El-P

You realize I've been told "It gets pretty good after..." since about the point of August of 00 ?

Yep, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Meng tagging with Barbie was super cool. Meng doing Da Monsta gimmick usually means really shitty match. WEEK 105 (January 8 to 10) Match of the week : Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman vs Lance Storm & Elix Skipper (Thunder). Give me Storm vs Rey in a 15 mn match already. Toward the end of the match, they fuked up a spot, and corrected it. Then, Kidman & Skipper fucked up a whole sequence and looked like goofballs. Kidman really hasn't improved one bit, he actually isn't as good as he used to, but he can still fire up a babyface comeback. The match at Sin will have a penalty box gimmick and Jim Duggan as a special referee. Great, more impairing stips. And I thought I would get a good match... Promos exchange of the week : The Cat & Mike Sanders (Thunder). Man, I hate the modern format of one guy in the ring arguing with one guy on the ramp. Anyway, The Cat is pretty funny antogonizing a fat and ugly fan sitting on the front row. Mike Sanders said Miss Jones was hired to be the Commish's assistant so she has to work for him. Okay, he's been commisionner for months and he only mentions it one week before the PPV so we get a "Miss Jones on the line" stipulation ? Rather lame. Miss Jones & The Cat dancing never gets old. Honorable mention of the week : Jeff Jarrett vs Scott Steiner (Nitro) Flair is forcing them on having a match for the WCW title. Pretty decent stuff, although by that point Steiner works the exact same TV match all the time and it begins to show. Sid jumps in for no reason, then we get the "mystery man" who's obviously Rick Steiner here by the way he throws punches, even the audience is doing the requisite dog face gremlin bark. This whole mystery man angle has been awful. Now the PPV match is supposed to be a 4-way. Nothing much to say really, things are really not exciting and the top of the card, with Sid and the mystery man angle on one hand and Goldberg being saddled in that awful Totally Buffed feud with fucking Power Plant midget on the other, is pretty rotten. They are running Reno vs Vito again, like this hasn't been dead since the start. I'm so tired of the Rection push too, and his feud with Douglas is going nowhere so they added a "first blood match" stipulation to put some heat on it. The Team Canada vs Filthy Animals feud is now overscripted with gimmicks. Cat vs Sanders is a rehash, like Insiders vs NBT. Chavo vs Shane Helms could be good, but both are heels. Just dumb booking when you're doing nothing with babyfaces Jamie Knoble & Jung Dragons. The TV was a bit better this week, and Madden was replaced by Disco, but the PPV doesn't look good.

December 00 has been pretty damn bad, and the build to Sin thus far is just as tepid.

It's pretty much the exact same path I followed at the time.

Owen dropping dead. And that was because it was pro wrestling, not some wrestler dying outside of the ring via overdose or years of the hard life like Macho. Even Misawa dying in the ring felt like something that had been inevitable... that it would happen to someone, and he was as likely as anyone given his prominent role in dangerous stuff. Owen... that was different. It was also real. Same thing for me. The only time was Owen dying.

For the Vader match in 1996 alone, you can't hate Inoki. And really, one of the most charismatic wrestler ever, and a complete lunatic. Can't help but love Inoki san.

WEEK 104 (January 3, 2001) Let's kill Goldberg even more angle of the week : Goldberg in a box (Thunder). Kronik attacks Goldberg backstage while Sarge is being dismantled by Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger in the ring, and they put him in a box. Or a crate. Or something. This is garbage. And yes, this feud is Goldie & Sarge vs Luger & Bagwell. Meanwhile, Sid Vicous & Jeff Jarrett are in the main event at the PPV. And Goldberg is in teh box. This company deserved to die. Jim Duggan beatdown of the week : Mike Awesome vs Jim Duggan (Thunder). Ok, enough already with Duggan. He had his moments, it worked for a while, but we really don't need more Jim Duggan matches in 2001. This doesn't look any good obviously. The good news is that the feud is moving toward the Filthy Animals, which on paper looks pretty good. With Nitro preampted for the second week in a row, they only got Thunder this week to build to the PPV, and it doesn't look good. The build to the three-way on top is garbage with the stupid "mystery man" gimmick, and unless something really freaky occurs (uh uh), this looks like a dead issue. What Goldberg is put into is just depressing. The Cat is feuding with Mike Sanders again despite having settled this feud just a few months ago. Douglas vs Rection is as dead as ever. Really, it's striking how thin the roster is at this point in term of talent, and the bookers are using some really bad guys again like Sarge, Sid or Meng (who is funny for two minutes every three months or so). No good solid match on TV, nothing remotely exciting or interesting for weeks now. WCW looks totally dead, really.

