An Alternate History of WCW - 1998 and Beyond
Jul 10, 2022 5:37:51 GMT 1
Asaemon, dhk1989, and 4 more like this
Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Jul 10, 2022 5:37:51 GMT 1
Part XXXVIII: WCW Bound For Glory 2001
When I was looking at the various PPV names on the WCW schedule, there were definitely a few that I wanted to change. As you saw earlier in this series, I was pretty quick to drop Road Wild and World War 3 from the rotation. The next PPV name that I was looking to drop was SuperBrawl. I don't know why, but that show name was never one I liked that much. So instead, I decided to dip into the TNA pool, and decided to pick Bound For Glory. Of course, that's TNA's biggest show of the year in OTL, but in this alternate history, I decided to make it a yearly showcase of wrestlers from Japan. For the inaugural edition of Bound For Glory, the main event features some of the top stars from both WCW and Pro Wrestling NOAH in a All-Star Six-Man Tag. Making the trip over from NOAH are Mitsuharu Misawa and Jun Akiyama, with the former teaming with Ric Flair and Sting, while the latter teams with Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Now while there aren't a ton of Japanese names on this card, the plan going forward is to feature a lot more Japanese talents on the PPV, so look for the 2002 edition of Bound For Glory to be a lot bigger in that regard.
The main event also serves to continue the ongoing issues between Chris Jericho and Sting. In fact, it was an assist from Chris Benoit that led to Chris Jericho and Lance Storm regaining the ECW World Tag Team Titles from Ric Flair and Sting on the January 15th Nitro.
This PPV features five title matches, and out of those, the highest on the card was Booker T vs. Mike Awesome for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. I had gone back-and-forth on a number of different guys in terms of potential challengers for this PPV (when putting together my 2001 PPV cards), and in the end, I decided on Mike Awesome. He earned the shot by virtue of winning a Fatal Four-Way Match on the January 22nd Nitro that also involved Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, and Lex Luger. With both Awesome and Booker being babyfaces, the build was pretty straight forward. Awesome pinned Luger in the aforementioned Four-Way, and that would lead to a brief mini-feud with Awesome and Booker T against Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger. Another title bout would see the WCW United States Title on the line, as Owen Hart would go up against Eddie Guerrero. A more clean heel/face dynamic here, but another pretty straightforward build, with Eddie pinning Owen in a multi-person tag to set this one up. This is a match that I definitely booked just so two great wrestlers could have an awesome match on a PPV. Doesn't get much simpler than that.
Two of the three tag team titles would be defended on this PPV as well. Edge and Christian would have another clash with The Hardy Boyz, though obviously the big difference is that both are babyfaces. So there was another reason why I booked this match for this PPV (a straight two-on-two with no stipulations), and I'll get to that later. Meanwhile, the PPV opener featured a bunch of competitors who were in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament, as Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis would defend their NWA World Tag Team Titles against three different teams. It's quite the collection of talent involved in that one when you look at the lineup a little further down this post. It was a match that I felt would do a very good job in that opening match slot, and as you'll see later, it did indeed perform pretty well.
Of course, the larger feud between The Radicalz and WCW continued on this card. Aside from Owen Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero, this show also featured a Triple Threat Match for the ECW World Heavyweight Title, with Rob Van Dam defending against Rhino and Kurt Angle. Following Souled Out, The Radicalz decided to make a play for Kurt Angle. This led to an angle on the January 22nd Nitro where Angle decided to reject their offer, which led to a beatdown by The Radicalz. They would also attack Angle's manager Rick Rude on either Thunder or Saturday Night (don't recall which), and this would pretty much write Rude off as Angle's manager. Angle would return a week or so later (now fully a babyface) and went after one main guys involved in the beatdown, Rhino. Now it had already been announced that Rhino would get a rematch for the ECW World Heavyweight Title against Rob Van Dam at Bound For Glory, but Rowdy Roddy Piper (one of WCW's Authority Figures) declared that if Angle could beat Rhino on the February 5th Nitro, the bout at the PPV would become a Triple Threat Match. Angle would get the win, and per the stipulation, was added to the match.
