Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #220 January 31st, 2000 The Opening Word: WCW unloaded the ultimate Dusty Finish on the fans last week. For those unfamiliar with what a "Dusty Finish" is, it's a finish made famous by booker Dusty Rhodes, whereby he'd give a babyface a major win over a heel, only to reverse the decision at a later date due to a technicality. Often a title belt was involved. Fans in some small town would think they were fortunate enough to have seen the title change hands, only to learn the following Saturday on TV that the decision had been reversed because someone's foot was on the rope, the original referee had DQ'ed someone just before he was bumped, a review of the tape showed their shoulder was up, and so on. Rhodes raised this finish to an artform, and it's generally credited with nearly driving the pre-WCW Crockett promotion into the ground, as fans lost respect for and interest in match finishes. The Dusty Finish has always been with us, and always will, and as proof of that WCW dusted it off (no pun intended) once again to add "excitement" to their World Title scene. Sid Vicious captured the World Heavyweight Title last Monday by defeating Kevin Nash. Or so we all thought. On Wednesday's Thunder WCW Commissioner Kevin Nash revealed that Sid was, in fact, stripped of the title, having been the loser in the "Roadblock Match" preceding his World Title match with Nash. In order to earn that match, Sid had to defeat Don Harris in a singles match. During the course of that match Don switched places with his twin brother Ron Harris, who Sid went on to ultimately pin. At that point Nitro cut away to a commercial or some shenanigans in the back. What we fans at home didn't see was the Harris twins convincing the referee that Sid had pinned the wrong man. Realizing the mistake, the referee ordered the match to continue, and counted Sid out (he having long since walked out). Therefore Sid lost the match, which automatically made Nash the World Champion. (Seems to me then that Sid won the title when he beat Nash later in the show, but I guess they're saying that shouldn't have been a title match.) However, just to confuse things, announcer commentary seemed to indicate that Sid's title reign would count, as there was no mention of his victory being voided altogether. Sid, like Chris Benoit the week before, would be considered a former WCW World Champion. That set the stage for a rematch on Thunder, in which Sid would battle Nash and Ron Harris in a handicap match in a steel cage. Sid, according to Nash, would have to pin him to win the title. On the other hand, if either Nash or Harris beat Sid, Nash would retain the championship. (Nash was being recognized as champion, so it would be inaccurate to say the belt was "held up.") Sid went into the match and did indeed beat Nash, forcing him to submit to a Crippler Crossface, once again winning the World Heavyweight Title. Or did he? Nash had said Sid had to PIN him to win the title. Nothing was said about submission holds. The spectre of yet another Dusty Finish seemed to hang over things as we approached Monday Nitro. Did Nash simply misspeak when he said he had to be pinned, or would Sid once again be stripped of the title, further inflating his and Nash's title reign counts? Word that Nash had a major announcement for the title seemed to suggest that he would once again give it back to himself. Luckily for us, Nash broke his ankle slipping on some ice over the weekend. Or so he says, as everyone in WCW is skeptical about the injury, since it comes on the eve of a WCW tour of Germany which Nash was very vocal about not participating in. In any event, Nash would be off the show, which scrapped whatever plans he had for himself and Sid. Oh yeah, Ric Flair returned on Thunder. He walked out about a minute before the show went off the air, applauded Sid's title victory, then left, appearing on-screen for all of 13 seconds. Here's hoping he actually *does something* on Nitro tonight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay & Mark Madden. HOUR ONE: - A highlights package covers all that stuff I mentioned above. - Jeff Jarrett is on the phone with Nash, taped earlier in the day. Nash makes Jarrett "Acting Commissioner" of WCW. Scott Hall seems slightly perturbed that his friend Nash didn't put him in charge. A live shot shows the NWO making their way through the back. - Mark Madden replaces Bobby Heenan tonight, due to an illness. Yuck. - The NWO hits the ring. Jarrett announces that he's running the show tonight, and that he himself will be Sid's opponent at SuperBrawl. Jarrett says he's open to taking bribes from the boys in the back. Scott Steiner takes over and shows off the hooches he has with him tonight, all of whom have incredibly large breasts. I take it Ed Ferrara's booking tonight? The