I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail images! ______________________________________________________________________ The semester ends in two weeks, which means I'll just have to deal with final exams in August. Yes! Finally, some time for research and some time for wrestling. ______________________________________________________________________ - WCW Bash at the Beach took place this past Sunday, 07/09/00. In the pregame show, they hyped the show through the roof, saying that it would lay the foundation for WCW's future. Of course, they might just have been trying to get the buyrate out of the toilet, but there was some truth to the hype, since this show would likely mark the status of Hulk Hogan with the promotion. Given that the build for his main event match was pretty darn crappy because of Hogan's absence from the scene and given that Hogan was working some sort of deal on radio shows before this show, it wasn't all that clear that things would go the predictable way. Word had spread from within WCW (shoot or work?) that Hogan didn't want to lose to Jarrett and that this was causing some trouble. Indeed, during the show they played up that Hogan had not yet arrived. The show opened, sadly, with Ernest Miller laying waste to all three Yung Dragons. What a waste of some talented wrestlers. Throughout the show they had the Dragons attack Miller, with goofy kung fu movie music playing in the background and Miller always laying them all out. It was a funny idea, but I felt like they should have done something to help get these guys over instead of burying them. Anyhow, overall it turned out that this show was an easy thumbs up, easily the best WCW PPV in recent memory. That doesn't mean that it was better than most or even some WWF PPVs, because it wasn't as good as many WWF shows, but it was better than the King of the Ring PPV, which at least means that WCW could conceivably be back in the game of building fan loyalty. On to the run down: * Chavo Guerrero beat Juventud Guerrera to retain the Cruiserweight Title: At the show open, Ernest Miller said that the crews of both wrestlers would have to go backstage for the match. I liked that idea, since the presence of these clowns killed the last cruiserweight PPV match. Juvi had possession of the title belt for a while before the PPV. I was actually able to ignore that the promotion just sucks right now and has showed no signs of improving, fooling myself to instead believe for the moment that they were going to deliver at least this one great-worked match on PPV. Match was really slow at the start, but Mark Madden told us they would be going long. In today's wrestling, that means maybe 10 minutes. Juvi was just tremendous, despite having loads of reasons to not be. At about five minutes, Chavo hit a powerslam for a two count. I refuse to write "Lieutenant Loco" except in this sentence where I point out I refuse to write it. Each crew of guys came out wearing goofy Halloween masks, but they were stopped from getting involved and sent away. I hoped that this spoke to the end of crappy runin-based wrestling. Major Gunns seems to have washed her shorts in hot water. Match turned into a great affair. They each escaped the others finisher before Chavo hit a tornado DDT for the pin. This match was better than anything at the King of the Ring PPV. Don't try to draw anything more from that, 'cause this wasn't a match of the year or anything. * Big Vito beat Ralphus & Norman Smiley to retain the Hardcore Title: Since Johnny the Bull was injured on TV in his match with Terry Funk, they brought out Smiley & Ralphus as surprise opponents, with Vito agreeing to take on both in a handicap match. The new hardcore rules are that matches must start in the backstage area and end in the ring. Vito had a new ring outfit. He and Norman walked to the back. Vito bled a touch and the cameras didn't zoom to the back. Wow! Two relatively major philosophical differences in the promotion in two matches. Ralphus hit some garbage can shots. Ralphus was playing peekaboo with the trash can lid when Vito whacked it into his head. Norman screamed as Vito came back. Vito opened the elevator, laid out Norman inside, and sent it up so he could go after Ralphus, who was running to the ring. Ralphus was bleeding a little. This was atrocious in the ring, no worse than New Jack's shtick in ECW, but sad, sad, sad. Vito brought out a table to cheers. The table was broken, so Vito had to set it up halfway. Vito splashed Ralphus through the table for the win. Norman walked on to the scene too slowly. Crappy match, but Vito at least knows how to work this style of match a little better than the traditional "walk and hit and table" crap, so maybe, at some point, he'll actually be able to deliver an awesome garbage match. * Daffney beat Miss Hancock in a Wedding Gown match: The winner had to strip the loser to her