WCW Thunder, 2/28/2001

WCW Thunder - Wednesday, 2/28/2001

By Big Mike

Howdy everyone, once again. I am Big Mike, and this is your Thunder report.
First of all, I'm sorry. In my February 7^th Thunder report, I asked for your ideas on the new direction of WCW. I said I would post them in next week's report. I forgot one thing. I wasn't doing next week's report! So, without further delay, here are the best of the responses. They were all good though, even the one about me whining too much in my report, which I thought was funny. But, unfortunately, I can't print all of them in my report. Although good, many of them were too long, so I've reprinted the best of the longer ones.
- Rik G. from Belgium writes:
  I've been a reader of DDT digest for about 3 years now (even before they aired WCW on Belgian TV - and yes, that's where I'm from) and I've even done a few postings to Aldo and Bill in the past (including a short Brady Boone tribute).
  Regarding your question of what Bischoff's WCW will look like in the future, I think we can already notice a few things:
  1. Cruiserweights will continue to be used as show openers or as cannon fodder for the main eventers. I've always disliked the idea of a cruiserweight division as a way of giving the cruiserweights a spotlight. I remember a match between Kidman and Scott Hall a couple of years ago (just after Kidman had turned on Raven) which I thought was great. Hall got the win, but Kidman gave the big man quite a fight. I think they would be better off when the better cruiserweight could occasionally get the duke over a bigger guy.
  2. Bischoff will not bring in new stars. Nash, Steiner, DDP, Luger,.... they will be main eventing. Is anyone really thinking that Lance Storm, Mike Awesome or Sean O'Haire will be main eventing in 2001? No, guess not. It'll be the oldies till they retire. Who knows, Bischoff will probably bring back Hogan, Hall and Sting.
  3. Bischoff will bring back the injured superstars one by one. Booker and Sting will return to the shows but will get dragged into this nWo-ish feud.
  What should be done?
  1. Continue promoting Scott Steiner as the WCW Champion. As much as I don't like his wrestling style, he's got more moves than Nash, Luger and the rest of the bunch. He's got a lot of heel heat and he looks like he can really hurt someone. He's a credible champ, and should go over Nash in a clean finish.
  2. Stop the nWo idea. It's quite boring to think that a company exists out of two teams. Let Steiner have an alliance with Luger and his brother, let DDP team with Nash, but get rid of the others involved in the feud (Kronik, Bagwell, The Cat).
  3. Put more effort in the main events. A main event on Nitro should rock. Let Steiner face DDP in a cage. Put a blade job in. Bischoff has the tendency to emphasize what's going on after the match, instead of the match itself.
  4. Keep it simple. Stop idiotic feuds. Go to the basics and think 'why would the others want to beat my champion?'. The answer is simple 'to win the title and get the glory'.
  5. Release the dead weight (Buff Bagwell, Shane Douglas, Luger, Brian Adams, etc.). Sign the ECW talent that is still available. Get Corino into the US title scene. Sign Super Nova and give him a push in the cruiserweight division. Sign Matthews and York and make them tag champions.
  This is the vote of the Belgian jury.....thanks for reading
- Sam B. writes:
  I've been thinking about the state of WCW's television programming. I was reading what you had to say about Thunder being taped when it needed to be live (or at least taped on Tuesday instead of right after Nitro), and I had some thoughts about what they need to be doing with their programming. What if they restructured their schedule this way:
  Monday Night: Nitro, a live show highlighting the big name workers and the high-level feuds.
  Wednesday Night: Thunder, a live show, highlighting the same angles as Nitro, but work in a few of the more deserving mid-carders.
  Friday Night: a house show with a couple of big names, that is TAPED. Give it its own set of continuity - title changes, feuds, run-ins, sort of like what they were doing with Saturday Night just before it went off the air - the Power Plant guys feuding back and forth, Duggan carrying around the TV title as "The King of Saturday Night" and all that. I LOVED that! Give the lower tier workers a reason to come to work besides being cannon fodder. Make this event a showcase for the young up-and-coming talent on the roster as well as indy workers looking for a job - don't let Scott Steiner beat them up, bring them here. If they do well, move them to Thunder, then on to Nitro. It's worked with Elix Skipper, with the Thrillers, and with Kwee Wee. Now bring in the next wave. This would also work as a showcase for the older midcarders who never get really a shot (dare I say it...Norman Smiley, King of Saturday Night?).
