WCW Nitro returns, now on FX! The new presentation is slick and the new stage looks great.
Tonight we are live from the Hobart Arena in Troy, Ohio. It is a smaller venue, but it seems packed as pyro goes off and Joey Styles and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcome us to Nitro.
Shane McMahon is out first with a slick new theme song "Here Comes the Money." I am not sure how much he has left after buying WCW! Anyway, he hypes up WCW as being reborn and ready to take the wrestling world by storm. He goes over Big Bang and thanks all the fans and wrestlers for making it such a big success. He introduces the heart and soul of WCW, the WCW World Heavyweight Champion,
Booker T!
Booker is out and thanks Shane for giving WCW back to the fans. He says he is welcome to take on any and all challengers as World Champion. He thanks Diamond Dallas Page for the fight of his life at Big Bang and knows his next opponent will test him as well. With that, here comes
Lance Storm!
Lance Storm comes out and mentions he is Booker's next challenger since he won the Big Bang Brawl and he is going to be the next World Heavyweight champion because he is the best technical wrestler in the world. Shane cuts in saying he wants a big main event for the first Nitro and tells Storm to get ready. Storm says his number one contender contract specifies he gets to choose the time and place of his match, and he has already done that: the main event of
The Great American Bash!
Booker says he will beat him twice, he will beat him five times, it doesn't matter. "Let's wrestle now, sucka!" But Storm simply leaves. Shane asks anyone in the back to come out and take Booker's challenge and that brings out
Buff Bagwell! Bagwell says he is "the stuff" and should have won the Big Bang Brawl, but it doesn't matter since he will gladly take the title tonight. Shane makes it official and we have our main event for the first Nitro of Shane's era: Booker T defending the WCW World Heavyweight title vs. Buff Bagwell!
Before the shutdown, Jett was one of the hotter prospects beginning to get some momentum in WCW. Here he gets his biggest challenge in Kanyon. The former EZ Money of ECW fame looked great, but Kanyon looked better. After a great, quick back and forth match, Kanyon put Jason Jett down with a Flatliner for the 3 count at 8:19!
Rating: 6.3/10
Good match. Jett looks like he could be a sleeper pick for breakout star of this new WCW.
A great little showcase here. Dreamer starts the match and starts out strong, but some cheating from Skipper and Romeo has the former Cruiserweight Tag Team champions take over. Eventually Dreamer hits the hot tag to RVD and he comes in hot! A quick tag to Dreamer has him nail Skipper with a Death Valley Driver. RVD tags back in and nails the Five Star Frog Splash at 9:50 for the win.
Rating: 6.8/10
RVD was really showcased again. I guess RVD and Dreamer are a tag team going forward?
Backstage after the commercial, Scott Hudson introduces WCW World Cruiserweight champion,
Shane Helms! Helms puts over the Cruiserweight title as the title that really carried WCW in the past. He says he is ready for new challengers when he is blindsided by
Chavo Guerrero Jr.! Chavo shouts that he is the only Cruiserweight that matters.
Cut to the locker room of
DDP. Shane McMahon walks up and knocks to no answer. He opens the door anyway and DDP is sitting alone in street clothes. Shane asks where he has been and says he wants him to wrestle tonight. DDP said he "didn't think he had it anymore." Shane said if DDP thinks he is done, Shane will give him the send-off he deserves next week.
Adam Pearce is in the ring already when Curt Hennig's music hits. Hennig comes out and the two have a quick little match with Pearce getting next to nothing in. Hennig nails the Hennig-Plex at around 5 minutes and that is the match.
Rating: 5.6/10
Back from commercial and Scott Hudson brings out WCW's newest star,
BG James! A laugh from off-screen interrupts, and
Shawn Stasiak walks up with
Stacy Keibler. "Looks like Shane will hire anyone off the street," Stasiak says as James scoffs. "That's not Mecca," adds Stacy as they laugh and walk away.
Cut to the ring where
The Natural Born Thrillers are on their way. Styles mentions the Thrillers have enacted their rematch clause. Disqo and Sanders are out next, and Sanders is wearing a sling. He isn't cleared tonight. O'Haire grabs the mic and demands any tag team come out and face them right now. This brings out the
Misfits in Action.
The match is a slugfest. Palumbo grabs Rection by the trunks at one point and he falls throat first into the middle rope. Palumbo tags in O'Haire and O'Haire again dominates. As O'Haire goes for a tag, Palumbo drops off the apron. O'Haire looks confused and turns around into a big double clothesline. Rection up top, Moonsault and a three count at 10:41.
Rating: 5.7/10
So the Thrillers are done? MIA gets a big win here.
Commercial time, and we are backstage again. O'Haire is screaming for Palumbo. Out of nowhere, Palumbo blindsides O'Haire sending him slamming into a garage door. O'Haire stumbles back into a big Superkick.
Booker gets some real sick pyro. Bagwell eventually gets in control after crotching Booker on the top rope. Back from commercial and Bagwell is still in control. He sets up for the Buff Blockbuster, but Booker dodges it. Bagwell goes to the eyes and as the ref checks on Booker, Bagwell starts taking the turnbuckle off. The ref catches him. As Bagwell argues, Booker is back to his feet. Bagwell turns around into a Book End at 15:05!
Rating: 7.7/10
After the match, Booker is celebrating when Storm jumps him from behind. A Superkick and Storm locks in the Canadian Maple Leaf. Storm grabs the title and raises it over his head as Nitro fades to black.
FINAL SHOW RATING: 7.4/10
Check back next week as we will be back with the WCW Nitro results here at TotalExtremeWrestlingNews.com!
