GSR

Dustin jumps on Hogan as soon as he slides into the ring and puts the boots to him. He’s methodical in his movements at this point, not rushing in at all. Hogan with an eye rake and he fires back with some punches of his own. Dustin rolls out the ring but Hogan is on him. He rams his head into the guard rail, a thrust to the throat before throwing him back inside. Rhodes backs off, although Bobby Heenan is convinced he’s playing possum “as he’s not a coward”. A series of rights in the corner drops him, whip to the opposite side and a lariat. Irish whip, Hogan goes for a back drop but he’s telegraphed it and Dustin with a boot to the chest. They’re back on the arena floor and this time its Dustin who’s in the ascendancy. He throws Hogan into the broadcast table and unloads with punches on the floor to him. Rhodes with a rear chin lock in the ring, and you can clearly see they’re slowing things and bringing the crowd down. A couple of knees to the head for a two before returning to that rear chin lock. The arm drops twice but not the third time as Hogan wags that finger. A series of elbows to the mid-section break the hold, but Dustin cuts off the comeback with a clothesline for two. An elbow to the head, a right, another right and they’re having no effect as Hogan ‘Hulks up’. Hogan with the rights now, Irish whip and Dustin ducks under the big boot and nails Hogan with a clothesline (great spot!). Despite being firmly still in this match, Rhodes picks up his bullrope fom the corner, clobbers Hogan with the cowbell and decks Nick Patrick for the DQ. He leaves Hogan laying and makes his way back to the dressing room when Patrick gets on the mic and tells him that he’s changed his mind and he isn’t going to disqualify him. He says that he’s the one who called Hulk Hogan out and he’s got a ten count to get back in the ring and face him, otherwise he’ll be suspended and fined $10,000. The crowd are counting along with the referee and with no other choice, Rhodes gets back in there. A couple of punches, Hogan reverses an Irish whip, big boot, leg drop and a matter of seconds after it restarted, it’s all over. Good match and I liked the false finish a lot (even if the ending did come way too soon after the restart). After seeing a whole bunch of matches with cheap unsatisfying finishes due to interference and disqualifications, I thought we had another here until the call by Nick Patrick. They really need to adopt this practice more often. A couple of very nice spots in this such as Dustin cutting off Hogan’s comeback and ducking out the way of the big boot. Considering I never knew these too ever wrestled each other I enjoyed this.

Funk comes out with a raw chicked on his fist. He’s got a microphone and says that he sees a chicken in the ring and the only difference between Dustin and his old man is that his old man is much fatter than he is! He then claims to have Dustin’s baby brother here, but it’s not Cody, it’s some dressed in a chicken suit. The ‘chicken’ gets in the ring, hits Dustin and Rhodes chases off after him, only to get nailed in the aisle by Funk’s ‘chicken fist’. Irish whip into the guard rail and he throws Dustin back in the ring. He peppers him with rights before whipping him with the bullrope. DDT for two. Funk with a clothesline, he clobbers Dustin with the cow bell but it makes no sound! Two count as Dustin grabs the ropes. Funk argues the count with Billy Silverman and Dustin with a low blow. He chokes the ‘Funker’ with the bullrope, who then struggles to get himself in position for his ‘rebound’ spot where he’s sat on the middle rope. Dustin hits him with the cowbell as Funk rocks back and forward until he falls to the floor. Rhodes with a pair of two counts, a bulldog on the cowbell but he’s still not able to put Funk away. The guy in the chicken suit is back out and he attacks Dustin until Rhodes slugs him with the cowbell. As this is going on they’re playing some audio of a hen house (presumably over the PA). Christ this is bad! Funk with a low blow using the cowbell and he’s changing the rules of the match from a ‘bullrope match’ to an ‘I Quit’ match. Referee Silverman tries to tell him that he can’t do that and Funk wallops him with the cowbell and throws him out the ring. He continues to hit Dustin in the head trying to get him to ‘quit’. Rhodes eventually does and Funk raises his arm, however the ref puts it back down as the commentators reiterate this ‘is not’ and ‘I Quit’ match. Dustin waffles him with the cowbell, piledriver on the cowbell and this is mercifully over. Oh no, it’s not! They fight some more before Dustin’s finally had enough. Where to begin? This felt like it would never end! Funk with a raw chicken on his fists, liberal interference from a guy dressed in a chicken costume, hen house noises over the PA, Funk trying to change the rules of the match as it was going on, a cowbell that made no noise. Need I go on? If the work between the wrestlers was any good it might’ve redeemed this slightly, but it wasn’t; it was repetitive, pedestrian and Funk looked so old in there. Check out the crowd too. Deafening silence for the majority of this and look how we get more and more empty seats as the match progresses! The worst!

The lucky ladies (Midajah, Kim and Tylene) get to watch the ‘Chosen One’ do his stuff tonight, as he’s allowing them to stay at ringside inside of sending them to the back. Jarrett tries to jump Booker before the bell but he ducks out the way and peppers him with rights. A spin kick misses completely but Jarrett bumps for it anyway. He goes for the axe kick, but the Harris brothers are out and pull him from the ring. Jarrett distracts referee Charles Robinson as the twins double team him and drop him throat first onto the guard rail. They throw him back in the ring but Jarrett is only able to get a two. Jarrett crotches himself and again distracts the official to allow one of the twins to climb up on the apron and nail Booker with a clothesline. He ducks a back elbow but is then caught with a sleeper. Booker shoots him off to the corner and pummels him with a series of rights. He whips him to the opposite corner, comes charging in, slides to the outside, grabs Jarrett’s feet and pulls him backwards posting him. Booker with a missile dropkick and Jarrett rolls to the outside. One of the twins grabs Booker’s ankle, Robinson goes over to try and regain some order, but behind his back Jeff nails Booker with the U.S. title belt. Just like on 3/15 Booker gets the shoulder up for a near fall. Jarrett with a Figure Four, but Booker kicks him off and he collides with Robinson knocking him down. He goes to crack Booker over the head with his guitar, however he catches and plants him with the ‘Book End’. Robinson with the count and one of the twins pulls him out the ring at two. The Harris’ are done with interfering from the outside and get in there to attack Booker, giving him the win by DQ. Great reversal on a ‘H-bomb’ attempt as he flips all the way over and nails them with a double dropkick sending them both packing. I groaned as soon as I saw the Harris boys were out as I knew what was coming next. Their interference is tedious and predictable, and while there were some nice moments in this (the posting, the ‘H-bomb’ escape), the sooner Jarrett is away from them the better. The match was very reminiscent in parts to the one they had on Thunder on 3/15, whilst the finish was overbooked and cheap.

