Spring Stampede 2000

Legacy Review

Spring Stampede 2000

April 16, 2000 from the United Center in Chicago, IL

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Mark Madden

 

Uncensored in March was such an unmitigated disaster it led to WCW/Turner brass once again reshaping the top of the company pyramid. Kevin Sullivan was re-fired as head booker barely three months after getting the job back. Vince Russo returned from whatever exile he had been in during that time (I think it was called Thunder) to take over creative once again. In order to try to get some control over his, well, insanity, WCW also hired back former exec Eric Bischoff, but this time strictly as an on screen character and creative consultant, i.e. someone to tell Russo when he was being stupid. Hopefully. They wasted no time making huge changes. After completely cancelling the live Nitro the week prior and running a "best of" clip show in its place as a buffer, the April 10 episode of Nitro saw another significant signpost on the road of WCW's demise: the reboot. Russo (now fully an on screen character himself after being the shadowy "Powers That Be" during his initial run the last part of '99) and Bischoff called the entire roster into the ring, then declared the entire company had been turned off, turned back on and restored to factory settings, and demanded every champion hand over their belt right now because they weren't a champion any more. Some wrestlers were less happy about this than others. Incidentally, after Sid lost the World title here he'd disappear from WCW until November for no discernible reason. Tonight is stage one of what comes next.

 

The first major storyline to get started as part of the reboot was the New Blood, comprising of all the younger wrestlers in WCW, going up against the Millionaire's Club, all the old or older veterans. A good idea in theory. The problem is, they did it completely bass ackwards with the New Blood as the heels and the Millionaire's Club as the faces. WCW desperately needed to make new stars, and this was the wrong way of going about it. I guess those egos weren't going to stroke themselves. Russo and Bischoff at least are positioned right as heels, which puts them on the side of the young guys. But another issue is Russo and Bischoff immediately made themselves the most important and prominent men in the company on screen, with their new individual feuds (Russo vs Flair and Bischoff vs Hogan) taking almost all the oxygen away from everything else.

 

In the opening video Russo says "shit" twice in the first five seconds. We are so back. To my point earlier, the entire opening package is entirely focused on Russo vs Flair and Bischoff vs Hogan and nothing else. After the opening we cut straight to the New Blood locker room where Russo and surprising New Blood front man Billy Kidman are trying to get Bischoff to relax. And now...another opening video. This one is much more generic, what you'd normally see on weekly TV. Tony says "It's the dawning of a new era" and resists the urge to say "again". There's another change in the booth as Scott Hudson has replaced Mike Tenay. Sadly no one has forklifted Mark Madden out yet. I'm a fat guy, I can say things like that. Commentary then says the DQ rules have been "relaxed" for tonight and you won't see wrestling matches, you're going to see FIGHTS. Like that's new, I can't remember the last time a WCW ref enforced any rules.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinals: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & The Total Package (w/Elizabeth) def The Harris Brothers and The Mamalukes (w/Disco Inferno) in 6:16- You read that right, a three way match in a tournament. Take that, stick and ball sports. It was originally supposed to be Flair & Luger against the Mamalukes, but after their entrances Russo comes out and put the Harris Brothers in the match just because. SWERVE. Flair's wrestling in his slacks and polo because, in his words, Russo has made it clear it's a STREET FIGHT. I want to say he's taking the piss out of Russo in real life but I can't say that for sure. The Harriseses get in and it's a full on three way brawl, with the New Blood teams ganging up on the vets. After a bit Flair starts throwing chops out of the corner while Luger clears out the ring on his side. Flair back suplex on Bull. Figure four! That Flair lets go of after a whole 5 seconds because I guess he was watching the guys behind him, which allowes one of the Harrisi to big boot him. That puts Flair in peril as things settle down into a regular tag match. Harris double big boot on Flair for 2. Corner clothesline and FLAIR FLOP! Flair gets a back elbow and goes up top so he can be slammed off. He dodges a couple of elbow drops and tags but the ref is distracted, allowing all four guys to attack Flair again. Disco also posts Luger on the floor. A couple of mob looking guys grab Disco and drag him off. Commentary has no idea who they are. Meanwhile Luger's decided screw the rules I'm coming back in and the vets clear the ring out. Bull does his spring to the top rope and clotheslines Luger. Luger reverses a whip and the Mamalukes collide. Bull gets put up in the Torture Rack and it's over. An appropriate reintroduction to Russo style chaos and emphasizing brawling over wrestling. 3/4*

 

In the back, Mean Gene introduces Mike Awesome as the "surprise" eighth entrant in the US title tournament. Bigelow then tries to interrupt Awesome's promo but Awesome lays him out instead. Massive fail. 

