WCW: Heart and Soul

Ah ok I wasn't aware all of those promotions had women's divisions lol.  Forget I said anything.



The Shooting Stars vs. Jung Dragons vs. Made in Italy

AJ Styles vs. Prince Devitt

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero

Shane Helms vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan vs. The Dangerous Alliance (O’Haire and Douglas)

Chris Jericho vs. Brian Kendrick

Steenerico vs. True Heroes (©) for the World Tag Team Championship

Steven Regal vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Goldberg vs. The Unnatural

King Corino vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship

How many championships will change hands? 1
What will be the match of the night? Punk vs. Corino
TIEBREAKER: What will be the match time for the main event (minutes and seconds)? 22:14
BONUS: Who will be the next World Heavyweight Champion? Lance Storm

Official Prediction Card

The Shooting Stars vs. Jung Dragons vs. Made in Italy

AJ Styles vs. Prince Devitt

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero

Shane Helms vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship

Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan vs. The Dangerous Alliance (O’Haire and Douglas)

Chris Jericho vs. Brian Kendrick

Steenerico vs. True Heroes (©) for the World Tag Team Championship

Steven Regal vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship

Goldberg vs. The Unnatural

Love how the relationship with New Japan is going so far. Finally getting the belt off of Choshu and combining the Junior and Cruiserweight titles are both good moves and I'm excited to see where you go from here.

The Shooting Stars vs. Jung Dragons vs. Made in Italy - The boys resigned got to give them some momentum. Also, Keibler is the hottest so...

AJ Styles vs. Prince Devitt - I might have gone with Devitt but his recent poor performance makes me think AJ wins.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero - Eddie keeps his momentum strong waiting for his title shot.

Shane Helms vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship - Helms is a solid hand to have but Nak is the future.

Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan vs. The Dangerous Alliance (O’Haire and Douglas) - Another team with a future shot. That combined with Konnan being Konnan makes me pick the Alliance.

Chris Jericho vs. Brian Kendrick - Kendrick has been fun in this role, but no way Jericho loses.

Steenerico vs. True Heroes (©) for the World Tag Team Championship - Steenerico put in a good showing but the Heroes cling on.

Steven Regal vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship - The mentor bests the student in this first encounter but I doubt this is the last we'll see of these two together.

Goldberg vs. The Unnatural - Got to keep Goldberg strong in those national battles. I'll be interested to see how Salvation rebuilds from here.

King Corino vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship - I think Corino could win it since no one who has won Mayhem has yet but I think Punk keeps being the double champ a little longer.

How many championships will change hands? 1
What will be the match of the night? Corino/Punk
TIEBREAKER: What will be the match time for the main event (minutes and seconds)? 28:44
BONUS: Who will be the next World Heavyweight Champion? Eddie Guerrero

June 13th, 2004

From Yankee Stadium in New York City

Attendance: 50,665

Announce Team: "The Professor" Mike Tenay and Bret "The Hitman" Hart




Joining Tony Schiavone, Don Callis and Maria Kanellis on tonight’s panel are special guests Matt Hardy and Tammy Sytch



Steenerico vs. True Heroes (©) for the World Tag Team Championship

We started off with this match to give Punk as much of a rest as possible in between this and his main event (both in kayfabe and in reality.) The Heroes turned in another excellent outing here, but Steen and Generico aren’t really at that level yet and it showed. Steen in particular struggled to hold up his end of the performance. The match was a decent way to begin the show, but nowhere near the caliber of title match we’re used to seeing from the Heroes.

The story that unfolded in this match was Punk coming up limping after a leap frog, which Steen and Generico exploited throughout the rest of the match. Lance took the bulk of the work from there and forced Generico to tap out to the Calgary Clutch, but the story after the match was Punk needing to be helped to the back.

AJ Styles vs. Prince Devitt
This was a big opportunity for Devitt, but results were mixed. The match was good enough to keep building the crowd up, but came in far below expectations. Part of the problem was that AJ and Fergal didn’t seem to work too well together, mistiming some things and not communicating very well. AJ won a so-so match after 9 and a half minutes with the Styles Clash. AJ kept beating on him after the match until Randy Savage came out, talked to him and led him to the back.

The Shooting Stars vs. Jung Dragons vs. Made in Italy
This was an exciting, fast-paced match, with all three teams shining and getting some great moments throughout. If there was a ‘weak link’ it was Teddy Hart, but he was fine honestly; it was just that everyone else did such a great job. While all three valets bickered at ringside, the Dragons picked up the win by double teaming Tony Mamaluke and hitting him with the Objection. But while the Dragons won, Dawn Marie got a bit of revenge on Stacy after the match by revealing that SHE was going to be on the poster for next month’s Bash at the Beach PPV, which Stacy did not react well to.


Shane Helms vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (©) for the World Television Championship
The attempt to build Nakamura into a sensation continues. This was a decent enough match that did what it was supposed to do, which was give Shinsuke another notable win when he forced Helms to tap out to the cross armbreaker. This was Nakamura’s 7th title defense, meaning he could potentially vacate the title and go for the US belt if he makes three more.

