Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Nitro
Date: 7/3/2000
From: Charleston, WV
Nitro opens up with a video highlighting what happened last week, along with Horace Hogan facing Jarrett on Thunder for the title, but losing. They also teased the return of Sting on the broadcast. Cat and Awesome attacked Scott Steiner as well.
The Cat is talking on the phone with Eric Bischoff about WCW United States Champion Scott Steiner and how he is suspended for a week until Mike Awesome barges in and asks if Cat made the call. Awesome says he is going to need “them” for when he is finished tonight. Several ambulances are outside the building.
Opening Contest: Three Count defeated the Jung Dragons: Helms appears to injure his left shoulder fifteen seconds into the bout, so Tank Abbott takes his spot in the match. Karagias plants Yang with a nice wheel barrow face buster early in the match before tagging out to Moore who keeps the advantage on Yang with a front suplex. Yang stops Moore’s offense with a face buster out off a wheel barrow attempt. Hayashi tagged in but missed a spear and ended up hitting the ring post. This leads to everyone doing dives on the floor, which garners a little bit of a reaction from the fans. Yang tries to punch Abbott but gets knocked out and over sells it. Moore enters and picks up the win. ½*
After the match, Abbott dances on his green square.
Backstage, the Cat has an offer for the Jung Dragons to be his friends, I guess. Mike Awesome decides to randomly power bomb a backstage worker through a table. Goldberg stops a video promoting the Outsiders from being aired.
Goldberg makes his way out to the ring for an interview. Goldberg has heard enough about the Outsiders. He says that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash are two of the biggest pieces of garbage he has ever seen. He believes it is time that someone stood up and told the good people in the world what is going on. Goldberg talks about how the Outsiders destroyed WCW but the fans kept on supporting them. Goldberg notes that he has carried WCW on his back for two years and now the fans spit on him. Goldberg brings up the beating he gave Duggan last week before declaring it is his time. Kevin Nash comes out and tells Goldberg that it is his time and that they shouldn’t wait for Sunday. Nash is cut off by security when trying to get to brawl with Goldberg to end the segment.
Backstage, Mike Awesome decides to power bomb another staff member through a table. The Cat talks to Eric Bischoff on the phone and Terry Funk gives Johnny the Bull some advice for their upcoming match before hitting him with a trash can.
Second Contest: Johnny the Bull defeated Terry Funk in a hardcore match: A rather boring match that fills up nearly seven minutes of the show. It was really just your typical brawl until Bull plants Funk with a DDT on a chair to pick up the win. DUD
Footage from earlier in the day is shown where Asya fell off the ramp way while rehearsing a new entrance for the Demon. Torborg enters a room where he is given his Demon outfit by a hooded person. Once Torborg leaves it is revealed to be Vampiro and there is a hooded man behind him.
Backstage, Goldberg threatens Cat to give him Kevin Nash tonight!
Third Contest: Hugh Morrus/Lash LeRoux defeated Mark Jindrak/Sean O’Haire: MIA get the early advantage on Jindrak with a splash from Morrus, but that doesn’t last as O’Haire enters to deliver a kick to knock Morrus down. O’Haire gets a near fall following a dropkick from Jindrak. Morrus recovers to slam O’Haire off the top and LeRoux gets a two count after a top rope body splash. Double snap suplex on LeRoux gets O’Haire another two count. LeRoux is tossed across the ring with a hip toss but kicks out at two on a cover. Head scissors takedown by LeRoux but isn’t able to follow up as O’Haire gets involved. LeRoux manages to crawl away from his opponents to tag in Morrus who hits Jindrak with a spinning heel kick. Jindrak stops Morrus on the middle rope to deliver an electric chair slam. O’Haire barely hits a big splash off the top, and Jindrak is tossed to the floor. LeRoux slams Jindrak and Morrus hits a top rope moonsault to win the bout. ½*
After the match, the Perfect Event attack all for men with their flexors. They pose until all four men get up and even the other members of MIA have come out to get a piece of the champs!
