Thunder Results
August 5th, 1998.
Live/Taped: Live.
Length: Two Hours+.
Location: Casper, Wyoming.
Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Lee Marshall.

The show opens with selected clips from Nitro.

THE GIANT vs. LIZMARK, JR.
In about the time it takes me to type this sentence the Giant delivers a 
chokeslam and gets the win. Afterwards he throws a few comments out to 
Goldberg.

Goldberg video.

Luger, in an interview almost identical to most generic NWO interviews, 
identifies Scott Hall as one of the men who laid him out on Monday. Luger 
throws out a challenge to the NWO for a six-man match. Konnan and Sting 
then come out. Sting is back to wearing the red-and-black make-up which, 
other than pointing out, the announcers don't bother to explain or 
speculate about. I guess the thing with Sting Monday was just a cheap 
ratings ploy, huh?

Dean Malenko comes out and runs into Chris Jericho, who warns him to call 
the PPV match between he and Juventud Guerrera down the middle. Malenko 
blows him off.

JUVENTUD GUERRERA vs. PSYCHOSIS
A good match for the two minutes it lasts. Malenko is the referee. Jericho 
interferes by knocking out Guerrera with his Cruiserweight Title belt. 
Malenko, who had been keeping an eye on Psychosis (down on the floor after 
a tumble he'd taken) missed the interference. Psychosis hits a legdrop off 
the top and covers for the pin. Malenko realizes that Jericho did 
something, but having not seen it he can't change his call. With this kind 
of finish I'm glad the match was short.

NWO Nite Cap. After about five minutes of bad Jay Leno and Diamond Dallas 
Page jokes, DDP runs in and attacks Eric Bischoff, trashing the talk show 
set in the process. Casper police officers appear and drag DDP away. The 
the Giant comes out and carries off the unconscious Bischoff. I know I 
should be ecstatic over this, but another five minutes of Bischoff's jokes 
were torture to endure. For the record the damage to the set done by DDP 
was very minor, essentially just knocking stuff over. I hope this is the 
end of it, though it could easily be resurrected in the future: a prospect 
that kills much of my approval over this VERY NECESSARY plot development. 
After the commercial they announce that "Hollywood" Hogan saw this in his 
hotel room and is on his way over to the arena. (Why wasn't he there in the 
first place?)

"HACKSAW" JIM DUGGAN vs. MENG
Two minutes into this dreadful match (which featured Duggan deliberately 
flashing his ass to the crowd), the Barbarian, Hugh Morrus and Jimmy Hart 
run in. Meng is the target of their attack and they hit him with Duggan's 
2X4, but it doesn't hurt him. Duggan then gets the board back and Hart's 
army flees. Duggan and Meng give each other uneasy looks as the saga of 
their impending alliance continues.

Tony Schiavone does a plug for the American Ironhorse motorcycle they had 
on Nitro.

Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, Scott Norton, Scott Hall, Vincent and Brian Adams 
of the NWO all come out. Hall has a (presumably) alcoholic beverage, which 
he makes a show of passing off to Vincent (which Vincent gets rid of off 
camera). Rude makes a few comments on the mic, then Hall (who looks "in no 
condition to wrestle") makes a series of bizarre comments. He tells the 
Wolfpac to borrow some Monistat 7 so they can clear up their "yeast 
infection"(?) He then informs Luger that it was he alone that beat him up, 
and that Luger was seeing double after he knocked him "onto queer street 
... and you were LIKING it!" (??) He finishes up by calling Konnan a 
"jumping bean" and saying he'll stomp on him "like a cock-a-roach"(???) If 
Hall wasn't liquored up then he was doing a damn fine imitation of it.

(This is roughly the midway point of the show and we've seen five minutes 
of wrestling.)

STEVIE RAY vs. STEVE "MONGO" MCMICHAEL
Mongo looks like hell in the ring. The match goes maybe two minutes when 
Chavo Guerrero comes out, carrying the notary stamp he found in Stevie's 
bag on Monday. Chavo says he's not only made himself a driver's license, 
but has also made himself the TV Champion (showing Stevie the "notarized" 
document to prove it). Stevie rips it up and grabs Chavo, who then nails 
him with the belt. Stevie gets counted out as Chavo wails on him. Only now 
that a month has passed do I realize that the feud between Chavo and Eddie 
Guerrero is supposed to be over.

Schiavone interviews Rick Steiner: an interview which serves no purpose 
other than to remind us that Rick is fighting his brother Scott at the PPV. 
That, and establish that Rick is in the building.

A special video of Arn Anderson tries to sell us on the idea of a Four 
Horsemen without Ric Flair. Arn is pushed as the one guy who was always 
part of the Horsemen. (I guess that doesn't count that year he was gone and 
in the WWF with Tully Blanchard.)

SATURN/KANYON vs. SICK BOY/RIGGS
Raven comes out and says that, as a way to prepare for the two-on-three 
beating Saturn will get from Raven and Kanyon in the Triangle Match at the 
PPV, he has to fight Riggs and Sick Boy by himself in a handicap match. 
Another two minute match, with Saturn pinning Sick Boy following a Death 
Valley Driver. Raven lays out Saturn a DDT after the match.

