Oh thank God, it’s a quick episode. And let’s do this quick too – this is another edition of the At Odds with Wrestling homework in which I attach my thoughts to what will be discussed on this week’s episode of the At Odds with Wrestling Patreon exclusive podcast. I know any post could be someone’s first, but let’s be honest – at this point you know the deal. 

We start the show with a hype video and then discussion of a signed document. I think that’s what Lucy gave Charlie Brown before pulling the football away. 

Sid Vicious arrives at the building. Tank Abbot on a motorcycle. Possibly more on that later. 

Tonight’s show is live from the Target Center at Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Mike Tenay talks to Jeff Jarrett with his usual crew. So Tenay is there, but they still keep Mark Madden on commentary? 

The Mamalukes (with Disco Inferno) vs Lane and Idol. 

Before the match Lane and Idol dismiss Ms. Hancock because she scares off the rats. There is no chance that there is now nor has there been any rat hotter than Ms. Hancock. She’s on star fucker level. 

During the match no one wants to hear Disco talk, a tradition that continues to this day. Ms. Hancock however is welcome with open arms, open mic, and probably open other things as well. Ms. Hancock asks for someone to hit her music and now is when something of interest finally happens on this show. I think it was Madden that said, “finally something happens in the ring.” Hell of a wrestling show they’re putting on here. Everyone is distracted, even the referee. I’m going to say something awful: Ms. Hancock is not a good dancer. She really doesn’t know how to dance, she just knows how to get attention. All of this is just about the best in ring action of the night. Vito eventually hits a DDT for the pin. 

Hey, who’s the good dad that held up his young son to get a good look at Ms. Hancock? 

Then, Ms. Hancock dances for the Mamalukes until the Harris Brothers come in to beat them up.  Usually they’re all about blonde haired people standing tall. The nWo music plays and the fans look for someone more interesting than the Harris Brothers to come out, but oh wait. 

Tony Schivonie and Mark Madden run down the card for the night. 

Sting will appear on Nitro tonight. How many movies was he filming? I only remember the one. USA Today remembers though. 

On the recently stolen again KidCam, Buff Bagwell hits on Elizabeth. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, and Liz now see the video. So I guess the KidCam plays on delay. 

Throughout the night, wrestlers give their opinion on who will win tonight’s main event. Nothing good was said in any of these clips, so I’m going to skip over the rest of them. 

Hey, Riki Rachtman is hosting a Nitro Party at some college. And the Nitro Girls are here too. This was taped earlier, but actually looks lots of fun. I would have gone to this if it hit my college. Again, these segments go on throughout the show. 3 Count shows up. Disco too. I was a huge fan of Headbanger’s Ball back in the day and I still like Riki Rachtman as a host of things. There’s always stupid gimmicky stuff like this on college campuses and it doesn’t really matter what company is putting their name on it. 

Hulk Hogan hypes up his Yapapai strap match. I don’t know how that is supposed to be spelled and I’m not looking it up. 

Mean Gene talks to Ric Flair. Curt Henning makes a challenge. This goes on way too long. 

Mike Tenay interviews Booker. Kidman and Torrie walk. The Nitro Girls dance in some all time great referee outfits. And remember kids, “Sting will be here”. Mean Gene interviews Jeff Jarrett. 

Holy shit, we finally have some wrestling again on this show. 

Booker vs. Kidman (with Torrie Wilson). 

Madden lets us know that nWo girl Tylene Buck has “vertical aspirations and horizontal methods”. It’s a mystery why so many women in the history of wrestling feel like they were just used, abused, and disposed. 

There’s no match here to speak of. There’s no real wrestling for most of the matches tonight. Torrie gets up on the apron for no reason. Turns out there’s a reason she’s just very premature. I would have the same problem if I had to make sure to have her body in a certain position at a certain time.  The Harris Brothers attack both wrestlers and in the melee, Kidman runs into Torrie and knocks her off the apron. 

Mean Gene interviews Harlem Heat. “Hard head makes soft ass.” Well that’s going to disturb me forever. 

Hey, remember this big arm guy? Clearly he’s injecting something right into his arms but we’re all going to pretend otherwise. You know, I want to do some research and find out what happened to him, but there’s no way I’m going back to rewind this episode. 

Mean Gene talks to Norman Smiley. 

3 Count vs. Brian Knobbs. 

After the events of the previous matches, I’m assuming this match doesn’t matter either. But then all fo 3 Count dog pile on Knobbs and get the win. 3 Count wins the Hardcore title?! What the hell is WCW doing having something that matters actually happen on the show?! 

Vampiro has a weird promo. Dustin Rhodes walks. Mean Gene talks to Knobbs and Finlay and they say they’re going to “bring out the dog”. Everyone pretends they don’t know what WCW Saturday Night star this will be. 

