Thunder – August 19, 1999

Date: August 19, 1999

Location: Municipal
Coliseum, Lubbock, Texas

Attendance: 6,928

Commentators: Mike
Tenay, Larry Zbyszko

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

Despite it being 1999,
we’re somehow watching Sid Vicious Championship Wrestling. This past
week on Nitro was all about Sid running in and ruining as many
matches as he could before losing the main event by DQ. Somehow this
means he’s still undefeated before we get to his showdown with
Goldberg to end this streak once and for all. Other than that, we’re
building up to Sting vs. Hogan on Nitro on just seven days notice, as
opposed to their big match which had fifteen months. Sign of the
times indeed. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of
the new streak (my apologies to RD Evans) which now stands at 61-0.

Just have him come out
right now. King dives at Psychosis and grabs a quick DDT to put
Psychosis down. He tries the same thing again but gets caught in the
corner, allowing Psychosis to knock him down for a legdrop. The
announcers talking about Sid really doesn’t give me much hope for
this match’s future. King gets sent out to the floor for a suicide
dive but he doesn’t seem to notice all that much. Back in and King
plants him with a tilt-a-whirl slam before stopping to dance.
Psychosis avoids a moonsault and yeah here’s Sid for the DQ.

Rating: D+.
Why do I even bother watching these matches if they just exist for
the one main event idea WCW has going on right now? Psychosis and
Silver King are just out there wasting time until Sid comes out to do
his thing. The match didn’t have time to go anywhere but Silver King
wasn’t the best choice to carry a match.

Sid
gets on the mic and says this is all because of Goldberg because he
wants to be mentioned along with Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan. He’s
going to “shake all over” when he reaches Goldberg’s mark. We’re
not done with him tonight are we?

CALL
THE HOTLINE!

So
now the Revolution gets to rise up above jobbers
who somehow once got a World Title shot. Feeling
out process to start as they trade arm holds until Greene charges
into boots in the corner. Douglas
suplexes him down and slaps on a quickly broken chinlock. They
head outside for a bit with Greene going into the barricade. I’m
sure Shane is so glad he stopped being ECW World Champion to do
matches like this one. Back
in and we hit another chinlock as I guess Shane is spent after three
minutes of work. Greene
fights up but eats a clothesline, setting up the Pittsburgh Plunge
for the pin.

Rating: D.
I’ve never been a fan of Douglas and this really didn’t change my
opinion. I really don’t
know why I’m supposed to be cheering for him in the first place. He
popped up and decided he was part of the Revolution and now he’s on
Benoit, Saturn and Malenko’s level? It doesn’t help that he really
isn’t on their level in the ring and is just there as a talker.

The
West Texas Rednecks will have a new video on Nitro.

Here’s
Rick Steiner for a chat. Gene says all of the Revolution wants a
shot at the TV Title, but Steiner instead threatens to beat up the
Revolution’s mothers. No
one can out smart him (well heels are supposed to lie) so tonight
there’s an open challenge for any member of the Revolution. Steiner
is going to kill one of them isn’t he?

Video
on Coach Buzz Stern, which is Glacier in a stupid high school coach
gimmick. He’s really tough you see.

Regal
takes Burkhead (I’ve never heard of him either) down
to start before bringing Taylor in for a European uppercut and a tag
off to Adams. The Brits are moving fast tonight, likely so Sid
doesn’t come in and powerbomb them all. Adams
and Regal cheat like all evil Englishmen before Chris enziguris
Burkhead to the floor. Riveting
stuff so far. Regal peppers
him with more uppercuts and allows Dave to tag off to Blaze. We
get the old spot of Blaze trying a sunset flip and Regal grabbing his
partner, only to have Robinson kick the arms apart to give Bobby two.

Taylor
beats up Byrd for a bit and the Brits start fast tagging again. Byrd
gets choked on the mat by Regal’s knee as Taylor comes in for even
more uppercuts. No wonder that move became so common. Blaze
tries to come in like the jobber schnook that he is, allowing Byrd to
be dragged back to the corner. The
sequence is so good that they do it again on the floor…..as Rick
Steiner and Sid come out to destroy the jobbers.

Rating: C-.
I was kidding when I said they were hurrying before Sid came out! So
far, the only thing on this show not related to Sid or Steiner has
been the Al Greene match, or about five minutes of the entire show.
How can they sit through the meetings setting up this show and think
this is the best course of action? I know it’s just a six man
squash, but did they really need to do this again? You know Sid
isn’t done tonight either.

Sid
powerbombs everyone and has Robinson count pins, TWICE. Apparently
they represent Goldberg, Hogan and Sting as Sid wants to stand beside
Steiner. This is one of the main stories in WCW right now people.
Over in WWF we were seeing the rise of HHH to the top of the company,
but WCW is offering Sid and Steiner destroying the world.

Berlyn
is coming. Sid will powerbomb him too.

Here’s
the Revolution with something to say. Douglas
takes charge and asks the fans if they’re ready to see a change in
WCW. The people in the back are shaking in their boots over these
guys and it’s time to take this company back. Saturn promises to
beat Steiner tonight and he won’t even have to bite him to get there.

Rematch
from Monday when Sid interfered. Before
the match, Mysterio tells Lenny to tell his boyfriend to ride the
Hershey highway all the way back to the funny farm. I’m
stunned that didn’t get the gimmick shelved. A
series of standing switches starts things off and of course Lenny
starts liking it.

