31 Days of Vince Russo "Special Matches" in 1999/2000 WCW - #14: Mud ROTC Match (Major Gunns vs Stacy Keibler) from the New Blood Rising PPV on August 13, 2000.
The 14th entry of this 31-day series features Major Gunns vs Stacy Keibler in a Mud ROTC Match at WCW New Blood Rising PPV on August 13, 2000.
A clip of the match is also available on the WWE Network here, starting at the 1:16:40 mark.
At New Blood Rising on August 13, 2000, Major Gunns faced off against Stacy Keibler in a Mud ROTC Match. The full name of the match is a Mud "Rip Off the Camouflage" Match.
The rules of this match are as follows, I think: Rip off the opponents' camouflage and pin her in the mud pit for the win.
How can you screw up a match where the end goal is seeing Stacy Keibler stripped down to her bra and panties? Enter Vince Russo.
There were eleven matches on this card. This is the worst match on the card, rated minus 2 stars by Dave Meltzer. This was worse than the 52-second match where Sting squashed The Demon. This was rated worse than the Goldberg/Kevin Nash/Scott Steiner Triple Threat Match where Bill Goldberg walked out on the match as a "shoot" and Scott Hudson praised Nash and Steiner for being professionals and "improvising a match".
To illustrate how bad this PPV was, the "Judy Bagwell on a Forklift" Match was rated the third-best match on the show by Meltzer. The Mud ROTC Match was the worst match on this show. Even if you grade this match on a curve (it's a T&A match), it was still pretty bad.
Before I get into the match itself, here’s some brief context:
Basically, Major Gunns and Stacy Keibler are feuding. Does it really matter why at this point?
Now, onto the match itself.
Major Gunn's music hits, and she comes down to the ring. Stacy's music hits, and she comes down to the ring. The bell rings to start the match in the ring. There is also the mud pit near the entrance ramp.
Stacy motions for a handshake. Major Gunns shakes Stacy's hand, and then slaps Stacy with her other hand. The two then start some basic catfight action. Mark Madden says a lot of stuff throughout the match about the women...kinda like Jerry Lawler minus the subtlety, charm, or talent.
Stacy hits a handspring back elbow (not the prettiest execution, but she's only had a handful of matches so far)...she does have talent, looks, and personality and should have been a big star in WCW. Major Gunns whips Stacy to the corner and kicks Stacy in the stomach. Stacy clutches her stomach in pain. Major Gunns goes for a pin, but only gets a 2 count.
Stacy rips off Major Gunns' shirt to reveal a camp bra. Scott Hudson says they are contractually obligated to end the match in the ring. Then why is the ref counting pinfalls in the ring before they go to the mud pit? After some more action, Major Gunns rips off Stacy's camo shorts and attempts a pinfall. Gunns only gets a 2-count on Stacy. Gunns scores another 2-count on Stacy. Tony Schiavone says "we are all winners in this match." Spoiler Alert: No, we aren't.
Stacy hits a crossbody from the turnbuckle for a 2-count. Then, Stacy does a kip up. (She does have potential.) Major Gunns hits Stacy in the midsection again, which Stacy grabs again. Gunns gets another 2-count on Stacy. Stacy attempts another crossbody, but lands face first on the mat. Stacy rolls out, and clutches her stomach even more yet again. Major Gunns goes after Stacy at ringside. Stacy rips off Major Gunns' shorts, and then Major Gunns rips off Stacy's camp top as they fight toward the mud pit.
The two get close to the mud pit. Major Gunns tries to attack Stacy, but Stacy flips Major Gunns into the mud pit. Stacy walks away, but Major Gunns drags Stacy into the pit. The two are now in the mud pit together. Mark Madden says, "Go ahead. Kiss and make up. Do it for Daddy." Wow.
Stacy is in control in the mud pit and dances a little bit. However, Stacy clutches her stomach and doubles over in agony. Major Gunns grabs Stacy and pins her in the mud for the 1-2-3. The bell rings, and the match is over after 5 minutes, 43 seconds.
Major Gunns celebrates briefly, but things turn very serious. Stacy is crying and in agony. The referee and Major Gunns are being concerned. David Flair, Stacy's on-screen and off-screen boyfriend, runs down the entrance ramp and jumps into the mud pit to check on Stacy. Medical personnel roll a stretcher out to the mud pit, as the camera cut to the announcer's table. The announcers speculate on what could be wrong.
They cut to a one-minute backstage interview with Vampiro and The Demon before coming back to the announcer's table. Tony says he's being told that Stacy had severe abdominal pains that were not caused by the match. Backstage, we see Stacy being rolled to the nearby ambulance. Tony says this is very serious, and she is in bad shape. They start using her real name Stacy Kiebler (they called her Miss Hancock during the match and prior).
Turns out, this was the start of the Miss Hancock pregnancy storyline. The announcers didn't use the words "pregnancy" or "miscarriage", but it was heavily implied throughout this segment on the show.
So there we are. A T&A match which ends with an apparent miscarriage by one of the participants. The in-ring action wasn't great, but it wasn't bad if you grade it on the curve of a standard T&A match. Stacy Keibler showed some good qualities in the ring, and clearly had it. If Stacy had a better worker as an opponent and some more experience in the ring, Stacy could have had a better match. Other than the shit ending, I enjoyed seeing Stacy work. But, the ending was bad. Not even so bad, it's good. Just really bad.
As far as the pregnancy angle, the two rumored candidates as the father (after it was revealed that David Flair was not the father) were Ric Flair and Vince Russo. Ric Flair would have been an interesting pick to set up Flair vs Flair. Vince Russo would have been a joke, since only in a world of total fiction would someone like Vince Russo hook up with a smoking hot babe like Stacy Keibler.
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
Day 9: 7-24-2000 Nitro - 4-Way Tag Team Caged Heat Match: Filthy Animals vs MIA vs Perfect Event vs JIndrak/O'Haire
Day 10: 8-28-2000 Nitro - "Prisoner of War" Table Match: Lance Storm vs General Rection
Day 11: 6-5-2000 Nitro - 1-on-12 Gauntlet Match: Kevin Nash vs. 12 members of the New Blood
Day 12: 12-19-2000 Starrcade PPV - Powerbomb Match: Kevin Nash vs Sid Vicious
Day 13: 12-19-2000 Starrcade PPV - Crowbar on a Pole Match: DDP vs David Flair
Posted Dec 15, 2018, 12:35 AM UTC · edited