83 Weeks - Slamboree 2000 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

We’re kicking this off coming out of Spring Stampede, which we covered in the archives and you can check out over at 83weeksonyoutube.com.

We were 7 days into the reset of WCW - you & Russo working together. What do you remember of that first week? You had the April 10th Nitro, the Thunder taping, then Spring Stampede. By the time you get to the next Nitro…did you have a feel for Vince and what he was working with skill wise?

There’s only a 3-week build to the next pay-per-view, Slamboree, and the Nitro coming out of the pay-per-view has Vince Russo with the New Blood out there, including all the new champions like WCW Champion Jeff Jarrett.

Eric - what did you think of the decision to put the title on Jeff?

From the Observer

Nitro on 4/17 in Rockford, IL drew 3,177 paid and 1,168 comps for a $98,990 house. The show opened with a celebration with Russo (who was better on TV this week) and all the new champs with confetti and balloons. It came off like an NWO party rerun. Russo and Jarrett cut a promo on Jim Ross, which probably served to confuse 95% of the audience and made them come off as bush leagues to most of the remaining 5% especially when the ratings came out the next day. If Jarrett holding a belt given to him because his best friend in the company is writing the scripts want to rub it in Ross' face for losing him, he should wait until after the ratings gap closes to one point or he's the one who headlines a PPV that does a 1.0 buy rate because until that time he's proven nothing as a headliner.

Did you think Russo was booking like he had nothing to lose at this point considering this is his second time back with the company?

From the Observer

Bischoff & Kimberly came out. Kimberly even called DDP "DD-Me." Kimberly claimed she had to keep turning down opportunities because DDP was trying to keep her down. Page showed up and security told him he wasn't allowed in. Page beat them all up and came in anyway.

As he was going to the ring, he passed by Stasiak and Hennig, who, seriously, were backstage talking over their match. Page ran in the ring but was attacked five-on-one however the helmeted Riot Squad at ringside turned out to be the Millionaires Club to even the score, which came off as a WWF rerun.

Bischoff and Russo then yelled at Booker and guys like Morrus, Flynn, Chavo Jr. and Bigelow for not helping out backstage. Then the security quit. Bischoff then picked up a phone that never rang and it was Hogan's voice threatening him.

A LOT to unpack there - but how the hell does Stasiak & Hennig going over their match make TV? How does no one have that hallway clear?

This is a lot of crash TV, were you just following Russo’s lead already?

During the Stasiak-Hennig match, Hennig would throw water all over Mark Madden at ringside and it’s reported that Madden had no idea that was coming. Did Hennig have heat with Madden? Did most in the locker room? What do you equate this to - or just Curt being Curt with a rib?

This write up from the Observer is so good Eric.

“With security gone, they had police officers guarding the back to keep Stone Cold Hulk Hogan from coming in. They were ready to pull their guns, but Hogan gave them a dirty look and they all backed off and let him in. I'm just glad I don't live in Rockford. Hogan went to the ring.

Hogan then did an interview and challenged anyone to come out. It was probably his best promo in a long time and he is still the smartest man in wrestling and the show wasn't even half over yet. Although he nearly died one week ago, and was bandaged up one day ago, he was 100% selling nothing tonight. He challenged Kidman, who was shown on the video wall challenging Hogan to fight him in the back. Hogan ran off.

Hogan, like Nash, should never be put in a position that requires immediate intensity because he can't run and he exposes he's no longer athletic when put in that position and ruins the fantasy.”

This type of quality control of having Hogan be selling isn’t really something that was going to happen in WCW?

Hard to disagree with the whole Hogan shouldn’t be running thing…but this program with Hogan & Kidman has always fascinated me. The gist is this is what Russo wanted - and Hulk had to go along with it because of creative control - but did this benefit anyone?

How long did Hogan give Vince before he knew the creative was an issue? Did it take until Bash at the Beach or was it dead in the water long before it?

One of the few things that came out of this was Kronik, Bryan Adams & Bryan Clark, becoming a tag team. What did you think of these two being paired together?

Sting & Vampiro start heating up after Vampiro turned on Sting but this note from the Observer is interesting.

“There was a lot of talk the next day about him coming from the ceiling. The NBA banned all mascots or anyone at their games from coming from the ceiling immediately after Owen Hart died out of respect to Hart, who didn't even play their sport, a ban that has not been rescinded, but to be the slightest bit surprised would be to think WCW has the same class as the NBA. For a pro wrestling company to do this, for nothing more than a pop, whether it's dangerous or not, and Sting was clearly dropped too fast, in front of wrestling fans, at least some of whom watched the Over the Edge PPV and have bad memories of it, let alone with his brother in the same state, let alone the same building, is terribly insensitive. I just hope they have enough class not to duplicate this when they run Kansas City.”

Did Sting have any issues coming from the ceiling after the Owen Hart accident?

Did you feel the concern of anyone - I mean you have Bret Hart on this show - with these types of stuns?

Did anyone consult with Bret do you think?

With the pay-per-view coming in Kansas City - where Owen passed away tragically - did you think it was a good idea to have these types of “stunts”?

“DDP no contest Awesome. They were having a good match when Mark Madden said how in the new WCW they are going to have winners and losers and the refs aren't going to be calling DQ's. Literally seconds later, Billy Silverman called the DDQ. ”

The Mark Madden thing again tickles me - because it seems like the left hand and the right hand were not on the same page. Fair to say?

What did you think of Mark as an announcer?

How’s this for an attempted SportsCenter moment..

“Abbott came out and went after Bruce MacArthur, who in real life is one of Ric Flair's best friends I think dating back more than 30 years. MacArthur, whose family owns the United Center and the Black Hawks, was sitting with NHL tough guy Bob Probert. Abbott grabbed MacArthur and before he could do much, Probert hit the ring. They had a quick pull-apart and nothing happened far too quickly as if booked right and pushed hard, at least they could have made Sports Center.”

Eric - what in the hell is all this?

“Hogan found Kidman and beat him up with one hand tied behind his back. He then chased Bischoff, who was about to drive off in the hummer, but it wouldn't start. He left the keys behind and ran away. So Hogan started it immediately using his supernatural powers, and drove into the garbage bin Kidman was trapped in, destroying it. Kidman was left on a stretcher dead. Thankfully, if he's got Hogan's recuperative powers, and being that he's 23 years younger and takes better bumps, he should have them, he should be fine by next week's Nitro.”

Eric - this isn’t you. I know it’s not. How did you go along with this?

