Thunder
Date:
August 20, 1998
Location:
Fargodome, Fargo, North Dakota
Attendance:
9,721
Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
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.
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
Comments
Post a Comment