Another bout on this show between The Radicalz and WCW would be in the form of a Six-Man Tag, as Andrew Martin and The Dudley Boyz (representing The Radicalz, of course) took on the team of Bret Hart and The Outsiders. There's a couple of different elements going into this one. Andrew Martin and Kevin Nash have been continuing their feud over the WCW World Television Title, with Nash retaining the title against Martin in a Steel Cage on January 29th Nitro. Martin also has a history with Bret Hart, as he was Hart's bodyguard/semi-regular tag team partner during their Team Canada days. Then you have The Dudley Boyz, who are coming off a heel turn at Souled Out that led to them joining The Radicalz in the aftermath. They attacked Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, along with Edge and Christian, after their WCW World Tag Team Title bout on that show, so that's how they fit into this particular contest.
Of course, you all know about the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Finals, which I already confirmed in my previous posting on the tournament. The only other thing to really note is that the elimination order will determine the podium finishers (essentially who finishes 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).
The only other match that I haven't mentioned is Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg. Of course, they were involved in the aforementioned #1 Contender's Match that Mike Awesome won, but their interactions led to the rekindling of a friendly rivalry between two of WCW's most popular stars. However, things would be a little more different this time. Page goes into this one with a lot of different emotions. He's faced Goldberg so many times before (mostly in WCW World Heavyweight Title bouts), and he came up short every single time. He's facing the man who's stood in his way time and time again from reaching the top prize in WCW. Page had declared beforehand that he was going to try to be more aggressive, and he also noted that he would do "whatever it takes" to finally get that elusive win over Goldberg. More on that after the PPV.
In terms of other title changes, I have a few to make note of. Firstly, the WCW Women's Title changed hands on the January 22nd Nitro, as Madusa (the first champion in the lineage of this revived version of the title) defeated Amy Dumas. Next up is the ECW World Television Title, which switched a couple of times. On the January 15th Nitro, Dusty Rhodes captured the title from Steve Corino in a Street Fight, thanks to some help from Tommy Dreamer, who fought off The Sandman when he tried to interfere. Dusty's run with the title would only last two weeks however, as on the February 1st Thunder, Corino regained the title from Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope Match that headlined the show. As I was typing this out, I thought I was going to make note of some WCW Hardcore Title changes but, in fact, the title didn't change hands at all since the last PPV. Bam Bam Bigelow's been on a nice little run, at least by the standards of the WCW Hardcore Title.
With all of that out of the way, let's get into the PPV!!
WCW Bound For Glory 2001
February 18th, 2001 - The Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, Michigan
1.) NWA World Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match - Rebels Rizing (Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang) def. Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis (c), Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck (with James Vanderberg), and The FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke)
2.) Six-Man Tag - The Radicalz (Andrew Martin & The Dudley Boyz with The Duchess of Dudleyville) def. Bret Hart & The Outsiders (WCW World Television Champion Kevin Nash & Scott Hall)
3.) Best Of The Super Cruiserweights - Finals - Four-Way Elimination Match - AJ Styles def. Billy Kidman, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Rey Mysterio Jr.
