A jobber. Nothing more nothing less. Inspired
by a time when Nash was commentating on Jim Duggan's finisher, the "Old Glory Kneedrop", Nash decided that if he put "Old Glory"
in front of the name of a move, it made the move better. Many times during the night Nash
would see a punch and say, "The Old Glory Punch! It's over!" or "Old Glory
Clothesline!" Same could be said for the SteinerLine. Anyway, the Scrubinator,
being the jobber that he is, named all of his moves "Old Glory" ______,
in hopes that his moves might one day put someone down for the count.
Alex K. sends the following arena report:
Very, very sold out house. Thanks to a shrinking budget and the ludicrous ticket prices, I was high, high, high in the nosebleeds. If the cameras spotted some mountain goats up high, I was just above them. Still, a pretty good view, and thankfully I was on the aisle, which made getting down the aisle for photos easier.They kept to a pure ad breaks format, even though it wasn't live, or even close to. No matter how many times they kept claiming it was...
As appears to be the norm, thunder started about half an hour late. Ric Flair was intro'd before the taping started, but for some reason seemed a little off -- his voice was quite hoarse (even for flair) and he wasn't quite hitting his marks (literally). Probably also a little spooked by this strange concept called a 'sold out' arena. He must be thinking he's 40 again...
Dark match to kick things off, with Johnny The Bull facing off against Sgt A-Wall. Relatively humdrum match, with lots of threatened chokeslams through tables, although when Johnny military pressed A-Wall (well, it looked like a military press) the crowd did pop.
The announcing team was then intro'd with Madden getting some solid heel heat, and the Patron Saint getting quite a good pop. Throughout the evening, those on the floor went and pestered him for his autograph. People know quality.
Video presentations were OK during the night, although the crowd was really friggin' loud most of the time, so hearing stuff was kinda hard. This made the actual Thunder opener (Douglas/Storm v Konnan/Rection) a little hard to work out -- Storm got a kinda face pop as the crowd thought he and Douglas were going to go at it.
The new Aussie guy, Sam Greco, got a reasonable pop, but only with the simplest local crowd pop tactics. Good looking kick on Stasiak, though. I figure WCW has a spare Glacier costume somewhere that's gathering dust..
I thought the tag title defense(s) were quite good matches, but clearly I was on my own, as the crowd was quite anemic to them -- until Chavo and Lash won. Even the instant defense was good, as they let it play out a while, giving the illusion they were going to keep the titles. Does that make Chavo a 2 or 3 time tag champ?
A friend of mine (who wasn't there) used to be a big Charles Robinson mark -- and he would have been happy, as Charles got a pretty good face pop when he came out during an ad break. Charles seems to be the default ref bump guy for the night, as every time a ref bump was called for, he'd be the man on the end of it.
Crowd was into Booker v Kronik, and I was too -- until Goldberg came out. Cute moment at the end of the match, though, when Goldberg did a full theatre bow at the top of the ramp -- no idea if they'll televise it.
Crowd wasn't into the Lava Lamp Lounge, which saw a lot of the crowd head off for drinks. Looked good, although they kept stuffing up whether they'd show it on the big screen or not, which sucked for those of us in the high altitude seats.
Skipper v Kidman raised my expectations of Skipper, although, again, the crowd was somewhat dead for it -- a very name-obsessed crowd. Duggan was excellent at getting crowd heat, although you'd have to be a Pennsylvanian face to not see what was coming :)
Goldberg then got a huge crowd pop, and Big Al (no, not that big al, a friend of mine) lost a bet when he failed to count backwards from 100 before the match was over. He made it to 32. Just. Spear, Jackhammer, Grr, etc. The Rey-Rey/Steiner match was really, really good to watch, albeit very, very brutal. It should, of course, have been Rey/Juvi, but Juvi went nuts and naked two days previous, and was sent home. Given the pounding that Rey took, I'm beginning to suspect that it may have been Juvi/Steiner originally, and Juvi deliberately went loco to avoid the pain. It'd have to be simpler. When Steiner took Rey to the top turnbuckle, there was a quite audible 'Frankensteiner' chant, although Steiner opted for a Super Samoan Drop instead. With his shoulders, that's not going to be a painless move..
