Monday Nitro #223
Date: January 17, 2000
Location:
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 10,646
Commentators: Tony
Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
I have to say this way
too often around here, but everything has changed again. Benoit won
the World Title last night and that's the last you're going to see of
him in WCW. Unfortunately that's also the case for Malenko, Guerrero
and Saturn, who all quit when Kevin Sullivan was announced as the
fired Vince Russo's replacement. The Filthy tried to get out as well
but didn't have such an easy escape. Now we get to see how
everything falls out so let's get to it.
The NWO arrives and
Nash leaves Jeff's hand hanging in a funny bit.
Kidman vs. Psychosis
We
immediately start with a match and Kidman gets an early advantage off
a headscissors and stops a charge by raising a boot. A high cross
body gets two but Psychosis low bridges him to the floor and hits a
big dive over the top. Thankfully the whole landing on Kidman's head
part didn't cripple him. Back in and a nice top rope spinwheel kick
gets two as the announcers promise to address all the major changes
after last night's show.
They head outside again
with Kidman being sent into the barricade but he's still able to
dropkick Psychosis out of the air back inside. Psychosis counters a
superplex into a super sitout gordbuster for two, only to walk into a
wheelbarrow suplex. That earns Kidman a DDT and the guillotine
legdrop for a very close two. YOU CAN'T POWERBOMB KIDMAN though and
the faceplant gets the pin. This would be four Kidman matches in two
days without a Shooting Star.
Rating:
B.
Off the top of my head, the best match WCW has had since the main
event of Mayhem back in November. You can immediately see the
cruiserweights being brought back to a respectable place as they were
allowed to just go out and have a good match instead of being used as
target practice for the heavyweights. They're already off to a good
start.
Now we get the big
fallout from last night in the form of a statement from Arn Anderson.
Terry Funk got beaten up last night for doing what he believed in
and that's what a real man does. Anderson has always tried to do
what he said and last night he promised to call the match down the
middle. Then he started watching the match instead of refereeing and
he didn't notice Sid's foot under the ropes when Benoit made him tap
out. Therefore the title is vacant.
To
recap our title holders, we have David Flair, Crowbar (both of whom
lost last night), Brian Knobbs and Ed Ferrara.
The Harris Brothers are
in suits again and now guarding the NWO's locker room. I'm so glad
we had them turn a few weeks ago just to turn back already.
Booker says he hasn't
forgotten where he came from and apparently he and Stevie knew Big T.
back in the day. They decided he was all wrong for them and Booker
didn't know he was out of jail. That's already more backstory than
we get for most new characters.
Here's the new Harlem
Heat, with Stevie saying he and Big T. are willing to give Booker
another chance. Booker and Midnight come out but Stevie wants
Midnight to leave. Stevie mentions Booker borrowing his bike to go
get candy as a kid but the brawl is on. The team takes Booker down
and Stevie wants a referee in here right now.
Booker T. vs. Big T.
Both
guys are in street clothes. A quick Pearl River Plunge drops Booker
and a World's Strongest Slam does the same. Booker comes back with a
forearm and ax kick followed by the Book End but Stevie throws in a
slap jack to knock Booker silly for the pin. This was nothing.
Vampiro
vs. Disco Inferno
The
Mamalukes are out with Disco and tell him there will be no dancing.
During the entrances, Tony basically begs the fans to come to the
Thunder taping tomorrow night. Vampiro nails a spinwheel kick to
start and another spin kick to the chest. Disco's monkey flip
doesn't get him anywhere and Vampiro plants him with a release Rock
Bottom, only to miss a corkscrew moonsault.
The
Mamalukes validate their paycheck by attacking Disco as this is
actually a faster pace than you would expect. It's like they're
actually being allowed to try for a change. A swinging neckbreaker
gets two for Disco but Vampiro avoids an elbow and hits another top
rope spinwheel kick, followed by the Nail in the Coffin for the pin.
Rating:
C.
Nothing great here but like I said, they were trying for a change.