underwear. They aired a video package for this. Somehow, David Flair has gone from an insane manboy with a crazed, screaming girlfriend to a smooth womanizer who two-timed his fiancee. The commentators tried to credit his association with Hancock for his turnaround. Hancock & Flair had cut Daffney's hair on TV last week, so they came out together here and made out in the ring. Hancock wore a short white dress, while Daffney wore a long black gown. Miss Hancock did a handspring elbow and something resembling Rikishi's stinkyface, but surely deserving another lewd name. There was a wedding cake at ringside. Cake and wrestling? You know the finish. Flair interfered. Mark Johnson took a bump. Hancock stripped off Johnson's pants, Daffney stripped off Flair's pants. Hancock did the head butt to Flair's crotch. "They're not even married yet." What a farce. Crowbar ran in to lay out Flair as Daffney was in trouble. To fit in, Crowbar stripped to his underwear. That was pretty funny, but this whole storyline seems like something off a bad independent promotion's show. I never thought I'd feel sorry for Crowbar because he was involved with guys even less well-rounded than him, but that's where I find myself. Crowbar held Flair and told Daffney to attack Flair. Well, Hancock stripped herself to save David, leaving herself dressed in more clothes than your average WWF starlet wears to the ring. They brawled into the cake. The crowd booed the finish, 'cause they wanted the same sort of smut that the WWF delivers. They didn't even have Hancock in a thong. I can't figure out the point of this match - if it was there for smut, they have to deliver world-class smut - but at least it was on early. Perhaps there was a philosophical change during the build to the PPV that led to this finish: guys in their underwear, one woman in pseudo-underwear. * Brian Adams & Bryan Clarke beat Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo to win the Tag Team Titles: Mark Madden had the nerve to call the Perfect Event one of the best tag teams ever. Tony Schiavone treated that remark like a joke, which it is, of course, but the fact is that they shouldn't have made that remark if it was only going to make a weak pair of wrestlers seem weak. It's not like holding the belts makes these guys wrestlers with status. That would only be true if bookers treated the titles with respect. The commentators were suggesting that Kronic was going to win in a walk, a la Kane & Undertaker, I guess. Kronic drew some pops for power moves. Match consisted solely of Kronic's offense until Adams took a really lame bump (even the crowd groaned) to the floor. Perfect Event took control, which is good and bad. Good because they should at least try to give the champions some credibility based on ability. Bad because we had to see arguably the worst selling in North America today. Adams actually was a little more palatable than usual. He finally hit the hot tag. Palumbo dropped out of Clarke's pump handle finisher, hitting a DDT. Clarke got to his knees way too quickly. Palumbo hit the tag. All four went outside. Match was actually better than it had any right to be, as they focused on wrestling and, even though none of the work was all that awesome or anything, it was good. It helped that the commentators pushed that the champions were wrestling. They hit a pancake on Clarke, but Adams lumbered in for the save. Palumbo went to the floor. Adams hit a spinning side slam, with Stasiak taking a weird-looking bump. Kronic hit a double high foot. Double choke slam, but Palumbo saved. I actually found myself warming up to the champions. Palumbo took a double shoke slam. Stasiak tried to use the lex flexer, which desperately needs to be renamed. They did a double impact style clothesline and power bomb on Stasiak to win the tag titles. Shockingly good match. When the commentators called this a great match afterwards it didn't ring true because they have such little credibility. I think they need to keep the match quality at this level for a while across cards before the commentators praise the exceptional matches. * Kanyon beat Booker T: This match looked tremendous on paper. Crowd was realy behind Booker, who should be elevated to the world champion level. Kanyon took some great bumps off elementary moves, really putting over Booker's offense. Kanyon finally rallied and started working over Kanyon's back. He used some garbagy offense, like the stairs and the post. Kanyon scored a two count off a suplex. Amidst "Kanyon sucks" chants, they heated things up by reversing control a few times in a row with some great sequences. Crowd chanted "Booker T." Kanyon put on a reverse Boston crab which just looked weird because Kanyon didn't sit down. It did allow for a rollup counter. Kanyon took a whip into a chair that had been set up minutes earlier. As the referee disarmed Booker, Kanyon used his loaded book to hit