Thunder
Date: October 14, 1999
Location: Riverside
Centroplex, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Attendance: 4,941
Commentators:
Scott Hudson, Larry Zbyszko
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Unfortunately
this is the second half of a taping and they've taken Nash off
commentary to make this far less entertaining than last week's show.
It's also the go home show for Halloween Havoc but this was taped
before Russo turned the promotion upside down this past Monday.
Let's get to it.
Apparently Nash scared
Tenay off this week.
Norman Smiley vs.
The Maestro
We
delay the start so Maestro can pose a bit before getting to some
amateur stuff. Maestro is a somewhat bigger guy but still moves
well. His movement isn't quite as good as Norman's wiggling, though
unfortunately there isn't much here about Norman's screaming gimmick.
A European uppercut staggers Maestro but he takes Smiley down by the
legs.
The grappling doesn't
work so Maestro hits a side slam and cranks on a chinlock. This is
the match that's supposed to make me stick around for the rest of the
show. More right hands have Smiley in some trouble but he blocks two
sunset flip attempts. Back up and Smiley goes to the arm before
hitting the swinging slam, setting up the dance. A brawl on the
floor goes nowhere so Maestro tries and fails at an implant DDT,
allowing Norman to slip on Norman's Conquest for the win.
Rating:
D.
I like Norman but maybe the screaming thing was good for him. The
problem is that he's just a guy in trunks doing moves to someone and
that's really not a good way to get people to notice you. The
dancing and accent are only going to get you so far, as is good
amateur skill. Maestro has potential to be a low level comedy
character but I'm terrified of what's coming when Russo gets hold of
him.
Lash Leroux vs. Disco
Inferno video.
Horace vs. MVP
That
would be Dale Torborg. Horace powers him into the corner to start
and drives some shoulders into the ribs. MVP gets run over a few
times so he opts for dropkicks, despite being a pretty tall guy who
wouldn't usually throw dropkicks. They head outside with MVP
hammering away and whipping Horace into the barricade.
Back
in and Horace knees him right back to the floor as this is already
going nowhere. An elbow drop gets two for Horace and he sends Horace
into the steps to keep this moving at such a high rate of speed. A
suplex and backbreaker get two each for Horace but he misses a charge
into the corner. MVP comes back with a suplex and punches followed
by a clothesline for two. Horace shrugs it off and hits a Samoan
drop for the pin.
Rating:
D-.
This show is basically a collection of dark matches. There's nothing
to most of these matches and there's no reason for me to want to see
the majority of them, but we're stuck sitting through them week after
week. It's clear that this show is nothing more than a dumping
ground for the people that WCW doesn't want to put on Nitro. The
fact that this is going head to head with Smackdown is yet another
reason why it was clear WCW had no chance against the WWF.
Video
on Page vs. Flair on Sunday.
Curly Bill vs. Lash
Leroux
Hudson
refers to the NWO as defunct. Sweet goodness it took long enough.
Curly starts fast by just kicking him in the face, once regularly and
a second time to stop a charge in the corner. They head outside with
Bill sending him into the steps for a move far too common around here
these days. A Stunner across the top rope and a swinging neckbreaker
have Lash in trouble.
They
trade chops with Lash getting the worse of it, followed by a running
knee from Curly. Slam, chinlock, slam, fans sit
up smoking in the supernatural darkness of cold-water flats floating
across the tops of cities contemplating jazz out of their boredom
from this match. Lash fights up with his usual stuff but can't hit
Whiplash. Curly comes back with a Fujiwara armbar but Lash is next
to the ropes. In a bookend to the match, Curly charges into raised
boots just like Lash did and Whiplash is good for the pin.
Rating:
D. Virgil is getting six
minutes on TV and is dominating about two thirds of the match and is
up against a guy who will be getting a title shot on Sunday. Lash is
nothing great in the ring but he's good enough to survive being the
challenger of the month to Disco Inferno. I'll stay away from a rant
about Disco being Cruiserweight Champion at this point because Lash
has this odd likability about him and I find it hard to complain
about his matches. Also was there any reason to have him not beat a
cruiserweight here?