It's such a different atmosphere already with Russo gone for one show
and you can see the quality and effort going up. Vampiro looked
decent here and I can see why they wanted to push him, but they need
to do something with him already.
Scott
Steiner presents Nash with some women for secretary interviews,
including the yet to be named Major Gunns, Shakira and Midajah.
Steiner wants to play Twister.
Tag Team Titles: 3
Count vs. David Flair/Crowbar
We
get a 3 Count performance before the match to really make this show
feel better. Evan is the odd man out here. 3 Count dives onto the
champs to start and here are Standards and Practices to scout the
match. We settle down with David suplexing Moore and dropping him
with a belly to back for two. Daffney hisses at Evan on the floor so
David runs over for the save. Helms superkicks Crowbar down and
Shannon adds a top rope spinning splash for two. David low bridges
Shannon to the floor, allowing Crowbar to hit a reverse DDT for the
pin.
Rating:
D+.
I loved 3 Count and there's nothing bad about looking at Stacy
Keibler but this really didn't work. At the end of the day, David
Flair just isn't ready for this spot. He's trying, but it's very
similar to Erik Watts in the early 90s: he needed a lot more
seasoning before being thrown into this spot.
We get an encore!
Nash
asks the ladies to leave so they can have some NWO business. Bret is
nowhere to be seen. They need to get rid of the Old Age Outlaws but
Arn can stick around for some reason.
Maestro vs. Tank
Abbott
No
piano, 13 seconds, one right hand for the knockout. This was a shoot
fight, because the Brawl For All didn't teach WCW anything.
Norman Smiley comes out
to stare down Abbott but Meng shows up to give Abbott someone a real
challenge.
Most
of the midcard is coming to the arena. Since this is WCW, it takes
far longer than it should have. They couldn't have had them come out
during the break? Nash and the Harris Brothers come out for the
first official address of the roster. Nash praises himself but says
he has goals for everyone out there. Tenay needs a personality,
Knobbs needs a brain, Abbott needs a heart and Smiley needs courage.
Nash: “I sound like Oz up here.”
The
fans cut him off with a Goldberg chant so Nash threatens to fire him.
This brings Nash to his first real act: Jeff Jarrett is officially
the US Champion again. Jeff: “HOLY SLAPNUTS!” Next up is
health, which is why there will be mandatory rectal exams before
every match with Dr. Jellyfinger. Also, everyone is going to be in
the same locker room no matter what level they're on and no one can
look at Nash but they all must call him Lord Master.
Nash
will decide what happens with the World Title at a later date. He's
rapid firing through these ideas. There will be no illegal
substances in the locker room, including Viagra. Nash: “Sorry
Lex!” He praises Bagwell and Page for their match last night.
Nash: “Buff, you doing Kim or what?” As for the first main event
tonight, it's Bagwell vs. Page in a rematch from last night with
Kimberly as guest referee. They're the NWO, they're in charge, and
they are gods.
Kimberly comes in to
see the NWO and is given her referee outfit and asks if Page or
Bagwell was better.
Team 2000 vs.
Varsity Club
Team
2000 is Masahiro Chono and Super J (From what I can find it's Jeff
Farmer, better known as NWO Sting). There's actually a story here:
Rotundo was part of NWO Japan but left to reform the Varsity Club.
Yeah this match is actually getting a story over a Japanese faction
that most people didn't know existed.
It's
a brawl to start until Chono starts driving knees into Mike's ribs to
take over. Off to Steiner but Chono wants Rotundo back in, which the
fans find boring. I can't say I blame them as there's no reason to
care about this story. Steiner suplexes Chono down and easily takes
J to the mat. Steiner whips him into the barricade and Rotundo has a
lame slugout as this just keeps going.
Rotundo
chinlocks J as Steiner and Chono brawl in the aisle. Back in and
Rick gets double teamed for a bit but they're quickly back on the
floor to keep up the brawling. A big boot to the face out of the
corner blasts Rick again but Chono dives into a belly to belly.
Everything breaks down again and the referee misses a small package
from Rotundo to Chono. J comes in and rolls it over to FINALLY give
Chono the pin.
