GSR

The ‘Rugby Thug’ says that tonight is a special night; not only is it the one year anniversary of this shit hole, but it’s also the night they end the careers of Corporal Robinson and the Suicide Kid. Shadow is worried over how sharp those thumbtacks are, although Trent tells him not to worry as he’s got everything under control. Suicide proves how “hardcore” he is by taking off his shirt to wrestle this bare chested. The fights starts as the MC is announcing the participants, and unlike most other announcers he’s not stopping, giving everyone the fullest of introductions. The wrestlers pair off on either side of the arena. Suicide Kid is already bleeding (I reckon a good 50% or more of the wrestlers will tonight) and he’s another conspicuous blader. They finally return to the ring where Corp slams Trent onto the thumbtacks. Unlike the Suicide Kid it would appear that Baker has got plenty of layers on under that top. Shadow drops Suicide on his ass into the tacks. He blocks the tornado DDT but gets caught with a Russian legsweep. Double suplex. They suplex Corp from the apron back into the ring, but he avoids the double elbow drop as Shadow and Trent hit only tacks. Top rope Frankensteiner by Corp. From the opposite corner, Suicide with a top rope poison rana which I’ve not seen before. Baker kicks out of the ‘Bootcamp’. Bloody hell, Suicide Kid with a ‘Cop Killa’ on Shadow into the tacks. The two collect a table from under the ring and while Corp lays Shadow on it, Suicide disappears out the door, reappearing in the roof of the building. He makes his way across the rafters and then drops a leg from the ceiling onto Shadow putting him through the table. Eat your heart our Ric Blade. That was absolutely fucking nuts! The crowd are going crazy and the outcome is all academic after that. Trent jumps them with his Rugby ball as they celebrate the win so it looks like this feud isn’t over yet. He doesn’t bother waiting for Shadow, letting the event staff deal with him. A really good Death match. The start is chaotic as the four fight around the building, then back it’s back into the ring where they make use of the thumbtacks, everyone taking bumps into them. The ‘Cop Killa’ and poison rana spots are crazy, then Kid tops those with one of the nuttiest things we’re likely to see this year, jumping from the rafters with a legdrop through a table. I really enjoyed this and if you’ve got even the vaguest interest in this style of wrestling one that I would recommend checking out.

I’ve never seen the ‘House of Hardcore’ so full. It looks like standing room only tonight, so maybe Ian wasn’t lying on the last show when he talked about 400 people being in the crowd for this. Wolf responds to Morton calling him a “pussy”, although forgets to hold the microphone close to his mouth so we don’t hear his comeback. The fans find it amusing so it must’ve been a good ‘un. One thing I’ve noticed recently is how many wrestlers are incapable of throwing a decent looking punch. Add Mark Wolf to that list. The two take it in turns to punch each other before swinging hell for leather. Wolf does drop him, but then immediately falls to the mat himself. After trading in the ring they trade on the floor, Morton getting the better of that exchange. Back inside and the repeated blows open Wolf up. They return to the outside where Morton, who is also bleeding now, pummels Wolf some more. Morton accidentally punches the ringpost when Wolf ducks his shot and the comeback is on, Wolf beating him all the way around ringside. That was great. As it looks like Wolf has got things under control, Morton pulls out a chain, wraps it around his fist and KO’s him for the pin. Not done he then grabs a chair which he brings down over the back and into the ribs of Wolf, Cash Flo, Corporal Robinson and Suicide Kid running him off out of there. Well they certainly made use of the taped fist stipulation, as this consisted of almost nothing but punches, which did start to become repetitive. Wolf’s comeback was great though and Morton realising he was in trouble resorts to cheating at the earliest opportunity to get the job done. The closing minute or so made it worth sticking with.

Steve Bradley stops off for a few words with Dave Brown prior to “hanging out with his friends”. He plugs the Corinth show, where he faces the Spellbinder in a title unification match, promising that both belts are coming home with “Who’s Your Daddy?” The face team start by working over Slash, but when ‘the Superstar’ tags in he wants no part of him, Dave noting how Dundee has had problems with him for years. Spellbinder with an overhead belly to belly on Bradley. Koko holds onto the ropes to avoid an Abs dropkick as they then set about working him over. Moore looks like some regular Joe out of the crowd. Middle rope moonsault by Bradley and Lawler is in to break up the cover. Slash misses the somersault senton off the top. Powerslam by Abs for a two. At that point everyone enters the ring and all hell breaks out in there. Lawler pounds away on Bradley in the corner, bringing in Victoria who pulls him off her man. She’s got some clippers, which I think is to do with some hair match Lawler has got coming up against Moore that was briefly mentioned. All this is happening right in front of referee William Gibson who is doing nothing. ‘The King’ boots Victoria, causing her to drop the clippers, and he now has them. She gets away from him the once but he grabs her a second time, the show going off the air with Bradley and co trying to hold him back. No official result, although Gibson should’ve DQ’d the heels for Victoria’s interference.

It is cool in a small arena like this when the whole building is singing along with Sandman’s entrance. After four and a half minutes of said entrance Homicide has had enough of waiting around and goes out to get him. Sandman takes a great bump into the guard rail as Cide beats him around ringside. He sits him in a chair on the floor, ready for the tope con hilo, but as he hits the ropes he’s tripped by Da Hit Squad who’ve sneaked down to the ring. Frog splash off the top by Mack. Sandman goes after DHS and with the help of a couple of Homicide Mafia kicks they run them out of there. An inebriated Sandman doesn’t know who “those two fat bald asses are”, doesn’t even know what promotion this is, but wants the promoter out here right now. ‘Fat’ Frank answers the call and Sandman informs him that he wants “those two fat asses in the ring right now”. Not only doesn’t Sandman know where he is, or who attacked him, he also has no idea who he was facing earlier, asking Homicide what his name is. He says he’s going to make him a superstar, asks whether he wants to be his tag team partner against those two and again tells ‘Fat’ Frank he wants the match right now. Frank responds that DHS have already wrestled once, it’s 10:30 p.m. and the show is officially over. When Sandman threatens him he orders DHS out. Da Hit Squad are back and this time they’ve got New Jack with them. Mack wants to do this right now, New Jack wants a part of it too and it leads to an impromptu match, because if you’re going to use ECW talent why not use ECW booking tropes also? Although the bell rings, there isn’t much of a match; Sandman takes half a dozen vicious cane shots to the head and he and Cide are left laying after a pair of Drivers, the match just ending. I’d be hesitant about calling either match a “match”, it was more about setting up the tag encounter for tomorrow night.

