WCW Thunder - Thursday, February 25, 1999

• Jon Loveless comments on Glacier's Bargain Basement Sale:

  In the latest edition of your Thunder report (good one BTW) reader Chocobo commented on the Glacier/Hayashi/Onoo segment. I think he may have missed the point of the captions. Each time Glacier named a price for an item, Sonny translated it to Kaz at roughly 10 times more than Glacier asked for, presumably planning to pocket the difference as his "commission". Maybe I was looking for a silver lining, but I thought it actually managed to round out the bit pretty well, making it one of the better ones so far. Okay, so that ain't saying much, but ...

  I may sound like a total nitwit here, since you may have chosen simply not to explain the bit to a loyal reader, but I had a second & thought I'd mention it, just in case the altered captions didn't catch your attention.

  And BTW, those of us who depend on the reports on ddtdigest in order to fill in the blanks from week to week probably don't say Thanks often enough. So, Thanks, for taking the time to write up what can often be rather painful to watch.

• Jesse Thompson corrects me:

  It was Demi Moore, Melba Moore (70's soul singer), Archie Moore and Dinty Moore (a food brand)...

  Just thought I'd correct ya...

• After doing the stop, drop, and roll, Richard Lusso talks about the challenge that set our world on fire last Friday:

  After hearing that Goldberg would be on Friday's Tonight Show to issue a challenge that would "set the world on fire", I spent the better part of Friday purchasing fire fighting equipment. It is now Saturday. No conflagration anywhere. I guess Tony was exagerrating. Gee, that's one on me!

  If you happened not to see Goldberg's appearance, his challenge was issued sort of like an afterthought. I got the impression that he was taking a rather dim view of issuing a challenge to Austin, not so much because he wouldn't relish the thought of a meeting with Austin, but more likely because he had the sense to realize that such a match will never take place (unless Goldberg goes to WWF), so what is the point of doing this? I guess he was being a good soldier.

• Andy Kieniksman sends me an interesting piece of info:

  Hey Aldo, I sent this to Bill a few days ago, but since he's been out of town, I thought I'd send it to ya as well and see if you get a kick out of it.

  After the "Bret Clark" fiasco from a couple of weeks ago that everyone's still talking about, I had to send you this link to show that there really is a Bret Clark. Or a Brett Clark, anyway...

  http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/hockey/nhl/9899/nextgen/nextgen21099.htm

  Mr. Clark is a hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens and this article goes into some detail about his career. Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything about him ever playing for the Calgary Hit Men. Now THAT would have been awesome!

  As it stands, perhaps Mr. Buffer had some money on a hockey game that night and was a bit preoccupied? Not that I want to make any excuses for the stiff...

• Chris Chandler asks:

  I know that a lot of you guys like to root for the lesser-knowns and the jobbers and that's cool with me. But can anyone say that they or someone they know actually likes Jerry Flynn. This guy really sucks. I think that I would rather watch Tony Schivane wrestle Will Sasso (which will probably happen on a PPV) than see this horse-faced idiot come out.

• In contrast, Phillip Rhodes shouts out:

  just read your Thunder report, which is cool because I didn't get to see Thunder. I was kind of intrigued by one of your viewpoints however..

  You seemed kinda down on the fact that Jerry Flynn beat Booker T. I realize you don't like Flynn much, but consider this:

  1. Upsets are a *good* thing on occassion. It's boring when you know who is going to win the match, every time, before it starts.
  2. It's not like they had Flynn beat Booker T on his own. The outside interference from Disco was the decider, I'm sure.
  3. Flynn isn't as bad as you think he is! hehehe, ok that ones a very subjective point of view. Everybody has a scub or two that they like, for whatever reason. I just happen to like Jerry Flynn. I can't really explain why, but I do.
  4. If WCW knew how to write stories, they might could use this as the intro into a cool feud. Possibly Booker T vs. Disco, or even Booker T vs. Jerry Flynn. Or maybe they could turn it into a Flynn vs Inferno fued somehow... now that would be cool, IMO.
  5. The diving headbutt from Benoit off the top of the cage has got to be one of the most wickedest things I've never seen! Waaaahhh.. I want to see it!!!!!! Ooops. that's not exactly related to Booker T / Flynn is it? Oh well.. nobody's perfect!

