Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #272 January 29th, 2001 The Opening Word: A few quick corrections to last week's Recap, followed by some random observations ... First, in the edition that went out to subscribers, I wrote that Test was engaged or married to Val Venis' sister. It's actually Edge who's married to his sister--one of those bits of wrestling minutia I knew but that had grown hazy in my memory. Seeing Test wearing the armband, and vaguely remembering that another wrestler was related to Sean Morley (Venis) via marriage, I put the wrong two-and-two together to make four. Of course I realized my mistake about a half hour after the Recap had already been sent out (and just before the flood of people writing to correct my mistake). I corrected the online edition of the Recap, but it was too late for the subscribers. The other flub I made was noting that the Rock pinned Big Show in their match. He actually pinned Benoit. Brainfart on my part--one of those things where you think you're typing one thing, but your fingers are actually doing something else (like that recent Recap where I listed Scott Steiner wrestling Midajah). It's amazing ... I read these things all the way through, then proofread them again, then spellcheck them, then go over them one last time, and there's still blatant goofs staring me right in the face that I miss. --- Interesting debate that's erupted over the Modest-Daniels match on Nitro. I thought it was okay. Not great, but certainly better than most Nitro matches. I didn't go into any great deal talking about it, though, because the Seiner run-in finish ruined it for me. The funniest stuff to read was over on the Torch site. Wade Keller bashed the match--perhaps not totally without justification. What was really funny was the feedback, especially from those who clearly read about one paragraph of his criticism, and then stopped because they were so enraged that they had to E-Mail a fiery hate note to him. I really like the one that accused Keller of ruining Daniels and Modest's chances of getting hired. Funny, in light of the fact that WCW has in fact offered the pair contracts, which they've apparently accepted. What this debate actually brings up is how certain fans on the Internet will only rave about matches depending on whether or not it involves certain wrestlers. In WCW it's the cruiserweights. In the WWF it's Chris Benoit or Chris Jericho. Modest & Daniels are indy circuit sensations, and odds are Net fans were going to rave about their match no matter how good (or bad) it was. Turns out is was only okay (maybe even bad by the standards of the wrestlers themselves). God help the person who decided to publicly criticize it. I personally felt the best match last week, not counting the PPV, was the tag match with the Rock, Jericho, Benoit & Big Show. The week before it was the tag match with the Rock, Undertaker, Kane & Rikishi. It's not cool to rave about Rock matches, though, and the only matches anyone has praised over the last few weeks have involved cruiserweights, Benoit or Jericho. I'm not really sure if this sentiment is anti-WWF or pro-WCW, all I know is it takes Benoit & Jericho to do a four star ladder match to get fans talking about any match in the WWF. Otherwise it's WCW's cruiserweights that get all the buzz, and matches equally as good in the WWF get virtually ignored. That's not to knock recent WCW cruiserweight matches. I thought that "Cruiserweight Contender Countdown" match on Thunder was very good. Modest vs. Daniels on Nitro was good. The cruiserweight matches they had the week before were good. I hope WCW keeps them coming. It just bugs me when the WWF puts on good matches too, but people don't seem inclined to even acknowledge them if they didn't involve Jericho or Benoit. --- I wouldn't say SmackDown! was a great show last week, but it was way better than RAW. No coincidence that the total absence of Stephanie McMahon added to my enjoyment of the show. --- Kudos to the NFL for putting on another one-sided, blowout, snoozefest of a Super Bowl. If football was a work, the NFL would definitely need to replace their booker. Somebody explain to me how the MVP of the game ends up being the ONLY guy on either team suspected of being part of a double homicide? What about that lame halftime show, eh? I can imagine the bland, white-bread committee that sat down and put that lineup together: "Hey, let's cover as many demographics as we can, without possibly offending anybody!" I might not have minded it so much were the musical acts all not groups who were really hot six months ago, singing songs a year or two old. I didn't watch it all, so I missed if they slipped in a country music act to totally round the group out. My picks for next year's halftime act: Ricky Martin, Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones, and either Faith Hill or the Dixie Chicks. --- The WWF released Road Dogg last week. The Dogg had been suspended for the last month due to personal problems. I expect him to show up in WCW any day now, the company bragging that they "stole him" from the WWF. The WWF signed some new talent too, which I'll get to later. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: Baltimore, Maryland. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone & Scott Hudson. HOUR ONE: - ELIX SKIPPER vs. YANG vs. SHANNON MOORE vs. JAMIE KNOBLE Scott Hudson as much as says that the "Cruiserweight Countdown" match from Thunder got such a good reaction that they're doing another big cruiserweight match here. Gee ... the fans like a match, so the company gives them more of the same! What a novel concept. So why did WCW do the EXACT OPPOSITE the last two years? The match is all highspots, exciting to watch, infuriating to those who care about psychology and selling and such (me, I'm kind of in the middle). Shannon Moore does a dive to the floor--the announcers talk about Ric Flair. A follow-up dive is missed when the picture goes out--not sure if that's their problem or my digital cable. Moore gets the pin on Knoble following a "Bottoms Up" off the top rope. Eh. Way too short to deserve the praise I'm sure it'll get. - Ric Flair is out with Road Warrior Animal. Flair badmouths the Ravens, in a desperate attempt to draw heat. The crowd is all like "but we want to cheer you and say 'whoo!'" Poor Flair, he pays more attention to WCW's storylines than the fans do. Hey--did Flair just say Diamond Dallas Page and Kevin Nash were drunk last week? No matter what he says, the fans are just making random noise, waiting for someone cool to come out. Flair takes away Kevin Nash's shot at Scott Steiner, saying he has to beat Buff Bagwell & Lex Luger in a handicap match. Backstage they show Nash knocking some stuff over. Flair's bringing in someone new tonight? This is so sad. No heat for Flair, and no pops for any of the babyfaces when their names are mentioned. They could just as easily have had Schiavone tell the home viewers this stuff, instead of putting Flair out there and killing off what little drawing power he has left. The live crowd wasn't even paying attention anyway, so it's not like they need to be clued in on what's going on. - Schiavone does exactly what I just said they should have done in the first place. He explains what Flair announced, then they show clips from last week to explain why Flair is screwing Nash over. If I'm following this right, Flair took Nash's shot away because he and DDP were drunk on Thunder, though in reality the two had been attacked backstage by Steiner and others, explaining their condition. - Jarrett wants to do ... something, despite the protests of Ric Flair. - Some guy backstage JUST HAPPENS to bump into Midajah. As he's apologizing Scott Steiner rounds the corner and, apparently possessing the x-ray vision necessary to have any idea at all as to what's going on, attacks the guy, "breaking" his leg with a pipe. I should note that, like with Michael Modest & Christopher Daniels last week, Steiner "breaks" the leg by grabbing it, while also holding the pipe, and slightly twisting it. - The Cat and Miss Jones come out. Shawn Stasiak & Mark Jindrak come out. Sorry, listening to Stasiak's phony laugh shut my brain off, so I missed whatever the point of this was. THE CAT (w/ Miss Jones) vs. SHAWN STASIAK (w/ Mark Jindrak) This is for the commissionership of WCW. Yes, they're going to job one of WCW's young guys to Eric Bischoff's karate instructor. Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire are shown watching in the back, mumbling about how much better they are than Stasiak & Jindrak. Kick. Pin. Goofy dance, I'm sure, but they instead cut to Flair throwing a fit. Schiavone spent most of the match talking about Flair's latest "mystery man". - The Wall, outside Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero Jr's door, is attacked by Hugh Morrus. - Mike Sanders tells Crowbar he needs to impress Ric Flair, and to that end he's been booked against Lance Storm tonight. - Earlier in the day DDP signed copies of his book for a mob of planted fans. Some guy gets so excited that he tries to cut in line, and a scuffle with another fan ensues. DDP steps in. The second guy ends up on the ground, acting like DDP clobbered him. He is picked up and taken away by security. Man, I watched Memphis Championship Wrestling, NWA Nashville and NWA Wildside this past Saturday, and nothing I saw on those shows were as lame as this skit. - A black Hummer pulls up, Hudson convinced that it's the guy Flair's bringing in. Black Hummer? Oh yeah, Bischoff's definitely back in charge. - Chavo tells Totally Buff that he needs a new partner, to replace the Wall. - I sneezed and missed an interview conducted by Mean Gene. Was that Jarrett he was talking to? - BILLY KIDMAN/REY MYSTERIO, JR. vs. CHAVO GUERRERO, JR./ANIMAL Some nice cruiserweight