WCW Thunder 8/23/2000

Written by: Bob Colling

World Championship Wrestling presents Thunder
Date: 8/23/2000
From: Tulsa, OK

Matches:
1.)Kwee- Wee defeated Lash LeRoux
2.)The Harris Brothers defeated the Jung Dragons in a handicap match
3.)Reno defeated Crowbar
4.)The Dark Carnival defeated Tank Abbott & Three Count
5.)WCW Hardcore Champion Norman Smiley defeated MI Smooth in an I Quit match to retain the title.
6.)Paisley defeated Major Gunns
7.)Mike Sanders defeated Disco Inferno
8.)WCW Canadian Heavyweight Champion Lance Storm defeated Mike Awesome and Hugh Morrus to retain the title
9.)WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T & Big Vito fought Kevin Nash & Chuck Palumbo to a no contest.

Angle Advancements/Notes:
1. Chuck Palumbo tells the Cat he wants to be in the main event tonight on Thunder. So, Cat says that Chuck will team with Kevin Nash against WCW World Heavyweight Champion Booker T and a partner of his choice in the main event tonight! Who is Booker going to pick!?

2. Kwee-Wee catches LeRoux coming off the middle rope and hits a powerbomb early on. Wee tries to hit a flying legdrop but misses. Wee tries to use a chair on LeRoux but Hugh Morrus prevents that from happening. They brawl on the floor where LeRoux sends Wee into the guard railing. LeRoux gets a near fall after a brainbuster from the apron into the ring. Wee counters a head scissors attempt by slamming LeRoux and gets the victory.

3. Backstage, Major Gunns and Paisley fight and they agree to a match later on tonight. Also, we see Lance Storm tell Ms. Jones that he doesn’t defend the WCW Canadian Heavyweight Championship on US soil.

4. The Natural Born Thrillers make their way out to the ring to cut a promo. Sanders puts over his and talks about how he was wondering how Palumbo isn’t the WCW World Heavyweight Champion right now. He asked a similar question as to why O’Haire and Jindrak aren’t the tag champs. The Filthy Animals come out and insult the young group of wrestlers. Big Vito comes in from behind and attacks Reno with a side Russian legsweep with a cane. The rest of the Thrillers are able to get the better of Vito, though the Animals run down and save Vito to end the segment.

5. Backstage, Booker T asks Vito to be his partner tonight. Vito accepts. Also, Mike Sanders was talking to the Cat trying to get a match with Disco Inferno where if Disco lost he was gone from WCW. Sanders was trying to throw Disco under the bus saying that Cat was a bad dancer among other stuff. Cat noted he can’t do that because Disco had a clause in his contract to prevent that.

6. Backstage, Daffney enters a room where Crowbar is. She is very happy and notes that she went on a date with her secret admirer. Apparently, the man will be here tonight. She notices some flowers and asks who sent them. Crowbar doesn’t say it was him, but instead the secret admirer. Daffney leaves happy while Crowbar sulks in sadness.

7. Ron and Don Harris have no problem with the trio of the Jung Dragons as they deliver H-Bombs to all three men as they go on to win the match in less than three minutes. After the match, Kronik comes out and they brawl with the Harris Brothers all over the arena. Leia Meow comes out as well and talks to the Jung Dragons. They follow her to the backstage area.

8. Backstage, Elix Skipper tells Lance Storm he has his back. Also, MI Smooth tells Norman Smiley they are having an I Quit match and that Smiley will quit very quickly so they can get their groove on later tonight.

9. Crowbar gets some good offense in against Reno early on with a dropkick, clothesline and a bodyslam. Crowbar hits a slingshot legdrop as well. Reno stops Crowbar with a leg trapped overhead suplex. Reno connects with a pumphandle suplex for a near fall. Crowbar is able to send Reno to the floor and takes Reno out with slingshot dive over the top rope. Crowbar follows up with a splash off the guardrail. Crowbar gets another near fall after a Lionsault. Crowbar plants Reno with a Death Valley Driver but isn’t able to get a three count on Reno. It’s at this time that Daffney’s secret admirer comes out and the guy looks very similar to Crowbar. This obviously distracts Crowbar and Reno is able to get the win following Roll the Dice. After the match, Reno attacks Crowbar some more until Daffney’s boy comes in to make the save.

10. Backstage, Kevin Nash is telling Chuck Palumbo to take Booker T out tonight. Also, Tank Abbott fires Three Count but tells them they have to wrestle the Dark Carnival with him tonight.

11 .Mike Tenay recently sat down with Scott Steiner’s freak Midajah. Apparently she doesn’t want to collect a check from Playboy while sitting at home doing nothing. Tenay is kind of being a jerk towards her as she talks about wrestling not being just a man’s world.

12. Backstage, Big Vito and Booker T are attacked by the Natural Born Thrillers, but they stand their ground and take care of business.

13. The Dark Carnival is able to continue their invasion of WCW with a victory over Three Count and Abbott. Muta is able to pin Abbott with a moonsault after Three Count attacked Tank with baseball bats.

14. Well, the hardcore title match goes on for nearly five minutes and it didn’t need to go that long at all. Smiley is able to walk out the champion after the referee awarded him the match because Smooth kept on saying “I Quit” into the microphone. Smooth was telling Smiley to say those words and it ended up costing him the match.

15. All you need to know about the women’s wrestling match is that Paisley rolled Gunns up in under two minutes to win the match.

16. Inferno sends Sanders to the floor early on and tosses him into the railing for the early advantage. Sanders fights back by dropping Disco across the top rope. Sanders counters a Russian legsweep attempt but is nearly rolled up by Inferno. Inferno hits Sanders with the Last Dance but the Natural Born Thrillers come out. Inferno plants Sanders with a DDT but only gets a two count. Sanders counters a DDT by hitting a neckbreaker/backbreaker combo for the win.
17.Backstage, Kevin Nash talks to Chuck Palumbo and lets him know he is mad that Palumbo hired a bunch of “green guys to get the job done.”

18. Lance Storm cut a good promo prior to his match saying that the Americans ultimate goal is to become Canadian themselves! He is attacked by Morrus and Awesome. Storm is held down as Morrus hits a top rope elbow drop and Awesome hits a splash. Awesome drives Storm down with a powerbomb. The referee is knocked out and that allows Elix Skipper comes out. Skipper yanks Awesome out of the ring and is pulled into the ring by Morrus. Skipper nails Morrus with the Grey Cup ring. Skipper holds Awesome on the floor and Storm locks in the Canadian Maple Leaf on Morrus to win the match.

19. Vito didn’t wait for his partner to come down to the ring and brawled with Nash and Palumbo before the bell. Booker would come out and cleaned house to help Vito. Vito would start the match and was worked over by both Nash and Palumbo. That is until Booker got the tag and hit Nash with a scissors kick and a sidekick. The referee is knocked down when Palumbo comes off the top and Jeff Jarrett leaves the commentary table to attack Booker. The Natural Born Thrillers also come out to attack Vito as the show comes to an end.

Final Thoughts:
It was an alright edition of Thunder this week. There was some decent advancements in the main feuds and the situation involving Crowbar is a rather interesting angle to see where that one goes. I’d consider it a better show than Nitro this week, but there was quite a bit of crap on this one as well.

Thanks for reading.