WCW Thunder (January 21, 1999)

 

Original Airdate: January 21, 1999

From Indianapolis, Indiana; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

Backstage, Stevie Ray tries to flex his way into being the leader of the nWo b-team guys

Disco Inferno v Jerry Flynn: We’re still pretending Disco is interesting, I guess? He hits a jawbreaker at 5:10. Main eventers don’t need over five minutes to squash Jerry Flynn. ¼*

Backstage, the b-team guys have mastered the walkie talkie. Stevie is flabbergasted 

A limousine arrives outside, so Horace tries to go up to it to talk to uncle Hollywood, but it turns out to be the Horsemen’s limo, and Horace gets wrecked 

Gene Okerlund brings Ric Flair out, and apparently Ric’s argument as to why he’s better than Hulk Hogan is because he’s older

Backstage, the b-team discover the down and out Horace

Saturn v Al Greene: Greene makes the mistake of pulling Saturn’s dress up to mock him, and he dies. Meanwhile, the announcers discuss that the tag title tournament is being restarted, since the nWo kept interfering in things. Saturn with the death valley driver at 2:54. This existed just to showcase Saturn in a dress, and further that angle. ¼*

Kenny Kaos v Glacier: Kaos takes him down in an anklelock, but Glacier gets into the ropes. Kaos responds with a 2nd rope legdrop for two, but Glacier fights him off with a series of strikes, and uses a legsweep. Glacier gets some shots in, but Kenny fights him off, and uses a springboard clothesline at 3:37. DUD

Backstage, the b-team continue to try and figure out how to get into the Wolfpac a-team. After they all leave the room, Vincent takes off his nWo black-and-white t-shirt to reveal a red-and-black Wolfpac shirt. This is a gamechanger 

The nWo b-team head to the ring, and notice that Vincent is wearing the red-and-black. No one really makes much of it. Considering you could buy them out at the merchandise stands, I probably wouldn’t make much of it either. Vincent decides he’s the leader of this group, and starts booking pairings for the tag tournament, and everyone more or less accepts it. I have no idea what is going on with this storyline 

Booker T v Norman Smiley: Posturing to start, and Booker gets control. A backelbow gets him one, but a corner charge runs into a boot, and Smiley delivers a hotshot. Smiley with a bodyslam, and a cross corner whip rebounds Booker into a swinging bodyslam. Smiley puts the boots to him for two, and he goes to a chinlock from there. Booker escapes, so Smiley backdrops him, and stomps on him some more, until Booker falls out of the ring. Smiley with a side suplex for two, but a whip into the ropes gets reversed, and Booker powerslams him. Smiley is up first, and throws an uppercut, but another whip into the ropes is countered with a short-knee. Booker with a spinkick, and a spinebuster into a somersault cradle is worth two. Smiley bails, but Booker is on his tail, and Smiley eats the guardrail. Smiley goes to the eyes on the way back in, but misses a clothesline, and Booker delivers the axekick. That allows Booker to get to the top rope, but Smiley wants no part of that, and bails again. He decides to take a walk, and gets intentionally counted out at 10:00. This was solid, but with a weak finish. *

WCW World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round Match: Billy Kidman and Chavo Guerrero Jr v Brian Adams and Horace: Why are Kidman and Guerrero suddenly a team? What happened to Billy’s pairing with Rey Mysterio Jr? Just so random for a team contending for the title. Kidman and Horace start, and Horace powers him around. Kidman manages a dropkick, and he tries a sunset flip, but Horace blocks. Kidman responds with another dropkick, and he tags to Chavo for a drop-toehold, so Adams pulls down the top rope on a criss cross, and Guerrero takes a bump to the outside. Adams presses Chavo back in, but an attempt at a slam backfires when Kidman missile dropkicks Chavo into toppling him for two. Kidman with another dive on Adams for two, but he walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Adams keeps coming with a pop-up flapjack for two, and boy, Brian really needed to go back to wearing a shirt during this period. The heels go to work, but Chavo gets a tag, and manages to outmove Horace. A dropkick and a springboard bulldog leave Horace groggy, and Guerrero tags back to Kidman - just as Horace manages a tag himself. Kidman runs wild, so Vincent runs in with a weapon, and knocks Kidman silly. That allows Adams to cover, and the heels advance at 8:37. This was better than I expected it would be. *

Backstage the b-team celebrate 

Rey Mysterio Jr v La Parka: Rey with a running dropkick to kickstart things, and a reversal sequence ends in Parka missing a corner splash. Parka tries backdropping him over the top, but Rey lands on the apron. Rey hustles to the top for a flying bodypress, but Parka catches him, and… puts him down so he can dance. That allows Rey to dive at him, and Parka ends up on the outside. Rey chases with a headscissor takedown on the floor, and he tries a victory cradle on the way back in, but Parka counters with a facebuster for two. Parka with a corner whip, and a clothesline gets him two. Parka with an inverted atomic drop for two, and a bodyslam sets up a flying splash, but Rey gets his boot up to block. Rey recovers, but eats a superkick. Parka tries a charge, but misses, and that allows Rey to hustle back to the top - only for Parka to knock him off. Parka uses a spinebuster to set up a dive, but now Rey knocks him off. That allows Rey a swinging bulldog for the pin at 4:17. One of the rare cases where I can say ‘that felt really long for a four minute match,’ and mean it was a compliment. * ¼ 

Okerlund brings Diamond Dallas Page out to discuss Scott Steiner’s sexual harassment of Page’s wife, Kimberly. DDP is not pleased with it

Out in a limo, we discover that the Wolfpac is watching the b-team via a hidden camera. Vincent discovers the camera, though the rest of the crew don’t see it

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Ric Flair, Steve McMichael, and Chris Benoit v Stevie Ray, Scott Norton, and Vincent: Mongo starts with Stevie, which is the worst combination possible in this match, bravo. Luckily, they barely make contact before Vincent tags in. Steve knocks him around, and passes to Benoit to beat on him with chops. Benoit with a snap suplex, and he goes up, but Vincent tags before he can dive. Norton gives Benoit some chops back, but misses a charge, and Chris throws more chops. Tag to Steve, but Scott powerslams him. Tag to Vincent for a 2nd rope elbowdrop, but Mongo rolls out of the way, and gets a tag off to Ric. Flair with more chops, and everyone comes in to brawl - Roseanne Barr the door! Flair side suplexes Vincent, then puts him in the figure four at 3:37. This was just kind of a bunch of ‘stuff’ for a few minutes. ¼*

BUExperience: While I appreciate trying to build angles around guys who aren’t just the main eventers, the nWo b-team drama was really lame, and just felt ‘less than.’ The wrestling was mostly solid, though.