New Blood Rising

Legacy Review

New Blood Rising

August 13, 2000 from the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, BC

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Mark Madden

 

The departure of Eric Bischoff also meant the end of the annual road trip to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the August PPV. Instead, WCW is holding just its second ever PPV in Canada, and completely across the country from the first one last fall (in Toronto). The new name of the PPV comes from the New Blood faction that was created during the WCW reboot in the spring, but Russo being Russo the whole thing had pretty much already gone away anyway. It could be seen as a statement that after the Hogan incident at Bash at the Beach this is a new start with new stars for a new era. I probably just more thought into it than Russo did. The logo doesn't look like anything from WCW either, it's completely out of style.

 

Gold Record Ladder Match: 3 Count (w/Tank Abbott) def The Jung Dragons in 11:35- Tank Abbott as 3 Count's mouthpiece is....a choice. And then he sings. Just to note, the masked member of the Jung Dragons, "Jamie-San", is in fact James Gibson AKA Jamie Noble. Not Japanese at all. There not one, but TWO items hanging above the ring in lieu of title belts for this match. One is 3 Count's gold record, that they're trying to get back. The other is 3 Count's recording contract, which the Dragons are trying to get a hold of because that will somehow keep 3 Count from ever recording anything ever again. I'm assuming the match will continue until both have been claimed. In contrast to the multi-man ladder matches WWF was already doing with the Hardyz, Dudleyz and Edge & Christian, this starts out like a normal tag match with two guys in and everyone else on the apron. We even get a lockup and basic start, with Noble and Shane "Hurricane" Helms having a very nice mat exchange. Helms hits a back elbow and all of 3 Count TAKE OFF for the ladders, which are way up by the stage. One of the other Dragons, I think Kaz, cuts them off. We get some floor brawling while Yang brings the first ladder into the ring. Moore and Yang have some back and forth with a ladder looming in the corner. Yang backdrops Moore onto the ladder! Yang tries to use the ladder as a stand for a superplex, but Helms comes from behind and trips him, sending him crotch first into one of the ladder rungs. 3 Count stack all three Dragons onto the ladder propped in the corner, then Moore splashes onto them all. Then they set the ladder up in the middle and we have the first climb. Both teams pull off a springboard Doomsday Device. Yang climbs the ladder. Moore pushes the ladder down to knock him off. Noble climbs on top of the ladder near the edge of ring and dives onto everyone on the floor! Yang climbs again. Karagias brings a second ladder in, then climbs up to join Yang. Moore climbs the second ladder and neckbreakers Yang back down, then clearly checks on him. Karagias then cuts Kaz off at the ladder top and superplexes him back down. TV decides to focus on Abbott jawing with the crowd for a bit for some reason. 3 Count has one of the Dragons under a ladder and they legdrop it. The Dragons come back with some martial arts kicks. Karagias powerslams Kaz onto the ladder! We get one of those nasty looking ladder ricochet spots. Yang hits an asai moonsault on the floor completely off camera. The Dragons isolate Moore in the ring. Noble hurricanranas him off the top rope, then the other two splash Moore off the ladders. Noble climbs and gets the gold record. 3 Count dropkick the ladder, and the record flies out of Noble's hands and into Abbott's, who's now in the ring. Kaz and Yang run 3 Count over with a ladder while Abbott gets out of the ring with the record. Karagias gets sandwiched inside a ladder and Noble legdrops him off the top rope. Everyone starts climbing again, this time for the contract. Moore does a nifty switch between ladders when one gets knocked down. Noble powerbombs him off the ladder. Hudson makes a "joke" about Abbott having a comp ticket to get into the building tonight. Dude, it's 2000 WCW, you do NOT want to start pointing out comp tickets when half the damn building is probably in here for free to make it look full. Abbott then gets in the ring and pushes down both ladders, which knocks down both a Dragon and one of his own guys! He never was a mental powerhouse. Abbott points up and tells Karagias to climb. He does, and gets the contract, giving 3 Count the win because Abbott got possession of the record even though the Dragons originally got it. Abbott dances off with the record and contract as the final shot, taking all the focus away from the guys that actually wrestled the match. This is about the only 2000 WCW match that's been remembered for being halfway good instead of a complete disaster. It's a spotfest for sure, but a fun one with six motivated young guys. But still doesn't come close to what WWF was doing in a similar match environment at the time. ***1/4

