My World with Jeff Jarrett - Nitro 09.25.00 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

On this week’s My World we’re going to delve into what is one of the more entertaining episodes of Nitro that took place back in 2000. We are post Hulk Hogan laying down for Jeff, Eric Bischoff leaving and we are full in the swing of the Vince Russo era for the second time.

Fire up your Peacock machine - season 6 - episode 39.

What a time to be in this company. Please make sure you check out our past episodes in the archives of Hulk Screwed Hulk and New Blood Rising but we are just 8 days out from Fall Brawl in Buffalo when you lost to Mike Awesome in a bunkhouse match that included…Gary Coleman, the Buffalo Bills and a 70s bus. You are just under a year in this company at this point…are you full of regret at this point?

This is going to be a big Nitro according to Dave Meltzer: “It was thought that this would be the week for WCW to capitalize, as viewers, used to WWF on Monday nights, would switch to WCW when finding other programming on the USA Network.

The result was a number well under what was the Raw average, but had to be considered a good sign overall since it was better than most had predicted for the first show on the new station without nearly the promotion they had originally planned for.”

This is the first Nitro going against Raw on TNN with the move. What did you think of the WWF moving the flagship from USA to TNN?

Did you see an opportunity for WCW to gain viewers with the move or was this just a situation where WWF was about to lose viewers?

And with what is going on Meltzer would have this to say: “There certainly is an internal feeling that Russo is on shaky ground, with the belief he himself is more aware of it than anyone, and thus has booked everything around himself as the focal performer on the show to increase his value while he still has full creative control.”

Wade Keller would also say: “Russo apparently has shown signs of a defeatist attitude in the sense that he is going to do what he thinks is best, but also have fun for now until the ownership situation play out since he may not have full control of “his own” wrestling promotion for long, which might explain why he booked himself in the main event against Booker T on the one of the most important Nitro’s in WCW history. Mid-card wrestlers and new main eventers are concerned that all of the progress they have made in terms of getting a chance to be featured could be erased if a new company took over and brought back and pushed the Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell types at their expense.”

Is that feeling shared by those backstage? Did you see Russo relying on himself as a character to make it more important for him not to be let go again or having fun?

From the Observer: “The general consensus was that Nitro, which drew poorly at the Nassau Coliseum, with virtually no sales at all in the final week, was a huge disappointment and a very bad show, which did nothing to build up any matches for the next PPV.

Nitro on 9/25 at the Nassau Coliseum drew 4,898 fans total which was 2,815 paid for a gate of $113,390. It may have been the lowest paid attendance for a wrestling show in the history of the Nassau Coliseum and definitely was the lowest in the past 20 years. As best we can tell, the last time there was a major sized (10,000+ capacity) arena show in the New York City market that drew less than 3,000 paid would have been during the

depression in the 1930s.

The 9/25 Nitro from the Nassau Coliseum was a major disappointment given all the hype literally for months of this date being targeted as WCW's latest big chance. “

I mean Jeff - there’s no other way to cut it. If you look at it from a promotional stand point - Vince Russo is a Long Island guy. Been pushed as a long island guy. He’s challenging for the World Title on a live TV event…we are just 7 months removed from the last time Nitro ran at the same building. That show featured you & Sid in the main event for the WCW US title and drew 8,160. The show also had a 3.6 rating. How badly did WCW run its fan base off?

“Big Vito DDQ Johnny the Bull in what was billed as an I Quit stick vs. stick match. With all the money the company is losing, they are introducing yet another woman, billed as Vito's sister Maria. Reno came out and right in front of the ref was pounding on Vito with a bat. Maria then got up from ringside and hit the ring. Reno froze and the match ended. Apparently they are either going to say that Reno used to have a relationship with Vito's sister and that's the back story that has been alluded to all this time, or that Reno and Vito are actually secret brothers.”

