So, THUNDER happened and they showed all the footage they said they would, which showed Nick Patrick not making a slow count, then the next night on Nitro Hogan decking Sting with brass knucks, getting a 3 count despite the fact Sting had Hogan tapping out before this, only for Nick Patrick to ignore it. So the title is VACANT! Well done, WCW. You spent over a full year building to STING beating Hogan for the title at Starrcade and you fuck it up!
Mean Gene is outside and… LIMOS AGAIN~! Of course its the NWO. They seem on the same page… except SAVAGE is not with them.
Jerry Flynn Vs Goldberg
Flynn goes right for Goldberg with a martial arts kick and then takes him down, only for Goldberg to attempt an arm bar. The two of them roll around exchanging shots and submissions, but the POWER of Goldberg puts him on top of this match! SPEAR. JACKHAMMER. This one is over, and so is Goldberg! Way more over than he was just a week ago lol. Maybe it was just the arena. Last week was a dome, so perhaps the sound of the crowd didn’t come across as well. Plus this was a much better GOLDBERG SQUASH.
Black Cat Vs Marty Jannetty
Da fook is Black Cat? This ain’t the Marvel Black Cat. For starters its a dude. Apparently he’s helped train like every Japanese wrestler ever according to Tenay.
Jannetty in WCW. Like Martel the week before, I had no idea he was here in 98 lol. I guess Bischoff was signing anyone he could to have more guys on the roster for Thunder and the upcoming 3 hour Nitros. These two are having a real nice match. Some good punches early on, a great superkick that makes HBK’s Sweet Chin Music look like garbage, and a lifting DDT that probably should have ended the match but resulted in the least effort cover and pathetic kick out of all time lol. Jannetty gets the win. Would watch again.
Mean Gene again and… LIMO~! And again its the NWO, only now its the other guys led by Savage and Hall. Savage keeps threatening to slap Mean Gene and demanding to know what Nash said about him 
.
Dean Malenko Vs Chris Benoit
Typical match from these two; bit of basic mat work, reversals, submissions, and a bunch of SUPLEXES. Does anyone hit a better back suplex than Benoit? Crowd aren’t too into the match at first but they slowly come around which is nice, and they are pretty hot as we go into the finish. Nice pop for the crossface, and Benoit gets the win only to be jumped by Raven! Saturn jumps Malenko too just for the hell of it. Good match, and some more build for Benoit/Raven too. Can’t complain about any of this!
Mean Gene interview with Dillon. He fines Savage $5000 for decking Bischoff last week. He claims he’s “just trying to do his job” but he has a huge smile on his face. WCW guys are messing with NWO guys as often as possible since Starrcade, be it decisions by Dillon or the commentary team constantly talking about the NWO cracking at the foundation. Bischoff comes out to calm Savage down and says he’ll pay the fine. Savage is still pissed about it all.
Back from a commercial break and… Mean Gene interview . This one is IN THE RING though so its different. Out comes the US champ DDP! He’s talking about a big tag match on Thunder between him and Luger against Savage and Nash.
Perry Saturn Vs Booker T – WCW TV Championship Match
I do believe this is the first title match on Nitro in 1998! Shame its probably gonna suck. Well, I was wrong. This didn’t suck 
. Didn’t last too long, Booker T’s offense didn’t look as bad as it did last week, and while Saturn didn’t get much in (match felt like a squash for most of it), the shit he did looked good, especially one of those crazy throws/suplexes he’s known for. Oh shit! 3 count! Saturn had his feet on the ropes though, and another referee and… Rick Martel because… I don’t know why… come out to tell the referee what happened so the match continues and Booker T retains a minute later with the Harlem Hangover. Not sure why we needed the fake win, but oh well. Booker T gives Martel a shot at the title as a thank you. Could be interesting.
Well, we’ve had a match… so time for another Mean Gene interview! Nick Lambrose and THE GIANT are his guests this time around. The NWO will have to post a $1.5M performance bond for Kevin Nash to make sure he shows up for his match at Souled Out against The Giant. This is because Nash didn’t show up at Starrcade (due to Nash thinking he was having a heart attack irl), so if he doesn’t show up or if the NWO don’t put up the bond, Nash is suspended for a year! And of course they lose the money if they do put up the bond and he doesn’t show up. Out come Bischoff, Hogan, Nash and… some old dude. Henry Holmes, some Hollywood attorney. No doubt to represent the NWO. He tells us that the NWO is willing to agree to the bond, but they also require that WCW match the bond, to ensure that The Giant cannot touch Nash! The Giant accepts the deal, and in comes Nash to try and provoke him. Giant smiles and leaves. He can wait.
Black and white video package highlighting the Luger/Savage feud. Doesn’t hype me up for a damn thing though.