Sanders came out, I ran down the aisleway to get some sting photos, and, of course, Jarrett came out as 80's Sting. The crowd was somewhat mixed on it, with a lot of people NOT realising it was Jarrett; a group of guys near me immediately started talking about the Halloween Havoc 'surprise' and how they must have hotshotted it.. Once Jarrett started talking, mind you, it was clearer. Security was something of a hassle, as they wanted me to move on, and I really wanted a pic of the Sting entrance -- thankfully that didn't take too long (although I may never hear again). Sting definitely got the loudest pop of the night, even if 'berg got the most sustained.
Kerry Packer (rich Australian tycoon, and, indirectly, my boss) was shown walking through the crowd. True, he may own the magazine I write for, but I vowed then and there that if he interfered in the main event, I'd rush the ring and chairshot him. Thankfully, he didn't. He did get a good face pop, though. Thinking about it, he's:
So the crowd probably thought he was Hogan.
- Bald
- Obscenely rich
- Can't wrestle
Harris Bros v Awesome/Crowbar was better than I thought it would be, although the ending was sloppy. It looked as though Awesome was expecting to bomb Ron/Don (well, one of them) post match, but owing to Ron/Don going headfirst into the corner of the table (which was the only bit that broke) on a back body drop, that was quickly scrapped.
Main event followed, and, as usual, it was a screwjob.
Total number of 'wrestling' moves done by Nash (not counting Kick/Punch offense) : 0
Total number of 'wrestling' moves done by the Cat (not counting Kick/Punch offense) : 0
Pop that Nash got just for taking down his top strap: Deafening. When will they ever learn?
Overall a good show, but, on reflection, I'm glad I went the cheap seats .. well, relatively cheap, for what I paid you'd nearly get ringside in the States.
Needless to say, it was about a million times better than Superstars of Wrestling. They could afford real tables, at least...
Alex F. of Elmer Studios sends the following arena report:
We (Being myself, my brother and two other people who I won't name to avoid incriminating them) arrived at the arena about 7 pm. It was already about half full by then. We scaled the north face of mount Everest (OK, went up to our seats. Same thing.) to the second last row from the back! Ha. Actually, it was a pretty good view as we were looking straight out over the ring and opposite the entrance ramp. The top of the screen was cut off by the lighting, but all we missed in the end was Nash's face. No big loss.The place ended up being about three-quarters full. There were no big glaring holes, just lots of sporadic empty seats. There were a lot of vacant ones around ringside however, and quite a few amongst the second best prices...
We were a bit put off by the news that Juvi had been arrested for running drunk and naked through a hotel in Brisbane, assaulting police officers and possessing controlled substances. Boy, did Juvi do a good number on promoting the company. I'm impressed.
Outside, WCW was hawking an awful lot of grossly over-priced merchandise. El Vampiro Canado masks were selling surprisingly well, especially considering the job WCW has done of putting him over.
Dave Penzer came out about 7:30 and started warming up the crowd to a tremendous hail of boos and jeers from the crowd. He was not that well liked. Then we got a warm-up act that was more like a put to sleep act. That's right, A-WALL vs Johnny The Bull. A-WALL looks much fatter in real life than he does on TV. Basically it was a brawling snooze-fest. Wall & Bull brawl. Wall & Bull brawl outside the ring. Wall & Bull do A MOVE EACH. Wall puts Bull through a table. Snooze. I rate that as a Boring.
The announcers arrived to very little response, save for Our Patron Saint who got an enormous pop. Mark Madden looks fatter in life than he does on TV. Scary. Tony Schivone took to the ring and managed to mispronounce "Sydney", "Brisbane" and "Australia" all in one go. Well done. He then introduced... Ric Flair! Whoo! Ric came out to a huge pop from the crowd. He went on for a good five minutes about how much he was glad to be here. That was good. Amusingly enough, Tony introduced him as the fourteen time world champion. Fourteen? Has WCW been re-writing history, or is Tony just an idiot. You be the judge.
