WCW Thunder - Monday, Week 2, September 2001

 

10,000 in attendance at the Worcester Centrum in Worcester, MA.

This week on Thunder: Jake Roberts speaks after his shocking return, the Blackjack Classic continues, and Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson team up in the main event! Catch all of this and more after the break!

1. Blackjack Classic 2001 Opening Round: In a high-intensity contest, Rob Van Dam defeated Jimmy Yang in 4:08 with a Five Star Frog Splash to advance to the next round, where he'll take on Kanyon or the debuting Johnny Smith. (75)

2. Backstage, we see Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson locked in a staredown. Just when they start trading words, Eric Bischoff interrupts. He tells them that he watched their interaction last week and was glad to hear what they said - after all, if Steve Austin says he wants revenge on Scott Steiner, and Dwayne Johnson comes out and says he wants revenge, why not give it to both of them? Bischoff says at SuperBrawl, Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson will team up to face Scott Steiner and a partner of his and Jimmy Hart's choosing. Bischoff smiles at how angry Dwayne and Austin visibly are, and tells them not to worry - they've got a tune-up match tonight so they can get used to teaming: they're facing the Hardyz in tonight's main event! (79)

3. Blackjack Classic 2001 Opening Round: Kanyon defeated Johnny Smith in 4:47 with a Flatliner to advance to the second round, where he'll meet Rob Van Dam. (80)

4. Kevin Nash and Bam Bam Bigelow are in the ring when the feed comes back from commercial. Nash has a microphone, the WCW Brass Knuckles championship, and - interestingly enough - a pair of crutches he's leaning on for support. Nash thanks the fans for their sympathies (upon hearing their boos, of course) and sarcastically apologizes to all of the WCW hardcore fans out there. He says he was out tending to his garden this past weekend, and he tripped over an exposed root. Nash says that he didn't think it was that serious, but he went to see his personal doctor, and was told that under no condition should he wrestle. Judging from the look on his face, Nash isn't too torn up about this. He says not to worry, though - the Brass Knuckles title isn't going to be vacated or anything. Thanks to a clause in his contract, Nash is allowed to declare a replacement champion should he be injured during a reign - and the new Brass Knuckles champion is the man right next to him, Bam Bam Bigelow! (74)

5. WCW World Television Championship: Steve Corino defeated Yoshinari Ogawa in 7:41 with the Old School Expulsion to make his fifth defense of the TV title. (82)

6. Ric Flair is met outside his office by none other than Simon Diamond. Simon tells Flair that he'd like a tag match next week on Thunder - and before he answers, to wait until he hears who his partner is. Diamond tells Flair (though the camera doesn't quite pick it up), and Flair looks extremely surprised. Flair asks Simon if the person really agreed to team with him, and Simon says yes. Satisfied, Flair makes the match official for next week - Simon Diamond and his partner will be in tag team action! (72)

7. In the locker room, Billy Kidman and Shane Helms are talking. Helms says that he's really enjoyed teaming with Billy so far, but he thinks they'd have more success if they were a real team - they don't have cool moves, they don't have a cool entrance, they don't have cool matching gear, they don't even have a name! Kidman starts to interject and says that he thinks they've been doing pretty good on their own, but Helms thinks that they need to really get on the same page if they wanna win the tag team titles. They agree to try out new names and moves over the next few weeks until they find something that really fits, but Kidman says he doesn't want anything silly - he saw when Helms teamed with Shannon Moore, and he's gonna draw the line at all the boy band stuff. (59)

8. Blackjack Classic 2001 Opening Round: In a clash of giants, Mark Henry pulled off an upset victory against Paul Wight following a Death from Above, 5:55 into the match. In Round 2, Mark Henry will meet either Barry Windham or AJPW's Kenta Kobashi. (77)

9. We see a video of Jimmy Hart, Shannon Moore, and Scott Steiner. Jimmy says that the tension has been buildin', baby, and he just can't wait anymore - it's time to reveal who else is in the First Family! Rounding out the stable for now are Lex Luger, Sid Vicious, Scott Norton, and the returning Barbarian! Jimmy says that he's made a team of real killers, daddy, and they're gonna bring championship gold to the Jimmy Hart name! (69)

10. D'Lo Brown is on his way to the ring! He grabs a microphone and says that everyone in this arena and everyone that watched Slamboree knows he didn't get a fair chance at the United States title! D'Lo says that he fought through the tournament just to be met with three other guys in a ladder match - how is that fair? D'Lo wants a real shot at that title. Bischoff and Flair come out, and say that D'Lo was very impressive in the tournament. Because of his good showing, he can have a title shot - if he beats Ricky Steamboat next week! (80)

11. Super Strong Machine defeated Juventud Guerrera in 3:50 with a roll-up after dodging an attempted 450 Splash. The match saw Juvi try and overwhelm Strong Machine with speed, while Strong Machine used his experience to outsmart the younger competitor. (63)

