El-P

Sean Waltman.

The first fives minutes with Shark vs Sting was actually pretty good. But then we get Zodiac, Kamala… So yeah, pretty bad, but not as eye gouging as the 98 and the 00 one. Really the cartoon version of Wargames. Gotta love that Hogan entered the cage and immediately threw powder in the eyes of everybody. Still the shittiest babyface ever. Damn, Paul Wight looks like he's 19.

Well, I did rewatch it in context that time, and I agree with a lot of things Loss said now. I don't know if I would go so far to say I thought it was great, but it was the best Flair matches in ages and yes, I thought the cliché spots looked fresh (as much as they can) in this context. I enjoyed this match so much more this time around. Really good stuff. Arn was pretty fantastic especially during the first half, and I enjoy older Ric throwing a hundred stiff chops like he's Tenryu.

Fuck me, the work after the restart was really terrific. Pillman was the glue, but Mero was game as all hell. I still love this match.

Yep, what a awful, boring match with a hundred resthods and sloppy work. Sherri's boots and legs are the only things worthwhile here.

DDP bumping around couldn't save it. The Renegade was even worse than the original.

Oh, I remember that "love" scene from Thunder in Paradise…

Funny, I had no recollection of this match at all. Hey, Flair moves pretty quickly compared to 2001, and he does a lot more stuff ! That being said, it's basically the same match. And it's also the same match they had in 1990. Sting is probably one of my least favourite Flair opponent, and they always work in auto-pilot it seems. Luger showed up from nowhere is just amazing. His fashion sense is just so mid-90's it's hurting my eyes. Norton and Savage had a pretty fun match the following week.

Pastamania brotha !

I'm so watching this taking a drink every time Roma says "fuck".

I vote for Raven and Nobuhiko Takada.

Nah, Zbyszko was tons of fun and a really solid worker.

Triple H. Because he was not only boring, but he was boring in looooooooooooooooooooong main event matches for a looooooooooooooooooooong time.

