I decided to get right back on the Worldwide train and get this rolling. It appears that people are enjoying this, and I enjoy watching it. In the second installment, we get a few cruiserweight matches along with a New Harlem Heat sighting and the infamous Hail!
Match #1: Silver King & El Dandy vs. La Parka & Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Date: March 18th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: I’m holding out hope that El Dandy will get a victory in his WCW career. Plus, La Parka! I’m anticipating some good action between four veterans of the cruiserweight division.
Dandy and Chavo kick off the match with Dandy shoulder blocking Chavo. Chavo comes back with a monkey flip to toss Dandy across the ring. Chavo backdrops Dandy to the floor and slides to the floor to uppercut Dandy before tossing Dandy back into the ring. Dandy kicks Chavo and Parka tags in as does King. King shoulder blocks Parka a few times for a near fall. Parka struts and clotheslines Dandy but King clotheslines Parka moments later. King misses a splash in the corner and Parka snap power slams King. Dandy accidentally splashes King. Parka heel kicks Dandy to the floor and takes Dandy out with a twisting dive to the floor! King misses Chavo in the corner and Chavo dropkicks King to the floor. Chavo takes King out with a slingshot cross body to the floor. Parka hits a split legged moonsault for a two count. Parka misses a spear in the corner hitting the post shoulder first. Parka is double teamed by King and Dandy with a drop toe hold and double kicks. King plants Parka with a tornado DDT for a two count. Dandy decks Parka knocking him to the floor. Dandy drops Chavo and King hit a slingshot senton from the apron. King hits a snap suplex and Dandy comes off the middle rope with a middle rope senton for a near fall. Parka tags himself in and puts Dandy on his shoulders. Chavo leaps off to cross body King and Parka hits a spinning body attack off the middle rope for the victory. (***. This would likely be a top ten match to happen in WCW if you’re going off of star ratings and such. I really enjoyed this action. They actually got plenty of time and they did several high spots. This was a breeze to watch. How this stuff isn’t on Nitro is baffling.)
Match #2: Norman Smiley vs. Hugh Morrus
Date: April 8th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: I’d consider this a rather big match for Worldwide in 2000. Smiley is really entertaining and I wouldn’t mind a Morrus moonsault, honestly.
Morrus hypes this up as the “wiggle vs. giggle” and as being the match of the millennium. That’s a bit of a stretch, right? Smiley controls Morrus with a neck vice and a wrist lock. Morrus gets out of an abdominal stretch and delivers a walking man elbow drop and head butt. Hugh goes to the apron and climbs to the top rope. Hugh misses a top rope elbow drop. Smiley gets up and proceeds to deliver the Big Wiggle until Morrus stops him with an elbow shot. Smiley goes for a double under hook but Hugh counters with a backdrop but Smiley nearly wins with a rollup. Hugh elbows Smiley and goes to the top rope. Smiley gets up and takes Hugh down with an electric chair slam for a near fall. Smiley signals for the Big Wiggle but gets ran over by Morrus with a clothesline. Morrus goes to the top and hits the moonsault for the win. (**. Perfectly acceptable action between these two men as it featured some decent action and a little bit of comedy. Morrus should have gotten a better run before the MIA gimmick. Smiley seems to have ditched the screaming part of his character at this point.)
Match #3: New Harlem Heat vs. Disorderly Conduct
Date: April 15th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Mostly for the opportunity to see just how out of shape Big T is. (Ahmed Johnson, please don’t message me again about it.)
Ray and Mike kick off the tag match with Ray working over Mike in the corner with several strikes. Ray drops Mike with a standing side kick. Big T tags in and kicks Mike in the midsection. T power slams Mike and goes to run the ropes but Mike thought he was going for a splash and rolled out of the way. So, they redo the spot and T screams “move” leading to the actual spot. T gets splashed in the corner a couple of times and Conduct hit a double DDT. Tom doesn’t maintain the offense and is getting double teamed. T nails Tom with a bicycle kick. Ray power slams Tom and taunts Mike. Heat hit Tom with a double bicycle kick. Tom gets rammed into the ring post by Cash on the floor. Heat drive Tom down with a double spine buster for the win. (DUD. Easily the worst match I’ve watched in the series thus far and T was as awful as I had anticipated. The botch with the splash isn’t his fault, but this was comically awful.)
Match #4: Hail vs. Rick Fuller
Date: April 22nd, 2000
Reason Reviewed: I vaguely recall Hail being promoted as a big deal, but it was likely just a way to keep Jimmy Hart happy. Fuller is a memorable WCW jobber, so why not? Don’t get me wrong, he’s not The Gambler, though.
Fuller attacks before the bell with a series of chops in the corner. Hail comes out of the corner with a big clothesline. Hail hits a splash in the corner, which was similar to a Stinger Splash. Fuller drops Hail with a standing heel kick and a leg drop for a two count. Fuller misses a splash in the corner and Hail spikes Fuller with a piledriver for the win. (*1/2. Not bad for basically a squash match. Hail was promoted as a heel having joined New Blood, but he certainly acted and got a reaction like he was a face here.)
Match #5: Kid Romeo vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Date: April 22nd, 2000
Reason Reviewed: There’s not a major reason to review this one. They had a match in February that I didn’t choose to review. I figured that if they did it again, that it was a sign to watch one of their matches. Romeo did get a big push in 2001 before the company folded.
They have a standoff after neither man gets control on the canvas. Romeo snap mares Chavo to get out of a hammerlock followed by a clothesline. Romeo stomps on Chavo a few times followed by forearm shots. Chavo tosses Romeo with a suplex. Chavo continues to work over Romeo with chops and strikes in the corner. Chavo leaps off the top to drop Romeo throat first across the top rope. Romeo head scissors Chavo to the floor and goes to the top rope hitting a cross body on the floor! Romeo gets sent hard into the guard railing back first. Back in the ring, Chavo drives Romeo down with a back suplex for a two count. Romeo drives Chavo down with a wheelbarrow bulldog but can’t quickly followup. Chavo takes Romeo over with a Tiger suplex for a near fall. Romeo comes back with the Kiss Goodnight but Chavo powers out at two! Romeo works over Chavo in the corner with a few chops. Romeo misses a splash in the corner and Chavo spikes Romeo with a tornado DDT for the victory. (***. That was a really fun and competitive match. WCW is capable of good TV when Russo wasn’t anywhere near it, apparently.)
Alright, that brings an end to the second installment. But, don’t worry. There is a few more to come. Scheduled for the next installment will include:
– A young Sonny Siaki in action against Fidel Sierra
– MIA in eight man tag action against Kory Williams, Cassidy Riley, James Storm (yeah, TNA), and Rick Michaels
– Mona battles Madusa
– Curt Hennig competes against up and comer Chris Harris (aka Braden Walker)
– Mona teams with Shawn Stasiak for a mixed tag team match against Chris Candido and Tammy Sytch!
Feel free to leave your thoughts on the program below or suggestions.
Thanks for reading.