GSR

Jindrak and O’Haire hand Dave Penzer a piece of paper which says that the following match, signed by the booking trio of Nash, Steiner and Jarrett, will be against the ‘Filthy Animals’ for the World tag team title. After Konan asks where his dogs are at and the rest, O’Haire takes to the mic and says how they’re going to make the match a little more fair, so invites Disco Inferno to join the ‘Filthy Animals’ team. Tilt-a-whirl slam by Jindrak on Disco and a springboard clothesline where he practically flies all the way across the ring. Disco reverses the Irish whip and a reverse atomic drop followed by a spinning neckbreaker. Springboard leg drop to the back of the neck by Rey. Quebrada off the middle, but Jindrak catches him mid-air and plants him with a tilt-a-whirl slam. Real nice take on ‘the Thrillers’ double leap frog spot, where Jindrak doesn’t jump and Rey just runs into him. Tag to Juvi after O’Haire fails to connect on a dropkick. Springboard spinning heel kick and that Lucha wheelbarrow into a bulldog (which Konan gives the correct Mexican name for, but I missed as others were talking at the same time). O’Haire counters the punches in the corner with a sit out powerbomb, before a double team powerslam on ‘the Juice’. ‘The Thrillers’ then drag Juvi to the floor for no other reason than to give him their double beel over the top rope and back in. O’Haire misses a splash in the corner and Jindrak sails over the top rope to the outside after Juvi ducks under a clothesline. Pescado by ‘the Juice’ and a double team leg trip/clothesline by Disco and Rey for two. After a heel kick drops Disco, O’Haire heads up top for the ‘Seanton bomb’ but Juvi swipes his legs out. Spinning top rope rana, leg drop off the top to the groin by Rey and ‘the Animals’ retain. You see why Sanders does the talking for this lot after the promo that O’Haire cuts on the Filthy Animals at the start of this! Can’t really fathom his logic either of giving them an additional man on their team in a title match, unless he considered it would be easier to pin Disco than it would Rey or Juvi. Good match and that variation on ‘the Thrillers’ double leap from spot is a really cool addition to their arsenal. The pair of them here continue to build on that six man tag from last week where it finally looked like they’ve ‘got it’.

Bagwell is scouring backstage trying to find his mother, but clearly hasn’t been looking hard enough as she’s on a forklift being driven to ringside by Kanyon! He explains that this was meant to be a ‘Judy Bagwell on a Pole’ match, however he couldn’t find a pole in all of Canada that would support her weight so it is now a ‘Judy Bagwell on a Forklift’ match. Buff finally stumbles upon a monitor backstage, sees what’s going on and takes off for the ring. The fight commences on the floor where Buff whips Kanyon into the guard rail and he goes sailing over it into the front row. They eventually make it into the ring and referee Slick Johnson calls for the bell to get this officially under way. Spinning neckbreaker by Buff as Mama shouts encouragement from a top that forklift. Kanyon counters the ‘ten punches in the corner’ with a low blow and then hits a Russian legsweep off the middle ‘Alabama slam’ into a powerbomb for two. Cobra clutch, or as Mark Madden renames it, the ‘Kanyon clutch’. Bagwell’s arm drops twice, but not for the third time. Kanyon looks for the ‘Diamond cutter’ when Buff shoves him into the turnbuckle, from where earlier he had removed the turnbuckle pad, before ‘snake eyes’ onto the exposed metal. Great near fall after PCK lands a ‘Kanyon cutter’ only for Buff to kick out at the last moment. David Arquette runs out and Madden is ungodly annoying, calling him “one of the legends of the pro wrestling game”. As Buff climbs the turnbuckles for a blockbuster, Arquette nails him in the back with a construction worker’s hard hat, although he kicks out of that too. Arquette gets flipped into the ring and Buff with a double clothesline to both. What should’ve been a double ‘Buff blockbuster’, but Bagwell completely misses grabbing Arquette and he has to bump himself. Cover on Kanyon and Judy Bagwell won’t be becoming his Kimberly! Post-match ‘Kanyon cutter’ on Arquette, presumably for screwing up and costing him the match. I’m just completely cold when it comes to Bagwell. Kanyon tried, but his opponent is the worst. It’s laughable that after eight years in the company that this guy can’t throw a decent clothesline, his are so weak and feeble looking. To add to my disdain for the guy he manages to blow the finish too! I liked that Russian leg sweep off the middle and always enjoy that ‘Alabama slam’ powerbomb Kanyon does. Wherever I end up ranking this is all down to him.