  Saturday Night: Revive the old Saturday Night show and get rid of Worldwide. Make it a one hour show that (briefly) recaps Nitro and Thunder (the most recent shows, not two weeks ago like it is now) AS WELL AS the Friday Night house show. Show a couple of matches from the Friday Night show. Show the run-ins, show me Smiley doing the SMBU Dance with the TV Title, push the angles, develop the stars, make me interested again.
  That's three live arena shows a week. That's do-able. They could even run traditional "non-TV" house shows for the guys who aren't currently involved in an angle, so they could keep their skills honed and take the product other places. Run the three primary shows each week in the same geographic area with smaller venues on Friday (example - in North Carolina, play Charlotte on Monday, Raleigh on Wednesday, Fayetteville on Friday), then move on the next week. It's a big roadshow.
  Then, here's my real shake-em-up suggestion: Only nine PPVs a year.
  To really see what I want to do, start with Halloween Havoc in late October. Four weeks later, Mayhem or WWIII or whatever it's called now at Thanksgiving, then four weeks to Starrcade at Christmas. At this point, wait eight weeks to the next event, Superbrawl, in Feb. Then it's a PPV every six weeks until Havoc. So the schedule looks like this:
  - late Feb - Superbrawl
  - mid April - Spring Stampede
  - late May - Slamboree
  - mid July - Great American Bash
  - late August - Bash At The Beach
  - mid September - Fall Brawl
  - late October - Halloween Havoc
  - late November - WWIII
  - late December - Starrcade
  Advantages, I think, are obvious. First off, you average nearly six weeks between PPVs, giving plenty of time to build QUALITY feuds and angles. Havoc to WWIII and WWIII to Starrcade don't need quite as much time between them, since WWIII will end in a Battle Royale to determine who faces the Champ in the Main Event at Starrcade. That's two Main Events that are pretty much set anyway, so you're only having to build the secondary angles. Taking an extra couple of weeks after Starrcade allows things to sort out after the end of the year before the hype gears up for Superbrawl. Not to mention, you're only running nine events as opposed to twelve. I have to think that buyrates would be higher. You wouldn't make as much money overall, I admit, but your individual events would sell more due to greater interest spurred by more time to build the angles.
  I really think this makes sense. You have three solid arena shows a week, restore the Thunder audience by making it live again, and give Saturday Night back to the fans and give them a real news/recap show at the same time. With three great shows, they could actually *build* to the PPV's over that longer period of time - sometimes nowadays we go three or four weeks between PPV's and it all seems so *rushed* you know? That, even more than predictable endings on Nitro and Cruiserweight squashes, is what bothers me about WCW nowadays, because that's what causes the predictable endings and Cruiserweight squashes.
  Sounds good to me. Anyone have any thoughts about these ideas?
- Simone M. writes about a blown spot from the 2/7 Thunder:
  Now they're both attacking O'Haire. O'Haire's back up as, as, as they're showing two guys in the crowd booing! What the hell?
  Must have been when this was happening: (LOL)
  From Wrestleline.com: After the match, Stasiak and Jindrak came out to attack O'Haire. O'Haire gets pummeled. Palumbo came down for the save. O'Haire messed up on an attempted springboard dropkick. I'm sure that will be edited.
  
  Unfortunately, not too good of a job of editing.
I think the readers have said it all, so I don't have any thoughts, except, I agreed with Aldo, the Booker T return six-man tag was one of the best matches I have seen in a while.
Now, on to the show............

We start with a montage of Nitro from Monday.
We are TAPED from New Orleans, Louisiana, home of Pat O'Brien's.
Tony Schiavone and Mike Tenay commentating.
We open with a match again!
The Jung Dragons vs. Kwee Wee and Mike Sanders in a First Round Match of the Cruiserweight Tag Team Title Tournament Match
- We see a montage of last week's match between Kaz Hayashi and Kwee Wee.
- Boy, Mike Sanders has some great entrance music. Great guitar riffs.
- Cut to "Exclusive Footage" from Monday when they announced the brackets. Sanders does a great spit take and goes nuts when he finds out Kwee Wee will be his partner.
- Sanders and Kwee Wee argue as they come into the ring.
- This is the perfect situation for the Jung Dragons. We'll see what they do with the Dragons.
- We begin with Sanders and Kaz Hayashi.
- Kaz what a head scissors take over and both men go outside. Kwee Wee goes outside and Yang his Kwee Wee off the apron.
- Now Kwee Wee and Yang are in the ring and Yang hits a springboard moonsault followed by Kaz.
- Sanders comes in to help and Kwee Wee hits a double Thesz press on Yang and Kaz.
- Now it's Kwee Wee and Kaz. Kwee Wee suplexes Kaz into the turnbuckle. Ouch, that can't feel good. Yang comes in for the save.
