WCW Thunder (April 17, 1998)

Original Airdate: April 17, 1998 (taped April 16)

From Fargo, North Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

Buff Bagwell video package

Rick Steiner v Buff Bagwell: Buff with an armdrag right away, so Rick tackles him down, and unloads with mounted punches. Rick with a turnbuckle smash and an inverted atomic drop, ahead of clotheslining Bagwell over the top. Buff comes back in slugging, and actually wins that, surprisingly. Buff with a bodyslam, but a 2nd rope axehandle gets caught in a suplex, and Rick throws clotheslines. Rick delivers an elbowdrop, and an armdrag gets him two. He goes up for a dive, but Scott Steiner runs in before he can leap, drawing a DQ at 2:50. Afterwards, the nWo look for a beatdown, but Lex Luger makes the save. ¼*

Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Disciple crack pre-taped jokes on Sting and Randy Savage. And make everyone watching severely dizzy. I’m not against handhelds, but that was just amateurish 

Kevin Nash comes out to vent about Hogan and Bret Hart

Bret Hart wants Randy Savage to ‘be a man’

Bill Goldberg v Barry Darsow: Darsow tries grabbing an armbar at the bell, but Goldberg violently slams his way out of that, then blocks a sunset flip in equally brutal fashion. Bill with a corner whip into a hiptoss, and a backbreaker follows. Darsow goes to the eyes, allowing him to dump Goldberg over the top, but Bill just lands on his feet, and springs back in with a spear. Jackhammer puts Goldberg at 73-0 at 1:50. ½*

Backstage Hogan thinks Nash is a ‘big spoon,’ and thus Hulk should get a title shot instead of him

Diamond Dallas Page/Raven feud review

Tony brings JJ Dillon out to announce that Goldberg will get a WCW United States title shot this Monday on Nitro

WCW Television Title Match: Booker T v Rick Fuller: They've really been lining up the top challengers for Booker lately, huh? Mike Tenay joins in on commentary for this one. They feel each other out to start, controlled by Booker. Backelbow puts Rick on his ass, but Fuller manages to power him into the corner, and the challenger unloads there. Corner whip and a powerslam get Rick two, and he slams Booker off the middle rope, as Heenan predicts Fuller as the next big star. Swing and a miss there, Bobby. Swing and a miss. Avalanche, but Booker sidesteps, and delivers a spinebuster. Axekick finds the mark, and a side suplex leads to the Harlem sidekick. Missile dropkick finishes at 2:57. This had some spark to it. ¾*

Backstage, Hulk thinks Sting is a joke. Why, is he smoking? I’ve heard smokers are jokers

Hollywood Hogan/Kevin Nash feud review

Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell come out to respond to the announcement that they’ll be facing Lex Luger and Rick Steiner at Spring Stampede. Scott wants no part of it, and threatens to no show the pay per view in response

Chris Benoit v Scott Norton: Tenay is still on commentary here. Benoit beats up Vincent on his way in, but gets pounded by Norton once he gets there. Scott with a bodyslam to set up a pair of elbowdrops, and a press-slam follows. Chris fires back with chops, but Norton absorbs them, and puts Benoit back on his butt. Norton with an avalanche, and a shoulderblock knocks Chris to the outside. Norton follows, but misses a clothesline against the post… which he no sells. Inside, Norton with a powerslam, but Benoit blocks a front-powerslam, and delivers a two-alarm rolling German suplex. Norton tries cutting him off with a charge, but Chris avoids it, so Vincent distracts him. That allows Norton to attack with a short-clothesline, but Chris counters to the crippler crossface, so Vincent runs in to cause a DQ at 3:28. Good energy to this one, with Benoit bumping around for him. *

Bret lets us know how he feels about Hogan and Nash. I’m honestly surprised he didn’t throw ‘hyena’ in there somewhere

Tony brings Giant and Roddy Piper out to try and talk people into the door for Spring Stampede. Sadly, Piper is not what he used to be in that department 

Super Calo v Curt Hennig: Rick Rude sits in on commentary. Calo is all excited, but Curt pounds him down, and uses a snapmare to set up a somersault necksnap. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in does not, and Calo dives with a flying dropkick for two. Curt fights him off with a chop in the corner, and he stomps Calo down. Hennig with a clothesline, and the fisherman’s suplex finishes at 2:46. Curt was sleepwalking through this one. DUD

