WCW Fall Brawl 2000

WCW Fall Brawl 2000

Buffalo, NY - September 2000

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Kevin Nash was enjoying his 5th WCW World Championship reign (somehow), Lance Storm was the United States Champion, Elix Skipper held the Cruiserweight Championship, and Norman Smiley was the Hardcore Champion. The World Tag Team Champions are Juventud Guerrera and Rey Mysterio.

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, and Mark Madden

Fall Brawl 2000 kicks off with Kwee Wee (with Paisley, aka Sharmell) challenging Elix Skipper (with Major Gunns) for his WCW Cruiserweight Championship. It is somewhat remarkable how much WCW's roster changed between the start of 2000 and now the fall of the year. Gone are the recognizable stars like Sid and Lex Luger and midcarders like Brian Knobbs and Bam Bam Bigelow, replaced by several guys making their WCW PPV debut - including these two in the opener. On the negative side, having un-established guys on your PPV makes the show seem a bit low rent -especially compared to the cards the WWE were putting on, where everyone from the bottom of the card to the top was relatively over  (WWE's Unforgiven show from this same month features no less than 18 current or future WWE Hall of Famers). On the positive side, Skipper and Kwee Wee could actually go and while their gimmicks were one-dimensional, they were working their asses off. I'm not sure why WCW opted to start their show with what was essentially a heel/heel match, but whatever, as far as sheer athleticism goes, this is the best WCW match I've seen in some time. Both guys hit their moves with plenty of impact, lending this match a real feeling of competition. Unfortunately, whoever was booking at this point (I'm not sure if Vince Russo was still around or not but Bischoff was gone) opted to give this one the same finish of the past dozen or so WCW pay-per-view matches: a screwy one. Mike Sanders, also making his debut on the show, hits Kwee Wee with a wiffle ball bat to the knee, allowing Skipper to retain the title in a little bit over the 10-minute mark. Not a bad opener at all, though I do wish it had ended cleanly and that the crowd had a reason to care - which is difficult when both guys are playing unlikable characters. (2.5/5)

Next up, The Misfits in Action take on 3-Count in a six-man tag match. I was very pleasantly surprised with this. Representing the MIA are Chavo Guerrero, Corporal Cajun (Lash Leroux), and A-Wol (The Wall), who was not setting the world afire as a singles wrestler but is much more tolerable in this role. The best part of this match, though, is that its 3-Count who actually get to dominate and control for extended stretches. Karagias, Moore, and Helms could bump, but their offense isn't too shabby either and its nice to see them get opportunities to shine. I liked the double-team maneuvers both sides displayed, though its clear that Moore, Helms, and Chavo are the glue holding this together. Everyone else puts in good efforts, though, especially The Wall, who has a great moment of shine early when he hits a guerrilla press-into-a-spinebuster, but then lets the heels put him through a table later on. Without going back through my records, I'm willing to wager this is the best match the Misfits in Action, in any form, had in their entire endless run in WCW. This match also shows how much the WWE dropped the ball when they brought Helms and Moore in as they could have easily revived the 3 Count gimmick (which was so gloriously corny it could've drawn mega heat with the WWE machine behind it). Sadly, according to wikipedia, Karagias suffered a severe concussion early in his WWE run and was released within 9 months of it (without ever wrestling a match on WWE TV), but maybe they could've kept him on as a manager? Or replaced him with someone like Jamie Noble? Anyway, a surprisingly solid second match in a row on a WCW pay-per-view. What is this? 1997? (2.5/5)

KroNik take on The Harris Boys in a First Blood/Chain match. As one would expect, this is just a straight-up brawl, but unfortunately, not a very good one. Part of the problem is that while all four of these guys are probably legitimately tough, no one wants to sell and, unlike the Nasty Boys' classic garbage brawls with Foley in 94' or even the Steiner/Mike Awesome match from the previous WCW pay-per-view, there's nothing original or exciting here. As Bret Hart might say, the goal of a pro-wrestling match is to make the fans think you're hurting the other guy - not to actually do it. Here, they're probably hurting each other for real, but its happening in such a boring way that its not entertaining. If you're gonna destroy yourself and your opponent for the crowd, you gotta go full bore. Despite this being a stipulation match where even the loser comes out looking tough, there's a ref bump and a bullshit finish when one of the Harris (despite bleeding) is able to open up a wound on Brian Adams, giving The twins the win. After the match, Adams and Bryan Clarke beat up a referee or two to "get their heat back." Instead of worrying about their credibility, they should've worried about getting over with the crowd because nobody in the arena gave a lick about this match. (1/5)

