WCW 2000

[TMM]

2000 was a terrible year for WCW. They were losing the rating wars with the WWF by a long shot. Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and Eddie Guerrero had all walked out of their contracts with WCW and joined the WWF, with Benoit technically being the reigning WCW champion at the time, having won the title at the January pay-per-view Souled Out on the 16th of January. The group turned up on Raw is War two weeks later on the 31st of January.

This made the rest of the WCW roster stand up and realise what was going on, and many of them were contemplating asking for a release or walking out. Thankfully for WCW, nobody else left of their own accord.

There was also the problem of all the huge ego's in the company; huge ego's that had huge contracts. It didn't help that pretty much all of these guys had creative control over their on screen characters, and had the ability to essentially hold the bookers and writers hostage to their demands whenever the saw fit to. Because of this, WCW only made one massive star from the day WCW split from the NWA. Looking at WCW's World Heavyweight title history reads like a 'who's who' of the guys who had control over their characters, hit the peak of their careers in the 1980's, were made popular in the WWF...or even earlier.

Hulk Hogan

Lex Luger

Kevin Nash

Randy Savage

Ric Flair

Sting

Goldberg

The Giant

Ron Simmons

Big Van Vader

DDP

Bret Hart

Chris Benoit

Sid Vicious.

Amongst the names of the former WCW World Heavyweight champions, WCW can claim to have given pushes to Goldberg, DDP, the Giant and Benoit.

Goldberg has been known to have a massive attitude problem now, and is known to be difficult to work with. In addtion to that, he may well have ended Bret Hart's wrestling career at StarrCade with a vicious kick to the head.

DDP is 44 years of age, and is showing signs of injuries catching up to him. Although what WCW does have in their favour is the fact that he is willing to work with pretty much anyone. Although of late, he has looked increasingly sloppy in the ring, and just simply looks like he doesn't care anymore.

The Giant is currently in the WWF, wrestling as the Big Show and is a former World champion there. The WWF, however are looking more and more like they are running out of patience with the lack of effort he puts into matches.

Benoit was given the title in a last ditch attempt to satisfy him and, in essence, it was WCW begging him to stay. Benoit walked out of the company the next day.

They have tried everything in WCW, from stealing Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera from the WWF and making them head bookers, to removing them from power and giving the book back to a man with a terrible track record as booker, Kevin Sullivan, to now giving the book BACK to Russo and Ferrera in one big attempt to 'kick start' WCW.

This big attempt is the "Russo/Bischoff era" as WCW has called it. All WCW storylines have been scrapped and the plan is to start, literally from scratch. All title belts will be declared vacant on Nitro and a "big" angle will begin then. The big question is, will they get it right this time? Will people watch Nitro instead of Raw? Will WCW create a star? Who know, but if they don't...it could be curtains for WCW.

THE RUSSO/BISCHOFF ERA BEGINS NOW!!!

Edited March 5, 2005 by The_Monkey_Molester

[Guest UmpireAJS]

Ah yes the Russoff era, era of the New Blood, David Arquette amongst other things.... but lets not hope you go in that direction, I've been dying to read a good Russoff diary, the last one was I think from TGC (not upto his usual standards I must say)-but it was pretty exciting nonetheless- your WCW 2001 Diary was good-hope this one will be as good as that one too.

[smeyers003]

This was one of my favorite times for WCW and I was so disappointed when they blew it after it looked like they'd be going in the right direction. You have a lot of talent to push so I'm really looking foward to this.

[TMM]

WCW.com preview for April 10th edition of Monday Nitro

IT'S NEARLY HERE!!!

The night everyone has been waiting for is almost upon us; the night where Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo join forces to turn the wrestling industry upside down and inside out!

Monday, April 10th 2000 is a date you'll be able to tell your grandchildren about in years to come because although it hasn't happened just yet, both Russo and Bischoff have promised that we will be shocked!

For the first time in a very long time, we go into Nitro knowing absolutely nothing about what's in store for us. No matches have been announced or anything, but we know that Russo and Bischoff have an announcement regarding ALL the championships in WCW...including the World Heavyweight champion Sid Vicious! What is this announcement, and what will the reaction be of World champion Sid, United States champion Jeff Jarrett, Tag Team champions Ron and Don Harris, Hardcore champion Brian Knobbs and Cruiserweight champion the Artist? We'll find out tonight, live on Nitro from Denver, Colorado!

We've been told that Hulk Hogan WILL be in attendance tonight, and knowing Bischoff's history with the legend, could this be a bad thing for Russo and Bischoff tonight? Perhaps Hogan will be on Nitro to finally confront Billy Kidman; a man who has a hatred for Hogan, coming for somewhere deep inside.

The only way to find out what this history-making night has in store is to tune into WCW Monday Nitro on TNT!

[Cole]

I'm looking forward to this...This is my favourite Wrestling fed of all time so..I'm expecting big things..

Good Luck

[JustinCredible2k]

Looks good so far. Cant wait for the first show.

[Hewey]

Looking good, Your WCW 2001 diary was probably the best WCW diary I've ever read, So hopefully this one is just as good. BTW, DDP would not be 33 in 2000, I think he'd be like 40 something. If you do make a big star, I hope it's not Double J.

Oh yeah, Push Kanyon

[Guest Muthafawkkinmatt]

Good start, Vince Russo is my hero. I hope you can make this work. I know alot of people didn't like this era of WCW but I prefered it over the WWF for some reason. Lets see where you go with this.