The Christopher Street Connection are out first, dressed like a couple of gangsters, wearing big hoodies and their faces covered. “Gay-A-P” chant. Buff E. says that he might be gay, but the beating Da Hit Squad is going to get tonight is real straight. When someone in the crowd heckles him, he responds by saying how he tried to rape the lad’s father last night but he just gave it up! Fuck! DHS climb the turnbuckles on their introduction and it looks like CSC go over and cop a feel. Mack says how he knows the CSC have been wanting their asses for a few months, and as there’s a big crowd in tonight, decides to let them have what they want. The CSC strip down to their ring gear and Mack tells them to close their eyes and put their hands behind their backs. Come on boys don’t fall for it! Before they pucker up Buff E. switches places with Mace because he wants “the cute one” (Mack) and even checks his breath. As they adopt the position, waiting for a big smacker, they get smacked alright, whipped with belts! Buff E. gets thrown to the floor where DHS’ lame manager, Johnny D, starts whipping him. Huge double press slam where they launch Mace skyward towards the ceiling. The CSC gets beaten around ringside before the action returns inside. Mace reverses the Irish whip and lands a spinebuster. His knife edge chops have no effect, Mack responding with quick fire Kobashi style chops. Half and half suplex by Mafia. DHS with a noggin knocker but CSC block it and start making out with one another. That does allow them to get in a few shots before normal order is resumed. Mack’s clotheslines look brutal and I have no idea how he doesn’t KO Mace. Press slam dumping him out onto the concrete. A release German folds Buff E. up. Diving headbutts from opposite corners and mercifully for the CSC that’s it. Da Hit Squad have some parting words for Homicide, warning him that he isn’t going to make it to Philly tomorrow. Practically a squash with DHS doing a demolition job on the Christopher Street Connection.

Rick Silver, Montoya’s manager, with the easy cheap heat , insulting the fans and calling them garbage. That wouldn’t be so bad if Reckless Youth hadn’t done the exact same thing prior to the previous match. Montoya was originally scheduled to face Dr Hurtz, but he isn’t here so the promoter put him together with Ric Blade to face Blue Dragon & Dixie. He’s not overly impressed about having to wrestler a couple of inexperienced punks, so tells the ring announcer to introduce the greenhorns so he and Blade can stretch them all over the building. Dixie and Dragon have a combined weight of 300lbs! Someone in the crowd is giving Blade grief about his receding hair line. He really needs to do the honorable thing and take the clippers to it. You can tell they’re working towards the stand-off, although give them a bit of due, when you expect them to milk the applause they charge at each other with clotheslines instead. Montoya and Dixie work some stuff around the arm. Criss cross spot, Dixie catching the Don up before eventually ducking to the floor as Montoya continues to run the ropes. Silver is in the ring trying to get him to stop but he just runs though him. Now Blade is in and Montoya hiptosses him. So “in the moment” he didn’t realise what he was doing, but that was some bad shit. As they regroup and reset on the floor, Dixie nails Silver with a baseball slide dropkick. Awesome twisting dive over the top rope by Dragon. Back inside Dixie with a missile dropkick to Montoya, he’s also got this sweet looking fist drop from the middle rung. Blade catches a kick and T-bone’s him as the match swings in the other direction. Samoan drop followed by a standing moonsault. Slingshot belly to back by Montoya. Some great wacky upside down submission hold, Dixie wide open for Blade to blast him in the chest when he doesn’t give. Yuck a horrible shotgun dropkick that’s nowhere close to connecting and with an almighty hand clap to make it appear that it did. That useless JAPW ref (I forget his name, the lad with the long hair who was useless last year too) fails to see Silver dragging Dixie all the way around ringside and slamming his head into the apron. Dixie counters the powerbomb with a rana AND DRAGON JUST ENTERS THE RING?!?! Why on Earth try to get heat on someone if you’re going to come in anyway without a tag? That brings Blade in, but after DDT’ing him, Dragon returns to the apron waiting for the tag. Weird! Dragon cleans house until he’s caught by a Blade handspring kick. A real contrived set up sees Montoya walk half way around ringside with Dixie so everyone is in position to cushion Blade’s landing on the springboard twisting senton. Wow, Dixie with a rewind Frankensteiner for a near fall. Great double jump springboard moonsault by Dragon. After saving his partner Blade hits a rolling fisherman buster on Dragon into a spinning powerbomb. ‘Kryptonite Krunch’ and that wraps this one up. Post-match Billy Reil, who I didn’t recognise and who also has an awful haircut, kills Montoya with a chair shot. While lighting up a joint he tells him that he hopes he wins tomorrow and makes a challenge for next month, a challenge that is accepted with Montoya saying how he’s going to bend his ass over and make him his ho! Not sure who thought that this needed to go twenty five minutes. A real indie feel to this with a dud of a ref and some very strange moments in there. Dragon has got some great high spots and it was nice to see the rewind Frankensteiner, but they’re both so green. I usually enjoy Montoya but hated the comedy spot early and Blade is Blade, even though he never nearly killed himself tonight. An improvement on Reckless/Elax but that’s feint praise indeed. Poor match.