Harris Boys are made official members of the NWO, which makes sense since four of the five members of the group are sidelined with injuries (and the other, Jarrett, probably isn't a 100% yet). Much of this segment is marked by long stretches of silence where the censors mute out loud "asshole!" chants from the crowd. So all those tits in the ring are okay, but a crowd chant is too naughty to air? I almost feel sorry for WCW, knowing so many of their problems actually stem from the network they're on. Unable to do his survey, Scott Hall is completely worthless. Sid Vicious has arrived. So has Ric Flair, via limousine. - Stevie Ray & Big T are on the prowl with lawyer J. Biggs. Terry Funk questions Arn Anderson about Ric Flair. - LASH LEROUX vs. EVAN KARAGIAS (w/ 3 Count) How can you get at all interested in a tournament with no brackets, no announced competitors--we don't even know how many people are in it, do we? LeRoux wins this ugly, quick match, advancing in the Cruiserweight Title Tournament. Kevin Nash's catering arrives, but the NWO send it away. - Dustin Rhodes stars in one of those WCW Saturday Night promos where he tells kids not to imitate wrestlers. A better message is to other wrestlers to not imitate Dustin's career. - A "Mean" Gene interview with David Flair, Crowbar & Daffney is interrupted by the Marmadukes. That leads to ... THE MAMALUKES (w/ Disco Inferno) vs. DAVID FLAIR/CROWBAR (w/ Daffney) The brawl to a snowbank outside the building, then fight their way down to ringside. No holds barred here, I guess. Disco tells the announcers that they aren't the "Mamalukes" (WCW finally figuring out that's not a flattering term), and that they're really "The Paisans." (At least they don't call them "The Sopranos.") Miss HanCOCK comes out to advance whatever nonexistent storyline she's a part of. I had to watch this match three times before I was able to stay interested long enough to see Vito pin Crowbar after a table spot. There's the new Harlem Heat again. Brian Knobbs flashes a wad of cash in Jarrett's face, earning him entry into the NWO inner sanctum. - Knobbs asks Jarrett to put Fit Finlay in the ring with Lex Luger tonight. Jarrett takes the money and agrees. - Contrary to the on-screen graphic, Booker T. comes out without Midnight. Before whatever match wasn't going to take place doesn't start, J. Biggs, Stevie Ray & Big T come out. Biggs informs Booker that everything about him--his music, tights, last initial--are all property of "Harlem Heat Inc." Booker gets his own generic music. Stevie and Big T walk off for no reason, as Biggs continues ranting. If what he's saying sounds familiar, it because he "borrowed" it from the "Malcolm X" movie. Midnight finally appears and punks him out. She and Booker work him over until Stevie & Big T make the save. Biggs sells a case of whiplash. (I can already envision a long, boring Thunder segment where he serves Booker with papers.) Norman Smiley arrives, and is attacked by 3 count, because ... ? Jarrett pulls a fast one on Brian Knobbs by making Fit Finlay a referee ... in a match between Luger and Knobbs. Knobbs sees this on a monitor and goes nuts. - Norman Smiley, on the run from 3 Count, finds the KISS Demon's casket, and gets trapped in it. How can I respect someone who runs FROM 3 Count? - KIDMAN (w/ Torrie Wilson) vs. THE WALL This is the first match where Madden isn't in "All Heels Rule/All Babyfaces Suck" mode. His performance tonight has been competent, but certainly nothing to rave about. Kidman avenges his loss at Souled Out with a pin, though he needs help from Vampiro to get it. (No way the ref could have missed Vampiro's drop-kick off the top there.) A quick look at Flair. Forgot to mention earlier, Sid will be teaming up with two mystery partners to face Jarrett & the Harris Boys. HOUR TWO: - "Mean" Gene is out to interview "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair does his usual Crazy Old Man interview, and says little of note until he starts up on Terry Funk for no reason. So much for him "shooting" on the company or ridding it of the NWO. Funk comes out to respond. He quotes Mick Foley's book, a line about Flair being "a pimple on Terry Funk's ass!" Flair says Foley hasn't watched wrestling in 27 years if he said that. Long story short, Flair and Funk tangle, as one of the things that could have saved WCW goes sliding into the toilet (while the company's future makes its presence felt over on that OTHER show). It was an entertaining confrontation, though. Jarrett confirms what we all assumed: Flair and Funk will be Sid's partners tonight. - "Mean" Gene interviews Sid. Lodi and Lenny Lane tell Miss Hancock that they're through with dumb gimmicks. Yeah, so are WE! There's Lex Luger & Elizabeth. - LEX LUGER (w/ Liz) vs. BRIAN KNOBBS Referee Fit Finlay attacks Knobbs, and eventually walks out of the