Thunder
Date: May 17, 2000
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Attendance: 3,066
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

I saw this on the WCW Vault channel so let’s take a look at this again. Thunder is of course an all time disaster of a wrestling show and we are at the point where WCW has more or less given up. The draw for this show is the Millionaires Club vs. the New Blood, with WCW thinking the fans would get behind the old rich wrestlers. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of recent carnage and chaos with no context whatsoever. This feels like a scene from a sitcom where someone is tasked with making a simple film but instead goes nuts and turns it into some art house deal which makes no sense but they blame the audience for not getting it (Diane did it on Cheers).

Opening sequence, featuring a countdown to the start of thunder. Isn’t the point of thunder that you don’t know when it’s going to start?

The New Blood arrives in a school bus, because that’s cool. Shane Douglas takes roll because Eric Bischoff has put him in charge. This leads to a fight with Konnan and here is the Millionaires Club, plus the Misfits In Action, running in for the brawl. Hulk Hogan, all in black with FUNB on his back (oh 2000 WCW, you glorious disaster), steals the keys to the bus.

Commentary welcomes us to the show and tells us that Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo aren’t here tonight. Dang I picked a good one.

Here is the Millionaires Club and the Misfits In Action, with Hulk Hogan saying they just stole the keys to the bus. Whatever Shane Douglas had planned is out the window because the Millionaires Club is booking the show tonight. Cue the New Blood, with Douglas telling Hogan to shut up. Hogan mocks Billy Kidman for the match at Slamboree and wants a rematch at the Great American Bash. If Hogan wins, he gets a World Title match at Bash At The Beach (DUN DUN DUN) and the match seems to be made.

As for tonight, Hogan wants to face Horace, but Jeff Jarrett cuts them off, saying he wants his World Title back. Cue champion Ric Flair (who would win and lose the title again before the end of the month) to deck Jarrett with the title and the big brawl is on again. So The Millionaires Club has already outsmarted the young, athletic guys and beaten them up twice inside of five minutes.

In the back, Konnan and Shane Douglas argue again, with Konnan and the rest of the Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and the Disco Inferno) walking out.

Misfits In Action vs. Filthy Animals

We also get Major Gunns, who is rather quickly oogled. Corporal Cajun plays to the crowd to start but gets jumped from behind, only for Inferno to get caught in the wrong corner for some running splashes. Gunns comes in for a chest to the face before it’s back to Guerrera for some dropkicks to Stash’s leg (with Schiavone getting Stash’s rank wrong, even if PRIVATE STASH makes more sense).

Mysterio comes in to take over on Rection (because…yeah that’s his name) in the corner, but the Bronco Buster is cut off. A powerbomb out of the corner drops Mysterio and it’s off to Loco vs. Konnan. Cue Shawn Stasiak (who is also part of the New Blood) to jump Loco for the DQ at 3:18.

Rating: C. Why do I have a bad feeling that this is going to be the best match on the show? You had a bunch of talented wrestlers in the ring here but there is only so much you can do when the match barely gets three minutes, especially with interference for a DQ ending. Also, it might be nice to have commentary explain why Stasiak was out there, but I’m assuming it just a battle of the stables.

Post match the MIA gets beaten down but Booker T. makes the save. Gunns gives Loco mouth to mouth. This allows commentary to talk about her lung capacity, because this is what WCW 2000 was like. And that’s the real reason this match existed: to put Major Gunns over.

The Millionaires Club is happy, though Lex Luger goes to deal with something.

Booker T. is happy to be with the Misfits In Action and their FUBAR (FU Bischoff And Russo) shirts. He’s ready to declare all out war.

Hulk Hogan vs. Horace

This is a rematch from Nitro where Horace used a chair to win. Before the match, Hogan says he never did anything to deal with Horace’s father (Hogan’s brother) and now it’s time to teach Horace something. In the back, Horace decks Kidman so he can take Torrie Wilson with him. Hogan jumps Horace on the way in and hits a clothesline to send Horace outside. Horace is sent into the steps and Hogan whips out a table but takes too long, allowing Horace to fight back.

That lasts all of three seconds as Hogan fights back and Heenan and Tenay get into it over Hogan giving Horace chores when he was a kid. Heenan: “You have servants for that!”. Back in and Hogan whips him with a belt, followed by a clothesline with said belt. Wilson gets up for a distraction and gets in a kiss on the cheek from Horace, which draws Kidman out to jump Horace. Hogan is back up to chair Horace in the back, sends Kidman through the table, and gets the pin at 3:56.

Rating: D. And yeah there you go: Hogan squashes Horace and beats up Kidman at the same time, just to show you that this isn’t so much a competition as much as it is the Millionaires Club having target practice. I get that Horace wasn’t going to be the next big thing, but this was domination and that doesn’t help anyone but Hogan. Also, Stasiak interfering in the previous match draws a DQ but Hogan can use a belt, a chair, and shrug off interference and the referee is fine with it?

Post match Hogan kisses Wilson, who seems to love it. Just in case you didn’t get that Hogan is the star here.

Lex Luger is in a car and wants to go find a gym. He’s told “go down here and make a right, you can’t miss it”, which is quite the detailed set of directions.

Post break, Luger winds up at a gym and finds Chuck Palumbo lifting so Luger beats him up with a muscle bar and various other things. Luger whips him with a belt, which is the second segment in a row with the same weapon. He drops a 40lb weight on his ribs too and then throws it away, totally showing that it isn’t fake in the slightest. Luger pours a protein shake over him for a bonus as the New Blood gets humiliated again.

Ralphus and Norman Smile have “t-sherts fer sale” in the parking lot because they need to eat.

Hardcore Title: Terry Funk vs. Ernest Miller

Funk is defending and calls Miller out. Miller comes to the stage and threatens to whip the old piece of junk, earning himself a DDT for two. A neckbreaker gets the same but Miller kicks him in the head and they fight to the back. They brawl with various items and a chair to the head drops Funk. We hear about Funk’s career, with Heenan sounding very respectful of him, as Funk comes back with a trashcan. A bag of popcorn to the head rocks Funk and he gets sent into a steel door.

The door is slammed down onto Funk before Miller lifts it up. Tenay: “If he hadn’t lifted the door, how could Funk have kicked out?” They go outside where Miller spins a rake around and hits him in the face. Smiley and Ralphus t-shert stand is broken up and Funk beats on Ralphus’ car with a chair. Funk breaks that up and throws him into the (open) hood of the trunk. Smiley tries to sell Miller a shirt and gets yelled at, so Smiley chairs him into the trunk, where Funk gets the pin to retain at 5:41.

Rating: C+. This started off lame but then Funk turned into his usual amazing self and got the stupid thing over. WCW’s hardcore stuff was stupid and Bischoff going after Funk and the Hardcore Title wasn’t much better, but sweet goodness Funk could make it work just due to talent, willpower and effort. Far more entertaining than it had any right to be.

Post break, Normal Smiley and Ralphus are arrested for selling bootleg merchandise.

Here is Mike Awesome with a stretcher to announce that he’s facing Diamond Dallas Page in am ambulance match at the Great American Bash. He wants an ambulance match right now though and we have a taker.

Scott Steiner vs. Mike Awesome

Steiner’s US Title isn’t on the line in an ambulance match. Steiner says that he’s not in the Millionaires Club or the New Blood but wants to give Awesome a beating. Awesome gets knocked to the floor to start where he grabs a chair to throw inside. Steiner pulls that out of the air (dang) and throws it back at Awesome. Some suplexes drop Awesome and Steiner gets the Recliner but Goldberg’s music starts playing.

We cut to the back where Tank Abbott imitates Goldberg’s entrance. Steiner stands still and watches the whole thing as Abbott comes into the arena. Cue Rick Steiner to help Abbott beat up Scott, with Awesome getting up to help. Cue the Goldberg monster truck into the arena, with Scott throw Abbott and Rick onto the hood. The truck drives away (no driver is seen) and Awesome jumps into the ambulance, which is enough for Scott to win at 4:54.

Rating: F. When I watch these shows, it starts to make me wonder just how much they spent on this nonsense. Not only did they have two vehicles in the match, but Awesome basically walked out, making the ambulance COMPLETELY unnecessary. I know it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it’s that “oh who cares” mentality that helped kill WCW.

The New Blood continues bickering.

Chris Kanyon is in a halo in his hospital room and has weakness in his extremities. Now he doesn’t want to wrestle anymore because he just wants to walk again. Mike Tenay asks why Kanyon got involved in the cage match at Slamboree, where Mike Awesome threw him off the cage to injure him.

Kanyon keeps mentioning Diamond Dallas Page and Tenay brings up their history, but Page is up walking around while Kanyon is here. It’s true that Page has done a lot for him and he was here with him the night of the injury. Since then, Page is on the road wrestling but he’s calling multiple times a day. He hopes Page survives. Say it with me: then Kanyon turned on Page.

Kronik calls Shane Douglas, who wants to fight him in a three way dance. The New Blood walks out on him.

During a break, Kronik broke into Douglas’ locker room and dragged him to the ring.

Bryan Clark vs. Bryan Adams vs. Shane Douglas

So this is a triple threat instead of a handicap match due to reasons. Kronik double teams him to start and Clark hits the Meltdown (pumphandle powerslam), followed by Adams hitting an F5. Cue the Wall with a table so Douglas can go through it, setting up High Times (double chokeslam) to give Clark the pin at 3:05.

