He may have been a workhorse, but you can't pull gold out of a turd...when Kidman was paired with the wrong opponent, Kidman looked much worse by comparison. The first two matches (against Malenko and Saturn) were fine since all three were pretty even, skill-wise...but that last one? Jerry Tuite/The Wall/Sgt. AWOL ain't no Malenko/Saturn/Benoit (hell, *Big T* would've been a better matchup for Kidman). Zane has always given credit where it's due (dude even gives Bischoff and Russo their props when they deserve it), so he's not blasting Kidman here...he's going off on the fact that, because of all the backstage bullcrap and the company going downhill rapidly, the show as a whole was crap. Maybe a different underdog or a better final opponent would've changed this, but we'll never know. Now that I think about it, it could've been made better by moving the championship match to the next-to-last spot, having Benoit win, then having Kidman and Benoit have the final match on the card (win or lose, it wouldn't really matter). Not only would this explain why Benoit left (especially if he lost to Kidman) better than Nash crashing the "celebration", but it would also go a *long* way to explaining the push of the Filthy Animals into their more mainstream run in 2000 and 2001.
Not sure he’ll ever top “I’ve embraced the lawless nature of the match and I’m starting it now,” but every appearance of the Funker voice is comedy gold.
I cant remember the episode but that's the one I was thinking of too. I think it was a hardcore match where funk hits a guy with a trash can when brian said it
I'm still a fan of the comments of one Jackie Crockett during Halloween Havoc '98 "C'Mere!, C'Mere!, C'Mere!" You Walk In The Middle Of Our Shot Again, Or You'll Never Get In This Building Again!"
Never get tired of the Terry Funk impressions. They say that as long as someone speaks your name after you die, you're never forgotten. Zane is helping keep the Funkster alive in the best kind of way.
Something tells me that was how it was supposed to turn out that way under Russo's watch that Sullivan didn't feel like changing. What does Russo have against the Cruiserweights and Woman wrestlers?
I didnt realise till recently that theres so many Scotts in WCW Scott Steiner Scotty Riggs Scott Hall Scott Norton Scotty Flamingo Its like the WWE John craze for a bit
Riggs was out of WCW by this time, never to return. Riggs was released from WCW in early 99, debuting in ECW in early 2000 shortly before TNN scrapped ECW in favor of WWE, and the subsequent inability to secure a broadcast slot which caused the rapid implosion of ECW. By the time his basically defunct ECW contract ran out in 2001, WCW went under which though it could have been revived, also could not secure a broadcast spot, so the investors called it quits.
I love the Oklahoma bit so much, because the idea is so funny "I want to make a joke about the other guys so bad, I'll put a dead-spot on my own PPV! That'll show em!"
@Thechezbailey radicalz were booked into the main event as soon as they got to WWE. And they were all in title pictures for some time. Perry fked up dumping Mike Bell on his head. Moppy was a punishment.
I remember listening to WCW Live (podcasting before podcasts) and Bob Ryder was gold during this era. He was not shy about talking about how bad things were. And it was either Madden or him that pointed out Jarret was being booked as a face and how it made no sense.
@@freakfoxvevo7915there's a highlight of vince russo moments in live and i think vince's channel has an episode with him. I think there's other episodes in yt but unsure
I feel so bad for Medusa. Throughout the 90's she kept trying to bring... something... ANYTHING.. to women's wrestling in America and she kept getting put into angles that had her at the mercy of men who weren't even wrestlers. She had a decade of hell in this country.
I felt bad...at first. A lot of companies courted her with promises of building a women's division around her, so she went and got stuck with crappy angles, a lack of competency in the talent department (as many of the competent female wrestlers were overseas and the companies either didn't want to work with them or the prices were "too high"...even when the companies brought in other female talent for her to fight, they made those opponents shells of their former selves (just look at Rhonda Sing/Bertha fucking Faye)), and just outright misogyny. My problem comes from the fact that, despite her talent and drawing power, she *never* walked away from the crappy booking when the truth started showing up...if anything, break your contract and go back to Japan where you've earned the respect of the companies and the fans.
@@Alsebra the woman who dumped a title in the trash on a competitor's t.v. "never walked away from crappy booking"? LOL that is like the most potent revisionist history about any topic that I think i've ever read. Ttat's like watching a guy shoot a dude on national t.v. and then 25 years later "oh he's never displayed any tendency towards violence". It's so comical, i'm not even mad. I get what you want to say, but how you said it no. That cost her dearly. permanantly burned a bridge with WWF that wasn't resolved til she basically aged out. And i'd argue atleast made the japanese more hesitant to deal with her than they otherwise might have been. And i say that knowing he had a decent run in Japan. Granted, I think her doing that lit a fire under vince to start developing a women's division, if only vindictively. Chyna, Jaquelyn, Molly Holly, Ivory, Lita, Trish (to some extent), she could have been there for that. But that's how it is, wasn't meant to be.
@@maxdecphoenix, note that I qualified the statement with "...when the truth started showing up." When she dumped off the belt, she'd had two years of feuding with very few credible threats (in fact, she almost exclusively faced Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye (who, though a credible threat normally, was basically made into a jobber in WWF)) and there really was no division built up in that timeframe. Had she done that early in her run or she dipped when things got rough, that'd be one thing, but she stuck it out until she realized that whoever was in power lied to her.
