Torch Newsletter back issues from five years ago and ten years ago are republished at the Torch VIP website (www.pwtorch.com/members) every week featuring full reviews of Raw, Nitro, other TV shows, and PPVs, plus the Torch cover story, WWF Newswire, WCW Newswire, ECW Newswire, ETC Newswire, "Torch Talk" interviews, columns, and more. The following is an excerpt of that feature with a full review of WWF Raw from five years ago this week.

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Torch Newsletter Archive
By Wade Keller, Torch editor
March 27, 2000 - WCW Nitro review
Originally published: Pro Wrestling Torch Weekly newsletter #596
Cover dated: April 1, 2000

2.6 overall; 2.2 head-to-head w/Raw; 10 wk. avg.=2.3; 5 wk. avg.=2.2

(Live from South Padre Island, Tex.)... [Qi]... Tony Schiavone and Mark Madden introduced the program... Gene Okerlund attempted to introduce Dallas Page, but Kimberly came out and introduced him instead. Page talked about his back injury and then talked about his movie and his desire to return and be the hardest working three-time WCW Champion. Jeff Jarrett interrupted and said he would crash Page's party... Tony Schiavone announced that Brad Siegel, president of Turner Home Entertainment, had rehired Eric Bischoff. Schiavone said Siegel also wants to bring Vince Russo back, but Russo has yet to agree to return to work with Bischoff... Paisley and The Artist showed up as "three nobodies" talked backstage. She offered Mike Modest a Cruiserweight Title shot... Jeff Jarrett dragged Scott Steiner away from a pool with three women in bikinis... [C]...

[Qii]... Okerlund interviewed Booker about his match against a Harris Boy later... (1) Michael Modest pinned The Artist (w/Paisley) in a non-title match. The finish came when Artist knocked Paisley off the ring apron by accident into Chris Candido and Chavo Guerrero Jr. who were fighting at ringside... Okerlund interviewed the Harrises... A Spring Break video aired with scenes of WCW wrestlers partying...As Hogan and Jimmy Hart entered the arena, Vampiro called then aside. He told them somebody had taken out a $500,000 bounty on his head... (2) Big Ron Harris (w/Big D) pinned Booker at 1:40 after a Harris double-team. Harlem Heat attacked Booker afterward... [C]...

[Qiii]... Okerlund interviewed Hulk Hogan. Hogan thanked Vampiro for looking out for him and said he is going to be one of the next great stars. He said he didn't think Sid would show his face, but if he did he would be glad to take him on later. Wall showed up on the roof of a hotel threatening to chokeslam Hogan 15 stories to the ground. Hogan told Wall to bring it to the ring... [C]...

[Qiv]... (3) The Young Dragons beat Disco Inferno & The Mamalukes when Disco got pinned at 4:40...Schiavone announced during the match that he had been told Russo had agreed to work with Bischoff.

[Q1]... Madden and Schiavone continued to talk about how amazed they were that Bischoff and Russo would work together, highlighting differences such as how they use women differently and Hogan differently... (4) Sting & Vampiro beat Ric Flair & Lex Luger (w/Elizabeth) when Sting pinned Luger at 5:29. Flair and Vampiro fought in the ring while Sting and Luger had a food fight by the hotel pool. Sting and Luger then fought to the beach. Liz hit Sting from behind with her shoe. Madden complained that a serious athlete such as Luger shouldn't be covered in ketchup, mustard, sour cream, and salsa. Sting piledrove Luger in the water and ref Charles Robinson counted a pin. The camera rarely showed Flair and Vamp in the ring... An announcer asked Booker what he thought of Russo and Bischoff coming back. Booker said he should ask one of the ass-kissers in the back because he doesn't care. He looked at the camera and said, "Just do your jobs, okay?" Good promo... [C]... Okerlund interviewed Terry Funk...

[Q2]... (5) Meng pinned La Parka at 0:54. Tank Abbott came to ringside, but Fit Finlay brawled with him before he confront Meng... Buff asked out two women in a pool. Scott saw it and vowed to go after Buff because those were his women... Finlay endorsed the return of Bischoff and Russo... [C]...

[Q3]... A "Ready to Rumble" music video aired... A Wall montage aired... (6) Hugh Morrus fought Terry Funk to a no contest at 4:50 when Dustin Rhodes attacked both wrestlers and the ref with a chair... Backstage Prince Iaukea said he thought Russo and Bischoff were going to run WCW into the ground. He then smiled and said "some of the boy" put him up to that. He said Vince gave him good opportunity last year and Bischoff is a visionary...

