WCW Thursday Thunder - Thursday 02/19/98

• Trivia Question: Jesse "The Body" Ventura was one of the all-time great "heel" announcers. As a result, he didn't like the faces. In fact, while in the WWF, he had a special nasty nickname for Tito Santana and he had one for Tony Atlas as well. What were they? (Answer at bottom of report)
• The mailbag:
  
  
  • From Greg W., DDT Digest Legal Advisor, at Georgetown Law:

    Trivia question for you. I don't recall having read this on the Net anywhere, so it might be a good one:

    Q: Who was the original "Smash" of Demolition? (HINT: It's NOT Barry Darsow).

    A: Randy Colley, aka Moondog Rexx. I was researching some cases for law school and came across this case where Colley and Bill Eadie (who wrestled as Ax) were suing Titan for breach of contract for not honoring some promises relating the the Demolition characters. McMahon and Colley apparently came up with the idea for Demolition. However, when the team made their debut, all of the fans recognized Colley as Moondog Rex and started chanting "Moondog! Moondog!" during the match. At another house show the next night, the same thing happened. McMahon decided that Colley could not credibly pull off the new character and replaced him with Barry Darsow.

    This case is interesting for a couple of other things. First off, the WWF admitted in court papers that wrestling is all staged. More interesting, Colley was claiming that he and Eadie created the Demolition idea. The WWF responded by admitting in court that they ripped off the gimmick from the Road Warriors!!! Here is a direct quote from the court's decision:

    "While Colley claims to have developed this "Demolition" character several years earlier, Titan attempts to downplay the uniqueness of this character and asserts that the idea came directly from another popular wrestling team, "The Road Warriors." Titan also attempts to take credit for developing the two "Demolition" characters. While the extent of Eadie's involvement with the initial development of the "Demolition" characters is not set forth in detail, Eadie admits that in developing this character he and Colley were influenced by The Road Warriors, but that they also took part of the concept from the Monkey Man, as well as from Humongous, both of whom are apparently other professional wrestlers, as well as from various motion pictures, including Mad Maxx, Friday the Thirteenth, Humongous, Conan the Barbarian, and Planet of the Apes."

    There's actually a plethora of great litigation involving the WWF, including:

    Titan Sports, Inc. v. Jesse Ventura. 65 F.3d 725. ("The Body" claimed he wasn't paid for some vidoes that the WWF used his voice in--Jesse won over $800,000).

    Titan Sports, Inc. v. Comics World Corporation. 870 F.2d 85. (CWC gave away posters of WWF wreslters without Titan's permission)

    Titan Enterprises, Inc. v. Afa Anoai a/k/a Samoan No. 1. 61 B.R. 918. (Titan was suing the Samoans for appearing in a match in Kuwait that was sponsored by another reporter).

    Brian Blair v. Titan Sports, Inc. The Killer Bees filed a breach of contract suit against the WWF in 1994.

    And, of course, Titan Sports, Inc. v. Turner Broadcasting Corporation, World Championship Wrestling, and Eric Bischoff. 981 F.Supp 65. The WWF sued claiming that Hall and Nash's appearance on Nitro, where they tried to give the impression of an 'interpromitional war' violated the WWF's copyright rights in the Diesel and Razor Ramon characters.

    It's really interesting to see a judge describing the history of pro wrestling in these cases. Anyway, though you might enjoy this.

