It has been quite a break here. Almost a summer vacation sans homework. But the At Odds with Wrestling crew are back which means I have also returned with my opinions. Each and every week, well usually, without a major wrestling event the hosts alternate assigning each other wrestling themed viewing. This week continues the year long project looking at a unique period of WCW in between controversial booker regimes. 

This week we watched WCW Thunder March 8, 2000 from Winston-Salem, NC. Mike Tenay and Bobby “the Brain” Heenan call the action. 

“If you want madness in the month of March.” I don’t think your NCAA fans could hate any game enough to tune into Thunder instead. 

The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea (Cruiserweight champion, with Paisley) vs. Psychosis (with Juventud Guerrera). 

Juvi comes out talking and I swear his words got lost on their way to his mouth. Juvi looks like he’s joining for commentary but no, a returning Rey Mysterio is out to speak on this. Rey says he’s still 3 months out from returning to the ring. Well, I’m sure WCW will be in great shape by then. 

The referee is knocked down. Juvi jumps in to give his own 3 count. He grabs the belt, but the referee takes the title away. I guess Prince knocked the referee out thus this is a DQ win for Psychosis but Prince retains the title. 

Rey stays at the table for way too long. Well, he’s got nothing else to do for 3 months. 

If there was any action worth calling I would but really everything in the ring tonight is around 3-4 minutes long and even that is just stalling for the finish. 

Bam Bam Bigelow shows up with David Flair, Crowbar, and Daffney. That’s an odd traveling group. Bigelow says it’s all his fault. 

Lex Luger, Ric Flair, and Elizabeth talk. 

The Demon vs Idol (with Lane). 

Ms Hancock makes a cameo and Lane escorts her away from the ring. Ms Hancock is back and jumps on the ring apron. She kisses Idol to distract him. The Demon takes advantage and hits some side slam thing for the pin. Idol and Lane double team Demon. Lane hits “Trip Down Memory Lane” which is Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale, but not. Norman Smiley comes out to make the save, but it’s not enough and Lane and Idol beat up him too. 

Curt Hennig cuts a promo that he’s not cleared tonight but he will be cleared by Monday. So there’s something to look forward to. 

Bigelow says he has to “make this right”. Very conflicted Beast from the East here. 

The nWo talk. None of the good members though, because the nWo Girls don’t appear here. 

Bam Bam Bigelow comes out to talk and you forget how much he was known for his great promo skills. He brings out David Flair, Crowbar, and Daffney. Flair and Crowbar are still all banged up. Bigelow says this is all his fault because he trained The Wall. Trained him on promos too apparently. Bigelow is on his knees talking to the crazy trio. The Wall comes out and goes face to face with Bigelow. Wall attacks first. Wall knocks Flair and Crowbar down too. The Wall chokeslams BIgelow off the ring and through a table. Wall then beats up Flair and Crowbar some more. The Wall choke-shoves Flair off the ring but Bigelow catches him. 

I think this lasted longer than any match on the show. 

Hulk Hogan cuts a promo for his upcoming match at Uncensored. He has three belts now. He’s like the Ultimo Dragon of straps. A sentence which I feel would take me to some very interesting videos should I put it in the right search bars. 

The Maestro (with Symphony) vs. Ernest “the Cat” Miller. 

The Cat uses the boombox on Maestro to get the pin. There’s really nothing else to discuss about this match. The Cat tosses out the ‘Stro and unlike what the 1997 animated movie tried to tell us, Cats Do Dance. 

Vampiro is going to speak. No, wait, he doesn’t. 

Okay, let’s try this again. Vampiro cuts a promo. 

Mean Gene interviews Lash LeRoux and Dustin Rhodes attacks Lash. They fight to ringside and I guess this is now a match? 

Lash LeRoux vs Dustin Rhodes. 

Tenay says that Thunder is “unpredictable as always!” Unpredictable doesn’t always mean good. 

Dustin hits a bulldog for the pin. Again, there’s not really any action to call here. Terry Funk comes out, with the chicken from before (well, probably not the same chicken). Funk hits Dustin with the chicken! Funk puts the chicken on his hand and punches Dustin out with it. It’s Mr. Cock-o! Dustin fights back against both Funk and the funky chicken. Dustin drops an elbow on the chicken! They fight into the crowd and this segment was much better than I would have expected. 

Team Package walks. 

