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WCW Thunder by E.C. Ostermeyer |
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This is the WCW Thunder recap for Wednesday, 14 February 2001. I am your recapper, ol' Cracka E-Zee EeeCee. Happy Valentine's Day to my lovely lady, without whose long-suffering patience this column would not be possible. You ROCK, ma'am! Niow, howza 'bout some blood and gore to go with those hearts and flowers? Coming to you live on tape from Biloxi MS, thirty minutes into the future. The show opens with footage from last Monday's Nitro (but really thirty minutes ago in real time). Lance Storm slaps the Maple Leaf on the Cat to become the NEW WCW Commissioner. Ric Flair renames Team Flair as the Millionai- er, no, I mean the "Magnificent Seven." Kevin Nash appears on the ThunderVision, clad in an "Outsiders" T-shirt. He's got his fist arounf the throat of a beat-up David Flair. Nash did the beating up, and demands a Title shot against WCW World Heavyweight Champ Scott Steiner because, with Flair's kid in custody, "I'M running the show!" Dustin Rhodes gets ejected, then signed to a WCW contract. Scott Steiner runs wild with the lead pipe, the last victim being Kevin Nash, who's carted off in an ambulance. Will Kevin Nash be able to see the Title match at Superbrawl, or not? screeches Tony Schiavone. Backstage (WAY backstage) new WCW Commissioner Lance Storm arrives wearing a coat and tie, and accompanied by Prime Time Elix Skipper and Mike Awesome. Storm almost trips over some cables, kicks at them, and barks at a WCW roadie to "clean this up! I run a tighter ship!" Storm then books Mike Awesome in a match tonight against the Cat. "You take care of him tonight, so I don't have to do it at Superbrawl!" says Storm. "All RIGHT!" says an obviously pleased Mike Awesome. As he walks off, Storm tells Skipper what he's got planned for tonight's show. Suddenly, we hear "LANCE? LANCE?" It's Scott Steiner hollering in a high-pitched voice. "WHERE'S FLAIR?" "Ric's not here tonight..." "I WANNA BREAK SOMEBODY'S LEG! I WANNA HURT SOMEBODY! YOU MAKE IT POSSIBLE!" bellows Steiner. "Well," says Storm, as Steiner advances on him threateningly,"I got an idea on the perfect time for you to do...just...that!" As Storm explains just what he means we go to The NEW Opening Credits. Good shot of Ric Flair, looking impressively heelish. Pyro show's good, as usual. We are four days out from Superbrawl/Revenge according to Tony Schiavone. Mike Tenay joins him as the other half of tonight's play-by-play duo. Schiavone explains what we see, as we are shown the post-Nitro exclusive footage of Kevin Nash being loaded into an ambulance as a result of the whack on the knee Scott Steiner gave him. (Enhanced TBS logo appears briefly, then vanishes as the pyrotechnics continue.) Tenay says that so many questions remain to be answered prior to the PPV, but we may get some answers tonight. Match #1: Jamie Knoble & Evan Karagias d. AJ Styles & Air Paris, (double-team missile dropkick/powerbomb combo on Styles/pin, 11:22) Schiavone informs us that the winners of this match become the last two entrants in the Six-Man Four Corners Cruiserweight Contender's match at Superbrawl, along with Kaz Hayashi, Shannon Moore, Yang, and Billy Kidman. Styles and Paris are talked up as making their debut on WCW TV tonight, but we've seen them before on the old "WCW Saturday Night" show, haven't we? Styles and Knoble start off, as we get the "Superbrawl Countdown Meter" is shown for a moment. Knoble gets in a couple of good moves, but Styles answers with a chicken-wing and a near fall right off the bat. Knoble regains control quickly with a hack to Styles' knee, but Styles recovers, and hits a springboard dropkick off the ropes. Interference from Karagias, but Styles has a dropkick for him, too. Air Paris gets in for some fun. Double cross-ring whip into a double back body drop, and Knoble-Karagias bail out. Baseball slide under the ropes by Styles, who then slingshots Air Paris over the ropes and onto their opponents. We get a partner swap. Karagias takes it to Air Paris with a boot to the midsection, and then starts stomping a mudhole. Cross-ring whip gets reversed, but Karagias ducks a clothesline. Second cross-ring gets reversed again, with Air Paris nailing Karagias with a powerbomb variant, nearly getting a pinfall in the process. Tag to Styles, and a double-team cross-ring whip that winds up in a swanton bomb on Karagias. Cross-corner whip gets reversed, and Karagias nails Styles with a lariat. Styles gets bounced outside the ring, where Knoble works him over before tossing him back in. Karagias with a boot to the gut and a snap suplex gets a