With the amount of profanities and insults I've been throwing around, I kinda doubt I could. I dunno. So, there is a list of the matches I've basically enjoyed the most. These aren't all *good* matches. There are some comedy stuff, some squashes, some angle-driven matches, some stuff that was just decent but refreshing in context. (some dates may be slightly off, especially for the C-shows matches, and I didn't put the PPV names. Yeah, I'm lazy.) 1999 : 01/04 : Chris Benoit vs Barry Windham (Thunder) 01/11 : Scott Steiner vs DDP (Nitro) 01/11 : Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro) 01/17 : Norman Smiley vs Chavo Guerrero Jr 01/17 : Mike Enos vs Chris Benoit 01/17 : Lex Luger vs Konnan 01/17 : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Ric Flair & David Flair 01/21 : Booker T vs Norman Smiley (Thunder) 01/23 : Hector Garza & Lizmark Jr. & Super Calo vs Juventud Guerrera & La Parka & Silver King (Saturday Night) 01/25 : Scott Hall vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro) 01/25 : Meng & Barbarian vs Fit Finlay & Dave Taylor (Nitro) 01/25 : Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash & Scott Steiner vs Ric Flair & Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael (Nitro) 02/01 : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Nitro) 02/01 : The Cat vs Scott Norton (Nitro) 02/04 : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Brian Enos & Bobby Duncum Jr. (Thunder) 02/08 : Blitzkrieg vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro) 02/13 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Saturday Night) 02/15 : Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Fit Finlay & Dave Taylor (Nitro) 02/15 : Blitzkrieg & Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis vs Super Calo & Hector Garza & Dandy (Nitro) 02/20 : Fit Finlay vs El Dandy (Saturday Night) 02/21 : Outsiders vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan 02/21 : Barry Windham & Curt Henning vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 02/21 : Scott Steiner vs DDP 02/22 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Kevin Nash (Nitro) 02/22 : Mike Enos vs Jerry Flynn (Nitro) 02/25 : Hak vs Damian (Thunder) 02/25 : Juventud Guerrera vs Blitzkrieg (Thunder) 03/01 : Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit (Nitro) 03/01 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro) 03/01 : The Cat vs Jerry Flynn (Nitro). 03/04 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder) 03/06 : Barbarian vs Meng (Saturday Night) 03/08 : Raven vs Hak vs Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro) 03/08 : Goldberg vs Ric Flair (Nitro) 03/14 : Mickey Whipreck vs Kidman 03/14 : Kevin Nash vs Rey Mysterio Jr 03/14 : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 03/14 : Jerry Flynn vs The Cat & Sonny Oono 03/15 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Kidman (Nitro) 03/15 : Hulk Hogan & Kevin Nash vs Goldberg & Ric Flair (Nitro) 03/18 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder) 03/20 : Barry Windham & Curt Hennig vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Saturday Night) 03/22 : Ric Flair vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro) 03/22 : Raven vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Nitro) 03/25 : Scotty Riggs vs Jerry Flynn (Thunder) 03/29 : Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman (Nitro) 04/05 : Raven & Perry Saturn vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman (Nitro) 04/08 : Hardcore Hak vs Mickey Whipreck (Thunder) 04/10 : The Cat vs Norman Smiley (Saturday Night) 04/11 : Raven & Perry Saturn vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko 04/11 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Kidman 04/11 : Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair vs DDP vs Sting 04/11 : Kevin Nash vs Goldberg 04/11 : Scott Steiner vs Booker T 04/12 : DDP vs Scott Steiner (Nitro) 04/15 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder) 04/17 : Barbarian vs Jerry Flynn (Saturday Night) 04/19 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera vs Blitzkrieg vs Psychosis (Nitro) 04/19 : Goldberg vs DDP (Nitro) 04/22 : Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko & Kidman vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Raven & Perry Saturn (Thunder) 04/22 : Goldberg vs The Cat (Thunder) 04/26 : Sting vs DDP (Nitro) 05/01 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Kaz Hayashi (Saturday Night) 05/03 : The Cat vs Buff Bagwell (Nitro) 05/06 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Kanyon (Thunder) 05/08 : Barbarian vs Jerry Flynn (Saturday Night) 05/09 : Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Raven & Perry Saturn vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman 05/09 : Kevin Nash vs DDP 05/09 : Charles Robinson vs Gorgeous George 05/15 : Kanyon vs Silver King (Saturday Night) 05/17 : Raven & Perry Saturn vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (Nitro) 05/17 : Ric Flair & Charles Robinson vs Randy Savage & Madusa (Nitro) 05/17 : Hak vs Fit Finlay (Nitro) 05/22 : Jerry Flynn vs Juventud Guerrera (Saturday Night) 05/27 : DDP vs Chris Benoit (Thunder) 05/31 : Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Curt Hennig & Bobby Duncum Jr. (Nitro) 