The Good: The tag team main-event was incredible. Seeing Benoit and Malenko humorously dis Pennsylvania Slim and Thuggy Doug was like opening the gates of Heaven and finding out that they're stocked full of old NWA Tapes. It's like going into an arena in 1985 and seeing Magnum T.A. drive a table leg into Tully Blanchard's head all over again. God, I miss my childhood.
The Bad: The show. Heh.
The Ugly: Holly dropped chilli all over my nWo Black & White shirt!!! NOW how am I supposed to enjoy a tall glass of "shut the hell up " in style? The "boss" would never approve of this!
From Matt:
I got to the arena at about 7pm and met my girlfriend, her friend, and my friend. I had pretty good seats. I was 10 rows back and about 5 seats from the aisle where the wrestlers come down. Evidently, WCW only sells floor tickets to rednecks who act like this their first time in public or hella-annoying little kids.Match 1: Erik Watts v. Kenny Kaos
The match started out with Watts playing the heel and posing for the crowd. Watts missed quite a few spots and no-sold some moves of Kaos. Kenny finally won with a forearm or something. The whole match I was trying to get my girlfriend to stop cheering for Watts. My girlfriend is such a stupid mark.Match 2: Howie D from the Backstreet Boys v. The Beautiful Bobby Eaton
Evan Courageous and Bobby hooked up in what I would like the sleeper match of the year. It was incredibly boring and Bobby kept trying to pull something out of his tights the whole match. Courageous won with a flying twisty thing from the top rope.Match 3: Bobby Duncam, Jr. vs. Someone I can't remember
I went and bought a K-Dogg T-shirt during this match.Match 4: Prince NakaMackey vs. Miss Kitty
Cat got on the mic and made fun of the rednecks. WEEEEE! Prince got beat down for most of the time and then Cat hit a terrible kick to win the thing.Intermission
Match 5: Hak vs. Scott Norton
Hak came out and did some mic work for 20 minutes. I tried to start such chants as "ECW", "Live Bait", and "Drink a beer" but my follow patrons decided to go for the brainbusting chant of "F*** you" Hak went for the leg sweep of hardcore but Norton reversed it and then powerbombed Hak for the win.Match 6: DDP vs. Rick Steiner
The women behind me kept yelling "DDT, Diamond Dallas Trash" Just another example of wonderful public education. They fought right near me and I kept yelling, "DDP bangs guys," but DDP was much more interested in his bad match with Rick. DDP eventually got DQ for I think using closed fists and DDP Diamond Cut Rick and then the ref.Match 7: Mysterio/Kidman vs. Benoit/Malenko
I had my Rey Mysterio mask on the when the Horsemen were coming out. I held up four fingers but when Benoit came I pointed them down and chanted, "Sabu, Sabu." He seemed pissed off. This was only quality match of the evening. Dean had some wicked moves on Rey. He kept twirling him around into some form of a gutbuster. The match went back on forth with great moves all around. Mysterio got the pin with a victory roll.
After the match I pushed my way to the railing and I put my mask on. Rey saw me and came right over and gave me a high five. By far the coolest moment of my life.Good: The tag match was the only thing that made my ticket worth $5
Bad: Six matched fortified with crap.
Ugly: The guy behind me that whenever my girlfriend took off her overshirt, he would say, "Hey boys, she's taking it off!"
From Dave at Daveland:
Hey there, this is Dave Walls from 90.9FM in Lynchburg, VA, but enough about me..Welcome to the Roanoke Civic Center, where we had an "exciting" night of WCW action! (Ehh..it was decent)
Before the match
Crowd: Surprisingly small..maybe 6 thousand. Definitely not as many as last October when WCW brought Thunder to the Civic Center.
There was a new ring announcer, whom I had never seen before. He looked a little green, and wasn't nearly exciting as Dave Penzer. (Take that one for what you will..) Tall, blonde haired guy..It had been mentioned earlier that it was Penzer's birthday, so that's probably why..Unfortunately, Penzer wasn't the only no-show. The card, as announced a month ago on Worldwide and in a radio spot that was heavily played in the Lynchburg/Roanoke area.:
A week ago, on Worldwide, the card was re-arranged:
- Hak vs. Raven
- DDP vs. Scott Steiner
- Brian Adams vs Booker T.
- Benoit/Malenko vs. Rey Jr/Kidman
- Also in action: (Opponents not announced)
- Buff Bagwell
- Blitzkrieg
The card that was passed out at the door:
- Hak vs. Raven
- DDP vs. Booker T.
- Benoit Malenko/Rey Jr. Kidman
- Kanyon vs. Prince Iaukea
- Stevie Ray vs. Brian Adams
- Erik Watts vs. Barbarian (ugh)
- Jim Duggan vs. Scott Norton (another barn burner)
Here's what we got:
- DDP vs. Booker T.
