absolutely fucking not, he’s named the Ultimate Solution instead (w/Woman, Ms. Liz, and Jimmy Hart). I guess Pillman dipped out on this match in storyline and also maybe in kayfabe because HE’S NUTTY. WCW is jobbing all these guys, one of whom is their world champion, to Hogan and Savage? Fuck off.

 

• This is going on the Absolute Dirt Worst list, obviously. The babyfaces start by destroying Ric Flair and Arn on the top level. Savage is the only guy who sells for more than two seconds. Flair slips a shiv to someone down below. This match fucking SUCKS, man. The babyfaces escape the third tier, which apparently means that Flair and Arn are eliminated. I thought it was a pinfall deal. But whatever. Savage goes to the second floor and is immediately selling. Hogan goes to the second floor and beats up four guys while Barbarian chokes out Savage. You get the idea. They’re only on the second tier and there are still twenty minutes in this recording!

 

• The Hulkster is at his least sympathetic and most selfish in this match. What inner turmoil was he going through with being about the fifth-most-liked babyface on this show that he felt the need to have Bischoff put him over this many guys and then decided to barely register pain or that he was in trouble at all along the way?

 

• In a nonsensical touch, Hogan and Sullivan fight to the floor, Savage soon following, which should mean by the rules that Tony S. established on commentary that Hogan and Savage have won. However, nothing matters and WCW never applies its stips for big matches with any consistency, so who actually cares? Hulk Hogan and matches with stipulations that don’t matter on Uncensored shows are low-key a legendary duo. This match might be worse than his match against Flair in the Uncensored 2000 main event, and that is saying something considering how awful that strap match was. These fellas have made their Uncensored 1999 match, which generally sucked, look like some sort of classic by comparison.

 

• This big reverse-The Raid match transitions into a tornado tag match in the regular ring between the Mega Powers and Sullivan/Luger. There’s a big DOOMSDAY CAGE MATCH title underneath the split screen as Hogan and Sullvan pair off in the ring while Savage and Luger have what is yet another floor brawl in tonight’s preceedings. The cage, of course, has been escaped halfway through this fucking bout and is nowhere to be seen in either shot. I’m not sure Tiny Lister or Jeep Swenson have actually done anything in this match, which I suppose is a blessedly easy way to make a paycheck. Wait, no, there they are to drag Hogan and Savage back to the cage even though Hogan and Savage have already walked out of the cage right past them and they were therefore eliminated. Holy shit, this match is terrible.

 

• Hogan actually sells for Zeus Z-Gangsta. This is staggering. Legit the only guy Hogan spends time selling for is not the company’s world champ, not Lex Luger after a hot return, but Tiny fucking Lister. Arn and Flair join the stars of Friday and Batman & Robin in the lower level of the cage to beat down the babyfaces, and oh, who cares. This is all complete nonsense. Here’s the finish: Hogan is giving  enough to let Savage pin Ric Flair after Hogan takes Flair (and everyone else) out first.

 

• Well, the first two matches were good, and I personally love Sting and Booker interacting, but this show was suboptimal as is typical for this underwhelming series of PPVs.

 

• One final note on the method that I used to complete the lion's share of this watch-through: I sure hope TKO sticks with Peacock as their PPV partner because that means the archives will also stay up. These archives are invaluable, and I know a shareholder-focused company like TKO doesn't give a fuck about transferring those archives to another company's service or making sure that wrestling history stays easily available for fans who would care to review it. 

Link to follow-up Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/3/#findComment-1215269

I think Eddy might be Konnan's best opponent (at least in WCW) I remember them having another good match when he was NW-CHOLO as well. I liked the Finlay -Regal Brawl but man in went down from there. WAY too much mid 90's Ed Leslie on this show. I got to say as far as sp00ky wrestlers go a Buttocks Obsessed Ed Leslie is down right terrifying I run too!

Loch Ness v Giant feels like something that would have been better suited for a Nitro than a PPV match. And that Tag match would not end!

And The Doomsday Cage! Impossible to follow what was going on, plus it seemed like the idea was to fight your way down and that didn't happen. Yay more Bootyman! so we can job Flair

[SirSmUgly]

Millennium Final (2000) notes:

Link to go-home Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/52/#findComment-1417072

• Hallo, lieber Leser! Es ist Zeit für einen letzten Rückblick auf das WCW-Programm: WCWs exklusiver PPV Millennium Final in Deutschland!

 

• Before I go any further, endless thanks to twiztor, who posted this show for my perusal and who has been incredibly helpful during this thread in linking me to video of things that I needed to complete reviews or to get more context for a side-project that WCW was promoting. His contributions have been a much needed and much appreciated part of working through all of this Nitro Era goodness (and badness).

 

• Do you know what kind of money I would pay for an audio overlay of Tony S., Stevie Ray, and Mark Madden calling this show? Well, not a lot, but something, at least.

 

• Hype video: WCW is visiting Germany here in November of 2000, which means a) it’s Russo-free and b) Alex Wright-heavy in the promotional material!

 

• Before I met my wife, I dated a young lady who was a native German speaker, which led to me taking two years of German and failing to learn very much of it...though oddly, I can get the occasional full sentence and can also pick out key phrases. I think I prefer to learn a language by getting the grammar discussion in English and then being immersed, like going to an English/[the second language] school in the land of [the second language]. It’s still my goal to become bilingual before I shuffle off this mortal coil, long-since-hardened brain pathways for learning language be damned!

 

• This recording has the pre-show attached, which is cool. The voice-over guy runs down the wrestlers at this show and then we get a blip from Sting, who talks about the importance of winning the WCW European Cup in Germany many years ago. We see some video of what was probably a sick encounter between those two because they always had great matches. I guess we’re getting another WCW European Cup match and/or tournament tonight? Anyway, this is part of a longer thirty-minute pre-show before the show actually starts.

 

• In this thirty-minute pre-show: Disco Inferno, Alex Wright, Brian Adams, and Major Gunns go training! I’ve wanted to go to Germany for most of my life, but that want became more earnest after I saw Run Lola Run in high school. Tom Tykwer was the person to send me on my first WHOA, INDIE MOVIES FROM OVERSEAS ARE AMAZING trip. Anyway, now we get this bilingual German interviewer smoothly switching from German to English to interview Sting, who is in fact defending that European Cup he won back when he was Surfer Sting years ago. Sting is wrestling, uh, someone, but he’s as ready as he can possibly be considering the slapdash nature of professional wrestling matchmaking and is glad to be back in Germany. He also talks about being healthier now than he was when he defeated Vader for the Cup back in 1994. Hey, was that Vader/Sting Cup match on the same tour where Cactus Jack lost his ear on the hangman spot?

 

• Since I’m asking so many questions right now: Is it just me, or are shows that aren’t in North America a special level of exciting? I’m actually genuinely stoked to watch some WCW right now.

 

• More pre-show: German kids at an autograph signing are yelling DON’T HATE THE PLAYER, HATE THE GAME?! How did that catchphrase get over?! Hey, Axel Schultz is special ref for the main event. 

 

• Yet more pre-show: ACHTUNG, ACHTUNG, HERE IS ALEX WRIGHT to cut a promo in his home language about maybe possibly being tag champs with Disco Inferno (who got legit injured and never actually won or defended a tag title alongside Wright) and trying to out-think and outmaneuver corrupt commissioner Mike Sanders.

 

• Even more pre-show: Kevin Nash is next up to interview after some more shots of fans meeting wrestlers. He prefers Germany to England, especially for the beer and the ladies. I mean, I want to argue against this, but I can’t. Whatever, Germany only wishes it had Gardener’s World or Only Connect.

 

• Some more pre-show: An Alex Wright career retrospective in which he is shown beating Pat Tanaka in his WCW debut and Jean-Paul Levesque Hunter Hearst Helmsley (both names being mentioned by the voice over guy) on his first PPV show. He also holds a win over Chris Jericho for his first WCW title. We catch up with what he and Disco have been recently doing, which is mostly getting screwed out of the tag titles by the cheating commish (Nitro Show #261). After that…

 

• You guessed it, more pre-show: …Booker T. cuts an interview. Booker is still in the stage where he is being incompetently booked. Let’s see if he gets slaughtered by Scott Steiner on this show again. Booker appreciates the love he got, especially because the last time he was here, he wasn’t even a tag champion, much less the world champion. He compares himself to Ringo Starr. Uh, in terms of the reaction he got, not in terms of his drumming prowess. I wonder how the German dude is going to translate the phrase “It’s gon’ be on like a steamin’ pot of neckbones.” I sure do wish I knew enough German to follow said translation!

 

• Why not? More pre-show: Axel Schultz and Pam Paulshock kick off an awkward segment in which she leads him to Nick Patrick so that Patrick and the other WCW refs can teach him how to be a proper pro wrestling referee without resorting to short rights to the jaw to keep order. Schultz then cuts his own interview in German. Schultz's interview is soon followed by the Cat and the always lovely Ms. Jones. The interviewer, not understanding the historical weight of his request for the Cat to commence with the dancing for the crowd at home on account of he’s never lived in a country scarred by the long-term sociological and anthropological effects of antebellum slavery happening on its own soil or the resultant stereotyping that derives from these effects, is confused by the Cat’s somber refusal and further insistence that there is “more to [him]” than dancing. The Cat is simply here to beat up Mike Sanders, which considering Sanders’s kayfabe personality is definitely something worth taking a transcontinental trip to do.

 

• We’re running out of pre-show: Next up, the tag team champions Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire cut a promo in which O’Haire is frustrated at the high-carb offerings that soothe the German palette, claiming that they have softened up an ab or two of his since he’s been in the country. Culinary shots fired! This causes the interviewer to accuse the two of being paper champions whom Mike Sanders had to protect from a title loss to the Boogie Knights. Wright and Disco (or Wright's replacement if Disco is injured) really should win the belts on this show. After that, Sanders himself calmly interviews about being not only the new commissioner, but about the glory of Eagleland and its accomplishments, like landing on the moon and dumping cheap and unhealthy corn-based products on other countries. Also, he likes Sting. Seriously. He said that exactly: “I like Sting.”

 

• The pre-show is indeed coming to an end: Here is a rundown of the matches, and the dude doing the voice over calls Scott Steiner SIR PUMP-A-LOT, which is an underused nickname for the guy. I think maybe Nash also called him that once on a Nitro from around this time. The interviewer kicks us over to the show proper, and yes, I wrote two pages and about twelve hundred words on a pre-show. Hey, this is the last one of these Nitro Era shows! I’m going to do this right! Well, unless the matches on the show suck, in which case I’ll sort of rush us to their finishes.

 

• This opening to the wrestling show with masked guys yelling and doing cartoonish facial expressions is something!

 

• You know what’s nice about these shows? Seeing full arenas for WCW as WCW is in its death throes. Someone has a BRING BACK HALL banner as one of the first things we see during the crowd pan. Of course. That guy is eternally over everywhere. Lenz Retzer and Mike Ritter are our announcers, just in case a German DVDVR reader comes across this review and has helpful comments on these fellas and their work as commentators.

 

• I mean, holy shit, the Rudolf Weber Arena is packed! And loud!

 

• Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman (w/Tygress) open the show against KroniK in what should be a fun little men/big men speed vs. power tag match. Kidman tries a collar-and-elbow tie-up with Brian Adams to start. That doesn’t go well. He attempts to work a headlock. That goes even less well than the collar-and-elbow. It’s only when Adams tries to shoot him in that he wins an arm drag and a headscissors. Kidman tries a sunset flip, but it’s too early for all that, and Adams picks him up and hits him with a full nelson slam for two. See? That was an effective opening that showed the speed versus power balance effectively.

 

• Bryan Clark tags in and he and Kidman get a laugh out of the crowd when Kidman tries to slam Clark and Clark is immoveable. Rey is in soon after, leaping around and getting pops for his agility and his ability to outmaneuver both Adams and Clark with aerial moves. Rey gets two after a springboard guillotine legdrop, but Clark kicks out and then kills Rey’s running with a vicious chokeslam before taking over with punches and chokes. Rey’s attempts at wriggling away are cut off; Rey tries a leapover, but is caught and power slammed for two.

 

• Look at what happens when WCW’s road agents and bookers lay out simple, effective match narratives based on archetypal pro wrestling matchups. We get a good match. Who could have imagined! Rey tries to evade Adams after Clark tags out, but again leaps himself into a power move, this time Adams’s F-5. Rey is an excellent FIP and indeed is excellent at pretty much everything because it’s quite possible that he’s the best pro wrestler to have ever lived. Rey getting these hope spots and then being cut off by a KroniK power move is just solid tag work and gets the crowd behind him, clapping for his comebacks. Even Adams running out of ideas and locking on a shitty nerve hold for a few seconds isn’t that annoying. Rey works out of that nerve hold and…runs right into a gorilla press slam. Adams covers, but Rey kicks out at two.

 

• Adams tosses Rey over the top rope, which I think wasn’t cleanly done, but it works out; Rey snaps Adams’s neck over the top rope and then lands a low falling headbutt before making the hot tag. And guess what? Kidman, as the hot tag, calls back to not being able to move Clark earlier by this time easily body slamming him.

 

• The match breaks down, at which point Kidman counters a Clark powerbomb attempt with a facebuster before combining with Rey on a baseball slide/Bronco Buster combo. People enjoy the Bronco Buster spot in Germany too, by the way. Clark gets up and attacks Kidman from behind, but Kidman hops behind Clark on a rope run and hits a Kid Krusher as Rey dives onto Adams at ringside. I think this is the end, but Clark kicks out at 2.9. Kidman next tries his rebound bulldog, but Clark halts Kidman’s momentum and goozles him; meanwhile, Adams has dispatched of Rey outside the ring and rejoins Clark in the ring, where he also goozles Kidman. KroniK lands a High Times for three in what was a very fun opener. This wasn’t some mind-blowing match outside of the context of 2000 WCW. In 2000 WCW, however? It’s a unicorn. What a well-laid-out and entertaining match, a certain visitor to the Very Good (and Pretty Great) Matches list.

 

• David Penzer introduces a battle royal full of dudes: Lance Storm, the Canadian Heavyweight Champion, comes to the ring first. He is followed by Elix Skipper WITH HIS PROPER “PARTY UP” KNOCKOFF THEME, YEAHHHHH, and a guy on commentary digs that theme as everyone should because it rules. I think the other guy on commentary questions if Skip is actually Canadian. Anyway, there’s a production fuck up because of course there is. This is WCW, baybee! Eventually, the Misfits in Action’s knockoff of “War” plays and General Rection comes to the ring, where he is jumped by both Storm and Skip. For some reason, a few Germans start a U-S-A chant, and as an American, I am FUCKING DISGUSTED. STOP THAT. DON’T CHANT IT SERIOUSLY, DON’T CHANT IT IRONICALLY, DON’T CHANT IT EVER.

 

• OK, I get it; it’s a Royal Rumble-style battle royal with no on-screen countdown. I think we’re getting one-minute intervals. So, Storm and Skip just stood around for a minute before Morrus joined, and now Ernest Miller WITH HIS PROPER JAMES BROWN KNOCKOFF THEME, YEAHHHHH runs out at number four. No eliminations yet.

 

• Mike Sanders rushes the ring at number five, which allows Team Canada to double up on Rection once more. Penzer randomly decides to start counting down from five before each entrance. At six: Mike Awesome WITH HIS PROPER BARRY WHITE KNOCKOFF THEME, YEAHHHHH. That one commentary dude enjoys the theme music. Jimmy Hart and Howard Helm: fantastic copycat merchants. A more intense U-S-A chant happens. If Germany were a puppy, I’d lightly tap it on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.

 

• Kwee Wee enters at seven, and we’ve still had zero eliminations in the ring. Wait, no, Storm rushes Morrus as Morrus leans against the ropes and is backdropped to the floor. Disco Inferno runs to the ring at eight to a pop because he’s teaming with Alex Wright, but everyone in WCW hates Disco – including Alex Wright, honestly – so he’s immediately jumped and beaten down by everyone, face and heel alike, in what was actually a pretty funny spot. The Cat was eliminated during this furious beat down of Disco, by the way.

 

• Billy Kidman, holding his ribs, is into the ring at number nine, and at number ten comes, uh, both KroniK members. Penzer is not counting down from five anymore, but he randomly announces that Skip and Rection have been eliminated. Kwee Wee, Sanders, and Disco are also eliminated as KroniK clear the ring. Why they are both allowed out here at the same time, I don’t know, but even if it makes no kayfabe sense, at least it makes narrative sense because Rey Misterio Jr. is in at eleven and we get a reprise of the narrowly contested tag opener. I think Rey and Kidman should manage to eliminate KroniK for payback before someone else gets out here, but at twelve (Sean O’Haire), all four men are in the ring. Kidman is eliminated by an O’Haire superkick while KroniK manage to eliminate Rey just in time for Mark Jindrak to enter at thirteen.

 

• Alas, people were into Kidman and Rey and are notnearly as into Jindrak and O’Haire, so what should be a big tag team face-off ends up feeling limp as the crowd goes quieter than they’ve been all match. Penzer is counting down from five again and has stopped announcing eliminations. Maybe Penzer should just sit quietly in his chair rather than being a living example of WCW’s inconsistent production.

 

• So, at fourteen is Screamin’ Norman Smiley, who gets a HUGE pop and a SMI-LEY chant from the crowd. He also gets a gang-style beatdown from the four bigger men in the ring, complete with a shitty-looking piledriver from Adams. Next up at fifteen is Alex Wright, to a loud pop that is actually smaller than the pop Smiley got. Did WCW fuck up with how it used Norm Smiley or what? That guy was simply over. Anyway, the bigger tag teams now jump on Wright, dampening the crowd’s enthusiasm. Wright should have at least got some initial punches in before the numbers game got to him.

 

• Konnan enters the ring at sixteen and helps the nominal babyfaces hold their own as the numbers even out. Next at seventeen comes Fit Finlay to an un-Finlay like theme. He does manage to garner a little pop, but I guess German fans weren’t as into him when he wrestled there as they are into Steve or Alex Wright or I suppose Norman Smiley, the latter of whom I assume also wrestled in Germany. Or maybe he was just a big heel for most of his runs in Germany. It’s Finlay’s arrival as another nominal babyface that turns the tide: The Europeans in the ring (and Konnan) turn the tide; Finlay manages to flip KroniK to the floor; O’Haire and Jindrak are soon eliminated. Smiley wiggles in celebration and is hit with a chair and eliminated by Finlay, who then also tosses Konnan. Mike Awesome is sitting at ringside and has been for a bit, but I don’t remember him being eliminated. He’s selling a knee injury, and the camera cutting back to him seems to indicate that it’s not a real injury.

 

• Finlay and Wright are left to face off, and the crowd recognizes this as a culturally-important matchup as European fans should do, I suppose. Wright and Finlay have a nice sequence with a handful of near eliminations. No one else has come out, so I guess this was an eighteen-man Royal Rumble. Wright manages to eliminate Finlay with a lariat, but Mike Awesome apparently went under the bottom rope and pulls a version of a Shawn Michaels/British Bulldog at the end of the 1995 Royal Rumble in which Wright celebrates his victory and does not see Awesome pop back in the ring. Awesome easily tosses the unaware Wright to the floor. I don’t know, if you’re WCW and you’re coming to Germany, a market that might be important to open up considering you are struggling to stay above water financially, maybe it might be a good idea to just let Wright win this one? Anyway, this was inoffensive and tried to tell a match-long story that integrated multiple interlocking feuds, but was only partially successful. Booking these particular match types better than adequately takes some high-level creative talent, word to Pat Patterson.

 

• The interviewer from the pre-show is also our in-ring interviewer tonight. He gets in the ring to announce the winner and makes a few opening remarks in German (Awesome, confused, off-mic: WHAT THE HELL’S HE SAYING?!). Apparently, Awesome gets a shot at the European Cup in what I think is going to be a Triple Threat Match against Kevin Nash and Sting? We’ll find out when we get there. Awesome does some boilerplate heeling in which he promises to win the European Cup and take it back to Florida, which is a fate worse than being melted down and used to make a toilet on a well-traveled Amtrak train.

 

• Pre-taped interview: More with Axel Schultz and hey, is that Alex’s dad Steve?

 

• Kwee Wee (w/Paisley) wrestles Elix Skipper STILL WITH HIS PROPER “PARTY UP” KNOCKOFF THEME, YEAHHHHH. Kwee Wee and Skipper have good chemistry, which I’m not surprised about since they worked together quite a bit as Power Plant guys. Kwee Wee wins the early exchange and hits a lariat that sends Skipper spilling to the floor. Skipper, annoyed, yells at the fans and hits on Paisley, the latter of whom is entirely uninterested. Back in the ring, Kwee Wee easily controls Skipper again and dumps him face first on the mat; Skipper clatters to the floor once more, where he changes tack and lures Kwee Wee over to the ropes. A Skip neck snap over the top rope allows him to hop in the ring and dominate the match for the first time.

 

• Skipper grounds this match, which surprises me. He uses lots of kicks, head bashes, and chokes. Kwee Wee manages to get a boot up on a corner charge, but finds himself counter-suplexed as he tries to follow up. Skipper plunks a chinlock on Kwee Wee. OK, so they had matches that made my good list on Nitro (Show #253) and at Fall Brawl 2000, and I had higher expectations for this match as a result. This is watchable enough and perfectly inoffensive, but it’s not particularly good. Anyway, I do appreciate Skipper at least working the chinlock with lots of cheating spots in which he uses the ropes for leverage. He finally goes to the air on a rope walk and lands a double-axe from the middle of the ropes before targeting Kwee Wee’s arm; he snaps it and tries a hammerlock, then transitions into an arm wringer that he uses to snap Kwee Wee’s arm across the top rope.

 

• After a dogged attack on Kwee Wee’s arm, we get a nice power spot where Kwee Wee powers out of an armbar by lifting Skipper onto his shoulders and then slamming him. This starts Kwee Wee’s babyface comeback, which includes a nice kneelift in there that would be Mr. Wrestling II approved. Kwee Wee manages a couple of two counts in there before being hit with a bridging Northern Lights for a Skipper two count. Skip loads his fist with his Grey Cup ring; Paisley (misidentified as Tygress by one of the commentators) tries to let the ref know and then grabs at Skipper’s arm, but Skip gets away, lands a loaded punch, and then rolls under the bottom rope and grabs a chair at ringside. Skip re-enters the ring and makes to swing, but Kwee Wee gets up and dropkicks it back into his face. That cover only gets two, but Kwee Wee’s sit-out facebuster follow-up does manage to earn a three count. Again, this was merely okay, which is a shame as I know these two have a better match in them than this. I’ve seen them, after all!