Triple H still can't handle the fact that he was jobbed out to Das Wunderkind in his only WCW PPV. Hunter knows he'd still be jobbing if he wasn't a McMahon. Not that being a McMahon is a positive for one's career anymore in 2024...
@@namikstudiosDude was an Intercontinental, European and 2x WWF Champion before he “became a McMahon” lmfao they had him lose to Wright because they knew he was leaving for the WWF Soon and he was the heel in the matchup so they did the right booking decision and had the babyface go over.
@@chandlersbryant4047 Vince McMahon was also a WWF Champion before Triple H became his son-in-law but that doesn't mean either of them deserved it. He was jobbed out to Alex Wright because Das Wunderkind was the bigger star and better wrestler.
@@user-mp5mx2mr3f a McMahon in 2024... in the words of the immortal James Hetfield, where's your crown, King Nothing?!?! th-cam.com/video/jSAQ0-IThaI/w-d-xo.html
Not entirely true. Pritchard did say that the WWE only wanted Benoit however, the other Radicals were pushing the WWE to sign Benoit if nothing else, the WWE decided to sign all four. Shane Douglas also wanted to jump ship to the WWE but they had no interest in him.
I mean Malenko couldn’t cut a promo to save his life. Eddie was the best talker out of all of them. I always wondered why Saturn never got the push since he was absolutely jacked.
One of the main factors contributing to WCW's demise was the decimation of their midcard. Beginning in mid 99, over the next 9 months they would lose Jericho, Raven, Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn, Malenko and Hall, plus Bret and Savage to injury. Basically the entire middle of their card and so much of their wrestling expertise and potential future stars, gone just like that, never to be replaced.
They still have Booker T,Kidman,Rey and maybe umm Konnan but damn they legit lost a ton of actual stars and kept guys like Flynn and Van fucking Hammer in the payroll like really no wonder WCW die
Losing "The Radicalz" was not a loss at all. Eddie had potential, but obliviously wasn't abusing steroids like he was in WWE, so was just kind of there, but the other 3? Maybe the most uncharismatic people to ever appear in pro wrestling. They were all literally the piss break for 99% of the audience. Losing Jericho and Regal hurt them massively though. Those 2 could carry feuds and could get the crowd wanting to see the opponents kick the crap out of them. Without them, the midcard was boring flippy matches or charisma vacuums like Jindraik, O' Haire and Reno. Ralphus was a bigger star and draw than all of The Radicalz combined, so that shows you their actual true worth.
@@handsolo1209 Completely disagree other than what you said about the inability of WCW to adequately replace their midcard. You obviously have some sort of agenda against The Radicalz to devalue them that much, and it doesn't sound like you can be convinced otherwise.
@@kokotheclown2588 Yeah man. Think back to WCW in Spring 2000, the beginning of their last full year in business. Leave aside the cruiserweight division(that had been wrecked by Russo anyway). Their hardcore division stank. Their tag division was OK with the likes of The Filthy Animals, The Thrillers, 3 Count and Kronik. But the rest of the midcard? Lance Storm, Shane Douglas, Buff, Kanyon and Mike Awesome were the best of a very mediocre bunch. Hugh Morrus? Vampiro? The Wall? David Flair etc? Get in the bin! The loss of that talent I mentioned in my original message really was devastating to the company. They simply never replaced the level of worker and technical wrestling expertise they lost. Those guys really were a huge part of the backbone of WCW. You need people who can work. Then you factor in all the ageing main event talent that were coming to the end of their careers, and it's no wonder WCW died. Bischoff should've been chopping old heads off in 98 and signing and promoting the youth in response to The Attitude Era and the imminent millennium coming down the line. Instead he had no vision. He got complacent and kept the rapidly ageing old heads around and pissed off the undercard, who saw the writing on the wall and jumped ship. Honestly, there was very little value in WCW at the end. Not a lot of young or prime age talent worth bringing in from WWE's perspective, which was an indictment of WCW and how they operated and the main reason why they went out of business. Goldberg, Booker T, Steiner, Storm, Kanyon, Awesome, O'Haire, Rey, Kidman, Chavo and Helms. That was pretty much it in 2001. The likes of Sting, DDP and the nWo had one more run left in them, and Flair and Bischoff were excellent in WWE, but that was it.
@@brianohalloran4059No, I am telling you the reality of it. Eddie was underused a little in WCW. The others were channel changers. It's a fact. Ralphus was way more over in WCW than any of the. Again, the numbers don't lie. Malenko, Benoit & Saturn could be replaced by anyone and nobody would even notice. All of them carried by others to make anyone even notice. Malenko without Jericho carrying him was a midget jobber. Saturn without Raven carrying him was a really crap Rick Steiner rip off. Benoit without Sullivan carrying him was a total non entity. All 3 were boring and had zero charisma or personality. Eddie had personality, but he was so small that you couldn't use him with the top guys and make it believable. There is no agenda against The Radicalz from me. There is one from marks like you to make them out to be super important, and they simply were not. I am simply telling it how it was. They were not missed by WCW at all. Changing the Nitro set and the logo hurt WCW a million times more than losing those guys.
I think the fact that Jerry Flynn is on a PPV says volumes of what direction things are going in at this time... also, I got a good chuckle when you gave the CW Title a negative 5 Stars... good stuff!
I can’t watch Benoit do the headbutt anymore. His technical matches, sure. But I glance away at the headbutt, knowing that each one….well, anyone reading this knows the story.
