Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #233 May 1st, 2000 The Opening Word: There was a fundamental shift in Internet fan reaction to WCW last week. Whereas up until last Wednesday a lot of fans seemed willing to give the "new" WCW a chance, that pretty much changed when the company made comedian David Arquette their World Champion. Fans generally supportive of the new booking regime felt stung, betrayed, and for the first time opened their collective eyes and saw that the "new" WCW was really no different than the old one. For three weeks they had given Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo a chance to prove themselves. They saw that the shows now had an element of surprise, and an aura of "we'll do anything" to get back in the race with the WWF. The fans saw Bischoff & Russo fall back on their old predilections of nonsense surprises, pushing their best friends, giving Hulk Hogan free reign in running the company, and shoving Ric Flair's head in the mud. Such sins were forgiven, because the fans believed these were all temporary shortcomings. They took Bischoff & Russo at their word, when they made all kinds of promises to all different kinds of fans. Like the Cruiserweights? Eric & Vince were going to bring them back and push them. Hate the Cruiserweights? Don't worry, there won't be any of those Mexicans or Japanese cluttering up WCW television. Like Hulk Hogan? Great, because we're molding the company around him. Hate Hulk Hogan? Don't worry, the New Blood will push the old stars like Hogan out of the spotlight. Like quality wrestling matches? WCW will be placing more emphasis on wrestling. Hate long wrestling matches? The wrestling itself will be de-emphasized in favor of action, storyline and characterization. It doesn't matter what kind of wrestling fan you are, Eric & Vince have promised in one way or another to give you a WCW you would like. Up until last Wednesday, many Internet fans still believed them. It's no use arguing that David Arquette has "cheapened" the WCW World Title because it's a title which itself has been cheapened ever since Hulk Hogan won it from Ric Flair in 1994. Maybe it's had no credibility ever, since WCW's split with the NWA created the "WCW World Title" in 1991 or thereabouts. One can certainly argue, though, that this is its lowest point. Actually there's no point in complaining about the Arquette win at all because to do so brands you, in WCW's eyes, as an enemy, and a WWF-biased mark. Fans expressed their outrage last week when they learned Arquette had become WCW's new champion. WCW's response? To go on the offensive, calling the upset fans names, accusing them of being against WCW, and generally taking the familiar stance that if WCW does something wrong it's not their fault, it's merely a perception problem on the part of the fans. No matter how pissed you were that Arquette won the belt, it's okay because Vince McMahon once won the WWF Championship. If you thought it made WCW look like a joke then you just don't get it, because Arquette will get WCW tons of free media publicity. If you were incensed that WCW's cheapened the belt it doesn't matter, because all belts are just props, and you're a stupid mark for taking it seriously. Say the slightest bad thing about Arquette winning the belt and WCW will send Diamond Dallas Page to your house to beat you up. (By the way, if you dare to even suggest DDP had a hand in making Arquette the Champion, DDP will go on TV and denigrate you and your newsletter by name.) Okay, so DDP won't *really* be sent to your house to beat you up. The rest above, though, has already been said and done. WCW has initiated a full-court press against anyone who has dared to criticize the Arquette title win. DDP's called Torch writer Wade Keller names. Bob Ryder has accused Keller and Wrestling Observer publisher Dave Meltzer of being WWF employees. The rest of the Internet, even though support for WCW has been strong in recent weeks, has been lumped together as a whole and trashed by WCW for DARING to not back their crazy publicity stunt 100%. Shame on us Internet smart marks for not seeing the genius of Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo's plans. So going into the weekend the wrestling world was