Mike Reviews WCW Thunder (The Last Episode)

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I decided to let Cage Match decide the review this week, as this episode of Thunder is apparently the highest rated one on the site amongst the inmates. I’m not sure if that’s just because of the historical significance of it or because it genuinely is a great episode (Thunder was usually quite awful, so that’s not an especially high bar to clear). Thomas Hall has reviewed this episode before, and you can read what he thought by clicking HERE if you’d like to see if we differ on how we feel about this episode.

You can view the card for this episode of Thunder by clicking below;

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=8334&page=3

Thunder this week is emanating from Gainesville, Florida on the 21st of March 2001 (Taped on the 19th March)

Calling the action are Mike Tenay and Tony Schiavone

We get an opening video package, which shows Ric Flair being forced to kiss a donkey’s bum. And people wonder how this company went out of business when they were doing such fantastic angles like that?

Opening Match
Air Raid (Air Styles and Air Paris) Vs The Jung Dragons (Kaz and Yang)

Air Styles would be better known as AJ Styles these days, and poor Air Paris got utterly Jannetty’d when it came to that team huh? Kaz Hayashi and Jimmy Yang would both end up working in All Japan I believe, with Yang eventually heading for some stints in WWE as both a Yakuza member and a Japanese redneck. Air Raid are entering to a track from the WCW Mayhem CD here, which is kind of generic Nu Metal stuff and doesn’t really suit the Top Gun theme that Air Raid have going on. Couldn’t they have given them a Kenny Loggins sound-a-like theme?

This one is all-action, with Styles busting out the Styles Clash to Hayashi at one stage, although they don’t treat it like a finisher. In general the match is good fun, although there isn’t much in the way of psychology going on. It’s kind of just an exhibition of spots and double teams, but it’s exciting to watch at least, not unlike a TNA X Division match. Eventually Air Raid manages to cut off Yang for a bit, which gives us our nominal heat segment, as they seem to be finally going into the standard tag formula with this one. Air Raid look decent on offence and Yang sells everything well enough when you consider the genre of match this is.

Yang eventually manages to catch Paris with a powerbomb and it’s hot tag Hayashi, with Kaz running wild on the opposing team and throwing Styles up so far in the air with a flapjack that I’m amazed Styles didn’t come back down with icicles on him. We get some near falls following that, as things break down and both teams have chances to win it. Styles continues to bring the innovative offence by rolling through on a German Suplex and then turning that into a face buster. There’s a cut of some kind when it looks like Styles is setting up for a rana, so I’m guessing there was a botch that needed covering up. The bout goes home soon after that, with Yang getting a Sling Blade onto Styles for the three count.

WINNERS: THE JUNG DRAGONS
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Air Raid were given a lot of offence here and this was an exciting competitive bout as a result. I’m not sure what happened with the cut at one stage, but I can only base the review on what I saw, and what I saw was a fun match, so it gets the rating it gets

Dustin Rhodes joins us with dubbed music and a black bag. Dustin shows us footage of Ric Flair having his face shoved into the donkey’s backside again, with it drawing a pretty sad lack of reaction from the crowd. Apparently Jeff Jarrett had his face shoved into the donkey’s derriere as well. We find out what’s in the bag, as Dustin has brought some props with him, including a “Pin Ric Flair’s Face On The Jackass” game. I can see those selling like hotcakes in Woolworth’s this summer! We also have chap stick and mouth wash, as Dustin has to resort to doing his wacky Goldust voice in order to get the crowd to respond to this. We also get a Viagra joke, because that was the height of comedy at the time. Ric Flair (the Heel authority figure at the time) shows up on the video wall and books Dustin in a handicap match with Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner later on as a punishment. Is that a punishment for Dustin, the fans, or both? Flair showed his usual effort here, but it was a pretty flat segment setting up a match that no one wanted to see.

Match Two
Cash Vs Jason Jett

Cash wrestled in ECW as Kid Kash, whilst Jett wrestled there as EZ Money, and the two had many a match there. It wouldn’t shock me if both of them were cursing the imminent demise of WCW more than most, seeing as both of them had not only just reached it to the big time but WCW was going to focus on pushing the Cruiserweight division a bit more and these guys were prominent American wrestlers that they could feature. I think other ECW guys were scheduled to come in around this time, with both Jerry Lynn and Steve Corino in negotiations with the company at the time, but WCW died before they could come in.

