Thunder
Date:
February 25,
1999
Location:
E Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Attendance:
9,159 Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Things
are looking up a bit after Monday's show, though the NWO was up to
their old tricks again with a not very funny parody instead of the
big Flair interview that was promoted all night long. This is
another taped show which usually means nothing good for the fans.
Monday focused more on the wrestling for the most part though so
maybe this show has a chance. Let's get to it.
Tony,
clearly from a studio and not in the arena, welcomes us to the show
and sends us to a video on Page vs. Steiner.
Hak
vs. Damien
Hak
(what a funny yet mostly accurate jab at ECW) comes to the ring
wrapped in barbed wire. Before the match, Hak says that all of his
matches will be Hakfests, meaning no rules. Who or what gives him
this authority isn't clear. Damien
hammers away to start but he cuts himself on the barbed wire. A
dropkick drives Hak into the wire but he takes it off a few seconds
later. They head outside with Damien nailing a baseball slide
followed by a dive against the barricade.
Back
in and Hak drapes Damien over the top rope for something resembling a
top rope legdrop to the back. Tony says the FCC is coming after the
NWO for hijacking the satellite feed on Monday, because WCW thinks
fans want to hear about FCC fines and regulations instead of
wrestling matches to get revenge. Not
that the fans have any reason to care about this war any longer after
SuperBrawl but WCW never was one to think things through like that.
Hak
does the same legdrop over the back to the barricade (RVD's spot
minus the spin) before taking it inside for the Tommy Dreamer Tree of
Woe dropkick into the chair. Damien comes back with some Singapore
cane shots but gets caught in the White Russian legsweep (legsweep
with the cane across Damien's throat) for the pin.
Rating:
D. Oh this is going to be a
long year. I wasn't much of an ECW fan at this point and I didn't
care for the hardcore stuff. It was one thing when Raven did it as
Raven was about a thousand times better in the ring than Sandman
could ever hope to be. The fact that they've put Sandman in black
dress pants and a black shirt with no music doesn't help his case.
Stills
of Flair vs. Hogan. We still haven't seen the announcers and
I doubt we will.
Psychosis
vs. Hector Garza
They
start slow until Psychosis drops him with a shoulder. Garza elbows
him in the face and moonsaults over Psychosis, only to get
clotheslined down. Hector
is sent to the floor and taken down with a baseball slide followed by
a dropkick. Back in and
Psychosis dives off the top and into a powerslam but Hector misses a
charge in the corner. A missile dropkick gets two for Psychosis but
Hector comes back with what looked like a clothesline to the side of
the head.
Psychosis
avoids a running dropkick in the corner, setting up a top rope
spinwheel kick (not a flying body attack Tony) for two more. Garza
gets crotched on the top rope and dropped by another spinwheel kick.
Back up and Hector loads up a powerbomb but just drops Psychosis face
first onto the mat. Garza goes up but gets crotched again, giving
Psychosis a top rope hurricarnana and the guillotine legdrop is
enough to pin Hector.
Rating:
C-. Not much to see here as
Garza wasn't the most interesting luchador when he wasn't doing his
big dives. Psychosis is a guy that never got much attention in WCW
as he was overshadowed by guys like Mysterio/Guerrera/Kidman. That's
a shame too as he was a very talented guy in his own right.
Stills
of Windham and Hennig winning the Tag Team Titles.
Ernest
Miller vs. ???
Miller
still doesn't like Glacier's music. He
insults some fans and issues another open challenge.
Ernest
Miller vs. Stevie Ray
There's
a break before the match. Tony: “Fans we'll brb!” Much
like hearing people say the word hashtag out loud today, this really
should be left on a computer. Ray
easily shoves him down and hammers away with right hands. A low blow
(ignored by the referee) gives Miller a breather and he knocks Stevie
down with kicks to the head. Stevie comes back with a slam but the
referee is bumped when he tries another slam. Sonny Onoo gets in and
gets laid out as well. Vince comes out and intentionally hits Stevie
with a slapjack, giving Miller the pin.
Rating:
D. This was another angle
instead of a match but it's good to keep these Black and White things
short. Having this as a
heel vs. heel match made the fans even more uninterested though.
Miller with the Glacier music isn't interesting but hopefully it
doesn't last all that long.
We
look at the Horsemen attacking Windham and Hennig on Nitro.
We
see Booker's promo and match
from Monday with a clean win over Bret.