 

• Kevin Nash cuts a pre-match promo, and what I’m picking up is that Mike Awesome won an opportunity to wrestle Kevin Nash in a semi-final, with the winner of that semi-final moving on to face the cup holder Sting in the final for the European Cup. Sure, whatever. Nash thinks he has the size and freshness advantage on Awesome and asserts that Sting “is the toughest guy to beat in the federation” as part of this low key interview.

 

• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion and WCW Commissioner Mike Sanders speaks poor German and then calls everyone in the audience SMELLY BITCHES so that he can earn an ASSHOLE chant that he pretends to be shocked at. Aw, and I was enjoying my sweet little ‘rasslin show without all the WCW-in-2000 antics. Sanders says that he’s not the ASSHOLE, the Germans are the ASSHOLES, and thankfully here is the Cat (w/Ms. Jones, elite-level James Brown knockoff theme) to stop this tiresome and weak attempt at Attitude Era talking. The Cat responds by calling Sanders THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE IN THE WORLD and promises to beat Sanders so soundly and with such rage that the momentum of said beating takes them across the Atlantic and back to America. They do a BOO/YAY spot, with Sanders jumping the Cat while the Cat garners cheers from the audience.

 

• This is a match involving the Cat and Mike Sanders, so you guessed it: It’s cromulent and you won’t remember that it happened by the day after you read this review. Sanders does boilerplate heel control stuff before the Cat comes back and knocks Sanders to the floor, where the commissioner threatens to leave if everyone keeps calling him an ASSHOLE. Sanders then makes to leave, but instead grabs Ms. Jones by the hair and threatens her. Of course, she kicks him square in the forehead, which rules, and which leads to an obligabrawl that the Cat dominates. Back in the ring, Sanders grabs ref Slick Johnson’s leg and turns him so that he doesn’t see Sanders low blow the Cat. Slick should disqualify Sanders in kayfabe, but Slick is a complete fucking dolt in kayfabe, so of course he doesn’t.

 

• Anyway, Sanders is fine, I suppose, during this brief heel control segment. The Cat makes an energetic comeback and dodges a Sanders corner charge, then scores a Feliner on the rebound that ends the match by pinfall. Ms. Jones boogies; she forgot to bring the cape on this overseas trip, but the tired Cat manages to fire up and boogie as well. He boogies of his own volition, too, rather than because someone expected him to perform on demand as a form of entertainment.

 

• Pre-taped interview: Jindrak and O’Haire cut another middling pre-match promo with tonight’s interviewer; the interviewer is unconvinced that even with Commissioner Sanders’s support, they can overcome national treasure Alex Wright.

 

• Apparently, WCW promoted a “mystery superstar,” and that mystery superstar is babyface CEO Ric Flair! CEO Flair walks to the ring to make a declaration or three. This crowd loves to WOOOOOOOO as every crowd loves to WOOOOOOOO and Ric Flair uses their love of WOOOOOOOO to convince them to stand up and WOOOOOOOO louder than they already are. Someone holds up a LEX LUGER: POWERED BY VIAGRA sign behind Flair, which tells me that they actually were watching that bleak era when Nash was the commissioner and made such a claim (Nitro Show #223).

 

• After Flair propositions a German woman in the crowd, he books Fit Finlay in a hardcore match against Norman Smiley on account of Finlay attacking Smiley with a chair in the Faux-yal Rumble. He once again is distracted by the possibility of sex, considering a potential double-teaming (with Nash) of a Kevin Nash fan in the crowd after the show, but he gets back on track and inserts Alex Wright into the Awesome/Nash semi-final match. Finally, doing so doggedly and with the laser vision of someone who desperately needs therapy, Flair begs the women in the crowd for sex at the Sheraton after the show and says that if he gets enough of it, maybe WCW will visit Germany again in October of 2001. I sure hope that female WCW fans from Germany didn’t bang Ric Flair for nothing! Yuck!

 

• Next up: Lance Storm (w/Major Gunns) defends the WCW Canadian Championship against General Rection. Storm blunts a small CA-NA-DA chant by hoping sincerely that he never has to come back to Germany because the food sucks, even in comparison to the United States. I mean, you win some (better catering), you lose some (limited access to reasonably priced, quality health care) as an American.

 

• General Rection pulls a "Hacksaw Jim Duggan at the Royal Albert Hall" and comes out here with an American flag like a doofus. You’re a babyface! At the very least, carry out an American and a German flag! So, one more time, I am subjected to Lance Storm trying to have a good match with General Hughton Morrus-Rection IV. Is there any other way this watch could end? You know what you’re getting from this bout: Storm and Rection both work hard, there’s an obligabrawl, Gunns interjects herself, Storm’s heeling is good enough to make Rection’s babyface comeback land decently, and you’ve watched another match that isn’t worth remembering or thinking about past its duration.

 

• For the last time in these reviews, I’ll write to you that you can easily imagine what this match is like, so here’s the finish: Morrus goes up for a No Laughing Matter, but Gunns slides the belt to Storm. Morrus jumps down and goes to confront Gunns on the apron, and ref Mickey Jay also heads over there, but he does manage to catch Storm swing the belt at Morrus and connect with his melon. Storm puts Morrus in a Canadian Maple Leaf and thinks he’s won, but Jay DQs him. Storm angrily protests the decision on the house mic and then demands that “O Canada” be played for him since he’s still the champion, but Morrus jumps him from behind and lays him out, then piledrives Gunns for good measure. BOOOOOOOOO. Anyway, mediocre but ultimately watchable bout, as you’d guess, because of Morrus’s limitations.

 

• Sting is very over during his live interview in the back. He’d like to wrestle any one of his three potential opponents, puts Alex Wright over as “the future of wrestling,” and declares it to be SHOWTIME, FOLKS! In other news, Sting continues to rule.

 

• That supremely annoying HEY BABY (OOH AHH) I WANNA KNOOOOOOOOW IF YOU’LL BE MY GIRL song plays while some ladies walk out in stereotypical Bavarian dress. They might be Nitro Girls, but honestly, I’ve lost track of who most of the Nitro Girls are at this point. A different song fires up, a technopop song in fact, and look, you know what country this show is emanating from ([tm] Michael Cole), don’t you? Norman Smiley walks out here looking like he’s been to Octoberfest in Orlando and is taking cues about German dress from that experience. Seriously, it’s reminiscent of that Tintin book The Blue Lotus where Thompson and Thomson put on super-stereotypical Chinese dress to walk through the streets of Shanghai and ended up being followed and laughed at by the natives, who of course would never actually dress like that. Of course, Thompson (with a "p," as in "psychology") and Thomson (without a "p," as in "Venezuela") were supposed to be blending into their surroundings as international policemen; Smiley is on the other hand supposed to be ostentatious and playing broadly to a crowd. If you'll recall, Smiley's opponent is Fit Finlay (w/field hockey stick) for this semi-impromptu hardcore bout that the commentators declare an OCTOBERFEST MATCH. Sure, why not.

 

• Wait, hold on, I lied. Here is the last time in these reviews where I’ll write to you that you can easily imagine what this match is like (smashy smashy, trashy trashy, random E-C-DUB chant, the “bonus” of the crowd chanting that goddam OOH AHH line from that fucking song), so here’s the finish: After a lot of smashy and trashy and Finlay telling the crowd in German that he sure as fuck is not German like them (nope, not with that accent), Smiley comes back from being smashed through a table while trying to hook a Norman Conquest and backdrops Finlay through a second table to earn victory. He hits a Big Wiggle in celebration and looks like he should be the WCW United States Champion if you were only booking WCW shows for German crowds because they love the hell out of this guy. They also love dancing to technopop, so factor Norm’s entrance music into the crowd reaction as well. Anyway, Norm cuts a post-match promo at the Compuserve Premiere World desk, where a revived Finlay attacks him because babyfaces can barely ever get a celebratory moment in Nitro Era WCW.

 

• The WCW World Tag Team Championships are on the line next; reigning champions Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire match up against the Boogie Knights. Wright walks to the ring alone because Disco Inferno is legitimately injured, so he’s had to get a substitute partner for this title opportunity (also [tm] Michael Cole): General fuckin’ Rection. The crowd, of course, chants lightly for GOLDBERG before Rection is revealed as his partner, which is hilarious to me. What a comedown! Can you imagine if it was Goldberg? Shit, that would have been rad. Rection and Wright hold up a German flag, symbolizing their alliance for this single night.

 

• Rection, who is tired from wrestling twice earlier, gets worked over by the comparatively fresher Jindrak. Jindrak’s feeling himself; he tags in O’Haire, who demands Alex Wright’s presence. Wright, once the rookie, is now the vet who works over rookies with his experience and knowledge of counters. However, O’Haire is a rookie with more size than him, and he uses his size and explosive power to counter Wright’s counters on an arm wringer.

 

• What I like about this match is Wright working in a few counters to holds of the crowd-pleasing kind that I’d expect from a match in the UK, France, or Germany. Actually, Wright spends a lot of time getting his ass kicked in here and probably needed to get more shine than he did. This is another match that is merely okay, but it’s boosted by Wright getting a big victory on home soil. It’s really too bad that Disco is shoot hurt because the Knights had a very good TV match with Jindrak and O’Haire five weeks or so before this show (again, Nitro Show #261), and I believe that they would have been good for another one on this show.  

 

• Jindrak and O’Haire confound kayfabe dumbass ref Slick Johnson to cheat their way into control; Rection is the FIP for a watchable enough control segment that ends when O’Haire takes too much time to launch on a Seanton Bomb attempt and whiffs. Rection makes the hot tag to Wright, who is ein Haus in Flammen as he throws blows at both of the Thriller members. Alas, he is overexuberant and runs right into a Hot Shot. Rection tries to intercede and fails as the match breaks down, but he is able to help Wright by pulling the rope down as O’Haire runs them; he then dispatches of O’Haire outside the ring before returning to it to help Wright. Jindrak intercepts Rection and attempts to corral him, but Rection snaps off a counter jawbreaker and leaves Jindrak open for a Wright missile dropkick that earns the three count and the gold. Which means that in a special return feature...

 

• WCW World Tag Team Championship title change count: 13 (VACANT > David Flair and Crowbar > The Mamalukes > The Harris Bros. > VACANT > Buff Bagwell and Shane Douglas > KroniK > The Perfect Event > KroniK > Vampiro and Great Muta > Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera > VACANT > Jindrak and O’Haire > Boogie Knights [and General Rection])…

 

• It goes into the books as a Boogie Knights win despite Rection’s substitution for Disco, so that’s how we’ll keep it in most of the notes, but I’ll add Rection’s name for this review specifically since he was involved in the title change. The Nitro after this went out of its way not to show the babyface Rection teaming with the heel Wright for the American audience. This is another okay wrestling match that is most memorable for Wright getting a big win in Germany.

 

• It's live backstage interview time with Booker T., and I sure wish that I had started a feature for Booker T.’s cavalcade of questionable catchphrases. Book congratulates Alex Wright on his title victory and then cuts a boilerplate babyface promo toward Scott Steiner. Booker hits only one of his questionable catchphrases that the crowd finishes for him with a HATE THE GAME, and I still, even after multiple reviews, have no idea how that catchphrase got over.

 

• We are coming to the end of the show and just about to the end of this thread for real and for true, but first, we’ve got a Triple Threat Match that will determine who wrestles Sting in the European Cup Finals. One thing I sure love about U.S. pro wrestling companies going to Europe is that they make up whole titles to pop the crowd. Hell, the WWF created an actual European title that was also defended in the U.S. for a while. Alex Wright turns right back around to wrestle Mike Awesome and Kevin Nash, and I think booking Wright again is a mistake because he already had his feel-good moment and because this crowd really just wants to see Nash Jackknife Awesome into the mat. Nash lazes in the corner while Wright and Awesome have a competitive match, which I think is just sooooooo meta. How lazy is Kevin Nash, exactly? It’s hard to tell how much of his laziness is ironic and how much of it is legitimate. The crowd chants WE WANT HALL because everyone WANTS HALL, who should have just traded the world title back and forth with Goldberg throughout 1999 since that would have made WCW fans generally happy and kept them tuning in.

 

• Nash finally interjects himself when it looks like his opponents might actually pin one another. He dominates as is his way. Wright and Awesome decide to momentarily team up on Nash, but that alliance ends when Wright attempts to pin Nash. Nash kicks out of a Wright pin attempt after Awesome and Wright team up again to suplex him and audibly yells NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS, which nearly cracks one of the guys on commentary. Mike Awesome decides to use the table gimmick that he shares with THE WALL, BROTHER, but Wright slips out of his attempt at an Awesome Bomb through a table.

 

• Nash chills out at ringside selling damage or maybe just napping while Wright and Awesome attempt to have a pro wrestling match. Wright sets up the table, gently lays Awesome on it knowing that it’s too weak to hold him, and of course as careful as he is, the table breaks anyway. He still goes up so that he can do the spot where Nash cracks him with the pole of the German flag that Wright brought to the ring. Nash waves the flag, Jackknifes Wright, and lays him on top of Awesome for a double pin. Somehow, this guy still gets applause! Look, I get taking it a bit easy on a random house show in Manassas or Orangeburg, but this is a PPV. On the other hand, does it matter what Nash does when everyone cheers him anyway?

 

• I am so upset that they didn’t let Scott Steiner (w/Midajah) cut an interview even once for the pre-show or the PPV proper. I would have loved to see the interviewer try to translate any of what Steiner’s crazy ‘roid monkey ass might say. No, wait, here he is on the house mic! And he’s calling the women in the crowd FAT BITCHES who he’d look better than even if “he shave[d his] ass and walked backwards.” He then snaps, puts up a middle finger toward some fan, and yells FUCK YOU while still on the house mic. What. OK, I think I discovered why they didn’t have him cut an interview even once for the pre-show or the PPV proper. I must say that there is a clear difference between Steiner doing this and Mike Sanders trying to cuss up a storm in that Steiner actually comes off like a lunatic and therefore his cussing enhances this show.

 

• Steiner promises to kick Booker T.'s ass on two continents rather than just the one before Booker comes out here. You can’t be some “just happy to be here” babyface like Booker has been during the death throes of the pre-9/11 ‘90s ‘tude culture, or the shit-talking heel is going to get way more cheers than you will. Nothing about Book’s presentation or talking from the point at which he was struggling to beat Harlem Heat Incorporated to now has been updated properly for the time that he was wrestling in, and that’s before we get to all of his criminally bad booking.

 

• This match, as with pretty much of their matches, is at least good. Booker getting a longer opening shine segment and Steiner, overwhelmed, having to duck out to ringside and take a walk to stop the ass kicking makes Book look like *gasp* maybe he actually deserves to be the champ. Steiner wanders around flicking fans off; Book gets on the house mic and suggests that Steiner get back in the ring and take this asswhipping already. Steiner is rattled; he gets back in the ring and runs right into a spinebuster for two. He can only get some control of the proceedings after Midajah first grabs Booker’s leg on a rope run and then kicks him in the face after Steiner capitalizes.

 

• It's obligabrawl time! I suppose that this match is no disqualification considering Midajah cheating in plain view of referee Charles Robinson. Or considering Steiner hitting Booker with a chair in plain view of Robinson. Steiner hits a clothesline and an elbowdrop, then pulls off the cover to do pushups and yell NOT YET, MOTHERFUCKER. Nash and Steiner are extra salty tonight, it seems. Steiner locks on a bearhug; Booker fights his way out and bounces off the ropes…right back into a bearhug that Steiner turns into an overhead belly-to-belly.

 

• The unhinged Steiner yelling like a maniac at random fans has really enhanced this match. On one hand, you can say that only Steiner is allowed to say practically whatever he wants, so of course he’ll stand out and get over, but on the other hand, Steiner seems to be living the gimmick, so no one else would be as believable as he is going off at fans like the nutbar he is. This is a solid match where Booker fires up and is cut off, then fires up and is cut off again. Steiner gets two on another belly-to-belly and considers choking the very life out of Charles Robinson, but he opts for an overhead release suplex on Booker instead. That also only gets two, which makes Steiner reconsider his moratorium on beating the shit out of Robinson. He then tries a flash small package that only gets two, followed by a backslide that only gets two, and that last two count is what sets Steiner off.

 

• Steiner knees Robinson in the gut and puts him in the Tree of Woe, then strips off his ref shirt and gives it to Midajah with orders for her to call the match as soon as gets the Steiner Recliner on Booker. That doesn’t happen because Booker rises up with Steiner in electric chair position; Steiner gets dumped, and then Booker seems to have lost his mind a bit because he tosses Steiner into the same corner that Robinson is still hung upside down from and rains blows upon Steiner’s noggin.

 

• This match feels genuinely chaotic. Booker tries a Book End so Midajah jumps on his back; Book turns to Midajah, and Steiner hits a low blow on Booker. Steiner wants a quick count, but Booker practically kicks out at zero. Steiner yells COUNT FASTER at Midajah while Midajah points out that she could even barely get down on the mat before Book kicked out. Steiner tries to shoot Booker in, but Booker reverses, buries a knee in Steiner’s solar plexus, and then manages to score an axe kick. He Spinaroonies up and catches Midajah as she dives at him; Book slams her, but is jumped by Steiner.

 

• Steiner shoots Booker in again, but Book ducks his swing and hooks him for a Book End; Slick Johnson hustles to the ring and counts the three. That match was genuinely awesome. The fuckery was on point from the second Steiner came out here and got on the house mic, and Booker actually walked through all the jibber jabber and got a strong win. Too bad this wasn’t on U.S. television where he needed this type of match the most rather than enduring show after show of eating jobs and shadow three counts for everybody and anybody. I genuinely found this match to be wonderful and welcome it to one of my good lists.

 

• On fifteenth thought, I also added their Mayhem match to one of my good lists. It was better than I gave it credit for on first watch. I think I had too many immediate complaints about Booker’s overall booking and didn’t give it the love that it deserved for Steiner being simply too much to overcome for a valiant fighting babyface effort from Book.

 

• Recap: The road to the European Cup final.

 

• And here’s the European Cup final! Sting defends his hard-won (from six years ago) European cup against Kevin Nash. Special guest ref Axel Schultz enters along with three Nitro Girls, followed by the competitors themselves. This whole thing, including entrances, is just about eleven minutes. The bell rings with eight minutes to go in this whole recording, in fact. Are we really getting a Nitro Special on PPV? Hilariously we go to a Sting legbar a minute in, and as Schultz checks on Nash, he lightly pushes his shoulder, which prompts Nash to respond with an exasperated WHAT ARE YOU PUSHIN’ ME FOR? Well, at least the guy makes me laugh while he’s doing the least amount of physical work possible on this show!

 

• You know a match is going to be brief when Sting starts firing off Stinger Splash spots two minutes in. This is an absolute zero of a match, especially after the previous match. That match had chaotic energy. This match has Kevin Nash trying to hit his spots so he can hurry up and get to the pub for a Hefeweizen. It’s not bad! It’s just entirely without substance. Sting makes a comeback out of a neck vise and hits two Stinger Splashes and a DDT, then wraps Nash in a Scorpion Death Lock for the submission victory and the WCW European Cup (which still has the old school WCW logo on it, by the way). Sting and Nash show each other some babyface love after the bout. Aaaaaaaaand show!

 

• This was an enjoyable show from a historical standpoint and because it felt so different and unique being that it was held in Germany. It mashed up German cultural elements with American-style professional wrestling from the late Nitro/Attitude Era, and that was novel. I would also suggest the opener and the Booker/Steiner match to anyone who wanted to check out the parts of the show that worked the best, but if you don’t mind three-and-a-half hours of pre-show and actual show, why not sit down and watch the whole thing? The links are a few pages back (page 57, to be exact), and in all honesty, this might have been the best PPV WCW put on in 2000. Slamboree had higher highs and might be better from that perspective, but I would contend that Millennium Final was a better and more consistent PPV than Starrcade. Then again, Millennium Final had a low ceiling compared to WCW PPVs overall, so don't watch it expecting a revelatory show.

 

• OK, that really is all for Nitro Era WCW reviews from me, so thanks once again go out to all of you who followed me as I worked through this project over the past four years! I'll be finalizing my lists and updating a document full of these chronologically ordered reviews and a few extra stats as my last couple of big updates to close out this projet entirely! 

Link to follow-up Nitro review: http://deathvalleydriver.com/forum/index.php?/topic/9193-smelly-watches-every-nitro-era-nitro-thunder-clash-and-ppv-while-sitting-and-sometimes-maybe-standing/page/52/#findComment-1417833

Edited June 14 by SirSmUgly

[SirSmUgly]

SmUgs’s Standouts – My Favorite Matches

 No changes here, somewhat surprisingly. WCW PPVs took time to catch up to Nitro in terms of consistent quality. 

Spoiler

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro, 4/29/96)

·         Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy Savage vs. The Outsiders (Bash at the Beach, 7/7/96)

·         Lex Luger vs. The Giant (Starrcade, 12/29/96)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Syxx (Souled Out, 1/25/97)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Syxx (SuperBrawl VII, 2/23/97)

·         Chris Benoit and Woman vs. Kevin Sullivan and Jacquelyn (SuperBrawl VII, 2/23/97)

·         The Outsiders vs. Ric Flair and Roddy Piper [plus the aftermath] (Nitro, 6/9/97)

·         Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa (Great American Bash, 6/15/97)

·         Lex Luger vs. Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 8/4/97)

·         Alex Wright vs. Ultimo Dragon (Clash of the Champions XXXV, 8/21/97)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero (Halloween Havoc, 10/26/97)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Saturn (Nitro, 12/8/97)

·         Raven vs. Chris Benoit (Souled Out, 1/24/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

·         Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Spring Stampede, 4/19/98)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Stevie Ray and Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero (Bash at the Beach, 7/12/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 8/3/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 3/15/99)

·         Raven and Saturn vs. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (Spring Stampede, 4/11/99)

·         Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner (Spring Stampede, 4/11/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis vs. Blitzkrieg (Nitro, 4/19/99)

·         Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 4/19/99)

·         Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 4/26/99)

·         Sid Vicious vs. Goldberg [including pre-match backstage attack and interviews] (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Starrcade, 12/19/99)

·         Three Count vs. Jung Dragons (New Blood Rising, 8/13/00)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (SuperBrawl [XI] Revenge, 2/18/01)

·         Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T., and the Cat vs. Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, and Buff Bagwell (Nitro, 2/26/01)

 

[SirSmUgly]

Very Good (and Sometimes Pretty Great) TV and PPV Matches that Make Entertaining Candidates for a Nitro-era Playlist on YouTube 

 Going back and watching early Nitro-era WCW PPVs really helped out my estimation of DDP and Johnny B. Badd; Millennium Final also helped WCW in 2000 look just a smidge less dire in terms of quality. 

