Beejus

Sting as champion against Scott Steiner at Starrcade? Sign me up!

The Week that Was: June 2001, Week 3 The next World Wrestling Federation PPV Extravaganza will be the WWF Fully Loaded 2001! Held on July 22nd, 2001 at The Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio! Announced So Far Stay Tuned to WWF.com, RAW is WAR, SmackDown!, and HeAT for more information! -------------------- From the desk of Eric Bischoff: I guess Vince wasn’t very happy that we poked fun at them for running the Baltimore Arena right around the time of the Bash. They fired back by having Jim Ross post a diatribe on his Ross Report section of WWF.com where he talked about how “The WWF, unlike some other wrestling companies, support our country with real patriotism and would never gratify a band who sing about how screwed up it is.” This was a thinly veiled message about us having “America the Pitiful” as the theme song for the Great American Bash. Hey, I may not be the biggest fan of their style of music, but it’s what some of that is what’s hot right now in music. However I didn’t even have to make a statement about it because fans commented about it in our favor, taking our side and calling the WWF out for being so petty. I understand they again mocked WCW’s so-called lack of patriotism during King of the Ring, and in that echo chamber it worked out, but if Vince wants to play these dirty trick games with me again, I’ll show him how it’s done like it’s 1995 all over again. The big shock of Nitro this past week was Sid’s heel turn. It was a complete success, and maybe, just maybe, this new character lease on life could keep him on the payroll if he accepts an extension – albeit it’d be for a lot less money. For now, though, it’s going to be a steel cage match to main event this coming Friday night, so let’s see how it goes. Lance Storm is also continually getting better at his gimmick. Also as usual, there were a slew of complaints about younger wrestlers coming from the Millionaire’s Club. Hey, I don’t like to admit it, but Russo wasn’t too far off base with that storyline in a few ways. Kevin Nash told me to write off Shane Helms, Goldberg feels Kaz Hayashi doesn’t have much upside, and Ric Flair thinks I should release Ernest Miller because he’s not very charismatic. I am deciding to ignore all three of those things for now. Rick Steiner came to me during the show feeling that he’s worked hard enough to earn a pay raise. I gave him half of what he is asking for, because as much as I knew it would probably irritate him, it’s better than turning him down completely. He wanted to be bumped up to $15,550 a month, but with half of that he is now making $12,625. I just can’t be “ATM Eric” anymore. Verne Gagne and Lance Russell announced that they have only a few more months left in the business before they are planning on leaving it behind, which is what Freddie Blassie has just recently done. On Raw, Kane picked up a chronic knee pain. The jokes about him landing on his knees for all big impact moves ever leading to knee pain just write themselves. He isn’t missing any major time, and I get the feeling that the bump he took during his falls count anywhere match with Triple H was a way to write him off of some in-ring action for a while until it heals up. Speaking of King of the Ring, it looks like Vince is getting “all in” on Edge, giving him the nod to wear the crown this year. Time will only tell if he is able to keep up with that and become a star like Hart, Austin, and Helmsley, or if the failings of Mabel, Shamrock, and Gunn will ring true one more time. In Japan, I read that New-Japan Pro Wrestling has bought out Mayumi Ozaki’s women’s promotion OZ Academy. They closed them down effective immediately. Inoki didn’t take any of their roster, but took the rights to their two titles, assumed that he is just going to hang them on a mantle somewhere.

<p>WCW Friday Nitro: 6/22/2001</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="124" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0"</a> frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p> <img alt="RmYgPt1.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/RmYgPt1.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong>WCW Friday Nitro</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Shown Live on June 22nd, 2001 (Week 3)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Held at: The Hard Rock Cafe Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (South West)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Announcers: Mike Tenay, Scott Hudson, and Arn Anderson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Attendance: 2,000 people (sold out!)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> PPV Rating: 0.01</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> TV Rating: 1.42</span></em></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair opens the show for us tonight, thanking everyone for their support over the past year as CEO of the greatest professional wrestling company in the world, World Championship Wrestling, and saying that it was this support that led him to a victory this past Sunday over the World champion! He just barely has Scott Steiner mentioned until the champion and brother Rick are coming out to the ring. “Big Poppa Pump” says that he wants to set the record straight: Ric Flair did not defeat him, some punk-ass referee felt so sorry for his old ass that he threw up the white flag for him! Flair agrees that while it wasn’t the victory that he wanted, all the people of the world clearly saw Scott tapping out in the figure four! Steiner gives a look at Midajah; clearly there was a discussion about the lead pipe between last Sunday and now. Steiner tells Flair that it doesn’t matter, because it will never happen again, so he’d better get back on the outside of the ring, because very soon Flair will not be wrestling again; and if he doesn’t step aside, Scott won’t give him the choice to walk away, he will put him away! Flair disagrees, saying that now he’s gotten a taste of the spotlight again, and he isn’t about to give it back up again! Scott and Rick start to circle around Flair, but lightning crackles in the arena – and the camera sees Sting up in the rafters! Sting has a microphone of his own, telling the Steiners to back down, because Ric isn’t the man they should be worrying about; “The Stinger” is the number one contender!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><em>“How about everyone just calm down?”</em></p><p> <iframe width="220" height="180" src="<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XplblhnjJ7g?rel=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/XplblhnjJ7g?rel=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Mike Tenay freaks out on commentary as it’s the owner of World Championship Wrestling, Eric Bischoff! Flashing his classic smarmy grin, Eric says that it looks like there’s quite the pickle in the World title scene. He says that Sting very clearly won the number one contendership last Sunday, however Flair, by one way or another, defeated the champion. He says that he has a lot to think about as Bash at the Beach approaches, which is very aptly subtitled Lust for the Gold, and he will give his answer about what will be happening next week on Friday Nitro! Despite the disappointment, this strong start of the show has the crowd hotter. (Rating: B+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><img alt="D0QZBAc.jpg?1" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/D0QZBAc.jpg?1" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> <strong>WCW X-Division Championship</strong></p><p><strong> “K-Dawg” Konnan vs. “Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright</strong></summary> </p><p> Not a week has gone by and already our new X-Division champion is out there defending his newly won title! Alex Wright may have had his World shatter around him at the Great American Bash, but he gives a solid performance here trying to win the new title. However he falls victim to a K-Factor and was forced to tap out in the Tequila Sunrise in a short 2:54. (Rating: C-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> A recap video package showed earlier this evening as Jimmy Snuka and Jimmy Snuka Jr. arrived in their new WCW paid limousine! The winner of the Gluttony match last Sunday is shown entering the building and going up to the skybox high above the Hard Rock Cafe Arena that has been provided for them by World Championship Wrestling. As they look over a full catering table all to themselves, Snuka Sr. tells his son that this is the way they roll the red carpet out for the best of athletes. Jr. on the other hand doesn’t seem to know quite how to take all of this, repeatedly asking the security team if this is all for him or if someone like Angelina Jolie was supposed to be coming to the show tonight! (Rating: D+)</p><p> </p><p> We get some footage from after Great American Bash: Gluttony went off the air where Goldberg met up with Kevin Nash after their match. “Big Sexy” thanks Goldberg for stepping in, while Goldberg shakes his hand and thanks him for getting him on the card. Nash tells him not to worry about it, that it was worth teaming with Goldberg if it meant teaching Luger and Bagwell a lesson. That wording seems to sit strangely with Goldberg, who remarks that it took Nash until almost the last minute to ask him to team with him. Kevin says that he had someone else in mind, but the legalities didn’t work out. The handshake gets tighter, as Goldberg points out that maybe it wouldn’t have been such a to-do if he hadn’t ripped up Scott Hall’s contract last year at Bash at the Beach. Nash comes back by saying maybe that’s true, but that if Goldberg had faced him already during this new streak of his, maybe he would be retired already. The two have a tense moment, before smiling and snarling out thanks again for the match – but the mood is definitely a lot different from when they had first met up to one another! Even in the arena where they were watching this on the Nitrovision tron (which I hadn’t named as of yet but I am now, it’s the new WCW version of the Titan/TurnerTron) it’s clear that the crowd are murmuring about maybe seeing these two stars in the ring again! (Rating: B+)</p><p> </p><p> Backstage we meet up with Booker T, who has found WCW Owner Eric Bischoff in his office. Booker tells Eric that he saw his announcement earlier about finding a suitable challenger for Bash at the Beach this year, saying that after how his match went with Scott Steiner at SuperBrawl, he would be very happy to compete for the World’s championship two years in a row, and promises that he would bring the belt home this time. Mr. Bischoff grimaces, saying that while Booker definitely has a grievance to air after how SuperBrawl went, he also fell out of the title picture for the past few months to deal with Lance Storm and The World. Unfortunately, Eric just doesn’t feel he has a place for him in the main event this year, but he does have somewhere else he can place him. Booker isn’t very pleased by that answer, but he enters Eric’s office anyways to hear what the owner has in mind. (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> Elsewhere backstage, this time in the interview area, “Mean” Gene stands by alongside Jeremy, shilling his section of WCW.com where he has news about a few WWF stars who are currently working injured. Okerlund tells Borash to be on his best behavior for their guest at this time, who turns out to be Sid Vicious! Gene asks Sid for some words after he was successful in taking down The World in WarGames last Sunday evening. Vicious laughs to himself, saying that it had been since 1993 that he’d competed in a real WarGames match, and the taste was that much sweeter that he helped to destroy The World… but that taste has spread in his mouth, and it made him remember that there is and can only ever be one true master and ruler of the world… he got a taste of real, true carnage, true violence and bloodshed again… and, laughing, admits that he really liked it… Sid laughs to himself, saying that he knows where to find it again, before leaving abruptly. Gene shudders, asking Jeremy if that nearly made him wet his pants. When Jeremy says no, Gene answers that it didn’t to him either, obviously, since he’s such a professional, but when he sends Borash away to check how that take went, Gene checks his pants to make sure he doesn’t have to change them! (Rating: D+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>Rebel Pride vs. The Future</strong></summary> </p><p> We see this match once again, but this time, even with Jamie off his game, Kid Kash is able to make up the difference. With a veritable blitzkrieg of high flying offense, he is able to overwhelm The Future and pick up the win by hitting Hayashi in 6:49 with the Money Maker. This high spots based match really had the crowd buzzing! (Rating: C+) <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> We go back to Gene and Jeremy yet again, this time standing by alongside Totally Buff. Luger, Bagwell, and Madusa are in foul moods after how last Sunday went for them, not wanting to even talk about it. The biggest takeaway of this segment is that Luger says out of anyone who has tried, despite how it went for them since the beginning of the year, he or Buff still feel they have the best chance of retiring Goldberg once and for all. Buff will be taking Goldberg on in our main event tonight, so they better prepare the eulogy for “Da Man” because he doesn’t have “The Stuff” like Buff! Before leaving, Bagwell says that he could swear Gene was wearing a different colored pair of pants when they saw him arrive at the arena, but Gene throws it back out to the ring before they can follow that line of dialogue. (Rating: B-)</p><p> </p><p> In the ring, “Perfect” Shawn Stasiak has a microphone. He says that a lot of people have felt his career is suffering a setback since The World was forced to disband last Sunday, but honestly he couldn’t be happier! He takes the claim for putting Lance Storm’s Team Canada on the map when he left the Natural Born Thrillers for that team, and says that before that he was hands-down the star of the NBT! This brings out the three remaining members of the Thrillers, and Sean O’Haire has a microphone. Palumbo and Jindrak back him up in saying that Stasiak must have his head lodged perfectly up his ass! O’Haire says that he’s sick and tired of this pointless feud with a guy who they left behind months ago, so next week, he wants Stasiak in a match, one-on-one. Sean tells him that if Shawn is able to defeat him, then he can come back to the Thrillers and be their leader; but if not, then he has to leave WCW! Stasiak says that O’Haire must have gotten too much sun over the past week, because with his experience advantage and how he’s so much more perfect than all three of the men standing before him, there’s no way he can lose! (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> Gene Okerlund is seen urging Jeremy Borash on as he sends Jeremy up the stairs into the rafters. He tells Borash that he’s got this, that if he wanted to start having interviews on his own, this is a perfect time for independence! He shoves Jeremy into the room of stairs and slams the door in his face, leaving Borash and the cameraman all alone to walk up into the rafters of the building. Up there above the crowd, he finds the man they call Sting! Borash is definitely afraid as he stammers out questions to Sting about Scott Steiner, Ric Flair, and Animal. Borash looks lost next to a star like this, but Sting’s performance is good as he tells Jeremy that he respects Flair and used to respect Animal and Steiner, but not anymore. He says that he still wants to shut Animal’s painted face up once and for all, and if along the way he gets his title shot against “Big Poppa Pump” then he’ll be happy to bring home his eighth World championship reign as well! And if he happens to be forced to cross paths with “The Nature Boy” on his way there also, well, it definitely wouldn’t be their first go-around, and damn sure won’t be their last, if he knows “Natich” like he does. (Rating: B-)</p><p> </p><p> It’s now time to go back to The WCW Panel! Tony Schiavone welcomes everyone to the panel, saying that we’ve seen an explosive night of action on WCW Friday Nitro so far, and there’s plenty more to come. But before they get into that much, he says that they received a video from the production truck a few minutes ago that he felt we needed to view and talk about. He says that over the past week, there was an autograph signing and photo op set up for a radio show here in Las Vegas, and during it, this footage was captured. We cut to some found footage-style camera work, which shows Chuck Palumbo and the beautiful Stacy Kiebler taking photos with some fans and signing autographs. After the last fan is finished, the camera catches them having a discussion, where Palumbo says that if Stacy isn’t doing anything, maybe the two could go get something to eat. Kiebler looks intrigued, agreeing to meet up with him after going to her hotel room to get a shower and touch up her makeup. As she walks away, Chuck pumps his fists in the air, looking very excited to spend some time with her! We cut back to the Panel, where Tony says that there’s another tape that was sent in that will play next week, as someone witnessed how this date turned out! Stevie Ray says that Stacy went to the shower, whereas most girls who weren’t interested in him usually stank to high Harlem when they went out; feeling that this means Stacy must have been pretty interested, he urges Palumbo to <em>“Get ‘dat, homie!”</em> (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> With that out of the way, the Panel talk about what we’ve seen thus far tonight; namely the situation involving the World Heavyweight championship. With Bash at the Beach: Lust for the Gold right around the corner on July 15th, that doesn’t leave WCW Owner Eric Bischoff much time to think about who is getting the nod for the gold. Stevie Ray has some choice words that Booker T is getting passed over (<em>“Dat’s some straight up fruit booty jive-ass play right there, boss!”</em>) but admits he is excited to see what Eric has in store for them next week when he announces what the main event will be. Gene chimes in, saying that his sources tell him that the pay-per-view event will take place from the Long Beach Arena this year, and people will definitely be lining up out the door for this one. (Rating: D)</p><p> </p><p> We find Eric Bischoff backstage again, as apparently everyone wants to talk with the owner on one of the nights that he is on hand. This time, it’s Jimmy Snuka Jr. who approaches him, meekly saying that he thinks he may have made a mistake in putting him in the Gluttony match, and asking Eric if he could give back the prizes, or give them away, or something, because he doesn’t know how to live like this. His father arrives, with the elder Snuka showing surprise that he found his son so far away from the sky box. He apologizes to Eric if his son was bothering him, but Eric says it’s no bother. He tells the Snukas that he understands all about not knowing how to deal with new things dropping into your lap, as he’s been busy as a beaver ever since January when he bought WCW. But in time, you get used to it, and that’s what the Gluttony prize was all about. Therefore, he tells Jr. that he refuses his request to give the prizes back, feeling that it is for his own good that Bischoff lets him continue to receive the blessings that he won. Jimmy Sr. smiles, saying that he’s happy to work for an owner who is level-headed for once, before telling his son that he needs to come back to the catering table, as a fresh kokoda has just been served! Eric tells them to enjoy all they want, because he and WCW are footing the bill, and it was not cheap to find a cook who did Fijian delights! Jimmy Jr. doesn’t seem like he likes having people wait on him very much, but he goes along with his father anyways. (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> As the Snukas and Eric leave, the camera keeps rolling for a moment, and they zoom in to see that in the distance, Sid Vicious is pacing back and forth. He looks like he’s talking to himself, running his hands through his hair and laughing. What is going through his head? (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>“Sugar” Shane Helms vs. Lance Storm</strong></summary></p><p> Shane Helms may be pegged as a future star in this business, but while he is crowned as a next big thing, Lance is a big deal right now. This match was planned to calm the crowd, and Storm’s ground-based offense does just that as he quickly wraps this up with some work on the back of Helms before locking him in the Canadian Maple Leaf for a tap out victory in a brisk 2:45. (Rating: C+)</p><p> </p><p> The former leader of The World takes the microphone after the match and says that if he can be serious for a moment, this should prove how he was the driving force behind both The World and Team Canada before it. He is out to surround himself with winners from here on out rather than losers, because when it comes to the art of professional wrestling, he is the greatest. This proclamation brings out a guest he didn’t expect though, in Ernest “The Cat” Miller! He takes offense to what he calls Storm using his catchphrase, because only “The Cat” can be the greatest! Storm calls him a loser as well, to which Miller says that Lance will be talking out the other side of his face if he were to meet “The Cat” in the ring and he kicks his head off and throws it in his face! Lance shows confusion, saying that doesn’t even make sense, but Ernest tells him to watch his damn mouth in the future before somebody gets their ass whipped! <em>“I have spoken!”</em> (Rating: C+)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="180" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jxlGtcW1Qg8?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/jxlGtcW1Qg8?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p></p><p></p><p> The arena lights go dark as the creepy music brings out the ringleader of the Dark Eden, Vampiro. He is all alone, bringing along a microphone to tell everyone that while they may think there were setbacks for his companions last Sunday night, nothing could be further from the truth. He handily defeated the gluttonous worm Shane Helms during the live pre-show, and then they completely drove an irredeemable wedge between best friends Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan. He says that Kanyon is away getting some “reconditioning” tonight, but next week he will be back and in the best shape of his career. He says that July is bringing the sin of Lust to the forefront, and he has set his sights upon a handful of sinners who will need purged. This shall prepare them for their redemption as we move closer into the Dark Eden. Vampiro improvised very well here, and just as quickly as he had arrived, the lights go out, and when they come back on, he’s gone. (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>“Primetime” Elix Skipper vs. “The Prodigal Son” Dustin Rhodes</strong></summary></p><p> “Primetime” is pretty clearly still hurting after WarGames last Sunday, but he is trying to show that he has a future after the fall of The World. However, he runs right into the brick wall, as “The Prodigal Son” is out to regain some of the momentum from not winning the fatal four way match. Rhodes is a house on fire tonight, taking Skipper to the limit quickly with a series of punches leading to a Bionic Elbow, then hitting a lifting reverse DDT to score a very fast victory in 1:39. Dustin is still in the hunt for the World championship! (Rating: C-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> The Steiner Brothers are seen on their way out of the building, when Chris Lovey comes across them. Lovey catches up to them, asking for some thoughts about Eric Bischoff and his announcement. Scott goes into a tirade, saying that he would have thoughts about Eric’s announcement, but he didn’t make one, which must mean he was scared that “Big Poppa Pump” wasn’t gonna like what he had to say and would have wrung his little pencil neck, so he’s gonna say it next week so he can get across the country before it happens! Rick adds in that it’s just like how things were run by Eric during the last decade, there’s no balls to be found! It doesn’t matter who is running the show, they’re afraid of “Big Poppa” and “The DFG”! Rick starts barking, it’s clear he did very poorly at improvising during this segment. Lovey is superb though, seguing that into asking about the challengers who are chasing after Steiner and his title right now. Steiner says he doesn’t think about them because they can chase all they want, but just like “The Big Bad Booty Daddy” chasing tail, it ain’t no challenge! All Scott Steiner cares about are freaks, peaks, and holding onto his title to drain this company of all the money he can, and ain’t no old yella’ toothed Ric Flair or redneck reject Dustin Rhodes or broken down, crow-faced bastard Sting are gonna stop him from any of those goals! Chris may not have been able to live up to Gene Okerlund’s standard, but Scott was a real star in this segment, and as Scott says he’s got a group of freaks waiting for him, the Steiners leave the building for the night. (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> A video plays to hype Low-Ki, showing him tear through preliminary wrestlers in a gym, kicking a heavy bag, and staring menacingly toward the camera. The screen fades into black with blue writing that tells us that the hype is over, Low-Ki debuts next week on WCW Friday Nitro! (Rating: D)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><img alt="ZUzW6fC.jpg?1" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/ZUzW6fC.jpg?1" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> <strong>WCW World Tag Team Championships</strong></p><p><strong> The Natural Born Thrillers (Jindrak & O’Haire) vs. The Harris Brothers</strong></summary></p><p> Basically just a squash match here for the champions. Without Jeff Jarrett at their side, Big Ron and Heavy D have no one helping them with plans or ring awareness, so the champions steamroll the big twins in 2:22, as Jindrak pins Heavy D after a double team superkick/dropkick combination. (Rating: D+)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> “The Chosen One” Jeff Jarrett makes his way to the ring after the Harris Boys have left the scene, getting a microphone and completely ignoring their loss. After all, he fired them, so why would he care? Instead, he’s here to talk about how he’s ecstatic that Ric Flair is no longer the CEO of the company. Jarrett feels this will give him a rise straight to the top now that he doesn’t have someone in charge who wanted to hold him back and refused to admit that Jarrett is “The Chosen One” who will dominate and control the 2000s. Jeff is certainly enjoying the freedom of improvising about this. However, he isn’t the only one who wants the lead the coming decade as out to the stage comes Booker T! Booker says that at first, he thought Eric Bischoff was jerking him around by saying he didn’t feel he was in World title contention anymore, but that was only until Eric told him that he considered him top of the line for the United States title! The fans cheer loudly as what that means dawns on Jarrett, as Booker tells him to stop hating the players, just hate the game; because he’s coming for that shiny gold at Bash at the Beach! (Rating: B+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>The Problem Solvers vs. Air Paris and Cassidy O’Riley</strong></summary></p><p> Foreseeing that the previous segment would get the crowd incredibly hot, this match took place to calm them back down as Simon and C.W. take down the Wildside contingent easily. C.W. pins Cassidy after a spinebuster in 4:21. (Rating: D)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Starting from the backstage area with Doug Dillinger and his crack WCW Security Team, the camera follows Goldberg as he walks from his dressing room and down the entrance aisle! (Rating: B-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>Buff “The Stuff” Bagwell vs. “Da Man” Goldberg</strong></summary></p><p> This may be one of Totally Buff’s last chances at trying to retire Goldberg, and Buff gives it his all. Madusa does some good work on the outside as she continuously distracts Nick Patrick or trips Goldberg to give Bagwell the advantage. There isn’t much selling going on during this match, but it definitely gets the crowd hot as the two men do battle. But just as Goldberg is about to polish the match off, Sid Vicious comes to the ring… and he bashes Goldberg with a big boot! Nick Patrick calls for the disqualification, awarding the match to Goldberg in 9:22.</p><p> </p><p> As Bagwell and Madusa get out of there, Sid brawls with Goldberg. Goldberg’s performance is good as he tries to fight back, but it’s of no use as Sid delivers a one armed chokeslam to him before going under the ring. Vicious laughs maniacally as he finds a table and sets it up. He grabs Goldberg and shows no remorse whatsoever as he delivers a Powerbomb straight through the table, leaving Goldberg laying in a shattered mess! The show goes off the air with WCW Security trying to get Sid to leave so that trainers can check on Goldberg’s condition! (Rating: A* / 97)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>WCW Live Post Show Coverage</strong></summary></p><p> Tony Schiavone and The WCW Panel are in shock at what we just witnessed! They all say that they knew Sid was a bit unhinged, but they never expected him to perpetrate such a heinous assault! Gene gets a word in his ear though, that Goldberg is very banged up after going through that table, but it appears that he’s more upset than hurt and wants Sid in a match on Nitro next week! Chris says that with that sort of dangerous impact, he has to have some bruised, if not broken, ribs, and then he wants to get into the ring with him? Stevie Ray calls for some <em>“big bad booty beatdown”</em> but everyone else is just worried about Goldberg’s condition. But you heard it here first, fans; next week, Sid Vicious tries to retire Goldberg, live on WCW Friday Nitro! (Rating: C)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><strong>Show Rating: B+</strong></p><p> <em>This show has improved our popularity in 38 regions.</em></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="qJk5JLG.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qJk5JLG.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div><p></p><p></p>

