The SmarK Rant for WCW Mayhem 2000 – 11.26.00

The SmarK Rant for WCW Mayhem 2000 – 11.26.00

Originally written 06.20.26

Hey they did a good job of hyping this trainwreck on the go-home Nitro, so let’s give it another look 26 years after the fact.

Live from Milwaukee, WI, drawing 2800 paid. For a PPV? YIKES.

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone & Mark Madden & Straight Shooting Stevie Ray

Earlier today: Booker T arrives and turns away autograph seekers, while Scott Steiner arrives and smashes up the internet table because they annoy him. It’s true, they are a bunch of nerds anyway.

WCW Cruiserweight title: Mike Sanders v. Kwee Wee

Wee attacks while Tony explains about “Angry Allan”, which is Kwee Wee’s evil alter ago, and Wee dropkicks Sanders to the floor, prompting him to retreat up the ramp and call out the Thrillers for help. So Jindrak “sneaks” in the ring and takes out Kwee Wee, allowing the other Thrillers to mug Kwee Wee outside and then toss him into the ring for a powerslam from Sanders. But then Meng comes out to help out Kwee Wee and he brawls with the Thriller geeks until Ric Flair and security manage to break them up and drag off Meng. Would it have been SO HARD to just book a normal match for the Cruiserweight title here? Finally all the nonsense gets dealt with and Sanders takes over with a fistdrop for two. Kwee comes back with a sunset flip for two, but Sanders goes to a chinlock until Wee suplexes out of it. Stevie goes off on the announcers for not knowing the names of the moves, but Madden burns him with “The only reason you know those names is because you’ve spent years having them all put on you.” Kwee Wee comes back and slugs away in the corner and then tries a sunset flip from the apron to the floor, but Sanders turns it into a rana out there. Back in the ring, Sanders slugs away, but Paisley slaps him and hits him with a handspring elbow. But then Sanders just hits the 3.0 neckbreaker out of nowhere to retain at 8:00. This was, sadly, way BELOW average and just had too much shit going on. *1/2

Meanwhile, Ric Flair declares NO MORE INTERFERENCE tonight in any of the matches. Or else. Spoiler: There’s tons of interference for the rest of the show.

Meanwhile, Disco shows up, still injured, and bribes Kronik to take his place tonight, but his Germany bonus only covers 7:30 of their help.

Meanwhile, Evan Karagias and Jamie Noble bond over their North Carolina background, but then we accidentally learn that Evan used to date Jamie’s sister and dumped her. Gene: “Could have been worse. They could have been related.” Evan Karagias may have been the most annoying person alive doing this promo.

Meanwhile, Crowbar is busy making time with the ladies, but he gets flowers in his dressing room with a note saying that someone will be watching.

Three Count v. The Jung Dragons v. Noble & Karagias

Big brawl to start as Noble and Karagias are absent, and we get a dance-off in the ring between the other two. Dragons dump them to the floor, but Noble and Karagias finally show up and get some shine. Evan and Shane slug it out and Noble comes in for the double-team while Stevie puts over Sugar Shane. Well he clearly became the biggest star out of this group so give him credit for calling that one. Three Count double-teams Noble with a german suplex for two, but Jamie powerbombs Shannon and then it’s time for the Dragons to get their shine. Kaz hits Moore with a backbreaker, but Shannon gets a fameasser and it’s back to Helms. Shane with a german suplex on Kaz for two, but Noble saves. Helms to the top with a sunset flip on Kaz, but Kaz rolls into a head kick to put him down and Yang gets a hot tag and runs wild. Moore cuts him off with a neckbreaker for two and they all do big moves for two counts and then fight to the floor and everyone hits dives. Including Leia Meow. And then Noble finds a ladder under the ring, but Karagias takes it in the face. Yang goes up to finish Moore, but Noble cuts him off and then Helms dives off of Yang’s back with a splash onto Noble in a cool spot. The Dragons double-team Karagias for a double pinfall and that looked bad, but Three Count hits the double neckbreaker on Yang and pins him at 10:44. Lots of hot action here and big moves, but it’s not like it was anything that wasn’t done by the luchadors during the glory years of Nitro. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Mike Awesome gets laid out by Bam Bam Bigelow.

Meanwhile, the Boogie Knights deny being broke and predict a victory over the Animals in 8 minutes. But Kronik once again reminds them that they have SEVEN MINUTES AND THIRTY SECONDS and then they’re out of there.

Mancow v. Jimmy Hart

Apparently this is a non-sanctioned match so Flair’s “no interference” rule doesn’t apply and Mancow is allowed to have his crew at ringside. I have no idea why this match is even on PPV. Jimmy Hart has a cast on his leg, but of course he was just faking and attacks with his crutch. But then Mancow lays him out and pulls the cast off Jimmy’s leg, and then hits him with it and pins him at 1:39. This could have been an email.

