GSR

The final first round match in the Cruiserweight tag team tournament. Jason B is the former E.Z. Money and is a replacement for Jamie Noble who is unable to compete due to “circumstances out of his control,” whatever that means. It’s noted that this is B’s first appearance in WCW, although the fans may recognise him from elsewhere. Karagias counters the tilt-a-whirl with a neckbreaker. Good facials from B on selling the knife edge chops. As Evan comes off the middle he’s caught by a dropkick to the chest. The Tajiri handspring elbow and Karagias is wanting out. The new pairing utilise a couple of double team maneuvers on Shannon before O gets a two count following a springboard crossbody. Moore avoids a Lionsault and Evan with a powerslam as 3 Count take over. B makes a blind tag and hits the Money Clip on Shannon. It was an attempted double Money Clip but Evan ducked out the way. Karagias then with a pescado to O who had slid out under the bottom rope. Dive train. O tosses Evan back into the ring, Shannon saving his partner on the cover. Everyone takes it in turn to hit a big move (Bottoms Up, Money in the Bank, 450 splash) the spare man breaking up the pin each time. B gets backdropped over the ring post to the floor and, with him now out of there, 3 Count hit a double team Bottoms Up with Shannon coming off the top while Evan held O in position for the win to complete our semi-final line up. The match was fine considering it was practically two unknowns who the crowd must’ve known had little chance of advancing. Jason B used a lot of his trademark stuff outside and after a slightly nervy start on that neckbreaker looked good in there. I didn’t mention it in the write up on his appearance in Wildside but interesting to see him using the handspring elbow variation, something which almost surely he wouldn’t have been allowed to do in ECW.

The Hardy Boyz challenging the Dudleys for their WWF World tag team titles. Matt makes the mistake of turning his back on Bubba who immediately takes advantage. Match number two for Paul Heyman and another ECW reference, this time when talking about all the tag titles that the Dudleys won there. Jeff with a blind tag, he starts climbing the turnbuckles but as Matt rebounds off the ropes it causes him to lose his balance and crotch himself across the top one. As the brothers have words, Bubba runs through them with a double clothesline. Jim Ross notes that the Hardys don’t appear to be on the same page tonight. High backdrop to Jeff. Bubba plants him with the Bubba bomb and then is distracted by Matt on the apron allowing Jeff to get in a low blow. Top rope Frankensteiner by Jeff who falls on top of Bubba, almost getting a fluke pin. Both men make the tag and Matt is all over D-Von. Swinging neckbreaker for him, flying clothesline followed by a DDT for Bubba. The Hardys team up for Poetry in Motion, Bubba with a last ditch save on the cover. He throws Matt out to the floor as D-Von avoids the Swanton. After the Wazzup, Bubba tells D-Von to get the tables, the crowd fully joining in on that. As D-Von collects one from under the ring he’s absolutely creamed in the back by a Christian chair shot. Bubba chases after Christian but has left his partner all alone. Twist of Fate and we have new World tag team champions, Bubba getting there a fraction too late. Lita joins the brothers to celebrate their win at the top of the stage.

Paul Heyman in the seat next to JR and wearing an ECW cap. That’s twigged something I said on watching this past week’s Memphis Power Pro and wondering what led to the WWF pulling their talent and going exclusively with MCW, it was to do with Lawler quitting the company after they had fired the Kat. Earlier in the day Mr McMahon went to the Radicalz and said one of them could challenge Chris Jericho for the I-C title on tonight’s Raw. We see footage of the Radicalz debating that decision in their locker room, Malenko and Saturn both putting their case for the shot forward. Benoit thinks it should be Eddy, while at the same time Eddy thinks it should be ‘the Crippler’. They eventually decide on Eddy, Benoit saying how its payback time after Jericho put him out and how he showed his true colours with what side he’s on and how he wouldn’t have it any other way. Benoit is out first, ‘the Wolverine’ taking a seat next to Heyman. The wrestler’s are introduced and he still hasn’t said a word, not taking his eyes off the Intercontinental champion. Heyman likes his style of commentary and wishes JR would take some lessons from him! The timer hasn’t even reached five minutes, and remember a lot of that was taken up by the Radicalz discussion backstage, and Heyman has already shoehorned a reference to ECW in. Y2J reverses the Gory special into one of his own. Eddy manages to fight his way up onto the shoulders, so Jericho then just pancakes him to the mat. Hiptoss slam followed by a bulldog. Eddy rolls out the way of the Lionsault and unloads with some vicious chops. Jericho had dished out some of his own early, Guerrero’s paying him back in kind here. As Eddy charges, Jericho launches him overhead, straight into referee Tim White, taking him out. The superplex is blocked by Eddy firing off some headbutts, but he then misses on the frog splash. With both men down Benoit leaves his position at the commentary desk, heads upstairs and...hits a diving headbutt on Eddy! Jericho makes the cover and retains the strap. Benoit has a sly smile on his face, Heyman saying how he set Eddy up, while Y2J is at a loss as to what just happened. Malenko, Saturn and Terri are all out wondering what their partner is playing it. They go to check on Eddy, ‘the Crippler’ going in the opposite direction as even if the Radicalz are not done, it certainly looks like Benoit has severed his links with the group.

