GSR

‘Big Sexy’ is in the house! He manoeuvres the crowd into a “We Want Scott” chant and tells the fans that no-one wants Scott Hall more than him, but WCW have decided that he’s too dangerous for live TV. Since Hall can’t be here he’s bought with him a life sized cardboard cut out of the man. Nash conducts a short interview with the cut out and takes a page out of his old partner’s book with a survey and asks the crowd how many people want to see Scott Hall back? All of them by the sound of things! After Nash finishes his routine Booker makes his entrance, but is jumped from behind by a lead pipe carrying Scott Steiner before even making it into the ring. Steiner takes out Nash as well, when on the big screen appears Goldberg who’s got hold of Midajah. Goldberg lifts her up for the jackhammer at which point the screen cuts out and Steiner takes off after them. When he gets to the back he finds her laid out having been ‘jackhammered through a table’ and Goldberg nowhere to be seen. If there is anything worse than Kevin Nash’s stand up routine it is Mark Madden’s over the top reaction to it. This is what it is and not much to add really although it would’ve been more effective had Midajah actually took the jackhammer as opposed to them cutting the feed and then pretending she had.

The ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ make their way to the ring and they’re all wearing matching t-shirts with that name on so they are officially going by it. Mike Sanders says how for the last two years they’ve been watching the so called “superstars, the top guys” draw above average pay cheques with below average ratings, while they have been abused day in, day out by a bitter, pitiful individual at the WCW Power Plant. He runs through all their physical stats before saying that because of Vince Russo opportunity has knocked, but it’s not knocking fast enough so they’re kicking the door in. The Filthy Animals are out and the first thing out of Konan’s mouth is “and I thought Tank Abbott’s promos were bad!” He tells them how they just stunk up the joint, that they’re soft, haven’t paid any dues, are straight out of the Power Plant and wet behind the ears. We cut for a commercial break and when we return the match is underway as a challenge was made and accepted while we were away. Juvi kicks away at the legs of O’Haire and takes him down with a suplex. He goes for a springboard crossbody but O’Haire catches him mid-air and plants him with a modified bodyslam. Wheelbarrow into a bulldog on Jindrak, and Rey with a springboard legdrop to the back of his neck. Shawn Stasiak and Konan are providing guest commentary here and after Tony Schiavone enquires about Stasiak’s injured knee, Konan (who calls Shawn ‘Stan’) jokes he doesn’t even know how he got the injury as all he does is stand in the corner and pose! Release pump handle belly to back suplex by Sanders on Disco. Combination jawbreaker/springboard clothesline from O’Haire and Jindrak. There’s no one home on the splash in the corner and Disco with a Russian legsweep on Jindrak. Great springboard spinning heel kick by Juvi after a Disco reverse atomic drop. Top rope frankensteiner for two. Rey heads upstairs but O’Haire kicks him in the back from the apron and he crotches himself on the top rope. Delayed vertical suplex by Jindrak and a Sanders assisted powerslam sees Rey only just kick out. Sit out powerbomb and this time Disco is in to break up the pin. Double leap frog, but Rey counters the Jindrak tilt-a-whirl with a satellite headscissors. A bronco buster for Sanders, one for O’Haire and Tygress then enters and gives one to Jindrak as Konan repeatedly screams “face full of stuff, a face full of stuff”. All six men are in the ring and Juvi with a crossbody that sends himself and O’Haire flying over the top rope to the outside. Headscissors over the top to the floor by Rey on Jindrak and Sanders and Disco are all alone. Sanders with what looks like a variation of a backbreaker, although Schiavone calls it a variation of the Hangman’s noose neckbreaker and the NBT get the win. Tygress attacks ‘Above Average’ Mike afterwards, but a quick snapmare and O’Haire lays her out with the ‘Seanton bomb’. I felt Sanders did a decent job on the opening promo. It dragged in the middle without question when he started to run down the size, weight etc. of all the Thrillers, but there was some nice stuff before and after that. Rey and Juvi both looked tremendous here and probably the first time I’ve thought, yeah, maybe Jindrak and O’Haire can both be players. They’ve always had the size, the look, the agility, the moves, but now it looks like they’ve started to get ‘it’. There was a noticeable downturn in the action when Disco and Sanders were in there together, although the latter worked as a great base when Juvi was running wild with all his headscissor variations. Konan appeared to be enjoying himself way too much on commentary mocking and making fun of the Thrillers.

Rey and Juvi are the new tag team champions having defeated the Great Muta and Vampiro for the belts on Nitro. Mike Sanders is with the Filthy Animals as some sort of acquaintance of Disco’s and joins in with their catchphrases, although Konan is not too keen that this “j-brone” is rocking the mic. We get a brief recap of the past two weeks of Nitro where Jindrak and O’Haire have aligned themselves with Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo and Reno, so this is the start of the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ faction. Jindrak and O’Haire with this awesome super high beel on Juvi where he gets ridiculous elevation. Rey takes it to O’Haire until he gets caught with a scoop powerslam. A miscommunication sees him accidentally drill Jindrak with a right hand and Rey takes him off his feet with a spinning heel kick. Springboard missile dropkick and Jindrak is in to break up the pin. Wheelbarrow into a bulldog /springboard leg drop to the back of the neck double team on Jindrak and now O’Haire is the one putting a stop to the count. All four men are in the ring and after a double leap frog, Jindrak with a tilt-a-whirl slam on Rey. O’Haire blocks a monkey flip and dumps Juvi overhead over the top rope to the outside. Rey and Jindrak botch a spot before he plants Misterio with a powerbomb and O’Haire comes off the top with the ‘Seanton bomb’. Disco is up on the apron trying to distract the official, when Sanders pulls him down to the floor. Konan leaves the commentary table to find out what he’s playing at but the ‘Above Average’ one maces him in the eyes. Reno and Palumbo have joined Jindrak and O’Haire and the five of them put a beating on the Filthy Animals (who won the match by DQ) as the future ‘Natural Born Thriller’s have added another member to their group. Rey and Juvi are the perfect opponents for these two as with their size they can be tossed around with ease and make Jindrak and O’Haire look impressive as hell. Some fun stuff in here, but the match was there as a set up for the Sanders turn and him joining the Thrillers. Not watching everything, it would be interesting to know whether ‘Above Average’ Mike had been with the Filthy Animals prior to this or whether it was his first appearance. If it was the latter then it does kinda telegraph things, especially after those clips that aired prior to the match of the previous two weeks of Nitro. Jindrak continues to look green and blew at least two spots here.

