WCW: Here Comes The Money

[Looking Glass]

Alright folks, I got the "front page" up and running: https://wrestlingsmarks.com/threads/wcw-here-comes-the-money.229438/post-5505119

Not gonna lie, I thought this was a new episode BUT....I am a fan of those headers.

 

[Hoss]

SEPTEMBER 2001

Forging A Path Forward

Rolling off of a successful first Collision Course pay-per-view, where they proved “the new WCW” was still king in the Carolinas by selling out the storied Greensboro Coliseum, Shane and co. turned their focus towards promoting another new pay-per-view concept simply named: Domination.

A very straightforward name, right to the point and evoking imagery of… well… dominance. Shane’s WCW was beginning to build something of a hot streak but certainly could not claim dominance in the broader wrestling landscape while the World Wrestling Federation continued their historic run of Attitude-fueled supremacy. And perhaps somewhat ironically, the build to the inaugural Domination would expose what many felt was a lack of depth within the relaunched company’s roster. Over the last three months, Shane had relied on the established star power of Diamond Dallas Page, Booker T, Rob Van Dam and (to a lesser extent) Kanyon to buoy the main events of his PPVs. In the month of September, he would turn to a less established, but very promising star, to step up and be the first challenger for Page’s World Championship, drawing mixed reactions from critics in the process.

The challenger in question would be the enigmatic Sean O’Haire.

The origins of this title match began on the Ignition following Collision Course, where DDP and Kanyon would open the show with a braggadocious promo, something which had become a calling card for Ignition. The show would begin most weeks with a fairly lengthy promo featuring one of the more reliable mic workers, and would typically set up a future match, sometimes even that night’s main event.

In this instance, Page waltzed out with his newly won World Heavyweight Championship, chiefing a big ol’ cigar in something of a throwback to his mid-90s heel persona. After some general heelishness, he and Kanyon were confronted by O’Haire and Palumbo, who had just recently won back their World Tag Team belts. Some words were exchanged, with O’Haire proving able to hold his own on the stick, and a tag match was set up for the following week. To add just a bit of fuel to the fire, that week’s Ignition would end with a segment where Page and Kanyon were walking to their limo, only to find it completely destroyed by O’Haire and Palumbo.

The next week, the reigning Tag Team Champions shocked the world by defeating Kanyon and Diamond Dallas Page in a tag team match, with O’Haire securing the O’Connor Roll to steal a pinfall victory on the newly minted World Heavyweight Champion. Of course, this was a highly divisive call, but a calculated risk by Shane McMahon nonetheless. The pinfall was technically clean, but still was so sudden that Page could spin it as a fluke. With this win, Shane McMahon crowned Sean O’Haire the number one contender for WCW’s grandest prize at Domination. Ramping up to the big match, O’Haire was given promo time to show off his smoldering charisma, and though he wasn’t a “blow you away” level promo, he certainly possessed a certain edge that indicated he could be a star in the making. Plus, he was being presented with a very unbothered, devil may care attitude that simply came across as cool, especially in opposition to the aging heel Diamond Dallas Page, who emanated a need to be acknowledged. In looking to add some extra heat to the showdown, Page and Kanyon would also jump Palumbo backstage to send a message to O’Haire, and then O’Haire beat Kanyon in the main event of the go-home Ignition, only to be laid out with a Diamond Cutter as the final image before the PPV.

Palumbo meanwhile would find himself in the hunt for the United States Championship at Domination.

After another controversial outcome at Collision Course, Hugh Morrus was livid and demanded answers from Shane McMahon in regards to the continual involvement of Cyrus in Steve Corino’s bouts. Looking to be transparent, McMahon admitted to Morrus that Cyrus was hired at the behest of FX executives, with whom Cyrus had a working relationship.

