Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Match # 136: DDP vs. Mike Awesome (Stretcher Match) (Nitro 5/8/00)

Awesome was fun when Paul Heyman booked him as a big man in the later years of ECW, but he was hiding a lot of flaws. I don’t remember his WCW run being much fun past a lame Russo gimmick of “That 70s Guy”, but hey, DDP always worked his ass off. I wish there was Triad (DDP, Bigelow, and Kanyon) stuff on the comp, but hey, this is somebody else’s best of compilation.

Eric Bischoff is already back from being fired, so we’re into the Russo/Bish era where they were all over TV and we had Millionaires versus “New Blood”. Bisch booked himself to be with the very beautiful Kim Page, once again proving pro wrestling books real divorces. There out to heel him on commentary. Awesome comes out with a stretcher. The set looks so silly and overly bright. The only cool this is the elevated walkway to the ring. This era of Nitro is really hard to watch.

This match is a full of brawling, so it hides some inherent weaknesses and up excitement levels. Both guys go hard thankfully, and even though DDP isn’t Masato Tanaka, he does well leading this match through the paces. It’s ugly or mistimed periodically, but there’s some great spots like a urinagi (spelling?) suplex by Page. Page goes for his clothesline, which is good, about 20 times in the first three minutes, and when it hits it’s pretty great. His head scissors – not so much. This is a total Page match for better or worse. It gets ugly around the time Kim Page goes up on the apron to get her divorce papers signed. Lots of ugly, yet unsafe, chair shots. Fans are hot for the hardcore stuff. It’s the era. Awesome sends Page through a table without even a tease, then Bisch makes an unconscious Page sign the divorce papers by moving his hand. I HATE this match. They wheel Page out and he loses in six minutes. Worst. Match. Ever. 1 star and 1/10.