Bash at the Beach 2000

Legacy Reviews

Bash at the Beach 2000

July 9, 2000 from the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Mark Madden

 

Welcome to the final Bash at the Beach, which had become one of WCW's biggest shows during the Bischoff years. This year's version will certainly be remembered, but like most of 2000 WCW it won't be for anything good.

 

The show opens with Ernest Miller, who's apparently the WCW Commissioner now, getting out of a limo and telling someone that the Filthy Animals are banned from ringside in one match or another tonight. Maybe all of them. After that the Jung Dragons try to attack him in a scene shot like it should be in a ripoff of Miami Connection but Miller fights them all off. The show's intro graphics look like something you'd find as the intro on a cheap CD-ROM encyclopedia at the time.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Championship: Lieutenant Loco (c) def Juventud Guerrera in 12:07- We've got another "stolen belt" angle going with Juvy sporting the CW title belt that rightly belongs to Lt. Loco/Chavo Guerrero Jr. Konnan decides he needs to talk as usual before the match, which is nothing special but Disco Inferno acting as his Mini-Me is amusing. Juvy's in the Filthy Animals, so this is the match they're banned from ringside. Looks like Chavo's MIA faction is being booted out too. Nice they're keeping things even at least. It takes Madden barely 2 minutes to be a weird creep about the Animals' token woman from commentary, so right on schedule for him. Quick back and forth once we get things going. Chavo gives Juvy an extra sized inverted atomic drop. Then a traditional atomic drop, followed by a 360 clothesline to the floor. Juvy takes a while to recover on the floor, then Chavo tries to keep him from getting back in the ring. Juvy maneuvers around to catch Chavo coming back in. Juvy tries an apron suplex but Chavo suplexes him out of the ring to the floor! Springboard plancha from Chavo. Back in Juvy begs off, then pants pulls Chavo into the corner. He then takes forever for no reason and Chavo pops out of the corner with clotheslines and hits a backbreaker for 2. Chavo then grounds things with an ARMBAR. Corner flying headscissors from Chavo, followed by a powerslam for 2. Chavo hits chops so hard in the corner Juvy tries to crawl away over the top rope. Chavo uses that position to spank him! Ultimate embarrassment. After some more rapid fire counters they double clothesline each other. Chavo counters a Juvy waistlock by momentum tossing him through the ropes to the floor. Dive off the top to the floor from Chavo. To the shock of no one, the Filthy Animals "sneak" back to ringside all wearing masks. Less convincing than Bobby Valentine's glasses and fake mustache. Look it up, kids. Chavo ends up on the floor and Juvy slingshot legdrops him. Back in Juvy hits a setup slam and hits a slingshot splash for 2. Juvy goes up top. Chavo fights up to join him. Juvy flips over and hits a walking buckle bomb, pretty much a slow Liger bomb, for 2. Front drop powerbomb from Juvy. He takes the elbow pad off. Gimmick infringement. Now the MIA are coming in with masks on. Frakking hell, Juvy really was doing a full on People's Elbow? I'd forgotten that. Good thing WWF wasn't even bothering with the lawyers anymore, except to help price out how much WCW will cost. Chavo kicks out of that. Juvy goes up top but gets distracted by the not at all good looking Major Gunns teasing flashing the fakest tits known to man. Chavo knocks Juvy down and has him pinned, but ref Lil' Naitch is distracted by the other MIA guys. Another series of counters and Chavo hits a reverse DDT for a long 2. Juvy Driver! Chavo barely gets a foot on the rope before 3. Chavo hits the tornado DDT for the pin! It was disjointed and came in fits and starts, but was pretty good the spurts they actually had their foot on the throttle. Considering this is two Russo factions it's pretty interference light too. **3/4

 

If you'll indulge me for a moment, I have some overarching thoughts on the state of WCW commentary right now, since this team's been together most of the year now and this is a fairly major show. You've got Scott Hudson, who's desperately trying to call all the action like a straight up traditional wrestling match and is so out of place in this promotion and this era it's ridiculous. Then there's Mark Madden, who's an abject moron that spews whatever slop comes into his head with zero filter like verbal diarrhea and is a complete chore to listen to, though by pure law of averages he manages to usually have one decent line per show. And poor Tony, who's clearly beyond done with all this shit but is using every ounce of energy he has trying to stay professional.