Reckless addresses the fans saying “for the last year I’ve been...” to which someone quips “wasting your life!” which I thought was a quick, funny heckle. He hasn’t been wasting his life, he’s been down in Memphis, TN performing in the greatest wrestling city in this country. This town here in New Jersey means nothing to him and the people here aren’t worth his time. He goes on that the only good thing he ever heard coming out of New Jersey was when his good friend Christy Whitman passed a ban on extreme wrestling. That draws a “Fuck Christy Whitman” chant, to which Reckless takes offense to, what with her being a close personal friend of his, so they change it to “Fuck you too!” When they start cheering as he talks about packing his bag and returning to Memphis, he lets them know that because they want it it’s not going to happen. He’s going to stay here and show them what wrestling is all about; no dives, no chairs, he’s not going to risk himself for these pieces of garbage in what he sees as a tune up match before tomorrow’s three-way in Philadelphia where he plans to take the Jersey All Pro title. Elax, who is known as ‘the Exploited Child’, comes out to “Connection” by Elastica. Add that to The Smiths as well as the Sex Pistols and 2001 has seen some fine musical choices being used as entrance themes. His punches do look bad and then he makes a mess of a simple slide through Reckless’ legs. Holding Youth’s hand he struggles to climb the ropes, takes a couple of steps across the top one and just about manages to execute the rana. He’s now slapping his forearm as he throws punches to make the noise, these aren’t well disguised at all. Add snapping his opponent’s neck across the top rope to things which are a tough task for Mr Elax. Jeez, twisting senton from the middle turnbuckle to the floor, Elax cracking his head on the concrete. The guy’s a danger not only to his opponent but to himself too. Back inside, as Reckless is on his knees backing off he kicks him around the side of the head, thigh slapping on those. Reckless blocks the attempted superplex and counters with a front suplex. Flying knee drop to the back of the head. I think Reckless gives up on trying to tie Elax in the ‘Tree of Woe’, just hanging him upside down in the corner. Elax avoids the somersault off the middle and starts firing back with those dreadful punches. Spinning heel kick. Reckless shoots him off on the attempted tornado DDT but then Elax botches the floatover DDT. Give him credit for the competent moonsault only to then fuck up the monkey flip. A Reckless Northern Lights Bomb ends this. Elax is terrible and these two didn’t gel well together at all, although I imagine most would struggle to accomplish much with Elax. The low ceiling meant they were restricted to coming off the second rung as opposed to the first, which in the end probably helped Elax as who knows how much he would’ve hurt his head on the concrete if he’d come off the top. Reckless still works the crowd but his best work tonight was on the mic. Bad match.

Corey Maclin makes a point to get rid of the popcorn that Spanky left out there because he doesn’t trust it! Cade ducks the clothesline and comes back with a flying forearm. High dropkick for a two. Seven, who is seconding Vick, hooks Cade’s ankle from ringside and Vick floors him with a spin kick. Belly to back suplex. Vick cuts off the comeback with a rake across the face. Out from the dressing room comes Slash who’s on the apron trying to hand Vick a chair. Seven yanks it away as the two want nothing to do with him despite his continued attempts to curry favour with them. Cade dropkicks Vick into Slash and schoolboys him for the win. That’s two weeks on the trot his attempted “help” has backfired, costing Seven a match against Spellbinder last week. Cade stops for a word with Dave Brown to plug the house show in Bogota, TN this evening, where he’ll team with Joey Abs against the Dupps. He says how they’re going to end their reign for good when they blindside him. Jack brings a chair down across his back and they continue to attack him until Joey Abs, Alan Steel and Blade Boudreaux run them off.

Triple H has weaselled his way into this title match, Stephanie convincing her father to add him to it as he was rushing to leave the arena. ‘The Game’ is facing Steve Austin at No Way Out and the zero tolerance rule is in effect; neither man can touch the other until the PPV. Michael Cole mentions that the champion doesn’t have to be pinned to lose his title here, so when Angle sees the Rock and HHH starting without him he sprints down to join the action. He quickly gets despatched over the top rope to the floor by the Rock, which starts a familiar patter, as every time he re-enters the ring he’s immediately thrown back out. The Rock walks into a ‘Pedigree’, Angle pulling him to the outside to stop the pin. ‘Stone Cold’s’ music starts and Austin is walking to the ring, a cooler full of beer in hand. HHH glares at him and is caught from behind with an ‘Olympic slam’, the Rock with the last gasp dive to break up that cover. ‘The Rattlesnake’ commandeers Tony Chimel’s seat, taking a pew ringside to sink a few cold ones. The spare man continues to make it impossible for anyone to grab a pinfall. Triple H is slow climbing upstairs and Rock slams him to the mat. Ric Flair’s number one fan imitating a trademark spot of his. A hard whip to the corners sees ‘The Game’ go sailing out over the turnbuckles to the floor. Belly to back by Angle on the Rock and everyone is down. Austin gets up from his seat, walks over to HHH and leaves an open beer next to him. That get’s swiped away when he spots it. Jerry Lawler points out that Triple H doesn’t drink, well if anyone would know it would be him. Dragon screw into the ‘Sharpshooter’, HHH recovering and drilling Rock with a DDT as he’s got the hold applied. Reverse neckbreaker and for the umpteenth time this match Cole screams “We’ve got a new champion” and like every other time the cover was kicked out of. Overhead belly to belly to ‘the Game’. Angle celebrates but doesn’t realise that the Rock is up. ‘Rock Bottom’, more “new champion, new champion” nonsense, however Stephanie is on the apron distracting referee Earl Hebner. Spinebuster and Rock sets himself for the ‘People’s elbow’. A Kurt low blow puts a stop to that. ‘Olympic slam’ and Stephanie is on the apron once again. The additional seconds Hebner is dealing with her enables Rock to get a shoulder up when he eventually does start to count. HHH blocks the gut wrench with a double leg takedown as Earl lurks in close proximity, I sense a ref bump coming. Yeah, Angle kicks him off into Hebner. As HHH is about to hit the ‘Pedigree’ he delays to mouth something to Austin. Low blow by Kurt who then cradles ‘the Game’. ‘Stone Cold’ slides into the ring and slaps the unconscious Hebner’s hand to the mat three times. The show closes with Cole unsure as to how Austin and HHH will make it to No Way Out without destroying their careers or their lives.