- Yang is tagged in a Kwee Wee swings him in by his hair. Yang back up and whips Kwee Wee into the turnbuckle with a head scissors takeover.
- Forearm by Kwee Wee. Sanders is tagged in.
- Neckbreaker by Yang. Sanders reverses a suplex, now Yang reverses. Now a pump handle suplex by Sanders!
- Sanders has Yang in the corner and tags Kwee Wee in.
- Kwee Wee slams Yang on the top rope and tags in Sanders. Sanders with a suplex. Kwee Wee is back in the ring now. Snap suplex by Kwee Wee.
- Yang connects with a drop kick.
- Tenay and Schiavone say that Elix Skipper's "mystery partner" in the tournament will be revealed on Monday.
- Front drop slam by Kwee Wee on Yang.
- Yang with a springboard running DDT!!!!! Great move!! Both men are down.
- Hot tags to Sanders and Kaz Hayashi.
- Kaz hits a sort of inverted bulldog on Sanders. They have Kwee Wee up top and hit a spike double team powerbomb. Sanders breaks up the pin attempt.
- Kwee Wee with a face drop. Sanders goes for the cover, but Kaz breaks it up. Kaz hits a moonsault on Sanders on the outside.
- Yang and Kwee Wee are fighting on the inside and Kaz hits a running kick. Yang dives onto Kwee Wee as he falls outside the ring.
- Now we have Kaz and Sanders in the ring. Yang goes up top for a twisting corkscrew moonsault on Sanders for the win!!!!!
- YOUR WINNER: The Jung Dragons via Yang Time (a twisting corkscrew moonsault).
- Breathtaking match!!!!! Wow!
- All four men (yes, including Kwee Wee) looked great in that match!
Back from commercial, cut to a limo backstage. Stasiak is talking to Jindrak on a cell phone. Is that the limo driver from the Russo era? Stasiak calls him Smooth and gives him an autographed picture, which Smooth crumbles up and discards as Stasiak leaves. What was that all about?
Out comes Booker T with a mic in his hand. He looks genuinely happy to be back. Booker T says it's great to be back and thanks all the people for showing him love. He talks about what happened to him at Mayhem against Scott Steiner. Booker says he had a lot of hatred for Scott Steiner while he was out. He says Steiner takes the low road while he takes the high road. Booker T challenges Steiner to a title match. That brings out Scott Steiner. Ric Flair comes out to hold Steiner back. Steiner says he'll take Booker T right here and now. Flair says no one's going to come off the street and challenge the world champion. Booker talks smack to Flair. Flair says he's booking a non-title match between Booker T and Steiner for later tonight. Booker closes with "don't hate the player, hate the game," as we go to commercial.
Back from commercial, we cut to backstage. Chavo runs into Johnny Swinger and Jason Lee. Chavo says that since Swinger has a match against Shane Helms tonight, he wants Swinger to hurt Helms.
Shawn Stasiak vs. Johnny the Bull
- Stasiak gets in a few blasts on the crowd on the mic. He threatens Penzer.
- Johnny the Bull with a snap mare and a drop kick, which sends Stasiak over the top rope.
- Both men are outside now, and Stasiak gains the upper hand as he sends Johnny the Bull back into the ring.
- Lariat by Stasiak. Back breaker by Stasiak, and then he catapults Johnny into the ropes.
- Stasiak poses.
- Back breaker by Stasiak. Two count on a pin attempt.
- Johnny the Bull comes back with a side slam.
- Bull hits a couple of guillotine leg drops.
- Bull misses a version of the Bronco Buster.
- Stasiak misses the shoulder and goes into the ring post. Johnny the Bull hits a DDT as Stasiak tries to lift him up. Both men are down.
- Bull clotheslines Stasiak to the outside. He comes off the apron with a double axe handle down onto Stasiak.
- Outside the ring, Johnny is working over Stasiak and finally throws Stasiak back into the ring. Spinning heel kick by Johnny. Two count and Stasiak rolls outside the ring.
- Johnny the Bull follows him outside and sends Stasiak into the guard rail a few times.
- Bull goes for the chair, but the ref takes him away. Bull gets nailed out of the crowd by Mark Jindrak!
- Cut to backstage quickly, where Big Vito and Rick Steiner are going at it.
- Johnny the Bull goes for the small package and gets a two count.
- Stasiak hits the Hangman's neck breaker and it's over.
- YOUR WINNER: Shawn Stasiak via the Hangman's neck breaker.
- Stasiak signs a picture of himself and lays it on Johnny the Bull.