Hopefully you'll push Kidman like they started doing towards the end of WCW.

[Evilution]

Push Arquette!! Seriously, I liked Arquette as Champion. It was supposed to be funny and he won it off of Vince Russo so it made sense. Seriously, who didn't think it was funny when he kept trying to give the belt back to DDP right after he won it? And those skits to open the next Nitro when he was walking around with the belt around his waist and introducing himself as "David Arquette, WCW Champion". And it ended with Courtney Cox Arquette chasing after him yelling "David you're going to get killed!!". I liked the whole thing but everyone else hated it. Yet they had no problem with Vince beating HHH clean for the title.

Anyway, seriously, us Arquette as a manager or something, could be funny.

[Guest UmpireAJS]

Use Arquette as a jobber to... I don't know The Artist maybe, or how about Oklahama and Aysa?

[TMM]

Nitro report for April 10th 2000

Live from Denver, Colorado

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson

The show starts off with half the roster in the ring (Booker, Van Hammer, Kidman, The Cat, Bagwell, Harlem Heat 2000, the Mamalukes and Brian Knobbs amongst others) but none of the ‘main event’ guys. Jarrett has a microphone, and goes on about being ‘the Chosen One’ and how ever since he arrived in WCW 6 months ago, he’s been on a role like no other. He says that it’s all down to one man; Vince Russo. He says that the two of them are like brothers, and they’ve watched out for one another from day one. He says that ever since he returned to WCW, he’s noticed things are different since his last stint in 97. He said that the young guys are happier now because Vince Russo has been working SO hard to keep the “Good Ol’ Boys Network” away from ruining their careers. But they wouldn’t have any of it. He says they had a master plan when they came to WCW, but it would never happened because of the “old dinosaurs” in WCW…until now. He says now they have enough power for it all to happen. He then introduces Vince Russo as the man “who was once Vince McMahon’s best kept secret.”

Russo walks out and takes the microphone and immediately rips into the WWF, and Vince McMahon, saying that McMahon doesn’t know what he’s doing, and has no idea how to run a wrestling company. He asked Vince for the reigns, but he refused because he’s “a power hungry son of a bitch” so he left the WWF and joined WCW. He thought things would be different, but they are exactly the same; except there are more Vince McMahon’s here. He calls Nash, Luger, Sting, Hall, Sid, DDP and especially Hogan “Vince McMahon-like power hungry bastards”. But it’s time to change that he says, and says that he is going to take that power from them all and use it to drive the “Good Ol’ Boys Network” out of the industry, but especially to put McMahon’s WWF out of business.

Russo is then interrupted by Eric Bischoff who storms down to the ring and faces off with Russo…before shaking his hand. He says that he made big mistakes in his time here, saying that the “Millionaire’s Club” have ruined this once great company, and nearly put them under. He says it’s all going to change now, and says the ‘new blood’ are going to take this company by the throat, turn it upside down and turn it into the greatest wrestling company in the world. He says that they will do that by getting rid of the “Millionaire’s Club”.

DDP, Luger, Kimberly, Sting, Elizabeth and Sid are seen watching on a monitor backstage, and this reminds Russo of something. He thanks Sid for reminding him, and states that as of this moment…all titles are vacant! Jarrett, the Harris Brothers, Knobbs and Iaukea seem pissed off at this, but Russo demands that they hand over the titles. Jarrett is hesitant, but Russo tells him to ‘trust him’, so Jarrett hands over the US title. Russo says there is one title left, and Sid replies on the big screen, “he should just come back here and get it”. Bischoff says that is just what he is going to do. He leaves the ring and heads backstage until he sees everyone standing at a monitor. Bischoff looks afraid, but tells DDP that if it wasn’t for him, he’d still be working in a bar. He then tells Luger to back off, because it was him who gave Luger the contract for to much money when McMahon didn’t want him anymore. He looks at Sid and tells him that he re-built his career. Sid just looks down on him. Bischoff calls him a ‘real big man’ for trying to intimidate a man who he could probably knock unconscious in a second. He then says if he beats him up, he’ll heel, but Sid will be fired. He holds his hand out, and Sid takes off the belt and puts it in Bischoff’s hands. He then pats and says that he’ll be wearing that again ‘real soon’. Sid walks off in disgust as Bischoff leaves the scene with a smirk, and with the WCW title.

Commercial Break

During the break, Hulk Hogan arrived and Sting told him what had happened. Hogan said he’d take care of it.

Sid vs. Sting

Schiavone and Hudson say that these two only found out they would be wrestling during the break! Sting comes out first, but his music cuts off when he gets onto the ramp! Same thing happens with Sid! Once they are in the ring, Vince Russo comes out yet again and says that he KNEW there was something he had forgotten. He says that there will be a tournament for the WCW title taking place tonight and on Thunder, with tonight hosting the quarterfinals and Thunder hosting the two semi-finals. He says that the matches are as follows; Scott Steiener vs. Curt Hennig. The winner of that will face the winner of DDP vs. Lex Luger. Then there will be Jeff Jarrett vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan with the winner of that…facing the winner of this match right now! The bell rings and we’re underway. Sid brawls to start it off, and they quickly go outside and brawl out there. They eventually come back in after about a ¾ minutes (with Sid/Sting breaking the count numerous times) and Sid goes for an elbow to Sting in the corner, but he dodges it and lines up Sid, and nails the Stinger Splash! Sting clotheslines Sid over the top rope and they brawl outside AGAIN. They eventually get back inside and brawl again. Neither man has even the remotest advantage here. Sting whips Sid into the ropes, Sid ducks a clothesline and the two then crack heads and collapse. The ref starts the count, and eventually they both get to their knees, but the match is thrown out when the Harris Brothers run down to the ring and attack both Sid and Sting! Ron clocks Sid with a steel chair and the former Tag Team champions hit the H-Bomb on Sting.

