Worst in the World: The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)

 (Special thanks to Frost for suggesting this match. If you'd like to see a match covered on the Worst in the World, leave a comment down below.)

WCW in the year 2000; the gift that keeps on giving. You would be seriously hard-pressed to find a single year for a single company that has gotten covered as much as 2000 WCW has. Even 1995, one of, if not the worst year for professional wrestling as a whole, hasn't had as many contributions to Worst in the World that just WCW has for just 2000. But so far, I've only ever looked at bad pay-per-view matches from WCW in 2000. Those are obviously worse, mostly in the sense that putting bad matches on free TV is far less egregious than putting on bad matches on a show that you're charging people money for. That being said, if you thought WCW had their shit together on the weekly shows then you are sorely mistaken. WCW Monday Nitro had plenty of stinkers grace TNT in 2000, and today, I'm taking a look at one of them with this match.

It's Kevin Nash running the "New Blood Gauntlet" as Eric Bischoff describes it from the June 6, 2000 episode of Nitro. We're in the midst of the ass-backward New Blood-Millionaire's Club feud where the young up-and-coming wrestlers were portrayed as the bad guys while the older stars who, in kayfabe (and for the most part, in shoot) held down the younger talent were the good guys. Unsurprisingly, the New Blood did not get over, and outside of Booker T, Scott Steiner, & Jeff Jarrett (which, given who was booking the show at this time, of course Jarrett did) rose up to the main event before WCW shut its doors for good in 2001. An added caveat to the gauntlet is that if Nash loses or if anyone in the Millionaire's Club interferes, Nash will lose his WCW World Heavyweight title match at the Great American Bash. Given that the WCW World Heavyweight Championship had already changed hands 18 times in the first 5 months of 2000, I can't imagine Nash would've had to work too hard to get another shot if he lost. Let's get into this.

Nash is out first, coming out to the nWo Wolfpac theme. I only mention that because the Wolfpac theme is great and I will hear no dissenting opinions on that. But right after Nash comes out, Vince Russo's music hits, and outcomes a bloody & exhausted Russo alongside various members of the New Blood to explain the rules of the gauntlet again. If you're wondering why Russo is bloody & exhausted...come back to the site in two weeks, you'll find out. Disco Inferno is the first to take on Nash. Disco gets a few shots in before hopping on Nash's back and locking in a sleeper hold. However, Nash quickly turns that into a sidewalk slam for the three. I know losing in eight seconds to a non-finishing move might sound like he got squashed, but compared to what's to come, Disco Inferno is the New Blood's MVP in this match.

Chris Candido runs in next and immediately takes a big boot from Nash. Nash doesn't even have Candido up for the Jackknife Powerbomb before the third participant Johnny the Bull even gets in the ring.

Nash powerbombs Candido before the referee counts the three. And I don't mean that Nash pinned him for the three, I mean that Nash powerbombed him and the referee just counted the three while Nash went to beat up Johnny.

Fuck it, why not? The company's dead anyway. Johnny the Bull doesn't fare any better, taking a knee to the gut followed by a Jackknife. The man didn't even get to take off his hat before he got that work. The referee also counts the three on Johnny even though Nash doesn't pin him. Big Vito is opponent #4 and proves to be a much tougher challenge for Nash, requiring a whopping two strikes, a knee to the gut and an elbow to the back of the head, before Nash can hit the Jackknife for the three with no pin. Nash does make an attempt to restore any semblance of the rules by putting his foot on Vito by the time the referee is at 2.7.

It's the thought that counts...I guess.

Unmasked, leather overalls Rey Mysterio Jr. is up next for the New Blood, and if you've ever seen any interaction between Kevin Nash and Rey Mysterio Jr. in WCW, you know exactly how this is going. Somehow, Mysterio manages to fare even worse than everyone before him, running right into a big boot before Nash puts his foot on him for the three. At least he actually got pinned. It's something. Juventud Guerrera, who ran down with Mysterio, opts out of trying to face Nash, prompting Russo to abandon the rest of the match and send the rest of the New Blood down to the ring to attack Nash. Chuck Palumbo, Mike Awesome, Konnan, Shane Douglas, Shawn Stasiak, and Vampiro all beat down Nash before Goldberg runs down to make the save. Goldberg immediately takes out Stasiak & Palumbo with a nice double Spear before Douglas & Vampiro jump him. Nash evens the odds, fending off Awesome before Goldberg knocks Vampiro out of the ring and Gorilla Presses Douglas out of the ring, tossing him onto Candido, who hung around ringside just so he could get Shane Douglas thrown onto him. Bischoff comes out and says that he's suspending Goldberg...in two days on Thunder. I don't know why he could just do that now. I guess you gotta pop that Thunder rating somehow. Goldberg says that Bischoff will be next if suspends him before he, Nash, and the referee for some reason stand tall to close the show.

Oh yeah, this shit MAIN EVENTED NITRO. WCW, everybody!

The Verdict

Man, can you believe the New Blood didn't get over? This did absolutely nothing for anybody involved. The New Blood obviously looked terrible by getting demolished so easily, and even though Kevin Nash looked dominant throughout the match, it means nothing because the people he's running through aren't being presented as credible threats, so of course, he's crushing them. It's especially disheartening seeing guys who are supposed to be the future being squashed with ease. Like sure, Disco Inferno was never going to do big things if WCW stayed in business (and he definitely shouldn't have), but seeing guys like Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Candido, hell, even Johnny the Bull could have his moments, getting shut down like this sucks to see. It's like WCW just made a public display to say that these guys' ceiling in the company is significantly lower than a guy like Nash. In short, this was a massive waste of time that didn't help anyone.