06/05 : Fit Finlay vs Brian Knobbs (Saturday Night) 06/07 : Ric Flair & Chris Benoit vs DDP & Bam Bam Bigelow (Nitro) 06/12 : Juventud Guerrera vs Psychosis (Saturday Night) 06/13 : Curt Hennig & Bobby Duncum Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan 06/13 : DDP & Kanyon vs Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn 06/13 : Hak vs Brian Knobbs 06/14 : Ric Flair & Roddy Piper & DDP & Kanyon vs Chris Benoit & Buff Bagwell & Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn. (Nitro) 06/17 : Barbarian vs Booker T (Thunder) 06/21 : Eddie Guerrero vs Juventud Guerrera (Nitro) 06/21 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan vs DDP & Kanyon (& Bam Bam) (Nitro) 06/24 : Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn vs Fit Finlay & Dave Taylor (Thunder) 06/26 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Barry Windham (Saturday Night) 06/28 : Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn vs Steven Regal & Fit Finlay (Nitro) 07/08 : Chris Benoit vs Kanyon (Thunder) 07/10 : Barry & Kendall Windham vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan (Saturday Night) 07/11 : DDP & Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon vs Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn 07/15 : : The Triad vs West Texas Rednecks (Thunder) 07/15 : Mickey Whipreck vs Kidman (Thunder) 07/19 : Fit Finlay vs Jerry Flynn (Nitro) 07/22 : Brandi Alexander vs Miss Madness (Thunder) 07/26 : Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs Ric Flair & DDP & Kanyon (Thunder) 07/26 : Vampiro vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro) 08/02 : DDP vs Chris Benoit (Nitro) 08/05 : Buff Bagwell vs Scotty Riggs (Thunder) 08/05 : Curt Hennig vs Perry Saturn (Nitro) 08/09 : Kevin Nash & Rick Steiner & Sid Vicious vs Hulk Hogan & Goldberg & Sting (Nitro) 08/15 : DDP vs Chris Benoit 08/15 : Perry Saturn & Shane Douglas & Dean Malenko vs Curt Hennig & Barry Windham & Bobby Duncum Jr. 08/16 : Chris Benoit vs Disco Inferno (Nitro) 08/26 : Barry & Kendall Windham & Bobby Duncum Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Eddie Guerrero & Kidman (Thunder) 08/26 : DDP vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Thunder) 08/30 : Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs La Parka & Bliztkrieg (Nitro) 09/06 : Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis & Blitzkrieg (Nitro) 09/11 : Norman Smiley vs Disco Inferno (Saturday Night) 09/12 : DDP vs Goldberg 09/12 : Vampiro & ICP vs Eddie Guerrero & Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman 09/13 : Eddie Guerrero vs Perry Saturn (Nitro) 09/13 : Chris Benoit vs Dean Malenko (Nitro) 09/13 : Hulk Hogan & Bret Hart vs Sting & Lex Luger (Nitro) 09/20 : Sting vs Chris Benoit (Nitro) 09/20 : Ric Flair vs DDP (Nitro) 09/27 : Kidman vs Psychosis (Nitro) 09/30 : Mona vs Brandi Alexander (Thunder) 09/30 : Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis & La Parka vs Silver King & Villano IV & V (Thunder) 10/04 : Chris Benoit vs Bret Hart (Nitro) 10/07 : Chris Benoit vs Brian Knobbs (Thunder) 10/09 : Norman Smiley vs The Cat (Saturday Night) 10/09 : Kidman vs Devon Storm (Saturday Night) 10/11 : Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro) 10/11 : Perry Saturn vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Nitro) 10/11 : Perry Saturn & Dean Malenko vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman (Nitro) 10/14 : Perry Saturn vs Rey Mysterio Jr. (Thunder) 10/21 : Juventud Guerrera & Silver King vs Kaz Hayashi & Blitzkrieg (Thunder) 10/23 : Jamie Howard vs Kid Romeo (Saturday Night) 10/24 : DDP vs Ric Flair 10/24 : Bret Hart vs Lex Luger 10/24 : Goldberg vs Sting 10/28 : Berlyn vs Jerry Flynn (Thunder) 11/01 : Curt Hennig vs Disco Inferno (Nitro) 11/06 : Villano IV & V vs Steven Regal & Dave Taylor (Saturday Night) 11/13 : Jamie Howard vs Devon Storm (Saturday Night) 11/15 : Goldberg vs Curt Hennig (Nitro) 11/15 : Lex Luger vs Sting (Nitro) 11/18 : Chris Benoit vs Buff Bagwell (Thunder) 11/21 : Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit 11/21 : Jeff Jarrett vs Chris Benoit 11/22 : Bret Hart vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro) 11/27 : Juventud Guerrera vs Villano IV (Saturday Night) 12/02 : Jushin Liger vs Chris Benoit (Thunder) 12/06 : Goldberg vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro) 12/11 : Chris Benoit vs Devon Storm (Saturday Night) 12/19 : Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett 12/19 : Jeff Jarrett vs Dustin Rhodes 12/19 : DDP vs David Flair 12/19 : Sting vs Lex Luger 12/23 : Chris Benoit vs Bret Hart (Thunder) 2000 : 01/06 : Konnan & Kidman vs David Flair & Crowbar (Thunder) 01/08 : David Flair & Crowbar vs Steven Regal & Dave Taylor (Saturday Night) 01/16 : DDP vs Buff Bagwell 01/16 : Vampiro vs David Flair vs Crowbar 01/17 : DDP vs Kanyon (Nitro) 01/17 : Kidman vs Psychosis (Nitro) 01/31 : Crowbar & David Flair vs Mamalukes (Nitro) 02/10 : Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Hall (Thunder) 02/14 : Terry Funk vs Lex Luger (Nitro) 02/14 : 3-Count vs Norman Smiley & Lane (Nitro) 02/17 : Big Vito vs Crowbar (Thunder) 02/20 : Terry Funk vs Ric Flair 02/20 : Norman Smiley vs 3-Count 02/20 : Mamalukes vs David Flair & Crowbar 02/26 : Mamalukes vs PG-13 (Saturday Night) 03/04 : Jung Dragons vs Jeremy Lopez & Villano IV & V (Saturday Night) 03/06 : Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro) 03/13 : Hulk Hogan & Curt Hennig vs Lex Luger & Ric Flair (Nitro) 03/16 : Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T (Thunder) 03/19 : Brian Knobbs vs 3-Count 03/20 : Jung Dragons vs 3-Count (Thunder) 03/25 : Jung Dragons vs PG-13 & Frog (Saturday Night) 03/27 : Ric Flair & Lex Luger vs Sting & Vampiro (Nitro) 04/01 : Jeremy Lopez & Tommy Rogers vs Los Fabulosos (Saturday Night) 04/16 : Terry Funk vs Norman Smiley 05/01 : Crowbar vs Norman Smiley (Nitro) 05/07 : Hulk Hogan vs Kidman 05/07 : DDP vs David Arquette vs Jeff Jarrett 05/07 : Ric Flair vs Shane Douglas 05/07 : Mike Awesome vs Kanyon 05/07 : Terry Funk vs Norman Smiley & Ralphus 05/08 : Mike Awesome vs DDP (Nitro) 05/11 : Chris Candido vs Crowbar (Thunder) 06/01 : Terry Funk vs Chris Candido (Thunder) 06/11 : DDP vs Mike Awesome 06/15 : Scott Steiner vs The Cat (Thunder) 06/22 : Jeff Jarrett & Mike Awesome vs Scott Steiner & Kevin Nash. (Thunder) 06/26 : Goldberg vs Jim Duggan (Nitro) 07/03 : Lance Storm & Kidman vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera (Nitro) 07/09 : Juventud Guerrera vs Lt. Loco 07/09 : Kanyon vs Booker T 07/10 : Booker T vs Mike Awesome (Nitro) 07/18 : Mike Awesome vs Lance Storm (Nitro) 07/27 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs 3-Count (Thunder) 07/31 : Shane Douglas vs Kidman (Nitro) 08/07 : Lance Storm vs Booker T (Nitro) 08/10 : Sanders vs Norman Smiley (Thunder) 08/13 : Shane Douglas vs Kidman 08/13 : Jung Dragons vs 3-Count 08/19 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera & Disco Inferno vs Jung Dragons (Worldwide) 08/21 : Filthy Animals vs Natural Born Thrillers (Nitro) 08/31 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire (Thunder) 09/04 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera vs ICP (Nitro) 09/04 : Goldberg vs Shane Douglas (Nitro) 09/07 : Shane Douglas vs Crowbar (Thunder) 09/17 : Goldberg vs Scott Steiner 09/17 : Kwee-Wee vs Elix Skipper 09/17 : Jeff Jarrett vs Mike Awesome 09/21 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder) 09/18 : Mike Awesome vs Vampiro (Nitro) 09/18 : Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson vs Kwee-Wee & Paisley (Nitro) 09/25 : Lance Storm vs Sting (Nitro) 10/05 : Scott Steiner vs Jung Dragons (Thunder) 10/09 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Elix Skipper (Nitro) 10/16 : Shane Douglas vs Booker T (Nitro) 10/21 : Kwee-Wee vs Chris Daniels (WorldWide) 10/23 : Scott Steiner vs Mike Awesome (Nitro) 10/29 : Scott Steiner vs Booker T 10/29 : Shane Douglas & Torrie Wilson vs Konnan & Tygress 10/29 : Boogie Knights vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman 11/02 : Boogie Knights vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman (Thunder) 11/06 : 3-Count vs Jung Dragons vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O'Haire (Nitro) 11/16 : Lance Storm vs Booker T (Thunder) 11/20 : Goldberg vs Kwee-Wee & Mike Sanders (Nitro) 11/26 : Jung Dragons vs 3-Count vs Jamie Knoble & Evan Karagias 11/26 : Scott Steiner vs Booker T 11/26 : Shane Douglas vs The Cat 11/26 : Jeff Jarrett vs Buff Bagwell 11/27 : Rey Mysterio Jr. beats Jeff Jarrett (Nitro) 11/30 : Lance Storm & Elix Skipper vs Jung Dragons (Thunder) 12/07 : Team Canada vs The Cat & Jung Dragons (Thunder) 12/15 : Jung Dragons vs Karagias & Knoble vs 3-Count (Thunder) 12/17 : Lance Storm vs The Cat 12/17 : Crowbar vs Terry Funk 12/18 : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Lance Storm (Nitro) 2001 : 01/11 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Lance Storm & Elix Skipper (Thunder) 01/14 : Terry Funk & Crowbar vs Meng 01/14 : Big Vito vs Reno 01/14 : The Cat vs Mike Sanders 01/14 : Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Shane Helms 01/14 : Jung Dragons vs Evan Karagias & Jamie Knoble 01/18 : DDP vs Jeff Jarrett (Thunder) 01/31 : Mamalukes vs Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo (Thunder) 02/05 : Rey Mysterio Jr. (as El Nino) vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. (Nitro) 02/14 : Chavo Guerrero Jr. & The Wall vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Hugh Morrus (Thunder) 02/18 : Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr. 02/18 : DDP vs Kanyon - DDP vs Jeff Jarrett 02/18 : Evan Karagias vs Jamie Knoble vs Kaz Hayashi vs Yang vs Shannon Moore vs Shane Helms 02/18 : The Cat vs Lance Storm 02/26 : Scott Steiner & Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell vs DDP & Booker T & The Cat (Nitro) 02/28 : Kwee-Wee & Mike Sanders vs Jung Dragons (Thunder) 03/12 : Jung Dragons vs Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo (Nitro) 03/18 : DDP vs Scott Steiner 03/18 : Kwee-Wee vs Jason Jett 03/18 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper 03/18 : Shane Helms vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. 03/18 : Kanyon vs The Cat 03/18 : Jeff Jarrett & Ric Flair vs Dustin & Dusty Rhodes 03/21 : Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo & Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman & Shane Helms (Thunder) 03/21 : Jason Jett vs Cash (Thunder) 03/26 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper 03/26 : Sting vs Ric Flair