Winner: DRAW

The Harris Brothers stand over Sid and Sting as Russo walks out AGAIN and says that he’s going to fine the Harris Brothers…$10 each for this despicable act! He then says that because this match was a double-DQ, both men are eliminated and the winner from the Duggan/Jarrett match will get a bye into the finals at Spring Stampede.

Commercial Break

When we return, we find out that during the break Hogan asked Shane Helms and Shannon Moore where Bischoff was and they somehow insulted him, so he beat them up.

Back live and Hogan asked Terry Taylor where Bischoff is, and he tells him. We follow Hogan on a long walk through the arena until he bursts into Bischoff’s office and asks him what the hell is going on. Bischoff plays dumb and says he doesn’t know what Hogan is talking about. Hogan tells him what Sting told him, and Bischoff says that he never said one of those things.

While this is going on, in the ring Billy Kidman has come down to the ring. He grabs a microphone and calls out Hogan. We cut to Bischoff’s office again and Hogan hears Kidman. Kidman runs Hogan down, and calls his “legacy” and complete and utter joke, and says he is nothing but the shit on his boot. He says that he is a better wrestler than Hogan ever was, or could ever hope to be and that’s why Hogan keeps ducking his challenges. Hogan looks at Bischoff, who shrugs his shoulders. Hogan says, “maybe its finally time I shut that punk kid up!” which gets a big pop from the fans.

Hulk Hogan vs. Billy Kidman

Hogan storms out of Bischoff’s office, and we see Bischoff smirk as Hogan’s music hits and he heads down the ramp. His music is cut off mid-way down the ramp, as was Sting and Sid’s but he doesn’t care as he gets in the ring and beats away at Kidman. Kidman goes out of the ring and manages to keep away from Hogan for about a minute before Hogan catches him by the hair in the ring. He rips open Kidman’s shirt and starts slapping his chest many times. He then walks around the ring, sorta ‘Hulking up’ but walks straight into a chair shot from Eric Bischoff drawing a disqualification!

Winner by DQ: Hulk Hogan

Bischoff kicks Hogan in the head and spits on him before handing the chair to Kidman to drive it into the ribs of the Hulkster. He smashes the chair into his ribs about 10 times, making Hogan bleed from the mouth. Bischoff the points to the top rope, and Kidman goes up and hits the Shooting Star Press on the bloody Hogan. Kidman then “covers” Hogan and Bischoff “counts the three” and Bischoff raises his hand in the air to a mixed reaction (mostly boos).

We cut to the back where Sting is looking upset about what happened in his WCW title tournament match with Sid, and is being ‘consoled’ by Terry Funk. Funk says that Russo and Bischoff are out to screw guys like Sting, himself, Hogan and all the other guys like that. Sting says that he’s gonna make sure none of Russo or Bischoff’s boys win the WCW title this Sunday.

Funk walks off and Sting goes to leave another direction but gets jumped from behind by Vampiro! Vampiro beats away at Sting who’s lying on the floor and slams his head into the wall before giving him a Nail in the Coffin on the concrete floor before standing up, giving him a totally blank stare, then wiping Sting’s blood on his chest before walking off.

Commercial Break

“The Total Package” Lex Luger w/ Miss Elizabeth vs. Diamond Dallas Page w/ Kimberly

The two had their music cut off halfway down the ramp, just like Sid, Sting and Hogan did earlier. The two stared each other down to start with and then they got into a brawl which goes to the corner where DDP drives his elbow into the face of Luger a number of times before the ref forces a break. Luger sends DDP into the corner, and the same thing happens here, but Luger doesn’t give a clean break and instead starts driving his shoulder into Page’s ribs. Liz and Kimberly are on the outside cheering on their respective man, and they both start moving closer to one another. Luger went for a hiptoss, but it was blocked and DDP hit a swinging neckbreaker. DDP went to pick up Luger, and Liz jumped onto the apron to argue with the referee. Kimberly came across and pulled her down off the apron and slapped her across the face! The two got into a catfight, but in the ring Luger nailed a low blow on DDP and nailed a powerslam. After a bunch of road agents and referees had separated the two ladies on the outside, the referee turned round and saw Luger covering DDP but only got a near fall. Luger can’t believe he didn’t get the win there and picks Page up and signals for the Torture Rack. He hoists him up but Page falls out the back and Luger walks right into a Diamond Cutter! DDP drapes an arm over Luger and gets the…1…2…3!

Winner: DDP

While both men are down, Scott Steiner runs down to the ring with a lead pipe! DDP gets up and turns round to be whacked in the head with the pipe square between the eyes! Luger is slowly getting up, but Steiner kicks him in the face and locks in the Steiner Recliner! Luger is in a lot of pain, but refuses to submit. Steiner moves his hands down to Luger’s throat so it’s more of a choke now, and after a few minutes in the hold, Luger seems to pass out! Steiner stands up and celebrates his demolition of both Luger and DDP.