Lance Storm defends the WCW United Stat...err, Canadian Championship against General Rection in the next contest. Storm cuts a good promo before the match, but the real story here revolves around how this is Rection's biggest opportunity ever. For the first time in a long while, the commentators do a really nice job telling the story of how hard Hugh Morrus worked to get from the undercard up to a United States Championship opportunity. Too bad his ring name was a dick joke so no matter how "serious" this match is, he still comes off as a comedy character (the M.I.A's bizarre Motown/Blues Brothers theme song doesn't help either). The other key element is that, as Storm had been using his Canadian brethren (like Jacques Rougeau) to help him retain the title in previous defenses, Rection evened the playing field by bringing back wrestling's biggest patriotic star ever - "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Anybody that had been watching WCW knew where this was likely to lead, but there was still at least a little bit of doubt over whether Russo would actually pull the trigger. I mean, had he not seen how ineffective the last dozen "swerve" heel turns he tried had been? The flopped Goldberg turn? How short-sighted and ultimately pointless turning Kidman was? The way Kevin Nash's heel turn a few weeks prior barely registered? Anyway...Storm was/is good enough that this match is a huge improvement from the previous one and Rection, had he actually just stayed with the Hugh Morrus moniker and not been the leader of one of the worst stables of all-time could've actually had my support and empathy. By 2000, though, any of his potential as a likable performer had been completely zapped. The match only goes 6 minutes before Jim Duggan turns heel and helps Lance Storm, stripping off his tee-shirt to reveal a Canadian one. If Duggan wasn't the 50th heel turn that year, this could've maybe worked, but because he turned heel in a company where everyone turned heel, it came off as exactly what it was - a sad, desperate attempt to "shock" the audience. (1.5/5)

What happened to Mike Sanders? Also, what the hell was going on with "Mean" Gene by 2000? Okerlund was always known for making little mocking asides and, at times, standing up to heels like Bobby Heenan and Flair and others, but over the past few months, he's so antagonistic, I'm not sure if the audience is supposed to even like him anyway. Sanders cuts the kind of promo that reminds me of Mr. Kennedy...and just like Mr. Kennedy, makes me ponder what exactly stood in his way from being at least a "top midcard" guy beyond just not having friends in the right places. 

The next match is a 12-man tag - The Filthy Animals and Company (Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, Disco Inferno, Konnan, Big Vito, and Paul Orndorff) taking on The Natural Born Thrillers (the aforementioned Mike Sanders, Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Haire, Chuck Palumbo, Shawn Stasiak, Reno, and Johnny The Bull). As you might imagine just by reading the previous sentence, this match is super overloaded. As you might not expect, its not out-and-out terrible as Mysterio and Juvi were solid, Konnan gets eliminated first, and though none of them were fully polished workers, at least four of the Thrillers (Sanders, Jindrak, Johnny The Bull, and O'Haire) had charisma and/or a handful of impressive moves, which is really all you need in a match like this. Also, the booking isn't even bad as there's a bit of a story to the match with Disco Inferno ending up on the other Animals' shit list after accidentally knocking into K-Dawg (and causing his elimination) and Reno eliminating Big Vito, which not only built on their feud but also, justifiably or not, helped push the idea that the Natural Born Thrillers were a real threatening group. Juventud comes in, but the Thrillers continue to dominate, eliminating him minutes later. Finally Orndorff comes in and the babyfaces start to turn the tide, Mr. Wonderful eliminating Johnny The Bull with his patended piledriver. I'm not sure Orndorff should've eliminated anyone when none of the other babyfaces were able to, but whatever, he main evented WrestleMania. Unfortunately, the match falls apart soon after as Orndorff suffers a stinger when he attempts another piledriver on Jindrak. Orndorff is unable to move from the mat so Mysterio comes in and tries to complete the match, but it is futile because Orndorff is laying, essentially paralyzed from the neck down, in the center of the ring. The commentators and the heels are shocked and no longer keeping kayfabe, Mysterio is calling things on the fly with guys who have about 9 months of training under their belt, EMTs arrive and work to get Orndorff out of the ring - its just a bad scene. The referee finally calls in a No Contest despite the fact that the Thrillers were up 5-to-2 (really 5-1 considering Orndorff wasn't able to continue the match). Had this wrapped up like it was supposed to (I'm assuming the Thrillers would've won), I think this match would've been considered a high point of the show - which isn't to say this is a Must Watch bout, but its much better than it really had any right to be. It runs a touch long, but there are enough good spotlight moments to make it an above average match. (3/5)

