[2000-04-16-WCW-Spring Stampede] Billy Kidman vs Vampiro / Terry Funk vs Norman Smiley

[soup23]

Kidman seems really motivated in this role. Him and Vamp have one of the better Vamp matches he has had. Kidman bumps well for Vamp’s offense and Kidman is a better heel than you would assume. Hogan makes his triumphant run in and Tony tells us this is Hogan coming to kick someone’s ass. Hogan does get a good reaction here coming out. They are still trying to change the visual style of the show with the guardrails all covered with black paper. Hogan and Kidman have a good brawl with Hogan throwing some interesting big man offense including a double chokeslam through the table of Kidman. After all of that, Hogan rolls Kidman back in and Vampiro wins. Tony tries to justify that this shouldn’t be a DQ but that makes no sense to me. Hogan calls Bischoff a SOB and says he is coming after his ass right now. Bischoff and Russo are backstage and we get some “inside” commentary from Russo about how the build still isn’t big enough. Hogan is playing up this adult character at least constantly calling Bischoff a son of a bitch. Hogan finds Bischoff and chokes him out until Russo and the cops come back in. Hogan gets guns pulled on him as the chaotic scene end. **1/2 for that match.

 

Seamlessly we see Terry Taylor talking to Funk and Funk is looking for Norman. Funk breaks into catering where Norman gets made. Into the mens room we go and there is Screaming Norman who lives up to his name by screaming to a big pop. This is your typical comedic WWF/WCW hardcore stuff with props and gimmicks but this one feels more memorable with the kitchen stuff and at least Funk is being positioned in this manner instead of the upper mid card scene with that nonsense match with Dustin Rhodes last month. The brawl to the ring area was pretty weak. A ladder gets introduced and Dustin Rhodes comes in for a run in and wallops Funk with a chair. They try to do this really contrived spot where Dustin falls into the ladder ricocheting into Norman. Funk throws the ladder on top of Norman on the outside and pins him becoming the hardcore champion. Backstage garbage was good, everything after was not. **

[Loss]

Kidman's pre-match promo cracked me up in how obnoxious it was. You weren't lying about how motivated Kidman is to make the most of his feud, as this is by far the best Vampiro match I can recall seeing in WCW, with Kidman doing a great job pacing the match and eating his kicks. Hogan's run-in was electric. His acting is what Hogan's acting is -- phony as hell and forced beyond belief (how many times can one guy say son of a bitch, ass, and damnit in a single segment when it was never before part of his character to make it clear he's following a directive?), but the Hogan-Kidman interaction has a ton of heat, and despite the size difference, Kidman can bump like hell for him. I think they were trying to get across that the referee was so in shock and scared by Hogan's rampage that he thought he better do what he was told, but that point wasn't really conveyed very well. Good match before Hogan showed up, and I even liked the angles with Kidman and Bischoff to an extent.

 

"Norman's in catering? Screw him." Presenting Terry Taylor as a stooge seems like a rib. Not a fan of the match, and all I can think about is that it sucks when you are at a show live and have to watch big chunks of it on the Jumbotron. Funk vs Smiley was completely ridiculous, but I mean that in the best way. Tons of fun. They really made a special effort to make this memorable, and Funk is far more in his element now. I wish for God's sake they would stop with the Dustin Rhodes feud since it's not a good use of either one of them, but Funk and Smiley hit the right note in terms of comedy, memorable spots and brutality. ***

[AstroBoy]

It's a fun Kidman/Vampiro match that is largely a collection of fun moves. Also it is built around like 5 counters to the infamous "powerbomb Kidman" spot. On on them Vampiro just tosses Kidman around the ring. Still, this was entertaining and Kidman really was hitting a stride as the obnoxious but feisty greasy up and comer. Him getting tossed around by Hogan works really well and the crowd ate it up all the way.

 

Also worth noting the incredibly strange spot where Vampiro just gently bangs his knee into the steel steps and Scott Hudson won't shut up about how devastating that injury could be because Vampiro likes to throw kicks. Hilarious.

 

Tony Shiavone is screaming about industrial size cookie sheets having much more torque to them. You know what, I don't mind this silly backstage brawl because Funk and Smiley kind of have the charm and personality to carry it. It is entirely goofy and just futile to build the hardcore division this way but if nothing else it can serve a comedic role among all the other overbooking. Both guys are taking chair and ladder bumps that are way too hurty looking for this shit show. I enjoyed this a pretty good bit when all was said and done.

 

**1/2

[GSR]

Billy Kidman vs Vampiro

Pre-match interview with Billy Kidman, Torrie Wilson and Eric Bischoff. Gene Okerlund suspects that Hulk Hogan may show up in Chicago tonight, but Bischoff thinks it’s just a rumour and as much of a glory hound as he is, he’s not dumb enough to step into the lion’s den. Kidman tells him not to worry as he crippled his ass Monday and if ‘brother man’ wants to come on down he’ll send him back to the emergency room.