4.) WCW United States Title - Owen Hart (c) def. Eddie Guerrero
5.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Edge & Christian (c) vs. The Hardy Boys - No Contest
6.) ECW World Heavyweight Title - Triple Threat Match - Kurt Angle def. Rob Van Dam (c) & Rhino
7.) Diamond Dallas Page def. Goldberg
8.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Booker T (c) def. Mike Awesome
9.) Six-Man Tag - Mitsuharu Misawa, Ric Flair, & Sting def. Chris Benoit, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho, & Jun Akiyama
For Bound For Glory 2001, I got an overall score of 87%, which was a 7% jump from Souled Out 2001. So a bit of a rollercoaster ride as of late with the PPV scores. For this particular show, Match Of The Night honors (unsurprisingly) went to Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz for the WCW World Tag Team Titles with a 98% score, despite the fact that it ended in a No Contest. Behind that were Owen Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero for the WCW United States Title and Rob Van Dam vs. Rhino vs. Kurt Angle for the ECW World Heavyweight Title, which both earned a 93% score. Continuing with the theme of matches ending up with the same score, FOUR bouts wound up with a score of 86%. Those were the Four-Way Elimination Tag Team Match for the NWA World Tag Team Titles, the Six-Man Tag with The Radicalz against Bret Hart and The Outsiders, the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Finals (those three were all in a row) and the Main Event. Booker T vs. Mike Awesome for the WCW World Heavyweight Title finished with an 82% score, while Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg was the worst match of the night at 73% (which is hardly a bad score).
So I have a lot of additional points to go over with this PPV. Firstly, the elimination order in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Final would see Jushin Thunder Liger eliminated first, followed by Billy Kidman. The final two would be AJ Styles and Rey Mysterio Jr., with Styles getting the victory in the end. Styles went on an undefeated run to win the inaugural Best Of The Super Cruiserweights, and thus, earns himself a future shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Title. Meanwhile, the reason why the WCW World Tag Team Title bout ended in a No Contest was because The Dudley Boyz ran down to the ring and attacked both teams. Of course, these three had a Triangle Ladder Match for the titles at Starrcade 2000, and I'm sure you can all guess where this one is going....
Finally, I have to close out by talking about the Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg match. Obviously what I'm about to go over isn't stuff that occurred in the game, but this is basically a larger explanation of how I saw all this playing out. So late in the match, the referee gets taken out when Page sidestepped a Goldberg spear attempt. When I saw he's out, he is OUT. Anyway, Sabu showed up out of nowhere and tried to attack Goldberg with a chair, though Goldberg would fight though Sabu's attack and nailed him with a spear. William Regal then came out to the ring and tried to attack Goldberg. Just like Sabu, he would get a few shots in before he too got taken out by Goldberg. Then Raven (with a chair of his own) showed up and tried to attack Goldberg, but once again, Goldberg got the better of him. You notice how all of these men are members of The Radicalz? At this stage, Eddie Guerrero and Paul Heyman make their way down to ringside as Page (who had been down through all of these attacks) is starting to finally get to his feet. Guerrero gets on the apron as Goldberg challenges him to get into the ring, and then....Page nails Goldberg with a low blow from behind! At the behest of Heyman, Page grabs the chair that had been left in the ring by Raven, and just goes to town on Goldberg while he's down. Guerrero and Heyman finally wake up the referee as Page nails the Diamond Cutter and gets the 1....2....3. Diamond Dallas Page finally gets his elusive victory over Goldberg.
While this wasn't a feud that ongoing in the EWR game itself, this whole storyline with Diamond Dallas Page is one that I've had planned almost from the beginning. Page was one of the most popular stars in WCW. He was one of the main WCW guys leading the charge against the nWo. However, in less than a year, Goldberg had surpassed him. As I mentioned earlier, Diamond Dallas Page had numerous title shots against Goldberg, on some big stages too (Starrcade 1998 and Halloween Havoc 1999 come to mind), but he was never able to win the title from Goldberg. Even though Page had beaten pretty much everyone there was to beat in WCW, Goldberg was the one guy that he just couldn't beat, and that really struck a chord with Page. Goldberg was the guy who prevented him from reaching the top of the mountain in WCW, and he RESENTED Goldberg for that. He never showed in on-screen, though it did started to come to surface a bit in the buildup to this match. Like I said earlier, Page said in the buildup to this PPV that would do whatever it took to finally beat Goldberg, and in the end, he made a deal with the devil, as he agreed to join The Radicalz in order to get their help in giving him that elusive win over Goldberg. In a way, it's designed to mirror Steve Austin's real life heel turn at WrestleMania X7 when he aligned himself with Vince McMahon (though I'm sure Page's heel turn won't hurt business the way Austin's did lol). Bottom line is that this was a story that I've had in place for a long time, and that was the long version of the execution of it.
