WCW Thunder (March 5, 1998)

Original Airdate: March 5, 1998

From Columbus, Ohio; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

Video package on Randy Savage accepting Harvard Lampoon’s Man of the Year

The nWo join us so Hollywood Hulk Hogan can give us his usual soundbites on Macho Man, and Brian Adams offers to soften Randy up tonight

Bill Goldberg v Vincent: Vincent attacks before Bill even gets into the ring, but gets fought off with a spear in very short order, and the Jackhammer finishes at 0:32. Complete wrecking machine. DUD

Eddie Guerrero v Prince Iaukea: Reversal sequence to start, ending in Iaukea using a snapmare, and Eddie accusing him of a hair pull. Criss cross goes Iaukea’s way as well, and a dropkick knocks Eddie to the outside. Iaukea dives after him with a somersault senton from the apron, and a springboard on the way back in looks to follow, but Eddie puts the referee in the flightpath to trip Prince up. That allows Eddie to dropkick the leg, and he dives onto it with a slingshot somersault senton splash. Figure four, but Iaukea counters with a cradle for two, and plants a superkick for two. Suplex gets two, and a bridging northern lights suplex is worth another two. Bodyslam sets up another springboard, but Eddie dropkicks him out of the air, and goes up with a flying frogsplash at 3:22. This was really fun, but too short to be of any real substance. *** 

The Nitro Girls come out to hype up an appearance on a college campus

Juventud Guerrera v El Dandy: Dandy attacks before the bell, and he works Guerrera over, as Raven’s Flock make their way to their seats in the crowd. Guerrera comes back with a rana, and he unloads chops in the corner, then dropkicks Dandy over the top. Guerrera dives after him with a suicide, but Dandy blocks a springboard on the way back in, and he uses a side suplex for two. Irish whip, but Guerrera reverses, and delivers a backdrop. Wheelbarrow DDT follows, so Dandy kicks him in the stomach to buy time. Criss cross results in a reversal sequence, and Guerrera victory cradles him for two. Sunset cradle gets two, and an electric facebuster sets up the flying 450 splash at 4:24. Dandy couldn’t quite hang with him, but it was solid. Afterwards, Konnan shows up, addressing Guerrera by his real name, and continuing to challenge him to a match. Apparently it’s already been signed for Uncensored, but Konnan wants him this Monday on Nitro as well. * ¾ 

Randy Savage calls Hogan and Adams out, and he accepts Brian’s challenge for tonight, promising to ‘crush’ him. Nice

Video package hyping Lex Luger/Scott Steiner for Uncensored

Chase Tatum v Scott Steiner: Scott overpowers Tatum out of the initial lockup, but then goes to the eyes anyway, just because, and he drops him with a suplex. Oklahoma stampede leaves Tatum in a tree of woe for some abuse, and a butterfly powerbomb leads to the camel clutch at 2:06. ¼*

Video package of Giant powerbombing Kevin Nash on Nitro. It’s literally just Giant doing the move on a loop, capped with two closeup images of Giant’s face. This promotion never, ever came close to the WWF when it came to video packages

Jim Neidhart v Curt Hennig: Neidhart powers him around to star, so Hennig bails to regroup with Rick Rude on the outside. Inside, Jim gets a standing side-headlock on, and a corner whip rebounds Hennig into a hiptoss. Curt bails again, but gets clobbered on the way back in anyway. Neidhart works a chinlock, but Curt gets to a vertical base in the corner, and throws chops. Neidhart fights him off with a bodyslam, and a few matslams follow. Shoulderblock finds the mark, so Rude nails Neidhart with a 2x4, and Hennig hooks a bridging fisherman suplex at 3:28. Afterwards, Hennig and Rude do a beatdown, until Davey Boy Smith makes the save. ½*

Mike Tenay brings Raven out to talk about his WCW United States title match with Diamond Dallas Page tonight. The only thing of note here is Raven clarifying that he will not put the title on the line in his signed triple threat match at Uncensored, should he win

Pre-taped WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho promo. Chris was really finding himself as a heel during this period, and developing the persona that would make him a big star

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Ciclope: This is Ciclope’s first singles match in the promotion since October, but he’s still in the running for the title? Weird moment here, with the announcers hyping up Syxx appearing in Fargo North Dakota when ticket sales open for an upcoming event. They haven’t mentioned him in forever, and he’d be in the WWF before this month was out. Ciclope wins a criss cross, and drills Chris with a brainbuster. Jericho tries a corner charge, but Ciclope dodges, and the champ takes a bump to the outside. Ciclope tries a dive, but flat out misses (it’s not even that Jericho dodged, Ciclope was just diving at nothing there), and inside the Liontamer finishes at 2:24. This was kind of rough going, with no real flow, and Ciclope not looking good. Afterwards, Jericho doesn’t want to release the hold, so Dean Malenko makes the save. ¼*

Renegade v Scott Norton: Renegade goes right at him, getting Scott into the corner to pound, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, and Norton returns the favor with some hammering. Norton keeps pounding and pounding in the corner, until Giant shows up to attack Scott for the DQ at 1:43. I’m thinking Giant missed his cue there, because Norton was just chopping poor Renegade for an hour in that corner so he could keep his back to the entrance area. Afterwards, Giant cuts a promo on Kevin Nash, before getting taken away in chains (since handcuffs won’t fit) for using the powerbomb. I still don’t fully understand that angle, since lots of guys are still using variations of the powerbomb (Scott Steiner used one as a transition move earlier), but it only seems to matter when Nash or Giant do it. DUD

WCW United States Title Raven's Rules Match: Diamond Dallas Page v Raven: They spill to the outside right away, where Page whips him into the guardrail in the aisle. Again, but Raven reverses, and the challenger dumps him into it a second time. They brawl over to the entrance area, where Chris Benoit shows up, and starts brawling with them both! They all brawl back to the ring, where Benoit tries a flying headbutt drop on Raven, but misses. That leads to the Flock running in to take Chris out, and they give it to Page as well. That allows Raven to DDT both guys onto a piece of the rail, and the match is just kind of over with no bell or decision (or even referee present) at 4:43. So, I suppose that’s a no content, then. This was entertaining as an angle, but it wasn’t really a proper match. ¼*

Randy Savage v Brian Adams: Savage talks trash at Hogan before the bell (complete with some old school quizzing of Miss Elizabeth), leading to them slugging it out. That allows Brian to attack, but Macho fights him off, and continues gamely fighting a two front battle. To the outside, he feeds Hulk the rail, and steals the weight belt to attack both guys. Inside, Adams manages a bearhug, so Elizabeth comes in to claw the eyes. Hulk responds by threatening her, but Macho saves. Hulk begs off, but before Macho can nail him again, Disciple runs in for the DQ at 2:05. What in the world qualified that as the DQ, with all the other insanity going on in this thing? Like the US title bout, this was just an angle disguised as a match. Afterwards, we get an nWo beatdown on Savage, until Sting makes the save to close the show. DUD

BUExperience: This show was so much easier and lighter to watch than Nitro was at this point. Not every match was good, but even the ones that weren’t at least had a purpose to get something over, or build something up.