Last thing from this Nitro..

“Main event, which was pushed the whole show as a mystery non-millionaire against Jarrett, who Jarrett was clearly afraid of and wanted Russo to talk out of the match but Russo couldn't.

As a shoot, there was debate between different factions regarding the hype during the show. The general feeling was to announce Steiner, but Russo thought keeping it a surprise would be better for ratings. The 2.1 made Russo look bad, but the truth is, if they had announced Steiner, it probably wouldn't have made much difference.

Match wasn't any good. Just as Madden talked about how they don't do DQ's (after doing them in the previous two matches), Booker ran in and kicked Steiner while he had Jarrett just about beat for the DQ in 3:28. The fans clearly hated this.

To send them home happy, Hogan was still chasing Bischoff and got him in the ring. Hart then showed up with a chair and swung it just as the show went off the air. I guess we have to wait until 4/24 to find out who he hit with the chair, but he did hit Hogan with it live.

Actually it was a pretty good cliffhanger ending, but it won't help ratings since nobody saw it. The show was never boring, but the show was never that good and the in-ring product left a lot to be desired.”

Did you think you needed to advertise Scott’s return? Do you think sometimes surprises help?

Hogan was chasing you for a while wasn’t he?

When you get the call Tuesday - and it seems like you lost all this viewership from the week before during the reset - how deflating is it?

Raw draws a 6.75 rating with a 10.3 share. Nitro had its lowest live rating since the earliest days of the program with a 2.47 (2.86 first hour; 2.09 second hour) & a 3.7 share. The lowest “Kevin Sullivan” booked show did a 2.51. That’s just a disaster is it not?

Why do you think you ran off so many fans in just one week?

Meltzer would point out that you can’t blame Raw for it because the first hour - running unopposed - still only did a 2.86. So out of the 9.7 million viewers who watched pro wrestling that night…WCW only attracted a few million of them. How frustrating is that?

At the same time - Ready to Rumble was in its second weekend and it’s ranked 10th for sales but there’s a 53% drop off the opening weekend. You weren’t there for when it was put together, but now for the release, how much pressure was there on WCW to push the movie to help it succeed?

I don’t know if we’ve ever discussed this…but what did you think of the movie?

From the Observer

Add Mark Kerr to the list of shootfighters on their way to WCW. Kerr was contacted by Bischoff and told they are going to have a group called "Fight Club" composed of Mark Coleman, Don Frye, Kerr, Rick Steiner and Abbott. Kerr was told he'd be brought in after the concept is developed as a new monster rather than at first. . .

Do you remember talking with Mark Kerr, Mark Coleman, Don Frye & others about this concept?

Was this a Bischoff or Russo concept?

Do you think it could’ve been successful?

The next week Raw scores its second highest rating in history with a 7.15 rating & a 10.9 share. That’s crazy looking back now isn’t it?

Nitro doesn’t do that bad either…it rose to a 3.05 rating with 3.68 unopposed and 2.44 against Raw and for the first time in months the total viewing audience for wrestling was over 10.2 million. Eric - where the hell did all these fans go?

This of course is the Nitro from Rochester that features a whole hell of a lot going on.

This show is what puts in motion putting the WCW World Title on David Arquette. Eric - walk me through the thought process - who’s idea it was - who was against it - why did it happen, etc

That Nitro drew 7,713 in Rochester but only 2,697 paid $64,925. Double comps over paid…when you get that report are you just dumbfounded?

The show opens with Vampiro getting destroyed by Sting before he fights back and hits Sting in the back with a lead pipe…Sting is fine by the next segment by the way. Do you think things like that hurt the viewer and take them out of it?

From the Observer

Kidman, who was smashed half to death by a hummer last week, was fine this week except for wrapping around his ribs. Luckily he learned the art of selling an injury from Hogan, as he didn't sell the bad ribs at all during his match later.

Was Kidman ready to be in this type of position do you think? Was someone better off being in this spot compared to Kidman?

Now Eric…this is where WCW gets…interesting?

From the Observer

“Jarrett & Bischoff & Kimberly came out. They showed the three-decker cage from the "Ready to Rumble" movie. Bischoff called out Page and Kimberly gave him divorce papers. I immediately thought of all the possibilities of how they could make this angle huge, but no, Page didn't even sell it like he was concerned. That guy is just so cool, he blew off a good angle. Luckily the announcers saw how Page botched it so they stopped selling the divorce like it was anything important either. Page went after Bischoff but Jarrett hit Page with a guitar. This brought out Arquette to jump on Bischoff. Jarrett pulled him off but before Jarrett could pound on him, Kanyon saved Arquette. Bischoff challenged Arquette to a match. The stips were if Arquette won, Page would get a cage match for the title on this show.”

Are you writing this? Dallas not selling the divorce, you wrestling David Arquette. How did this all come together?

Did you really think you’d be back in a professional wrestling at this point?

Chris Candido & Tammy Sytch are in the company - was this a Russo idea?

Just 3-4 years earlier Tammy was one of the most downloaded women on the internet. What did you think when you saw these two?

With his head right - Candido could’ve been so much more couldn’t he have?

From the Observer

“Adams & Clark beat Flair & Luger in 1:21 when Adams pinned Flair. Adams & Clark are horrible. I don't care what the circumstances are, there is no explanation on why Flair should be jobbing for Brian Adams. Adams is washed up, bad interview, no history of ever drawing money. Flair is still out there wrestling every show rather than doing interviews and pushed to where he can mean something for ratings. Douglas hit Flair with a bat and Flair got pinned after a double chokeslam.

Russo, Douglas and Bagwell destroyed Flair and Luger with bats until Adams & Clark made the save, turning on Douglas & Bagwell.”

I mean looking back - this is just not something that should’ve happened right? And then Kronik turns on Shane & Buff afterwards - nothing makes sense Eric!

Do you remember any issues with Ric doing this type of stuff at this point?

What was your relationship like with Ric when you returned to the company?

From the Observer

“Awesome & Kidman beat Stone Cold Hulk Hogan in a handicap match in 10:44. Awesome with his new haircut looks like he might as well be Emory Hale. Hogan wears a jacket that says FUNB. NB stands for new blood. FU stands for FU. Hogan cleaned their clocks and was working harder than usual. It was a brawl that lasted too long, but the idea was it had to keep going until 9 p.m. (the original idea was to put Bischoff vs. Arquette at 9 p.m. to keep people from switching but this audible seemed like the better call). Kidman hit Hogan with a chair and Hogan juiced again. Awesome powerbombed Hogan through a table and then Kidman splashed Hogan through a table and pinned him after a legdrop.