Booker T makes Rick Steiner sick. I think he’s still of the opinion he hid behind his brother in this “real man’s business” and challenges him to a match at the PPV. Scott warns DDP that the running stops comes Greed, where he’ll show him that he’s no match for the Genetic Freak. Booker accepts Rick’s challenge on the proviso that he puts the U.S. title on the line. A fast and furious start as all four men pair off. Scott gets clotheslined over the top to the outside and Page with an immediate pescado. On the other side of the ring a Booker superkick sends ‘the DFG’ through the ropes to the floor. DDP off the top with a flying clothesline to Scott. After some Rick interference swings things in their favour, Page ends up hooked upside down in the corner where Scott kicks away at him. Rick gets floored by a discus lariat after catching a boot, both men then making the tag. Booker is all over the brothers here, that is until Scott pulls down the top rope and he sails out over it. The World champ whips him into the railing and also makes use of a chair. All missed by our referee, Mickey Jay this time, who was busy trying to keep Page on the apron. Scott runs through his repetitive repertoire although does pull out a T-bone suplex, one that he tends to use sparingly these days. Booker ducks a clothesline, coming back with a desperation flying forearm. Hot tag and Page has fists of fire while throwing discus lariats and regulation ones. Scott saves his partner following a DDT and then plants Page with another belly to belly. He turns his attention to Booker, the two brawling up the entrance way. Action continues inside were Rick lands the top rope bulldog. Scott and Booker have fought all the way to the back where we see members of the Magnificent Seven beating on ‘the Book’. Scott Hudson did plant the seed that this may have been a set up by Scotty, turns out it was. In the ring Page escapes the Steiner Driver and hits the Diamond Cutter for the win. On seeing Jeff Jarrett he’s out into his safe haven among the fans, however as he’s about to let them know he’s still standing, before he can finish the sentence he’s blindsided by Scott who knew where he’d be heading. The show goes off air moments later. The brothers pretty much have a tried and tested routine while Rick is by some way my least favourite guy to watch in the promotion, taking that into consideration I didn’t mind this. When it comes to main eventers in this company who won’t phone it in, Booker and Page are right at the top of that last, despite on occasion DDP being bought down by his opponent. Yet more interference in this match, even if it was backstage, and that is one thing that seriously needs limiting.

With March being the final month for the company I’m going to watch everything WCW puts out, which means stuff like this, which I would normally have no interest in, is getting viewed. The laughable “U-S-A” chant, laughable in the sense that it is two Americans in there. Awesome no sells the splash in the corner and runs through Hugh with a big clothesline. He throws him through the ropes to the floor, following him out, but ends up getting backdropped over the guard rail into the front row. The crowd, who haven’t really been into this, do pop for that. Awesome must land on his feet because he’s set waiting for Morrus to turn around, nailing him with a springboard clothesline off the railing. Slingshot splash back into the ring, the start of a series of two counts for him. Hugh ducks a clothesline (Awesome seriously over relies on that move too much) and dumps Awesome with a release German, only to go shoulder first into the ring post after his charge is side-stepped. The Awesome bomb is countered at which point out rushes Lance Storm for yet another run in on what’ s been a night of them. Storm interference doesn’t pay off and he ends up getting sent into the metal security railing. Awesome misses the splash off the top after having first connected on a slingshot shoulderblock. Morrus milks the lead up to the moonsault, landing it for the three. Storm attacks Hugh post-match, Konnan making the save. Orelay! Boring match and that’s four run ins for the night already (not counting Dustin’s post-match run in) with just the main event to come.

Recap of some recent altercations between the two, Scott Hudson thinking that Helms has gotten under the skin of the Cruiserweight champion who maybe feeling that the title is slipping through his fingers. New entrance for Helms, both the ‘Vertebreaker’ song along with some dancing girls. That’s a huge sign for him. Chavo gets the jump before the bell, lifting Helms off his feet with a European uppercut. Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Shane before clotheslining the champion over the top rope to the outside. Great froggy crossbody, Helms getting some air on that one. Shane is about to springboard back into the ring when he’s pulled down by Kid Romeo and Elix Skipper, hitting his face on the apron. That explains what Chavo was doing earlier watching their match, clearly wanting some more substantial backup after Johnny Swinger & Jason Lee had failed on Thunder. Chavo with a baseball slide followed by a pescado. Back inside he takes Shane’s head off with a lariat. Romeo & Skipper are staying at ringside, Elix hooking Helms’s ankle when he starts fighting back. Scott Hudson wonders why they’re allowed to stay out there and why Charles Robinson isn’t sending them to the back. Robinson is late on the Helms backslide as he’s busy speaking to Elix & Kid, Shane then reiterates those very sentiments to him. Sugar Smack. He makes out as if he’s going to run at Chavo but instead nails Skipper & Romeo with a flip dive out onto the pair. High crossbody to Chavo. Romeo enters the ring but gets thrown to the floor. With Robinson now looking at Kid, Skipper and Chavo hit the Hart Attack on Shane. Similarly to the O’Haire/Luger match I have no idea how the official has didn’t see/couldn’t hear this interference. A brainbuster seals the win in what was a non-title match up. It beggars belief that Helms would be given that huge new entrance and then in his first match with it does the job here. This was non-title anyway so give him the win after overcoming the three on odds. Like we’re supposed to care that he’s got a PPV match against Chavo after this? Another WCW official made to look like an idiot too with how this went.

Ever since Dustin Rhodes turned down Ric Flair’s efforts to recruit him back in January things have gotten ugly between the two parties. With the aid of Flair’s officiating Jarrett scored a pinfall over Dustin last week on Nitro, this week ‘the Boss’ is giving Dusty a chance at getting some revenge against ‘Double J’. Jarrett says he can finally achieve his destiny by putting the Rhodes name and legacy to rest and calls Dusty and his big, fat, white ass out here. Tony Schiavone is giving this the big build up and what a momentous night it will be to see ‘the Dream’ here on Nitro. It’s not ‘the Dream’, rather some guy in an old man mask wearing a fat suit and dressed up to look like him. Schiavone apologizes for his exuberance on seeing this having got caught up in the moment. Jarrett knows “Dusty” came to fight because he didn’t bring his bucket of fried chicken. The “match” is treated as comedy, Jarrett pinning the imposter after a Bionic elbow and elbow drop in double quick time. When he talks about ‘the Dream’ finally going to kiss ‘the Chosen One’s’ ass, it brings out Dustin Rhodes who has finally seen enough. As the two go at it, the imposter is sat in the corner watching on, that is until Dustin lands a bulldog, he then tears off his prosthetic mask to reveal Ric Flair under the disguise. His music is awful, but the actual Dream is here to save his son, the save very reminiscent of what happened the end of January with Big Dust throwing Bionic elbows and Flip, Flop & Flying. Flair wants security to escort Dusty out of his building as he doesn’t work here. ‘Dream’ pushes some more buttons, saying how Flair used to be a mega star but now he’s nothing more than an extra, which results in he and Jarrett rushing the ring only to get beaten down again. ‘The Boss’ tells Dusty if he did work here he’d “kick his ass”, to which Dustin responds by reminding him that he does. A forgetful Flair seems to think he doesn’t for some reason, clearly forgetting how he beat Rick Steiner to get reinstated, although if he wants to he can bring himself to Jacksonville, FL for Greed. A tag match is set up for PPV, Dusty saying how he’s got one silver dollar left will and will make Flair kiss his white ass. I think the crowd were more into this than me and it felt like a retread of Dusty’s last appearance on Nitro. Comedy is supposed to be funny right?