match. Liz knocks Knobbs out with a baseball bat. Luger then wraps a chair around Knobbs' wrist and stomps on it. These guys are the ones dragging this company down, if you ask me. Well, one of the reasons anyway. Luger drops Hulk Hogan's name on his way out. Norman Smiley escapes from the coffin, now looking like the Demon. Are we to assume Smiley did this himself, or that the coffin has magical powers which infuses its inhabitants with the mystical Rock & Roll powers of KISS? - The Demon files a robbery report with the police. Someone stole his gear. - 3 Count is out to stink up the ring, but they're attacked by Demon Smiley. NORMAN SMILEY vs. SHANE HELMS (w/ 3 Count) Smiley with the Norman Conquest. Then the Demon and the cops come out. Norman runs away through the crowd. Schiavone announces that Hulk Hogan will be on Thunder. Why on Thunder? So Hogan can pop a rating without fear of it looking low, like it would on a Monday. They're so desperate to pack the house that they actually reveal that this show will be taped on Tuesday, in Binghamton, New York. "Mean" Gene interviews Kimberly and Diamond Dallas Page. Forget all about that DDP/Buff Bagwell feud, everything's cool now. Disco and the Mamalukes happen to walk by just then. Vito pinches some tushy, with Disco taking the blame. He calls Kimberly a bimbo, sparking an Insta-feud between he and DDP. Bagwell strained his neck, or something like that, so he's like WCW wrestler #73 on the shelf because of an injury. - DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE (w/ Kimberly) vs. DISCO INFERNO DDP with the Diamond Cutter. The Mamalukes arrive too late to make the save. A look at all our main event competitors, except for Flair. - JEFF JARRETT/THE HARRIS BOYS vs. SID VICIOUS/TERRY FUNK/RIC FLAIR This one roams all over the ringside area, but not much happens. Long minutes pass with no sign of Flair, which really agitates the crowd. Funk is slammed on the announce table and we can see (and slightly hear) the Harris who did the slam check on Funk to see if he's okay. Sounds like Funk answers "I'm okay." Still no sign of Flair. About six minutes in Flair finally comes out, only to attack Funk. Security is immediately between the two to hold them apart. Flair is gone--the crowd has to be pissed. Jarrett, meanwhile, smashes a guitar over Sid's head and covers for the pin. Yeah, send the crowd home angry! - This Wednesday: The return of Hulk Hogan. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Flair as a heel is so counterproductive to what WCW needs right now. I know it's what they had to do to get him back, but I wish someone could have sat him down and told him that a babyface role would have been so much better, given what he has to work with in WCW. Whether it's against Funk or Sid or anyone, the fans are going to be cheering for Flair to win. The fans aren't supposed to cheer for the heel to win. Flair's as over as he's ever going to be, so beating those guys won't make him any bigger. Yet if those weak babyfaces beat him, the fans will resent the fact they beat Flair. Even if they put some of the younger guys over Flair it'll be tough to overcome that fan resentment that will be aimed at anyone who beats him. Things will be a bit better when Goldberg comes back, because a Goldberg/Flair feud could work, with Flair "passing the torch" to him. In a way it could be nice to see a heel Flair go out with a lengthy series of wins, but it's not going to help WCW in the larger picture. Maybe I'm just bummed because he and Funk are, combined, over 100 years old! Seriously, though, Flair's return illustrates what's been a major problem with WCW going all the way back to the Bischoff days. The top stars on the roster have a free hand in deciding the course of company. All those shows where Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Kevin Nash called the shots are coming back to haunt them. They figured these guys could sell tickets forever, and no though was given to elevating the next batch of superstars who would carry the company. The only guy they even tried was Goldberg, and as much as a success he was, look what happens when he gets injured. Suddenly the once vastly deep WCW talent pool is exposed as a flawed, shallow group composed of three tiers: over-the-hill stars, a few mid-carders who will never be over, and green-as-grass rookies who are unprepared for the spotlight they're hurriedly being thrust into. The guys who could have been the future of the company, they were chased out the door by backstage politics. I look over who WCW has and I just don't see anyone who can be molded into a star anytime soon. Youngsters like Lash LeRoux and 3 Count are just too inexperienced. Disco Inferno and Norman Smiley are comedy characters. What can they do with Tank Abbott if he's not on the show every week? Kidman and