Chapter One: The Preamble

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WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Scott Steiner (Since 11/26/2000)
WCW United States Champion: Booker T (Since 3/18/2001)
WCW World Television Champion: Vacant (Since 4/10/2000)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Shane Helms (Since 3/18/2001)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire (Since 1/14/2001)
WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions: Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper (Since 3/18/2001)



WCW PRESENTS: MONDAY NIGHT NITRO - SPRING BREAK
Monday, March 26th, 2001
Panama City Beach, FL

Before the show starts, the camera is behind the resort and we see a limosuine pull up. We hear Tony Schiavone's voice wondering aloud who that could be, and surprisingly, out steps Eric Bischoff! Bischoff looks much older and weathered since the last time we saw him on WCW programming. Schiavone reminds us that last week on Nitro, Bischoff called in and announced that this week would indeed be the last episode of Nitro, and the final airing of WCW programming on Turner Networks, but why is he here tonight?!

Wide shot of the entire venue looking as rowdy as always. Fireworks, drunk college students, and an awesome set. No pool around the ring though because BUDGET.

Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson & Mike Tenay welcome us to the broadcast. Tony says that all week hes heard the news, and he can't believe it, tonight is the final Nitro, and the final piece of WCW programming on the Turner Networks after over 20 years of broadcasting. Nobody knows what the future holds beyond tonight, but as always, tonight is jam packed and get ready for two hours of one of the hottest (yeah, right) programs on television today, THIS IS MONDAY NIGHT NITRO!

TONIGHT: THE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS! ALL TITLES ON THE LINE! BOOKER T AND SCOTT STEINER CLASH WITH BOTH THE US AND WORLD TITLES ON THE LINE IN A BELT FOR BELT MATCH!

Ric Flair's music hits, and the on-screen President of WCW Ric Flair makes his way out to the ring in a suit, already sweating profusely. He grabs a microphone and looks around a bit, but doesn't waste too much time. "DID I...DID I...DID I...hear Eric Bischoff right last week?!" Flair goes on about Bischoff's announcement last week, and breaks the fourth wall, basically revealing everything about him being the President of WCW is a storyline. He doesn't like that after all this time, after all the blood, sweat and tears that people like Ricky Steamboat, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Sting, The Andersons, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, the Midnight Express, Luger, even Hogan, Roddy Piper, Savage, and Ric Flair and everybody else has put into this place -- HOW ALL OF THE BOYS IN THE BACK WERE LEFT PICKING UP THE PIECES AFTER RUSSO, AFTER BISCHOFF SCREWED THEM, YA SCREWED US, YOU SCREWED US, and NOW -- YOU'RE THE ONE THAT GETS TO PULL THE PLUG, I DON'T THINK SO! Ric Flair says that he'll be damned, it'll be over his dead body, if Eric Bischoff or any suit gets to tell Ric Flair how he goes out. And if this is the last time you ever see Ric Flair, then as god as his witness, he's going out as THE MAN, LIMOSUINE RIDIN, JET FLYIN, WHEELIN DEALIN, KISS STEALIN, SON OF A GUN, AND I MADE ALL THE GIRLS CRY. I'VE SPENT MORE MONEY ON SPILT LIQOUR ACROSS THIS COUNTRY THAN ANY OFFER THAT'S BEEN MADE ON WCW, AND YOU KNOW WHY, BECAUSE HE IS RIC FLAIR, HE IS THE NATURE BOY -- AND TONIGHT, IF WCW DIES, IF NITRO IS GONE, IF YOU'RE TELLING RIC FLAIR THAT IT'S DONE AND OVER, THEN HE'S ENDING THIS THING AT THE TOP RIGHT WHERE HE STARTED THIS THING, AND TONIGHT -- IT'S RIC FLAIR VERSUS STING IN THE MAIN EVENT! WOOOOOOOOOOO!

After a break, we see a graphic for the first of our title matches tonight, the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles.

The reluctant champs, Kid Romeo & Elix Skipper, have Skipper's Team Canada teammate Jim Duggan in their corner. Shannon Moore & Evan Karagias come out with Cruiserweight Champ Shane Helms in their corner, but Helms is carrying himself differently and dressing apart from his teammates after winning the Cruiser Title. The Jung Dragons come out, all in their masks, and we're not sure which 2 out of the 3 are going to be participating. Finally, Rey & Kidman come out with Konnan in their corner.

Match #1: Elix Skipper/Kid Romeo [c] vs. Filthy Animals vs. 3 Count vs. Jung Dragons
This was a clusterfuck in the best of ways, obviously. Alot of high flying and flippity shit, and the drunk early 20's college students are freaking out, man. Romeo & Skipper have disension the entire time because...I think that was the storyline? Filthy Animals are cohesive throughout. Helms keeps turning his back on the 3 Count guys because he's "a tier above" them now, robviously. Jung Dragons keep pulling the magic trick of switching all 3 members in and out. Konnan finally takes note of this and goes after the Dragons, but Jim Duggan attacks Konnan. Duggan bumps into Helms and challenges him, but Helms backs off and walks out on his 3 Count teammates! Konnan grabs Duggan's 2x4 and takes out Duggan, and then chases Jaime-San to the back. Romeo ends up missing a superkick on Rey and hits Skipper, and Kidman hits Romeo with the Kid Krusher. Rey comes down onto the Jung Dragon & 3 Count remnants with a West Coast Pop to the floor, and Kidman hits the Shooting Star Press on Romeo as Skipper leaves his teammate behind! New champs!
Winners: ...and NEW WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions, Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman (7:32)

Post-match, Konnan comes back out and celebrates with Rey & Kidman. Konnan tries to talk to them, but Tygress & Torrie Wilson come out to celebrate with their men and Konnan is kind of brushed aside as Rey & Kidman get ready to party with the girls.

Diamond Dallas Page cuts a pre-tape from the Jersey Shore. He's sorry he couldn't be there tonight, but he's a man of his word, and after losing to Steiner at Greed, he's not only nursing an injury, but he's not a contracted WCW superstar anymore. He thanks everyone for all the memories, talks about the Diamond Cutter and the Savage feud, mentions Kimberly's name because he's a mark, and wishes everyone well, hoping that there's still a WCW left when he heals back up and is ready to return.

Tony, Hudson & Tenay break the fourth wall a bit themselves and guess on what the future of WCW could be. They mention that the front runner for an offer is and always has been the WWF, and if that's the case, none of them feel comfortable with the future. Tony mentions how ECW recently went of business as well, and starts to wonder if the two companies could merge or something, but just shuts himself up. Suddenly, Jeff Jarrett storms out and yells at the announcers. He says this is BS, he's been the World Champion, he's been the franchise of this place, the CHOSEN ONE of WCW for nearly two years, and he's not even booked on the damn show, slap nuts? Tony throws his arms up and asks what the hell he wants him to do about it, and Jarrett warns Tony not to piss him off. Jarrett says maybe he'll go track down his daddy in Nashville, and THEY'LL buy WCW. Jarrett runs his mouth a bit more before security comes out and forces him to the back.

Match #2: Shane Helms [c] vs. Chavo Guerrero, Jr [WCW Cruiserweight Championship
This is a rematch from Greed just 8 days ago. Shane is ultra cocky and partying it up with the fans, and Chavo is still the angry, bitter, 3rd generation heel. Chavo works Helms over most of the match, and we see the other 3 Count members watching from a distance, but they don't come out and help when Helms calls for them, and eventually they walk out. Helms gets some nice moves in, but Chavo controls this match by keeping it on the mat after a while and wearing Helms out. Helms stages a comeback until Chavo catches him low and goes for the Gory Special -- BUT HELMS FLIPS TO THE SIDE TO REVERSE IT, AND PLANTS CHAVO WITH THE VERTEBREAKER TO WIN!
Winner: ...and STILL WCW Cruiserweight Champion, Shane Helms (8:02)

Post-match, Helms celebrates to the back, grabbing onto the belt and raising it, saying this is all about him now.

Backstage, Eric Bischoff is seen walking towards somewhere. He greets some of the backstage WCW employees including Doug Dillinger. Tony & co. continue to wonder why Bischoff is here and what he has to say.

We see a Goldberg video package, highlighting his time in WCW, starting with the first Hugh Morrus match, the Streak, and all of the stuff that came after. In a voice over, Goldberg promises this isn't the end, and one way or the other, sooner rather than later, you're all going to find out WHO'S NEXT?!

The Natural Born Thrillers all make their way out, and Stacy Keibler is with them. Tony randomly throws out there that she's had her eyes on the tag champs Palumbo & O'Haire rather than her beau Shawn Stasiak, who's had quite the losing streak. During their entrance, we see a VERY familiar David Koresh-looking man standing by the entry way, watching the Thrillers come out.

Mike Sanders grabs the mic and cuts a really bad promo and people think it's good because they have such low standards, when Mike Sanders was literally the worst. You should feel ashamed if you ever supported this guy. Anyway, blah blah blah, Stacy's got her eyes on the Tag Champs, the Tag Champs make an open challenge. Much to their surprise -- instead of the men they were supposed to face at Greed (Totally Buff) or any of the other well established tag teams in WCW -- relative newcomers Air Raid (Air Styles & Air Paris) make their way out?! Palumbo & O'Haire admire their moxy, saying they were in their spot just one year ago, and look at them now. Sanders starts to talk down to them, but Palumbo & O'Haire order all of the NBT out of the ring and to the back -- except Stacy! Say goodbye, because they're all gone.

Match #3: Natural Born Thrillers [c] w/ Stacy Keibler vs. Air Raid [WCW World Tag Team Championships]
As much as they said they admire Air Raid's moxie, they don't take them seriously whatsoever, and immediately attack them at the bell. This ends up being a borderline squash for the first couple of minutes until AJ SURPRISES PALUMBO WITH A PELE KICK AND A COVER, ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! The crowd is AWAKE now. Palumbo & O'Haire continue their assault, and the camera keeps cutting back to the David Koresh guy watching from the entryway with his hands folded in front of him. Palumbo & O'Haire throw everything they've got at Air Raid, and Air Raid keeps countering and or kicking out of any and all pin attempts, and the crowd is REALLY getting behind these underdogs. Palumbo drags AJ out to the floor during a failed pin attempt and beats him down, but AIR PARIS HITS THE SENTON BOMB ONTO PALUMBO STANDING ON THE FLOOR! AJ struggles to get back into the ring and is laid out, BUT O'HAIRE DIVES DOWN WITH THE SWANTON BOMB -- AJ MOVES! O'Haire sees this in time and rolls out of it, and as he pops up AJ charges at him, and O'HAIRE TAKES HIS HEAD OFF WITH A SUPERKICK! ONE! TWO! THREE! Champs retain!
Winners: ...and STILL WCW World Tag Team Champions, The Natural Born Thrillers (6:58)

Post-match, Palumbo & O'Haire are winded and can't believe the fight that Air Raid just put up in an already condensed amount of time. They nod at them both, but that's the extent of the respect, and they go back to raising the belts and celebrating. The crowd applauds Air Raid as they stumble to the back. Stacy Keibler gets in and hugs both of them, making their eyes pop because obviously. The camera cuts back to the David Koresh looking man watching from a distance again, and Tony admits that it is Cyrus the Virus, and last time he heard about him, he was a front office stooge. He's probably here as a scout for another company.