Booker. But Booker had removed the brick from the book earlier on in our sight, so he nonchalantly raised his arm at two, shocking Kanyon. Booker hit a few hot moves before heading to the top turnbuckle for the missile dropkick. With the referee turned away, Jeff Jarrett ran out to use the guitar on Booker. Yes! They are going to elevate Booker to the upper echelon. Maybe. Kanyon hit a diamond cutter off the top on Booker for the pin. This was a really good match, but the finish was disappointing, although it hopefully sets up good things for Booker. * Mike Awesome beat Scott Steiner by DQ for the US Title, with Steiner getting stripped of the belt: Earlier on, they had pushed Steiner by calling him the most popular wrestler in WCW. They brawled in the crowd. I kept waiting for Steiner to potato Awesome badly enough to ruin a bad match. At least they tried to make this match the style that each guy pretty much has to work. Steiner did some power moves when they got back to the ring. Crowd seemed hot for this bout. Awesome rallied by dropping Steiner across the top rope. Awesome did an elbow drop to the floor from the apron, with only Madden taking the time to note that that was a dangerous spot. Awesome used the bell and a chair on Steiner outside the ring, with the referee seeing all of it. The referee didn't DQ Awesome or even bother to count them out, so Schiavone praised the referee. Awesome did the Rick Martel slingshot splash into the ring for a two count. He hit a top rope lariat for another two. For some reason, Ernest Miller strolled out. His arrival was so important that we even missed some in-ring action. Steiner used his belly-to-belly suplex. He was about to put on the recliner when Miller got on the apron. Steiner bumped Miller, but paid a price, as Awesome hit a low blow. He hit a frog splash for a two count. The referee bumped. Cat came in. Awesome was hit by mistake. With Miller dumped and the referee recovered, Steiner scored a two count. Miller announced that the recliner was an illegal move and said he would strip Steiner of the US Title if Steiner applied the hold. Steiner did, so Miller DQed him and walked off with the title. What a lame finish. They should fire Steiner; he certainly should have the standing to pull a Shawn Michaels or Steve Austin fake title loss. * Vampiro beat Demon in a graveyard match: The idea was that the wrestler who returned to the arena would be the winner. Asya & Charles Robinson joined Demon in entering the graveyard. Demon carried a torch. What a great wrestling match. Good lord, this sucked. They just want to kill Vampiro. Vampiro missed a dive out of a tree. He took a bump on the earth. This wasn't even worth watching. Vampiro dumped Demon in a grave and walked off with Asya. When Demon came out of the grave, he asked where they went. Charles said, "They went that way [pointing]. I'll wait here." After thinking about it for a second, he said, "Wait for me." That might have been funny if this match wasn't so crappy. They ended up in a creek of some sort. Asya was sitting there, shaking and holding her head, obviously as confused about her sexuality as the rest of us. Charles helped Demon out of the water. I can't believe that they gave this this much time. On second thought. As Demon found Asya lying next to a coffin, Vampiro came out of the coffin, spitting mist. He asked Demon to join him. Demon yelled "never!" Vampiro hit him over the head with a tombstone. He dumped Demon into the coffin and flipped the coffin into the grave. The commentators kept saying that they had to get back to the arena, but they cut away at that point like the match was over because Demon was in the grave. It seemed like the PPV was going downhill at this point. * Shane Douglas beat Buff Bagwell: For the record, this match, and, in fact, any match involving these two guys ever, played absolutely zero role in my decision to spend money on WCW's product. They brought up Buff Bagwell's neck injury, years after the fact. Match actually wasn't bad, with the hot crowd helping perception a lot, but these two just don't click well. The commentators kept talking about how much these two guys hate each other, but all I could think about was how disinterested I am in seeing these guys. After an uninspired affair, Torrie Wilson strolled out to the ring apron. She slapped Douglas when he tried to shmooze her. Bagwell turned it on. She seemed to be hot for Buff, cheering him on, which we know meant the opposite. She came in the ring to get it on with Buff, of course kicking him low as he posed. Fisherman suplex. Buff kicked out. She held Buff's leg as he tried for the blockbuster. Shane did a jawbreaker on Douglas for the pin. Torrie came in to hug Douglas. Why the hell would they put her with him? What can Billy Kidman think? * Hulk Hogan beat Jeff Jarrett to win retain the WCW Title: They showed Hulk Hogan walking around just