Spoiler

·         Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson (Fall Brawl, 9/17/95)

·         Sabu vs. Mr. J.L. (Nitro, 10/9/95)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 10/16/95)

·         Meng vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan (Nitro, 10/16/95)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/95)

·         Sabu vs. Mr. J.L. (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/95)

·         Sting and Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/95)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Johnny B. Badd (Nitro, 11/13/95)

·         Sting vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 11/13/95)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd (World War 3, 11/26/95)

·         Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki vs. Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto (World War 3, 11/26/95)

·         Sting vs. Ric Flair (World War 3, 11/26/95)

·         Cutie Suzuki and Mayumi Ozaki vs. Bull Nakano and Akira Hokuto (Nitro, 11/27/95)

·         The Giant vs. Scott Norton (Nitro, 12/4/95)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Starrcade, 12/27/95)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Shinjiro Otani (Starrcade, 12/27/95)

·         Arn Anderson vs. Randy Savage (Nitro, 1/1/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Lord Steven Regal (Nitro, 1/1/96)

·         Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 1/8/96)

·         Sting and Lex Luger vs. The Blue Bloods (Clash of the Champions XXXII, 1/23/96)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd (SuperBrawl VI, 2/11/96)

·         Devon Storm vs. Konnan (Nitro, 2/12/96)

·         Steiner Brothers vs. Road Warriors (Nitro, 3/11/96)

·         Steiner Brothers vs. The Public Enemy (Nitro, 3/18/96)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Konnan (Uncensored, 3/24/96)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Fit Finlay (Uncensored, 3/24/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. The Giant (Nitro, 3/25/96)

·         The Giant and Ric Flair vs. Sting and Lex Luger (Nitro, 4/8/96)

·         The Giant and Ric Flair vs. Sting and Lex Luger (Nitro, 4/22/96)

·         Sting and Lex Luger vs. Harlem Heat (Nitro, 4/29/96)

·         Fire & Ice vs. Steiner Brothers (Nitro, 4/29/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. The Giant (Nitro, 4/29/96)

·         Sting vs. The Giant (Slamboree, 5/19/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 5/20/96)

·         Sting and Lex Luger vs. The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 5/20/96)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Alex Wright (Nitro, 5/27/96)

·         High Voltage vs. The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 6/3/96)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 6/10/96)

·         Scott Norton vs. The Giant (Nitro, 6/10/96)

·         Sting and Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson (Nitro, 6/10/96)

·         Sting vs. Lord Steven Regal (Great American Bash, 6/16/96)

·         Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. Kevin Greene and Mongo McMichael (Great American Bash, 6/16/96)

·         Lex Luger vs. The Giant (Great American Bash, 6/16/96)

·         Arn Anderson and Chris Benoit vs. The American Males (Nitro, 6/17/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (Nitro, 6/17/96)

·         Alex Wright vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 6/24/96)

·         The Steiner Brothers vs. Harlem Heat (Nitro, 7/1/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (Bash at the Beach, 7/7/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Disco Inferno (Bash at the Beach, 7/7/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 7/8/96)

·         Big Bubba and Hugh Morrus vs. The Blue Bloods (Nitro, 7/8/96)

·         Psicosis vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 7/8/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (Nitro, 7/8/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 7/15/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 7/15/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 7/22/96)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 7/22/96)

·         Alex Wright vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 8/5/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. The Booty Man (Nitro, 8/5/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit (Hog Wild, 8/11/96)

·         Steiner Brothers vs. Harlem Heat (Hog Wild, 8/11/96)

·         Lex Luger and Sting vs. The Outsiders (Hog Wild, 8/11/96)

·         Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage (Nitro, 8/12/96)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 8/19/96)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Fall Brawl, 9/15/96)

·         Konnan vs. Juventud Guerrera (Fall Brawl, 9/15/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 9/16/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Brad Armstrong (Nitro, 10/14/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Jimmy Graffiti (Nitro, 10/21/96)

·         The Faces of Fear vs. The Fantastics (Nitro, 10/21/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/96)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Eddy Guerrero (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/96)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. The Giant (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/96)

·         Syxx vs. Chris Jericho (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/96)

·         The Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat (Halloween Havoc, 10/27/96)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Enos (Nitro, 10/28/96)

·         The Amazing French Canadiens vs. High Voltage (Nitro, 10/28/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Jimmy Graffiti (Nitro, 10/28/96)

·         Marcus Bagwell vs. Brad Armstrong (Nitro, 11/4/96)

·         Lex Luger vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 11/4/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 11/11/96)

·         La Parka vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 11/18/96)

·         American Males vs. Amazing French Canadiens (Nitro, 11/18/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon (World War 3, 11/24/96)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. The Giant (World War 3, 11/24/96)

·         Harlem Heat vs. Amazing French Canadiens (World War 3, 11/24/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 11/25/96)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 12/2/96)

·         Dean Malenko vs. Jimmy Graffiti (Nitro, 12/9/96)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 12/9/96)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 12/16/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 12/23/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Mr. J.L. (Nitro, 12/23/96)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Starrcade, 12/29/96)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Starrcade, 12/29/96)

·         The Outsiders vs. The Faces of Fear (Starrcade, 12/29/96)

·         Hulk Hogan vs. Roddy Piper (Starrcade, 12/29/96)

·         Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 12/30/96)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 1/13/97)

·         The Outsiders vs. The Steiner Brothers (Souled Out, 1/25/97)

·         Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant (Souled Out, 1/25/97)

·         The Faces of Fear vs. The Steiner Brothers (Nitro, 1/27/97)

·         The Giant vs. Roadblock (Nitro, 1/27/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 1/27/97)

·         The Amazing French Canadiens vs. Mongo McMichael and Arn Anderson (Nitro, 1/27/97)

·         Ice Train vs. La Parka (Nitro, 2/3/97)

·         Mongo McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 2/3/97)

·         Chris Benoit and Mongo McMichael vs. Jeff Jarrett and Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 2/10/97)

·         Super Calo vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 2/17/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Mongo McMichael (SuperBrawl VII, 2/23/97)

·         The Giant vs. The Outsiders (SuperBrawl VII, 2/23/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero and Chris Jericho vs. The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 2/24/97)

·         Mongo McMichael and Jeff Jarrett vs. High Voltage (Nitro, 3/10/97)

·         Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 3/17/97)

·         La Parka vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 3/24/97)

·         Harlem Heat vs. The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 3/24/97)

·         Lex Luger and the Giant vs. Rick Fuller and Roadblock (Nitro, 3/31/97)

·         Meiko Satomura vs. Toshie Uematsu (Nitro, 3/31/97)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Chris Jericho [and the aftermath] (Nitro, 3/31/97)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon (Spring Stampede, 4/6/97)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 4/7/97)

·         Chris Benoit vs. The Barbarian (Nitro, 4/14/97)

·         Meng vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 4/21/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Scotty Riggs (Nitro, 4/21/97)

·         Syxx vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 4/21/97)

·         Mongo McMichael vs. The Barbarian (Nitro, 4/28/97)

·         Ultimo Dragon vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 5/12/97)

·         Mongo McMichael vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 5/12/97)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Meng (Slamboree, 5/18/97)

·         Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Syxx vs. Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, and Kevin Greene (Slamboree, 5/18/97)

·         The Steiner Brothers vs. Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael (Nitro, 5/19/97)

·         Juventud Guerrera, Super Calo, and Hector Garza vs. Ciclope, La Parka, and Damien 666 (Nitro, 5/26/97)

·         Chris Benoit vs. The Barbarian (Nitro, 6/2/97)

·         Scott Hall vs. Ric Flair (Nitro, 6/2/97)

·         Hulk Hogan vs. Lex Luger [and aftermath] (Nitro, 6/9/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 6/9/97)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Meng (Great American Bash, 6/15/97)

·         Super Calo vs. La Parka (Nitro, 6/16/97)

·         Syxx vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 6/16/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael vs. Vicious and Delicious (Nitro, 6/16/97)

·         Hector Garza vs. Villano IV (Nitro, 6/23/97)

·         High Voltage vs. Wrath and Mortis (Nitro, 6/30/97)

·         Glacier and Ernest “The Cat” Miller vs. Wrath and Mortis (Bash at the Beach, 7/13/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 7/14/97)

·         Wrath and Mortis vs. Psicosis and La Parka (Nitro, 7/22/97)

·         The Outsiders vs. Chris Benoit and Ric Flair (Nitro, 7/22/97)

·         Wrath vs. Meng (Nitro, 8/11/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 8/11/97)

·         Mongo McMichael and Chris Benoit vs. The Steiner Brothers (Nitro, 8/11/97)

·         Ultimo Dragon vs. Mortis (Nitro, 8/11/97)

·         Mongo McMichael and Chris Benoit vs. Eddy Guerrero and Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 8/18/97)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Eddy Guerrero (Clash of the Champions XXXV, 8/21/97)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 8/25/97)

·         The Faces of Fear vs. Mortis and Wrath (Nitro, 8/25/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett and Eddy Guerrero vs. Mongo McMichael and Chris Benoit (Nitro, 9/1/97)

·         La Parka vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 9/1/97)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 9/8/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Jericho (Fall Brawl, 9/14/97)

·         Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 9/15/97)

·         The Faces of Fear vs. The Steiner Brothers (Nitro, 9/22/97)

·         Buff Bagwell vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 9/29/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 9/29/97)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 10/6/97)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Diamond Dallas Page [and the aftermath] (Nitro, 10/6/97)

·         Curt Hennig vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 10/6/97)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Alex Wright (Nitro, 10/13/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 10/20/97)

·         Fit Finlay vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 10/27/97)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 10/27/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero and Dean Malenko vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Lord Steven Regal (Nitro, 11/3/97)

·         Saturn vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 11/3/97)

·         Curt Hennig vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 11/10/97)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 11/17/97)

·         Saturn vs. Disco Inferno (World War 3, 11/23/97)

·         The Blue Bloods vs. The Steiner Brothers (World War 3, 11/23/97)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Eddy Guerrero (World War 3, 11/23/97)

·         Meng vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 11/24/97)

·         Brad Armstrong vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 11/24/97)

·         Buff Bagwell vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 11/24/97)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 12/1/97)

·         Harlem Heat vs. The Faces of Fear (Nitro, 12/1/97)

·         La Parka and Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 12/8/97)

·         Mongo McMichael vs. Meng (Nitro, 12/22/97)

·         Van Hammer vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 12/22/97)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (Starrcade, 12/28/97)

·         Psicosis vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 1/5/98)

·         Saturn vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 1/12/98)

·         The Outsiders vs. The Steiner Brothers (Nitro, 1/12/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Rick Martel (Souled Out, 1/24/98)

·         Kevin Nash vs. The Giant (Souled Out, 1/24/98)

·         Raven vs. Mortis (Nitro, 1/26/98)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Wrath (Nitro, 1/26/98)

·         Lord Steven Regal vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 2/2/98)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Raven (Nitro, 2/2/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 2/5/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero and Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Dean Malenko (Nitro, 2/9/98)

·         Ultimo Dragon vs. Saturn (Nitro, 2/9/98)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mortis (Thunder, 2/12/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Thunder, 2/12/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Glacier (Thunder, 2/12/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 2/16/98)

·         Meng vs. Barbarian (Nitro, 2/16/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 2/19/98)

·         Raven and Saturn vs. Chris Benoit and Diamond Dallas Page (Thunder, 2/19/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Saturn (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

·         La Parka vs. Disco Inferno (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Brad Armstrong (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chris Benoit (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

·         Ultimo Dragon vs. Kaz Hayashi (Nitro, 2/23/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Lenny Lane (Nitro, 2/23/98)

·         Raven vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 3/2/98)

·         Prince Iaukea vs. Eddy Guerrero (Thunder, 3/5/98)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 3/9/98)

·         Saturn vs. Disco Inferno (Thunder, 3/12/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 3/16/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Psicosis (Thunder, 3/19/98)

·         Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 3/23/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Kaz Hayashi (Nitro, 3/23/98)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 3/23/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Disco Inferno (Thunder, 3/26/98)

·         Saturn vs. Fit Finlay (Nitro, 3/30/98)

·         Glacier vs. Prince Iaukea (Nitro, 3/30/98)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 4/6/98)

·         Rocco Rock vs. Goldberg (Nitro, 4/13/98)

·         Silver King vs. Saturn (Thunder, 4/16/98)

·         Randy Savage and Kevin Nash vs. Bret Hart and Sting (Thunder, 4/16/98)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon (Spring Stampede, 4/19/98)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Booker T. (Spring Stampede, 4/19/98)

·         Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner vs. Lex Luger and Rick Steiner (Spring Stampede, 4/19/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 4/20/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Raven (Nitro, 4/20/98)

·         Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner vs. The Public Enemy (Nitro, 4/20/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 4/20/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Disco Inferno (Thunder, 4/23/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro, 4/27/98)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 4/27/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 4/27/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 4/27/98)

·         Saturn vs. Van Hammer and the Raven/DDP/bullrope aftermath (Nitro, 5/4/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 5/11/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon (Slamboree, 5/17/98)

·         Saturn vs. Goldberg (Slamboree, 5/17/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 5/25/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 5/28/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 6/4/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Benoit (Great American Bash, 6/14/98)

·         Saturn vs. Kanyon (Great American Bash, 6/14/98)

·         Sting vs. The Giant (Great American Bash, 6/14/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 6/18/98)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart (Nitro, 6/22/98)

·         Chris Benoit and Mongo McMichael vs. The Boogie Knights (Thunder, 6/25/98)

·         Horace Hogan vs. Kanyon (Nitro, 6/29/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Little Dragon and the aftermath with Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Pepe (Nitro, 6/29/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Saturn (Thunder, 7/2/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Finlay (Thunder, 7/2/98)

·         Booker T. vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 7/6/98)

·         Kanyon vs. Raven (Nitro, 7/6/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 7/6/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 7/6/98)

·         Raven and Horace Hogan vs. Saturn and Kanyon (Thunder, 7/9/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon (Thunder, 7/9/98)

·         Saturn vs. Raven (Bash at the Beach, 7/12/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera (Bash at the Beach, 7/12/98)

·         The Giant vs. Kevin Greene (Bash at the Beach, 7/12/98)

·         Kevin Nash and Sting vs. Scott Hall and the Giant (Nitro, 7/20/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 7/27/98)

·         Barbarian vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 8/3/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 8/3/98)

·         Barbarian vs. Meng (Road Wild, 8/8/98)

·         Saturn vs. Raven vs. Kanyon (Road Wild, 8/8/98)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Chris Jericho (Thunder, 8/13/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis (Thunder, 8/20/98)

·         Curt Hennig vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 8/24/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 8/31/98)

·         Raven vs. Meng à Saturn vs. Meng à Saturn vs. Kanyon (Thunder, 9/3/98)

·         Saturn vs. Raven (Fall Brawl, 9/13/98)

·         The Giant vs. Meng (Nitro, 9/14/98)

·         Sting vs. Goldberg (Nitro, 9/14/98)

·         Mike Enos vs. Lenny Lane (Thunder, 9/17/98)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Thunder, 9/24/98)

·         La Parka vs. Super Calo (Nitro, 9/28/98)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Billy Kidman (Thunder, 10/1/98)

·         Goldberg vs. Raven (Thunder, 10/1/98)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kanyon [plus the aftermath] (Nitro, 10/5/98)

·         Kanyon vs. Prince Iaukea (Thunder, 10/8/98)

·         Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Thunder, 10/8/98)

·         Alex Wright vs. Finlay (Nitro, 10/12/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Diamond Dallas Page [plus the aftermath] (Nitro, 10/19/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Super Calo (Thunder, 10/22/98)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Raven (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

·         Wrath vs. Meng (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Juventud Guerrera (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

·         Saturn vs. Eddy Guerrero [plus the aftermath] (Nitro, 11/2/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 11/2/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 11/12/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 11/16/98)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (World War 3, 11/22/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 11/23/98)

·         Goldberg vs. the Giant (Nitro, 11/23/98)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 11/30/98)

·         Mike Enos vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Thunder, 12/3/98)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Villano V (Thunder, 12/3/98)

·         Silver King vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 12/7/98)

·         Norman Smiley vs. Kaz Hayashi (Thunder, 12/10/98)

·         Finlay vs. Mike Enos (Thunder, 12/17/98)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 12/21/98)

·         The Giant vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Starrcade, 12/27/98)

·         Norman Smiley vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Souled Out, 1/17/99)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 1/18/99)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Saturn (Nitro, 1/18/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. La Parka (Thunder, 1/21/99)

·         Scott Hall vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro, 1/25/99)

·         Norman Smiley vs. Saturn (Nitro, 1/25/99)

·         The Outsiders vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Konnan (Thunder, 1/28/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blitzkrieg (Nitro, 2/8/99)

·         Lash LeRoux vs. Super Calo (Thunder, 2/11/99)

·         Dave Taylor and Fit Finlay vs. Billy Kidman and Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Thunder, 2/11/99)

·         Booker T. vs. Disco Inferno (SuperBrawl IX, 2/21/99)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Saturn (SuperBrawl IX, 2/21/99)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Billy Kidman (SuperBrawl IX, 2/21/99)

·         The Outsiders vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Konnan (SuperBrawl IX, 2/21/99)

·         Goldberg and Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell (Nitro, 3/1/99)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Billy Kidman (Thunder, 3/4/99)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 3/8/99)

·         Bret Hart vs. Van Hammer (Nitro, 3/8/99)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Booker T. (Uncensored, 3/14/99)

·         Jerry Flynn vs. Meng (Nitro, 3/15/99)

·         Chris Jericho vs. Scott Steiner (Nitro, 3/22/99)

·         Ric Flair vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 3/22/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman vs. Saturn and Raven (Nitro, 4/5/99)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho (Nitro, 4/5/99)

·         Mikey Whipwreck vs. Hardcore Hak (Thunder, 4/7/99)

·         Blitzkrieg vs. Super Calo (Thunder, 4/7/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Raven (Thunder, 4/7/99)

·         Booker T. vs. Chris Jericho (Thunder, 4/7/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 4/12/99)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Psicosis (Nitro, 4/12/99)

·         Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, and Billy Kidman vs. Raven, Saturn, and Rey Misterio Jr. (Thunder, 4/22/99)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Thunder, 4/29/99)

·         Raven and Saturn vs. Mike Enos and Scotty Riggs (Thunder, 5/6/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kanyon (Thunder, 5/6/99)

·         Raven and Saturn vs. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (Nitro, 5/17/99)

·         Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman (Thunder, 5/20/99)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 5/27/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Ric Flair (Thunder, 6/3/99)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Psicosis (Thunder, 6/24/99)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Saturn (Thunder, 7/1/99)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. La Parka (Thunder, 7/1/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Blitzkrieg (Thunder, 7/1/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Kanyon (Thunder, 7/8/99)

·         Kaz Hayashi vs. Van Hammer (Thunder, 7/22/99)

·         Mona vs. Brandi Alexander (Thunder, 7/22/99)

·         Vampiro vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 7/26/99)

·         Harlem Heat vs. Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro, 8/2/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 8/2/99)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Billy Kidman [plus the aftermath] (Thunder, 8/4/99)

·         Disco Inferno vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 8/9/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 8/16/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr., Billy Kidman, and Eddy Guerrero vs. Barry Windham, Kendall Windham, and Bobby Duncum Jr. (Thunder, 8/26/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Eddy Guerrero vs. Blitzkrieg and La Parka (Nitro, 8/30/99)

·         Kaz Hayashi vs. El Dandy [completely ignore the aftermath] (Thunder, 9/2/99)

·         Sid Vicious vs. Saturn (Thunder, 9/2/99)

·         Van Hammer vs. Blitzkrieg (Thunder, 9/9/99)

·         Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 9/20/99)

·         Goldberg vs. Brian Knobbs (Nitro, 9/20/99)

·         Eddy Guerrero vs. Saturn (Nitro, 9/20/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Dean Malenko (Nitro, 9/27/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart (Nitro, 10/4/99)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Saturn (Nitro, 10/11/99)

·         Bret Hart vs. Sting (Nitro, 10/18/99)

·         Kaz Hayashi and Blitzkrieg vs. Juventud Guerrera and Silver King (Thunder, 10/21/99)

·         Sid Vicious vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 10/28/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Jeff Jarrett (Mayhem, 11/21/99)

·         Bret Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 11/22/99)

·         Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 12/2/99)

·         Disco Inferno and Lash LeRoux vs. The Mamalukes (Starrcade, 12/19/99)

·         Chris Benoit vs. Bret Hart (Thunder, 12/23/99)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 12/27/99)

·         Sid Vicious vs. Chris Benoit (Souled Out, 1/16/00)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Vampiro (Thunder, 1/26/00)

·         Three Count vs. Disco Inferno and the Mamalukes (Thunder, 1/26/00)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. and La Parka vs. Los Fabulosos (Thunder, 3/15/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Jeff Jarrett (Thunder, 3/15/00)

·         Three Count vs. The Jung Dragons (Thunder, 3/22/00)

·         Disco Inferno and the Mamalukes vs. The Jung Dragons (Nitro, 3/27/00)

·         Sting and Vampiro vs. The Total Package and Ric Flair (Nitro, 3/27/00)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Captain Hugh G. Rection (Slamboree, 5/7/00)

·         Sting vs. Vampiro (Slamboree, 5/7/00)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. David Arquette (Slamboree, 5/7/00)

·         Chris Candido vs. Crowbar (Thunder, 5/10/00)

·         KroniK vs. The Mamalukes (Great American Bash, 6/11/00)

·         Terry Funk vs. Vito (Nitro, 6/12/00)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett (Nitro, 6/19/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 6/26/00)

