Hello readers and welcome to the ninth edition of "Keeping The Memories
Alive". In today’s edition, I will be reviewing the final edition of WCW Nitro.
The event was dubbed "Night Of Champions" as every WCW Title was on the line. It
was aired live on TNT from the Boardwalk Beach Resort in
Panama City, Florida on
March 26, 2001. Keep your requests coming.
The show opens with Vince McMahon! He is in front of the Raw interview fence.
Vince reveals that he has bought WCW. He says that he is
going to address WCW
later tonight and their fate is in his hands.
We go to the Nitro video opening.
Pyro goes off and Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson welcome us. Schivaone says
"welcome to a landmark night in the industry". This is perhaps
one of few times
Tony has been head on with his little comments. Hudson and Tony talk about this
being the last edition of Nitro on TNT
(Of course this would end up being the
last WCW show altogether). Tony looks very upset when we see his face, I think
he knew then and there he
was out of a job. Schiavone also mentions that this is
Spring Break Out 2001. How many nicknames is this show going to have?
Out comes "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, the WCW President. Flair asks…. "Did I just
hear Vince McMahon say he was going to hold WCW in the
palm of his hands?" Flair
asks if that means he is going to hold Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, Harley Race, the
Road Warriors, Sting, Lex Luger,
the Steiner Brothers, Buff Bagwell, Ric Flair
and Ricky Steamboat in his hands? Flair says he don’t think so. He goes on to
say how WCW and its
history is the greatest wrestling company of all time (his
face and voice say differently). Flair also brings up the fact that in 1981,
when Vince was
a nobody, Vince’s father was on the NWA Board of Directors and
voted for Flair to become NWA Champion. Flair closes by saying that Sting has
been his greatest opponent in WCW and he challenges Sting for the main event
tonight. "To be the man, you gotta beat the man.
And Stinger, I am the man!" Ric
Flair delivered an excellent promo here. Probably the best promo WCW had seen in
years and his
heart was not even into it as he stated years later.
Coming up next…. Booker T vs. Scott Steiner for the WCW Title and the WCW United States Title.
Commercial.
Match #1: "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner (with Midejah) defends the WCW Title
against Booker T and his WCW United States Title.
I wonder if either of these men thought in their wildest dreams that they
would be in an nWo type faction in a wrestling company that features
a six sided
ring 8 years from now? Steiner takes early control, tossing Booker on the
outside of the floor. Midejah gets her kicks in. Damn is Steine
r testosterone
fueled. Booker does the scissor kick, Schiavone calls it the ghetto blaster. Is
Tony that stupid or did WCW call it that back then?
Bad News Brown might have
something to say about it. Steiner hit’s a northern lights suplex but only gets
a 2 count. Booker counters out of a
power bomb and nails the bookend for the win
to become a 4 time WCW Champion.
We go to Cleveland, sight of tonight’s WWF Raw. Vince McMahon is backstage on
the phone. He is telling someone how funny it is that WCW’s
last show is in
Panama Beach. I guess that’s a compliment to us Ohioans.
Match #2: The Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi & Yang) vs. 3 Count (Shannon Moore &
Evan Karagias) vs. Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr.
The winners of this match will get a shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team
Titles later in the broadcast. Great action in this match, can’t even keep
up
with it. Kidman does a sick shooting star press onto the floor. Damn!!! The
future "Resident Redneck", Yang does a twisted moonsault on Kidman
(they called
it Yang Time) but Mysterio makes the save. Mysterio nails Shannon Moore with a
springboard guillotine leg drop for the win.
Commercial: still to come, Ric Flair vs. Sting.
Back to Vince, backstage in Cleveland. Trish Stratus has now joined him. They
start making out. Damn, how many divas has Vince got to kiss over
the years? I
wonder what Linda thinks of all this?
Match #3: "Sugar" Shane Helms defends the WCW Cruiserweight Title against
Chavo Guerrero Jr.
I often wondered what WCW had planned for Helms? They seemed to be pushing
him pretty hard here, he looked great, awesome entrance. I’m sure
Helms didn’t
think he’d be spending the next 5 years with green hair and wearing a cape to
the ring. Chavo looks like he does right now, just more hair.
There’s actually
good wrestling in this match, lots of suplex variations. Shane nails the sugar
smack, following it up with the vertebreaker for the win.
That move is dangerous
as hell, no wonder WWE banned it.
Commercial: WCW Tag Team Titles on the line, next.