O’Haire is ou for some payback for what Totally Buff did to Chuck Palumbo last week on Thunder after his victory over Disqo. Luger is dawdling like nobodies business as he makes his way to the ring. He gets the jump on O’Haire but is every bit as lethargic in his attack as he was on his entrance. There is zero effort on the cover and even less when he misses the elbow drop. I would guess there is every likelihood Lex is doing the job here! O’Haire with those short arm clotheslines before firing some shots into Luger’s ribs. He runs into a big boot and Lex with a running forearm to the face. We’re reminded, like most times, how there is a steel plate inside that forearm. Luger would rather flex than cover his man, belatedly doing so. After being whipped into the corner O’Haire runs up the turnbuckles and backflips off the top but his knee gives out on landing. Lex stomps at that knee while Chuck Palumbo rushes out to check on his partner. After Luger kicks Palumbo off, Chucky pulls him to the floor and starts attacking him. Rather than calling for the bell and DQ’ing O’Haire, referee Billy Silverman is counting Luger out the ring!!! Buff Bagwell is out next and into the ring, using a chair on O’Haire’s bad knee and then bringing it down across his back. Silverman misses all of this too. Eventually he spots him, IN THE RING, WITH A FOREIGN OBJECT AND INVOLVING HIMSELF IN THE MATCH, yet still fails to disqualify anyone! Not that this was any good to begin with due to Luger, but it’s turned into an outright disaster. Bagwell accidentally takes out Luger with the Blockbuster and O’Haire hits the Seanton bomb for the win. Post-match Buff does catch O’Haire with the Blockbuster, before Palumbo, who had been decked moments earlier off camera, running Totally Buff out of there. Luger’s effort, more like his lack of effort, was pathetic. Billy Silverman looked like an incompetent fool, first not DQ’ing O’Haire for Palumbo’s interference and then allowing everything that followed. Rewind to the first match of the night when Rick Steiner was disqualified for Scott’s interference, everything here was far worse. Just a lack on consistency. If I didn’t already know how the match at the PPV goes my expectations would be diminishing the closer we get.

The penultimate first round match in the Cruiserweight tag team title tournament, the winners going on to face the Jung Dragons in the semi-finals. Styles & Paris have finally got themselves matching coloured ring gear. The era of the catchphrase means that even someone like Elix Skipper has one which he’s trying to get over. He introduces his mystery partner, it is in fact the man whose arrival they’ve been hyping in vignettes the past couple of weeks, Kid Romeo. Romeo’s music is awesome. We’re given a bit of background on him, it even mentioned how he’s wrestled in New Japan and competed in the Super J Cup this past summer. Romeo with an arm drag and he starts doing jumping jacks like he’s Rick Martel. Styles backdrops him over the top to the outside but Kid snatches him on the baseball slide and dumps him across the announcers table. Paris catches his legs on the ropes on the tope con hilo, lucky not to hurt himself. Corkscrew pescado by ‘Primetime’. Styles backflips off the guard rail after being whipped towards it. There’s all sorts going on here. Paris nails Skipper with a dropkick off the ring steps as he’s being held by A.J. and finally Romeo with a flying clothesline off the steps, bodies lying everywhere at this point. A count out means one or both teams would be out of the tournament so they bring the action back into the ring. Styles & Paris with a double team pancake on Kid. Drop toe hold/twisting senton combo on Elix. Steven Prazak gets name dropped, Scott Hudson saying how he recently spoke to him and that he thinks the Wildside boy’s biggest weakness is the year long feud they had and how they will need to keep things together to advance. A double dropkick sends Kid through the ropes to the outside. Flip dive off the top turnbuckle by Air. Skipper and Styles are just stood their in the ring, time standing still, before Elix eventually clobbers him. Gorgeous top rope quebrada to the floor by Skipper. A.J. with a springboard crossbody out onto everyone, one that Tony Schiavone calls the Flying Squirrel! Elix nails Paris with a springboard kick as he’s on the apron and as he’s about to fall, Kid catches and powerslams him onto the ringside mat. Chavo Guerrero Jr is shown at the top of the stage watching on. With Styles taken out they throw Air back into the ring. Skipper just about connects on the springboard dropkick and Romeo with a Northern Lights bomb as they move onto the semis, Chavo looking suitably impressed with what he’s seen. Some cool stuff in there but it was rough in places. Paris seems to be showing more nerves as the weeks go on as opposed to less. Skipper was spotty and that moment where he was stood just watching Styles, sheesh, time really did stand still there.

Rick Steiner is already in the ring when Nitro comes on air. ‘The DFG’ takes some digs at Booker T, how he was a nobody without his brother who was always there to back him up, how he was nothing as a champion and how he never beat him. He kinda challenges him which leads to Booker coming out. Booker is on a mission, getting the sound guys to cut his music. He starts talking about ‘Big Poppa Pump’, the bad blood between the two and that he’ll get him in due time, in the mean time though he’s happy to come to that ring and whup his ass all over the place for these fans. ‘The Book’ wants a referee and if by magic Scott Armstrong is on the scene. The bell eventually rings a good thirty seconds after they’ve already started going at it at ringside. Booker drops Steiner across the guard rail and throws him into the ring steps before tossing him inside. Steiner gets the jump on him with a kick between the legs and takes over. Scott Hudson wonders if ‘the DFG’ is running interference for his brother by calling Booker out. Finally a referee who at least threatens to disqualify one of the Steiners after they put their hands on him . Booker kicks out of the belly to belly at two. Some sort of Tiger Driver. Steiner climbs the turnbuckles for the top rope bulldog but Booker falls into the ropes causing him to lose his balance. Superplex. Axe kick followed by the Harlem side kick. ‘The DFG’ blocks the Book End and goes for his Steiner Driver which I think Booker escapes from, as opposed to him losing his balance, it looked bad whatever happened mind. A knee to the groin stops the second Book End but Scott Steiner has seen enough anyway, running out from the dressing room for the DQ. DDP makes the save and clears the pair from the ring, the World champion getting caught up in the ropes when he was supposed to take a spill to the floor. Security arrives to keep everyone apart before a bit of mic work sets up a tag encounter between the four for later in the show.