A special video package airs, featuring a hypercut of many different WCW stars, past and present:
- Arn Anderson says that regardless of what happens tonight, and as sad as it could be, this is only the beginning for alot of young, hungry talent who need to keep their head above all of this mess and concentrate on the future, whatever it may be. He also notes that it may be 2001, but the Four Horsemen will live on forever.
- Dusty Rhodes, with Dustin Rhodes, talks about all of the good times dating back to the 80's and all the times he and Dustin have gotten to share together as father and soon throughout the years at WCW. Dusty says that the Bull of the Woods may be leaving the forest, if you will, but that doesn't mean the American Dream doesn't live on in each and everyone of you.
- Kevin Nash, seemingly kind of care free, says yeah it sucks, but what are ya gonna do? He feels bad for the talent, for the fans, and for the industry because by this time next week, there's probably only going to be one game in town, and that's not best for business. But thanks for the memories anyway.
- Bret Hart says he wishes there was more he could've done, but injury cut his time in WCW and his career short. He says he always wanted to get more out of WCW, but guesses he just got here at the wrong time. He wishes everyone nothing but the best.
- Roddy Piper says he hates to admit it, but what he THINKS happens next is probably a long time coming. He knows there's three types of guys in WCW right now: guys like him who have been around forever, guys that are in the prime of their career, and guys who are just starting out. Unfortunately, if there's only one company after tonight, there's not going to be places for guys like him or guys just getting started. But to the guys in their prime like the Steiners and Booker and Sting and all those guys, keep your head above water and make the best of any opportunity presented to ya, man.

Backstage, we see Eric Bischoff again backstage, this time talking to some talent, including Lex Luger, Rick Steiner and Road Warrior Animal. The camera hears him saying that "they'll be hearing what's up the same time the rest of the world does later tonight in that ring". BISCHOFF HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT. IS THIS THE END?!

Another special video package airs, this time highlighting the greatest World Champions in this history of World Championship Wrestling. Harley Race, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Lex Luger, Sting, Vader, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Goldberg, DDP, Kevin Nash, Booker T, Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner all get spots in the package.

Match #4: Scott Steiner [c] w/ Midajah vs. Booker T [c] - WCW World & WCW US Championships - Title for Title
A lot of emotion in this match. This is a long standing feud, and Tony does us a favor, reminding us it goes back even to the Steiners/Harlem Heat days, and it all ends here tonight possibly. Steiner dominates early on, but Booker comes back like a house on fire with a few nearfalls until Midajah reaches in and whips Booker in the lower back with Steiner's chain headdress. Steiner takes it to the mat, working over Booker's now hurt back, stretching him and planting him with a series of tosses and suplexes, staying on the injury like a shark in bloody water. Steiner goes for the Tiger Driver, but Booker drops out of it and hits a flash crescent kick to take Steiner down, and both men are on the mat. Rick Steiner starts to make his way out to help his brother, BUT STEVIE RAY HOPS THE RAILING AND ATTACKS RICK IN THE AISLEWAY, YEAH! Rick and Stevie Ray brawl around the entryway while security comes out to stop it. Booker gets up and sees this and is briefly distracted, allowing Steiner to get a knee on the back! He gets him with a side belly to back and then LOCKS IN THE STEINER RECLINER! BOOKER REFUSES TO TAP, BUT HE'S GOT NOWHERE TO GO! STEINERS GOT THIS HOLD ON FOR WHAT SEEMS LIKE FOREVER AND EVER, BAH GAWD. Booker uses every ounce of strength he's got to slowly but surely move forward and grab the ropes, AND EVENTUALLY HE JUST BARELY GETS HIS HAND TO BREAK FREE AND GRAB THE ROPES! Steiner is forced off and stomps Booker in the lower back, and the ref forces Steiner back and yells at him. Booker tries pulling himself up on the ropes, and Steiner brushes past the referee to charge Booker -- BUT BOOKER GETS HIM WITH A FLASH SIDE KICK! He stumbles to his knee but gets up quick, bounces back off the ropes, AND BOOKER HITS THE SCISSORS KICK! BOTH MEN ARE DOWN! BOOKER IS CRAWLING AS MUCH AS HE CAN WITH HIS BACK IN SHAMBLES, AND STEINER IS OUT! BOOKER IS TAKING FOOOREEEVVEEER, AND HE FINALLY GETS HIS ARM OVER STEINER, THE TITLE IS HIS -- ONE! TWO! -- *DING DING DING* What?!

"Ladies and gentlemen, this match's time limit HAS EXPIRED, and a result as of time expiring, the match is considered a DRAW!"
Winner: No Contest (15:00)

Post-match, Booker T is in a lot of pain and distraught, and Steiner is slowly getting up in the corner. Midajah grabs the World Title and tosses it in to Scott, who's still seated in the corner. Tony can't believe this, there's no decisive winner in what will go down possibly as the last WCW Title match EVER. The referee is checking on a hurt Booker T, and Scott Steiner slowly starts to get up. He has the WCW World Title folded and charges at Booker T, but Booker is able to duck! Steiner goes to turn and nail him again, but Booker gets his leg up to kick -- and Steiner drops down and rolls out of the ring, hightailing it to the back with Midajah and the belt. Booker drops down to his knees in a mixture of horrible pain and a distraught feeling. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!

Backstage, Eric Bischoff is still walking around. He passes a stage hand and asks which way to the ring, since it's been a while, and the stage hand points him in the direction. IS BISCHOFF COMING OUT HERE?!

Before the last commercial break, the camera cuts to a room filled with baseball bats hanging. And I'll just let one of the best moments ever (to me, at least) speak for itself:



After the final commercial break, we see that during the break, Bischoff made his way out to ringside and has a seat in the front row. Tony says during the break he went up to Eric and asked him what's going on, and all Eric would tell him is that he wanted a front row seat for Sting/Flair, one last time, on the very last Nitro, on the very last Turner Network show. Tony says he respects that but it didn't answer anyone's question, and with only 20 minutes left in this final broadcast, he hopes they get some answers.

Match #5: Ric Flair vs. Sting [For The Last Time Ever]
Just watch. It's not the greatest match, but damnit, just watch and love it for what it was:

Winner: Sting (11:41)

Post-match, Sting immediately helps Flair up and they embrace. They raise each other's arms, shake hands and embrace again. Hudson reminds us how this all started at the Clash of the Champions in 1988, it continued on for years and they main evented the first ever Monday Nitro in Minneapolis in 1995, and now possibly, it all ends here tonight, and what a moment this is.

The camera turns to the audience, and Eric Bischoff makes his way out from behind the barricade, applauding. Bischoff gets into the ring and shakes Sting's hand. He goes to shake Flair's hand, but Flair just stares at him and Bischoff accepts that. Bischoff continues to applaud both men, and Flair eventually just ups and leaves. Sting looks at Bischoff for a little bit, and says something to him and Bischoff shakes his head "no", and Sting continues to stare at him before leaving the ring as well.

Bischoff gets on the mic and asks both men to stick around, because he's got something to stay. Sting turns at the entry way but Flair keeps walking, even after Sting asks him to stay. Bischoff says, in fact, he'd like everyone to make their way out. It takes a minute or two, but almost the entire roster and backstage staff make their way out and fill the entry way and aisle.

Bischoff says that alot of time has passed since the last time you saw him on TV, not including his phone call last week. He wants to start off by saying that he's gotten alot of messages and calls over the last 7 days, and let him just set the record straight right here and now: that wasn't part of some storyline, this is no angle on television. This is the end of an era. This isn't just the last Monday Night Nitro, but this ist the last WCW broadcast on the Turner Networks. But back to his time off, he says he had alot of time to think since what happened at Bash at the Beach in July, and all that time to think helped him to realize that while we can sit here and point fingers at Vince Russo or Kevin Sullivan or AOL Time Warner or a number of other people, the fact of the matter is the man who's most responsible for the down fall of this great company is the same man who helped make it what it was for a little while, the same man who made WCW the #1 wrestling company in the world for 18 months -- and that's Eric Bischoff. Eric Bischoff's ego got in the way of making smart business decisions, and that was the first domino to fall in a long line of dominoes, leading to him standing out here before everyone tonight in Panama City Beach, Florida. He's going to be honest, and at this point while he wants everyone to believe him, he doesn't expect them to nor does he really care. But he never wanted any of this. He came into this company as a lowly, C-show announcer, and he took a large swing when he was interviewed to be executive producer, and he never thought it would come down to this. He doesn't want the history books to be re-written by an undeserving victor, because at the end of the day, the WWF didn't win a war, Eric Bischoff lost it. He says he became so incensed with hurting Vince McMahon and his company that he stopped focusing on making his company the better product. And it's why the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, The Giant, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and others aren't here anymore.

But then he gets a call in January that AOL Time Warner no longer wants wrestling on their dockett, let alone the channels they now own. And he's being told that Vince McMahon is getting ready to make a low ball offer to AOL Time Warner simply to buy the rings and the tape library, and then more than likely shelf WCW. He's not looking to higher any more wrestlers or crew members or staff, he's not looking to expand his company like some would have you believe. He's looking to have total and utter domination of this industry -- and this time, ERIC BISCHOFF ISN'T GOING TO BE THE MAN THAT LETS THAT HAPPEN.

BECAUSE ON SUNDAY, MAY 6TH, THE UNIVERSE IS BORN AGAIN. ON SUNDAY MAY THE 6TH, 2001 -- A BIG BANG WILL HAPPEN, AND FROM THAT BIG BANG WILL RAISE A BEHEMOTH THAT WILL LIVE BRAND NEW. Tonight IS the end of Nitro, tonight IS the end of the Turner Era, tonight IS the end of alot of things --

"BUT IT'S NOT THE END OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING!"

WCW LIVES!

Fireworks go off and the crowd erupts, as do a good portion of the wrestlers and staff. Eric applauds all of the wrestlers and staff for everything they've done and continue to do. Tony says he's been handed a note to stay tuned for a MASSIVE press conference next Monday from the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino at 9am PST for what comes next in the histor of WCW, and you can watch that LIVE on WCWrestling.com! BUT FOR NOW, FOLKS IT'S ABOUT THAT TIME, THE TAPE MACHINES HAVE FINALLY STOPPED ROLLING, WE'RE OUT OF TIME -- WE'LL SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY?!

God, how I've missed you.

Big Evil returns! Lets do this!

--Dave Meltzer of the Wresting Observer is reporting that a lengthy "town hall" style meeting took place at what is now the former WCW HQ inside of the Turner building in downtown Atlanta, Georgia this past Tuesday, the day after Eric Bischoff's shocking announcement on what is believed to be the final Monday Night Nitro.