 

Handicap Match for the WCW Hardcore Championship: Big Vito (c) def Norman Smiley and Ralphus in 5:56- Apparently Johnny the Bull was supposed to challenge here as part of a big Mamalukes breakup, but he got himself hurt so Smiley was pushed back into action as a last second replacement. Why he's still dragging Ralphus with him like useless luggage I have no idea. Vito takes Ralphus out in the aisle while Smiley runs. Vito catches Smiley on the stage and attacks him with a bootleg mafia kendo stick. Tony says hardcore matches "are supposed to start in the back and then go into the ring". Isn't the point of hardcore that there are no rules? Vito still has the belt on during all of this. He takes the belt off and drags Smiley behind the curtain to the back. Smiley gets the edge back there with a trash can shot and breaks a plank of wood over Vito's head. Ralphus then gets trash can shots in and still somehow makes it look like he has no idea what he's doing with something that simple. Smiley then gives Vito a bit of a wiggle. I like how their shoes are squeaking on the concrete back there like it's a basketball game. Ralphus pounds on Vito with a trash can lid. Vito punches back and knocks Smiley around the available backstage objects. Someone's diet soda got spilled. Hope it wasn't CM Punk's. Some rando gets tossed out of the elevator, then Vito leaves Smiley's carcass in there and presses the button to close the door. Vito then chases Ralphus back toward the ring as fast as Ralphus can go. Ralphus is in the ring in 2000 trying to work a solo match. Lord help us. Vito puts a trash can lid over his crotch and kendo sticks it. He then gets a table and tries to set it up in the ring, but he broke one of the legs getting it in the ring. He puts Ralphus on the one legged table anyway. Vito big splash off the top that does somehow manage to put Ralphus through the table and Vito gets the pin. 3/4*

 

Wedding Gown Match: Daffney def Miss Hancock (w/David Flair) in 4:14- I'm sure this will be nice looking and nothing else. Hancock (Stacy Keibler) broke Daffney and her ex-fiancee David Flair up to set this up. There's actually a wedding cake ringside, so you know that's not going to last the match. Flair comes out wearing a tux to match Hancock's miniskirt wedding gown. Hancock and David get funky with each other in the ring after their entrance. Someone please throw a bucket of cold water on Madden. Or acid, whatever. Daffney comes out in all black, which is totally in character. This is strip your opponent to win rules. Daffney low blows David from behind and attacks Hancock. While she's gently ramming Hancock's head into the mat Daivd grabs Daffney to let Hancock attack. Handspring back elbow from Hancock! Daffney grabs Hancock by the hair and snap mares her around. Both women tease sending the other into the cake. David gets in the ring again and gets punched out by Daffney. The ref tries to hold Hancock back for some reason and she nut punts him. Then pulls his pants off! The hell? Then Daffney pulls David's pants off. What the hell is going on here. Daffney sends Hancock face first into David's crotch. If I'm David I'm not complaining. Hancock then makes a meek attempt at getting Daffney's dress off and they "chase" each other around the ring. David grabs Daffney again and has barber's shears. So now we're head shaving? Crowbar runs in and back suplexes David to save Daffney. Then Crowbar takes his jeans off to join in with the other guys. Sure. Why not. Someone mallet an ice pick into my skull while you're at it, it'd be less painful than watching this match. Crowbar falcon arrows David, then uses his pants to hold David down in the corner by the throat. Then Hancock gets a mic, says stop everything, and strips. That I'm OK with even if it is beyond nonsensical. If it wasn't for all the trouserless guys lying around it's almost a "I'll be in my bunk" moment. The bell rings so I guess Hancock voluntarily lost by taking off her own dress. After the bell Daffney throws some wedding cake into Hancock's face and it's FOOD FIGHT time. The destroyed cake is less of a mess than this match was. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

In the back, the Jung Dragons try another amateur hour ambush on Miller but can't pull it off. After that commentary vamps for a bit while the ring crew clean up the cake, and the memory of that last match, as best they can. 

