Thunder – May 21, 1998

Date:
May 21, 1998

Location:
Cleveland Convocation Center, Cleveland, Ohio

Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Lee Marshall, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

After
Monday the major question is will Sting join the Red and Black after
Nash saved him from the Giant. I think we can give up on a full
explanation for most of the recent turns, but this one at least would
have a basic idea: Nash protecting Sting. That’s better than
anything else we’ve gotten so I guess we should be thankful. Let’s
get to it.

We
open with a recap of the end of Nitro and Thunder with Sting being
offered a spot in the Black and White before spitting in Giant’s face
and being saved by Nash.

The
mat is a darker gray than usual

After
more fireworks than usual, here’s Giant with something to say. Giant
has both tag titles and drapes then on Tony’s shoulders before saying
the champions are getting along again. He says that even though
Sting isn’t here tonight due to “weather”, Sting is definitely
NWO. This draws out Luger to say otherwise, which draws out various
cruiserweights to watch what’s going on.

Luger
challenges him for a match later tonight but Giant doesn’t answer
yet. Instead he offers Luger a spot in the NWO but opts to spit in
Giant’s face and walks away. For some reason a bunch of
cruiserweights come in and attack the big guy, only to be easily
dispatched. El Dandy and a Villno are powerbombed/slammed while the
others run off. Giant accepts the challenge.

The
fans are booing this out of the building before it even starts. They
trade kicks for a good thirty seconds and the fans still don’t care
in the slightest. Nagata finally scores with a nice kick to the head
and sends Miller to the floor where Sonny gets in some choking of his
own. Back in and Ernest gets two off a powerslam, only to limp
around on a bad leg. Not that it matters as Miller hits a quick
Feliner (spinning kick to the face) for the pin.

Rating:
D-. Why do wrestling companies
think that fans want to see martial arts matches on wrestling shows?
When has anyone ever gotten a strong push in a major company just by
being a guy who throws a lot of kicks? I agree with the fans on this
as it was a terribly boring match and not a good sign for the rest of
the show.

We
see the post match promos from Jericho and Malenko after the title
change at Slamboree.

Jericho
comes out holding a sign saying Conspiracy Victim with an arrow
pointing down. He swears that the whining will ever happen again,
but now he needs to talk about a conspiracy theory that dwarfs the
1918 Black Sox scandal (it was 1919), the landing at Roswell and the
JFK assassination. He demands that JoJo Dillon get out here right
now but gets no one at all. Jericho holds up a list of the people in
the battle royal but sees no Dean Malenko. Therefore, how could he
lose the title to Malenko? Jericho says he’ll hound Dillon until
he’s reinstated as Cruiserweight Champion and yes that is a threat.

Jericho
jumps him to start and pounds Calo down, only to have Super moonsault
over him out of the corner. A clothesline gets two on Jericho but
Chris comes back with a SCARY looking release German suplex. The
Lionsault misses but Jericho hits a kind of spinebuster into the
Liontamer for a quick win.

We
get the entire recap of Raven vs. Mortis, starting months ago and
complete with all of the attacks when Mortis dressed like a fan.
They try to play up a fan attacking Raven a few weeks ago as a Mortis
attack, even though it’s clearly not a wrestler. Why have we needed
to see such long recaps of Raven feuds lately?

Here
are Raven with the riot squad with the bird man ranting about Saturn
wanting to be US Champion instead of trying to get the belt back to
Raven. He talks about getting Saturn his job in ECW as well as his
job here, which draws out Saturn. Perry talks about how he’s not a
mindless goon and has never been a member of the Flock. If they’re
going to be friends, Raven isn’t going to boss him around ever again.
Raven actually apologizes and moves on to Mortis.

The
Flock has seen Mortis tonight, disguised in the back in a rainbow
wig. It’s not fooling anyone though so get out here. Here’s a guy
that looks like Mortis coming down the aisle but the riot squad takes
him down. The real Mortis runs in through the crowd and lays out
Raven before running away from the Flock.

Jim
shoves him around to start and shouts YEAH BABY over and over again.
The announcers talk about Mortis and Raven of course as Neidhart
pounds away on the champ’s back. A slingshot shoulder block puts
Finlay down again and there’s a powerslam for three, but Finlay’s leg
is in the rope. Neidhart, ever the nitwit, thinks he’s won and
celebrates, allowing Finlay to get in a few cheap shots and hit the
tombstone to retain the title. At least it was quick.

Tony
calls out Booker T, who is apparently #1 contender to the TV Title.
Instead he gets Chris Benoit who wants to know why it’s not his title
shot. This draws out Booker T in a shirt and tie, only to be decked
from behind by the Crippler. Benoit leaves so here’s the returning
Stevie Ray to tell Booker to get up and be a man. Ok then.