August 2000 CZW 1. Backseat Boyz vs Ric Blade & Nick Mondo (Ladder) (Blood, Sweat & Violence 8/12) 2. Nick Gage vs Madman Pondo (Blood, Sweat & Violence 8/12) 3. Lobo vs Justice Pain vs Zandig (Barbed Wire Whips & Boards Lumberjack) (Blood, Sweat & Violence 8/12) ECW 1. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Psicosis (Hardcore TV 8/27) 2. Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck vs Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke (St. Petersburg, FL 8/12) 3. Rob Van Dam & Kid Kash vs Justin Credible & Rhino (TNN 8/25) 4. Rhino vs Mikey Whipwreck (Hardcore TV 8/13) 5. Mikey Whipwreck vs Little Guido (TNN 8/4) 6. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs Psicosis (Virginia Beach, VA 8/18) 7. Jerry Lynn vs Steve Corino vs Yoshihiro Tajiri (TNN 8/4) 8. The FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke & Sal E. Graziano) vs Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck & Psicosis (TNN 8/18) 9. Steve Corino vs Scotty Anton (Virginia Beach, VA 8/18) 10. Yoshihiro Tajiri vs E.Z. Money (TNN 8/11) 11. Psicosis vs Michael Shane (St. Petersburg, FL 8/12) 12.Tommy Dreamer & Christian York & Joey Matthews vs E.Z. Money & Chris Hamrick & Julio Dinero (St. Petersburg, FL 8/12) 13. Justin Credible vs Kid Kash (TNN 8/11) 14. Rhino vs Rob Van Dam (TNN 8/18) 15. Nova & Chris Chetti vs E.Z. Money & Julio Dinero vs Christian York & Joey Matthews (Hardcore TV 8/20) 16. Steve Corino vs Scotty Anton (Hardcore TV 8/27) 17. Tommy Dreamer vs Scotty Anton (TNN 8/4) 18. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger (Hardcore TV 8/6) 19. Jerry Lynn vs Chris Hamrick (Hardcore TV 8/20) 20. Rob Van Dam vs Kid Kash (Hardcore TV 8/6) 21. Rob Van Dam vs Balls Mahoney (Hardcore TV 8/13) Indies 1. Ricky Reyes vs B-Boy (IWC SoCal 8/18) 2. Los Gringos (Ricky Reyes & Rocky Romero) vs B-Boy & Primetime Peterson (IWC SoCal 8/11) 3. Billy Reil vs Little Dixie vs Mike Quackenbush vs Don Montoya vs Flash Wheeler vs Zieg vs Dr Hurtz vs Homicide (Gauntlet) (UWF 8/18) 4. B-Boy vs Rocky Romero (IWC SoCal 8/4) 5. Ricky Reyes vs Dick Danger vs Keiji Sakoda (Elimination) (IWC SoCal 8/25) 6. Damaja & Nick Dinsmore vs Rob Conway & Mark Henry (OVW TV 8/12) 7. Christian York & Joey Matthews vs The Executioners vs Ghetto Mafia (2 Dope & Sydeswype) vs Dino Divine & Christopher Carmichael (Elimination) (MCW Maryland 8/2) 8. Maverick Wilde vs Mike Hollow (NECW 8/12) 9. Rocky Romero vs Funky Billy Kim (IWC SoCal) 10 .Sabu vs Dirtbike Kid (FWA Evil Intentions: About to Explode 8/5) NR - Ricky Reyes vs Sun Warrior (IWC SoCal 8/4) IWA-MS 1. CM Punk vs Colt Cabana (From Hardcore Hell and Back 8/5) 2. Mitch Page vs Bull Pain (From Hardcore Hell and Back 8/5) JAPW 1. Low Ki vs Homicide (Night of the Main Events 8/19) 2. Da Hit Squad vs Russ & Charlie Haas (Night of the Main Events 8/19) MCW 1. American Dragon vs Spanky (8/19) 2. American Dragon vs Reckless Youth (8/26) 3. Steven Regal vs Shooter Schultz (8/12) 4. Rodney & Pete Gas vs Tracey Smothers & Lance Cade (8/26) 5. American Dragon vs Shooter Schultz (8/5) 6. Steven Regal vs Reckless Youth (8/19) 7. Steven Regal vs Joey Abs (8/26) 8. K-Krush vs Tracey Smothers (8/12) 9. Tracey Smothers vs Viscera (8/5) 10 .Reckless Youth vs Lance Cade (8/12) 11. Fabulous Rocker vs American Dragon vs Spanky (8/12) MPPW 1. Slash vs Derrick King (8/19) 2. Spellbinder vs Derrick King vs Blade Boudreaux vs Alan Steel vs Austin Rhodes vs Bulldog Raines vs Slash vs Khan vs Rob Harlem vs Deon Harlem vs Charlie Laird vs Jeff Logan vs Wild Bill (Elimination) (8/26) 3. Alan Steel vs Blade Boudreaux vs Derrick King (8/26) 4. Derrick King vs Seven (8/12) NR - Bill Dundee vs Brandon Baxter (8/5) NWA Wildside 1. Terry Knight & Eddie Golden vs Romeo Bliss & Jesse Taylor (No DQ, No Count Out) (8/19) 2. Onyx & Terry Knight vs Ultimate Creation (Jason Ultima & Perfect Creation) (8/26) 3. Lazz vs Mark E. Mark (8/12) WCW ‘A’ Shows 1. 3 Count vs Jung Dragons (Ladder) (New Blood Rising 8/13) 2. Booker T vs Lance Storm (Nitro 8/7) 3. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera & Disco Inferno vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire & Mike Sanders (Nitro 8/21) 4. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera & Disco Inferno vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Thunder 8/30) 5. Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett (New Blood Rising 8/13) 6. Lance Storm vs Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 8/2) 7. Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett (Nitro 8/14) 8. Billy Kidman vs Elix Skipper (Thunder 8/2) 9. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera vs Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire (Thunder 8/16) 10. Lance Storm vs Norman Smiley (Hardcore) (Thunder 8/2) 11. Sting & Ernest Miller vs Great Muta & Vampiro (Thunder 8/9) 12. Buff Bagwell vs Chris Kanyon (Judy Bagwell on a Forklift) (New Blood Rising 8/13) 13. Chris Kanyon vs Mike Awesome (Thunder 8/2) 14. Bill Goldberg vs Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner (New Blood Rising 8/13) 15. Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome (Canadian rules) (New Blood Rising 8/13) 16. Lance Storm vs Ernest Miller (Thunder 8/2) 17. Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome (Flag) (Thunder 8/9) 18. Booker T vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 8/28) 19. Booker T vs Chuck Palumbo (Nitro 8/21) 20. Sting vs Great Muta (Nitro 8/28) NR - Booker T vs Kevin Nash (Nitro 8/14) WCW ‘C’ Shows 1. Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera & Disco Inferno vs Jung Dragons (Worldwide 8/19) 2. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Disco Inferno vs Matt Stryker & Chris Harris (Worldwide 8/12)

Nitro is coming to us from Brisbane, Australia this week. Tony Schiavone talks about ‘Prime Time’ being the current Cruiserweight champion, although he must’ve forgotten the belt and left it in the US because their is no sign of it here. Bodyscissors takedown by Rey and the crowd react huge to that. He whips Elix into the ropes, however he leaps to the middle one, back flips over Rey and drops him with a spinning heel kick. Sunset flip powerbomb to the floor! Skipper throws Rey back into the ring but misses the headscissors as Rey side steps out the way. Leg drop off the top rope (rope, not turnbuckle) to the back of the head for two. Running ‘fameasser’ followed by an Arabian moonsault (which Schiavone erroneously calls a split legged moonsault). Lucha wheelbarrow, however ‘Prime Time’ just dumps Rey on the top rope crotching him. Rope walk rana, but Skipper loses his balance and just kinda falls on Rey in an ugly looking moment. Belly to back suplex and a lovely looking leg drop for a two count of his own. Headscissors escape out of a wristlock, using the top rope as a springboard. A right hand sends Elix tumbling to the outside and Rey with a springboard flip dive to the floor. Bronco buster, when through the crowd comes Torrie Wilson who attacks Tygress who is sat at the commentary desk. As the two roll around at ringside, it distracts Rey allowing Skipper to his ‘Play of the Day’ for the win. This is the kind of crowd that WCW would want to take with them everywhere. Rey looked tremendous; flew more than he has been doing in his tags with Juvi, hit everything and the fans reacted big to him. Skipper looked nervous to begin with, got into things, only to then blow that rope walk rana which set him back to how he was at the beginning. The guys got talent, just needs to find the confidence to go with it.

I stumbled upon this on YouTube and as it was right around the period I was up to in my PWO2K WCW viewing, and it looked interesting, decided to give it a look. The Dragons are on the outside with Leah Meow and none of them really want to get in the ring but Yang gets pressured into it. ‘Sir Pumpalot’ no sells his quick fire punches to the stomach and then takes his head off with a ‘Steinerline’. Huge gorilla press slam where he dumps him over the top rope to the arena floor. Kaz and Jamie attack Steiner from behind, but that has no effect and it’s a double ‘Steinerline’ for them. A suplex for each of the Dragons, before a belly to belly off the middle on Jamie and a fallaway slam off the middle on Kaz. He puts the pair of them in the recliner together and so ends any faltering hope that the Jung Dragons had of being taken seriously. Meow and Midajah are going at it at ringside, with Leah getting the better of things, although Steiner is more interested in flexing his biceps than helping his valet. Could they not have got three guys from the Power Plant for this? The Dragons credibility has gone; Steiner ran through all three of them, didn’t sell a thing, they got in zero offense and he made two of them submit at the same time. One of the few acts that I genuinely look forward to watching has been ruined beyond repair.