• "The Artist Formerly Known As Sandman" comes out in barb-wire holding a Singapore cane.
• Tenay refers to Fullington as "Hardcore Hak." Give me a break.
• Hak: "Yo!"
• Hak talks about everybody in WCW doing whatever the hell they want.
• From this day forth, all matches that Hak wrestles in will be "Hak-Matches" -- no rules.
• The cheesy 70s rock brings out Damian.
• Damian starts off with a clothesline and goes to the corner holding his arm.
• Damian gets some more offense including a dropkick.
• The barb-wire falls off Hak as he goes outside.
• Hak goes to the apron and is kicked backed to the rail by Damian.
• Damian then goes off the ropes and hits a somersault dive.
• Damian sends Hak to the rail and sets up the stairs.
• Damian goes onto the lower step and drops an elbow.
• Damian sends Hak into the ring, goes to the turnbuckle, and hits a sloppy moonsault for one.
• Hak then takes control.
• Hak lands a punch, sets Damian on the top rope and lands a gullotine legdrop.
• Hak covers for two.
• Outside the ring, Hak sets Damian on the rail.
• Hak goes to the apron and does a gullotine legdrop. Gee, we just saw that.
• Hak sends Damian in and gets a chair.
• Hak puts Damian in the Tree of Woe and sets the chair on his face.
• Hak comes out of the opposite door and hits a sliding dropkick.
• As Hak gets his cane, Damian chairs him.
• Damian grabs Hak's arm and goes on the ropes a la Undertaker.
• Hak trips Damian with the cane.
• Damian is whipped and somersaults over a cane swing.
• Damian gets the cane and nails Hak three times.
• Damian tries a fourth swing and misses.
• Hak then applies a Russian Legsweep for the win.
• YOUR WINNER: Hak via Russian Legsweep in 4:40.
• Bobby Heenan: "You can come in the ring with barb-wire, you can come in the ring with a pole... you need a good Black and Decker."
• If you look on the top of the TV screen as the camera pans away from the ring to go to commercial, you can see the cage from "last week."

• In this segment, Schiavone refers to Torrie Wilson as simply "a gorgeous woman."
• Much like DDP suffers from walking pneumonia, Schiavone is afflicted with selective amnesia.

• Hector "From WWF to This?!?" Garza makes his way out.
• All right! It's Psychosis!
• The announcing team says that Ric Flair will make an announcement on next Monday's Nitro.
• The initial lock-up results in a clean break at the ropes.
• Another lockup, Psychosis goes off the ropes and is sent down after a hair-pull.
• Garza chops Psychosis.
• Psychosis gets whipped but manages to land a shoulderblock.
• Psychosis comes off the ropes and meets a spinning kick.
• Garza whips Psychosis to the corner.
• Psychosis goes to the turnbuckle, leaps over Garza, and whips him to the opposite corner.
• Psychosis lands a lariat.
• Psychosis whips Garza to the turnbuckle.
• Garza leaps to the turnbuckle and attempts a crossbody, but Psychosis counters with a dropkick.
• Garza is sent out of the ring.
• Psychosis follows with a plancha.
• Psychosis chops Garza and sends him to the rail.
• Garza blows a spot in which he counters a rail whip into leaping on the rail and landing a possible moonsault.
• In any case, Psychosis dropkicks Garza.
• In the ring, Psychosis goes up top, dives off, and Garza counters with a powerslam.
• Garza kicks Psychosis in the back.
• Garza whips Psychosis to the corner.
• Garza charges with a crossbody, but nobody's home.
• Psychosis goes up top and lands a missile dropkick.
• Instead of calling this match, the announcers talk about David Flair's heel turn.
• Psychosis whips Garza, who manages to land a flying forearm.
• In the corner, Garza chops Psychosis.
• Garza whips Psychosis into the corner and lands a double leg.
  • Again, it looked like Garza blew a spot as the way he landed his legs on Psychosis looked like he could have turned this into a move such as a headscissors.
• Garza tries this again in the opposite corner and misses.
• Psychosis goes up top and hits a, uhm, "flying body attack." Thanks, Schiavone.
• Garza charges at Psychosis in the corner and is sent crotch first into the rope.
• Psychosis shakes the ropes, thus hindering the chances of Garza being able to do his share in childbirth.
• Psychosis goes up top and hits a flying clothesline for two.
  • Or was that a flying arm attack? Maybe a move that could hurt someone? Damnit, Schiavone, where are you when I need you most?!!
• Garza applies a sloppy release suplex for two.
• As Garza goes up top, Psychosis grabs the rope, thus tripping Garza off.
• Psychosis goes up top and hits a What-a-move!
  • You might know this as a frankensteiner.
• Psychosis then finishes Garza off with a flying sidewalk slam, err, the top-rope gullotine legdrop.
• YOUR WINNER: Psychosis via gullotine legdrop in 7:19.
• Bobby Heenan: "I saw Psychosis' kid the other day! You know, he's got one horn!"
• Sloppy, sloppy, SLOPPY! Hector Garza looked like Mongo out there!

