Slobberknocker Central Monday Night Recap #280 March 26th, 2001 The Opening Word: WCW lives. Sort of. I wrote about the rumors last week, and a day or two later they all came to fruition, with Vince McMahon buying WCW. There's not a lot more to say about it than that, so lets get on to tonight's historic shows ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCW Monday Nitro: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours. Location: Panama City, Florida. Hosted By: Tony Schiavone & Scott Hudson. HOUR ONE: - Vince McMahon is standing in front of the chain link RAW is WAR interview set. He says it was just a matter of time before he bought WCW. He says later tonight, on the final Nitro ever on the Turner networks, in a special simulcast (with RAW), he will address the fans and superstars of WCW. Vince holds their futures in the palms of his hands. - Is this a new opening video? Isn't it a bit late for that? - It's weird to hear Schiavone and Hudson talk about "Mr. McMahon". - Ric Flair comes to the ring. This is the long-awaited Spring Break-Out show, and is being held outdoors next to a multi-story nightclub. The crowd is very small, though it looks like are still filtering in (so to speak). Flair talks about the great names in WCW's past, and how Vince McMahon can't hold all of that in his hands. More great names from the past are mentioned. Flair says they were all the equal of the WWF, running neck-in-neck with McMahon for years. Flair drops an anecdote about Vince's father, how when he was the head of the WWF and part of the NWA, he voted for Flair to be NWA Champion. He asks when Vince Jr. worked every day on the road, bleeding, wrestling for an hour, etc. Again he says Vince can't hold all that in his hands. The camera shows some anti-WWF and anti-McMahon signs in the crowd. Flair closes by saying his greatest opponent ever in WCW was Sting, and that if they're going to end Nitro it should be with them in their final match. Flair lost the crowd there towards the end, and it was probably too inside, but it was nonetheless an awesome promo on his part. This is the end of WCW, and they're going to do their damnedest to go out the way WCW fans would want them to. - Schiavone reiterates that this is the final WCW show ever on TNT. - SCOTT STEINER (w/ Midajah) vs. BOOKER T There was serious doubt as to whether Steiner was going to show up tonight, much less be able to wrestle Booker. Steiner is suffering from a pinched nerve which is making one of his legs nearly useless. Steiner's lack of mobility is very evident, in this match which mostly goes through the motions until a very good finish. Ghetto Blaster by Booker. Into the ropes, Steiner is slammed to the mat face-first. Spinnerooni! Harlem Sidekick. Book End, but Steiner spins out of it, and hits a Northern Lights Suplex. Booker gets the shoulder up. Powerbomb attempt by Steiner, but Booker escapes and hits the Book End. Cover, and Booker wins the WCW Heavyweight Championship. Nice. Booker T celebrates with both the World and United States Title belts. They said the two were being unified, so that could be it for the U.S. Title. I give Steiner a tremendous amount of credit for being able to do this match at all, and doing the right thing. - Spring Break-Out ... 1-800-COLLECT ... girls in bikinis ... - Vince, on the phone with someone, belittles WCW for choosing to do their final show at some redneck bar. Talk about drawing the battle lines. Not that this wasn't what WCW fans wanted, as all last week they lamented the end of "southern" wrestling. - 3 COUNT vs. THE JUNG DRAGONS vs. THE FILTHY ANIMALS The winner here gets a shot at Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo later tonight for the Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles. A pure spotfest evolves into high spots alternating with pin attempts. The finish, weakly executed, sees Rey Mysterio get Shannon Moore dangling backwards in the ropes. Mysterio takes too long going to the top, and loses even more time slipping on the ropes, but he eventually comes off with a guillotine legdrop, which secures the pin. - Vince, still on the phone, is joined by Trish Stratus, who has champagne and two glasses. Vince sets them aside and says he has a better idea. The two start groping each other. I'd give anything to see Schiavone's face right now. - CHAVO GUERRERO, JR. vs. "SUGAR" SHANE HELMS Helms gets the clean win with the Vertebreaker, coming off a nice series of reversals leading up to it. The babyfaces are sure going over so far tonight. - Booker T cuts an emotional promo (staring off into space--*grrr*), saying he wants to prove