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.

WCW Thunder 08/01/1998

Randy Savage vs Chris Adams

Savage is aggressive from the off, blind-siding Adams, and choking him with his bandana. Savage is all over Adams, stomping and picking him up on pins. Adams gets some respite on the outside by Irish whipping Savage into the ring post, and Lex Luger comes to the ring and levels Savage with a chairshot, rolling him back into the ring for the Adams victory.

Rick Martel vs Louie Spicolli

This is the second match into Martel’s 1998 renaissance. Spicolli starts the match by holding onto the ropes on an Irish whip, turns to the crowd to point at his head to show off his intelligence, then turns around into a clothesline, so this is already a five star match. Spicolli tries to punch his way back into it, but Martel is fired up and hits a nice spinebuster into a Quebec crab for the win.

Tenzan vs Ohara

Pretty straightforward bout. Both guys go heavy with the chops, but Ohara hits a powerbomb before Tenzan hits a tombstone and a diving headbutt to win. Very brief stuff.

Chris Jericho vs Ric Flair

Five minutes long, but they make the most of it. Nicely worked opening sequence, with Jericho smoothly reversing a hiptoss into a monkey flip. Flair cheats a few times in this match in endearing ways – first by faking an ankle injury only to poke Jericho in the eye, followed by convincing Charles Robinson to check the turnbuckle pads then hitting a low blow. Loved the spot where Flair took his usual flip over the turnbuckle, only to be met on the apron by a Jericho springboard dropkick. Jericho misses a missile dropkick and Flair swiftly locks in the figure four to win. Good stuff

The Giant vs Meng

This was only a few minutes, but was very effective. Loved the Giant hitting a huge powerslam on Meng. Meng is able to chop and kick away at the Giant, wearing him down to the mat, but this advantage is temporary. Giant gets back up, grabs a chokeslam (with Meng frantically trying to reach him for a Tongan Death Grip) and gets the win.

Goldberg vs Steve McMichael

Another effective short match. Fun little big boys scrap, with McMichael hitting Goldberg with a shoulderblock from the apron before the match even starts. Goldberg looks like a beast, muscling about a huge guy like Mongo with a press-slam into a powerslam. McMichael tries for Goldberg’s legs with a series of chop blocks, but Goldberg blitzes him with a spear and the jackhammer. Played to both guys strengths.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

Never felt like the Steiners were in jeopardy here. The NWO team get a bit of control, including a Bagwell neckbreaker that Rick botches by dropping down too early, but it doesn’t last long before the Steiners both hit huge overhead belly-to-belly suplexes. Scott finishes Konnan with a top rope Frankensteiner, much to Rick’s chagrin as he’d climbed ready to hit the top rope bulldog. This was fine.

Scott Hall vs Ray Traylor

Hall shows Traylor no respect in this one, feigning fear and slapping the back of Traylor’s head, so it’s fun to see Traylor lay into Hall with some nifty punches. The ref gets bumped, allowing Hall to hit a belt shot for two. Nice second rope bulldog also gets two, before Larry Zbyszko comes out, distracting Hall, who turns into a Bossman Slam for the win.

Juventud Guerrera vs Ultimo Dragon

This was a fine little sprint, but what I really liked is how logically and organically the spots flowed. For example, in one 30 second period, Dragon misses a handspring elbow in the corner, allowing Juvi to put him on top for a hurricanrana. However, Ultimo fights him off, sending him to the floor and hitting a (barely hit) top rope moonsault. Nothing felt contrived, everything felt in keeping with their moveset. Ultimo hit a nice kick combo and a German suplex for two, but Juvi reverses a powerbomb attempt to a big DDT. One Juvi Driver and a 450 splash later, and Juvi is the new Cruiserweight champion. Dug all this.

Lex Luger vs Scott Norton

Too short to be worth anything, but it was all action for the two minutes it lasted. Norton jumps Luger at the start, including basically deadlifting Lex up for a backbreaker when it seems to be going wrong. Luger survives the shoulderbreaker, and nails the Bionic Forearm and the torture rack for the win.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Kevin Nash

Longest match of the night at nearly seven minutes. Less pleasingly, most of those minutes are Nash’s plodding offence of clubbing blows and wandering around. It’s a shame, as this started well, DDP using his smarts to take the big man down after a blocked hiptoss, instead hitting a knee to the gut and a swinging neckbreaker. Page is good at fighting from beneath, but he’s given little to work with. Snake Eyes gets two for Nash, before DDP tries the Diamond Cutter, luring in Hulk Hogan for the DQ win. Very skippable.