Rating: D-. As much as I enjoy seeing Douglas get beaten down, it makes me wonder why this was a thing that happened. It was another case of the old guys getting to wreck one of the “new” stars (ignore that Douglas had been around since the mid 80s) and make him look worthless. Other than making the Millionaires Club look great, how does this help anyone?

Here is World Champion Ric Flair (for the fifteenth time) and he can’t believe it happened again. Flair puts over Jeff Jarrett as a great wrestler and says he got lucky to win, but that’s what he did. He respects Jarrett, who isn’t the World Champion anymore. Now though, Flair needs to get his personal life in order. His son has been corrupted by Vince Russo, a skinny little Italian kid who grew up in New York. Like everyone else, Russo wanted to be like Bruno Sammartino, the champion of the WWWF (yes he got the extra W in there).

Then Russo’s dad bought him the cable and he saw Ric Flair in Atlanta and that’s what Russo wanted to be. Russo’s dad panicked because a good Catholic boy can’t be like the Nature Boy. Russo had no muscles, girlfriends or long limousines, so he could he be Flair? Now Russo is grown up and the only thing he has is a checkbook. Russo couldn’t control anyone from Flair to Sting to Hulk Hogan but he still wanted to be Flair.

But he’s still just a skinny little boy with no muscles and now Flair is the champ again. Now the title belongs to the old generation again (oh that doesn’t sound as good as WCW thinks it does) and the title is all that matters. Since Russo can’t have Flair, he’s trying to do it through Flair’s son. Cue Jeff Jarrett to interrupt to say he’s sick of hearing this and the brawl is on.

Cue Crowbar and David Flair to jump Flair (with Daffney screaming as only she could) but Arn Anderson runs in with a pipe for the save. Anderson says he’s old school too and last week, Russo opened up a sleeping dog. Anderson wakes up grumpy and he was happy with working backstage, doing whatever he could.

The reality though is he’s a wrestler and when he comes home and sees one of his kids playing with matches, he doesn’t care about women’s groups, because he’ll take off his belt and whip some discipline into his son. David needs to stop listening to that guy from New York City because he’s 0-everything. Anderson holds up the Four Horsemen sign and says it’s time for a Horsemen beating. Sweet goodness that Horsemen song is still amazing.

Other than that though, this was straight fire from Ric, who was doing one of those promos that makes him sound like he’s a cross between insane and the most passionate man in wrestling. That’s one of the reasons he’s a legend, but it brings up the big problem: he’s doing this to deal with Vince Russo. Put him against pretty much anyone else (excluding Jarrett because it just wasn’t going to happen) and this would have been outstanding stuff. As it is, it’s just more proof that Flair could still bring it when he was trying.

Vampiro is in the back with a Sting mask…which he lights on fire.

Here is Sting in the ring to say he’s this close to snapping. Tonight, he’s taking Vampiro out right here in Louisiana. Cue Vampiro to say “Stinger”, which Tenay interprets as “he just called him STEVE”, and ask about Sting not finishing the job in the cage last night. Maybe there is a little bit of Sting that likes Vampiro and wants to be like him. Vampiro challenges Sting to an Inferno match at the Great American Bash, where you have to light your opponent on fire to win. Sting: “You’re psycho man.”

They aren’t doing that match, but Vampiro says sting doesn’t have a choice. Then the ropes, or at least some parts of them, light on fire. Ignore the guy with the blowtorch lighting them on fire on camera of course. Then the fire goes out so Sting stands on the ropes to pose. So Sting is Undertaker and Vampiro is Kane? That’s bad.

Shane Douglas is worried about Bischoff and Russo being mad at them and sends Jeff Jarrett to fix things.

Crowbar/Jeff Jarrett/David Flair vs. Ric Flair/Arn Anderson

Non-title and Ric is in street clothes after Daffney’s screaming music plays by mistake. We cut to the back where Anderson has been beaten down by David and company so here is Jarrett to jump Ric on the stage. Ric fight back and they get inside but here are David and Crowbar to beat Ric down. David Figure Fours Ric but here is Kevin Nash….and Ric small packages Daffney for the win at 1:23.

Post match Ric gets the Figure Four on Daffney and Nash no sells a chair shot from Jarrett. With the villains dispatched, Ric collapses on the ramp, which Flair has said was part of a legitimate inner ear issue and not a storyline.

The New Blood gets on their bus but the Millionaires Club runs in to TURN THE BUS OVER (because that’s a thing) and the Goldberg monster truck charges at the bus to end the show.

Overall Rating: F. WOW. Normally I would say I have no idea where to start, but in this case, it’s somehow all about Bischoff and Russo. The whole point of this show is that the two of them weren’t here and the New Blood was completely massacred by the Millionaires Club all night as a result.

That’s where we are: a group of young, talented wrestlers got beaten up by the old (and also talented) wrestlers because Bischoff and Russo weren’t there to save them. Meanwhile, the Rock, HHH, Benoit, Jericho, Angle, the Hardys, the Dudleys, Edge and Christian and more were tearing it up on Raw and Smackdown. It’s a miracle WCW lasted as long as they did. Flair’s promo was awesome, but as usual that’s not enough to save this mess.

Oddly enough, for some reason I remembered a lot about this show, which I’ve only seen once since it originally aired. I remember Luger saying “great set man” to Palumbo in the gym, the Hogan kiss and the bus being overturned. I’m not sure what that says, but there are memorable points even in this kind of a wretched show.

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Thunder
Date: May 6, 1999
Location: Bryce Jordan Center, State College, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

It’s the go home show for Slamboree and things are getting bad around here. Between the nonsensical stories and the boring matches leading up to a show that has barely been hyped outside of the main event, I’m not really looking forward to a two hour taped Thunder. The fact that we only have five matches doesn’t make me feel much better. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Page winning the title back last week.

Video on Nash vs. Page.

Video on Piper vs. Flair.

Scotty Riggs/Mike Enos vs. Raven/Saturn

Raven’s Rules and Saturn has a taped up shoulder from Benoit’s attack on Monday. Raven does his usual WHAT ABOUT ME before the match and says they’ll be champions on Sunday. He starts with Mike and quickly takes over before bringing in Saturn. The bald one nails Enos in the head with a kick before bringing Raven back in for something like Ascension’s Fall of Man. In other words, a Total Elimination ripoff. They follow that up with the same move but with Saturn superkicking Enos down.

Mike finally goes after THE BIG BANDAGE on Saturn’s shoulder to take over. Off to Riggs who gets caught in a release belly to belly because he’s not that good. Saturn tags out but goes up top for a splash, only to hurt his shoulder even more. The heels take over and send Raven outside for a hot shot onto the barricade. Some chair shots have him in even more trouble and a legdrop gets two for Enos.

We take a break and come back with Riggs dropping a knee to Raven’s face and doing the Rude hip swivel. Riggs chokes a lot and tags out to Enos for some trash talk and not much else. Back to Riggs who sends Raven into the barricade a few more times and grabs a chair. Enos holds Raven up but winds up getting nailed by his worthless partner. Raven dropkicks the chair back into Riggs’ face and nails the drop toehold onto the chair for two. Back up and Raven grabs the Evenflow on Riggs but Enos makes the save. The hot tag brings in Saturn for the Death Valley Driver on Riggs for the pin.

Rating: D+. Sweet goodness Riggs was bad. The narcissist gimmick isn’t doing anything for him and the lack of skill really is showing. It says a lot when Buff Bagwell was the one carrying the team but it’s very clear that’s what happened with the American Males. Raven and Saturn shouldn’t have been in that much trouble three days before a title match.

Long video on Piper, leading to him making Page vs. Sting a week ago. We see a good chunk of the match too, which is a lot more interesting than anything else we’re likely to see tonight.

Rick Steiner vs. Erik Watts

Rick yells at Charles Robinson because he’s mean and evil I guess. After some pointless stalling from Watts, Rick quickly takes him down but Erik cranks on the arm. Back up and Rick nails him with a forearm before taking him back to the mat with an armdrag. Steiner finally wakes up and realizes it’s Erik Watts so he nails a belly to belly.

Rick takes him into the corner for a clean break, then takes him into the corner again and knees Watts in the ribs. Pick a side already dude. Watts is sent into the barricade and steps before a German supelx gets two. We hit the chinlock with some crossface shots before choking gets two for Rick. Back up again and a powerslam drops Watts before the Steiner Bulldog knocks him out. Rick puts on something like an STF if he was just bent over instead of laying down for the submission.

Rating: D. Remember back in 1992 when Watts was really bad but they put him in the ring with talented guys? Well he’s still really bad and now they’re putting him in the ring with washed up guys who aren’t interested in doing anything but hitting the other guy harder than he needs to. Naturally, this earns Rick a title shot on Sunday because why not.

Another long video from last week’s Nitro with a focus on the four corners match.

Video on Sting vs. Goldberg, mostly from the four corners match. They’re getting mileage out of that one.

Video on Robinson vs. George.

Disorderly Conduct vs. Brian Adams/Horace

Oh COME ON. Horace chops Mike in the corner to start and nails a Vader style clothesline. Mike tries an armdrag and a slam before cranking on the arm. Off to Tom who works on the arm as well, only to get caught by a clothesline. Adams comes in for a double elbow and some right hands. Riveting stuff here. The tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two on Tom and Mike charges in and earns a gorilla press. Mike and Tom bail to the floor and get beaten up out there as well because the Black and White is TOUGH.