 

In the back, the Filthy Animals have invaded Commissioner Cat's office. They have an offer for him, they want to ref (as a whole?) the tag title match tonight, and in return they'll guarantee Miller victory in his match tonight. Disco Inferno as the awkward white guy in the Hispanic gang is moderately amusing. 

 

Ernest "The Cat" Miller def The Great Muta in 5:00- Good news: Great Muta decided to take a hiatus from New Japan and swing back over to the US for a run for the first time in a long while. Bad news: he did it in WCW in the year of our Lord 2000 with Vince Russo calling the shots. Timing is everything. Muta's joined/been placed into a new faction of face painted wrestlers called the Dark Carnival, along with Vampiro and the Demon. Yes, Vampiro attempted to murder the Demon on the last PPV. Don't ask, it's Russo. Muta still does have his hair here, I couldn't remember if he'd gone bald yet or not, been a bit since I watched the Tokyo Dome shows of this period. He's clearly in that transition period. Miller gets a mic to opine but then hits Muta with it before the bell. After mounted punches Muta does a crazy ass delayed bump that I don't know what the hell it was. He then fights back and hits the snap mare/elbow drop combo. He goes into some arm work on Miller. It looks like he tries for a cross armbreaker but Miller blocks it so he settles for a short arm scissors. Miller eventually gets a rope break and comes back with some kicks and tries his own arm wringer, but Muta drops him again with a throat shot. Muta gets Miller down in the corner. The Filthy Animals' token woman Tigress makes her way out. Miller dodges the handspring elbow and grabs a waistlock, then dodges a Muta kick and kicks him out to the floor. Miller chokes Muta with a TV cable. Superkick on the floor. Cover from Miller back in for 2. Muta blocks a kick into a dragon screw. He hooks Miller into a legbar. Miller gets another rope break out. Backbreaker setup and Muta goes up top. Miller dodges the moonsault. Green mist! While the ref's trying to clean Miller's face off Tigress hits Muta with a chair off the top rope. Miller crawls over, covers, and Muta kicks out! Miller hits another kick combo. Back of the head kick. The Feliner kick hits and Miller gets the win. You get Muta and this is what you do with him? This company deserves to go out of business. Total clash of styles, and not in a good way. Muta's style in general had no place in a Russo run company, it didn't fit at all. 1/4*

 