Rey
hurricanranas him into the ropes and a big suicide dive puts Lenny
into the barricade. Back in
and the West Coast Pop is dropkicked out of the air, followed by a
faceplant for two. Lenny
hits a shoulder breaker into a powerslam for two more as Rey is in
trouble. Lane is similar to Disco: talented in the ring but no one
can see past the gimmick to see how good he is. Lenny
prances around the ring and gets sunset flipped for two, only
to whip Rey chest first into the buckle.

We
go very old school with an airplane spin but Lane is dizzy too. So
he’s not only an over the top stereotype but he’s also stupid. Lane
goes up top but gets staggered and falls backwards into an atomic
drop. He sells it harder
than Honky Tonk Man ever dreamed of and backs into referee Johnny
Boone in the corner, freaking Boone out because homophobia is funny
you see.

Lodi
comes in right next to the referee because being homophobic also
seems to make you blind. The champ easily dispatches Lodi but stops
to pose on the ropes. A guillotine legdrop sends Lenny to the floor
and Lodi gets drop toeholded into Lenny’s crotch. Back
in and Lenny gets two off a Skull Crushing Finale. He sends Rey into
Lodi so they bang heads, allowing Lenny to roll Rey up for the pin
and the title.

Rating: B-.
The worst part of this is that it was a good match. Lane
was a good worker but he’s stuck in this horrible and offensive
gimmick and that’s all people are going to remember. I’m so glad Rey
finally lost the title because he never defends the thing and the
rest of the division is just stuck fighting each other for no prize.
Good match, but the spot with the referee was horrible.

The
Filthy Animals come out to say “sorry bro. We should have been
here to help you but we were too busy trying to understand Konnan’s
catchphrases.”

Fall
Brawl is coming.

Heat
is defending of course. Norton
shoves Booker around and gets kicked in the face for his efforts.
Arm holds go nowhere so it’s
off to Stevie for a slam on Horace as we take a break. Back
with Booker sending Horace into Norton’s boot and nailing him with
the ax kick, only to have Norton keep him from the corner. The
slow pace continues as Norton beats Booker down with whatever
combination of clotheslines and chops he can come up with. Horace
comes back in and breaks up a sunset flip with a rake to the face
before tagging back out. This man is getting a paycheck for this
work people.

The
challengers slowly hammer away on Booker as this is starting to drag.
Booker rolls out of
Norton’s powerbomb attempt and gets ax handled down to keep him in
trouble. Never the
brightest guys in the world, Norton and Horace try a double
clothesline and get forearmed in the head, allowing for the hot tag
to Stevie. Ray cleans house
and everything breaks down with Horace planting Stevie with a side
slam and splash, but Nick Patrick is with the other two. Everyone
gets back in and Stevie whips Horace into Booker’s missile dropkick
for the pin.

Rating: D.
This was really dull by the
end as you knew Horace and Norton weren’t taking the belts and they
didn’t have the most thrilling offense. Hopefully they’re done with
this Harlem Heat vs. the NWO nonsense soon as it’s a waste of
whatever Harlem Heat can do. The
match could have been worse, but it was just such dull stuff.

Berlyn
is still coming. Nothing has changed in the last hour.

Here’s
the First Family with something to say. Hart
wants them to win the Tag Team Titles and Flynn actually says the
First Family needs no introduction. That would be because no one
wants to see them introduced but that’s another story. Barbarian
rambles about something that I can’t comprehend a single word of and
Knobbs/Morrus issue a challenge for the titles next week.

Steiner
is defending because WCW lived in a random and chaotic universe.
Rick actually does something
worthwhile by telling security to throw out a fan that tossed a drink
at him. Pesky twerp. The
champ drives him to the ropes and hammers away to start and nails a
big Steiner Line. It’s already time for the choking because the
right hands and the Steiner Line are about all he’s got to start.

Saturn
ducks another Steiner Line and kicks him to the floor for some
swearing from the champ. Back
in and Rick drives him into the corner and chokes even more because
Steiner doesn’t know how to do anything else. They
head outside with Steiner whipping him into the barricade and steps
as we take a break. We really have to come back to this destruction
for the sake of pushing Rick Steiner?

Back
with Steiner in control because he’s not going to sell like these
young schmucks. He rakes
Saturn’s eyes and DDTs him before putting on something like a
surfboard. Saturn fights up
with a neckbreaker and kick to the face, followed by some right hands
to the face. Not that it matters as Sid comes out to shove Saturn
into a belly to belly for the DQ.

Rating: D.
This was a Steiner squash with a thirty second comeback before Sid
came out for the DQ. I’ve
ranted enough about WCW sacrificing the rest of the entire roster for
the sake of pushing Sid and Steiner for whatever reason, so let’s
complain about the young guys getting beaten up by Steiner. Does WCW
really think that Steiner is the future of this company instead of
someone like Saturn? I know Saturn isn’t the second coming of Steve
Austin but he’s probably going to be more valuable than Rick “I
can’t do anything more than choke and clothesline” Steiner. At
least he is in a logical mindset, which isn’t where WCW shines.

Benoit
comes out for the save and issues a challenge for next week before
the old guys charge and get dispatched. Sid
promises to pin both guys twice next week to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+.
The weird thing here was they actually treated Thunder like something
that mattered. We have two matches set up for next week and a title
changed hands. When does that EVER happen on Nitro, let alone
Thunder? Unfortunately the good things here were dragged down by Sid
interfering in literally half the matches. If
you get that down to one match at most and keep having things
actually matter on this show (and I don’t mean a PPV main event match
every week. The stuff they had here was fine), it feels SO much more
important and therefore easier to sit through. Just
get rid of Sid though. Please.

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