-10/28/89
-From the Civic Center in Philadelphia, PA
-Hosts are JR & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: Mike Rotunda VS The Z Man
-Zenk controls the early going with a couple shoulderblocks. Match is clipped to Rotunda giving Zenk a suplex for two. Rotunda locks in an abdominal stretch and uses the ropes for leverage. Rotunda flying clothesline gets a big pop. Match is clipped again to Rotunda getting whipped into the corner. Rotunda tries a flying crossbody, but Zenk rolls through for the pin to a mixed reaction. Match was pretty slow and dull from what was shown.
-Match 2: The Midnight Express & Steve Williams (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Samoan Swat Team & The Samoan Savage (w/Sir Oliver Humperdink)
-Savage is Tama. SST do a fire dance. Halloween theme is of course perfect for this show. Match is clipped to Fatu working over Eaton. Eaton tries a double noggin knocker on the SST, which they naturally no-sell. Eaton blocks a Tama splash by using his knees. Dr. Death gets in to clean house. Match turns into a pier six brawl. Lane gets knocked into Cornette and pinned by Tama. Weak finish. What was shown is too short to really comment on.
-Match 3: The Cuban Assassin VS Tommy Rich
-JR puts over how great Rich was in 1981. Match is clipped after Rich starts to turn the tide to Assassin dishing out more punishment. JR chides Assassin's lack of amateur wrestling skills as he uses brawling tactics to maintain control. Crowd gets really restless. Assassin misses a splash and Rich hits the Thesz Press to finish. And you though the F-U/Attitude Adjustment is a weak finisher. Crowd is happy that the match is over.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds [c] VS The Dynamic Dudes (w/Jim Cornette)
-Philly crowd despises the Dudes, even with the Cornette association. Freebirds get pyro and a huge babyface reaction to their entrance. Match is clipped to Ace controlling Garvin with a side headlock. Ace kicks Hayes' hand away when he tries to make a tag in a nice touch. Ace takes both men down with a headlock/headscissors combo, and gets booed for it. Ace locks in another side headlock, and the crowd just gets to the point, chanting "you suck" at Ace. Anything the Freebirds do draws a big pop. Crowd chants for the DDT. Hayes tries to ablidge, but Ace blocks it. Ace makes the hot tag. Dudes get Garvin in position for the Wipeout (double team slingshot belly-to-back suplex), but Hayes helps him break it up, and Garvin pins Ace to retain. Match was interesting in that it was total tag formula that looked to be done well, but the crowd's reaction was the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be.
-Match 5: The Steiner Brothers VS Doom (w/Woman)
-Doom, for those who may not know, are Butch Reed and Ron Simmons, and at this point, they are under masks. Robin Green has turned against the Steiners and formed her new tag team. Match breaks down right away. Steiners pound away on Doom, whip them into each other, then toss them with stereo German suplexes. Rick is a ornery tonight, putting a little extra mustard into his strikes and clothesline. JR mentions that Scott was going to be a school teacher until Rick talked him into wrestling. Great, now I want to see Big Poppa Pump teach kindergardeners. Make it happen TNA. Match is a pedestrian brawl, and the crowd seems to tune out while Doom are on offense. They do wake up when the Steiner finally regain control, but Woman puts an object into Simmons' mask, and he KO's Rick for the pin.
-Match 6: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Brian Pillman
-Pillman has the cheerleaders again. Philly loves them some Lex Luger, starting a big "Luger" chant before his music kicks in. Pretty good power vs speed match. Luger tries to heel it up, but it doesn't work at all. Luger knocks Pillman for a flip with a running clothesline to the back of his head. Luger drops his elbows different from everyone else, opting to simply raise his arm and fall down, instead of jumping or doing anything to try to add impact to the move. Pillman gets a sunset flip for two, causing Luger to take a wild swing with a clothesline, sending himself out over the top. Air Pillman (springboard clothesline) connects, but Lex gets his foot on the bottom rope. Pillman misses a dropkick from the top, then leaps into a hot shot, allowing Luger to get the pin to retain. Best match of the show so far.
-Match 7: The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Irresistable force vs immovable object. Something you don't see everyday: Hawk taking Sid over with a monkey flip. Sid responds by later kipping up and dropping Hawk with a cothesline. Sid gets the helicopter toss on Hawk, effectively making him the face-in-peril. Sid drops Hawk neck-first across the guardrail. Match breaks down, and Teddy hands the Skyscrapers a giant golden key, which they use to draw a DQ. Weak sauce. If you like big heavyweight slugfests, you'll probably like this one more than I did.
-Match 8: Thunderdome Cage Match: NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting VS Terry Funk & NWA World Television Champion The Great Muta
-Bruno Sammartino is the guest referee. Only way to win is for the other team's cornerman (deemed the "designated terminator" in this case) to throw in the towel. Faces have Ole Anderson, heels have Gary Hart. JR actually makes note of Bruno's first WWF title win (although he refers to it as a "world title"). The cage is similar to the one used for Hell in a Cell, in that it has a roof (supposedly electrified), and it extends to cover portions of the floor. Something catches fire on the cage, so Muta sprays mist to put it out. Awesome. The match, for some unknown reason, starts out like a regular tag match. They eventually decide to brawl all over the place, before settling back into a regular tag match again, with Sting as the face-in-peril. Funk & Muta try to climb the cage (especially Funk). Funk gets caught in the cage, so Flair chops him. The distraction caused by Funk climbing the cage allows Muta to hide under the ring, then surprise Flair with the green mist. Sting gets caught up in the cage, allowing Muta & Funk to double team Flair. The faces come back. Flair gets the figure 4 on Funk while Sting splashes him. Ole nails Gary Hart, causing the towel to fly into the ring, giving Sting & Flair the win. This was terrible. The psychology was all over the place, and never got into a second gear that these four are capable of.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Nothing to go out of your way to see here, and that main event it TURRBILE, in the words of Charles Barkley. Only interesting matches were the tag title match (for the crowd reactions) and the U.S. title match.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
ECW on Sci-Fi 2/5/08:
-From Corpus Christie, TX
-CM Punk opens the show. He introduces video from last week of him interrupting Chavo Guerrero's championship fiesta. Punk wants to envoke his rematch clause tonight, but Chavo interrupts to tell him that the rematch will not be taking place tonight. He tells Punk not to cry, because the rematch will take place in two weeks at No Way Out. Chavo says he's going to embarrass Punk tonight. ECW GM Armando Estrada comes on the titantron, and explains that Punk & Chavo will compete tonight in a "Gulf of Mexico" match. Extreme rules apply, and the winner is the man who throws his opponent into the Gulf of Mexico.
-Match 1: Victoria & Layla (w/Lena Yada) VS Kelly Kelly & Michelle McCool
-Kelly & Layla start the match. Kelly does a nice ropes-assisted counter to wristlock before spectacularly botching a cartwheel into a back elbow. Michelle & Victoria get in, and Michelle's strikes don't look like they'd hurt anyone, save for a nice roundhouse kick she delivered while on her knees. Michelle tags Kelly. Lena trips Kelly, and Michelle decides to be a shitty tag partner, going after Layla & Lena while Victoria is hitting Kelly with the Widow's Peak and getting the pin. Match was a decent divas match except for Kelly's botch and Michelle's clotheslines.
-Joey & Tazz recap last week's Kane/Shelton match, and announce a rematch signed for Smackdown (Kane was a Smackdown wrestler, and Smackdown had a talent exchange agreement with ECW, allowing wrestlers to appear on both shows).
-Match 2: WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison (w/The Miz) VS Tommy Dreamer (w/Colin Delaney)
-Funny exchange as Joey goes over some of the things that have happened to Dreamer during his career.
Joey: We saw Tommy be suplexed ten feet off a stage, courtesy of my colleague.
Tazz: My bad.
Match is what it needed to be. Morrison hitting his flashy offense (including the breakdance legdrop, I wish he'd bring that back) and Dreamer fighting from underneath. Morrison misses a corkscrew moonsault. Dreamer gets the advantage, but a distraction from the Miz allows Morrison to hit the Moonlight Drive for the pin.
-EARLIER TODAY: Joey interviews Stevie Richards, who is returning next week from five surguries he needed to have from October to December of 2007, after suffering another neck injury. Interview includes footage of his original injury from the original ECW. Could have been the start of something good for Stevie, but since he's maybe one rung above Colin Delaney, this ended up meaning nothing. Stevie returns to the ring next week.
-Match 3: Kofi Kingston VS James Curtis
-Curtis is actually pretty decent, getting to show some nice arm work. Unfortunately, that's not something to get a crowd into a jobber squash. Kofi hits a back elbow and the Boom Drop. Curtis charges into Trouble in Paradise to finish.
-No Way Out preview. They don't include the ECW title match.
-Match 4: Gulf of Mexico Match: ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero VS CM Punk [non-title]
-They immediately go out of the ring and through the crowd. We lose sight of the match as they make their way towards the arena exit. Once outside, they incorporate a couple of passing cars. Chavo teases a frog splash off a ledge. Punk counters a suplex into the GTS, which sends Chavo into the Gulf of Mexico to give Punk the win. Interesting match, and the crowd seemed to be into it even when they made their way outside. The finish teases got loud reactions, as did Punk's win.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Not a bad show. Main event was different. The divas didn't do too bad, Morrison/Dreamer was OK, and Kofi's jobber match was the best one so far.
-CM Punk opens the show. He introduces video from last week of him interrupting Chavo Guerrero's championship fiesta. Punk wants to envoke his rematch clause tonight, but Chavo interrupts to tell him that the rematch will not be taking place tonight. He tells Punk not to cry, because the rematch will take place in two weeks at No Way Out. Chavo says he's going to embarrass Punk tonight. ECW GM Armando Estrada comes on the titantron, and explains that Punk & Chavo will compete tonight in a "Gulf of Mexico" match. Extreme rules apply, and the winner is the man who throws his opponent into the Gulf of Mexico.
-Match 1: Victoria & Layla (w/Lena Yada) VS Kelly Kelly & Michelle McCool
-Kelly & Layla start the match. Kelly does a nice ropes-assisted counter to wristlock before spectacularly botching a cartwheel into a back elbow. Michelle & Victoria get in, and Michelle's strikes don't look like they'd hurt anyone, save for a nice roundhouse kick she delivered while on her knees. Michelle tags Kelly. Lena trips Kelly, and Michelle decides to be a shitty tag partner, going after Layla & Lena while Victoria is hitting Kelly with the Widow's Peak and getting the pin. Match was a decent divas match except for Kelly's botch and Michelle's clotheslines.
-Joey & Tazz recap last week's Kane/Shelton match, and announce a rematch signed for Smackdown (Kane was a Smackdown wrestler, and Smackdown had a talent exchange agreement with ECW, allowing wrestlers to appear on both shows).
-Match 2: WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison (w/The Miz) VS Tommy Dreamer (w/Colin Delaney)
-Funny exchange as Joey goes over some of the things that have happened to Dreamer during his career.
Joey: We saw Tommy be suplexed ten feet off a stage, courtesy of my colleague.
Tazz: My bad.
Match is what it needed to be. Morrison hitting his flashy offense (including the breakdance legdrop, I wish he'd bring that back) and Dreamer fighting from underneath. Morrison misses a corkscrew moonsault. Dreamer gets the advantage, but a distraction from the Miz allows Morrison to hit the Moonlight Drive for the pin.
-EARLIER TODAY: Joey interviews Stevie Richards, who is returning next week from five surguries he needed to have from October to December of 2007, after suffering another neck injury. Interview includes footage of his original injury from the original ECW. Could have been the start of something good for Stevie, but since he's maybe one rung above Colin Delaney, this ended up meaning nothing. Stevie returns to the ring next week.
-Match 3: Kofi Kingston VS James Curtis
-Curtis is actually pretty decent, getting to show some nice arm work. Unfortunately, that's not something to get a crowd into a jobber squash. Kofi hits a back elbow and the Boom Drop. Curtis charges into Trouble in Paradise to finish.
-No Way Out preview. They don't include the ECW title match.
-Match 4: Gulf of Mexico Match: ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero VS CM Punk [non-title]
-They immediately go out of the ring and through the crowd. We lose sight of the match as they make their way towards the arena exit. Once outside, they incorporate a couple of passing cars. Chavo teases a frog splash off a ledge. Punk counters a suplex into the GTS, which sends Chavo into the Gulf of Mexico to give Punk the win. Interesting match, and the crowd seemed to be into it even when they made their way outside. The finish teases got loud reactions, as did Punk's win.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Not a bad show. Main event was different. The divas didn't do too bad, Morrison/Dreamer was OK, and Kofi's jobber match was the best one so far.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #25: Clash of the Champions 8 "Fall Brawl '89"
-9/12/89
-From Columbia, SC
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Jim Cornette
-Opening video recaps the end of the Great American Bash and previews tonight's main event.
-JR & Cornette discuss rumors of discord in the camp of Gary Hart. They throw it to the back with Gordon Solie, who is with Hart. He naturally denies that there are any issues, and says that Sting & Flair must be spreading these rumors.
-Match 1: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Halloween theme VS Iron Man. Roadies dominate the early going as Cornette, bastion of political correctness that he is, basically says that all Samoans are savages. Pure tag formula as the SST turn Hawk into the face-in-peril. Hawk gets his foot off to block...something from the top from Fatu, allowing him to make the hot tag. Animal gets Samu down. Fatu makes the save, and the match breaks down. Hawk gets a hold of Paul's phone and nails Fatu (somehow not drawing a DQ), and that sets up the Doomsday Device for the win. Ellering destroys the phone after the pin. Condensed version of the tag formula, but it was almost all action, so I can't complain.
-The SST question Paul, then leave him in the ring following the loss.
-Halloween Havoc '89: "A pay-per-view even bordering on the edge of insanity", according to the commercial.
-Match 2: The Z Man (Tom Zenk) VS The Cuban Assassin
-Extended squash for Zenk, who finishes with a sleeper. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either. Most notable part is Zenk getting a rip-off of the 1989 Batman theme.
-The World According to Theodore R. Long: Basically an add for upcoming NWA events. Disappointing.
-This Flyin' Brian Pillman video is brought to you by Coors' Light.
-Another video of it being declared "Ric Flair Day" in South Carolina.
-Match 3: Ranger Ross VS Sid Vicious (w/Teddy Long & Dan Spivey)
-Sid is announced as being from Metropolis. I don't see this going well for Ross. Sid destroys Ross with a helicopter toss followed by a powerbomb for the pin.
-Missy Hyatt and Robin Green (Nancy Sullivan/Benoit) go on a shopping spree set to "Material Girl" by Madonna. It's mainly Nancy buying ridiculously expensive stuff while Missy looks bored.
-Gordon Solie interviews NWA World Tag Team Champions Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes, who bitch about not getting any respect.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds [c] VS The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy & Robin)
-Steiners toss the champs around for a bit until Hayes manages to send Rick into the guardrail. Rick tries the twisting Marty Jannetty clothesline sell, but it doesn't look nearly as pretty. Rick makes the hot tag to Scott, who hits a really nice Frakensteiner on Garvin. Hayes whips Scott into the ropes. He stumbles (with the camera missing how it happened), and Hayes spikes him with a DDT for the pin to retain. The Steiners figure out one of the girls tripped Scott, but don't know which one. Match was pretty good with a nice finish.
-Match 5: Norman the Lunatic (w/Teddy Long) VS Brian Pillman (w/cheerleaders)
-Wonder how many of the cheerleaders Pillman nailed? Norman attacks before the bell, but Pillman comes back with a flying clothesline, then a dive to the outside. Pillman grabs the key from Teddy, but that allows Norman to attack him from behind. Norman gets a splash from the second rope, but that only gets two. Norman gets an avalanche with Pillman pressed against the ringpost, but misses on the second try. Pillman connects with a missile dropkicks and a couple power moves, but dives into a World's Strongest Slam for two. Pillman takes Norman down with a crucifix for the pin. Match was a really good big man VS surprisingly strong little man battle.
-Teddy chews Norman out after the loss.
-Gordon Solie is back with Gary Hart again. Gordon thinks there's a problem with Terry Funk.
-Match 6: Mike Rotunda VS Steve Williams
-THE VARSITY CLUB EXPLODES! Dr. Death gets a big military press slam seconds in. Rotunda comes back with a ropes-assisted abdominal stretch. Rotunda controls with his basic offense with brief flurries by Williams. Williams backdrops Rotunda to the outside. As Rotunda tries to get back in, Williams tries to slam him from the outside back in. Rotunda grabs the top rope to block, and the referee kicks his hand away, turning the move into a rollup, and Williams gets the pin off that. ROTUNDA WAS SCREWED. Match needed more Dr. Death offense.
-Gordon Solie interviews U.S. Champion Lex Luger, who proclaims himself the "showpiece" of the NWA, and claims that he transcends wrestling itself.
-Match 7: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Tommy Rich
-Tommy Rich comes out to "All My Rowdy Friends". After all these years, it's weird to hear that song in a non-Monday Night Football context. Luger is rocking a rather Flair-esque robe. Luger gets a lot of babyface reactions when he hits something, but Rich still gets his share. Good story with Rich throwing everything he has at Lex, and barely hanging on when Lex withstands it, and turns the tide to his advantage. Major turn when Lex misses a splash from the top. Tommy fires up with a couple clotheslines. Thesz Press gets a two count as Lex gets his foot on the bottom rope. Lex rolls out, and Rich pounds away, but misses his last punch and nails the ringpost. Rich gets a sleeper with Lex still on the apron. Lex drops down to snap Rich's throat into the ropes, and Lex gets the pin off that to retain. Don't see that finish everyday. Rich tries to get more of Luger after the pin, but Lex won't allow it.
-Gordon Solie is in the back with Gary Hart for a third time, and this time, Hart presents a video of Terry Funk post-surgery after Flair hammered his arm with a branding iron. Funk claims the arm became infected and he almost lost it. Funk says he'll get revenge, presumably tonight.
-Sting & Flair don't care who Funk's replacement is. They know Terry is in the building, and he has an open invitation to come on down the aisle.
-Match 8: NWA Television Champion The Great Muta & Dick Slater (w/Gary Hart) VS NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting
-Slater has a small cast because of Flair as well. Muta spits red mist to start the match. JR explains that there's a yellow mist that is the most dangerous, but has never been seen in the U.S. These four go all-out. Quick pace, and really physical. The face team controls for the most part for the first few minutes. Flair focusing on Slater's injured arm, while Sting tries to get retribution from Muta after getting screwed out of the TV title. Match takes a turn when the heels are able to focus on Flair's neck. The faces regain the momentum. Sting hits the Stinger Splash on Muta and gets him in position for the Scorpion Deathlock, but the ref's back is turned, and Gary Hart KO's Sting with a roll of coins. That gets two for Muta, as does a powerbomb. Sting counters a Slater sleeper with a jawbreaker. Flair gets in and the match breaks down. Muta sprays Sting with the green mist. Flair gets the Figure 4 on Muta, but Slater breaks that up with a shot from his cast, which busts Flair open. Terry Funk comes in and ties a plastic bag over Ric Flair's head, because a big even isn't complete without at least one attempted murder. Stings takes a shot with the branding iron across the shin for good measure, as the match is thrown out.
-After a commercial break, JR & Cornette states that Brian Pillman was the first person out there and gave Flair mouth-to-mouth. Pillman and a medic tend to Flair as the show ends.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: A pretty good show, with a teriffic show-closing angle to really keep the heat going into Halloween Havoc. Nothing here is bad, and the opener, tag title match, U.S. title match, and the main event being really good, with Pillman/Norman being surprisingly good, considering I haven't seen much from Mike Shaw.
-NEXT EVENT: Halloween Havoc '89
-From Columbia, SC
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Jim Cornette
-Opening video recaps the end of the Great American Bash and previews tonight's main event.
-JR & Cornette discuss rumors of discord in the camp of Gary Hart. They throw it to the back with Gordon Solie, who is with Hart. He naturally denies that there are any issues, and says that Sting & Flair must be spreading these rumors.
-Match 1: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-Halloween theme VS Iron Man. Roadies dominate the early going as Cornette, bastion of political correctness that he is, basically says that all Samoans are savages. Pure tag formula as the SST turn Hawk into the face-in-peril. Hawk gets his foot off to block...something from the top from Fatu, allowing him to make the hot tag. Animal gets Samu down. Fatu makes the save, and the match breaks down. Hawk gets a hold of Paul's phone and nails Fatu (somehow not drawing a DQ), and that sets up the Doomsday Device for the win. Ellering destroys the phone after the pin. Condensed version of the tag formula, but it was almost all action, so I can't complain.
-The SST question Paul, then leave him in the ring following the loss.
-Halloween Havoc '89: "A pay-per-view even bordering on the edge of insanity", according to the commercial.
-Match 2: The Z Man (Tom Zenk) VS The Cuban Assassin
-Extended squash for Zenk, who finishes with a sleeper. Not bad, but nothing to write home about either. Most notable part is Zenk getting a rip-off of the 1989 Batman theme.
-The World According to Theodore R. Long: Basically an add for upcoming NWA events. Disappointing.
-This Flyin' Brian Pillman video is brought to you by Coors' Light.
-Another video of it being declared "Ric Flair Day" in South Carolina.
-Match 3: Ranger Ross VS Sid Vicious (w/Teddy Long & Dan Spivey)
-Sid is announced as being from Metropolis. I don't see this going well for Ross. Sid destroys Ross with a helicopter toss followed by a powerbomb for the pin.
-Missy Hyatt and Robin Green (Nancy Sullivan/Benoit) go on a shopping spree set to "Material Girl" by Madonna. It's mainly Nancy buying ridiculously expensive stuff while Missy looks bored.
-Gordon Solie interviews NWA World Tag Team Champions Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes, who bitch about not getting any respect.
-Match 4: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Fabulous Freebirds [c] VS The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy & Robin)
-Steiners toss the champs around for a bit until Hayes manages to send Rick into the guardrail. Rick tries the twisting Marty Jannetty clothesline sell, but it doesn't look nearly as pretty. Rick makes the hot tag to Scott, who hits a really nice Frakensteiner on Garvin. Hayes whips Scott into the ropes. He stumbles (with the camera missing how it happened), and Hayes spikes him with a DDT for the pin to retain. The Steiners figure out one of the girls tripped Scott, but don't know which one. Match was pretty good with a nice finish.
-Match 5: Norman the Lunatic (w/Teddy Long) VS Brian Pillman (w/cheerleaders)
-Wonder how many of the cheerleaders Pillman nailed? Norman attacks before the bell, but Pillman comes back with a flying clothesline, then a dive to the outside. Pillman grabs the key from Teddy, but that allows Norman to attack him from behind. Norman gets a splash from the second rope, but that only gets two. Norman gets an avalanche with Pillman pressed against the ringpost, but misses on the second try. Pillman connects with a missile dropkicks and a couple power moves, but dives into a World's Strongest Slam for two. Pillman takes Norman down with a crucifix for the pin. Match was a really good big man VS surprisingly strong little man battle.
-Teddy chews Norman out after the loss.
-Gordon Solie is back with Gary Hart again. Gordon thinks there's a problem with Terry Funk.
-Match 6: Mike Rotunda VS Steve Williams
-THE VARSITY CLUB EXPLODES! Dr. Death gets a big military press slam seconds in. Rotunda comes back with a ropes-assisted abdominal stretch. Rotunda controls with his basic offense with brief flurries by Williams. Williams backdrops Rotunda to the outside. As Rotunda tries to get back in, Williams tries to slam him from the outside back in. Rotunda grabs the top rope to block, and the referee kicks his hand away, turning the move into a rollup, and Williams gets the pin off that. ROTUNDA WAS SCREWED. Match needed more Dr. Death offense.
-Gordon Solie interviews U.S. Champion Lex Luger, who proclaims himself the "showpiece" of the NWA, and claims that he transcends wrestling itself.
-Match 7: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Tommy Rich
-Tommy Rich comes out to "All My Rowdy Friends". After all these years, it's weird to hear that song in a non-Monday Night Football context. Luger is rocking a rather Flair-esque robe. Luger gets a lot of babyface reactions when he hits something, but Rich still gets his share. Good story with Rich throwing everything he has at Lex, and barely hanging on when Lex withstands it, and turns the tide to his advantage. Major turn when Lex misses a splash from the top. Tommy fires up with a couple clotheslines. Thesz Press gets a two count as Lex gets his foot on the bottom rope. Lex rolls out, and Rich pounds away, but misses his last punch and nails the ringpost. Rich gets a sleeper with Lex still on the apron. Lex drops down to snap Rich's throat into the ropes, and Lex gets the pin off that to retain. Don't see that finish everyday. Rich tries to get more of Luger after the pin, but Lex won't allow it.
-Gordon Solie is in the back with Gary Hart for a third time, and this time, Hart presents a video of Terry Funk post-surgery after Flair hammered his arm with a branding iron. Funk claims the arm became infected and he almost lost it. Funk says he'll get revenge, presumably tonight.
-Sting & Flair don't care who Funk's replacement is. They know Terry is in the building, and he has an open invitation to come on down the aisle.
-Match 8: NWA Television Champion The Great Muta & Dick Slater (w/Gary Hart) VS NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Sting
-Slater has a small cast because of Flair as well. Muta spits red mist to start the match. JR explains that there's a yellow mist that is the most dangerous, but has never been seen in the U.S. These four go all-out. Quick pace, and really physical. The face team controls for the most part for the first few minutes. Flair focusing on Slater's injured arm, while Sting tries to get retribution from Muta after getting screwed out of the TV title. Match takes a turn when the heels are able to focus on Flair's neck. The faces regain the momentum. Sting hits the Stinger Splash on Muta and gets him in position for the Scorpion Deathlock, but the ref's back is turned, and Gary Hart KO's Sting with a roll of coins. That gets two for Muta, as does a powerbomb. Sting counters a Slater sleeper with a jawbreaker. Flair gets in and the match breaks down. Muta sprays Sting with the green mist. Flair gets the Figure 4 on Muta, but Slater breaks that up with a shot from his cast, which busts Flair open. Terry Funk comes in and ties a plastic bag over Ric Flair's head, because a big even isn't complete without at least one attempted murder. Stings takes a shot with the branding iron across the shin for good measure, as the match is thrown out.
-After a commercial break, JR & Cornette states that Brian Pillman was the first person out there and gave Flair mouth-to-mouth. Pillman and a medic tend to Flair as the show ends.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: A pretty good show, with a teriffic show-closing angle to really keep the heat going into Halloween Havoc. Nothing here is bad, and the opener, tag title match, U.S. title match, and the main event being really good, with Pillman/Norman being surprisingly good, considering I haven't seen much from Mike Shaw.
-NEXT EVENT: Halloween Havoc '89
Friday, July 22, 2011
ECW on Sci-Fi: 1/29/08
-LAST WEEK: Edge helps Chavo Guerrero win the ECW Championship from CM Punk.
-LATER TONIGHT: Chavo Guerrero's championship fiesta!
-Match 1: Kane VS Shelton Benjamin
-Kane no-sells a clothesline, and drops Shelton with one of his own to take over. Kane tries to toss Shelton over the top. Shelton skins the cat like he did last week, but Kane clotheslines him over and out. Kane follows Shelton down the aisle, and sends him back into the ring. Kane goes up top for a flying clothesline, but Shelton leaps to the top and throws Kane off. That gets a two count. Shelton targets Kane's left leg, slamming it into the ringpost before locking in a single-leg crab. Kane fights out of that, and gets a powerslam for two. Flying clothesline looks to set up a chokeslam, but Shelton gets the Dragon Whip kick. Shelton charges into a big boot, and decides enough is enough, taking a walk and getting counted out. Match was pretty good before the crappy finish.
-Kelly Kelly is up next.
-WWE SLAM OF THE WEEK BROUGHT TO YOU BY "RAMBO": Kelly Kelly wins last week's "Best Body" contest before being attacked by the other two divas.
-Match 2: Kelly Kelly VS Victoria
-Victoria dominates most of the match. Kelly gets a couple nice counters, including turning Victoria's spinning side slam into a headscissors. Widow's Peak wins this one pretty easily for Victoria. Kelly didn't look to bad in there. Layla & Leena get their licks in post-match.
-Colin Delaney has even more bandages, but he's in action next.
-Royal Rumble recap video. I've always loved MSG flipping out for Cena, then remember they're supposed to hate him and bringing the boos.
-Tazz is in the ring with Colin Delaney for our weekly recap of him getting killed the last few weeks. Tazz informs Colin that he's in a handicap match against the WWE Tag Team Champions.
-Match 3: Handicap Match: WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison VS Colin Delaney
-Colin doesn't get the benefit of the champions being forced to tag. Total destruction. Colin does manage to avoid a couple moves, but that just pissed M & M off. Reality Check from Miz, and Moonlight Drive from Morrison lead to the pin with Miz's boot and Morrison's index finger. M & M continue the assualt, but Tommy Dreamer comes out to run them off.
-Match 4: CM Punk VS Elijah Burke
-Burke is one WWE missed the boat on, and TNA is currently missing the boat on. Burke controls with a rear chinlock, but Punk escapes and hits his running knee to the face. Burke blocks the bulldog, but Punk catches Burke attempting a leapfrog, and hits the GTS for the win. Disappointing match. Good finish though.
-Preview of the Raw Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out.
-Match 5: Kofi Kingston VS Rob Eckerd
-Rob is another generic gym rat. Jobber squash. Boom drop and Trouble in Paradise finish quickly. Shorter and better than last week.
-The mariachi band warms up for Chavo's championship fiesta.