·         Terry Funk vs. Johnny the Bull (Nitro, 7/3/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Jeff Jarrett (Thunder, 7/5/00)

·         KroniK vs. The Perfect Event (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Kanyon (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

·         Lance Storm vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 8/2/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Lance Storm (Nitro, 8/7/00)

·         Elix Skipper vs. Kwee Wee (Nitro, 8/14/00)

·         Sean O’Haire, Mark Jindrak, and “Above Average” Mike Sanders vs. Rey Misterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera, and Disco Inferno (Nitro, 8/21/00)

·         Lance Storm and Elix Skipper vs. KroniK (Thunder, 8/30/00)

·         Elix Skipper vs. Kwee Wee (Fall Brawl, 9/17/00)

·         Three Count vs. Lt. Loco, Cpl. Cajun, and SGT. A-WALL (Fall Brawl, 9/17/00)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 9/20/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. Mike Awesome and Crowbar (Thunder, 10/4/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. Boogie Knights (Nitro, 10/9/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. Lt. Loco and Cpl. Cajun (Thunder 10/11/00)

·         Elix Skipper vs. Billy Kidman (Thunder, 10/11/00)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Thunder, 10/11/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. The Boogie Knights vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/00)

·         Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. vs. The Boogie Knights (Thunder, 11/1/00)

·         Lance Storm vs. Norman Smiley (Thunder, 11/1/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Lance Storm (Thunder, 11/15/00)

·         Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. vs. KroniK (Millennium Final, 11/16/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner (Millennium Final, 11/16/00)

·         Bam Bam Bigelow and Reno vs. Mike Awesome and Crowbar (Thunder, 11/22/00)

·         Two Count vs. Evan Karagias and Jamie Knoble vs. The Jung Dragons (Mayhem, 11/26/00)

·         Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner (Mayhem, 11/26/00)

·         Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak vs. Evan Karagias and Jamie Knoble (Thunder, 12/6/00)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. “Above Average” Mike Sanders (Thunder, 12/6/00)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Jamie Knoble (Thunder, 12/20/00)

·         Jamie Knoble vs. Shane Helms (Thunder, 1/3/01)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Shannon Moore [and the aftermath] (Nitro, 1/8/01)

·         Lance Storm and Elix Skipper vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. (Thunder, 1/10/01)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Shane Helms (Sin, 1/14/01)

·         Jung Dragons [Hayashi and Yang] vs. Evan Karagias and Jamie Knoble (Sin, 1/14/01)

·         Ernest “The Cat” Miller vs. “Above Average” Mike Sanders (Sin, 1/14/01)

·         The Insiders vs. Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire (Sin, 1/14/01)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Crowbar (Nitro, 1/15/01)

·         KroniK vs. Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire (Nitro, 1/15/01)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Mike Awesome (Thunder, 1/17/01)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. General Rection (Thunder, 1/17/01)

·         The Mamalukes vs. Mark Jindrak and Shawn Stasiak [minus the finish] (Nitro, 1/23/01)

·         Shane Helms, Elix Skipper, Evan Karagias, Billy Kidman, Jimmy Yang, Jamie Knoble, Rey Misterio Jr., Lash LeRoux, Shannon Moore, and Kaz Hayashi in a ten-man Gauntlet Match (Thunder, 1/24/01)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Road Warrior Animal (Nitro, 1/29/01)

·         Crowbar vs. Lance Storm (Nitro, 1/29/01)

·         Shane Helms vs. Billy Kidman (Thunder, 1/31/01)

·         Elix Skipper vs Ernest “The Cat” Miller (Thunder, 2/7/01)

·         Billy Kidman vs. Elix Skipper (Nitro, 2/12/01)

·         Evan Karagias and Jamie Knoble vs. AJ Styles and Air Paris (Thunder, 2/14/01)

·         Sean O’Haire vs. Mark Jindrak (Thunder, 2/14/01)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Hugh Morrus vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. and The Wall (Thunder, 2/14/01)

·         Diamond Dallas Page vs. Kanyon AND Diamond Dallas Page vs. Jeff Jarrett (SuperBrawl [XI] Revenge, 2/18/01)

·         Jeff Jarrett vs. Crowbar (Thunder, 2/21/01)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman vs. Johnny Swinger and Jason Lee (Nitro, 2/26/01)

·         Shane Helms vs. Elix Skipper (Thunder, 3/7/01)

·         Jung Dragons [Hayashi and Yang] vs. Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo (Nitro, 3/12/01)

·         Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias vs. Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman (Thunder, 3/14/01)

·         Alex Wright vs. Jason Jett (Thunder, 3/14/01)

·         Kwee Wee vs. Jason Jett (Greed, 3/18/01)

·         Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman vs. Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo (Greed, 3/18/01)

·         Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Shane Helms (Greed, 3/18/01)

·         Dusty and Dustin Rhodes vs. Jeff Jarrett and Ric Flair (Greed, 3/18/01)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Greed, 3/18/01)

·         Jason Jett vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 3/19/01)

·         AJ Styles and Air Paris vs. Jung Dragons [Hayashi and Yang] (Thunder, 3/21/01)

·         Jason Jett vs. Kid Kash (Thunder, 3/21/01)

·         Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, and Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Billy Kidman, Rey Misterio Jr., and Shane Helms (Thunder, 3/21/01)

·         Scott Steiner vs. Booker T. (Nitro, 3/26/01)

[SirSmUgly]

Charming Uniquities

Johnny B. Badd managed a visit to this list as well, but WCW had the most of this type of charming, weird little match in 1996 - 1998, which is down to the large and diverse roster (and not having Kevin Nash or  Vince Russo book the shows)

Spoiler

o   Sabu vs. Alex Wright (Nitro, 9/11/95)

o   Johnny B. Badd vs. Brian Pillman (Fall Brawl, 9/17/95)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Sabu (Nitro, 10/30/95)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Paul Orndorff (Nitro, 12/11/95)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman (Nitro, 6/3/96)

o   The Blue Bloods vs. The Public Enemy (Nitro, 6/24/96)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Kurasawa (Nitro, 7/1/96)

o   Diamond Dallas Page vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan (Bash at the Beach, 7/7/96)

o   Eddy Guerrero vs. Big Bubba (Nitro, 7/29/96)

o   Harlem Heat vs. The Rock ‘n Roll Express (Nitro, 8/5/96)

o   Lord Steven Regal vs. Randy Savage (Nitro, 8/5/96)

o   The Giant vs. Chris Benoit (Clash of the Champions XXXIII, 8/15/96)

o   Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Clash of the Champions XXXIII, 8/15/96)

o   The Public Enemy vs. Juventud Guerrera and El Technico (Nitro, 9/30/96)

o   Lex Luger vs. Roadblock (Nitro, 10/21/96)

o   Super Calo vs. Konnan (Nitro, 1/13/97)

o   Konnan vs. Chris Benoit (Nitro, 2/3/97)

o   The Steiner Brothers vs. High Voltage (Nitro, 2/10/97)

o   Hugh Morrus and Konnan vs. Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael + the post-match interview segment (Nitro, 3/3/97)

o   Kevin Sullivan (w/Jacquelyn) vs. Hardbody Harrison (Nitro, 3/10/97)

o   Harlem Heat vs. Jeff Jarrett and Mongo McMichael (Nitro, 4/7/97)

o   The Steiner Brothers vs. The Public Enemy [and eventually also Konnan and Hugh Morrus] (Nitro, 4/21/97)

o   Lord Steven Regal promo (Nitro, 5/12/97) and Lord Steven Regal vs. Ultimo Dragon (Slamboree, 5/18/97)

o   Mongo McMichael vs. Reggie White (Slamboree, 5/18/97)

o   Mongo McMichael and Jeff Jarrett vs. Harlem Heat [with excellent guest commentary from Kevin Greene] (Nitro, 5/19/97)

o   Akira Hokuto vs. Malia Hosaka [with post-match Madusa scrum] (Nitro, 6/9/97)

o   Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Syxx (Nitro, 6/23/97)

o   Kevin Nash vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (Nitro, 6/30/97)

o   Vicious and Delicious vs. Los Guerreros (Nitro, 7/7/97)

o   Jeff Jarrett vs. Ric Flair (Nitro, 7/14/97)

o   Alex Wright vs. Lord Steven Regal (Nitro, 9/15/97)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Jacquelyn (Halloween Havoc, 10/26/97)

o   Villanos IV and/or V vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 11/17/97)

o   Scott Hall vs. Disco Inferno (Nitro, 12/1/97)

o   Chris Benoit vs. Billy Kidman (Nitro, 12/1/97)

o   Barbarian vs. John Nord (Nitro, 1/5/98)

o   Goldberg vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 1/12/98)

o   The Giant vs. Lodi (Thunder, 1/15/98)

o   Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera (Thunder, 1/15/98)

o   Rick Martel vs. Eddy Guerrero (Nitro, 1/19/98)

o   Chris Benoit vs. Marty Jannetty (Nitro, 1/19/98)

o   Booker T. vs. Mortis (Nitro, 1/19/98)

o   Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera (Nitro, 1/19/98)

o   Scott Hall vs. Larry Zbyszko (Souled Out, 1/24/98)

o   Konnan vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 1/26/98)

o   Mongo McMichael vs. Jim Neidhart (Thunder, 2/12/98)

o   The Public Enemy vs. The Outsiders (Nitro, 2/16/98)

o   Konnan vs. British Bulldog (Nitro, 3/9/98)

o   Konnan vs. Chris Benoit (Thunder, 4/9/98)

o   Konnan vs. Rick Steiner (Nitro, 4/13/98)

o   Chris Jericho vs. Prince Iaukea (Spring Stampede, 4/19/98)

o   Barbarian and Hugh Morrus vs. The Public Enemy (Nitro, 4/27/98)

o   Goldberg vs. La Parka (Nitro, 6/1/98)

o   Reese and Horace Hogan vs. Juventud Guerrera and Van Hammer (Nitro, 6/8/98)

o   Chris Jericho vs. Mini Misterio Jr. Impersonator (Thunder, 7/2/98)

o   Kanyon vs. Konnan (Thunder, 7/2/98)

o   Goldberg vs. Scott Hall (Nitro, 7/6/98)

o   Juventud Guerrera vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 10/5/98)

o   Raven and Kanyon vs. Chris Benoit and Mongo McMichael (Thunder, 12/3/98)

o   Norman Smiley vs. Jerry Flynn (Thunder, 12/17/98)

o   Ernest “The Cat” Miller vs. Saturn (Starrcade, 12/27/98)

o   Chris Jericho vs. Lizmark Jr. [dog collar match] (Nitro, 2/8/99)

o   Meng vs. Scott Steiner (Nitro, 4/5/99)

o   Kevin Nash vs. Hardcore Hak (Thunder, 4/29/99)

o   Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko vs. Raven and Saturn vs. Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. (Slamboree, 5/9/99)

o   Charles “Lil’ Naitch” Robinson vs. Gorgeous George (Slamboree, 5/9/99)

o   Charles “Lil’ Naitch” Robinson and Ric Flair vs. Madusa and Randy Savage (Nitro, 5/17/99)

o   Randy Savage vs. Brian Adams (Thunder, 6/10/99)

o   Disco Inferno vs. Scotty Riggs (Thunder, 6/17/99)

o   Ernest “The Cat”  Miller vs. Jerry Flynn (Nitro, 7/5/99)

o   Vampiro and the Insane Clown Posse vs. Lash LeRoux, Norman Smiley, and Prince Iaukea (Nitro, 8/9/99)

o   Ernest Miller “The Cat”  vs. Mike Enos (Nitro, 8/16/99)

o   Ernest “The Cat” Miller vs. Prince Iaukea [including the Cat’s pre-match antics] (Thunder, 8/26/99)

o   Insane Clown Posse vs. West Hollywood Blondes (Nitro, 9/13/99)

o   Booker T. vs. Sid Vicious (Thunder, 9/23/99)

o   Bret Hart vs. “The Total Package” Lex Luger (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

o   Jeff Jarrett and Mona vs. Evan Karagias and Madusa (Thunder, 12/2/99)

o   Norman Smiley vs. David Flair (Thunder, 12/16/99)

o   Terry Funk vs. David Flair (Nitro, 2/7/00)

o   Fit Finlay vs. Evan Karagias (Thunder, 2/23/00)

o   Crowbar vs. The Wall (Thunder, 3/2/00)

o   Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Goldberg [and the pre-match build] (Nitro, 6/26/00)

o   Three Count vs. The Jung Dragons (Nitro, 7/3/00)

o   Daffney vs. Ms. Hancock (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

o   Paul Orndorff vs. Shawn Stasiak (Thunder, 8/30/00)

o   Booker T. vs. Kevin Nash (Fall Brawl 9/17/00)

o   Scott Steiner vs. Vito (Thunder, 11/22/00)

o   Goldberg vs. Dewayne “Sarge” Bruce (Nitro, 12/12/00)

o   Lance Storm, Elix Skipper, and Mike Awesome vs. Billy Kidman, Rey Misterio Jr., and Konnan (Sin, 1/14/01)

o   Meng vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Thunder, 1/17/01)

 

[SirSmUgly]

HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS CLASSIC Promos, Spots, and Skits

While WCW could manage some great promos, they were not this show's forte. In truth, Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, and Raven did a lot of heavy lifting for this section, at least to my taste. 

Spoiler

§  Lex Luger invades Nitro (Nitro, 9/4/95)

§  Madusa dumps the WWF Women’s Championship in the trash (Nitro, 12/18/95)

§  Scott Hall invades Nitro (Nitro, 5/27/96)

§  Eric Bischoff gets powerbombed through the stage (Great American Bash, 6/16/96)

§  Hulk Hogan goes Hollywood heel (Bash at the Beach, 7/7/96)

§  Backstage attack by the nWo, complete with the Lawn Dart Incident (Nitro, 7/29/96)

§  DDP fakes out Nash and Hall, doesn’t join the nWo, hits Hall with a Diamond Cutter and jets (Nitro, 1/13/97)

§  In a now-popular GIF, someone tosses a drink at Hall, hits him in the head, and he just uses the soda that splashed on him to smooth out his hair while the rest of the nWo talks and talks and talks (Nitro, 3/17/97)

§  Booker T. tells Hulk Hogan that he’s COMIN’ FOR YOU, [racial slur that has been repurposed by the people the slur refers to]; Sherri busts a gut laughing at the faux pas. (Spring Stampede, 4/6/97)

§  The Dinner and a Movie Guys go nWo, DDP hands out some justice in response (Clash of the Champions XXXV, 8/21/97)

§  Vulture Sting drops a note that he was supposed to bring to the ring, still rules the world (XXXV, 8/21/97)

§  Goldberg claims his first victim, beats Hugh Morrus, goes streaking (Nitro, 9/22/97)

§  Randy Savage plays the long game, infects Ric Flair with the Madness, Flair disbands the Horsemen after driving the group into the ground with his leadership (Nitro, 9/29/97)

§  After the Giant wrestles Curt Hennig to a DQ victory, Sting brings his brand of justice to the nWo (Nitro, 9/29/97)

§  Raven halfway blinds Scotty Riggs (Nitro, 10/27/97)

§  Rick Rude shows up on Nitro, is also on a (taped) RAW at roughly the same time (Nitro, 11/17/97)

§  Raven attacks DDP with a stop sign and scares the shit out of a couple of Foo Fighters (MTV Total Request Live at some point between 3/16/98 and 3/19/98; airs on Thunder, 3/19/98)

§  Chris Jericho lists out most of the 1,004 holds that he knows (Nitro, 3/30/98)

§  Chris Jericho introduces the luchadores for a Cruiserweight battle royal, has jokes, also has a moment of shock when Ciclope unmasks and it’s Dean Malenko (Slamboree, 5/17/98)

§  Chris Jericho switches between seething hatred for and annoying obsequiousness toward J.J. Dillon while trying to get Dillon to overturn Dean Malenko’s Cruiserweight victory over him, cuts a killer promo in the process (Nitro, 5/26/98)

§  Chris Jericho writes Ted Turner about the WCW Cruiserweight Championship issue; it doesn’t go well for him (Nitro, 6/8/98)

§  Chris Jericho tries his own Goldberg-style ring entrance for a TV title defense against Wrath, locks himself out of the building, is eventually chased off by Wrath (Thunder, 9/10/98)

§  Saturn tricks Kanyon into thinking that Kanyon has Lodi’s protection, destroys Kanyon’s fingers, beats the crap out of the Flock, and has a fantastic final promo exchange with Raven about the future of the Flock (Thunder, 9/10/98)

§  Arn Anderson re-introduces Ric Flair to WCW; Flair goes off about Bischoff’s ABUSE OF POWER and it rules (Nitro, 9/14/98)

§  Flair tries to salvage the Bischoff feud by beating down a traitorous Barry Windham and then cutting a fiery promo to hype their Starrcade match (Nitro, 12/21/98)

§  Disco Inferno wants a music video, cuts himself into Konnan’s instead, is hilarious, promotes Oil of Olay’s brand for free (Nitro, 3/15/99)

§  Sid loses a car to the wily planning of GOLDBERG, GOLDBERG, WHY ME, GOLDBERG (Nitro, 9/27/99)

§  Sid loses another car because he’s bad at being a wily planner unlike GOLDBERG, GOLDBERG, WHY ME, GOLDBERG (Nitro, 10/4/99)

§  Vince Russo kills Hulkamania (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

§  Bret Hart unloads in a worked shoot rant on Bill Goldberg that is way more “shoot” than “work” (Thunder, 9/6/00)

§  The reveal that Buff Bagwell is the father of Ms. Hancock’s child isn’t all that amazing until you go back and realize that the answer of who impregnated her (and why the person who found that answer first would be in a position to do so) is extremely logically (and mostly accidentally) built up across months and months of WCW television (Nitro, 10/2/00)

§  Ric Flair defends WCW’s honor in the face of Vince McMahon’s purchase of the company (Nitro, 3/26/01)

 

[SirSmUgly]

Promos, Spots, and Skits that Aren’t Quite HOLY SHIT MOMENTS that Are Worth Watching/Adding to Your Playlist

When WCW was good at promos and skits, it could be very good. The only addition this time around is Sting and Booker at Uncensored '96, but special shout out to Scott Steiner for being more unhinged than usual at Millennium Final! 

Spoiler

§  Sting and Luger agree to a Chicago Street Fight against the Road Warriors; Luger is from the Chicago suburbs and doesn’t quite know what a Chicago Street Fight is (Nitro, 2/26/96)

§  Sting chews Luger out, shames Luger into better behavior (Nitro, 2/26/96)

§  Lex Luger has a grueling defense of his TV Title against Loch Ness (Nitro, 3/18/96)

§  Sting fires up Booker T. before their match against the Road Warriors; his attempt both works and is delightfully funny (Uncensored, 3/24/96)

§  The Giant chokeslams Lex Luger through a banquet table (Nitro, 5/13/96)

§  Ric Flair follows up a victory over Eddy Guerrero with a great run on commentary (Nitro, 5/20/96)

§  Lord Steven Regal interview with Gene Okerlund [BONUS: Video of Regal backhanding Sting’s very soul into dust] (Nitro, 6/3/96)

§  Scott Hall and Sting confrontation (Nitro, 6/3/96)

§  Kevin Nash wants you to look at the adjective verb PLAY (Nitro, 6/10/96)

§  Big Bubba is a real dick to John Tenta (Nitro, 6/17/96)

§  Hollywood Hogan’s first heel promo on Nitro [and WCW’s response] (Nitro, 7/15/96)

§  The Outsiders invade the control truck (Nitro, 7/22/96)

§  The Horsemen fuck up the Booty Man’s world and Arn cuts an awesome promo (Nitro, 8/5/96)

§  Early nWo paid-for promo/Sting and Luger run up on Craig Leathers in the production truck for playing the promo (Nitro, 8/5/96)

§  Hollywood Hogan and the nWo cut a promo backstage [and Hogan is good at it for maybe the only time in his whole nWo run] (Nitro, 8/12/96)

§  Sting and Lex Luger ask the Horsemen to be added to their War Games team (Nitro, 8/19/96)

§  Sting quits WCW because they really don’t appreciate him enough (Nitro, 9/16/96)

§  Hall and Nash formally invite DDP into the nWo for the first time (Nitro, 11/11/96)

§  Hall, Nash, Syxx, a Cable Ace Award, and some nWo sign-holding nerds harass Larry Zbyszko and talk themselves up in general (Nitro, 11/11/96)

§  Hall and Nash destroy two tag teams, then have a wild brawl with the Faces of Fear (Nitro, 11/18/96)

§  Masahiro Chono backstabs Sonny Onoo, starts nWo Japan (Nitro, 12/16/96)

§  Crow Sting shows up to help WCW, WCW is too stupid to accept it, Sting rolls out (Nitro, 12/16/96)

§  The Horsemen squabble after Benoit vs. Jarrett (Nitro, 1/13/97)

§  Scott Steiner tells Kevin Nash that “at Souled Out, there ain’t gonna be no basketball” in a promo (Nitro, 1/13/97)

§  The first of the “face comes to the ring and beats up jobbers” spots with Randy Savage, plus a bonus Sting appearance (Nitro, 1/20/97)

§  DDP fakes out the nWo again; the crowd loves it (Souled Out, 1/25/97)

§  The Giant appreciates Lex Luger’s faith in him, promises to win the tag belts for them both (Nitro, 2/10/97)

§  Mongo and Jarrett argue over Jarrett’s suitability for Horsemanship and the result of their SuperBrawl VII match (Nitro, 2/24/97)

§  Ric Flair saves a bad Piper promo segment with a very good promo about replacing Piper’s Family with the Horsemen at Uncensored ’97 (Nitro, 3/10/97)

§  Arn Anderson squashes beef with Kevin Sullivan, low-key retires (Nitro, 3/17/97)

§  Lord Regal cuts a promo, isn’t having any of those “planchas and hunnacanranas” in his matches! (Nitro, 3/31/97)

§  Debra is very mean, claims that Rocco Rock shaved his head because he didn’t know that a special shampoo for head lice existed, generally cuts a hilarious post-match promo (Nitro, 3/31/97)

§  Lord Steven Regal discusses the state of Sarah Ferguson’s vagina, job opportunities in the American Midwest, and Ultimo Dragon (Nitro, 4/21/97)

