WCW Underground 1.12

- The show begins with a Bison Smith RIP graphic.

- Next up the wrestlers are surrounding the ring. Bison's entrance gear is in the ring. His boots are also. The bell rings ten time in his memory.

- Lenny Leonard and JML stand in front of the empty ring and talking about the loss of Bison Smith. Leonard says tonight they'll air every single DOOMSDAY match from the WCW records, including his final WCW match which was to air tonight. Somber mood, obviously.

From The Lou Thesz Memorial Tournament iPPV: DOOMSDAY vs. Caleb Konley/Sal Rinauro
DOOMSDAY was originally set up to take on Fastball Special, but Fastball Special were taken out by The Cross. Here is the original recap:
DOOMSDAY, the team of Takeshi Morishima and Bison Smith, come out with face-paint and Road Warriors-inspired attire. Needless to say, they absolutely murder Konley and Rinauro in short fashion. Konley falls victim to an Iron Claw Chokeslam via Smith, while Rinauro gets drilled with a sick Backdrop Driver. They then nail Konley with a combination Backdrop Suplex (by Morishima)/lariat (by Smith). They hit Rinauro with the same move to get the pin.

Result: DOOMSDAY win via pin with the Backdrop Suplex/Lariat combo.
Time: 3:12


- No commercials this evening, as we move straight to the next match.

From WCW Underground 1.02: DOOMSDAY vs. Michael Cannon/Lee Roy
DOOMSDAY shows up with the LOD-esque costumes and face-paint. Obvious squash is obvious as Morishima and Smith just tear the two jobbers apart. No tags even. Cannon and Roy get murdered with backdrop drivers by Morishima, then powerbombs by Smith. Then both men get further murdered, if that's possible, with the lariat (by Smith)/backdrop driver (by Morishima) combo which gets a name from Lenny Leonard: "The Omega Driver." Post-match, Lenny calls the dominant tag team over for a promo. No dice, though, as they just stare menacingly into the camera before walking off.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver (backdrop driver/lariat combo)
Time: 2:31


From WCW Underground 1.04: DOOMSDAY vs. Michael Cannon/Lee Roy
I don't think much needs to be said here. They finish off the jobbers quickly with the Omega Driver (backdrop driver/lariat-combo). DOOMSDAY, again, ignore the need to cut a promo by instead glaring into the camera.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ the Omega Driver (backdrop driver/lariat-combo)
Time: 1:09


From WCW Underground 1.07: DOOMSDAY vs. Caleb Konley/Sal Rinauro - 1st Round of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament Match
Jimmy Jacobs comes out with DOOMSDAY. He's decked out in a white-suit with a red tie. It looks stylish. Squash match, of course. It ends relatively quickly with the Omega Driver and advance in the tournament.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 1:34

Post-match Promo: Jacobs brings DOOMSDAY to the commentary table. Jacobs says his name is "James" Jacobs, so Jimmy is out. He calls himself the "Mastermind of the Maelstrom" and the "Architect of Armageddon." He says that DOOMSDAY is more than just a tag team, but an unstoppable force of destruction that will not stop demolishing their opponents until they are champions. He puts the rest of the tag division on notice, DOOMSDAY are done playing games with guys like Caleb Konley and Sal Rinauro.


From Halloween Havoc iPPV: DOOMSDAY vs. Fastball Special - Semi-Finals of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament Match
Ross acknowledges that we were supposed to see these two teams face off on iPPV at the Lou Thesz Memorial Tournament iPPV. Ross thinks DOOMSDAY has to be the odds-on favorite to win, but that you should never underestimate the drive and will-to-win from Fastball Special. JML quickly announces the time-limits, which will be 30 minutes for all undercard matches and 60 minutes for the main event. Bison starts off with London and, of course, overpowers London. Dueling chants right away from the crowd, "Let's go DOOMSDAY!" vs. "Fastball Special!" London does some quick stuff, running around and kicking Bison, but he ends up running into a huge boot. Both tag out to set up Morishima and Generico. Ross says that Fastball Special are possibly the biggest challenge DOOMSDAY have faced yet. Morishima immediately kills Generico with a lariat. Ross says this is like the Rockers taking on Demolition. Generico finally gets a great offensive series in. Generico ducks another lariat, dropkicks Morishima into Biston, then hits a springboard-spinning-Tornado-DDT on Morishima, which the crowd explodes for! Both Morishima and Bison are taken aback by this offense, which makes for some good stuff. Generico tries another quick attack, but this time Morishima counters with a press slam onto the ropes. And now... The moment you've been waiting for... El Generico is YOUR face-in-peril! Under most circumstances, you'd see a heel team work over a particular body part of the face. Instead, DOOMSDAY just destroy Generico with random power moves. It gives Ross the opportunity to say things like "raw aggression" and "destructive power." They use a double spinebuster, which JML comments on as he used that with Ron Simmons once upon a time. Generico counters a powerbomb by Bison with a rana and follows up with a running Yakuza kick. Bison doesn't go down but Generico moonsaults onto him to finally take him down. He makes the hot tag and London comes with a bunch of dropkicks. It breaks down and Generico ends up diving onto Bison. Bison catches Generico and a powerslams him on the concrete. Morishima crotches London, who was on the turnbuckle for the Shooting Star Press, and London slumps into the ring. Next up is the Omega Driver and DOOMSDAY advances to the finals. Pretty good opener.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 13:11