Hogan gets smarter by the week.”

Stone Cold Hulk Hogan cracks me up. How did you get FUNB through standards & practices?

Meltzer would make it seem like Hogan is really smart because he’s got two guys killing him to beat him - but that makes sense doesn’t it?

Do you think you vs. Arquette would’ve drawn a better quarter for the 9pm hour than Hogan vs. Awesome & Kidman?

From the Observer

Arquette pinned Bischoff in 2:08. Arquette at least looks like he enjoys wrestling and is having fun out there, but boy did he make WCW look minor league when he used the worm as his big move, particularly since it got by far the biggest pop of anything on the show. It was bad enough that the crowd was filled with pro-WWF signs, many of which were on camera, and negative to WCW signs. Jarrett saved Bischoff. Jarrett hit Page with the title belt. Bischoff hit a low blow on Arquette but then Jarrett hit Bischoff with the guitar when Arquette moved and Arquette scored the pin. Kanyon saved DDP, the lights went out, and Sting was in the balcony.

This…this…I don’t know Eric. The Worm? Do you think it makes WCW look minor league?

What was David like to work with?

From the Observer

“DDP pinned Jarrett to win the title in a cage match in 4:59. Actually this was the closest thing to a good match on the show. Page never sold the divorce deal and if he doesn't care about it enough to have it get in the way of wrestling a match, why should anyone else care? Amazing how quickly a back can heal when given a push. The finish was beyond stupid. Diamond cutter. Then, for no reason except to take focus away from people popping for a title change, Awesome tears down the cage door, which makes the cage gimmick stupid two weeks before a cage match on PPV. Awesome stopped the count. Kanyon was in for the save. Even though the ref counted two, stopped and hit the mat once more, all of a sudden they announced Page as winner and new champ.

There was no crowd pop because instead of putting the focus on Page and getting over a title change, the focus was on Awesome and Kanyon brawling trying to get their second match on the show feud over and killing the title change pop.”

This is a whole mess Eric. Like a whole mess. You’re building to a triple decker cage match, got people ripping doors open, a title change two weeks after a title is vacated, it’s just too much isn’t it?

You can’t watch this and think it’s entertaining, right?

“Finally Sting vs. Vampiro in a first blood match went a few minutes before a bunch of red stuff came from the ceiling and Sting bathed in it. Sting came from the ceiling again. Fans hated this segment live. Eventually the New Blood guys beat up Sting and hooked him back up to his hook and he was lifted a few feet off the ground and hung there like he was an unconscious pinata. After TV went off the air, they lowered Sting back to the ground, he made a miraculous recovery and beat up all the NB members. Reports were that even though Sting made the save, fans left the building unhappy feeling the final segment was a major ripoff.

This is just textbook Russo is it not? The red blood from the ceiling, hooking him back up and lifting him, who does this benefit?

Russo has said in interviews that the original plan was for the New Blood to be babyfaces and the Millionaire’s Club would be heels but the fans sided with the Millionaires. Was that the plan?

How was anyone going to boo all the major stars - especially when they’re made to look like babyfaces?

Now…we’re onto Thunder…and we all know what’s coming.

From the Observer

Yes, the most prestigious title in our sport changed hands twice more this week, with DDP beating Jeff Jarrett at Nitro on 4/24 in Rochester, NY and then it being put up to the winner of the fall in a tag match on Thunder on 4/25 in Syracuse, NY, with David Arquette pinning Eric Bischoff.

The idea, and since this just happened as we went to press time will tell if this is correct, is that WCW believes the publicity about Arquette winning the title will hit mainstream and lead to a ratings boost on 5/1 since WWF looks to be changing its world title to Rock and Austin will appear.

They did a double pin finish with Jarrett pinning Page at the same time Arquette pinned Bischoff, but they announced Arquette as winner and new champion and had him parade around with the belt. Kimberly was the ref and kept counting slow whenever Page had Jarrett pinned and counting fast the other way. Somehow she was out of there and Mickey Jay ran in and counted the double pin and signaled that Arquette had won.

Say what you want about David Arquette - but the man donated all his money to the families of wrestlers who had passed away…

But Eric…HE PINNED YOU TO WIN THE WCW TITLE.

Who the hell thought this was a good idea?

Did Jeff?

Dallas?

You?

What was David’s reaction when he was told he would become WCW Champion?

What did others say in the locker room? You got the likes of Ric Flair, Sting, hell, what did Hulk think of it?

Is this the true epitome of jumping the shark?

Also on this Thunder - from the Observer

Abbott came out next. What was supposed to happen was that Abbott was supposed to bully around Rick Rinaldi, a local boxing coach from Syracuse (who when he came out, nobody in the building knew), which would bring out Marc Mero to make the save. Somehow this got all screwed up and they never went after Rinaldi and Abbott and Mero just did a pull-apart that wasn't good.

Mero was referred to under his real name, with no mention that he was formerly Johnny B. Badd. Mero, in his home city, got a nice reaction.

Where did the idea of using Marc Mero come from here? How do these things never seem to work when it comes to WCW?

“They added a stip in Flair vs. Douglas that if Russo interferes, Flair gets 5:00 with him. Flair is for sure going to job for Russo. Somehow in all this Russo revealed that Elizabeth is under contract to WCW and now she's Russo's valet and he took her hostage.”

Was Ric happy with this creative do you know of?

I don’t know why but this all tickled me…

“Awesome beat Booker T when Steiner hit Booker T with the U.S. title belt. After the match, Jerry Flynn, Hugh Morrus, Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Van Hammer ran Awesome and Steiner out.”

Look at that crew running people off…

“Hart did an interview taped on 4/21 in Calgary with Scott Hudson. The basic gist of the interview is Hart said he hit Hogan with the chair because he's friends with Bischoff and Hogan has been dodging him for a match going back forever and claimed he was the one guy who could have beaten Hogan when he was in his prime. He said he sees the finish of his career as holding Hogan in the sharpshooter and Hogan tapping out. It was suggested for Hart to do a retirement tour, which is a brilliant idea since everyone now will believe any wrestler when they say they're going to retire.”

Was there an actual long term plan for Bret to return and work Hogan? Or was this a hope and a prayer considering he didn’t wrestle again until 2010.

