Jump to content

KevinStorm

Members
  • Posts

    133
  • Joined

Everything posted by KevinStorm

  1. Thanks! I still have all the Magnificent Seven guys, minus Luger who is in rehab now, but I figured with WCW "going dark" for a while it made sense to reboot stories as well for the most part. Cruiserweight tag titles are gone. I never liked them and the roster isn't really deep enough. Glad you're enjoying it. Thanks for reading!
  2. The Dirt Sheet - Tuesday Week 1 November, 2001 WCW presented Halloween Havoc on Sunday, live on pay-per-view and cable around the world and again from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It was a night of surprises and of successes, as the recent decline in WCW PPV viewers finally reverse and the company saw its highest viewer count since Bash at the Beach in July. Just over half a million people saw Halloween Havoc, including about 224,000 buys on pay-per-view. The main event saw Scott Steiner successfull defend the WCW World title in a triple threat match, getting the pinfall on Jeff Jarrett with assistance from the former WWF start Road Dogg, real name Brian James, who made a surprise debut for the company by shattering Jeff Jarrett's guitar over his head. Sources say Road Dogg is fresh out of rehab, clean and sober, and ready to get back to action. WCW seems to have made the first and possibly the best offer, and they seem to have put a lot of faith in him by debuting him in such a high-profile way. In another shock from Halloween Havoc, Chuck Palumbo defeated Sting clean in the middle of the ring. Sources say that the match--and result--was Sting's idea, because he sees a lot of potential in Palumbo and wanted to do the honors to help get him over more. The two may meet again as part of the Legends Cup tournament, giving Sting the chance to get his win back, but this kind of selflessness is what is necessary to rebuild WCW going forward, and it's nice to see someone willing to make that effort. Speaking of the Legends Cup tournament, that tournament is set to finish at a new WCW pay-per-view to be named, appropriately, WCW Legends Cup. This tournament was a major motivator for WCW to begin doing non-televised events in the days before each TV taping, as a round robin tournament with 2 blocks of 4 wrestlers each means something like 12 matches total, plus the finals, if my math is correct. These live events provide more space to hold these matches, in addition to attracting fans who might think nothing important could happen at one of these shows. I am told WCW leaders are hopeful that the non-televised events and the TV tapings will fit in well as another Las Vegas tourist attraction, at least until the company resumes touring in the future as is hoped.
  3. WCW Halloween Havoc - Sunday Week 4 October, 2001 Pre-show: Mark Jindrak d. Hugh Morrus (53) John Cena came out for a promo hyping up himself. He's interrupted by developmental talent CM Punk, apparently debuting as a heel. THis sets up a match. (31) John Cena d. CM Punk via DQ (36) Shane Douglas and Danny Doring d. America's Most Wanted (42) After a brief intermission we go live on pay-per-view for WCW Halloween Havoc. The camera pans across the sold-out crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the pyro goes off and the commentary team welcome us to what will surely be an exciting night. The show kicks off with in-ring action as Shane Helms is out to take on Chavo Guerrero Jr who tried to recruit him into The Light. Chavo comes out with Animal looking big and mean. They put on a good cruiserweight style match to warm up the crowd until Chavo distracts the referee and Animal gets in the ring and powerbombs the everloving bejeezus out of Helms. Chavo wins via pinfall at 8:32. 62. After the match Vampiro joins Chavo and Animal as the latter two continue beating on a helpless Shane Helms. Vampiro says over a mic that the punishment Shane Helms is experiencing is nothing compared to what they want to do to Rey Mysterio, and Vampiro says the only way this beating stops is if Mysterio comes out. Mysterio does so, standing on the stage at a safe distance. Vampiro grabs Helms by the hair and lifts his head up for Rey to see. Vampiro says, "See this Mysterio? This is your future. Because if you want to save him, accept our challenge: a gauntlet match, you against The Light, at Legends Cup next month." Mysterio clearly doesn't want to do it because the odds will be more than stacked against him, but he accepts to save Helms. 48. Next we go backstage where Mean Gene Okerlund is standing with Chuck Palumbo and Ric Flair. Gene says Palumbo will take on Sting later tonight and asks for his thoughts. Flair says that Chuck Palumbo is the embodiment of the name Perfection: perfect body, perfect look, perfect potential, and tonight he's going to beat Sting to within an inch of his life, WOOOOOOOOO. Palumbo says Flair is right, and in fact, Palumbo is so confident in himself he tells Flair not to come to ringside with him. Palumbo says, "Ric I know you've got my back, but you have your own match tonight to get ready for, so let me handle business on my own." Flair is surprised but agrees. 47. Back to ringside for the US title hardcore match between Rob Van Dam and Tommy Dreamer. True to the ECW style Dreamer comes out with a shopping cart fool of plunder and the two wail on each other with stiff shots from chairs, stop signs, cookie sheets, and a kendo stick. Not a lot of technical wrestling here. RVD hits a Van Daminator and goes for a cover, but Shane Douglas is at ringside. Douglas climbs into the ring and dives for RVD, but RVD moves out of the way and Douglas strikes Dreamer instead. Douglas gets up and realizes what he's done, only to turn around into a chair shot from RVD for his troubles. Douglas rolls out of the ring as RVD climbs the ropes for a 5-Star Frog Splash and the pinfall win at 11:58. 48. Backstage again in the locker room Shawn Stasiak is livid, yelling about how he doesn't get the respect he deserves because he's the TV champ but doesn't have a match on Halloween Havoc. Stacey Keibler is doing her best to calm him down, but it only makes him more and more agitated. Stasiak accuses Keibler of conspiring against him because she is jealous of how successful and attractive he is. Keibler insists that isn't true and Stasiak raises a hand as if to strike her, but stops just before, and walks away shaking his head instead. 43. Up next is the the match for the WCW Tag Team titles. The Filthy Animals, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr, are out first, followed by the champions, Team Canada. Mike Awesome and Kidman start off the match, and Kidman soon can't handle Awesome's strength advantage. After some quick tags between both teams, Team Canada corner Mysterio and work him over for several minutes, teasing comebacks and hot tags. Mysterio looks good here but he can't get to Kidman and can't defend himself from the double-teaming and quick tagging. Finally, Awesome misses an avalanche in the corner and Mysterio rolls through and leaps for the hot tag. Kidman is in, dropping Lance Storm first who rolls out of the ring, and lays some quick strikes to Awesome. But Awesome is just too, well, awesome, so he eventually takes back over and puts Kidman away with the Awesome Bomb for the pinfall win at 10:07. 58. After Team Canada celebrate retaining the titles we cut backstage to Kronik with Torrie Wilson. Torrie congratulates Team Canada on their win, and says that they're all glad Team Canada are still the tag team champs. She says Kronik have a score to settle, so they better watch their backs. 49. We go back to ringside and now it's time for the street fight between Dustin Rhodes and Kanyon. They go all out from the start, trading hard strikes and brawling around the ring before spilling outside. They go all over ringside and into the crowd, which is red hot for this one, each man blading on the way. Through the crowd they climb up onto the stage from a ladder on the side, both bloody, both teasing that they're going to fall off through some tables that are conveniently set up. Kanyon bashes Rhodes' face on the stage set, then goes to whip him across the stage and off, but Dustin reverses. Kanyon hits the edge and stops himself, teetering on the brink of falling off, only to turn around into Dustin throwing a diving lariat that takes both of them off the stage and through the tables set up below. Both men appear to be knocked out, but Rhodes landed with his arm across Kanyon so the referee counts the fall. Dustin Rhodes wins via pinfall at 13:11. 67. After that wild brawl Eric Bischoff comes out for a promo to give the crowd a break. He thanks everyone for coming to Halloween Havoc and for watching at home, and for those in attendance or who plan to be in the Las Vegas area he has an exciting announcement: WCW will be holding untelevised events on Mondays and Tuesdays every other week before the Nitro tapings on Wednesdays, and for the next month several Legends Cup tournament matches will be featured at these special events. He also announces that everyone that bought tickets to Halloween Havoc tonight can present their ticket stub at the door either tomorrow or Tuesday for free admission. He again thanks all of the fans for their support. 68. We go now to a video that recaps the events leading up to tonights Sting vs. Chuck Palumbo match, beginning with Palumbo and O'Haire as tag champs, to Palumbo betraying his partner and joining Perfection, to Palumbo tapping out in the War Games match, to his challenge to Sting. 61. Again we go to the backstage area where Sting is preparing to go out. He says he's been waiting weeks for this match, because Chuck Palumbo clearly didn't learn his lesson at Fall Brawl. Sting says he's more than happy to beat that lesson into him one more time, and it's SHOWTIME, folks! 69. Chuck Palumbo is out first, without Flair or anyone else from Perfection, followed by Sting who gets a monster pop from the crowd. The match begins with the two taking it very slowly and feeling each other out. We even get an old school test of strength, which Palumbo wins at first until Sting is able to fight back to even ground before Palumbo throws a headbutt that breaks the two apart. Sting reverses a whip and meets Palumbo with a shoulder block, neither man going down. Sting hits the ropes now and shoulder blocks Palumbo again, but again neither man goes down. Palumbo hits the ropes and throws a clothesline, but Sting stays on his feet. Now Sting hits the ropes and throws his own clothesline, and Palumbo doesn't move. Palumbo hits the ropes and throws a clothesline yet again, but Sting the wily veteran ducks the clothesline and catches Palumbo with a high back body drop. Sting exploits this early advantage and the action spills outside with Palumbo trying to get away to regroup. Sting presses his attack though, whipping Palumbo into the guard rail and charging, only to be flipped over the guard rail into the crowd. Action goes back into the ring now with Palumbo in charge, beating on the veteran who is selling like a master. The crowd absolutely hates Palumbo here and are desperately trying to cheer Sting back into this thing. Later Sting reverses a whip and plants Palumbo with a spinebuster that would've made Arn Anderson proud. Popping up to his feet, Sting holds on to Palumbo's legs and traps him in the Scorpion Deathlock. The entire crowd is on its feet expecting the tap out to come any second now. Palumbo fights and fights, screaming in pain, and somewhow manages to muscle his way to the ropes. Sting can't believe it. He picks Palumbo up on jello legs and throws him into the corner, following up with a Stinger Splash. Palumbo staggers out and Sting wraps his head up for a Scorpion Death Drop for the pin, but Palumbo kicks out at 2.99. Sting grabs Palumbo's legs for another Scorpion Deathlock, but Palumbo grabs Sting's leg and rolls into a half Boston crab. Now it's Sting's turn to get to the ropes, which he does. Palumbo is clearly blown up at this point. His stamina probably isn't quite where it needs to be for a match this long but Sting is carrying him like the pro that he is. Palumbo picks Sting up and hits his Running Powerslam for a two-count. Palumbo goes for another Running Powerslam, but Sting slides out the back and Palumbo goes running into the corner. Sting charges for a Stinger splash on Palumbo's back but Palumbo moves. Sting hits the corner himself, turning into another Running Powerslam. Cover! 1-2-3! Chuck Palumbo gets the win via pinfall at 17:03 and the crowd can't believe it. Palumbo can't either. 74. After Chuck Palumbo celebrates his win as best he can given his exhausted state and begins to go back, we cut to backstage where Gene Okerlund is standing with a still-bloody Dustin Rhodes. Mean Gene tells Dustin that in recognition of his impressive performance tonight, the WCW Executive Committee has decided to give him a shot at the WCW World title on the next Nitro, so he will be taking on either Scott Steiner, Jeff Jarrett, or Booker T, whoever wins. Dustin says he's very grateful for the opportunity, and despite what people like Kanyon may think, he's always had to fight for what he's had--sometimes even harder than others because being Dusty's kid naturally made everyone dislike him. Dustin says that whoever wins tonight, he will do whatever it takes to become World champion. 51. We go back to the locker room now where Perfection are celebrating Chuck Palumbo's win over Sting. Steiner, Flair, and Bagwell all congratulate Palumbo and make fun of Sting. Finally, Flair and Bagwell says it's their turn, and they leave for their match. 57. We go to ringside for what must be a match intended to help calm the crowd down after Kanyon vs Sting, with Ric Flair and Buff Bagwell taking on Diamond Dallas Page and Sean O'Haire. It's odd that these four are put together in what seems like an afterthought of a match, but they come out to perform and impress anyway. DDP takes most of the heat from Bagwell and Flair until making the hot tag, and the babyfaces get the win when Sean O'haire hits Flair with a sort of inverted Widowmaker-Diamond Cutter combination for the pinfall at 15:23. 55. Main event time! Jeff Jarrett is out first, followed by Booker T, who gets a big reaction, and then Scott Steiner with Midajah. The three men feel each other out first, with Steiner more than happy to let Booker and Jarrett fight it out. At one point Steiner even lays across a top turnbuckle and watches, until Jarrett and Booker realize what's going on and knock him off. Jarrett follows Steiner out and smashes him on the guard rail, turning around into a big boot from Booker T. Booker then turns around into an overhead belly to belly suplex from Steiner, who then gets back in the ring, content to take a count out victory. Unfortunately for Steiner, both Jarrett and Booker make it back into the ring. Steiner calls to Jarrett, and points out that if the two of them take on Booker, then they can go one-on-one to determine a winner. Jarrett answers by kicking Booker in the midsection, and the two heels start to beat on Booker for several minutes. Jarrett hits a Stroke on Booker T, and Steiner goes for the pin. But Jarrett breaks up the pin. Steiner gets in Jarrett's face in anger, and Jarrett shoves Steiner. Steiner shoves back. THe two now come to blows as Booker rolls out of the ring. Later as the two heels are still fighting, Booker gets back into the ring. He throws an ax kick at Jarrett but Jarrett ducks and it hits Steiner. Jarrett throws some punches at Booker and whips Booker into the turnbuckles. Booker ducks a clothesline, rebounds, and hits a spinning wheel kick on Jarrett. Unknown to Booker, Chuck Palumbo has made his way to ringside. At an opportune time, with the referee focusing on Jarrett and Steiner, Palumbo drags Booker out of the ring and throws him into the guard rail, then walks away pretending like nothing happened. Just then, Jeff Jarrett walks over to the side of the ring while Steiner keeps arguing with the referee. A man climbs over the guard rail from the audience and picks up Jarrett's guitar. As Jarrett is looking at Booker T down on the floor, the man swings the guitar and shatters it over Jarrett's head. Jarrett falls back into the middle of the ring as the man backs his way up the aisle, removing the hood on his sweater to reveal the former Road Dogg, who Mike Tenay only refers to as "one of the famed Armstrong family." Crowd pops pretty big for Road Dogg, whatever they're calling him. Steiner gets away from the referee and makes a cover for the win at 20:18. 74. After the bell rings, Booker T gets up and realizes what just happened. He's absolutely livid. Steiner is in the ring celebrating with his title belt and Booker T climbs back in going nose to nose with the World champion as Halloween Havoc goes off the air. 72. Overall rating: 72.