Ostensibly, Cyrus was brought in to “keep an eye on things” for FX, who were tenuous about bringing WCW to their network after all the turmoil of the last couple years. Naturally, Morrus did not take this news well. However, Shane assured Morrus that Cyrus would not be allowed to continue to get away with his dirty deeds, and decided to book a fatal fourway to determine who would face Corino at the pay-per-view. To the surprise of many, Chuck Palumbo would defeat Morrus, Lash LeRoux and Shawn Stasiak to earn the title shot, nearly sending Morrus over the edge. While his beef with Morrus was put on the back-burner, “The King of Old School" would cut an acerbic promo towards Palumbo on the go-home episode of Ignition, where he mocked Palumbo over being beat down by DDP and Kanyon. While Sean O’Haire was given a platform to show off his charisma, Palumbo was a man of few words. He would leave Corino sprawled out with a superkick, as he posed with the US Title to send their rivalry into the PPV.

The “featured bout” on the undercard would be a number one contender’s match between two fast-rising stars in Rob Van Dam and Billy Kidman. Finding themselves “between feuds” so to speak, Shane was not the least bit interested in having the two men miss the pay-per-view, and therefore gave them a friendly but highly competitive feud against each other to lead up to Domination. Both men would put the other over in promos, while stating their objective to become World Heavyweight Champion. In the meantime, the two men only wrestled one match in the build to Domination, in which they teamed together to defeat the obnoxious boy band duo known as Double Dare.

On the subject of obnoxious tag teams, ex-Tag Champs Team Canada came out on the Ignition following Collision Course to state their intent to recuperate and become stronger than ever, announcing plans to expand their ranks. Though he was never very likable to begin with, Lance Storm was becoming particularly unbearable. His promos were often filled with incessant complaining about the state of wrestling and a perceived lack of respect being shown towards himself and his homeland of Canada. Several vignettes would air on Ignition with Lance Storm and Mike Awesome visiting wrestling schools and independent shows to scout for talent, only for Lance to ultimately conclude that none of the young talent met his standard. There was no indication of a match for them leading to Domination, but the seeds were being planted here for a story with a more long term goal in mind.

Two groups who were not having any problems expanding were The Mamalukes and Dawn Marie’s Simply Sensational, who were entrenched in an ongoing rivalry ever since WCW’s initial relaunch at The Great American Bash. With The Mamalukes fully reunited, as Tony Marinara brought Big Vito back to join himself and Johnny The Bull, Dawn Marie was eager to split their family up by offering to manage Big Vito if he aligned with Simply Sensational. As he continued to ponder the offer over the weeks, Dawn Marie gave him an ultimatum to answer by the first Ignition after Collision Course, or there would be a price to pay. When that show rolled around and Big Vito had yet to accept the offer, Dawn put her plan into motion to stick it to The Mamalukes, dispatching the Jung Dragons to mangle Johnny The Bull after a match against Shawn Stasiak. Apparently if she couldn’t persuade Big Vito to join the ranks of Simply Sensational, she had the Jung Dragons waiting in the wings to give her group a numbers advantage over the Italian trio. While Dawn was able to briefly enjoy the handy work of her mercenaries Jimmy Yang and Kaz Hayashi, she and her goons were in for a rude awakening, when Tony Marinara declared that The Mamalukes had backup coming, and challenged Simply Sensational and the Jung Dragons to a huge 8-man tag match at Domination. On the go-home edition of Ignition, the fourth member of The Mamalukes would be revealed to be an ally that Tony Marinara had picked up during his stint in ECW: none other than the face of The FBI, Little Guido Maritato!

Another rivalry that had been stewing for some time began to gain some extra steam as the issues between Mike Sanders, Jamie Knoble and Alicia Webb persisted. Apparently none-too-pleased that Jamie Knoble got a match on pay-per-view, “Above Average” Mike Sanders went to Shane McMahon’s office to levy a complaint. Shane decided it was time for the two of them to hash things out in the ring and decided to book Sanders vs. Knoble in a match where the winner would become number one contender for “Sugar” Shane Helms’ Cruiserweight Title. However, it couldn’t be so simple, and tensions would continue to escalate with the two men having a heated confrontation in front of Alicia, the object of both men’s desires. Ultimately, Knoble defeated Sanders to get the title shot and seemingly impress WCW’s backstage interviewer. He even followed this up by teaming with Air Raid to defeat Sanders, Romeo and Skipper in a six man tag match the following week.