Some of the notes coming out of that meeting are as follows:

• Meltzer notes that Bischoff started the meeting off quite frankly, announcing that some talent and staff may end up being released, but that it wasn't anything more than cost cutting measures at this point, and none of the releases would be permanent good-byes. He urged anyone that was faced with a release today to absolutely seek other opportunities, and if and when the time comes that WCW's budget is even close to what it used to be or what it needs to be, then those people can and will be brought back if they are not tied up elsewhere, and if they choose to be. He reiterated that it was nothing personal and certainly wasn't meant to degrade anyone's talent or performance, it was strictly a business decision. As of press time, Meltzer was not sure how many people got their release but can confirm some did happen, both in the front office and the locker room.
  
• Bischoff explained that the new home for WCW programming would be held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino's brand new 2,000+ yet-to-be-named arena that they finished construction on late last fall. Bischoff said all weekly TV would be taped from there, two episodes at a time. One would be live, the next would be live to tape. This would continue until WCW was able to see a steady stream of revenue that could support a weekly, live television show. He said more would be explained about this and PPV's at the upcoming press conference.
  
• Apparently, alot of the released staff and office members were told of their release when they returned to their desks and offices and saw boxes. While an unfortunate way of doing it, they all seemingly expected it. WCW expects to be bare bones staff the next few months. Two office members we can tell you that did make the cut are Arn Anderson and Dusty Rhodes.
• Ric Flair apparently got up during the meeting and walked out, refusing to work in a WCW that's completely run under an Eric Bischoff regime, which one would believe given their past differences when Bischoff was simply the Exectuve Producer. Dave expects this to eventually settle itself unless the WWF gets involved.

=========================================

MAIN EVENT:
Booker T
Diamond Dallas Page (Injured)
Goldberg
Kevin Nash
Scott Steiner
Sting

UPPER MIDCARD:
Billy Kidman
Dustin Rhodes
Jeff Jarrett
Lance Storm
Mike Awesome
Rey Mysterio, Jr.

MIDCARD:
Alex Wright
Bam Bam Bigelow
Brian Adams
Bryan Clarke
Buff Bagwell
Chuck Palumbo
Disco Inferno
Ernest "The Cat" Miller
Hugh Morrus
Kanyon
Konnan
Lex Luger
Road Warrior Animal
Sean O'Haire
Shane Douglas
The Wall

LOWER MIDCARD:
Big Vito

Crowbar

Don Harris
Ice Train
Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli
Lash LeRoux
Norman Smiley
Ron Harris

CRUISERWEIGHTS:
AJ Styles
Air Paris
Chavo Guerrero, Jr.
Elix Skipper
Evan Karagias
Jamie Noble
Jimmy Yang
Kaz Hayashi
Kid Kash
Shane Helms
Shannon Moore

TAG TEAMS:

2 Count (Karagias & Moore)
Air Raid (AJ Styles & Air Paris)
Dancin' Fools (Disco/Alex Wright)
Filthy Animals (Rey & Kidman)
Harris Twins (Ron & Don Harris)
KroniK (Clarke & Adams)
Natural Born Thrillers (Palumbo & O'Haire)
Totally Buff (Buff & Lex)

STABLES:
Filthy Animals (Rey, Kidman, Konnan, Torrie, Tygress)
Team Canada (Storm, Awesome, Skipper)
Yung Dragons (Hayashi, Noble, Yang)

WOMEN/MANAGERS:
Daffney (Crowbar)
Midajah (Scott Steiner)
Stacy Keibler (NBT)
Torrie Wilson (Filthy Animals)

Tygress (Filthy Animals)

NON-WRESTLERS:
Arn Anderson

Dusty Rhodes
Eric Bischoff
Stevie Ray

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING: BIG BANG - PRESS CONFERENCE
MONDAY, 9:00AM PST, APRIL 2ND, 2001
LAS VEGAS HARD ROCK HOTEL & CASINO
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Eric Bischoff is at the podium, and joining him up at the dais is WCW Champion Scott Steiner, Booker T, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, Dusty Rhodes, his partners with Fusient Media Ventures and other nameless figures.

Bischoff starts off by welcoming the media and fans to this historic day, to WCW's "Big Bang". He tells some corny joke about the Big Bang theory at the start of the universe, and how this is the start of WCW's brand new universe. He confirms any and all rumors by saying that indeed, his group that he's partnered with, Fusient Media Ventures, has purchased World Championship Wrestling from Turner Networks at an undisclosed price as of March 16th, 2001, which was the Friday before the last WCW PPV in the Turner Era, aptly entitled "Greed". He says that there were other offers, and this was a deal that was originally on the table back in January, and if you remember, they had a press conference about it then, too. But that was obviously a bit too premature. He confirms that the WWF did make an offer, but they only wanted the rings and the tape library, so Turner found their offer to be a little less appealing than what Fusient was able to offer. Bischoff says there's a certain feeling that comes along with beating a multi-million dollar conglomerate like WWFE, but that's not what today's about. He opens the floor to questions.

Bischoff says that all titles except the World Heavyweight Championship will be relinquished. Bischoff said he and his team looked over the roster hard and while everyone currently holding a belt is deserving, they felt that to take the Big Gold Belt off of an established champion like Steiner who has held it for 7 months at this point would be a bit ludicrous. He says that the Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles would be retired, as the roster's new size did not necessitate the need for them, but the people who have to vacate the US, Cruiser & Tag Titles will be the first in line for their respective shots at them, but they want to open it up to competition. This seemed to be news to Booker T on the dais, the reigning US Champion.

Bischoff says that weekly television will indeed be taped here at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas at their brand new 2000+ seat arena. They will accomodate superstars schedules, they will be doing two shows at a time. One show will air live on Wednesday's, the next day they will tape a show for the following Wednesday, and then the superstars will have the following week off. They do not want to over work anyone at this time, and there also will be no live events for the forseeable future, but that idea is not scrapped and will be revisited after the 4th Quarter financial statements come out early next Spring.

Bischoff says that they've struck a deal with the FOX Network regarding television rights. FOX has bought into WCW as a minority stock holder, and WCW will now have it's new weekly television show on WEDNESDAY nights on the FX Networks, airing for two hours starting at 8pm EST. They will also have a working relationship with the Fox Sports Network for certain special programming, including pre-shows for their Pay-Per-View events. They are still currently negotiating to have a once-a-quarter mega-special on the FOX Network itself, similar to when WWF did Saturday Nights' Main Event, or more apropo, when WCW did Clash of the Champions on TBS. The weekly TV deal begins on Wednesday, June 9th, 2001 with their brand new show entitled "WCW: FUSION".

Bischoff says the idea was to move away from Monday Nights. He's man enough to admit that WCW lost the Monday Night War long before the final Nitro, and WWF has a strange hold on Monday Night television programming outside of Monday Night Football, which is only on 1/4th of the year. They're super hot right now, so it'd be foolish to think we can start this thing back up and go right back head to head against their established, steady programming -- this isn't 1995 anymore.

Bischoff is asked a question about the rumored issue with Ric Flair about a week ago on the last day at the Turner HQ, but Bischoff declined to comment at this time.

Bischoff says that there is a Pay-Per-View deal in place with InDemand and Viewer's Choice. They would have 5 PPV's on the schedule from this year, and Bischoff kind of wants to keep it between the 6-8 range in future years. This year, you would see WCW's re-birth at "Big Bang" on Sunday, May 6th, right here in Las Vegas, Nevada. You would also see the return of the Great American Bash on Wednesday, July 4th, also right here in Las Vegas. Then, you would get Fall Brawl/War Games returning to the Carolinas on Sunday, 9/9/01. Halloween Havoc would stay at it's home for the past few years, Las Vegas, NV. And lastly, Starrcade would stick around as the "grand daddy of 'em all" in December, being featured from WCWs former home base, Atlanta, GA on Sunday, 12/30/2001.

Bischoff says the between now and Sunday, May 6th, WCW would be utilizing and building their online presence in the ever expanding world wide web. They'd be consistently and constantly updating their website, WCWrestling.com, including articles and videos from various superstars and legends, interactive menus and games, and the cornerstone would be a weekly webcast in the build-up to WCW: THE BIG BANG on 5/6/01.

Bischoff thanked everyone for their time today, posed for a bunch of pictures with the different people on the dais, and then took separate brief interviews from various schedule press members in the crowd.

WCWrestling.com Saturday Live Web Show
Saturday, April 7th, 2001

Scott Hudson, Jeremy Borash, Mike Tenay & Curt Hennig are live inside of the brand new WCWrestling.com studios, almost like an NFL Pre-Game set-up. Hudson welcomes us to the new weekly streamcast on the brand new WCWrestling.com.

Hudson starts by reintroducing everyone, including the big introduction for Curt Hennig who's wearing a "Rap is Crap" shirt under his blazer.

Hudson & Co. recap the events of the press conference at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and asks each man their thoughts on WCW's new future.

Borash says it's an exciting time for all of the young superstars in WCW out to prove themselves, and for even the older, established superstars who might be feeling like they have to fight for their spots.

Tenay agrees. He says this isn't the mid 90's anymore, and nobody's guaranteed anything. The wrestling bubble has essentially burst, and now it's about picking up the pieces and getting back to business, and it's exactly what WCW seems to be doing.

Hennig admits he doesn't like the stripping of the titles or how alot of people lost jobs, but those are both personal preferences from somebody who's gotten changed in that locker room for the past 20+ years. But he's excited to see what the future holds, that's for certain.

Hudson says Eric Bischoff gave the green light to this show because the TV deal with Fox does not begin until the Wednesday after the "WCW: BIG BANG" Pay-Per-View event that takes place on 5/6/01. He wants them to hype it up, and how's this for hyping up? RIGHT NOW, THEY'RE ANNOUNCING THE WORLD TITLE MATCH!

Or should he say...matches? This draws the intrigue of the panel.

Scott Hudson says that Scott Steiner was the only champion that got to keep his title, but that's not going to be made easy for him. Because at the Big Bang, four of the most recent challengers to Steiner's World Title will take part in a one night tournament, with the winner facing him at the conclusion of the PPV.

FOUR FORMER WORLD CHAMPIONS SQUARE OFF. IN THE FIRST ROUND -- THE FOUR TIME WCW WORLD CHAMPION, THE MAN WHO MANY CLAIM IS THE RIGHTFUL HEIR TO THE THRONE, BOOKER T WILL TAKE ON THE CONSCIENCE, THE CORNERSTONE, THE FRANCHISE, THE ICON -- STING!

IN THE OTHER FIRST ROUND MATCH-UP? IN A REMATCH FROM THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL MATCH IN WCW HISTORY, "DA MAN" BILL GOLDBERG GOES ONE ON ONE...WITH "BIG SEXY" KEVIN NASH!

My god, what an even it will be. Scott repeats that the winner of those two matches will face off, and then immediately face Scott Steiner. It is a champion's advantage, definitely. BUT, if any of these matches finish early, if any of these matches go a different way than Steiner expects, the champion could be in big, big trouble. One of the biggest halves of a wrestling match is the mental preparation, and if Scott Steiner has to try and mentally prepare for not only four of the biggest names in the business, but four of the biggest foes he's ever had, it could be curtains for Big Poppa Pump.