Parka is doing the lip synching again. Funny stuff with him handing the microphone back to Dave Penzer but the voice hadn’t finished talking yet. The voice then calls Buff ‘pretty boy’ and says how he’s going to knock that George Clooney haircut off his greasy head and kick his jacked up ass! As the voice is saying this, Parka pulls out a sign saying ‘he’s sorry’ and ‘he’s not really saying this’. He’s on his knees trying to apologize, Buff offers the hand, they hug it out, then Parka cheap shots him! He puts the boots to Bagwell, whip to the corner, Parka charges but Buff moves out the way. Big backdrop, clothesline and a spinning neckbreaker. Parka with a low blow and he chokes Buff over the middle ropes. Bagwell ducks a clothesline and a double arm DDT. Sunset flip for a two. Parka with an enziguiri and a two of his own. He blows the split legged moonsault but is still able to get a near fall. Parka misses the twisting senton off the middle and Buff unloads with some rights. Parka reverses a whip to the corner, Buff with a back elbow and the ‘Blockbuster’ for the win. Nothing match and it was all downhill after La Parka’s lip synching and cheap shot. Least favourite Parka match so far, and no surprise considering he’s in there with Bagwell who manages to suck the enjoyment factor out of any match. How he was deemed ‘charismatic’ I’ll never know?

Hennig starts out strong and lights Flair up with some chops. The only way the Naitch can slow him down is with a couple of pokes to the eye before hurling him over the top rope to the outside. Some chops and punches of his own, however Curt is able to reverse things and takes his frustration out on Flair’s chest with more blistering knife edges. Hennig suplexes him back into the ring and Flair tries to cower away in the corner. Same tactics he used against Bagwell and here’s the low blow. He immediately starts to focus on Hennig’s right leg, kicking and stomping it. He rolls out the ring to try to recover, but Flair is out after him with a double axe handle off the apron to the floor. Irish whip into the guard rail whilst still concentrating his attention on that leg. Very nice selling by Hennig through all of this. Figure Four, however Curt is able to power over and reverse the hold and Flair has to grab the ropes. Hennig with a back slide for two. Flair with a snapmare, he climbs the turnbuckles, but as always is too slow and Curt slams him to the canvas. Flair backs off and Lex Luger is out to trying and help his Team Package partner. Hennig does a good job fighting them both and a right drops the Package. Naitch goes for a backdrop off an Irish whip, but Curt hooks him with the Perfect Plex for the win. Post-match Luger attacks Hennig with the baseball bat and Flair whips him with Hogan’s belt. Arn Anderson comes out but it doesn’t deter them, as Lex puts Curt’s arm in between the chair and stomps on it trying to break it. Arn stands over Hennig and while Luger is prepared to clobber him with the bat, Flair says ‘no’ and Team Package make their exit. Decent match and much better than the one they had a few weeks ago. I also think it would’ve come off better with a crowd who didn’t seem to be sat on their hands for the duration. Something like the Figure Four reversal elicitied no response from them when I would have expected a sizeable reaction. Hennig was laying those chops in and I liked his selling of the leg. A surprising clean win especially after Luger had made his way out and got involved.

Jarrett tells the audience to take a good long look because this is the last time they’ll see Jeff Jarrett ‘the United States heavyweight champion’, as next time they lay their eyes on him he’ll be walking out of Miami as the new WCW World champion. He then orders his female entourage to the back and his dressing room ‘where they belong’. Booker with a shoulderblock and an early cover, followed by a schoolboy for a two count. Leap frog, dropkick, a big clothesline and the opening is all Booker. A series of punches in the corner to Jarrett who tries a reverse atomic drop but to no avail and Booker with a superkick. Irish whip and Jarrett holds on to the ropes. Booker goes for an axe kick, Jarrett moves and he ends up crotching himself. A clubbing blow sends him tumbling to the outside, where Jeff drops him throat first onto the guard rail. He rams him face first into the ring steps before tossing him back in the ring. Crossbody off the top, but Booker uses Jarrett’s momentum to roll through for a two. Jarrett with a sleeper that Booker fights his way out of and manages to slap on one of his own. Double axe handle off the middle, but Booker catches and plants Jarrett with the ‘Book End’ for another two. Quality ax kick, spinebuster and Jarrett is just about able to kick out. Here comes the Harris Twins… Nick Patrick heads outside to try and send them back to the dressing room, and with him out the way, Jarrett clocks Booker with his U.S. title belt. Great near fall as Booker gets the shoulder up and Jarrett can’t believe it. The match gets ludicrous at this point. Booker nails one of the twins who is on the apron and gives a ‘Book End’ to the other in the ring. No idea where Nick Patrick has got to by now. Jarrett has hopped outside to get his guitar and tries to bring it back in the ring. Oh here’s Nick, he’s been following him! Patrick grabs the guitar and the Harris twins with a ‘H-Bomb’ to Booker behind his back (although he must’ve been blind not to see this). They get out of there, Jarrett with ‘The Stroke’ and he retains the U.S. title. They’re about to spray paint Booker post-match when Sid and his hideous looking offense makes the save. He twice fails to clothesline Jarrett over the ropes and one of the twins has to drag Jeff out of there instead. These two worked really well and were having a good match together. It all went to pot when the Harris twins came to ringside though, and from a kayfabe sense, the finish was a joke. Are we really meant to believe Nick Patrick didn’t see any of their involvement? Not to mention Jarrett trying to bring a guitar in there. Why didn’t you just DQ him Nick? Hopefully we’ll get some interference free, straight up matches between them down the line.

