WCW: The Powers That Be (and beyond)

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Sunday October 17th 1999

- I know you loved the old reviewer but sadly he left the website last week. Just like Eric Bischoff, the guy poured millions down the drain hiring C-list rock stars, and our webmaster decided it would be best to send him home. With that my name is Chris Wilson and I’m the new guy reviewing WCW Nitro, Thunder and the pay per views. That’s right; I will be subjecting myself to World Championship Wrestling for up to eight hours-worth a week, so feel free to send me some suicide hotline numbers just in case.

- Tomorrow’s Nitro is extremely important as it will be the first booked by former WWF writers: Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera. There’s speculation over what will happen on the show, especially as it’ll only be six days until Halloween Havoc. Not to worry though, I’m sure the two minute overbooked matches, soap opera storylines and Madusa covering her nipples with black paint will be in full swing by next Monday.

- Seeing as it’s my first column, I may as well give a quick rundown of the shenanigans in WCW leading up to tomorrow’s show. How many angles will actually continue under the new creative team is debatable.

World Championship Wrestling – A Rundown

- In a genius move by the WCW braintrust, Sting turned heel in the process of winning the WCW World Title off Hulk Hogan at Fall Brawl. Most of the main eventers have turned heel at least once in 1999 alone, leaving fans with nobody to cheer for, alienating them in the process. Sting has been teaming up with The Total Package and Diamond Dallas Page over the past month against Hogan, Bret Hart and Ric Flair in a fairly even if bland faction war. The feud has consisted mainly of generic promos and random matches between the six, with the only highlight being Sting whacking the shit out of Hogan knee with his trusty baseball bat. Bret Hart’s match on Sunday will be his first PPV outing since World War III last November. In fact, he sat out less events because of Owen’s death than simply being in no notable angles.

- The Total Package ridded himself of the Lex Luger name, getting a new entrance and manager in Miss Elizabeth in order to repackage himself. I would say this is like New Coke, but Lex Luger wasn’t that good in the first place.

- Since the summer, Sid Vicious has created a winning streak ala the Goldberg one from last year. Sid’s streak consists of interfering in other people’s matches, pinning them and counting it towards the streak. Many have complained over how absurd the angle is when the whole tainted streak thing is kind of the point. Sid *could* build up a proper streak, but that would require a year plus of him dominating everyone in the ring… Yeah, I bet you like the tainted streak now. Goldberg has finally crossed paths with Sid and the two are supposed to have a showdown next Sunday at Las Vegas. The two weren’t supposed to touch each other until then, but Goldberg speared the shit out of Sid at the end of last week’s Nitro, so who knows if what direction the match will take because of it.

- Kevin Nash lost a career match at Road Wild, and is enjoying retirement a lot more than a wrestler should. He gets a paycheck guaranteed, leaving him able to turn up to the front-row at Nitro or at a commentary table on Thunder. For some reason, Scott Hall’s been allowed to join him getting blind drunk, but looking back at past history that’s not a good idea. At all.

- Chris Benoit’s had the busiest month of his career: losing to Sting by DQ in a World Title match, going 29 minutes with Bret Hart in the greatest match in Nitro history and winning the Television title. Meanwhile Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn decided to take shortcuts; cheating to beat members of the Filthy Animals, something which made Benoit and Dean Malenko leave the stable due to ethical reasons. So the Revolution looks to be all over just three months after the stable formed. While a tag team feud between the four would be a workrate-orgy, you’ve got to feel that it’d be huge stepback in Benoit’s attempt to finally reach main event status.

- Harlem Heat reformed and became nine time champions at Fall Brawl. Now they must face their biggest challenge yet… Hugh Morrus and Brian Knobbs?! The best challengers they could come up with were two fat bastards from the Hardcore division accompanied by the Manager of Jobbers: Jimmy Hart?!? Booker and Stevie have also had problems with Sid Vicious and Rick Steiner in a feud that’s remained exclusive to WCW Thunder. It’s about as interesting as it sounds…

- Psychosis became the Cruiserweight champion when Lenny and Lodi were kicked off TV by Turner executives for being evil homosexuals. Psychosis defended the title against Disco Inferno only to lose the gold, and now Disco will face Lash Leroux at Halloween Havoc. Again, that’s the best they could come up with? No disrespect, but there’s a reason why Kidman, Mysterio and Juventud dominated the division for so long. They did death-defying spots to wow the audience, which IS the cruiserweight division at the end of the day. Disco versus Lash clearly will not reach those standards.

- Goldust/Dustin Rhodes has appeared in several vignettes. Riding on a horse and looking through a zany window of doom towards a child, he has warned that bad things are coming to WCW. Rumour has it that the Turner executives want to axe that character too as people might think he’s an evil child predator. In a product where women are rare, they’re afraid they will bring in children to be sexually assaulted by this character? Well at least it’s a good excuse to hire Reid Flair.

- Last week on Thunder, La Parka teamed up with Buff Bagwell only for Buff to attack him out of frustration. Is this even going to branch out into an angle? Or was the use of La Parka a strange way to cover-up a no-show from Bagwell’s actual partner whoever he may be?

- Berlyn, TAFKA Alex Wright, re-debuted in a gimmick combining Hitler and the Columbine High School killers (too soon?). He hates America so much that he refuses to speak the language anymore. Alongside his bodyguard (name: Berlyn’s Bodyguard), he defeated Jim Duggan at Fall Brawl. With the biggest patriot down and out, who else could step up and defend America? The answer was found in… Brad Armstrong?! October must the official: “Is this the best they could come with?!” month or something. Armstrong’s done *such* a great job in the role so far that he’s come across as xenophobic.

- Finally last week on Nitro, David Flair got into a spot of bother with Curt Hennig. In true manly fashion, David got his Dad to sort him out.

- The current WCW champions:

• World Champion: Sting (Won: September 12th 1999)

• United States Champion: Sid Vicious (Won: September 12th 1999)

• Television Champion: Chris Benoit (Won: September 13th 1999)

• Cruiserweight Champion: Disco Inferno (Won: October 4th 1999)

• Tag Team Champions: Harlem Heat (Won: September 12th 1999)

- And there you have it. I don’t even know why I brought you up to date with all the angles, seeing as they’ll likely change very quickly. Maybe it’s for the best that they did... Even though still having Chris Jericho and Raven would’ve made them stronger, WCW’s roster quality far outweighs the WWF’s. Yet it has the inability to push the right types of wrestlers. Look at the Halloween Havoc card for example: the Filthy Animals, Douglas, Saturn and Malenko aren’t booked while Hugh Morrus, Brian Knobbs, Berlyn and Brad Armstrong are. ‘Nuff said.

- Anyway, make sure you check back on the website tomorrow night after WCW Monday Nitro for my official review of the show.

Edited May 20, 2007 by God-Awful

[Elwood83]

It sounds promising.. I'll keep an eye on it..

Alex Wright and The Wall Alol or whatever he was called wasn't so bad after all..

And frankly speaking I'm very interesting who you will introduce Jeff Jarrett in the whole situation..

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Monday October 18th 1999

- Before I begin, I would like to thank AD for creating the incredible graphics for my reports. It’s amazing the things you can do with Microsoft Paint and Cool Text.com.

- As mentioned in last night’s column, tonight’s show is the first one written by former WWF writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera. If there happens to be a dramatic change in the show’s look and feel from tonight, you know who to blame/thank.

- Live from Philadelphia, PA. Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

- We start with Mean Gene interviewing the heel team of World champion Sting, DDP and Total Package. Package tries to put himself over by giving his partners introductions and saying he doesn’t need one because we know why he’s great already. Uh, no we don’t. He then proclaims Hogan, Flair and Hart should retire before their careers become a joke… Pot, kettle, black. Sting talks about how there’s been a faction war going on as of late, and how it’ll end on Sunday when the three faces will be retired in one night (yeah right). So for old time’s sake, he challenges Hogan, Flair and Hart to a six-man tag for tonight’s main event in a No DQ match. I think they added the stipulation to hide how they’ve ran this main event several times already since Fall Brawl. The faces come out to respond, mainly Hulk Hogan cutting a 1980’s style promo about Hulkamania being the fans, and that it’ll never die. Within the cornball, the challenge is accepted. The Nature Boy gets on the microphone. He is pissed at DDP for failing to show up last week. Flair couldn’t kick his ass then, so he’ll kick it twice as much tonight. Page replies by telling him he was in Hollywood last week, but he’s up to date with what’s what, namely how Flair fought for his son David against Curt Hennig. Page warns that Ric shouldn’t be concerned over kicking his ass; rather over who’ll kick David’s. The Nature Boy wants a piece of Page, but Package tells him to back off until the main event so there’s no excuse when they lose to them. Bret Hart gets the microphone and calls out the Total Package deal being a lame makeover. He can see right through the new entrance, manager and the shitload of steroids taken, promising to expose Package as the same beatable man as before. We end with mild arguing as Mean Gene wraps up the segment…

- WCW Cruiserweight title: Disco Inferno © vs. Psychosis. Psychosis has apparently cashed in his rematch clause, leaving Disco to defend the belt just six days before his “big” match against Lash Leroux. If facing Lash is a big match, El Dandy must be a career-making one. The element of Disco’s cruiserweight by size and Psychosis’ cruiserweight by style makes for a surprisingly interesting match. Psychosis shows off too much, and gets thrown to the outside. Inferno threatens a suicide dive, rebounding off the opposite ropes only to do a disco dance! A double ax-handle smash attempt from the champ backfires. The challenger goes up top, flies off with his awful looking Guillotine Legdrop and misses. Inferno whips him to the ropes, only for Psychosis to slip behind him. After a moment of confusion and fuck-uppery: KICK! WHAM! LAST DANCE JAWBREAKER! Disco makes the pinfall to retain his title. Good match, just a shame about the ending. **

- Backstage, Buff Bagwell bumps into Terry Taylor. Terry says that the new WCW management will takeover at Halloween Havoc, but they want to start making an impact tonight. They want Buff to face their mystery pet project. Well to be more precise, they want Buff to deliberately lose to him. Bagwell tells Terry to tell the new management to “stick it”.

- Hardcore match: Booker T & Stevie Ray vs. Jerry Flynn & The Barbarian (w/Jimmy Hart). Jimmy Hart convinced officials to put the champs in a “warm up match” against the two other members of the First Family according to Schiavone. Gotta love the officials’ partiality… This is as predictable as a hardcore match gets - a five minute barrage of throwing weapons with no rhyme or reason. Flynn and Barbarian dominate a lot of the match, but they eventually succumb to an axe kick onto a chair and a Slapjack onto a stop sign to end a dull match. Afterwards Brian Knobbs and Hugh Morrus ambush Harlem Heat. Morrus does a No Laughing Matter on Booker through a table while Stevie Ray gets the weight of a fat bastard and a trash can onto his ribs. The EMT’s come out to check on the champs afterwards. Note to WCW: there IS such a thing known as a good hardcore match, with psychology, build-up, strategy, the works! Please try it sometime instead of feeding us this crap… ¾*

- In the locker room, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko are lacing up their boots with silent but violent intensity~! Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn enter, with Douglas telling them the Revolution wasn’t supposed to fall apart like this. Benoit blames the downfall on Shane and Saturn cheating to win, when the stable was supposed to be about making their way to the top of the company through their own conditions of just wrestling. The Franchise tells them to wake up. It’s nearly the 21st century, and wrestling has become about taking any means necessary, kicking ass and taking no names. He has a good point there actually. Douglas and Saturn cheapshot their former partners and they have to be broken up by referees and road agents who just so happened to be hanging around outside the locker room.

- Buff Bagwell comes out for his match. His opponent and the new management’s pet project is… “Super Presidente” (super chairman) La Parka. They’ve painted his skeleton suit and chair gold and claimed he climbed up a mountain in Mexico and had a chance meeting with a God. The God gave him special powers, and now he’s back in WCW to get revenge on Buff Bagwell for his actions from last week’s Thunder. I wish I could have as productive weekends as La Parka.