Kevin Kelly grabs a few last minute comments from the ‘Brothers of Destruction’. Taker says tonight he’s getting back to doing what he does best, kicking people’s asses! First blood means no strategy, no holds barred, no pinfalls, it’s all about blood and them leaving Rikishi & Haku laying in a puddle of their own. There’s no fear shown from Rikishi & Haku as they march towards the ring, this getting underway before they even make it there. Michael Cole makes a rare good point, thinking that the advantage must lie with them because it was only Monday when the Undertaker was busted open and that cut can’t be healed yet. Kane holds Rikishi as Taker grabs a chair but Haku with the save for his partner. Jerry Lawler adds that Taker refused stitches the other night which will also go against him, specially if he keeps getting his head bounced off the announcing desk. Taker and Rikishi return to the ring as Haku and Kane continue to slug it out on the floor. Old school ropewalk. Rikishi ducks back out after being turned inside out by a clothesline but there’s no rest bite as he gets his head repeatedly slammed into the metal steps. I thought he was trying to blade the way he was moving his hand up to his forehead although there’s no sign of any blood just yet. Taker grabs a chair but Rikishi cuts him off with a thrust to the throat before bringing the chair down across his back. He then targets Kane’s already injured ribs when he tries to come to his ‘brother’s’ aid. Chair to the head of Taker who immediately checks to see whether he’s been opened up. The Island boys double team Kane inside while Taker is down at ringside. Rikishi backs that big ass up as Haku returns to finish off the Undertaker. Taker unloads on him and bends a chair over his head. Kane with a low blow on Rikishi followed by a chokeslam. The commentators say how that’s all well and good but it’s not the kind of move that will help them win this match. Patience boys! While Taker tosses the metal steps into the ring we see that Haku has been busted open by that chair shot, he’s out of view of the official though. Kane runs Rikishi’s heads into the steps. He comes up bleeding and Mike Chioda calls for the bell. Haku, who I don’ remember as being much of a bleeder, is covered in the stuff all dripping down his chest. Despite Michael Cole’s comments, I hope this marked the end of what has been an extremely one sided feud. This really should be the blow off and struggle to see how they could move it forward from here.

‘The King’ is obsessing over the previous segment where Trish Stratus was in a hot tub. Chris Jericho says that the word of the night is “extreme” and considering he’s been in steel cage matches, last man standing matches and even one of the most violent ladder matches in WWF history, he would say that he knows “extreme”. Therefore he is issuing an open challenge for the Intercontinental championship right now. As he reels off a few names wondering who might answer that challenge, out walks Tazz. Tazz notes that Jericho might be a funny guy, but next to him he knows nothing about being extreme. Yeah, this is definitely what I thought during that opening tables match. He’ll take his challenge, he’ll take his Intercontinental title and he’ll be “just another victim”. A hard chop to the chest drops Tazz. Jericho snatches an arm, taking Tazz down and then crowbars that arm. Head & Arm suplex by Tazz before clotheslining Y2J over the top rope to the outside. Jericho reverses the whip on the floor, however when he comes charging in Tazz lifts him up and hotshots him on the barricade. Tazz is mouthing off at Michael Cole, it really feels like they’re trying to transition him away from a wrestler and to a commentator with how they’re talking. Another suplex dumping Jericho on his head. A quick roll up for a two but Tazz cuts him off with a clothesline. Enzuigiri and both men are down. Tazz ducks a swinging arm and applies the ‘Tazzmission’, Y2J forced to mule kick his way out of it. Bulldog, Lionsault and this one’s over.

Michael Cole welcomes us “to the extreme”, while Jerry Lawler says how we’re going to get “extreme”, this being a special episode of Smackdown called ‘Smackdown: Extreme’. I never picked up on it when they were plugging the show previously but I wonder if this name has anything to do with ECW dying? An early ‘Poetry in Motion’ on Bubba. Electric Chair/neckbreaker combination on Jeff, both teams having early momentum. After the ‘Wazzup’ diving headbutt, Bubba commands his brother to get the tables. Matt cuts D-Von off on the outside while Bubba sets that table up in the ring. He lays Jeff across it, heads upstairs, but Matt grabs his ankle to trap him there. Low blow by Jeff. Top rope Frankensteiner, D-Von moving the table out of the way. The Dudleys with a double flapjack on Matt, this time Jeff being the one who moves the table to prevent his partner from being put through it. Bubba crotches Jeff upstairs, he’s about to superplex him through the table when, from the opposite corner, Matt leaps off the top turnbuckle with a double legdrop through it. It’s smart thinking with the WWF rules being that you have to “put your opponent through a table” not just go through one. Matt pulls a ladder out from under the ring that he runs into the Dudleys. The Hardyz set up two tables on the outside, Matt laying D-Von onto them and then climbing up the ladder. He’s snagged by Bubba and next thing you know D-Von is up alongside Matt battling on that ladder. Jeff runs at Bubba who hot shots him into D-Von and Matt who’re in turn supposed to go through the table, only it’s too far away and they don’t. D-Von especially takes a real nasty looking bump, hitting his head on the side of the table. Both were clearly meant to go through it so the match continues as if they had. High backdrop on Jeff who gets some serious height. Bubba drags him towards the back of the arena where he spots a couple more tables below the stage, getting that trance like look on his face. The two fight onto the stage, Jeff putting the breaks on as Bubba was about to toss him off it. Jeff battles back with Bubba teetering on the edge. As he runs at him he’s caught in a full nelson and a ‘Bubba bomb’ off the apron sees the champions retain. Matt sacrificing himself to save his brother by jumping through the table was a clever spot, although one that I wonder why it isn’t used more often. He and D-Von were both lucky when they came up short on that table as they could’ve been seriously hurt the way their heads smacked it.