-ECW General Manager Armando Estrada introduces the new ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero. World Heavyweight Champion Edge and Vickie can't be there because Rey gave Vickie a 619 at the Royal Rumble, but Edge does appear in a pre-recorded video and presents a Chavo highlight reel. Chavo gives an "I told you so" speech before dancing to the mariachi music. One memeber of the band keeps his back to the hard camera. Eventually, that man turns around and KO's Chavo with a guitar, before revealing himself to be the former ECW Champion CM Punk. Punk stands over Chavo as the show closes.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Pretty decent show. Still shake my head at the choice of Chavo being the one to take the ECW title off Punk. Chavo is a member of La Familia, but he just ends up being a whipping boy for whomever is feuding with Edge at the time, and him being ECW Champion is inconsequential.
-LATER TONIGHT: Chavo Guerrero's championship fiesta!
-Match 1: Kane VS Shelton Benjamin
-Kane no-sells a clothesline, and drops Shelton with one of his own to take over. Kane tries to toss Shelton over the top. Shelton skins the cat like he did last week, but Kane clotheslines him over and out. Kane follows Shelton down the aisle, and sends him back into the ring. Kane goes up top for a flying clothesline, but Shelton leaps to the top and throws Kane off. That gets a two count. Shelton targets Kane's left leg, slamming it into the ringpost before locking in a single-leg crab. Kane fights out of that, and gets a powerslam for two. Flying clothesline looks to set up a chokeslam, but Shelton gets the Dragon Whip kick. Shelton charges into a big boot, and decides enough is enough, taking a walk and getting counted out. Match was pretty good before the crappy finish.
-Kelly Kelly is up next.
-WWE SLAM OF THE WEEK BROUGHT TO YOU BY "RAMBO": Kelly Kelly wins last week's "Best Body" contest before being attacked by the other two divas.
-Match 2: Kelly Kelly VS Victoria
-Victoria dominates most of the match. Kelly gets a couple nice counters, including turning Victoria's spinning side slam into a headscissors. Widow's Peak wins this one pretty easily for Victoria. Kelly didn't look to bad in there. Layla & Leena get their licks in post-match.
-Colin Delaney has even more bandages, but he's in action next.
-Royal Rumble recap video. I've always loved MSG flipping out for Cena, then remember they're supposed to hate him and bringing the boos.
-Tazz is in the ring with Colin Delaney for our weekly recap of him getting killed the last few weeks. Tazz informs Colin that he's in a handicap match against the WWE Tag Team Champions.
-Match 3: Handicap Match: WWE Tag Team Champions The Miz & John Morrison VS Colin Delaney
-Colin doesn't get the benefit of the champions being forced to tag. Total destruction. Colin does manage to avoid a couple moves, but that just pissed M & M off. Reality Check from Miz, and Moonlight Drive from Morrison lead to the pin with Miz's boot and Morrison's index finger. M & M continue the assualt, but Tommy Dreamer comes out to run them off.
-Match 4: CM Punk VS Elijah Burke
-Burke is one WWE missed the boat on, and TNA is currently missing the boat on. Burke controls with a rear chinlock, but Punk escapes and hits his running knee to the face. Burke blocks the bulldog, but Punk catches Burke attempting a leapfrog, and hits the GTS for the win. Disappointing match. Good finish though.
-Preview of the Raw Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out.
-Match 5: Kofi Kingston VS Rob Eckerd
-Rob is another generic gym rat. Jobber squash. Boom drop and Trouble in Paradise finish quickly. Shorter and better than last week.
-The mariachi band warms up for Chavo's championship fiesta.
-ECW General Manager Armando Estrada introduces the new ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero. World Heavyweight Champion Edge and Vickie can't be there because Rey gave Vickie a 619 at the Royal Rumble, but Edge does appear in a pre-recorded video and presents a Chavo highlight reel. Chavo gives an "I told you so" speech before dancing to the mariachi music. One memeber of the band keeps his back to the hard camera. Eventually, that man turns around and KO's Chavo with a guitar, before revealing himself to be the former ECW Champion CM Punk. Punk stands over Chavo as the show closes.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Pretty decent show. Still shake my head at the choice of Chavo being the one to take the ECW title off Punk. Chavo is a member of La Familia, but he just ends up being a whipping boy for whomever is feuding with Edge at the time, and him being ECW Champion is inconsequential.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
ECW on Sci-Fi: 1/22/08
-LAST WEEK: Edge helps Chavo Guerrero become the #1 contender for the ECW Championship.
-New intro video and the now-familiar shared set for all three shows.
-From the University of Virginia
-Joey Styles announces that tonight Chavo Guerrero will challenge CM Punk for the ECW title.
-Match 1: Over the Top Rope Challenge: Kane VS WWE Tag Team Champion The Miz VS WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison VS Tommy Dreamer VS Shelton Benjamin
-I guess "over the top rope challenge" sounds better than "5 man battle royale". This is a preview for the Royal Rumble, which is the following Sunday. Dreamer is the first man out, naturally, via Kane. The other three attack Kane until Miz & Morrison turn on Shelton. Kane comes back and cleans house, eliminating the tag team champions, but Shelton manages to take Kane over the top and out with a headscissors to win it. Not bad.
-Kelly Kelly is shown walking backstage. The Best Body Contest is next.
-SLAM OF THE WEEK BROUGHT TO YOU BY "RAMBO": Lena Yada enters herself into the Diva Dance contest and declares herself the winner.
-Coach is the MC for the contest. Start is delayed as the Divas watch Coach dance to the musice. Kelly Kelly wins, and gets attacked by the other two.
-Match 2: Kofi Kingston VS David Owens
-Owens has the typical tough guy look; shaved head and back tattoos. He also sucks, messing up on a leg sweep and a monkey flip. Kofi hits the same spots he still uses today. Jobber is almost out of position on the Trouble in Paradise, making the finish a little awkward. Kofi looked ok.
-Backstage, Edge pyschs up Chavo, and Vickie makes a surprise appearence. She tells Chavo "the family that sticks together wins together".
-Royal Rumble "numbers" video that they do every year now.
-Joey & Tazz run down the Royal Rumble card.
-LAST FRIDAY ON SMACKDOWN: Punk & Mysterio beat Edge & Chavo when Edge hits Rey with a chair after he hits the 6-1-9 on Chavo. Hawkins & Ryder join in the beatdown.
-Tazz is in the ring with Colin Delaney, who is more bandaged up than before. Highlights of his matches the last 4 weeks are shown. Tazz asks Colin if his mom knows he's wrestling. This leads to...
-Match 3: Colin Delaney VS The Great Khali
-How do you think this went? Overhand chop, tree slam, and Khali Vice Grip end this quickly.
-LAST WEEK: Edge helps Chavo beat Punk.
-Edge joins the commentators for the ECW title match.
-Match 4: ECW Championship: CM Punk [c] VS Chavo Guerrero
-Tony Chimel announces that this match is now no-DQ. Match has a little bit of heat, probably because it's a title match. Punk tries to take off one of the turnbuckle pads right away, but Chavo takes control and does it himself. Chavo drops Punk midsection-first on the ringsteps. Chavo hits the Three Amigos, but Punk moves out of the way when Chavo appears to be setting up the Frog Splash. Punk launches Chavo face-first into the exposed steel and hits the Go To Sleep, but Edge runs in and spears Punk, allowing Chavo to get the pin and the title. Match was too short to amount to much, and putting the title on career Jobber to the Stars Chavo really devalued the title, IMO.
-La Familia (Edge, Chavo, Vickie, Hawkins, & Ryder) poses in the ring as the show closes.
-Not a bad show. Setup the Rumble decently. Title match should have been on the PPV, and Chavo being in the Rumble while ECW champion killed any illusion that might have been left that it was anywhere near the level of the other two world titles.
-New intro video and the now-familiar shared set for all three shows.
-From the University of Virginia
-Joey Styles announces that tonight Chavo Guerrero will challenge CM Punk for the ECW title.
-Match 1: Over the Top Rope Challenge: Kane VS WWE Tag Team Champion The Miz VS WWE Tag Team Champion John Morrison VS Tommy Dreamer VS Shelton Benjamin
-I guess "over the top rope challenge" sounds better than "5 man battle royale". This is a preview for the Royal Rumble, which is the following Sunday. Dreamer is the first man out, naturally, via Kane. The other three attack Kane until Miz & Morrison turn on Shelton. Kane comes back and cleans house, eliminating the tag team champions, but Shelton manages to take Kane over the top and out with a headscissors to win it. Not bad.
-Kelly Kelly is shown walking backstage. The Best Body Contest is next.
-SLAM OF THE WEEK BROUGHT TO YOU BY "RAMBO": Lena Yada enters herself into the Diva Dance contest and declares herself the winner.
-Coach is the MC for the contest. Start is delayed as the Divas watch Coach dance to the musice. Kelly Kelly wins, and gets attacked by the other two.
-Match 2: Kofi Kingston VS David Owens
-Owens has the typical tough guy look; shaved head and back tattoos. He also sucks, messing up on a leg sweep and a monkey flip. Kofi hits the same spots he still uses today. Jobber is almost out of position on the Trouble in Paradise, making the finish a little awkward. Kofi looked ok.
-Backstage, Edge pyschs up Chavo, and Vickie makes a surprise appearence. She tells Chavo "the family that sticks together wins together".
-Royal Rumble "numbers" video that they do every year now.
-Joey & Tazz run down the Royal Rumble card.
-LAST FRIDAY ON SMACKDOWN: Punk & Mysterio beat Edge & Chavo when Edge hits Rey with a chair after he hits the 6-1-9 on Chavo. Hawkins & Ryder join in the beatdown.
-Tazz is in the ring with Colin Delaney, who is more bandaged up than before. Highlights of his matches the last 4 weeks are shown. Tazz asks Colin if his mom knows he's wrestling. This leads to...
-Match 3: Colin Delaney VS The Great Khali
-How do you think this went? Overhand chop, tree slam, and Khali Vice Grip end this quickly.
-LAST WEEK: Edge helps Chavo beat Punk.
-Edge joins the commentators for the ECW title match.
-Match 4: ECW Championship: CM Punk [c] VS Chavo Guerrero
-Tony Chimel announces that this match is now no-DQ. Match has a little bit of heat, probably because it's a title match. Punk tries to take off one of the turnbuckle pads right away, but Chavo takes control and does it himself. Chavo drops Punk midsection-first on the ringsteps. Chavo hits the Three Amigos, but Punk moves out of the way when Chavo appears to be setting up the Frog Splash. Punk launches Chavo face-first into the exposed steel and hits the Go To Sleep, but Edge runs in and spears Punk, allowing Chavo to get the pin and the title. Match was too short to amount to much, and putting the title on career Jobber to the Stars Chavo really devalued the title, IMO.
-La Familia (Edge, Chavo, Vickie, Hawkins, & Ryder) poses in the ring as the show closes.
-Not a bad show. Setup the Rumble decently. Title match should have been on the PPV, and Chavo being in the Rumble while ECW champion killed any illusion that might have been left that it was anywhere near the level of the other two world titles.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #24: Great American Bash '89 "Glory Days"
-7/23/89
-From the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: $50,000 "Triple Crown" Battle Royale: Kevin Sullivan VS Mike Rotunda VS Rick Steiner VS Scott Steiner VS Brian Pillman VS Eddie Gilbert VS Terry Gordy VS Sid Vicious VS Dan Spivey VS Scott Hall VS Bill Irwin VS Ranger Ross VS Ron Simmons VS Steve Williams
-This is the finals of the "King of the Hill" battle royale series that took place during the Bash tour. It's two rings, and everyone starts out in ring one. Only way to be eliminated from ring one is to be thrown over the top into ring two. Last man standing wins ring one. Once a man is in ring two, he fights whomever else is in there under regular battle royale rules. Last man standing in ring two faces off against the winner of ring one in a regular match. Got it?
-Ross is the first man eliminated from ring 1. Simmons follows soon after. Ross is able to eliminate Simmons as Hall joins him in ring two. Gordy joins ring 2, so Hall & Ross double-team him until Irwin joins ring 2. Ring 2 quickly fills up. Spivey spikes Ross with a powerbomb. Sid & Pillman are the last two men in ring 1. Ring 2 quickly empties as Sid and Pillman continue to fight it out. Sid wins ring 1, and does his "I'm the man" pose to celebrate. Pillman is quickly dumped from ring 2. Williams, Rotunda, and Spivey are the final three in ring 2. Williams gets rid of Rotunda as Spivey stands around and watches. Williams works Spivey over, but can't get him out. Rotunda trips Williams up, distracting him. This allows Spivey to clothesline Williams over and out.
-The Skyscrapers' (Sid & Spivey) manager Teddy Long gets in the ring, says he's not going to be stupid and let his tag team tear each other apart. He announces that they will split the prize money instead. So we don't get to see if Sid's life was going to fade in Danny Spivey's hands. This was a battle royale, so you know what to expect. Relatively quick.
-Match 2: Brian Pillman VS Bill Irwin
-Match is clipped to Irwin clotheslining Pillman out over the top. Pillman comes back with a couple dropkicks, a clothesline, and a big splash for two. Pillman misses a missile dropkick, but does get a crossbody from the top of ring 2 into ring 1 for the pin. Clipped too much to make a judgement on it.
-Match 3: The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) VS The Dynamic Dudes
-I don't like the Dudes' chances. Match is clipped to Sid dropping Shane, then posing and getting a huge pop for it. Sid applies a back claw. Don't think I've seen that before. Crowd boos Spivey as he's tagged in, then chant "We Want Sid!". Spivey misses a diving headbutt. Shane makes the tag to Vince's new right hand man. He takes Spivey down, but Sid breaks up the pin by kicking him in the face. Skyscrapers accidentally clothesline each other. Shane gets dropped on his head by Sid, and Spivey follows up with a really shitty and dangerous looking powerbomb for the pin. Needed more Sid.
-Match 4: Tuxedo Match: James E. Cornette VS Paul E. Dangerously
-Cornette punches Paul in the mouth, so Paul responds by throwing powder in his face. Match is not-so-subtly clipped to Paul working Cornette over. Paul looks like a sleazy villain from about 100 different 80's movies. Cornette gets tired of this shit and FIRES UP. Caudle sounds a little too excited at the prospect of seeing Paul stripped. Paul tries the powder for a second time, but Cornette kicks it in his face before pulling his pants off for the win. About as good and as heated as you will ever see a tuxedo match be.
-Match 5: Texas Tornado Match: The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatte & Rick's Dog) VS Mike Rotunda & Kevin Sullivan
-Match immediately breaks down. Rick no-sells a chairshot from Sullivan before delivering one of his own. Sullivan crotches Rick on the guardrail. Scott & Rotunda go back-and-forth while Rick & Sullivan continue the fight on the outside. Rick & Sullivan fight with the timekeeper's table. Scott is sent over the top, as Rick & Sullivan get in the ring. The Steiners quickly take over, and get a couple near-falls. Rick is sent back outside by Sullivan. Varsity Club get their own near-falls. Sullivan takes a shitty bump off a Rick clothesline. Sullivan tries to slam Rick, but Scott comes off the top, and they both pin Sullivan. Pretty wild brawl. Appears to be in full.
-Match 6: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] (w/Eddie Gilbert) VS The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart)
-Muta has a giant gong for his entrance. Muta has such a presence about him. Sting goes after Muta to start, but makes the mistake of turning his attention to Hart, allowing Muta to take the advantage. Muta tries to finish quickly with the moonsault. Sting moves, but Muta lands on his feet. Sting no-sells one kick, but takes another. Muta hits a dive to the outside onto Sting. Lots of Muta fans in the house. Sting comes back with a flying clothesline. Sting goes out over the top, but it looks like Muta is out of position to catch him on a dive, so Sting lands on his feet and chops Muta. Back in the ring, Muta gets a sleeper. Sting fights out with a Gorilla Press, but misses an elbow drop. Sting avoids the handspring elbow and comes back. Muta bails to slow the momentum. Muta tries to red mist Sting, but gets Nick Patrick instead. Muta avoids the Stinger Splash. Muta gets the moonsault. Tommy Young rushes in, but Sting kicks out at two. Sting gets a belly-to-back suplex for the pin. Really good. HUGE pop for Sting's win. Hart grabs the belt and hands it to Muta. They take off. The crowd chants "bullshit", perhaps thinking the title was changing hands. Sting is not happy that his belt is gone.
-Match 7: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Ricky Steamboat (w/Bonnie, Little Ricky, and a Kimodo Dragon)
-Steamboat is carried out on a wooden plank. Announcers state that Luger is refusing to wrestle if the match is no-DQ, as it is supposed to be. Luger gets on the mic and confirms this. Steamboat, not really having a choice, agrees. Steamboat blitzes Luger right off the bat, getting a couple near-falls and working him over on the outside. Luger manages to turn the tide, and starts working over Steamboat's back. Nice sequence as Steamboat gets a schoolboy for two, so Luger nails three running clotheslines, with Steamboat popping right up after each one, before swinging wildly at nothing and falling back down. Steamboat manages to come back after sending Luger to the outside. Luger tries going up, but gets slammed down. Steamboat gets a big chop from the top for two. Luger grabs a chair, but Steamboat flips out instead, wearing Luger out with the chair and pushing Tommy Young down to draw the DQ. Steamboat chases after Luger all the way down the aisle, swinging the chair like a madman. Nice to see pissed-off Steamboat for once. Really good match, finish made Luger look really smart.
-Match 8: War Games: The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, & Terry Gordy) & The Samoan Swat Team VS The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, & Steve Williams
-Eaton & Garvin start it out. They go back-and-forth. Garvin mashes Eaton into the cage while Hayes taunts him. Eaton locks in a Boston Crab as Terry Gordy enters the match. This naturally leads to Eaton getting double-teamed. Williams enters to even the odds. Williams focuses on Gordy. Samu enters to help Gordy while Garvin pulls on Eaton's face. Animal gets in to kick ass and chew bubblegum...and he's all out of bubblegum. Animal charges across one ring to send himself into the other with a shoulderblock on Samu. On the outside, Hayes orders Fatu to "KILL KILL KILL". Fatu gets in, but doesn't do any killing. Crowd deflates a little bit as Lane enters, as it looked like they were expecting Hawk. Hayes does not want any part of this. Hayes gets in, quickly lays out three of the other team members with DDTs, then struts before taunting Hawk. Hawk gets in the start "The Match Beyond".
-Total chaos as everyone gathers in one ring. Paul E. tries to break the cage open to get his phone in there. Garvin breaks up a Dommsday Device on Gordy, so he takes the flying clothesline instead. Hawk hits a couple neckbreakers, then puts Garvin in a hangman's submission for the win. GREAT match. The winners go to leave, but when it's only Animal inside, the heels keep the door closed and lay waste to Animal. Hawk finally gets in, and the heels scatter.
-Match 9: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Terry Funk (w/Gary Hart)
-Anyone know what Funk's entrance music is? It's AWESOME, and the lighting effects make his entrance even better. Flair gets the golden showers for his entrance. Match starts with Flair pounding on Funk on the outside. Funk tries to get the guardrail to bring it into the ring. Back in, Funk lands some big chops, but Flair responds with some STIFF AS HELL chops of his own. Back outside, Funk sends Flair into the ringpost to turn the tide. Suplex takes them both outside, where they exchange chops again before they both go to the eyes, which Funks wins. Back in, Funk goes for a piledriver, but Flair backdrops him over the top and out. Flair starts going to work on Funk's neck. Flair gets a piledriver, then another, taking time to pose a little bit with the second one before falling back. Funk can't take anymore and bails, but Flair follows him out, and throws him back in.
After working on the neck, Flair locks in the Figure 4. Hart distracts the ref, allowing Funk to nail Flair with a branding iron to break the hold. Flair is busted wide open off that. Funk gets a piledrive, but Flair's foot is under the bottom rope. Funk moves some mats back and tries for a piledriver on the floor, but Flair counters. Funk comes back and continues to work on Flair's neck. Funk yells at Flair to submit. Flair gets a hold of the branding iron and nails Funk. That busts Funk open. Flair rams Funk's face into the ringpost before bringing him back in.
Flair misses a charge in the corner. Funk tries the spinning toe hold. Flair gets a rollup, Funk reverses, then Flair reverses again for the pin to retain. Excellent match that felt like a hate-filled FIGHT rather than your average wrestling match.
-The Great Muta comes out to spew green mist at Flair. He and Funk work Flair over while the crowd chants for Sting. Doug Dillinger is useful for once, stopping an attempt to spike piledrive Flair on a wooden chair. Sting finally makes his way out to even the odds, and the babyfaces clear the ring. Flair poses with the belt, but someone launches a chair at him, prompting the fight to continue down the aisleway, until the heels are chased off for good.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Wow, a great show that deserves the reputation as one of, if not the, greatest PPV event ever. Nothing that was shown in full is worse than good, with the last four matches being really good ---> really great. The crowd is absolutely MOLTEN throughout, which helps out tremendously. Highly recommended show if you have never seen it.
-From the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: $50,000 "Triple Crown" Battle Royale: Kevin Sullivan VS Mike Rotunda VS Rick Steiner VS Scott Steiner VS Brian Pillman VS Eddie Gilbert VS Terry Gordy VS Sid Vicious VS Dan Spivey VS Scott Hall VS Bill Irwin VS Ranger Ross VS Ron Simmons VS Steve Williams
-This is the finals of the "King of the Hill" battle royale series that took place during the Bash tour. It's two rings, and everyone starts out in ring one. Only way to be eliminated from ring one is to be thrown over the top into ring two. Last man standing wins ring one. Once a man is in ring two, he fights whomever else is in there under regular battle royale rules. Last man standing in ring two faces off against the winner of ring one in a regular match. Got it?
-Ross is the first man eliminated from ring 1. Simmons follows soon after. Ross is able to eliminate Simmons as Hall joins him in ring two. Gordy joins ring 2, so Hall & Ross double-team him until Irwin joins ring 2. Ring 2 quickly fills up. Spivey spikes Ross with a powerbomb. Sid & Pillman are the last two men in ring 1. Ring 2 quickly empties as Sid and Pillman continue to fight it out. Sid wins ring 1, and does his "I'm the man" pose to celebrate. Pillman is quickly dumped from ring 2. Williams, Rotunda, and Spivey are the final three in ring 2. Williams gets rid of Rotunda as Spivey stands around and watches. Williams works Spivey over, but can't get him out. Rotunda trips Williams up, distracting him. This allows Spivey to clothesline Williams over and out.
-The Skyscrapers' (Sid & Spivey) manager Teddy Long gets in the ring, says he's not going to be stupid and let his tag team tear each other apart. He announces that they will split the prize money instead. So we don't get to see if Sid's life was going to fade in Danny Spivey's hands. This was a battle royale, so you know what to expect. Relatively quick.
-Match 2: Brian Pillman VS Bill Irwin
-Match is clipped to Irwin clotheslining Pillman out over the top. Pillman comes back with a couple dropkicks, a clothesline, and a big splash for two. Pillman misses a missile dropkick, but does get a crossbody from the top of ring 2 into ring 1 for the pin. Clipped too much to make a judgement on it.
-Match 3: The Skyscrapers (w/Teddy Long) VS The Dynamic Dudes
-I don't like the Dudes' chances. Match is clipped to Sid dropping Shane, then posing and getting a huge pop for it. Sid applies a back claw. Don't think I've seen that before. Crowd boos Spivey as he's tagged in, then chant "We Want Sid!". Spivey misses a diving headbutt. Shane makes the tag to Vince's new right hand man. He takes Spivey down, but Sid breaks up the pin by kicking him in the face. Skyscrapers accidentally clothesline each other. Shane gets dropped on his head by Sid, and Spivey follows up with a really shitty and dangerous looking powerbomb for the pin. Needed more Sid.
-Match 4: Tuxedo Match: James E. Cornette VS Paul E. Dangerously
-Cornette punches Paul in the mouth, so Paul responds by throwing powder in his face. Match is not-so-subtly clipped to Paul working Cornette over. Paul looks like a sleazy villain from about 100 different 80's movies. Cornette gets tired of this shit and FIRES UP. Caudle sounds a little too excited at the prospect of seeing Paul stripped. Paul tries the powder for a second time, but Cornette kicks it in his face before pulling his pants off for the win. About as good and as heated as you will ever see a tuxedo match be.
-Match 5: Texas Tornado Match: The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatte & Rick's Dog) VS Mike Rotunda & Kevin Sullivan
-Match immediately breaks down. Rick no-sells a chairshot from Sullivan before delivering one of his own. Sullivan crotches Rick on the guardrail. Scott & Rotunda go back-and-forth while Rick & Sullivan continue the fight on the outside. Rick & Sullivan fight with the timekeeper's table. Scott is sent over the top, as Rick & Sullivan get in the ring. The Steiners quickly take over, and get a couple near-falls. Rick is sent back outside by Sullivan. Varsity Club get their own near-falls. Sullivan takes a shitty bump off a Rick clothesline. Sullivan tries to slam Rick, but Scott comes off the top, and they both pin Sullivan. Pretty wild brawl. Appears to be in full.
-Match 6: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] (w/Eddie Gilbert) VS The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart)
-Muta has a giant gong for his entrance. Muta has such a presence about him. Sting goes after Muta to start, but makes the mistake of turning his attention to Hart, allowing Muta to take the advantage. Muta tries to finish quickly with the moonsault. Sting moves, but Muta lands on his feet. Sting no-sells one kick, but takes another. Muta hits a dive to the outside onto Sting. Lots of Muta fans in the house. Sting comes back with a flying clothesline. Sting goes out over the top, but it looks like Muta is out of position to catch him on a dive, so Sting lands on his feet and chops Muta. Back in the ring, Muta gets a sleeper. Sting fights out with a Gorilla Press, but misses an elbow drop. Sting avoids the handspring elbow and comes back. Muta bails to slow the momentum. Muta tries to red mist Sting, but gets Nick Patrick instead. Muta avoids the Stinger Splash. Muta gets the moonsault. Tommy Young rushes in, but Sting kicks out at two. Sting gets a belly-to-back suplex for the pin. Really good. HUGE pop for Sting's win. Hart grabs the belt and hands it to Muta. They take off. The crowd chants "bullshit", perhaps thinking the title was changing hands. Sting is not happy that his belt is gone.
-Match 7: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Ricky Steamboat (w/Bonnie, Little Ricky, and a Kimodo Dragon)
-Steamboat is carried out on a wooden plank. Announcers state that Luger is refusing to wrestle if the match is no-DQ, as it is supposed to be. Luger gets on the mic and confirms this. Steamboat, not really having a choice, agrees. Steamboat blitzes Luger right off the bat, getting a couple near-falls and working him over on the outside. Luger manages to turn the tide, and starts working over Steamboat's back. Nice sequence as Steamboat gets a schoolboy for two, so Luger nails three running clotheslines, with Steamboat popping right up after each one, before swinging wildly at nothing and falling back down. Steamboat manages to come back after sending Luger to the outside. Luger tries going up, but gets slammed down. Steamboat gets a big chop from the top for two. Luger grabs a chair, but Steamboat flips out instead, wearing Luger out with the chair and pushing Tommy Young down to draw the DQ. Steamboat chases after Luger all the way down the aisle, swinging the chair like a madman. Nice to see pissed-off Steamboat for once. Really good match, finish made Luger look really smart.
-Match 8: War Games: The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, & Terry Gordy) & The Samoan Swat Team VS The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, & Steve Williams
-Eaton & Garvin start it out. They go back-and-forth. Garvin mashes Eaton into the cage while Hayes taunts him. Eaton locks in a Boston Crab as Terry Gordy enters the match. This naturally leads to Eaton getting double-teamed. Williams enters to even the odds. Williams focuses on Gordy. Samu enters to help Gordy while Garvin pulls on Eaton's face. Animal gets in to kick ass and chew bubblegum...and he's all out of bubblegum. Animal charges across one ring to send himself into the other with a shoulderblock on Samu. On the outside, Hayes orders Fatu to "KILL KILL KILL". Fatu gets in, but doesn't do any killing. Crowd deflates a little bit as Lane enters, as it looked like they were expecting Hawk. Hayes does not want any part of this. Hayes gets in, quickly lays out three of the other team members with DDTs, then struts before taunting Hawk. Hawk gets in the start "The Match Beyond".
-Total chaos as everyone gathers in one ring. Paul E. tries to break the cage open to get his phone in there. Garvin breaks up a Dommsday Device on Gordy, so he takes the flying clothesline instead. Hawk hits a couple neckbreakers, then puts Garvin in a hangman's submission for the win. GREAT match. The winners go to leave, but when it's only Animal inside, the heels keep the door closed and lay waste to Animal. Hawk finally gets in, and the heels scatter.
-Match 9: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair [c] VS Terry Funk (w/Gary Hart)
-Anyone know what Funk's entrance music is? It's AWESOME, and the lighting effects make his entrance even better. Flair gets the golden showers for his entrance. Match starts with Flair pounding on Funk on the outside. Funk tries to get the guardrail to bring it into the ring. Back in, Funk lands some big chops, but Flair responds with some STIFF AS HELL chops of his own. Back outside, Funk sends Flair into the ringpost to turn the tide. Suplex takes them both outside, where they exchange chops again before they both go to the eyes, which Funks wins. Back in, Funk goes for a piledriver, but Flair backdrops him over the top and out. Flair starts going to work on Funk's neck. Flair gets a piledriver, then another, taking time to pose a little bit with the second one before falling back. Funk can't take anymore and bails, but Flair follows him out, and throws him back in.
After working on the neck, Flair locks in the Figure 4. Hart distracts the ref, allowing Funk to nail Flair with a branding iron to break the hold. Flair is busted wide open off that. Funk gets a piledrive, but Flair's foot is under the bottom rope. Funk moves some mats back and tries for a piledriver on the floor, but Flair counters. Funk comes back and continues to work on Flair's neck. Funk yells at Flair to submit. Flair gets a hold of the branding iron and nails Funk. That busts Funk open. Flair rams Funk's face into the ringpost before bringing him back in.