Vampiro, neither of them have the skills to get over without some major help from the company (help WCW hasn't given anyone in years). WCW is in such trouble, and it's not just stuff we can write off as "behind the scenes problems." It's been affecting what we see on TV for some time now. The scary thing is WCW seems to think bringing back Flair, Hogan, and eventually Goldberg, Hart and Sting will solve all their problems. They won't. It's what WCW does with them that counts, and what they do to put over the next generation of WCW stars. I sometimes think WCW has the attitude that the fans aren't paying customers to be catered to, but are in fact nuisances to be tolerated. It's like they stick Ric Flair out there and say "there, that ought to shut up the SOB's!" All Nitro had going for it this week was the Flair/Funk confrontation, but as much as I liked it, I could help but see how old those two are, and how long it's been since they had their classic feud in 1989, and how bad any match they have with each other is going to be. The rest of the show this week wasn't terribly bad, but it wasn't all that good either. Still, probably the best show they've put on in weeks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS vs. HEAD CHEESE Ah, I see, let Ric Flair have his moment in the spotlight. Steve Blackman, like he did last week, complains about these dumb gimmicks Al Snow is trying to foist upon him. This week's suggestions: "Snow Storm" and "Snow Balls." Road Dogg regales the crowd with his spiel. Well wouldn't you know it, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero are shown taking a seat in the front row! Jim Ross is flabbergasted, mentioning their recent departure from WCW and current status as top free agents. Ross says, as far as he knows (heh-heh), they haven't signed with the WWF. Al Snow goes over to shake their hands. Crowd reaction slowly builds as they realize who it is sitting there. There's some wrestling going on, but who cares because the WCW Four are sitting in the front row. Road Dogg eventually takes a tumble into the crowd, right into their laps. He doesn't react well to these guys showing up in his neighborhood, so Road Dogg takes a swing at Benoit. The response is a four-on-one beatdown. They hop the rail and toss the Dogg back in the ring. Saturn suplexes Billy Gunn, then Eddie flattens him with a rib-crushing Frog Splash. Malenko suplexes Road Dogg, and Benoit finishes him off with a headbutt off the top. Benoit kicks dirt on his carcass, then the four head off up the ramp. - Replay of what we just saw. The WCW Four, dubbed "Radicals" by Jim Ross, are in the back with Cactus Jack. A bit of expository dialogue reveals that it was Cactus who invited them to come to the WWF. He asks them what it's like to look out and see the seats full of fans (who actually paid for their tickets). The four just grin like mad, knowing that though their releases forbids them from badmouthing WCW in public, that doesn't mean the WWF can't do it for them. Saturn says he hasn't had fun in a long time, to which Cactus replies they'll have a lot of that tonight, by doing what gets people over in the WWF: making a lot of noise. - Kurt Angle is out to do his "Three I's" bit, though he borrows a page from the Rock's playbook by borrowing his "Finally," line. Angle faces the Rock later tonight. Pittsburgh is Angle's hometown, so lots of heat for him from this promo. They show the WWF Super Bowl commercial with the maternity ward filled with WWF-emulating babies. I didn't think this one was that funny. - The New Age Outlaws want Triple H to do something about "The Radicals." Triple H says he has bigger problems, and speaking of which, the Big Show enters, dragging security head Jim Dotson along. Dotson is the Big Show's Royal Rumble witness, testifying that the Rock's feet did indeed appear to hit the floor before Big Show did. Triple H says it's still not good enough, and that he'll need video proof. Big Show says he'll have video this Thursday, but if Triple H short changes him again, he'll rip his head off. What's the deal with the Big Show's hair? - CHRISTIAN (w/ Edge) vs. D-VON DUDLEY (w/ Buh Buh Ray Dudley) Edge and D-Von get involved in this one, but in the end Christian scores the pin. Doesn't matter to the Dudleyz, though, as they set up a few tables, one in the ring, one outside. Here come the Hardy Boyz! D-Von is DDT'ed through the table in the ring, then Buh Buh is Senton Bombed through the table on the floor. The Hardyz are way over with the crowd. Jim Ross added a "damn" every time he mentioned the Dudleyz. - The Radicals are introduced to our babyfaces from the previous match. Enter the Mean Street Posse, talking all tough like they run the WWF. Cactus Jack and the others look on as the Radicals introduce their fists upside the Posse's heads. - THE BIG SHOW vs. TOO