Villano
V/El Dandy vs. Raven/Kanyon
Raven's
sister is here with them. Before the match, he talks about the
jobbers claiming to be hardcore and Hak stealing the Raven's Rules
idea. What about Raven? He'll
stomp Hak and Bigelow like narcs at a biker rally. As
for this match, remember that Raven and Kanyon injured Villano IV's
brother.
Dandy
gets double teamed in the corner to start but the makeshift team
nails Kanyon with a double
dropkick. Off to Raven vs.
Villano as Tenay talks about Villano V hopefully returning later this
year? Heenan: “How do you know which one you were talking to? It
might have been VII!” Tony: “HE'S RIGHT!” Raven runs into a
boot in the corner as everything breaks down. Villano hot shots
Kanyon but Raven nails him with a chair. The
drop toehold sends Villano face first into the chair, followed by the
Even Flow for the pin. For some reason the referee has to count it
twice.
Rating:
D. Nothing to the match but it
was nice to see Raven back. Unfortunately it sounds like he's going
to have a feud with the hardcore guys now as the “let's be like
ECW” run continues. It's a shame too as exploring Raven's mental
issues could be a very interesting path for his character.
Raven
puts Dandy through a table post match.
This
Week In WCW Motorsports! Monster trucks!
Stills
of Goldberg vs. Bigelow.
Blitzkreig
vs. Juventud Guerrera
Feeling
out process to start with Juvy sending him to the floor. That goes
nowhere so Blitzkreig comes back in and gets chopped. Now it's Juvy
being sent to the floor for a big flip dive but Juvy takes him back
inside for a chinlock. A
Stunner over the top rope sets up a springboard from Juvy but
Blitzkreig rolls away and Juvy lands on his feet. Blitzkreig
dropkicks him out to the floor but brings Guerrera back in for more
chops.
Juvy
crotches Blitzkreig on the top, setting up a springboard hurricanrana
for two. We take a break
and come back with Juvy taking Blitzkreig's head off with a
clothesline. Back to the chinlock for a bit before Juvy puts
Blitzkrieg on the top for another dropkick, sending Blitzkreig out to
the floor.
Juvy
throws him back in for a springboard guillotine legdrop but hurts
himself in the process. The delayed cover only gets two and a
release German suplex gets the same for Guerrera. Blitzkrieg comes
back with a spinning victory roll for two and a backbreaker for two
more. A Lionsault hits
knees but the 450 misses. Instead it's the Juvy Driver for the pin.
Rating:
C. This wasn't a bad match but
Blitzkrieg still isn't doing it for me. Maybe it's all the stuff
I've heard about him over the years but he's not on the same level as
guys like Mysterio or Guerrero. He's not bad or anything, but I
don't care to see most of his matches and he's looked out of his
league for the most part.
Stills
of Rey losing his mask.
Konnan
music video.
Here's
the full Mysterio vs. Nash match from Monday. Granted it's only like
three minutes long.
Bret
Hart vs. Disco Inferno
Before
the match, Disco wants to sing the Canadian national anthem. Tony:
“Oh, because of his opponent.” The
song is about drinking beer and playing hockey because Canadians have
nothing better to do. Not
bad. Disco immediately bails to the floor then does it again. Bret
turns his back but it's a trap, allowing him to hammer away on
Inferno. They're quickly
back on the floor with Disco in big trouble. The beating heads back
inside and Bret rakes Disco's eyes across the top rope and we take a
break.
Back
with Bret getting two off a DDT before sending Disco out to the
floor. Bret hammers away before taking it back inside for a Russian
legsweep. Disco comes back
with some choking and a clothesline before stomping Bret down in the
corner. Tony hypes up Ric Flair making a huge announcement on
Monday. Maybe we'll even see it this time. Bret starts going after
the leg and puts on a Figure Four. Disco hangs on for a good while
and finally makes it to the ropes. That's
fine with Bret as it's the backbreaker, elbow and Sharpshooter for
the win.
Rating:
D+. How often do you see Bret
hit his finishing sequence and get the submission with no resistance?
This was just a long Bret squash and
it's nice to see him in back
to back featured matches.
The loss
on Monday was a good thing all around and
now he gets to win something else to get some of his (limited) heat
back. Nothing wrong with that and Disco losing to Bret Hart isn't
going to hurt his push.
Overall
Rating: D. This show tried but
it was stuck with low level talent and a lot of replays from
SuperBrawl and Nitro.
However, they were at least putting in some effort instead of just
throwing guys out there to fill in two hours. Unfortunately the
matches weren't very good and you could tell this was taped in
advance due to never seeing the announcers. It's
a bad time for WCW and things aren't looking up.