Pre-match interview from Candido with Gene Okerlund. He thinks that after his performance on Monday night WCW should’ve just handed him the Cruiserweight belt. He’s never been treated fairly thought, and if he has to go through Chavo to get to the Prince, that’s what he’ll do. He says he’s been going through ‘Hard Knox’ all his life, and tells a tale of wrestling Lou Thesz and Karl Gotch in a handicap match in Japan, although Gene is having none of it. The Artist and Paisley are at ringside for the match. Candido with a go behind as the two of them jockey for position. Chavo with a side headlock and Paisley leaves her position to join Mike Tenay and Bobby Heenan at the announcing desk. Chavo reverses an Irish whip which ends with him giving Candido a high backdrop to over the top rope to the outside. Great bump with Candido taking it chest first and Chavo follows up with a crossbody off the top out onto him. Candido ducks a clothesline and a lovely overhead throw/suplex for a two. Great delayed vertical suplex for another two. Chavo starts to fire back and plants Candido with a spinebuster. He badly botches a floatover DDT and Paisley leaves her position at the announcing desk to head up on to the apron. The distraction allows Candido to schoolboy Chavo for a near fall. Candido with a scoop powerslam, and referee Billy Silverman is back trying to get Paisley down from the apron. Candido heads to the top turnbuckle but The Artist is out and shoves him off. He messes up the jumping DDT off the top and gets himself out of there. Chavo doesn’t seem to realise what’s gone on, but covers Candido and hooks the leg for the win. After the match Candido with a diving headbutt off the top for good measure. Even though he wasn’t competing in the match, this felt like it was more about The Artist. Candido looked very good and Chavo was doing fine up until that awful botch on the floatover. Finish looked bad with Candido seemingly have to DDT himself because The Artist messed it up. Okay match but the lasting impression is that bad last minute or so.

Noble with a real nice headscissors on Helms who rolls to the floor. He goes for a dive out on to him but is cut off with a leg lariat from Moore. Yang with a dropkick to the back, Karagias with a springboard crossbody on Yang, and finally Kaz with a missile dropkick to Evan resulting in all three members of 3 Count ending up on the outside. Triple flip dive over the top rope onto them by the Dragons. Helms with a superkick but Moore misses the twisting moonsault. Shannon then takes a great bump off a Kaz back heel kick. Moore and Helms with a combination suplex/backbreaker where they drop Hayashi over Shane’s knee. Noble takes a swing at Karagias who ducks, picks him up and drops him with a leg drop onto his own partner. Evan with a press slam and Hayashi goes face first to the canvas. Irish whip reversal and an awesome wheelbarrow release German from Kaz. Yang goes all Bruce Lee on 3 Count and hurls Karagias over the top rope to the outside. A drop toe hold from Shannon gets Hayashi out of there and Evan with a powerslam to Noble on the arena floor. Yang with a one footed dropkick to Moore but Helms nails him from behind. Shannon sits him on the turnbuckle, top rope Frankensteiner, Shane with the frog splash and 3 Count come out on top. They’re about to perform post-match, triple dropkick from the Dragons sends them flying out the ring and they run off with their dance mats. This only went four minutes but was fantastic. An innovative non-stop sprint from start to finish. Loved the opening sequence that led to the triple flip dive. Great bumping throughout and the suplex, backbreaker, leg drop was tremendous. Everyone bought it and even Evan Karagias looked good here and didn’t come across as the weak link in his trio. A joy to watch!

Meng is watching a monitor backstage chomping at the bit to get his hands on Tank. The Barbarian sits referee Billy Silverman on the top turnbuckle and he and Tank start throwing clubbing blows at each other’s chests. Barb shoves him back into the corner and starts chopping him with Tank almost inviting him on. Irish whip and they collide seemingly lost with what to do next. Tank lifts Barb over his shoulders and slams him to the canvas. Some sort of grappling-come-jockeying for position and Barbarian with a belly to bell suplex. He forces Tank into the corner and unloads on him with Abbott even dropping to one knee. Silverman tries to pull the Barbarian off, but he picks him up and sits him back on the turnbuckles. As he turns around he’s met with a left from Tank and a big right that KO’s him for the win. They tried to work this like it was a ‘fight’, but it just looked bad. Tank has no idea when it comes to pro wrestling and looked at a complete loss at what to do in there at one point.

Parka is doing the old Kaientai gimmick with someone cutting his promo for him over the PA. Dandy combs his mullet and Silver King gets Dave Penzer to reintroduce them as Los Fabulousos. This is the same match, with the odd tweak (Parka with a great scoop powerslam to Silver King instead of an arm drag before Dandy hits the senton on his own partner), that they do on Worldwide on 3/18. As I’ve already watched and reviewed that I won’t repeat myself here. The electric chair/crossbody spot didn’t look as good with Silver King just walking around and waiting for the crossbody, but that’s the lone criticism. The finish sees King hip toss Parka over the top rope to the floor (going over with him) and Chavo with the tornado DDT on to Dandy. I’d rate this a touch above the Worldwide match just due to the fact there wasn’t the slight miscommunications. As good as you’ll get in the time allotted.