Every time I think I’ve seen “the last ever meeting” between these two another one crops up! No audio for me here. It’s clipped too. Tajiri with the Tarantula, he ends up playing to the crowd after applying the hold and Crazy smacks him on the ass then locks in a rolling surfboard. Dragon sleeper while he’s still got the legs grapevined, Tajiri’s back all bent and curved. Great springboard missile dropkick. Tajiri ducks between Crazy’s legs after the punches in the corner, smacks him on the backside before hanging him upside down in the Tree of Woe. Baseball slide dropkick to the face. He kicks Crazy to the floor although doesn’t choose to follow him out. Crazy is back on the apron brandishing a chair, however Tajiri with the handspring, kicking it into his own face. You see Crazy fiddle with his wrist tapings so I’m saying the next time we see him he’ll be bleeding. He is. Tajiri has got a title belt which he clocks Crazy in the head with. He then places that belt over his bloodied opponents face and stands on it, almost grinding it into his forehead. Yuck, Tajiri bites at the cut and then spits out the blood. Crazy has juiced a good ‘un here. A shotgun dropkick appears to wipe him out but he kicks out of the pin, clenching his fist as he tries to draw something from the fans. He reverses the Irish whip, tilt-a-whir backbreaker and the comeback is on. Corkscrew elbow drop, which I can’t remember seeing him use previously. Tajiri counters the powerbomb with a DDT for a near fall. Lovely springboard moonsault by Crazy. He wallops Tajiri with a chair, lays it across his chest and lands another perfect moonsault for the three. I thought they were just giving the fans a nice crowd pleaser of a match, then all of a sudden things got nasty. Not on a par with any of the Death matches we saw between the two last year, but this was a welcome change from the Tajiri vs Crazy stuff we’ve seen so far in 2001.

Low sound on this match, which looks to be taking place in a high school gym. I turned the volume on my computer all the way up and still couldn’t make out a word the Hardbodies were saying on their promo. Interesting to note in contrast to last night that Dave Prazak is managing the Bodies, who aren’t referred to as that and aren’t in matching ring gear either. Punk & Cabana don’t have Paul E. Smooth managing them, rather some female valet. They clothesline the Bodies over the top rope to the outside and then connect with stereo suicide dives. Punk works over Steel’s left arm and is good at keeping the crowd involved. Dominion makes a blind tag, however a Punk drop down sees him run into his partner and Punk is able to carry on where he left off on him. Quesadora bulldog, Steel in to break up the cover. Double springboard moonsaults from opposite sides of the ring. Steel is in again, they swipe his legs out and he falls on top of Dominion. Note how in a more family friendly audience they didn’t do the 69 spot there like they did in the IWA. Reverse springboard forearm smash by Colt. There’s a long shine here. Punk with a vertical suplex followed by some double team action. Dominion nails Cabana with a flying forearm as the Bodies look to slow the tide. Steel floats over on the Russian legsweep for a two count before drilling Punk, drawing him into the ring so the Bodies can get some double teaming in of their own behind the official’s back. That release powerbomb where Dominion tosses his man backwards over his own head. He kicks Colt out to the apron and then stands on the bottom rope to suplex him back inside. Dominion cuts off the comeback with a Saito suplex. Colt is dumped to the floor where Prazak puts the boots in, even dropping an elbow on him. Cabana counters the suplex with a roll up and Dominion is in to break that up. Release Northern Lights but he can’t make the tag. Steel clotheslines him across the top rope and hits a springboard tornado DDT. Colt blocks Dominion’s tornado DDT and lands a top rope Frankensteiner. After crawling through his legs he makes the hot tag to Punk, quickly gathering a second wind himself. Dual punches in the corner. Punk goes for the split legged moonsault but Prazak shakes the ropes, the ref missing all of this as he’s over in the opposite corner. Dominion rolls through on the roll up, hooks the tights and the Bodies snatch the win. The female valet low blows Prazak post-match and also gives Dominion a Lita-style leaping rana. I don’t recognise the girl but she’s clearly a trained worker. First thing to mention is that Punk & Cabana also worked the MAW show (both cards were held in Wisconsin) so this is either their first or second match of the day. Some elements were similar to the IWA match although in no way would this be considered a carbon copy, in fact I think it is the better match of the two. It maybe suffered from slightly going long in the shine and FIP sections, but never felt as bad as last night. Additionally the managers weren’t a featured part the polar opposite of yesterday where at times it felt like it was more about them than the wrestlers. A very good match and a strong recommendation.

Mid-American Heavyweight title match, the Triangle of Pain stipulations meaning that there’s a Bed of Nails in one corner, a barbed wire baseball bat in another and a bucket of broken glass in the third. Ian’s forehead is all taped up after last night’s strap match in IWA-MS. He’s pretty funny at handling all the hecklers in the crowd, putting them down, but after ten minutes of that I’m just wanting them to quit it and let him finish his promo. The action starts on the floor and Ian goes straight for the barbed wire baseball bat which he uses against both. Corp pulls something out of his pocket, looking to re-open that cut. You have to wonder why Ian even bothered plastering it up knowing full well what was coming here. Ian cracks Craig over the back with a chair, the camera though misses his full force shot to Corp. After he tries to embed Craig’s head into the bed of nails, the referee says something to him, event staff are out and the match stops as they check on Corp who appears to be seriously hurt. Ian’s even telling “Steve” to stay down, he and Craig will finish the match. He’s continuing, struggles into the ring and looks to be in absolute fucking agony. Rotten empties the bucket of glass onto Craig and then hiptosses Corp onto him. Corp’s holding his shoulder as the ref again makes sure he’s okay. I don’t know if that chair shot compressed something or what, but the way he’s carrying his arm indicates something like a potential broken clavicle or dislocated shoulder. Ian throws him out the ring to protect him from himself as he and Craig work things. Testicular claw by Ian. Craig grabs him by the shirt and pulls him onto the bed of nails before standing on his back as he’s lay across them. Corp clambers back inside and is slammed into the broken glass, his audible cries of pain saying it all. Unlike Ian, Craig’s not for protecting, hitting that arm he’s holding with a chair. Ian drags Craig to the floor where he delivers some stiff forearms, possibly a receipt over what he just did to his buddy. When Ian returns he breaks a bunch of light tubes over Corps head and then powerbombs him through a bunch more which he had bridged between two chairs. You see Ian say something to him prior to this, presumably telling him to do himself a favour, we’re going home and stop trying to wrestle! Craig blasts Ian with a chair, nails Corp too and steals the win to retain the MAW Heavyweight title. Corporal Robinson is too tough for his own good. He got hurt early and from then on I was more concerned about his well being than how the match was going.