  4. Damn that conniving Hogan. Nice to see Giant with a real role here though. WCW historically never seemed to really find his "spot."
  5. The Dirt Sheet - Saturday Week 4 October, 2001 WCW is riding a wave of momentum as they approach possibly their most anticipated PPV card since the reboot, and possibly since long before. Headlined by Scott Steiner defending the WCW World title against both Booker T and Jeff Jarrett in a triple-threat match, the card also features Sting vs. Chuck Palumbo, Dustin Rhodes vs. Kanyon in a street fight, Rob Van Dam defending the US title against Tommy Dreamer in what is essentially an ECW rules match (though WCW can't call it ECW rules due to the WWF owning that company's IP now), and Diamond Dallas Page teaming with Sean O'Haire to take on Buff Bagwell and Ric Flair. Aside from that last match that seems just sort of thrown together for no real reason, this is a pay-per-view with a pretty great build and one that I'm sure WCW officials are hoping will keep their momentum going. There's been very little word of Lex Luger's status since Perfection unceremoniously kicked him out of the group on Nitro as an excuse to write him off TV for a trip to rehab. It is unknown as of right now if Luger was released from the contract that makes him one of the highest-paid members of the roster at what is rumored to be around $700,000 per year. One source within WCW told me that Luger could still have at least a year left on his deal, and WCW may still be hoping that there is light at the end of the tunnel if they can still take advantage of his name value if he manages to come back clean and sober. Backstage at WCW the Halloween Havoc show is seen as the beginning of the road to Starrcade, as I'm told. With the winner of the Legends Cup tournament in November--at a show I am told will be called WCW Legends Cup--getting a World title shot at Starrcade, the tournament is likely to be a major focus for the coming month. This focus on in-ring product will be a welcome alternative from the soap opera-style of the WWF, though WCW still seems to be making no effort to directly compete against their former rival. Now for the Halloween Havoc preview: WCW Halloween Havoc Sunday Week 4 October, 2001 LIVE on Pay-Per-View! Triple Threat match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title (one fall to a finish): Scott Steiner © vs. Booker T vs. Jeff Jarrett Sting vs. Chuck Palumbo Diamond Dallas Page/Sean O'Haire vs. Ric Flair/Buff Bagwell Hardcore match for the WCW United States Title: Rob Van Dam © vs. Tommy Dreamer Street Fight: Dustin Rhodes vs. Kanyon WCW World Tag Team Title match: Team Canada (Mike Awesome/Lance Storm) © vs. Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio Jr/Billy Kidman) Shane Helms vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr
  6. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 October, 2001 (airs Friday Week 4 October, 2001) The pre-show between tapings saw John Cena and Shawn Stasiak go to a double count-out (47). And we begin the go-home edition of Nitro before Halloween Havoc 2001 with the familiar pyro display. The announce team remind us we will see the final two slots for the Legends Cup tournament filled tonight but as they're talking, Booker T's music plays and he walks to the ring with a purpose. Taking a microphone, Booker T says we're only a few days away from his chance to make history as a FIVE TIME WCW World Heavyweight champion. He says he's been putting in the work to make'em hurt and paying the cost to be the boss and he's ready to walk through a brick wall, fight a bear, lift a truck, and do whatever it takes to win that title again and finally shut Scott Steiner's big mouth up. Scott Steiner is out next with Midajah and goes to the ring himself. Steiner says Booker T can fight a bear all he wants, because a bear is a natural phenomenon (you can imagine for yourself how he pronounced that), but Big Poppa Pump is a genetic freak that surpasses all natural wildlife, and at Halloween Havoc he's going to rip Booker T to pieces. Not to be ignored, Jeff Jarrett comes out next and gets in the ring. He tells both men that they've forgotten one important thing: The Chosen One is also in this match, and forgetting him will be a huge mistake because he's on a mission to show WCW and all these idiots watching Nitro that he's going to be the face of pro wrestling. Surprisingly, Eric Bischoff comes out next on the stage. He says that he's really looking forward to the triple threat match at Halloween Havoc, but just as a little taste, he's going to set up a match for night: Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner will team up to take on Booker T and a partner of his choosing in the main event on Nitro! 72. After that confrontation we go back to ringside for a Legends Cup qualifier as Chuck Palumbo takes on Bam Bam Bigelow. THe outcome here was never really in question given the big push Palumbo has gotten lately, and the two men just didn't really click for some reason, but the fans are into Palumbo so much that the crowd reaction carried the match well enough. Palumbo wins via pinfall with a running powerslam to show off his strenght at 10:55. 47. After the match Ric Flair gets in the ring and grabs a microphone. He talks up Chuck Palumbo as the biggest badass WCW has seen in years, with the power to rip a tree in half with his bare hands. Flair says if Sting earns a spot in the Legends Cup later tonight WCW might have to have a replacement on standby, because the Stinger might not survive Halloween Havoc. 65. Next we cut backstage to DDP and Sean O'Haire. O'Haire congratulates his former partner for getting into the Legends Cup, and says that he still hasn't forgotten getting stabbed in the back and losing the tag team titles. Sooner or later, Palumbo will have to stop ducking him. DDP takes over here, and says that at Halloween Havoc he and O'Haire are going to dance with Ric Flair and Buff Bagwell, and both of them are going to FEEL. THE. BANG. 61. Team Extreme are out next as Tommy Dreamer has a match with Norman Smiley. Crowd had a good time trash talking Team Extreme but no one cared about Smiley. Dreamer gets the win after a piledriver at 6:38. 50. Shane Douglas and Danny Doring get in the ring next. Douglas says that their mission in WCW is to destroy Rob Van Dam, and the first step to that is Tommy Dreamer beating RVD from pillar to post Extreme-style at Halloween Havoc and taking the US title. 49. The next match is the last Legends Cup qualifier. Kanyon is out first, followed by STING! Crowd is on fire for this one as Kanyon has been getting a decent push lately and Sting is, well, Sting. They get a good amount of time for a TV match and put on a great contest with a hot crowd. Dustin Rhodes comes down to ringside and just stands there staring at Kanyon. Kanyon sees Rhodes, turns his attention away from Sting who he just planted with a bodyslam, and starts yelling at Rhodes. Dustin doesn't say a word, just standing there. Sting recovers, and Dustin points to Kanyon as if to say "look behind you." When Kanyon turns around he takes a couple of punches from Sting, followed by a whip into the corner, Stinger Splash, and a Scorpion Deathlock for the submission at 13:01. 71. After the match Sting leaves the ringside area while Kanyon is still down selling his legs. Dustin Rhodes takes a microphone into the ring. He says, "Kanyon, what are we doing here, man? You interfere in my match, I interfere in yours, you talk about how much you don't like me, I talk about how much I don't like you, what's the point, man? How about we settle this like men, man? Last week I challenged you to a street fight at Halloween Havoc. What do ya say?" Kanyon struggles to climb to his feet using the ropes to pull himself up. Rhodes hands Kanyon the mic, and Kanyon just says, "you're on." 61. Booker T comes back to the ring now. He says that Eric Bischoff just gave him a gift, because he gets to pick his partner to take on both of his opponents for Halloween Havoc and soften them up. He says anybody in the locker room would've wanted a shot at both Jarrett and Steiner, but he found someone he thinks is the best choice: and out comes Sean O'Haire to a decent pop from the crowd. 65. While Booker and O'Haire wait for their opponents, the announcers tell us they've been told something is going on backstage. We cut back to a hallway where Sting is staggering, followed closely by Chuck Palumbo and Ric Flair. Flair yells at Sting while Palumbo throws some heavy punches and forearms, ramming Sting into the hallway wall until WCW officials show up to separate them. 60. Main event time, and with Booker T and O'Haire already in the ring, Jeff Jarrett comes out next followed by Scott Steiner. Steiner and Jarrett clearly aren't too sure about each other, but they start with Jarrett in the ring against O'Haire. The two teams take their time and tell a great story, with some quick tagging early on until the heels cut off Sean O'Haire and beat on him for much of the match. O'Haire gets a couple of counters in, giving the crowd hope for a hot tag, until eventually he ducks a Scott Steiner clothesline and dives for it. Booker T gets the tag and is in like a ball of fire, dropping Steiner first, then Jarrett, then Steiner again, then Jarrett. The crowd is going nuts. Jarrett rolls to the floor and grabs his guitar, kneeling down beside the ring so Booker can't see it. Steiner tries to whip Booker into the ropes, but Booker reverses, sending Steiner, and Jarrett clocks him with a blind guitar shot by swinging it up over his head behind him. The guitar shatters into a million pieces but Steiner doesn't go down, instead turning around and staggering into a Bookend for the 1-2-3 at 16:12. Nitro goes off the air with the announcers reminding everyone watching to order Halloween Havoc this Sunday. 67. Overall rating: 68.