<p>Mayhem looks like it's going to live up to it's name, can't wait to see what we are heading into next!</p><p> </p><p> Sting - <em>I can't really see you only giving Sting a month with the belt, though I guess WCW 2000 would have only seen him hold it for an hour, so I won't be shocked if the title goes back to Jarrett here thanks to Eric and TB. But you're not spastic, so I'm going to stick with Sting.</em></p><p> Kevin Nash - <em>The heel turn should have netted him a ton of great momentum, so I'd be willing to see Nash vs. Sting at Starrcade. Won't be surprised to see someone help him get it... after all, I'm sure he can find some other people who used to be "4 Life" who would be willing to rejoin his side.</em></p><p> Randy Savage - <em>Randy looks strong as he heads on to Starrcade to face Jarrett... or maybe he'll find a way to face Bischoff, which would be a very fun Starrcade bout!</em></p><p> Rey Misterio - <em>As much as I like Jindrak, I just can't see him grabbing the US title. Not when it's doing the whole "workhorse title" gig with Rey.</em></p><p> Kanyon and Awesome - <em>Complete toss-up, but I could see these guys picking up gold very soon while O'Haire and Palumbo could be spitting any time. Not that you've set them up for splitting, but they (or just Sean) are clearly set for singles success, so you could split them at any point and it will make sense.</em></p><p> Ric Flair - <em>Likely by count out or DQ as Cat bails on the match.</em></p><p> Mike Sanders - <em>Totally pulling for the underdog here, but it will give the "invaders" more logical reasons to still be showing up every week.</em></p><p> Lance Storm - <em>If you're buckling down on the "Canada is better" schtick, then this is the time to really push it over the edge. Flag match next month?</em></p>

<p>The Rock and Shawn Michaels, heading to WCW. We are definitely in the new era, as this game has been built so much about HBK that it is going to feel strange going forward (on the WWF side) without him. I look forward to seeing what you do from here. I legit was expecting to see the Nation harass Vince and get him to fire Nelson instead, saving Rocky's job and getting rid of Mabel, but it doesn't look like that's happening just yet.</p><p> </p><p> And yes, if you are doing Bret vs. Austin in a street fight type match for the first time, I think you are almost required to lift the WM13 finish. It's in the bylaws.</p><p> </p><p> Kevin Nash - <em>Ahmed against Nash will prove just how well Johnson can sink or swim now that he has the gold.</em></p><p> Scott Hall - <em>Scott Steiner is going to be out for golden blood.</em></p><p> Brian Pillman - <em>Even with you pretty much telling us all that the Euro title is going to just be the lower card title, I still question what the LHWs are going to do to stand out now.</em></p><p> Snowdido</p><p> Ken Shamrock</p><p> Matt Hardy</p><p> </p><p> The Nasty Boys - <em>I can't see them getting nerfed out of the Titans, so by hook or by crook they pick up the titles.</em></p><p> Curt Hennig</p><p> Meng - <em>I'm with crackerjack, Meng is the awesome.</em></p><p> Goldberg</p><p> Jeff Hardy</p><p> Eddie Guerrero</p><p> Lance Storm</p>

So I was with you here at the start of the game, but for some reason I fell off back right before Nikita won the belt. It wasn't a quality thing, just my failing, as this has kept being a highlight of the board. But now I've rectified that by taking the past few days to read the whole diary over. Now that I'm caught up again, I look forward to the continuing adventures of "Naitch" as he leads us down THAT AISLE to the top!

<p>Chosen Ones</p><p> Booker T</p><p> Rey/Kidman/???</p><p> Chavo</p><p> Lance Storm</p><p> </p><p> Konnan seems like an easy choice, but instead of him I'm going to say Juventud Guerrera.</p>

<p>Ahmed Johnson - <em>If there is ever a time for Ahmed to pick up the gold, this is it right here. I called him out as a future champion quite a few times during the previous year, but with Cornette to talk for him and this huge wave of momentum he's riding, it's now or never.</em></p><p> Shawn Michaels - <em>I can't see the WWF without Shawn Michaels. He's still young, he's still far and away your most well rounded wrestler, and he would immediately be lost in the shuffle in WCW. However, Kevin Nash in WCW interests me because for one I think he would still manage to stand out by jumping ship and for two I think it would finally let Hall get a chance to shine in this new WWF.</em></p><p> Bret Hart - <em>Hart picks up the win but it's going to put Austin over huge in the end anyways.</em></p><p> Owen Hart - <em>The Harts are honestly one of my favorite part of the show right now.</em></p><p> The Rock - <em>And the loser will be Jeff Jarrett.</em></p><p> NAO - <em>The only ones I can see leaving are E&C here. Harlem Heat are too fresh to the WWF and Snow/Candido are really entertaining, while E&C I don't feel have fit in very well. But that's more my failing at seeing them fit in without going through the buildup that they did IRL than anything you've done.</em></p><p> Chris Jericho - <em>I don't know what you plan on replacing the title with, but the LHW title can go now.</em></p><p> Flair and Anderson - <em>Getting Hall away from Waltman would maybe do good for him. He's been just playing passenger for so long now that I almost look forward to seeing Nash gone so that Scott can get a glimpse toward the top.</em></p><p> Brian Pillman - <em>This one isn't going to be over in one match, I think.</em></p><p> Sid - <em>You've let the Flock run it's course, now let's see where Raven goes without them.</em></p><p> Kane</p><p> </p><p> Raw or Nitro: I would have flipped back and forth between them but probably ended up catching a little more of Nitro. I'm pretty excited to see War Games going on at Fall Brawl, and right now they do have a serious "Who's showing up next?" vibe going on that is a little bit exciting.</p><p> </p><p> Also, I love the whole "Keep your hands off my frickin' Giant!" discussion that keeps happening <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p>

The Week that Was: June 2001, Week 2 <hr><details><summary>The 2001 King of the Ring Tournament</summary> Qualifying Round: Billy Gunn vs D'Lo, Faarooq vs. Val Venis, Edge vs. Funaki, Haku vs. Crash Holly, Rhyno vs. a surprise Mark Henry, Kane vs. Bull Buchanan, Kurt Angle vs. Hardcore Holly, Bradshaw vs. Raven, D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley, Matt Hardy vs. Chaz, Steve Blackman vs. Dean Malenko, Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Grand Masta Sexay, Eddie Guerrero vs. Scotty 2 Hotty, Test vs. William Regal, Rikishi vs. Tazz, and Jeff Hardy vs. The Goodfather First Round Edge vs. Matt Hardy Test vs. Haku Billy Gunn vs. D-Von Dudley Faarooq vs. Rhyno Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve Blackman Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Jeff Hardy Kurt Angle vs. Kane Rikishi vs. Bradshaw Quarter Finals Edge vs. Test Billy Gunn vs. Rhyno Eddie Guerrero vs. Jeff Hardy Kurt Angle vs. Bradshaw Semi Finals Edge vs. Kurt Angle Jeff Hardy vs. Rhyno<hr></details> The next World Wrestling Federation PPV Extravaganza will be the WWF King of the Ring 2001! Held on June 24th, 2001 at The Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey! Announced So Far WWF World Heavyweight Championship: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin © vs. The Big Show WWF World Tag Team Championships: Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho © vs. The Island Tribe WWF Hardcore Championship: Rob Van Dam © vs. Matt Hardy Falls Count Anywhere: Triple H vs. Kane Shane McMahon vs. Kurt Angle The Semi-Final and Final Rounds of the 2001 King of the Ring tournament! Trish Stratus and Lita vs. Tori and Ivory -------------------- From the desk of Eric Bischoff: We scored a nice win during this past week’s Nitro as I gave Tony Schiavone open reign to mock the WWF during his segments. Vince brought this one upon himself, by purposely booking the Baltimore Arena for SmackDown just a few days before we had it for the Great American Bash. The dirty trick came off as a success, with fans online taking our side in the matter and looking down on Vince for what would have been his dirty trick. Another thing that should have left a sour taste in Vince’s mouth was yet another person picking up an injury, as Edge gained a whiplash neck strain during his match against Test, who is also still working injured. Sure, he won’t take any time off, but the WWF has been plagued by injuries over the last few months, so one more has to hurt. Backstage at this past week’s Nitro, David Penzer of all people set up a video game tournament for the younger guys. Apparently upset at how his turn went, Chuck Palumbo was moaning and complaining so much that “Handsome Harley” was called in, who told him to shut up effective immediately and also buy drinks for everyone after the show. He did so without any more complaint and seemed to improve his behavior afterwards. I heard Scott Steiner saying that Shawn Stasiak needs jobbed off the roster already because he can’t work. While I’ve done what I can to ignore most of the guy’s hammering about everyone, I gotta admit that I’m getting pretty tired of hearing about all the same guys over and over again, so maybe I will consider doing something about it. Leia Meow let me know that she has moved to Louisiana, leaving her previous New Jersey home. I took note during the show that Jamie Knoble and Jimmy Snuka Jr. are getting better at their gimmicks. Now for what you’re really here for, what happened during the Bash. I will admit that I was a little worried about booking a 52-year old Ric Flair to go for a half an hour in the main event, especially when he hadn’t wrestled since June of last year! However, I had faith in his ring presence and Scott Steiner’s great performances over the entirety of 2001 thus far, and I was rewarded with a great match that saw a dusty finish in order to keep the title on Scott while giving Flair a big win for father’s day. I’m sure everyone is wondering where the title picture goes from here, but I just hope that they’ll stick around to see what I have planned. All I can say for now is that people can trust me that while there will be tag team matches involved, the World title will not be on the line in any of them. Some people may have felt let down because we didn’t get to see the reunion of The Outsiders, but that falls completely on the shoulders of Scott Hall. His excursion to Japan is almost over, but with it ending, he is not negotiating until he feels he’s settled in. So unfortunately, it looks like it’s going to be a little bit longer for him to appear. I still have Kevin’s word that Scott wants to come back to WCW though, so I am planning that we will see it soon. I also expected to get some strange looks from the results of the X-Division and Gluttony matches. Snuka Jr. picking up the Gluttony match, to me, is a new stage in both having traditional wrestlers praised (through their second generation, in this case) and also pushing some brand new, young talent. This will give Snuka Jr. a lot of screentime in the future, which should solidify him for the fans. Someone who didn’t really see eye-to-eye about this, however, was Kanyon; leading to some strange booking that both kept him strong and protected him in the match, almost to the level of complete dominance before a weird ending. I probably shouldn’t have, but I gave in and made the changes to the match that he wanted, because let’s be honest, Jimmy is nowhere near as well-known as Kanyon is. But I don’t intend on being quite so lenient with it in the future. Meanwhile, Norman Smiley had no issues putting over the new star Yoshihiro Tajiri. Tajiri was the person Shane McMahon put me in contact with, as apparently Vince had been chomping at the bit to sign him up, but his hands were tied due to Tajiri working for IWA: Puerto Rico, which the WWF has a working agreement with. Not having that restriction, I was able to sign him away in secret and lock him down. I know it’s nothing big, as I’m sure Tajiri wouldn’t have made it much further than the Light Heavyweight title in the WWF, but people are really big on ECW stars right now, so pulling him away feels like a small victory over Vince; and oddly enough, I have Shane to thank for it. I set Tajiri up with a crazy version of his evil foreigner gimmick, which is basically the same as he had in ECW, and he plays it very good. As for the X Division title, well… nobody ever would have expected Konnan, huh? But I have my reasons. Had I kept the title on Rey or given it to Billy, it would have just continued to look like it’s the Cruiserweight title. So in order to both change that distinction immediately and also to give another nice “thank you” to Konnan for all he’s done in WCW, I pulled the trigger on him. Plus, Konnan is a lot better on the microphone than what Mysterio or Kidman are, so he could take the title in some interesting paths. This all definitely isn’t over though, as the former Filthy Animals are planned to continue feuding with members of Dark Eden for the time being. Despite his heel persona, however, I did see Kidman looking pretty worried backstage about Torrie Wilson, who apparently picked up a twisted knee during a match that she will need to stay off of for nearly a month. I saw Madusa giving some tips on selling to Stacy Kiebler backstage. I may not ever plan on putting Stacy in the ring much, but it’s nice to know that they’re preparing for it. War Games was huge this year, and while I almost didn’t run with it this year in order to give it some time away from the critical failures of how the last few War Games matches went, but I felt that it is a tradition that needed to see a comeback. Many would probably say that I made a wrong call, that I could have gone further with The World than what I did, that Sean O’Haire needs to break away from the Thrillers so he can start making a run for singles gold; however, there were problems with The World. Namely, Elix Skipper and Alex Wright. Those two consistently hurt segments that they were in alongside Lance and Mike. That isn’t something that happens when I have the NBT together, so I decided to cut my losses and separate them all. Storm is the member of The World that I have the most immediate plans for, even if no matter how much I push him he doesn’t seem to move away from being considered a midcarder. In the War Games match itself, Skipper and Wright both told me afterwards that they didn’t feel the brawl based match was using them to their full potentials, and while I agree, it had to be done. Several members of the match failed in keeping up the spectacle they were to shoot for. Both Simon Diamond and Lance Storm looked as if they were getting better at their gimmicks, actually if Storm gets much better at it he could completely rewrite what an “Arch Competitor” looks like. However it’s becoming very clear that Disqo is getting incredibly stale. I’m not entirely sure what to do with him at this particular point, especially since his contract is coming up in a few months. Would it be worth turning him to take on Simon and CW? Am I better off just leaving him alone and letting the contract run out? Or do I feed him a new character that he has changed into thanks to Simon’s help as I had planned at the very beginning? I have a decision to make there, and I’m not entirely sure where to go with it. Glenn is a solid hand, but he’s also $5,500 that I could be paying someone else. Anyways, to close up this report on the Bash, I gave a lot of praise for Ric Flair for his performance over the past year in the non-wrestling capacity and also for coming back in such a strong way. He was definitely happy about it, as was Scott Steiner when I told him that he was awesome out there. I also gave a compliment to Sting, who seemed pleased about being called out positively. To be fair, I mostly blanked on someone else who had done well during the show and figured that it’s a good idea to keep Sting happy. After the show I had Kevin Nash tell me that he doesn’t think Jerry Tuite (a.k.a. The Wall or Sgt. A-WALL) is worth keeping around due to his poor psychology, but by this point I kinda just think Nash doesn’t like having other tall guys around who might make him look bad. We made what I think is an impressive $145,134 from our 40,315 pay-per-view buys, which I feel is great news. This, along with some contracts that are going to be exiting WCW by the end of the month, should be a big step in the right direction for our future. Finally, wrestling saw legends like Lou Thesz and Jose Lothario leave the business, while Bill Dundee officially hung up his boots for good. ----------