near-fall. Tag to Knoble who goes up top and hits a guillotine legdrop. Side slam and a cover, but Paris breaks it up. Bionic elbow from Knoble and another near fall. Karagias back in, cross-corner whip, and a "Ho' Train" squash in the corner on Styles. Another cross-corner whip, Karagias ducks a Styles Big Boot, and hammers home a scoopslam, and a cover, but Paris makes the save again. Knoble tags in, and we get a double-team Bionic Elbow on Styles. Northern Lights Suplex from Knoble, who then grapevines both legs, surfboards Styles' arms, and rocks back into an inverted crossbow submission! Cool! Paris saves the day again, as Knoble tags in Karagias. Cross-ring whip, and we get a double cross-body block that meets in mid-ring with an audible "THUD!" Race to tag gets won by Knoble, who shortstops Styles tag attempt. Knoble sets for the Tombstone Piledriver, but Styles blocks it and nails Knoble with a towering sit-down powerbomb. Race to tag again, and it's a tie as Styles finally tags in Air Paris. Karagias gets the wrong end of a jaw-jacker from Paris, who then wallops Knoble with a fireman's carry into a powerbomb. Paris gets shortstopped on an assault on Karagias by Knoble's German suplex and near pinfall. Karagias turns his attention to Styles outside the ring as Knoble and Paris go at it in the far corner. Karagias clobbers Styles with a flying cross-body block. Paris gets the upper hand back n the ring, but his superplex attempt gets shoved off the top turnbuckle by Karagias. Knoble gets Paris up on his shoulders, and Karagias leaps from the top turnbuckle with a flying clothesline that hammers Paris to the mat. Knoble goes for the cover, but his tag partner PULLS HIM OFF!?! What the heck is going on here with Evan Karagias. As Knoble argues with Karagias, neither of them see Styles sneaking back into the ring, who promptly nails Karagias from behind. Knoble tries that fireman's carry/powerslam thingie again, but Air Paris clobbers him with a superkick, and Knoble winds up on the floor at ringside. Meanwhile Karagias does his 450 splash off the top turnbuckle onto Styles. A pin attempt gets thwarted by Air Paris, who drags Karagias off Styles and down to the floor at ringside. Paris pinions both Knoble and Karagias at ringside, setting them up for Styles' springboard shooting star press off the top rope... ...but Knoble and Karagias duck away, and Air Paris takes the full force of this awesome high risk move! Wow! As Styles checks on his partner, Knoble and Karagias hit a double-team clip to the back of both of Styles' knees, then hammer home a double dropkick to opposite sides of Styles' head that looks stiff as all get out! What's left of Styles gets tossed back into the ring, where Knoble hits a missile dropkick that rolls Styles into Karagias powerbomb, getting the pinfall. Superb opening match. It's good to see that Styles and Air Paris will be able to add to the already impressive WCW cruiserweight stable. The Six Man Four Corners match at Superbrawl should be a corker! Castrol GTX (Drive HARD!) replay shows the end of the match. Commercials. TBS promo's a Steven Seagal flick, "Hard To Kill." What a hoot. The flick is best watched stoned, so Seagal's prissy-menacing dialogue and special effects-enhanced martial arts moves makes sense. This flick also offers Kelly LeBrock. Remember her? Mike Sanders pays a visit to new WCW Commissioner Lance Storm. "Hey-y-y-, Lance, I -" "Anybody call you 'Mike' when you were Commissioner," growls Storm. (Behind him, Mike Awesome shifts into "Deadly Pounce" mode.) "No way! Why, when - " begins Sanders. "Then don't be calling me 'Lance'!" says Storm. Sanders gets a glare from ol' "Sunshine" here, who then continues. "Got this letter from Kwee-Wee. Suckin' up. Wanting me to put in a good word for him with Flair. I want you to take care of him. I don't want to deal with him. Get rid of him. Permanently!" Sanders opens the letter, then grins. "Hey, I can promise you that I can take care of this -" "Yeah, well, you watch your promises," says Storm, "You already made that one to Dustin that Flair doesn't know about!" Sanders is rocked momentarily, but recovers nicely. "Hey, I'll take care of that!" "Take care of it then," says Storm, as Sanders walks away. You can barely see the short leash Storm's got him on. Mean Gene works tonight! Matter of fact, he's got Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo backstage. Okerlund asks O'Haire if we will get a preview of the O'Haire/Palumbo v. Jindrak/Stasiak match at Superbrawl tonight, when O'Hiare faces his former tag-team partner, Mark Jindrak. O'Haire's in full-bore kayfabe mode, and he scowls into the camera. "Jindrak, you and Stasiak want