For the Disciplinarian, who is from the Board of Education, think a female Dean Douglas. There’s the usual WOW vignette where she is shown tormenting some young school kid. She can’t believe Beckie’s challenged her to a match and makes jibes about Beckie’s pet pig being smarter than she is and her family being inbred. Beckie sprints down to the ring and nails the Disciplinarian in the back with a dropkick, the Disciplinarian falling through the ropes to the floor where she takes out her hair pin and removes her jacket. She slingshots her back into the ring and transitions from a full nelson bomb into the Farmer’s roll. There is good athleticism on show here, although the Disciplinarian with a bad looking hip toss. Crotch hold slam followed by a running splash for a two. Beckie counters the Pedigree with a backdrop but then fails to connect on her reverse splash off the top. She lands on her feet off the snapmare and nails the Disciplinarian with another hearty dropkick. The Disciplinarian clotheslines Beckie across the top rope as the match continues to ebb one way and then the other. As she’s whipped into the corner Beckie jumps to the middle turnbuckle and lands a missile dropkick. She bodyslams her into position before heading upstairs for something. Holy fuck! An immaculate 450 splash that puts the Disciplinarian down for the count. They replay that to death, and rightfully so. Beckie is a tremendous athlete and it’s surprising that she didn’t do anything outside of WOW or that no-one took a chance on her. Men doing 450s were few and far between back in 2001, let alone women.

Joey Abs is out to speak with Dave Brown, believing that it should be him in the upcoming title match, thinking that he was robbed in last week’s three way which determined today’s challenger. Dave sees it differently, saying how it looked to him like Abs was celebrating a bit too early and Pete Gas took advantage to get the pin. They’re joined by Gas who accuses of Abs of making up excuses. He says how before the match they’d agreed whatever happened in it they would still be friends after. If he (Abs) had this title opportunity he (Gas) would be upset, but he’d be happy for him. Joey concedes that maybe he’s right and wishes him luck, deciding to stick around to watch the title bout next to Dave and Corey. Steve Bradley, with Victoria, stops off for a few words and is glad to see Gas and Abs kissed and made up before telling Gas that he’s ready to beat him like he stole something. The challenger steps out to meet him on the floor where this gets underway. When they make it inside Bradley lands a swinging neckbreaker. Gas with a hot shot across the top rope. He heads upstairs but as the official goes to check on the champion, Victoria shakes the ropes causing him to lose his balance. Superplex for a two. The whip to the corner is reversed only to for Gas to run into a big boot. Bradley comes charging out but Gas ducks the clothesline and he wipes out the ref. William Gibson replaces the downed official, he though then gets bumped on an O’Connor roll. Victoria interferes one time too many, Gas lifting her up onto the apron and forcing himself on her after she had grabbed his foot. She doesn’t seem too eager for him to stop, in fact she’s just keeping Gas occupied, as while he’s got his tongue down her throat Bradley is wrapping something around his boot. Gas turns into a superkick but gets a shoulder up on the cover. He blocks the neckbreaker, countering with the Gas Mask and we have a new Power Pro Heavyweight champion. The studio were loving that with chants of “Pete, Pete, Pete”. Joey Abs joins him in the ring to congratulate him on the win, however as soon as he turns his back on him Abs grabs the belt and cold clocks him with it. During the match it is mentioned how Bradley first defeated Kurt Angle for the Power Pro title. After losing it here you would think this would’ve finally been the ideal time to move him from developmental to the main roster, it was just never to be though.

Rob Harlem heads to ringside after the wrestlers with a note pad. Dave Brown wonders if he’s doing some scouting but doesn’t speak to them, just takes a seat. At least he won’t be distracting from the matches for a change. Dragon and Steel open with a bit of chain wrestling, the heel Dragon going to ‘All That’s’ eyes. Steel snatches the arm and pancakes him to the mat. Hammerlock, Dragon firing off an elbow to the jaw to escape. Shooter’s caught by a flying clothesline and then taken down with an armdrag. Tag to the power man of the four. The big Bulldog misses the blind tag and a nice backbreaker/low dropkick double team. Dragon’s knife edge chops haven’t gone unnoticed on Dave who thinks he has the most vicious chop he’s seen since Tojo Yamamoto! Corey then regales us with a tale of Tojo wanting to chop him one night in Jonesboro and how there was no way he was letting that happen. Bulldog ducks Shooter’s clothesline and flattens him with a flying shoulderblock. Hot tag to Steel who’s taking it to both Dragon and Schultz. The Bulldog is back to his feet as all four men are going at it in there. Dragon pulls down the top rope and Raines sails out to the concrete. Combination Roaring elbow/German suplex and the Kliq pick up the win. Jason Sensation continues to act like an utter tit, ridiculously OTT in his celebrations and with the jumping around after the win. Without checking I can’t remember what led to the WWF pulling all their talent from MPPW and going exclusively with MCW. Whilst they get the live television experience in the studio, they tend to be working five minute matches at most and in a tag they’re working even less. When you want developmental talent to be working longer matches so they can “develop” I don’t know how the Power Pro format can truly benefit them. The more ring time they get in MCW is what they need. Is someone watching these shows and noticed that? Probably doubtful, but we got very little from Dragon and Spanky this week.

A strange pairing given the history between Spanky and King, one that we later find was put together by Commissioner Bill Dundee. Jason Sensation has been working on a Corey Maclin impression although this isn’t one of his better ones. The Haas’ with a double team slingshot shoulderblock. Double dropkick and Spanky is in to save his partner. Nice gut wrench by Charlie however he’s then nailed by a Spanky missile dropkick. The ref was talking to Russ so he didn’t realise that there was no tag made and that Spanky came in of his own accord. It looks like DK is trying to recover on the apron but Spanky tags him back in when he’s not really looking for it. High crossbody for a near fall. Charlie catches King and dumps him with a belly to belly as both men are down. Each crawls to their corner and while Charlie tags in his brother, Spanky turns away, abandoning his partner and leaving him all alone. An already tired King is easy pickings from there, falling to Total Haastility.