<p>Scott Steiner</p><p> Steve Austin</p><p> British Bulldog</p><p> Al and Booker</p><p> Sid and Jake</p><p> Chris Jericho</p><p> </p><p> Savage and Warrior - <em>That Warrior turn was pretty cool, the Titans just got a huge boost.</em></p><p> Ray Traylor</p><p> Rikishi</p><p> Goldberg</p><p> Rick Martel - <em>No Blue Bloods plus longer time limit means Regal doesn't get out of it.</em></p><p> Scott Norton</p><p> Gideon Cain</p>

<p>World Championship Wrestling presents WCW Great American Bash: Gluttony</p><p> </p><p> Vampiro narrates the opening video: <strong>“The weather is warm, the days are long, and people are holding family picnics and get-togethers, they are showing more skin when going on vacations. That leads to increased eating; increased sex drives; increased travel; buying useless trinkets to show that ‘Hey, I’ve been places and done things!’ Everyone is doing everything they can before the cold of winter comes back to the world. They are all guilty of Gluttony of the highest order; they all have been found guilty as hedonistic, uninteresting creatures who will never stop desiring to have and hold more and more and more, until finally, they swallow up the Earth in their petty wants. Father’s Day is the perfect celebration of people who have done nothing yet expect praise for it, gifts and presents and cards that are as meaningless as the paper they have been printed upon. Tonight, WCW celebrates tradition by bringing back the Great American Bash to Baltimore; and all you so-called “#1 Dads” out there are going to see the biggest Gluttons of them all – tonight, when you look in the mirror.”</strong> (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="124" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZ4dxFtkHZU?rel=0&controls=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZ4dxFtkHZU?rel=0&controls=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><p> <img alt="Jmu7WQq.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Jmu7WQq.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong>WCW The Great American Bash: Gluttony</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Shown Live on June 17th, 2001 (Week 2)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Held at: The Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland (Mid Atlantic)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Announcers: Mike Tenay, Scott Hudson, and Arn Anderson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Attendance: 14,000 people (sold out!)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> PPV Rating: 0.10</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> TV Rating: 0.54</span></em></p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/nOfygHf.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/bmOMZT7.jpg</span><img alt="Iv9qCWJ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/Iv9qCWJ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> The fireworks are going off in red, white, and blue as we welcome you to the Great American Bash! As the hard camera takes a look at the two-ring structure of the arena and at the massive steel cage that will be lowered down upon it later tonight, Mike Tenay says that the name of the game tonight is Gluttony, as we see who will be the most indulgent of World Championship Wrestling. Arn Anderson says that it isn’t all about food, it’s about wanting to have it all, and few know more about that than the men in our main event, Scott Steiner and Arn’s own best friend, Ric Flair. Scott Hudson thanks everyone for being with them on this father’s day, telling fans that this is the first time since WCW entered it’s new era that it is on the east coast, and the Baltimore Arena is definitely WCW’s territory! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HikK-1nCws8" rel="external nofollow">“The Reason”</a> starts bouncing over the sound system and it’s time we turn our attention to David Penzer and our opening contest!</p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Rating: N/A</em></span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><img alt="D0QZBAc.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/D0QZBAc.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p><strong> </strong><img alt="j9Ncc2a.jpg?1" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/j9Ncc2a.jpg?1" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><img alt="43rFfe0.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/43rFfe0.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/P8aeNAJ.jpg</span></summary></p><p> <strong>WCW X Division Championship – Triple Threat Match</strong></p><p><strong> Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Billy Kidman vs. Konnan</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 45:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Charles Robinson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Nobody</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Our opening match starts off with a rarity as two of the competitors enter to the same theme. Tenay explains that Tygress is not coming out alongside either Rey or Konnan because she couldn’t be put in the middle of the two here. Kidman plays the smarmy heel by instantly leaving the ring, forcing a one-on-one confrontation between Mysterio and Konnan. The two share an uneasy handshake, and they go at it! “K-Dawg” makes use of his size advantage during this match as Mike Tenay points out that the X-Division is not about weight limits, it’s about no limits. Mysterio counters back with some arm drags and headscissors before starting some quick pinning combinations that net him a series of near-falls. But this only lasts until Kidman sees an opening for himself, diving into the ring and dropkicking Rey between the shoulder blades when he was trying to hold a sunset flip. Billy takes over the match, keeping both of his former companions down with various strikes.</p><p> </p><p> In time, however, Kidman gets a little too confident in his lead, and Konnan makes him pay for it with a wheelbarrow suplex, and the fans cheer loudly as Konnan and Mysterio start double teaming him in the corner with kicks and punches! They execute a few double team moves on him, but Rey goes for a cover after one of them, leading to Konnan pulling him away from it at a two count. That opens it up between the two friends, who start trading punches with far more heart in them than they did at the opening of the match.</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="BrQnKun.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/BrQnKun.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> This brings Vampiro out to the aisle to watch the proceedings, with a big smile on his face as he watches what Scott Hudson says is all his handiwork. He calls Vampiro a manipulator who drove a wedge between these three friends, and now they may never be the same! Vampiro doesn’t get involved, but he keeps an eye on things as Kidman rests after the salvo of moves that he had taken. At one point, this match spills into the second ring as Rey is thrown into it by Konnan. But Mysterio comes back by executing a picture perfect springboard plancha onto both Konnan and Kidman in the first ring! But all in all, it doesn’t appear that any of the three can put one another away, even when Kidman pulls off a stunning Shooting Star Press from the top rope to the outside of the ring to take down both champion and the other challenger!</p><p> </p><p> At the end, Konnan and Mysterio are alone in the ring. Rey gets Konnan all set up and performs the bronco buster on him, and starts getting him set for a big springboard finishing blow. However just as he is jumping, Kidman comes over and grabs his legs, pulling him down and slamming Rey’s face with a punch – it looks like he has a foreign object in his hand! Billy throws Rey into the ring and pulls him up, but Konnan gets involved before he can cover.</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="INnDeAu.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/INnDeAu.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Tygress comes running down to the ring and gets the attention of Charles Robinson, trying to alert him to what happened. Kidman doesn’t appreciate the intrusion though, and he goes over and grabs her by the hair, getting ready to slap her off the apron. But Rey hits him from behind with a dropkick, not seeing Tygress and accidentally knocking him into her! Mysterio notices what he had done and starts trying to look for if she’s alright, but that’s when he gets rolled up from behind! Konnan puts all his weight on Mysterio’s shoulders, and he can’t seem to get out – and Kidman is just a split second too late! The match is over and we have a brand new champion to start the Great American Bash!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 15:23</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: This got the show off to a strong start and left the crowd buzzing.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Rating: B-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i.imgur.com/1D13aft.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/QDX2HET.jpg?1</span><img alt="0f6jrZ3.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/0f6jrZ3.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div><p></p><p></p><p> We head into the interview area as “Mean” Gene and Jeremy welcome “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair! Gene says that it has been far too long since we saw Flair don the lavish robe and step into the ring, with Flair getting fully animated with a long <em>“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeean Gene!”</em> He says that it had been very fun getting to be the CEO of World Championship Wrestling, but “The Nature Boy” isn’t a suit, he’s a man, and now that he’s taken off the suit and put a robe back on, he is once again THE man! And Scott Steiner is going to have to find out tonight what everybody knows, to be the man, you have to beat the man, and no one has proven that they can be “the man” for the past thirty years! Flair is a real star in this segment, dancing and selling the upcoming match tonight like the consummate pro that he is, but does such a good job that Gene gets a bit lost in all the hustle. Flair’s message is this: the time for all the talk is over. He’s not stepping out of the way anymore. He’s gonna do this for Tully Blanchard, for Arn Anderson, for Harley Race, for Dusty Rhodes; he’s going to restore tradition to the World championship, and hand it down to the children of the sport like his four kids. Ric leaves the interview area, with Gene wishing him the best of luck in his match tonight. </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Rating: B+</em></span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/TVeq0Hh.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/UJcxP85.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/p0fsy4K.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><img alt="uhGNkrD.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/uhGNkrD.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><img alt="MQ8Bgio.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/MQ8Bgio.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><span>http://i.imgur.com/wZZb3Lb.jpg</span></summary> <p> <strong>Hugh Morrus and KroniK vs. The Problem Solvers</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 30:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Mark Johnson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Nobody</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Morrus opens the match against Disqo, with Hugh taking control pretty easily. He tags each member of Kronik into the match and they throw Disqo around until he tags in C.W. Simon’s personal enforcer stands his ground against Adams and Clark, with Adams finding himself as the face-in-peril when Simon pulls the top rope down and sends him crashing to the floor. Brian gets taken apart by the Problem Solvers, with C.W. especially getting a near-fall with his Ferris Wheel Suplex. Simon hits his Simon Series on Adams for another near-fall, but Brian is able to catch him in an STO in order to turn the tide. After making the big tag to Hugh Morrus, while Simon tags in Disqo, the match loses control and a surprising person joins the fray… </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <img alt="uTuHt06.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/uTuHt06.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><div style="text-align:center;"></div><p></p><p></p><p> It’s Sgt. A-WALL! We haven’t seen him since the beginning of the year, and he comes out and enters the ring as Mark Johnson is paying attention elsewhere. He reaches out and grabs……. Disqo! One big chokeslam puts Simon’s lackey on the mat, and when Hugh Morrus hits the No Laughing Matter moonsault on him, it spells the end for this bout.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 12:23</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: Disqo seemed a little off his game tonight, but the match calmed the crowd as planned.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Rating: C</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/8CcQwCr.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><img alt="RZtHyG7.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/RZtHyG7.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></summary> <p> <strong>Gluttony Match</strong></p><p><strong> Kanyon vs. Jimmy Snuka Jr.</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 30:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Charles Robinson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Daffney (Kanyon) / Jimmy Snuka (Jimmy Snuka Jr.)</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Kanyon, wanting to claim the prize for himself, attacks Snuka before the bell sounds, going to work on him right away. Jimmy is pretty new not only to WCW but also to wrestling in general, so his style isn’t very well known. But it seems as though Kanyon doesn’t care to find out as he does all he can to practically dominate the match. However… </p><p> </p><p> <img alt="BrQnKun.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/BrQnKun.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> Vampiro appears out of the back, coming to the ring slowly and never taking his eyes off of the ring. He shoves Jimmy Snuka out of the way to where Daffney can hold him off and then gets up on the apron, with Tenay thinking that he’s out to give Kanyon the match. But instead he orders Kanyon to lay down! Kanyon tries to argue, but Vampiro orders it over again, and the strange power that he holds over the Dark Eden compels Kanyon to do so. With that, Snuka Jr. reluctantly makes the cover, and just like that, the Gluttony match has been decided with a 1, 2, 3.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 6:48</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: Snuka did some good work at ringside. Kanyon was really off his game. Kanyon and Daffney have excellent chemistry together, while the Snukas chemistry is very poor. The announcing really helped this match though.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Rating: C-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/3Iw81k1.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/q9Frvho.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/PLFbwG7.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/o9HKxZh.jpg</span></summary> <p> <strong>WCW World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender – Fatal Four Way Match</strong></p><p><strong> “The DFG” Rick Steiner vs. “The Prodigal Son” Dustin Rhodes vs. Sting vs. Animal</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 45:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Billy Silverman</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Nobody</span></em></p><p> </p><p> This match is kept pretty short for two reasons: one, because three out of four people in it are in some level of time decline; and two, time constraints for this show. Because of that, there’s not much for everyone to do except run through their signature moves on one another. Everyone gets at least one chance to get the win, but someone generally breaks it up.</p><p> </p><p> The match comes to a close when Sting and Animal are brawling outside the ring, which opens “The Prodigal Son” up to battle one on one with Rick Steiner. “The DFG” finds himself slumped in the turnbuckle, and Rhodes takes full advantage by delivering a running low blow on him! Animal breaks away from Sting and breaks up a pinfall, but when Animal starts throwing Dustin out of the ring, “The Stinger” comes off the top rope with a big splash on Steiner! Animal gets caught up in what he’s doing, and the official registers a three count, officially naming Sting as the new number one contender!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 9:11</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: None.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Rating: B-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i.imgur.com/7f8ztT6.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/jpiA2IS.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/u2xvS59.jpg</span></div><p></p><p></p><p> Jeff Jarrett is on his way to the ring when The Harris Boys walk up to him. But “The Chosen One” tells them to hold up; asking what they think they’re doing. They say that they’re coming to watch his back, but Jarrett tells them that he’s canceled their checks, he’s sick and tired of their failing him and they’re fired! Jarrett tells them that he can do better without them than he has done with them, and walks away from them, heading down to the ring! Big Ron and Heavy D look at one another and shrug before walking away.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Rating: C</em></span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/JBl4mtV.jpg?1</span><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/7f8ztT6.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/5rkkWkl.jpg</span></summary> </p><p> <strong>WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Match</strong></p><p><strong> “The Chosen One” Jeff Jarrett vs. Ernest “The Cat” Miller</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 45:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Rudy Charles</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Nobody</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Commentary are really surprised to see Jeff Jarrett out here on his own, “The Chosen One” apparently feeling as though he can handle this all on his own. “The Cat” is at the top of his game tonight, and he rocks the champion with a series of martial arts kicks that send Jeff out of the ring to gather himself again. Jeff re-enters the ring only after the young, fresh-faced WCW official Rudy Charles backs Miller away. It was a successful Memphis heel trick however, as Jeff finds an opening to hit “The Cat” in the midsection and start wearing him down.</p><p> </p><p> The champion nearly loses his cool after Ernest is able to use his martial arts training to reverse The Stroke into his own pinning combination, but Jarrett finds his footing again following a sneaky low blow, and he drags a doubled-over Miller into The Stroke and makes a cover to retain his championship. Tenay decries his methods, saying that even without the Harris Boys, it looks like Jarrett isn’t planning to change his ways after all.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 4:25</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: Jarrett has shown an improved performance, and the announcing of this match lifted it’s quality.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Ratings: C-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i.imgur.com/1D13aft.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/QDX2HET.jpg?1</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/C4RidzV.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/3Iw81k1.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/9Bo1juQ.jpg</span></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> “Mean” Gene and “Green” Jeremy knock on the door to the dressing room of the Steiner Brothers, with Gene looking to get some words with the Steiners ahead of Scott’s title defense tonight. The door swings wide open, and you can hear Scott yell <em>“God dammit!”</em> when he sees who it is. <em>“I thought it was the girls comin’! But I guess they’ll have to wait and be comin’ later, after I defend my title and go out into the night to pull in all the best freaks Baltimore can offer!”</em> Gene says be that as it may, he can’t be very happy that Rick lost his bid at the number one contendership earlier tonight. Rick tries going after Gene for that comment, with Scott telling his brother to cool it, calm down. “The DFG” is clearly icing his nether region after the low blow that he was given by Dustin Rhodes, with him stammering out that Dustin has some hell to pay for that, he’s gonna think the beatings his daddy didn’t give him was a calm sunny day compared to what’s coming for him! Scott says that all in all, tonight is gonna be a good night anyways, because tonight he’s gonna finally get the <em>“limousine ridin’, jet flyin’, backstabbin’, son of a bitch with more loose skin than a sharpei puppy and the yella’istm horsiest teeth this side of Mister Ed”</em> in the ring, and he’s gonna beat him under the ring, through the ring, around the ring, and he’s gonna wish he never took off that $15 suit coat and put on his boots again, because Steiner is gonna suplex him right back out of them! Okerlund looks lost here as he seems to be paying attention to Midajah, but Scott snaps him right back out of it, telling Gene that he can see Midajah’s reflection in his bald head, he needs to pay attention to the champ, because that’s the man who’s gonna beat the so-called man’s ass tonight! “Big Poppa Pump” just looks like a real star here, masterfully improvising off of Gene’s superb work. Rick is the only low point of this segment, but his struggling I guess could be chalked up to selling his groin kick earlier. Scott closes the interview by looking straight into the camera and warning Flair to walk away now; he ain’t no fat, old Dusty Rhodes or no weak-ass Hulk Hogan who are gonna take his shit offense in the ring and make him look good; he’s “Big Poppa Pump, The Big Bad Booty Daddy.” And “Freakzilla” is just gonna take that figure four, bend Flair over, and shove it up his wrinkled old ass! </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;">Rating: B</span></em></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><span>http://i.imgur.com/J0zzIdm.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/1D13aft.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/QDX2HET.jpg?1</span><img alt="LQ6dU8Y.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/LQ6dU8Y.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><span>http://i.imgur.com/4Xrf1GV.jpg</span><img alt="g2TLdXY.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/g2TLdXY.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></div><p></p><p></p><p> The WCW Panel are joined once again this month by the stunning Stacy Kiebler! Tony Schiavone again thanks everyone for joining World Championship Wrestling on this Father’s Day, then thanks the band Dope for the theme of the Great American Bash this year, “Now or Never,” a brand new single off their upcoming album Life. They talk about what we have seen so far tonight, with Sting being named the new number one contender in that incredible fatal four-way match, Jeff Jarrett apparently firing the Harris Boys as his bodyguards, the surprises of a new X-Division champion and the return of Sergeant A-WALL, and Jimmy Snuka Jr. winning the luxuries of the Gluttony match! The Panel say that everyone needs to stay with us, because as we speak they are lowering the War Games cage, and later tonight there will be the World championship match that we have been waiting for, Ric Flair steps back into the ring to take on Scott Steiner!</p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Rating: D+</em></span></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><img alt="KEWyfBx.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/KEWyfBx.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></summary> <p> <strong>War Games</strong></p><p><strong> The World (Lance Storm, Mike Awesome, Elix Skipper, Shawn Stasiak, and Alex Wright) vs. Booker T, Sid Vicious, and The Natural Born Thrillers (Sean O’Haire, Mark Jindrak, and Chuck Palumbo)</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: No Time Limit</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Nick Patrick</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Tylene (Lance Storm)</span></em></p><p> </p><p> First, David Penzer goes over the rules for the War Games.</p><p> 1. One man from each team will enter for the initial five minute period.</p><p> 2. After the first period, referee Nick Patrick will flip a coin to determine which team gains the advantage for the next two minute period.</p><p> 3. Teams will alternate sending a competitor into the ring until all ten have entered, and we begin The Match Beyond!</p><p> 4. There are no pinfalls, no disqualifications; only submission, surrender, or knock out to decide the fall!</p><p> 5. The losing faction, be it the Natural Born Thrillers or The World, will be forced to split up following this match!</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/0p3vm5y.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Ab5gddQ.jpg</span></p><p> </p><p> To many people’s surprise, team captain and leader of The World, Lance Storm, enters the ring first for his team. He faces off in the initial five minute period against the explosive Sean O’Haire, who Arn Anderson says could hold the WCW championship sooner rather than later if his career continues on it’s current trajectory. Storm tries to use his speed advantage, but O’Haire is not far off from him, with his intense offense pushing Lance back into the other ring. Sean makes a rookie mistake though as he tries to enter the other ring, and Storm makes him pay for it with a superkick before O’Haire had his bearings. From there, Storm does everything he can to weaken the strong legs of the Tag Team champion, while also slamming his face into the steel cage! Storm hits a jumping leg lariat – but no he doesn’t, O’Haire caught him in mid-air, and he delivers a version of a fall-away slam that hurls Lance against the side of the cage! “Double A” says that he knows all too well how that feels as Lance slides down the fence, the steel ripping and tearing at his flesh.</p><p> </p><p> At ringside, the camera notices Mike Awesome and Booker T meeting on either side of Nick Patrick, and the coin toss is made… it’s a huge surprise, The World has won the coin toss! They get a one man advantage for the next two minutes!</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/aowkvCk.jpg</span></p><p> “Primetime” Elix Skipper enters the cage, rushing over and hitting a dropkick on O’Haire that gives Storm a chance to hit him with a low blow! The World team do a number on Sean as he is unable to mount any response to this attack. Sean hits a few punches here and there to try fighting back, but overall this remains two minutes of Skipper and Storm delivering a beating. But the countdown starts to ring out over the arena, and O’Haire is about to get some assistance…</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/eg47FwE.jpg</span></p><p> It’s Chuck Palumbo entering the cage next, and he rushes across the ring to attack! Lance smartly meets him, giving up the two on one advantage in order to allow “Primetime” the chance to do more to O’Haire. Palumbo is fresh though, and he catches Storm with a discus elbow smash! “The Main Event” goes over and pulls Skipper away from O’Haire, drilling Elix with a Jungle Kick in order to let Sean catch his breath. Two of the Natural Born Thrillers now take to beating down on the two members of The World, with Storm starting to bleed after being rammed into the cage yet again. Skipper gains some level of edge by holding onto the roof of the cage and using that to deliver a hurricanrana to Palumbo, but overall the match stays fairly even until the countdown reaches zero and the next man enters the bout…</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/D5yqUxE.jpg</span></p><p> “The Career Killer” doesn’t just enter the match, he gets into the ring and dives over both sets of top ropes, hitting a double diving clothesline on Palumbo and O’Haire! The heaviest hitter of The World does a number on both his enemies while Storm and Skipper sit back and recover. “Primetime” enters the fray anytime Awesome looks like he needs help, and Storm begins directing traffic before locking Palumbo in the Canadian Maple Leaf! Scott Hudson talks about how this match cannot end yet, but if he locks Chuck in this hold again toward the end of the bout, this early damage to his frame could spell defeat for the Thrillers. Awesome gets on the middle rope and delivers a diving clothesline to O’Haire, keeping him down and out. It looks as though The World are on top of the world as the countdown for this two minute period ends…</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/8msICNG.jpg</span></p><p> To much surprise, Booker T comes flying through the ropes! Skipper tries to meet him first, but Booker lifts him up and plants him on the mat with the 110th Street Slam! Awesome attempts to block him from reaching Storm, but Booker outmaneuvers him before hitting the ropes and getting him with a scissors kick! O’Haire and Booker T have Storm cornered, but he quickly sees the predicament he is in and drops Palumbo, sliding in between his attackers and making his way into the opposite ring where he has backup. Tenay says that not many people are as smart in the ring as Lance Storm, and this just proves it. This becomes a nice even three on three match now, as Palumbo and O’Haire join Storm in gaining blood down their faces after fighting with Awesome, as he hurls each of them into the steel cage, grating Palumbo’s face across the fence especially. Booker T turns the tide on him and smashes Awesome into the fence though, just as the countdown reaches it’s end…</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/236b822.jpg</span></p><p> “Das Wunderkind” enters the bout with a dropkick to Booker, making him smash against the cage wall. He has a few moments in the sun here, but overall it’s still more about Awesome dealing damage to the Thrillers side. He nails Booker with a release german suplex, helping to put him out so that it can become a four on two assault on O’Haire and Palumbo.