Remember to pick up my new book on the History of ECW Pay Per Views from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWSOTGK
And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
I really enjoy these reviews
ReplyDeleteGood review. How far are you planning to do with these? I'd like to see some of your thoughts on ROH at its apex (2004-2007). It was a great time, and it couldn't come at a better time.
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated. They'll be around until the show is done.
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDeleteI am starting from the beginning.
I already did the first two shows a few months ago.
Here is the debut show: http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/02/ring-of-honor-era-of-honor-begins.html
And the second: http://www.rspwfaq.net/2014/04/ring-of-honor-night-of-appreciation.html
Ah yes Jody Fleisch. That guy was sloppy as hell. Everything he did looked like it would end in a botch.
ReplyDeleteAs you mentioned a lot of these matches were too short to be any good but most of the ones that got time delivered. Spanky/London was disappointing but Red/Ki had that crazy opening sequence plus some other solid matches.
Was really shocking to see American Dragon not make the title match but the other 3 participants made sense so it was nice to have that surprise.
Awesome to see the review and I hope you can keep churning them out. The title match is a pretty great so I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it.
I just got to 2004 in my viewing of it. Just got to the Reborn shows so I'm excited to see some prime ROH.
ReplyDeleteYou're a brave man watching WCW after the train has come off the track.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that Red/Ki opening sequence was insane. If that happened today, it would still get the same reaction.
Should have that show up next Saturday.
It sounds amazing. I watched them live but I want to see how bad it really gets.
ReplyDeleteJust wait until February/March 2000.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you watching? Torrents?
ReplyDeleteSandman's nickname was always Hak, among the boys, even back in his early days in ECW. He said in a shoot that he could have used the Sandman name in WCW, but didn't want to, because if they wouldn't let him drink, then he wasn't the Sandman. So he went by his nickname that everyone knew him by already.
ReplyDeleteI would say Dusty Rhodes' ECW debut in ECW. That was surreal!
ReplyDeleteQuite a fitting nickname.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, I do like me some ROH, I see that you're doing the PPVs in order and all but any chance you will review some of the compilation DVDs (Best of Punk, Best of Bryan, Bryan vs the world)? Or the DVD that has a bunch of Joe vs Punk matches (including the trilogy)?
ReplyDeleteI might do Bryan vs. the World
ReplyDeleteBlitzkrieg is definitely not in the tier of the elites- I think he was just so fresh at the time (WCW hadn't added a new Cruiserweight in like a year, I think), hit a TON of highspots per match (one of the higher concentrations), and retired so early, that he attained a kind of "aw man, remember BLITZKRIEG?" effect. It doesn't help that years of Indie Spotfests have both revealed the weaknesses of that style, and produced a dozen guys better at it.
ReplyDeleteFleisch & Storm pretty much came as a bundle back at that time in UK wrestling. They were doing stuff in the UK that nobody over here really did and got over huge on it together - totally different scene these days, but they kickstarted it. Compared to some of the US guys at the same time, though... yeesh.
ReplyDelete"Flair was ridiculously over the hill at this point, but he was still able to pop out a *** match against the right worker. I was so disappointed a couple of weeks later when they jobbed Flair out to Brock due to Heyman’s interference as opposed to going the Ivan Drago / Apollo Creed route. Brock still needed cred at that point, and Flair was getting back in his groove."
ReplyDeleteThis is where I stopped reading. Flair was nowhere near over the hill in 2002.
That Low Ki/Red match is one of those matches that is great to show a non-wrestling fan, just so crisp and fast paced.
ReplyDeleteThe opening sequence would draw in anyone I think. It's incredible stuff
ReplyDeleteNice job Bayless. I can't believe that the Briscos have been around since 2002 in RoH and that is it. Like, WWE NEVER wanted them?
ReplyDelete"Loved the idea of a heel who's just stupidly ballsy. Like an unlikable Scrappy Doo."
ReplyDeleteThat last sentence brought to you by the Dept of Redundancy Department.
I thought Brock destroying Flair that badly just made it look unrealistic. This is a 16 time former champion, he should put up KIND OF a fight. Plus Flair went over Chris Jericho clean not long after and had competitive matches with Austin earlier in the year.
ReplyDeleteBriscoes were signed (pending physicals) last year, then Jay threatened someone on twitter in an uber homophobic rant and the deal was pulled from both brothers
ReplyDeleteNow the fact TNA never tried anything with them is far more dumbfounding
ReplyDelete