he's the best in the business. He challenges anyone to come in and face him. I take that as a cue that Booker will be fending off a stream of WWF challengers. My personal wish: I'd like to see Chris Benoit come in and stake a claim to the belt, since he left the company as champion without ever losing it in the ring. Booker T beating him would give the WCW Title tons of credibility. - Lance Storm & Mike Awesome come out, cut a promo, then they go back to commercial break. - Michael Cole asks Vince McMahon about WCW's fans and employees, who are worried about the company's future. McMahon asks Cole about *his* future, and Cole nervously leaves. These typical RAW segments feel so out of place in this incarnation of Nitro. It's a little like when Vince Russo brought Crash TV to WCW. - Schiavone & Hudson are doing a great job getting this all over, especially given the circumstances. They're definitely not phoning it in. - SEAN O'HAIRE/CHUCK PALUMBO vs. TEAM CANADA Close to a squash, with O'Haire pinning Awesome with the Seanton Bomb in just a couple of minutes. HOUR TWO: - BAM BAM BIGELOW vs. SHAWN STASIAK (w/ Stacy Kiebler) The WWF must not have thought much about this one, as the whole thing is wrapped up in about a minute, with Stasiak quickly pinning Bigelow following a neckbreaker. - WWF commissioner William Regal shows McMahon his WrestleMania x-Seven shirt (BLATANT PLUG). Regal calls WCW a "bloody awful place." - The WWF is being pretty smart in not putting on too much against the start of their own show. - Diamond Dallas Page, in a pretaped segment, talks about the long ride he's had in WCW. He, speaking for himself and Kimberly, thanks the WCW fans. Is it over yet? "I don't think so!" - A nice video package airs showing past WCW (and NWA) champions. For those wanting a final nostalgic look at the past, this would have to do. - Vince says "it's just about that time ..." - Regal must have really touched a nerve with Schiavone, because during the next match Schiavone gripes about WCW having to do some crazy things, such as "putting your ass over on TV!" Me-OW! - THE FILTHY ANIMALS vs. ELIX SKIPPER/KID ROMEO Our string of good but short matches continues, with Kidman pinning Skipper with the Kid Krusher to win the Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles. Sting, surrounded by a bunch of baseball bats hanging from the ceiling, says "it's SHOWTIME!" - Vince is walking through the back of whatever arena RAW is at. - Flair makes his entrance as Schiavone hypes Flair's fourteen World Title reigns. He notes that the gold belt Booker T has was originally made for Flair. - STING vs. RIC FLAIR If you've seen it once, you've seen it a hundred times, and it's pretty much good each time. Hudson notes that when it was in vogue to jump to the WWF, Sting, who came in from the UWF, stayed loyal to WCW. Okay, I'll admit that I'm a mark for hype ... I'd like to see Sting hang around for a bit longer. Sting secures the win with the Scorpion Deathlock. The two men then put a fitting end to their feud with an embrace and a handshake. This is allowed to last a few moments, then we cut over to the simulcast feed from RAW, which I'll recap below. Comments: In its own way this was probably among the best shows WCW has put on in recent memory (which admittedly isn't saying much). Disassembling the show, none of the matches really stood out as great, but they were all solid enough to leave WCW fans feeling somewhat okay about the legacy of the company. And the big angle certainly made it memorable. It said goodbye, and thanks, and did so with all clean matches with mostly babyfaces going over. Given the circumstances they put on about the best show they could have for WCW fans. WWF fans were probably pretty bored by the show. I expect some WCW fans to trash it because the WWF was in charge, even though most of the show was still typical WCW fare. My thoughts on the big angle and more are below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWF RAW is WAR: Live/Taped: Live. Length: Two Hours+. Location: Cleveland, Ohio. Hosted By: Jim Ross & Paul Heyman. WWF RAW: - Vince McMahon is standing in front of two television sets, one showing RAW, one showing a shot of Jeff Jarrett in WCW. McMahon says Jarrett should spell his name "'G', 'double-O', 'double-N', 'double-E'". "Goonnee"? Vince has bought WCW, and there's gonna be some changes. - Tonight: Steve Austin and the Rock have to team up to face the Undertaker & Kane. - Paul Heyman says the war is over, and tonight is Vince McMahon's victory party. - Kurt Angle comes to the ring. There's a big question on everybody's mind, and Kurt