Thunder – December 10, 1998

Date: December 10, 1998

Location: Mid-South
Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee

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

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s a taped show
because I must have done something horrible in a past life to earn
this punishment. We’re getting closer to Starrcade but most of that
won’t mean anything here as they can’t let anything significant
happen on a taped show. There is actually an announced match though
as Rey Mysterio will face Juventud Guerrera for a shot at the
Cruiserweight Title at Starrcade 1998. Let’s get to it.

The announcers talk
about how awesome the Mysterio vs. Guerrera match will be. We also
get Black and White vs. Black and Red tonight! Be still my beating
heart.

Bobby
runs him over to start as the announcers talk about Ralphus more than
for the rest of his career combined. A chinlock has Duncum in
control as we take a way too early commercial. Back with Jericho
getting his head taken off by a hard clothesline out of the corner
but he catches Bobby with a drop toehold to send him throat first
into the ropes.

Now it’s Jericho with a
double arm crank but Bobby turns it around, only to have Jericho flip
forward and kick Duncum in the chest in the process. Nice counter.
Off to a backbreaker from Jericho as he bends the Texan over his knee
in a rare power display. The Lionsault misses and Bobby scores with
a hard slam for two. Instead Jericho grabs a rollup and puts his
feet on the ropes for the pin.

Rating:
D+.
Much like most feuds that go on for too long, we’ve seen all of this
before and I had no desire to watch it again. Duncum could have been
something interesting if used better, but having him fight Jericho
over and over wasn’t going to get him there. Jericho was going to
steal the spotlight from anyone he worked with through sheer talent
and that’s what’s happening here.

Post match here’s
Konnan to tell the referee what happened so the match restarts.
Jericho tries a rollup but Konnan hits him in the head with the belt
to give Duncum the pin.

Video on Bischoff vs.
Flair.

The ice dude takes over
with a quick kick to the ribs but won’t follow up, which is enough to
make Heenan stop talking about Goldberg for a second to complain
about Glacier. They hit the mat for a decent wrestling sequence
before Saturn goes after the leg with a few holds. Can’t blame him
for bad psychology at least. Back up and Saturn fires off chops in
the corner and Glacier heads to the floor, only to be sent hard into
the barricade.

Back in and Sonny Onoo
is here in a neck brace to help Glacier because what would WCW be
without him. Glacier takes over with a suplex and elbow to the jaw
for two before totally missing a kick to the face. Saturn sells it
anyway and we hit the chinlock. Saturn fights up and hits a nice
t-bone followed by a middle rope knee for another near fall as Onoo
is freaking out in a bad stereotype. They trade standing switches
into the Rings of Saturn, drawing in Sonny for the DQ.

Rating:
D+.
The match was acceptable but good night can we please have Sonny sent
ANYWHERE else? He’s been doing the same schtick for like three years
now and is just annoying. I can see why he sued WCW over his
character as well given how it’s as stereotypical of a Japanese
tourist as you can get.

Post match Saturn beats
up Onoo while avoiding an attack from Glacier. He suplexes Ice Boy
to the floor and stands….not very tall actually.

Norman
stalls to start before easily taking Hayashi to the mat with a
headlock, meaning it’s DANCE TIME. Back up and Hayashi punches
Norman in the face and takes him down with a headscissors. Kaz’s
offense is short lived though as Smiley launches him into the air and
lets Kaz crash down to the mat. A bunch of stomps in the corner set
up the spinning slam followed by a butterfly suplex for two.

Smiley is acting far
more heelish than I remember him doing recently, including stopping
to yell at some fans. Kaz gets caught in a belly to back suplex
followed by a surfboard before Norman sends him to the floor.
Instead of following up though, it’s time for more dancing. Back in
and Hayashi scores with a kick in the corner followed by a nice dive
from the top. They trade some rollups but Smiley grabs the crossface
chicken wing for the submission.

Rating:
D+.
Norman is another guy that could have been something interesting for
the TV Title but too bad because there’s no way it’s getting out of
the NWO anytime soon. Hayashi was a good enough guy in the ring but
there were too many people who could do what he did much better than
he could.

We
see part of the main event on Nitro which was barely a match in the
first place.

Here are Ernest Miller
and Sonny Onoo with something to say. Miller brags about how awesome
he is at karate and challenges any fan to come try him. Sonny is
annoyed at him for not being there when Saturn attacked him on
Monday. They tease fighting before Miller goes to the back to get
Saturn. Just let them fight already so Saturn can move on to
anything else.

They
lock up to start until both guys hit the mat for a bit. The feeling
out continues as Juvy takes Rey down with a shoulder block before
scoring with a Rocker Dropper. Rey is taken into the corner for some
chops and whipped into the ropes, only to come back with a
headscissors for his first advantage. Juvy bails to the floor and we
take an early commercial break.

Back
with Rey hitting a splash in the corner and stomping away before
hitting the Bronco Buster. Mysterio hammers away in the corner but
Juvy comes out with a sweet Liger Bomb out of the corner. This
brings out Eddie and the LWO to surround the ring as you can feel the
screwy ending coming from here. Rey kicks himout of the air and
nails a nice springboard moonsault for two, only to get caught by a
quick cross body. A dropkick to the knee puts Juvy back down and a
guillotine legdrop gets two more for Mysterio.

