Would You Go To This Show? Volume 5

The fifth installment sees myself, Matt and Aaron head to Amarillo, Texas where World Championship Wrestling put on a house show. The company was faltering along and didn’t have many bright moments, would this show be appealing enough for us to help support the company when it needed it the most? Let’s find out!

Introductions:

Matt Peddycord: This little house show comes just days after arguably the best WCW PPV of 2000: Fall Brawl. If I had been watching WCW at the time, even though I had been a WCW super fan in the years past, I doubt my attitude towards the company would have been at a place where I would have not only been able to appreciate Fall Brawl, but also attend a house show. But let’s say for the benefit of hindsight that we could revisit Amarillo, Texas, on September 22, 2000. Would I have gone to this show? That’s what we are here to find out.

Aaron George: I’m from Montreal and WCW never ever came here. That’s a lie, they came once and in the main event Jacques Rougeau pinned Hulk Hogan. So to be fair I feel like even in their minds it never really happened. I can’t believe I wasn’t enticed enough to buy a ticket for that main event. (A Main Event in any arena Gorilla?) So let’s see if I’d shell out for this one.

Bob Colling: At the time WCW was hurting big time, though Nitro hadn’t been all that bad and like Matt said, Fall Brawl was probably the best pay per view they had to offer… maybe next to Starrcade. Anyway, I feel like it would take a loaded show for me to even give it a thought to attend a WCW show. Let’s check it out.

Opening Match: the Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi, Jimmy Yang & Jamie Noble) defeated 3 Count (Evan Karagias, Shannon Moore & Shane Helms)

Matt Peddycord: This should be a fast-paced opener with a style that we would come to enjoy a little more years later in TNA. I just remember most of their WCW matches being rather sloppy. I could see this being exciting enough though to get the crowd going for the rest of the show. I’ll be nice and give it a YES.

Aaron George: If 3 count sings this would be an automatic no for me, but since we don’t have any confirmation on that I guess we’ll base this one on actual merits. How can you go wrong with five great guys and Evan Karagias? On top of that you have a fake Japanese guy named Jamie San! Jamie San! I feel like this isn’t what The Vapors had in mind when they penned “Turning Japanese.” All kidding and one-hit wonders aside, this would probably be a great opener. An easy yes from Aaron San. 1/1

Bob Colling: It’s basically booking 101 to open a show that would get the crowd pumped up for the rest of the show. These six guys normally went out and did high spots and I’m sure that’s what would happen here. You can’t go wrong with that. Gets a thumbs up from me.

Second Contest: WCW Cruiserweight Champion Elix Skipper defeated Kwee Wee

Matt Peddycord: I dig Elix Skipper. He’s one of the guys that went on to make TNA special in those early years. However, I never did like Kwee Wee or any overly flamboyant Adrian Street gimmicks. They were always too small to seem like a threat to me. Goldust is the only one who I thought ever pulled it off because of his size and you could believe he was using mind games in order to ultimately beat the crap out of anybody. I would watch just to cheer on Skipper, but I’m not expecting a great match here. Slight YES from me.

Aaron George: Elix Skipper is my most hated wrestling name of all time. Keep in mind that you just read a heading with the name Kwee Wee one word away from it. I love the Cruiserweight title and it truly is missing from pro wrestling today. However, I have no interest in seeing these two guys wrestling for the title. My dad used to take me to wrestling events when I was a kid, which was cool of him since he had very to no interest in wrestling. I tell you this because he doesn’t need any more ammunition to hate wrestling. If I give him Kwee Wee he’ll never bring me back again. 1/2

Bob Colling: Yeah, Elix Skipper was a talented worker and is capable of good things. However, at the time he was incredibly green and unknown. Kwee Wee never really caught my interest and I don’t recall a match of his I have ever really enjoyed all that much. To think a year ago the Cruiserweight division was loaded with talent. Now, WCW had these two. This gets a thumbs down.

Third Contest: The Great Muta defeated the Demon

Matt Peddycord: The hottest band in the world – KISS! I like Muta, but the KISS Demon has got to go. Yeah, NO thanks.