Konan has got some ridiculous looking pants on. ‘The Animals’ look to try and use their speed advantage over their much larger opponents, with Juvi launching Rey into a dropkick on one of the twins. Springboard dropkick by Juvi, but when Rey goes for the springboard rana, Heavy D catches and then plants him with a powerbomb. Big Ron unloads on Rey in the corner, whipping him chest first into the opposite one. Huge powerslam, although he doesn’t even bother with a cover. Modified sit-out powerbomb, now he does, but Juvi is in to break up the pin. Rey ducks under a big boot and is able to make the tag. Springboard spinning heel kick, ten punch spot in the corner, however Ron just lifts Juvi up and crotches him on the top rope. Quality spinning side slam (what would late become Abyss’ ‘Black Hole Slam’) and now Rey is the one saving his partner. As Heavy D looks to drop Juvi on the top turnbuckle ‘snake eyes’ style, ‘the Juice’, slides down his back and shoves him chest first into the corner. Springboard bulldog and the tag to Rey. He puts the boots to Don, before Tygress is in for ‘a face full of stuff’. This looks only slightly better than when she did it against 3 Count on Worldwide, but at least the ref is pre-occupied with Big Ron and not just watching this happen in front of his eyes. Rey joins Tygress for another ‘face full of stuff’, however when Juvi tries to get it on the action Don raises a foot which he goes flying groin first into. Kronik are out and make light work of Disco, who Konan had sent to stop them from attacking Rey and Juvi. Big Ron drags Rey to the outside and drops him throat first across the guard rail, before being hit around the back of the head with a baseball bat by Bryan Clark. Clark rolls Ron back into the ring, Brian Adams then presses Rey overhead and throws him back in, only for him to land on top of Ron. Both men are out of it, but the ref sees Rey on top and counts the pin. Probably the most subdued crowd reaction we’ve seen to Rey and Juvi so far, although I’ll attribute that to the Harris Twins. I was expecting a title change here, so was surprised by the ending in that respect. Typical ‘Filthy Animals’ fare when they are in there with larger opposition, as they fly around and bump huge for their opponents.

Same old spiel on the mic from the Filthy Animals. Rey with a Lucha wheelbarrow arm drag on Jamie-san. He goes for a leap frog but Jamie catches and drives him to the mat with a powerbomb for two. Snap suplex that he transitions into a Northern Lights for another near fall. Great flying headscissors by Juvi on Hayashi and the crowd are loving ‘the Juice’. Standing huracanrana from Kaz which leads to Konan giving us a history lesson about how the move is named after Huracan Ramirez who invented it back in 1940. Disco misses an elbow drop and Yang unloads with some rapid fire punches to the chest. A spinning heel kick takes them both over the top rope to the outside, and that’s the start of a dive train sequence, ending with a Noble springboard flip dive onto everyone. Combination missile dropkick/slingshot DDT by the Dragons on Disco and Juvi is in to break up the pin. As Yang runs the ropes, Rey trips him from the floor and Juvi with a springboard leg drop to the back of his neck. Kaz dives over the double clothesline and Yang, who’s now back to his feet, with a Three Stooges double poke to the eye. Yang whips Kaz at Rey, however he backdrops him over the top and out onto Jamie-san. ‘Chartbuster’ by Disco, Rey with the top rope leg drop to the groin and the Animals get the win. Good fast paced match. Disco sucks, but Rey, and especially Juvi, are over big time with the crowd. The Dragons continue to be an enjoyable trio and deserve way better than what they get.

Tony Schiavone says that this is the second in a ‘best of five’ series. Last week’s match was a number one contender’s bout, so we’re either missing something from Nitro or, due to how good their previous encounter was, over the course of seven days they’ve decided to turn it into a ‘best of five’ instead. Lightning fast arm drag from Rey to escape a wristlock and Juvi takes to the floor. Mike Tenay reminds everyone that “the Juice is up one zip, he won this last week” so that answers my question from earlier. Lucha style surfboard that Rey transitions into a pin attempt for two. Headscissors from Juvi who then clotheslines Rey over the top rope to the outside. Just as things are starting to heat up, Juvi blows out his knee, catching it on the middle rope after Rey monkey flips him and the match is stopped due to the injury. This was building nicely and looked like it was going to be better than last week until the unfortunate injury put a halt to things.

Vince Russo looks like he’s about to take part in an American Football contest with the amount of padding and protection he’s wearing. After Booker makes his entrance, a bunch of lower/mid-card level talent (Filthy Animals, M.I.A., Jung Dragons, Mike Awesome, Kwee Wee etc.) head down to ringside to watch this from up close. Russo pulls a rubber baseball bat out of his trousers and starts laying into Booker. The rules of the cage match are first man out wins, so with Booker down Vinnie Ru immediately looks to try and exit, only to find the doorway blocked by member of M.I.A. and ‘the Filthy Animals’. More baseball bat shots, but it is so obvious that the bat is made out of rubber with the sound it makes when it connects! As the door is a ‘no go’, he pulls some ladders from under the ring and is going to escape via the roof when Sting drops down from the ceiling, cutting that option off. I’m guessing Russo must’ve fallen off the ladder as he’s now collapsed in the ring, although we missed seeing what happened due to the camera focussing on Sting. Booker throws Russo into the cage and is just pummelling him. Lex Luger arrives through the crowd and passes him another rubber bat. He’s back swinging and even clobbers referee Mickey Jay with it. That leads to a couple more officials entering the cage, along with some EMT’s, to check on him. Tough guy Russo is now attacking the EMT’s, when one of them turns out to be Ric Flair is disguise. ‘The Naitch’ gets a sizeable pop and briefly puts Russo in the Figure Four before hi fiving Booker and going on his merry way. The ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ are out to try and help Vinnie Ru, but they can’t get past all the wrestlers who are already out there and an almighty brawl takes place. Axe kick by Booker, Harlem side kick and Russo can barely get to his feet. As Booker is about to leave the cage, Goldberg’s music plays and that has the power of freezing men on the spot it would seem! Booker just waits by the cage door waiting for Goldberg to enter, and when he does try to leave, Scott Steiner has appeared out of the blue and slams the cage door in his face. That doesn’t have much effect though as Booker superkicks it into him. Goldberg is stalking Russo inside the cage, and when Booker is finally about to step out of it, a split second before he does Goldberg spears Russo through the cage wall. The commentators are unsure who won, Tony Schiavone thinks Booker did, but Madden thinks Russo. We’ll have to tune in to Thunder to find out... So Vince Russo with the odds stacked against him becomes World champion. I said after how he booked himself against Ric Flair that Russo’s ego was out of control, and here, facing the current World champion, with at least ten of his enemies on the outside to prevent any of his allies from helping, with Sting dropping in, being attacked and briefly put in the Figure Four by Ric Flair and speared by Goldberg, he overcomes it all! Remember, this isn’t even a wrestler we’re talking about but a writer, something that we’ve so openly been told in the last month. I enjoyed the Flair surprise return, but they wasted that and a Lex Luger cameo on this? You could argue that Russo didn’t look strong the way he actually won the title, however he should have been nowhere near a match like this in the first place. Just f*ck off, take your rubber baseball bat with you and never darken a wrestling company again.

