GSR

Nash and Page solicit Scott Hall chants with DDP bringing up the ‘survey’ and even mentioning how he once managed him. He’s gone for good right? Are they just trying to force management’s hand to bring him back? Pretty unprofessional whatever they’re up to. We get a ‘Vegas Connection’ reference and Page says how back then they sucked, before christening themselves ‘the Insiders’ and that he’s going to stick around until they bring that other ‘Outsider’ back. Nash gives us a “too sweet” when the Wolfpac’s music starts to play, the commentators wondering “it couldn’t be, could it?” Of course not, it’s Mike Sanders leading out the Natural Born Thrillers. Nash jokes that the only way they can get a ‘pop’ is by coming out to their music. Sanders accuses DDP of riding on Nash’s coat tail just like Nash was riding on theirs, and tells them not to get too comfortable with those tag titles because at Starrcade they will be defending them against Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire. DDP replies that they don’t have to wait until Starrcade and the match is on right now. Discus lariat by Page to Jindrak followed by a ‘Cactus clothesline’. O’Haire runs up the turnbuckles and back flips over Nash, although ‘Big Sexy’ sells the shot to the gut before O’Haire connects. Nash fires back and there’s definite aggression there at the moment, almost as if he feels he needs to put the effort in if he stands any chance of getting Hall re-hired! O’Haire with a mule kick to DDP and he tags his partner. Springboard clothesline by Jindrak for a two. The Thrillers double team Page until he counters a tilt-a-whirl slam with a headscissors. That looked great. Discus lariat and O’Haire drops an elbow to the back of the head to break up the pin. That brings in Nash to even things up, but very quickly he and O’Haire end up on the floor. ‘Diamond Cutter’ on Jindrak and Sanders pulls the referee out the ring at two to stop the count. Not only was that spot predictable, it is being used way too often at the moment. Sanders slugs Billy Silverman but is then grabbed by Nash. He’s about to powerbomb him on the ringside mats when he’s attacked from behind by the rest of the Thrillers (‘Perfect Event’ and Reno). One of them clubs Nash with a baseball bat and leave ‘the Insiders’ laying as they then make off with their tag team titles. It’s only a couple of matches but, bar the obnoxious interview and terrible name, I’m strangely enjoying ‘the Insiders’ so far. We were clearly never getting a clean finish here with Starrcade several weeks away although, like I said, they need to ditch the ‘pull the referee out the ring’ spot or at least put it on the back burner for a bit. I thought Page looked tremendous with his ‘Cactus clothesline’ and headscissors counter.

Mark Madden puts over Reno’s ‘Roll the Dice’ finisher strong. He’s not comparing him to Goldberg, although with that one move, the one second it takes to hit it, who knows maybe he can defeat him tonight? Reno reverses the Irish whip only to get laid out by an almighty running clothesline. Huge gorilla press slam by Goldberg. He puts Reno over his shoulder, however he grabs Goldberg’s neck, leans backwards and has him in position for his finisher. Goldberg powers his way out though, lifting Reno up and countering with a shoulderbreaker. Spear, jackhammer, 26-0. Lex Luger jumps Goldberg as he celebrates the win, nailing him in the back with a chair before racking him. As good as I liked Luger racking Goldberg and leaving him laying, I can’t believe they’re running with this feud all the way to Starrcade now. The ‘Gorilla press’ looked awesome and even though they’re squashes there always a nugget or too in there to enjoy.