A number one contender’s match, where the winner goes on to face the World champion at Fall Brawl. Goldberg’s music plays and there is no sign of him as the commentators talk about how he isn’t here. The camera focuses on a ‘Goldberg fears Gillberg’ sign in the crowd, which is amazing in its own right that they would even show that, until you remember that this is WCW! His music plays for a second time, still no Goldberg so this commences as a singles match. A Nash big boot sends Steiner to the outside where ‘Big Sexy’ whips him into the guard rail before dropping him throat first across it. Goldberg finally arrives, ribs heavily taped and he clocks Nash over the head with a chair. As he starts some ground and pound, Steiner attacks him from behind and tosses him into the ring. Clothesline followed by an elbow drop for two as Goldberg clutches at those ribs. He ducks a second clothesline and a big flying shoulder tackle takes Steiner off his feet. Nash has finished having a rest on the floor now, although nearly slips when stepping over the top rope back into the ring! Belly to belly by Steiner on Nash, but Goldberg then catches him with a nice double underhook/judo throw. Nash with a terrible looking double clothesline, followed by a sideslam on Steiner. He goes for the ‘jackknife’ powerbomb on Goldberg, but Goldberg forces his way out of it, the two exchange words and he climbs out the ring and starts walking back to the dressing room. Goldberg is not even a quarter a way down the aisle when Vince Russo appears from the opposite direction to try and cut him off. Russo orders him to “get your ass back in the ring” and Goldberg responds with “f*ck you!” and carries on his way. The commentators wonder what just happened and Scott Hudson speculates that Goldberg was supposed to go up for the ‘jackknife’ but decided to swerve Kevin Nash instead. Great a shoot~ Madden then claims that Nash could’ve punched Goldberg out right there if he wanted but Nash is too much of a pro! This is comedy gold here, what on earth has Madden been watching for all these years if he thinks Nash is a pro? The bout continues just like it started as a singles contest and now Schiavone is at is saying “if the powerbomb was part of the design what are they going to do now? Improvise?” Enough of the inside talk please! Belly to back suplex by Steiner and Nash is able to get a shoulder up in time. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ runs into a Nash big boot when out jogs Midajah, who for some reason hadn’t accompanied her man from the onset. Steiner rakes the eyes of the official when Nash has got him set for a chokeslam, and Midajah comes to his aid with a low blow and an elbow drop to the groin of the fallen ‘Big Sexy’. Awful looking DDT by Nash and Madden says how he’s never seen him use a DDT before, that’s probably because he sucks at doing them Mark, although he thinks it’s because “they’re winging it on the fly”. Midajah breaks up the pin attacking Nash right in front of the referee, and for some reason that isn’t a DQ? It doesn’t matter though as Nash with the ‘jackknife’ and he advances to Fall Brawl. The first half of this with the three way action was fine, mainly due to the efforts of Goldberg and Steiner (with the former doing a good job on selling those injured ribs). From the moment Goldberg ‘went into business for himself’ that did it for me and all I could think was “not again...” Bash at the Beach was bad enough with Jarrett lying down for Hogan and here we have Goldberg ‘not following the script’ and walking out on the match as opposed to ‘doing what he was supposed to do’. All while the announcers are making inside comments and remarks. Why on earth are they talking about ‘improvising a match’? Yeah, go ahead and tell your viewers that these guys are given a script and plan what they’re going to do in the back! Vince Russo couldn’t wait to get out on camera, so if you were in any doubt that this may have been a ‘shoot’, with how quick he’s out there to confront Goldberg confirms it is anything of the sort. Just give us a match without any of this pseudo BS! The segment ends with the commentary team wondering what is next for Goldberg and Hudson calling him a ‘cry baby’. Ridiculous!

Lance says how, after wrestling for rude and obnoxious fans in the US, he finally gets to wrestle for some real wrestling fans in the greatest country in the world! In accordance with a Canadian championship bout he invokes Rule 32b and names a special referee to oversee the enforcement of the Canadian rulebook, Jacques Rougeau. The reaction to this is flat as the crowd were expecting, and chanting for Bret Hart by the way Lance was building things up. Rougeau walks out carrying the Canadian rulebook and he and Storm stand for the National anthem while the fans sing along. Storm telegraphs a backdrop and Awesome with a double underhook slamming Lance chest first to the canvas. Running lariat in the corner and he just pounds away on Storm. Lance with a superkick before sending Awesome shoulder first into the ring post. He fires away with a series of chops and slaps but they have no effect. A clothesline sends Storm over the top rope to the outside and Awesome with a double axe handle off the apron to the floor. He pulls a table from under the ring and sets that up, but Storm is able to block the powerbomb and drive Awesome backwards into the guard rail. Lance throws him back inside and levels him with a springboard dropkick for two. Reverse crossbody off the top, but Awesome catches then launches him with an overhead belly to belly. He heads upstairs only to slip off the turnbuckles and don’t the crowd let him know it! Sit out powerbomb, referee Mark Johnson counts the three, however right as he slaps the mat for the third time Storm gets a shoulder up. The bell rings for the end of the match and Johnson raises Awesome’s hand. The crowd are chanting “bullshit”, but before Dave Penzer can announce the official decision Jacques Rougeau is in his ear and tells him that according to Canadian rules you must beat your opponent with a five count, therefore the match must continue. Alabama slam for a three count! Awesome with a ‘Dragon sleeper’, Storm taps and Rougeau is consulting his rulebook again. Apparently in a Canadian championship match in Canada, you cannot win by submission, only pinfall, so the match, again, must continue. Christ! Northern Lights suplex by Storm for two. Awesome with a release German and a slingshot shoulderblock for another three count (which sounds so weird saying it!) Huge top rope splash, FIVE COUNT and you know who is up and talking to Penzer. It turns out with Canadian rules in effect, after a man is beaten by a five count, he then has until the count of ten to answer the bell else the match continues. Of course Lance beats the ten count. A lariat by Awesome sends him tumbling to the floor, and then he brings that table he set up earlier into the ring. Storm has recovered and drill Awesome over the head with a chair and gets a four count. An unconvincing belly to belly off the top (and you could see Awesome very unsteady up there after earlier) sees both men go through the table. The rules have changed yet again and Rougeau says that the first man standing at the count of ten will be declared the winner and the Canadian Heavyweight champion. Rougeau enters the ring to help Johnson, but when Awesome is up before Storm, slugs him with a right hand knocking him back down. Lance only just gets to his feet before the count reaches the ten, that’s enough though for the victory. The fans get their wish post-match as Bret Hart is out to embrace Storm and Rougeau and raise Lance’s hand. Way to make your champion look like a chump in his home country! So you’ve had Storm lose a grand total of twice in WCW so far (the ill-judged loss to Kidman and once to Booker on Nitro when he was going for ‘the Grand Slam’), yet here he loses three times in the space of one match. He then is only able to win after help from Jacques Rougeau, who KO’s Awesome as it looks like he’s about to beat him for a fourth time! The work between the two of them was good and Awesome did well in covering for that slip off the top rope, but the booking killed this, especially when it became obvious after Rougeau consulted the Canadian rule book for a second time he was going to keep consulting it until Storm won. It’s staggering that someone though that this was a good idea and a productive way to treat Lance in his home country.