Booker T is seen standing in the entrance way with his 2 title belts. Booker
says this is the end of this chapter but another one will soon begin in
the
BOOK. He basically says he is going to the WWF.
Lance Storm and Mike Awesome hit the ring. If Storm could be serious for a
minute, its time for the Canadian National Anthem during this
next commercial
break…….
Back from commercial. Vince and Trish are snuggled up on a couch and then
Michael Cole comes in. This was back when Michael Cole was
playing Craig DeGeorge/Sean Mooney/Todd Pettengill/Todd Grisham (Vince loves the dark haired
baby faced man as the interviewer). Cole wants
to know if the WCW wrestlers will
keep their jobs? Vince asks what Cole thinks of his job security and then tells
him to get the hell out of here.
Tony and Scott wonder if this is really it. Schiavone, come on, you know.
Match #4: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire defend the WCW Tag Team Titles against
Team Canada ("Canadian Killer" Mike Awesome & Lance Storm).
Palumbo and O’Haire look pretty green here. Actually, as soon as they dropped
the belts when they got to the WWF, O’Haire was sent to OVW
until the spring of
2003. Sean O’Haire shows that all he can do is rip off Jeff Hardy, nailing
Awesome with the Seanton bomb for the win.
Commercial.
We see a clip from last week where Bam Bam Bigelow challenged Shawn Stasiak.
Stacy Keibler makes her way out. She looks so innocent here, only 21 years
old. Keibler asks the fans if they want her to take it all off? She says
too
bad, and then introduces Shawn Stasiak who gets on the mic but is interrupted by
Bam Bam Bigelow’s music.
Match #5: Shawn Stasiak vs. "the Beast from the East" Bam Bam Bigelow.
Bigelow came to the ring with a tattoo kit. If Stasiak loses, Bigelow gets to
tattoo him. Bam Bam destroyed Stasiak early and hit the flying head butt
but Keibler distracted the ref. Bigelow tries greetings from Asbury Park but Stacy
grabs Shawn’s feet. Stasiak then nails the hangman’s noose for
the win. This was
the worst match of the night and Bigelow’s final televised wrestling match.
We go backstage to the WWF where Vince is with William Regal. Regal spent
many years in WCW and calls it a "bloody awful place".
Regal says Vince
shouldn’t want to own it. Vince says "thank you, but I’m on the case".
Commercial.
Diamond Dallas Page is shown in a pre-tape somewhere on a beach. He thanks
the WCW fans for letting Page Falkenberg become
Diamond Dallas Page. He says his
dream aint over yet. He says its time to take it to another level, pretty much
confirming he is heading up north.
We see a nice video package that features loads of former NWA and WCW
Champions over the years. Flair, Sting, the Funk’s, Brisco,
Kiniski, Race,
Vader, Hogan, everyone.
Commercial…. Cruiserweight Tag Title match is next.
Back to Vince, he is on the phone again and says "its just about that time"
Match #6: "Prime Time" Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo defend the WCW Cruiserweight
Tag Team Titles
against Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr.
Another fast paced match, I actually miss the WCW Cruiserweight division.
Tony Schiavone makes a comment about William Regal’s remarks
about WCW. "Steve
Regal, we HAD to put your ass over on TV". Haha, that Tony, I miss him. These
Cruiserweight tag straps were brand
new at the time. Romeo and Skipper were the
first champions, Rey and Kidman would be the last champions as the WWF never
brought the
titles in after the purchase. Kidman pins Skipper after escaping the
play of the day and nailing the kid crusher and we have our last ever
WCW
Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. Quite possibly the shortest title history of
all time.
Backstage, Sting is standing in a room with a bunch of swinging baseball bats
hanging from the ceiling. Sting had been off TV for 4 months at this point.
He
says that classic line "its show time folks".
Commercial.
Vince McMahon is seen walking in the hallway in the Gund Arena in Cleveland.
Ric Flair makes his way out as we cut to the final commercial break.
Match #7: "Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs. Sting.
Its so weird to see Flair wearing a shirt in a match. He is defiantly not
taking this night seriously. Mean while, Tony puts him over like crazy,
basically
calling Flair Mr. WCW. Hudson calls Sting the most loyal wrestler in
the locker room. Even Ric Flair jumped to the WWF but Sting has been with
WCW
ever since Bill Watts sold the UWF to Jim Crockett, some 14 years earlier. This
is still true to this day as Sting is arguably the biggest
star of this
generation to never work for Vince McMahon. Flair and Sting are just having fun.
