WCW Thunder 8/13/1998

Written by: Kevin Kindelberger

WCW Thunder 8/13/98
Here comes Scott Hall. He is loudly booed and acts like he is sad. He calls himself Nash Killer and it is survey time. WCW gets mild cheers. nWo gets more cheers. He states that this is where it gets tricky and asks if they came to see the original Black and White Express and they boo. Now to the lame Wolfpac and they cheer loudly. He tells us that the Wolfpac is here and he will face them and that Thunder in Fargo is too sweet.

Match 1: Scott Hall v. Konnan

Hall slaps him in the chin and then shoves him. Konnan pops him in the jaw. Hall grabs the arm and works it over but Konnan shoves him off. Now Hall picks him up over his shoulders and drops him. He has the arm and paintbrushes him. Konnan escapes and they square off again. Hall wants a test of strength and Konnan asks the crowd and Hall pokes him in the eyeball after Konnan falls for it. He smacks Konnan around and gets two after his fall away slam. Hall chops away at him in the corner and then Konnan is whipped into the corner and sandwiched there. Hall puts him in an ab stretch. He is using the ropes for leverage but Konnan finally hiptosses free. Hall gets back elbowed and bulldogged and now strikes with a rolling clothesline. Hall kicks him in the nuts and wants the Edge but is rolled up for two. Hall is up and clotheslines him. He is going for the Edge again and has him up and down he goes….after a clothesline? It is over.

**1/2 Nice match for Hall. Konnan still needs a signature win but Hall needed one too.

Raven has the mic and talks about the line needing to be drawn. He believes the Flock and I am guessing Lodi cost him the match, wait it is Horace. He asks what about him and on Monday he allowed Saturn to give him a Death Valley Driver.

Match 2: Raven v. Horace

Horace looks concerned and Raven goes off on him. He has the stop sign and Lodi tries to stop him but is shoved back and this allows Horace to kick the sign into him. He gets two and after a bodyslam and a flying splash from the top rope he gets two more. Horace bashes him with the stop sign and stomps away. Raven is slammed on top of the sign. He goes back up top and after another splash Raven still kicks out. Horace sets him up in the corner and Horace gets all sign and both are down. Now Raven is up first and tosses Horace over the top rope. He rolls him back into the ring and wants Lodi to attack him and he hesitates and so gets punched. Riggs obliges. Horace gets a hole stomped on him. Saturn runs down and they back off. Horace cracks Saturn from behind and now the Flock stomp away at him. Now Kanyon has entered the picture. He beats the shit out of the Flock. Saturn drops Kanyon and suplexes Horace.

** Angle advancement.

Stevie Ray has the mic and does not care how big the Giant is. He is upset that Jericho has the belt as it was his brother’s and Booker told him to get the belt back. Ray is calling out the Giant and he is coming for him and calls him a punk and a punk again. Ray is facing Eddie Guerrero tonight and calls him a good competitor but does not play with the Cruiserweights like his brother did.

Match 3: Chris Jericho (c) v. Chavo Guerrero for WCW TV Title

They hammer one another and Jericho applies a dragon twist. Chavo rolls through and armdrags him. He follows up with kicks and stomps in the corner. Jericho comes back with some clubbing blows to the back and puts him in a side headlock. Chavo shoves him off but is run over after Jericho rebounds off the ropes. Chavo comes back by dodging him and drop toe holds him. Chavo bites his ass and Jericho runs to the floor and then Chavo rides Pepe around the ring. Jericho gets back in the ring and is greeted by a flurry of chops.

Commercial.

Chavo misses a dropkick and Jericho gets two after a lionsault. Jericho drops him and then pulls back on the arms. Chavo knees him but gets his eye poked and then nailed with a spinkick. Chavo uses the ropes to choke him out. He argues with the ref and then works him over in the corner with some chops and kicks. He whips him to the other corner and runs into a boot. But Jericho comes right back with a spinwheel kick. Jericho sends him for the ride but Chavo grabs the rope and then explodes off them and clotheslines him. He whips him into the corner and kills him with a big elbow and then a mighty bulldog. Chavo covers him and gets a near fall. After a standing switch he gives Jericho an atomic drop and Jericho responds by taking off Pepe’s head! He stomps on it and an angry Chavo charges him but is rolled up and nearly finished. Jericho tosses him to the floor and Chavo comes back in with another Pepe and cleans Jericho’s clock with it and he is DQ’d.

*** Fun match.

Here comes Bret Hart. He is bitter that the crowd is gloating that Luger is the new US Champ. He never steps into the ring going against one guy but rather he fights all the fans. He will not lose and be put back at their mercy and will prove he is the best. He tells Luger that he will not be railroaded and that is ready for tonight. He calls the fans scum he is going to enjoy kicking the living crap out of Luger and getting his belt back. They will be sorry for making his life a living hell.

