You know, maybe that 500 pound gorilla has been lifted off their backs. Now, WCW wrestlers know of some kind of certainty in their organization. Before, nobody knew who would be paying their paychecks. Also, many of the wrestlers put up their best efforts, probably because they are in fear of getting cut.
First 3 matches were RED HOT! The performers (Chavo, Helms, Vito, Reno, Jung Dragons, and Noble/Karagias) worked hard to give us some good matches, and it showed! Especially in that tag match. Hmmm, the Jung Dragons/Noble/Karagias have been involved in the best matches during the last 3 Pay Per Views... could that mean something? Maybe push?
Then, we have the commissioner's match. The match was OK, but the crowd was into it. It had a solid ending too, with KroniK shoving some money down Sander's throat, causing him to lose his commissioner spot. The crowd cheered hard when the Cat got the huge win. They played the crowd well for this match, but hey, they were charged up from the first 3 matches.
The Penalty Box idea was a bad one, but at least the match featured some decent wrestling. I can forgive bad gimmicks, if the wrestlers perform well. The Hardcore Match started off very slow, but it picked up at the end, with an exciting win by Meng. I never knew that he could still come off the top rope. Since WCW was pushing him, it's nice to see them follow up by actually giving him a title for once, instead of building him up to get squashed by Goldberg.
I don't really understand, though, why Totally Buff interfered with the Insider/NBT match. I just don't get it. Looks like the NBT will probably follow the past of the Triad or Minnesota Wrecking Crew, by alternating who will defend those titles. Jindrak and O'Haire is the best combination, of course. :)
Hey, Shane Douglas won, so no complaining here on how bad the match was. If you give Shane some GOOD opponents to work with, then maybe he'll look better. Hopefully, this is the flush down the toilet for Rection's push.
But the thrilling part of the night was the ending to the Totally Buff versus Goldberg/Sarge match. Holy cow, that shocked me! Goldberg was seen with that fan at the beginning, and I told everyone in the room how good Goldberg can be with fans. Then, Luger was jaw-jacking with the fan, and Goldberg made the save. Goldberg was then sprayed with something by the fan, to which Goldberg tossed him! He was on Totally Buff's side the WHOLE TIME! Totally Buff even finished Goldberg in a good fashion, by nailing that Super-Block Buster on Goldberg. Luger then got the pin! Goldberg's streak is finally over, and now he can work his way back to the top. Bill looks best when he's vulnerable, and by the shocking reaction of the fans, that's the proof!
Wow, I never expected Animal to be the mystery man. I have no idea why he attacked Steiner during the December Nitros/Thunders, and I hope to see that explanation tonight. I was going to comment on how Animal just kicked Sid, and Steiner got the win, but damn, I didn't know that Sid seriously broke his ankle in this match. This isn't no little sprain. His leg is bent sideways! YECCH!!
I really enjoyed this Pay Per View, as I'm usually quiet when I see a bad one. Besides the NBT/Insider match and the Animal ending, this show was solidly booked from top to bottom. Great matches, and the spectacular ending to the Goldberg match. I never knew that Totally Buff could pull off such a thing like that. This is a great show leading into the Bischoff era, and it's easily better than ANY show that WCW did in 2000. Easily. I'm giving this show a very solid A.
This PPV showed that WCW does indeed have the talent to make it to the top. Now, managing that talent is another thing. If Bischoff has his head screwed on, and actually manages it without favoring some, then they could slowly crawl to the top. I was very optimistic before this show, but after seeing these guys work hard, I'm convinced that they could take a good swing. I really hope they do, because the WWF is much better with competition in their face. Wrestling didn't get popular with one federation on top, it strived with competition. WCW, if smart, could position themselves for a nice run, in time.
I went 4-5 on predictions. Yuck! I did bad, but the outcomes of the show were enough to make me go home happy.
Expect that MAYBE Eric Bischoff will be on Nitro tonight. MAYBE. During the sale process, it was rumored that he'd be on Nitro, on January 15, which is today. If he does, I hope that he doesn't just start ripping into the WWF. WCW should just do what they are doing, and ignore competition from now on. Just put on good shows, and let the wrestling and fans do the talking.
I'm thinking that Bischoff would bring back Bill Goldberg from his loss last night, but who knows?
I really hope to see an explanation of Animal to why he did what he did. Why did he attack Scott Steiner last month?
Why did they have Ivory do an interview? She equals ratings?
Man, I just want to cry everytime I see Lo Down in those stupid uniforms. No wonder D'Lo wants out of the WWF!!! The Acolytes got the win after a vicious Bradshaw clothesline on D'Lo. Nobody does them better than Bradshaw, period!
Albert vs. Crash... zzzzzzz. At least they were on the right show, and NOT RAW/Smackdown. Thank God for that. Trish "the Dish" Stratus did an interview with Michael Cole afterward. She did the whole Basic Instinct thing, you know, where she crosses her legs to make the interviewer go crazy. Well, you could see her panties even before that, thanks to her very short skirt. I'm sure we'll see that MONKEY with the wonderful plugs saying "EXCLUSIVE PICTURES OF TRISH STRATUS's BOX!!!". If you don't know what a box is, just take a guess.
Blah. Not a good show at all. They should let Tazz wrestle every week on Heat, because his "WRESTLING", and NOT announcing, jumped the ratings last week. This show gets a C-.
Oh boy, and we get to see Rock/Undertaker against Rikishi/Kane. Oh JOY, I'm just creaming in my pants for that one. Please. There isn't a single guy, in that match, who could carry a match to great lengths. Over time, those wrestlers have had others put them over, bigtime. A tag match between those two groups means nothing, besides the fact that they just fought for the #30 spot. Why fight over it? It's not like #30 has won it ever.
I hope that's the main event, because I want the WWF to see how much those guys can draw these days. It's the RAW before the PPV, so get ready for LOTS of interviews. OH MY GOD, I CAN JUST FEEL THE EXCITEMENT!!!!!!! Didn't Smackdown have enough interviews in the 90 minute timeframe? But remember, Vince McMahan equals ratings, even though his interview segments are usually the lower part of the ratings. But we'll ignore that, since it's HIS company. We just pay tickets and spend time watching his shows. We don't matter.
Get them WCW, while they are weak!!!!!!!!
Wrestle Palooza Audio Show: Be sure to catch the Sin Preview show, where Wrestlepalooza and myself rip into WCW, before knowing that the PPV would actually be good! Just CLICK HERE to listen.
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@Amazing. Just when you think a federation would sink further with an oddly booked Pay Per View, they actually come through. I'm going to mark that one down on a calendar. Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow to deliver my famous Monday Night Impressions. So just chill.... I really like it when federations treat me to a good show. You know, since I'm a fan.
The World of Tito!
Take Care, and Take Time to Remember Martin Luther King Jr. He was a great man.