WCW: Thunder
January 14, 1999
Richmond, VA
Richmond Coliseum

The current WCW champs are as follows:
WCW World Champion: Hollywood Hogan (1/4/1999)
WCW U.S. Champion: Bret Hart (11/30/1998)
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Vacant (1/7/1999)
WCW World Television Champion: Scott Steiner (12/28/1998)
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Billy Kidman (11/22/1998)

Your hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.

• Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Scott Putski

Putski tries to get fresh with Bigelow and receives an enziguri for his troubles. Bigelow misses a diving headbutt, but catches Putski with a powerslam for two. As Bigelow grabs a chinlock, the crowd chants for Goldberg and Bigelow reacts accordingly. Big stalling vertical suplex to Putski. These chants are really getting to Bigelow, which is great. Putski tries to take advantage, but Bigelow is just too much. A series of headbutts put Putski down. Our esteemed commentators are just blathering on about everything other than what’s happening in the ring. Bigelow lifts Putski in the air by his throat and tosses him aside. Back to the chinlock, the crowd is still chanting “Goldberg”. Putski escapes with a jawbreaker, but Bigelow clotheslines him and delivers a slam and a diving headbutt for two. Again, Putski mounts a comeback, but runs into the GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK to give Bigelow the win. (6:09) Just a JTTS match. Bigelow looks good. ¾*

• Norman Smiley vs. Prince Iaukea

Another Starrcade rematch. It’s Nor-MAN Smi-LAY. When Tenay gives Schiavone crap for saying Norman just wants to educate everybody on how to say his name correctly, Tony says people don’t watch Thunder to get educated. You can say that again. Feeling out process to start. Smiley gets the big swinging slam off and does a little dance. The people LOVE it. Commercials! When we come back, Smiley hangs Iaukea out to dry and dropkicks him to the floor. Here comes the BIG WIGGLE! Iaukea shoulder butts his way back in and delivers a springboard body press. There’s a BAAAACK body drop to Smiley. He comes right back with a whip reversal and a clothesline. More dancing. Smiley takes Iaukea to the mat for a headscissors. Iaukea manages to kick his way out and corners Smiley. He gets a sunset flip off the middle rope for two, but Smiley is right there with another clothesline. As Iaukea rolls to the floor, Smiley gives him a slam. Iaukea runs Smiley into the ringpost and the guardrail. Back in, Smiley nails Iaukea on the way in and delivers a chop across the chest and across the back. Vertical suplex by Smiley gets two. More headscissors action. Back up, Smiley runs Iaukea into the corner. Back elbow scores a two-count. Iaukea avoids the next Big Swinging  Slam and tries to come back, but he telegraphs a backdrop and Smiley hits the Stalling Butterfly Suplex. NORMAN CONQUEST! That’s enough for the submission. (9:05 shown) Much more entertaining than the Starrcade match. Smiley is really coming into his own putting a match together. **

Gene Okerlund (he’s working Thursday!) brings out Jimmy Hart. He’s back on the scene as a full fledged manager. As a manager of champions, it only makes sense Jimmy Hart would have a team in the WCW world tag team titles tournament. He brings out Meng and the Barbarian as the first members of the latest incarnation of the First Family.

They replay clips of Ric Flair’s meeting with Eric Bischoff in the WCW offices that we saw on Nitro – and how he’s now part of the ring crew. The huge wrench he used to tighten the turnbuckles was left under the ring by Bischoff, which Nash used to KO the Giant in the main event. Nash pretends he’s got a knockout punch while Bischoff brags about Kevin Nash being the “nWo corporate giant” over at the announce table.

WCW/nWo Thunder ad airs for PlayStation. It’s not the best wrestling game, but it is the most recent.

WCW/nWo Magazine ad plays. The cover story is about Hollywood Hogan retiring. WHOOPS.