Judy Bagwell on a Pole Forklift Match: Buff Bagwell def "Positively" Kanyon in 6:43- Speaking of things everyone remembers from 2000 WCW. Kanyon is still cosplaying as DDP as a troll. For his entrance, Kanyon drives Bagwell's mom Judy in on a forklift and lifts her up on it. The forklift is because she was too fat for the pole, according to Kanyon. I don't think there's any point to this other than if Kanyon wins Mrs. Bagwell has to be his "Kimberly". Which is bad enough. Bagwell runs in and tries to lower the forklift. Kanyon attacks to cut him off. They brawl on the floor and into the crowd, but the only thing I can think about is if Judy has been secured to the top of the forklift in some way for safety, or is she hanging on with her hands like that just to keep herself on? They get in the ring and Bagwell hits a backdrop and swinging neckbreaker. Mounted punches. Kanyon low blow counters and hits an avalanche Russian leg sweep. On a close shot we can see that yes, Judy's hands have been tied to the forklift to keep her from falling off. That's something I guess. Suplex from Kanyon while commentary again tries to sell the notion that Bagwell is just one small nudge in the back of his previously injured neck away from total paralysis. Kanyon goes into one of the ring post supports and gets cutters to cut one of the turnbuckle pads off. Bagwell dodges the exposed buckle but Kanyon uses that to hit a spinebuster for 2. Again Bagwell fights off an exposed buckle shot. Kanyon hooks him up in a cobra clutch. Bagwell goes down and we lay on the mat for a while. After arm drops Bagwell fights out. Kanyon blocks a hiptoss into a neckbreaker for 2. Guess Bagwell's neck survived that one. Bagwell blocks the Kanyon Kutter, sending Kanyon into the exposed buckle. Hot shot into the exposed buckle. Cover for 2. The Kanyon Kutter hits! Bagwell kicks out! DDP music hits again. But it's not DDP. It's DAVID ARQUETTE. He's back. He seems to be on Kanyon's side, but this is Russo so I'm sure a swerve is coming. Bagwell takes Kanyon down with clotheslines. Arquette hits Bagwell in the back with a hardhat. Kanyon covers but Bagwell kicks out again. Bagwell ducks another hardhat shot and flips Arquette into the ring, then double clotheslines both of them. Double Blockbuster! Bagwell pins Kanyon to get the win! Well how about that, no swerve with Arquette. I'm shocked. Bagwell lowers the forklift and frees his mom. Judy Bagwell on a pole or forklift or anything is another one of those ideas that should have been laughed out of the booking committee meeting. That aside, it's a bad Kanyon match but a decent Bagwell one. *

 

After everyone else leaves Kanyon lays Arquette out with a Kanyon Kutter because he screwed up. After that we cut outside to an official Canadian limo being escorted by police, and the great Canadian himself Lance Storm emerges. No more than he deserves in his home country.

 

Tony has some breaking news: Goldberg was injured in a motorcycle accident in Sturgis (someone still went) and his status for tonight is up in the air. Also a side thought a few matches in: for some reason, whether it's feeling emboldened due to job security or the Canadian air or what, but somehow Madden is even more annoying than he had been on previous shows. 

 

Four Corners Match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship: KroniK (c) def The Perfect Event, The Misfits in Action and Sean O'Haire & Mark Jindrak in 12:23- The Filthy Animals come out first to be the guest referees. All four of them. Not Konnan, that's too much work for him, he goes into commentary instead. We've also got ANOTHER stolen belt angle going, as the Animals have possession of the tag belts. With four teams AND four refs I expect this to be a total mess so I'm going to skim a bit. After all the teams have entered Disco takes a mic and says he's the ref in the ring, the other three will be outside enforcers, and if anyone puts a hand on any of them they'll be DQ'd and "be wrestling polar bears in Nome, AK for the next six months". OK then. Adams and Palumbo start out with some usual dull stuff. Palumbo gets tossed out and the Animals immediately attack him. Lots of rapid switching after that but absolutely nothing worth mentioning. O'Haire does a nice flip off the top rope and lands on his feet in the ring. When Clarke gets a cover Disco does a super slow count. Tigress then comes in and bronco busters General Rection. Mysterio also tries to but gets a boot in the crotch. The match restabilizes with more rapid swaps and tags. Corporal Cajun of the MIA gets a cover and again Disco does a super slow count. Konnan and his lapdog Madden say it's because the Canadian crowd needs a slow count to keep up. Stasiak gets a cover and another slow count. I guess it's consistent. One thing I will say, O'Haire is coming across as an impressive physical specimen, which will get him a look later on in WWE until they figured out that's all he was. The match breaks down with all the wrestlers, then all the supposed refs, getting in the ring. They're holding teams back and I have no idea what's going on or why anyone is doing anything they're doing. Palumbo puts a sleeper on Rection with an unintentionally hilarious "WTF is this" facial reaction from Rection. The crowd is chanting "bullshit", which I think is directed at the entire match in general. More shit happens as this match has more than worn out its welcome. They start a sequence of a bunch of guys get clotheslined to the floor and the Animals attack them again. Jindrak and O'Haire manage to get Adams down as Disco seems to be rooting for them, but the other guys come back in again to break it all up. KroniK set Palumbo up for their double chokeslam finisher. Now Vampiro and Muta run in because that's all this match needed was more damn bodies. Palumbo rolls Adams up and Disco's slow count allows Adams to kick out. Clarke hits Palumbo with the pumphandle powerslam. Disco counts 2 then gives Clarke a Spaceballs salute. Stasiak tries coming off the top rope but Adams catches him and presses him down to other guys on the floor. Double chokeslam on Palumbo. Lt. Loco runs in, takes Disco out and puts his ref shirt on, and counts the pin. This was already going to be a mess with these four teams all in it, and then all the crooked guest ref bullshit was thrown on top of it. DUD