Rating:
D.
This is one of the first major cases of the show having to throw in
ANYTHING else besides Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko/Saturn. There was no
reason for this to be a nine minute match and the fans might have
been on to something with the boring chant. It wasn't the worst
match in the world, but like I said, there's no reason to care about
these teams fighting. The match wasn't good enough to overcome that
problem and it dragged on and on as a result.
Sid
Vicious vs. The Wall
Sid
runs him over to start and Wall bails to the floor for a breather.
Wall is thrown over the announcers' table as this is full squash mode
so far. That's it for the play by play right now as we cut to Disco
and the Mamalukes coming in to say they'll get the NWO anything they
need. Nash asks if they've ever heard of Vinnie Vegas. Their
assignment: go beat up Sid. Then get some grinders. We cut back to
the ring to see Sid chokeslamming Wall for the pin.
The
Mamalukes come out but eat powerbombs.
Scott
Steiner, in a Michigan jersey and flanked by Midajah and a girl in a
Michigan cheerleader uniform, comes out and beats up the Ohio State
(Michigan's big rival) mascot. Steiner does his usual stuff about
how all the women want him and tells them to take a number and wait
in the back. Michigan beating Ohio State was easy, just like the
women in Ohio. An Ohio State fan argues with him from ringside and
gets beaten down. Security quickly takes the bloody fan away as
we're firmly in the Scott is nuts phase.
Total
Package vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
Luger
is finally out of the Sting attire. Bigelow elbows him out to the
floor and pounds in some big forearms to the back. Back in and
Bigelow slugs away, eats the metal forearm, and continues slugging
away. The top rope headbutt connects but Liz distracts Bigelow to
break up the Greetings From Asbury Park. Cue Kanyon but Bigelow
nails him, only to take a champagne bottle to the head from Luger for
the pin.
Rating:
D-.
Is there a point coming to this Bigelow vs. Kanyon feud anytime soon?
They've been feuding, with Bigelow consistently coming out on the
losing end, for weeks now and there's no real progression to the
story. This was another match that didn't do anything for anyone and
was just there to fill in time.
Diamond Dallas Page
vs. Buff Bagwell
Kimberly's
referee outfit is exactly what you would expect it to be. Page
starts fast with a shoulder and spinning Rock Bottom but Kimberly
takes her sweet time counting. Buff comes back with a clothesline
and they fight to the floor then into the crowd. Time for the ECW
phase of the show it seems. A trash can shot knocks Page back to the
barricade and they head back inside.
Bagwell
nails a hot shot onto the turnbuckle but he stops to hit on Kimberly.
Page gets back up and crotches Bagwell against the post. The
Diamond Cutter is blocked by grabbing a rope (and it actually works
unlike last night) and both guys are down again. The double arm DDT
from Buff (well maybe an arm and a quarter) gets another very slow
two count.
Back
up and they fight over a backslide before the Diamond Cutter connects
but Page can't cover. Instead Buff gets up and loads up the
Blockbuster, only to get crotched down. Page's superplex attempt is
countered with a low blow and now the Blockbuster connects. Kimberly
“accidentally” collides with Buff and knocks herself down,
allowing Page to get up and hit the Diamond Cutter for a slow pin.
Rating:
D+.
This is another feud that is just meandering along with little
development in sight. It's no longer about whether Kimberly slept
with Bagwell but rather if she's going to leave her husband for him.
That's about all there is as far as advancement goes, but it's not
enough to validate the boring matches that come with the feud.
Kimberly bolts from the
ring and Page follows to end the show.
Overall
Rating: C-.
Suddenly Russo is out of power and this feels like a wrestling
program again. It's certainly nothing great but we had storyline
progression that you could follow, some watching wrestling getting
time (three matches broke six minutes and with ten more seconds on
the opener they all would have broken seven) and nothing
horrible/insulting to my intelligence. In other words, it's a middle
of the road wrestling show.