Road
Report. Whoever this schmuck is has nothing on Lee Marshall.
The
First Family wants a title shot at Halloween Havoc. Don't they
already have one?
Harlem
Heat vs. Steve Regal/Dave Taylor
No
entrance for Harlem Heat as they lost the titles on Monday in a
non-built match, so I'm assuming this is non-title.. Regal and
Booker trade arm work to start until a forearm staggers the
Englishman. Off to Ray for another elbow, which freaks Regal out,
sending him over to the corner for a tag. It seems that we're in a
comedy match.
Taylor
comes in and gets hit in the face a lot but he uppercuts Booker to
the floor for some European uppercuts from Finlay. Regal has settled
down enough to work over Booker in the corner, only to miss a charge
and get caught in a Rock Bottom. They stretch things out a bit by
having Finlay pull Stevie off the apron, only to have the tag made
just a few seconds later. Stevie comes in and cleans house, only to
have the First Family come in for the DQ.
Rating:
D+.
Regal tried but even his magic can't save a match that ends with
Knobbs and Morrus running in for a DQ. Hopefully Russo gets rid of
these two schmucks but for some reason I don't think even he can
overcome the powers of nepotism or the urge to give someone a
juvenile name.
The
Heat cleans house post match.
Video on Sid.
Video on Goldberg vs.
Sid.
Video on Goldberg. My
goodness cancel this show already.
Video on Berlyn vs.
Armstrong.
Kendall Windham vs.
Brad Armstrong
Windham
hammers away to start like the big goon that he is but Brad comes
back with some armdrags and right hands in the corner. They trade
arm work because we haven't seen that enough lately. Curly offers a
cheap shot from the floor and rakes Brad's back to validate his
paycheck. Back in and Kendall mixes it up with a chinlock, slam and
second chinlock to kill off ninety seconds.
Brad
fights up with a variety of shots to the face, followed by a
powerslam for two. Curly offers a distraction so Kendall can hit
Brad low. That doesn't seem to do much so Kendall shoves Brad into
the referee. For the love of all things good and holy this match
needed a ref bump??? A boot shot goes bad and Brad's Russian
legsweep is good for the pin.
Rating:
F.
Good grief just let them wrestler. Or actually wait don't let them
wrestler as I can't handle two Redneck matches in one night. This is
another bad match on a bad show which is a lame duck episode anyway
and the last dying breath of the old regime before Russo and pal come
in to destroy the house. That being said, END THIS SHOW ALREADY.
Halloween
Havoc card.
Juventud
Guerrera/Silver King vs. Blitzkrieg/Kaz Hayashi
When
you need a filler, call Silver King. Juvy and Blitzkrieg start
things off with some posing before Blitzkrieg nails some kicks to
send Juvy over for a tag. For some reason the teams switch corners
on the apron. Somehow that's the least illogical thing on this show
so far. King misses a running dropkick in the corner and gets
cradled for two.
Silver
gets right back into things by launching Blitzkrieg into the air for
a crash before stopping to do a dance. He's no Norman Smiley. Juvy
and Kaz come in with Guerrera mocking a bow to Hayashi before kicking
him down. They trade strikes until Juvy DDTs him down and hammers
away in the corner. There's the crotch chop and it's back to Silver
King who gets caught in a spinebuster from Blitzkrieg. This is an
incredibly fast paced match so far.
Kaz
dropkicks his partner by mistake and Silver King adds an enziguri but
still can't make the hot tag. An airplane spin into a faceplant
finally allows the hot tag to Juvy, who comes in with a springboard
double crossbody as everything breaks down. Blitzkrieg avoids a dive
and hooks a chinlock for a well earned breather.