Tension is brewing in the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ camp. We see a clip from a previous bout where Palumbo & O’Haire’s interference inadvertently cost Jindrak & O’Haire a match against the Mamalukes and Tony Schiavone talks about the teams’ problems, unsure whether they’re down to pure jealousy or just personal pride. I like how Palumbo shakes out his arm after dishing out some forearms, always a nice touch when someone does that. Non-title match by the way. Johnny is laying his stuff in and the Mamalukes with a huge double spinebuster for a two. Vito plays to the crowd allowing O’Haire to fire out the corner with a knee to the gut and then pepper his ribs with quick fire punches. He can’t continue the attack and the Mamalukes are soon back at it with their double team combinations. Wow! Johnny gorilla presses O’Haire overhead with ease. That was seriously impressive. O’Haire reverses the Irish whip and hot shots Johnny across the top rope as ‘the Thrillers’ take over. Palumbo is at it again, selling his fist on the punches. Big ‘Alabama slam’ after Johnny tried a tip up. There’s a bit of a screw up by the champs on a double team which gets a few noticeable cat calls from the crowd. Johnny counters the side headlock with a belly to back and both crawl to their corners to make the tag. Vito is in with the first blows, planting O’Haire with a side slam. Double arm suplex on Palumbo. A Johnny spinning kick sends O’Haire to the floor where the two continue to go at it. The ‘Vito Special’ for a two; so special because it never gets the job done! He ducks a clothesline but then gets floored with a Jungle Kick. O’Haire, who had got the better of things on the outside, comes off the top with the ‘Seanton bomb’ and as Tony says “nobody gets up from that!” Stasiak & Jindrak make their way to ringside post-match wanting words. Stasiak congratulates them on an impressive win, but in doing so deliberately gets their names wrong. Although they are from the same team, he has a proposal for them, continuing in claiming that Jindrak carried O’Haire when they were tag team champions just like he carried Palumbo. O’Haire cuts him off and says that they may be from the same group but he’s hated him since day one. If they want a title shot, they can have it at Superbrawl. Stasiak suggests putting the dissension behind them until then, however they attempt to jump the champs when they turn their back but don’t fare too well, coming up on the short end of things.

Helms jumps Kidman at the bell, trying to get an early advantage. That doesn’t last long, Kidman catching him with a slingshot headscissors after being dumped onto the apron. As he walks Shane towards the ropes to counter his bodyscissors, Helms is able to take him over the top to the outside. Froggy crossbody. Kidman reverses the whip on the floor, sending Helms over guardrail into the front row before leaping off the railing at his opponent. He tosses him back inside and goes for a slingshot, but gets trapped on Shane’s shoulders, who then drops him face first across his own knee. Mike Tenay is really trying to push this ‘Sensation of Innovation’ moniker for Helms, that’s twice this match already. Fist drop from the second rung. Gut wrench suplex. Double clothesline sees both men go down, Kidman coming off the worse of the two. Figure Four chinlock, Shane deliberately slowing the pace. Kidman floats over on the suplex, lands a belly to back but can’t capitalise. Helms with a variation of the shoulderbreaker and more ‘Sensation of Innovation’. Cool double underhook submission, which really was innovative. Kidman breaks loose as the two exchange blows in the middle of the ring. A dropkick floors Helms before a Sky High powerbomb for a near fall. Shane blocks the attempted superplex and counters with a face first suplex. Super sunset flip. They’ve each got the other scouted, Kidman escaping out of the ‘Nightmare’ and Helms the ‘Kid Crusher’. Eventually Shane sits Kidman on the top turnbuckle , facing away from the ring, and gets underneath him. It’s a new set up for the ‘Vertebreaker’. He hits it, 1-2-3 and Helms picks up what, on the back of his performance at Sin and in the Cruiserweight gauntlet, feels like a career changing win. Good match.

Robbie D’s go behind is beautiful. Orton reverses and he’s over to the ropes. D complaints to Donna Derring of a tights pull, even hitching her short shorts up when doing so. Dressed as she is is distracting (and she’s even more glammed up than usual), if Cornette wants a female official, have her in trousers and a regular shirt. Cartwheel over the drop down by D. Orton with a high, and I mean high, hip toss. D tries the leap frog one time too many, Orton hooking him around the waist and dumping him with a slingshot wheelbarrow suplex. He whips D into the corner, who springs to the top turnbuckle and catches him with a gorgeous super sunset flip. That looked so nice. A dropkick sends Orton over the top rope to the outside. Insane suicide dive. Seriously, the height D gets on that, the ease in which he clears the ropes, is ridiculous. He rolls him back inside and then starts climbing the turnbuckles. The ‘Slick One’ is taking an age on this, first jawing with the fans, then just moving at a snail’s pace. Cornette’s even forced to comment on how slowly he’s going it’s that blatant. Yeah, he was clearly waiting for Orton to get to his feet but they needn’t have took so long. Orton falls into the ropes causing him to lose his balance. Superplex, which is the first time we’ve seen him use his father’s old finisher. Modified T-bone suplex, Orton having got his second wind. D reverses the first full nelson attempt, however he’s caught second time around, Orton planting him with the full nelson slam for a big win. A good little undercard match. The work was solid and, even if I don’t say it I think it every time I see him, Robbie D can do some incredible stuff due to that leaping ability of his. Donna Derring needs to go, bar the obvious I just don’t understand her purpose.

