Misplaced Pages

This article is missing information about the event of Souled Out (2000). Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (September 2021)

Souled Out (2000)
UK VHS cover featuring Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page and Buff Bagwell
Promotion	World Championship Wrestling
Date	January 16, 2000
City	Cincinnati, Ohio
Venue	Firstar Center
Attendance	14,132
Tagline(s)	Control Is Everything! Who Will Be The Soul Survivor?
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Starrcade Next → SuperBrawl 2000
Souled Out chronology
← Previous 1999 Next → Final

Souled Out (2000) was the fourth and final Souled Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on January 16, 2000, from the Firstar Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. The event would be replaced by Sin as the January pay-per-view the following year. As of 2015, this event is available on the WWE Network.

In the main event, Chris Benoit defeated Sid Vicious to win the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended up being Benoit's last in WCW, as he left for the WWF the next night.

Background

This was the pay-per-view where creative writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara were not involved in the scripting of the show as Russo stepped down days before after being told by management that he had to work in a creative team rather than write the show by himself alongside Ferrara. Prior to this evening, the creative direction from October 18, 1999, had been drastically different with a focus on the development of storylines and younger stars due to the involvement of the creative writers.

Storylines

The event featured wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The originally scheduled card was heavily changed due to the serious injuries of Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett. On the December 20, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship was vacated due to a controversial finish to the main event match between Hart and Goldberg at Starrcade, where Goldberg mule-kicked Hart; this resulted in a severe concussion which limited Hart's ability to compete. Hart defeated Goldberg to win the vacant title with the help of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash; this resulted in the formation of a new incarnation of the nWo known as nWo 2000. However, in early 2000, Hart was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome; this forced him to vacate the title on his own terms. Jarrett, who was scheduled to wrestle Chris Benoit in a Triple Threat Theater series (Dungeon Rules, Bunkhouse, Caged Heat), suffered lingering headaches from Benoit's diving headbutt off the top of the steel cage on the January 10 episode of Nitro, which forced him to vacate the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. Benoit was instead moved to take Hart's place against Vicious in the championship match and the Triple Threat Theater series was contested between Billy Kidman and three separate wrestlers. Kidman won the first match because Dean Malenko forgot that the match rules stated that a wrestler could win by having his opponent's feet touch the floor; Malenko had rolled out of the ring to collect himself in the early stages of the match, thus losing the match per the rules. The second match of the show was originally scheduled to be a match between Flair and Crowbar and Vampiro and a partner of his choosing for the WCW World Tag Team Championship; when Flair and Crowbar jumped Vampiro during a backstage interview, Vampiro wanted to take them on himself.

Reception

In 2014, Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 0.0 , stating, "Why would any company put on a show this bad? 12 matches and not one can get to two stars. Nothing on this card is redeemable and it's the worst Pay-Per-View that I've ever seen. Seriously, every single thing on this show is bad and most of it doesn't make sense."

Results

1. Since Nash won, he became the new WCW commissioner. Had Funk won, the nWo would disband.

Aftermath

The following night on Nitro, Chris Benoit was (kayfabe) stripped of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship after Arn Anderson determined that Sid Vicious's foot was under the rope when Benoit performed the submission hold. In reality, however, Benoit left for the WWF and relinquished the title due to a management dispute. WCW then refused to recognize Benoit's reign; this reign was later recognized by the WWF after it acquired the rights to the championship in March 2001.

As a result of Benoit leaving WCW for the WWF, a tournament was organized to determine who would receive the vacated championship. On the January 24 edition of Nitro, Sid Vicious defeated the Harris Brothers for the right to face Kevin Nash, who became the commissioner of WCW after defeating Terry Funk at Souled Out. Vicious then defeated Nash to win the vacant title; however, he was stripped of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the January 26 edition of WCW Thunder for pinning the wrong Harris brother. This led to a triple threat steel cage match between Vicious, Nash, and Ron Harris for the vacant title; Sid went on to win the championship by forcing Nash to submit, and would remain champion until WCW was rebooted one week before Spring Stampede.

Bret Hart would retire from professional wrestling on October 20, 2000 due in part from the concussion he sustained in his match with Goldberg on Nitro.

References

1. ^ "Souled Out pay-per-view results". The History of WWE. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
2. "Every pay-per-view available on WWE Network". WWE. February 4, 2014. Archived from the original on February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
3. Talbot, Jordan. "Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara – 3 Months of Power in WCW". prowrestlingstories.com. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
4. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Retrieved 2015-11-15.
5. "History of the WCW World Championship: Bret Hart". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
6. Arpe, Malene (2007-10-27). "Bret Hart wrestles with life". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
7. "Random Network Reviews: WCW Souled Out 2000". 411Mania. 2014-11-27. Retrieved 2021-09-20.
8. "The SmarK Retro Repost – Souled Out 2000". 411Mania. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
9. Hoops, Brian (January 16, 2019). "Pro wrestling history (01/16): Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton win WCW Tag Team Titles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 18, 2019.
10. "Wrestling Information Archive - Wrestling Timeline: (1999 - Present)". August 4, 2001. Archived from the original on August 4, 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
11. "World Heavyweight Champion and WCW/NWA Title History". WCW.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved October 20, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
12. "WCW World Championship". WWE.com. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
13. "Kevin Nash's fifth reign". WWE.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2007-10-03.
14. "Sid Vicious's second reign". World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2011-09-03. Retrieved 2007-10-13.

• 2000 in Ohio
• 2000 World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events
• 2000s in Cincinnati
• January 2000 events in the United States
• Professional wrestling shows in Cincinnati
• Souled Out