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: KroniK def The Perfect Event (c) in 13:34- Even at this late stage when the war had pretty much been decided I'm still a bit surprised WCW got away with making Stasiak's music a blatant ripoff of Mr. Perfect's old music. I'll give KroniK one thing, they've actually got pretty good music. They'd been getting a big monster babyface push since coming in as a team and had actually gotten pretty over as awful as they were in the ring, as much as anything in 2000 WCW. Adams and Palumbo start with lots of jawing before locking up. Shoulderblock standoff. Off another rope run Adams momentum tosses Palumbo over the top to the floor. Adams then press slams Stasiak down onto Palumbo! Perfect Event stall on the floor and tease leaving like all good weasel heels do. When they get back in we've swapped to Clarke and Stasiak in. Rough corner lockup that wee little ginger ref has to force a break on. Stasiak uses that to get cheap shots in. Clarke responds with his own corner beatdown. Stasiak comes off the second rope right onto a goozle. Clarke switches grip and hits him with a uranage. Double shoulderblock from KroniK. Big boot from Adams. Stasiak crawls over and tags out. Palumbo runs into a full nelson slam for 2. After another tag Palumbo pulls the top rope down and Adams needs about 5 full seconds to slowly maneuver himself over and down to the floor. Perfect Event double team him on the floor and give him a chairshot. Cover from Stasiak back in for 2. Tackle off the top rope from Palumbo for 2. He then hooks the slowest sleeper ever on Adams. Adams fights free but takes a knee to the gut. Flying back elbow from Stasiak for 2. Now Stasiak puts on a sleeper. After arm drops Adams fights back up and we have a midring collision. Tags on both sides. Clarke slips and almost falls while going to give Palumbo a corner clothesline. Clarke goes for the pumphandle powerslam on Palumbo. Palumbo gets free and hits a DDT. Stasiak tags in and runs Clarke over with a shoulderblock. Clotheslines and dropkicks from Stasiak on both KroniK guys. A hot tag run from the heels. Diving clothesline off the apron to the floor on Clarke. Back in he covers for 2. Perfect Event double team Clarke in the ring and clearly lose their place at one point. Double flapjack on Clarke. Adams breaks the pin up and tosses Palumbo out. Cutter on Stasiak. Then Adams gets on the apron so Clarke can tag him in. I guess I should be happy they're trying to follow the rules. Double big boot on Stasiak. Double chokeslam. Palumbo breaks the pin up, so KroniK double chokeslam him instead. Stasiak comes in with Perfect Event's gimmick bar but gets taken out. KroniK hit a powerbomb Doomsday Device and get the pin to win the titles! The basic formula tag layout with no interference was refreshing and mostly worked, but it all started to fall apart the last 5 minutes, like they were going longer than they planned for. *1/4

 

Back to Commish Cat's office in the back, where the Jung Dragons finally pull off a successful attack. 

 

"Positively" Kanyon def Booker T in 10:04- Thankfully the "GI Bro" nonsense with Booker T is over. Kanyon comes out to DDP's music, does DDP's full entrance, is wearing a DDP shirt and is toting around a book mocking DDP's highly promoted on TV book. It's all a giant troll after Kanyon turned on his fellow Jersey....ian at Great American Bash. Lockup and basic start. Booker hits a side kick and Kanyon rolls to the floor. His I assume DDP wig also came off. Another speed run with Kanyon hitting a shoulderblock, then he does the DDP diamond symbol in Booker's face. Booker hits a dropkick and clothesline, then tears the DDP shirt off Kanyon and tosses him over the top to the floor. Booker gets the book from Kanyon's corner and a brick falls out! To the floor with Booker knocking Kanyon around ringside. Coming back in Booker hits a clothesline off the top rope for 2. Kanyon manages to tights pull Booker back out to the floor and now Booker takes the ringside knockaround. Kanyon takes the stairs, sets them on top of Booker's arm, then hits the stairs with a chair. Then everyone instantly forgets about the hurt arm. Back in Kanyon baseball slides Booker ribs first into the post. He apron suplexes Booker back in for a long 2. Kanyon takes the chair and wedges it into the corner. The ref clearly doesn't care. Booker has a comeback flurry and hits a powerslam for 2. Booker gets whipped toward the chair, avoids it, but Kanyon catches him and gives him a spinebuster for 2. Kanyon puts on a.....reverse? Boston crab. OK then. Don't see how this is better than a regular one. It does allow Booker to easily counter into a cradle for 2, which Kanyon then reverses for 2. Running forearm from Booker. He whips Kanyon into the corner chair and hits a spinebuster for 2. Booker takes the chair and goes to hit Kanyon with it but the ref takes it away. Oh NOW you start enforcing some rules. Crappy WCW refs. At least evil Nick Patrick was consistent. While the ref's back is turned Kanyon waffles Booker with the book, I'm assuming with the brick replaced inside. Booker JUST gets a shoulder up! Oh, the brick is on the timekeeper's table, that was a brick-less shot. Kanyo opens the book to find the brick missing and is furious. Booker spinaroonies (off camera, wouldn't know it if commentary didn't say it) back up and hits a side kick. Scissors kick! Book End! Kanyon kicks out! Booker climbs up top. Jeff Jarrett runs out and gives Booker our first guitar shot of the night. I'm sure it won't be the last. Kanyon sets Booker back up top, hits the avalanche Diamond Kanyon Cutter, and gets the pin. A good match that I'm sure could have been way better in a different time and place. ***

