[2000-08-13-WCW-New Blood Rising] Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome

[soup23]

Lance gets a homecoming reaction and cuts a face promo for these fans before announcing Jacques Rougeau as the enforcer. Tony and Hudson are annoyed but they don’t take a knee during the Canadian National Anthem. Madden is annoying on commentary kissing up to Storm. After all of that, the match starts proper with Awesome getting boo’d. Things are going pretty well until Awesome slips on the top rope and gets laughed up uproariously by the fans. Awesome’s pop up powerbomb looks good and then we get a weird ass finish where Storm kicks out but the bell rings and then Slick gives Awesome the match. Rougeau on the outside evokes Canadian rules saying you have to win with a five count to win the match. This match is falling apart at the seams. Awesome then gets a tap out with a dragon sleeper. Of course, Rougeau says that the Canadian rules don’t allow this. What a disaster by Russo where Storm gets pivoted from an annoying but competent heel to someone that is buried and beaten continuously in front of his fans but is able to win with all this bullshit surrounding him. Awesome hits a big splash from the top rope and gets a five count win. Now, Storm has a 10 count to answer the bell. Plunder comes into the ring and the match has just died. Both men do an awkward belly to belly through the table and Rougeau changes the rules to say the first man that stands to his feet is the winner. Rougeau punches Awesome and Storm wins which does get a pop. Tony calls this one of the most disgusting things he has ever witnessed. Touche Tony. Bret Hart emerges and offers a hug to Jacques and Lance. That would have been a great moment if Lance would have won a hard fought match, it feels hollow here. ½*

[AstroBoy]

Unmitigated disaster. So you build up Storm and make him run over everyone en route to this title compilation. And now he jobs over and over and over to Awesome only for the rules to save him. Not to mention the first horrible finish is terribly fucked up. So sure whatever you put Storm under the bus and turn his whole run into a comedy but only before his home fans. But he DOES get the ultimate victory which somewhat matters I guess. Awesome at least showed up for this and did fine excepting his slip off the ropes, so yeah.

 

*1/2

[GSR]

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.