Written by: Bob Colling
World Championship Wrestling presents Thunder
Date: 2/4/1999
From: Providence, RI
Matches:
1.) Chris Jericho defeated Scotty Riggs
2.) Konnan & Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Disorderly Conduct
3.) Norman Smiley defeated The Disciple
4.) Brian Adams & Horace defeated Meng & The Barbarian
5.) Bam-Bam Bigelow defeated Jerry Flynn
6.) Diamond Dallas Page defeated Glacier
7.) Curt Hennig & Barry Windham defeated Mike Enos & Bobby Duncum Jr.
Angle Developments/Notes:
1. Backstage, Arn Anderson is on the phone trying to find out if David Flair is okay. Apparently, David isn’t suffering from any injuries since the attack on Nitro.
2. Chris Jericho took part in the opening match as he took on former Flock member Scotty Riggs. Surprisingly, this match went nearly fourteen minutes with Riggs showing that he can hang with guys like Jericho. Midway through the match, Jericho leaps off the apron looking to hit Riggs with the chair but is met with a dropkick instead. Back in the ring, Riggs blocked a lionsault attempt by getting his knees up. Jericho almost puts the Lion Tamer on Riggs after getting out of the corner where Riggs was punching him numerous times, but Riggs reached the ropes. The ending saw Riggs attempt a missile dropkick but Jericho swiped Riggs away and locked in the Lion Tamer to win the match. A decent match to kick off the show. I don’t think Riggs has ever had a better match than this one.
3. After a couple of promo videos hyping up what happened on Nitro, we get more action. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Konnan competed in a tag team match, but this wasn’t part of the ongoing tag team title tournament. Disorderly Conduct had a few seconds of offense, most notably hitting a nice neck breaker/double axe handle blow on Mysterio. However, they couldn’t maintain their offense. Konnan put the Tequila Sunrise on Mike while Rey prevented Tom from making the save by hitting a hurricanrana.
4. Earlier today, the B-team yelled at Vincent for arriving late to the arena. We go backstage to see Stevie Ray giving a motivational talk until Vincent arrives. Brian Adams shoves Vincent to end the segment after saying that he momma is in charge of the group.
5. Norman Smiley wiggled his way to victory over the Disciple after forcing him to submit to the Norman Conquest.
6. Backstage, The B-Team continued to argue about Stevie Ray.
7. Speaking of the B-Team, Horace Hogan and Brian Adams were in action in the WCW World Tag Team Title Tournament. Their opponents were Meng and the Barbarian. It was a competitive match that ended up lasting over fifteen minutes. Even though it was competitive, the fans weren’t all that interested in this one at all. Vincent made his way out to the ring and hit Barbarian with the slapjack to allow Horace to hit a elbow drop and get the three count to advance in the tournament.
8. Backstage, Stevie Ray is looking for his slapjack.
9. After a few more videos highlighting what happened on Nitro, the action resumed with Bam-Bam Bigelow taking on the Karate Kid.. I mean, Jerry Flynn. Bigelow takes care of business in under five minutes after hitting the Greetings From Asbury Park.
10. Backstage, Stevie Ray is choking Vincent until the rest of the members pull him off. Disco Inferno comes over and yells at Vincent for setting him up.
11. Hey, Diamond Dallas Page is on Thunder! He took on a guy who has one of the best entrances in the history of wrestling, Glacier. If only Glacier was as good as his entrance… Anyway, DDP didn’t have much of a problem with Glacier. DDP crotches Glacier on the top rope and hit’s a Diamond Cutter off the top for the win.
12. The main event this week on Thunder saw Mike Enos team with Bobby Duncum Jr. to wrestle Curt Hennig and Barry Windham in a tag team title tournament match. Duncum got the hot tag late in the match to seemingly give his team a slight chance to win the match. He was able to have control of Hennig for the final moments until Barry Windham hit Duncum with a forearm shot to the back of the head. Windham rolled Hennig on top of Duncum to get the win and advance in the tournament.
Final Thoughts:
Thunder is has fallen quite a bit in a years time. They have neglected to put any of the top matches on this show and instead decide that promoting the B-Team for the New World Order is the best way to use the time on the show. It’s quite pathetic. The one positive is that several of the matches went over ten minutes, though it mainly involved talent no one cares about. Aside from Jericho/Riggs, the action was below average. There just isn’t much to care about on Thunder nowadays.
Thanks for reading.