OH MY GOD!!!!! Mike Awesome won the battle royal at the end of Thunder to receive a title shot after Halloween Havoc. Yipee!! Of course, he'll come down in his stupid 70's gear because WCW doesn't appreciate what a great wrestling talent he is. Oh no. They appreciate making an ass out of him. That simple, and if it's not obvious to you, you better check what you are smoking.
I CAN'T WAIT until KroniK and Bill Goldberg lock it up. You can't tell me that Adams will lay down for Goldberg. You just can't. Clarke might get pinned, but not without getting in a nice stiff blow to Goldberg. When that happens, Goldberg will go extra intense on them, and I'm going to mark out! HA!
How can you get DNA from a guy, and check it with Stacy's baby when she hasn't gave birth yet? Gee, somebody is really using their head in this angle, which promises lots of swerves. Yeah, the swerves are that nothing will make sense. At least Ric Flair is getting more and more involved, but remember, there's a restraining order or whatever in the United States, and not Australia. Uh huh.
I really liked the Jindrak/O'Haire vs. Sting/Booker T match. Yes, see what happens when you put Jindrak/O'Haire in with REAL performers, and not the Boogie Knights? I'm actually missing Juventud now, because he and Rey Mysterio put on some good matches with Jindrak/O'Haire. Instead, they now must face any made up team, KroniK, Harris Boyz, Boogie Knights, and many more untalented teams. I'm really hoping for the WWF buyout so that when the crossover happens, the Hardys and Jindrak/O'Haire can put on a performance of a lifetime. Jindrak/O'Haire remind me of a much larger and stronger Hardy Boys.
Billy Kidman tagged up with Konnan, which will probably lead to Kidman in the Filthy Animals again. Good. Kidman's career isn't going anywhere anyway, so why not?
Decent match with Big Vito and the Franchise....two guys who lost a lot of heat by getting squashed by Bill Goldberg. It's called credibility, which always seems to get lost by any decent midcarder in WCW.
Not a bad show overall. Good ending to it, with decent matches before it.
The only thing that I'll agree with is the fact that WCW isn't too happy about the wonderful Bret Hart column where he bashed WCW hard for his Thunder speech a month ago or so. So with that being said, and with lots of cost cutting measures, you might say that WCW pulled the plug on the Hitman? However, Bret was injured while on the job, so the right medical people probably sent a nice doctor's excuse to remain on board to defeat WCW's 90 clause.
By the way, that clause is in effect for any wrestler who is physically unable to perform, I believe. I guess that's why guys like Steve Austin, Syxx, British Bulldog, and a few others have received firings either by Fed-ex or by secretaries calling. Yep, in WCW, if you get injured while wrestling, you will be terminated!
There are lots of reports going around about Vince Russo's health right now, as he's suffering from post concussion syndrome. Now, I may not like his booking technique for WCW, but this is truly sad. He took one hard beating in the ring, and he kept coming back for more which has put his health at risk for the time being. This has been going on for a while now, with it appearing to be serious like in the range that 49er quarterback Steve Young had, or many others like Eric Lindros. It probably doesn't help Russo that he's stressing out with him possibly being out of the job and just the overall failure of WCW at this point.
Since I mentioned Russo possibly being out of the job, most in part by the way he left the WWF and the words spoken after that, can you just imagine who else will get the axe if the WWF buys them out?
Tony Shiavone will probably get nailed, as it's been reported that Jim Ross and Shiavone have never liked each other. In fact, as Ross was getting big in WCW/NWA, Shiavone jumped to the WWF for a while, and when Ross went to the WWF, Shiavone skipped back to WCW. Also, Ross takes his wonderful cheapshots in his "Ross Report", and Shiavone has ripped on Ross a few times during his broadcasts on Nitro too(he helped with the Oklahoma stuff, and more).
Kevin Nash will also get nailed, as everyone assumes that old Diesel will be loved by the WWF again. For one, the WWF probably sees Nash as overpaid for the lazy work he does today, and two, they don't want his attitude ruining WCW any longer, nor would they want it in the current strong WWF locker room. Plus, he's an old man now, with very bad knees from years of getting on them for pushes in his career. Go ahead and claim that the WWF wants him, and I'll tell you it's not happening.