What an odd trio Sid, Booker and Kidman are! Booker gets the better of the opening salvo with Jarrett who tags out at the earliest opportunity. Booker ducks a clothesline from one of the twins and comes back with a flying forearm before tagging in Kidman. Headscissors, dropkick, but the second one misses and the twin tags in his brother. Kidman tries to use his speed until a clothesline turns him inside out. Jarrett with a sleeper, Kidman shoots him off and he counters with one of his own. Jarrett fires him into the turnbuckle, he avoids an elbow, evades the brothers and is able to make the hot tag to Sid. Big boot to Jarrett and Booker with a pair of scissor kicks to the twins before clotheslining them both to the outside. Chokeslam, powerbomb, and as Sid covers Jarrett one of the twins pulls him out the ring breaking the count. Booker holds Jarrett as Kidman climbs to the top turnbuckle. One of the twins low blows Booker, Kidman with a missile dropkick, Jarrett moves, he hits Booker instead and Jeff makes the cover for the win. ‘H-Bomb’ on Kidman post-match, they throw Booker to the floor and then turn their attention to Sid. They whip him into the ropes, but he grabs them both by the throat for a double chokeslam, when Jarrett is back in and clocks him over the head with the guitar. Too quick to amount to anything but the action was okay. Thought Booker looked good and Kidman fine (hindered by working heavily with the brothers). Apparently they’ve had their problems so the finish seemed to further the tension between them, whilst Sid/Jarrett shows no sign of finishing anytime soon.

Flair with a side headlock, Buff shoots him into the ropes, drop toe hold and a badly applied Figure Four. The Naitch is able to get to the ropes however, and this all in the opening seconds of the match. A backdrop sees Flair backing off but Buff is right on him. A series of punches in the corner followed with the face first drop. Bagwell reverses a hiptoss into a backslide for one, and Flair with a pair of low blows. He starts to chop him but Buff fires back. Whip to the corner and Flair takes his customary bump over the turnbuckles and onto the ring apron. Buff with a clothesline, but an eye poke stops him in his tracks. Ric climbs the turnbuckles, he’s not quick enough though and Buff catches him with a superplex. Lex Luger and Elizabeth head out at this point, probably fearing the worst for the Naitch. To follow on from the badly executed Figure Four, Buff with a badly executed Blockbuster. He makes the cover but Liz distracts Charles Robinson, and Luger is in the ring to nail Buff over the head with the baseball bat. He drags Flair on top of him and Robinson counts the three. Post-match Team Package attack Bagwell with Flair whipping him with Hogan’s belt until Curt Hennig makes the save and sees them off. Not good. This reminded me of the Flair/Hennig match from Nitro where they seemingly tried to cram as many trademark Flair spots into the shortish time as possible. I thought they were doing the same here, especially after the bump in the corner where I thought ‘we just need Ric being slammed off the top’ and then he headed up there. They changed things up a bit and we got a superplex instead though! How Bagwell can’t execute a Figure Four and even manages to botch his own finished I’ll never know?

Dustin Rhodes is out and he’s got something to share with all the ‘marks’, the ‘smart marks’. He’s fought for them, fought for this business, and right now doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any of them and never will again. They are the ones who are turncoats, they take and take and take until there it nothing left to be given, and then they turn their back on them. At this point Bobby Heenan refers to the fans a parasites and leeches! He’s got some video of something that happened earlier and when these people see it they will realise that ‘old bag of crap’ Terry Funk will never see another birthday. The footage is of an autograph signing where Rhodes attacks Funk (hits him in the head with a water jug, hits him in the back with a chair, pours coffee on him and leaves him laying). Dustin says how the people should be worried about Funk ‘is he okay?’, ‘does he have to go in an ambulance?’, but they’re more concerned that they’re not getting their autograph! Some people throw garbage at him and he offers them to come in the ring and ‘try him’ if they want. Funk enters from the back of the ring and nails Dustin in the back with a chair. He continues to waffle him with it andimploring him to get up, as every time he does he’s going to knock him back down on his ass. He tells him his father wasn’t a wrestler, he isn’t either and he doesn’t belong in a wrestling ring, so throws him to the arena floor. He goes for a piledriver, but Dustin with a backdrop and a DDT. Rhodes throws him back in the ring as our footage ends. This was all angle as opposed to match. I enjoyed bitter Dustin, but not a fan at all of insider terms like ‘marks’ and ‘smart marks’ being used in promos. I expected Rhodes to turn on Funk at Superbrawl in the ‘death match’ with Flair, but something obviously happened in the week or so after. The stuff at the autograph signing wasn’t the best, but I’m not as down on the rest of this as everyone else seems to be.

Hughes with a big bodyslam and ‘The King’ already has a look of ‘what have I got myself into’ on his face. He’s struggling with Hughes’ power and when they have a ‘test of strength’, has to break it by drilling him with some lefts. Lock up and Lawler is driven back into the corner where Hughes starts to unload on him. A headbutt before dropping a knee on ‘The King’. Lawler ducks a clothesline but is met with a big boot for a two. He tries to fire back until an eye rake puts a stop to that. Hughes whips him into the corner and comes charging at him, however ‘The King’ moves out the way and he goes shoulder first into the turnbuckle. Lawler pulls down the strap (yup, still no reaction), peppers Hughes with lefts and then winds up the right that floors him. Side headlock and Hughes shoves ‘The King’ into the referee knocking him down. He pulls some powder out of his pocket but Lawler sees what’s coming, slaps upwards and it ends up in his own face. Due to the fact he’s wearing shades it has zero effect on him and he goes for a chokeslam. ‘The King’ with a kick to the groin, pilediver and he wakes the official so he can count the three. Post-match Steven Regal and Bull Pain enter the ring (as the other finalists in the MCW tournament) and the three of them face off. A very simple story of Hughes being too big and strong for Lawler. Yes, we get our almost obligatory ref bump, but it didn’t look as contrived or hokey as recent ones in MCW. Clever finish with Hughes’ shades preventing the powder from blinding him. Probably one of the most ‘basic’ matches I’ve watched in the project, but this worked for me.

