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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Sept 29, 2023 2:12:15 GMT 1
Here are the standing for the 2002 Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament, as of March 8th, 2002. What I'm going to do is not only show the block standings, but who's still alive, who's been eliminated, and what the advancement scenarios are. At this point, we've got one more Saturday Night, one more Nitro, and one more Thunder left to decide the block winners.
A BlockTaka Michinoku - 6 Points (3-2)Jamie Noble - 6 Points (3-2)Bryan Danielson - 6 Points (3-2)AJ Styles - 4 Points (2-2)--------------------------------------------------Psychosis - 6 Points (3-3)Little Guido - 4 Points (2-3)Ultimo Dragon - 4 Points (2-4)So the A Block is easily the messiest of the blocks in terms of advancement scenarios at this point. The records are really tight, and there are four wrestlers still alive. Now this block does have a unique scenario where someone at 6 Points is eliminated, while someone at 4 Points is alive. The wrestler with 4 Points is AJ Styles, and he's alive because he has two matches left, against two men who are above him in the standings (Take Michinoku and Bryan Danielson). If Styles wins both of those matches, and Jamie Noble loses his final match, he advances out of the block, so a pretty simple scenario for him all things considered. Psychosis does have a 3-3 record (meaning his tournament is done), but given the matchups that are left, there are no scenarios where he could win the block, so he's out. Jamie Noble will be the first of the remaining contenders in this block to reach 8 Points. For Noble to win the block, he needs to beat his final opponent (Little Guido) on the March 9th Saturday Night, but he also needs Taka Michinoku to lose to AJ Styles on the March 11th Nitro, and he needs Bryan Danielson to beat AJ Styles on the March 14th Thunder. For Taka Michinoku, all he needs to do is beat AJ Styles on March 11th, and he wins the block. For Bryan Danielson, he needs both Noble and Michinoku to lose their final matches, and then he needs to beat AJ Styles on March 14th to win the block.B BlockChristopher Daniels - 10 Points (5-0)Tiger Mask - 10 Points (5-0)--------------------------------------------------Jimmy Yang - 4 Points (2-3)Juventud Guerrera - 4 Points (2-3)Gedo - 4 Points (2-4)Tony Mamaluke - 2 Points (1-4)Sho Funaki - 2 Points (1-4)I don't have a ton to say about the B Block, because the scenario to decide the block winner is by far the simplest of the bunch. Christopher Daniels and Tiger Mask are both undefeated with 5-0 records, and whoever wins their match on the March 14th Thunder will win the B Block. Nobody else in the block is even close to those two.C BlockRey Mysterio Jr. - 8 Points (4-1)Hurricane Helms - 8 Points (4-1)Yoshihiro Tajiri - 8 Points (4-1)--------------------------------------------------Chavo Guerrero Jr. - 8 Points (4-2)Kaz Hayashi - 2 Points (1-4)Billy Kidman - 2 Points (1-5)Lance Storm - 0 Points (0-4)C Block has been very top heavy, as you have four wrestlers at 8 Points as of March 8th. Unfortunately, one of the four has completed his tournament, and is already eliminated. Chavo Guerrero Jr. finishes with a 4-2 record, but based on what matches are left, he's mathematically eliminated from winning the block. Rey Mysterio Jr. currently holds the lead in the C Block, and in order for him to take it, all he has to do is beat Yoshihiro Tajiri on the March 14th Thunder....that's it. The easiest scenario of the three. For Hurricane Helms to win the block, he needs to win his final match on the March 11th Nitro against Lance Storm, and he needs Yoshihiro Tajiri to beat Rey Mysterio Jr., because in that scenario, Helms would have the tiebreaker over Tajiri. Speaking of the Japanese Buzzsaw, he needs Helms to lose to the aforementioned Lance Storm, and he needs to beat Rey Mysterio Jr. on March 14th.D BlockHayabusa - 8 Points (4-1)Low Ki - 6 Points (3-1)Super Crazy - 6 Points (3-1)--------------------------------------------------Elix Skipper - 4 Points (2-3)Shinjiro Otani - 4 Points (2-4)Jerry Lynn - 4 Points (2-4)Jushin Thunder Liger - 4 Points (2-4)
In the D Block, much like the C Block, it's come down to three names. The current WCW Cruiserweight Champion Hayabusa is the block leader at 8 Points. All he needs to do is beat Super Crazy on the March 11th Nitro, and he wins the block. Now both Low Ki and Super Crazy do have a slight advantage over Hayabusa because they each have two matches left, whereas Hayabusa just has that one match I already mentioned. Low Ki's remaining two matches are against Triple X Prophecy stablemate Elix Skipper on the March 9th Saturday Night, and Super Crazy on the March 14th Thunder. Because Low Ki has a tiebreaker over Hayabusa, all he needs to do is win out. The result of Hayabusa vs. Super Crazy has no impact on Low Ki's tournament. As for Super Crazy, he's also in a "win out and you're in" scenario, and the fact that his final two opponents are the guys he's battling with to win the block makes his path relatively straightforward.
That about covers all of the different advancement scenarios! I think what I'll end up doing is that I'll post the final block standings, with all four block winners, tomorrow night.
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Post by rabbitman on Sept 29, 2023 6:39:20 GMT 1
Sadly I think Tony Mamaluke has left his run a tad too late.
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Post by ramen on Sept 30, 2023 3:57:26 GMT 1
Good stuff as always. Considering show names like Bound For Glory and stable names like Triple X Prophecy, I wonder if we'll see other TNA elements into the save (some form of X-Division and Ultimate-X.)
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Sept 30, 2023 3:58:10 GMT 1
Here are the final block standings for the 2002 Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament, with the block winners highlighted.
