Match #1: Barry Darsow vs. Chris Adams - Here's 2 guys who were wrestling with their old gimmicks again. Darsow had on red tights and Adams no judo outfit.
Dave Penzer even commented that Barry was lacking his golf ensemble. This match was bordering on nausea, as most of the moves were blown spots during this 5 minute affair. Adams hit the superkick for the win.

Match #2: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Billy Kidman - Juvi has some new music and was booed tremendously by the crowd. Kidman and Rey were both cheered. A good 10 min match that had a lot of acrobatic maneuvers. At the end, Rey hit Juvi with the Frankersteiner to win.

Match #3: Mongo's music came on over the sound system, but out walked Jerry Flynn. So I guess that's an even trade-maybe. Flynn got on the mic and boasted how he beat the Cat. At this point I was thinking this sequence couldn't get any worse. Flynn then bashes Scott Norton about barely beating Miller, which led of course to Norton charging the ring. Norton actually sold many of Flynn's moves, and was on the mat 3 different times. After just 2 mins, Norton gained control, hit the powerbomb, and got the victory.

Match #4: Curt Hennig & Barry Windham vs. Dean Malenko & Chris Benoit - Charles Robinson was the ref - More on this later. A good match between the two teams, but too much stalling at the beginning. Perhaps 5 mins of stalling is a little too much for me. Anyway, at the end Benoit hit the headbutt from the top rope and had Windham, but Hennig came in and pushed him off. Also, Malenko put the Cloverleaf on Hennig but Windham interfered. With the ref distracted by Malenko, Hennig nailed Malenko with the belt and Windam had him covered for an eternity. But Robinson refused to count, just walking around the ring. Benoit then hit a bridge suplex on Hennig and got a quick 3 from the ref for the victory. After the match, Hennig & Windham slapped around Penzer and the timekeeper.....CHARLES ROBINSON STRIKES AGAIN!

INTERMISSION

Match #5: Bobby Duncum Jr. (Replacing Scott Hall) vs. Konnan - So Duncum is a suitable replacement for Hall? I don't think so. This match was horrid, with many blown spots and a general lack of effort from Konnan. After about 9 mins, Konnan slapped on the Tequila Sunrise for the win. After the match, Konnan walked around the ENTIRE ring slapping autographs and then took his sweet time going back to the lockeroom...

Match #6: Meng (Replacing Bam Bam Bigelow) vs. Goldberg - Goldberg got a huge pop from the crowd. Meng was wearing the Faces of Fear tights, not those gold parachute pants. A short match, about 7 min with Goldberg hitting the spear and jackhammer after blocking the goozle.

Match #7: Bret Hart vs. Sting - This was a carbon copy of the match I saw between these two back in January in Peoria, IL. About 10 mins, Sting reversing an atomic drop into the death drop and the victory.

Match #8: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - Hogan got a huge pop when he came out. Flair came out and said something about the Bulls and Hawks being unable to win any games in the United Center. Flair was booed heartily by the crowd. And, BTW, YOUR REF IS CHARLES ROBINSON........This was a nice match between the two, at just over 10 mins. Flair actually bladed for this, and Hogan hulked up at the end. After hitting the legdrop the crowd was going nuts, but Robinson refused to again count. The match continued with Robinson being knocked out by Hogan unintentionally. Hogan then covered Flair for a 3 count by Billy Silverman, who ran out to make the call. The crowd went berzerk as Hogan held the belt high in the air. Robinson came to, and reversed the decision saying that Hogan had purposely decked him. After Flair got the belt and ran to the back, Hogan decked Robinson and then spent five minutes posing like the old Hulk to the delight of the crowd.

All in all, a good show with a really hot crowd.

Biggest Pops:

1. Goldberg
2. Hogan
3. Kidman/Rey Jr.

Biggest Heat:

1. Flair
2. Hart
3. Tie between Meng/Windham/Hennig?

I went to the house show, it rocked! Here is a brief recap:

1) Chris Adams d. Barry Darsow
Pretty boring match, with a lot of stalling before the match. A lot of people did not even know who Darsow was. BTW, Darsow came out in his normal red trunks, no golfing gimmick. Adams' only real pop was when he pulled Darsow's legs into the post for a low blow. Adams wins this pretty forgettable opener with a superkick.

2) Rey Mysterio Jr. d. Billy Kidman/Juventud Guererra to retain cruiserweight title.
Juvy was playing a pretty good heel, and Kidman got a great pop, maybe bigger than Mysterio. As expected, this match had some great spots. This match was pretty short, but had fast paced action with Juvy providing some comic relief. Rey wins with a top rope hurracanrana (sp?). Post-match, Kidman congratulated the champ.