Meanwhile, the Misfits complain about Flair’s edict preventing them from helping Rection in his US title match tonight. But then Flair wants to talk to the Wall about something, and it’s IMPORTANT.

WCW Hardcore title: Crowbar v. Big Vito v. Reno

Vito dumps Reno and then tosses Crowbar gently onto him with a half-assed dive. To be fair, Crowbar tore his ab muscle a few days before this and it’s something of a miracle he’s even working the match. Vito beats on Reno in the corner, but Crowbar attacks with a kendo stick, so Vito finds a traffic cone adorned with the Italian flag and runs it into Reno’s crotch. Reno comes back with a trash can lid beating on everyone, but Crowbar chokes him out with the stick. This is really dull stuff and we’re officially at the point when this hardcore schtick has jumped the shark for WCW, it feels like. So they keep hitting each other with can lids and sticks and the crowd is dead for it. So Reno and Vito fight to the backstage area and we get more trash can shots leading to nothing. Reno slams Vito through a table, but a woman who Tony identifies as Vito’s sister Marie shows up, distracting Reno and allowing Crowbar to hit him with something and pin him at 7:45 to retain. *

Meanwhile, Nash and Page hang out backstage and DDP finally clarifies what SOL means: SHIT OUT OF LUCK.

Meanwhile, The Cat declares that if he loses to Shane Douglas, he’ll leave the country for 30 days. And then Gene puts the moves on Miss Jones and offers her “a little shot of Vitamin Gene”. Oh my god and here I thought that the image of Dusty Rhodes and Baby Doll making sweet love was vomit-inducing enough.

The Boogie Knights & Kronik v. Rey Mysterio & Billy Kidman

Kidman tries a headlock on Adams and gets tossed off, but he comes back with a rana. Adams puts him down with a fell nelson slam and Wright gets two from that. Kidman gets a headscissors to take him down, so Alex tags out to Clark, who puts the boots to Rey in the corner. Rey comes back with a springboard legdrop for two, but Clark chokeslams him. Rey tries a rana and Clark blocks him with a powerbomb while Adams is literally watching a clock in the corner and waiting for the opportunity to leave. This match is such a metaphor for WCW in real life. The heels double-team Rey in the corner and Clark hits the Meltdown, but Wright wants the pin, so he takes too long and it only gets two. Rey fights back while we get a series of batshit crazy exchanges on commentary between Tigress and Stevie Ray. But then Kronik decides to leave, shaving two whole minutes off the timer, and exiting at 6:00 when Disco paid for 7:30. So the Animals double-team Wright and Kidman hits the short powerbomb, setting up the Whazzup from Rey to finish at 7:40. What a weird match this was. * Also if Disco wasn’t a wrestler here, then why was he allowed to stay at ringside and interfere?

Meanwhile, Scott Steiner does a very Scott Steiner promo.

Shane Douglas v. The Cat

Shane goes after Miss Jones on the floor and she kicks his head off, prompting a brawl on the floor as Cat goes after Mark Madden at the desk. Into the ring, Shane attacks the Cat as Stevie is just laughing his ass off about Madden getting punked out. Douglas puts the boots to Cat and chokes him out on the ropes before dropping an elbow on him. Cat slugs away in the corner to make a comeback as the announcers are paying no attention to the match and just doing the whole wacky routine about Madden getting attacked and trying to regain his breath. Shane with a suplex for two. Douglas goes to a neck vice while Tony recaps an actual STORYLINE for this match, as apparently Shane cost Cat the commissionership to Mike Sanders and that’s why they hate each other. Holy shit there’s LORE? I had no idea. Cat comes back with the Feliner and that gets two. Then the women fight at ringside as Flair’s “no interference” rule gets more and more meaningless with every match and they scrap in the ring until the ref breaks them up. But then Shane reveals that he’s got a chain on his fist and he knocks out Cat but only gets two because Cat is in the ropes. So Shane puts the boots to him but Cat grabs the ropes to block a DDT, allowing Miss Jones to load up Cat with the RED SHOES OF DOOM, and he kicks Shane for the pin at 7:49. Another shitty match with tons of interference and stupid bullshit in the background the whole time. ½*

Meanwhile, the Misfits note that Team Canada can keep “that bitch Major Gunns” and vow to regain the US title.

Meanwhile, BLOOD RUNS COLDER as Glacier returns…again. The announcers just openly bury the promo and call it stupid. Madden: “The commercials cost more than the guy they hired to play Glacier!”