§  DDP dresses up as La Parka, surprises Randy Savage with a Diamond Cutter (Nitro, 7/7/97)

§  Stevie Richards negotiates Raven’s contract, does a poor job, means well (Nitro, 7/22/97)

§  Konnan insults Rey Misterio Jr., threatens Gene Okerlund, is generally hilarious (Nitro, 8/25/97)

§  Chris Jericho loses to Mongo, wakes up, throws a tantrum, and spoils Rey Misterio Jr.’s night with a sneak attack (Nitro, 1/12/98)

§  Kevin Nash cuts a fun promo on the Giant (Thunder, 1/22/98)

§  Kidman and Saturn jump Rick Martel backstage and toss him through a glass door, Barber Shop-style (Thunder, 1/22/98)

§  Randy Savage masters the art of sarcasm in what is a pretty great promo on Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 1/26/98)

§  Hall hits the sickest of burns on Larry Z. in his pre-match promo (“exposed like a pervert in a raincoat at a peep show”) (Nitro, 1/26/98)

§  Chris Jericho sends Lenny Lane out during a Juventud Guerrera match to pull a bait-and-switch on Dean Malenko (Thunder, 3/12/98)

§  Gene Okerlund verbally destroys Dean Malenko after Malenko’s loss to Jericho (Uncensored, 3/15/98)

§  1) Nash and 2) Hall show up to Spring Breakout sauced, confront the Giant, and 1) escapes the Giant by bellyflopping into the pool while 2) is wedgied and tossed by the Giant into the pool (Nitro, 3/16/98)

§  Raven and Buff Bagwell have a match that is interrupted by Diamond Dallas Page, and everything up to Page’s promo is great (Nitro, 3/30/98)

§  Eddy Guerrero makes Chavo apologize to grandma for getting her kicked out of the Potluck Club (Nitro, 4/6/98)

§  Chris Jericho weighs Prince Iaukea, ends up attacking him with the weigh-in scale (Thunder, 4/9/98)

§  Chavo Jr. does a little slap-slap-kiss with Uncle Eddy after losing to Dean Malenko, but not in the usual romantic comedy way (Thunder, 5/21/98)

§  Lex Luger joins the nWo Wolfpac, the state of Indiana EXPLODES with joy (Nitro, 5/26/98)

§  Raven confronts Saturn after Saturn defeats Reese; Raven’s promo is both mean and compelling, and his Evenflow is devastating (Nitro, 6/29/98)

§  Be vewy vewy qwiet, Chavo’s hunting Uncle Eddy (and failing at it)! (Thunder, 7/2/98)

§  Lee Marshall interviews Konnan at the CompuServe desk, magic happens (Bash at the Beach, 7/12/98)

§  Chris Jericho baits-and-switches a gullible Fall Brawl crowd, beats up mini-Goldberg, celebrates with a foam world title (Fall Brawl, 9/13/98)

§  Chris Jericho makes his entrance to rematch mini-Goldberg, ends up having to hightail it away from the real deal (Nitro, 9/28/98)

§  Raven cuts a riotous promo in which he accuses his mother of aspiring to outdo Judy Bagwell on WCW television (Nitro, 12/21/98)

§  Chris Jericho and Ralphus put on a fashion show (Thunder, 2/18/99)

§  Ric Flair and Arn Anderson have a conversation in which Ric subtly realizes that he needs to get back to the tactics that made him a force in the 1980s (Thunder, 3/4/99)

§  Ric Flair attempts to dap Stevie Ray, Stevie is bummed about it (Nitro, 5/3/99)

§  Randy Savage asks Rey Misterio Jr. to join Team Madness, Rey declines, all hell breaks loose (Thunder, 5/20/99)

§  Ernest “The Cat” Miller trolls the Sturgis crowd during his bout against Buff Bagwell (Road Wild, 8/14/99)

§  Scott Steiner returns, cuts nutty and entertaining promo about his quest to sleep with more women than Wilt Chamberlain and his plans to get back at Hulk Hogan for leaving the nWo (Nitro, 9/20/99)

§  Lex Luger is dead, but the Total Package lives! (Nitro, 9/27/99)

§  James Brown and Ernest “The Cat” Miller cut a rug together (SuperBrawl X, 2/20/00)

§  Chavo Jr. explains how his attempt at being a salesman failed, steals Okerlund’s watch to recoup his material assets (Thunder, 3/1/00)

§  Kanyon drops Kanyon Kutters on random people (Nitro, Thunder, and PPV, summer of 2000)

§  Jeff Jarrett makes Dave Penzer read his screed about Booker T. not being in attendance at the show, KABONGs him immediately afterward (Thunder, 8/9/00)

§  Tony S. riles Orndorff all the way up by using his interview questions to dish all the dirt he can on the Natural Born Thrillers disrespecting their former trainer Orndorff backstage. (Thunder, 8/30/00)

§  Meng cuts an emotional, impassioned promo about needing to save his job by beating Goldberg (Nitro, 10/2/00)

§  WCW manages to pull off an enjoyable, compelling twenty-minute plus opening talking segment, complete with the heels laying Goldberg’s career to rest and the babyfaces making plans to strike back with the help of the WCW Commissioner (Nitro, 1/15/01)

§  Dusty Rhodes makes his triumphant return to WCW in Baltimore, helps son Dustin beat up CEO Ric Flair and Road Warrior Animal (Nitro, 1/29/01)

§  CEO Ric Flair goes from incensed to ebullient, triumphant to pleading, and doesn’t play a note wrong over the first seventeen minutes of Nitro as he is forced to backtrack on screwing over the Cat and Dustin Rhodes when Kevin Nash holds son David hostage and threatens violence against him (Nitro, 2/12/01)

§  Shane Douglas cuts an excellent promo on CEO Ric Flair, and now I’ve seen everything (Thunder, 2/21/01)

§  The brawl that connects Cat versus Rick Steiner and Cat/Booker/DDP versus Totally Buff/Scott Steiner is really hot television and does a great job of returning Booker to WCW television after two months (Nitro, 2/26/01)

 

 

 

 

[SirSmUgly]

HOLY SHIT, THAT WAS DUMB (BUT ENTERTAINING) MOMENTS

1999 WCW was like a fever dream when it got particularly weird, wasn't it? Anyway, Paul Orndorff makes an appearance on this list (with an assist from Gary Spivey). 

Spoiler

v  Paul Orndorff regains his wonderfulness with the help of GARY SPIVEY?! FROM THE PSYCHIC COMPANIONS NETWORK?!?! (Fall Brawl, 9/17/95)

v  The Giant runs over Hulk Hogan’s motorcycle (Fall Brawl, 9/17/95 and Nitro, 9/18/95)

v  Old Woman Sullivan and the Giant beat Hulk Hogan up and shave a Hitler mustache into his face (Nitro, 10/2/95)

v  Sister Sherri/Colonel Rob Parker marriage ceremony (Clash of the Champions XXXII, 1/23/96)

v  Miss Elizabeth’s high heel starts a run of victories that even Goldberg would be jealous of (Nitro, 1/29/96)

v  Kevin Greene and Mongo McMichael talk wrestling strategy (Nitro, 6/3/96)

v  The Steiner Brothers commentate and also recite a few nursery rhymes as the BLUE BLOODS EXPLODE (Nitro, 8/26/96)

v  A Four Horsemen promo happens, and Chris Benoit tells Mongo McMichael to talk to the hand (Nitro, 12/23/96)

v  Renegade really dicks over his partner Joe Gomez on the hot tag (Nitro, 3/17/97)

v  The IT’S WCW/nWo UNCENSORED promo, complete with lots of dumb rhymes and Wrath mouthing the line RULES ARE FOR FOOLS (SuperBrawl VII, Nitro, and Thunder in February and March of 1998)

v  Florida Man jumps Raven while Raven sits in the corner of the ring and soliloquizes (Thunder, 4/9/98)

v  Randy Savage cuts a promo, appears to be confused about how “did” and “did not” are defined; also is unsure of which species of bird an “icon” is. (Thunder, 5/21/98)

v  Judy Bagwell confronts her fuck-up son, parents him in the only way a Southern woman in her fifties would know how at the time (through physical violence), scores a big pop (Nitro, 10/5/98)

v  Ernest “The Cat” Miller insults the crowd, insults Santa, is beaten up by Santa because it’s Saturn in the Santa suit (Nitro, 12/21/98)

v  Randy Savage and Sid try to get Gorgeous George back from Nash, are given multiple meeting points, generally freak out in a hilarious way (Thunder, 7/1/99)

v  Arliss – not Robert Wuhl, but Arliss – promotes a PPV match between Randy Savage and a purse-wielding Dennis Rodman while Mona and Madusa brawl in the ring. Must be seen to be believed (Nitro, 7/19/99)

v  Curly Bill proposes that he becomes the newest member of the West Texas Rednecks (Nitro, 9/6/99)

v  Stevie Ray mean mugs the camera at the end of a Harlem Heat promo, does it so long that he can’t hold his laughter in, creates classic GIF in the process (Nitro, 9/6/99)

v  Kevin Nash makes one of these overlong video package recaps worth it, does his best NFL Films commentator impression over a Sid/Goldberg package (Thunder, 10/14/99)

v  The Total Package tries desperately to get out of his match with Syko Sid Vicious (Thunder, 12/2/99)

v  Late-stage WCW blesses us with a Filthy Animals and Hacksaw Duggan vs. The Revolution mic battle that makes zero sense, is dumb and cringeworthy at times, and never fails to entertain (except maybe when Malenko is heeling) (Thunder, 12/23/99)

v  Ernest “The Cat” Miller makes Gene Okerlund crack after offering to “sell [his] foot to [Okerlund’s] ass” after Okerlund insists that Miller would be a shady used car salesman (Thunder, 2/9/00)

v  Hulk Hogan snarls out a lesson about the intricacies of the STRAPATION, DUDES; forgets that it’s the year 2000 and not 1985 (Nitro, 3/6/00)

v  THAT’S THE WALL, BROTHER (Nitro, 3/27/00)

v  Sting and Vampiro trade ridiculous dialogue in a proto-cinematic match set in a graveyard (Nitro, 5/1/00)

v  Tank takes over the DJ booth, fanboys over Three Count, does a running man that is so amazing in its terribleness that it needs to be seen to be believed (Nitro, 7/3/00)

v  Daffney/Ms. Hancock/David Flair love triangle video package (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

v  Vampiro hypes the Juggalo Championship Wrestling title, is challenged by Tank “The Anvil” Abbott for the belt (Nitro, 8/21/00)

v  Vince Russo badly miscalculates how Canada feels about Goldberg (Nitro, 9/18/00)

v  Lenita Erickson and Bob Sapp attempt their first (and last) WCW interview, fail so badly that it’s actually pretty funny (Thunder, 11/8/00)

v  Glacier says he will watch Norman Smiley’s back, absolutely does not do so in a very funny way (Thunder, 1/24/01)

v  Jeff Jarrett manages to do a surprisingly funny Dusty Rhodes impression (Nitro, 2/19/01)

v  M.I. Smooth denies Kanyon’s (accurate) accusation that he ratted his plans out to the Cat, makes much mirth while doing so, and then gets his limo flipped by Kanyon in a forklift while he’s in it (Thunder, 3/7/01)

v  CEO Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett both kiss Dusty Rhodes’s ass (Nitro, 3/19/01)

 

[SirSmUgly]

THE ABSOLUTE DIRT WORST

Hulk Hogan may not be one of the worst wrestlers of all time (though I personally am starting to lean that way because of how limited and unimaginative he proved to be during his WCW run), but he is at the very least the most "reach exceeding grasp" wrestler to ever live. His awfulness is so profound that it inspired Kevin Sullivan and the Giant to newfound levels of awfulness as well - and that's only looking at the '95 and early '96 big shows we watched. He is all over this list for good reason: He was almost indescribably bad for the bulk of the '90s.

But at least Hogan was useful back in the early-to-mid '80s. That's more than I can say for most of WCW's 2000 programming, which is only useful as a torture device.

 

Spoiler

v  Kevin Sullivan and King Curtis Iaukea cut a live promo that is worse than the worst mystical Undertaker promo times a thousand; absolutely diabolical stuff, folks (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/95)

v  Hogan vs. Giant: The Monster Truck Battle/The Match (Halloween Havoc, 10/29/95)

v  In something of a surprise just based on the names in the bout: Sting vs. Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (Starrcade, 12/27/95)

v  The Mega Powers vs. The Alliance to End Hulkamania (Uncensored, 3/24/96)

v  Roddy Piper accepts Hulk Hogan’s challenge for SuperBrawl VII (Nitro, 2/3/97)

v  Randy Anderson wants his job back, needs to feed his fam’ly (Nitro 2/10/97)

v  Roddy Piper and Hulk Hogan nonsensically insult one another (Nitro, 2/10/97)

v  Benoit ignores the cues to shut the fuck up, keeps cutting a terrible promo instead (Nitro, 2/17/97)

v  Roddy Piper in Alcatraz (Nitro, 2/17/97)

v  Roddy Piper tries out wrestlers to be members of his Family, some of the worst television of all time ensues (Nitro, 3/3/97)

v  Hogan responds to Piper; it’s bad (Nitro, 3/3/97)

v  Roddy Piper is heated about everyone hating the Piper’s Family Tryout segment, cuts an awful promo about it (Nitro, 3/10/97)

v  Randy Savage taunts DDP and Kimberly into shame and rage by pointing out a centerfold that Kimberly was super-excited and proud to do (Uncensored, 3/16/97)

v  Ric Flair, two ladies, and a dummy dressed like Roddy Piper (Nitro, 6/30/97)

v  The nWo dresses up like the Four Horsemen and put on a sub-Family Guy level skit (Nitro, 9/1/97)

v  Right after that sketch, everyone tries to get Chavo’s title shot; it’s incredibly stupid (Nitro, 9/1/97)

v  The Sting dummy falls from the rafters: Act I (Nitro, 9/8/97)

v  The Sting dummy falls from the rafters: Act II (Nitro, 11/24/97)

v  The unfortunate pilot episode of nWo Nitro (Nitro, 12/22/97)

v  Bret Hart’s Starrcade debut comes as part of a diabolically awful Larry Zbyszko vs. Eric Bischoff match (Starrcade, 12/28/97)

v  Hogan vs. Sting, the “fast” count, and the Montreal Screwjob callback (Starrcade, 12/28/97)

v  The just-as-bad Hogan/Sting rematch the next night on Nitro (Nitro, 12/29/97)

v  Sting is visually pinned for a three-count in his third straight match back from a year-plus-long layoff (Nitro, 2/2/98)

v  I hated all the Nick Patrick, Evil Ref drama, so here’s one in-ring promo with Patrick and J.J. Dillon that stands in as a representative of all that garbage (Nitro, 2/9/98)

v  Sting finally gets his “huge win” over Hogan, but the focus is on Nick Patrick turning babyface, Randy Savage being nutty, and Sting selling a lot for Hogan’s offense (SuperBrawl VIII, 2/22/98)

v  Hogan proceeds to cut a vile promo on the Wolfpac while standing next to Dennis Rodman, doesn’t know any black people, compensates by coming up with substitute slang that sounds appropriate for a white guy from Florida with zero black friends or acquaintances (Nitro, 6/8/98)

v  Hogan, Piper, and Savage have what is a legitimate candidate for the worst promo battle of all-time (Nitro, 6/8/98)

v  Eric Bischoff insists on interviewing Scott Steiner; both men proceed to stink up the arena (Nitro, 6/15/98)

v  Eric Bischoff fails at being a late-night comedian: Act I (Nitro, 6/29/98)

v  Eric Bischoff fails at being a late-night comedian: Act II (Nitro, 7/20/98)

v  Eric Bischoff fails at being a late-night comedian: Act III (Nitro, 7/27/98)

v  Eric Bischoff fails at being a late-night comedian: Act IV (Nitro, 8/3/98)

v  Eric Bischoff roleplays a conversation between DDP and Kimberly after the nWo attacks them both, is a driver of traffic to the USA Network. (Nitro, 8/3/98)

v  Eric Bischoff fails at being a late-night comedian: Act V (Thunder, 8/5/98)

v  Eddy Guerrero threatens to quit, cuts a truly awful promo while doing so (Nitro, 8/17/98)

v  Buff Bagwell pretends to be Rick Steiner, joins Scott Steiner and a fake doctor in cutting a shitty promo (Nitro, 8/24/98)

v  Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart vs. Lex Luger and Sting (with “bonus” Disciple and Warrior run-ins) represents a new nadir for Nitro main events (Nitro, 8/31/98)

v  Silver King uses a chair as a springboard, gets DQ’d, everyone (except the ref) in the ring is confused because that wasn’t meant to be a spot that someone gets DQ’d for (Thunder, 9/10/98)

v  Buff Bagwell fakes a neck injury during the Steiner Brothers EXPLODING match; after an extremely long and extremely boring stretcher job, they finally do the swerve that everyone saw coming and attack Rick. (Fall Brawl, 9/13/98)

v  A War Games with three teams of three, pinfalls attempts allowed, and no Match Beyond (Fall Brawl, 9/13/98)

v  Warrior kidnaps Disciple, prepares to take him somewhere and defile him (Nitro, 9/14/98)

v  Scott Hall is a drunk while wrestling Lex Luger, spews all over Eric Bischoff, is booked to exploit his IRL illness (Nitro, 9/14/98)

v  Scott Hall’s alcoholism blows up a tag match with Stevie Ray against Konnan and Kevin Nash (Thunder, 9/17/98)

v  Warrior just misses the cutoff for “so dumb, it’s fun” and spearheads a merely dumb sketch with a disappearing Disciple and an obvious rubber dummy. (Nitro, 9/21/98)

v  Warrior does some Dollar Store Undertaker parlor tricks in the backstage area, freaks out that dope Hogan (Nitro, 9/21/98)

v  Ernest “The Cat” Miller and Lenny Lane suck at pro wrestling; Scott Hall comes out, does drunk shit, helps Ernest Miller and Lenny Lane torpedo this already awful segment (Nitro, 9/21/98)

v  Hulk Hogan just misses the cutoff for “so audaciously dumb, it’s fun” and cuts a merely dumb promo in which he claims to have gone to a neighborhood full of black people of his own free will and also claims that said black people called him “’Wood.” Also, he wants to be called “Woody,” like Allen, Harrelson, or what you might call an erect penis in slang. No, I did not make any of this up. (Nitro, 9/28/98)

v  Warrior’s response to the Hogan promo is merely bad without any of the audaciousness that got me to laugh incredulously (Nitro, 9/28/98)

v  In the latest nadir for Nitro main events, Bret Hart completes an obvious swerve, we get the only Hogan/Hitman match that we’d get from WCW, and that match is cut off halfway through so that Sting can finish it and we can get your typical nWo bullshit. (Nitro, 9/28/98)

v  After Hogan tails the Disciple following a bad Disciple/Lenny Lane match, the Warrior shows up in Hulk Hogan’s mirror; Bischoff is the only guy who can’t see him and therefore is the deluded one in this sketch that failed under even the most basic logical scrutiny (Nitro, 10/5/98)

v  Bischoff insists on dragging out this “Horsemen are banned” angle, loses a fight to Reid Flair in the center of the ring, keeps talking and talking and talking (very poorly) afterward until Papa Flair finally shows up to do something remotely entertaining (Nitro, 10/5/98)

v  Bischoff centers himself with interviews and angles and getting arrested, and every single promo and segment that he is a part of absolutely fucking SUCKS (Nitro, 10/12/98)

v  Chucky the murderous living doll just barely, and I mean just barely, misses the cutoff for “so dumb, it’s fun” and spearheads a merely dumb sketch in which he insults Gene Okerlund and Rick Steiner. (Nitro, 10/12/98)

v  Scott Steiner and the Giant vs. Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell, followed by Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner, followed by the WCW Tag Titles being booked into the ground (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

v  Bret Hart vs. Sting is merely crappy and disappointing, but it directly precedes Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior, which is all-time terrible, so let’s just induct them as a duo of big match disappointments (Halloween Havoc, 10/25/98)

v  Hulk Hogan chooses to work out his jealousy toward Jesse Ventura’s then-vibrant political career by announcing his candidacy for POTUS, Part I (Nitro, 11/9/98)

v  The Disciple gets mic time for some reason, is joined by Horace Hogan, Stevie Ray, Vincent, and the Warrior for a disastrously bad segment (Nitro, 11/9/98)

v  Eric Bischoff puts himself over by beating up some guys from Turner legal (Nitro, 11/9/98)

v  Try as she might, Judy Bagwell can’t save a terrible segment in which she and Rick Steiner challenge Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell to a tag title match (Nitro, 11/9/98)

v  Hulk Hogan chooses to work out his jealousy toward Jesse Ventura’s then-vibrant political career by announcing his candidacy for POTUS, Part II (Nitro, 11/16/98)

v  There’s a Flair heart attack angle; it sucks (Nitro, 12/14/98)

v  There’s an angle where Bischoff feigns sympathy for Flair’s heart attack and then beats up David; it sucks (Thunder, 12/17/98)

v  Ric Flair vs. Eric Bischoff (Starrcade, 12/27/98)

v  Flair spends two segments shedding clothes and reading labels to get around to challenging Bischoff to a career vs. control of WCW rematch; Bischoff comes out and only makes things worse by being bad at talking during the second segment (Nitro, 12/28/98)

v  Liz accuses Goldberg of ra aggravated stalking across a series of vignettes that make everyone involved look like shit (Nitro, 1/4/99)

v  The Fingerpoke of Doom (Nitro, 1/4/99)

v  David Flair is bad, long nWo beatdowns are also bad (Souled Out, 1/17/99)

v  WCW runs a shambolic tag titles tournament (Nitro, Thunder, and [PPVs] in early 1999)

v  Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper [and also Will Sasso, I guess] (Nitro, 2/8/99)

v  Bret Hart vs. Will Sasso (with a random Debra Wilson heel turn] (Nitro, 2/15/99)

v  Ric Flair is beaten up by the nWo in a field, is driven to the arena by a random dude in a cowboy hat, is then beaten up by the nWo in the ring (Nitro, 2/15/99)

v  Scott and Buff work out, hit on ladies, threaten to beat up people in drag, generally are the worst thing about pro wrestling in February of 1999 (Nitro, 2/22/99)

