Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
WCW Thunder May 10th 2000 Watchalong *proceed with caution*
57 Plays2 years ago
This week Chris and Garrett do a watchalong to the first wresting show Garrett ever attended. As it turns out a WCW Thunder during the Russo years is just as boring as you'd imagine.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Background
00:00:34
Speaker
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Predeterminate Pro Wrestling Hangout. I'm your host, Garrett Callender, and with me, as always, my co-host, Chris Miggs. I'm ready to dive into the darkest parts of your wrestling fandom, Garrett, and I don't mean death matches.
00:00:51
Speaker
So the first match I ever attended was WCW Thunder. What was it, 2,000? May, what does it say on the network? May 10th? The episode aired May 10th, 2000. So presumably it was taped a day or two before that. All right. So cue it up, everybody. If you want to go along with Chris and I, as we watch the first ever wrestling show I attended,
00:01:13
Speaker
It is on Peacock, torrent it, do whatever you gotta do to find this thing. We're queued up at zero right now, May 10th, 2000, WCW Thunder. And we're gonna go three, two, one, play. And that's how we're gonna do this. All right, everybody, three, two, one, play.
First Wrestling Show Experience
00:01:37
Speaker
So just for our listeners here, um, by the way, this opens with what looks like a, it's like a food fight or something. There's a bed pan. This is very strange. There's David Arquette, man, WCW 2000. So much is happening here. David flares. I heard New York, you're already, you're somehow like 10 seconds ahead of me already. Okay. Sorry about that.
00:02:03
Speaker
So the reason, and the question you may be asking is sort of, why are we doing this? The first thing is that I've always really wanted us to sort of go back and watch like shows that we attended, because I thought that would be sort of a fun thing to do and to analyze. And last week, after the show, we were talking about like,
00:02:24
Speaker
you know, this, because this was Garrett's first show. And we said, well, maybe when we like some week where we haven't watched a lot of wrestling, we'll watch this Thunder together. And then yesterday, Garrett and I were texting about what wrestling we'd watch this week. And the answer was basically nothing. So Thunder and Wiz.
WCW's Decline and Personal Memories
00:02:46
Speaker
See, this was from a hot time at WCW where I was somehow still watching, still super into it. God, this is a hot intro. Man, this is bringing back memories. I had not watched this in so long. I will say this is the period where I was starting to give up on WCW. I know I was still watching to an extent, but after the radicals jumped to,
00:03:16
Speaker
the WWF, that was, that was kind of a big nail in the coffin. Cause like most of the reason I was watching WCW was like, Oh, there'll be like a, a Benoit match or an Eddie Guerrero match. And then, um, they didn't have that anymore. And WWF had like the good angles and also the good wrestling. And it was like, well, that seems like the right answer in terms of what I, what wrestling television I should watch. At any point were you watching Thunder?
00:03:46
Speaker
I think, I mean, sometimes it's definitely, it was definitely sort of in that rotation of like, yeah, it's on tonight. Um, and especially when I was watching more WCW in like 98, 99, I definitely watched some thunder. Um, but we were in Springfield, Illinois at the Prairie capital convention center, the Prairie capital convention center. So have you, did you go there a lot or was it just for thunder?
00:04:16
Speaker
So I, this was definitely the first time I had ever been there. And, uh, I don't think I went again until like senior year of high school. I saw slipknot there. That does sound about right. Slipknot and WCW same place. And I don't think there had been anything in this place until then. Was it the place new?
00:04:38
Speaker
It wasn't, I don't think it was super new. I know Derek went in high school, went to a lot of house shows here. So he saw WWF in this building many times.
Key Matches and Personal Interactions
00:04:50
Speaker
So for those watching along here, we got Chris Candido and Tammy opening the show. Very apropos after discussing Dark Side of the Ring.
00:05:01
Speaker
And this is, again, this is like sort of like both of them doing a fair bit of drugs and like barely being able to keep a job sort of era, unfortunately. Tammy's like trying to be sexy.
00:05:19
Speaker
So, Candido just called somebody a fat slob. Sorry to interrupt there. We went with my dad's friend, Lindle, who looked like Santa Claus. And Lindle was like really giving all the wrestlers hell. And Candido just called Lindle a fat slob. Oh, there you go. So, we were sitting front row with hard cam behind us. So, everybody's... So, I'm going to see you at some point, but not much because you're behind the hard cam.
00:05:48
Speaker
they took my sign away. They did have Derek's name on it. Oh, wait. So, okay. What was your sign? Um, I, I'm trying to remember what wrestler I would have had on the front, but on the other side of the sign, it definitely said Derek's name where I was going to like get Derek's name on TV. They took it away from me. You weren't allowed to have friends. I'm like, there's me. There's me down in the bottom right. That little boy gets
00:06:15
Speaker
So it's you and your dad and Lendl. It's me, my dad, Lendl and Lendl's son. God, in fucking Daphne. Daphne and Crowbar. Crowbar's still going at it. So I'm curious, was it like hard to get your dad to like take you or was he, was your dad stoked or? So.
00:06:38
Speaker
This is like such a rare occasion that we went somewhere on a weekday. My dad worked Monday through Saturday. So he had to be up like 4.30 in the morning every morning. So like him staying out on a weekday is like, I can name two times maybe that it happened. Once was for this, once he took me to opening night of Ready to Rumble. So both WCW related.
00:07:05
Speaker
We were, yeah, we watched, he watched WCW with me. And I remember he like, this was before like, you know, getting online and ordering tickets from Ticketmaster. So he went and drove to the venue in Springfield and like waited outside the venue for tickets. On the first day, I assumed to get the front row.
00:07:28
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And I think there was a no camping out policy there. So basically they told you not to show up before a certain time. And he showed up around the time you were allowed. And everybody that was like in front of him up to a certain point, they're like, OK, everybody here front to this point, back of the line. And he was in like the first like 50 people and was able to get front row tickets.
00:07:52
Speaker
Now, was there someone doing like an autograph signing? Because I feel like that was always WCW's thing was like, come to the box office and DDP is going to be signing autographs. If there was, my dad didn't mention it. I'm trying to see. I feel like I think I I kind of know where I'm sitting.
00:08:19
Speaker
I remember Crowbar getting thrown into the barricade in front of us at one point. So let's see, this is a solid match by the way. These two guys who probably wrestled each other on the Northeast Indies after this like 25 times. Man, yeah I just keep seeing the back of my like, I think I've got on like a button up Hawaiian shirt or something, it's very tan.
00:08:48
Speaker
Were you, so this is your, your first wrestling show. There I am right there. Goddamn. All right. On camera. Fat little boy with braces. Sorry. Go ahead. I'm trying to look for exact. I'm trying to try to identify you there. I think part of it is that I think you've probably got a sharper image than I do set up here. So, uh,
00:09:14
Speaker
See, there was a classic dub like 90, I guess we're in 2000 now, but there was just a science like, hey, Zach Anterd. But they wouldn't let you keep the Derek sign. No, they did. They didn't wouldn't. They knew that he was a WWE guy. The security guard just quietly like. Look, you I don't know how to break this to you, kid. Your.
00:09:43
Speaker
Your buddy's gonna stick with the WWF. Even- It's eventually, it's gonna change its name. It's gonna put an E instead of the F. Why? Something with pandas, don't worry about it. And- He's like, plus we know what he tweeted at Jericho, and I'm like, tweeted? You guys are gonna start...
00:10:06
Speaker
Well, how do I put this? It's called a podcast. It's basically like a radio show for wrestling.
Wrestling Viewership Over Time
00:10:11
Speaker
Are lots of people going to listen to it? I mean a few. Um, how do you, how do you get one of those? I don't know. You're a white guy. They hand you microphones. That's what happens. And, uh, yeah, I mean, you guys are gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna find lots of other wrestling, but somehow deep down inside, he's still gonna be WWF fan.
00:10:37
Speaker
Just let you know, brother. So that's why I'm taking the sign from you. Man, I was in love with Daphne. I was so sad what happened to her. The Franken screamer. Great name. Yes, he was awesome. Oh, Candido stealing Bigelow's greetings from Asbury Park there.