But that's not all -- one man that was considered for this tournament has unfortunately been injured since the Greed Pay-Per-View last month, but he's in good enough shape to at least appear at the Pay-Per-View...and he WILL as the Special Referee. Who you ask? That's right, yet ANOTHER one of Scott Steiner's victims over the past 6 months, the special referee is none other than DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE!

TODAY ON THE SHOW, WE'LL HAVE INTERVIEWS WITH BOTH DDP AND SCOTT STEINER!

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Back from break, we see a pre-tape interview with Tony Schiavone and Diamond Dallas Page at the same bar at the Jersey Shore DDP was at for Spring Break Nitro. Schiavone welcomes him and first and foremost asks about his condition. Page says it was a long time coming, but Steiner did a number on his knee and his back. For the most part, he escaped any major knee damage, he's just rehabbing it. But he had to get a scan on his back and is in therapy for that as well. Theres no timetable yet for his return as he may still need surgery.

Schiavone asks about Steiner's reign as the World Champion. Page says he's not going to sugar coat it, he doesn't like Scott Steiner, not anymore. There was a time he called Scott and Rick two of his closest friends behind the curtains, but Scott's mindset the past year or two has sent him off the deep edge. He's made personal attacks towards Kimberly, he's tried to end his career -- he does not like Scott Steiner. BUT, in this day and age, any guy that holds the World Title for over six months in such a dominant fashion has to be doing something right, and ya gotta respect that, whether I like it or I don't -- and I can't most assuredly tell you, I don't.

Schiavone asks him about his role as the Special Referee at WCW: BIG BANG, noting that DDP will be refereeing all four matches in the World Title tournament, and that includes the Main Event. He asks if his body will hold up, and Page says not to worry about his body. He may not be able to go out there and give the Diamond Cutter just yet, but he's gonna be alright. And he's going to be watching all five of them, because whoever comes out of that night champion has a big target on their back ready to feel the BANG when DDP is 100%. But in the meantime, he's calling those first 3 matches right down the middle, he wants to know the absolute BEST option is going in there against Steiner. And once it goes to Steiner against the winner -- then we'll see about calling it down the middle, monkey boy. Schiavone thanks DDP for his time.

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Back from break, we're back in the studio and the panel is going over not only the World Title match(es) announcement, but the interview with DDP. They're all in agreement that DDP definitely has a vendetta, but all of them except Hennig think he'll be partial and fair throughout the entire tournament.

We go to another pre-tape, this time with Tony Schiavone sitting in a studio with Scott Steiner. Steiner's already pissed off and flipping out, interrupting Tony's questions about the upcoming defense at Big Bang. He says this whole company's out to get him, they have been since day one. They didn't want the Big Bad Booty Daddy to suceed, and he still did despite their best efforts. Now, they're literally throwing all they've got at Big Poppa Pump in an attempt to get this belt off his waist, but the numbers don't lie, he ain't lost a match since November when he won this belt, and he'll be dead in the cold ground before he lets Nash, Goldberg, Sting, Booker T or especially that bitch DDP get one over on him. He stands up and throws his chair to the side and rips his lapel mic off, saying that the interview's over, and he'll do his talking at Big Bang. Schiavone hightails it and Steiner storms off, still yelling.

Back from the pre-tape, the panel try to analyze what's going through Steiner's mind. Hennig says from a wrestler's perspective, this is pretty unfair to Scott Steiner. This enduces a groan from the other three, with Tenay pointing out any one of the four others are going to have three matches that night including the match with Steiner, Steiner's going to have one. Hudson brings the mental preparedness aspect back into play, and while Tenay agrees, he says that kind of goes out the window if you've been wrestling for the total of an hour thoughout the night.

Hudson switches topics and talks about how it's a very exciting time in WCW with the "new day" on the horizon, and what's still to come as we lead up to Big Bang, and that includes some new faces, take a look...

In a pre-tape, we see none other than STEVE CORINO with C.W. Anderson & Jack Victory by his side in the WCW studio. Corino smiles and asks if the wrestling world missed him? Did they really think he would be off TV that long? After all, he is MR. WRESTLING Steve Corino. He comes from an admittedly low rent company in South Philadelphia, where their idea of professional wrestling is barbed wire baseball bats, flaming tables and diving off balconies, and that's not what made this once great sport what it was and what it still can be today. He's not here like some of his other former co-workers to "bring the EXTREME", or to get "HARDCORE!", that's not his style. He is the definition, in it's purest form, of what a professional wrestler should be. The unfortunate part is, there's only a select few that get to look, sound and move like he does, and right now, there's nobody that touches him. And while he did bring the REAL ENFORCER CW Anderson with him, rest assured, he's going to be doing A LOT more than enforcing. He doesn't want to come here and be cliche, saying that he's putting WCW on notice. Everybody and their mother can do that. What Steve Corino delivers is a guarantee, and he's giving you a twofer right now, so bare with him. He guarantees that you'll NEVER see him stoop as low as to break out tables and ladders and chairs and barbed wire, and you'll also NEVER see these shoulders on the mat for longer than 2 seconds, and that's a fact. He looks over and tells Jack Victory to wrap it up for him, to make the boys pop. Jack Victory looks around, flashes the V with his hand and yells "HIGH SPOT". Corino smirks and CW does the cut throat taunt.

COMING SOON.

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Commercial Break

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Back from break, the panel recaps everything that's happened so far on this show and hype up next week's show. They'll talk more about the World Title tournament, they'll have another match announcement for the Big Bang PPV, and they'll have another interview with a participant in the World Title Tournament -- DA MAN! GOLDBERG! To play us out, they've got a match from WCW's vault -- from July 8th, 1998 -- a day that will live in infamy, here is Hollywood Hogan defending the WCW Title against Goldberg. We'll see ya next week!



[c] 2001, World Championship Wrestling / Fusient Media Ventures, LLC

WCWrestling.com Saturday Live Web Show
Saturday, April 14th, 2001

Scott Hudson, Jeremy Borash, Mike Tenay & Curt Hennig welcome us to another edition of the WCWrestling.com web series. They recap last weeks show, including the major announcement of the World Title tournament at BIG BANG, with the winner facing World Champion Scott Steiner that night. They recap the participants: Sting, Booker T, Goldberg & Kevin Nash, as well as the guest referee for all four matches, Diamond Dallas Page. All five of these men have a vendetta to settle with the world champion Big Poppa Pump, and some how, some way, this will all come to a head at WCW: Big Bang!

They start off the show by playing a game of "Hot Takes", with each of them providing one hot take they feel will occur between now and the end of the year.

Jeremy Borash is up first, and his hot take is that Diamond Dallas Page will retire before the end of the Summer. He says he's a big fan of DDP, but he's beat up, and we all forget how much older DDP is. He hasn't been in the business that long, he got into it very late in life, and his body is starting to break down, and he doesn't see this lasting much longer. He thinks he comes back from this injury, has a couple more matches, and then bows out gracefully.

Mike Tenay is up next, and he says 2001 will end with Dustin Rhodes and Jeff Jarrett in the World Title scene. He says that both men were cornerstones of the company during turbulent times the past 2 years, they're above average, solid performers with fanbases, they're multi-generational, and most of all, they make magic in that ring together, and they've done it across 3 or 4 different companies at this point. All due respect to all four men in the tournament, to DDP and to the World Champ Scott Steiner, he's standing by his prediction that by years end, we will see Dustin Rhodes & Jeff Jarrett duking it out for the World Championship.

Curt Hennig is at it next, and his hot take is that Ric Flair never returns to WCW. He says this on good authority, Ric Flair is not happy right now. He says he knows he's going to get heat for saying this, but so be it, he knows that Flair hasn't been happy since leaving the WWF to come back here in 1993. But he's loyal to a fault, and each time something good's happened, he's been screwed ten times worse than before. Hennig says he's not denegrating Eric Bischoff, he's got no problems with Bischoff, but Flair does -- and Flair learning not only that Bischoff is buying the company out right, but to learn it first hand on national television didn't make him one bit happy. He knows that these things always seem to blow over, but he thinks that not only does Ric Flair not return in 2001, he thinks we've seen the last of the Nature Boy in World Championship Wrestling.

After this commercial break, we'll have this week's World Title interview as Tony Schiavone sits down with Bill Goldberg!

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Commercial Break

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In a pre-tape, we see Tony Schiavone sitting with Bill Goldberg at his home in Atlanta, Georgia. Tony notes that Bill has been out of action since January after losing the Loser Leaves Town match to Totally Buff thanks to Scott Steiner, but he has been reinstated as of the re-launch, and he finds himself in a very rewarding position -- just three matches away from being World Heavyweight Champion once again. Goldberg says it's an honor to be back, but he's not going to sit here and say he's happy about the circumstances that brought him here, quite frankly, it has him pretty pissed off. He respects alot of people in this company, on both sides of the political spectrum, but nobody can deny that this company may have fallen into dire straits alot sooner than it did if it wasn't for Goldberg. He's not here to "shoot" on anyone, he's not coming out and playing a "character" anymore -- he's going to go back to what works and that's being "DA MAN", that's being Goldberg. Marching in, kicking ass, taking names, and marching right back out. Spear, Jackhammer, 1-2-3. He did it 173 times before to every name you can imagine in this business, and there's no reason he can't do it again, and finally get back what has eluded him for 2 1/2 years -- the World Heavyweight Championship.

Tony picks out one thing Goldberg said, about doing it 173 times before to every name you can think of -- except one, and that man is Kevin Nash, who he will face in the first round at Big Bang. Goldberg interupts and notes that he beat Nash after that, but Tony stays with the hard hitting questions and notes those other matches didn't have the meaning that Starrcade '98 did, and that loss could be marked as the catalyst for Goldberg's self-admitted downward spiral from the top. Goldberg takes a long second to think about it before telling Tony Schiavone that he hopes he wasn't on Kevin Nash's Christmas Card list, because he may have just signed his death warrant. Quite frankly, NO, he hasn't forgotten about that night, and it still eats at him. And now that we're finally in a match again that MEANS something -- Kevin Nash, finally he can say -- YOU'RE NEXT!

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Back from break, and the panel is talking about WCW: BIG BANG some more. They replay a clip from the Press Conference where Bischoff announced that all the titles (except World) would be vacated, but the previous champions would be the first up to get their shot. Well they can confirm that is the case, because at BIG BANG:

WCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
FOUR CORNERS MATCH
Natural Born Thrillers Vs. Totally Buff Vs. Shane Douglas/Bam Bam Bigelow Vs. KroniK

They send it down to Curt Hennig first for the wrestler's perspective on the match. Hennig says all due respect to all of these teams, but it's a sham that Air Raid isn't in this match. Tenay somewhat agrees, but Hudson & Borash are shocked. Hennig says the performance they put up against the champs, and before that, were consistently putting up on Thunder and Saturday Night each and every week in 2001 should get them an automatic spot in this match, they've earned it. He repeats that it's no disrespect to any team here, but it's the truth.