WCW's bookers/creative department made lots of mistakes over the years. One that they made over and over again was promoting scaffold matches. Has there ever been a good one? Maybe in ECW? I must admit to having not seen all of the scaffold matches the NWA promoted over the years, but the one I watched most recently - featuring Steve Austin and PN News if I'm not mistaken - was god awful. This one is a mixed tag scaffold match - Billy Kidman and Madusa taking on Shane Douglas and Torrie Wilson. This time, the scaffold is assembled over the stage, which foreshadows the fact that someone is going to be taking a major stunt fall (and considering Billy Kidman was the only legit high flyer in the match, it was obvious he'd be the one to do it) that would probably cause death if performed onto the unforgiving mat of the ring. Despite the scaffold seeming a bit broader than the ones the company used in the 80s and 90s, Kidman and Douglas still don't do much beyond throw some punches and try not to die. Torrie Wilson and Madusa's "brawling" is even weaker. Madusa gets sent crashing to the stage floor from halfway down a ladder, while Kidman takes a huge bump through the stage itself less than a minute later, the whole match ending before it even hits the 5-minute mark. Considering Paul Orndorff was nearly paralyzed less than 15 minutes before this match takes place, the stunt falls here are especially lame. (1/5)

Before the next match, we get a pre-taped segment involving Mike Tenay and David Flair, who has basically lost his mind after learning that he is not the father of Stacy Keibler's unborn baby (who I thought she had miscarried at the last month's PPV?!?). Anyway, this segment is awful...awful-ly great! David Flair couldn't wrestle, couldn't cut a serious promo, and was a horrid actor too, but the set-up here is just great as Mike Tenay arrives to find Flair living in filth. When the mailman arrives, David Flair attacks him and it is so corny and stupid that its impossible not to laugh at the absurdity of this entire angle. The best part of this show and its not even close. (+1)

Back to the ring we go for Sting vs. The Great Muta vs. Vampiro in a three-way dance (that starts out more like a 2-on-1) with Insane Clown Posse taking over the commentary duties. Sting had some surprisingly good performances in 99', but this feud with Vampiro has not yielded the quality matches that I (maybe naively) believed it would. Muta and Sting have history dating back to the 80s, but none of that old chemistry comes through here. To make matters worse, ICP are unbelievably annoying and unfunny on commentary and, to make matters even worser, Mark Madden sticks by to share his thoughts too and laugh at all of ICP's dumb one liners. When ICP aren't providing amateur-level commentary on the action, they promote their own wrestling company - Juggalo Championship Wrestling (Vampiro was their World Champion) - which, based on their work calling this one match, I can't imagine anybody wanting to watch with the volume on. This match goes a bit longer than the previous match - about 15 seconds longer - which is maybe the best thing about it. The commentary is so bad that this deserves no points. (0/5)

Mike Awesome took on Jeff Jarrett next. Mike Awesome was fully into his "That 70s Guy" gimmick, which was total unmarketable horseshit. When Awesome debuted he had buzz and, in the right context, was really enjoyable (see his stiffer-than-concrete match against Scott Steiner at the PPV before this) and could've gotten over as a no-nonsense ass-kicker. Instead, he was saddled with this gimmick and, on this night, Gary Coleman as a sidekick. Coleman isn't the only guest star in this match as Jeff Jarrett opens up the contest by ripping apart the Buffalo Bills at ringside. Like the recent RAW moment where Elias got mega-heat by mentioning the departure of the SuperSonics in Seattle, the crowd really lets loose on Jarrett. Again, imagine this same scenario with Mike Awesome as the bad-ass character he was in ECW and you'd have something special. Unfortunately, the segment and match just come across as incredibly overbooked and, for some reason, its Jarrett who ends up as the most sympathetic character in the mess as he ultimately loses after multiple powerbombs, run-ins from Gary Coleman and the Buffalo Bills, and Sting as well. Whoever laid out this match was probably thinking that Jarrett needed to be kept strong as he was, for better or worse (well, worse), the most reliable "top heel" the company had. But Jarrett wasn't over to that level, reliability be damned. Goofiness and overbooking prevent this from being recommended, but its not the worst match on the show, so, there's that? (2.5/5)