Thanks again guys, really. So, before Will locks and pins this one, I will post a list of the matches I actually enjoyed months by months, so to end on a more positive note.

Well thanks everyone. I'm sure glad you enjoyed it. No idea what will be next. For now, I'm taking a break.

DAY 0 (March 26, 2001) Death of WCW : Vince McMahon on Nitro : "I just bought my competition". The most surrealistic moment in modern wrestling history, Vince opening Nitro. Match of the night : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper. The tag match involving Team Canada was pretty nice too, but really, and as said Tony Schiavone, the cruiserweights is what separated WCW from all the other promotions, so this gets the nod. Promo of the night : Ric Flair. Chilling, intense, great promo from Flair, talking about the history of WCW going back to the NWA and the days when Vince McMahon Sr. was on the commitee who voted him as the world champion. Flair says that McMahon can't hold their lives in his hands. Sadly, he could. But this promo was exactly what the invasion angle should have been, Flair leading WCW against Mr. McMahon. But before the night was over, all would be forgotten. Classy tribute of the night : DDP adressing and thanking the WCW fans. That was cool, Page out of character (well, which means he was still in character in a way) thanking the fans (and his wife) for allowing him to become a wrestling star despite being told he would never make it. Inspirational speach from Page. Sign of the night : "Vince 1st XFL, now WCW, you're a dumbass" I laughed. Tribute match of the night : Sting vs Ric Flair. Flair is wearing a Nitro T-shirt because he got fat. This is every Sting vs old Flair match. The post-match was cut short so we didn't get to hear Schiavone and Hudson say goodbye, which sucked. You can feel the emotion was genuine during the night, as most of these guys really didn't know what would happen with their jobs, and it was the end of a long story they lived through together. Death of WCW Invasion angle : Shane McMahon has bought WCW before Vince. (Raw) So there we go. Long winded promo by Vince which reminded me why I didn't care for what the WWF format had become (the same format they're using to this day), with some funny parts like the "up/down" stuff. Scott Steiner and Goldberg got the two biggest pop. Wonder why. It was also striking to see Raw in a huge building like Nitro used to be up until early 99. The second striking thing is to hear Paul Heyman on commentary, a reminder that ECW has died too a few months before. Anyway, Shane shows up on Nitro, and the entire angle is all about the McMahon name. The ego stroking has begun. Flair wouldn't be around for the angle. Nor Sting. Nor Scott Steiner. Nor Goldberg. Nor even Rey Mysterio Jr. The following week, Wrestlemania X7 would happen, with the anticlimatic Steve Austin heel turn, putting an effective end to those glory days of pro-wrestling that started with the Monday Night Wars in the second half of the 90's. ECW was dead. WCW was dead. WWF was the only promotion in town, with no competition left. Game over. And the long road to stagnation, post-modern corporate sports-entertainment, revisionnism history (as always, written by the winners) and nostalgia shows could begin. I began this project exactly nine months ago. You could say I got pregnant with shitty wrestling and I delivered 27 months worth of reviews of the worst, most painfull, booking fuck up you could think of. In 1998 WCW was still making shitloads of money. They had found a golden goose in Goldberg. They chopped its head off at the end of the year, and began 1999 with the two worst possible ideas imaginable : the Fingerpoke of Doom and directing their audience toward the competition. Since January 1999 it's only been a downward spiral. At no point the promotion could have been called good. Kevin Nash's booking was awful, a lot worse than I remembered it to be. But I still believe the company was salvageable when he was demoted. Of course they made the worse choice possible, and Vince Russo was soon exposed as the worse booker/writer (whatever you want to call it) ever, showing a total lack of understanding of what the WCW audience wanted, and of every basics of the business of pro-wrestling. His "writing" quickly made Nash's shit look like Riki Choshu booking New Japan in the early to mid 90's. After his first stint, it was done. A tired Kevin Sullivan having to work with a depleted roster couldn't save the day. Hulk Hogan and his creative control fucked the company a hundred time over too during the past two years, and he was still an egoistical, destructive asshole at this point. The second Russo stint is just the worse, eye gouging stuff I have ever seen. The kind of stuff that would make anyone hate pro-wrestling. The long, painfull road until he was removed nearly made me go crazy watching so much stupid shit. And by then, it was all too late, especially since the remaining booking team quickly showed their own incompetence by still not understanding that Goldberg was the *only* saving grace of the promotion. Of course by then it was too late anyway, and the promotion had been doomed for a long long time. And if Bischoff had bought it instead of Vince, hindsight shows it would have turned into Hogan-era TNA. So yeah, WCW deserved to go under, because of the upmost incompetence of the people who ran it into the dust. It's a pretty pathetic story. And when you think of how Vince McMahon screwed up the WCW Invasion, it's only poetic justice because when you think about it, the whole angle was fucked up in a way only WCW itself could have fucked it up. I'm done. The pleasure wasn't all mine. And BTW, one last time : fuck you to Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and especially fuck you so much Vince Russo. I'm really done this time. FUCK YEAH !