Leah Meow is now with the Jung Dragons and she’s not leaving much to the imagination with that outfit, while it also looks like she’s struggling to walk with those thigh high boots that she’s got on. Sanders and Kaz kick this one off and ‘the Above Average’ one launches him with a release pump handle suplex before taking a position at the commentary table. Side headlock, Yang tries to shoot Jindrak off but he’s got the squeeze on and all that happens is Yang swings around his body. A bunch of elbows to the mid-section forces the escape, although a one footed dropkick has little effect. He ducks a double clothesline and his Three Stooges double eye poke spot on ‘the Thrillers’. O’Haire turns him inside out with a clothesline before a lovely headscissors on Jindrak and he’s able to make the tag. Kaz doesn’t fair too well and Jamie is forced to save him after the ‘Seanton bomb’ with a top rope leg drop to the back of the head. Noble takes it to ‘the Thrillers’ with a double DDT and Sanders decides to return to the match, clearly thinking that his partners need him. He’s timed that one just right, as after a modified sit out powerbomb, he’s back in the thick of it. ‘Rude Awakening’ neckbreaker by Jamie is followed by a Russian leg sweep. Jindrak grabs his ankle from the outside, but he dropkicks him through the ropes. O’Haire is around to check on his partner, pescado by Noble, however O’Haire catches him. Incredible double beel back into the ring where, in the same motion, Sanders catches and powerslams Jamie. Jindrak and O’Haire like that one and take a leaf out of their partner’s book, leaving Sanders to go it alone while they provide a bit of commentary. ‘Above Average’ Mike launches Noble over the top to the floor (poor Jamie’s flying everywhere at the moment) and puts the boots to Kaz and Yang. Leah Meow has seen enough and she starts to kick Jamie while he’s down on the outside. Schiavone talks about her taking matters into her own hands as she takes off her boots. She slaps Yang before coming off the top onto Sanders and pinning him. Post-match ‘the Thrillers’ beat down the Dragons as an angry Leah Meow watches on from ringside. Up until the final thirty seconds I was really enjoying this, but why does the referee let Meow blatantly interfere in the match? Not only does he not disqualify or even warn the Dragons for her interference, he proceeds to count a pinfall attempt by her, a pinfall attempt that garners a three and then decides that is enough to give them the victory. Ridiculous! I thought ‘the Thrillers’ looked good here. Mike Sanders isn’t as impressive in the ring as his partners, but he’s found a role that suits him within the group. I also liked how he took to the commentary table to let his partners do all the work. It not only keeps him out of the action, it also adds a bit of substance to his character; likes he’s a cerebral, thinking wrestler. Why should he get his hands dirty when he’s got a couple of tag partners that could do it for him? Jindrak and O’Haire sitting by and not moving from commentary while Meow interfered also added to the absurdity of that finish. I would’ve gone higher still on the match had it not ended as it did.

I know ‘Commissioner Cat’ is trying to make life difficult for Nash, but did they not learn anything from the absurdity of having the World title on the line in War Games? Now it’s on the line in this tag match, where again Nash could lose the belt without being pinned. Pamela Paulshock is on ring announcing duties and ‘Sir Pumpalot’ either tries to intimidate or sexually harass her after being introduced. The two teams pair off with Steiner and Booker getting it on in the ring, while Nash and ‘the Cat’ fight around ringside. As Booker looks for an early axe kick, he’s nailed from behind by ‘Big Sexy’ and Steiner launches him with an overhead throw/suplex. After whipping ‘the Cat’ into the guard rail, Steiner clocks him over the head with the title belt as they look to try and isolate Booker. He remains crumpled on the outside for the rest of the bout, as every time he would get back to his feet Nash or Steiner would go and lay him out again. To be fair it’s a pretty smart way of booking things in order to stop ‘the Cat’ from stinking up the match. Side slam by ‘Big Sexy’ for a two. Belly to belly followed by the ‘Steiner recliner’ and the crowd immediately turns to the entrance way. Either someone is on their way out, or they’ve been conditioned to the point that they expect a run in. Nash pulls Booker out of the recliner and from the ring in order to protect his title as a motorbike pulls up at ringside. It’s Goldberg! Steiner doesn’t see him coming as he’s having words with Nash, and when he turns around he’s met with a spear. The jackhammer is next just before the show goes off the air. No result is officially announced, but it’s either a no-contest or Nash & Steiner win by disqualification.

That injunction that Vince Russo took out obviously didn’t amount to anything as ‘the Cat’ is still Commissioner and has made this title match with Booker T as the special guest referee, and Bill Goldberg as the guest enforcer. The pair of them tease the ‘one finger poke of doom’ finish, but Steiner doesn’t lay down for it. Nash goes to step over the top rope and leave, only to be dragged back into the ring by ‘Big Poppa Pump’. We have about thirty seconds of action, and after a ‘Steinerline’ and cover, Booker stops counting at two in order to check that Nash’s shoulders are still down. That doesn’t sit well with Steiner who attacks Booker, before he and ‘Big Sexy’ team up against him. Goldberg leaves his ringside position to help, but a Steiner low blow stops him in his tracks. Not sure what’s going on with ‘Commissioner Cat’ as he’s showing no interest of leaving the commentary desk to give Booker and Goldberg a hand. Eventually he does though, sntaching a chair away from Steiner. Goldberg with a spear on ‘Big Poppa Pump’ and as Booker is about to give Nash ‘the Book End’, up to the ring pulls the Partridge Family bus out of which comes the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ (now with Johnny ‘the Bull’ Hugger amongst their ranks) and Jeff Jarrett. ‘Double J’ throws Steiner a metal pipe which he uses to take out Booker and Goldberg, before Nash rams the Book’s head through the windshield and ‘the Thrillers’ handcuff Goldberg to the front of the bus. Steiner cracks him across the ribs with the bat a few times and just as the show is about to go off the air, he breaks the shackles freeing himself. The match was supposed to be payback for a few weeks ago when Nash won the World title and had Jarrett as guest referee and Steiner a guest enforcer. The thing is, with Nash and Steiner being team mates in ‘the band’ it makes little sense in how this is ‘stacking the deck’ against Nash? It’s not helped by a Booker pre-match promo after he’s introduced, where he says he’ll be getting his title back from Nash at Fall Brawl. So if he wants his title back, he’s obviously not going to screw with Nash as he wants him to remain champion, making the whole logic here ass backwards. The match itself only went thirty seconds before it broke down and Mark Madden refers to this as “a spectacular preview to Fall Brawl”. I wouldn’t go that far Mark!