“WCW Saturday Night officially will no longer have separate tapings done. That in and of itself will increase the average attendance at WCW house shows since very little promotional money was spent on the Saturday shows, and with no major stars advertised, the crowds have been very poor, often 1,000 or less paid. The show will now be a review of the Nitro and Thunder shows, hosted by Terry Taylor and Larry Zbyszko.”

It’s a sad end to what a tradition that was…but it was really dead especially after Thunder began right?

Did you ever see that show dying?

From the Observer

Bret Hart was asked by Sting before the stunt on 4/17 if he had a problem with Sting coming down from the ceiling. Hart said he didn't have a problem with it if Sting didn't have a problem and felt safe doing so and had a safety line. There were people in the company who felt it was in poor taste but Russo was insistent it was important to do it.

Is that what people felt? Did you?

When the results come in for David Arquette’s win…mind you on a taped show and it was out on the internet that he did win it…

“Thunder on 4/26 did a 2.72 rating for the show where Arquette won the WCW title. The number was higher than Thunder had been drawing over the past six months, but down from the previous episode two weeks earlier. The Arquette deal wasn't a success even if the show drew a higher rating than usual since the main event drew a 2.25, which was the lowest rating of any segment on the show and lost 25% of its audience largely after the Paisley vs. Tammy match on a show which went unopposed.”

What’s the reaction internally to that number? That this was a goddamn failure and never should’ve happened - or that David Arquette’s ability to draw ratings wasn’t there?

The push from Arquette’s win in the mainstream is…well…non-existent.

“On 5/1, with the largest combined audience watching pro wrestling in more than three months, Raw drew its second highest rating in history while Nitro drew its lowest rating since the early stages of the show.

Paced by a cage match with Rock vs. Shane McMahon becoming the second most watched pro wrestling match ever on cable television with the over-run being viewed by approximately 10,576,500 viewers, Raw finished with a 7.40 rating (6.62 first hour; 8.11 second hour) and an 11.1 share.

Nitro finished slightly below its low mark of the past four plus years set just two weeks earlier with a 2.46 rating (2.62 first hour; 2.31 second hour) and a 3.6 share. Nitro served as a lead-in for a repeat of the movie "Assault on Devils Island" starring Hulk Hogan, which only drew an 0.96 rating. Overall the combined wrestling audience during the combined hours of 10.4 million was actually slightly lower than the audience watching the over-run of Raw by itself.”

Let’s put it all out there Eric. The experiment didn’t work did it?

Meltzer would have his opinion on what the rating meant

“The low Nitro first hour showed that the Thunder show killed virtually all casual fan interest in the product, but the die-hards stayed, as evidenced by very few first hour viewers switching to Raw when the show started (an amazingly tiny total of 201,000 homes nationally). About 45% of that die-hard Nitro audience switched to Raw when Nitro went off the air, and by the time the main event ended, more new viewers had tuned to Raw than the total number of viewers watching Nitro.”

Is that what you see when you see those numbers?

Was there talk or thoughts to take Arquette out of the match and have him drop the title - or was it important to get to his heel turn at the pay-per-view?

Courtney Cox & Kurt Russell make cameos on this edition of Nitro from Birmingham - talking about Arquette winning the title. Did David put those together?

“Smiley beat Crowbar in 4:57 in a hardcore match which was ungodly horrible when Smiley tripped over his partner into actually cradling Crowbar. Smiley came out with Ralphus under a mask (Ralphus is at this point scheduled to be the third man with Funk and Smiley in the hardcore title match on the PPV unless someone in power gets a touch of sanity), and Ralphus got his head caught in the ropes and stayed there the entire match. This looked so stupid. Watching the crowd reaction to this match was like watching a comedian tell jokes that nobody was laughing about.”

Eric - what in the hell is this? Why did we need to bring Ralphus back on TV?

“DDP, Kanyon and Arquette came out to no real pop with the belt. When Arquette started talking, the audience started booing. He said he'd give up the title. Bischoff told him he couldn't and that he'd have to be in the three cage match at Slamboree. Russo, Liz, Jarrett and Kimberly came out with Bischoff. Luger ran out in the middle of all this looking for Liz. Bischoff told Arquette he'd have to defend against Abbott. DDP said he wanted the match with Abbott. It set up Abbott vs. DDP and if Abbott won, he'd get a title match. Abbott came out for a pull-apart. The problem was security after a few seconds never touched Abbott, and he was standing there lost not doing anything.”

David Arquette vs. Tank Abbott would’ve been something huh?

“Stasiak was shooting free throws the entire show. The idea was he was going to sink 5,200 in a row. Of course, he could do this in two hours. So he was one short of the all-time record when Hennig tackled him at the end of the show.”

Stasiak as the new Curt Hennig…just didn’t work did it?

“Wall beat Horace Hogan in a tables match in 2:19. What a difference between working a match with Wall and Kidman. Real bad. Kidman ran in and was thrown around like a jobber by Horace, but it allowed Wall to choke slam him through a table for the win. They doubled on Horace after, until Hulk came out. Awesome came up from behind. Hogan beat all their asses before they overpowered him. Awesome actually power bombed Hogan through a table. Hogan didn't take the power bomb off the top like they teased he would, but took more of a sunset flip through a table. They cut away immediately to make sure the segment didn't leave an impact. Hogan is the smartest man in wrestling.”

Dave loves saying Hogan was the smartest man in wrestling - but I mean he puts himself into positions where he puts people over but it’s different than everyone else isn’t it?

“Morrus won a three-way over Jarrett and Steiner in 2:30. Bischoff told Morrus that if he lost, the entire MIA group (Chavo Guerrero Jr., Van Hammer and Lash Leroux) would be fired. Steiner had Morrus in the recliner, but Jarrett hit Steiner with a guitar to set up their short-term angle and Morrus pinned Steiner. Bischoff then told the four they were all fired anyway. They called them Misfits in action. I smell another lawsuit threat by the Misfits.”

Why - how - why doesn’t anything make sense?

Why do you go along with it?

“Sting and Vampiro fought in a graveyard. Vampiro broke a tombstone over Sting's head and he fell into a grave. Officially, because Sting may have died, the match was a no contest. Sting's hand crawled from the grave with the announcers screaming that Sting was alive. Those poor announcers having to sell this crap.”

You wonder why Tony Schiavone hated wrestling for so long?