</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/1pL4QTx.jpg</span></p><p> The next entrant is Mark Jindrak, but unfortunately he ends up getting a three on one beating as Booker and O’Haire are held at bay by Awesome, and Chuck doesn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to help him after what happened this past week on Nitro! Mark takes quite a beating from Storm, Skipper, and Wright, but out of nowhere comes O’Haire with a diving body attack to the three of them! The match starts to turn more towards the side of the Thrillers, but…</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/RLTACre.jpg</span></p><p> That’s when Shawn Stasiak enters the ring, and he throws powder in O’Haire’s eyes! He follows that up by hitting a low blow on Palumbo, before going to work on Jindrak. Shawn is definitely doing all he can to play keep-away from his former partners, with Tenay talking about how the Natural Born Thrillers and (at that time) Team Canada likely would have just coexisted if it wasn’t for Stasiak turning this into a feud back in March. With the full five-on-four advantage, it looks as though this could definitely spell the end for the Thrillers here tonight as Palumbo is locked back in the Canadian Maple Leaf in one corner of the two rings opposite of where Sid stands, with the other four World members circling around the door that he must enter through. It looks like by the time Vicious gets into the match, Chuck may already be ready to submit!</p><p> </p><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/ClBTeNn.jpg</span></p><p> The final buzzer sounds, and big Sid enters the cage!</p><p> </p><p> <strong>The Match Beyond</strong></p><p> It’s a wild donnybrook at the door as four men assault Sid, but he doesn’t back down as he keeps throwing wild punches at anything that moves! The camera keeps up on Storm and Palumbo however, but there was one flaw in the plan: four men on Sid means there are three men to break up the submission, which Jindrak does with a running clothesline to Lance! As Booker T and Sean O’Haire go over and start evening the numbers up on Sid, Palumbo slaps Jindrak’s hand away as he tries to help him up. He pulls himself to his feet and stares Jindrak down… before giving him a big, manly hug! It was a ruse all along! The two of them start attacking Storm together, with the two locking him right in between a combined Jungle Kick and high angle dropkick! Sid has now broken through, and he starts pummeling Awesome with a series of forearm smashes to the back! Skipper tries to grab him with a hurricanrana – but Sid halts it and delivers a Powerbomb! “Primetime” is out of it!</p><p> </p><p> Stasiak has another trick up his sleeve as he goes to use powder again, getting Sid in the eyes with it. He has definitely been the troublemaker of this match, appearing long enough to get in a cheap shot before hiding behind his companions. But as he is making his escape this time, he backs right into an angry Sean O’Haire! Sean grabs him and starts delivering knee lifts, before lifting him and hurling Shawn into the steel cage face first! He lifts Stasiak up into a military press slam, literally lifting him repeatedly like dead weight to smash him into the roof of the cage before throwing him down! But Awesome tackles O’Haire before he can do any more damage, before hitting him with a gutwrench version of the Awesome Bomb to put Sean down! This is anyone’s ballgame here!</p><p> </p><p> It comes down to Lance Storm and Booker T in one corner of the ring close to The World’s side. Nick Patrick is standing by the cage, paying attention to who is doing what. But that means he isn’t watching the door, which is when Tylene makes her move. She enters the ring, taking a steel chair along with her, while Nick is checking to make sure O’Haire or Skipper aren’t knocked out. She places the chair down before going into another corner and removing the turnbuckle pad, before getting Booker T’s attention. She then rips her shirt in half, using her “assets” to try to distract Booker. She motions him toward her, but he jumps when she tries to do a low blow kick – and it catches Lance Storm instead! Nick Patrick enters the cage and starts pulling Tylene out of there, forcing her out of the cage!</p><p> </p><p> But now, Storm is severely weakened, and Booker starts hitting him with a series of punches and sidekicks. Lance is getting rocked back and forth, and the former three-time World champion grabs onto him as if he’s ready to deliver the Book End. But he instead pulls him face-first into the exposed turnbuckle first, before delivering the Book End onto the steel chair! No one is around to do anything about it, and Nick Patrick sees that Storm isn’t responding – and he calls for the bell! The match is over, The World has ended!</p><p> </p><p> As the winners file out of the cage, Tylene re-enters the ring and starts tending to Storm. The realization starts to set in on them all that the match is over, and they didn’t survive the War Games. Storm finally starts to come to, hearing Booker T’s theme music playing over the arena is not what he was expecting! He looks around the ring at his now former companions… and he lashes out at all of them! The cameraman is able to get close enough to hear him as the cage is rising back above the rings, and it hears him tell them all that he took them all in when they were failures and made them winners, but they proved in the end to all be failures after all! Tylene tries to sidle up next to him in agreement, but he yells at her too, telling her to take her plastic smiles and plastic breasts and shove them, because she’s a failure too! Storm says he’s done surrounding himself with failures, because he’s a winner, and he’s going to win! With that, he drops out of the ring and walks away, in the manner that he hasn’t been during the majority of his WCW career: all alone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 28:36</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: Sid and Skipper were really off their game. Booker looked excellent here, and the crowd are left buzzing.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Ratings: C+ / C-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/m632nAf.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/8qQmyb4.gif</span></summary> <p> <strong>Norman Smiley vs. Leia Meow’s Champion</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 30:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Scott James</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Leia Meow (???)</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Norman Smiley comes to the rain awaiting his opponent. Leia Meow comes out to the top of the aisle alone, waiting…</p><p> </p><p> <img alt="SBiu0Qi.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/SBiu0Qi.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> Yang suddenly attacks from behind! He must have come out of the crowd! He assaults Smiley with a fast paced attack, mixing kick variations to keep Norman off balance. He tries to do a belly to belly suplex, but Norman counters it and delivers a big twisting scoop slam. Norman starts warming up the crowd… and he does the Big Wiggle to Yang! After that, he hooks up the Norman Conquest, earning himself a submission victory over Yang.</p><p> </p><p> Leia gets a microphone afterward though, and she tells Norman that she hopes he’s happy that he defeated Yang. However, he was not the opponent that she had lined up for him; Yang simply wanted to try to defend Meow’s honor. However, the opponent that she has found for him and brought to WCW is far less honorable…</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <iframe width="50" height="50" src="<a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/McMV21JS6g8?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/McMV21JS6g8?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <img alt="9zno9b2.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/9zno9b2.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> From out of the backstage area comes former ECW star Yoshihiro Tajiri! Leia Meow leads him down to the ring, and Tajiri slides in and starts immediately attacking Smiley! A series of vicious kicks to the back of the knees lead to kicks in his stomach, which makes Norman start trying to run away, screaming! But there’s no escape, as Tajiri is all over him. Mike Tenay starts spouting information about him, saying that he has been known in the past as “The Japanese Buzzsaw” and those kicks prove why. Smiley has no response for the punishment being inflicted upon him, as he gets caught with a handspring back elbow that puts him down on the mat. He measures Smiley as he groggily gets back up to his knees before unleashing a vicious kick right to Smiley’s chin! Norman is completely out of it, and Tajiri pulls him to his feet before drilling him to the mat with a brainbuster, before covering him for the very, very easy three count. Leia Meow enters the ring in sheer joy over her champion’s victory, as Scott Hudson says that it looks like we have a new rising star in World Championship Wrestling!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 2:50 / 4:19</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: The part featuring Norman and Yang calmed the crowd as planned, doing well to lead into Tajiri’s debut. The announcing team was really good and helped to lift both match segments.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Ratings: D+ / D- / D+</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> With the tag team match coming up next, Totally Buff come out to the ring. They are looking very confident, but Scott Hudson wonders if it isn’t a bit of show for the crowd and for Kevin Nash. The sound of the wolf’s howl brings out “Big Sexy” himself, and he has his regular you-know-what-eating grin on his face as he gets a microphone. <em>“Big Sexy is in the house!”</em> he exclaims, getting a cheer from the Baltimore crowd. He says that for months, “Flexy Lexy” and “Bag Stuffwell” have been beating on him and saying he doesn’t have any friends to take them on with. But what they never expected was that some people don’t need to like Kevin Nash, in order to dislike Totally Buff! And with that, he points toward the backstage area… </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="80" height="50" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M9udAirjw3U?rel=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/M9udAirjw3U?rel=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> The crowd really come alive now! The fireworks start going off on the entrance ramp, and when they dissipate, it’s “DA MAN!” Commentary are shocked as we last saw him on Friday getting attacked by the Steiner Brothers, but now he’s here! What shape will he be in, though? Perhaps Totally Buff will get the chance to retire Goldberg and his streak after all…</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/SDaEctv.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/UDcdLVe.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/7qAgwif.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/EVSpvhk.jpg</span></summary> <p> <strong>Totally Buff vs. “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash and “Da Man” Goldberg</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: 45:00</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Mark Johnson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Madusa (Totally Buff)</span></em></p><p> </p><p> The initial surprise and offense of Goldberg’s appearance wears off when Buff Bagwell gets a lucky strike into his midsection. It is apparent that he is definitely not 100% after Friday’s attack. Totally Buff take over the match at this point, and it gets really close to him losing the match. “The Total Package” especially gets a very close win when he hoists Goldberg into the Torture Rack, but Nash is able to make the save.</p><p> </p><p> In the end of the match, however, Buff spends a little too long playing to the crowd as he waits to hit the Buff Blockbuster, and Goldberg hits a Spear on him as Buff was flying towards him! Goldberg is able to crawl over to Nash, who gets in and starts running wild on both Luger and Bagwell. Madusa tries to get up on the apron, but even she takes an elbow from Nash! She sells that the best out of all four men in the match. Kevin hits a big sidewalk slam on Luger (prompting a loud <em>“OH!”</em> from him) before the straps come down! Bagwell tries to get involved, but Goldberg cuts him off with a big savate kick to his jaw! Goldberg and Kevin Nash may not get along, but with a nod, they both lift up a member of Totally Buff and nearly simultaneously deliver a Jackhammer to Bagwell and a Jackknife to Luger! This match is all over as both men make the cover, ending this match in grand fashion!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 11:20</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: There wasn’t enough selling in this and it deserved better color commentary, but it got the crowd hotter.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Ratings: B / B-</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> David Penzer announces that it is now time for our main event!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="180" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q-BkQS8eYec?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q-BkQS8eYec?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p></p><p></p><p> In all his pomp and circumstance, the camera zooms clear up the ramp as out steps “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair! Tonight he makes his return to the ring wearing one of his finest dark blue with white trimmed robes, with dark blue trunks and light blue boots. Ric comes across well here as he walks to the ring with purpose, sharing a “Woooo!” with the fans, with many fans holding up the four fingers towards him. Arn Anderson says that he knows the look in those eyes; “The Nature Boss” is gone, “The Nature Boy” is here to stay.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="180" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uZITiFfFlPM?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/uZITiFfFlPM?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0"</a> frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p></p><p></p><p> The sirens blare through the arena, and the mood turns instantly sour as “Big Poppa Pump” comes sauntering out of the back. He flexes his huge muscles on the way down to the ring, as Midajah stays at his back. David Penzer may look dreadful standing in the ring between the two competitors, but Scott comes out of this looking excellent as he tells Flair to say his prayers because he’s gonna kill him right here tonight! He poses during the introduction, but Flair remains stoic… and the bell sounds.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Rating: B</em></span></p></div><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary></p><span>http://i.imgur.com/vVQclRt.jpg?1</span><p> <span>http://i.imgur.com/C4RidzV.jpg</span><span>http://i.imgur.com/Uk8UtOC.jpg</span><img alt="jsLWvDR.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/jsLWvDR.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></summary> </p><p> <strong>WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match</strong></p><p><strong> “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner vs. “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Announced Time Limit: TV Time Remaining</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Official: Nick Patrick</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Ringside: Midajah (Scott Steiner)</span></em></p><p> </p><p> Ric Flair starts maneuvering around the ring, telling Scott to “come on, ya sonuvabitch!” Steiner makes it look like he wants to lock up, but instead he pulls back and flexes his biceps at Flair. “The Nature Boy” retaliates by not locking up, instead pulling back and running his hands through his hair. But all the posturing means nothing once the two finally make contact, which happens when the champion forces a charge, but Flair dodges out of the way, causing Steiner to crash into the turnbuckle pads, and when he turns back around “The Nature Boy” is right there to give him a chop across the massive chest! Flair backs away, putting himself out of the ring in order to play mind games. There are a few more hit-and-run moments similar to this, but all at once, Scott Steiner shows that he’s not just any other athlete by blocking and grabbing Flair’s chop before it strikes him, twisting Ric’s arm before delivering a vicious short-arm clothesline! From here the power match begins, as Flair is thrown from pillar to post, Scott whipping him to the turnbuckle so hard that Flair shoots up over the top rope, making him land on the outside of the ring.</p><p> </p><p> “Big Poppa Pump” takes full control of the match, hitting an overhead belly to belly suplex before dropping an elbow on Flair’s chest. He looks like he’s going to go for a cover, but only lets Nick Patrick count to two before sliding off and doing some push-ups. He moves into a big gorilla press slam, slamming Flair down onto the mat with ease. Ric barely has time to catch his breath before Steiner is drilling him with another spinning belly to belly suplex. Mike Tenay says this is starting to become a clinic in taking someone apart, with Arn Anderson being very clearly biased in his calling of the match as he very blatantly cheers for his best friend to come back into the match. Steiner starts outright mocking Flair, yelling at him “Who’s the man? Huh?!” He stomps on Ric’s back, before elbow dropping it repeatedly. But there is still fight in “The Nature Boy” as he turns a suplex into a small package!</p><p> </p><p> 1!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> 2!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Kickout!</p><p> Scott Steiner is upset, and he shows it by just outright punching Flair in the face as he rested against the ropes. Nick Patrick starts warning Steiner against that type of action, but he pays him little attention before giving Flair another big bodyslam back into the center of the ring. Steiner starts walking around the ring, posing and flexing and taunting the crowd by proxy as he harasses Flair on the mat. He continually urges Ric to just give up, but Arn Anderson says that there’s no chance that Ric gives this up. Scott Hudson says that this is probably not the Father’s Day that Flair had in mind.</p><p> </p><p> “The Nature Boy” fights back from his knees, punching at Steiner’s midsection repeatedly, but Steiner knees him in the chin. He lifts Flair up into a vertical suplex, holding him there with one arm just to show how impressive and powerful he is. After falling back and causing Flair to crash hard onto the mat, he goes for a cover; however, Flair manages to kick out at a close two count. Steiner just grows more and more cocky with each maneuver though, as he whips Flair into the ropes. However Ric is able to duck the clothesline, coming off the ropes and catching Scott with a cross body block! He goes for the cover!</p><p> </p><p> 1!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> 2!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> Kickout!</p><p> Steiner not only kicks out, but he hurls Flair off of him, sending him outside the ring. The match falls out there now, where Steiner stalks Ric around the ring. But when he goes after him, Flair pulls Steiner by the tights into the turnbuckle post! The crowd are coming alive for “The Nature Boy” as he blocks Steiner in the corner of the ring barricade, and as the fans cheer him on he delivers harsh knife-edge chops across the massive chest of Scott Steiner! Flair throws Steiner into the ring, sliding back in before chopblocking his knee! Flair pulls on the leg, kicking at the back of the kneecap as Arn starts touting this as potentially the beginning of the end since Ric is the master of taking apart the knee of his opponents. He puts Steiner’s leg over the bottom rope and drops all of his weight down upon it, doing it one more time for good measure. “The Nature Boy” is feeling himself again now as he begins strutting around, saying that it’s time to go to school. He backs off to a corner and walks out, measuring Steiner in order to drop a knee right on his forehead. He goes for a cover, but it’s only a two count; however the kickout is not nearly as strong as the one last time. Flair shows some of his own strength as he lifts Steiner into his own vertical suplex, delaying it to really let the blood rush to Steiner’s head before crashing him down to the mat. After another near-fall (close enough that Midajah is screaming for her man now) Steiner is pulled off the mat in order for Ric to pick him up and hit a shin breaker. He lets Steiner fall to the mat but hangs onto his leg. Flair pulls on the leg a little, hyper-extending the knee, before spinning around, looking for the figure four leglock!</p><p> </p><p> But no, Steiner grabs Flair by the hair and jabs him in the eye! That breaks the hold, and now Steiner is even more upset than before. Knowing how close he was to being locked in the figure four, he pulls himself to his feet and rushes, blasting Flair with a Steinerline. He then pushes Flair into the turnbuckles, and he starts nailing him with big, heavy punches, before shoving Nick Patrick away again when he warns him of disqualification. “Big Poppa Pump” lifts Flair up onto his massive shoulders before climbing up to the second rope. He yells out to the crowd, saying he’s the man now, before delivering a big time samoan drop! He goes for the cover, with Tenay saying that this has to be it!</p><p> </p><p> 1!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> 2!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> No! </p><p> </p><p> Flair gets his shoulder up, just barely! Steiner is finally starting to get really frustrated, as he hoists Flair up to his feet again. He delivers another hard spinning belly to belly suplex, with Flair kicking out once again at two. This time, Steiner hoists Flair up and delivers a double underhook powerbomb! He drops an elbow on Flair, staying on him to get a pin… </p><p> </p><p> 1!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> 2!</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> 3!</p><p> The count is registered – but wait, no! Flair had his foot on the bottom rope! But Steiner doesn’t realize it, as he gets up and starts celebrating, telling Midajah to bring him his title. Nick Patrick goes over and informs him of the mistake, but “Big Poppa Pump” doesn’t take it very well. Instead of continuing the match, he starts arguing with Nick, before outright blasting him in the face with a straight punch! Nick falls to the outside of the ring, and Scott tells Midajah to throw him the lead pipe! He’s out to hurt Flair now!</p><p> </p><p> Steiner measures his shot, preparing to bring the pipe down right across Flair’s face. He hoists it up – but no, “The Dirtiest Player in the Game” hits a low blow! Steiner drops the pipe, and Flair picks it up! He hits it against Steiner’s knee, taking him down before hitting it a few more times for good measure! Midajah enters the ring and jumps on Flair’s back, but he throws her aside. “The Nature Boy” looks around the ring at the fans, before letting out a loud “Woooooo!” and locking in the figure four leglock! There is intense pain going on, as Scott Steiner screams in agony! The beating that he took from the pipe is hurting him intensely, and Flair keeps applying all the pressure that his legs can, screaming at Scott to “Give up, you son of a bitch! Give up!” Meanwhile, someone is running toward the ring… </p><p> </p><p> But it’s Arn Anderson! He has left the commentary table and is heading down to ringside, where he wakes up Nick Patrick! He gets Patrick back to his feet and has him look over the apron, where he sees Scott Steiner tap out! He taps out! Nick Patrick motions to the timekeeper to ring the bell! “Double A” is ecstatic as he enters the ring and gives Flair a hug! The celebration has begun as the fans are screaming at this surreal moment!</p><p> </p><p> However… </p><p> </p><p> Nick Patrick talks to David Penzer, who delivers the announcement. <em>“Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the match, ‘Nature Boy’ Ric Flair! By disqualification…… therefore, still your WCW World Heavyweight champion, Scott Steiner.”</em></p><p> </p><p> The announcement rings out, but most people are just too excited that Flair won to pay much attention. Mike Tenay says that this is absolute chaos, urging people to stay tuned to the WCW Live Post-Show Coverage for more information and to watch WCW Nitro this Friday… until then, happy father’s day and we will see you next month for Bash at the Beach!</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:right;"><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em>Match Time: 32:28</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Notes: Flair seemed off his game, perhaps a little off from not having wrestled in almost a year. Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson were pretty weak on commentary, but the crowd were buzzing.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-size:8px;"><em> Rating: B+</em></span></p></div><p></p><p><hr></details></p></div><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>WCW Live Post-Show Coverage</strong></summary> </p><p> The pay-per-view itself is over, but we stay with the ring where the celebration continues. Even though Ric Flair actually did not win the championship, men such as Arn Anderson, Sting, Goldberg, Booker T, Dustin Rhodes, and Sid Vicious all make their way to the ring to lift Flair onto their shoulders. “Big Poppa Pump” however is not in a very celebratory mood, as he hobbles slightly on the outside of the ring. He is mad, but not stupid, so he does not re-enter the ring, instead storming off with Midajah and his title. (Rating: A)</p><p> </p><p> We go back to The WCW Panel along with Stacy Kiebler, who talk about what happened in our main event. They can’t believe Ric Flair actually won the match, but he did not win the championship. (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> We go to behind the curtain where cameras have caught up with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. “The Nature Boy” says that he wasn’t even sure if he’d have been able to do it, but he made Scott Steiner tap out. He says that if things had gone differently, he’d be walking out with the championship right now, but the record books will show, one way or another, that Ric Flair just defeated Scott Steiner. (Rating: B+)</p><p> </p><p> The WCW Panel and Stacy shift gears to talk about what we saw in War Games. They say it was a vicious match, which had a surprising ending when Booker T made Lance Storm unable to continue. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> We cut back to a dressing room where Lance Storm is angrily throwing his gear into his bags. Tylene is there trying to calm him down, but he continually is telling her to get out. He sees the camera and reiterates that he’s tired of being surrounded by failures, that the only person he can trust is himself and his own abilities. Tylene comes back, but he shoves past her, leaving the room and the arena in a huff. (Rating: B-)</p><p> </p><p> Elsewhere, Booker T is standing with the Natural Born Thrillers, who are relieved to still be a team. Booker does the talking here, saying that he was happy to be teaming with the three as well as Sid tonight to bring down Lance Storm’s World. Booker says that this right here is the future of World Championship Wrestling, and he’ll be keeping an eye on the Thrillers as they start to shape our business. (Rating: B+)</p><p> </p><p> The WCW Panel start signing off for the Great American Bash: Gluttony, but there’s another surprise as the Steiner Brothers rush onto the set! Rick and Scott are screaming over one another, as Scott begins cursing loudly. He tells Stacy to come see him later, but otherwise it’s all a stream of expletives as he says that Ric Flair never could beat him like a man, and that’s why he still has the WCW World title. Tony finally manages to sign off, and Scott Steiner rushes the camera, telling him that he better not go off the air on the champion, but we are out of time and the screen fades to black. (Rating: A)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><strong>Show Rating: B</strong></p><p> <em>This show has improved our popularity in 8 regions.</em></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="qJk5JLG.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qJk5JLG.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p> -------------------------</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>Prediction Contest</strong><p> TheBigBad1013: 4</p><p> bonnie: 3</p><p> cbacon87: 6</p><p> crackerjack: 4</p><p> CobheadJake: 4</p><p> DGenerationMC: 6</p><p> The Final Countdown: 3</p><p> James The Animator: 4</p><p> KnowYourEnemy: 3</p><p> RKOwnage: 3</p><p> Satyr24: 5</p><p> SomeLazyMagic: 4</p><p> to4sty: 3</p><p> Warhawk8492: 4</p><p> </p><p> With a tiebreaking answer of 16:25 (which still ended up only half as long as the actual match was) DGenerationMC is the winner this month! I will drop his prize in his inbox very soon. I hope everyone enjoyed the show!</p></div></blockquote>