The show finally started, or not, around 8 pm. I say around because they decided to keep us on a psychedelic light show for a while.
The production values were shocking. The sound was super crackly. I figured it was because the best speakers were back at home in the US and Russo was hogging them for his Playstation (OK, so it's actually Ed Ferrara's, but you get the picture). They also on several occasions told us that we were back on the air, but nothing happened.
In the end, the show went overtime by some ten to fifteen minutes. After the end of the show, Booker T and Goldberg hung around and posed for the crowd, which was kind of cool. I say kind of because I could barely see them.
Scott Steiner looked a lot better in life than he does on the TV, although it could just be because we couldn't see him up close.
Biggest pops of the night went to (in rough order) Goldberg, Booker T, Sting, Jarrett pretending to be Sting, Our Patron Saint Blessed St. Stevie and Lance Storm. Lance got such a big pop that he looked genuinely surprised. As it is Lance Storm Appreciation week, we all stood for the national anthem. Someone in WCW production mustn't have liked this, so they piped a weak "Canada sucks" chant in. I guess we Australians like Canada too much. Does that make us evil too?
The Thrillers and A-WALL got virtually no heat, either way. The Cat scored well, but the crowd were rather hostile towards... um... what was his name. The Australian Kick-Boxer he was introducing... Sam Greco. I don't think it matters. I expect that he will be lumbered with a crap gimmick and all but forgotten in three months time.
I had a pretty good time. It could have been better if not for the booking, and if Lance Storm had actually gotten to do anything in the match. I shouted myself hoarse, almost picked a fight with the guy in the row in front of me and made a number of rude comments about Nash's beer gut and contribution to the night (practically nothing; he avoided the ring and crowd at all costs).
Nick T. sends the following arena report:
Before the matches actually started we had the ring announcer doing a few give
always and telling us how welcome Sydney had made the WCW team feel,
thanking us for coming out tonight, introducing us to the promoter, and a whole
heap of boring stuff like that.
We only really KNEW we were at WCW when Doug Dillinger came out and was
walking around the outside of the ring. He seemed to be enjoying it. He was
stopping and chatting with everyone who wanted to talk, signed autographs, and
was taking photos with people from the crowd. He even made it up to the cheap
seats and nosebleed sections to talk to some people.
Schiavone came out and told us how proud they were to be able to bring the
show to us. Then he introduced the surprise guest RIC FLAIR!!!!!! All I can say
is that Australia must be Horsemen Country judging from the pop he was given.
Flair got on the mic and did his thing about partying long and hard in Australia
and how much they were enjoying it downunder (as we can tell from Juvi). Told
us about how WCW was the best wrestling company in the
world……..ummm….ever heard of WWF!!!!
The biggest cheer of the evening so far was when Schiavone got the mic back
and said they were hoping to bring Thunder to Australia once a year.
Then we were introduced to our announcers for the night. Mark Madden was out
first in his Hawaiin tent sized shirt and sunglasses (hello…it is night time and
you are inside!!!), Next out was Stevie Ray who got a huge pop from the crowd.
First I was disappointed. I wanted to see Stevie wrestle but the fact that he was
even out in front of us was good enough I guess.
The ring announcer was back out and had a quick stab at Madden and his
weight. It was like the coffee calling the kettle black I thought!!!!
Anyway, then Nitro girls were out. Guys loved it, girls watched it.
Ring announcer again telling us to make noise as the show was about to begin.
When the show started everyone was going nuts at the fireworks and light show.
Cameras panned the crowd and came up to me. I held up my sign and a nice
gentlemen came and took it off me. I wonder if the fact that it said "I'd Rather Be
At Raw" had anything to do with it. Even had the TPWW logo on it…..always
next time I guess.
Now it was time for some wrestling!!!!!
Dark Match: A-WALL vs Johnny The Bull.