“Abbott beat DDP in 1:55. Kanyon and Arquette were in DDP's corner. He took the punch from Abbott, and wobbled but ended up getting up, thereby, well killing isn't the right term, but you know, Abbott's finisher before the Goldberg program. Jarrett hit Page with a bottle so Abbott won. Page went out on a stretcher in an ambulance.”

This is how you’re building a challenger for the World Title after he won it just a week ago…

“Hogan and Awesome were fighting backstage. Kidman challenged anyone to come out, and insulted Nash in particular. Nash came out and kicked his ass and with the size difference, boy does this not get Kidman over. And with the fact Nash treated him like the ultimate green boy, it didn't help any better.”

What was Nash like at this point in time? We are 15 months removed from him ending Goldberg’s streak - and when Kevin doesn’t like something he sure lets everyone know it. What was he like to work with at this time?

“Konnan and Misterio Jr. came out for what was the single stupidest segment of the show in a long time. No, not because they could bring them back with an impact and had Nash by himself kick all three of their asses which was booking stupid, but they do that all the time. But because they laid out a script that required Misterio Jr., who is months from his knee being ready, and Nash, who is still weeks away from his ankle being better, to run. It's bad enough that under the best of circumstances Nash can't run because of his knee and because he's a 41-year-old man who weighs what looks like 335 pounds. But throw in an ankle that needs to recover shows that nobody has learned anything from the stupidity of the Goldberg ankle.

Misterio Jr. also slipped, and one more knee injury and his whole career could be over. Risking both of their injured legs before they are recovered for the sake of a really bad skit is worse than bad booking, it shows zero care about the health of the talent.”

Is this just a lack of foresight for everyone? Should Rey & Konnan’s return meant more? Is it all just too much? Is that the theme of WCW at this point in time? Too much?

“Russo was in the ring waiting for Luger. Douglas and Bagwell beat up Flair. Luger came in fighting with security and he was maced and handcuffed. Liz hit Russo with the bat and ran off. Then Adams & Clark came out and beat up all the security guys. Then the "real" cops came out and maced Adams & Clark. Amazing watching Flair & Luger used as set up guys so Adams & Clark can get the heat. Nash, who after all this, had beaten Misterio Jr. and Konnan into near death, then started smashing their car up.”

I understand the attempt to elevate two guys in a new gimmick - and really kudos for it - but I don’t know…just seems wrong here?

“Vampiro did an interview. A crow was on a perch below the big screen. Sting, now totally healthy, came down from the ceiling, and landed way too fast, and destroyed Vampiro with a bat. It must be bad karma because Sting has had two bad landings in his last three tries on a skit he probably did 50 times or more without any problems.”

Way to sell the graveyard gimmick. Couldn’t even give it a TV show huh?

“Arquette pinned Abbott in 2:13 when Page gave him the diamond cutter. I know, Page was just stretchered out and taken in an ambulance a half

hour earlier. Guess what? He drove back the ambulance and ran to the ring to lay out Abbott. That was a great idea. At least it was the first time I saw Hogan and Austin do it. It was already lame when Sandman did it. Nobody cared by now it's become such a cliche. Part of the problem is that somebody thinks this is a Roadrunner cartoon, and it's not. If people are left for dead, they shouldn't be fine 30 minutes later. It's like Sting was knocked into complete unconsciousness and was fine a segment later. But last week, he got bathed in blood, and two days later, hadn't even taken a shower.”

I mean…hard to say Dave is wrong here Eric. But christ Arquette pinning Abbott…and Abbott was supposed to be the guy working with Goldberg when he returned?

“Finally Awesome pinned Hogan in 7:13. It was a pathetic match as these two, because neither sells and Hogan can't take Awesome's big moves, are terrible opponents for each other.

They acknowledged Awesome as world champion from another organization. Kidman and Bischoff came out. Hogan was beating up Awesome and Kidman by himself until Kidman came off the ropes with a chair and Hogan did one of his patented incredibly obvious blade jobs and Awesome pinned him. Hogan made his own comeback until an indie wrestler ran into the ring for no reason other than to make people think fans were hitting the ring to save Hogan, and thus encouraging fans to actually do so, which is always brilliant booking. The red liquid fell from the ceiling and Hogan was drenched in it as the show went off the air.”

ERIC - WHY DOES BLOOD KEEP FALLING? WHY DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? WHO BOOKED THIS SHIT?

From the Observer

Goldberg was said to be really upset, and rightfully so, with how Abbott was handled on the show. It doesn't kill their feud in the sense that there should be some interest in Goldberg coming back even if he was against Evan Karagias. But Abbott in the role as Goldberg's opponent, whatever aura he should have brought to the table to make him a viable opponent for Goldberg, is totally gone

Who did Bill voice this to? What was your relationship with him when you returned?

“5/2 Thunder taping from Memphis at the Round House.

Before Thunder started, Bischoff came out and told the crowd not to chant FUNB (FU New Blood) as a way to get the crowd to do so.”

This is just booking 101 - but…FUNB is an awkward ass chant isn’t it?

“Show opened with the faces (Hogan, Horace, DDP, Kanyon, Kronic, Sting, Flair, Luger and MIA) in the parking lot waiting for Russo and Bischoff. When the limo arrived with Russo, Bischoff, Douglas, Bagwell, Awesome, Kidman and Jarrett, a big brawl started. It was broken up. Russo then yelled at Miller, Candido, Tammy and Vampiro for not helping out. Russo then announced the entire show would be New Blood vs. Millionaires Club under New York rules with no rules, no ref and the match ends when the guy counts his own fall.”

That’s what New York rules means huh?

Did we just run out of ideas already?

“Kanyon pinned Jarrett with the flatliner when Kimberly went to hit Kanyon with a guitar but instead Page came out and hit Kimberly with the guitar. Said to be good.”

Killing women - always a staple of this era. But I mean Jarrett is supposed to be the heel challenging two babyfaces in a Triple cage match. What does this do?

“DDP beat Vampiro. Sting ran out in a druid costume and he and Vampiro fought all over the place until the dreaded red liquid ended up covering Vampiro. DDP used the diamond cutter and counted his pin.”

What was the budget on this red liquid? It must’ve been cheap.

“Hogan wrestled Steiner for the first time ever. They ended up in the crowd where Morrus jumped on Steiner and he and Hogan double-teamed him. Steiner just left. I guess he was counted out.” I mean this is a big first time match - and Hugh Morrus is involved with these two. You’re just blowing through storylines and matches with no reason?

Savage's limo pulled up.

Now the story is that Randy Savage made this one time appearance even without a contract because you reached out to him. Is that accurate?