<p>Rey Misterio - <em>This is a great match to really put Rey over.</em></p><p> Sean O'Haire</p><p> KroniK - <em>Young badasses beating old badasses.</em></p><p> Dustin Rhodes</p><p> Cash</p>

<p>Mega Powers - <em>Sting being denied is an amazing story arc, I have always thought it is gold to have someone need to jump through hoops to get that elusive shot. You know this, you've read my diaries</em> <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/tongue.png.ceb643b2956793497cef30b0e944be28.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> Eddie Guerrero - <em>A Jeff win won't surprise me, but I don't know if he is physically ready to carry a title like this, even if his popularity says otherwise.</em></p><p> Nasty Boys - <em>Just to keep them on the ToW payroll.</em></p><p> Lord Regal - <em>His Lordship finds a way.</em></p><p> Luger and Giant - <em>They need to rise above this feud to try dealing with the Titans.</em></p><p> JPL - <em>Benoit remains a nice mechanic.</em></p><p> DDP - <em>Page can raise up to World title level soon.</em></p><p> Mortis</p><p> Curt Hennig</p>

<p>WCW Great American Bash: Gluttony Live Pre-Show</p><p> </p><p> <em>“Welcome everyone, to what may just be the greatest night in the history of our sport, Father’s Day 2001, it’s The Great American Bash: Gluttony!”</em> Tony Schiavone thanks everyone for joining us with their loved ones on this Father’s Day, introducing The WCW Panel! Gene, Jeremy, Chris, and Stevie Ray start talking about how the Baltimore Arena has seen the Great American Bash eight times in the past, with this being the fourth year in a row that it has hosted this show. They discuss some of the history of the show, talking about some of the classic matches that the show has hosted over the years such as the original War Games matches, times Ric Flair has defended the World’s Heavyweight title, and when Sting first won the title in 1990. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>A Video History of Scott Steiner vs. Ric Flair</strong></summary></p><p> This match has been in the making since something along the lines of last November? No way am I gonna be recapping that entire timeframe. Just know the plot points: Flair originally said he was going to make Steiner into one of the greatest champs in WCW history by making him defend against the best; “Big Poppa Pump” has been on a wrecking ball path ever since, decimating many of WCW’s stars; Steiner took it upon himself to go after Flair’s friends, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson; finally after beating Tully to a pulp at Envy, Flair has decided to step into the ring for one more ride, giving up his CEO powers in order to teach Scott a lesson! (Rating: B+) <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> We go back to the WCW Panel, who talk about whether it was wise of Ric Flair to finally give Scott Steiner what he wants and in the process, forcing WCW’s executives to strip him of his CEO powers due to a conflict of interest. Most people feel that Ric likely is not going to win this bout, as Steiner is on such a huge roll, but they think perhaps “Big Poppa Pump” will indeed walk out of this match with some respect for those who built this company. (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>Video Replay: WCW Friday Nitro</strong></summary> </p><p> Speaking of the World champion, we see the footage from this past Friday where the Steiner Brothers assaulted Goldberg on his way into the arena. The WCW Panel talk over the segment, with Tony wondering when we will see Goldberg in WCW again following this attack. (Rating: B-) <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>A Video History of War Games</strong></summary> </p><p> Again, this feud has been building for months. Here’s the cliff’s notes version: Shawn Stasiak turned against the Natural Born Thrillers and joined Team Canada, which prompted Lance Storm to change his group to The World. Ever since, it has been both teams’ goal to destroy the other. Booker T entered into the feud due to fighting that he did with Storm in April, leading to the Pride match in April; Sid Vicious joined the battle because Mike Awesome decided he was the true master of the powerbomb; this war has raged for months, and tonight at the Great American Bash, we will see which team will survive and which will dissolve! (Rating: C)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> From there, we cut to the WCW Panel, as they talk about how brutal and vicious the War Games are. Stevie Ray talks about how he’s been in there once, and that was enough for him! A lot of people feel that the unity of The World may just bring them to victory, especially after this past Friday Nitro when Chuck Palumbo and Mark Jindrak had to be held apart by his partners! (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> Vampiro comes to the ring, getting a microphone. He says it’s been some time since he has had a match of his own, but tonight when the theme of the show is Gluttony, he decided that tonight was the night. He says he will teach someone a lesson, someone who he considers to exude overindulgence more than most, that being “Sugar” Shane Helms. He talks about how Helms has had a lot in his career, and today he will pay for it! Vampiro worked the crowd well here, though Daffney winks at the camera saying that Shane <em>“was the only person who hadn’t been on the card yet… shhhh,”</em> before smiling and heading to Vampiro’s corner. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> Vampiro defeats “Sugar” Shane Helms with the Nail in the Coffin in 4:07. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>A Video History of Totally Buff vs. Kevin Nash and Mystery Partner</strong></summary> </p><p> Totally Buff have been assaulting Kevin Nash for months now, ever since WCW’s rebirth at The Big Bang. At Pride, Lex Luger defeated Nash with the help of Buff Bagwell. At Envy, Totally Buff won a handicap match. On an episode of Nitro, Nash had Dustin Rhodes at his side, but Totally Buff were able to come out on top with some assistance. But on another Nitro, when the odds were even, Nash came out on top. Tonight, “Big Sexy” has someone up his sleeve, so how will it go tonight? (Rating: B-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> The WCW Panel start wondering who Nash’s partner tonight could be? They say that Luger and Bagwell have said for months that Kevin doesn’t have any friends left in WCW, but he has friends outside of WCW as well, most notably some people we haven’t seen on any television for some time. The Panel seem split on how this match will go, but the majority seem to be choosing Nash for the factor of how we don’t know who his partner tonight will be. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> There’s no video for this one, but we have The WCW Panel shift gears to discuss the fatal four-way number one contender’s match tonight. They say that there are four men in this match who haven’t gotten World title opportunities much lately, but all four are hungry for gaining that position; even Rick Steiner, who doesn’t seem to want to fight his brother Scott, but they plan to hold the title hostage by having a number one contender who doesn’t challenge for the title! But Dustin Rhodes, Animal, and Sting have all made it clear that they want their shot, so tonight we will find out who gets it! (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> We go back out to the ring, where “The Franchise” Shane Douglas and The Future have come for their Live Pre-Show match. Douglas has a microphone, telling them to cut his music, before going on a tirade against ungrateful punks like AJ Styles, Kid Kash, and Jamie Knoble. He says these two in the ring are fine, upstanding young men who aren’t out to steal positions of veterans, instead they are working together with him to make a better future. He tells the “Joe Dirt hillbilly yokels” to get to the ring so they can get their asses Franchised! (Rating: D)</p><p> </p><p> AJ Styles and Rebel Pride do a very good job of getting the crowd excited in this match, but in the end Shane takes a bag out of his trunks. It turns out it’s full of dirt, and he throws that dirt in Knoble’s eyes! He hits the Franchiser on him, scoring a tainted win at 9:05. (Rating: C)</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>----------</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="OOC" data-cite="OOC" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I kept it a bit more short this time for the pre-show, as everyone should be pretty caught up since (not to brag because I know me) but I've been keeping a pretty solid pace with the past few shows lately. But at this point, I only have the main event left to write, so this show should be posted within the next few days. This is the perfect time for anyone left who wants to get in predictions or change their picks to do so! Here's the list of everyone who has entered predictions so far.<p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>TheBigBad1013</p><p> bonnie</p><p> cbacon87</p><p> crackerjack</p><p> CobheadJake</p><p> DGenerationMC</p><p> The Final Countdown</p><p> James The Animator</p><p> KnowYourEnemy</p><p> RKOwnage (welcome back, man!)</p><p> Satyr24</p><p> SomeLazyMagic</p><p> to4sty</p><p> Warhawk8492</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> The prize may not sound quite as appealing as usual due to me not giving away next month's themed match this time, but trust me, I have something pretty cool up my sleeve! Looking at the predictions so far, I can tell it's going to be a pretty close race this time, so use your best luck!</p></div></blockquote>

