WCW Thunder (December 18, 1998)

 

Original Airdate: December 18, 1998 (taped December 17)

From Charlotte, North Carolina; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Lee Marshall, and Bobby Heenan

WCW Television Title Match: Konnan v Kenny Kaos: Wait, so is Kaos still half of the tag champions at this point? And, on that note, do the tag titles still exist at this point? Konnan dominates, as we ignore the match, because Scott Steiner takes over the commentary booth. He promises that Lex Luger will be joining the nWo during Luger’s scheduled match with Scott Hall later. Konnan with the tequila sunrise at 2:52. Afterwards, Robbie Rage comes out to talk to Kaos, and yep, Kenny still has one of the tag belts, so I guess we’re just forgetting about the whole Judy Bagwell thing, then? Rage and Kaos have a long argument here, but neither is mic’d, so we can barely hear them, and the crowd can’t hear them at all. DUD

Outside, Ric Flair’s family arrives at the building. No Charlotte, but gosh, she’s her mom’s twin

Fit Finlay v Mike Enos: Finlay pounds him down, and delivers an elbowdrop for a quick two. Mike tries slugging back, but loses that exchange, and Finlay uses a snapmare to set up a seated senton splash for two. Finlay with a clothesline ahead of a chinlock, but Mike escapes, and lands a fisherman shoulderbreaker. Finlay punches him to buy time, and he manages to hammer Enos into the corner, but then misses a charge. That allows Mike a powerslam off the middle rope, but he doesn’t go for the cover. He looks to do more damage, but it backfires when Finlay hooks a small package at 3:52. Enos was showing some genuine fire here. ½*

Pre-taped Eric Bischoff reflects on what happened to Ric Flair on Monday, feeling bad for his role in this very real, very legitimate, very authentic situation. I joke, but they’re doing a good job of selling this angle

Scott Hall is out, and he notes that, while he doesn’t have a problem with Lex Luger, he’ll do what he has to tonight, because he’s a man without a country and without a friend

Rey Mysterio Jr v Juventud Guerrera: This is scheduled as Rey against Prince Iaukea, but the LWO cut Prince off in the aisle, and make it clear to him that it is in his best interest to walk away. Guerrera runs in, so Rey shoves him down, hard. Guerrera recovers with chops, but Rey manages a headscissor takedown to dump Juvi to the outside. A reversal sequence on the way back in goes Guerrera’s way with a sitout fireman neckbreaker for two. Guerrera adds a tilt-a-whirl slam for two, but a backdrop gets countered with a sunset flip for two - reversed by Guerrera for two. Guerrera dumps him onto the top turnbuckle, as Eddie Guerrero shows up to keep an eye on things. Guerrera grounds Rey in a chinlock, but Rey escapes with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Rey adds a sitout facebuster for two, but Guerrera fires back with a springboard flying bodypress for two. Guerrera tries a cross corner whip, but Rey reverses - only to miss a corner splash on the way in. That allows Guerrera to go up, but Rey blocks the dive with a dropkick. Rana, but Guerrera counters with a sitout powerbomb. That allows Juventud to climb again, but Rey crotches him, so Eddie runs in to hit Rey behind the referee’s back. That allows a wounded Guerrera to cover, and he gets three at 7:57. This was solid, but didn’t flow very well. Afterwards, Prince runs back out to snitch to the referee, and the official reverses the decision. The LWO run in, but Rey and Prince manage to hold them off, and get out of town. * ¼ 

Backstage, Steiner and Buff Bagwell make their nWo case to Luger, but Konnan gets in their face. As Konnan leaves, he gets jumped, and when Luger goes out to see what happened, he fights Hall standing there - and Scott gets the blame

Recently, Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly visited an Atlanta restaurant to read Christmas stories to kids 

Disco Inferno v Shima Nobunaga: Who? Disco is wearing a Wolfpac t-shirt here, as he continues to try to fake-it-’till-he-makes-it with the group. Disco dominates, but misses an elbowdrop, and Nobunaga delivers a pair of dropkicks, ahead of an armdrag into armbar. Disco escapes, and tags him with a backelbow, then an atomic drop. Disco with a clothesline, but Nobunaga snaps his throat across the top rope, and hits a springboard flying somersault senton splash for two. Nobunaga with a cross corner whip, but a charge in gets blocked. That allows Disco a bodyslam to set up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop for two, and he grounds Nobunaga in a chinlock from there. Disco with a turnbuckle smash on the worn down Nobunaga, but he telegraphs a backdrop, and gets nailed. That allows Nobunaga a spinheel kick for two, and a sitout front-powerslam gets another two. Nobunaga misses a dive, allowing Disco an inverted atomic drop, and a jawbreaker at 4:19. Nothing of note here. ¼*

Norman Smiley v Jerry Flynn: The announcers ignore this to talk about Flair and Bischoff the entire time. Which… fair, honestly. Smiley with a crossface chickenwing at 3:44. DUD

More reflections from Eric Bischoff. He just wants forgiveness 

Chris Jericho v Saturn: Some posturing to start, and Saturn manages a bodyslam to set up a springboard legdrop for two. He grounds Jericho in a chinlock, but Chris fights free, and uses a bodyslam of his own. Saturn fights back with a suplex for two, but a flying clothesline misses, and takes out the referee along the way. Jericho tries grabbing the Liontamer, but Saturn blocks, so Ernest Miller runs in. Saturn suplexes him, but Jericho has recovered. Saturn suplexes him as well, but Miller recovers, and hits Saturn with a big kick. That allows Jericho to put the Liontamer on, and the dazed referee calls the knockout submission at 5:02. Not much going on here, before all the gaga at the end. ¼*

Reflections with Eric Bischoff: Chapter III

Schiavone brings Ric Flair’s family out… and then the segment just ends there, with Tony saying that we’ll talk to them later. This was odd

Bret Hart/Diamond Dallas Page/Giant feud review video

Lex Luger v Scott Hall: Disco is out at the bell, trying to pal up with Luger. He gets ignored. Luger uses power early, but Hall manages to pound him down, and he delivers a cross corner clothesline. Hall works a bow-and-arrow, as Steiner and Bagwell show up at ringside. Lex reverses the hold, but Hall goes low to escape, and covers for two. Lex wins a slugfest, but gets reversed into the corner, only for Hall to get nailed when following in. Lex goes on the comeback trail, but Bagwell and Steiner run in on Hall for the DQ at 3:59, before Lex can slap on the torture rack. Steiner and Bagwell deliver a beatdown, until Konnan runs out, telling Lex that it was them who attacked him earlier. With that information, Luger chases Scott and Buff off, and save Hall. DUD

Tony brings Flair’s family back out, for real this time. Bischoff quickly joins them, trying to share his reflections with them in person. Eric is basically talking about Ric like Ric’s dead. And then Eric starts mocking Flair, talking about his ‘weak heart,’ before attacking David. The Flair boys try fighting back, but the nWo are right there with Eric, and we have a family style beatdown. Beth tries to intervene, so Bischoff sexually assaults her as we go off the air. Well, you can’t say they weren’t going for maximum heat ahead of the big show

BUExperience: This wasn’t a great episode, but the big angle was strong, and generally well delivered (though the actual beatdown fell a little flatter than perhaps it should have).