• I decided to go to the house show at the last minute, so I didn't get there real early. The place was hoppin'. Many more people than the house show in March. Lots of little kids, though.

• In other notes, Sting was signing autographs at Tri-County Mall today, at Suncoast Video. I got there at a quarter till 5:00, and the line was huge. After waiting nearly an hour, I left, to go to the show. I think he was promoting the video release of that "Why Men Committ Crimes" movie.

• Buff Bagwell was signing autos today at a local toystore, but tickets were $25. The show tickets were only $15. I didn't go to that.

• The show!!!!!!!

• Kanyon defeated Evan Karagis
  Good wrestling. Lots of good stalling, and building of heat. Kanyon kept calling E.K. a jobber, and such. Kanyon drew lots of heat from the crowd, and there were lots of "Kanyon Sucks" chants.

  Kanyon ended up winning the match after a Russian Leg Sweep.

• Meng defeated Hugh Morrus
  Terrible, terrible match. Too much stalling, and no heat with the crowd. Meng was the face, but Morrus was slapping hands and talking with the fans during the match. If you've ever seen this on TV, you missed nothing.

  Meng won w/ the goozle, and a 1,2,3.

• Stevie Ray defeated Mongo McMichael
  Mongo wasn't allowed to wrestle, because he was hurt on Thunder. He came out anyway and said no one could stop him. The trainer even came out to sell the angle. Mongo took an AB (ass beatin) the entire match. After getting the advantage, he gets into it w/the ref and gets blackjacked by Stevie Ray

  Stevie Ray wins by pinfall

  After the match, Stevie Ray gets into it w/a fan, and they end up hauling the fan off, through the back. Credit Snoop Doggy Dillenger for the quick break up.

• Ernest the Pussycat defeated Kidman
  Terrible, terrible match. Ernest was over as a heel, but I honestly think it is because he sucks, and everone knows it. He challenged anyone from the back to beat him, but no one came out. Then, Kidman came out. Kidman got a good sized pop, and everyone seemed to be impressed by his wrestling. People were pissed when he missed the "7 year itching press star".

  Kitty B. Badd won with the "Stupidkick".

  Intermission

• DDP defeats Curt Hennig
  Hennig got mad heel heat. DDP got a huge pop, as if he wasn't going to. Hennig called DDP a wuss and said he was gonna kick his ass, then he stalled. DDP grabbed the mike and got cheap pop by saying: "Get in the ring and let me give you a Corry Dillon Ass Whoopin!!!!!"

  DDP wins w/ the Diamondcutter

  After the match, Hennig grabs the mike and says "Cincinnati sucks, anyway". He is met by a beverage in the forehead. The thrower is tossed by cops and MC Dougie D(illenger).

• Sting and Nash defeat Hall and Hart
  Marks are thrown off by Hall's entrance to "Ready Or Not" by the Fugees. Good pop, and lots of "Alco-hall-ic" chants. Surveys: WCW ties w/ NWO, but Wolfpack kills Hollywood. Bret Hart was booed all night, but got a face pop when he came out. Nash and Sting got the biggest pop of the night. Nash and Hall worked most of the match, as Bret refused to fight Sting. If Sting was in the ring, Bret walked around on the floor, leaving Hall out to dry. Sting gets a house-a-fire tag and works Hall over, tags in Nash, and Bret won't help Hall because Sting is between them. Bret leaves.

  Hall is the recipient of a big Jackknife Powerbomb

• Goldberg defeated the Giant
  Giant comes out smoking. Goldberg gets a huge pop, but I think Nash's was louder. Giant tosses him around a while, then hits the chokeslam. Goldberg goes down, but gets up.

  Spear, Jackhammer, 123.

Pretty lame show. T-shirt and concessions were busy, but all of the merchandise was Hogan or NWO related, except for the Warrior shirts. I was gonna get a "Monday Night Jericho" shirt, and/or a "Eddy Guerrero is my Favorite Wrestler" shirt, but they had neither. Therefore, WCW got no merchandise money from me.

After the show, I went around back to see the guys leave. Kanyon came out and signed autographs for at least 30 minutes. He turned no one away, even though secirity told him to come back in. Kidman finally came out and got him. I felt sorry for him, because no one recognized him, but were pointing out Kanyon to him. I finnaly yelled out "Kidman is the real luchador", and people started realizing it was him. I felt sorry for the guy. It was like Nova at the ECW fan fest at Heatwave '98

One of the security guards let me in on a little secret: All of the wrestlers who hadn't left yet were drinking beer in the locker room. He told me because I was following the security rules and I "Knew my wrestling". He was pointing at my ECW shirt.

Please visit my website, Westside Wrestling Connection. It has cool stuff. I also do Nitro and WCW PPV reports for the NWODRI, a cool site for disgruntled columnists.

Peace!!!!!