- Buff Bagwell vs. “Super Presidente” La Parka. Of course with the new gimmick, La Parka ends up doing the job in a minute and a half; an atomic drop, fisherman’s suplex and Buff Blockbuster enough to put him away. After the match, Jeff Jarrett returns to WCW, one night after jobbing to Chyna at WWF No Mercy. He blasts Bagwell with the guitar, yelling at him not to “mess with The Powers That Be” whoever they may be. They’re stealing names from Angel now?! ¾*

- Leading into the second half of the show, we get our second fix of Mean Gene goodness for the night. He has a document concerning the nature of Goldberg versus Sid Vicious on Sunday, but unless WCW want to commit buyrate suicide, it’s safe to say the match is on. Before he can read it though, Sid makes his way to the ring. The Millennium Man hopes that the match gets cancelled, not because he’s afraid of Goldberg, but because he knows what makes Goldberg tick. By taking away his opportunity, it’ll do more than what any physical damage could do. The logic of that would’ve made sense if Sid hadn’t butchered the English language on the way. Eventually Bill Goldberg makes his presence known, taking part in a staring contest with Sid. Gene reads out the official decision: the match is still on, but Goldberg has been punished for touching Sid when the contract forbid it by losing his chance at winning the United States Title for sixty days. It doesn’t matter to Goldberg, as all he wants is Sid anyway. Suddenly the two get into a huge brawl, again the officials pile in to break it up. The crowd goes mental when Goldberg spears Sid and three referees at the same time. After a few moments, the two are finally restrained and held apart to end the segment. While we could’ve gone without Sid’s incoherent speech, the segment became more intense as it moved along and it was a great advert for Halloween Havoc.

- Right before the tag match between Saturn/Douglas and Benoit/Malenko, Shane Douglas gets on the microphone. With his arm in a cast, he isn’t cleared to wrestle, so he’s gotten himself a replacement instead…

- Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Perry Saturn & Rick Steiner (w/Shane Douglas). Benoit and Malenko dominate in the beginning with Steiner actually selling some of the offence! Tagging in and out frequently, the former Horsemen/Revolution members give their opponents a wrestling clinic. However the DFG responds with a low blow. Benoit is winded, and becomes isolated as a result. Several times, Malenko gets incited to run into the ring, the referee’s attempts at restraining him give Saturn and Steiner the perfect opportunity to do some double-teaming. Saturn locks Benoit into a sleeper hold. The Canadian Crippler breaks free, makes the tag, but not before the referee is distracted therefore not seeing the tag. Man, referees are fucking idiots aren’t they? With Dean sent back to the corner, Chris suffers more until he does an enzurgi out of desperation and finally makes the tag! The tag format breaks down within Malenko’s flurry of assault. Benoit and Steiner brawl to the outside, while Shane Douglas throws the lethal dog chain of doom to Perry Saturn. Saturn wraps it around his fist, goes to swing at Dean but stops at the sight of his ex-ally. Malenko yells: “Don’t do it!” Saturn looks indecisive over what to do, and against Shane’s wishes, he drops the chain and rolls out to ringside. Saturn and Douglas get into an argument, enough to distract the referee and Malenko. Rick Steiner whips Benoit into the steel steps, climbs in the ring and knocks out Dean with the chain instead. He makes the pinfall for the victory. As it turns out, Saturn and Douglas were play-acting and are friends after all. Awwww. An after-match attack is halted by Benoit storming the ring, his look of intensity face enough to scare them away. A solid if disappointing match. It would be the cliché thing to blame Rick Steiner for the rating not being higher, but nobody else is at fault here. **1/2

- Backstage, Davey Boy Flair is rummaging through his locker when Kimberly Page appears, wearing nothing but bra and panties. Yup, this is definitely booked by ol’ sexless Russo. It’s blatant a ploy to distract David, who gets beat-down by DDP. Page then points out the obviousness of the swerve for us fans of dramatic irony. This segment was saved by Kim’s fun-bags.

- Elsewhere backstage, because who cares about the live audience anyway, Mean Gene interviews Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett is back in WCW because of “The Powers That Be”, the elaborate name of the new management of WCW fronted by Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera. He feels that he got screwed over in the WWF due to having no stroke, but he has it now. Russo and Ferrera are going to push him towards the WCW World title as they see him as the future of the company (oh boy). The reason Jarrett attacked Bagwell was to show his gratitude towards the PTB, and to show what will happen when somebody ignores their orders. Buff is selfish because he didn’t want to lose to La Parka, and now he’s destroyed the young kid’s career for the sake of his ego. Jarrett makes the challenge for Sunday at Halloween Havoc, himself versus Buff Bagwell, “now choke on that slapnuts”! How the hell can you choke and slap someone’s nuts at the same time? Maybe I should ask Lenny and Lodi…

- No disqualification match: Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair & Bret Hart vs. Sting, The Total Package & Diamond Dallas Page. The match is kick-started when Ric attacks Page during his entrance, angry about the David incident backstage. Package and Sting go to help Page only for Hogan and Hart to arrive and even the sides. DDP and Flair brawl through the crowd while the others enter ringside. Due to the no-DQ stipulation, the tag format is ignored, equaling three brawls at once in different areas to make things seem exciting when they aren’t really. Hogan channels his Hollywood side on Sting with back rakes and eye gouges while Hart and Package brawl on the outside. Nitro goes backstage where Page and Flair have ended up. After more brawling, Kimberly (w/clothes) appears and is used as a human shield by DDP. It’s a set-up; Kim kicks Flair in the balls before she and her husband leave the arena via a waiting limo. Flair clearly yells out: “Fuck”. Take that Turner censors! In the arena, there’s more WWF style brawling but with the energy of a dim lightbulb. Package grabs the baseball bat, jabs Hart in the gut before handing the weapon to Sting, who uses it on Hogan. Sting trashes the knee with the bat before Luger joins in on double-teaming Hulk. There’s more boring moves, Hulk tries to Hulk-up moments later but is brought down to size with the bat again. Eventually he finds himself in the Scorpion Death Lock. The Hitman sneaks in, snatches the bat from Package and levels him with it, before whacking Sting in the bat in order for him to release the Death Lock. Hart clotheslines TP to the outside while Hogan whips Sting to the ropes, big boots him and plants the legdrop. Hulk makes the pin, and gets the pinfall victory on the World champ six days before his title shot at Halloween Havoc. The match had much more than described, but it was dull brawling, dull power moves from the 1980s (eg: a body slam) and just dull in general. *

- THE FINAL VERDICT. You’ve got to hand it to Russo and Ferrera for keeping things consistent heading into a pay per view on Sunday. Many on-going feuds haven’t been screwed around with, and stripping Goldberg of the US title shot was a genius way to getting out of booking themselves into a corner. Signs of the future are apparent too in the Powers That Be, although I’m concerned how Jeff Jarrett stated his plans of becoming World champ just a day after jobbing to a roided lady with a giant penis. As far as the show goes, there were good things and bad things in the matches and angles – so my thumbs stay firmly in the middle for now. And maybe the true tests for Russo/Ferrera will come when they get total control of storylines/angles come Sunday.

- That’s it for Nitro. I’ll be one of seventeen people who’ll be watching Thunder over Smackdown on Thursday so check back on the website afterwards for a report. Until then, take care, and don’t forget to mail me with some feedback!

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Thursday October 21st 1999

- Taped from Baton Rogue, Louisana. Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko are your hosts.

- Rey Mysterio Jr, Konnan & Billy Kidman (w/Eddie Guerrero & Torrie Wilson) vs. Psychosis, Juventud Guerrera & Silver King. Mysterio and Psychosis begin by breaking out swift cruiserweight moves and chain linking wrestling and various flips to the delight of the crowd. Both men tag out bringing in Kidman and King. Billy’s array of leg scissor takedowns sends King dizzily to the outside. He gets on all fours, a springboard for Mysterio to leap to the outside! Guerrera and Kidman follow with their own suicide dives. Poor Psychosis tries one of his own only to be floored by Konnan. Konnan, being the only heavyweight in the match, makes his presence felt with an array of offence topped by a facebuster on Juvi. A pin attempt gets broken up. Moments later, legal man Mysterio finds himself bridged on Guerrera’s knee while Psychosis executes his terrible looking Guillotine legdrop. That guy badly needs a new finisher. A melee results from the double team, with only Konnan and Silver King remaining in the ring out the six. King surprises K-Dawg with a springboard moonsault, but falls victim to the rolling clothesline and Tequila Sunrise soon after, tapping out to give the Filthy Animals the victory. **½

- It’s Mean Gene interview time; his guests are the Tag Team champs: Harlem Heat. Booker and Stevie’s ribs are heavily taped from the Fat Family’s attack on Nitro. Gene *demands* to know why they’ve accepted a title match against Sid Vicious and Rick Steiner tonight when they’re in no condition to wrestle. To put it simply, Booker says they’ll never back down from a challenge as long as they’re still standing, and will do whatever it takes to remain the best tag team in WCW. It’s established that they’ll face the First Family at Havoc win or lose tonight, but Booker is very confident that they’ll still have the gold come Sunday. Stevie wraps it up by calling Knobbs and Morrus “nothing more than couple of cereal eating fat sack fruit booties”. The man’s got a good point about the cereal consumption…

- Eddie Guerrero (w/Konnan) vs. Curt Hennig. I’ve heard rumours that the rest of the West Texas Rednecks were released a few weeks ago, If that’s true why is Curt still coming out to “Rap Is Crap”? They evenly match each other until Hennig chop blocks the back of Eddie’s knee. Curt works on the area, propping the leg on the rope and slamming his weight against it. Guerrero comes back with several close pinfall attempts and a sweet snap suplex, but his leg buckles when he climbs to the top rope, falling to the canvas as a result. Hennig continues working on the leg with a single legged Boston Crab. Guerrero agonizingly reaches the bottom rope to break the hold. Curt becomes frustrated, allowing Guerrero’s momentum to grow back. Eddie executes the brainbuster and heads to the top. His knee’s in pain so it takes him an age to reach his destination, at which time Hennig is up and at the corner too. They slug it out until Curt sets up the superplex. Guerrero pushes him to the ground, and leaps off for a Frog Splash to grab the pinfall victory. A surprisingly good match with psychology used, they should let these two go longer than six minutes. **½

- Exclusive footage from Nitro is shown with Mike Tenay interviewing Buff Bagwell after being El Kabong’ed by Jeff Jarrett. Bagwell talks about how he’s come into his own as a singles superstar. In the summer, he defeated two legends in Roddy Piper and Ric Flair, and then capitalized on it by feuding with The Cat over a pair of ruby slippers. He feels he could be the future of WCW. But the The Powers That Be want to come in and tell him to lose to some idiot with a golden chair and totally kill his momentum. He says that there’s only one person in control of Buff’s destiny and that’s Buff. He accepts Jarrett’s challenge for Sunday, promising to make him look like the idiot he is.

- Madusa vs. Mona. Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah are facing each other on Smackdown at the same time as this. It really sucks to be WCW right now when you’re being beat in the ratings by two mouldy eighty year old women. This is a nothing match between two of Randy Savage’s former ho’s. There’s a mild attempt of athleticism here and there, but the match is thankfully put out of its misery when Madusa does a bridged German Suplex for the pin. ½*

- Revolution members Shane Douglas and Perry Saturn cut a promo in the ring. Douglas preaches about Benoit and Malenko making a great mistake by leaving the Revolution. So he and Saturn decided to go teach them a lesson on turning their backs over a little thing like ethics. We cut to a video from earlier today in a hotel lobby, recording with a (piss-poor) camcorder peering over a couch. Malenko and Benoit walk through the lobby to check out when their former partners ambush them from out of nowhere. Dean is pushed into a nearby elevator while Benoit gets mauled in front of “shocked” passers-by. We even get a badly acted attendant that pleads them to stop only to get punched to the ground for good measure. Going back to the arena, Douglas promises there is more to come, especially when it’s revealed who the cameraman is. Thinking about it, they DO have Goldust on the roster now! In my opinion, the segment was terrible. Why did they feel the need to do a beatdown in a place they’ve probably had to rent out to do so when it would’ve been far more effective just doing it backstage? What was up with the bad acting? And shouldn’t they be saving this feud until AFTER Benoit’s match with Rick Steiner at Halloween Havoc?