Norman Smiley vs. “American Dream 2000” Dustin Rhodes. 

Good thing he didn’t go for that American Nightmare nickname. Tonight is a “Night of Championships”? Way to introduce a concept halfway through the show. Dustin hits a lariat off the top to get the pin then beats up Norman with a football helmet. There is no reason to care. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Vampiro. 

What fan needs therapy and brings a sign saying “Harris Boys be my toys”? This is actually a competitive match. Okay, it’s competitive for this episode. So it’s awful, but it’s less awful. Then the Harris Brothers come out. Vampiro fights them off. Sid Vicious comes out to fight them. Vampiro has Jarrett pinned but the referee is paying attention to Sid and the Harris Brothers, who are not in the match. Jarrett hits Vampiro with the belt. This only gets a two count but the time keeper rings the bell. The match continues. Probably shocked this went over 3 minutes already. Vampiro misses coming off the top rope allowing Jarrett to hit the Stroke for the pin. 

The Mamalukes have a present for the Harris boys. 

More clips. 

“No one gets more girls than 3 Count.” I mean compared to Disco, probably true. 

Credit to the guys behind Tygress trying their best to not look. 

Finlay attacks Vampiro backstage, so that nothing story is continuing. 

The Nitro Girls dance. David Flair dances with them. Daffney doesn’t like this. They kiss and make up. Crowbar joins for commentary. 

TAFKAPI (with Paisley) vs David Flair (with Daffney). 

I really enjoy Crowbar on commentary. Maybe the highlight of the night. Daffney distracts the ref, Crowbar knocks down the Artist, only a two count though. Daffney pushes Paisley’s hips, which is a weird way to start a fight. The Artist hits his jumping DDT thing for the pin. 

Backstage someone hit Sid with a guitar. 

The Harris boys receive a dead fish. 

Mean Gene says due to the attack Sid is not supposed to engage in any strenuous physical activity. Have you seen the main events lately?  Sid is woozy. 

Ernest Miller vs. the Maestro (with Symphony). 

Oh hello. Who’s the fan dancing? Looks like a young Tory Lane to me. 

Way too much dancing and talking in this segment. ‘Stro hits Cat with a book box to get the win. “He has to listen to music he hates, but it makes him a better wrestler.” How would anyone know the difference? 

More main event hype, but is Sid allowed to wrestle? 

Curt Hennig walks, Flair walks, Lex and Liz can’t find the bat. 

Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig. 

This feels like a 30 minute match crammed into 4 minutes. One overly obvious ref bump later. Hennig plex, here’s Lex, and somehow Curt is up before Flair. Curt gets the chair, ref takes it away, Flair with a low blow and Flair gets the pin. Flair whips Curt with Hogan’s belt. 

Haku/Meng makes predictions. Where did he come from?! Has he been under contract this whole time? I mean, that’s someone interesting who should have been on these shows. 

Lex Luger (with Elizabeth) vs. Buff Bagwell. 

Lex is the MVP of this era. Giving 100%. Bumping more than he has to be. Trying his best. He should be champ or feuding with the champ. Liz puts Lex’s foot on the ropes. Buff gives chase. Flair comes out. Buff fights off both of them. Liz slides in a chair. It doesn’t matter. Flair hits Buff which causes the DQ win. It’s a two on one fight until Sting makes his contractually obligated return and jog walks to the ring to save his BFF, BUFF. 

Sid walks around and yells. Tank walks. 

Tank rides into the arena on a motorcycle but no shirt. Dude, we watched a PPV match all about your leather jacket. Put it on! 

Madden mentions post concussion, but much like his inevitable sexual harassment allegations, no one is going to do anything about it at this time. 

5 minutes left in the show. 

Tank sucker punches Sid’s ribs. Sid sells the hell out of Tank’s offense. Like, really makes him look good here. Sid takes a beating. Tank suddenly does crowd work. Sid takes advantage of this with a sleeper hold which he transitions into a crossface. Tank taps out. And Sid celebrates while the announcers kill a minute. 

There are a couple people really trying. Really wanting the best for the company and their stories. Everyone else on the card does not give a shit and just does what they’re told and cashes the check. Hey, I punch in and out at the same time every work day and no one bothers me outside of those hours. But during the time I’m officially at work I try my best. I’ve had some bad supervisors over the years, but one of them said “every day everyone comes to me with problems, just once I wish someone would come to me with a solution.” That always stuck with me so now I try to go to anyone in charge with a problem and a way to possibly take care of it. It appears all of the WCW wrestlers have issues with how the show is presented, but only a few of them are doing anything to try to improve it.