WCW Thunder (September 3, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: September 3, 1998 (taped August 26)

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

Marty Jannetty v Rick Fuller: The lighting is really low here, like the building is half empty, though they have a pretty big crowd on hand. Posturing to start, with Jannetty using speed to control, but getting caught in the corner. Fuller with a hiptoss, and a backdrop gets him two. Fuller hammers on him, and a corner whip leads to a charge, but Jannetty dodges. That allows Jannetty a rocker dropper for the pin at 3:05. ¼*

Kaz Hayashi v Lenny Lane: Lane knocks him around early, and he runs Hayashi into three turnbuckles. Cross corner whip, but Hayashi reverses, and a reversal sequence ends in Hayashi using a rana. Again, but Lane counters with a hotshot for two, and pounds on him. Hayashi gets up to trade chops, and Lane cross corner whips him, but Hayashi manages to block a bulldog. Hayashi with a flying bodypress, but Lane rolls through for two, and hits Kaz with a kneeling facebuster. Lane tries for a superplex, but Hayashi dumps him over the top to block, and dives after him! Hayashi with a flying bodypress on the way in, but Lane catches him in a powerslam for two. Lane with a hanging vertical suplex for two, but Kaz reverses the cradle for two. Lane cuts him off with an axehandle, and a cradle gets two - reversed again by Hayashi for two. Lane goes for another superplex, but Hayashi blocks again, and takes Lane off the top with a rana. That allows Hayashi to dive with a flying senton splash for the pin at 5:55. Good action here. Despite the low level of star power, they managed to engage the crowd, and get them into it. ** ¼ 

High Voltage v Disorderly Conduct: Oh man, it’s like WCW Saturday Night’s WrestleMania main event here. Voltage dominate Tough Tom, so Mean Mike comes in to save him from getting pinned, and Conduct take Robbie Rage into their home corner to double up on. A tandem suplex gets two, but Rage fights them off, and gets a tag to Kenny Kaos, as Heenan blows his credibility by comparing Voltage to a ‘young Steiner Brothers.’ I don’t dislike Voltage, but let’s not say things we can’t take back. Conduct work on Kaos, but Rage gets the hot tag, and Roseanne Barr the door! Voltage hit a combo for the pin at 4:47. These four felt like characters out of a non-licensed wrestling videogame. That said, they worked hard, and again were able to engage the crowd despite the lack of star power. ¾*

Wrath v Barry Horowitz: Barry tries grabbing a headlock at the bell, but Wrath is too tall, and knocks Horowitz out of the ring in short order. Wrath follows to send Barry into the guardrail, and he delivers a slingshot shoulderblock on the way back inside. Wrath with a corner whip, but Barry counters a suplex with a schoolboy for one. Barry with an elbowsmash, but a whip into the ropes gets reversed, and Wrath blasts him with a jumping shoulderblock. Wrath with a pumphandle-slam at 2:21. A total squash, but leave it to Horowitz to make a dude look like a monster. Great selling from Barry throughout, that guy understood the assignment. ½*

Saturn has had a hard knock life, and he’s not going to let a bully like Raven push the guys in the Flock around anymore. But he won’t break his word to Lodi since he lost the bet, so he’ll continue to be his servant until Fall Brawl

Handicap Match: Meng v Riggs, Sick Boy, and Horace: This is supposed to be Meng against Raven, but Raven decides to send his guys in instead. Not that it bothers Meng at all, as he just wrecks everyone, and finishes Sick Boy with the Tongan death grip at 1:13. Afterwards, Lodi sends Saturn in, but he gets choked out as well. Everything related to the Flock angle continues to be a complete albatross. DUD

Saturn v Kanyon: Saturn is still out after the beating from Meng, and Kanyon grabs him with an electric chair right away. Kanyon chokes him down, but Saturn manages a small package for two, though Kanyon immediately clobbers him. Kanyon hammers on the man, and a snapmare leads to a modified facebuster for two. Kanyon with a spinning wheelbarrow suplex, so Saturn hooks a crucifix cradle for two. Kanyon dumps him to the outside for Raven to abuse, and Kanyon hooks the leg for two as Saturn is rolled back in. Kanyon with a neckbreaker for two, and a bridging fisherman neckbreaker is worth two. Kanyon with a spinebuster, but he gets cocky, and Saturn overhead suplexes him. Saturn adds another suplex as he goes on the comeback trail, but Lodi tells him he doesn’t want him to keep going, and orders him to take a reverse STO from Kanyon. Saturn is forced to comply, and Kanyon pins him at 9:04. Kanyon busted out his usual variety of innovative moves, but the match didn’t really have any flow or story to it, and the crowd lost interest, despite this one having star power. ½*

Dean Malenko v Brian Adams: Curt Hennig attacks Malenko in the aisle during the entrances, and Rick Rude joins him and Adams in giving Malenko a beating, so no match. Hennig grabs the microphone, and apparently the reason for the attack is in response to Dean trying to bring the Horsemen back, which personally offends Curt, since he killed it.

Riggs v Norman Smiley: Riggs is still selling the beating from Meng here. He manages to swipe at Norman at the bell, and he pounds Smiley into the corner for a bootchoke. Clothesline, but Smiley ducks, so Riggs goes to a sleeper. Smiley manages a jawbreaker to shake him off, as they announce that Malenko will face Hennig in a cage on Nitro! Okay, so at least it went somewhere, unlike the endless Flock stuff. Smiley with an elbowdrop for two, and he grounds Riggs in a headlock. They’ve brought the lights up a lot here, and the building looks much more presentable now. The Thunder set is already so gray, the last thing it needs is darkness. Smiley with a small package for two, but Riggs throws a clothesline to end the run, and he slaps on a bow-and-arrow. Riggs with a crucifix cradle for two, and I’m shocked to learn that Smiley is only 33 years old at this point. He looks so old. Riggs with a bodyslam, but a 2nd rope kneedrop misses, and Smiley goes after the leg. He gets a grapevine on, and Riggs submits at 6:36. This was pretty dull. ¼*

Disco Inferno and Alex Wright v Scott Armstrong and Steve Armstrong: They work hard to try and put the Armstrongs over as a threat here, but they get treated mostly like jobbers. It’s really distracting that both guys have a giant ‘SA’ printed on the front of their gear. Unless that factors into your team name, fuck off. The Armstrongs manage to get control of Disco, but end up colliding during a double team, and Wright uses a neckbreaker at 5:30. ¼*

Diamond Dallas Page and Konnan v Giant and Stevie Ray: Konnan and Stevie start, and Stevie dominates. Konnan fights back with a rolling clothesline, so Giant tags in, and so does Page. Giant wins the first exchange with a clothesline, as Tony notes that Giant is kind of like a ‘hitman’ for nWo Hollywood. Yeah, good they found someone who could act as a hitman in that group. Page tries a sunset flip, but Giant blocks, and uses a backbreaker. Konnan gets a tag, but immediately gets into trouble, and the heels work him over. Hot tag to Page, and Ray eats a Diamond Cutter, but Giant saves at two. And then nWo Hollywood just run in for the DQ at 5:32. Afterwards, Bill Goldberg makes the save, and gets into a staredown with Giant as we go off the air. DUD

BUExperience: I like this show much better than Nitro (generally). It’s so much more wrestling focused, and doesn’t require a three hour investment. Look at this show, all the angles are tied to matches, as opposed to individual segments that ramble on and go in circles. The star power is much lower, but that isn’t a major negative, as it’s good to see them moving guys up from the weekend shows, and trying to build new stars.