• Many legit "Goldberg" chants.
• Kanyon def. Evan Courageous via Flatliner.
  • Before the match, Kanyon did a spiel similar to the one from the 9-10 Thunder. "Innovator of offense. Simply the best," etc.
  • He told Evan that he knew that Evan had never won a pro wrestling match (Certainly true in WCW, unfortunately. I like Courageous, and he definitely deserves a push. Great high-flyer with some real star potential as the pretty-boy face.), and that if Mr.. Courageous would but shake his hand, he'd give him the match.
  • Evan acted confused by all of this, and seemed to be asking the ref what to do. Kanyon got sick of waiting and blindsided him.
  • Great back and forth action, including some great clotheslines and a top-rope sunset flip by Evan; an AMAZING Courageous powerslam; and Kanyon's fireman's carry-into-a-flapjack.
  • The end came when Evan missed a moonsault, allowing Kanyon to hit the Flatliner.
  • Best match of the night, and perhaps not coincidentally, the most under-appreciated by the crowd. Kanyon did draw some great heel heat, though.
• Meng def. Hugh Morrus via The Goozle Death Grip.
  • Hugh forgot he was supposed to be playing the heel tonight and was slapping hands on his way to the ring.
  • Meng came out to a face pop, which I thought was bizarre.
  • Not much action of real note.
  • The end came when Hugh missed HIS moonsault (see a theme here?), allowing Meng to apply the goozle for the pin.
  • The crowd loved the ending, but several "boring" chants erupted during the match. Very true.
• Ernest Miller def. Kidman via spinkick.
  • Miller did his usual "3 time world karate champ" thing, which nobody seemed to care about.
  • The heel heat came when he called the whole crowd "rednecks". I nearly soiled myself I laughed so hard. From what I saw, he was nearly dead-on in that assessment, and he gets some respect from me just for saying that in a town that is thick with KKK activity.
  • Kidman got a decent face pop.
  • For reasons I'll never understand, the feline at one point pulled Doug Dillenger's chair out from under him and threw it in the ring. Kidman merely opened the chair up and sat down, receiving big laughs and a nice pop.
  • I like Kidman, but I fail to see the point in that exercise and why it went over so well.
  • Kidman was his usual superb self, and Miller was even worse than normal. I felt for Kidman having to carry this joker and then job cleanly to him.
  • Kidman missed the 7 Year Itch (3 straight matches in which the finish was set up by a missed version of a top-rope splash, Hmmmm.), allowing Miller to hit the ugliest spinkick I've ever seen to get the victory.
  • Average match, because Kidman's contributions were pretty evenly cancelled out by Miller's complete lack of skills.
• Stevie Ray def. Mongo via international object.
  • Decent heel heat for Stevie Ray, big face pop for Mongo, who seemed to have legitimately suffered a concussion on Thunder. I refuse to believe that he could sell a condition like that so well otherwise. :-)
  • Stevie dominated throughout most of the match, basically with mere punches and kicks.
  • Mongo had a brief surge before falling prey to the blackjack (not the Slapjack).
  • Very poor match, although given Mongo's apparent state of health, it was the best that could be hoped for.
  • Highlight: as Stevie was making his way back to the dressing room, some guy threw a beer on him. Stevie looked like he was about to kill him before four policemen dragged the offender out of the stands and escorted him away in handcuffs. Glad to see that. We're all there to have fun, not to witness some clueless jackass call attention to himself through such acts. If this is what must be done to keep the show safe and somewhat orderly (this is wrestling, after all), I'm all for it.
• Intermission
• Penzer hypes Fall Brawl and the souvenir booths. *yawn* I get enough of this shilling while watching WCW on TV; I don't need it at my first ever WCW house show.
• DDP def. Curt Hennig via Diamond Cutter (I suppose).
  • Didn't watch this one because I'd seen it so many times before.
  • Taking advantage of the opportunity, I hit the concession stands. On the way to the stands, I heard DDP getting a HUGE pop. I also heard him threaten Hennig with a "Brian Pillman ass-kicking." Loved hearing that. Cheap heat usually bugs me, but for some reason, Page sounded sincere.
• Sting and Kevin Nash def. Scott Hall and Bret Hart via Jackknife on Hall.
  • Survey, Yadda yadda yadda. Hall looked, sounded and acted drunk.
  • "Wolfpack in the house!" and so on. Nash got a much bigger pop than Sting, which surprised me given the massive turnout at Sting's autograph session earlier in the day at a local Suncoast Video. I thought they would at least get equal pops.
  • Very slow match, with Nash and Hall doing most of the work. Hart and Sting never even locked-up. Still, the psychology employed was solid, and it built up both the Hart/Sting angle and the Nash/Hall angle nicely.
  • I should note that Sting and Hart did some good work in their respective brief stints in the ring.
  • Three Stinger Splashes on Hall, Nash's Big Boot to Hall's face, and the Jackknife for the finish.
• Goldberg def. Giant via the usual
  • This match has been covered so many times it isn't worth a full report.
  • Still, Goldberg getting Smokey up for the Jackhammer was an impressive thing to see.
• All in all, I thought it was a great show, despite the fact that the slated Raven/Saturn match never happened. I'll take 5 good matches to 3 bad ones on any Nitro. Of course, I'd settle for simply seeing 8 total matches on Nitro, period. :-)