That's the key though:
this show still isn't really good. A lot of the wrestling was
uninspired at best and the stories were only ok. Nash as the power
mad yet entertaining boss has potential and the lack of the focus on
the mostly retired crew helped a lot. Unfortunately, I have a
feeling the bottom is going to fall out very soon because they're
going to have to find something to fill in the void left by all the
people leaving, and it's not NWO Japan.
This is where the
problems are going to crop up and there isn't much WCW can do about
it. The Radicalz leaving at once was like taking the walls out from
a building. No matter what was going on, you could count on those
four guys to put on a decent wrestling match if you gave them the
chance. Now that they're gone, there isn't much left to take their
places.
What's supposed to make
up for those guys missing? Page and Bagwell having lame matches?
More Varsity Club? Ahmed Johnson? Jeff Jarrett cutting the same
promo with the same slap nuts line every single week? WCW has lost
the meat of their company and there isn't much they can throw in
there to fill in the gaps. That brings me to the big point here: the
Radicalz leaving was the point of no return for WCW.
Now here's the thing:
WCW was going to die no matter what. In the long run, there was too
much money being burned and too much of a mess to possibly fix the
place. Somewhere along the line it was going to go under and Vince
would be left smiling. However, as long as you had those four guys
(or at least a young core group of wrestlers who could one day take
over), there was always a hope. It may have been just a glimmer, but
it was there.
However, all that went
away when they left. Those four leaving took the hope away from WCW
fans. Any chance they had to see something fresh come in and take
the company back from the Good Old Boys network at the top was gone
and the hope was destroyed. Now there's just the old guys hanging
around at the top, collecting their paychecks and putting on the same
pitiful matches that no one wants to see except for the diehard fans.
Benoit finally got to
the top last night and it felt like yet another Dusty Finish. Yeah
he got there, but never mind because we need to take the title away
from him and just let it sit around until we find some other old guy
to put it on so he can talk about having some big match but never be
able to live up to those promises. The fans have no reason to
believe it's possible now and once that happens, the faint chance
that WCW could turn it around was gone.
WCW was already a very
wounded animal before those four left, but there was always the
chance that they could tape themselves up, get on their feet and nail
one big right hook to knock the WWF back and have one more chance in
this fight. Instead, and no one knew how bad it was going to get in
just a few weeks when they showed up on Nitro, WWF just cut off WCW's
arms and punched them with their own fists. WCW may appear to still
be alive and trying to come back, but at this point, without the core
talent that they built up being around anymore, there is no more
hope. WCW is dead.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
The late 90s was all about quick turnover, the fans wanting something new constantly. Having Nash at the top was fucking poison, as well as DDP, Lugar etc. At least with Stiener he was a fresh main eventer, who hadn't had a run at the top. If I was WCW, I would've taken Russo's idea of pushing midcarders and young guys, and then use them the complete opposite of the way Russo did.
ReplyDeleteYeah the Radicalz leaving was one of the final nails in the coffin really for WCW. The fact that WWE treated them like such a big deal on debut (even though they really didn't have to) really emphasized the loss.
ReplyDeleteA big streamlining was the only option they had at this point to survive. Steiner was a perfect fit for a dominant heel champion. Goldberg still obviously had use and that main event writes itself. Booker T needed to be pushed and pushed soon. Sting, Page and to a limited degree Flair could have been the veterans. Then work on new talent and go from there.
In all honestly the rest of the Main event talent could have been cut loose (and yes I'm aware Hogan would go to WWE and do big business but for WCW he was useless at this point).
the maestro was one weird looking fella...
ReplyDeleteI agree on the whole although I do feel Page was worth keeping around as at least he was prepared to work hard in matches. Other than that Sting and Flair are the other two "legends" to keep around. Push your Main Event talent as Steiner, Goldberg, Booker T and Sting and build new stars.
ReplyDeleteWCW 2000 really would have been so much better with the Radicals. I'm amazed they let them go, just months after letting Raven go, and Jericho, and even Big Show a year earlier. That's your future right there, and you let them all leave because of politics. Because of *Sullivan*? Can't get my head around it, all these years later.