00:11:10
Speaker
in a big head butt there. Again, I know you haven't seen a ton of Candido, but I actually think a match like that, it's sort of a, it's a good representation of what he does. And like, again, you can sort of see why like, I don't know, even just a few years later, him working with people like, I don't know, like again, like AJ Styles and whoever, like it would have been, I don't know, he would have been awesome.
00:11:36
Speaker
Honestly, for a Thunder match, that was not bad. But I do think that at this time, the people that were in WCW, we didn't see a lot of people you would hope to see at this show. No Hogan, right? Hogan, I believe at some point, runs around the ring in a run-in.
00:12:02
Speaker
Oh, that's pretty good. That's pretty good for thunder. Like he was. It was a real in and out. Who were you hoping to see at this point? Well, I mean, the NWO pretty much any one of the, you know, the top tier NWO sting would have been huge, which we do get. Goldberg would have been huge. I think his monster truck was there, but no actual Goldberg. I mean, that's basically the same thing.
00:12:30
Speaker
The cat, Ralphis. You're here for everyone, yeah. I definitely went to a nitro earlier in this year, and all I was hoping for was to see Shane Douglas, and I did not get that. The rest of the show was actually, I think, it was okay. And I think I actually got a main event that was surprisingly good. I always forget what it is, but did not get to see Shane.
00:12:59
Speaker
Well, then this this security guard stopped you who kind of seems like a little bit from the future to let you know, don't worry, you're going to see Shane and a Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot in West Virginia in 2023. Yeah, it's going to be it's going to be much more rich for you because of that weight, because you didn't get to see him in his prime. So there's the cat.
00:13:29
Speaker
There's the cat we've got, he's looking just like Dennis Rodman. Yeah, he's going full on Rodman. Oh, Terry Funk's here. Terry Funk is gonna have two matches tonight. Terry Funk carrying this episode of WCW on his back. I hope the Funkers doing okay as well. Yeah, it's unclear. This is right after they did the thing where Bischoff and
00:13:59
Speaker
Russo came back together and like reset everything. This is like a month after that, maybe a little less even. Okay. The main storyline I remember going on during this point is the new blood stuff. Right. I think that immediately comes out of that. They're like, look, the new blood is going to fight the old guys. That's the story. Derek never let me live it down that during this time I thought Russo was like the coolest guy, which,
00:14:30
Speaker
We got a Steiner and we got... Tank Abbott. Tank fucking Abbott. He used UFC, right? Yeah. Like early UFC. Oh, the Goldberg monster truck's pulling up. Ominously driving up behind Rick Steiner. I like the idea that Goldberg is driving that thing city to city.
00:14:59
Speaker
The new blood hanging out with David Flair and. The I heart New York shirts for some reason. Oh, I guess because they love Russo. David Flair is just like one of those. Like why did anyone think this was a good idea?
00:15:25
Speaker
They gave him a lot of screen time back then. A ton. I, again, I really felt like that was like one of the things that turned me off from WCW was like, there's only so much David flair. Anyone can handle. I think they were hoping for what happened with Charlotte. Right. That was out much better. Char Char's got some abilities though. Right. So this is so it's Harlem heat 2000.
00:15:53
Speaker
which is Stevie Ray and Ahmed Johnson. I did not remember that Ahmed Johnson was in this. It's easy to forget. His name was Big T. Big T. Yeah. See, like Booker T, but big. There's also an even larger man that's with them.
00:16:16
Speaker
At this point was Booker T already in WWE? No, he wouldn't, he didn't know. No, not until, not until the end. Yeah. Yeah. Cause he was the final main event, right? Right. He's, he's with us all the way, all the way down the sink and ship. I'm trying to figure out who these other people are. Cash. I saw one was named cash.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's a thing. But which one, which one is cash? So cash doesn't even have a cage match page. Jay Biggs was Clarence Mason, who was a manager also in WWF for a bit. At this point, would you say of the men in the ring that, um,
00:17:14
Speaker
Jimmy Lloyd has had a more storied career than any of them. I mean, not. I mean, Terry Funk there, so. Well, not not now that Funk's walking out with chickens this.
WCW Storylines and Wrestlers
00:17:27
Speaker
Oh, my God, this is all I this is the only thing my dad remembers of the entire night was Terry Funk coming out with the chickens. A fucking handicap hardcore match.
00:17:43
Speaker
Three on funk. But yeah, I mean, of the other guys. I mean, Ahmed Johnson main evented some paper views. I'm a Johnson had a briefly storied career. Stevie Ray, you may even be a Hall of Famer at this point. That's your lead.
00:18:10
Speaker
I think Jimmy Lloyd's got one over Cash, though. In that, again, Cash is so irrelevant to wrestling history, he doesn't have a cage match page. Do either of us have one? We should check. We'll find out, we'll find out. Someday, someday, if not.
00:18:38
Speaker
I love this ginger ref. Oh yeah, what's his name? He seems like just a, I don't know, it feels like a generic video game referee.
00:18:56
Speaker
There's a sign in the crowd that says Ray Lytle is fat. That is a local radio DJ who was, indeed. He's a luck man. He, I think, opened the show, actually. Oh. He had a cover band in Springfield called Ray Lytle and the Itchy Pickles. Definitely saw them a few times. Now, was this a long drive for you guys, Garrett? Was this like a big night out?
00:19:22
Speaker
Uh, Springfield's like an hour away. Alright, so it's a long trip.
00:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, so like, you know, my dad had to stay up late. That was like later than he would have stayed up if he were at home. And now he has an hour drive, but I think he had a good time. He hasn't been to a wrestling show since though. Not a single one. Interesting. Yeah. My dad only went to some indie shows with me around this time. He went, but he went to a decent number of them. And then many years later, he went to one more with me. Um, and since then he's, he's just given up. But I think if I asked him, if I was like dad,
00:19:57
Speaker
Can you come to the Cindy wrestling show with me? He'd be like, yeah, why not? You know what I should do, speaking of that. So they announced today that Hardway Heater is fighting John Wayne Murdoch. Okay. I should, my dad's retired now. I should get him to come down to Nashville, ride to Chattanooga with me and go see Heater versus Murdoch in the chains. I would be very interested in your dad's take on this.
00:20:28
Speaker
I think he would just ask Heder too many questions about how much he got paid and why he did it for so little. Heder, you really got to know your worth here. Oh, it looks like Harlem Heat 2000 might be imploding here. Oh, no. The long storied history of Harlem Heat 2000. See you, Cash.
00:21:02
Speaker
You got to see Terry Funk wrestle? Terry Funk doing with his hands there. It looks like he was taking some things in. What a weird storyline in WCW at all that Eric Bischoff wants to get the hardcore title off Terry Funk. Who cares? Who gives a shit? Oh, Vampiro just chilling in a graveyard. Oh, but he buys t-shirt. Yeah, that's fine.
00:21:38
Speaker
I will say, it's interesting, you're talking about driving back, I realized I went to that thunder, not thunder, that nitro, and it was at the NASA Coliseum in Long Island. And my buddy, I'm pretty sure I went with my buddy Sean and his dad. And they lived on Long Island.
00:21:58
Speaker
So I mean, Sean and I went to high school together. So presumably we took the train to Long Island. His dad picked us up, took us to the arena. That that seems straightforward enough. What I'm trying to remember is how I got home. Like, did I take the train? Did Sean's dad have to like drive me all the way to Queens? Was he that nice a guy? He was like, I'll drive this kid.
00:22:20
Speaker
all the way from the NASA Coliseum out to like flushing. I don't know, I'm curious, like. How old were you? I would have been 16, almost 17. Okay, I mean that's maybe old enough to ride the train alone, huh? At like 10 o'clock at night though, I guess, I mean. Well. Might have been. See, that would have terrified me. I had never been to a real city by myself at 16.
00:22:49
Speaker
Like I'll be honest, when I went to New York for the first time, like how old would I have been? I mean, I guess I probably would have been in my late twenties, early thirties. Like I was like, got nervous to take the train.
00:23:05
Speaker
It's not so bad, guys, not so bad. No, it wasn't so bad. And you know what, Central Park wasn't as scary as it is in Home Alone 2. It's not at all. So Home Alone 2, it's really based on 80s Central Park, I think. It's not really real life at this point, especially at this point. I don't know. How was it to watch this interview with Vampiro in the crowd?