Brian and Mike get back in so Tom can trip Adams from the floor to take over. Tom gets two off a jawbreaker but Adams breaks through a double clothesline and tags in Horace. We get an assortment of kicks, punches and choking from Horace before Mike gets beaten down in the corner even more. Back to Adams for a spinebuster for two on Mike with Tom making the save. Horace comes back in and misses a charge, allowing for the hot (?) tag to Tom. He fights as much as he can but crotches himself on the top. A spike piledriver is enough to pin Mike.

Rating: D. I’d make a joke here about how this is supposed to make me want to pay $30 for a pay per view, but these matches have drained me of any sarcasm I might be able to provide. This show feels like a dumping ground for wrestlers that WCW doesn’t want to keep on the payroll but they have to anyway due to contractual obligations. Why else would this be happening?

Kanyon vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

This HAS to be better. Or as least more interesting. This is Kanyon’s first match back in about three months due to making a movie. Rey declines a handshake. Does he think he’s better than Kanyon or something? Kanyon takes him into the corner but gets put down with an armdrag. Rey tries to speeds things up with a moonsault press but Kanyon catches him in midair. Instead it’s a headscissors to put Kanyon down and a dropkick sends him outside. Rey does the 619 taunt but Kanyon is busy posing in front of a WHO BETTER THAN KANYON sign.

Back in and Kanyon nails some forearms before countering a hurricanrana by sending Rey throat first onto the ropes. We take a break and come back with a headscissors putting Kanyon down. A springboard is caught in a nice backbreaker for two and we hit the chinlock. Rey gets sent outside and they trade whips into the barricade. That’s a very popular move tonight. Kanyon is busted open a bit so we stop the closeups.

A hurricanrana off the apron drops Kanyon again and they head back inside. Kanyon nails a boot to the face but misses a top rope splash. The Bronco Buster connects and the top rope legdrop to the back of the head gets two. Rey’s leapfrog is countered into a powerbomb followed by a kind of sitout Dominator. You knew Kanyon was going to have something new. Kanyon misses a moonsault and gets caught by the top rope seated senton. The Horsemen try to run in but Rey nails them both and grabs a victory roll for the pin.

Rating: C+. Way better than anything else we’ve sat through on this show, even though it wasn’t all that great. Kanyon is almost always entertaining and Rey was his usual self. Thankfully the announcers mentioned that Kidman was at a personal appearance so there’s a reason for him not being here.

Post match the Horsemen get in and crush Rey’s knee between the post and the steps.

Texas Hangmen vs. Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko

The Hangmen are in masks and look like Mike and Tom from earlier. Good chance it’s them actually. The masked men jump the Horsemen to start and send them out to the floor, which isn’t likely the best career move. Back in and the Hangmen are whipped into each other and it’s Dean starting with let’s say #1. Dean starts on the knee as is his custom before bringing in Benoit for a LOUD chop and more knee work.

They head outside with Benoit putting the knee over the barricade for a dropkick from Malenko. Back in for the dragon screw leg whip from Benoit and more kicks and basic holds from Dean. #1 is sent to the floor and the Hangmen try to switch but get caught by Robinson. Back in and #1 misses a clothesline, earning him some Rolling Germans. #1 tries a small package but Robinson wasn’t paying attention.

Back to Dean for some knee work and trash talk for Mysterio. This is a really good display of the Horsemen style with Benoit and Malenko just torturing the limb with every possible method of working over a knee. A knee crusher puts #1 down and the Horsemen quickly alternate and hammer on the knee. Something like an Indian Deathlock makes #1 scream so Dean mocks him from the apron. When did Malenko learn to be funny? Back to Dean who charges into a knee in the corner and it’s finally off to #2. He cleans a few rooms of the house but walks into a belly to belly, setting up the Cloverleaf for the submission.

Rating: C. I could watch the Horsemen pick apart a limb for days. I’m not sure why I’d do that, but it’s far more interesting than seeing the NWO vs. Disorderly Conduct. This was a good way of building up the Horsmen for Sunday, unlike the opener where Raven and Saturn were in way too much trouble.

Video on Page vs. Nash. I believe this is the same one from earlier.

Now for the main event (Tenay’s words): the big Savage/Flair/Robinson/George bit from Nitro followed by the entire Page vs. Flair match.

One more Slamboree ad and we’re out.

Overall Rating: F+. I know a modern criticism of Smackdown is it’s mostly replays from Raw, but this actually was mostly replays from Nitro. Taking out commercials, I believe over half of the TV time tonight was spent airing clips from Monday. I didn’t like the show the first time and I really didn’t like seeing it again on a bad show. This was a waste of time and Slamboree better be an improvement.

Remember there’s no Nitro or Thunder this week.

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Thunder
Date: April 1, 1999
Location: Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone

We’re closing in on Spring Stampede and the card is starting to come into focus. It’s pretty clear that Hogan will be involved in the title match but nothing has been made official yet. This is a live episode of Thunder, meaning the levels of suck shouldn’t be as high. Granted they’ve surprised me before. Let’s get to it.

Opening video.

The annoucers do their welcome and tell us that Sting has a message for us this coming Monday.

Gene brings out Raven and Saturn who will face Benoit/Malenko at the PPV. Raven questions Gene for saying he and Saturn broke up. Apparently they fought with each other for years, even back at summer camp over a girl named Beaulah. Saturn: “THAT WAS TOMMY!” Saturn thinks they deserve a title shot for helping Mysterio/Kidman win the titles. Nothing was said here.

We recap Disco vs. Konnan’s battle of the music videos.

Erik Watts vs. Norman Smiley

Norman is a good guy now. The announcers talk about how controversial the Big Wiggle has been and go into their usual pronunciation argument in a Smiley match. Watts does a dance of his own and gets nailed by a clothesline. They trade headlocks until Erik drop toeholds Norman into the ropes. Back up and Norman hits the swinging slam but gets shoved out of the corner for two. A nice belly to belly plants Norman and a buckle bomb has him in big trouble. Erik doesn’t cover though and gets pulled into the Norman’s Conquest for the submission.

Rating: D. I’ve always felt sorry for Watts. He was laughed at back in 1992 for being in a position he didn’t ask for and only held because of his dad. He was ok here but nothing more than a generic tall villain. At the end of the day, the guy just wasn’t very good and shouldn’t have been on national TV. Bad match but not laughably bad.

Chris Jericho cites the Silent Brian McNee (a deaf mute Canadian wrestler from the early 80s) clause, which states that he should be able to replace an injured Curt Hennig in the US Title tournament. JJ Dillon wants to see the rule book.

Mike Enos/Bobby Duncum Jr. vs. Raven/Perry Saturn

Saturn quickly takes Bobby down to start so it’s off to Enos. Mike takes a beating as well and the bizarre combo starts some fast tagging. Raven kicks Enos into a superkick from Saturn but Enos pops back up and nails Raven again. Duncum comes back in but Saturn punches him into a sunset flip for two. A big boot knocks Raven down and Enos chokes him with a bullrope.

Saturn has to break up a superplex attempt, allowing Raven to make the hot tag. Belly to belly suplexes abound and everything breaks down. Saturn uses a very nice takedown to hook the Rings of Saturn on Bobby but Enos makes a save. Mike nails Saturn with a chair on the floor but it doesn’t have much of an effect. Back in and the hot tag brings in Raven to clean house as everything breaks down again. Duncum accidentally knocks Enos into the Evenflow for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: C+. This was shockingly good for a six minute match on Thunder. They barely stopped moving the entire time with everyone getting to show off a bit. Raven and Saturn work well together and this was the best Duncum has looked since he debuted. This was a very nice surprise.

Benoit and Malenko come in to destroy Raven and Saturn post match. The bell keeps ringing even after they’ve left the ring.

JJ and Flair are in the back when Jericho comes in and asks about the tournament again. Jericho gets his request after a lot of sucking up. He leaves and Flair thinks Jericho wanted to be like him.

Chris Adams vs. Chris Jericho

Tony: “Still to come, Bobby Heenan will read the movie copy. That’ll be in segment 10 and then, later on, Mike Tenay will plug the Hotline again.” Feeling out process to start with Jericho running him over off a shoulder block. The Canadian wins a top wristlock and stuns Adams with a hot shot.

We hit the chinlock for a bit before Adams comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. The announcers argue over a point system as Adams spins out of a Liontamer and enziguris Jericho to the floor. There’s the superkick on the floor and Adams gets two off a high cross body. A catapult sends Jericho into the corner and a belly to back gives Adams another near fall. Jericho quickly takes him down into the Liontamer for the submission.

Rating: C-. This took awhile to get going but Adams’ comeback had some energy to it and the match wasn’t bad after it started rolling. Jericho wasn’t long for WCW but it was nice to see him having some effort here. Adams continues to have a nice role as a jobber making people look good.

Ed Leslie comes in to talk to Flair about a new contract. He doesn’t have much of a plan after wrestling is over. Flair brings up his friendship with Hogan and Ed says they’re very close. The boss makes a match tonight between Hogan and Leslie and if Ed wins, he gets a three more extension for double the pay. If he loses, he’s gone.