Regal is pretty much in Lord Steven Regal mode here (in fact he was even refered to as that on one of his early appearance in MCW). He comes out with Commissioner Bruce Prichard who then joins Lance on commentary. Regal says that when he heard MCW were going to crown a new champion, where better for him to come? No-one can hold a candle to his skills! He’s performed in 24 countries, won titles in every one of them, and it absolutely grieves him to come and perform infron of these bloody peasants! He offers Meanie the chance to leave ‘because he’s got all the future of a bloody snowman!’ and to save himself the embarrassment, but Meanie’s doing no such thing. Collar and elbow tie up, Meanie backs Regal into the corner, but as he tries to break Regal’s got his leg trapped with his own making it look like he doesn’t want to. Some nice chain wrestling with Meanie holding his own. Regal offers a ‘test of strength’ but pokes Meanie in the eyes instead. An uppercut and a series of forearms leaves Meanie slumped in the corner. A snapmare and he drops a knee across his forehead before applying a cobra clutch to the seated Meanie (standing on his other hand in the process to prevent him from getting up). Meanie tries to fire back but he’s met with more vicious forearms. Double jumping knee strike, he then misses a forward flip off the ropes. Meanie with a pair of clotheslines, a reverse atomic drop, a regular one and Regal takes a very contrived bump into the referee knocking him down. Jim Neidhart is out and he goes to clothesline Meanie but he ducks and hits Regal. Commissioner Prichard gets Neidhart out of there, Meanie with a bulldog and Regal just about kicks out. Regal is in the corner and Meanie climbs the turnbuckles and starts punching him. His Lordship shoves him off and he falls backwards to the canvas, Hangman’s Noose neckbreaker and it’s all over. This was pretty good up until the contrived ref bump which looked dreadful. Not sure the point of the Neidhart run in unless it was just an excuse to show Prichard’s powers as Commissioner in getting him out of there. I enjoyed the opening chain wrestling and Meanie more than held his own with Regal. I always enjoy watching the little things with Regal, such as trapping his opponent’s leg on the opening lock up or standing on the hand when applying the Cobra Clutch. Meanie needs some new ring gear that is for certain.

Original opening to the match with a collar and elbow tie up and Bull immediately dropping to his knees and turning it into a jawbreaker. He throws Youth to the outside allowing Morton and Al K. to get some shots in while he distracts the referee. Pain with a knife edge chop and he rakes Reckless’ eyes across the top rope. Whip to the corner, Youth with a foot up, an ugly looking DDT and Morton is in to break up the pin. Bull rolls to the outside where he is followed by Reckless. Pain with a suplex on the floor, before driving Youth backwards into the ring post. A couple of nice sit down leg drops for a near fall. Youth ducks a clothesline, stomps on Bull’s foot and he starts to fire back. Clothesline over the top rope to the floor, and as Morton and Al K. go over to help Bull, a flip dive out onto all three. Moonsault and a cover, however Al K. is up on the apron distracting the official. Morton has got a chair and climbs the turnbuckles. He throws it at Youth who catches the chair and Morton off the top with a dropkick for his modified Van Daminator. He puts Bull on top of Reckless, Al K. jumps back down from the apron and the referee turns around to count the three. We have the misfortune of having Bobcat join Lance on commentary for this; she’s looking for a man, but is pretty annoying to listen to. Another solid little TV match, but I’ve yet to see anything in MCW that is great. I like the look if Pain’s offense, and he was controlling and dominating the majority of the match. Disappointing to see Youth fall for that finish, especially after last week where he span out the way of it. TBH, I don’t know why he doesn’t just side step the chair as you have plenty of time to see it coming and it’s a fairly logic defying move.

I’m not quite as taken with Krush’s rapping now he’s not doing it over ‘Back in Black’. The cameras cut to backstage to see Bruce Prichard coming out of his office. He tells Guy Coffey and some other chap that he’ll give them his decision on who will be the new Commissioner next week, and is shortly followed out of there by Steven Regal. Krush gets them to play his music as he didn’t get a chance to dance yet, before ‘The King’ busts a move (a very basic move mind!) too. Krush takes offense to Lawler’s dancing, jumping him prior to the bell and choking him on the ropes. Not sure what he attempts off an Irish whip, but ‘The King’ grabs him by the hair, throws him to the canvas and even pulls out a dropkick. Krush rolls to the outside to compose himself and comes back in looking more aggressive. A big powerslam and he starts to choke ‘The King’ but misses a leg drop off the top. Lawler with a DDT and a standing fist drop for a two. He goes for a piledriver which Krush is able to escape from courtesy of a low blow. Krush with a suplex, but his dancing and subsequent slack cover only brings a one count. Rear chin lock, he then whips ‘The King’ into the ropes, boot to the mid-section and a nice looking axe kick. He starts to repeatedly ram Lawler’s head into the turnbuckles but the time spent arguing with the crowd instead of following up on that axe kick has given him sufficient time to recover. He turns the tables, rams Krush’s head into the turnbuckle and pulls down the strap (which again elicits little reaction). Great left from Lawler. Irish whip and Krush botches a leap from but comes back with a flying forearm. Two count as Lawler gets his foot over the ropes. Krush celebrates thinking he got the win, and ‘The King’ schoolboys him for the three. This didn’t do much for me. Lawler couldn’t mask the fact that Krush looks green (more noticeable here than what I remember in his match in Wildside) and he’s another with bad looking offense (on those punches and kicks). There appeared to be a couple of miscommunication problems and that schoolboy roll up finish looked very weak.