 

Strap Match: Billy Kidman def The Franchise (w/Torrie Wilson) in 8:23- Commentary talks about the three way match later, teasing that everyone involved might go into business for themselves. Russo fake shoot crap 101. Shane Douglas stole Torrie away from Kidman to set this up. Tony says up front this is pin rules, not normal strap match touch all four corners. Nice of them to say that up front for once. Cautious start with both guys looking for strap leverage. Kidman gets Douglas tied up into the strap to trip him. Reset and Douglas flips out at a "Franchise sucks" chant. Slide under from Kidman and another strap trip, followed by a dropkick. Moron Kidman then decides to go to the floor and stalk Torrie. Douglas tries to ambush but Kidman cuts him off with a clothesline. Kidman uses the strap to pull Douglas into the post, then chokes him with it around the post. Back in Kidman gets the first strap whip in. That gets Torrie on the apron and Douglas yanks Kidman down with the strap. Now he chokes Kidman with the strap. Reverse neck snap and Douglas gets some whips in. Torrie comes up and chokes Kidman on the ropes. Knucklelock slam from Douglas. More strap whips, but they just fire Kidman up. He hits a hurricanrana off the second rope, then a clothesline and dropkick. Sit out spinebuster for 2. Kidman rips Douglas' shirt off to give him some more strap whips. Douglas tries going up top but Kidman slams him off. Strap whip right into Douglas' nads. Corner bulldog for 2. Torrie's on the apron again and she's got her shoe off. Kidman ducks and Douglas takes the shoe shot. Cover for 2. Douglas drops Kidman on the top rope for 2. Kidman blocks the Pittsburgh Plunge into a small package. Torrie gets in the ring and tries to reverse it. Douglas hits the Pittsburgh Plunge but Kidman kicks out. Kidman pushes Douglas into Torrie on the apron, hits the Kid Crusher (an Unprettier) and gets the pin. After the bell Torrie comes in with a chair. Kidman cuts it off, puts the strap on Torrie and starts to whip her. Douglas saves her, puts the strap around Kidman like a noose and tries to hang him. Big Vito randomly runs in to save Kidman, then Reno runs in and attacks Vito to kick off a bald guy fight. Russo's booking ADD on full display here. Of all the strap matches there's ever been, that's one of them. 1/2*

 

In the back, Booker T arrives at the arena. Jeff Jarrett jumps him and smashes his already bad knee in the car door. 

 

