Scott Steiner Causes Havoc
At Lackluster WCW PPV

By Jeffrey Cohen

Worst Match: Awall vs. Reno

What a sad performance by a group of beaten-down, paranoid, nothing-to-lose wrestlers.

Talk about running in place. Depression and paranoia have sapped whatever energy was left in World Cchampionship Wrestling, replaced by pushes for guys like Hugh Morrus , who has said he will retire when his contract ends because of side effects from multiple concussions and injuries. That Morrus can win the U.S. title - by pinning Hacksaw Jim Duggan - in the year 2000 demonstrates exactly what's wrong with WCW: promoting talent that won't draw fans into arenas or translate into TV ratings, but is seen as a reward for his loyalty over the bad years.

WCW has a core base of main event talent that could draw some buy rates. But once Bill Goldberg gets the World title, his contenders list will be short: Jeff Jarrett won't draw against him. He already faced Sting . He already faced Kevin Nash . Mike Awesome isn't a beliveable opponent yet. Booker T will draw one buyrate against him, but WCW will try to string it out with the typical run-in and interference finish that both will protest. He faced Scott Steiner , who is the most believeable heel in the company but too much of a loose cannon to trust with the World title.

Buff Bagwell has had his day with WCW. Whatever he did to piss off every single booker in the past three years since his last push must have been totally severe.

The show:

WCW Tag Team Title Match
Mark Jindrak/Sean O'Haire d. Boogie Knights and Filthy
Animals
(10:30) ** Konnan came out with Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. to do commentary while Tygress ran around the ring. Rey did the Bronco Buster on Disco at 9:45. O'Haire pinned Disco, after which Alex Wright gave the Animals weak-looking chairshots. Really slow motion stuff. Awall ran in to clear the ring. Oh joy.

Hardcore Title Match
Reno p. Awall
(10:35) * 1/2
Not that Awall was so over as The Wall, but they completely took a serviceable midcard gimmick and lost him in another interchangeable group. They brawled into the back of the MGM Grand. Reno hit the Roll of the Dice on a table for the finish.

After the match, the Naturally Green Thrillas attacked Awall and the rest of M.I.A. made the save.

Lt. Loco/Corp. Cajun d. Perfect Event
(9:21) **
Chuck Palumbo is starting to look like he enjoys being a heel. Shawn Stasiak seems to be on another planet most of the time. Palumbo high-kicked Stasiak by accident, leading to Loco hitting a tornado DDT off the ropes.

Backstage, Kronic told "members of the Las Vegas Wrestling Commission" that Bill Goldberg shouldn't get medical clearance to wrestle.

Konnan/Tygress d. Shane Douglas/Torrie Wilson
(8:40) * 1/2
Torrie came out dressed like Wonder Woman. Awesome costume. Are these her third set of implants? They looked huge. Paraphrasing what they said about Chyna , "Would the Torrie Wilson of 1997 pinned for Playboy?"

Tygress came out without Konnan, who sold the injury from the opening match for exactly 1:10 before running in. Tygress managed to get some offense in early by lowblowing Douglas and going after Wilson. She went for the Stuff in the Face on Torrie, who dragged ref Charles Robinson into her path. Isn't that a reward? Shane was pinned after a double stuffbuster.

DNA Match (First Blood)
Buff Bagwell d. David Flair
(5:15) *
Buff didn't do himself any favors earlier in the week by telling the WCW Internet guys on a live broadcast that he would walk out of the company if asked to lose cleanly to David.

The gimmick of the match was David having two "doctors" backstage. He wanted to get Buff to bleed so he could have his DNA checked to see if Buff was the father of Stacey's child. Got it?

Buff decimated David, alternating between laughing and posing before busting David open. The ref stopped the match right after a Buff Blockbuster. Lex Luger came to the ring to celebrate with Buff. As lesser men have noted, Ray Charles could have seen the next two minutes. Buff busted a blood capsule in his mouth and David scooped some out to give to the docs. Yick.