A-WALL brought a table to ringside and Johnny was just dissing every one he
could all the way to the ring. Pretty solid match to start with. Both A-Wall and
Johnny had the advantage at some stage in this match. Finished with A-Wall
powerbombing Johnny trough the tabe for the pin fall. As this was the first match
A-Wall drew a good reaction from the crowd and we all knew we were in for a
good night.
Match 1: Franchise w/ Torrie Wilson & Lance Storm w/ Major Gunns vs Konnan
w/ Tygress & General Rection.
The crowd gave a HUGE pop to Lance Storm when he came out. When he
insulted the Asutralian fans we all turned on him. During the Canadian National
anthem there were boo's going through the whole stadium. Wasn't long before
the Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi, chant got going. Konan and Rection got
a good pop when they came out. Being the first real match of the night, the
crowd got into it heavilly. Cheers for K-Dog and Co, massive boo's for Lance
Storm.
Match 2: Tag Team Title Match - Jindrak and O'Hare (c) vs Lueitenant Loco and
Corporal Cajun.
Overall this was an ordinary match. The only highlite was when after MIA won via
pinfall, Mike Sanders came out, congratulated the "new" tag team champs and
said that since Jindrak and O'Hare were the "out going" champs they would
have the first shot at the belts………………which Mike Sanders said was right
then. Jindrak and O'Hare attacked from behind, caught the MIA off guard and it
was all over from then. Nailed their Top Rope Hurracanrana/ Seanton Bomb
combo and won the match and their belts back. Surely the shortest Tag Team
Title reign!!!! This didn't go down too well with the crowd. Our section started a
chant of "$%#@ you Russo". That will get edited out I should think. Jindrak gave
the finger to the crowd on his way to the back. Crowd responded by giving it
right back to him multiplied by 12,000.
Match 3: Booker T vs Kronic.
Booker came out, fireworks came on, and the place filled with smoke. Got a
huge pop from the crowd. Was slapping hands with the fans all the way to the
ring. Everyone was raising the roof. Booker jumped onto to microphone and did
his thing. Started talking about Steiner and the crowd started questioning
Steiner's sexual preferences. They were still going when Booker got off the mic
and he looked like he was getting into the crowd chants. Kronik drew good heat
from the crowd. On their way to the ring they were staring down the crowd and
anyone that touch them was threatened. Brian Clark was threatening to hit some
fans. The look on Booker's face when he saw who he was up against was
priceless. Crowd loved it when he dropped the axe kick and whirl whirl. The
match was in a bit of a slump, but Goldberg fixed that. Everyone was on their
feet when Goldberg made his way through the crowd. The place erupted when
he hit the ring…and Kronik. What you may not have seen on TV is that after the
match Goldberg and Booker T stared eachother down. Booker was shouting
and asking questions of Goldberg who just stood there and too it all in. A bit
more staring, they move closer, and shake hands, hug, etc… Both got huge
pops from the crowd and stayed in the ring for a little bit to wave to the crowd
and take it all in.
Match 4: Elix Skipper w/ Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Kidman.
I think Hacksaw got the biggest cheer when he came out carrying the 2x4. You
have to respect the man for everything he has gone through with the health
problems and so on. Then again looking around me I don't think too many
people really knew what this man had gone through and what he has done for
pro wrestling in the past. Easilly the best match of the night and the crowd was
really into it. It was one of those matching where the cheers were for both
wrestlers and not just the face or heel. A lot of high flying moves, fast paced
action, and the advantage was swinging either way for most of the match. Most
people were pretty annoyed by the ending though. The match really deserved a
clean finish and judging from the crowd and quality of the match, I don't think too
many people would have minded who won it in the end. After the match Skipper
talked crap to the crowd and got booed. Hacksaw nearly got hit with his own
2X4 when he got too close and someone in the crowd pushed it back into his
face. Kidman was laid out in the ring and seemed hurt. Either he was hurt or he
was really good at selling a shoulder injury…all the way to the back. He waved
to the crowd, blew a few kisses, and gave the thumbs up to the Aussie fans who
were going wild for him.
Match 5: Goldberg vs Chuck Palumbo w/ Shawn Stasiak.
