Thunder – July 22, 1999

Date: July 22, 1999

Location: Mark of the
Quad, Moline, Illinois

Attendance: 6,754

Commentators: Larry
Zbyszko, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Thankfully (I think?)
we’re back to a live show this week as we’re getting closer to Road
Wild. The main story coming out of Monday is Kevin Nash turning on
Hogan for no apparent reason other than the script suggests that we
need a heel vs. face title match. Other than that we have Sting in
control of the company now, which I barely remember whatsoever.
Let’s get to it.

The announcers do their
usual intro/hype.

The
Glacier gear is gone. Kaz’s headlock goes as well as you would
expect it to and Hammer hits a nice looking gorilla press. Now Kaz
tries to slug it out to similar results so he finally dropkicks the
knee twice in a row for one, but the kickout sends him flying through
the ropes. Hammer runs him over with a Vader clothesline before
throwing him right back to the floor. Back in again and Kaz goes
after the knee to take the big man down. An elbow drop gets two but
Hammer trips his legs to get a breather.

A big old beal sends
Hayashi flying and we hit a chinlock. That goes nowhere so Hammer
suplexes him down for two but Kaz comes back with every strike he can
throw. Kaz actually tries a powerbomb which works as badly as you
would expect. Hammer comes back with Snake Eyes and a big boot for
two more as frustration is setting in. Back up and Kaz hits a quick
bulldog and missile dropkick, only to miss a quick backsplash. A
spinebuster and the cobra clutch slam are enough to end Kaz after
longer than you would expect.

Rating:
C.
WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT??? Kaz and Hammer just had a good match that
I was actually liking. Granted it’s completely in spite of whatever
WCW was trying to do with it as no one is watching this show and it’s
in the opening match slot. This was actually entertaining and I had
a good time watching it. It had to happen at some point.

Lenny and Lodi are
upset about something they have to do later.

The announcers talk
about the issues between Savage’s girls.

Alexander
is officially “off the independent scene”. Madness is wrestling
in a short version of the dress she wears to the ring as a valet.
The fans are entirely behind Madness here as she takes Brandi down by
the arm. Some dropkicks send Alexander out to the floor and claims a
pull of the tights. Back in and Brandi hammers away before throwing
Madness across the ring by the hair in a good looking spot. It looks
so good that she does it again with Tenay spending way too much time
talking about Madness’ long blonde hair.

A
hard shot to the face keeps Brandi in control before a clothesline
gets two. The fans aren’t pleased with Brandi choking on the ropes
but they don’t mind a Boston crab nearly as much. That goes nowhere
so Brandi goes up, only to get slammed off the top. A side slam gets
two for Madness and a bad looking headscissors sends Brandi down
again. Larry: “You gotta get vicious! Pretend there’s a sale!”
Madness grabs a suplex but bridges up like a northern lights for the
pin.

Rating:
D+.
The match wasn’t bad and was a few light years ahead of what the WWF
was doing with its girls at the moment, but it still wasn’t all that
great. Miss Madness would get much better as Molly Holly whereas
Alexander hasn’t done anything that I can find outside of this and
two more matches with Miss Madness later in the year.

A Goldberg video to
Crush Em brings out Curt Hennit, who says the Rednecks are much more
popular than Goldberg. He’s willing to prove that tonight but thinks
we should wait until Monday.

The
muscular Chase shoves Curt off to start and knocks him to the corner
with a hard shoulder. The Rednecks offer a distraction and Hennig
gets in a cheap shot from behind to take over. There’s the Hennig
Necksnap and Curt rips at Chase’s eyes for good measure. Curt nails
his knee lift and puts on a sleeper but Chase powers out of it again.

Hennig
cranks on the leg on the mat as the other Rednecks offer some
assistance. Back up and a kind of pumphandle powerslam gets two on
Curt but he sends Chase to the floor for a big beatdown. Swoll comes
in with the heart “punch” but hits Chase by mistake, setting up
the HennigPlex for the pin.

Rating:
D.
It takes a lot to make Curt Hennig look bad but that’s exactly what
Chase just did. Tatum wasn’t anything of note and a generic power
guy who probably got this job based on his look. With some more
training and experience, he might have fit in with the Natural Born
Thrillers in a year or so.

Sid
comes up to Lenny and Lodi and wishes the luck in their match
tonight. The brothers ask Jimmy Hart for help but he just suggests
having a doctor at ringside.

We get a clip of Booker
T. saving his brother from the Triad on Monday.