• As far as Louie Spicolli's death goes, just like when Brian Pillman died, I didn't have any comments or information on it. Anything I would have given you would have come from MiCasa anyway, and I'm fundamentally opposed to stealing someone else's stuff. My only comment at this point is that I was a little disappointed at the way WCW handled it. But, in their defense, it probably happened by accident. The three-bell salute with the graphic before the show was nice, but a few minutes into the show, Schiavone asked Zbyszko for his comments on Spicolli, and Zbyszko stayed in character and said something to the effect of "As a matter of respect to Spicolli's family, I won't say anything." That came off very poorly. But, as I said, I think Schiavone, with the best of intentions, strayed from the script, assuming Zbyszko would break character. I think Larry was caught off guard.
• As far as the rest of Monday Nitro goes, the thing I remember most was Disco Inferno trying to break up the fight between Mongo and the British Bulldog while still holding his hairbrush. Pretty damn funny.
• I'm really sorry about being behind on the incoming e-mail. We're finishing up the book, and with my "real" job and the regular TV reports, and, well, some semblance of a life, the incoming mail has stacked up. Questions, brushes with greatness, link requests, Sunday {Pro} reports...the works. I'll get through it eventually. I really appreciate your patience. And, for the 1% of you who haven't figured out how the rest of the world works, getting obnoxious because I haven't responded to you does, in fact, elicit a quicker response. It's called the Delete button.
• It only took me an hour to get through on the phone on Saturday morning for Thunder tickets at the Patriot Center on 3/26, but the seats I got weren't very good. I guess that's what happens when you buy a block of twelve. Let's all pray that they are in camera range. ;-)
  The WCW event schedule is still wrong, saying Charlottesville (UVA) for Thunder on Thursday, 3/26 and Fairfax on Friday, 3/27. If I have any readers at UVA and/or who are permanent residents of Charlottesville, did you get the Friday house show that week or did you get stiffed?
• Not that I've ever actually seen a porno movie, but does anybody remember Bobby Astyr from the 1980s? Every time I look at Rick Rude without the beard, I can't help but remember him.
• Dean Ayass of Hammerlock Wrestling in the U.K. has announced that Jake "The Snake" Roberts has signed with them.
• In answer to a number of e-mails: Giant is filming a movie, nWo Sting is wrestling in Japan, Jerry Saggs of the Nasty Boys had a serious neck injury but they were supposedly coming back, and Stevie Ray was hurt, but I don't know why he is missing now.
• And, now, on to the show...

