WCW Thunder - Thursday, 02/26/98
WCW Thunder - Thursday 02/26/98
- Trivia Question (from Dean Ayass): The Barbarian appeared in which movie with Roddy Piper? (Answer at bottom of report)
- The mailbag:
- From T-Bo (proprietor of the Ric Flair FAQ):
If you or anyone else happened to catch Scott Hudson say on Saturday Night that his mother thinks Jericho is cute, he's not lying. I've had the opportunity to speak with Scott's mother before (my family knows his). In December, she happened to say that she thought Jericho was cute.
- I'm going to be attending the 3rd Annual Eddie Gilbert Tribute Weekend in Philadelphia this weekend. I'll write a report on the goings-on and hopefully have some pictures for you at some point. With a lot of luck, I may be able to snag an interview with someone. I'll have to wear my fedora with the "Press" tag stuck in the hatband.
- Arn's autobiography is on its way to the printer. Copies should be ready in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if Scoops has received the orders for the first 1,000 yet or not, but once they do, I think orders will be taken from Arn's official site. I highly recommend that you guys order this book. First and foremost, it's a great book. Second, it's an excellent way for you to support DDT Digest and keep it advertisement-free.
- I got my copy of My Breakfast With Blassie in the mail today. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stay tuned, and you'll know in a couple of weeks.
- I was incorrect last Thursday about the WCW car's poor finish at the Daytona 500. Actually, it didn't even qualify for the race.
- "Slapp" let me know that Charlottesville, VA, is indeed having a non-televised house show on Friday, March 27th. He theorizes that they didn't get Thunder because of the antiquated building. I would concur with that from the flip side. I know that when WCW came to the GMU Patriot Center (where Thunder is going to be the night before), they were really impressed with the layout of the building and the acoustics. That's probably why they got the live broadcast.
- I don't have the tape, so I can't confirm it, but the other web pages are saying that the new nWo guy was none other than wrestling's all-time greatest schizophrenic, Ed Leslie/Booty Man/Zodiac/Man With No Name/Sterling Rock/Brutus Beefcake/Butcher/Barber. God, I hope this doesn't mean Hulk Hogan is influencing the booking again. If so, we'll have Chris Benoit jobbing the TV Title to Ed Leslie.
- I tuned into Nitro late, and with that blonde hair, I first thought Scott Steiner was John Nord. If you haven't figured it out already, the blond hair is so that when Scott turns face again, he can go back to black hair and be accepted as a face again. Isn't it an interesting coincidence that the Legion Of Doom split when The Steiners split? I think that the original plan was for Harlem Heat to split, since Pro Wrestling Illustrated had an article about the Brothers Huffman getting into an argument after Booker T won the TV Title. I'm guessing PWI was given the "scoop", but since WCW hasn't mentioned that supposed argument, they decided to drop the angle after PWI went to press. It may have been dropped because Stevie Ray is hurt.
- On a slightly related note, I was watching some wrestling videotapes that included some footage of Rick Steiner early in his career when he was built like Scott, and he had a goatee like Scott. It is uncanny how much Rick back then looked like Scott looks now.
- Sam Brady sent me a link to an interesting article on Bill Goldberg. You know, I'm not an expert on such things, but I think the reason Goldberg is so popular is that WCW learned an important lesson bungling Glacier's debut.
- For sentimental reasons, Chris J. is desparately trying to get his hands on a copy of the videotape "The Tommy Dreamer Invasion". If you can help him out, please e-mail him.
- Tonight's report may be a little thin on detail...I'm trying to do some stuff while watching TV. Sorry.
- And, now, on to the show...
- We are live from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Site of the first nWo Souled Out. I'm surprised anybody in Cedar Rapids still watches wrestling after that night.
- Eddie Guerrero and WCW World Cruiserweight Champion defeated "Iceman" Dean Malenko and WCW World TV Champion Booker T when Eddie pinned Booker T.
- Jericho and Guerrero came out to Guerrero's music. Malenko and Booker T came out to Harlem Heat music.
- The match goes less than a minute before breaking for commercial. Why don't they ever do that in the middle of one Hogans' monologues?
- Malenko will be fighting Jericho for the Cruiserweight Belt at Uncensored and Guerrero will be fighting Booker T for the TV Belt.
- Jericho strikes a pose for the camera while beating on Malenko.
- Oh, boy, here's a news flash!!! WCW has waived the over-the-top-rope disqualification rule.
- Tony talks about how great it is that the WCW Executive Committee made time to make the ruling, seeing they are so busy. No...I'm not kidding...he said that, and he wasn't using a sarcastic tone.
- Booker T makes the save on Malenko who's in the Liontamer.
- Jericho makes the save on Guerrero after Booker T's scissor kick.
- For the finish, Malenko had Jericho in the Cloverleaf and, I guess, assumed they were the legal men. Malenko screwing something like that up is a badly booked finish, imho.