Holy shit. Mankind was already over like a mother when he was main eventing against Michaels in 96 and during his feud with Taker. Helped *each other* get over, for fuck sake.

"You're next !" was very efficient though. And the two minutes matches got boring to me very quickly unless the jobber was a special guy who could make it fun. After a while, you want more. It doesn't mean Goldie should have been beaten of course, but as he was getting more comfortable in competitive matches, it was fun to see him with more difficult opponents. Going back to the streak and two minutes jobs in 2000 did nothing for him, it was too late. More than killing everyone in two minutes, the appeal of Goldie is that he never lost. Like, Hulk Hogan or something. Damn, that was hard to figure out for those genius in WCW, who *never* put the belt back on him after Nash got his jerk-off streal killing win. It's amazing to see how they continuously fucked things up with him for two years after Starrcade 98. Amazing.

Come on, this shampoo feud had everything going for money promos...

Having two catchphrases doesn'te mean you're a good promo though. Booker was a decent promo with two catchphrases. And a rather mediocre (if not poor) worker most of the time.

WEEK 103 (December 18 to 22, 2000) Match of the week : Rey Mysterio Jr. vs Lance Storm (Nitro) They could have one hell of a match probably, but this was a short sprint. Rey was selling his injured ribs and Lance worked a bit on it. Just foreshadowing what match they could have more than anything else. Honorable mention of the week : Lance Storm vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro). This was the same deal, pretty much, these two could have a really good match but his was too short and rushed to amount to anything. Lance outworked Jarrett here, who really doesn't do that much in this setting. Cool spot when the two heels trying to sucker punch each other at the same time as the ref was trying to break them up in the corner. Jarrett wins the match clean with the best looking Stroke ever (I credit Storm for the setup and the bump) and is thrown into the main event three-way match at the next PPV. Of course he pretends he's out there to look out for Steiner and watch his back. The third guy is not known yet but he's been seen backstage then on Thunder with a straight jacket and a goofy hockey mask. Man... Turn of the week : Mike Awesome joins Team Canada (Thunder). Good for Awesome that is getting rid of the 70's gimmick, but he was much needed on the babyface front which is more and more depleted by the weeks. They made a good use of Duggan again, as he apologized for his mistake at the beginning of the show and said his goodbyes, before getting suckered by Awesome into staying around until the end of the show. Then he got lured back in the ring by Storm (who can't get enough of making fun of the parody of democracy that was the presidential election in 2000) and betrayed by Awesome. Let's never get Goldberg back on top feud of the week : Goldberg & Buddy Lee Parker vs Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell (Nitro). Shit. Are they really going to take that road ? The Luger feud flopped, didn't get any heat, and now we're throwing Bagwell in this ? I'm dreading a PPV match between those four, this booking team learned nothing of the mistakes of their predecessors. Goldberg is so dead, and re-working a stupid "streak" gimmick isn't gonna help him when he's saddled with fucking State Patrol/Power Plant jacked up midget Sarge and feuding with Luger whom he squashed twice already and Bagwell who's a low undercarder at this point. Badly exposing match of the week : Shane Helms vs Shannon Moore (Nitro). I have enjoyed their multi-man matches quite a bit, but one against the other, these two are badly exposed for what they are : greenhorns doing sloppy spot-wrestling with counters and counter-counters for no rhyme or reasons. They need to be in the ring with some veterans or solid worker, they can't work a good match together. I realized Torrie Wilson is gone for good. Just as she was getting fun on the mic and as a character. Damn, her pairing with Douglas was perfect. They are running a bizarre angle with Blood Runs Cold...again vignettes being showed and Norman Smiley being all excited about it. With just a few weeks before the next PPV but only one Nitro left because of preamptions on Xmas and New Year's days, the build to Sin will be rushed as all hell. Not looking good.

