WCW Thunder (March 19, 1998)

Original Airdate: March 19, 1998

From Terre Haute, Indiana; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Super Calo: Hot crowd this week. Calo dominates a criss cross, and uses a springboard snapmare, then a clothesline for two. Jericho bails, and Calo makes the mistake of chasing, getting clobbered on the way back in. Chris capitalizes with a ropechoke, and a suplex gets him two. Bodyslam sets up a slingshot splash for two, so Jericho works a chinlock, trying for the mask in the process. Into the corner for a chop, but Calo dodges a charge, and Chris takes a bump to the outside. Calo dives after him, but Jericho blocks a suplex back in, and a reversal sequence ends in Calo hooking a sunset cradle for two. Flying dropkick gets another two, but Jericho counters a victory cradle into the Liontamer at 4:35. This wasn’t a major work, but it was a solid bout. **

Kendall Windham v El Dandy: Right into the match from the commercial break, I like it. Not even entrances or ring announcements, which is fine to skip when it’s two scrubs anyway. Windham wins a few criss crosses, but telegraphs a backdrop, and gets clobbered. Dandy with a pair of dropkicks and a DDT, as the Flock make their way through the crowd. Dandy with a backdrop and a clothesline, and apparently Raven stole the US title belt from DDP on MTV the night before. Windham randomly makes a comeback, and a bulldog ends it at 2:41. The match was just background for the Flock’s entrance. ¼*

Tony brings Curt Hennig and Rick Rude out, and Curt’s facing Rick Steiner tonight, but he’d rather talk about what a ‘Zitman’ Bret Hart is

Saturn v La Parka: Mike Tenay replaces Marshall on commentary for this one. Saturn nails him with a clothesline right away, and dumps Parka to the outside. Saturn suplexes him back in for two, and he slaps on a fujiwara armbar, but Parka gets the ropes. Saturn responds by hammering him in the corner, and another suplex gets him two. Cross corner whip, but Parka counters with a short-clothesline for two, but a criss cross ends in Saturn drilling him with a few elbows. Parka fights him off with an enzuigiri, and he sends Saturn over the top to set up a flying bodypress on the floor. Parka with a flying spinheel kick for two on the way back inside, so he grabs a chair, but Saturn dropkicks him before he can use it. Another suplex sets up the rings of saturn from there, and Parka taps at 3:53. This was okay. * ¼ 

Last night on MTV Live, WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page was hanging out as a guest, when Raven showed up, knocked him out with a stop sign, and DDT’d him through a table, before disappearing with the title belt

Ray Traylor v Barry Darsow: Ray shoves him around a bit early on, but Darsow manages a pair of knees, and he takes Traylor down. Ray fights to a vertical base and nails him with a big boot, followed by a shoulderblock. Splash, but Darsow dodges, and he goes to work. Side suplex gets him two, but a corner charge misses, and Ray hits a scrapbuster at 4:07. This didn’t work. ¼*

Prince Iaukea v Yuji Nagata: Feeling out process to start, dominated by Prince. Prince hooks an anklelock, but Nagata counters to a headscissors, but Prince counters back to an STF. Armbar, but Nagata escapes, and a criss cross ends in Nagata backdropping him over the top. Prince lands on the apron and springboards back in with a somersault senton for two, so Nagata peppers him with kicks. Nagata works the arm from there, but telegraphs a backdrop, and eats a dropkick. Nagata cuts off a comeback, and goes back to the arm, then uses an overhead suplex for two when Prince fights out of the hold. Nagata with an enzuigiri, but Sonny Onoo accidentally kicks him, and Prince hooks a bridging northern lights suplex at 5:19. They mistimed the finish there, it looked like Onoo deliberately kicked him. It felt like they were a little all over the place with this one, but it wasn’t bad. ¾*