We cut to Dusty Rhodes dropping by the trainer’s room to check on CM Punk. The trainer seemed concerned about his knee, but Punk insisted that he was going to defend his title tonight. Considering the alternative was forfeiting the match and vacating the title, Punk said he wasn’t going to walk away from this if he could help it. The trainer had his concerns but said he could compete if he was willing to risk it.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero
This was a match here largely to set things up for later, but the Guerreros produced a sneaky great match together. It was nearly fifteen minutes of great action that the crowd gave a decent reaction to, with Chavo trying to shake off his recent struggles and get a huge win over his uncle. Ultimately he came up short though, and took a clean loss after a frog splash. Afterwards Eddie helped his nephew up off of the mat and walked to the back with him, which had Mike and I speculating on commentary.

We finally visited our panel, and after recapping the Unified Junior Heavyweight title that will be featured less often in WCW due to its demand all over the world, Tammy vowed that TAKA would take all three belts back, whether in the US, Japan or wherever he needed to go to get them.

Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan vs. The Dangerous Alliance (O’Haire and Douglas)
Continuing the trend that the last match started, this was far better than I expected it to be. Konnan wasn’t quite on the level of the other three, but Rey and the Dangerous Alliance did well enough to make this match a great one. The wrestling was good, and the fans were into it. The buildup to the match was all about whether Rey could trust Konnan, but ironically it was an errant springboard dropkick from Rey which accidentally hit Konnan and set him up for O’Haire’s Cyclone.

Three Wise Men were guests on an unannounced Piper’s Pit. The new team talked about how their combined intelligence would allow them to outthink all the other teams and ascend to the top of the tag ranks. Roddy, who came across well here, seemed less than impressed, taking some playful jabs at their intelligence or lack thereof.

Chris Jericho vs. Brian Kendrick
Another very strong match here; this was shaping up to be quite the show by this point. Kendrick was really good and Jericho was great here. It was the world-class veteran against the cocky but talented youngster, with Mike and I commenting that Kendrick reminded us both of Jericho circa 1997 or 1998. Maybe he’ll follow Jericho’s trajectory and become a world champion himself some day, but tonight the veteran was too much for him. Jericho seized his moment and secured the tap out with the Liontamer.

The panel debated the upcoming US title match. Matt Hardy thought youth would be served and Danielson would get revenge on his treacherous mentor, but Tammy Sytch said Regal’s skill, smarts and ruthlessness would lead to a new champion.


Steven Regal vs. Bryan Danielson (©) for the United States Heavyweight Championship
It had been a string of amazing matches up to this point, but Danielson and Regal topped them all. This was a technical wrestling fan’s dream; a slow-building, smart match that told an amazing story, with the student showing the mentor that his skills were very much on his level. In reality I thought Bryan looked like the superior performer of the two here, but in kayfabe the idea was that they were evenly matched. He even took Regal down to the mat and locked in the Cattle Mutilation right in the center of the ring. Regal was still trapped in the hold when the bell rang, but it wasn’t because he’d submitted. The 30 minute time limit had expired, and the match ended in a draw.

Back with the panel, where Matt Hardy said he couldn’t wait for Goldberg to get his hands on The Unnatural, who he still blamed for everything that had happened with his brother Jeff. Tammy told him not to overlook The Unnatural, who had defied people’s expectations for almost a full year as champion.

Goldberg vs. The Unnatural

Was this as good as the classic right before it? No. But it was still great all on its own, even if it was hurt by a lack of convincing selling. The heat was off the charts here; I think the fans were more into this than anything so far. They ate it all up as Unnatural did his best to avoid the angry Goldberg. They didn’t get the conclusion they were hoping for though, because Mortis and The Destroyer hit the ring and attacked Goldberg for the DQ.

The members of Salvation continued to beat on Goldberg after the match, only stopping when a host of security and officials, plus Hayabusa and Paul London, came out to break it up. On his way out Unnatural grabbed the microphone and told Goldberg he should have stayed away when he had the chance. “You could have gone to Japan and rebuilt your life, or you could have even taken the big money offer from Stamford. Instead you stayed, and now you must be destroyed for the good of everyone.”

Before the main event, the panel argued over whether it was wise for CM Punk to risk major injury by defending the title. Sytch said he was going to lose to Corino anyway so he might as well save himself the pain, but Matt disagreed. He brought up the legendary battles between the Hardys and True Heroes, and said he’d learned firsthand what kind of fighter CM Punk was.


King Corino vs. CM Punk (©) for the World Heavyweight Championship
This was an excellent match, and if it weren’t for the performance Danielson and Regal put on it would’ve been the best of the night. The action was great and the crowd ate it up. The key difference between the two is that Danielson and Regal are both masters of telling a compelling story in the ring. Punk and Corino aren’t bad at it but they aren’t at that level of psychology either, and it showed. There were just a few moments here and there that took the match down a notch or two.

Obviously the story was built around Corino aggressively targeting the injured knee, and he took enough of a beating that Mike and I began saying that he might have been better off forfeiting the match and not exposing himself to this. The champion persevered though, and after kicking away from an attempted figure four he rolled Corino up and caught him for a pinfall and a successful title defense at 24:19.

Punk didn’t get much of a chance to bask in his victory, because the Dangerous Alliance stepped onto the ramp after the match. Paul Heyman told both he and Storm that Shane Douglas and Sean O’Haire would be using the tag team title match guaranteed to them by Douglas’ UFS win, and they’d be using it tomorrow night on Nitro. “So ice that knee up, kid, because in about 24 hours you’ve gotta do it all over again!”







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