‘The Cat’ saved the Jung Dragons from Vampiro and the Great Muta earlier in the show and was going to get a mystery partner in order to face them later. He’s out first, followed by his opponents and warns them to think twice before stepping in the ring here because he’s got a bad man by his side and “its show time!” Sting is back and has made a complete recovery after being set on fire and thrown off the scaffolding at the Great American Bash! This starts on the outside with the four of them pairing off and Sting nailing Vamp over the back a couple of times with a chair. Running splash against the guard rail, but Vampiro moves and he goes crashing into it himself. He rolls him inside and Muta with a powerdrive elbow. Front chancery by Vamp and Sting with a tag, however the referee’s distracted by Muta so it’s behind his back and he ushers ‘the Cat’ out of there. Spinning heel kick drops Sting, he reverses the whip to the turnbuckle though only to fly into a Vampiro big boot on the ‘Stinger splash’. Vamp misses a spinning heel kick and a double clothesline sees both men go down. Hot tag to ‘the Cat’ and his exchanges with Muta and Vampiro are really ugly. All four men are in the ring and Sting is having no luck with his ‘Stinger splashes’ today as he goes for one on Muta only to get sprayed with the green mist as he’s mid air. ‘Feliner kick’ by ‘the Cat’ on Vampiro and he and Sting get the win. The Demon is out and struggles to put Sting in the Scorpion deathlock, while Muta blows the red mist in the face of ‘the Cat’ leaving him lying. Not sure having Sting return in a throwaway match on Thunder was the best way to bring him back. This has its moments such as the opening brawl at ringside and I really liked him flying into Vamp’s boot and the mist on the ‘Stinger splashes’, but the in ring action felt laboured at times, even more so when ‘the Cat’ was in there. I’ll never understand how a supposed martial arts practitioner can have such bad looking kicks? I’m guessing that by teaming with Sting he’s officially a face now, although with how this company is I wouldn’t be surprised to see him acting as a heel come the PPV or Nitro!

Mike Awesome and Mighty Heidi have joined Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden and Scott Hudson on commentary for the title match. Lance says that tonight he will fulfil his destiny as an all time Canadian great when he makes Booker T submit and becomes the World Heavyweight champion. No Canadian national anthem here as Booker’s entrance music plays instead of ‘O Canada’. Booker drops Storm with a flying forearm when out walks someone with a tray of ham sandwiches for Heidi. The camera is focusing on this nonsense as opposed to the match so it is clearly more important! Lance dropkicks Booker in the leg and he rolls to the outside to try and shake it off. There’s no chance of a rest bite though as Storm nails him with a springboard plancha to the floor. Heidi is chomping away on those ham sandwiches leading Madden to warn her about being careful and “remember Mama Cass”, prompting Hudson to quip “alright Heenan!”, presumably for the dated reference. Booker blocks the suplex and counters with one of his own. Attempted backdrop, Storm with a sunset flip that he tries to transition to the single leg crab but Booker is able to power him away. Axe kick, Harlem side kick and Lance kicks out of the pin in time. ‘The Book’ walks into a Storm big boot, reverse crossbody off the top, however Booker catches and powerslams him in one motion for another close fall. Storm blocks the belly to back, grabs the leg and rolls through, trapping Booker in the ‘Canadian Maple Leaf’ crab. Mark Madden needs to STFU at this point! ‘The Book’ slowly inches his way over to the ropes for the break, becoming the first man to survive the hold in the process. Storm levels him with a superkick, but Booker responds with a spinebuster. Missile dropkick for a great near fall and ‘The Book End’ soon follows for the three. Jeff Jarrett jumps Booker after the match, attacking his knee as he tries to soften him up for New Blood Rising. Lance doesn’t take too kindly to ‘Double J’ using the Canadian flag as a weapon and they get into it and end up fighting at ringside. Jarrett whips him into the guard rail by the announcer’s table and Awesome tells Heidi that they better get out of there, only for ‘Double J’ to accidentally break a guitar over her head when he was aiming for Storm. Awesome stalks Jarrett who gets back into the ring where Booker lays him out with ‘the Book End’. Good match for Nitro with a hot crowd who were into it and bought those near falls. With New Blood Rising being six days away, the matches for the PPV already made and it being in Storm’s home country, I don’t think this was the right time for these two to face each other though (unless they did a schmozz there was really only one outcome). I get them wanting to make Booker look strong so they have to put him over, but surely they could’ve found someone else to put in Lance’s spot? Even just delaying the match by a week would have worked better than having it here. It also shows how short-sighted the booking was to have Kidman beat Storm last month. Although Booker became the first man to escape the single leg crab, imagine how stronger he could have looked had Storm been undefeated going into this as he attempted to complete the ‘Grand Slam’ of WCW single titles? A note on Mark Madden who, between his dated references and constant screaming throughout, was at his worse here.