Disco interrupts Konan’s catchphrases and says that even though he does all the tough talk, he’s tough too. When Kronik jumped him on Thunder they made the biggest mistake of their lives as they’ve made him mad. He says how the ‘Filthy Animals’ play together and they fight together, so he’s decided that Rey and Juvi are going to step up to the plate and beat the hell out of them! That doesn’t sit too well with the rest of ‘the Animals’ but Kronik are more than happy to answer his challenge. We return from a quick recap of what happened on Thunder to find that Brian Adams has got Rey in a gorilla press on the floor, from where he throws him over the top rope and back into the ring. He tries the same with Juvi but ‘the Juice’ lands on his feet. As Adams gets up on the apron he sidesteps a Juvi dropkick and decks him with a right hand that misses by a country mile. Mark Madden wonders if we’ll see ‘a face full of stuff’ tonight only for Konan to shoot that down right away saying that “(he) heard they didn’t want to sell it”. Now that was funny! Juvi ducks under a big boot and ‘the Animals’ dropkick Adams’ knee as they try and bring him down to their size. Double suplex, but when they try a double clothesline he just runs through them with one of his own. Soft looking shoulder tackle by Clark on Rey, he then counters Juvi’s wheelbarrow bulldog by slamming him to the canvas. Rey leaps backwards into an Adams full nelson and an almighty full nelson slam follows. Ron Harris walks out and he’s carrying a video camera for some reason. Adams heads off to confront him while Clark struggles to clothesline Rey over the top, eventually having to push him over! Heavy D is now with his brother, although Adams doesn’t see him and Don hits him over the head with another video camera that he’s taken from one of the camera men. Disco nails Clark in the back with a chair and gives him a ‘stunner’ on the floor before rolling him back into the ring. Springboard leg drop to the back of the neck by Rey, 450 splash AND CLARK KICKS OUT! ‘Nutcracker’ the pair of them cover him together and he finally decides to stay down for that. Just a bad idea period putting these two against Rey and Juvi. Adams and Clark are stuck in the early 90’s and clearly don’t want to be selling for either. As a result they kill the wheelbarrow bulldog and even worse, after a chair shot, stunner, leg drop to the back of the neck and a 450 splash, Bryan Clark kicks out of all of that! So not only killing one finisher, but two (Disco’s and Juvi’s). A mess from beginning to end.

Bret Hart wants a bit of respect, that’s all he asks! Ever since he came to WCW Bret says how he got screwed over, screwed over and screwed over again, to which Stevie Ray jumps in that “he should’ve known that before he came!” He beat every wrestler in the WWF, from the Undertaker to Steve Austin to the Rock to Shawn Michaels to Vince McMahon, came to WCW and beat everyone here from Ric Flair up to Bill Goldberg. There was only one person who gave him a chance and that was Vince Russo, whom, from the day he got here, started to give him title matches, started to give him what he deserves. The footage from is then Starcade is played. Bret hopes that Goldberg is happy with himself because that “mother of all potatoes” cost him millions of dollars of a supposed guaranteed contract and now he’s dealing with all kinds of complications because of it. As he says how he tried to end his career, tried to end his life, Goldberg’s music plays and he joins Bret in the ring. He explains that he has remorse over what happened, how he feels for him and how sometimes even wishes that it had happened to him instead. Goldberg goes on that he used to look up to Bret, but not any more. All he was doing that night was his job and he’s had enough of the whining, the moaning and the ‘shoot’ interviews. As he is about to leave, Bret tells him to “go back to the dressing room kid” because he never had it in the first place. Goldberg turns around, steps back into the ring and grabs Bret by the throat, when he’s attacked from behind by Scott Steiner who’s got his metal pipe with him. ‘Steiner recliner’ as Bret instructs Scotty to “make him pay”. After leaving him lying, ‘Big Poppa Pump’ says that he’ll finish the job at Fall Brawl. Goldberg returns to the ring at the end of the Sting/Vampiro match, taking out the ‘Dark Carnival’, before calling out Bret Hart. ‘Team Canada’ appear on the big screen and Lance Storm says that he ended Bret Hart’s career, but there are a couple of Canadian’s left who’ll be more than happy to come down there and kick his ass. Plenty of stalling from ‘Team Canada’, with Lance not really wanting any part of Goldberg and pushing Skipper forwards. A right hand by Elix has no effect and after ducking one from Goldberg, he runs up the turnbuckles and back flips off them, only to get levelled by a spear. Storm has seen enough and retreats up the aisle, when from the opposite direction comes General Rection who grabs and throws him back in the ring. Awesome release overhead pump handle suplex, spear, jackhammer and that’s all she wrote. In the space of less than a month, Storm has gone from challenging Booker T for the World title, and potentially becoming the first ‘Grand Slam’ champion in the history of WCW, to being the one who jobs to Goldberg in a handicap match when teamed with Elix Skipper in around a minute. Storm’s stock has plummeted quicker than Tazz’s did in the WWF! In regards to Bret’s promo, it’s all well and good him ‘shooting’ on Goldberg, attacking him in the desert, slamming the cage door on him at War Games, but the pay off should be a match between the two of them; something we know that will never happen. As a result it makes this all seem rather fruitless and a case of giving Bret something to do so they don’t have to pay him to just sit at home and do nothing.

We get a highlight package of everything that led up to this ‘Anything Goes’ match, before Vampiro makes his way out alongside the Insane Clown Posse. The ICP will be providing guest commentary and we’ve had plenty of references to ‘Juggalos’ before Sting has made his entrance. Vamp is even acknowledged as the Juggalo Heavyweight champion, while the ICP claim that this is a JCW sanctioned bout. Although sanctioned by the JCW, they say that this isn’t a title match because Sting hasn’t worked his way up the JCW rankings; he hasn’t defeated the likes of Madman Pondo so he’s starting at ‘jobber level’. Now there’s a name I never in a millions years would’ve thought would’ve got mentioned on WCW TV! The action quickly spills to the outside where Vamp whips Sting into the guardrail, before hurling him over it and into the front row. They fight in the crowd, although this is another one of those ECW/Tommy Dreamer style ‘fights’. Back at ringside, and with Sting in the ascendancy, he drops Vamp throat first across the barricade. Boot to the mid-section by Vampiro and he rams Sting’s head into the announcer’s table. With this being ‘anything goes’, the ICP then take it in turns to get in shots on ‘the Stinger’. Sting blocks an attempted suplex on the floor and respond with one of his own. He hits Vamp over the head with a chair, although it’s pretty soft to the point that the ICP are openly dismissive of it, describing it as “ginger” and not one of those “cranium busters” that they’re used to seeing. The combatants finally return to the ring and a low blow by Vamp followed by a backdrop driver. Whip to the corner is reversed and Sting with the ‘Stinger splash’. He goes for a second, when Shaggy 2 Dope leaves the commentary desk and throws the JCW belt at him, catching him in the leg. ‘Nail in the Coffin’ but Sting slips over the back and counters with the ‘Scorpion Death Drop’ for the three. Despite Vamp clearly being pinned Violent J announces him as the winner. Yeah, I think I’ll just ignore that! The ‘Dark Carnival’ attack Sting post-match while the Great Muta slowly walks down the aisle to apparently join them. After Sting’s whipped into the ropes though, Muta pulls him from the ring. He then blows the green mist at him, but Sting ducks and he sprays Violent J instead (making Muta pulling him from the ring pretty nonsensical). Sting and Muta fight to the back, right past Bill Goldberg who has recovered from the earlier assault by Scott Steiner and is on his way to ringside. He takes care of ‘the Carnival’ without too much trouble before calling out Bret Hart. I know Sting missed a bit of time after being ‘set on fire’, but do you realise this feud has been going on since April? Hopefully that is the last we’ve seen of it. It was better than that ‘first blood’ atrocity or the epilepsy inducing ‘human torch’ match mind, but that’s feint praise. The Insane Clown Posse were hideous on commentary, to the point that on more than one occasion they were distracting from the match itself. Violent J especially was a constant motor mouth who was trying way too hard to be funny. The thing was he actually had some good lines, if only he’d reined it back by fifty per cent. I’d rather see Sting and Vamp go at it one more time than hear anything else from them. The ending with Muta was confusing to say the least.