A BlockAJ Styles - 8 Points (4-2)Little Guido - 6 Points (3-3)Taka Michinoku - 6 Points (3-3)Jamie Noble - 6 Points (3-3)Bryan Danielson - 6 Points (3-3)Psychosis - 6 Points (3-3)Ultimo Dragon - 4 Points (2-4)
B BlockChristopher Daniels - 12 Points (6-0)Tiger Mask - 10 Points (5-1)Jimmy Yang - 6 Points (3-3)Juventud Guerrera - 6 Points (3-3)Gedo - 4 Points (2-4)Funaki - 2 Points (1-5)Tony Mamaluke 2 Points (1-5)C BlockRey Mysterio Jr. - 10 Points (5-1)Hurricane Helms - 8 Points (4-2)Yoshihiro Tajiri - 8 Points (4-2)Chavo Guerrero Jr - 8 Points (4-2)Lance Storm - 4 Points (2-4)Kaz Hayashi - 2 Points (1-5)Billy Kidman - 2 Points (1-5)D BlockSuper Crazy - 10 Points (5-1)Low Ki - 8 Points (4-2)Hayabusa - 8 Points (4-2)Shinjiro Otani - 4 Points (2-4)Jushin Thunder Liger - 4 Points (2-4)Jerry Lynn - 4 Points (2-4)Elix Skipper - 4 Points (2-4)
There you have it! The four block winners are AJ Styles (A Block), Christopher Daniels (B Block), Rey Mysterio Jr. (C Block), and Super Crazy (D Block). The semi-finals will take place on the March 18th Nitro, with the A Block Winner (Styles) vs. the C Block Winner (Mysterio), and the winner of the B Block (Daniels) vs. the winner of the D Block (Super Crazy). The results of those bouts, and the final, will be revealed in my post tomorrow on Uncensored 2002.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Sept 30, 2023 4:02:25 GMT 1
Good stuff as always. Considering show names like Bound For Glory and stable names like Triple X Prophecy, I wonder if we'll see other TNA elements into the save (some form of X-Division and Ultimate-X.) 🤔 |
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Oct 1, 2023 2:44:00 GMT 1
Part LI: WCW Uncensored 2002
After the international showcase that was Bound For Glory 2002, it was back to usual business for WCW, though there would be A TON of storyline developments on the road to Uncensored. Not too long after Bound For Glory, it was announced that WCW would be getting a new President, who would be the head of WCW's Championship Committee, effectively making this President the top dog as far as matchmaking is concerned. JJ Dillon was given the honor of announcing that the new President of WCW would be none other that Ric Flair. In his speech, Flair said that while he doesn't consider himself retired, he'd be taking a step back as an active competitor in the ring. His first decree was that there would be a twenty-man battle royal on the March 9th edition of Saturday Night to determine the #1 Contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Title. The winner would challenge Chris Jericho two days later on the March 11th Nitro. That battle royal was ultimately won by Sting, and he got to challenge Jericho two days later. Just as it seemed Sting was about to win the title, someone pulled the referee out of the ring. That person ended up being Ric Flair, who turned on Sting after being allies for the last few years. With Sting questioning Flair on why he got involved, Jericho blasted Sting from behind with a chair, and pinned Sting with the Lionsault just as the referee recovered to score the pin.On the March 14th Thunder, Sting came down to the ring and demanded an explanation from Ric Flair, and as Flair slowly made his way to the ring, Sting was jumped from behind by Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, Mike Sanders, and Shawn Stasiak. Flair would join in on the assault, and while Goldberg tried to make the save, he was beaten down too. With Sting trapped in Flair's Figure-Four Leglock, and Goldberg incapacitated, Page took a chair and Pillmanized Sting's right arm. As medical officials tended to Sting, Flair took the mic and said that he had been too nice for too long, and that it was time for him to take control. Flair declared that Sting was an anchor that had been holding him back....preventing him from molding WCW into what he wanted it to be. Now that he was the President of WCW, and now that Sting was out of commission, he can make WCW into the promotion that he wants it to be, with the wrestlers that he backs at the top of the card. The Flair Administration was officially born. - In order to win the match, you must score two falls over your opponent. They can be either a pinfall, submission, knockout, or disqualification. Any combination of the four will suffice. This is inspired by some of the KOPW Title bouts we've seen in New Japan this year (involving the likes of Shingo Takagi, Taichi, and Aaron Henare).
- While normal rules apply inside the ring, anything goes outside of the ring. That means while there are no count outs, and any weapons can be used outside of the ring, any usage of weapons inside the ring will result in an immediate disqualification. This is inspired by a match type that was used occasionally in EVOLVE, called Evolution's End.