 

Mancow (w/posse) def Jimmy Hart (w/Hail) in 2:46- The one non-title tournament match tonight, and it's going to be an absolute circus. Thankfully he's faded into obscurity now, so for the 95% of those reading that blissfully don't know, Mancow was one of the more successful Howard Stern wannabe shock jocks in the '90s. Just hearing his name could almost force me to have an involuntary eye roll strong enough to cause whiplash, much less hearing his voice. Hart's got a big dude by the name of Hail with him so there's someone involved in this that actually looks like a wrestler. Hart's also wearing a Howard Stern shirt to troll Mancow. Mancow comes out with a shitload of women hired for the night (several of which have serious trouble navigating the girded metal entrance ramp in their heels) as well as the usual goofs that made up his crew on his radio/TV show. I have no interest in who any of them are. Before the match Mancow takes the mic and desperately tries to get his hometown Chicago crowd on his side. Considering he's from Chicago it's a very lame response. Hart then turns his back and Mancow attacks because he's a real man or something. They roll around on the mat and try to pretend to fight until Hail distracts Mancow. Hart hits a low blow and it's back to the mat rolling. Hart gives Mancow about the worst "takedown" there's ever been, then goes UP TO THE TOP ROPE. Hart big splash! Well, he landed on his feet then fell down but we can't expect much better. Mancow also pulled the ref in the way to block it so we have a ref down. Hail pulls Mancow off Hart, presses him up, and drops him onto all of Mancow's goons! Credit to a non-wrestler for being willing to do that. Hail puts Mancow back in the ring. Hart covers but the ref is still out. Mancow is back in with a chair. Chairshot to Hart. Horrible cover (how can you mess that up) and Mancow gets the pin. I'm not dignifying this farce with a rating, even an awful one. NR

 

After the bell Hogan foe Kidman comes out and lays out Hart as a message to Hogan. Elsewhere, Russo goes full angry New Yorker on the Mamalukes and Harrises for failing their literally one job.

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Scott Steiner def The Wall by DQ in 3:37- Wall's finally ditched the IRS shirt and tie look. If you look up "foregone conclusion" in the dictionary there's a picture of this match. Lockup! Russo must be spitting nails. Steiner does not break clean and pounds Wall down in the corner. The crowd is fully behind him with as much enthusiasm they can muster at a 2000 WCW show. Wall then takes his turn for a corner beatdown. He tries for mounted punches but Steiner low blows him. Belly to belly suplex. Wall blocks a German suplex and hits his own low blow. Running big boot and legdrop from Wall for 2. He lifts Steiner up with a choke and tosses him away. Hot shot from Steiner. They go to the floor for a bit and I notice that WCW's finally trying to copy WWF's superior barricade look by draping some black cloth over their guardrail. It looks cheap as shit, but that's 2000 WCW for you. Wall goes under the ring and gets a table out. Scott attacks and finishes the table setup. Wall blocks a suplex attempt. Scott eye rakes out of a chokeslam, then pulls the ref in. Wall chokeslams the ref through the table! A backup ref runs in and rings the bell. I guess they found something they'll DQ for. It makes zero sense why Scott couldn't win clean here. Did Wall need to be protected that badly? 1/4*

 

Bigelow tries again, this time attacking Awesome's opponent Ernest Miller during Miller's promo. He's more successful this time. 

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Mike Awesome def Bam Bam Bigelow/Ernest "The Cat" Miller in 3:20- This is former ECW star Awesome's first WCW match after making his surprise debut on the reboot Nitro. During Awesome's entrance Bigelow attacks him again. And the bell rings to start the match? The fuck? In the ring Awesome barely taps Bigelow with a big boot then clotheslines him 360 to the floor. Awesome with a pescado! He then dumps Bigelow over the guardrail, then charges and dives over the guardrail onto him. Clothesline off the top back in for 2. Awesome tries a Saito suplex but Bigelow twists and lands on top of him for 2. Setup slam from Bigelow. The headbutt off the top rope hits. He calls for the Greetings from Asbury Park to finish it. Miller runs in the ring and superkicks Bigelow! Miller then takes a mic and says he's going to dance instead. On go the red shoes and hit his music. The match is still going by the way. Awesome gets up and murders Miller with a clothesline. Big splash off the top and it's over. Awesome was actually putting some effort in for his debut on the sinking ship, but someone please make the whole Bigelow starts the match then Miller takes over thing make sense. I guess file it, like so much else, under "don't ask, it's Russo". *

