Hey yo Stud Muffins & Foxy Ladies,
This weekend, an old friend of mine paid a visit to God's Country & The Birthplace of America, Boston, and we got what is left of the old gang here and had a kickass time reliving memories and making new ones. As much as fun as it is to wax nostalgic, it is the just the best to add to our story with new fresh memories and to keep building upon that. It is a bit melodramatic for me to call a pro wrestling promotion, my friend, but in a lot of ways growing up, WCW was my best friend. I will always be able to relive memories and discover new gems, but I have been robbed of making new memories.
I grew up painfully shy as a child, which will shock most people that know me now. I know what you all are thinking, now we can't get Martin to fucking shut up, but I pretty much did not have friends in elementary school. I was never bullied or anything like that just did not really talk or hang out with people. I was always amazed by these larger than life figures that could seemingly effortlessly could talk to 20,000 people on national TV. They were my friends and every Monday night, I would watch them as they would make me laugh, smile and angry usually all within two or three awesome hours. Because of parental regulations, I grew up a WCW fan because my mother thought the WWF did not treat women well (Dustin Rhodes/Terri Runnels fallout being the end of WWF for a year in my house), but I think I always liked WCW better. There was something endearing about its haphazard nature and still is to this day to me. Unfortunately, the egos and a lack of singular authority began to negatively impact TV and by the summer of 1999, I had to check out. Then I remember reading on wrestleline.com, that Vince Russo was coming to WCW in October of 1999. Russo was a head writer for the WWF at the time and it seemed like a massive coup for WCW to get what was at least part of the driving force of the Attitude Era. How much Russo contributed to WWF and was filtered/reigned in by Vince McMahon I cannot say, but it is safe to say that was not pure Russo. So, I started to watch Nitro again excited at what new changes would be had.
Even as a ten year old, I knew what I was watching was absolutely mortifying. To continue the friend analogy, it is like watching your friend lose his mind or maybe an elderly member of the family show signs of dementia. It was not WCW anymore. It was not even pro wrestling. It was trash. Sure, the voice of my childhood, Tony Schiavone was still there and hey even my favorite, La Parka was getting more television time, but he was made into a Skeletor comedy character, which is one of the more least offensive things done under the Russo watch. There was outright racism towards the Luchadors and Japanese wrestlers like Liger. There was personal insults towards Jim Ross. There was rampant misogyny. The matches were shorter. There was a ton of things happening, but at the same time nothing was happening. The worst part was the Powers That Be angle/character, which openly described pro wrestling as a work, spoke about wrestlers like Benoit being held down and how certain wrestlers would not do the job. Remember folks, everything you just watched is a work, but THIS RIGHT HERE IS A SHOOT, BRUTHA! That was the Russo matra. I hated it. Before the year was up, I quit watching WCW. WCW quit on Vince Russo too as he was fired by the end of the year and Kevin Sullivan took over as head booker.
In April, WCW planned a major reset with Russo-Bischoff in charge with the idea being that Bischoff would filter Russo and somehow I got suckered into this bullshit. This time I lasted four months and even ordered New Blood Rising! In this regime, we had more racism, more misogyny, more the rest of the card this is a SHOOT! This was hallmarked by the announcers claiming during a triple threat match when Goldberg walked out on the match it was because he was being unprofessional and did not want to do the job. SO now Nash and Steiner had to improvise a finish. After New Blood Rising, I stopped watching WCW again and actually stopped watching wrestling all together in October 2000. This is important because this is why I really hate Vince Russo.