- Jim Duggan vs. Berlyn (w/his bodyguard). At last, the long awaited rematch from Fall Brawl! Duggan chants: “USA!” a whole lot to some interested fans. Berlyn unleashes his fury by letting Jim beat the shit out of him for 95% of the match. Did you know that “Zbyszko” could get you 152 points in Scrabble if it’s on the triple letter score and if you use all your letters at the same time? Thanks to the boredom that is Duggan being on the offensive, now you know… The obvious thing happens: Berlyn’s bodyguard interferes, leading into Berlyn’s reverse neckbreaker to cost Duggan the match. When the Nazis attack post-match, Brad Armstrong makes the save, thus ending the hype for Halloween Havoc’s popcorn match. DUD

- Come on WCW, you were doing excellently until the women’s match!

- In the backstage area, the Filthy Animals are walking down a corridor. They discuss how well they’ve done tonight, until Konnan chimes in the fact that the Filthy Animals have made little impact so far in WCW. Do I smell dissention? Well no, everybody agrees with him, probably still having nightmares over the feud they had with a pair of rapping clowns. They promise themselves to make a huge impact starting Sunday from Halloween Havoc. Being booked for the event would be a good start…

- Lash Leroux vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. Disco went to the WCW officials and complained about having to defend his title so close to the pay per view on Nitro, so now Lash must defend his #1 contenders spot. The officials must be heels and/or stupid. Leroux is outclassed at first by Chavo, becoming disorientated by an armdrag and monkey flips within moments of each other. Chavo whips Lash to the corner and runs after him. Leroux flips him over, but Guerrero holds onto the ropes and slingshots back into a sweet looking DDT. Chavo attempts a vertical suplex, is prevented and lifted onto the apron. Lash blocks a punch and brings him in the ring with a suplex. Leroux heads to the top rope and connects perfectly with a cross body block. Lash shows off his funky sideburns to the Cajun crowd, the distraction a rookie mistake as Guerrero pushes him against the ropes. Chavo plants a knee to the back of the neck. He follows it up by placing Lash on the top turnbuckle and executing a huge belly to back suplex from the top rope. A pinfall somehow doesn’t end the match. Chavo goes for a brainbuster. Lash slips out of it, punches Chavo once, twice, twirls, does the splits, and knocks him down on the third punch. He does numeral clotheslines before trying to grapple Chavo. Guerrero kicks him in the gut however and charges with him to the ropes. Lash holds on causing Chavo to roll back. Guerrero misses a clothesline, and Lash gets him up into the Whiplash! The pinfall gets the victory. Thinking about it, Leroux could help change cruiserweight wrestling from luchador-style suicidal wrestling to something more technical, because this was definitely a solid effort! **¼

- At the rampway, Mean Gene interviews “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. When asked about the incidents from Monday, Flair says it’s disappointing that Page has gone so low that he needs to involve his son David in their feud. What he does find interesting though is how Kimberly has suddenly gotten involved too. He implies that maybe Kimberly is there as a way to gain access to ride Space Mountain again and again. First Page, then Flair, do you think Kim’s will EVER have sex with anybody under age 50? Ric promises to send his own little message on Sunday, showing him why he’s the Dirtiest Player in the Game by beating the shit out of DDP. WOOOO!!! And that’s the end of that. If Russo/Ferrera logic kick-starts itself on Sunday, Kimberly will swerve on Page, run away with David Flair, get pregnant, collide with D-Lo Brown and have a miscarriage by Christmas.

- WCW Tag Team titles: Booker T & Stevie Ray © vs. Sid Vicious & Rick Steiner. Michael Buffer does the ring introductions, giving further evidence why WCW stands to lose $15 million this year. As expected, Sid and Rick work on the injured ribs on Harlem Heat, aiming all shots and moves in that area. Booker is cornered, receiving shoulder barges from Rick and a gutbuster from Sid. Sid brings Booker to his feet and executes a very weak bearhug, which Book has to bring himself to pretend it’s almost rendering him unconscious. The crowd encourages him until he successfully gets out of the hold (as if there was ever any doubt) before knocking Vicious silly with a Harlem Sidekick. Booker tags Stevie, Stevie charges in, pummeling Sid and tossing Steiner into the ring. Harlem Heat team-up to clothesline Sid to the outside. They then gang up on Rick, Stevie’s atomic drop led into Booker’s axe kick. Vicious enters the ring with a steel chair and weakly wipes out both men with it, during a DQ win for the champs. Sid and Rick Steiner beat down Harlem Heat in the rib area until “Invasion” plays. Goldberg comes charging down the ring. Just as he slides into the ring to attack, WCW Thunder runs out of time and ends. Way to go there production crew. The tag match itself was formulaic and crap. *

- THE FINAL VERDICT. Thumbs up, but only just. There were three strong matches and a few good promos, but there was still a lot of crap to sift through. This show was taped a week ago and while there was some forethought on continuing from the old/new direction of Nitro, this was definitely old school Thunder. What Russo/Ferrera will do with Thunder’s direction come next week’s tapings is entirely up to them. But for fuck’s sake, you’re competing with Smackdown here, at least make an effort with the main event matches.

- Ratings news from Monday: Nitro did a 5.03 rating while Raw did a 6.83 equaling a huge difference of 1.80. Russo and Ferrera taking over quite logically didn’t do any difference to Nitro’s ratings. Logically in who the hell cares who’s writing what as long as the final product’s good? It has been almost eleven months since Nitro last beat Raw in the ratings.

- Coming up Sunday is the Halloween Havoc report so stay tuned for that. Until then, take care!

Edited May 17, 2007 by God-Awful

[IDOL]

THE GOOD:

- There are hints that you are going to be pushing the Filthy Animals a bit more, and that can only be great for the stale as alll hell tag-team division that is going on right now.

- Just overall, the humor used in the report. It's not overly smarkish, there's some great humor, and I know this will allow you to pump out the goods, so I pretty much love the new style.

- Lash Leroux picking up the win over Chavo, can he pull an upset at Havoc?

THE BAD:

- You can tell it's Thunder when a match like Harlem Heat vs. Steiner/Sid Main Events. Can't blame you for being realistic though, lol.

- I never liked when they had guys attack each other in hotels either, and the cheesy acting from "Hotel Staff" would certainly be bad, even though we know in reality its a plant.

- Duggan vs. Berlyn. People wonder why the gimmick never got over and pretty much killed Wright's career. Let him wrestle Duggan and Armstrong, WCW - the fans will certainly care then!

OVERALL: A solid edition of Thunder, and I like how this new format gives you the freedom to vent on how some of the segments might be taken by an actual writer. Keep up the good work man, I'll be reading (Y).

[Draevyn]

Okay, I don't have a lot to say at this point, mainly because I don't have time, However, I did want to tell you that while I said I didn't like this style, your booking has been pretty good. My only question comes to the fact of how you're going to pick apart your own booking later on when the storylines finally become yours. Are you going to be able to keep this cynical style report for your own stuff?

Now I'm not sure if you were dissing Lash and Disco, but if you were, kick to the nuts for you my good man because both Lash and Disco=money! Both Bagwell/Jarrett as well as DDP/Flair have great potential, if booked right, so that interests me. You might be able to pull of Sting's heel turn but somehow I doubt it without fully written out promos. Also I'm going to call for the obligatory Hennig push, as well as La Parka. DO EET!

Overall, besides the style, it's a pretty good read.

[Gabriel]

I'm loving this style, and enjoying everything but the Tag Team division right now. Though granted, it hasn't had much exposure aside from Harlem Heat against a couple of shitty thrown together tandems.

The main event programs are working extremely well, and as always, I love WCW's undercard... except Berlyn. I love the character though, and hope that you find a way to make it work. Alex Wright was much too talented for WCW to just leave him hanging like they did.

Starting with your next show (Havoc), I'll probably be posting more show specific replies. This is good stuff though, and I hope that even as you try to improve the booking, you can keep a sort of WCW Trainwreck style to it.

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Sunday October 24th 1999

- A few columnists on this and other sites have said it and I’ll agree with them, the true test for “The Powers That Be” as a creative unit will be tonight. Nitro was nothing more than a Halloween Havoc hype show and a testing ground for some ideas, but nothing that reeked of Russo/Ferrera’s WWF days. I’ve had e-mails from many people doubting that Russo/Ferrera will even inject the Attitude product into WCW, but they definitely will. Why go against a successful formula? I don’t advocate the bastardized Jerry Springer style crash TV crap; but it’s been an undeniable ratings success. The problem I see though is WCW being on the conservative Turner Networks. If the cameras cut away from any shots of blood, how the hell will the inevitable vampire angle work?

- Ratings news for Thunder: it did a 4.54 while Smackdown did a 5.87. At the moment, Smackdown is beating Nitro in the ratings too. Will Heat overtake it too? Never say never.

- Live from Las Vegas, Nevada. Tony Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan are your hosts. The set has been recycled from last year’s event.

- WCW Cruiserweight title: Disco Inferno © vs. Lash Leroux. We have a 1970s throwback and a man with sideburns, yet people claim there’s no characters in the Cruiserweight division?! Disco is overconfident, letting Lash get the first shot, making a fool out of the champion. Inferno rolls to the outside for a time-out. Leroux tries to grab the champ over the apron and gets snapped neck first into the ropes as a result. The champ takes control with some basic moves, topping it off with an atomic drop and swinging neckbreaker. Leroux comes back with a leg scissors takedown and a bulldog for the two. Lash goes to grapple the champion but is kicked in the stomach and given the Macarena (jumping) Piledriver for a two count. Neither man has even tried a top rope move yet by the way. A quick tussle later and Lash has Inferno up for a meltdown, Disco slips behind. KICK! WHAM! LAST DANCE JAWBREAKER! He makes the pin for the victory. Dull and nowhere near as good as their respective matches from this past week. The obvious Wrath inference for that Meltdown attempt didn’t happen either. *½

- WCW Tag Team titles: Booker T & Stevie Ray © vs. Brian Knobbs & Hugh Morrus (w/Jimmy Hart). Tony tries to put over the First Family being 100lbs heavier without realising Harlem Heat’s finishing moves don’t require any lifting of sorts. The match begins with a brawl to accommodate the challengers’ (only) strengths with Booker getting whipped into the steel steps. In the ring, they continually splash Stevie in the bad ribs. Hugh atomic drops him, holding on until Knobbs runs off the ropes and clotheslines him. The First Family celebrates executing a wrestling move properly. Booker eventually gets in the ring, but being weakened, he is dominated too. Knobbs shoves his armpit into Booker’s face to mildly irritate his nose~! The normal tag team match format happens with Stevie being locked in a camel clutch until he electric chairs Hugh Morrus to get out of it. Booker is tagged in and he clears house. Knobbs goes under the ring apron and retrieves a trash can. He swings it at Book, but hits Hugh instead. Hugh turns around into the axe kick and that’s all she wrote. Thankfully. *¼

- Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, or Homer and Barney as I like to call them, are sat in the front row downing beers.

- Halloween Havoc cuts to a crazy Goldust/Dustin Rhodes vignette where he’s talking to the child through the zany window again. I thought Turner had banned this character? Anyway he promises that in a few short weeks, he will bring darkness and death in WCW for he is… The American Nightmare (get it?). Why should the kid care anyway? He watches the WWF like all the cool kids do!