Ed Ferarra(sp?), Bill Banks, and Terry Taylor will probably get the axe for leaving the WWF without notice last fall. Ferarra(sp?) is a well known enemy of Jim Ross, as the Oklahoma skits are enough to prove that. Banks joined the "help book" WCW bandwagon too, so he's going to enjoy unemployment checks too. Terry Taylor, if you remember, took Russo and Ferarra's spot when they left, and after writing up the dumbest storylines(remember Big Show cancer angle??), he too jumped to WCW. Taylor, however, has a decent reputation, so I possibly see him running WCW full time if the WWF buyout occurs. But of course, he too might be out of work.
WCW Audio Show guys could be in trouble as well, as they have been very critical of the WWF on their audio shows. Of course, that's not deserved, as the WWF audio shows take their nice cheapshots to fire them up. However, the WWF will eliminate the competition of "best official audio show online", and let Byte This! rule the land.
Mark Madden could probably kiss his cushy job goodbye, since Madden has started shit in the past by making up WWF rumors on his hotlines(remember the Rock going to WCW one??). Plus, he's an idiot anyway, so why would a smart company want to keep him around?
Shawn Stasiak is as good as gone once the WWF buyout occurs. He was fired for recording wrestler conversations, and isn't too well liked by the WWF. Not tell well liked by Kevin Nash, as I had that feeling that Nash was for real on Nitro.
I'm sure a nice list of other wrestlers or former WWF personalities will get nailed as well. My hopes and wishes that if the WWF becomes in charge of WCW, that they give Bobby Heenan one more chance to shine. If not, why not bring him aboard to the WWF to show everybody(*cough*Russo*cough*) that he's not washed up in the announcing world. My theory is if you give Heenan something good to work with, he'll come through as a great announcer. Putting him on Thunder or World Wide gave him the worst shows to work with, and that then gave the impression to Russo and WCW that he lost a step. Please. All I am saying.....is Give Heenan a chance!
4. Scott Steiner- Keeping that temper in check still, thankfully. I wish he'd get on the mic more, even though everything gets bleeped out. Somebody control what he says, and he could rip on the crowd easily without the vulgarity.
3. Shane Douglas- Fought Booker T to a hot match, even with it being his second match of the night. He also defeated Big Vito in a good match from Thunder. Douglas could go over Konnan and keep advancing up the ladder....I hope.
2. Booker T- Good win this week over Shane Douglas, and good performance on Thunder. Please find a new finisher. Maybe with the WWF buyout we could see a Move vs. Move match with the Rock? Maybe WCW intended for that to happen this whole time?
1. Mike Awesome- Wrestled great on Nitro, helping to defeat former tag champs the Perfect Event, and he won a title shot at the end of Thunder. Ditch the gimmick, and you'll have an instant star!
PARTING THOUGHTS: Last week on the Pro Wrestling Torch's website, there was a nice discussion on Jeff Jarrett's impersonation of Sting from Nitro. Not only was it felt that the acting was funny, but that it sort of represented the truth about Sting these days.
Well, my opinion on the matter is that Sting isn't what he used to be, but he still can perform. I'd say up until his last break, he could still perform. He's in his 40s now, if you didn't know, and it's my opinion that Sting's age is starting to catch up to him. He just doesn't wrestle with the high energy he used to, but that doesn't mean he still has some left in him. Sting can still perform better than about 95% of the wrestlers in the company still, which he has proved in various recent matches with Lance Storm, Booker T, and Jeff Jarrett.
He can still go, but he's just a little older now and not as sharp as he was in his prime. At least he can still perform at his age, while others at his age are no where near the level they once were. Sting still has some things left in his tank, while other older wrestlers have been running on empty for years.
Don't forget that Sting has been loyal to WCW/Turner owned wrestling since late 1987, working for the company for about 13 years now. Not only has he done that, but he's helped to carry the federation on his back for a while, while other guys were coming and going.
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@That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with the column that YOU help me write, with the votes from the "Smackdown for Tito" polls. Also, on Saturday...I'll be discussing the history of the WWF during the early and mid 90s, where things fell apart in order for WCW to become #1. So until tomorrow, just chill......
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