Rey
and Juvy get things going but Guerrera quickly tags out. Mysterio
tries to deck him as he leaves so Juvy gyrates a lot on the apron.
Juvy comes back in without Psychosis doing anything and they trade
wristlocks. It’s quickly off to Psychosis again who misses a charge
and hits the post to give the good people an early advantage. Eddie
comes in and takes Juvy down to the floor before backdropping Rey
into a moonsault for an awesome spot. Back in and Eddie throws
Guerrera outside again, only to have to bail out of a dive.

We
take a break and come back with Rey in Psychosis’ abdominal stretch.
That boring hold is upgraded by Psychosis loading him up for an
Outsider’s Edge and Juvy coming in with a guillotine legdrop for two.
Back to Psychosis who charges into Rey’s boots, allowing Eddie to
come in and clean house. Everything breaks down and Rey nails Eddie
by mistake, only to have Eddie throw him at Juvy for a headscissors.
They’re not done yet though as Rey puts Psychosis on top and throws a
charging Rey up for a super hurricanrana and the pin.

Rating:
C+.
Total spotfest here and there’s nothing wrong with that. Guerrero
was basically just a guy there to throw Rey around for the high spots
though, which is kind of a waste as the team got together because of
Eddie having issues with the other luchadors. Still though,
entertaining stuff with some great high spots.

We see Lex Luger,
Savage and Gorgeous George on Arliss this coming Sunday.

Here
are Savage, Miss Madness and Gorgeous George with something to say.
Savage asks for our votes in the 2000 election but quickly moves on
to Rodman, ripping on him for wearing women’s closing and hitting him
with a purse. Miss Madness is fired for trying to upstage him,
meaning Savage rips off her sash. She gets down on her knees and
begs for her job but Savage fires her anyway. Savage hasn’t
forgotten about Nash either.

Rick
is defending if that’s not clear. Before the match we get the usual
catchphrases from the champ and he wants a piece of Goldberg. They
circle around each other for a bit until Rick nails a hard Steiner
Line. A release German suplex sends Sick Boy flying and Rick rips at
his face on the mat. The Steiner Bulldog ends this quick.

We
recap the Nash vs. Hogan stuff from Monday.

Nash calls in to the
show and challenges Hogan to a tag match this Monday with partners of
their choice. Kevin’s partner is a buddy of his that he’s known for
nine years. Of course they’re hinting at Hall and I’d be stunned if
it was actually him. Nash brings up his history with Hogan and says
he only let him into the NWO so he could keep an eye on Hulk, because
Hulk has a history of being a backstabbing jerk.

Video of Sting beating
Flair with Bischoff counting the fall.

A
chokeslam plants Lodi in ten seconds and Lenny takes a boot to the
face. Sid hits a cobra clutch slam on Lenny, which is another way
for Sid to do a chokeslam. Powerbombs for both guys set up a double
pin. So the gay brothers are getting beaten up by a monster for no
apparent reason. I’m sure this will be well received.

They
start faster than you would expect with Dean getting dropped by a
shoulder, only to have him take Flair down with a quick drop toehold.
An early Cloverleaf attempt doesn’t work so Dean hammers Ric out to
the floor for a breather. Back in and Dean hammers away in the
corner but gets suckered into a thumb to the eye. Ric snapmares him
down, only to miss the knee drop. Dean channels his inner Flair and
slaps on the Figure Four, only to crawl over to the ropes for a
break.

Back
up and Dean is sent to the floor as we take a break. We come back
with Malenko in full control and sending Ric into the corner for a
Flair Flip. Dean works him over on the floor until Asya offers a
distraction, allowing Ric to take over with a cheap shot. A Figure
Four attempt is countered into a small package but Asya has the
referee. Flair counters everything Dean throws at him, including a
belly to back suplex to break up a headlock.

Another Figure Four
attempt is blocked and Malenko comes back with the leg lariat. Flair
tries to bail but runs into Benoit and Saturn. This brings out
Bigelow and Kanyon for a brawl but Dean puts on the Cloverleaf. Page
comes in from behind to break it up but gets shoved into Asya, only
to have Flair grab a rollup for the pin.

Rating:
C+.
This was fine due to the talent level in there and I liked the idea
they were going for with Flair being more experienced and polished
than Malenko, allowing him to counter everything Dean threw at him.
The ending was overbooked but at least Dean didn’t lose entirely
clean.

Overall
Rating: C.
At this point, Thunder can only really be judged on what happens in
the ring. In this case, the wrestling was watchable enough to get
through two hours but there’s almost no reason to care about
anything. Considering that the matches are almost never referenced
on Nitro and nothing here mattered, it basically boils down to
whether or not you liked the wrestling. It was decent enough this
week so we’ll go right in the middle.

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