WCW Nitro is live with a new theme song! Andrew WK's "Party Hard" plays over a new intro video. The pyro goes bang and we're in the San Angelo Coliseum as Joey Styles & Jerry "The King" Lawler welcome us to Nitro!
No sooner does the smoke clear when "Self High Five" blares through the arena and here comes Diamond Dallas Page with a big smile on his face. Styles & King break down his attack on Shane last week and mention Shane isn't in San Angelo tonight as a replay plays. DDP is in the ring and has a mic in hand.
The clatter of horse hooves echoes through the arena and Arn Anderson is out on stage.
And with that, a bunch of security surround the ring, and it looks like Fit Finlay is there as well? DDP is escorted out of the arena with a strange little smile on his face.
Back from break with Curt Hennig on his way to the ring. Here comes Mark Jindrak and the Patriot Cup continues. Jindrak gets the upper hand early using his size and power to take control, but a couple quick counters from Hennig and Jindrak is on the mat in a chinlock. Jindrak fights back and hits a MASSIVE leapfrog over Hennig at one point. Jindrak got serious height on that. Hennig manages to take control again and tosses Jindrak into the corner, but Jindrak hops up to the top rope in one swift action and leaps back with a clothesline. Hennig ducks however, and as Jindrak struggles to his feet, Hennig manages to lock in a Fisherman's Suplex and gets the big man over for the victory.
It was fine. Nothing bad, but nothing overly good. Hennig looks like he still has it, but Jindrak is nothing more than an athletic broom at this point. His jumps were high, but that's the best you can say about his performance.
Commercial break time. We're back and here comes "The Doggfather of WCW" BG James. He has a mic and runs down Lance Storm. He says last week, Lance disrespected him and where he's from, that's not something that goes forgotten. But regardless of that, BG James is now 1 win up on the #1 Contender, and he thinks that has to move him up into title contention. Here comes the World Heavyweight champion Booker T. Booker is in the ring across from James. He says James is a hell of a performer, and he's on his own for the first time in a long time, something Booker can respect. Stepping out on your own is hard enough, but coming after Booker T would be a nightmare for James. But if he wants a shot, Booker T is standing right here. As Booker and James seem to square up, here comes Buff Bagwell! Bagwell wants to remind everyone just who he is. Bagwell is The Stuff. All the ladies want him, all the men want to be him, but Buff wants that World Heavyweight title. Booker grabs the mic and says he's ready to wrestle anyone, it doesn't matter who, because the WCW World Heavyweight champion is a fighting champion and he's here to prove he's the best of all time. That's enough to bring out Lance Storm. Storm is angry, he reminds Booker T they have a match for the World Heavyweight title at Great American Bash, and Booker T is a fool for overlooking Storm. Doesn't Booker remember being locked in the Canadian Maple Leaf? Or has he forgotten so fast? Booker says he doesn't forget anything, but he knows where Lance will be on June 24th, so instead of looking for him, he'll just beat him then. All this talk is enough to bring out new WCW Commissioner Arn Anderson! Arn says as much as he enjoys group therapy, WCW is a place where men wrestle to determine who's best, not talk. And with four guys in that ring, Arn sees a tag team match waiting to happen. So get to the back, and get ready, because it's Lance Storm & Buff Bagwell vs. BG James & the WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T, tonight!
Adam Pearce is already in the ring when "The Psycho Killer" Sean O'Haire's as Joey Styles calls him is coming out to some new music, I think its Slayer?. No sooner is O'Haire in the ring than Adam Pearce is already getting swarmed by right and left hands. Big throw out of the corner and O'Haire nails a big running roundhouse kick. He hoists Pearce on his shoulders and hits a Fireman's Carry Facebuster! That looked like a darn tornado! O'Haire to the top, Seanton Bomb and Pearce is looking at the lights.
It was fine, but it's a squash. Crowd liked the big Tornado Slam thing and the Seanton Bomb but way too short to get into and no one cares about Adam Pearce.
Here comes Chuck Palumbo to attack his former partner, but O'Haire fights back and hits a big kick. He hoists Palumbo on his shoulder, but someone is in the ring and pulls Palumbo down then levels O'Haire with a clothesline. It's Johnny The Bull! Johnny & Chuck put the boots to O'Haire. Sean to his feet and he eats a big Super Kick from Palumbo. Palumbo with a backbreaker on his knee as Stamboli heads up top, and he nails a Leg Drop onto O'Haire while across Palumbo's knee. The new duo leave together as O'Haire slowly recovers in the ring.
We are backstage in the office of Arn Anderson. Busy night for the Commissioner. He's on the phone with someone when Kanyon barges in the door. Kanyon is livid and tells Arn he expected better from him. WCW is supposed to be a land of new opportunities, and since it's been back, everyone has forgotten about Kanyon it seems. He says maybe DDP was right, and Anderson is just another kiss-ass trying to milk a McMahon for a paycheck. Anderson gets in Kanyon's face and says he's heard quite enough, and tells Kanyon to leave before he says another word. Kanyon scoffs and walks out of the office as Double A looks angry.