Finally defeating Goldberg was the first step in Diamond Dallas Page's master plan, but what about second step? Tune in next time for Uncensored 2001 to find out.
The main event also serves to continue the ongoing issues between Chris Jericho and Sting. In fact, it was an assist from Chris Benoit that led to Chris Jericho and Lance Storm regaining the ECW World Tag Team Titles from Ric Flair and Sting on the January 15th Nitro.
This PPV features five title matches, and out of those, the highest on the card was Booker T vs. Mike Awesome for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. I had gone back-and-forth on a number of different guys in terms of potential challengers for this PPV (when putting together my 2001 PPV cards), and in the end, I decided on Mike Awesome. He earned the shot by virtue of winning a Fatal Four-Way Match on the January 22nd Nitro that also involved Diamond Dallas Page, Goldberg, and Lex Luger. With both Awesome and Booker being babyfaces, the build was pretty straight forward. Awesome pinned Luger in the aforementioned Four-Way, and that would lead to a brief mini-feud with Awesome and Booker T against Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger. Another title bout would see the WCW United States Title on the line, as Owen Hart would go up against Eddie Guerrero. A more clean heel/face dynamic here, but another pretty straightforward build, with Eddie pinning Owen in a multi-person tag to set this one up. This is a match that I definitely booked just so two great wrestlers could have an awesome match on a PPV. Doesn't get much simpler than that.
Two of the three tag team titles would be defended on this PPV as well. Edge and Christian would have another clash with The Hardy Boyz, though obviously the big difference is that both are babyfaces. So there was another reason why I booked this match for this PPV (a straight two-on-two with no stipulations), and I'll get to that later. Meanwhile, the PPV opener featured a bunch of competitors who were in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament, as Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis would defend their NWA World Tag Team Titles against three different teams. It's quite the collection of talent involved in that one when you look at the lineup a little further down this post. It was a match that I felt would do a very good job in that opening match slot, and as you'll see later, it did indeed perform pretty well.
Of course, the larger feud between The Radicalz and WCW continued on this card. Aside from Owen Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero, this show also featured a Triple Threat Match for the ECW World Heavyweight Title, with Rob Van Dam defending against Rhino and Kurt Angle. Following Souled Out, The Radicalz decided to make a play for Kurt Angle. This led to an angle on the January 22nd Nitro where Angle decided to reject their offer, which led to a beatdown by The Radicalz. They would also attack Angle's manager Rick Rude on either Thunder or Saturday Night (don't recall which), and this would pretty much write Rude off as Angle's manager. Angle would return a week or so later (now fully a babyface) and went after one main guys involved in the beatdown, Rhino. Now it had already been announced that Rhino would get a rematch for the ECW World Heavyweight Title against Rob Van Dam at Bound For Glory, but Rowdy Roddy Piper (one of WCW's Authority Figures) declared that if Angle could beat Rhino on the February 5th Nitro, the bout at the PPV would become a Triple Threat Match. Angle would get the win, and per the stipulation, was added to the match.
Another bout on this show between The Radicalz and WCW would be in the form of a Six-Man Tag, as Andrew Martin and The Dudley Boyz (representing The Radicalz, of course) took on the team of Bret Hart and The Outsiders. There's a couple of different elements going into this one. Andrew Martin and Kevin Nash have been continuing their feud over the WCW World Television Title, with Nash retaining the title against Martin in a Steel Cage on January 29th Nitro. Martin also has a history with Bret Hart, as he was Hart's bodyguard/semi-regular tag team partner during their Team Canada days. Then you have The Dudley Boyz, who are coming off a heel turn at Souled Out that led to them joining The Radicalz in the aftermath. They attacked Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, along with Edge and Christian, after their WCW World Tag Team Title bout on that show, so that's how they fit into this particular contest.
