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WCW Thunder 1/3/2001
The first show of the new year! It was actually taped on December 22. Sid's shoulder magically healed, DDP/Steiner/Nash have made up. WCW hasn't been sold yet, although Eric Bischoff did show up in at Atlanta, but it was to broker peace between Steiner and DDP. WCW hasn't been sold, but it is no longer a Turner company. There was a new CEO that was hired.
TO THE BACK. Team Canada talk. Mike Awesome has something for them outside. He had his bus repainted with Canadian flags. He still just leaves it running in the middle of a parking lot and walks off. It's amazing no one has stolen that shit.
CEO Flair comes to the ring. Now, I remembered bits and pieces of WCW 2000, mostly just the PPVs. I don't believe I saw any TV or PPV from 2001, so this is all fresh to me except for the final Nitro. He runs down the Sin card. Flair says Jarrett vs Steiner and his mystery partner at Sin. Tony corrects him and says of course he meant opponent. So Flair says mystery partner again. SPOILERS, Ric! Steiner has been suspended for 2 weeks after his actions on Nitro. Why wasn't he suspended on Thunder? Jeff Jarrett comes to the ring. He wants to know who the mystery man is. If Ric doesn't tell him, he's going to be wearing a guitar tonight. Ric says fuck that shit. He books Jeff vs Sid for the main event and if Jeff loses, he's out of the PPV. This is A. To punish Jeff and B. Make up for Sid getting a pin while a ref was out and not winning the match. Sid's new catch phrase is "Mama says it bees that ways sometimes!"
TO THE BACK. Ric and Sanders talk. Ric wants to know why DDP and Nash aren't there. Ric wants to make sure Sanders didn't send them to Egypt or something. Meat is on the phone with someone in Sanders' office. There is some tension going on. Jindrak does a pretend Kanyon Cutter on Sanders. All a rib. Reno wants something to do. He gets The Cat. Reno attempts a jackknife. Hilarious. Gene is with Crowbar and Daffney. He wants to know if Daffney is a natural pink. Crowbar vs Meng in a chair match. Promo is actually a pretty good promo guy. I like intense Crowbar.
Shane Helms vs Jamie Knoble
Nice. This could be good. Jamie's music is a JHV of some Rush song I think. I can't tell if Shane is supposed to be a heel or face. Chavo is a heel I think. They keep talking about how Shane earned his shot and how good he is, which is normally face talk, but he still kind of works like a heel, but with really flashy face moves. Shane has a weird butterfly abdominal stretch kind of thing.
Vertebreaker out of nowhere. Nightmare on Helms Street for the win. Really short. Maybe 3 minutes. A shame. I don't know why he would finish with the Nightmare after a Vertebreaker. Evan comes out and attacks Shane. Shannon Moore comes out and attacks Evan. Jamie tombstones Shannon. Shane lays out Jamie again. This crowd is DEAD. Chavo comes out and hits Shane with the belt.
TO THE BACK. Prime Time confronts Konnan. He says he blew Konnan up last week. Konnan calls him nephew. I think that was a euphemism. It was all a set up for Awesome to attack Konnan. Gene is with Cat and Ms. Jones. Gene tries to talk jive. Cat tells him to stop watching the WB. I think he meant UPN. He stares at Ms. Jones' ass and thinks about what he could do to it. WRECK THAT ASS GENE. Jeff finds the Harris Brothers laid out in the locker room.
MIA vs Palumbo/O'Haire
I think this is a bad team for the Thrillers. Chuck is obviously better than Stasiak. Jindrak and O'Haire are about equal, but Jindrak has zero charisma. So putting the two over all best together and leaving the stunningly average Stasiak with the no charisma having Jindrak just seems like a mistake to me. I think the teams as they were worked out better for the weaker members of each team. There is a lot of interference. Seanton Bomb for the win. After the match, the Thrillers try to beat up Hugh, but he fights them off, and then Chavo tries to save. Shane Douglas comes out and lays out Hugh.
