WCW seemingly had its own version of the Montreal Screw Job last Sunday. Or so it seems.

But is it a work or is it a shoot? It depends on whom you talk to.

I had the rare opportunity to ask some key WCW people myself Tuesday night while working security at the Thunder tapings in Charleston, South Carolina. I first asked referee Charles Robinson.

"Nobody knows," Robinson said. "I never know anymore in this business."

I then put the question to Tony Schiavone.

"No one knows," Schiavone said. "Really, only three people know: Hogan, (Vince) Russo and (Eric) Bischoff."

On the other hand, Gene Okerlund said it was definitely a shoot. Gene Mean is a really nice guy with a great sense of humor.

It certainly has the appearances of a shoot. Hulk Hogan exercised his creative control and refused to job to Jeff Jarrett. So the script is written for Jarrett to simply enter the ring and lay down - literally. Hogan then enters the ring and cuts a shoot-like promo. So Russo dramatically tosses the belt in the ring. After running his mouth, Hogan steps on Jarrett and gets the pin and he's the new WCW champion.

Or so he thought.

Russo then comes out later and cuts a babyface promo saying that he came back for all the good workers of the company. The belt Hogan won is now some kind of memorial belt, Jarrett is still champion and he will face Booker T for the title.

If this was a shoot, Russo found a clever way to get around Hogan's creative control, much the same way Vince McMahon got the WWF belt off Bret Hart in Montreal.

I can't say this all bad for WCW. It has everybody talking. It elevated a deserving talent in Booker T to the top tier. The crowd in Charleston really popped for him Tuesday night. Yet it still makes me wonder about how Jarrett has been handled. In his several title reigns, Jarrett never went over cleanly. Ironically, he got one of the biggest pops of the night when he went for his guitar during the main event against Chris Kanyon.

Adding to the mystery of the Hogan-Russo thing was the absence of the key players in Charleston. Hogan, Russo and Bischoff were all somewhere else besides Charleston. Heck, Goldberg, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner weren't there either.

It is possible that the big three were absent to further the angle if there is one. I can see Hogan returning later in a stable headed by Bischoff to feud against Russo's babyfaces.

Another factor to consider is that if Hogan, Russo and Bischoff are playing an angle they could also be working the rest of the WCW roster to further the illusion that this is a shoot.

The view from the back was interesting. I was helping escort a camera crew shooting backstage vignettes. During down time we watched the action from a monitor. You could hear the wrestlers and crewmembers pop in reacting to a high spot in the ring.

The sequence when the Jung Dragons attacked The Cat was superb. They hid among some heavy equipment trunks to spring their attack. The Cat sent all three back into the trunks. The collisions were STIFF. I know the trunks were heavy because I had to help restack them when the scene had to be reshot twice.

All the wrestlers I talked to were very friendly. I praised Big Vito on his DDT of Johnny the Bull from the ring apron through a table. He shook hands with me, thanked me and said, "Wait till you see what we do tonight." Well, I haven't seen it yet because our team was out in the parking lot shooting some vignettes.

Lenny Lane is a funny guy. I spoke with him about the fact that he and Lodi were really over during their gimmick together. Lane basically said the Turner people couldn't handle the gay angle. He's not crazy about his latest gimmick, that of sitting in the audience holding up a sign saying, "Use Me." Lane got tem to put him out there for just one segment instead of the entire show.

Ralphus was enjoying a night off after getting put through tables Sunday and Monday. He said wasn't hurt. I asked him if the tables were precut and he said no, rather the screws on the legs are loosened so they collapse easier.

I did wonder about the wisdom of shooting vignettes outside during the show because of the presence of fans watching on the concourse. It's kind of like telling them it's all a work. Maybe there are no true marks anymore. Maybe we're all just marks for the business. It was a fun evening.