[2001-03-07-WCW-Thunder] Shane Helms vs Elix Skipper

[GSR]

Helms with the big entrance again.  It’s the Nitro Girls who are doing the dancing for him, I had no idea they were still around this late.  Maybe it’s just a generic name they’re using though as opposed to being the original troupe.  He’s out for a bit of revenge after what happened on Monday and that shows right away with the Thesz press and piston like punches from the mount.  Skipper takes to the floor to try and get some refuge, Helms following him out and throwing him over the guardrail into the front row.  Hip toss back over the other way.  Froggy crossbody off the safety railing.  They return to the ring where Helms picks up a near fall after a gut wrench suplex.  Fist drop from the middle, this time they’re too close to the ropes though as Skipper gets a foot over them.  Elix grabs the arm and hits an inverted suplex, dumping Helms across the top rope.  He’s now the one on the outside looking for a breather, holding those hurt ribs.  He should know he’s not getting one, Skipper with that corkscrew pescado he does.  Back inside Elix is using the ropes, not how you would expect mind, just choking Helms across them.  Double arm suplex.  Short arm clothesline before reverting to putting the boots in.  Missile dropkick.  Helms blocks the butterfly suplex and counters with a modified Northern Lights.  Skipper with a German, I think by now we’ve seen every suplex variation in his arsenal.  He misses the running splash in the corner and Helms connects on the Sugar Smack.  Frog splash for a near fall.  Elix matrixes under a clothesline, but as he’s stuck in that position, Helms grabs him around the neck and hits the Nightmare.  The Vertebreaker follows, folding Skipper up for the three. Kid Romeo jumps Helms post-match, Mike Tenay questioning if he’s maybe doing Chavo Guerrero Jr’s bidding.  Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman run their rivals in the Cruiserweight tag team tournament out of there, Tenay saying how this is part of the WCW unity where the locker room are watching out for each other.

Simple booking here with Helms getting a portion of revenge over one of the men who cost him the match on Nitro.  I haven’t checked the listings to see, but ideally he should beat Romeo on one of the shows next week before the big title match at Greed.  This was wrestled differently than I expected as they limited the flying, almost as if Skipper was doing some of the hard graft for Chavo while Helms was out for payback.  I don’t think they pushed that aspect hard enough though.  Good TV match.