COOL Squash. No Rikishi tonight, as he hurt his ankle in his match against the Rock last Thursday. He'll be back soon. The Rock appears on the Titan-Tron and makes fun of the Big Show's haircut. He also belittles local hero Kurt Angle. - THE ROCK vs. KURT ANGLE Angle takes time out from the match to berate the crowd for not cheering him. He tells them he was born just five blocks away from the arena at Mercy Hospital. The Rock punks him out from behind and tells him it doesn't matter where he was born. Angle eventually decides to take a powder and leave, only to be cut off by Tazz. Tazz runs him back into the ring. The Rock puts Angle away with the People's Elbow and scores the pin, ending Angle's unpinned streak. Tazz then lines up for a shot on Angle as he slides out of the ring, but Angle ducks, and Tazz accidentally clotheslines the Rock! Wow. The Posse interrupt an Acolytes poker game to request protection from the Radicals. A lightbulb goes off over Bradshaw's head (no, not literally) and he gets an idea: the Acolyte Protection Agency. I see a t-shirt just waiting to happen. There's Chris Jericho, Chyna, X-Pac and Tori. WWF WAR ZONE: - The Radicals (not sure I'm wild about that name) meet up with D-Lo Brown, the Godfather and Val Venis. D-Lo and Eddie do a mutual admiration thing for their similar finishing moves. Saturn asks the Godfather where the girls are? - X-PAC (w/ Tori) vs. CHRIS JERICHO (w/ Chyna) I really dig Chyna's pyro bazooka. Hey ... these two have a good match! There must be something in the air tonight. Chyna interferes by tripping up her old D-X-mate X-Pac, which draws the attention of the ref. Y2J slaps the Walls of Jericho on X-Pac. In comes Tori with the IC belt and WHAM! X-Pac does the X-Factor and scores the upset pin. This was non-title, right? Hey, the Kat's a blonde again! Okay, which guy is playing "Hervina?" Super Bowl ad #2 features the brawling beauty contestants. Now this one I liked, and really got a laugh from it when I heard the winner was Miss Connecticut and the sore loser Miss Georgia. - Now the Dudley Boyz want to hire the APA (Acolytes Protection Agency). - THE KAT vs. "HERVINA" The other women in the WWF serve as "lumberjills" surrounding the snow pit in which this match will take place. Of course you all know Mae Young's pregnant, don't you? The Kat "wrestles" barefoot wearing a snow bunny outfit. "Hervina" is wearing a snow suit, fully covering "her" body. The women are throwing snowballs back and forth, and somehow this all leads to "Hervina" rolling the Kat up for the pin, winning the WWF Women's Title. This is a dig on Madusa and Oklahoma and the Cruiserweight Title, right? Michael Cole goes in for an interview with the new champ, who is quickly un-wigged to reveal Harvey Whippelman. The ladies monekypile on him in the snow. Eh. Another look at Cactus Jack and the Radicals. Well, I guess the WWF has to have some kind of nickname they can copyright and put on t-shirts. - Triple H and Stephanie are introduced to the radicals. Neither seem impressed. Stephanie says she's heard what a disruption they were for their former company. Benoit asks for an opportunity, nothing more. Triple H says he'll think it over. - VISCERA vs. THE HOLLYS Nobody's perfect, as the WWF proves with this match. You can actually see the enthusiasm draining from the crowd, as this one stretches on for several minutes. The Hollys score an upset win, as Hardcore drop-kicks Crash as Viscera is holding him. Crash falls on top and Hardcore holds down Viscera's leg so he can't kick out. Super Bowl ad #3, which was rejected by ABC. Senior citizens get fired up by the WWF Attitude. Eh. I'd rank this between the other two. In all a lot of money wasted by the WWF--none of these ads were as good as the one last year. - Clips are shown from the Halftime Heat interview with Steve Austin. - Lillian Garcia, live from the WWF New York restaurant, announces a press conference set for Thursday, in which the WWF will reveal some kind of new venture involving them and football. - MATT HARDY (w/ Jeff hardy) vs. BUH BUH RAY DUDLEY (w/ D-Von Dudley) The Acolytes are out as well serving in their protection agency capacity. This one doesn't last long. D-Von throws in a chair, but it goes over Buh Buh's head and Matt catches it. A swing of the chair and Matt draws the DQ. In come the Acolytes to assist with the beatdown. Edge & Christian try to make the save, but come up short. The Dudleyz and Acolytes set up a pyramid stack of three tables, place Matt on top, then (with Buh Buh standing on the steel steps placed in the ring) Jeff is powerbombed through the whole pile! One of the bottom tables doesn't break, leaving Jeff hanging from it, looking half dead. Cactus tells the Radicals Triple H would be stupid to let them get away. Cue Triple H, who heard what Cactus said. Triple H says the WWF