  7. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 October, 2001 (airs Friday Week3 October, 2001) The pre-show saw Mark Jindrak defeat developmental talent CM Punk (37), Kanyon defeat Hugh Morrus (60), and Bam Bam Bigelow defeat Mike Sanders (41). The video screen comes alive as the opening sequence begins with a wide-ish shot of the crowd as the pyro goes off. The announcers welcome us to another edition of WCW Nitro on F/X and remind us that two more slots in the Legends Cup tournament will be decided tonight, but they're interrupted by Jeff Jarrett's music. Jarrett comes to the ring, guitar in one hand and microphone in the other. He tells the audience to shut their holes, which only brings on louder booing. Jarrett says it's about time WCW recognize the greatness of the Chosen One by finally giving him the World title shot he deserves, even though he has to go through two other men to get it. He says whether he beats Booker T or Scott Steiner at Halloween Havoc he's going to be leaving with the WCW World title around his waist, and there ain't a damn thing anybody else can do about it. Solid promo from a frankly underrated talent. 66. We cut backstage next as Chavo Guerrero Jr asks Shane Helms if Shane has decided to see the Light or not. Helms says he appreciates the offer but he's still thinking it over, and he wants to do what's right for him and his future. Chavo plays good guy here, saying he understands Shane's thinking and he's sure Shane will make the right decision. 51. Back to ringside and it's time for our first match of the evening, Billy Kidman vs. Elix Skipper. The two put on a standard cruiserweight style contest that would've been really cool in 1997 but is a bit old-hat in 2001. Kidman gets the pinfall after a shooting star press at 9:45. 44. After the match we go backstage to Kidman going back to the locker room. Rey Mysterio congratulates him on the win and says he's sure they'll win the tag titles at Halloween Havoc. Just then Mike Awesome and Lance Storm interrupt the two, laughing. Storm says that Mysterio and Kidman can't seriously believe they're going to win the tag titles from the greatest technical wrestler in the world and a big monster like Mike Awesome. Mysterio says to just wait and see. 49. We go now to Dustin Rhodes backstage. He says that after last week's Nitro, he's just about fed up with Kanyon sneak attacking him and blindsiding him all the time. He says if Kanyon really wants a fight, they should make it a FIGHT: a street fight at Halloween Havoc. Rhodes says it's time Kanyon puts up or shuts up. 53. Another promo and this time it's Scott Steiner with Midajah who is just as smoking hot as ever. Steiner rips into both Booker T and Jeff Jarrett, saying that Booker T has never had what it takes to stand up to the man with the largest arms in the world, and the only thing Jeff Jarrett's ever been "chosen" for is dead last for kickball in junior high. Steiner says that Big Poppa Pump is the champion because he's the greatest athlete WCW has ever seen, and now WCW has seen he's so good he needs two opponents at once, but he'll still win at Halloween Havoc. 67. Back to the ring again in a show that's been light on in-ring competition so far, but this should be a treat as we get Ric Flair vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. for a spot in the Legends Cup tournament. They don't disappoint as Rey flies all over the place and Flair does what Flair does, which is make his opponents look amazing. We get a ref bump when Flair dodges a dropkick by pulling referee Charles Robinson in his way. Rey sprinboards off the ropes and hits a springboard hurricanrana for a pin, but the referee is out. Rey gets up to check the ref, but Chavo Guerrero Jr comes out from under the ring and lays Rey out with a steel chair. The referee comes to as Chavo ducks down outside the ring and Flair crawls over to lay his arm over Mysterio for the 1-2-3 at 14:53. 67. Chavo gets in the ring after the bell and puts some more boots to Rey Mysterio Jr, yelling about how Rey made him do this, and if Rey had only seen The Light it wouldn't happen. Shane Helms comes running down the entrance way and slides in the ring. Chavo invites Helms over to help him beat up Mysterio and join The Light. Helms looks from Mysterio to Guerrero and back, as if he's trying to make up his mind. He steps forward and motions for Chavo to back up so he can take some shots at Rey, only to turn around and lay Chavo out with a sharp right hand. Chavo hits the mat and rolls out of the ring holding his face. Helms grabs a microphone and says he's made his decision, and he's decided he wants Chavo one on one at Halloween Havoc. 52. Next we get a video hyping up the hardcore match for the US title between champion Rob Van Dam and Team Extreme's Tommy Dreamer, highlighting that the two both came from the same company before WCW and they worked together to help build that company up to a cult favorite, then showing Dreamer's betrayal of RVD and the events leading up to this match. 40. Backstage again we go to Booker T for a promo. Booker T says that once again Scott Steiner avoids a one on one fight with someone he knows he can't beat. He says that Jeff Jarrett managed to weasel his way into the world title match by pure luck, but the win will be even sweeter when Booker T beats not one, but two of the biggest jackasses in WCW to win the title he never lost and become a FIVE TIME, FIVE TIME, FIVE TIME, WCW World Heavyweight champion. They're really putting some hype behind this match and I dig it. 71. Now we go to the ring for the main event, another Legends Cup qualifier between Buff Bagwell and Sean O'Haire. O'Haire is still kinda green but I like that he's getting quite a bit of ring time. They put on a decent power-based brawl that even includes a TEST OF STRENGTH~! that O'Haire wins until Bagwell throws a surprise headbutt. Finish saw Flair distract O'Haire by grabbing his foot from ringside, causing O'Haire to turn his attention to Flair and leave an opening for Buff to hit a yellow jacket suplex for the pin at 14:21. 57. After the match Flair joins Bagwell into the ring to celebrate both of them getting into the Legends Cup tournament. They start stomping on Sean O'Haire, until Diamond Dallas Page runs down and slides into the ring. Bagwell and Flair make a hasty retreat, and as they go back to the entrance Page calls for a microphone and tells Bagwell and Flair that it seems neither of them have a match at Halloween Havoc, and it turns out Page and O'Haire don't either, so he suggests that Bagwell and Flair take on himself and O'Haire and see how they do with even odds. Flair and Bagwell talk trash toward the ring and accept the challenge as they back away. 63. Overall rating: 64
  8. The Dirt Sheet - Monday Week 3 October, 2001 Probably the biggest story out of WCW lately involves Lex Luger, one of the biggest stars in the company and, up until a couple of weeks ago, a member of the top heel faction Perfection. Recently he seems to have been showing up to tapings under the influence. After several failed drug tests, WCW management finally seem to have had enough and sent Luger to rehab. I am told Luger was furious at the decision and demanded his release, but was denied as WCW are not ready to give up on the star power he brings to the table when he's sober. Even at Luger's age and despite having lost a few steps over time, he's still quite popular and could at least be used to rub up against upcoming talent and get them over. That will have to wait, though, as it seems Luger will be gone for at least several months, assuming he comes back at all. The angle on Nitro with Perfection kicking him out of the group was a cover story for the trip to rehab to explain his disappearance, and the possibility is open for a babyface return and feud with the group if he can get his personal issues sorted. Ratings for Nitro continue their steady state, knocking on the door of half a million viewers but not quite breaking the threshold. With a new set of tapings coming up this week, we should see more of the stage set for Halloween Havoc at the end of the month. Havoc is always an important tentpole event for WCW, with Eric Bischoff said to consider Havoc the most important event in the past. The new regime seems to be thinking of Starrcade as its Wrestlemania-equivalent show, but Havoc should still prove to be a major event with some marquee matches and a great deal of hype. Already we know we'll be seeing Scott Steiner vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T in a three way for the WCW title, and the two heels-one babyface structure is intriguing. I wouldn't be surprised to see Perfection get involved, but I'm hoping we get some kind of winner over a messy no contest like we saw on this past Nitro. I am also still hearing some talk of Nitro going live and returning to touring in the future, though as always no decisions have been made yet. Sources say WCW leadership, especially Eric Bischoff, are very eager to at least make Nitro a live show, but others in the leadership group are hesitant to spend the extra money that going live would cost. Touring is another point of debate: some, again I'm told with Bischoff in the lead, want to see WCW go back on the road at least for Nitro. Others, though, see that move as an unnecessary increase in expenses and they aren't ready for such a change yet. With Nitro tapings consistently sold out--albeit in a relatively small venue--some higher-ups in WCW don't think the extra expense and effort of touring or going live would be worth the potential bump in ratings and ticket sales.
  9. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 1 October, 2001 (airs Friday Week 2 October, 2001) The second episode of Nitro for October starts with a pre-show after the brief intermission. Mike Awesome defeated Jamie Knoble (54). The main show begins with the familiar pyro display followed immediately by Perfection coming out to the ring, noticeably without Lex Luger who they all beat into the mat on the previous episode. Ric Flair takes the microphone first. He says, "every since we cut the dead weight from Perfection last week, WOOOOOOO, everyone's been asking WHY. WHY did we kick out Lex Luger? WHY did we suddenly turn on one of our own? WHY him and not someone else? Well let me tell you something. I've known Lex Luger his entire career. I helped bring Lex Luger into this business because I saw a lot of potential in Lex Luger. But potential is all he's ever had, and eventually we realized that Perfection will be more perfect without Lex Luger, WOOOOOOO." Scott Steiner takes the mic next. He jokes with the others about how everyone thought he was going to kick out Chuck Palumbo, and says that Palumbo played it so well Steiner almost believed that himself. They share a laugh about the look on Luger's face when the punches started, and how he looked laying in a heap on the mat. Steiner says that Big Poppa Pump only surrounds himself with the best, and the four men--and one woman--the audience is looking at are the ones it will take to keep the World Heavyweight title where it belongs. 67. After that opening we get a match between John Cena and Danny Doring, and holy damn do the fans not care about Doring. Cena got a bit of a pop when he first came out, but Doring without Dreamer--who the announcers say isn't here tonight--or Douglas--who the announcers say is probably preparing for his qualifier match later--is just a dud. After a meh brawl Cena gets the win via pinfall after a Spin-out powerbomb at 8:57. 27. We go to a backstage promo now with Sean O'Haire. O'Haire says he hasn't forgotten about Palumbo betraying him to join Perfection. He says he got a little bit of revenge seeing Palumbo tap out in War Games, but the next step is next week: he's going to take on Buff Bagwell, he's going to win, and he's going to go into the Legends Cup tournament ready to win some gold. 50. Back to ringside for another Legends Cup qualifier. This time Diamond Dallas Page takes on Lance Storm. Storm comes to the ring with his tag title belt but without Mike Awesome. DDP comes out to a big pop from the crowd. They get a decent amount of time for a Nitro match and take advantage by putting on a great match, Storm trying to tie Page in knots while Page tries to keep his distance and use his height advantage to brawl. Lance Storm hits a back suplex and goes for a submission hold, but Torrie Wilson comes out to ringside. Storm sees her and takes a step back, looking around for Kronik who he figures must be close by. Torrie just stands there waving at him, and when he isn't immediately attacked Storm stands by the ropes talking trash to Torrie. Unbeknownst to Storm, DDP has gotten to his feet and Storm turns into a Diamond Cutter. DDP gets the win via pinfall at 10:49. 64. We go backstage now where we see Torrie Wilson again, this time with Brian Adams and Bryan Clark. They enter Bischoff's office and Torrie asks for another shot at the tag team titles. Bischoff says Kronik had their chance and they blew it, so back to the back of the line. Instead, the Filthy Animals will get the next shot at the tag titles at Halloween Havoc. 45. Another Legends Cup qualifier is up next with Dustin Rhodes taking on Shane Douglas. This is another entertaining match, but it's all brawling compared to the previous match that had some technical wrestling mixed in. Rhodes and Douglas really go at each other until about 10 minutes in when Kanyon runs to the ring and attacks Dustin Rhodes right in front of the referee. Dustin Rhodes wins via disqualification at 10:19 and Shane Douglas can't believe what just happened. 66. Backstage again we see Rob Van Dam sitting on top of the arena looking out over the Las Vegas strip. He says, "You know Tommy, you and me, we used to be a part of something important. We helped define a whole new style of wrestling in America, and we helped build the kind of raw, uncut, unedited, unfiltered wrestling company that no one had ever seen before. And now, you running around with Shane Douglas and Danny Doring, calling yourselves 'Team Extreme,' all you're doing is making a joke of it all. You wanna go back to our roots at Halloween Havoc, Tommy? Be careful what you wish for." 40. We're backstage again with Sting. He tells us he has a Legends Cup qualifying match against Kanyon next week, and it's his shot at becoming WCW World Heavyweight champion once again so he's not going to take that opportunity lightly. But, he says he's also got something else on his mind: teaching a young upstart a lesson at Halloween Havoc. He says that he's going to prove Chuck Palumbo isn't ready to be in the same room one on one with the Stinger, and at Halloween Havoc it's gonna be SHOWTIME. 66. Next is our main event, with Booker T taking on Jeff Jarrett to determine the #1 contender to the World title at Halloween Havoc. Tony Schiavone tells us that both of these guys have earned a spot in the Legends Cup, but if either of them happens to defeat Scott Steiner at Halloween Havoc, then Steiner will take the place of the man that beat him in the tournament. They put in a really good match with plenty of time until Buff Bagwell and Chuck Palumbo both run in and attack both men. The referee calls for the bell and rules the match a no contest at 15:10. 58. After the match, Scott Steiner and Ric Flair come to the stage and join up with Bagwell and Palumbo to laugh at Booker and Jarrett, thinking they've just cost both of them a shot at Steiner's championship. But Eric Bischoff comes out next, and announces that because neither man won this match, the World title match of Halloween Havoc will be a triple threat match, with Scott Steiner defending the WCW World Heavyweight title against both Booker T and Jeff Jarrett, and the first fall wins it all! 72. Overall rating: 63.