to make this personal? BOY, you know me better than anyone! You know the sick, twisted things that go on inside my head!" (Behind him, Chuck Palumbo gets a look of concern on his face.)" So remember one thing! Look into these eyes, Jindrak! And FEAR WHAT YOU SEE!" As O'Haire and Palumbo stroll off, Mean Gene says he hasn't ever seen Sean O'Haire this intense! The Superbrawl/Revenge PPV fight card gets the "Pulp Fiction" treatment. Commercials. Hey, here's a WWF "No Way Out" PPV promo, courtesy of my local cable operator. Match #2: Sean O'Haire d. Mark Jindrak, (Sean-ton Bomb/pin, 7:15) As Sean O'Haire makes his way to the ring, Mike Tenay says that last year, the Natural Born Thrillers were at the top of the card. But jealousy, as it has so many times in the past to so many other supposedly unbeatable teams, has caused a rift in the Natural Born Thrillers as well. Schiavone says that, though they have been in the ring before, this is the first time that Jindrak & O'Haire have squared off as opponents. The match opens with O'Haire shoving Jindrak to the mat a couple of times, trying to intimidate him with power moves. Jindrak responds by shoving O'Haire into a corner. O'Haire powers out, then hammers Jindrak with a flurry of punches. Cross-ring whip by O'Haire gets reversed, and Jindrak drops O'Haire to the mat. Cross-corner whip and O'haire eats a Big Boot. Another whip, but O'Haire flips over the turnbuckle stack to land behind Jindrak, and pounds on him for a bit. O'Haire locks on a towering vertical suplex, and hits it, shaking the whole ring as he does. O'Haire goes to Stomp City on Jindrak, then does a hot-shot chooke across the middle rope, followed by more kicks. Jindrak hits a power surge and comes up with a jawbreaker, but O'Haire recovers and counters with a big boot to the face. Jinfdrak bails out, with O'Haire pursuing him. O'Haire whips Jindrak into the steel guardrail. But his follow-up gets blocked by a couple of stomps from Jindrak that stagger him momentarily. Jindrak takes the opportunity to hit a running leap into a cross-body block that hammers O'Haire to the mat at ringside. O'Haire absorbs it, then recovers, and rocks Jindrak with a snap clothesline followed by a (Holy Cow!) a running Sean-ton bomb leap off the ring steps. O'Haire rolls Jindrak back into the ring. A cross-corner whip by O'Haire gets reversed, as Jindrak does another back body drop that sends O'Haire over the ropes...but only to the ring apron, where he slams Jindrak to the mat with a forearm smash. O'Haire climbs the far turnbuckle stack, only to get crotched on it when Jindrak kicks the top rope. Jindrak hits a top-rope hurancanrana that spikes O'Haire into the mat, and goes for a cover, but only gets a two-count. Top-rope springboard clothesline, but no pinfall this time, either. O'Haire gets in a running clothesline, but gets only a two count. Cross-ring whip by Jindrak gets reversed, with O'Haire ducking the running lariat, and Jindrak then leap-frogging O'Haire, only to get hammered to the mat with a short clothesline from O'Haire. Lateral press by O'Haire, cover 1,2, no! Cross-ring whip by O'Haire, but Jindrak hits a forearm smash, then a boot to the midsection on O'Haire, and sets up for a whip. Mr. Cameraman gets a momentary attack of amnesia, and we get about ten seconds of the Biloxi fans hooting and gesturing along the railing. When we come back, Jindrak's got O'Haire set for a hangman's neckbreaker, but O'Haire reverses it, and tries for a suplex. Jindrak reverses that, and wallops O'Haire with a spiked face-first DDT. Shawn Strasiak wanders out onto the ramp, just as Jindrak misses a mid-rope springboard moonsault. (Hey, Shawn, if you ain't workin', buy a ticket, huh?) Jindrak tries another cross-ring whip, but O'Haire grabs the ropes, hangs on, and Jindrak misses. Jindrak then clouts O'Haire a good one, and sets him atop the turnbuckle stack. Looks like another top-rope hurancanrana, but O'Haire shoves Jindrak to the mat hard, then sets for the Sean-ton Bomb. Jindrak gets to his feet and takes a swing at O'Haire who does a mid-air somersault into the ring, and lands on his feet. Jindrak goes for the flying elbow, but O'Haire catches him in mid-air, and powerslams him to the mat. O'Haire goes up top... Sean-ton Bomb and a cover gets the pinfall. Post-match, O'Haire and Stasiak do some long-distance jawing as Schiavone and Tenay jabber about the possible outcomes of the match between these two teams at Superbrawl. Commercials. Backstage, Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner have some questions for WCW Commissioner Lance Storm regarding their tag match with DDP and Dustin Rhodes. "Look, I've got an idea for your match