Meng/Jerry Flynn vs. Barbarian/Hugh Morrus

Flynn gets double teamed in the back and laid out with a piledriver on the concrete. Meng goes back to help his partner before coming to the ring to start a handicap match. Barbarian and Morrus are easily knocked to the floor but they get their act together and pound Meng down. The announcers get a note about the Hogan vs. Leslie match tonight. Again, would letting them see the videos in the back be such a problem? I never got Bischoff’s fascination with keeping them in the dark.

Anyway, Meng fights both of them off again until we get down to Morrus starting the regular tagging portion. Meng kicks his head off with ease and it’s off to Barbarian for the big showdown. We take a break and come back with Meng being sent into the barricade. They head back inside with the team in control and Morrus dropping an elbow for two.

A side slam gets the same for Barbarian and it’s back to Morrus as this slows WAY down. Meng finally nails a cross body for two on Barbarian but Morrus makes a save. Morrus backdrops Meng into a nice powerbomb from Barbarian as Flynn makes his big heroic return. He breaks up No Laughing Matter and Meng’s Tongan Deathgrip gets the pin on Barbarian.

Rating: D. I for one feel much better about the health and safety of our lord and master Jerry Flynn. Thankfully they keep this stuff on Thunder instead of PPV or Nitro but it doesn’t make Thunder any easier to sit through. The match wasn’t terrible, but it was a very long thirteen minutes to sit through.

Post match Morrus gets the Deathgrip as well.

Now we get a video on Meng. That’s some interesting timing.

Gene brings out Hollywood Hogan for a chat. Hogan is fine with jumping through every hoop Flair sets up for him because Flair is the prize at the end of the tunnel. Gene thinks Flair is scared of Hogan but the title match is official. Cue Ric to tell a fat boy to shut up. Flair calls himself the leader, the boss, and the World Champion. Tonight it’s going to be Hogan vs. Ed Leslie. This would be the third time this match has been announced and the fans are SILENT for Leslie coming out and promising to take Hogan down. Flair yells at some more fans and Hogan says tonight is strictly business.

Chavo Guerrero Jr./Kaz Hayashi vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

Dean cranks on Kaz’s arm to start but gets caught in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Tony goes into a bizarre heel style speech, threatening to throw Tenay off Nitro if he keeps disagreeing with Flair’s decisions. Off to Benoit vs. Chavo as Tenay threatens to get friends of his own to save his job. Chavo spins out of a powerbomb from Benoit and takes him down with a headscissors. Back to Malenko who gets suplexed as Tony makes fun of Zbyszko. Kaz comes back in and gets caught in a tiger bomb, setting up the Cloverleaf for the submission.

Rating: C-. The match wasn’t terrible but what in the world was with the commentary? Tony just started going insane and then they spent the second half of the match ripping on Larry Zbyszko for whatever reason. The wrestling wasn’t terrible but it was little more than a squash, albeit a short one.

Raven and Saturn come out and destroy the Horsemen post match, including putting Benoit through a table.

Hogan talks to the NWO and tells Steiner to take care of Booker T. Stevie says his brother is off limits and the audio is pretty bad here. The Black and White gets in an argument over who is the leader so Hogan makes a battle royal for Monday for the leadership spot. Again. This takes way longer than it should have.

Horace vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Page quickly sends him into the corner and scores with a belly to back suplex. We hit the wristlock on Horace but he nails Page with a right hand to take over. He misses the splash and walks into a clothesline to send him outside. Page nails a plancha and they fight by the barricade as we take a break. Back with them slugging it out in the aisle. Horace sends him into the barricade to take over and chokes on the ropes back inside. A backbreaker gets two on Page but he sends Horace face first into the buckle. Page crotches him against the post and floats around Horace’s shoulders into the Diamond Cutter for the pin.

Rating: D+. Pretty dull match here as Page seems to have forgotten his heel turn. Horace was fine for a punching bag to put Page over and the Diamond Cutter looked fine, but Page wrestling like he always has was strange after what happened on Monday. Not much to see here but that’s to be expected in a glorified squash.

Ed Leslie vs. Hollywood Hogan

Leslie takes him into the corner to start but gets clotheslined for his efforts. Hogan hammers away and loads up the weightlifting belt but gets poked in the eyes. Now it’s Leslie whipping him until they head to the floor where Hogan takes over with right hands. They slug it out on the floor followed by a slugout in the ring with Leslie choking away. A clothesline gets two for Hogan but Leslie suplexes him down for the same. Hogan comes back with the big boot but Flair comes out and trips him up. The Apocalypse doesn’t even put Hogan on the mat so Flair comes in for the DQ.

Rating: D-. As dull as this was, it was still light years better than their messes in 1994. Granted it could be because that match was the main event of the biggest show of the year and this was a six minute Thunder main event. That being said, six minutes of punching and really basic wrestling isn’t enough to get me interested.

Post match Hogan beats up Flair and drops the leg before counting three. The Horsemen run in but Hogan beats up all four of them with ease. There wasn’t even miscommunication or anything where one Horsemen accidentally hit another. Hogan just punched them all down.

The announcers talk about Sting’s announcement to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This was one of the easier episodes to sit through but it follows the PPV formula of falling apart near the end of the show. The Sting announcement is somewhat intriguing, even though WCW has a pretty horrible track record on stuff like that. The wrestling wasn’t too bad and it made the show much easier to sit through, though almost nothing here meant anything.

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Thunder
Date: February 18, 1999
Location: E Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Attendance: 9,159
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

This show has to be better than Nitro. I really do not thing it’s possible for a show to be worse than the one that I watched on Monday. It completely missed on everything it was trying to do and made everyone in WCW seem very stupid. Last week’s Thunder wasn’t much better, meaning tonight has to be better. It’s also the go home show for SuperBrawl. Let’s get to it.

We open with clips from Hogan vs. Piper on Monday.

The announcers preview the show for us and don’t have anything interesting to say.

There’s a cage over the ring and the announcers have no idea why it’s there.

Goldberg is going to be on the Tonight Show on Friday and will be making a huge challenge.

Booker T. and Stevie Ray are in the back with Booker trying to talk Stevie out of the Black and White. Disco Inferno shows up and says Harlem Heat reforming would open up a spot for him in the Black and White. Booker says get out of here and Disco thinks it’s a “brother” thing. Mr. T. doesn’t take kindly to this.

The Blonde, wearing a cut off top and white shorts, is in the hotel room when the cameraman comes in. He hands her a taser and she says his meeting with Scott must have gone well. The Blonde takes the taser and says she’s very experienced with it. They sit down on the bed and she asks if he wants to play while holding up the stun gun.

We see the start of Kanyon and Raven’s shopping trip for the third time in two weeks.

Here’s Disco to the Wolfpack music with something to say. He introduces us to one of his childhood heroes. The man is a legend, an icon and the United States Champion, the Rowdy Scot. It’s Scott Hall in a kilt over jeans. Hall officially names Disco a member of the Wolfpack and announces Disco vs. Booker T. for Sunday. Disco says Booker has been in WCW for six years and is still on the first rung of the ladder of success. On Sunday, Booker can only hope to contain him. Hall says Piper is shining up the US Title for a big star who unlike Piper is all man. He rips off the kilt and that’s that.

Raven and Kanyon take money out of the bank. Is there any reason for us to see these segments again?

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Lash Leroux

They start fast with Chavo running Lash down with a shoulder but gets caught in an armbar. We cut to the back to see a limousine arriving but Rey Mysterio is waiting to greet it. Lex and Liz are in the limo and as they get out, Rey slams the door on Luger’s hand and shouts THUG LIFE. Not quite as good as Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes and it makes Mysterio look like a criminal. I’m assuming Luger is injured and has to be taken out of the tag match at SuperBrawl.

Back to the arena with Chavo hitting a baseball slide to send Leroux into the barricade. Chavo nails a belly to back suplex in the ring and we hit the chinlock followed by an armbar. Leroux fights up and drops into the splits before nailing a clothesline. A northern lights suplex gets two on Guerrero but he crotches Lash on the top. Leroux gets tied up on the top rope and choked by Chavo’s boot, earning a DQ.

Rating: D+. This would have been better had we gotten to see the whole match, but at least we get to see Kanyon and Raven’s Excellent Adventure again. Leroux isn’t much to see in the ring but a Cajun guy is at least something we haven’t seen before. Chavo getting to be more aggressive as a serious heel is something nice to see as well.

Post match Chavo keeps hammering away until Kidman comes in for the save. Chavo beats him up too and hits a tornado DDT off the apron.

Kanyon and Raven go to Versace.

Clips from Nitro of Flair being attacked in the field, being saved by the truck driver and being taken to the arena.

Scott Steiner shows up and is told Page isn’t expected here tonight.

Kanyon and Raven get home and Raven’s mom tells him they want him back at work. These are all out of the way in the first 45 minutes or so, meaning there’s hopefully something new later.

Video on Bigelow vs. Goldberg.

Adams and Horace are in the back and say they’ll go to SuperBrawl because of their size and power. Basic promo but it got the message across.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match, Jericho talks about Saturn wearing a dress. He has a surprise for us, sporting some of the latest Chris Jericho Collection. Here’s Ralphus in a pink dress and actually looking more human than usual. We take a break about thirty seconds into the match and come back with Jericho nailing a clothesline before sending Juvy throat first onto the middle rope.