  10. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 1 October, 2001 (airs Friday Week 1 October, 2001) The first set of Nitro tapings began just a few days after Fall Brawl with Mark Jindrak defeating Air Paris (38) and Sean O'Haire vs. Rick Steiner going to a double count-out (63) on the pre-show. The main show started with a video package of still photos highlighting the War Games match from Fall Brawl, with the announcers giving us a run-down of the events of the match, including focusing on Sting getting the win for his team by forcing Chuck Palumbo to tap out. 69. After the video we go to the arena for the opening pyro display, and before the announcers can even welcome us Booker T's familiar music starts playing, bringing on a positive reaction from the crowd. Booker comes to the ring with a purpose and takes a microphone as he climbs in. He says, "I've said it already, I'm gonna say it again, and I won't repeat myself later: Eric Bischoff, bring yo narrow behind out here, because I want a shot at the World Heavyweight title, SUCKAAAAA." Instead of Eric Bischoff, we get Jeff Jarrett out to the ring. Booker T looks incredibly irritated at Jarrett's presence and asks what he's doing out there. Jarrett says he's had just about enough of not getting his just due in WCW. He says Booker T didn't even win a match himself at Fall Brawl, his partner did, but Jarrett won his match. Jarrett says that means if anyone should get a title shot, it's Double-J. Bischoff comes out to the ring now. He says that both men make a good point. On one hand, Jeff Jarrett did win his match at Fall Brawl, and he's got a solid claim to be #1 contender. On the other hand, Booker T has been at the top of his game lately too, so he's got a solid claim himself. Bischoff says the only fair way to solve this problem is for Booker and Jarrett to face each other, and since they both have Legends Cup qualifiers tonight, they'll take each other on next week on Nitro, with the winner facing Scott Steiner for the World title at Halloween Havoc. 65. Next is the opening match, with The Light (Chavo and Animal) taking on America's Most Wanted. AMW have solid potential in the ring but the audience really just doesn't care about them yet. The Light get the win when Animal pins Chris Harris after a power bomb at 8:39. 45. The feed cuts backstage now, with DDP cutting a promo. He says he's got a match against Lance Storm next week on Nitro, with the winner moving on to the Legends Cup. Page says if anyone deserves to be the first Legends Cup winner it's him, because he's clawed and fought his way to the top of WCW when no one believed in him except the fans. He says that next week, he's going to earn his spot in the Legends Cup, and then he's going to continue clawing and fighting so he can earn that title shot at Starrcade. Good promo from Page, and good to see they're hyping up this new Legends Cup thing. 59. Back to the ring, Rob Van Dam comes out with the US title around his waist. Climbing into the ring, he says that at Fall Brawl he had Kanyon beaten but had to settle for a disqualification win because Team Extreme can't stay out of his business. RVD says that he's not interested in DQ wins, or count out wins, but he is interested in revenge wins, and his revenge is long over due. He calls out Tommy Dreamer, and says that he wants Dreamer one on one the way they used to do it: no DQ, no count out, falls count anywhere, and hardcore as it gets. Tommy Dreamer comes out alone next and stands on the stage. He says that if anyone knows hardcore, it's him, and if RVD is willing to put the US title on the line in this match he'll accept. RVD says he'll see Dreamer at Halloween Havoc. 59. We stay ringside next as John Cena comes out to take on Disco Inferno. No real doubt as to how this one was going to go, but the audience at least is starting to take to John Cena. Cena gets the win via pinfall after a spin-out powerbomb at 8:53. 39. After the match the five members of Perfection, plus Midajah, come out to the ring next. Scott Steiner takes a microphone, looking angry. Chuck Palumbo noticeably looks upset due to taking the loss at Fall Brawl. Steiner says that at Fall Brawl, Perfection had a set back. They got embarrassed. Steiner says that he's been let down, and all of their millions of fans around the world have been let down. The audience boos that line, as none of them like these guys. Steiner says that it's time for a reckoning, and it's time for Perfection to cut the "dead weight" out of the group. As he says this, he steps in Chuck Palumbo's face, who puts his hands up as if to beg Steiner to reconsider. Steiner gets right in Palumbo's face, and says "sometimes, a crew has to make hard decisions, look deep inside themselves and realize that one man just ain't carrying his weight, and they gotta cut that man out like a tumor." Suddenly, Buff Bagwell throws a right hand at Lex Luger. Flair joins in on the attack, as does Palumbo. Steiner joins in as well as Luger goes down. The four men pound and stomp Luger into the mat for several minutes and leave him laying. 64. Next the announcers tell us we're about to see the first Legends Cup qualifier with Jeff Jarrett taking on Rob Van Dam. Jarrett tries to keep the match grounded, using his technical skills to try to control RVD, while RVD goes for high-risk attacks and quick reversals. They put on a great match, but during the match Tommy Dreamer shows up on the stage just standing there watching. RVD, who had just dropped Jarrett with a DDT, loses focus and stands at the ropes talking trash to Dreamer. The referee stands by RVD trying to tell Dreamer to go back to the back and not to get involved in the match. While this distraction is going on, Shane Douglas runs in through the crowd and delivers a low blow to RVD from behind. Douglas slides back out of the ring as Jarrett gets back to his feet. Seeing the opportunity, Jarrett puts on the figure four and RVD has no choice but to tap. Jarrett gets the win via submission at 10:29. 65. Backstage, Shane Helms is sitting in the locker room. Chavo Guerrero Jr approaches Helms, and says not to worry because he's just there to talk. Chavo says he saw Helms's win at Fall Brawl, and Vampiro was impressed by his efforts. Chavo says he's there at Vampiro's request to offer The Light to Shane Helms. Helms looks a little confused, but says he'll think about it. 44. Moving to another area backstage, Chuck Palumbo is standing by with Ric Flair. The two of them laugh about how they had Lex Luger so fooled, acting like Palumbo was going to be the one kicked out of Perfection, but it was really Luger all along that was the weak link. Palumbo says that even so, he's got a bone to pick with Sting. Palumbo accepts that Sting maded him tap out at War Games, but if Sting has the spine to go one on one he won't be so lucky. From the side Sting, who heard the whole thing, walks up and gets in Palumbo's face. Sting says, "you wanna dance with the Stinger, big boy? You and me at Halloween Havoc." 71. The main event is up next, which the announcers tell us is another Legends Cup qualifier. Mike Awesome is out first with his tag title belt over his shoulder, followed by Booker T who gets a big reaction. Awesome uses his size to take an early advantage, beating Booker T around the ring with Booker making Awesome look like a monster. Finish saw Mike Awesome get Booker T up for the Awesome Bomb but Booker drops out of it and throws some haymakers that rock Awesome. Booker T ducks a clothesline and hits the ropes, delivering a pump kick to Awesome's gut. Booker hits the ropes again and puts Awesome down with the Harlem Ax Kick, then pops up with a spinnarooni. Mike Awesome climbs to his feet, staggering, and throws another clothesline that Booker ducks and catches Awesome with a Book End. Booker T gets the win via pinfall at 11:33. 66. Overall rating: 66.
  11. Much appreciated! The Dirt Sheet - Monday Week 1 October, 2001 Preliminary figures suggest that last night's Fall Brawl PPV reached somewhere above 450,000 viewers, including 208,000 PPV buys. If these numbers hold, they would represent a decrease of about 4,000 buys and 8,000-9,000 viewers on regular TV from the previous month's Mayhem, headlined by a tag team match between Booker T/Sting and Scott Steiner/Buff Bagwell. The viewer numbers are so close to last month that this decrease is mostly neglible, as it might just be noise. Still, I'm sure WCW leaders expected the return of a traditional War Games for the first time since 1997 would've drawn more. Still, the good news is that the event was still a sell-out, and I am told the positive attendance numbers are contributing to further discussions of expanding the schedule to incorporate one or two extra non-televised events in Las Vegas during Nitro taping weeks, as well as discussions of whether to take the show back out on the road and tour the US when the contract with the Hard Rock Cafe Arena expires after November. That would potentially allow WCW to make a triumphant return to the Mid-Atlantic area for Starrcade, though it's important to note that no decisions have been made as of yet. Business issues aside, the creative direction of Fall Brawl has garnered quite a bit of praise. The booking so far has been reasonably logical and interesting, and some breakout talents appear to be on the rise. Most prominent among these are Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo, who split as a tag team recently and aligned themselves with the two main eventer factions. Though Palumbo took the fall in the War Games match, there's no shame in taking a loss to Sting and there is now a possibility of Palumbo getting into a program with Sting to get his revenge, or any of the other top stars, before the eventual blow-off match with O'Haire. Lower on the card, Shane Helms getting the win over Shane Douglas--who is currently in an on-going program with US champion Rob Van Dam--was an interesting surprise. Giving Douglas a clean loss seems like an odd choice under the circumstances, but I am told by sources that the match finish was Shane Douglas's idea. He reportedly sees some potential in Helms, and offered to put the younger man over to help give him a boost. This is the kind of creative cooperation that is necessary to get the locker room back in shape and keep the company moving. Though Fall Brawl told a lot of good stories, they're all essentially still open, so where WCW goes in the next few weeks on Nitro will be very interesting, especially with the new Legends Cup concept. I am told this idea is directly borrowed from New Japan's G1 Climax tournament: a round-robin style tournament that plays out over several weeks, with the winner getting a lot of shine and a shot at the top title in the promotion. This emphasis on in-ring stories strongly contrasts with the WWF's more soap opera style product, though WCW representatives still insist they have no interest in directly competing with the WWF at this time.
  12. Good show. I like that it really feels like a Nitro from that era.
  13. WCW Fall Brawl - Sunday Week 4 September, 2001 Fall Brawl began for the live crowd with a pre-show that started off with John Cena defeating Shannon Moore (34), followed by TV Champion Shawn Stasiak and Mark Jindrak defeating Disco Inferno and Alex Wright (38), and lastly Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Rick Steiner (59). The broadcast kicked off with a nice pyro display over the two-ring setup and the announce team welcoming us to the MGM Grand Garden Arena where a capacity crowd of 17,500 people have filled the building in anticipation of the return of War Games. First out is Shane Helms, plucky as ever, followed by Shane Douglas, who stops on the stage and tells his two comrades, Tommy Dreamer and Danny Doring, to go back to the locker room area. Clearly Douglas thinks he can handle Helms on his own. For most of this match, he's right, as he takes advantage and gets plenty of heat on Helms. The younger man just won't stay down though, and manages to get some shots of his own in by using his speed and endurance. As Douglas slowly realized he might have underestimated his opponent he kept glancing up at the entrance way as if he was expecting Team Extreme to come help him if he needed it, but they never showed up. Finish saw Douglas miss a corner clothesline and stumble into a hurricanrana, followed by a Vertebreaker and a pinfall win for Shane Helms at 10:10. Really good chemistry from these two and a genuinely surprising finish make this a very entertaining opener on. 65. After the match Shane Helms rolls out of the ring and celebrates with some fans outside like he can't believe he won and frankly, neither can I. Shane Douglas comes to his senses and is livid. THe video screen comes to life above the entrance showing Rob Van Dam standing next to a locker room door labeled "Team Extreme", and he's shoved a chair under the door knob so it can't turn. The door itself keeps shaking over and over and we hear the muffled yells of Tommy Dreamer and Danny Doring. Looks like RVD made sure that no one was going to come help Douglas. 49. The Tag Team titles are on the line next as Team Canada defends against Kronik. Lance Storm is a bit of the odd man out here as his partner and both opponents are big powerhouses, but he and Awesome show their talent as a team by tagging in and out, using Storm's quickness and Awesome's power in combination to keep Brian Adams in the ring and isolated. After a decent contest, Lance Storm slides one of the title belts into the ring to Awesome and climbs on the apron to distract the referee. Awesome blasts Bryan Clark with the belt and throws it out of the ring, making the pin. Storm tells the referee to pay attention, and runs into the ring to stop Adams from breaking the pin. Team Canada get the win and retain the Tag Team titles via pinfall at 11:58 when Mike Awesome pinned Bryan Clark. 55. Straight into more action the next match is the Filthy Animals vs The Light. Oddly enough Vampiro isn't at ringside. Is this the night for heels to underestimate their opponents? Keeping the trend of one odd person in a tag team match, we have three cruiserweights and Animal in this one, though despite being much bigger and slower than the others held his own quite well by slowing the pace down and cutting off his opponents to work them over on his side of the ring and keep them grounded. The finish saw a flurry of false finishes with Chavo and Rey swapping pin attempts before Kidman came in to break one up, followed by Animal who runs in to fight off Kidman, and the whole thing devolves into a brawl. Animal and Kidman spill out to the outside, while Chavo whips Rey into the ropes only to take a springboard hurricanrana for his troubles and the pin. Filthy Animals defeat The Light when Rey Mysterio Jr pinned Chavo Guerrero Jr at 10:08. 62. After the match Vampiro comes out onto the stage as Animal and Chavo make a hasty retreat. Vampiro rants at Rey and Kidman, telling them that they only got lucky and they will see The Light or perish. 49. We get a bit of a break now as Eric Bischoff comes out to the ring with his cocky little strut. He gets into the ring and takes a microphone. Bischoff announces that in November, WCW will begin the first ever Legends Cup tournament: a roun-robin style tournament with two blocks of four competitors each. Each man will go one on one against each other man in his block, receiving two points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. At the Legends Cup pay-per-view in November, the top two in each block will face off to determine the block winner, and the two block winners will face off to determine who wins the Legends Cup, and the winner of the Legends Cup will face the WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the mother of them all, STARRCADE! And through the month of October, tune in to Nitro to see qualifying matchups to determine the blocks. Cool little idea WCW has here, not a King of the Ring style tournament but also not a simple battle royal, and it opens some interesting matchup possibilities depending on who is in it. 62. Back to in-ring action now as the WCW United States title is on the line. Kanyon comes out first looking real-life crazy, followed by the reigning champion RVD who we've already seen once tonight. I expected a good match from two of the most innovative people in the business and I wasn't disappointed. They spilled out to the ring and brawled through the crowd a bit before winding up back in the ring. Kanyon goes for a Flatliner but RVD does a standing front flip to avoid it, immediately hitting the ropes and landing a Rolling Thunder on Kanyon, then goes to the top rope for a Five-Star Frog Splash. Suddenly Tommy Dreamer runs out of the crowd and pushes RVD off the top rope. RVD comes crashing down and Dreamer goes on the attack, putting the boots to RVD. The referee calls for the DQ and RVD retains the US title. 61. Danny Doring and Shane Douglas come to the ring as well. The three men beat down RVD, with the camera picking up Douglas talking trash like "you think you put one over on us huh?" The three men leave RVD laying as WCW officials come to the ring to separate them. 45. Up next is another grudge match between Jeff Jarrett and Konnan. These two veterans showed why they've been in the business as such a high level for so long as they put on a surprisingly technical match, trading holds and reversals and generally staying grounded. Still, their skill and experience showed as they made this match--which was clearly planned to contract with the wild brawl the War Games match is sure to be--entertaining as well. Finish saw Jeff Jarrett reverse a ziplock into a figure four for the submission win at 14:35. 71. We cut to the back where Sting, Booker T, and DDP deliver a promo with Sean O'Haire and Dustin Rhodes standing with them. The three men trade off taking shots at Perfection and expressing how glad they are to finally get those five men in a cage. Booker T mentions again that after they take down Perfection tonight, he wants the WCW World Heavyweight title. 68. Next the cameras cut to a different backstage area where Perfection are looking cocky and sure of themselves. All five men take a turn on the mic. Chuck Palumbo taunts his former partner Sean O'Haire, while Scott Steiner says Booker T isn't man enough to be World champion and Ric Flair hypes up his War Games experience. 66. Now it's the moment we've all been waiting for, as the promos have given the crew time to set up the cage around the two rings. Booker T is out first for the Allies, followed by Buff Bagwell for perfection. They take it slowly, feeling each other out. After two minutes, Ric Flair comes out, making it a 2 on 1. Booker T puts up a valiant fight and holds them off briefly, but they end up gaining an advantage and start laying in to Booker. After another two minutes, Diamond Dallas Page runs out to even things up. He takes the fight to Bagwell and Flair who by now are starting to get tired, but soon the numbers game catches up to him with Booker recovering. After another two minutes, Scott Steiner comes out and immediately starts brawling with Booker T while Bagwell and Flair double team Page. Another two minutes and Dustin Rhodes is in the ring, moving to help Page and evening his fight against Bagwell and Flair until, after two more minutes, Chuck Palumbo gets into the cage, and now we've got a 4 on 3 fight going on with Flair and Page already bleeding all over the place and the crowd going nuts. After two more minutes, Sean O'Haire comes running to the rings and immediately starts brawling with Chuck Palumbo, getting another big pop from the crowd. Now it's O'Haire fighting Palumbo, Booker brawling with Steiner, and Sting and Dustin Rhodes taking on Buff Bagwell and Ric Flair in a sort of tornado tag match within a match. Another two minutes pass and Lex Luger is out, followed two minutes later by Sting, and now we're in THE MATCH BEYOND. These two teams put the War in War games as they really go to battle with each other. Everyone but Sting ends up bleeding from having their face smashed into the cage, and Perfection's strategy becomes trying to isolate someone with Flair so he could put on a figure four, but every time he gets the hold on someone, another one of the Allies manages to break it up. On the other side, the clear choice for a submission hold is Sting, as his Scorpion Deathlock has been making fools tap for a couple decades at this point. In the end, it's the Scorpion Deathlock that wins, with Sting locking it on to Chuck Palumbo while Sting's partners manage to successfully hold off the rest of Perfection until Chuck Palumbo taps. The Allies get the win via submission at 29:39, and the victors celebrate in the ring as the broadcast goes off. 69. Overall show rating: 68.
