Issue # 026

Date:  Thursday October 8th, 1998  7:31 pm

WCW Thunder report for October 8th, 1998
By Steve Appy

Poor Tony Shiavonie was upset because he had no idea what the strange
laughing was supposed to mean. As many of you already know, the
laughter is some sort of tie in with the new "Childs Play" movie, and
Dave Meltzer says there may be more to the angle as well.

Mike Tenay interviewed a "drunk" Scott Hall in a bar, who challenged
Kevin Nash to brawl there tonight. Hall did a great job of really
looking drunk (let’s hope reality didn’t intrude).

Kanyon pinned the returning Prince Iaukai
Kanyon did some mike work before the match and his delivery wasn't
great.  Kanyon has tons of potential and his maneuvers truly are
awesome, especially coming from a heavyweight. Kanyon needs more ring
time, though, to really become a polished worker. Even the Prince
isn't bad but his character just doesn't click. After a fairly equal
amount of offense being exchanged by both men Kanyon put Iaukai down
with the Flatliner.

TV Champion Chris Jericho issued a challenge for tonight's program
against Goldberg, who wasn't in the arena. Jericho then broke into a dressing room that he tried to sell belonged to Goldberg, and he walked away looking angry and confused. its nice to see Jericho in a storyline with Goldberg; it will elevate Jericho, even if he does the job to Goldberg in the end. If the audience places you with the main
eventers in their mind, you become a main eventer.

During the Scott Steiner interview that first aired Monday, he claimed
to have won The Crockett Cup. Not true. The last Crockett Cup took
place in 1988, before Rick & Scott had ever even teamed together.
Still, that may have been part of the storyline, since Scott is
supposed to be full of S**T.

Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner came out for an interview.
Buff is really becoming awesome on the mike. In a couple years Buff
can be one of the BIGGEST stars in the sport. Scott yelled at Buff
for Mrs. Bagwell's tirade Monday night and Buff got pissed. Scott
eventually claimed he should have slapped Judy on Monday and Buff
looked like he would hit Scott. He didn't, which kind of made Buff
look like a wimp.

Buff eventually abandoned Scott in the ring and Scott warned Buff
that he needed the nWo more than the nWo needs Buff. Actually, I hope
they do turn Buff babyface.  He'll mean more when he returns if he's a fan favorite. If they really do separate Scott & Buff it'll be funny watching Scott's whole act deflate like a popped balloon. Buff is the only thing that makes Scott Steiner's interviews and matches worth watching.

Meng defeated Jerry Flynn by submission after The Tongan Death Grip
Flynn is better than most at making these big stiffs look good and he
made Meng look okay. Flynn deserves a push; he's good enough to carry
a storyline. I wonder if he can do interviews?

Chris Jericho once again challenged Goldberg, and he had one of those
fat bodyguards with him, carrying a 2X4. Jericho claimed that "I'm
you're daddy, Goldberg". Goldberg and Jericho may wrestle at World
War 3.

After the commercial break Meng refused to leave the ring. Chris
Adams entered the ring to prepare for the next match and Meng applied
the Death Grip on Adams.  Wraith, Adams's scheduled opponent, made the save. They brawled and it was as weak a brawl as it gets. Still, when Wraith took Meng off his feet, it did get a good reaction from the audience.

The Horseman arrived at the arena, and Doug Dillinger served them with
restraining orders keeping them 100 yards away from the arena. JJ
Dillon tried to intervene to no avail. Dean Malenko was the only one
allowed to stay; will he arrive later and get destroyed by the nWo?
These fake restraining orders are getting old.

Tokyo Magnum pinned El Dandy
After Lee Marshall called them both Cruiserweights, Shiavonie made the
good observation that Dandy is no more a cruiserweight than Disco
Inferno. its nice to occasionally interject reality into the
commentary.

IWGP World Champion Scott Norton entered the ring and he destroyed
both men. It really didn't make Norton look like a monster; instead,
he looked more like a bully.  At least when Meng does that crap, he really looks tough. No such luck for Norton.

Eddie Guerrerorecruited El Dandy into the LwO, and besides that, made
a remark to Tokyo Magnum about being Japanese and it not being his
business. So far, Guerrero isn't even recruiting the best Luchadors,
which is good, considering how bad this angle sucks. Don't drag Rey,
Juvi, La Parka, or Psychosis down to this level. For that matter, I
hate seeing Guerrero looking so bad. Eddie Guerrerois really one of
the best wrestlers in the world, and this storyline will not elevate
him at all.

Saturn pinned Scott Putski
Putski was given some offense which was too bad. Putski really is
not very good and his costume is definitely not cool. Saturn pinned
Putski after The Death Valley Driver.