This is similar to the opener, as we’ve got some fast paced back and forth action going on, although the execution is probably tighter in this one than it was in the opener. Both of the two wrestlers look really good here actually, and there is even an “EC-DUB” chant at one stage when Cash gets an impressive flipping dive to the floor onto Jett. Jett responds by busting out the Buckshot Lariat though (I wonder if he was actually the inventor of that one? Did Scorpio use to do something like that move in the 90’s?). Cash gets a good amount of offence here to show that he’s someone to be taken seriously, but eventually Jett ends up getting the win following a suplex variation.

WINNER: JASON JETT
RATING: ***1/4

Thoughts: More good stuff here, as these two had solid chemistry together and it led to a mostly well-executed high-flying contest. This sort of wrestling was going to help WCW stand out against the WWF had they managed to survive. Both of these two looked like potential stars in the making here

Ric Flair apologises to Rick Steiner backstage for his faction not trusting in Steiner recently and then begs him not to hurt anyone.

Cat is firing up MI Smooth ahead of the next match. This was some funny back and forth between them.

Match Three
Kanyon and Road Warrior Animal Vs MI Smooth and The Cat w/ Ms. Jones

Kanyon and Cat had been feuding recently, with Smooth being previously known as Ice Train but now playing the role of a wise cracking limo driver who could also handle himself in a scrap. Animal is part of the Magnificent Seven faction, which was the latest Heel stable that was making all of the WCW babyfaces look dumb, because it wouldn’t be WCW if you didn’t have one of those. Cat used to be an absolutely horrible wrestler with good charisma, but by this stage he was a mostly passable wrestler who had even more charisma, so he was a perfect mid-card act and I’m surprised WWE couldn’t do more with him.

Cat shines on Kanyon to start, and it’s decent, and that leads to Animal and Smooth slapping meat with one another, and that’s pretty entertaining too. It’s actually quite a good babyface shine for the good guys, but a Kanyon cheap shot eventually allows Animal to get a powerbomb onto Cat for the cut off and heat segment. Cat isn’t a bad babyface in peril actually, as he sells well and gets the right balance between showing that he’s hurt whilst also showing that he still has some fire to fight back. Animal’s offence ranges from looking sloppy to looking decent depending on what move he’s trying, but he’s fine enough here. Kanyon looks excellent, with all of his offence being on point and him taking time to work the crowd too.

Cat does have a chance to make the tag at one stage, but he stupidly decides to make his own comeback and then dance, which allows Animal to clobber him. This leads to Jones distracting Animal, meaning he isn’t there for a tag when Kanyon goes for one, whilst Smooth is able to get a tag and run wild on Kanyon for two. I personally think it would have been better to just have Cat make the normal hot tag rather than doing what they did as it led to Smooth’s comeback feeling a bit flat. Cat eventually trips up Kanyon and Smooth adds a splash for the three count.

WINNERS: CAT & SMOOTH
RATING: **

Thoughts: This had a bit of a rough ending due to them messing with the formula and not doing a traditional hot tag for Smooth, but in general it was a solid enough TV tag match and it was nice to see the babyfaces get the win

Match Four
Rick Steiner Vs Hugh Morrus w/ Konnan

Steiner was completely out of control towards the end of WCW, beating people up at will with no punishment. In some cases he was even essentially an unofficial hitman for some of the Road Agents who decided that they wanted certain wrestlers to be taught a lesson. Morrus was someone WCW was trying to elevate at the time due to having such a depleted babyface side of the roster. You can argue that he perhaps wasn’t the best choice, but at the same time you also have to admire the fact that WCW was actually trying to elevate someone. Maybe if the company had stuck around then Morrus could have eventually developed some grass roots support if they’d booked him well, because it’s not like he was a terrible wrestler.

The commentators are pushing the idea that Morrus and Konnan have both stepped up during the promotions hour of need in order to stand up to Flair’s Heel group, which is a nice idea but it’d be like if WWE decided that two mid-card guys were going to suddenly become top babyfaces because they’d loaded up the Heel side of the roster and needed to elevate some new people up the card quickly, but they hadn’t done any of the ground work to get them there yet and there wasn’t much of a groundswell of support for those characters either. Steiner takes most of the match here, and comes off of Bret’s rope with a bulldog, which gets a two count when Morrus gets a foot on the rope.