Flair misses a charge in the corner. Funk tries the spinning toe hold. Flair gets a rollup, Funk reverses, then Flair reverses again for the pin to retain. Excellent match that felt like a hate-filled FIGHT rather than your average wrestling match.
-The Great Muta comes out to spew green mist at Flair. He and Funk work Flair over while the crowd chants for Sting. Doug Dillinger is useful for once, stopping an attempt to spike piledrive Flair on a wooden chair. Sting finally makes his way out to even the odds, and the babyfaces clear the ring. Flair poses with the belt, but someone launches a chair at him, prompting the fight to continue down the aisleway, until the heels are chased off for good.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: Wow, a great show that deserves the reputation as one of, if not the, greatest PPV event ever. Nothing that was shown in full is worse than good, with the last four matches being really good ---> really great. The crowd is absolutely MOLTEN throughout, which helps out tremendously. Highly recommended show if you have never seen it.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Live Reactions: WWE Money in the Bank
-Match 1: Smackdown Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Sin Cara VS Heath Slater VS Justin Gabriel VS Daniel Bryan VS Cody Rhodes VS Sheamus VS Kane VS Wade Barrett
-Match started out slow, but got hotter and hotter as it went on. Sheamus powerbombed Sin Cara outside through a ladder, and he was stretchered off. Lots of sequences where one guy would dominate. The former Corre members teamed up for a time. Bryan fights off Wasteland from Barrett off a ladder, and grabs the briefcase for the win. Good choice as Kane & Sheamus have already won world titles. Slater, Gabriel, and Sin Cara are nowhere near ready. Cody could be with some time, and Barrett will probably have his time without needing a Money in the Bank cash-in. Now Bryan can lose almost all of his matches before he cashes in, like Punk used to.
-Vince arrives with an attorney.
-Match 2: WWE Divas Championship: Kelly Kelly [c] (w/Eve Torres) VS Brie Bella (w/Nikki Bella)
-Kelly retains with the K2. Match was shockingly decent, actually.
-Match 3: Big Show VS Mark Henry
-Henry injured Show's leg by kicking the ring steps into it. Show actually came off the second rope with a
shoulderblock. Henry escapes a chokeslam and hits the World's Strongest Slam...for two. A second WSS and a couple splashes do get the pin for Henry. Henry then grabs a chair and does his own version of the Pillmanizer on Show, using a Vader Bomb instead of a stomp. Match didn't overstay its welcome, and really put Henry over strong. They may finally have something with him, if they want to keep it going.
-Show gets taken away. Crowd shows their sympathy by chanting "CM Punk".
-Vince is in the back with the attorney. Josh Matthews asks if he's re-signed Punk. He hasn't. Vince blames John Cena for demanding that tonight's match take place after Vince suspended Punk.
-Match 4: Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Alberto Del Rio VS Evan Bourne VS Alex Riley VS The Miz VS Rey Mysterio VS R-Truth VS Kofi Kingston VS Jack Swagger
-Everyone grabs a ladder on their way to the ring. Truth, who has a fear of hights grabs a step ladder. Miz grabs a step ladder too for some reason. Miz gets injured early. Bunch of spots. Highlight is everyone left on top of 4 ladders reaching for the briefcase at the same time. Miz comes back and almost wins it, but Mysterio powerbombs him off the ladder. Del Rio unmasks Rey, and grabs the briefcase for the win. Comparable to the opener.
-Match 5: World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton [c] VS Christian
-If the ref makes a bad call, or Orton gets DQ'd, Christian wins the title. Good match. Not as great as their first couple, but the matchup has been pretty played out. Orton kicked out of the Killswitch. Orton has everything going his way when Christian spits in his face. Orton responds by kicking Christian in the nuts, drawing the DQ and giving Christian the title! Orton freaks out and destroys Christian after the match, finishing him off with an RKO on the Spanish Announce Table. Randy leaves, but then comes back to give Christian another RKO on the SAT, to drive the point home. No cash in by Bryan, although it would be logical for him to do it.
-Match 6: WWE Championship: John Cena [c] VS CM Punk
-If Punk leaves the arena as WWE Champion, Cena is fired. Awesome match. They worked it as a straight babyface clash of the titans type of a match. Very slow early, as they had a lot of time to fill. Punk survived 2 Attitude Adjustments and several attempts at the STF. a couple of which got locked in. Punk hit a GTS to send Cena outside. Vince & John Laurinitis came out. Cena was about to get Punk in the STF again as Vince and Laurinitis signaled for the ref to ring the bell, but as soon as Cena saw that, he broke the hold and KO'd Laurinitis. Cena tells Vince that "we'll do it my way", but walks into a GTS for the pin, so Punk is the WWE champion.
-As Punk celebrates, Vince frantically calls for Alberto Del Rio to come out and cash in his briefcase. ADR rushes out, but Punk floors him before any match can start. Punk takes off through the crowd with the title as Vince stares in disbelief to close the show. No firing of Cena.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: An awesome show. The two ladder matches delivered what they promised. The undercard matches were decent, and the two world title matches delivered in terms of quality and in somewhat surprising results. The fall out should be interesting. Hopefully, they can keep the momentum going. Very much looking forward to Raw tomorrow night. Hopefully Christian keeps the title for longer than five days this time.
-Match started out slow, but got hotter and hotter as it went on. Sheamus powerbombed Sin Cara outside through a ladder, and he was stretchered off. Lots of sequences where one guy would dominate. The former Corre members teamed up for a time. Bryan fights off Wasteland from Barrett off a ladder, and grabs the briefcase for the win. Good choice as Kane & Sheamus have already won world titles. Slater, Gabriel, and Sin Cara are nowhere near ready. Cody could be with some time, and Barrett will probably have his time without needing a Money in the Bank cash-in. Now Bryan can lose almost all of his matches before he cashes in, like Punk used to.
-Vince arrives with an attorney.
-Match 2: WWE Divas Championship: Kelly Kelly [c] (w/Eve Torres) VS Brie Bella (w/Nikki Bella)
-Kelly retains with the K2. Match was shockingly decent, actually.
-Match 3: Big Show VS Mark Henry
-Henry injured Show's leg by kicking the ring steps into it. Show actually came off the second rope with a
shoulderblock. Henry escapes a chokeslam and hits the World's Strongest Slam...for two. A second WSS and a couple splashes do get the pin for Henry. Henry then grabs a chair and does his own version of the Pillmanizer on Show, using a Vader Bomb instead of a stomp. Match didn't overstay its welcome, and really put Henry over strong. They may finally have something with him, if they want to keep it going.
-Show gets taken away. Crowd shows their sympathy by chanting "CM Punk".
-Vince is in the back with the attorney. Josh Matthews asks if he's re-signed Punk. He hasn't. Vince blames John Cena for demanding that tonight's match take place after Vince suspended Punk.
-Match 4: Raw Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Alberto Del Rio VS Evan Bourne VS Alex Riley VS The Miz VS Rey Mysterio VS R-Truth VS Kofi Kingston VS Jack Swagger
-Everyone grabs a ladder on their way to the ring. Truth, who has a fear of hights grabs a step ladder. Miz grabs a step ladder too for some reason. Miz gets injured early. Bunch of spots. Highlight is everyone left on top of 4 ladders reaching for the briefcase at the same time. Miz comes back and almost wins it, but Mysterio powerbombs him off the ladder. Del Rio unmasks Rey, and grabs the briefcase for the win. Comparable to the opener.
-Match 5: World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton [c] VS Christian
-If the ref makes a bad call, or Orton gets DQ'd, Christian wins the title. Good match. Not as great as their first couple, but the matchup has been pretty played out. Orton kicked out of the Killswitch. Orton has everything going his way when Christian spits in his face. Orton responds by kicking Christian in the nuts, drawing the DQ and giving Christian the title! Orton freaks out and destroys Christian after the match, finishing him off with an RKO on the Spanish Announce Table. Randy leaves, but then comes back to give Christian another RKO on the SAT, to drive the point home. No cash in by Bryan, although it would be logical for him to do it.
-Match 6: WWE Championship: John Cena [c] VS CM Punk
-If Punk leaves the arena as WWE Champion, Cena is fired. Awesome match. They worked it as a straight babyface clash of the titans type of a match. Very slow early, as they had a lot of time to fill. Punk survived 2 Attitude Adjustments and several attempts at the STF. a couple of which got locked in. Punk hit a GTS to send Cena outside. Vince & John Laurinitis came out. Cena was about to get Punk in the STF again as Vince and Laurinitis signaled for the ref to ring the bell, but as soon as Cena saw that, he broke the hold and KO'd Laurinitis. Cena tells Vince that "we'll do it my way", but walks into a GTS for the pin, so Punk is the WWE champion.
-As Punk celebrates, Vince frantically calls for Alberto Del Rio to come out and cash in his briefcase. ADR rushes out, but Punk floors him before any match can start. Punk takes off through the crowd with the title as Vince stares in disbelief to close the show. No firing of Cena.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: An awesome show. The two ladder matches delivered what they promised. The undercard matches were decent, and the two world title matches delivered in terms of quality and in somewhat surprising results. The fall out should be interesting. Hopefully, they can keep the momentum going. Very much looking forward to Raw tomorrow night. Hopefully Christian keeps the title for longer than five days this time.
ECW on Sci-Fi 1/15/08
So I got bored last night and looked around Hulu.Com, and noticed that the site appears to have every episode from this one until the last one. Since I haven't seen any of them, I figured it would be a good opportunity to add more content to the blog, so I'll be going through all these shows...
-From Birmingham, AL
-Hosts are Joey Styles & Tazz
-Tonight is the ECW Debut of World Heavyweight Champion Edge's talk show, "The Cutting Edge", and that starts the show. Edge plugs his world title defense VS Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble. Edge says the match won't be competitive because of what happened on Smackdown. A video airs, showing Rey beating Chavo Guerrero, but then taking a 3-on-1 beating at the hands of Edge, Curt Hawkins, & Zach Ryder.
Edge calls out his guest, ECW Champion CM Punk. Edge asks Punk who he's really beaten, noting that his recent victories over Chavo have come via count out and DQ. Edge asks Punk what would happen if Chavo were to challenge him for a third time. Punk says he'd accept. Punk says not only can he beat Chavo anytime, but Punk can beat Edge too. Edge doesn't take it too seriously, and just as things look like they'll get heated, Chavo interrupts.
Chavo challenges Punk for tonight. That leads to a 2-on-1 beatdown on Punk. Punk's shoulder looks to be injured after he's rammed into the ringpost. Good opening segment. After 3+ years, it's weird to see A.) babyface CM Punk and B.) Chavo being taken seriously as a challenger for anything. Although it was weird to see Chavo as a challenger then too.
-ECW ad during ECW. It's like they're on TNN all over again.
-Replay of the final moments of the opening segment.
-Edge is shown walking out backstage.
-Match 1: WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz VS The Highlanders (Rory & Robbie McCallister) [Non-Title]
-To illustrate the state of the Smackdown/ECW tag team division at this time, the champions main challengers are Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore. Short match as Rory is face-in-peril for a bit for Robbie gets the tag and cleans house, but soon falls victim to the Reality Check (knee lift/neckbreaker combo) from the Miz for the pin. Short and sweet.
-Kofi "the phony Jamacan" Kingston vignette. Some asshole kicks sand in some kid's face, so Kofi beats his ass. Kofi makes his debut next week.
-LAST WEEK: A diva dance-off between Kelly Kelly and Layla. The ring announcer Leina Yada enters, and naturally declares herself the winner.
-Kelly comes out to announce that in ECW'S HD debut, there will be a "best body" competition between herself, Leina, and Layla. Kelly shows herself off in a skimpy bikini.
-Tazz is in the ring with a very bandaged up Colin Delaney. A replay of him getting killed by Shelton Benjamin, Big Daddy V, and Mark Henry airs. This leads to...
-Match 2: Colin Delaney VS Kane
-Kane's amused look at Delaney as he puts his fists up is tremendous. Quick squash (no shit), and Kane finishes with the chokeslam. It was cool seeing a local Western NY guy get a shot at WWE. Colin is a pretty charismatic guy. I remember going to an NWA Upstate TV taping, and some kid dropped Skittles off the floor...so Colin ate them.
-The trainer makes sure CM Punk wants to wrestle tonight.
-LAST NIGHT ON RAW: Jeff Hardy lays out WWE Champion Randy Orton, then gives him a swanton off the stage. This one segment made people really want Jeff to be WWE Champion. Good thing it didn't happen, as Jeff got his dumb ass suspended before WrestleMania.
-Armageddon DVD ad.
-Joey gives an update on the condition of Jeff & Randy, starting a run down of the Royal Rumble card.
-Match 3: Shelton Benjamin VS Nunzio
-Extended squash that the crowd barely reacts to. Shelton tosses Nunzio around and pounds away. Nunzio comes back with a dropkick. Shelton catches Nunzio in mid-air and powerbombs him into the corner. Jumping complete shot (I forget what Shelton calls it) finishes. Needed more Shelton manhandling Nunzio and less Shelton punching Nunzio.
-Match 4: ECW Champion CM Punk VS Chavo Guerrero [Non-Title]
-If Chavo wins, he gets another title shot. Edge comes back out to join in on commentary. Punk continues to sell the shoulder injury. Commentary spends the first part of the match talking about Edge VS Rey instead of this match. Punk backdrops Chavo over the top and out, so of course there's a commercial break.
Back from break, Punk lands some kicks as Joey & Tazz aren't aware that we're back from the commercial break. Chavo starts to work Punk's arm over. Punk gets an enziguiri, but Chavo comes back with a dropkick to the injured shoulder. Chavo keeps working over Punk's injured shoulder as the crowd doesn't react to anything he does. Punk gets some offense to wake the crowd up, but Chavo sends Punk to the outside, and Edge takes the opportunity to blast Punk in the back of the head with the World title belt. Punk is counted out, and Chavo is the #1 contender to the ECW title. Match was technically fine and Punk did a good job of selling the shoulder, but no one was buying Chavo as a possible champion.
-Logic says that this would lead to a CM Punk title defense over Chavo at the Royal Rumble before moving on to another challenger, but no one's ever accused WWE of being completely logical...
-An OK show, but this is the time when the ECW title really became devalued (this will be illustrated shortly) and the show started to become Sunday Night Heat with a championship. None of the matches were particularly good, and I could never get over Chavo Guerrero being given this spot. The fact that he did pretty much jack shit after his ECW run showed what he meant to the company.
-From Birmingham, AL
-Hosts are Joey Styles & Tazz
-Tonight is the ECW Debut of World Heavyweight Champion Edge's talk show, "The Cutting Edge", and that starts the show. Edge plugs his world title defense VS Rey Mysterio at the Royal Rumble. Edge says the match won't be competitive because of what happened on Smackdown. A video airs, showing Rey beating Chavo Guerrero, but then taking a 3-on-1 beating at the hands of Edge, Curt Hawkins, & Zach Ryder.
Edge calls out his guest, ECW Champion CM Punk. Edge asks Punk who he's really beaten, noting that his recent victories over Chavo have come via count out and DQ. Edge asks Punk what would happen if Chavo were to challenge him for a third time. Punk says he'd accept. Punk says not only can he beat Chavo anytime, but Punk can beat Edge too. Edge doesn't take it too seriously, and just as things look like they'll get heated, Chavo interrupts.
Chavo challenges Punk for tonight. That leads to a 2-on-1 beatdown on Punk. Punk's shoulder looks to be injured after he's rammed into the ringpost. Good opening segment. After 3+ years, it's weird to see A.) babyface CM Punk and B.) Chavo being taken seriously as a challenger for anything. Although it was weird to see Chavo as a challenger then too.
-ECW ad during ECW. It's like they're on TNN all over again.
-Replay of the final moments of the opening segment.
-Edge is shown walking out backstage.
-Match 1: WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison & The Miz VS The Highlanders (Rory & Robbie McCallister) [Non-Title]
-To illustrate the state of the Smackdown/ECW tag team division at this time, the champions main challengers are Jimmy Wang Yang & Shannon Moore. Short match as Rory is face-in-peril for a bit for Robbie gets the tag and cleans house, but soon falls victim to the Reality Check (knee lift/neckbreaker combo) from the Miz for the pin. Short and sweet.
-Kofi "the phony Jamacan" Kingston vignette. Some asshole kicks sand in some kid's face, so Kofi beats his ass. Kofi makes his debut next week.
-LAST WEEK: A diva dance-off between Kelly Kelly and Layla. The ring announcer Leina Yada enters, and naturally declares herself the winner.
-Kelly comes out to announce that in ECW'S HD debut, there will be a "best body" competition between herself, Leina, and Layla. Kelly shows herself off in a skimpy bikini.
-Tazz is in the ring with a very bandaged up Colin Delaney. A replay of him getting killed by Shelton Benjamin, Big Daddy V, and Mark Henry airs. This leads to...
-Match 2: Colin Delaney VS Kane
-Kane's amused look at Delaney as he puts his fists up is tremendous. Quick squash (no shit), and Kane finishes with the chokeslam. It was cool seeing a local Western NY guy get a shot at WWE. Colin is a pretty charismatic guy. I remember going to an NWA Upstate TV taping, and some kid dropped Skittles off the floor...so Colin ate them.
-The trainer makes sure CM Punk wants to wrestle tonight.
-LAST NIGHT ON RAW: Jeff Hardy lays out WWE Champion Randy Orton, then gives him a swanton off the stage. This one segment made people really want Jeff to be WWE Champion. Good thing it didn't happen, as Jeff got his dumb ass suspended before WrestleMania.
-Armageddon DVD ad.
-Joey gives an update on the condition of Jeff & Randy, starting a run down of the Royal Rumble card.
-Match 3: Shelton Benjamin VS Nunzio
-Extended squash that the crowd barely reacts to. Shelton tosses Nunzio around and pounds away. Nunzio comes back with a dropkick. Shelton catches Nunzio in mid-air and powerbombs him into the corner. Jumping complete shot (I forget what Shelton calls it) finishes. Needed more Shelton manhandling Nunzio and less Shelton punching Nunzio.
-Match 4: ECW Champion CM Punk VS Chavo Guerrero [Non-Title]
-If Chavo wins, he gets another title shot. Edge comes back out to join in on commentary. Punk continues to sell the shoulder injury. Commentary spends the first part of the match talking about Edge VS Rey instead of this match. Punk backdrops Chavo over the top and out, so of course there's a commercial break.
Back from break, Punk lands some kicks as Joey & Tazz aren't aware that we're back from the commercial break. Chavo starts to work Punk's arm over. Punk gets an enziguiri, but Chavo comes back with a dropkick to the injured shoulder. Chavo keeps working over Punk's injured shoulder as the crowd doesn't react to anything he does. Punk gets some offense to wake the crowd up, but Chavo sends Punk to the outside, and Edge takes the opportunity to blast Punk in the back of the head with the World title belt. Punk is counted out, and Chavo is the #1 contender to the ECW title. Match was technically fine and Punk did a good job of selling the shoulder, but no one was buying Chavo as a possible champion.
-Logic says that this would lead to a CM Punk title defense over Chavo at the Royal Rumble before moving on to another challenger, but no one's ever accused WWE of being completely logical...
-An OK show, but this is the time when the ECW title really became devalued (this will be illustrated shortly) and the show started to become Sunday Night Heat with a championship. None of the matches were particularly good, and I could never get over Chavo Guerrero being given this spot. The fact that he did pretty much jack shit after his ECW run showed what he meant to the company.
Friday, July 15, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #23: Clash of the Champions VII "Gust and Glory"
-6/14/89
--From Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Since this show is held at a military base, there's red, white, and blue decorations on the ring. There are quick videos with various military members cut into the show.
-Match 1: NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: The Dynamic Dudes VS The Freebirds of Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin (w/Terry Gordy)
-Garvin is the newest member of the group, being revealed just now. Dudes start off fast as Ace gets a sunset flip off the top on Hayes while Shane gives Garvin an awkward clothesline. One of the few times I've seen one man lower his head too early, but dodge the inevitable kick that comes with it. Well done Johnny Ace. Dudes get some double teams before Shane gets tackled from behind by Garvin and double teamed himself. Johnny becomes the face-in-peril. This is apparently the 214th birthday of Fort Bragg. Shane gets in, and has Garvin pinned until Hayes DDTs him behind the referee's back, allowing Garvin to get the pin. Match was decent, aided greatly by a hot crowd.
-Match 2: Rangers Ross VS *sigh*...The Terrorist
-Terrorist is a masked jobber. I've read it's Jack Victory. I don't care enough to look into it further. JR plus Coors Light and Domino's Pizza as The Terrorist attacks Ross. Wasn't Jim Heard a Pizza Hut guy? Ross finishes quickly with a crappy side kick.
-A Road Warriors video set to "Iron Man" airs.
-Match 3: The Ding Dongs VS George South & Cougar Jay
-This is pretty infamous. The Ding Dongs are two guys in orange bodysuits and masks with bells all over them. The crowd is not exactly pleased to see them. The one who is not in the ring constantly rings a bell in the corner. It gets really annoying about 2 seconds after it starts. The match is secondary to the fact that JIM HEARD THOUGHT THE DING DONGS WAS A GOOD IDEA. They finish rather quickly. Ross comes right out and says "that was horrible", then realizes what he said, and tries to say that he was referring to a play on words that he tried to make. I was expecting more vitrol from the crowd and from the announcers the way this had been built up, so it even disappointed on that level.
-Match 4: NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously)
-A fan tries to jump into the ring during Cornette's intro of the Midnights, and they graciously do not take the opportunity to kill him. The SST earn my love by coming out to the theme from HALLOWEEN. I wonder if WCW actually paid John Carpenter royalties for that. Paul threatens Cornette to kick off the match. Stan and Fatu fuck up a backdrop in spectacular fashion. The Midnights have the early momentum, but the SST turn it around, leading to Fatu giving Bobby a snap suplex on the floor. Bobby is face-in-peril until Fatu misses a corner splash and rams into the ringpost. Match breaks down. The ref is bumped, allowing the Road Warriors to lay out the SST and the Midnights to get the pin. Not much here. HUGE pop for the run-in.
-Match 5: Battle of the Bulls: Terry Gordy VS Dr. Death Steve Williams
-This is a result of Kevin Sullivan paying Gordy to jump Doc over in Japan. Doc jumps all over Gordy to start, but runs into a big clothesline. JR goes over the history between the two, including their feud in Mid-South and the UWF. Match is a pretty fun heavyweight slugfest. Ross goes over the top in his shilling of Coors' Light. They eventually both say "fuck this" and fight outside to a double count-out. Fans chant "bullshit" to show how they feel.
-Match 6: Mike Justice VS Norman The Lunatic (w/Teddy Long)
-Mike is not to be confused with Sid Justice. Norman is Mike Shaw, who would go on to greater "fame" as Bastion Booger in the WWF. This would have been a more appropriate person to use the HALLOWEEN theme. Norman finishes very quickly with an avalanche. Teddy controls Norman by dangling the sanitarium's keys in front of Norman, threatening to lock him back up. Norman is placed on a gurney and taken away by orderlies as the crowd sings "the goodbye song".
-Preview for the "King of the Hill" battle royale series at the Great American Bash.
-JR interviews the Freebirds.
-A video for "Flyin' " Brian Pillman set to "Oh Yeah" by Yello, a.k.a. that song from FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF.
-Match 7: Austrailian Style Tag Team Match: The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Mike Rotuna & Kevin Sullivan
-Odd choice for a gimmick match, and no explanation is given as to what that means. Sullivan is now being billed as from Boston. Scott is wearing gold trunks and boots. Steiners clear the ring, and Scott celebrates by doing an Ultimate Warrior rope shake. Rick might be bigger than Scott at this point. Match is a pretty pedestrian brawl until Scott gets dumped over the top onto the announce table. JR loses his shit as Sullivan works Scott over on the outside, hitting him with the ring steps and sending him into the ringpost. Rotunda falls down after missing a clothesline, but makes for it by creaming Scott on the second attempt. Cool spot as Rick gets the hot tag, and gets Rotunda into position for the corner punches. Since Sullivan walks over, Rick alternates between punching Rotunda and punching Sullivan. Sullivan steals Bob Caudle's chair and slides it into the ring. Rotunda suplexes Scott on the chair for the pin. Match was OK, didn't need a gimmick announced that was never explained, and never came into play.
-JR interviews Jim Cornette, who mocks the idea of The Freebirds being ladies men ("If one of the Midnight Express ever woke up next to what the Freebirds go out with, they'd knaw their own arm off to escape without waking the beast") while hyping the tag title match.
-Match 8: NWA World Television Championship: Sting VS "Wild" Bill Irwin
-Irwin would later suffer the indignity of wrestling as The Goon in the WWF. Irwin takes control quickly and pounds on Sting. JR foreshadows future events by noting that he asked Lex Luger to join in on color commentary, but Luger refused because he's unhappy with his spot in the Top 10 Rankings. Irwin avoids a Stinger Splash, and powers Sting down with a spinebuster, but stops to gloat, and takes the Stinger Splash and a rollup for the pin. Nothing to see here.
-A hype video for Scott "Gator" Hall, who looks strange as hell with blonde hair and his 70's porn stache.
-Pre-taped interview between JR and the injured Ric Flair at Flair's home in Charlotte. Very subdued Flair is not nearly is entertaining as raving maniac Flair. He says he'll make an announcement on July 1st, but won't go after Terry Funk until he's 100%.
-Match 9: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Jimmy Garvin & Michaels Hayes (w/Terry Gordy) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Paul E. knocks Cornette out with the loaded tennis racket to remove him from the match. The Dynamic Dudes come out to carry Cornette from ringside. The Midnights control the early going. The Freebirds tell the crowd to shut up, so they respond by getting louder. Not much here. The teams go back and forth until Gordy sneaks in to powerbomb Eaton, allowing Garvin to roll on top for the pin and the titles.
-Match 10: Terry Funk VS Ricky Steamboat
-Funk had made it into the top 10, sitting at the 10 spot. Steamboat is still the #1 contender at this point. Funk is in great shape here. Both men just go for it right off the bat. Steamboat is cranky, hitting some stiff chops. Funk hits a hangman's neckbreaker, then adds a backsplash on top of it. Funk does a flip in the corner, but goes the extra mile by diving out onto the floor. Steamboat follows, picks Funk up, and walks him around the outside of the ring before finally slamming him on the floor. Funk tries to get back in, so Steamboat slams him over the top back out to the floor. He does not get DQ'd for this for no explained reason. Funk fights back, Nick Patrick gets bumped, and Funk piledrives Steamboat on the floor. That only gets two, so Funk goes up for a splash, which hits Steamboat's knees. Steamboat takes over, so Funk gets desperate, and nails Steamboat with the house microphone for the DQ. Good main event. I'm glad they didn't just have Funk run through everyone on his way to Flair.
-Lex Luger rushes out, ostensibly to stop Funk from attacking Steamboat. Luger helps Steamboat up, only to drop him with a big clothesline. Luger nails Steamboat with a chair, then locks in the Human Torture Rack to finish him off. Excellent heel turn from Luger. Sting rushes out to help Steamboat. It would have been awesome if Sting jumped him too, but that wasn't in the cards. Probably would have been more distructive than any benefit they might have gotten out of it.
-A cake is brought out to help celebrate the 214th birthday of the U.S. armed forces. WCW gets a replica of an "Iron Mike" in return for them having the show there. Members of the 82nd airborne sing "Happy Birthday" and "God Bless the U.S.A.". Shockingly, no one ends up getting smashed with the cake.
-JR & Caudle recap the event.
-This show was just there wrestling wise, with a lot of squashes, and a couple matches that didn't get out of first gear. The only thing that really stood out was the main event and the Lex Luger turn immediately after.
--From Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, NC
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Since this show is held at a military base, there's red, white, and blue decorations on the ring. There are quick videos with various military members cut into the show.
-Match 1: NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: The Dynamic Dudes VS The Freebirds of Michael Hayes & Jimmy Garvin (w/Terry Gordy)
-Garvin is the newest member of the group, being revealed just now. Dudes start off fast as Ace gets a sunset flip off the top on Hayes while Shane gives Garvin an awkward clothesline. One of the few times I've seen one man lower his head too early, but dodge the inevitable kick that comes with it. Well done Johnny Ace. Dudes get some double teams before Shane gets tackled from behind by Garvin and double teamed himself. Johnny becomes the face-in-peril. This is apparently the 214th birthday of Fort Bragg. Shane gets in, and has Garvin pinned until Hayes DDTs him behind the referee's back, allowing Garvin to get the pin. Match was decent, aided greatly by a hot crowd.
-Match 2: Rangers Ross VS *sigh*...The Terrorist
-Terrorist is a masked jobber. I've read it's Jack Victory. I don't care enough to look into it further. JR plus Coors Light and Domino's Pizza as The Terrorist attacks Ross. Wasn't Jim Heard a Pizza Hut guy? Ross finishes quickly with a crappy side kick.
-A Road Warriors video set to "Iron Man" airs.
-Match 3: The Ding Dongs VS George South & Cougar Jay
-This is pretty infamous. The Ding Dongs are two guys in orange bodysuits and masks with bells all over them. The crowd is not exactly pleased to see them. The one who is not in the ring constantly rings a bell in the corner. It gets really annoying about 2 seconds after it starts. The match is secondary to the fact that JIM HEARD THOUGHT THE DING DONGS WAS A GOOD IDEA. They finish rather quickly. Ross comes right out and says "that was horrible", then realizes what he said, and tries to say that he was referring to a play on words that he tried to make. I was expecting more vitrol from the crowd and from the announcers the way this had been built up, so it even disappointed on that level.