Pre-match promo from Morton which includes clips of their match from last week which Morton won after a modified Van Daminator (a dropkick off the top to a chair held by his opponent). He claims it was the easiest match he had in his life, and today he’s facing Reckless Youth again in the MCW title tournament. He thinks it couldn’t get any easier, and with opponents like this there’s no doubt he’s going straight to the top and will soon be wearing that strap. We then get a couple of vignettes of Bruce Prichard canvassing wrestlers on who should be the new Commissioner of MCW. The Blue Meanie thinks it should be Jim Neidhart, while the Little’s want it to be Pepe the Taco Bell dog! Reckless ducks a clothesline and starts teeing off on Morton. Irish whip reversal and a tilt-a-whirl headscissors followed by a dropkick for a two. A series of punches in the corner until Morton fells Youth with a low blow. Snap suplex and a lovely belly to back as Morton continues the attack. Morton with a powerslam but he misses an elbow off the top. Back heel kick from Youth, a somersault senton and a tornado DDT. Al K. Holic is up on the apron and Reckless goes over to grab him. The distraction turns the tide in the match and Morton with another belly to back suplex. He climbs to the top turnbuckle, Al K. throws him a chair which he then throws at Youth who catches it, however as Morton jumps off, he spins out the way then cracks him over the head with it. Brainbuster on the chair and Youth advances in the tournament. Perfectly fine little TV match. Youth stands out as his style is completely different to anyone else in MCW, although his punches don’t look good. I can kinda see why he never made it to the WWE; he either needed a gimmick overhaul or to be put in a tag team where he could work with the Hardys, Edge & Christian etc. The finish (where Reckless spun out the way) looked a touch phoney, but I very much liked how it played off their previous match with Youth not falling for the same thing again.

The Kick Ass pairing have got Al K. Holic as per usual and are carrying chairs with KAW written on them. Road Dogg cuts a short promo on the stage saying it’s the anticipation of the ass kicking they’re going to receive that makes Pain and Morton’s skin tingle, so they’re going to keep them in the ring just a little longer. When they finally make their way to the ring, the KAW guys head out to meet them in the aisle. The four of them brawl at ringside with Dogg smashing Morton into the announcing table and Lawler ramming Pain into the ring post. They eventually get into the ring and this looks like a Texas Tornado match. Morton with a double axe handle off the top and ‘The King’ comes to his partner’s rescue. Dogg tosses Morton to the outside, he runs and jumps off the apron at him, but Morton throws a chair right at him catching him flush in the face. Bull starts to use a chair as a weapon, jabbing Lawler in the face and sternum with it. Morton unloads on Dogg inside the ring whilst Pain beats on ‘The King’ outside. Morton with some chops and kicks in the corner, however when Dogg fires back, Al K. manages to handcuff him to the ropes leaving him helpless. Lawler slams Pain’s head into a chair and drives it into his throat. Morton nails ‘The King’ from behind and it’s now 2 on 1 against Lawler. Neckbreaker/double axe handle combination and Pain and Morton set up a table. They’re about to put ‘The King’ through it when the show goes off the air as we’re out of time. A real good four minutes of action. The brawling, which was the main feature of the match, played to the strengths of everyone and there was a ‘wild’ sort of feeling to this. I liked Morton’s throwing of the chair at Road Dogg, whilst even the handcuffing, which could be the kinda thing I easily hate, didn’t look contrived or as if the Dogg was ‘waiting’ for it. Shame we ran out of time and didn’t see how this panned out.

March 2000 APW 1. Michael Modest vs Donovan Morgan (3/11) 2. West Side Playaz 2000 vs Jardi Frantz & Vinny Massaro (APW 3/11) ECW 1. Gedo & Jado vs Impact Players (TNN 3/17) 2. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Super Crazy (Japanese Death) (TNN 3/24) 3. Rhino vs Super Crazy (TNN 3/31) 4. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Little Guido (TNN 3/31) 5. Kid Kash vs Steve Corino (Richmond, VA 3/31) 6. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Kid Kash (Asbury Park, NJ 3/3) 7. Super Crazy vs C.W. Anderson (Hardcore TV 3/3) 8. Kid Kash vs Rhino (Wichita, KS 3/25) 9. Mike Awesome vs Kid Kash (Living Dangerously 3/12) 10. Tommy Dreamer vs Yoshihiro Tajiri (Japanese Death) (Wichita, KS 3/25) 11. Vic Grimes vs Balls Mahoney (Exploding Barbed Wire) (Asbury Park, NJ 3/3) 12. Dusty Rhodes vs Steve Corino (Living Dangerously 3/12) Indies 1. Low Ki vs Monsta Mack (Hardcore) (FWA 3/11) 2. Mike Quackenbush vs Don Montoya (FWA 3/11) 3. Ian Rotten vs Corporal Robinson (Last Man Standing) (MAW 3/17) 4. American Dragon & Spanky vs Board of Education (Reuben Cruz & Jeremy Sage) (Cage) (TWA Total Impact 3/25) 5. Ian Rotten & Axl Rotten & Suicide Kid vs Blaze & Terry Bull & Corporal Robinson (Texas Tornado Thumbtack Death) (IWA-MS Extreme Heaven 3/4) 6. Joey Matthews & Christian York vs Earl the Pearl & Rich Myers (MCW Maryland 3/8) 7. Rock & Roll Express vs Aidiean & Flex Fenom & The Freak (NWL 3/11) 8. Low Ki & Mercury vs Ric Blade & TCK (CZW X-Spelled 3/18) 9. Low Ki vs Little Dixie vs Chino Martinez (Elimination Match) (JAPW 3/31) 10. Steve Corino vs Nova (MCW Maryland 3/8) NR - Los Boricuas (Miguel, Savio & Jesus) vs Fidel Sierra & Ricky Santana & Sean Hill (IWA-PR 3/9) Memphis 1. Wolfie D & Havok vs Moondog Spot & Derrick King (MPPW 3/18) 2. Jerry Lawler & Road Dogg vs Bull Pain & Todd Morton (MCW 3/4) 3. Wolfie D vs Derrick King (MPPW 3/11) 4. Steve Regal vs Blue Meanie (MCW 3/25) 5. Jerry Lawler vs Curtis Hughes (MCW 3/25) 6. Reckless Youth vs Bull Pain (MCW 3/25) 7. Reckless Youth vs Todd Morton (MCW 3/18) 8. Jerry Lawler vs K-Krush (MCW 3/18) NWA Wildside 1. Rock & Roll Express vs Bad Attitude (3/4) 2. A.J. Styles vs Onyx (3/4) 3. A.J. Styles vs Onyx (3/25) 4. A.J. Styles vs Eddie Golden (3/11) 5. Ricky Morton vs Chris Hamrick (3/24) OVW 1. Rico Constantino & Russ McCullough & Damaja vs Rip Rogers & Jason Lee & Derrick King (3/18) 2. Rob Conway vs Trailer Park Trash (3/11) 3. Rob Conway vs Bull Buchanan (3/4) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. 3 Count (Shannon Moore & Shane Helms & Evan Karagias) vs Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi & Jamie-san & Yang) (Thunder 3/22) 2. Lex Luger & Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan & Curt Hennig (Nitro 3/13) 3. Chavo Guerrero Jr & La Parka vs Silver King & El Dandy (Thunder 3/15) 4. Hulk Hogan vs Dustin Rhodes (Thunder 3/22) 5. Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T (Thunder 3/15) 6. Ric Flair vs Curt Hennig (Nitro 3/6) 7. Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan (Yappapi Strap) (WCW Uncensored 3/19) 8. Chris Candido vs Chavo Guerrero Jr (Thunder 3/22) 9. Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T (Thunder 3/29) 10. Hulk Hogan & Sid vs Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner (Nitro 3/20) 11. Ric Flair vs Sting (Nitro 3/20) 12. Jeff Jarrett & Ron & Don Harris vs Sid Vicious & Booker T & Billy Kidman (Thunder 3/1) 13. Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair & Lex Luger (Handicap) (Thunder 3/15) 14. Fit Finlay vs Vampiro (Falls Count Anywhere) (Uncensored 3/19) 15. Buff Bagwell vs La Parka (Thunder 3/29) 16. Hulk Hogan vs The Wall (Nitro 3/27) 17. Ric Flair vs Buff Bagwell (Thunder 3/1) 18. Tank Abbott vs The Barbarian (Nitro 3/20) 19. Terry Funk vs Dustin Rhodes (Bullrope) (Uncensored 3/19) NR - Terry Funk vs Dustin Rhodes (Thunder 3/1) WCW ‘C’ Shows 1. Silver King & El Dandy vs La Parka & Chavo Guerrero Jr (Worldwide 3/18) 2. Silver King & El Dandy vs The Mamalukes (Worldwide 3/11) 3. Fit Finlay vs Barbarian (Worldwide 3/18)

