WCW Worldwide 2000: The Forgotten Show Part Six

The sixth installment of the series features Billy Kidman, Elix Skipper, Buff Bagwell, Disco Inferno, Rey Mysterio Jr. and The Great Muta.

Match #1: Elix Skipper vs. Billy Kidman
Date: July 29th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: This is before Skipper made his WCW TV debut with Team Canada. Typically the cruiserweight matches are enjoyable and I don’t see why this wouldn’t be.

Skipper is actually going by “Skip Over”, which has to be one of the worst names to have in wrestling. It’s basically saying skip over this guy wrestling, right? Skipper knee lifts Kidman but gets sent to the apron. Skipper slingshots into the ring and hit an impressive head scissors. Kidman quickly comes back with a standing hurricanrana and plays to the crowd. Skipper knee lifts Kidman and goes for a power bomb but that doesn’t work so well. Skipper avoids a cross body and Kidman crashes to the floor. Skipper gets knocked off the apron and crashes to the floor. Kidman sends Skipper back first into the guard railing to maintain control of the match. Kidman works over Skipper with stomps in the corner but Skipper springboards off the ropes and takes Kidman over with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Skipper gets a two count after a leg drop and stomps on Kidman some more. Skipper yanks Kidman down by the hair but gets sent chest first into the corner and Kidman connects with a quick clothesline. Kidman goes to the top rope but Skipper cuts him off to hit a sit out suplex off the top managing a near fall. Kidman drives Skipper down with a back suplex for another near fall. Skipper plants Kidman with the Play Of The Day for a two count. Kidman plants Skipper with a sit out spine buster. Skipper nearly wins with a dragon suplex but Kidman gets out of the bridge. Kidman hits the Kid Krusher to win the match. (***. There were a few moments here that were a bit shaky, but the crowd dug the match and Skipper came across as a guy who could develop into a threat. His offense was different and he hung with Kidman rather well in the ring. It’s crazy to think that Kidman was feuding with Hulk Hogan a month prior and is now having competitive matches on Worldwide with another cruiserweight.)

Match #2 Mark Jindrak & Sean O’Haire vs Chris Harris & Mike Rapada
Date: August 5th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Jindrak and O’Haire are super green and keep their offense rather based around power moves to cover that. Harris and Rapada are decently sized guys which may make them to work a different style.

Harris and O’Haire kick off the tag match with Harris attempting a shoulder block but O’Haire decks him with a clothesline and tags in Jindrak. Jindrak arms drags Harris and front slams O’Haire onto Harris. Harris knee lifts O’Haire from behind and tags in Rapada. O’Haire is met with a double clothesline and worked over by Harris. Rapada comes off the middle rope with a forearm drop after a drop toe hold by Harris. Rapada works over O’Haire with strikes in the corner and tosses Sean to the floor. Harris sent O’Haire face first into a chair and O’Haire gets sent into the ring steps shoulder first. O’Haire tries to fight back but Harris kept control on the floor. O’Haire decks Rapada with a spin kick after spring boarding off the top rope. Jindrak tags in and cleans house with clotheslines. Jindrak dropkicks Rapada and O’Haire delivers another kick. Jindrak dropkicks Harris and puts Rapada on the top turnbuckle. Jindrak takes Rapada off the top with a hurricanrana and O’Haire hit a swanton off the top for the win. (*1/2. I don’t think there is any way to deny the fact that Jindrak and O’Haire showed plenty of promise in WCW. It’s just too bad that it took too long for WCW to focus on the younger talents.)

Match #3: Disco Inferno vs. Buff Bagwell
Date: August 5th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: Back in ’99 these two were seen as the future of WCW. Now, they are the main attraction on an episode of WCW Worldwide a year later. Bagwell was still relevant on television while Inferno was mostly a poor comedy act with the Filthy Animals.

