WCW Thunder (May 21, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: May 21, 1998

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

Tony brings WCW World Tag Team Champion Giant out to start, to discuss what happened with Sting this past Monday on Nitro. Giant feels it was all just a misunderstanding, and that Sting will come into the nWo fold if asked nicely. This draws Lex Luger out to refute that, so Giant offers him a spot in the nWo himself. Really prestigious group. Lex responds by spitting in Giant’s face, and he issues a challenge for tonight

Yuji Nagata v Ernest Miller: Nagata catches him with an enzuigiri right away, but Miller manages a corkscrew legwhip out of the corner, and a dropkick follows. Miller unloads a ten-punch count, but Nagata hotshots him to escape, and Sonny Onoo adds some abuse. Yuji dumps Miller to the outside for more cheap shots from Onoo, and inside, Nagata hooks a toehold on, but Ernest has the ropes. Nagata goes to a grapevine, but Miller makes the ropes again, so Nagata goes to strikes, continuing to target the leg. Backdrop, but Miller counters with a sunset flip for two, and delivers a front-powerslam. The knee is slowing him down, but Miller manages a superkick, so Onoo distracts him, and Nagata dropkicks the leg. Corner whip, but Miller collapses. Nagata advances, but Miller guts out a springboard flying roundhouse kick for the pin at 3:44. Nothing special, but pretty solid from a storytelling perspective, and Miller did a good job of selling the leg. * ½ 

Chris Jericho v Super Calo: Mike Tenay joins us for commentary on this one. Chris carries a sign down identifying himself as a ‘conspiracy victim,’ and takes out his frustrations by attacking Calo before the bell. Calo fights back with a rana into a cradle for two, and a clothesline allows Calo some mounted punches. Clothesline, but Chris ducks, and delivers a German suplex. Lionsault, but Calo dodges. Calo tries one of his own, but that misses as well, and Jericho gets the Liontamer on at 1:30. This was too short to go anywhere. ½*

Raven hits the ring and calls Saturn out to discuss their relationship. Saturn notes that Raven is drunk with power, and that Saturn has never been a member of the Flock, he just considers himself Raven’s friend. And then Raven apologies to him, so I guess we’re good? With that out of the way, Raven calls Mortis out, and he answers the call, sans mask. He advances, so Raven has the Flock take him out, but some dude jumps out of the crowd and hits Raven with a reverse STO before disappearing into the night. The announcers wonder if the guy who jumped the rail was the real Mortis, and honestly, even I’m not sure. And I know what Kanyon looks like. Let’s assume yes

WCW Television Title Match: Fit Finlay v Jim Neidhart: They measure each other to start, and Jim takes control. He tries getting a crab hold on, but Finlay won’t roll over, so Jim uses a matslam instead. Corner charge, but Fit blocks, and stomps the challenger down. Jim escapes to the apron and uses a slingshot shoulderblock, followed by a bodyslam for two. Finlay pops up with a few right hands, and a tombstone retains at 2:34. Neidhart looked like he was really trying here. ¼*

Tony announces that Booker T has been named the top contender to the TV title (I mean, after Neidhart, obviously), which draws Chris Benoit out to protest. Chris wants to talk to the championship committee here and now, but he gets Booker himself instead. Booker tells him to back off, which earns him a smack, but here’s Stevie Ray to chase Benoit off. Stevie tells Booker that he’s embarrassed of how soft he’s become, and he offers to help his brother stomp a hole in Benoit’s ass. I liked this segment. They continue to add prestige to the TV title with this angle, and the Harlem Heat reunion at the end felt like it had genuine emotion behind it, and was relatable. Good stuff