00:23:29
Speaker
I was probably pretty stoked, but honestly, at this point, I remember there being a lot of Nitro Girl stuff at the show. All the commercials, right? Oh, Vampiro's got a bird. Interesting. That's exciting. I mean, you were, at this point, a teenage boy. I'm sure seeing the Nitro Girl's dance was, you know, exciting.
00:23:58
Speaker
Oh, I don't know if I had ever seen a sexier lady in my life in real life at this point. How did your dad feel about the nitro girls? I never asked him. We never, I don't know. That's not something we would have talked about. Like we never had like birds and bees talks and.
00:24:18
Speaker
Isn't she a looker talks. Oh, so he wouldn't have been like, Oh man, that's a, that redheaded nitro girl. That's a, that's a good looking lady. Don't tell your mom. Don't tell your mom. What's funny is I definitely was sitting there front row with a disposable camera and probably took multiple pictures of nitro girls. And do you have those pictures?
00:24:44
Speaker
They have to be somewhere. Oh, I have to go back and find these photos. They have to be somewhere in my house. I really need to see those now. For those wondering why we're not talking, I mean, again, just Vampiro and a bird for a while. Now Sting's beating up Vampiro. I mean, this is so much talking. This is a really, really long segment. Why was this show two hours? I'm unclear.
00:25:14
Speaker
Oh man, you were so far ahead. I just got the sting beat now. I will say, so we did watch a little bit of wrestling this week, you and I. I watched, Garret's like, I watched no wrestling this week. Did you watch Dynamite? No. Oh jeez, okay.
00:25:43
Speaker
This has been a, this was a busy week. I saw zero wrestling. The wrestling I've seen this week is what I am currently watching, which is the best wrestling I've ever seen. What did you watch? I did watch a little bit. So I watched a little bit of the new Japan show from Saturday, which was very much like just like kind of a house show. Um, but I just happened to be up early in the morning on Saturday and was like, I'll throw on some new Japan. I'm kind of curious to, uh,
00:26:13
Speaker
to see, I think they were going to announce the G1 blocks. I ended up announcing like a bunch of the matches too. So I was just kind of curious about that. So I watched a little bit.
00:26:23
Speaker
Not much to say, I did kind of try to watch the new Bullet Club guys. And I will say that Maloney and Clark Connors seem pretty decent together, but Coughlin and Kidd were really boring. Yeah, Connors and Maloney had some fun double team moves. They had like a spear version of a double goozle or a total elimination that was pretty cool. And they seemed like they're, they seem like they're a solid junior tag team.
00:26:53
Speaker
That seems like where we're at with him. From the first time I saw Clark, which was at that awful New Japan show in Nashville, he was just a young boy, but he was very clearly the standout of the entire night.
00:27:09
Speaker
Um, the most, the most interesting thing about the blocks here, the one, what we were all interested in, right? Was where's Eddie Kingston going? And, uh, so Eddie's, it's not bad. Eddie's Eddie's got some, he's got Ishi. He's got Tom Matonga. He's got Shingo. He's got Hanari. All of those should be good. We do have to watch Eddie wrestle David Finley and, uh, and evil.
00:27:38
Speaker
And David Flair. No, that's Mikey Nichols. That's not David Flair. Nichols at least knows how to throw a drop kick. Fucking Lash LaRue. Yeah, what is he doing here? Unclear. He's got neon green camo.
00:28:05
Speaker
Did you own any camo at any point in this period, Garrett? I did not. Maybe a camo bucket hat, actually. And I know I'm being. You're like, look, I've got Lash. Lash LaRue tossed me his camo bucket hat and I've been wearing it ever since. Yeah, so his name is Sean Stasiak.
00:28:33
Speaker
But his name is Corporal Cajun now? He says from here on out that you'll refer to me as that. Yeah, he, um, yeah, he's Corporal Cajun cause he's part of, uh, what's his name's group? Uh, you Morris's group, the misfits in action. Yeah. Good Lord.
00:28:57
Speaker
Okay, another thing from New Japan that was announced Today do we recall we're talking about teenagers. Do you recall what you Morris's name was at this point? Like his WCW name yes No General you G reaction God damn it This really was aimed at teenage boys Gary and only teenage boys. I
00:29:26
Speaker
I can just picture my dad, like putting his hand over his eyes and shaking his head. So wait, New Japan. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm excited for Eddie. The rest of the blocks, there's again, I feel like there's, I don't like these eight person blocks. There's just, you end up losing a lot of like good matches. I'm really interested. Okada's at least got Tai Chi, Kenta, Great Okan, Osprey, and Fantasmo in his block. That should be pretty fun.
00:29:55
Speaker
And the A block's got a lot of the younger guys and there's some interesting stuff there potentially. With Sonata, it's like Sonata Chase Owens and a bunch of debuting guys, Hickeleo, Rennerita, Shooter, Yoda Tsuji, Gabe Kidd, and the guy from NOAA, Kiyomiya. So that's at least kind of interesting. But yes, sorry, let's talk about your pitch. I was going to say, what about the other big announcement today? Desmee's partner.
00:30:24
Speaker
Well, that's, that's very exciting. So is it, I don't know if they've officially confirmed it yet. Is it really not? I thought that that was, I had just assumed that meant, uh, June Kasai to
00:30:40
Speaker
New Japan confirmed. I don't think they've like officially said it yet, but he does. He does. It does seem like Despy is asking him to be his partner. And then Kasai says something and Despy says Arigato, which I don't know a lot of Japanese, but I'm pretty sure that means thank you. And is an indication that the answer was positive. So, yeah, so July 4th. Despy and June Kasai against Mox and Homicide and Quirk and Hall.
00:31:11
Speaker
If you're Mox, is there any better way to spend the 4th of July than bleeding in a foreign country? Can you imagine when he's explaining to Rene who he's gonna go hang out with? I don't know, I'm hanging out with this guy named June, and she's like, June, that's like a pretty soft name.
Modern Wrestling Excitement
00:31:27
Speaker
Like, that guy's probably, he's like, maybe don't Google him. And she's like, well, I'm definitely Googling him. It's like, what do you do? What is that? He's like, that is definitely not a knife board.
00:31:44
Speaker
I'm just doing some woodworking around the house. It's nothing. I asked him to be the kid's godfather. How old is he? Somewhere between 20 and 100? I don't know. Actually, how old is Jun Kasai? That is...
00:32:10
Speaker
So wait a minute. It seems like the story here is that Sean Stasiak is like Kurt Hennig's protege. Is that a thing? Cause he just did the perfect plaques. Yeah. That's interesting. He's 48. Okay. That look, that's a, that's about right. What a group this is here. We got, we got Van Hammer and misdirection and, uh, what, what, what a group.
00:32:40
Speaker
Where's Mr. Erection at now? I don't know. Is he still in trouble? Cause he beat up Enzo and got fired. Yeah. I think, I think he's, I don't think he ever got brought back. You gotta, you know, you gotta do something real wrong when Vince is like, uh, you're gone for good. I'm sorry.
00:32:59
Speaker
But yeah, if there's ever been a better way to spend the 4th of July, I haven't heard of it. So I'm quite excited to be just waking up early on the 4th of July to watch Despy and Mox go at each other. Yeah, that plus GCW backyard, what a 4th of July of wrestling. Oh, I forgot we get that again. That's honestly the greatest,
00:33:28
Speaker
The greatest tradition. I love that that's, that's a thing every year now. Um, something I did forget to mention. So when we started recording this, um, there was a little bit, like we had to take a pause and I was off to the side waiting for 30 minutes or so. How long do you think I was there, Chris? It was a while. Sometimes, sometimes folks, we have children and kids. Things happen.
00:33:58
Speaker
But what I ended up doing for that whole 30 to 40 minutes was watching Mark Wahlberg's Reels on Instagram.