  14. The Dirt Sheet - Saturday Week 4 September, 2001 Ratings for WCW continue to fluctuate between 450,000 and 485,000 or so per week. This puts them consistently at about half the viewership of the WWF's flagship show, RAW is WAR, and a bit more than half the viewership of Smackdown. Though ratings don't seem to be increasing, this isn't necessarily bad news: Nitro is stuck in a late night slot on Friday nights, usually considered the death slot for TV shows, but it's holding steady anyway. In other WCW news, I am told that Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff have settled their long-lasting tension, as both men decided to put the future of WCW ahead of their past disagreements. This can only serve to help the backstage environment in WCW, which despite the company's recent successful reboot has been suffering due to several incidents and personality clashes. There are high hopes in the company as they move into Fall Brawl, though this is essentially a one-match card. The return of War Games--indeed, the first traditional war games match since Fall Brawl 1997 when the NWO defeated the Four Horsement when Curt Hennig, after receiving his place in the group via an emotional and clearly heartfelt promo by Arn Anderson, turned on the Horsemen and joined the NWO. It's been said that the finish of that match killed Winston-Salem for WCW forever, so I imagine WCW Will be hoping for a better reception this time. Of course, I have to mention that WCW did War Games matches in 1998 and 2000 as well, but those were modified version, heavily modified in the case of the 2000 match. I am very much looking forward to seeing the return of the traditional War Games match, and the ten men involved are all capable of putting on a hell of a match. While most fans will be ordering the PPV to see War Games, there are some other potential gems on the card too. Kanyon vs. Rob Van Dam for the US title is sure to be a sleeper hit and possibly match of the night, and Jeff Jarrett vs. Konnan should be more than decent considering the two veterans involved. Here's a full show preview: WCW Fall Brawl Sunday Week 4 September, 2001 LIVE on pay-per-view! War Games: The Allies (Booker T/Sting/Diamond Dallas Page/Sean O'Haire/Dustin Rhodes) vs. Perfection (Scott Steiner/Lex Luger/Buff Bagwell/Ric Flair/Chuck Palumbo) WCW US title match: Kanyon vs. Rob Van Dam © WCW Tag Team title match: Kronik (Brian Adams/Bryan Clark) w/Torrie Wilson vs. Team Canada (Mike Awesome/Lance Storm) © Konnan vs. Jeff Jarrett Billy Kidman/Rey Mysterio Jr vs. The Light (Chavo Guerrero Jr/Animal) w/Vampiro Shane Douglas vs. Shane Helms
  15. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 September, 2001 (airs Friday Week 4 September, 2001) The go-home edition of Nitro before Fall Brawl starts with a one match pre-show as Mark Jindrak defeats Yang (41). After a short break we get the familiar pyro and video package before Eric Bischoff wastes no time in coming out with a clipboard in his hand. After entering the ring he says he's there to invite no more than three representatives from each team to come sign the contract for the War Games match at Fall Brawl. From Perfection we get World Champion Scott Steiner, Ric Flair, and Lex Luger, and from the team the announcers refer to as the Allies we get Sting, Booker T, and Diamond Dallas Page. Bischoff says that once each representative signs the contract it will be binding, and it will also hold WCW blameless for any injuries caused during the match as it will be officially unsanctioned by the WCW Executive Committee. Bischoff also says that, rather than the usual coin toss to determine which team gets their second man in first, they're going to do something different: one randomly-selected man from each team will compete one on one TONIGHT on Nitro, with the winner securing the privilege of their second man entering War Games first. Bischoff also says that all other members of the respective teams will be banned from ringside for the duration of the match. The six men take turns signing the contract, glaring each other down all the time, and the announcers tell us we won't know who the randomly-selected men will be until they come out for the match later. 71. After that tense segment we get a bit of a let-up as Shane Helms takes on Evan Karagias. In a somewhat lackluster cruiserweight style match Helms gets the win via pinfall after a Vertebreaker, which is still possibly the scariest move in the business. This is probably to give Helms some momentum for his match against Shane Douglas at Fall Brawl. 49. After the match, Team Extreme run out. Tommy Dreamer and Danny Doring attack and overwhelm Shane Helms, while Shane Douglas yells on a microphone about how can Helms dare to take on someone of his stature. 47. Team Extreme leave and Shane Helms is helped to the back by WCW staff, when newcomer John Cena comes to the ring and takes a microphone, surprisingly. He says, "My name is John Cena, and I'm in WCW because I decided to prove myself by taking on the best in this business." Well, not sure I'd agree that WCW is the best in the business by a long shot, but points for conviction I guess. He cuts a somewhat generic but pretty good introductory promo that gets a couple of pops from the crowd despite still being a mostly unknown quantity. 44. After the promo Fit Finlay is out, likely to continue the process of seasoning and building Cena. The two have a decent back and forth that the crowd gets into despite a few blown spots, but Cena almost keeps up with the tough veteran. In the end Cena gets the win via pinfall after a spin-out Powerbomb at 8:31. 46. Konnan comes out to the ring next with a microphone. He does his yo yo yo let me speak on this routine to a respectable reaction from the crowd. He spends his time hyping up his match against Jeff Jarrett at Fall Brawl, telling the audience to catch the pay-per-view if they want to see Jeff Jarrett get beaten all over the ring. 69. We cut backstage next where the Allies are ready to cut a promo. They take turns hyping up the War Games match at Fall Brawl, sure that they will have the advantage going into the match as no one in Perfection can beat any one of them in a fair fight without outside interference. Sean O'Haire mentions he especially can't wait to get his hands on his former friend Chuck Palumbo. Booker T says that after they take out all of Perfection in the War Games match, his next target is the title around Scott Steiner's waist. 72. Back to ringside we see Kanyon come out for a match against Ernest Miller. No real doubt how this would end considering Kanyon has a US title shot at Fall Brawl, but the announcers hype up that match during this one so it served its purpose. Kanyon gets the win at 9:44 after a Flatliner. 52. Backstage again, Mike Awesome and Lance Storm are standing by with their tag title belts. They say that Kronik made a huge mistake coming back into WCW to challenge them for the titles, because as Canadian heroes they will not let their Canadian fans down by losing to two Americans even if they are as big as Adams and Clarke. 54. We cut next to another area in the back where Kanyon, still sweating from his earlier match, stares crazily into the camera. He cuts a promo as if he's talking directly to Dustin Rhodes, saying that he's finally getting the title shot he deserves and after he's US champion, he'll beat daddy's boy bloody with the belt. 57. Main event time, and the announcers tell us we will soon know who was chosen to represent their team in this high-stakes match. Out first, from Perfection, is Lex Luger. Luger looks muscular and shiny as ever, though maybe a little less confident as he's not escorted by Ric Flair or anyone else from Perfection. After he's in the ring, we hear SELF HIGH FIVE and the crowd goes nuts. Diamond Dallas Page comes out like a ball of fire, hyping up the crowd with his contagious energy as usual. Page gets in the ring and Luger immediately goes to the attack. These two have a really impressive match, even though Luger still barely sells anything, that spills out to ringside a few times. DDP is in top form though and he carries Luger to an entertaining match and a great preview for War Games. At the end, DDP slides out of a torture rack and tries for a Diamond Cutter, but Luger pushes him off into a corner. Luger turns around, and out of the referee's view he pulls an object out of his trunks. DDP turns around and charges only to catch a shot to the head with the object. The referee doesn't see the illegal object, and Page drops to the mat. Luger picks up Page and locks in a torture rack, and Page has no choice but to tap at 14:01. 75. After the match Luger makes his way to the stage where he's met by Scott Steiner, Midajah, Buff Bagwell, Ric Flair, and Chuck Palumbo. The five men and one woman pose on the stage, as Tony Schiavone wonders if the submission we just saw is a prelude to what we may see at War Games. After reminding the audience to order Fall Brawl on pay-per-view the show goes off the air. 63. Overall show rating: 69.