before the match; up to that point, they had constantly said that Hogan had yet to arrive. That was weird. Buffer introduced this as the main event, even though another match was coming. Jarrett, the champion, came out first. That sucks whenever it happens. Like Hogan would actually respect somebody else. Before the match, Jarrett said that he had allies who would help him get rid of Hogan. As Jarrett's music played and Jarrett never appeared, Vince Russo strolled out. Oh great. Jarrett followed suit. Hogan took forever to get to the ring. The bell rang. Russo told Jarrett to lie down. He did. Hogan didn't do anything. Russo threw the belt to Hogan and walked away, hands on hip. I guess the idea was that Russo & Jarrett were exasperated because they had to lose to Hogan. Hogan said, "That's why this company is in the shape its in, because of bullshit like this." He put his foot on Jarrett, got the title win, and walked off. The commentators called this a "slice of real life." Reality wrestling. Bullshit crap. The commentators acted like they didn't know that this would happen. The idea seemed to be that they agreed to lose to Hogan, but delivered this crap to Hogan without Hogan's knowledge. There is a lot of speculation that Hogan will play the point man role in creating a new promotion for FOX, a promotion that really will be a WCW sister promotion, so there will be those that think that Hogan won this belt to set up "interpromotional" matches down the line. It seems more likely that Bischoff & Russo will split, with Bischoff supporting Hogan & friends. Nitro and Thunder can each be shows devoted to one of these "promotions." That would be great, if only because we'd finally get to see if those old farts can draw better ratings. * Vampiro returned to the arena to win his graveyard match. As Vampiro acted like Raven acting like Jake Roberts, some druids came out carrying a coffin. Somebody dressed in a Sting mask and a black costume attacked Vampiro. Junk. * Vince Russo came out to explain what happened. He said he was going to tell it like it is. "Three weeks ago, I left WCW." He stopped to compose himself. "...and quite frankly I didn't know if I was going to come back. [...] From day one that I've been in WCW, I've done nothing but deal with the bullshit of the politics behind that curtain. [...] I really don't need this shit." He explained that he "came back for the Booker T's, for every single MIA, for the Animals, for Jarrett," etc. All of the guys that "give a shit" about this company. "All day long, I'm playing politics with Hulk Hogan because Hogan wants to play his creative control card." Yup, called that one. Russo promised that we would never see Hogan, "that piece of shit," again. But wait, "nobody is going to be ripped off here tonight." He said that there will be a new WCW belt, given to Jeff Jarrett. Russo said that Jarrett would defend the title against Booker T, who has never got a break because of Hulk Hogan. "And Hogan, you big bald son of a bitch, kiss my ass." Tony Schiavone called the interview a shoot. * Bill Goldberg beat Kevin Nash: There's an old joke about eating an apple and shitting apple salad; well, I can't help but wonder how Goldberg ate Scott Hall's contract, produced a perfect copy, and then had a chewed-up copy. Continuity in WCW is just so sad. I really, really, really wanted Goldberg to just kill Nash. Nash wandered to the ring, telling Scott Steiner to watch his back, but Steiner was busy, either urinating or receiving oral sex in the hallway. The commentators speculated about this match, acting as if Nash was another troublemaker (along with Hall) who might get turfed. They didn't really come out and say that, but I inferred it. Goldberg had a nice crisp contract again. They locked up and traded punches. "Katie bar the door!" They talked about the Outsiders causing Goldberg two losses years back, but nobody showed replays of those moments, so new fans will barely follow. Nash hit a choke slam out of nowhere. A flacid Scott Steiner came to ringside to encourage Nash, it would seem. Goldberg & Steiner traded words. Goldberg didn't sell all that much, but he shouldn't. He speared the turnbuckle when Nash moved, selling the impact of his own move more than anything Nash had done to him, which is actually good booking. As Nash went for the power bomb, Scott Steiner interfered, attacking Nash. Goldberg speared Nash and jackhammered him, sort of. Three count. Hey, I guess Nash & Hall can join Hogan in the "new" promotion. Yeah, well Steiner has to go too. And take DDP, Sting, Rick Steiner, and Jim Duggan too. The list is even longer than that. * Booker T beat Jeff Jarrett for the New Blood WCW Title: Booker T said he was going to do what he had to to take the title "into the next millennium." Wow, he expects to live for a long time. The commentators pretended that the show was supposed to be over at this point; they