“The New Blood went to the ring with weapons and challenged everyone setting up a Battle Royal with the winner of it being the No. 1 contender and facing whoever holds the world title on the 6/11 Great American Bash PPV in Baltimore. As the match went on, besides NB and Millionaires Club, the Harris Twins, Mamalukes, Disco, Abbott, Duggan (who is no longer the TV champion since Russo doesn't like the TV title--actually, I'm in agreement since there are enough worthless belts out there and it was basically something for Jimmy Hart to use for WCW Saturday Night and since that show is canceled, I guess so is the belt), Harlem Heat 2000, Madusa, Mona, Asya and finally Savage got out of the limo last and came in.

Match was said to be a total mess. Savage threw a bunch of people out and brawled out of the ring with Candido. Hogan was eliminated when Bret Hart hit him with a chair but then Hogan pulled Kidman out with him. Jarrett and Page went out together leaving only Flair and Douglas. Russo came in with the bat when Flair got the figure four on, but Flair moved and Douglas got hit in the leg with the bat. Flair threw Russo out, hit Douglas with the bat to knock him over and win the match.”

I know we all think Meltzer can write run on sentences and the such…but this…what is going on here?

“Yep, Flair is in the main event for that PPV being put in a position to have to sell buys after being buried for the last several weeks underground as Adams' set-up man. Got a feeling the champ by that point would be Steiner. Hogan tried to suplex Kidman through a table, but for the first time, Kidman got offense on Hogan and reversed the move and Hogan went through the table and Bischoff counted to three. Savage then chased Bischoff and Kidman through the crowd.”

Working with Randy for the last time - did you ever think that was the last time?

“The big finish was totally screwed up. The idea was that Jarrett and Page were to climb a scaffolding. The idea is that Arquette would climb the scaffolding, hit either Jarrett or Page, and it would make sense to be Jarrett and that is who I was told it was supposed to be, with the guitar, who would take the bump and they gimmicked part of the stage that they would fall through.

When leaving the ring, by accident, Asya stepped on the set and fell through, so everyone could see it was gimmicked. Arquette then ran out and apparently wasn't given directions as to what to avoid, so he stepped and fell into the gimmicked part of the stage. So Jarrett and Page improvised up there with Page deciding to save the show and take the bump into what was already evident as a gimmicked hole in the stage. No idea at press time how this will be edited to attempt to make the save on television.”

My goodness whatever can go wrong can go wrong huh?

You guys start releasing talent and I’d like to run through the list. Maestro, Barbarian, Bobby Eaton, and Meltzer would bring this up.

“Eaton, who is now 41 and in his prime was one of the greatest workers the business had seen up to that point in time, didn't get a check in the mail one week and called about it and was told at that point he was no longer with the company. He called J.J. Dillon about it, and Dillon told him his contract had expired and he wasn't being renewed. Eaton was probably the only person left who had been with the company uninterrupted from the Turner buyout of Jim Crockett in 1988, and his tenure with Crockett dated back to the Midnight Express days in 1985.”

Was WCW just an unorganized mess to allow this to happen?

“Vampiro on 4/26 had a contract dispute with WCW which even resulted in him contacting WWF. By the next day, everything had been smoothed over and he apologized and was expected to sign a new deal this week”

Any idea what was going on here with Vampiro? Who was running talent relations at this point?

“David Arquette, who learned about winning the title the afternoon of the Thunder show, when the idea was formulated, and at the time was asked to keep it through the PPV, in an Alex Marvez interview on wrestlingobserver.com said about the offer, "I said I felt alright, but I did feel kind of weird.

Obviously, I don't deserve it. These guys are so skilled and it takes so much athleticism and gymnastics and strength, not to mention all the acting stuff that goes into it, it's really hard." Arquette said he learned wrestling from Kanyon, DDP and Shane Helms in a ring at the warehouse where they practiced before doing the movie "Ready to Rumble," and said he messed around when the ring was up while they were doing the movie. After the show in Syracuse where he won the title, Arquette was buying food and drinks at the bar for everyone, not just wrestlers but also fan hangers-on, and he was, unlike many celebrities who get involved, very well liked by the wrestlers, even the ones who didn't think using him in that way was a smart idea.

Arquette is said to be splitting his earnings from doing the pro wrestling to the family of Owen Hart, Brian Pillman and to Darren Drozdov.”

Did you know Arquette was doing that at the time?

“Dusty Rhodes will be returning to the organization as the host of WCW Classics which will be tapes of old Crockett and WCW matches dating back to the mid-80s that will appear on the new Turner South network when it debuts in the summer. Rhodes will be doing wrap-arounds for the matches and his segment in the pilot was said to be horrible. Rhodes delivered no insight and little content in general about some matches that he actually booked himself.”

How did Dusty come back to the company? Was he best in this type of role at this point?

“As far as the morale goes, the younger wrestlers are enthused and feel the company is going in the right direction and are very happy with Russo and even Bischoff for the most part. There is a lot more skepticism in the older wrestlers, and the funny part is, the ones who complain the most are the ones who in their TV roles are being protected the most. On Tuesday in Memphis, Bischoff won over a lot of younger wrestlers at a team meeting in front of everyone including Hogan and Savage said that everyone in the room has to have no problem doing jobs because everyone in the room at some point is going to be asked to do a job for someone else, and basically asked if anyone had a problem with that to speak up. Nobody did and Bischoff then said he was happy nobody had a problem.”

What do you remember of this meeting?

How important was it to show to the younger guys that the company was behind you?

Were you getting some heat from the older guys who had been there through the high times? Was there a lot of political unrest?

This show taking place in Kansas City - did anyone think it was odd coming after Owen’s death in the same building?

The show is a critical success…it actually gets 79.1% thumbs up from the Observer readers. And it was important to have a good show was it not?

The crowd was hot and it seemed like they were into everything. How much does a crowd being hot make a show seem hot?

From the Observer

“The next step is to do this consistently to where the business is successful. The show drew 7,165 fans, which was 4,862 paying $139,202, which was a substantial money loser as a live event. The show was on track to do 6,000 paid, and tickets not just stalled, but stopped selling completely with David Arquette added to the main event as world champion.”

Making $139k - my goodness what a bath that is. But the tickets stopped selling when Arquette becomes Champion - that comes straight from Zane Bresloff I’m sure. But that is a true indicator that it didn’t work right?

“1. Chris Candido retained the cruiserweight title pinning Artist in 7:59.