action for a minute or two, then Animal tags in. Animal tosses Mysterio around like a ragdoll. Rey tries a crossbody, and Kidman delivers a drop-kick off the top to take Animal off his feet. I guess WCW will say "see, Animal made them look good ... gave them the rub." Rey then tries a huracanrana, Animal catches him, and plants him with a powerbomb. Chavo then tags in, swaggers over, and covers for the pin. THE DOOR IS OPEN! THE MYSTERY MAN--DON'T SWITCH TO RAW!!! - Flair is back out. As god is my witness, Schiavone actually says "fans, stay where you are. In just a few seconds we're going to find out who THAT MAN IS!" Flair says it's a "major player", a mainstream star, the "legendary" ... Dustin Rhodes. (*Insert sound of crickets here.*) Couldn't find Road Dogg's number? HOUR TWO: Flair has a contract for Dustin to sign, but pretty quick it's obvious that Dustin doesn't seem too wild about joining Flair's team. Dustin checks out Flair's backside, to make sure his boot will fit. Re: the contract, "shove it!" The crowd comes alive as the two start to get physical. Here comes Animal to join Flair in a two-on-one beatdown. Now here comes ... Dusty Rhodes?! Oh lord. Dusty appears to have found all that weight the Big Show supposedly lost. The crowd goes nuts. Dusty clears the ring with his usual offense. Flair's about to have a stroke. The two sides stare down forever, milking this for all it's worth. Dusty grabs a mic and says there's new owners, and new era in WCW, yadda yadda yadda. You know all that stuff that put WCW in the toilet? According to Dusty that's Flair's fault. He's kissed butts, held people back, etc. They start to go at it again, but thankfully they cut away to a commercial. This was a surprise, but not totally unexpected, as it's been known that Dusty might come back to WCW once Bischoff returned. I didn't think it'd be for an on-camera role, though. The live crowd loved this, and it was a memorable moment, but one so wrong for a company that needs to build for the future. - LANCE STORM (w/ Team Canada) vs. CROWBAR (w/ Daffney) There's something galling about seeing two guys deliver a good match, and to have one of their valets at ringside ruining it because she's all into her annoying character. I'm looking at you, Daffney! Storm, Skipper and Mike Awesome tripleteam Crowbar to start. Daffney's shrieks are tearing my brain apart. Crowbar reverses a Tombstone Piledriver attempt into a DDT. A couple of nice suplexes, including the rolling German suplex by Storm, and (I believe) a Northern Light Suplex by Crowbar. Storm turns a (sloppy) huracanrana attempt by Crowbar into a Canadian Mapleleaf. Good match. - Flair picks Storm to wrestle the Cat at SuperBrawl Revenge. Jeff Jarrett then draws more complaints from Flair because he wants to take out DDP tonight. - Jarrett calls out DDP, who does indeed come out to accept the challenge. DDP veers off into the crowd for no reason, and by the time he hops the ring barrier he's blocked by security head Doug Dellinger and some local police officers. Jarrett yells for them to arrest him. Suddenly that kid from the book signing is at ringside, claiming DDP pushed him, and he's pressing charges. DDP is cuffed and hauled away. Talk about plumbing the depths of the cheap heat well. Let me ask this: if we watching the show can figure out this is so bogus, why would police officers in the "real world" buy it? "Hmmm ... this kid says that guy pushed him, so rather than simply question the accused, or look at the video tape, we accept it at face value and arrest the guy on the spot." - Of course Flair was behind all this. Yay. It's all about the swerve, isn't it? By now why should we believe anything any heel in WCW ever says or does? When everything is a swerve, nothing is. - SHANE DOUGLAS vs. RICK STEINER This is non-title, all but assuring that Steiner would win. Douglas fumbles with a chain in his shorts, but to no avail, as Steiner clobbers him with a bulldog off the top. Cover, but Douglas kicks out. So Steiner hits a Death Valley Driver, and this time Douglas stays down for good. Hudson says that move is now the Steiner Driver. Rick Steiner beats the U.S. Champ, Dusty & Dustin Rhodes are back, Animal destroys the cruiserweights ... tell me again those positives I'm supposed to be seeing in this company? - KEVIN NASH vs. TOTALLY BUFF Bagwell & Luger kill an hour or two drawing heat by trashing the Ravens. A member of the Ravens coaching staff, at ringside, loses his cool and jumps the rail (planned, I'm sure). Security escorts him back to his seat. (Yup--planned. In reality he would have been arrested.) Nash lumbers through the back as they cut to a commercial. Back from the break the match gets underway, Luger & Bagwell dominating, Nash making a number of comebacks to stay in the match. Nash powerbombs Luger and covers for the pin, but Bagwell DDT's the ref. Out comes Alex Wright in a ref shirt, backbrace and bad Aryan