On the video introduction Jim Cornette clarifies that ‘UFC Rules’ means it’s a submission match. There are no holds barred, bar eye gouging and groin shots, just like in the UFC, and to win you must make your opponent submit or tap out. Rob Conway takes the microphone pre-match and tonight, for a change, he’s going to be a compassionate man. He knows Ron Waterman has an injured arm, because he’s the one who injured it, so he’s giving him the option to stay in the dressing room and let everyone know he’s a coward. If he opts to do the stupid thing and walk down the aisle he’ll just have to beat the living hell out of him. Waterman is a physical specimen, reminiscent of Scott Steiner with the bleach blonde hair, coming out to ‘Eye of the Tiger’. On the lock up the two fall backwards through the ropes to the floor. I’ve no idea if that was planned or not but Conway is limping from it. Back inside the ’Iron Man’ starts punching at the arm before twisting and torqing it. Gut wrench suplexes by Waterman, using that supposedly injured arm. Cornette runs down Waterman’s credentials, pointing out that he won his UFC debut by submission in just 45 seconds. Boston crab, Conway inching his way towards the ropes for the break. Inverted atomic drop followed by a belly to back, the ‘H2O man’ again using that “bad” arm. After running into a big boot, Conway is once more targeting the arm. As Waterman starts his comeback Corny says how he’s trying not to use that hurt left arm, right as he picks Conway up for a bodyslam! The ‘Iron Man’ ducks to the floor, Waterman on his coat tails. He runs at Conway, who moves, and he inadvertently clotheslines the ringpost. The moment they get back in the ring Conway slaps on a kneeling armbar. Waterman doesn’t tap but passes out due to the pain, the referee calling for the bell to save him from further damage. Ron Waterman doesn’t have anywhere near the potential of other developmental projects like the Minnesota Stretching Crew or Randy Orton. He’s got the physique they like, but that pales next to say Leviathan. Considering he’s doing an injured arm gimmick it should be straight forward to sell that throughout, as it is I don’t think he does once (until clotheslining the ring post) and blows off Conway’s limb work to throw gut wrenches and the like. He last another eighteen months, working plenty of WWF dark and house show matches, before being cut.

)A fatal four way to determine the number one contender for the World title, the winner getting that shot on the upcoming ‘Smackdown: Extreme’. The Rock was attacked earlier in the show by the Big Show as he looked to take him out prior to the match. Kurt Angle is out to join JR and ‘the King’ to get a close up look at his next opponent. They’ve dug up some cheesy pizza advert that Angle made after winning his Olympic gold which they’re using to make fun of him. Angle describes Chris Jericho as “the most obnoxious man in the business”. Y2J naturally has to get some jibes in on the commercial, saying how it does make him feel hungry, not for pizza, but for the WWF championship. Chris Benoit is out second and he and Jericho are not bothering to wait for anyone else. Ross calls the Big Show “the biggest human being he’s ever seen”. I was going to say did he not call El Gigante matches in WCW, then remembered he made his WWF debut at Wrestlemania IX which featured an Undertaker vs Giant Gonzalez match. The Rock is immediately snatched around the throat on entrance and chokeslammed, Benoit breaking up the pin. Jericho is caught on the attempted crossbody, which gets turned into the ‘Final Cut’, ‘the Crippler’ again being the one to break it up. This opening portion has all been about putting Show over as a monster. An accumulation of Rock clotheslines sends him over the top rope to the floor as the four wrestlers pair off. Benoit with a great release German suplex but he misses the diving headbutt. Samoan drop by Rock, Show breaking up the cover after having dumped Y2J into the front row. A Jericho missile dropkick barely fazes him as the three practically have to work together to get Show down. The ‘Crippler crossface’ is broken up, as is the ‘Sharpshooter’ and as is the ‘Walls’, it becoming apparent that you’re probably going to need to incapacitate more than one person to get the win here. Benoit with a low blow (“a man who clearly lacks integrity”) but Show grabs him around the neck, lifting him up off the mat. Jericho gives them a shove over the ropes to the outside, however when he turns around, turns into a ‘Rock Bottom’, the Rock moving onto ‘Smackdown: Extreme’ to challenge for the World title.

We get a recap from Smackdown where the ‘Brothers of Destruction’ were left laying at the end of the show. The Undertaker demanded this match against Haku and when the ‘Dead Man’ asks for something, he usually gets it. JR hopes he knows what he’s asking for though. Taker is accompanied by Kane, who suffered a rib injury in the attack on Smackdown, while Haku also hasn’t come alone, bringing his fellow Islander. Neither is waiting for the bell and they both come out swinging. It’s Undertaker dominating mind, like most of his matches that we’ve seen recently. Old school ropewalk. He flips himself backwards over the ropes and suckers Rikishi at ringside. Haku makes the save, gets in a couple of chops but then it’s back to more of the same. Taker telegraphs the backdrop and Haku slams him backwards to the mat. A couple of falling headbutts before unloading with punches in the corner. A thunderous headbutt drops Taker who barely kicks out of the cover. He ducks the clothesline and comes back with a flying one of his own. Jumping DDT. As he picks him up for the tombstone Rikishi climbs up onto the apron. Taker drops Haku do go after Rikishi and chaos ensues as Kane, bad ribs and all, also involves himself. Haku does get in a thrust kick but unsurprisingly it’s Taker who gets the ‘W’ following a chokeslam. The ‘Dead Man’ gets busted open post-match courtesy of a chair shot, however even two-against-one, Kane being kept at bay on the floor, he’s able to singlehandedly clear the ring. Kevin Kelly wants a few words with ‘the Brothers’ but Taker interrupts him saying that there’s been too much talking going on lately. He isn’t about talking, he’s about kicking people’s asses and these Island Boys have been trying to make a name for themselves at his expense. He challenges them to a ‘First Blood’ match because blood doesn’t bother him, it turns him on, but what turns him on more is making other people bleed. Undertaker gave Haku more than he does Rikishi, but bell to bell this is a one-sided feud, the heels only able to do any damage after the match is already over.