WCW Friday Nitro: 6/14/2001 <iframe width="220" height="124" src=" https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> WCW Friday Nitro Shown Live on June 14th, 2001 (Week 2) Held at: The Hard Rock Cafe Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (South West) Announcers: Mike Tenay, Scott Hudson, and Arn Anderson Attendance: 2,000 people (sold out!) PPV Rating: 0.02 TV Rating: 1.46 We open the show with footage marked “Earlier Tonight” as Goldberg arrives at the Hard Rock Cafe Arena on his motorcycle. He takes time to sign an autograph for a young fan, when suddenly the Steiner Brothers come from behind him and attack! Scott pays special attention to Goldberg’s ribs with his lead pipe, and by the time the scene ends, Goldberg is being taken away on a stretcher! (Rating: A* / 100) We go to live footage from inside Ric Flair’s office, where he says that as a result of that attack, Scott Steiner has been thrown out of the building tonight, however Rick is still here as he is participating in our main event. (Rating: B) It’s time for everyone’s favorite duo this side of chocolate and peanut butter, “Mean” Gene and “Clean” Jeremy! After hyping his “Gene’s Scoops” article on WCW.com, which mentions a certain former AWA, WWF, and WCW champion who is very close to coming back to the good old USA and could sign for either one of those aforementioned companies any day now, Gene brings in his guests for this interview, “The Prodigal Son” Dustin Rhodes and Sting! The two talk about how tonight, they’re all in on wiping the mat with Animal and Rick Steiner in our main event, but on Sunday they’ll have no problems trading fists with one another for the chance to be number one contender for either Ric Flair or Scott Steiner. When asked about that match, both men say that they are rooting for “The Nature Boy” to make it sweet number seventeen. (Rating: B) Simon Diamond comes to the ring alongside the rest of the Problem Solvers. He has a problem, and it entirely revolves around Hugh Morrus or General Hard-On or whatever he’s gonna call himself this week. Diamond says that tonight, with Kronik not at his beck and call, one on one, Simon says that Hugh will have no choice but to be put down, taking him out of the way for Simon’s self-help to show that it is the greatest means of bettering yourself out there! (Rating: C-) Gene and Jeremy are now in the interview area along with the Snukas. They ask them about Jr. being chosen to be in the Gluttony match, with Jimmy Jr. saying that he isn’t so sure about it. He says that he isn’t the type to live it up like the rewards promise, but when he tried to talk to Ric Flair about it, he was told that the drawing was final. “The Superfly” speaks up, telling his son that as the rewards go, they will deal with it when they come, but he has trained his son to be a winner and that’s what he will do; both tonight when he teams with “The Cat” and on Sunday against Kanyon. (Rating: C-) Elsewhere backstage, we see Hugh Morrus as he has found Brian Adams and Bryan Clark. Hugh is giving them a piece of his mind, saying that he paid them in advance, so he wants answers for why he was out there on his own against three guys tonight! Adams says that it was nothing personal, and what he paid them for tonight has been added to his tab for them partnering with him at the Great American Bash, but the bottom line is that they had a higher bidder for tonight. Morrus walks off in a huff, with Adams yelling after him that they’ll see him on Sunday for sure! (Rating: C) Right back to the interview area, this time a very packed house as Gene and Jeremy try to stand out between Booker T, Sid Vicious, and all three members of the Natural Born Thrillers! They talk about the coming War Games match this Sunday in Baltimore, with Booker saying that his boys here are all ready to rip, tear, and scratch their way to victory. He points out that the Thrillers are putting a lot of trust in he and Sid with that “losing team splits” wager, because they aren’t really a part of their team. But they plan on repaying that trust by destroying The World and everything they stand for! O’Haire tells Booker that they wouldn’t trust them if they hadn’t earned their respect over the past few months and know that they hate Lance Storm and his cronies as much as the NBT do. Vicious talks only about War Games, saying that the last time he was in War Games, someone was so beaten and knocked out that their friend had to stop the match for them, and that was someone he respected; so what do The World think he’s going to do to them?! (Rating: B) We go back to the dark room as candles illuminate the faces of Vampiro, Kanyon, Kidman, and Daffney. Vampiro says that the stench of gluttony is hanging heavily on WCW, and it is their sworn duty to cleanse them of it. He says everyone wants more, more, more, when they need to release those desires and feel the pleasure of redemption upon them. He says that Kidman is trying to win the X Division title not for himself, but for his former friends, showing his dedication to the cause. However, he points out that Kanyon’s name should never have been entered into the Gluttony match; that such rewards are unbecoming of their goals, and that he may need some “rededication” in the future if these actions continue. Daffney adds that “Vampy” shouldn’t worry so much, the check is fake anyways; WCW would never have the money to lay out $500,000 right now, even with all the people leaving at the end of the month. Vampiro pays her no mind, telling Kidman to stick to the plan as he heads to the ring to face Konnan next. (C-) Halfway through the show, and we are all set for the WCW Panel! They run down the full card for the Great American Bash: Gluttony, but also take time to update us on Goldberg’s condition. Tony says that he has some severely bruised ribs, and we don’t know when he will be back in action. This could set his streak back by a lot! Schiavone again points out that this will definitely be the best wrestling the Baltimore Arena will see all week, also that if you want WCW wrestlers in your main event, you should get the ones who actually work there instead of the ones who abandoned ship years ago. Zing. The Panel agree that there are only two ways you can give dear old dad the best action this week for Father’s Day: either go to the movie theater to watch Lara Croft: Tomb Raider or stay home and order The Great American Bash! (Rating: C+) A new video plays to hype the oncoming debut of Low-Ki, who now has a date for his arrival: two weeks from now on WCW Friday Nitro! (Rating: D) Show Rating: B+ This show has improved our popularity in 38 regions.

Too bad you weren't able to bring Hall in right now, hopefully in the future you'll be able to do so.

<p>The Week that Was: June 2001, Week 1</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="N5QIZGQ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/N5QIZGQ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF Raw is War</strong></summary></p><p> RAW is WAR rocked the Target Center this week, where Vince McMahon and “Daddy’s Little Girl” Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley promised surprises for their enemies, and this was definitely the night for surprises!</p><p> </p><p> The first was The Undertaker, who had a scheduled promo in the ring where he said the Brothers of Destruction weren’t done with the Power Trip. But Vince McMahon saw things a little differently, saying that while Kane may still have some minor gripe he wants to throw his career away for by taking on Triple H, The Undertaker has some other engagements that he should deal with; and that’s when he’s assaulted from behind by Albert! The large enforcer of X-Factor laid out Undertaker with two ring-shaking Baldo Bombs, much to the delight of Mr. McMahon! Secondly, The Big Show was seen at WWF New York, where he started to talk about feeling like a huge weight is lifted off his chest, but Mr. McMahon again reared his head, telling the production truck to “cut that son of a bitch’s feed,” saying that he’s wasted so much time on trying to make Big Show worth something and he repaid him by punching him out, so now it’s time to live through Hell! Later in the evening, Trish Stratus was taking on Ivory, when Tori rushed the ring, making it a two-on-one beating. But when Stephanie came to the ring afterwards, the three women took it upon themselves to forcibly strip Trish down to her bra and panties! They then posed with their unconscious, nearly nude, but has to be embarrassed victim.</p><p> </p><p> The King of the Ring tournament heated up as we witnessed half of the first round. The evening started with the WWF European champion, Edge, giving a Kings-related “Five Second Pose” where he put a mock crown on his head and did the Queen’s wave to each side of the ring. His opponent was Matt Hardy, but spillover from brother Jeff’s feud with Rob Van Dam led to RVD distracting Matt at ringside, giving Edge the chance for a small package victory. RVD later had an interview with Lilian Garcia, where he said that he was starting to feel hurt that Jeff had kinda forgotten about him while trying to win King of the Ring, so he got some Hardy attention one way or the other! Bradshaw barely scraped by Rikishi in the next bout, and Eddie Guerrero advanced by pulling on the pants of Steve Blackman during a schoolboy rollup. Finally, Billy Gunn moved ahead in the tournament by defeating D-Von Dudley after Spike Dudley slipped into the ring and hit the Dudley Dogg on D-Von. Before the match, Bubba Ray and D-Von had said that despite their differences, Spike was still their little brother, and they were forbidding him from his continued friendship with Molly Holly.</p><p> </p><p> Too Cool defeated The Goodfather and Val Venis of Right to Censor after Steven Richards tripped the wrong man, leaving Goodfather vulnerable for the Worm. RTC argued the whole way back up the ramp as Grand Masta Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty pleased the crowd with a dance.</p><p> </p><p> “Stone Cold” Steve Austin joined commentary during the main event, which was a steel cage match between bitter rivals Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit. The fans were treated to a great bout that saw plenty of high risk, high impact maneuvers, but the ending saw Mr. McMahon send in the troops as Rikishi entered the cage and dropped a Banzai Drop on Benoit! This attack took the wind right out of him and left Angle able to escape the cage and win the match. With Chris Jericho not in the Target Center tonight, it was all Vince’s plan as the World Heavyweight champion, Kurt Angle, and the Island Tribe delivered a four on one beating to a mostly helpless Benoit to close the show!<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="wDSynh8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/wDSynh8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF SmackDown!</strong></summary></p><p> The Alerus Center was home of some of the best action on television as WWF SmackDown! rolled through town! The show opened with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon bragging that they had orchestrated the destruction of Chris Benoit on Raw, but Benoit surprised them all but coming out to the stage, alongside World Tag Team championship partner Chris Jericho! Jericho used some taunts and insults to goad the hot-headed Austin into giving them a World title match, but Mr. McMahon said that if they were to get a title shot, they’d have to go through not only Austin but one another as well; as now tonight’s main event would be a WWF World Heavyweight title match in triple threat rules!</p><p> </p><p> The other four first round King of the Ring matches took place this week on SmackDown!, first seeing Jeff Hardy overcome Bubba Ray Dudley. Rob Van Dam taunted Jeff from ringside, but it was interference from Spike Dudley that left Bubba down on the mat and in perfect position for the Swanton Bomb. RVD taunted Jeff further, but Matt Hardy appeared and attacked Rob from behind, sending him scampering away before either man could try to pin him for the Hardcore title! Haku nearly had his first round match won over Test, locking in the Tongan Deathgrip on him, but in a rage, he refused to release the hold, giving the official no choice but to disqualify him and move Test ahead in the tournament. The APA were seen backstage talking about the possibility of facing one another in one of the next rounds, but that fear was not to be as Rhyno sent Faarooq home from the tournament with a vicious Gore. “The Big Red Machine” Kane made his return in the tournament, taking on a still battered and beaten Kurt Angle after the past Monday’s steel cage match, but “a little help from your friends” was the name of the game as “The Game” Triple H attacked Kane’s ankle with his sledgehammer, leading to Angle locking on the ankle lock to get a tap out victory. But the night wasn’t over for those two, as Triple H tried to do Kane in once and for all, but he sat straight up and grabbed “The Game” for a huge chokeslam! Triple H and Stephanie get out of there, as Kane took chase, finally running them completely out of the building, as Kane laughs at them running away! Later, we were viewing the Power Trip backstage when a very angry Triple H called in from a cellular phone, telling Mr. McMahon that since Kane says it’s funny that Hunter left the building to protect his wife “from that big red reject” to book he against Kane in a match at King of the Ring under falls count anywhere rules!</p><p> </p><p> The McMahons were in rare form, as Mr. McMahon told everyone employed by the WWF that after this past Monday, maybe some people will start to respect his authority a little more around here. “Daddy’s Little Girl” upped the ante on that statement by forcing the footage of Trish Stratus being stripped to be replayed, as she, Tori, and Ivory mocked Stratus, calling her no better than a blond blow-up doll.</p><p> </p><p> The Right to Censor gained a measure of revenge as Goodfather, Val Venis, and Bull Buchanan were victorious over Too Cool and Steve Blackman in six man tag team action, but Michael Cole astutely pointed out that Steven Richards was not with us in the arena tonight. Instead, he was at WWF New York, where he took credit for the victory, saying that it was his moral support from afar that led them to the win!</p><p> </p><p> Our main event was one for the ages, as three men who all wore championship gold did battle for the biggest prize of them all. Jericho and Benoit threw aside their partnership in search of the title that has eluded them both in the World Wrestling Federation, but in the end it was Rikishi once again coming to the ring that led to their downfall, as the Island Tribe gift wrapped the victory for Austin to retain the championship. Following the match, the three men laid out the two, with Mr. McMahon announcing that the Island Tribe would be getting their WWF World Tag Team championship match at the King of the Ring!<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="ZvDPOGe.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/ZvDPOGe.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF Heat</strong></summary></p><p> WWF Sunday Night Heat had Rob Van Dam live at WWF New York as a special guest, and after rubbing everyone the wrong way with his attitude backstage, he said in his interview that his goal right now is to keep looking cool while wearing this sweet Hardcore title and to prove that since he’s come from where he came from, he wants to show that he’s way more extreme than the so-called “Team X-Treme” Hardy Boyz are!<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><span style="text-decoration:underline;">The 2001 King of the Ring Tournament</span></summary></p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Qualifying Round:</span> Billy Gunn vs D'Lo, Faarooq vs. Val Venis, Edge vs. Funaki, Haku vs. Crash Holly, Rhyno vs. a surprise Mark Henry, Kane vs. Bull Buchanan, Kurt Angle vs. Hardcore Holly, Bradshaw vs. Raven, D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley, Matt Hardy vs. Chaz, Steve Blackman vs. Dean Malenko, Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Grand Masta Sexay, Eddie Guerrero vs. Scotty 2 Hotty, Test vs. William Regal, Rikishi vs. Tazz, and Jeff Hardy vs. The Goodfather</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">First Round</span></p><p> Edge vs. Matt Hardy</p><p> Test vs. Haku</p><p> </p><p> Billy Gunn vs. D-Von Dudley</p><p> Faarooq vs. Rhyno</p><p> </p><p> Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve Blackman</p><p> Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Jeff Hardy</p><p> </p><p> Kurt Angle vs. Kane</p><p> Rikishi vs. Bradshaw</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Quarter Finals</span></p><p> Edge vs. Test</p><p> Billy Gunn vs. Rhyno</p><p> </p><p> Eddie Guerrero vs. Jeff Hardy</p><p> Kurt Angle vs. Bradshaw<hr></details></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="vpykxUT.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/vpykxUT.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> The next World Wrestling Federation PPV Extravaganza will be the WWF King of the Ring 2001!</p><p> Held on June 24th, 2001 at The Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey!</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Announced So Far</span></p><p> WWF World Tag Team Championships: Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho © vs. The Island Tribe</p><p> Falls Count Anywhere: Triple H vs. Kane</p><p> The Semi-Final and Final Rounds of the 2001 King of the Ring tournament!</p><p> </p><p> --------------------</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><span style="color:#000080;">From the desk of Eric Bischoff:</span></span></p><p> Despite how odd I think it is that the WWF decided to run a “partners clash for a title against an enemy” triple threat match literally a week before WCW runs one, I can’t possibly imagine that Vince McMahon is happy with how SmackDown’s main event turned out, as most people could tell that Steve Austin completely phoned in his performance during the match. The rumor sites had been going crazy reporting that he was incredibly displeased with taking the fall to Chris Jericho twice, as well as having been dropped as the main figurehead that the WWF are building in favor of Triple H back at the beginning of May. I am definitely keeping an eye on this situation, because if Austin were to get pissed off enough and leave, that would be a huge blow to the WWF and could possibly springboard us a lot closer to their level. Not that we can really compete with them right now, but it’s a nice pipe dream.</p><p> </p><p> Not that our figurehead is doing much better, as Goldberg was being an outright boastful jerk backstage at Nitro. I wasn’t there, but they say Paul Orndorff finally stood up to him, leading to Goldberg throwing a punch at an old, retired, half crippled man… and just like Vader before him, getting beaten up as a result. I could have probably been harsher on the situation, but I definitely gave Goldberg a very stern talking-to over it, telling him that he needs to set a lot better example for the kids in the locker room. He seemed pretty happy that I didn’t go very overboard about it with fines or suspensions (which I completely could have done) and he seemed to have improved his demeanor already. Later on I saw him watching the show, but heard him remarking that he doesn’t think Yang can connect with the fans. Scott Steiner said much the same about Elix Skipper, apparently thinking that “little twig boy can’t do things like we do them in WCW,” and that he should be put out on his ass. Their opinions aren’t swaying me very much as I have places for each of them to go, and it really isn’t in either of Goldberg or Scott’s circles.</p><p> </p><p> So I counted up and I have thirteen contracts coming due in the next month or shortly thereafter. Unfortunately for a lot of those, I’m only interested in keeping around a few of them; one of which was Shane Douglas, who I got ink on paper for another two years for $9,050 a month. Despite one of the Toryumon promotions making him an offer, Yang is also back on the books for another year, at the price of $2,920 a month. And while I don’t want her around for too much longer, I got Tygress to agree to a few more appearances on a pay-per-show basis before she leaves us. She has been doing well managing the Filthy Animals, but with splitting the group up, I don’t have much for her to do at the moment, so allowing her contract to run out just feels like a good chance for her to decide if she wants to continue a career in wrestling or not; and maybe down the line I can bring her back if I find a position for her. Meanwhile, C.W. asked me for a $1,370 pay raise on top of the $1,890 he had been making. I don’t want to irritate him but nor do I want to give him all that, so I bartered with him for 75% of that, putting him just under $3,000 a month. For his position at the moment, that seems like a good wage, and is definitely better than working in a bingo hall being paid in a bounced check.</p><p> </p><p> Other random news from the week saw Simon Diamond show up looking a little more toned and Buff Bagwell actually looking a little flabby (fortunately he had a great physique to begin with, so it’s not coming off badly on-screen). New-Japan held their Best of the Super Juniors tournament which saw Jushin “Thunder” Liger come out the winner, and IWA-MS did their yearly King of the Death Match tournament, where Ian Rotten booked himself to win the title. And Rodney of the Mean Street Posse cut his schedule back to only being a semi-active wrestler.</p><p> </p><p> I’m just not sure how professional wrestling will be able to recover from such a huge loss as that.</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p>--------------------</p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="OOC" data-cite="OOC" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>A new format for the WWF reports that you may all appreciate, it should be a little easier and less time consuming to read through as it is just recaps of the storylines throughout the show. Other than that, thanks for all the predictions, everyone! I have one more Nitro to post and then it will be time for Gluttony. So there is still time if any of you decide to change a prediction after I post Nitro, which should be in the next day or two!</div></blockquote>

