• The music has stopped and the last man standing without a chair is Mike from Syracuse. And so goes another round of DDT Digest Musical PPV Recaps.
• I have little to say about myself. I haven't been following wrestling as long as the majority of the DDT Digest crew, but I am making up for lost time. I prefer wrestling over sports entertainment, so you can probably tell how I feel about the Russo and Bischoff era. I will try not to let that overtly influence my calling of the matches.
• A brief disclaimer. My tape recorder is broken and so I was reduced to frantic scribbling to get the play by play down. I caught a groove after the first match, but Disco Inferno v. Lt. Loco is kind of spotty. But don't worry, so was the match.
• Now onto the action...
• We are live and in color (mostly red, white, and blue) from the Baltimore Arena in Baltimore, MD, the traditional homeland of The Great American Bash.
  • Our hosts are T-Bone, Mark Madden, and Scott Hudson.
  • What better way to start off a Pay Per View telecast then recapping what we all saw for free: Goldberg returns! Goldberg and Nash are friends! All is well in WCW! Woe to Bischoff and Russo! Goldberg and Nash! Nash and Goldberg!
  • But wait! It's the fuzz... they're outside with patrol cars and they are ready for Goldberg. Assuming he decides to come in the front door.
  • And a video package takes us through five of the matches.
    • Hey, let's call all of them Main Events!
  • For the first of many times, the announcers wonder aloud what the announcement will be.
  • Uh oh... I hear music...

• Match 1: Lieutenant Loco v. Disco Inferno for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
  • Captain Rection forms up the troops and tells Loco to kick some butt or something.
  • Chavo pulls a grenade and threatens the Filthy Animals with death if they interfere.
    • Remember kids, hobby horses are a "gateway" weapon.
  • Disco wears a Kobe Bryant jersey and is escorted by the Filthy Animals.
  • A lot of loose action starts us off, Disco smacks Loco but good.
  • Loco hits a somersault clothesline and a crossbody for one.
  • I miss a bunch here... Disco comes back with his kicks to the midsection which don't look nearly as good without bellbottoms..
  • Loco sends Disco out of the ring for an MIA beatdown.
  • Loco goes up top and hits a crossbody from the top turnbuckle to the outside.
  • A feeble attempt by Hudson to rename Disco Inferno the Hip Hop Inferno fails... but Hudson is persistent. Tenay stuck with Brothers in Paint and look what's happened since then. I have faith in Scott.
  • The announcers (read: T-Bone) also cannot keep the ranks of the MIA straight. Guess what... it doesn't matter.
  • Disco hits his Disco Axehandle from the second rope.
  • Uh oh... here comes Rection's dad... now known as Pops.
    • But wait... that isn't a drug reference or a penis joke... I don't get it.
  • Reverse atomic drop and a Side Russian Legsweep by the Inferno.
  • Pops puts the moves on Tygress, Rey Misterio objects, and somehow this knocks out both Loco and Disco. Double KO count in the ring.
  • They're up and Juvi comes in and kind of hits a slop drop, but the Latino elbow misses completely.
  • Last Dance from Disco, it should be over... but...
  • Corporal Cajun (Lash, we hardly knew ye) is in with a Cajun Legsweep and Loco covers for the pin! Loco retains the cruiserweight strap and he ain't selling Amway no more!
  • Uh oh... bring on the schmozz. Everyone's in, the Animals are out... but Pops is down.
  • Major Gunns is confused. She doesn't know what to do... SHE DOES THE SAME THING EVERY SHOW!
  • Rection orders her to do her duty, so she takes off her shirt.
  • Note to Announce Team: The lungs are not located within the breasts. Which is lucky, because then only Madden would have enough capacity to announce an entire show.
  • They check Pops' arm and it drops twice. Hudson: "1... 2... He may lose the title!"
  • Guns mounts Pops... but Pops reverses and lays the Greco Roman Liplock on Guns. He's pulled off and the hilarity abates.
• Let's go to the back. Bischoff is on the phone with... someone? The cops assure him that the situation is under control, the area is canvassed, etc. Bischoff insists that nothing is to ruin the surprise.
• Gene O. is in the back with the Mamal- It's Paisans! Hey, I'll listen.
  • The ending to the match is given away as the question of who the real Hardcore Champ is, is raised. Vito thinks it's him. Johnny isn't sure.