• Chris Jericho (w/Ralphus) vs. Van Hammer

Jericho says the same thing almost verbatim as to what he said on Nitro here about Saturn not having the legs to wear a dress, DADDY-O. Van Hammer drinks on a bottle of water on the way to the ring. Ya gotta stay hydrated. Jericho has an interesting look with his wrist tape going all the way up this elbows. He escapes a headlock and catches Hammer with a dropkick. Hammer blocks a hiptoss with a clothesline and mocks Jericho’s strut. Jericho gets caught on the top buckle and gets thrown down by his throat. That gets two. Jericho fires back with a spinning heel kick and does a kip-up. Here comes a vertical suplex as PERRY SATURN comes down to get a closer look. With his back to Saturn, Jericho grabs a rear chinlock and puts a knee into Hammer’s back. Hammer gets up and avoids a dropkick, but then misses an elbow drop. Hammer’s head is too hard for a headbutt according to Jericho. There’s a back suplex to Hammer, but Jericho is caught up top for a STALLING SUPERPLEX! Holy crap. Cover, 1-2-NO! Cobra Clutch Slam by Hammer gets two as well. Hammer goes for an enziguri, but Jericho ducks and applies the LIONTAMER for the win. (4:26) Not that it’s a long list of good matches, but this might be one of Hammer’s best. Saturn applauds Jericho’s victory from the aisle and heads out. **½

JOIN MIKE TENAY AND SCOTT HUDSON FOR THE MUTHASHIP ON TBS! LIVE AND IN PUBLIC IF YOU WILL. Well, it’s not live, but it will be on TV. This week, you’ll see Meng, Disco Inferno, and Wrath appearing in action. In the main event, it looks like Kenny Kaos and “BEAUTIFUL” Bobby Eaton will take on Bobby Duncum Jr. and Mike Enos as part of the WCW world tag team titles tournament. Doesn’t that give away tonight’s tournament match? I don’t even know anymore. It’s WCW SATURDAY NIGHT at 6:05PM EST.

They replay the same pre-taped comments from Goldberg we heard on Nitro.

• First Round – WCW World Tag Team Titles Tournament: The Barbarian & Meng (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Mike Enos & Bobby Duncum Jr.

The graphic shows Meng and Barbarian, so are they not the Faces of Fear anymore? They still wear the Faces of Fear gear. Anyways, these two are one of my FAVORITE tag teams in WCW. Barbarian starts out headbutting the crap out of Enos. He tries to fight back against Barb, but good luck. Enos manages a slam on Barbarian and tags out. Now we get Meng and Duncum. Meng doesn’t give a SHIT about Duncum and chops him down before delivering an inverted atomic drop. Meng even gets a sunset flip on Duncum, but then stands up into a dropkick. Tag to Barbarian, he headbutts the balls and elbow drops Duncum for two. The FOF keep Duncum down on the mat. The DOUBLE HEADBUTT to Duncum should end things, but Enos gets pissed and causes more damage to his partner. Duncum tries to come back with a slam, but Meng counters and suplexes Duncum over. Back to Barb, Duncum sunset flips him and Enos knocks Barbarian down for a nearfall. Nevertheless, Barb stays in control with a chinlock. Duncum jawbreakers out, but Meng prevents the tag and rips at his face. Duncum gets caught on the wrong side of town. Meanwhile, Tenay and Heenan are ganging up on Schiavone. Meng hits a PILEDRIVER on Duncum. Hey look, here comes the entire nWo. The FOF do the backdrop into a powerbomb finish. The match breaks down as the nWo get in the ring. The ref calls for the bell. (7:22) While Hollywood Hogan stays out on the floor, the nWo do his dirty work and taser the four guys in the tournament. Steiner uses the bull rope on Duncum for fun. Once the ring clears of the WCW guys, Hogan gets in the ring with a mic. He calls Nash the only true giant and seems to glad we won’t be hearing anymore “bowdy bowdy and rowdy rowdy” nonsense anymore from Konnan. Over to Nash, he repeats there won’t be a tag team tournament. Tenay says the nWo make their own rules. WHY? WHAT POWER DO THEY HAVE ANYMORE? **

This Week in WCW Motorsports. Man, I really thought they were done with this segment.