2 minutes, Spear/jackhammer, game over!!!! Almost……. Spear/jackhammer
Stasiak NOW… game over. After the crowd, Goldberg climbed the turnbuckles
and greeted his fans. The place erupted and he didn't leave the ring till he went
to all sides of the ring to thank his fans. Walked up the raceway, reached the
top, did a few poses, bowed over to thank his fans. Earlier in the night he'd
helped out Booker T but now he was motioning that he was going for the belt by
running his hands over his waist. Clapped the fans on his way backstage.
Match 6: Jeff Jarrett vs Mike Sanders.
Mike Sanders came out first. Biggest Boo of the night so far. Might have
something to do with the koala comment backstage earlier. Jarrett came out
dressed like the old coulorful Sting. First I was thinking the gimmick change had
come early. Then looking at the physique you could tell it wasn't the Stinger.
Crowd switched on to the ploy soon after he got in the ring. Everyone started
looking in the rafters to see if Sting was there. How soon people forget!!! I was
surprised that people would actually think he'd be up there after what happened
to Owen (RIP)
Jarrett grabbed the mic pretending to be Sting, talked crap about Sting (looking
the best he has in years, JJ will beat me at Halloween Havoc, so hurry up/cover
me/ and get it over with, etc…). Lied down and told Sanders to cover him.
Sanders "pinned" him but before the ref could count to 3, Sting was out (the roof
nearly blew off the Entertainment Centre) and took out Jarret. Fought Sanders
and never really lost the advantage, a stinger splash here and there, Scorpion
Death Drop, 1,2,3…..all over. After the match, Stinger stayed in the ring for a
few minutes. Climbed the turnbuckle and treated the crowd to a few "whooo" 's.
Hulk Hogan's spirit possessed him for a second because he went to each
corner of the ring pointed to the crowd, gave a "whooo" and waited for the
crowd to "whooo" him back. Stinger was working the crowd into a frenzy and
was clearly impressed with what he was getting in return. After a few mins and
more pops, he was looking to get out of the ring but someone out back told him
to stay in a bit more (probably a delay with something). Stinger worked the
crowd a bit more ringside.
Match 7: Harris Brothers vs Mike Awesome and Crowbar.
Average match which probably lasted too long. The only real highlite was when
Awesome pulled out the table. They set it up but the Harris' took the time to
recover and beat down on Krobar and Awesome. The twins then set up the
table in the corner and were going to give Awesome the H Bomb straight into it.
Awesome fought back, match went on a little bit longer and ended with
Awesome backdropping one of the twins through the table (if you want to call it
that as only the bottom bit of the table snapped). Awesome then covered for the
pin. After the match, Awesome and Krobar were the first to leave and got a
pretty good pop from the crowd. I was surprised by the applause that the Harris'
got from the crowd. Quite possibly one of the biggest pops of the night. The both
left and were shaking hands with the crowd, on top of the raceway they thanked
the crowd by a quick little pose which if you blinked you would have missed it.
Match 8: Scott Steiner w/ Midajah vs Rey Mysterio Jr w/ Tygress.
BPP was out first trying to look like an Egyptian with the chains on his head (I'll
never quite understand that). Got on the mic and had a message for his
hoochies in Australia. Got huge heat from the crowd. Rey was out next, and the
match was underway…sort of… BPP got out of the ring and did his usual
arguing and fighting with the crowd. I saw one guy in the crowd throw a pretty
good punch which if it connected could have quite possibly been hit of the night.
Anyway, you know how the match went from the write up. Highlite for mine of the
match was when he body pressed Rey a few times and then did his push up's.
After the match, Rey looked hurt. Steiner drew huge heat all the way to the back,
and thanked the crowd by raising his arms and giving them the sign to tell them
all where to go!!!! Meanwhile Rey was holding his back all the way to the back
and hung around for quite a bit after the match to shake hands and have a chat
with fans at ringside and on the way backstage. We were thinking that if Juvi
had been at the taping we could have had a half decent match (or tag match)
instead of something so one-sided. Still it is always good to see BPP in fine
form and tonight he was on fire, especially when he was arguing with the crowd
and telling them to go forth and multiply in no uncertain terms.