• Match Two: The Paisans vs. Kronic for the number one contendership for the WCW World Tag team Championship
  • The Paisans are out first.
  • Kronic gets a laser show, ugly sunglasses, and mirrors on their trenchcoats. What does that have to do with marijuana?
  • Kronic clears the ring, Vito cleans his belt.
  • Johnny the Bull and Brian Clarke start. Sorry Johnny.
  • An abbreviated beatdown on Johnny ends in a quick Death Penalty (urinage).
  • Clarke with his big shoulderblock.
  • Johnny bails and Clarke follows, hitting a Side Russian Legsweep onto the safety rail (SRL Count: 3). Let's go back to the ring.
  • Johnny makes a quick comeback, hitting what appeared to be an enziguri, but was probably just a badly missed kick that caught Clarke in the head.
  • Vito is in and a-stomping a mudhole.
  • Johnny is back in and let's see a Brian Clarke backbreaker in slow motion... oh... that was real time. My bad.
  • The announcers mention that Adams is fresh, and here he comes with an Uncle Slam for Johnny.
  • Hudson: "Vito should be sharing the title!" Wha? Why?
  • Clarke is in and hits a walking powerslam.
  • Johnny attempts to suplex Adams but it's blocked and reversed (kinda) into a military press drop. Vito saves at two.
  • Johnny kinda DDT's Adams. Sloppy.
  • Vito is in and we're all punchy kicky.
  • Vito misses a corner charge and Kronic obliges him with a double team back body drop.
  • Holy! I'm going to make this up as I go along. Bryan Adams hits a Steiner Screwdriver-alike out of the fireman's carry position. If any move deserves a better name than "variation on a brainbuster," it is that. Nice spot. I think Vito is dead.
  • Johnny powerslams Clarke while Vito... uh oh... while Vito polishes his hardcore belt.
  • Johnny misses his "jump to the top rope turn around and kick the guy" thing and Vito is still polishing that belt. He must be so proud.
  • There's the High Times and we can call this match over. Kronic wins 1, 2, 3. They're the number one contenders for the straps held by *sigh* Perfectshawn and The Event.
• Backstage, the blonde chick (Pamela... ok, let's call her Pamela) asks DDP about his "amb-a-lance" match. DDP says his career ain't ending tonight and that he's bringing some inspiration to the ring.
• As an FYI... this will start a trend... every match after this one threatens to end someone's career, either by stipulation or risk of injury. Pretty impressive stuff, huh?

• Match Three: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Mike Awesome in an Amb-a-lance match.
  • Awesome gets the first entrance and still has the mannerisms he learned in Japan where the audience didn't speak English.
  • DDP is out next, wheeling out Chris Kanyon! Chris is still in his halo protector, he's in a wheelchair, he has a glazed look over his eyes and appears to be drooling... but otherwise he seems just fine. DDP leaves him near the entryway on the stage to keep him out of harm's way.
  • Before the match can get going, DDP and Awesome both take out the ref... the redheaded one. I don't know his name.
  • DDP clotheslines Awesome over the top rope.
  • From this point on, "brawling" refers to punching, kicking, whipping into guardrails, and any other generic fighting which occurs outside of a wrestling ring. If there is any thing out of the ordinary, I will tell you.
  • They brawl.
  • Back in the ring, each has a chair and we enact Luke v. Darth from Episode 6. Only Awesome doesn't lose his whole hand... just his chair.
  • DDP "gloms" Awesome with the chair.
  • DDP with the hairpull takedown. I guess the rules are relaxed.
  • Awesome hits a back elbow out of the corner, followed by a backdrop and a running splash... not an awesome one. Let's call it the Really Good Splash.
  • Awesome drops DDP throat first over the ropes.
  • Hudson informs us that Awesome is 1-2 in Amb-a-lance matches. Hey, he's almost playing .500 ball. That's about par in Baltimore.
  • Awesome bellows "Table!" and sets one up. He sets DDP up for the Crucifix Awesomebomb (it seems a little early for this) and hits it!
  • The EMTs are out and load Page onto the stretcher. Page will have none of it and rolls off. Awesome gets DDP in the ring.
  • Awesome has a chair... once to the back, twice to the midsection, and once to the head should set us up nicely for the....
  • AWESOME SPLASH!
  • Oh heck, it's only his finisher. Let's do it again!
  • AWESOME SPLASH!
  • He's going for another... there's a word for this. Hubris. The Greeks wrote a lot about it.
  • Awesome puts a chair under Page, a chair under Page's noggin, and climbs the ropes. He stands, whoops! A little slip is all Page needs to scramble out of the way. Awesome lands on nothing but chair.
  • Kimberly is out in an amazing technicolor dream coat and hits DDP in the back with a "lead pipe." Where's Miss Hancock when you need her? Oh! There she is. And it's a catfight.
    • Shut up, Madden.
  • Somehow, Awesome is setting up DDP for a top rope Awesome Bomb. But no! DDP gets him right in the Awesome family jewels.
  • Super Diamond Cutter from Page!
  • DDP starts taking Awesome to the amb-a-lance.
  • Why is Bischoff's music playing? Oh! There he is with a weapon threatening the crippled Kanyon!
  • DDP moves to protect but Kanyon is up and...
  • Diamond Cutter on Page on the stage by the crippled Kanyon! Madden does his best Heenan impression and screams about the miraculous nature of the recovery.
  • Kanyon is wearing a New Blood shirt. Who had "Kanyon turns on Page" in the pool?
  • Awesome tosses DDP in to the amb-a-lance and wins.
  • The announce team is flabbergasted.

