Written by: Kevin Kildenberger
Hudson and Schiavone are discussing it and Hudson wonders what is next. But Hudson informs us that they are going out with a bang! All five titles are on the line.
Flair!! He has later said that he was glad they killed WCW. Then again he has blown with the wind when he was with WWE and then TNA. Did Flair hear Vince correct that he holds WCW in his hands. Does that mean he will hold Brisco, Race, Rhodes, Sting, Luger, Savage and Bagwell in the palm of his hands? He doesn’t think so. A woman told him that despite this being the last time he will be on TNT and TBS to not come out here and cry. He will not as he is a 14 time champ and how this is the greatest wrestling organization in the world. He repeats some more names and they have been on par to some of the greatest wrestling organization in the worlds. WCW ran neck and neck with Vince for years and has some trivia for him: In 1981 when Vince was trying to become an announcer and his dad was on the board of directors and voted for Flair to be world champ. Ever since that day he has been a limo riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, wheeling dealing son of a gun. They were every bit the force of WCW and they bled and sweated. It has always been about the boys and no one else. Going out every night and working their asses off. Vince cannot hold them. When was the last time he wrestled for an hour, cut himself five times. He was never on the road for 40 days and nights. He was never there and cannot hold people’s lives in his hands. WCW is the greatest and he cannot control us or our future. His greatest opponent has been Sting and he wants him tonight. This is Sting’s last chance….Sting chants! Flair chants a bit and to be the man you have to beat the man.
This would have been a great set-up for an invasion. Led by Flair or whomever. Great ass promo too. Love you Flair.
Match 1: Scott Steiner (c) v. Booker T (c) Title v Title
Booker is going strong. He takes him down. Gets two and now mounts and pounds him in the corner. But he is powerbombed and nearly pinned. Crowd is FIRED up. Booker is shoved to the floor and slapped by Midajah. Steiner hammers him and swings and misses with the pipe! Back in the ring. Steiner-line. Steiner drops the elbow and does some push ups. Belly to belly from Steiner and he gets two. Jaws at the ref and now pulls back on the arms. Booker powers out and after some give and go dropkicks him. Now they exchange flurries. Booker knees him, has him doubled over. Axe kick! Now he plants him but here comes Steiner and he strikes with a Northern Lights suplex! Two count. Steiner tries to suplex him again but is countered with a Book End! It is over! Sorry he flipped free from a powerbomb.
*** It had to be fairly short but still really cool. Non-stop action. Fitting ending. Booker is the man.
And back to Vince McMahon because the show is now all about him! He is on the phone. So fucking exciting! He mocks the location for the Final Nitro: Some redneck joint in the panhandle and how fitting is that.
That is it. They panned away. Thank God.
Match 2: Three Count v. Filthy Animals v. Jung Dragons
The winner faces the Cruiserweight Tag Champs.
They are flying all over the place! They continue springing around as we get a series of near falls. Evan is up top and crashes down onto Kaz with a 450. Save is made. Kidman and Evan topple to the floor. Moore gets his boot up and Rey is nutted on the Bronco attempt. Fans chant for Rey as he springs into a legdrop. Match!
*** Short but really sweet.
Vince is on the phone talking about talent. Here comes Trish to celebrate and they start to make out. Schiavone really has nothing to say to this and just moves on. It was really fucking awful.
Match 3: Chavo Guerrero v. Shane Helms (c) for WCW Cruiserweight Title
Wait? RAW is in Cleveland and he made fun of Florida? Cleveland? Jesus.
Back and forth match. Both are hammering one another. Helms takes command, springs onto him and gets two. They battle for a bit, trying to get the upperhand. Helms fends him and strikes with a spinning backbreaker. Chavo is sent front first into the corner and misses with a kick. They counter moves until Helms superkicks him in the jaw. Chavo flips free from the Breaker but now he is hooked and spiked. Over.
**1/2 Not bad.
This is a bittersweet moment for Booker. He will stand up to anyone and take it to them. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Team Canada!
Match 4: Team Canada v. Palumbo and O’Haire (c) for WCW Tag Titles
They have us stand for the anthem.
They go to Vince again. Cole interrupts and questions Vince about how many fans are worried that their brand of sports entertainment is done for. Vince tells him to beat it after Cole voice concerns about jobs too. Oh the sweet irony and sadness of it all. What could have been.
Hudson questions his job too and Tony agrees that they have no idea what is going to happen.
The match:
They promptly tear into one another. The tag champs unload but the match breaks down and all four go at it. Storm and Haire are on the floor. The Awesome Bomb is countered with a huge kick on Awesome. Seanton Bomb! Match.
** Keeping the belts on the faces. Cannot really knock that move as it is the final show.
Here comes Hancock! She asks if all the college hunks want to see her strip and dance. I know I do! She won’t and introduces Stasiak. He starts to speak and is thankfully interrupted by Bigelow who has some tattoo gear.
Match 5: Shawn Stasiak v. Bam Bam Bigelow
Boy this was short. They put over the young guy.
*
Regal comes in and wonders why Vince wants to buy WCW. It is a bloody awful place with all the nonsense that occurs. Vince thanks him for his concerns and he is on the case.
DDP had an interview from earlier today. It has been a long, strange trip. He thanks all the fans for making him. The dream is not over either.
Highlights from past performers in WCW. No 80s guitar soundtrack either!
Vince is on the phone! And it is just about that time! OH BOY!!!!!