Is Vince Russo directly to blame for the sale of WCW? I don't think so. Would AOL-Time Warner been more amenable to keep WCW around if they had not lost $60 million in a year, probably. Still, Nitro was bringing in a 2.0 rating on Monday Night against direct competition from WWF and that is not horeshit. If the folks after the merger wanted wrestling on their station WCW would still be on TNT, it is that simple. Bischoff had a group together to purchase WCW, but without TV, it would have be useless in his opinion and you can't blame him. Russo contributed to the death of WCW, but ultimately it was the AOL-Time Warner merger that killed WCW dead. Why I especially despise Russo is not because he turned WCW into personal joke or has done seemingly irreparable harm to pro wrestling that WWE still has not recovered from, it is because I missed the death of my friend. I found about the sale of WCW to WWF in March of 2001, a little bit after Wrestlemania X-7 and by then it was too late. I did not get to see the last Monday Nitro live and that deeply upset me. At this point, I have let it go and I am not terribly bitter about it. Hell I have even enjoyed some of TNA and it generally liked their 2005-2007 period. I do not how much Russo influence there was, but it was a fun promotion at times. I am sad to this day that WCW does not exist and will often go back see something so WCW that I just wish it would come back. In this blog, the one of the most WCW things ever was debut a brand new championship, a week before your company is shutting down and of course that match is the best match in 18 months! He did not rob me of making new memories that was AOL-Time Warner. He robbed me of saying good-bye to my childhood friend.
On Riding Space Mountain, we always look for the sliver lining and fuck, even Russo could not manage to have at least a coupled decent matches under his watch. Here are some of the last great bouts from the dying days of World Championship Wrestling.
I will always be a WCW fan first & foremost and look forward to reliving those memories for the rest of my life because Russo, AOL-Time Warner or anyone else will never able to take those away.
Match Listing:
Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett - WCW Starrcade 1999 Vacant US Championship Ladder Match
This weekend, an old friend of mine paid a visit to God's Country & The Birthplace of America, Boston, and we got what is left of the old gang here and had a kickass time reliving memories and making new ones. As much as fun as it is to wax nostalgic, it is the just the best to add to our story with new fresh memories and to keep building upon that. It is a bit melodramatic for me to call a pro wrestling promotion, my friend, but in a lot of ways growing up, WCW was my best friend. I will always be able to relive memories and discover new gems, but I have been robbed of making new memories.
 |
| I would make memories with her over and over again! |
I grew up painfully shy as a child, which will shock most people that know me now. I know what you all are thinking, now we can't get Martin to fucking shut up, but I pretty much did not have friends in elementary school. I was never bullied or anything like that just did not really talk or hang out with people. I was always amazed by these larger than life figures that could seemingly effortlessly could talk to 20,000 people on national TV. They were my friends and every Monday night, I would watch them as they would make me laugh, smile and angry usually all within two or three awesome hours. Because of parental regulations, I grew up a WCW fan because my mother thought the WWF did not treat women well (Dustin Rhodes/Terri Runnels fallout being the end of WWF for a year in my house), but I think I always liked WCW better. There was something endearing about its haphazard nature and still is to this day to me. Unfortunately, the egos and a lack of singular authority began to negatively impact TV and by the summer of 1999, I had to check out. Then I remember reading on wrestleline.com, that Vince Russo was coming to WCW in October of 1999. Russo was a head writer for the WWF at the time and it seemed like a massive coup for WCW to get what was at least part of the driving force of the Attitude Era. How much Russo contributed to WWF and was filtered/reigned in by Vince McMahon I cannot say, but it is safe to say that was not pure Russo. So, I started to watch Nitro again excited at what new changes would be had.
Even as a ten year old, I knew what I was watching was absolutely mortifying. To continue the friend analogy, it is like watching your friend lose his mind or maybe an elderly member of the family show signs of dementia. It was not WCW anymore. It was not even pro wrestling. It was trash. Sure, the voice of my childhood, Tony Schiavone was still there and hey even my favorite, La Parka was getting more television time, but he was made into a Skeletor comedy character, which is one of the more least offensive things done under the Russo watch. There was outright racism towards the Luchadors and Japanese wrestlers like Liger. There was personal insults towards Jim Ross. There was rampant misogyny. The matches were shorter. There was a ton of things happening, but at the same time nothing was happening. The worst part was the Powers That Be angle/character, which openly described pro wrestling as a work, spoke about wrestlers like Benoit being held down and how certain wrestlers would not do the job. Remember folks, everything you just watched is a work, but THIS RIGHT HERE IS A SHOOT, BRUTHA! That was the Russo matra. I hated it. Before the year was up, I quit watching WCW. WCW quit on Vince Russo too as he was fired by the end of the year and Kevin Sullivan took over as head booker.