• Match Four: GI Bro v. Perfectshawn in a Boot Camp Match
  • First person not to be able to answer a ten count wins.
  • Bro ziplines in. Bro's slow funk is gone... now we have machine guns and generic rock. I'm sad.
  • Perfectshawn has fatigues and cammo facepaint.
  • Brawling.
  • Some drunk woman points at the Nitrovision to the right of the camera because she can see herself. I hope someone points this out to her so she is suitably embarrassed.
  • Bro gets a chairshot on Shawn, then nails a top rope forearm.
  • Shawn beats the 10 count at 8.
  • Bro hits his head on the turnbuckle and Perfectshawn takes advantage with a couple of chokes.
  • Sidekick by the former Booker. Booker, not booker. This is how rumors gets started.
  • Madden starts talking about how dangerous boot camp matches are, and that's why most wrestlers only have one or two per career. Tony mentions that we've never seen one in WCW. You go, T-Bone!
  • Bro is suplexed onto the ramp.
  • More brawling.
  • OK... the pacing of this match is really messed up. We started out with an eight count, there isn't a whole lot that happens to the end and every subsequent fall is an 8 count or higher. There's no drama. I'm skipping to where it gets interesting.
  • ...
  • Bro with the Harlem Sidekick and Urinage!
  • Perfectshawn answers at 7! Wha?
  • Bro hits the Missile Dropkick (which won't have to be renamed) but Chuck Palumbo is out with the Lex Flexer.
  • Axe kick for the Event!
  • Shawn has the Lex Flexer and goes to the 'nads.
  • Bro answers at 9.
  • Some double team action leads to a double clothesline which Palumbo botches. Bro is a house afire.
  • Bro hits Perfectshawn in the face with the Lex Flexer and can go no more. GI Bro wins the Boot Camp match.
• Gene O. is with Kanyon who wonders... why?
  • It turns out that no one visited Kanyon more than Bischoff. It also seems that Bischoff said that all Kanyon need to do to be a star was take out DDP.
  • But we look to the back, moments ago, and there's DDP crawling out of the amb-a-lance. But who cares?!? There's the...
  • Goldberg truck!
  • Chris is Positively Kanyon... then he laughs manically.

