WCW Thunder 4/9/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WCW Thunder 4/9/98
A recap of Savage getting assaulted.

Match 1: Tokyo Magnum v. Saturn

Saturn does not mess around and goes off on Tokyo and runs him into the corner where he sandwiches him. He double underhook back suplexes him, pulls him up and continues to assault him but Magnum is able to roll him up for a two count but once he gets up he is kicked in the head and given a belly to belly and it is Rings time, but Saturn breaks it then reapplies it.

** Squash.

Saturn warns off the Flock as this is his fight. He cannot sleep at night and has to know and calls out Goldberg! Goldberg obliges and comes down with a spring in his step. The Flock pulls Saturn out of the ring and Goldberg demolishes the Flock, muffs a move but finally gets Reese to the floor and Saturn and Hammer are brawling up by the entrance.

Match 2: Yuji Nagata v. Prince Iaukea

They lock up and Yuji takes him down. Prince gets to his feet but is taken again. Nagata pulls him up and forearms him but Prince back suplexes him, gets one and then applies a rear chinlock. Nagata gets to his feet and rolls out of a wrist lock, and Yuji counts with one but it is taken down and Prince works over the leg. Yuji gets to his feet and takes down Prince by kicking the leg. He snaps him over and then kicks him in the back. He follows up by going to work on the arm. Prince comes back with some kicks and punches but then misses the enzuguri and Yuji goes back to the arm applying an armbreaker. He breaks it by driving his leg into his face but Prince no sells it and unloads on him getting two after a dropkick. Prince is whipped into the corner but gets his foot up. He then goes for him but Yuji dumps him over and Prince sells the injury to the leg but them recovers quickly and gives Nagata a Samoan Drop. He goes for a springboard kick but Sonny grabs his leg so he switches gears and leaps on Sonny! But this allows Yuji to take the offensive and he dragon whips him down but is kicked off when he goes for the Lock and is finished with the bridging Northern Lights suplex.

** Nothing great, Prince did recovered far too quickly but he did get a pop at the end.

Jericho comes out and declares that Prince Macamaca or whatever he calls him is not a Cruiserweight. He sees how much he eats and there is no way he is one and wants to weigh him. He is way over the 225 weight limit and calls him a liar and declares he will never get a shot at the title “saddlebags.”

Mortis? He gets a video package.

Raven is in the ring and he has listened to DDP professing how he is the hardest working man in the profession, and how he trains hard and goes to the gym….and Raven is pulled from the ring and it a random, well security has pounced. A fucking fan? An older one too….nice job security, fucker could have had a knife! I have to look at this again….I wonder if he thought it was scripted….it was a skinny old guy who looked pissed and grabbed him from around the throat! Scary….Raven is fine and talking into the mic but there is no sound. Now there is and he has not missed a beat as he whines about being in ECW and how Page could have asked him for a job. Poor Raven all the mic are fucked up and now he is standing in the ring and gets another one and the fans are riled and the sound still is not too good. Raven is getting irate at the fans….for booing. He claims he is going to kick out of the Diamond Cutter and get his revenge. He covered quite well….shitty security though.

Schiavone calls out Buff Bagwell and it looks like they need to do something with Lex and so he is feuding with Buff….again. Buff reminds him that he beat him five times and in Minneapolis he is going to show Lex who is Buff and the Stuff. He claims the fans are cheering for him….

Match 3: Konnan v. Chris Benoit

They lock up and Benoit shoves him back….Tony hypes up Flair coming but that he not arrived yet. Benoit chops the chest and it knocks him into the corner but Vincent distracts him and this allows Konnan to get in some offense but it does not last and Benoit just beats up Vincent, keeps hitting him! Konnan nails him dropping him. Konnan has the arm but a chop sends him down and Vincent grabs his leg again and gets stomped and Konnan gets knocked to the floor. Benoit hammers Vincent some more and he and Konnan go back and forth (Benoit had gone out after him). They are back in the ring and Benoit takes him down, and goes for the Crossface but Konnan scrambles to the ropes and then Benoit runs right into a DDT. Konnan drapes his arm over him and gets two. Konnan went for the Cradle DDT but it is countered with a bridged suplex for two. Benoit floats over and this time the Crossface is on and Konnan taps.

