2000 in Discussion

Discuss 2000 in Thunder

Rey Mysterio Jr. v Juventud Guerrera (Thunder 9/20/00)
--Ok moves here, and I kind of like partner v partner matches but overall this just isn't worth a shit. They work the "really quick cruiserweight counter" segments which have a lot of moments where they seemingly just give into the move, and then it erupts into a bit of Pokemon match. You know; your turn, my turn, your turn, my turn. This didn't have any memorable spots either. There are those high-octane rush matches that I'd call crap, but at least have a spot that I'm surprised a human is capable of pulling off. This was just the cruiserweight match you've seen a million times, and not even a good one.

Scott Steiner vs. Meng - 12/13/00
This was pretty good considering the time frame it's from. Meng has a World Title shot, fuck knows how that happened but I'm happy to see it. Meng actually controls the majority of the match, he's clearly stiffing Steiner from time to time but even Steiner knows better than to fuck with Meng. Meng even does a floatover! How fucking often does that happen?! Meng even beats up a woman here, one of Steiner's hoes. I love how hostile the crowd is towards Scotty, he's a great heel despite his limitations. Steiner does some suplexes and breaks Meng's grip, and thus locks in the Steiner Recliner. What's hilarious about it all is that WCW mistimed Sid's appearance really badly. Sid's music hits and he's standing there whilst Steiner is locking on his move and winning the match. THEN, Steiner notices Sid, because he clearly didn't before that despite his music playing. There's some shitty post-match brawling as Meng becomes an afterthought. Fuck knows why Meng went back to WWF a month later.

Juventud Guerrera, Chris Candido, Prince Iaukea vs. Shannon Moore, Crowbar, Lash LeRoux (Thunder 04/12/00)
This was typical of Russo's era, it's not wrestling, it's SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT. As far as cruiserweight (or majority cruiserweight) tag matches go, this was still pretty good albeit a little hard to keep track of. There was so much going on at once, and so many hurrancanrannas. Juventud ruled the match, Candido did okay, Iaukea? I don't even know. I want to know the logic or lack thereof behind the 'Artist' gimmick. Moore looked awesome (never thought I'd say that), Crowbar is a piece of shit, LeRoux? Once again, I don't even know. As spotty as this was, it was entertaining. What wasn't entertaining however was David Flair dancing at ringside. The crowd was actually really into this, they popped big for Daffney's 'ranna. All in all, I expected worse.

Sid Vicious vs. Harlem Heat 2000 (Thunder 04/12/00)
Fuuuuck, this was horrible. Sid is like a man is slow motion, it's actually painful to watch. I actually don't know how he managed to stay so over with the fans, it's beyond me anyway. HH 2000 are Big T (Ahmed Johnson), Stevie Ray and "Cash", I don't know who Cash is either. There's some scrawny black dude managing them, of course he has to be black, but he's nothing special either. The action is sluggish, pretty much everything is botched and it looks like the finish was fucked up by timing. The worse thing about this whole thing? It's a No DQ match and Bischoff comes out afterwards and reverses the decision by disqualifying Sid. LOGIC?! None.

Shane Douglas vs. Lex Luger (Thunder 04/12/00)
This string of horrible matches continue. It's a joke that Douglas is a member of the New Blood considering he was approaching 40 here. For the majority of the match, it's a Luger squash. Douglas doesn't even get a look in. It looks like Luger can't do a whole lot else other than shitty looking punches and kicks, if you could call those kicks. By God, this felt unorganized. Of course, there has to be a ref bump. Flair interferes and he looks less than inspired. BUT DAT HAIR. The Nature Boy may be as old as wrestling, but he'll be damned if he can't grow a full head of hair. Not as bad as the previous match, but still pretty fucking bad. And I can't understand the rebranding of Luger as 'The Total Package'. It's like the name 'Lex Luger' never existed here.