A couple of the title matches taking place on this PPV are a result of title changes that took place in the period between Bound For Glory and Uncensored. The night after Bound For Glory, Andrew Martin and Booker T picked up a victory over New Japan's Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan on Nitro. That set them up for a shot at the WCW World Tag Team Titles. They challenged The Dudley Boyz on the March 11th Nitro, and successfully captured the titles! It didn't take long for The Dudleys to demand a rematch, and they wanted it to be their signature....a Tables Match. WCW President Ric Flair made the match official for the PPV. Meanwhile, a similar situation occurred in the women's division. On that very same March 11th Nitro, Trish Stratus managed to defeat Lisa Marie Varon to win the WCW Women's Title! Varon also demanded a rematch, and Ric Flair was willing to give it to her at Uncensored under whatever stipulation she wanted, and that ended up being a Biker Chair Match.Elsewhere, two rivalries between former tag team partners continued on this PPV. Christian cheated his way to the WCW United States Title at Bound For Glory against his former partner Edge, but now they're taking their feud to new heights, as at Uncensored, the title is on the line in a Ladder Match. At the same time, Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy will be facing off in a Falls Count Anywhere Match, which is a stipulation that I'm sure will lead to Jeff finding unique places in and around the venue to jump off of.Only two matches on the card left to discuss, and they both involve Cruiserweights. First, we've got the Finals of the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament. In an earlier post, I revealed that the two semifinal bouts would see A Block winner AJ Styles vs. C Block winner Rey Mysterio Jr., and B Block winner Christopher Daniels vs. D Block winner Super Crazy. Those semifinal matches took place on the March 18th Nitro, and when the dust settled, Daniels and Mysterio were the two winners, meaning they'll face off in the Finals at Uncensored. Meanwhile, the opening contest on the PPV will see the first one-on-one encounter in WCW between Black Tiger III and Tiger Mask IV. Of course, I mentioned in the previous PPV post how the third Black Tiger has now arrived in WCW, and now he's looking to score the first victory against the fourth Tiger Mask. I'm sure this will be the first of many singles battles between the two.The only title news I have to mention involved the WCW International Title. The tournament to crown the new champion started right before Bound For Glory, and continued through the end of February and into the month of March. The two finalists ended up being Kurt Angle and The Great Muta. Their match took place on the March 18th Nitro in the main event spot, with The Great Muta ultimately coming out on top. So The Great Muta is the new WCW International Champion.Before diving into the PPV, I have to make mentioned of a number of debuts that've taken place over the last month. First, on the March 16th Saturday Night, we got the first appearance of America's Most Wanted. I had been using Chris Harris and James Storm as enhancement talent in singles matches before this, but this was their first match together as America's Most Wanted. Next, on the March 18th Nitro, WCW World Television Champion Rowdy Roddy Piper was attacked backstage by the newest member of The Flair Administration....BG James. That's right....the former Road Dogg has made the jump from WWF to WCW, and is now working as one of Ric Flair's cronies. Finally, we had quite possibly the biggest debut over the last month. On the Nitro after Bound For Glory, one of the opening bouts saw Amazing Red going up against Norman Smiley. However, a few minutes into the match, a beast of a man came through the crowd, entered the ring, and absolutely destroyed both of them, leading to the match being ruled a No Contest. The man in question? Brock Lesnar. He wasn't alone however, as by his side was his manager....the man who would be unleashing the so-called "Next Big Thing" upon WCW.....Eric Bischoff.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the PPV! WCW Uncensored 2002March 24th, 2002 - Edward Jones Dome - St. Louis, Missouri1.) Black Tiger III def. Tiger Mask IV2.) WCW Women's Title - Biker Chain Match - Lisa Marie Varon def. Trish Stratus (c)3.) Mike Awesome & The Giant def. The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart)4.) Best Of The Super Cruiserweights - Finals - Rey Mysterio Jr. def. Christopher Daniels5.) Falls Count Anywhere Match - Jeff Hardy def. Matt Hardy6.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Tables Match - Andrew Martin & Booker T (c) def. The Dudley Boyz7.) Steel Cage Match - Diamond Dallas Page def. Goldberg8.) WCW United States Title - Ladder Match - Edge def. Christian (c)9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Ultimate Endurance Match - Chris Jericho (c) def. WCW Hardcore Champion Rob Van DamFor Uncensored 2002, I got an overall score of 94%, which is up a whopping 10% from Bound For Glory 2002 in February. There were TWO matches that were in contention for Match Of The Night honors, but in the end, Edge vs. Christian in a Ladder Match for the WCW United States Title took it with a 99% score. Right behind it was Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam in an Ultimate Endurance Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title, which got a 98% score. FOUR other matches finished in the 90% range, so you can see why this show was rated so highly. Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy in a Falls Count Anywhere Match earned a 94% score, while Mike Awesome & The Giant vs. The Hart Family wound up with a 92% score. Andrew Martin & Booker T vs. The Dudley Boyz in a Tables Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles finished with a 91% score, and Diamond Dallas Page vs. Goldberg in a Steel Cage Match got a 90% score. The remaining three matches landed in the 80% range, with Christopher Daniels vs. Rey Mysterio Jr. in the Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Final being the best of the bunch at 88%. Rounding out the card are Black Tiger III vs. Tiger Mask IV, which got an 86% score, and Trish Stratus vs. Lisa Marie Varon in a Biker Chain Match for the WCW Women's Title, which earned an 82% score. Should also note that two matches (the top two) received five star ratings from the in-game reviewer, while the main event, DDP vs. Goldberg, and Mike Awesome/The Giant vs. The Hart Family received 100% crowd reactions.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Oct 24, 2023 18:06:29 GMT 1
With the end of the month coming up next week, I should have Spring Stampede 2002 out soon. The one teaser I can give out now is that WCW will be bringing back the BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery concept (whatever you want to call it) to determine the #1 Contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Whoever wins will challenge Chris Jericho for the title at the PPV.
Still in the process of trying to get further ahead in the actual EWR game itself. I'm currently in July 2002.
