31 Days of Vince Russo "Special Matches" in 1999/2000 WCW - #9: 4-Way Tag Team Caged Heat Match (The Filthy Animals vs. MIA vs. The Perfect Event vs. Jindrak/O'Haire on the 7-24-2000 episode of Nitro
The 9th entry features The Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio Jr & Juventud Guerrera), Misfits in Action (Gen. Rection & Corp. Cajun), The Perfect Event (Stasiak and Palumbo), and Mark Jindrak/Sean O'Haire in the 4-Way Tag Team Caged Heat Match from the 7-24-2000 episode of Nitro.
The link to the video can be on the WWE Network here, starting at the 1:15:36 mark.
On the July 24, 2000 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, this match was booked with the teams of The Filthy Animals, Misfits in Action, The Perfect Event, and Jindrak/O'Haire. The Caged Heat cage is essentially WCW's copycat of the WWE's Hell in a Cell cage.
According to Tony Schiavone, "the one team that does not escape (or is left in the ring) will be eliminated and will not go on to the Tag Team Title Match at New Blood Rising". So, in this Caged Heat Match, the first three teams that escape the cage will stay in the Tag Team Title Match at New Blood Rising. You qualify for that match if you just walk out of the cage. Got it?
Before I get into the match itself, here’s some brief context:
A four-corners match for the WCW World Tag Team Titles was signed for the New Blood Rising PPV coming up on August 13, 2000. The match was originally booked to include the WCW World Tag Team Champions Kronik (Adams & Clark), Misfits in Action, The Perfect Event, and Mark Jindrak/Sean O'Haire. The Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Juventud Guerrera) were not included in this match.
Also at this time, the Filthy Animals are still feuding with the Misfits in Action. This is what the majority of the match will be focused on.
This match was booked to seemingly give the Filthy Animals an opportunity to get into the Tag Team Title match at New Blood Rising. Such an important match with so much at stake for these four tag teams was given exactly...zero build whatsoever on this program. There was no build, no storyline, no mention of the match, nor even any mention of the cage itself until the cage started lowering from the ceiling and Tony Schiavone said here's the next match.
Now, onto the match itself.
The Filthy Animals (Rey, Juvi, Konnan, and Tygress) walk down the entrance ramp. The Perfect Event, MIA, and Jindrak/O'Haire make their respective entrances. Konnan and Tygress join the announcer's table as guest commentators.
On a slight tangent, the sex tape mentioned near the beginning of this match is the Billy Kidman/Torrie Wilson sex tape which aired in the segment before this match. This is part of the build to next week's Viagra on a Pole Match (That match will be included on this 31-day list. I promise to talk more about that match and the buildup to it later this month).
Back to the match...the match starts with all four tag teams inside the cage. Konnan says on commentary, "This is Mexican strategy, higher learning. We know what we are doing. It doesn't make sense right now maybe, but at the end it will." Spoiler alert: It doesn't.
Rey and Juvi are hiding in one corner while the other six wrestlers are fighting at ringside near the escape door. Again, the purpose of this match is to escape the cage. You want to escape the cage. About two minutes into the match, Rey and Juvi throw Mark Jindrak and Sean O'Haire out of the cage. Rey and Juvi are literally two feet away from the door and can escape, but they willingly stay inside the cage. Meanwhile, Jindrak and O'Haire are upset with the referee...I'm not sure why, since they escaped the cage and will be one of the four teams in the Tag Team Title match at New Blood Rising.
While action is going on in the ring, General Rection is at ringside five feet from the escape door. He doesn't escape.
Chuck Palumbo proves to be the smartest person in this match when he finds his partner Shawn Shasiak and tells him to leave the cage together. A few seconds later, Palumbo and Stasiak walk out of the cage without a fight from either MIA or the Filthy Animals. Stasiak and Palumbo will be the third team in the New Blood Rising Tag Team Title Match.
Now we are down to MIA and the Filthy Animals. Konnan mentions on commentary that he can't meet to see Rey and Tygress' tape. In real life, Rey Mysterio had been married for four years at this point...to someone not named Tygress.