Backstage, the Cat talks to Kevin Nash who intimidates Cat. Mike Awesome power bombs another staff member through a table. Cat decides to ask Eric Bischoff to fire Nash and Goldberg for their actions towards him.
WCW World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett makes his way out to the ring to talk for several minutes. Jarrett wants to make a clear statement by saying that Hogan is the man. Jarrett tells a story about his grandfather telling him that he would pay a nickel to see Hogan compete. Jarrett claims he is going to retire Hogan once and for all. Jarrett calls himself a god. He brings out some old ladies down to the ring, who are wearing Viking gear. The ladies tell Jarrett that he will be the one to walk out of the pay per view as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. They proceed to sing the “Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye” song. An official enters the ring to stop the segment but Jarrett makes some fat jokes instead. Jarrett’s microphone gets cut off and he smashes a guitar over the officials head. The Cat makes his way out as Jarrett leaves and announces that there will be a battle royal later tonight.
Backstage, Jeff Jarrett and The Cat argue. We also see footage from Thunder where Kanyon hit Bagwell with a brick and was attacked by Booker T for doing so.
Before the next match, Kanyon attacks Booker on the floor by sending him into the guard railing a few times.
Fourth Contest: Booker T defeated Shane Douglas: Douglas controls Booker early on with a forearm shot and a front slam, followed by a rolling neck snap. Booker avoids Douglas’s offense to go to the floor and knock Kanyon out with a right hand. Douglas makes the save for Kanyon and rolls Booker back into the ring. Booker rolls Douglas up out of the corner for a near fall but runs into a quick clothesline from Douglas. Booker comes off the ropes to hit Douglas with a forearm shot and hits a scissors kick. Booker nails Douglas with a leaping side kick and grabs Kanyon until Douglas accidentally hits Kanyon off the apron. They botch the Book End as Douglas mistimed his jump, but Booker gets the win. DUD
After the match, Kanyon attacks Booker along with Douglas. The fans actually thought that DDP was coming out to make the save when Kanyon’s music hit.
Backstage, Torborg puts his KISS gear on. Also, the Cat enters the heel locker room asking for some of them to enter the battle royal.
Fifth Contest: the Demon defeated Vampiro: Demon wins the bout after hitting a cobra clutch slam after Vampiro was distracted by several hooded men with baseball bats.
After the match, Vampiro magically vanishes after the hooded guys had him surrounded.
Backstage, MI Smooth talks to the Filthy Animals. The Cat asks baby faces to enter the battle royal. David Flair tries to win back Daffney.
Miss Hancock makes her way down to the ring wearing a wedding gown. Hancock offers to give the fans what they want to see, but instead we see Crowbar running down to the ring with a chair. David Flair sees this and fakes an illness to Daffney to hit the ring. Crowbar threatens to cut Hancock’s hair because David has two strikes against him. Crowbar counts to ten, while skipping several numbers, for David to get down there. David runs down but backs away quickly. Daffney comes out and low blows David before dumping medicine over David’s head. Hancock attacks Daffney by choking her out. Hancock ends up choking Crowbar as well. David attacks Crowbar and proceeds to cut off some of Daffney’s hair. David frames Crowbar by putting the clippers in his hands. Daffney wakes up and believes that Crowbar cut her hair off. Crowbar runs to the back trying to explain that it wasn’t him.
Backstage, Mike Awesome puts Crowbar in an ambulance. Big Smooth and Tygress enter the Cat’s office so that Tygress can flirt with Cat.
Before the next match, the Filthy Animals mock Kidman and Storm as Rey Mysterio and Juventud Guerrera come dressed up like them. Storm and Kidman eventually come down to attack them.