His worst ones to me are still a tie between him running full force into the announce table for a suicide dive, or when A-Train dropped him on the chair by accident. Yet still wrestlers keep doing that move.
@@thatguywade5384 That’s the thing about CTE, it’s not the major impacts. It’s repeated sub-concussive injuries. Think how many times he did that headbutt on TV. Now probably triple that number for non-televised matches he worked over the years. The same impact, same spot, over and over and over….thats basically the recipe for CTE. All the other hits he took at least had variations on the angle of impact. The headbutt was literally the same thing, over and over.
This is why Benoit gets no sympathy from me. He's the only idiot repeatedly smashing his head into things. He willingly did it to himself. That and the fact that concussions are not a reason nor an excuse for murder - Mick Foley was belted over the head with a steel chair about 50 times in a row by The Rock but is Mick a murderer? No, in fact he's one of the nicest people in the industry.
@@namikstudios, how many stiff and direct chair shots did Shamrock take? Also, the CTE can go some way to explaining why he did what he did (the damage done to his brain by himself and others changed the chemistry...look at any CTE-related changes in football players and the like). The Foley shots were much fewer (I believe Zane counted 11) and weren't absolutely direct, unprotected, full-power shots. Mind you, though, I'm not justifying or glorifying what Benoit did (there's no way to do that), but saying that he and he alone was at fault for all of his actions is basically saying that mental illness/injury is never an excuse for someone's actions (which is absolute bullshit).
I was waiting for this review to drop and was not disappointed, especially with the assessment of the Cruiserweight Title Match as Brian's reactions toward Madusa and Oklahoma had me rolling with laughter. 😂😂😂
I was at this show!! I got free tickets and brought my then gf, her little sister and a friend of mine, and no joke, literally every other person we talked to at the show also got in free. At that time it was the most stoned I had ever been in public.
My ex-wife and I won a cruise from a local radio station (the Train Sail Across the Sun cruise) and we ended up in a hot tub with a few other folks that got to go for free themselves (one woman's husband was on the light crew and a guy had won the spot from a bar)...it was kind of odd to have multiple free passengers in one hot tub.
Hey Brian. I've been binge watching everything about your channel in the past 3 months. Discovered it through your Goldberg video. Always wanted to watch old PPV's, but never had the time. And your reviews definitely fill that void and plus some. And they are actually entertaining. And seeing your passion for it brought up some old feelings from myself for wrestling. Slowly getting back into wrestling over the past few years, and your channel has eased that transition. I always try and give myself a reason why I quit watching all those years ago and keep going back to "I grew out of it". But as an adult now, I realize it was loved so much because I actually loved it and not because I was just a kid. I find it funny that life has brought my love for wrestling back in more ways than one for me to enjoy it. Whether it's the actual product or someone else talking about it. My brother and I used to go to the video store in town when we were younger (yes, a physical store with physical VHS tapes and we paid with physical money), and we used to rent the same wrestling tapes and watched them over and over again. I get a litte emotional on how much life and wrestling has changed in 20+ years. Through tech and the HD era, and seeing our favorite wrestlers get old just as we do. Definitely hits me in the feels. But we found a new love of wrestling in todays world. Although we dont watch as much as we used to, who or what we do watch means that much more. Thanks for the spark that lit our love of wrestling again. It means everything.
Welcome back to the crazy world of wrestling! I too went through a phase where I kept telling myself "I outgrew it', but ultimately, when I've been in my darkest times, wrestling has been what entertained me and allowed me an escape. It's a crazy, silly, sometimes ridiculous world, but it it's ours and we love it. Again, welcome back!
I never leave any comments on any video, but had to let you know that the "Beautiful moment between two murderers" line was one of the greatest lines in the history of our sport
Booker T’s booking in early 2000 really made him winning the title come out of left field, which sucks, because if they would have spent 1999 and early 2000 booking him strong in the upper mid card, him winning at Bash at the Beach could have meant more
After watching the Oklahoma vs. Madusa match, I understand why she decided to leave wrestling and take up driving Monster Trucks, which she was really good at winning 2 Monster Jam World Finals freestyle championship
I remember Heenan talking about the DDP/Bagwell fight. He was backstage with Fit Finlay and the fight started and they noticed they were throwing worked punches and Finlay said "mate, they're working". Heenan was annoyed.
I imagine you seeing that moment, having a light bulb go off, then putting your feet up and pouring yourself a tall drink, knowing that- at least for today- you'd put some good into the world. Well done.
Dude, I was so stoked when you said you were reviewing this crazy PPV. Deadlock podcast reviewed the Nitro before the PPV not too long ago so I'm happy to see this madness play out. Also glad you included the footage of the "Benoit-Snuka 2 Post Massacre."
I was there for the evening gown match and hardcore title change Thunder. They actually showed the match to the live crowd on the screen. Didn't like it, reset everything, and showed the exact same match being redone on the screen.
![fellow fellow - PROUD feat. INK WARUNTORN [STRING QUARTET]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BQrVkMPTdHE/mqdefault.jpg)
Line of the year: "What a beautiful moment between two murders"
I had to pause the video to stop myself laughing
RIP to the great Benoit 🙏🏾❤🕊️ We miss you
Yeah I almost spit out my drink
Won’t be beat in 2024
Beat me to it! 😂
I was putting my laundry barely paying attention, so it took me a second, but I almost died laughing when I got it!
I am absolutely besotted with Brian's Terry Funk impression.