In the match I might have been looking forward to most - out of morbid curiosity - was up next: Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner. The design of this match and feud seemed to be try to resurrect Goldberg as the unstoppable monster babyface in an effort to erase all the damage he had suffered after Starrcade 98' - close to two full years earlier. At the same time, Steiner was arguably the most over guy in WCW, heel or face, so he needed to come out of this strong too. Poor commentary and a bit of a sluggish pace hurt this match, but move for move, its actually a smartly worked match with Goldberg delivering a number of impressive power moves and going after Steiner's face (he's wearing a mask to avoid injury) and Big Poppa Pump jumping back-and-forth between is overconfident meathead act and the crafty veteran heel who knows he can't overpower Goldberg like he would anyone else. At one point, Goldberg reverses a piledriver attempt into a powerslam and, minutes later, catches Steiner off the top rope and hits him with a bodyslam - just absolutely crazy strength spots considering Steiner's size. At the 10-minute mark, things get a little crazy with Steiner grabbing a chair and his valet Midajah showing up with a steel pipe. This is a No DQ bout so Steiner is able to clobber Goldberg with the chair on the outside and then strike him in the ribs with it back in the ring after putting him into a tree-of-woe position. Its then Steiner's time to hit some impressive throws. Goldberg escapes a full nelson attempt while Steiner reaches for the pipe. Goldberg hits a spear and then looks to set up Steiner for the Jackhammer but...but...but Vince Russo hits him with a baseball bat. Steiner makes the cover but Goldberg kicks out at 2. Steiner sends Goldberg out of the ring and puts him through a half-standing table in a weak spot. Steiner sends him back into the ring and locks in the Steiner Recliner (kinda), but Goldberg muscles out of it and ends up dropping Steiner onto the top rope (kinda). Steiner continues to control, though, before Goldberg fights him off the top rope. Russo and Midajah strike again as not a single babyface comes out to try to help him. Steiner hits a nasty belly-to-belly from the top rope that nearly cripples Goldberg before applying the Recliner for a second time. Again Goldberg is able to fight his way out of it as Russo stares in disbelief. Steiner goes to grab a chair but Goldberg is ready for him when he returns and ends up dropping him with a swinging neckbreaker. Goldberg is about to hit a spear when Russo comes, only to get choked out (much to the crowd's delight). Steiner grabs the pipe and hits Goldberg straight to the head with it, knocking him unconscious. Steiner applies the Recliner a third time and the ref calls it. I wouldn't have minded a finish similar to this - Steiner cheats his way to victory, Goldberg never truly taps out - but Vince Russo's involvement was so self-serving and lame. What Russo didn't seem to understand about the success of the Mr. McMahon character (and, to a lesser extent, Eric Bischoff) was that Vince was charismatic as well as unlikable. Vince Russo is just unlikable. There are bits and pieces of a great match here, but there are also nuggets of shit sprinkled in too. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Kevin Nash challenging Booker T for the WCW World Championship, err - whoops, actually, because Russo had the book, Kevin Nash had defeated Booker T for the title on TV in the build-up to this match so its actually Booker T challenging Kevin Nash for the title in this cage match. This era of wresting was full of dumb "hot potato" title changes, but WCW did it even more and even worse than the WWE (the WWE World Championship changed hands 11 times in 99'). Nash and Booker T work hard and its obvious Nash wants to make Booker look good, but Nash was never a mechanic and Booker T, while solid, wasn't a Michaels/Hart/Benoit-level guy who had the ability to carry someone else to a great match. Nash does a respectable blade job after going into the cage. I'm not sure he meant to cut himself so deeply, but he sliced himself pretty well. Booker ends up hitting his Bookend finisher to win his second championship in a predictable ending. I like the idea of having Booker cement his status as a top guy by going through the "old guard," but I'm not sure this was a main event-caliber match as Steiner/Goldberg, for all its nonsense and Russo appearances, felt like the "bigger" and less predictable match. (1.5/5)


With a Kwang Score of 1.85-out-of-5, Fall Brawl 2000 is actually one of the better WCW of this year, largely thanks to the effort of the hungrier guys on the roster - namely Scott Steiner, the participants in the elimination match, Kwee Wee, and the ever-underrated 3 Count. There are still plenty of stinkers on this card and the commentary and production values across the whole show make it hard to watch at times, but there are also brief moments when it might be argued that WCW could've been saved even as late as this point. Steiner was over. Goldberg, in the right context, was still a bruiser that could pop the crowd. Booker T was over and established and, against the right opponent, felt like someone worth getting behind. Jeff Jarrett was a great role player, though I'm not sure his role should've been as the top heel in the company when Steiner was so much better at it. Jarrett being in the mix made sense, I just don't think he should've been at the center of it. Unfortunately, WCW had bungled the promising careers of Mike Awesome, Kidman, Vampiro so badly with unnecessary face/heel turns and gimmick tweaks in 99' and 2000 that they would've needed total repackaging, but there were at least one or two blue chippers in the Natural Born Thrillas stable and Rey Mysterio was on the payroll too. When people think back to WCW's 2000 roster, there's a sense that it was depleted, but the truth is, there was really a decent amount of raw talent stuck with some of the worst gimmicks and storylines in the history of the industry. Recommended to only the biggest WCW fans curious about what a decent (but not good or great) PPV from 2000 looks like.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver