[2001-01-23-WCW-Nitro] Michael Modest vs Christopher Daniels

[GSR]

Scott Hudson acknowledges that this is Michael Modest’s return to WCW, although doesn’t say the same about Christopher Daniels for some reason.  Apparently Mike Sanders has been scouring the world for some great young cruiserweights and has found two here.  Who would’ve thought Sanders would be taking his position so seriously?  Innovative arm drag takedown by Modest who then whips that arm into the mat.  Daniels slips on the top rope quebrada, landing right on the top of his head and the crowd, who had been dead for the match so far, come to life on seeing that, not in a good way though, laughing at his misfortune.  Modest cartwheels out of a snap mare and throws a rabbit lariat, although with Daniels still showing the effects of that mishap makes sure to clothesline him across the upper back/shoulders as opposed to the neck/head.  A Daniels enziguiri sends Modest tumbling through the ropes to the floor and Hudson says how he dodged a bullet earlier and is now taking every opportunity that comes his way.  Modest reverses the whip into the ring post, however Daniels hops up onto the apron, into the ring and then catches him with a great dropkick through the ropes.  From there he holds onto them, skins the cat and with Modest prone at ringside lands a springboard splash to the floor.  Arabian moonsault for a two.  Modest has the tip up scouted and hits an awesome release Dragon suplex.  The pair kick out of each other’s finishers (Modest kicking out of the ‘Best Moonsault Ever’ and ‘Angel’s Wings) as they continue to throw everything in their arsenal at each other.  A running crossbody takes both men over the top rope to the outside at which point sirens start blaring and out runs Scott Steiner.  Its suplexes all around before Steiner uses the lead pipe to injure an ankle of each, the match having been thrown out and declared a no-contest.

What’s the score with this because I can’t remember?  Were both already under contract to WCW at this point or was this a televised tryout?  The way they went balls to the wall and threw everything out there would suggest the latter and that it was two men doing everything possible to try and earn a job.  Not that the fans cared for what they were seeing mind!  A tough break for Daniels slipping on that quebrada but he quickly regained his bearings and busted out a bunch of innovative shit.  Ditto Modest who I thought as the compact mechanic looked the better of the two.  The finish reminded me of when Steiner killed the Jung Dragons last year, destroying them in that one versus three handicap match; way to pigeon hole someone on their first night in.

[soup23]

First, fuck this crowd as they were terrible. These guys really worked hard and emptied out the kitchen sink to impress. The botch from Daniels was an all timer as he lands right on his dome but he recovers nicely and shows grace on the rest of high risk maneuvers. Modest is someone that really doesn’t get a whole lot of chances after 2003 or so in the indie landscape so I am interested to see if it is a case of wrestlers passing him, him losing interest or just an unfortunate event. He looked good here and was solid in 2000 with what we saw. A fun debut and WCW definitely had an opening to infuse their product with a lot of these guys in 2000 but by now we know it was too little, too late even though optimism is in the air with the Fusient deal. *** (6.1)