That same week on Ignition, Shane Helms defeated Naomichi Marufuji in a defense of his Cruiserweight Title. This would be the first, but far from the last, time that a NOAH-contracted talent appeared in WCW. The deal was struck shortly after Shane McMahon gained control of WCW for the two companies to exchange talents. It would be a constructive deal for both companies as the young company that NOAH was, was looking to gain more exposure stateside to help attain the same kind of name recognition that the well-established New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling had. Meanwhile, the young stars of NOAH would help bolster the still-forming WCW roster from time to time, being able to be slotted in as special attractions in such situations as this. Shane was happy to send some of his bigger stars across the Pacific to compete with the high-caliber talent of NOAH in order to get some prodigious young talent back in exchange. Though he hoped to eventually be able to secure some appearances from stalwarts such as Kenta Kobashi, Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa himself, he would happily accept an exciting young lion such as Naomichi Marufuji in the meantime.

The following week, Naomichi Marifuji wrestled for a second week in a row, forming an unexpected team with Mike Sanders, as the two men fell to number one contender Jamie Knoble and the champion Shane Helms in a tag team match. Though he left the states going 0-2, Marufuji made a great impression on the fans of WCW and set the WCW/NOAH partnership off on the right foot. One man who couldn’t have cared less about Marufuji and NOAH in that moment was Jamie Knoble, who was facing mounting frustration with Sanders as he continued to be a thorn in his side, complicating his desired relationship with Alicia Webb. After Knoble and Helms defeated Marufuji and Sanders, Knoble sought to deal out more punishment on Sanders, but things quickly spiraled as Helms tried to get him to contain his rage, only to be met with a Tiger Driver from Knoble for his troubles. Realizing he had let his emotions overtake him, Knoble clearly displayed a conflicted expression over his attack on Helms. Though he would have to battle Helms at the pay-per-view, with the opportunity to become a champion hanging into balance, his recent change of heart that had led to him becoming a babyface meant that this act of violence weighed heavily on his conscience, only adding to the stress he was under due to Sanders.

Elsewhere in the cruiserweight division, Chavo Guerrero Jr. would take up a crusade to prove to everyone that he was above all other luchadors. Refusing to accept his loss to Juvi at Collision Course, Chavo and “The Juice” would have a rematch on the Ignition following Collision Course, a lucha libre-style two-out-of-three falls match which would actually main event the show to the surprise of many. Chavo did manage to avenge his loss to Juvi, and promptly followed this up by beginning an “open challenge”, which would feature on Ignition throughout the rest of the month. In each case, Chavo would take on and easily defeat a generic luchador that supposedly hailed from the city that WCW was visiting that week. Chavo would be happy to announce to the world that he was bringing his open challenge to pay-per-view at Domination, with many anticipating who would step up to face Chavo, with the belief that bringing such a gimmick to pay-per-view must have been a set-up for a big reveal. The validity of this belief would be put to the test at Domination.

Rounding out the undercard action for the month were some lowkey feuds, one of which would surprisingly extend over several months, and one which was simply a quick means to an end.

The first minor feud was a fairly straightforward beef between “The Ragin’ Cajun” Lash LeRoux and “The Reflection of Perfection” Mark Jindrak. On an episode of Ignition originating from Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans, Jindrak cut a pre-match promo lamenting having to face the hometown hero LeRoux… only the then lose to LeRoux. Weeks later, Mark admitted he may have underestimated LeRoux, and challenged to a rematch at Domination.