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship Tournament Semifinals: Shane Douglas & Buff Bagwell def Harlem Heat 2000 (w/J Biggs and Kash) in 2:47- 2v2 brawl jump start. The ref somehow quickly gets control with Ray and Douglas in the ring. Bagwell tags in and works Ray over. Blind tag in from Big T and he spinebusters Bagwell with a Ray legdrop follow up. Bagwell back elbows Big T in the corner and hits a Vader bomb for 2. Both guys crawl over and tag like we've gone 10+ minutes already. Douglas does the hot tag run while Kash takes Bagwell out on the floor. Double big boot on Douglas. Douglas low blows Big T, tries to hit Ray with the Pittsburgh Plunge (a perfectplex) but can't hold his grip and just pins him regularly instead. Big T (Ahmed Johnson) would be released by WCW shortly after this for his continued inability to stay in shape, mercifully ending the whole Harlem Heat 2000 thing. 1/4*

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Sting def Booker in 6:35- With all the Harlem Heat 2000 bullshit almost done hopefully Booker can get his last letter back. Nose to nose jawing after the bell. Sting shoves but Booker doesn't lose his cool. Lockup into some nice basics to start. Sting gets a hiptoss and reset. Booker hits a knee to the gut and gives Sting some clubbing blows. After a couple of duck unders Sting hits a slam, then clotheslines Booker 360 to the floor. Whip reversal on the floor and Sting runs Booker into the cameraman! Wrong place, wrong time. Booker hot shots Sting onto the announce table! Back in Booker hits a back elbow for 2. Sting tries a comeback but Booker cuts it off with another knee to the gut for 2. Snap mare/kneedrop combo for 2. Another chinlock/comeback sequence that Booker kills again. Scissors kick! Booker takes his time covering and Sting kicks out. Flapjack from Booker. Spinaroonie! Sting ducks a side kick and hits a DDT for 2. Stinger Splash! Booker cuts off a second with a kick. Sting hits a crossbody for 2. Both guys slip out of suplex attempts. Scorpion Death Drop! Sting gets the pin! After the bell Booker calls Sting back in the ring, teasing an attack, but instead we get a respect fist bump. Easily the best match so far tonight. Put the peak versions of these two guys together and it'd likely be fantastic. **3/4

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarterfinals: Vampiro def Billy Kidman (w/Torrie Wilson) in 8:24- As alluded to earlier, Kidman is as of now the de facto leader of the New Blood because he's embroiled in a feud with Hogan along with Bischoff, which also means he's a full heel now. Kidman tries to jump before the bell but Vamprio's ready for him. Corner clothesline from Vampiro. Belly to belly suplex. Clothesline off the top rope for 2. Kidman slides under and hits his pop up hurricanrana, followed by a dropkick. He tries mounted punches but Vampiro lifts him up and flat tosses him across the ring. Saito suplex from Vampiro. But then he makes the mistake of trying a straight powerbomb and Kidman faceplants him. Slingshot legdrop from Kidman for 2. Tony calls a normal kick a "back leg front kick" and I can't help but think he's trolling Bischoff. Side suplex from Kidman for 2. Suplex fight that Vampiro wins. Uranage from Vampiro for 2. He calls for the finish. But, Nail in the Coffin has the same setup as a powerbomb so you know how that goes against Kidman. This counter sends Vamprio's face into Kidman's knees. He tosses Vampiro out to the floor. They have a terrible miscommunication and Vampiro runs his own leg into the stairs for no reason. Back in Vampiro hits a kick combo for 2. He tries some arm holds. Kidman reverses that into a DDT. We cut to the back where an old Dodge Charger is driving in. And inside it is Hogan. We follow him through Gorilla out into the arena. The match grinds to a halt as Hogan comes out. Kidman attacks Hogan as soon as he gets in the ring. Hogan doesn't care, grabs Kidman by the throat and tosses him to the floor. All with ref Lil' Naitch looking on. Relaxed DQ rules! CRASH TV BABY! Hogan continues to pound Kidman on the floor. Kidman dodges Hogan tossing the stairs at him. Hogan resets the stairs, climbs up them, and chokeslams Kidman into the announce table! But the table didn't break, so Hogan slams Kidman through it too. Now it breaks. He rolls Kidman back into the ring and tells Vampiro to pin him, which Vampiro dutifully does. That was definitely an extreme interpretation of "relaxed" DQ rules. They were going along pretty decent until Hogan interjected himself. **1/4