Bam Bam Bigelow joins us and declares that Mike Awesome is in the hospital, so he wins via forfeit. But Ric Flair interrupts and points out that it’s a WCW PPV, so the people are here to see wrestling. I would strongly disagree with that given the first 90 minutes of this show thus far. So Ric reveals the new opponent for him:

Bam Bam Bigelow v. Sgt. A-Wall

Wall attacks, but Bigelow slugs him down and the crowd is deeeeeeeeead. Wall puts him down with a double axehandle and puts the boots to him, and then chokes him out in the corner and hits him with a middle rope clothesline for two. He tries a slam and Bam Bam falls on top for two and comes back with a DDT. Isn’t Bigelow supposed to be the heel here? Bam Bam goes up and misses the moonsault, but Wall can’t capitalize and they stumble around as Wall tries to figure out the spot before finally reversing out of Greetings from Asbury Park. So Wall finds a table on the floor and brings it into the ring, which somehow isn’t a DQ, only for Bigelow to hit him with Greetings from Asbury Park and pin him at 5:42. Another terrible, dead match. DUD. And then Bigelow is apparently dead in the ring due to overexertion or something, and the EMTs take him out on a stretcher.

WCW US title: Lance Storm v. General Rection

So apparently this has been deemed the final match between these two, and yeah, we’ve all seen more than enough of it for one lifetime. Meanwhile Bigelow gets wheeled out on the stretcher while they do the Canadian anthem gimmick and Rection makes his entrance, at which point Bigelow pops up and attacks for the payoff. Wow what a swerve. So Lance beats Rection down in the ring and goes to work on the leg, which is now injured from Bigelow’s attack, and wraps the knee around the post. They brawl on the floor and Rection makes a comeback, but Storm dropkicks the knee out there to take him out again. Back in the ring for the Maple Leaf, but Rection makes the ropes, so Storm works him over in the corner some more. Blind charge misses and Rection makes a comeback, but Gunns trips him up and Storm goes to work again and gets two. Storm with a superkick, but Rection powerslams him and goes up for a moonsault, but Gunns crotches him to break it up. They fight on the top rope, but Rection hits the moonsault and gets the pin and the title at 6:28. Just the usual TV match between them, but on the bright side we never have to see it again. *1/2

Meanwhile, Mike Sanders tells security to go home.

Jeff Jarrett v. Buff Bagwell

We’ve got an hour left in this show and still have an entire WWE 2026 show worth of matches to get through. Also the booking of this show demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of what a “PPV worthy match” entails. Jarrett puts the boots to Buff to start, but Buff gets a neckbreaker and a pump splash for two. Buff tosses him, but Jarrett grabs a chair and gets some shots with that to take over. Back in the ring, he puts the boots to Buff and follows with a fistdrop off the middle rope. Jeff with a sleeper and Buff fights out of that and gets his own, but Jeff quickly suplexes out of it. But then Buff crotches him and slugs away while Stevie declares Buff to be a second generation superstar because his mother once held the tag team titles. I mean, I guess. Buff goes up to finish but misses the Blockbuster, hurting his shoulder on the way down. Jarrett goes to work on the arm, but Buff comes back with a tornado DDT for two. And the ref gets bumped, because that’s what this show needs, allowing David Flair to run in and DDT Jeff on a chair. Again, Ric Flair specifically said at the beginning of the show that there would be NO INTERFERENCE in any of the matches and everyone was banned from ringside, and they couldn’t even follow up for the rest of the show. Buff gets two from that. Buff with an inverted DDT for two. Jarrett misses a bodypress and lands on the floor, but he finds his guitar on the floor and nails Buff behind the ref’s back and pins him at 11:07. Technically good but the crowd was dead and it was too much gaga and interference again for a pointless midcard match. **1/2