- Brad Armstrong vs. Berlyn (w/his bodyguard). Winner gets to main event Saturday Night next week. Berlyn jabs his cane into BA’s gut to set up the “story” of the match where the abdomen is worked on, but that’s totally forgotten about thirty seconds later. Brad is beaten up for a while, with the referee being distracted in order for the bodyguard to get in his own input too. Berlyn goes for the neckbreaker, but Brad reverses into the Russian Legsweep. He makes the pin AND WINS?!? But he’s an Armstrong!!! The bodyguard comes in for a two-on-one assault until Jim Duggan makes the save. Duggan holds up Armstrong’s hand afterwards in an attempt to pass the torch many, many years too late. *

- In the backstage area, Shane Douglas is with Perry Saturn. They are heading towards the arena, talking about how they’re going to screw Chris Benoit out of his Television title in his match next. However the Filthy Animals have the arena entrance blocked. They’re sick of the Revolution’s tactics, and are going to be damned if they let Douglas and Saturn through to screw Benoit out of his match. Douglas wants to fight them right there, but as pointed out by Konnan, its four versus two, and he has a broken arm. The Revolution back down.

- WCW Television title: Chris Benoit © (w/Dean Malenko) vs. Rick Steiner. Usually promises of no interference equal more bullshit with Russo/Ferrera, so let’s see what they’ve got! Benoit and Steiner are about to start when the DFG stalls. An argument with Malenko though helps give Chris an opening. Benoit unleashes chops and a snap-suplex. He locks in the armbreaker which Steiner no-sells while crawling to the ropes. Steiner’s whipped to the corner, but he dodges Benoit, who splats into the turnbuckle. Rick starts his long-winded offence, a tree of woe followed by various half-hearted brawling. He breaks out a belly-to-belly for a two count. More shots to the face and back, Steiner goes for a belly-to-back suplex. Benoit flips out of it and rolls him up for a close two count. Ducking a clothesline, Chris unleashes three German Suplexes in a row before calling for the Diving Headbutt. He goes up top but misses. Malenko cheers him on at ringside, yelling at him to: “Get up!” Good advice! Steiner props him backwards on the top turnbuckle and climbs up for a super-belly-to-back suplex. The Canadian Crippler elbows him away though, the DFG falls to the ground taking out the referee at the same time. Benoit executes the Flying Headbutt before locking in the Cripple Crossface to a HUGE pop from the crowd. Malenko slides in to wake up the referee, only to SWERVE Benoit!!! One barrage of stomps and a double-underhook powerbomb later, Malenko is reunited with his Revolution team-mates at the top of the (invisible) rampway. Rick Steiner climbs up to the top turnbuckle for his bulldog finisher to pin and become the Television champion. Again?!? The TV belt at this point is a waste of time anyway. If Benoit and Malenko wrestle each other from here to the end of eternity, I’ll die a happy man. *¾

- Buff Bagwell vs. Jeff Jarrett. This is Jarrett’s last re-debut match in WCW until his shock return in early 2002 and then again in 2005. Jarrett attacks Bagwell during his entrance, whipping him into one security barrier and then another. Buff blocks Jarrett and rams his head into the ring apron. The bell officially rings when they get into the squared circle. They unleash into an Austin/Rock rally of punches. Jarrett rakes him in the eye and floors him with a suplex. A pinfall barely gets anything. Moments later, they wind up on the outside again. Jarrett runs at Bagwell, who is against the security barrier, but gets flipped over himself. A brawl into the crowd occurs with fans trying to get themselves over by pulling faces, making loud noises and other cuntish things towards the camera. Jarrett is floored by a body slam. Buff climbs up a set of stairs onto the balcony above and flies off with a cross body block. WOAH! A risky move by Buff Bagwell of all people!!! Heading back, Bagwell’s pushed into a steel turnbuckle post, giving Jarrett the advantage as they re-enter the ring. The referee never attempted to make a count-out during that last sequence by the way. Jeff lands the knee before locking in a sleeper hold. Bagwell goes red, but (as per usual) finds his way up and executes the back body drop out of desperation. Both men are out on the ground until the eight count. Bagwell blocks a shot, landing the atomic drop. He follows up the Fisherman’s Suplex. Buff heads up top for the Buff Blockbuster. Jarrett gets on his feet and Buff jumps. Jeff though kicks him in the gut and lands the reverse Russian Legsweep (dubbed as “The Stroke”). He doesn’t want to end there though. He grabs the guitar from ringside and sets up his target but the referee forbids him to use the weapon but it falls on deaf ears. Bagwell is up, Jeff swings, and the referee snatches the guitar!!! Jarrett blinds the referee while re-snatching the guitar, but turns around into a kick in the gut. Bagwell takes the guitar, uses it and hides the evidence! He goes for the pinfall and wins!!! Wow, the most obvious person to win tonight lost! Bagwell is unable to celebrate however when the Disciples of the Apocalypse charge in to beat him down. Tony Schiavone has the clairvoyance to scream: “Oh my god, that’s The Harris Boys” despite them never wrestling under that alias before. Jarrett and The Harris’ finish the job before celebrating and leaving. **¼

- In the interview area Mean Gene interviews The Total Package, along with Miss Elizabeth. I bet Liz is horrified over paying thousands for a boob job a year ago only for Lex’s breasts to be bigger. Package stumbles over his own words while trying to call Bret Hart a coward for using the baseball bat last week on Nitro. The Hitman deliberately tried to take him out so he wouldn’t have to suffer facing The Total Package (in more ways than one I bet). Luckily his doctors have said he is physically fit for the match tonight but gave him more steroids just in case, and will show Bret why he’s the man is by breaking him in half in the torture rack.

- Bret Hart vs. The Total Package (w/Miss Elizabeth). In all honesty, I am sickened by this match so much that I need to go on a rant. To summarise, Package had the momentum throughout the entire match as he worked on Bret’s knee. But whenever Bret got in any offence, Luger got onto his high horse and didn’t sell it. Not the attacks on the leg, the piledriver, double ax-handle smash or anything; he would either just stumble around or flop to the ground like an idiot. Hart finished the match with a Sharpshooter, which Package didn’t even tap out either, the referee had to ring the bell and claim he vocally said it. I would like to know what the fuck gave Luger the right to act so unprofessionally. Why is a man who is clearly heading towards the end of his career trying to make someone like Bret Hart look like an idiot? Did the baby spit out his dummy because he had to do a clean job? This is the kind of bullshit that stops new people to rise up to main event of WCW and I, for one, am sick of it. I hope Luger gets punished for this, or one better, just released. He is a total waste of space anyway. -*

- Mean Gene conducts an interview with DDP and Kimberly Page, who looks very slutty if I may say so myself. Not that I’m complaining. Page calls Ric Flair real cute for claiming Kim wants a piece of him. Flair’s just a delusional old man living many years in the past when stylin’ and profilin’ actually something. Tonight, DDP will finally retire The Nature Boy once and for all if you catch the drift; connect the dots, feel the bang etcetera. Kim adds a comment not picked up by the microphone before they leave. A strong interview, but I’m concerned that the story is suddenly revolving around Kimberly. No need to sound old-school, but this angle could easily bring in an up-and-comer as a protégé for either men rather than a way to let Kim become the sperm bucket many men have always dreamt of.

- Ric Flair vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/Kimberly). This is surely the last chance to beat the **¼ star rating of Bagwell/Jarrett tonight. Page and Flair grapple to start but Page throws Flair back into his own corner. Looking up at the cocky smile of his opponent, Flair bounces straight up, does another grapple and pokes DDP in the eye this time. Page stumbles into the corner, and receives two back chops. Suddenly DDP switches positions, punching the living shit out of Flair. The referee tries to restrain Page but is pushed back in order to stomp a mudhole out of Ric Flair. He whips Flair to the ropes and executes a back body drop. He lands an elbow to the chest, twice, makes the pin but only gets a two. Page picks Flair up, only for The Nature Boy to punch him in the stomach. More back chops follow, causing Page to retreat out of the ring. Flair gives chase around three sides of the ring. Kimberly so happens to be on the fourth side. Page slides back in the ring as Kim trash talks Flair. Suddenly he French-kisses her, the lucky bastard! Kimberly runs away disgusted while DDP leaps over the top rope on top of the Nature Boy. Page rams Flair back first into the apron before rolling him into the inside. Flair sits up only to be stiffly booted in the back. Ric verbally sells the pain like a god. He stands only to be clubbed in the shoulder blades. Page then executes the swinging neckbreaker. Going for the pin again, he gets a two count. DDP picks up Flair, and is low blowed! Another punch in the groin for good measure, Page looks like he’s been donkey punched. Flair picks up the leg and boots the groin/upper thigh area before landing an elbow drop on it too. He WOOOO’s to the pumped up Las Vegas crowd, who really haven’t had a lot to cheer over tonight. Flair attempts the Figure Four, but is pushed away by the boot. Page stumbles over to Flair to try another attack, and is floored by a single chop. Ric proceeds to go to the top rope. Page is up in time. He grabs Flair and sends him crashing back down to Earth with a thud as Kimberly cheers for her man at ringside.

Ric dizzily tries a new move but gets discus clotheslined to the ground. Page makes the pin again but only picks up the two count. He complains to the referee but what good it’ll do is beyond me. He presses Flair to the ground and unleashes lefts and rights to the forehead until he is busted wide open. DDP picks him up, tries to whip him to the ropes, but Flair falls short of the ropes due to being so faint. The blood has bleached Flair’s hair. Page picks Ric up and kicks him in the testicles. Going down to the ground, Nature Boy is subjected to a sleeper hold. Page holds on tight, spread fairly evenly on the ground. The crowd are REALLY into this match and are instantly cheering Flair to get onto his feet. The referee administers the arm test: it goes down once, twice, it comes up the third time! Flair musters the strength to stand up and chop the living shit out of Page. DDP takes a page out of Flair’s book by raking him in the eyes, but gets back body dropped when he walks forward. Ric yells out “WOOO!” one more time before going for the Figure Four Leglock. This time he locks it in, square in the ring, Page at his mercy. DDP looks like he’s got nowhere to go. With that, Kimberly gets onto the apron and screams at Flair. For some fucking stupid reason, Nature Boy breaks up the hold and goes up to Kim. He sees it as an invite to kiss her again. YOU IDIOT! She digs her fingernails into his eyes for several seconds. He then stumbles around blindly straight into a Diamond Cutter. Page pins for the win. Bullshit! That sequence just put Kimberly over Flair for winning the altercation and Page for being the sole reason why he won in the end, and she isn’t even a wrestler. Way to go Powers That Be. The ending totally killed the rating for what would’ve easily been the match of the night. **

- Madusa comes down to the ring wearing a hideously revealing bikini, holding up a bottle of Nitro Cologne with her. She half-heartedly shills the product, making sure to note that her breasts are out on show, receiving hoots from men afraid that not cheering would question their sexuality. Halfway through the shill, Madusa stops and talks about the bullshit that is the Powers That Be. Madusa is in WCW to wrestle, not to shill products and whore herself out like the women do up north. She tells the Powers that they and their sexually frustrated minds can go straight to hell before leaving. Wait! Please come back! I want to hear more about the Nitro Cologne!

- Meanwhile Mean Gene is at ringside interviewing Kevin Nash and Scott Hall at ringside, both men are drunk. Considering the quality of tonight’s show, I can’t blame them. Gene asks if they’ve decided when they’ll be back wrestling again. Like Nash said, he isn’t coming back until things were fun again in WCW, but admittedly things look to be getting fun with this whole Powers That Be deal going down. Hall asks Gene if he has Madusa’s number as he’d hit that, Nash replies: “Yeah with a stick maybe!” I’d hit her with a caber myself. Nash says he may get in contact with the PTB soon as soon as he gets back in shape with this beer and steak diet he’s on. I can imagine the sales pitch of that now: “Look like Yokozuna within two months or your money back”. Oh and before you ask, no I WON’T review the Heroes of Wrestling show.