Angle says that's who is Angle going to face at WrestleMania? Even the Gobbledygooker has a match at WrestleMania, but not Angle. Enter Chris Benoit. Benoit says the good news is he doesn't have an opponent at WrestleMania ... and the bad news is he doesn't have an opponent at WrestleMania. "It's true, it's true!" The challenge made, Angle says he would never tap out to the Crippler Crossface. "Prove me wrong!" Suddenly they exchange blows. Benoit tries the Crossface, but Angle escapes, goes for the Anglelock, but Benoit escapes that and hits the Crossface. Angle taps. Edge & Christian then run in to make the save for Angle, laying out Benoit. Vince, looking at the WCW feed, says the "Lex Express" (Lex Luger) has run out of gas, while Buff (Bagwell) has been stuffed. - Debra blows off a question from Michael Cole. - TAZZ vs. VAL VENIS The Acolytes, Jacqueline and Right To Censor surround the ring, this being a Lumberjack Match. Mere seconds in everyone on the floor starts fighting. Val misses the Money Shot off the top, and Tazz hooks in a suplex for the win. Now Vince casts aspersions on Road Warrior Animal, to the amusement of Trish Stratus. It's hard to ignore that none of these guys were on Nitro tonight. McMahon then wishes William Regal good luck in his match tonight. - Jim Ross talks about the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania, while Paul Heyman shakes his head. This is accompanied by a shot of Doink(!) out in the crowd. - William Regal hits the ring. As a tuneup for his match against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, tonight he will face ... Molly Holly. Crash Holly tries to stick up for Molly, but Regal takes him out, then locks the STF on Molly. STF on Crash. Suddenly Doink the Clown charges the ring! Flying forearm by the clown. Walls of Doink! It's Chris Jericho! Regal is sent packing, having again been besmirched by Jericho. Vince takes a look at Dustin Rhodes, formerly Goldust. He ridicules him, saying Goldust once wanted to wear a pair of breast implants. Vince then looks at Trish's implants and loses his train of thought. - Regal tells the Coach that Jericho has to face the Big Show later tonight in a non-title match. - Edge & Christian introduce Angle to their old friend, Rhyno. Angle: "What is THAT?!" - An Austin/Rock promo is shown, followed by clips of the sitdown interview between the two conducted by Jim Ross on SmackDown! last week. I'm assuming they're showing this to allow the Sting/Flair match to finish up over on Nitro. - The Coach gets blown off by Debra just like Cole. We then hear "out!", and Coachman goes from his TV Face to his Working Backstage Face. Damn, Vince bought WCW's production goofs too! Cut over to Vince, who's getting ready to make his simulcast. - Vince McMahon heads to the ring. The final match on Nitro is just finishing up, so Vince kills a little time by forcing Lillian Garcia to introduce him again. As he's coming down the ramp for a second time Nitro picks up the feed. There's a bit of a lag between the two network feeds, making it a bit disorienting if you flip back and forth between the two. The only difference between the two is TNT has the Nitro logo in the corner, while TNN has their network logo in the corner. Vince says only he could make history like this tonight. He mistakenly calls TNT "TNN". He says Time Warner couldn't get anyone else to buy WCW. Vince says he's bought WCW--that is he WILL buy WCW, but only on one condition that he's now revealing for the first time. He says the only way he could compete with a billionaire like Ted Turner was to become a billionaire himself. Time Warner has signed the deal to sell WCW, but Vince won't sign it until WrestleMania, and only when Ted Turner brings the contract to the ring himself. Vince will then invite Ted to sit at ringside and watch Vince kick his son Shane's ass. Vince will also be accompanied by his daughter Stephanie, Trish Stratus, & his invalid, wheelchair-bound wife Linda. Vince says there's a lot he could do with WCW. He could just "put it on the shelf," and sit at home watching all those old WCW tapes, laughing at the likes Hulk Hogan and how WCW thought they could beat Vince. "He who laughs last, laughs best." Vince says he could also turn WCW around, because the WWF knows how to do that. But who should be a part of that? He asks for a reaction from the crowd, and starts rattling off some names. Hulk Hogan gets a mixed reaction. Lex Luger gets a negative reaction. Buff Bagwell gets a positive one, surprising Vince. Booker T gets one too. The crowd really pops for Big Poppa Pump, really surprising Vince. The