dance. He joins in on the beating. Nash still comes out on top, with another powerbomb (on Bagwell) and pin cover. Here comes the Cat in a ref shirt. The Cat counts, but is pulled out by Wright. The Cat sends him into the rail, and gets back in and makes the count, once again giving Nash his shot at Steiner at Revenge. So ... we're back to where we were before this show. Will Flair throw out this win too, and make Nash fight THREE guys on Thunder? Nash says "hey, yo!" (which should get him fired, but won't), and calls out Steiner. Steiner answers. The show fades out just before they come to blows. - This Wednesday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: Dusty Rhodes. Egad. "But John, the crowd popped!" Yeah, so did the crowd in ECW when Rhodes went there, and those were fans who claimed to be against everything Rhodes stood for. What possible good does his being back do for WCW? It's no different than WCW constantly bringing back Terry Funk (or even Ric Flair for that matter). What has Funk done to help WCW? Eh. It's not like any of this matters anyway. Bischoff's just going to set a match to it all in a month anyway. Until then the bookers are just doing what they can to catch Bischoff's eye, hoping he'll keep them around. I hope that's what's going to happen. Because if not, and this is really the foundation for then "new WCW", you can just about write it off now. Don't tell me that all these old guys, most of them friends of Bischoff, are being pushed just so they can put over younger guys later. That never works. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Jerry "The King" Lawler. WWF RAW: - Tonight: The Rock vs. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit vs. Big Show, "Fatal 4 Way" to determine the #1 contender. Also, Steve Austin & Triple H sign a match contract for No Mercy--a contact signing no doubt to be highlighted by a table being overturned. - Kurt Angle gets a big pop from his hometown crowd. He quickly turns that around by showing an old RAW promo of his, on a past show in Pittsburgh, where he said Mario Lemieux should be a man and return to the Penguins. I take it Mario is back, because Angle tells Pittsburgh they can thank him. Angle will defend his title Thursday on SmackDown!, against a contender to be chosen in the "Fatal 4 Way" tonight. Angle mentions Jericho, Benoit and Big Show, but deliberately snubs the Rock by saying it doesn't matter who is in the match. Out comes the Rock. In a funny bit the Rock humiliates Angle by having an old commercial Angle did in Pittsburgh played on the Titan-Tron, showing the Olympic gold medalist looking on as the toppings on a pizza come to life as cartoons and wrestle. The Rock then does his "if you smellllll" line, at which point he's blindsided by the Big Show. Big Show slams the Rock into various portions of the Titan-Tron support structure. Angle looks pleased, until he realizes that he may have to face the Big Show on Thursday instead. One of the better openings of late. - THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs. EDGE/CHRISTIAN The former champs come out in street clothes. Edge claims to have gotten food poisoning, and has a doctor's note saying he can't wrestle. Their replacements are Kaientai. Taka, in dubbed voiceover, says something about "by the power of Greyskull", really driving home that the WWF ripped this gimmick off from WCW (La Parka's dubbed voice used to say "Skeletor in the HOUSE!") THE DUDLEY BOYZ vs. KAIENTAI The Dudleyz cruise against their much smaller competitors. Edge then slips in (hey, he's not sick!) and spears D-Von Dudley. Funaki covers for two. Kickout, to the dismay of Edge & Christian. The Dudleyz then hit 3-D for the win. Not that I'd advise Yoshihiro Tajiri to go to WCW, but if he comes to the WWF this is the type of matches he can expect to be in. Vince McMahon tells the Coach that the Rock is questionable for the main event. Triple H and Stephanie then come in, accompanied by a lawyer. Stephanie says they don't trust Austin. Triple H wants a piece of Austin. McMahon tells him to cool down, saying he doesn't want to wind up like he did last Thursday when Austin and Triple H tangled. - An EMT checks out the Rock. - Michael Cole interviews Billy Gunn. Gunn says he's advised Chyna to stay away from wrestling and concentrate on hyping her book. - VAL VENIS (w/ RTC) vs. STEVE BLACKMAN I'll be honest, I went for a sandwich during this one. If I could play a card that would get rid of one thing in the WWF, I'd pick the RTC. Venis wins with a simple roll-up. All the rest attack, and Hardcore Holly makes the save. More fun from MTV, as another batch of "Tough Enough" videos are shown. - William Regal brings Vince, who is on the phone with Trish, a cup of tea. - A video package recaps the Austin/Triple H feud. - Triple H tells his lawyer to make sure he looks the contract over. - Steve Austin says there's no doubt about him signing the