APRIL 1ST — LIVE — RICHMOND, VA — RICHMOND COLISEUM
NOTE: It is announced that Hollywood Hogan has earned the right to wrestle WCW World Champion Ric Flair at Spring Stampede, should Flair go through with it. Hogan earned the shot by defeating Diamond Dallas Page on Nitro.
PERRY SATURN & RAVEN INTERVIEW
CONTEXT: Gene asks what they are doing since the Flock had previously broken up. Saturn makes a joke that they hadn’t been dating. Raven notes that they fought over a girl named Beulah McGuillicutty in school, but Saturn chimes in and reminds Raven that was Tommy. Raven admits it may have been a miscalculation for costing Benoit & Malenko the titles. Raven tells Gene that he didn’t like Benoit & Malenko and would rather have Kidman & Mysterio as the champs. Saturn thinks Kidman & Mysterio should give them a title shot since they handed the titles to them. So, at Spring Stampede Raven & Saturn square off against Benoit & Malenko.
Bob’s Take: I’m glad that Raven at least acknowledged the potential error in their way to not allow themselves a title shot sooner. The promo was decent for what it was, and I’m interested in a proper tag match between the Horsemen and the team of Raven & Saturn. I think Raven and Saturn could be a good face team. 1 for 1
MATCH #1: NORMAN SMILEY VS. ERIK WATTS
FINISH: Smiley locks in the chicken wing submission and forces a submission to win the match
Bob’s Take: Watts has been back in WCW for a couple of months, but this is his first appearance on main programming. Watts hadn’t been seen in WCW since the summer of ’94. It’s been nearly five years, but Watts doesn’t appear to have gotten all that better. I think his heel heat is simply the fans remembering how poorly Watts competed in the ring and then experiencing the same poor wrestling again five years later. At least Smiley got a clean win, I guess. 1 for 2
CHRIS JERICHO MEETS WITH JJ DILLON
CONTEXT: Jericho is determined to be in the US Title Tournament, but Dillon notes that Jericho lost and is out of the tournament. Jericho reminds Dillon that Curt Hennig is injured and thus the last person to compete in the tournament is able to replace Hennig, which is the Silent Brian Macnee rule. Dillon wants to see the rulebook.
Bob’s Take: Jericho is great and they should want Jericho to be in the tournament. 2 for 3
MATCH #2: PERRY SATURN & RAVEN VS. BOBBY DUNCUM JR. & MIKE ENOS
FINISH: Late in the match, Duncum accidentally hit Enos with a cowbell allowing Raven to hit the DDT for the win. After the match, Malenko and Benoit attack Saturn and Raven. Benoit dragon screw leg whips Raven’s left knee. Benoit whacks Saturn over the head with a chair shot. Malenko sends Raven into a chair wedged in the corner.
Bob’s Take: Saturn is wearing a skirt with new shin protectors and boots, which kind of takes away from his new Manson centric look. The match started off with an awkward exchange between Duncum and Saturn, but they luckily reset the match and it ended up being a not-so bad tag bout. There was a good close call with Saturn teasing a submission on Duncum at one point. I enjoyed the match far more than I was expecting, and the Horsemen beating was entertaining, as well. 3 for 4
CHRIS JERICHO INTERRUPTS JJ DILLON & RIC FLAIR BACKSTAGE
CONTEXT: Dillon and Flair are chatting when Jericho enters the room and talks about the WCW US Title tournament again. Jericho reminds Flair that Hennig got hurt and that he’d be next in line to replace Hennig. Flair decides to give Jericho another shot in the tournament. Flair says that Jericho grew up wanting to be like him and not Hogan.