buzzing about WCW. WCW thinks that's a good thing. "You're all talking about WCW," they bragged. Uh-huh. Talking, all right, about what morons WCW's bookers are. Say that out loud, though, and they'll stomp on you. WCW wanted us to talk. They just didn't expect that it'd be voices of displeasure, and not ass kissing. The WWF, meanwhile, played things cool and delivered the best wrestling PPV thus far this year. Backlash was a tremendous show, praised by most who saw it and criticized mostly by those few who would be expected to criticize it anyway--no matter what happened. (Hey, here's a quick question: if someone goes on record saying Steve Austin will obviously turn on the Rock, causing Triple H to win, then the PPV airs and that *doesn't* happen, how can that person turn around and say the match was "predictable"?) All this makes for an interesting Monday night battle. The WWF will be dealing with the fallout from the PPV, and begin setting up the storylines to take them into the next PPV. Viewer turnout should be high, as fans who didn't see the PPV tune in to see what happened, with many anticipating a RAW appearance by Steve Austin. WCW, still battling a downwards ratings trend, as well as a loss of much of their Internet fan support, looks to apply what damage control they can before next Sunday's Slamboree PPV. Can WCW win back the favor of the Internet fans, or will they even bother now that the Internet fans have, for the most part, seen through the empty promises Bischoff & Russo have given them? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Birmingham, Alabama. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson & Mark Madden. HOUR ONE: - Courtney Cox tells husband David Arquette that he's being ridiculous thinking he's a wrestler. Clips are shown of Arquette winning the WCW Heavyweight Title on Thunder. - Now Arquette, wearing an entirely different outfit, is in a car with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon. They pull up bumper-to-bumper with a limo bearing Jeff Jarrett, Eric Bischoff, Vince Russo & others. The two sides exit their cars and start a shouting match. Suddenly a black Dodge roars up and crashes into the limo. Cut to another angle (tinted windows prevent us from seeing the driver--this was obviously pretaped) and out steps Hulk Hogan. He starts to go at it with Mike Awesome. Everyone else brawls. The entire melee is recorded by numerous cameramen, pretty good coverege on WCW's part for an "impromptu" brawl. - NORMAN SMILEY (w/ mascot) vs. CROWBAR The announcers make a big deal out of Smiley's "mystery partner" who will team up with him to face Terry Funk at Slamboree. Somebody comes out with Smiley wearing a gopher or chipmunk or something costume. What the hell is that, a dog ... a wolf? Whoever it is, they get their head stuck in the ropes and spend most of the match stuck there in the ring as Smiley and Crowbar wrestle. Is that a rat? The finish of the match is a really contrived spot where Smiley stumbles backwards over the rat, hooks Crowbar for the roll-up, and gets the pin. Scott Hudson wonders if the mystery partner is the Shockmaster. This match was almost Shockmaster bad. Arquette tells DDP he thinks he should give up the belt. Lex Luger & Ric Flair arrive. Back on the set of "3000 Miles to Graceland" (the movie Arquette is currently filming) Kurt Russell walks by, telling Courtney they have to do their nude scene. He then laughs when they tell him David is the WCW Champion. I assume these are taped - Shawn "The Perfect One" Stasiak is in a gym somewhere going for the consecutive free throw record. Is it okay for Russo to steal--I mean "borrow"--WWF angles that he didn't come up with first? Curt Hennig did a free throw thing back when they first introduced the "Mr. Perfect" gimmick. - Arquette, DDP and Kanyon hit the ring. Arquette says it's been great being WCW Champion, but that he's not really a wrestler, so he's going to vacate the title, putting it up for grabs between DDP and Jarrett at the PPV. Out come Jarrett, Bischoff, Kimberly, Russo & Elizabeth. Russo has Liz on a leash. Bischoff says Arquette can't vacate the title: that he instead has to take part in the match at the PPV, making it a three-way. Here comes Lex Luger, who chases