Both realize this could be their final match together
(and it was). Flair hits
his trademark chops and knee drops, followed by the strut. Flair goes up to the
top rope, we know what happens next
(that only works in your final match Ric).
Ric has now slapped on the figure four. Sting somehow counters out of it, hit’s
a superplex and then the
scorpion death lock for the win. Both men hug after the
match as Schiavone says "this is what we are all about".
That is the last of WCW we will ever see. We cut to Raw, commentated by Paul
Heyman and Jim Ross. Heyman may be looking for a raise
(or Bruce Prichard just
whispered in his headset) as he refers to Vince as the winner of the Monday
Night War and the star of Sports Entertainment.
Vince says this interview is
also being seen on TNN, Turner Network Television (I remember laughing my ass of
at that one. The WWF was on
TNN, WCW was on TNT. Vince is just to damn excited.
All future clips of this interview edit that part so Vince just says Turner
Network Television).
Vince says he is the only one who can make history like
this happen, by purchasing WCW. Vince reveals that he has only verbally agreed
to buy
WCW. He will finalize the deal this Sunday at Wrestle Mania 17 when Ted
Turner comes to the ring with the contract. Vince says when you think
about it,
its amazing how the WWF came back and won this war. He says he did it all on his
own with his effort and his money. He beat a billionaire
by becoming one
himself. Vince says that at Wrestle Mania, he wants Ted Turner to sit ringside
and watch his match with his son Shane. In life,
"you have to grab your
competition by the throat and squeeze the life out of your competition". Just
like Vince did to WCW. Vince asks the fans of
Cleveland what he should do with
WCW. Should he just sit it on the shelf? Should he watch the video tapes of when
WCW said they would bury
the WWF? He says he would get a great deal of pleasure
watching Hulk Hogan do his "ridiculous" poses (even though Vince himself
invented that).
McMahon says that maybe he could take WCW and make it
successful. He then asks the fans what they think of several WCW wrestlers….
Hulk Hogan: no reaction at all (that sure changed the following year). Lex
Luger: Nobody wants him. Buff Bagwell: People seem to want him, same
with Booker
T. Scott Steiner: biggest pop thus far. Crowd starts chanting Goldberg. Vince
asks if they want Sting: he gets a small reaction.
Vince asks about Goldberg and
the crowd pops big for him (Then 2 years later they finally bring him in and the
fans hated him). The Cleveland crowd
appreciates Vince coming to the Gund
instead of Florida. Vince says that everyone in WCW is fired!! He says WCW is
buried and will remain buried
just like anyone in the world who gets in his way.
Suddenly, Shane McMahon’s music hits. The thing is, Shane isn’t in Cleveland. He
is in Panama Beach!
At the time, this was just an incredible moment if you grew
up watching the WWF vs. WCW war. Shane reveals to Vince that the deal is
finalized
with WCW, only thing is, the contract says Shane McMahon! Shane says
WCW kicked Vince’s ass in the past and it will again. Vince looks
completely
mind fucked.
The last thing ever shown on a WCW broadcast is a plug for Wrestle Mania 17.…. How fitting.
Final thoughts: First off, if you were a young kid back then who didn’t
really know or follow the business, you will never understand how amazing this
night was for a wrestling fan. I was watching the clock all day. It was so taboo
for the WWF to even mention WCW and now Vince is on freakin Nitro!
That’s not
unlike WWE and TNA today but back then, the business was so popular. You
actually cared about the matches, the wrestlers and the
storylines. Everyone
online found out on Saturday the 24 that the deal went down. When you went to
both companies website, it had a picture of the
WWF logo, underneath it was the
word "purchases" and then underneath it was the WCW logo. I come to school on
Monday (I was a Sophomore)
and it was the talk of my entire school. I had been
writing for some websites and my own newsletter for about 3 years at that time
and everyone was
coming to me asking about it, even teachers! The simulcast
segment with Vince and Shane was supposedly an idea by Triple H. It will always
go down
as one of my all time favorite moments in wrestling.
I hope you enjoyed reading the ninth edition of "Keeping The Memories Alive".
In the next edition, I will be reviewing the twentieth edition of
Wrestle Mania.
Now I ask, what would you like to see reviewed? My complete collection can be
found at www.freewebs.com/jbryan1984/.
Email me your feedback and requests at
jbryan21408@yahoo.com.
Jim Bryan