‘Commissioner’ Sanders is out first and hugs Mark Madden. He picks up a headset and explains that he’s got a plan, although isn’t going to divulge what it is just yet. The Thrillers ignore CEO Ric Flair’s orders that no-one is to be at ringside, all accompanying the Perfect Event as they make their entrance. Sanders explains that you need some security and, for one night only, that security is the Natural Born Thrillers, something that Stevie Ray thinks is an abuse of his authority. Tony Schiavone calls it “savvy” while Mark Madden says that Doug Dillinger went to Dunkin Donuts so who else are you going to get to keep order? A “We Want Hall” chant starts up that is acknowledged by Nash. ‘Big Sexy’ looks for the jackknife powerbomb in the opening seconds forcing Palumbo to take to the floor and call for a time out as they go about re-evaluating their game plan. Palumbo cheap shots him on the break and then tees off until Nash reverses position and responds in kind. This is the most intense and aggressive I’ve seen Nash in a long time. ‘Snake eyes’ but he’s blindsided by Stasiak which brings in DDP who clotheslines Palumbo over the top rope to the outside. ‘Security’ tries to get in the ring but they’re kept at bay by the challengers. Ric Flair and Doug Dillinger make their way out and they’ve got some security of their own (another Ali spotting here). They forcibly eject the Thrillers, however when Flair tries to do the same to Sanders he shows him his credentials and he has to leave him alone. Sanders subsequently explains that he successfully applied to be a manager, although it sounds very much like he signed his own papers to push it through! Palumbo knees DDP in the back as he hits the ropes and Stasiak with a DDT for a two count. Nice double slingshot suplex. Discus lariat by Page and Stasiak is forced to make the save. Palumbo with a ‘Jungle kick’ and now its Nash doing the saving. Some very uncharacteristic urgency from the former ‘Coach’ who even leaves his feet to do so, something noted by Madden. DDP with a sunset flip, pulling down Stasiak’s trunks in the process, as he treats us to the old Ric Flair spot. Palumbo gets a two count after a flying back elbow off the top. Referee Billy Silverman misses the Page tag and the champs go back to working him over. DDP escapes the sleeper, slams Chuck to the mat and finally makes a tag which is seen by the official. Nash takes it to ‘the Perfect Event’ firstly with a pair of side slams and then a pair of big boots. He pulls down his strap, ‘jackknife’ on Stasiak while at the same time DDP catches Palumbo with a ‘Diamond Cutter’. Cover, but Sanders pulls the referee from the ring at two, retaliation for what Nash did on Thunder. Page with a ‘cutter’ on the floor to Sanders, Silverman re-starts his count as Nash is still covering Stasiak and we have new WCW tag team champions. A lot better than I expected and I was very surprised at Nash’s performance here; motivated, some urgency, aggression in his offense, very un-Nash like! I agree that they probably should’ve knocked a minute or so off the heat section and also with the comments that Palumbo, look aside, doesn’t show anywhere near as much potential as Jindrak and O’Haire. Still, I enjoyed this one a fair bit.

Luger takes offense to Pamela Paulshock asking him how the butterflies are doing. He compares himself to Michael Jordan saying how he’s achieved everything there is but has one last crowning glory. This is going to be Goldberg’s retirement party, he made him and now he’s going to break him. Goldberg pops straight up from a belly to back suplex and Luger backs off into the corner, almost in disbelief at what he’s just seen. The official gets between the two of them and Lex cheap shots his opponent, raking him across the face. Mark Madden reminds us about the metal plate in Luger’s forearm saying how it makes every punch, every forearm hurt his opponent more than usual. Goldberg runs into a big boot and Lex then nails him with that forearm. He clotheslines him over the top rope to the outside before running him backwards into the guard rail. Back inside and Goldberg reverses the Irish whip, picks Luger up and slams him to the mat. Spear, but Lex pulls referee Mickey Jay in front of him as Goldberg ends up spearing them both. He hits the jackhammer and replacement official Slick Johnson counts the fall. A flat reaction to this with the crowd seemingly sat on their hands for the entire match. Even though Lex controlled more than Goldberg and way more than most do against him, it was as though they didn’t buy him as an serious threat one bit. Maybe that three way hurt Luger, maybe the crowd just wanted to see Goldberg run through him like he has done everyone else recently. Either way it was a response I wasn’t expecting out of them, while I certainly wasn’t expecting to see empty seats visible either.

Stasiak is seconded by Mike Sanders and it’s announced that Nash will be teaming with DDP to take on the tag team champions at Mayhem. It looks like the Thrillers sided with Stasiak then when he KO’d Nash costing him that match with Booker the other week. DDP forearms Stasiak over the top rope to the outside and nails him with a pescado, causing Sanders to remark “the old man’s got some moves”. The lumberjacks very quickly start fighting each other and before you know it they’re all gone, having fought all the way back to the dressing room. Desperation low blow by Stasiak who then starts stomping a mud hole in Page. Sanders persists on calling DDP “old man” which, even though he is and is an attempt at getting heat, isn’t how I’d be going about things. Jumping back elbow when, one by one, Chuck Palumbo, Kevin Nash, Sean O’Haire and Mark Jindrak all make their way down to ringside. Nice stomachbreaker by Stasiak. Palumbo gets in a cheap shot although Page with a near fall following a lariat. Jindrak causes a distraction and Palumbo throws Stasiak some brass knux which he clocks Page with. He makes the cover however Nash pulls the official from the ring at two to stop the count. ‘Diamond Cutter’ but the referee is still down on the floor. Palumbo waffles Page across the back with a chair and as Jindrak and O’Haire take care of Nash, Stasiak is able to sneak the win. ‘Big Sexy tries to explain to Slick Johnson what just happened but he’s not interested in listening so Nash powerbombs him and motions to the Thrillers that will be their fate come Sunday.