Another motorcycle plug.

DISCO INFERNO vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
Disco is accompanied by Tokyo Magnum, who is still dancing like Alex Wright 
to Wright's music. An okay, but only three minute match which, to be 
honest, I didn't pay much attention to both times I watched it. I've just 
lost too much respect for and interest in Disco to much care about him. 
Eddie gets the pin after a Frog Splash (assisted by Magnum, who meant to 
push Eddie off the top but pushed the wrong way). Eddie's rehabilitation as 
a credible wrestler continues.

Buff Bagwell phones in and announces that Scott Steiner was injured in the 
attack by Rick on Monday, and thus will not be able to face him at the PPV 
on Saturday. The announcers and Rick, who was called out to the desk, don't 
buy it and hang up on him. Let me get this straight: this entire upcoming 
PPV match, which may have just been scrapped, is hyped by a rambling 
interview and a phone call? That's lazy-ass booking, folks.

"Hollywood" Hogan, the Disciple and Eric Bischoff hit the ring for an 
interview. Hogan uses a bunch of biker slang, making his comments even LESS 
coherent than usual. Bischoff is sporting a limp from the earlier attack.

CURT HENNIG/SCOTT HALL/BRIAN ADAMS vs. STING/LEX LUGER/KONNAN
The announcers talk during this match about the eight-man match at the PPV, 
which they keep calling a battle royal (which I guess that means it's a 
battle royal then, and not an eight-man match). After five minutes of 
introes (including a commercial break in between) the two groups start 
brawling on the floor. The ref doesn't count anyone out, even though the 
bell has run more than a minute earlier. Things then settle down in the 
ring and everyone takes turns tagging in for a bit, with the NWO working 
over Konnan for much of the match. Sting gets the hot tag in and goes to 
work on Hall, who spends all his time pretending to be punch-drunk. (At 
least I hope he's pretending, and I pray it's punches he's drunk from.) 
Konnan and Adams then wind up in the ring. Adams refuses to submit to the 
Tequila Sunrise, only to be pinned by Konnan a moment later with a roll-up 
from behind. The End.

Next Monday: Nothing announced.

Next week: Thunder returns to Thursday.

Comments:

The satellite guide listed this week's show as being three hours long with 
an immediate replay. Instead it was only two hours long with an immediate 
replay. Regardless, being only two hours didn't stop this show from being 
boring and pointless. The "Nite Cap" set being trashed by DDP was the only 
notable occurrence, and the only thing which really helped hype the PPV. 
They even cut back on the Leno footage and PPV promo's, which made the show 
easier to watch, but hurt in their efforts to build to Saturday's show. 
Leno apparently did another bit to hype the PPV on "The Tonight Show" 
Tuesday night. Why not show a clip of that? DDP's attack on Bischoff showed 
just how quick and easy he can be removed from the equation, which 
realistically gives one the impression that the PPV match could all be 
Hogan gainst DDP, with Leno just standing there and watching from the 
apron. Also realistically Leno could be put out just as quick, making 
possible that the match could be just Hogan and Bischoff vs. DDP; or just 
Hogan vs. DDP. Schiavone mentioned during the show that they had footage of 
Leno training for the match. Why not show that? I guess they're saving it 
for Saturday Night, or the PPV itself.

The rest of the PPV card got a poor going over here. The Giant talked some 
trash about Goldberg, but he wasn't even on the show. I suppose Chavo's 
attack establishes that he MIGHT have a chance against Stevie Ray, but is 
it for the Television Title or not? They spent all Monday saying there's no 
way that Stevie is the champ, then spent this show actually seeming to 
embrace the notion that he *IS* the champion (even though Chavo again came 
out with the notary stamp, which would seem to kill Stevie's claim that he 
rightfully has the belt). Juventud Guerrera lost another match, and they 
showed that Malenko can be easily fooled by Jericho. This seems to set up 
another obvious Cruiserweight Title change, with another "technicality" 
reversal looming on the horizon. The much advertised NWO/Wolfpac eight-man 
tag match has been changed to a battle royal: possibly because Goldberg 
screwed up and called it that on Monday. Bret Hart was nowhere to be seen. 
The Steiner Brothers match may have been scrapped. The only drama going 
into the Raven/Kanyon/Saturn Triangle Match is whether or not Kanyon will 
help Raven (which, since Raven has zero credibility telling the truth, 
would be a huge shock if Kanyon DID help Raven). Though unannounced, Jim 
Duggan and Meng could very well team up to face the Barbarian and Hugh 
Morrus (*shudder*).

And Travis Tritt will be in concert.

As is par for the course in WCW, the PPV undercard could deliver some 
decent in-ring action. And, as is also par for the course, the main event 
should be awful. Whatever the result, viewers will then have a half hour to 
listen to Travis Tritt sing while they mull over what they just saw.

Don't forget: all this will be taking place in front of a few thousand 
(maybe only a few hundred) drunken, rowdy bikers, who--in the past--have 
shown a penchant for throwing out racial slurs ... as well as rocks and 
beer bottles.