In the space of a week Ric Flair has moved the goal posts; after qualifying for a World title match at Superbrawl last week, Kevin Nash now has to beat ‘Totally Buff’ in a handicap match tonight to get it. Flair is on his way to the ring carrying a contract. He told everyone that this is “his” WCW and he’s going to make it the number one wrestling organization in the world today and one of the ways you do that is to keep bringing in big name talent. ‘The Boss’ has got his newest player, “none other than the legendary...Dustin Rhodes.” The silence from the crowd speaks volumes, that announcement has gone down like a lead balloon. Tony Schiavone must realise and is doing his best to sell this for all he’s worth on commentary. Flair wants Dustin to sign the contract, show the rest of the world he’s on his team and that he’s ready to be a main line player. Rhodes looks over the contract, thanks Flair for the jet and limo that he sent to get him, then tells him to take the contract and shove it because he “sucks”. Flair takes umbrage with that and they go back and forth before Dustin grabs him by the lapels. He does let him go, at which point Flair calls on someone from the back who is going to make him wish he’d never done that. Fresh off beating up Cruiserweights it’s Road Warrior Animal. The two-on-one odds are eventually too much for Dustin until a double denim wearing Dusty Rhodes strides on out. The commentators are loving this. Dream is brilliant, flip, flop & flying and throwing bionic elbows as the Rhodes family clean house. Not only the commentators, the fans too, chanting for Dusty who has got them eating out of his hand. Dusty says that for the last eight months Flair has been looking after his friends while holding other athletes, including Dustin, back. He tells him that this is a new era and from now on hell’s coming (pointing at Dustin) and he’s coming with him. ‘Dream’ does pull out the old “what are you going to do? Fire me? I don’t even work here” line, which I very much doubt is not the case. He goes on to warn Animal that if he comes in here this fat old boy from Texas will kick his booty too. The two do try to charge the Rhodes’ one last time but are quickly ran off. ‘Totally Buff’ are wearing Baltimore Ravens shirts and carrying Ravens pennants for the easy pop after their Superbowl win last night. Luger then heels on the team saying that they’re not Baltimore’s team, they’re Cleveland’s, that Baltimore is a team of losers, their team left, they’re in Indianapolis now and haven’t won a Superbowl in thirty years. Lex continues to put the team down leading to him and Buff ripping the shirts off. There is a coach of the Ravens in the front row and this little monologue leads to the coach hopping the railing before being ushered back by security. As ‘Totally Buff’ eliminated Bill Goldberg from WCW Luger can’t believe that Kevin Nash accepted the challenge to face both of them, “what chance does he think he has?” The two block the ring to prevent Nash entering, but when Luger turns around to flex he pulls Bagwell to the outside and enters. Buff is quickly back inside as they beat Nash down in the corner. Now they’re both flexing, turning their backs on ‘Killer’ which isn’t wise. Nash lays them out with a double clothesline and then throws Luger from the ring as he looks to isolate Bagwell. He grabs him for a chokeslam but Lex puts a stop to that with a low blow. Its’ only January but I feel like I’ve seen a years worth of low blows already. Assisted belly to back. Lex gives the sign for ‘the Rack’, wanting to take Nash out quickly. Buff tries to help his partner, however ‘Big Sexy’ fights his way free. A pair of side slams. He clotheslines Bagwell out the ring and then gives Lex ‘Snake Eyes’. As he goes for the powerbomb, rather than save his partner, Buff gives referee Charles Robinson a double armed DDT, which leads Scott Hudson to name drop Kenta Kobashi! Bagwell lays atop Robinson pretending to be out of it as Nash makes the cover with no referee. Someone who I initially thought was Billy Corgan but is in fact Alex Wright comes rushing out in a ref’s shirt to take Robinson’s place, only to stop the count at two. Wright has got his ribs all taped after being powerbombed by Nash on an earlier episode and has been sent out by Ric Flair to screw with him. Bagwell and Wright team up on ‘Killer’ although hardly trouble him. Nash despatches Alex and then blocks Bagwell’s double arm DDT. Jackknife on Buff, again no ref, here comes Commissioner Cat though! Wright pulls Cat from the ring at two, but ‘the Commish’ sends him into the guard rail before returning to finish the job, Nash now getting the title shot that he supposedly “deserves”. Ol’ ‘Killer ‘has still got some gas in the tank and calls Scott Steiner out. He knows that he’s in the back and wants to do this now. Steiner answers and just as they’re about to go at it Nitro ends. Such a tease! Imagine going from Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes in an interview segment to the cringeworthy mic work of Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell. From the detail he was going into though you can tell Lex is a big football fan. In regards to the actual match, did someone say “overbooked”?

Chavo’s partner for this match, The Wall, was taken out backstage by Hugh Morrus, so he makes his way to the ring not knowing who his replacement, chosen by Ric Flair, will be. With The Wall and Hugh Morrus being referred to by those names it looks like the M.I.A. is finally dead. There’s some trepidation going on with Chavo until he hears his partner’s music and realises it’s Road Warrior Animal, at which point he starts jumping up and down like he’s won the lottery. ‘The Animals’ control most of the early goings, but when Chavo crawls over to his partner after being felled by a Rey spinning heel kick, things change dramatically. Rey charges at Animal but bounces off him like he’s just run into a Wall. Kidman comes off the top with a crossbody, however he’s caught and dumped. Big boots, clotheslines, press slams, he’s just treating them with utter contempt. They work together to get him down but he’s straight back up. Animal turns a second Kidman top rope crossbody into a powerslam and then blocks Rey’s attempted huracanrana with an almighty sit-out powerbomb. Rather than take all the glory he tags Chavo, letting him be the one to get the pin. Will WCW ever learn? Not only is Rey the number one contender for the Cruiserweight title after winning that great gauntlet on Monday, but he and Kidman are also former World tag team champions. In typical style for this company the lightweights get treated like jobbers by the heavyweight. Also, who thought pushing Animal as some kind of monster in 2001 is what’s needed? Head scratching booking.