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Nov 1, 2023 4:57:21 GMT 1
Part LII: WCW Spring Stampede 2002
I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! As per usual, I'm getting this post done right under the gun haha.When it comes to the PPV dates, I try to put them at around the same time that WCW typically ran these shows in OTL. While in most cases, the time between PPV events is pretty even, sometimes the gap can be a bit longer or a bit shorter. This was the case with the time between Uncensored and Spring Stampede, as I only had three weeks of television to build up Spring Stampede. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but the reason I'm mentioning this is because I took a bit of a break during the PPV, so I wanted to wedge in an idea that I came up which altered the original build to the PPV slightly, but more on that in a moment (didn't impact the PPV card much, so no concerns there).The first thing I want to dive into is The Flair Administration. As I went over in my last post, Ric Flair has solidified himself as the President of WCW (this process included putting Sting out of action), and has amassed quite the force to back him up. In his corner are Arn Anderson, JJ Dillon, Mike Awesome, The Giant, Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon, Mike Sanders, Shawn Stasiak, and BG James. The former Road Dogg, who recently made his debut, got in the good graces of Ric Flair quickly, as he captured the WCW World Television Title from Rowdy Roddy Piper on the March 25th Nitro. A few days later on Thunder, Piper and Dusty Rhodes came out to the ring and called out Flair for a fight. Flair didn't come out, but instead, Piper and Rhodes were attacked from behind by BG James, and his two new friends....Konnan and Ron "The Truth" Killings. Some members of The Filthy Animals came out to confront Konnan and Truth about what they were doing, but they were attacked by them as well. The beatdown didn't stop until Bret Hart and Owen Hart made the save. On the April 1st Nitro, the trio announced that they would be known as the 3 Live Kru (or 3LK for short). Konnan and Truth declared that The Filthy Animals were going nowhere, and that Ric Flair promised them more money and more opportunities. Thus, 3 Live Kru is officially part of The Flair Administration. 3LK didn't like that The Hart Family had gotten in their business, so they decided (on the April 11th edition of Thunder) to go after two of WCW's newest signees....Teddy Hart and TJ Wilson. They brutalized the two newcomers, and that forced Bret and Owen to get involved. The two brothers challenged 3LK to a Six-Man Tag for Spring Stampede, with Rowdy Roddy Piper as their third man.Now to get to what's going with the WCW World Heavyweight Title picture. WCW President Ric Flair decided to book a series of contender's matches on the March 28th Thunder, involving some of the top stars in WCW. Flair Administration member Mike Awesome got a win over Booker T, which Flair was more than happy with. That jovial mood soon faded quickly when Kevin Nash picked up a win over The Giant. Flair sent some of his cronies out to beat up Nash, which they did (Scott Hall tried to make the save, but to no avail). Finally, Goldberg met Kurt Angle in a rematch from Starrcade 2001. The match went to a twenty minute time limit draw (a time limit that's in place for a lot of non-title televised singles matches), and the show ended with Mike Awesome and The Giant destroying both of them on Flair's orders. Not being satisfied with some of the results, Flair decided to shake things up in order to determine Chris Jericho's challenger for Spring Stampede. He announced that he was bringing back BattleBowl, aka the Lethal Lottery. There would ten tag team matches with randomly drawn teams taking place across the week of April 1st. The winners of those tag team matches would advance to a Twenty-Man Battle Royal on the April 8th Nitro, where the winner would get the PPV title shot at Chris Jericho. The fact that you had various members of The Flair Administration (including the newly formed 3LK) in the mix certainly made for some interesting pairings. Here are the results of those tag team matches:Nitro - April 1st, 2002- Diamond Dallas Page & Scott Hall def. Bret Hart & Juventud Guerrera- Kurt Angle & La Parka def. Amazing Red & Terry Funk- Christopher Daniels & Jeff Hardy def. Jushin Thunder Liger & Owen Hart- Rob Van Dam & NWA World Tag Team Champion William Regal def. Raven & Taka MichinokuThunder - April 4th, 2002- Billy Kidman & Perry Saturn def. Devon Storm & Sean O'Haire- Little Guido & The Giant def. Black Tiger & Tiger Mask- Kevin Nash & Mike Awesome def. Big Vito & Masato TanakaSaturday Night - April 6th, 2002- Chris Kanyon & Psychosis def. Disco Inferno & Tommy Dreamer- AJ Styles & WCW World Television Champion BG James def. Ron "The Truth" Killings & Rowdy Roddy Piper- Goldberg & Konnan def. Elix Skipper & Lance StormThe winners of those ten tag team matches advanced to the Battle Royal on the April 8th Nitro, and in the end, Kevin Nash last eliminated Mike Awesome to become the #1 Contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Title. Ric Flair was certainly not pleased with this, but since the contracts for the BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery had already been signed, there was nothing he could do. Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash was set for Spring Stampede.A couple of other matches involving The Flair Administration were set up through this BattleBowl/Lethal Lottery tournament. Goldberg and Kurt Angle were already out for revenge after the aforementioned attack by Mike Awesome and The Giant. In the final stages of the Battle Royal, Goldberg and Kurt Angle managed to work together to eliminate The Giant, who got back involved almost immediately, despite being eliminated. He and Mike Awesome beat up Angle and Goldberg on the floor (Nash was down during all of this), and once they got tossed back in the ring, they were easy picking for Awesome, who eliminated them both. This sets up a No Holds Barred Match at the PPV between the two sides. Elsewhere, Chris Kanyon has gotten into a feud with Rob Van Dam. After a few confrontations in backstage segments, Kanyon was the first one to strike, as he helped fellow Flair Administration member Mike Sanders win the WCW Hardcore Title from Van Dam on the March 28th Thunder. Van Dam would get a measure of revenge in the Battle Royal on Nitro when he eliminated Kanyon, which led to a singles match between the two on the April 11th Thunder. Kanyon won thanks to interference from Diamond Dallas Page, so a rematch was set up for Spring Stampede.Next, I have to go over some of the other title bouts taking place on this PPV. First up is Edge vs. Christian in an I Quit Match for the WCW United States Title. This is basically serving as the conclusion of the feud between Edge and Christian that's been raging over the last few months. The build was pretty simple (a couple of interview/promo segments and a multi-person tag or two here and there), so not much else to go over there. Andrew Martin and Booker T continued their reign as WCW World Tag Team Champions, but they would have a unique test in front of them at Spring Stampede, as they would defend their titles against four very capable, yet very different teams. Those teams are AJ Styles and Amazing Red, The Mamalukes of Big Vito and Johnny The Bull, as well as the Triple X Prophecy team of Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper. Speaking of AJ Styles and Amazing Red, they actually lost the NWA World Tag Team Titles to Bryan Danielson and William Regal, representing The Professionals. The duo promised to bring honor and prestige back to the NWA World Tag Team Titles, and their first major challengers would be an upcoming tag team that, stylistically, couldn't be more different from the Danielson and Regal duo....America's Most Wanted. It's the PPV debut for Chris Harris and James Storm. Can they come away with their first set of championships in WCW?