The second storyline wouldn’t make it to pay-per-view, and would see Fit Finlay defeat Kwee Wee on Ignition, after which he cut a backstage promo accusing the young guys in WCW of expecting everything to be handed to them. The grizzled veteran felt it was a rite of passage for any up-and-comer to defeat him in order to prove their worth as a wrestler. One such man who would take exception with this line of thinking was the cocky young hotshot Kid Kash, who had debuted the prior month as part of the mini-tournament for the Cruiserweight Title shot, and had been mostly quiet ever since. Kash slammed Finlay as being audacious, feeling he had little room to posture himself as a gatekeeper considering his recent loss to Jindrak at Collision Course. The two men met in a match on Ignition where Kash would indeed defeat Finlay. It would turn out this would wrap up, for the time being, this rather brief feud, which apparently was meant to mainly serve the purpose of giving Kash a slight rub going forward.

Notably absent in the run-up to Domination was former World Heavyweight Champion Booker T. His absence was missed by some, who thought he was desperately needed to cover up for the lack of depth at the top of the card. No explanation was given as to why he was M.I.A. for the month, with the commentators never seeming to broach the subject. Online, speculation of his absence ranged from injury to quitting WCW, neither of which would actually be the case. In fact, Booker was deliberately kept off screen to prepare him for a major storyline that would play out throughout the remainder of the year. And as far as Shane McMahon was concerned, he was happy to have people questioning Booker’s whereabouts, as it would be just one more talking point to keep fans on their toes. While some people thought Booker left a large void on the programming, it was seen internally as a calculated risk to let some of the rising stars get their first crack at filling roles that had been occupied by well-worn performers in recent times. A risk that would yield mostly promising results.

Domination 2001

Date: Sunday, Week 4, September 2001
Venue: Freeman Coliseum
Location: San Antonio, Texas (Mid South)
Attendance: 10,805
Buy Rate: 2.72
Theme Song: “Domination” - Pantera

​

Hailing from the Lone Stone State and utilizing a song by Texas’ own Pantera - a song which was the namesake of the pay-per-view no less - the inaugural Domination certainly felt like it encapsulated the gritty essence that the state was known for. Especially in comparison to Shane McMahon’s three previous pay-per-view endeavors, Domination felt particularly scrappy, featuring a number of unestablished stars determined to make a name for themselves. Whereas prior shows arguably aimed for the sports entertainment-y splendor that WCW had cultivated throughout the late 90s, especially after the acquisition of big stars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Outsiders, Domination was definitely rougher around the edges. It summoned to mind comparisons to early 90s WCW offerings that possessed a certain ruggedness. To some, it even felt ECW-like, both due to the roughness and due to the attempt to get maximum production out of a somewhat limited roster. The pay-per-view would even boast one of the most minimal sets seen in WCW in years, with just a large clenched fist shooting out of the ground that the wrestlers would enter through, and a single ovular video screen offset to the left. As would later be revealed by Shane McMahon, this was apparently all by design, as he sought to subtly “brand” the new pay-per-views he was introducing, and it was his intent to make Domination one of the more “smashmouth” nights of the year for WCW.

Though the undercard was mostly populated by matches that featured talent that were, let’s just say, not the most over of acts… the fans were treated to the surprise return of Booker T early in the show to hook their interest.

After the opening bout where Mark Jindrak got his win back over Lash LeRoux and cut his hair in a scornful act of vengeance, Shawn Stasiak made his way out to the ring along with Stacy Keibler to call out Booker T over his absence the previous month. It was the first time Booker’s absence had been addressed, and contrary to some of the rumors that had been going around, Booker was in fact still very much signed to WCW, healthy and ready to rumble. As Stasiak went through some of his usual spiel, Booker’s music suddenly hit to a triumphant pop from the crowd. The Texas-native came out like a house of fire to defeat Stasiak quickly in an impromptu match. Later in the night, Booker would speak to his absence during an interview with Alicia Webb, where he dispelled all the rumors swirling about him, proclaiming that he simply stepped away after his loss to Diamond Dallas Page in order to recharge and refocus.