We cut to the parking lot where a limo has just pulled up. The driver opens the door and out steps…Ric Flair and Arn Anderson! They both have their game faces on and they walk into the arena as Schiavone says it looks like they are coming their way!

Commercial Break

Back on Nitro, Flair’s music hits and he makes his way to the ring with a mic in hand. His music gets cut off, just like the other “old guys” earlier tonight. Flair then raises his microphone and says he heard this was going on, and says that, “NOBODY cuts off the Nature Boy” and tells Arn to hit it. We cut to the back and see that Arn Anderson is in the production truck and he makes them play Flair’s music again! Flair comes out again and does his full entrance here, soaking up the fans reaction before finally getting into the ring.

Flair sarcastically thanks Russo and Bischoff for starting Nitro off on a “great note” and says it’s Nature Boy time. He says that he never got old; he just got great. He compares himself to the finest of fine wines and says that the older he gets, the better he gets. He says that the ‘new blood’ are going round pissing and moaning that they can’t get anywhere with the, “old guys hogging the spotlight”. Flair then says that you don’t get anywhere sitting around on your backsides, crying about something; you have to go out there and do something about it. He uses Kidman as an example because he’s doing something about what he’s crying about, and while he disagrees with his methods, he applauds him for not just whining about it.

He then says that Bischoff proved that he has got some guts by going to the back and taking the World Heavyweight title away from Sid, but then calls Vince Russo a coward. He says he stands around, hiding behind the Harris Brothers and Jeff Jarrett but is afraid to get his hands dirty. He then calls Russo out, but gets no response. He calls him out a second time, but instead of Russo the Turner Tron cuts to the production truck where Arn Anderson is lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood!

Flair is busy looking at the Turner Tron and doesn’t the man enter into the ring from behind him…Shane Douglas! Douglas is standing there; waiting for Flair to turn around and Flair stupidly does and walks right into a belly-to-belly suplex! Douglas stands over Flair and rips Flair’s shirt off of his back and rips it up and spits on it before picking Flair up and hitting the Pittsburgh Plunge before picking up Flair’s microphone.

He tells Flair that people like him are the reason the young wrestlers are so pissed off at the old guys. He says that once upon a time, a young wrestler just breaking into the business asked Flair for advice. He said that Flair stuck his nose up and gave some sarcastic advice before leaving with a bunch of women, laughing. Douglas said that man was him, and then told Flair to look at him now. He proclaimed himself the, “franchise of this industry” and says that he is back to make Flair’s live a living hell for what he did. Douglas threw down the mic and spat on Flair as he left the ring to a chorus of boos.

Commercial Break

Scott Steiner vs. Curt Hennig

The winner of this match would face Diamond Dallas Page on Thunder. Both wrestlers got their full entrance, prompting Schiavone to talk about how Curt Hennig is 42, while Steiner is 37. Hudson says that he totally missed the point about this whole ‘new blood’ takeover. Schiavone asked him to explain, and Hudson says that these guys never had a chance in this business because of the Flairs, the Hogans, the Lugers and the Stings. Schiavone called that a bunch of BS. The fans didn’t particularly care about this match because they had no reason to, but Hennig tried to play the face though. Steiner was dominant here from start to finish, but Hennig was able to get a bit of offence in though before Steiner mounted a come-back and beat him down to lock in the Steiner Recliner! When Hennig looked like he was going to submit, a bloody Total Package ran down to the ring and decked Steiner with a forearm shot to cause a DQ!

Winner by DQ: Scott Steiner

Luger and Steiner got into a fight, that Luger looked in control of until he signalled for the Torture Rack. Hennig came from behind and gave him a low blow, allowing for Steiner to hit a big brainbuster before, for the second time in the night locking in the Steiner Recliner! Hennig got in Luger’s face and slapped him a couple of times. This prompted DDP to start walking out to the ring. Steiner released the Recliner and held his hands up. Hennig backed out of the ring, and Steiner slowly followed him, but not before kicking Luger in the face one last time. DDP checked on the man who was his opponent earlier tonight as Steiner and Hennig backed up the ramp.

Commercial Break

When Nitro returns from the break we see “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan standing with ‘Mene’ Gene Okerlund. Okerlund questions him about the huge opportunity he has tonight, and Duggan calls it the biggest night in his career so far because he has a chance to beat Jarrett and go on to become the WCW champion at Spring Stampede.

Just as ‘Mene’ Gene wishes Duggan good luck, the Harris Brothers come out of nowhere and attack him! They pick up Duggan and hit the H-Bomb on the concrete floor. Don states that it doesn’t look like he’ll be getting a chance at the WCW title after all.

Jeff Jarrett vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan

Jarrett comes to the ring and grabs a microphone. He says that he saw what happened just a moment ago and Vince Russo told him to tell the Harris Brothers that the fine they received earlier tonight has now DOUBLED to $20 each! He then says that it looks as though Duggan won’t be able to make it tonight, so he’s going be getting a shot at either DDP or Steiner this Sunday. He says that the referee should just raise his hand and declare him the winner. The referee waits for a moment, and then Jarrett demands that he does it. As the ref goes to raise Jarrett’s arm, Duggan comes hobbling out from the back! Jarrett can’t believe it.