- Michael Buffer is out. They’re having the World title match now?!? Hulk Hogan gets the first introduction, but he fails to come out. Sting comes out first instead. After a third attempt, Hogan finally walks out.

- WCW World title: Sting © vs. Hulk Hogan. When the bell rings, Hogan lays down and Sting pins him for the victory. What the fuck?! DUD

- Hulk Hogan walks out, leaving Sting looking totally confused. Schiavone’s glorious acting makes it obvious this is a work though. The camera follows Hogan through the backstage area and towards the parking lot. On the way, Mike Tenay intercepts Hogan and questions what the hell is going on. Hulk glances at him before leaving the arena. The fans inside the arena are incredibly pissed off, and who can blame them? It’s always beautiful to see Hogan without the title, but this is a pay per view! People paid $29.95 specifically to see Sting versus Hulk Hogan and not delivering to a buyrate that’s reportedly going to be a good one is a lethal decision, especially when it’s clear that this is just an angle of some sorts. I am intrigued at the direction the angle will take, BUT they should have saved this until free TV tomorrow night.

- Non-title match: Bill Goldberg vs. Sid Vicious. The crowd are really hot for this match despite the events before it! Two attempts at grappling end in a stalemate. Sid knees Goldberg in the gut. He tries to whip him to the corner, but it’s reversed. Bill charges with a spear, Sid moves and he spears the turnbuckle post instead. Vicious throws him to the ground and lands the big legdrop on the bad shoulder. He picks up Goldberg, executes a shoulderbreaker and follows with an armbreaker. Bill refuses to give into the pain in general, methodically crawling several inches at a time until he reaches the ropes. Sid whips Goldberg to the ropes, half the crowd expects a spear out of nowhere, but Vicious lands the big boot. He locks in the Vulcan Death Grip~! Bill pulls a pained face. He is able to get out of it quickly. Suddenly Goldberg unleashes lefts and rights into Vicious’ gut! He rolls him to the ground for a legbreaker, Sid desperately reaches the ropes. Vicious hobbles back up and attempts a grapple only to find himself in a Gorilla Press Slam into a Powerslam instead. Goldberg cues for the spear. Waiting, Sid stands, Bill charges, and he misses yet again, this time into the turnbuckle padding. Bill gets chokeslammed and pinned for a close two count! Sid sets up the powerbomb, but Goldberg pushes him away and finally hit the spear! The crowd goes mental. Goldberg executes the Jackhammer and makes the pinfall to give Sid his first official loss in WCW. The match was nice and short with the crowd getting into it, but it was very dull and predictable. ¾*

- THE FINAL VERDICT. Thumbs down. If this was on free TV then it would’ve been a definite thumbs up, but the matches were all round dull with some almighty bullshit like the Hulk Hogan incident to boot. Halloween Havoc costs $30 to watch and you have to deliver at the end of the day, that’s with the quality of matches and with the matches actually taking place to begin with. The other angles need to be kept down to a minimum too as we’re paying just for the wrestling at the end of the day. Russo/Ferrera, the so-called Powers That Be, have a big task ahead of them to turn things around in WCW, undoubtedly with many decisions to make along the way. Hopefully one of those decisions involves firing Lex Luger.

- Monday Nitro is tomorrow night, but I'll probably post my thoughts on early Tuesday morning so you can digest this PPV report a bit longer. Until then, go stargazing, because god knows there wasn’t a lot of them in this report.

Edited May 20, 2007 by God-Awful

[Gabriel]

-Lash Leroux was a great gimmick in the WCW Cruiser division, however, I never saw him as anything more than an attraction and occasional jobber to the champ. Good to see that the Disco Fever is still running wild on WCW...err...WCW opening matches.

-Good to see Harlem Heat retain over the makeshift duo of Knobbs and Morrus. I don't see HH lasting long as a team here in your diary, but I'd rather have them retain. On the other side of things though, if you're looking for a good hardcore match, Knobbs Vs Morrus would be damn fine.

-You need to get Scott Hall some help...and asap man... Hall needs to be a World Champion. I think Nash is encouraging the drinking in hopes that Scotty doesn't smarten up and realize he could be the #1 guy. Feud there? Nah...

-I'm glad you're going with something other than the Se7en character for Dustin Rhodes...though, I hope that The American Nightmare is just a nickname, and not his gimmick name.

-...you jobbed Berlyn to Brad Armstrong...i am in shock...and very displeased.

-Good to see Dean-o back with The Revolution, where he belongs... but... what if? What if Malenko never turned on Benoit? What if Shane Douglas' arm isn't really broken? What if the dinosaurs were still alive? I know that has nothing to do with the show...but WHAT IF?

-Suprised me with a Bagwell win, when Jarrett would have benefitted greatly from a victory here, but I love me some Buff Daddy... so... go GA!

-The Total Package is so unintentionally funny that I hope you keep him until he retires. Sucks that he didn't sell for The Hitman, but it's nice to see Bret pick up the win, and some momentum, heading further into his program with Sting.

-Might I suggest breaking up the match write-ups a bit? Flair/Page was kinda long, and tedious to read in the format it's in. Maybe every 5-10 lines, make a new paragraph or something?

-Madusa has big boobs. That is all.

-Boo on Hogan walking out. Yay on perhaps getting the WCW MAYHEM 32 MAN TOURNAMENT FOR THE WCW HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD! though. That could be an interesting read from you.

-I didn't see you ending Sid's streak like that... poor Millenium Man... Goldberg is boring...give him a mini, and find Sid a mini, and we've got a good program.

[andrethegiantstopfan]

I must say I am enjoying this so far, and I think that's mainly down to your writing style. The humour involved in some of the comments are priceless, and at the same time I can really picture what is going on. Halloween Havoc was well written, and I'm on the edge of my seat to see what happens with Hogan and Sting.

I'm not a fan of many WCW diaries past 1996 or so, but this is an exception. Keep up the great work!

[SpiceDawg]

Okay, I haven't really been leaving feedback for months now. I consider this my comeback which will probably come to a abrupt end shortly after this post. But the enjoy the love while you have it.

Halloween Havoc:

I originally was going to mention how Armstrong beating Berlyn completely kills off the character but reality is, he was killed off at Fall Brawl when Duggan refused to sell for him. This win may not be as pointless as the real life Armstrong win if you actually do more with him than turning him into a really lame Road Dogg rip off. Besides, I've never liked Alex Wright and think he was terribly overrated.

Your booking is really similar to the actual Havoc card at the time. Malenko swerves Benoit so Steiner takes back the TV Title. I didn't like it then and I sure don't like it now. But I also can see the positives behind it. Such as, Benoit deserves to be higher up the card then the TV Title and now maybe Steiner can switch the title over to someone that could use its rub. And a Malenko v. Benoit feud is a good thing and I've always thought Malenko works better as a heel than a face. So, while in reality, this booking turned out to be crappy since it killed the TV title and the Revolution became of the lamer stables whild the Malenko v. Benoit feud was blown off in a matter of weeks. I have hope that it could turn out much better this time.

It is a very Russo thing to have Jarrett lose to Bagwell when everyone knows JJ should be debuting strong. Though swerve for the sake of swerve stays loyal to Russo, I still think it is a stupid idea. But I'll hold off anymore criticism until I see if this story goes anywhere. Or if it gets forgotten withing a week like it did in real life. The return of the Harris Boys is pretty lousy too since they are a vortex of suck. But on the other hand, it's always nice to have some tag team to add depth to the roster.

I was half expecting Luger to go over just because it happend in reality plus it would be a 'swervey' thing to do. I'm glad that didn't happen. I am alaos surprised that it was a completely clean match. I am not surprised that Luger acted like a spoiled brat. Though the whole statement about Luger unwilling to elevate young talent seems kind of funny when it is in regards to Hart. Hasn't Bret been in wrestling longer? Hart is definitely an established main eventer even if WCW abused him for his entire run.

I definitely agree with the rant that the finish was pretty stupid. I never like the idea of a guy letting go of a hold that can win the match just because someone decides to stand on the apron. Even moreso when it is a veteran like Flair that should know better. On the other hand, it looks like this feud is being extended which has a lot of potential to be special. Unlike real life which was killed when Flair was buried in a desert. Ugh.

Exact same Medusa angle as done in real life. Except the fact this time Bobby didn't slag a product that the company actually wants to make money on. So, right there this segment was a 100 times better since trashing ones own merchandise seems a little coutner productive. Though Counter Productive may be one of the best ways to explain Russo's booking in WCW.

Another angle that I hated at the time being repeated here. I just beg you to actually do something with Hogan laying down to Sting rather then it being a really lame reason to write him out. It has potential to be intriguing but it means you need to put more thought into it than Russo did. Which isn't hard since I think he put none.

Goldberg had to go over here which is why I was scared that he wouldn't. I'm glad you went with a more non Russo like booking choice. I am once again really surprised by how clean it was. It looks like you pretty much blew off this feud and it is time to move these guys on to something else.

Obviously you booked this to reflect Russo. Your own rant shows that you didn't think this was a great show. It kind of makes it hard for to criticize when I know the writer is purposefully put on a sub par and screwjob-tastic show. On the other hand, you presented some interesting angles and plot points. I am intrigued where you will go with things. But please, try to have some ending and pay offs to these angles even though Russo never seemed to be able to actually do such things.

[ryankeast]

Really enjoyed this so far .....I too am intrigued where a lot of the angles will be headed.

Really suprised at Armstrong's and Bagwell's victory.

Keep up the good work.

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Monday October 25th 1999

- I’m posting this on Tuesday as promised, but let’s pretend its Monday shall we?

- We’ve had a whole week of Russo/Ferrera “goodness” already. Judging from the e-mails I’ve received, a third of you don’t like their direction so far, another third do and the final third want to wait and see what happens. Tonight is definitely the night the PTB gets total control of the company’s creative direction, but from the looks of last night’s extra-curricular shenanigans and cripplingly dull matches, this may not a good thing. Russo and Ferrera need to realise that the Attitude formula won’t work in WCW. It worked well in the WWF because 75% of the roster can’t work a good match, but those circumstances aren’t totally true for WCW. Besides, the reason why many people have continued to watch Nitro over Raw is because it provided good wrestling and (sometimes) logical angles. Give them WWF-lite and they’ll turn off too.

- Despite not being the greatest advertisement for the company, Halloween Havoc did a 0.9 buyrate. This is good news for WCW, whose PPV have been averaging around 0.6-0.7 since the end of the spring.

- The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Vampiro is in rehab, but for what is unclear. Maybe while he’s there, he’ll meet Jessie Spano as she tries to kick the caffeine addiction again. I’m sure they’ll be excited! Be excited! Be scared to meet each other. So it’s come to this… Saved By The Bell jokes.

- After a few complaints, I went back and split the write-up of Flair/Page from Havoc into two paragraphs. It was a bit meaty, wasn't it?

- Live from Phoenix, Arizona. Your hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.

- In a quick non-segment of sorts, The Harris Brothers are walking down a corridor. They stop at a door and stand either side of it, guarding whatever’s inside. The camera zooms into a sign on the door, it says: “The Powers That Be”. Thheeyy’rree hheerree!