We get footage of a press conference where Rodman jumps Hennig and they have a legitimate looking pull apart brawl. Curt’s got a couple of women with him as he makes his entrance, and is also carrying a title belt of some sort. Rodman is out second and jumps Hennig with a double axe handle from behind as soon as he steps through the ropes. Disqualifications are clearly not in operation as he then picks up that belt and clocks Curt with it right in front of the referee. Blimey, he blades from that and we’re not even thirty seconds in yet. Rodman with an Irish whip and Hennig just launches himself over the top rope and to the arena floor. The action continues on the outside with Rodman slamming Curt head first into the timekeeper’s table. Hennig grabs a broom and uses that as a weapon against his opponent, before hitting him over the head with a garbage can and then driving his head through the table, breaking it in two. Back inside and Curt with a stomp to the balls, but they’re quickly on the outside again. He chokes Rodman over the guardrail and lights his chest up with a chop. Hennig tears his shirt fully off and lays some more of those chops in, holding nothing back. The official gets between the two of them trying to separate them, but Rodman headbutts him and when he tries a second time, tosses him out of the ring. The ref calls for the bell after the latter, disqualifying him (so they were in operation after all!) and the fans pelt the ring with more garbage after that cheap ass finish. Hennig and Rodman are still going at it even after the match is over and Curt slugs the official for good measure too. Of all people, Ed Leslie dressed up like a zebra is out to separate them and finally drags Hennig to the back. Way better than I was expecting and it had any right to be. They work this as a fight as opposed to a wrestling match, which was a smart decision as this way they can freely incorporate plenty of weapons and the like. I didn’t bother to check on Cagematch, but my guess is that this is only Rodman’s third match (after the two in WCW) and without wanting to get too carried away, the guy is a bit of a natural. He throws a nice punch, is a good seller, doesn’t look or move awkward in the ring and it actually looks like Curt Hennig and he can’t stand one another. Okay, things would probably be completely different in a straight up wrestling match, but a straight up wrestling match this isn’t. The pull apart at the press conference and the subsequent post-match one are some of the most convincing and realistic I’ve seen this year.

Long in ring promo from Gang, but the commentator is translating it into German so you can’t hear much of what he has to say, although he does say “when the One Man Gang is in the house someone is going to get hurt!” Okay! Gang sells Tatanka’s knife edge chops pretty comically, like he’s convulsing or something. The guy’s got a couple of layers on protecting him so they shouldn’t hurt that much! Tatanka whips Gang from corner to corner and after another chop he takes to the outside. He’s back on the mic talking to the crowd and I presume he’s telling them that he’s had enough as he heads off up the aisle and towards the dressing room. That doesn’t go down well at all with the fans who start pelting him with rubbish and plastic drinks bottles. Getting far more heat than he would ever have anticipated he turns around and refers to the crowd as “a bunch of animals!” Jeez, they’re still throwing things at him even after he’s got back in the ring. Tatanka ducks a clothesline and a really bad flying crossbody where he doesn’t even attempt to get horizontal and just jumps at Gang. The OMG decides to show him how it’s done, and after a Tatanka drop down nails him with a crossbody of his own, with this actually resembling one. Sunset flip, Gang grabs the ropes, referee kicks his arms spot. Both are breathing pretty heavily now so OMG applies a nerve hold. He misses an avalanche splash and Tatanka fires back alternating more knife edge with tomahawk chops. The ref gets in the way and ends up being squashed by Gang after Tatanka whips him into the corner. Boot to the stomach drops Tatanka before the big man heads upstairs. Tatanka is back to his feet and he slams Gang from the top turnbuckle into the ring. Given both Gang’s size and age that’s one impressive spot. Tomahawk chop off the top but the official is still down. As Tatanka turns to try and wake him, Gang pulls some brass knux out of his tights and KO’s him. The ref has made a miraculous recovery in order to count the fall and OMG wins, becoming the iGeneration World Heavyweight champion in the process. I don’t think booking these two in something that goes nearly 25 minutes is ideal in 2000, but, despite what I’ve wrote, I’m not as scathing about this as Chad. Maybe it’s because it reminded me of the wrestling of my childhood and what I grew up on, I don’t know. In all honesty I didn’t think Gang was that bad; he was agile for his size, good on offense and got a ridiculous amount of heat. Tatanka was very limited in what he could do mind and that crossbody attempt was laughable. There is every chance that this will be the worse match I watch this month, but I’ve seen plenty worse (PHPW, Portland, some of those WCW lowlights), and this also didn’t bore me, again something that I can’t say about numerous other matches I’ve watched.

‘Commissioner’ Cat is providing guest commentary for this match. He’s introduced after Jarrett & Awesome and instead of going straight to the announcer’s table hops in the ring for a little dance and then hops straight back out the other side! Mike Tenay mentions how, despite them claiming they’re putting everyone on an even playing field, by taking away Steiner’s recliner they’re putting him at a severe disadvantage. Steiner backs Jarrett into the corner only for ‘Double J’ to cheap shot him on the break. ‘Big Poppa Pump’ blocks the attempted whip to the corner and unloads with punches and kicks before dropping him with a tilt-a-whirl slam. Nash has Jarrett up for ‘Snake eyes’, however he wriggles off his shoulder and down his back and then shoves him chest first into the turnbuckles. Double axe handle from the middle, but ‘Big Sexy’ snatches him around the neck and plants him with a chokeslam. Awesome attacks Nash from the apron and nails him with a flying clothesline off the top. ‘Hot shot’ on ‘Big Poppa Pump’ followed by an ‘Alabama slam’ for a two. Steiner ducks the double lariat, Nash grabs Awesome and he then levels Jarrett with a clothesline of his own. A huge gorilla press slam on ‘Double J’, ‘Tiger Driver’ and he gets a pin on the World champion. Post-match Steiner puts Jarrett in the recliner, which sees ‘Boss Cat’ (as Bobby Heenan now calls him) leave his position at the commentary desk and enter the ring. Nash takes him out with a clothesline and Awesome comes to ‘Double J’s’ rescue, clocking Steiner over the head with the US title. ‘Big Sexy’ eventually clears the ring of them when Goldberg’s music plays and he walks out carrying Scott Hall’s WCW contract. Nash invites him down, but Goldberg tells him that they’ll do it on “his time” and he just turns around and leaves. Good short TV match with everyone, even Nash, looking good and having their working boots on. Jarrett and Steiner especially worked well together here. Ironic that the crowd were hot for the match itself, but died for all the post-match stuff when ‘Boss Cat’ felt the need to get involved. I don’t know if anything more happened in the arena, but Goldberg, backing off in general, and even moreso to a guy like Nash, looks worse every time it happens.

