So it is time for me to once again put on the infamous headphones and produce a show that I love. Tonight, WCW returns to TV and i am nervous as hell. I had a meeting late last night with Dusty, Vince, Randy Orton, Shane and of course Stephanie. She told me that Ken Anderon [Kennedy] would be joining the WCW roster as my third "Draft" pick from Smackdown and Lance Cade would be joining fromRaw. Both of those men were great adds to the roster.
Others were added to the roster like Andrew "Test" Martin who would be wrestling under his real name, Andrew Martin. Andrew had been being groomed to return to Raw as Test and become one of their bigger stars and even talks of being handed the WWE Championship to, but that was scrapped when he and the WWE were not able to come to an agreement on a contract renewal in later 2005. I was the one who was finally able to brocker the deal for him to come to WCW. The deal was signed in April of 2006, 3 days before his contract expired. We actually have some pretty big plans for him.
Our preshow dark match was Rey Mysterio v. a newcomer in Bobby Lashley.Fans got excited to see Rey in a match, but they were not impressed by Lashley....yet.
Nitro started out with a video package highlighting the PPV from Sunday and Alter bridge's "We Dont Care At All" plays as that is Nitro's new theme song. Jonathan Coachman welcomes everyone to the new WCW and introduces DDP as his color commentator. DDP did a great job at selling the new WCW Nitro. We are live from the Honda Center.
After many months of trying to get Vince to allow me to steal Randy from Smackdown, but it was clear to everyone that he was a huge star, but he just was not clicking on Smackdown. I knew that bringing him to Nitro and making him the top guy would do wonders for both Nitro and Orton. So i finally convinced Vince to allow the move.
So now, on the first Nitro since 2001...World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton, he is getting ready to walk through the curtains of WCW Nitro and make his debuting promo! I look at him and tell him to knock the crowd dead, and i knew he would.
I cue his music, and out he goes to a nice reaction of both cheers and boos. He walks to the ring with the WCW Championship belt that WWE had been using as the World Title and he had a huge grin on his face. He gets into the ring and lets the world know that he is the WCW World Champion. He talks about how its ironic that he is the legend killer, and now, he stands in the WCW ring with the most legendary title belt in the history of wrestling. The likes of Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Kevin Nash, and many other iconic names have held onto that belt and they have made it legendary. Randy asked the question "Does that make me legendary?".
As he is talking about being the top guy in the WCW, Kurt Angle comes out. Now, the story behind Kurt coming to WCW is really simple: He wanted an easier schedule, and WCW has much less tour dates and less demanding TV & PPV scheduling as well. So Kurt made numerous requests to make the move to WCW saying that not only can he help the brand out, he can also help the young stars that would eventually come through the brand.
Kurt came out to the ring and he talked to Orton saying that Angle was more legendary than orton can even dream of being. What has Orton really done? Did he win a gold medal? No. He goes off on an a rant and then gets to the point: He wants a shot at Orton's title. Has he makes the challenge, Stings music hits and out comes the Icon, Sting.
Sting comes out and talks about how WCW is his home, and he says that Randy is intruding in his home, and siting on his lazy boy. He says that he is the most legendary person on the WCW Roster and he deserves a shot back on top. Orton accepts both of their challenges for Great American Bash PPV as we go to a break.
In my professional opinion, the opening moments of the first Nitro was pure gold. Now, it was time for some good action. WWE had introduced the character Mordeci to Smackdown in 2004/5, but he was randomly taken off the air. Well, after months of him being in FCW, i told him that i was going to bring him to WCW. Now was his moment. He is taking on Chavo.
As Mordeci returns to the TV, the fans just stand and sit in aww. They dont know how to react to him. He is just a massive person. Chavo comes out to the ring and looks legitly affraid. These two put on a great match that had the crowd on their feet and cheering for Chavo. Mordeci won with the Crucifix Power bomb and thus was made into a star.
I cued for backstage interview of Hardcore Holly. Holly gave a passionate speech on how he's almost out of time with wrestling, and now he is here to prove to the world that he has what it takes to win the big one.
We went to a break but returned. I look at Big Kevin Nash who was right by my side waiting for the cue to go. The announcers are trying to sell the main event being Hardcore Holly v. Kurt Angle. I cued Nash's music and out went Big Sexy. The crowd popped for him as he walked down the ramp. I could see through the monitors that this was a special moment for him.
He got into the ring and he talked about the Good Ole Days being apart of the NWO and how he was the king of WCW. He said how he was happy to be back and he cant wait to reclaim that spot at the top of the mountains again...thats my cue.
My music hits and out i go. I come out and i tell him that times are different and that he will not be able to do what he did in the 90s. I also put an ultimatum on his ass by telling him that since he put on such a horrible performances at OneNight Stand, that the first loss he has, he will be fired. I also announces that next week, all three men in the Great American Bash main event will be in action. Next week, Kurt Angle wil take on Rey Mysterio; Randy Orton will take on a returning Andrew Martin, and Sting will take on CM Punk! As for Nash, Nash will be taking on this man:
Kennedy's music hit and out came the loud mouth in Kennedy. He came out to the ring as Nitro went to a break We return and we see Elijah Burke making his TV Debut. He comes out to the ring and Kennedy and Burke have an exhibition. These too put on a match of the year candidate in 10 minutes. Kennedy hit the Mic Check on Burke for the win.
As we return from the break, we play a promotional video for Bill Goldberg. It said "Who's Next..3 Weeks".
We go back to the Honda Center and we see Randy Orton making his way to the annoucne booth. He get there and he talks a bit more about how he feels about being the world champion.
Kurt Angle and Bob Holly come out and they put on a nice main event for the crowd. The crowd got really behind Hardcore Holly. It was booked as if Holly would win but Angle was able to get the ankle lock on Holly in the closing moments of the match. Angle wins the match and the show goes off the air with Orton and Angle staredown.
After the show ended, I went out there and told the crowd that Orton was not going to get off the hook that easy tonight. He will have a match against Booker T! Thats how we roll.
All and all, it was a very successful night and we got a 1.6 rating.
