WCW Worldwide 2000: The Forgotten Show Part Five

The fifth installment includes Crowbar vs. Vampiro, Crowbar vs. Alan Funk, Three Count and the Artist all in action.

Match #1: Crowbar vs. Vampiro
Date: June 17th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: During this time, I really enjoyed Vampiro. As a kid, I seemed to like the dark characters for whatever reason. Worldwide has shown to give guys 5-7 minutes of just wrestling time and Crowbar is a more than passable opponent to get something good here.

They lockup and Crowbar backs Vampiro into the corner but backs away cleanly. Crowbar does it again but this time Vampiro shoves him. Vampiro comes off the ropes but neither man goes down after a shoulder block. Vampiro nails Crowbar with a spinning heel kick to get the early advantage. Crowbar monkey flips Vampiro out of the corner but Vampiro comes charging back with a clothesline. They trade a few chops and Vampiro takes off his t-shirt to apparently feel the pain more. Vampiro stops Crowbar hitting a Rock Bottom for a two count. Vampiro dumps Crowbar over the top but Crowbar hangs on and head scissors Vampiro to the floor. Crowbar whacks Vampiro over the back with a steel chair. Crowbar sits Vampiro onto the chair and hits a slingshot cross body to the floor! Crowbar goes to the apron and smashes Vampiro over the back with another chair. Vampiro has a chair as Crowbar battles the referee for his lead pipe. Vampiro stops Crowbar with a chair shot to the head. Vampiro spin kicks Crowbar on the chest and quickly takes Crowbar over with a snap suplex. Vampiro goes to the top rope to hit a flying clothesline for a two count. Crowbar stops Vampiro with a boot to the face and drives Vampiro down with a Death Valley Driver for a near fall. Crowbar dropkicks Vampiro for another two count. Crowbar slams Vampiro and hit a slingshot somersault leg drop into the ring. Crowbar misses a springboard moonsault. Vampiro spin kicks the chair into Crowbar’s face. Vampiro finishes Crowbar off with the Nail In The Coffin. (**1/4. There was some decent action throughout the match. They used the chair to get some hardcore spots that were legal during the relaxed rules era of WCW. This was right around what I expected from these two.)

Match #2: Alan Funk & Mike Sanders vs. Sean O’Haire & Mark Jindrak
Date: June 24th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Mostly since three of the four guys in this match would go on to be the Natural Born Thrillers by the summer and become a major fixture on TV. O’Haire & Jindrak are very green at this time, but they a good look and hit power moves nicely.

Sanders and Funk hit dropkicks after avoiding clotheslines. O’Haire and Jindrak come back with a power slam and backdrop to send Sanders and Funk to the floor. O’Haire splashes Sanders in the ring and Jindrak leaps off O’Haire’s back for a clothesline in the corner. Sanders takes O’Haire over with a pump handle over head suplex. Funk tags in and drives O’Haire down with a tilt a whirl front slam. Funk hits a running knee on O’Haire and Sanders delivers a knee drop. The fans seem to be getting behind Funk in a positive way. O’Haire almost wins with a rollup on Sanders. O’Haire plants Sanders with a power bomb! Jindrak tags in and clotheslines Funk and Sanders to clean house. Funk gets dumped to the floor. Jindrak side slams Sanders and O’Haire hits the top rope Swanton Bomb for the win. (**. This is the debut of O’Haire & Jindrak on WCW television, according to the announcers. O’Haire just comes across like a star in the making. Funk seems to be a face character that could get over and Sanders plays his heel role very well. They had some enjoyable spots and everyone looked solid.)

Match #3: Three Count vs. Air Paris, Cassidy Riley & James Storm
Date: June 24th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Three Count are good at high flying and annoying the fans with their gimmick, which is oddly entertaining to me. Air Paris is the often forgotten about partner of AJ Styles during their brief run in ’01 in WCW. I haven’t seen much of his work. As usual, Riley and Storm are former/current Impact Wrestling stars.

Karagias and Riley kick off the six man tag match. They trade a few wrist locks until Karagias takes Riley to the mat and walks across his back. Riley fights back with a scoop slam and attempts a springboard but slips off and the fans laugh at him. Riley hip tosses Karagias and tags out to Paris. Paris comes off the top with a double axe handle followed by a vertical suplex. Karagias stops Paris with a quick power slam and tags in Moore. Paris stops Moore with a heel kick and they stumble on a wheelbarrow face buster. Moore and Helms hit a Samoan Drop/swinging neck breaker on Paris. Helms comes off the top with a sunset flip for a two count. Helms nails Paris with a super kick. Helms keeps control with a few leg drops. Karagias hits a missile dropkick as Helms hit a side Russian leg sweep. Moore tags in and Moore lands on Paris with a senton splash. Moore misses a twisting somersault splash and tags in Helms. Storm gets the hot tag and cleans house. Storm takes Helms over with a head scissors and everyone is involved in the match. Storm is left in the ring by himself with Three Count. Moore slams Storm and they hit a triple team face buster for the win. (*. This was incredibly sloppy mostly due to Paris and Riley. I can see now how Paris was the forgotten about one between himself and AJ Styles.)