tonight that's going to make it a lot more appealing..." Match #3: Mike Sanders d. Kwee-Wee, (Victory Roll/pin, 5:12). As Sanders strolls to the ring, Kwee-Wee makes his entrance, and we get the footage of his current tear through the ranks of the WCW Security personnel, trainee wrestlers, and fans at ringside. And all to get noticed by Ric Flair. Mike Sanders is tickled about Kwee-Wee's appearance in general, and his hair in particular. He blows a kiss to Kwee-Wee, and follows it with a slap to the face. Kwee-Wee rocks back from the blow, pauses, and then hammers Sanders a good one right in the forehead. Standing Thesz Press by Kwee-Wee with the "Fists of Fire" chaser to go with it. Schiavone says that it's not Kwee-Wee in there anymore, it's "Angry Allan!" Enraged, Kwee-Wee's walloping on Sanders, and just tossing him around the ring! Scoopslam on Sanders and a near fall before he can kick out! Sanders counters with a piledriver, and a back body drop. It's "Boogaloo Time," as Sanders exults over his domination of Kwee-Wee. Whoops, looks like he exulted too much. Kwee-Wee ducks the knee drop, and goes back to pummeling Sanders. Kwee-Wee sets up for a suplex across the top ropes, but Sanders aborts that in mid-suplex with a sunset flip attempt. In a great show of strength, plus some good old-fashioned ring savvy, Kwee-Wee countered with a hurancanrana off the ring apron! Wow! What a move! Sunset flip by Kwe-Wee, but Sanders counters with a clothesline! Sanders is getting tired of fooling with this guy, and rolls Kwee-Wee back into the ring. Sanders nails Kwee-Wee with his signature suplex, goes for a cover,1,2, no! Crowd gets behind Kwee-Wee at this point, and starts up a "Kwee Wee!" chant! I am not kidding! Kwee-Wee breaks out of the headlock, and hits a suplex of his own and a near fall as well. He's still in "Angry Allan" mode, and Sanders gets "Excedrin Headache #5" when Kwee-Wee bounces his head off the mat a lot! Cross-corner whip, and another from Kwee-Wee, who then backs Sanders intothe corner for the Ten Count Punch Down. Kwee-Wee stops halfway through, but fails on the pin attempt. Kwee-Wee with a powerslam and another near fall. Sanders escapes. Cross-corner whip by Kwee-Wee on Sanders, who sees Kwee-Wee on the charge-in, and steps aside at the last moment. Kwee-Wee shoots past the turnbuckles, slamming a shoulder into the steel ringpost. He collapses in a heap. Sanders slaps on a Victory Roll (helped along with a handful of Kwee-Wee's trunks,) and gets a (very dirty) win. Good match between these two. I think Allan "Kwee-Wee" Funk may have finally turned the corner on getting his character over. Commercials. Well, we've got Chavo Guerrero Jr. and the Wall backstage. Chavo's explaining to the Wall how he wants him to "take out Rey Mysterio tonight." The Wall is confused, and asks why Chavo can't do it himself? Chavo's not having any back-talk, thank you, and tells the Wall that Rey's HIS job tonight! "It'll be my pleasure!" rumbles the Wall, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Lance Storm forestalls Kronik's Bryan Clarke from wrestling on tonight's show, due to his concussion. He orders him out of the building because of a "liability issue" stemming from the chair-shot Clarke got from Animal two weeks ago. Not surprisingly, Clarke is mightily p.o.-ed about this, and grabs a handful of Storm's coat. Gotta give Storm credit, he stands up to the big man, and says that if he doesn't leave, he'll have him arrested and his contract terminated. ''Security?" says Storm, motioning to several WCW Security people in attendance, "escort him to his car. See that he leaves the premises. If he doesn't leave, have him arrested, contact Legal, and have his contract terminated!" To Clarke, who's REALLY mad now as he's being hustled out the door, (and none too gently I might add), "Look, get your medical clearance, and I'll be more than happy to let you wrestle. Put him in his car, guys..." Storm turns... ...and here's Kronik's Brian Adams. "What's the problem?" "There's no problem." "Where's my partner at?" "He's goin' home...urrrkkkk!" Adams grabs a double handful of Storm's jacket, shirt and tie. "Then YOU gotta problem, man, I - ooooff!" Adams gets jumped by Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell. They proceed to bounce him off the concrete walls and the steel door. Da Commish let Totally Buffed work Adams over for a bit, even holding back WCW Security who wanted to break it up... ...and here comes Konnan, just walking into the shot. He slows, and watches the beat-down in progress. Buff Bagwell notices him, and says "You got a problem with this?" Konnan motions "no", and starts to walk off. But ol' Buff