Jim Duggan v Brian Adams: Adams tries a sneak attack, but it fails, and Duggan knocks him over the top. Jim follows to bash his head into the steps, but interference from Vincent ends in Jim taking a bump on the floor. That turns the tide, and Adams unloads on the way back into the ring. Brian with a backbreaker for two, and he works a chinlock, but Hacksaw quickly escapes. Adams responds with a clothesline and mounted punches, but Jim is in the ropes. Adams won’t let off, so the referee tries physically pulling him off, which ends very badly for the official. And that’s a DQ win for Duggan at 2:11. DUD

Saturn v Van Hammer: Hammer’s jeans look sick. As in actually ill, not ‘cool’ sick. Slugfest right away, won by Hammer. Hammer adds a corner clothesline and a ten-punch count, but Saturn comes back with a superkick, and a suplex. Corner whip, but Hammer reverses, and catches him with a powerslam on the rebound. Hammer with a jumping shoulderblock, followed by an inverted vertical suplex, and a spinebuster. That draws Reese onto the apron, so Hammer punches him, but Raven sneaks in to drop Hammer with a DDT while the referee is caught up with Reese. Saturn protests the interference, but still capitalizes with a death valley driver at 3:23. Good effort from Hammer this week. * ¼ 

Rick Rude and Curt Hennig join us, and first things first, Rude won’t declare allegiance to either brand of the nWo - his allegiance is strictly to Hennig. Next, Curt lays down a challenge to WCW United States Champion Bill Goldberg for the Great American Bash. Not a great promo here, but fine

Juventud Guerrera v Horace Boulder: You could always count on WCW for some nutty combinations, that much is for sure. Horace with a corner clothesline early on, but Guerrera blocks a side suplex, then blocks a German suplex. Horace gets annoyed, and charges, but Guerrera backdrops him over the top, and follows with a dive. Guerrera with a springboard dive on the way back in, but Horace catches him in a slam, so Guerrera counters to a cradle for two. Horace clobbers him and successfully delivers the side suplex, then adds an elbowdrop. Guerrera manages a sleeper, but Horace drops into the corner to force a break, and he cracks him with a chop. Powerbomb, but Guerrera uses a headscissors to send him over the top. Cue Reese to clobber Guerrera, and Horace waltzes back in with a clothesline at 4:17. This was a mess. ¼*

Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth join us to hype up the tag match for the Great American Bash. Randy hates Roddy Piper, but he hates Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart more, so they’ll be a great team. Yep, math checks out

Eddie Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero Jr hang out with Eddie’s mom, and, according to Eddie, she’s totally on board with how Eddie treats Chavo. I mean, I don’t speak Spanish, so I guess I’ll just have to take Eddie’s word. He’s got an honest face

WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Dean Malenko v Chavo Guerrero Jr: They trade takedowns to start, feeling each other out. Chavo puts the boots to him to win a criss cross, and a dropkick finds the mark. Guerrero with chops in the corner, but a cross corner whip gets reversed, so Chavo drops him with a side suplex for two. Reversal sequence turns it around for Dean with a vertical suplex for two, and a corner whip follows, but Chavo blocks the charge. Tornado DDT, but Dean counters it into the Texas cloverleaf at 2:56. This had mojo, but ultimately was another one that was too short to really go anywhere. Afterwards, Eddie comes in to chew him out, but Chavo is in no mood, and lays his uncle out. *

Giant v Lex Luger: Giant charges, but Lex sidesteps, and pounds the big man into the corner. A cross corner whip allows Lex a corner clothesline, but a second charge gets brutally blocked, and Giant stands on his chest. Into the corner for some abuse, and a Russian legsweep follows. Giant with a backbreaker, but Lex makes a comeback. He gears up for the torture rack, but ‘Sting’ comes into attack him for the DQ at 2:18, though it’s an obvious imposter. That’s not even Sting’s gear! Though, the announcers are totally fooled, of course. To give them some credit, they pretty quickly acknowledge that it’s not the real Sting, instead of doing some hysterical the-sky-is-falling sign off. DUD

BUExperience: A pretty enjoyable episode. Nothing of real note going on, but an easy two hours of wrestling.