WCW Thunder (August 13, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: August 13, 1998

From Fargo, North Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan, with Lee Marshall (first hour), and Mike Tenay (second hour)

Scott Hall v Konnan: Yeah, I’d already completely forgotten that Hall and Giant are the tag champs at this point. The entrances take forever here, with these verbose guys. Tony notes that lots of Bret Hart fans likely made the drive down from Calgary for the show tonight, as if it’s the next town over from Fargo, or something. It’s a fifteen hour drive! Posturing to start, and Hall takes control. He delivers a fallaway slam for two, and Scott unloads in the corner from there. Scott with a cross corner clothesline (accentuated by a great camera angle), and Hall goes to an abdominal stretch. Konnan fights him off and lands a rolling clothesline, and he goes for a series of turnbuckle smashes, but Hall fights him off with a mulekick. That allows him to try for the crucifix powerbomb, but Konnan hooks a small package for two. Hall throws a clothesline to cut him off, and he goes for the powerbomb again, landing it this time for the pin at 6:38. ¼*

Raven's Rules Match: Raven v Horace: Raven beats him up in the corner, and a cross corner bodyblock finds the mark. Raven grabs a stop sign, but Lodi intervenes on Horace’s behalf, and Horace capitalizes with a big boot for two. Horace with a bodyslam to set up a flying splash for two, and he whacks Raven with the stop sign. Horace with another bodyslam to set up a second flying splash for two, but a charge in the corner misses, and Horace hits the sign - giving Heenan a funny line about ‘running the stop sign.’ Raven drags him to the outside for a Russian legsweep into the guardrail, and he demands Lodi hit Horace. Lodi refuses, so Raven brings the rest of the Flock in to do the deed, and the referee calls for the DQ at 3:34. In a no DQ match. Afterwards, Saturn comes out to make the save, but he talks them down instead of physically intervening, since his beef is with Raven. But then Horace gets up and nails Saturn, and the Flock beat him down, until Kanyon makes the save. The angles and allegiances here are just too confusing. I appreciate layered storytelling, but this isn’t complex, it’s confusing. ½*

Schiavone brings Stevie Ray out, and he throws out a challenge to Giant for costing him the TV title on Nitro

WCW Television Title Match: Chris Jericho v Chavo Guerrero Jr: Heenan keeps getting funny lines in, but the other announcers ignore him like he’s Art Donovan in the third hour of King of the Ring. Chavo dominates early, but the referee pulls him off of Jericho in the corner, and Chris recovers with a standing side-headlock. Guerrero forces a criss cross and uses a drop-toehold, and he wins a second criss cross by… biting Jericho on the ass. I get that he’s supposed to be crazy, but no need to emulate the Bushwhackers. It’s just wrong. Chris fights back with a hotshot, so Chavo tries a dropkick, but Jericho dodges. Jericho with a Lionsault for two, and a hanging vertical suplex gets two. Chris uses a snapmare to set up a bow-and-arrow, but Chavo fights free, so Jericho goes to the eyes to cut off a potential comeback. Jericho with a ropechoke, and he takes Chavo into the corner for chops, followed by a bootchoke. Chris with a spinheel kick for two, but Chavo dodges a clothesline, and throws one of his own. Chavo goes to town in the corner, and a corner whip is followed in with a forearm. Chavo with a springboard bulldog for two, and an atomic drop follows, so Jericho grabs Pepe, and smashes it. That draws a furious Chavo over, and Chris suckers him into a schoolboy for two. A clothesline dumps Guerrero over the top, where Chavo grabs another Pepe, and whacks Jericho with it for the DQ at 9:30. These two could certainly have a great match. This wasn’t it. ¾*

Bret Hart is out, pissed off about Lex Luger taking the WCW United States title off of him on Monday. They have a rematch later tonight, and Bret just does a general hype interview for it. Nothing of real note here, but Bret was fine

Public Enemy v Disco Inferno and Alex Wright: Rocco Rock and Wright start, and Alex wins a criss cross with a backdrop over the top. Alex stays on him with a baseball slide, and he heads upstairs on the way back in, but Rock crotches him. Rock tries a superplex, but Alex blocks, and dives with a flying axehandle - blocked by Rocco. Alex manages a side suplex, but Rock blocks a slingshot splash, and delivers an atomic drop. Johnny Grunge comes in for an inverted version, and Wright wisely tags out. Grunge pounds on Disco, and passes to Rock for a tandem flapjack. The Enemy continue double teaming Disco, so Alex comes in, and everyone brawls. Grunge hits Alex with a tilt-a-whirl slam, and the Enemy bring a table in. Grunge leans Wright on it in the corner, but Tokyo Magnum comes in, and takes the proverbial bullet for Alex. That allows Wright a neckbreaker on Grunge at 3:22. This was solid enough for the few minutes it lasted. Afterwards, Meng runs in, and wrecks everyone. That draws Barbarian out to fight him, but Meng chokes him down as well, and takes out the referee as well for good measure. What was the point of building Meng like this? He should have gotten a major angle with Goldberg after something like this, but he’d already jobbed to him in two minutes on the previous Nitro. Just pointless. ¾*

Curt Hennig v Kevin Nash: Nash dominates him in the corner early on, and tries a biel, but Hennig thinks he’s trying a hiptoss, and the whole thing goes kind of sideways. Kevin with a bootchoke in the corner, but Curt swipes at the leg, and works the part. Nash fights back with a big boot, so Rick Rude comes in, and hits the referee to draw a DQ at 3:30. Nash goes after him, but Scott Hall attacks, and we get a triple beatdown, until Lex Luger makes the save. DUD

Eddie Guerrero v Stevie Ray: WCW’s ring bells had some crazy sustain. Eddie uses his speed to control early, but gets clobbered while unloading some shots in the corner. Ray with a clothesline, as Scott Hall and Giant show up to observe from the entrance area. Ray puts Eddie in a bearhug, and a press-drop follows. Ray drops him front-first across the top rope, and a bicycle kick sends Guerrero to the outside. Ray tries a suplex back in, but Guerrero slips free, and throws a dropkick. Eddie tries a springboard, but slips on the ropes, and they recover with Stevie throwing a big boot, followed by a butterfly facebuster at 4:03. DUD

WCW United States Title Match: Lex Luger v Bret Hart: They feel each other out to start, and Bret unloads in the corner after throwing a punch during a rope break. Hart with a bodyslam to set up a legdrop for two, and he takes Lex back into the corner for more shots. Lex turns the tables, but Hart escapes a ten-punch count with a hotshot. Hart with a headbutt drop and stomp, both to the groin, and a Russian legsweep gets him two. Hart with a cross corner whip, and a backbreaker sets up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop, but Luger dodges. Luger makes a comeback, but Bret gets to the outside to avoid getting into a pinning predicament. Hart grabs a chair to try and force a DQ, but Lex clotheslines him before he can use it. Luger grabs the chair, but the referee intervenes, and Hart is able to nail him. The referee goes down as well, allowing Hart the cover to DDT Luger on the chair, and with Lex down, Hart revives the official. Cover, count, and Luger gets a shoulder up at two! A great dramatic nearfall there. But then Bret just slaps on the Sharpshooter to take the title back at 9:37. A few good moments, especially at the end, but really dull overall. The Nitro match was much better. ½*

BUExperience: Not one of the better Thunder’s. It wasn’t bad, mostly because they had a lot of focus on angles, but the actual wrestling was junk, and even if the angles got air time, nothing of real note was advanced.