- Benoit/Malenko vs. Rey Jr./Kidman
- Erik Watts vs. Kaos
- Ernest Miller vs. Prince Iaukea
- Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Scotty Riggs
- Jim Duggan vs. Scott Norton
- Hak vs. Raven (hardcore match)
Match #1: Erik Watts vs. Kenny Kaos
MATCH #2: Evan Karagias vs. Bobby Eaton (sans "Beautiful")
- Pretty funny..Watt's music is started, and Watts looks through the door to the side of the entrance, realizes he's on, and does a very loud "Oh S***", runs back, and comes out, in character. Everyone in the arena saw this, too..What a moron.
- Kaos comes out, to a decent pop, sans the "Warning! High Voltage!" music
- Actually, Watts got some MAD heat from the crowd. Not bad. This crowd really wanted to see some wrestling.
- Watts showed some personality, as well..He made fun of Kaos being much shorter that Watts, so he wrestled the first minute on his knees..Nice touch. He was met with a Kaos boot.
- YOUR WINNER: Kenny Kaos via rollup after a failed Watts powerbomb.
- Not a great match, but good enough to get things rolling.
- RATING: 6 out of 10
MATCH #3: Prince Iaukea vs. Ernest Miller
- Evan comes out, looking pretty ripped. A friend of mine got to interview him at the Roanoke Airport, and hung with him for several hours. He was very, very cool to me, as well.
- Bobby Eaton?!? WTF?
- OK, I know this is DDT Digest, but Bobby Eaton needs to retire. He refused to sell a single move of Evan's, and wasted 19:59 of a 20 minute match. The WHOLE match was one big stall by Bobby Eaton..refused to tie up with Evan, etc. This KILLED the crowd.
- The only thing that saved this match was the insane finisher Evan pulled off. Looked like Blitzkrieg's twisting moonsault. Whatever you call it, Evan did a full twist and corkscrew in mid air before landing square are Eaton. Crowd went nuts.
- YOUR WINNER: Evan Karagias with a twisting moonsault
- Still, a pretty bad match.
- RATING: For Evan, 7 out of 10. For Eaton, 0 out of 10.
- For the record, I met Bobby after the show, and he's a nice guy. Just couldn't wrestle tonight, I dunno..
MATCH 4: Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Scotty "Narcissist" Riggs
- Say what you will about Ernest Miller's wrestling ability..the man can work a microphone pretty well..He got the most heat of the night.
- The Prince-Iaukea-job-to-everyone tour rolled into Roanoke.
- Pretty good wrestling on both sides. Prince works for the power plant, so you'd expect that..Miller did look better than he has in the past.
- Security sucked at the Civic Center. Lots of stuff being tossed at Ernest Miller in this long match. Funniest thing thrown: Empty bottle of alcohol..one of those little airplane sized things. In all honesty, though, I didn't expect this much stuff to be thrown. I attended the December 29th show in Philadelphia
- Match ended with Miller actually landing the Feliner. I had a pretty good view (4th row seats), and Miller's foot did hit the Prince. Better than before.
- YOUR WINNER: Ernest Miller with the Feliner
- Kanyon may have been a more high energy match up, but Ernest Miller delivered the goods here.
- RATING: 7 out of 10
INTERMISSION: Crowd's mood was part "bleah", part "this sucks so far". No one signed autographs, BTW..
- The Bobby Duncum "Who Cares?" tour rolls into Roanoke.
- Scotty comes out looking in good shape. Decent heat.
- Nice little prematch spiel by Riggs: (Looking at Duncum's cowboy gear) "Only 2 things come from Texas...Steers...and..q....Trailer Trash like all you Virginians!!" Heh. I liked that. (I'm originally from Delaware..;p)
- For the record, a slice of pizza at Roanoke Civic Center: $2.50.
- Duncum was sloppy..Riggs carried that match, with a few nice spots here and there..
- The ending comes when Riggs copies any 1980's WWF match, and pins Duncum using the ropes for leverage.
- YOUR WINNER: Scotty Riggs with no real finisher. He did hit a flying lariat, just like the "Narcissist", Lex Luger!
- Duncum leaves, yelling "I fought Jericho at World War 3..that counts for something!!"......just kidding.
- RATING: 5 out of 10.
- Riggs needs some polishing, but there's talent there.
MATCH #5: Hak vs Scott Norton
Match #6: DDP vs. Rick Steiner
- Rats, no Chastity. Big ol Kendo stick, though..
- Hak blabbers away on the mic for what seems like an eternity, waiting for silence. Yeah right.
- Hak says he hurt Raven so badly, that he didnt show up. *sigh*
- Hak challenges anyone in the back with balls to show up..
- nWo black and white music brings out...Scott Norton!! Oh hell yeah!
- The old school nWo theme sounds weird now..Just havent heard it in a long time.
- Hak says we got a match, but he needs to go get his toys. Big pop.
- Scott Norton clocks Hak, and chokes him out..away we go!