- Pretty damn good match between these two guys. Unexpectedly good.
- Cut backstage, and security is restraining Big Vito and Rick Steiner, who will apparently have a match tonight
We come back from commercial, and Shane Helms is talking backstage. He says he's going to take out Chavo at Greed. He mentions his "mentor," Jimmy Hart.
Now, Disqo is confronted by Palumbo. Palumbo tells Disqo he has a match with him tonight.
Now, back to Monday, showing Konnan attacking Mike Awesome. Lance Storm tells Awesome backstage that Awesome has Konnan tonight and there will be no interference.
Johnny Swinger w/ Jason Lee vs. Shane Helms
- Schiavone talks about Johnny Swinger's first stint in WCW in 1999.
- Lee is distracting Helms as Helms tries to come off the ropes.
- Helms with a nice reverse power bomb. Helms goes up top, but Lee comes up on the ring apron and pulls the ropes down so Helms crotches himself. Sit out powerbomb by Swinger. Two count by Swinger
- The power goes out for about a minute here, so I missed some of it.
- Swinger hits the cobra clutch Russian leg sweep, but only gets a two count.
- Jawbreaker by Swinger and Helms rolls out. As Swinger "talks" to the ref, Lee works over Helms and throws him back into the ring.
- Sleeper hold by Johnny Swinger. Helms comes back with a couple of swinging neck breakers.
- Helms with a nice super kick.
- Jason Lee is up on the ring apron, but Shane knocks him off. Shane goes up top, but turns to hit a cross body on Jason Lee.
- Swinger carries Helms over on an ugly looking cross body attempt by Helms. In comes Jason Lee. He gets a Nightmare on Helms Street. Helms then his a vertebreaker on Swinger and wins it!!!
- YOUR WINNER: Shane Helms via the vertebreaker
- In comes Chavo Guerrero, Jr. to attack Helms. Shane dumps him out unceremoniously. Helms leaves, and Chavo comes back in to punk Swinger and Lee
Backstage, Gonad, err I mean, Konnan is WALKING. He runs into O'Haire and Palumbo who say that Flair banned them from ringside and they can't get Konnan's back.
Promo for Booker T vs. Steiner later tonight. You really don't think Steiner will get pinned clean twice in one week do you????
Konnan vs. Mike Awesome
- Oh, man, Konnan is on the mic. What the hell is he saying?
- Awesome comes in and starts beating the crap out of Konnan. Good.
- Konnan comes back with the DDT after an offensive flurry by Awesome.
- Awesome clotheslines Konnan out of his shoes (almost). Awesome tosses Konnan out and starts working him over.
- Back in the ring now. Awesome is on the apron and comes over with a shoulder block.
- Awesome's matches used to be a lot faster paced. Maybe it's just Konnan. Awesome with a butterfly takeover suplex.
- German suplex by Awesome into a pin attempt. Two count.
- Awesome puts the boots to Konnan who is in the corner.
- Wouldn't Awesome make a great face? I think he could be the guy to take WCW into the future if he can develop him mic skills. His style kind of reminds me of Booker T, except Awesome has the high-flying stuff too.
- Tony says that Awesome may be getting frustrated because he can't pin Konnan. Uh, Tony, maybe that's not why he's frustrated. He's having to carry Konnan, for goodness sakes.
- Konnan with absolutely no offense thus far. Awesome puts him down and goes up to for the big frog splash, but Konnan moves.
- Konnan with a clothesline, and he acts like he just won the Super Bowl.
- Awesome comes back with the running Awesome bomb and it's over.
- YOUR WINNER: Mike Awesome via the running Awesome bomb.
- Tony says that Konnan gave it everything he had, like he always does. What???? He had absolutely no offense! One DDT and one clothesline. That's it.
After the commercial, cut to Totally Buff backstage. Disqo is trying to get Totally Buff to help him because they've got Palumbo and O'Haire at Greed. After Disqo leaves, Buff and Luger talk about what an idiot Disqo is.
Montage of Booker T narrated by Tenay. It talks about Booker T's road to the championship. Pretty good package, actually.
Disqo vs. Chuck Palumbo
- I just noticed, Disqo is coming out to some kind of techno music now. Disqo gets on the mic and spouts off a little bit about how, pound for pound, he is the best wrestler in WCW.
- Tony says that there is nothing they can say about what they just heard and then proceeds to talk about it.
- Standing lariat by Palumbo.
- Drop kick by Palumbo.
- Disqo tries a cross body, but Palumbo catches him and hits a fall away slam.
- Disqo comes back and works on the legs of Chuck Palumbo. Swinging neck breaker by Disqo.