can't leave well enough alone, and says "something" to Konnan as he's walking away... ...the upshot of which is that Konnan gets busy stuffing his fists down Mr. Bagwell's gullet. This little fracas between Konnan and Bagwell moves to an old air hockey table, with Konnan clearly getting the better of "Buff Bigmouth". Storm sics the WCW Security guys on Konnan, and the "pull-apart" finally gets pulled apart. Mean Gene's got "The Canadian Killer" Mike Awesome, who promises to take the Cat out tonight, so that he won't even make it to Superbrawl. Something about breaking every bone in the Cat's body! Commercials. Match #4: Mike Awesome d. The Cat (w/ Ms. Jones), (Awesome Splash/pin, 7:09) Mike Awesome's out first as Schiavone relates that Konnan and Buff Bagwell will settle their differences in a match later on tonight. Out comes the Cat, and Ms. Jones is lookin' FINE tonight! The Cat's in no hurry to mix things up this behemoth, as who would be? Awesome jumps the Cat as he's climbing into the ring, and we're underway in a hurry. WCW's push for Awesome, though slow, is nevertheless sure; he's fast becoming the best big man in WCW. Tenay's right when he describes Awesome as a Heavyweight that flies like a cruiserweight. His stint in Japan and at ECW has served him well. Awesome's dragged the Cat to the ring apron and starts pounding the stuffing out of him, before hauling him over the ropes and dumping him into a corner. Cross-corner whip, and a "Ho' Train" squash as a follow-up. Awesome pounds on the Cat some more, then slams him to the mat for a near pinfall. The Cat tires to mount some offense, getting in a couple of punches, but Awesome uncorks a big knee and hammers him back into the corner again. Cross-ring whip, and Awesome ducks the Cat's clothesline, and returns the favor. The Cat gets some back problems big-time courtesy of Awesome, who then tries to unscrew the Cat's head from his shoulders. The Cat powers out of the headlock with some stiff elbow shots. Awesome's knee puts an end to that. Cross-corner whip by Awesome gets a Big Boot to the face on the charge-in. the Cat misses with a clothesline, but the follow-up with an elbow connects. Awesome responds with a mule kick, then throws the Cat out to the floor at ringside. The Cat gets introduced to the steel guardrail, but recovers enough to mount an offensive. The Cat tries to garrote Awesome with a camera cable. Awesome shrugs it off, boots the Cat in the breadbasket, and then really slams him with a stiff clothesline shot. Awesome returns to the ring to avoid the count-out, then climbs back out to collect the Cat. Cross-ringside whip by Awesome gets reversed, and Awesome winds up piling into the steel guardrail this time. As Awesome staggers to his feet, the Cat tries his "Feliner" finisher. Awesome sees it coming, and ducks away. The Cat "Feliner's" the steel ringpost! Ouch! Both men back in the ring, and the Cat's nursing a sore foot after that last move. Awesome does the running Awesome Bomb. The Cat tries to get away, but collapses. Awesome clips the Cat's bad leg right behind the knee, then splatters him all over the place with a towering Awesome Splash. Lateral press, hook the leg, 1,2,3! Post-match, Awesome nails the Cat with another Awesome Splash. A third one's on the way, but Ms. Jones gets in to cover the Cat and prevent any more damage. Meanwhile, the Cat's selling his bad wheel like it's legit. Backstage, Lance Storm's watching a monitor, with a big grin on his face. Good match, and a real showcase for Mike Awesome, which should go a long way to cement his "Career Killer" angle. Expanded WCW Upcoming Events Calendar: 2/18 Nashville, TN (Superbrawl/Revenge PPV) 2/19 Huntsville, AL (Nitro) 2/25 Lake Charles, LA (House show) 2/26 New Orleans, LA (Nitro) 3/4 Johnson City, TN (House show) 3/5 Greenville, SC (Nitro) 3/11 McMinnville, TN (House show) 3/12 Knoxville, TN (Nitro) 3/18 Jacksonville, FL (Greed-PPV) 3/19 Gainesville, FL (Nitro) 3/25 Mobile, AL (House show) 3/26 Panama City, FL (Nitro) Commercials . Mean Gene's got DDP and Dustin Rhodes backstage. DDP waxes poetic about teaming with Dustin back in their Florida Championship Wrestling days, and that Dusty Rhodes is the closest thing he has to a father in the business. Oh, and somebody's gonna FEEL...THE...BANG tonight. Match #5: Chavo Guerrero Jr. & The Wall d. Hugh Morrus & Rey Mysterio, Jr. (Wall w/ chokeslam on Mysterio/pin, 8:37) As the principals make their entrances, Schiavone and Tenay shill for the upcoming Superbrawl PPV, as relates to these four. Footage shows Rey as "El Nino" walloping Chavo but good. Footage from Thunder shows Hugh Morrus lending Rey a hand during his match with the Wall. This match