Backstage, Hogan turns his ire toward DDP. I prefer this version of Hogan promos. Little ten second sound bites throughout the night > Hulk coming out and rambling for fifteen minutes without interruption 

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Chris Jericho v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Tenay is still hanging around, as Tony takes shots at the WWF by noting that they’ll actually deliver their promised matches. Considering how bad that bait-and-switch was, that shot is well deserved. Jericho with a hanging vertical suplex for two, but a cross corner charge runs into a boot, and Chavo clotheslines him for two. Atomic drop connects, but Jericho gets him in the Liontamer. Chavo manages the ropes, but Eddie Guerrero slaps his hand away, and Chavo is forced to submit at 2:14. This was too short to tell a proper story. Afterwards, Prince Iaukea runs in to attack Jericho, beating him all the way back to the dressing rooms. Meanwhile, Chavo fumes at Eddie, but Eddie reminds him that this is all part of his plan, so he’d better respect the method. ½*

Hollywood Hogan, Disciple, and Eric Bischoff come out to give us their full spiel, since apparently the quickie backstage bits weren’t ‘instead of’ but ‘in addition to.’ Bischoff looks really frazzled this week, probably sweating Nitro losing to RAW for the first time since 1996

Bret loves goooolld, Dr. Evil

Tony brings Dillon back out to talk more legal bullshit, in this case that Randy Savage needs to sign a hold harmless if he wants to compete. That draws Randy and Miss Elizabeth out, and he’s still got the cast on his arm, but he’s ready to murder JJ if he takes his title match away. Randy should just have Hogan come out and tell everyone that his arm is obviously fine. I mean, it worked last time. Good intensity from Macho here, but leaving the main event in jeopardy is kind of a weird way to leave off the last show before the pay per view

Giant v Brian Adams: Adams attacks before the bell, and he unloads, before snapping Giant’s throat across the top rope. Adams looks for a dive, but falls off the ropes (in a botch), and Giant bodyslams him. Giant with a big boot, and the chokeslam looks to finish, so Vincent runs in for the DQ at 1:10. DUD

Raven hype video

Perry Saturn v Silver King: Saturn goes to town in the corner to start, but telegraphs a backdrop, and King DDTs him. King tries a flying moonsault press, but Saturn dodges, and delivers a clothesline. Corner whip sets up a corner splash, but King dodges. King tries one, but Saturn dodges, and a superplex leads to the Rings of Saturn at 1:09. Another one that was simply too short to really tell a story. ½*

Diamond Dallas Page hype video. Couldn’t they use this time to give us slightly longer matches? It’s not like these videos are even hyping anything in particular, it just reminds us that a guy we’ve already been talking about all night exists

And speaking of which, Tony brings DDP out for an interview, making the hype video even more pointless and annoying. Anyway, Page isn’t sweating Goldberg this Monday

Bret thinks Sting is, like, so cool

Sting and Bret Hart v Randy Savage and Kevin Nash: So, Savage needs a release to wrestle at the pay per view, but this is fine? Meanwhile, Schiavone goes on another lengthy rant about how WCW would never bait-and-switch their viewers. Hart and Nash start, and Bret throws right hands, but loses a slugfest. Kevin with a few knees in the corner, and a bootchoke follows. Cross corner whip works, but the charge in hits a boot, and Hart dives off the middle with a clothesline to set up mounted punches. Hart with a headbutt drop to the groin, and he passes to Sting for an elbowdrop. Nash fights back with a bodyslam before tagging to Macho, but he misses a clothesline. That allows Sting to get the Scorpion deathlock on, but Nash pulls Randy out of the ring to save. Both guys tag, and Kevin corners him for a pounding, but Bret blocks a snake eyes. Bret unloads, but Nash shakes him off, and delivers a sidewalk slam for two. Hart goes low and tries for the Sharpshooter, but Nash goes to the eyes to block it. Kevin with a short-clothesline, and he locks a sleeper on, which is a unique one for him. Hart side suplexes his way out of the hold, allowing the hot tag to Sting, and Roseanne Barr the door! Sting delivers a Stinger Splash on Savage, but a second one is blocked by Savage’s cast, and Randy sets up the flying elbowdrop, but Disciple shoves him off the top for the DQ at 8:06. This wasn’t especially good, but Bret still gave a shit at this point, so it still told a story. ¾*

BUExperience: I did not dig this week’s show, with super abbreviated matches, lots of time wasting, and nothing Nitro didn’t already cover in terms of angle development/PPV build.