Crowd Control is in the rearview mirror and WCW Nitro begins the march towards Fall Brawl! Nitro is LIVE from New Orleans, Louisiana! "Party Hard" greets us as normal and Joey Styles & Jerry "The King" Lawler are on commentary as the pyro booms.
The music of WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Lance Storm, hits and he is on his way to the ring with Dawn Marie. He has a mic in hand. "If I can be serious for a minute..." Storm brags that he is the best pure professional wrestler on this planet. At Crowd Control, the WCW office in their desperation to have an American champion, put him in the ring against not one, but three opponents to try and take his championship away, but as anyone should have predicted, Lance Storm stands before the world STILL WCW World Heavyweight Champion. Kanyon, Curt Hennig and BG James could not dethrone him, and no one will. Tonight, he has the opportunity to prove once and for all he is the top of WCW when he defends his WCW title again against BG James and finally defeated that "dog" 1-on-1, then, Shane McMahon will have no choice but to declare him the champion of all time and he might as well take a nice long vacation in Calgary, Alberta, Canada until someone proves to be worthy of stepping in the ring with him.
The FBI were supposed to defend their titles against the Mistfits In Action at Crowd Control, but jumped the challengers instead. Commissioner Arn Anderson signed this match as a punishment. The FBI start out hot early with Palumbo dominating Pete Gas. Gas has a small comeback once Stamboli is tagged in and hits him with a nice back suplex before making the tag out. Anderson is in and begins to take it to Stamboli and hits an nice suplex for a 2. Anderson & Gas start some quick tags, but the momentum shifts with Guido gets involved, distracting Pete Gas long enough for Palumbo to run in an drill CW Anderson with a Super Kick. The FBI slowly take over and end up nailing Pete Gas with their "Kiss of Death" Backbreaker from Palumbo and Diving Leg Drop from Stamboli for the three count.
It was fine. The Tag division needs an injection of life as it really feels the division is just the FBI & MIA at this point, and all the other teams often in the mix just are not on the level they need to be. I enjoyed the Gas & Anderson duo at first for the idea of it, but it seems they just are not good enough or connection with the crowd to really invest in them.
After the victory, out comes Torrie Wilson aka the Blond Bombshell of MIA. She is seemingly flirting with Guido as the FBI watch on from in the ring. General Rection & Corporal Cajun manage to sneak in and begin pummeling the FBI in the ring, as Torrie smacks Guido on the outside. The MIA look to be setting up a move on Stamboli, but the FBI manages to sneak away as MIA stands tall in the ring.
Back from commercial, in the ring we have Buff Bagwell. Bagwell has a microphone and reveals that getting extreme just really wasn't his style. He is extreme, he is handsome, he is the best, he is the stuff. What he really needed is someone on his level to stand against all the filth in WCW, so he went out and found himself "The Real Deal". Bagwell motions to the entrance, and here comes D'Lo Brown to a cool entrance song. D'Lo is headshaking his way to the ring as we seem to have another match coming up.
Jason Jett is back after a lengthy hiatus it seems. D'Lo starts out vicious and really takes it to Jett. D'Lo hits a couple big moves early and gets a quick 2-count. Jett fights back and hits a big handspring back elbow and takes some control. A big springboard clothesline from Jett gets a 2 count. Jett looks to be setting D'Lo up for his finisher, the Crash Landing release suplex powerbomb thing, but D'Lo slips out and sends Jett into the ropes. Buff hooks Jett's leg as Jett turns to take a swat at Buff. Jett turns back into a big Sky High spinebuster from D'Lo. D'Lo heads up top and nails a Lo Down frog splash for the three count.
D'Lo got the victory which is what was needed. Jett is often talked about as a big prospect, but injuries seemed to sidetrack that. He looked okay here, but D'Lo was really the one able to shine.
After the match, Buff & D'Lo are in the ring and circling Jett looking to make a statement when the music of Rob Van Dam plays! The United States Champion charges to the ring as Bagwell & Brown scatter.
We are in Arn Anderson's Office with WCW World Cruiserweight Champion, Chavo Guerrero Jr. alongside Kaz Hayashi and also joined by Shane Helms & Evan Karagias of 3 Count. Arn congratulates Chavo on retaining his title at Crowd Control, but mentions sadly both Shannon Moore & Yun Yang appear to be injured and will be out "for a while." Arn says Chavo needs a new challenger and says tonight, Evan Karagias & Kaz Hayashi will face off one-on-one with the winner getting a shot at Chavo's title. Kaz and Chavo exchange an awkward look.