Team Package makes their way to the ring for a promo. Flair wants Arn Anderson to join Team Package. Arn comes out and cuts one of the best promos I’ve heard during this project. That doesn’t explain why it’s so dark in the arena for this segment. Arn wants Ric to step up and be a good father. Ric says David is 21 years old and was spoiled his entire life. It’s time for him to be a man. Which, honestly, is a good point. Arn won’t join up and Lex warns Ric that he has until Nitro to fix this. Lex leaves, Arn leaves, and the Nature Boy stands alone. 

Fit Finlay walks backstage and Vampiro attacks him. That’s some slow burn storytelling. 

Lex and Liz get in a limo and leave for the evening. They’re the lucky ones. 

Meng vs Finlay.

There’s some fists going but then Tank Abbot comes in. All of the security gets beaten up. Tank leaves first. Finlay leaves. And I guess the match is thrown out? Does Meng “win” and look strong because he was last in the ring? 

Booker talks to Torrie Wilson. Kidman finally shows up too. I hope these two crazy kids can get along. 

Mean Gene interviews the Mamalukes and Disco Inferno. 

The announcers give us the rules for the upcoming four team tag team match, but if only the participants had also watched. 

The champions, the Mamalukes, are out first, followed by the Harris Brothers. These two teams don’t wait for the others and start brawling. Harlem Heat 2000 (with J Biggs and Cash) are out next. Booker T is out and…

J Biggs joins for commentary. 

…and hey here comes Kidman (with Torrie Wilson). We finally have all four teams. 

This is more of a battle royale than a tag match. And hey, Heenan says the same thing right after I typed the previous sentence. Biggs says that this type of match “works to the advantage of Harlem Heat”. I’m sure he meant Harlem Heat would feel comfortable in a street fight. However, I don’t think they’d feel too confident in a long elimination match. Big T looks too tired to get in or out of the ring. Big T accidentally hits Stevie. Booker takes advantage and pins Stevie Ray, thus eliminating Harlem Heat. It looks real close to a 2 and a half count. Booker accidentally hits Kidman, causing Kidman to get hit with an H Bomb for the pin and their team is eliminated. At some point, probably when Harlem Heat lost, Biggs leaves commentary and Disco joins the announcers. The Harris Bros. hit another H Bomb but the referee is distracted. Disco sneaks in and hits one of the brothers with a tag title. Johnny the Bull pins that brother and the champions retain. The Harris Brothers get mad and hit Disco with an H Bomb. 

Mean Gene says he was disappointed with the performance of Harlem Heat. Stevie Ray hears this and makes a challenge for Uncensored. 

We have a commercial for the Positively Page book. I bought that book the day it came out at my local WaldenBooks. Read it that week too. Haven’t touched it since though. I wonder if it holds up at all. Oh and DDP was on the Craig Kilborn show recently talking about his injury. Man, Kilborn was a ton of fun. I wish all of the late night talk shows were on streaming services. 

Jeff Jarrett walks and pushes past the nWo Girls. 

Vampiro also walks. 

Jarrett gets to the ring. Do the Girls want to flash Vampiro? Apparently they do. But Jarrett shuts it down and sends them to the back. Tylene Buck is in tears over covering her ta-tas. There are seven minutes left of the show and they spent two on this. 

Jeff Jarrett vs. Vampiro. 

The Harris Brothers come out and rough up Vampiro. The Mamalukes come out to balance things out. Vampiro has Jarrett down for at least three seconds but the referee is distracted by the tag teams. Later, but not much later, Jarrett grabs a chair that the referee takes away and then Jarrett hits a DDT but only gets a two count. I swear somehow I messed up the video and this match is playing at half speed. There’s a teased referee bump, and then the real referee bump. Vampiro hits Jarrett with the US title and goes for the pin. He gets a two count from the replacement referee but then the original referee pulls the second one out of the ring?! It’s not even a heel turn. It’s just ego. Jarrett hits the Stroke, I think without cheating but the camera work is crap, and gets the pin. The Harris Brothers hit yet another H Bomb and then spray paint Vampiro. 

I implied it throughout the article, this episode has so much filler. Sure, wrestling is a soap opera but it also is, you know, wrestling. There were some stand outs tonight – but it was in promos. Not in ring action. In order to get from the room I am currently in to the bathroom I have to walk through the dining room. This room matters, the bathroom matters, but the room in between does not in this scenario. So why bother to decorate it, or do anything at all to make it esthetically pleasing? That’s how the in-ring action felt in this episode. If it’s not the opening, or the finish – it doesn’t matter so no one bothered.