Match 9: Main Event - The Cat vs Kevin Nash.
Nash dominated this match with his knees and chokeholds in the corner.
Nothing really to write of this match. It was like it was in slow motion and wasn't
really going anywhere. Cat tried to fight for the advantage but was getting
anywhere till a boot felled Nash. Cat was getting ready to offer some real
offence when Mike Sanders jumped in the ring and levelled the cat with a steel
chair shot. Nash did a little strip tease for the crowd and lowered his shoulder
straps to set cat up for the Jackknife Powerbomb. Had the Cat ready for the
Powerbomb and were we all getting ready to leave as it was surely over after
this, but Booker T ran in to save him. To even it up Kronik came out and hit
some moves on to Booker while Nash was working over the Cat. Sting was out
next, and straight after him Jarret was running out to take care of Sting. Then
THE music hit and it was GOLDBERG. A few spears later, a scorpion death
lock on Jarret, and an axe kick on Nash, and the faces had cleared the ring.
After the match, the faces were taunting the heels that were left (Nash and
Kronik) to come back for some more. The Heels were on top of the raceway
and I saw Brian Clarke take a step forward like it was all going to be on again.
Adams pulled him back and Nash started walking down the ramp. The faces
were all on one side of the ring telling them to bring it on. Halfway down the
ramp Nash grabbed his back and tried to sell a back injury. Kronik then helped
him to the back. The heels (especially Nash) drew good heat for the whole
match and brawl. In the ring, the faces climbed all four corners and saluted the
crowd drawing HUGE pops. Cat left the ring and it was just Sting Booker T and
Goldberg. The three worked the crowd a bit. Someone in the crowd had blown
up a beachball by this stage and it was being passed all over the stadium. It
even made it over to the Stinger who grabbed it, showed it to the others, they all
had a pretty good laugh over it, and threw it back into the crowd. Stinger left and
it was just Booker and Goldberg. They stayed for a few more minutes and were
walking on their way backstage (Booker was actually IN the back) when
Goldberg called him out again. Out came Booker and him and Goldberg went
back to the ringside to say thanks to the fans. This went on for ages and the fans
were loving it. When they finally made it back to the ramp, Goldberg grabbed
the mic and said "How about a hand for the World Champ", raised Booker's
hand and the crowd went nuts. Both stayed on top of the ramp for a few
moments, thanked the fans and then it was all over.
Highlight of the Night:
Kidman v Skipper was a great match from start to finish but WCW being WCW
had to go wreck it with a shot from Hacksaw. The crowd was way into it the hole
night. We can't wait for the next time they tour now. Also nice to see that they
were not trying to rip us off too much with the merchandising. Personally I was
disappointed as they were only offering a limited range of t-shirts by the big
names. It's hard enough to get stuff like Buff, Kidman, and Rey down here
without WCW helping out when they tour!!! Sam Greco being introduced to the
crowd by the Cat was unbelievable. It's nice to have an Australian in WCW. Also
when the Cat was arguing with Mike Sanders and used some "momma jokes"
was a laugh.
Lowlight of the night:
The screw job for the tag team titles sucked. The ending to the Kidman v
Skipper match.
The Time between the matches was also a little too long. It would have been
better if it was more continuous.
Getting told by security that I couldn't use my digital camera to take photos (but I
still took photos from start to finish). They said I wasn't allowed because I could
post them onto the internet. Do I sound like the kind of person that would do that.
YEP!!!!! I will forward some pics if you guys want me to.
Best Crowd Signs
I'D RATHER BE AT RAW - Mine
POLICE FEAR JUVI - Friend I met in the Lobby
I SOLD MY CAR FOR THESE TICKETS - Someone with a ringside seat
$450!!!!!
WHERE'S JUVI - Same guy as with the other Juvi sign
GETTING OLDBERG
RUSSO SCREWED WCW
BIG POPPA PUMP (Me) - Two girls
MISS HANdlemyCOCK
And that folks, was showtime!!!!
