[2000-01-12-WCW-Thunder] Kevin Nash & Jeff Jarrett vs Sid & Chris Benoit

[soup23]

So Nash is still in the N W O? I give up guys. I had forgotten that Jarrett and Benoit were scheduled to wrestle in triple threat theater which may be the worst gimmick name of all time. So I guess based on Jarrett’s promo, Bret is out of the N W O. Tony says he thinks each of the matches in triple threat theater will be ****. Benoit’s music is awful here btw. Big brawl starts with all four men. I never understood why Jarrett and Benoit was sold as a brawling style match when both are presented as the two best wrestlers in the company and could have legit very good matches without a stipulation. Hudson says Souled Out will be the PPV event of the year. Match breaks down again. Jarrett tries to use the US Title but Benoit catches him. Nash trips Benoit up on the top rope and he hits the belt on the way down. A stroke later gets the win for Nash/Jarrett. Pretty trashy match. *1/2

[Loss]

Okay match. Always interesting seeing Benoit work with Nash because it's just a reminder of everything about WCW in a microcosm. WCW just feels like the Jeb! of wrestling, very low energy.

[goc]

So Jarrett had a concussion from Nitro, they made him work Thunder and then he couldn't go for Souled Out? Wouldn't it have made sense to be cautious and keep him from wrestling here in hopes he could make the PPV? I have no idea who they would have stuck in there with Sid though if they'd have still been able to do the 3 Benoit/Jarrett matches.

 

Announcers on commentary predicting how many *s a match is going to get is the dirt worst. Sid doing the corner punches and stopping at 8 was very irksome to me and also seemed to leave the crowd very unsatisfied. Randomly throwing the WCW.com graphic up at the bottom of the screen during the middle of the match is just such a WCW thing. The rules for that Triple Threat Theater thing sound so stupid, you can lose the first 2 matches but if you win the 3rd you're still the U.S. champ? Match is ok not really good or bad. Nash seems to be trying WAY less here than he was in the Bret match from Nitro.

[GSR]

The four of them pair off early and Benoit clotheslines Jarrett over the top rope to the floor. Nash diverts his attention to Benoit and the two of them fight at ringside while Sid rains punches down on Jarrett in the corner. A clothesline and big boot from Sid, and as he goes for the chokeslam Nash is back in the ring to save his partner. Benoit pulls Jarrett to the outside and it’s now their turn to go at it on the floor, as Nash and Sid get it on inside. Nash and Jarrett double team Benoit while Charles Robinson tries to regain some sort of order. Jarrett chokes Benoit with his T-shirt and puts the knees to him. Vertical suplex for two and Jarrett with a sleeper. Benoit shoots him off, responds with one of this own and Jarrett with a jawbreaker to escape. Irish whip, Benoit holds on to the ropes and Jarrett dropkicks the air. Benoit catapults him into the corner and takes his head off with a clothesline. Nash breaks up a ‘crippler crossface’, which brings in Sid, and all four men are in the ring. Jarrett backdrops Benoit over the top to the floor, then nails Sid in the back as he goes to powerbomb ‘Big Sexy’. Sid with a double clothesline and Nash drags him to the floor and then clocks him with Jarrett’s title belt. He throws the belt to Jarrett who takes a swing at Benoit, but he ducks out the way and catches him with a belly to back. He goes for the diving headbutt, however Nash shoves him off the top turnbuckle and he crashes head first into the belt. Jarrett with ‘the Stroke’ and he and Nash come out on top.

 

This was okay. Anything involving Jarrett and Benoit (especially when they were in there together) was good as they both worked hard, however the same cannot be said for the efforts of Nash and Sid. Nash specifically appeared to be going through the motions and Sid’s offense continues to suck. It was also a bit tricky to follow what was going on in the early part when Benoit and Jarrett brawled to the back of the arena and Nash and Sid stayed in the ring.

[Chess Knight]

Lemme type this all out so I can understand, bear with me. Sooooooo Benoit and Sid are on the same team despite their match at Souled Out being 4 days away because Jarrett was supposed to be Benoit's opponent (for the US title) in some three stages of hell-style thing but he got injured......2 days earlier than this match. With a concussion. And he's in the ring. 2 days later. Y'know your watching something else when Nash isn't even close to the person you're most worried about injuring themselves. Sid was supposed to face Bret Hart at Souled Out for the WCW championship but Hart was done by then because of the Goldberg kick a couple weeks ago. OKKKKK so it turns out this is what lead to that Billy Kidman/Dean Malenko where Malenko forgot he was in ring-out rules and lost the match in 2m 30s. Kidman had a "Bunkhouse Brawl" with Perry Saturn though which hey, sounds neat.

The match. Had some ok stuff like the Jarrett/Benoit exchanges, and I bought that all four guys gave a shit about their feuds. Benoit really has a way to do stuff like Irish whips and make it come off more hateful in intent than most would. I think there's a difference between Benoit doing basic moves and Benoit doing basic moves in a hate feud, is what I'm sort of trying to get at. Sid seemed like he was trying and I don't know if I would have guessed that from 2000 WCW. I cringed like mad when Jarrett went over the ropes at the start, I couldn't help but picture his brain knocking around his skull. Nash hit this one boot that - if Sid wasn't there to connect with - there is no way he wouldn't have fallen over from. This wasn't good but I can't complain about it. Shrug.