From Halloween Havoc iPPV: DOOMSDAY vs. Three Kings - Finals of the WCW Tag Team Championship Tournament Match
They get big-match introductions. Crowd is solidly behind DOOMSDAY for this one. Ross emphasizes the importance of championships in WCW. Little things like the intros and commentary make the champions that much more important. Kendrick sits this one out, so it'll be Austin Aries/Joey Ryan. Aries immediately clips Morishima and works the knee over. Ross says that the Kings will have to effectively chop DOOMSDAY down to size. Aries and Ryan work the leg over of Morishima. Morishima quickly overpowers Ryan though and tags in Bison. Bison and Morishima beat Ryan over with a double toss. Aries tries to clip Bison, but to no avail, and he ends up getting beat up pretty well. Morshima back in and he all but kills Aries with a senton. Ryan distracts the ref and Kendrick comes with a pipe to the leg of Morishima! Jacobs chases Kendrick to the back. Morishima tries to stand but can't and that opens up the heel tactics. Morishima is your face-in-peril, I guess. They work the leg over using heel tactics, but each pin attempt only gets two. Ryan locks in single leg crap, but Morishima grabs the rope. The big heat spot comes when Ryan goes for a Bret Hart-like move, jumping on the leg, but Morishima kicks him over the ropes to the outside. Morishima makes the hot tag and Bison cleans out. The numbers overpower him and Morishima can't save him. Aries tries to lift Bison for Regicide, but he's too heavy. Ryan holds Bison in the turnbuckle for Aries' turnbuckle dropkick. They hit Regicide but Morishima makes the save. It breaks down from there. With the ref distracted, Aries hits Morishima with the lead pipe again. He covers but Morishima powers out. Morishima, for lack of a better term, HULKS UP~! Morishima powerbombs Aries out of nowhere. In comes Bison and they hit Aries with the Omega Driver to win the championships. Confetti falls and DOOMSDAY celebrate with the gold.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 17:10


From WCW Underground 1.09: DOOMSDAY vs. Drew Adler/Shane Rockwell
James Jacobs is out with a swank pin-stripe suit. This match is pretty much over as soon as it starts. DOOMSDAY win after murdering, more or less, Adler with the Omega Driver.

Result: DOOMSDAY win via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 1:23

Post-match Promo: - DOOMSDAY stand around looking menacing while Jacobs does the talking. Jacobs says that there was never any doubt about who would walk away from Halloween Havoc as the tag team champions. Jacobs says "the end game was written long ago by men wiser than you or I and that end game will always be the same: DOOMSDAY will fall on every last man and child." Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team make their way out and Haas feels that they should get a crack at the titles since they're the greatest tag team in wrestling. Jacobs says DOOMSDAY will face anyone that gets put in front of them without fail. Benjamin grabs pie-faces Jacobs and Bison shoves Benjamin to the ground HARD. WGTT back off slowly.


From WCW Underground 1.11: DOOMSDAY Interview
Leonard is pretty shocked by what happened. JML says that Corino is a hell of a talent who's hit an unlucky streak and it seems we've seen the proverbial straw that's broken the back. Then James Jacobs comes out with the WCW Tag Team champions, DOOMSDAY, to a rather vociferous reaction. Jacobs says that the mere presence of the undefeated force of nature that is DOOMSDAY is enough to make this crowd stand on its feet. He says in the last couple of weeks he's heard a lot of talk from a lot of teams, but all in all he's quite nonplussed by that idle chatter. One week it's "Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team of 2003," another week it's cheap Koloff-knockoffs wanting a go. James says that he told the world weeks ago that DOOMSDAY fears no team, be it The Cross or Fastball Special. He says if Castagnoli and Ares want a title-match, then next week they will get that title-match. Those words draw quite the reaction from the crowd. Jacobs says that if Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team want a title-match, then the week after next DOOMSDAY will defend against Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team. This brings out Smarmy Guy who says that Jacobs can't guarantee that second title-match since they can't guarantee they'll beat The Cross next week. He says, though, that in two weeks two teams will fight for #1 contendership and the winners will face DOOMSDAY at Starrcade, live on iPPV. Jacobs says that's just fine, because no matter who starts the match - DOOMSDAY ends it. Jacobs was obviously the perfect fit to be the Paul Ellering to DOOMSDAY's Road Warriors.


- Finally, the last match.

DOOMSDAY [c] vs. The Cross - WCW Tag Team Championship Match
The Cross challenged DOOMSDAY for his match. In effort to put DOOMSDAY over as defending champions (basically the opposite of Alberto Dos Caras on top), they accepted. Hard to believe this will be the last hurrah, as they were getting very over with the fans as a modern day Legion of Doom. Bison, appropriately enough, starts off with Claudio Castagnoli. They trade a few power moves with Bison getting the advantage. Morishima tags in and faces off with Castagnoli. Again they trade power moves and Morishima wins out. Ares gets tagged in and gets slapped around. Bison and Morishima work Ares over for a bit. Castagnoli distracts the referee well enough for Ares to low-blow Morishima so Morishima can be YOUR face-in-peril. Ares and Castagnoli do the best they can to beat on Morishima, targeting the leg. Leonard brings up the beating Morishima's leg took at Halloween Havoc, which you gotta love. Fans are chanting DOOMSDAY similar to how you would hear Goldberg-chants back in the day and you just KNOW this was going to be a huge act for WCW. Morishima makes the hot tag and Bison, of course, cleans house. It's all pretty formulaic until it enters ROH-Briscoes-Tag territory. The last ten minutes are so are nothing but crazy tag team antics. There's a beautiful spot where Ares gets caught by Bison and Castagnoli bicycle kicks Bison in the face - HARD - for a near-fall. Morishima manages knock Castagnoli out of the ring and Ares gets destroyed by the Omega Driver to give DOOMSDAY their first, and unfortunately only, successful title defense.

Result: DOOMSDAY wins via pin w/ The Omega Driver
Time: 14:32


- The show ends with a beautifully done video package. It has tons of clips from Bison in ROH, Japan, and WCW set to some somber music. It ends on a shot of Bison lifting the championship in the air with confetti falling around him from Halloween Havoc.