v  Kevin Nash convinces himself that his Arn Anderson impression was funny, convinces Scott Hall, Hulk Hogan, and Disco Inferno to do impressions as well (Nitro, 2/22/99)

v  Ric Flair hangs out in a mental health institution; Scott Hall and Asya are there, too, for some reason. (Nitro, 4/26/99)

v  Roddy Piper tries to do a comedic top-ten list, should leave it to David Letterman. Should also leave talking to David Letterman or literally every other human because he fucking SUCKS at it. (Nitro, 5/17/99)

v  Hugh Morrus needs an angle, so let’s have him kill a bunch of cruiserweights! (Nitro, 5/17/99)

v  Randy Savage and Eric Bischoff combine on a segment that is damn near a hate crime (in the literal sense of the term) during a Randy Savage/“Kevin Nash” impostor match (Nitro, 5/24/99)

v  Kevin Nash fights Team Madness with the power of poop, dumb comedy voiceovers; in related requests, please stop letting Nash book television. (Nitro, 5/31/99)

v  Eric Bischoff is the worst color commentator in the world (Nitro, 6/7/99)

v  The White Hummer angle is just a bit too much for a wrestling show; beyond that, it gets speculated about, but never gets answered, which tips it onto this list (Nitro, 6/7/99)

v  Ric Flair vs. Roddy Piper (Great American Bash, 6/13/99)

v  WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?! That idiot Scott Steiner did, and it made for an extremely stupid finish to an otherwise dull Rick Steiner/Sting match (Great American Bash, 6/13/99)

v  Manly man Kevin Nash is a super-babyface who fights off like ten dudes and then, uh, kidnaps a woman to make her his sex slave, maybe? (Nitro, 6/28/99)

v  Roddy Piper can’t quite tell if he’s a heel or babyface, and then J.J. Dillon undermines his own executive partner by bringing in Judge Mills Lane to ref Piper’s BatB match even though Lane and Piper hate each other on sight; also, there’s a fake Sting involved in this segment, and oh yeah, they brought Mills Lane in six days before the show with little time to promote his appearance. Peak stupid-ass WCW, in other words. (Nitro, 7/5/99)

v  The West Texas Rednecks “perform” live. (Nitro, 7/5/99)

v  Randy Savage beats the shit out of Gorgeous George (Nitro, 7/5/99)

v  The Junkyard Hardcore Invitational: Finlay wins a shitty trophy, almost loses a leg. (Bash at the Beach, 7/11/99)

v  Roddy Piper vs. Buff Bagwell: A boxing match that ends with a wrestling move and a pinfall in which Judy Bagwell is the one who gets put over like a superstar (Bash at the Beach, 7/11/99)

v  Kevin Nash and Sting face Randy Savage and Sid in a tag match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship somehow, it stinks bad (Bash at the Beach, 7/11/99)

v  Eric Bischoff, Total Badass stands up to three pro wrestlers. Bonus: Kidman’s SSP ends up depositing him in nowhere-land (Nitro, 7/12/99)

v  Hogan beats Savage for the world title (again), but it’s no WM V main event or even close, and also Eric Bischoff is the WOAT at commentating. (Nitro, 7/12/99)

v  Buff Bagwell + blackface = *vomits* (Nitro, 7/19/99)

v  Gorgeous George gets kidnapped (again) after Randy Savage blows up another match and has a mic “battle” with Madusa, and also Jason Hervey is the new WOAT at commentating (Nitro, 7/26/99)

v  Sid Vicious ruins a half-hour of Nitro by busting up multiple matches for the “fake streak” angle (Nitro, 8/16/99)

v  Sid Vicious ruins a half-hour of Thunder by busting up multiple matches for the “fake streak” angle; even worse, brings Rick Steiner out to commentate his fake wins for a while (Thunder, 8/19/99)

v  Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Lenny Lane (Thunder, 8/19/99)

v  Sid Vicious > the whole WCW Cruiserweight Division (Nitro, 8/23/99)

v  After his match against Steven Regal, Buff Bagwell grabs a mic and stands up to Berlyn, stands up for America, could stand to stop sucking at pro wrestling (Nitro, 9/6/99)

v  Buff Bagwell stands up for America, refuses to lay down for Berlyn for real; Berlyn gets his gimmick killed off by Hacksaw Jim Duggan [emphasis on “hack”] (Fall Brawl, 9/12/99)

v  Disco Inferno vs. Erik Watts [including wonky production nonsense and the aftermath] (Nitro, 9/13/99)

v  Rick Steiner vs. Chris Benoit [including the aftermath] (Nitro, 9/13/99)

v  The debut of Coach Buzz Stern and his student Luther Biggs (Thunder, 9/30/99)

v  Seven apparently paid the troll toll, creepily seduces young child in child’s bedroom at night (Nitro, 10/11/99)

v  Seven is still creepy (Nitro, 10/18/99)

v  Buff Bagwell lays down for the dopey new creative team (Nitro, 10/18/99)

v  The Filthy Animals vs. Harlem Heat vs. The First Family (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

v  DDP and Kimberly make a bunch of masturbation references in a vile promo as part of Page challenging Ric Flair to a Strap Match. (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

v  Rick Steiner vs. Chris Benoit [plus dumb fucking swerve] (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

v  WCW promotes its new Nitro scent by talking about how badly it smells in elaborate detail (Halloween Havoc, 10/24/99)

v  The Nitro Girls EXPLODE (Nitro, 11/1/99)

v  Kevin Nash does a terrible VKM impression, is dreadfully unfunny (Nitro, 11/1/99)

v  Sting vs. Goldberg (Nitro, 11/8/99)

v  Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Brian Knobbs (Nitro, 11/8/99)

v  Norman Smiley vs. Jimmy Hart (Nitro, 11/15/99)

v  Oklahoma debuts (Nitro, 11/15/99)

v  Pinata-on-a-Pole Match (Nitro, 11/15/99)

v  Asya vs. Kimberly [with jibber jabber involving Torrie Wilson and David Flair]

v  Vampiro vs. Berlyn Dog Collar Match [with Oklahoma commentary and Dr. Death post-match run-in] (Mayhem, 11/21/99)

v  Kimberly Page vs. David Flair (Mayhem, 11/21/99)

v  Sid and Goldberg are supposed to have an I Quit match; now that you know the stipulation, guess the finish! Quick, guess! (Mayhem, 11/21/99)

v  The secessionist Revolution has dumb mic battle with Disco Inferno and Lash LeRoux; the fucking mobster dudes get involved, Shane Douglas is hilariously bad on commentary, and it’s almost so entertainingly stupid that it avoided this list, but unfortunately, it wasn’t unintentionally funny enough to avoid being placed here (Thunder, 12/2/99)

v  Roddy Piper vs. Creative Control (Nitro, 12/6/99)

v  Vito vs. Lash LeRoux in a Body Bag Match (Nitro, 12/13/99)

v  Vampiro vs. Oklahoma (Starrcade, 12/19/99)

v  Kevin Nash vs. Sid Vicious (Starrcade, 12/19/99)

v  The whole fuckin’ episode (Nitro, 12/20/99)

v  Buff Bagwell and DDP have a terrible Springer-like segment over whether or not Buff slept with Kim Page (Nitro, 1/10/00)

v  Tank Abbott does mic work that is even bad for him (Nitro, 1/10/00)

v  Madusa. Oklahoma. Evening Gown Match. (Thunder, 1/12/00)

v  Madusa vs. Oklahoma (Souled Out, 1/16/2000)

v  Kevin Nash addresses the locker room in his first address as commissioner and channels Roddy Piper the whole time (Nitro, 1/17/2000)

v  Masa Chono and Super J. vs. The Varsity Club (Nitro, 1/17/2000)

v  Buff Bagwell vs. Diamond Dallas Page (Nitro, 1/17/2000)

v  Kevin Nash does evil commissioner bullshit, strips another title (Thunder, 1/26/00)

v  Oklahoma and Madusa continue the feud from hell; Dr. Haywood Jeter (FUCK OFF, WCW) is caught up in the madness (Nitro, 2/7/00)

v  Billy Kidman and Vampiro vs. La Parka and TAFKAPI, The Mamalukes vs. David Flair and Crowbar vs. The New Harlem Heat…actually, the whole show (Nitro, 2/14/00)

v  Mickey Jay vs. Slick Johnson…actually, the whole show (Thunder, 2/16/00)

v  Tank Abbott vs. Big Al (SuperBrawl X, 2/20/00)

v  The Dog vs Norman Smiley, Brian Knobbs vs. Terry Funk, and everything in between those matches (Nitro, 3/13/00)

v  Hulk Hogan vs. “The Total Package” Lex Luger and Ric Flair (Thunder, 3/15/00)

v  Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk (Uncensored, 3/19/00)

v  Sid Vicious vs. Jeff Jarrett (Uncensored, 3/19/00)

v  Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (Uncensored, 3/19/00)

v  Brian Knobbs dumps the Dog in an Orlando-area field (Thunder, 3/22/00)

v  You know what? Let’s just induct the whole Sullivan/Taylor/Dillon/Ferrara/Whomever-Else-is-to-Blame Era in early 2000 (Nitro, Thunder, and PPV from mid-January 2000 through March 2000)

v  The commentary isn’t interested in talking about the wrestling because the relationship between Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff and their ability to helm creative together as a team is the thing that’s bringing the ratings! (Nitro, 3/27/00)

v  The whole dang show (Nitro, 4/10/00)

v  The whole dang show (Thunder, 4/12/00)

v  Jimmy Hart vs. Mancow: Act I (Spring Stampede, 4/16/00)

v  The whole dang show (Spring Stampede, 4/16/00)

v  Hulk Hogan vs. Mike Awesome and Billy Kidman (Nitro, 4/24/00)

v  Vampiro vs. Sting (Nitro, 4/24/00)

v  Vince Russo, Shane Douglas, Buff Bagwell, and Team Package are all SHOOTIN’ and ruining Syracuse, New York’s love of pro wrestling (Thunder, 4/26/00)

v  Tammy Sytch vs. Paisley (Thunder, 4/26/00)

v  Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman (Slamboree, 5/7/00)

v  Ric Flair, Vince Russo, and Dopey David Flair have a dreadful promo battle in which the ultimate prize is apparently a chance to go wrestle on RAW instead, at least according to Ric. (Nitro, 5/8/00)

v  Sting crashes bad Vampiro interview (Thunder, 5/10/00)

v  Kidman vs. Horace and the aftermath: The single worst segment to ever appear on WCW television during the Nitro Era (and quite honestly, maybe on WCW television ever) (Thunder, 5/10/00)

v  Billy Kidman and Horace Hogan vs Hulk Hogan (Nitro, 5/15/00)

v  Horace Hogan vs. Hulk Hogan [and aftermath] (Thunder, 5/17/00)

v  It’s another legendarily bad Nitro for the record books (Nitro, 5/22/00)

v  It’s another legendarily bad Thunder for the record books (Thunder, 5/24/00)

v  Chris Candido and Terry Funk are stupid enough to do a piledriver in the blind spot of a horse, and of course, someone almost gets seriously injured (Thunder, 5/31/00)

v  Vince Russo vs. Ric Flair (Nitro, 6/5/00)

v  Kevin Nash runs the gauntlet (Nitro, 6/5/00)

v  Daffney vs. Lt. Loco vs. Disco Inferno (Thunder, 6/7/00)

v  Goldberg is a super-mega-babyface and still a potential cash cow for WCW, so of course, WCW turns him heel. SWERVE, BRO. (Great American Bash, 6/11/00)

v  Ric Flair vs. David Flair and Vince Russo (Nitro, 6/12/00)

v  Vampiro promo and Vampiro vs. The KISS Demon (Thunder, 6/14/00)

v  Jeff Jarrett, fat ladies singing, and Turner S&P combine to make a segment that’s just bad enough to fit on this list (Nitro, 7/3/00)

v  Nash desperately feels a need to build himself as an indestructible main eventer, does so in a farcical battle royal (Nitro, 7/3/00)

v  Vampiro vs. The KISS Demon in a Graveyard Match (Bash at the Beach, 7/9/00)

v  Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson cut a promo in which they are annoying as fuck and manage to possibly destroy the concept of sex as a positive thing; they also possibly destroy Billy Kidman’s neck with a dumbbell shot that should paralyze or kill the guy by all rights (Thunder, 7/19/00)

v  Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera vs. General Rection and Corporal Cajun vs. The Perfect Event vs. Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire in a Four Corners Caged Heat match that makes zero sense and should never have been booked (Nitro, 7/24/00)

v  2000 Torrie Wilson embarrassed when Billy Kidman exposes that 1992 Torrie Wilson was really into cake, also hadn’t lost her baby fat yet on account of all the cake; Scott Hudson simultaneously makes his case for being the worst person to speak into a microphone ever in the history of microphones (Nitro, 8/7/00)

v  Ms. Hancock has a miscarriage or maybe fakes one to finish off a clothes-ripping match in a mud pit against Major Gunns because Vince Russo is a creative genius, bro (New Blood Rising, 8/13/00)

v  Goldberg works himself into a shoot, but actually it’s a work, but it’s supposed to be a shoot, in his Triple Threat Match against Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash (New Blood Rising, 8/13/00)

v  Vince Russo says that THIS is real unlike the other stuff, challenges Goldberg to come out to the ring and fight Tank Abbott, Goldberg wins the REAL fight with Irish whips into guardrails and moves like that; also, Russo thinks that cussing is RAD (Nitro, 8/14/00)

v  Scott Steiner threatens to rape Goldberg’s significant other, merely locks her in a Steiner Recliner instead (Nitro, 8/21/00)

v  Paisley vs. Tygress vs. Major Gunns (Nitro, 8/28/00)

v  WCW crosses its excellent Crowbar/Daffney storyline over with its awful Shane Douglas/Torrie Wilson/Billy Kidman storyline, and the results are predictably that the latter drags down the former. (Nitro, 8/28/00)

v  Bret Hart randomly shows up to a remote spot in a New Mexican desert with no kayfabe directions somehow; Goldberg is the most gullible (alleged) babyface ever (Nitro, 8/28/00)

v  You know what? The whole stupid fucking Nitro (Nitro, 8/28/00)

v  Torrie Wilson vs. Madusa [including BITCH-filled aftermath that involves Shane Douglas and Billy Kidman] (Nitro, 9/11/00)

v  Mike Tenay attempts to be a misogynistic, provocative heel commentator and interviewer, is laughably bad at showing any personality other than slightly-bland-if-knowledgeable third commentator (Various Thunder eps, August and September 2000)

v  Paul Orndorff has a stinger; a match happens around him as he’s laid out in the ring with a serious neck injury for another three minutes as Mark Madden doesn’t quite figure out that making jokes about him being old and injuring himself might be tasteless in this particular moment (Fall Brawl, 9/17/00)

v  The previous entry’s match is concluded on the following Nitro, where Tygress goes over four other Natural Born Thrillers, pinning three of them directly in an illogical and terribly-laid-out match (Nitro, 9/18/00)

v  The whole sorry-ass Nitro (Nitro, 9/18/00)

v  Jeremy Borash, Russo-boosting commentator (Thunder, 9/20/00)

v  Paisley vs. Tygress and all the nonsense surrounding that match (Thunder, 9/20/00)

v  Mike Tenay interviews Stacy Keibler, is basically Phil Donahue crossed with Jerry Springer crossed with a pile of dog shit (Thunder, 9/20/00)

v  The whole sorry-ass Thunder (Thunder, 9/20/00)

v  We’ve found our cumulatively worst Nitro in the whole run, folks! (Nitro, 9/25/00)

v  Here’s something that doesn’t have potential: The Misfits in Action putting on a dire interview with Mike Tenay (Thunder, 10/4/00)

v  The Misfits in Action do a terrible comedy segment in which they impersonate Team Canada, declare multi-pronged war on humor, laughter, and joy (Nitro, 10/23/00)

v  Konnan and Tygress vs. Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson (Halloween Havoc, 10/28/00)

v  Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett (Halloween Havoc, 10/28/00)

v  Jimmy Hart vs. Mancow: Act II (Mayhem, 11/26/00)

v  Vito and Kwee Wee against the Thrillers in a two-on-five Last Men Standing Match turns into The Insiders against some of the Thrillers in a two-on-three Last Men Standing Match; it ends with no standing ten-count (and there was a segment tied into it in which the camera was randomly acting as the first-person viewpoint of the person who switched out the list of participants, so we’ll just add that illogical segment in as part of the illogical whole of this dumb feud-advancing match) (Nitro, 1/8/01)

v  Scott Steiner kills off a key chunk of the slowly rebuilding cruiserweight division for no fucking reason (Nitro, 2/5/01)

v  The commissionership’s transferability is illogical and dumb for so long that it eventually finds its way onto this list (Nitro, Thunder, and PPV from October 2000 through March 2001)

v  Kanyon’s heinous attack on Ms. Jones in the hospital is cut off by the Cat in what reads as a bad facsimile of an already iffy WWF-style Attitude Era segment (Nitro, 3/5/01)

v  Hugh Morrus vs. Rick Steiner [with bonus terrible kayfabe reffing from Mickey Jay and a Shane Douglas sighting] (Thunder, 3/18/01)

v  Vincent K. McMahon wanks himself off on television figuratively and probably is thinking about doing it literally as he crows about purchasing WCW; Shane McMahon gets the WCW Invasion angle started off on the wrong foot by being the face of the company and the last person we see on WCW television (Nitro, 3/26/01)

 

[SirSmUgly]

BEST FEUDS

We have one new entrant! Hooray!

This list is shorter than I expected it to be when I started this watch through! Boo!

Spoiler

ü  Randy Savage vs. Ric Flair (1995/1996)

ü  Diamond Dallas Page vs. Johnny B. Badd (1995/1996)

ü  Eddy Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. (1997)

ü  Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page (1998)

ü  Raven vs. Saturn (1998)

ü  Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko (1998)

ü  Booker T. vs. Chris Benoit (1998)

ü  Saturn and Raven vs. Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko (1999)

ü  Sid Vicious vs. Goldberg (1999)

[SirSmUgly]

WORST FEUDS

We have zero new entrants! Hooray!

This list is considerably longer than I expected it to be when I started this watch through! Boo! 

Spoiler

û  Hulk Hogan vs. The Dungeon of Doom (1995/96)

û  Nick Patrick vs. Chris Jericho (1996)

û  Kevin Sullivan vs. Chris Benoit (1996/97)

û  Hulk Hogan vs. Sting (1996/97)

û  Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko (1997)

û  Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner (1998)

û  Ernest “The Cat” Miller and Sonny Onoo vs. Kaz Hayashi (1998)

û  Bret Hart vs. Sting (1998)

û  Rey Misterio Jr vs. Eddy Guerrero [lWo feud] (1998)

û  Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash (1998)

û  Jay Leno and Diamond Dallas Page vs. Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff (1998)

û  The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan (1998)

û  Eric Bischoff vs. Ric Flair (1998/1999)

û  Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page (1999)

û  Ric Flair vs. Roddy Piper (1999)

û  Sting vs. Rick Steiner (1999)

û  Buff Bagwell vs. Roddy Piper (1999)

û  Buff Bagwell vs. Ernest “The Cat” Miller (1999)

û  West Texas Rednecks vs. No Limit Soldiers (1999)

û  Team Madness vs. Kevin Nash (1999)

û  Diamond Dallas Page vs. Ric Flair (1999)

û  Buff Bagwell vs. The Powers that Be (1999)

û  David Flair vs. Kimberly Page (1999)

û  The Filthy Animals vs. The Revolution (1999)

û  The Mamalukes vs. Disco Inferno and Lash LeRoux (1999)

û  Dr. Death and Oklahoma vs. Vampiro and the Misfits (1999)

û  Buff Bagwell vs. Diamond Dallas Page (2000)

û  Tank Abbott vs. Jerry Flynn (2000)

û  Tank Abbott vs. Doug Dellinger (2000)

û  Madusa vs. Oklahoma (2000)

û  Booker T. vs. Stevie Ray and Big T. (2000)

û  Kevin Nash and his flunkies vs. Sid Vicious (2000)

û  Jeff Jarrett and his flunkies vs. Sid Vicious (2000)

û  Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair (2000)

û  Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk (2000)

û  Sid Vicious vs. Jeff Jarrett (2000)

û  Millionaires’ Club vs. New Blood (2000)

û  Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman (2000)

û  Sting vs. Vampiro (2000)

û  Vince Russo and David Flair vs. Ric Flair (2000)

û  Dale Torborg vs. Vampiro (2000)

û  Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson vs. Billy Kidman (2000)

û  Major Gunns vs. Ms. Hancock (2000)

û  Jimmy Hart vs. Mancow (2000)

 

[Curt McGirt]

You know what? A "Worst of WCW" DVD would actually be pretty awesome. It doesn't have to be complete; you can make, like, a compilation with occasional interviews like the WWE DVDs, only the clipped segments are listed by date and participant so you can FF to them if you want. There'll be an extra disc of full matches for the stuff that had to have its own complete segment. Some WRESTLERS will have their own spots in the compilation/film, like a whole Vampiro section and shit. 

[SirSmUgly]

I don't think I could stomach that stuff myself. If I never see Hulk, Bisch, Piper, or Russo on screen again, I can live with that. They'd make up the bulk of that series.

On another note, I uploaded my lists into Google NotebookLM and created a pro wrestling +/- for each year of the Nitro era based on the number of good matches and segments - the number of bad matches and segments as guided by the lists. Here is the outcome:

WCW Year Ranking (Best to Worst)

•

1. 1998: Total Score +114

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 161

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 47

◦

Calculation: 161 - 47 = 114

•

2. 1996: Total Score +96

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 101

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 5

◦

Calculation: 101 - 5 = 96

•

3. 1997: Total Score +78

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 99

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 21

◦

Calculation: 99 - 21 = 78

•

4. 2001: Total Score +45

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 50

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 5

◦

Calculation: 50 - 5 = 45

•

5. 1999: Total Score +28

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 104

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 76

◦

Calculation: 104 - 76 = 28

•

6. 1995: Total Score +24

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 28

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 4

◦

Calculation: 28 - 4 = 24

•

7. 2000: Total Score -24

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Good Lists: 68

◦

Number of Matches/Segments on Bad Lists: 92

◦

Calculation: 68 - 92 = -24

 

Based on the formula, 1998 emerges as the best year for WCW, while 2000 is identified as the worst. This ranking suggests a peak in 1998, with a significant decline in content quality by 2000.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I actually think 1995 is my favorite year of WCW Nitro, but of course it (like 2001, which I like a lot as well) is hampered by only having a run for three months of that year. I do like 1998 WCW a lot more than many people do, though, which is reflected here.