Today’s show contains matches that were recorded at the recent ‘Showdown at the Nuthouse’ event. Dundee and Eaton have been feuding with each other over in Power Pro Wrestling, that feud has made it’s way over to MCW, and the Commissioner flexed his muscles and inserted himself here into what was originally a handicap match. With Dundee trapped in a front chancery, the Kat is in, on her partner’s back and slapping ‘Beautiful’ Bobby across the face. The very next spot sees the heels try the very same thing, only ‘the Superstar’ sees it coming a mile away when Victoria swings at him, Eaton and her crumpling to the mat. Victoria is livid and wants the Kat. Surprisingly Kat looks fairly competent in there, hitting a huracanrana on Victoria and a pair of arm drags followed by a monkey flip on Bobby. We’re finally getting Lawler and Eaton squaring off, that is after plenty of stalling. ‘The King’ is knocked to the floor after a right hand, Bobby goes out after him but ends up getting backdropped on the cold hard concrete. Victoria is around and takes a swing at Lawler, who ducks her shot and then plants a kiss on her. That’s Pete Gas and Jerry Lawler on the same weekend, did any Memphis face not force themselves onto her? More stalling. ‘The Superstar’ and ‘the King’ work together against Eaton. Baxter punches Dundee in the back of the head and then grabs hold of him. As Eaton charges, Dundee then bends forward, Baxter going forward too, and Bobby gets backdropped over the top to the outside. Dundee concentrates his efforts on Baxter allowing Eaton to return to the ring and drill him with a right. Not to be left out Victoria also puts the boots in and scratches ‘the Superstar’ in the face. He eventually hot tags ‘the King’, after first crawling between Eaton’s legs, as the match breaks down into a pier sixer. Lawler and Eaton are left all alone and ‘the King’ gives him a piledriver. Rather than make the pin himself, he assists Kat on a Rocket Launcher, the old Midnight Express finisher and she gets the three count. If Eaton didn’t know, Lawler makes sure to let him that he was pinned by a woman who used one of his own moves against him. Pure Memphis from start to finish. Just like on a throwaway episode of WCW Saturday Night last year where Bobby Eaton took a hip toss on the ringside mats, he’s at it again here, taking unnecessary backdrops on concrete.

Main event time and time for the man who drew the house. Another choice musical cut for 2001, Pondo’s ‘Bullet with Butterfly Wings’ by the Smashing Pumpkins. I get the impression that a certain section of the fans are more interested in seeing the Sandman’s entrance as opposed to seeing him wrestle. You see some of them trail him around the building clearly hoping that he’ll empty a beer down their throat. Pondo breaks a light tube over Sandman’s head while he’ still in the crowd and they’re damn lucky glass didn’t end up in a fan’s eye. Mitch Page is seconding Pondo, Sandman taking a shot at him the first chance he gets. He grabs his Singapore cane, cracking Pondo over the head with it as the fans chant “one more time!” to him. Turns out Sandman busted himself open when with one of the beer cans he chugged on his entrance, blood streaming down his face. Russian legsweep with the Singapore cane onto a Stop sign. Low blow by Pondo who then drags Sandman back to the floor. Page holds the Sandman, but he moves and Pondo accidentally clobbers him with a frying pan. Bloody hell, Pondo breaks a light tube over the Sandman. The old light tube up the butt spot! Pondo collects a ladder from under the ring, places it in the corner and Sandman takes a flip bump into it. Page enters the ring and sandwiches the Sandman between the legs of the ladder, Pondo then walloping the ladder with the Stop sign. Why is the ref just casually standing by and not doing anything to get him out of there? Pondo with a somersault senton onto the ladder. He sets up a few chairs but Sandman counters the DDT onto them with a suplex. The comeback is brief, Pondo burying Sandman under the chairs as well as the Stop sign and then coming off the middle with another senton for the shock win. Page jumps around celebrating and hands Pondo a tinny to toast the victory. As they’re about to show the Sandman who “the man” is, they’re run out of there by Spike Dudley who’s carrying a Singapore cane of his own. A dejected Sandman apologises to the fans for letting them down and guarantees that if he gets another opportunity he’ll kick Pondo’s ass. I don’t know what’s come over me but I actually enjoyed this. A lot of regular Sandman spots, but mixed in with some IWA-MS staples like light tubes. Perfectly serviceable hardcore fare. The show as a whole I didn’t enjoy anywhere near as much as the Anniversary one back in February. Ian really needs to look at limiting the length things last as I’d say probably only Spike vs Page and maybe the main event didn’t overstay their welcome. Even when you have matches that don’t go too long you then have either a ton of pre or post-match fodder. I had pegged the 2 Tuff Tony vs Blaze as one to also check out as I usually enjoy Tony but nixed it on how the card had been up to that point.

Well things have gotten serious quickly between these two as last time we saw Whitmer in IWA-MS it was when he had that slow, ground based affair against Ian, here we are tonight and it’s a leather strap match. Turns out that someone has been flyering the cars in the car park for a rival show and Ian has found out about it. He’s not happy and basically questions the entire crowd to see whether anyone has the nerve to own up to it. No-one does and he goes on about this being “his house”, something he pays $2,000 a month to rent etc. The irony behind that being that he’s openly flyered at OVW shows in the past. Rotten tells B.J. that he’s in over his head and he’s in the IWA now where “men are men and bitches like him get their asses kicked.” You can win by either pinfall or dragging your opponent to all four corners of the ring, both men attached to the leather strap by their wrists. Ian shortens the strap and gets the first licks in before using it to choke B.J. with. Whitmer goes to the eyes and starts whipping himself, although there doesn’t look to be a whole lot behind those shots. His opponent shows him how to swing the thing and B.J. is out to the floor. They trade chops at ringside and now Whitmer is going into the ring to try and get away from him! He’s pulled back outside and Ian drills him with a chair shot. It’s not the usual Rotten brain killer but it’s no gentle tap either. B.J. comes up bleeding and gets hold of a barbed wire bat which he grates into Ian’s forehead. There’s almost a reluctance behind the Whitmer chair shot, as if he doesn’t want to go the whole hog for fear of what Ian might do in return. He goes to the corners, slaps three, however before he can get to the fourth Ian is up, forearming him across the chops. Hangman’s neckbreaker with the strap. Ian with what looks like a North-South choke, B.J. stretching his legs to the ropes for the break. Oh yeah, Ian is bleeding too now, courtesy of that chair shot. Whitmer is at least swinging that strap better the longer this has gone on. A stiff forearm looks like it damn knocks B.J. out. They tease Ian making it to all four corners when Whitmer is up, rushing him. Rolling senton followed by a standard one, Ian bringing all his weight down on his opponent. The finish is perhaps surprisingly a pinfall as opposed to touching the corners, B.J. telegraphing a backdrop and Ian giving him the double arm DDT. Whitmer is not finished, blinding Ian with some salt and then pulling his shirt off so he can whip him some more. It looks like some of those shots are even hitting the back of the head. I thought that some of those had opened Ian up, but on rewatching closer you see him blade the top of his back. B.J. finishes by pouring salt into those open wounds. Whitmer got into things, eventually, increasing the stiffness of his blows, although there was no emotional attachment whatsoever for me. Whether that was due to how long the show had gone by this point and I was done by the time I watched it may have been the case. Still, it’s also tough to imagine B.J., who’s got no look or physique at this time, being a viable threat for Ian in a match like this.