Tenay analyzes all four teams, saying that the Natural Born Thrillers have the X-Factor with Stacy Keibler in their corner, and also, they appear to have a fan in the man known as Cyrus the Virus...could that come into play at Big Bang? At the same time, Totally Buff has the most experience in WCW combined, and they're both still at the top of their game, and to counteract Stacy, they also have Liz in their corner. Shane Douglas & Bam Bam are partners going way back to another company, have been friends for years, but they've never really teamed in WCW, and this could prove to be a challenge for them most of all. And lastly Kronik deserves to be in this match more than any team, they've been the back bone of the division for the past 12-18 months, and that's who he thinks walks away with the gold.

Scott Hudson wants to talk a bit more about the Cyrus the Virus thing, and he asks just who this guy is? He knows the general answer, but really -- who is he? He's been called the David Koresh of professional wrestling, he's been a heat magnet everywhere he's gone, and you heard Tony on Nitro, he called him an "office stooge". Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but what could he possibly be doing here in WCW? Nobody really has an answer, but they seem intrigued as to what his interest in the Natural Born Thrillers could be. Hudson throws it to a video montage of all four teams hyping up the Tag Title match.

We see clips of all four teams in action, whether it be in tag team or singles matches, to really get over their talents. Intertwined between the action clips are interview clips from all four teams:

- Natural Born Thrillers, with Stacy, say that now they've cut the dead weight, the real work can begin, and at Big Bang, they're grabbing their titles back and headed out on the town like nothing happened. They don't care that they were stripped other than for the fact that it ruins their length of reign. Other than that, it's another day in the office when they arrive at Big Bang.

- Shane & Bam Bam say that WCW's kept them apart for so long and many people view that as a disadvantage, but all that did was piss them both off, and now you have two very, VERY angry men BACK TOGETHER going into this match as the most solidified unit possible. They wipe their asses with the inexperience NBT bring, they blow their noses on the comraderie between Totally Buff, and they spit in the faces of KroniK. He is the Beast from the East, he is the f***ing Franchise, and nobody, NOBODY on God's Green Earth can stop them.

- Totally Buff spend most of their time posing, and Lex Luger draws a line with his finger as he yells because his promo style hasn't changed at all since 1987. Lot of catch phrases here, too. They're buff, they're the stuff, and the titles could be just enough.

- KroniK says for all four teams to check the time on their watch, KroniK 4:20 says we just smoked your ass. AWFUL. HOW DID THESE GUYS GET PUSHED?!

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Commercial Break

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Back from the final break, and we get a recap of the BIG BANG card so far:

Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg
Booker T vs. Sting
Winner vs. Winner
Scott Steiner [c] vs. Winner - WCW World Title
NBT vs. Bam Bam/Douglas vs. KroniK vs. Totally Buff - Vacant WCW Tag Titles

Next week, they'll have yet another match announcement as well as the next up in the World Title interview series, which features one of the men in this next match, Big Sexy Kevin Nash! To close the show, they throw it to the WCW Archive Match of the Week -- Sting & Lex Luger [c] vs. The Outsiders at Hog Wild '96!



[c] World Championship Wrestling / Fusient Media Ventures, LLC

The machine is cranking again! I'm loving it. The rapid quality content generation. Gives me something to look forward to at your again, whether it's the morning shit break or just going heads-down and saying fuck the world at my desk. I now have my solace again in the form of an actively updated @big Evil BTB! And while your revisionist history will always hold a special place in my heart, I do dig that you're covering some uncharted territory here with a parallel universe that in a way is an entire new "what could've been" scenario.

I like how you're using the web series to build up to Big Bang. I can't remember 2001 well enough to know if the infrastructure was there at the time for this to be a feasible reality, but who gives a fuck. I like this, and the format. Booker/Sting & Nash/Goldberg are great matches to advertise to spark interest in the event. And with DDP announced as the special guest ref, I'm assuming the stage is set for Big Poppa Pump to get screwed out of his title. Because I can't help myself, I'm predicting Booker over Sting and Goldberg over Nash. Then I'm predicting Booker over Goldberg somehow, and... SWERVE! Another screwy non-finish to Booker/Steiner. I say this after the DDP interview, as I'm sensing some DDP attack on Pump backfiring somehow and him having to count Steiner's pinfall over Booker begrudgingly a la Shawn counting Bret over Taker at SummerSlam '97. Anyway, that would work for me.
Build to Booker's crowning moment over Steiner finally, make me CRAVE it like the next heroin high.

Meanwhile, after the Steiner interview, I'm convinced that he'll by my favorite character of yours to watch in this whole thing.

Then we get that Corino promo, and I can't wait for Corino/Flair and Non-Extreme Horsemen vs. Horsement at some point.

Then we next the following week's installment, and I enjoyed all the hot takes. If I had to pick one to back, I'm liking Perfect's the best... despite it depriving me of Corino/Flair.

After the Goldberg interview, I'm tempted to reverse my hope/prediction for Nash/Goldberg. If Goldberg loses again, I feel like there's something interesting there with watching his psyche unravel and him become an unhinged DA MAN.

I meant to acknowledge this before, but I really like the pairing of Callis with the Natural Born Thrillers, specifically O'Haire. Picturing O'Haire's Devil's Advocate gimmick partnered up with The Jackyl makes me happy. Maybe there's a singles push for a sinister O'Haire in the not-too-distant future?

On the overall, you're doing an excellent job of getting me not only hyped for Big Bang but also believing that WCW's reputation is salvageable. I love how you're gradually, as organically as possible cutting all the dead weight and in turn introducing and pushing the new faces who'll be featured players moving forward. Can't wait for more, can't wait for BIG BANG!!!!

WCWrestling.com Saturday Live Web Show
Saturday, April 21st, 2001

The webshow starts as usual with all four panel members live and ready to go. They do the normal hype job for WCW: BIG BANG as well as the World Title tournament. They mention how two weeks ago, they interviewed Scott Steiner, the World Champion, and DDP, the Special Ref. Last week, they interviewed Goldberg, and this week, his first round opponent, Kevin Nash!

They talk about the surprises that are surely in store for WCW: BIG BANG. They note that we saw two weeks ago, the impending debut of Steve Corino with his crew of CW Anderson and Jack Victory, is on it's way. More superstars are expected to draw the interest of the brand new World Championship Wrestling, and Hudson wants to know one superstar in the industry that the panel would like to see in the new WCW after the re-launch.

Mike Tenay is up first, and he says he would love to see WCW go back to it's global horizons, bringing in superstars from international promotions, as that was one of the things that helped them stand out among the rest in the early to mid 90's. He had to cheat a bit, because there's two wrestlers he's had his eye on. One is still relatively young and considered a rookie to an extent, and he goes by the name of Hiroshi Tanahashi from New Japan Pro Wrestling. Tenay thinks that Tanahashi is the total package and could translate well to American audiences. He's already had a huge victory over lucha libre legend Negro Casas, and the future is bright. The other one may surprise some people -- but he's had his eye on the other major Japan promotion, All Japan, and one person he's impressed with that he would love to see *BACK* in WCW is none other than Big Van Vader. Vader didn't leave WCW on the best of terms, but he's having a career renaissance in All Japan, and he could end up having one last incredible run through WCW.

Jeremy Borash is up next, and he says he cheated a bit too and has another person that would be making their return to WCW, although not as big of a previous run as Vader. That man is a guy tearing it up on the independents throughout the North East and Mid-Atlantic areas, and that's The Fallen Angel Christopher Daniels. He's almost a decade into his career, he's one of the best pure athletes he's ever seen step into the ring, and unfortunately was only in WCW for a cup of coffee during the tumultuous transfer of power last spring. He's had runs in the NWA, ECWA, ECW, Michinoku Pro and even the WWF. He thinks Daniels could come in and not only set the Cruiserweight Title on fire, but he could see Daniels being a future World Champion quite frankly.

Finally, Curt Hennig makes his pick, and he says he thinks the answer is obvious, it's the hottest free agent in pro wrestling right now -- Mr. Monday Night can become Mr. Wednesday Night if Rob Van Dam makes his way to WCW. He would become the cornerstone of this company in a heartbeat, as far as Hennig's concerned. He says all due respect to the Tanahashi guy Tenay was talking about, he may be the total package in a few years, but Van Dam is the total package right now. He's coming off an incredible run with ECW, he doesn't seem too keen on going "up north", and could fit in perfectly with WCW. He can't say it enough, he sees RVD as World Champion before the end of the year. Hudson yells that Van Dam isn't even signed, and Hennig says he's that confident a deal will happen, and that Van Dam will be WCW World Champion by the end of the year. Book it.

Hudson says that on the other side of the break, they've got more to come including an interview with Kevin Nash, a new match announced for "Big Bang", and the WCW Archive Match of the Week!

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Commercial Break

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Back from break and the panel hits up the hype train on the World Title tournament once again. They talk a bit about Kevin Nash and his history with Goldberg, and they throw it to the tape.

Earlier this week, Tony Schiavone met up with Kevin Nash at the WCW Powerplant, of all places. When Schiavone entered the facility, Nash was standing in one ring and watching in the nearby ring as two prospects trained with each other. Schiavone began the interview by bashfully saying he never expected to see Kevin Nash at the Powerplant. Nash says he's always gotta keep his eye on the future to make sure there's nobody around good enough to take his spot. Schiavone laughs, but Nash assures him it wasn't a joke in a way only Kevin Nash can.

Schiavone says they're going to talk about the World Title tournament in a moment, but the last time we saw Kevin Nash at the final Nitro, he had some very uncaring and nonchalant comments about the future of WCW. Nash says he knows what he said, and he stands by it. If WCW really did go out of business that night, there would've been one game in town, and then what? Tony asks Nash if he feels more comfortable with the direction of WCW now than he did in the past, and Nash asks why would he? Bischoff worked the boys, he didn't tell anyone why he was there, and then waits until Ric and Stinger get finished wrestling to make a real life announcement -- this wasn't a gimmick, this wasn't some kind of ratings ploy to get the quarter hour advantage on RAW. This was Bischoff going into business for himself to try and make himself look like the hero. Is he glad that WCW is still around? Yeah, sure. But why should he be comfortable? What's this the fourth or fifth regime change in two years? Hell, he was in charge at one point and he hated it so much he booked his own retirement.

Schiavone asks frankly, then why agree to stick around? Why take part in Big Bang and the World Title tournament? Nash asks why wouldn't he? Schiavone jokes that Nash is asking more questions than he is, and Nash says that's the perfect metaphor for working in WCW. Nash says listen, he'll wrestle at Big Bang and he'll wrestle here as long as they'll have him -- and if he happens to win the World Title, then great, awesome, of course he wants that. But he's not going to stand here and have hope that this will all just work itself out. He wants WCW to succeed, he would love it -- but he's done getting his hopes up.