Rip Off the Camouflage Mud Match: Major Gunns def Miss Hancock in 6:47- Vince Russo special right here. Both women go to the ring, but the army themed mud pit is up by the entrance stage. Gunns is "wrestling" barefoot. I'm not getting deep into this because, as you'll see, the match (such as it is) isn't going to matter one little bit in a few minutes. After the requisite cat fight they both try to work in some wrestling moves. Madden: "Steamboat/Flair. I didn't want to see them naked either". One decent line for the night, check. Why are they trying to pin each other if this is a "strip" type match? And they are trying to rip each other's clothes off. Russo wants T&A, that's all it is. Gunn's top is barely staying on her fake ass boobs. There's one good looking woman in this at least. Also, where's the mud? I mean, I don't give a shit about it, I've never understood the appeal of women wrestling in mud, but the name of the match says mud. Also, how the hell is this match still going? It's gotten three times as much time as it needed. But just as I type that the real reason for this match kicks in. After badly missing a crossbody attempt and flopping on the mat, Hancock rolls out to the floor clutching her stomach. Gunns continues attacking her on the floor. Hancock pushes her into the post, then collapses in pain again, but recovers enough to rip Gunns' shorts off. Gunns then gets Hancock's top off and they go toward the mud pit. Hancock backdrops Gunns into the mud. Hancock laughs at her and tries to walk away but Gunns pulls her in. Someone get Madden either a cold shower or his own room alone for a few minutes. Hancock starts dancing in the mud, then clutches her stomach again. Gunns rolls her up and pins her in the mud. This is far from over, but that's the end of the match. I'd prefer to pretend it never happened at all and ignore any kind of rating, but it took up so much more time than it should have I don't really have a choice. MINUS FIVE STARS

 

Hancock is in so much pain Gunns "breaks character" and checks on her. David Flair, who's Hancock's story boyfriend, dives into the mud pit to check on her. Eventually medical comes in with a stretcher and we cut to somber commentary. Madden insinuates that Hancock being in abdominal pain wasn't "part of the match". But never mind that for a minute as we go to a backstage promo with the Dark Carnival. After that we go back to commentary and Tony straight says Hancock's stomach problems weren't part of the match. Cut to mud covered Hancock being loaded into an ambulance. Tony hammers the work shoot nail even harder by saying her real name is Stacy Keibler. "We hope to get an update soon" and onto the next match. This never gets followed up on tonight so I'll explain it all now. Keibler was supposedly pregnant, didn't know it and the match caused her to have a miscarriage. And it's all supposed to be REAL, not a storyline, which it actually is. Seriously. I don't even have the words to properly describe how stupid it is, it speaks for itself.

 

Sting def The Demon in :53- Good to see Sting survived being set on fire and thrown off the tron at Great American Bash. Don't laugh, that heavily covered stunt guy *might* have really been Sting. Yeah, I can barely keep a straight face typing that. Anyway, Sting rappels down off the tron and Demon attacks him. They brawl down the aisle into the ring, Stinger Splash, Scorpion Death Drop, good night thanks for coming. NR

 

After the bell Vampiro and Muta attack Sting. They try to hang Sting with the same wire he rappelled down on. KroniK of all people make the save and attack the Dark Carnies. There's a funny moment where Muta, after taking a punch, deliberately puts his face into the camera and gurns for it while going by. Guess you've got to keep yourself amused somehow. While all this goes on Demon just stands and watches. Adams gets a mic and offers Muta and Vampiro a tag title match later tonight because they're not done fighting.

 

Backstage, Booker's knee is hurt and getting worked on and he wants the camera out. Is his knee having a miscarriage too?

 