Wade Keller wrote this regarding the show…”There was something happening every minute, but considering how important the show was, a real letdown of an effort.”

I think that’s a perfect synopsis of WCW at this time. Something is happening every minute but it’s a real letdown….what say you?

From the Torch at the time regarding the possibility of selling WCW: “There continues to be rampant speculation about the future ownership of WCW. As reported on this page in recent weeks and months, there are a ton of rumors regarding WCW’s future. Numerous sources say the company is being shopped by Time-Warner, and the prospective buyer that comes up most often is Mandalay Sports. Eric Bischoff works with Mandalay, and Bischoff has met with Siegel recently about a number of matters – which may or may not have anything to do with orchestrating a purchase of WCW. However, there are small things happening that lead to suspicion among wrestlers and management, including, for instance, Buff Bagwell’s situation. At one time Vince Russo was told Buff is no longer on the talent list, yet weeks later he remains on the list but just isn’t being used. Some believe that Siegel isn’t making any moves to release any relatively big names because potential buyers may prefer to have access to those names if they buy the company. The situation could be being blown out of proportion as it relates to Bagwell, also, since perhaps Siegel wants to fire Bagwell, but needs clearance from Turner’s legal department first, and he hasn’t gotten it yet.”

How much are you paying attention to this? Is there rampant talk in the locker room about this?

“David Flair spent the entire show looking for the father. He supposedly knew who it was, and was traveling around looking for an address. He finally got into a house and asked where the guy was, and it turned out he went to the house next door. When he went to the real house, as the show time was running down, he was told the owner hasn't been around for a week. It was such comedy to see them banter back and forth and never say whose house David was going to other than "the father."”

This is just…I don’t know Jeff. Did this help anyone?

“Jarrett and Scott Steiner came out for an interview. Steiner yelled at Jumbo Elliott, a football player with the New York Jets, to set up a later angle, literally put together at the last minute. Russo & Borash, in the role of Russo's lackey, came out. Russo did a total face promo since they were in Nassau. He got cheered, but the cheers weren't overwhelming. Goldberg and Sting came out basically saying they had Booker's back in the cage match.”

Jeff you’re just standing here as a background player while Vince Russo does all this and buries John Rocker and all this. Vince Russo as top heel is quite the creative push isn’t it?

“Mike Sanders was backstage doing the Just Joe gimmick. “

Man Mike Sanders…how or what missed with him do you think?

“Jindrak & O'Haire won the tag team Battle Royal over Kaz Hayashi & Jamie-San, Misterio Jr. &

Guerrera, Harris Twins, Moore & Helms and Loco & Cajun to win the tag titles. The gimmick was that Russo was punishing Kronik by not letting them in. Basically Kronik came out a few minutes in and dumped the Harris Twins, Jamie-san, Moore and Cajun. Security then came out and mace'd Kronik. Konnan, doing commentary, acted stunned that they sold the mace, actually using those terms. With everyone out except Misterio Jr. & Guerrera vs. O'Haire & Jindrak, it got real good. Disqo hit Guerrera with the disco duck and pulled him over the top. Konnan then chased Disqo to the back. They put Misterio Jr. on the top rope and Jindrak came off the top with a clothesline, and he went to the floor being eliminated.”

Man could O’Haire and Jindrak - working a lot with Rey & Juventud - could’ve gotten so much better. What could’ve been with them as well?

There’s so much good young talent here…WCW is really in a tough spot with trying to rebuild from underneath with so much on top. Not envious of any booker in this spot could you?

From the Observer: “Konnan tried to get a petition going among the wrestlers to sign as a show of support for Russo”

Did you sign this?

“Howard Stern's Whack Pack was doing a promo that was interrupted by Nash, as Coach of the Thrillers. Nash is the smartest man in wrestling. Some of the Thrillers, O'Haire and Palumbo in particular, are probably going to be huge stars, and Nash as their mentor, can legitimately say he helped them out and they'll have loyalty to him because of it and it'll add years to his career longevity. If you look at both companies, you'll realize that the only people who don't believe the adage that winning and losing no longer matters are the guys with the most political power who know that even to this day it still does, because somehow they do the least amount of losing.”