 

Hogan takes a commentary headset and says Bischoff's ass is next "you son of a bitch". Cut to the back and again Russo is telling Bischoff to chill, then says he'll take care of it and leaves. Cut back to Hogan walking backstage looking for Bischoff. An innocent catering table gets murdered in the process. After trying about five doors Hogan finds the right one. The key clue was the sign on the door that says "ERIC BISCHOFF". Hogan kicks the door open and Bischoff tries to protect himself with a chair. Hogan easily swats that away and gets his hands on Bischoff. Here come the cops! They have their GUNS DRAWN on Hogan! Well they're from Chicago, pulling guns is a natural reaction to almost anything. Hogan backs off quick and gets cuffed. Hogan and Bischoff continue to bark at each other as Hogan gets drug off arrested. End scene....no, we're not done. Smooth transition in the hallway to Terry Taylor telling Terry Funk where to find....someone. We then follow Funk, who passes the cops and Hogan who are now slowly meandering around now their scene is done. Funk forces a door open into a room, catering per commentary, full of some non-wrestler people. He asks if anyone's seen Norman Smiley and they all point to the back in unison. Funk goes into the men's bathroom and we hear Norman SCREAMIN'! Funk drags Smiley, wearing full baseball catcher's gear and a Cubs uniform, out of the stall and I guess the next match is on. Honestly that was a really nice scene transition from Hogan to Funk. 

 

Vacant WCW Hardcore Championship: Terry Funk def Norman Smiley in 8:40- As Funk knocks Smiley out of the bathroom the bell rings to officially start. He sets a fire extinguisher off on Smiley. Slam onto a table. Funk pours out the contents of a Coke fridge onto Smiley. Cans, not bottles. He shoves Smiley through the slot that goes back to the kitchen. Smiley sprays Funk in the face with some water to turn things around. Trash can shot on Funk. Cookie sheet shots as Funk does his trademark wobbleleg selling. Smiley tosses Funk into a large trash can. He hits Funk with a Coke can. Funk hits Smiley with a laptop! A late '90s laptop so you know it has some heft. Cover for 2. Smiley climbs a conveniently placed ladder. Funk pulls the ladder away and Smiley dangles off a pipe on the ceiling! Funk hits him with a chair and Smiley falls down through a table! Funk tries to throw a chair at Smiley but misses by a mile. Smiley gets his own chair and hits Funk with it. They go through a curtain into the arena. More Smiley chairshots for Funk as they wander into the stage area and down the aisle toward the ring. Smiley hits another chairshot in the ring that looks like it catches Funk flush right on the back of the head. Ouch. Smiley decides things are going good so he can dance a bit. More chairshots and we get a full on wiggle. Funk swings the chair backwards to take Smiley out. He goes under the ring and gets a ladder. Dustin Rhodes runs in and attacks Funk. Dustin chairshot to Funk. He piledrives Funk onto the chair. He tries coming off the second rope with the chair, but Funk gets a boot up sending the chair into Dustin's face, then Dustin falls into the ladder sending that into Smiley! Getting into Rube Goldberg territory. Funk picks up the ladder and drops it onto Smiley on the floor! Pin and Funk is our first new post-reboot champion. Pretty fun all arena plunder brawl, easily the best thing Funk's done in this current WCW run. ***

 

In the back, Russo is disgusted with Booker for showing respect after losing to Sting and demands an unknown favor from him. 