Aaron George: What….. Is….. This…. It’s amazing that for us it would be an honor to see The Great Muta live while at the same time it would be a giant fuck-you to a legend to fly him to Texas to make him wrestle a fake Gene Simmons. 1/3

Bob Colling: Never in a million years would I want to see this match.

Fourth Contest: Cpl. Cajun, Lt. Loco & A-Wall defeated Rey Mysterio Jr., Konnan & another Filthy Animal member.

Matt Peddycord: Why were the Misfits in Action like an army? I never understood that. No specifics on who the third Filthy Animal was. Was it Juventud? Probably not Billy Kidman. DISQO? Who knows. This might have been okay with at least half the wrestlers in this six-man (as far as I can tell) being pretty talented. Slight YES, but I reserve the right to change my mind if we ever find out who the third Filthy Animal was.

Aaron George: I guess the burning question here is who is the other filthy animal? I’m going to assume best case scenario and say it was a raccoon. I’m not sure if I should like the Misfits in Action for giving a bunch of guys something to do, or hate them because the whole concept made me want to pull out my own eyes, (or switch the channel). On the other side you have the most obnoxious incarnation of both Rey Mysterio and Konnan. And on top of all that nonsense you have the fact that all these guys are pretty good in the ring. This one is hard. I guess what it comes down to is how good is the raccoon in the ring? Ah what the Hell, I’ll go yes, if only so that ten years later Konnan can tweet about how he had to take the pin instead of the Raccoon. 2/4

Bob Colling: I’m going with the assumption that the third member was Juventud Guerrera. I don’t think Disco Inferno was part of the group and Kidman pulling double duty shouldn’t happen. Anyway, the MIA, aside from Rection and Loco, weren’t interesting. I thought Lash LeRoux was pretty bad in the ring and A-Wall was just bad too. I’d be under the impression that Loco and Rey would be carrying the load. That just isn’t enough for me to get excited for this six man tag. A slight NO.

Fifth Contest: Shane Douglas defeated Billy Kidman

Matt Peddycord: I always feel like on paper, these two could do something fun together. I don’t know if that ever materialized though. Then again, Shane Douglas was already past his prime as a worker and I’ve never seen Kidman elevate anybody to a decent match. Sorry, NO.

Aaron George: Shane Douglas always made me want to change the channel. I always found him to be annoying and mediocre at best in the ring. If he were my teacher in high school I would harass the shit out of him. Kidman is great but this feud was lame. I will never pay to see Shane Douglas. NEVER! 2/5

Bob Colling: The feud these two was all that bad, but the matches weren’t all that great. If this were Shane Douglas circa 1993-1994 then this would be a gem of a match. Sadly, Douglas was a fatter, overpaid, unmotivated guy at this point. Kidman would probably bump well for the guy, but this sounds like a disappointment. NO.

Sixth Contest: Sting defeated the Great Muta

Matt Peddycord: Because of their 1989 series, I would definitely be down to watching this completely for nostalgia reasons. In my opinion, Muta worked one good year in the US and coasted off that success for the rest of his runs here. Good match? Very unlikely, but something that would catch my eye if I saw it on a card. YES.

Aaron George: And WCW quickly apologizes to Muta by putting him in there with one of their all time greats. I’d love to see Sting live so this one is easy. 3/6

Bob Colling: It’s not 1989. Muta isn’t the same guy and neither is Sting. Not even close. They didn’t wrestle each other for more than three minutes when they fought in 2000. I wouldn’t be interested in seeing it.

Seventh Contest: Terry Funk defeated WCW United States Champion Lance Storm to win the championship

Matt Peddycord: How does Terry Funk not go over in Amarillo? Even at 56 years old, I’m sure it would have been a fun, wacky, entertaining Terry Funk match to say the least. Just so you’re not too concerned, Storm got the US title back the next night. YES.