Canadian Rules Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Lance Storm (c) def Mike Awesome in 11:28- Storm is also Hardcore champion and Cruiserweight champion, and he's put large Canadian flag stickers on all three belts. It's fantastic and one of the very few true highlights of the era. Naturally he gets a good pop in Canada despite being a heel. Storm gets a mic and says after having to deal with US fans it's great to be wrestling in the great country of Canada again. It's clearly modeled on Bret Hart's '97 heel run, but it still works. Storm then invokes rule 32B of the Canadian rulebook, since it's a championship match he can appoint a special referee. The crowd immediately starts cheering at this news and there's a "Bret" chant. See, WCW had heavily teased he was going to make an appearance on this show since they're in Canada, so naturally that's who the crowd expects. Storm introduces an honorable and true Canadian.....JACQUES ROUGEAU! Formerly of the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers, formerly the Mountie, formerly of the Quebecers, among others. And the crowd goes absolutely flat. Daniel Bryan not being in the 2014 Royal Rumble flat. Not at all who they wanted or expected. Rougeau has a copy of the Canadian rulebook with him. It's very thin. Must be tiny print. The Canadian national anthem then plays. After all that the match finally starts. It's all Awesome to start. Double underhook slam. Corner clothesline. Standing legdrop for 2. Storm comes back with a jawbreaker and superkick, then runs Awesome's shoulder into the post. Corner chops from Storm just fire Awesome up. After some suplex counters Awesome clotheslines Storm 360 to the floor. Awesome goes under the ring and gets a table. Storm fights off a table powerbomb by backing Awesome into the guardrail. Springboard missile dropkick from Storm back in for 2. Awesome catches Storm trying a crossbody and hits a belly to belly suplex. Awesome goes up to the top rope, but then legit slips off to a huge laugh from the Canadian crowd. He tries to recover by giving Storm a clothesline. Storm blocks the Awesome Bomb and gets a backslide for 2. Drop toe hold from Storm but Awesome pushes him back across the ring. Pop up powerbomb! The ref counts 3 and Storm did kick out a half second too late. The bell rings. But, from the floor Rougeau says it's only 2. The ref still raises Awesome's hand as the winner. Rougeau consults the rulebook and pulls Dave Penzer over. According to Canadian rules, you have to win by a five count. The match continues. Storm tries a sunset flip. Awesome blocks it, hits an Alabama slam and does a jackknife cover for "only" 3. Awesome hooks on a dragon sleeper. Storm tries to fight, but taps out! It's really over this time, right? Nope. Again Rougeau stops everything and consults the rulebook. Under Canadian rules in a championship match in Canada, you cannot win by submission. Pinfall only. The match continues. Again. Northern lights suplex from Storm for 2. Roll up with a bridge for 2. Release German suplex from Awesome. All the rules shenanigans, even though they're favoring Storm, have only taken the home crowd even more out of the match than they already were with Bret not showing up. Slingshot tackle from Awesome for 3.5, almost 4. Awesome goes up top. Big splash! He pins Storm for a full 5 count. It HAS to be over now, right? Nope. Now the Canadian rulebook says after a 5 count the pinned wrestler has until a count of 10 to get up or the match is over. Storm easily gets up and Awesome runs him over with a clothesline. Awesome lifts the table up into the ring. On the floor Storm low blows Awesome and gives him a chairshot. Cover back in for a LONG 4 count. I can't believe I'm saying that. Storm sets Awesome up on the table. Awesome gets off and we have a top rope fight. Both guys go off the top rope through the table! The ref's done with this shit and doesn't know what to do now. Fortunately Rougeau has the rulebook right there to check. According to the rulebook, the first wrestler to get up before a 10 count is the winner. Rougeau gets in the ring and punches Awesome down to make sure Storm is up first to win. Well that was something. The wrestling itself was fine as you'd expect from these two. The constant rules changes was one of those things that's both really dumb but kind of amusing at the same time. In 2000 WCW, you take what you can get. **1/4

 

After the match is over, NOW Bret Hart strolls out to a much smaller pop than he would have gotten earlier, and not looking particularly interested to be there either. He hugs Storm and Rougeau and they all celebrate together. Thanks for coming, Bret.

