Thunder Results
June 4th, 1998.
Live/Taped: Live.
Length: Two Hours+.
Location: Peoria, Illinois.
Hosted By: Tony Schiavone, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Lee Marshall.

Footage of Sting dropping from the ceiling on Nitro opens the show. Clips 
of Benoit vs. Booker T. follow.

BOOKER T. vs. CHRIS BENOIT
The worst match in the series thus far. Benoit phones his half of the match 
in (maybe because he knew he'd be losing). A couple of minutes in (after 
Booker had dominated for most of the match) Stevie Ray comes out to cheer 
his brother on. Booker escapes from a Crippler Crossface by reaching the 
ropes. Shortly thereafter he hits the missile drop-kick and covers for the 
pin. No fire at all in this one, despite a good response from the crowd. 
Benoit, during the match, did his series of rolling German Suplexes, which 
looked weak and sloppy. Benoit still leads the series 3-to-2.

The Giant comes out and criticizes Sting for joining the Wolfpac. He 
promises to deliver him grievous bodily harm. The Giant then brings out 
Brian Adams, saying he is his new World Tag Team Championship partner. The 
Giant offers to put the titles up against anyone in the Wolfpac.

VAN HAMMER vs. REESE (w/ the Flock)
Reese pins Hammer after Horace of the Flock nails him with a stop sign. The 
Flock then lay in a beating, only to be stopped by Juventud Guerrera. 
Guerrera sends everyone put Reese packing. Hammer pushes Juventud out of 
the ring before he gets killed.

ALEX WRIGHT vs. EDDIE GUERRERO
Before the match Eddie says he's getting his nephew Chavo therapy because 
he's too loco. In a variation on the theme from Monday, Chavo runs in 
during the match and hits Wright, causing Eddie to lose via DQ. I think we 
can safely tune out this angle until the match at the PPV.

Lex Luger comes out and accepts the challenge offered by the Giant (which 
is odd, since I got the impression that the challenge was meant for Sting). 
Luger announces that his partner will be Diamond Dallas Page! Great, so 
DDP's now joining the Wolfpac? Or can we just drop the "NWO Wolfpac" 
nonsense and finally admit that the Wolfpac is just a WCW stable?

In case anyone forgot to tune in right away, they replay Benoit's loss to 
Booker T. from the top of the show.

PSYCHOSIS vs. FIT FINLEY
Marshall and Schiavone make an interesting comment in this one: supposedly 
being the TV Champion means you MUST defend the belt at every televised 
card. Really? Since when? Schiavone calls Finley "a living open contract". 
The former Belfast Bruiser wins this one in a breeze.

They must not have enough wrestlers in the building tonight. For the next 
five minutes or so they replay the Sting saga in its entirety from Monday.

SATURN vs. GLACIER
Again? Just a few minutes into the match the referee gets knocked out. 
Another ref runs in, but it turns out to be Kanyon is disguise, He nails 
Saturn, then leaves his Mortis mask as his calling card (something he's 
done in other recent appearances). Glacier covers Saturn and gets the pin 
when the first ref recovers.

Curt Hennig comes out and, in a virtual repeat of his speech from Monday, 
asks Konnan to wrestle Goldberg for him (only this time he makes it 
definite that he can't fight Goldberg at the PPV because of his bad knee). 
Konnan accepts, offering to defend the U.S. Title against Hennig should he 
happen to win it from Goldberg.

DEAN MALENKO vs. SILVER KING
The match has only been underway for minute or so when Chris Jericho comes 
out and rings the bell, halting the match. He pulls out what he purports to 
be an NWA rule book (obtained at the Library of Congress) which states that 
the champion has the first right of refusal. He calls it the "Ed 'the 
Strangler' Lewis Loophole". Jericho calls out J.J. Dillon and says the 
Cruiserweight belt should still be his, telling Malenko to let him have it. 
J.J. never shows, but Malenko lets him have it alright. That's the second 
time they've done the "let me have it!" joke with Jericho.

DISCO INFERNO vs. RAVEN
Raven gets an easy win, using a steel chair (as he's allowed to do, it 
being "Raven's Rules" and all). He then whines "what about me?" to his 
longtime companion, Saturn.

Schiavone and Tenay mention the death of the Junkyard Dog.

GOLDBERG vs. HUGH MORRUS (w/ the Barbarian & Jimmy Hart)
No wrestling here whatsoever. Both of Jimmy Hart's men clubber on Goldberg 
in the Corner. Goldberg then knocks the two down. Jimmy Hart climbs up on 
the corner turnbuckle for no other reason than to allow Goldberg to grab 
him and throw him to Morrus and the Barbarian, who catch him. Goldberg then 
spears all three to the mat. Both wrestlers are then Jackhammered (with 
Schiavone again calling the move the Jackknife). He covers Morrus for win 
#95. I like his ring entrance, but everything else about Goldberg is 
rapidly approaching the old Ultimate Warrior level of cornyness.

THE GIANT/BRIAN ADAMS vs. LEX LUGER/DIAMOND DALLAS PAGE
This is just Monday's main event without the stars ("Hollywood" Hogan & 
Kevin Nash). After several minutes of so-so action, DDP nails Adams with 
the Diamond Cutter to score the upset pin. Sting, at just about at the same 
time, runs out and slaps the Giant on the butt. The Giant chases after 
Sting, being thus distracted and unable to help Adams avoid the pin. New 
World Tag Team Champions!

But wait ...

An emergency phone call comes in from J.J. Dillon. It seems the WCW 
Executive Committee has been in session in Atlanta, taking time out to 
watch Thunder. Dillon rules that Sting will face the Giant in a singles 
match against the Giant at the Bash to decide who is the holder of the Tag 
Team Titles. That person will then be able to pick any partner he wants. 
Big win for Luger and DDP ... but no title change. No on-camera announcement 
is made to the live crowd.

Yep ... Dusty Rodes is back on the booking committee.

Next Monday: Nothing announced.

Next week: Nothing announced.

Comments:

Is this how to respond to Nitro losing to RAW two weeks in a row in the 
ratings? (And yes, RAW *did* win last week. Check the numbers.)

I know I come off a bit cynical for most of the recap above, but doggone 
it, shouldn't WCW give me a reason to watch? Once again a fairly mediocre 
house show level card was foisted upon us as an excuse for live TV. 
Basically every criticism I've leveled at Thunder over the last few months 
held true this week. I may not be wild about Nitro, but at least it's 
bearable, offering some good matches and significant angle development. 
Thunder doesn't seem to be able to do this. The matches are usually a step 
down in quality, with the angles never starting, finishing, or doing much 
of anything to advance. I'm not really complaining, but let me just say 
that if I had anything important to do on my Thursday nights, I'd never see 
Thunder at all. Considering Thunder has lost upwards of three-quarters of a 
million regular viewers over the last month or so, I'm apparently not the 
only one who feels that way.