The final title bout on the card sees Hayabusa defending the WCW Cruiserweight Title against Rey Mysterio, who's cashing in his title shot that he earned by virtue of winning the 2002 Best Of The Super Cruiserweights Tournament. This title shot also comes with a change for Mysterio, who has dropped the Jr. from his name, and his now going simply as Rey Mysterio (this aligns with his WWE debut in 2002 in OTL, when he dropped the Jr. part of his name for good). Mysterio still has the issues involving the breakup of The Filthy Animals to deal with, but for now, he's looking to convert this tournament win into championship gold. He's also starting utilizing a new finisher recently....one that will become a memorable one for many years to come....the 619.Last but not least, is Brock Lesnar's PPV debut. Since arriving in WCW, Lesnar has left nothing but a trail of broken bodies in his wake. Flanked by the devious Eric Bischoff, Lesnar was running through various lower level opponents at first, and when it was time to make the next step, Bischoff decided to take advantage of the apparent dissolution of The Filthy Animals. He sent out Lesnar to attack Super Crazy after a match he had on the April 8th Nitro. It didn't take long for a singles match to be signed for the PPV (you can take a wild guess what happened there).In terms of other notes, the only other title change I need to bring up involves the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Steve Corino captured the title from Rhino on the April 1st Nitro, thanks to some interference from Corino's ally CW Anderson. A few days later on Thunder, Yoshihiro Tajiri would save Rhino from a two-on-one beatdown, turning babyface in the process, and seemingly forming a new tag team with Rhino.
With all of that out of the way, let's dive into the PPV!WCW Spring Stampede 2002April 14th, 2002 - American Airlines Center - Dallas, Texas1.) NWA World Tag Team Titles - The Professionals (Bryan Danielson & William Regal) (c) def. America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm)2.) Brock Lesnar (with Eric Bischoff) def. Super Crazy3.) Six-Man Tag - The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart) & Rowdy Roddy Piper def. 3 Live Kru (WCW World TV Champion BJ James, Konnan, & Ron "The Truth" Killings)4.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Rey Mysterio def. Hayabusa (c)5.) No Holds Barred Match - Mike Awesome & The Giant def. Goldberg & Kurt Angle6.) Rob Van Dam def. Chris Kanyon7.) WCW United States Title - I Quit Match - Edge (c) def. Christian8.) WCW World Tag Team Titles - Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match - Andrew Martin & Booker T (c) def. AJ Styles & Amazing Red, The Mamalukes (Big Vito & Johnny The Bull), & Triple X Prophecy (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper)9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Kevin Nash def. Chris Jericho (c)
For Spring Stampede 2002, I got an overall score of 78%, which is down a whopping 16% from Uncensored 2002. Unfortunately, that's a pretty massive drop, and easily my worst PPV of 2002 as far as the scores are concerned (and probably one of the worst PPV scores I've gotten in a long time). For the first time in I don't even know how long, no matches broke the 90% barrier. Match Of The Night honors went to Edge vs. Christian in an I Quit Match for the WCW United States Title, which earned a score of 89%. From there, three other matches were in the low 80% range. Bryan Danielson and William Regal vs. America's Most Wanted for the NWA World Tag Team Titles and Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Kanyon both finished with an 81% score, while Goldberg and Kurt Angle vs. Mike Awesome and The Giant in a No Holds Barred Match got a score of 80%. Three matches wound up in the high 70% range, with Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Nash for the WCW World Heavyweight Title getting a score of 78%, while the Four-Way Tag Team Elimination Match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles and the Six-Man Tag finished with a 77% score. So the bulk of the card finished between 77% and 81%. Rounding out the show as far as the scores go were Hayabusa vs. Rey Mysterio for the WCW Cruiserweight Title, which got a disappointing score of 74%, and Brock Lesnar vs. Super Crazy, which wound up at 72%. So on the whole, nothing was outright bad, but the overall quality just didn't compare to some of the PPV events I've been doing over the last few years.While this show certainly wasn't one of the best PPV cards I've ever booked in this series, I still liked how it looked on paper. Unfortunately, it just didn't get the kind of match rating results that I've become accustomed to as of late. Things just....didn't work out. Hopefully my next PPV, Slamboree 2002, will garner much better results. For now though, we come out of Spring Stampede with Kevin Nash as your new WCW World Heavyweight Champion, which is the first time he's won this title after being in WCW for nearly six years at this point. How long will he be able to hold onto the title, especially with WCW President Ric Flair looking to come after him? Tune in next time to find out. |
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Nov 30, 2023 6:27:19 GMT 1
Part LIII: WCW Slamboree 2002
I hope everyone out there had a Happy Thanksgiving!Coming out of Spring Stampede, we had a new WCW World Heavyweight Champion in Kevin Nash who, after being part of WCW since 1996, finally captured WCW's top prize. He would soon realize that keeping the title was just as hard as winning it. Chris Jericho quickly challenged Nash to a rematch, and the two would face off on the April 22nd Nitro in a Canadian Street Fight (featuring an assortment of Canadian-themed weapons) for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. While Big Sexy would emerge victorious, someone who was not happy about Nash being champion was WCW President Ric Flair. After the Canadian Street Fight, Nash was attacked by Flair Administration members Mike Awesome and The Giant. This would set up a tag team match between those two and The Outsiders on April 25th edition of Thunder. The Giant scored the fall in that one over Scott Hall, and Flair was quick to book a title match between Nash and The Giant for the WCW World Heavyweight Title for the April 29th Nitro. After that match, Flair came out and cut a scathing promo on Nash, saying that he's hated Nash from the moment he set foot in WCW, and that he hates everything he