Hugh Morrus Vs Lex Luger
Well this just screams classic. Hugh looks… fatter than I remember him being in WCW. Maybe its just me. Nothing special here. Highlight was Hugh missing a splash. Torture rack and its done. Thankfully this one was short so it didn’t get boring or anything.
Miss Liz comes out after the match all in a fluster and asking for Luger’s help. Aaaand then Savage clocks him from behind. SLAP TO THE FACE BY LIZ. DDP runs out for the save.
Sowing the seeds of DISSENTION between the Steiners, with Scotty being “selfish” and wanting to win matches for himself. Not good as tonight they defend their belts against The Outsiders!
Chris Jericho Vs Steve McMichael
Jericho keeps having tantrums. Poor guy still has well over a year to go before he can leave WCW, so he’s got plenty of tantrums still to go! 
Oh man, Mongo being green comes out to play again, just with some little things. Jericho knocks him down, and clearly they have a spot set up for afterwards, but Jericho spends a few seconds playing to the crowd and Mongo doesn’t have a clue what to do as he was expecting to just get up and go into the next spot .
TOMBSTONE PILEDRIVER BY MONGO. HE PINS JERICHO. HA. Decent match. afterwards Jericho is shitting on the fans, then realises we’ve come back from commercial and sucks up to them instead .
Mysterio comes out for the next match and Jericho is pissed. Mysterio claims he’s here to defend the CW title. He isn’t even the CW champion . Jericho attacks him from behind. Juvi comes out and botches jumping over the ropes which gets a massive pop .
Rey Mysterio Vs Juventud Guerrera – WCW Cruiserweight Championship Match
The referee says Rey can’t continue, so Juvi attacks him and the referee starts the match anyway . 450 splash and Juvi retains his title.
Replay of the title shit on Thunder, and now its time for HOGAN AND BISCHOFF. Hogan cuts a good promo talking about Henry Holmes being here to help him get his title back and take WCW to the cleaners.
What time is it? MEAN GENE INTERVIEW TIME! He’s here to debut JIM THE ANVIL NEIDHART! He ain’t happy about Flair’s comments on Bret Hart. And that brings out THE NATURE BOY himself. Flair insinuates that Jim is only saying Bret is the best because he’s married to his sister! Anvil is READY to get in the ring with Flair right here right now. Jim heads to the ring, and Flair heads to the back to get his ring gear on as he’s in a suit!
Jim Neidhard Vs Ric Flair
Oooookay, Flair comes back seconds later and hasn’t changed . BRASS KNUCKS~! Flair decks Jim AND the referee! Well, I say brass knucks, but its those weird white ones that look (and probably are) plastic lol. FIGURE FOUR AROUND THE RING POST. Flair’s face is incredible during this, he looks like a fucking MAD MAN. Bret comes out for the save and ITS ON! Flair retreats and Bret checks on Jim. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
MAIN EVENT TIME~!
The Steiner Brothers Vs The Outsiders – WCW Tag Team Championship Match
The Outsiders have fake titles, so they wanna replace em with the real deal tonight. BUT the NWO, and even Hall and Nash, are having problems which could go against them. Meanwhile Scott and Rick aren’t exactly on the same page either! ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE WWF… I MEAN WCW!
Wow, don’t think I’ve known a survey to be so against the NWO lol. Normally the fans cheer the shit out of the NWO/Outsiders no matter what.
This match rocks right from the start. Steiners are all over The Outsiders and the crowd are eating it up. Savage comes out and he wants Nash, so Hogan has to calm him down so Nash can concentrate on this match. And once Nash finally gets in the ring the entire match changes, and The Outsiders have control. Almost a botch 3 count at one point .
How great are those POWERSLAMS from Rick Steiner? He just kind throws a guy and then catches them to slam them into the mat. Even a guy as big as Nash lol.
CHOKESLAM~! Hall spends too much time mocking The Giant, and turns right around into an overhead belly to belly!
Both teams are using great teamwork, and any problems they might have aren’t showing up here tonight… at least, not yet!
Hogan crotches Rick on the turnbuckle and Steiner wants to rip everyone apart!
HIT HIM BACK, RICKY! Scotty yells encouragement to his brother, and his brother responds with massive right hands to the face of Hall!
BIG BOOT TO SCOTT HALL WHO FALLS INTO THE REFEREE! All hell breaks loose! Savage goes for an Elbow Drop as Nash is covering Rick, but Nash moves and Savage is pissed! The referee comes to, and Nash and Hall both cover Rick for the win! We got new tag team champions, but Nash wants to kill Savage!
Well that was definitely worthy of a TV main event, much better than what they gave us last week. Good tag match, new champs, and some more advancement into the NWO falling apart angle. Nothing with Scott and Rick not getting along though which was a little odd. Oh well.
Whole show was much better than last week. Matches overall were better, angles were better, and we didn’t have the commentators going on endlessly about the footage from Starrcade being aired on Thunder lol. I get that they were trying to hype its first episode, but it was fucking overkill.
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