-Match 4: NWA Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi-Finals: The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette) VS The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously)
-A fan tries to jump into the ring during Cornette's intro of the Midnights, and they graciously do not take the opportunity to kill him. The SST earn my love by coming out to the theme from HALLOWEEN. I wonder if WCW actually paid John Carpenter royalties for that. Paul threatens Cornette to kick off the match. Stan and Fatu fuck up a backdrop in spectacular fashion. The Midnights have the early momentum, but the SST turn it around, leading to Fatu giving Bobby a snap suplex on the floor. Bobby is face-in-peril until Fatu misses a corner splash and rams into the ringpost. Match breaks down. The ref is bumped, allowing the Road Warriors to lay out the SST and the Midnights to get the pin. Not much here. HUGE pop for the run-in.
-Match 5: Battle of the Bulls: Terry Gordy VS Dr. Death Steve Williams
-This is a result of Kevin Sullivan paying Gordy to jump Doc over in Japan. Doc jumps all over Gordy to start, but runs into a big clothesline. JR goes over the history between the two, including their feud in Mid-South and the UWF. Match is a pretty fun heavyweight slugfest. Ross goes over the top in his shilling of Coors' Light. They eventually both say "fuck this" and fight outside to a double count-out. Fans chant "bullshit" to show how they feel.
-Match 6: Mike Justice VS Norman The Lunatic (w/Teddy Long)
-Mike is not to be confused with Sid Justice. Norman is Mike Shaw, who would go on to greater "fame" as Bastion Booger in the WWF. This would have been a more appropriate person to use the HALLOWEEN theme. Norman finishes very quickly with an avalanche. Teddy controls Norman by dangling the sanitarium's keys in front of Norman, threatening to lock him back up. Norman is placed on a gurney and taken away by orderlies as the crowd sings "the goodbye song".
-Preview for the "King of the Hill" battle royale series at the Great American Bash.
-JR interviews the Freebirds.
-A video for "Flyin' " Brian Pillman set to "Oh Yeah" by Yello, a.k.a. that song from FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF.
-Match 7: Austrailian Style Tag Team Match: The Steiner Brothers (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Mike Rotuna & Kevin Sullivan
-Odd choice for a gimmick match, and no explanation is given as to what that means. Sullivan is now being billed as from Boston. Scott is wearing gold trunks and boots. Steiners clear the ring, and Scott celebrates by doing an Ultimate Warrior rope shake. Rick might be bigger than Scott at this point. Match is a pretty pedestrian brawl until Scott gets dumped over the top onto the announce table. JR loses his shit as Sullivan works Scott over on the outside, hitting him with the ring steps and sending him into the ringpost. Rotunda falls down after missing a clothesline, but makes for it by creaming Scott on the second attempt. Cool spot as Rick gets the hot tag, and gets Rotunda into position for the corner punches. Since Sullivan walks over, Rick alternates between punching Rotunda and punching Sullivan. Sullivan steals Bob Caudle's chair and slides it into the ring. Rotunda suplexes Scott on the chair for the pin. Match was OK, didn't need a gimmick announced that was never explained, and never came into play.
-JR interviews Jim Cornette, who mocks the idea of The Freebirds being ladies men ("If one of the Midnight Express ever woke up next to what the Freebirds go out with, they'd knaw their own arm off to escape without waking the beast") while hyping the tag title match.
-Match 8: NWA World Television Championship: Sting VS "Wild" Bill Irwin
-Irwin would later suffer the indignity of wrestling as The Goon in the WWF. Irwin takes control quickly and pounds on Sting. JR foreshadows future events by noting that he asked Lex Luger to join in on color commentary, but Luger refused because he's unhappy with his spot in the Top 10 Rankings. Irwin avoids a Stinger Splash, and powers Sting down with a spinebuster, but stops to gloat, and takes the Stinger Splash and a rollup for the pin. Nothing to see here.
-A hype video for Scott "Gator" Hall, who looks strange as hell with blonde hair and his 70's porn stache.
-Pre-taped interview between JR and the injured Ric Flair at Flair's home in Charlotte. Very subdued Flair is not nearly is entertaining as raving maniac Flair. He says he'll make an announcement on July 1st, but won't go after Terry Funk until he's 100%.
-Match 9: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Jimmy Garvin & Michaels Hayes (w/Terry Gordy) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Paul E. knocks Cornette out with the loaded tennis racket to remove him from the match. The Dynamic Dudes come out to carry Cornette from ringside. The Midnights control the early going. The Freebirds tell the crowd to shut up, so they respond by getting louder. Not much here. The teams go back and forth until Gordy sneaks in to powerbomb Eaton, allowing Garvin to roll on top for the pin and the titles.
-Match 10: Terry Funk VS Ricky Steamboat
-Funk had made it into the top 10, sitting at the 10 spot. Steamboat is still the #1 contender at this point. Funk is in great shape here. Both men just go for it right off the bat. Steamboat is cranky, hitting some stiff chops. Funk hits a hangman's neckbreaker, then adds a backsplash on top of it. Funk does a flip in the corner, but goes the extra mile by diving out onto the floor. Steamboat follows, picks Funk up, and walks him around the outside of the ring before finally slamming him on the floor. Funk tries to get back in, so Steamboat slams him over the top back out to the floor. He does not get DQ'd for this for no explained reason. Funk fights back, Nick Patrick gets bumped, and Funk piledrives Steamboat on the floor. That only gets two, so Funk goes up for a splash, which hits Steamboat's knees. Steamboat takes over, so Funk gets desperate, and nails Steamboat with the house microphone for the DQ. Good main event. I'm glad they didn't just have Funk run through everyone on his way to Flair.
-Lex Luger rushes out, ostensibly to stop Funk from attacking Steamboat. Luger helps Steamboat up, only to drop him with a big clothesline. Luger nails Steamboat with a chair, then locks in the Human Torture Rack to finish him off. Excellent heel turn from Luger. Sting rushes out to help Steamboat. It would have been awesome if Sting jumped him too, but that wasn't in the cards. Probably would have been more distructive than any benefit they might have gotten out of it.
-A cake is brought out to help celebrate the 214th birthday of the U.S. armed forces. WCW gets a replica of an "Iron Mike" in return for them having the show there. Members of the 82nd airborne sing "Happy Birthday" and "God Bless the U.S.A.". Shockingly, no one ends up getting smashed with the cake.
-JR & Caudle recap the event.
-This show was just there wrestling wise, with a lot of squashes, and a couple matches that didn't get out of first gear. The only thing that really stood out was the main event and the Lex Luger turn immediately after.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Live Reactions: TNA Destination X
-So this show is essentially a nostalgia show for the X-Division, even though it is still active in TNA. That would be like WWE having a nostalgia show filled with tag team matches.
-Match 1: Kazarian VS Samoa Joe
-Good opener. Crowd was 100% behind Joe. Match was a throwback to when Joe was the hottest thing in wrestling. Kazarian gets to the ropes to break the rear naked choke, and after Joe argues with sensitive Earl Hebner, Kazarian counters another attempt at the choke into a rollup for the pin.
-Christopher Daniels arrives.
-EARLIER TODAY: Suicide, Curry Man (which would actually explain why Daniels is just now showing up), and someone I don't recognize are doing an autograph signing. Eric Young interrupts to ask if any of them want to be his tag partner. Curry Man declines, but Stone Cold Shark Boy steps in to accept.
-Match 2: Open Challenge: Douglas Williams VS Mark Haskins
-Haskins looks like a John Morrison rip-off, when Morrison was still transitioning from Johnny Nitro, complete with jacket, sunglasses, and he even stops to do the same pose. Good technical wrestling for about half the match before they transitioned into more traditional wrestling spots. Haskins messes up before the finish, slipping off the ropes before going back up. He misses a shooting star, and Douglas rolls him up for the pin. They put Haskins over as a British prospect who impressed on a recent tour. I'd like to see more of him, but he needs a new look.
-Austin Aries says he'll win the Fatal 4 Way for a TNA/Impact Wrestling contract because the other three are good, but they're not great like him. Surprised they'd have him back after the issues they had with him "not being reliable" a few years ago.
-Match 3: Generation Me (Max & Jeremy Buck) VS TV Champion Eric Young & Shark Boy
-Least of the three matches so far. They actually explain that the Bucks reunited after their split due to the "threat to the X Division", which A.) makes no sense, as their gimmick is that they don't care about anyone (including each other) but themselves, and B.) this is the third of fourth time someone or a group has tried to end the X division, when all they have to do is let TNA booking take its course. Young & Shark Boy win after a stunner and wheelbarrow neckbreaker on Max.
-Zema Ion delivers his own backstage promo. It's the biggest match of his life, and he's honored to be in the ring with the other three. He knows he's the undercard, and he's there to prove that he deserves to be in TNA. I've seen a little bit of Ion in Pro Wrestling Ohio when I watched a bit of it last year. He's more impressive as the arrogant male model gimmick he was using there.
-Match 4: Ultimate X #1 Contender's Match: Alex Shelley VS Shannon Moore VS Robbie E VS Amazing Red
-Really disappointing, but considering at least two of the four really suck (Moore, Robbie), it's probably the best we could have gotten. A bunch of spots, everyone tries to get the X hanging above the ring, everyone gets knocked off the cables until Shelley is the last man left, and he grabs it to win. Nice to see the most talented man in the match win, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.
-Low Ki talks about having to fight to prove that he belongs in TNA, which is sad, considering he's come and gone a few times already.
-It should be noted that everyone keeps switching back-and-forth between calling the company TNA and calling it Impact Wrestling (where "Wrestling Matters"), so no one knows what the hell is going on with the rebranding.
-Match 5: Rob Van Dam VS Jerry Lynn
-Pretty strong match. Started out as pretty much a cut & paste version of their ECW matches, until Lynn said "fuck this" and started wrestling as a heel. Lynn eventually introduced a couple chairs. Lynn busted RVD open by dropping a leg on the back of his head, driving Rob's head into a chair. Wild swing misses, leading to a Van Daminator and Five Star Frog Splash to give RVD the win. Match suffered a bit because I didn't think for a second that RVD would lose.
-Match 6: Winner Gets a TNA/Impact Wrestling Contract: Austin Aries VS Zema Ion VS Low Ki VS Jack Evans
-Evans looks really stupid with his bad haircut and MMA gloves. Great match. I expected Aries/Ki.Evans to be able to work together because of their time in RoH and other indies, but Ion gave a good accounting of himself as well. Aries wins after Low Ki blocks Evans' 630 splash with his knees, only for Aries to give him a stiff kick to the head and a brainbuster for the pin. Aries is a great choice, but I agree with the crowd when they chant "sign them all!".
-Aries takes the contract and proclaims himself "the greatest man who ever lived".
-Match 7: X-Division Championship: Abyss [c] VS Brian Kendrick
-Match was slow, and boring, which is par for the course when Abyss isn't in a garbage match (and sometimes when he is). Earl gets bumped, Kendrick hits the Sliced Bread #2, but Immortal (Brother Ray, Gunner, and Scott Steiner) attacks. Almost the whole X-Division rushes out to fight them off, and Kendrick counters a chokeslam into a rollup for the pin and the title. Kendrick gets the confetti treatment, and this is the only context in which that'll happen for an X-Division title change.
-Match 8: AJ Styles VS Christopher Daniels
-Nothing technically wrong with this match, but I just couldn't get into it. Styles wins with the Spiral Tap, then they shake hands after teasing a Daniels turn.
-All in all, a really good PPV for TNA, which was aided greatly by not having their crappy (f0r the most part) heavyweights stink it up, with the exception of Abyss. Unfortunately, this show will be buried and forgotten by the company.
-Match 1: Kazarian VS Samoa Joe
-Good opener. Crowd was 100% behind Joe. Match was a throwback to when Joe was the hottest thing in wrestling. Kazarian gets to the ropes to break the rear naked choke, and after Joe argues with sensitive Earl Hebner, Kazarian counters another attempt at the choke into a rollup for the pin.
-Christopher Daniels arrives.
-EARLIER TODAY: Suicide, Curry Man (which would actually explain why Daniels is just now showing up), and someone I don't recognize are doing an autograph signing. Eric Young interrupts to ask if any of them want to be his tag partner. Curry Man declines, but Stone Cold Shark Boy steps in to accept.
-Match 2: Open Challenge: Douglas Williams VS Mark Haskins
-Haskins looks like a John Morrison rip-off, when Morrison was still transitioning from Johnny Nitro, complete with jacket, sunglasses, and he even stops to do the same pose. Good technical wrestling for about half the match before they transitioned into more traditional wrestling spots. Haskins messes up before the finish, slipping off the ropes before going back up. He misses a shooting star, and Douglas rolls him up for the pin. They put Haskins over as a British prospect who impressed on a recent tour. I'd like to see more of him, but he needs a new look.
-Austin Aries says he'll win the Fatal 4 Way for a TNA/Impact Wrestling contract because the other three are good, but they're not great like him. Surprised they'd have him back after the issues they had with him "not being reliable" a few years ago.
-Match 3: Generation Me (Max & Jeremy Buck) VS TV Champion Eric Young & Shark Boy
-Least of the three matches so far. They actually explain that the Bucks reunited after their split due to the "threat to the X Division", which A.) makes no sense, as their gimmick is that they don't care about anyone (including each other) but themselves, and B.) this is the third of fourth time someone or a group has tried to end the X division, when all they have to do is let TNA booking take its course. Young & Shark Boy win after a stunner and wheelbarrow neckbreaker on Max.
-Zema Ion delivers his own backstage promo. It's the biggest match of his life, and he's honored to be in the ring with the other three. He knows he's the undercard, and he's there to prove that he deserves to be in TNA. I've seen a little bit of Ion in Pro Wrestling Ohio when I watched a bit of it last year. He's more impressive as the arrogant male model gimmick he was using there.
-Match 4: Ultimate X #1 Contender's Match: Alex Shelley VS Shannon Moore VS Robbie E VS Amazing Red
-Really disappointing, but considering at least two of the four really suck (Moore, Robbie), it's probably the best we could have gotten. A bunch of spots, everyone tries to get the X hanging above the ring, everyone gets knocked off the cables until Shelley is the last man left, and he grabs it to win. Nice to see the most talented man in the match win, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it should.
-Low Ki talks about having to fight to prove that he belongs in TNA, which is sad, considering he's come and gone a few times already.
-It should be noted that everyone keeps switching back-and-forth between calling the company TNA and calling it Impact Wrestling (where "Wrestling Matters"), so no one knows what the hell is going on with the rebranding.
-Match 5: Rob Van Dam VS Jerry Lynn
-Pretty strong match. Started out as pretty much a cut & paste version of their ECW matches, until Lynn said "fuck this" and started wrestling as a heel. Lynn eventually introduced a couple chairs. Lynn busted RVD open by dropping a leg on the back of his head, driving Rob's head into a chair. Wild swing misses, leading to a Van Daminator and Five Star Frog Splash to give RVD the win. Match suffered a bit because I didn't think for a second that RVD would lose.
-Match 6: Winner Gets a TNA/Impact Wrestling Contract: Austin Aries VS Zema Ion VS Low Ki VS Jack Evans
-Evans looks really stupid with his bad haircut and MMA gloves. Great match. I expected Aries/Ki.Evans to be able to work together because of their time in RoH and other indies, but Ion gave a good accounting of himself as well. Aries wins after Low Ki blocks Evans' 630 splash with his knees, only for Aries to give him a stiff kick to the head and a brainbuster for the pin. Aries is a great choice, but I agree with the crowd when they chant "sign them all!".
-Aries takes the contract and proclaims himself "the greatest man who ever lived".
-Match 7: X-Division Championship: Abyss [c] VS Brian Kendrick
-Match was slow, and boring, which is par for the course when Abyss isn't in a garbage match (and sometimes when he is). Earl gets bumped, Kendrick hits the Sliced Bread #2, but Immortal (Brother Ray, Gunner, and Scott Steiner) attacks. Almost the whole X-Division rushes out to fight them off, and Kendrick counters a chokeslam into a rollup for the pin and the title. Kendrick gets the confetti treatment, and this is the only context in which that'll happen for an X-Division title change.
-Match 8: AJ Styles VS Christopher Daniels
-Nothing technically wrong with this match, but I just couldn't get into it. Styles wins with the Spiral Tap, then they shake hands after teasing a Daniels turn.
-All in all, a really good PPV for TNA, which was aided greatly by not having their crappy (f0r the most part) heavyweights stink it up, with the exception of Abyss. Unfortunately, this show will be buried and forgotten by the company.
Monday, July 4, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #22: Wrestle War '89 "Music City Showdown" (Turner Home Entertainment Edit)
-5/7/89
-From The Municiple Auditorium in Nashville, TN
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) VS Doug Gilbert
-Muta's entrance music is suitably creepy. This is the first time Nick Patrick is refereeing on one of these big events. Gilbert tries to interrupt Muta's pre-match ritual, and that doesn't go well for him. Handspring elbow draws a small "Muta" chant. Moonsault misses, but Muta lands on his feet. Second attempt finishes quickly after, however. Not much to it, but good enough to showcase Muta. Eddie Gilbert comes out to look after his brother, and has a short staredown with Muta.
-Match 2: Butch Reed VS Ranger Ross
-Ross gets some members of the Color Guard to accompany him to the ring. Ross swivels his hips after taking his jacket off, and Reed is not amused. Ross controls the early going, until Reed catches him with a blow to head as Ross steps through the ropes. Vertical suplex and top rope shoulderblock finish quickly for Reed.
-Match 3: Bullrope Match: Bob Orton (w/Gary Hart) VS Dick Murdoch
-Match is butchered to pretty much just the finish, with Murdoch tying Orton up with the rope and pinning him. Orton beats Murdoch down, and hangs him after the pin.
-Match 4: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Dynamic Dudes
-The Dudes are Johnny Ace & Shane Douglas. Johnny takes Fatu down with an X-Factor, but Fatu no-sells, because he's Samoan, and Samoans have really hard heads. Fatu gets two off a powerslam, then threatens to bitch slap the ref. SST make a wish with Ace. Samu locks in a Boston Crab, and Paul takes the opportunity to get on the mic and let Ace know that he's as useless as a woman from Nashville. Hot tag is made, and Shane cleans house before getting dropped with a clothesline from Samu. Fatu hits a splash from the top to finish, but Ace makes the save. Fatu tries to slam Shane, but Ace hits a missile dropkick on Shane's back, putting him on top of Fatu for the pin. Big pop for the upset. Match was decent.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Michael P.S. Hayes (w/Hiro Matsuda)
-Hayes gets a crossbody for a one count. Teddy Long as it ringside, looking like a black Colonel Sanders. Hayes gets tired of Luger slapping him in the face, so he lands several punches before Luger fights back and launches him with a backdrop. Luger blocks a DDT attempt. Luger completely overpowers Hayes at every opportunity. Hayes manages to crack Luger's head against the ringpost, and struts to celebrate. Hayes keeps the pressure on, utilizing chinlocks. Hayes throws Lex outside and distracts the ref, allowing Matsuda to slam Luger's head onto the guardrail. Hayes drops an elbow for two. Luger blocks a bulldog, and makes his comeback. Two gorilla press slams set up the Torture Rack, but Hayes slips out and hits the DDT. Ref gets bumped as they knock heads, and Terry Gordy pushes Hayes on top of Luger for the pin and the title, making sure to keep Luger's foot off the bottom rope. Huge upset here. Match was OK, if a little slow. Finish was awkward.
-Match 6: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] VS The Iron Shiek (w/Rip Morgan)
-Shiek attacks Sting with the flag pole right off the bat. Sting quickly has enough of that shit, and chokes Shiek with his own jacket. Quick squash, and Sting finishes with the Scorpion Deathlock. Not much here.
-Match 7: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Rick Steamboat [c] VS Ric Flair
-Flair has 40 women with him, most of which look like they're ready to get out of there and cash their checks. Steamboat comes out with Bonnie and The Little Dragon, who is on a pony. Match is being judged by Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, and Terry Funk, in case this goes the time limit. I think this is the only context in which Funk would be described as "distinguished". They go out and do their usual, which, I have to say, if it's not broke, don't fix it. These two are awesome at making their matches seem like physical struggles, rather than cooperative dances. That art is really lost, and has been for a long time. Steamboat controls the first ten minutes, mainly working over Flair's arm.
-Flair finally turns the tide a little bit around the fifteen minute mark, and the two have a really stiff chop exchange. Flair keeps control of the match by making it a brawl, taking Steamboat over the guardrail with another stiff chop. Steamboat very quickly has enough of that, and regains control, until he tries a crossbody, which Flair ducks, sending Steamboat over the top and out. Flair gets a belly-to-back suplex, and keeps trying to hold Steamboat's shoulders down, but he can't do it. Flair gets annoyed with Tommy Young ("count faster, or you'll be working somehwere else tomorrow"), but keeps the pressure on Steamboat. Steamboat counters a suplex into a rollup for two. Flair tries a crossbody, sending both men out over the top.
-Flair tries going up top, and Steamboat slams him down. Superplex sets up the double chicken wing, but Flair gets his feet into the ropes to cause the break before Steamboat can sinch it in. Flair "accidentally" sends Steamboat out over the top, and Steamboat hurts his leg. Flair quickly locks in the Figure 4, but cannot get the submission. Steamboat connects with an enziguiri, but tries a bodyslam, which Flair, using the same counter Steamboat used to pin Randy Savage at WrestleMania III, rolls him up for the pin and the title. Steamboat shakes his hand and raises it before leaving. Typically great Flair/Steamboat match, but I think it's the least of their trilogy, but you can't go wrong with any of them.
-Jim Ross interviews Ric Flair. Then, in an angle as well-known as the match itself, Terry Funk keeps interrupting the interview, and eventually challenges Flair for the title. Flair responds that since Funk hasn't been active, and is not in the top 10 challengers, and that comes first. Terry takes this as Flair saying he's not good enough to face him, and ends up attacking Flair, culminating with a piledriver on the ringside table, which doesn't break. GREAT angle after the match, and this should have been the show closer.
-Match 8: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Mike Rotunda & Dr. Death Steve Williams [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-The Varsity Club are surrounded by cheerleaders for their introduction. Nikita Koloff is special guest referee inside the ring. Nick Patrick is on the outside. The Roadies waste no time in going after the champions. Sullivan gets in Nikita's face, and gets ejected from ringside. Match quickly spills outside, and Hawk accidentally clotheslines the ringpost, giving the champions an oppening. That doesn't last long, and the Roadies get Williams up for the Doomsday Device, but Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spiver rush out to attack Nikita to prevent him from making the count. This kicks off a big brawl, and the Road Warriors are declared the winners by DQ. The Varsity Club would not keep the belts long, as they were stripped shortly after this.
-Match 9: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert [c] (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spivey
-Match immediately spills outside. Spiver rams Steiner's shoulder into the ringpost. This essentially turns the match into a handicap match. Spivey gets a big side slam, but opts to tag Sullivan instead of going for the cover. Referee disallows a tag for the champions, but as Sullivan tries to piledrive Gilbert, Steiner clotheslines him. This allows Gilbert to get a jackknife cover for the pin the retain. Spivey nails Rick in the shoulder with a chair, and Sullivan has Missy cornered until Gilbert makes the save. Match was nothing special, and a really odd choice to go on last.
-From what is shown, this was a one match show. The only match that got any real time is Steamboat/Flair, which was great as usual. The rest is pretty inconsequential. Flair/Steamboat and the aftermath is on the first Flair set, so you can safely skip this show.
-From The Municiple Auditorium in Nashville, TN
-Hosts are Jim Ross & Bob Caudle
-Match 1: The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) VS Doug Gilbert
-Muta's entrance music is suitably creepy. This is the first time Nick Patrick is refereeing on one of these big events. Gilbert tries to interrupt Muta's pre-match ritual, and that doesn't go well for him. Handspring elbow draws a small "Muta" chant. Moonsault misses, but Muta lands on his feet. Second attempt finishes quickly after, however. Not much to it, but good enough to showcase Muta. Eddie Gilbert comes out to look after his brother, and has a short staredown with Muta.
-Match 2: Butch Reed VS Ranger Ross
-Ross gets some members of the Color Guard to accompany him to the ring. Ross swivels his hips after taking his jacket off, and Reed is not amused. Ross controls the early going, until Reed catches him with a blow to head as Ross steps through the ropes. Vertical suplex and top rope shoulderblock finish quickly for Reed.
-Match 3: Bullrope Match: Bob Orton (w/Gary Hart) VS Dick Murdoch
-Match is butchered to pretty much just the finish, with Murdoch tying Orton up with the rope and pinning him. Orton beats Murdoch down, and hangs him after the pin.
-Match 4: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Dynamic Dudes
-The Dudes are Johnny Ace & Shane Douglas. Johnny takes Fatu down with an X-Factor, but Fatu no-sells, because he's Samoan, and Samoans have really hard heads. Fatu gets two off a powerslam, then threatens to bitch slap the ref. SST make a wish with Ace. Samu locks in a Boston Crab, and Paul takes the opportunity to get on the mic and let Ace know that he's as useless as a woman from Nashville. Hot tag is made, and Shane cleans house before getting dropped with a clothesline from Samu. Fatu hits a splash from the top to finish, but Ace makes the save. Fatu tries to slam Shane, but Ace hits a missile dropkick on Shane's back, putting him on top of Fatu for the pin. Big pop for the upset. Match was decent.
-Match 5: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS Michael P.S. Hayes (w/Hiro Matsuda)
-Hayes gets a crossbody for a one count. Teddy Long as it ringside, looking like a black Colonel Sanders. Hayes gets tired of Luger slapping him in the face, so he lands several punches before Luger fights back and launches him with a backdrop. Luger blocks a DDT attempt. Luger completely overpowers Hayes at every opportunity. Hayes manages to crack Luger's head against the ringpost, and struts to celebrate. Hayes keeps the pressure on, utilizing chinlocks. Hayes throws Lex outside and distracts the ref, allowing Matsuda to slam Luger's head onto the guardrail. Hayes drops an elbow for two. Luger blocks a bulldog, and makes his comeback. Two gorilla press slams set up the Torture Rack, but Hayes slips out and hits the DDT. Ref gets bumped as they knock heads, and Terry Gordy pushes Hayes on top of Luger for the pin and the title, making sure to keep Luger's foot off the bottom rope. Huge upset here. Match was OK, if a little slow. Finish was awkward.
-Match 6: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] VS The Iron Shiek (w/Rip Morgan)
-Shiek attacks Sting with the flag pole right off the bat. Sting quickly has enough of that shit, and chokes Shiek with his own jacket. Quick squash, and Sting finishes with the Scorpion Deathlock. Not much here.
-Match 7: NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Rick Steamboat [c] VS Ric Flair
-Flair has 40 women with him, most of which look like they're ready to get out of there and cash their checks. Steamboat comes out with Bonnie and The Little Dragon, who is on a pony. Match is being judged by Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, and Terry Funk, in case this goes the time limit. I think this is the only context in which Funk would be described as "distinguished". They go out and do their usual, which, I have to say, if it's not broke, don't fix it. These two are awesome at making their matches seem like physical struggles, rather than cooperative dances. That art is really lost, and has been for a long time. Steamboat controls the first ten minutes, mainly working over Flair's arm.
-Flair finally turns the tide a little bit around the fifteen minute mark, and the two have a really stiff chop exchange. Flair keeps control of the match by making it a brawl, taking Steamboat over the guardrail with another stiff chop. Steamboat very quickly has enough of that, and regains control, until he tries a crossbody, which Flair ducks, sending Steamboat over the top and out. Flair gets a belly-to-back suplex, and keeps trying to hold Steamboat's shoulders down, but he can't do it. Flair gets annoyed with Tommy Young ("count faster, or you'll be working somehwere else tomorrow"), but keeps the pressure on Steamboat. Steamboat counters a suplex into a rollup for two. Flair tries a crossbody, sending both men out over the top.
-Flair tries going up top, and Steamboat slams him down. Superplex sets up the double chicken wing, but Flair gets his feet into the ropes to cause the break before Steamboat can sinch it in. Flair "accidentally" sends Steamboat out over the top, and Steamboat hurts his leg. Flair quickly locks in the Figure 4, but cannot get the submission. Steamboat connects with an enziguiri, but tries a bodyslam, which Flair, using the same counter Steamboat used to pin Randy Savage at WrestleMania III, rolls him up for the pin and the title. Steamboat shakes his hand and raises it before leaving. Typically great Flair/Steamboat match, but I think it's the least of their trilogy, but you can't go wrong with any of them.
-Jim Ross interviews Ric Flair. Then, in an angle as well-known as the match itself, Terry Funk keeps interrupting the interview, and eventually challenges Flair for the title. Flair responds that since Funk hasn't been active, and is not in the top 10 challengers, and that comes first. Terry takes this as Flair saying he's not good enough to face him, and ends up attacking Flair, culminating with a piledriver on the ringside table, which doesn't break. GREAT angle after the match, and this should have been the show closer.
-Match 8: NWA World Tag Team Championship: Mike Rotunda & Dr. Death Steve Williams [c] (w/Kevin Sullivan) VS The Road Warriors (w/Paul Ellering)
-The Varsity Club are surrounded by cheerleaders for their introduction. Nikita Koloff is special guest referee inside the ring. Nick Patrick is on the outside. The Roadies waste no time in going after the champions. Sullivan gets in Nikita's face, and gets ejected from ringside. Match quickly spills outside, and Hawk accidentally clotheslines the ringpost, giving the champions an oppening. That doesn't last long, and the Roadies get Williams up for the Doomsday Device, but Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spiver rush out to attack Nikita to prevent him from making the count. This kicks off a big brawl, and the Road Warriors are declared the winners by DQ. The Varsity Club would not keep the belts long, as they were stripped shortly after this.