fans then start chanting for Goldberg. Vince asks about Sting, and they pop. He says Goldberg, and they REALLY pop big. Vince looks worried about that one. Vince moves on, saying he could have flown down to the "redneck Riviera" to face the WCW fans and wrestlers, and tell them "YOU'RE FIRED!" Vince says that's exactly what's going to happen, as WCW is buried. He's putting it on the shelf. That's what happens to anyone who opposes Vince McMahon. The crowd starts calling him an "asshole!" Cue "No Chance In Hell", as we see Shane McMahon on the Titan-Tron. He's not in Cleveland, though, he's in Panama City! Shane enters the WCW ring. On Nitro the audio doesn't match the video, but it's just fine on TNN. Hmmm. He says there is indeed a "McMahon" on the documents to buy WCW, but it's not "Vince McMahon", it's Shane McMahon". Shane has bought WCW from Time Warner! And just as WCW kicked the WWF's ass in the past, Shane McMahon is going to kick Vince's ass at WrestleMania. The transition over to the WWF then becomes complete, as both networks air a promo for WrestleMania. WWF WAR ZONE: - THE HARDY BOYZ/CHRIS BENOIT (w/ Lita) vs. EDGE/CHRISTIAN/KURT ANGLE Our long night of short matches continues. Benoit makes Edge tap out to the Crippler Crossface. Rhyno then runs in and gores Lita. - A clip is shown of Triple H making a bloody mess of the Undertaker on SmackDown! Back live, the Undertaker shows Kevin Kelly the sixteen staples in his forehead. - TEST vs. X-PAC (w/ Albert) X-Pac didn't get yet another new entrance theme, did he? Maybe it's the one he had last week--I can't remember. Eddie Guerrero is the guest referee, so you can guess how this one comes out. Guerrero favors X-Pac, so Test slugs him. A second ref comes in to count a pin cover for Test, but Guerrero pulls the ref out. Albert then gives Test the ... Baldobomb? ... and X-Pac gets the pin. Now Michael Cole gets blown off by Steve Austin. - Hey, it's Mick Foley! Foley hits the ring to plug his new book, "Foley is Good", in stores May 8th. After getting a cheap pop from the crowd, Foley says WrestleMania wouldn't be WrestleMania without him. He says he's involving himself in a match at the PPV, at which point he's interrupted by Vince McMahon. McMahon says he's in no mood to play around, and threatens to have Foley forcibly ejected from the building. Foley begs to differ, saying that back before McMahon fired Foley from the WWF, on December 5th, 2000, Foley (who was still WWF commissioner) signed a number of WWF contracts. A video clip is shown (purportedly taped December 5th). Among the contracts he signed was one granting Foley the right to be a referee in any WrestleMania match of his choosing. Foley has decided to exercise that contract, and will be the referee in the Street Fight between Vince & Shane McMahon. Vince is livid, having been outsmarted again tonight. This really came out of nowhere, and doesn't do anything for me in wanting to see WrestleMania more. - Vince is so angry he's speechless. - CHRIS JERICHO vs. THE BIG SHOW Kane runs in to take out the Big Show, but Raven runs in to attack Kane, while William Regal interferes by attacking Jericho, so the Big Show ends up scoring the pin. Judging either show tonight based solely on the in-ring product is going to be pointless. Everything's happening too fast. The Rock acts very heelish backstage, doing his "it doesn't matter!" bit with some guy for no reason. - The Dudley Boyz, at WWF New York, vow to retain the Tag Team Titles in the "Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match II" at WrestleMania. - The Rock tells Austin that they can coexist tonight if they don't mess with each other. - THE ROCK/"STONE COLD" STEVE AUSTIN (w/ Debra) vs. THE UNDERTAKER/KANE It's a clean sweep for short matches on the night, as Austin pins the Undertaker following a run-in by Triple H, who hits the Undertaker in the back with a chair. Postmatch Austin starts to celebrate the win, taking a drink from a can of beer, only to turn and receive a Stone Cold Stunner from the Rock! Austin spews beer as he goes down. The Rock signals for a beer, opens it, then gingerly sets it next to Austin's head. He then heads up the ramp, and as Debra looks on in confusion, the Rock cracks another beer open and salutes the still-unconscious Stone Cold. - This Thursday: Nothing announced. - Next week: Nothing announced. Comments: This obviously wasn't the usual show, so it's hard to judge it by those standards. If I did, it would have to be rated rather poorly. Okay, so there was the big angle, and frankly that's all there was to this show. There was maybe two minutes of wrestling