03/04/2006
Minnreg Hall in Largo, FL
WCW World Television Championship: Samoa Joe© vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tanahashi came into this match still selling injuries at the hands of Next GEN at WCW Superbrawl XII, specifically his neck and back. Joe immediately went after those injuries and it looked like this might be a short match, but Tanahashi kept fighting back, showing great resilience and strength. Tanhashi eventually fought back and nailed a couple of impactful moves like the Sling Blade, a Diving Sunset Flip, and the All-Out slam but could not get the victory. Instead, those moves seemed to weaken him down, and Joe was able to connect with the Island Driver to pick up the big victory.
Result: In a bout that had good wrestling and a decent reaction from the crowd, Samoa Joe defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in 13:04 by pinfall with an Island Driver. Samoa Joe makes defence number twelve of the WCW World Television title. (63)
After the match Samoa Joe displayed a surprising amount of respect as he helped Tanahashi to his feet….just to nail him with a Lariat, and lock in the Coquina Clutch. It was AJ Styles who came running out to chase Joe away.
Christian Cage came out for a big celebration with the WCW World Championship, but he mentioned he was disappointed that his friend Rhino could not be here to celebrate with him due to Abyss injuring him. That brought out Father James Mitchell who pointed out that Christian would be next. Mitchell proved to be a distraction for Abyss who attacked Cage, and ended up putting Christian through the commentary table with a Chokeslam!
As Cage was getting medical assistance, a video played on Fergal Devitt hyping his debut….next!
Fergal Devitt vs. Shannon Moore
This was a high-flying match with both men going out of their way to show off their aerial attacks. Moore took over, but was soon overwhelmed by the younger Irishman began to work over the arm of Moore which led to Fergal getting the victory with the Devitt’s End.
Result: In a bout that had sub-par wrestling and non-existent crowd heat, Fergal Devitt defeated Shannon Moore in 8:10 by submission with a Devitt's End. (42)
WCW Control Center with Don West! Don West hyped up the results from WCW Superbrawl XII with clips and still images, while talking about the replays that you could order!
NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett © vs. Scott Hall
The fans were excited for this match, but quickly started to realize that Scott Hall was not in great shape which held the match back. Jeff Jarrett managed to use smoke and mirrors though to make this a passable match and got the victory over Hall with the Stroke to defend the Championship.
Result: In a bout that had great heat and decent wrestling, Jeff Jarrett defeated Scott Hall in 9:44 by pinfall with The Stroke. Jeff Jarrett makes defence number two of the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title. (48)
After the match, an angry Jeff Jarrett was not done as he continued to attack Hall. That’s when the lights went out…lighting….thunder…seek and destroy….IT’S STTTTTTTTTTTTINGG! Sting chased Jeff out of the ring with his baseball bat and stood victorious as Nitro went off the air.
Overall Rating: 57, the fans were waiting all night for Sting to show up, and they absolutely blew the roof off at the end of the show when he showed up. That helped to erase some of the taste of that Scott Hall match, as it is clear that he has not been actively working out or in the ring in a while. The other matches were good tonight though, and the debut of Devitt seemed to go off pretty well as the fans seemed to eat him up.