Sixth Contest: Rey Mysterio Jr./Juventud Guerrera defeated Lance Storm/Billy Kidman: Kidman and Storm hit Rey with a dropkick/spine buster combo. Kidman hits Rey with an assisted moonsault for a two count. Guerrera plants Kidman with a dominator like slam but doesn’t go for the cover. Storm tags in and nails Guerrera with a super kick. Guerrera delivers several chops but is pressed into the air by Storm until Rey delivers a drop kick giving Guerrera a near fall. Rey comes off the ropes to leg drop Storm in the groin. Guerrera runs into a big boot from Storm but manages to take Storm over with a hurricanrana. Storm stops Guerrera by dropping him throat first across the top rope. Kidman gets the tag and power bombs Rey followed by a back suplex on Guerrera. Storm leg drops Guerrera from the top rope for a two count. Rey and Guerrera plant Kidman with a wheelbarrow face buster combo for a near fall. Kidman face jams Guerrera and Storm power bombs Rey! Guerrera and Storm fall to the floor after Guerrera hurricanrana to the floor. After some distraction by Konnan and Inferno, Rey plants Kidman with a bulldog off the middle rope onto a chair for the win. **1/2
Backstage, Pamela interviews Vampiro about his situation with the Demon. He says he will wrestle Demon in a Graveyard match at the pay per view. She also interviews Kevin Nash who says Goldberg will easily find him in the ring tonight, because he will be the pissed off guy.
Mike Awesome comes down to the ring and calls out WCW United States Champion Scott Steiner. However, Steiner has been suspended due to using the Steiner Recliner on Vince Russo. The referee counts Scott Steiner out and Awesome claims that he is now 2-0 against Steiner. This brings out Rick Steiner who takes Awesome out and warns him that he should make sure there isn’t a Steiner in the building.
Backstage, the Cat chats with the people involved in the battle royal.
Main Event: Kevin Nash won a battle royal: Nash tosses Guerrera and Rey over the top to kick off the battle royal. Konnan runs down but doesn’t last long at all. Inferno gets on Nash’s back with a sleeper and is punched in the corner as the Perfect Event enters the ring to hammer away on Nash. Nash choke slams Palumbo and continues to go to work on the heels. Vito enters with a kendo stick but is eventually hit by Nash with the weapon. Kanyon enters the ring to work on Nash with the kendo stick. Backstage, Booker T and the other troops toss Cat away and come down to the ring. Goldberg’s music hits and makes his way down to ringside. He walks around while Nash empties the ring. Goldberg sneaks in from behind and super kicks Nash. Goldberg looks to deliver the spear but several babyfaces stop him and he walks through the middle rope to the apron. Nash recovers and big boots Goldberg off the apron onto the floor to earn the win?
After the match, Goldberg tries to get at Nash but is held back as the show comes to an end.
My Take: I didn’t like the opening match because they didn’t do anything new or exciting. The finish was just dumb because Yang completely oversold for the punch and looked like a goof. I guess it’s mildly funny what Abbott is doing, but I prefer him to be a badass and not some kind of joke.
Jindrak and O’Haire looked really green during the bout and looked a lot worse then they did last week. I think they need to work with smaller guys, as they look a lot more comfortable working with guys like Rey and Juvi.
It is very difficult to promote a Jarrett/Hogan match when Hogan hasn’t been on television for several weeks now. I didn’t find the segment with the fat ladies to be all that interesting or clever for that matter.
Let me just sum up the matches, aside from Rey & Juvi vs. Storm & Kidman as being boring. They didn’t offer anything to the show and crowd was dead for majority of the matches. People just don’t care about the guys in WCW. It’s a sad fact.
How can I take Mike Awesome as a threat to Scott Steiner when he gets beaten up by Rick Steiner? Who has the pay per view match? Who is supposed to look strong? Not Rick Steiner, folks. That segment was an example of poor booking.
Overall, this week’s show was very boring. Outside of the tag match with Rey, Storm, Kidman and Guerrera nothing special occurred on the show. It was a poor hype up show for Bash at the Beach, in my opinion.
Thanks for reading.