in the first hour, and only one real official match. Hour two was just aftershocks and hype for WrestleMania. I thought the big angle was tremendous, but the remainder of the show was really weak. But like I said, you can't look at this and really compare it to the usual RAW. Neither show really can be looked at that way, given the impact of the story that had to play out tonight. Not that WCW fans tuning in would look at it that way, mind you. Those who watched Nitro and were actually curious to check out RAW had to have been dismayed. Not only was there nothing done to assure them of WCW's future (aside from the assumptions one would come away with watching the big angle), there wasn't much of any wrestling close to the caliber of what WCW is (sometimes) capable of. With more of the same being likely for SmackDown!, the WWF is going to have to buckle down next Monday and deliver a wrestling-oriented show to impress those WCW fans. That is, assuming the WWF cares about them. I sure hope they do. I was disappointed that they didn't go back to the WCW announcers on Nitro for one final goodbye. All those backstage clips with Vince & others must have been pretaped. Unfortunately the order in which they aired on the two shows didn't always make sense. At one point there were two different ones running against each other! It's not hard to guess who the WWF is interested in keeping and who they'll be getting rid of. Those who appeared on Nitro are clearly the ones being looked at. Those who weren't were the ones McMahon made fun of on RAW. I expect an announcement to be made about the new WCW shown on RAW next week. The fact that no announcement was made tonight probably means the WWF is still talking to TNN about it. Rumors are the WCW show, presumably still called Nitro, will be on TNN late Friday or Saturday nights. I'd personally rather see a one hour show replace Superstars Sunday mornings than a two hour show on either of those nights that I myself would always have to tape, because I work nights. I like the way the big angle with Vince & Shane played out. It's not what I would have done, but it worked, setting the stage for the future without having to commit itself to heavily to any one thing (no doubt done that way because so many details of the change of ownership are still being worked out). The dynamic of the future storyline is simple: Vince wants to bury WCW, which is what he's been trying to do for years, while Shane has come to the company's rescue, hoping to use it show his father up in their ongoing battle of wills. The WCW fans are allowed to stay WCW fans, rooting "their guys" on against the inevitable invasion of WWF guys, sent down by Vince McMahon to crush Shane and WCW. It's really just a continuation of what WCW has been about for so many years. The question is how long will this all last, and will WCW be allowed to be perceived as being at the same level as the WWF? We'll have to wait and see. Obviously nothing lasts forever. Eventually one side is going to win, and you have to figure that will be the WWF. They could play this out long enough so that Shane and Vince end up swapping sides, with Shane in charge of the WWF, and Vince going to WCW in a last-ditch effort to beat his son. You'd think the goal at that point would be to get fans to root for Shane & the WWF to put Vince & WCW out of their misery for good. (Of course that's assuming Vince will some day, once and for all, "pass the torch" to Shane.) This thing is just beginning, and we still have a lot of questions regarding WCW. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bottom Line: Here is the card for WrestleMania X-Seven: * The Rock vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for the WWF Championship. * Triple H vs. the Undertaker. * Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit. * The Dudley Boyz vs. the Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian. "Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match II" for the Tag Team Titles. * Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon. Street Fight. Mick Foley guest referee. * Chris Jericho vs. William Regal for the Intercontinental Title. * Raven vs. Big Show vs. Kane for the Hardcore Title. * Test vs. Eddie Guerrero for the European Title. * Ivory vs. Chyna for the Women's Championship. * Gimmick Battle Royal. The PPV has a four hour window this year, and any time at the end not taken up by matches will be used to air a post-show wrap-up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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 280 of the "Monday Night Recap", March 26th, 2001.