• Okay, what's worse than hearing Glacier's music and seeing his introduction? How about hearing Glacier's music and seeing his introduction as The Cat comes out.
• Cat argues about his music to Onoo, then to a WCW crewmember.
• Cat orders Penzer to get on the mic and say that The Cat is the greatest of all time.
• Zzzzz...
• The Cat gets a mic. Good God!
• Typical banter thus far.
• The Cat talks trash to a man in the crowd, calling him a midget and saying he'll stomp a mudhole in his [MUTE].
• The Cat wants WCW to send a clown in the ring.
• OH MY GOD. IT'S DOINK!!
• Just teasing ya. Stevie Ray comes out.
• Commercials.

  • Okay, I've been seeing a particular commercial for weeks now and it's really bugging me. In this bit for Hardee's, Mark Martin is racing on the Winston Cup circuit, is about to take the lead in the race, and for no reason pulls off the track into a Hardee's drive-through. Hello?!? Why don't you win the f**king race, then you can buy all the damned Frisco burgers you want with your prize money! Sheesh!

    I know, it's just a commercial. But I had to vent. Anyway, back to the match.

• The Cat talks some smack to Stevie Ray.
• The Cat gives Stevie Ray five seconds to get out.
• As The Cat counts to five, Stevie gets the crowd to cheer for him and stands tall.
• After seeing Stevie still in the ring, The Cat wants someone to call his momma because he's about to whoop Yogi Bear.
• The Cat tries a lockup and is shoved down.
• Stevie lands a forearm.
• The Cat ducks a forearm, comes off the ropes, and is slammed by Stevie.
• Stevie slams Cat again and chokes him in the corner.
• Stevie puts on a facelock and whips Cat into a clothesline.
• Cat lands a low blow (paw?) and some rights to the back.
• Cat talks smack and scratches Stevie, err claws him, damnit... he lands a palm shot. Yeah, that's it!
• Stevie neuters The Cat with a low blow, whips him into the corner and misses the axehandle.
• Cat lands some side kicks.
• Cat does a foot choke.
• Cat kicks Stevie, comes off the ropes, tries a sidekick and gets slammed.
• Stevie whips The Cat into his axe kick.
• As Stevie picks up Cat to scoop slam him, one of Cat's legs smacks referee Mickey Jay in the face, knocking him down.
• Sonny Onoo comes in and gets a slapjack for his troubles.
• As Stevie goes to the turnbuckle, Vince(nt) comes out of nowhere and beans him with the blackjack!
• The Cat then covers for the win. Hiss.
• YOUR WINNER: The Cat after Vince(nt)'s interference in 4:03.

• For those of you who have wondered when Raven will return to action, here's your answer.
• Kanyon's looking quite spiffy tonight.
• Raven has the mic.
• Raven bitches about two jobbers, Bam Bam Bigelow and Hak.
• Raven says that Hak's rules were ripped off from Raven's Rules.
• Raven: "What about me? What about RAVEN?!?"
• Raven says he will stomp Hak like "narcs in a biker rally."
• Kanyon gets the mic and does his "Who's better than Kanyon" bit.
• Raven and Dandy lock up.
• Raven and Kanyon doubleteam Dandy in the corner.
• Tag to Kanyon, who kicks Dandy.
• Kanyon comes off the ropes into an El Dandy backbody drop.
• Tag to Villano V.
• Trying to do their imitation of the Rock 'N' Roll Express, the luchas whip Kanyon into a double dropkick.
• V lays some fists on Raven but Kanyon stops that.
• Kanyon does his reverse powerbomb.
• Tag to Raven.
• Raven puts on a facelock.
• Tag to Kanyon.
• Raven holds V for Kanyon to hit.
• Kanyon lands a blow on Dandy.
• Kanyon slams V.
• Kanyon tags Raven and drop toe-holds Dandy.
• Raven then comes off the ropes and drops an elbow on the back of Dandy's head.
• In the corner, Raven lands ten fists on V as the crowd counts along.
• Raven whips V to corner.
• As Raven charges in, V lifts the boot.
• V tags in Dandy who cleans house.
• Dandy dropkicks Kanyon and tags in V.
• As Dandy goes to the ropes, Raven pulls him out and whips him into the rail.
• V hot-shots Kanyon on the ropes.
• As V beats on Kanyon, Raven whacks him with a chair.
• Kanyon sets up the chair in the middle of the ring and tags in Raven.
• Kanyon whips V.
• Raven then does his drop toe-hold on the chair.
• Raven then stalls and hits the Evenflow.
• Raven then makes a lazy cover for three, but no bell sounds.
• Chastity is livid outside the ring.
• Ahh, I see what's going on here. Raven wants Johnny Boone to make another three-count, which he does.
• YOUR WINNERS: Raven and Kanyon after Raven's Evenflow DDT in 5:18.
• Post-match, Kanyon sets up a table outside.
• Kanyon sends Dandy head-first into the steps and sets him on the table.
• Raven then leaps over the top ropes and planchas onto Dandy and the table.