Parka continues to get a great reaction and he’s got a new ring jacket with horned skulls on each shoulder. Fast opening between Chavo and Dandy and Chavo backdrops him to the floor. Dandy moves out the way of a dive, but Chavo slides under the bottom rope and heads out after him. European uppercut before throwing him back into the ring. La Parka and Silver King pick it up where their partners left off and the hot pace continues. Double team on Parka who they whip to the corner, but he moves out the way of an incoming Silver King splash. Tilt-a-whirl to Dandy, a deep arm drag to King, cover, Dandy with a senton and Parka moves and he lands on his own partner. A rolling heel kick sends Dandy tumbling to the outside and Parka with a twisting suicide dive out onto him. Chavo with a drop kick that sends Silver King to the floor followed by a pescado. Parka with a split legged moonsault on Dandy for two. Parka goes shoulder first into the ring post and Dandy and King utilise some of that great team work. Big spinning DDT and Chavo is in there to break up the pin. Dandy with a right to Parka and he falls flat back through the ropes to the arena floor. Silver King with a snap suplex on Chavo and Dandy off the middle with an elbow for two. Dandy sits Chavo on the turnbuckles and Parka tags himself in. Electric chair position for Dandy with Chavo perched on the top rope. Silver King comes rushing in and Chavo with a high body press, while Parka slams Dandy face first to the canvas off his shoulders. Chavo hip tosses Silver King to the outside (going over the ropes with him) and Parka with a reverse corkscrew bodyblock for the win. Really good match considering the time given, and they work a hell of a fast pace cramming so much into this. A couple of slight miscommunication issues but that’s being ultra picky. Considering how little push these guys ever got in WCW it’s amazing that they continue to work so hard, it’s some work ethic they’ve got. The best Chavo has looked so far and the reaction La Parka gets never ceases to amaze me.

Fit’s got his arm in a cast as a result of having it ‘broken’ by Lex Luger. Finlay uses the cast as a weapon unleashing clubbing blows to the Barbarian until he’s able to turn things around. Fit with a nerver hold, followed by an elbow to the bridge of the nose and Barb rolls to the outside. Finlay follows him out and again clubs him with the cast. He rams his back into the apron but Barb is able to reverse an Irish whip and Fit goes flying into the guard rail. He then starts to focus his attention on that broken hand, driving it into the ring steps. Bodyslam and a clothesline off the top for a two. Fit nails him in the head with the cast, but as he shoves the referee out the way whilst he’s admonishing him he’s met with a big boot for another two. Barb whips him into the ropes, Fit ducks a clothesline, picks him up in a fireman’s carry and forward roll slam for the pin. Solid little match. Nothing you ‘need’ to see, but if you’ve got a spare five minutes you won’t be offended. Nice to see the Barbarian focus some attention on Finlay’s broken hand, strategy that Luger should’ve adopted when wrestling Hogan at Superbrawl.