See ya next time.
Trace M. sends the following arena report:
G'day.
We just arrived back today.
On Sunday I ran into Goldberg at a photo shoot with Nikki Webster (Olympic ceromony girl). I had a couple of photos of and with Goldberg.
The Kwee Wee was there as well. Talked to him for about 20 mins. Very nice bloke.
Chatted about the locker room morale. (very good)
Hogan/Russo situation. (It was a shoot, he answered quickly without hesitation)
But generally we spoke about his past. BBC documentery he was in about 2 years ago. Travel arrangements, yada yada yada
The show was fantastic!!
Thunder Down Under in Sydney
I had seats in the ringside section, 2nd row on the corner near where Booker T got whipped into the rail by Kronik. AND THE RAIL BENT from the impact!!!!!
The dark match was Sgt. AWOL vs. Johny the Bull. Good match. Good crowd reactions. AWOL the favorite.
Biggest cheers:
Biggest Heels:
Notes from the show.
Booker T got Boos & Cheers every time but EVERYONE joined in the phrase "Don't hate the player, hate the game".
Gen. Rection got a good pop and had the crowd over. The crowd loved Hacksaw but hated Storm.
The crowd chanted "Bullshit Bullshit" when MIA had the tag titles taken from them.
Sting gave a bow to all areas of the crowd after his match and again at the top of the ramp.
The crowd gave Nash hell about his stomach. "Bigger gut than Tank"
Goldberg held up Booker T's arm after the match and at the top of the ramp.
Then both came back down the ramp and went around the rails to shake hands with the crowd.
Both took extra care/notice of children in the crowd.
Daiceman sends the following arena report:
The taping of Thunder was about 5 mins late. Indeed, there was a match before Thunder between Johnny the Bull and Sgt. AWOL which started just after 7:40, after the announcers came out and welcomed the crowd.
Man, Schiavone is a kissass. He came out saying how for years he's been at the company to bring WCW out to Australia and that he hopes to pursuade the highups to bring an annual event to Australia! What a lame ass, the biggest pop he got was when he mispronounced Brisbane.
Whoever said there wasn't a full house is crazy, in my book 95% constitutes just that, and in an arena that holds 14,000, that means there was easily over 12,000 there.
The atmosphere in the arena was AWESOME! The crowd got into everything except for *sigh* the MIA and Harris Brothers. The Lava lounge was OVER with the crowd, Awesome threw in some great one-liners, too.
However, I was a bit peeved about everyone using the innane "AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE" chant for a cheap pop.
One cool line that was not mentioned was that of the Cat in his repartee with Sanders. At one point, Sanders said "You forget I'm the one with all the pull here tonight" to which The Cat replied "The only pulling you have is with your right hand in the showers out back" The CROWD LAPPED IT ALL UP, with the Cat receiving the loudest pops he's ever had.
In addition, Lance Storm and Elix Skipper, yes the Canucks, received the biggest HEAT. Lance's witty, yet obvious remark, about Australia being a penal colony and thus having to speak slow was so over with the crowd which lapped it up.
Franchise was booed simply cause he sucks.
Without a doubt the best matches were Skipper v Kidman, BPP v Mysterio.
Lame awards to Harris Bros and the TAG MATCH. Also, midway into the Booker/Kronik match, Goldberg could be seen waiting in the aisle to come out and help Booker. The crowd on my side of the arena all knew what was going to happen. *sigh*
Biggest pops went to GOLDBERG, by far, then Sting and BPP!
BPP was so over with the crowd, no insults, but man, I didn't think he was that good on the mic.
Goldberg and Booker were true superstars, they shook hands, high fived and in general gave the fans what they wanted, as much opportunity to see their favorites.
Nash however, what a pathetic display. You think he was lazy during the match! When the melee initially begun, he slouched himself over the ring steps for a minute, and then just got up and walked straight up the aisle! HALFWAY THROUGH THE MELEE!
In all, a great event to be at.
But WCW, what was with the merchandise, I was so disappointed. Here is what was on offer:
I was expecting so much more....shame WCW.