Match #4: The Artist vs. Lash LeRoux
Date: June 24th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Similar to the first match, I’m thinking these two could get a good match with some time to just wrestle. I remember not thinking Artist was all that good. I mean, he wasn’t as Prince Iaukea, but after watching a few random shows in 2000, the Artist wasn’t awful. I wonder if that holds true here.

Artist goes on the attack before the bell but Lash comes back with a backdrop and dropkick. Artist kicks LeRoux but Lash clotheslines Artist. Artist jabs LeRoux a few times but gets cut off by an elbow shot. Artist yanks Lash down by his hair and misses a leg drop. Artist hits his version of an Angle Slam. LeRoux gets out of a vertical suplex with a rollup for a two count. LeRoux nearly collides with Paisley and still almost pins Artist. LeRoux clotheslines Artist after a split, but gets distracted by Paisley. Artist comes off the middle rope and hits his leaping DDT for the win! (*. On some level, this is a huge upset even if Artist was a former champion. He was hardly on TV that recall and LeRoux was in the MIA face stable. Of course, this would be, well, forgotten about.) After the match, Paisley and Major Guns fight in the ring for a few moments with Pops in the ring confronting Artist. It looks like Major Guns nearly falls out of her top a few times.

Well, in the previous edition of this series I said that there would be a Buff Bagwell vs. Mike Sanders match to be reviewed. Sadly, it appears that the show isn’t in my collection as I had previously thought. Thus, I am forced to do a bait a switch. I promise Buff will be in this series.

Match #5: Crowbar vs. Alan Funk
Date: July 1st, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Funk has really impressed me in his role on Worldwide and Crowbar had a good match with Sanders in a previous edition. Funk is a better wrestler than Sanders, so I’m hoping for an even better result. I know, it’s no Buff Bagwell match.

There is a Worldwide logo on the canvas! The fans are going nuts for Crowbar. They must be drunk already for the taping. Funk attacks Crowbar before the bell but Crowbar hits a dropkick and follows up with a chop. Crowbar gets stopped by a right hand but takes Funk over with a suplex. Crowbar side slams Funk and hit a split legged moonsault. A fan had a sign so bad that they actually blurred it out for this match. Crowbar chops Funk in the corner and attempts a double leg slam but Funk gets out of it and drops Crowbar across the top rope. Mike Sanders is at ringside and attacks Crowbar briefly. Funk keeps control with a few stomps in the corner and stomps. Crowbar battles back with chops in the corner. Funk drops Crowbar with a spinning face buster for a two count. Funk scoop slams Crowbar for another two count. Funk hits a vertical suplex across the top turnbuckle. Funk misses a middle rope leg drop. Crowbar nails Funk with a leaping back elbow and a few clotheslines. Crowbar nearly wins with a northern lights suplex. Sanders pulls Crowbar to the floor and attacks him some more. Funk baseball slides Crowbar. Sanders misses a moonsault off the apron and takes Funk out on accident. Crowbar takes both Sanders and Funk out with a slingshot somersault dive to the floor. Crowbar rolls Funk back into the ring delivering a scoop slam. Crowbar goes to the apron hitting a slingshot somersault leg drop but sanders goes to the top only to be crotched by Daffney! Daffney takes Sanders over with a hurricanrana! Crowbar clotheslines Sanders to the floor. Funk has Daffney but Crowbar comes over and hit a sit out front suplex for the win. (***. The crowd was way more into this that I was expecting. They worked well together and it made for an explosive finish. The crowd popped big time for Daffney’s involvement, too. Really solid match.)

That ends it for the latest edition of WCW Worldwide 2000: The Forgotten Show. But, don’t worry because there is a few more editions to come. On the next edition…
– Billy Kidman in singles action against Elix Skipper
– Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire battle Chris Harris and Mike Rapada
– Buff Bagwell takes on Disco Inferno. I promise this happens!
– Rey Mysterio Jr. teams with Disco Inferno against Matt Stryker and Chris Harris
– The Great Muta meets Brian Adams in singles action

Leave your thoughts on the matches or WCW in general.

Thanks for reading.