** Basically a squash for Benoit and poor Konnan.

Match 4: Curt Hennig v. Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Oh boy! Duggan….fuck and they jobbed Austin to his guy. I should not be so harsh after all he is being inducted in the “real” HoF this weekend. Curt goes after him right at the bell and a knee lift sends him into the corner; he snaps him over and then snaps the neck but Duggan is up and Curt is tossed in the corner and hammered. Duggan clotheslines him a few times and another one after the three point stance. Rude cuffs him to the ropes because Duggan is stupid and now Rude and Curt beat him down. Jim and Davey Boy come down and run them off.

* Nuff said.

Match 5: Glacier v. Lex Luger

They lock up and Glacier sends him into the ropes and is run over. Luger then hiptosses him and he gets his flex on. Buff is up at the entrance watching the match. Glacier rakes the eyes and he goes after the ribs with a series of kicks. Luger is sent into the corner and kicked in the face and he staggers forward and gets one to the back of the head. Glacier covers him and gets a near fall; he kicks him a couple more times then goes up top and leaps into a fist. Now it is Luger time! A series of clotheslines and forearms and the Rack finishes it off.

** For the hot crowd.

Match 6: Kidman v. Psychosis

They try for the advantage and neither can get it until Psychosis decleats him with a clothesline. Kidman runs at him after he gets up and is sent to the apron and is knocked off. Psychosis crashes into him with an over the top suicide dive. Psychosis rolls him back into the ring and gets a two count. Kidman counters after the whip with a spinebuster and he stomps Psychosis’ head into the canvas. Kidman faceplants him and places him up top and Psychosis blocks the superplex and shoves him off and leaps off and strikes with a spinkick. Jericho is on the apron talking to the ref: Meanwhile Psychosis has pinned him twice and then reverse suplexes him and goes up top and La Parka runs down and cracks him with the chair and Kidman finishes him with the Seven Year Itch.

** Classic that Psychosis refused to go over and get Jericho out of there….

Jericho had a scale. Now after the break he is with Schiavone and makes fun of his name. Holy fucking shit….It may be because I am three beers in (kids in bed) but Jericho if fucking classic. He ignores Schiavone asking why he came down and states that he is to be addressed as the Man of a 1004 Holds. He also warns the Jerichoholics from coming into the ring and touching him and tells Dillinger to be diligent (fuck yeah). He believes that Prince Macamacee weighs more than 225. Schiavone tries to beg off by being officious (fuck you Tony) and Jericho assures him that he has permission from JJ Dillon. Prince comes down and weighs 218 and Jericho does not compute that at first but Tony keeps repeating that and refuses to believe it and wants the scale recalibrated and then cracks it upside Prince’s head and puts him in the Liontamer!

Match 6: Disco Inferno v. Scott Steiner

Poor Disco. Buff is running around with the trophy and measuring Scott’s muscles, no latent homosexuality there!

He immediately shoves Disco down. Steiner picks him and faceplants him and then uses the ropes to choke him out. He drills him with an elbow and continues to work him over. Shit the beer went down the wrong hatch but Disco made a comeback with a swinging neckbreaker but Steiner strikes with a belly to belly and finishes him with the Recliner.

*1/2 Squash.

Match 7: Chris Jericho (c) v. Booker T (c) for WCW TV Title

Damn, is this the Jericho show. They lock and no one gets the upper hand. The second time they tussle back and forth but Booker finishes any doubt with a vicious clothesline. He takes him down again and gets a two count. Booker has the arm and then back kicks him in the head, and follows up with some forearms and Jericho tries to fire back but a clothesline sends him over the top. Chris goes to the back but Booker grabs his ponytail and pulls him back into the ring. But after the whip Jericho counters by guillotining him off the top rope. He crotches him on the top rope and then uses the corner to kick him in the head. He follows up with a vertical suplex and stands on him with one foot and gets two. Jericho slams him and then misses the Lionsault and Booker comes right back with a spinebuster. Jericho elbows him a couple of times and goes for a release back suplex but Booker lands on his feet and takes down Jericho. He axe kicks him and then murders him with a stiff Harlem Sidekick. Booker raises the roof and goes up top and Jericho stumbles around and Booker missile dropkicks the ref and Jericho kicks him and then slaps Booker in the face but a forearm sends Jericho to the floor….The ref calls for the bell and DQ’s Jericho for pulling him in front of Booker.