I downloaded this from YouTube when I restarted the project but couldn’t find a date. I had a hunch it may have been from the same show as the three-way, which I also got from YouTube, but that is no longer online so I couldn’t check the arena/crowd. Joined in progress. Hennig, who looks pretty big here, is wearing a black T-shirt under his leotard, like some powerlifter. Horace Hogan and another dude take a seat at ringside while Gonzalez works over the leg. Curt does take a nice bump when Ray kicks that leg out from under him. He slaps on an abdominal stretch, cleverly manoeuvring his position to keep the ref from seeing that he’s pulling the tights for added leverage. Gonzalez escapes and is back to working over that leg, which primarily consists of both men lay on the mat while he bends it. Hennig fires off some solid rights to the jaw from the bottom. Ray locks on the Figure Four when someone sprints from the dressing room and drops an elbow on him for the DQ. That brings in Horace Hogan and it looks like a brawl is about to ensue as my version ends. Hennig’s fleeting appearances in WWC in 2000 were nothing more than curios, same applies here in all honesty.

Four corners match, rules then are two men in the ring and anyone can tag anyone else. The former Jung Dragon partners are starting us out. Yang backdrops Noble out onto the apron and then snaps his neck across the top rope. Shannon is in, cuts off the dive but gets caught with a headscissors, the camera almost missing it. A Skipper spin kick wipes out Yang and he follows that with a corkscrew pescado to Noble. I don’t know why they bothered explaining the rules earlier, as this is Lucha Libre rules, wrestlers coming in and out as they please, so completely different to what was initially said. Shannon counters a powerbomb into a ‘Bottom’s Up’ but Noble is there to break up the pin. German suplex on Shannon and this time its Skipper doing the saving. Elix with a Dragon suplex. Yang gets crotched upstairs and Noble with a high impact face first suplex on Skipper. As he crawls along the mat, Shannon goes to leap off his back for a ‘Poetry in Motion’ type move but slips. That is quickly forgotten about as he takes a trademark nuts flat back bump on the ringside mats after Yang had thrown him clean through the ropes. Dive train sequence ending with an insane Yang Sky Twister Asai moonsault, Yang being the one to have started it all in the first place with a super high plancha from the top turnbuckle. Shannon gets folded out onto Skipper by Yang, who then gets pulled to the outside by Noble where he gives him a tombstone piledriver. Elix crotches Shannon across the top rope, starts to tightrope walk across it but Noble gives him a shove and he crashes to the floor. Moore’s attempted DDT is blocked, however moments later he hits a ‘Bottom’s Up’ off the top on Jamie Noble for the win. Really good for the short time they were allotted. Guess Noble isn’t in line for push after my thoughts on Thunder, surely he would’ve gone over here if he were.

Conway has a few pre-match words for “Mr Bad Ultimate Fighting Champion”, Ron Waterman, who he’ll be facing at Christmas Chaos. He reminds him that “he’s the Iron Man, while he’s the Water Boy” saying that when you get in the ring with him it equals a trip to the hospital. Conway takes advantage of Orton’s inexperience; slapping him on the back of the head, cheapshotting him etc. A decent collar and elbow tie up, Orton powering Conway back into the corner. The ‘Iron Man’ reverses positions and slap Randy across the face. The only thing that does though is fire Orton up who’s not going to take any more of this. Inverted atomic drop and Conway is on his knees pleading for leniency. Orton looks for his full nelson slam but Conway has got it scouted, driving Randy backwards into the turnbuckles. He tries a second time and this time the ‘Iron Man’ with a mule kick out of the view of referee Donna Derring. That brings Ron Waterman out, but in the confusion as the officials try to get him back to the dressing room, Conway loads the glove and KO’s Orton out of everyone’s view for the three. A short match to add a bit of heat to the upcoming Conway/Waterman match. Derring is certainly fitting in with the rest of the OVW officials, she’s as incompetent as the rest of them!

Jim Cornette describes Shelton Benjamin as a “prodigy” with how quickly he is picking the wrestling business up. He nails Damien with a superkick as the ‘Stretching Crew’ then plant him to the mat with a big old double slam. Brock slams the DoS next to one another and Shelton with a double powerdrive elbow. Side headlock, he doesn’t see the blind tag though and Payne catches him with the ‘Payne Killer’. Spinebuster by Damien. Payne spits at Brock to draw him into the ring then sticks a foot down Shelton’s throat behind the ref’s back. Shelton ducks under the clothesline and comes back with a double crossbody which takes both ‘Disciples’ down. He’s trapped in the wrong corner so does that backwards leap to the top turnbuckle and somersaults over the DoS to tag Brock. Overhead belly to belly suplexes for both. Cradle suplex on Payne but Damien is there to make the save. Shelton evens things up as referee Ray Ramsey loses all control. As he tries to get two of the men out of there, Synn sneaks into the ring and sprays something in the face of Shelton. Ramsey catches her, calling for the DQ. Brock grabs hold of Synn and gives her this almighty powerbomb. I wonder if that is the spot that caused Cornette to lose his shit with him? That brings out Synn’s protector, the ‘Demon of the Deep’, Leviathan. Leviathan systematically clears the ring of referees, (who’d come out to try and restore order) the Stretching Crew and even his own team mates, launching each one over the top rope and out of there. When security show up they receive the same treatment. Synn has some final words for Kane, informing him that no-one can beat her Demon, not even the brother of the Undertaker, before we hear from Leviathan for the first time. He just talks some gibberish about “eternal life” and “fires of hell” or something or other. Payne is a downgrade on Slash (Wolfie D) and I find this version of the DoS quite bland. The Stretching Crew are getting into their groove with these more competitive matches and, as pointed out last year, Shelton is the one who does the bulk of the work, takes the beating, and Brock is the hot tag. Another weak DQ finish with the ending all about making Leviathan look like an indestructible monster before he faces Kane at Christmas Chaos. I was shocked at how easy he threw Brock out of there and thought there may have been more of a confrontation but that was not what they wanted for the night. Oh, and Synn is dross on the mic.