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Eric Bischoff officially put the Hardcore title in the toilet last night, as he defeated Terry Funk with lots of interference. Oh wait, titles don't mean anything here in WCW!!! Hopefully, Funk gets that hardcore title back because he's been a great champ. Some of his matches, like the one with the Cat, have been pretty brutal. He's sort of put the term "hardcore" in that belt by taking punishment that nobody else can take.
Speaking of worthless titles, I'm convinced that Russo and company have no confidence in Jeff Jarrett as champ. Seriously...he's jobbing to everyone, left and right. Last night, Sting defeated him fair and square, with a part of a sunset flip! I thought Sting won the title, and I was wishing that he could hold the title for a while...but that's a dream, and Bischoff reversed the decision.
Wow! GI Bro Booker T actually won last night!!! He pinned Billy Kidman in whatever kind of match they had, which had it's share of interference. Still, Booker got the win, and I hope someone notices that talent underneath that terrible gimmick sooner or later.
Oh no. Hide the women and children...and the wrestling fans for that matter, Hollywood Hogan has returned. Oh noooo, I see the old WCW coming back each week!!! Hogan will win against Kidman at Great American Bash, win the title from Jarrett at Bash at the Beach, and then we will all be in pain once again. If turning Hogan into Hollywood again is what Russo talked about for giving Hogan a new look, well then he's in trouble now.
I'm surprised. Nature Boy Ric Flair versus Vince Russo wasn't all that bad. I was shocked to actually enjoy watching it. Of course, the ending was rather insane with the blood pouring into the ring, and I was amazed at how fast the Nitro crew cleaned it up for Nash's final match.
That mixed tag match with Kimberly/Mike Awesome vs. DDP/Miss Hancock was so poorly booked. That match was terrible as a "wrestling" match, and the hype for the Great American Bash for the stretcher match has gone down thanks to that very match. Palumbo/Stasiak and Kronic deserve each other for matches. Good match between Scott Steiner and Vampiro..when Vampiro wasn't acting like a Pyromaniac. Finally, did anyone else see Terry Funk and Eric Bischoff waiting to get onto the ramp to let Kimberly/Miss Hancock do their skit?
My Gosh, did you see the stink face to Trish Stratus? She did more salad tossing than a salad buffet attendant. I'd say it's safe to say that Val Venis is now officially a part of Trish's stable. To say he'll get more over from it is about as good as saying that Val with his "porno gimmick" will never become a top competitor in the WWF.
Although the match between Chris Benoit and Road Dogg was lame, it's nice to see that Benoit is getting appreciated by the WWF for his "wrestling talent". No need for any corny gimmick or no need for any angle...just wrestle and shut up! He's brought promise back to the Intercontinental title, and he's helping to bring the best matches out of wrestlers who haven't had a good match in months. And WCW thought releasing this guy would do nothing.....
Oh no, Bossman and Bull Buchanan are having problems!! I see repetition here, as they will tag up and cause each other to lose the match. Then they will feud for a little bit, tag up again, and then officially break up with another boring feud. Can it get any more original??
Wow, I'm glad to see that the Women's title might have some contenders again, as the second Michael Cole asked Stephanie about the title, both Jackie and Ivory ran in. Isn't that ironic? Anyway, we get to see a women's battle royal Thursday night at Smackdown, if you smell what the ratings are cooking.
Gosh, this thing with Crash and Brisco will never end. I'd never thought I'd see Dean Malenko hanging around the Godfather of all people a year ago. Wow, Hardcore Holly defeated former WCW champion, Ron Simmons Farooq. Edge/Christian and Kurt Angle make a funny trio, and Angle will get the favor of having E/C get the shot against Too Cool.
Finally, the Rock/Triple H/Kane/Undertaker saga. WWF attempted to spike the ratings with the 3 way dance for the #1 contendership, but little did they know what a terrible match it would produce. Rock won that match, and then he fights Triple H for the 743747646636236738th time for the World Title. If you've seen one Rock vs. Triple H match, you've seen them all! At least most of the Triple H vs. Mick Foley matches were somewhat interesting to watch each time. Same effects in this match, and the whole Corporation X runs down. This time, I guess, there's a catch. The Rock hit the Undertaker with the chair, and the Undertaker got pissed and helped to cost the Rock the match with a Chokeslam. Oh joy, I guess Undertaker and Rock are feuding now.
Overall, not a bad night of wrestling.
ECW on TNN, despite lots of internet hype about their show, pulled a 0.8 this week. I guess the internet hype wouldn't matter here, since most of it came on Thursday evening. I don't think we'll be able to enjoy ECW on TNN very much longer, even if CBS/Viacom loses the court battle with USA Networks. The gap between ECW and TNN seems to be the largest it's ever been, and ECW is on firm ground to stick up for themselves instead of being told what TNN tells them to do. I really hope that USA Netorks sees how badly ECW wants helped in this business too, especially when USA might lose the WWF programming.
Wow, Meng has been given his notice by WCW to exit the company. After many pushes just to put over wrestlers like Bill Goldberg, Meng will now get to test the market just like his former partner, the Barbarian. For those who are wondering, it's highly doubtful that the WWF will hire Meng. It's not about his wrestling ability, it's about his age and his recent injury-prone status he has kept retaining in WCW.
Many wonder where has Stevie Richards been. Well, he's been active on the WWF roster lately, wrestling the Jakked circuit. I suppose he'll have to regain his status in the WWF all over again. If you remember the last time we saw him, he was in the mix of the Jericho-Chyna feud, when Jericho tossed Stevie out of the ring hard, thus fracturing his ankle. I do think that Stevie's gimmick then, which was imitating other wrestlers, was shot down when the WWF decided to give that gimmick to the Big Show. So basically, it's unknown what the future of Stevie Richards is, especially since some suggested that he took too long to heel from his ankle injury, and he might be prone to injury again. Whatever happens, I only wish him the best of luck.
@That's all of my goodies today. I'll be back tomorrow with the usual ratings analysis. Keep in mind that I'm very strapped for time this week with Finals going on. Until next time, just chill until the next episode.
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