June 14, 1998
Hosted by Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay.
Live from Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, MD
“Mean” Gene goes over the history of Sting and The Giant over the tag team championship. They won the title at Slamboree when Giant was nWo Black and White, and Sting later joined nWo Wolfpac. The winner picks their tag team partner, and The Giant said he would pick The Disciple.
Chris Benoit vs. Booker T. Eighth match of the Best-of-7 for the TV title shot. On the previous Thunder, Bret Hart clobbered Booker with a chair, and Benoit didn’t want to win that way and told Nick Patrick, who disqualified him. Booker then said he wanted to go one more time at the ppv. Stevie Ray was not pleased with that decision. Benoit armdrags from a lockup to start, followed by a Booker hiptoss. Hart apparently offered an nWo black and white T-shirt to Benoit on Thunder, which he neither accepted nor rejected. Booker headlock, whip and Benoit trips him up. Benoit grabs a hammerlock, reversed by Booker. Benoit locks it on again, and Booker takes control with a punch and slam. Benoit gets a dragon screw legwhip to hurt Booker’s knee. Benoit lays in chops, and a couple of near falls. More restholds than I’d expect here. Booker leapfrogs, but eats a chop. Tenay says Benoit is using the headlock to weaken Booker for the crossface. Booker misses a bodypress off the top, and Benoit goes for the crossface, but Booker gets the ropes. Booker gets an enziguri and sidewalk slam, bodyslam and spinaroni. Benoit superplexes Booker before he can missile dropkick. Rolling Germans into a dragon suplex gets two. Benoit whipped into corner, and gets scissorkicked. Missile dropkicks gets the win. I’d say ***3/4 stars. He’ll fight Finley later in the show.
Chavo Guerrero talks to Lee Marshall at wcwwrestling.com.
Sat-turn (ooh yeah!) vs. Kanyon. Mortis had recently been unmasked, and was supposed to face Raven. A fake Mortis entered, and Kanyon sneak attacked from behind. Kanyon dominates and knocks Kidman off the apron. Saturn gets a kick combo, but Kanyon legdrops Saturn off the ropes. The Flock pulls out Kanyon, and Saturn dives on everyone. Saturn places Kanyon on the ropes, and hits a springboard clothesline to the outside. Saturn springboards off a chair inside, then a triple jump moonsault. Kanyon misses an elbow, Saturn hits a neckbreaker. The pace slows down, and Kanyon hits a hot shot. Both get near falls, Saturn turns the Rings of Saturn to a pin for two. Kanyon hits an F5 for two, then a reversed version of it for two. Saturn suplexes out of a reverse Russian Legsweep, tries a DVD, then a sidekick. Both fall outside from the turnbuckle, and Raven, dressed as Mortis, fights another Mortis inside and outside the ring. Reverse Russian Legsweep, and Kanyon wins. Raven Mortis Evenflows Kanyon. ***. Raven bashes Saturn verbally until the Flock strikes, and Saturn throws suplexes as Raven escapes.
Dean Malenko vs. Chris Jericho. Malenko forfeited the cruiserweight belt for another shot at Y2J. Winner gets the title. Jericho’s father Ted Irvine apparently appeared on the previous Thunder. Dean punches Jericho down, and chokes away. Jericho hits a shoulderblock, tries the Liontamer, but Dean gets out. Deano Machino hits a brainbuster for two. Flair flip from Jericho leads to a dive on Malenko outside. Suplex, and “C’Mon Baby!” pin. Jericho with the sleeper, and Dean locks in one of his own. Jericho takes over, and does the goosestep. He misses the Lionsault, and gets dropkicked, and Dean gets two. Bulldog from the top. Jericho hurricanranas Dean from the top. Jericho gets the Liontamer, but Dean makes the ropes. Another try, and Malenko gets the Texas Cloverleaf. Jericho gets the bottom rope, then gets a backbreaker. He taunts Dean about his deceased father, and Dean snaps and hits Jericho with a chair outside. They fight to the back, and Jericho flees, almost getting hit by a car in the process. ***-ish. Malenko is disqualified, and Jericho wins the title.
Eddie Guerrero apologizes to Chavo at the Internet position.
Juventud Guerrera vs. Reese- A video package shows Juvy (now unmasked) in Mexico. “Reese is tall, Juvy is small,” Lodi’s sign reads. Reese was a member of the Flock, and was a really big guy. Reese overpowers Juvy, who keeps punching and getting swatted away. Juvy plays cat-and-mouse outside, springboards onto him, but gets posted. Reese throws Juvy back in. Juvy attacks the knee. Juvy jumps on his back from the ropes, and rakes his eyes. Reese falls to a knee, but falls back with Juvy. Backbreaker stretches Juvy. He shakes Juvy in a bearhug. Juvy low blows him, but runs into a fist. Reese grabs a chair, the ref grabs it, and Van Hammer whacks Reese with a chair into a hurricanrana for the win. **. I believe Hammer had recently quit/been kicked out of the Flock.