Not a promising start as Awesome has to reset himself on a suicide dive over the top rope to the outside as Bigelow isn’t paying attention. Second time of asking he’s ready and Bam Bam launches a trash can at his head while he’s mid-air causing him to nose dive to the floor. That was dangerous as hell and not at all worth the risk. Crowbar fails to connect on an Asai moonsault, however it looks like Bam Bam was out of position and again not paying attention. The four of them fight up the aisle to in front of ‘Thundervision’, although all they are doing is hitting each other with weapons. They eventually make it into the ring where it’s just more of the same. Bigelow Frisbees a trash can lid at Crowbar which bounces off him and hits someone in the crowd. The kid is rubbing his head and they’re lucky that it was so flimsy otherwise they could’ve had a lawsuit on their hands. Bam Bam ends up going through a table before Reno is laid on a second one at ringside. Awesome ‘Awesome bombs’ Crowbar from the ring out and onto Reno putting him through it. That looks to have taken every bit as much out of Crowbar though and Reno manages to crawls on top to get the pin. Check out Reno’s badly bruised, welted back and upper arms from all the kendo stick shots he took during this. The ‘Awesome bomb’ finish was the one saving grace as up to that point I thought this was terrible. Way too long and way too repetitive. Don’t know what Bigelow was playing it as between being out of position for the dive, failing to catch Crowbar on the Asai moonsault and then hitting that kid in the crowd with the trash can lid, he didn’t look good at all tonight.

Satellite headscissors by Noble who then clotheslines Yang to the outside. Quality flip dive over the ring post out on to him, as Mark Madden says how he’s “pretty fly for a white guy”. Yang counters the huracanrana with an almighty powerbomb before collecting a chair from ringside. He doesn’t get a chance to use it though as Slick Johnson snatches it away, so opts to dumps Noble to the outside instead. Leaping rana from the ring steps by Leah Meow. Johnson is forced to pull Yang off his opponent and while he is admonishing him Noble with a flash roll up. A nice exchange between the pair ends with a cradle for a two count. They trade hard knife edge chops and the crowd are really into what they’re seeing. Russian leg sweep followed by a guillotine leg drop off the middle for another near fall, Yang kicking out of the cover this time. Noble heads upstairs but Leah is back interfering, grabbing at his ankle. Johnson tells her to leave him alone, however the damage is done as that slight delay gives her man the added time to get to his feet. He snatches Noble and hits a reverse tombstone. Evan Karagias has seen enough and is out to confront Leah when he’s attacked by 3 Count who take it to their former partner. Springboard plancha to the outside on to 3 Count by Noble. Yang tries to suplex him back inside but Noble slips behind and catches him with a sunset flip for the three. Post-match Noble is jumped by 3 Count and his opponent until Karagias comes to his rescue and they clear the ring. Madden wonders if he and Noble are now a team or whether they just have common enemies.

Scott Steiner is once again providing guest commentary on a Booker T title defence. A rather subdued ‘Big Poppa Pump’ has been attending anger management classes in an attempt to get his temper under control. He initially thinks that Lex Luger is going to “destroy” Booker, however when Tony Schiavone informs him that if Lex does win he’ll be out of a World title match on Sunday, he changes his view, guaranteeing that Luger won’t be winning and that’s why he is out here. Lex targets Booker’s lower back clearly softening him up for the ‘Torture rack’. He whips him from turnbuckle to turnbuckle and gets a one count after a powerslam. Madden says how Luger looks great, is ‘great’ the new way of describing slow and old? After running into a pair of big boots Booker levels him with a spin kick followed by the axe kick. Goldberg comes out to ringside prompting Steiner to leave the broadcast table and the two briefly exchange punches getting way more of a reaction than anything in this match. Just as security separates them, Steiner pokes Goldberg in the eyes. Luger has picked up a chair and is about to clock Booker when he is speared by a temporarily blinded Goldberg, Booker having to take evasive action to get out of his way. ‘The Book’ picks up the win as the commentators speculate as to who Goldberg was actually aiming for with the spear. Steiner jumps Booker after his victory and security are having to earn their money tonight.