Chris tells Ralphus to kiss Guerrera but Juvy knocks him down out of fear of a bad infection. Back in and Juvy gets two off a hurricanrana and DDT but Jericho nails a spinebuster out of the corner. Guerrera flips out of a German suplex attempt but Jericho counters another hurricanrana into the Liontamer for the submission. Not enough to rate and did we really need a commercial in a six minute match?

We’re an hour into this show and we’ve seen about six minutes of wrestling.

Video on Page vs. Steiner.

This Week In WCW Motorsports! They’re still not very good.

Back with Buff Bagwell in the ring. He’s been cleared to wrestle, but tonight he’s introducing Scott Steiner. Scott runs his mouth about Page and calls him white trash but accepts the challenge for Sunday. However he wants a stipulation: if he beats Page, Steiner gets Kimberly for thirty days. Scott gets a warm-up match tonight.

Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Blaze

It’s exactly what you expect: forearms to the back, a gorilla press, a belly to belly and the Recliner.

Steiner beats on him even more after the match.

Rey Mysterio Jr./Konnan vs. Silver King/Hector Garza

Mysterio hammers away on Silver King to start but Garza gets in a cheap shot from the apron. Hector’s standing moonsault gets two and it’s back to Silver King for a front facelock. Rey easily fights out and makes the hot tag. Konnan cleans house with the rolling lariats before everything breaks down. A Bronco Buster crushes Silver King and Konnan’s X-Factor and sets up a hurricanrana to give Rey the pin on King. Another short match.

The Horsemen say they’ll win tonight and bring meaning back to the titles.

Video recapping the US Title situation leading up to SuperBrawl.

Jerry Flynn vs. Booker T.

Feeling out process to start with with Flynn taking him into the corner, only to get caught with a running clothesline to send him out to the floor. Back in and a legsweep takes Booker down and Jerry kicks away in the corner. Disco tries to interfere but Jerry kicks him down off the apron. Booker slams Flynn down and nails the whip spinebuster. Disco low bridges Booker to the floor and hits the Chartbuster before sending Booker back in inside for a spinkick, giving Jerry the pin.

Rating: D. This was angle advancement instead of a match and thankfully it wasn’t a clean win for Jerry. Booker deserves better than a match with Disco Inferno but a young and talented guy getting a significant push in WCW isn’t something you can expect in WCW. At least it’s a match with a story though.

Gene brings out Ric Flair for the hard sell for Sunday. Ric is in sunglasses due to the attack on Monday. Flair has something he wants Hogan to hear. He survived Monday night and neither Hogan nor the NWO is cool. Hogan has a bunch of celebrity friends and he was given a belt to call himself the World Champion. He goes on about earning his championships and how he’ll prove what it means to be a champion in Oakland. There goes the jacket and Flair lists off all of the legends that a lot of the fans have never heard of. This is the same promo Flair has done every time he’s talked in this feud.

The Blonde, wrapped in a sheet, and the cameraman are ordering room service. He hands her tickets to SuperBrawl. She’s ready to go shopping.

The cage has been lowered.

Tag Team Title Tournament: Horace/Brian Adams vs. Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko

Pinfall or submission only, no escape. The winners go to SuperBrawl to face Hennig/Windham. Flair has put this in a cage to prevent the NWO from interfering. Malenko takes Horace into the corner to start but a hard elbow to the jaw puts Dean down. It’s off to Benoit vs. Adams with Chris taking him down into an armbar. An enziguri puts Adams on the mat again but Benoit charges into the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Back to Horace for an elbow to Chris’ jaw and it’s quickly back to Adams who gets caught in a backslide for another two.

Benoit’s chop has little effect on Horace and everything breaks down for a few seconds, only to have Malenko put back on the apron. Chris finally sends Horace into the cage and makes the hot tag to Malenko. Dean quickly takes Adams down and goes for the Cloverleaf, only to have Horace make a save. Everything breaks down for real now and the Horsemen catapult Brian into the cage. The Crossface has Horace in trouble but Adams makes the save.

A big boot gets two on Dean with Benoit making a save of his own. The Horsemen send Benoit face first into the cage as Vince is unlocking the cage door. Malenko is sent into the cage as well and Benoit is sent through the door. Horace and Adams pound on Malenko with a chair but Benoit easily fights off Vince. He climbs the outside of the cage and kicks Horace down as Malenko kicks the chair into Adams’ face. Benoit hits the swan dive off the top onto Adams to go to SuperBrawl.

Rating: C+. This was fine and they actually got me thinking that the Horsemen might lose for a little while. It wasn’t a masterpiece or anything but at least it got some time and had a big spot at the end. The cage only existed for the big spot at the end and really wasn’t necessary but after the boring matches I’ve had to put through, this was a solid match.

Overall Rating: D+. This was far more boring than it was bad, but that’s a nice change of pace after the last two shows I’ve had to go through. It doesn’t do much for SuperBrawl and the Kanyon/Raven videos are the biggest waste of time I can think of in years. It was nothing worth watching, but I’ll take this over the horrible Nitro any day.

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Thunder
Date: January 21, 1999
Location: Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

We’re on the way towards SuperBrawl and the latest Hogan vs. Flair showdown. Nitro saw a few stories being set up for the pay per view with the second biggest one being Luger/Nash vs. Konnan/Mysterio. The Wolfpack has decided they want Mysterio’s mask to prove how big and tough they are. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the David Flair story up to this point, including him knocking Bischoff out to shave his head on Monday.

The announcers show us clips from Souled Out with David Flair getting a beatdown.

Stevie Ray and the NWO B Team nearly get into an argument over being worthless. The Red and Black have sent them a note saying their private jet is stuck in Tampa due to bad weather. Horace and Brian Adams say they flew coach out of Tampa and never heard about a private jet.

Jerry Flynn vs. Disco Inferno

A clothesline puts Flynn down to start but he comes back with a series of kicks in the corner. More kicks have Disco in trouble but he snaps Jerry’s throat across the top rope. The dancing middle rope elbow and a swinging neckbreaker set up a chinlock. Tony wants to know where Hall is, despite the letter covering that in the previous segment. Jerry’s cross armbreaker is quickly broken and it’s time for more dancing. A spinning kick to the head puts Disco down again and a belly to belly gets two. Flynn misses another spinkick though and it’s the Chartbuster for the pin. The fans are into Disco a little bit.

Rating: D. It’s a Jerry Flynn match so I don’t know what else you would expect. Disco is starting to get over again with his goofy antics despite cheating to win all the time. That actually makes sense though, as it’s hard to boo a comedy character, even if he’s doing something heelish.

Back to the B Team locker room where Horace and Norton are playing with walkie talkies. That’s the whole segment.

After a break and the B Team is still arguing. Vincent calls Hogan but only gets voicemail. That’s a step above Orndorff in 1986 at least. Vincent tries Nash but an argument ensues with Stevie over who leads the team.

A limo has arrived so Horace goes to greet them. The Horsemen are inside instead and beat Horace down while Flair walks into the building. Mongo beats him up with what appears to be a vacuum.

Flair is in the ring for a chat with Gene. First up, Ric starts the tournament for the Tag Team Titles, even though they should be two weeks in. The finals are at SuperBrawl. Now the jacket comes off so it’s time to get serious. Flair rants about Hollywood keeping great talent in his shadow for twenty years. When Flair was in Kansas wrestling Rufus Jones in Kansas, Hogan was wrestling fourth on the card in Madison Square Garden. While Flair was with Harley Race and Ricky Steamboat, Hogan was in Hollywood making movies.

He brings up Hogan beating up David and promises to prove that he’s the real world champion next month. Guys like Jericho and Chavo Guerrero grew up wanting to be like Flair. That’s why it’s Flair’s reputation against Hogan’s fame. Flair may only have power for ninety days (even though it’s been nearly a month already) but at SuperBrawl, he’ll get what’s his.

This promo was the usual passionate speech from Flair, but it shows part of the problem with the feud and a lot of what Flair talked about in general. As a fan, why should I care about Flair having a match in Kansas twenty years ago against a guy that I’ve only heard of either in his promos or from a tape that’s ten years old if I’m under twenty years old? Odds are I’ve never seen the matches other than maybe some of his stuff with Steamboat.

I’m sure there are some fans at the time who had seen a bunch of those matches and care for them, but it’s not exactly the best way to get the masses to care. Granted that might be because Flair led with Rufus Jones instead of Steamboat or Race, who far more people would care about.

Instead, Flair is the grandfather that says rambles on and on about how much better things were back in his day while his grandkids roll their eyes and tune him out. He may be right, but the way he talks doesn’t help anything and makes me feel like he’s talking down to me more than making a good point about Hogan. What he said about his own career makes sense, but it doesn’t make Hogan look bad because he was in New York for a lot of his career.

Thankfully the feud is much more about Hogan beating up Flair’s son because that’s a much better reason to hate Hogan. The rest works in theory but it’s mainly giving me flashbacks to all the fun matches that Hogan had and putting Eye of the Tiger in my head, which isn’t going to make me boo Hogan.

The B Team is in the back and Horace’s knee is in bad shape. He’s also lost his shirt and Vincent is more concerned about getting him a new one.

We look at Jericho making sure Saturn wears a dress at all times he’s in the arena.