Russo from the ring. Continuing on, Bischoff says Arquette has to face Tank Abbott tonight. Tank comes out. DDP steps up to badmouth Bischoff & Abbott, leading to a brawl which Eric's personal security hasto break up. Abbott says he'll face DDP instead tonight, and that he only gets a shot at Arquette if he beats him. Apparently everyone in this company has the power to book their own matches and stipulations. Luger is looking for Russo backstage. - Stasiak is still shooting free throws. - Bischoff books Hugh Morrus in a match against Jarrett and Scott Steiner. Why? Oh yeah, Morrus ain't down with the New Blood, or something like that. How many storylines like this one are they going to do where they literally only commit a minute to each week? - THE WALL vs. HORACE A "Table Match", which I swear lasts about a minute. Kidman does a run-in, distracting Horace. Horace chases him off, but eats a boot from the Wall and is chokeslammed through a table. They barely had enough time to squeeze in an appearance by Miss Hancock, once again taking notes. The doubleteam on Horace continues until Hulk Hogan runs in, followed by Mike Awesome. He dominates for a bit, but is eventually powerbombed through a table by Awesome. Lest we think this is a big deal-- --they cut to a cemetery, where Vampiro tells Sting that he's waiting. Total nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness promo from Vampiro. We can still hear what's going on in the arena, meanwhile. The fans are cheering, and Hulk Hogan's music plays. He must have rallied back and kicked Kidman's ass. - Russo, dragging Liz behind him, comes out and challenges Luger. - JEFF JARRETT vs. SCOTT STEINER (w/ Ho's) vs. HUGH MORRUS Another short, nothing match, which Morrus wins after Jarrett clobbers Steiner with a guitar. Morrus, who missed a moonsault and was locked in the Steiner Recliner, just barely manages to lay an arm on top of Steiner for the pin. Hugh's "Misfit" buddies Lash LeRoux, Chavo Guerrero and Van Hammer come out to celebrate. Sting has arrived at the cemetery. What cemetery? Where? - Bischoff fires the Misfits. Then he heads off to deal with the lawsuit sure to be threatened tomorrow by the Mistfits band. - Liz can't stand Russo's New York ass. - Sting is looking for Vampiro. Live ... taped ... does anyone care? Vamp stalks Sting. Vamp hides behind a two foot high wall, jumping Sting from behind and hitting him with a shovel. There sure are a lot of cameramen around to film this. "Who are you?" asks Sting. "I'm the monster you should have been." Vampiro pulls a tombstone from the ground and smashes it across Sting's face. Sting, who should be dead or grievously injured, tumbles into an open grave. Vampiro dumps a wheelbarrow full of dirt (as well as the wheelbarrow itself) into the grave. The segment ends with a closeup of Sting's hand pawing its way through the dirt. What, no lightning bolt? Oh no ... he's "Buried Alive", with "No Way Out". Vampiro's showing "No Mercy". It's "Judgment Day" and "Armageddon" for Sting. Vampiro's gone "Over the Edge", with a "Fully Loaded" "Backlash" sure to come. He's definitely "Unforgiven". And here I thought that bus blowing up on SmackDown! last week was corny. Was this a match? No referee in sight, so I say no. HOUR TWO: - TANK ABBOTT vs. DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE They cut backstage during the match to show Bischoff & Kimberly watching, as well as Kanyon & Arquette trying to get into Bischoff's office. Abbott shows why he shouldn't be in wrestling matches. The guy's just a puncher who can't do a move to save his life. Tank wins when Jarrett comes out of the crowd and hits DDP in the head with a bottle. The ref sees DDP is out and declared Abbott the winner. Arquette is upset that he has to face Abbott. - DDP is on a stretcher. - Hogan is shown attacking Mike Awesome. Man, Hogan didn't let Awesome have bragging rights for long, did he? - Oh lord, they have a "New Blood" shirt now. Kidman comes out and berates the fans for not thanking him for getting rid of Hogan. Meanwhile, backstage, we see Kevin Nash just happen by Terry Taylor, who's watching the show on a monitor. Taylor tells Nash what's going on. Out comes Nash. He destroys Kidman until Konnan and Rey Mysterio, Jr. run