This was a total blitz from the opening bell. Karagias was clearly motivated by his fallen 3 Count partners, catching Kaz with a headscissors and a corkscrew crossbody to the outside early on. Kaz regained control by targeting Karagias' neck with a series of stiff European uppercuts and a springboard spinning heel kick. Karagias managed to mount a comeback, hitting a sit-out powerbomb for a very close two-count. As Evan ascended the turnbuckle looking for a 450 Splash to finish it, Chavo Guerrero Jr. ran out and pulled Kaz from the ring. Kaz seemed confused and got into Chavo's face asking what he was doing, as this was going on, Evan leapt from the top rope, but Chavo shoved Kaz into the line of fire, causing Kaz to take the full force of the move! Karagias to his feet now and he immediatly began to brawl with Chavo on the outside! The referee, confused by everything, called for the bell!
Great little cruiserweight match, as always it seems. Evan & Kaz have really established themselves and helped expand the division. Chavo and Kaz teasing tension seems like the obvious way forward here, but Karagias still has a claim for the title too now.
Back from Commercial and here come The Foundation of Diamond Dallas Page, Kanyon & Mike Awesome! They are in the ring and DDP has a nice big smile on his face. At Crowd Control the Foundation saw some good and some bad, Mike Awesome fell to Booker T and Kanyon did not become the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, but Diamond Dallas Page pinned Shane McMahon, 1-2-3, in the middle of this ring inside a steel cage after dropping the WCW owner with a Diamond Cutter. The Foundation has promised themselves that from this point forward, they are running the show, and tonight, the first steps will become clear.
The former Chyna is squaring off against the Fabulous Kwee Wee! Joanie dominates with some power and Kwee Wee bumps all over the ring for her. Kwee Wee takes over for the shortest time after a back elbow and springback leg drop for a quick 2. Joanie ends up powering up and nailing Kwee Wee with a big Military Press Drop. Kwee Wee goes for a Low Blow on Laurer, but she just looks at him and then nails him with a Powerbomb! 1-2-3.
Well Kwee Wee seemed intent on making Joanie look half decent and he did his job. Joanie looked fine and got a good reaction, but thats about it.
After the match, Shawn Stasiak is in the ring and looking to attack Joanie. Joanie turns and sees Stasiak who freezes in his tracks. This gives enough time for Stacy Keibler to slide into the ring with the WCW Women's title and she drills Joanie with it! But Joanie no sells the attack as Stacy & Stasiak scamper out of the ring.
We are with Styles & Lawler at ringside who reveal next week, Steve Corino will be having a "coronation" as the new King of WCW next week after his victory over Lawler. Lawler is upset but accepts Corino was the better man at Crowd Control and says Corino just might be all he's claimed to be.
BG James came out swinging, using his juke and jive punches to rattle the champion early. Storm tried to maintain his technical composure, but James caught him with a big spike DDT that nearly ended the reign in the first five minutes. The crowd in New Orleans was fully behind James as he nailed his signature shaky shaky knee drop for a long 2-count. Storm finally found an opening when James missed a charge in the corner, allowing Storm to hit a precise basement dropkick to James' knee. Storm became a surgeon from there, picking apart the leg with a variety of dragon screws and a spinning toe-hold. James showed massive heart, fighting through the pain to hit a desperation neckbreaker, but the damage to his leg was evident. The end of the match saw James go for the Pumphandle Drop, but his leg buckled under the weight. Storm capitalized immediately with a stinging superkick to the jaw, followed by a snap German Suplex into a bridge for a count of two. As James struggled to his feet, Storm ruthlessly kicked the injured leg again and locked in the Canadian Maple Leaf right in the center of the ring. James fought to reach the ropes, but Storm sat back deep, leaving James no choice but to tap out.
Storm and James put on surprisingly good matches for who BG James is. Storm gets a pretty big clean win here and seems to be ready to move on from James as he is putting together a nice little title run now.
After the match, Storm is celebrating in the ring when Diamond Dallas Page's music hits! The Master of the Diamond Cutter is in the ring and walks right up to Storm and is staring at the Big Gold Belt! Storm raises the title above his head as DDP begins to motion the title belongs to him. DDP's music fades out and Booker T's music hits! The former Champion is here and also making his way to the ring. DDP has pivoted to the opposite side as Booker T enters. Booker T seems to be gesturing the title belongs to him as Storm stands between Booker & DDP on either side, all three men seemingly staking claim to the ultimate prize!