 

Hopefully, NotebookLM will significantly help me with that list that Curt suggested for all the wrestlers who ever appeared on Nitro (and their debut dates). 

[twiztor]

On 6/14/2025 at 5:44 PM, SirSmUgly said:

Millennium Final (2000) notes:

• Sting also talks about being healthier now than he was when he defeated Vader for the Cup back in 1994. Hey, was that Vader/Sting Cup match on the same tour where Cactus Jack lost his ear on the hangman spot?
• That supremely annoying HEY BABY (OOH AHH) I WANNA KNOOOOOOOOW IF YOU’LL BE MY GIRL
• Booker hits only one of his questionable catchphrases that the crowd finishes for him with a HATE THE GAME, and I still, even after multiple reviews, have no idea how that catchphrase got over.

• i think so! Jack tears his ear in a match with Vader (on 3/16!) in what is actually a quarterfinal match in the tournament! the Sting/Vader final takes place on 3/20. i wouldn't have made that connection! good looking out.
• i had no idea what song you were talking about. i somewhat regret pulling it up on youtube, but honestly i expected worse. it is eminently catchy.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YFtlvDOVVE
• "Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game" got over because it was vaguely associated with hip-hop. I know Ice-T had a song along those lines, but don't know if that's where it started or if it even holds any larger significance other than Ice-T being awesome. But probably somebody remade that song or stole the line from him.
• ok, i feel like i should probably watch this show too. your review makes it sound much better than i would've expected.

once again, thank you for writing all of these reviews. i look forward to seeing what the next project is!

[twiztor]

22 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

You know what? A "Worst of WCW" DVD would actually be pretty awesome. It doesn't have to be complete; you can make, like, a compilation with occasional interviews like the WWE DVDs, only the clipped segments are listed by date and participant so you can FF to them if you want. There'll be an extra disc of full matches for the stuff that had to have its own complete segment. Some WRESTLERS will have their own spots in the compilation/film, like a whole Vampiro section and shit. 

i want to agree with this so much, but the bad stuff isn't usually bad in the entertaining way. It just goes on forever and feels pointless. It saps your desire to keep watching wrestling. The bad stuff is just dumb, like Bischoff vs. Flair being, or offensive and dumb like everything about Oklahoma, or just uninteresting like Booker T vs. Stevie Ray/Harlem Heat 2000. it's not the "laugh at how bad it is" feel, it's the "ugh, is this over yet" kind of bad.

Now, if you're talking Shockmaster, and Tank Abbott pulling a knife on his buddy, and that kind of stuff? sign me up!

[Curt McGirt]

That's pretty much what we have Botchamania for anyway, innit? So the point is moot. 

[SirSmUgly]

Yeah, you'd have to be selective about what you added.

Hulk Hogan's WOOD IN THE HOOD promo would be the main event. 

[Curt McGirt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z9zSoyuAW8&ab_channel=OverTheROPES!

I had to look that up, here it is. So stupid. The bad memories of hearing that fucking music for the third time that night and him getting on the mic flooded back to me. God how I hated it... and now I realize how bad my idea probably is. 

[zendragon]

As I go back and read some these 96/97/98 reviews that I missed I want to respond to your comments about Chae

Spoiler

 

[caley]

On 6/8/2025 at 11:42 AM, SirSmUgly said:

Oh, the match! It's fine. Gedo is a dick and Jericho is a fiery babyface, and both men play their roles well. Jericho's not a good enough athlete to do that top-rope Frankensteiner, though. The match sort of gets ugly after that spot, though I did like Gedo's kneebreaker reversal. Gedo badly misses a top-rope dive, like he wasn't even close to Jericho, and submits to the Lion Tamer. They show the botched Frankensteiner again for some reason on replay. Tenay tried to sell it as Gedo blocking it, but Jericho was the one who crawled over and tried to get the cover after it happened. Hey, they can't all be winners, but no need to show it again!

In Jericho's book he says that Gedo was booked to come in and defeat him in a one-off match and Jericho went to someone (Terry Taylor? Bischoff? I forget whom) and wondered why he was being booked to lose to a guy who wasn't going to be staying in WCW and said booker agreed with him. So they changed the result to Jericho winning. He says that when he went up for the frankensteiner, Gedo (Whom Jericho was supposedly friendly with and had teamed with in WAR (?!)) inexplicably gave him a two-handed shove to the chest as he was performing the move which caused him to land on his head. Jericho (whose mother was paralyzed in an accident with her boyfriend) had an elevated fear of paralysis and leapt to his feet after the fall and continued the match but I think he made reference to feeling like he'd suffered an injury in the spot and probably shouldn't have. He doesn't mention talking to Gedo afterwards or any more clarification on what happened so, as an armchair, uh, wrestling guy, I have a feeling Gedo was told he was going over, then found out Jericho had talked them into changing the outcome and was maybe a wee bit annoyed with Jericho and gave him the shove, just as a dick-ish heel move not realizing it would lead to Jericho almost killing himself. I have no information to back that up, just making a guess.

[zendragon]

On 4/7/2025 at 1:18 PM, SirSmUgly said:

SuperBrawl (XI) Revenge notes:

• It took me until booting up this very last SuperBrawl right now to realize that it got its name because when spoken out loud, it sounds somewhat similarly to the words Super Bowl, a big sports event that also takes place in February. I am very quick on the draw!

 

• Of the five guys on the SuperBrawl logo, guess how many of them are booked for this show. Go on, guess!

 

• Yep, the answer is one (Scott Steiner). The other four (Syko Sid Vicious, Booker T., Sting, and Goldberg) are out for multiple reasons, but it’s a bummer not having any of them on this show. I’m glad that Booker will be back after this show, and in truth, he certainly needed time to heal his injured knee, but I’m increasingly worried that Sting won’t show up until the Panama City Beach Nitro.

 

• Hype video: CEO Ric Flair was given too much power in this company and has quickly gone off the rails while wielding it. Um, again, I mean. This is not a board glitch, and this post is not being repeated from last year when I covered WCW’s 1999.

 

• Production struggles with playing Evan Karagias’s old theme music on cue. WCW: A production mess to the end! Apparently, Billy Kidman was knocked out of our multiman scramble opener after Road Warrior Animal beat the shit out of him on the pre-show, so he’s OUT and Shane Helms is back IN. The storyline reasoning – that Chavo Jr. wants Kidman out of the way so that he can wrestle a less experienced opponent instead – makes logical sense, though Hudson does not make that connection on commentary very clearly. Karagias’s new music plays to bring him onto the ramp, and then Jamie (K)noble is second out to the ring. Note that the autocaptioner, being of sound AI mind, spells it “Noble.”

 

• The other qualifiers are to the ring in short order, excepting Kidman: Kaz Hayashi (seen beating Helms to make it into the match in a replay, but without the context of Chavo Jr. running a distraction on Helms), Jimmy Yang, and Shannon Moore. Now, the flaw in Animal knocking Kidman out, but the CEO/heel commissioner choosing Helms as Kidman's replacement, is that Helms took Chavo Jr. to the limit at Sin. The CEO (or commissioner, come to think of it) have been wiser in kayfabe to choose Air Paris.

 

• Anyone who has read enough of these reviews will know exactly how I feel about this match: This will probably be good for what this type of match is, but it will be worse than if we just had a one-on-one match. This multi-man match is an elimination match, at least; ECW-style eliminations is the correct way to do these types of multi-man matches, and it is unfortunate that WWE codified the one-fall standard for them. If AEW and TNA aren’t already doing ECW style in their multi-mans, they should do that as an easy way to differentiate from the market leader.

 

• There are some nice double team moves and stereo dives and such. I am simply hugely biased toward the ebb and flow of one-on-one matches. Yang and Karagias fuck up an exchange; Karagias gets a whole handful of Yang’s junk, which enough fans see to elicit a low, tiny group chuckle. Their exchange is where the match breaks down a bit as they are by far the least of the workers in the bout; they start blowing moves in short order, and when moves are the whole point of this type of match, that’s a problem.

 

• OK, Tony S. passes along the rumor that Chavo wants no part of Helms, so his inclusion in this match is completely undermined. If their plan all along was to have Chavo screw Helms, but then overplay his hand and have Kidman taken out before the bout, the Cat should have kept the commissionership for the week so that there is a storyline reason for Helms to be chosen instead of someone like Kwee Wee, who the CEO’s office clearly does not respect. Or it could just be a rumor, I suppose!

 

• Everyone whiffs on dives in a contrived series of spots, and I think it’s about time to start cutting dead weight in there, fellas. They opt to do a lot more moves instead, specifically some more dives to the floor. OK, this is basically a circus act, not a pro wrestling match, and yes, I am aware that the two forms of entertainment share a close familial bond. Of course, the former is supposed to be presented explicitly as an act and the latter is supposed to be presented as explicitly not an act, wherein lies one of my problems with this match.

 

• Finally, we almost get a Noble pinfall on Kaz, but Noble and Karagias fight over the pinfall attempt as they did on the go-home Thunder. What’s worse, Yang attacks Noble from behind – that goes well, at least – and then attacks Karagias, who doesn’t sell it because he’s too busy yelling at Noble as Noble tries to recover outside the ring. To top it all off, (Elimination #1) Yang hits Karagias an ugly reverse piledriver for three. Yuck, that shit was awful. Yang is generally passable, as is Karagias, but Yang and Kaz together is complete garbage in the ring.

 

• Thankfully, the two worst workers in this thing are out in short order as (Elimination #2) Noble re-enters the ring and lands a jumping Tombstone on Yang for three. I am entirely bored by this nonsense and would like it to end already, or at least get down to a one-on-one match so that we can maybe get a good finishing run. The road agents who helped put this match together should have both had the eliminations happen more quickly so that we could taper down to a conventional match and also avoided Yang wrestling Karagias as often as possible.

 

• We speed toward the end of the match; soon after he eliminates Yang, Noble is in turn pinned (Elimination #3) after Moore catches Noble as Noble goes up top and hits him with a super Rocker Dropper Showstopper Bottoms Up to eliminate him. The Two Count members turn their attention to Kaz and do that dumb spot where Moore backslides his opponent into a pinning position, but the ref doesn’t count it so that Helms can dive off the top with a guillotine legdrop. Ref Scott James finally thinks, Y’know, I really should count this pinfall attempt even though I know it’s a planned spot, and he finally gets down there and counts to one before Helms busts Kaz with the legdrop.

 

• This match has been Vince Russo-like in its attention to logic so far, and it sure as heck doesn’t quit that approach now. Helms prepares to eliminate Kaz with a Vertebreaker, but Moore lands a Bottoms Up on Helms as he bends over while twisting Kaz. Explain to me how not letting Helms pin Kaz first, then jumping Helms right at the three-count and landing a Bottoms Up wouldn’t make more logical sense. In an even dumber spot, Kaz tries to break up the pinfall and kicks the ref (and by that, I mean “slaps his thigh really hard and misses James by a few inches because the cameraman is standing right there at ringside and filming from an illusion-breaking perspective"). Why the hell would you stop someone from eliminating one of your opponents?

 

• I must modify what I said at the start of this match review: This is a very bad type of this match, made infinitely worse by the fact that we didn’t just get Helms/Kaz or Helms/Moore one-on-one for the title shot. Moore and Kaz team up before Moore does a fucking stupid spot where Kaz is going to moonsault onto a prone Helms, but Moore moves Helms out of the way so that he can lay there before himself rolling away in order to cause Kaz to wipe out. What the fuck psychology is there behind that spot? It’s not like Kaz looked back to check and see if a guy with lime green pants was still laying there before he dove; he blindly dove. The switcheroo made no sense. Is Moore supposed to be kayfabe stupid?

 

• Finally, fucking finally, Helms (Elimination #4) eliminates Moore by hitting him with a Nightmare on Helms Street as Moore is setting Kaz up for a Bottoms Up. Hurry it up, fellas; I am done with this match and don’t want you to even try to have a good finishing run. Alas, they try to have a good finishing run with lots of counters, and in truth, it’s pretty good because they are good at pro wrestling. My point that this opener should have just been twenty minutes of Helms/Kaz stands. Sugar Shane (Elimination #5) eventually hoists Kaz up for a Vertebreaker and gets three. This match will just barely avoid my Dirt Worst list because of that finishing run and because Helms, Kaz, and Noble don’t deserve it for their work in this bout. It sucked, though, I assure you. It’ll be Helms/Chavo Jr. at Greed (as long as Chavo Jr. survives his bout against Rey Misterio Jr., which you and I know he will because from a certain philosophical perspective we are TIME TRAVELLERS, and isn’t that rad? I think it is).

 

• Security cam footage: CEO Ric Flair and Road Warrior Animal are chilling out and chatting in a loading dock; Chavo Guerrero Jr. walks up and pantomimes that he would like Billy Kidman out of that multi-man match we just saw. CEO Flair pantomimes that he will send Animal to do the job. And yes, they got the date and time correct on the video (6:33 PM on 2/18/01); Tony S. proudly (at least to my ears) points it out as we watch the video.

 

• Kevin Nash was injured by Scott Steiner at the end of the go-home Nitro. Will he be here? Yes. He’s got to lose and then fuck off home until the nWo revival in the WWF.

 

• Pre-match promo: Hugh Morrus is like, Man, that General Rection was such a good dude to THE WALL, BROTHER, but I’m Hugh Morrus, and I hate that motherfucker!

 

• CEO Flair interrupts Scott Steiner’s pre-match massage with an envelope in hand that he indicates will bode ill for the injured Nash’s attempts to match up with Steiner later tonight.

 

• Commissioner Lance Storm stops KroniK at the front door, but before he can send the injured Bryan Clark home, Clark pulls a doctor’s release from his coat pocket. He also slaps Storm in the face with the release before handing it over, which is genuinely funny, especially Storm’s barely-restrained reaction to it. Commissioner Storm says that he’s not clearing anyone until the WCW doctor clears them. Adams doesn’t like it, but Storm insists. However, he won’t led Adams escort his partner to the doc. At least KroniK are smart enough babyfaces to know that the fix is in, but will they be able to subvert the heels’ nefarious plot against them?

 

• THE WALL, BROTHER and Hugh Morrus are probably going to have a bad match. I’ll try to keep an open mind. They have a boring obligabrawl. Morrus kicks the stairs into TW,B’s head, but it doesn’t make a sound or look painful, so he just dumps the steps on TW,B, which definitely hurt like hell. Morrus tries to work this with intensity, but the Misfits in Action were meaningless. Let’s be honest. They were a mostly-forgettable stable that existed during the worst year in company history (pending my full 1991 comparison project that I hope to do one day).

 

• I cannot in conscience call this match bad, though. It’s bland and dull, but not bad. Both guys try as hard as they can; they’re just not any good without gimmicks or superior tag partners to lean on. This crowd tries to manifest a table spot into existence, chanting for TABLES at various points. They don’t get one. They get Morrus hitting a back suplex and a No Laughing Matter headbutt for three, then another one after the bell. I’m not lying; he lays in a headbutt as he lands both times. It's kinda gnarly.

 

• Konnan storms up to Road Warrior Animal and attacks him for Animal’s attack on Kidman. Oh no. Do not add Konnan/Animal to this card as a “bonus” match.

 

• Retrospective-slash-hype video: The Natural Born Thrillers are no more, and Jindrak, Stasiak, O’Haire, and Palumbo are at each other’s throats over the tag titles.

 

• I’m hopeful that our first good match of the night is on the way, and I say that with the knowledge that Shawn Stasiak is a part of it. Stasiak and Mark Jindrak try to wrest the WCW World Tag Team Championships away from Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire. Stasiak tells this Nashville crowd that unlike the Tennesee Titans, he and Jindrak will be defeating the St. Louis Rams winning a title when one is on the line and the pressure is on. O’Haire responds by yelling like a ‘roided-up malcontent, which I guess he actually was in real life, come to think of it, and the match is on!

 

• Stasiak goes at O’Haire and lands three lariats, then tries to score a quick three count. He only gets two. I will say that Tony S. makes me feel a lot better about the balance of this show by letting us know that Konnan has been removed from the building, *phew*. Palumbo and O’Haire quickly regain control of the situation and double up on Jindrak; Palumbo lands an assisted sit-out splash on Jindrak that gets a two count, then locks on a sleeper.

 

• Jindrak manages to escape that, but he can’t do much to avid a slingshot that knocks him right into Stasiak. I guess it’s not a legal tag because they didn’t intentionally touch one another. This is a mistake on Palumbo’s part as he has to try and follow up by going into no-man’s-land, and they turn the tide on him and put him behind bars in FIP jail.

 

• This heel control segment is what is. Stasiak in heel control is a total snoozefest, which I know that you know that I strongly believe is a constant state of existence for this guy when he's in the ring as a heel. Jindrak is fine, but at the point where he runs out of ideas and cinches in a chinlock, I’m about ready for the babyfaces to make a comeback and hit some dope offense, as is their way. After a smidge too long for my preference, Stasiak misses a top-rope splash and is countered out of a sleeper with a jawbreaker before Palumbo can get a hot tag to O’Haire. O’Haire hits everyone with his weird-looking lariats, but Stasiak mows him down from behind.

 

• The match breaks down as Palumbo breaks up Stasiak’s pinfall attempt. O’Haire knocks both Jindrak and O’Haire down, then prepares to hit Jindrak with a Seanton Bomb. In a neat little finish, Stasiak recovers and drags Jindrak out of the way, but he’s lost track of Chuck Palumbo. Palumbo waits for him to turn around and hits a Jungle Kick; Stasiak topples into perfect position for O’Haire to complete a Seanton Bomb and score a three count. That was solid enough work. I wouldn’t classify this match as “good,” but it was enjoyably decent.

 

• Pre-match airing of grievances: Dustin Rhodes was jerked around by CEO Ric Flair, but he’s going to try and get back at Flair by beating Rick Steiner for the United States title tonight.

 

• Rey Misterio Jr. attempts to wrest the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship from Chavo Guerrero Jr. next. They get right to it; no need for pre-match chatter here. Rey out-speeds Chavo and dropkicks him to the floor, but Chavo avoids Rey’s dive attempt by sliding back into the ring and catches him on the apron. He tries a sunset flip powerbomb out to the floor, but Rey ranas his way out of it.

 

• OK, I might be breathless here if they keep up this pace. Back in the ring, Chavo rolls through a sunset flip and catches a charging Rey with a gutbuster, then hangs Rey across the top rope. Feeling good about himself, he covers a bit too early in kayfabe and only gets two. Chavo lands a lariat as the crowd chants ED-DY, and Tony S. tries to pretend that the crowd is heckling Chavo instead of communicating what we’re all thinking: PUSH LOS GUERREROS. Yes, I am aware that they don’t work in the same company right now, but still!

 

• Chavo seeks a superplex, but is shoved away. Rey flips his position to attempt a moonsault, but Chavo is quickly to his feet; he trips Rey, who falls into the Tree of Woe position and spends the next few seconds getting boot choked and shoulder charged. Chavo backs up to make one big charge at Rey, but Rey pulls himself up and out of harm’s way; Chavo’s momentum takes him shoulder-first into the post.

 

• Rey manages to sunset flip Chavo successfully for two, but Chavo is a heel in WCW and gets up first, then lands a lariat. This match already feels like it’s had a lot, but now it has a Gory Special! Rey kinda-sorta coutners into an arm drag in which Chavo flips himself, really, but Rey runs the ropes and leaps…back into a Gory Special that Chavo immediately turns into a Gory Buster for two.

 

• Chavo sends Rey sliding on his stomach under the bottom rope and to the floor. It’s obligabrawl time! Chavo slows his attack down so he can jaw at some dudes in the front row, then tosses Rey back in the ring, looks back to tell said dudes I’M THE MAN (he’d better be glad that Sid isn’t around to contest that statement), and trades hands with a revived Rey. Rey goes on the run and tries an Asai moonsault; he is caught, but when Chavo tries to hit a Crucifix Snake Eyes, Rey slides out of the back, shoves Chavo into the corner, and lands a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He rushes to the apron to try a springboard move that is cut off by a Chavo dropkick.

 

• This match is an awesome finishing run away from true greatness for me. Chavo is out here twisting Rey into knots and trying to wrench Rey’s knee ever since that Tree of Woe attack; now, he’s got Rey in a stepover toehold facelock. Rey manages to twist his way back to standing, shoots Chavo into the ropes, and scores a wheel kick. He tries to advance on offense…and is once again grabbed and slung out to the floor. Rey sells that his knee is wearing down; Chavo drops him face-first across the railing, then runs his knee right into the steel steps.

 

• Chavo snatches a Rey mask from a fan and puts it on his head, mocks him a bit, and then runs him chest first into the corner before landing a belly-to-back suplex on the rebound. Whew, this match is so awesome. Chavo locks on a chinlock, and these two have earned a short rest; it quickly ends after they communicate their next sequence of spots. Chavo slams Rey and goes up, but Rey trips him, puts the mask on Chavo, and lands a top-rope rana that earns only two.

 

• Chavo reverses a whip and shoots Rey in, and they reverse one another, maneuvering into he corner; Rey gets the last reversal and lands a headscissors that sends Chavo to the floor. Rey, though, sells that he can’t follow up because of his injured knee. Chavo thinks about his next move and then decides to grab his title belt, but Rey hits a clean somersault senton over the post and wipes out Chavo in what is the prettiest dive of the night.

 

• I love this match. I knew that I would, but it’s worth mentioning here. Even the little technical errors end up working; Rey goes into hyperdrive, but slips off the rope on an Asai moonsault attempt. The botch works into the storyline of the match, as he immediately grabs his knee and Chavo quickly rushes over and tries to steal a leveraged pinfall while hooking that knee, but it only gets two. Yes, if your knee was actually hurt, you wouldn’t hit moves cleanly. It wasn’t planned that way, but they worked it right into the overarching narrative of the bout. I think in DVDVR parlance, what I’m saying is that it was supposed to suck (it absolutely wasn’t, though). Tony S. does a great job of pointing out the effects of the earlier knee work that would have kayfabe led to that slip, too.

