Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: The Dark Carnival – WCW, 2000
History
Vampiro was on a roll. The night before, at the Great American Bash, he’d successfully set Sting on fire and thrown him off the Turnertron.
Tonight, Vampiro was shown consulting with a mysterious hooded man in the back. Vampiro gloated that he’d done his job, only for the mystery man to tell him he had not.
Vampiro was still gloating as he came out to fight the KISS Demon (recently seen on TNA programming under his real name of Dale Torborg). The match ended in a bizarre fashion as Vampiro jumped off the entrance set to do a double ax handle and looked like he was hurt as the bell rang. Then he jumped up and ran back to the ring.
On Thunder Vamp was out again gloating about his defeat of Sting at the Bash. Suddenly he went to a fan on the outside and ripped off their Sting mask. It revealed Asya, who sprayed Vamp with red mist. That brought the Demon out for a quick surprise attack. Unfortunately, Vampiro quickly reversed the situation and grabbed his trusty blowtorch. That caused Asya to hit the ring and jump on Vamp’s back. Vamp knocked her loose and then hit her with his Nail in the Coffin finisher. Demon finally fought Vampiro up the ramp and threw him into the coffin he used for his entrance. He teased setting it on fire, but instead ran back to the ring to check on Asya as Vampiro staggered out of the coffin.
Nitro saw Dale Torborg talking with Asya (his fiancée). She handed him the Demon costume and told Torborg to get rid of him as Vampiro watched on a monitor.
After the commercial, Vampiro came out to the ring and called Torborg and Asya out. He mentioned that he thought he’d had a lot in common with the Demon and offered to throw a party since he was going away. As Torborg came out, the lights went out and Asya disappeared. Then they went out again and Vampiro disappeared. He reappeared on the Turnertron, driving a hearse out of the arena.
On Thunder, Torborg found Vamp’s hearse and searched it for Asya. He found an earring and took off. He jumped Vampiro in the entranceway and demanded to know where Asya was. Vamp simply held up the matching earring. Vamp talked about how he was mentally sick and offered Torborg a deal – he’d take him to Asya, but first Torborg had to do everything she had for the past few days. Vampiro left with Torborg following.
The first stop was the hearse. They both got in and Vampiro told him to drive. Later in the show they arrived at a cemetery and Vamp told Torborg that Asya was in a coffin. Torborg ripped open the empty coffin and Vampiro clocked him with a shovel. While Torborg was out, Vamp brought Asya to him and instructed her to tell Torborg that he’d be waiting for him and his pal. Vampiro then drove away in the hearse.
The mind games continued on Nitro. Torborg went in search of Vampiro and was jumped backstage. Torborg got stuffed into a coffin when a masked man hit Vamp from behind and put a Sting mask on him.
Things continued going downhill for Vampiro on Thunder. Vampiro went berserk when he found a Sting mask in his dressing room. He stormed out to the ring and talked about leaving Torborg and Sting in coffins. The lights went out and now there were two masked figures in the ring. Vampiro unmasked one to reveal Asya, who hit Vamp with the red mist. The other one was Torborg who attacked with a bat. Finally the lights went out again and Torborg and Asya were gone. Now there was a hooded man in the rafters who pointed down at Vampiro.
Torborg suited up as the Demon on Nitro to take on Vampiro. Vamp was holding his own until several hooded figures with baseball bats made their way down the aisle and surrounded the ring. That gave the Demon the opportunity he needed to hit his finisher – the Love Gun. After the match, the figures surrounded Vampiro, the lights went out, and Vampiro was gone.
The Demon had a match against Big Vito for the hardcore title on Thunder. The match was interrupted when Vampiro skulked down to the ring and broke a shovel over the Demon’s back. That allowed Vito to easily get the pin. Vampiro grabbed a microphone and told the Demon that he’d let him live, but Sunday night it would be over.
That brought us to the infamous 2000 Bash at the Beach where Vampiro took on the Demon in a Graveyard Match, which took place in a graveyard. Most of the match consisted of Vampiro brawling with the Demon (and occasionally Asya). Vamp finally cracked the Demon over the head with a chunk of tombstone, shoved him into a coffin, and dumped it in an open grave. Then, just for good measure, he dropped the torch in.
Things got weirder on Nitro. Vampiro brought out a coffin with the Demon inside and said that the Demon’s soul was his. At Vamp’s command, the Demon attacked Asya. That brought a mystery man out to the ring (with Sting’s entrance music) that attacked with a baseball bat, Stinger splashes and a Scorpion death drop for Vamp.
Thunder saw the Demon taking on Major Stash (Van Hammer). The Demon put Stash away and then the lights went out. When they came back up, Sting was pointing his baseball bat at them.