I just listened to this for the first time, with Sean Waltman. This is fucking great. Austin is awesome.

He was a killer, agreed, and him not talking added to his aura. However, post Starrcade '98 he needed to be less one dimensional, and I feel if he was a great talker he wouldn't of fallen from grace and become just another guy as quickly. I agree he needed to be less one dimensional, and I enjoyed him more than way, but him being a poor promo (which he wasn't, he actually got pretty solid) isn't the reason why he became another guy. Idiotic booking is what killed his aura.

I missed that one. Scott Steiner was poor promo ("Me an' my brother") but Big Poppa Pump was a riot, and his mic skills were an important part of the appeal.

PPV 24 : Starrcade 2000 Fun match of the night : Lance Storm vs The Cat. The only really fun match of the night mind you. Everything I expect from those two. Miss Jones & Major Gunns actually worked a fun sequence outside with Jones missing a high kick and hitting the ref followed by Gunns dropkicking ger from behind. This also got the most heat of the night. Ending saw Duggan, who was convinced earlier by Storm that the USA fan would never welcome him back, hit The Cat to give Lance the win, then Team Canade proceeded to beat Duggan out of the team. Fun stuff and a final end of the whole Duggan storyline I guess. Garbage match of the night : Crowbar vs Terry Funk They worked some pretty brutal and fun stuff backsatge, including battling inside a truck. Way too much unprotected chair shot though, but this was vintage Terry Funk at the time. Worked a pretty serious match despite using goofy object like a car door. Funk wins the title. Interesting fact pointed out was that he retired for the first time the same year the first Starrcade took place. Idiotic bumps match of the night : 3-Count vs Jung Dragons vs Jamie Knoble & Evan Karagias. This was hurt by the fact it was a three-way, which makes it messier and more convoluted than a simple team vs team match, and the purpose really didn't make no sense. It was worked as a tag team matches but the price was a cruiserweight title shot *the next night* on Nitro. Seriously ? These guys killed each other so they would get a simple title shot the next night ? Bad booking. The match fell down the path of long-ass setups and convoluted spots and bumps, and lost me way before it ended. Disapointing stuff. Bad garbage match of the night : Jeff Jarrett & Harris Boys vs Filthy Animals. They spent a whole backstage segment then a Jarrett promo to tell us it would be a Bunkhouse match also (it was already scheduled as a Filthy Animals street fight). Useless. And why the fuck did I expect a match involving the Harris Boys would be any good ? They hit themselves with plunders with no rhyme or reason, they took bumps into stuff and then the match turned into a traditionnal tag match with heat segment on a babyface and Jarrett working a sleeper. Ok, this is garbage and retarded. Note that this was also the fourth garbage/brawl/gimmick match of the night at this point already. Bad gimmick match of the night : Mike Awesome vs Bam Bam Bigelow. Ambulance match. Yeah, because that was such a successful gimmick when Russo did it. Plodding around the ring, boring the hell ouf of the audience. Awesome through himself on a table since he can't do any of his big time offense of Bam Bam. Went around the ambulance, did the same "hit your opponent by closing the door on him" spot that was used by Crowbar & Terry Funk. Then Bam Bam fell through the gimmicked roof into the Ambulance. Did Russo booked this ? Swerve match of the night : Kronik vs Big Vito & Reno. Kronik are acting like Mary paid them. Reno turns on his brother at the end. This was a swerve, he's back with the NBT and he was the one paying off Kronik. Whatever. Match sucked. Mary has great cleavage. WTF ending match of the night : Shane Douglas vs Gen. Rection. That's it. Finally, bad booking and dull-ass worker finally got a boring, stupid match out of Shane Douglas. Good job people. Gen. Rection just doesn't work. The name sucks, the work is uninspired and dull at best, he's not over, he's uninteresting, he was over for a few weeks thanks to Duggan and Storm but he's just not warranting a push at this level. Shane's work is solid, but there's nothing much to get out of Rection at this point. Then the ending, Chavo Guerrero who has turned on Rection shows up, distracts the ref, throws a chain to Douglas, then points it out to the ref so Douglas is DQed. Gigantic WTF. Not to mention it's been months that guys have been using chairs freely in title matches, but Douglas apparently is the only one that can be DQed for alleged usage of a chain. Garbage. Poor Shane, he deserves way better than this crap. Tag match of the night : Insiders vs Perfect Event. Decent, but a less good redux of the previous PPV match, with basically the same ending. Scott Hall is the most over guy of the bunch. Useless "no holds barred" match of the night : Goldberg vs Lex Luger. Plodding, boring match with nothing in term of violence that warrants the whole "no-holds barred/no DQ" gimmick. Especially after four garbage matches on the same card. Who booked this shit ? Anyway, involvment of Buddy Lee Parker (oh gawwwd) and Buff Bagwell (ohhhhh gawwwwwwwd) who turns on Parker and Goldie (SWERVE !!). Okay, more useless and bad stuff. Nitro main event of the night : Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious. At this point this match looks like, every other Steiner TV match, and since Sid sucked a whole lot, it isn't very good nor even fun. When the best part is Jeff Jarrett trying to crash a guitar, you know this isn't any good. Sid is such a failure, it's amazing that ten years after their first try, WCW would still use him as a main event guy. So, Steiner wins despite taking Jarrett's guitar shot (by accident, but I would enjoy Steiner vs Jarrett quite a bit I'm sure). This was a totally heatless, awful and depressing show. The booking had no less than five garbage/brawl/no DQ matches lined-up and delivered no less than four "unexpected turns" also known as "swerves". If I didn't know better I could think Russo had booked this shit. Oh, but no woman was humiliated nor abused, so it couldn't be. Still, this was unbearable to get through, easily one of the worst PPV of the year, with the few things that looked good or at least decent on paper ending up worse or plain bad (except for Storm vs Cat). A fitting way to close the year 2000, really.