Of course, you all know about the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Finals, which I already confirmed in my previous posting on the tournament. The only other thing to really note is that the elimination order will determine the podium finishers (essentially who finishes 2nd, 3rd, and 4th).
The only other match that I haven't mentioned is Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg. Of course, they were involved in the aforementioned #1 Contender's Match that Mike Awesome won, but their interactions led to the rekindling of a friendly rivalry between two of WCW's most popular stars. However, things would be a little more different this time. Page goes into this one with a lot of different emotions. He's faced Goldberg so many times before (mostly in WCW World Heavyweight Title bouts), and he came up short every single time. He's facing the man who's stood in his way time and time again from reaching the top prize in WCW. Page had declared beforehand that he was going to try to be more aggressive, and he also noted that he would do "whatever it takes" to finally get that elusive win over Goldberg. More on that after the PPV.
In terms of other title changes, I have a few to make note of. Firstly, the WCW Women's Title changed hands on the January 22nd Nitro, as Madusa (the first champion in the lineage of this revived version of the title) defeated Amy Dumas. Next up is the ECW World Television Title, which switched a couple of times. On the January 15th Nitro, Dusty Rhodes captured the title from Steve Corino in a Street Fight, thanks to some help from Tommy Dreamer, who fought off The Sandman when he tried to interfere. Dusty's run with the title would only last two weeks however, as on the February 1st Thunder, Corino regained the title from Rhodes in a Texas Bullrope Match that headlined the show. As I was typing this out, I thought I was going to make note of some WCW Hardcore Title changes but, in fact, the title didn't change hands at all since the last PPV. Bam Bam Bigelow's been on a nice little run, at least by the standards of the WCW Hardcore Title.
With all of that out of the way, let's get into the PPV!!
WCW Bound For Glory 2001
February 18th, 2001 - The Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, Michigan
1.) NWA World Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match - Rebels Rizing (Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang) def. Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis (c), Yoshihiro Tajiri & Mikey Whipwreck (with James Vanderberg), and The FBI (Little Guido & Tony Mamaluke)
2.) Six-Man Tag - The Radicalz (Andrew Martin & The Dudley Boyz with The Duchess of Dudleyville) def. Bret Hart & The Outsiders (WCW World Television Champion Kevin Nash & Scott Hall)
3.) Best Of The Super Cruiserweights - Finals - Four-Way Elimination Match - AJ Styles def. Billy Kidman, Jushin Thunder Liger, & Rey Mysterio Jr.
4.) WCW United States Title - Owen Hart (c) def. Eddie Guerrero
5.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Edge & Christian (c) vs. The Hardy Boys - No Contest
6.) ECW World Heavyweight Title - Triple Threat Match - Kurt Angle def. Rob Van Dam (c) & Rhino
7.) Diamond Dallas Page def. Goldberg
8.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Booker T (c) def. Mike Awesome
9.) Six-Man Tag - Mitsuharu Misawa, Ric Flair, & Sting def. Chris Benoit, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Chris Jericho, & Jun Akiyama
For Bound For Glory 2001, I got an overall score of 87%, which was a 7% jump from Souled Out 2001. So a bit of a rollercoaster ride as of late with the PPV scores. For this particular show, Match Of The Night honors (unsurprisingly) went to Edge and Christian vs. The Hardy Boyz for the WCW World Tag Team Titles with a 98% score, despite the fact that it ended in a No Contest. Behind that were Owen Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero for the WCW United States Title and Rob Van Dam vs. Rhino vs. Kurt Angle for the ECW World Heavyweight Title, which both earned a 93% score. Continuing with the theme of matches ending up with the same score, FOUR bouts wound up with a score of 86%. Those were the Four-Way Elimination Tag Team Match for the NWA World Tag Team Titles, the Six-Man Tag with The Radicalz against Bret Hart and The Outsiders, the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Finals (those three were all in a row) and the Main Event. Booker T vs. Mike Awesome for the WCW World Heavyweight Title finished with an 82% score, while Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg was the worst match of the night at 73% (which is hardly a bad score).
