WCW Thunder - Monday, Week 3, October 2001

5,500 in attendance at the Civic Center Arena in Monroe, LA.

Commentary by Mike Tenay, Jim Ross, and Christian Cage.

This week on Thunder: Ric Flair takes on his first tune-up match with an opponent hand-picked by Eric Bischoff, Adam Castle begins a hunt for a new tag partner, the "Dark Horse" Nova faces his toughest challenge yet, D'Lo Brown has a birthday celebration, and six massive personalities collide in a tag-team main event. All this and more, below the break!

1. After the show intro, we see Christian Cage making his way past the stage! He joins Tenay and J.R. at the commentary table, who welcome him with open arms. After Ross asks Christian about his current medical condition, he says that he's still on the sidelines for the near future, but he's hopeful for a quick recovery. He also says that he can't stand sitting around and having to watch Adam Castle try to destroy everything the Hart Foundation stands for. (69)

2. Steve Corino makes his way to the ring, accompanied by both his Team Canada partners of John Tenta and Carl Ouellet and his apparent friend Jack Victory. Corino says that during his inactivity because of his horrible injury, he's had some time to think, and he's disgusted with how everyone has just moved past what Chris Jericho did to him. Corino says that Jericho purposefully injured him because he knew that he would never be able to beat Corino in a fair fight. He says that since no punishment has been given to Jericho, it's clear that WCW value having an unsafe work environment. Corino has reached out to his legal team, and, even though he totally doesn't want to, he's afraid that this matter might have to be settled in court. He says that there's an easy solution before all of that messy stuff, though - punish Chris Jericho. Vacate the WCW World Heavyweight championship, or, better yet, award Corino with the title since he is the rightful champ. Corino tells Bischoff and Flair to think about it before leaving. (76)

3. Rob Van Dam defeated Crash in 5:09 with the Five-Star Frog Splash. After the match, Crash was visibly frustrated and he stormed to the back - as best as he was able to, after taking a beating. (65)

4. Jeremy Borash is standing by for an interview with Adam Castle. Borash asks Castle about who his partner for the upcoming tag match at Halloween Havoc against Chris Benoit and Jim Neidhart will be. Castle says that he's actually been meaning to talk about that. See, Castle says, he doesn't have a partner. He's not just gonna walk up to any chumpstain in the back and blindly trust them, like he did with the Harts. Instead, he's putting out an open invitation. Anyone who hates the Hart Foundation as much as Adam Castle does is welcome to reach out to him, and he'll decide who will be the best partner. (68)

5. Ted DiBiase is meeting with his "clients", Dean Malenko and Fit Finlay. DiBiase says that he can see now that there have been some.. disagreements, and he's willing to make everything up and settle things in a way that benefits everybody. DiBiase puts his offer on the table: he'll offer Dean and Fit a $1,000 and all will be forgiven... if they forfeit their match at Halloween Havoc. Malenko and Finlay look at each other, and tell DiBiase they'll need some time to think it over. (69)

6. Elsewhere backstage, British Bulldog is walking when he's stopped by Nova. Nova tells Bulldog that he's seen everything that's been happening to the Hart Foundation, recently. Castle left, Christian got hurt, Jim Neidhart came back - rough stuff. He says that it couldn't happen to a better group of people, but he makes sure to tell Bulldog to cheer up - at least all those Hart kids can get away from guys like him and not have to stand in the shadow of a guy who's all muscles and no backbone. On that, Bulldog slaps him and challenges him to a match later tonight. (68)

7. Jorge Estrada and Legion del Reyes (Chavo Guerrero & Juventud Guerrera) defeated Terry Funk & Dream Chasers (TAKA Michinoku & Funaki) after Chavo made Funaki submit to the Gory Special in 6:17. (79)

8. Matt Hardy is speaking. He says that he was excited to see what Milano Collection AT could offer to WCW and he was really looking forward to stepping into the ring with him - but all of that went out the window when Milano jumped the barricade and attacked him. Matt says that even though he was looking forward to Milano's debut at first, he's planning on ruining it now. (70)

9. Ted DiBiase approaches Adam Castle backstage. He recalls his own feuds with the Hart Foundation over the years - heck, Chris Jericho is the Foundation's golden boy right now, and he's the one that ended DiBiase's career. If Castle needs a partner, well, as far as Ted is concerned, he'll do Adam a favor for free. (74)

10. Sean O'Haire defeated Fit Finlay in 0:54... when Finlay blatantly kicked O'Haire in the groin immediately after teasing the first lockup of the match. Afterwards, Finlay and Malenko said that DiBiase has their answer. (71)

