WCW Thunder (February 25, 1999)

 

Original Airdate: February 25, 1999 (taped February 18)

From Salt Lake City, Utah; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan

No Disqualification Match: Damien v Hak: Hak demands that it’s a no DQ match, as Tony immediately mocks him for wearing a strand of barbed wire, since it fucks him up as much as it would the opponent. Not in those exact words, sadly. Damien blitzes him, and Hak ends up on the outside, where Damien dives at him. Hak takes a few bumps into the guardrail out there, and Damien uses a flying moonsault press for two on the way back in. Hak was badly out of position there, and it screwed the spot up. Hak punches him in the face to shake him off, and he drops Damien across the top rope to calm his ass down. Back to the outside, where Hak uses a guillotine legdrop on the rail, and he hangs Damien in a tree of woe on the way back in, allowing him to dropkick a chair into his face. Hak grabs a kendo stick, but Damien swings the chair to block him. He tries a ropewalk, but Hak whacks him with the kendo to block. A criss cross allows Damien to get the kendo to return fire, but Hak ducks one, and delivers a Russian legsweep at 4:38. Hak trying to bring the ECW Arena act to the big leagues is not translating. ¼*

Psychosis v Hector Garza: Garza manages to smack him around a little, and he wins a criss cross with a superkick. Hector with some chops in the corner, but a front-powerslam gets blocked, and a reversal sequence ends in Psychosis clotheslining him. Psychosis with a dropkick, as Tony says he really can’t blame David Flair for falling into the Torrie Wilson honey pot. Psychosis with a suicide dive, and a dropkick on the floor follows. Psychosis with a flying bodypress on the way back in, but Garza catches him in a powerslam for two. Garza tries a corner splash, but misses, and Psychosis capitalizes with a flying dropkick for two. Garza with a jumping clothesline to win a criss cross, but it only gets two. A corner dropkick misses, allowing Psychosis a flying spinheel kick for two. Cross corner whip, but Hector reverses, so Psychosis drops him across the top rope, and throws another flying spinheel kick for two. Garza shoots back with a flapjack powerbomb for two, and he goes upstairs, but Psychosis brings him down with a rana. That stuns Garza long enough for Psychosis to go up with a flying legdrop at 7:16. They were having a match here, but the announcers completely ignored it to talk about the Flair angle. To be fair, the crowd wasn’t really into it, either. * ½ 

Stevie Ray v Ernest Miller: Miller gives Stevie a chance to walk away, but you know how that goes. I get that Stevie is dressing for the nWo role, but this Danny Davis look is not working for him. Stevie kills him, so Sonny Ono tries to interfere, but gets killed as well. Stevie goes in for the finish, but Vincent nails him with a slapjack, and Miller scores the pin at 4:01. This was all angle. DUD

No Disqualification Match: Raven and Kanyon v El Dandy and Villano V: The heels dominate, though they’re just working a straight tag match here, not a hardcore style match, like you’d expect. Raven with a DDT on Villano at 5:11. I appreciated that they used the real life situation where Raven and Kanyon injured Villano IV as part of the story, but it’s not like they were going to waste time on a proper Raven/Villano V feud anyway (and rightly so), so it was kind of pointless. DUD

Juventurd Guerrera v Blitzkrieg: Blitzkrieg knocks him out of the ring off of the initial exchange, and back in, they criss cross - won by Juvi, using a headscissors to send Blitzkrieg to the outside now. Blitzkrieg comes back in and dropkicks Guerrera out, allowing him a crazy suicide dive that ends up with them halfway up the aisle. Wild! Blitzkrieg tries a springboard flying moonsault press on the way back in, but it misses, and Guerrera delivers a wheelbarrow bulldog for two. A snapmare allows Juvi to hold a chinlock, and another reversal sequence allows Blitzkrieg a spinebuster, then a standing moonsault for two. Guerrera bails, but Blitzkrieg brings him back inside, only for it backfire when Juvi uses a rana for two. Guerrera messes up his knee on the landing, but still stays in control with an elbowdrop for two, before grounding Blitzkrieg in a chinlock. Guerrera with a tilt-a-whirl slam for two, but Blitzkrieg blocks a superplex, so Guerrera dropkicks him off the top, and down to the floor. Guerrera rolls him in for a springboard flying legdrop for two, but Blitzkrieg hooks a victory cradle for two, then a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Blitzkrieg tries a springboard moonsault, but Guerrera lifts his knees to block. Juvi goes up for the flying 450 splash, but it misses. That leads to another reversal sequence, won by Guerrera with a scoop sitout brainbuster at 10:54. Another solid piece of cruiserweight action. * ¾ 

Konnan music video

Kevin Nash v Rey Mysterio Jr: From Monday Nitro on February 22 in Sacramento California. Nash with some mocking at the bell, calling for a test-of-strength. Nash blasts him with a knee, so Rey starts moving, and goes after the leg. A spinheel kick takes Kevin down, and a springboard flying facebuster follows. Rey with a bronco buster, but Kevin catches the next move, and drops him with a snake eyes. Nash with a biel out of the corner, and he sets up the powerbomb, but Mysterio topples him for three at 2:36. Not enough time to really deliver as a match, but it was fun while it lasted. ½*

Bret Hart v Disco Inferno: Well, it’s still a step up from wrestling a pirate. Disco bails right away, stalling the Hitman out. Disco keeps doing it, until Bret gets hold of him, and Disco is immediately in big trouble. Bret works him over, and it’s basically a squash, with Disco getting nothing in here. Hart delivers a Russian legsweep for two, and he chokes Disco in the corner, but Disco manages to poke him in the eyes to finally get a shot in. Disco pounds the Hitman down, but Bret fights him off in the corner, and swipes at the leg. Hart works the part, and applies a figure four, but Disco makes the ropes to save himself. He barely got a finger on the ropes there, he’s lucky this is a weak referee, Tommy Young wouldn’t have bought that shit. Hart with a backbreaker to set up a 2nd rope pointed elbowdrop, and the Sharpshooter finishes at 10:03. Pretty dull. Bret was working in house show mode. It’s so sad to see him just phone it in, and no longer be an innovator or storyteller. ½*

BUExperience: I always think this show is at its best when it’s kind of a bridge between the very in-ring focused Saturday Night and the very angle heavy Nitro (as opposed to trying to be a Nitro-lite), and that was very much the case this week. Each show has its lane, and are best when they stick to them.