Bret Hart - Because leave it to Bret to pick up a win over the champ in a non-title match, just so he can talk about being screwed more. The Norsemen Jeff Jarrett - Like you said, Jeff has quietly gotten himself into a main eventer role. May as well give him a little bit of a line to see if he improves upon that station. The Rock - Cheap win is cheap. Billy Gunn Sid Hollywood Hogan - Normally you don't go against the question marks, but this is probably gonna be Renegade or someone of that ilk. JPL and Buff - Jeanny needs to get his win back like this was 2003 up in here. Cawesome Goldberg Scott Norton - My boy is gonna wreck Renegade. Rick Martel Jeff Hardy

WCW Great American Bash: Gluttony prediction card World Championship Wrestling presents: Great American Bash Gluttony Three hours of action held Live, only on Pay-Per-View on June 16th, 2001, emanating from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, Maryland! Card subject to change 10 points to have here, use your best luck! The winner this time will get to choose how many matches will feature stipulations at Bash at the Beach next month along with something else I’m thinking as a little surprise! I’m not giving away making up the next “sin” matchup this time because I already have my mind made up on what it will be. ---------- RE: Show Length So as this new edition of Nitro goes, I looked at what everyone had said about the write-up length and the formatting and decided "Why not both?" I do like my snazzy formatting, and honestly all I'm doing is cutting out a lot of the road agent note fluff that I was trying to throw at you all. So for probably the sixth or so time during the length of this diary, I'll say again that this right here may be where I keep Nitro for the forseeable future. Of course, events get more detail and the full formatting, including pictures. By the way, I don't bring it up much but I'm a little proud of myself for the GAB:G logo that I put together. It feels natural to have been making the logos for the past few events, because I haven't done a lot of that since the early 2000s so my skill level on it is right about what WCW would have been using back then so it feels like it's period specific So it feels like it's been forever since I responded to some comments, so how about some of that while we're here? I have so many cool ideas for where this story is going, none of you should be disappointed in the long run! Thanks, I hope you'll keep following in the future! I won't lie in saying that a few things I had set up are being done to be different from TFC, such as letting DDP go a few months ago. But the products, rosters, and styles are so different that I'm kinda glad to be "that other WCW 2001" compared to his and BigBad's! I'm considering shrinking the WWF recaps down, maybe just making them a short highlight of the storyline segments each week. I didn't care for how I had started things in this diary with doing it from PPV to PPV because it felt so impersonal, but with this being generally a WCW diary, it doesn't need a full WWF report like I've been doing either. I know it's probably hurt some of my "street cred" to change up styles so much during this game as what I have, but I'm always thankful for thoughts and critiques as I am always trying to improve upon my content to make it both better and easier for me as the writer and you all as the readers. Wrestling logic is the best! My favorite has always been a referee giving a five count during a choke during a no disqualification match

<p>WCW Friday Nitro: 6/8/2001</p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><iframe width="220" height="124" src="</p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0" rel="external nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0"</a> frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><p> <img alt="RmYgPt1.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/RmYgPt1.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> <strong>WCW Friday Nitro</strong></p><p> <em><span style="font-size:8px;">Shown Live on June 8th, 2001 (Week 1)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Held at: The Hard Rock Cafe Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (South West)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Announcers: Mike Tenay, Scott Hudson, and Arn Anderson</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> Attendance: 2,000 people (sold out!)</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> PPV Rating: 0.02</span></em></p><p><em><span style="font-size:8px;"> TV Rating: 1.45</span></em></p></div><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Following a ten bell salute and tribute images for both “The Living Legend” Larry Zbyszko (1951-2001) and George “The Animal” Steele (1937-2001), “Mean” Gene and “Green” Jeremy open the show in the ring. Borash doesn’t get to talk during this one, furiously scribbling notes down on his yellow pad, as Okerlund introduces us to The World. Lance Storm leads his men to the ring where Gene first asks Storm about the Envy match. Lance tells him that he doesn’t care about most of the things that he won; killing off the Misfits in Action and Filthy Animals only served to make The World look stronger as they are one of the only three active stables left in the company. He won a pair of cowboy boots that he’s never going to wear. He also has a World Tag Team title shot and a match for a championship of his choosing that he will gladly take, perhaps even duplicating his run last year by wearing two titles at one time. He also motions to Tylene, saying that she belongs to The World and within The World is where she shall stay! His attention turns toward Booker T, Sid Vicious, and the Natural Born Thrillers, saying that this feud between the groups can only end one way, but that way is not only War Games – but he says that he is so confident that he challenges the Thrillers with the losing group must disband! The crowd cheer wildly at that, Lance has gotten the show off to a strong start. (Rating: C+)</p><p> </p><p> Backstage we see “The Nature Boss” Ric Flair. He says that he has been offered two marquee matches for Great American Bash: Gluttony, and he wasn’t sure how he could make them more exciting. But suddenly he had an idea: putting them all together! So he says he has signed a fatal four way match between Dustin Rhodes, Rick Steiner, Animal, and the man called Sting, and the winner will be the number one contender for the World Heavyweight championship! Woooo! (Rating: B)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>AJ Styles and “Sugar” Shane Helms vs. The World (Mike Awesome and Shawn Stasiak</strong></summary></p><p> After two big segments it’s time to calm the crowd. These guys do so as this match gives the crowd 5:58 to sit down and take a breather. Awesome and Stasiak show off some excellent in-ring chemistry despite Shawn seeming to be off his game. Alex Wright interjects by tripping Helms, leading to Stasiak hitting him with the Perfect Plant for the win. (Rating: C+)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Leia Meow and Yang meet up with Norman Smiley backstage. Meow says that they come with an honorable challenge, saying that she has a champion who will defeat Smiley at the Great American Bash. Norman accepts, saying that once he’s done, Leia is gonna feel the Big Wiggle, whether she likes it or not! (Rating: D-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>Six Person Mixed Tag Team Match</strong></p><p><strong> Dark Eden (Billy Kidman, Kanyon, and Daffney vs. Rey Mysterio Jr., Konnan, and Tygress</strong></summary></p><p> This match features the girls because of last week’s segment featuring them, but these WCW fans just aren’t used to seeing women in the ring and didn’t care for it. The match is decent when the guys are in the ring, which sees Rey going for a top rope hurricanrana on Kanyon, but he throws him off – right into Konnan, who was playing to the crowd! From there, Kidman hits Konnan with the Kid Krusher, scoring a surprising victory at 5:50! (Rating: C)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> After the bout, Konnan spins Mysterio around and starts asking him what happened. A shoving match starts up between the two of them as the argument gets heated! Tygress comes in and starts trying to calm them down, as Dark Eden watch from the stage, laughing! If Kidman pins either of them on June 16th, we will have a new X Division champion! (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>“Das Wunderkind” Alex Wright vs. Air Paris</strong></summary></p><p> We haven’t seen Paris in a few months, and after a 1:33 squash for Wright, we probably won’t see him again for awhile. This match was meant to cool the crowd, but they weren’t peaked so it fell a little flat. (Rating: D)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> “The Franchise” Shane Douglas comes to the ring and gets a microphone. He tells them to cut the f’n music, before saying that it looks like he taught that punk Styles kid a lesson last week that he shouldn’t forget: when a prize fighting veteran tells you to stay down and know your place, do it! Douglas says that after his performance last week, now he has a match next against Kevin Nash. Shane says that the match would be in the main event if he wasn’t against Nash, because everyone knows that Kevin Nash in the main event is a ratings disaster. “Big Sexy” comes to the stage with his own microphone (of course making sure to tell everyone that he is in the house) and thanks Shane for the history lesson and thanks him on behalf of AJ Styles for the lesson, because everyone knows Shane makes such a great teacher. Nash comes out of this segment looking good as his improvising is superb. says that if Shane likes it or not, tonight he will be a stepping stone on Kevin’s path to taking down Totally Buff. It’s all gonna be just too sweet! (Rating: C+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>“The Franchise” Shane Douglas vs. “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash</strong></summary></p><p> This match is given plenty of time for each man to take control for a certain amount of time, despite Nash being really off his game. The bout ends with a cheap disqualification however when Buff Bagwell enters the ring and attacks Nash at 11:54. (Rating: B-)</p><p> </p><p> Douglas is upset that his match was ruined, but that won’t stop him from getting his hands on Nash anyways. He joins in alongside Bagwell and Lex Luger as they deliver a three-on-one beating to Kevin Nash. AJ Styles rushes the ring, hitting a springboard plancha on Totally Buff to take them down, but Shane attacks with his fist-wrapped chain to lay Styles out again, just like last week! “The Total Package” hoists Nash and then Styles into the Torture Rack, punishing them before posing with Bagwell. Douglas stomps on AJ before leaving the ring, as trainers rush in to check on the two men. (Rating: B-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> We go back to the WCW Panel, where Tony has a specific message for everyone: accept no substitutes for great action in the Baltimore area, because you won’t find a better show in the Baltimore Arena in this week or any other than the Great American Bash! (This is because the WWF are holding a SmackDown taping the same week.) He also offers WCW’s condolences to the families and friends of Larry Zbyszko and George “The Animal” Steele. After that, he runs down the card that has been announced so far for the Great American Bash. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> Alongside that, Chris Lovey announces a six-man tag team match for Great American Bash: Gluttony, as the Problem Solvers will face off against Hugh Morrus and Kronik! Chris appears to be getting better at his gimmick in both this and the previous segment. (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>Lance Storm vs. Sid Vicious</strong></summary></p><p> This is a short match but it is very heated, as the battle rages on between The World and those against them. In the end it is yet again Alex Wright sticking his nose in other people’s business, as he slips in behind Charles Robinson’s back to deliver a basement dropkick to Sid’s knee, leading into the Canadian Maple Leaf for a surprising submission victory in 6:33! (Rating: B-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Backstage in front of a dressing room door, “Mean” Gene is giving Jeremy some pointers about the art of finding people to interview. <em>“Look, if you have to barge into the locker room, you do it! You have the microphone, and that gives you all the power to do whatever is necessary!”</em> After getting no response from knocking, Gene walks away for a moment to go find his trusty lockpick, when an angry Sean O’Haire throws open the door, finding a lone, scared Jeremy. Seeing the camera and Borash’s microphone, O’Haire launches into a tirade, saying that The World have been winning matches all night thanks to outside interference, and if they try it one more time, the Thrillers will make them sorry! Sean storms off just as Okerlund comes back, telling Jeremy that Gene has always had a sense about when someone wants to talk, and he doesn’t think they’re going to get anything out of staying here. Borash tries to tell Gene that he just talked to Sean O’Haire, but Gene says he doesn’t believe him, ordering Jeremy to follow him to the women’s dressing room to see what’s shaking down there. Jeremy shrugs and pulls out a blindfold, following his mentor’s lead. (Rating: C+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>“Primetime” Elix Skipper vs. Jimmy Snuka Jr.</strong></summary></p><p> This is the young Snuka’s first big test in WCW, and he holds his own against the well-seasoned “Primetime” for the most part. The crowd aren’t as hot as they should have been for a match built around high spots, and Elix is really off his game for this one. However, when it looks as though Alex Wright is about to sneak back down to the ring, Chuck Palumbo comes out and blindsides him! With his backup delayed, Skipper finds himself a victim of a running big boot that leads to the Superfly Twist! With his father cheering him on at ringside, Snuka picks up a huge victory in 3:48! (Rating: D)</p><p> </p><p> The match is over, but the fight has only just begun as The World is confronted by the Natural Born Thrillers! The numbers seem to be on the side of The World, but big Sid Vicious comes out, and they send Lance and his followers packing! This feud is only getting more heated as it heads to War Games! (Rating: B-)<hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> Backstage we see Midajah filing her nails. Rick and Scott Steiner are pacing around the room, with Scott talking about how pissed off he is about having to face Gol’berg again. <em>“That bald-headed bastard ain’t got the message yet that he ain’t in my league and ain’t in my vissinities! I only care about my freaks and my peaks, and way below that, people who are contenders, and he ain’t none’a them things!”</em> “Big Poppa Pump” says that <em>“It’s all ‘cause Ric Flair, that old yella’ toothed bastard, is so scared of me that he’s tryna’ wear me down with these meanin’less bullshit matches so maybe I’ll get hurt and he can come into the Bash on father’s day and tell his stupid, ugly kids that he beat me, but lemme tell him suh’mm, the last thing Ric Flair did that was good an’ fatherly was get so old his balls shriveled into nuthin’ so he couldn’t have no more progenies to force onto the Earth! ‘Freakzilla’ don’t never have no bad days and ‘Freakzilla’ ain’t got no starvin’ kids at home to pay child support for, but on father’s day I’ll be Flair’s daddy when I make him cry like a lil’ bitch!”</em> Rick gets a wide grin on his face, saying now he’s in the four way for the title contendership, it’s gonna be as easy as chewing up a dog bone and the Steiners will rule WCW for as long as they damn well please. Scott says they already do, and Rick barks us back out to the ring. (Rating: A)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>#1 Contender for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship</strong></p><p><strong> Big Ron vs. “The Cat” Ernest Miller</strong></summary></p><p> This is an incredibly short match which sees Ron throw Ernest around for a while, but “The Cat” uses the support of the fans to come back into it. Heavy D hits the ring and tries to keep his brother in the lead, but his big boot accidentally blasts Big Ron instead! Miller hits the Feliner on D to take him back out of the picture and makes the cover, scoring a big win at 2:42! (Rating: D+)</p><p> </p><p> </p><div class="ipsEmbeddedVideo"><div><iframe width="200" height="150" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/jObCu4j4ax0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" title="WcW - Ernest"></iframe></div></div>, “The Cat” starts getting his dance on in the ring. But it’s not all jubilation, as Jeff Jarrett has come to the stage and the camera picks up him verbally slaughtering the Harris Brothers for their failure tonight! Things aren’t looking very good in the Jarrett camp, but the crowd are too excited watching Ernest dance to care about him. <hr></details></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> “Mean” Gene has found his scoop with Jeremy at his side, as they stand with Ric Flair. Gene asks Flair what we are doing here this evening, with Flair answering him that we are here to draw the names for the Gluttony match for the Great American Bash. “The Nature Boss” spins The Official WCW Tumbler© and makes a production of pulling out the first name: Chris Kanyon! He draws out the second name, showing it to Gene but pulling it away from Jeremy (who sells a disappointed look on his face) before announcing that it will be Kanyon against Jimmy Snuka Jr.! Flair looked fantastic here and the drawing got the crowd hotter, as we now have our Gluttony match set for June 16th! (Rating: C-)</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><strong>The Steiner Brothers vs. “Da Man” Goldberg and “The Prodigal Son” Dustin Rhodes</strong></summary></p><p> If you’re looking for great on-the-mat wrestling and incredible selling for one another, this isn’t the match for you at all. However it is a very good, very long bout that is given all the time for four men to go out there and put on a great show. Most of the drama of the match stems from the Steiners pulling Rhodes into their corner and decimating him, and commentary wondering if Dustin losing the match means Goldberg must retire from WCW. “The Prodigal Son” takes quite a beating from Rick and Scott, especially “The DFG” who continually seems to take pride in assaulting his recent enemy with a variety of suplexes and chinlocks. “Big Poppa Pump” makes a huge deal of taunting Goldberg at every chance, drawing him into the ring by outright flipping Goldberg off and spitting at him! This leaves Dustin open for some Steiner double teaming as Nick Patrick was telling Goldberg to leave the ring. Rhodes finally breaks free when he gets out of Scott’s belly to belly suplex by clapping him on the ears, making the hot tag! The match becomes a huge brawl, Nick losing all control of the bout. Scott and Goldberg start running the ropes at one another, but Midajah misses her cue and pulls the top rope down when Scott was on her side of the ring, causing him to fall over the top and out of the ring! Goldberg flips his attention on a dime, and he nails a vicious Spear on Rick! With Scott out of action on the floor, Goldberg lifts “The DFG” into the Jackhammer, and slams him to the mat for the 1-2-3 at 19:56! Goldberg has scored victory #100! <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><strong>Show Rating: B</strong></p><p> <em>This show has improved our popularity in 28 regions.</em></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="qJk5JLG.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/qJk5JLG.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p></div><p></p><p></p>

<p>Really liked seeing Sting get a moment in the sun, but I have a feeling that Eric is going to do something about this, like strip him of the title because of Savage's interference.</p><p> </p><p> Sting</p><p> Scott Steiner</p><p> KroniK</p><p> Lance Storm</p><p> Crowbar</p><p> AJ Styles</p><p> O'Haire and Palumbo</p>

Ahmed and Bret - This looks like a great match for the heels to get some super cheap heat. Also, and you can feel free to use this one on the next Raw, Scott Steiner IS gonna go down... on his best freaks! Goldust - I'll tell you what I'm thinking here. I'm probably going to be 100% wrong and Shammy is gonna break Goldust like a twig, but hear me out: Ken is already IC title caliber. Having some sort of interference or a rage DQ (especially a rage DQ) for Shamrock would pay him huge dividends here, and he can turn his attention to bigger things. Meanwhile, Goldust could totally play Queen of England, so have him win the Euro belt and just have some Attitude Era fun with he and his Squire Marquis. Rey Mysterio Jeff Jarrett - I would argue that Jeff is in the same boat as Shamrock, but someone big needs to be in the match so Jeff makes the cut. E&C Matt Hardy On the WCW side all I can say is oh gawd Bobby, WHY?! Of all the proteges to take on, it had to be Horshu? Sting DDP - Page looks like he's becoming a guy to watch, so a big shock Diamond Cutter victory here should put him on the map in a hurry. Awesome Unnamed Partners Goldberg Konnan Rick Martel ??? - Rarely bet against Mr. Squiggly.

