With this week episode of Thunder being a taped edition, there’s not going to much outside of some in-ring action. The show is heavy on video packages highlighting Nitro and there’s no sense in focusing on those. Thus, it’s unlikely there will be much of anything directly referenced in the arena to what happened on Nitro since this show was taped last week.
FEBRUARY 25TH —SALT LAKE CITY, UT — E-CENTER – TAPED
HAK PROMO:
CONTEXT: Hak cuts a promo before his match saying that all of his matches will be contested under Hak Rules, which means there will be no rules.
Bob’s Take: He’s literally doing what Raven did with the Raven Rules gimmick. Commentary noted it. The creative is lazy. 0 for 1
MATCH #1: HAK VS. DAMIEN — HARDCORE MATCH
FINISH: Hak picks up the win with a side Russian leg sweep with a kendo stick across Damien’s chest.
Bob’s Take: Not good. Hak is going to be incredibly limited in an environment that WCW provides compared to ECW. Hak’s TV matches are likely going to be bare bone ‘hardcore’ action and that isn’t going to be worthwhile. This is a bizarre match to have on Thunder, which should still be presented with some respect, but a year later after its debut in ’98 it’s already been regulated to filler matches between acts that are either brand new, or completely useless. That is why they have Saturday Night and Worldwide at this point, not Thunder. 0 for 2
MATCH #2: PSYCHOSIS VS. HECTOR GARZA
FINISH: Psychosis wins the match following a top rope leg drop.
Bob’s Take: Garza was not sharp here at all having lost his footing on several move attempts that hurt the flow of the match. I’m happy for Psychosis winning a match on a show other than Saturday Night or Worldwide, but the match was sloppy and quite disappointing. 0 for 3
ERNEST MILLER PROMO
CONTEXT: Miller takes time to insult the crowd for a few moments. Miller demands an opponent and considers them a clown for trying to compete with him. Stevie Ray answers the challenge. Miller notes that he challenged WCW and not NWO.
Bob’s Take: I’m not entirely sure what the point of Miller’s character is right now. He’s a fine heel, but the usage of Glacier’s entrance is confusing and doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 0 for 4
MATCH #3: ERNEST MILLER VS. STEVIE RAY
FINISH: Late in the match, Sonny Ono attempted to get involved, but Ray delivered a pedigree. Vincent comes out and whacks Ray with the slapjack. That allows Miller to pin Ray for the win.
Bob’s Take: Honestly, I enjoyed Stevie’s offense here and Ray showed that he could provide some entertainment in a singles role that I don’t remember ever seeing before and certainly not in this 1999 rewatch. Vincent costing Ray the match looks to finally have issues between the NWO and there’s no way Vincent can weasel himself out of his actions here. Compared to the other matches thus far, I enjoyed this. 1 for 5
RAVEN PROMO
CONTEXT: Raven briefly mentions being home for the past few months due to a mental illness. Raven had to listen to jobbers claim they were hardcore wrestlers. Raven talks about Bam-Bam Bigelow and Hak, and notes that Hak stole his Raven Rules gimmick. Raven says he brought hardcore to WCW first and he’s not happy. Raven claims they are going to have to pay the price and he’ll stomp them like narcs at a biker rally. Kanyon chimes in and asks the fans who is better than him, which the crowd replies everyone. Kanyon noted that he’s living it large now, too.
Bob’s Take: At least they made mention to the gimmick being stolen from Raven. Raven lying about being away due to mental illness is not a big deal since he’s a heel and they’re likely not going to note that he’s a spoiled rich kid ever again. 2 for 6
MATCH #4: KANYON & RAVEN VS. EL DANDY & VILLANO V
FINISH: Raven picks up the win following a DDT to Villano V. After the match, Raven put Dandy through two tables with a slingshot senton from the ring to the floor.
Bob’s Take: Well, this match was a mess. It looked like the finish wasn’t suppose to be the finish, but the referee counted it twice. It came across as if the two teams didn’t mesh well and got lost towards the end. I wanted to enjoy this for Raven and Kanyon’s in-ring return, but I didn’t. 2 for 7
MATCH #5: JUVENTUD GUERRERA VS. BLITZKRIEG
FINISH: Guerrera picks up the win following the Juvi Driver
Bob’s Take: The pace of the match felt way off. They’d do a big spot and then there’d be this extended lull to the match and seemingly nothing happened before sprinkling in another entertaining spot. It was a weird viewing experience, but it was an enjoyable match for Thunder standards, I guess. 3 for 8
DISCO INFERNO SINGS THE CANADIAN ANTHEM
CONTEXT: Inferno in fact does not sing the Canadian national anthem as he sings various Canadian stereotypes until Bret Hart comes out for the main event match.
Bob’s Take: This would have worked if Bret Hart was a babyface, but Bret is not a babyface. So, it means nothing to insult a guy that the fans currently despise. 3 for 9
MAIN EVENT: BRET HART VS. DISCO INFERNO
FINISH: Hart forces Inferno to submit to the Sharpshooter to win the match
Bob’s Take: Imagine having a boring match with Bret Hart and essentially doing nothing of substance. Inferno accomplished that here. The whole vibe to the match is weird. Hart is a heel, but the fans apparently dislike Inferno more so that makes Hart a babyface for the match. I was hoping for at least a little of bit of entertainment, but it was a disappointment in every facet. 3 for 10
A pretty bad overall Thunder, which shouldn’t be too surprising. The wrestling was below average and they couldn’t advance much of anything because of the taping schedule.
Thunder 2/25 TV Rating: 3.4
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