[Q4]... [C]... Okerlund interviewed Hogan again... (7) Scott Steiner & Jeff Jarrett beat Curt Hennig & Buff Bagwell at 4:28 when Scott put Hennig out with the Steiner recliner. Jarrett hit Hennig with the guitar leading to the finish. The NWO Girls checked on Buff at ringside when he sold an injured neck... [C]...

[Q5]... (8) The Wall beat Hulk Hogan at 4:40 via DQ when Vampiro interfered. A typical Hogan match until Wall stood up from the Hogan legdrop. Vampiro ran out to help Hogan. They knocked Wall off the ring apron through a table. Wall got up and yelled at them as the show ended... [WK]

COMMENTARY

•The outdoor beach setting added energy to Nitro that hasn't existed in a long time. Had this show been in another carbon copy arena setting, it might have been unbearable.

•What's with Mark Madden's "Big Gay Al" shirt?

•Why is it so hard for Dallas Page to believe that people—even wrestling fans—aren't as interested as he is in the details of his own life and the stars he is rubbing elbows with? A minute into his interview he just started dying with the crowd because it was obvious to everyone he was just a bit too interested in talking about himself.

•Best crowd signs: "I'd rather be at Raw," "I'm only here because it's free."

•When people rip on Ric Flair's flabby body being an embarrassment to the younger stars, do those people (including Scott Steiner) realize Flair's body has always had flabby skin even during his prime? His body was never the reason he was over.

•Meng's current afro hairstyle (or lack there of) is one of the funniest visuals on TV today.

•Madden called Scott Steiner a "human suplex machine." Tazz is going to lose sleep over that one. Seriously, Tazz will lose sleep because Madden said that. "He's stealing my gimmick, brotha!"

•The commentary between Schiavone and Madden was the highlight of the program. They did a good job not killing off their credibility by completely ripping into what WCW had been offering in recent months, yet definitely acknowledged the last six or twelve months have not been highlight reel material. Madden: "It's time to regroup and reload." Schiavone: "Next week we'll take a look back at what has worked and what hasn't... I can only imagine what is going to go on behind closed doors between now and April 10."

•It was funny when Madden said Bischoff and Russo would be a main event on any Nitro and Schiavone quickly chimed in to clarify that those two would not be wrestling each other. Thanks, Tony.

•Watching Hogan vs. Wall in the main event, it was not hard to be excited about the new creative team coming in. I mean, Hogan vs. Wall is what the previous administration was hoping to build toward for a PPV main event this summer. That might have been enough to get me to skip a WCW PPV. Then again, Russo thought Buff Bagwell was the hottest young babyface prospect in WCW when he first jumped, not realizing there are very few guys who would be willing to cheer the obliviously geeky Buff character, so with Bischoff's allegiance to Hogan and Russo's allegiance to "young stars like Wall" (which Schiavone said during the match), maybe we'll be looking at this match sometime this summer on PPV after all. Now I'm depressed after all.

•The main event had an intriguing ending in that Hogan didn't beat Wall clean. You can read into that and say that Hogan won't get his way anymore. Or, it could mean Bischoff and Russo are saving Wall vs. Hogan for a possible feud later and want to protect Wall. In any case, the predictable legdrop and one-two-three didn't occur. That is good. If Hogan thinks that by letting Wall kick out of his legdrop, he is putting over the young guys, he doesn't realize that people have to care about his legdrop in the first place for it to help the young guy getting up after it.

•1–10 Score (4.0): Neither Bischoff nor Russo made on-air appearances and the action in the ring turned out to be not much more than a backdrop for the build-up of the all-new WCW in two weeks. The show accomplished it's goal pretty well, which is to set the stage for Apr. 10 and build anticipation. The backstage interviews with the various wrestlers asking their impression of Bischoff and Russo returning was a nice touch. They key for Russo and Bischoff is to work as hard at getting others over as they do getting themselves over. They may be able to depend on themselves more than anyone else, but for WCW to climb out of the grave it's dug for itself, actual wrestlers need to capture fans' attention, too. Outside of the Russo-Bischoff talk, there wasn't a lot to the show, but there were a few little things that were better than usual. Hogan had more to say than usual (perhaps Russo helped him on that). The Wall standing on the roof of the hotel made for a nice visual (the WWF was into that with the monster trucks, etc. during Raw's rise). The upset with Mike Modest made it seem like anybody can win anytime. More of that type of booking is good. That said, Hogan vs. Wall was still the main event and it reeked. [WK]

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