Hello everyone and welcome back to near the end of this extensive project. If you want to be part of the homework, check out the At Odds with Wrestling podcast Patreon and sign up. 

This episode takes place the night after the WCW Uncensored pay per view. There will be fall out and new directions, none of which matters because WCW is about to be rebooted. 

Still images are shown of Uncensored because this was a time in which the PPV replay could be ordered on Tuesday and they wanted some extra buys. 

“Earlier today” Sid Vicious arrives and is somehow on a small set of bleachers surrounded by fans. Just like how most of us park. 

Mean Gene brings out Sid to start the show. Jeff Jarrett (with the Harris Brothers) comes out to respond. Jarrett sets up a challenge for a tag match this evening and if I’m following, if Jarrett gets the pin he gets a title shot but if he gets pinned he doesn’t get another shot as long as Sid is champion. Jarrett brings out Scott Steiner as his partner. Steiner has “Censored” written on tape which is across his mouth. Steiner also comes out with the nWo girls, two of which are matching but one (Tylene) is not. Tough to get matching trios gear. Sid says anyone can come and beat up Jarrett with him and Hulk Hogan’s music begins. Why would anyone be ready for this surprise challenge? I mean we know why, because that’s what was written, but logically no one should be ready to volunteer. Hogan comes out. Sid jumps for joy like the kid in the front row when Ron Simmons won the title. The match is made for later tonight. 

Tony Schiavone and Mark Madden are the announce team for the evening. 

Team Package talk backstage and they are in front of a sign that says “Martial Arts room” and I am very curious what this is and if it is part of the arena or there solely for WCW. 

Chris Candido walks. 

Hey, get your wrist bands for WCW Spring Break Out 2000 and enjoy a free Better than Ezra concert. To paraphrase Norm MacDonald, the number one band of the summer was Better than Ezra, and the number two band – Ezra! 

Riki Rachtman hosts another Nitro Party and it’s the same crew for all of these segments. 

Mean Gene interviews Chavo Guerrero Jr, who picks Gene’s wallet. If something happens on camera in wrestling then anyone involved can also see it. That logic never or rarely applies. Oh hey you didn’t actually attack me in our tag team match, I watched the footage from last week and it was an accident when our opponent moved. Same here. Maybe Mean Gene confronts Chavo later, but there’s not many episodes left. 

The Artist formerly Known as Prince Iaukea and Paisley join for commentary. Paisley will speak for the Artist, and the Lorax will speak for the trees. 

Lash LeRoux vs “Hard Knox” Chris Candido.

”I was in a handicap match with ten other guys.” “No trashy valet.” Candido is already amazing and making his segments better. Candido hits a swan dive headbutt for the pin. He’s so good, and a grossly under rated wrestler. If he was still alive today I have no doubt he would be a coach with a promotion. 

XS are in the back talking. Ms Hancock approaches them and says her new team, Los Fabulosos, will debut on Thunder. 

La Parka dances. 

Fit Finlay vs. La Parka. 

We get the dubbed over voice thing again. The match is all Fit until he crashes to the outside and La Parka dives over the corner to crash into Finlay. Parka later crashes onto a chair on the floor. Fit hits a front flip rolling slam thing and that’s the pin? This felt anticlimactic. But, most of WCW from this time feels that way. Fit tosses La Parka the mic, but he thinks better of saying anything more. 

Booker, Kidman, and Torrie talk. 

David Flair and Daffney walk. Daffney tries to scream but David is very serious and she decides to be quiet. A time to laugh, a time to scream, a time to go through a table, a time to gather tables together. 

Vampiro cuts a promo in the boiler room. He smashes his cast to remove it. So, that story is over. 

Mean Gene with David Flair and Daffney. Flair calls out The Wall. Wall is out. Wall grabs David, says something, and lets him go. Nevermind, Wall hits Flair and oh hey I forgot Flair set up a table on his way out. Wall sets up Flair and Daffney sprays a fire extinguisher at the Wall to no effect. What is effective is David getting chokeslammed through the table. 

Hey, that’s our “Wolverine Stomp of the Night”. As opposed to the Harris Brothers who promote the Doc Martens stomp of the night. 

Pick up the new WCW magazine with Torrie Wilson as the centerfold. 

Kidman (with Torrie) and Booker vs the Harris Brothers. 

I’m going to say, I think this is the best Torrie has looked in the entire time of this WCW homework assignment. 

The Harris Bros have some sort of gimmicked suits to go over their black shirt black pants black boots traditional wrestling wear. One of the Harris boys couldn’t go up for the Book End. Sandbag or lack of skills? With these twins, why not both? Booker is up top in the heel corner, a Harris hits Booker with a belt to cause the DQ. Torrie jumps on one of the Harris boys. She gets flipped off of him and takes her biggest bump thus far. Kidman to the rescue with a chair. This all shows what a cohesive team they are. Until they’re not. 

The Mamalukes are in the locker room. They yell at Disco for their tag title loss. Johnny just picks Disco up. Seriously, he had all the potential in the world. I think the Mamalukes fire Disco. 

Lex and Liz walk. 

