January 2001 - The Road to The Big Bang

So, this is kind of going to be a slow news month. Most of the set up to The Big Bang has just been dream matches, title contention, and the draft. As a result, there's not really a lot to write about. In addition to the set up for the show, I'll talk about some changes in my save from 2001 to 2002 and what led up to them, in-universe. Thanks and see you below!

Gold & Glory - 

International Openweight: Sting (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh vs. Ric Flair

World Tag Team: Hart Foundation (Christian Cage & Chris Benoit) (c) vs. Scorched Earth (Bryan Clark & Brian Adams)

TLC:

International Tag Team: Dudley Boyz vs. Jung Dragons (Jimmy Yang & Kaz Hayashi) vs. First In Flight (Billy Kidman & Shane Helms)

Scramble:

National Openweight: Matt Hardy vs. Ken Shamrock vs. Power Warrior vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Tajiri

United States Heavyweight: Nova (c) vs. Mike Awesome

World Television: 20-Man Battle Royal

Brass Knuckles: Tommy Dreamer (c) vs. Sabu

Yeah, like I said, the majority of the set-up for this show has been the last title matches before the brand split. Most of these don't actually have much story to them. The idea is that this show is kind of an arms race between Nitro and Thunder - with Thunder loading their side of the show up with title matches and Nitro delivering more organic matches (you'll see those in just a second).

• Sting wanted to face his some of his biggest rivals one last time before the brand split, and called out Mutoh and Flair. Mutoh, being a Thunder star, was cleared for the match, but Flair was not.
• After appealing to the Board of Directors, Flair was allowed to participate in the match. What's going to happen if the Nitro GM wins the Thunder world title?
• Christian Cage & Chris Benoit have experienced tension for almost a year, but things seemed to work out well at Starrcade when they defeated Men of War for the tag titles. How will the test of the undefeated Scorched Earth fare?
• The Dudley Boyz, Jung Dragons, and First in Flight qualified for a three-way for the tag titles, and the Dudleyz suggested to spice it up by making it TLC. Bischoff loved the idea, and it became official.
• In the National Openweight championship scramble, five of Thunder's rising best take each other on to decide the first champion. Power Warrior and Ken Shamrock are having their first big match back, and Chavo, Hardy, and Tajiri have all been riding hot streaks throughout 2001.
• Mike Awesome won a #1 Contender's battle royal for the right to challenge Nova. Is Awesome's road back to the spotlight starting at The Big Bang?
• As has recently become tradition, the vacant TV title will be fought for in a battle royal. Who will be the next champion?
• Dreamer vs. Sabu is kind of just happening. Pretend something happened on the B-shows, I don't know!
  
  

Last Chances: 

Hulk Hogan vs. Dusty Rhodes

Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner

Lance Storm & Chris Jericho vs. Steve Corino & Carl Ouellet

Old tensions flare and rivals meet for the final time before they head to their respective brands. The legendary Hulk Hogan and Dusty Rhodes will meet for the first time ever, in what will either be an all-time classic or a very sad match.

• A special tag match on the go-home for the Big Bang saw guest referee Dusty Rhodes get physical with Hulk Hogan, costing him and Vader the match against Randy Savage & DDP. In the days since, Hogan has vowed revenge on Dusty.
• Dusty has a special spot in Hogan's old-school rage for becoming the star of his competition while not looking the way a superstar "should".
• Goldberg & Steiner have been feuding since Steiner's return to WCW in December 2000. When the Streak ended, Goldberg disappeared, but he returned as a part of Flair countering Bischoff's pick of Steiner.
• In Goldberg's absence, Steiner started racking up wins and took to calling himself unbeatable. Goldberg has a major interest in proving that that's not true, once and for all.
• Storm and Jericho, of course, have a long history. Pairing successfully for years as the Thrillseekers, Storm would turn on Jericho in 1995 to join the management of Ted DiBiase.
• Years later, Storm has been betrayed by his Team Canada partners Steve Corino & Carl Ouellet. With this and the respect he was shown by Sting finally showing him the error of his ways, Lance Storm apologized to Jericho. For the first (and probably only) time ever, the Thrillseekers clash with Corino's Army.
  
  

Making A Name:

Steve Austin vs. Sean O'Haire

On a separate brand from his partner Mark Jindrak, Sean O'Haire is looking to make a major impact by targeting the biggest name on the roster: Steve Austin. Austin, meanwhile, just wants the damn title he's been cheated out of for his whole career.

• Steve Austin confronted Curt Hennig at his championship celebration (where it was also noted that Bobby Heenan retired for medical reasons), and demanded a match. He was answered by an attack from Sean O'Haire.
• The few went back and forth for a bit in interviews, but it's pretty much a simple set-up for this one. Austin gets a match, and O'Haire gets to prove himself. Not too much to write home about!

The World, In Brief:

So, things have been kind of wild in the rest of the world. Of course, since it's the only part I actually fleshed out and the only part I'm actually involved in, let's just focus on Japan. I hope I can summarize this well, I really don't want to type too much out. There's a lot.

• Due to (mainly) the direction of Tatsumi Fujinami's NJPW, tensions rose between Fujinami and WCW's Arnold Schwarzenegger. This eventually led to a meeting being called between the presidents of the companies in the GHC Foundation, where WCW said they would leave if Fujinami were not removed. Fujinami, of course, was outraged.
• Problems included the decline in New Japan's business, a shifted focus to aging talent, and an incident where then-WCW champ Chris Jericho was used to put over a young lion.
• A meeting was arranged with WCW and IGF by Kazuyoshi Ishii, the president of K-1. Ishii, citing declines in business (for himself and PRIDE's parent company Dream Stage Entertainment, who were also involved), hoped to branch further into professional wrestling, and wanted to create an alliance bridging the sports entertainment of WCW and the pure sports of IGF.
• While Inoki and Arnold were against the idea at first, they warmed up to each other over time. Both men remained hesitant over Ishii's idea of a "pure entertainment focused" wrestling product in Japan.
• Eventually a deal was reached, and Millennium Fighting Arts was formed. Out of loyalty, WCW informed All Japan, but otherwise it was official.
• With WCW out of the alliance, New Japan kinda panicked. Fujinami was finally ousted and they reached out to Zero-One and Shinya Hashimoto, who became the new head of the company in a soft merger.
• An angered Fujinami calmly took the talent willing to follow him and left to found DRADITION World. Though the promotion mostly focuses on the aging talent that lost business for New Japan, he also completed a major steal by taking Yoshinari Ogawa with him.