• Yes! Blitzkrieg! From what I've seen of this guy, he's impressed me.
• He'll be going up against Juventud!
• Lockup, Blitz goes behind and gets elbowed.
• Juvy comes off the ropes and runs into a somersault kick, sending him outside.
• Juvy comes off the ropes and whips Blitz.
• A series of reversals follows, climaxing into a headscissors takeover that sends Blitz outside.
• Juvy with a kick and two chops.
• Juvy comes off the ropes and gets kicked by Blitz, sending him between the ropes.
• Blitz then goes off the ropes and LAUNCHES himself onto Juvy! I can't do this justice, Juvy was quite some distance from the ring.
• Blitz sends Juvy into the rail.
• Back in, Blitz tries a moonsault and misses, landing on his feet.
• Off a reversal, Juvy hits a bulldog for two.
• Juvy applies a chinlock.
• Juvy lands a chop and whips Blitz.
• Blitz sends Juvy over the ropes, landing on the apron.
• Juvy then does an Ace Crusher on the ropes.
• Back inside, Blitz hits a powerbomb.
• Blitz does his double standing moonsaults for two.
• Both men are out of the ring.
• Blitz kicks Juvy in the jaw and sends him in.
• Blitz with some knife-edge chops.
• Blitz sends Juvy to the corner and charges at him.
• Blitz gets to the buckle and is crotched on the ropes by Juvy.
• Juvy goes to the top rope and hits a frankenstiner.
• Juvy sells a worked leg injury as he covers for two.
• We go to some commercials, including a Bruise Cruise promo.
• A series of reversed whips leads to Juvy landing a clothesline.
• Juvy comes off the ropes and lands an elbow for two.
• Juvy applies a front chancery.
• Juvy whips Blitz into a tilt-a-whirl slam for two.
• Juvy sets Blitz on the buckle, who lands some punches.
• Juvy is shoved to the mat, but lands on his feet.
• Juvy dropkicks Blitz to the outside.
• Juvy sends Blitz back in.
• Juvy does a top rope legdrop for two.
• Blitz reverses a whip, but Juvy gets in a release German suplex for two.
• Blitz gets out of an attempted suplex and sends Juvy into the corner.
• Blitz does a victory roll for two.
• Blitz hits a backbreaker for two.
• Blitz goes off the ropes, tries a second-rope moonsault but Juvy gets a leg up.
• Juvy then goes up top for the 450^o, and lands on his feet as he sees Blitz get out of the way.
• Blitz kicks Juvy, goes off the ropes and misses a spinwheel kick.
• Juvy then hits the Juvydriver for the win!
• YOUR WINNER: Juventud Guerrera via Juvydriver in ~10:01.

• Yeah. This is what I tune into a wrestling show for. Who gives a shit?!?

• Yeah. This is what I tune into a wrestling show for. Sound familiar?

• Disco gets a mic and speaks in David Penzer's ear.
• Penzer wants the crowd to rise for Disco's singing of the Canadian National Anthem.
• And now, I present to you, The Canadian National Anthem, as sung by Disco Inferno:

  Ohhh, Canada.
  Let's all go drink some beer.
  Then, let's play hockey;
  Because we have nothing better to do.
  Our dollar sign is worth absolutely nothing;
  Because our language [Bret Hart's music cuts off the mic.]