  16. (Apologies to anyone keeping up with this dynasty for the lack of new shows. I started going back to work in-person full time a few weeks ago and haven't had as much time to do TEW as when I was remote.) WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 September, 2001 (airs Friday Week 3 September, 2001) The third Nitro of September kicks off with a pre-show that features John Cena defeating Elix Skipper (34) and Mike Awesome defeating Alex Wright (60). After the opening video package and pyro, the cameras immediately cut outside the building to the parking lot, where Booker T, Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sean O'Haire are approaching the building. DDP points out the camera, and says it must be there to see if their fifth man is with them. Sting says, "don't worry, you'll find out, but you're gonna find out when WE want. Stay tuned." Booker T says, "because tonight, you find out the fifth man that's gonna have our backs at Fall Brawl when we take on those Perfection chumps in War Games. Can you dig that, SUCKAAAAAA?" 70. We go to ringside at Rey Mysterio Jr is out for his rematch against Shawn Stasiak for the World TV title. Stasiak comes out next, with Stacy Keibler in tow, and Stasiak snaps at her every time he sees her trying to interact with the audience. This is another entertaining David and Goliath contest, with Stasiak trying to corner Mysterio and use his size and strength to beat the smaller man down. Rey, meanwhile, tries to use his speed to stick and move and keep Stasiak off balance. Rey is giving a good accounting of himself despite the size mismatch, until Stasiak catches him in mid-air and tries to drive him through the ring with a sidewalk slam. Rey rolls out of the ring to recover, and Stasiak starts to yell at the referee to get him to make Mysterio get back in the ring. While the referee is discovered, Chavo Guerrero Jr comes out from under the ring and wallops Mysterio with a chair. Chavo picks Rey up and rolls him in the ring. Stasiak, somewhat confused, takes advantage and plants Rey with a powerbomb for the win at 11:50. 62. Stasiak drags Keibler back up the entrance way as Chavo slides in the ring with a microphone, putting the boots to Rey and yelling about how all Rey had to do was join The Light and none of this would happen. "If you joined The Light, Rey, you'd be a champion right now, but you didn't!" Billy Kidman runs out, sliding into the ring to chase off Chavo as Vampiro and Animal come out to back him up. Kidman grabs a microphone and says enough is enough. "At Fall Brawl, us two against any two of you." Vampiro nods and points to Animal and Chavo. 45. We cut to the back where Perfection are ready to address their Fall Brawl opponents. Luger and Palumbo just stand there looking mean while Steiner and Flair do most of the talking. Steiner says it doesn't matter who the fifth man is, it could be Jesus Christ for all he cares, Perfection will live up to their name and destroy those wimps in War Games. Flair goes next, saying that he's so confident that whoever the fifth man is won't matter that Buff Bagwell has volunteered to take on the fifth man one on one tonight to prove it. Buff says it's true because he's Buff, and he's the stuff. 69. We go back to the ring for a match between Rick Steiner and Konnan. Konnan does a quick yo yo yo let me speak on this, but Steiner cuts him off and goes on the attack immediately. Perfectly acceptable match if nothing special. Konnan gets the win via submission with a Ziplock at 9:08. 57. After the match we cut to the back where Jeff Jarrett gives a promo to hype his match with Konnan at Fall Brawl. Jarrett says for too long he's been ignored by WCW just like he was ignored where he used to be, and after he beats Konnan at Fall Brawl he's going to demand that the WCW Executive Committee finally give him what he deserves. It must be WCW policy to not mention the WWF by name. Probably smart. 57. Back to the ring we get Team Extreme out, visibly angry after RVD led them on a wild goose chase and they took it out on Shane Helms. Shane Douglas says he doesn't know if RVD is in the building or not, but what happened last week was unacceptable. He says RVD should stand and face him like a real man, put the title on the line, and meet him in the ring one on one. While Douglas is ranting, Shane Helms of all people comes out on to the stage. He says that last week Team Extreme jumped him backstage for no reason, but if Douglas is a man himself he should get in the ring with Shane Helms at Fall Brawl and see if he can take him out one on one. Douglas is livid, and says he'll be happy to kick Shane Helms' punk a**. 38. The next segment keeps us at ringside as we see Kanyon take on Bam Bam Bigelow to determine the #1 contender for the US title at Fall Brawl. It's a back and forth brawl that makes for an entertaining match with the crowd behind Bigelow, but Kanyon picks up the win via pinfall after a Flatliner at 11:28. Looks like we're getting RVD vs Kanyon for the US title at Fall Brawl. 53. Perfection come out to the ring next. Ric Flair says they've had enough of waiting. They want to know who the fifth man is, and Buff Bagwell is going to take him on right now. Booker T, Sting, DDP, and Sean O'Haire come out to the stage. Booker T tells Flair to keep his pants on, please, because they were just about to come reveal the surprise. Sting takes the mic and says that War Games isn't just any old match. He says, "War Games is, well, a war. And when you go to war, you need veterans. You need people that know the terrain, know the enemy, know the strategy, and know how to win. Perfection has Ric Flair, probably the most experienced War Games veteran there is. Well, when you're going into War Games, who better to go up against a Flair...than a Rhodes?" It's DUSTIN RHODES! Dustin Rhodes is the fifth man, and we have our War Games lineups. 70. Dustin Rhodes power walks to the ring, flanked by his new allies. He gets in the ring and immediately starts throwing hands with Buff Bagwell as Perfection get out of the ring, and we have what appears to be an impromptu lumberjack match. Rhodes and Bagwell put on a decent but unspectacular match, especially considering that all the fans are really just waiting for the two gangs on the outside to start going at each other. They wait about 12 minutes for that, as first Perfection members start trying to interfere with Rhodes, which prompts his allies to come to his defense. Soon the whole thing devolves into a five-on-five brawl, and the referee has no choice but to call a no contest as Nitro goes off. 60. Overall rating: 64.
  17. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 1 September, 2001 (airs Friday Week 2 September, 2001) After a short taping intermission, we get a second pre-show where AJ Styles wins a 4-way against Yang, Elix Skipper, and Evan Karagias (37) and Jeff Jarrett defeated John Cena (55). Cena still isn't quite "there" in the ring yet, but his presence, charisma, and look are incredible. This pre-show spot may have been a way to see how Cena kept up with a veteran like Jarrett, and he didn't look lost out there at least. After the usual pyro display, the show begins not at the announce desk, but on the stage with Gene Okerlund who introduces Perfection. The five men come out looking cocky as ever even without the tag titles. Okerlund says that Sting, DDP, Booker T, and Sean O'Haire have laid down a challenge for the most dangerous, most violent match in WCW's history: War Games. He asks if Perfection are up to that challenge. Scott Steiner says, "Listen up Mean Gene, and all you out of shape lowlife pukes out there listen up too: Perfection isn't afraid of anyone. Not Sting, not Diamond Dallas Page, not Booker T, not Sean O'Haire. If they want to take us on at Fall Brawl in a War Games match, they better be careful what they wish for, cuz they might be countin their chickens before they hatch. And speaking of countin, there's five of us, and only four of them, so if they want to go inside the two-ring cage, we'll give'em a war that ain't no game." Gene looks slightly confused by the mixed metaphor, and Flair takes the mic next. "WOOOOO Mean Gene, you know something? Big Scotty Steiner here has been in War Games before. The Total Package has been in War Games before. Buff the Stuff here has been in War Games before, when he smashed my head in the cage door, WOOOOOO, but we got past that." Flair and Buff take a moment to fist bump, and Flair continues, "but no one, and I mean no one, has a name more synonymous with War Games than the Nature Boy. I made that match, I put that match on the map baby, and at Fall Brawl, I'm gonna show you how it's done, WOOOOOOOOO!" 64. Most of Perfection leave except for Buff Bagwell who stays in the ring, and Ric Flair who stays at ringside, and apparently we're getting a Bagwell match to open the show. Hugh Morrus comes out, so you know what happened. Flair slipped Bagwell what looked like a pair of brass knuckles that he used to lay out Morrus for the pinfall win at 9:35. 53. We cut to a pre-tape next, and it's a video that's filmed to look like a commercial. It shows a person trying to open a bottle of orange juice, but they drop it and it spills all over them. A voiceover says, "are you tired of being less than?" The next cut is to a man pretending to try putting on a shirt, but somehow he can't figure it out and gets his head stuck in an arm hole. He starts to freak out, running around the bedroom he's in until he crashes into a wall. The same voice says, "has your life not turned out the way you hoped? Well, now there's an answer." The video cuts to Vampiro standing between Animal, who looks angry, and Chavo Guerrero Jr., who looks oddly calm. Vampiro smiles the creepiest smile I've ever seen at the camera and says, "The answer is The Light. We've seen it. Have you? Join us, and be the best you that you can be." 45. Backstage Shawn Stasiak is sitting down while Stacey Keibler is rubbing baby oil on his shoulders. Rey Mysterio walks up with Kidman at his side, and says that Stasiak won the TV title because he got jumped. Rey says he wants a rematch. Stasiak waves Stacy Keibler off and says that if tiny little Rey wants a rematch for the TV title, he's got one next week. 41. Back at ringside now we get the in-ring return of Kronik as they take on Team Extreme members Tommy Dreamer and Danny Doring with Shane Douglas at ringside. The match was meh but the crowd was kind of into it. I think they're mostly just excited to see Kronik again. Bryan Clark gets the win when Rob Van Dam comes out from the crowd and trips Danny Doring without the referee seeing, and Doring falls right into a nasty power bomb from Clark for the pin at 8:49. 50. After the match, Shane Douglas is furious. RVD takes off back through the crowd, and Team Extreme give chase as soon as they can get Doring back to his feet. 35. As Team Extreme go out through the crowd we get another match, with Dustin Rhodes taking on Fit Finlay. The outcome was never really in doubt, but they still gave a good match and generally beat the hell out of each other. Rhodes gets the win via pinfall after a bulldog at 9:41. 60. Backstage Kanyon walks into Bischoff's office with a crazy look in his eyes. Bischoff says he doesn't want any trouble. Kanyon says it isn't fair that Dustin Rhodes got into the battle royal for the World title shot on the last Nitro but he didn't. He says he wants a title shot too. Bischoff says he's feeling generous, so he makes Kanyon a deal: if Kanyon can beat Bam Bam Bigelow on the next Nitro, he gets a shot at Rob Van Dam's US title at Fall Brawl. 65. We cut outside the arena to the back where Team Extreme are furiously trying to find RVD still. Douglas hears some noise and opens a door, only to see Shane Helms sitting in a chair playing on a GameBoy Advance. Helms looks confused, and asks if they want something. Douglas goes into a rage, grabbing Helms and throwing him onto the ground. Taking the cue, Dreamer and Doring jump in and attack Helms. 46. We cut now to a spot right outside the Go position backstage, where Sean O'Haire is preparing to come out for the main event. He talks about how he's dreamed of becoming a World champion all his life. He says he knows he's the underdog, but he's going to go out and give it everything he has. And then, win or lose, he's going to make Chuck Palumbo and Perfection pay for stabbing him in the back. 61. O'Haire is out first, followed by Scott Steiner with Ric Flair and Midajah. Though no one really expected O'Haire to win, they still put on a great contest that got the crowd fired up. O'Haire got in some good offense despite Scott Steiner being very much above him in the pecking order. O'Haire hit Steiner with a splash in the corner, causing Tony Schiavone to ask if Sting taught him that, and with the champion reeling, Ric Flair climbs up on the apron. O'Haire sees Flair, and walks over to him, forgetting to watch his back. Chuck Palumbo runs out and while Steiner distracts the referee, lays O'Haire out with the World title belt as he turns around. Steiner picks O'Haire up and drops him with a Steiner Screwdriver for the win at 12:44. 75. After the match Steiner, Flair, and Palumbo put the boots to O'Haire until Sting, DDP, and Booker T run out for the save. Booker T grabs a microphone, and says, "listen up suckas, it's not gonna be 5 on 4 at Fall Brawl. It's gonna be 5 on 5. And you'll see who our partner is next week!" 66. Overall rating: 68.