Duggan eventually gets down to the ring and the referee rings the bell, much to Jarrett’s shock. He turns round and walks right into a running clothesline from Duggan who collapses on top of Jarrett for a VERY near fall! Both men were down on the mat as the Harris Brothers appeared at the top of the ramp. Jarrett got to his feet and started punching away at the already bloody Duggan and went for a suplex, but Duggan blocked it and hit one of his own! This prompted the Harris’ to start to head to the ring, but were cut off when they were attacked from behind by the Filthy Animals! Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera have seemingly decided that they want no part of this ‘new blood’ revolution here and are taking it to Russo and Bischoff’s boys. This prompted the beginning of a big fight as Kidman, the Wall, the Cat, Harlem Heat 2000, Buff Bagwell, Scott Steiner, DDP, Meng, Terry Funk and half of the roster came down and embroiled in a HUGE brawl on the ramp, around ringside and even went out into the fans! Meanwhile, the almost forgotten match in the ring came to a conclusion when Vince Russo appeared in the ring from nowhere and blasted Jim Duggan with Duggan’s own 2x4! Jarrett caught him with the Stroke and pinned him…1…2…3.

Winner: Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett and Russo quickly hightailed it out of the ring and headed through the crowd to get out of there and away from the mass brawling. Notable absentees are Flair, Sting, Luger, Goldberg and Hogan from the big brawl that ended that show that ended with DDP, Meng, Funk, Duggan, Morrus, Smiley and the Animals lying in a heap on the mat as the New Blood stood tall. Before the show went off the air, Bret Hart appeared at the top of the ramp to a huge pop from the fans.

Edited March 6, 2005 by The_Monkey_Molester

[Guest Mike Awesome Fan]

Awesome show, I am a big fan of WCW 2000 when Bischoff and Russo returned, it was just sad that Russo messed it up, Its looking good, lets see where this goes, I have wcw 2000 diary to here I just started so lets see

[Cole]

I think you should put the ratings in and maybe take a shot at using character dialoge....

It's okay...the storylines are good but I think the writing can get a bit better.

Just try some things...

[TMM]

A quick word about the style; I'm not going to be writing the dialogue for this diary because it will keep my interest longer if I leave that part of it out.

I'm trying to do as much as possible, but do as little as possible at the same time if you know what I mean? I wanna get the things across so it's easy to understand and everyone knows what's going on, but at the same time, leave out the match details as well as the dialogue.

Also, I don't like to post the ratings because I simply don't like them. I prefer to have a 'flow' in the show, and not have ratings in it. If people want it, I'll post the overall rating for the show, but that's all.

April 11th 2000

WCW.com can confirm that Al Greene, the Villanos, PG-13 (Wolfie D and Jamie Dundee), Buzzkill, Rhonda Singh, El Dandy and Silver King have all been released from their contracts as part of a cost-cutting measure. We wish all of the above superstars good luck in the future.

Scott Hall has also checked into voluntary rehab today under the full support from WCW management. We hope that have this important superstar back soon, and wish him good luck.

Edited March 6, 2005 by The_Monkey_Molester

[TMM]

Thunder report for April 12th 2000

Taped from Colorado Springs, Colorado

Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan

The show started off again with Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo’s group (now officially called the ‘New Blood’) coming to the ring. Shane Douglas isn’t amongst them.

Bischoff got on the mic first and talked about how great Nitro was and says it’s the first time in a long time that he actually had Nitro recorded! He said that he watched it about 10 times yesterday because he wanted to see Hogan get busted wide open again, and again, and again and again! He said that it was also great seeing Sting, Sid and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan get beat up by the Harris Brothers. He said Flair, Luger, DDP, Hogan, Sid and Sting all got what was coming to them on Nitro. He said he had waited for that day to come for YEARS, and it finally happened so forgive him if he seems overly happy tonight.

Kidman took the mic from Bischoff and said that on Nitro, he single-handedly ended Hulk Hogan’s career. He said Hogan underestimated him, and he paid the ultimate price. He says that there is nothing left to do because he pinned Hogan, and Hogan is gonna take his orange backside and leave this industry for good. Tenay pointed out that Kidman in fact lost the match against Hogan by disqualification.

Vince Russo grabbed a mic and ran down Colorado Springs, using cheap heat to get big boos from the crowd. Russo then called Flair Shane Douglas’ bitch. He says that Douglas has been calling Flair out for 7 seven years, and Flair hasn’t even acknowledged the challenge. He calls Flair a piece of crap and says Douglas owned his ass on Nitro, and then says that Flair isn’t in Douglas’ league. He says that Douglas is late to the arena tonight, which is why he’s running Flair down instead of Douglas doing it, which is fine by him. He says that he hopes Flair has his ring-gear tonight because…Russo quickly retracts and says he hopes Flair DOESN’T have his ring-gear tonight because although he has a match, Russo says he and everyone else doesn’t wanna see Flair’s man boobs on their TV tonight! The New Blood start to laugh.

Bischoff changed the subject and moved onto the title situation, and said that the Hardcore champion would be crowned in a 10-person, over the top rope battle royal with the final two participants facing off in a straight-up hardcore match. The Tag Team champions would be crowned after a four-team tournament, with one match tonight and the final match on Worldwide this Saturday because this week is a bonus for the fans. The Cruiserweight champion will be determined in a four-way dance, elimination match. The United States champion will be crowned in an 8-man tournament with the quarterfinals tonight, and the semi-finals taking place at Spring Stampede. He then moved onto the WCW World Heavyweight title and said that it would be either Scott Steiner or Diamond Dallas Page taking on Jeff Jarrett.