Him and Dino Winwood are the best doing the voice
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Who uses besotted in a casual way
@@JEWGERNOTT Scroll up and see.
@@rawbserver it was more a rhetorical question, but I will scroll up later.
I always love the Terry Funk impression. "Mother fucking sons of bitches!" Almost killed me, lmao.
He does a horrible job and it's disrespectful to Funk and his family.
Billy Kidman was a workhorse in WCW. Give that man some credit!
Completely underused and unappreciated. Kidman could get a good match out of just about anybody.
@@JuniorT, most definitely!
WWE neutered him so much. Such a waste putting him in generic wrestling gear was a mis-step.
@@JuniorT Kidman was underused and unappreciated by WWE/McMahon, yes, but certainly not by WCW.
He may have been a workhorse, but you can't pull gold out of a turd...when Kidman was paired with the wrong opponent, Kidman looked much worse by comparison. The first two matches (against Malenko and Saturn) were fine since all three were pretty even, skill-wise...but that last one? Jerry Tuite/The Wall/Sgt. AWOL ain't no Malenko/Saturn/Benoit (hell, *Big T* would've been a better matchup for Kidman).
Zane has always given credit where it's due (dude even gives Bischoff and Russo their props when they deserve it), so he's not blasting Kidman here...he's going off on the fact that, because of all the backstage bullcrap and the company going downhill rapidly, the show as a whole was crap. Maybe a different underdog or a better final opponent would've changed this, but we'll never know.
Now that I think about it, it could've been made better by moving the championship match to the next-to-last spot, having Benoit win, then having Kidman and Benoit have the final match on the card (win or lose, it wouldn't really matter). Not only would this explain why Benoit left (especially if he lost to Kidman) better than Nash crashing the "celebration", but it would also go a *long* way to explaining the push of the Filthy Animals into their more mainstream run in 2000 and 2001.
Huge pop for “I’ve changed the rules, I’m the commissioner now!”. Excellent as always Z-Man.
Wait! OMG that was Brian. Well fuck as if I didn't already need reasons to love the guy. God lol I never noticed.
Not sure he’ll ever top “I’ve embraced the lawless nature of the match and I’m starting it now,” but every appearance of the Funker voice is comedy gold.
I cant remember the episode but that's the one I was thinking of too. I think it was a hardcore match where funk hits a guy with a trash can when brian said it
@@MrBeardsley”I’ve changed the rules I’m a fish now”
"I've got a chainsaw now. Rinn rinn rinnn."
That Snuka and Benoit joke made me spit out my drink Brian. 😂
No it didn’t
“SuperBrawl Saturday? Why did I do that?”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
😂😂😂 nice one!
I somehow read the last line in Lugar's voice
Lex V. T-shirt in a submission match.
@@souvikdeb808 But was the T-Shirt too tight???
@@souvikdeb808same
9:43 "What the hell was that?" - Brian Zane, 2024
That is pretty much the catchphrase of anything WCW in all of 2000.
That's The Catchphrase Of The WWE For The Last 16 Years. And Worse
@@allencollins5666 They had been getting slightly better until Dwayne showed up.
Same can be said for several years prior to that too
@@allencollins5666Nah, current WWE is far better than 2000 WCW. 2000 WCW barely had good wrestling to make up for the nonsensical storylines.
I'm still a fan of the comments of one Jackie Crockett during Halloween Havoc '98
"C'Mere!, C'Mere!, C'Mere!" You Walk In The Middle Of Our Shot Again, Or You'll Never Get In This Building Again!"
27:53 always love when Brian does the impression of Terry Funk 😂
Same
I replayed this part like 5 times in row, hilarious
Never get tired of the Terry Funk impressions. They say that as long as someone speaks your name after you die, you're never forgotten. Zane is helping keep the Funkster alive in the best kind of way.
Brian: “Buff taking DDP to DKC…”
Me, a wrestling fan and a gamer: “Donkey Kong Country?”
"D*ck Kick Country"
I shed a tear for this one
*_Aquatic Ambience intensifies_*
I should've known someone would reference that music track😂@@Snargle
@@RandemNJ It's a classic I couldn't resist.😂 Lot of good songs from dkc tho
Madusa didn't just lose to Oklahoma; she lost to Oklahoma *clean* when she had outside interference from *2 other women* that did not backfire.
Rough
Something tells me that was how it was supposed to turn out that way under Russo's watch that Sullivan didn't feel like changing. What does Russo have against the Cruiserweights and Woman wrestlers?
“What a beautiful moment between 2 Murderers”
Tickled me lol
Honestly was cool to see them both do their finishers off the top of the cage
And both of their victims were named Nancy
RYTE... 😂😂
@@megamanxhuntera coincidence I think not..
Man those pre-match graphics look like “In Memoriam” graphics
Brian Zane impersonating Terry Funk always makes me laugh 😂😂😂
"The maaan called Meng" never gets old. Never stop Zane.
I also love how it got more elaborate over time - now with titles and a backing track!
I’ve never heard of that before, and I’m in love with it. Keep it up WWW
Does Ming does this & does Ming do that? 😂
@@cdeitschel Zes, and he's strong as a bull and eats your nose just like that.