-Match 9: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert [c] (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spivey
-Match immediately spills outside. Spiver rams Steiner's shoulder into the ringpost. This essentially turns the match into a handicap match. Spivey gets a big side slam, but opts to tag Sullivan instead of going for the cover. Referee disallows a tag for the champions, but as Sullivan tries to piledrive Gilbert, Steiner clotheslines him. This allows Gilbert to get a jackknife cover for the pin the retain. Spivey nails Rick in the shoulder with a chair, and Sullivan has Missy cornered until Gilbert makes the save. Match was nothing special, and a really odd choice to go on last.
-From what is shown, this was a one match show. The only match that got any real time is Steamboat/Flair, which was great as usual. The rest is pretty inconsequential. Flair/Steamboat and the aftermath is on the first Flair set, so you can safely skip this show.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
NWA/WCW Big Event Project #21: Clash of the Champions VI "Ragin' Cajun"
-4/2/89
-From The Superdome in New Orleans, LA
-Dark Match: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] VS Rip Morgan
-This, and the other dark match took place after the main show, and aired the following Saturday. Sting barely breaks a sweat, finishing quickly with a Stinger Splash and the Scorpion Deathlock.
-Dark Match: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS "Secret Service" Jack Victory
-Match is JIP as Luger works Victory over, until Michael Hayes comes out to slap Luger in the face. Luger slams Victory off the top, hits a powerslam (which JR calls a piledriver), and finishes with the Torture Rack.
-The main show kicks off with JR and Michael Hayes previewing the show. Hayes predicts Flair will regain the title. They show a video of a dinner involving several legends. Pizza Man Jim Herd very insincerely reads a statement thanking the legends for their contributions to wrestling.
-A video showcases all the top names in the NWA. After the national anthem, there's an add for the NWA Hotline.
-Match 1: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Lane & Samu start it off Lane uses his quickness to outmaneuver Samu, and gets a crossbody for two. Samu nails Lane with a chop and tags Fatu, who quickly loses the advantage to Lane. Lane tags Eaton, who hits a missile dropkick before tagging Lane back in. Cornette sneaks around to the other side of the ring to his Samu with the tennis racket. The Midnights completely dominate the match. Paul has Fatu listen to whomever he's talking to on his mobile phone. The SST get a brief moment of offense before Eaton turns the tide again. Eaton holds Fatu with Fatu's head on the top rope, and Lane leapfrogs Eaton to hit a splash on Fatu's back. That only gets a one count, as Tommy Young was busy with Samu & Eaton. The SST come back, and Samu hits a thrust kick on Eaton for two. Eaton is face-in-peril for a bit until he's able to tag in Lane. Nice spot as the Midnight's ram the SST's heads together. They no-sell it, hit each other a couple times, then go after the Midnights Paul trips Lane, so Cornette nails Samu with the tennis racket again. Lane is now the face-in-peril. Fatu hits a powerslam for two, thenlocks in a nerve hold. The Samoans get several near-falls on Lane, but cannot keep him down for three. Fatu misses a diving headbut, allowing Eaton to tag Lane. Lane makes the mistake of trying a double noggin knocker, which the SST no-sell and drop Lane. The Midnights hit the Rocket Launcher, but Tommy Young is too busy getting Eaton out of the ring, and Fatu nails Lane with the mobile phone before rolling Samu on top for the pin. Really good match, and a great choice for an opener.
-Match 2: The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) VS Steven Casey
-Muta does some pre-match meditating. Casey rushes in, and gets the green mist right off the bat. Nice spot as Muta backs Casey in a corner, then hits a double mule kick. There's something really creepy about Muta. His facepaint, sticking his fingers in his mouth before raking the eyes, and the whole casual demeanor he displays while picking Casey apart just give him an aura. Casey gets some offense in, but Muta swats aside a dropkick attempt. Muta sends Casey outside, then follows up with a dive to "ooooohs" and "aaaaaaahs" from the crowd. Muta hits a cartwheel into an elbow smash on the outside, then once back in, finishes with the moonsault. Really good showcase for Muta.
-Match 3: Junkyard Dog VS "Hacksaw" Butch Reed (w/Hiro Matsuda)
-JYD has a marching band accompany him to ringside. Shoving match to start, and JYD floors Reed with a punch. Lots of stalling early on. JYD counters a hiptoss with one of his own, then hits a bodyslam. JYD headbuts Reed in the side of his face. Reed turns the tide by thumbing JYD in the throat. Reed keeps control of the match. JYD misses a falling headbut. Reed hits a flying shoulderblock from the top, but JYD's foot is on the ropes. JYD whips Reed into Matsuda, and gets the pin off that. Match wasn't half-bad, actually. My expectations were pretty low, given I haven't been impressed with Reed, and I've only seen past his prime, shitty JYD.
-Match 4: Bob Orton (w/Gary Hart) VS Dick Murdoch
-Technical wrestling carries this match for the first five minutes. The director must be bored, as he cuts to the legends in the crowd a couple times while the two fight over holds. The technical wrestling comes to a screetching hault when Orton punches Murdoch in a corner, and starts stomping and punching him. Slugfest is won by Murdoch. Murdoch hits a dropkick, and Orton takes a horrible bump into a corner. Murdoch keeps the momentum, and has Orton up in the brainbuster until Hart trips Murdoch mid-move, and Orton falls on top for the pin as Hart continues to hold Murdoch's leg. Match was good for the time given.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Road Warriors [c] (w/Paul Ellering) VS Mike Rotunda & Dr. Death Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-Rotunda tries to wrestle Hawk, who turns it into a brawl, and wins at that. Animal gets in and tosses both of the challengers around. Rotunda saves Williams from a pin, and Dr. Death manages to drop the distracted Hawk with a clothesline to turn the tide in their favor. Animal becomes the face-in-peril. He makes a tag, but Teddy Long doesn't see it, so he doesn't allow it. Dr. Death hits a football tackle, then when Animal fights back, uses Animal's tightd to pull him outside. Sullivan hits Animal with a chair while he's out there. Dr. Death hits a spinebuster, but stops to savor the moment, and doesn't get the pin. Animal finally counters a football tackle with a clothesline, and tags Hawk. Hawk cleans house. Animal shoves Teddy Long down, which proves disasterous, as the Roadies hit the Doomsday Device, and Long feigns a back injury to avoid making the count. Williams school boys Hawk from behind, and Long gives the fastest count possible to give the titles to the Varsity Club. Good tag formula match, and a surprise finish.
-The Road Warriors are understandably pissed about what just happened.
-Match 6: Ranger Ross VS The Iron Shiek (w/Rip Morgan)
-Ross repels from the ceiling, and takes forever to do it. Shiek attacks Ross in the middle of the Iranian national anthen. Ross blocks a vertical suplex and gets one of his own. Shiek locks in an abdominal stretch, which Ross reverses. Ross gets a big kick to the face, and Morgan nails him with the Iranian flag pole for the quick DQ. JYD saves Ross from a beatdown.
-Bob Caudle interviews Ric Flair. It's a short promo, and Flair doesn't say anything particularly noteworthy.
-Match 7: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert {c] (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spivey
-Spivey gets a quick side-slam on Gillbert, but lets up on the cover. Gillbert is face-in-peril right off the bat. Gillbert gets trapped in the tree of woe, and Sullivan nails him. Sullivan wants to nail him again, and even though Gillbert frees himself, Sullivan can't...stop...running...and hits the corner. Steiner is tagged in and cleans house. The match breaks down, and Gillbert hits Sullivan with Missy's handbag for the pin to retain. Sullivan & Spivey double-team Gillbert until Steiner makes the save with a chair.
-Match 8: NWA World Heavyweight Championship Best 2 out of 3 Falls: Ricky Steamboat [c] VS Ric Flair
-The background graphic spells Ric as "Rick". Terry Funk replaces Hayes on commentary.
-FIRST FALL: Flair tries to intimidate Steamboat as they exchange holds, and that only gets him slapped across the face. Flair & Steamboat do their thing, combining technical wrestling, limb work, and stiff-as-hell chops. Steamboat, on a couple of occaisions, almost pins Flair with a side headlock. Steamboat controls the first few minutes, taking Flair down with headlocks, controlling the pace, and getting several near-falls. The difference between these headlocks and headlocks you see in most matches is that these two still work whil the hold is on, instead of using it as a rest period. I also have to mention that Terry Funk is great on color commentary, providing psychology behind what's going on in the ring. After Steamboat misses a dropkick, Flair tries for the Figure 4. Steamboat rolls him up, then Flair counters that rollup for the pin at 19:33.
-SECOND FALL: Steamboat comes out flying, getting a near-fall after a flying chop from the top. Flair misses a kneedrop, and Steamboat goes right to work on Flair's leg. Steamboat switches up to chops on Flair's forehead. Flair takes the match outside, and sends Steamboat into the guardrail. Flair gets a vertical suplex for two. Flair uses the ropes for leverage while trying again to pin Steamboat, and yells at the ringside fans to shut up when it proves unsuccessful. Steamboat catches Flair going up top, and hits a superplex. Now Steamboat focuses on Flair's lower back. Steamboat locks in a double chicken wing, and gets a submission at 34:40 to win the second fall, and tie it up at 1.
-THIRD FALL: Steamboat continues to work on Flair's back. Steamboat locks in a side headlock, but Flair counters with a shin breaker, and the Figure 4, but Steamboat gets to the ropes almost right away. Flair flip leads to a clothesline off the apron. Flair comes back, and again tries using the ropes to pin Steamboat. Steamboat goes for a high knee in the corner, but misses and gets caught up. Flair swoops right in to work on the leg. Flair locks in a Figure 4, but cannot get the submission or a pinfall. Steamboat finally reverses the hold, and chops away on Flair. Flair goes up...and hits the crossbody! That gets a very close near-fall. Steamboat comes back with his crossbody for two. After a couple more nearfalls, Flair locks in a sleeper, but Steamboat holds on. Steamboat breaks out by slamming Flair's face into the turnbuckle.
-Flair goes back to the leg. Steamboat misses a splash from the top. Flair gives a little maniacal laugh as he continues to work on Steamboat's leg. Steamboat responds with some STIFF chops. Flair comes back, but goes up top again, and is slammed down. Steamboat locks in the double chicken wing, but his leg gives out, and they fall back. Flair's leg is underneath the bottom rope, and it looks like both men's shoulders are down, but Tommy Young counts the pin, and awards the match and the title to Steamboat at 54:20. Replay from one side shows Steamboat did get a shoulder up before the three count. Just a teriffic match that deserves it's standing as possibly the best match ever. It's the fastest moving near-hour long match I've ever seen. Worth going out of your way to see if you haven't yet. It is on the first Flair set.
-Jim Ross interviews Steamboat. Steamboat is ready to move on to new challengers. They look at two replays, and see that Flair's leg was underneath the bottom rope. Steamboat acknowledges that Flair has a legitimate gripe, but says he's the better man anyway because he pinned Flair's shoulders down. Odd that the nameplate on the big gold is blank.
-Really good show, and I would say the best Clash yet. The main event is worth tracking down, but if you can find the whole show, I would recommend it.
-From The Superdome in New Orleans, LA
-Dark Match: NWA Television Championship: Sting [c] VS Rip Morgan
-This, and the other dark match took place after the main show, and aired the following Saturday. Sting barely breaks a sweat, finishing quickly with a Stinger Splash and the Scorpion Deathlock.
-Dark Match: NWA United States Championship: Lex Luger [c] VS "Secret Service" Jack Victory
-Match is JIP as Luger works Victory over, until Michael Hayes comes out to slap Luger in the face. Luger slams Victory off the top, hits a powerslam (which JR calls a piledriver), and finishes with the Torture Rack.
-The main show kicks off with JR and Michael Hayes previewing the show. Hayes predicts Flair will regain the title. They show a video of a dinner involving several legends. Pizza Man Jim Herd very insincerely reads a statement thanking the legends for their contributions to wrestling.
-A video showcases all the top names in the NWA. After the national anthem, there's an add for the NWA Hotline.
-Match 1: The Samoan Swat Team (w/Paul E. Dangerously) VS The Midnight Express (w/Jim Cornette)
-Lane & Samu start it off Lane uses his quickness to outmaneuver Samu, and gets a crossbody for two. Samu nails Lane with a chop and tags Fatu, who quickly loses the advantage to Lane. Lane tags Eaton, who hits a missile dropkick before tagging Lane back in. Cornette sneaks around to the other side of the ring to his Samu with the tennis racket. The Midnights completely dominate the match. Paul has Fatu listen to whomever he's talking to on his mobile phone. The SST get a brief moment of offense before Eaton turns the tide again. Eaton holds Fatu with Fatu's head on the top rope, and Lane leapfrogs Eaton to hit a splash on Fatu's back. That only gets a one count, as Tommy Young was busy with Samu & Eaton. The SST come back, and Samu hits a thrust kick on Eaton for two. Eaton is face-in-peril for a bit until he's able to tag in Lane. Nice spot as the Midnight's ram the SST's heads together. They no-sell it, hit each other a couple times, then go after the Midnights Paul trips Lane, so Cornette nails Samu with the tennis racket again. Lane is now the face-in-peril. Fatu hits a powerslam for two, thenlocks in a nerve hold. The Samoans get several near-falls on Lane, but cannot keep him down for three. Fatu misses a diving headbut, allowing Eaton to tag Lane. Lane makes the mistake of trying a double noggin knocker, which the SST no-sell and drop Lane. The Midnights hit the Rocket Launcher, but Tommy Young is too busy getting Eaton out of the ring, and Fatu nails Lane with the mobile phone before rolling Samu on top for the pin. Really good match, and a great choice for an opener.
-Match 2: The Great Muta (w/Gary Hart) VS Steven Casey
-Muta does some pre-match meditating. Casey rushes in, and gets the green mist right off the bat. Nice spot as Muta backs Casey in a corner, then hits a double mule kick. There's something really creepy about Muta. His facepaint, sticking his fingers in his mouth before raking the eyes, and the whole casual demeanor he displays while picking Casey apart just give him an aura. Casey gets some offense in, but Muta swats aside a dropkick attempt. Muta sends Casey outside, then follows up with a dive to "ooooohs" and "aaaaaaahs" from the crowd. Muta hits a cartwheel into an elbow smash on the outside, then once back in, finishes with the moonsault. Really good showcase for Muta.
-Match 3: Junkyard Dog VS "Hacksaw" Butch Reed (w/Hiro Matsuda)
-JYD has a marching band accompany him to ringside. Shoving match to start, and JYD floors Reed with a punch. Lots of stalling early on. JYD counters a hiptoss with one of his own, then hits a bodyslam. JYD headbuts Reed in the side of his face. Reed turns the tide by thumbing JYD in the throat. Reed keeps control of the match. JYD misses a falling headbut. Reed hits a flying shoulderblock from the top, but JYD's foot is on the ropes. JYD whips Reed into Matsuda, and gets the pin off that. Match wasn't half-bad, actually. My expectations were pretty low, given I haven't been impressed with Reed, and I've only seen past his prime, shitty JYD.
-Match 4: Bob Orton (w/Gary Hart) VS Dick Murdoch
-Technical wrestling carries this match for the first five minutes. The director must be bored, as he cuts to the legends in the crowd a couple times while the two fight over holds. The technical wrestling comes to a screetching hault when Orton punches Murdoch in a corner, and starts stomping and punching him. Slugfest is won by Murdoch. Murdoch hits a dropkick, and Orton takes a horrible bump into a corner. Murdoch keeps the momentum, and has Orton up in the brainbuster until Hart trips Murdoch mid-move, and Orton falls on top for the pin as Hart continues to hold Murdoch's leg. Match was good for the time given.
-Match 5: NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Road Warriors [c] (w/Paul Ellering) VS Mike Rotunda & Dr. Death Steve Williams (w/Kevin Sullivan)
-Rotunda tries to wrestle Hawk, who turns it into a brawl, and wins at that. Animal gets in and tosses both of the challengers around. Rotunda saves Williams from a pin, and Dr. Death manages to drop the distracted Hawk with a clothesline to turn the tide in their favor. Animal becomes the face-in-peril. He makes a tag, but Teddy Long doesn't see it, so he doesn't allow it. Dr. Death hits a football tackle, then when Animal fights back, uses Animal's tightd to pull him outside. Sullivan hits Animal with a chair while he's out there. Dr. Death hits a spinebuster, but stops to savor the moment, and doesn't get the pin. Animal finally counters a football tackle with a clothesline, and tags Hawk. Hawk cleans house. Animal shoves Teddy Long down, which proves disasterous, as the Roadies hit the Doomsday Device, and Long feigns a back injury to avoid making the count. Williams school boys Hawk from behind, and Long gives the fastest count possible to give the titles to the Varsity Club. Good tag formula match, and a surprise finish.
-The Road Warriors are understandably pissed about what just happened.
-Match 6: Ranger Ross VS The Iron Shiek (w/Rip Morgan)
-Ross repels from the ceiling, and takes forever to do it. Shiek attacks Ross in the middle of the Iranian national anthen. Ross blocks a vertical suplex and gets one of his own. Shiek locks in an abdominal stretch, which Ross reverses. Ross gets a big kick to the face, and Morgan nails him with the Iranian flag pole for the quick DQ. JYD saves Ross from a beatdown.
-Bob Caudle interviews Ric Flair. It's a short promo, and Flair doesn't say anything particularly noteworthy.
-Match 7: NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Rick Steiner & Eddie Gilbert {c] (w/Missy Hyatt) VS Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spivey
-Spivey gets a quick side-slam on Gillbert, but lets up on the cover. Gillbert is face-in-peril right off the bat. Gillbert gets trapped in the tree of woe, and Sullivan nails him. Sullivan wants to nail him again, and even though Gillbert frees himself, Sullivan can't...stop...running...and hits the corner. Steiner is tagged in and cleans house. The match breaks down, and Gillbert hits Sullivan with Missy's handbag for the pin to retain. Sullivan & Spivey double-team Gillbert until Steiner makes the save with a chair.
-Match 8: NWA World Heavyweight Championship Best 2 out of 3 Falls: Ricky Steamboat [c] VS Ric Flair
-The background graphic spells Ric as "Rick". Terry Funk replaces Hayes on commentary.
-FIRST FALL: Flair tries to intimidate Steamboat as they exchange holds, and that only gets him slapped across the face. Flair & Steamboat do their thing, combining technical wrestling, limb work, and stiff-as-hell chops. Steamboat, on a couple of occaisions, almost pins Flair with a side headlock. Steamboat controls the first few minutes, taking Flair down with headlocks, controlling the pace, and getting several near-falls. The difference between these headlocks and headlocks you see in most matches is that these two still work whil the hold is on, instead of using it as a rest period. I also have to mention that Terry Funk is great on color commentary, providing psychology behind what's going on in the ring. After Steamboat misses a dropkick, Flair tries for the Figure 4. Steamboat rolls him up, then Flair counters that rollup for the pin at 19:33.
-SECOND FALL: Steamboat comes out flying, getting a near-fall after a flying chop from the top. Flair misses a kneedrop, and Steamboat goes right to work on Flair's leg. Steamboat switches up to chops on Flair's forehead. Flair takes the match outside, and sends Steamboat into the guardrail. Flair gets a vertical suplex for two. Flair uses the ropes for leverage while trying again to pin Steamboat, and yells at the ringside fans to shut up when it proves unsuccessful. Steamboat catches Flair going up top, and hits a superplex. Now Steamboat focuses on Flair's lower back. Steamboat locks in a double chicken wing, and gets a submission at 34:40 to win the second fall, and tie it up at 1.
-THIRD FALL: Steamboat continues to work on Flair's back. Steamboat locks in a side headlock, but Flair counters with a shin breaker, and the Figure 4, but Steamboat gets to the ropes almost right away. Flair flip leads to a clothesline off the apron. Flair comes back, and again tries using the ropes to pin Steamboat. Steamboat goes for a high knee in the corner, but misses and gets caught up. Flair swoops right in to work on the leg. Flair locks in a Figure 4, but cannot get the submission or a pinfall. Steamboat finally reverses the hold, and chops away on Flair. Flair goes up...and hits the crossbody! That gets a very close near-fall. Steamboat comes back with his crossbody for two. After a couple more nearfalls, Flair locks in a sleeper, but Steamboat holds on. Steamboat breaks out by slamming Flair's face into the turnbuckle.
-Flair goes back to the leg. Steamboat misses a splash from the top. Flair gives a little maniacal laugh as he continues to work on Steamboat's leg. Steamboat responds with some STIFF chops. Flair comes back, but goes up top again, and is slammed down. Steamboat locks in the double chicken wing, but his leg gives out, and they fall back. Flair's leg is underneath the bottom rope, and it looks like both men's shoulders are down, but Tommy Young counts the pin, and awards the match and the title to Steamboat at 54:20. Replay from one side shows Steamboat did get a shoulder up before the three count. Just a teriffic match that deserves it's standing as possibly the best match ever. It's the fastest moving near-hour long match I've ever seen. Worth going out of your way to see if you haven't yet. It is on the first Flair set.
-Jim Ross interviews Steamboat. Steamboat is ready to move on to new challengers. They look at two replays, and see that Flair's leg was underneath the bottom rope. Steamboat acknowledges that Flair has a legitimate gripe, but says he's the better man anyway because he pinned Flair's shoulders down. Odd that the nameplate on the big gold is blank.
-Really good show, and I would say the best Clash yet. The main event is worth tracking down, but if you can find the whole show, I would recommend it.
Work? Shoot? Worked-shoot? I don't care, this is still awesome...
TRANSCRIPT:
Punk: John Cena, while you lay there, hopefully as uncomfortably as you can be, I want you to listen to me. I want you to digest this because before I leave in three weeks with your WWE Championship, I have a lot of things I want to get off my chest. I don't hate you John. I don't even dislike you. I do like you, I like you a hell of a lot more than most people in the back. I hate this idea...that you're the best. Because you're not...I'm the best. I'm the best in the world.
There's one thing, you're better at than I am, and that's kissing Vince McMahon's ass. You're as good at kissing Vince's ass as Hulk Hogan was. I don't know if you're as good as “Dwayne” (The Rock) though, he's a pretty good ass kisser. Always was and still is. Oops, I'm breaking the fourth wall.
[Waives at the camera.]
I am the best wrestler in the world. I've been the best ever since day one when I walked into this company, and I've been vilified and hated ever since that day because...Paul Heyman saw something in me that no one wanted to admit. That's right, I'm a Paul Heyman guy. You know who else was a Paul Heyman guy? Brock Lesnar...and he split, just like I'm splittin' but the biggest difference between me and Brock is that I am going to leave with the WWE Championship.
[Long pause.]
I've grabbed so many of Vincent K. McMahon's imaginary brass rings that it's finally dawned on me that they are just that completely imaginary, and that the only thing that is real is me and that day in and day out for almost six years I have proved to everyone in the world that I am the best on this microphone, in that ring, and even on commentary, no one can touch me! And yet, no matter how many times I prove it, I'm not on your lovely little collector cups, I'm not on the cover of the program, I'm barely promoted. I'm not in any movies and I certainly don't get to be in any crappy show on the USA Network. I'm not on the poster of WrestleMania, I'm not in the signature that's produced at the start of the show.
I'm not on Conan O'Brien, I'm not on Jimmy Fallon, and the fact of the matter is I should be, and trust me, this isn't sour grapes, but the fact that Dwayne is in the main event at WrestleMania next year and I'm not makes me sick.
Oh hey, let me get something straight you people who are cheering me right now...you are just a big a part of me leaving as anything else. You're the ones sipping those collector cups right now, you're the ones buying those programs that my face isn't on the cover of, and then at five in the morning at the airport you shove it in my face, so you can try to get an autograph so you can sell it on e bay because you're too lazy to get a real job.
I'm leaving with the WWE Championship on July 17th and after that, who knows, maybe I'll go defend it in New Japan Pro Wrestling, maybe I'll go back to Ring of Honor. Hi Colt Cabana, how ya' doin'? The reason I'm leaving is you people because after I'm gone you're still going to pour money into this company. I'm just a poke on the wheel, the wheel is gonna' keep turning, and I understand that, but Vince McMahon is gonna' make money despite himself. He is a millionaire when he should be a billionaire. You know why he's not a billionaire? It's because he surrounds himself with gland-handling, non-sensical [word taken out] yes men like John Laurenitiis who are going to tell him everything he wants to hear, and I'd like to think, that maybe this company will be better after Vince McMahon's dead, but the fact isit's...it's going to get taken over by his idiotic daughter and doofus son-in-law, and the rest of his whole stupid family. Let me tell you a personal story about Vince McMahon. You know we've been doing this whole bullying campaign?
[Microphone is cut off, Punk yells at the camera while still being muted. I can make out him saying “I'm the best you got! I'm the best in the world!” until there's a sudden cut to black.]
Sunday, June 26, 2011
WWE Presents: The Very Best of WCW Nitro
-This is bound to be a good bit of nostalgia, even if I haven't seen a lot of this stuff, since I didn't really start watching WCW until about 1996, and really stopped paying attention when Vince Russo started booking in late 1999.
-This reminds me of the day Vince McMahon bought WCW. I was at my friend Emery's sister Kelly's house with Emery, and we were on different computers. I go to WWF.Com, and the first thing I see is "WWF BUYS WCW". I say "holy shit!", and tell Emo to go to WWF.Com. He does, and the first thing he says is..."holy shit!". He calls up our friend Derrick, tell him to go to WWF.Com, and the first thing he says is...you guessed it, "holy shit!". Good times.
-DVD is hosted by DDP.
-Since it was still known as the World Wrestling Federation during the Nitro years, any reference to WWE has been changed to WWF. Why? Because I felt like it.
-Disc One:
-DDP opens by stating that he believes that WCW had the better wrestling product than the WWF in the early 90's, but they lacked in a few areas, including innovation. He goes over WWF launching Raw in 1993, then Eric Bischoff getting the opportunity to launch Nitro in September of 1995. Bischoff recognized that he needed to build an audience, and one way to do that was a big defection from the WWF.
-9/4/95: Jushin Thunder Liger VS "Flyin" Brian Pillman
-This is the first match from the first Nitro, held in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. Good, fast-paced action early on. Liger applies a surfboard, which the crowd pops for, as that move hadn't been overused yet. Pillman misses a dive at Liger and goes over the top, and Liger nails a somersault off the apron. "USA" chant for Pillman, who counters a suplex attempt to send Liger outside, then follows up with a dive off the top, onto Liger, prompting this call from Mongo: "That's it kid! Give it to him the way he likes it!"
-Pillman counters a Liger dive with a dropkick for two. Liger comes back with a powerbomb for two. Liger gets a hurricarana from the top for two. Pillman gets a tornado DDT for two. Pillman counters a German suplex with a rollup for the pin. Show of sportsmanship afterward. Good start to Nitro, as this style of match wasn't seen much in the United States at this time.
-9/4/95: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan [c] (w/Jimmy Hart) VS Big Bubba Rogers
-Big Bubba is the former Big Bossman, and we have our second dead wrestler already. Bubba takes an awkward fall off a shoulderblock. Hulk always looked weird clean shaven. Mongo calls Hogan a "technician". Awesome. Bubba gets a big backbreaker. Cute spot as Bubba charges into a boot, doesn't fall, and rather than punch him, Hogan just pushes him over. Bubba makes the mistake of going after Jimmy Hart, and Hogan shows how good a sportsman he is by choking Bubba with Jimmy's jacket as Hart distracts the referee. Bischoff & Mongo play Hogan up big, talking about how Bubba is fighting for his life. Bubba misses a charge. Hogan runs into the Bossman Slam for two...and you can figure out what happened after that. Hogan retains. The Dungeon of Doom runs out to attack Hogan, but the returning Lex Luger makes the save.
-After a break, Luger tells Hogan he came back because he's tired of playing with kids, and wants to play with the big boys in WCW. Luger says it doesn't matter when, or how long it takes, Luger will take the WCW title from Hogan. Hogan agrees to defend against Luger next week on Nitro, before shoving him, and acting surprised when Luger shoved back. Kind of dumb to not show Luger's actual returning moment, him walking out during Sting's match that night.
-I'll say this for WCW, even if they did it for stupid reasons (holding the first Nitro in the MoA because Hogan was opening his Pastamania store, holding PPVs at the Sturgis biker rally because Bischoff likes motorcycles), and it cost them a lot of money (no paid attendance for the Sturgis PPVs and the Bash at the Beach shows held on a beach), they were able to come up with unique atmospheres.
-1/8/96: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Arn Anderson VS Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage
-THE MEGAPOWERS REUNITE! Hogan no-sells a Flair chop, so Flair pokes him in the eye. Hogan cleans house anyway. The Horsemen manage to get Savage in trouble. Flair does the Savage point before going up top, so Savage responds by slamming him down, then locking in a figure 4. Hogan locks a figure 4 on Arn as well. Arn DDTs Savage as the ref clears the ring, and Flair throws him over the top. Arn works Savage over as we go to commercial.
-Back from the break, and AA has Savage in the dreadd abdominal stretch. Savage is face-in-peril, and even though he makes a good fight of it, cannot make the tag to Hogan. Savage blocks a DDT from Arn by holding the top rove, and Flair sends him into Hogan for the tag. Flair chops Hogan and flexes, but Hogan no-sells the chop again and takes over. AA gets the spinebuster, and Hogan doesn't even let Arn get the two count before finishing with the usual. The rest of the Horsemen (Benoit, Pillman) and the Dungeon of Doom rush out (Giant, Sullivan, Zodiac), and attack everyone. Giant lays out both Hogan and Savage with chokeslams. Good TV main event.
