[2000-01-22-WCW-Worldwide] Chuck Palumbo vs Rick Cornell

[soup23]

Back to WCWSN. Chuck Palumbo has raided Cheetah Kid’s gear bag. Rick Cornell is someone I am pretty unfamiliar with besides the Reno stint. Once again due to the sweetening it sounds like Center Stage is going crazy but yet all we see is empty seats. Nice dropkick by Palumbo. Rough dropkick by Cornell. Tenay and Hudson keep talking about Bobby no showing the taping here. I guess you have to fill the time somehow. Palumbo looks great hitting a springboard dropkick sending Cornell to the outside. It is kind of weird that Palumbo was already 28 years old here showing he started pretty late. I legit groan every time the Old Aged Outlaws are mentioned. This match goes through a break and we come back with Cornell in control. Tenay tells us he is from Las Vegas which makes his future ring name pretty ironic. Cornell’s offense on top is passable but fairly basic. The best thing he does is an arm wringer throw. Palumbo is good at selling and timing his hope spots. Cornell misses a move up top and Chuck hits a kick. Chuck then goes to the top beating his chest and hits a huge shoulderblock with big air. Good meat and potatoes match here with Chuck really looking great and a star of the future. **1/2

[Loss]

I'm not sure why Palumbo never clicked. Good athlete, good look and good enough charisma. Fun match. Cornell looks good too. He'd be repackaged as Reno later in the year and get a pretty strong midcard push through the end of WCW. Palumbo caught Cornell with a super nasty kick to the face just before the flying shoulderblock finish that someone should GIF. Worth checking out. Fun way to pass a few minutes.

[Tim Evans]

So what was Worldwide by this time, the d show? I remember that it was the last ever WCW show shown on tv after the final nitro. Good rookie match. Weird seeing Palumbo doing the jungle jim steel gimmick. He got better once he turned heel and teamed with Stasiak. Cornell had a good look too but never went anywhere after WCW closed. Too bad he didn't hit the roll the dice here.

[GSR]

Palumbo is the face for this one, and add Cornell (later Reno) to my list of guys who I don’t think was given a fair shot by the WWF. Fireman’s carry takedown from Cornell and Palumbo with a high leapfrog and a powerbomb for a two. Big dropkick from Chuck and he’s another with a strong vertical leap. Cornell goes to climb the turnbuckles and is met with a springboard dropkick that sends him tumbling to the floor. Chuck throws him back in the ring but is met by a boot to the mid-section. Double underhook suplex by Cornell and he continues to try and wear Palumbo down. Sweet back heel trip and a couple of pinfall attempts only garner a two. Palumbo blocks a hip-toss and hits a modified version of his own. Cornell with a release overhead cradle suplex, but he then misses a fist drop off the top. A grazing jungle kick by Palumbo and a sky high shoulderblock with some proper elevation leads to the three and the win in this battle of Power Plant graduates.

 

This wasn’t bad at all and I’ve seen plenty worse from guys with much more experience. I’m not that keen on the ‘jungle’ gimmick that Palumbo is doing, and while there are similarities between Jindrak and he, at this point Palumbo is the bigger prospect by some way. Cornell is someone I’ve always liked, although he doesn’t seem to have much in the way of charisma. A silent assassin, ‘hired gun’ type of gimmick would’ve been perfect for him.