3) Scott Norton d. Jerry Flynn
Flynn was taking Steve McMichael's place on the card, even having mongo's old music (now belonging to Hak). He took the mic, and said since Norton beat the Cat twice, he wanted to prove he could beat Norton. Whatever floats your boat, Flynn. Scott Norton got a pretty heavy pop. During the match, Norton no-sold Flynn's offense. Norton gets the pin after he delivered a massive powerbomb after making short work of Flynn.

4) Benoit/Malenko d. Hennig/Windham
Hennig and Windham have cool music. The Horsemen came out to a good pop. This match took forever to get started. At one time Malenko had the Cloverleaf on Windham, but Hennig hit him with the tag belt. This allowed Windham to cover Malenko, but he wasn't the legal man. At the same instant, Benoit got the pin on Hennig after a Fisherman's Suplex. Post-match, Windham and Hennig argued, and Windham left Hennig alone in the ring.

5) Konnan d. Bobby Duncum Jr.
Duncum was the replacement for the injured Scott Hall. Konnan came out to a massive pop. This match was really slow, and Konnan used a lot of rest holds. Duncum's real offense only came after he hog-tied Konnan. Konnan wins this one after the tequilla sunrise. Konnan stayed afterwards like some 5 minutes to shake hands and even sign autographs.

6) Goldberg d. Meng
Another long stall period before the match. Meng was actually playing to the crowd, telling the crowd to hush the Goldberg chants. This match was also short, with Goldberg winning with the Jackhammer.

7) Sting d. Bret Hart (Yess...Sting!)
Bret took the mic to some good heat, and said he knows Sting is in the back scared of Bret. Then Bret says Sting is a copy of himself. This brings out Sting to another huge pop. Hart was in control after the ref took a bump by using the timekeeper's mallet. Sting wins this short match with the scorpion death drop.

8) Hogan v. Flair
This match was awesome. Hogan was getting total babyface treatment..and flair playing a good heel: flipping off fans, and saying how the Bulls/Blackhawks suck now. Flair eventually bled in this match, and the crowd was eating up Flair's pleading to Hogan. Hogan eventualy hulked up, hit the big boot, and then planted the leg drop of doom to a huge pop, but referee Charles Robinson would not make the 3 count. Hogan then beat on Robinson, knocking him out. Hogan later suplexed Flair in the ring, and another ref came to make the 3 count!! The place went nuts. I still can't believe I marked out for Hogan! But then Robinson declared Hogan was DQed. Flair high-tailed it out, and Hogan beat up on Robinson. He walked away with the belt to a huge pop!

The good: The main event was spectacular with an almost title change. The triple threat cruiserweight match had some awesome spots. Goldberg did was he does best: squash. And we got to see Sting!

The bad: The opener was a real downer. Duncum did not work well with Konnan, but not enough to spoil the good in the show.

The ugly: Hogan holding onto Flair's trunks for like 30 seconds exposing Flair's old flabby butt for too long a time.

Note: Nitro will come to Chicago on June 28, but no ticket sale date has been announced.

Just got back from the big house show at the United Center in Chicago. The original four main event matches announced two months ago were Flair vs Hogan, Luger vs Goldberg, Hall vs Konnan, and Sting vs Bret Hart.
The place was packed. Which was a surprise due to no one being there right until the fist bell rang. We saw a bunch of guys coming in and one funny thing was seeing Hak, aka Sandman, who didn't even wrestle show up. I guess as a sub if someone didn't show up.
The orginal card that came with the new issue of WCW/nWo magazine was changed as the night went on.

The first match was Barry Darsow vs The Gentleman Chris Adams.
Super slow match and everyone was bored. Ended in like 10 minutes. Adams won with his superkick. Darsow dropped his Payne Stewart character and came out as himself.

Second match was a three way match between Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera vs Kidman.
Pretty good match. Lots of cool moves but morons kept blocking my view near the end. Mysterio won the match with a great move which I could only see half of.

Third match was suppose to be Steve McMichael vs Scott Norton but was changed to Jerry Flynn vs Norton.
Norton won the match in like 5 minutes. Norton actually got a lot of cheers.

Fourth match was Benoit/ Malenko vs Windham/Hennig. Long dull match.
Benoit and Malenko won but it was a double pin, Windham has Benoit pinned while Malenko had Hennig pinned. The Horsemam won but Windham thought he won. Then a small fight broke out between Hennig and Windham and Barry walked out on Henning. Hennig stayed in the ring for a few minutes and yelled at the crowd. Then the half hour intermission came.

The fifth match was the worst. It was supposed to be Hall vs Konnan but they had Bobby Duncum Jr face Konnan.
Konnan won this terrible match. I hate Konnan. I also hate Duncum but I wanted Duncum to win so badly, but he didn't.

The sixth match was Meng vs Goldberg.
Kinda a slow short match. Goldberg won. Basically the same Goldberg match we have seen 201 times before.