Look I’m a huge Howard Stern fan…but what are these guys like back there? Do you think they added anything to the product besides you getting to hit anyone with a guitar…

From the Observer: “Brad Siegel, who was at the Nassau show, was said to be really upset about the Whack Pack

On the day of the show, all Howard Stern did what put over the WWF since Austin was his guest. Stern did mention WCW the day after the show since his guys were on the show.”

This just doesn’t look great does it?

“Awesome beat ICP in a handicap match. Violent J put over his JCW guys in his interview. They ended up brawling to the top of the bus where Awesome power bombed Shaggy, he fell off the bus to the floor and Awesome climbed down and pinned him. Cat & Ms. Jones came out. Sanders was beating up Cat when the Thrillers came out and they all laid Cat out.”

My goodness Jeff - Shaggy falling off the bus it’s scary but hilarious at the same time. The Fat Guy Thriller though…man Mike Awesome was awesome…

When you lose to Mike Awesome on pay-per-view 10 days ago and this is the next big thing for him…does it feel like it’s something that could’ve meant so much more?

“The bikini contest was really lame. Pamela Paulshock won, which turned out to be a major source of heat. They held a beauty contest as part of kicking off ticket sales in Las Vegas that went really well. Paulshock no-showed it, at first with the story going around she had an ankle injury. Apparently the real story was that since she wasn't going over, she wasn't going. The rest of the women, or at least some of them, seeing that attitude, were really upset that on the TV version, which was far more important, to get her to do it, she was promised the win, basically being rewarded for her no-show. Welcome to the wrestling business. Duggan came out and covered Major Gunns up because she wasn't being a good representative of Canada. She said she was American. Whatever country she's from, she's the worst actress in that country. Paulshock and Okerlund were the mc's, and then Paulshock said she was getting hot, took off her coat revealing a bikini top with giant implants, and the Whack Pack guys all said she was the winner even though she wasn't in it. The reason some of the women didn't disrobe as much as you'd think is because some of them were uncomfortable with it, and being compared with fitness models who know the tricks like Torrie Wilson and Tylene Buck, even women with good figures can get intimidated.”

Jeff - what is all this drama in WCW when it comes to a bikini contest! Like…is this a professional wrestling company?