- Norman Smiley vs. “Super Presidente” La Parka. Anybody that thinks Sid won’t interfere lives under a rock. La Parka swings his golden chair before the bell but misses. They have a bland match where they equally measure each other for a couple of minutes. Smiley raises the boot when Parka runs at him, climbs onto the second rope and executes an ax-handle smash. The way they’re wrestling, they’re just waiting for the interference. Norman gets in the Big Wiggle before, shock of the century, Sid storms to the ring. Chokeslam for La Parka. Chokeslam for Smiley. Sid yells out: “I WANT GOLDBERG!” over and over and over again. ¾*

- Outside the PTB room, The Harris Brothers and Jeff Jarrett are lecturing Madusa over refusing to shill the cologne last night. Madusa argues that she’s a wrestler that should be facing men, not being some piece of eye candy. Jarrett points out the crap boob job as he begs to differ. He tells her that on Thunder, she must advertise a product the way THEY want her to or else there will be consequences. Madusa coldly stares at them before leaving. Actually Madusa’s doing a great job despite the ludicrousness of the angle so far. Good for you, just please don’t ever wrestle again, love. Anyway, Buff Bagwell appears and gets in Jeff Jarrett’s face. Buff has been summouned by the PTB to put over a NEW pet project tonight. Buff: “They haven’t repacked El Dandy have they?” Jarrett: “Looks like somebody’s been reading the dirtsheets.” HA! Bagwell’s consequences will also be dire if he doesn’t do the job (get it?) tonight.

- Harlem Heat are walking backstage, their match is next. Oh god they’ve adopted the ten second walking segments! To make things worse, kayfabe is clearly broken here. You can see Sting talking to Jeff Jarrett in the background.

- WCW Tag Team titles: Booker T & Stevie Ray © vs. Perry Saturn & Shane Douglas (w/Dean Malenko). Shane is wrestling despite the broken arm. He uses it to his advantage, swinging his cast over Booker and Stevie’s heads. Saturn unsurprisingly takes the majority of the match for the Revolution, making Book the face-in-peril from the get-go. He executes some shoulder barges in the corner and a neat snap suplex before landing the elbow drop from the top rope. Saturn gets the two count. Perry pushes Booker to Douglas, who gives him another cast shot. Book stumbles around into a spinebuster, the pin, again, is not enough. Thirty seconds later, Booker dodges a move and unleashes a Harlem Sidekick. He goes to tag Stevie, but Stevie has been lured from his corner by Dean Malenko at ringside. Booker is dragged back to the opposite side of the ring and the assault on him continues. Booker finally gets a tag after a slip-up, bringing in Stevie. A clothesline from Stevie is dodged by Douglas as the tag format breaks down, striking the referee instead. Malenko reveals a steel chain from his trouser pocket and throws it to Douglas. Suddenly Chris Benoit charges down to the ring, getting a HUGE pop. Benoit takes out Douglas, and then knocks out Saturn with the steel chain. He gives chase to Dean Malenko while Stevie Ray gets a shoulder over Perry for the pinfall victory. **

- Chris Benoit gets back in the ring and grabs the microphone. He challenges Dean Malenko to a match later on tonight. Malenko, on the rampway, yells: “You’ve got it!”

- In the backstage area, Sid is trashing everything and everyone in sight, still yelling: “I WANT GOLDBERG!” The man may want Goldberg, but is that any excuse for turning over the coffee table? How will Jessie Spano get her fix now?! Rick Steiner (w/out TV belt) runs over to Sid and implies that Harlem Heat convinced the WCW executives not to give Sid a rematch against Goldberg. Together they find and beat the shit out of Harlem Heat, who don’t give a good fight as they’re tired from the match. Sid continues his rampage elsewhere as Booker/Stevie lay motionless on the floor. Silly Sid, if Harlem Heat were good politicians, they wouldn’t still be in the same position in the company as they were back in 1995.

- Buff Bagwell is WALKING~! His match is next. You know what? Screw recapping these walking segments. If you’re so engaged by walking, maybe you should stop reading these reports and exercise once in a while.

- Buff Bagwell vs. “Superestrella” El Dandy. Dandy’s makeover just involves Steiner Brothers-esque theme music and a new nickname. Tight bastards. This is ultimately the same match as last week; only replace La Parka with El Dandy. The Buff Blockbuster finishes him off in less than a minute. Afterwards the dire consequences happen, basically the same as last night Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Brothers beat him down for not doing the job. We get a shot of the rafters, where The American Nightmare watches on in a Sting-like fashion! ¾*

- The main event for tonight is announced: Sid will get another shot at Goldberg, proving having temper tantrums can get you anything you want in WCW. Just ask Hulk Hogan. Speaking of…

- Mike Tenay has a sit-down interview with Hulk Hogan from Hogan’s mansion in Venice Beach. Tenay notes all the achievements Hulk has had in WCW before asking why he laid down for Sting last night. Hogan explains that it was the hardest decision of his life; he desperately wanted to become the WCW champion one more time. However in the build-up to the match, there was a problem known as The Powers That Be. Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera had several telephone conversations with him this past week, and they wanted to do something that would shock the world. They wanted Hulk to become Hollywood Hogan again and reform the New World Order. Hogan despises the nWo and feels his period of time as Hollywood is one he truly regrets now that he sucked the gimmick dry. There’s only one reason why he became Hulk again, to give back and get redemption for all what he did; and to turn his back on the fans again would be sickening. After it was established Hulk didn’t want to become Hollywood again, the PTB told him that he had to do it, or else they were going to screw him out of the match and then suspend him indefinitely for gross misconduct. Hogan knew what he needed to do, and that was to leave by his own conditions. His laying down was a big “screw you” to the PTB. Hulk says that he has quit the company and has retired for good (YES!). He thanks the fans and personnel backstage for all the love that they have shown him over the past twenty years. Well we know he won’t be gone forever, but we should have at least a week without his constant meddling. Anyway this segment leads straight into…

- “Seek and Destroy” playing in the arena. Sting (w/belt) comes out to respond to the video we’ve just seen. Sting’s going to be frank by calling Hogan a big, balding liar. After all the years WCW has dealt with his bullshit, Hulk is trying to take the high road out of here because he knows he can’t beat Sting. Well, not without a crooked referee anyway. Hulk’s defeated giants, monsters, wrestling machines and many others, yet he’s afraid of two weedy writers from up north?! He tells Hulk to stop making excuses, man up, and come get his ass kicked by Sting one more time. Sting is interrupted by Bret “The Hitman” Hart, who straight away throws accusations at the champion. Maybe Sting is putting down the threat of The Powers To Be because he’s actually aligned with them. Maybe Sting told them to put Hogan into a corner like he was in the end. Sting tells Hart that he’s never met Russo/Ferrera, never mind befriended them. Bret mentions that if that’s so, then how come he saw Sting exchanging pleasantries with Jeff Jarrett earlier on? So that thing earlier on was a clever set-up! Got to give them points on that… Before Sting can respond, The Total Package ambushes Bret Hart from behind. They beat him down until referees and road agents appear to break things up. The Hogan/Sting segment combined lasted 25 minutes by the way, and if this leads to Sting versus Bret Hart at Mayhem then I’ll be very happy.

- Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko. If match rates less than ***, I quit. Benoit and Malenko go to grapple when Chris tackles Malenko straight to the outside. He delivers crushing back-chops to the chest, before ramming Dean into the steel turnbuckle post and the steel steps. He gives a sick low-dropkick to Malenko, sandwiching him against the steel. Man, Benoit is PISSED! In the ring, Benoit immediately goes for the legbreaker. Malenko reaches for the ropes only for the Crippler to hold on until the four count. He gets Dean up and delivers more chops before whipping him so hard into the opposite corner that Malenko collapses to the ground. Chris executes an armbreaker, Dean gets the rope break but Benoit holds on until the four count again. Benoit goes to pick Malenko back up, but Dean’s playing possum, tumbling Chris head first into the turnbuckle. Dean pins with his hand full of tights, but gets a two count. Dean hits the neckbreaker and pins for the two again. Malenko really wants to finish the match quickly, which makes him go for the Texas Cloverleaf. Benoit overpowers him. Standing up, he switches behind Malenko, hitting the German Suplex three times in a row. He makes the cutthroat pose and heads to the top rope. Chris flies off for the Flying Headbutt but misses!!! Malenko gets an arm over his shoulders and comes so close in getting the three! Dean does the snapmare, a stiff boot to the back, bounces off the opposite ropes and executes a low dropkick into the Canadian’s face. He follows it up with a brainbuster for another close fall. He picks up Benoit and goes for the Double Underhook Powerbomb. Dean tosses him upwards, but Chris lands on his feet. Benoit chops, ducks a clothesline and executes the German Suplex FIVE times in a row!!! Again the Crippler heads up top, this time successfully hitting the Diving Headbutt. The crowd start to boo as the inevitable interference happens, the other members of the Revolution make the run in to give Benoit the DQ victory. Crap finish aside, this is the most intense eight minute match I’ve ever seen. ***¾

- The Revolution stomp on Chris Benoit until the Filthy Animals charge down to the ring. With it being four on three, the Revolution back down. The Animals help up Chris Benoit and together they stand tall. Suddenly, Billy Kidman decks Chris Benoit from behind!!! The Filthy Animals maul the Canadian, and are quickly joined by The Revolution. The Revolution and Filthy Animals hug and shake hands with each other!!! Shane Douglas grabs the microphone and tells us all that tonight; The Revolution and the Filthy Animals take a bold step by merging together! Awesome! And now the next generation of the company are one unit, they are stronger than ever in their bid to take over WCW once and for all. He gets down on his hands and knees and tells Chris Benoit that he had the chance to join them, but his arrogance got in the way. Benoit’s worthless to them now, he’s just a sacrificial lamb used as a warning to the rest of the locker room over what the new and improved Revolution are going to do. This segment was amazing. In one swoop, The Revolution has become the hottest thing in WCW.

- Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kimberly Page. I bet Russo/Ferrera + shock value = Kimberly gets the fall. Ric wants to start, but David insists on fighting Page instead. Guess who wins that battle. Kim gets in a couple of slaps too for good measure. DDP gets overconfident with Davey Boy, and David takes a page from his Dad’s book with a low blow. Ric is tagged in and he and Page slug it out. Page beats the shit out of him so much that Nature Boy stumbles into the centre of the ring and comically faints (as usual). The offence continues for DDP until, like son, Flair plays up to his dirty tactics. One back chop is taken with such force that Page stumbles back and accidentally tags in Kimberly. Kim looks shell-shocked; Ric looks horny. Ric goes for the Tongue-an Death Grip, only to be slapped in the face. The Nature Boy’s mood suddenly changes. He chases Kim around until her husband clotheslines Flair to the outside with so much force that he trickles out too. Page and Flair brawl on the outside. On the inside, David and Kim stall a lot until Kim gets a slap blocked and her hair pulled. Page sneakily hands the missus a pair of brass knucks in between scrapping with Ric, which she weakly uses. David is out cold. Then for some reason, Kim takes her shirt off and pins him as if she’s about to jump up and down on his face for obvious “Russo and Ferrera are jerking off to it” reasons. Fuck, I hate it when I’m right. In the space of four shows, DDP and Ric Flair’s feud has become the laughing stock of the wrestling world. Here we have two former World champions being props to put fucking Kimberly Page over! -*

- Non-title match: Bill Goldberg vs. Sid Vicious. The rematch of the century! A lot of the same spots from last night are played out, including Goldberg missing a spear and Sid working on the shoulder again without any additional psychology being added. Long story short, Goldberg hits the second spear this time around, hits the Jackhammer and gets another clean pinfall over the Millennium Man. They should’ve shown the PPV match again on Nitro like they did with Goldberg/Page at Havoc 1998, it would’ve popped a higher rating, and the match was better too anyway. Nitro ends with Goldberg celebrating on the stage, with Sid going crazy in the ring by chokeslamming the referee. ½*

- THE FINAL VERDICT. Thumbs up. It was a slow-starter and it stuttered at the end, but ¾ of the segments in and around the middle were some of the best on Nitro for a long, long time. The Benoit/Malenko match followed by the Revolution/Filthy Animals swerve was amazing, and the Sting and Hogan interviews were surprisingly engaging. More of the same could do the company a whole lot of good.