Vince Russo with the cheap easy heat option of making fun of the Dallas Cowboys football team. He explains the rules to the three tier ‘Russo’s Revenge - War Games 2000’ cage match, in that the WCW World title will be hanging above the third cage and whomever retrieves, and then leaves the cage holding the belt, will be the WCW champion. Mark Madden for once has a good point in that Kevin Nash can’t be too happy about this. After running down the two competing teams, he explains that he’s had a lawyer look at the contract ‘the Cat’ signed with Eric Bischoff, there’s an injunction out on it and tonight he has zero power. Russo then informs the ‘heel’ team (oh, please!) and he’s referring to Sting, Booker, Goldberg and ‘the Cat’ by the way, that they will have to wrestle qualifying matches in order to get into War Games, before guaranteeing that HE is walking out the cage door as the WCW champion. That brings out Kevin Nash and he’s not happy with Vinnie Ru. He says that he told him he’s not a fighting champion and only has to defend the title once every 30 days, he’s not doing it every night! Russo has grown some balls as he’s standing up to Nash, but after ‘Big Sexy’ grabs him around the throat, the lights go out, thunder clap sounds and Sting comes up through the ring. When Russo orders Nash to kick his ass, he gives him the bird and leaves him all alone in the cage with ‘the Stinger’. Sting doesn’t say much, just that he’ll be the new WCW champion come the end of War Games. As he exits the cage, he turns to see Russo acting all cocky and makes a beeline for him. Russo starts climbing the ladder to get up to the second tier with Sting in pursuit. Steiner and Jarrett rush to try and help Russo, following them both up there, as the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ (who had again been guarding the aisle) remove the ladder to stop anyone from helping Sting. That doesn’t deter Booker and ‘the Cat’ who clear the ring of the Thrillers as Russo climbs back down one side of the cage wall. Goldberg’s music plays and Russo immediately high tails it out of there before he can get his hands on him. Jarrett and Sting are the first men to enter the cage and they have a good two minutes of action. Of course the heels won the coin toss and Scott Steiner is in third. He’s followed by Kronik, who weren’t even originally on the ‘heel’ team, and the two of them enter together (note: it looks like Kronik beat ‘the Cat’ in his qualifying match, although why that means they’re now a part of the match and can enter at the same time I don’t understand). Russo, wearing a hard helmet, is fifth (or should that be sixth?) and he’s accompanied by the Harris Twins. It gets a bit tricky to follow as Kronik and the Harris’ head up to the second cage blasting each other with all the weapons that are in there, whilst action continues in the bottom cage too. Eventually Kronik and the twins head down, brawl into the crowd and disappear to the back. Nash follows Russo, with no explanation given as to why (surely it should be a member of the opposition instead?). Tony Schiavone mentions how he spoke with Nash backstage and his plan was to just stand by the cage door and wait for everyone else to do the work and once they’ve collected the belt, take it from them! You know that’s the truth though! Booker and Goldberg are the last two entrants. Nash really is doing the bare minimum here! Russo clocks Goldberg over the bat with his rubber baseball bat and they handcuff him to the ropes as everyone, bar Nash, then heads up to the second cage. Booker grabs the belt, but in amongst all this going on, Sting has somehow got cuffed to the cage wall. Jarrett breaks a guitar over Booker’s head, Steiner drops the belt through the trapdoor and Russo picks it up. ‘The Cat’ is out and levels Russo with a ‘Feliner kick’. Nash, sensing an opportunity, finally decides to get involved in things and ‘jackknifes’ ‘the Cat. At this point Goldberg breaks free of the handcuffs and runs rough shot over everyone. He picks up the belt and is about to leave through the door when Bret Hart has appeared from out of the blue and goes all Terry Gordy at Reunion Arena in 1982 on us. ‘Steiner recliner’ on Goldberg. Russo has got hold of the belt again when Nash snatches hold of him. SWERVE~ as the two of them hug, Russo hands him the title and Nash steps out of the cage to remain the World champion. Considering we got yet another swerve, the finish was anti-climactic and at times this felt like it was being made up as they went along (Kronik appearing in the match, them entering at the same time, Nash following Russo, where on earth did Bret Hart appear from) this wasn’t that bad. Everyone, with the exception of Nash and Russo had their working boots on, and even Nash was funny with his promo about “not being a fighting champion” and then letting everyone else do all the work while he stood on the bottom tier. The Kronik/Harris twins plunder was better that I expected from those teams too.

This should’ve been Rey & Juvi vs Kronik, but it was mis-labelled and I decided to watch it anyway. Jeremy Borash is making his debut on commentary, replacing Scott Hudson who had flown home to be with his pregnant wife. The ICP jump ‘the Animals’ just as Konan is wrapping up his catchphrases and they whip Rey and Juvi into each other. They try something similar again, but this time Rey backdrops Juvi over the top rope and he lands on the apron. Springboard dropkick to Shaggy 2 Dope and Rey with an Arabian moonsault on Violent J. Stereo pescados to the floors by ‘the Animals’. Juvi comes off the top turnbuckle with a plancha, but S2D catches him with a dropkick to the chest as he’s mid-air. A miscommunication sees J accidentally clobber his partner and ‘the Animals’ with their wheelbarrow bulldog/springboard leg drop to the back of the neck combination. ‘Air Juvi’ followed by the bronco buster. A lethargic looking clothesline by J to Rey, and a second clothesline sends Juvi over the top and to the outside. As he presses Rey overhead, Juvi takes down S2D and a springboard dropkick sees Rey then fall on top. ‘Nutcracker’ as Konan calls it (aka Rey’s top rope leg drop to the groin) and the Filthy Animals retain their tag belts. Ideal way to open Nitro as Rey and Juvi continue to get strong reactions week in week out. The ICP aren’t good, but at least Shaggy 2 Dope looks to have some sort of idea, unlike Violent J who, gorilla press aside, is really bad. Match is kept short and the ICP’s offense to a minimum as Rey and Juvi pretty much run through them, busting out their double team and high flying moves along the way to please the crowd.

