[2001-02-05-WCW-Nitro] Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire vs Lance Storm & Mike Awesome

[GSR]

As Tony Schiavone plugs the upcoming live events he has to shush because here is a very serious man about to speak!  Lance says that Ric Flair has the full support of Team Canada and tells the Cat that come Superbrawl WCW will have its first Canadian Commissioner.  Just as he requests quiet for the Canadian national anthem, the Cat and Ms Jones appear on the big screen.  Like he told Scott Steiner, he informs Team Canada that they’re going to have to work tonight too, out walking the WCW World tag team champions, Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire.  If the Cat was meant to be ordering a match “on the fly” it was poorly done as I’m sure everyone and their mother assumed Team Canada were coming out to wrestle in the first place.  Non-title match anyway in case anyone cares.  Awesome and O’Haire start, a shoulder charge seeing neither man move the other.  The two trade chops in the middle, Awesome being the first to back down by booting O’Haire in the stomach.  Release German suplex, Awesome making it look so easy the way he launched him.  He clotheslines O’Haire to the outside and then sets sail with an Awesome suicide dive over the top rope.  As he climbs back up onto the apron, Palumbo nails him with a Chris Jericho style springboard dropkick.  Palumbo plays to the crowd too much though and is caught by a Storm springboard missile dropkick.  ‘The Thrillers’ utilise a blind tag on the criss cross and O’Haire floors Lance with a lariat.  Innovative double arm wringer, sending Storm face first into the mat.  Big powerslam by Palumbo.  The champs lure Awesome into the ring so they can do some double teaming.  Lance with a big boot, an additional knee to the jaw giving him the chance to make the tag.  Awesome with some cat like agility as he ascends upstairs, connecting on a flying clothesline, O’Haire in for the save.  Palumbo hot shots him across the top rope as ‘the Thriller’s look to take control again.  O’Haire whips Awesome into the corner, however he runs up the turnbuckles and leaps backwards with a flying elbow.  Frog splash.  Awesome with a belly to back on O’Haire, but then Palumbo with a belly to back on him.  He walks into a Storm superkick, who in turn gets wiped out by an O’Haire spinning heel kick.  Thrust kick and a disorientated Lance staggers around  in the centre of the ring.  Palumbo whips Awesome at his partner and when he grabs him to put on the breaks, Lance, thinking it’s one of ‘the Thrillers’, rolls through and locks on the single leg crab.  Elix Skipper runs out to let him know and he seemingly can’t believe the mistake he’s made.  Palumbo clothesline Storm out the ring, colliding with Skipper in the process.  Jungle kick, Seanton bomb and it’s a win for the champs.

In what has been an overall poor episode of Nitro, finally a good match.  Finish was erm... but at least Awesome is of a similar size and build to his opponents, so it’s not like when a blinded wrestler puts a move on the referee!  Is this possibly the beginning of the end for Team Canada?  The more I see Palumbo & O’Haire the more it boggles my mind how things ended up for them.  If only Uncle Eric had bought WCW things could’ve been so different.