contract. - Vince is walking through the back with the contract. - A rug, table and chairs have been set up in the ring. McMahon announces that if either man, after signing the contract, engages in unsanctioned physical contact with the other, they will be punished. Triple H could be suspended for six months, while Austin would lose his shot at the title at WrestleMania. The only contact they can have with each other is if the WWF officially books the two into a match. Austin has a few beers tossed to him. With everyone assembled Austin quickly signs the contract. Triple H's lawyer then looks it over, several moments spent with him pointing out something troubling in the document. Vince tells him to hurry up and sign, so Triple H scribbles with his pen. Vince says the match is now official. Everyone turns to head off in separate directions, but Triple H grabs his lawyer's briefcase and nails Austin in the head! He then stomps on him in the corner. McMahon gets in Triple H's face, saying he blew it--that he's now suspended for six months! The crowd cheers. Triple H grabs the contract, flips to the last page, and shows that he didn't really sign it after all. Triple H signs the contract, preventing Austin from being able to touch him until the PPV. "Line '3:16' of the contract says you can't touch me!" But that's almost a month away! Should be a huge buyrate. Well executed segment, if you can get over the hokiness of a "contract signing" to begin with. WWF WAR ZONE: - Triple H and Stephanie blow out of the arena in their limo, Triple H popping up through the sun roof to taunt Austin. - THE ACOLYTES vs. THE HARDY BOYZ vs. RIGHT TO CENSOR Right away Jacqueline and Lita go at it, and are removed from the ring area by officials. Moments later the Hardyz hit a Swanton Bomb on Bull Buchanan for the win. The Hardyz will face the Dudleyz for the titles this Thursday on SmackDown! - The Rock vows that the Big Show will pay. Big Show, elsewhere, thinks this is funny. - RAVEN vs. CRASH HOLLY (w/ Molly Holly) Quickly the brawl into the crowd. Crash does a dive off the balcony onto Raven. The two continue to fight past the concession area, out to the entrance of the arena. The battle spills outside, where Holly bulldogs Raven's head onto a bench! Crash tells Molly to grab Raven's leg, and the two try to crotch Raven against a tree. Raven kicks Molly away, but still gets crotched. Suddenly the area is lit up by a pair of car high beams. The masked woman attacks Crash with a pipe, and levels Molly with a vicious kick. Raven covers and scores the pin. He and his accomplice then make a high-speed getaway. Visually interesting, but hard to call it a good match. Haku ... the Undertaker ... NEXT! - Tazz gets comments from Chris Benoit. Wow, looks like that online petition is paying off for Tazz. - THE UNDERTAKER (w/ Kane) vs. HAKU (w/ Rikishi) Rikishi and Kane eventually go at it on the floor, Rikishi getting the advantage with a chairshot to Kane's already-injured ribs. The Undertaker, meanwhile, cleanly pins Haku. Rikishi comes in and levels the Undertaker with the chair. The Dead Man comes up bleeding. - The Undertaker delivers an energetic interview backstage, challenging the "island boys" to a "First Blood" match on SmackDown! Talk about the blood being real, you can watch it just oozing out of the Undertaker's forehead here. - Dean Malenko is at WWF New York--has little of substance to say. - LITA vs. JACQUELINE Ivory joins the announce team, calling Lawler a dirty old man. Lita and Jackie fight for barely a minute, when the two suddenly join forces to attack Ivory! The winner was supposed to face Ivory Thursday, so they'll presumably have to do a three-way instead. - Angle joins the announce team. His pizza commercial is replayed, so much of it shown that Angle demands they stop it. Jericho comes out to his usual entrance. They then cut away to show a lengthy XFL promo, featuring a female reporter making a lot of sexual innuendoes as she talks about covering the new league. The commercial ends with her entering a shower wearing nothing but a towel, which is then tossed out of the shower, as we hear her asking a player to hand her the soap. The mainstream press is gonna crucify them for this one, and I'm not so sure they don't deserve it. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. CHRIS BENOIT vs. BIG SHOW vs. THE ROCK Benoit and Jericho go at it to start. When the Rock runs in Big Show catches him with an awesome chokeslam, which is replayed twice. Lots of near-falls with the other wrestlers breaking up the count. Since this is for a shot at the title on SmackDown! I figured Jericho would win. Why have the Rock win when he's most likely getting the shot at No Mercy? Well, the WWF swerved me. After what was, for the most part, probably the best match of either show this week, the finish sees Jericho dump Big Show and Benoit from the ring, only to then turn and walk into a Rock Bottom, the Rock then covering for the pin. Anticlimactic finish. - This Thursday: Kurt Angle vs. the Rock for the WWF Championship. The Dudley Boyz vs. the Hardy Boyz for the Tag Team Titles. Undertaker & Kane vs. Rikishi & Haku in a "First Blood Match". Lita vs. Ivory vs. Jacqueline for the Women's Championship? - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: They sure loaded up the hype for "Xtreme SmackDown!", eh? It's network sweeps again, and the WWF has to compete on Thursdays against special 40 minute installments of "Friends", as well as "Survivor 2" on CBS. Will the Rock win the belt this Thursday? (Well, Tuesday actually.) Maybe. Assuming he does, what do they do at the PPV then? Will the Rock defend the belt against Angle? If against someone else, then who does Angle wrestle at the PPV? Even if Angle retains the title, aren't they killing the appeal of that match by giving the Rock a shot on free TV? I still think they should have had Jericho win this match. It would have elevated a younger guy by giving him the shot, and Angle would have gotten more credibility with a clean win over Jericho. They'd then have the Rock/Angle match for the PPV. Of course there are several weeks to go, so maybe there's enough time between this Thursday and that eventual match. Still, why pass up an opportunity when it's right there in front of you? Big Show could have cost Rock the match here, setting up a Rock/Big Show match this Thursday. Only one good match this week, but overall the show was more entertaining than last week. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: The WWF signed former ECW Champion Justin Credible. He may be the first of several ECW wrestlers who could sign with the WWF. Japanese wrestler Yoshihiro Tajiri has reportedly agreed to sign with the WWF, though nothing has been officially signed yet. Super Crazy is also thinking of signing with the WWF. The company is also talking to Jerry Lynn and current ECW Champion Rhino. This is a preemptive move by the WWF to sign ECW talent before WCW does. WCW can't really sign anyone new until after the Fusient sale is completed. When that happens they will likely snap up a number of ECW wrestlers. There are arguments for wrestlers to go to either company. Obviously the WWF is the hotter company. The chances of becoming a star there, and making more money, are better. WCW doesn't have the money they once had to sign wrestlers--especially unknown wrestlers--to fat guaranteed contracts. On the flip side of the coin, the WWF already has a crowded roster, and the chances of becoming a main eventer anytime soon are slim. The WWF has a lot of guys at or near the top who are relatively young. They're not going to need to replace the Rock, Kurt Angle or Triple H anytime soon. Where would, say, a Rob Van Dam fit, when the WWF has the three mentioned, plus Steve Austin, the Undertaker, Kane, Rikishi, Haku, Jericho and Benoit all ahead of him? All these new guys the WWF are signing would be right there in the midcard with Tazz, Raven, Hardcore Holly, Eddie Guerrero, etc. But are things much better in WCW? certainly a cruiserweight wrestler like Tajiri or Super Crazy could have much better matches, and a more serious push, in WCW. But what are their chances of moving up the ladder? WCW used to have an awesome Cruiserweight Division. Where are those wrestlers now? Many of them left WCW, bitter shells of their former selves. The lucky ones went to the WWF. Sure, Van Dam or Rhino would have a hard time moving up in the WWF, but it could be just as hard to move up in WCW. Steiner, Nash, DDP, Jarrett--these guys are already at the top. Booker T, Sting, Goldberg and Hulk Hogan will all be back someday. If WCW is committed to pushing new stars, and they can move all these older ones out of the spotlight, then WCW could be the place to be. That's asking a whole lot, though. It's easily as big of a roll of the dice to go to WCW and hope they do the right thing and replace the old stars with new ones. Maybe the best thing to do is to go to the WWF now for a short stint, then, if WCW turns things around, go there. Certainly the best thing for WCW is if those wrestlers go there. The company will have a better chance to turn things around if they have more talent available to them. WCW obviously needs them more than the WWF. It's interesting to look back at WCW in 1996. Then the company signed up a whole lot of talent. The WWF had a hard time competing with so few talented wrestlers on their roster. Luckily they created a bunch of new stars, and made great use of some talent cast off from WCW. WCW now has to figure out how to do the same. Signing a bunch of ECW wrestlers might be the first step. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Slobberknocker Central" and "Monday Night Recap" are copyright 2001 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 272 of the "Monday Night Recap", January 29th, 2001.