starts off with a bang, as Rey does a top-rope slingshot into a victory roll while Morrus wallops Chavo off the ring apron. This leaves the Wall to take the brunt of the onslaught. He really gets walloped by a quick-tag clothesline from Morrus, and a springboard guillotine legdrop from Rey. Morrus back in with a whip/powerslam combo. Rey tags in, and deals the Wall a series of kneelifts. Rey gets ambitious, tries a whip of his own, but the Wall's too big to toss around, and he rolls Rey into a vicious-looking backbreaker. Chavo wants in, gets the tag, and rolls Rey up with a sunset flip, but Rey rolls right on through it, pops out the other side, and wallops Chavo with a dropkick. Chavo tries to bounce Rey's head off the turnbuckle, but Rey slithers out the back door,and jams Chavo into the turnbuckle stack. Bronco-buster! The Wall drags Rey off Chavo, and sets him up for Chavo, but Rey ducks, and Chavo hammers the Wall instead! Covetr by Rey on Chavo, but there's no referee to do the count. Chavo recovers, and locks on what Mike Tenay calls a "Gory Guerrero Special." Whoops, no it's not, it's a Gory Bomb! Scoopslam by Chavo on Rey, and a swipe at Hugh Morrus just to liven things up. The enraged Morrus lunges into the ring, only to be driven back by the referee. Meanwhile, the Wall's on the top turnbuckle with one massive forearm across Rey's neck like a hangman's noose, and Rey's left dangling (literally!) while the ref's busy with Morrus. The Wall tosses Rey to the mat, then does a leisurely cover, but stops it at a 2-count by picking Rey off the mat, then tossing him across the ring. Rey lands with considerable force. Tag to Chavo who's in with a belly-to-back suplex. Cover, but no pinfall, as Morrus breaks up the pin attempt. Chavo's headlock attempt succeeds, but only for a moment, as Rey powers through Chavo's back body drop, clouts Chavo a good one, then tries a moonsault off the top rope. Chavo sees it coming, and shoves Rey off the turnbuckles. Punch down attempt by Chavo gets blocked by Rey, then converted into a hurancanrana off the top turnbuckle. Now it's a race to see who tags in first. Looks like its simultaneous, as the Wall climbs in first, to face a wound-up Hugh Morrus. Street fight between these two, with Morrus prevailing with a clothesline that tumbles the Wall out to the floor at ringside. Back in the ring, Rey and Morrus double-team a superb cliff-dive by Rey off Morrus' shoulders, with Chavo as Ground Zero. Cover by Rey, 1,2, the Wall pulls Rey off to reak the count. Morrus nails both opponents with a running clothesline. As the Wall rolls out, Morrus goes to work on Chavo. Cross-ring whip by Morrus, Chavo tries the leapfrog, but Morrus grabs him in mid-air and hits a shattering sit-out powerbomb. Morrus has his "No Laughing Matter" finisher on the way, but the Wall hauls Chavo bodily out of harm's way, and Morrus lands face-first on the canvas. Morrus grabs a knee just like the Cat did in the last match. I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Chavo tags the Wall, as Morrus tags in Rey. Springboard off the top ropes by Rey gets a Wall forearm in mid-air. Double-team by Morrus, who hits a belly-to-back suplex on the Wall. Cross-ring whip by Morrus gets reversed, and the Wall puts in a Big Boot that spins Morrus out of the ring. Top-rope cross-body block by Rey gets caught in mid-air, and the Wall chokeslams Rey into oblivion for the win. Post-match, Morrus gets jumped by the Wall and Chavo. Morrus gets tossed out of the ring. The Wall powerslams Rey, then powerslams Chavo ONTO Rey. Chavo "pins" Rey, as the crowd responds with boos and catcalls. Man, ain't it great being a heel? Good match, one that showcased everybody's talents. The Wall is in the midst of a mini-push. If he develops a little more ring savvy, and adds a couple more moves to his repertoire, he could be on his way out of the mid-card. The guy's worth watching. For now, at least. Commercials. Mean Gene's back and he's interviewing Totally Buff, who both appear to be in the throes of some powerful chemical enhancement. Buff Bagwell's giggling like he just got a hit off a nitrous bong. Suffice to say that Mr. Bagwell is the "Buff" and the "Stuff." His opinion of Konnan is that he has no talent or charisma. Lex Luger appears to be trying to develop a steely gaze. Another dose of "Pulp Fiction" video on Superbrawl/Revenge. Topic is Kevin Nash and his quest to get the WCW World Heavyweight Title belt from around Scott Steiner's waist. Best of the series so far. I bet they went out of house to produce these. Either that, or our prayers have been answered, and WCW Post-Production finally hired some professionals. Match #6: Buff Bagwell