Booker vs. The Wall vs. The Cat vs. Scott Steiner vs. Kidman vs. Vampiro (Colorado Collision Match, Thunder 04/12/00)
A Colorado Collision Match is essentially a mini Royal Rumble with one minute intervals. AND IT FUCKING SUCKS. I literally have nothing positive to say about this. Booker has the 'T' removed from this name, lasts an almighty minute and looks weak being put through a table. The Wall is terrible, who even is he? I don't think WCW understood the concept of not putting useless talent in the ME picture. The Cat hits one nice kick and that's it, otherwise he's dancing to his music to try cover up the silence in the crowd. Steiner squashes Cat and Kidman in the space of like a minute, way to make Kidman look strong in his feud with Hogan. Vampiro doesn't even get to do anything since Sting attacks him and he immediately gets locked in the Recliner. This was just painful. I wish I had something positive to say, I'm feeling like a negative fucker, but there is nothing redeeming about this show so far other than the opener. *Sigh*

Madusa vs. Kimberly Page (Thunder 04/12/00)
Fuck off Russo, this wasn't even a contest. Kimberly gets beat on by Madge, DDP comes out, Diamond Cutter, Fin. It's segments like this that make me wonder, who the fuck would watch this? Because this show actually got a 3.1 rating, believe it or not. I feel bad even writing one word about this 'match'. This show can't get any worse, it's impossible. Cannot not be done. No Russo, don't even try it you Yank bastard.

Brian Knobbs, Fit Finlay vs. Meng, Hugh Morrus vs. Terry Funk, Norman Smiley (Hardcore, Thunder 04/12/00)
This was nonsensical, but a tonne of fun. It was like 3 mini matches taking place at once. There's the normal hardcore messiness that you'd expect but there's the AWESOMENESS that is Meng spearing a cardboard cut-out of Goldberg and then proceeding to throw Knobbs off the building. NOBODY FUCKS WITH MENG. Finlay looked weird and lost and I don't know, out of sorts. I didn't even recognise him at first since he was wearing camo and had spiky hair. Funk is batshit and his knees are shot like a motherfucker, so he doesn't really leave the ring, don't want too much activity incase he crumbles into a gazillion pieces. Screamin' Norman Smiley may be one of the funniest gimmicks ever. Smiley pinned Funk, his partner, can you even do that? Who cares. This was fun, easily the best part of the show.

Ric Flair vs. Buff Bagwell (Thunder, 04/12/00)
Clearly the show couldn't keep a good thing going because this flat out sucked. Bagwell produces nothing special, Flair is totally unmotivated and hating life in WCW at this time, so his performances are barely acceptable, he doesn't even bother wearing ring gear here. It's actually sad to see. Of course, Russo has to get involved and beat down Flair, which sucks just as much as the match. There isn't even anything to the match that I'd consider worthwhile, it's just a beatdown of Flair and that's that. I don't want to write any more on this.

Sting vs. Los Tres Villanos (Thunder, 04/12/00)
This was downright bad. Not for the match, which was nothing special anyway and entirely insignificant, but because of the production issues that were painfully obvious. The camera actually focuses on the fake Sting in the front row beside David Arquette which in the previous match was revealed to be Russo, so this match was clearly taped before that and they didn't even bother to try cover that up. Continuity isn't a lot to ask for in a 90 minute program, but evidently with Russo it is. Anywho, Sting eliminated the two masked characters that weren't Jarrett with ease, Jarrett smashed the guitar over Sting (for no reason too, I don't even think they were feuding), DDP attacked Jarrett and pulled Sting over him for the win. So, Sting looks like shit, Jarrett looks like shit, WCW's production crew look worse and the only person benefitting here was DDP. Shocking.

DDP vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Thunder, 04/12/00)
This started out looking like it would be okay, but that soon faded. Bam Bam was working over DDP's injured back nicely with a series of headbutts. DDP slipped over and under to hit a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere which was pretty sweet and the crowd popped nicely for it. However, it's not like this horrible show could end on a high note. Bischoff just had to interfere along with Jarrett and make a shambles out of everything. Jarrett wasted his second guitar of the evening and Bischoff has the shittiest looking chairshot ever. Bleugh, a bad ending to the go-home show for Spring Stampede. 9 matches on one TV show was a little much. I can't see myself racing back to watching anything from the Russo era now. Cheers Vinny Ru.

Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome (Thunder 6/28/00)
Steiner beating the piss out of Awesome during the 'walk and brawl around the crowd' stuff was fun, but this wasn't too good. Were there, like, rules in this? AT ALL? Steiner throws an announce table chair at Awesome and almost collects a fan, Awesome gives Steiner a low blow which I think was right in front of the ref, and there seems to be no count outs. Then commissioner Ernest Motherfucking Miller stops Steiner from using the recliner because THAT of all things is banned. Miller then the ref in the mouth and gently sweeps Steiner's head with the US belt. IDK what to make of this.