The first main event was Sting vs Bret Hart.
Not a great match but for two injured guys it was decent. Sting was wearing the white makeup tonight. They kinda hinted that he was going to be on TV real soon. Sting gave Bret the scorpion death drop and a clean pinfall and the match was over in less than 10 minutes.

Then Flair vs Hogan. The placed booed Flair and cheered for Hogan the whole time. Flair was busted open and Charles Robinson was ref. Hogan dominated the whole match. Hogan pinned Flair but Robinson walked away from the count when he was supposed to count to three. Hogan chased him and Flair pushed Hogan into him and knocked him out. Hogan then gain gave the big leg drop to Flair. A new ref ran out and three counted Flair. Hogan won the match. The place went nuts. Robinson woke up and told the announcer that Hogan was DQ'ed and Flair was still the champ. Flair ran in the back and Hogan stayed out for like 10 minutes and posed and flexed. The crowd ate it up. It looks like the old Hogan is back.

Biggest pops of the night:

1. Goldberg
2. Hogan
3. Kidman

Wrestlers who made a packed arena quiet:

1. Barry Darsow
2. Bobby Duncum Jr
3. Jerry Flynn

Funniest moment of the night:

1. When Konnan was giving autographs and hugging the fans after his match a kid flashed a gang sign at him and he got all pissed.

It was a decent night but lacked some of the better talent of WCW.

It started off with Penzer saying blah blah blah...as usual...the music then kicked in and introduced some dude named Barry...but I have never seen him before.

Match 1: Barry ? vs. "Gentleman" Chris Adams
Kind of slow, a loud boring chant erupted....if anybody cares, it ended when Adams nailed the superkick on Barry

Match 2: Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kidman vs. Juventud Guerrera for the Cruiserweight Strap...
A good high-flying match, as always...Kidman and Rey double teamed Juvi a lot...Kidman even landed on a table outside the ring, which allowed Rey to hit the super frankensteiner on Juvi for the pin.

Match 3: The card initially said "McMichael vs. Norton" but Jerry Flynn decided he wanted his ass whooped....so he came out and said that kitty cat man got whooped by Norton, but since he also whooped Kitty Kat, he could open a can on Norton...Norton came out and squashed Flynn...winning via the Powerbomb.

Match 4: A return bout from Uncensored: Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit vs. Curt Hennig and Barry Windham
The Horsemen came out to some pretty heavy heel heat....as did the other tow...back and forth, doing all the typical tag match stuff, with the end being Benoit pinning Henig...at the same time as Windham pinned Malenko...but Benoit was the legal man....Windham and Hennig pushed each other around at the end and left seprately....Winners: Benoit and Malenko via pinfall.

Match 5: Konnan vs. Scott Hall, or at least that's what the program said, but it ended up being Bobby Duncum Jr, oh boy....(insert random Konnan talk about tossed salad here) Duncum didn't do half-bad. He tied Konnan up with his rope and all, but Konnan hit the facebuster out of nowhere and put on the tequilla sunrise for the win.

Match 6: Goldberg vs. Bam-Bam, or at least that's what the program said again...It ended up being vs. Meng....Meng got good heel heat...Goldberg still gets an amazing crowd support (louder than the Nitro in October)...Goldberg won with the splat combo...

Match 7: Sting (Crow-Style) vs. Bret Hart
Hart came out said best there is, blah blah blah...Sting steals my moves, blah blah blah....Good back and forth match...good to see to guys that are hardly ever on TV put in a good fight...Sting wins via the Scorpion Death Drop

Match 8: "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Heavyweight Title, with referee Charles Robinson
The first thing I thought was hmmm...look who the ref is....second, I marked out for Flair...Me and a guy in front of me seemed to be the only 2 Flair fans in the building...Hogan's face heat equalled that of Goldberg...Flair was booed like none other...It was beautiful to see him in his atmosphere...it was a very typical Flair match...Flair eventually was "busted open"...Hogan made the boot and leg drop, but Chucky refused to make the 3 count....Hogan then beat up on Flair some more, which led to the accidental knock out of Chucky....another ref came down and counted to 3 making Hogan the winner...Chucky then woke up and DQ'ed Hogan and Flair retained the belt...It was amazing how the crowd cheered for Hogan...I half to admit that I'm amazed, cuz I didn't think WCW could turn Hogan face again....

Post Match...Hogan did some crowd hyping and beat up on Chucky

Biggest Pops:

1. Goldberg and Hogan
2. Sting
3. Konnan
4. Rey
5. Kidman

Biggest Heel Heat:

1. Flair
2. Jerry Flynn
3. Duncum Jr.
4. Malenko and Benoit
5. Hennig and Windham (don't ask me 'bout 4&5, it just happened that way...)