stands for. He could easily strip Nash of the title, but that would be too easy. Flair declared that he would make Nash's life a living hell, and announced that he would be defending the WCW World Heavyweight Title in a Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold. Of course, that's essentially a Royal Rumble Match, with the only twist being that when it comes down to the final two, the match must be won by pinfall or submission. In one more attempt to soften Nash up before the PPV, Flair put Nash in a match with Mike Awesome on the May 6th Nitro. The match ended in a No Contest, but Nash stood tall as the show went off the air. Can Big Sexy withstand the challenge of twenty-nine other wrestlers and leave Indianapolis still the WCW World Heavyweight Champion?That wasn't only title scene that Ric Flair was meddling with over the last month. On the Nitro after Spring Stampede on April 15th, Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon (on the orders of Flair) attacked WCW World Tag Team Champions Andrew Martin and Booker T early in the night. Flair then announced that they would be defending their tag team titles in the main event....against himself and his son, David Flair. While Booker and Punisher put up a good fight, the injuries from that earlier attack were too much to overcome, and the father/son duo would capture the titles. They would hold those titles for a few weeks (this included a defense against Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer on the April 29th Nitro) before Andrew Martin and Booker T got a rematch. They weren't just granted one, however. They had to earn it through a series of matches put together by Flair. They defeated Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper on the May 2nd Thunder, and then they beat Rebels Rizing members Kaz Hayashi, Jamie Noble, and Jimmy Yang in a Three-On-Two Handicap Match. The rematch with the Flairs took place on the May 6th Nitro. Despite shenanigans from The Flairs and members of The Flair Administration, Andrew Martin and Booker T not only recaptured the WCW World Tag Team Titles, but earned themselves spots in the aforementioned Gauntlet For The Gold.Other members of The Flair Administration were littered throughout the Slamboree card. One of the biggest matches of the show (outside of the main event) was a tag team encounter between The Dudley Boyz and The Hart Family. Bret Hart and Owen Hart had already been having problems with The Flair Administration for the last several weeks (including a match with 3 Live Kru at Spring Stampede), so it was only a matter of time before they ran into The Dudley Boyz. The match was set up for Slamboree, and in the buildup to the PPV, the two teams took turns costing each other matches. The Dudley Boyz cost The Hart Family a match against William Regal and Lance Storm on the May 4th edition of Saturday Night, and two nights later on Nitro, Bret and Owen returned the favor by helping Rhino and Yoshihiro Tajiri get a victory over Bubba Ray and D-Von. Meanwhile, the new faction known as 3 Live Kru was still trying to establish itself, but their results were more of a mixed bag. They would be on the winning side of a big ten-man tag on the April 29th Nitro (teaming with fellow Flair Administration members Diamond Dallas Page and Chris Kanyon against AJ Styles, Amazing Red, Billy Kidman, Jerry Lynn, and Rob Van Dam), but two nights prior, La Parka scored a major upset as he won the WCW World TV Title from BG James on the April 27th Saturday Night. The aforementioned ten-man tag put 3LK into conflict with AJ Styles, who soon found backup in the form of America's Most Wanted. This set up an interesting match for Slamboree....a Captain's Fall Six-Man Tag. AJ Styles and Konnan were the two team captains, and winning team captain would advance to the Gauntlet For The Gold.The Flair Administration also added one of the newest members of the WCW roster to their ranks over the last month or so. This highly-touted individual from the Pacific Northwest was known for being very skilled in amateur wrestling as well as boxing, but at the same time, he had a brash and cocky attitude that really caught people's attention. The man in question? Chael Sonnen.That's right! Chael Sonnen is in WCW. When I found out that he had actually tried out at the WCW Power Plant in 1998, I decided to turn that into some alternate history. So instead of ending up in the UFC, he's here in WCW. He was treated like a big deal from the moment he appeared on screen, and was quickly accepted into The Flair Administration. After winning a couple of squash matches, Sonnen decide to challenge on of the biggest dogs in the yard....Kurt Angle. Sonnen talked a lot of trash, and Kurt Angle eventually agreed to face Sonnen at Slamboree (with another spot in the Gauntlet For The Gold on the line). On the go-home Nitro on May 6th, the two had a contract signing for their match, which ended with an attack by Sonnen that injured Angle's arm. Can Angle overcome an injured arm to get a spot in the Gauntlet For The Gold, or will Sonnen score a massive victory only a month into his WCW career?Elsewhere, one feud involving forming tag team partners came to a close, while another one expanded even further. Even though Edge had retained his WCW United States Title against Christian in an I Quit Match at Spring Stampede, their feud wasn't quite finished. Meanwhile, Matt and Jeff Hardy were still battling it out. Thus, it led to a match on the April 29th Nitro where all four would battle it out in a Four-Way Match for the WCW United States Title. In the end, while Edge and Christian were fighting on the floor, Shannon Moore came in from out of nowhere and hit Jeff Hardy with a chair! This allowed Matt Hardy to hit the Twist Of Fate and score the pin to win the WCW United States Title. On the May 2nd Thunder, we would see (for the first time) a new version of Matt Hardy....or rather....the original version of Matt Hardy. Version 1. This would be the official debut of the Matt's "Version 1" gimmick, and revealed Shannon Moore as his first "Mattitude" follower. Obviously not happy with what happened on Nitro, Jeff Hardy would challenge his brother to a Last Man Standing for the WCW United States Title at Slamboree, and the match was set. Meanwhile, Edge and Christian would have their big blowoff match inside a Steel Cage on the May 6th Nitro, with a spot in the Gauntlet For The Gold also up for grabs. Edge would win that bout to close the book on their rivalry.