  18. <p>The Dirt Sheet - Tuesday Week 1 September, 2001</p><p> </p><p> Good news for WCW fans in the aftermath of the successful Mayhem pay-per-view over the weekend: WCW has reportedly turned a profit for the first time in this new era. Though PPV buys have not seen much growth, increases in ticket revenue, sponsorships, and merchandise combined with recent roster cuts to deliver what I am told is a small net financial gain for the month of August. Though not a large profit--I'm told it's less than $10,000 total--the existence of any profit at all so soon after re-starting what most people thought was a completely dead brand is definitely an encouraging result. With Nitro going to a two-hour show, though still at it's late night Friday timeslot, there is the potential to increase that profit as time goes on.</p><p> </p><p> Despite the financial success, I am told that locker room morale in WCW has been suffering for a while, mostly due to conflict between various talents. No details beyond that.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 1 September, 2001 (airs Friday Week 1 September, 2001)</p><p> </p><p> The first Nitro taping after Mayhem began with a pre-show that saw John Cena defeat Johnny Swinger (<strong>30</strong>) Air Raid defeat 3 Count when AJ Styles pinned Evan Karagias (<strong>36</strong>), and Disco Inferno defeated Alex Wright (<strong>47</strong>).</p><p> </p><p> After the pre-show the proper Nitro kicks off with a brand new opening video package featuring several of the top names of the company, cutting to a shot of the ring and the sold-out crowd for a quick pyro display.</p><p> <strong>66.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Eric Bischoff comes out to the ring looking as smug and self-assured as ever. He welcomes everyone to the first two-hour Nitro of the new era and promises to continue the action that WCW's loyal fans have been seeing so far. He says, "and to deliver something special for this new two-hour Nitro, tonight's main event will be a 10-man battle royal, with the winner receiving a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight title next week!"</p><p> </p><p> Perfection interrupt Bischoff, with Scott Steiner demanding to know why he should have to put his title on the line. Bischoff says that the WCW Executive Committee hasn't given him an option, but not to worry, because he's made sure that every other member of Perfection will also be in this battle royal. The Perfection members grin at each other and high-five, secure in the belief that with them making up four of the ten participants, the World title will be safe.</p><p> <strong>60.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Next we go to our first match, Mark Jindrak vs. Norman Smiley. It...well...it was a match. Crowd got sort of into it but it wasn't very good. Jindrak got the win via pinfall after a Mark of Perfection at 9:56.</p><p> <strong>48.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Rey Mysterio Jr. is out next. He says Chavo and Vampiro cost him the TV title at Mayhem, and he's here for payback. He wants any one of those "light" psychos out here right now.</p><p> </p><p> Vampiro and Chavo Guerrero Jr come out to the stage. Vampiro says that they only wanted to show Rey how much better his life could be if only he would see The Light, and Chavo had to cost him the Television title to send him a message. Vampiro says that Rey clearly didn't receive that message properly, so now they will have to teach it to him again. But it won't be either him or Chavo to do the teaching, but the newest member of The Light.</p><p> </p><p> And out came Road Warrior Animal, looking big and angry.</p><p> <strong>45.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Animal got into the ring and Rey immediately tried to take advantage by striking Animal before he could get to his feet. They told a good story of Rey trying to use his speed to hit and run and stay away from Animal and his power, but he also had to contend with Vampiro and Chavo at ringside making it essentially a 3 on 1. Finish saw Animal get the win via pinfall after Chavo hit Rey at 8:42.</p><p> <strong>57.</strong></p><p> </p><p> After the match, Vampiro and Chavo both get into the ring, and the three members of The Light attack Rey while he's still down. Suddenly, Billy Kidman runs through the curtain to the ring. He slides in, sending The Light running. Grabbing a mic, Kidman says that if they want a fight with Rey, they can fight him too.</p><p> <strong>47.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Next we get Sting, Booker T, and Diamond Dallas Page coming to the ring. Booker T takes the mic first, and says that if there's one thing they've learned over the last few months, it's that a fair fight against Perfection is impossible. DDP says that no one member of Perfection could beat either of the three of them in a fair fight, so they have to keep interfering in each other's matches and ganging up on them. He says if they're going to beat them, they have to start playing the same game. Sting takes the mic next, and says that DDP might be on to something. He says he remembers, back in the day, when one group refused to ever have a fair fight, there was one way to make them.</p><p> </p><p> "If all the now five members of Perfection are going to be involved in any match any of them has anyway, well, why don't we have a match with all five of them in it? And why don't we, maybe, lock them inside a cage? Maybe a big cage, with a roof, wrapped around two rings set up side-by-side? With Fall Brawl coming up, why don't we play some....WAR GAMES?"</p><p> </p><p> The crowd pops big for this suggestion. Booker T takes the mic again though, and says wait a minute, there's only three of them and five in Perfection, so they need a way to even the odds.</p><p> </p><p> And out comes Sean O'Haire. O'Haire takes the mic and says he doesn't know why Chuck Palumbo decided to split their team up. Maybe Perfection offered him money, maybe they played to his ego, whatever the reason is doesn't matter. He wants his revenge, and he'll be proud to stand with Sting, Booker T, and DDP in a War Games match.</p><p> <strong>66.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Backstage we see Mike Awesome and Lance Storm with their newly-won tag team titles, talking about how great it is to be champions. Torrie Wilson interrupts them. She congratulates them on their win, even though they didn't really win the titles on their own. Awesome gets offended, and says all that matters is who is doing the pinning when the referee counts to three. Torrie asks if they have opponents yet for Fall Brawl, because that could be their opportunity to prove that they deserve those titles. Storm says they'll take on whoever. Torrie says she's glad he said that, and points behind them. The camera pans over, and it's Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke looking angry. Kronik has returned! Awesome and Storm say if Kronik wants a match for the tag team titles at Fall Brawl, they've got it.</p><p> <strong>42.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring next, complaining as usual about the match he lost with Kanyon at Mayhem. He says he didn't really lose the match because Kanyon did, and he wants a one on one match with Konnan at Fall Brawl. Konnan comes out and does his usual let me speak on this routine, which the crowd pops for. Konnan says he'd be glad to beat Jarrett again.</p><p> <strong>60.</strong></p><p> </p><p> Now it's time for the main event 10-man battle royal. Participants wer Booker T, Buff Bagwell, Chuck Palumbo, Dustin Rhodes, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, US champion RVD, Sean O'Haire, Shane Douglas, and Sting. Despite battle royals usually being a cluster, the crowd still enjoyed the match. As expected, Perfection stuck together and watched each other's backs. And aside from Chuck Palumbo and Sting eliminating each other at the same time, they managed to stay in to the end. The last four turned out to be Sean O'Haire, Ric Flair, Buff Bagwell, and Lex Luger. O'Haire didn't seem to be afraid of the 3-on-1 disadvantage, though, and he fought all three of them with an intensity that showed how much he wants to get them back for costing him the tag titles and his partner. Flair was out first, when he took a clothesline over the corner. Next, Luger and Bagwell tried to double team O'Haire, but he ducked out of the way of a Luger clothesline that accidentally sent Bagwell over the top. Now down to two, the muscular titans beat each other for a couple of minutes, until Luger got O'Haire in the torture rack and took him to the side to dump him over. O'Haire landed on the apron, but Luger was already celebrating his win so he didn't see it. O'Haire climbed back in the ring and ran a surprised Luger over the top rope. Sean O'Haire wins a shot at the WCW World Heavyweight title next week after last eliminating Lex Luger at 17:45.</p><p> <strong>72.</strong></p><p> </p><p> <strong>Overall rating: 66.</strong></p>
  19. Appreciate it! I snatched Cena up right as I started the game and put him in development, so I guess I got to him before the WWF could. He's definitely the kind of guy that would've gotten attention from both companies but I got lucky and WWF didn't fight me for him. They did fight me for Monty Brown, though, and I lost that one. I've always weirdly liked Vampiro and he starts the game out with an injury, so I wanted to come up with an interesting way to bring him back in. Hopefully it works out. Daniels would've been a good option with his character but he doesn't have the pop to be in a role like that yet. Jindrak is a blue chipper for sure, and one that could see more TV time now that Nitro is going longer. Glad you're enjoying.
  20. WCW Mayhem - Sunday Week 4 August, 2001 WCW's latest pay-per-view offering started with a pre-show that mixed young and old. AJ Styles got a win over Johnny Swinger (34), followed by John Cena defeating Reno (32). Alex Wright got a win on Disco Inferno (47). Finally, Road Warrior Animal and Rick Steiner defeated Bam Bam Bigelow in a tag match when Steiner pinned Hugh Morrus (57). After the pre-show the broadcast began with a video hyping up some feature matches, namely RVD vs. Shane Douglas for the US title, DDP vs. Lex Luger, and the main event of Booker T and Sting vs. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell. The announce team welcomes the TV audience and gives a brief rundown of the card for the night. 63. In the opening bout, Rey Mysterio Jr put the WCW World Television title on the line against Shawn Stasiak, accompanied by the lovely Stacy Keibler. Bit of a styles clash between these two but Mysterio put his experience to work bumping and selling for the big man and essentially carrying him to a decent showing. Shawn Stasiak argues with the referee, and Chavo Guerrero Jr runs in from the crowd. He grabs the TV title belt off the timekeeper's table, climbs up onto the ring apron, and hits Rey in the head with the belt. Rey goes down and Chavo ducks beside the ring, allowing Stasiak, looking quite confused, to make the cover and win. Shawn Stasiak wins the WCW World Television title via pinfall at 13:31. 55. After Stasiak and Keibler leave the ring, Stasiak making sure that Stacy stays close and away from the crowd's reach, Chavo takes a microphone and slides into the ring. He cradles Rey's head on his lap as if he didn't just cost Rey the Television title. Chavo says, "Rey, Rey, Rey, my little buddy, you're not going to understand this right now, but I did what I had to do to save you. I've seen The Light, Rey. I've seen it. Tonight it's time for you to see it too. Look, Rey. Look at the one who showed me The Light." Chavo lifts Rey's head towards the entrance way. Rey is confused and angry but still hasn't quite recovered from the belt shot. Through the curtain walks Vampiro! Vampiro is back! He's wearing a white suit with a black shirt and white sunglasses, similar to what Chavo has been wearing for the last few weeks. Vampiro stays on the stage and says, "Rey Mysterio Jr, Chavo is right. I've shown him that he can be better than he ever was if only he embraces The Light and follows me toward it. Will you make the right decision, Rey? Will you join us?" Chavo helps Rey to his feet and gives Rey the microphone. Rey looks from Chavo to Vampiro and back, and tells both of them to go to hell. Chavo immediately starts attacking Rey, with Vampiro saying that if he won't embrace The Light, then he's embracing the darkness. 52. Up next is the WCW Tag Team title match between champions Palumbo and O'Haire and challengers Team Canada. The crowd was really into this match, with O'Haire spending the most time in the ring taking the heat from Awesome and Storm who expertly cut off the ring and tagged in and out to stay fresh. During the match Ric Flair came out when O'Haire had made a comeback, waving to O'Haire from the stage and distracting him long enough for Mike Awesome to gain the upper hand again. O'Haire counters a whip into the corner with a whip of his own, charging in for an avalanche, then falls and crawls desperately to Palumbo to make the tag. Palumbo is reaching, and just as O'Haire tries to tag out, Palumbo pulls his hand back and drops down to the floor. O'Haire is in shock, as is the audience, giving Mike Awesome the time to recover and put Sean O'Haire away with an Awesome Bomb. Team Canada win the WCW Tag Team titles after Mike Awesome pins Sean O'Haire at 12:55. 65. After the match Ric Flair gets into the ring and announces the fifth member of Perfection: Chuck Palumbo. Because when you are Perfection, there ain't no better, WOOOOOOOOO. Palumbo puts the boots to O'Haire while Flair taunts. 67. We go backstage now where Jeff Jarrett and Kanyon are strategizing. Jarrett says he's going to embarrass Konnan tonight and show the world why he's the Chosen One. Kanyon says he's going to beat daddy's boy Rhodes so much that Rhodes will want to paint himself gold and start cross-dressing again. 57. The tag team street fight is next, with Dustin Rhodes and Konnan taking on Jeff Jarrett and Kanyon. These four get a wild brawl going all over the building, spilling through the curtain to the back and then back out again into the fans. The crowd ate it up and the talent were definitely trying to steal the show with this one. Finish saw Rhodes hit Kanyon with a flying lariat that put Kanyon through a table for the pin. Dustin Rhodes and Konnan win via pinfall at 12:10. 70. We go backstage again, now to Diamond Dallas Page, who tells us how amped up and ready he is to get in the ring with Lex Luger and make the big man pay for trying to end DDP's career. 67. Lex Luger is out with Ric Flair next, followed by DDP who comes out to a huge pop. The in-ring work here wasn't great because, well, it's Lex Luger, but the crowd was into the story and DDP worked his ass off. Flair kept getting involved during the match as well, so it essentially turned into a two on one. Luger took advantage and locked in the torture rack, only for DDP to elbow his way out of it and hit a Diamond Cutter for the pinfall and the win at 12:15. 75. We get a bit of a break next as Eric Bischoff comes out. He announces that, thanks to the WCW audience's support and loyalty, Nitro will be moving to a two-hour show next week. 68. The US title is on the line next as Rob Van Dam defends against Shane Douglas. Douglas is out first, with Dreamer and Doring alongside. RVD is out next, but the usual mellow, kinda happy go lucky RVD is gone, replaced by a man who is clearly angry at being betrayed on Nitro. RVD charges the ring and starts hammering on Douglas. Crowd wasn't as hot as it was for DDP/Luger but still got into the match, with RVD having to hold off Douglas and the rest of Team Extreme at ringside. Finish saw a ref bump, with Dreamer getting into the ring with a chair ready to smash RVD with it. RVD ducks, Dreamer hits Douglas. RVD hits a Van Daminator on Dreamer using the chair he's holding, then makes the pin on Douglas. Referee wakes up to make the count. RVD wins and retains the US title via pinfall at 14:42. 63. After the match RVD rolls out of the ring and grabs his title belt. He climbs over the guard rail and celebrates with the crowd as he makes his way back. In the ring, Team Extreme argue. Doring kind of just looks lost. 36. We get a video hyping the tag main event next. 67. Now it's time for the main event. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell come out first with Ric Flair. Booker T and Sting are out next to a mega pop. These guys got a ton of time and they used it well. The crowd was on fire for the entire match. Ric Flair was the man at ringside, reacting to everything, talking smack to the audience, and trying to interfere where he could. Booker T and Sting held on and the match was a consistent back and forth. Steiner and Buff were a little bit off tonight, but it didn't hurt the match too much. Sting took most of the heat from the heels, making the hot tag to Booker towards the end, and Booker came in like a man possessed throwing ax kicks and side kicks with reckless abandon. Flair dragged Sting off the apron at this point, leaving Booker in the ring against Steiner and Bagwell, who he both dropped with Book Ends. Just as it seemed Booker T might pull off a pinfall win, Chuck Palumbo ran in and hit Booker T with Scott Steiner's WCW World title belt, blatantly in front of the referee who called for the bell. Booker T and Sting defeat Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell via DQ when Chuck Palumbo attacked Booker T at 24:33. 77. After the match Lex Luger comes out to help his comrades, making this now a 5 on 2 fight, until both DDP and Sean O'Haire come out as well and it's a massive brawl. Dozens of WCW officials come to the ring and ringside to try to get a handle on things, but it's chaos. Bodies flying everywhere, fists swinging, feet kicking, men yelling insults at each other, baby oil shining, just complete anarchy as the broadcast goes off the air. 67. Overall show rating: 73.