ReplyDeleteAs long as Flair doesn't wrestle I'm fine with that.
ReplyDeleteThink he'd be just fine as an odd match every so often (like his WWE run) but yeah he really should have been slipping into another role. He's Ric Flair though and it's WCW so you need to use him.
ReplyDeleteMore so than the Main Eventers some of the mid carders are beyond useless at this point - Knobbs? Rick Steiner? Stevie Ray? Just dump them and use young wrestlers cos nobody cares about them anyway.
Pretty ridiculous really. After Hall and Nash, WWE defo cherry picked the better talent from WCW (Show, Jericho, Radicalz). All WCW got was old guys (Henning, Piper etc) and guys who were never going to amount to anything (Stasiak, Jarrett). Bret was the obvious exception but even then it could be argued they were getting a broken down shell of the wrestler he was.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Guys like Kidman were screaming to be used in the US title picture.
ReplyDeleteAlso suckas gots to know I know Stevie Ray.
RE: Stevie Ray
ReplyDeleteBut WCW needed his Fruit Booties for their daily vitamin intake.
I wouldn't say Radicalz leaving was the final nail in the coffin. It was a big hit sure, but history has shown that wrestlers leaving don't break a promotion like WWF in 97 where a whole bunch of guys jumped ship to WCW. And not to take anything away from the Radicalz, but really Benoit was the biggest star of the group. Eddy and Malenko were great, but WCW treated them like JTTS and Saturn was only a good worker and not the level of worker that the other 3 were.
ReplyDeleteAnd WCW still had a fairly talented roster that a great booker could have worked with it and make something good out of. Scott Steiner was one of the top heels in North America and WCW needed to strap a rocket on the guy. With Benoit gone, I think Rey Rey became the company's best worker. WCW should have fleshed out the cruiserweight division again to compensate the Radicalz leaving like doing Kidman vs Psy at the opening of the show was a great idea. WCW should have done more with 3 Count. Plus Flair could still go, and DDP was a guy that had main event credibility and could be trusted to have a great match if needed.
The problem WCW had during the Sullivan era was that the booking was terrible. Even if the Radicalz had stayed, I doubt they could have made anything good from this dogshit.
That line about a great booker is where it falls apart for me. The Radicalz could make a go of anything even with a bad booker. With the people they had in charge now though, the roster wasn't going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteRoughly on topic...I vaguely still recall a wrestling roundtable episode on Classics on Demand where they talk about the Radicalz leaving and Malenko mentioned the "THREE of us." (post-'07 of course) Did this really happen???
ReplyDeleteYou talk about all the guys getting to the ring reminds me that one of the biggest wastes for WCW would be paying a hundred guys to show up at every "Nitro" even though they'd use less than half of them for the actual show.
ReplyDeleteThe Radicalz were great workers, but doesn't mean they can look good through shitty booking. Did the Radicalz get over during the Russo era? David freakin Flair accomplished more than the Radicalz during the Russo era. I think versatile workers like Ric Flair are generally the exception to the rule when it comes to workers looking good despite the shitty booking.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, it's easy to forget Saturn.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far. Benoit got to the main event and looked like a serious guy and at least the others had a big story.
ReplyDeleteThose guys were at least going to get in entertaining work while they good. The rest of the roster....not so much for the most part.
Yeah Benoit got somewhat of a main event push, but didn't really get over and I think he only got a main event push in the first place because all the other main eventers refused to do jobs so that became Benoit's job.
ReplyDeleteAnd on my original subject of great bookers, I think Dusty (I think he was still employed at this time) would have done a much better job than Sullivan during this era.
I'm pretty sure Dusty was in ECW/the indies by this point.
ReplyDeleteAlmost anyone would have been a better option than Sullivan.
Not even a joke. I forget him quite often. Definitely the least talented of the group in-ring.
ReplyDeleteAnyone remember what Busch's response was to the Radicals leaving? He said something in the vein that they showed disrespect and therefore they were gone.
ReplyDelete