We
see Hogan introducing Hall as the newest member of the Black and
White from Monday.

Just…..why?
Duggan pounds away to start and sends Adams out to the floor, only
to have Vincent interfere to give Adams control. Back in and a
backbreaker gets two for Brian but he gets caught pulling Duggan’s
hair. The referee pulls Adams’ hair, leading to nothing at all.
Back up and Vincent tries to hold Duggan, only to get decked by Adams
by mistake. Adams picks up Duggan’s board and blasts the referee for
the stupid DQ.

Duggan
cleans house post match.

WCW
Motorsports update. Next.

Here’s
the guy from Quest For Camelot again to hand out t-shirts. Gotta
love cross promotion.

Hammer
pounds him down to start and rains down right hands in the corner for
early control. Saturn comes back with a suplex to take Hammer down
and there’s a superkick for good measure. Hammer comes back with a
powerslam and a shoulder block for two each. A sidewalk slam puts
Saturn down but also draws Reese up on the apron. The referee is
distracted and Raven comes in to DDT Hammer. Saturn yells that he
doesn’t need help and lays out Hammer with the Death Valley Driver
for the pin.

Rating:
D. This was another match
designed to advance angles instead of focusing on the wrestling which
is fine. The idea of Saturn and Raven arguing but not quite fighting
is interesting, but it doesn’t mean anything good for the future of
the Flock which is on weak legs already.

Here’s
Rick Rude to introduce the next US Champion, Curt Hennig. Rude says
that he’s loyal to Hennig who is loyal to the Red and Black, so Rude
is Wolfpack too. Hennig calls Goldberg a mark and challenges him to
a fight tonight (Goldie isn’t here) and then to a match at the Great
American Bash. Short and sweet here.

Horace
easily takes Juvy into the corner to start as we’re in a power vs.
speed match here. Juvy gets kicked into the ropes but backdrops
Horace out to the floor. Back in and Juvy’s springboard is pulled
out of the air but he gets two out of a rollup. Horace elbows him
back down and slaps Guerrera in the back of the head a few times.
Juvy tries a sleeper but is easily backed into the corner for the
break. Instead it’s a hurricanrana to put Horace on the floor but
Reese sneaks in and chokebombs Juvy down. Horace comes back in and
clotheslines Juvy’s unconscious body down for the pin.

Rating:
D+. I actually liked this a
little bit. Horace is a generic big guy, but he’s good at what he
does. It’s also cool to see Juvy out there in a feud against someone
other than a cruiserweight because those stories can only take people
so far. Juvy never giving up and fighting the Flock is a nice idea,
especially when the Flock has a lot of big guys for him to bounce off
of.

The
announcers talk a bit and someone hits the desk with a soda. Tony
laughs it off.

Here’s
Savage with something to say. He talks about the tag match at the
Bash and says that while he and Piper hate each other, they hate Hart
and Hogan even more. Simple yet effective way to get around their
issues. After the match though, he needs a better apology from
Piper.

We
see Chavo Guerrero’s mother speaking Spanish when Eddie cuts her off.
Apparently she was saying that Eddie the best and her favorite
wrestler and Chavo should win more.

Before
the match, Chavo cuts Eddie off and starts an Eddie chant. Chavo
seems a bit different tonight. Dean gets jumped to start and
Guerrero is actually pounding away to start. A suplex gets a quick
two but Eddie gets Dean’s foot on the ropes for some reason. Chavo
yells at his uncle and Dean grabs a quick suplex for two. Guerrero
comes back and tries the tornado DDT but Dean easily counters into
the Cloverleaf to retain.

Post
match Eddie yells at Chavo so Chavo pulls back his fist. Instead
though Chavo kisses Eddie and then hits him before walking away. The
story continues.

We’re
already in overtime so this is going to be quick. Luger pounds away
to start but Giant kicks him in the face to slow him down. A Russian
legsweep and backbreaker put Luger down as security has to take out
an idiot fan. Giant cranks on the neck until the fans are paying
attention again and Luger makes the comeback, only to have NWO Sting
come in for a quick DQ. Match was barely two minutes long.

Luger
fights off the fake Sting but walks into a chokeslam to end the show.

Overall
Rating: D. This is one of those
shows where it doesn’t come off as horrible at the end, but when you
look back at it you see how horrid it really was. The lack of Hogan
really does make the show go by faster though as we don’t have these
seven to ten minute promos dragging the show down. That being said,
we had a bunch of incredibly uninteresting matches which makes this a
worthless show.

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