• Match Five: Shane Douglas v. The Wall in a Tables match
  • We cut the damn music for the Franchise who proposes that he and the Wall make it a five table match. Oh dear lord, they're going to make this match longer.
  • There is some confusion as to whether this is a first person to five tables or best out of five. It turns out it's best of five, but we don't find that out till later.
  • The Wall comes out and has his way with Shane. Boot to the face. Military press. Blocks a neckbreaker here, beats him down in slow motion there.
  • Shane comes back with a high knee.
  • Wall gets him with a double choke but his eyes are exposed and Douglas capitalizes.
  • Douglas with a gourdbuster! Sweet.
  • Douglas' rolling neckbreaker gets the crowd to "clap respectively." That makes no sense.
  • Wall slides over a table, but it doesn't break.
  • Franchise attempts to suplex Wall onto a table, but it's blocked! One Wall chokeslam later and it's 1-0 in favor of the Wall.
  • Brawling.
  • Franchise is just dropped through a table to increase the Wall's lead.
  • Franchise begs off and hits the Wall in his foundations. Twice.
  • Wall shrugs it off and Hudson says Wall is "no selling." Kayfabe is dead. Long live kayfabe.
  • Douglas lures him to near the entrance to where there are two tables and an illusory third table on top of an airbag next to large ladder. Franchise crawls up the ladder and the Wall climbs up the opposite side, with his back to the table array.
  • Some punching, some choking, some tension, some knucks, and the Wall is cold cocked and falls (read: jumps) through the tables. They say there's a third table but I didn't see it. My guess is Wall was supposed to break the table he just slid over earlier.
  • Douglas wins, Douglas gloats.
  • Mark Johnson is over to check on the Wall, who, in his fury, grabs Slick by the throat and chokeslams him through a table.
• The cops make way for Hollywood Hogan's car. Goldberg could be hiding in the trunk, morons!

• Match Six: Scott Steiner v. Tank Abbott in the Asylum for the United States heavyweight Championship.
  • The cage is not lowered. As BPP belly to bellies Tank, Penzer is announcing that because the Asylum is Steiner's signature match (wha?), this will now be a handicap match with BPP facing Rick Steiner as well.
  • Tank and Rick beat Scott down... slowly... and they gently nudge him so that when the cage lowers they're all inside.
  • The cage is lowered let the fun begin.
  • Lots of double teaming and lots of Tank Abbott not acting a whole lot like a shoot fighter.
  • Rick elbows Scott in the groin.
  • Tank wraps his fist in a chain.
  • Rick suggests that it's not necessary to use the chain and holds Scott for Tank. Tank feigns removing the chain and decks Rick!
  • Tank gets hit right in his cannon by Big Poppa.
  • BPP has the chain, does some hitting and locks on the Steiner Recliner for the Instant Tapout.
  • BPP's ladies are officially known as the superfreaks.
• A limo arrives with the Flair family! Ric, Reid, Beth, Ashley, Meagan... it's time to play the Feud!
• Let's recap the Hogan-Kidman shenanigans.
• Gene O. interviews Hollywood who says "dude" more times than Jimmy Barron.

• Match Seven: Billy Kidman v. Hollywood Hogan
  • Stipulations: If Hogan wins, he gets a title shot at Bash at the Beach. If Kidman wins, Hogan retires, hell freezes over, and Indiana takes the next three games from LA.. in decreasing order of probability.
  • And Horace is the special guest referee.
  • Kidman enters with Horace. Kidman has pyro!
  • Sign: Happy Retirement.
  • Hogan shrugs Kidman off several times. He begs off, but Hogan cares not.
  • Hollywood hits the big foot and puts his hand to his ear, but Kidman bails.
  • Brawling.
  • Hogan with a blatant choke, but Horace breaks.
  • Kidman gets some offense in, some kicks, a choke, Horace breaks it to Kidman's chagrin. Horace is calling it down the middle.
  • Hogan's trick knee acts up and we have a mule kick.
  • Off comes the weight belt... it's strapation time.
  • Shoot me. Shoot me now.
  • Hogan wields a chair outside.... Kidmanator... dropkick into the chair.
  • Hudson: "Hogan is moving a little bit slower as the match goes on." I didn't think that was possible unless temperatures approached absolute zero.
  • Kidman wiggles out of a scoop slam but Hogan botches the reversal... a DDT onto a chair. His bald head came about fifteen inches from the mat, the wussy. It gets two.
  • Kidman Splash gets two. Kidman is in Horace's face.
  • Crowd chants for Hogan so he Hollywoods up.
  • Hogan with a 10 punch countalong and an avalanche clothesline.
  • Kidman is hiptossed through the announce table.
  • Torrie is out and on the apron. She attempts to give Hogan some knucks. She's purty.
  • Kidman, recovering, runs into Hogan who ricochets into Torrie.
  • Kidman grabs the knucks and KOs Hogan... for 2.
  • Kidman knocks out Horace, Torrie hits Kidman south of the border, Hogan grabs the knucks blasts Kidman and Horace counts the 1-2-3.
  • Kidman is getting pushed to the moon.
  • Post match, nephew and uncle share a tender moment,
  • Torrie Wilson is available, in case any of you were interested. At least, that's what the announcers say.
• Bischoff is still on the phone... I hope he used 1-800-CALL-ATT.
  • Security is still confident.
  • Bischoff theorizes that maybe the tooth fairy is driving the Goldberg truck.
  • Maybe the tooth fairy was driving the hummer.
• Bash at the Beach Promo
• Repeat of the Great American Bash promo from earlier.
• Pamela teases David Flair backstage, Russo teases Pamela, Ric plays Q+A with Mean Whoo By God Gene and we head to the ring.