The Rankings (Best to Worst)

1. Tommy Dreamer vs Bully Ray-Victory Road 2011
2. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
3. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
4. Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns-Greatest Royal Rumble
5. Ernest Miller vs Norman Smiley-Fall Brawl 1998
6. Shane McMahon vs Eric Bischoff-SummerSlam 2003
7. The Tag Team Gauntlet-Extreme Rules 2010
8. Hernandez vs Matt Morgan-Victory Road 2011
9. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
10. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
11. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
12. The Women's Tag Team Turmoil-WrestleMania 37 (Night 1)
13. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
14. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
15. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
16. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
17. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
18. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
19. Lars Sullivan vs Lucha House Party-Super Showdown 2019
20. Alexa Bliss vs Bayley-Extreme Rules 2017
21. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
22. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
23. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
24. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
25. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
26. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
27. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yuji Nagata vs Daniel & Rolles Gracie-Wrestle Kingdom 8
28. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
29. Giant Baba vs Bulldog Bob Brown-WrestleRock
30. The Reverse Battle Royal-Impact! (10/26/2006)
31. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
32. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
33. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
34. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
35. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
36. The Shockmaster vs Awesome/King Kong-Starrcade 1993
37. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
38. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
39. Team RAW vs Team SmackDown Men's Elimination Match-Survivor Series 2017
40. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
41. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
42. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
43. Konnan vs Scott Hall-Fall Brawl 1998
44. Damian Priest vs The Miz-WrestleMania Backlash
45. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
46. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
47. Rick Steiner vs Scott Steiner-Fall Brawl 1998
48. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
49. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
50. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
51. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
52. Mr. Anderson vs Rob Van Dam-Victory Road 2011
53. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
54. El Gigante vs Nailz-G1 Climax 1994 (Day 1)
55. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
56. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
57. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
58. The Hurt Business vs RETRIBUTION-WWE Monday Night RAW (10/26/2020)
59. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
60. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
61. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
62. Antonio Inoki vs The Great Antonio-NJPW Sumo Hall Show (12/8/1977)
63. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
64. British Bulldog & Jim Neidhart vs The Dancing Fools-Fall Brawl 1998
65. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
66. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
67. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
68. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
69. Big Swole vs Penelope Ford, Rebel, and Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.-AEW Dynamite (8/27/2020)
70. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
71. Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton-Battleground 2017
72. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
73. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
74. The New Blood Gauntlet-WCW Monday Nitro (6/5/2000)
75. Chris Jericho vs "Goldberg"-Fall Brawl 1998
76. Roman Reigns vs The Undertaker-WrestleMania 33
77. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
78. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
79. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
80. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
81. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
82. The Undertaker vs Giant González-WrestleMania IX
83. Sting vs Tony Palmore-Battle 7
84. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
85. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
86. Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar-WrestleMania XX
87. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
88. Rosita & Sarita vs Angelina Love & Winter-Victory Road 2011
89. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
90. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
91. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
92. Boris Zhukov vs Paul Samson-Beach Brawl
93. Roddy Piper vs Hollywood Hogan-Halloween Havoc 1997
94. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
95. Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page & Karl Malone-Bash at the Beach 1998
96. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
97. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
98. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
99. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
100. Sting vs Hollywood Hogan-Starrcade 1997
101.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
102. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
103. Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez-Crown Jewel 2019
104. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
105. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
106. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
107. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
108. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
109. AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg-No Surrender 2008
110. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
111. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
112. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
113. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
114. The Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal-WrestleMania 25
115. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
116. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
117. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
118. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
119. Daffney vs Miss Hancock-Bash at the Beach 2000
120. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
121. Randy Orton vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 37 (Night 2)
122. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
123. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
124. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
125. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
126. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
127. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-WWE Monday Night RAW (7/8/2002)
128. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
129. Goldberg vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Super ShowDown 2020
130. Santina Marella vs Vickie & Chavo Guerrero-Extreme Rules 2009
131. Kevin Nash vs Scott Steiner vs Goldberg-New Blood Rising
132. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
133. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
134. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
135. The House of Horrors Match-Payback 2017
136. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
137. Team Dos Caras vs Team El Canek-Leyendas Mexicanas 2017
138. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
139. The Wyatt Swamp Fight-The Horror Show at Extreme Rules
140. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
141. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
142. Bret Hart vs Mr. McMahon-WrestleMania XVI
143. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
144. Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman-Crown Jewel 2018
145. Brock Lesnar vs Ricochet-Super ShowDown 2020
146. The Mighty Maccabee vs The Iron Sheik-Maccabiah Mania II: Shekel Slam
147. Van Hammer vs Doug Somers-Halloween Havoc 1991
148. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
149. Jeff Jarrett vs Sting-Halloween Havoc 2000
150. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
151. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
152. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
153. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
154. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
155. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
156. Michael Cole vs Jerry Lawler-WrestleMania XXVII
157. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
158. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
159. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
160. Hulk Hogan vs The Giant-Halloween Havoc 1995
161. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
162. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
163. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009

Thanks for reading! Be sure to share if you enjoy and leave any suggestions for matches you'd like to see covered in the Worst in the World in the comments. Like I said, next time I'll be sticking with Nitro in 2000, and looking at a few matches featuring one of professional wrestling's most polarizing figures. Well, one of wrestling's most polarizing "bros" is more like it. Until then...