Nein. Hey, I have gone through 27 months of WCW bullshit in 9 months, cut me some slack will you ! I deserve to get laid. Now. Final episode later tonight. (I can't believe I *actually* went through this)

I don't have the Worldwide 2001 shows on my hard-drive. And really, I couldn't care less at this point. I'm doing the last Nitro later tonight and I'm done. Nine months exactly after my first post !!!!

WEEK 115 and last week of WCW TV (March 19 to 21, 2001) Match of the week : Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo & Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman & Shane Helms. (Thunder) Good stuff involving the fresh cruiserweight talent mixed in with the godfather of the genre, Rey Jr., and Chavo who has become the most solid worker of the division over the last months. Despite the grand intro, Helms really isn't over yet. Kid Romeo definitly had the most potential of the young guys. Cool dive sequences. This was what the cruiserweight division was all about and why WCW looked so different five years earlier. Idiotic angle of the week : Ric Flair has to kiss a donkey's ass. (Nitro) What would a WCW TV show be without a really stupid angle, and most preferably a Ric Flair humiliation ? So here we go, Dusty Rhodes brings a donkey with "Dusty's ass" written on its rear end, and Flair ends up with his face rubbed in it. ECW match of the week :Jason Jett vs Cash. (Thunder) After EZ Money, now Kid Kash shows up on WCW TV, and they get the ECW chants. These were two of my favourites late ECW performers, so I enjoyed this both as a match itself and a cool hommage to that other little promotion that could and went down a few weeks before. Random match of the week : Kanyon & Road Warrior Animal vs The Cat & MI Smooth. (Thunder) Ah, the old "random pairings" that only WCW (and WAR) could deliver. Really, this is Ernest Miller, Mortis, Animal & Ice Train in the last ever real WCW TV show, how glorious is that ? Animal looks like The Missing Link these days, and his work is nearly as bad. Promo of the week : Eric Bischoff announcing the Night of Champions.(Nitro) So, I understand that WCW already had been cancelled by then, as they already talked about the "season finale" for both the following Nitro and Thunder, and Bischoff deal had fell through because of it. It's surreal to think none of these guys (expect the one who cut the deal…), knew what would happen at the end of the week and what the last show would actually reveal. Anyway, Bischoff invites any former WCW champion to show up. Last real WCW TV match ever : Scott Steiner & Jeff Jarrett vs Dustin Rhodes. (Thunder) Yes, I consider this the real last WCW match since the following week was already a WWF broadcast in a way. After the end of the show, they showed a picture of the crew with a big Thanks graphic, which I thought was a nice touch. So there it is. Thunder was a pretty good show thanks to the cruiserweight matches and the random tag, but you can see the crowd is sitting on their hands. There's a sense of sadness when Tony talks about the season finale and when you see the picture of the crew, really it's already over. WCW was a messy promotion, but it brought a lot of really good stuff over the years. Well, before 1999 I mean. One last stop before the end.