In April, WCW planned a major reset with Russo-Bischoff in charge with the idea being that Bischoff would filter Russo and somehow I got suckered into this bullshit. This time I lasted four months and even ordered New Blood Rising! In this regime, we had more racism, more misogyny, more the rest of the card this is a SHOOT! This was hallmarked by the announcers claiming during a triple threat match when Goldberg walked out on the match it was because he was being unprofessional and did not want to do the job. SO now Nash and Steiner had to improvise a finish. After New Blood Rising, I stopped watching WCW again and actually stopped watching wrestling all together in October 2000. This is important because this is why I really hate Vince Russo.
Is Vince Russo directly to blame for the sale of WCW? I don't think so. Would AOL-Time Warner been more amenable to keep WCW around if they had not lost $60 million in a year, probably. Still, Nitro was bringing in a 2.0 rating on Monday Night against direct competition from WWF and that is not horeshit. If the folks after the merger wanted wrestling on their station WCW would still be on TNT, it is that simple. Bischoff had a group together to purchase WCW, but without TV, it would have be useless in his opinion and you can't blame him. Russo contributed to the death of WCW, but ultimately it was the AOL-Time Warner merger that killed WCW dead. Why I especially despise Russo is not because he turned WCW into personal joke or has done seemingly irreparable harm to pro wrestling that WWE still has not recovered from, it is because I missed the death of my friend. I found about the sale of WCW to WWF in March of 2001, a little bit after Wrestlemania X-7 and by then it was too late. I did not get to see the last Monday Nitro live and that deeply upset me. At this point, I have let it go and I am not terribly bitter about it. Hell I have even enjoyed some of TNA and it generally liked their 2005-2007 period. I do not how much Russo influence there was, but it was a fun promotion at times. I am sad to this day that WCW does not exist and will often go back see something so WCW that I just wish it would come back. In this blog, the one of the most WCW things ever was debut a brand new championship, a week before your company is shutting down and of course that match is the best match in 18 months! He did not rob me of making new memories that was AOL-Time Warner. He robbed me of saying good-bye to my childhood friend.
On Riding Space Mountain, we always look for the sliver lining and fuck, even Russo could not manage to have at least a coupled decent matches under his watch. Here are some of the last great bouts from the dying days of World Championship Wrestling.
I will always be a WCW fan first & foremost and look forward to reliving those memories for the rest of my life because Russo, AOL-Time Warner or anyone else will never able to take those away.
Match Listing:
Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett - WCW Starrcade 1999 Vacant US Championship Ladder Match
Violent ladder match sprint with a couple huge spots and a big time feel for the Benoit victory.
Scott Steiner vs Goldberg - WCW Fall Brawl 2000
Russo did his best to try to kill this Clash of the Titans classic, but these two worked their asses off.
Rey Mysterio Jr & Kidman vs Primetime & Kid Romeo
WCW Greed WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship
The last great WCW match is a well-structured, high octane tag team match featuring my man, Rey Rey!
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner vs Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Greed
Father Time finally caught up to DDP as he just did not have any gas left in the tank to put on one last classic DDP match. Disappointing.