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: The Dark Carnival def KroniK (c) in 9:07- Two KroniK matches in one night? What did we do to deserve this. Vampiro wants to GO while Muta just chills in the corner. Adams tosses Vampiro out to the floor, then Clark stands in the ring waiting for Muta to get in. Or Vampiro. Either or. Tony: "Do Canadian rules apply here?". I'm pretty sure I heard the sarcasm in there, which makes it even better. Vampiro gets some shots in until Clarke runs him over with a shoulderblock. Pop up powerbomb from Clarke for 2. Double back elbow from KroniK as Tony tries to go over the multiple plot threads we still have dangling tonight, a certain losing battle. Muta hits Adams from the apron to turn the match around. Adams blocks the handspring elbow into a full nelson! OK, that's nicely done. He then full nelson slams Muta. Clarke goes nuts on Muta in a neutral corner. Muta rolls under, kicks Clarke, and tags out. Vampiro runs into a powerslam for 2. KroniK trap him in their corner for some shots. An Adams big boot sends Vampiro outside. Adams press slams him on the floor. Back in Vampiro counters a powerbomb attempt into a faceplant, Kidman style. Kick combo from Vampiro. Muta comes in and tries to do some leg work on Adams but Adams doesn't seem overly interested. Vampiro then comes in to try to continue the leg work and he's even less interested, including doing the weakest basement dropkick I've ever seen. The Carnies give up on it and settle for keeping Adams isolated with more normal offense. Adams ducks a Vampiro big boot and we have a midring collision. Tags on both sides and Clarke flat RUNS OVER Muta in a way I don't think Muta was expecting. Pumphandle powerslam on Vampiro. But he doesn't cover and goes after Muta instead. Clarke ducks and the ref takes the green mist. Vampiro breaks up the double chokeslam. The crowd gets distracted by something. Oh, it's the Harris Brothers coming in. Great, another shitty team. All we needed. They plant Clarke, allowing Muta to hit the moonsault on him. Cover and the Carnies win the titles! Well, Great Muta is a champion in WCW in 2000. That's something I suppose. Still, it's a KroniK match and a Vampiro match. Even Muta on his best day probably couldn't overcome that. DUD

 

In the back with Blonde Floozie Interview Bot v2.4, Booker says the knee is just fine and cuts a much better promo than this night deserves.

 

Three Way Dance: Kevin Nash def Scott Steiner and Goldberg in 10:44- You want shooty work crap? You're going to have an overload of it in this match. Commentary kicks it off right away, speculating about who's "going over" and if the wrestlers are going to stick to the script or not. After the first two guys come in Goldberg's music hits, but no one comes out. Attempt #2 and still nothing. Nash gets impatient and wants to go now without Goldberg, and for once I agree with him. Lockup and Steiner gets the first shots in the corner. Nash turns it around with knees and a big boot and Steiner rolls to the floor. Steiner does a nice little flop after a barricade shot. Right after that Goldberg runs in with taped up ribs after his supposed motorcycle accident. He's also got a chair and nails Nash with it. Steiner pulls Goldberg off Nash and into the ring. Steinerline/elbow drop combo for 2. Half and half suplex for 2. Goldberg comes back with a tackle and superkick, sending Steiner back to the floor. Nash gets back in and he and Goldberg slug it out. Nash gets the edge targeting Goldberg's ribs. Steiner comes in and belly to belly suplexes Nash for 2. Steinerline/elbow drop on Nash for 2. Goldberg comes up and double underhook suplexes Steiner. Goldberg/Steiner double clothesline, then Nash clotheslines both of them. Side suplex on Steiner. Big boot on Goldberg. The straps are down. He sets up for the jackknife. Goldberg pushes free and instantly stops selling, then turns around and walks out. Vince Russo himself comes out and gets in Goldberg's face, yelling at him (well, Russo only had one volume) to get back in the ring. Goldberg says "Fuck you" and walks off. Russo glances back at the ring with a worried look and follows Goldberg. Steiner lays into Nash with a chair and knocks him around ringside as commentary speculates if Goldberg was "supposed to take" that jackknife and swerved Nash. Which would have been a real life swerve by the way, not a scripted one. Even though it's all scripted anyway. Hope you're keeping up. Now commentary is speculating if the guys left in the match will have to "improvise". All the while, one of the funniest things about all this is Steiner saying "fuck all that shit" and just working his normal match like nothing else is going on. Backbreaker on Nash for 2. Nash gets a boot up in the corner with a great Steiner sell. Now Steiner's woman Midajah comes out. Nash hits snake eyes and hooks up for a choke slam. Midajah gets in the ring, drops the ref, and low blows Nash. Then Nash low blows Steiner. Midajah gets back in and elbow drops Nash in the nads. Freaking hell, we get the point. Steiner covers for 2. Nash counters Steiner and hits a DDT. Nash covers and Midajah again runs in to break it up. So is that supposed to be "real" or scripted? Nash goes after Midajah and Steiner jumps on his back with a sleeper. Nash backs him into the corner to break it up and hits a big boot. Jackknife on Steiner and Nash gets the pin. Watching this match, there's obvious potential for at least a decent Steiner/Nash match if Nash was halfway motivated for it. But it's all buried in Russo's obsession with trying to do all this work shoot shooty work crap to try to SWERVE everyone, and accomplishing nothing but exposing the business even more and making everything completely pointless. DUD

