WCW Thunder (January 7, 1999)

 

Original Airdate: January 7, 1999

From Richmond, Virginia; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair out, and he’s on about ‘tradition’ even more than Topol. Flair feels to blame for the fingerpoke fiasco, since he booked the match. But he doesn’t appreciate being made a fool of by the nWo, and he’s going to use his presidential power to make it right

Saturn v Ernest Miller: Miller hammers him into the corner, but struts around, and Saturn recovers. Saturn gives him a taste of his own medicine, but Miller throws a superkick to shake him off. Saturn tries a sunset flip, but Miller blocks… then shows off too much, and gets cradled anyway for two. Miller uses another superkick to buy time, but runs into a foot in the corner, and delivers a powerslam for two. Cue a distraction from Sonny Onoo, but Saturn powers through, and suplexes Miller. A falcon arrow looks to finish, but Chris Jericho pulls the referee out. That allows Miller to schoolboy a distracted Saturn, and referee Scott Dickinson runs in to count the pin himself at 2:54. DUD

Backstage, the nWo arrive. And Hollywood Hulk Hogan is Wolfpac now, and dressing like Konnan. Not a good look for a dude pushing fifty. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell are Wolfpac now as well, but the rest of his nWo Hollywood crew want an explanation, so Hulk tells them that they’ll work it all out tonight

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WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Billy Kidman v Psychosis: They feel each other out to start, and it leads to a criss cross - won by Psychosis with forearms. Another criss cross sees Kidman knock him out of the ring with a dropkick, and the champ dives after him with a plancha. Another dive, but it misses, and both guys are left down on the outside. Inside, Psychosis tries a cross corner whip, but gets reversed, and Kidman hits a rebound clothesline. Kidman with a sitout spinebuster for two, but Psychosis blocks a suplex. He tries a powerbomb, but Kidman counters with a facebuster on the way down, and he goes up for the flying shooting star press, but Juventud Guerrera runs in for the DQ at 5:58. There wasn’t a lot to this one. The LWO guys beat Kidman down after the bell, but Rey Mysterio Jr makes the save. ½*

The nWo are out, and Hogan tells his former Hollywood pals that they’ll need to prove themselves to join the Wolfpac. Specifically, they need to beat members of the Wolfpac, and if they can, then they can join the group. So the Hollywood crew select Giant to represent their cause, and he’ll take on Kevin Nash this Monday on Nitro

Over in Palm Beach, at Raven’s mom’s house, his mom and grandma try to convince him to get treatment, while Kanyon sits around and drinks

Bam Bam Bigelow v Jerry Flynn: Bigelow quickly puts this away at 0:24. This was barely a match. DUD

Okerlund brings Curt Hennig and Barry Windham out, and they think Flair is the worst father of all time for agreeing to ‘sacrifice’ his son to them at Souled Out. “You should have had the handicap match, now you’re going to have a handicapped kid”

Okerlund spots Juventud Guerrera trying to sneak out of the building, and tries to talk to him about it, but Juvi takes off. “Don’t speak Mexican to me, I know you speak English,” shouts Gene. I think that might be what the kids call ‘problematic’ 

Disco Inferno v Chavo Guerrero Jr: So, we’re just completely dropping the whole ‘Disco tries to join the Wolfpac’ angle, then? Chavo wins a criss cross with a dropkick, and he throws a pair of dropkicks, so Disco bails. Norman Smiley shows up to sexually assault Pepe, and that distraction allows Disco to hit a jawbreaker at 3:21. DUD

WCW World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Fit Finlay and Dave Taylor v Super Calo and Lizmark Jr: Are either of these even regular teams? Fit and Calo start, and they posture. A criss cross allows Finlay an inverted atomic drop, and he tries a corner whip, but Calo springboards back at him with a flying axehandle for two. Taylor responds with a cheap shot, and Fit tags him in to smack Calo with an uppercut. Dave with a corner whip, but a charge misses, and Lizmark gets the tag. He runs wild on both opponents, but wastes time celebrating, and Taylor clobbers him. Tag to Fit for a bodyslam, but a pump-splash hits the knees. That allows Lizmark to drop him across the top, and a springboard moonsault gets two. Fit fires back with a rolling fireman carry slam, and he passes back to Dave. Taylor with a pair of uppercuts, so Lizmark tries a flying bodypress, but it misses. That allows Taylor a butterfly suplex at 3:03. Despite being a style clash, this was okay, and probably could have been pretty interesting with a few more minutes. Afterwards, the nWo come out and beat up all four guys, and Scott Hall says that the nWo formally objects to crowning new tag champions, since the belts are still theirs. And so, they’ll make it their mission to disrupt the tournament at every turn. I don’t really get this whole angle. The Wolfpac was over huge as babyfaces, and now they’re all heels like it’s 1996 again. What’s the point? ¾*

Booker T v La Parka: Parka dominates early on, but he misses a clothesline out of the ropes, and Booker delivers a pair of kicks to put him down. Booker with an axekick for two, as Bobby compares Parka to Disco Inferno. Booker with a spinebuster, but Parka reverses him into the ropes, and clotheslines him over the top. Parka follows to whip Booker into the guardrail, and they go back inside, where Parka wastes time playing to the crowd. That allows Booker to tag him with the Harlem sidekick at 4:23. ½*

Back at Raven’s house, everyone is hanging around by the pool when ‘Jim’ shows up (ECW’s Sandman), and apparently he’s Raven’s brother. Seeing Sandman act like a rich guy from Palm Beach is actually hilarious, and I want more of it

Backstage, La Parka is found unconscious, with ‘nWo’ spraypainted on the ground beside him

Chris Jericho v Konnan: Jericho attacks during the pre-match promo, and he pounds Konnan down. A criss cross allows Jericho a (sloppy) hotshot, and he adds a vertical suplex. Another criss cross allows Konnan a bulldog for two, and a rolling clothesline connects. Konnan with a whiplash for two, but a criss cross ends in the referee getting bumped. That allows Jericho to hit Konnan with a weapon, but Saturn pulls the referee out at two. That allows Konnan to recover with a sitout facebuster, and Saturn counts the pin himself at 5:01. This was embarrassingly bad. -½*

Barry Windham v Chris Benoit:Benoit with chops, and he whips Windham into the ropes for a knife-edge. Barry bails, but Benoit chases, and smashes him into the steps. Windham decides to try trading chops with the Crippler, and he goes to the eyes to win the exchange. Inside, Benoit reverses into the ropes, and delivers a backdrop. Chris with a series of knees to the head, and he unloads in the corner, ahead of a corkscrew legwhip. Windham with a mulekick to buy time, and he drills Chris with a DDT. Windham uses a floatover vertical suplex for two, but Benoit reverses a second vertical suplex. Benoit hammers him in the corner, so Windham goes to the eyes, and uses a gutwrench suplex for two. Barry dumps him to the outside, and Windham follows to feed Chris the rail. Inside, Benoit manages to catch him with a clothesline, and a backbreaker gets him two. Benoit lands a short-clothesline, so Windham goes to the eyes again. Bodyslam, but Benoit blocks, and bumps the referee in the process. Benoit stays focused with a German suplex, and he goes up, but Curt Hennig runs in. Benoit takes him out, but Windham has recovered, and clobbers Chris for the pin at 5:11. This was surprisingly decent. Afterwards, Steve McMichael runs out to back Benoit up, and he cleans house. *

BUExperience: Honestly, at this point, Thunder feels kind of extraneous. It was a good companion piece to Nitro when it first came around, but now, it’s just like Nitro-lite.