2001: A Wrestling Odyssey

The show opened how Eric Bischoff always liked to - with the Cruiserweight division. However, the heyday of the Cruiserweight title is long past, and while Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Shane Helms are certainly capable competitors, they just don't have the crowd behind them like a Rey Mysterio or Eddie Guerrero did in 97/98. Chavo picks up the win to retain by putting his feet on the ropes to score a pinfall.

"Mean" Gene tries to pry the mystery man's identity out of Flair, but Ric tells him he'll get his scoop when everyone else does - later tonight. Someone explain why we are hyping the main event after everyone would have purchased the show?

The United States title went on the line in a "chain on a pole" match. I thought they got rid of Russo? At least it wasn't viagra, I suppose. Ending comes when General Hugh G. Rection takes some friendly fire from Sgt. A-WALL leading to Douglas getting the win and the title. Let's hope this is winding down for the MIA as their run has been ups and downs but mostly down.

A few backstage type segments see Nash and Page talking off camera about wanting to go after singles gold... while being the Tag champions. That makes a lot of sense to no one. Mike Sanders wants to buy Kronik's support, but they have already been bought off. And then Scott Steiner is shown arriving a half hour late to the building, and in true Steinerism he "don't care 'bout no mysteriousness" whatever that means.

The ten participants in the Hardcore battle royal were now former champion Terry Funk, Crowbar, Meng, Tracy Smothers, Sgt. A-WALL, Kwee Wee (hopefully as a joke entry?), Fit Finlay, J.C. Ice, Norman Smiley, and eventual winner Road Warrior Animal. Smothers was only signed to a one night deal, and was using the gimmick of Comic Relief. J.C. Ice was in the same category, though he was portraying the same Redneck that he is off camera. The final four were Animal, Funk, Meng, and Crowbar, with Crowbar being eliminated last. Meng had the most eliminations with four. In an amusing bit, Smiley was briefly overjoyed thinking that Glacier had come to join the match, but he wasn't officially in the bout and Norman was eliminated in his confusion while Glacier did his entrance. The match was a bit of a mess though, as Finlay and Funk were not able to perform at their best in the chaotic mayhem. However the chaos actually helped Wall and Kwee Wee from looking terrible. Finlay, Kwee Wee, Meng, Smiley, Animal, Smothers, and Wall all were out of their elements in a fully hardcore based match. But Wall also was very clearly wasted on drugs and painkillers, and you could see how annoyed that made Meng, Crowbar, Smothers, and Kwee Wee at the lack of professionalism. Meng was thrown really far off his game. So maybe next time we should just leave the hardcore matches to the WWF, who have made it work much better with the mix of hardcore action and comedy?

After Jeff Jarrett acts like he has a chance of winning a World title again, the "huge" battle between boring brothers takes place. Reno wins. Surprisingly clean, but who really cares? Totally Buff talk to "Mean" Gene then about wanting to retire Goldberg, blah blah blah.

Speaking earlier about people not working well in their matches, who's bright idea was it to put guys like Rey Mysterio Jr., Billy Kidman, and Elix Skipper in a brawl based match like a Parking Lot Brawl? Sure, it was crazy stuff, but this could have just been in the ring. Even Lance Storm seemed off his game tonight, which is strange for him. Awesome ends up pinning Kidman to end this. Duggan being the referee played into nothing.

The World Tag Team title match commenced with the Thrillers contingent being the fairly new team of Palumbo and O'Haire. According to rumors, DDP wanted some protections to lose gracefully to the youngsters, and was kept strong by needing more than one finishing move to put him away. Letting him get away with this is proof that the bad old days are here again, as Bischoff just lets his buddies tell him how the show should be written. If this is how things will go in the "new" WCW, it won't be long until the WWF comes knocking with a handful of cash.

What a joke it must be to want to be the WCW Commissioner, that they treated the match for the job as a comedy bout. Kronik lock away the Thrillers to make it a fair match between Sanders and Ernest Miller, as it is revealed that Miss Jones was the one who paid them for tonight. "The Cat" picks up the win and becomes Commissioner again in a silly match that saw him win thanks to Jones kicking Sanders in the balls. But even in this unfunny comedy spot, Ernest Miller had to get checked out by trainers as it seems he picked up some neck-nerve damage.

Goldberg had to be placated a lot in order to put over Totally Buff. He had to not only dominate the match but also be completely protected, even with having his "mentor" DeWayne Bruce turn on him. The rumor is that he has been needing shoulder surgery for some time now, and this will accomplish several things: give him time for the surgery, write him off television to bring him back in a bigger way, and get him out of this silly "redo the streak" storyline. It doesn't help that the match featured one guy who never was taught how to wrestle (Goldberg), two talentless bodies (Buff and Lex), and one jobber who stood on the apron until it was time for his turn spot. Somehow, though, the turn was a complete success and the crowd were really surprised that Goldberg didn't just mow through his opponents here.

Main Event time saw Ric Flair start the match as a triple threat and say that his mystery man would reveal himself later. The reveal of Rick Steiner surprised almost no one, but the big Russo-esque swerve at the end seemed to have taken a few off guard when the Steiners, Ric Flair, and Jeff Jarrett joined forces to take down Sid. Mostly because it looks like now we just have a new nWo story to play with, which was played out two years ago. I guess we'll see how it goes, but this journalist has little hope right now. Then again, rumors had suggested that they almost considered putting Road Warrior Animal in this slot, so I suppose it could have gone worse. But again, the turns of Ric and Rick were a complete success, the fans getting behind it and giving it to them like they should have. Jeff Jarrett was really off his game in this match, likely due to the shenanigans that were about to take place. The Insiders make the save for Sid to close out the show.

You would think that three heel turns practically in a row would have tanked the ending of this show, but somehow there is some intrigue among fans. The show was received pretty well, and it looks like the new Bischoff regime, against all odds, starts off on a decent showing. It picked up a 0.47 buyrate (189,185 buys) with 0.09 rating on DSF. With SuperBrawl set for next month, we will see how things go by then. Reports say that following the show, Scott Steiner and Ric Flair were complimented on good performances, and Goldberg was sent off with a hug. They all seemed pleased.