needed to say that Hogan vs. Jarrett had had 20 minutes allocated for it in order to account for the time. The commentators called for these two to tear the house down, to "show Hogan something." Jarrett came out wearing Ric Flair's old NWA Title. The started wrestling. Scott Hudson referred to "Hollywood Scum Hogan." If he was history, they wouldn't refer to him any more. Booker hit a pretty dropkick. The crowd wasn't rabid, but there was some heat for this match. The commentators suddenly switched to supporting the vision of Russo & Bischoff, saying that matches like this, featuring "young men" who work their asses off, was what Bischoff & Russo wanted all along. The wrestlers walked out into the crowd. Jeff took a whip into the wall, not the Wall. The walked all over the place, finally making it back to ringside. They brawled a bit at ringside, including Jarrett piledriving Booker on the table, which didn't give at all. Scott Hudson yelled, "They finally got the construction right on this thing," which was sort of funny. Back in the ring, Booker came back. They worked off a sleeper. Jarrett hit the figure four. The match was very good, with the crowd helping again. Jarrett needs to work several dozen matches like this on TV and PPVs to make himself mean something. Booker hit the axe kick. Sidewalk slam. Two count. The crowd seemed to want it. Booker missed the side kick, crotching himself. Jarrett unloaded the punches in the corner. The referee bumped. Jarrett tried to use the title belt, but missed. Booker used it. The referee counted just short of three. Low blow by Jarrett, who grabbed a chair, wedging it in the corner. Jarrett took the chair. Booker scored another two count. The crowd seemed to be looking to the back. Jarrett hit the stroke on the referee, crotching Booker. He grabbed the guitar. Shit, this was going downhill fast. Booker blocked the guitar shot and scored the win to get the title. I popped like a big mother-effin balloon. As the match went on, I found myself thinking that they needed a new world champion without the scarring of the previous regimes. They need somebody with credibility to give the title crediblity. Can Booker T do it? Can the creative team find issues for him that click with viewers? Sure, there are loads of questions, but this was a great finish to a generally postiive PPV show. Nitro Nitro on 07/10 marked the debut of what will hopefully be the first of many tighter, better Nitro TV shows. I won't be the only one to speculate that a large part of the credit for the improved quality of the matches on the show has a fair bit to do with the arrival of Johnny Ace behind the scene in the promotion. With the unstable future of All Japan and Mistuharu Misawa's new group in Japan, Ace and the other regular foreigners for All Japan had to find other stable employment. While guys like Kronic can't begin to do the sort of things that Ace would like to put together for tag matches, at least his influence may also play a role in promoting the guys who can. For the first time in a while, I was actually pretty keen to watch Nitro, so I took the trouble to make some notes. The show opened with the coronation of Booker T as new WCW champion. They did a very nice and respectful treatment of the whole thing, letting Booker have a great moment in the sun. He brought out his wife, and Stevie Ray and Booker reconciled. Scott Steiner ran in to screw things up. He beat up Booker and somehow Stevie Ray was removed from the situation. The crowd was pretty hot for Booker and all of this, but I can't take the guy who didn't lose his title by losing now getting promoted to world title challenger. Well, I'll look forward to Booker T beating him cleanly. In the first match on the show, Shane Douglas beat Crowbar. It was okay. Torrie looks great, but I was sad to see her rip down Billy Kidman and side with Douglas. Kidman called her a skank later on. Anyhow, Buff Bagwell came in to attack Douglas, which I guess means we get to see more of this boring duo. Backstage, the interview station turned into the confrontation, which actually made the bridged between segments seem pretty smooth. The show seemed like it was put together much better than usual because of this. Jarrett attacked Kidman, so Cat put them in a match later on. It's funny that Cat has suddenly become a competent commissioner. Tank Abbott, in shorts and a tuxedo jacket, came out wwith Three Count to award them with a gold record. It was actually a creative way to get Three Count to climb a ladder in the ring to hang the record up; this set up a run-in by the Yung Dragons, which introduced some ladder spots. The brawl that ensued seemed to set up a ladder match for the next PPV. Kaz Hayashi is awesome. As Abbott attacked the Dragons, Great Muta ran in to attack Abbott. The crowd chanted "Muta!" for a few seconds, which was amazing since you'd think he hasn't been seen