On Nitro we saw that Vampiro now had quite a little stable going. As he prepared to take on the Great Muta in a tournament for the vacant United States title, we saw that now he was accompanied by not only the Demon, but also the Insane Clown Posse. Muta wound up winning, and Vamp and the Clowns took out their frustrations on the Demon.
The gang was missing on Thunder, but was back in force on Nitro as Vampiro offered to take care of Muta for the Cat (Ernest Miller, who was currently the WCW commissioner). Cat accepted, and came out to ringside for the match. Vampiro attacked the Cat, and then everybody joined in the fun which finished when Demon hit him with the Love Gun. Muta, Vamp, and Demon left the Clowns in the ring who wasted so much time playing to the crowd that the Cat came to and pitched them both.
On Thunder, Muta and Vampiro laid out Kronik (Brian Adams and Bryan Clarke), and then headed to the ring to take on Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire. Muta won the match, and then Demon headed down and hit both New Blood Thrillers with the Love Gun. That brought Kronik out, who left Vamp and Muta laying.
That set us up for a three-way at Nitro, with Kronik (the tag team champs) vs. Muta/Vampiro vs. Jindrak/O’Haire. Long story short, Kronik retained. After the match, Muta misted Kronik and they made short work of the Thrillers, then Vamp and Muta posed with the titles.
At the end of the show, Sting had just lost to Booker T. Sting pulled the Demon out from under the ring (he’d interfered in the match) and attacked him. That brought out Vampiro and Muta for the save. Then Jeff Jarrett hit the ring and attacked Booker. Meanwhile, Team Vampiro stuffed Sting into the Demon’s coffin and set it on fire.
The main event of Thunder was an eight-man elimination match: Sting, Booker, and Kronik vs. Vampiro, Muta, Demon, and Jarrett. Brian Adams was the first to make a pin, sending Muta to the back. Kronik then put the referee through a table and they were disqualified. Jarrett cleared out, allowing Sting and Booker to simultaneously put away Demon and Vampiro.
The gang was back in the opener on Nitro as Vampiro, Demon, and Muta took on the Jung Dragons. Muta put got the win, and then Sting (with bat) hit the ring and ran them off.
On Thunder, things got weirder. It was Kronik vs. the Perfect Event (Sean Stasiak and Chuck Palumbo) vs. the New Blood Thrillers (Jindrak & O’Haire) for the tag belts. Vampiro and Muta came out after the match to distract Kronik while Juventud stole the belts and then they left.
Backstage, Vampiro, Muta, and Demon jumped the Jung Dragons. That infuriated the Cat, who made a tag match for the main event – Cat & Sting vs. Muta & Vampiro.
The Cat wound up winning the match by putting Vampiro away. After the match, the Demon hit the Cat with red mist and put the Scorpion Deathlock on Sting (who’d been misted by Muta).
That brought us to New Blood Rising. The night started off badly, as the Cat defeated Muta (with help from Nitro Girl Tygress). The guys showed up again as Kronik retained the tag belts against the Misfits in Action, the New Blood Thrillers, and the Perfect Event. During the match, Vampiro and Muta jumped Kronik, which didn’t affect the match’s outcome one bit.
After Sting squashed the Demon (and got the required attack from Vamp and Muta), we hit another tag team title match. This time Kronik defended against Vampiro and Muta. The Harris Brothers (Ron & Don) came in and attacked Kronik, which gave Muta the opening he needed to win the match.
Vampiro and Muta defended their titles against Rey Mysterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera the next night on Nitro. Sting attacked during the match and everyone was left lying. Finally, fellow Filthy Animal Disco Inferno rolled Rey on top of Muta for the win and the belts.
That set up a four-way for later in the night – Vampiro vs. Muta vs. Sting vs. Demon. Sting put Muta away so Muta and Vampiro took out their frustrations on the Demon. Sting tried to save Demon, but Vampiro got the better of him and dragged him to the back. Once in the back, the Demon saved Sting from Vampiro.
On Thunder, Muta was taking on the Demon. The Demon was holding his own until Vampiro made his way out with a kendo stick. Muta finally countered the Love Gun with the mist and got the win. Vampiro took the opportunity to continue threatening Sting and then beat down the Demon.
On the next Nitro, Vampiro and the gang (now called the Dark Carnival, along with the returning Insane Clown Posse) attacked Tank Abbott and started their own invasion angle. You see, at the time, the Clowns were running their own promotion – Juggalo Championsh*t wrestling – and Vampiro was the champion. So Tank challenged Vamp to a title match.