 

• Rey manages to regain control and violently lariat Chavo to the floor. The champ has had enough and goes for a chair, which he tosses into the ring. Rey stops him and then tries another springboard move, but Chavo simply Hot Shots him before going back over and grabbing the chair, which he wedges into the corner against the ref’s warnings. Chavo tries to shoot Rey into the chair, but Rey slides under the ropes and sends Chavo on a merry chase that ends with Chavo eating a post. Rey joins him on the apron and slips on the top rope before trying again and only somewhat cleanly landing a FUCKING NASTY springboard rana. Chavo bounced upon landing like he was hit with an Up + B while on 100%+ damage in Smash, GODDAM.

 

• Rey gets Chavo back in the ring, then scores a falling top-rope headbutt for two. Rey runs again and catches Chavo with a tornado DDT on a Chavo duckdown. Rather than going for a cover, Rey stomps Chavo out in the corner, backs up, and hits a Bronco Buster. Rey unwedges the chair from its spot in the corner; Jamie Tucker takes it from him and deposits it outside the ring, but he’s so occupied with that last task that he fails to notice Chavo slide out the other side of the ring, grab another chair, and swing it right into Rey’s forehead when Rey finally walks over to hit some more offense. Chavo re-enters the ring with a successful tope con hilo and scores a brainbuster to get out of dodge with his gold. When a match is so good that even the technical errors work within the greater framework of the bout, what else can you say? This might mark the point at which I welcome a match to my Favorite Matches list for the final time in this watch-through (at least chronologically speaking). I do have high hopes for Chavo/Helms at Greed, though.

 

• As I put that match on the list, I noticed that SuperBrawl has placed two other cruiserweight title matches on that same somewhat exclusive list (Dean Malenko vs. Syxx at SuperBrawl VII and Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera at SuperBrawl VIII). SuperBrawl: A show for cruiserweight awesomeness!

 

• Commissioner Storm orders his match to be scheduled later than a couple of other matches that he needs to insure the outcome for; he tells Brian Adams that he’ll be up sooner than he thought. Adams wants to know where his tag partner is, but Storm relates his relative lack of fucks to give about the status of Bryan Clark.

 

• Hype video: Dustin Rhodes and Rick Steiner are having a brief feud to get the United States Championship on the card. If you wanted to know how we got to this point, here’s your refresher!

 

• Rick Steiner drops the title on his way to the ring, which I think is a visual representation of how this title has been booked since the end of 2000. Dustin Rhodes jumps Steiner at the bell and gets two on a DDT; they go right to obligabrawling, and let me tell you, this company loves its guardrail spots. This is the fifteenth one tonight, and actually, that might not be an exaggeration. Back om the ring, Steiner ducks a crossbody that sends Rhodes to the floor, and there’s, uh, another obligabrawl. And another guardrail spot. I believe that this sequence of spots has essentially revealed to you the tenor of this mediocre yet watchable match.

 

• Rick Steiner’s control segments are what they are. If you like eye gouges and face gouges and chokes and chinlocks, boy, are you in for a treat! I’ll give Steiner for using a single crab, at least. That’s different. Dustin jawbreakers his way out of trouble after about four minutes and starts a comeback that is quickly aborted by a Steinerline. Dustin in turn manages to stop that fresh onslaught from Ricky with a lariat. Dustin scores a couple of two counts before scoring a bulldog, but Steiner rolls right out to the floor to avoid being pinned. It’s obligabrawl number THREEEEEEE and while I liked all the lariats in this match, I could leave everything else by the wayside.

 

• Dustin tries to use a chair, but Billy Silverman stops him. He is easily distracted, just as Jamie Tucker is, so he misses Rick Steiner exposing a turnbuckle while he lectures Dustin about the chair. Dustin finally walks over and tries to land ten punches in the corner, but at eight, Steiner drops him head-first into the buckle and gets a pinfall with his feet on the ropes. He hits Rhodes with a DVD for good measure after the bell, then insists on saying his dumbass catchphrase. He once again tries to attack Dustin by swinging his belt at him, but Dustin ducks it, sets Steiner up for a Shattered Dreams, and lands it.

 

• Lance Storm prepares for his match against the Cat; he is interrupted by CEO Flair, who asks him to eject Flair’s enemies from the building after their matches. He also wants Storm to make official that KroniK vs. Totally Buff will now be a number one contendership match for the tag titles, and **SPOILER ALERT** Totally Buff lose to Palumbo and O’Haire at Greed in about thirty seconds or so, just in case you were wondering what might be the outcome in advance.

 

• As the Cat shadowboxes, DDP tries to inspire him to win the commissionership back.

 

• Totally Buff faces KroniK next. Actually, let’s see if they face KroniK or merely Brian Adams. Actually, if Bryan Clark isn’t with him, he’s really just Crush. Luger talks up Totally Buff while the crowd chants for GOLDBERG. Luger and Buff declare that Goldberg IS NOT HERE ANYMOOOOOOOORE, HE’S FIRED! FIRED! FIRED! FIRED! HE’S GOOOOOOOONE!!! Fantastic stuff. This is a solid way to fill time, though there are over seventy minutes on this show and only four more matches by my count, so I suppose letting Buff and Luger cut a Nitro-esque promo for five minutes is probably necessary.

 

• Eventually, Crush walks out here and tries to beat up these two goofs in Totally Buff. No, wait, there’s Bryan Clark behind him! Luger and Buff rush the ramp and attack Adams and Clark. Buff hits the post with a chair while the lights are still down for KroniK’s entrance so that Clark can sell being concussed again for the rest of the match. No stretcher job for this one? Hmmmm. Crush tries to fight both guys off while the crowd continues to chant for GOLDBERG. There’s yet another obligabrawl. Death, taxes, and obligabrawls in post-1998 WCW. This match isn’t any good, but it’s not terrible. It is what it is. Crush makes a comeback, but falls when Mike Awesome, dressed as the facedown Clark on the floor, hops up and attacks Adams from behind. The real Bryan Clark limps down the ramp, but he doesn’t get there in time to stop Totally Buff from winning after a Buff Blockbuster. That was a strange and convoluted finish, but obviously Clark is actually hurt, so they went with it to keep this PPV matchup.

 

• Lance Storm tries to get a bunch of security mooks to escort KroniK from the building, but they beat up the mooks while Storm flees for the ring.

 

• Commissioner Storm makes it out here to wrestle the Cat as Scott Hudson updates us that the fuzz hauled KroniK out of the building. The Cat (w/the lovely Ms. Jones) doesn’t even let the anthem start before he walks out here and says that he would like to be the commissioner again, and also he’s still calling Lance Storm a Power Ranger. People do really like the Cat, though. The fans do the YEAHHH/BOOOOO thing as both men take turns posing in the corner.

 

• It's so silly that we’re still wrestling matches for a position of authority on this show. I finally put it on the list, so I shouldn’t still complain about it, but this is absurd. The Cat is the Cat, so Storm has to do some work to put together connective tissue for this bout. How he chooses to do that is by initiating an obligabrawl. On another note, I feel like it’s okay to take a detour here and say that when I looked at this card, I thought that it looked pretty iffy outside of Rey/Chavo and maybe Jarrett/DDP, and while I was right, I did think that maybe they’d built enough to these matches that they could maybe be better than I expected. They did not.

 

• Storm attacks the Cat’s leg, and I must say that the Cat is pretty awesome at this fiery midcard babyface thing. I remember liking the Cat, but I am surprised at what a useful piece of the roster he became. You never would have guessed that 2001 Cat would end up like he did just looking at 1997 Ernest Miller. The Cat makes a fun little fiery comeback, but Storm catches the Cat’s Feliner attempt and turns it into a Canadian Maple Leaf. Unfortunately for Storm, the Cat is near the ropes and forces a break. Mike Sanders walks down here to insert himself into the proceedings, but Ms. Jones slaps him and then high kicks him, which is awesome. WCW hasn’t had enough women beating men up for my taste lately. Lance Storm, distracted by this commotion, never sees the Feliner that puts his lights out. We have a new commissioner, folks! Again! The Cat kicks Mike Sanders after the match because he’s jealous that Ms. Jones got to do it, but he didn’t. Fair!

 

• Hype video: Jeff Jarrett vs. DDP should be good, but Jarrett is sinking further into relying on those gaga-ful match layouts that he loves so much, so we’ll see. Also, I would expect Kanyon to show up if I were you considering that he gets a bit of highlighting in this hype package.

 

• We get some more talking before this Diamond Dallas Page/Jeff Jarrett match. The amount of stretching for time on this show is remarkable. Jarrett has put together an annoying video in Max Headroom style that consists of the part of DDP’s promo from the go-home Nitro in which he challenged Kanyon to a match “anywhere, anytime!” Ah, that’s how we’re going to get an extra match in here to fill out the time! OK, so DDP/Kanyon is up first; Kanyon crawls out from underneath the ring and ineffectually attacks Page from behind; Page shrugs off Kanyon’s attack and uses Kanyon’s shirt to toss him over the top rope and to the floor. Let’s do the obligabrawl agaaaaiiiiiiin! This one is short; Page gets back in the ring and hits a diving lariat for two.

 

• Kanyon can only stop Page’s offensive onslaught by forearming him in the peener, and then Let’s do the obligabrawl agaaaaaaiiiiiin! Kanyon manages to land a Rocker Dropper Showstopper onto the ring steps, so that’s one of the better moves that you can drop in an obligabrawl, at least. Page blades off that bump. I get a kick out of the fact that Marty Jannetty hasn’t been seen in WCW in years, but commentators still insistently call all non-Shannon Moore version of that move a Showstopper.

 

• So, the middle of the match is enjoyable as Kanyon unloads with offense, cuts off Page comebacks, and scores an array of two counts. Page actually manages to duck a heel lariat off of his flash pin for a two count (!!) and hit a lariat of his own. Billy Silverman starts a standing ten count that makes it to eight before both men make it to their feet; Page blows Kanyon away in a punch-up, then manages a uranage for two. Page can’t follow up effectively; Kanyon hits a sitout flapjack powerbomb, I think you might call it, for two of his own. I like these finishing runs where each guy trades two counts and there are a ton of reversals, which this is. Page looks for Diamond Cutter, but Kanyon dips out and into a backslide, then lands a Kanyon Kutter of his own that Page barely kicks out of on a well-timed 2.9. It was a 2.85 at worst.

 

• The finishing run has elevated this match’s quality quite a bit. Jarrett, seeing that Kanyon hit his best move and still didn’t win, gets on the apron, but Kanyon crashes into him on a reversed Irish whip and is rolled up by Page on the rebound for two. Unfortunately, as soon as I praise this finishing run, there’s a bad ref bump spot in which Page has to hop sideways to land on Billy Silverman as Kanyon kicks out. Oh, well, this is still WCW. We can’t have it all. Jarrett hops in the ring, lays Page out with a Stroke, and leaves him open for a Kanyon Flatliner that scores him a victory upon his return to pay-per-view here in WCW.

 

• Kanyon asks WHO’S BETTA THAN KANYON?! After the match before doing the ring intros for the next match between DDP and Jeff Jarrett. Kanyon gets the number of DDP world title reigns wrong (he’s a THREE-TIME champ, not a TWO-TIME champ), but I can’t blame him. He also flippantly declares that this match has a TWO-HOUR TIME LIMIT, which was very funny, especially considering how long this show has felt.

 

• Jarrett walks to the ring and we get a wandering brawl that is fine. I think the point of this match being that Page is tough enough to take waves of abuse, so he might be tough enough to outlast Scott Steiner makes a ton of sense and sets up nicely for the main event of Greed. It doesn’t need to be particularly entertaining to get the job done and build interest in seeing the babyface survive from underneath. I’m not saying that this match sucks! But if it did suck, it would be supposed to suck.

 

• There is a long Jarrett sleeper spot, but Page is so good at sympathetic selling from underneath. He was a much better heel than face in the ring four years ago, but at this point, he’s good at everything. It stands to reason that if you’ve heeled for years, but you haven’t done much babyface work, you’d need some time to calibrate, right? Anyway, Page fights up and then lands a DDT, which sparks another standing ten count. Page rolls over and covers Jarrett at seven, but it only earns him a 2.8, maybe a(nother) 2.85.

 

• Page makes his comeback with a flurry of buckle bonks, a belly-to-back suplex, and a two count. A Page belly-to-belly suplex earns another two count. Page is looking for the Swerve Strickland killshot. A huge pancake looks like it might do the job, but Kanyon rushes back out here and pulls Page off the cover, then distracts the ref for long enough that Jarrett cracks him right in the dome with a chair. You’d think that the veteran would follow up with a Stroke or at least drag Page to the center of the ring, but he repositions Page into the ring right near the ropes, so Page reaches out and grabs them to break the count.

 

• The heels’ contingency cheating plans have worked out exceptionally well so far, but nothing last forever! Jarrett signals Kanyon to get on the apron and pass the guitar to him for a KABONGing. Good news for Jarrett! The KABONGing does happen. Bad news for Jarrett! Page moves out of the way, Jarrett cracks Kanyon, and Page quickly hooks Jarrett in a Diamond Cutter to manage a three count. I almost feel like I should pair this with the Kanyon match even though in a vacuum, only the Kanyon match was good enough for one of my good lists. I don’t see how you can separate them; Page’s performance across both matches was excellent.

 

• Maybe an interesting note: It is now twice in eight months of WCW PPVs (Bash at the Beach 2000 being the previous time this happened) that Jeff Jarrett has helped Kanyon beat his opponent and then gone on to lose to that same opponent later in the show (the previous opponent of course being Booker T.). If WCW had continued to exist past March, I would have hoped that Jarrett might have figured out that teaming with Kanyon to attack his opps only managed results for Kanyon.

 

• Hype video: Kevin Nash spent his last couple of months in this company trying really hard, at least! He exits WCW television for good after his match with Scott Steiner tonight.

 

• The nattily attired CEO Ric Flair joins commentary after setting up a chair at ringside. I wonder what that’s all about. Tony S. asks CEO Flair about what’s in the envelope that he was telling Scott Steiner about earlier in the show, but the CEO replies with a No comment, pretty much. Michael Buffer is here damn near until the end, too. I wonder if he works Greed. Scott Steiner (w/FAVORITE FREAK Midajah) wrestles Kevin Nash in our main event. Hilariously, Buffer gets an early night off after Steiner sends him out of the ring, and I quote: DO YOU REALLY THINK I NEED YOU TO COME OUT HERE AND TELL ME HOW GREAT I AM?! GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE! Wow, all those superlatives, all those plaudits, all those compliments from Buffer, and that lunatic asshole still hated on him. Wait, that reads as familiar.

 

• More Steiner: Y’SEE, WHAT MICHAEL BUFFER WAS TRYING TO SAY: I TOOK OUT STING, PUT HIS ASS IN THE HOSPITAL; I TOOK OUT BOOKER T., AND I GAVE GOLDBERG THE WORST THE WORST DEFEAT OF HIS CAREER, AND HE WASN’T TOUGH ENOUGH TO TAGISNAY DA SPORT. I think TAGISNAY = TO STAY IN, but your guess is honestly as good as mine at what he was trying to communicate. Aw, man, then they run the video of Sid’s leg snapping. NOOOOOO, fuck! At least there’s a ton of warning so I don’t have to look at that shit. Steiner continues ranting about beating down Nash with the lead pipe on Monday last (AND HE CRIED LIKE A LIL’ BITCH) and is just a detestable piece of shit, though he has enough charisma to be a babyface to half of the audience. Hold on, that really reads as familiar.

 

• Steiner hails CEO Flair, then invites him into the ring to make a proclamation. Flair obliges because we have to fill time, dammit! There are still seventeen minutes on this recording, but Nash is going ten, maybe twelve max. Flair’s proclamation: This is now a Loser Leaves WCW Forever Match as well as a title match. I mean, they definitely held to the stip! That’s something!

 

• Steiner prepares to defeat Nash by count-out, but Nash’s music hits about halfway through. Nash got his nurses from January of 2000 to wheel him out. Honestly, I don’t recognize whether or not these are the exact same nurses, though probably not. Steiner gets a kick out of Nash being wheeled out, and then he says it! He says the thing! The thing, as directly quoted: YOU KNOW WHAT KEVIN NASH, YOU TRY TO COME OUT HERE AND GET THE SYMPY OF THE PEOPLE, BUT YOU DON’T GET MY SYMPY AT ALL. Steiner bumbling through his sentences like he’s having brain atrophy is as entertaining as it is troubling. Wait, now I know that reads as very familiar.

 

• Nash is faking, by the way; he gets in the ring while Steiner celebrates his impending victory and whacks him with the title belt, then covers for three. CEO Flair freaks out at the desk as the crowd thinks that they’ve seen a title change. They have not. CEO Flair, instead of simply telling the ref to disqualify Nash for attacking Steiner with the belt right in front of his fucking eyes, pulls yet another Over the Edge ’98 and screams IT’S A TWO-OUT-OF-THREE FALLS MATCH, NO DQ; I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT EARLIER. Goodness, you know that your leadership is historically poor when there’s consistent instability, people changing the way things work on a whim, a clearly unfair process of rule-making where not just a finger but multiple hands are tipping the scale toward the most evil scumbags in the co—okay, this is a textbook definition of déjà vu; I’ve definitely said something similar to this recently.

 

• Anyway, let me shake off that unsettling feeling to report that a limping and battered DDP has had enough and makes his way through the backstage area to come support Nash. Unfortunately, Totally Buff cut him off with a sudden attack and lock him in an equipment trunk. I don’t love this booking, by the way. Steiner should look dominant, not like a cowardly heel who needs tons of help to win. He should be booked more like Brock Lesnar and less like 1998 Chris Jericho.

 

• What happens instead is that Nash rolls Steiner for a long time before Midajah fucks up a spot where she’s supposed to roll the lead pipe toward Steiner and then attack Nash as a distraction. Instead, she puts the pipe down next to her, moves to attack, and then remembers that the spot won’t work unless she rolls the pipe toward Steiner first. Then, *sigh*, Steiner gets a pinfall outside of the ring when CEO Flair declares this Falls Count Anywhere Match as well. Fuck off. Over the Edge ’98 worked ONCE. I mean, it could work again, but give it at least a decade. The OtE match was legitimately legendary and is still one of the four or five best main events of the Attitude Era. I get it; you want to portray the CEO as the sort of crooked bastard who well might bankrupt the company because he’s so incompetent at his job, but try being more creative about it, WCW Creative.

 

• I’ve checked out of this match. I’m not going to plunk it on the Absolute Dirt Worst list, but it would live on a list that was titled the Almost Dirt Worst list, right alongside the opener on this show. Also, Steiner’s pre-match mic work was fantastic, so that helps salvage this main event. Rather than me running through the nuts and bolts of the final fall, let me wax prosaically about Kevin Nash’s run, which is probably the most consequential run in the company outside of Bischoff’s himself. Nash a) sparked a new wrestling boom as part of the nWo, b) represented a possible saving grace/offramp to the nWo storyline with the insanely over nWo Wolfpac, c) booked the show into the ground so badly in 1999 that Vince Russo got the opportunity to bury WCW entirely with his booking, and d) even with all that, he was never quite as over as his running buddy Scott Hall. Nash exists as this bizarrely indefinable entity for me as far as this run in the company goes. He hit amazing heights and plummeted to incredible lows. He had a hand in both making WCW so profitable that in 1997, they looked like they might become the new number one promotion in the country over the long-term and booking it so badly in late 1998 and most of 1999 that they lost millions of dollars right after posting their most profitable year ever (and fuck your EBITDA excuse as a way to paper over creative failures, Bisch). I’m even less sure of what to think about Nash after this watch-through than I was when I came into it.

 

• Anyway, Steiner gets help from his cronies at ringside; he hits a brass knuckles shot and a chair shot before locking on a Steiner Recliner to win the third fall by knockout; Nash is out of WCW and Steiner is still the champion. I should tell you that this match might well be worth watching for Tony S.’s commentary; he is excellent, especially when he gets the chance to express both his anger and his bafflement at the heels’ continued fixing of this bout. I am so glad that AEW exists if only so that Tony Schiavone can still work commentary. Imagine how much less annoying aughts WWE would have been if Tony S. had replaced Michael Cole’s aggressively sub-mediocre ass.

 

• This show wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t what I’d class as “bad.” It was simply uneven, which I would have guessed had I taken the announced card for what it was and not expected too much. It wasn't nearly the quality of Sin, but Sin was legitimately very good, so those were lofty heights for WCW to reach for a second-straight PPV this late in the game. At least Rey/Chavo managed to deliver upon my hopes, and it probably wasn’t even remotely the best match they’ve ever had with one another, either.

This showed up on the WCW vault so some thoughts.

Opener is very Aughts TNA YMMV on this. I found it fun for what it was.

Chavo v Rey was predictably excellent. I thought to myself "wrestling in overalls seems incredibly difficult" and then Rey proceeds to blow spots, I wonder if his choice in ring gear had something to do with it? Did he ever wear those things again?

Wall v Hugh wasn't bad but made me wonder why this company was so head strong on pushing Hugh for so long?

Thrillers explode was decent. These guys all seem solid but I don't know if any of them had a particularly high ceiling if this promotion stuck around.

really surprised at how much I enjoyed the mic work of Totally Buff, and I was legit surprised and fooled by Mike Awesome's disguise, now I do question not blowing this off on a PPV. This felt like something that belonged on Nitro and I think not giving people definitive finishes on PPVs hurts overall as it says don't both paying.

Now Cat/Storm, DDP/Kanyon & JJ, and Steiner/Nash where all a little too much sports entertainment for me. one of these matches would have been find but three off them just feels too Russo. great performance by DDP for sure.

About the main event. I said in the Greed PPV that Nash in the tag teams division as an aging veteran was the best use of him. This is why. He obviously thinks he was a bigger star than he was. He never really had a great Main event singles run. to me he's like Jeff Jarrett a great buy for the top of the midcard in a tag team or a secondary champ. (Nash was better teaming with HBK or as IC champ that World Champ in WWF). He's no someone to build the company around

[SirSmUgly]

I thought Page/Kanyon and Page/Jarrett flowed well into one another, but I do think that probably the match order could have been better. Would placing Cat/Storm after Chavo/Rey and before Wall/Morrus have helped the show, do you think?

[zendragon]

I do think not having similar interference finishes in a row helps