Steiner then took the mic and ran down DDP, calling him a washed up old piece of shit (bleeped out). He talked about how Kimberly wants to be ‘one of his freaks’ and reminds the fans of her PlayBoy shoot. This brought out DDP, who said that Steiner can talk about how DDP is washed up all he likes, but when they get into that ring tonight, DDP will show Steiner just how ‘washed up’ he isn’t. DDP then challenges Eric Bischoff OR Vince Russo to a match tonight, but Steiner calls DDP a pussy for that, saying Bischoff and Russo aren’t wrestlers. He says it’s Steiner/DDP tonight and tells DDP that once he’s out of the way, that little wifey of his is gonna be hanging on Steiner’s arm and not DDP’s. DDP went to rush down to the ring, but Lex Luger, Miss Elizabeth and Kimberly appeared to hold him back all the while, Steiner is laughing in the ring.

Commercial Break

Chris Candido, Juventud Guerrera and the Artist w/ Paisley vs. Crowbar w/ Daffney, Lash LeRoux and Christopher Daniels

Daniels is a talent who’s appeared a few times on the smaller WCW over the last year or so, and he’s been working in NWA: Wildside of late. Apparently he’s been called up full time. Mike Tenay explained that four of these six wrestlers would be involved in the Cruiserweight title match this Sunday, and he explained that the two guys who did the least to impress Bischoff and Russo would be out. Heenan said that the best thing about that is that nobody in the ring knows about that! A lot of the match was the sort of high-flying, crazy action that is impossible to follow, but basically having only one guy in there who’s main style is high-flying (Juvi) helped a bit. Everyone though, did do a lot of flying, including Daffney who tried to turn the match in the favour of the faces by nailing a frankensteiner on the Artist when the ref’s back was turned, but nobody could capitalise on it. the match came to an end when Juvi hit a big splash from inside the ring to the outside, taking out Candido, Crowbar, Daffney, LeRoux and Paisley leaving Daniels in the ring with just the Artist. The Artist was trying to see if Paisley was hurt, but it seemed like he didn’t care in the end as he shrugged his shoulders and turned round. That was the big mistake in the match though, as he turned right into Daniels who hit a move, which can only be described by me as a spinning sitout Pedigree that got him the upset victory!

Winner: Christopher Daniels

Daniels celebrated his win as Tenay says that’s gotta put him straight into the Cruiserweight title match.

Commercial Break

Team Package (Ric Flair and Lex Luger) w/ Miss Elizabeth vs. the Harris Brothers

Tenay tells the viewers that this is a semi-final match in the Tag Team title tournament. He says that the second semi-final match will be Harlem Heat 2000 against Buff Bagwell and Chris Kanyon, who have called themselves ‘Totally Buff’. Heenan built up the Harris’ as big ugly bullies, and then gave them credit for that. Flair was in street clothes here, which Heenan ‘thanked the man above’ for. The Harris’, for all their tag team experience just weren’t able to put Flair or the Total Package away. After Flair got in most of his signature spots, the Harris’ took control of the match and made quick tags to isolate him. It looked as though the Harris Brothers were going to put Flair away with a H-Bomb, but Luger got pissed off standing on the apron, and couldn’t sit by and watch his partner get double-teamed so he ran in and hit Ron and Don with a clothesline each before returning to his corner. Flair struggled to get his corner and was cut off by Ron, but Flair managed to chop him down and get the tag to Luger! Luger came in with clotheslines and forearm shots to both Ron and Don before calling for the Torture Rack! Just as he locked it in on Ron, Flair and Don were fighting on the other side of the ring as Shane Douglas ran down to the ring with a steel chair! He lined up Flair, but instead accidentally blasted Heavy D with the chair! Inside the ring, Luger dropped Ron Harris and hit a powerslam on him for the…1…2…3 and a chance to win the Tag Team titles this Sunday.

Winners: Team Package

Shane Douglas backed up the ramp with a smirk on his face, not caring about the fact that he just cost the Harris Brothers a shot at the Tag Team titles. He pointed at Flair with the chair from the top of the ramp and said that Flair and Luger have no chance this Sunday at winning the titles.

Commercial Break

Thunder returns from the break to find DDP, Sting, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and Terry Funk standing around backstage talking when Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Elizabeth walk up. They congratulate them on the win, but Flair says he doesn’t want to be congratulated; he just wants to find Shane Douglas. They manage to calm him down and they talk about how they can’t let Russo and Bischoff get away with treating them like this. They say that they need to prove that they still have what it takes to be on top. Flair says Funk or Duggan must win the Hardcore title, Sting must win the United States title, DDP must beat Scott Steiner tonight and then beat Jeff Jarrett for the WCW title at Spring Stampede and he says that he and the Total Package will win the Tag Team titles. He says if they have gold, it proves that they still have what it takes to be here and to compete with the young guys. They then mention Bret Hart and wonder what he was doing on Nitro, and who’s side he’s on. Funk says that they can’t worry about Bret, because they’ve got matters to take care of tonight.

Shane Douglas vs. Konnan

Tenay says that this is a United States title tournament match, and a graphic appears on the screen during Konnan’s entrance with the brackets. Douglas vs. Konnan, Hugh Morrus vs. Curt Hennig, Booker T vs. Sting, Kidman vs. Bam Bam Bigelow are the four matches that we’ve got. Tenay says the semi-finals and final matches will take place at Spring Stampede. This was pretty much a glorified squash to get Douglas over as a real threat in the company and for the New Blood. Konnan put up a good fight though, but there was never a doubt as to the outcome. Douglas was able to put Konnan away with the Franchiser to advance to the semi-final.

