January 2001

In the space of a week Ric Flair has moved the goal posts; after qualifying for a World title match at Superbrawl last week, Kevin Nash now has to beat ‘Totally Buff’ in a handicap match tonight to get it. Flair is on his way to the ring carrying a contract. He told everyone that this is “his” WCW and he’s going to make it the number one wrestling organization in the world today and one of the ways you do that is to keep bringing in big name talent. ‘The Boss’ has got his newest player, “none other than the legendary...Dustin Rhodes.” The silence from the crowd speaks volumes, that announcement has gone down like a lead balloon. Tony Schiavone must realise and is doi…

Four corners match, rules then are two men in the ring and anyone can tag anyone else. The former Jung Dragon partners are starting us out. Yang backdrops Noble out onto the apron and then snaps his neck across the top rope. Shannon is in, cuts off the dive but gets caught with a headscissors, the camera almost missing it. A Skipper spin kick wipes out Yang and he follows that with a corkscrew pescado to Noble. I don’t know why they bothered explaining the rules earlier, as this is Lucha Libre rules, wrestlers coming in and out as they please, so completely different to what was initially said. Shannon counters a powerbomb into a ‘Bottom’s Up’ but Noble is there to …

)A fatal four way to determine the number one contender for the World title, the winner getting that shot on the upcoming ‘Smackdown: Extreme’. The Rock was attacked earlier in the show by the Big Show as he looked to take him out prior to the match. Kurt Angle is out to join JR and ‘the King’ to get a close up look at his next opponent. They’ve dug up some cheesy pizza advert that Angle made after winning his Olympic gold which they’re using to make fun of him. Angle describes Chris Jericho as “the most obnoxious man in the business”. Y2J naturally has to get some jibes in on the commercial, saying how it does make him feel hungry, not for pizza, but for the WWF cha…

We get a recap from Smackdown where the ‘Brothers of Destruction’ were left laying at the end of the show. The Undertaker demanded this match against Haku and when the ‘Dead Man’ asks for something, he usually gets it. JR hopes he knows what he’s asking for though. Taker is accompanied by Kane, who suffered a rib injury in the attack on Smackdown, while Haku also hasn’t come alone, bringing his fellow Islander. Neither is waiting for the bell and they both come out swinging. It’s Undertaker dominating mind, like most of his matches that we’ve seen recently. Old school ropewalk. He flips himself backwards over the ropes and suckers Rikishi at ringside. Haku makes t…

A good match but one that felt lifeless. I watched these three NJPW matches in one sitting and then fell asleep and the next morning am struggling to bring up any coherent or interesting thoughts. The effort wasn’t bad but it certainly was a house show style performance as well. That is forgivable given the circumstances but can be a detriment when you start thinking about the top of your WOTY list. All three major puro promotions have had a bit of a weird start in 2001. NOAH is probably the best but still has had some tags that felt aimless and with Kobashi gone, there is a lot of uncertainty. ***1/4 (6.3)

This was my favorite match from the 1/31 show and Sasaki was the best wrestler overall especially his exchanges with Kojima. Nishimura wasn’t too far behind as he forfeited his technical ability to dish it out with Team 2000. Ohara just seems like someone there to take a pin so that was disappointing. Overall, a good main event. ***1/4 (6.6)

Cool to see Frye vs Nagata grapple a bit but besides that, this was long even though it was clipped down. Super J is really bad and Iizuka becomes more limited with every appearance. A vanilla match that hopefully will set up more interesting stuff for Frye down the road. **

“A feud that was so big it spanned two federations!” Show returns to OVW after his cameo appearance at the Royal Rumble to face Mark Henry in a ‘Battle of the Giants’. Henry gives Show a shove in the chest that barely registers and he responds with one that sends him flying back to the corner. He tries to rush him but Show with a nifty little drop toe hold. Irish whip, Henry ducks the clothesline only to run into a big boot (although there’s about two feet of daylight between Show’s boot and Henry’s head!). Cornette is saying how you can’t expect two men this big to move at this pace for very long, not so subtly hinting that we’re in for a short night here! A pair of…

Sly Scraper is the former ‘Collector’ for Bolin Services, Sylvester Terkay, while according to Jim Cornette Spade is doing a gimmick where he thinks he’s a future WWF champion. Wristlock by Scraper and in one motion Shelton leaps to the top rope, bounces off it flipping backwards and reverses the hold. Spinning headscissors. He scrappily ends up on Scraper’s shoulders, and then botches the huracanrana. Tag to Brock who drops an elbow and Spade is in to break up the pin. Spade is at it again, kneeing Brock in the back as he hits the ropes which allows Sly to catch him with a spinning heel kick. Tag to ‘Smooth Johnny’ and Lesnar kicks out of his cover, pressing Spade …