"Ron or Don" was always one of my favorite jokes. 😂
Ron' gron 😂🤣
I didnt realise till recently that theres so many Scotts in WCW
Scott Steiner
Scotty Riggs
Scott Hall
Scott Norton
Scotty Flamingo
Its like the WWE John craze for a bit
Steve
Shane McMahon and Gregory Shane Helms
@@claymathewselevator8121 yes the Steve's too
Scott Armstrong
Riggs was out of WCW by this time, never to return. Riggs was released from WCW in early 99, debuting in ECW in early 2000 shortly before TNN scrapped ECW in favor of WWE, and the subsequent inability to secure a broadcast slot which caused the rapid implosion of ECW. By the time his basically defunct ECW contract ran out in 2001, WCW went under which though it could have been revived, also could not secure a broadcast spot, so the investors called it quits.
"Old Age Outlaws which is......fucking unreal"" 😂😂😂 that got me right in the funny bone
I love the Oklahoma bit so much, because the idea is so funny
"I want to make a joke about the other guys so bad, I'll put a dead-spot on my own PPV! That'll show em!"
Lol the old age outlaws “oh you didn’t know…meds are making me think I caaaaaalllllllled somebody……
You’re
Damn
Right!!!
It’s me, it’s me. The ole double g Terry funk
"That guy also has no pants on"
I love Bobby Hennan's comments 😂😂😂😂😂
Saturn is such an underrated worker. You hear a lot about Benoit, Malenko, and Guerrero as in-ring masters but Saturn can more than hold his own.
Legit watch really any of his WCW matches, he could work with anyone.
@@lysergicpillamyd483 Agreed. He should have been a much bigger deal in both WCW and WWF.
Problem is they booked him in a program with a mop in WWE, so it's easier to know he's good if you watch a lot of WCW
@@Thechezbailey That was kind of his fault though, hadn't he beat the hell out of Mike Bell he may have been used differently.
@Thechezbailey radicalz were booked into the main event as soon as they got to WWE. And they were all in title pictures for some time. Perry fked up dumping Mike Bell on his head. Moppy was a punishment.
Brian - “why did I I do superbrawl 2000 first?”
Lex - “I DONT KNOWWWWW!!!!”
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" 😂 never change Zane.
Tank Abbott, being the World champion is the most WCW thing ever.😂 Somehow David Arquette look like a saint.
I died of laughter after the Terry Funk line. “Motherfuckin sons of bitches” 😂
Finally you're reviewing the classic that is Billy Kidman vs Dean Malenko!!! 😂
Blame WCW 🤷 Two great wrestlers and WCW's booking was awful during this time
@criminalmindsgirl2936 Haha yeah I know, buuuut a small part of the blame still need to go to Malenko for having a brain fart. 😉
@jonathanturbide2232 , yeah I definitely agree with that 😅
Lmao couldn’t the ref remind them but then again lil naitch was probably as lost as them
"What a beautiful moment between murd***rs" 💀 Brian woke up and chose violence. 😂
So did Jimmy and Chis lol
I started dying when I heard that. Shit was funny.
Why did you bleep the word murderers?
Because TH-cam censors comments sometimes
@@jliller
TH-cam’s shadow banning is so annoying and random
I remember listening to WCW Live (podcasting before podcasts) and Bob Ryder was gold during this era. He was not shy about talking about how bad things were. And it was either Madden or him that pointed out Jarret was being booked as a face and how it made no sense.
I would love for those to be unearthed. Sounds like the observer radio show from WCW employees
@@freakfoxvevo7915there's a highlight of vince russo moments in live and i think vince's channel has an episode with him. I think there's other episodes in yt but unsure
I will never not pop for the Terry Funk impression.
I feel so bad for Medusa. Throughout the 90's she kept trying to bring... something... ANYTHING.. to women's wrestling in America and she kept getting put into angles that had her at the mercy of men who weren't even wrestlers. She had a decade of hell in this country.
I felt bad...at first. A lot of companies courted her with promises of building a women's division around her, so she went and got stuck with crappy angles, a lack of competency in the talent department (as many of the competent female wrestlers were overseas and the companies either didn't want to work with them or the prices were "too high"...even when the companies brought in other female talent for her to fight, they made those opponents shells of their former selves (just look at Rhonda Sing/Bertha fucking Faye)), and just outright misogyny. My problem comes from the fact that, despite her talent and drawing power, she *never* walked away from the crappy booking when the truth started showing up...if anything, break your contract and go back to Japan where you've earned the respect of the companies and the fans.
She should've stayed in the WWE.
@@Alsebra the woman who dumped a title in the trash on a competitor's t.v. "never walked away from crappy booking"? LOL that is like the most potent revisionist history about any topic that I think i've ever read. Ttat's like watching a guy shoot a dude on national t.v. and then 25 years later "oh he's never displayed any tendency towards violence". It's so comical, i'm not even mad.
I get what you want to say, but how you said it no. That cost her dearly. permanantly burned a bridge with WWF that wasn't resolved til she basically aged out. And i'd argue atleast made the japanese more hesitant to deal with her than they otherwise might have been. And i say that knowing he had a decent run in Japan.
Granted, I think her doing that lit a fire under vince to start developing a women's division, if only vindictively. Chyna, Jaquelyn, Molly Holly, Ivory, Lita, Trish (to some extent), she could have been there for that.
But that's how it is, wasn't meant to be.
@@maxdecphoenix, note that I qualified the statement with "...when the truth started showing up." When she dumped off the belt, she'd had two years of feuding with very few credible threats (in fact, she almost exclusively faced Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye (who, though a credible threat normally, was basically made into a jobber in WWF)) and there really was no division built up in that timeframe. Had she done that early in her run or she dipped when things got rough, that'd be one thing, but she stuck it out until she realized that whoever was in power lied to her.