11. BG James is in the ring, ready for the WCW TV title match. He says that he's going to get revenge on Hennig for punking Fatu out! (74)

12. WCW World Television Championship: Curt Hennig defeated BG James in 7:57 after hitting him with the Hennig-Plex to make his first defense of the TV title. James had managed to get his foot on the ropes following the suplex, but Bobby Heenan pushed it off before the ref could see it. (82)

13. Backstage, Adam Castle approaches Team Canada in what seems to be the middle of an argument - clearly expecting them to ask him to join. Lance Storm stares at him and calls him an idiot. Why would they trust him after he stabbed his own best friend in the back? Plus, they're not just going to forget the wars they've had the past couple years. Storm tells Adam to get lost. (70).

14. D'Lo Brown is in the ring with a party horn and a party hat, and tells everyone that it's his birthday today! Outside of being the WCW US champion, which is the best present of all, there's only one thing he can ask for. D'Lo calls out Ricky Steamboat, and tells him to come out here, wish him a happy birthday, and apologize. Steamboat does walk out to the ring, but he refuses to apologize. Steamboat says that he didn't do anything to upset or offend D'Lo, and he doesn't want to keep all this drama up, but he's not going to give up his own values. Steamboat says that D'Lo needs to spend his time on a competitor of his caliber, and he wishes him a happy birthday. When Steamboat turns to leave, D'Lo attacks him from behind, and hits him with the Sky High! (72)

15. Chris Benoit defeated NOSAWA in a total squash, making him tap out to the Canadian Crossface after 2:25. (54)

16. Bobby Heenan and his masked security approach Adam Castle. Heenan tells Castle that the Hart Foundation has been a thorn in his side for years and years, and nothing would make him happier than to see them done away with. He says that he'd love to consider Castle a member of the Family. (71)

17. In the first of his tune-up matches for WarGames, Ric Flair defeated Sid Vicious in 8:19 after low blowing Sid and pinning him with his feet on the ropes. (82)

18. Adam Castle is approached by yet another manager - this time, Jimmy Hart! Jimmy tells Castle that he's sick of hearing about the Hart Foundation - they got famous riding off of his last name! He says there's only room for one Hart's family in wrestling, baby, and it's his! Jimmy would be happy to have Castle work with the First Family at Halloween Havoc. (68)

19. Backstage, Dean Malenko & Fit Finlay are cornered by Ted DiBiase, Mark Jindrak, and Paul Wight. DiBiase asks Finlay and Malenko if they think they're funny, because they don't seem to understand the situation they've made for themselves. He says that he owns Finlay and Malenko - anything they've done and ever will do in professional wrestling belongs to him. If they want to disobey him, then it's time for some consequences. At Halloween Havoc, they can challenge for the title all they want, and what the hell, if they win, he'll sign their contracts over to WCW. But if they lose, he's going to force them into retirement. It's titles vs. careers at Halloween Havoc! (68)

20. Lance Storm defeated Konnan in 13:09 with the Canadian Maple Leaf. (82)

21. Ric Flair is recovering in the locker room backstage when he's approached by his co-commissioner Eric Bischoff. Bischoff asks Flair how his match went, and Flair accuses him of setting him up with a guy like Sid so he'd get hurt. Bischoff says he'd never do anything like that - he only wanted to make sure the fans had a match they wanted to see. Flair shakes his head, and says he won, and that's what matters. (100)

22. A promo video is shown featuring Raven discussing Vampiro's actions over the past few weeks. Raven says that Vampiro thinks he's playing twisted mind games, but he doesn't know who he's dealing with. Raven's the guy who made the rules for all those games Vampiro is playing. Just because he's been taking it easy doesn't mean that he's not capable of that anymore - he just got smart and realized he didn't need to put in all that effort when all those idiots will gladly do it to themselves. Raven says that's what Vampiro is - just another idiot running the rat race, heading straight for a trap. (83)

23. Nova defeated British Bulldog in 8:17 with a Spin Doctor. (78)

24. Kanyon, Mike Awesome, and Scott Steiner defeated Randy Savage, Dwayne Johnson, and Steve Austin in 12:49 when Austin hit both Savage and Dwayne with the Stone Cold Stunner, allowing Steiner to casually follow up on Dwayne with the Steiner Recliner for the win. (83)

After the match, Austin grabbed a couple beers from the timekeeper and celebrated by drinking them on the ramp. Before he could make it to the back, Scott Steiner grabbed a microphone and called him a little bitch. Austin froze and the two ran at each other, immediately jumping into a brawl to close out the show. (81)