WCW Thunder 15/01/1998

The Steiner Brothers & Ray Traylor vs Black Cat, Ohara & Gedo

Fun little six-man that also continues the Scott Steiner slow burn heel turn. Liked Traylor’s slight variation on his rope-mounted uppercut, this time just popping Black Cat as he nears the ropes. Scott gets a huge pop when he tags in and he basically demolishes the opposition solo, ignoring Rick’s attempts to tag in. Huge suplex to Ohara is followed by a Tiger Bomb and Steiner Screwdriver on Gedo for the three.

The Cat vs Yuji Nagata

Genuinely think if 1998 Ernest Miller came along now, the WWE would push him to the moon. Real fighting credentials and insane charisma? Give him a year at the Performance Centre and he’d be made. The commentary team mention a rumoured WCW karate division that thankfully went nowhere. Short but sweet little match. Miller hits a big superkick at the bell for an early two count, but is soon eating a bunch of nifty suplexes from Nagata. The Cat hits a really nice short lariat and a top rope Feliner to win.

Chris Jericho vs Eddie Guerrero

Interesting, as Jericho is just turning heel so this is a heel vs heel match. Not as long as you’d hope for, but they squeeze some really good stuff into this. Love Jericho throwing Guerrero through the air for a high elevation stungun, as well as Eddie out-heeling Jericho by grabbing the ropes on an abdominal stretch. They maintain a really high pace throughout, Eddie escaping a powerbomb and whipping into a sunset flip with real pace. A sloppy looking Gory Special that drops Jericho on his head is the only down point, before a great ending sees Guerrero try a hurricanrana, only for Jericho to shift weight and hold him down in a Liontamer for the victory. Really good stuff here.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera

This, however, is even better. They get nearly 10 minutes to fill here, and they go all out and both look tremendous. Guerrera largely controls the match with Rey making well-timed comebacks. Loved Rey’s early flip dive, before he bumps enormously after taking a slingshot to the floor. Juvi follows with his own insane dive. Juvi looks great in control, hitting a nasty looking drop down muscle buster and ramming Rey’s head into the ring apron by swinging him down violently over the ropes from the ring, sending his head upwards through the ring apron. Juvi reverses a diving rana attempt into a powerbomb, but Rey avoids the 450 and hits a quick rana for the win and the cruiserweight title.

Diamond Dallas Page & Lex Luger vs Kevin Nash & Randy Savage

This is a handicap match, as DDP is on crutches and gets taken out by Hulk Hogan before the match even starts. This gives the NWO team control, but dissention between Savage and Nash basically derails them throughout. Luger especially benefits as Savage goes to hit the axe handle from the top on Nash outside, allowing Luger to instead slam Savage to the mat. He runs riot, hitting flying forearms on both Nash and Savage, even getting to put an interfering Hogan in the rack before the numbers game builds up and we get a huge melee to end the show with Sting, the Giant and the whole NWO all involved.