Al Green vs. Perry Saturn

The dress is red this week. Saturn: “Life’s a drag.” They lock up to start but Saturn trips up on the dress and falls to the mat. An elbow drop gets two for Al and that’s about the extent of his offense. Saturn comes back with a superkick and a throw before stomping away in the corner. A guillotine legdrop sets up the Death Valley Driver to complete the glorified squash.

We see some old clips of Raven at home and getting annoyed at his family.

Glacier vs. Kenny Kaos

Kaos gets kicked in the ribs to start but takes Glacier down into an ankle lock. A rope is quickly grabbed and Glacier comes back with more kicks and punches in the corner. Kaos knocks him out of the air and hits a clothesline to stagger the ice dude. A springboard clothesline is enough to give Kaos the pin.

Rating: D. I’m still trying to get my head around Kaos being half of the World Tag Team Champions. It’s just such a random choice and doesn’t seem to have served much of a purpose. He still comes off like a jobber and isn’t any more interesting than he was when he got the belt. The feud with Rage seems to be forgotten as well.

Back to the B Team for a big surprise: Vincent reveals a Red and Black shirt after the rest of the group goes to find the Horsemen. This is supposed to be a big deal.

Here’s the B Team in the ring because we’re supposed to care about them due to the shirts they’re wearing. Horace, despite having a bad knee earlier, walks to the ring fine but is holding his ribs. Vincent comes out last and gets a mic. Oh dear this could be bad. Vincent says that Horace and Adams will be in the tournament. Tonight, it’s Norton/Stevie/Vincent vs. the Horsemen if they have the guts. The other members aren’t cool with this for some reason.

Booker T. vs. Norman Smiley

Smiley goes to the ropes for an early break but is quickly sent to the floor. Back in and Norman takes over with some shots to the face but walks into Booker’s flying forearm. The Horsemen have accepted the NWO’s challenge. Norman kicks him down again and loads up the Big Wiggle but isn’t ready to dance yet. The spinning slam gets a mini dance and we hit the chinlock.

They head outside with Norman chopping away before taking it back inside for a belly to back suplex. Smiley stays down too until he backflips to his feet for the Big Wiggle. He slaps Booker in the face but walks into a powerslam. The Harlem Side Kick and 110th Street Slam get two for Booker and Norman rolls to the floor again. Norman is sent into the barricade and then back inside for the ax kick. Booker goes up for the missile dropkick but Norman rolls outside and takes the countout.

Rating: C. The match was ok but the ending brings it down. However, the important thing to this match is how we arrived here. Both guys have been on hot streaks and then they were put against each other in a match that wasn’t easy to predict. That’s old school booking and can set up some interesting matches. Unfortunately it’s nothing that’s done very often anymore.

We look at Scott Steiner harassing the Nitro Girls.

This Week in WCW Motorsports! Again, the car didn’t do badly but didn’t win.

After a break, here’s the EXACT SAME SCOTT STEINER CLIP.

World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Brian Adams/Horace vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr./Kidman

Horace, now totally fine, stomps away on Kidman in the corner to start before bealing him across the ring. Kidman comes back with right hands in the corner and a dropkick before it’s off to Chavo, who is almost immediately low bridged down to the floor. Adams throws him up over the top rope and back inside. Chavo’s cross body is caught in mid air but Kidman dropkicks Guerrero’s back to put Adams down.

The small guys do some nice double teaming to get two more on Adams but Kidman walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to change control again. We take a break and come back with Kidman walking the corner to bulldog Horace and make the tag to Chavo. Some dropkicks stagger the NWO members but Horace kicks him in the face to take over again. Another tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two on Guerrero and it’s back to Horace.

Kidman and Vincent get in a fight on the floor as the announcers mention that this is a double elimination tournament. That’s quite the information to leave out for most of a match. Then again I can’t imagine the tournament has been mapped out at all at this point. Kidman gets the hot tag and everything breaks down, allowing Vincent to hit Kidman with the slap jack to give Adams the pin.

Rating: C-. Good match messed up by another bad finish. The NWO B Team isn’t exactly something that makes me care as even their teammates treat them like they’re nothing. It doesn’t help that neither of these teams have any real chance to win the titles. You have to have filler like this, but it would be nice to have it be anyone but the Black and White.

MORE B Team stuff with Vincent congratulating the winners but getting yelled at for stealing the slap jack. Then they yell at him for the shirt he’s wearing.

La Parka vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey dropkicks La Parka down to start and avoids a charge in the corner to keep things going. La Parka backdrops him to the apron and stops to dance but is still able to catch Rey in mid air. He puts Rey on the top rope but gets caught by a hurricanrana, followed by a second one from the top to the floor.

Back in and La Parka slams him face first down for two and a kick to the chest gets the same. La Parka goes up but dives into Rey’s boots. He misses a charge into the post as well but is still able to crotch Rey on top. Mysterio gets launched face first into the buckle and La Parka goes up again. This time he’s the one getting crotched and Rey hits something like La Mistica for the pin.

Rating: C. This was better and had a surprising finish as Rey usually uses a huricanrana or some kind of rollup. La Parka didn’t look bad either, which is the case for almost all of the luchadores: if you give them time to show off in the ring, they can give you a pretty good match. It helps that he was in there against Mysterio of course.

Here’s an upset DDP with something to say. He isn’t cool with what Scott Steiner did to his wife on Monday. Page is used to men hitting on Kimberly but he didn’t like the things he was seeing. Kimberly wants to handle Steiner herself, but Page isn’t letting that happen. If Steiner wants a freak, Page will be his hook up.

The B Team is STILL arguing because Stevie is on the phone. The rest of the team goes to the ring for their match and Vincent tries to drink raw eggs ala Rocky. He spits it out but finds a hidden security camera. The Red and Black is shown watching from what looks like a limo. Hogan says they know what time it is. So if they were never at the building, who put in the camera?

Ric Flair/Chris Benoit/Steve McMichael vs. Vince/Stevie Ray/Scott Norton

It’s now Vince, despite being Vincent all night long. Steve and Stevie get things going for a power match but it’s quickly off to Vince. Mongo sticks out his chin so Vince can have a free shot, and that’s exactly what he does, taking over with kicks to the ribs. Vince gets taken into the corner for chops by Benoit and a big one takes him down. Norton comes in and gets chopped as well before it’s back to Mongo. McMichael gets powerslammed down but Vince misses a middle rope elbow. The hot tag brings in Flair who goes after the leg and everything breaks down. The Horsemen clean house and the Figure Four makes Vince give up.

Rating: D+. This was almost a squash with nothing at all happening. Thankfully Mongo would be gone soon as he’s somehow regressing despite barely having any skill at all in the first place. The guy just wasn’t that good and it showed really badly over the years. At least this was short.

Benoit crossfaces Vince to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a hard one to grade as there’s good enough wrestling and some passable stories, but the stakes are so low with the B Team being the focus of everything. Other than that, the wrestling was watchable but it’s really hard to care when you know this is going to mean nothing in the long run.

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Monday Nitro Extra
Date: November 24, 1998
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Heenan

This is a special one hour episode on a Tuesday. I guess three hours a week isn’t enough for all of the AWESOME action that you get on a Nitro so we get a bonus tonight. Hot dog indeed. Anyway there aren’t any announced matches and Tony just casually mentioned this so I can’t imagine it’s going to be much to see. Let’s get to it.

Nitro Girls.

Scott Norton vs. Kaz Hayashi

Chop, powerbomb, pin on Hayashi.

Disco Inferno vs. Scott Putski

The dancer takes him down with an armdrag but stops to dance, allowing Putski to hit a quick powerbomb for two. Inferno comes back with his usual array of neckbreaker, atomic drop and clothesline followed by the top rope ax handle for another near fall. Two sleepers get Disco nowhere and Putski nails a nice overhead belly to belly. Not that it matters as Disco pops up and hits the piledriver for the pin.

Rating: D+. Disco was a decent in ring worker and actually got something resembling a passable match here against Scott Putski of all people. It’s nothing great or anything like that but at the end of the day, why not try to make something happen here? Unfortunately no one is watching this though so it means nothing at all.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Tokyo Magnum

They trade lockups into a wristlock from Guerrero before some standing switches get us nowhere. Chavo puts on a headlock and gives Tokyo a wet willie to really make me feel stupid for watching this. A nice dropkick puts Tokyo down and it’s time to ride Pepe a bit. Tokyo comes back with some strikes and the Hennig necksnap before taking a dance break.

Magnum gets two off a moonsault but Chavo comes back with right hands and dancing of his own. A springboard bulldog and belly to back get two for Chavo and he hammers away even more. They strike it out again with Tokyo taking over, only to have Chavo block a hurricanrana and hit a good looking tornado DDT for the pin.

Rating: D+. This was an ok match but at the same time it was a lot of comedy that only some people were going to find funny. Tokyo was talented in the ring but the dancing gimmick was going to put a hard ceiling above his head. Chavo is continuing to get better in the ring though and that’s the most important thing of all.

Stevie Ray vs. Van Hammer

They stare each other down and hammer away in the corner as we’re firmly in power brawl mode here. Now they trade clotheslines with Stevie getting the better of it and throwing Hammer to the floor for a beating from Vincent. Hammer comes back in with a powerslam and belly to back but Stevie just kicks him in the face and hits the Slap Jack for a quick pin. Nothing match.