Speaking of drama in WCW…from the Observer: “There was major heat with Mark Madden this past week. It started with several nasty e-mails back and forth between Madden and Dave Scherer, a writer with 1wrestling.com. Scherer a few weeks back basically blamed Madden for talking too much on the 9/11 show, which happened to be the Nitro debut of Jeremy Borash (Scherer's friend), who didn't make a strong impression on his TV debut. Scherer has a major history of writing childish e-mails and trying to goad people into public feuds while Madden has a rep for taking many negative criticisms into personal affronts, which in the job he has, is something he can't afford to do and remain with any level of sanity. Madden felt Scherer was negative toward him because he was using him as a scapegoat for an excuse for Borash not coming through when given the chance, and then trying to find an opening in WCW for Borash, who Russo's backing but his work hasn't been complimented anywhere (Russo ended up giving him a new role as his lackey on the 9/25 show), to get a full-time gig on Nitro or Thunder. First the e-mails started flying, complete with name-calling on both ends. Scherer continued to write negatively about Madden. Under nearly every circumstance, my feeling is that a performer has to be able to blow off criticism or grow from it because it's part of the job of being a performer in this business nowadays. If they respect the opinion of the person writing, they should think about it and use it constructively to improve and they'll be better performers for it. Or if they believe it isn't warranted, they should dismiss it. If they don't respect the opinion of the person writing, they shouldn't give it a second of thought. The internet is largely amateur hour when it comes to covering news, although that wouldn't be fair as a blanket statement as there are a few good writers out there. Whatever category one wants to place Scherer in is their own judgement, but it is totally foreign to me to send personal hate e-mail mocking someone's weight and appearance to that person, and then be in a position to, literally days later, negatively review their professional performance, and then try to use the usual standard that a professional needs to be able to accept criticism (which largely is true) and in this situation leave it at that. There were allegations made that Scherer in one of his e-mails claimed he could get Madden fired from WCW. After a negative column by Scherer directed at Madden using the term "Mamacita" on 9/18 (bringing up the term would bring to mind Eddy Guerrero and WWF), Madden responded by calling in Wrestling Observer Live unannounced on 9/19 and felt much of the recent criticism of him had been personally motivated and cut a promo on Scherer. There was a meeting at the 8/13 PPV where the wrestlers were all told they couldn't do any media unless it was approved by the office, but it was a meeting only for talent. The announcers weren't at the meeting, nor were they ever specifically told those guidelines of having to go through the office for all media appearances apply to them (and quite frankly, some of the top name wrestlers continue to do media not booked through the office). In the case of Madden, it would be ridiculous since aside from his wrestling persona, in Pittsburgh, he has a sports talk show and regularly does local media appearances. On the show, Madden claimed that he was told by a WCW executive that Scherer had called up and actually did attempt, and failed, to get him fired. Scherer denied that in a response the next day, but never addressed mentioned any story of him claiming in an e-mail of what he could do and the coincidence of an exec going to Madden a few days later. Madden ended up getting major heat with Russo for a few days, not because of any of the issues, and non-issues that overwhelmed whatever real issues there were with a bunch of name calling with silly gay and fat insinuations going back and forth, but because Madden appeared on what Russo has either been convinced or has convinced himself is an enemy show. The problems judging from the broadcast appeared to have been alleviated at Nitro and reports are that Madden and Russo smoothed things over before the show”

Like what is this? Is this a professional wrestling company…again?

“Goldberg attacked Steiner. Disqo did an interview saying basically he was out of the Filthy Animals (actually he said the other guys were begging him to let them back in the FA's) and had a new partner. Instead of Alex Wright, Steiner came out and destroyed

him, and challenged Goldberg. Goldberg agreed if it was a cage match and that nobody

would interfere. The cage came down. They had a pretty heated match. It was good, but nowhere near the level of their previous bout. Can you believe they gave away this cage match without even advertising it in advance or making it the TV main event? So much for drawing big money at Starrcade. At least when Bischoff gave away Hogan vs. Goldberg, he hyped it to death on Thunder before hand and it did set a record attendance (granted, that show was going to anyway but it did result in a back jump in sales over the last few days) while pissing away what would have been $7 million for that match on PPV at that point in time. By giving away the cage, I'm not sure how much they're pissing away on PPV, since they make so little from it nowadays, but they didn't even hype it ahead of time. Midajah came out with a lead pipe and walked right in the door. Why even have a cage? Steiner used it but Elliott wouldn't let him out the door to win. Goldberg then speared Steiner and left the cage to win in 4:44.”

How in the hell is this right here on TV with no promotion and a gimmick cage match at that? Is it easy to understand why Goldberg was very protective over his character with all this going on?

How did Scott and Russo get along?

When you watch this type of TV episode - is this a perfect example of what not to do with a wrestling show?

“Backstage, Jarrett hit Beetlejuice, a strange looking very short man wearing a superhero costume from the Stern show, with a guitar shot.”

One of my favorite sentences Dave Meltzer ever wrote. How did this come to be? How was Beetlejuice to “work” with? Are you surprised this has hit 6 million views on YouTube?

“Jarrett beat Rection. Storm and Skipper tried to interfere but they were the set up men getting beaten up for Duggan to get the heat with a 2x4 shot on Rection, leading to Jarrett winning with the stroke. They did a four-on-one on Rection, with Jarrett putting him in the figure four. The rest of MIA tried and failed to make a save, as they got punked to set up Sting coming out and cleaning house with a bat.”