Match 6: Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo (c) v. Filthy Animals for WCW Cruiserweight Tag Titles
They go at it. The crowd is riled and cheering on Kidman who has been getting hammered. But he escapes and makes the hot tag. Rey goes off, DDT and two count. Bronco Buster! But the heels comeback and get a near fall. Rey makes a save, powerbomb on Romeo and he swan dives into him. Skipper makes the save. Rey is suplexed and Kidman makes the save. Rey and Romeo are laid out and Skipper is about to finish off Kidman but he counters with the Kid Krusher! Match.
*** Short but solid.
Sting is hanging around somewhere with a bunch of hanging bats. He would not have missed this night and there will be one more match with Flair. As for his future nothing is for sure when it comes to Sting.
Vince is swaggering in the back. That’s it.
Match 7: Ric Flair v. Sting
Hudson reminds us that Sting never made the jump to WWF. Oh and he never will. Probably the smartest thing he has ever done.
Flair has a shirt on. Fans chant for Sting and he is dominating so far. Now Flair fires back and chops him up in the corner. Sting knocks him back and Flair retreats to the floor. Flair slowly reenters the ring. He tries to attack but is hammered. Press slam and he is mounted and pounded in the corner. Flair stumbles and topples. Flair nuts him and then stomps him. Now Flair works him over, snaps him over and goes up top but he is caught and tossed. But Flair fights back and applies the Figure Four. Flair uses the ropes for leverage. Sting escapes and then no sells Flair’s chops. Superplex! And now the Deathlock! Flair gives up.
*** Sting!
He helps Flair up and hugs him. Schiavone gets all misty eyed and mushy.
They go to RAW and Vince is leaving the ring and now he is welcomed by the ring announcer and struts on back. Many fans are just standing there. Heyman sucks his dick as he praises the man. I think he called TNT, TNN. There is only one man who can make history like this. He has acquired WCW. He bought his competition. It is and isn’t the final Nitro. No one knows what to do with WCW and Time Warner is begging him to buy it. But there is a caveat from Vince and he will sign it this Sunday at WM. Ted Turner himself has to walk down the aisle and deliver the contract to him. Some will say how did Vince did it. He was up against a media conglomerate and a billionaire. He may have had some help but the truth is that he did it on his own. How can you possibly beat a billionaire and that is to become one yourself. He wants Ted to watch what he will do to his own son at WM. You have to squeeze and choke the life out of the competition like he did with WCW. He continues on about his match at the PPV. Now what he should he do with WCW? He would like some fan input. He could put it on the shelf. Not many cheers. He mocks Hogan. He gets pleasure out of how they claimed that they’d bury the WWF. They used to laugh at WWF and now about laughing last and best. He is not laughing but he has a big smile. He could do something else with it and turn it into a media conglomerate and they know how do that….Yeah, look at the XFL. He asks for a thumbs up and down. Hogan: Mixed but more cheers. The Cleveland fans don’t get what he is asking. They boo for the thumbs up. Luger gets more boos. Buff more cheers. Booker gets a lot of cheers. He calls them mixed. Steiner gets cheered. Goldberg chants! They want Sting. Wow Goldberg gets a great pop. Oh what could have been you fucktard Vince. He talks about gloating and has been a doing a fine job of that. He could have gone to Redneck Riviera and given them a piece of his mind. WCW’s last show is in front of a beer hall and the fans love that.
He wanted to look them all in their faces and fire them. WCW is done and buried and they are all fired and will remain buried (how prophetic). This will happen to anyone who gets in his way like his son and they will end up like WCW. Asshole chants. He is not happy and demands want respect as he is Vince McMahon and he own both WCW and WWF. Cue his son’s music which is the same….But no Shane. He is on the Tron and wearing a “sweet” turtleneck. He is on Nitro! He asks if his dad is surprised and he looks so. Shane is standing in a WCW ring. He talks about Vince’s ego. He informs Vince that the deal has been indeed finalized and the name does say McMahon but it reads Shane McMahon. Shane now owns WCW. Just like how WCW kicked his ass in the past it will do so again. That is what will happen at WM too. And that is all we get….Fuckers. They do tell us what is next on RAW though.
**** Just for the sheer moment of it. I could rant that having Shane come out was the wrong thing. But this was a McMahon feud, year 3 or 4 of it. They did not have much time and this was not that bad and it makes sense from a storyline perspective. Sure having Bischoff who was understandably bitter come out and refuse to be bought thus setting up an Invasion. Bring in DDP/Booker and then later Flair and others, slowly, and of course muck it up or change it up with the nWo and maybe get two or three good years out of it, attracting the WCW fans. Or have WCW wrench control from Shane down the road. All of this is speculation and while the start of the “new era” was not as good as it could have been or should have been it could have been changed and corrected and the right thing done where money could have been made and wrestling not heading to its long and slow decline. Wrestling would not be as big today anyway but we could have gotten a few more good to great years. I will get to the InVasion someday. But seeing Vince gloat, part of it in character is enough to turn me and millions off from wrestling and sadly and at the same time comically who would have thought that buying his competition led to the decline of popularity in wrestling. And it also goes to show that the WWF is not good at long term booking as the InVasion proved and subsequent events after that. WWF will consistently take a good thing and piss it away, never to recapture the magic they once had. Sure there will be moments but WWF/E will rush things or have HHH or Cena prematurely abort the angle. The InVasion would have been difficult to book and you had to deal with egos of the WWF guys as shown throughout the year and when the nWo arrived. But it could have been done and the start of it should have been treating WCW as a legitimate threat instead of second class citizens something that rubbed off in the locker room and how the fans perceived them. Oh well….It just goes to show that Vince McMahon like Bischoff with the nWo was a one hit wonder as he rode the Austin thing for years and years and then HHH and now John Cena. Such a damn shame too.