WEEK 102 (December 12 to 16, 2000) Comeback of the week : Terry Funk dressed as Santa Claus (Nitro) That was unexpected. Funk dressed as Santa beat up both Norman Smiley and Meng, then challenged Crowbar to a hardcore match at Starrcade, then beat him up. Crowbar had Daffney dressed up as a hippie, which doesn't suit her. Goofy angle of the week : The Harris Boys get intoxicated with laxative sandwhiches (Nitro) This reeks of Nash/Russo booking, but the execution was rathre funny though with the Harris leaving Jarrett alone against Konnan, Rey & Kidman. Once again, Rey ends up pinning Jarrett. This little feud has been more enjoyable than I thought it would. Funny angle of the week : Lance Storm murders the United State national anthem (Thunder) He has to sing it because he lost a match on Nitro against The Cat & Miss Jones, and he sings about as poorly as Jacques and Pierre used to sing their own national anthem. This led to a match between Duggan and The Cat ending with Duggan having a change of heart and turning back babyface. I guess that's the end of Duggan being back on TV regularly. His stint as Canadian turncoat as been better than it looked on paper, but it was time to turn it off. This undercard feud has been the most fun part of the TV shows lately. Match of the week : Jung Dragons vs Karagias & Knoble vs 3-Count (Thunder) They already use a ladder, which to me gives away too much on free TV. KNoble and Karagias still don't get along but they get a clean win. Not much thought put into this, but as always it was a fun spot match. Pointless angle of the week : Buddy Lee Parker being the focus of Luger vs Goldberg (Nitro/Thunder) They sure found a way of making this feud as tepid as they could, with the involvment of Sarge, "sacrifying" himself to Goldie on Nitro when they were forced to fight each other, then getting beat up by Luger on Thunder. Does anyone gives a shit about Sarge, really ? The build to Starrcade has been mostly really dull, and except the one big angle at the end of Nitro the previous week, there is really no heat or interest about the main programs. Sid just doesn't work at all. The PPV doesn't look like a major deal at all. After a good start, Rection vs Douglas really went nowhere. Bam Bam vs Awesome is an ambulance match nw which makes it even more dubious. Kronik vs Reno & Vito is a dead issue. The undercard will be carried by probably fun match Cat vs Storm, the tag team titles match between the Insiders and the Perfect event, the three way ladder match and maybe Jarrett & Harris vs Filthy Animals (I never thought I'd say the Harris would be included in something that could be fun). Funk vs Crowbar depends on hw creative they will work, and Rection just doesn't have much to bring to the table. The TV has been marred by too much backstage shit again and too few good matches.