<p>Beginning of June: Summer Daze</p><p> </p><p> <span style="color:#0000FF;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">From the desk of Eric Bischoff:</span></span></p><p> Another month passes as we move into June. We still lost money, this time to the tune of $835,532. I was really hoping to see the weekly pay-per-view model do better for that, but I will see how things go once some contracts come up for renewal at the end of June. I also paid Shane McMahon’s bank account $5,000, the first payment on what is going to be a long loan process. So to start the month of June, we begin with $3,318,631. As glad as I am to know we are in the black, that is not the type of money you want to have when trying to run a major promotion.</p><p> </p><p> But some big news happened during the end of May, both in-ring and out. On Friday morning, the wrestling world lost two of it’s legends in George “The Animal” Steele and Larry Zbyszko. Had we known more, we would have hosted ten bell salutes for them on Nitro, but we didn’t have time to put anything together from when the news had broken. We will have both on next week’s episode. I had perhaps intended on bringing Larry back to WCW in the future, after some finances were taken care of; I would have loved to have him back on commentary now and again or give him a role as an off-screen road agent or an on-screen authority figure, but it looks like now that is not to be. In lesser news but still dealing with people not being a part of the wrestling business anymore, Bill Eadie (a.k.a. Masked Superstar and Demolition Ax), Kamala, The Great Kabuki, Bushwhacker Luke, and The Fabulous Moolah have all announced they plan to retire from the business once all their current dates are fulfilled.</p><p> </p><p> During the WWF’s shows this week, I must admit that I was sucked in and really shocked to see Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeating the Power Trip, and then Benoit getting a huge title shot against Austin. It looks like the two are getting a pretty strong push, despite them not being Vince’s “type” despite the new, more ripped look that Benoit is sporting. I would wager a guess that it was only because the past week was aired from Canada, but I guess we’ll see. But hey, with Steve Austin, DDP, Benoit, and Jericho as the major champions in the WWF right now, it looks like Vince’s new “type” is former WCW stars. But it wasn’t all fun and games for Mr. McMahon as he had to deal with Rikishi causing Tazz a bruised eye socket on Raw. They weren’t using him in the ring much over the last few months anyways, but now he seems to be confined to commentary for the next couple weeks. Bradshaw gained some chronic back pain during his match on SmackDown, which the rumors say won’t make him take any time off but will see his future matches impacted for the next few months. But what is more important was that Steve Austin, who is said has been highly upset about losing to Jericho twice and at being removed as the main WWF figurehead, got into a big argument with a fan outside the Skyreach Centre. It nearly got physical, but security stepped in before it reached that point. Meltzer reported that Vince took no action against this, seeing it as Austin “being a successful heel” to get that kind of heat. In order to try and relieve some of the tension (and I would say because Vince just tends to do things to him) Jim Ross got ribbed by his hat being filled with shaving cream.</p><p> </p><p> Some pictures surfaced online of Sean Waltman, who is still in rehab – no surprise to me there. But it looks like his “toned” appearance has given way to a little more average size while he’s been away.</p><p> </p><p> Backstage at Nitro, Paul Orndorff was working with his proteges again as he taught Jindrak and O’Haire some psychology tips and was showing Yang how to do a little better mic work. I don’t give him the microphone, but it’s good to know that “Mr. Wonderful” has been giving him the secrets of the art. Tony Schiavone was taken to Harley Race’s Wrestler’s Court for not picking up a bar tab, with “Handsome Harley” ordering him to buy drinks for everyone after the show. You’d think an old fuddy-duddy like Tony wouldn’t change his ways, but after I saw him do it that night, it looks like they had the fear of Harley put into him enough to improve his behavior. Kevin Nash gave his opinion on Chuck Palumbo, that he thinks he should be jobbed off the roster for not being able to work a style similar to everyone else in WCW, but given Kevin’s propensity for not showing up to work even if he does show up, who’s he to talk about someone else?</p><p> </p><p> Mike Awesome approached me during Nitro asking to get a raise in his pay. He was making $7,800, feeling he should have another $5,150 on top of that. While I feel he’s been doing well as the menacing enforcer for The World, he hasn’t shown me a whole lot on his own. In order to keep the peace, I gave him 75% of what he was asking, making his monthly allotment a cool $11,662.</p><p> </p><p> The last news I am going to report on all has to do with one person: Dustin Rhodes. I approached him before the last Nitro of the month and gave him some news, that I wanted to see if he would allow me to renegotiate his contract. I didn’t mention it, but it’s the same deal that I offered to Kevin Nash a few months ago; longer contract for less money a month. Rhodes told me that he wasn’t too sure, as while he wasn’t upset, it had “stuck in his craw” that I had given him a gimmick that didn’t perform well. I got some slack from him by saying that I felt it had been long enough to tweak it into something that might suit him better. He offered me a caveat – he said that if this new gimmick pays off well for one thing, but also if I talk to his father Dusty and set up a partnership with his Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling so that Dustin can go there and work once in awhile, then he’ll sign something new.</p><p> </p><p> Well, during his opening segment with Goldberg, Dustin picked up some less wholesome points in order to change from a good old cowboy to a more realistic style Texan. It was actually maybe a little too soon to change things, but it came off as very above average, which was great to see.</p><p> </p><p> A day later, I reached out to “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. I laid out the entire situation for him; that WCW wasn’t the most financially stable right now, but I wanted to make sure he knew that Dustin had asked me to talk to him and set this up so that we can renegotiate his contract. Dusty told me that he still has a strong sense of loyalty to the brand of World Championship Wrestling, that it’s the house that “The Dream” helped to build, so he’s happy to do what he can to help, baby. He said that a partnership between WCW and TCW will only help both companies, so he agreed to it wholeheartedly, saying he looks forward to being able to have his son make appearances. It wasn’t long after that which I heard back from Dustin, who put ink to paper on a new four year contract that dropped his pay from $50,000 to $13,070. That should really help some things!</p><p> </p><p> Dustin’s contract being renegotiated wasn’t one of the ones which was coming up for renewal, that was an extra bonus; but there are roughly ten contracts that I need to decide on renewing or not this month, with three more coming up in the beginning of July. This could definitely be the turning point that I have been looking for over the past few months.</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="OOC" data-cite="OOC" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Dustin’s contract being renegotiated was one of TFC’s prizes for winning the prediction card at Envy. Within the next few days I plan on posting the Nitro for week one along with the prediction card for Great American Bash: Gluttony! So I hope you will all be pleased with what I have set up for that as, like I said, this week’s Nitro will give the finalized card.</div></blockquote>

<p>WWF: May 2001 week 4</p><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="N5QIZGQ.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/N5QIZGQ.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF Raw is War</strong></summary></p><p> Venue: Calgary Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Alberta)</p><p> Attendance: 11,006</p><p> Broadcasters: Foxtel, Sky Sports 1, TNN, TSN</p><p> Rating: 17.38</p><p> Card Rating: B+</p><p> </p><p> The Power Trip are out to talk about still having most of the gold after Judgment Day, although Triple H isn't very pleased that he lost the Intercontinental title. But Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit say that since they defeated the Power Trip in a non-title match, they are owed a shot and they want their title match tonight! (Rating: A*)</p><p> Billy Gunn defeated D'Lo in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> Jonathan Coachman talks to Spike Dudley and The Hollys, who talk about the Dudley Boyz and their King of the Ring qualifying matches (Rating: C)</p><p> Rhyno defeated Mark Henry in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> The APA talk about King of the Ring and potentially facing one another; Faarooq says “Damn!” to that. (Rating: B-)</p><p> Shane McMahon and Diamond Dallas Page come to the ring celebrating DDP's winning the Intercontinental title last night, but Vince McMahon comes to the stage and tells him that he defends that they should hold the celebration as he defends that title tonight against The Big Show! (Rating: B-)</p><p> In a satellite interview, Undertaker and Kane talk about how they still intend on taking down the Power Trip, after Kane is healed up (Rating: B+)</p><p> Michael Cole interviews Right to Censor, where Steven berates the RTC for what happened last night. Then he talks about how one of them winning King of the Ring would help the cause. (Rating: B-)</p><p> Faarooq defeated Val Venis in a King of the Ring Qualifying match when Steven Richards’s superkick meets Val instead of Faarooq (Rating: C+)</p><p> Tonight at WWF New York is Sgt. Slaughter! The legend is really enjoying himself with the fans (Rating: D+)</p><p> Diamond Dallas Page defeated The Big Show to retain the WWF Intercontinental title by a fluke Diamond Cutter scoring the pinfall (Rating: C-)</p><p> An irate Vince McMahon comes to the stage and screams at The Big Show, telling him to show up on SmackDown! to receive his pink slip! (Rating: B)</p><p> Rikishi defeated Tazz in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: B-)</p><p> Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, Tori, and Ivory talk about beating down Trish, but Stratus comes out and says she’ll find a partner to face them! (Rating: C)</p><p> Kurt Angle comes to the ring upset at what happened at Judgment Day. His words bring out Shane McMahon, who says that Kurt should have been able to beat Benoit squarely if he was as good as he claims. Angle loses it and attacks, dropping Shane with the Olympic Slam and locking him in the ankle lock! (Rating: A*)</p><p> D-Von Dudley defeated Spike Dudley in a King of the Ring Qualifying match after a distraction by Bubba Ray (Rating: C)</p><p> After the match, The Dudley Boyz 3D Spike through a table again! Molly Holly decides to go with him to the hospital, much to Crash’s chagrin as his King of the Ring match is coming up! (Rating: B-)</p><p> The Power Trip all bicker backstage about all the people coming after them, Triple H subtly pointing out that he was there for Austin but nobody came to help him (Rating: B)</p><p> Haku defeated Crash Holly in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> A graphic comes up saying that our main event is next, don't go away fans! (Rating: B)</p><p> In a huge shock, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho defeated The Power Trip for the WWF World Tag Team titles with Jericho pinning Austin! (Rating: B+)</p><p> <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="wDSynh8.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/wDSynh8.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF SmackDown!</strong></summary></p><p> Venue: Skyreach Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada</p><p> Attendance: 11,458</p><p> Broadcasters: Foxtel, Sky Sports 1, The Score, UPN</p><p> Rating: 12.98</p><p> Card Rating: B+</p><p> </p><p> The Power Trip open the show, highly pissed off, especially Triple H who is now left with no titles! Steve Austin tells him to get over it because it's more important that they still have the World championship. That's when Chris Benoit comes out and challenges him to put the title on the line right here tonight, and under crowd pressure Austin agrees! (Rating: A)</p><p> Raw Recap: Billy Gunn, Faarooq, D-Von Dudley, and Haku all advanced into the King of the Ring (Rating: C-)</p><p> Kurt Angle defeated Hardcore Holly in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: B-)</p><p> Edge does a Canadian inspired “5 Second Pose” but Funaki comes out and tells him he isn't EVIL~ enough (Rating: C+)</p><p> Edge defeated Funaki in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> Jonathan Coachman talks to Molly Holly for an update on how Spike Dudley is doing, but her cousins appear and yell at her about the Dudleyz, saying that she needs to be with her family first! (Rating: C)</p><p> Matt Hardy defeated Chaz in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> Jonathan Coachman interviews Diamond Dallas Page about being in the WWF now, with Page saying that he is happy to be taking on all challengers (Rating: B-)</p><p> Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley is met by Chris Jericho backstage and he makes her pout by calling her a filthy, dirty, disgusting, skanky, brutal, bottom-feeding, trash bag ho, so Vince McMahon shows up and sets him up in a fatal four way match where if he loses, Benoit and Jericho will have to defend the Tag titles against the team who wins! (Rating: B)</p><p> We look in on WWF New York where K-Kwik is gettin' rowdy with the fans! (Rating: D+)</p><p> Kane defeated Bull Buchanan in a King of the Ring Qualifying match when Steven Richards botches interference in the match (Rating: C)</p><p> Vince McMahon comes to the ring and tells The Big Show to get out here and accept the consequences of his actions. But Big Show doesn't let Vince talk when he gets to the ring, telling Vince that he has been trying to gain Vince's favor ever since he got back to the WWF in January, but he's learned that there is just no pleasing Vince. So he isn't going to listen to him anymore; and when McMahon gets upset about it, Big Show punches him, knocking Mr. McMahon out in the ring! (Rating: A*)</p><p> Raven says that he wants to win King of the Ring so he can spread the Raven Effect (Rating: B-)</p><p> Bradshaw defeated Raven in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> Rikishi defeated Chris Jericho, Bubba Ray Dudley and Justin Credible in a Fatal Four Way to determine a new number one contender for the WWF Tag Team titles (Rating: B-)</p><p> Vince McMahon and Debra are concerned about Austin accepting a World title match tonight, but “Stone Cold” isn't worried about Benoit (Rating: B)</p><p> Diamond Dallas Page defeated Albert by DQ to retain the WWF Intercontinental title when Triple H attacks Page with a sledgehammer (Rating: C)</p><p> DDP is horribly beaten down by Triple H, with “The Game” literally wiping his hands of DDP! (Rating: B)</p><p> Steve Blackman defeated Dean Malenko in a King of the Ring Qualifying match with a quick rollup (Rating: C-)</p><p> Howard Finkel gives a big introduction for our World Heavyweight championship match (Rating: C+)</p><p> Steve Austin defeated Chris Benoit to retain the WWF World Heavyweight title after a distraction from Kurt Angle (Rating: B)</p><p> <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="ZPaeS13.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/ZPaeS13.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF Jakked</strong></summary></p><p> Venue: Calgary Saddledome</p><p> Broadcasters: Syndication</p><p> Rating: 0.10</p><p> Card Rating: C+</p><p> </p><p> Crash Holly defeated Johnny Devine (Rating: D+)</p><p> Dean Malenko says that despite being taken out of King of the Ring, he’s planning some big things (Rating: C-)</p><p> Dean Malenko defeated Dave Swift (Rating: C-)</p><p> Grand Master Sexay defeated Essa Ríos (Rating: D+)</p><p> Grand Master Sexay dances for the crowd (Rating: B)</p><p> <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="43111" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="ZvDPOGe.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/ZvDPOGe.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /><p> </p><p> <hr><details><summary><strong>WWF Heat</strong></summary> </p><p> Venue: Skyreach Centre</p><p> Broadcasters: Foxtel, MTV, Sky Sports 1, Sportsnet East</p><p> Rating: 0.97</p><p> Card Rating: B</p><p> </p><p> Chris Jericho is on Sunday Night Heat (Rating: B-)</p><p> Bubba Ray Dudley defeated Grand Masta Sexay in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: B-)</p><p> Eddie Guerrero defeated Scotty 2 Hotty in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C+)</p><p> Test defeated William Regal in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: C-)</p><p> Jeff Hardy defeated The Goodfather in a King of the Ring Qualifying match (Rating: B-)</p><p> Chris Jericho's podium interview is about how excited he was with winning the Tag titles in front of the Calgary crowd (Rating: B)</p><p> <hr></details></p></div><p></p><p></p></div></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align:center;"><p><hr><details><summary><span style="text-decoration:underline;">The 2001 King of the Ring Tournament</span></summary></p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Qualifying Round:</span> Billy Gunn vs D'Lo, Faarooq vs. Val Venis, Edge vs. Funaki, Haku vs. Crash Holly, Rhyno vs. a surprise Mark Henry, Kane vs. Bull Buchanan, Kurt Angle vs. Hardcore Holly, Bradshaw vs. Raven, D-Von Dudley vs. Spike Dudley, Matt Hardy vs. Chaz, Steve Blackman vs. Dean Malenko, Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Grand Masta Sexay, Eddie Guerrero vs. Scotty 2 Hotty, Test vs. William Regal, Rikishi vs. Tazz, and Jeff Hardy vs. The Goodfather</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">First Round</span></p><p> Edge vs. Matt Hardy</p><p> Test vs. Haku</p><p> </p><p> Billy Gunn vs. D-Von Dudley</p><p> Faarooq vs. Rhyno</p><p> </p><p> Eddie Guerrero vs. Steve Blackman</p><p> Bubba Ray Dudley vs. Jeff Hardy</p><p> </p><p> Kurt Angle vs. Kane</p><p> Rikishi vs. Bradshaw</p><p> <hr></details></p><p> </p><p> <img alt="vpykxUT.jpg" data-src="https://i.imgur.com/vpykxUT.jpg" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> The next World Wrestling Federation PPV Extravaganza will be the WWF King of the Ring 2001!</p><p> Held on June 24th, 2001 at The Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey!</p><p> </p><p> <span style="text-decoration:underline;">Announced So Far</span></p><p> The Semi-Final and Final Rounds of the 2001 King of the Ring tournament!</p></div><p></p><p></p>

WCW Friday Nitro: 5/25/2001 <iframe width="220" height="124" src=" https://www.youtube.com/embed/HT89yLl-cOA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> WCW Friday Nitro Shown Live on May 25th, 2001 (Week 4) Held at: The Hard Rock Cafe Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada (South West) Announcers: Mike Tenay, Scott Hudson, and Arn Anderson Attendance: 2,000 people (sold out!) PPV Rating: 0.01 TV Rating: 1.48 Show Rating: B+ This show increased our popularity in 38 regions. ----------