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinals: Scott Steiner def Mike Awesome in 3:13- Circle, lockup, and Scott gets a quick amateur takedown. Awesome looks like he wants to fight back but Scott says "Nah, forget that, kid" and gives him a Steinerline. Scott tosses Awesome to the floor and does some push ups. Awesome comes off the apron with a slingshot tackle! Big splash on Scott for 2. Clothesline off the top from Awesome for 2. Scott goes to the low blow and hits a belly to belly suplex. Chops in the corner that seem to fire Awesome up. Awesome walks up the opposite corner and hits a flying back elbow for 2. Legdrop for 2. The crowd gets distracted by something but it takes forever to see what it is. Turns out it's Kevin Nash with a crutch. He knocks Awesome off the top rope with it. The Steiner Recliner is on and it's over. Awesome attacked Nash on his Nitro debut so that wasn't totally out of nowhere. Again, they were going OK before the interference. *

 

Back to the back, now Russo is shouting at Dustin. His default mode at all times seems to be shout at someone. In other words, typical New Yorker. But he's going even further this time, Dustin is FIRED for letting old man Funk win the Hardcore title! Russo then says Dustin was nothing without Goldust, "and who created Goldust and put those words in your mouth?". Dustin would in fact not be seen again in WCW until January, after Russo was given his walking papers. 

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Semifinals: Sting def Vampiro in 5:54- Remember last month when these two seemed to come to some kind of mutual respect of facepaint agreement and I speculated it'd take about three weeks for Vampiro to turn on Sting? Turns out I was more or less right on the money. Always count on people to turn on Sting. Sting charges in and it's on. It's all Vampiro to start as Sting still has his coat on. After he gets the coat off Sting hulks up and fires back. He pounds Vampiro down in the corner. They go to the floor and Vampiro stumbles around as Sting tries to run him into a chair. Slam from Sting back in the ring and he goes up top. Big splash for 2. Back to the floor and Vampiro does the Stinger Splash dodge so Sting can crash into the guardrail. That spot had become so commonplace I wrote that whole sentence during the setup before it actually happened. No joke. Vampiro runs Sting into a chair and gives him a superkick. Vampiro sets up on the top rope, but Sting never gets in position for him or something so he just hops back down. Flying tackle/legdrop combo from Vampiro for 2. After what seems like a long discussion Vampiro hits a back suplex for 2. After starting toward the top rope and changing his mind again Vampiro starts laying in kicks. Chops in the corner and Vampiro hits a suplex for 2. Setup slam and Vampiro goes up top again. This time he launches successfully, but neither guy seems sure what they're doing and Vampiro's leg collides with Sting's head as he comes down. They sell it as a Sting counter. Scorpion Death Drop. Sting hooks on the Scorpion Death Lock and it's over. They weren't just not on the same page, they were reading completely different books in totally different languages. Vampiro is one of those guys that every match I've ever seen him in has looked like that to one degree or another. 3/4*

 

Six Way Match for the Vacant WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Chris Candido def Juventud Guerrera, Shannon Moore, Lash LeRoux, Crowbar and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea in 5:10- I think the technical term for this match is "clusterfuck". At least they don't bother with separate entrances, the two members of 3 Count that are here tonight try to do their thing and everyone else attacks them. They settle in with Candido and Crowbar in the ring and everyone else on the apron. So it's tag rules? If it is it won't last any time at all. Crowbar hits a northern lights suplex for 2, then a slingshot legdrop for 2. Crowbar literally does a couple of bumps with no one near him. Is that....something he does normally I don't remember or is it as bad as it looks? Or did he suddenly turn into Damien Mizdow? LeRoux hits some moves on Crowbar as we continue with the save and swap theme. Juvy and LeRoux do some counters and a Juvy Driver hits. Iaukea tries to wheelbarrow Juvy but takes a cutter instead. Meanwhile Candido and LeRoux are fighting on the floor. Crowbar calls Daffney up to the top rope. Juvy dodges and Daffney very slowly hurricanranas Crowbar instead. Juvy kicks Daffney and tries to Juvy Driver her. Crowbar makes the save before he can. Because what this match needed is yet another body involved in it. Start the everyone dive segment! Shane Helms gets in. David Flair gets in. Anyone else in the back want to overcook this any more? Candido fights off an Iaukea superplex attempt. Iaukea dodges a headbutt off the top and gives Candido a Samoan drop. Tammy (FKA Sunny, yes she went to WCW with Candido for a short time) runs in and pushes Iaukea off the second rope into a chair, and Candido covers to win the title. After the bell Tammy and Paisley cat fight because Russo. Yup, clusterfuck. Way too many people with way too little time trying to do way too much. DUD

 

Vacant WCW World Tag Team Championship: Shane Douglas & Buff Bagwell (w/Vince Russo) def "Nature Boy" Ric Flair & The Total Package (w/Elizabeth) in 8:36- Flair's still in his street clothes. Commentary makes a lot of hay out of Douglas' longtime real life bad blood with Flair. Russo accompanies the New Blood team on their entrance, then becomes the first person to take commentary spot #4 tonight. Surprising non-jump start with Bagwell and Luger starting. Bagwell offers a handshake. Luger takes it, then jumps Bagwell before he can be jumped. Boot up and clothesline out of the corner from Bagwell. He slams Luger and dances, then turns around into Flex Luger flexing. Clothesline and slam from Luger. Bagwell goes to the eye rake and tags Douglas in. Douglas knocks Luger around the tunbuckles and hits a running kick to the gut. Luger gets him up for a press slam. Flair grabs Douglas from the apron and pulls him to the floor, then goes wild on him out there. Back in everyone decides Flair's legal without a tag. You can clearly see Flair tell Douglas to eye poke him, which Douglas does. Bagwell tags in and knocks Flair around. Tony straight up says "bullshit" to one of Madden's rants and Russo pretends to be upset about it. The New Blood team keeps Flair in peril is the basicest of basic offense. Flair tries to chop back on Bagwell but Bagwell punches him back down. Flair/Douglas speed run and they collide. Douglas is still back up first as someone is chanting "boring". Flair Flip! He allllllllmost got over the top but couldn't quite and falls back into the ring. Douglas says "Fuck you, Flair" while hitting mounted punches. Another Flair Flip attempt and this one succeeds. Douglas clotheslines him on the apron. Luger then clotheslines Douglas from the apron. Tags on both sides and Luger hot tag run into a DONNYBROOK. Flair puts the figure four on Douglas. Russo's had enough and gets off commentary, but doesn't do anything but offer moral support. Flair ducks and Bagwell hits Douglas with the blockbuster. Flair covers but Russo pulls Nick Patrick out. Patrick and Russo get in a big shoving match on the floor. While that's going on, we get more runs ins. It's Brian Adams and Bryan Clark, soon to be known as Kronik. They double chokeslam Luger, Russo tears off Patrick's ref shirt, tries to put it on but can't and just leaves it around his neck as he gets in the ring and counts 3 to give the tag titles to Douglas and Bagwell. Boring ass match even before the requisite interference with zero effort being given by Bagwell or Douglas. 1/2*

 

Vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Scott Steiner def Sting in 5:38- Both guys play to the crowd before locking up. Quick start from Steiner, beating Sting down in the corner. Speed run, ducks unders and Sting hits a couple of dropkicks. Steiner rolls to the floor for a think. He wants a time out. Sting responds with a plancha! Back in Sting goes for a big splash off the top rope but Steiner gets his knees up. Gorilla press and Steiner does his usual jawing with the crowd. Steinerline/elbow drop combo for 2. T-bone style suplex and now Steiner goes all the way to the floor to have some words with the fans. He sets Sting up top. Sting fights off a belly to belly superplex and hits a couple of clotheslines. Stinger Splash. He goes for two and Steiner pulls the ref in the way to get squashed. Sting really needs to stop going for more than one of those, it never ends well. But then Sting says eff it and goes for it again, and it hits. Then ANOTHER. Vamipro comes up out of a hole in the ring and gabs Sting's feet! I guess he missed his cue earlier. He drags Sting down STRAIGHT INTO HELL. Sadly no smoke comes up out of the hole. I guess Vampiro's not Undertaker or Kane. After a bit Vampiro drags Sting back up with a dribble of blood on his mouth. It looks less like Vampiro beat Sting up and more like Sting's in a sugar coma after eating too many jelly donuts. Steiner drags the ref back up, puts on an academic Steiner Recliner, and it's over as Scott wins the US title for the second time. It's the right result as Scott continues his move up the card, but it was ugly getting there. *1/4

 

Vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett def Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) in 14:58- I mentioned earlier Kidman being the de facto frontman for the New Blood. That's something Jarrett desperately wants to be but, well, it's Jeff Jarrett so no one is taking him seriously as a top guy. There was a tournament for this title like the other major titles, but everything before the finals was on weekly TV. They tried to add a bit of juice to this with Jarrett hitting Kimberly with, what else, a guitar. Anyone want an over/under on how many guitars will be broken in this match? The bell rings and it's a quick DDP start. Discus clothesline. Jarrett tries a slide under but DDP grabs him into an inverted atomic drop. DDP then counters a hiptoss into a DDT for 2. DDP's counterwrestling was always so damn smooth. Jarrett tries to roll out for some space but DDP quickly launches onto him with a plancha. He holds Jarrett so Kimberly can get a slap in. Over the guardrail and it's crowd brawl time. They stay in a wide shot so we hardly see any of it. There's trash cans involved. And a crutch. Back over the rail Jarrett tries to hide behind Kimberly, then pushes her into DDP to get a sucker punch in. DDP shrugs it off and stays on offense. Sunset flip back in the ring and both guys get near falls. Another DDP clothesline. He goes up top but Jarrett hits the ropes to crotch him. Superplex from Jarrett. He goes out and gets a chair, shoves Lil' Naitch away, and lays into DDP with chairshots. Lil' Naitch has enough and takes the chair away. Jarrett stays targeted on DDP's previously hurt back. DDP uses a whip attempt to hits a ripcord back elbow and both guys are down. DDP starts to slug back and hits a sitout powerbomb for 2. Bischoff has shown up in the aisle. DDP Cactus clotheslines Jarrett down to the floor. Floor brawl with Jarrett taking control back. DDP ducks a swing with the ring bell. Jarrett grabs a copy of DDP's new book and tears it up. This is soon after Mick Foley had success with his biographical book so now everyone was trying to cash in, or was being told by the company to try to cash in. Either way. Crotch post shot for DDP. Kimberly grabs Jarrett by the hair! DDP then pulls Jarrett into the post. Jarrett stays on DDP back in the ring with stomps to the ribs and chokes. DDP pulls back up in the corner. Slide under in the corner and now Jarrett takes a nads shot on the post. DDP calls for the Diamond Cutter, but it's close to the ropes so Jarrett is able to block it. Jarrett goes out and gets the belt. Belt shot to DDP. DDP kicks out! Jarrett hooks on the figure four. While DDP's fighting that we see Kimberly has Jarrett's guitar and Bischoff has now meandered all the way down to ringside. After a near fall DDP gets a second wind and manages to fight to the ropes. Jarrett goes for the figure four again. DDP small packages him for 2. DDP roll up for 2. Jawbreaker from Jarrett. Jarrett tries coming off the second rope but DDP catches him into a uranage for 2. Jarrett sleeper! DDP slowly fights out and hooks on his own sleeper. Jarrett quickly does a fancy cutter like counter to get free. Bischoff gets on the apron and grabs Lil' Naitch, like he's actually going to DQ anyone. Kimberly is on the apron with the guitar. Diamond Cutter on Jarrett! DDP sees Kimberly and wants her to give Jarrett a guitar shot receipt. Kimberly hits DDP! On purpose! SWERVE! Sadly we'd all seen enough of Russo by now everyone saw it coming a mile away. Jarrett hits the Stroke and gets the pin to win his first ever world title. Kimberly and Bischoff hug and the whole New Blood come into the ring and celebrate to close the show. Under the circumstances that was about as good a match as you could hope for, though given Jarrett's close relationship with Russo on screen and in real life the outcome was never in doubt. Despite all my longstanding skepticism of his ceiling as a star I don't even think putting the title on Jarrett here is a bad call at all. They needed new stars and Jarrett was at that stage in his career that you put him up there and see if he can swim. **3/4

 

Jarrett's title reign would be short lived, as DDP took it from him a week later on Nitro to put the three in THREE TIME THREE TIME THREE TIME. Amazingly that was the first time the title properly changed hands without it being vacated in between since September. SIX straight World title reigns had ended with it being stripped or vacated before that, with the reboot being #6. But DDP would also hold it all of one day. Who did he lose it to? Well.....it's another very important death of WCW moment so I'll leave you in suspense until next time. But you know.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- It is a marginal improvement over the last couple of Sullivan led PPVs, which doesn't say much. They actually managed to get some halfway decent matches out there. The main problem is Russo's ADD production style, trying to cram all these matches with backstage segments in between every one into the same PPV run time that previously only had 7-8 matches. Not to mention the incessant run ins and interference finishes. The reboot comes across as the last act of a desperate man (not the first act of Henry V), and while the New Blood/Millionaire's Club feud had potential, they were going about it the completely wrong way.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D