Written by: Kevin Kildenberger
Match 1: Shane Helms v. Kaz
Sorry. Good match. Back and forth. Chavo has sauntered down. Helms has been dominating the last minute or so. He calls out his nine finishers. He goes for the Vertabreaker. But he goes over to Chavo for some unknown reason and that allows Kaz to finish him off.
**1/2 Not bad. About six minutes or so.
Norman wants Glacier to show up early and he leaves. The tag champs enter and beat up Glacier.
Flair and friends come out. Flair brags about how great they are. Steiner is the flagship etc. Scotty has the mic and he is happy that his brother has joined them and they are getting stronger and stronger. Scotty knew that Nash would be dumb enough to call on Rick who would never betray his brother. Rick agrees. Cue Wolfpac music and they are in the crowd. Nash calls Rick stupid. He admits that he should not have trusted him. But he should not have betrayed him. They set up matches. They want Steiner and Flair begs off but Steiner is riled and wants a piece. DDP wants Rick Steiner and they will have a tag match between DDP and Nash v. JJ and Rick. Storm will pick the Cat’s opponent too. They call themselves the Magnificent Seven.
Flair is talking to Animal and Scott Steiner about the match tonight.
Match 2: Norman Smiley v. Sean O’Haire (c)
Haire is pretty much dominating. He wins.
*
The tag champs and their opponents at the PPV get into a donnybrook with the champs standing tall at the end.
Sanders is talking with Flair about tonight. No subs tonight and he has to face Konnan.
Here comes the Cat. Now Storm comes out. He talks about not being as good at talking as the Cat but he is a better wrestler. He will become Commish too. He will face Elix Skipper tonight.
Match 3: Cat v. Elix Skipper
Cat kicks him and then mounts and pounds him in the corner. Elix nuts him and now he goes to work. He gets two after springing over the top into him. He hammers him and then tosses him over the top rope. He goes out after him, and after some tussling he flings him into the railing. He rolls him back in and gets two. He keeps him grounded and uses the ropes for leverage. Cat is up and punches free but Skipper decks him and then barely connects with a belly to belly suplex. But he does connect with the guillotine legdrop. Two count. Skipper keeps after him, but is sent to the apron. He goes for a sunset flip but cannot get him over and is elbowed. Cat uppercuts him in the jaw, and sends him into the corner but misses the Feliner! Skipper nails him and goes for his finisher but Cat blocks it but is kind of Frankensteined. Two count. Skipper is up top but leaps into a kick. Feliner finishes him off.
**1/2 Seven minutes. Decent. Angle advancement.
Cat tosses him to the floor and does some dancing. Storm wants that garbage turned off. This is just the first level as he has one more match. Awesome runs in and ambushes the Cat and he goes up top and Frog Splashes him. Storm will see him at the PPV.
Luger and Buff are with Gene and they brag about always beating up the faces and how great they are. They show off their bodies too. Creepy. Talking about Kronik and how they will never beat Totally Buff.
Chavo has a job for the Wall and that is to take out some chump. Some cackling after the Wall leaves.
Kwee Wee is walking by some randoms and then gets in their faces challenging them to a match. They all decline. He grabs the little black guy and they argue. Kwee Wee wants a match with him tonight.
Flair is getting Steiner focused for the PPV.
Match 4: Lex Luger v. Brian Adams
Clark attacks him on the floor. In the ring he continues the punishment. But Luger, once on the floor thrusts him into the steps and then the railing. Luger controls the match for the next couple of minutes, getting a couple of near falls. Adams comes back, I called him Clark earlier. He powers Luger over and then fends off Buff. He finishes of Luger getting the win.
** Okay brawl. About seven minutes.
Match 5: Rey Mysterio v. Wall
Wall has controlled most of the match. He has had some help from Chavo, but Rey had a little offense. Wall is standing on the announce table and has Rey hoisted up, and is choking him out. He press slams him back into the ring. Rey comes back and nearly pins him but Chavo is in and he is taken out. Here comes Morrus to wipe out the Wall and then Rey pins Wall.
**1/2 Glad to see Rey getting the push at the end.
Kwee Wee is in the ring and he will no longer be ignored. He pulls in a fan beats his ass, and the ref counts anyway. Here comes the little black dude who missile kicks Wee but Wee counters by kicking his ass. Johnny Dotson is the name, and he gets annihilated, and the ref counts that. He tells Flair that he will be no ignored no longer.
Match 6: Mike Sanders v. Konnan
They battle for the first couple of minutes. But Sanders takes him down and stomps away. He continues to slowly work him over. He keeps Konnan grounded but he powers up and tosses him around and quickly finishes him off with Sunrise.
*1/2 Nice to see Konnan get a minor push at the end.
Match 7: Rick Steiner (c) and JJ v. DDP and Nash
The heels attack as they enter the ring but get tossed to the floor. DDP and JJ are going at it with DDP clotheslining him. Rick gets involved and that allows JJ to take him down and now Rick is in and he hammers DDP. Now JJ continues to punish him, and he drives the fist into DDP. Rick is back in. Quick tags are made, and here comes JJ. DDP tries to fend him off but he is put in a sleeper. DDP counters out and both are down. They are stirring, and JJ makes the tag and Rick cuts off DDP. Belly to belly garners him a two count. JJ is back in. DDP finally fires back, knocks Rick off the apron, and then pounds on JJ and strikes with a short-clothesline. DDP crawls, and makes the tag. Nash unloads on both heels. Nash powerbombs and finishes off Steiner.
*1/2 About eight minutes so a decent length, but I am baffled as to why they jobbed the US champ. Oh well….Rick probably should not be US champ, and it should be someone else, but it gives Flair’s Stable gold.
Scotty and friends make their way down, but Kronik comes out of the crowd and the face off begins as we fade.
*** Solid episode of Thunder. As of late, most of the nonsense has been minimized and they have focused on advancing the angles and readying the PPV. Overall, a fast paced show. Nothing great but nothing bad either.