Offbeat Obsessions and Accessibility
00:34:08
Speaker
I've become very obsessed with Mark Wahlberg on Instagram. There's nobody more serious
00:34:14
Speaker
I love the ones where he's praying. Those are the ones I can't get enough of. He kisses the cross twice as if it's a person and he's kissing both cheeks, and he always lets you know to stay prayed up. And he seems like the least self-aware man in the entire world. He blinded a guy in the 90s, almost killed him, and now he has to go to church. That seems pretty self-aware.
00:34:43
Speaker
If there ends up being a heaven, he's gonna be real fucking surprised when he doesn't get in. What do you mean I don't get it? I prayed it up every Sunday. I said hi to your mother. The Virgin Mary. You tried to fuck her, asshole. But she was coming on to me. All right, so we got Rhonda Singh in this match. I don't remember.
00:35:08
Speaker
So I don't remember her as a wrestler here. I really only remember her from this night. And it's like a punishment against Ms. Elizabeth, I think, right? I believe so. Rhonda passes away like a year after this, actually. Interestingly. I thought she was wrestling an ICW now. No, she had a...
00:35:38
Speaker
She and she wrestled all over the world. She wrestled in Japan and stampede. She worked in Puerto Rico. Storied career, you know, once again, better than Jimmy Lloyd. Very much. She briefly was in. OK, she was briefly in the WWF in 95. Oh, birth of a she was birth of a in the WWF. That's.
00:36:06
Speaker
Had there been, did Elizabeth wrestle very often or at all? Very little. But she's swinging chairs here at this point. So apparently that makes her, I mean, she's got to wrestle. Briefly a contender. Oh, and she was apparently a nitro girl very briefly. She took a break from wrestling.
00:36:37
Speaker
passed away from a heart attack, unfortunately. That's unfortunate. It's really crazy that I keep getting to see these shots of me and my dad when I was 13 from behind. It is one of the weird things, yeah, about watching, because there's some of the other shows, and we'll take a look at some of them at some point. You can see me and my dad, and I'm 18.
00:37:07
Speaker
It's just weird. I don't know. Is it a positive? Like, I mean, it sounds like it sounds like it's like part of like the fabric of your relationship. Is it? You guys watch wcw together? I had. Yeah. I mean, wcw was big for me. I mean, it was the reason my bedtime got extended because I because of wcw, I was allowed to stay up until it was over.
00:37:36
Speaker
They wouldn't let you stay up until 10 before this. Oh, maybe 11 for Nitro, you're saying. Well, it would have been a couple years prior to that too, to being 13. Like, cause this is like the end of WCW, right? True. Yeah. This we're getting towards the end. We're in the last year here. So it would have been 13 here, but I had definitely been watching for, honestly, probably since the beginning of WCW. Of like Nitro?
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah, I remember watching Nitro pretty consistently while it was on. This was a big moment of the night, too. Lex Luger getting between Rhonda and Miss Elizabeth. I mean, he was the most famous person we had seen at this point of the main roster. You're not really. This is kind of very much like you're at a rampage taping at this point. Oh, for sure.
00:38:35
Speaker
Almost, yep, him giving this lady the torture rack highlight of the night up till this point. Oh, and we got Chuck Palumbo coming out with a bat. Baseball bats were cool back then, you know? Ooh. It's just awkward knowing how it ended to see Elizabeth and Lex embracing.
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah, it's so weird too that like, even at the time I remember thinking like, I don't understand how she won this match when Lex Luger came in and beat this woman for her. This was a real, there was no logic to the things that were happening in the ring. It's very Vinceruzzo.
00:39:26
Speaker
Bro, bro, bro, bro, bro. Chuck Palumbo is going to steal it. It's going to be fine. You see that. You see that little fat kid in the front row. He looks happy. What more do you need? This is who we're doing it for. We're doing it for that boy. Was the crowd like excited over the court at this point in the evening, right? Is the crowd like stoked or is it kind of.
00:39:48
Speaker
I remember that happy to be there. I think everybody was excited that something was in Springfield because it was I mean, it's the state capital, but not a lot happens there. You don't get like many sporting events or concerts or. I mean, other than the state fair, I feel like not a lot happens there throughout the year.
00:40:10
Speaker
So it's a big, that's why WCW is coming through with Thunder in 2000. Absolutely. And I mean, they're going to places where people are just happy to see them. Yes. Oh, this was the perfect size venue, the perfect city to bring WCW at this point. Now someone just had a sign in the crowd that said, I love New York, which is great. Um, you're such a, such a heel.
00:40:40
Speaker
Such a coastal elite heel. Me and Vince Russo, we talk the same. We've got the same outlook on things. Just me in the front row, my braces looking at Vince Russo right now, just like, God, he's cool. Not even knowing that he's writing this shit. Oh, wow. So you weren't even aware that he was like Vince Russo, the writer at this point.
00:41:08
Speaker
No, I mean, at this point, as far as wrestling goes, I would only know what's on the screen. Like I never, like if there was online things happening at this point, I never saw that unless it was in like WWF magazine or. Gotcha. So that's an interesting difference. Cause like at this point, this point.
00:41:29
Speaker
I was 17. I was very online. So, like, I remember it was like a big deal when Russo went to WCW, and it really actually did spike ratings in the fall of 99 briefly because people were like, Oh, shit, this guy did all the cool stuff. This is going to be awesome. And then three weeks in, everyone's like, I don't I think this guy might be insane. I don't know what's unclear what's going on here.
00:41:56
Speaker
And then he left and WCW got very boring, like super boring. Like that's, that's kind of the thing that was happening. Like before he and Bischoff came back, cause there's three months that are booked by Kevin Sullivan that are just wretched. That's when I went like nothing's happening in the show.
00:42:16
Speaker
and WWF is just beating the crap out of them. Like on like the other channel, it's like trips and Stephanie and they're like, and they're fighting cactus Jack and they're having all these wild matches with like the best wrestlers in the world. And it's like, yeah, this is a good show on the other channel. Like they're like, here's a 10 minute Prince IK a match. And you're like, I, I'm going to stick with it. I, cause I had given up.
00:42:42
Speaker
I'm gonna tell the story before I kind of gave up on I was a WCW guy really in 98 99 because yeah I'm a Brett guy right Montreal screw job I was like screw that I didn't buy a WCW pay-per-view between a W sorry WWF pay-per-view between Survivor Series 97
00:43:01
Speaker
and Royal Rumble 2000, at which point, Triple H and Cactus Jack in a street fight, I was like, this looks pretty good. I also hear Taz might show up. I'm in. Dudley boys are in a tables match. This sounds great. And I watched that show and I was like, I am not going back.
00:43:23
Speaker
I like really, and I think it's, again, it's right there that like the radicals jump and it was like really much, it was like, this is over for me. And I think a lot of people, like the ratings, like just, that's the gap start getting really, really big at that point because people are just like, yeah, this is like, I mean, that's, I think, I still think 2000, especially the first like seven, eight months,
00:43:48
Speaker
is one of the better stretches of a pro wrestling show ever. They're just consistently, and there's some missteps there, and you can quibble and make some comments, but they are super hot on the other side of the channel at this point, and the show is really, really good, really consistently.
00:44:12
Speaker
Man, I think I stopped watching wrestling around the time that WCW ended. Which would have been a good time to get out. 2001 WWF is not exactly nearly as good as 2000 WWF. I would have been a freshman in high school. I think I was getting more into music and finding different interests in the TV show that I'd been watching since
00:44:41
Speaker
I mean, what year did it start? I mean, Nitro starts in fall of 95. So even if you picked it up later, maybe 96 or something like that. Yeah. So I'd been watching since then and gave it up my freshman year of high school and didn't watch again until I was in my twenties. Was the NWO like already a thing when you started watching?
00:45:04
Speaker
No, because I remember them forming. Okay, so you had to be, again, at the latest, early 96, at that point. Interesting. So yeah, but that's part of it, I guess, is that I had the gap, I had my gap, my first gap at least, between when I was like 10, 11, and like that mid 96 when I came back, I was like, oh, I hear this is really good now.
00:45:32
Speaker
Um, when do you think our next gap is going to be? What do we get into, uh, at this state in our life that we quit watching wrestling and when will that be? See, I kind of think there's just, there's just too much of it now and it's all accessible and I'm not sure we'll ever like have a full gap ever again.
