WCW Thunder 1/24/2001

Written by: Strobogo http://www.strobogowrasslin.blogspot.com

WCW Thunder 1/24/2001

What are the odds that this show will end with a big pull apart brawl?

Cruiserweight Contender Countdown

This is a gauntlet elimination match with the winner getting a title shot at Chavo. Helms and Prime Time start off. Vertebreaker sends Prime Time out and Evan Karagias in. Another one sends Evan out right away.

Out comes Kidman. Some real competition. Although I guess technically Shane just defeated two former champs. Kidman reverses the vertebreaker into a Kid Krusher. Yang is out next. Stay with us! Nice that they waited for the whole break to start their match. Christian did the Unprettier MUCH better than Kidman. Kidman does an avalanche Kid Krusher to eliminate Kwang.

Jaime BY GOD Knoble! He enters the ring with a missile dropkick. Avalanche Juvi Driver from Kidman. Tombstone puts Kidman out. In come Rey. Jamie almost pins Rey with a powerbomb. Rey pins him with a diving headbutt to the kidney. What a weird move to finish with. Lash is the next guy out and the crowd kind of died for him. He definitely doesn’t fit in this match. A. He’s pudgy B. He’s no where near the level of everyone else besides Evan. Lash goes out in a hurry. Shannon enters next. He’s out to a simple lucha roll up in like a minute. Weird. Kaz is the final entrant. Rear leg front kick to the face! Spiral bomb from Kaz. Rey wins with a top rope bulldog. Rey will go on to face Chavo at Superbrawl Revenge. This was like 20 minutes and pretty awesome. A great way to start off a show. My only fear is that pretty much all the best workers besides Lance and Awesome were in this match, so there is no way the rest of the show can be good.

TO THE BACK. Jeff Jarrett is talking with security and makes fun of the MIA as Hugh walks by. Hugh punches him in the face and laughs. I’m not sure a complete reverting back to stupid lol then srs Hugh is good for him.

TBS was promoting Civil War Sunday because fuck the Super Bowl. You want to watch Gone with the Wind instead of football.

Glacier hype video. Please debut soon. I’m getting tired of these if he isn’t going to show up.

TO THE BACK. Norman walks around. He’s here! Glacier is here! We only see his shadow and hear his voice.

The Cat and Ms. Jones come to the ring. He runs down Superbrawl. Nash vs Steiner, DDP vs JJ, Rey vs Chavo. But he has a great show for tonight as well. Jeff vs Hugh Morris! Steiner/Animal vs Kronik!

TO THE BACK. Magnificent meeting. When the time is right, they’ll strike. Bam Bam and Shane Douglas have a chat. Shane says if Bammer can beat Rick Steiner, Bam Bam will get in Flair’s group. But Shane isn’t in the group. He lost in his chance on Nitro.

Norman Smiley vs Mike Awesome

This actually has potential. Norman always struck me as a dude who was never appreciated for his skills and physique. Dude has that total Cesaro body of functional without being flashy. Glacier is here!

He arrives and walks around chatting with fans. He doesn’t even notice Norman or the match. I almost though this was Lance Storm. Awesome Bomb for the win as Glacier walks around ringside in full gear. He gets in the ring to help Norman about 2 minutes after Awesome was out of the ring. He pushes Norman down while trying to do his pose down.

TO THE BACK. Gene is with Glacier and Norman. You know, it feels like Hurricane stole a lot of the delivery and basic gist of this version of Glacier. Totally Buffed talks to Crowbar. They aren’t happy he lost to Chavo, but they got him another chance. They shit talk Crowbar as he leaves. Tony and Tenay call them SWERVERS and Buriers.

Kwee Wee vs A Fan

Kwee Wee has to remind people he’s all man over and over every week, which is probably mandated from WCW higher ups who wanted to make it explicitly clear he wasn’t gay. He’s going to continue to make open challenges. He pulls a fan out from the crowd and piledrives him.

TO THE BACK. Gene is with Kronik. Tony said that that Kronik were one of the best teams ever. They haven’t even been a team for a year. They have back up in The Cat, Rick, and the Insiders. Gene has a feeling all hell will break loose. I believe it.

Jeff Jarrett vs Hugh Morris

It’s not really a surprise that Hugh is back to Hugh since he’s been wearing the question mark singlet for a month and a half now. Jeff really shouldn’t be beating Hugh in a brawl. Hugh hits a Macho elbow, but Jeff kicks out.

Wall made it out to ringside and tries to chokeslam Hugh off the ropes again. Hugh fights him off.

He atomic drops Jeff near the corner, which leads them to collide noggins. Jeff goes for the guitar, the ref goes for him, Wall chokeslams Hugh. Scott Armstrong is a terrible ref. He saw Wall choking Hugh on the ropes and didn’t do anything and casually turned a blind eye when Wall just walked in the ring.

Jeff wins with the stroke. DDP saves Hugh post match. For real, whoever is laying out Hugh’s matches must really hate him. It feels like he actually gets less offense than when he was an actual jobber. This was a competition to see if you would come away from the match thinking Hugh was a loser or that Scott James is a terrible ref.

Crowbar vs Ron Harris

Daffney has silly string and a mega phone this week. Daffney is the last person who needs a megaphone. Tony apologizes when he is told that Don Harris actually does have a doctors note about his neck damage. This is a waste of Crowbar and a waste of TV time. No one cares about the Harris Brothers. No one has EVER cared about the Harris Brothers. I’ve never seen them get a reaction. Not as the Blu/Bruise Brothers, not in DOA, not as Creative Control, not in the NWO, not as just them. No one has ever given a fuck about them, yet they got booked consistently for 5 years during the hottest period in wrestling. Twin magic gets one of these fucks the win.

TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE:

Tenay talked with an orthopedic surgeon in Atlanta. The surgeon explained what they did to fix Sid’s leg.

Bam Bam Bigelow vs Rick Steiner

COME ON WCW. What the fuck is wrong with you? Bam Bam is completely broken down and Rick has been the most lazy asshole in the ring for 2 years. This sucks. Bulldog for the win.

TO THE BACK. Flair’s group celebrates. Ric stops Scott from hitting Cat with a pipe just so he can SWERVE Cat and hit him with brass knuckles! What a boss. In side their locker room were DDP and Nash rolling on the ground. Rick tells Kronik to hit the ring and he’ll watch the Insiders. Shane Douglas attacks Rick from behind.

Scott Steiner/Road Warrior Animal vs Kronik

Weird. Animals comes out to the JHV of Iron Man, which is what you’d expect. But what you wouldn’t expect is for WCW to do a completely different version instead of using Russo’s Iron Man knock off. I guess this is a super team, but I’d match rather have Hawk and Scott as a team of crazy. Was Hawk going through a lot of drug issues at the time? The Jung Dragon’s music randomly plays for a few seconds on top of Kronik’s music. Animal is so out of shape that half of his face paint is gone with in 30 seconds from sweating so much. Totally Buffed come out, but get knocked off the apron. Cat comes down and gets attacked by them. Kronik pin Animal with High Times. Steiner, Buff, Lex, Jarrett beat down Kronik while Animal huffs and puffs. Animal does an avalanche powerslam on Crush to end the show. So, I was kind of right about the finish. It wasn’t exactly a pull apart brawl, but it was a big beat down segment with all of Flair’s guys and most of the face team.