Luger was mostly solid on promos as a heel, and at times excellent. His promos and angle work in 96 and late 99-early 00 are gold.

Flair saying over and over again that he was glad WCW was closing strikes me as particulary selfish. Poor Ric wasn't happy in WCW so he sure was glad the company closed down, to hell with all the people who lost their job, their income, and the fact that wrestling landscape would get a lot tougher for the workers with only one game in town. What a dick.

WEEK 101 (December 4 to 9, 2000) Angle of the week : Scott Steiner destroys Arn Anderson and chaos ensues (Nitro) In one segment they succesfully build some heat for two matches and a half for Starrcade, which saved an otherwise infuriating Nitro. After his win over Rection Steiner got backstage and attacked Arn Anderson, got him into the ring, beat him up and put him in the Recliner. As Goldberg was runnig to the ring, he was cut short by Luger who jumped him from nowhere, and Goldie took a great bump there. In the meantime, Shane Douglas showed up from the crowd to beat on Rection outside the ring. Security guys were all over the mess then, Sid Vicious finally showed up (and not caught on camera until Schiavone had to shout "in the ring !" to the production crew) and this was a hug pull-apart. Sid did look kinda ridiculous as he was restrained by the security guys, but you have to see it to understand why. Anyway, this got super heat and was very efficient in every aspect. Awful angle of the week : Sid Vicious kills Oklahoma and gets arrested (Nitro) Why the fuck would they got Ferrara back on TV with that awful character to boot. And he cut a long, unbearable promo getting cheap heat by talking about football for ever. Anyway, Sid shows up, kills him, then gets arrested but Steiner isn't happy and wants Sid back in the building. This was awful and a waste of time. Bullshit title switch of the week : The Perfect Event get their belts back (Nitro) Because the wrong guy was pinned at the PPV. In 2000 ? Seriously ? One week after the fact ? THis also took forever and is complete garbage. I hate when they do shit like this. Title change of the week : Chavo Guerrero Jr. gets the cruiserweight title (Thunder) Good little match against Mike Sanders, and finally we get a cruiserweight champ that will be credible and work regularly. Chavo deserved the spot, and he's fine as a heel, having improved a lot over the years. Funny match of the week : Team Canada vs The Cat & Jung Dragons (Thunder) These guys have a good chemistry together. Duggan screws up again. The funny bits were Lance Storm almost biting his lips during the national anthem to not crack up laughing (Elix Skipper must have been talking some funny shit) and the Jung Dragons dancing with The Cat after the match. Sprint of the week : Jeff Jarrett vs Konnan (Nitro). What did I say about Jarrett being much easier to watch on the undercard. Super short sprint which works the best for Konnan and it flew well until Jarrett faked a knee injury and lured the ref outside the ring while the Harris boys destroyed Konnan. We'll get a 6-men brawl at Starrcade. I can't stand the Harris but with Rey, Jarrett and Konnan as a brawler involved, it could still be fun to some extent. Not a very good week with some long, useless segments with guys on the ramp talking to a guy in the ring aka the WWE formula from the last 13 years. More bad Bam Bam vs Wall match. More Reno & Vito family drama (and the promise of a match against Kronik to ensure I won't care about any of this). Luger vs Goldberg now sees the involvment of Buddy Lee Parker whom Luger humiliated and attacked on Thunder. Yawn. The big angle at the end of Nitro really saved the show, because the booking and work as not been very inspired otherwise (and at times plain bad) this week.

Yes, and it's actually a pretty fascinating one. From his days as a ranger to his short stint in WCW to why he ended up robbing a bank and spending years in prison. I remember Raven mentionning that he met Ross at some convention and thought he had a great story to tell. I didn't get why, then I listened to the interview and understood. He also comes off as a really good guy.

I'm sorry to say, but I have zero emotional connection with wrestling at this point. Last time I had was probably when I was following ARSION in the early 00's. I can (and do) have fun watching what's good, enjoy the good work, the good angles, the good promos, even be surprised at times, but emotional connection is gone.

Considering what Ranger Ross had to say about Flair in his shoot interview (that he was a two-faced hypocritical looking out for himself excusively), I highly doubt it.

Wonderful.