00:45:54
Speaker
Just because like, even if we're just not watching current wrestling, I mean, I don't know, there's just too much stuff. And even then it's like, I'll probably watch something. Just FYI here. So, uh, Arne Anderson has come out at this point. I know we've abandoned the show at this point, but David Flair and Vince Russo were talking for a while, but Arne Anderson is out here. Mouth, very clean. Not a single bit of blood covering. Not yet. Give it a second.
00:46:24
Speaker
I love these Arn Anderson glasses. It's a good look for him. For some reason, it works for him, not many other people, but it just really works for Arn. Like those are probably close to the glasses my dad wore at this time. So like he is just, he is just Midwest dad right now in the ring in the Midwest. He's in the heartland. Your dad at the same time, also wearing a short sleeve button down shirt tucked into light denim.
00:46:54
Speaker
Fuck, he really might. If we get a good look at him, we'll find out. He's just watching R and he's just like, this guy's relatable. Do you think you've made your dad more or less proud than Brock Anderson has made his? I mean, Brock is...
00:47:24
Speaker
Probably less, god damn it. He's still on dark. I mean, you didn't try your dad's family business, but Brock did, and he's kind of failing at it. I don't know. I feel like long term, that's going to be a darker scenario.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, this is, I mean, how, again, how are you feeling like watching like a long promo like this, just mid shit, when you've seen like no good matches at this point, other than I guess Candido and Crowbar? I think it's funny that it looked, basically what's happening in the ring right now, looks like a dad yelling at a PacSun employee. Like, you were gonna give me a refund, my sons.
00:48:25
Speaker
My son's Atticus shirt had a hole already in it, and you're not gonna tell me that we did that. Vince Russo's the manager. Bro, bro, you're not getting a refund. You're getting a store credit at best. Bro. I am gonna shove my foot so far up your ass. Yeah, go ahead, bro. Give it a try, give it a try.
00:48:55
Speaker
I will bite your finger off. No way you're doing that. I did. I did it. I bit, I bit the finger off a dinosaur once. And they're like, what? And then the security guard who is like basically the fortune tellers, like it's true. I can't get over David Flair. Like David Flair is truly wearing a shirt from back, son.
00:49:21
Speaker
Like I'm pretty sure O'Neal was like a surf or skate brand at the time. Yeah. Um, so did you watch, I mean, did you watch any of the, uh, I was watching, uh, a little bit of old all Japan this week. Did you watch that like masala Saruda match? I didn't know. It's good. It's not, I mean, not the best one, but so as we mentioned, we've been working our way through like this walking the Kings road series on YouTube.
00:49:50
Speaker
And, uh, this, this last one that we got to was about, um, jumbo Sarouta 1992, which is jumbo's last year as a wrestler as like, as a top wrestler. Um, cause he ends up getting hepatitis and that sort of slowly drains them and.
00:50:05
Speaker
You start talking about wrestling from the 90s and it just starts getting sad. It sounds like a terrible storyline. I wish it was a storyline. I wish that took more wrestlers out like during this time. Like we're just guys with another hepatitis.
00:50:26
Speaker
So the, um, Oh, that's a shoot hepatitis. It's a shoot. It's not a shoot hepatitis. Yeah. Um, the interesting thing that I was thinking about though, is like, he's again, his whole thing in the last, in, in like 90, 91, 92 is that he's a dick to the young boys, right? His whole thing is like, screw you, Misawa, screw you, Kawata, screw you, Kabashi. You'll never beat me. I'm better than you. Uh, and I'm going to rub it in your face, which is basically,
00:50:53
Speaker
Okada's character right now. Okada's character is basically like, screw you, young boys. You got to earn this. And it's kind of interesting watching the parallels here. Oh, Hogan, here comes Hogan. He just got out of a limo wearing a black bandana. He looks like he's ready for court. So are you telling me that Okada is going to get hepatitis? I hope not.
00:51:20
Speaker
I'm hoping this works out better for Okada than it did for Jumbo. But it is an interesting parallel that Okada's gotten to this point where now he's just like, he's just screwing around, he just wants to make them earn it. Well you know Jumbo got hepatitis because he was fucking with those young boys and that was their wish on their birthday candles.
00:51:51
Speaker
Okada needs to learn to be a nicer guy again. You gotta be careful. You gotta be careful. Like, I get that you're very good, Rainmaker, but...
00:52:06
Speaker
It's crazy that Terry Funk wants the belt this bad. Like he had to travel to Springfield and like, I don't even know that you can fly into Springfield. I'm trying to think like where he would have had to fly in to get to this show. Like this isn't. It's a good question. Well, we're. Oh, hell yeah. Oh, wait. No, but Kevin Nash was coming out. Who the hell is this? I was Chuck Palumbo.
00:52:42
Speaker
the main event, Chuck Palumbo, with a workout bar. The main event, AKA the midcard. The midcard of a thunder in a sea town. Hey, hey, Garrett. You guys might've been a B-town. Just because it's the capital doesn't mean anything.
00:53:10
Speaker
So I'm looking, they were in St. Louis for nitros. They probably drove from St. Louis to Springfield, right? That sounds. Okay. That's doable. That's. Yeah, my dad, St. Louis was too far to go on a Monday. Now it looks like, it looks like they taped an episode of worldwide alongside this. Was this before, was that before or after? What the hell was worldwide?
00:53:40
Speaker
Worldwide was the like, the WWF Superstars. It was the syndicated show that was at this point really far down the totem pole. Do you see a card for that? Yeah, here are the matches we got. Kurt Henning beat Chris Harris. Rick Steiner and Tank Abbott beat Ashley Hudson and Corey Williams. Corey with a K. Ashley is a lady. I think it's a man.
00:54:09
Speaker
And if there's any question about that, Rick Steiner is gonna be quite mad. And Ernest Miller beat, took your second there. And Ernest Miller beat P.W. Douglas. I have no, I feel like I do kind of remember seeing Tank Abbott, vaguely. But no, I couldn't tell you, they would have had to have filmed that before, right?
00:54:40
Speaker
I guess there's no way they're showing a sting at the end of the night and then being like, and now here's tank Abbott versus Ashley. These do seem like warmup matches. I'm with you. Literally the only thing I remember before the show was Ray Lidle from W Q L Z coming on and him being him being very large. Maybe you got there too late. Maybe they happened before.
00:55:10
Speaker
That's entirely possible too. I know that when we got there, my dad would not let me get the slap-nut shirt. Really, really wanted that slap-nut shirt. Terry Funk working harder than pretty much everyone else in the show, taking that bump through a table. Like Funk just gave you more than everyone else had given you on the entire show. Other than maybe Chris Candido and Crowbar.
00:55:40
Speaker
That was like a legitimate real match at the beginning though. Right, that's definitely by far the best thing you've seen. And we're really getting into the show at this point. We're on our secondary Funk match. This show had far too much talking. You mentioned before that Terry Funk wrestled twice on the show that you went to. And I know I believed you, but somehow seeing it, it's weirder.
00:56:06
Speaker
Like I knew you weren't lying to me like being like, Oh man, Terry Funk wrestled twice and it's like, yeah, no, there's a record of that. There's two different Terry Funk matches. But the fact that he wrestled again, three guys, one of whom is so irrelevant that he doesn't have a cage match page and now Chuck Palumbo. And it seems like this might be the better of the two matches, but I only remembered the first one because he came out with the chickens.
00:56:36
Speaker
This is definitely better, but also not great. Um, no, but like literally two and a half years before this, he was the ECW world champion. Two years before this, he was the WWF tag team champion. And here he is fighting Chuck Palumbo backstage. Who do you think Funker rode with to get from St. Louis to Springfield? Um, I'm guessing he and Aaron doubled up here.
00:57:06
Speaker
OK, you think their pals like they definitely were the. I think they were having a good time in the car, having some brewskis. Some road sodies. Yeah. Aren Aren was. There was a there's a gas station attendant named named Corey and Arne bit his finger off.
