[2000-12-18-WCW-Nitro] Lance Storm vs Rey Mysterio Jr

[GSR]

Lance Storm is our first contender in this ‘Championship Contender’s match’ and he still wants to be serious for a minute.  He says how he has held every singles title in the company bar one, to which Scott Hudson quips “bar women’s”, and tonight he earns his shot at the World Heavyweight title.  Apparently neither Storm nor the commentators know who he’ll be facing, so when the Filthy Animals music plays and Tygress is out first Hudson thinks that she is his opponent!  I know this is WCW and we’ve had women in men’s tournaments before, but come on Scott!  Of course it’s not her, its Rey Mysterio and he’s got his ribs all taped up selling what went down last night at Starrcade.  Nice counter of the military press into a sunset flip by Rey. It turns out there is another contender’s match coming up later in the show, the two winners will then face each other and the eventual overall winner will move on to Sin where they will take part in the three way dance for the World title.  Call me a cynic but I don’t think the winner will be coming from this semi-final somehow.  Lance gets his knees up on the Mysterio lionsault and then drops him with a superkick.  He throws a series of knees to those injured ribs before a long, delayed suplex.  Stomachbreaker followed by an abdominal stretch and with Rey wide open and trapped, he fires off some punches at those ribs as he continues to target them.  Rey powers his way out but then misses the springboard splash.  A headscissors sends Lance to the outside and Rey with a great somersault flip dive to the floor.  Not the first time he’s blown off those supposedly injured ribs in this match though.  Springboard guillotine legdrop to the back of the neck and he must’ve heard me as he’s back selling them!  Another springboard, but this time Lance plants him to the ma,t keeps hold of the leg and locks in the Canadian Maple Leaf.  He maintains a wide base to prevent Rey from getting to the ropes and he’s forced to tap as Storm moves onto the finals.

The work was fine but a surprisingly pretty forgettable match.