For the 20th anniversary of WCW Souled Out 2000, we head Into the Vault to see if nostalgia saved this show or if it’s still as poorly received as it was then. Let’s go!
Skip These Matches
Wow, where to begin? Kidman against Malenko? Skip. Both were really good during the 90s and actually into the early 00s but this match doesn’t do them justice. Of course, Kidman had a match later on the show which makes up for the shortness.
Or does it? Honestly, this match could’ve been left off or ran on TV. Whatever. It’s part of a three-match series where Kidman faces off against three guys. It’s not a very good series and they should’ve run it on TV.
You could skip David Flair and Crowbar against Vampiro. I was a big Vampiro fan and came to appreciate Crowbar after seeing his indy work after WCW closed. This was a match that could’ve been put on Thunder.
Same with Vito and Johnny the Bull against the Harris Brothers. Actually, this was a Saturday Night or WCW Pro match on the first PPV of the year. Top-notch. Madusa vs. Oklaho—next. Booker T against Stevie Ray? Skip this one as well. It would’ve probably been dope two or three years prior but Harlem Heat was still in effect.
Oof. Tank Abbott against Jerry Flynn. Oof. Skip the Caged Heat match with Kidman vs. The Wall. That’s all of the Kidman matches except for one.
You Can Probably Skip These
DDP taking on Buff Bagwell in a last man standing bout was solid but skippable. You can kind of see that Bagwell isn’t an entirely bad wrestler. Basic, yes. Bad, not really. DDP can work with basic.
You could check out the other hardcore match with Nash against Funk for the commissioner’s position. For some reason, when Nash was WCW he did better in matches where there weren’t the highest stakes. Even by this point, he wasn’t bad on the outside. Funk is Funk. He’s great in-ring or out regardless of the decade. Still, this was a match you could skip.
The four-way match for the WCW Hardcore title was short but fun. WCW did some fun hardcore matches. Kidman against Saturn wasn’t bad at all. It had some time to it so this really came off as Kidman’s hardest-fought challenge if you don’t factor in being exhausted and facing The Wall.
Crispen Wah came out as a substitute for an injured Bret Hart in the main event. Yes, the WCW World Heavyweight championship would no longer be vacant as Chris Benoit took on “The Millennium Man” Sid Vicious. Now I know Sid was never good but I marked hard for him. Marked hard for Benoit after the Best of series against Booker T.
This particular match wasn’t a PPV-quality bout to end the show. Like most of Souled Out 2000, this could’ve been on Nitro.
Verdict for WCW Souled Out 2000
There aren’t many matches on this show. Ten to twelve is about average for a WCW show. The question is why is there so much skippable stuff? Actually, the answer is just “late 90s-00 WCW.” All of this could’ve been booked for Nitro, Thunder, or Saturday Night and you would’ve missed nothing. It’s still one of the worst PPVs ever and is shown on loop with the Legends of Wrestling PPV in mark hell.
RATING: 3/10