Tony Schiavone confirms that the alliance between 3 Count and Tank Abbott is over, which is good news as far as 3 Count are concerned. Konan is on commentary and runs down the various titles that Rey and Juvi have held in Mexico, even mentioning Fuerza Guerrera by name when talking about how Juvi won gold whilst teaming with his father. Shannon knees Rey in the stomach and follows up with a ‘Rocker Dropper’. Double team Samoan drop/neckbreaker by 3 Count for a near fall. Huge powerbomb by Shane and Shannon with a slingshot senton (although it looks like he lands right on Rey’s face) as Juvi is in this time to break up the pin. Blind tag to ‘the Juice’ and he takes out Shane with a springboard dropkick. Wheelbarrow bulldog/springboard leg drop to the back of the neck combination. ‘Air Juvi’ but Guerrera slips as he’s about to leap off Rey’s back. Fortunately the spot was to see Shane clothesline him as he’s mid-air, so even though it’s still a botch, it could’ve looked a lot worse than it did. Springboard dropkick by Shannon sends Rey tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Evan Karagias is around to get some licks in, but Tygress quickly puts a stop to that with a low blow. Cool little suplex from Shannon where he drops Juvi across Shane’s knee for a backbreaker. ‘The Juice’ ducks under a double clothesline and then avoids the spinning heel kick as Shannon accidentally nails his own partner instead. Tag to Rey who hits a springboard crossbody onto both members of 3 Count. Facebuster on Shane, before backdropping Shannon over the top rope to the floor. He absolutely soars over the ropes talking an almost flat back bump on the mats in a crazy looking bump. ‘Face full of Stuff’ (right in front of the official who just lets it go) however Tygress really needs to practice that some more as it doesn’t look good. Top rope leg drop to the groin and ‘the Animals’ retain the gold. Just like the Jung Dragons, 3 Count deserve better than being used as filler on Worldwide. Juvi’s botch was unfortunate, while Shannon Moore took one outrageous bump to the outside off that backdrop. Konan was very good on commentary here, talking about the Mexican titles that the Animals have won and also mentioning how the high flying style these teams do can lead to injuries, referencing injuries that Rey, Juvi, he, as well as Evan Karagias have suffered. He’s a quick witted, funny guy, but this made a nice change from seeing him rag on the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’, making jokes about how green they are and calling people ‘cranberries’. Fun stuff, although if it were up to me I’d ditch Tygress from the group, she adds nothing and her ‘face full of stuff’ spot both looks bad and also stretches kayfabe when she’s doing it in front of the referee.

Vince Russo heads to the ring along with Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash and the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ and describes them as the elite group in WCW. He came here 11 months ago and now the band is back together! Russo claims he gave Goldberg the easy way to get out of this, all he had to do was sign his release, but no he wanted to do things the hard way and now it’s gotten New York ugly (whatever that means). Nash jokes how he should’ve called himself ‘the puppet master’, instead of ‘Big Sexy’, as every few months he sucks the fans in so they buy his merchandise, and when it’s all gone, they get the real him. He doesn’t care about them because they can’t get him title shots, they can’t get him belts, they can’t watch his back, but these guys can. After saying that he’ll become the new WCW champion at Fall Brawl, Russo interrupts and tells him that he’s wrong, he won’t be...he’ll become the new WCW World champion right here tonight and sets the title match for later in the show. He then announces that Jeff Jarrett will be the special guest referee inside the ring, and Scott Steiner will be the guest enforcer on the outside. Oh FFS! Booker T, shortly followed by ‘the Cat’, are out and head to the ring to confront them. Typically Russo gets the first shot in, low blowing ‘the Cat’ after he’s turned his back, and the four of them put a beating on them. The Filthy Animals try to make the save but they can’t get past ‘the Thrillers’ who’re keeping guard in the aisle. The numbers game is too strong and the Animals also end up getting laid out in the ring. As ‘the Band’ leaves, Nitrovision cuts in and Goldberg is digging a grave in the desert. He tells Russo that he’s coming back to the arena, is going to take out all of his goons, and will then drag his carcass back to the grave and dump his body in it. On to the title match and Russo can’t keep out of the limelight joining the commentary team for what he describes as a ‘New York screw job’, guaranteeing a title change at the same time. Nash blindsides Booker as he’s distracted by Steiner and a right hand sends him tumbling through the ropes to the outside. Steiner is around and about to clobber him with the lead pipe when Jarrett tells him to move away. As Nash takes it to Booker on the floor, ‘Double J’ starts counting both men out of the ring. Russo is up from the announcer’s desk and can’t believe what he’s seeing. Jarrett is out to separate the wrestlers, he rolls Booker into the ring and ushers Russo back to his position at the desk. Side slam by Booker for a two. Nash gets a two of his own after a big boot and clothesline but Russo thinks ‘Double J’ is deliberately counting slow. His master plan looks like it’s unravelling before his eyes as Jarrett orders Steiner to the back when he catches him up on the apron interfering in things. He misses another Nash pin attempt, after a second big boot, as he’s still trying to get Steiner out of there. Standing side kick by Booker, he ducks a big boot (is that all Nash can do?) and drops ‘Big Sexy’ with a Harlem side kick. Axe kick followed by a missile dropkick off the top. Steiner is back at ringside and Jarrett slugs him. ‘Book End’, then Russo passes ‘the Chosen One’ his guitar and he breaks it over Booker’s head. Shock, horror it was a set up all along! ‘Jackknife’ powerbomb and as Vince Russo guaranteed, Kevin Nash is once again the WCW World Heavyweight champion. This shit is so played out now and of course Jarrett was never going to call it down the middle. It was mildly amusing watching Russo ‘think’ that Jarrett was double crossing him and Tony Schiavone’s smug reaction to it but that’s it.

A quick backstage interview where Pamela Paulshock says that, according to Vince Russo, Chuck Palumbo is walking out of here tonight as the new WCW World champion. Palumbo says that we’re looking at the future of the business and that the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ have come a long way since the Power Plant. No longer are they going to wait for the opportunity to knock, they’re going to knock the door down and take what’s theirs. The wrestlers make their entrances and there’s no sign of a referee when out strolls Vince Russo wearing the black and white stripes. So that’s why he’d been guaranteeing Palumbo would leave as the champ! As soon as he steps through the ropes they hug and I wonder how this is going to pan out? Vinnie Ru is throwing every punch with him and feeling every shot that he receives. Huge spinebuster, cover and Russo doesn’t even attempt to count the pin. You knew it was coming, but it doesn’t lessen how much it drains your interest. Great looking standing sidekick from Palumbo and now Russo can’t get down there quick enough, although Booker is able to kick out of the fast count. Rinse, repeat and so it continues. Harlem sidekick, Russo gestures for some help and here comes the rest of ‘the Thrillers’. ‘Roll the Dice’ by Reno and it’s four on one in their favour when of all people coming to Booker’s aid is Big Vito! As he and his stick clear the ring of ‘the Thrillers’, Kevin Nash has joined the action and looks like he’s going to blast Russo with a chair. This being WCW, it’s all a swerve and he nails Booker instead. Palumbo makes the cover and that clown Russo isn’t paying attention completely blowing the finish. When he finally realises what’s going on, he fast counts Booker’s shoulders to the mat and we have a new World champion. As the Thriller’s’ celebrate here comes ‘Commissioner Cat’ who’s now got Ms. Jones by his side. Tony Schiavone has the gall to call this dross “a breath taking segment!” ‘The Cat’ reminds everyone that Eric Bischoff made him the commissioner while Vince Russo is a writer. That means that they have the same stroke. Why the f*ck are they talking about writers??? The commissioner ejects ‘the Thrillers’ and says that as it wasn’t an official match, the belt remains with Booker T. Book tells him that he doesn’t want the belt back like that (“I didn’t pin this sucker!”) so ‘the Cat’ orders the match to be restarted, only with him as the referee this time, since Russo is a writer after all! The restarted match goes less than sixty seconds with Booker winning via ‘the Book End’. Not the first time I’ve said it this year, but why should I invest in a match when the official is biased and not calling the bout fairly? This isn’t even the first time we’ve seen Russo doing the heel referee gimmick himself. What is it with that man constantly trying to get his mug on TV? Of all the people to help Booker though, it’s Big Vito? That if anything shows that it pays to be friends with the writer! Talking of which, in the last week between this and the Goldberg three way at New Blood Rising we’ve heard about writers, going against the script, wrestler’s not doing what they were supposed to and improvising. Is it any wonder this company died approximately six months later?

Why on earth is Jarrett getting another title shot on Nitro after Booker decisively and cleanly beat him at the PPV last night? Oh, apparently this is his final shot at the World title although I’m not buying that. Booker showing no ill signs of that bad knee which had been troubling him and that ‘Double J’ attacked relentlessly last night. Sleeper hold and Jarrett breaks it with a back kick low blow. Crossbody off the top but Booker rolls through for a two count. A dropkick sends ‘the Book’ under the bottom rope to the outside where Jarrett whips him into the guard rail. Rear chinlock with ‘Double J’ digging his knee into Booker’s back for added pressure. He grabs his guitar and goes to waffle Booker with it, but ‘the Book’ ducks under the shot and snatches him for ‘the Book End’. Knee to the groin puts a stop to that though. Harlem sidekick and now Booker picks up the guitar. He swings at ‘Double J’, who moves, and he connects with referee Mickey Jay instead. Spinebuster and Charles Robinson has appeared from nowhere to make the count although Jarrett kicks out at two. Axe kick, spinneroonie and fortunately no ref bump off it tonight! ‘Double J’ avoids a second Harlem sidekick and it looks like Booker has re-injured his knee by the way he’s clutching at it. ‘The Stroke’ and at the count of two someone pulls Jarrett by the legs out of the ring. It’s Goldberg and he launches ‘Double J’ over the guard rail and into the front row. He grabs the mic and tells Russo “one down, two to go and you’re next!” as Booker is DQ’d (I guess) for the outside interference. It’s hard to get yourself up for a match that happened ‘last night’ and that ended conclusively. They try to add a bit of spice to things by claiming that its Jarrett’s last ever shot at the World title, but when you’ve been swerved, screwed, let down and lied to by this regime, why would you even believe that’s the truth? This is also the sixth match that I’ve watched between these two so far this year and it feels like it. Nice touch of Booker KO’ing the ref with the guitar for a change instead of Jarrett, and while they work a solid quick paced match, nothing that you haven’t seen before.

Booker is hobbling to the ring, wearing a knee brace and selling Jarrett’s attack on it from Monday night. ‘Double J’ is on him as soon as he steps through the ropes, kicking away at that knee. Booker counters a flying bodyscissors with a powerbomb for two, as the commentators think his best chance to win this is to finish it early. He clotheslines Jarrett over the top rope to the outside and whips him into the guardrail. Missile dropkick fails to connect and Booker’s clutching his knee. ‘Double J’ wraps the knee around the ring post and then hits it with a steel chair. Boston crab, but Booker is able to fight his way to the ropes for the break. Double clothesline and both men are down. Spinebuster by ‘the Book’ for two. Axe kick, spinneroonie but as Booker gets to his feet a swinging arm takes out referee ‘Slick’ Johnson. As he checks on him ‘Double J’ grabs the guitar and when Booker goes for the Harlem sidekick, Jarrett breaks it over his head as he’s mid-air. Figure Four, and despite the commentary team’s belief that he won’t be able to power out due to that knee, he again manages to get to the ropes. Jarrett refuses to break the hold continuing to apply the pressure, and it’s only when Johnson reaches the count of four does he finally do so. Booker collapses to the outside and ‘Double J’ collects the World title belt. Johnson is out trying to help ‘the Book’ to his feet when Jarrett runs at them with the belt, Booker ducks and he clobbers Johnson instead. ‘Book End’ off the apron through a table to the floor! A second referee is out and Jarrett is able to drape a foot over the bottom rope on the subsequent pin attempt. Chair shot over the head of the replacement official by Jarrett, ‘the Stroke’ on the chair however there’s no-one to count the pin. Charles Robinson sprints down the aisle, slides into the ring but Booker gets a shoulder up at the last split second. An ugly swinging neckbreaker onto the chair by Booker and this time its ‘Double J’ only just kicking out. ‘Book End’ and that’s finally enough to put his opponent away as Booker retains the World title. This started off promising but went downhill fast towards the end with all the ref bumps. The opening one where a Booker swinging arm took Johnson out looked particularly soft. I thought Booker was doing a good job at selling that knee, then he would forget about it and do ‘Book Ends’ off the apron through a table to the floor and the like! Solid match overall despite my misgivings about the final third or so.

Tony Schiavone talks about seeing these two go at it in the Tokyo Dome back in 1991, while Madden says how their rivalry goes back a few years before that to their time in WCW. Muta goes to meet Sting in the aisle and they kick, punch and walk their way around ringside with nothing of note happening bar Muta taking a bump on the metal ramp way off a clothesline. They get back to where they started in the aisle, and Vampiro is up on the scaffold above the entrance having torn through the Nitrovision screen. Some smoke goes off, supposedly to blind Sting, and Vamp leaps from the scaffold nailing him with a kendo stick. He blasts Sting a few more times more with it until he makes a comeback on them both. ‘The Stinger’ follows Vampiro back up the scaffold, but from behind the Nitrovision comes the Insane Clown Posse who pull him through it. The ‘Dark Carnival’ then beat on Sting till we leave to find out what’s going on with Bill Goldberg and Vince Russo. The two of them are in the desert where Goldberg is standing over an unconscious Russo when Bret Hart pulls up in his car. Bret says that he couldn’t let Goldberg do this all by himself and no-one hates Russo more than him “remember Montreal?” Christ, get over Montreal Vinnie Ru! Bret acts like he’s going to help Goldberg dig a hole to put Russo in, when he turns on him, hitting him over the back with a shovel before telling him how he likes to end careers too. This was complete and utter garbage, both the Sting/Muta non-match and the crap with Russo, Goldberg and Bret that followed. I don’t have the heart or energy to go on about constant turns in WCW, how did Bret even know where they were, the fixation on Montreal etc.