It's the year 2001 and Marc Mero aka Johnny B. Badd is on national television! Awesome and Badd lock up and Awesome dominates. Lots of big power moves from the career killer, but a missed shoulder tackle into the corner sends Awesome into the ring post. The Gold Glove winner takes control for a bit with some kicks and punches and a hangman's neckbreaker has Awesome down for a 2. The two go back and forth for a bit more with Johnny B. Badd looking to lift Awesome onto his shoulders at one point, but Awesome pounds his back with his big arms and lifts Badd onto his shoulder, big Awesome Bomb and the match is done!
A fine little match. Johnny B. Badd didn't look too bad. HA! Match was basically the same as the opening match, but with the bigger man winning. While again not terrible, it was nothing great either.
Back from commercial and Disqo & Mike Sanders are laying on some lounge chairs on a sandy beach? They are quite obviously on a set with edges of a sandbox visible, interior lighting, and the background looks like a blown up postcard with a picture of a sunny oceanfront on it with "Welcome to Jamaica" also blown up in the bottom right corner. Disqo & Sanders are in bathing suits and their tag team titles, while Sanders still has his arm in a sling and they are drinking out of coconuts. Disqo laments he wishes they could be in San Angelo defending their titles, but they had this vacation planned so long ago, they sadly have to relax on this beach instead. A bunch of pounding is heard, when the camera pans over to a door that comes flying open, and here comes the Misfits In Action. Disqo & Sanders scamper around as MIA bursts into the room and begin ripping down the fake palm trees and beach umbrella. Sanders and Disqo scurry out of the room leaving MIA alone. They look around at the setup before sitting down on the lounge chairs with Cajun picking up one of the Coconuts, and Rection grabbing some sunscreen lotion and he starts to put it on.
In the ring, Chavo Guerrero Jr. is standing next to a barber's chair. He says he deserves a shot at the WCW World Cruiserweight title, but after thinking about it, he can appreciate Shane Helms thinking it's time new stars get a chance in the spotlight, but Chavo isn't ready to give up. So, he has an offer. Lucha Libre has a tradition where to put an end to a long-standing rivalry, Luchadores will put up their masks as the final way to put a matter to rest... And when a luchador doesn't have a mask, they put up their hair. Chavo looks at the barber's chair. So at Great American Bash, Shane Helms, I will put my hair on the line for one final shot at the WCW World Cruiserweight title. What do you say? "Sugar" Shane is quickly out on the stage. Helms says him and Chavo have been fighting for so long, that he fears Chavo assumes that Shane doesn't respect him. But quite the opposite is true. Shane always respects those who came first, those who step in that ring and give it their all, and Chavo has always done that. While sometimes they may disagree on what it means to be a champion, Shane can appreciate Chavo literally betting it all with his hair on the line. So at Great American Bash, it's the WCW World Cruiserweight Title vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr's hair!
Styles & King hype the Cruiserweight title match while saying that all the Cruiserweights in WCW and on the outside are clamoring for their chance to rise up the ranks and challenge for the Cruiserweight title, including Billy Kidman & Kwee Wee. The two have a back and forth match with some cool moves including some springboards from Kwee Wee that I always forget he can do. Kwee Wee makes the ultimate mistake and tries to powerbomb Kidman and eats a facebuster instead. Kidman up top and a Shooting Star Press ends it.
Not the best to be honest. If you want to hype up the cruiserweight division, I'm not sure Kwee Wee is the guy to do it with. And Kidman has seemed lost since WCW's return. I guess it's good to get both guys on TV, but this just seemed like a random match with no stakes and the fans in attendance agreed.
Backstage, Scott Hudson is with Shawn Stasiak & Stacy Keibler. Stasiak says he can't believe the quality of wrestler being allowed to call themselves WCW stars. Look at his physique, look at his consultant's physique. No one in WCW deserves to share the ring, the screen, or the same air with the Mecca of Manhood. Next week, he has Rob Van Dam in the semi-finals to the Patriot Cup, and the "bingo hall brawler" should maybe play bingo instead to save everyone some time. RVD walks up to Stasiak from off frame. "You're the Mecca of Manhood huh? I'm Rob... Van... Dam. See you next week."
Here comes the four men for the main event. I still think it's a little sad BG James is considered a main eventer for WCW. James & Storm start and the two go back and forth for a while. A really standard tag team match goes on for a bit with all guys getting a chance to get some stuff in before heading to commercial. Back from commercial and Storm has James locked in a dragon sleeper kind of hold. James fights out and really gets the crowd going after a series of clotheslines and a Shaky Shaky Knee Drop. Tag to Booker and the World Heavyweight champion cleans house. Lots of moves and the crowd is really into it! Storm manages to scurry to Bagwell and Bagwell comes in and eats a big leg lariat. Booker demands Bagwell tag Storm back in and allows him to crawl to his corner, but as he gets there, Storm drops off the apron. Bagwell turns around and eats a Book End! Booker doesn't go for the pin though and instead locks in a Texas Cloverleaf here in the Lone Star State, and Bagwell taps out!
That match was just good. They didn't do anything crazy, but they played the crowd perfect, hit enough moves to keep it interesting while also having all the standard punches and rest holds that had the Texas crowd in the palm of their hands. Great job from all four guys.
After the match, Booker & James raise each other's hands, when Storm runs back into the ring and shoves James into Booker. James turns around into a Super Kick, and then Storm quickly grabs the World Heavyweight title and smashes Booker in the head with it. Storm raises the title above his head as WCW Nitro fades to black!