Brock Lesnar continued to demolish the competition, but some of the luchadores on the roster were continuing to be a thorn in his side, as well as the side of Eric Bischoff. After Lesnar defeated Super Crazy in a singles match at Spring Stampede, he ran into some more trouble in the form of Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis. Confident in Lesnar's dominance, Bischoff decided to challenge the two former Filthy Animals members to tag team match. Will Lesnar's meteoric rise continue, or will Bischoff's arrogance come back to bite him?Rounding out the rest of the card for Slamboree 2002 are three title matches. First, Rey Mysterio defends his WCW Cruiserweight Title in a Three-Way Match against Black Tiger III and Tiger Mask IV. The built to this is pretty straightforward, as the feud between Black Tiger and Tiger Mask has carried over to the Cruiserweight Title picture. Next, Lisa Marie Varon defends the WCW Women's Title against Meiko Satomura. The star from Japanese made a number of appearances in WCW over the last few weeks. This included a victory over Lisa Marie Varon and Luna Vachon in tag team action, as well as a singles victory over Vachon. With that, a title match between Satomura and Varon was set for the PPV. Finally, Devon Storm would be defending the WCW Hardcore Title against Sean O'Haire. As always, there's always volatility around the WCW Hardcore Title, and the last few weeks were no exception. On the April 25th Thunder, Sean O'Haire defeated former Natural Born Thrillers stablemate Mike Sanders to win the title. A few weeks later, on May 4th Saturday Night, Devon Storm captured the title in what some considered an upset. A rematch was immediately set for Slamboree. Now these two do have some history, as they were paired together during the BattleBowl tournament, but these are much different circumstances. The WCW Hardcore Title is on the line, and they're going to beat the crap out of each other.Before diving into the PPV, I want to go over some quick notes on other things that've happened recently. Tension had been building between Raven and Perry Saturn over the last month or two. Things have not been going well for them as a tag team. Not even an appearance by the two on Paul Heyman's talk show, Heyman Hustle, seemed to yield any solid results. The two would have a Gauntlet For The Gold Qualifier on the May 6th Nitro, and while Raven got the win on that night, the damage to their relationship might be irreparable. AJ Styles and Amazing Red, seeing the threats from various factions on the WCW roster, decided find some more regular allies on their own. Along with Jerry Lynn, they decided to align with the Young Blood trio of Tommy Dreamer, Joey Matthews, and Kristian York. No change in the stable name there, just simply strengthening their ranks. Another stable that was strengthening was the FBI. They added a new member in Chuck Palumbo, as well as a new....associate in the form of a newly-heel John Cena. He's officially started his rapper gimmick at this point, and while he's definitely not a member of the FBI, he is closely aligned with them, and they do work together on a semi-regular basis. One thing to note is that, on the April 29th Nitro, Cena had a match with Goldberg, which Goldberg easily won. I would keep that in the back of your mind. That won't be the last time those two are facing off.With all of that out of the way, let's dive right into the PPV!WCW Slamboree 2002May 12th, 2002 - Conseco Fieldhouse - Indianapolis, Indiana1.) WCW Hardcore Title - Sean O'Haire def. Devon Storm (with Daffney) (c)2.) Brock Lesnar & Eric Bischoff def. Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis3.) WCW Cruiserweight Title - Three-Way Match - Rey Mysterio (c) def. Black Tiger III & Tiger Mask IV4.) Captain's Fall Six-Man Tag - Gauntlet For The Gold Qualifier - AJ Styles [Captain] & America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm) def. 3 Live Kru (BG James, Konnan [Captain], & Ron "The Truth" Killings)5.) Gauntlet For The Gold Qualifier - Kurt Angle def. Chael Sonnen6.) WCW United States Title - Last Man Standing Match - Matt Hardy (c) def. Jeff Hardy7.) The Dudley Boyz def. The Hart Family (Bret Hart & Owen Hart)8.) WCW Women's Title - Meiko Satomura def. Lisa Marie Varon (c)9.) WCW World Heavyweight Title - Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold - Winner: Mike AwesomeFor Slamboree 2002, I got an overall score of 86%, which is eight percent up from Spring Stampede 2002. While certainly not one of the top PPVs I've ever put together, it was a healthy increase, which was good to see. Match Of The Night honors was a tight race, but it ended up going to Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy in a Last Man Standing Match for the WCW United States Title, which finished with a score of 94%. Right behind it was The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hart Family, which earned a 93% score. From there, A BUNCH of matches landed in the 80% range. Chael Sonnen vs. Kurt Angle got a 89% score (which is very good for Sonnen's first match on PPV), while both the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold for the WCW World Heavyweight Title and the Three-Way Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Title getting 85% scores. AJ Styles and America's Most Wanted vs. 3 Live Kru in the Captain's Fall Six-Man Tag got a score of 84%, while Lisa Marie Varon vs. Meiko Satomura for the WCW Women's Title wound up with an 81% score. Brock Lesnar & Eric Bischoff earned a score of 80%, while Devon Storm vs. Sean O'Haire for the WCW Hardcore Title finished with a score of 73%.I was really happy to see that this PPV rebounded after the previous one proved to be a disappointment. Out of the five title matches on this show, three of them changed hands, including in the main event, as Mike Awesome won the WCW World Heavyweight Title in the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold. I think I'll save how things went down during that particular match in a later post (like I've done in my Alternate History of WWF Thread when I talk about the Royal Rumble Match). In the short term, you can look out for that post soon, and in the long term, I'll probably end up putting out my post on The Great American Bash sometime between Christmas and New Year's. All you need to know for now, as I close out this post, is that Mike Awesome is the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. How did he get it done? Keep an eye on this thread and you'll find out soon. |
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Post by dxvsnwo1994 on Dec 1, 2023 5:55:40 GMT 1
So here's how things went down in the Thirty-Man Gauntlet For The Gold for the WCW World Heavyweight Title at Slamboree 2002.