Prince Iaukea vs. Juventud Guerrera

Both guys fire off chops until Juvy takes over with a headscissors takeover. The Prince comes back with an elbow and legdrop as the uninspired wrestling continues tonight. Guerrera fights out of a headlock and quickly gets up top for a springboard missile dropkick to take over again. Back up and the Prince grabs a powerslam and belly to back for two more and they trade rollups. Guerrera blocks a dive with a boot to the face and they trade more rollups. Iaukea gets crotched and taken down by a hurricanrana, but here’s Mysterio to break up the 450 and allow Prince to hit a quick kick to the face for the pin.

Rating: C-. The back and forth stuff was nice here and FINALLY we get some storyline stuff on this show. Not that it’s going to mean anything but it’s better than just sitting there watching uninteresting matches. As you may have seen before, Iaukea does nothing for me at all and I’m getting sick of seeing him.

Horace vs. Wrath

They slug it out again to start until Wrath misses a charge in the corner. The brawl heads outside with Wrath taking over again before heading back inside where he nearly drops Horace on a sidewalk slam attempt. A Vincent distraction lets Horace get in a chair shot but he gets caught with his feet on the ropes. Horace takes too much time going up top and misses a splash, setting up a top rope shoulder and the Meltdown to end things.

Overall Rating: D. What in the world was the point of this? Seriously, there was practically no important storyline development, the biggest start to appear was….Juventud Guerrera maybe? It’s just a nothing show that could have been the C level show on the weekend like Main Event or something. Nothing to see here and I really do want to know why this existed.

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Thunder
Date: August 20, 1998
Location: Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance: 9,721
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

This is a rare taped show, meaning we’re not likely to get anything new on the stories from Monday. Actually that could be a good thing as we don’t have to hear about Warrior for the better part of two hours. Hopefully the show is more entertaining than it has been recently as it’s become nothing more than a set of worthless matches and next to no angle advancement at all. Let’s get to it.

Cruiserweight Title: Juventud Guerrera vs. Psychosis

Unfortunately the announcers are already talking about the Warrior. They shake hands to start with Psychosis pulling the champion into a majistral cradle for two before getting caught in an early headlock. Psychosis fights out and elbows Juvy a few times as the announcers keep talking about WarGames. A cross body gets two for the champion and he puts Psychosis down again with headscissors and spinwheel kicks.

The 450 is broken up and Psychosis gets two off a rollup as we go to a break. Back and they’re in the same places they were before the break with Psychosis putting Juvy down with a backbreaker. The guiilotine legdrop actually connects but Psychosis takes forever to cover and Juvy gets up at two. Juvy flips out of a release German suplex and the Juvy Driver retains the title.

Rating: C. Simple, high flying cruiserweight match to open things up and there’s nothing wrong with that. I was really hoping the announcers wouldn’t spend the entire match talking about the Warrior but it was false hope at best. These two fought each other enough times that they could probably have a good match in their sleep.

Video on the Wolfpack.

Stevie Ray is going to take care of the Giant tonight and no one needs to worry about Booker T’s condition.

Quick look at Warrior debuting.

Jim Duggan vs. Barry Darsow

It’s a power slugout as you would expect with Darsow hammering away to no effect. Duggan fires back with those big right hands and they fall to the floor with Duggan still in control. Back in and the announcers discuss Warrior’s contract situation and promise an update on Monday. Darsow catches Duggan with a knee to the ribs and puts on a neck crank but misses an elbow drop. Jim makes his comeback with a variety of punches and the three point clothesline sets up the Old Glory knee drop for the pin.

Rating: D. Duggan is another guy that’s good at firing up a live crowd but he doesn’t do much for anyone watching on TV. Darsow continues to be on television for reasons I don’t quite get. He’s not terrible or anything but who is going to stop flipping through channels because he’s on Thunder?

Very nice video history of WarGames which fills in some time. This is the kind of stuff you don’t get enough of from WCW. They never were one to talk about their history.

Bret Hart says he’s part of Hogan’s WarGames team before saying how great it is to be US Champion. He knows he can beat Goldberg too.

Mongo wants a piece of Curt Hennig tonight…..for what he did to Flair. Wasn’t that a year ago?

Dean Malenko vs. Brian Adams

Nice to see Dean getting to work with a more main event guy. Dean tries to take Adams down but Brian just knocks him away with pure power. A jawbreaker staggers Adams but he puts Dean down with a backbreaker for two. Malenko goes for the arm but is thrown away again before being thrown to the floor for some shots from Vincent.

Back inside and Adams kicks Dean in the face and hits a gutbuster for two. Dean avoids an elbow but jumps into a bearhug, only to counter it into a nice DDT. It’s Cloverleaf time but a Vincent distraction lets Hennig run in with a cheap shot, allowing Adams to hit the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for the win.

Rating: C. Surprisingly good match here with Dean playing David to Adams’ Goliath quite well. The ending is all you can expect from an NWO match but it’s nice to see Dean getting a chance to move up the card a little bit. Malenko vs. Hennig could be a great match if they give it more than four minutes.

Video on NWO Hollywood.

We look at Steiner and Bagwell’s segment from Nitro with Steiner claiming various injuries.

Saturn vs. Horace vs. Raven vs. Kanyon

Four corners match here and you have to tag. Raven and Saturn start but Raven tags in Horace before there’s any contact. Horace takes Saturn down with a quick slam and sends him into the corner, only to have Saturn come back with kicks to the head and an elbow to the jaw to take over. Saturn blasts Kanyon in the face for a tag and it’s Kanyon firing off forearms to keep the big man Horace in trouble. A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Kanyon and it’s Raven’s turn to get a piece of Horace.

Raven immediately tries to boss Horace around but goes to the eyes when that fails miserably. Horace fights back but gets tagged by Kanyon, only to have Horace help Raven put Kanyon down. Raven works over Kanyon with a knee lift before bringing Horace back in for a slam. It’s quickly back to Raven for three straight Russian legsweeps before he brings in Saturn for the first time. A big belly to belly suplex puts Kanyon down again and it’s off to Horace who walks into a suplex from Kanyon. This is moving faster than it sounds.

Horace comes right back with a splash for two but is tired of the wrestling and gets the stop sign. He misses Saturn and hits Raven in the head though to put Raven and Kanyon down. Both guys crawl over to Saturn but he won’t tag. Instead he smacks Kanyon in the face for a tag and beats on Raven like he stole something.

A pair of belly to belly suplexes sets up a top rope splash for two before hitting Kanyon in the face again for a tag. Kanyon picks up Saturn and throws him on Raven to get himself a two count but walks into a t-bone suplex from Saturn for two. The Flatliner gets two on Horace but the goons pull Kanyon to the floor. Saturn joins in the fight, allowing Raven to DDT Horace for the pin.

Rating: B-. Wild but fun match here with everyone getting to show off a bit. It’s nice to see someone getting elevated out of this story, even if there’s no end in sight. Raven getting a win is nice for a change as Saturn has been dominating the feud for a good while now. Best match on Thunder in awhile.

Giant promises to close the gap, and he doesn’t mean the one between Stevie Ray’s teeth.

Steve McMichael vs. Curt Hennig

Tony actually has some insight for us: if one man wins WarGames and gets a title shot as a result, what’s the point of having teams? Hennig is tossed around and out to the floor to start before going after the knee back inside. Mongo gets tired of selling and beats Curt up some more before laying him out with a neckbreaker. A pair of shoulder blocks look to set up the tombstone but Rude hits Mongo in the back with a chair, drawing out Dean Malenko for the DQ. Thankfully this was short.

Mongo and Malenko get beaten down with ease.

The Giant vs. Stevie Ray

Giant is in street clothes for some reason. He taunts Stevie to start so Stevie kicks him in the face (nice looking one too) and Giant goes down. This brings in Hall to jump Stevie, but the bell doesn’t ring until Giant picks Stevie up for the chokeslam.

The Black and White surround Stevie before a Warrior montage takes us out.

Overall Rating: D+. Let’s see: the show sucks without the star power, but the star power isn’t interesting either. Is it any wonder why the company was on its very last legs as far as being competitive? The main event and the main story of this show makes my head spin. With all of the talented people on the roster, they pick STEVIE RAY to push? I mean it’s not like it matters because he’s getting beaten down by the NWO so he’ll join them before the month is out, but why is this not Jericho or even Eddie? The rest of the show, save for the fourway, wasn’t interesting at all.

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Thunder
Date: July 8, 1998
Location: Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, Birmingham, Alabama
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan, Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone

The main story here of course is Goldberg winning the world title two days before in the Georgia Dome. We’re heading into Bash at the Beach on Sunday and the question is how does this change the PPV card on Sunday. Goldberg had been scheduled for a tag match but the world title wasn’t scheduled to be defended anyway. Hopefully we get the announcement tonight but it’s WCW so they probably haven’t thought that far ahead. Let’s get to it.

This is on a Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday.

The announcers talk about Goldberg to open the show with Heenan almost on the verge of standing and applauding.

Here’s JJ Dillon with a major announcement. Apparently Goldberg has accepted a challenge for a title match from Curt Hennig and will face him on Sunday. Giant and Kevin Greene, who were scheduled to be in a tag match with Hennig and Goldberg, will have a singles match instead. Also we’ll find out about the US Title eventually.