00:57:37
Speaker
He was like, let me, let me see. What's that on your finger? What? Oh, and he just jumps down, yank the finger off. Oh, they're fighting outside. This seems unfortunate for you, Garrett. Again, this is the best match that's happened in at least an hour on the show. And now you actually can't see the match. You're watching TV cameras. Yeah. That, you know, this is the kind of shit that should happen in Springfield.
00:58:04
Speaker
It's, but when you look back at the, uh, the house shows that Derek saw in Springfield, like he got all the A listers. Like he, I remember he has a lot of pictures of, you know, like Benoit and triple H and Rick flair. And I guess though, it's cause it's probably like between, it's like they were doing like, you know, raw in.
00:58:29
Speaker
like St. Louis and Smackdown in Chicago or something. And it was like, oh, like Springfield's close enough. We'll take everyone. For sure. Um, uh, Terry Funk just pinned Chuck Palumbo in like a trash compactor. Uh, Terry Funk, I don't know if you noticed, he has a little color. He busted open a love handle.
00:58:58
Speaker
And I'm not just, that's not a joke. He was bleeding a little bit on a love handle. I like that Lex is just wandering around, no shirt and khaki pants. He looks like he should have a puka shell necklace on. He's amazed by who.
00:59:21
Speaker
Wait, security did this? Just off camera and off, there's like, I like that it's like, it's like a POV of the maser. See, I would play a video game where the only objective is to run around an arena, find Lex Luger and Mason.
00:59:43
Speaker
This was actually, this was actually part of the storyline mode in WCW Backstage Assault. You're Vince Russo. And you need to, uh, you need to mace Lex Luger. I'm pretty sure one of those security guards were the ones that took my sign. Oh, bastards. Who's with Hogan? Well, that's Horace. Yeah, it's Horace.
01:00:10
Speaker
I remember him looking actually worse than this. I'm dead serious in my mind. Horace Hogan at this time was at least 25 years older than that. Who do we got here? I remember, yeah, we get a big sexy in the ring segment. He doesn't wrestle. We do get Ralphis and Norman Smiley outside.
01:00:49
Speaker
God damn it. I don't remember if Kevin Nash says a word. He is walking. Okay. I was probably pretty excited at this point. I did really like Billy Kidman. That's reasonable. He's got Tory at this point.
01:01:19
Speaker
He did a flip. I feel like there weren't a ton of guys that did a flip back then. It's true. That was as a kid, that was exciting. Was it called the seven year itch was like a shooting star press. That's that's great. We got other people with him. We got Conan. Ray unmasked Ray.
01:01:51
Speaker
Is that, that's not Scott Steiner, is it? Oh, we got more talking. Is that, is hoovy in the ring? Is that who I'm seeing? Yeah. Hoovy and Ray. Yeah. That's Ray kind of looking like Scott Steiner. Just way shorter. Scott would be so sad if you thought he was that short.
01:02:18
Speaker
They have the same, the blonde hair, the short blonde hair. I kind of tried that look too, like the really short flat blonde hair, like not blonde, but I tried the really short flat hair for like a month.
01:02:29
Speaker
And I kind of liked it. And, uh, my, my female friends were like, Chris, you're gonna, you're gonna want to change that. And I was like, but it's easy in the morning. I just comb it forward. It's cool. And it's cool. It's like the George Clooney. And my friends were like, Chris, you, you, you want to talk to girls and you want them to talk to you, right? And I was like, yes, like, just go back to what you're doing before. I mean, it wasn't, I mean, it wasn't great, but I mean, this is better than this. I'm like, okay, okay.
01:03:00
Speaker
See, we all make those mistakes. Like in college for at least a year, I had hair down to my shoulders and a very big beard. And that was doing me no favors. And at that time I was probably also wearing a lot of Rob Zombie t-shirts. So basically what I was saying with my appearance was stay away from me. I have no interest in talking to you. I did have interest though. I just looked bad.
01:03:28
Speaker
So, okay. So our match here is Horace against Billy Kidman, which is again, I'm, I'm sorry. Um, Garrett, this is, this is what they tried to entertain you with. I thought on cage match, it said it was, uh, a handicap match. Like all of them against Horace. Maybe it becomes that. Okay. The rules are changing right now. No DQ.
01:03:56
Speaker
The line cage match describes, it says Horace will be fired if he loses four on one handicap falls kind of anywhere. Texas death. I quit match. Which is admittedly, at least sort of clever. Although again, if this was such a good idea, probably shouldn't have burned it on a thunder in, I'm sorry, Garrett Springfield.
01:04:23
Speaker
Is this as unwatchable as it seemed like it was gonna be? I feel like we're getting kind of the exact show we remember Thunder being. This is exact, I mean, see, there's a couple, I think there's a couple of errors of Thunder, because there's an error of Thunder in like 99, where they're just like, ah.
01:04:46
Speaker
whatever, it's a 15 minute Benoit match. And it's like, it's not a good television show, but it's at least like, like occasionally the matches are good. Like if you're going through the thunder, like I went through facts and I always talk about, we read so much Scott Keaton, he did a lot of thunder reviews. And at some point I like went through and like every episode or two, you'll find like, oh wow, that's a pretty good wrestling match on there.
01:05:13
Speaker
Whereas I feel like at this point in 2000, they're just throwing shit at the wall. And so it's like, it's like crash TV fast, but like without the top guys and just worse, like it's not nitro, but like it's the same as nitro, but worse.
01:05:32
Speaker
When you said throwing shit at the wall, you mean throwing Horace Hogan at the wall? Yes, it's exactly. I mean, at least Horace seems very motivated here. Much more so than like every other WCW moment I recall of him. He's getting a lot of TV time though. That's pretty good. Yeah. You know what else is on this channel back then? Atlanta Braves baseball games. That's the only thing else that aired on this channel.
01:06:04
Speaker
Chris Datlander, currently the champion of this channel specifically. That's very exciting. Yeah. So you've got her shirt on. I've got her. I had, I, I, right before she got hurt, it felt like this was, this shirt had been waiting for its right moment. Now, Chris stat is, uh, is back. She's healthy and, uh, she's a champ.
01:06:28
Speaker
So I like that on a on a Wednesday night in Springfield, Billy Kidman isn't doing the seven year edge. He will do an elbow drop from the top rope. And that is the high flying you get for the night. I do think, though, it's like part of part of the issue with this era, right, is like everyone liked Billy Kidman. They wanted to see him succeed. But here they are putting him against Horace, who's just so much bigger than him.
01:06:57
Speaker
Like Billy Kidman is probably. And he just got pinned by Horace, by the way, after a Death Valley driver, and they're going to overturn this. But really way to put over Kidman and make him seem strong is after all this interference, he loses to Horace. But like I bet Kidman's like three inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than like Adam Cole.
01:07:26
Speaker
I love that one of the stipulations of this is Hogan has to stay in the back. And that was a stipulation that Hogan put on it when he found out he had to go to Springfield. I'll do a pre-tape, brother, but. Brother, I ain't leaving catering, okay? Springfield gets 20 seconds of the holster tops.
01:08:00
Speaker
I was like the Bischoff is wearing like, he's like, he's got like a leather jacket and jeans and like dad sneakers. Like he couldn't even bother to wear like boots or something with his leather jacket. Conan is a lot beefier than I remember him being. Big boy. Like is he one of those guys that's like deceptively big? I think so for sure. Yeah. I think he's a, he's a bigger guy than you think.
01:08:26
Speaker
Cause I've definitely seen him in person at like PWG and stuff, but you know, at that point he's an older guy and a little more shrunken than, than this. This is, uh, Eric Bishop there. What a camera shot here. He's just laying on the ground. Um,
01:08:58
Speaker
It's really just, I don't know, man. I really can't believe they did this to you. They made you, they made you poor dad. Your poor dad drove an hour with you. He was tired the next day for work. He was so tired and he had to watch Horace Hogan. It just seems unfair. Just seems unfair to him.
01:09:30
Speaker
He's like, I love my son, but enough, somehow enough to watch Horace Hogan. Oh, there's the Hulkster. He's coming out. He's got his formal bandana on. He's ready for court just in case. What is FUMB? F U new blood. Oh.
01:09:57
Speaker
But he's actually the original member of Young Dumb and Broke. This is actually way more Hulkster than I remember seeing. Oh, he's hulking up on Bischoff, the chair.