The Perfect Event put a lock and chain on the escape door. Konnan reveals his grand plan...he has bolt cutters. MIA try to escape the cage, but they can't due to the door being locked. Meanwhile, Disqo (aka Disco Inferno, also with the Filthy Animals) climbs to the top of the cage and kicks a hole in the roof. Rey and Juvi grabs a ladder from under the ring. Scott Hudson on commentary says that maybe the Filthy Animals are in cahoots with the Perfect Event. God bless Scott Hudson for trying to make sense of this crap.
Rey and Juvi perform moves off the ladder onto MIA, but we don't get a good view of these moves thanks to WCW production. MIA recovers and General Rection climbs the ladder and onto the cage roof. Gen. Rection fights with Disqo while Rey climbs onto the roof.
Konnan cuts the lock on the door. Corporal Cajun performs a suicide dive onto Juventud Guerrera and both men leave the cage. However, we barely see this thanks to WCW production. At this point, the announcers have no idea what is going on or if someone has won the match at this point (apparently this is no winner yet, since the match continues).
The match comes down to General Rection and Rey Mysterio on the top of the cage. Disqo is knocked out on top of the cage at this time. Konnan brings a table to the outside of the cage, cause why not. Juvi and Konnan set the table up. Corp. Cajun recovers and has Juvi on the table. Gen. Rection teases a 20-foot splash onto the table, but Rey stops him. Konnan and Juvi later throw Corp. Cajun through the table which had since been propped up on the cage, but we barely see this move in time thanks to WCW production.
General Rection climbs down the ladder back inside the cage. Rey follows him down. Rey tries for a hurricanrana, but Rection catches him for a powerbomb. Rection then crawls out of the cage (where the hell did Konnan and Juvi go?) and MIA moves on to New Blood Rising for a shot at the Tag Team Titles.
The match lasted about 9-10 minutes, and we have all of fifteen seconds to digest this match after the bell rings to end the match before we cut to the back for a backstage segment between Booker T and Stevie Ray to hype up the main event.
This match was utterly insanity and made no sense at all. It was very complicated. It was convoluted. The "Mexican Strategy" talked about by Konnan didn't work and made completely no sense. This was a cluster of a match. The tl;dr version of the match is the Filthy Animals tried and failed to qualify for the Tag Team Title match at New Blood Rising by taking one of the other three teams' spots in the PPV match. There are so many other ways to achieve the desired result without this match.
In case you are wondering, the four-corners match for the Tag Team Titles at New Blood Rising does occur between Kronik (the defending champions), MIA, The Perfect Event, and Sean O'Haire/Mark Jindrak...with Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera, Disqo, and Tygress all as special guest referees.
Who would emerge as the WCW World Tag Team Champions at the end of the New Blood Rising PPV? You guessed it...Vampiro and the Great Muta.
Good night everyone!
Previous entries:
Day 1: 11-15-1999 Nitro - House of Pain Match: Saturn/Dean Malenko vs. Eddie Guerrero/Konnan
Day 2: 11-8-1999 Nitro - Texas Tornado Ladder Match for the U.S. Title: Bret Hart vs Goldberg vs Scott Hall vs Sid Vicious
Day 3: 1-16-2000 Souled Out PPV - Catch-As-Catch-Can Match: Billy Kidman vs Dean Malenko
Day 4: 10-2-2000 Nitro - Tag Team Ladder Match for Disqo Duck: Rey Mysterio, Jr/Konnan vs Disqo/Alex Wright
Day 5: 8-16-2000 Thunder - Kamloops Street Fight: Gene Okerlund vs Mark Madden
Day 6: 7-9-2000 Bash at the Beach PPV - Graveyard Match: Vampiro vs The Demon
Day 7: 7-9-2000 Bash at the Beach PPV - Wedding Gown Match: Stacy Keibler vs. Daffney
Day 8: 8-13-2000 New Blood Rising PPV - Canadian Rules Match for the US Title: Lance Storm vs Mike Awesome
Posted Dec 10, 2018, 1:36 AM UTC