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Tape Reviews
Today in Wrestling History (April 10)
Posted by Jared "JHawk" Hawkins on Apr 10, 2003, 16:46
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Today in Wrestling History (April 10)
by Jared "JHawk" Hawkins
Am I the only person anywhere that liked Raw this past Monday? For the record, "the crowd was dead" is not good enough as the sole reason to say the show sucked. Some points that were made this week (the same people going over, etc.) are valid, but does anybody watch the show to be entertained anymore? Isn't it funny that mere weeks ago, somebody was raising that very question toward me? Heh.
Anyway, for all of their problems, WWE might still have at least some form of life left in them if they can get their act in gear. But it was three years ago today that another promotion essentially had one last chance to turn things around. It brought about two minds that nobody ever thought would work together...and it was all downhill from there.
The story so far: World Championship Wrestling tried in vain for years to become the equal or better of the World Wrestling Federation. They went through numerous management changes in the first few years following Ted Turner's purchase of Jim Crockett Promotions, and control of the reins eventually settled on the shoulders of one Eric Bischoff in 1993.
It was Bischoff who used Ted Turner's vast financial resources to sign Hulk Hogan in 1994. And then he signed a lot of names that helped make the WWF what it was. Eventually, Bischoff began signing young talent as well, leading to the formation of WCW Monday Nitro opposite Raw in 1995 (Bischoff's always gotten credit for it, but recent claims have it as Turner's idea).
And for 83 straight weeks from 1996-1998, WCW did what was once unimaginable. They were actually more popular than the WWF, and there were talks that the WWF might be on the verge of going out of business. But what goes up must come down, and down came WCW with a crash.
Simply put, the nWo ran its course, backstage politics began to prevent young talent from moving into the main event scene, and fans simply started losing interest. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? To top it off, Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting Systems and took over control of WCW. This led to less and less control over the product actually going to the people with wrestling knowledge, and the Time Warner executives were simply out of touch with the product.
So around September 1999, Eric Bischoff was outed as WCW President. Creative control went to Vince Russo. Russo has been the head writer for the WWF for most of the past two years. Somehow he convinced WCW executives that all the success the WWF had in 1998 and 1999 fell directly onto his shoulders, conveniently leaving out that Vince McMahon had to approve everything that went on the air. Russo literally left the WWF in Baltimore Colts-type fashion to take over control of WCW. He lasted three months. Of course, Russo's line of TV injured pretty much every major player that was actually working at the time. Bret Hart suffered his career-ending concussion and nearly got into a car accident filming an angle a few weeks later. Jeff Jarrett also suffered a concussion...wrestling JIMMY SNUKA on Nitro, and giving away what was supposed to be a pay-per-view gimmick in the process. Goldberg seriously injured his arm by punching through a limo window, which has absolutely nothing to do with wrestling but made the show anyway. And that doesn't factor into account the really stupid shit like The Outsiders vs. two local strippers and Oklahoma vs. Madusa.
So when Kevin Sullivan and J.J. Dillon took over the reigns the weekend of Souled Out 2000, they had a main event tier of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, and Sid Vicious to work with...and they had to bring in Hogan and Flair full-time to even pull that group off. The guys that Russo was trying to elevate that were still healthy, in particular Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddy Guerrero, figured that the writing was on the wall (which may or may not have been, but we'll never know now) and left for the WWF. All of the remaining upper-level wrestlers were well past their primes at this point. And of course, this led to the shows sucking even more than they already were at this point.
So in late-March, WCW was given one last chance to turn things around. It was announced that the creative end would go to two people: Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. The announcers spent two weeks building off the fact that Bischoff liked to build off the established draws while Russo liked to elevate the young talent. The entire company was given a week off while Russo and Bischoff planned a direction for the company, and WCW's last chance at salvation began on April 10, 2000.
Without any further ado... We go to the April 10, 2000 edition of WCW Monday Nitro.