Back
up again and Juvy avoids a charge into the corner and drapes Rey over
the top rope. Mysterio shrugs it off and runs into a boot in the
corner to put him right back down. A bulldog gets two more for
Guerrera but Rey catches him coming off the ropes, only to get caught
in the Juvy Driver. The 450 takes too much time being set up though
and Rey crotches Juvy to set up the hurricanrana, only to have the
LWO run in for the REALLY annoying DQ.

Rating:
B-.
They were starting to rock out there until the LWO had to do their
thing. Mysterio and Guerrera are two of the best in the company at
this point and I’d love to see either of them against Kidman, but
having to put up with the LWO is getting really tiresome. At least
we got a solid match before the run in though.

Kidman runs out to save
Rey from the beatdown.

We see Giant talking
trash about DDP from Nitro.

Booker destroys Lodi
like the comedy jobber he is to start before hitting the forearm and
ax kick. Here’s Stevie Ray for no apparent reason though to ask
Booker what he’s doing. Lodi tries to remember what planet he’s on
until Stevie blasts him with the slap jack to give Lodi the DQ win.

Kanyon does his schtick
before the match and thinks the fans say everyone is better than him
to make him mad. Speaking of being mad, Kanyon is mad at Raven
because the depression is starting to bring Kanyon down as well.
“What about me? What about Kanyon?” The fans still don’t seem
to care.

The match starts with
Kanyon grabbing a quick armdrag and celebrating like he just broke
Goldberg’s streak. Benoit takes him down by the arm with ease and
grabs a headlock. Kanyon reverses into a neckbreaker but gets caught
in the Rolling Germans. He’s able to break it after the first suplex
though, only to have his chest knocked off by a chop. Benoit hammers
away in the corner before taking Kanyon up for a nice superplex. The
overwhelmed Kanyon rolls to the floor but Benoit follows him out for
even more chopping.

Back in and Benoit
stays all over Kanyon with an elbow to the jaw and some hard whips
across the ring. That stiff clothesline drops Kanyon again but
Benoit misses a charge into the corner. A Russian legsweep puts him
on the mat and Kanyon hits a sweet slingshot elbow for a two count.
Benoit fights back in the corner and stomps the heck out of Kanyon,
followed by a backbreaker for two. The fans actually chant boring at
this for some reason.

Kanyon comes back with
a rake to the eyes and a middle rope Fameasser followed by a
chinlock. The fans chant boring again despite these two beating the
tar out of each other for the last seven minutes. I think they’ve
earned a breather. A fireman’s carry pancake gets a close two on
Benoit. It’s so close that Kanyon loads up another, only to have
Chris counter into a rollup for two. The Swan Dive is broken up but
here’s Raven with a can of paint to knock Benoit silly for the DQ.

Rating:
B-.
Egads did Russo start booking already or something? These DQ’s are
getting really annoying when you have solid matches going before
them. The match was solid for the most part though with Benoit being
all intense as only he can. Kanyon’s offense was stuff we’ve seen
before but it’s so different from anyone else’s that it’s still very
entertaining.

Kanyon yells at Raven
and gets Crossfaced for his efforts.

We’re
ready to go after a bunch of catchphrases and a commercial. I guess
Nash was too busy to make the match. Luger locks up with Stevie to
start as Konnan plays cheerleader. A shoulder puts Stevie down and
there’s the big muscle pose from Luger. Stevie gets him into the NWO
corner where all three are knocked around with right hands and
forearms. Konnan is fine with letting his partner fight them all
off. Vincent of all people finally gets in a cheap shot to slow
Luger down and Horace takes over.

Horace
hammers away but misses a legdrop, allowing for the lukewarm tag off
to Konnan. House is cleaned for a bit until Horace knees Konnan in
the ribs, allowing for a tag off to Stevie. The Black and White
double teams Konnan and gets to make it a triple team when Luger
tries to come in. Vincent gets in some ring time for a change with
the generic offense you would expect from a bodyguard. Back to
Horace who gets two off a splash with Luger making the save.

Stevie
comes in again and chokes a lot before throwing Konnan to the floor.
Vincent gets in a few more shots and Luger yells at the referee about
it, allowing Horace to help with the assault. Back in and Horace
nails a suplex to set up a chinlock for a few seconds before a double
clothesline puts both guys down. A double tag brings in Luger and
Stevie with Luger taking over via the usual. The Rack to Stevie is
broken up by a Vincent jawbreaker but here’s Scott Hall to break up a
slap jack attempt. He knocks Stevie into Luger who puts on the Rack
for the submission.

Rating:
D+.
Just a boring handicap match here but they followed all of the usual
formulas. At the end of the day though, it’s Vincent, Horace and
Stevie Ray on one team which isn’t exactly a team I can get behind.
Hall coming in fuels his feud against the Black and White but it’s
still not the most interesting story in the world. Konnan and Luger
were their usual selves here.

Overall
Rating: B-.
This was the best Thunder in a long time even though it had some very
frustrating problems. First and foremost, we had two solid matches
and far less time being wasted as a result. The DQ’s got very
annoying but it’s something you have to get used to in WCW. This was
a very nice surprise and an easy two hours to sit through instead of
the usual drek.