Flash has asked for special dispensation to bring back Trailer Park Trash, the man Bolin Services got banned from wrestling in OVW, so that he can be his tag team partner in this Hardcore match against Rico Constantino and Kenny Bolin’s head of security, Mr Black. Rico is practising his home run hitting with a baseball bat as he makes his way around ringside. Bolin grabs the mic and has been studying his Nick Bockwinkel tapes going by his verbiage. When he asks Rico what he has to do to get him to sign with Bolin Services, he says something about the OVW title and that if he can do that for him he’ll sign. Cornette hopes that Rico knows better than to trust Kenny Boli…

Synn is suffering after her altercation with Lita earlier in the night, although is confident that no man can defeat her ‘Demon of the Deep’, Leviathan, not even ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Only extended highlights of this are shown, but bar one ugly clothesline (where there may well have been a miscommunication issue), this wasn’t too bad. Leviathan is presented as an equal to the ‘Big Red Machine’, going toe to toe with him, whilst Kane gives him a ton including taking a belly to belly, a spinebuster and a great looking powerslam. After a flying clothesline off the top, Kane signals for the tombstone. He gets Leviathan up, but he slips down Kane’s back and shoves him…

This is the Dinsmore I have been waiting on although being in there with Benoit can't hurt. Benoit works it as a ferocious heel that is surprised at how well DInsmore is able to hang in the early going. His aggression is well presented and DInsmore is sympathetic with his hope spots and selling overall. The finish was shit but I was expecting that considering this show otherwise had more clean blowoffs by comparison of OVW standards and neither Benoit or Dinsmore could really lose here. ***3/4 (7.4)

Robbie D’s go behind is beautiful. Orton reverses and he’s over to the ropes. D complaints to Donna Derring of a tights pull, even hitching her short shorts up when doing so. Dressed as she is is distracting (and she’s even more glammed up than usual), if Cornette wants a female official, have her in trousers and a regular shirt. Cartwheel over the drop down by D. Orton with a high, and I mean high, hip toss. D tries the leap frog one time too many, Orton hooking him around the waist and dumping him with a slingshot wheelbarrow suplex. He whips D into the corner, who springs to the top turnbuckle and catches him with a gorgeous super sunset flip. That looked so ni…

On the video introduction Jim Cornette clarifies that ‘UFC Rules’ means it’s a submission match. There are no holds barred, bar eye gouging and groin shots, just like in the UFC, and to win you must make your opponent submit or tap out. Rob Conway takes the microphone pre-match and tonight, for a change, he’s going to be a compassionate man. He knows Ron Waterman has an injured arm, because he’s the one who injured it, so he’s giving him the option to stay in the dressing room and let everyone know he’s a coward. If he opts to do the stupid thing and walk down the aisle he’ll just have to beat the living hell out of him. Waterman is a physical specimen, reminisce…

A six-man tag team match pitting the ‘Suicide Blondes’ against Chris Michaels, Sean Casey & Phil Fair, with the added stipulations that should the Blondes win then Fair has to kiss each one of them on the backside, however should they lose, they will have to shave their heads in the middle of the ring. As Fair makes his way down the aisle he’s got his arm in a sling and is wearing a neck brace, as a suspicious Cornette says how he saw him only 45 minutes ago and he looked fine then. Fair informs everyone that he slipped on some spilt gravy in Kenny Bolin’s locker room and has a broken arm and fractured neck. He has found a suitable replacement though, one of the gr…

Helms jumps Kidman at the bell, trying to get an early advantage. That doesn’t last long, Kidman catching him with a slingshot headscissors after being dumped onto the apron. As he walks Shane towards the ropes to counter his bodyscissors, Helms is able to take him over the top to the outside. Froggy crossbody. Kidman reverses the whip on the floor, sending Helms over guardrail into the front row before leaping off the railing at his opponent. He tosses him back inside and goes for a slingshot, but gets trapped on Shane’s shoulders, who then drops him face first across his own knee. Mike Tenay is really trying to push this ‘Sensation of Innovation’ moniker for Helms…

Tension is brewing in the ‘Natural Born Thrillers’ camp. We see a clip from a previous bout where Palumbo & O’Haire’s interference inadvertently cost Jindrak & O’Haire a match against the Mamalukes and Tony Schiavone talks about the teams’ problems, unsure whether they’re down to pure jealousy or just personal pride. I like how Palumbo shakes out his arm after dishing out some forearms, always a nice touch when someone does that. Non-title match by the way. Johnny is laying his stuff in and the Mamalukes with a huge double spinebuster for a two. Vito plays to the crowd allowing O’Haire to fire out the corner with a knee to the gut and then pepper his rib…

Scotty O is Scott Overholtzer, previously known as Scotty Sabre, who we last saw around one year ago in Memphis Power Pro when he was under a WWF developmental deal. We get a couple of video recaps from both Nitro and Thunder where Kwee Wee attacked a member of security and a ‘fan’ out of the crowd respectively for making fun of him. Kwee Wee dares O to laugh at him and when he does, and also mocks his pose, ‘Angry Alan’ comes out in force. O attempts a comeback but gets dumped him with a Saito suplex after he slaps on a side headlock. The Kwee Wee picks up the win following a piledriver and the moment he does ‘Angry Alan’ is gone and he’s back to being the serene, m…