 

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Booker T (c) def Jeff Jarrett in 14:38- This is a rematch of the impromptu main event of Bash at the Beach, where Booker defeated Jarrett for the title after the Hogan incident in what was a pretty quality match, minus a pointless ref bump or two. Booker's even managed to hang onto the title since, sadly one of the longest World title reigns of Russo's entire tenure. Booker's wearing a knee brace and is limping a bit on his entrance. Jarrett jumps Booker as soon as he steps in the ring. Booker slugs back and hits a back elbow. Quick roll up for 2. A side kick hits. Powerbomb from Booker for 2. He 360 clotheslines Jarrett to the floor. Jarrett takes some guardrail shots. Back in Booker slides under Jarrett in the corner and crotches him on the post. Coming back in Booker tries a missile dropkick but that hurts his knee again. Jarrett is instantly all over it. Post shot for the knee. Chairshot for the knee against the post! Back in Jarrett goes outside his usual and hooks on a Boston crab. Booker crawls over and gets a rope break. Back to the floor and Jarrett gives the knee another chairshot. Back in Booker manages to get his fancy corner floatover and roll up for 2. Double clothesline. Back and forth counters and Booker hits a spinebuster for 2. The scissors kick hits. Spinaroonie! But as he gets up he accidentally "backhands" the ref. It's hilarious because Booker clearly barely touches him at all, but the ref still goes down in a heap like he got run over by a car. At the same time Jarrett has, what else, the guitar. Guitar shot on the knee! OK, that was different. Jarrett hooks on the figure four. Booker fights it for a long while, tries to reverse but can't, and almost gets pinned. He then drags Jarrett and gets a rope break. But Jarrett refuses to break it. The ref takes FOREVER to 5 count Jarrett to force him to break it. Booker drops to the floor and Jarrett goes over and gets the belt. Booker ducks and the ref takes the belt shot. The fight continues on the floor and Booker pulls out the table that I noticed earlier in the match was randomly set up out there for I don't know how long. They fight on the apron for leverage. Booker Book Ends Jarrett through the table! Wee little ginger ref runs in as the backup. Booker drags Jarrett back in and covers, but it's right by the ropes and Jarrett gets a foot on the rope. Then he goes out and gets another chair. Sneaky style low blow on Booker. Jarrett blind swings the chair and down goes ginger ref for frak's sake. Jarrett gives Booker the Stroke onto the chair! But all the refs are dead. In runs Lil' Naitch as the backup backup ref. The extra time allows Booker to kick out. Booker swinging neckbreakers Jarrett onto the chair for 2. He catches Jarrett coming off the second rope, a couple of counters, and Booker hits the Book End! That gets the pin to retain! Pretty solid overall, but not as good as the Bash at the Beach match with even more insane and unnecessary ref bumps. **1/2

 

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Pretty much just another awful PPV in WCW's final months, but one that shows off the damage Russo was doing a bit better than some of the others. Typical luck for Canada to have their only two WCW PPVs ever to both come during Russo's tenure.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-