-DDP notes that WCW was not about to put established stars like Hogan, Flair, and Sting on the backburner, and that they put "returning hero" Lex Luger in the thick of things right after he came back from the WWF.
-2/5/96: WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Lex Luger VS The Road Warriors
-One thing WCW generally did well was the Sting/Luger dynamic, with Sting being the straight-laced one, and Luger willing to do whatever was neccessary to do what was best for himself. Animal overpowers Sting early on. After tags are made, Luger gets a piledriver on Hawk and poses, but Hawk no-sells it, and takes Luger down. Luger tags Sting, who quickly gets a Stinger Splash and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Animal saves. Animal gets tagged in, and Luger pulls the top rope down so Animal falls out of the ring. Sting is not amused, but still tags Luger who works on Animal. The video gets wonky as Luger drops a series of elbows before tagging in Sting. Bischoff explains that the power in the building went out momentarily. The match breaks down, and Jimmy Hart runs out. Luger nails Animal in the back with Jimmy's megaphone, and gets the pin to retain. Luger is thrilled, Sting is unsure. Match was ok, but a good illustration of that Sting/Luger dynamic which played a part in WCW for the majority of the time between Luger's return, and Sting running off to become Crow Sting one year later.
-4/29/96: Parking Lot Brawl: The Belfast Bruiser (Finlay) VS Lord Steven Regal
-Finlay pounds on Regal to start, but ends up missing a kick, putting his own leg through a car window. Finlay gets a piece of concrete to nail Regal with. Regal ends up rubbing Finlay's nose on it, but takes a hit with it anyway. Finlay pulls a bumper off a pickup truck to nail Regal. Like all of their matches, it is these two just beating the shit out of each other. Regal smashes Finlay's head into a car window, which explodes on impact. Finlay wants a tombstone on the concrete, but Regal blocks it. Regal tries a piledriver on a car, but Finlay counters with a backdrop onto the hood. Regal ends up getting the piledriver anyway for the pin. This was pretty unique, and much better than some other parking/backlot brawls, as they brought the intensity and weren't afraid to really lay the shots in.
-5/20/96: Eddie Guerrero VS Ric Flair (w/Woman & Elizabeth)
-Flair takes time to taunt Randy Savage about Elizabeth being with him. Eddie outwrestles Flair early on. Eddie gets PISSED after taking a couple chops and wears Flair out. Flair gets upset after Eddie lands a series of punches, so Eddie bails to the outside and does the Nature Boy strut to further piss Flair off. Big "Eddie" chant as Flair takes a flop off a couple Eddie chops.
-Back from a commercial break, and Flair has a rear chinlock on Eddie. Eddie fights out, and gets a sunset flip (by pulling the tights) for two. Eddie keeps taking the fight to Flair, and almost gets the pin with a small package. Eddie gets a Figure 4, but can't get Flair to submit. Eddie makes the mistake of diving off the ring apron at Flair, and ends up crashing into the guardrail. Flair adds a suplex on the outside for good measure. Flair gets a big delayed vertical suplex for two. Eddie gets several near-falls, and actually hits the frog splash, but Eddie's knee is hurt. Flair locks in the figure 4 and gets some assistance from Woman to get the pin. Excellent match, as Flair gave Eddie a lot and made him look like a future star, but then the next week happened, and the direction of the company changed.
-What happened the next week, you ask? This...
-5/27/96: Mike Enos (w/Rob Parker) VS Steve Doll
-Yes, the match that changed WCW forever was between these two. Match is joined in progress as Enos works Doll over, when some guy comes from the crowd and grabs a microphone, then the match suddenly stops.
-That guy...is Scott Hall, and he gives the promo that starts the "Hostile Takeover" of WCW, which would in turn lead to...the NEW NEW NEW NEW WORLD ORDER. Hall uses the same put-on accent, has the toothpick and the curl in the middle of his hair, but it not named.
-6/10/96: Bobby Heenan freaks out, because Randy Savage wants to get his hands on "The Brain". Heenan suddenly looks behind Bischoff, and bails. Scott Hall is what's behind Bischoff, and Hall's "big surprise" that he promised the week before enters as well: Kevin Nash. Nash is pissed about Bischoff talking smack about the WWF, and says Nitro is about as interesting as "Marge Schott reading excerpts from Mein Kompf". Hall & Nash want to know where all the old wrestlers are to fight them. Bischoff says he'll try to get Hall & Nash their fight if they want to show up at the Great American Bash.
-DDP goes notes that WCW had a big advantage when Bischoff started to offer guaranteed contracts, and that has the nWo angle started, momentum started to shift down south to WCW. DDP says that WCW was not only attracting big names, but developing new stars as well.
-6/24/96: Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Lex Luger [c] VS Harlem Heat VS The Steiner Brothers
-Booker T is on a cell phone during Harlem Heat's entrance. Luger and Sting have matching facepaint, in preperation for the big 6 man tag at Bash at the Beach. Booker starts with Scott Steiner. Both members of Harlem Heat work Rick over for a bit before Rick takes Stevie Ray down with a German suplex. Scott comes in, takes Stevie over, and tags in Sting. Stevie has Sting in some trouble as we head to commercial.
-Back from break, and Sting has Stevie in a sleeper until Stevie counters with a jawbreaker, then adds a powerslam for two. They work in the "wrestler falls down on another wrestlers nuts" spot, with Stevie being the recipient. Stevie tags Booker as Sting tags Luger. Luger powerslams Booker...and here come Hall & Nash, brandishing baseball bats. Security piles into the ring as Booker pins Luger in the midst of the chaos to win the titles, showing that Harlem Heat doesn't care about the impending Hostile Takeover. Security stands their ground as Hall & Nash back away. Match was less about the tag titles then selling the upcoming PPV, and providing another shocking moment.
-7/8/96: Lex Luger VS Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jimmy Hart)
-Match is JIP with bother Luger and Bubba down. Jimmy throws something in the ring, but Lex gets it and KO's Bubba. That means nothing as The Outsiders attack Luger, and their third man, Hulk Hogan saunters to the ring. Nash hits a big Jackknife powerbomb on Luger, and Hogan adds some insulting slaps for the fun of it. Hogan offers his hand to Big Bubba, but then walks away, allowing The Outsiders to jump Bubba too.
-They call Gene Okerlund into the ring, and the first thing Hogan says is that he wishes he had done this two years ago, and the nWo will rule professional wrestling. Hogan rambles on about being bigger than wrestling as fans throw garbage into the ring. The Steiners, the Faces of Fear, and Arn Anderson surround the ring as the show closes.
-DDP chimes in about how the nWo made Nitro as big as it was at the time.
-7/29/96: Sting, Lex Luger, & Randy Savage VS Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, & Steve McMichael
-Match is JIP with Flair chopping Sting. Jimmy Hart runs out begging for help and a cameraman as The Outsiders are in the back. Jimmy loses his mind as Luger slam Flair, and as Luger finally agrees to go help, we cut to the back with AA and Marcus Bagwell are down. Scotty Riggs sees his tag partner and tries to attack, but gets nailed. Rey Mysterio dives at Nash...and gets lawn darted into the side of the production truck, in one of the more famous Nitro moments. Savage is the first man on the scene, and dives on top of the nWo limo as they drive off. Mass chaos ensues, as Rey tells Eddie that there were four men in the nWo, not just the three known members. A firetruck rolls in as several members of the WCW lockerroom attend to the wounded. Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbysko have no idea how to react.
-8/12/96: Eric Bischoff & Bobby Heenan are wondering where the nWo are, as they have apparently accepted a match with Lex Luger & Sting. The Outsiders emerge from the crowd. Sting's music hits, but only Luger comes out.
-8/12/96: Lex Luger & Sting VS The Outsiders
-Luger fights with the Outsiders, and Sting rushes out to even the odds. The Outsiders stall, then finally rush the ring, but get dropped off the apron. The match spills to the Outside, where The Outsiders get a brief advantage until the match goes back inside the ring. Nash nails a big boot on Sting and tosses him out over the top, but Nick Patrick does not call for the DQ. Sting comes back with a Stinger Splash on Nash, but Nick Patrick not-so-subtly pulls Hall out of the way, and Sting crashes into the turnbuckle. Members of the WCW lockerroom rush out, and The Outsiders bail.
-8/26/96: Sting & Lex Luger VS Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael (w/Woman)
-Match is JIP with Sting giving Benoit a bulldog. Sting tries to lock in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Mongo saves. Luger is down outside the ring, and taking his sweet time getting back up. Hulk Hogan comes out to bate Mongo into an ambush from The Outsiders. The Outsiders lay both Sting & Benoit out, and it's spraypaint jobs for everyone. AA & Flair run out. Hogan sprays Flair in the face, then sprays a stripe in the middle of Flair's hair. HUGE heet for the whole deal, and garbage comes flying in. After they're done posing in the ring, the nWo walk over to the announce booth and take that over too.
-9/9/96: Lex Luger VS Rick Steiner
-Match is JIP with Luger hitting a big powerslam on Rick. Since this match was JIP, you can guess what happens. Nick Patrick comes out from the back, and motions for Luger to follow him. Randy Anderson counts Luger out. Cut to the parking lot, where we hear Sting talking to Ted DiBiase from inside the nWo limo (a GREAT touch that I didn't remember at all). Luger comes out to look for Sting, only to be attacked by what we would know later as the nWo Sting and the rest of the group. The announce team is in dispair, as it looks like the Franchise of WCW has turned to the dark side.
-DDP talks about how communicating with the audience is as important as getting your hand raised, and goes into how Sting got more popular when he went Crow Sting and stopped talking. DDP poses a trvia question: who was the only top WCW star that did not join the nWo?
-9/16/96: Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay, & Bobby Heenan talk about the debut of Glacier that just happened. Eric mentions that the nWo has issued a long list of demands, but as he goes over this, the real Sting walks out to the ring. Sting talks about (with his back to the hard camera) what happened the previous week, and the doubt everyone had about him. Sting is pissed because when he went to Luger, whom he had given the benfit of the doubt countless times, but Luger would not give it to him. Sting says he'll stand by anyone who stands by him, but anyone who doubted him can "stick it". Sting says he considers himself a "free agent", and that he'll pop up from time to time, when we least expect it.
-11/18/96: Eric Bischoff is in the ring, and thanks everyone for joining them tonight. He wants to apologize for what Hulk Hogan made him do earlier tonight, and that WCW will do everything they can to get Roddy Piper to sign for a match with Hogan. Bagpipe music hits, and Bischoff gets noticeably skittish. Piper talks about how crazy he is, and is pissed because someone is calling him a coward. Piper calls Bischoff a liar, and questions him about Bischoff's supposed visit to Piper's ranch. Just as Piper is about really call BS on Bischoff, the nWo rushes in to hold Piper back. Hogan enters and gives Bischoff a hug, and they reveal that Eric is a member of the nWo now. Piper challenges Hogan to a match at Starrcade, which lead to Piper being the dumbest babyface in wrestling, as he had full control of the contract for the match...and made it non-title.
-12/30/96: Rey Mysterio Jr. VS Dean Malenko
-Some mat wrestling to start as the announce team basks in the afterglow of Starrcade and the defeat of Hogan by Piper...even though Hogan is still WCW Champion. Rey fights out of an STF, and while in an arm wringer jumps to the top and hits a dropkick. Malenko hits a double underhook suplex. The crowd is DEAD for this match. Malenko tosses Rey overhead into the corner. Rey tries to land on his feet, but slips and crotches himself. Rey tries a hurricarana, but Malenko snaps off a VICIOUS powerbomb for two. Rey gets a couple rollups for near falls. Mysterio dives to the outside and hits a seated senton on Malenko. A lot of sloppiness here. Malenko counters a springboard hurricarana with a Boston Crab, but Rey rolls out, and they do a series of two counts and reversals. Rey hits a hurricarana off the top, and the ten minute time limit expires. Rey wants five more minutes, but none are forthcoming. Have no idea why this match is on the set, as it's sloppy, with a dead crowd, and no finish, especially with the Cruiserweight title change from the Summer was right there.
-Disc Two:
-DDP talks about WCW winning the "Monday Night War" in 1997 & 1998, and the intrigue over who would be the next WCW star to join the nWo. DDP puts his Diamond Cutter over as the most devestating finishing move in wrestling by the end of 1996, and notes that the nWo tried to recruit him, but he wasn't interested...
-1/13/97: Diamond Dallas Page VS Mark Starr
-Ted DiBiase and Eric Bischoff are on commentary, declaring DDP a member of the nWo after he supposedly met with Scott Hall at a seafood restaurant. They keep DDP's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ripoff, but dub over...whatever Starr's music was. After Starr blocks a hiptoss, DDP decides to spike him with a DDT instead. DDP reverses a whip, sending Starr into the ropes, and DDP catches him on the rebound with the Diamond Cutter for the quick win, but that is not why this is on the DVD.
-The Outsiders come out to officially welcome DDP into the nWo. DDP dons the nWo shirt, shakes, Scott Hall's hand...and gives him a Diamond Cutter! DDP backdrops Nash over the top, then bails through the crowd. This was DDP's big face turn, and he was over huge as a result of this, his newfound "working man" personna, and the Diamond Cutter being put over as instant death.
-3/3/97: Mean Gene interviews Eric Bischoff, who, as a member of the nWo AND WCW's Executive Vice President, both issues a challenge that Lex Luger wanted to issue to the nWo, and accepts it at the same time: the championships the nWo holds VS "WCW's Future". After he does this, Dr. Harvey Schiller, the President of Turner Sports, suspends Bischoff for all the crap that he's pulled since being revealed as an nWo member.
-3/17/97: Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) VS The Steiner Brothers
-Match is JIP, and just as the announce team note that the Steiners have a shot at The Outsiders at Spring Stampede, the nWo rushes out to ambush both teams, particularly working over Rick Steiner and his injured ear drum. Luger & The Giant (who has joined and left the nWo for the first time already) run out to help clean house. There's a pyro blast above the ring, and MUTHFUCKIN STING quickly repels down to the ring, and points his baseball bat at Hogan. Crowd goes nuts for Sting, and this wouldn't be the last time. Hogan's "he's pointing at me!" freakout is great.
-DDP brings up the Nitro Girls & the Nitro Parties. He says the nWo was a big part of why WCW was getting big ratings, but the cruiserweights were another big reason.
-4/21/97: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Syxx [c] (w/Kevin Nash) VS Rey Mysterio Jr.
-After some mat wrestling, Syxx tries to intimidate Rey, and takes up taking a big slap to the face. Syxx comes back by tossing Rey in the air, and slamming him down, then follows up with a Bronco Buster. Syxx applies an abdominal stretch, Rey reverses, and as Nash distracts the ref, Syxx throws Rey over the top. Nash wants to take a shot at Rey, who wisely scoots away and gets into the ring. Syxx tries to toss Rey in the air and catch him with a powerbomb, but Rey counters with a hurricarana---> rollup for a close two count. Rey takes Syxx out, but with the ref's back turned, Nash nails Rey with a big boot and a jackknife, allowing Syxx to lock in the Buzzkiller (Crossface Chickenwing) for the ref stoppage. J.J. Dillon and security come out to get Nash & Syxx away from the ring, and Rey is stretchered out. JJ tries to lay the law down to Nash & Syxx, and gets "bite me"s in response. Not a great showcase for the cruiserweights, this works better as a showing of JJ Dillon returning to WCW, and helping them in their war against the nWo.
-8/4/97: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hulk Hogan [c] VS Lex Luger
-This match is taking place on the 100th Nitro and despite the fact that Luger has a World title match at the next PPV the following Sunday. Hogan controls the early going with his very basic offense. Heenan gives Hogan credit for inventing following your opponent in the corner off an Irish Whip and hitting them with a clothesline. Hogan tries to smash Luger's head into the turnbuckle, but Luger counters and smashes Hogan repeatedly, in a spot that needs to make its return. Hogan nails Luger as Randy Anderson pulls Luger off him, then poses as we go to break.
-Back from break, Hogan pounds away, and gets a suplex for two. Hogan gets a belly-to-back (which Tony calls belly-to-belly) suplex for two. Hogan actually lays in some stiff chops. Hogan gets a bodyslam and legdrop...for two. Hogan tries a second legdrop, but misses. Luger fires up as The Outsiders and Randy Savage trie to interfere, but Luger takes all three out. Luger drops Hogan with the steel forearm, and locks him in the Human Torture Rack for the win and the title! The babyfaces rush out to celebrate. Luger would lose the title back to Hogan at the PPV, however.
-DDP talks about what it feels like to win a world title, and how when he sees anyone win a world title, it takes him back to Ric Flair beating Harley Race at Starrcade '83. DDP notes that times had changed, and the late 90's were a time for rebellion.
-9/1/97: Mene Gene is out to interview the 4 Horsemen one week after Arn Anderson's retirement speech...but gets Syxx (as Flair) and Konnan (as Mongo) instead. Syxx calls out Curt Hennig, and Buff Bagwell is out to play him. They call out AA, and Kevin Nash (in a fat suit, neck brace, and carrying a cooler) enters. This is a pretty well known segment, as the nWo shits all over Arn's truly heartfelt speech from the week before, which pissed a lot of people off, in part because the Horsemen never got their revenge on the nWo, and in fact Curt Hennig would join the nWo at Fall Brawl just a couple weeks later. Bischoff himself wrote in his book that he regrets doing it.
-9/29/97: Buff Bagwell (w/Vincent) VS Diamond Dallas Page
-Bagwell takes DDP down with an armdrag, and poses. DDP takes a bit more punishment before firing back with punches and clotheslines. Buff goes outside, and DDP follows him out by slingshotting himself over the top onto Buff. Buff fakes a knee injury, and hits DDP with a clothesline from behind. "DDP" chant as Buff pounds away. DDP fights back, and signals for the Diamond Cutter, but ends up taking a low blow as Vincent distracts the ref. After Buff gets a near-fall, he argues with the ref, allowing DDP to get a schoolboy for two. After the ref gets bumped, Vincent tries to interfere, but DDP gives him an awkward looking Diamond Cutter, and another one for Buff gets the win. Decent TV match. DDP was over as hell here.
-10/27/97: Diamond Dallas Page VS WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan
-Match is JIP. DDP has his ribs taped, which would become a trademark for him. Hogan pounds away and gets two. Hogan gets a suplex and drops an elbow, but can't hold DDP down for the pin. DDP fights back, and has Hogan on the ropes, until a fake Sting runs out. DDP cuts him off and hits a Diamond Cutter, and Randy Anderson calls for the bell. Hogan whips DDP with a belt, and a bunch of nWo members come out to destroy DDP. The crowd explodes as the real Sting walks through the crowd. Stings lays Vincent out with the Scorpion Deathdrop, and takes out the rest of the group with relative ease. Hogan abandons Scott Hall and Curt Hennig, who are quickly nailed with Scorpion Deathdrops.
-2/2/98: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) VS Sting
-Sting comes from the ceiling a looooooooong way down into the crowd. Savage attacks Sting, who no-sells, causing Savage to bail and call for Sting to follow. Sting abliges, and pounds Savage on the outside. After some work in the ring, they go back outside, and Sting sends Savage into the guardrail. Sting tries a Stinger Splash, but Savage nails Sting with Liz's purse. Savage undoes one of the turnbuckle pads. Sting no-sells a piledriver. Sting hits a Stinger Splash in one corner, but when he tries it again, Sting hits the exposed steel beam in the corner. Savage Elbow looks to finish, but Hollywood Hogan, not wanting Savage to be the one who beats Sting, pulls Savage off the cover, and the ref calls for the DQ. Lex Luger comes out to attack Savage (with no warning or help from Hogan). Scott Hall tries to help Hogan attack Sting, but Sting fights him off, and Hogan bails. This was pretty good for the time it was given. Sting's entrance was something else.
-3/30/98: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] VS Marty Jannetty
-Match is JIP as Jericho wins with the Liontamer. Chris Jericho gets his list of 1,004 holds, about 1/2 of which are armbar. They go to break, and as they come back and intro the 2nd hour, Jericho is still reading. Prince Iaukea finally comes out to get Jericho out of the ring. Mike Tenay pretending to care about Jericho's list, if only to annoy Tony, was the funniest part of the bit.
-DDP goes over Goldberg's rise to stardum in 1998, which leads to...
-7/6/98: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hulk Hogan [c] VS WCW United States Champion Goldberg
-Crowd is JACKED for this. Monster "Goldberg" chant at the opening bell. Goldberg overpowers Hogan early on with a side headlock and by winning a test of strength. Hogan takes his weight belt off and tries to wear Goldberg out, but Goldberg snatches it, and tosses it out of the ring. Hogan gets his basic offense in, and after taking Goldberg to the outside, cracks him across the back with a chair twice, but Charles Robinson does not call for the DQ. Hogan gets the Legdrop of Doom, and Curt Hennig is out to celebrate, but DDP and Karl Malone are right behind him. Goldberg kicks out of the legdrop as Malone drops Hennig with a Diamond Cutter. Spear and Jackhammer win the title for Goldberg. Big moment, but WCW pissed away a lot of money by not having this match on PPV. IMO, they should have built for Starrcade. Have Hogan do his celebrity matches and other BS while Goldberg plows through the nWo, finally getting to Hogan.
-7/20/98: WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Kevin Nash [c] VS Scott Hall & The Giant
-This is nWo Hollywood VS nWo Wolfpac. Hall taunts Nash, then immediately tags the Giant. After the Giant lands some kicks on Nash, the champions clean house and tags are made on both sides. Sting drops Hall and does haphazard crotch chops as the show goes to break.
-Back from break, Hall spits in Sting's face, and tags Giant again. HUGE "Giant Sucks!" chant. Giant misses a charge in the corner, allowing Sting to land some kicks and a Stinger Splash. Second Stinger Splash is countered with a big boot. Sting tries a cross body on Giant...and simply bounces off. Cool spot. Hall is tagged in, and locks in the always exciting abdominal stretch. Tags are made by both teams again, and Nash is on fire, sending the Giant out, then dominating Hall. Nash has Hall set for the Jackknife, but Giant saves. Sting gives Giant a low blow and a bulldog. Nash tags Sting, who has Hall set up for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Bret Hart runs into the ring to distract Sting. Sting tosses Bret as the match breaksdown, and Hall catches the distraced Sting with the Outsider's Edge for the pin and the titles. The match was good, not particularly memorable, but good. What is memorable is the crowd, who reacted like they were watching a ***** classic WrestleMania main event.
-8/3/98: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho VS Rey Mysterio Jr.
-Jericho is in the middle of his run where he would collect souveniers from his defeated opponents. Jericho jumps Rey as soon as he sets foot in the ring. Big "Jericho Sucks!" chant. Jericho tosses Rey into the air, but gets caught with a hurricarana. Rey follows that up with a seated senton to the outside. Jericho begs off, but it doesn't work. Rey drops a leg as Tony gets excited about Jay Leno wrestling at the upcoming PPV.
-Back from a break, Jericho catches Rey in the air, gorilla presses him, then drops him into a shoulderbreaker. Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to send both to the outside. Rey reverses a suplex, and hits a backflip splash for two. Jericho applies a version of a stump puller and lays back with it, a move I've never seen before. Jericho gets cocky and charges into a headscissors, then a hot shot. Rey gets a springboard split-legged moonsault for two. Jericho catches Rey trying to slide under his legs, and whips him back with a release German suplex for two. Jericho tries the springboard dropkick again, but Rey sees it coming, and Jericho falls outside. Rey ranas Jericho off the apron back into the ring, but Jericho comes back with a double-underhook backbreaker. Rey hits an X-Factor. Rey wants the West Coast Pop, but Jericho pulls the ref in the way. Jericho tries the Lion Tamer, but Rey counters into a rollup, and Dean Malenko (guest ref for Jericho's PPV match with Juventud Guerrera) slides in and counts the pin. Jericho pitches a hissy fit and nails David Penzer for the hell of it. Match was OK, but there were probably a good 50 cruiserweight matches on Nitro better than this.
-9/14/98: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Juventud Guerrera [c] VS Kidman
-Kidman and the rest of the Flock walked away from him earlier in the night. Kidman has no music, but gets a good reaction. Juvy gets the corner 10 count punches early. Missile dropkick forces Kidman to bail. Kidman counters a leapfrog with a powerslam for two. Juvy comes back, and a crossbody sends both he and Kidman out over the top.
-After a break, Juvy gets a rollup for two. Kidman comes back with a slingshot legdrop and a sky high for two. Wheelbarrow suplex gets two. Kidman keeps working Juvy over, but cannot put him away. Juvy fights back with a release German suplex for two. Juvy gets a flying rana for two. Kidman counters the Juvy Driver with an inverted suplex for two. Crowd explodes as Kidman sets up for the Shooting Star Press, but Juvy cuts him off. Juvy tries another flying rana, but Kidman counters with a powerbomb, and Shooting Star Press gets the pin and the title for Kidman to a HUGE explosion. Match was OK, but the heat suddenly got big at the end.
-DDP previews the return of the 4 Horsemen.
-9/14/98: This is the big, emotional return of the 4 Horsemen, specifically Ric Flair, who is coming back after going to his son's wrestling tournament rather than a Thunder taping, and then being subsequently sued by Eric Bischoff. This is probably the only time you will see Chris Benoit on a WWE release for a long, long time. This is simply a great segment with crowd reactions generally reserved for the biggest matches. Of course, WCW being WCW and their apparent quest to piss on Flair's legacy, kept the Horsemen a great distance behind the nWo in the pecking order, and Flair himself would turn a bunch of times in the next 2+ years, as his character went from legendary wrestler to crazy old man (who admittedly had his moments) fairly quickly.
-10/26/98: WCW United States Championship: Bret Hart [c] VS Diamond Dallas Page
-They start out exchanging holds until Bret makes with the brawling, but he makes the mistake of walking away from DDP, and gets nailed. Bret manages to turn the tide. Bret keeps pounding away, but stops to argue a two count, allowing DDP to fight back. DDP gets a flapjack for two. Bret comes back with a superplex for two. Bret keeps the pressure on, but DDP gets an armbar takedown. Pages bashes Bret's head into the turnbuckle, and Bret's back kick to the nuts gets both DDP and the ref. Bret gets something out of his tights to KO DDP and makes sure the ref is OK. Bret misses his wild swing, and DDP hits the Diamond Cutter for the pin and the title. Bret shows his displeasure by nailing DDP, then the ref, then trying to break DDP's leg with a chair before locking in the Sharpshooter. Way to show your displeasure with how the WWF was handling your character before you left, Bret.
-12/28/98: For Control of WCW: Ric Flair VS Eric Bischoff
-Bischoff tries to bail, but Mongo, Malenko, & Benoit drag him to the ring over the commercial break.
-Back from break, Flair immediately drops knee on Eric's nutsack. Flair chops away, and lands another low blow. Lil' Naitch, Charles Robinson does not call for the DQ, but Flair throws him down anyway. The nWo jobber squad try to interfere, but are cut off by the Horsemen. Some better members of the nWo join in the fun, and attack the Horsemen. Giant walks out, and headbuts Flair. Giant signals for the chokeslam as Arn Anderson rushes down, joined by Randy Savage, with Gorgeous George and in an nWo shirt. Savage quickly turns on the Giant, and Flair locks in the Figure 4 for the submission. Booker T, DDP, Konnan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbysko, and Dusty Rhodes join the celebration. The fun and games would end two months later, when Flair and Hogan did a double turn at SuperBrawl, and Flair would become the power hungry President of WCW for a few months, until it got to the point where no one knew who was running WCW (much like real life).
-Disc Three:
-DDP notes that as rosey as 1997 & 98 were, 1999 was a bad year for WCW. On the first Nitro of the year, it was supposed to be a huge Kevin Nash VS Hollywood Hogan showdown, but things didn't quite work out that way...
-1/4/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash [c] VS Hollywood Hogan
-Nash brings Scott Hall (donning an nWo Wolfpac shirt) with him, showing that Hall's interference during the Nash/Goldberg main event at Starrcade was with Nash's consent. Hogan has Scott Steiner in his corner. Hogan calls Nash a "spoon". I have no idea what kind of insult that is supposed to be. Nash tears his t-shirt to mock Hogan. Nash shoves Hogan into a corner, and Hogan responds with...a fingerpoke. Nash drops like he's been shot, and Hogan covers for the pin and the title. The members of the now-unified nWo celebrate until Goldberg makes his way back to arena after being arrested earlier in the evening. Goldberg plows through everyone, and has Hogan set up for the jackhammer as Lex Luger comes out to stand guard, and then Luger nails Goldberg, leading to a big beatdown and nWo paint job. This was one of the moments that kept momentum in the WWF's corner. Not only did Goldberg lose for no apparent reason, they promised a rematch at this Nitro, and delivered...that. It soon became readily apparent that only the old guard would be in the main events, and WCW's angles became more non-sensical than usual.
-3/29/99: Bret Hart is out to bitch about his spot in WCW, and calls out Goldberg. Goldberg promptly hits Bret with a big spear, but Bret has a plate underneath his hockey jersey, so Goldberg is the one who gets KO'd. Bret quits WCW at the end of the segment.
-4/26/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page [c] VS Sting
-DDP turned heel in his obsessive quest to become WCW Champion, and sidelined Hogan (now a face) with a ringpost Figure 4 during the last PPV main event, in the match where DDP won the title for the first time. Crowd is molten for this match. Sting wins a strike exchange and DDP takes a break. Sting continues to dominate, hitting a Stinger Splash and almost locking in the Scorpion Deathlock. DDP finally gets some offense in, but Sting counters a Diamond Cutter attempt by tossing DDP out of the ring, and DDP takes a walk. Sting, of course, catches DDP and beats the shit out of him in the aiselway, as the ref decides not to count either man out. Back in the ring, Sting tries the corner punches, but takes a low blow to turn the tide.