A six person, four corner elimination match, with the winner going on to face Mike Sanders for the Cruiserweight title at Mayhem. Between Paisley, Tygress and Major Gunns there’s are an awful lot of nothing at ringside for this. Major Gunns grabs Chavo’s leg as he runs the ropes which causes Paisley to confront her to see what she’s playing at. Gunns slaps her across the face and there is more emphasis on the women than the men so far. Paisley stalks Gunns around ringside who then slaps Tygress too, although blames Paisley for it. Charles Robinson leaves the ring to try and restore some order and I’m praying he just ejects the lot of them. Now Sgt. A-Wol is here! He’s next to be slapped by Major Gunns, but just screams in her face (no man on woman violence here now). Thankfully Doug Dillinger is out and escorts all this dead wood to the back so that we can hopefully now concentrate on the match without any further distractions. Nice suplex variation by Loco. Skipper tags Crpl. Cajun forcing the partners to go against one another. Instead they beel him back into the ring and put the boots to him as the commentators talk about a new aggressiveness that has recently been adopted by the M.I.A. Robinson has no luck in trying to pull them off and after both shove him back, he disqualifies the pair of them. Kwee Wee tries to steal a pin on the unconscious ‘Primetime’ but that wally Kidman breaks up the pin. Its elimination rules you fool! The Filthy Animals work together against Kwee Wee until Skipper nails Kidman with a missile dropkick, landing on his feet in the process. He then whips him towards Kwee Wee who gets the pin after pancaking Kidman to the mat. Rey looks great for all of thirty seconds until he’s next eliminated, ‘Primetime’ nailing him with a springboard spinning heel kick as Kwee Wee holds him in a full nelson. We’re down to two and to be fair, the two you would have thought least likely at the onset. Belly to belly by Skipper for a near fall. ‘Primetime’ tosses Kwee Wee to the outside when down to ringside walks Jim Duggan. He’s quickly followed by Meng who clubs old ‘Hacksaw’. Skipper grabs Meng’s afro but, while he’s not paying attention, Kwee Wee with a sunset flip and he’s off to Mayhem to challenge for the Cruiserweight championship. Meng and Kwee Wee hug and it looks like we’ve an unlikely alliance as he then puts Kwee on his shoulder (like Savage and Liz) to celebrate. Rey looked great in the brief moments that he was involved and I like the idea of them giving Kwee Wee the win here as it’s both new and unexpected. Still, given the talent involved this was extremely disappointing with how rushed the match was and how weak and soft the eliminations generally were.

Crowbar sprints to the ring again, although Bam Bam hasn’t done his scouting as he ducks out to the floor rather than getting the jump on him like previous opponents have. Bigelow retrieves three tables from underneath, sliding the first two inside then propping the third up at ringside. He blasts Crowbar over the head with a trash can and goes to run him into that third table, however Crowbar puts on the breaks and sends Bam Bam through it instead. They make it into the ring where they hit just hit each other with weapons. Bigelow slams Crowbar onto a trash can and then goes to throw him through a table that he’d positioned in the corner, only the table doesn’t break. Running cannonball but Crowbar moves and he goes through it himself. Crowbar tosses Bam Bam to the outside and nails him with a pescado. Dropkick from the apron to the floor, a take on the ‘Van Daminator’ if you will as Crowbar connected with a chair that Bigelow had picked up. There’s not much in the way of selling from the big man as he cracks Crowbar with said chair. Back inside and Bam Bam lays Crowbar under the final table. He heads upstairs when out runs Mike Awesome (in 70’s garb) who shoves him off the top turnbuckle sending him crashing through the table, Crowbar rolling out the way just in time. Awesome then pulls Crowbar on top of Bigelow and he retains the Hardcore title. A backward step after the recent innovation we’ve seen in the hardcore division. This was all about table breaking and hitting each other over the head with weapons, nothing fancy and nothing we haven’t seen countless times before. The lone bright spot was Crowbar’s dropkick off the apron to the floor, although I’m not too sure how I think about him needing Awesome’s help to win here. Vito’s interference played a big part in winning the title in the first place and now he needs more interference to help him defend it? They’re doing the guy no favours with the booking, and this after they gave him that post-match celebration where he put over what a big deal it was to win the belt.