• Wrath vs. El Dandy

You can see El Dandy has shed his LWO skin thanks to Ric Flair. Now he’s in a JTTS match with Wrath. Lots of talk about HELL’S ANGELS showing up on Nitro. Wrath hits the Death Penalty (uranage) and as he delivers the MELTDOWN, BAM BAM BIGELOW is there to attack Wrath for the DQ. (3:44) Wrath ends up cleaning house on Bigelow as things get heated. ¾*

They show a SIX-MINUTE LONG recap video of what went down on Nitro last week.

• Disco Inferno vs. Super Calo

Disco BUM RUSHES THE SHOW on Calo to start and kicks him out of the ring. He runs Calo into the guardrail and into the ring apron. Back in, Disco slams Calo and hits a flying elbow for two. Hey look, here comes SCOTT HALL (and his stun gun) to ringside. Calo comes back with a spinning heel kick and a double jump missile dropkick for two. There’s a tilt-a-whirl slam (almost) for two. Disco runs into a boot in the corner, but then Hall sticks the stun gun into Calo’s back and he staggers forward into the CHARTBUSTER for the win. (3:19) Afterwards, Hall gets on the mic and tells Disco that the nWo hasn’t forgotten how he helped them at Starrcade, and that Hogan and Nash want to speak to him in the back – right now. As Disco leaves, Hall sticks around to talk about Goldberg. He tells Goldberg – because he’s such a rookie – he needs to go rent Scott’s ladder matches on VHS. Hall says if Goldberg reaches the stun gun on Sunday night, he gets to use it on Scott Hall. If Hall reaches the stun gun, he gets to use it on Goldberg – again. Don’t sing it, bring it Billy boy. ½*

MFGWLM HYPE: “Bad Boys” (1983) starring Sean Penn.

• Chris Benoit & Steve McMichael vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham

Benoit and Hennig start us off. Stiff tie-up. Hennig tries a go-behind and Benoit elbows him away to Mars. Benoit starts chopping and that’s dangerous. I’m not sure Benoit knows what to do with Hennig’s selling. He tags out to Mongo who quickly becomes *your* Horseman-in-peril. Windham delivers the back suplex and tags in Hennig who wants the running neck snap, but McMichael won’t sit up for it. Windham gets in some extracurricular activities as we go to commercial. AND WE’RE BACK! Windham lands the LARIAT on Mongo, but Benoit makes the save. Windham and Hennig continue to work over Mongo. There’s a double KO and Benoit gets the tag. Benoit runs through the heels and hits Windham with the SWANDIVE HEADBUTT for 1-2-NO! Mongo takes a backdrop out to the floor by Hennig. While Benoit locks in the CRIPPLER CROSSFACE on Windham, Hennig finds a chair and jabs ref Charles Robinson in the side. He starts unloading on Benoit and Mongo. There’s the bell. (7:01) RIC FLAIR runs down to help out. Even though he’s only one man, he takes out both Windham and Hennig. Windham low blows Flair and now they can work over the Horsemen. Instead of fighting and being aggressive, DAVID FLAIR runs down and lays over top of his dad. Windham grabs David and slugs him. He holds up David while Hennig grabs the chair to whack David, but we’re outta time. Dang, after that punch, I would have LOVED to see how David “sells” a chairshot. **

SOULED OUT is next! Until then, so long for now.

WCW / nWo PRESENTS: SOULED OUT
LIVE on January 17 from the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia! ONLY ON PPV!
MAIN EVENT: “Stun Gun” Ladder Match: Goldberg vs. Scott Hall
Ric & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham
“Loser Wears A Dress” Match: Perry Saturn vs. Chris Jericho
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Wrath