It’s the final Thunder before Souled Out. As it currently stands, there has been three matches confirmed for Souled Out. Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. Wrath, Ric & David Flair vs. Windham & Hennig, and the main event between Goldberg vs. Scott Hall in a stun gun ladder match. That’s all that has been officially announced. I’d believe that Saturn vs. Jericho in a loser wears a dress match would be confirmed considering the challenge on Nitro. Norman Smiley vs. Chavo Guerrero could be a match since Smiley murdered Chavo’s wooden horse, Pepe. That’s all that has been prominent on television in recent weeks.
That being said, I don’t have much interest in Souled Out. The build for it hasn’t been all that strong. The commentary team doesn’t promote the show all that much. A lot of the focus seems to be on Nitro and producing the show. With so much focus being on the TV, you’d think the TV would be a lot better than it has been to start 1999.
This week’s Thunder is still in Richmond, VA since they taped two episodes in the same arena. It’s likely we’ll see a lot of the same people from the previous week. It’s almost easier to do a roster split at that point so there’s no issue with continuity. Lets see what they’ve got for us for the last pit stop before Souled Out.
January 14th — Richmond, VA — Richmond Coliseum
MATCH #1: BAM-BAM BIGELOW DEFEATED SCOTT PUTSKI
FINISH: Bigelow pins Putski following the Greetings From Asbury Park
Bob’s Take: If they had cut this match in half I probably would have enjoyed it a little more. Bigelow got a good reaction from the crowd and it came across as if he’s a big deal in WCW. Of course, this match was taped before Bigelow losing to Hall on Nitro. As I said before, Bigelow should have been undefeated before his eventual showdown with Goldberg. There was entertainment here for Thunder standards, it went a little longer than it needed to be. (1 for 1)
MATCH #2: NORMAN SMILEY DEFEATED PRINCE IAUKEA
FINISH: Smiley forces Iaukea to submit to the crossface chicken wing.
Bob’s Take: One thing that can’t be denied is the fans love the Big Wiggle. Iaukea has never been a wrestler that I enjoyed in the ring. Smiley’s charisma is evident and he was entertaining here with the Big Wiggle getting a surprisingly big reaction. The match itself isn’t very good, though. (1 for 2)
JIMMY HART REUNITES MENG & BARBARIAN, FIRST FAMILY FORMS
CONTEXT: Hart is back on the scene as a full-time manager and puts himself over as having managed all the top champions in professional wrestling. Hart promotes the WCW Tag Team Title Tournament. Hart reveals he’s managed to reunite the most dangerous tag team in wrestling, Meng & Barbarian. Hart also says they are going to be part of the First Family.
Bob’s Take: I love that Meng & Barbarian are back together and they give some substance to the tag team division. I doubt they are a favorite to win the titles, but I feel like WCW needs to strengthen their tag division and that’s accomplished by putting Meng & Barbarian together again. (2 for 3)
CHRIS JERICHO PROMO
CONTEXT: Jericho confirms that he’s wrestling Saturn at Souled Out and promises that Saturn is going to be a bald man wearing a dress. Jericho says that Saturn doesn’t have the personality or attitude to wear a dress. Plus, Saturn doesn’t have the legs for it!
MATCH #3: CHRIS JERICHO DEFEATED VAN HAMMER
FINISH: Jericho forces Hammer to submit to the Lion Tamer. During the match, Saturn watched from the aisle and applauded Jericho for winning the match cleanly.
Bob’s Take: I enjoyed the action for what it was. A Hammer match being good is a rarity, but he’s often times not competing against someone as entertaining as Jericho. Jericho winning cleanly is an example of simple and perfect booking. There’s no need to cheating or assistance He’s better than Hammer and proves it here. (3 for 4)
MATCH #4: MENG & THE BARBARIAN FOUGHT MIKE ENOS & BOBBY DUNCUM JR. TO A NO CONTEST IN A WCW TAG TEAM TITLE TOURNAMENT MATCH
FINISH: Late in the match, NWO Wolfpac comes down to the ring and attacks all four men causing the match to be thrown out. Remember, the Wolfpac does not want the tag title tournament to take place. Hall uses the stun gun on Meng and Duncum Jr.
Bob’s Take: I understand that the Wolfpac doesn’t want the tag tournament to take place, but it’s not a major concern for them at this point. It seems as if they’re overexposing the Wolfpac just to get them on the shows for a three minute segment. Meng & Barbarian should have gone over and put a better focus and importance on the tournament. (3 for 5)
WOLFPAC PROMO
CONTEXT: Hollywood Hogan says they now know who the best big man in wrestling is following last Monday. (The match hadn’t taken place yet) Hogan also notes that they won’t be hearing from Konnan anymore since they kicked him out. Nash apologizes for being rude and reminds us that there will not be a tag tournament.