01:10:23
Speaker
It's I don't know. You got some Hulkster. That's not so bad, but it's still it's still just so. So Thunder, I don't know. I was a big Thunder in Paradise guy, so even getting a glimpse at the Hulkster was a special moment. I will say I definitely watched Thunder in Paradise after Nitro a bunch, and it is a television show.
01:10:49
Speaker
See, I don't remember the show is, I remember the two movies. Oh, how many episodes are there? The T yeah. It's just like a season. It's like 22 episodes or something. Oh man. You're missing out on those movies, man. Especially that first one. Maybe I got to watch some thunder in paradise movie. By the way, I did just check cage match the total amount of wrestling.
01:11:15
Speaker
in the next, the rest of the show is under as barely over five minutes. Oh my God. That's spread over three matches. This I very much remember what's about to happen here. Oh man, more talking. I didn't remember all the talking. The talking isn't what stays with you when you go to a wrestling show.
01:11:40
Speaker
It's true, you know, that's part of the, and it's one of the reasons I've sort of stayed away from like TV shows and why I do, I don't mind. Like I think dynamite does a good job with it. I'm not overdoing the talking.
01:11:57
Speaker
The only thing I remember from the very last Raw I ever went to was here in Nashville, and it was a talk-in segment. And it was when we found out that Jason Jordan was Kurt Angle's son. And we were lucky enough to get that right here in Music City. Whereas in this show, you're just getting so much Vince Russo, who, again, though, you thought was really cool at this point. So maybe that was exciting.
01:12:26
Speaker
Both of these guys were equal cool. I don't know about that, Garrett, Kevin Nash. Nowadays, I hope you're thinking Nash is a little cooler than Vinny Roo. Yeah, well now, but I mean, look at Vince Russo's Unibrow. He's got the pocket or the wristwatch hanging from his neck. But he does just have a wristwatch hanging on a chain. That's interesting. That's a look.
01:12:56
Speaker
Who of these got a leather kangal? They missed him. What the fuck? Was Kevin Nash supposed to be in Carrie? Is this like a? Well, they're the new blood. They were dropping blood on people at that time. Oh, okay.
01:13:20
Speaker
And I do remember that hit in the ring and spraying all over us. And it got all in my dad's, it got in Lindel's beard. And he licked it and I remember him shouting, it's pancake syrup. For those again, they basically, they just dropped, I can see where it makes sense to me in terms of that. They just dropped a bunch of stuff from the ceiling on Nash.
01:13:49
Speaker
And it did kinda look like it was pancake syrup. And Nash came all the way to Springfield, Illinois to not speak a word and get sticky. Yes. And you paid money to watch Kevin Nash get sticky. Well, your dad did. My dad did. On your behalf.
01:14:18
Speaker
Oh, actually somewhere in this house is my ticket stub from the show. I'll have to see how much this how much front row cost in in 2000. It is interesting at the idea of how much they were charging you to be to be present for this. Aren Anderson's dress like Jerry Flynn here. He's pretty fit. Yeah. I was still in shape at this point. He just you know, he he screwed up his neck, you know.
01:14:48
Speaker
When he takes off that denim shirt in the Unabomber glasses. Still looks like Arne. God, new blood or in every match? I mean, that's the whole show. It's new blood, this new blood versus... That's the weird thing about it. It's just way too much of one angle.
01:15:21
Speaker
It just does not like, there's just too much of it. I can't believe there's 15 more minutes. It is hard to believe. Uh, that sign said Jurassic slap ass. Does that mean anything to you? I mean, slap at is that slap? That sounds like slap nuts. Jurassic. Oh, oh, it's, um,
01:15:50
Speaker
Again, it's a sign, right? Jurassic slapass is Luchasaurus. And it's about, it's a warning, it's a warning for Arne. That the dinosaur is going to join Jeff Jarrett. Yup. Jurassic slap nuts. Yeah, you're going to fight the dinosaur eventually, Arne.
01:16:17
Speaker
I also, I can't believe they're bringing Arne Anderson out of retirement and he's wrestling on a thunder. I guess that's pretty cool. You got to see like, this had to be like basically Arne Anderson's like last match. I love that the pancake syrup is still dripping and there's a big puddle of it in the middle of the ring. Like they've clearly changed the mat, but the shit is dripping from the sky and it's all over Arne Anderson's back right now. This is Arne Anderson next week after this.
01:16:47
Speaker
Also a two minute, under two minute match. Arn and Rick against Crowbar and David Flair, but this is the next to last recorded Arn Anderson match ever. Are you kidding me? Next to last. Yeah. He was retired at this point. He'd been retired for it since 96 at this point. Yeah. Hell yeah. I got a man. Yeah. Got a spine buster. He's real sticky here. You're right. His, his ass is just sticky.
01:17:18
Speaker
What are you on your period on? Oh, don't hit Daphne, Arden. You're better than that. Oh, but she's not. Hit him right in the dick. Oh, and he's going for the figure four. He's knocked him out. He's putting him in the figure four, but also they just threw the wrap out of the ring. I don't know why they did that.
01:17:49
Speaker
He just, David looked dead behind his eyes. There was just like, he was just a charisma black hole. Who aren't busted open from whatever they hit him with there? Was he busted or did he just roll in the puddle? It might've been the puddle. That's fair. He might've just rolled in the puddle. I mean, there's a blast. Teletubbies.
01:18:23
Speaker
That is not something I thought about. Thank God the Teletubbies were not a thing once we became parents, Garrett. I don't know. There's probably stuff worse now. I mean, there's always terrible stuff out there, but Teletubbies seem really bad. That is a special level of dog shit. I am I have had it with the New York vignettes. I'm sorry.
01:18:57
Speaker
Oh, what the hell did they break over his head? Oh, it was a glass statue of the Statue of Liberty that he might actually be busted open. Oh my God, and now we gotta watch Rick's, wait.
01:19:22
Speaker
So Rick Steiner's coming out. Is he coming out with tank Abbott? Is this coming out with tank Abbott? This is, I, I don't even know where we're going here at this point. I regret having gone to this now for this moment, having to sit here and rewatch it.
01:19:50
Speaker
You should call your dad for Father's Day and just be like, dad, I'm sorry. Do you know how many things I've had to apologize to him for?
01:20:00
Speaker
Like that kind of stuff. Like, like, oh, cool. Goldberg running over stuff. I'm trying to think just like him taking me. I feel like there's just been a handful of movies that like I'll rewatch as an adult and then immediately call my dad and apologize, one of which was ready to rumble. Oh, yeah, that's a that's a good point. That's definitely that's definitely a strong apology. I think you got to apologize this one.
01:20:31
Speaker
This is pretty bad. I can't believe this is a show that you made your dad sit through. My dad had to go to Springfield twice for this. He had to go wait in a line to buy a ticket so that we could watch a Rick Steiner talking segment. Yeah.
01:20:52
Speaker
He did, he did. That's love right there, Garrett. If you ever doubt that, you're like, oh, I don't know. It's like, no, my dad loves me. He went and drove to Springfield, Illinois to buy a ticket for me to watch Rick Steiner talk. Do you think your dad knew what he was getting into in terms of the quality of thunder at this point? See, I have fond memories of watching
01:21:22
Speaker
Nitro with him. Right. But I don't know if I have a single thunder memory other than this one. He had to have known it was a B show going in. He had to be like, I'm I'm taking boy, you know, I'm I am taking Maddie to I think I'm going to finalize yet, but I think I'm taking Maddie to the Newark like Dinah, not not not not not a dynamite. Importantly, ROH slash collision show.
01:21:52
Speaker
And I'm pretty aware, I'm not getting the best possible ADW show that night. I'm really mostly just hoping that it turns out Aussie Open is working like the ROH shows and that means they'll be there and she'll be happy to see them and everything else will just be a bonus. Collision might be okay, right? Yeah, there's a chance collision's gonna be good. I'm with you on that.
01:22:23
Speaker
It is a weird thing to have those. I don't know, because it it's CM Punk in most of the people who have had problems backstage. Right. Well, I'm FTR and so FTR officially that is going to be there. Yeah, they're going to be on that because they're they're punk skies, right? So they're literally selling a CM FTR shirt right now.