 

WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Mike Awesome def Scott Steiner (c) (w/Midajah) by DQ in 9:09- Steiner jumps Awesome off the apron during his entrance. Awesome backdrops Steiner over the barricade into the first row, then charges and dives over the barricade onto Steiner! Crowd brawl time. They find a spot by the arena doors and go at it a while over there, then work their way back ringside. Steiner gets a padded chair and hits Awesome with it. In the ring for the first time Seiner hits the Steinerline/elbow drop combo for 2. Awesome gets a boot up in the corner to turn things around. He goes up top. Steiner fights up with him and hits a belly to belly superplex for 2. Steiner lifts Awesome up and seems to be thinking about something big, but then just hits a meek backbreaker. Awesome blocks a suplex and drops Steiner ribs first over the top rope, sending Steiner to the floor. Awesome hits an elbow drop off the apron, then gives Steiner a couple of plastic chair shots to the gut. He gets the bell and hits Steiner with it, then gives Steiner a chairshot with a proper chair, then Steiner's back into the ring apron, then the guardrail. Back in Awesome hits a slingshot splash for 2. Clothesline off the top rope for 2 as Commissioner Miller decides to wander out to ringside, Jung Dragons attack completely forgotten by everyone. Now Steiner blocks and hits a suplex. Belly to belly suplex that nearly drops Awesome on his head. Miller gets a mic and says "Oh no you don't" and Steiner hits him off the apron. I think there was a thing going on at this point where the Steiner Recliner was banned, I think that's what the Steiner/Miller beef is. WCW commentary is beyond useless at bringing people who aren't watching every minute of every weekly show up to speed. Awesome straight low blows Steiner right in front of the ref and Alabama slams him with a jackknife cover for 2. Big splash off the top rope from Awesome for 2. Awesome hooks up for a powerbomb. Steiner backs him into the corner and the ref goes down in the following exchange. Miller gets in and goes for a superkick, but Steiner ducks and Awesome takes it instead. Steiner belly to bellys Miller, then covers Awesome for 2. Another belly to belly on Awesome. Miller gets the mic again and tells Steiner he'll strip of the title if he puts the Recliner on. Scott being Scott, he does anyway. Miller orders the ref to ring the bell and says Steiner's been stripped of the title. Steiner t-bone suplexes Awesome after the bell just because. Much like when Steiner lost the TV title, this was getting the belt off him because he was ready to move on to bigger things. The vacant title would be won on Nitro the following week by Lance Storm, kicking off his Canadian Superchamp run that's one of the few highlights of this era. The match was decent before all the overbooking kicked in. **1/2

 

Graveyard Match: Vampiro def The Demon in 8:07- This is one of those cinematic matches before cinematic matches were really a thing. The lighting is terrible so you really can't see anything, but this graveyard looks less real than the obvious backlot graveyard from the first couple of seasons of Buffy, before they got the budget to shoot at real graveyards regularly. The lighting gets even worse when Demon drops his torch and the only light is a flashlight Lil' Naitch is holding. So there's no way in hell to see what's happening, but I suspect it's not really worth seeing anyway. While this is plodding along I'll mention the rules for this is whoever fights out of the graveyard and gets into the arena is the winner. Which spurs another thought- who zoned an arena right next to a graveyard? Tony asks if that's an open grave. Who the hell knows, no one can see anything. Asya, who's now Demon's fiancee, also gets involved. Vampiro grabs her and drags her away while Demon crawls out of the open grave. They end up next to a lake or river and Vamprio comes out of it to attack Vampiro. Someone watched that WWF Hardcore title match with the river and decided that's what they needed to do. Except this time they actually fight in the water. Vampiro drags Asya away again while Demon tries to figure out if he can swim or not. Eventually Demon finds Asya again. This time Vampiro comes out of a coffin and spits something in Demon's face. Vampiro breaks a rock over Demon's head and stuffs him in the coffin. If it was a casket match it'd be over. Vampiro dumps the coffin into the open grave, says "Say hi to Sting, if you see him in hell" and drops the torch in the grave with the coffin, where it does.....absolutely nothing. And.....it's over? So much for the get back to the arena rules. Besides, it's pure WCW to forget about the rules they lay out for these types of matches. Let's all be grateful it's over because that was as big a train wreck as that Human Torch match debacle at GAB. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

Presented without comment:

 

 

The Franchise def Buff Bagwell in 7:52- Bagwell and Douglas were tag champs a couple of months ago for an entire month, which is practically a year in Russo time, but have since broken up because their egos couldn't coexist. Lots of jawing and crowd playing after the bell. Douglas shoves. Bagwell punches. A dropkick from Bagwell sends Douglas to the floor and Douglas takes some ringside knockaround. Douglas hits a sneaky style low blow to turn things around and drops Bagwell on the guardrail, then he pulls up one of the ring mats. AND carpet. That's hardcore. Bagwell backdrops out of a piledriver attempt, giving Douglas a super soft landing on the stack of pads. Back in Bagwell hits a swinging neckbreaker and Douglas rolls right back out to the floor. Back and forth slugfest on the floor. Douglas picks Bagwell up and sends him crotch first into the ring post. Bagwell cuts off a chairshot, but Douglas punches the chair into Bagwell. We actually stay in the ring for more than one move as Douglas hits a snap mare/neck snap combo. He then cranks Bagwell's neck while commentary acts like Bagwell's neck is barely hanging on by one single thread that could snap at any time due to his injury history. Extra funny nowadays considering how many top level guys have come back from what were originally career ending neck injuries (Edge, Daniel Bryan Danielson, Shibata, Paige and I could probably go on). Torrie Wilson makes her way out and comes all the way up on the apron. She slaps Douglas and Bagwell rolls him up for 2. Back elbow and clothesline from Bagwell. Crossbody for 2. Torrie's on the apron again. Bagwell hits a Vader bomb for 2. Bagwell makes eyes at Torrie and she gets in the ring. Bagwell turns around to pose....and kicks him right in the nads! Madden's "That's kind of weird foreplay" is his one decent line for the night. Douglas hits the Pittsburgh Plunge. Bagwell kicks out! Bagwell hits a double underhook DDT for 2. He goes up for the Blockbuster. Torrie grabs his foot. Bagwell grabs her hair to get her off, but that allows Douglas to pick him up for an inverted atomic drop. Douglas hits a new lifted jawbreaker to the shoulder finisher, and that gets the pin. Afterward Douglas and Torrie make out. 1/4*

 

Are you ready for the real shit? Because here it comes. 

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hollywood Hogan "def" Jeff Jarrett (c) in 1:19- People should have known right from the off something was up here because it was highly unlikely Goldberg and Nash were going to main event. Jarrett takes forever to come out after his music hits. Then Jarrett doesn't come out first, Russo does. After Russo Jarrett finally comes out. Hogan is in black and white Hollywood mode for anyone keeping track tonight, and he comes out to the NWO music. During Hogan's entrance Jarrett walked all the way back up the ramp and takes his sweet time coming back in. When he does the bell rings to start......and Jarrett immediately lays down. Russo holds the belt up and tells Hogan to pin him. Hogan looks shocked and confused. Russo tosses the belt in the ring at Hogan's feet and walks away. Hogan asks for a mic. "Is this your idea, Russo? That's why this company's in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this". Hogan reluctantly puts one foot on Jarrett. The ref counts 3, Jarrett gets the hell out of town, and a disgusted looking Hogan is handed the belt. We cut to commentary and Tony says "We've seen a slice of real life here" and says we've all been swerved. Tony looks almost as disgusted as Hogan. Clearly the match is NR because it's not really a match. More in a sec.

 

First off, we cut to Vampiro arriving at the arena from the Parts Unknown Graveyard, which I guess officially gives him the win in that match. Cut back to commentary and they still have no idea what's going on. Vampiro's music hits and he comes out with a mic. He gets in the ring and says the Demon is dead, and he destroyed both the Demon and Sting. A bunch of bootleg Undertaker demons wearing Sting masks roll in a coffin. Vampiro is shocked, so clearly this isn't his guys. Vampiro opens the coffin and it's another fake Sting that commentary thinks is the real Sting. Baseball bats are swung, the lights do that lightning effect again, and next thing we know Vampiro's been stuffed in the coffin. End scene.

 

After a backstage Goldberg promo with nothing worth mentioning, Russo storms back to the ring. He says he's going to tell it like it is. That's a first. He looks very pained and tortured. Whether he really is or not, who knows. He says he left WCW 3 weeks ago and didn't know if he was going to be back. He says since he's gotten here he's done nothing but deal with bullshit backstage politics. The reason he came back was for the guys in the back that bust their ass every week for WCW and names names: Booker T, all of MIA, all of the Animals, Jarrett. Everyone that gives a shit about this company. "And let me tell you who doesn't give a shit about this company, that goddamn politician Hulk Hogan!". Russo says he's been playing politics with Hogan all day because Hogan wanted to play his creative control card (the one Hogan many years later denied ever having or using, a very provable and obvious lie) and win the title tonight. Russo says Hogan got his wish, then he went home. Russo promises everyone that "you'll never see that piece of shit again". He says Hogan can keep that belt and stick it up his ass (my summation, not his exact words), and there'll be a new belt tonight (which will really be the old belt, Jarrett had been carrying a new one). Russo says Jarrett is still the champion and will be properly defending the title later tonight against a guy that's been busting his ass for 14 years and can't get a break because of the "Hulk Hogans", Booker T. "Hogan, you big balled son of a bitch, kiss my ass!", mic drop and Russo out. Commentary then does their best to clean up knowing that Russo is their boss and needs to be kept happy. Tony definitely looks like he's completely done with this shit.

 

So much has been written and said about this night over the years, and there's been as many stories told about what the truth supposedly is as there were title vactions under Russo's tenure. As usual I'm not going to get deep into the "he said, he said" weeds, especially because everyone involved in this are professional and notorious lifelong liars, and just stick to the known verifiable facts. I'd also need a whole separate article for it all. How much Hogan knew or didn't know, how much he was really involved or not involved in it, the fact is as soon as his part was done he walked out of WCW, never to return. A side casualty to all this, his buddy Eric Bischoff went with him, ending his return Russo wingman run just a few months after coming back. Hogan then filed a defamation lawsuit against Russo and the company, a suit that was later dismissed. This whole incident is generally considered to be the last major signpost on the road to WCW's eventual demise. Starrcade '97, the Fingerpoke of Doom, hiring Russo, and tonight. If you're looking for definable single events that more than anything else led to WCW's death, those would probably be the core four, though there were many, many other smaller and longer term ones that also contributed just as much.

 

One last thought on all of this- Looking at what Hogan says about Russo and what he's done to the company, and what Russo says about Hogan, it's glaringly obvious what the biggest problem in this situation is. They're both right. 

 

Goldberg def Kevin Nash in 5:27- Goldberg had his big (and ill conceived) heel turn at GAB after coming back from injury, and his old foe turned temporary friend returned foe Nash is who he turned on so here we are. On top of that, this match is for Scott Hall's professional life. I'm not kidding. The details are of course vague, but Goldberg's somehow gotten a hold of Hall's contract and will burn it or eat it or something unless Nash can win it back tonight. Very sporting of Goldberg to give Nash a shot. Also ironic, as Hall was already long gone from the company, having had his last match at Superbrawl. Lockup! Slow corner break and Goldberg takes a cheap shot. Nash responds with knees to the gut and hits his usual corner knees and elbows. Goldberg powers out of Nash's standing boot choke and hits his headlock suplex for 2. Big kick from Goldberg, similar to the one that finished off Bret Hart. Nash comes back with a chokeslam. Scott Steiner makes his way out to ringside. He takes Hall's contract and tries to motivate Nash with it. Nash gets a boot up in the corner and hits a side suplex for 2. Goldberg pops up and charges. Nash dodges the spear and Goldberg hits the middle turnbuckle. The straps are down. Nash hooks up for the jackknife. Steiner gets in and attacks Nash *sigh* yet another obviously coming Russo SWERVE. Nash big boots Steiner, but then gets speared by Goldberg. Goldberg barely gets Nash up for the jackhammer and it's over. After the bell Goldberg tears up Hall's contract in Nash's face. You could do that finish since, again, Hall was already long gone. Possibly the worst of all the Goldberg/Nash matches. Negative effort, buried by overbooking, commentary desperately trying to pretend it's some kind of epic, yet another Russo swerve for a swerve's sake. The only redeeming feature is it's short. DUD

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T def Jeff Jarrett (c) in 13:41- Improv main event time. It's funny they're trying to claim this is the second World title match tonight. Like you could call that mess earlier a match. You know Jarrett's got the original belt back, the top part of it is bent. After the bell Booker is fired up and Jarrett hides in the ropes. The crowd is pretty fired up for this all things considered. Lockup into a headlock/headscissors exchange and stalemate. Another run of that sequence and when they get back up Booker shoves Jarrett down. Some more basic feeling out and Booker cranks a headlock. Speed run and Booker hits a dropkick. Jarrett goes to the floor for a think. He comes back in swinging punches as things crank up a bit. Jarrett slides under Booker off the ropes, but Booker turns around and hits him with a side kick, then tosses him back out to the floor. Ax handle off the apron. Booker tosses Jarrett over the barricade and for the second time tonight it's crowd brawl time. They find the same spot Steiner and Awesome went to, I guess that's the designated area. Jarrett takes a bump off a concrete wall. They're doing a wide swath of the floor, making sure everyone gets an up close look, but not doing much more than walking through. Back to ringside Jarrett gives Booker a chairshot, then dumps him over the announce table. Jarrett piledrives Booker on the announce table! And the table didn't break! Hudson: "They finally got the construction right on this thing!". Nicely done Hudson. Back in the ring with Jarrett still in control. Booker tries to slug back but Jarrett gets the sleeper on. After arm drops Booker fights back up, but runs into a Jarrett corner boot. He puts the sleeper back on. Booker fights free and reverses into his own sleeper. Jarrett uses that position to hit Booker with a kneebreaker! Jarrett goes for the figure four. Booker counters with a small package for 2. Another go and this time Jarrett gets the figure four on. After a long fight Booker manages to reverse it and Jarrett takes a rope break. Jarrett stays on the knee. Booker gets his leg out of the way to make Jarrett butt splash himself and starts a comeback flurry. Ripcord knee from Booker. Scissors kick! Spinaroonie! Spinebuster for a long 2. Jarrett ducks a side kick and Booker hurts his knee again on the ropes. Corner whip do-si-do and down goes the ref. Jarrett gets the belt. Booker dodges a shot, picks the belt up, and nails Jarrett with it! Cover. Phoenix down used to revive the ref. Jarrett kicks out! Straight Greco Roman Nut Punch from Jarrett. He goes out, gets a chair, and wedges it into the corner. Booker counters and Jarrett goes head first into the chair! Another cover and another just barely kickout. Jarrett kicks Booker, then kicks the ref and gives him the Stroke. Another low blow on Booker. Jarrett goes out again. He's tried the belt, he's tried a chair, what could he possibly be going for now? You called it, it's guitar #2 for the night. Jarrett goes up top with it. Booker catches Jarrett coming down and hits the Book End! A backup ref runs in and counts 3! Booker T has won the World title for the first time! Despite all the nonsense getting here, this was exactly the match and moment WCW needed. All the ref bump nonsense holds it back, but before that it was encroaching on being really good if not great with two clearly motivated wrestlers. Of course with Russo still in charge ready to piss away any goodwill earned here, and the Hogan incident being the only thing people would really remember from this show, it won't matter any in the long run. ***1/4

 

Two takeaways from this. One, this match and Booker winning was 100% the right call. The company was already beyond saving, but Booker, along with Jarrett and Scott Steiner, were just the getting into or in their prime guys they needed to be the new backbone if they had any chance at all. Second, the title win is slightly tainted by the fact that it largely came about due to Booker, along with his brother Stevie Ray, Sonny Oono and others, threatening to file a racial discrimination lawsuit against Russo and the company. Full context no matter how much Booker really did deserve it.

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Take away the whole Hogan/Russo debacle and it's not completely one of the great stinkers of the era. Sure there's the usual awful shit you expect, but it's actually countered with a few solid to good matches and a surprisingly good impromptu main event and great moment to finish. Like a turd with some candy sprinkles or hot fudge sauce on top.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D