Yes, that's the angle, with Stasiak's publicity shots. PPV 27 (fuck yeahhhhhhhh!!!!!) : Greed 2001 Match of the night : DDP vs Scott Steiner. There you go, the last ever WCW PPV main event, and DDP surely deserves to get the shot. And once again, he delivered, having Steiner's best match since his the Booker feud. Since a "falls count anywhe" stip had been added at the last moment, they worked a bit of garbage brawling stuff early on, but didn't go overboard with it. Then they basically stayed inside the ring and had a very solid, well built match, leading to one false finish interrupted by Rick Steiner (which sucks, since Midajah was here to do the job). Page was all bloodied at the end, although I'm not sure if this wasn't hardway, but it only made the finish look better. Good job guys. Hot opener of the night : Kwee-Wee vs Jason Jett. Bonus match which launched the PPV on the right track. Fairly exciting match, and Jason Jett's offense is quickly winning him the support of the fans. I got a kick out of Jimmy Hart giving him a rip-off of his ECW theme song too. Jimmy rules. Build to the future match 1 : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper. Good stuff. Skipper is a bit sloppy at times, but Romeo is holding things together on the heel side. The fact that he pinned Rey clean made it a very satisfying end to a strong cruiserweight match. Exactly what the new cruiser tag-team division needed for a good, exciting start. Build to the future match 2 : Shane Helms vs Chavo Guerrero Jr. Helms gets the supertar entrance, and he's got a new look with classic wrestling tights. The audience didn't get into this match, I would presume because Chavo built a slower-paced bout with more emphasis on actual wrestling instead of doing a spotfest. They even chanted "boring" at one point, which is infuriating since the match was very good. Anyway, Helms wins the belt with his dangerous finisher. Once again, exactly what the promotion needed. Grudge match of the night : Kanyon vs The Cat. Kanyon's got a new theme song too, which sounds good although I always loved his classic one. He also gets a new entrance coming from under the stage a-la Gangrel. They sure put some real effort here to make things look fresh and important. Good match again, with Kanyon's bumping being always impressive. His new character is a sociopath, we get it, kinda like a newer version of heel Jake Roberts. Post match sees a run in by MI Smooth to save Miss Jones from another beating. Random match of the night : Lance Storm & Mike Awesome vs Konnan & Hugh Morrus. Not much heat early on, but Team Canada always manages to get some at some point. Hey, Hugh Morrus and Konnan together like it's 1997 again, and here they look exactly like the two JTTS they were during the Dungeon of Doom days. Tough luck for Konnan, who'd have been better off doing the announcing during the Filthy Animals match. Decent little match. Better than expected match of the night : Jeff Jarrett & Ric Flair vs Dustin & Dusty Rhodes. Jeff vs Dustin was good, Flair, in street clothes, basically chopped, punched and sold, and Dusty only came in to drop elbows and do some comedy dual spots. So yeah, it was a lot of fun actually. When Dusty dropped his pants down Flair went crazy, leading to the best line of the night bu Scott Hudson : "Flair sold the underwear !" Squash of the night : Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire vs Totally Buffed. Ten seconds match and double pin by O'Haire & Palumbo. I have no idea why this happened, but it sure put the young team over strong and prevented a bad match from happening, so I'm cool with this. Failed build to the future match of the night : Sean Stasiak vs Bam Bam Bigelow. Wow, they put a lot of effort to get Stasiak over. Introduction by Stacy, brand new music and tights and brand new bad haircut. The guy still shows no improvement in the ring though, and no charisma nor promo skills. Stacy looks like she's channeling Sunny, and it's obvious she would have gone over strong, letting the guy in the dust. And really, this gimmick was Meat 2.0, since the idea is that despite Stasiak calling himself the Mecca of Manhood, she's wearing the pants and controlling him. Bam Bam doesn't do much anymore. I appreciate the idea of producing a brand new single heel though, but Stasiak just wasn't the right guy. Bad match of the night : Rick Steiner vs Booker T. Hey, what did you expect ? Plus they re-did the exact same finish than on TV, with Booker winning thanks to Shane Douglas sneaking up. Well, that was a pretty damn good send-off for WCW PPV's, as this one probably was the best of the last 27 months. How ironic. Plus it showed a true will to actually do what should have been done back in 1998 : build the new talents up by giving them time, solid matches, wins that mattered and a production effort. All of that was there, they did more to elevate new talents here than they ever did in the past four years. In a way it's sad that it finally happened just before the end, but on the other way with Bischoff buying the company, we know what it would have meant eventually : Hogan coming back and WCW turning into what TNA became. So yeah, as it is, it was a really fun PPV to watch, with very few bad stuff really and some really strong and fun matches. The fact that it had Flair vs Rhodes for a last ride on PPV was kinda cool too. So there you go, you couldn't expect a much better PPV, especially considering how not-so-good the TV had been.