OKLAHOMA! OKLAHOMA! OKLAHOMA! Was that a 'Dirty rotten scoundrels' reference? 🤣 I love it!!!🤙🏽🤙🏽
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers"
I, too, am now dead.
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" ......thats an early contender for quote of the year right their 😂
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" 😂
Just had an idea for your next champion vs champion video...Oklahoma as cruiserweight champion vs Hornswoggle as cruiserweight champion
Seeing Oklahoma always angers me. No wonder Corny wanted to get even with that clown Ed Ferrera.
A double monitor smash in the middle of a "web zone" is the most Y2K thing ever.
Comment of the day to be honest.
"What beautiful moment between two murderers"
I'm too high for this lmao. Legit dyinggg
Time stamp?
Brian: “Superbrawl? Superbrawl Saturday? Why’d I do that?”
Lex Luger: “I DUNNO!!!”
"Here at Dubba-Cee-Dubba, Wrastlin" Triple H saying that always make me laugh😂😂😂
Triple H still can't handle the fact that he was jobbed out to Das Wunderkind in his only WCW PPV. Hunter knows he'd still be jobbing if he wasn't a McMahon. Not that being a McMahon is a positive for one's career anymore in 2024...
@@namikstudiosDude was an Intercontinental, European and 2x WWF Champion before he “became a McMahon” lmfao they had him lose to Wright because they knew he was leaving for the WWF Soon and he was the heel in the matchup so they did the right booking decision and had the babyface go over.
@@chandlersbryant4047 Vince McMahon was also a WWF Champion before Triple H became his son-in-law but that doesn't mean either of them deserved it. He was jobbed out to Alex Wright because Das Wunderkind was the bigger star and better wrestler.
@@namikstudios cope, seethe and bow to the king of kings
@@user-mp5mx2mr3f a McMahon in 2024... in the words of the immortal James Hetfield, where's your crown, King Nothing?!?! th-cam.com/video/jSAQ0-IThaI/w-d-xo.html
And this PPV is where Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko and Saturn left WCW and defected to WWE and became the Radicals
Supposedly Vince only wanted Benoit,, but the Radicalz said they were a package deal.....
Not entirely true. Pritchard did say that the WWE only wanted Benoit however, the other Radicals were pushing the WWE to sign Benoit if nothing else, the WWE decided to sign all four. Shane Douglas also wanted to jump ship to the WWE but they had no interest in him.
@@perfectblindguycrazy to think four years later Eddie and Chris would be world champions in WWE
@@edwardellis3038I believe they did want Guerrero too but Malenko and Saturn were the bonuses
Dean Malenko is a national treasure and doesn't get nearly enough praise as he deserves.
The Radicals
@@claymathewselevator8121he fell through like with Saturn it went to guerrero and benoit after a year
I mean Malenko couldn’t cut a promo to save his life. Eddie was the best talker out of all of them. I always wondered why Saturn never got the push since he was absolutely jacked.
@SlutBurgerWithCheese I think Saturn was maybe pinned but taking out a jobber hard might have shut down his push
Yeah I agree with you. The Man o 1,000 Holds was poorly used in WWE
One of the main factors contributing to WCW's demise was the decimation of their midcard. Beginning in mid 99, over the next 9 months they would lose Jericho, Raven, Benoit, Guerrero, Saturn, Malenko and Hall, plus Bret and Savage to injury. Basically the entire middle of their card and so much of their wrestling expertise and potential future stars, gone just like that, never to be replaced.
They still have Booker T,Kidman,Rey and maybe umm Konnan but damn they legit lost a ton of actual stars and kept guys like Flynn and Van fucking Hammer in the payroll like really no wonder WCW die
Losing "The Radicalz" was not a loss at all. Eddie had potential, but obliviously wasn't abusing steroids like he was in WWE, so was just kind of there, but the other 3? Maybe the most uncharismatic people to ever appear in pro wrestling. They were all literally the piss break for 99% of the audience. Losing Jericho and Regal hurt them massively though. Those 2 could carry feuds and could get the crowd wanting to see the opponents kick the crap out of them. Without them, the midcard was boring flippy matches or charisma vacuums like Jindraik, O' Haire and Reno. Ralphus was a bigger star and draw than all of The Radicalz combined, so that shows you their actual true worth.
@@handsolo1209 Completely disagree other than what you said about the inability of WCW to adequately replace their midcard. You obviously have some sort of agenda against The Radicalz to devalue them that much, and it doesn't sound like you can be convinced otherwise.
@@kokotheclown2588 Yeah man. Think back to WCW in Spring 2000, the beginning of their last full year in business. Leave aside the cruiserweight division(that had been wrecked by Russo anyway). Their hardcore division stank. Their tag division was OK with the likes of The Filthy Animals, The Thrillers, 3 Count and Kronik. But the rest of the midcard? Lance Storm, Shane Douglas, Buff, Kanyon and Mike Awesome were the best of a very mediocre bunch. Hugh Morrus? Vampiro? The Wall? David Flair etc? Get in the bin! The loss of that talent I mentioned in my original message really was devastating to the company. They simply never replaced the level of worker and technical wrestling expertise they lost. Those guys really were a huge part of the backbone of WCW. You need people who can work.