Having Morrus get destroyed by Rick Steiner here isn’t helping with the perception of Morrus either, as even though Steiner had legitimate tough guy cred, the fans didn’t exactly see him as a top guy. Steiner decides to yell at the crowd at one stage, which gives Morrus a chance to make a comeback, although Steiner doesn’t seem that interested in really selling any of it. Morrus looks good on offence though. Steiner pulls the ref in the way at one stage and then kicks Morrus right in the DeMott’s before bringing a chair in and clocking Morrus with it. This isn’t a DQ for some reason, as Steiner grabs a mic and calls out Shane Douglas, which leads to Douglas running down and getting beaten up as well, just to make sure that we’re all clear as to just how cool and bad-ass Rick Steiner is here on this final Thunder. Douglas has a cast on his arm from a Steiner inflicted injury, and he clocks Steiner with it whilst the ref is arguing with Morrus about the chair. Morrus pounces with a German Suplex and that’s enough for three.

WINNER: HUGH MORRUS
RATING: *

Thoughts: This did nothing for Morrus, as Steiner clobbered him for the majority of the match and then didn’t really sell any of Morrus’ offence during the comeback. If this match was designed to get Morrus over, then it didn’t achieve it’s goal, as Morrus looked like a fluke winner and all of the heat went on to Steiner’s issue with Douglas. The stuff with the ref not DQ’ing Steiner for using the chair was just dumb too

We see that Morrus’ family were in the crowd watching that one. Dragging your family to a Thunder taping to watch you get beaten up by Rick Steiner is certainly a choice on Morrus’ part.

We get a backstage promo to camera from Shane Douglas following that, with Douglas saying that he’s going to make Rick Steiner pay for breaking his arm. Douglas challenges Steiner to a fight at the last Nitro, which didn’t end up happening.

Match Five
Chavo Guerrero Jr, Prime Time Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo Vs Sugar Shane Helms, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr

Chavo and Helms were feuding over Helm’s Cruiserweight belt at the time, whilst Skipper/Romeo and Kidman/Rey were feuding over Skipper and Romeo’s Cruiserweight tag belts. We’ll see matches for those belts on the final Nitro. Sadly Helms’ “Vertebreaker” theme is dubbed out here, as is most of the music in this one. I’m guessing the WWF didn’t bother buying most of the production music that WCW was using around this time? This is another Cruiserweight match that is all action, with things soon leading to a series of dives to the floor, with each dive gradually getting more spectacular and involving more people. I think the Crusierweight stuff was genuinely the best part of the WCW product at the time, and they weren’t even doing it with the big Lucha names from the 90’s either.

Eventually we get some heat on Rey, who was the only one of the six who was a genuine star before coming to WCW. The rest of these guys came into WCW with little star power and ended up becoming stars within the WCW system, which is pretty impressive in all honesty. Rey sells the heat really well (shocking, I know) and eventually we get the hot tag to Helms, who runs wild on the Heels and mostly looks good. Things breakdown following that and we get Finisher Madness™, where everyone comes in to hit a big move before another wrestler comes in to hit a move on them. Helms goes for the Vertebreaker on Romeo, but Chavo breaks that up and the two spill to the floor. That leaves Romeo and Kidman, with Kidman getting the Kid Krusha (Killswitch/Unprettier/Tomakazee) and that’s enough for three.

WINNERS: HELMS, KIDMAN & REY
RATING: ***

Thoughts: Good match that did a solid job of setting up the matches for Nitro

Rick Steiner is angry backstage.

Chuck Palumbo cuts a promo backstage to continue the feud he and Sean O’Haire have going on with Mike Awesome and Lance Storm. This was an okay promo considering Palumbo’s experience level and this was the sort of thing we needed to see from these guys so that they could get used to doing it.

Match Six
Mike Awesome Vs Chuck Palumbo

Awesome was part of Team Canada at the time whilst Palumbo was one half of the Tag Champs with Sean O’Haire. Awesome had pinned Palumbo on Nitro, so now we have a singles match so that Palumbo can get some revenge for Nitro. That’s a straightforward reason for a match, and the match itself is decent due to both wrestlers being hefty blokes who are also pretty spry on their feet. Awesome shows that by getting an incredible plancha out onto Palumbo outside the ring at one stage, before getting an impressive springboard splash back inside (think how Bam Bam Bigelow used to do it, but with a little bit more grace).