in! A Filthy Animals reunion! Guess what ... Nash destroys them too! Talk about wasting their returns. Konnan and Rey make a break for it, with Nash in slow pursuit. They try to escape in a white El Camino, but Nash catches up to them. Suddenly the truck stops, and Konnan climbs out. Nash just sort of stands there, like they thought the camera was off, then realized it was still on and tried to continue the escape, but it was too late. - Nash is still kicking Konnan and Rey's asses. - Oh boy, Russo's back in the ring again. Russo tells Liz to take his jacket off him, but she tells him to kiss her ass. Luger then comes in, but is tackled by security. They spray liberal doses of "Mace" on him (everyone in that group should be incapacitated being so close). Ric Flair, who came out with Luger, gets punked out in the aisle by Shane Douglas & Buff Bagwell. The two then work over the handcuffed Luger. Russo gives Liz a bat and tells her to hit Luger. She hits Russo instead--the first thing on this entire show I enjoyed seeing. Liz runs away as Adams and Clarke of Kronic hit the ring. They beat up the security guys, but are then stopped by actual police officers. Arquette is scared shitless. Why doesn't he call 1-800-CALL-ATT and have his buddy Marlon Wayans come help him? - Nash is now busting the windows on Konnan's truck, while Mysterio hides nearby. Fifteen minutes back and the two have been irreparably branded as total pussies. - Luger and Kronic are being hauled away by the police. - Vampiro comes out to cut a promo only slightly more coherent than his last. He's interrupted by the lights going out. A spotlight focuses on a crow perched on the NitroVision screen. Sting's music plays. How tasteless is it for Schiavone to say "rising from the dead" as Sting is being lowered from the ceiling? Sting, showing no ill effects from having his skull crushed by a marble tombstone, totally obliterates Vampiro with a baseball bat. Sting doesn't even look to have any dirt from the grave on him. Arquette's still blubbering. More of Stasiak and his basketball skit. - Russo busts in on Liz, sending other half-dressed women scattering. Liz says he may own her contract but he doesn't own her, and slaps him a good one. - DAVID ARQUETTE vs. TANK ABBOTT Abbott just plays with Arquette. Backstage, borrowing Hogan's favorite gimmick, DDP pulls up in the ambulance which carried him off earlier. Tank takes out the ref with a shove. Out comes DDP and he drops Tank with a Diamond Cutter (which Abbott, not being a real wrestler, has no idea how to take). Arquette covers, the ref recovers, and Abbott suffers his second humiliating WCW pinfall loss. - Stasiak is about to break the record when he's attacked by Curt Hennig. - HULK HOGAN vs. MIKE AWESOME Kidman is out quickly and it's two-on-one. Hogan holds his own until Kidman hits him with a chair, at which point Awesome covers for the pin. Ooh--another meaningless job from the Hulkster. Hogan rallies back and beats up both men. Suddenly a guy in a Sting mask comes in. Oops--it's just a fan. Hogan just stands there as security takes him down. Then with the ring cleared, Hogan is bathed in a shower of fake blood from the ceiling. The entire New Blood runs in and, well, if you've seen any show during the NWO heyday you know how this goes. The show ends before the top of the hour, so no overrun whatsoever this week. WCW maybe phasing out the overrun? - This Wednesday: Thunder is on an hour earlier. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: How much money did WCW blow this week trashing Konnan's truck, Hogan's car and the limo? The WWF's got that kind of money to burn. WCW doesn't. It's not like Hogan and Nash need it to get over. They weren't even cool visuals. It was just WCW blowing large wads of cash to no good end. The first match of the show lasted maybe five minutes. The main event was a bit longer than that. Every other match on the show lasted, at best, about two minutes. I came away from this show feeling like I hadn't watched a single honest-to-goodness match. Lots of "action", but no real matches. It's said Russo likes to throw a lot of ideas out, then he sits back to see what sticks to the wall. Watching this show I felt Russo, who I can see in my head doing