Schiavone asks about his first round match against Goldberg and DDP being the special referee. Nash says the ultimate goal is to get to Steiner, because regardless of anything he's saying here, he's got alot of unresolved issues with that guy, and if he had a chance to shut him down and take the strap off him, it may be enough to get him to change his tune about WCW and it's future. But to get there, yeah, he's gotta get past Goldberg. The man he is forever, universally linked with because of what happened at Starrcade 1998. Look, he's not proud of everything he's done in his past, but it's all been a part of his grand plan. Goldberg was the wrong guy at the right time and the place, it could've been anyone in that spot -- the goal was to get the belt back into the nWo and regroup, regain control. Did he take part in ending some sort of fairy tale for the marks in the back? Of course he did, and frankly he enjoyed it. But he respects Bill, he almost likes Bill, and he gets that Bill has this black cloud over his head now because of what happened almost 3 years ago, and that makes him dangerous -- but to purposely sound as cocky as he can be, he's beaten him before, he can beat him again. And he doesn't need Scott Hall, he doesn't a tazer, he doesn't even need "the pencil"...Jacknife, 1, 2, 3. And as long as Page does what he's supposed to do, they'll be good. Schiavone asks if that means he's got something in the works with Page, and Nash laughs saying let's say he did, why would he admit it? Schiavone just laughs and throws it commercial.

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Commercial Break

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Back from break, and the panel goes over the card so far for WCW BIG BANG:

WORLD TITLE TOURNAMENT
Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg
Booker T vs. Sting
Winner vs. Winner
Scott Steiner [c] Vs. Tournament Winner

WCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
Four Corners Match
Natural Born Thrillers Vs. Bam Bam/Douglas Vs. KroniK Vs. Totally Buff

Hudson says you can add yet another title match to this already stacked card, because the newly vacant WCW Cruiserweight Championship will be up for grabs in a Cruiserweight Invitational Battle Royal. But there's a catch! In this Invitational Battle Royal, you can only be eliminated if you are THROWN OVER the top rope. What's he mean by that? If someone dives out onto a group of people, if someone hits a top rope maneuver onto the floor, they're not eliminated. They have to be tossed out as a defense or offensive maneuver from an opponent, and this will open up the battle royal to the great Cruiserweight action WCW is accustomed to...

We see on the match graphic that the announced participants so far are: Shane Helms, Evan Karagias, Shannon Moore, Air Styles, Air Paris, Jamie-San, Kaz Hayashi, Yang, Chavo Guerrero Jr, Elix Skipper, Disco Inferno, Alex Wright, Lash LeRoux and brand new to the WCW roster, Kid Kash! That's fourteen people so far, more are expected to be announced, but what a great match this should be.

They go split screen and, live from Cameron, NC, is the former Cruiserweight Champion Shane Helms, dressed like a poor man's Rock. Helms says this is an absolute travesty, he was already the greatest WCW Cruiserweight Champion ever, and now he's gotta win the damn belt all over again? That's not what champions have to do. Hennig mentions that a champion's job is to go out and defend the belt night in and night out, and Helms just cuts him off and yells that's different. Hudson asks if he's read the list of superstars in the match, and Helms says they're all irrelevant. Tenay asks if he even means his 3 Count teammates? Helms takes off his glasses and blows on them to clean them before asking "What's 3 Count?" Borash tries to ask a question and Helms just yells NEXT. Hudson says that they're running out of time, but they want to know if Helms thinks he has a legitimate shot at winning this thing. Helms says a shot would imply there's a chance he could lose. Yes, it's unfair and unjust to do this to your greatest champion of all time, but it's also expected to happen when you're THIS good. "Sugar" Shane will be just fine, and he's going to walk out of the Big Bang being treated as the SUPERSTAR he should've been getting treated as since the beginning.

They thank Helms for his time and go back to a single screen. They recap everything that happened today, from Nash's words in his interview to the new match announcement and everything in between. NEXT WEEK, yet another brand new match will be announced and we'll hear from the participants in the match, they're going to be debating possible Dream Match scenarios in the new WCW, and then they'll be talking to THE MAN CALLED STING, you do not want to miss this, a VERY rare interview with the conscience of WCW, the Stinger. And with that, they leave you this week with the WCW Archive Match of the Week...from July 1990, the Great American Bash, Ric Flair defending the World Title against the man called Sting. We'll see ya next week!



[c] World Championship Wrestling / Fusient Media Ventures, LLC

Just want to say I’m loving this. Been a big fan of your WWF feds so to see you back with wcw is awesome. Keep this up it’s great. An idea I’ve toyed with before myself so good luck

WCWrestling.com Saturday Live Web Show
Saturday, April 28th, 2001

The webshow starts as usual with all four panel members live and ready to go. They go right into the hype job as they do every week for "WCW: BIG BANG" coming live on Pay-Per-View, Sunday, May 6th from Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

They also do the usual hype for the WCW World Title situation, as Booker T will battle Sting, Goldberg will battle Kevin Nash, the winner of those two will square off, with the winner of that facing Scott Steiner at the end of the night for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship!

On today's show, they'll announce yet another match for the WCW Big Bang PPV, they'll discuss potential dream matches that would be possible in this brand new professional wrestling landscape, they'll talk about the greatest match in WCW history, PLUS, an interview with the ICON, the FRANCHISE and the CONSCIENCE of WCW, STING!

But first, this card is already stacked and it's not even fully announced.

Booker T Vs. Sting
Kevin Nash Vs. Goldberg
Winner Vs. Winner
Scott Steiner [c] Vs. Winner - WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Vacant WCW Tag Team Championships
Four Corners Match
Natural Born Thrillers Vs. KroniK Vs. Bam Bam & Douglas Vs. Totally buff

WCW Cruiserweight Championship Invititational
Shane Helms, Evan Karagias, Shannon Moore, Air Styles, Air Paris, Jamie-San, Kaz Hayashi, Yang, Chavo Guerrero Jr, Elix Skipper, Disco Inferno, Alex Wright, Lash LeRoux and brand new to the WCW roster, Kid Kash, PLUS MORE TBA!

And now they can officially announce a showcase match, a match that's going to highlight six of the best talents in WCW today, whether you're talking about under the previous regime or the new one. At WCW: Big Bang, in a Six Man Tag Team Tornado Match...

SIX MAN TAG TEAM TORNADO MATCH
THE FILTHY ANIMALS [Konnan, Rey, Kidman] Vs. TEAM CANADA [Storm, Awesome, Skipper]

The panel analyzes this match as a must win for each of the six individuals. You have a veteran like Konnan who's trying to keep his head above water in this new WCW, you have guys like Rey, Kidman and Skipper who are the future of this business, and then you have guys like Storm & Awesome who are still trying to fully find themselves here in WCW. It's important, it's must win, and it's going to be one hell of a match.

Joining the panel, split screen from their respective homes, are the leaders of both groups, Konnan representing the Filthy Animals, and Lance Storm representing Team Canada.

Scott Hudson asks them both, first and foremost, if their teams have been preparing for this match since they were notified of it a few weeks back by Eric Bischoff. Storm says he knows his team has stayed in constant communication since WCW went dark, and both Awesome and Skipper have taken separate trips up here to CALGARY...ALBERTA, CANADA to train with him in their time off. Konnan says that both Rey & Kidman have been living it up loco loco out in the 6-1-9 with their ladies, celebrating the well deserved time off, and they're not worried about the punk asses north of the border. Storm smirks and says that's a nice cover, but he knows for a fact Konnan's lost control of that group, in fact the whole world does. Konnan says Storm doesn't know what he's talking about, the Filthy Animals are brothers, they're blood brothers, and that bond runs deep, and nothing gets in between that. Not a punk like Lance Storm, not a suit like Eric Bischoff, no girl even gets in between them. Storm says he finds it interesting Konnan would even mention the girls, since he never even brought that up, and Konnan says he's starting to put words in his mouth but at Big Bang he can expect his foot up his ass, he doesn't play games with no white boy like that, no man talks to K-Dawg 187 that way and lives to tell about it. Storm says for Konnan just to worry about the way his own teammates talk to him. Everyone saw the last Nitro and the weeks leading up to that -- his group wants nothing to do with him. He's old, he's behind the times, he just doesn't fit in with the likes of Kidman and Mysterio. And by the time Konnan realizes that, it'll be too late, because Team Canada will have taken them all OUT and established themselves as the dominant faction in the WCW. Konnan is really pissed off and goes to talk, but he just waves it off and shakes his head as Storm smiles, and Scott Hudson throws it to a break!

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Commercial Break

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Back from break, and the panel switches gears to talk about possible dream matches they could see in the new WCW now that the scene of professional wrestling has changed forever. Hudson throws it to Jeremy Borash to start, and Borash says one match he's always wanted to see is Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner. He says he's sure that Curt and Tenay may have looked outside of WCW for some of their answers, but he chose this match because for starters, they haven't had a singles match against one another since 1991. They're two completely different competitors now, with Ric Flair the elder statesman who can still go, and Scott Steiner essentially the Ace of the company. He said he's also sure it's not a secret to anyone, there's no love between Flair and Steiner on camera or behind the scenes. Sure, they got along on the business side of things during the "Magnificent 7", but look how long that actually lasted. The egos would create great moments on the microphone, and the skills would create one of the best matches imaginable inside of the ring.

Mike Tenay is up next, and he says he did reach outside of WCW for this one, and the match he wants to see involves two former WCW superstars making their return from overseas in Japan. It's two of the biggest gajin stars in New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling, as he would love to see Scott 'Flash' Norton do battle with Big Van Vader inside of a WCW ring. Tenay says he knows this sounds like an unattainable dream match, but in reality, WCW did something like this before in 1991 when they brought up Big Van Vader and Stan "The Lariat" Hansen from NJPW to do battle at WrestleWar, and it stole the show. He thinks that a rejuventated Vader with a more dangerous than ever Scott Norton could be the type of FIGHT WCW could use to add some legitimacy to their cards.

Curt Hennig is last, and he says that this may be controversial to say, but nobody stays under contract with the World Wrestling Federation forever. And he's got a friend who's contract is coming to an end soon, who hasn't appeared regularly on TV as it is in close to three years, and he has it on good authority that he's just DYING to get back into the ring. So he's saying right now, don't just consider this a dream match on the part of Curt Hennig, consider this the absolutely perfect PREDICTION to happen within the next year -- he's guaranteeing that at some point soon, WCW will be graced with the presence of none other than SHAWN MICHAELS. And when he gets to WCW, the dream matches are ENDLESS. Shawn Michaels vs. Sting, Shawn Michaels vs. Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels vs. Booker T -- but if his vote counts towards anything, then he's hoping for Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair. He knows Shawn's not here yet, he knows Flair's on the outs, but like he said -- nothing lasts forever, and he thinks before the end of 2002 at the very least, you will see Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair in a WCW ring.