**1/2 Not bad. Both looked fairly strong and it was smart not to job Jericho.

Schiavone calls out Flair and here comes Bischoff and Steiner. EB calls Tony a liar and Ric Flair knows when he is lying. Tony makes excuses for Flair and Flair is not here for several reasons. EB goes off about Flair’s nose and bleached blonde hair and wonders why he could not be Hollywood Hogan. Flair wishes that he was the man who built WCW and be Hogan. He reads the USA Today about Hogan’s new movie and is jealous about it so we get a preview: Three Ninjas! Fucking AWFUL. EB calls Hogan the man, myth and legend and that is something Flair is not. He turns to Scotty who claims the real reason Flair is not here tonight is because he had to face him and he is scared. Here comes Arn who is not too pleased and he works in the back and if EB got his nose out of the air he would notice that. Flair has worked these areas and left a part of himself in each of these places. He continues that Flair may not make movies or have Steiner’s muscles but he is wrestling and he should be afforded dignity as he has a lot more than the nWo ever had. EB wants to know if he is done and calls him “fatso.” He continues that what he said is garbage and that is what Flair will be treated like. EB tells him that he is the only one to defend that piece of garbage and Lex comes out and Arn chuckles proclaiming that he is not the only one and he and Scotty get into it. Luger and Scotty go at it and Rick comes out and suplexes Bischoff!

Match 8: Kevin Nash v. Rick Steiner

Nash has the mic and he has seen these clips with Hogan running his mouth. Everything is hunky-dory when things are going Hogan’s way and then people get run over when they do not. He claims he had Sting beat, the fans boo and he responds they know he had Sting beat but Hogan ruined. Tonight Hogan will see that the nWo’s allegiance lies with Nash and not Hogan. This leads him to the bat match. He has to say that he and Hogan are at a disadvantage because Piper is the finest switch hitter in the business! He has not forgotten about Giant and will take him out once and for all. Being this big and sexy is just too sweet and bring out the lamb to the slaughter.

Nash tells Rick that it was he who got into his head and the brothers have come down to back his actions.

They circle around one another and Nash misses the boot and Rick nails him and then mounts and pounds him. But the nWo pull him off and this allows Nash to drop him; he elbows him in the back of the head and sandwiches him in the corner. He uses his boot to choke him out and now uses the ropes. He takes a running leap and lands on the back of Rick’s head. Rick is sent into the other corner but Nash runs into the boot. Rick clotheslines him and then drops the elbow. He then goes to the middle rope and bulldogs him. He covers him and Konnan runs in and makes the save. Now Scotty runs in and decks him and Nash powerbombs him! Here comes Dillinger and the nWo stops them from coming down and stomp away. Here comes the Giant and he starts to dismantle the nWo and gets in the ring as they run out of time.

** Angle advancement for the nWo.

**** Great show. I was thoroughly entertained and part of it may have been the beer. But Jericho was classic and the ending was well done too. Now the Ric Flair controversy. It was advertised on Nitro and apparently he had a hockey match to go to. He was said to have told the front office but EB was said to be under the pressure of having the WWF nipping at his heels and of course his love-hate relationship with Flair. Now the Flair supporters will state that EB buried and undoubtedly that is true, as he lost to Hennig repeatedly and that was asinine. He jobbed to Hogan numerous times as EB was blowing the Hulkster. Now Flair has also been said to be an arrogant jerk by many including Foley and Hart. It really depends on whose side you fall on and it is hard to side with Bischoff because he is an ass. Yet it is clear that both are to blame. Flair should have shown up but then again I believe part of it was much deeper as he and EB were clearly bickering about his character. Flair showed him up by not showing up as he was tired of it and perhaps they hyped up Flair knowing this….as usual there are a lot of unknowns as this is wrestling but it is sad as Flair is WCW and EB never realized that and clearly Flair has a huge ego and it is unfortunate that it came to this as well as EB’s dipshit comments that basically stated Flair never put butts in the seats: Way to build team spirit fucker when Flair was clearly bigger than Hogan in WCW and that irked Hogan and therefore irked EB. A little more research shows he missed several dates after this and that this was the beginning, and it wreaked havoc with WCW. Now of course Nash missed Starrcade! EB did powerplays there too but it seems that Flair was the whipping boy and hence his nearly kicking his ass in WWE. Still it would have been nice for Flair and WCW to both get their head out of their asses and come to an agreement and forgo the embarrassment.