• We start off with stills from the end of Nitro.
• We are live from Birmingham, Alabama.
• That lightning bolt is getting annoying.
• Sting vs. Macho Man in tonight's main event.
• They show an interview from earlier today where Mike Tenay was about to interview Chris Jericho. About two seconds into it, the nWo goes running by and attacks Macho Man and Luger who were having a discussion in the parking lot. The nWo beats up the two of them and drags Savage off. The spot was weird with a huge crowd of onlookers gathered around.
• "Undefeated" Bill Goldberg beat David "Not-So-Fit" Finley. How? You know...
  • Lee Marshall calls Finley the "Belfast Brawler". Uh, that's "Belfast Bruiser", Dorito Man!
  • Goldberg hit a gorilla press gutbuster.
  • Wow! Goldberg flips Finley out of an attempted sleeper.
  • Sign: "Clinton is nWo"
• Psychosis pinned Chavo Guerrero, Jr. following the guillotine leg drop.
  • The announcers are making a big deal about the conversation Savage and Luger were having before they got punked.
  • Announcers warn us that if something happens in the back, they may need to cut away. Cut away from a Chavo match? Perish the thought.
  • Psychosis throws Chavo into the corner and runs in after him. Chavo steps out of the way and Psychosis just flies through the ropes and instead of hitting the post, sails to the floor.
  • Chavo does his flip from the ring onto Psychosis on the floor.
  • Psychosis says something in Spanish into the camera.
  • Psychosis got the win even though Chavo controlled most of the match.
• Oh, no, here comes Hogan and Bischoff. I wish I was watching this on videotape so I could fast forward through it. Hmm, more South Park signs. I need to start watching that as it seems I'm missing the boat. As Bischoff goes to speak, Schiavone goes "It's time for the Liars' Club." Bischoff and Hogan say everything's okay in the nWo and Savage is back in the fold. Hogan wants Macho to save just a little piece of Stinger for Hogan to beat on Sunday. Hogan goes on to tell how Nick Patrick was robbed at Starrcade just like him. Yadda, yadda, yadda...
  • Why are the thumb and forefinger cut out of Hogan's gloves?
• WCWSN's main event will be Ric Flair vs. Curt Hennig.
• Booker T. pinned Riggs following a scissor kick.
  • When is Riggs going to team with Carl Ouellette, and fight the team of Hacksaw Duggan and Robert Gibson?
  • Lee Marshall says Booker T. will be debuting his 110th Street Slam tonight.
  • Sign: "Flair Made WCW"
  • Lodi distracts Booker T., allowing Riggs to get an advantage.
  • Lodi has "Make Love, Not War" painted on his back.
  • Sign: "Buff Is A Powder Puff". Heh.
  • I was a little let down by the absence of the promised new move tonight.
  • The Flock wanted to attack after the match, but Saturn stopped them. Saturn slapped Lodi for good measure.
  • Riggs may have hurt his elbow during the match, causing it to have a different finish than planned. Aside from the move that didn't happen, the scissor kick is usually not used as a finisher.
• Mike Tenay attempts to interview Luger in the back as the trainer is taping up Luger's ribs, but Luger won't answer any questions and chases Tenay away. The announcers say Luger must be hiding something.
• Juventud Guerrera pinned Kidman following a 450 splash from the top turnbuckle.
  • I really hope Guerrera doesn't lose his mask on Sunday.
  • Lodi interferes, but it backfires. Lodi's in trouble again.
  • Schiavone says we may hear from the injured Giant at Superbrawl.
  • After the match, Jericho, wearing his cruiserweight belt, attacked Guerrera and got the mask off. Jericho didn't realize there was another mask underneath it. Guerrera dropkicked Jericho from the top turnbuckle and chased him away.
• Some WCW/NASCAR stuff. They tried to put lipstick on a pig, but from what I gathered, the WCW car lost big time at the Daytona 500.
• The Beverly Brothers (that's my name for them...not WCW's) defated The Outsiders via disqualification when Kevin Nash clubbed the referee and then gave Wayne Bloom a jackknife powerbomb.
  • Hall does his survey. The nWo is not over in Birmingham.
  • Sign: "Survey says Hall needs a bath"
  • Nash says he hasn't seen the Giant since Souled Out, so Giant should come out at Superbrawl and announce his retirement. And, "To Syxx, my boy, you my rubber hammer velvet mama!" Huh?
  • Fun fact: The first offensive move that Razor Ramon successfully executed on Shawn Michaels in the great ladder match at Wrestlemania X was the chokeslam.
  • Another fun fact: Not only did the Outsiders carry bogus belts recently, but a bogus Intercontinental Belt was hanging over the ring along with the real one for that match at Wrestlemania X.
  • Nash chanted "Attica" again as he was being taken out in handcuffs.
• Replay of the Bret Hart bit from Nitro. By the way, that guy was Bryan Adams, aka Crush. It was not Wrath, aka Bryan Clark.
• Hennig, Bryan Adams, and Rick Rude come out to talk trash about Bret Hart, who they call "The 'I Quit' Man". The British Bulldog and Jim Neidhart come out to challenge them right there and then. We got an impromptu Texas Tornado match as the crowd chants "We want Bret!". It goes to a no-contest, I guess. The camera positioning at the end was weird. Maybe someone got busted open or a fan ran into the ring.
• Coming back from commercial, they show tape of the brawl continuing into commercial time.
• The Steiners were interviewed. A waste of time. The announcers then continue on about Savage and Luger. Heenan, with the comment of the night, says: "Hey, Tenay, instead of wasting your time interviewing a guy who's barking like a collie, who don't you earn your money and find out what's going on with Savage and Luger?" Amen, brother.
• La Parka pinned Super Calo following his corkscrew splash.
  • La Parka has a new dance step, with twirly hands.
  • Sign: "La Parka Is La Loser"
  • Schiavone said it was tough to hear what Savage and Luger were saying earlier, because the fans were around. Hey, Tony, why don't you ask one of them?!
  • La Parka's getting fat.
  • Sloppy match.
  • Stiff kick by La Parka on Super Calo's noggin.
  • Toward the end, Disco Inferno came in and ran across the ring. After the pin, he came back in, and got chaired by La Parka. It was really weird.
  • The match sucked, and the end was blown, and the thing with Disco Inferno was blown. Just bad all around.
• WCW World Cruiserweight Champion "The Whiner" Chris Jericho made "Iceman" Dean Malenko submit to the Liontamer.
  • Jericho to the crowd: "I want you to want me". Jericho goes on about how ugly Guerrera is without his mask. Weird, Jericho says that Guerrera is so ugly, that even if he (Jericho) wins on Sunday, he may let Guerrera keep the mask to do the crowd a favor.
  • Typical match between these two.
  • Malenko almost got the Texas Cloverleaf on, but Jericho was too close to the ropes.
• "Crippler" Chris Bennoit and "Diamond" Dallas Page defeated Raven and Saturn when Benoit made Saturn submit to the Crippler Crossface.
  • Egos 'R Us. Page and Benoit had separate entrances, each to their own music.
  • Match starts with Page and Benoit cleaning house and then backing into each other and almost decking each other.
  • Somebody chucked a sign into the ring.
  • DDP takes a beating for a while.
  • Raven is awfully animated tonight.
  • Benoit gets tagged in. He and Saturn toss the chair back and forth, and finally Benoit punches it into Saturn's head.
  • For the finish, DDP took Raven out of the action with a Diamond Cutter.
• The advertised main event match between Sting and Macho Man never happened. That's rude.
  • Savage's entrance was made by the nWo carrying his carcass to the ring wearing a Sting mask with "nWo" spraypainted on his chest.
  • As Savage laid there counting the ring lights (huh, usually that happens on Nitro), Hogan said the match between Sting and Savage would not be happneing tonight. Hogan says there's no way Sting would show his face with the whole nWo there, so....
  • Sting rushes the ring, and fights off the nWo one by one. Like karate movie, the bad guys attack him one at a time so they all get their ass kicked.
  • Finally, the nWo gangs up, and Luger comes running in taped up, and he and Sting clear the ring of something like eight or nine guys.
  • Fade to black.