Chris Benoit vs Jeff Jarrett - WCW Starrcade 1999 Vacant US Championship Ladder Match
Benoit's neck is freaking massive here. Double J's normal size neck looks like a stack of dimes compared to the juiced up Crippler. Benoit and Jarrett put together a really strong and violent ladder match sprint in this one. Benoit unleashes a can of whoop-ass early and hits a superplex to incapacitate JJ long enough to get the ladder. I like a small victory like that in the shine to show how dominate Benoit was early. Jarret is able to recover with a baseball slide into the ladder and then dropping Benoit face first on the ladder opening up a nasty cut on Benoit's face. I liked Jarrett as a heel taking advantage of the situation to take a control. They work some struggle spots with Benoit kept coming at Jarrett, but since Jarrett was a bit fresher he could still control the match. One of the scarier spots was Jarrett was in the Tree of Woe, but in the ladder and tipped over the ladder like you would reverse the pressure on a figure-4. Jarrett could have severely fucked up his knee and the way Benoit's head bounced off the ropes he could have seriously injured, but that's where the freaking massive neck will save your life. The spot of the match would be an all-time great spot if Double J did not hesitate forever and made Benoit look like a fool. That being said it is better to be safe and really focus. He dropkicks the ladder, which goes flying and Benoit takes an awesome bump. It actually came off pretty safe compared to a lot of ladder bumps, but was a sweet visual. Another fun spot is Benoit doing a roll through under the ladder and then dropkicking it into Jarrett's face. Benoit hitting the diving headbutt off the ladder and then grabbing the title does seem excessive, but they needed that climatic spot and it is a good one. The crowd was fucking dead for the beginning of this, but they won them over and Benoit's victory does feel like a big deal by the end. Some really great spots mixed with a strong sense of urgency and struggle makes this a pretty easy call for me to say this is a great, but too spotty to be a true classic. ****
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Scott Steiner vs Goldberg - WCW Fall Brawl 2000
I couldn't believe the angle they ran before this where it was implied Goldberg put Midajah (Steiner's favorite freak) through a table and then I guess he smashed Steiner's face in with a lead pipe. Why the hell is the babyface attacking defenseless women? Fuck Russo! Steiner then puts Goldberg's girlfriend in the Steiner Recliner, but since that's shown on TV that means exposes it as a weak ass chinlock, Awful Russoian, misogynistic booking aside, I am pretty pumped for this match and so is the Buffalo crowd. The Bills football team hates Steiner and is super pro-Goldberg. Steiner is wearing a face mask and Goldberg has his arm taped up, which is good continuity, but neither one really plays into the match so it is a wash. Steiner stiffs the fuck out of Goldberg and Goldberg know no other way to wrestle so this comes off a gargantuan match. I loved Steiner taking right to Goldberg with some wicked shots only for Goldberg to come out of the corner with a huge Press and then catch and slam. It was amazing watching these two behemoth throw each other around. Steiner puts up the best resistance he possibly can, but his standard power game is not getting it down when Goldberg can outmuscle him. This is exemplified when Steiner hoists him into the Tombstone, but Goldberg reverses into a Oklahoma Slam. However, the one time the pre-existing injuries play into the match is when Goldberg's arm starts to bother him (nice Goddamnit on one of the strikes) and then he misses the spear. Steiner is able to take advantage on the outside and bust him over as his favorite freak, Midajah strolls out with a lead pipe. Steiner throws Goldberg around and hits a couple push-ups. Go Blue! Little shit like Goldberg nasty back elbows to Steiner and Steiner rethinking his suplex to a Belly to Belly was what was making this match great. Midajah hands Steiner the pipe, but SPEAR! Goldberg goes for the Jackhammer and the match goes to Hell because here comes Satan himself. Russo hits Goldberg with an obviously gimmicked bat. They were having a great match why the fuck do we need Russo and fake as fuck weapons. If they presented the fake bat as a real bat and had Goldberg lose right there, I would have no problem it was the bullshit with Goldberg being able to continue. Goldberg powering out of the Steiner Recliner was fucking awesome as he literally threw Steiner half way cross the ring from his shoulders. Midajah and Russo play pinata with Goldberg on the top rope, fuck, they are killing this match. Goldberg looks like he is finally going to kill Russo so Steiner smokes him the pipe and puts in the Recliner. The fake weapons and Russo bullshit really ruined what was otherwise a really good match. I am a sucker for two big men throwing each other around. There were great highspots and plenty of struggle. Goldberg's spear and the Goldberg's powering out of the Recliner were awesome spots. They did not need the overbooking, alas that is the story of Russo booking. Still the best match of the Russo regime. ****
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Rey Mysterio Jr & Kidman vs Primetime & Kid Romeo
