Coming out of Nitro this week we’re left wondering who the blonde woman (Torrie Wilson) is seducing. I think it’s an obvious pick to say it’s David Flair. Wolfpac manipulating the young mind of David to sabatoge Ric’s power would make sense. I’d imagine David would be used as a manager or distraction only and not a full fledged wrestler for the Wolfpac. Nobody wants to see that right now. It is a bit odd that Ric hasn’t mentioned David since the teased stalking from two weeks ago. There’s an opening for some kind of neglect as the reasoning for a potential turn.
Also, who the hell is the leader of the Black & White? Personally, Stevie Ray makes the most sense since he’s the most accomplished guy in the group. However, if it were Vincent I wouldn’t complain either. Vincent picking up the biggest win of his WCW career over Ernest Miller was a highlight. What makes it even better is that far more people saw it due to RAW not being on at the same time. Good for Vincent.
Bam-Bam Bigelow managed to get some heat on Goldberg by suggesting Goldberg’s wife is an animal that he’d feed and take for walks. I would be shocked if Bigelow is presented as an upper midcard act after Superbrawl.
Kimberly Page being discarded from a moving vehicle is how we’re advancing the feud between WCW Television Champion Scott Steiner and Diamond Dallas Page. DDP is at his coolest when he’s a fighting solo act. I’m all for protecting your wife, but it’s hurting his presentation. Kimberly doesn’t enhance DDP, at all.
Roddy Piper is the new WCW United States Champion and Bret Hart is essentially feuding with comedian Will Sasso. What a waste of Hart, and I’m dreading Piper in title matches. Will Sasso is living the dream, and I’m not going to hate on the guy. Besides, he’s gone on to have a successful career after this.
Thunder this week is taped, so it’s unlikely there’s going to be any major developments. Also, I’m not going to be documenting repeat segments from Nitro. Only original content for Thunder.
FEBRUARY 11TH — PROVIDENCE, RI — CIVIC CENTER — TAPED
MATCH #1: MENG & BARBARIAN VS. BOBBY DUNCUM JR. & MIKE ENOS — TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT
FINISH: Late in the match, Jimmy Hart is telling Barbarian something on the apron. Barbarian nails Meng with two big boots. Duncum is put on top of Meng by Enos and gets the three count.
Bob’s Take: I can’t classify this as a heel turn for Barbarian since I’m pretty sure they were heels to begin with. So, I guess this is a face turn for Meng? Meng does have a level of popularity in WCW because he’s a badass and the Tongan Death Grip is over with the crowd. I could potentially get behind a Meng face turn. It’s a little funny that most seasoned tag team splits up during the tournament that they should have been favorites to win. As for the match, who honestly cares about this? It’s just a match that went over ten minutes and I already forgot the majority of the match. 0 for 1
MATCH #2: LASH LEROUX VS. SUPER CALO
FINISH: LeRoux picks up the win following the Whiplash
Bob’s Take: A solid bout with Calo putting on a good performance. LeRoux should be a decent addition to the Cruiserweight division and gives WCW another potential enhancement guy outside of the Mexican wrestlers. LeRoux seemed to be getting booed a bit here, but I didn’t get a vibe that he’s actually a heel. Anyway, a fine undercard match. 1 for 2
GLACIER & THE CAT DISCUSSING BUSINESS
CONTEXT: Glacier walks up with The Cat & Sonny Ono and ends up saying that Cat needs the greatest entrance of all time. Glacier talks about the vignettes before his debut a few years ago and how he even got tired of it. However, he has a great entrance. Glacier thinks Cat should use his entrance. Glacier wants to sell Cat his entrance. Cat tells Ono to make a deal. Glacier tells Ono he needs cash as Cat leaves the scene.
Bob’s Take: I’m taking it as Glacier is going to be repackaged? It’s a little funny to me that Glacier is selling his assets and that Cat would potentially come out to Glacier’s theme song. 2 for 3
MATCH #3: WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION KIDMAN & CHAVO GUERRERO JR. VS. DAVE TAYLOR & FIT FINLAY — TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT
FINISH: Late in the match, Kidman tagged himself in as Chavo had momentum. Chavo missile dropkicked Finlay from behind, but Finlay had a chair and his momentum sent the chair into Kidman’s head. Finlay spiked Kidman with the tombstone to win the match.
Bob’s Take: The finish kind of came across hokey, but it came across alright. Kidman tagging himself in since he injured his ankle made no sense considering Chavo had some momentum in the match. Chavo has a serious gripe with Kidman for inserting himself into the match when Chavo had the momentum in his favor. It’s an average match at best, but a good win for Finlay & Taylor. 3 for 4
GLACIER & THE CAT DISCUSS BUSINESS — CONTINUED
CONTEXT: Glacier offers to sell his ring gear to The Cat. Kaz Hayashi is pulled into the scene and Ono introduces Kaz into the mix to buy the gear. Glacier offers to sell for $5k, but Ono translates and says it’s $25k. Another piece of gear for $1,500, but Ono says it’s $15k. Hayashi agrees to pay the ridiculous price. Glacier sells his headgear and color eye contact to Cat.
Bob’s Take: This isn’t much of anything. I don’t get the whole point of Glacier selling off his gear. 3 for 5
MATCH #4: DISCO INFERNO VS. CHRIS ADAMS
FINISH: Inferno put the referee in the way to avoid the superkick and hit the Chartbuster to win the match
Bob’s Take: There were moments where I felt like the match was going well, but then the timing of the match took a turn and it became dull and boring. Adams kept my interest, but Inferno didn’t keep the same energy. Considering Inferno’s getting a focus and a PPV match this was a disappointment. 3 for 6
MEAN GENE CHATS WITH WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPION KIDMAN
CONTEXT: Gene says that Chavo Guerrero Jr. let Kidman down tonight. Kidman doesn’t put the blame on Chavo because they aren’t regular tag partners. Gene thinks that Chavo was trying to under mind Kidman, but Kidman disagrees. Chavo Guerrero enters the scene and talks about how they were close to winning the tournament. Kidman admits the ball was dropped. Chavo proceeds to clothesline Kidman and agrees that the ball was dropped.
Bob’s Take: There was much heat attached to this apparent heel turn by Chavo especially since it didn’t happen in front of the live crowd. 3 for 7
MAIN EVENT: CHRIS BENOIT & DEAN MALENKO VS. KAZ HAYASHI & VAN HAMMER — TAG TITLE TOURNAMENT
FINISH: Benoit forces Hayashi to submit to the Crossface to advance in the tournament
Bob’s Take: There’s no heat here because Hayashi and Hammer are not a team. Benoit & Malenko are obviously a good team, but they need a credible opponent to keep the viewer invested. This is the kind of match that you’d see on Saturday Night or even Worldwide. 3 for 8
It’s shows like this that makes me never want to hear that Thunder killed WCW because they overexposed their top names on the secondary show. There wasn’t any major names on the program. Aside from the tag tournament matches, there wasn’t much taking place on the show this week.
Sure, Barbarian turned on Meng and Chavo Guerrero Jr. turned on Kidman, but is that going to be noteworthy? I suppose Chavo could potentially be a PPV match for Kidman, but it’s a rather weak angle to get there. I doubt there’s much focus on Barbarian/Meng split.
I’m glad to be done with the episode and head towards the go-home show of Nitro before Superbrawl IX.
Thunder 2/11 TV Rating: 3.5
Thanks for reading.