Finish the year 2000 on PWO2K. Going by my spread sheet I reckon I'll end up watching somewhere in the region of 1200 matches for the year. I'm currently at 468, so approximately just over a third of the way through. I didn't start until a few months in so hoping that finishing the year is feasible.

That's what I've always found so sad about the likes of Rovert and that 'Les Moore' character. Seemingly watching every little thing Meltzer does, waiting for him to be wrong about something or to tweet something incorrectly. It's like they're chomping at the bit for that to happen so that they can correct him and call him out over it. I know Rovert spends his life on Twitter, but I have to wonder what these people are like in real life that they get so much joy and satisfaction constantly ragging on Dave. Can they not put their time to something more positive?

Double post - please delete

Paris is another who’s gone for the 3 Count look. He jumps Harris, the North American champion, as he enters the ring, but ‘the Wildcat’ quickly turns things around and launches him over the top rope to the outside. They fight around ringside and to the back of the arena, although it’s more like one of those Tommy Dreamer ECW walks around the building. Harris tosses him back inside and comes off the top with a double axe handle for two. Paris then counters a clothesline with a float over into a DDT for a two of his own. Swinging neckbreaker before Air slaps on a rear chinlock. Inverted ‘Roll the Dice’ and ‘the Wildcat’ is able to kick out in time. Top rope frankensteiner and there’s a definite 3 Count influence on Paris as he’d rather dance and gyrate his hips than make the cover. The ref warns him about grabbing his opponent’s hair so he gets in his face and the official gives him a shove with Air bumping for it. That’s a spot I’ve seen way too much this year and we’re only six months in. He looks for another top rope rana, but this time Harris counters with an almighty reverse atomic drop. Irish whip, however Paris holds on to the ropes and ‘the Wildcat’s’ dropkick fails to connect. He pushes Harris to the outside and nails him with a plancha, only just clearing the top rope in the process. Big splash off the top, guillotine leg drop off the top but neither are able to put Harris away. Air grabs a chair, but before he is able to use it, the Colorado Kid, who is watching at ringside, snatches it away from him. ‘The Wildcat’ with a spear and both men are down. Sleeper hold by Paris and I’m getting a sense of déjà vu about things. Somersault legdrop off the top but Harris moves and Air lands right on his tailbone. Legdrop off the middle by Harris and this time it’s Paris’ turn to move out the way. Moonsault and we finally have an aerial manoeuvre that hits its target. I really don’t have the heart to make any more notes as I just want this over, but Harris gets the win after the Colorado Kid accidentally hits Air with one of Tojo Yamamoto’s wooden shoes and ‘the Wildcat’ drops the Randy Savage elbow on him. A perfect example of a match going far longer than it had any right too with two guys who have no idea on how to fill that time and make things compelling. This was the main event of the show and I’m guessing they felt they needed to go long for that reason, as a result though we get thirty minutes of action (it’s slightly clipped towards the end) when half of that would’ve been more than enough. This bored me early, and by twenty minutes I was wishing for it to finish end and had stopped caring. They actually did a bunch of real good near falls after that (Paris rolling through on a Harris reverse crossbody and hooking the tights in the process, Harris turning a Paris top rope crossbody into a powerslam and a final one from a Paris superkick) but they garnered no reaction whatsoever because the audience, like me, were bored and had zoned out. The match was really repetitive in parts (we got at least three rear chinlock/sleeper spots) and it bordered on overkill the amount of times Paris would cut off Harris after he’d seemingly got back into the match and ended the heat segment (like seven or eight times). The finish was an overbooked cluster with both Colorado Kid and Ernest T. loitering and causing a distraction around ringside, Paris deliberately superkicking the referee (why wasn’t he disqualified?) and the involvement of Kid and Tojo’s wooden shoe. On a positive note, I imagine that the ghost of Tojo Yamamoto let out a ‘Bonzai’ when he saw ‘his’ shoe being used as a weapon in the match.

I was surprised to see Reckless show up here on an indy show while under his WWF developmental deal. He says how he had a chance to come, and the FWA and the people of Philadelphia was whom he wanted to wrestle for. Nick Berk interrupts the interview and he’s not happy that Reckless is back. He accuses him of taking the limelight away from him and ruining his chance to shine. Berk refers to himself as ‘the King of the Indies’ and tells Reckless that he’s no longer an independent wrestler and to leave, unless he wants to settle things that is. Youth says that when he was ‘the King of the Indies’ he earned that moniker by travelling all over the country from coast to coast. He didn’t just give it to himself and accepts Berk’s challenge. Reckless with a top wristlock takedown and pin attempt for an early two. Satellite headscissors and he’s applauding himself. Clothesline off the middle and this is all Reckless Youth so far. Nice to hear the commentator talking about his time in Memphis, and how he’s learned the British style due to his feud with Lord Steven Regal. Berk reverses the Irish whip and a big facebuster. He does his take on ‘the People’s elbow’ and covers Reckless by putting one foot on his chest. Rear chinlock and the commentator quips that Youth will think he’s right back in Tennessee with that hold (“a real staple of Memphis wrestling”). Berk signals for a DDT, but Reckless counters into a reverse variation of it instead. Springboard dropkick for two. Youth telegraphs a backdrop and Berk with a kneelift followed by a lariat. Moonsault misses and Reckless ties ‘the King of the Indies’ in the tree of woe before nailing him with a baseball slide dropkick. Tornado DDT but Berk is able to kick out of the pin at two. He escapes the German suplex and takes Youth down with ‘the Stroke’. ‘Swanton bomb’ and another really slack cover. Reckless with a go behind off the attempted suplex and he hits a great looking brainbuster. He mocks Berk from earlier by bowing to all four corners and comes off the top with a frog splash for the win. First up special props to the commentator who I thought was really good here. Berk is a tricky one as he’s someone I remember from watching CZW in the early 2000s where he would incorporate a fair bit of innovative stuff, but he never did anything for me then, and the same applies now watching him all these years later. He’s not terrible; he just does nothing for me. I know we’ve got some stuff against the Backseat Boyz to come, so I’ll be interested to see if my opinion changes as we make our way through the year. Is this ‘King of Indies’ moniker something just for this match against Reckless to add a story to things, or was he really calling himself that? If it’s the latter I saw nothing special or that makes him stand out to warrant being called that. Despite my feelings about him this was still a solid match mind.