Bob’s Take: I like Jericho in this role of weaseling himself into the tournament again despite having been eliminated once before. I’d much rather have Jericho in the tournament than anybody else. 4 for 5
MATCH #3: CHRIS JERICHO VS. CHRIS ADAMS — WCW UNITED STATES TITLE TOURNAMENT
FINISH: Jericho forces Adams to submit to the Lion Tamer to win the match
Bob’s Take: It feels as if we’ve reached the part of Jericho’s WCW run where he’d benefit from a babyface turn. Jericho is too entertaining to be booed at this point. The action isn’t memorable, which is a shame because I’ve always liked Adams. It’s tough for the crowd to be invested in guys who have zero steam. 4 for 6
THE DISCIPLE HAS A MEETING WITH RIC FLAIR
CONTEXT: Flair tells Disciple (Ed Leslie) that his contract is expiring in a month. Flair mentions that Hollywood Hogan is getting another shot at Spring Stampede. However, Flair offers Disciple if he beats Hollywood tonight then he’ll extend Disciple’s contract for three years at double the salary. Disciple disregards friendship and accepts the match.
Bob’s Take: I don’t hate this angle. Flair tossing the lure of more money and job security for Hogan’s pal to try and take him out. It gives the match more of a purpose rather than there being not hype behind it. 5 for 7
JERRY FLYNN ATTACKED BACKSTAGE
CONTEXT: During Meng’s entrance, cameras catch Flynn being attacked by Hugh Morrus and Barbarian backstage. Flynn suffers a spike piledriver on the concrete floor. Morrus and Barbarian continued to stomp Flynn until Meng ran backstage to make the save.
Bob’s Take: I wasn’t expecting a beatdown on Flynn, but it wasn’t too bad. I’m guessing they want to showcase Meng in a handicap match since Meng is in the US Title tournament. 6 for 8
MATCH #4: JERRY FLYNN & MENG VS. HUGH MORRUS & THE BARBARIAN
NOTE: Late in the match, Jerry Flynn makes his way out and kicked Morrus off the middle rope.
FINISH: Meng pins Barbarian with the Tongan Death Grip. After the match, Meng puts the Tongan Death Grip on Morrus and kicks Jimmy Hart to the floor following a chair shot attempt.
Bob’s Take: This felt as if it took five years to get through. The majority of the feud has taken place on WCW Saturday Night and judging by the complete lack of interest by the crowd, they are not actively watching Saturday Night. The crowd still pops for the Tongan Death Grip, but this match was not good, at all. 6 for 9
HOLLYWOOD HOGAN IN-RING PROMO
CONTEXT: Hogan tells Mean Gene that he doesn’t mind jumping through hoops, because WCW World Champion Ric Flair is at the end of the tunnel. Gene suggests that Flair doesn’t want to wrestle Hogan at Spring Stampede. Ric Flair joins the segment and tells Hogan that he’s his leader, boss and champion. Tonight, Hogan will have to wrestle Ed Leslie (The Disciple). Disciple comes out and tells Hogan this goes beyond personal and business. Disciple promises that Hogan will go down tonight. Hogan doesn’t care because he knows Flair is at the end of the tunnel and declares that tonight is strictly business.
Bob’s Take: It was a bit awkward to watch Disciple cut the promo on the entrance and stared into the camera instead of towards Hogan in the ring. Anyway, I think there’s a reasonable argument to suggest that there’s more interest in this match on Thunder than there was for their main event match at Starrcade ’94. Disciple has more depth for the match as it’s to save his career. The segment was fine to add some promotion for the main event, but lets be real there’s no chance Disciple will prevail. 7 for 10
MATCH #5: CHRIS BENOIT & DEAN MALENKO VS. CHAVO GUERRERO JR. & KAZ HAYASHI
NOTE: During the match, Tenay & Schiavone were bickering towards each other for the majority of the match prompting Tenay to do play-play for the match at one point.
FINISH: Malenko plants Hayashi with a Tiger Bomb and locks in the Texas Cloverleaf to force a submission. After the match, Raven & Saturn run into the ring to attack the Horsemen. Raven drop toe holds Malenko face first onto a steel chair. Saturn and Raven setup a table on the floor. Saturn leaps off the top rope to dive onto Benoit, but the table didn’t break.
