First, they gave him
new theme music; probably a sign that they are
retooling the gimmick a bit. And second, Vince and
Ross really talked up Cassidy the whole match;
actually, they continued to compliment him even after
he lost. So that made me happy. The match
itself also made me happy. It was almost like one
high-spot after another. The Artist Formerly Known
As Too Cold Scorpio could take a note and tone down
the "flash" of his new character. All I'm gonna say
is that there were certain things the WCW version of
Scorp did, certain things that the Alex Wright of one
year ago did, that just annoy the hell out of me.
And no matter how good you are, if you're doing those
things with such frequency that it's overshadowing
the wrestling, I'm going to hate you. That said, it
seemed that this match was best with Cassidy on
offense. He landed a positively wicked
over-the-top-rope-to-the-floor belly-to-belly suplex
on Flash that left *my* back hurting. Also, as a
reversal to an attempted head scissors take down,
Cassidy performed a modified face-first powerbomb.
[An interesting side note... at least, it's
interesting to me: the face-first powerbomb was --
to the best of my knowledge -- performed for the
first time 16 days before "It's Time" in my living
room. I executed it a number of times on a scrawny
housemate, with the move winning rave reviews from a
crowd that normally is not impressed with anything
less than a text-book Razor's Edge.] He also tried a
spring-board moonsault- type thingie (one of the
Lucha guys in WCW did it a while back... you jump
from the outside of the ropes to the inside of the
second ropes and do a moonsault...) but Flash moved.
Cassidy also hit a couple of great topes or planchas
(jumping over the top rope to the floor), the
SnowBomb (combination Spinebuster/powerbomb), and
lord knows how many other great moves.
Flash's offense was also impressive, with a beautiful
moonsault and -- of course -- the Flash Splash (the
front-spinning 450-degree splash from the top rope)
finishing Lief off. All that, and one of the more
extended series of traded near falls in recent memory
in the middle of the match. I can't really think of
anything wrong with this match at all.... if there
had been a story behind it and a ton more crowd heat
(though it should be noted that by the end, the crowd
really was into both men's moves), this would be the
type of match the Disciples of Meltzer would give
close to *****, and I would not disagree. Super
match, and a great way to start off the
show Rick Scaia/Deja News
I'm not sure what kind of future there is for Al Snow
in the WWF with the Lief Cassidy gimmick, but after
tonight, I'm at least relieved to find out that there
*is* a future for him.