Winner: Shane Douglas

Douglas isn’t finished though, as he picks Konnan up and hits the Pittsburgh Plunge before stomping away at him, prompting Ric Flair to run out with a steel chair in hand. Douglas leaves the ring and again, backs up the ramp. He shouts to Flair ‘not tonight Flair, but soon’. Tenay hopes they get it on in the ring soon where Flair can kick his ass.

Commercial Break

Hugh Morrus vs. Curt Hennig

This is another US title tournament match, and these two put on quite a display. Rumour has it that Morrus is in line for a bit of a push here under the new regime, although I personally don’t believe it. If so, it looks like Hennig is gonna be the first person he gets to beat on that road. Hennig didn’t look in the best of shape tonight, but an unfit Hennig is still better than most of the roster so he and Morrus put on a good match. Morrus got a near fall off the No Joke, but Hennig managed to get a foot on the rope. Hennig also scored a few near falls after some nice suplexes and a powerslam, but Morrus kept kicking out. The end of the match came when Morrus lined Hennig up for a clothesline, but Hennig ducked and used Hugh’s own momentum to throw him out of the ring. Hugh didn’t stay down long though, and dragged Hennig out of the ring feet first. The two brawled on the outside, and started to slowly head up the ramp, all the while the referee is getting closer to the 10 count. They were bashing each others head into the steel barricades, and neither Hennig or Morrus noticed when they ref’s counted reached 10 and he called for the bell, signalling the match a draw!

Winner: DRAW

Hennig and Morrus continued to brawl up the ramp way as Heenan surmised that Shane Douglas must get a bye to the final now, much like Jeff Jarrett did in the WCW World title tournament. Road agents spilled out on the walk way and managed to separate Morrus and Hennig, and Tenay noted that Hennig is a part of Russo and Bischoff’s New Blood group, so he might’ve been ordered to eliminate himself AND Hugh Morrus so Douglas only has to wrestle one match this Sunday. Heenan realised this and pretended that was what he just said.

We cut to the back where Billy Kidman and Eric Bischoff are watching the video from Nitro of their assault on Hogan. They start to laugh heavily when Kidman drives the chair into Hogan’s ribs repeatedly. Bischoff congratulates Kidman for destroying ‘Hulkamania’ like that and driving Hogan out of the business. Bischoff suggests they watch it again and goes to rewind it when Vampiro walks in and snatches the remote. He fast-forwards the tape to the part of the show just after the Hogan assault where he attacked Sting viciously in the back for no apparent reason. Bischoff and Kidman look at him as Vampiro gets a sick, sadistic look in his eyes before handing the remote back to Bischoff and leaving. Bischoff and Kidman turn to other, not knowing what to make of that at all.

Commercial Break

Sting vs. Booker T

This was another match in the United States title tournament that will conclude at Spring Stampede. These two had the best match on the card tonight. Tenay asked who’s side Booker T is on, and Heenan replied ‘he’s with the New Blood of course’ because he’s one of the guys that have been held down. Tenay says that he didn’t see Booker take part in the New Blood’s attack at the end of Nitro, and he said that he wasn’t there at the beginning of Thunder. Heenan said that Booker T does have a life, maybe he was off making babies or something. Sting took Booker to the outside and took him out with a baseball slide before beating him up around the ring. They get back inside and Booker takes the upper hand with a couple of chops and wild punches to the Stinger. Booker whipped Sting into the corner, but Sting reversed it and was able to get the Stinger splash, but couldn’t follow it up with anything as Booker summoned enough strength to hit the Harlem sidekick as both men fell down for the count. They both fought to their feet and exchanged blows before Booker tried to Irish whip Sting, but he reversed it and sent Booker across the ring. Sting tried a clothesline, but Booker ducked and tried for the Book End. But Sting managed to fight out of it and get behind Booker to hit the Scorpion Death Drop! Sting covered him…1…2…3!

Winner: Sting

Sting celebrated the victory, and as Booker T got to his feet he extended his hand to Booker T. Tenay says that we’re gonna get a good indication of who’s side Booker is on now! Booker looked around for a moment or two…before shaking Sting’s hand! The two hugged as Nitro went to a commercial.

Commercial Break

Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Billy Kidman w/ Eric Bischoff

Kidman didn’t have Torrie with him tonight, but instead had one of the figureheads of the New Blood in Eric Bischoff. Mike Tenay says that while Vince Russo favours Jeff Jarrett in WCW, Bischoff apparently sees big things in Kidman’s future and has taken a great interest in his career over the past couple of weeks. Bigelow was totally focused on the match here and didn’t pay any attention to Bischoff on the outside, except for the odd occasion where Bischoff would argue with the referee over something, Bigelow would turn and look at Bischoff, which made him step back and shut up. Bigelow, while incredibly agile for a man of his size, just couldn’t keep up with Kidman’s superior speed, and Kidman looked as if he could score a big upset. However, Bigelow managed to catch Kidman coming off the top rope for a hurricanrana and delivered a powerbomb, which should’ve got Bigelow the win, if not for Bischoff draping Kidman’s foot over the bottom rope. Bigelow saw this and left the ring to confront Bischoff, who ran around the ring until Bigelow ran right into a Kidman clothesline! Kidman smirked as Tenay shouted that Bigelow’s head cracked a steel chair that Kidman had just taken from under the ring! Kidman and Bischoff combined to roll Bigelow back into the ring where Billy Kidman went to the top rope and hit the Shooting Star Press to get the…1…2…3 and advance to face Sting this Sunday!