We get a recap of what happened on Thunder before Shannon Moore says that it’s a new and improved 3 Count, a 3 Count whose backs are feeling better than ever because they don’t have to carry Evan Karagias anymore. 3 Count throw the Dragons to the floor and call on the tag team champions. With O’Haire a shade behind, they take the opportunity jump Jindrak as he enters the ring, however he ducks the lariat, O’Haire leapfrogs over his partner and lays the two of them out with a double clothesline. The Thrillers utilise their strength advantage, Jindrak hitting a torture rack into a neckbreaker on Moore and O’Haire with a release/catch military press, sit-out slam on Helms. They’ve forgotten about the Dragons though and Yang catches O’Haire with a lovely leaping rana from up top. The two long time rivals then start to work together, thinking that’ll give them their best chance of dethroning the champions. Cool little backslide/middle rope leg drop combination by Yang and Helms. Stereo double suplexes are blocked and the Thrillers counter with double suplexes of their own. Yang with his eye poke spot that every time gets way more of a reaction than I expect it to. The Thrillers are sent over the top rope to the floor after a pair of double clotheslines, however they then catch the Dragons on their attempted pescados; Jindrak DDT’ing Yang on the ringside mat while O’Haire drops Kaz throat first across the safety rail. They ‘super beel’ Yang back into the ring but before O’Haire can get back in himself, Moore with a top rope Quebrada to the floor. Reverse DDT by Helms on Jindrak when out rushes Evan Karagias to break up the pin. With everyone else distracted, a springboard ‘Seanton bomb’ sees the Thrillers retain. The Jung Dragons and 3 Count both put the boots to Karagias until Jamie Noble makes the save. Noble blasts Kaz with a vicious chair shot and then clocks Yang too, although at least he put his hands up to protect himself. Short match but fun whilst it lasted with some innovative stuff in there. The Noble chair shot on Kaz was particularly brutal and caught me completely off guard.

He dismantles Paul Varelans in the final of that one too. Vovchanchyn was a monster in those Russian NHB events from the mid-90s. I always had to be in the right mood to what ADCC when I was heavily into MMA, but from the handful of discs that I watched back in the day here are a few bouts that stood out to me for one reason or another: Kaoru Uno vs Jean-Jacques Machado (Best of ADCC vol. 1) Wellington Dias vs Baret Yoshida (Best of ADCC vol. 3) Take Hanai vs Jorge 'Macaco' Patino (ADCC 2005: 77-87kg) Roxanne Modaferi vs Leka Viera (ADCC 2005: Women)

Pamela Paulshock would like to get some comments on Shawn Stasiak being out of the Natural Born Thrillers, but Kevin Nash is more interested in reading Goldberg’s book. A bang happens off screen and Nash yells “pick that up” although his ad lib appears to cause him to lose his train of thought! He says that he wants a title match against Booker T tonight when they’re joined by an apologetic Stasiak who wants to prove to them he’s still part of the team. Nash tells him to take a hike before making sure to get the book in shot for one final plug. DDP is back with a bang! Mark Madden claims that the crowd are going nuts, and while they’re happy to see Page they’re hardly going nuts. DDP is ‘shooting’, so much so that he lets us know that he’s doing so twice. He’s also clearly been paying attention to Mick Foley getting in a couple of Foley-esque cheap pops. A long winded tale ends with him saying how Ric Flair called him up and told him that he wants him back in WCW, and he said he’d give him an answer here in Chicago. The answer is affirmative (like it would be anything else?) and a high spirited DDP let’s everyone know that “he’s back and he’s jacked”. Page spots the Battledome Warriors in the front row and calls for some back up in the shape of Buff Bagwell, The Cat and Rick Steiner. I don’t think I’d be calling on Buff or the Cat as back up for a fight! An uber confident Cat clearly fancies his chances, thinking that if they jump the railing he’ll beat all five of them, while the best Buff can come up with is to call them the “Battledome queers”. Jesus! The Battledome guys try to rush the wrestlers but are held back by security as Mark Madden squeals about “making them famous”. Bagwell then claims it’s “WCW 1 - Battledome queers 0”. Not sure how what we just saw can be classed as a victory, but there you go. We return from a commercial break and they replay what just went down. Tony Schiavone says it was “uncontrollable” even though the situation is being controlled by security! As a side note I think the jacked up dude without his top on in the white shorts is Midajah’s real life husband. Next we hear from Ric Flair who just loves Chicago! Now ‘the Naitch’ is at it with the cheap pops. He runs down the matches for the Mayhem PPV on 11/26 and announces that Booker T will defend the World title against Scott Steiner in a steel cage match. Flair says that he respects Steiner as a national amateur champion, as a great athlete and as an awesome figure of a man, but his conduct recently has been unacceptable and he can’t go around grabbing folk, hollering, screaming and hitting people with pipes. Mark Madden gets in a dig at Flair here saying it’s not like the Horsemen always conducted themselves professionally. That brings out Steiner and I’m again drawn to Midajah’s footwear. He calls Flair an “old bastard” and is threatening him in the corner. Booker T runs down to make the save and nails him with a Harlem side kick before Steiner is eventually dragged away by security. Due to what just happened Flair then adds an additional stipulation for their match at Mayhem; a strait jacked will be hung above the ring and whoever retrieves it can put it on their opponent and “beat the hell out of them”. Not sure how that really benefits Booker, although at least Flair did acknowledge that point. He finally warns Steiner that if he ever touches a non-wrestling employee again he will be gone from WCW. Back from another commercial break and Steiner is waiting in the ring. He says that he doesn’t take orders from anyone and tells Flair to kiss his ass, before taking a seat at the broadcast desk for the upcoming title match. The match has barely got going and there’s a loud “We want Pump” chant that Steiner acknowledges on comms. A Nash right hand sends Booker through the ropes to the floor and he slams his head into the desk right in front of where Steiner is sat. He picks up a chair, however Booker boots him in the mid-section and snatches it away before he’s able to use it. Booker then cracks him over the back with the chair and gets a two count following a top rope flying forearm. Booker runs into a Nash boot and we get some of his uninspiring offense. A couple of forearms stagger Nash before Booker drops him with a spin kick that looks like it barely grazes him. Nash’s selling here is laughable. He ducks the Harlem side kick and Booker connects with referee Billy Silverman in another of those oh so obvious WCW ref bumps that you knew was coming. Booker has Nash primed for the ‘Book End’ when he’s KO’d by a brass knux brandishing Shawn Stasiak. As Nash picks Booker up for the jackknife powerbomb, he turns on him, KO’ing Nash too. Stasiak puts Booker on top as Silverman comes around to count the pin. I didn’t see the Stasiak turn coming, although a Stasiak/Nash feud inspires me even less than a Goldberg/Luger one does. Nice chair shot by Booker but this was your typical laboured, half assed Nash efforts and as a result isn’t much.