Bob’s Take: There was a moment early into the match where Malenko backed off from Chavo, and I felt a level of frustration and disappointment in Malenko. I’ve always seen Malenko as the kind of guy who doesn’t backdown from an opponent, and to see that happen here truly showed me the direction of the Horsemen. Anyway, for a short match it was actually a solid match, which isn’t a surprise. The aftermath with Raven & Saturn was good, too. 8 for 11
HOLLYWOOD HOGAN HOLDS A MEETING WITH THE NWO
CONTEXT: Hogan has a meeting with the NWO Black & White and tells Scott Steiner that he’s going to take out Booker T. Stevie Ray chimes in that when he joined that Booker T was off limits. Hogan says that things have changed and Booker is a problem now. Kevin Nash tries to say something, but Stevie dismisses that. Hogan wants them to put Booker to the side before Spring Stampede. Hogan asks Kevin Nash to depart the room so that he can talk to them. Hogan talks about the leadership of the Black & White. Stevie Ray asks about Hogan telling them all they were the leader and wants to know what’s going on there. Hogan admits that he dropped the ball and knew that one of them would rise to the top and become the leader. Hogan says that all four men qualify to be leader and that’s where the problem is. Hogan says that on Nitro this Monday there will be a battle royal where the last man standing will be the true leader of the NWO Black & White.
Bob’s Take: I am stunned that they actually confronted Hogan about his antics. The battle royal on Monday better be the end of the angle. There’s nowhere else to go with it. They are likely going to be enhancement guys at this point anyway. 9 for 12
MATCH #6: DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE VS. HORACE
FINISH: DDP picked up the win following a float over diamond cutter
Bob’s Take: DDP got a lot of jeers on Nitro in Toronto, but got a much better face reaction in Richmond making me think that the heel response was a one-off reaction. The match may have gone on a little too long, but it was a decent brawl. Horace has looked better, but DDP carried the match fairly well and it held my interest for the most part. Toronto may have hated DDP, but Richmond still loves him. 10 for 13
MAIN EVENT: HOLLYWOOD HOGAN VS. THE DISCIPLE
FINISH: Late in the match, Ric Flair stopped Hogan from doing the leg drop. Hogan no sells the stunner by Disciple. Hogan hit the leg drop, but Flair attacks Hogan causing a disqualification. Hogan ends up hitting the leg drop on Flair, but the Horsemen storm the ring to attack Hogan. Hogan fights all the members of the Horsemen off. Hogan clotheslines Flair off the apron with his weight belt.
Bob’s Take: It shouldn’t come as a surprise to know that the match between Hogan and Disciple was not good. The whole aftermath was disappointing as well. Hogan’s history in WCW makes it baffling to hear commentary praise him for overcoming the odds on the Horsemen. There’s really no reason for the commentary team to be supportive of Hogan and be against the Horsemen. Hogan’s goal, as long as he’s associated with the NWO, has been to end WCW. Horsemen not managing to lay out Hogan seems like a missed opportunity. Their scheduled match at Spring Stampede is easily their least interesting bout of the trilogy in ’99. 10 for 14
Thunder ends with the Starrcade ’97 video of Sting where it reads that Sting has a message on Nitro.
Heading into the show I was not expecting to enjoy the program, but it ended up actually being an enjoyable edition of Thunder. I think I can firmly say that the Flair/Hogan dynamic officially doesn’t work for me. It feels like we’re back to early ’96 and Hogan’s going to be a played out face sooner rather than later. If the Horsemen were going to be heels I would have avoided them being presented as cowards. That presentation kind of drives me nuts.
As it stands now the following is the announced card for Spring Stampede in ten days.
WCW World Champion Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan
Finals of the WCW US Title Tournament
WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Kidman
Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs. Saturn & Raven
Konnan vs. Disco Inferno
DDP, Kevin Nash, Goldberg, WCW TV Champion Booker T, Chris Jericho, Buff Bagwell, and Scott Steiner are notably not booked for the PPV. Booker and Steiner are likely in the finals for the US Title, though. Goldberg’s only worthwhile opponent would have been Bret Hart, but Hart quit on March 29th Nitro. It almost feels as if Spring Stampede is going to lack star power almost on purpose at this point. Despite the lack of star power, there’s potential for some standout in-ring wrestling with Kidman vs. Rey, and Horsemen vs. Raven & Saturn being the work-rate matches.
4/1 Thunder TV Rating: 3.1
Thanks for reading.