 

Kidman rushes at Vampiro, who sidesteps out the way and he goes flying into the corner where Vamp just unloads on him. Overhead belly to belly followed by a clothesline off the top for two. Kidman ducks a kick and comes back with a huracanrana and a dropkick. Vampiro with a release powerbomb, launching Kidman across the ring as he was punching him in the corner. Nice belly to back suplex but Kidman counters a second powerbomb with a facebuster. Slingshot legdrop for two. Vamp blocks the suplex attempt and delivers one of his own. Uranage for another near fall. He signals for his ‘nail in the coffin’ finisher, but again Kidman counters with a facebuster. Vamp drops him with an array of kicks and Kidman is just about able to roll his shoulder up. DDT from Kidman when the camera’s cut to the back to see a black Dodge Charger pulling up in the arena. It’s Hulk Hogan and he’s after Billy Kidman! A back kick low blow to Vamp and as Hogan walks down the aisle Kidman calls him on. Kidman tries to jump him as he gets in the ring, but his attack has no effect and Hulk just grabs him and tosses him over the top rope to the floor. Hogan completely dominates Kidman even picking up the ring steps to hurl at him. Fortunately he’s able to dodge them as they go crashing into the ringpost. He gives him a double handed chokeslam onto the announcer’s table (which looked stiff as hell as the table didn’t break) and then bodyslams him through it (guessing it should’ve broken first time around). Amazingly the match hasn’t been thrown out, Hogan puts Kidman back in the ring, Vampiro covers him and Charles Robinson counts the three. Tony Schiavone claims you can’t disqualify Vampiro because Hulk Hogan didn’t come in to help him. Not sure it works that way Tony! Hogan grabs the house mic and says he hopes Eric Bischoff was watching because he’s coming for him right now. The cameras cut to the dressing room and we see Bischoff with his hands praying. He wants to get out of there but Vince Russo tells him that he’ll take care of it. Hogan eventually finds Bischoff (tipping over some tables along the way), grabs him, but Russo has called the police who pull a gun on Hulk before cuffing and taking him away.

 

The action between Vampiro and Kidman was good and I was enjoying the match they were having. The Hogan involvement was telegraphed by both the pre-match interview and Mark Madden’s comments that Hogan wouldn’t have the guts to show (Madden was again hideous on commentary). Hogan had some real intensity about him in his attack on Kidman (who bumped great for him), however the moment he headed off backstage to look for Bischoff it was Hogan’s hammy acting at its worst. I thought the same after Nitro, but not sure at all how this is benefitting Kidman at the moment who’s getting whipped at every opportunity by Hulk. How on earth this match wasn’t thrown out after Hogan’s involvement I’ll never know.

[GSR]

Terry Funk vs Norman Smiley

As Hulk Hogan is being led away by the cops we see Terry Taylor talking to Terry Funk, and Taylor says how Norman is nervous to fight him tonight and that he’s not in the ring, he’s in catering. The Funkers heads to catering and when he asks if anyone has seen Norman Smiley, every one of them is only happy to point in his direction. Funk heads to the bathroom and asks if Norman is in here and a scream answers that one! Funk kicks down the cubicle door and gets hold of Smiley to get this one underway. They make their way into catering, with Funk letting a fire extinguisher off in Smiley’s face and emptying a fridge of cold drinks onto him. Funk fires Norman through the kitchen hatch, crawls through after him, but Smiley dowses him with water and hurls a plastic bin at his head. He levels him with a cookie sheet and throws him in the trash (with the Funker ending up upside down in it). They continue their tour around backstage and Funk cracks Smiley over the head with a laptop three times before going for the first pin of the match. Norman climbs a ladder (I think to try and escape), but ends up clutched to a pipe on the ceiling. Funk wallops him with a chair and he loses his grip falling through a table that Funk had set up underneath. Smiley with a chair shot to the head and he drags the Funker to the ring, repeatedly clocking him over the head with it as they go. They finally make it to the ring and Smiley continues to use the chair as a weapon. He thinks he’s got Funk worn out enough to do ‘the big wiggle, however the Funker picks up the chair and swings it backwards over his own head and cracking Norman with it. Funk pulls out some ladders from under the ring but then gets jumped by Dustin Rhodes. Hard chair shot to the head and a piledriver on the chair by Dustin. He climbs the turnbuckles and goes to hit him with it again, this time though Funk gets a foot up. Funk hits Norman with the ladder, drops it on him and then covers Screaming Norman on the arena floor to become the new Hardcore champion.

 

Entertaining in places but not a good match. They have a trip around the backstage area, hit each other with weapons and that is pretty much it. The chair shots were overkill and not sure what was going on with the Dustin Rhodes interference? It looks like Dustin was perhaps supposed to fall into the ladder after Funk got his foot up but they messed the spot up (which the crowd picked up on by their groans come laughter).