Additional matches on the undercard would see the team of TAKA Michinoku and Juventud Guerrera defeating Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo in a bonus match, after which Team Canada came out to lament their trouble finding new members to add to their group, only to be jumped by all four of the men who competed in the previous match… The Mamalukes prevailing over their bitter rivals Simply Sensational and The Jung Dragons in an eight-man tag match, which would be Little Gudio Maritato’s WCW debut… and Chavo Guerrero Jr. beating a masked luchador billed as La Flecha as part of his ongoing lucha libre open challenge, which was met with a fair amount of apathy from the crowd who were expecting something more than another squash match for the pay-per-view.

The night’s first title match was between “Sugar” Shane Helms and Jamie Knoble. Though Helms was firmly in the midst of a big babyface run, Knoble's ongoing romance angle with Alicia was earning him a groundswell of support, leading to this match having a bit of a split audience. Earlier in the night, Knoble’s romantic aspirations hit a major speed bump when he and Mike Sanders once again got into a confrontation backstage that nearly turned violent, causing Alicia to declare she wanted nothing to do with either man before storming off. Making matters worse for Knoble, he would drop the match to Helms, succumbing to The Vertebreaker. After the match, Knoble's mounting troubles got the best of him, leading him to trash the ringside area in a fit of rage, as Sanders watched backstage wearing a huge smirk.

The following title match pitted reigning WCW World Tag Team Champion Chuck Palumbo against defending WCW United States Champion “The King of Old School” Steve Corino. Of the two reigning tag champs, Palumbo had notably less steam, but that didn’t stop him from being an overwhelming fan favorite against Corino. The big heavyweight gave Corino all he could handle, despite his experience disadvantage, which allowed Corino’s craftiness to keep him in the game. Corino would defend his title in the end when Cyrus blatantly pulled Corino out of the way of a spear by Palumbo that sent Palumbo careening into the barricade. The other commentators were disgusted by the action, with Cyrus claiming he was only trying to make sure Corino didn’t trip over some wiring. Corino took Palumbo back into the ring and hit the Old School Expulsion for the win. As Corino celebrated his title defense in the ring, someone in a large coat suddenly jumped the barricade and began throttling Cyrus at the announce desk. It was none other than Hugh Morrus, fed up with Cyrus’ continual interferences, getting his revenge. Morrus was able to land a good few shots on Cyrus before security swarmed once more. This time, Morrus was prepared to go down swinging, pulling a pipe out of his jacket and going to town on the security guards. The scene was complete pandemonium and required a unit of police officers to swarm the ringside area to subdue and ultimately arrest Morrus! As Morrus was being dragged out of the vicinity, a beet-red Cyrus screamed very loudly that he was going to take every penny that Morrus had to his name.

After this rather dramatic post-match angle, the semi-main event was no “cool down” bout. Quite contrary, it was a dynamic spotfest between Rob Van Dam and Billy Kidman for a World Heavyweight Championship shot, where RVD would prevail with the Five Star Frog Splash. Afterwards, the two talented high flyers shared a handshake, after which Kidman told Van Dam to “go get it done”.

Closing out the show was the clash between Diamond Dallas Page and Sean O’Haire for the World Heavyweight Championship. In a final ditch effort to get a leg up, DDP dispatched Kanyon to blindside O’Haire earlier in the night. However, O’Haire was ready for the attempted ambush and left Kanyon laid out instead. Though it was easy for pundits to say that O’Haire was never seen as a viable threat to DDP’s reign, the match certainly managed to inspire some hope from the live crowd who bit on several nearfalls from O’Haire. Unsurprisingly, Kanyon made his presence felt once more, running out and jumping on the apron to cause a distraction. Thankfully for O’Haire, he had his own backup. Chuck Palumbo hit the scene and dispatched Kanyon, brawling all the way to the back with him. While O’Haire continued to give DDP a run for his money, he would ultimately fall to the Diamond Cutter, countered out of a fireman’s carry. As the show went off air, DDP posed on the corner with his title, much to the dismay of the San Antonio crowd.