by this audience. It was great to see them put Muta with the Dragons, hopefully with the intent of elevating the Dragons. Jeff Jarrett faced Billy Kidman. Damn, Jarrett had to get the win to get his heat back, right? At this point in the show, it was already obvious how much better than usual the commentary was. Whether work or shoot, the commentators said early on that they were not allowed to talk about certain things that happened the night before -- although they told us that we could order the PPV encore. This meant that they spent no time talking about old bastards. Shane Douglas came out. Torrie lowkicked Billy and Jarrett DDTed him on the mat before throwing him back in. But Billy kicked out of the pin! The crowd popped. Billy started with the hot moves. The bulldog was countered with the stroke for the clean pin. Great little match with a great finish. Thanks Johnny. Cat presented Mike Awesome with the US title belt, but Awesome said he wanted to earn the title, teasing his babyface turn. As Tony Schiavone hyped the next PPV, which takes place in Vancouver, mentioning that Bret Hart would be at the arena to greet fans buying tickets, I couldn't help but think that after the PPV the night before and this first hour of Nitro, it finally felt like a promotion that Bret would like to part of. Booker T faced Mike Awesome for the WCW Title. For some reason, Tony Schiavone repeated Scott Hudson's earlier remark that Booker T had won the title in his very first WCW Title match. I guess that they want us to forget the previous week. This was a really good match. Suddenly WCW World Title matches seem like they will good again. The booking was great and the finish -- Booker winning cleanly with his "bookend" uranage -- was great. Afterwards, Scott Steiner ran in and a recovered Awesome saved Booker from the attack. That was a damn good segment. Was I dreaming or was this first hour or so of Nitro much better than the first hour or so of RAW? Never though I say that this year. Ernest Miller, the new super-compentent commissioner, called out Scott Steiner to chastise him over his road rage. Steiner demanded a world title shot. Cat attacked Miller. It was tremendous to see a babyface stand up to one of these morons, something that hadn;t occurred in a long time. Booker T ran in to save Miller, with Kanyon and Jarrett also running in, with the commentators explaining that they all wanted a title shot. Miller decided that the challengers could have a triangle match to decide who gets the title shot at the next PPV. As he made that decision, Goldberg came out and demanded a fourway dance. Miller said sure. Norman trained Ralphus. Ralphus was somehow very funny with Chris Jericho, but they are pushing it with Norman now. Norman & Ralphus faced Big Vito. The commentators explained that Norman & Ralphus were reinstated by Miller. Norman & Vito walked to the back. The show lost some steam here for me. They brawled. Ralphus hid under a table in the ring. Vito & Norman brawled back to the ring. With Norman laid out at rinside, Vito attacked Ralphus in the ring. I don't need to see Vito destroy Ralphus, but I guess somebody thinks this has comedic value. Norman chaired Vito, who fell on Ralphus. As Norman danced, Vito's cover was counted for the win. This was lame. The commentators pushed that Vito has not pinned Norman. Norman beat up the Yung Dragons again. Muta was gone, I guess. Alan Funk appeared as a flaming fashion guy named Kiwi. That last gay gimmick worked so well. Speaking of which, Lenny Lane was shown standing in the crowd holding a sign that read "Use me." Lance Storm, who hopefully will be positioned as a major player if the new mindset is honest, came out. "I do not dance, I do not sing, all I do is wrestle." He asked people to rise for the playing of the Canadian anthem. The commentators disrespectfully talked over the anthem. Lance Storm faced The Artist. Artist is pretty bad. Maybe I'm too hard on the Rock, 'cause I can remember when Prince Iaukea was actually better than Rock, and that's not the case now. The commentators spent time talking about Kiwi. Storm was rally good, but I don't think this was a good opponent to get him over. They did some great work while building to the finish. More of Ace's influence? The finish itself was great, with Storm rolling through into a halfcrab for the submission. Rey Misterio Jr. & Juventud Guerrera, along with Tygress, came down to the ring. Mark Madden called them the best tag team in wrestling, while Tony Schiavone said, "Are you telling me they are better than Kronic?" Well, yeah, anybody is better than Kolonic. The Animals really came out to do commentary, as Lash LeRoux & Van Hammer faced Kronic. The commentators pushed that the former champions had earned a lot of respect by their performance the night before. "General Rection is the only juicy one here, brother," said Juvi. Juvi was hilarious. "Is