01:22:52
Speaker
So I mean, it looks like Bullet Club Gold might be on there. Is it exclusive, though, like when you're on this show, you're you live there? That's what it seems like. Maybe some of the champions are going to bounce back and forth. But it seems last we checked that basically you're going to be on that show. That kind of sucks. Maybe I don't mind. I know I we've talked about this, but I
01:23:19
Speaker
I'm trying to look at the bright side in that. I think splitting the roster in half could help both shows be more focused. And it's possible we're going to like one show way better than the other, in which case that might be a win. It makes me look and maybe we'll sometimes watch Collision and not really the others. So I don't know. I think kind of like breaking some of these guys off who were appearing occasionally seems like a win to me. Potentially. It seems like a potentially win.
01:23:49
Speaker
It's just, I'm definitely gonna be out watching the show the elite is on. But if I wanna go check out Miro, I gotta go watch the problematic boys on a Saturday night. It seems, but maybe you'll just skip to. The fuck is chronic? Oh, you don't remember chronic? This is Brian Adams and Brian Clark. Crush and item bomb.
01:24:19
Speaker
Um, I feel like we all kind of loved chronic for like a minute in 2000. We all just kind of thought they were cool. Even though they were just kind of these two guys we didn't like before, they seemed like they were just kinda. I'm trying to think of a good analog to them in the modern age in terms of. Cause they were never really good wrestlers. They were slightly better as a tag team than as singles.
01:24:49
Speaker
You know, you know who a good analog to them might be? Um, the good brothers, which the other day I had to think like, are they even still wrestling? They're in WWE, right? Yeah. But like the good brothers are like cool without being good. And like, we're going to go back and be like, well, yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely buff. He's the stuff, you know,
01:25:17
Speaker
Man, there's so much blood on the outside and everybody's slipping like that blood fucked everything up for the whole night. I loved Buff Bagwell and that sucks. So he and he and Shane Douglas just stole the belts. Oh, there's Shane. You got to see Shane for 10 seconds.
01:25:45
Speaker
The, the chronic is fighting pumps out here now. At this point where, so at this point where Scott and big in, um, buff still together, I think Scott's with the new blood at this point. So maybe they're probably, they're probably together. Cause it seems like buff is a new blood guy.
01:26:12
Speaker
They're fighting this, but they're fighting this. Scott's fighting the security and I thought the security was with the new blood. I don't know. This is, this is really dragging. I got to say here.
01:26:30
Speaker
Yeah, this is a, honestly, like if anyone is still listening at this point, I am surprised. Everyone just, we find out in the Dallas, like, yeah, everyone just gave up at an hour. I like, I'm almost there with them. We're like, I know it's almost over, but like it feels like it's never going to end. I mean, we, yeah, I can see how much time is left. And I also know that the last match is at least interesting.
01:26:59
Speaker
but only three minutes long. That was the cool chronic move, the double choke slam. We get some more Goldberg limo. Crushing what looked like my grandparents car at the time. It's not going so great though. It's like slowly kind of doing it. Now it's, oh, now the monster truck. Not kinda, it's got stuck.
01:27:32
Speaker
He got it. He got it.
Humor and Vignettes Critique
01:27:34
Speaker
He got it. Yeah. It's fun though that Bill never had to like get out and like wave to the camera. Yeah. Yep. Definitely me driving this thing guys. It would, you know, not enough New York vignettes. Another New York vignette. I hate him. I hate David.
01:28:04
Speaker
Yeah, I haven't heard a word again. I've had this on mute, but I still can't stand any of these vignettes. I can't imagine they've been funny. Oh, you've had it on mute this whole time. Oh, yeah, I will not listen to this. I've had volume on this whole show. So I've heard all this bullshit while we're talking. I just it just didn't seem. Oh, is he going to propose? Oh, yeah, he's going to marry her. OK. Oh, yeah, they did do that angle, I think.
01:28:32
Speaker
We're really running, it's interesting. We're really running down on time. And I know I can see exactly how long the last match was. So it's got to be exactly the length of the, of the rest of the show. It's funny, like how long it was between the first time I saw a sting and the second time I saw a sting. Mike, awesome. Good to see this. This is a month after he jumped from ECW. So it was a little bit sad.
01:29:01
Speaker
This is right, he threw Canyon off the cage in the triple tower of whatever at Slamboree. Canyon's a madman. Mike Awesome was the best. He is another guy that if he'd made it to this era, people definitely would have been like, Mike Awesome doing like GCW spring break would have been incredible.
Closing Remarks and Future Plans
01:29:31
Speaker
Um, well, Garrett, as so stings coming out, but, um, or the lights are flashing. He's not out yet, but he's coming out of an ambulance. Uh, we should let people know, right? They should rate, review and subscribe. Oh, absolutely. Right. Review, subscribe at pre-determined podcast on Instagram at guard 10 on Instagram at Chris Miggs on Instagram at Jimmy Lloyd's IMDB page. Thanks for sticking around this long. Like, um,
01:30:00
Speaker
You know what? I'll just say we'll do better next week. This might not have been our best idea, Garrett. Yeah, this, but you know, we got too far into it to cut it out. Just stop. It's next week. We're going to do a three and a half hour watch along of an ICW show from 2001. We're going to look for my dad and we're just, but we're doing, we're doing the whole show. It's like three and a half hours.
01:30:25
Speaker
I'm not letting you turn your air conditioner on. You're going to feel like my dad and I in the Elvis lodge in 2001. My dad just like keeping an eye out and just be like, whatever, I'm going to smoke here. It's like, screw this place. They're not providing me air conditioning. I can smoke a cigarette.
01:30:46
Speaker
Uh, I love that this, they just got, they've been in the ring for seconds and they're like, just fight your way towards that goddamn ambulance and let's take it home. Get the table out. Yeah. They definitely, I do wonder if something ran long here. Cause it does seem like this is a match that could have been it's Russo WCW. It's not long, but like maybe two minutes more than this. They're really cutting right to the chase here.
01:31:11
Speaker
Did something run long? Like every talking segment. Why have wrestling when you can watch a Steiner who isn't the one you love the most? Talk about a match with Bill Goldberg sometime.
01:31:30
Speaker
I will say the only things that have seemed exciting were that Mike Austin just took a backdrop through a table. That and the funk table bump might be the only thing I'm positive remembering from the show, other than Chris Candido, yes, good at wrestling. Do you think when you're on your death bed, you're gonna look back and be like, I'm happy we did this? Or do you think you're gonna wish you had this 90 minutes back? This is to you the listeners as well.
01:32:01
Speaker
I think neither. I think we're going to recognize this is something we tried and time well spent as friends together. It's true. I think that like this just was not like if it had been like a really, really bad show, it would have given us something to talk about. But this is just kind of a boring show. It's I mean, it's pretty bad, but it's
01:32:29
Speaker
And again, I think part of it is that it's so, it's so much talking that like, there's just like, there's no wrestling to pick apart and break through. What is he doing with him? They're really trying to get ready for some, a spot on the, the ambulance. Yeah. They really, they really milked an awesome bomb.
01:32:53
Speaker
Didn't happen. Scorpion death drop. Let's open this ambulance. Oh my God, who's inside? It's Vampiro. Blood in the eyes. Of course, of course. And Sting loses because fucking of course he did. Cause we all drove to Springfield to see Sting losing a three minute ambulance match. Mike, Mike, awesome. Still on top of the ambulance, but the winner,
01:33:23
Speaker
They're really putting over the new blood here. Okay. Maybe the driving off with him. Oh my God. All right, everybody. Thanks for listening. Uh, we'll really watch something next week. We're going to come back with things that we have pre-watched talk about it. You're going to have fun. There's going to be jokes. We love you. Or we're going to watch thunder the, the week after.
01:33:54
Speaker
Yeah, if this is a busy week, we might not see anything. It's a WCW Thunder podcast now, guys. Or we just start doing King's Road matches and we just yell, oh my god, over and over again over the course of 45 minutes. Yeah, if we don't describe to you what happened, just know he landed on his head or neck. All right, guys, hit our goddamn music.