Tracey Smothers is the special referee and Corp warns him not to stick his nose in his business. Cash backs Robinson into the corner off a lock up and he’s immediately complaining about a hair pull. The fans tell Tracey that nothing of the sort happened and he leaves them to it. Bodyslam and cover by Flo and Smothers shows he’s not going to be impartial here by fast counting the pin. Corp kicks out on two and takes to the floor to give himself a bit of thinking time on how he’s going to approach this. He lands a jumping DDT after a low blow and Tracey is taking his sweet time now that Corp is the one making the cover. Cash clotheslines Robinson over the top rope to the outside and nails him over the head with a traffic sign. It looks like this is also a ‘falls count anywhere’ match as Flo goes for a pin on the concrete. He bridges some light tubes across a couple of chairs, but Corp puts him through them with a rana leading to another slow count from Smothers. Between that and a subsequent light tube shot, Cash’s lower back is shredded. A cool spot sees Flo set up some chairs in the ring and Corp has to hurdle over them as he whips him into the ropes. Uranage onto the chairs and that wasn’t a comfortable landing in the slightest. Cash accidentally takes out Tracey with a crossbody and then levels Corp with a DDT. He heads upstairs (signalling for a 450 but I really can’t see that) when Smothers low blows him and gives him a rocket launcher into a Corp ‘Ace Crusher’ for the win. The two of them beat on him for a while until Ian Rotten and then Rollin Hard see them off. A heavily expletive laden promo from Smothers follows, calling the fans ‘marks’ and Ian, Rollin and Cash ‘jack offs’. Rotten then challenges him and Corp to a tag match against himself and Cash for next week. I thought we were going to get a weapon free Corp match at first until Cash introduced the light tubes to proceedings. Talking of which they cut up his back something awful here. The ‘collision’ spot looked ropey, however the finish was awesome with Smothers turning on Cash and Corp nailing that ‘Ace Crusher’. Ian goes all pseudo-shoot in his promo, saying that he didn’t need or want Rollin’s help and talking about giving him his gimmick and a place to work after Danny Davis kicked him out or something like that.

A PCW heavyweight title match that could, according to the commentator, be held in Madison Square Garden or the Superdome, but they’ve got it right here at the Rosemont Theatre in downtown Portland! Roselli is the current champion after defeating Cox in their previous encounter. Drop toe hold escape from a hammerlock by Cox and he’s biting the foot of Roselli. ‘Iron’ Mike is whipped into the corner but he’s able to get a big boot up on the charging Cox. He grapevines the leg and grabs the rope for added leverage, getting a pinfall attempt in the process. Eventually the ref clocks what he’s up to and forces him to break the hold. Cox ducks a clothesline and responds with a pair of shoulder tackles. Crucifix takedown and ‘Bruiser’ Brian regains the PCW title. Considering Madison Square Garden has held those insufferable S.D. Jones/Baron Mikel Scicluna time limit draws maybe this wouldn’t have been out of place happening there, although I don’t think was what the commentator was going for! Thankfully the last Portland of the month and I actually found this watchable and not offensive, when it comes to this promotion I’ll take that.

Chris Champion looks bad, it’s like Yoshai Kwan has taken far too many drugs and not slept for a week! Storm nails him with a dropkick and he was supposed to take a bump over the top rope to the outside but can’t manage it so rolls under the bottom rope instead. About eight minutes in Champion drops Eden with a spin kick and makes the cover. The ref doesn’t count though as the commentator informs us that there are no pins in this match, something that he’s completely neglected to mention up to this point. He tosses Eden to the outside and Jeff ‘the Crippler’ Daniels blasts him over the head with a chair busting him open. Champion jabs a fork into his forehead and then starts digging it into that cut. Quality handstand into a sunset flip by Eden, but as there are no pins here, pretty pointless. Daniels with a camel clutch and the commentator says that at least one more man will have to bleed here, so looks like this is a double first blood match. Eden is able to make the hot tag to Storm and he unloads on ‘the Crippler’. Low blow by Daniels and he asks their valet, Dominique, to pass him a chair. She slides one into the ring, but Storm ducks the chair shot and superkicks it into Daniels own face and we’re all tied up as he’s bleeding now too. Champion is back using that fork as he tries to open up Storm and an accidental clash of heads sees both men go down. Eden cuts off Daniels as he tries to involve himself, another clash of heads and they’re also out of it on the canvas. ‘The Ringmaster’ (as in a Circus ringmaster not Steve Austin impersonator) appears from nowhere and passes Champion some barbed wire which he ties to the middle turnbuckle. He’s about to wrap Storm in it, when Eden regains his senses just in time and clocks DRX in the back of the head with a chair. They wrap Champion in the barbed wire and Eden drills him over the head a chair a split second before Daniels levels Storm. That’s opened ‘Cocky Chris’ up and Eden and Storm get the win. Post-match is wild as Athena (I’m guessing another Music City valet) attacks Dominique, however she ends up being 3-D’d (or the ‘Double Penetration’ as it’s called here) by Daniels and Champion. A chap called Gary Valiant comes to her aid (he’s got prior with Daniels by the sound of it) but Champion blows this almighty fireball in his face. The ref has been busted open somewhere in here and Champion has this crazy look on his face, blood streaming down it whilst still wrapped in barbed wire. After being transfixed by the sorry looking state of Chris Champion at first, and a very slow start I got right into this. This isn’t Chris Champion of the New Breed, this isn’t even Chris Champion as Yoshai Kwan, he can’t do much, but he can do crazy, bleeding and maniacal pretty darn well. Daniels is the glue that holds their team together and Eden is the young, good looking, very 3 Count-esque sympathetic FIP who’s got no problem getting busting open. Ironic in how things would later pan out in his TNA run that Storm is the one who doesn’t juice. That fireball is the biggest that I’ve ever seen in my time watching wrestling and unless there was some camera trickery with the angles and he wasn’t as close as he looked, no idea how Valiant wouldn’t have got burned by that.