- And that’s it! Tune in Thursday for the Thunder report. Until then, keep on truckin’!

[ryankeast]

Great Show. LOVE the mergeing of The Filthy Animals and The Revolution. This feud could do wonders for Chris Beniot.

I like how this diary feels realistic - I can imagine WCW doing all what you have written so far - so thumbs up from me still!!

Slight grumble would be the jobbing of your US Champion for two nights on the trot. Might be an idea to get the belt off Sid and get let someone like Bagwell, Jarrett or Beniot have a run with it.

Also Hopefully Bret Hart will flourish in yourWCW World - he was SO underused in real life it wasn't even funny.

Edited May 22, 2007 by ryankeast

[TDG3RD]

Gotta say, I'm really enjoying this diary. Love your writing style here, and I like how you've kept things 'Russo-esque' (For both the good and the bad).

- Goldberg/Sid again? Hopefully, the next time will be the last time for these two. Let Goldberg move on, and Sid... well, he can rot for all I care.

- The Madusa angle isn't doing much for me. I am interested in the Bagwell one, though.

- Not much to say about the tag match, other than that the sooner Booker gets away from Stevie, the better.

- “They haven’t repacked El Dandy have they?”. Ha! Jarrett was right, Bagwell has been reading the dirt-sheets. Bagwell gets the crap beat out of him, and... ooooh, The American Nightmare!

- Pretty good explanation for Hogan's actions at Halloween Havoc. A far better explanation than WCW gave in real life... heck, did they even give an explanation for it? I've forgotten. A shame Hogan won't be 'retired' for long. Ah well.

- Loved the Sting/Bret confrontation. Hopefully it means Sting/Bret for Mayhem.

- Holeee crap... The Revolution and The Filthy Animals merged? Damn, would've loved to have seen that gone down in real life. Benoit's gonna need some serious back-up here.

- Ah crud, David Flair and Kimberly in a match. Blech, no surprise that Kimberly gets the pin. It's sad that the Flair/DDP feud is getting overshadowed by David and Kimberly... at least, that's what it feels like.

- I figured a Goldberg/Sid re-match would've happened at Mayhem. Oh well, hopefully this feud is over now.

All in all, a good show. Looking forward to seeing where you go from here.

[SpiceDawg]

Okay, leaving comments while I read because that how real men do it and I wish I was one.

Nitro:

I hate the fact the show started with a Sid run in. Especially since in real life, I think Russo started to phase out the annoying Sid ruins matches angle. The one positive with Russo was he tried to develop characters for everyone on the roster. So it would be nice if you tried creating stories for both Parka and Norman. Definitely two guys that could do some interesting underneath stuff. Though hopefully you keep La Parka away from any pinatas on a pole.

I'm liking the continuing of PTB using Madusa as a shill while she actually wants to wrestle. It has potential for a good storyline but you would have to break the Russo curse and actually be able to write a middle and end for it not just a beginning.

The insider Buff stuff like 'They didn't repackage El Dandy' is funny. It wasn't too insider either but enough to have that edge. Though if you keep on pushing the 'do the job' angle then it will get annoying.

Hahahaha - Jarrett talking to Sting is such a 'dying years' of WCW thing. Perfect.

Heat v. Revolution has the usual overbooking that one expects but at least it made sense. Benoit wants a piece of Malenko after what he did so it completely acceptable. Plus I think I am going to dig that feud. Though I'm sensing some drifting by the Heat. They need a decent storyline pronto. Actually, I wouldn't mind a split angle even though the Heat only reformed 3 months ago plus it would be another mimic of real life which I criticized you of earlier. I'm a hypocrite.

Why does Steiner want the Heat to get beat up? I hope you're going somewhere with that because I find it interesting.

Suprestrella made me laugh. I sort of like this repackaging of Mexicans. Though I wonder if it will only lead them to all job to Buff or if it will go somewhere.

The American Nightmare staying up in the rafters is cool. I really look forward to seeing how thing plays out. I hope this lead to Stinger feud just because, I think it has potential to be a little crazy and full of cheesy booking goodness. Maybe Nightmare can try to convert Sting back to the dark side because he feels he lost his touch or something odd. Though I guess Sting needs to go face first. Anyway, glad you didn't scrap the gimmick like Russo did or supposedly had to.

The Hogan sit down was 100 times better than what really happened. Kudos. This should be really interesting. Lots of possibilities. It is clear now that PTB want an nWo but who will replace Hogan? Or will they eventually be able to convince him? And what will cause Hogan to come out of retirement? Will the PTB allow him to leave gracefully. I'm pumped. This could be a killer angle.

Wow, a great follow up with Sting and Bret. This is just such a great storyline. Totally the way one should play a 'shoot' angle. Be interesting to see if Stinger really is aligned. Lots of different possibilities to explore.

The screw job in Benoit v. Malenko was inevitable. You can't blow off the feud in one night. Though it definitely gave taste for what kind of match this has potential to be.

I totally called Filthy Animals to turn on Benoit because that is the ultimate Russo thing to do. Feud two groups against each other then pay it off by swerving everyone by joining each other. Doesn't make a lick of sense but that is how Russo likes it. Because it is all about logic. A very Corporate Ministry thing to do. Though it's completely illogical it actually does allow for a awesome heel stable. Though do we need a nWo if we have such a strong Revolution? On the plus side it avoid having a Stable War which Russo booked to death in WWF '97. The real life Rev v. Animals was tre lame.

Tag match was total Russo. Like the report says, all the heat in Flair and DDP seems to have died. But at least she didn't pin Ric.

Okay, maybe Sid v. Goldberg is done now. I mean, where do you go with it? Two clean pins in a row? Does anyone really want to see it a third time? Plus you wrestle anymore and Sid needs a win to get his heat back. And Sid has no right pinning Goldberg. He needs to stay undefeated and becomes unstoppable again. It is the only way that Goldberg has value.

Probably would be slightly pissed if I ordered Havoc to only have the same main event shown for free. But that was how the Monday Night Wars was sometimes. Giving away stuff that you previously paid for. Besides, Russo seems to lack understanding of the importance of buyrates and often seems to write in a way that sabotages potential PPV revenue.

As a whole, it was not a great Nitro by any means. A whole lot of crap plagues most of it with a lot of silly booking to most of the matches. BUT it had a really hot and awesome angle involving Sting/Hogan/Bret. I mean, I think this has potential to be so great. But the problem is, can the rest of the story keep up with this hot beginning? Plus while the merger with Rev and Animals makes no sense at all, it has potential to be a cool stable.

[Gabriel]

I'm a little late with this, so I haven't read anyone else's replies to avoid spoilers before I read. With that said, I apologize if I reiterate a lot of things.

-It's a shame to see La Parka being wasted as a time filler for Sid. I think a La Parka / Sid feud is in order... let's go Skeletor!

-I was wondering why Douglas was in the tag match instead of Malenko, but having Benoit challenge the Iceman for later cleared that up. Should be a good match.

-I'm liking what you've got going on with Sting/Package and the Powers... hopefully it leads to Sting Vs Bret Hart at Mayhem...and then a rematch at StarrCade, where Jarrett gets involved and screws over Sting.

-Nice to see The Revolution growing in numbers. I see hints of the New Blood/Millionaires angle here, except...you know, not as shitty.

-I think you need to do something to turn Page/Flair into a serious feud again... perhaps Kim sides with Ric, David gets upset that his father and Kim played him, Ric turns heel, Page goes full fledged face, and we've got a serious feud again. Or, perhaps we'll see more of Kim's jumblies.

-I hate PPV rematches the following night, and Sid/Goldberg was no exception. Hopefully this means the end of the feud. I don't think I could stomach another match.

I'll see you on Thursday for Thunder!

[Downer]

Alright, I've been following this since you posted, I wanted to reply a little sooner, but I couldn't really be bothered, but here I am (rock you like a hurricane ) and I must say that things are going pretty good so far. Piling through the tons of wrestlecrap on the show, you've actually got a pretty good thing going, but that's necesary if you want to get the right time feel. So now to Nitro:

-Sid interfering in the opening matches is nothing new, and I think it's good thing that you're continuing the Goldberg/Sid feud because I personally couldnt really think of anything else for either man to do. Also Halloween Havoc didn't really end it.

-I like how you're using Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Boys like in real life. Jarrett can go on to do better things eventually, but his position in the company is pretty good right now and probably the best you could have him doing.

-Tag title match and the feud between The Revolution & Benoit goes on, cool.

-Sid throwing around is something people have him do for some reason, but i guess it gets the point across xD.

-Buff Bagwell doesn't do the job, gets in trouble, moving on...

-The whole Hogan/Sting deal was a pretty good thing, instead of just keeping Hogan out of WCW I think it was good to have him come on and explain his actions even though everybody knows its bullshit. Sting then coming out and saying what we pretty much all were thinking was pretty good, and should get him over as a better heel.

-I loved how the Revolution and The FIlthy Animals came together, pretty good thought here and pretty much the best thing you have going on IMO.

-Oh god, that tag match was so Russo/Ferrera it wasn't even funny. As it is crap, I like how you are potraying this as it is very close to real life.

-And everybody could have guessed how the Goldberg/Sid match would end, only thing I have to add here is I'd like to see the belt off Sid soon.

Overall you have a pretty good diary here for now, very realistic, but at some point I guess you gotta start slowly cutting the crap of the show and make it into your own booking.

[GA!]

THE GOD-AWFUL REPORT

Thursday October 28th 1999

- Taped from San Diego, California. Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko are your hosts.

- Lash Leroux vs. Juventud Guerrera. Juvi chops Leroux in the chest and whips him to the opposite corner. Lash leaps over Guerrera into a roll-up for a two count. Leroux unleashes a couple of hiptosses, punches once, twice, twirls around, does the splits and punches for the third time. In the sequence that follows, Leroux executes a huge wheelbarrow suplex. Moments later, Juventud finds himself on the ring apron. He blocks Lash’s attempts at a move before suplexing the rookie to the ground outside. Juvi climbs the top rope and flies off with a cross body block with great height. Guerrera heads up top again when Leroux is rolled back into the ring. He waits for him to stand before flying off with a spinning wheel kick. Juventud signals for the Juvi Driver. He scoops Lash up, but Lash slips behind. Leroux picks up Guerrera for the Whiplash, spins him around and Juvi lands on his feet. Juvi settles for a quick body slam before heading up top for the 450 Splash. The move proves to be too weak though, Leroux is up and onto the turnbuckles too. They fight it out until out of nowhere, Leroux executes a super-Whiplash from the middle rope!!! What a move! The pinfall is academic afterwards, and the Ragin’ Cajun push is back on track. **½

- The Revolution (all EIGHT of them) comes down to the ring. Shane Douglas is the mouthpiece, claiming that while there are plans for the rest of the upper-tier of the WCW roster, right now they want to concentrate on Chris Benoit. He blasts him for being against the Revolution in the first place. For a man who wanted to reach the top through his own conditions, he sure did buddy up to Bret “The Hitman” Hart in order to get there. How else would he have gotten a World title and a TV title shot last month if it weren’t for having friends in high places? The Franchise is will make Benoit “the example”. What they plan to do to everybody else will be guinea pigged on him. Oh, and to show this merger of the Revolution and Filthy Animals wasn’t a hasty decision, it turns out Billy Kidman was the cameraman when they attacked Benoit in the hotel last week. The Filthy Animals are also pissed off at not getting the opportunity they deserve, so it seems more logical to merge together than fight. Chris Benoit’s makes his entrance, staying at the rampway. The Crippler claims he’s got to make the toughest decision of his life. He plans to take down the Revolution one by one, and he’s having a tough time deciding who’ll be the lucky final victim. Benoit says that every last person in the ring makes him feel sick, and he wants a shot at some if not all of them tonight. The Franchise suggests a tag match where Benoit partners up with his “best friend” Bret Hart against two men of The Revolution’s choosing. Chris thinks it’s a great idea, because they will tonight find out what silent but violent is all about!