• Match Eight: Ric Flair vs. David Flair in a Retirement Match.
  • Let us hope that David's shirt remains on.
  • Ric teases a lockup and struts.
  • Dave works a side headlock, Ric reverses into a top wristlock and he takes David down.
  • Ric grabs a headlock, turns into a hammerlock, drives David into the corner and...
  • WHOOOOO
  • Baltimore Crowd: Yankees Suck! (et al)
  • Lockup, Dave breaks with some forearms and some chops.
  • Ric botches a Flair Flip, but it's Flair so it looks like what he's supposed to do.
  • David with a vertical suplex. and then a sleeper.
  • Ric backdrops out of it. Ric tears off his son's shirt and starts chopping him down.
  • Ric trash talks like a school boy.
  • David either messes up an Irish whip attempt by his father or comes up with the smartest reversal ever: stop before you hit the ropes.
  • On the outside, Russo hits Ric in the midsection with a bat. Then he handcuffs him. Now that ain't right.
  • David takes advantage with a low key beatdown and locks on a poor figure four.
  • David uses Russo and the ropes and Ric is handcuffed but Naitch still won't give in.
  • David is a moron and releases the hold.
  • Reid jumps the rail and lowblows Russo, but David catches him and takes him out.
  • Charles Robinson grabs the keys which Reid liberated and unlocks the Nature Boy!
  • Ashley Flair straddles Russo and handcuffs him... he booked this, the perv.
  • David botches his Flair Flip, but dad nails a vertical suplex.
  • David begs off but Flair pokes him in the eyes.
  • David heads to the top, but Flair throws him off! That's payback after years of frustration there.
  • Kneedrop from Ric. Ric works David's ankle.
  • Figure Four and David submits.
  • I don't know if David has to retire now or not.
  • Flair chops Russo, and the Flair family (sans David) hug. Russo cusses... a lot! And then says he will retire Flair's tuckus tomorrow on Nitro... only he didn't use Yiddish.
  • Flair family crotch chops!

• Match Nine: Vampiro vs. Sting in a Human Torch match
  • Winner is the first person to set their opponent on fire. I think this means that if one were to accidentally set oneself on fire, the match would continue.
  • Flame on!
  • Vamp is out first with some kerosene and an acetylene torch. A torch is lit and set on a hook hanging from the big tv screen.
  • The fire department is on hand. Just in case the special effects work.
  • I really like Sting's entrance, with the thunder and the lightning and the still shot of Sting. Good stuff.
  • Sting appears at the top of the Nitrovision and asks if Vampiro is afraid of heights, because if he wants to burn him he has to go on top of the Nitrovision... and Sting raises the torch to the top.
  • Vampiro is apparently afraid of heights and blames Madden for the mixup.
  • Sting rapells down from the Nitrovision... or PPVision... or Great American Bashvision. The announce team can't decide.
  • Sting with his usual offense, but instead of missing the second Stinger Splash, he misses both.
  • Vampiro douses Sting in kerosene... Sting should flush that out with water or he'll never be able to see again. That stuff burns.
  • Vampiro pulls Sting towards the PPVision (easiest to type).
  • Vamp starts scaling, but Sting follows and grabs his foot.
  • Vampiro kicks Sting off and falls 6, 7, 8 feet to the padded stage!
  • That just didn't look impressive, but don't worry, it gets better.
  • Vampiro is up top and Sting resumes the chase. When both are on top the lights go down and thunder and lightning start up.
  • Both go out of sight for seconds at a time.
  • Vampiro goes for the torch but Sting stops him. Repeat. Eventually, Vamp grabs the torch.
  • Sting is lit! And lit well... whole upper body type deal. So, of course, he swandives off the PPVision.
  • And the swandive looks great... this sucker is high, I don't care if the stage was rigged, I don't care if they used a stunt double, that was a great visual.
  • Unfortunately, the flames went out on the way down, but I'm not quibbling.
  • Crews are there with fire extinguishers and the announcers (rightfully) sell it like this was a very serious incident. Then they ruin it (of course) by showing replays, including the overhead camera. Which had no purpose being there except to capture a flaming swandive off the PPVision. But I said I wouldn't quibble.
  • Bad match, great visual.
• Pamela harasses Bischoff about the surprise, Bischoff snaps back. She must hate her job.
• Bischoff: "Screw it, there's no big surprise, that's the surprise."