Action is joined with both men in the cage and the match about to get underway. The two of them trade chops, but Spanky’s haven’t quite got the same snap as Danielson’s. Spanky with a drop toe hold, before running over Dragon’s back and dropkicking him in the forehead. As he gets to his feet, Spanky nails him with a missile dropkick and the ref starts a ten count. Although they’ve not been explained, looks like there are slightly different rules to this Texas Death match as opposed to a more traditional one. A leaping ‘Spankensteiner’, but Dragon then reverses the Irish whip and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He launches him from one side of the cage to the other, busting Spanky open in the process. Danielson heads upstairs, but Spanky shoves him backwards into the cage sending him crumpling to the canvas and the cameraman proceeds to zoom in on Dragon as he’s trying to conceal the fact that he’s blading! Great inverted slingshot suplex. Dragon counters the regulation suplex and catapults Spanky into the cage door (which opens due to the ‘force’) and he tumbles to the outside. Shawn Michaels gets in his customary dig about WWF cage matches, saying how they don’t do World Wrestling Federation finishes in the TWA, that it’s not the first man out of the cage and that they can fight on the outside all day long if they want. Face first suplex on the concrete by Spanky before taking a chair to Danielson’s shoulder. Whip to the guardrail, but as he charges, Spanky runs into a Dragon big boot. He collects a table from under the ring and slides that into the cage. Northern Lights suplex followed by a float over into a ‘Dragon Driver’ (Homicide’s ‘Cop Killa’) and Spanky just about beats the ten count. Danielson goes to the top again, but Spanky gives him a shove like last time and he crotches himself. Release German off the top that Dragon takes on his neck and Spanky with a frog splash. A second attempted German is blocked with some back elbows and Danielson sets up that table which he’d bought into the ring earlier. Belly to back suplex off the top turnbuckle and both men crash through it. Neither is able to answer the ten count and the official’s decision is that they are both gone from the TWA. Some cool stuff here like that inverted slingshot suplex and the ‘Dragon Driver’, but I was expecting something special in their goodbye to the TWA and in that respect I don’t think this reached those expectations that I’d set. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a better than average match, just no more. I wasn’t keen on the use of blood here either, there didn’t seem enough heat or hatred between the combatants to warrant it and it felt like they were just ticking a box because they were fighting in a cage. Pretty gutsy finish in writing them both out the way they did. Shawn Michaels’ post match wrap up is unintentionally funny, wishing them all the best for the future and in their careers, only to then quickly forget about them and start talking about what’s on next weeks’ show!

‘Mr Personalities’ joins Corey Maclin and after last week he’s looking forward to facing Alan Steel again, but he’s more excited about another Power Pro Heavyweight title match that he’s got coming up. Corey oddly congratulates King on the fact that he’s getting married, although I’m guessing that the Memphis Bridal Factory up on Hickory Hill has sponsored the show and that was just an excuse to name drop them (and for Maclin to give their exact location!). Alan Steel then joins them and he wants to apologise to King for his actions last week as his father, his biggest fan, said that he was a cheater and a sore loser. That was hard for him to hear and accept and that’s why he made this challenge, because he knows he can beat him in a technical wrestling match. Turns out that this is also a ‘teacher vs student’ encounter as King helped to train Steel. That Bridal Gallery has definitely chucked a bit of money Power Pro’s way as Corey is namedropping them again! These two are very evenly matched here. Headscissors escape from a headlock by Steel, but King escapes that, side headlock takedown and they’re right back where they were. Hip toss is blocked and Steel with a cool double arm overhead belly to belly. A lovely arm drag and Steel bars the arm whilst applying pressure to King’s shoulder. King backs him into the corner and lays in some knife edge chops. Steel grabs hold of the ropes to block the O’Connor roll, but a crossbody by King gets him a two. Neither man is able to sustain a prolonged advantage as the match seems to be going one way then quickly changes to the other. Victory roll for a near fall, King tries it again but this time Steel pancakes him face first to the canvas. A clock has appeared on the screen FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER and this has got time limit draw written all over it. King counters a float over DDT into a Northern Lights suplex as the two counts continue to come thick and fast. Bulldog off the turnbuckles by Steel, top rope splash, but the time limit expires before the official has a chance to slap the mat for the third time. Steel wants five more minutes, although Dave Brown isn’t sure that they’ve got enough time left on the show and may have to have a rematch at a later date. The ref decides that they have and orders the bell to be rung to get this one restarted. A whopping twelve seconds later King gets the pin after a sunset flip! Why did they have to do that horrible restart/flash pin finish! My gut says that these two had just put on the Power Pro match of the year so far and then they do that to me. While the time limit draw was blatantly telegraphed by putting that clock on screen, just have the pair of them shake hands and come back next week to do it all again. You can then have Steel cut a promo on King saying that he told him he could beat him in a straight up technical match and the only reason he never was because they ran out of time. He challenges him to a match with no time limit and you can play the finish there however you want (I’d do Steel cheating in some form to get the victory). So infuriating that someone felt that there needed to be a decisive ending here and that a draw wouldn’t have sufficed. The action in the match was really good, technical, scientific and both cut a quick pace throughout ramping up the near falls and two counts towards the end. I don’t know if there was a slight timing issue on that finish as you see the referee delaying the count and also King kicking out to make sure he’s not pinned. Still, I liked this one a lot but darn that restart!