this, sits at booking meetings, downing cups of coffee and smoking cigarettes, rattling off ideas at a terrific rate. A poor secretary sits there and scribbles it all down. Russo then takes the notes and hands them to the production crew, telling them to figure out where to stick the commercial breaks. I think that's literally the extent to which they think out these things they do. That's not even to say everything I saw tonight was a bad idea conceptually. It's just that everything they do is rushed, not thought out, and only done if Russo think he can get the point across in ten seconds. If they have to spend more than a minute setting up any angle then that's too much work, and the fans won't be able to follow it. There were things on this show, like the Konnan & Mysterio return, which could have been drawn out over two or three shows. Have Nash beat up Kidman tonight. Then on Thunder Konnan & Mysterio come back to help Kidman, punking Nash out. Then next week on Nitro Nash gets back at them by trashing Konnan's truck. On the other hand, WCW does a lot of stuff where they just throw it out, and god help you if you missed it, because if you blinked, you'd have no idea what's going on. Like the business with the so-called "Misfit" group. That started a week ago (or was it two?) when Bischoff chewed out the group backstage. The next development in the story came on a Thunder, when the group ran out after a Booker match. Now tonight they get fired. I myself am only barely cognizant of the story, and that's because I watch Nitro twice in doing these Recaps. The average fan, that story is barely a blip on their consciousness radar. The angle involving Kronic suffers a similar fate. What happened to that angle where Dustin Rhodes was fired? He got fired, then dumped some tables on the Wall on the next show, then disappeared. Where was Chris Candido & Tammy Sytch this week? Or the Artist & Paisley? Or David Flair & Daffney? How about Terry Funk, or Bam Bam Bigelow? Booker? Harlem Heat 2000? Whatever happened to Sid? Why isn't Goldberg back yet? And why no follow-up from Bret Hart about his attack on Hulk Hogan? WCW has a hundred people under contract and no idea how to manage them efficiently. Just keep that in mind the next time you see Eric Bischoff or Vince Russo on screen five or six times a night. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Baltimore, Maryland. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs. T & A Edge & Christian are out for color commentary following upon their gimmick of last week using "smart" lingo. They overdo it a bit here, talking about "shooting" and intending to do another run-in. Test says a lock of his hair sold on eBay for $50. The fans chant like crazy for a table. Edge eventually distracts the ref and Christian plunks D-Von Dudley. Test gets the pin. - The entire McMahon-Helmsley Regime hits the ring. Not much to report here. Triple H, Stephanie and Vince all take turns on the mic, drawing heat, but accomplishing nothing else. I've mentioned before how much I dislike these long interviews that don't lead to anything. The upshot here is Triple H vows to win the Title back, chews out Jim Ross for saying "Game Over" at the PPV, and Vince promises history will be made tonight with the Rock in a steel cage. Crash Holly arrives. A parking attendant checks him in, then attacks him from behind and tries to win the Hardcore Title! Crash kicks out, dumps the guy in his trunk and runs away. I'd swear that attendant was actually the Blue Meanie. - TOO COOL vs. THE HARDY BOYZ Grandmaster Sexay makes his return following knee surgery. He looks pretty sharp here. The Hardyz play the heels to Too Cool's faces. Scotty does the Worm on Matt. The finish sees Scotty taken down with the Twist of Fate, but Grandmaster Sexay pushes Jeff off the top before he can deliver the Senton Bomb. Sexay then pins Matt. Something of an upset. Vince orders Pat Patterson & Jerry Brisco to bring him referee Earl Hebner. - Vince gives Earl a Mr. McMahon tongue lashing. Vince can play the evil creep to perfection. - THE KAT/JACQUELINE vs. IVORY/TERRI RUNNELS The Kat's wearing an animal print bodysuit that's one piece, but cut like a chaps/thong combo. Very hot. The girls actually wrestle here. Sort of. The Kat and Terri do a funny, blatantly tawdry bit where they run up the ramp, then roll down in each other's clutches (with the Kat's butt cheeks right THERE in the camera). Bodyslam by the Kat! Kat & Jacky go for a double bump-and-grind pin, but Ivory & Terri both kick out. The Kat eventually pins Terri. Vince delivers marching orders to the members of the "DX Family". Steph gives Vince another of those creepy kisses on the lips. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. X-PAC (w/ Tori) Hebner has to ref this match, and walks out like a condemned man going down the Green Mile. Some nice action, but the match is relatively short. At one point Jericho has the pin, but Tori has tied up the ref, so Jericho gives her the springboard drop-kick, knocking her off the apron. X-Pac is busted open from the cut he got at the PPV. X-Pac hits the Bronco Buster on Jericho, then gets into it with Hebner. Earl DQ's him. Y2J puts X-Pac in the Walls of Jericho. Road Dogg runs in, only to be dumped back out by Hebner! Other WWF officials flood the ring to make sure the situation doesn't escalate. WWF WAR ZONE: - The Rock comes out for his promo, responding to the things Triple H and Vince said at the top of the show. He gives it up to "Stone Cold" for coming through at the PPV. With Nitro off the air Jim Ross NOW mentions that Steve Austin won't be on tonight. Vince and the others come out, with Vince telling the Rock that tonight he'd face his son Shane McMahon in the steel cage. The only way to win would be to escape from the cage first, slanting the odds slightly in Shane's favor. Triple H doesn't like the idea of Shane getting a shot at *his* title. Seeds of dissention? That's two lengthy interviews tonight. Couldn't the two have been combined into one? (Of course then the Rock would have had to come out earlier, which would have resulted in a lower rating.) - Triple H and Shane have a quiet talk in the back. HHH really doesn't like the idea of Shane going for his belt. Shane says it doesn't matter, since it'll all be in the family. Triple H says it matters to him. - Edge & Christian come to the ring so that their fans can take pictures of them. Really. They then tossout6 an open challenge, which they mentioned earlier while on color commentary. Out comes ... EDGE/CHRISTIAN vs. RIKISHI PHATU/THE BIG SHOW Big Show is made up to look like Rikishi, even going so far as wearing the sumo diaper thing with the name "Showkishi" on it. The two big men manhandle the smaller pair, forcing Christian, after just a few minutes, to bring in the ring bell, drawing a deliberate DQ. Afterwards Rikishi and the Big Show dance. The crowd was into all this. - Triple H confides in Stephanie that he doesn't understand Vince's strategy tonight. Stephanie doesn't either. Triple H thinks it's a sure thing that Shane will win. - EDDIE GUERRERO (w/ Chyna) vs. ESSA RIOS (w/ Lita) Lita's wearing the dress she ripped off Chyna at the PPV, with some padding stuffed in the bust to fill it out to Chyna's size. Very short match, which Eddie quickly wins in about two minutes. Chyna then strips her dress off Lita. - CHRIS BENOIT vs. TAZZ Poor Tazz. This one goes like a minute before Saturn comes out, distracts Tazz, and Benoit gets the win. Hardcore Holly, who also wandered out, attacks Benoit. All of these guys are clearly in holding patterns while the WWF figures out what to do with them. - Crash Holly, who nervously looks over his shoulder as he's being interviewed by Michael Cole, is attacked by Steve Blackman. CRASH HOLLY vs. STEV BLACKMAN The two brawl from the backstage area all the way to the ring. Crash then tries to escape through the crowd. As he passes a couple of NFL players on the Baltimore Ravens team, one of them attacks, and tries a cover. The other player pulls the first one off and tries a pin of his own. Crash kicks out and runs away. Funny stuff. The crowd, at least those in the immediate vicinity, thought it was pretty funny. You know, this is the type of situation where it'd be great for someone like David Arquette to win a title. Have him win the belt on RAW, then on SmackDown! Courtney Cox comes out wearing the belt, having, um, "pinned" him in bed. - THE ROCK vs. SHANE MCMAHON (w/ Vince, Stephanie & Triple H) Pat