  21. The Dirt Sheet - Saturday Week 4 August, 2001 On the WCW front, TV ratings are holding steady, and the company recently announced that, beginning with the first set of tapings after Mayhem, Nitro will be moving to a two-hour time slot on Friday nights. The FX network isn't yet ready to move Nitro to a different day or to an earlier time, but the expansion to two hours has to be seen as a vote of confidence from the network. Mayhem is important for another reason: I am told that if the show is successful, it could mean the first profitable month of the new WCW. Obviously, achieving such a milestone so quickly would be a tremendous accomplishment, so there are high hopes going into the pay-per-view. WCW Mayhem Preview Live on pay-per-view from Las Vegas, NV Sunday Week 4 August, 2001 Booker T and Sting vs. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell Diamond Dallas Page vs. Lex Luger Tag Team Street Fight: Dustin Rhodes and Konnan vs. Jeff Jarrett and Kanyon WCW United States title match: Shane Douglas vs. Rob Van Dam © WCW World Tag Team title match: Team Canada (Mike Awesome and Lance Storm) vs. Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire © WCW World Television title match: Shawn Stasiak vs. Rey Mysterio Jr ©
  22. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 August, 2001 (airs Friday Week 4 August, 2001) The go-home Nitro before WCW Mayhem on pay-per-view kicks off after a brief intermission with a pyro display and the announcers hyping up the main event tonight: Booker T vs. Sting to determine the #1 contender to Scott Steiner's WCW World Heavyweight title. Shane Douglas's theme interrupts them, and the Franchise emerges with Danny Doring and Tommy Dreamer alongside. Douglas says, "last week on Nitro you saw why it's so dangerous to stand against the Franchise: I always get what I want, even if I have to step on someone on the way. Rob Van Dam, you have something I want. At Mayhem, I will become the WCW United States Champion again." Dreamer takes the mic from him. He says that everyone wants to know why. Why did he betray RVD? Dreamer says, "four years ago, I was working for a wrestling company in Philly that changed the industry because we were hardcore. We were tough. We didn't care about our bodies, and we gave the finger to the elites of this business that didn't think any of us mattered. We were the outcasts. Imagine how I felt, breaking my body for barely any pay because I believed in our cause and I loved what I did, when I then saw someone I thought was a comrade show up on a Monday night show. Imagine how I felt when I saw him sucking up to those elites and betraying US, calling himself Mr. Monday Night, and trying to become one of them. What happened to RVD was four years in the making." 47. Hugh Morrus is out next, followed by Chavo Guerrero Jr in his new white-themed attire. Chavo tells the audience to find "the light" as he walks down the entrance way. The two put on a perfectly acceptable match, but Chavo getting the win via pinfall at 6:10. 50. Chavo grabs a mic next, and says that he's prepared to show everyone watching and everyone in the locker room The Light. He says at Mayhem, the one who showed him The Light will be there, and they will send a message together. 43. We cut backstage where Shawn Stasiak is standing in a shower in front of a wall that goes up to his waist, implying he's naked underneath. He yells at Stacy Keibler off camera to get her tail in there. Keibler walks in holding a razor. Stasiak says he has to look his best if he's going to become WCW Television champion, and because he's so muscular he can't reach some areas. Basically Shawn Stasiak needs Stacy Keibler to shave his ass. Stacy, with a horrified look on her face, slowly steps closer to Stasiak as the camera fades to the announcers, who are understandably disgusted. 47. Back to the ring now as Dustin Rhodes takes on Rick Steiner. During the match Kanyon came to ringside to distract Rhodes, which almost cost him the match as Steiner rolled him up from behind, but Rhodes managed to kick out just in time. Dustin gets a pinfall win after a flying lariat at 8:17. Crowd was really into this match, surprisingly. 62. We cut next to a pre-taped promo with Ric Flair hyping up Lex Luger. Luger just looks mean and flexes while Flair talks about how Page would've stayed home if he was smart, but he's signed his own death warrant by costing Perfection the tag titles, WOOOOOO. 69. Now we go to the ring for the main event, Booker T vs. Sting. Both men come out alone. The crowd seemed a little confused about this one as they didn't really know who to cheer for. They clearly like both of these guys and didn't really want to see them fighting, so maybe this was a mistake in booking by WCW management. Still, they did the best they could and put on a good show despite the face vs face dynamic, until Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell, and Ric Flair came to ringside. Booker and Sting quickly forgot about each other and stood back to back in the ring, ready to defend themselves. Bagwell and Flair charged into the ring and started brawling with Booker and Sting, and the referee calls for the bell and we have a no contest. Scott Steiner stands outside the ring laughing, like this was the whole point. 58. Scott Steiner grabs a mic and says that, since the match ended in a no contest, no one is the #1 contender to the WCW World title, because Eric Bischoff said whoever WON this match would get the title shot. But no one won it! Booker and Sting both jump Steiner, with Bagwell getting involved and making it a two-on-two. Flair also gets involved. Bischoff comes out, and says that yes, he did say whoever won the match would be #1 contender. But since apparently these guys want to fight so much, it'll be Booker T and Sting vs. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell at Mayhem! 68. Overall rating: 60.
  23. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 3 August, 2001 (airs Friday Week 3 August, 2001) The next set of Nitro tapings started with a 3-match pre-show. 3 Count defeated America's Most Wanted (29). After that, Rick Steiner defeated Hugh Morrus (57). There was a time many years ago that it looked like Rick Steiner was on his way to being one of the biggest stars in wrestling. Now he's working the Nitro pre-show against Hugh Morrus. What a weird business. Finally, Buff Bagwell defeate Ernest Miller (53). Nitro begins with the opening music and pyro as the announcers welcome us once again to the sold-out Hard Rock Cafe Arena in Las Vegas. They let us know we'll see Diamond Dallas Page vs Ric Flair in the main event, along with a tag match featuring RVD and Tommy Dreamer against Shane Douglas and a mystery partner. First, though, we have the Nitro debut of an impressive young talent from Southern California. That debut is John Cena, who looks like a million bucks but despite spending the last few months down in NWA Wildside is still greener than grass. He takes on Mark Jindrak, who is also green, and the two, uh, do their best. Cena picks up the win via pinfall after a nice spin-out powerbomb at 7:51. 40. The camera cuts backstage, where Shawn Stasiak is relaxing in a chair and watching TV. Stacy Keibler walks in, looking meek and scared, carrying a couple of garment bags. She tells Stasiak that his suits are all cleaned. Stasiak says, "good, now shine my boots, woman." Really going out of their way to make Stasiak look like a total asshole, and its not hard to have sympathy for Keibler. I wonder where they're going with this. 39. US Champion RVD and Tommy Dreamer come out to the ring next, followed by Shane Douglas. Douglas stops on the stage and introduces his partner: it's Danny Doring! The audience isn't really sure who Doring is, but Douglas does his best to get Doring over on the mic before the match. Match starts with RVD and Doring. Douglas tags in after a bit, and after losing the advantage RVD goes to tag out to Dreamer, but Dreamer drops down off the apron and steps back slowly, leaving RVD alone. Douglas and Doring take turns beating on RVD as Dreamer watches from ringside, the crowd booing loudly, before Douglas ends the match via pinfall after a piledriver at 11:12. Looks like Dreamer has turned heel and allied with Shane Douglas and Doring. 53. After the match, Dreamer slides back into the ring and stands over RVD's prone body. Douglas grabs a mic and announces the formation of Team Extreme. While Douglas taunts the audience, Doring and Dreamer work over RVD before the three eventually leave. 46. Booker T is out next to a big pop from the audience. He says it's time for Eric Bischoff to do what he knows is right, and give him a shot at the World title at Mayhem. Bischoff comes out, and tells Booker T, "you know, Booker, I think you do deserve a shot at Scott Steiner's WCW World Heavyweight championship. But...Sting technically beat him last week on Nitro, even though it was a disqualification. So, I'm in a bit of a bind. You have a good argument to be the number one contender. Sting has a good argument to be the number one contender. So then I had a brilliant plan: next week, you will go one on one with Sting, right here on Nitro. The winner of that match will take on Scott Steiner for the WCW World title at Mayhem, live on pay-per-view!" 72. Now it's time for the main event, and this may be the best main event so far in the WCW reboot-era Nitro. Ric Flair is out first, strutting as only he can, along with Lex Luger who just looks big and angry. Diamond Dallas Page comes out next to a big pop. They get plenty of time and, despite both men being up there in age, put on a hell of a show that keeps the crowd hot the whole time. Flair locks in the figure four, but DDP reverses it. Flair gets the hold broken, and goes up to the top rope, only to be cut off and thrown by DDP. Page picks up Flair and whips him into the corner. Flair comes stumbling out for a Flair Flop, but DDP catches him on the way down with a Diamond Cutter. As Page makes the cover, Lex Luger drags the referee out of the ring and climbs in, putting the boots to Page from behind. The referee calls for the DQ. 81. Page gets to his feet and starts trading blows with Luger, which spills out of the ring. The two men brawl at ringside, neither man gaining an advantage, as Nitro ends. 62. Overall rating: 69.
  24. WCW Nitro - Wednesday Week 1 August, 2001 (airs Friday Week 2 August, 2001) The second Nitro of August kicked off without a pre-show, going straight to the intro of the show after a brief intermission. After the announcers' welcome, Diamond Dallas Page comes out to the ring to a big reaction. He says, "at Bash at the Beach, I gave Perfection a taste of their own medicine. I cost Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell the Tag Team titles, just like they cost me the World title and tried to put me on the shelf. Well I'M BACK, I'M MAD, and I WANT LUGER." DDP gets interrupted by Lex Luger and Ric Flair who come out to the stage. Luger stands there looking mean as Flair does the talking. "Page! You just don't learn your lessons, do you? If you want Lex Luger, you got Lex Luger at Mayhem!" Page says he can't wait to finish what he started and put Luger away. But he doesn't want to wait to beat someone up, so he challenges Flair to take him on next week on Nitro. Flair, riled up as only Ric Flair can get, tears his jacket off and says he'll see Page next week. 70. We stay at ringside next for the Sean O'Haire vs. Mike Awesome match that was made last night. This singles preview of the tag title match at Mayhem gave the crowd a great show as these two big men pummeled each other all over the ring, and the crowd was really into it. Both these guys have what it takes to be stars. The finish saw O'Haire reverse a whip into the corner, sending Awesome into the boot of a Lance Storm that was expecting O'Haire, and Awesome stumbling into a Widowmaker for the pinfall at 12:25. 60. After the match Storm and Awesome jump O'Haire in the ring, with Palumbo running in to help his partner. The four men brawl all the way back through the curtain. 58. Backstage, RVD and Tommy Dreamer are hanging out, RVD holding the US title, when Shane Douglas walks up to them. Douglas tells RVD that he deserves another shot at the US title. RVD says he'll make a deal: Douglas and a partner take on RVD and Dreamer, and if Douglas's team wins, he gets a US title shot at Mayhem. Douglas says it's a deal. 61. Booker T comes out next to a big pop. He says that after he beat Ric Flair at Bash at the Beach, he thinks it's time for him to get a World title shot to put himself back at the top of WCW. During his promo Eric Bischoff comes out. He says that while Booker T has a point that he probably deserves a World title shot, the World title is on the line in a match tonight as Sting gets a rematch against Scott Steiner, so Bischoff will make his decision about the #1 contender to the title next week on Nitro. 73. Next we get Jeff Jarrett coming out with Kanyon. Jarrett says that a double count-out isn't going to cut it, because he and Kanyon had Dustin Rhodes beat and everybody knows it. Rhodes and Konnan come out to meet them. Rhodes tells Jarrett that he probably wanted to fight outside because he knew he couldn't win, so he got counted out on purpose. Jarrett says that's ridiculous. Konnan says if Jarrett and Kanyon want to prove they're tough and they're "bout it," they should put up or shut up. Konnan says he came from the streets and that's how he got tough, so how about a 2 on 2 street fight at Mayhem? Jarrett and Kanyon agree. 63. It's main event time, and this is a real treat because we don't normally seem to see the World title on the line on Nitro in this new WCW. In fact, this might be the first World title match on Nitro since the reboot. Sting and Scott Steiner both come out to massive reactions from the sold-out crowd, Sting alone and Steiner with Buff Bagwell tagging along. As you might can imagine, when Sting starts his comeback and gains an advantage, Bagwell jumps into the ring and hits Sting with his own baseball bat from ringside. The referee immediately calls for a DQ, and Sting gets the win by DQ at 13:52 but Steiner retains the title. 79. Luger and Flair come out now to join the beating on Sting, but they're interrupted by Booker and Diamond Dallas Page who both run out and make it a 4 on 3 brawl to the back as Nitro goes off the air. 67. Overall rating: 72.
×
×
  • Create New...