isn't interested, and it's now time for them to exit the building. Security guards stand by waiting to escort them out. Malenko says they'll leave--that they've walked out of buildings before where they weren't wanted. Triple H, you damn fool! Now they'll go to ECW and, *he-he*, become superstars. Or something like that. - The WWF laid the SmackDown! on the President last Thursday, drawing their highest UPN rating ever. - KANE vs. TRIPLE H (w/ Stephanie) Hmmm ... no sign of Kane. Triple H badmouths Kane, then starts a ten count for him to show up. he eventually starts to head to the back in search of him. Here comes Cactus Jack. He says Triple H made a major mistake in not signing the Radicals, and because of that Cactus is going to beat some sense into him. Those two go at it, but it's clear Cactus is still showing signs of wear and tear from his Royal Rumble match. Out come the Radicals for the save. No sign of the Outlaws or X-Pac, hmmm. Triple H absorbs punches, kicks, even a few championship belt shots to the head. He's left laying in the ring, Benoit again "kicking dirt" over his corpse. Cactus and the Radicals head up the ramp, Guerrero giving the camera a wicked grin just before we fade out. - This Thursday: Big Show's video proof. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: It's really sad to see this slowly brewing anti-Benoit sentiment appear on the Internet. Here's a guy who just a week ago they thought was God, and now that he's jumped to the dreaded WWF he's a whiner, a sell-out, he's too short, etc. For every positive, mark-out opinion I've read regarding his WWF debut, I've seen a negative one. It's amazing how easily some will completely overlook what WCW did to him and the others who made the jump, just to trash them for joining the WWF. Look, I have no idea how well these guys are going to get over. Of the four, Dean Malenko probably has the least chance of making it. But God, it's not as if WCW was any great alternative to that. At least if they fail, it'll be on their own terms, and not because of a hierarchy dedicated to making sure they failed. And now that we've learned that the four signed for a lot more money than was rumored last week, they can't even be accused of making the wrong financial decision. I thought their debut was not only exciting, but EFFECTIVE. Jim Ross played up to all those Internet rumors of last week--rumors the WWF itself probably started to throw us off. Yet they made sure that the casual fan had some idea of who these guys are, or more importantly, what they're capable of. Anyone who comes in and stomps Triple H is going to get over, and they did precisely that. I think Cactus Jack makes a great mouthpiece for the group. I've heard people complain that Cactus Jack shouldn't be in that role because that's not what Cactus Jack is about. Baloney! This is exactly the character Cactus Jack was in ECW. I think it's a perfect opportunity, for a while anyway, to keep Cactus in the mix of things, without having to stick him in the ring every week. This was, overall, the best RAW in weeks--maybe months. Lots of solid wrestling. The only negative was that stretch in the second hour with the Viscera match and Women's Title debacle which killed the crowd until the end. This was a PPV caliber card (though not necessarily a PPV quality show when all was said and done). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: WCW needs to forget about beating the WWF and focus on saving their own company. Sadly their gameplan seems to be to keep trying to beat the WWF. Looking at the TV ratings each week, the combined Monday night wrestling audience is on a slow decline. The WWF has peaked, and their ratings are fairly stable. It's WCW who is losing viewers--viewers who aren't interested in the WWF. That would seem to suggest they're the older viewers who have long comprised WCW's core audience. The WWF has already stolen away the younger viewers. The diehard, loyal-to-the-death WCW fans are the ones having their loyalty tested each week, and they're the ones who are walking away. There were many who feared when WCW brought in Vince Russo, and made the decision to focus on "sports entertainment" rather than wrestling, that they would alienate more old fans than they would bring in new ones. Well, those old fans are leaving, and their miserable attempts at "sports entertainment" have failed to bring in new ones. It's near impossible to figure out the solution to WCW's problems when they have more of them than one can count. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 2000 by John Petrie, and all opinions expressed therein are his own, and not those of "USLink". Check the "Slobberknocker Central" main page for info on how to receive the "Recap" free via E-Mail every week. Volume One, Number 220 of the "Monday Night Recap", January 31st, 2000.