Bob’s Take: It’s a bit humorous to know that they talked about Nitro before it happened. The live audience should be able to piece together that Nash won his match and Konnan is out of the group before it even happened. When it comes down to it, this promo didn’t need to happen. (3 for 6)
MATCH #5: WRATH DEFEATED EL DANDY BY DISQUALIFICATION
FINISH: Bam-Bam Bigelow runs in and attacks Wrath after Wrath hit the Meltdown. Wrath manages to fight back and sends Bigelow to the floor.
Bob’s Take: It was evident that Wrath didn’t know how to fill the time as he at one point clearly asked the referee how much time was left in the match. I want to like Wrath, but he’s not been presented well in early ’99. (3 for 7)
MATCH #6: DISCO INFERNO DEFEATED SUPER CALO
FINISH: Hall zapped Calo with the stun gun from the floor and allowed Inferno to hit the Chartbuster for the win.
Bob’s Take: Disco Inferno being associated with the Wolfpac does not help the group come across as the cool guys whatsoever. (3 for 8)
SCOTT HALL PROMO
CONTEXT: Hall says they don’t forget people who crossed them and who do them favors. Hall says they don’t forget what Inferno did at Starrcade. Hall says that Hogan & Nash want to chat with Inferno right now. Hall turns his attention to Goldberg. Hall notes that Goldberg has to wrestle him in a gimmick match and smartens Goldberg up on what a gimmick match is all about. Hall suggests Goldberg go to a Blockbuster and check out some of his ladder matches. Hall says the ladder match has no rules. Whomever grabs the stun gun can use it on the other man.
Bob’s Take: I guess it’s better to be late than never for there to a be a promo segment by Hall to promote the main event for Souled Out. This is essentially the first time that there’s been a segment focused mostly on the ladder match at Souled Out. (3 for 9)
MAIN EVENT: CHRIS BENOIT & STEVE ‘MONGO’ MCMICHAEL DEFEATED CURT HENNIG & BARRY WINDHAM BY DISQUALIFICATION
FINISH: Hennig uses a chair on Benoit to save Windham from the Crossface. After the match, Ric Flair comes down to attack Hennig and Windham. Windham stops Flair with a low blow. David Flair crawls into the ring to cover Ric, but is held by Windham for a chair shot by Hennig only for the show to go off the air.
Bob’s Take: Why not put Hennig & Windham over clean? Mongo sticks out as the guy that could be used as the job guy here instead of Benoit or anyone else. Instead, it’s the typical DQ finish that doesn’t help anyone. The aftermath is fine and the suspense of David potentially getting hit by a chair provided some suspense to close the show. It’s not enough to be considered entertaining, though. (3 for 10)
One positive for the show is that there wasn’t much filler in terms of promos to drag the show. They put on a mostly wrestling heavy show. However, the wrestling wasn’t very good this week. It felt as if I was watching a WCW Saturday Night taping, but that’s probably insulting to Saturday Night as those shows tend to be more entertaining.
Some of the booking decisions on the show were a little frustrating. Hennig & Windham don’t have a win as a tag team and are involved in a featured bout at Souled Out involving Ric Flair. They can go over here, but instead it’s a DQ loss.
The Faces of Fear are reunited and don’t get a win in the tag title tournament because there needs to be a spotlight on the Wolfpac for no other reason than to get them on screen as much as they can be.
Disco Inferno can not join the Wolfpac. He can try all he wants, but they can’t let him in. I could see them teasing Inferno getting in and then turning on him because they used him for their gain. Inferno could then be used as a babyface for WCW, but he’ll likely need to tone down the dancing aspect of his character to truly gain traction.
As of now, there are four matches confirmed and announced on television for Souled Out.
– Bam-Bam Bigelow vs. Wrath
– Perry Saturn vs. Chris Jericho in a loser wears a dress match
– Ric & David Flair vs. Barry Windham & Curt Hennig
– Goldberg vs. Scott Hall in a stun gun ladder match
If it were 1999 and I had to decide on whether or not to purchase the show, I’d likely skip it. The TV build doesn’t have me overly excited for anything promoted for the show. It’s in a tough spot coming out of Starrcade and the next month being the bigger show, Superbrawl. Announcing Hogan’s next title defense as Superbrawl IX kind of cements Souled Out as a filler month for PPV standard.
WCW Thunder 1/14 TV Rating: 3.9
Next show is Souled Out, hopefully it over delivers.
Thanks for reading.