12. DDP is in his locker room when there's a knock on the door - and Simon Diamond enters. Confused, DDP asks what Simon is doing. Simon says that he's been thinking, and he's noticed that the both of them haven't been making a lot of progress in WCW recently. So, Simon thought it would be perfect for them to team up and solve two problems in one! DDP chuckles, and says that he doesn't want to be mean, but he doesn't think they'd be a good fit for each other. They're not friends, and DDP can't just team with every guy who comes up and asks - he'd be busy every week if he did. DDP says sorry, but no can do. Taken aback, Simon says he really thought DDP would say yes... so he already got them a match together next week. DDP gets in his face for a moment, then walks off. Simon shouts after him, saying they'd be great partners - they're both named Diamond, they have to be! (61)

13. Dean Malenko is taping up his wrists and getting ready for the six-man tag next, when Ted DiBiase asks what he's doing. DiBiase stops himself and says that he completely forgot to tell Dean, but he pulled him from the match. Dean is pissed, but DiBiase explains that he wanted to highlight Men of War more, and he thought a handicap match would be great for him. Before waiting for Malenko to respond, DiBiase pats him on the shoulder, says he knew he'd understand, and walks off. (67)

14. Men of War (Sean O'Haire & Mark Jindrak) defeated Super Delfin and Tiger Unit (Tiger Mask III & IV) in 5:33 after debuting a new move, where O'Haire had Delfin in a powerbomb position and Jindrak did a standing dropkick with enough height to connect cleanly with Delfin while he was on O'Haire's shoulders, allowing O'Haire to hit the powerbomb with extra momentum. (81)

15. Highlights from the Brand Split Press Conference aired - which will be detailed in its own post (because as it turns out, detailing the year's plans for an entirely new presentation takes a lot of space).

16. Steve Austin and Dwayne Johnson are talking about their tag match tonight, and it quickly blows up into an argument after the two start insulting each other. Their opponents, The Hardyz walk up. When Austin and Dwayne both stand up (at the same time), they say they're not here to fight. The Hardyz say that they wanted to let Austin and Dwayne know that if anything happens with the First Family tonight, they're on their side, no matter what. (69)

17. Blackjack Classic 2001 Opening Round: Kenta Kobashi defeated Barry Windham in 10:02 with a lariat. Kobashi will move on to round 2 to face Mark Henry - and could be the first non-WCW wrestler to win the tournament since Genichiro Tenryu in 1993. (80)

18. Jake Roberts makes his first walk down the WCW ramp in over five years following his return last week. Jake immediately launches into a speech, saying that in the Garden of Eden, when that snake tempted Adam and Eve into sin, it was never the end of their problems. When they ate that apple and they never saw that snake again, they still hadn't learned the most important lesson there is: just because you can't see the snake doesn't mean that it isn't there. Watching you. Waiting. Coiled up in the corner, slithering in the shadows, waiting to strike when the time is right and there is evil to spread in this world. Last week, the snake sprung from the shadows and here he stands before you all. Jake says that he decided to show his face against his former protege Mike Awesome on purpose - to show that just because you have escaped Jake Roberts, does not mean that you are free from Jake Roberts. He says that the chair he brought down over Awesome's head was just a primer - just a taste of things to come, because he has not been the one attacking Mike Awesome. No one expected Jake Roberts to get his hands dirty when he didn't have to, did they? Instead, the person attacking Mike Awesome is a new evil that Jake Roberts has found and taken under his command. Jake promises that a great evil will be set upon the world soon, and no one can stop it. (81)

19. Steve Austin & Dwayne Johnson defeated The Hardyz in 4:48 by disqualification after Scott Steiner ran in and attacked Dwayne Johnson, flanked by the rest of the First Family. Austin, Dwayne, and the Hardyz brawl with the First Family, and eventually Austin rolls out and tells the timekeeper to ring the bell - it's time for a real tag match! (80)

20. Steve Austin, Dwayne Johnson, & The Hardyz defeated The First Family (Scott Steiner, Lex Luger, Scott Norton, & Sid Vicious) in 7:02 in a chaotic match. Throughout the match, we saw Jimmy Hart attack Dwayne Johnson with his megaphone, Amy Dumas break up a Steiner Recliner, and The Barbarian hit Jeff Hardy with a big boot. Finally, the match ended by disqualification when Scott Steiner pulled out a lead pipe and hit Dwayne Johnson with it in clear view of the referee. At one point in the match, Jeff Hardy hit Lex Luger with the Whisper in the Wind and Luger fell awkwardly, hitting his head against the ground - he was out of commission for the rest of the match, and he's thought to have suffered from a concussion. (71) After the match, Austin and the Hardyz saved Dwayne from the First Family and drove them off, tensely celebrating with beers after. (80)