Bill Goldberg was shown arriving backstage, and he was told he had until the rest of the show to try to get medical clearance. Kronic noted that if he couldn't wrestle, Goldberg would lose via DQ, and thus, his new winning streak would be kaput. At least until the new regime comes in and figures out what they want to do with that angle. Perhaps a battle royal where every man Bill throws over counts as one victory. They could do that at house shows over a one-weekend sweep and get his record up to 90-0 in a hurry.

Kickboxing Match for Commissioner Job
Mike Sanders d. The Cat
(decision) DUD
Truly awesome in a bad way, but I didn't count it as a wrestling match since it was presented as a kickboxing encounter for the job of commissioner of WCW. They did three two-minute rounds. Neither man came to the ring wearing gloves, which would have saved precious time on this fiasco.

Sanders took two punches in each round, but kept beating the bell. In the third round, Shane Douglas came out with a chain and KO'd The Cat while Perfect Event distracted the ref. Even though the bell rang, they had to complete the angle of The Cat making his own comeback and fighting with Shane outside the ring for a countout.

Mike Awesome p. Vampiro
(9:40) **
They seem to have figured out that Awesome has main event potential and are trying to give him a minor push. Vampiro came out and asked Awesome to be a man of honor and give Vampiro his World title shot on NITRO if he beat Mike. For some reason, Awesome thought this was a good idea. Then again, he thought doing That 70s Guy gimmick was a good idea.

A sloppy brawl that ended with Awesome winning with the powerbomb off the top ropes. Not through a table, though.

U.S. Title Match
Gen. Rection p. Jim Duggan
(9:48) * 1/2
They made it two-on-one with Rection fighting Duggan and Lance Storm . That made it a handicap match for everyone watching the card, really. Rection kicked out of a piledriver. Elix Skipper ran in with a 2x4 and Major Gunns tripped him up on the second attempt. He had to wait for her to try again. Lance Storm grabbed the 2x4, and as they argued, Rection pinned Duggan to win the U.S. title and bring Gunns back to the U.S.

Jeff Jarrett p. Sting
(14:20) **
Sting got possibly the second-largest pop on the card after Goldberg. Sting gave Death Drops to guys dressed like 1989 Sting, 1990 Sting, NWO Sting, the Sting Who Came From Beneath the Ring, and the Sting Who Dropped From the Ceiling. The latter Sting lost his hairpiece and was embarrassingly bald. Finally, after two guitar shots, Jarrett pinned Super - I mean, Sting. Fans did not like this finish.

Booker T did an interview and said that although the World champion always goes on last, he was giving that spot on the PPV to Goldberg so he could get medical clearance. What about all those times when Hulk Hogan was in the main event, but somebody else was World champ and had to be the semi-main?

WCW World Title Match
Booker T d. Scott Steiner -- DQ
(14:10) ** 1/4
They worked hard considering what the finish was going to be. Steiner either plays his gimmick to the hilt or is one loose cannon. After one bad call too many, Scott decked the ref and clamped on the Recliner. Bad move. A second ref came in, but Scott decked him too and put the Recliner back on. The announcers sold it that Steiner was a wildman who wanted to hurt people more than he wanted the WCW World title. Finally, ref Slick Johnson ran in and called for the DQ. Steiner attacked everyone until Jeff Jarrett came in to help Midajah calm Scott down.

Handicap Match
Bill Goldberg d. Kronic
(3:45) * 1/2
Playing up Kronic as "the biggest and baddest tag team in WCW" just made them look all the more like glorified jobbers when they lost in a combined 3:45. Bryan Clark took a Rhino-esque spear through a table for the first pinfall at 2:23 then magically disappeared. Adams took the jacknife for the second pin.

So after a torpid 2:50, the fans got to see a Hulk Hoganesque main event (and a house card main event at that) before going home.

signs:
Take This DX
I Could Have Stayed Home