Catchphrase Central with K-Dogg is back. Kidman thinks the only reason that the Natural Born Thrillers look so good is because of guys like he and Rey who make them look good. They still suck though and they’ve had enough of carrying a pair of greenhorns so, after they take care of the Boogie Knights, they’re coming for those tag team belts. Kidman is so vanilla in his delivery while his insult to Alex Wright is to call him a bottle of milk! The Filthy Animals jump the Knights as they enter the ring not bothering to wait for the bell. Nice Saito suplex by Wright on Kidman before removing his leather jacket and whipping him with it. A lovely sequence between the two ends with a Kidman flying headscissors. Alex ducks a clothesline and drops him with a heel kick. Disco gets distracted by a ‘Disco Sux’ chant allowing the Animals to turn the tide in their favour. At one point it looks like Rey lands flush on his horns after a slingshot headscissors and I never understood why he wrestled in them as I always thought it was only a matter of time before something like that would happen. The Filthy Animals remain in control until Disco reverses an Irish whip and Kidman goes flying out over the top rope to the floor. Usually the wrestler will grab the top rope to break their fall on that spot, not Kidman who doesn’t even touch it. That was a crazy bump to take. The Knights then target his lower back as they look to soften him up. Disco drops Kidman across his knee from a reverse DDT position. Knee drop from the top turnbuckle to the back by Wright followed by a modified surfboard/camel clutch. Kidman dumps Disco with a back suplex and finally makes the hot tag to Rey. Springboard guillotine leg drop to the back of the neck of Alex. Arabian moonsault on Disco and Wright has recovered in time to break up the pin. Combination baseball slide to the groin/bronco buster by the Animals. Rey takes Disco over the top rope to the outside with a huracanrana, whilst Kidman utilises the turnbuckles for a spinning bulldog on Wright. One ‘Kid Crusher’ (Tomokaze) later and the Filthy Animals pick up the win as the Natural Born Thrillers remain clearly in their sights. Every time I see Alex Wright now I can’t help but think about all those possible matches we missed out on because he never went to the WWF. The guy is young enough to still be competing today and just imagine the talent that’s gone through that company in the past 17 years and all the guys who he could’ve worked with but never did. Good match.