WCW World tag team title: Shawn Stasiak & Chuck Palumbo v. Kevin Nash & DDP

So it turns out that Sanders has replaced the security team with the Thrillers to get around Flair’s “no interference” gag, which would be an effective heel move if we didn’t already spend the entire show with tons of people interfering in every match “because they’re managers or valets” or whatever bullshit loophole they use to get around their own stips. Nash and Palumbo fight for a lockup and Chuck slugs away out of that, but Nash fires back with knees and frames up the big elbow before hitting a corner clothesline. Kev with Snake Eyes and the babyfaces clear the ring and the NBT all run into the ring, so Ric Flair and the real security team come out and banish them to the back again. But Sanders has a manager’s license so he’s apparently allowed to stay and do commentary. Madden: “You’re like Jim Cornette but people still know who you are.” Back in the ring, the Thrillers double-team DDP and Stasiak gets a DDT for two. Neckbreaker and they hit Page with a double slingshot suplex and Palumbo gets two from that. Page fights them off, but Palumbo kicks him down and gets two. Chuck puts the boots to Page, but DDP gets a sunset flip on Stasiak for two. Stasiak clotheslines him down again for two, however. Stasiak with a back elbow for two. Chuck with a shoulderblock for two. They double-team Page in the corner and split the legs to keep him down, and Stasiak drops an elbow for two. We get a false tag to Nash and the champs continue double-teaming Page behind the ref’s back but they just can’t get anything going with the crowd here. Page comes back with a slam out of a sleeper and gets two on Palumbo, and it’s a double down. Nash gets the hot tag and does his three moves as the announcers are all OH MY GOD NASH IS SO MOTIVATED TO WIN THE TAG TEAM TITLES! Poochiebomb looks to finish Palumbo, but Sanders pulls out the ref. So Page hits the Diamond Cutter on Sanders and Nash just pins Palumbo again at 15:00 to win the tag team titles that he’s already won a million times already. This is like the fourth of fifth switch of those belts this MONTH, so it’s not like a huge deal to win them. **1/4.

OH ALSO they did a Dusty Finish and returned the belts to the Thrillers on a technicality on Nitro anyway. So there’s that.

Lex Luger v. Goldberg

Mark Madden addresses why Vince Russo getting fired doesn’t mean Goldberg is free of the “Break the streak or get fired” stipulation, and the answer is basically BECAUSE WE SAID SO, SHUT UP. Lex hides in the ropes and then hits Goldberg with a suplex, but Bill pops up right away. Even then, the crowd is really dead for this, because this streak thing is stupid and everyone knows it’s fake. Lex slugs away in the corner while the announcers disagree on whether Lex actually had the steel plate removed from his arm. I thought he had to leave it in the WWF because it was their intellectual property? Pretty sure Jerry McDevitt personally cut his arm open with garden shears and took that thing out when Lex returned to clean out his locker in 1995. Lex uses the forearm anyway and puts Goldberg on the floor for some boots, and back in the ring Lex works the back with devastating axehandles. But then Goldberg pops up with a slam and the crowd still doesn’t care. Spear is blocked by Lex pulling the ref in the way, so I guess that counts as two wins on Goldberg’s streak, and he hits the Jackhammer as another ref comes in and counts the pin at 5:54. What the fuck was the point of the ref bump? Luger has looked exceptionally bad in this 2000 run. DUD. On the bright side, no one interfered here at least.

WCW World title, CAGED HEAT: Booker T v. Scott Steiner

We are rapidly running out of time on this show. Look, I’m not saying Steiner could have saved the company or even made a significant difference in putting out the dumpster fire that was 2000 WCW, but he really really really should have won that belt way before he did because he was clearly the only guy fans bought as a top guy outside of Goldberg. They start brawling on the floor right away because Michael Buffer’s intro is taking forever and satellite time is precious. They fight into the ring and Scott slugs him down in the corner and hits him with chops while Stevie clarifies that he will not interfere in the match for any reason. Well that makes ONE person tonight at least. Booker with a spinkick for two, but Steiner suplexes him onto the top rope and they head back to the floor again as Scott beats on him out there a bit. Back in, Scott drops an elbow on him and does some pushups, and a backbreaker follows. Scott puts the boots to him and slugs away in the corner to set up the belly to belly for two. Scott goes to a surfboard and Booker fights out, but Scott cuts him off with a clothesline and the crowd pops big for that, clearly having picked their guy tonight. To the top for an Angle Slam, which gets two for Scott. Steiner with a bearhug and he follows with a clothesline, but Booker comes back and goes up with a missile dropkick for two. Booker goes up and tries for the straitjacket hanging in the corner, but Scott yanks him down and gets the jacket himself. Booker takes him down, however, and spends some time putting him in the jacket while Stevie yells at him to forget the stupid jacket and actually do something. So Booker hits him with a chair, but Scott rips through the straitjacket with his giant muscles, rending the entire gimmick pointless, and puts Booker in the Steiner Recliner. Booker quickly powers him into the electric chair and gently drops him on the top rope to escape, with Steiner barely taking a bump, but Scott just keeps coming with an exploder. Booker hits the Bookend, which gets two. Booker comes back with clotheslines and a neckbreaker and they do not have the crowd, and Booker gets two. Booker with the Axe kick and Spinarooni, but Steiner grabs the very chair that Booker brought into the match, and lays out Booker with that. And finally, at long last, he puts Booker in the Recliner and wins his one and only World title at 13:08. Hugely disappointing main event to a hugely disappointing show overall. **

They had some good momentum going building up to this one, but the Mike Sanders Show was too much for me and all the interference just ruined everything and made it feel like they were trying too hard on the booking. Definitely take a pass on this one.