-DDP lays in some kicks, but Sting ducks a clothesline and drops DDP, before falling over and headbutting DDP in the nuts. DDP keeps the pressure on, but can't put Sting away. DDP wants the ringpost Figure 4, but Sting kicks him off. Sting blocks a Diamond Cutter by holding the top rope, signaling a Sting comeback. Sting gets a top rope splash for a close near-fall. The match goes back-and-forth. Sting hits a front-facing tombstone for two. They fight over the regular version, and Sting gets that for two. DDP counters a hiptoss with a DDT for two. DDP counters a backslide attempt with a low blow. Sting blocks the Diamond Cutter by holding the top rope again, and this time counters into the Scorpion Deathdrop for the pin and the title. Awesome match, and possibly the best that ever aired on Nitro. Of course, WCW being WCW, DDP would regain the title later that night in a Fatal 4 Way.
-DDP says even though he lost the tite, he feels that was his best match ever. He brings up regaining the title later that night, and goes over what winning the world title means.
-6/21/99: Juventud Guerrera VS Eddie Guerrero
-This is Eddie's return to the ring after his car crash on New Year's Eve. Eddie looks like a tool with his ponytail. Eddie is not interested in being nice because it's his return, and he slaps Juvy across the face. Eddie controls the early going, but Juvy breaks out the Kidman powerbomb counter to turn the tide. Eddie comes back, and locks in a sleeper as we go to break.
-Back from break, Eddie has Juvy locked in an abdominal stretch. Eddie releases the hold, and Juvy gets a nice rollup for two. Eddie gets a brainbuster for two. A little bit of awkwardness as they seem to not know what to do for a moment. Juvy gets a wheelbarrow bulldog and headscissors takedown. Juvy hits a missile dropkick, then when Eddie rolls outside, follows up with a suicide dive. Eddie blocks the Juvy driver, hits a neckbreaker, and the frog splash for the pin. Match started out really good, but they lost their pace towards the end.
-8/9/99: Sting, Goldberg, & WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan VS Kevin Nash, Sid, & Rick Steiner
-Hogan brings back his "American Made" theme and the red & yellow. Tony reacts like Jesus just resurrected. Hogan completely dominates Steiner, and cuts off an interfering Nash. Hogan does some posing before tagging in Goldberg, while Steiner tags Nash. Goldberg flattens Nash as the building comes unglued. Sid gets some shots in on Goldberg before Goldberg comes back, and tags in Sting. Sting batters all three opponents, before trying a splash and getting Sid's knees. Sid tags in Nash, who hits a sideslam. The ref gets bumped. Sting hits a series of Stinger Splashes before taking a chairshot from Steiner. Steiner takes a spear from Goldberg. Sid chairs down Goldberg and Sting. Hogan wipes Sid out, then gives Nash a chairshot as he goes for the Jackknife on Sting, who then locks in the Scorpion Deathlock for the win. Match was pretty decent, but the ridiculously hot crowd elevated everything.
-8/16/99: Gene Okerlund brings Kidman out to talk about how awesome Kidman is, the Filthy Animals, and Kidman's favorite Nitro Girl. Kidman says Kimberly is his favorite, which brings out a pissed DDP. DDP attacks Kidman, which leads too...
-Diamond Dallas Page VS Kidman
-DDP continues to pound the shit out of Kidman, and in a historic moment, DDP POWERBOMBS KIDMAN! DDP looks to have the match won, but pulls Kidman up at two. DDP gets a big spinebuster, and pulls Kidman up at two again. DDP tries a TKO, but Kidman rolls him up for the pin. DDP isn't happy, giving the ref a Diamond Cutter. Kidman jumps on DDP's back, but ends up getting spun into a Diamond Cutter. DDP ties Kidman in the Tree of Woe and whips him with a belt, until Kimberly comes out to take him away.
-12/20/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg VS Bret Hart
-Title was vacated by Bret after a Montreal Screwjob imitation at Starrcade saw him retain the title against Goldberg. Jeff Jarrett is shown watching on a backstage monitor as the announcers speculate on what the big thing the "Powers That Be" have planned tonight. Watching Bret takes bumps in this match is scary and sad, as he had suffered (unbeknownst to him) what would end up being his career-ending concussion the night before, and Bret continuing to wrestle without being checked out would lead to Bret's stroke. Goldberg completely dominates the first few minutes. Bret fights back by working on Goldberg's leg. The ref is bumped, and Bret kicks Goldberg in the nuts before locking in a Figure 4. The Outsiders rush out with baseball bats, and they attack Goldberg before handing a bat to Bret. Piper covers up Goldberg as the ref comes to...and counts three. This somehow means Bret is the champion. Jeff Jarrett runs out to give Piper El Kabong with his trusty guitar. Jarrett spraypaints nWo on Piper and Goldberg, signalling the formation of nWo 2000, which draws a huge pop from the crowd in Baltimore.
-1/24/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sid VS Kevin Nash
-The title is vacant after Bret gave it up, and Benoit won the title, only to jump to the WWF the next night. Nash is WCW Commissioner at this point. Their matches in 1995 weren't any good, and this isn't any better, with the exception of the crowd being hotter. The ref gets bumped. Jarrett tries to interfere as Sid tries to use the (banned) powerbomb. Sid nails Nash with the guitar, and pretends to be the one hit. The announcers put this over as a brilliant move...even though Nash is the one covered in the guitar debris. Sid gets the win and the title.
-DDP talks about Eric Bischoff being sent home in the fall of 1999 and Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara being brought in, and how it wasn't a good fit for WCW.
-4/10/00: A lot of the roster members are around the ring, as Russo has called a meeting. Weird to see Meng in casual business atire. Jeff Jarrett puts Vince Russo as the man who turned the WWF around, and has changed WCW forever. Jarrett is pissed because he was "The Chosen One" to be WCW champion, but the master plan was derailed by "Good Ol' Boys" who couldn't compete. Russo bitches because he couldn't do what he wanted to do when he came to WCW, and was told that WCW was going in a "new direction" that sucked. Russo rants that the old egos are gone, and it's time for the young members of the WCW to seize their opportunity. This is interrupted by a returning Eric Bischoff. They tease dissention, but then hug, which is funny given how Bischoff REALLY did not want to work with him at all. Bischoff calls all the older wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan "mistakes". Sid, Luger, Sting & DDP go out to the stage to offer some rebuttals. Bischoff & Russo vacate all the titles to start a new era for WCW.
-4/24/00: Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett [c] (w/Vince Russo) VS Diamond Dallas Page
-Hey! Rochester, NY makes it on a DVD! DDP jumps Jarrett before they get into the cage, and so they brawl outside for the first few minutes. The announcers note that Kim served DDP with divorce papers earlier in the show. DDP controls the first couple minutes of the match, but JJ fights back, and slams DDP in the cage before stomping away. DDP signals for the Diamond Cutter, and the camera misses how JJ counters it, as Mike Awesome runs out to man the door. DDP counters a bodyslam into a Diamond Cutter. Mike Awesome tries to stop the 3 count, but Kanyon cuts him off, allowing the ref to finish the count and give DDP his 3rd World title. DDP celebrates in the crowd. Not much here, aside from the title change.
-7/18/00: Tank Abbot provides an introduction for 3 Count. Shane looks like an idiot with beads in his hair. 3 Count brings a ladder out with them, as they have signed to face the Jung (Young) Dragons in a ladder match at New Blood Rising. As 3 Count performs, their gold record hangs above the ring. Jamie-San (Jamie Noble) tries to grab it. 3 Count cuts him off, leading to...
-Ladder Match for the Gold Record: 3 Count VS The Jung Dragons
-The teams trade dives off the top, until Evan Karaigas does the Terry Funk bit with the ladder, swinging it around to hit everyone. Karaigas climbs, but Jamie stops him for a second, and Yang & Hayashi push the ladder over, sending Karaigas out over the top. Jamie climbs and snatches the ladder to win the gold record. Match looks to be on here because of the idea sounds better than what was actually there.
-8/7/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T [c] VS WCW United States/Cruiserweight/Hardcore Champion Lance Storm
-Storm is coming off winning three titles in three weeks, and making them all Canadian. WCW actually did the logical thing and had Storm challenge for the World title. Mike Awesome, #1 contender for the U.S. title, is providing guest commentary. Beef sandwiches are delivered for Heidi, Awesome's fat chick of choice. Storm controls the early going, but makes the mistake of slapping Booker in the face, and he responds with a big suplex. Booker blocks a superkick, hits the Axe Kick, and SPINAROONI leads to a leaping side kick for two. Storm leaps into a powerslam for two. Storm counters a German suplex into (with some struggle), the Canadian Maple Leaf single leg crab. Booker makes it to the ropes. Storm hits a superkick, but charges into a spinebuster for two. Booker hits the Book End to retain. Match was OK, but Booker was never in any serious trouble. Jeff Jarrett, #1 contender for the world title, attacks Booker after the bell. Jarrett then goes after Storm, tries to give him El Kabong, but ends up KO'ing Heidi. Awesome chases Jarrett into the ring, and he runs into a Book End.
-9/4/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship War Games 2000 "Russo's Revenge": Kevin Nash [c] VS Jeff Jarrett VS Sting VS Scott Steiner VS Kronik VS Vince Russo (w/The Harris Twins) VS Booker T VS Goldberg
-Match is fought with a new wrestler entering every two minutes. Whomever leaves the cage with the title belt is the champion. It starts out hanging at the top of the 3rd cage. Sting & Jarrett start it off. Jeremy Borash is on commentary, something I don't remember, but I wasn't watching much WCW at this point. Sting dominates Jarrett early on, until Steiner enters to make it 2-on-1. Both members of Kronik enter as Steiner makes it up to the second cage. Kronik lays out Jarrett, then follow Steiner into the second cage to attack him. Russo enters in a New Jersey Devils' jersey and a hockey helmet. The Harris' climb outside the first cage and get into the second cage to brawl with Kronik. Sting gets a Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock on Russo. Scott Steiner is nowhere to be found, and Nash enters the fray. Steiner is back down in the first cage. Nash goes to him, and Sting hits both with a Stinger Splash. Sting misses a second, and Nash lays him out with a chokeslam. Nash almost chokeslams Russo, but Steiner and Jarrett talk him out of it. Nash almost chokeslams them too, but Booker T enters to lay out the heels.
-The Harris' and Kronik brawl through the crowd. Booker lays Russo out with an axe kick, but Nash drops Booker with a big boot after the spinarooni. There are apparently supposed to be teams in this, and Nash doesn't hit his "teammates". Goldberg enters last to plow through everyone he can find, until Russo hits him with a baseball bat. Booker goes up to the second cage. Goldberg is handcuffed to the ropes. Sting & Steiner go up to the second cage, followed by Jarrett. Nash waits by the door on the bottom as Booker T grabs the belt. Booker fights with Jarrett & Steiner. Sting is handcuffed in the second cage. Booker is dropped with El Kabong by Jarrett. Steiner drops the belt into the ring, and Russo grabs it. The Cat interferes to go after Russo, but Nash drops him with a jackknife. Nash poses with the belt, prompting Goldberg to break his handcuffs and drop Nash & Russo.
-Goldberg has the match won, but Bret Hart comes from the crowd to slam the cage door in Goldberg's face. Nash gets a hold of the title belt, and leaves the cage with his team to retain.
-3/26/01: Vince McMahon opens the last Nitro by announcing his purchase of WCW, and gives his infamous "the fate of WCW is in my hands" promo.
-3/26/01: Sting VS Ric Flair
-This is the final match of WCW. The two run through their old spots and a very cliff notes version of their matches throughout the lengthy rivalry. Awkward moment as Sting no-sells a chop, tries to whip Flair, who simply stops to punch Sting in the gut before going up top to get slammed down. Flair gets the Figure 4, but Sting reverses the hold. Sting no-sells some chops, hits a superplex, and Scorpion Deathlock finishes. Sting gives Flair a hug, and the two shake hands.
-DDP talks about how the wrestlers had heard the rumblings, but they didn't believe it was true until Shane McMahon showed up in Panama City. DDP says he's ready for Volume 2 of the Best of Nitro.
-All in all, a decent represenation of what Nitro was. As DDP says in his closing, you can't condense 6 years into one presenation. There's a lot of stuff missing, especially from the cruiserweights. Still, this is an OK walk down memory lane, especially the early nWo stuff.
-This reminds me of the day Vince McMahon bought WCW. I was at my friend Emery's sister Kelly's house with Emery, and we were on different computers. I go to WWF.Com, and the first thing I see is "WWF BUYS WCW". I say "holy shit!", and tell Emo to go to WWF.Com. He does, and the first thing he says is..."holy shit!". He calls up our friend Derrick, tell him to go to WWF.Com, and the first thing he says is...you guessed it, "holy shit!". Good times.
-DVD is hosted by DDP.
-Since it was still known as the World Wrestling Federation during the Nitro years, any reference to WWE has been changed to WWF. Why? Because I felt like it.
-Disc One:
-DDP opens by stating that he believes that WCW had the better wrestling product than the WWF in the early 90's, but they lacked in a few areas, including innovation. He goes over WWF launching Raw in 1993, then Eric Bischoff getting the opportunity to launch Nitro in September of 1995. Bischoff recognized that he needed to build an audience, and one way to do that was a big defection from the WWF.
-9/4/95: Jushin Thunder Liger VS "Flyin" Brian Pillman
-This is the first match from the first Nitro, held in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. Good, fast-paced action early on. Liger applies a surfboard, which the crowd pops for, as that move hadn't been overused yet. Pillman misses a dive at Liger and goes over the top, and Liger nails a somersault off the apron. "USA" chant for Pillman, who counters a suplex attempt to send Liger outside, then follows up with a dive off the top, onto Liger, prompting this call from Mongo: "That's it kid! Give it to him the way he likes it!"
-Pillman counters a Liger dive with a dropkick for two. Liger comes back with a powerbomb for two. Liger gets a hurricarana from the top for two. Pillman gets a tornado DDT for two. Pillman counters a German suplex with a rollup for the pin. Show of sportsmanship afterward. Good start to Nitro, as this style of match wasn't seen much in the United States at this time.
-9/4/95: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan [c] (w/Jimmy Hart) VS Big Bubba Rogers
-Big Bubba is the former Big Bossman, and we have our second dead wrestler already. Bubba takes an awkward fall off a shoulderblock. Hulk always looked weird clean shaven. Mongo calls Hogan a "technician". Awesome. Bubba gets a big backbreaker. Cute spot as Bubba charges into a boot, doesn't fall, and rather than punch him, Hogan just pushes him over. Bubba makes the mistake of going after Jimmy Hart, and Hogan shows how good a sportsman he is by choking Bubba with Jimmy's jacket as Hart distracts the referee. Bischoff & Mongo play Hogan up big, talking about how Bubba is fighting for his life. Bubba misses a charge. Hogan runs into the Bossman Slam for two...and you can figure out what happened after that. Hogan retains. The Dungeon of Doom runs out to attack Hogan, but the returning Lex Luger makes the save.
-After a break, Luger tells Hogan he came back because he's tired of playing with kids, and wants to play with the big boys in WCW. Luger says it doesn't matter when, or how long it takes, Luger will take the WCW title from Hogan. Hogan agrees to defend against Luger next week on Nitro, before shoving him, and acting surprised when Luger shoved back. Kind of dumb to not show Luger's actual returning moment, him walking out during Sting's match that night.
-I'll say this for WCW, even if they did it for stupid reasons (holding the first Nitro in the MoA because Hogan was opening his Pastamania store, holding PPVs at the Sturgis biker rally because Bischoff likes motorcycles), and it cost them a lot of money (no paid attendance for the Sturgis PPVs and the Bash at the Beach shows held on a beach), they were able to come up with unique atmospheres.
-1/8/96: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair & Arn Anderson VS Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage
-THE MEGAPOWERS REUNITE! Hogan no-sells a Flair chop, so Flair pokes him in the eye. Hogan cleans house anyway. The Horsemen manage to get Savage in trouble. Flair does the Savage point before going up top, so Savage responds by slamming him down, then locking in a figure 4. Hogan locks a figure 4 on Arn as well. Arn DDTs Savage as the ref clears the ring, and Flair throws him over the top. Arn works Savage over as we go to commercial.
-Back from the break, and AA has Savage in the dreadd abdominal stretch. Savage is face-in-peril, and even though he makes a good fight of it, cannot make the tag to Hogan. Savage blocks a DDT from Arn by holding the top rove, and Flair sends him into Hogan for the tag. Flair chops Hogan and flexes, but Hogan no-sells the chop again and takes over. AA gets the spinebuster, and Hogan doesn't even let Arn get the two count before finishing with the usual. The rest of the Horsemen (Benoit, Pillman) and the Dungeon of Doom rush out (Giant, Sullivan, Zodiac), and attack everyone. Giant lays out both Hogan and Savage with chokeslams. Good TV main event.
-DDP notes that WCW was not about to put established stars like Hogan, Flair, and Sting on the backburner, and that they put "returning hero" Lex Luger in the thick of things right after he came back from the WWF.
-2/5/96: WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Lex Luger VS The Road Warriors
-One thing WCW generally did well was the Sting/Luger dynamic, with Sting being the straight-laced one, and Luger willing to do whatever was neccessary to do what was best for himself. Animal overpowers Sting early on. After tags are made, Luger gets a piledriver on Hawk and poses, but Hawk no-sells it, and takes Luger down. Luger tags Sting, who quickly gets a Stinger Splash and goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Animal saves. Animal gets tagged in, and Luger pulls the top rope down so Animal falls out of the ring. Sting is not amused, but still tags Luger who works on Animal. The video gets wonky as Luger drops a series of elbows before tagging in Sting. Bischoff explains that the power in the building went out momentarily. The match breaks down, and Jimmy Hart runs out. Luger nails Animal in the back with Jimmy's megaphone, and gets the pin to retain. Luger is thrilled, Sting is unsure. Match was ok, but a good illustration of that Sting/Luger dynamic which played a part in WCW for the majority of the time between Luger's return, and Sting running off to become Crow Sting one year later.
-4/29/96: Parking Lot Brawl: The Belfast Bruiser (Finlay) VS Lord Steven Regal
-Finlay pounds on Regal to start, but ends up missing a kick, putting his own leg through a car window. Finlay gets a piece of concrete to nail Regal with. Regal ends up rubbing Finlay's nose on it, but takes a hit with it anyway. Finlay pulls a bumper off a pickup truck to nail Regal. Like all of their matches, it is these two just beating the shit out of each other. Regal smashes Finlay's head into a car window, which explodes on impact. Finlay wants a tombstone on the concrete, but Regal blocks it. Regal tries a piledriver on a car, but Finlay counters with a backdrop onto the hood. Regal ends up getting the piledriver anyway for the pin. This was pretty unique, and much better than some other parking/backlot brawls, as they brought the intensity and weren't afraid to really lay the shots in.
-5/20/96: Eddie Guerrero VS Ric Flair (w/Woman & Elizabeth)
-Flair takes time to taunt Randy Savage about Elizabeth being with him. Eddie outwrestles Flair early on. Eddie gets PISSED after taking a couple chops and wears Flair out. Flair gets upset after Eddie lands a series of punches, so Eddie bails to the outside and does the Nature Boy strut to further piss Flair off. Big "Eddie" chant as Flair takes a flop off a couple Eddie chops.
-Back from a commercial break, and Flair has a rear chinlock on Eddie. Eddie fights out, and gets a sunset flip (by pulling the tights) for two. Eddie keeps taking the fight to Flair, and almost gets the pin with a small package. Eddie gets a Figure 4, but can't get Flair to submit. Eddie makes the mistake of diving off the ring apron at Flair, and ends up crashing into the guardrail. Flair adds a suplex on the outside for good measure. Flair gets a big delayed vertical suplex for two. Eddie gets several near-falls, and actually hits the frog splash, but Eddie's knee is hurt. Flair locks in the figure 4 and gets some assistance from Woman to get the pin. Excellent match, as Flair gave Eddie a lot and made him look like a future star, but then the next week happened, and the direction of the company changed.
-What happened the next week, you ask? This...
-5/27/96: Mike Enos (w/Rob Parker) VS Steve Doll
-Yes, the match that changed WCW forever was between these two. Match is joined in progress as Enos works Doll over, when some guy comes from the crowd and grabs a microphone, then the match suddenly stops.
-That guy...is Scott Hall, and he gives the promo that starts the "Hostile Takeover" of WCW, which would in turn lead to...the NEW NEW NEW NEW WORLD ORDER. Hall uses the same put-on accent, has the toothpick and the curl in the middle of his hair, but it not named.
-6/10/96: Bobby Heenan freaks out, because Randy Savage wants to get his hands on "The Brain". Heenan suddenly looks behind Bischoff, and bails. Scott Hall is what's behind Bischoff, and Hall's "big surprise" that he promised the week before enters as well: Kevin Nash. Nash is pissed about Bischoff talking smack about the WWF, and says Nitro is about as interesting as "Marge Schott reading excerpts from Mein Kompf". Hall & Nash want to know where all the old wrestlers are to fight them. Bischoff says he'll try to get Hall & Nash their fight if they want to show up at the Great American Bash.
-DDP goes notes that WCW had a big advantage when Bischoff started to offer guaranteed contracts, and that has the nWo angle started, momentum started to shift down south to WCW. DDP says that WCW was not only attracting big names, but developing new stars as well.
-6/24/96: Triangle Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Lex Luger [c] VS Harlem Heat VS The Steiner Brothers
-Booker T is on a cell phone during Harlem Heat's entrance. Luger and Sting have matching facepaint, in preperation for the big 6 man tag at Bash at the Beach. Booker starts with Scott Steiner. Both members of Harlem Heat work Rick over for a bit before Rick takes Stevie Ray down with a German suplex. Scott comes in, takes Stevie over, and tags in Sting. Stevie has Sting in some trouble as we head to commercial.
-Back from break, and Sting has Stevie in a sleeper until Stevie counters with a jawbreaker, then adds a powerslam for two. They work in the "wrestler falls down on another wrestlers nuts" spot, with Stevie being the recipient. Stevie tags Booker as Sting tags Luger. Luger powerslams Booker...and here come Hall & Nash, brandishing baseball bats. Security piles into the ring as Booker pins Luger in the midst of the chaos to win the titles, showing that Harlem Heat doesn't care about the impending Hostile Takeover. Security stands their ground as Hall & Nash back away. Match was less about the tag titles then selling the upcoming PPV, and providing another shocking moment.
-7/8/96: Lex Luger VS Big Bubba Rogers (w/Jimmy Hart)
-Match is JIP with bother Luger and Bubba down. Jimmy throws something in the ring, but Lex gets it and KO's Bubba. That means nothing as The Outsiders attack Luger, and their third man, Hulk Hogan saunters to the ring. Nash hits a big Jackknife powerbomb on Luger, and Hogan adds some insulting slaps for the fun of it. Hogan offers his hand to Big Bubba, but then walks away, allowing The Outsiders to jump Bubba too.
-They call Gene Okerlund into the ring, and the first thing Hogan says is that he wishes he had done this two years ago, and the nWo will rule professional wrestling. Hogan rambles on about being bigger than wrestling as fans throw garbage into the ring. The Steiners, the Faces of Fear, and Arn Anderson surround the ring as the show closes.
-DDP chimes in about how the nWo made Nitro as big as it was at the time.
-7/29/96: Sting, Lex Luger, & Randy Savage VS Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, & Steve McMichael
-Match is JIP with Flair chopping Sting. Jimmy Hart runs out begging for help and a cameraman as The Outsiders are in the back. Jimmy loses his mind as Luger slam Flair, and as Luger finally agrees to go help, we cut to the back with AA and Marcus Bagwell are down. Scotty Riggs sees his tag partner and tries to attack, but gets nailed. Rey Mysterio dives at Nash...and gets lawn darted into the side of the production truck, in one of the more famous Nitro moments. Savage is the first man on the scene, and dives on top of the nWo limo as they drive off. Mass chaos ensues, as Rey tells Eddie that there were four men in the nWo, not just the three known members. A firetruck rolls in as several members of the WCW lockerroom attend to the wounded. Tony Schiavone & Larry Zbysko have no idea how to react.
-8/12/96: Eric Bischoff & Bobby Heenan are wondering where the nWo are, as they have apparently accepted a match with Lex Luger & Sting. The Outsiders emerge from the crowd. Sting's music hits, but only Luger comes out.
-8/12/96: Lex Luger & Sting VS The Outsiders
-Luger fights with the Outsiders, and Sting rushes out to even the odds. The Outsiders stall, then finally rush the ring, but get dropped off the apron. The match spills to the Outside, where The Outsiders get a brief advantage until the match goes back inside the ring. Nash nails a big boot on Sting and tosses him out over the top, but Nick Patrick does not call for the DQ. Sting comes back with a Stinger Splash on Nash, but Nick Patrick not-so-subtly pulls Hall out of the way, and Sting crashes into the turnbuckle. Members of the WCW lockerroom rush out, and The Outsiders bail.
-8/26/96: Sting & Lex Luger VS Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael (w/Woman)
-Match is JIP with Sting giving Benoit a bulldog. Sting tries to lock in the Scorpion Deathlock, but Mongo saves. Luger is down outside the ring, and taking his sweet time getting back up. Hulk Hogan comes out to bate Mongo into an ambush from The Outsiders. The Outsiders lay both Sting & Benoit out, and it's spraypaint jobs for everyone. AA & Flair run out. Hogan sprays Flair in the face, then sprays a stripe in the middle of Flair's hair. HUGE heet for the whole deal, and garbage comes flying in. After they're done posing in the ring, the nWo walk over to the announce booth and take that over too.
-9/9/96: Lex Luger VS Rick Steiner
-Match is JIP with Luger hitting a big powerslam on Rick. Since this match was JIP, you can guess what happens. Nick Patrick comes out from the back, and motions for Luger to follow him. Randy Anderson counts Luger out. Cut to the parking lot, where we hear Sting talking to Ted DiBiase from inside the nWo limo (a GREAT touch that I didn't remember at all). Luger comes out to look for Sting, only to be attacked by what we would know later as the nWo Sting and the rest of the group. The announce team is in dispair, as it looks like the Franchise of WCW has turned to the dark side.
-DDP talks about how communicating with the audience is as important as getting your hand raised, and goes into how Sting got more popular when he went Crow Sting and stopped talking. DDP poses a trvia question: who was the only top WCW star that did not join the nWo?
-9/16/96: Eric Bischoff, Mike Tenay, & Bobby Heenan talk about the debut of Glacier that just happened. Eric mentions that the nWo has issued a long list of demands, but as he goes over this, the real Sting walks out to the ring. Sting talks about (with his back to the hard camera) what happened the previous week, and the doubt everyone had about him. Sting is pissed because when he went to Luger, whom he had given the benfit of the doubt countless times, but Luger would not give it to him. Sting says he'll stand by anyone who stands by him, but anyone who doubted him can "stick it". Sting says he considers himself a "free agent", and that he'll pop up from time to time, when we least expect it.
-11/18/96: Eric Bischoff is in the ring, and thanks everyone for joining them tonight. He wants to apologize for what Hulk Hogan made him do earlier tonight, and that WCW will do everything they can to get Roddy Piper to sign for a match with Hogan. Bagpipe music hits, and Bischoff gets noticeably skittish. Piper talks about how crazy he is, and is pissed because someone is calling him a coward. Piper calls Bischoff a liar, and questions him about Bischoff's supposed visit to Piper's ranch. Just as Piper is about really call BS on Bischoff, the nWo rushes in to hold Piper back. Hogan enters and gives Bischoff a hug, and they reveal that Eric is a member of the nWo now. Piper challenges Hogan to a match at Starrcade, which lead to Piper being the dumbest babyface in wrestling, as he had full control of the contract for the match...and made it non-title.
-12/30/96: Rey Mysterio Jr. VS Dean Malenko
-Some mat wrestling to start as the announce team basks in the afterglow of Starrcade and the defeat of Hogan by Piper...even though Hogan is still WCW Champion. Rey fights out of an STF, and while in an arm wringer jumps to the top and hits a dropkick. Malenko hits a double underhook suplex. The crowd is DEAD for this match. Malenko tosses Rey overhead into the corner. Rey tries to land on his feet, but slips and crotches himself. Rey tries a hurricarana, but Malenko snaps off a VICIOUS powerbomb for two. Rey gets a couple rollups for near falls. Mysterio dives to the outside and hits a seated senton on Malenko. A lot of sloppiness here. Malenko counters a springboard hurricarana with a Boston Crab, but Rey rolls out, and they do a series of two counts and reversals. Rey hits a hurricarana off the top, and the ten minute time limit expires. Rey wants five more minutes, but none are forthcoming. Have no idea why this match is on the set, as it's sloppy, with a dead crowd, and no finish, especially with the Cruiserweight title change from the Summer was right there.
-Disc Two:
-DDP talks about WCW winning the "Monday Night War" in 1997 & 1998, and the intrigue over who would be the next WCW star to join the nWo. DDP puts his Diamond Cutter over as the most devestating finishing move in wrestling by the end of 1996, and notes that the nWo tried to recruit him, but he wasn't interested...
-1/13/97: Diamond Dallas Page VS Mark Starr
-Ted DiBiase and Eric Bischoff are on commentary, declaring DDP a member of the nWo after he supposedly met with Scott Hall at a seafood restaurant. They keep DDP's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" ripoff, but dub over...whatever Starr's music was. After Starr blocks a hiptoss, DDP decides to spike him with a DDT instead. DDP reverses a whip, sending Starr into the ropes, and DDP catches him on the rebound with the Diamond Cutter for the quick win, but that is not why this is on the DVD.