This match wasn't good, but Candido still deserves credit for his end, but there were circumstances beyond his control, namely the other three participants. Candido took a huge bump over the top early. He did a plancha. He took a suplex over the top. The two did a totally screwed up sunset flip spot that the crowd booed. After Artist did a Samoan drop off the top rope, Tammy distracted ref Mickey Jay. Paisley pulled Tammy's hair. Tammy hit Artist with a chair. Everything involving Tammy and Paisley looked horrible and hurt the match. The biggest killer was Candido pinned Artist after the Tammy chair shot. Artist kicked out, Jay counted to three even though Artist had rolled his shoulder, and the music played. The guys ignored the bell and the music and the fact the announcers called it as the finish (well, they wouldn't know the latter) and kept going, and quickly went to the real finish where Candido used a piledriver and diving head-butt. Since the crowd already heard Candido's music since it was cued, they knew he was winning, so continuing on came off really bad. Paisley shoved down Tammy after and that looked bad, then gave Candido a low blow and pulled Tammy's dress off. **”

Why did nothing work with this? Chris & Tammy - as good as Chris was - they just didn’t have it all together did they?

“2. Terry Funk won a handicap match for the hardcore title over Norman Smiley & Ralphus in 10:03.

Most of the match was backstage with Funk and Smiley throwing things at each other and Ralphus, dressed in a catchers outfit with a catchers mask, just standing there. Ralphus threw some of the weakest garbage can shots ever. The height of the silliness was them throwing cardboard boxes at each other and selling it. As bad as it was, it was perversely tremendous entertainment. Finally Funk brought Ralphus in front of the curtain and into the ring, and unmasked him and pulled his pants down. Ralphus basically stood there with his butt showing and teased doing the big wiggle several times. The cameras never got the shot the audience had, and it's probably a good thing. They brought in a ladder but didn't do any crazy ladder spots. Funk juiced from a chair to the head. Ralphus by this time looked like he was about to have a heart attack. Funk hit both Smiley an Ralphus with chairs and Ralphus died and Funk schoolboyed Smiley for the pin. **”

I don’t know what to say Eric. I can’t believe the Observer readers actually voted this show a thumbs up.

“3. Shawn Stasiak pinned Curt Hennig in 7:54.

The crowd was really into everything Hennig did on offense. Stasiak's moves aren't bad, but he's totally mechanical and has the personality of a tree while doing them. Stasiak won clean with Hennig's trademark fisherman suplex. I didn't know they were allowed to do clean wins in WCW. *”

Looking back - what did anyone see in Stasiak do you think?

“4. Scott Steiner beat Captain Rection to retain the U.S. title in 9:24.

The former Hugh Morrus came out and said that Hugh Morrus was a brain fart from Eric Bischoff and that his real name was Hugh G. Rection, but would go as Captain Rection, which no doubt will quickly become Captain Rectum. Steiner did a belly-to-belly and a great overhead belly-to-belly before nearly killing him with a Tiger driver where he totally messed up. Rection reversed a tombstone into one of his own. The finish was botched badly since Rection went for the moonsault, which Steiner was to move away from. Steiner moved, but Rection foot killed Steiner's face making it actually more damaging than a real moonsault, but Steiner shook it off and Rection pretended he missed and laid there and they went to the recliner for the finish. The rest of the MIA's tried to hit the ring after but the R&B Security stopped them. Finally Booker T came out and cleaned house on Steiner. **¼”

Hugh Morrus being renamed Hugh G. Rection and then Captain Rection - how in the hell did you sign off on this?

“5. Mike Awesome  went to a no contest with Chris Kanyon in 12:11.

These two put on the best match of the show. They were hurt because there was a big fight in the stands early in their match which took the crowd away. Awesome dropped Kanyon on a power bomb spot and he landed on his head. That looked sick, but Kanyon got up okay. Awesome undid the mats and teased a power bomb on the floor but Kanyon got away. Awesome delivered a released german suplex. They were on the ramp and Awesome set up a spot where he'd power bomb Kanyon off it but Kevin Nash came down and interfered, which led to Billy Kidman, Vampiro, Shane Douglas, Chris Candido, Ric Flair and Sting all in a big brawl. The lack of a finish hurt. ***¼”

This is to build to the main event craziness - but man these two in the ring could go couldn’t they?

How did the WWF fuck them up when they bought WCW?

“6. Lex Luger beat Buff Bagwell in 9:30.

This was the first time ever where Luger, who turns 42 next month, actually looked old in the ring.

I don't mean old as in his match was bad, because his matches have been bad forever, but facially and even his body looked like an aging bodybuilder as opposed to a bodybuilder. It's the unavoidable reality but it hit me hard nonetheless because Luger always looked younger than he was. Backstage Liz hit Vince Russo with the bat and ran to ringside. As she ran out, she hit Buff, but Buff got the bat and hit Luger twice in the ribs and delivered a neckbreaker. Liz got the bat and hit Bagwell with a very weak shot and Luger put him in the rack for the finish. After the match, Chuck Palumbo, just back from New Japan, came out wearing the same style boots and trunks as Luger for his gimmick as the new Total Package, joined with Bagwell in doubling on Luger and put him in the rack while Bagwell grabbed Liz and carried her backstage. *”

You’re running the same program with Palumbo and Luger that you’re running with Stasiak & Hennig? But Lex - man does he look old here Meltzer was right. Was he finally wearing down?

“7. Shane Douglas pinned Ric Flair in 8:46.

This was a good match. It makes perfect sense to build Flair up since he's supposed to get a title match on the next PPV by jobbing for Douglas on this one. Douglas in an interview said he was going to franchise Flair's ass. It sounded like he was going to start a chain of restaurants called "Ric Flair's Ass." Okay, Flair shouldn't wrestle with his shirt off, but he looks ridiculous in the dress pants and shirt. Trunks and a tank top or t-shirt would be far more effective. Flair only wrestling on special occasions when it has meaning would be even better. They traded hard chops. The fans were really into it. It was probably the best Douglas has looked in years. They traded figure four spots. Flair kicked a field goal with Douglas' nuts which caused Scott Hudson to compare him to Jan Stenerud, and Mark Madden to freak. Stenerud is a somewhat dated reference to a legendary field goal kicker in the NFL, but if that was the case, Flair should have kicked his nuts soccer style. A masked guy in a Sting mask came out and hit Flair with a bat and Douglas cradled him. Since the announcers were screaming it was Russo, it clearly wasn't, so it was no surprise when Flair was screaming for Russo to come back in the ring and then the real Russo came out for the five minutes. It turned out to be David Flair, with the announcers acting shocked at the son turning on the father, as if we didn't see that angle how many times last year. David and Russo pounded on Ric until Nash came out and he threw one knee and David was dead. Daffney hit Nash with a low blow and Russo destroyed Nash with the bat. Later in the show, Nash was backstage fine. ***”

This is…probably not what Ric Flair ever wanted to do after all those years with Shane cutting promos on Flair. Did you see Shane ever being a top guy?

