WCW Thunder (February 26, 1998)

Original Airdate: February 26, 1998

From Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

Booker T and Dean Malenko v Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero: The announcers use this to reveal that Booker will be defending the WCW Television title against Eddie at Uncensored, while Jericho will defend his WCW Cruiserweight title against Dean. The heels manage to get control of Dean, and Eddie delivers a side suplex for two. Jericho with a senton splash for two, but Dean blocks a piledriver, so Jericho puts the boots to him instead. Chris with a hanging vertical suplex, as the commentators announce that the ‘over the top’ rule is going away. I actually liked that one, it helped differentiate WCW from the WWF. The heels cut the ring in half, but Booker saves him from the Liontamer, and he grabs the hot tag. Booker runs wild on Eddie, and a press-slam connects, so Jericho comes in for the distraction. That allows Eddie a dropkick, but a criss cross ends in Booker landing a spinkick for two. Axekick gets two when Jericho saves, and Dean has had enough, coming in - Roseanne Barr the door! Dean gets Jericho in the Texas cloverleaf, which allows Eddie to hit Booker with a flying frogsplash for the pin at 9:07 - Malenko/Jericho not legal, so Chris’s submission not counting. This was okay, but there were some timing issues, and they stupidly went to commercial right as the match was starting, which ruined the flow for the TV audience. * ½ 

Mike Tenay brings WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page out to discuss his title defense against Chris Benoit tonight, when Raven shows up, challenging Page to put the title up against him. So, next week, Page defends against Raven… if he gets past Benoit tonight, that is. They were doing a very good job of making the secondary titles seem important during this period

Fit Finlay v Brad Armstrong: Brad gets the better of a few exchanges, and they both go tumbling over the top, setting them back to even. Inside, Fit is able to take control, and a snapmare leads to a shoulderblock, but Brad manages a hiptoss for two. Armbar, but Fit fights him off in the corner, and there are lots of empty seats all over the place here for such a hot period. Even in the first few rows, which makes me think something else is up, but what would it be? Traffic getting the building, maybe? Armstrong with a flying bodypress for two, and a side suplex gets him two. Corner charge misses, however, and Finlay plants him with a tombstone at 3:54. *

Davey Boy Smith v Dave Taylor: Criss cross ends in Bulldog hiptossing him, and a clothesline sends Taylor over the top. Taylor comes back in with a fury, pounding Davey down, and he uses a vertical suplex. Smith fires back with a clothesline and a backelbow, and a hanging vertical suplex gets him two. Running powerslam finishes at 2:15. Too short to get out of first gear. ¼*

Tenay brings Curt Hennig out, and Mike wonders if Curt’s beef with Bret Hart stems from the fact that Hart refused to join the nWo. Curt confirms such. Riveting 

Bill Goldberg v Rick Fuller: The announcers are talking about Goldberg’s winning streak at this point, but they still haven’t figured out the bit of actually putting the numbers up each week. Goldberg with some takedowns, ahead of the spear, and the Jackhammer at 1:05. Someone order the squash? DUD

Yuji Nagata v La Parka: Parka wants to trade strikes with him, which goes badly. Criss cross ends in Nagata landing a koppou kick, but a second criss cross goes Parka’s way with a clothesline. Parka with a tree of woe, and a double springboard dive on the outside follows. Parka whips him into the steps out there, and a flying corkscrew bodyblock connects on the way back in, but Sonny Onoo is distracting the referee. That draws Disco Inferno out to deal with him, but Nagata has Parka in a grapevine for the submission at 3:05. This didn’t work at all. ¼*

Scott Hall comes out to continue collecting the easiest paycheck this side of Lanny Poffo with his laid back promos and surveys. His target this week: Sting, who he will be challenging for the WCW World title at Uncensored. Hall can be a fantastic promo guy, but he was terrible during this period 

Marty Jannetty v Scott Steiner: Buff Bagwell handles the ring introductions for Scott, and dubs him ‘White Thunder.’ ‘Big Poppa Pump’ was definitely a better fit. Scott cuts a promo on Lex Luger before the match, and his big focus is what college Luger attended, which feels like a weird angle. Who is he, Dean Douglas? Buff hits Jannetty from behind to kick start the match, and Scott capitalizes with a press-drop. Oklahoma stampede sets up a tree of woe, and a suplex follows. Frankensteiner off the top finishes at 1:37. Scott was such a natural at being a heel, it’s just too bad that he didn’t have the goods in the ring anymore to back it up. ¼*

Jim Neidhart v Curt Hennig: Anvil powers him around to start, so Curt bails early on. Poor Neidhart looks like he’s barely mobile at this point, straining to even reach out of the ring to try and pull Curt back in. Inside, Neidhart with a bodyslam, as Scott Steiner comes back out to sit in on commentary, making an appeal to brother Rick Steiner to join him in the nWo. Good promo, too. Neidhart puts Curt in a sleeper, but Vincent runs in for the DQ at 2:22. Afterwards, Brian Adams joins the heels for a beatdown on Neidhart to send a message to Bret, until Davey Boy Smith makes the save. DUD

Kevin Nash video promo on Giant

Raven’s Rules Match: Raven v Kevin Nash: Raven wants the match to be ‘battle royal style’ tonight, so I guess this is over the top rules. Nash is still walking around in his Syxx t-shirt, which is pretty weird, since he was long, long gone by that point. Were they just trying to get Sean Waltman as much royalty gravy as they could? That’s some Adam Sandler level friendship. The entire Flock runs in, so Nash does his best Royal Rumble ‘94, but powerbombing Lodi draws a DQ at 1:36. Nash and Raven never even made contact here. DUD

WCW United States Title Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Chris Benoit: Benoit gets a wristlock to take control, but Page manages a reversal, and shifts it into a fujiwara armbar. Benoit counters to a chinlock, until Page escapes, and they do a reversal sequence that ends in Chris hooking a hammerlock. Criss cross ends in Page using a Russian legsweep, so Benoit decides to slug it out, and they spill to the outside. That quickly spills into the crowd, and Page gets control as they brawl out there. Inside, Dallas drops him with a swinging neckbreaker for two, but a corner whip gets reversed, and Chris drops him front-first across the top rope. Suplex, but Page counters with a small package for two, so Benoit cuts him off with a modified flapjack for two. Page is busted openly really badly all of a sudden, which I’m guessing was hardway from something, because they go to the super wide angle. Raven comes out following a double knockout spot, attacking both guys for a no-contest at 6:52. This was le crap. ¼*

BUExperience: This wasn’t a very strong episode, but it was certainly focused, with lots of direction and set up for Uncensored.