Winner: Billy Kidman

Bischoff got in the ring and raised Kidman’s hand high in the air, and Bischoff stepped back and gave Kidman a round of applause then turned a demanded that the crowd do the same.

We go to the back where ‘Mene’ Gene Okerlund is with Scott Steiner whose match against DDP is next. Okerlund asks Steiner if he is nervous, and Steiner replies by asking him if he looks nervous. ‘Mene’ Gene says no, but he says that DDP has the fans behind him tonight. Steiner says he couldn’t give a crap about the fans, and says he has his freaks behind him tonight. He says that after he beats ‘that old, washed up, decrepit has-been, who never will be again’ he’s going to go on to Spring Stampede and beat Jeff Jarrett…1…2…3 to become the new WCW champion, and lead the New Blood into a new era…the era of the Genetic Freak, the Big Bad Booty Daddy, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner! Steiner slapped the microphone away from ‘Mene’ Gene and walked off, leaving Okerlund to shake his head in dismay.

Commercial Break

Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page w/ Kimberly

The main event was finally here, and during the match we saw the Millionaire’s Club huddling around a TV set, rooting for DDP here. Many of Russo and Bischoff’s New Blood were watching the match as well, but notable by their absence were the Harris Brothers and Jeff Jarrett; the man who will face the winner of this match for the vacant WCW title this Sunday. Both DDP and Steiner did everything in their power to get the fans into the match, but the fans weren’t all that interested here. It didn’t help much that Steiner’s selling of DDP’s punches made it look as though Steiner was wrestling a jobber at times. Steiner hooked DDP up for a belly-to-belly, but DDP blocked it and managed to hit the Diamond Cutter! This is where all hell broke loose as the New Blood ran in through the crowd, but before they could reach the ring the Millionaire’s Club rushed down the ramp to cut them off! A big erupted at ringside that spilt out into the crowd and back up the ramp. There was still no Harris Brothers or Jarrett here during this mass brawl. A hoard of referee’s and road agents and other staff rushed down to try and separate the brawl, and during this, Lex Luger crept into the ring and delivered a stiff clothesline to Steiner! Luger than picked Steiner up and DDP hit the Diamond Cutter and made the cover. Luger left the ring and made the referee turn around as he counted…1…2…3!

Winner: Diamond Dallas Page

DDP got to his feet to celebrate, but didn’t have any time to soak up the fans cheers as Jeff Jarrett ran into the ring from nowhere and smashed his guitar over DDP’s head! Jarrett stood over DDP, with one foot on his chest and stood tall as Thunder drew to a close.

[TMM]

Saturday April 15th 2000

BREAKING NEWS CONCERNING SPRING STAMPEDE!!!

WCW.com can proudly announce that tomorrow night, live in Chicago, Illinois for WCW's Spring Stampede, the star of hot new film Ready Rumble, David Arquette is set to be in attendance and will be the special quest ring announcer for the duration of the pay-per-view!

That's right, the star of Ready to Rumble, Arquette is a huge wrestling fan and had this to say upon this news. "I'm hugely honoured to have been given this opportunity to take part in a WCW pay-per-view this Sunday. I grew up watching Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair so this is like a dream come true for me." When asked about Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff's New Blood group, Arguette didn't seem to be happy. "I think what Russo and Bischoff are doing is wrong. Flair, Hogan, Luger, Duggan and those guys are real legends in wrestling and shouldn't be treated the way they've been treated in the past week. I've lost any respect I ever had for Bischoff and Russo."

Arquette's move Ready to Rumble was released last week in cinema's across America and looks to be a huge smash in the box office!

[Cole]

The storylines are going well..

One suggestion I have it too maybe un-clutter some of the text (when you are explaining what someone said) Just to make it a bit more readable.

[Guest UmpireAJS]

okay stuff... BUT DAVID ARQUETTE!!!! Whatever he does, please dont let him interfere in the big matches, let alone wrestle.

[wrestlingsuicide]

*start sarcasm*

Where's the love for Arquette?

I for one am sick of watching wrestlers in wrestling. It's about time that we brought in the actors!

Push him to the MOON!

*end sarcasm*

I think you could do a better job of formatting your shows. Really. It's a bit cluttery indeed. Overall, you've had a decent start. Just keep the ball rolling.

[TMM]

okay stuff... BUT DAVID ARQUETTE!!!! Whatever he does, please dont let him interfere in the big matches, let alone wrestle.

←

Uh, I guarantee David Arquette will never win the WCW title...how's that?

*start sarcasm*

Where's the love for Arquette?

I for one am sick of watching wrestlers in wrestling. It's about time that we brought in the actors!

Push him to the MOON!

*end sarcasm*

I think you could do a better job of formatting your shows. Really. It's a bit cluttery indeed. Overall, you've had a decent start. Just keep the ball rolling.

←

Thanks for that. I'm gonna space it out some more on my next Nitro. For pay-per-views I'm going to try a more...uh, usual style of reviewing with me writing out promos and such. But only for PPV's.

Next show is Worldwide, and I'm writing that out in sorta one line bits for each segment because writing three shows is a chore.