The Disciple pinned Horace Boulder
The Disciple gave maybe the WORST, most hypercritical interview I have
ever heard.  He acknowledged that many thought he was riding Hogan's coattails through the years, and he denied that was true. Someone should have told him that he was better off not bringing up the subject because he has no defense. He only has a job because Hogan secured it for him.

The Barber then claimed that Boulder only was hired because he's
Hogan's nephew.  True, but he's actually a little bit of a better wrestler then Ed Leslie.  I know his interview was approved by Hogan but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  Ed Leslie does not contribute one positive thing to the business.

TV Champion Chris Jericho came out for his third interview segment.
He acknowledged referee Mark Curtis (Brian Hildebrand) and wished him
well. Classy.  Jericho nicknamed Goldberg "Greenberg".  Funny.  Jericho claimed to have defeated Goldberg via forfeit since Goldberg didn't come to the ring and face Jericho. By the time these two actually wrestle people are going to really want to see Goldberg spear Jericho.

US Champion Bret Hart challenged Sting at Halloween Havoc. Hart
really is a great talker and he tries to make rational sense out of
his storylines. In fact, he cares more about his character making
sense then the bookers do. In a funny line Hart told Sting he hoped
his mascara doesn't run.

Dean Malenko defeated The Barbarian (w/Jimmy Hart) with The Texas
Cloverleaf.
Dean Malenko came to the ring with a steel chair and demanded that
Bischoff give him an opponent to wrestle. Bischoff sent Jimmy Hart &
The Barbarian to the ring to act as bounty hunters. If The Barbarian
defeated Malenko Bischoff promised him a S500,000 raise. Funny. I'd
guess The Barabrian might pull in around $150,000 a year from WCW.
Bischoff claimed to have over three years left on his contract (I have
no idea if this is true).

Bischoff acted amazed that Malenko was able to defeat Barbarian and
he went crazy. In fact, it would be sad if WCW put The Barbarian over
the FAR more talented Malenko.  Bischoff claimed that Malenko & Benoit
have never moved up in the sport because they don't draw money. These
days its impossible to tell what it is a shoot comment, and what is
just pure storyline. The lines have been blurred.

Diamond Dallas Page pinned Raven after The Diamond Cutter
Raven cut a promo ripping on DDP for getting the breaks he's sure
should have gone to him. DDP came out mad as hell and an impromptu
match began. Raven used a Drop Toehold to drop DDP onto a steel
chair. Raven was on the verge of victory when DDP pushed Raven into
Lodi, who was on the ring apron. DDP eventually hit Raven with the
Diamond Cutter for the victory.

Lex Luger defeated Stevie Ray (w/Vincent) via Disqualification
Lee Marshall claimed that nWo Hollywood's acquisition of Stevie Ray was
one of their best moves ever.  I feel sorry for announcers that are
forced to sell nonsense like this.  Stevie Ray was DQ’ed when Scott Hall stormed the ring. Hall was supposed to be at the bar but showed up looking SOBER at the arena. Bobby Heenan was selling that Hall might have been faking the drunkenness the entire time. We'll see where that goes.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Jackolyte5
I like the way that you thank the real life wrestling bookers but I
think you forgot one of the greatest bookers of all time: Shoei
"Giant" Baba. Giant Baba is the booker of All Japan Pro Wrestling.

 

They put on IMO the best pure wrestling anywhere in the world. Baba
doesn't insult his audience with wild characters and angles. All the
angles are built into the history of the opponents and the match.
Watching a AJPW main event is the one of my favorite things in
wrestling. Listening to the Tokyo crowd pounding their feet on the
ground during the last few minutes of a match is almost orgasmic. So
please include Baba into the bookers because he has gotten more out of
an angle then anyone in the business. Also you shouldn't forget to
thank Jushin Liger for booking the NJPW Juniors and Riki Choshu for booking the NJPW Heavy's.
Cpt. Japan
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Doradweeb
I have an idea. Now that WCW has the nWo black and white, Wolfpac,
LWO, they should make a group for the rest of us that says: WAC (we are confused)
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: MTruck1
Jim Ross on Raw stated that on Raw it isn't 45 year old dueling
microphones but in the WWF it is 20-30 year old dueling mikes. There
is just too much talk in wrestling today. Anybody can just grab the
mike even if they haven't proved anything.

Ernest Miller, Lodi, Val Venis, and countless others just walk up grab the mic and talk about pointless stuff.  Raw is 30 minutes of action and 1 hour of talk.  Nitro is 30 minutes of action and 2 hours of talk. It is pointless, I turn to Raw when the weekly DDP interview happens only to see the weekly bi-Austin interview. Then I turn it to ESPN and talk about baseball.