So I have a lot of additional points to go over with this PPV. Firstly, the elimination order in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweight Final would see Jushin Thunder Liger eliminated first, followed by Billy Kidman. The final two would be AJ Styles and Rey Mysterio Jr., with Styles getting the victory in the end. Styles went on an undefeated run to win the inaugural Best Of The Super Cruiserweights, and thus, earns himself a future shot at the WCW Cruiserweight Title. Meanwhile, the reason why the WCW World Tag Team Title bout ended in a No Contest was because The Dudley Boyz ran down to the ring and attacked both teams. Of course, these three had a Triangle Ladder Match for the titles at Starrcade 2000, and I'm sure you can all guess where this one is going....
Finally, I have to close out by talking about the Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg match. Obviously what I'm about to go over isn't stuff that occurred in the game, but this is basically a larger explanation of how I saw all this playing out. So late in the match, the referee gets taken out when Page sidestepped a Goldberg spear attempt. When I saw he's out, he is OUT. Anyway, Sabu showed up out of nowhere and tried to attack Goldberg with a chair, though Goldberg would fight though Sabu's attack and nailed him with a spear. William Regal then came out to the ring and tried to attack Goldberg. Just like Sabu, he would get a few shots in before he too got taken out by Goldberg. Then Raven (with a chair of his own) showed up and tried to attack Goldberg, but once again, Goldberg got the better of him. You notice how all of these men are members of The Radicalz? At this stage, Eddie Guerrero and Paul Heyman make their way down to ringside as Page (who had been down through all of these attacks) is starting to finally get to his feet. Guerrero gets on the apron as Goldberg challenges him to get into the ring, and then....Page nails Goldberg with a low blow from behind! At the behest of Heyman, Page grabs the chair that had been left in the ring by Raven, and just goes to town on Goldberg while he's down. Guerrero and Heyman finally wake up the referee as Page nails the Diamond Cutter and gets the 1....2....3. Diamond Dallas Page finally gets his elusive victory over Goldberg.
While this wasn't a feud that ongoing in the EWR game itself, this whole storyline with Diamond Dallas Page is one that I've had planned almost from the beginning. Page was one of the most popular stars in WCW. He was one of the main WCW guys leading the charge against the nWo. However, in less than a year, Goldberg had surpassed him. As I mentioned earlier, Diamond Dallas Page had numerous title shots against Goldberg, on some big stages too (Starrcade 1998 and Halloween Havoc 1999 come to mind), but he was never able to win the title from Goldberg. Even though Page had beaten pretty much everyone there was to beat in WCW, Goldberg was the one guy that he just couldn't beat, and that really struck a chord with Page. Goldberg was the guy who prevented him from reaching the top of the mountain in WCW, and he RESENTED Goldberg for that. He never showed in on-screen, though it did started to come to surface a bit in the buildup to this match. Like I said earlier, Page said in the buildup to this PPV that would do whatever it took to finally beat Goldberg, and in the end, he made a deal with the devil, as he agreed to join The Radicalz in order to get their help in giving him that elusive win over Goldberg. In a way, it's designed to mirror Steve Austin's real life heel turn at WrestleMania X7 when he aligned himself with Vince McMahon (though I'm sure Page's heel turn won't hurt business the way Austin's did lol). Bottom line is that this was a story that I've had in place for a long time, and that was the long version of the execution of it.
Finally defeating Goldberg was the first step in Diamond Dallas Page's master plan, but what about second step? Tune in next time for Uncensored 2001 to find out.