Scott Hudson brings it back by talking about some of the dream matches that have already happened in WCW. He says that over the past few weeks, they've been showing you a few of those matches, they'll have another one tonight, but for next week's -- they want to know what the WCW fans view as the greatest match in WCW history. The poll choices are as follows:

- Ric Flair [c] vs. Sting, WCW Title, GAB 1990
- Ricky Steamboat [c] vs. Ric Flair, WCW Title, WrestleWar 1989
- War Games 1992: Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting's Squadron, WrestleWar 1992
- Big Van Vader [c] vs. Ric Flair, Starrcade 1993
- Ric Flair [c] vs. Hulk Hogan, WCW Title, BATB 1994
- Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage, Spring Stampede 1997
- Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio, Halloween Havoc 1997
- Hulk Hogan [c] vs. Lex Luger, WCW Title, Nitro August 1997
- Goldberg [c] vs. Diamond Dallas Page, WCW Title, Halloween Havoc 1998
- Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, WCW Mayhem 1999

Go to WCWrestling.com/bestmatch after watching the webisode today and vote for your choice! The top ten will be revealed next week on the last webisode before Big Bang, with the top vote getter being aired FOR FREE right here on the broadcast!

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Commercial Break

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After the break, we're with Tony Schiavone in a studio, sat down with Sting. Sting's pretty much in street clothes, and he's even sans make-up for this one. Tony says that through it all, Sting has been the constant in WCW. He wants to know that after all that's happened since he came to what was then Jim Crockett Promotions in 1987, between and now, going up to the final Nitro where he took on Ric Flair for what many thought and still believe to be the final time -- where is Steve Borden's head at?

Sting laughs and says his head's right where it's always been, he's focused and determined, and he's ready for whatever life throws at him. He says that he's not too sure about the predictions people are making about Ric and his future, and frankly it's none of his business. He's sure that Ric has his reasons for doing what he did, and he respects that. He'll be the first to admit, he wasn't a fan of the way Bischoff strung everyone along, making everyone wait until the 11th hour to find out what their futures were. If WCW had closed their doors that day, then Vince would've been the only game in town. And while that may be an option possibly for guys like Sting, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, DDP, Booker T and Ric Flair -- if they even wanted to make that choice -- it might not be an option for a lot of guys, and that's who ya gotta think of in times like that.

Tony says that Sting has seen WCW reboot and rebrand a ton in his time here. From the Turner buyout, to Jim Herd's presence, to the beginning of the Hogan years, Bischoff's original tenures, Vince Russo, and so on and so fourth, Stings been through it all. Does he feel any differently about what WCW's future holds now compared to the past with other reboots and rebrandings?

Sting takes a long pause and says he's not sure how to answer that. On one hand, there's a big part of him that likes and trusts Eric Bischoff. They've always had a great working relationship, Eric's always been very upfront and honest with him about everything. But he's not blind, he "gets it" -- he's seen the way Eric's been with and towards other wrestlers and staff, he's seen how many grand ideas have failed. He's not going to sit here and repeat Goldberg or even Nash and basically come out and say it's going to fail, because if everyone has that attitude, it absolutely will. He wants WCW to succeed, he has since day one. He doesn't have any interest in going up north to Vince McMahon, and that's not a shot at him or the WWF, but that's not where Sting belongs. So as long as there's a WCW there's going to be a Sting, and he's here to make sure that as long as there's a Sting, there's a WCW.

Schiavone switches gears to the World Championship matches at Big Bang. He asks right away about the possibility of getting his match with Scott Steiner finally, and having it be for the World Title. Sting says he'll admit it bothered him he never got the Starrcade match he was supposed to get with Steiner for the belt, because that would've ended the issue with Big Poppa Pump a long time ago. But he doesn't want to sit here and act like that's a guarantee -- it's no guarantee, he still has to face Booker T, and then either Kevin Nash or Bill Goldberg. He's not going to sit here and overlook Booker T, who's a four time WCW Champion himself. Booker T is a threat, Booker T is a guy that has been waiting in the wings to take that top spot for some time right now, and many people Sting included would argue he's deserved of that. But there's also many people -- Sting included -- who still believe that spot belongs to Sting, and he's not just going to give that up to Booker because he likes him, because he respects what he does in the ring. On the contrary, if -- and it's a big if -- if Sting loses his spot, he doesn't want it to be because he's handed it down to somebody, he wants it to be because somebody deserved it. Because if the day ever comes where he does hang up the boots, where he leaves WCW -- he wants to be sure the guy who has his spot is man enough to keep the WCW ship afloat. Because say what you will, many people will back up the claim that he is a humble guy, but Tony Schiavone said it best -- there's been one constant in WCW all these years. While everyone else came and went, did this and that -- Sting was here. And he'll repeat himself, as long as there's a WCW, there's a Sting. And by beating Booker T, and whoever else he has to face to get to Steiner and that World Title, there will still be a Sting to make sure there is a WCW. He said at the last Nitro that the only thing for sure about the Stinger is nothing's for sure. That's not meant to be cryptic -- watch for yourself at Big Bang, because it will indeed be showtime.

Back in the studio, the panel wraps up the show by announcing that next week, we'll have the final match announcement for Big Bang, we'll have the top 10 matches in WCW history with a free airing of the #1 vote getter, we'll talk about the biggest name or names being left off this historic card and why we think that is, and we'll have the final interview of our six part series with BOOKER T! Until next week, here's your WCW Archive Match of the Week -- from Bash at the Beach 2000, Booker T takes on Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship!



[c] World Championship Wrestling / Fusient Media Ventures, LLC

I'll vote for Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio, Halloween Havoc 1997 @ WCWrestling.com/bestmatch

Nov 2, 2018 1:32:14 GMT Big Evil said:

Scott Hudson brings it back by talking about some of the dream matches that have already happened in WCW. He says that over the past few weeks, they've been showing you a few of those matches, they'll have another one tonight, but for next week's -- they want to know what the WCW fans view as the greatest match in WCW history. The poll choices are as follows:

- Ric Flair [c] vs. Sting, WCW Title, GAB 1990
- Ricky Steamboat [c] vs. Ric Flair, WCW Title, WrestleWar 1989
- War Games 1992: Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting's Squadron, WrestleWar 1992
- Big Van Vader [c] vs. Ric Flair, Starrcade 1993
- Ric Flair [c] vs. Hulk Hogan, WCW Title, BATB 1994
- Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy Savage, Spring Stampede 1997
- Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio, Halloween Havoc 1997
- Hulk Hogan [c] vs. Lex Luger, WCW Title, Nitro August 1997
- Goldberg [c] vs. Diamond Dallas Page, WCW Title, Halloween Havoc 1998
- Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, WCW Mayhem 1999

Go to WCWrestling.com/bestmatch after watching the webisode today and vote for your choice! The top ten will be revealed next week on the last webisode before Big Bang, with the top vote getter being aired FOR FREE right here on the broadcast!

Steamboat vs. Flair @wrestlewar edges out Flair/Vader to earn my vote.

WCWrestling.com Saturday Live Web Show

Saturday, May 5th, 2001

The last webshow before WCW: BIG BANG kicks off as usual with Scott Hudson, Jeremy Borash, Mike Tenay & Curt Hennig at the desk. They waste no time in going down the monster card already set for WCW: BIG BANG TOMORROW NIGHT ON PAY-PER-VIEW!

WCW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Special Tourney Referee: DDP

Booker T Vs. Sting

Goldberg Vs. Kevin Nash

Winner Vs. Winner

Scott Steiner [c] Vs. Winner

VACANT WCW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Natural Born Thrillers Vs. Totally Buff Vs. KroniK Vs. Shane Douglas & Bam Bam Bigelow

VACANT WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP INVITATIONAL BATTLE ROYAL

Shane Helms, Alex Wright, Disco Inferno, Lash LeRoux, Air Raid, Chavo Guerrero Jr, 2 Count, Yung Dragons, Kid Kash and more!

SIX MAN TAG TEAM GRUDGE MATCH

Filthy Animals [Konnan, Rey, Kidman] Vs. Team Canada [Storm, Awesome, Skipper]

The DEBUT of Steve Corino with his cronies CW Anderson & Jack Victory!

They dance back towards the World Title Tournament, hyping up those huge first round matches, what possibilities that could come out of that in the semi finals (Booker/Nash? Goldberg/Sting? Etc.) and of course, the winner having already competed twice will fight for a third time and take on the ONLY champion in WCW as of right now, Big Poppa Pump, the big Bad Booty Daddy, Scott Steiner. And let’s not forget the piano dangling over everybody’s head – none other than Diamond Dallas Page will be the special referee for the ENTIRE tournament!

The group talks about this being the most important card in WCW history. They debate if it’s the biggest, and there is some issue with that. Hennig is honest saying that this is far from the strongest roster WCW’s ever had, it’s not 1992 or 1997 or even 1999, but it’s the best they’ve had in about two years and they’re capable of bringing in viewers. Borash agrees and says that everyone forgets, WCW’s struggles haven’t come with ratings. Grant it, the WWF has been far and away at the top the past few years, but WCW is still beating all other normal cable programming. The end of the era on the Turner Networks was not because of ratings or even creative, it was a regime change and WCW didn’t fit anymore. Tenay echoes all of the sentiments so far and says that regardless of roster strength, he still sees a lot of surprises coming at Big Bang tomorrow night, he’s got it on good authority some big names could still have yet to be announced, and he’s marking it as a guarantee that this will be the first positive turning point for World Championship Wrestling since before the creation of Thunder, that’s how big tomorrow night is. Hudson agrees that there is no failing, and they all have nothing but faith in the entire WCW roster.

But that leads them to the discussion for the day – this card doesn’t feature the WHOLE roster. So they open floor to debate on who they think the BIGGEST omission left from this card is and why? Hennig starts as usual and jokes that it’s obviously him, and the other three laugh like a group of soulless puppets. Hennig goes to continue – BUT JEFF JARRETT STORMS ONTO THE SET.

Hennig stands up but Jarrett says he’s not here for him, so you can sit your ass down, slappy. He goes over and rips the lapel mic off of Borash’s suit and shoves him away, standing where Borash once sat. Jarrett says this stupid show is right about one thing finally, and that’s there being a big omission from tomorrow night’s card, AND THAT’S THE CHOSEN ONE JEFF JARRETT! He’s fought just as hard as anyone, bled just as much as anyone, and sacrificed just as much as anyone in this business if not more. He’s the guy that wrestled three times at Starrcade ’99, he’s the guy that took on the American Dream Dusty Rhodes and won, HE’S THE MAN WHO CHASED HULK HOGAN OUT OF PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING AS WE KNOW IT! And now Eric Bischoff is back in charge, and suddenly surprise surprise, there’s no spot on the biggest card in WCW history for The Chosen One.

Jarrett says he’s never been one for breaking the fourth wall, he’s one for smashing down the whole damn building, and just because Vince Russo isn’t around anymore doesn’t mean Jeff Jarrett isn’t worth a god damn. He’s the best wrestler in this company today, and he should be AT THE VERY LEAST in that World Title tournament, but he’s not even given a god damn match, and it’s BULLSHIT, slap nuts! He says to do the math, the last time Jeff Jarrett left WCW the damn company almost went belly up. If he leaves again, there’s no telling what might happen to the company, so you might want to keep the CHOSEN ONE happy and give him a little STROKE~ around here, damnit. So he’s making it clear, he doesn’t care if he has approval from Bischoff or anyone else in the back – tomorrow night on Pay-Per-View at WCW: BIG BANG – he’s going out to that damn ring, and he’s going to prove once again why he’s the best at what he does by issuing an open challenge to ANYBODY. Not just the WCW Locker Room, but anybody in the BACK, anybody in the OFFICE or the CROWD – hell, he’s issuing a challenge to ANYONE IN THE INDUSTRY! And you’ll see, YET AGAIN AS HE PROVES IT, why he is the CHOSEN ONE of World Championship Wrestling.