The first entrant in the match was Sting, which wasn't much of a surprise given his issues with WCW President Ric Flair. The odds were stacked against him immediately as Triple X Prophecy members Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper were the 2nd and 3rd Entrants respectively. Sting would get some help in the form of Jushin Thunder Liger, who came out 4th, and the momentum between the heels and the babyfaces continues to swing back-and-forth with Chris Kanyon as the 5th Entrant and Rob Van Dam as the 6th Entrant. After Booker T came out as the 7th Entrant, Kanyon and Van Dam had an intense exchange that led to both of them getting eliminated simultaneously. So two notable names were out of the match early.
It's here that we start to see clear influence in the entrant order from WCW President Ric Flair, as the next three entrants into the match were members of The FBI (Johnny Stamboli, Big Vito, and Chuck Palumbo respectively) followed by an ally of The FBI in John Cena. They managed to take control of the match briefly, but that was cut short by Goldberg, who was the 12th Entrant. He ran wild, quickly eliminating the aforementioned FBI members. However, Cena picked his spot, and managed to score a shock elimination on Goldberg.
Raven was out next, but as soon as he entered the match, he was jumped by Perry Saturn (his former tag team partner). This led to John Cena tossing Raven out for the elimination. Chris Jericho was the 14th Entrant, and the entrance of WCW World Heavyweight Champion Kevin Nash at 15th marked the halfway point of the match. Meng was 16th, and caused a lot of chaos, but when Scott Hall came out at 17th, he and Nash managed to eliminate Meng. William Regal and Lance Storm were 18th and 19th respectively, but their stints in the match weren't very long, as they were eliminated by a combination of Booker T and Edge. Kurt Angle was the 21st Entrant, but he was attacked in the entranceway with Chael Sonnen, who went after the arm that he had gone after previously (Angle managed to catch Sonnen in a flash pin to win their match earlier in the night). After Sonnen tossed Angle back in the ring, he was quickly eliminated by Chris Jericho. Rhino was out 22nd, and he managed to eliminate John Cena. Andrew Martin was 23rd, and alongside tag team partner Booker T, they eliminated Christopher Daniels and Elix Skipper. AJ Styles was 24th, and scored a shock elimination as he tossed out Chris Jericho (make note of that for the future).
It's at this point where Ric Flair's meddling became evident once again. Four of the next five entrants (Diamond Dallas Page, Mike Awesome, The Giant, and Ric Flair himself) were members of The Flair Administration. They would manage to eliminate a number of the babyfaces in this portion of the match, including Scott Hall, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Rhino, Edge, and AJ Styles. However, Flair had no control over the 30th Entrant, who was a designated mystery man. That mystery man ended up being "Macho Man" Randy Savage, making his first WCW appearance in quite some time. He got a minute or two to shine, but he was ultimately tossed out by Ric Flair.
From there, it started to dwindle down. Andrew Martin was eliminated by Diamond Dallas Page, but then Booker T managed to eliminate Page. Mike Awesome then eliminated Booker T. After that, we lost two members of The Flair Administration right away, as The Giant was eliminated by Sting, while Ric Flair was eliminated by Kevin Nash. Furious at what just happened, Flair basically pulled a Royal Rumble 1992, where he took the role of Hulk Hogan, as he held onto Kevin Nash while Mike Awesome (in the role of Flair) came up from behind to toss out Nash. This meant that a new WCW World Heavyweight Champion would indeed be crowned, and it would come down to Mike Awesome and Sting. Despite the fact that Sting had been in there for the entire match, he put up a great fight against the obviously fresher Mike Awesome. Unfortunately, Ric Flair and other members of The Flair Administration got involved, and the numbers proved to be too much, as Awesome eventually connected with the Awesome Bomb to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
The order of entry for the Gauntlet For The Gold is numbered below, while the elimination order is in brackets.
1.) [29] Sting by Mike Awesome
2.) [15] Christopher Daniels by Booker T
3.) [14] Elix Skipper by Andrew Martin
4.) [3] Jushin Thunder Liger by John Cena
5.) [1] Chris Kanyon by Rob Van Dam
6.) [2] Rob Van Dam by Chris Kanyon
7.) [25] Booker T by Mike Awesome
8.) [6] Johnny Stamboli by Goldberg
9.) [5] Big Vito by Goldberg
10.) [4] Chuck Palumbo by Goldberg
11.) [13] John Cena by Rhino
12.) [7] Goldberg by John Cena
13.) [8] Raven by John Cena
14.) [16] Chris Jericho by AJ Styles
15.) [28] Kevin Nash by Mike Awesome
16.) [9] Meng by Kevin Nash & Scott Hall
17.) [17] Scott Hall by Diamond Dallas Page
18.) [11] William Regal by Booker T
19.) [10] Lance Storm by Edge
20.) [20] Edge by Ric Flair
21.) [12] Kurt Angle by Chris Jericho
22.) [19] Rhino by The Giant
23.) [23] Andrew Martin by Diamond Dallas Page
24.) [21] AJ Styles by The Giant
25.) [24] Diamond Dallas Page by Booker T
26.) [18] Yoshihiro Tajiri by Mike Awesome
27.) [WINNER] Mike Awesome
28.) [26] The Giant by Sting
29.) [27] Ric Flair by Kevin Nash
30.) [22] Randy Savage by Ric Flair
With that out of the way, I'm pretty much done with Slamboree 2002! Tune in next time for The Great American Bash 2002!
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