[2001-01-03-WCW-Thunder] Jamie Noble vs Shane Helms

[GSR]

Shane Helms is the current number one contender for Chavo Guerrero Jr’s Cruiserweight title having earned that after defeating his 3 Count partner Shannon Moore a fortnight back on Nitro.  Tony Schiavone talks about him having moved away from the tag team scene, so this looks like the start of a singles push.  As Noble climbs the turnbuckles to pose to the fans, Helms grabs him and slams him backwards to the mat.  Cool double underhook variation of the abdominal stretch that Noble powers out of and reverses into a backslide.  Helms with a fist drop off the middle for a near fall.  Noble counters ‘the Nightmare’ into a Northern Lights, however when he goes for a second Helms blocks it and fires off a series of knees to the mid-section.  He hits the ‘Vertabreaker’ but isn’t done yet, giving Noble the ‘Nightmare on Helms Street’ for good measure and, according to Schiavone, “sending a message to the Cruiserweight champion”.  A bunch of run-ins follow post-match, although it ends with Chavo clocking Helms with his title belt and standing tall.

Highly disappointing to be fair in what was a slower paced and more grounded match than I was expecting going in.  Helms deserves this push after his efforts and work in 2000 and I look forward to following it until the end of the company.  Oh, and the ‘Nightmare on Helms Street’ might be the best name for a move in all of wrestling. 

[soup23]

They really work this as Helms being dominant over Noble throughout much of the match. Writing was on the wall in who they preferred to come out of the Jung Dragons/3 Count blow up.  Good work on the midsection by Helms and overall a competent match for Thunder. Everyone runs out after the match with Chavo standing tall as the Cruiser champ at the end. **1/4

[AstroBoy]

This is essentially a showcase for Helms and he's sort of too vanilla to really take advantage of it, so there's a lot of tepid work and taunting from Shane.  It's a decent match and Noble has a nice northern lights suplex for a comeback before Shane shuts him down.