WCW Thunder 9/3/98
After a pretty awful Summer, it feels like WCW has some direction again. Let's see if they can get me back in the last quarter of the year. The main event for tonight is DDP/Konnan vs Stevie Ray/Giant
Rick Fuller vs Marty Jannetty
Marty's new gear is truly garish. But the fact that he's facing Rick Fuller might mean he's going to get a win. Too bad he looks like ice cream now. But then Rick Fuller is mostly dominating, so maybe that ice cream is melted on Thunder. Marty got a few drop kicks at the start, but other than that, he's been dominated. Heart slap. Fuller runs into the ring post and then gets hit with the Rocker Dropper. Marty wins! He celebrates like he forgot that he had wrestled on Wrestlemanias, Summerslams, and Survivor Series. My, how the might have fallen.
Recap of the Nitro main event. Then a recap of Saturn as Lodi's servant. We'll have sit down interview with Saturn later in the show.
Leafy Lane vs Kaz Hayashi
Kaz is in much better shape from the start of the year. He's probably dropped 10-15 pounds of needless bulk. He's getting kind a push, I guess. As much of a push you can get being a cruiserweight that isn't Rey/Juvi/Jericho or in the nWo feuds. Lenny gets started right away, showing off the size and power difference. Kaz comes back by throwing Lenny into the corner while he was trying a bulldog. It didn't last long, though. Lenny might be the least intimidating wrestling name ever. Kaz does a rana that sends Lenny to the floor and hits a big dive. In the ring, a cross body is caught into a powerslam. Kaz hits a super rana followed by a top rope senton for the win.
Disorderly Conduct vs High Voltage
Oh wow. This is Worldwide up in here. This and Konnan in the main event? High Voltage wins with the Doomsday Device.
Barry Horowitz vs Wrath
This is getting even more jobbery. Wrath dominates and wins with the meltdown. We're about half way through the show with one gif to show for it.
TO THE SATURN. They said this would be an in depth, sit down interview. It's just a cut up interview with him sitting in the dark. It isn't really an interview. He talks about being an Army Ranger and why his word is so important. Basically, he was poor as a kid and his word was all he had. He wants to disband the Flock.
Meng vs Raven
I expect Meng to murder the members of the Flock. Kanyon gets on the mic and says this is a handicap match. Sick Boy and Riggs vs Meng, I guess. Tongan Deathgrip on Riggs. Horace uses the stop sign to break it up and gets put in the Deathgrip. Sick Boy also gets caught in it. Raven makes Lodi make Saturn get in the ring. He goes right after Meng. Kanyon kicks him in the back of the head. Deathgrip on Saturn. The rest of the Flock leave. I guess Meng wins. Bell didn't ring, but Tony said Meng won.
Kanyon vs Saturn
Give me a gif, Kanyon. Come on. Saturn was still in the ring after the break, so now they're going to have a match. Saturn is basically already out of it. Electric chair drop. Kanyon does some weird thing that looked like he was going to do a reverse powerbomb, but then twisted it around into a suplex thing, but it didn't look very good. Hanging neckbreaker. Besides Saturn being dead going into the match, Kanyon keeps trying new moves and they aren't really working. Saturn hits a belly to belly and t-bone. Lodi gets on the apron and wants to see a Flatliner. Saturn allows Kanyon to hit his move. BANG! Kanyon wins.
Brian Adams vs Dean Malenko
Curt Hennig ambushes Dean as he was making his entrance. A beat down ensues. Rude has some kind of cage or fencing with him. Dean makes a short come back. Where is Mongo? Where is Arn? Where is Benoit? Rude Awakening! Hip swivel! I guess Dean asked for a cage match with Hennig. No one is man enough to face Hennig in a cage. They cover Malenko with a section of fencing.
Riggs vs Norman Smiley
Riggs is still selling the Tongan Deathgrip. We get word that Malenko vs Hennig in a cage will happen on Nitro! Crowd is so dead. And the wrestlers aren't really giving them anything to get excited about. Norman does some weird move that basically looked like he was trying to power fuck Riggs. This is terrible. This whole show is pretty bad. I think they've managed to put even less effort into the show 2 weeks ago. Norman wins with a knee bar.
Dancing Fools vs Armstrong Brothers
Steve and Scott. Jobberrific show. Disco just stands on the ropes, watches Alex get slammed, and Steve Armstrong just stares at him while he waits to do an elbow. It was terrible. Interesting that Scott and Alex have the same color scheme tonight. Steve slams Scott onto Disco. Disco gets a beat down in the corner. He hits a backslide and would have had the win, but the ref was distracted. Both teams are working as Southern heels, so it is kind of a strange match. Scott accidentally hits Steve with a missile drop kick. Knee face buster into a neck breaker for the win by the Dancing Fools.
The Giant/Stevie Ray vs DDP/Konnan
DDP is totally bros with Konnan, despite his year and a half long feud with the nWo. Stevie and DDP start out. Giant gets called in. DDP tries a wrap around sunset flip. Giant turns it into a chokebreaker. CZFNW! Giant flying DDT from DDP. Konnan comes in and gets put down right away. He then hits a shitty X-Factor on Stevie. Hot tag to DDP, who was in the ring like 45 seconds ago. Kanyon Cutter on Stevie! BANG! He clearly got pinned to 3, since Giant took his fucking time getting over the rope. But then Virgil and Crush hit the ring and the match is thrown out. What a shocker. Goldberg runs out and spears Crush. Giant orders Virgil to attack. He gets put down. WE'RE OUT OF TIME.
Holy shit. Absolutely ZERO effort was put into this show. No promos, straight up jobbers up and down the whole show, matches not even happening, nWo DQs. I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that WCW was getting more focused. This show was embarrassing.