this slow motion?" Johnny Ace tried to help these guys put together a strong match, and you could see that the match was well laid out, but Kronic is just too poor to do anything good. The Power Plant rookies came out to stop the Animals from interfering. Truthfully, I think that Kronic was trying harder than usual, but I see their weaknesses more than their strengths. They totally botched the finish; it's unclear exactly who screwed up. The Perfect Event ran in to attack the new champs with "Lex flexers," which just needs a new name. I like that the commentators always pointed out that the matches were hotly contested, always saying that the losing side delivered a strong effort and tried to put on a good match. That's always how I feel after watching Japanese wrestling. Vampiro cut a promo. He brought the Demon to the ring. Asya tried to pull Demon out of the ring. Vampiro talked like he & Demon had joined forces, telling Demon to attack Asya. This is so sad, but they are trying to have a Jake Roberts or Kevin Sullivan style story line here. With the lights low, a masked man in a black trenchcoat ran in and used a bat and splashes into the corner to lay out everybody. With a ski mask and goggles on, Sting's disfigurement was played up. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner & Kanyon & Goldberg had a fourway match to decide who would get the PPV title shot in August. Kanyon wears a wig to look like DDP. That's okay as part of his gimmick, but it seemed weird on this show, which was quite serious almost throughout. Goldberg stopped Kanyon & Steiner from winning. Jarrett tagged himself in, with Goldberg stopping him from getting a pin on Steiner. Anyhow, Jarret went over at the finish, which isn't too much of a surprise. There was a lot of goodness on this show. Counter to Russo's proclaimed thinking, they worked very hard to make the race for the title significant, to make the title itself important. And I liked it. For the first time in eons, Nitro was a better show than RAW. The world is upside down if only for two nights. - Some quick thoughts on the remainder of the week. * If Stephen Richards is acting as a censor without WWF approval, why does he have music and a video package that airs whenever he comes out supposedly unannounced and unsanctioned? And, okay, if he's playing a character to lampoon the critics of the WWF, and the promotion itself is in on it - wink, wink - is that really a smart move? It seems like this is a bad idea no matter how you slice it. While Richards mic work can be entertaining for some of us, it sure doesn't like average fans get it. And it sure as heck isn't smart for the WWF to bring attention to the conflict that they have with the PTC and other critics. The fact is that they have lost sponsors. The fact is that most of the criticisms of the product are totally valid and fair. It is smutty and profane and the promotion does market to children. I don't think it's smart to throw gas on this fire. * Is it a coincidence that the next WWF PPV features Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Kurt Angle in the biggest matches (vs. Rock, vs. HHH, and vs. Undertaker, respectively) and the build to the show isn't so hot. Here we have Benoit coming out of a moronic loss at the King of the Ring putting the crossface on people that don't sell the move much at all, not demolishing anybody as we go to the PPV. He even finds himself fighting on an even footing with Chyna, when he surely should have killed her without her getting anything back from him. Angle is going to have be a god to get anything good out of Undertaker. It just seems like a pessimist could argue that these guys are being set up for failure. If the buy rate for this PPV dips noticeably below the level of other buy rates this year, and it might well do so, since other PPVs featured Rock's chase for the title, there will be finger pointing. * Why, oh why, did WCW decide to have Lance Storm lose to Billy Kidman, who is still a midcard guy? In reality, they should have let Storm get wins, including on PPV, until he gets into a program of note. See how that program goes and decide if he has broke through. Nope, instead, they want us to know that he's a midcarder too. This was the one terribly sad thing on WCW TV this week, although Storm isn't dead yet. * Was it just me or did Stevie Ray actually do a better job on commentary than Tony Schiavone on Thunder? Ray was hardly exciting, but he at least tried to bring the discussion back to the match and strategy more often than not. * The finishes in WCW this week, from the PPV through to Thunder, were absolutely tremendous moxt of the time. ______________________________________________________________________ If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address; that "x" is my web spider spam guard. ______________________________________________________________________