- Mike Tenay is in the ring and he introduces Diamond Dallas Page. DDP says his match with Benoit was the best he ever had and he even has more respect for Benoit now. He says the one thing for sure is that he and Benoit both think Raven is a piece of garbage. Raven and the Flock come out and Raven wonders where his title shot is. DDP says to come in and get it. Raven says that he wants to be in the main event, so he wants Page next Thursday. (I guess this is an attempt to boost ratings.) Raven and the Flock leave. Raven leaves through the crowd.
- David "Not-So-Fit" Finley pinned "Candyman" Brad Armstrong following a tombstone piledriver.
- Sign: "Hogan fears Barney Fife" Hah!
- Boy, Brad does have big arms.
- In a puzzling exchange, Heenan asks what the Armstrong Curse is and Schiavone says he doesn't know. Criminy, Tony was co-host with Dusty for how long and never listened to him once? Heenan saved the spot by ending it with "If I was an Armstrong, I'd be cursing."
- The Armstrong Curse continues.
- "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith pinned "Squire" David Taylor following a powerslam.
- Mongo will be taking a few weeks off due to the broken hand.
- That "running Oklahoma slam" is really lame.
- This week in WCW Motorsports.
- Mike Tenay interviews Curt Hennig. Hennig talks trash about Bret Hart. Curt says his dad (Larry "The Axe") can beat up Bret's dad (Stu).
- Hey, Curt's sober tonight!
- "Undefeated" Bill Goldberg defeated "Big" Rick Fuller in the usual way.
- Sign: "Space For Rent"
- Lee Marshall says everyone wants to the bragging rights to have been the first person to beat Goldberg. Hmmm, I don't think that many people remember who the first person was to beat Glacier. (Bagwell)
- Goldberg, seemingly unable to count all the way up to three, came up off his cover of Fuller at two, but the ref kept counting, anyway.
- Yuji Nagata w/Sonny Onoo made La Parka submit to the Nagatalock.
- The Flock makes their way to ringside. Lodi's sign: "Pamela fears Tommy Lee". Nice.
- La Parka does his dance.
- Sign: "Yousa Foo".
- La Parka does the Karate Kid crane before the match.
- Nick Patrick's definitely back to being a face...he shaved off all his facial hair.
- La Parka sets up the chair in the middle of the ring and uses it as a launching pad and lands on the top rope (not turnbuckle) and nails Nagata on the floor.
- La Parka hits the corkscrew splash, Onoo distracts, Disco Infern attempts to interfere, Onoo stops him, Disco chartbusters Onoo, Nagata kicks chair into La Parka's face.
- Scott Hall comes out and does his survey. You know the drill.
- White Thunder (Scott Steiner) pinned Marty Jannetty following a Super Frankensteiner in a Bill Goldberg-esque squash.
- Schiavone announces Sting will be teaming with Macho Man on Nitro against Hollywood Hogan and Scott Hall. Boy, they really want to beat RAW, don't they?
- Buff comes out and does a Michael Buffer impression to introduce Scott Steiner, now known as White Thunder. (The new name is another set up to ease the eventual turn back to face.) White Thunder rags on Lex Luger for not being able to get into University of Michigan.
- Heenan's teasing another nWo turn.
- Jim "The Brother-In-Law Of Bret Hart" Neidhart defeated Curt Hennig when Vincent interfered.
- Hey, I think they got rid of that annoying lightning bolt that used to play as the wrestlers were walking to the ring.
- Once again, the only thing Jim Niedhart can say on the way to the ring is "Yeah, baby!" He must watch Austin Powers before every match to get fired up.
- Boy, Hennig can really sell moves.
- Scott Steiner shows up in the announcing booth to act like a heel. He, via the camera, talks to Rick saying Rick should join the nWo, too.
- After Vincent interfered, Bryan Adams joined the fun until Davey Boy Smith made the save.
- The match between Kevin Nash and Raven never even started.
- Before the match, Raven gets on the mike and says the match will be "Battle Royal" style.
- Before the match started, the Flock rushed the ring. Kevin Nash pitched all of them and powerbombed Lodi twice earning a $100,000 fine and a trip to the slammer.
- Ed Leslie was there again and didn't do anything again.
- While all this was going on, Raven sat in the corner.
- You know, if Kevin Nash was about to powerbomb me, I wouldn't stand there with my head between his legs...I'd run away. Someone should have told Lodi that.
- Diamond Dallas Page and "Crippler" Chris Benoit went to a no-contest due to Raven's interference.
- DDP starts trash talking Benoit during the match, and things turn into a brawl.
- They roll out of the ring and fight in the crowd a little bit. No trip to the bathroom, however.
- Benoit lifts Page up on his shoulder and drops him on his face! Oooh, that looked like it hurt.
- Yep, it sure did...a big pool of blood on the mat...Page is busted open hardway, big time, probably his nose.
- As if on cue, the camera angle goes way back so we can't see the blood.
- The match gets squirrelly at this point, with Page and Benoit not being quite sure what to do.
- Raven comes to the apron and then interferes, beating up both guys. Benoit and Page get their act together and start to fight back.
- Fade to black.