In the match (which was actually higher up the card than a WCW title defense), Tank popped the referee, which let Muta and the Clowns run in to assure Vamp’s victory. Three Count ran in to make the save for Tank.
On Thunder, the Dark Carnival took on Three Count and Tank Abbott and defeated them easily.
The reason I didn’t say much about that last match is because we got virtually the same match to open Nitro. The only difference is that we had Muta on commentary and Tank wasn’t in the ring. Again, the Carnival won easily. After the match, Tank hit the ring and leveled Three Count. The Carnival and Three Count then joined forces to take out Tank, which brought out the Demon for the save – well, until Muta misted him. Finally Sting hit the ring and cleared it.
In the main event, we had Muta vs. Sting. It didn’t take long for Vampiro to interject himself into the match, and finally the ICP, Vamp, and Muta dragged Sting back behind a screen in the set and started stomping away.
A week later, Sting had a match against a mystery opponent. Well, opponents, because it was a handicap match against Muta and Vampiro. Sting won, and then the ICP hit the ring to break up the argument between Muta and Vampiro.
On Thunder Vampiro took on Sting in a no-DQ match (sanctioned by JCW) while the ICP joined the regular commentary team. For some reason, although Sting got the pin, Vampiro was declared the winner. Guess that’s part of the JCW rulebook. Anyway, Muta came out and misted one of the ICP. Then Goldberg came out and destroyed everybody.
They were then absent until Fall Brawl, when Vamp took on Muta and Sting in a three-way match. Sting won, so Vamp and ICP attacked Muta, only to have him saved by Sting.
On Nitro, the Carnival had another target in mind. They vandalized Mike Awesome’s Partridge-Family-esque bus. So Awesome took on Vamp in the semi-main event and won easily.
A week later, we had the ICP taking on Awesome in a hardcore match. It was revealed that Vampiro had been injured in the match against Awesome. The match ended when one of the ICP was Awesomebombed on top of the bus (and slid off) and Awesome got the pin.
Vampiro came back on the October 23rd Nitro and defeated Crowbar. After the match, he said that it was on Awesome’s head and challenged him to a match at Halloween Havoc.
On Thunder, Vampiro easily defeated Big Vito. Again, we were seeing the build-up for a match at Havoc.
Awesome destroyed Vampiro at the pay-per-view. So badly, in fact, that Vampiro suffered a concussion that would keep him out of action until after WCW was sold.
And that was that.
Analysis
If you couldn’t tell, the original plan for the Carnival changed greatly. Originally, (IIRC) the plans were for WCW to have a pay-per-view on December 31, 1999 which would also feature a live concert by KISS. One of the main matches of the show would be Sting vs. Vampiro. Sting would win, and then he and the freed Demon would push Vampiro into some sort of pool which would cleanse his soul. Really strange stuff, but with Russo booking it, it could have been interesting.
Muta also worked well as the mentor-type figure. It even tied in well to WCW’s past, as Muta and Sting had been bitter rivals over the years. This added a new dimension to the group, and could have been interesting especially with the aura of mystery that Muta brought to the table.
Sadly, Muta’s in-ring abilities had declined over the years due to age and injury (and the large bald spot he was sporting didn’t help either). Sting had aged much better.
The ICP were an odd choice to be included. WCW tried to tie them in with the JCW thing (and also considering that Vampiro had been involved in alternative music before with the Misfits), but it just didn’t fit with the whole mystical angle they were building toward.
The Mike Awesome thing felt like an afterthought. It was just a case of where WCW realized they had these guys under contract, and needed to do something with them.
In the end, injuries killed the angle long after the pay-per-view idea had already been laid to rest. What could have been interesting became just another in a long line of WCW misfires.
Where Are They Now?
Vampiro recovered from his injuries and returned to Mexico, where he worked for the CMLL promotion (with the occasional appearance for TNA). He recently jumped to the rival AAA promotion where he is a booker along with Konnan.
The Great Muta returned to Japan to reinvent himself. He shaved his head and abandoned the Muta persona, now wrestling under his true name, Keiji Mutoh. He wound up leaving New Japan and jumping to rival All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he is one of the company’s top stars.
The Insane Clown Posse continues to record. JCW is also still running occasional shows. Most recently, they have been featured in the Backyard Wrestling line of video games.
The Demon left WCW after the company was purchased by the WWF. He retired from the ring and became a strength trainer with the White Sox under his real name of Dale Torborg. Recently Torborg appeared on TNA’s Turning Point PPV where he pinned Simon Diamond with assistance from Johnny Damon.
Asya also retired from the ring shortly before WCW was sold. Today she and Torborg are married. Today she is still training as a bodybuilder.
Next Week
The Insane Clown Posse heads to the WWF for a while.