WCW Monday Nitro
April 10, 2000
from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado
Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, and Mark Madden, and a large portion of the roster is already inside and outside the ring when the show goes on the air. Christ, I didn't remember half of these guys being on the roster at all. And more wrestlers and staff make their way to the ring. Scott Steiner and The Wall (Malice). Vampiro and Booker T. Ernest Miller. Billy Kidman and Torrie Wilson. Van Hammer. United States Champion Jeff Jarrett. And it's Jarrett who has the stick. He told everybody that he was the chosen one for the World Heavyweight Title, but that plan was foiled by the good ol' boys. (NOTE: Any reference to the "good ol' boys" is a reference to Kevin Sullivan and J.J. Dillon, who allegedly got Russo fired in the first place.) With that he brings out Vince Russo, who makes his way to the ring with a knockoff of "Iron Man" to show off his ego. Russo claims that after six years in the WWF, he came to WCW and had them "back in the game" within six weeks. I must have missed that one. That's when the good ol' boys, afraid of change, started with the political BS and got him canned. Then they were going to change the direction of the company, and that direction sucked. Benoit knew it, Saturn, Malenko, Guerrero, and Shane Douglas knew it, and they packed their bags almost immediately. Scott Steiner knew it and got suspended (even though it was for something he said in a promo that he was told not to say and not for badmouthing the administration). But now those guys are gone, Russo's back in charge, and things are finally going to change. "Are you done yet?" Out comes Eric Bischoff to the ring...and he gives Russo a big hug. At the time, this was on the level of the Bischoff-McMahon hug on Raw. They apparently have more in common than anybody thinks, but the big thing is they were both screwed by the same good ol' boys network. But the time off gave him a chance to reflect on not only his acheivements, but also his mistakes. And the biggest mistake was Hulk Hogan. Quickly cut backstage to Diamond Dallas Page, Kimberly, Lex Luger, Elizabeth, and Sid Vicious watching on a monitor. Back to Bisch: They tried to warn Bisch that if he got caught up in Hulkamania, he'd be blinded in a sea of red and yellow. But now he can see clearly, so he wants to apologize to the "new blood". He asks where the older guard is, and sure enough, here comes the group from the monitor to the top of the ramp. Bischoff: "Hey, and for once, you guys look like you showed up ready for work!" No softball game, Sid? No golf game, Lex? No book signing, DDP? No movie premiere, Sting? They all owe Bischoff. If it wasn't for him, DDP would be serving drinks in Florida bragging about knowing Bon Jovi. Who saved Sting's career? Who made Luger a multimillionaire when the WWF had nothing for him? And Sid..."I made you - I can sure as hell break you, but this time it's gonna be a little more fun, and it's gonna be a little more fair - this time it'll be a level playing field." But before we get to that, Russo has something to add. And it's personal towards Ric Flair. "Ric Flair, you are a piece of {mute} bottom of my shoe! And brother, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna scrape off that {mute} and flush your ass down the toilet personally!" Fighting words. Now to level the playing field. All titles are going to be vacated tonight. Russo: "C'mon Jeff, trust me. Trust me." So Jarrett hands over the US Title. The Harris Brothers hand over the tag titles (thank God), Brian Knobbs hands over the Hardcore Title, and the TV title is conveniently forgotten about again. That just leaves Sid's World Title, and Sid tells Bischoff to come over and take it. So Bischoff goes up the ramp. Sid doesn't want to hand it over. Bischoff: "What's the matter, Sid, can't find your scissors?" Ouch, that's cold. Sid hands over the belt as Bischoff announces a new champion will be crowned in six days at Srping Stampede.
Hulk Hogan is arriving, and he hasn't heard any of this.
Hogan has arrived, and Sting tells him what Bischoff was saying about him.
World Title Tournament Match: Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) vs. Lex Luger (w/Elizabeth)
Sting and Sid meet later tonight, with the winners to face each other later, and the winner gets Jeff Jarrett at Spring Stampede to decide the vacant title. And to further drive home the point, the music and entrance videos for both men stop almost immediately. I could do play-by-play, but I think there's a limit to how many times you can say "kick" and "punch" in one article. Out comes Buff Bagwell, which distracts Luger and referee Mickey Jay, enabling DDP to get in a low blow. Then Buff hits on Kimberly, so Page is distracted and met with a Luger double-axhandle. Then Buff hits on Liz, which distracts Luger, and there's a Diamond Cutter for the pin in 4:23. If the goal was to make the established stars look like shit, I'd say they did a good job of that on their own. DUD
Hogan is still looking for Bischoff.
Curt Hennig asks Russo why Jarrett's already set for the title match. Russo apologizes and sets up Hennig vs. Jarrett for the shot later tonight.