Then you factor in all the ageing main event talent that were coming to the end of their careers, and it's no wonder WCW died. Bischoff should've been chopping old heads off in 98 and signing and promoting the youth in response to The Attitude Era and the imminent millennium coming down the line. Instead he had no vision. He got complacent and kept the rapidly ageing old heads around and pissed off the undercard, who saw the writing on the wall and jumped ship.
Honestly, there was very little value in WCW at the end. Not a lot of young or prime age talent worth bringing in from WWE's perspective, which was an indictment of WCW and how they operated and the main reason why they went out of business. Goldberg, Booker T, Steiner, Storm, Kanyon, Awesome, O'Haire, Rey, Kidman, Chavo and Helms. That was pretty much it in 2001. The likes of Sting, DDP and the nWo had one more run left in them, and Flair and Bischoff were excellent in WWE, but that was it.
@@brianohalloran4059No, I am telling you the reality of it. Eddie was underused a little in WCW. The others were channel changers. It's a fact. Ralphus was way more over in WCW than any of the. Again, the numbers don't lie. Malenko, Benoit & Saturn could be replaced by anyone and nobody would even notice. All of them carried by others to make anyone even notice. Malenko without Jericho carrying him was a midget jobber. Saturn without Raven carrying him was a really crap Rick Steiner rip off. Benoit without Sullivan carrying him was a total non entity. All 3 were boring and had zero charisma or personality. Eddie had personality, but he was so small that you couldn't use him with the top guys and make it believable.
There is no agenda against The Radicalz from me. There is one from marks like you to make them out to be super important, and they simply were not. I am simply telling it how it was. They were not missed by WCW at all. Changing the Nitro set and the logo hurt WCW a million times more than losing those guys.
3:50 is it odd that both victims are named Nancy
Yes
Oh fuck....
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" made me nearly choke on my food. 🤣
He's the man called MENG. He's as quick as a bike, and he hits em' with the spike!
I've been waiting for this one since discovering your channel. First and only WCW PPV I attended in person.
god you must have been desperate.... I wasn't even watching their t.v. by this point, much less spending $ on a ticket.
I think the fact that Jerry Flynn is on a PPV says volumes of what direction things are going in at this time... also, I got a good chuckle when you gave the CW Title a negative 5 Stars... good stuff!
Gotta love Brian’s Terry funk impression
3:52 Brian with *the* best line ever and we're just almost 4 minutes into the show lmfao
2:50 Oh for fuck's sake, BENOIT!
I keep thinking to myself, 'surely I've seen his worst head bumps,' AND HE SOMEHOW KEEPS TOPPING HIMSELF!
I can’t watch Benoit do the headbutt anymore. His technical matches, sure. But I glance away at the headbutt, knowing that each one….well, anyone reading this knows the story.
His worst ones to me are still a tie between him running full force into the announce table for a suicide dive, or when A-Train dropped him on the chair by accident.
Yet still wrestlers keep doing that move.
@@thatguywade5384 That’s the thing about CTE, it’s not the major impacts. It’s repeated sub-concussive injuries. Think how many times he did that headbutt on TV. Now probably triple that number for non-televised matches he worked over the years. The same impact, same spot, over and over and over….thats basically the recipe for CTE. All the other hits he took at least had variations on the angle of impact. The headbutt was literally the same thing, over and over.
This is why Benoit gets no sympathy from me. He's the only idiot repeatedly smashing his head into things. He willingly did it to himself. That and the fact that concussions are not a reason nor an excuse for murder - Mick Foley was belted over the head with a steel chair about 50 times in a row by The Rock but is Mick a murderer? No, in fact he's one of the nicest people in the industry.
@@namikstudios, how many stiff and direct chair shots did Shamrock take? Also, the CTE can go some way to explaining why he did what he did (the damage done to his brain by himself and others changed the chemistry...look at any CTE-related changes in football players and the like). The Foley shots were much fewer (I believe Zane counted 11) and weren't absolutely direct, unprotected, full-power shots.
Mind you, though, I'm not justifying or glorifying what Benoit did (there's no way to do that), but saying that he and he alone was at fault for all of his actions is basically saying that mental illness/injury is never an excuse for someone's actions (which is absolute bullshit).
That Terry Funk impression 😂
Who in the hell would ever want to see Jeff Jarrett wrestle 3 times in a night? Once is pushing it
Vince Russo
That's a J
E
Double F ah
A J
E
Double R
E
Double T
I was waiting for this review to drop and was not disappointed, especially with the assessment of the Cruiserweight Title Match as Brian's reactions toward Madusa and Oklahoma had me rolling with laughter. 😂😂😂
I was at this show!! I got free tickets and brought my then gf, her little sister and a friend of mine, and no joke, literally every other person we talked to at the show also got in free. At that time it was the most stoned I had ever been in public.
My ex-wife and I won a cruise from a local radio station (the Train Sail Across the Sun cruise) and we ended up in a hot tub with a few other folks that got to go for free themselves (one woman's husband was on the light crew and a guy had won the spot from a bar)...it was kind of odd to have multiple free passengers in one hot tub.
So HHH didn't lie on Raw when he said WcW had free tickets.
"What a beautiful moment between two murders." Popped me more than it should have lol
27:54 I laughed so damn hard for a solid ten minutes. This is the best way to honor Terry Funk, I am convinced.
Hey Brian. I've been binge watching everything about your channel in the past 3 months.