Vampiro leaves the boiler room. 

Lex is out to cut a promo. Vampiro’s mucus plays and now there’s fireworks and flames. Vampiro is in the ring behind Luger and attacks. 

Vampiro vs. Lex Luger. 

This match is all Luger. Vampiro slips out of a Rack attempt and builds up momentum. The crowd is super into Vampiro. Vampiro off the top with a clothesline and only gets a two. Ric Flair comes out and Vampiro knocks him off the apron. The ref is distracted by this for long enough so Lex hits Vampiro with the bat. Lex picks up Vampiro for the Rack and now gets the win. This is then a two on one attack until Sting runs out to save Vampiro. 

Mean Gene is in the nWo locker room. Jarrett and Steiner cut promos for tonight’s main event. And Steiner reminds us, “it’s even harder to keep a hard man down.” 

Riki Rachtman tells us that next week there will be a special web cast behind the scenes at Nitro. Where’s that for the WWE Vault YouTube channel? 

The Nitro Girls dance. 

Mean Gene interviews Dustin Rhodes and Dustin goes over his enemies list. He’s trying to get “bite the dust” over more than “American Nightmare”. Maybe Cody can pick up the bite line. 

Apparently there was a post Uncensored press conference. “Mr. Vicious” (which I found hysterical) was fielding questions when Hulk Hogan came in to congratulate the champ. All of the focus is now on Hogan and you can see jealousy in Sid’s eyes. You know, it’s not Stan Lee’s fault that once he entered the room no one asked Jack Kirby any more questions. 

Norman Smiley vs Hugh Morrus. 

These two actually work very well together and have a familiar flow. Hugh starts to pull Norman up at the two counts like he’s a jobber. Hugh hits a moonsault on Norman and as he’s going for and pinning Norman, the Demon’s music plays. By the time Demon makes his way to the ring, Norman has lost and Hugh just beats up the Demon. You can tell how far away a storm is by counting the seconds between the lightning flash and hearing the God of Thunder. 

Mean Gene talks to Curt Hennig. 

Mean Gene is going to talk to Sid after the next match. 

Dustin Rhodes vs Curt Hennig. 

Curt starts in control. The match goes to the outside. Dustin attacks the cast and now Curt has lost his as well. The ref calls for the DQ. Dustin hits the ref. Hogan comes out to save Curt and hits Dustin. 

Throughout the night, Madden absolutely shits on Hogan and justifies the actions of the heels and in retrospect he’s completely correct. 

Mean Gene is interviewing Sid when Jimmy Hart shows up. Sid says to make sure no one else can interfere tonight. 

Tank Abbot walks. 

Mean Gene talks to Sting. 

Tank Abbot vs the Barbarian. 

Meng watches from the locker room. Who’s the kid? Is this a New Bloodline appearance? The Barbarian sets the referee on the top buckle and pretty much lets him know to just stay there out of the way. Tank with a shitty carry and a drop. Barbarian with a duplex and a pin attempt. This is the best match anyone has gotten out of Tank so far. The referee breaks up the two men when they’re fighting in the corner. This gives the break so when Barbarian walks back over to Tank, Tank can hit him with a left and a right for the TKO. 

Ric Flair walks. 

Sting walks. 

“You’ve seen this before, but what’s going to happen this time?”

This is when I decide to guess. There’s 18 minutes left on the show for two main event matches. I feel familiar enough with this era of WCW, I wrote down what will happen in this match. From my notes: “I know it’s going to have a shitty ending. I’ll guess Sting starts to win, Lex comes out, Vampiro makes the save.”

Sure enough, there’s Lex. Sting fights both off, Scorpion on Flair, Lex pulls the ref out, DQ, Flair with two of the strangest looking double axe handle nut upper cuts. Either Sting has tiny balls and Flair didn’t want to miss, or Sting has huge balls and it takes hands to hurt them. Oh, and Vampiro with the save. 

The nWo walks. 

Sid and Hulk walk. 

Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious and Hulk Hogan. 

7 minutes left. Again, I speculate, when does Sid turn on Hogan? 

Steiner hits a cheap shot. Hogan comes in to argue. It begins? Sid makes the hot tag, and the fans chant for Hogan. Sid looks upset. Hogan gets the fans rallying. Sid gets up, turns, and choke slams Hogan. Sid demands the ref make the count as Sid pins Hogan. Jarrett and Steiner celebrate, I’m not sure why. 

I really don’t remember Sid being a heel when WCW is rebooted and the titles are vacated in a couple weeks. 

I know we have a couple more episodes of this assignment, but what’s the plan here? Honestly, I think Kevin Sullivan is second only to Vince McMahon as Hogan’s greatest booker. Everything is against Hogan, there’s a ton of bad guys, and he super hero defeats them all in the end. Sid, Jarrett, Steiner all against Hogan and eventually he beats them all and becomes champion once again. No new stars. The mid card and tag and everyone else can figure it out. If you’re smart you feud against Hogan and at least that’s lots of TV time. I can’t blame Sid. He busted his ass as champion only to have the fans celebrate the Prodigal Son. Hogan is only as loyal as his whims.