We
take a break and come back with Juvy in a Hart Attack with Kaz
playing Bret and nailing a missile dropkick. The tribute to 80s tag
teams continues with Blitzkrieg playing Ax to Kaz's Smash, if Ax
could hit a springboard legdrop that is. A standing corkscrew splash
gets two on Guerrera but he comes back with a running kick to the
face. Silver King kicks Blitzkrieg in the back but it's still not
enough for the hot tag.
After
some double teaming has him in trouble, Juvy bulldogs both heels (I
think?) down and makes the hot tag. It's off to Silver King with a
double missile dropkick but Blitzkrieg sunset flips him for two.
Juvy springboards in again to cross body Blitzkrieg down and the
referee just counts the cover anyway. Hayashi moonsaults down onto
Juvy as Silver King electric chairs Blitzkrieg for good measure.
King adds a double jump moonsault but Kaz makes a diving save. Kaz
dropkicks Silver King and Blitzkrieg to the floor, only to walk into
the Juvy Driver for the pin.
Rating:
B.
This match was WAY too good for this show. It's nothing they haven't
done before a million times but my goodness they were moving around
in there. It helps that it's on one of the worst shows I've seen in
years so the expectations were really low coming in. Fun stuff here
though and the only thing worth seeing on the show.
Rick Steiner vs. La
Parka
Steiner
babbles to start before taking La Parka's head off with a
Steinerline. La Parka gets in a single hiptoss before Steiner
suplexes him down and whips him into the barricade. Rick's reward
for “wrestling” this way? A TV Title shot this Sunday. A
release German suplex gets two back inside, followed by another belly
to belly and the Steiner Bulldog for the pin. I'm so glad they had
La Parka win on Monday so this could happen on Thursday.
Clips
of Benoit winning the TV Title for some reason.
Hogan vs. Sting video.
Highlight video from
Nitro. This was like three minutes long but the show still didn't
make sense.
Video on Luger vs.
Hart.
Total
Package vs. Buff Bagwell
No
entrance for Buff, but to be fair he lost to La Parka on Monday.
Hudson talks up that loss though, meaning the commentary was recorded
later, likely due to the threat of Nash. In another casualty of the
taped schedule, Bagwell is his normal self here instead of being
uninterested like he was on Nitro. Luger hammers on his back to
start but gets dropkicked out to the floor as things settle down.
The announcers try to play it up as Bagwell getting a wakeup call on
Monday, even though I'd assume he's back to not caring on Monday.
Luger
tries to get back in but gets sent right back to the floor for
another beating from Bagwell. Elizabeth offers a distraction so
Luger can nail Buff in the back of the head before sending him into
the steps for good measure. Now it's into the barricade before Luger
slowly stomps away. Back in and Luger stomps in the corner, where
you can see some of the mat coming up. Bagwell comes back by ramming
him into the buckle pad over and over, only to get run over by a
clothesline. Viva el chinlock for a bit before Buff makes his
clothesline based comeback. Liz crotches him on top though and the
Rack ends this.
Rating:
D.
So Bagwell's rebound from the loss on Monday is to lose in a
glorified squash here as the continuity gets all screwed up. Luger
looked better here than he has in a long time, but to be fair that
really isn't saying much. I saw these two wrestle enough in
1997/1998 that I never thought I'd want to see them again, and it
turns out I'm right. Oh and no mention whatsoever of Liz being
guitared on Monday. Because, you know, it hadn't happened yet.
Overall
Rating: F+.
I wonder if I can get watching this show covered under my insurance
plan. It has to be worthy of some hospitalization. I wanted to give
it the lowest passing grade possible due to that tag match but my
goodness this was horrible. It's literally the last TV show (aside
from Saturday Night which meant jack by this point) from this booking
era and it shows horribly. As bad as Thunder has been over the
years, this is one of the worst episodes they've ever put on and
that's saying quite a bit.
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