• Match 10: Kevin Nash vs. Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
  • Michael Buffer doesn't care about Sting, the cold hearted bastard.
  • After Nash and Jarrett enter, Cat's music plays.
  • This being such a big event, he has some special celebrity introductions to make... could this be the big announcement?
    • Special Guest Bellringer: K-Dawg
    • Special Guest Timekeeper: Rey Misterio, Jr.
    • Special Guest Beltkeeper: Disco Inferno
    • Special Guest Ring Announcer: Juvi, the Juice
    • Special Guest Enforcer/Referee: Cat
  • Joy.
  • Konnan rings the bell... badly.
  • Big Sexy tosses JJ around like a rag doll.
  • Animals on the apron (already?) and Nash is distracted.
  • JJ with a four punch count along, jumps off the rope and nails an upper cut.
  • Nash tosses Jarrett around some more and then sets him in the corner for some knees.
  • The crowd is distracted. Allegedly the building is shaking.
  • Nash measures him for the elbow.
  • Bossman straddle on JJ and he bails.
  • Snakeyes onto the announce table for JJ.
  • They brawl... then they brawl through the crowd.
  • Jarrett gets hit with a folding chair, but then Rey Rey takes out Nash at the knee.
  • Jarrett goes to work on the knee with a chair until Mickey Jay takes his toy away.
  • JJ goes for the figure four but Nash powers out.
  • The champ works the knee some more and puts on a half crab.
    • I don't like Madden, but he accurately describes the virtues of the half crab as opposed to the full Boston crab. Credit where credit is due.
  • Jarrett rams Nash's knee into the mat, and locks on the figure four.
  • Nash won't give up and attempts to turn it over.
  • The hold is broken, and Konnan comes in to Odalay Nash's head into the bell for a two count.
  • Nash hits his offense... a side slam for JJ gets two, big feet for Rey and Juvi clear the ring.
  • JJ back in with the belt but Nash snatches it away... smack on the Chosen Forehead gets a two count before Disco takes out Mickey.
  • Juvi does bad things to Nash and Cat takes over as ref.
  • Disco attempts a sleeper but gets side slammed for his troubles.
  • JJ hits the Stroke but is too dazed to cover... 1....2.... NO! And it was a fast count.
  • The guitar is in and JJ comes off the rope with it but Nash catches him in a Chokeslam. 1.... 2.... and Cat has something in his eye.
  • Now he has a powerbomb.
  • JJ gets a big boot and now he's going for a ride... Powerbomb for JJ.
  • Charles Robinson in to count but Rick Steiner takes him out, Rick then moves on to Nash.
  • Tank is also out but he is waylaid by Big Poppa Pump.
  • Animals take over on Nash... including Rey doing unspeakable things.
  • Uh oh... the Goldberg truck got past the cops!
  • The Filthy Animals look concerned.
  • The music hits and the Animals bail.
  • Nash and Jarrett are down when Goldberg hits the ring.
  • Goldberg is ready to spear Jarrett, Nash gets up, JJ gets up...
  • Nash points to JJ as if to say... go ahead. But Goldberg, quite literally, turns on Nash and spears him.
  • Jarrett covers and Goldberg forces Mickey J to count the 1-2-3.
  • Jarrett retains, and Goldberg isn't nice.
  • A brief but loud "Goldberg Sucks" chant ensues. A quieter but longer "Goldberg" chant follows. The crowd is split.
  • Russo and Bischoff hit the ring and there's a big group hug with R+B+G.
  • Madden blathers about how great a swerve it is and how no one expected this while the camera focuses on a...
  • Sign: Goldberg is New Blood
  • Yeah, you fooled everybody.
  • And thus, the landscape of sports entertainment is changed for good.