This is the start of a determined effort to try and write less (i.e. cut back on the detailed play by play stuff) as I want to try and finish 2000 as soon as. I’m currently at over 340,000 words written for the year and every chance that will surpass half a million with ease the way things are going (especially if I continue to write 1,500 word reviews of some stuff like I have previously!). It probably won’t last but we’ll see how I get on. Mike Awesome thinks Pamela Paulshock is looking as “groovy as ever!” He’s so unconvincing and uncomfortable doing this 70’s gimmick. That title shot he earned after winning ‘Countdown to Armageddon’ is now a triple threat match with Scott Steiner having bullied his way into it. Awesome informs Steiner that he and Booker are going to team up to eliminate him and then will face each other one on one for the gold. Oddly Steiner and Booker are the first two men out and the bell rings to get us underway before Awesome has even arrived. Booker with a stiff clothesline before just pounding away on ‘Big Poppa Pump’. He telegraphs a backdrop though and gets planted with a double underhook suplex. Steiner goes for the middle rope Samoan drop and, finally, here comes Mike Awesome. This doesn’t look good as Steiner is clearly waiting for him to arrive for the next spot. ‘Electric chair’ by Awesome dumping Steiner backwards to the mat. So much for he and Booker planning to work together here, that lasts all of ten seconds! Steiner only gets a two count following a belly to belly and is in the face of Charles Robinson trying to intimidate him. He’d then rather do push ups than wrestle and gets caught with a flying clothesline off the top. As Awesome has him set for the ‘Awesome Bomb’, Booker with the ‘Harlem sidekick’ for the save. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ resorts to low blowing everyone and hits the middle rope Samoan drop only for Booker to break up the pin. Steiner really does throw Awesome around with consummate ease. As he has him locked in ‘the recliner’, Booker superkicks Scotty in the face spending him sprawling through the ropes to the floor. ‘Book End’ and the champ steals the win to retain the gold. Post-match Steiner attacks security until he’s ushered out of there by Doug Dillinger. Booker helps Awesome to his feet before telling Steiner to get his ass back out here, however just as he does the show goes off the air. Good Nitro match. I don’t know why they persist in trying to give Mike Awesome a gimmick as whether it’s ‘the fat chick thriller’ or ‘the 70s guy’ he needs neither. The only reason seems to be to try and give him a bit of personality on interviews and vignettes as there is nothing in his work that is remotely ‘fat chick’ or ‘70s’ related. He even ditched the 70s clothing for his entrance here! Well booked with everyone looking strong, Booker snatching the pin and an angry Steiner taking his frustrations out on security post-match. Looks like we’ll have another month of him chasing Booker for the World title.

Hennig's final match in the AWA and he'd debut in the WWF less than a fortnight later.

Fucking hell! Steiner is walking to the ring with a real life tiger! They’ve got a bunch of handlers there as well, but who in their right mind thought this was a smart idea (and also a good way to spend some money!). Despite not being a part of this match Booker T makes his way out after Steiner. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ goes to confront him in the aisle only to get jumped by Awesome who whips him into the guard rail before throwing him back into the ring. Slingshot splash for a two count. Big splash off the top and again Steiner kicks out of the cover. Midajah grabs Awesome’s ankle after the Irish whip is reversed (only just about managing to do so) and the distraction allows Steiner to club him from behind. She then enters the ring herself and kicks Awesome in the chest, sending him tumbling out over the top rope to the outside. In full view of the referee I may add! Midajah is also wearing a seriously high pair of heels which look like they’d be a nightmare to walk in, let alone kick someone with. ‘Steinerline’ followed by an elbow drop for a near fall. He dumps Awesome with an overhead throw and then mouths off at Booker rather than follow up on the attack. The knife edge chops look to be firing Awesome up so Steiner changes tact and hits a belly to belly suplex. Awesome rolls to the outside and reverses the whip on the floor which sends Steiner crashing into the guard rail for a second time. Lariat off the top for another near fall and Awesome with a release German suplex on ‘King Suplex’. As he’s readying himself for the ‘Awesome bomb’, Midajah grabs his leg to prevent him from doing so. He draws this to the official’s attention, but while he’s distracted by Midajah, Steiner wallops him with the ‘lead’ pipe. Samoan drop off the middle which, to the surprise of everyone, Awesome kicks out of. It’s only delaying the inevitable though as he subsequently taps to the ‘recliner’. Did someone forget that Mike Awesome won the ‘Countdown to Armageddon’ and has a title shot on Nitro? Well Tony Schiavone certainly never as he mentioned that very fact. Steiner clearly has to win and look strong going into Halloween Havoc, but out of their 100 plus roster could they not find someone else to face him here rather than Awesome?