Hogan is still looking for Bischoff. Everytime I type that in this column, take a drink.
Tank Abbott makes his way to the ring for some mic work. Oh, shoot me now. He's not a wrestler, he's a shoot fighter, and he's here for one reason...a showdown with Goldberg, who "coincidentally" got injured as soon as Abbott showed up. And until he gets Goldberg, innocent people will get hurt. "I don't care if it's Mother Theresa -- anyone." Of course, she was already dead at the time and thus not a viable target. Abbott does pick a different target...Mark Madden, who gets destroyed until security pulls Abbott off of him.
Jeff Jarrett has found Russo: "After everything we've been through, you don't trust me? Who do I look like, J.J. Dillon to you?"
Backstage, Torrie asks Kidman if he wants to go through with this. Kidman asks her to stay in the back.
Hogan is still looking for Bischoff (that's three), and he finds Terry Taylor, who stooges Bischoff off.
After a break, Hogan asks Bischoff why he's doing the end around on him. Bischoff says he learned from the best. Bischoff says "this is for you and me", and then leads Hogan out of camera range.
Billy Kidman hits the ring, and he gets promo time. Nice to see this new era included some wrestling matches, huh? He's happy because for years, he's been "held down by the egomaniacs trying to hold onto their faded careers". So he wants to address Hulk Hogan. Sure, Hogan was right when he said Kidman was small, but Kidman has two things Hogan will never have, "heart and talent". Hogan got his tan from being in the spotlight too long. "And you say that Billy Kidman can't draw flies, well maybe you're right, well who would know better about drawing flies than a pile of {mute}." He calls Hogan out as Hogan conveniently leaves Bischoff's office and checks out a monitor. "Come on, Hulk, it's time to see if your balls are as big as your bald spot!" Out comes Hogan to ask Kidman who the hell he thinks he is. All Hogan's heard is when is Kidman getting his push? It's guys like Kidman who give the young guys a bad name. Um...pot? Kettle. You're black. Hogan tells Kidman that if they were in the same league, "you might understand what this business is all about, but you're so damn p-whipped, in love with that girl you--" Here comes Kidman with a series of punches as I remember that it was Hogan who helped bring Torrie into WCW in the first place. Hogan gains the advantage and works Kidman over. Out comes Bischoff with a chair, and he asks Hogan to hold Kidman...but he hits Hogan instead! That would be swerve #1 tonight. Hogan actually blades for that weak chair shot. Kidman covers, and Bischoff makes a three count.
Backstage, another limo arrives, and this time it's Ric Flair. Is there some rule against the old guard showing up on time?
Backstage, Hogan tosses some furniture around. It should be noted that we've seen ONE match and we're around the one hour mark of this show.
Ric Flair watches a replay on the monitor. Finally he makes his way out to the ring to speak. Last week he had asked for ten minutes to give his thoughts on the new era, so here it is. Russo came from the WWF to save WCW? Russo grew up watching Flair. It's like football. These Denver fans don't forget John Elway when Brian Griese throws a touchdown pass. Griese's a player, but Elway's the man. Go to Yankee Stadium, and it was DiMaggio, Ruth, Mantle...put Ric Flair next to them. This is the only business where you can get your ass kicked for getting old. "Pal, forget about old - I got GREAT." So did Hogan, Sting, and Page, and though they don't always agree, they got great based on their own ability. At least Bischoff had the guts to walk to Vicious to insult him. Russo didn't. He calls Russo out. "You got a problem with me? Get me off the bottom of your shoe right here in Denver, come on." But he doesn't get Russo. He gets Scott Steiner. Steiner was bored in the back, but it's obvious Flair listened last time, because Flair's bleached his teeth. And Flair tried to get Steiner fired, but no surprise there, because with one exception, every major WWF player came from WCW and got run out so Flair could be a 14-time World Champion. Which is no big deal, because anybody could be a 14-time champion with friends pulling the strings. This is inaccurate on so many levels. Steiner then decides to put in joke teeth and do his Ric Flair impersonation. Suddenly, Shane Douglas, supposedly out of the company for months, comes out from the crowd and takes Flair with a right hand, then drops an elbow before security runs in to break it up.
Kevin Nash arrives on crutches.
Bret Hart is sitting in the stands.