-The Outsiders come out to officially welcome DDP into the nWo. DDP dons the nWo shirt, shakes, Scott Hall's hand...and gives him a Diamond Cutter! DDP backdrops Nash over the top, then bails through the crowd. This was DDP's big face turn, and he was over huge as a result of this, his newfound "working man" personna, and the Diamond Cutter being put over as instant death.
-3/3/97: Mean Gene interviews Eric Bischoff, who, as a member of the nWo AND WCW's Executive Vice President, both issues a challenge that Lex Luger wanted to issue to the nWo, and accepts it at the same time: the championships the nWo holds VS "WCW's Future". After he does this, Dr. Harvey Schiller, the President of Turner Sports, suspends Bischoff for all the crap that he's pulled since being revealed as an nWo member.
-3/17/97: Harlem Heat (w/Sister Sherri) VS The Steiner Brothers
-Match is JIP, and just as the announce team note that the Steiners have a shot at The Outsiders at Spring Stampede, the nWo rushes out to ambush both teams, particularly working over Rick Steiner and his injured ear drum. Luger & The Giant (who has joined and left the nWo for the first time already) run out to help clean house. There's a pyro blast above the ring, and MUTHFUCKIN STING quickly repels down to the ring, and points his baseball bat at Hogan. Crowd goes nuts for Sting, and this wouldn't be the last time. Hogan's "he's pointing at me!" freakout is great.
-DDP brings up the Nitro Girls & the Nitro Parties. He says the nWo was a big part of why WCW was getting big ratings, but the cruiserweights were another big reason.
-4/21/97: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Syxx [c] (w/Kevin Nash) VS Rey Mysterio Jr.
-After some mat wrestling, Syxx tries to intimidate Rey, and takes up taking a big slap to the face. Syxx comes back by tossing Rey in the air, and slamming him down, then follows up with a Bronco Buster. Syxx applies an abdominal stretch, Rey reverses, and as Nash distracts the ref, Syxx throws Rey over the top. Nash wants to take a shot at Rey, who wisely scoots away and gets into the ring. Syxx tries to toss Rey in the air and catch him with a powerbomb, but Rey counters with a hurricarana---> rollup for a close two count. Rey takes Syxx out, but with the ref's back turned, Nash nails Rey with a big boot and a jackknife, allowing Syxx to lock in the Buzzkiller (Crossface Chickenwing) for the ref stoppage. J.J. Dillon and security come out to get Nash & Syxx away from the ring, and Rey is stretchered out. JJ tries to lay the law down to Nash & Syxx, and gets "bite me"s in response. Not a great showcase for the cruiserweights, this works better as a showing of JJ Dillon returning to WCW, and helping them in their war against the nWo.
-8/4/97: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hulk Hogan [c] VS Lex Luger
-This match is taking place on the 100th Nitro and despite the fact that Luger has a World title match at the next PPV the following Sunday. Hogan controls the early going with his very basic offense. Heenan gives Hogan credit for inventing following your opponent in the corner off an Irish Whip and hitting them with a clothesline. Hogan tries to smash Luger's head into the turnbuckle, but Luger counters and smashes Hogan repeatedly, in a spot that needs to make its return. Hogan nails Luger as Randy Anderson pulls Luger off him, then poses as we go to break.
-Back from break, Hogan pounds away, and gets a suplex for two. Hogan gets a belly-to-back (which Tony calls belly-to-belly) suplex for two. Hogan actually lays in some stiff chops. Hogan gets a bodyslam and legdrop...for two. Hogan tries a second legdrop, but misses. Luger fires up as The Outsiders and Randy Savage trie to interfere, but Luger takes all three out. Luger drops Hogan with the steel forearm, and locks him in the Human Torture Rack for the win and the title! The babyfaces rush out to celebrate. Luger would lose the title back to Hogan at the PPV, however.
-DDP talks about what it feels like to win a world title, and how when he sees anyone win a world title, it takes him back to Ric Flair beating Harley Race at Starrcade '83. DDP notes that times had changed, and the late 90's were a time for rebellion.
-9/1/97: Mene Gene is out to interview the 4 Horsemen one week after Arn Anderson's retirement speech...but gets Syxx (as Flair) and Konnan (as Mongo) instead. Syxx calls out Curt Hennig, and Buff Bagwell is out to play him. They call out AA, and Kevin Nash (in a fat suit, neck brace, and carrying a cooler) enters. This is a pretty well known segment, as the nWo shits all over Arn's truly heartfelt speech from the week before, which pissed a lot of people off, in part because the Horsemen never got their revenge on the nWo, and in fact Curt Hennig would join the nWo at Fall Brawl just a couple weeks later. Bischoff himself wrote in his book that he regrets doing it.
-9/29/97: Buff Bagwell (w/Vincent) VS Diamond Dallas Page
-Bagwell takes DDP down with an armdrag, and poses. DDP takes a bit more punishment before firing back with punches and clotheslines. Buff goes outside, and DDP follows him out by slingshotting himself over the top onto Buff. Buff fakes a knee injury, and hits DDP with a clothesline from behind. "DDP" chant as Buff pounds away. DDP fights back, and signals for the Diamond Cutter, but ends up taking a low blow as Vincent distracts the ref. After Buff gets a near-fall, he argues with the ref, allowing DDP to get a schoolboy for two. After the ref gets bumped, Vincent tries to interfere, but DDP gives him an awkward looking Diamond Cutter, and another one for Buff gets the win. Decent TV match. DDP was over as hell here.
-10/27/97: Diamond Dallas Page VS WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan
-Match is JIP. DDP has his ribs taped, which would become a trademark for him. Hogan pounds away and gets two. Hogan gets a suplex and drops an elbow, but can't hold DDP down for the pin. DDP fights back, and has Hogan on the ropes, until a fake Sting runs out. DDP cuts him off and hits a Diamond Cutter, and Randy Anderson calls for the bell. Hogan whips DDP with a belt, and a bunch of nWo members come out to destroy DDP. The crowd explodes as the real Sting walks through the crowd. Stings lays Vincent out with the Scorpion Deathdrop, and takes out the rest of the group with relative ease. Hogan abandons Scott Hall and Curt Hennig, who are quickly nailed with Scorpion Deathdrops.
-2/2/98: Randy Savage (w/Elizabeth) VS Sting
-Sting comes from the ceiling a looooooooong way down into the crowd. Savage attacks Sting, who no-sells, causing Savage to bail and call for Sting to follow. Sting abliges, and pounds Savage on the outside. After some work in the ring, they go back outside, and Sting sends Savage into the guardrail. Sting tries a Stinger Splash, but Savage nails Sting with Liz's purse. Savage undoes one of the turnbuckle pads. Sting no-sells a piledriver. Sting hits a Stinger Splash in one corner, but when he tries it again, Sting hits the exposed steel beam in the corner. Savage Elbow looks to finish, but Hollywood Hogan, not wanting Savage to be the one who beats Sting, pulls Savage off the cover, and the ref calls for the DQ. Lex Luger comes out to attack Savage (with no warning or help from Hogan). Scott Hall tries to help Hogan attack Sting, but Sting fights him off, and Hogan bails. This was pretty good for the time it was given. Sting's entrance was something else.
-3/30/98: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Jericho [c] VS Marty Jannetty
-Match is JIP as Jericho wins with the Liontamer. Chris Jericho gets his list of 1,004 holds, about 1/2 of which are armbar. They go to break, and as they come back and intro the 2nd hour, Jericho is still reading. Prince Iaukea finally comes out to get Jericho out of the ring. Mike Tenay pretending to care about Jericho's list, if only to annoy Tony, was the funniest part of the bit.
-DDP goes over Goldberg's rise to stardum in 1998, which leads to...
-7/6/98: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hulk Hogan [c] VS WCW United States Champion Goldberg
-Crowd is JACKED for this. Monster "Goldberg" chant at the opening bell. Goldberg overpowers Hogan early on with a side headlock and by winning a test of strength. Hogan takes his weight belt off and tries to wear Goldberg out, but Goldberg snatches it, and tosses it out of the ring. Hogan gets his basic offense in, and after taking Goldberg to the outside, cracks him across the back with a chair twice, but Charles Robinson does not call for the DQ. Hogan gets the Legdrop of Doom, and Curt Hennig is out to celebrate, but DDP and Karl Malone are right behind him. Goldberg kicks out of the legdrop as Malone drops Hennig with a Diamond Cutter. Spear and Jackhammer win the title for Goldberg. Big moment, but WCW pissed away a lot of money by not having this match on PPV. IMO, they should have built for Starrcade. Have Hogan do his celebrity matches and other BS while Goldberg plows through the nWo, finally getting to Hogan.
-7/20/98: WCW World Tag Team Championship: Sting & Kevin Nash [c] VS Scott Hall & The Giant
-This is nWo Hollywood VS nWo Wolfpac. Hall taunts Nash, then immediately tags the Giant. After the Giant lands some kicks on Nash, the champions clean house and tags are made on both sides. Sting drops Hall and does haphazard crotch chops as the show goes to break.
-Back from break, Hall spits in Sting's face, and tags Giant again. HUGE "Giant Sucks!" chant. Giant misses a charge in the corner, allowing Sting to land some kicks and a Stinger Splash. Second Stinger Splash is countered with a big boot. Sting tries a cross body on Giant...and simply bounces off. Cool spot. Hall is tagged in, and locks in the always exciting abdominal stretch. Tags are made by both teams again, and Nash is on fire, sending the Giant out, then dominating Hall. Nash has Hall set for the Jackknife, but Giant saves. Sting gives Giant a low blow and a bulldog. Nash tags Sting, who has Hall set up for the Scorpion Deathlock, but Bret Hart runs into the ring to distract Sting. Sting tosses Bret as the match breaksdown, and Hall catches the distraced Sting with the Outsider's Edge for the pin and the titles. The match was good, not particularly memorable, but good. What is memorable is the crowd, who reacted like they were watching a ***** classic WrestleMania main event.
-8/3/98: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho VS Rey Mysterio Jr.
-Jericho is in the middle of his run where he would collect souveniers from his defeated opponents. Jericho jumps Rey as soon as he sets foot in the ring. Big "Jericho Sucks!" chant. Jericho tosses Rey into the air, but gets caught with a hurricarana. Rey follows that up with a seated senton to the outside. Jericho begs off, but it doesn't work. Rey drops a leg as Tony gets excited about Jay Leno wrestling at the upcoming PPV.
-Back from a break, Jericho catches Rey in the air, gorilla presses him, then drops him into a shoulderbreaker. Jericho hits a springboard dropkick to send both to the outside. Rey reverses a suplex, and hits a backflip splash for two. Jericho applies a version of a stump puller and lays back with it, a move I've never seen before. Jericho gets cocky and charges into a headscissors, then a hot shot. Rey gets a springboard split-legged moonsault for two. Jericho catches Rey trying to slide under his legs, and whips him back with a release German suplex for two. Jericho tries the springboard dropkick again, but Rey sees it coming, and Jericho falls outside. Rey ranas Jericho off the apron back into the ring, but Jericho comes back with a double-underhook backbreaker. Rey hits an X-Factor. Rey wants the West Coast Pop, but Jericho pulls the ref in the way. Jericho tries the Lion Tamer, but Rey counters into a rollup, and Dean Malenko (guest ref for Jericho's PPV match with Juventud Guerrera) slides in and counts the pin. Jericho pitches a hissy fit and nails David Penzer for the hell of it. Match was OK, but there were probably a good 50 cruiserweight matches on Nitro better than this.
-9/14/98: WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Juventud Guerrera [c] VS Kidman
-Kidman and the rest of the Flock walked away from him earlier in the night. Kidman has no music, but gets a good reaction. Juvy gets the corner 10 count punches early. Missile dropkick forces Kidman to bail. Kidman counters a leapfrog with a powerslam for two. Juvy comes back, and a crossbody sends both he and Kidman out over the top.
-After a break, Juvy gets a rollup for two. Kidman comes back with a slingshot legdrop and a sky high for two. Wheelbarrow suplex gets two. Kidman keeps working Juvy over, but cannot put him away. Juvy fights back with a release German suplex for two. Juvy gets a flying rana for two. Kidman counters the Juvy Driver with an inverted suplex for two. Crowd explodes as Kidman sets up for the Shooting Star Press, but Juvy cuts him off. Juvy tries another flying rana, but Kidman counters with a powerbomb, and Shooting Star Press gets the pin and the title for Kidman to a HUGE explosion. Match was OK, but the heat suddenly got big at the end.
-DDP previews the return of the 4 Horsemen.
-9/14/98: This is the big, emotional return of the 4 Horsemen, specifically Ric Flair, who is coming back after going to his son's wrestling tournament rather than a Thunder taping, and then being subsequently sued by Eric Bischoff. This is probably the only time you will see Chris Benoit on a WWE release for a long, long time. This is simply a great segment with crowd reactions generally reserved for the biggest matches. Of course, WCW being WCW and their apparent quest to piss on Flair's legacy, kept the Horsemen a great distance behind the nWo in the pecking order, and Flair himself would turn a bunch of times in the next 2+ years, as his character went from legendary wrestler to crazy old man (who admittedly had his moments) fairly quickly.
-10/26/98: WCW United States Championship: Bret Hart [c] VS Diamond Dallas Page
-They start out exchanging holds until Bret makes with the brawling, but he makes the mistake of walking away from DDP, and gets nailed. Bret manages to turn the tide. Bret keeps pounding away, but stops to argue a two count, allowing DDP to fight back. DDP gets a flapjack for two. Bret comes back with a superplex for two. Bret keeps the pressure on, but DDP gets an armbar takedown. Pages bashes Bret's head into the turnbuckle, and Bret's back kick to the nuts gets both DDP and the ref. Bret gets something out of his tights to KO DDP and makes sure the ref is OK. Bret misses his wild swing, and DDP hits the Diamond Cutter for the pin and the title. Bret shows his displeasure by nailing DDP, then the ref, then trying to break DDP's leg with a chair before locking in the Sharpshooter. Way to show your displeasure with how the WWF was handling your character before you left, Bret.
-12/28/98: For Control of WCW: Ric Flair VS Eric Bischoff
-Bischoff tries to bail, but Mongo, Malenko, & Benoit drag him to the ring over the commercial break.
-Back from break, Flair immediately drops knee on Eric's nutsack. Flair chops away, and lands another low blow. Lil' Naitch, Charles Robinson does not call for the DQ, but Flair throws him down anyway. The nWo jobber squad try to interfere, but are cut off by the Horsemen. Some better members of the nWo join in the fun, and attack the Horsemen. Giant walks out, and headbuts Flair. Giant signals for the chokeslam as Arn Anderson rushes down, joined by Randy Savage, with Gorgeous George and in an nWo shirt. Savage quickly turns on the Giant, and Flair locks in the Figure 4 for the submission. Booker T, DDP, Konnan, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbysko, and Dusty Rhodes join the celebration. The fun and games would end two months later, when Flair and Hogan did a double turn at SuperBrawl, and Flair would become the power hungry President of WCW for a few months, until it got to the point where no one knew who was running WCW (much like real life).
-Disc Three:
-DDP notes that as rosey as 1997 & 98 were, 1999 was a bad year for WCW. On the first Nitro of the year, it was supposed to be a huge Kevin Nash VS Hollywood Hogan showdown, but things didn't quite work out that way...
-1/4/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Kevin Nash [c] VS Hollywood Hogan
-Nash brings Scott Hall (donning an nWo Wolfpac shirt) with him, showing that Hall's interference during the Nash/Goldberg main event at Starrcade was with Nash's consent. Hogan has Scott Steiner in his corner. Hogan calls Nash a "spoon". I have no idea what kind of insult that is supposed to be. Nash tears his t-shirt to mock Hogan. Nash shoves Hogan into a corner, and Hogan responds with...a fingerpoke. Nash drops like he's been shot, and Hogan covers for the pin and the title. The members of the now-unified nWo celebrate until Goldberg makes his way back to arena after being arrested earlier in the evening. Goldberg plows through everyone, and has Hogan set up for the jackhammer as Lex Luger comes out to stand guard, and then Luger nails Goldberg, leading to a big beatdown and nWo paint job. This was one of the moments that kept momentum in the WWF's corner. Not only did Goldberg lose for no apparent reason, they promised a rematch at this Nitro, and delivered...that. It soon became readily apparent that only the old guard would be in the main events, and WCW's angles became more non-sensical than usual.
-3/29/99: Bret Hart is out to bitch about his spot in WCW, and calls out Goldberg. Goldberg promptly hits Bret with a big spear, but Bret has a plate underneath his hockey jersey, so Goldberg is the one who gets KO'd. Bret quits WCW at the end of the segment.
-4/26/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page [c] VS Sting
-DDP turned heel in his obsessive quest to become WCW Champion, and sidelined Hogan (now a face) with a ringpost Figure 4 during the last PPV main event, in the match where DDP won the title for the first time. Crowd is molten for this match. Sting wins a strike exchange and DDP takes a break. Sting continues to dominate, hitting a Stinger Splash and almost locking in the Scorpion Deathlock. DDP finally gets some offense in, but Sting counters a Diamond Cutter attempt by tossing DDP out of the ring, and DDP takes a walk. Sting, of course, catches DDP and beats the shit out of him in the aiselway, as the ref decides not to count either man out. Back in the ring, Sting tries the corner punches, but takes a low blow to turn the tide.
-DDP lays in some kicks, but Sting ducks a clothesline and drops DDP, before falling over and headbutting DDP in the nuts. DDP keeps the pressure on, but can't put Sting away. DDP wants the ringpost Figure 4, but Sting kicks him off. Sting blocks a Diamond Cutter by holding the top rope, signaling a Sting comeback. Sting gets a top rope splash for a close near-fall. The match goes back-and-forth. Sting hits a front-facing tombstone for two. They fight over the regular version, and Sting gets that for two. DDP counters a hiptoss with a DDT for two. DDP counters a backslide attempt with a low blow. Sting blocks the Diamond Cutter by holding the top rope again, and this time counters into the Scorpion Deathdrop for the pin and the title. Awesome match, and possibly the best that ever aired on Nitro. Of course, WCW being WCW, DDP would regain the title later that night in a Fatal 4 Way.
-DDP says even though he lost the tite, he feels that was his best match ever. He brings up regaining the title later that night, and goes over what winning the world title means.
-6/21/99: Juventud Guerrera VS Eddie Guerrero
-This is Eddie's return to the ring after his car crash on New Year's Eve. Eddie looks like a tool with his ponytail. Eddie is not interested in being nice because it's his return, and he slaps Juvy across the face. Eddie controls the early going, but Juvy breaks out the Kidman powerbomb counter to turn the tide. Eddie comes back, and locks in a sleeper as we go to break.
-Back from break, Eddie has Juvy locked in an abdominal stretch. Eddie releases the hold, and Juvy gets a nice rollup for two. Eddie gets a brainbuster for two. A little bit of awkwardness as they seem to not know what to do for a moment. Juvy gets a wheelbarrow bulldog and headscissors takedown. Juvy hits a missile dropkick, then when Eddie rolls outside, follows up with a suicide dive. Eddie blocks the Juvy driver, hits a neckbreaker, and the frog splash for the pin. Match started out really good, but they lost their pace towards the end.
-8/9/99: Sting, Goldberg, & WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan VS Kevin Nash, Sid, & Rick Steiner
-Hogan brings back his "American Made" theme and the red & yellow. Tony reacts like Jesus just resurrected. Hogan completely dominates Steiner, and cuts off an interfering Nash. Hogan does some posing before tagging in Goldberg, while Steiner tags Nash. Goldberg flattens Nash as the building comes unglued. Sid gets some shots in on Goldberg before Goldberg comes back, and tags in Sting. Sting batters all three opponents, before trying a splash and getting Sid's knees. Sid tags in Nash, who hits a sideslam. The ref gets bumped. Sting hits a series of Stinger Splashes before taking a chairshot from Steiner. Steiner takes a spear from Goldberg. Sid chairs down Goldberg and Sting. Hogan wipes Sid out, then gives Nash a chairshot as he goes for the Jackknife on Sting, who then locks in the Scorpion Deathlock for the win. Match was pretty decent, but the ridiculously hot crowd elevated everything.
-8/16/99: Gene Okerlund brings Kidman out to talk about how awesome Kidman is, the Filthy Animals, and Kidman's favorite Nitro Girl. Kidman says Kimberly is his favorite, which brings out a pissed DDP. DDP attacks Kidman, which leads too...
-Diamond Dallas Page VS Kidman
-DDP continues to pound the shit out of Kidman, and in a historic moment, DDP POWERBOMBS KIDMAN! DDP looks to have the match won, but pulls Kidman up at two. DDP gets a big spinebuster, and pulls Kidman up at two again. DDP tries a TKO, but Kidman rolls him up for the pin. DDP isn't happy, giving the ref a Diamond Cutter. Kidman jumps on DDP's back, but ends up getting spun into a Diamond Cutter. DDP ties Kidman in the Tree of Woe and whips him with a belt, until Kimberly comes out to take him away.
-12/20/99: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Goldberg VS Bret Hart
-Title was vacated by Bret after a Montreal Screwjob imitation at Starrcade saw him retain the title against Goldberg. Jeff Jarrett is shown watching on a backstage monitor as the announcers speculate on what the big thing the "Powers That Be" have planned tonight. Watching Bret takes bumps in this match is scary and sad, as he had suffered (unbeknownst to him) what would end up being his career-ending concussion the night before, and Bret continuing to wrestle without being checked out would lead to Bret's stroke. Goldberg completely dominates the first few minutes. Bret fights back by working on Goldberg's leg. The ref is bumped, and Bret kicks Goldberg in the nuts before locking in a Figure 4. The Outsiders rush out with baseball bats, and they attack Goldberg before handing a bat to Bret. Piper covers up Goldberg as the ref comes to...and counts three. This somehow means Bret is the champion. Jeff Jarrett runs out to give Piper El Kabong with his trusty guitar. Jarrett spraypaints nWo on Piper and Goldberg, signalling the formation of nWo 2000, which draws a huge pop from the crowd in Baltimore.
-1/24/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Sid VS Kevin Nash
-The title is vacant after Bret gave it up, and Benoit won the title, only to jump to the WWF the next night. Nash is WCW Commissioner at this point. Their matches in 1995 weren't any good, and this isn't any better, with the exception of the crowd being hotter. The ref gets bumped. Jarrett tries to interfere as Sid tries to use the (banned) powerbomb. Sid nails Nash with the guitar, and pretends to be the one hit. The announcers put this over as a brilliant move...even though Nash is the one covered in the guitar debris. Sid gets the win and the title.
-DDP talks about Eric Bischoff being sent home in the fall of 1999 and Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara being brought in, and how it wasn't a good fit for WCW.
-4/10/00: A lot of the roster members are around the ring, as Russo has called a meeting. Weird to see Meng in casual business atire. Jeff Jarrett puts Vince Russo as the man who turned the WWF around, and has changed WCW forever. Jarrett is pissed because he was "The Chosen One" to be WCW champion, but the master plan was derailed by "Good Ol' Boys" who couldn't compete. Russo bitches because he couldn't do what he wanted to do when he came to WCW, and was told that WCW was going in a "new direction" that sucked. Russo rants that the old egos are gone, and it's time for the young members of the WCW to seize their opportunity. This is interrupted by a returning Eric Bischoff. They tease dissention, but then hug, which is funny given how Bischoff REALLY did not want to work with him at all. Bischoff calls all the older wrestlers, including Hulk Hogan "mistakes". Sid, Luger, Sting & DDP go out to the stage to offer some rebuttals. Bischoff & Russo vacate all the titles to start a new era for WCW.
-4/24/00: Cage Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett [c] (w/Vince Russo) VS Diamond Dallas Page
-Hey! Rochester, NY makes it on a DVD! DDP jumps Jarrett before they get into the cage, and so they brawl outside for the first few minutes. The announcers note that Kim served DDP with divorce papers earlier in the show. DDP controls the first couple minutes of the match, but JJ fights back, and slams DDP in the cage before stomping away. DDP signals for the Diamond Cutter, and the camera misses how JJ counters it, as Mike Awesome runs out to man the door. DDP counters a bodyslam into a Diamond Cutter. Mike Awesome tries to stop the 3 count, but Kanyon cuts him off, allowing the ref to finish the count and give DDP his 3rd World title. DDP celebrates in the crowd. Not much here, aside from the title change.
-7/18/00: Tank Abbot provides an introduction for 3 Count. Shane looks like an idiot with beads in his hair. 3 Count brings a ladder out with them, as they have signed to face the Jung (Young) Dragons in a ladder match at New Blood Rising. As 3 Count performs, their gold record hangs above the ring. Jamie-San (Jamie Noble) tries to grab it. 3 Count cuts him off, leading to...
-Ladder Match for the Gold Record: 3 Count VS The Jung Dragons
-The teams trade dives off the top, until Evan Karaigas does the Terry Funk bit with the ladder, swinging it around to hit everyone. Karaigas climbs, but Jamie stops him for a second, and Yang & Hayashi push the ladder over, sending Karaigas out over the top. Jamie climbs and snatches the ladder to win the gold record. Match looks to be on here because of the idea sounds better than what was actually there.
-8/7/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T [c] VS WCW United States/Cruiserweight/Hardcore Champion Lance Storm
-Storm is coming off winning three titles in three weeks, and making them all Canadian. WCW actually did the logical thing and had Storm challenge for the World title. Mike Awesome, #1 contender for the U.S. title, is providing guest commentary. Beef sandwiches are delivered for Heidi, Awesome's fat chick of choice. Storm controls the early going, but makes the mistake of slapping Booker in the face, and he responds with a big suplex. Booker blocks a superkick, hits the Axe Kick, and SPINAROONI leads to a leaping side kick for two. Storm leaps into a powerslam for two. Storm counters a German suplex into (with some struggle), the Canadian Maple Leaf single leg crab. Booker makes it to the ropes. Storm hits a superkick, but charges into a spinebuster for two. Booker hits the Book End to retain. Match was OK, but Booker was never in any serious trouble. Jeff Jarrett, #1 contender for the world title, attacks Booker after the bell. Jarrett then goes after Storm, tries to give him El Kabong, but ends up KO'ing Heidi. Awesome chases Jarrett into the ring, and he runs into a Book End.
-9/4/00: WCW World Heavyweight Championship War Games 2000 "Russo's Revenge": Kevin Nash [c] VS Jeff Jarrett VS Sting VS Scott Steiner VS Kronik VS Vince Russo (w/The Harris Twins) VS Booker T VS Goldberg
-Match is fought with a new wrestler entering every two minutes. Whomever leaves the cage with the title belt is the champion. It starts out hanging at the top of the 3rd cage. Sting & Jarrett start it off. Jeremy Borash is on commentary, something I don't remember, but I wasn't watching much WCW at this point. Sting dominates Jarrett early on, until Steiner enters to make it 2-on-1. Both members of Kronik enter as Steiner makes it up to the second cage. Kronik lays out Jarrett, then follow Steiner into the second cage to attack him. Russo enters in a New Jersey Devils' jersey and a hockey helmet. The Harris' climb outside the first cage and get into the second cage to brawl with Kronik. Sting gets a Stinger Splash and Scorpion Deathlock on Russo. Scott Steiner is nowhere to be found, and Nash enters the fray. Steiner is back down in the first cage. Nash goes to him, and Sting hits both with a Stinger Splash. Sting misses a second, and Nash lays him out with a chokeslam. Nash almost chokeslams Russo, but Steiner and Jarrett talk him out of it. Nash almost chokeslams them too, but Booker T enters to lay out the heels.
-The Harris' and Kronik brawl through the crowd. Booker lays Russo out with an axe kick, but Nash drops Booker with a big boot after the spinarooni. There are apparently supposed to be teams in this, and Nash doesn't hit his "teammates". Goldberg enters last to plow through everyone he can find, until Russo hits him with a baseball bat. Booker goes up to the second cage. Goldberg is handcuffed to the ropes. Sting & Steiner go up to the second cage, followed by Jarrett. Nash waits by the door on the bottom as Booker T grabs the belt. Booker fights with Jarrett & Steiner. Sting is handcuffed in the second cage. Booker is dropped with El Kabong by Jarrett. Steiner drops the belt into the ring, and Russo grabs it. The Cat interferes to go after Russo, but Nash drops him with a jackknife. Nash poses with the belt, prompting Goldberg to break his handcuffs and drop Nash & Russo.
-Goldberg has the match won, but Bret Hart comes from the crowd to slam the cage door in Goldberg's face. Nash gets a hold of the title belt, and leaves the cage with his team to retain.
-3/26/01: Vince McMahon opens the last Nitro by announcing his purchase of WCW, and gives his infamous "the fate of WCW is in my hands" promo.
-3/26/01: Sting VS Ric Flair
-This is the final match of WCW. The two run through their old spots and a very cliff notes version of their matches throughout the lengthy rivalry. Awkward moment as Sting no-sells a chop, tries to whip Flair, who simply stops to punch Sting in the gut before going up top to get slammed down. Flair gets the Figure 4, but Sting reverses the hold. Sting no-sells some chops, hits a superplex, and Scorpion Deathlock finishes. Sting gives Flair a hug, and the two shake hands.
-DDP talks about how the wrestlers had heard the rumblings, but they didn't believe it was true until Shane McMahon showed up in Panama City. DDP says he's ready for Volume 2 of the Best of Nitro.
-All in all, a decent represenation of what Nitro was. As DDP says in his closing, you can't condense 6 years into one presenation. There's a lot of stuff missing, especially from the cruiserweights. Still, this is an OK walk down memory lane, especially the early nWo stuff.
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