- Palumbo comes back with the right hand, but Disqo comes off the ropes with a five arm.
- Headlock by Disqo, but Palumbo fights it off. Disqo then begins putting the boots to Palumbo.
- Disqo for the People's...err, I mean the elbow off the ropes. Russian leg sweep by Disqo. Disqo goes up top, but comes up empty. Totally Buff comes to ringside and is watching and smiling.
- Palumbo hits the Jungle Kick and it's over, mercifully
- YOUR WINNER : Chuck Palumbo via the Jungle Kick.
- Luger and Buff attack Palumbo after the bell. Here comes Sean O'Haire to clean up. Now Rick Steiner hits the ring and its three on two. Here comes Big Vito to attack Steiner.
Replay of moments ago, when Palumbo and O'Haire chase Totally Buff from ringside.
Rick Steiner vs. Big Vito.
- We come back and the next match is in progress. It is a non-title match, says Tenay.
- Steiner takes Vito outside and works him over.
- Still outside, Big Vito mounts a little offense on Steiner. Just a little.
- We're still outside the ring, and finally Steiner throws Big Vito back in the ring.
- Steiner has Big Vito in a version of the Steiner Recliner, and Vito is pounding on the mat to pump up the crowd. How is that not a tap out?
- Vito breaks out with a jawbreaker and Vito hits a super kick and a T-bone suplex. Body slam by Big Vito. Vito goes up top for an elbow from the top ropes, but Steiner kicks out at two.
- Steiner comes back with a power slam, but Vito kicks out at two.
- Steiner hits a stiff Steiner line on Big Vito. Two count only. Rick Steiner goes up top and hits the Steiner bulldog. Steiner starts talking to the ref and finally goes to pin Big Vito. Vito kicks out at two.
- Steiner driver. He smiles and takes Vito up for another one. It's over.
- YOUR WINNER: Rick Steiner via the Steiner driver.
- That sucked.
A commercial for "See Spot Run" comes on. They're using the same music from a great movie, "Back to School." Why are they re-using that music?
Montage of the Cat and Kanyon situation. A little bit too long. They replay where the Cat says he's going to "eat Flair's ass like a pot of collared greens." They bleep out the word "eat." That's hilarious!!!!! Take from that what you will. That's great.
Commercial for 1-800-COLLECT with Mr. T, fool. Poor Mr. T.
Local commercial for Wrestlemania and Gallery Furniture, one of the sponsors here in Houston, with Jericho and Guerrero. I'm going. Have to go see what it's all about.
Booker T vs. Scott Steiner in a non-title match.
- This could be a good match, or it could be piss poor.
- Steiner takes his time getting to the ring. What a nice guy. He stops along the way to talk to some fans. Oops, they don't look too happy about it.
- Steiner begins with some knees to the gut.
- Booker comes back off the ropes and elbows Steiner out to the floor. Steiner stops to taunt the fans some more as Booker stays in the ring.
- Steiner comes in and hits Booker T with some chops and punches.
- Now Booker T gets Steiner into the corner and is pounding away on Steiner. Steiner drops Booker across the top rope, though, and hits a couple of Steiner lines.
- Steiner his a back breaker across his knees.
- Is it just me, or does Booker's hair make him look like he should be in the movie "Friday?"
- Belly to belly suplex by Steiner. Two count.
- Booker has had about as much offense as Konnan so far.
- Both men are outside the ring now as Steiner throws Booker into the guardrail.
- Booker finally hits the Harlem Sidekick. Two count only. Booker goes on the apron and pulls Steiner across the top rope. Booker goes up top, but Steiner catches him. Booker fights it off and then hits the missile drop kick. Two count by Booker.
- Booker goes for the Bookend, but Steiner blocks it. Now Booker comes back with the axe kick. Here comes Rick Steiner and the match is thrown out. Booker T hits the Bookend on Scott Steiner, before Rick comes over to work over Booker
- In comes DDP and hits the Diamond Cutter on both Steiner. In comes the rest of the Magnificent Seven, as DDP and Booker escape through the crowd. Page: "Hey Steiner! We're still standing!"
- YOUR WINNER: None. It was a no contest.
- Could have been better, but still not bad.
The Good: The beginning cruiserweight tag match. Even Kwee Wee looked good working in the ring. Also, every match was somehow set up. That's amazing.
The Bad: The Palumbo-Disqo match was pretty bad.
The Ugly: Konnan's wrestling.
Goodbye #3. May God bless and keep you.

WCW Thunder - Wednesday, 2/28/2001

By Big Mike

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