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Quick Results

Dark Match
James Storm and Chris Harris def. Vinnie Valentino and Hotstuff Hernandez
(37)

Dark Match
Kanyon def. Jason Jett
(62)

Mark Jindrak def. Lash LeRoux
(24)

Booker T def. Shawn Stasiak
(69)

TAKA Michinoku and Juventud Guerrera def. Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo
(54)

Chavo Guerrero Jr. def. La Flecha
(46)

WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Shane Helms © def. Jamie Knoble
(52)

The Mamalukes def. Simply Sensational and The Jung Dragons
(44)

WCW United States Championship
Steve Corino © def. Chuck Palumbo
(57)

Rob Van Dam def. Billy Kidman
(66)

WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Diamond Dallas Page © def. Sean O’Haire
(71)

Show Rating: 67

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In hindsight, Domination could be viewed as a pretty substantial pay-per-view in the early relaunch of WCW. Though it was labeled as more of a throwaway event than those in the month prior, and was even criticized by some as a sign that WCW’s current roster didn’t have a sustainable amount of star power at the top of the card, it would in the long run prove to be a crucial night in the establishment of some of Shane McMahon’s long term projects. It was undeniable that from a purely numbers perspective, the event did the worst business yet for Shane’s WCW, but in reality that didn’t come as a surprise to the new owner.

He was pleased with what he saw from the likes of Sean O’Haire, Chuck Palumbo, The Mamalukes and others. At the same time, he saw quite clearly that the likes of Mark Jindrak and Lash LeRoux had a long road in front of them to develop into anything that could be seen as useful. But, Shane had to work with what he had and felt that if he stuck to his guns and continued to develop the characters of his lesser stars, even they could potentially grow into bankable members of the roster. After all, Jamie Knoble was already starting to show how the right story could quickly get an otherwise inconsequential member of the roster over and poised for future success.

Though the complaints about WCW’s lack of depth were valid, and could not so easily be shrugged off considering the drop in pay-per-view buys, no matter how Shane tried to rationalize things - the company and its owner had reason to remain calm under this pressure. Soon, reinforcements would be arriving that would quickly bolster the top of the card in WCW. Acts that would play a substantial role in the build towards WCW’s biggest event of Starrcade in December. The road to which would symbolically begin with next month’s pay-per-view, Halloween Havoc. Just when fans started to feel like a status quo was being established in “the new WCW”, some major ripples were about to be sent throughout the promotion…

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[DTP]

WCW Domination 2001: Sunday, Week 4, September 2001

You've done some very interesting things from a quick glimpse. I like the abridged set-up you have here with the summarised build followed by pay-per-views. It's a nice and easy formula that no doubt works in your favour.
Handling Shane McMahon's WCW is no easy feat, when you consider all the machinations of the product that was the WWF buyout in 2001, as well as the dying out of the Monday Night Wars-influenced boom period. That said, I like what you've been able to establish here. Your roster oddly blends some of the green guys courtesy of WCW 2000 with those that would eventually go on to great things in NWA:TNA, as well as MLW. I'm a big fan of you using Steve Corino, particularly. It's so baffling to me the WWF passed up on him after ECW folded. The guy was clearly in for a big 2001 before WCW and ECW went away.

You have done some extreme building of Sean O'Haire, which may be the shot in the arm the company needed, in all honesty. Fresh meat like him in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship picture unquestionably would have helped the company in its' blossoming months as an independent product, but I have to question how a match with he and Diamond Dallas Page would have drawn in such a situation. Similar could be said with Rob Van Dam and Billy Kidman working in the semi-main, though RVD will undoubtedly become a big feature in the company in the coming months I would suspect.

This all said, I think the ground work is absolutely here. I'd be very interested in seeing how things progress to a point we arrive in 2002, and how the landscape of the main event scene will evolve in a company without Sting, Goldberg or Scott Steiner. I think there is definite place for any one of them in this incarnation of WCW, but obviously the situation with Time Warner has complicated matters and I imagine WWF will want some of those guys for themselves.