Now here’s Hennig to hype up his match on Sunday. Curt is sure he can’t wrestle DDP tonight because it might interfere with his world title shot and all the Black and White fans here wouldn’t want that of course. The fans apparently are all psychics as they’re chanting Goldberg without opening their mouths. Hennig wants Rude to lawyer up to get out of the match with Page and promises to win the title for Hogan. Heaven forbid he do it to be world champion of course.

Public Enemy vs. Shiima Nabunaga/Tokyo Magnum

I hate to admit it, but Public Enemy had one of the catchiest themes I can remember in WCW. The Dragon Gate guys jump Public Enemy to start but are quickly clotheslined down and out to the floor. We start with Tokyo vs. Johnny with Magnum being put down with a pancake. Off to Rocco who misses a springboard moonsault, giving Shiima a two count. Shimma gets crotched on the top and everything breaks down. Tokyo gets caught in a double gutbuster and Shiima is put through the double stack of tables for the academic pin. Basically a squash.

Tokyo tries to dance with Public Enemy and gets punched in the face, drawing in Disco Inferno and Alex Wright to beat Public Enemy up.

Video on the basketball match.

Villano IV vs. The Cat

It sounds better than Ernest Miller if nothing else. Villano gets in a cheap shot to start which fits the whole villain gimmick. He stomps away in the corner but Cat comes back with a quick sunset flip for two and a kick to the head, living up to the whole karate guy gimmick. The other Villano tries to sneak in but gets kicked down as well, allowing Cat to hit his top rope kick to the face for the pin on V.

Rating: D+. There wasn’t much to see here other than the finish but at least Cat is starting to show some charisma out there. It also doesn’t help that he was doing some basic stuff besides just kicking all the time. It’s still not interesting or anything but it was a big step up over what he’s done before.

Here’s Eddie Guerrero to talk about the hair vs. hair match with Chavo on Sunday. He was happy to see Goldberg win the title on Monday because Goldberg got it all together. On Sunday, Eddie is going to get it together against Chavo. Eddie has spent the last few months building Chavo up but somewhere along the way a screw came loose and Chavo has lost it. “We’re talking wacko here.” Eddie gets real serious and promises to humiliate and degrade Chavo by shaving him bald, because no one likes bald people. Just remember that he’s doing it because he loves Chavo. Very solid promo here to hype up a good feud.

Here’s DDP for even more talking. He’s proud of Goldberg as well, “and that’s a shoot.” Page fumbles his words a bit while trying to talk about Hogan and Rodman before talking about how awesome Malone is. Apparently Malone has been training over five hours a day every day to get ready for the match. Sunday is going to end the worst year of Hogan’s life and that’s about it. As for Hennig, he isn’t getting out of the match tonight and will feel the BANG.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Judo Suwa

They trade chops to start with Suwa getting the better of it. Juvy gets a boot up to stop a charge in the corner and a headscissors sends Suwa out to the floor. A big dive takes Judo out and fires up the crowd a bit after all that talking put them to sleep. Back in and Suwa stomps on Juvy and hits a Vader Bomb for two. They run the ropes a bit with Juvy being sent out to the apron but he comes back in with a springboard missile dropkick to the back of the head. Kidman strolls out to ringside as Juvy hits two Juvy Drivers in a row for the pin.

Rating: C. Some nice high spots in there but not much else. This is another one of those matches just thrown out there to fill in some time and fire up the crowd a bit but it wasn’t one of the better versions. Kidman didn’t do anything in the match but it tied into Juvy vs. Reese on Sunday.

Post match here’s the Flock to beat up Guerrera again with Kidman hitting the Seven Year Itch.

Bash at the Beach ad.

Here’s Mongo for another interview. He talks about bringing back the Horsemen and we get a promo from Arn in 1995 right before his match with Flair at Fall Brawl. In it, Arn talks about giving Flair all he has and being able to look at himself in the mirror the next morning because of it. Mongo again asks to bring back the Horsemen and name drops Flair a bit.

The announcers talk about Sunday.

Another Bash at the Beach promo.

Stevie Ray vs. Konnan

Before the match, Ray talks about how Booker isn’t here because he’s getting ready for his match on Sunday. Konnan makes noises on the way to the ring which I think were supposed to be English but I could only make out words like Flexy and Mach. Stevie tries to pound some grammar into him to start and gets two off a forearm. A World’s Strongest Slam puts Konnan down but he pops back up with the rolling lariat and an X-Factor for two. They head to the floor for a bit with Stevie kicking Konnan in the face before hitting him with a chair for the DQ.

The beating with the chair continues until Booker comes out in street clothes to stop his brother.

Video on Bret vs. Booker.

Hennig is on the phone with Rude and talks about sending a fax to the bosses which guarantees that the match doesn’t happen tonight.

Raven/Horace vs. Saturn/Kanyon

Apparently we’re going to see Hogan vs. Goldberg again on Monday. Not a rematch, but a rebroadcast. Saturn works on Horace’s arm to start before handing him off to Kanyon for a crucifix. A swinging neckbreaker puts Horace down but Kanyon goes to the floor to fight Raven. Horace busts out a suicide dive of all things to take Kanyon down as the Flock takes over. Raven comes in with a running clothesline and a knee lift to put Kanyon back outside.

A Russian legsweep sends Kanyon into the barricade for two back inside and it’s back to Horace. This has been rather physical so far. Horace gets two off a top rope splash and we hit the headlock on the mat. Kanyon comes back with the fireman’s carry pancake and it’s a hot tag to Saturn. Everything breaks down with Saturn taking Horace down with a hurricanrana. A chair is thrown in as Saturn sets up a table on the floor.

Kanyon catches Horace with an electric chair faceplant and heads outside to put Raven on the table. Saturn goes up top but Lodi throws powder in his eyes, meaning Saturn can’t see that Raven has put Kanyon on the table instead. The top rope elbow tries to put Saturn through the table but it’s more of Saturn bouncing off Kanyon with the table not breaking at all. Raven gets the easy pin on Kanyon back inside.

Rating: B-. This was a WILD five minute match. Again, Kanyon and Saturn steal the show whenever they’re out there which makes me curious to see how WCW manages to screw them up. Horace is someone else that is better than I remember and was more than adequate in the role of the agile power man here.

Steve McMichael vs. Rick Fuller

As mentioned almost every time, Fuller is a guy who could have been excellent as a bodyguard for some cowardly heel. Fuller chops away to start but Mongo takes out the leg to put Fuller down. A very early tombstone attempt is broken up with a knee to the face but Mongo keeps pounding away in the corner. Mongo runs into a boot in the corner and Fuller pounds away before a legdrop gets two. McMichael comes back with a kick to the face of his own and the tombstone ends Fuller.

The announcers tell us that Malenko has been suspended for his actions on Nitro and will NOT be at the PPV on Sunday. They also talk about Jericho insinuating that Dean’s brother Joe was the product of an affair. Heenan: “Well they don’t look alike.”

Jericho is here with a bandaged noggin and says he can’t wrestle Dean due to what happened on Monday. He wants a credible opponent but JJ doesn’t come out to give him one. Jericho says he’ll put on a top hat and tap shoes and read poetry if he can’t get an opponent named.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Ultimo Dragon

Jericho grabs a headlock to start but they speed things up by running the ropes. A back elbow puts Jericho down and he bails to the floor. Dragon drokicks him through the ropes and things slow down a bit. Back inside and Jericho kicks him in the ribs and snaps Dragon’s throat across the top rope. Dragon is down in the corner but Jericho does his long stride instead of following up. He bends Dragon’s back over his knee to work on the back a bit as things stay slow.

Dragon fights up and hits a spinning kick to the chest, only to be caught in a German suplex for two. Chris gets crotched on top but the super hurricanrana is broken up. Jericho’s superplex is countered into a front superplex by Dragon for two but Jericho puts him right back down with a backbreaker. Dragon hits a Lionsault to a standing Jericho into the Dragon Sleeper but Chris is quickly into the ropes. The Liontamer is countered into a small package and Dragon counters a powerbomb into a cradle, only to be caught in the Liontamer for the submission.

Rating: C+. Good match as usual here with Jericho looking great out there. Dragon was more than keeping up with him as well, but he wouldn’t be around much longer to do follow up. The cruiserweight division is awesome at the moment with Jericho being a much more skilled Honky Tonk Man as everyone wants to see him get what’s coming to him.

Here’s Kevin Greene with something to say and the place gets almost eerily quiet. As always he mentions Goldberg to try to get the fans to care but it doesn’t work as well this time. He talks about how great a football player he is before talking about Giant not being here tonight….and that’s about it.

Video on Rodman.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Curt Hennig

Curt comes out in street clothes and seems to be taking as long as he can. He slowly takes off his shirt until a guy comes up with some papers for him. Apparently due to his title match on Sunday he’s under no obligation to have his match tonight, causing Page to roll his eyes. Vincent tries to jump Page but gets laid out with the Diamond Cutter. Hennig goes after Page but Goldberg’s music comes on to end the show (Goldberg didn’t appear).

Overall Rating: C+. This was an entertaining show that set up Bash at the Beach rather well. What more can you ask for out of a go home show, especially when the show it’s promoting isn’t very interesting? The midcard is awesome at this point but they need to actually get somewhere with the stories. Good show here though as the midcard bails out the non-main event again.

Here’s Bash at the Beach if you’re interested:

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