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.

WAR 2nd Anniversary Show 07/07/1994

Ashura Hara, Jinsei Shinzaki & John Tenta vs Jado, Gedo & Hiromichi Fuyuki

This was pretty fun. The Jado/Gedo/Fuyuki team attack at the bell and isolate Hara, with a nice triple team seeing Jado and Gedo elevating him for a top rope seated senton by Fuyuki. This is followed by a triple team powerbomb before we clip. We return to Tenta doing some awesome wobbling selling as the opposition try to down him, before he catches Gedo on a crossbody and hits the splash for 3.

Koji Ishinriki, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa vs Akio Kobayashi, Koji Kitao & Masaaki Mochizuki

This is pretty much all clipped out. Kitao looks slow and lumbering on offence, which contrasts with Mochizuki, who blitzes Ishinriki with a flurry of kicks before Kitahara rolls him up for the win.

Arashi, Kendo Nagasaki & Masashi Aoyagi vs Animal Hamaguchi, Nobukazu Hirai & Shoichi Funaki

Bit of a mess this one. I did enjoy Nagasaki tying Funaki up in knots on the mat, and I liked how fired up Hamaguchi was when he finally tagged in, but this dragged even with clipping. Hirai gets a nearfall by German suplexing Aoyagi, but eats a kick to the head to be eliminated.

Atushi Onita, Bam Bam Bigelow & Genichiro Tenryu vs The Warlord, Chris Jericho & Vampiro

Really enjoyed this. There were some nice little touches, like Jericho controlling Tenryu, only to get felled by one vicious chop. Also loved the Warlord posing, only for Bigelow to interrupt it with an enzuigiri to the head. Vampiro is isolated and beaten before we clip, returning with Warlord catching an apron dive by Tenryu, slamming him onto a table. Jericho goes too short on a Lionsault, hitting Onita in the face with his knee. Tenryu and Onita hit a botched double team powerbomb on him, and as it all breaks down , Onita nails another powerbomb on Jericho for the win

Jinsei Shinzaki, John Tenta & Ashura Hara vs Koji Ishinriki, Koki Kitahara & Takashi Ishikawa

Matches are all full from this point on. Loved the Hara/Ishikawa section at the start, just two stocky bulls going at each other. The Ishinriki/Kitahara/Ishikawa squad looked more impressive here than in the first round, with Kitahara planting Shinzaki with a massive German suplex. He also punishes Shinzaki with kicks, which seem to bust him open from the mouth. The end sees Hara and Ishikawa resume hostilities, with Ishikawa levelling Hara with a big clothesline, only for Hara to hit one of his own for the win.

Bam Bam Bigelow, Genichiro Tenryu & Atushi Onita vs Arashi, Kendo Nagasaki & Masahi Aoyagi

This one breaks down early, with Onita leading a big fight on the outside in the crowd. He ends up on the losing side of his fight with Nagasaki, who belts him with the ring bell and absolutely buries him with chairs. It’s a really fun scene. Back inside, Tenryu gets punished and isolated, loved him selling Aoyagi’s kicks to the chest with big bursts of spit. His team mates lure all the opposing team into the ring for a fight, which buys Tenryu some time to recover. By the time the ref has settled things down, Tenryu is sufficiently healthy to hit an enzuigiri on Arashi and tag Bam Bam. Bigelow blitzes Arashi and moonsaults him for the win. Really good bout.

Ultimo Dragon vs The Great Sasuke

This is for Dragon’s UWA middleweight title. This is a whole heap of fun, really felt like two guys going all out. They work a decent acrobatic series to start, but things heat up some more when Sasuke sends Dragon outside and nails a big Asai moonsault, landing in the crowd. Love the spot back inside where Dragon can’t superplex Sasuke, so instead dropkick’s him to the outside and nails his own massive Asai moonsault. Beautiful Tiger suplex by Dragon gets two. High spot of the night sees Sasuke send Dragon to the outside, and nail this nutty dive from the top turnbuckle to the floor, landing precisely between two guard rails. There’s an odd transition back to Dragon offence, as he gets fired into the ropes, and just runs at Sasuke and clubs his back. Bit out of nowhere. Ultimo nails a dropkick as Sasuke attempts a quebrada, and hits a corkscrew moonsault for the victory. Great match.

Bam Bam Bigelow, Genichiro Tenryu & Atushi Onita vs Jinsei Shinzaki, John Tenta & Ashura Hara

Loved the start of this, where Bigelow and Earthquake squared off. Fun big man stuff, with Bigelow failing to slam Quake, but somehow succeeding with a suplex, weakening him enough for a second slam to work. Really liked Tenryu and Hara facing off, just two stodgy guys exchanging blows. There’s fun little bits scattered throughout, like Onita failing with a DDT on Quake, who is too big to send down. Also loved the massive belly-to-belly suplex Tenta hits. Hara gets back in, and just gets worn down by Tenryu, who hacks away with some chops. A nasty pair to the throat see Hara in real trouble, and he gets isolated and worn down for the rest of the bout. He eats finishers from Bigelow and Onita, and only survives because of team-mates making the save. He kicks out of an Onita powerbomb, but foolishly doesn’t tag out when he has the chance. Bigelow interferes, drawing the partners into the ring, but this means Hara now has no-one to save him. A Tenryu powerbomb only gets 2, but an enzuigiri and another powerbomb win the match for Tenryu’s team. Probably the best match of the tournament.