- Backstage, Mean Gene interviews Jim Duggan and Brad Armstrong. Duggan talks about how Brad showed how much of a proud American he is by defeating Berlyn at Halloween Havoc. Jim will in turn be proud as he passes the torch to him. Wouldn’t it be better if he passed a torch to someone who didn’t first wrestle twenty years ago?! BA says it feels so great in representing the greatest country in the world. He can’t wait to wave the colours of the red, white and blue gloriously as he kicks all the illegal immigrants out of the country (arf?). Duggan embarrassingly nudges him and mumbles something before they leave the interview area. Oh dear.

- Jim Duggan & Brad Armstrong vs. Berlyn & Disco Inferno. Berlyn is without his bodyguard for reasons explained at the end of this report. Inferno dances like Alex Wright at the beginning, but Berlyn shoos him away. Disco and Berlyn isolate Brad in the match, wear down his neck area before Berlyn locks in the sleeper hold. Armstrong gets out of it, makes the hot tag and Duggan storms the ring. Duggan levels both opponents with punches, clotheslines and three point stances. In the end, Berlyn is knocked silly while BA executes a Russian Leg Sweep on Disco to get a pin over the Cruiserweight champion, something which Mike Tenay emphasises. Please don’t tell me Brad fucking Armstrong is being slotted into a Cruiserweight title shot?! ¾*

- In the backstage area, David Flair is watching the clip from Monday Nitro where he nearly got Kim’s vag on his face. He rewinds the clip and watches it over and over again. The Nature Boy enters and tells his son that being pinned by a woman isn’t the worst thing in the world. Trust him, he’s speaking from experience (but he doesn’t mention dressing in drag, going to the mental hospital or this current angle by name). Ric tells him not to be too bothered about it; everybody knows he was knocked out by the brass knuckles so they won’t think any differently about his (lack of) manliness. When Ric leaves the scene, David looks unsure whether or not to be angry, or to be masturbating over having a hot half-naked woman sat on his chest.

- The Demon vs. Evan Karagias. This match BEGS for Sid’s interference. The Demon tonight is played by Steve the Coffee Maker. The Demon dominates, but like Smiley/Parka on Monday, they’re stalling until Sid interferes. And here he comes! Big boot and chokeslam for The Demon, a horrific looking powerbomb for Karagias. Sid yells: “I WANT GOLDBERG” again! The referees and road agents come down to restrain Vicious, only for him to kick the living shit out of everyone in sight. Eventually Sid leaves on his own accord still yelling: “I WANT GOLDBERG”, leaving a dozen people laid out in and around the ring. The match is a no-contest if you haven’t already guessed. ½*

- Mike Tenay states after the break that Sid has been kicked out of the building and suspended by The Powers That Be, but that’s always about as effective as telling an injured wrestler that he should rest-up instead of going after their arch nemesis.

- Buff Bagwell & The Maestro vs. Ron Harris & Don Harris. The Maestro happens to be Buff’s partner as wittingly chosen by The Powers That Be because he’s an awful wrestler. The Harris’ get the opening offence in their highly-anticipated debut match, using their size to outmatch Buff. Ron (or Don?) misses a big boot from a whip to the ropes, and Bagwell gets a forearm smash on the second rebound. He goes for the tag only for The Maestro to be too busy showing off his blonde hair to the crowd. He’s got no dandruff because he uses Head ‘n Shoulders! Bagwell is kicked in the stomach and the double teaming continues. When Maestro decides to give a damn, he tries to invade the ring. While Mickey Jay holds him back, Ron and Don switch positions, cutting out an entire two seconds of having to make the tag. Pure evil! The normal tag format continues until one Harris accidentally misses and hits the other, and Bagwell sneaks up on Maestro to make the tag. The Maestro looks shit-scared. He obviously not in cahoots with The Powers That Be as he gets pulverised, which makes me wonder why he acted like a cock towards Buff in the first place. One dubbed “H-Bomb” later and The Harris Boys win, with Bagwell not caring about losing at all. After the match, Jeff Jarrett runs down and smashes a guitar over Buff’s head from behind, and Bagwell is mauled by him and The Harris Brothers. Once again, The American Nightmare watches on from the rafters. Some aspects of the match were okay. The rest defied logic, like Buff’s lack of care over beating two men that have attacked him three times now. Does he have no pride? Wait, don’t answer that one. *

- Madusa is out to shill another product like the PTB demanded on Nitro. Did you know WCW are selling baby oil lotion? Well they are now! Badly reading from a script, Madusa sounds like she’s in a porno, saying: “hot” and “horny” within seconds (ugh). In fact, she’s so hot and horny (double ugh); she’s asking a friend to come from the back to apply the lotion to her. Her friend is called Tylene, no need to sound like a sexless fifteen year old but holy hell she’s HOT! Tylene reads off some bad porno lines before asking Madusa to rub the lotion everywhere on her body instead. Madusa agrees, before cracking Tylene over the head with the bottle. Madusa angrily rants that her contract says she’s a wrestler, and she refuses to do anything that isn’t in her contract. “You want me to be a sex crazed maniac, huh? Well how about this for size Powers That Be?!” She smears some lotion over Tylene’s cleavage (getting the only reaction of the entire skit). The segment wasn’t received well by the live crowd, and the ending was seriously counter-productive to what she’s trying to achieve in the long run.

- Non-title match: Booker T vs. Rick Steiner. This match was made as a result of Rick Steiner helping Sid to beat up Harlem Heat on Nitro. Booker surprises Steiner with an early assault, topped by a flapjack onto the ropes. The TV champ escapes to the outside, where he traps Book into a brawl. He whips Booker to the steel guardrail, before slamming his head against the announcer’s table. Back in the ring, Rick applies stiff shots to the back of the head while yelling obscenities at the referee. Booker slowly comes back into the match, punching and eventually hitting a forearm. However Steiner reverses a move seconds later into a German Suplex. He pins but gets a two. More slow slogging attacking from Rick is finally ended when Booker hits the sidewalk slam as a desperation move. Both are down on the mat until the eight count. In the slow attack afterwards, Booker pulls out the axe kick out of nowhere. He heads up for the missile dropkick, flies off but misses! Rick Steiner then heads up there himself, ready for the bulldog. Book’s up, Rick flies off but he misses too! Immediately Booker goes back up top himself very quickly and makes it third time lucky by executing the Harlem Hangover to pick up the victory. Well, the match was non-title so it’s no surprise he won. The two didn’t really gel together – it made everything seem disjointed. The exact same match with someone more technically equipped than Rick Steiner would’ve rated much better. *¼

- Back with Mike and Larry, Madusa has apparently got her wish and will wrestle this coming Monday on Nitro. Yay. Her opponent will be--- The camera goes backstage… Sting and The Total Package have attacked Bret Hart, with the cameras getting there just as Package has Hart in the Torture Rack. Chris Benoit chases them off before checking on the Hitman, who is laid on the ground extremely hurt.

- Chris Benoit & Bret Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero & Perry Saturn (w/The Revolution). Bret Hart is unable to make it out, so this is a handicap match. The remaining six members of the Revolution confidently step back to let Guerrero and Saturn to dismantle Benoit. Chris can handle Guerrero/Saturn at first, matching them move for move and then some. But when the two-on-one element comes to play, Benoit is weakened. Moments later, Saturn works on the right arm with armbreakers and leg drops in said area. This proves to be effective as when Benoit fights back with backhand chops, they’re less effective and they tire out quicker. Saturn pushes Chris arm first into the corner before executing a back suplex with the hand tucked behind his back. From ringside, Dean Malenko and Shane Douglas taunt The Crippler. Guerrero is back in. He gets cocky, taunting the fans as he unleashes a couple of moves. Eddie goes for the brainbuster, only for Benoit to slip out of it and immediately lock in the Crippler Crossface. Saturn breaks up the hold, not before five members of the Revolution have climbed onto the apron just in case. Guerrero, pissed off, distracts the referee and delivers a low blow before finally doing the brainbuster. He goes for the pin, but only gets a two. Perry tries to continue working on the arm when Benoit fires off the first of three German Suplexes. By the third one, Shane Douglas is up on the apron whining to the referee. Dean Malenko runs in with a steel chain and clocks Benoit with it in the back of the head. He falls down, and Perry Saturn locks in the Rings of Saturn with such force that Benoit’s arms could be ripped off at any moment. With whatever consciousness Chris has left, he refuses to tap. Suddenly the crowd erupt as Bret Hart, holding onto his back, makes his way down to the ring with a steel chair in his possession. He delivers a chair shot to Rey Rey and Kidman. Saturn sees what’s going on and he breaks the hold to see what the commotion is. Douglas tries to invade the ring, causing the referee to be distracted. Hart from out of nowhere jabs Saturn in the gut. Saturn stumbles into the Crippler Crossface while Bret barely defends himself on the outside with the chair. Saturn taps out to the Crossface – but the referee isn’t looking! Chris lets go of the move and gets into the melee on the outside as Thunder quickly goes off the air. The match was all types of awesome despite the overbooking and the Revolution thankfully looked strong throughout. ***½

- THE FINAL VERDICT. This was almost the mirror opposite of Nitro actually; it fell dead after segment two and only recovered for the final one. From the looks of it Thunder will continue its role as the throwaway B-show, which is a shame all things considering. They only created the show in 1998 to create more revenue, and now that they’re losing money by the bucket-load, they don’t care if Smackdown swallows it whole. Definite thumbs down.

- Nitro is up by 0.01 to 5.04 in the ratings. Unfortunately for them, Raw is up by 0.35 to an astonishing 7.16, nearly the maximum rating that can be achieved on the USA Network.

- As reported in Monday’s report, Vampiro is currently in rehab. Since then there have been two fresh injuries to add to the list of people unable to wrestle at the moment. Berlyn’s Bodyguard has a neck injury which will keep him out for 8 months. In case you’re wondering how somebody who hasn’t wrestled a match yet has injured his neck, join the club. Meanwhile Norman Smiley ripped his bicep and will be out 7 months. The source of the injury is from Sid’s attack on Nitro, the force of being slammed evidently too great for his arm to handle. Other wrestlers currently injured include Scott Steiner and The Cat.

- Here’s one for the “believe it or not” column, but Kimberly Page spoke out after her travesty of a match on Monday about how she had to bring herself down to David Flair’s level to get a “good” match out of him. It’s amazing to think Kimberly is a former Nitro Girl while David is the former United States champion, more amazing how she isn’t speaking shit either. Also according to a backstage source, my suspicions are confirmed in how Kim and David will have the central roles in this angle also involving DDP and Ric Flair.

- A great Nitro followed by a piss-poor Thunder has made this week in WCW a very varied one. I’ll be back for the Nitro report on Monday, where the hype towards Mayhem will surely begin there. Until then, take care, and e-mail me links to Tylene… The nude-r, the better!

[ryankeast]

Beryln and Disco tag team again!!!!! Is it the return maybe of old schoold Alex Wright?? The tag team division could do with these two boasting the ranks. I don't like Disco as a light heaveyweight Champion.

LOVE The Revoloution Chris Beniot angle - this really is going to make Beniot a proper star in the WCW and what with his apparent teamin with Bret Hart - It will only help him.

Quick question is Juvi part of the Filthy Animals? If so I'm suprised he jobbed in the opening match against Leroux.

Hmmmmm - More Sid Goldberg - not sure where that angle can go as Goldberg has beat him twice already - And Goldberg should be getting back in the thick of the heaveyweight division.

Likeing the Bagwell - Jarrett interaction still. Wonder is old Dustin Rhodes is going to fit into this angle and come to the aid of Bagwell.

Booker T needs the TV Title and start his ascent to the top of the WCW.

Keep up the good work - look forward to Nitro.