d. Konnan ("Buff Blockbuster" finisher/pin, 4:37) Konnan disses Bagwell for looking like an "NSynch" wannabe with that face-fur and all. He finishes with his usual "Arriba la raza!" Buff poses a bit, and Konnan does the "nut grab" in response as we get underway. Real high-class bunch, huh? Buff starts by putting the boot in on Konnan, trash-talking, and finally going for the chokehold. Referee Mickey Jay breaks it up, and Buff tries the "intimidate the referee" act, but Jay's not buying it. Konnan reverses a cross-ring whip into a hiptoss and a DDT. Buff recovers with a power surge, and backs Konnan into a corner with a flurry of punches and kicks. Konnan retaliates briefly, but Buff golottas him real bad, then hits a neckbreaker. Elbow drop and a cover, but only a 2 count. Buff does the cross-corner whip and clothesline on Konnan, and it's time to pose again. lateral press and another cover, but no pinfall this time, either. Buff locks on a rear chinlock, and everybody takes a rest for a bit. Konnan powers out of the hold, but gets knee'd in the gut, followed by a Buff powerslam. Buff tries to set for a second rope Blockbuster, but Konnan gets a boot up and Buff gets a headache. After another rest period, Konnan briefly gets the momentum of the match going his way with his "Rolling Thunder" running lariats. And here's ol' Luger wandering down to ringside. Konnan hammers a mule kick into Buff's gut, and then nails a facebuster on him as he doubles over. Buff's dojng the "No mas!" routine, but ends up tossing Konnan out of the ring as he moves in for the kill. Once outside the ring, Konnan gets clobbered with a forearm smash from Lex Luger, who then tosses him back in the ring. Buff goes up top, and does a sloppy "Buff Blockbuster" for the win. Just as referee Mickey Jay starts the pinfall, Brian Adams arrives to beat some heads in. Luger gets walloped, and Adams tries to break up the pinfall, to no avail. The second Jay's hand hits the canvas for the last time, Buff's bailing out, neatly avoiding the clutches of the furious Brian Adams. Commercials. Scott Steiner's busy destroying inanimate objects backstage. Da Commish appears and tells him "It's time!" Steiner wants to know to which hospital Nash was taken. Storm has that info, and says that Nash will get "taken care of." Back in the arena, Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner make their entrance, and we go to Commercials. Match #7: Jeff Jarrett & Rick Steiner d. Diamond Dallas Page & Dustin Rhodes, (Jarrett w/ "The Stroke" finisher on DDP/pin, 7:32). Jarrett makes some hilarious comments on how this Biloxi crowd's the world's largest inbred family reunion. Rick Steiner gets to snarl for the folks a bit, but has troubles taking off his leather jacket. Jeez, lou-weez! Commercials. DDP and Dustin come out, charge down to the ring and we are underway. Boy howdy, are we underway! We've got a "Pier Sixer" in progress, as Dustin and DDP just pile into the ring and starts beating some heads in. This brawl spills out onto the floor, and Rhodes goes after Steiner, while Jarrett and DDP go at it. DDP whips Jarrett into the steel guardrail at ringside, then keeps on pounding on him. More brawling ensues until Rhodes and Jarrett wind up back in the ring. Cross-ring whip by Rhodes, but Jarrett reverses it. Not to worry, Rhodes spins Jarrett off his feet with a hiptoss. Cross-corner whip by Rhodes, but Jarrett ducks out of the way of Rhodes' charge-in. Rhodes hits the turnbuckle stack, as Jarrett tags in the Dog-Faced Gremlin. Steiner hammers Rhodes with an elbow drop. Cover by Steiner 1,2, no! Steiner tries a whip, but DDP sneaks in a tag, and launches himself off the top turnbuckle with a flying clothesline on Steiner. Cover, 1,2, Steiner kicks out! Running shoulder block by DDp, followed by a swinging neckbreaker. Tag to Rhods, and he and DDP play "wishbone" with Steiner as the unwilling third party. One good snap, and Steiner's crumpled up in a fetal position, holding an area not covered by his health insurance. After a bit, Steiner recovers enough to reverse a Rhodes cross-corner whip. Rhodes gets whipped into the Wrong Part of Town, where Jarrett boots him one right in the back. Steiner's right there to nail Rhodes with a belly-to-belly suplex, nearly getting a pinfall. Tag to Jarrett, who clotheslines Rhodes, then stomps a mudhole in him for good measure. Steiner joins in for a little double-team action as DDP's being restrained by the referee. Cross-ring whip by Jarrett, but Rhodes does the float-over and rolls into a sunset flip attempt. Jarrett really sells the "teetering on the brink-balancing act" routine, but finally succumbs to gravity, and Rhodes manages a two