Written by: Kevin Kindelberger
WCW Thunder 9/24/98
Match 1: Hugh Morrus v. Rick Steiner
Morrus gets in a little offense but is finished off in fairly short order.
*1/2 A way to give Rick some match time before the PPV.
Match 2: Nick Dinsmore v. the Cat
Cat brags about his skills. He clocks Nick. He beats on him and poses while doing so. Nick does get two after a sunset flip but is kicked in the head for his impertinence. Cat finishes him.
*1/2 Squash.
Match 3: Psychosis v. Saturn
Saturn has gotten in all the offense. He knocks him to the floor and gets a couple of near falls. Psychosis spins free and kicks him in the head. After a two count Saturn recovers and kicks and punches Psychosis and then drops him with a standing side kick. Lodi has come down again. Saturn is distracted and goes out to the floor where Psychosis leaps on top of him with a somersault plancha. Back inside the ring, Psychosis strikes from the top rope and stomps on him in the corner. Psychosis dilly-dallies and Saturn slugs him a few times but the whip is reversed and he is nailed with a dropkick. Psychosis telegraphs the backdrop and Saturn hangs him out to dry on the top rope. But Psychosis comes back, clips the knee and tosses Saturn to the floor. He goes after him, bodyslams him and heads to the apron, but he is taking his time and therefore pays for it by missing the guillotine legdrop. Saturn rolls him back into the ring, but the whip is reversed, however Saturn ducks the lariat and he slams him and then strikes with a lariat of his own. Saturn heads up top and he gets the win with the Frog Splash. It looks like Psychosis kicked out and Saturn looks confused but it is over…..
*** Nice match. Confusing ending.
Schiavone is on the ramp and Alex Wright takes the mic from him and tells him to beat it! Wright calls him a pig, an out of shape loser! Europeans are much better athletes. He shows off his abs. He makes fun of Norman Smiley and how has become a lazy American.
Match 4: Barbarian v. Fit Finley
They go back and forth. Hall, drink in hand, heads to the announce table. Lee Marshall gives up his headset and they are acting all nice to him. Barbarian is pounding on Fit in the corner with clubbing blows to the head. Fit counters with shots of his own. Hall is going off about Nash and how he does not tell him what to do. Barbarian grabs Fit and slams him. Fit comes back, rakes the eyes and they headbutt one another and Fit drops. Barbarian stomps on his chest and then punches him in the jaw a couple of times. Barbarian snaps him over and applies a rear chinlock. Fit counters with a jawbreaker and a running knee staggers the big man but the second attempt leads straight to a spinebuster. Barbarian hoists him over his shoulders and drops him into a gutbuster. Barbarian picks his spots, taking his time but right as he runs at Fit he is kicked and taken down. Fit briefly puts him in a rear chinlock, breaks it and finishes him with a Tombstone.
** Nice win for Fit; he needs another push.
Schiavone calls down DDP. He hypes up the title match against Goldberg. DDP responds that it is not like he is facing Scum Hogan. He is facing a man with heart. He is chasing a dream. He talks about how Goldberg is considered unbeatable. He acknowledges the crowd cheering for Goldberg. Vegas is putting the smart money on Goldberg and that is fine with DDP. Now we get another run down of the odds faced by DDP to get to where he is today. But the Diamond Cutter comes out of nowhere and Goldberg may feel the Bang!
Match 5: Villano V v. Raven
Villano got in a blow but Raven takes it to him. He dumps him with four Russian leg sweeps. He grabs a chair but Villano waits for him and greets him with some stomps and a dropkick. Villano bulldogs him and follows up with an atomic drop but he is driven into the corner and down he goes. Raven finishes him wiht the Evenflow.
** Nice continuity from the Nitro match. Still too bad about Villano IV.
Match 6: Disco Inferno v. Chavo Guerrero
Chavo pushes him to the floor or Chavo just fell. Chavo runs back into the floor and he cracks him with Pepe and then leaps on him. Chavo gets back into the ring and dances around with Pepe. Disco gets back into the ring and is dominated for a couple of minutes. Chavo has him in a chinlock. Disco is up and escapes and after a hotshot onto the ropes…..
Commercial.
Disco misses from the top and Chavo spikes him getting two. He follows up with a back bodydrop. Chavo waves Pepe around and gets bodyslammed due to the delay. Chavo floats over and dropkicks him in the back and gets two after a sunset flip. Disco comes back and gets and beats him with a piledriver.
**1/2 Solid. Not sure why a weak piledriver beat Chavo and why Disco even beat him in the first place.
Juve has come out and hands the ref a piece of paper. Nick Patrick comes down with a scale declaring that the paper states that Disco is not at weight. Disco gets on the scale and moves right off. Um, don’t the boots weigh something. Disco is at 231 and he blindsides Juve in anger. Ultimately makes the Cruiserweights look like chumps.
Match 7: Norman Smiley v. Alex Wright
Alex is begging for forgiveness and has his hand out. He decks a gullible Norman but is picked up and driven into the mat. Alex retreats to the floor. He gets back into the ring and attacks Smiley. Norman hits him with a spinning slam but he is tossed to the floor where he sells the knee hitting the railing. They exchange chops and Alex pokes his eyes. Back in the ring Alex runs into him with a running elbow and then stomps away. Norman counters and hammers Wright for a bit getting a two count. After some standing switches, Alex grabs him and finishes him off with a neckbreaker.
** Actually not half bad.
Stevie Ray comes out telling everyone that the Horsemen are not coming out on EB’s show. They will have to get through him. Doug is talking to the Horsemen and he turns his back allowing Flair and the Horsemen by. They come down and Ray stands there looking like a dope. Ray jaws at them and backs away as he does so and Arn knocks him out cold with a tire iron. Schiavone is in the ring waiting for them. Arn calls Bischoff, who is in Japan, a sheep and all those that follow him. They gave EB a pass last week but it will never happen again. Arn promises that they will take their company back and will do so one arena and one town at a time. Now to Malenko. He is happy to be a Horsemen, a real one and wants a piece of Hennig. Benoit now, who says something about EB that makes no sense. But he does hint that Liz can ride him! Mongo wants to go to his house in the dead of night and beat him up with a tire iron! The Horsemen are coming. Flair time! He never saved his money because of places like Norfolk! While the cat is away the mice play. Liz is tied up and the man of a thousand positions will show her a ride! The Horsemen are going to walk that aisle and own this place all night long. Flair struts around the ring and thrusts his hips like a madman!
Kanyon comes down and yells into a mic that barely works. He is the best and wants to know who is better than Kanyon and that cues Goldberg’s music!
Match 8: Kanyon v. Goldberg (c)
Raven is at the announce table and wants to talk about how is treated so unfairly! He goes on and on. Goldberg finally enters the ring and Kanyon wants to finish about who is the greatest. He is speared before the bell and given a Jackhammer.
DUD This is the shit that pisses me off. I know Goldberg is champ right now and needs to be even stronger. An evolution I guess of his skills and prowess. But to make a fucking chump of Kanyon who was actually getting over as a face and then they randomly turn him heel for no reason. I mean no reason at all. With little explanation. He is also great in the ring and he could give Goldberg a solid match, much more so than Rick Fuller who got in some offense in their last match. Terrible idea WCW. Terrible.
*** A much better show. Some long matches, a great Horsemen promo and even Goldberg finally though that was a debacle. Still it has too much filler but it is a step back in the right direction.