Working with Bill Demott - what are your favorite memories?

Did you like all the interference that it felt like every match had? Does it make the interference mean less each time it happens?

“Sting beat Storm in what was technically a good match in 4:18 with the scorpion death drop. Sting did allow Storm to reverse a scorpion deathlock into the half crab and gave him a dramatic rope break. Storm's U.S. Canadian title was never brought up, so this must have been a non-title match. For those of you who were betting on this, Storm's losing and regaining the title over the weekend in the matches with Funk were also not ever acknowledged on TV. So much for pissing off the few people in those cities who bought tickets.”

Sting gives Lance a lot here and you can just see how much of a pro Sting is. How good was Lance Storm? Why did we never see him in TNA during those years after he retired?

“Main event was the cage match with Russo vs. T. Russo wore a football helmet to protect his head. The entire locker room came out, you know, because they were expecting to see a Flair vs. Steamboat classic. Russo destroyed T with a bat for a few minutes. At one point Russo tried to climb out the top, but Awesome climbed up and Sting came from the ceiling (and Bret Hart wasn't even booked on the show) and he fell back into the ring. Luger showed up and gave Russo a pipe through the cage. Russo KO'd Mickey Jay with a pipe. Flair, disguised as a security guy, got into the cage when they were carrying out Jay and attacked Russo and put him in the figure four. Because Flair can't train yet after surgery, he's gotten really heavy and never should have appeared on TV until he was ready. There's a reason guys wait a few weeks after being cleared to lift before they go on TV because the fans judge you harshly if you're not in shape, and with Flair, because of his age, he's got even more going against him. Half the world got involved. Goldberg ended up in the cage. Somewhere in this mess, Flair got punked out to set up Goldberg. Booker was ready to win but hesitated when Goldberg came out. Match ended with Booker going through the door at the same time Goldberg speared Russo

through the cage and Russo appeared to hit the guard rail pretty hard. The idea was that Russo went through the cage at the same time T went through the door so they went off the air not knowing who won.”

This is overbooked to hell Jeff. How do you put something like this together in the back? It has to be organized chaos right?

Vince Russo ends the night as champion but also concussed…what do you remember of the after math of this show?

There was talk that Goldberg and Russo didn’t get along well and Goldberg’s plan was to get Russo so to speak…what say you?

From the Observer: “With the monster of the Olympics (which did better than a 20 rating in the metered markets) leading to one of the lowest rated Monday Night Football games in the history of the show, Raw became the most watched TV show in the 17-year history of TNN, with 7.14 million

viewers, which translates into a 5.44 rating (5.17 first hour; 5.70 second hour) and an 8.1 share, slightly down from the 5.71 rating the show drew the previous week. Nitro drew a 2.87 rating (3.23 first hour; 2.50 second hour) and a 4.2 share, up only slightly from 2.75 the previous week.

Nitro, even against the Olympics, is doing stronger in the unopposed first hour than it had been doing even a month ago, but whatever gains in TV ratings haven't translated into any other aspects of its business. That first hour is key, because that has nothing to do with Raw being out of its time slot for two weeks, or the football factor since the game starts during the second hour of Nitro.

It should be noted that Raw tried to put on a monster show for its debut, featuring the return of Austin, who was featured throughout, a Rock vs. Benoit title match and an Edge & Christian vs. Hardys ladder match. Nitro went in a completely different direction with a Booker T vs. Russo title match, an unadvertised Goldberg vs. Scott Steiner cage match (which bombed in the ratings) and a bikini contest, which drew a strong rating but was a total disaster as far as entertainment and execution.”

What did you think of the episode? Do you think it was Vince Russo’s finest hour? How much did you learn from an episode like this for future creative decisions?