Haha, these kids who can’t be any more than 12 giving ‘the Rugby Thug’ the middle finger. He says that last week Corporal Robinson made the biggest mistake of his life by sticking his nose in his business. Baker goes on to explain the self-explanatory rules of a ‘Capture the Flag’ match before introducing his partner, a man who hates all the people here as much as he does. Those tough 12 years olds are at it again with Tracey, even dropping a few f-bombs his way. Some attractive women in the House of Hardcore, the camera finding and concentrating on them as they dance to Rollin’s entrance. Pure quality from Tracey on the mic; heeling on Charlestown, IN, insulting some “four eyed, fat fuck” and some “old bastard” in the crowd, and promising to commit mass homicide if he hears “Tracey sucks”. You know what he’s going to say but it’s gold every time out. Smothers is announced as being from “Nashville, England” for the night and wants to hear some “Go Great Britain!” chants! Rollin and Baker have some miscommunication on practically the first spot of the match. In a matter of seconds they have two more and appear to be on completely different pages. It’s some poor stuff. Corp is tagged in and, in contrast to his earlier bravado, Trent is wanting no part of him. Smothers softens him up and now Baker fancies his chances, however the moment Corp is up to his feet he’s back outside and letting Tracey do the hard graft. Great looking superkick by Corp. Rollin and Smothers trade chops. When Rollin goes over to grab the flag (which is plonked in one of the ring posts) Baker is down the apron to prevent him. Trent makes a cover after a bulldog, the ref having to remind him that you can only win by retrieving the flag. We get some slow climbing, which is bad enough in a ladder match, it’s even worse here when they only need to climb a few turnbuckles. Corp literally ties himself in the Tree of Woe. I was at a loss at first, but I think the reasoning behind it is that with him covering the turnbuckles it makes it impossible for the opposition to climb them and ultimately collect the flag. This is where commentary would really help these IWA-MS shows to explain the psychology and not leave it for the viewer to piece things together themselves. Tracey DDT’s Rollin and he’s wondering where that “U-S-A” chant is now? Double Russian legsweep followed by a double elbow drop from the “British” duo. Reverse DDT by Smothers who then cinches in a rear chinlock. Just as Rollin’s about to fight his way out the corner he’s felled by a drop toe hold. Double backdrop is telegraphed and Rollin with a double DDT. Hot tag to Corp who’s throwing some fine looking dropkicks. Tracey gets clotheslined out to the floor. Corp winds up but Trent ducks out the way and he accidentally nails the ref. He hits the Bootcamp and then collects the flag, however just as he grabs it Smothers is up on the apron and pushing him backwards off the turnbuckles. The flag falls from his hands, straight into those of the laid out ‘Rugby Thug’, the ref awakens to see Baker “holding” it and he awards them the match. Loud “bullshit, bullshit” chant (not the first time we’ve heard that in IWA-MS and no doubt not the last), along with someone wanting to know where his fucking pizza is! Smothers blasts Corp hard with a steel chair post-match, Baker piledriving him on it after. As a parting gift he blows his nose and wipes his ass on the U.S. flag which he then covers Corp with. For those keeping count for the night, this one all in went over 25 minutes. Hard is an IWA favourite so the crowd get behind him, but he and Baker were both bad here, something that was even more noticeable when they were in there together. Another doozy of a finish, is there any company worse than IWA-MS when it comes to pissing there fans off with screwy endings? Then though there is Tracey Smothers. Someone who I’ve never really fully seen what others have in, even when I was ploughing through Smoky Mountain there were always others who left the favourable impression, who’s stock soared etc. Now in 2001, I’m seeing it and he’s one of my favourite performers of the year so far.

Mean Mitchell has got some female manager/valet with him. Page jumps Spike before the bell and immediately starts pounding away on him. Both men miss charges into the corner, Spike doing himself more damage than Mitch, as he went flying between the turnbuckles into the ring post and then crashed to the concrete. They go at it on the floor, Spike picking up a chair which he cracks over Page’s head. He’s not finished with that chair, climbing to the top rung and jumping off with another shot. One of the two busted Mitch open. After breaking a light tube over his back, he grabs a second, this time though Page gets in beforehand with a shot to the gut. He tells the crowd to part and then hurls Spike into the chairs wiping rows of them out, the second match that has happened in tonight already. Spike finds a barbed wire crown from somewhere and uses that. Plancha from the top turnbuckle to the floor. They make their way to the back of the arena where Page launches Spike into one of the walls. He sets up a table at ringside before returning to his opponent. Barbed wire covered 2x4, vacuum cleaner, all sorts are being used here. Page lands a big backdrop and then teases that he’s going to throw Spike into the crowd, like Bam Bam Bigelow would do in their ECW matches. All four sides of the building are chanting “over here”. As he’s about to, Spike wriggles free and grabs him for the Acid Drop but Page blocks that and levels him with a clothesline. Spike fights off the superplex, biting Mitch, who falls backwards to the mat. Double foot stomp off the top! Again he looks for the Acid Drop, this time though Page dumps him over the top and through that table he’d set up earlier. The slack cover allows Spike to get a shoulder up. A huge Last Ride powerbomb folds him up and there’s no kicking out this time. I had genuinely forgotten all about that valet until seeing her again as Page is leaving. Spike gets a big standing ovation, still selling the back of his head, as he leaves. A decent enough brawl although not something that I could ever recommend someone going out of their way to watch. This was Spike’s farewell to the Indies as he would debut on Raw in just over a fortnight’s time helping his “brothers” in a match against Edge & Christian.