Marty Jannetty v Brian Adams: Adams attacks before the bell, and dumps Jannetty to the outside for a press-drop back in. Corner charge misses, allowing Jannetty a dive off the middle, but Brian catches him in a bearhug. Brian with a fallaway slam, but Marty blocks a vertical suplex, and uses an inverted atomic drop ahead of a clothesline, Jannetty with a missile dropkick for two, and he works a sleeper, but a dive off the middle misses, and Adams uses a tilt–a-whirl slam for the pin at 3:32. *

Eddie Guerrero v Psychosis: Tenay is back for this one. Reversal sequence is won by Eddie, and a criss cross ends in Guerrero delivering a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Another criss cross allows Psychosis an armdrag, but Eddie blocks a victory cradle, and a reversal sequence ends in Psychosis hitting a spinheel kick for two. Cross corner whip, but Eddie reverses, and snapmares him over for a bootrake. Eddie gloats, resulting in Psychosis dropkicking him, and Psychosis adds a flying guillotine legdrop. Baseball slide knocks Guerrero to the outside for a flying corkscrew senton, and Psychosis adds a slingshot elbowdrop for two on the way back into the ring. Backdrop, but Eddie counters with a sloppy powerbomb. Psychosis comes back with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, but a flying corkscrew senton misses on this go, allowing Guerrero to go up himself - only for Psychosis to follow for a superplex. Guerrero blocks, however, and dives with a flying frogsplash at 4:10. They did some cool stuff, but it wasn’t a great piece overall. * ½ 

Raven's Rules Match: Raven v Brad Armstrong: The Flock attack and beat Brad down before he even makes contact with Raven, and Raven cuts a promo on DDP while they do. He stops long enough to drop an already battered Brad with a DDT for the pin at 2:38. The bulk of this was Raven cutting a promo. DUD

Bret Hart video package. WCW was never very good at these compared to the WWF

Chris Benoit v Scott Norton: Benoit takes Vincent out on his way into the ring, and goes at Norton with chops, but gets blasted with a shoulderblock. That puts Chris on the outside for Vincent to abuse, and Norton avalanches him on the way back in. Norton with some short-chops, so Benoit tries his, but Scott no-sells, and blasts him with a big one. Norton works him over, and a nice powerslam gets him two. Corner whip rebounds Benoit into a Samoan drop for two, but another avalanche misses, allowing Chris a German suplex. He goes up with the flying headbutt drop, and the crippler crossface looks to finish, but come on, do you really think Scott Norton is going to submit? Norton fights, until Vincent is able to distract Benoit into releasing, and Scott nails him with an inverted shoulderbreaker at 5:18. I expected something a lot more fun, this was pretty dull. * ¼ 

Bill Goldberg v Wayne Bloom: Bloom tries a full-nelson at the bell, but Goldberg reverses, and slams him. Pumphandle-slam follows, so Bloom tries a cross corner whip, but Bill rebounds with a spear! Jackhammer follows, and Wayne is done at 1:18. Goldberg was getting some real star reactions at this point, and they’re starting to make a point of the winning streak now, which is another missing puzzle piece. ¼*

Rick Steiner v Curt Hennig: Rick sends him flying with a shoulderblock to start, and a hiptoss leaves Hennig on the outside. Rick looks so odd without the headgear. Why was the team breaking up a reason to get rid of it? The rest of his gear didn’t change. Inside, Rick hits a powerslam, and he goes up for a dive, but Rick Rude knocks him off the top rope to draw a DQ at 1:20. This was barely a match. Afterwards, they beat Steiner down, with a bunch of the rest of the nWo joining in. That draws Ray Traylor out to make a save, but he gets overwhelmed, and ends up taking a beating as well. The nWo run wild, until Goldberg storms out, spears anything that moves, and then storms away after successfully making the save. That was great, and another missing puzzle piece in the rise of Goldberg. ¼*

BUExperience: This wasn’t the best episode. I’ve generally enjoyed Thunder because it’s a much more condensed and focused version of Nitro, but this was pretty meandering.