Thunder
Date: May 14, 1998
Location: Whittemore
Center Arena, Durham, New Hampshire
Commentators: Tony
Schiavone, Lee Marshall, Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
It's the final show
before Slamboree and we have even more drama in the NWO. This time
it's the Giant joining NWO Hollywood to help protect Hogan and get
his hands on Kevin Nash at the same time. The latter makes little
sense as Giant already has a match with Nash on Sunday but if you try
to think too much about this stuff your head will explode. Let's get
to it.
The announcers talk for
a bit about the end of Nitro and give us a quick preview of tonight's
show, including Savage vs. Sting.
We get a new version of
Bischoff's challenge, this one themed like an NWO announcement.
Basically Bischoff is a martial arts expert and invites Vince to come
break Eric's limbs and choke him to death, so come to Slamboree.
Expect to see this about a dozen times tonight.
Mando Guerrero, Eddie's
older brother, is disappointed by Eddie's recent actions. Chavo has
it tough enough due to being a second generation wrestler without
having to be Eddie's nephew.
Chavo
Guerrero Jr. vs. Reese
Reese is Eddie's
handpicked opponent, selected for how similar he is to Chavo. Reese
lumbers at Chavo but the smaller guy speeds around and fires off
chops for no effect. Reese throws Chavo around with ease but
Guerrero comes back with a springboard kick to the chest to stagger
the giant. Chavo goes up but an Eddie distraction allows Reese to
catch Chavo in the chokebomb for the fast pin.
Post match Ultimo
Dragon, Eddie's opponent on Sunday, comes out to stop Eddie from
berating Chavo. Chavo walks away while Eddie is caught in the Dragon
Sleeper.
We recap the “fan”
attacks (Kanyon) on Raven over the last few weeks.
The announcers talk
about Raven's challenge for a Bowery Death Match on Sunday.
We also get a clip of
Raven beating Page for the US Title at Spring Stampede and the
ensuing brawls over the next few weeks. They also air Page's promos
on Raven from Thunder two weeks ago, the fight with the bullrope, JJ
giving Raven a riot squad and the challenge for the Bowery Death
Match. Are they running REALLY short on time tonight? They aired
about seven minutes straight of videos of the feud.
Since that's not enough
on these two, here are Raven and the riot squad. He's tired of
hearing about DDP. What about Raven? This isn't Dodge City and Page
can't string him up like Josey Wales. If Page wants him, come get
him right now. Here's Page through the crowd because he was just
waiting at the top of the arena. Page dives over the squad to get at
Raven but the beatdown is on almost immediately. That looks a lot
like Austin diving over the cops to get at Vince a few months after
this aired. Page gets hung by the bullrope.
Goldberg has to defend
the US Title by running a Flock gauntlet on Sunday.
The Outsiders will
actually be here tonight.
TV Title: Kenny Kaos
vs. Fit Finlay
In case you didn't
think the other High Voltage member getting a title shot was stupid
enough. Finlay grabs a nerve hold to start but Kaos comes back with
a hiptoss before pulling Finlay away from the ropes. Finlay drags
him to the floor by the hair for a quick pounding before taking Kaos
back inside, getting two off a splash. Kaos gets the knees up to
block a Vader Bomb and gets two off an atomic drop. The champion
pounds away but misses a charge into the post, only to take it to the
floor where Rage helps out his partner. Back in and Finlay hits the
rolling senton and the tombstone to retain.
Rating: D.
Nothing match as Finlay didn't sell anything Kaos did and easily beat
him after getting double teamed. This wasn't really even a squash
with Kaos getting in some offense but to no effect. I still don't
get why Finlay was champion anyway as he hadn't really done anything
significant prior to winning the title.
We see Savage calling
out Bret from a few weeks ago.
Here's a live action
person dressed as a character from the animated movie Quest For
Camelot to hand out t-shirts. This doesn't seem to be announced to
anyone in the arena, but why would they need to know who this big
viking looking guy is?
US Title: Sick Boy
vs. Goldberg
Sick Boy goes right for
the champ and actually takes him down with a snapmare. We get a
nerve hold but Goldberg easily fights up. A pair of dropkicks
stagger him but Goldberg comes back with a gorilla press, setting up
a bad looking spear and the Jackhammer to retain the title.
The Flock swarms
Goldberg but he takes down Riggs, scaring everyone else off.
Saturn says he uses a
basic side kick like people have been using for thousands of years.
He didn't steal it from Glacier or any other reject from a video
game.
Chris Adams vs.
Saturn
Before the match Kidman
asks Adams if he wants to lose to the Rings of Saturn or the Death
Valley Driver. Adams doesn't say anything so Kidman picks the Death
Valley Driver, which will be set up by the Cryonic Kick and there's
nothing Glacier can do about it. Security holds Van Hammer back from
getting in the ring. They trade hammerlocks to start as Tony rips
apart the Flock for being a bunch of spoiled brats as children.