- A lot of brawling outside the ring..Norton using the ring bell on Hak's head..Ow! I can hear the bell!
- Hak comes back with the Kendo stick, and jabs Norton with it..Norton recovers, and proceeds to beat the living hell out of Hak.
- Hak lands some punches, and tries to hit the Russian Legsweep, but Norton blocks, kicks Hak, and PLANTS Hak with a powerbomb!
- 1-2-3!!! HOLY CRAP! NORTON WINS!!
- I hope Kevin Nash was watching..THAT'S the way to throw a powerbomb..I thought Scott was going to throw Hak through the mat!
- YOUR WINNER: Scott "Flash" Norton with an incredible powerbomb.
- I'd like to see this develop into an angle..Norton can wrestle hardcore..Anything's better than Brian Knobbs..
- Great match, except no tables, chairs, etc. Not really a hardcore match, but a great match nonetheless..
- RATING: 8 out of 10
- Good to see that Norton can still win a match every now and then!
Match #7: Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko (w/ Arn Anderson) vs. Rey Misterio Jr (w/ belt)/Kidman
- What the....no Booker T either???
- Rick Steiner comes out to some pretty good heat. Wearing the belt backwards like DDP..this is a dumb trend.
- Steiner challenges DDP to a TV Title match. The belt falls off his huge gut while talking. Heh.
- Rick Steiner: "You may not want any of the Steiner boys, but your wife sure did!" Eww..that's a very nasty thought. *shudder*
- DDP comes down, playing the face, I guess..Pretty good pop.
- DDP says he'll take every chance to push his fist down a Steiner's throat.
- I'm not a Rick Steiner fan, but his wrestling has picked up a bit, since he's gone heel.
- Typical DDP match up (i.e. Top rope clothesline, the turn-around pancake clothesline, BANG, etc...)
- Rick hits a bulldog, and DDP's neck isnt broken. Kickout at 2..
- Ref bump..ok, here we go..
- Rick pulls out the brass knucks from his drawers...Eeeeeww..Steiner clocks DDP, and gets the 3 count from a groggy Mickey J.
- YOUR WINNER: Rick Steiner with the brass knuckles.
- After the match, Rick continues to stomp a hole in DDP. When he gets DDP for another bulldog, BANG.
- DDP grabs the belt, thinking he won, but Mickey J takes the belt back, and is met with another Diamond Cutter. Page grabs the belt and leaves.
- Steiner wakes up, yelling "Where did my belt go?"..geez, I know he needs a belt to hold his pants up, but sheesh..settle down.
- Steiner then proceeds to stomp a hole in Mickey J., yelling "Don't ever give my belt away again!". Hopefully, he'll do it soon.
- Not a bad match..A bit predictable, but hey, I wasn't expecting a PPV caliber match here tonight, anyway..Plus, give DDP credit. Any man who makes Rick Steiner look good deserves a raise, in my book..
- RATING: 7 out of 10
- Guess it's time for the main event..what a short card.
- Sign in the crowd: "4 Whoresman: New Breed of B*tches". I can't believe they got that one in, knowing WCW's sign policy. Then again, security was so lax, I could have been selling crack in the Civic Center, and I wouldnt have gotten caught.
- Insane pop for Rey Jr/Kidman. I still like Kidman's theme better, but oh well..
- I can't call this whole match..It would be suicide to try and keep up..
- Highlights: Benoit hits the flying headbutt..Insane! Malenko gets the Cloverleaf on Rey, but Kidman saves. (Actually, Jesus saves, but that's another conversation all together)
- Arn did his fair share of interfering..He's still got it.
- Benoit/Malenko ruled this match, until they made the fatal mistake of trying to powerbomb Kidman. Do we learn nothing?
- Match finally ends with Rey hitting a split-legged spinebuster from the top on Malenko.
- YOUR WINNERS: Rey Jr./Kidman after a split-legged spinebuster from the top rope.
- RATING: 10 out of 10
Well, thanks for the chance to report. I'm Dave, and I'm outta here. Be sure to check out Daveland.
- THE GOOD: Scott Norton winning! Tag match was awesome..All 4 gave all they had. The Cat actually looked good, and stepped it up. Evan Karagias's finisher was insane, and worth the price of admission alone. Getting to hang out with Evan before the show was very cool..I hope he gets a push sometime..
- THE BAD: All the friggin no shows: Booker T., Raven, and believe it or not, Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Not like I wanted to see Hacksaw, but sheesh..Also, all the promised matches that didnt happen. That's misleading, and it's bad business. The crowd left with the attitude of "Eh, it was ok, but not great".
- THE UGLY: The thought of Rick Steiner and Kimberly...EEwww...Kimberly is MM-MM-Good, but Rick Steiner....Ugh..Also, the sight of Bobby Eaton wrestling. Sorry Bill, but he was terrible..Made Meng's selling of moves look good.