That's glorious. I believe Dwayne Johnson would be perfect to play The Rock.

I don't remember in which interview I heard it, but basically the guy said "If Vince McMahon wants to get something over, he'll get it over." And it's pretty much it. Look at HHH. It took years and years of push, feeding him the biggest star of the new golden days and being paired with the boss' daughter, but eventually he got over. 2001 WCW was not the promotion that had killed WWF in the ratings, but still, people remembered what WCW used to be, and if they only got Flair, Steiner (I mean Scott), Booker T, DDP, Konnan, Jarrett & Dustin (who were a known WWF figure too) from the get go with the support of guys like Awesome, Storm and a few cruiserweights that were "stars" like Rey & Kidman, with an agressive booking a-la nWo, of course it would have worked. And you could have make it last and bring up guys like they eventually did anyway with the nWo, Goldie and such. Yeah, even when looking at what WCW had become, to me it's obvious it would have worked because everything is a matter of perception. The nWo worked with three people "invading" a promotion and wrecking havoc. WCW lead by Flair with the figureheads of DDP, Steiner & Booker on top supported by other cast members was enough to make it work, because it was fresh, and no matter what, watching WCW guys showing up on WWF TV was surreal in itself. There was so much that could have been done too with Jarrett & Dustin, disgruntled former WWF employees (not to mention Shane Douglas), X-Pac rejoigning the original nWo, the Radz getting thrown in the mix as "the guys who betrayed WCW" etc... The one thing that mattered was the will to do business and not stroke your ego. From the very first day, it was all about the McMahon name. The failure was already in the concept as early as the last Nitro.

Thanks Loss.

WEEK 114 (March 12 to 14) Mystery of the week : Who attacked Midajah ? (Nitro) Midajah was back with the Mag 7, but she was mysteriously attacked and Steiner suspects one of the Mag 7 is responsible. Well, this was different. The good idea is that instead of using the infamous "invisible camera", which is an atrocious device, they used a camcorder Flair was using to film a "documentary" about himself for all those sequences. And for other backstage stuff, they only used "security cameras" (with sound), which I thought was pretty neat too. Couple of the week : Sean Stasiak & Stacy Keibler (Nitro). Since Stasiak shows no personnality nor charisma and yet they want to push him as a single star, they put him with Keibler, who carried a crib to the ring. And when she wanted to show her new baby, she introduced Stasiak. This was pretty embarrassing, and Stasiak just sucks on the mic and as a character, really. So, no word on who the father of the baby was after all. The crib was empty, Bam Bam showed up because they insulted fat guys with tatoos in the crowd. Bammer is supposed to get this guy over. Good luck. Meanwhile, poor Mark Jindrak seems to be forgotten while Mike Sanders teams with Disco. Match of the week : Jung Dragons vs Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo (Nitro). The usual deal. Fun, but nothing special really. Rey & Kidman had the same kinda match with 3-Count on Thunder. Maniac of the week : Kanyon concussing MI Smooth (Nitro). So, MI Smooth is all fucked up from the limo incident the previous week, but he still wants to fight Kanyon, who just punches him repeatedly in the head then delivers several hard chair shots. MI Smooth sells like a zombi and they make it seem like Kanyon is a complete sociopath. I guess Smooth was supposed to finally get used as a regular in the ring after this angle as a babyface. The use of the camera devices backstage was at least fresh, but the TV is pretty dreadfull still, with a really shitty Rick Steiner big match on every show. Animal has been pretty nonexistent after all, way to throw money at your brother and get him a paycheck to basically do nothing. Flair & Jarrett vs the Rhodes is a kiss-my-ass match now. Wonderful. The tag title match and the Team Canada stuff seem like an aftertought, with much emphasis being put on the cruiserweights which is nice thing. The build to this last PPV has been marginally better than the previous one, but the TV is still pretty sad to watch. This is a company waiting to die here, there's nothing dynamic left, much like during the last months of ECW. Ironically enough, the only "saving grace" of both dying products were the tag-team cruiserweight matches and Jason Jett (EZ Money) (and both had a Dusty Rhodes PPV match too during their last year). Let it be over now with the last hope of a fun show being the last ever WCW PPV.