TO THE BACK. Gene is with Shane Douglas. He wants a chain on a pole match with Hugh at Sin. Hugh ambushes Shane during the interview. Prime Time is in the bus singing to himself. Duggan was hiding in it and beats him up. Animals talk about Konnan's attack earlier. The Mamalukes do the old walk and talk. The come across Cat. Cat gets them as back up against Reno tonight. Gene is with Totally Buff.
A highlight package of Sarge at the Power Plant with a Goldberg voice over plays.
TO THE BACK. Team Canada checks on Prime Time. Awesome is going to crush Duggan tonight. Rey shows up with a bag of something for revenge. Flair heads into Sanders' office. Reno can't have anyone at ringside for his match with Cat. Ric likes the idea that Sanders won't tell guys which Thrillers they are facing, so he books Jindrak against a mystery opponent Gene is with Sid. For a crazy monster, Sid dresses oddly. He was usually in button down flannel shirts with a backwards hat that he wore more like a yarmulke. Even more odd is that he changed into this outfit from when he was in the ring just a few segments before.
Crowbar vs Meng Chair Match
This is actually a chair on a pole match! There is a chain on a pole match at Sin. I thought Russo was out of power again? Daffney has people screaming back to her. Crowbar just uses a chair on the floor. So what's the point of the one on a pole? WCW. YAK ATTACK! Another chair gets used. I think that's the one that was on the pole, but I think it fell off. Meng wins with the Tongan Death Grip. This was...bad.
TO THE BACK. Secret camera catches Ric talking with Totally Buff. Jeff is pacing around talking to himself.
Mark Jindrak vs Goldberg
You know it is a dead crowd when they barely react to Goldberg. What's extra weird is that they didn't try to sweeten up the sound at all even though it was recorded almost 2 weeks earlier. This crowd is probably the size of a TNA Asylum crowd in a 15,000 seat arena. Squash match. Goldberg wins.
TO THE BACK. Gene is with Jeff. Another blurry secret camera records Totally Buff talking with Kronik.
The Cat vs Reno
Stevie wants to know if Cat made his toes harder by putting them in hot gravel. Ugly ass Eeyore. Lol. Cat accidentally did a small package driver. Cat wins with the Feliner.
Mike Awesome vs Jim Duggan
I'm sure this will be excellent. Duggan is too old and gross looking to be wearing trunks. Stevie really dislikes #hardbodiedref. Awesome wins with a frog splash. The Filthy Animals make a save after the match. They vandalized the Canadian bus.
TO THE BACK. Gene follows Team Canada out to the bus. Pro Wrestling Secrets revealed guy grabs his mask and straight jacket. Are black straight jackets standard?
Buff Bagwell vs Sarge
Sarge doesn't even have a video. It's just the Thunder logo. No one cares about Sarge. I'm about 100% positive that this whole angle will end up with Sarge turning on Goldberg. Probably because he's mad Goldberg didn't appreciate him enough or something. Buff hits a double arm DDT. Lex comes out with a chair. On Thunder Vision, Goldberg left his room, but Kronik beat him up. They put him in a box and make a dude take it away on a forklift. Is it going to OVW? Totally Buff beat up Sarge with a chair. They even Pillmanize his arm.
TO THE BACK. EMTs are checking on Sarge.
Jeff Jarrett vs Sid
This crowd is so dead. It's amazing. You can literally hear individual people talking to each other.
TO THE BACK. Sid walks to the ring. The Thrillers are leaving when DDP and Nash burst out of their limo and attack. "It was an inside job!" Alex Jones should have been a color commentator.
Back to the ring. Sid makes his entrance. It starts out on the ramp. Gets back to the ring and Jeff is in control. "Sid can not match Jeff stroke for stroke....you know, figuratively speaking..." Sid is about to hit the powerbomb when the mystery man attacks Sid. The match is a no contest. Does that mean Jeff is out of Sin? Does it mean Sid is in? Does it mean both are out? Does it mean both are in? The mystery man is Scott Steiner! He's been attacking himself and he's his own mystery opponent at Sin!
New year, same WCW. The time off just made them try to cram 2 weeks of storylines into one show to make up for it. Even worse, they had Lance, Rey, Kidman, and DDP at the show, yet they had Cat, Jim Duggan, and Sarge wrestling. Jeff vs Sid was all over the main events at the start of LAST year.