Before the action kicks off we head backstage to see Tygress chasing after Konnan as he tells her to wait here he’s got something to do. Scott Steiner is on guest commentary for this. Douglas runs into a back elbow after whipping Booker into the turnbuckles and then gets dropped by a superkick. Torrie Wilson grabs Booker’s ankle as he comes off the ropes, however for some reason the camera cuts to a shot of the crowd so we miss seeing what happens next. I can only assume that he put his hands on her and the powers that be weren’t too keen on showing any man on woman interaction. We cut back to the match just in time to see ‘the Franchise’ dumping Booker over the top rope to the outside. Double axe handle off the apron but Booker is ready, getting in first with a shot to the mid-section. His dominance doesn’t last long though as Shane reverses the Irish whip on the floor sending him crashing into the guard rail. He throws Booker back inside and comes off the top with a lariat for a two count. Rear chinlock by ‘the Franchise’, digging his knee into the back for added pressure, which is the start of some focussed attention targeting Booker’s neck. Face first suplex followed by a reverse neck snap. Booker ducks a clothesline and catches Douglas with a neckbreaker which Mark Madden points out isn’t the wisest of moves as he was leaving his own neck open in the process. Spinebuster, axe kick, spinneroonie and Steiner is calling these spots in advance, almost as if he’s proving that he’s been scouting his opponent in preparation for the upcoming PPV. Harlem side kick flattens ‘the Franchise’ and Torrie leans in to wrap a chain around her man’s wrist. Billy Kidman runs out (going the long way around to get into position for the next spot) and tries to grab the chain away, however Douglas elbows him and he falls from the apron and into Midajah. Steiner gets up from the commentary desk and attacks Kidman, which leads to Konnan and Jeff Jarrett both getting involved too. Meanwhile inside Booker catches Shane as he leaps off the middle and plants him with ‘the Book End’ for the win. I wasn’t really looking forward to this as Shane Douglas isn’t the most interesting of guys to watch, although it was better than my expectations and I especially liked the focussed neck work. The finish, from Billy Kidman running out, was a bit too convoluted though with him having to run all the way around the ring to get into position so that he would fall into Midajah when naturally he would have taken the quickest route possible to stop him using that chain.

This match can be found on the the Coliseum video release 'The British Bulldogs' as well as the DVD 'Bret Hart: The Dungeon Collection'.

Completely different to the Masami/Nagayo match as they start out quick, slow it right down and then build to an action packed, near fall laden finish. At one point Asuka reverses a tombstone, hits the ropes and comes off them with the nastiest looking sit out tombstone ever that Yokota just about kicks out of. Jaguar’s cross armed German is a thing of beauty, and the finish is incredible as both women are on the turnbuckles with Asuka having Yokota up, as though she is going to give her a superplex to the floor, but then drops her face first into the ring. She then comes off the top rope with a double knee drop, Yokota moves, and then pins her with a belly to back suplex variation. Another awesome match.

Double knock out finish that adds to the match as both wrestlers are too exhausted from the action to continue. Tremendous wrestling contest that really picks up at the 16 minute after Masami struggles to kick out of a superplex. The crowd are totally into this with Chigusa challenging for Masami’s All Pacific title. Devil’s facial expressions are awesome, as is the spot where she has to use a stick to help her get to her feet and for a brief moment it looks as though she contemplates using the stick as a weapon (Nagayo had Masami in a scorpion deathlock, she reaches the ropes and then crawled to the outside to try and recover, only to be hit by a Nagayo tope. She uses the stick to help her get back to her feet and then onto the ring apron only just beating the count). The match ends with both girls being counted out in the ring for the double KO, Masami crawls over to Chigusa, they embrace, and then the seconds help both to their feet and from the ring. Excellent, excellent match.

This match can be found on the the Coliseum video releases 'The Grudge Matches', 'Inside the Steel Cage' and 'The History of the Intercontinental Title' as well as the DVD 'WWE Hall of Fame 2004'.

According to WrestlingData Super Tiger's first loss to Fujiwara in the UWF was 1/16, so based on the write up I'd guess that's the correct date. Then again the write up says 'five match series' and they wrestled each other seven times so who knows?

'The King' doesn't feel any sympathy whatsoever for Jimmy Hart, couldn't care less about his little goodbye speech and says that everyone is glad to see the back of him.

A teary eyed Jimmy Hart tell’s Jerry Lawler that he (Hart) is finished. He says that 'the King' has gone through all of his men and that he's the better man. Whilst he will miss travelling to all the places, he confirms that he is now done before apologising to the fans for all his actions. I smell a rat...