Discovered it through your Goldberg video. Always wanted to watch old PPV's, but never had the time. And your reviews definitely fill that void and plus some. And they are actually entertaining. And seeing your passion for it brought up some old feelings from myself for wrestling.
Slowly getting back into wrestling over the past few years, and your channel has eased that transition.
I always try and give myself a reason why I quit watching all those years ago and keep going back to "I grew out of it". But as an adult now, I realize it was loved so much because I actually loved it and not because I was just a kid.
I find it funny that life has brought my love for wrestling back in more ways than one for me to enjoy it. Whether it's the actual product or someone else talking about it.
My brother and I used to go to the video store in town when we were younger (yes, a physical store with physical VHS tapes and we paid with physical money), and we used to rent the same wrestling tapes and watched them over and over again.
I get a litte emotional on how much life and wrestling has changed in 20+ years. Through tech and the HD era, and seeing our favorite wrestlers get old just as we do. Definitely hits me in the feels.
But we found a new love of wrestling in todays world. Although we dont watch as much as we used to, who or what we do watch means that much more.
Thanks for the spark that lit our love of wrestling again. It means everything.
Welcome back to the crazy world of wrestling! I too went through a phase where I kept telling myself "I outgrew it', but ultimately, when I've been in my darkest times, wrestling has been what entertained me and allowed me an escape.
It's a crazy, silly, sometimes ridiculous world, but it it's ours and we love it. Again, welcome back!
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" should not have made me laugh that hard.
Great Terry Funk impression 😂
Dude, when you said "Chono" my eyes widened with joy. And then he was gone. Awwwww...
27:50 Your Terry funk impersonation is the absolute best
Brian, any time I get to go back to the year 2000, my favorite year in middle school, is a treat. Thank you!
I never leave any comments on any video, but had to let you know that the "Beautiful moment between two murderers" line was one of the greatest lines in the history of our sport
Never?
That's really boring, dude.
No Rules match? Oh, Last Man Standing. Brilliant work WCW.
The fault in our Starrcade
0:01 said no one ever
Booker T’s booking in early 2000 really made him winning the title come out of left field, which sucks, because if they would have spent 1999 and early 2000 booking him strong in the upper mid card, him winning at Bash at the Beach could have meant more
After watching the Oklahoma vs. Madusa match, I understand why she decided to leave wrestling and take up driving Monster Trucks, which she was really good at winning 2 Monster Jam World Finals freestyle championship
@Studio732JRL it's what Monster Jam calls its final show of the season, and no, I was a WWF guy monster jam use to air on TNN right before RAW
"What a beautiful moment between two murderers" has to be my favorite line from this. Great review!
Man called Meng will never get old
Masahiro Chono wrestles a tag team match the next night on Nitro that is diabolically bad
Z-Man was exasperated in that intro haha
Can we get just a video of the Funk swearing impression. Love it! Great video as always Zane.
Kidman never got his props
The Big T piece of fish line had me laughing for like a minute afterwards. Gotta watch that whole promo
Glad to see the Terry Funk impression back on the channel
Sad there is only 3 shows left to review from the chaotic funhouse of WCW 2000
Great American Bash
Fall Brawl
Mayhem
You also have Millennium Final though that is a Germany only PPV
Gotta do great American bash just for the bad taste of the human torch match
@@bilogangbola71I don't think a high quality version of that exists in full
Mayhem was actually a great show.
1:49, 27:53 Those Terry Funk impressions are golden!
3:51 I nearly spat my drink out 😭
Every time you do your Funk impression, it gets an audible cackle from me 😂😂😂😂
Still on point and reminding us that the old stuff definitely had its flaws.
Thanks for reminding me why I've been following you, Zane.
Lmao! Absolutely love The Naked Gun reference!!
I remember Heenan talking about the DDP/Bagwell fight.
He was backstage with Fit Finlay and the fight started and they noticed they were throwing worked punches and Finlay said "mate, they're working".
Heenan was annoyed.
Heenan: This guy has no pants on 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I imagine you seeing that moment, having a light bulb go off, then putting your feet up and pouring yourself a tall drink, knowing that- at least for today- you'd put some good into the world.
Well done.
The Madusa vs Oklahoma match makes even the worst McMahon angle seem good.
Katie Vick... enough said!
Million Dollar Mania, pal (the post-limo and post-Benoit attempt to "kill" Vince).
27:53 if nothing else, Souled Out 2000 gave us this gem
Had to watch the Knobs promo since you said it was kickass. You were not wrong
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MOMENT BETWEEN TWO MURDERERS IS WILD
Dude, I was so stoked when you said you were reviewing this crazy PPV. Deadlock podcast reviewed the Nitro before the PPV not too long ago so I'm happy to see this madness play out. Also glad you included the footage of the "Benoit-Snuka 2 Post Massacre."
'What a beautiful moment from 2 murderers' 😂
“ It was truly the batshit year that was to become WCW” 😂😂
9:50 - 9:58 And I'm going to drink vodka until I forget this promo.
Your Terry funk impression gets me everytime 😅
I was there for the evening gown match and hardcore title change Thunder. They actually showed the match to the live crowd on the screen. Didn't like it, reset everything, and showed the exact same match being redone on the screen.
Stevie Ray talking about Booker forgetting where he came from all the while sporting a Mercedes Benz, leather jacket, and a gold chain.
"Jamaica Supa SELF? For a piece of fish!"
- Ahmed Johnson circa 2000