Wayne jumps Gordy the moment he steps through the ropes and before he’s even had the chance to remove his ring robe. There’s a bit of urgency about this which makes a pleasant change for this promotion. I spoke to soon, as after only fifteen seconds the commentator starts to talk about The Grappler and says that they want to show us some tape of a few weeks ago when he bought ‘the Breakfast Club’ back to Portland. We leave the Wayne/Gordy match to go to a tag encounter between Brian Cox & Mark Large against Juggernaut and an unnamed partner. The Grappler and Blake Cruel interject themselves into the match and jump Cox and Large. They hit them with milk cartons, sending the milk flying everywhere and then empty cereal packets over them as the commentator mentions how this reminds him of the actions of The Grappler and Brian Adams back in the day. The Grappler then announces that ‘the Breakfast Club’ is back and Cruel calls the fans Portland pissants! We return to the match in hand, but they have some more tape that they want us to see, this time involving Michelle Starr and Billy Two Eagles. Whoever was doing the post-match edit clearly didn’t do a good job as that footage never airs, although the commentator acts like it did. Gordy with a double leg takedown/feet on the ropes pin like I just watched in the Cabana/Punk match, however here the official sees the feet on the ropes and stops his count before the three. He celebrates thinking he’s won the match, but after the ref informs him he never, he gives him a shove. Schoolboy roll up by Wayne, grabbing hold of the middle rope for added leverage, and he gets the win. A nothing match, despite my initial optimism, which was just a backdrop for everything else that they wanted to talk about. I will say that ‘the Breakfast Club’ stuff is by far the best thing I’ve watched in Portland so far, and the one thing I would recommend checking out. The Grappler is someone I hope we see more of, while this Cruel is a big, gnarly looking dude. The closing comments from the commentary team, in trying to persuade people to come down to their TV tapings were, “as exciting as it is on television, it doesn’t what you can see in person”. It’s alright, I’ll take their word on that one!

Pre-match dressing room interview from Punk, where he says he’s got a tough task ahead of him tonight because behind Colt Cabana are the two men who trained him, Danny Dominion and Ace Steel. He promises that he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve that neither Ace nor Danny showed him and Cabana won’t know where he’s coming from. Punk refers to Colt as their ‘errand boy’, someone that the two of them have bought in to try and finish the job that they couldn’t. It’s personal now and a fire has been lit under him! Punk reverses the wrist lock and lays in some punches on Colt’s shoulder. Lots of playing to the crowd here. Cabana reverses a hip toss into one of his own and then starts doing jumping jacks. After a monkey flip and a pair of dropkicks, Colt bails to the floor. Punk is in hot pursuit though and throws him straight back inside. A second monkey flip and when Punk goes for a third, Cabana shoves him off and hits a nice butterfly suplex for two. Satellite headscissors from Punk, but Colt blocks the powerbomb and catches him with a Russian leg sweep. A Mr Perfect style neck snap and Colt covers his man while at the same time doing push ups! Scoop powerslam and now he’s channelling Ted Dibiase with the way he’s doing those fist drops. Colt almost loses him on a backbreaker before Punk counters a suplex with a small package for a near fall. Cabana misses a frog splash and Punk has found a second wind from somewhere. As Colt backs off, double leg takedown and with his feet over the ropes for leverage gets the pin. Just like back in January Cabana looks the better prospect of the two and his heel shtick and routine is pretty entertaining. I would say Punk has improved a tad since then, but he’s still quite sketchy in his execution (monkey flip and head scissors for starters). I’m guessing St Paul’s Championship Wrestling is somewhere they hadn’t fought much, if at all, before, and despite a couple of stumbles Punk did a solid job in his pre-match promo trying to get a bit of heat and intensity into the match. I didn't like it anywhere near as much as others did and felt the finish came out of nowhere.

Chad Hawke was scheduled face Bart Sawyer, but after the ring announcer introduces him, Buddy Wayne enters the ring, says something to Hawke and takes his place in the match. A combination of the lacklustre action, the dark arena and subdued commentary means that it’s a real slog to watch this Portland footage. They up on the outside and Sawyer rams Wayne shoulder first into the stage. He picks up a chair, but plays to the crowd for too long and Buddy boots him in the mid-section, snatches the chair and then cracks it over his head. Wayne applies a sleeper, Sawyer’s arm drops twice but not for the third time. I’m completely confused now as to whether ‘Smart’ Bart is a heel or face? I thought he was a heel, but between that sleeper spot and the way he was playing to the crowd when he had hold of the chair, I’m not sure. Sawyer grabs the referee and pulls him into Buddy to escape the sleeper and then drops Wayne with a DDT. He climbs to the top turnbuckle, but trips when he’s up there and comes crashing down to the canvas. Wayne kicks him flush between the legs and that’s enough for the three. My guess is that Sawyer’s ‘trip’ was planned, but frankly I couldn’t care less.

Interesting seeing Jamie-san on an independent show. Great, my least favourite official ‘Honest’ Eddie Edwards is back and he’s clapping and cheering for Jet Jaguar as he’s being introduced! Sir Ronald J. Niemi IV says how they are here tonight “to kick the asses collectively of ‘Bad Ass’ Jeremy Lopez and that piece of shit Jamie-san” He has a bunch more to say but the audio is not great, although for once with IPW, the picture is. After Niemi exits the ring you can clearly see a middle aged man, sat next to a young child, giving Sir Ronald the middle finger and telling him to “F*ck you”! Lopez is ogling the scantily clad Gabrielle on the outside, and Jamie schoolboys him for a two count right at the start of the match. They work some nice chain wrestling before Jet nails them both with a springboard dropkick. Double team drop toe hold/baseball slide dropkick to the face by Jaguar and Lopez. Fujiwara armbar on Jet and Noble has recovered enough to break up the submission. A Lopez dropkick sends Jamie to the outside, only for Jaguar to toss him out after and then catch the pair of them with a pescado. Irish whip and Lopez runs right into an ‘Iron Claw’. Noble comes off the top turnbuckle but he also jumps into one, in what must be the first double ‘Iron Claw’ since the pomp of Kerry Von Erich! Lopez and Noble escape, and a huge backdrop sends Jaguar crashing into the low lying ceiling, removing some of the panels in the process. Reverse DDT on Jet by Noble for two. Jumping DDT by Lopez and Jaguar slides in front of Edwards to prevent him from counting the three. Lopez with a running Liger bomb on Jet, but Noble then dropkicks him in the head, covers Jaguar himself and gets the pin to become the new IPW Light Heavyweight champion. Niemi clobbers Jamie with his briefcase and Jet attacks him until they’re run out of there by someone from the back coming to Noble’s rescue. The two of them then seem to be holding ‘Honest’ Eddie responsible for the loss, berating him on their way to the dressing room. Really dug the opening wrestling between Jamie and Lopez, and I wouldn’t mind seeing them face each other one on one without the distraction of Jaguar. Not much in the way of selling or psychology here as they pretty much sprinted their way through this. I popped way too much for that double ‘Iron Claw’ mind! Overall as a match I don’t think it was that good, but it wasn’t bad either, right down the middle.