Saturn catches an
incoming boot to the ribs but Adams takes him down with an enziguri
for two. Adams misses a top rope knee drop and Kidman hands Saturn a
chair. Saturn gets a springboard into the corner for a clothesline
before sending Chris out to the floor. Adams comes back with some
right hands but gets sent into the ropes, setting up the superkick
and Death Valley Driver for Saturn's pin.
Rating: C.
Better match than expected here with Adams at least being game out
there. I like the idea of Saturn calling his finish but it would be
better if it was in a feud with ANYONE but Glacier. Was there no one
else out there you could have use a superkick to set up a feud with
Saturn at all? Not a bad match at all though.
This week in WCW
Motorsports because all WCW fans care about car racing.
Robbie Rage vs.
Chris Benoit
Apparently Nitro will
be split in two on Monday with one hour from 7-8 and one hour from
11:30-12:30. Rage no sells some chops to start and gorilla presses
Benoit down with ease. An overhead belly to belly has Benoit in even
more trouble and it's off to a half crab from Rage. Kaos is nowhere
to be seen for some reason tonight. Rage loads up a powerslam but
rams Benoit back first into the corner instead of slamming him down.
Benoit avoids a top rope splash and there's the Swan Dive followed by
the Crossface for the submission.
Rating: D+.
Nothing special to see here but Rage got in far more offense than he
should have. This was out of the 1995 Randy Savage playbook: get
destroyed for most of the match and then hit a big move for the win.
It doesn't do much for Benoit but at least he got the win going into
his title match on Sunday.
Here's Eric Bischoff
with his fists up and something to say. The announcers talk about
the challenge but aren't sure if they should support Bischoff or not.
Bischoff talks about Vince sending guys where Vince knows Eric won't
be, but he's received a letter from Vince's lawyers, saying that
Vince will NOT be at the PPV and stop promoting him as such.
Bischoff says ok but Doug Dillinger will still be there to guard the
door and make sure Vince gets to the ring safely. The announcers
still aren't sure what to say.
Buy the Outsiders
shirt!
Tag Titles:
Outsiders vs. Public Enemy
And there's no Hall.
Nash complains about politics in the back with Bischoff and Hogan
keeping Hall off live TV. However, they can't stop him from being at
the PPV for some reason so Hall WILL be at Slamboree. He stops to
talk about how sexy he looks tonight and brings out his replacement
partner for the night: Dusty Rhodes. Rocco starts for the
challengers as Dusty chills on the floor.
Nash throws Rock into
the corner and chokes him with the boot before firing in some elbows
for two. More corner choking ensues before Public Enemy double
suplexes Nash down. Rhodes pulls Grunge to the floor and the
Jackknife to Rocco followed by the Bionic Elbow retains the titles.
Heenan: “DUSTY IS 1-0!”
Rating: D.
This was barely long enough to rate but it was basically a joke
match. The fans popped for Dusty so I guess the Wolfpack is
officially a face group. They're definitely faces in the NWO but it
wasn't entirely clear if they were faces overall. It's nice to see
the belts defended at all though as I don't think they've been on the
line since February.
Sting vs. Randy
Savage
We get a lot of pyro
before the entrances. Savage jumps Sting in the aisle and I don't
think there was a bell. They head inside with Sting taking over and
backdropping Savage down. Savage rakes the eyes and takes it back to
the floor with Sting sending Randy into the barricade and actually
hitting the Splash against the steel. That might be the only time
I've ever seen that connect in WCW. Back in and the Stinger Splash
misses but Sting comes back with an elbow to the jaw. Not that it
matters as here's Bret Hart with a chair for the fast DQ. Match was
just over two minutes long.
Giant comes in to save
Bret from Savage, only to have Nash come in to save Savage with a
chair shot. Sting hits Nash with the chair, leaving just Sting and
Giant standing. Giant gets a mic and says that once they win the tag
titles, Sting has a decision to make. He throws Sting a black and
white t-shirt and Sting doesn't immediately say no. Giant leaves so
Luger comes out to try to talk reason into Sting.
The Bischoff challenge
to McMahon ends the show.
Overall Rating: D+.
Well let's see: we get no explanation from Giant, the only major
story development is for what happens after the tag title match, we
saw two High Voltage matches for some reason, and nothing new was
added to the PPV. This show just didn't need to happen, which is the
case with almost all of the Thunder shows anymore.
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
What was the deal with the nitro split?
ReplyDeleteIt didn't happen. The second hour was a rebroadcast of the second hour. It was due to basketball.
ReplyDeleteAh right Jordan's last run. Nitro was hot in 98 but those playoffs that year were hotter. Everyone wanted Shaq and Kobe vs mj and pippen but they got creamed by Utah. Also that bulls vs Indy 7 gamer (which I think waswhat tthis got pulled for) was epic ratings wise
ReplyDeleteIt was actually game 2 of the wcf between LA and Utah if anyone cares
ReplyDeleteThunder was so, so bad.
ReplyDeleteAnd we're still in the golden era.
ReplyDeleteI know. If you make it through the entire run, you have more courage than I.
ReplyDelete