WCW Thunder (April 9, 1998)

Original Airdate: April 9, 1998

From Tallahassee, Florida; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

Saturn v Tokyo Magnum: Saturn charges in to kickstart the match, and unloads on Tokyo in the corner. Saturn with a trapping suplex, but a backdrop gets countered with a sunset flip for two, so Saturn superkicks him, and delivers another suplex to set up the Rings of Saturn at 1:26. Afterwards, Saturn calls Bill Goldberg out, and Bill answers the call. Cue the Flock to try and gang up, but Goldberg fights them all off, as Raven just sits there glaring from his spot in the front row. ¼*

Prince Iaukea v Yuji Nagata: They feel each other out a bit to start, and Nagata takes control. Nagata with a side suplex, but Prince blocks, and uses a headscissor matslam for two. Looks like he was trying for an inverted rana there, but it didn’t quite work out. It looked fine the way it played, though. Prince goes to the mat with a chinlock, then shifts to a leglock when Nagata tries escaping. Nagata escapes anyway, and drills him with a koppou kick, and a snapmare allows him a strike to the shoulderblades. Nagata works an armbar from there, but Prince escapes with a leg-feed enzuigiri, but Nagata ducks it. Nagata goes to a cross-armbreaker to try for the submission, but Prince blocks, so Nagata kicks him in the head instead. Prince fights back with a series of kicks, and a dropkick gets him two. Cross corner whip, but Nagata reverses, and Prince’s knee gives out on a reversal sequence. That looked legit, but he seems to recover quickly enough, so hopefully it wasn’t too serious. Prince with a Samoan drop to set up a dive, but Sonny Onoo trips him up. Prince stops to beat him up, but that allows Nagata to recover, and he drops Prince with a corkscrew legwhip. He looks for a hold, but Prince fights him off, and hooks a bridging northern lights suplex at 5:22. Some sloppy exchanges, but solid enough overall. Afterwards, WCW Cruiserweight Champion Chris Jericho shows up to complain that Prince is getting a title shot at Spring Stampede, since he’s obviously too fat to make weight. And he’ll prove it, calling for a weigh in later tonight. * ¼ 

Raven comes out for a promo on WCW United States Champion Diamond Dallas Page, but gets jumped by a fan in the middle of it. Unfortunately, the crowd gets distracted by that, and on top of that the microphone dies in the middle, killing what sounded like a good promo. Not sure what the guy’s beef was, but he came in hard, looked like he wanted to murder Raven

Schiavone brings Buff Bagwell out, and his beef is crystal clear: his body is better than Lex Luger’s

Chris Benoit v Konnan: Posturing to start, and Benoit takes control with chops, but gets distracted by Vincent, allowing Konnan to attack. Konnan with a rolling clothesline, and a snapmare sets up a seated dropkick. Wristlock, but Chris fights him off with chops, and Konnan bails. Another distraction from Vincent allows Konnan to turn the tide, and he looks for a hold on the way back in, but Chris nearly counters to the crippler crossface before Konnan gets into the ropes. Konnan drops him with a DDT for two, but a cradle version gets countered with a bridging northern lights suplex for two. That allows him to get the crossface on, and Konnan taps at 3:17. ½*

Jim Duggan v Curt Hennig: Rick Rude sits in on commentary here.  Curt attacks from behind before the bell, and sends Duggan into the corner with a kneelift. Snapmare sets up a somersault necksnap, but he stops to show off, and Hacksaw recovers. Duggan unloads in the corner, and a cross corner whip sends Hennig into a series of clotheslines. Duggan with a bodyslam and the three-point stance, so Rude attacks for the DQ at 1:40. DUD

Lex Luger v Glacier: Lex dominates him early, so Glacier hides in the ropes, as Buff Bagwell shows up to observe from the entrance area. Glacier with a cheap shot to allow him to pound Luger down, and a kick gets him two. Glacier with flying axehandle, but Lex blocks, and makes a comeback. Torture rack, and good night at 2:21. Luger was still getting big pops, but his work was getting lazier by the week. DUD

Psychosis v Kidman: Kidman tries getting control early, but Psychosis lands a clothesline for two to win a reversal sequence. Psychosis snaps his throat across the top rope to send Kidman to the outside, and Psychosis dives after him with a suicide dive. Inside, Kidman fires back with a sitout spinebuster, but Psychosis counters a backdrop with a sunset flip for two. Kidman comes back with a bulldog for two, but Psychosis blocks a superplex, as Chris Jericho shows up at ringside. That distracts the referee from counting several pin attempts from Psychosis, and La Parka sneaks out to hit Psychosis with a chair. That allows Kidman to go up with a flying shooting star press, and Psychosis is done at 3:37. *

Schiavone goes to the ring to find out what Jericho’s issue is, and Chris wants to do the weigh in right now, match or no match. And he’s even brought his scale, so get Prince Iaukea out here. Prince obliges, and makes weight, so Jericho breaks the scale over his head, and wrenches him in a Liontamer for good measure

Disco Inferno v Scott Steiner: Scott powers him around to start, but a clothesline misses, and Disco manages a swinging neckbreaker for one. Disco stays on him with a clothesline, and he unloads in the corner, but a 2nd rope axehandle gets caught in an overhead suplex. Scott adds a tigerbomb, and the camel clutch finishes at 2:36. DUD

WCW Television Title Match: Booker T v Chris Jericho: Jericho's WCW Cruiserweight title is not on the line here. Booker dominates him early on, and a clothesline sends Jericho over the top. He wants to walk out, but Booker drags him back in by the hair, and Chris begs off. That allows him to rake the eyes, and a hotshot turns the tide. Chris crotches him on the top and uses a springboard dropkick to knock the champion to the outside. Booker beats the count, so Chris welcomes him with a hanging vertical suplex for two, as Heenan suggests that Chris was just ‘trying to weigh (Prince’s) head’ earlier. Tremendous. Jericho tries the Lionsault, but Booker gets out of the way, and plants him with a spinebuster. Chris tries coming back with a side suplex, but Booker blocks, and lands the axekick. Flapjack follows, and the Harlem sidekick finds the mark. Booker goes up with the missile dropkick, but Jericho shoves the referee into the flightpath, and the official gets clobbered. Jericho tries capitalizing, but Booker fights him off, and the referee recovers to call for the bell at 5:03 - Jericho losing by disqualification. * ½ 

Tony announces that Ric Flair (who they’d spent days promising would appear here) isn’t here after all. That draws Scott Steiner and Eric Bischoff out to mock Ric, so Arn Anderson shows up to defend his pal, giving us the famous ‘marquee on the wrestling’ gaffe. He gets laughed off by Steiner and Bischoff, so Lex Luger shows up to back Arn up, and it turns into a brawl between Luger and Steiner. This all felt completely out of nowhere, and spending days promising Ric Flair and then not delivering felt like a really terrible bait-and-switch

Rick Steiner v Kevin Nash: Nash tries the big boot right away, but Steiner ducks, and corners him for a ten-punch count. He gets distracted by Scott Steiner, allowing Nash to pounds him down, and Kevin clobbers him with a cross corner clothesline. Nash works a bootchoke, and a straddling ropechoke follows. Another charge in the corner gets blocked, allowing Steiner a clothesline to set up an elbowdrop. Rick dives with a flying bulldog, but Konnan breaks the pin for the DQ at 2:24. Afterwards, the nWo look for a beatdown, but Giant storms down to make the save. DUD

BUExperience: This was fine, but these are getting less consequential by the week.