[2000-07-19-WCW-Thunder] Chris Kanyon & Lance Storm vs Buff Bagwell & Mike Awesome

[soup23]

Buff’s acting is terrible. Also, how dead and lame does the Nitro Grill look? We get a clip from Nitro when Kanyon gives Judy Bagwell one of the worst Diamond Cutters in history so this epic angle has arrived. Storm has put the Canadian flag sticker on the US belt already which was a nice touch. Buff and Awesome interrupt OH Canada. Buff and Mike Awesome is quite a weird face team. We don’t get much time for a match here but still long enough for Buff to botch a Blockbuster. We get a ref bump because, Russo and Kanyon ends up beating Awesome which is a bit of a surprise even with the screwy finish at this point. *

[GSR]

Kanyon has now dyed his hair blonde which is a huge improvement over the ridiculous hair piece he was wearing previously. We get clips from Nitro with Judy Bagwell doing the worse job imaginable of taking a ‘Diamond Cutter’, before we see her laid out in the parking lot, supposedly after receiving another cutter at the hands of Kanyon. Awesome and Bagwell don’t wait for the Canadian national anthem to finish (respected better by Kanyon than it was by Billy Kidman!) before making their entrance, and Kanyon hops out the ring the moment he sees Buff. Irish whip. Storm goes for the leapfrog over Awesome, however he catches him in a bear hug and a release overhead belly to belly. A clothesline sends Storm over the top rope to the floor, and a huge suicide dive by Awesome as Buff continues to chase Kanyon around ringside. The two of them finally enter the ring and Buff with a swinging neckbreaker. As he runs the ropes, Lance elbows him in the back and Kanyon with a face first Russian legsweep. Storm whips Buff to the corner but he gets his foot up on the charging Canadian national champion. A pair of tags and a slingshot shoulderblock by Awesome to Kanyon. Another overhead belly to belly and a big powerbomb on Storm for two as Kanyon breaks up the pin. Awesome blocks the ‘Kanyon cutter’ and a release German suplex. Frog splash off the top and this time it’s Lance saving his partner at the count of two. All four men are in the ring and Buff with a running crossbody sending both himself and Kanyon tumbling over the top rope and to the outside. Lance with the single leg crab on Awesome, but while he’s got it locked on, Buff is back to his feet and hits a Blockbuster on him. Kanyon pulls referee Billy Silverman out the ring at two, and when Bagwell goes for a baseball slide dropkick, Kanyon pulls Silverman in the way and he gets nailed instead. Kanyon clobbers Bagwell with his book, and as Awesome has Lance primed for the ‘Awesome Bomb’, he slugs him with it too. ‘Kanyon Cutter’ and Silverman slides back in to count the fall.

 

So Awesome has turned faced somewhere along the line? He seemed very much a throwback to the old ‘ECW’ Mike Awesome here with a lot of those old staples such as the leafrog attempt/bear hug/overhead belly to belly spot and the big suicide dive. I’m not as enamoured with heel Lance Storm as I was with face Lance, so maybe that’s something that I’ll grow into over the coming months. Short match and nothing really worth going out of your way to watch either.