Jarrett rips the mic off and a stage hand finally rushes over to check on Borash, who took a nasty fall. Hudson throws it to a break.

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Commercial Break

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Back from break, and Tony Schiavone is sitting in a living room. A graphic appears letting us know we’re in Houston, TX and the camera pulls back to reveal we are in the home of Booker T. Tony thanks Booker for taking the time to sit with him here today and talk about what’s coming up at WCW: Big Bang. Booker thanks Tony for having him.

Tony starts off very bluntly by recapping what the other competitors have said so far. Steiner is pissed, DDP seems to have his own agenda, Nash is careless but dangerous, Sting is motivated, and Goldberg is programmed to kill. Other than Scott Steiner, Booker T is the only person in this group to have worked a full schedule in the last six months, he’s also the guy that seemingly at every turn since last October has been screwed out of a title many say he should’ve never lost in the first place. So with all that said, Tony wants to know with everyone else’s description out of the way, what best describes Booker T heading into this Sunday in Las Vegas.

Booker smiles and nods, agreeing with Tony about it being a title he never should’ve lost, but he really can’t blame anyone else but himself for that. He got out of a long issue with Jeff Jarrett to keep the belt back last summer, and went too hard too quick into the issue with Big Poppa Pump, and it came back to bite him. He’s man enough to admit he wasn’t screwed out of the title, he lost the title. But he’s also smart enough to say that ever since then, at every single opportunity he’s had, he has indeed been screwed out of getting that title back, most notably and recently on the last episode of Nitro on TNT. And he sits here before Tony today rocking a smile, but that’s because it’s positive vibes only. Deep down, this is something that’s kept him up at night.

Booker takes a second, and says that Tony said a lot of people said that Booker T should’ve never lost the World Title, which is ironic, because eight-nine months ago, there was a lot of people that were saying Booker T should’ve never won the World Title to begin with. There have been people doubting him his entire career, and he’s stayed the course and come out on top. Him and his brother shouldn’t have been Tag Team Champions, well they did that a bunch of times. He shouldn’t have beaten Bret Hart to get the TV Championship back, but he did that too. He was never supposed to make it as United States Champion, but he dare says he was one of the best United States Champions ever. He says people said Booker T couldn’t carry the torch after guys like Benoit and Jericho left, he couldn’t be the workhorse, but he’s been here every night since, putting up with everything and still coming out on top. And at the end of it all, after each and every time he’s been doubted, it may not have been right away but what was always the outcome? Booker T with his hand raised, case closed.

As far as the World Title tournament goes, hell yeah he’s nervous. He’s not going in there against four other suckas that don’t know what they’re doing. No matter what, he’s got to start off the night by going up against the ICON, the Franchise of this place STING, and he’s got to find a way to defeat one of the greatest of all-time. And if Booker T can do that, then he’s got to have the wild card of either facing “THE MAN” Goldberg or “BIG SEXY” Kevin Nash, and he’s struggled against Nash in the past, and he’s never even gotten in the ring with Goldberg. AND IF BY SOME GRACE OF GOD BOOKER T GETS TO THE FINALS…now he’s gotta go in there with the alpha to his omega, the yin to his yang, the evil to his good Scott Steiner, the man he’s done this dance with many times before throughout their careers, and somehow after two hard fought matches, win a third against arguably one of the best in the world today. The cards are stacked, the chips are stacked, the odds are against him, any other euphemism you want to use – Booker calms down and starts shaking his head – it doesn’t matter. Like he just said – at the end of it all, after yet again being doubted this time, it may take a while, it may not happen right away, but what’s going to be the outcome at WCW Big Bang? The same thing. Booker T. Hand raised. Case. Closed. Now can you dig THAT?!

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Commercial Break

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Back from the final break, Hudson apologizes for Jeff Jarrett’s outburst earlier and says for personal reasons, Jeremy Borash has decided to sit out the rest of the show, which they understand. Changing subjects, last week they put up a poll on WCWrestling.com for fans to come up with the list of the TEN greatest matches in World Championship Wrestling history, and without further ado, here they are!

10. Goldberg [c] vs. Diamond Dallas Page, WCW World Title, Halloween Havoc 1998

Hennig: “One of the more controversial matches originally due to the PPV issues, but what many expected to be a lackluster of a match ended up becoming Goldberg’s first great match in the company, and continued Page’s hot streak of 1997-1998.”



9. Bret Hart vs. Chris Benoit, WCW World Title Tourney Final, WCW Mayhem 1999

Tenay: “Their second match in a short amount of time, but it did not disappoint, and as evident by this list today, clearly the preferred match of the two by the fans of WCW. In retrospect, as great as this match was, it’s marred by sadness due to the fact that Bret Hart only had a few more months left in his career, and Chris Benoit would leave the company right after the turn of the millennium a few months later. But an incredible match nonetheless!”



8. Hulk Hogan [c] vs. Lex Luger, WCW World Title, WCW Nitro August 3rd 1997

Hudson: “The WCW vs. nWo war was at it’s height, Sting was still watching from the rafters, and WCW needed a hero. They got their hero when a week before their scheduled match at Road Wild, Lex Luger challenged Hogan to face him for the belt that night instead – and Luger picked up the first meaningful win in the war when he defeated Hulk Hogan via submission to win the World Title in one of the craziest Nitro moments in history!”



7. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Macho Man Randy Savage, Spring Stampede 1997

Hennig: “Their series of matches were all match of the year candidates in a feud that surpassed all expectations. Just a year prior to this, Diamond Dallas Page was jerking the curtain while Randy Savage was World Champion. Their series together, in both ways it just goes to show how much can change in a year. Their first encounter in April of 1997 set the bar on legend vs. new generation, and it’s a bar that has yet to be met.”



6. Ric Flair [c] vs. Sting, WCW World Title, Great American Bash 1990

Tenay: “One of the greatest accidental stories ever. The young kid from Venice Beach, California had fought tooth and nail with Ric Flair for close to 2 years, and was finally going to receive his World Title shot at SuperBrawl – only to blow his knee out! Flash forward a few months and one miraculous recovery later, Sting FINALLY reached the mountain top when he made the Nature Boy tap out to the Scorpion Death Lock in the center of the ring, finally beating his archrival for the WCW World Title. A top ten match, and a top ten moment!”



5. Big Van Vader [c] vs. Ric Flair, WCW World Title, Starrcade 1993

Hudson: “Ric Flair had been out of a WCW ring for almost two years when he came back in 1993. Immediately, Flair was met with indifference, with people believing that he no longer had what it took in the new world of professional wrestling. To top it all off, the biggest challenge standing in Flair’s way would be someone the likes of he had never even seen before, the Mastadon, the World Champion, Big Van Vader. After an unsuccessful attempt in November, Flair finally realized it was time to put up or shut up, and in a stark contrast of his 1983 campaign, Flair had put his career on the line saying if he cannot beat Big Van Vader for the World Title, he would leave wrestling. And in one of the most beautiful moments in wrestling history, Ric Flair throttled the monster to keep his career alive and win the World Title once again!”



4. Dangerous Alliance vs. Sting’s Squadron, WAR GAMES, WrestleWar 1992

Hennig: “It’s the most dangerous match in professional wrestling, it is the match beyond – WAR GAMES! And in 1992, the brutality was taken to a new level. But let’s put the barbaric nature of an already dangerous match aside briefly just to touch on the insane line-up in this match. Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Steve Austin, Larry Zbysko & Bobby Eaton against Sting, Nikita Koloff, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes & Barry Windham – unarguably that is the most stacked line-up of all-time greats in one match at the same time. And when you add back in the brutality of this specific War Games match, he’s shocked this didn’t take #1!”



3. Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio, Jr, Halloween Havoc 1997

Tenay: “Nothing against any other athlete or match on this list, but this would’ve been his pick for #1. What has now become commonplace in the world of professional wrestling had barely been noticed before these two collided at Halloween Havoc 1997. What Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio Jr were able to pull off that night in Las Vegas was one of the greatest professional wrestling matches he’s ever seen, and he’s seen a lot of them. It put lucha libre on the map in the United States mainstream, and it made those two the gigantic stars in this business they are today!”



2. Ric Flair [c] vs. Hulk Hogan, WCW World Title, Bash at the Beach 1994

Hudson: “It may not be the technical masterpiece some would want, but it is undoubtedly the most important match in WCW history. After a decade of “What If’s”, the ULTIMATE dream match was finally happening. The Nature Boy Ric Flair going one on one with the Immortal Hulk Hogan, and the World Title would be on the line live on Pay-Per-View. The stars were out, the wrestling world was watching, and it took WCW from the small, fledgling company under the Turner umbrella to beginning it’s path to being the wrestling juggernaut it was in the late 90’s”



And finally, the GREATEST match in WCW history as voted on by you, the fans…

1. Ricky Steamboat [c] vs. Ric Flair, WCW World Title, WrestleWar 1989

WITH ALL THAT SAID DONE, TOMORROW NIGHT – EIGHT HUGE MATCHES, THREE TITLES ON THE LINE, DEBUTS BEING MADE, A NEW BEGINNING COMING FORWARD – WCW: BIG BANG, FROM LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW! DON’T YOU DARE MISS IT!

[c] World Championship Wrestling / Fusient Media Ventures, LLC

-- Posting this now to be used for later in the Big Bang PPV. Really enjoyed doing it, hope you guys enjoy!

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Piano begins playing lightly.

David Crockett, VO: Welcome to another exciting edition of NWA World Championship Wrestling…

Jim Ross, VO: Thank you all for tuning in to another edition of WCW Saturday Night, we’ll see ya next week!

Tony Schiavone, VO: Welcome fans to the most exciting two hours of television coming to you live on TNT, welcome to another edition of Monday Nitro…



It couldn't have happened

to a better man .



it couldn't be different than it was.



And you're wrapped in my memory like chains.



Oh i say that the flowers will

always be there in my heart.



Like an old-fashioned movie with



All of you playing the part.



I'll never forget your part.



Wonder if i'll ever



Be so unafraid



To walk to a river

and turn around again.



Oh i say that the flowers will

always be there in my heart.



Like an old-fashioned movie with

all of you playing the part.



I'll never forget your part.



Standing on that stage

tell us what you've been feeling.



Before we started to fade…



You gave me something to believe in

And that's the best thing anyone can give.



And you're wrapped in my memory like chains



Yeah, you're only a memory now



Yeah, you're only a memory now



Yeah, you're only a memory now



I can't wait until we see each other again.



I can't wait until we see each other again.



I can't wait until we see each other again.



And you're wrapped in my memory like chains.



Dusty Rhodes, VO: Grab a dream! Hold on to it! And shoot for the stars!