WEEK 100 (November 27 to December 02, 2000) Promo of the week : Scott Steiner, new WCW champion (Nitro) It took a hundred weeks after Starccade 98 for Scott Steiner to get the WCW belt. Way too late. He's in fine mood here, receiving the validation of CEO Ric Flair who also says he has an opponent for him. Steiner proceeds to namedrop Steve Austin and The Rock as unworthwhile opponents like it's ECW and he's Shane Douglas in 1996. Well, it doesn't matter at this point, and Steiner making fun of The Rock makes you think about the great feud these two could have had. Anyway, then it goes to an angle with Stevie Ray who puts his career on the line to avenge his brother. Career ending of the week : Stevie Ray's last match in WCW (Nitro) Man Stevie sucks. He's truly an awful worker, there's no two ways about it, even Steiner can't carry his ass. I wish he would have stayed at the announcing booth until the end, but apparently he's actually leaving the company too (I know he'll show up a few times in the months to come but not as a regular). Too bad, I really enjoyed Stevie as a color guy, he was really fun. Depressing comeback of the week : Sid Vicious (Nitro) There we go. The opponent for Steiner at Starrcade. Why couldn't they bring Sting back ? They have three weeks to build to Starrcade which is ridiculously short, and of course they can't put Steiner vs Goldberg because it's either too early for Steiner to lose the belt and impossible for Goldie to lose again to Steiner. Bad timing. They did the best they could to tie up the storyline of Sid giving away the WCW title in April and thus not having lost it in the ring, but Sid coming back is just not something I want to see. Sadly, they had no one else expect Goldberg. Maybe they could have elevate Mike Awesome who had worked some tag matches along Steiner and Booker, but Steiner already had beaten him in single a few weeks before in TV. To me Sting would have been a much better choice. Sid is just ratings and match-quality death. Upset of the week : Rey Mysterio Jr. beats Jeff Jarrett (Nitro). Yes, sadly it's considered as an upset, it says a lot about Rey's standings in the company. Match was fun though, with Jarrett being quadruple teamed by the Animals until he got his guitar and crashed Rey in mid-air, getting himself a DQ (which is hilarious considering all the abuse he took from all the guys on the outside). Jarrett is so much easier to watch when he's working on the undercard. Angle of the week : Gen. Rection feels sorry for injuring Torrie Wilson (Thunder). During his match with Douglas, Torrie jumped on Rection's back and he squashed her in a corner. Whiplash effect, she got injured, EMT's, Rection feeling bad about it. The cool part is that for once a babyface feels remorse about hurting a woman. The way they stopped the match was cool too, as Douglas was getting ready to use his infamous chain when he noticed Torrie was really injured so he just stopped and got to her side to attend her, having an argument with Rection who tried to apologize. Good stuff too with Chavo trying to push her outside of the ring and encouraging Rection to keep on with the match. This led to Chavo leaving the MIA and basically turning heel. Good stuff. Match of the week : Lance Storm & Elix Skipper vs Jung Dragons (Thunder) Fun spot match, with usual comedy elements from Yang mostly (this guy is a funny cat). I got a kick out of the Dragons making fun of the Canadians by impersonating them. The storyline developping is that Team Canada doesn't work as well together anymore, with Duggan not doing his job like he should. The Cat showed up again like on Nitro where he cost Storm the match against Yang. Good little mix of characters and workers here. C-show match of the week : Kwee-Wee vs Norman Smiley (Worldwide). This was taped in England, and Norman is over like crazy. Nice little match with Norman going over to please the crowd (hey, what a concept, putting the hometown guy over). The build to Starrcade will be rushed as all hell. Goldberg vs Luger redux doesn't look interesting in the least as the first match was basically a competitive squash, and Steiner vs Sid, fresh as it is, doesn't look good or even fun on paper. Bam Bam is having bad and boring gimmick matches with A-Wall. Daffney showed up on Thunder, looking great, but Crowbar is living the good life as champ so he doesn't care that much about her at this point, he already got two girls. Stacy Keibler also showed up to attend David after a hardcore match because she was worried. And Mary is Reno's sister too. So I guess Vito & Reno are brothers. DDP & Nash cut a promo mentionning their history together, including the fact they "sucked" as the Vegas Connection, and talked about Scott Hall quite a bit. They got Jindrak & O'Haire at the PPV, which should be good.