• The Good - Chavo still has the cruiserweight belt, they got some great visuals from the Human Torch match, and Nash isn't the World Champion. Also, Vampiro stopped his big match losing streak.
• The Bad - Not a single solid wrestling match on the card. The guys worked hard, but not well. Trying to put Goldberg turning as a big surprise is not going to fly.
• The Ugly - Tank Abbott/Rick Steiner v. Big Poppa Pump was just horrendous. There were a ton of botched moves tonight, too. Just some ugly wrestling.

J.S.D. from Frederick, MD sends the following arena report:

Just got back from ye olde WCW event. Things started out on the wrong foot when the event staff wasn't ready on time. The entire crowd wound up crammed onto the entrance ramps for about 45 minutes before they finally let us in at around 7:15.

We all got settled. Our seats were off to the left of whatever they call the new WCW version of the Titantron. We couldn't see the screen, but it gave us a nice view of the backstage area (and funny stuff like Ric Flair buddy-buddying with R&B security mid-show).

I assume the standard DDT Digest crew will do their usual job running a play-by-play of the basic PPV events. Here are a few "others" for you:

The WCW "warm-up" guy was some DJ that does a wrestling report on one of our local radio stations. He was booed like crazy for no apparent reason (I've never heard his show, but it can't be that good based on crowd reaction). The WCW announcer that was out with him almost got fried when the pyro in the ring went off right in front of him by accident.

The show progressed. There were a few production flubs throughout. I don't know if they showed on the broadcast at all.

• G.I. Bro's zipline was too low. He had to wiggle to get down to the ring.
• When "Sting" fell off of the scaffolding, it was obvious almost immediately that it had been a stunt double, because we could all see that "Sting" suddenly had a crew cut. WCW "cleverly" covered this by continuously spraying him with a cloud of fire extinguisher goop. *sigh*
• The Goldberg truck came into view about twenty minutes before we were SUPPOSED to notice it. Security actually made us MOVE from our seats because they didn't want us near the railings when the truck came in. It was obvious that the truck was VERY stuck for most of the final match. The driver actually had to crawl out of the passenger side window and into the stands to help get the truck loose. When he finally made it into the arena, he drove with his head down (I suppose so we thought Goldberg was driving it with his psychic powers) which led to him ramming the stage.
• Other than that, the only thing worth noting in the actual show was Nash's comment after the show went off the air. He dropped the old f-bomb amongst a sea of trash in the ring, telling Goldberg "you're next mother-f***er."

Biggest pops:
Flair, Hogan, Nash, Steiner, Goldberg (pre-turn)

Biggest heat
Russo, Jarrett, Goldberg (post-turn) folks really didn't seem to care about the other heels. Even when Kanyon turned, people were luke-warm.

One last thing I feel like mentioning is the way that WCW talent seems almost incapable of playing to the fans. Throughout the whole show, only Scott Steiner and Vampiro bothered to recognize the crowd at all after the broadcast switched to backstage interviews. Vampiro played to our rather sparse section of the crowd for a full five minutes while he waited to get off the scaffold. He gave the old "point and yell" at folks that gave him heat and gave little bows to the ladies. Then he tossed his shirt to the crowd (he missed, but the thought counts). Steiner made a point to go down and shake some hands, even going back to high-five some kids. It took him all of a minute, but it kept the crowd up until the broadcast returned. Other than that, we were DEAD right after every other match because all of the talent just slouched off without so much as a nod to us. It's little stuff like what Steiner and Vampiro did that makes the difference between a WCW show and a WWF show. With the WWF, you feel like the wrestlers actually care that they're in front of a live audience. And the energy that comes back to them shows that. Just another sign that WCW still has its priorities out of whack, I suppose.