A replay shows us that Douglas had a chain wrapped around his fist when he came out through the crowd. We then cut to Flair roaming the halls in search of Douglas.
Mean Gene Okerlund questions why Douglas did what he did. I question why someone who's not employed by the company and got escorted out by security can still be in the building. For seven years, he sat back and listened to Flair say "To be the man, you've got to beat them man"...and he's laying on his back right now. "I'll leave you with this - you can KISS my ass - and watch me be a Franchise!"
World Title Tournament Match: Sting vs. Sid Vicious
Wow, a match! I forgot we had those. We've already forgotten the "let's cut the music and pyro from the old guard's entrances" angle. Another brawl to start. Sting gets in the Stinger Splash, then takes Sid down with a clothesline. Out to the floor, and Sid gets a low blow to regain the advantage. And he drops Sting onto the barricade. Back in, and Sid whips Sting in, but he ducks his head and gets dropped with a faceslam. Sting for a splash, but Sid lifts the knees. Sid locks in a cobra clutch and turns it into a cobra clutch slam for 2. Reverse chinlock. Sting elbows out, but there's a double clothesline. That brings out The Wall, and he's carrying a table. Sting covers for 2, and the kickout sends Sting onto Nick Patrick. Corner whip, but the Stinger Splash misses. Sid hits the power bomb, but Wall hits him with a chair, choke slams him through the table, and Patrick wakes up to count Sid out at 6:17. DUD
Your hosts hype Spring Stampede, despite the fact that six days from the show and we'll only know one match at the end of the night. And you thought WWE was bad about that.
Out comes Ric Flair again, and if he's not wrestling, he's overstayed his welcome tonight. He calls out Shane Douglas, telling him that he's going to make Douglas. I'm assuming that's an actual match.
Hogan continues to throw furniture around backstage. Somebody slip him another Valium.
Hogan meets Shane Helms and Shannon Moore and asks where Bischoff is. Then he rams them into a door.
A special video look at the Ready to Rumble premiere...I won't go there just yet.
World Title Tournament Match (winner is in the finals): Jeff Jarrett vs. Curt Hennig
I guess it's technically not a tournament match, but screw it. Jarrett meets Hennig in the aisle, and it's on! The battle finally gets to the ring after we hear Hogan is trying to find Bischoff's skybox. Jarrett gains control with a Hotshot. Of course, this is a Russo era product, so let's play a ripoff of Mr. Perfect's music and send Shawn Stasiak out to the ring. Hennigplex, but Hennig is distracted by Stasiak and releases the hold. Hennig elbows Jarrett, who collides with Charles Robinson (another ref bump? ARRRRGH!). Stasiak is in to attack Hennig. Robinson wakes up, Jarrett covers for 2. Corner whip, the Stroke, THERE'S the pin in 4:28. If you must know, I'm getting tired of sitting through this, which is why the detail's starting to lack. 1/2*
Hogan storms a skybox, but Bischoff's not there.
Hey. Ric Flair's backstage!
Do you remember the Road Report? Jimmy Barron does, because he's in Chicago practically begging you to buy tickets for Spring Stampede.
Kevin Nash is on a cell phone.
Mean Gene is with Sting, who's shown his loyalty by busting his ass for 12 years. That's literally the entire interview.
Ric Flair vs. Shane Douglas
For those who aren't aware, this feud stretches back to 1989, when Flair, as head booker for WCW/the NWA, wanted Douglas to job to Jim Cornette to build the Midnight Express-Dynamic Dudes feud. Douglas went over Flair's head to get the decision changed, thinking Flair was trying to keep him down. Douglas never got over it, as he gained his initial heel heat in ECW by ripping on Flair, who never set foot in an ECW arena. Ever wonder why fans chant "WHOO" after a chop? It started in ECW when fans did it to piss Douglas off. This is their first-ever meeting.
Each man gets their blows in early before the fight gets taken out to the floor. Flair into the barricade, and Douglas punches away. Flair reverses a whip and starts chopping away at Douglas. Back into the ring. Vintage Flair low blow. Douglas regains the advantage with an eye poke and a low blow. Flair with his own eye poke, Douglas to the floor for a Tastykake break...and Flair follows. Flair dominates whip chops and punches, and back into the ring they go. Flair continues to pound away until Vince Russo comes out and hits Flair in the hip with a baseball bat to cause a DQ at 3:03. Can one goddamn match end without a run-in? 1/2* Russo and Douglas take turns with baseball bat shots until Russo grabs Flair's Rolex as if it's a trophy.