Awesome takes control of most of the match, with Palumbo not really getting much of a shine. The actual wrestling is fine here, with Palumbo selling well enough and Awesome looking good on offence, but the crowd isn’t really that into it. I think they were taping Nitro and Thunder back to back at the time though, so the crowd was probably tired by the time this one started. We get more WCW silliness with a chair at one stage, as Awesome tries to swing a chair at Palumbo but Palumbo blocks it and then clocks Awesome with it, none of which is a DQ, because making the refs look stupid was almost official company policy in WCW at the time.

Palumbo makes the comeback soon after that, heading up with a nice shoulder tackle for two. This is a match that would probably fit in quite well on a modern show where athletic stuff like this is more expected from the big guys. Awesome takes the ref at one stage, which allows his partner, Lance Storm, to run down and attack Palumbo. I’m not sure why the ref needed to be distracted when chair shots earlier on were okay, but that’s the problem when you have inconsistent rules like that. Sean O’Haire runs down to fight with Storm, which leads to Palumbo countering an Awesome cross body into a Powerslam before getting a big Super Kick for three.

WINNER: CHUCK PALUMBO
RATING: **

Thoughts: This was a solid TV match, although I would have had Awesome win again before letting Palumbo get revenge on the final Nitro. Still, this was decent, even if the crowd was knackered by this stage of the Thunder taping

Main Event
Handicap Bout
Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner and The Chosen One Jeff Jarrett w/ Midajah Vs The Natural Dustin Rhodes

Steiner and Jarrett are in the Magnificent Seven faction with Ric Flair, Animal, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell and Rick Steiner, with this match being booked to punish Dustin for what happened on Nitro. Steiner, WCW World Champ at the time, was dealing with a thrashed back, but he managed to drag himself to the last Nitro in order to drop the belt to Booker T. Jarrett and Ric Flair had been feuding with Dustin and his dad, so this is a continuation of that. Not the most auspicious final match in Thunder history really is it? That being said, Thunder was always the lesser of WCW’s two main weekly shows, so this Main Event feels quite apropos in honesty. Neither Jarrett or Dustin would be on the final Nitro, although they were both fired in humiliating fashion on air by Vince McMahon.

Before the match starts, we see Road Warrior Animal backstage walk into Flair’s office, to find Flair laid out by someone. There was some kind of storyline going on at the time where someone was supposedly beating up the Magnificent Seven and no one knew who it was. They were teasing that it might be Rick Steiner, but I assume the payoff would have been one of the guys that Scott Steiner had ran out of WCW such as Kevin Nash, DDP or Sting?

This is the standard handicap tag match, with Dustin getting a bit of a flurry at the start until the numbers prove too much, leading to Dustin getting worked over. Steiner and Jarrett are both solid workers, and Dustin is a good seller, so that works well enough, although it doesn’t really feel like a Main Event level match for a TV show like Nitro or Thunder. Dustin eventually makes the comeback, even mule kicking Steiner at one stage, which isn’t a DQ because WCW. Dustin gets a bulldog on Jarrett for two, and whilst the ref is checking on Jarrett it gives Steiner a window to clobber Dustin with his trusty steel pipe before following up with the Steiner Recliner for the referee stoppage finish.

WINNERS: STEINER & JARRETT
RATING: *1/2

Thoughts: This wasn’t actively bad or anything, but it was a pretty weak match to close the final Thunder on.

Booker T runs down to rescue Dustin from a Heel beat down, teasing their eventual alliance in WWE in 2002.

The Thunder crew thanks us and we’re out.

In Conclusion

Considering how bad Thunder could get when it was at it’s very worst, this was a solid show by comparison, with some good matches and a decent little angle at the end in order to get people interested in watching the last ever episode of Nitro. Watching this you could see that there was definitely potential with WCW, as this show was perfectly watchable for the most part and the younger guys were mostly all delivering in the ring. Sadly we never got to see what Fusient Media and Eric Bischoff’s vision for the company ended up being, but this last episode of Thunder suggests that it could have been an okay show lacking in star power, which was about the best WCW could hope to be in 2001.

Recommended show, although I think the inmates at Cage Match might have been a tad too generous when it came to making this the highest rated Thunder on the website.