Morton is the first to get some use out of the Lumberjacks, throwing Palmer out to the heel section where they all put the boots in to him. With an abundance of people who can’t throw a punch, it’s cool to see someone like Morton who knows how to. He cuts off the comeback with a poke to the eyes and throws him back out to his guys. Palmer blocks the suplex, countering with one of his own. Morton takes his first trip to the outside, Palmer though making the mistake of tossing him to the heel section where all they do is cushion his fall and help him back in. Not one to make the same mistake twice, next time out it’s out to the face section. Palmer hits a piledriver, Morton bouncing a good foot off the canvas on impact. Chris Hero, one of the lumberjacks, was great selling that. Morton crawls out the ring to safety hoping to get a bit of solace. As Palmer leaps over with a pescado, Hero launches a chair at him and he crashes to the concrete. It looks like the chair was close to rebounding into a young kid in the front row. The faces are around to check on him before helping him back into the ring. A pair of rolling snap suplexes into a brainbuster. Morton is measuring his shots now. Double foot stomp. He sits Palmer up top, but he blocks the attempted suicideplex and front suplexes Morton to the mat. Second rope missile dropkick. Palmer doesn’t half wind his punches up. After a Blockbuster, Tracey Smothers grabs the referee’s leg to stop the count. While the referee speaks to Tracey one of the faces throw Palmer a chain. Morton gets in first, powdering him, then picks up the chain and KO’s him with it for the win. If the first two matches are anything to go by this is going to be one long assed IWA-MS show. Another that lasted in excess of twenty minutes total, the match itself going close to the twenty minute mark. Morton was okay here but Palmer’s not the most sympathetic of babyfaces, as a result this was an almighty slog to sit through. Very punch heavy too in the first half, which becomes monotonous after a certain level of time.

I think it’s fair to say that one person and one person alone has drawn this house, the Sandman. Never fails to amuse me seeing all the yokels repulsed by Paul E. Smooth dancing and grinding on them. Smooth is managing the Bodies, Dave Prazak in the corner of Cabana & Punk. A heavy comedy based opening portion with the faces mocking the heels annoyance over the chants, the Bodies each taking prat falls and the two running into each other. As they aim to regroup on the floor, Cabana & Punk with stereo suicide dives. Paul E. looks so ridiculous in the half-shirt while still wearing a tie and trousers. Back inside Dominion ping pongs between the two as they take it in turns to take shots at him. Cool double jump springboard moonsaults from the pair. Steel is in to try and help his partner, but a drop toe hold sees him end up on top in a 69 position for some more comedy. It’s Smooth who’s the difference maker, yanking down the top rope and pulling Punk to the floor, turning the match in his team’s direction. Great Saito suplex by Dominion. More interference from Paul E., choking Punk over the ropes. Steel slips on the springboard and quickly hits a tornado DDT, not quick enough to stop the “you f*cked up!” chants. Dominion with what looks like it’s going to be a powerbomb but he just tosses Punk backwards over his head. Punk is thrown to the floor where Paul E. puts the boots in before being suplexed back inside. Some double team action from the Bodies. Ace sits on a headscissors chinlock, however Punk is able to get to his feet, Steel now on his shoulders in the Electric Chair, and dumps him to the mat. He can’t make the tag and is dropped by a Dominion lariat. Steel floats over on the Russian legsweep and Colt is in for the save. Punk counters whatever he had planned off the top with a sunset flip powerbomb. This time he makes the tag and Cabana is in, a house on fire. Reverse springboard flying forearm to Dominion. Scoop powerslam on Ace and Punk is back to help his partner out. As they do stereo punches in the corner, Smooth pulls Colt over the top to the outside. Prazak chases after Paul E., who scoots into the ring where Prazak is levelled by a double clothesline. Smooth is now freely interfering as the action spills to the floor. Prazak with a crossbody off the top onto everyone, he then whips Smooth into the chairs. Why on earth are they doing that spot in the opening match? The other four continue to go at it in the ring when a pair of double clotheslines sees everyone go down. Prazak and Smooth are inside with chairs and a super cute section sees them bring them backwards over their heads and in doing so crack one of the opposition who was stood behind them. After a pair of superkicks Punk gets the win for his team, pinning Dominion with a cradle suplex. The Bodies attack them post-match, giving each a piledriver onto a chair, Prazak telling them that it is not over by a long shot. I liked this more than Migs, I think, but it absolutely went too long which there was no need for it to do so when it was the first match on the card. It was nice seeing Punk & Cabana teaming together as opposed to facing one another and they’re a good team with some nice double team spots. I know they do the whipping someone into the empty chairs on every show, but jeez, again, this was the first match! And to do it with the managers too! They were both overly involved also for my liking. After watching this I also have a hunch it was actually Dominion who teamed with Steel in the Bodies tag team in the WXO stuff that we watched from 2000. If anyone has an interest in seeing Punk & Cabana team together in the early stages of their career go with the SDW tag from tomorrow which is better than this.

You’re used to a wrestler jumping his opponent before the bell in the U.S., not so in Japan, you’re therefore caught completely off guard by Ohtani’s furious and relentless onslaught, dropping Murakami and repeatedly kicking away at him. An amazing start to the match. Kaz is on the floor in no hurry to return, pacing around ringside trying to work out what just happened while Ohtani guards the ropes. When the official pushes him backwards Murakami seized the opportunity, unloading with punches and kicks of his own. Ohtani looks outclassed standing but manages to take Murakami off his feet with a low kick and then it’s one soccer kick after another to the ribs. They trade again, this time Kaz is landing the flusher shots. Nice Judo throw by Kaz. Ohtani gets the back and lands an awesome German suplex. He’s looking for a modified choke but Murakami gets to the ropes for the break. Kaz tees off on him and Ohtani collapses like a Giant Redwood, from where he quickly sinks in a rear naked choked and the ref stops the bout. The action was frantic, frenetic, believable and violent. A great shoot style match.