Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Nitro
Date: 1/15/2001
From: Ft. Wayne, IN
Matches:
1.)WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero Jr. defeated Crowbar
2.)Rey Mysterio Jr. & Billy Kidman defeated Shane Helms & Shannon Moore
3.)WCW World Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire defeated Kronik
4.)Konnan defeated Mike Awesome in a hair vs. hair match
5.)The Cat defeated Bam-Bam Bigelow
6.)WCW United States Champion Shane Douglas defeated General Rection
7.)Kevin Nash defeated WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner by disqualification
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. The show opens up with footage of Sid breaking his leg at Sin. This would effectively end Sid’s career, at least in a mainstream promotion, for the rest of his career.
2. Totally Buff comes down to the ring to hold a funeral session for the career of Goldberg. They have a coffin and everything. Obviously, Totally Buff is just mocking Goldberg and rubbing in the loss at Sin by fake crying and all that. They want the fans to grieve as well for the loss of Goldberg. Jeff Jarrett makes an appearance and brags that Goldberg never beat him in the ring. WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner comes out and mentions how badly he beat Goldberg at Fall Brawl. Steiner even spits on the coffin! Ric Flair comes out with Animal to continue to brag about the victory. Flair suggests that everyone in the back either join them or suffer the consequences! Kevin Nash comes out and says that he isn’t on their team and is looking to kill the group. Diamond Dallas Page and Scott Steiner’s own brother Rick Steiner also come out to stand next to Nash! The Cat gets involved and books Scott Steiner in a match against Kevin Nash with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the line!
3. After walking out with the championship last night at WCW Sin, WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chavo Guerrero Jr. had to prepare for another title defense twenty four hours later. Guerrero was able to keep the title around his waist after hitting Crowbar with a brain buster.
4. Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell try to convince Bam-Bam Bigelow to be a part of their plans.
5. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman continued to dominate the cruiserweight division in WCW as they were able to successfully beat Shane Helms and Shannon Moore in tag team action. Kidman pins Helms after hitting the Kid Krusher. After the match, Team Canada comes out to attack Rey and Kidman. Eventually, Lance Storm challenges Kidman to a hair vs. hair match for later on in the show.
6. Backstage, Kronik congratulate the Cat for winning last night at WCW Sin and say they will take out the Natural Born Thrillers. Billy Kidman is attacked by Team Canada. Chavo Guerrero, and General Rection are recruited to join Ric Flair and company.
7. Kronik seemingly had everything under control during their match with Palumbo and O’Haire. However, Stasiak and Jindrak got involved to make sure their friends didn’t lose the straps. O’Haire was able to pin Adams after hitting a top rope swanton bomb.
8. Backstage, Konnan wants to take Kidman’s spot in the hair vs. hair match with Mike Awesome. That would make sense, if Konnan actually had hair to put on the line.
9. Konnan hit a spinning DDT on Awesome in the early moments of the contest but couldn’t put him away. Awesome battled back with a release German suplex. They head to the floor where They trade chair shots. Back in the ring, Konnan counters a running Awesomebomb by hitting a face jam for a near fall. Awesome also counters a powerbomb by planting Konnan with a spinebuster! Awesome nearly wins after hitting a top rope frog splash. They are on the middle turnbuckle when Konnan is able to connect, kind of, with a DDT to win the match. After the match, Konnan cuts off some of Awesome’s hair before being run off by Team Canada.
10. Backstage, General Rection declines to call it a truce with Chavo Guerrero Jr.
11. It takes The Cat less than two minutes to put Bigelow away with the Feliner.
12. Rection had the early control on Douglas by hitting clotheslines and shoulder blocks. His offense came to a stop after missing a top rope elbow drop. Douglas spikes Rection with the Pittsburgh Plunge and got a chain from his boot. Rection recovers to gorilla press slam the champ. Chavo Guerrero Jr. comes out and hits Rection with the chain as the referee was distracted. That’s good enough for Douglas to get the three count.
13. Steiner and Nash trade blows to start the main event until Steiner gets the first real advantage after a belly to belly suplex. Steiner continues to work over Nash with a back breaker. Nash fights back after blocking being sent into the ring post and drives Steiner down with a side slam. Nash snake eyes Steiner in the corner and signals for the powerbomb. However, Steiner’s new found buddies run down and attack Nash to cause the predictable disqualification. After the match, DDP, Rick Steiner and The Cat run down to make the save.
Final Thoughts:
Not a bad episode to follow up from the pay per view. Yeah, they don’t have their top babyface anymore, and the Magnificent Seven is basically just the New World Order, but I thought it was an productive edition of Nitro.
Thanks for reading.