Hey, it's Nash!
Kevin Nash comes out questioning why Bischoff and Russo are attacking the boys. "Now granted, after traveling up and down the road the last ten years with Scott Hall, I've lost a couple of brain cells - my question is, what the hell happened to that sweet little rasslin' show we were doin' every Monday?" Why does this sound familiar? Nash just got done talking to Scott Hall, and he's sober and in a bad mood. Without them, Russo would have gotten killed by Shawn Michaels, and Bischoff would still be serving Verne Gagne coffee. Out comes Mike Awesome (ECW World Heavyweight Champion) to make his "surprise" debut that nearly killed ECW off in one shot, and he's attacked Kevin Nash. He breaks a crutch on Nash's back and says he couldn't pass up this opportunity.
Hogan is on the phone with his lawyers, and he not only wants Kidman, but he wants to eat Bischoff's ass alive. And into the limo he goes. But it gets run over by a white hummer as part of the storyline that would never die (or have a real blowoff). Bischoff and Kidman emerge and exchange high fives.
Hogan is being loaded into a stretcher while Billy Kidman spraypaints "NB" (for New Blood) on Hogan's shrt.
World Title Tournament Match: Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly) vs. Sting
Winner gets Jeff Jarrett, and Schiavone tells us we have an extra half hour of this garbage. Jarrett immediately out to the broadcast table. Page starts off by trying to work on the arm. Sting avoids a Diamond cutter and takes control. A couple of Stinger Splashes, and he goes for the Scorpion Deathlock, but DDP grabs a rope. The match quickly turns into a brawl. Sting clotheslines Page out of the ring. Jarrett's talking to Kimberly, so Page goes after Jarrett. Meanwhile, Vampiro has apparently taken Sting out, but nobody bothered to get a camera on it. Nail in the Coffin, and DDP reenters the rings, hits the Diamond Cutter, and gets the pin at 3:42. 1/4* Postmatch, Jarrett tries to hit DDP with a guitar but gets Kimberly instead.
Backstage, Bischoff and Russo tell Jarrett the fans want more of him. So he comes out to the ring. In six days, Jarrett will prove he's the chosen one when he wins the World Heavyweight Title. "And Page - this Sunday, if you wanna bring your wife back along, there's gonna be a REAL man in the ring who can show her some MORE *wood*." That brings out Page to wail on Jarrett. Out comes Scott Steiner, and Page knocks him down. Steiner gets Page down, and out comes Luger to even the odds. Then Bagwell. Then Vampiro. The Wall (who was feuding with Vampiro a week before this but is helping him out now). Here comes the "Millionaire's Club" representatives. Well, Sting at any rate. Now it's Booker T and Ernest Miller jumping Sting. The crowd chants for Goldberg, but they get Russo and Bischoff instead. They offer the New Blood congratulations and exchange a handshake...but behind them is Bret Hart...and we FADE TO FUCKING BLACK!
Aftermath: Much like pretty much everything WCW did after the nWo angle ran its course, this idea was a failure. There are several reasons for that.
1. Too many "shoot" promos with not enough actual wrestling, a pattern that's always been prevalent with Russo.
2. Despite the promise of the young guys getting pushed, most of the established wrestlers refused to actually put them over. Just look at this show, where what little wrestling there was featured almost nothing but the "established" stars we were supposed to fade out to pasture. This led to young guys being pushed into the main event without actually winning any matches to gain credibility.
3. Nobody really gave a shit about WCW at this point to care if it turned around.
4. DAVID ARQUETTE was World Champion two weeks later, forever sending WCW down into "lack of crediblity hell".
Bischoff was gone by the time Goldberg's heel turn in June/July bombed. Russo lasted until September, when he put the World Title on himself and suffered a concussion. By that point, the damage was already done, although the product actually became watchable right before the bitter end.
The general ideas were there (Douglas and Awesome showing up to bring back that "anything can happen" feel, the general idea of elevating younger talent), but when you don't follow through with good ideas, you don't change anything.
As always, I love to hear from you.
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