Chavo vs. Eddie Guerrero- Chavo slaps Eddie to start. They exchange slaps, and Chavo backdrops him. Eddie hits his shoulder on the post, and Chavo takes over. Two hurricanranas, and Eddie bails. Chavo throws him in, but Eddie catches him. Chavo hits a moonsault for two. Eddie ducks and charges, and Chavo goes out. Brainbuster inside, and Eddie slaps him until Chavo snaps. Eddie runs, and Chavo chases until Eddie hides behind the ref, Eddie attacks the knee, and locks in a figure four. Gory special, to a camel clutch. Hanging backbreaker, and he spins Chavo and drops him. Eddie backdropped out, and corkscrew splash out. Eddie plays possum, and knocks Chavo off the top. Eddie misses a frog splash. Tornado DDT, and Chavo goes out. Hits another for a surprise win. Feels like another ***, as it just was slower than I would have expected.
Booker T vs. Fit Finley. I had forgotten about this one. Harlem Sidekick gets one. Chops, and Booker clotheslines him out, and dives onto him. Back in, but Finley turns a scissorkick into a powerbomb, then puts him in a leglock. Finley stomps away, and works the leg. Booker gets two from a backslide. Not much is going on here. Finley throws him outside. Inside, Vaderbomb by Finley. Booker hits the sidekick, and a powerslam. Scissorkick, and spinaroni, but Finley knocks him down. He goes for a tombstone, but Booker reverses. Finley misses a charge, and Booker piledrives him for a win. **1/4, was kind of boring. Stevie Ray comes out to congratulate Booker.
Konnan vs. Goldberg. Curt Hennig and Rick Rude lead Konnan in. Hmm, Goldberg was from Parts Unknown at this point. He was also the U.S. champion. Goldberg headlocks K-Dawg, and puts him in an anklelock. Konnan kicks Goldberg, but gets speared. Jackhammer spells a quick end. This was his 100th win, supposedly. Hennig and Rude then jump their teammate, revealing an now black and white shirt. Lex Luger and Kevin Nash run in for the save. *
Piper/Savage vs. Hart/Hogan. Piper and Savage weren’t getting along, and were scheduled for a match following this. First time that either team has been together, Tenay says. Hogan was champion at the time. Piper brawls with Hogan to start, and Macho and Piper doubleteam. Quick tags on Hogan. Disciple slips Hogan the belt to hit Piper. Hart takes over on Piper. Doubleteam on Piper. Savage goes crazy trying to get in. Macho swings a chair on the outside, and Piper gets Hart with it. Savage gets in with Hogan, goes for the flying elbow, but his knee gives out and he falls. Hart locks on the sharpshooter, and Savage gives up. *1/2. Savage was crippled, Piper and Hogan were old, and Bret wasn’t that involved or maybe into it.
Mean Gene tries to get an interview, asking Piper how they can have a match, Piper helps Macho up, and Macho clotheslines Piper down. Elbowdrop from Macho for two. Macho nails the referee, and Piper locks on the figure four for the win. Barely was a match.
Giant vs. Sting, WCW tag team title- They had a rematch on Raw two years ago. Giant comes out smoking a cigarette, for some reason. Tenay said Sting talked about Giant needing to get in better shape and to stop smoking in an interview, and thought this was a response. He blows smoke in Sting’s face, and he slaps Giant. Giant misses a splash, and gets Stinger splashed. He kicks down Sting on another attempt, though. Chops on Sting in the corner. Sting tries a bodypress, but bounces off. Sting gets launched into the top turnbuckle. Bearhug, he gets out and hits two Stinger splashes, and bodyslams Giant. Impressive. Scorpion Deathlock, but Giant is too strong. Scorpion Death Drop gets only two. Sting blocks a chokeslam, and hits the Scorpion Death Drop again for two. Giant charges to the corner but gets kicked, and Sting hits the death drop off the turnbuckle for the win. **. Seemed short and was mostly both doing their finishers, but OK for what it was. Sting teamed with Nash and Luger later I believe, much like the Spirit Squad and Demolition have done.
Wrap-up: A decent show for the time period. The Hogan/Hart vs. Savage/Piper stuff did nothing for me, and Giant and Sting fighting over the tag belts wasn’t a great main event. As usual at the time, the undercard saved the show, though I felt Eddie and Chavo never did have the match they were capable of, here or in WWE. Jericho and Malenko was a great feud too, but they didn’t have a typical cruiserweight match here. Benoit and Booker was good too, but I think they had better, including earlier this year.
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