• Trivia Answer: "Chico" Santana and "Bony" Tony Atlas
• As a closing note, as many of you probably know, Howard Stern has beautiful women sending him nude pictures of themselves every day. What do I have people sending me? Ten year old Polaroids of their wrestling dolls! I think, given a choice, I'd rather be getting Howard Stern's mail. ;-)
  
  

  (Thanks to Doug M. and closet DDT Digest fan Alex D. for the photos.)

I just got back from Thunder and here is what happened when the show ended.

Sting, Luger, AND SAVAGE (IT REALLY WAS HIM) are in the ring and Savage gets the mike. He challenges the nWo to a 6 man and Hogan in turn says "Why not take on all of us." They did and the whole nWo hit the ring. It was your basic face squash with Sting getting the deathlock on Hogan and Luger racking Hennig. All during the exchange, Bagwell had on a Sting mask and was doing a funny as hell impression. After Sting, Savage, and Luger beat the snot out of the nWp, they were all doing the Scott Hall point to each other and Sting was having a fit doing the crotch chop. I guess this inks Savage's face turn at Superbrawl where he most likely will cost Hogan the belt.

In the opening dark match, Evan Courageous lost to Christian Taylor (must be getting a try-out). I had never seen Taylor and he looked alright. He hit one move that was going to be a spinebuster but turned into a Belly-To-Belly.

The attack on Savage was taped at about 4 or 5 because I got to the arena at about 5:30 and asked a guy who has entered the arena and he said The nWo just beat the crap out of Luger and Savage.

I also saw Psycosis go into the entrance but he was unmasked and it took me a while to figure out who he was. He also had an nWo shirt on.

Biggest pops of the night go to Goldberg (I was cheering the crap out of Finley), DDP, Benoit, Booker T, and Sting.

I had brought a sign that was an ad for Living Dangerously but as I was walking with it, some drunk ass redneck yelled at me and I was freaking out. I also had about 30 small flyers for Living Dangerously but no one wanted them.