At this point the “What’s Up” commercials were fairly popular so naturally Bagwell, Inferno and Rey Jr. beat that into the ground and is quite annoying at the start. Bagwell hammers away on Inferno at the start followed by a hip toss. Bagwell plants Inferno with a double arm DDT and plays to the crowd. Inferno low blows Bagwell and dumps Buff to the floor where Rey gets a few shots in and delivered a leg drop. Inferno keeps control with stomps to keep Bagwell on the canvas. Inferno atomic drops Bagwell followed by a clothesline and sends Bagwell to the floor. Inferno stomps on Bagwell some more managing to keep control of the match. Rey gets into the ring as the referee is distracted but Bagwell clotheslines him out of the ring. Bagwell backdrops Inferno but Disco comes back with a side Russian leg sweep for a two count. Inferno big boots Bagwell but runs into a power slam. Bagwell decks Rey off the apron and finishes Inferno off with the Buff Blockbuster. (*1/2. It’s interesting to see how Disco in June ’99 or so was considered to be a future face of WCW and now in August 2000 he’s a comedy guy, again. This was pretty much what I expected it to be.)

Match #4: Rey Mysterio Jr. & Disco Inferno vs. Matt Stryker & Chris Harris
Date: August 12th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: This Matt Stryker is not to be confused with Matt Striker for WWE fame. Stryker at one point had a unibrow and was a really good technical wrestler for ROH in the early 2000s. I guess I’m curious to see how he does here along with Harris and hopefully Rey provides some entertainment value here.

Stryker and Rey start off with Stryker hitting a dropkick but his offense doesn’t last too long. Rey tags in Inferno from the apron and Disco takes Stryker down with a drop toe hold allowing Rey to hit a springboard leg drop. Stryker tags in Harris but Inferno stops him with an atomic drop and clothesline for a two count. Harris comes back with a swinging neck breaker and dropkick for a two count on Inferno. Stryker tags in and knee lifts Inferno. Stryker plants Inferno with a front slam but only manages a two count. Stryker misses a moonsault off the top. Rey tags in and knocks Harris off the apron. Rey spin kicks Stryker and here comes Harris but he gets met with a face buster from Rey. Rey takes Harris out with the bronco buster in the corner. Stryker falls down in the corner to allow the bronco buster on himself. Inferno hits a swinging neck breaker on Stryker and Rey comes off the top hitting a top rope leg drop to the groin of Stryker for the win. (*1/2. Well, Stryker worked most of the match and looked alright in there, I’d say. It felt like the fans didn’t care at all about Rey and Disco as a team, though.)

Match #5: The Great Muta vs. WCW Tag Team Champion Brian Adams
Date: August 12th, 2000
Reason Reviewed: This just seems like a really odd pairing to have on Worldwide. The two teams were feuding with Muta teaming with Vampiro against Kronik. The match here in a singles environment intrigued me just for how odd it plays out in my head.

Muta goes right to work on Adams with strikes in the corner beating down Adams to the canvas. Muta dropkicks Adams but is met with a running clothesline. Adams stops Muta with a big boot and plays to the crowd. Adams press slams Muta and drops him across his knee for a two count as Muta reached the ropes quickly. Muta counters a fireman’s carry with a DDT on Adams. Muta kicks Adams to the floor and sends Adams into the ring steps face first. Muta works over Adams with a few strikes and avoids Adams in the corner. Muta drives Adams down with a neck breaker. Muta attempts a cartwheel elbow but Adams counters with a full nelson slam and Adams is really fired up. Adams sends Muta into the referee in the corner and hit a belly to belly suplex but there isn’t a referee for the cover. Adams goes for a choke slam but Muta instead mists Adams! Muta has an inside cradle and gets a three count! (*1/2. I’m glad Muta got the win here and used the mist. It’s not an awful match in all honesty. Adams actually showed some fire in the match and that was a pleasant surprise. It was kept short and I was grateful for that.)

That wraps up this edition of the WCW Worldwide 2000: The Forgotten Show. The next edition will feature the following match,

– Shawn Stasiak competes against Chris Harris
– Rey Mysterio Jr., Juventud Guerrera & Disco Inferno team up for a six man tag match against the Yung Dragons
– Big Vito battles the Artist
– Jung Dragons test their luck against Mark Jindrak, Sean O’Haire and Shawn Stasiak
– Elix Skipper takes on a guy he’d get to know really well later in his career, Chris Harris

Thanks for reading.