Great opening as Dandy with a pescado to Vito and Silver King with a springboard crossbody to Johnny before The Mamalukes have even entered the ring. Really nice teamwork from the luchadores, and a double hip toss followed by a Dandy forward roll over Johnny leads to Vito breaking up the pin at two. Irish whip reversal, Johnny picks up Silver King and Vito is in with the ‘Hart Attack’ clothesline. A pair of double axe handles to the chest and The Mamalukes continue to put the boots to King. Kick to the head/spinning neckbreaker combination for two as King kicks out. Silver King with a sunset flip, but Vito follows up with a thrust kick flooring him. Vito with a whip to the ropes, King holds on and when Vito charges at him he gets backdropped over the top rope to the floor. More nice teamwork from the Mexicans and Vito again has to save his partner from the pin. King and Dandy have their opponents in opposite corners, climb the turnbuckles and start punching them, however The Mamalukes are able to lift them up and stereo powerbombs. Johnny with a knee to the mid-section of Dandy and Vito with a jumping DDT for the win. Post-match the Harris twins attack both teams, with everyone bar Vito taking impressive looking bumps for the ‘H-bomb’. Silver King and Dandy looked so much better than the Mamalukes here, just a shame that they’ve already been typecast as jobbers. Their double team manoeuvres and team work is all so smooth, to a point there’s almost a sense of the Midnight Express about them. Didn’t think much of Vito who seems more interested in posturing and posting out there.

The match was set up earlier in the show after Lex Luger had been saying he kicked the crap out of Hulk Hogan for 15 minutes at Superbrawl. If Hogan thinks he’s done with the Total Package he’s mistaken as this is just the beginning and next time he won’t get out of it so lucky. Hogan interrupts him and says with Lex running his mouth about what he’ll do ‘next time’, they can do it again tonight. He heard his complaints about how he was worried about big Jimmy Hart busting him up, so he’s made some special arrangements and had a cage set up in preparation. Team Package see Jimmy Hart backstage and they attack him and drag him to the ring with Flair choking and whipping him with a belt. Hogan’s music plays and he rushes out and goes straight for Luger and Flair. He levels both in the back with a chair and Flair starts chopping him to no effect. Naitch backs off pleading, but it’s all a ruse as he low blows Hulk. Flair holds him while Lex jabs the chair into his mid-section and clobbers him over the back with it. Security and Doug Dillinger order Flair to the back and Luger throws Hogan into the ring to get this match officially under way. Lex starts putting the boots to him, and Tony Schiavone informs us this is a ‘last man standing’ cage match where pins and submissions don’t count and first man out the cage wins. Luger tries to ram Hogan’s head into the turnbuckles, but he blocks it and sends Lex’s into it instead. A pair of clotheslines and he chokes the Package with his vest. Hulk stand on his throat then again uses his cast as a weapon. Some rapid fire punches to the temple and as he goes to throw Lex head first into the cage, he puts on the brakes, blocks it and sends the Hulkster flying into it. Luger with a double axe handle off the middle turnbuckle. A trio of elbows and he cups his ear mocking Hogan. Suplex, Torture Rack, although not sure why when you can’t win by submission. He drops the Hulkster to the canvas, calls for them to openbut Hogan’s back to his feet. Mark Madden is pretty funny on commentary saying ‘oh, for heaven’s sake’, while Schiavone can’t believe what he’s seeing! Lex turns around to see him and Hogan ‘hulks up’ while Luger tries to retreat. A series of punches, big boot and Ric Flair is sprinting back down to ringside. Leg drop and Flair kicks the referee out of the way so he can enter the cage. He starts chopping and punching Hogan but those shots do nothing. A big boot to Flair, leg drop and the Hulkster covers him (huh?). Double clothesline and as he takes off his belt ready to whip Ric, he’s nailed in the back by Luger with a steel chair that Liz had thrown into the cage. Flair whips the Hogan with his belt and security enter the cage to try to help. Doug Dillinger is attacked by Luger, who then puts his arm between the chair and stomps on it ‘breaking’ it. Some more security come out but are quickly beaten down as the show goes off the air with Hogan laid out. The crowd were electric at times during this. Better than the Superbrawl match, and I really liked the opening few minutes with them outside the cage and everything with Flair at the end. It started to lose my attention slightly in the middle, but the match was on fire from the moment Hogan popped up from the ‘Torture Rack’. No real logical reason for Lex to go for that hold mind when you can’t win the match by submission!

Just like me, Mikey has had enough of RVD’s never ending entrance and nails him with a baseball slide dropkick through the ropes followed by a pescado. This match is being filmed for TV and we miss a whole bunch of action where the wrestlers are obscured by the camera man, or are on the opposite side of the ring to Feinstein, although you can just about make out Whipwreck with a huracanrana on the floor. Mikey with a slingshot elbow drop back into the ring as RVD is draped over the middle ropes for a two. Nice clothesline off the top for another near fall. RVD catches Mikey’s foot and spins through with a kick of his own. The camera angle does Van Dam’s kicks no favours at this point showing them clearly missing and coming up short. Reverse atomic drop sends Mikey crashing into the corner, RVD catches a chair from Fonzie and dropkicks it into his face. They’re back on the outside and an Irish Whip into the guard rail, then a thrust kick sends Mikey flying backwards over it and into the front row. As Mikey is hanging over the rail Fonzie holds a chair over him and RVD with a spinning leg drop off the apron. Back in the ring and a cartwheel into a moonsault for a two. Rather than continue to attack his opponent Van Dam would rather look into the crowd and posture. ‘Rolling Thunder’ onto a chair and more self congratulating himself. Mikey evades a monkey flip onto the chair, comes round the side of RVD and a lovely release German onto it. Pedigree onto the chair for two. Van Dam blocks the stunner flipping Mikey backwards over his shoulder, catches a chair from Fonzie (who’s up on the apron) and a Van Daminator. He sits the chair in the corner, invites Fonzie to come and sit on it (huh?) then comes off the top with a frog splash for the win. I was split watching this one. I liked Mikey and his control segments were the highlight of the match for me (his selling was great too), but I hated RVD. He’ll do a spot then stop and look to the crowd for some sort of acknowledgement and recognition. Once I could just about live with, but it’s practically every time with him. I had forgotten how flagrant the use of the chair is as well, with not even a hint of a warning about it from the official. Then sitting Fonzie in the corner on it before the match is even over? Yuck! Towards the bottom of the pile this one.