• That friggin' ruled. Of course, I bet Mr. Hart isn't too thrilled about it.
• A couple notes here:
  1. Isn't Hart in the nWo? If so, why is he facing off against a fellow member?
  2. You'd think that Disco's mocking of the Canadian National Anthem would make Hart a face, but Hart never bothered to greet the fans and wrestled this match as a heel.
• The first minute and a half of this match was spent by Disco fleeing to the outside everytime Hart advanced toward him.
• Hart would finally catch Disco and lay a whoopin' on him.
• Outside of the ring, Hart has Disco on the carpet and kicks him in the groin.
• Back inside, Hart lands a headbutt to the "lower abdomen."
• Hart rakes Disco on the ropes.
• Hart chokes Disco on the ropes.
• Hart drives his boot into Disco's throat.
• Commercials...
• Hart still has control.
• Hart drops an elbow.
• Hart drives his boot into Disco's ear.
• Both men are outside.
• Hart sends Disco to the steps head-first.
• Hart lands some fists to Disco's forehead.
• Disco misses a wild swing and gets headbutted.
• Hart with his FMOD Russian Legsweep.
• Hart chokes Disco in the corner.
• Disco takes control and beats on Hart in the corner.
• Disco chokes Hart in the corner.
• Disco goes outside and elbows Hart in the chest.
• Disco puts on a side headlock.
• Disco kicks away on Hart in the corner.
• Hart kicks Disco in the leg.
• Hart yanks Disco's leg and puts it on the ropes.
• Hart drops his body mass on the leg.
• Hart works on Disco's leg some more.
• Hart puts on the Figure-Four. Now we get screwed, err go to school! Whoo!
• Bobby Heenan refers to the Dean Dome, the site of next Monday's Nitro, as the Malenko Dome.
• Disco tries to punch Hart's leg to get out of the hold to no avail.
• Disco finally reaches the ropes with his fingers and Mickey Jay has to break the hold.
• Hart applies his FMOD pendenlum backbreaker.
• Hart goes to the turnbuckle and does his FMOD elbowdrop.
• Hart then puts on the Sharpshooter for the win.
• YOUR WINNER: Bret Clark via Sharpshooter in ~9:04.

The Good: Blitzkrieg looked fluid tonight in his match and Disco Inferno's skit was quite humorous.

The Bad: The Cat was booked to win, Hector Garza blew more spots than Gene Okerlund does in his interviews, and Bret Hart basically mailed in his match.

The Ugly: Instead of taping a match, WCW decides to air a Konnan music video. If I wanted to see that shit, I'd watch BET.

Hey there. I just got back from Thunder(Which included next week's tapings), and it was quite possibly the greatest experience of my life. Great matches, an awesome crowd, and I got to see all my favorite wrestlers. Next weeks tapings were really good too, but I won't go into them now because I know you guys avoid spoilers.

Not much happened live that wasn't seen on TV, although the crowd noise was dramatically muted for the broadcast. The "Disco Sucks!" chants were deafening. The crowd was fantastic, way better than they were last time Nitro was here. At that show I thought there was gonna be a riot. Utah's finest white trash was represented at that show, and I swear they threw live grenades in the ring whenever the nWo was out. But this audience was much better. They appreciated good talent, and popped for EVERYTHING. Penzer, the cage being lowered, and every wrestler 'cept Bobby Blaze. Disco seemed to be the only guy they didn't like. Chavo was loved by all untill he started beating up Kidman, and Lash Leroux got over after he did the splits. One thing that was odd was that everyone joined in on a "Jericho sucks" chant, but as soon as he snapped on the Lion Tamer the chant was instantly replaced with enthusiastic applause. Also of note: There was a sign that said "Whooooooooooooooooooo!" that stretched about half the length of the arena, but I don't think it got on TV.

Apparently the camerman has some sort of weird fascination with sports fans, because according to Penzer wherever they go the cameraman likes to find out about the local sports teams. Tonight he asked if there were any Jazz fans in the house. Huge pop. Penzer likes Jazz too. Its got good rhythm and he likes the saxaphones. He made the exact same joke last time.

Oh yeah, during a commercial break Buff Bagwell did push ups in the ring.

I was lucky enough to run in to Ralphus. He was just hanging out at a booth where you could sign up for the WCW credit cards. I don't think anyone else even noticed. He was SUPER nice to my little brother, and signed an autograph and posed for a picture.

I snapped a bitchin' photo of Benoit right after he jumped off the cage. I hope it turns out ok.

After the sucky Nitro I went to, I didn't think live events were as good as televised ones. Boy was I wrong. This night was amazing, and I don't think I'll ever forget it.

Be sure to watch next week to hear Disco Inferno sing the Canadian National Anthem as only he can.

I hope this has been informative. I'll close with the standard arena report conclusion.

Biggest Pops

1. Goldberg (dark match)
2. Ric Flair
3. Konnan and Mysterio
4. Big Papa Pump
5. Benoit and Malenko
6. everything else

Biggest Heat

1. Disco Inferno
2. Jericho (untill he won)
3. Chavo (when he started causin' trouble)
4. Adams and Horace