Match 4: Disco and Wright v. Public Enemy

Wright and Rock are going back and forth until Wright back suplexes him and then stomps on him. Wright dances around and goes up and springboards right onto some knees and walks into two inverted atomic drops. Grunge and Disco are the legal men and Disco is getting doubleteamed. He is double clotheslined. Wright is tagged in and struck with a spinning slam. The table is set up in the corner. Wright is laid against it. Tokyo Magnum tries to wake him up and he gets squashed but Wright is able to finish him off with a neckbreaker.

** Short.

Meng has come down and starts destroying everyone. Barbarian comes down and he gets destroyed as do the security guards.

Nash is in the ring discussing Goldberg and he tells him he was trying to do the right thing. He has a Black and Red shirt for Bill if he ever runs out of laundry and the fans love it and Nash soaks it in.

Match 5: Kevin Nash v. Curt Hennig

They lock up and tussle back and forth until Nash tosses him into the corner like a rag doll. Nash uses his foot to choke him out. He goes to boot him in the head but Rude moves Curt and now Nash’s leg gets worked over. Nash finally scissors Hennig with his leg after the Plex and now grabs Hennig and tosses him headfirst into the corner: Snake Eyes. He jumps on Hennig who is on the ropes and it is big boot time. Rude comes in and knocks out the ref. Rude takes off his tie and watch and is ready to brawl. Hall blindsides Nash and now the three on one starts. Luger runs out and clears the ring.

Match 6: Eddie Guerrero v. Stevie Ray

Ray runs him over after some back and forth. Ray misses in the corner and Eddie mounts and pounds him. Ray muffs the boot to the head and has to knock Eddie down and put him in a bearhug. Hall and the Giant are watching from the top of the ramp. Eddie is in the corner getting pounded and he is knocked to the floor. Ray pulls him up to the apron and they just show Hall and the Giant talking and not the action in the fucking ring. Eddie mounts a brief comeback and Ray boots him and it is Slapjack time….

* So Eddie Guerrero almost beat Ric Flair two years ago and gets manhandled by a midcarder who can barely wrestle? I guess Ray has been getting a push and needs to look strong. Still bullshit.

Match 7: Bret Hart v. Lex Luger (c) for WCW US Title

Here we go! Luger has to take off his wifebeater first. They circle around one another, and finally lock up. Luger pushes him into the corner and the ref forces the break. The fans are behind Luger ase they tease another lock up and finally do. Bret puts him in a side headlock. No one gets the advantage and they lock up again and Luger has him in a headlock and Bret goes down but rolls on top of him for a two count. They are back to their feet and Bret pushes him into the corner and the hold is broken and Bret starts to slug away in the gut and back of the head. Bret bodyslams him and after a legdrop gets two. Luger knees him in the gut and now it is his turn to kick and stomp away. He wants to mount and pound him and the ref gets involved and this allows Bret to hotshot Luger’s throat off the top rope and now he starts to stomp away. Bret works over the midsection and keeps jawing at the fans. He uses his foot to choke out Luger and he pulls him across the apron and drills him with his elbow and catapults him neck first into the bottom rope. Bret is slowly picking him apart, pulls him up and sends him back down with a side Russian leg sweep and he gets two. He yells at the ref. He pulls him up again and gut punches him and then sends him into the corner where Luger topples to the mat. Now a backbreaker and Hart goes up to the middle rope and misses the elbow drop. Hart is up first and Luger gets his head rammed into the top rope and he staggers to the other corner but he is able to reverse the whip and Bret is whipped pillar to post. He hits two lariats and the bionic forearm and Bret is clotheslined to the floor. Bret has a chair and gets back into the ring but before he can wield it he is clotheslined. Luger has the chair and hits the corner with it. He looms over Bret and the ref grabs it and Bret is up and shoves Luger into the ref and down he goes. Luger is DDT’d into the chair and then he wakes up the ref. Bret covers him but Lex just gets his arm up. Now Bret preps for his Sharpshooter and is able to turn him. Luger is in the middle of the ring but he is fighting it, nope he is out cold and it is over.

*** Nice match. A bit too long between moves at the end. I think this could have been saved for Nitro but it worked.

****1/2 Great, wrestling heavy show. None of the matches were spectacular but as a whole it worked wonderfully. The nonsense was kept to a minimum and while not much was advanced they still kept the major fueds going and most of the big guns came out. The Eddie match was the only part of the show that dragged it down.