Patterson is the ref, and an early ditraction from him allows Shane to make a break for the cage wall. The Rock catches him. As Triple H and Vince root Shane on they poke the Rock with a stick through the cage wall, like taunting an animal in a cage. The Rock grabs the stick away and uses it on Shane. Later on Shane makes another break for it over the top, but the Rock climbs up and smacks Shane's head against a large motor or light fixture of some kind. This takes Shane out of action for a while, leaving the Rock to deal with Patterson, who gets physically involved in the match. The Rock pulls Shane off the top of the cage. He then tries to exit through the door, but Brisco slams it shut on him. Triple H then enters the ring, prompting the crowd to chant Steve Austin's name loudly. Instead it's Earl Hebner who comes out. Earl knocks down Brisco, then slams the door on Triple H as he's trying to drag Shane out. The Rock, with the odds now even, climbs over the top and drops to the floor, just before Vince can pulls Shane out the doorway. Earl backs up the ramp with the Rock, raising his arm in victory, as Vince looks on in shock, disgust and anger. Very hot match. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: A solid show. Nothing spectacular, but nothing all that bad either. The matches, as seems to be the usual on RAW these days, were divided up between longer quality bouts mixed with quickies. The main event was the best match of the show, which is probably the way it should be. You can tell the WWF is going to pace their shows leading up to the next PPV. Right now I'd assume we're going to get a Rock/Triple H rematch, probably in some kind of stipulation match. Beyond that, the WWF didn't do too much here to set up new feuds. Some stuff was teased, but nothing set in stone. WCW will be coming of a PPV next Monday, so you can bet the WWF saved a little extra for that show. It's kind of nice having such an open slate for the coming weeks. The WWF has a bit more freedom than they've had much of this year. They aren't locked into having to deliver any specific matches. They can take a bit to assess their product, maybe give some new guys a shot at climbing the ladder, do some experimenting, even throw in some huge surprises. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Slamboree is this Sunday, and I really have little idea what the card is. Here's what I know for certain: * Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. David Arquette. "Triple Cage Match" for the WCW World Title. * Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman. Eric Bischoff special guest referee. * Sting vs. Vampiro. * Shane Douglas vs. Ric Flair. Flair gets 5 minutes alone with Vince Russo if Russo interferes in the match. * Buff Bagwell vs. Lex Luger. * Norman Smiley & "Mystery Partner" vs. Terry Funk. Hardcore Title Match. * Chris Candido vs. the Artist. Crusierweight Title Match. More matches are yet to be announced. I honestly had to check the WCW website just to get these matches. Only the top three have been heavily hyped on TV. The Hardcore Title Match has been mentioned, but not the Cruiserweight Match (though one could have assumed). I didn't really pick up on the "five minutes with Russo" deal--I just assumed Flair was wrestling Russo at the PPV. I didn't get at all that Bagwell would be facing Luger. I think we can assume that Scott Steiner will be facing either Booker or Hugh Morrus (though wasn't Morrus fired?) There could be a lot of matches slapped together at the last minute, just to get certain guys on the show (like Mike Awesome, Kronic and the Wall). Overall not a very well hyped show. It's only attraction depends on what you think about the main event, and if you give Kidman any kind of chance to beat Hogan. On paper the Sting/Vampiro and Crusierweight matches are the only ones which look remotely good. The main event could be as well, depending on how heavily Arquette is involved. This could be an okay show, but if the matches end up like the matches on Spring Stampede did, with lots of run-ins and screwjob finishes, it won't do anything to win back those fans WCW has lost in the last week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 233 of the "Monday Night Recap", May 1st, 2000.