It used to be a guy got over because he wrestled well, now you get over on how you talk well. All I have to say is shut up and wrestle. And as far as saying Goldberg doesn't deserve the title, Goldberg got the title because he was the most over wrestler at the time because he wrestled and just won. They gave him the belt because he was the man for the job at the moment.
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: UMWChris
Booking idea for a possible WCW return for Vader

 

--Eric Bischoff is arguing with Eddie Guerreroabout the LWO and how he
is just being plain ridiculous, and that Damian and Hector Garza should be glad they are on NITRO and that Eddie is a waste of space in WCW. He
then says that if he sent Eddie Guerreroto the rival promotion that
he may help fill their talent gap, but that he would be held back
there as well due to their lack of respect in Cruiserweight wrestlers.

 

Just when you are about to say lawsuit, due to Bischoff's comments
on the competition...Bischoff starts talking about his pen signing off
Big Van Vader and Johnny B. Badd.

--Vader's music plays...Vader comes out, with a large amount of heat,
which might fizzle at first--

--However, when Vader starts bad mouthing Bischoff...Bischoff tells
him that he has no business being in WCW--

--The Horsemen music plays and Ric Flair walks out and says that Vader
is going to be the official bodyguard for the IV Horsemen. He talks
about how the IV Horsemen are forever, but the fact is that the nWo
Hollywood keeps on expanding because Hogan is a coward and must hide behind other people--

--This pisses off Bischoff, but Vader proves himself in WCW, while
recouping from his loss to Hogan and his poor WWF tenure--

--Finally, a WCW wrestler, that although he may not go all the way to
the top again. He proves himself tough again. Vader will only job 1
out of every 5 matches pretty much as he once did. He will not make
WCW look bad by beating their wrestlers. The main thing that will
happen is that they will show a brief workout video of Vader being
unbelievably tough again. But, they just won't do that, until
Thunder. The slogan will say "From The Rocky Mountains, The Monster
Is Back. Big Van Vader Is Back Again, For The Last Time!"--
===========================================
Reader Mailbag
Submitted by reader: Noah Hopper (cwebber4@xxxxpicron.net)
Hey, I've heard rumors of a new nWo forming.  I may be losing it
but if it happens this will be the most powerful group in the history
of wrestling.  The nWo Black & White seem to be getting a little full
lately and The Wolfpac doesn't seem to be recruiting new material,
could WCW be setting up for the nWo Revolution? The nWo Blue &
Black? Well here's what could happen.

Hollywood Hogan loses to The Warrior at Halloween Havoc and the loss drives him insane and starts to act like a real jerk-off.  He comes in during nWo Hollywood's matches and causes some of them to lose just because he is mad.

Bret Hart gets sick of this and leaves nWo Hollywood for real this time, with a chair to Hollywood's head.  People start to think he is going to go Wolfpac, which he won't because Sting will not trust him. Bret Hart later comes out wearing his jacket and takes it off revealing an nWo Revolution, Blue & Black T-Shirt.

Wrestler's who would soon follow: Scott Hall, The Giant (he's tag champs with Hall so he goes with him), Buff Bagwell (he gets sick of walking around with Big Pappa Pump so he makes a name for himself) THE PARAGON OF VIRTUE CHRIS JERICHO! (bar none the best wrestler in WCW).

Bret Hart CALLS Jericho out and asks him to join; Jericho does and thus begins a new gimmick, he will no longer be known as a whiner, but he will be recognized for the skill he has, & he will turn into a bad ass and he will go for larger titles besides the Cruiserweight and TV.

Scott Hall and The Giant will probably lose to Luger and Sting and (Bret Hart and Jericho will win them back) Raven (Raven will finally be given a push and will join The Blue & Black, becoming the US champ again real quick).  Juventud Guerrera Jr. (Rey Mysterio will join The Wolfpac and start a feud with Juvi, and Juvi will soon after join the Blue & Black) will join as well).

What will happen to The White & Black Express?  Hollywood Hogan,
Stevie Ray, Vincent, Scott Norton, Kanyon, Ernest Miller will all
probably be there, maybe some others, like the Japanese representatives
and all that, but those will be the main ones. Big Pappa Pump will
more than likely leave and after a while join back up with Rick to
form the Steiner Brothers once more

What about The Pac: Nash, Sting, Luger, Savage, Konnan, Mysterio, and
Kidman will most likely be there. If the Revolution happens they will
be the biggest force in this history of WCW
===========================================
The staff of The Wrestling Booking Sheet
Editor: Steve Appy Columnist: Mark George
Columnist: SamJerry
Columnist: Fritz Capp
Columnist: Rick Phelps
Columnist: Cindy Barnes
Columnist: Josh Hewitt
Columnist: Swami
Columnist: Tom Misnik
Columnist: Nate Pelley
Columnist: Robert Troy (Osiris)
Columnist: Tom Kirkbride
Columnist: Ryan S. Oaks
Columnist: Darren Kramer

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