Aaron George: How cool would it be to see Terry Funk win a title in his home town against a fantastic worker? I think if you say no to this one you’re not a fan of wrestling or happiness. Also Terry you just wrestled again this past November 3rd, you’re 69 years old. Fucking stop already!!!!! Not only are you going to die, but you’re making me feel severely inadequate sitting here WRITING about wrestling. So for my own self-esteem dude, hang-em up. 4/7

Bob Colling: If I’m looking at a poster and I see the match is Terry Funk against Lance Storm, I’d probably cringe a little bit. Storm is an excellent worker and Funk was a great brawler in his day. But in 2000, Funk could hardly walk right and it was always a pain to see a once great worker just wreck his body in hardcore matches. This would be memorable and get a reaction, but it wouldn’t sell me into going to the show. Thus, NO.

Main Event: WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T defeated Diamond Dallas Page to retain the title

Matt Peddycord: I’m completely blank on anything DDP did after Slamboree. I know near the end of the year, he teamed up with Nash, but that’s about it. This would be a nice change of pace from all the Booker T vs. Kevin Nash matches we had been getting. Makes me wonder if Nash wasn’t injured after Fall Brawl, because he was taken off TV and house shows for a couple weeks. I don’t even remember these two ever squaring off before until they went to the WWF. They just never seemed to cross paths. Anyways, it looks like a decent match on paper. I can’t say I would have been super jazzed about seeing it as a main event though, but that’s WCW 2000 for ya! I’m going to go with a NO on this one.

Aaron George: I remember being so excited at the beginning of the WCW invasion of the WWF because they had these two guys to play with. Bad decisions and jobbing to Sara Undertaker aside I’m a big fan of these two workhorses. They strike me as the kinds of guys who would bust their asses in front of 5 or 5000 fans. The match I’m sure would be pretty solid as both guys were nearly at their peak in terms of in-ring ability. For me this one is about respect. I respect the hell out of both guys and would love to see them go. Now if only Booker would hurl a racial slur at DDP…5/8

Bob Colling: DDP wasn’t even on television at the time. I’m pretty sure he hadn’t been seen since June or so. Personally, I’ve never bought into DDP as a main event guy. I feel he had a chance to be that guy in 1998, but with the emergence of Goldberg, that just didn’t work out. A match between Booker and DDP doesn’t interest me all that much, if I’m honest. At the time, Booker had a pretty good feud with Jeff Jarrett that had cooled off a little bit but they worked well together. Heck, Booker had been working matches with Scott Steiner since they were having a program soon. Either one of those matches would spark my interest. Not a match with DDP. Not at all. No thanks.

Conclusion

Matt Peddycord: Final Score = 5 out of 8. Could go either way on this one. If I was going to go though, it would be to see Sting face Great Muta and classic Terry Funk take on Lance Storm. A few other decent matchups would just be icing on the proverbial cake.

Aaron George: So to add it all up we have a fake Japanese guy, a fake Gene Simmons, a fake army and a fake top tier wrestler(Douglas) and yet I still come out positive for this show. Here’s the thing about WCW: a lot of us shit on it at the time but we’d all love to have it back right now. Looking at this show made me realize that even at its worst WCW still gave us something different and fun. Were there bad decisions? Yes. Did I prefer WWF at the time? Yes. Do I hate Shane Douglas? Yes. But they were able to do more with Booker T, DDP, Terry Funk, Lance Storm, Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, a raccoon, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Jamie Noble, Jimmy Yang and yes even Shane Douglas than the WWF ever could. I would gladly trade in John Cena beating tag teams for anything from this promotion. Well almost everything. Not Shane Douglas.

Bob Colling: Well, there would be literally only one match that would catch my interest, and it’s between six Cruiserweights. The lacks any huge names aside from Booker and Sting, really. I mean, no Goldberg, Jarrett, Awesome, Steiner, Nash, or even Kronik?! A weak show from my vantage point. I’d have to skip this one, sadly.

Would you attend this WCW show? What would make you spend money or what would make you save your hard earned money? Let us know below!

Thanks for reading.