WCW Greed WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship
It is so WCW to debut a brand new title on their last PPV! I was actually how shocked how much liked this. I have not seen Elix Skipper in forever and I have never seen a Kid Romeo match, but fuck I thought they were a fun little heel duo. I actually think Romeo would have been decent in TNA and maybe he was, but I missed it. WCW Greed felt really TNA-y, maybe it was inevitable if WCW continued we would have gotten the same shit as we did from TNA. Still, I think the weird endearing WCW booking would have carried on in a way TNA has never really captured. Onto the match, but this was actually a really good tag team match and I know tag team wrestling (listen to my podcast, Tag Teams Back Again, with Chief Jay Historian, Kelly Nelson on Place To Be Nation.com)! They did a great shine, worked a solid heat segment with nice hope spots and then had a hot finish stretch that went a bit too long. The shine was some really good shit from Kidman & Mysterio constantly keeping the action moving and keeping the crowd into it. I thought the highlights was Rey Mysterio guillotine leg drop and I love how Kidman holds Primetime there. I hate it as a single move like KENTA used it, but as a tag team move great spot and logical. I loved the hiptoss of Primetime onto Romeo from the stage and then the double dive onto them. Damn, they got me rocking right with them. The heel transition is Romeo hitting Kidman with a blind forearm while he was running the ropes. Love it! Kidman does a great job using stuff like Irish whip/clothesline combo to get early hope spots, but Primetime and Romeo know how to bend the rules. This is a really basic layout that was just modernized with some of the more high-flying moves, but everything was still sensible. The funniest fucking botch ever happens in this match as Primetime whiffs so bad on a forearm he falls down. I was rolling and then a fan gets on his case and he jaws with him, good shit. Kidman hits a nice spinebuster/powerbomb-y thing from the top and Rey comes in. Holy Shit! Rey looked fucking awesome here. Words don't do it justice watch it. Kidman says two can play that game and he hits a beautiful springboard Shooting Star Press to the floor. WOW! It should have been over sooner rather than later, but it kept going with diminishing returns with lots of nearfalls and weak saves. Rey hitting two powerbombs seems a bit ridiculous to me and I am a powerbomb mark. The actual finish was pretty sweet with Romeo catching Rey Rey on the quebrada attempt and dropping down with the Northern Lights Bomb. Romeo & Primetime dance afterwards! I love this team! Well now I am sad WCW ended because we did not get more Primetime/Romeo goodness. They stuck with the tried and true formula sprinkled in some great spots, solid heel work and Rey Rey is such an elite wrestler that he adds that little sumthin sumthin to matches like this. Probably the best match of WCW's last 18 months. ****
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WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner vs Diamond Dallas Page - WCW Greed
My main man, DDP, looks to give one last stellar performance on WCW's last ever PPV main event, but it just was not to be. DDP's magic of 1997-1999 has faded and it looks like Father Time has finally caught up to him. He was still one helluva promo as showcased in the pre-match hype video. Where he explains he is the last of the WCW standard-bearers and that no matter how brutal the attacks have been he still has the great equalizer, the Diamond Cutter. He could talk the talk, but he just couldn't walk the walk. The punches did not have the same zip and his step did not have the same pep. I love the Scotty Steiner character at this point as a totally despicable, vile human. I was hoping this would be a great Steiner match to add to his resume. It is too bad they did not turn Steiner earlier in his career. He was actually a pretty good bumper and stooge for babyfaces in addition to being violent. There were still some fun DDP spots early like his excellent flying clothesline, but then we descended into guardrail whips and obviously planted crutches and Paul London as a fan that Scotty Steiner badmouths. I actually liked the finish stretch though as DDP gave it one last burst of the old DDP. After the bearhug and suplexes, DDP had a great string on offense. I really liked the quick knee lift into a DDT. Steiner hit a nasty back elbow at on point. Shit is starting to heat up. Of course, we get some trademark DDP like the floatover DDT. He signals for the Diamond Cutter! BANG! I get why that went with Booker, but damn, the love I have built up for DDP, I really wish he was the last WCW champion and that was the finish. Instead, Rick Fucking Steiner pulls the ref out. I don't think I have ever seen Rick Steiner without his earguards. It is so weird. Anyways, they prolong the inevitable with some fun drama with weapons and submissions moves, but DDP passes out to the Steiner Recliner. Steiner puts out yet another WCW babyface legend. Steiner buries DDP in a Michigan flag! GO BLUE! I wish we were good at enough football when I went there to pull shit like that. It is a decent match, but really not worth seeing it besides for the novel value of being the last WCW PPV main event. Disappointing more than anything for me.
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