“8. Sting pinned Vampiro in 6:49.

The good taste award, at least for the moment, went to WCW because Sting didn't come from the ceiling on what would have been Owen Hart's birthday at Kemper Arena. Sting worked really hard, even doing a plancha over the post. He still doesn't sell much for Vampiro, except when Vampiro hit him with a lead pipe. Sting got the pipe and delivered a stinger splash with it and hit two reverse DDT's for the pin. **½”

As much as you’re pushing younger guys - why Sting over here do you think?

“9. Hulk Hogan pinned Billy Kidman in 13:31.

Eric Bischoff was the ref. Horace Hogan came out with his uncle (do you smell a turn coming soon?). Both worked hard and if you just accept that Hogan's offense looks terrible and he doesn't take bumps, it was good. If you judge Hogan by the standards of a prelim wrestler it isn't quite so good. Hogan did take the first huracanrana of his career which was actually more impressive than the pre-sawed table spots or all the blade jobs. Hogan whipped Kidman with the belt until Bischoff took it from him and gave the belt to Kidman who used it. The entire match still screamed out because of the size difference and how these two are totally miscast in this angle. Hogan had Kidman pinned a few times but Bischoff wouldn't count. Bischoff blocked Hogan from doing his legdrop. Hogan hit both Bischoff and Kidman with a chair and pulled out two tables. It was sort of funny. One of the tables was already broken and useless. Kidman hit Hogan with two weak chair shots and Hogan juiced. Bischoff held Hogan for another chair shot, and of course Hogan ducked. Hogan power bombed Bischoff through the table that was functioning. A table seemed to magically appear at ringside and Hogan had a hell of a time getting it under the ropes. Kidman gave him a low blow and put Hogan on the table, but Hogan moved and Kidman splashed through the table. Horace Hogan ran out and grabbed the "unconscious" Bischoff's hand and counted to three with it. **½”

Getting powerbombed by Hogan through a table was something you probably never envisioned happening - but I don’t know - Hogan did a hell of a job here with Kidman - but it did look ridiculous did it not?

“10. Jeff Jarrett won the most prestigious title in the history of our sport, the WCW heavyweight strap, over champ David Arquette and Diamond Dallas Page in 15:30 in a three-decker Ready to Rumble cage match.

Arquette got to miss a splash off the top early and they did an early spot where Page whipped Jarrett into Arquette. It was pretty well telegraphed during the show that Arquette was turning on Page for the finish. Jarrett and Page juiced. When they got to the second cage, there were a ton of weapons, which was really smart because it saved it from behind like the last triple decker cage where you couldn't bump in the second cage. Arquette was selling that collision for a long time keeping him out of everyone's way. They gimmicked one of the sides of the cage so they both went through, teasing someone falling off the cage and dying. Page actually got a table to stand up in the second cage, which wasn't easy since it was a mesh ground, and slammed Jarrett through it. Page juiced. Arquette then climbed all the way to the top and laid there on his stomach, like he was scared to death being so high. Mike Awesome showed up in the middle cage to take a diamond cutter from Page. Arquette never grabbed the belt when he could. They got to the third cage which had a bunch of guitars. Arquette had a guitar on top for protection while Page and Jarrett missed guitar shots on each other. Both were climbing to the top while Arquette stood with a guitar, and they teased he was going to hit Jarrett, but of course instead hit Page and Jarrett got the belt. In other words, the exact same finish from the last PPV (with Kimberly in the Arquette role) with the same two participants, and worse yet, the exact same finish as Wrestlemania. Kanyon then showed up to fight with Awesome standing on top of the bottom cage, which looked to be close to 20 feet from the ground. Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the cage onto the ramp, which was heavily gimmicked so he wasn't hurt seriously taking the stunt man bump. They stacked cardboard underneath the ramp to soften the blow underneath the spot he was supposed to hit, which he had marked. Of course from that height, any major flaws in the execution or even landing in a bad position wouldn't have been pretty, but he did practice it three times the day before without a hitch. After the show went off the air, Kanyon was selling it huge with EMT's, etc. They didn't practice due to the ramp how long it took to make it look like he was hurt and then to carry him out, and live, since it took so long, left a lot of people with a bad feeling.”

Let’s pause there - but this whole match - the story - it all is just the same as the month before but these two did what they could right?

Arquette turning heel - was that always the plan do you know or was it with the reaction from everyone it had to happen?

Now about the bump from the Observer

“The reaction to this was interesting. Most fans watching on TV loved it, or at least popped for the bump. Every e-mail we received (with maybe one exception and maybe not even that) of people there live mentioned it negatively because it was Kemper Arena and they were the same fans who saw Owen Hart die from falling from the ceiling and felt this was too similar and with them selling it like he was maimed far too much of an exploitation of the tragedy. Actually at the time I thought they were copying Mick Foley, and that because of the big bump at the "Ready to Rumble" movie finish and to distract from the fact they were doing the same main event finish on two straight shows, figured somebody had to take a big bump. The Owen Hart thing had been discussed, at least a little, in reference to this, which sort of made it sad. ***¼”

What say you to the fact that this being in Kansas City - and the risk and everything - that this wasn’t the right place to do this?

“Page and Jarrett were doing a run-through the day before and Page took a really bad bump (which is why he was taped up) and they had to fly in his doctor to work on his shoulder and back for him to just be able to work this match.”

Now Eric - the story is this is the reason why DDP Y began. Is that how you know it?

Was there any talk of the match not happening because of the injury?

The show drew 52,000 purchases, which is 48,000 less than Spring Stampede the month before so you lost half the buying audience in just a month.

The year before? Slamboree 99, headlined by DDP defending the WCW Title against Kevin Nash, Sting and Goldberg facing off one-on-one and Roddy Piper taking on Ric Flair, drew 170,000 buys. This is a 3rd of the same paying audience. How discouraging is that?

What say you Eric - all things considered - a good show for you to look back on?