count before Steiner makes the save, tagging in simultaneously. Steiner dumps Rhodes out of the ring, where Jarrett spins him into the steel ring-post! Ouch! Rhodes gets rolled back into the ring, where Steiner goes for the cover, but Rhodes just kicks out at 2. Steiner's toying with DDP now, cats-pawing Rhodes, allowing him to ju-u-s-st get within tag distance before dragging him back. The crowd's reaction is getting better the longer this match goes on. Steiner kicks Rhodes in the gut, then nails him with a Steinerline. Cover, but only a near fall. Tag to Jarrett, who does a cross-ring whip on Rhodes followed by a sleeper. Rhodes powers out and then reverses the sleeper on Jarrett, but Jarrett powers out and converts to a belly-to-back suplex. Really sweet move, Jeff! With both combatants groggy, each needs a tag, but none more so than DDP! Rhodes just makes the tag, and DDP leaps into the ring, to confront Rick Steiner instead of Jeff Jarrett. DDP doesn't care, he'll take 'em both on at once. There goes Steiner out of the ring, and Jarrett gets the short end of a mean-ass sit-out powerbomb from DDP. Cover by DDP, but Steienr breaks it up, then hits a German suplex, and follows up with a bulldog. Cover by Steiner, but Rhodes comes in to make the save. The crowd's Standing Room Only at ringside now, and having a real good time as Steiner and Rhodes roll out to the floor. Jarrett and DDP are in the ring. The crowd's hollering for the Diamond Cutter, which DDP nearly applies successfully to Jarrett. He took too long to get set up, and Steiner makes the save. As DDP tries to shake the "dizzies" out of his noggin, Jarrett gets in his "Stroke" finisher, and gets the win. Sirens wail, and out comes Scott Steiner, lead pipe in hand and Midajah in tow. DDP gets walloped on first, with special attention being paid to the kneecap area. Hugh Morrus and Brian Adams pile in to make the save, only to get waffled by Totally Buff. Here comes the Klown Kar O' Security Guys, who storm the ring en masse. Scott Steiner's just hammering everybody with the lead pipe, wrestlers, security guards, the lot. Scott Steiner grabs one Security guy by the throat, throws him down and REALLY breaks his leg with the pipe. I mean, he just put a "new joint" where one shouldn't be. Shades of Sid Vicious, that looks TERRIBLE! Schiavone and Tenay are almost vomiting in horror and disgust, as we get the Closing Credits. Good show, all in all. WCW just put on a MAJOR push towards the Superbrawl/Revenge PPV, with a whole flock of cliffhangers just ready to be resolved there. The "Pulp Fiction" video packages pushing the Superbrawl PPV were well-produced, plus we got some great wrestling action. Thunder is finally coming into it's own. WCW 's finally learned that this one show, un-opposed by any other wrestling counter programming, can actually be a hotter item than the Monday Nitro show. They need to continue story arcs from Nitro to Thunder and vice versa, as they have been doing. Best Match honors goes to the opener between Knoble/Karagias and AJ Styles & Air Paris. . The Dud match Dis-honors goes to the Buff Bagwell/Konnan match, but I have to say that it wasn't a really bad dud, only a so-so one. Kwee-Wee and Mike Sanders could have been horrible. Instead, we got a decent advancement of an angle, and some favorable crowd heat to go with it. Lance Storm as Da Commish is definitely a plus! Storm's new character should remind you of every humorless, officious little jack-in-office snirp you've ever had to deal with, from your psychotic school guidance counselor, to those nasty clerks at the DMV. This is a long-overdue push for Storm, and I can't wait to see where he takes it. Sean O'Haire is just about ready to break out into Singles competition. Given the right push, he cold be bigger than Goldberg. One thing more. I must say that Mike Tenay and (God help me!) Tony freakin' Schiavone did a great job tonight in keeping up the interest in the PPV. In addition, both of them buckled to and actually called the matches for once, instead of jabbering away about something else entirely while the action in the ring was going on. Tony even called most of the moves right, too. Good job, gentlemen. We got 51 minutes and 3 seconds of actual in-ring wrestling action tonight, out of a two-hour time slot. This is a full five-minute gain over last week's show, and is WAY better than what we were watching back in December. The product is improving. My question is, is it too late? Superbrawl is coming up. See you there on Sunday. And here next week! E.C. Ostemeyer [slash] wrestling Mail the Author Comment about this article on the EZBoard |
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