Without Steiner, Ric Flair promises to sign a "huge main event" in his absence. Oh yeah, WCW isn't commenting if the Black Scorpion, I mean a jobber under the mask filling in for Rick Steiner, or if Rick Steiner under a mask will be at Thunder either. I bet you that the guy under the mask, is eventually revealed as Ric Flair anyway. :)
Chunder has some matches lined up too, besides the sports entertainment.
Shane Helms vs. Jaime Noble: This should be a good spotfest between the two. I guess there's a storyline here, since they have been feuding over the past two months in tag action. Too bad their feud didn't get a high profile push like it should have, since each of the matches were the best on the PPV card. I don't know if the crowd will react much here, either, just like the Helms vs. Shannon Moore match. Damn shame!
Buff Bagwell vs. the Sarge: This match is probably easy to predict, with Buff Bagwell getting the evil win and then proceeding to beat down Sarge to show up Goldberg. I'd really laugh if Sarge carried Buff to a good match. Seriously.
Bill Goldberg vs. ????: The good old mystery opponent booking. I haven't read any spoilers(if there is any), so I have no idea who is pitching Goldberg an opponent. I'd guess Meng, but he's fighting.......
Crowbar vs. Meng: These two are fighting a "chair on a pole" match. You heard that correctly. I guess a steel chair will be duct taped to a pole, and then someone has to climb it? It's about as innovative as the "silver dollars on a pole match" between John Tenta and Ray Traylor a few years ago. This match will only be great if someone takes a bump when falling off the pole, and that's not something I wish for on any wrestler.
Mike "Canadian Career Killer" Awesome vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan: Hopefully, this new Canadian gimmick gives Awesome the edge to really hurt some people now. Time to use that "Career Killer" part of his returned gimmick, and give Duggan the business! WCW should utilize Awesome the best way that they can now, if you ask me.
The demonic Natural Born Thrillers will make a "strong showing" tonight, or whatever that may be. Commissioner Mike Sanders has booked Reno to face some singles opponent. Hmmm, any bets for it being Big Vito? If not, a good pal of Vito's who can't defend themselves.
All of this and more on tonight's CHUNDER!!!
WWF fans DO NOT want Hulk Hogan back. Why? A nice chunk of the WWF fans did NOT watch wrestling during the 80s or early 90s. Many caught on to the new "Attitude" of the WWF in 1998, therefore, they didn't live through Hulkamania in the WWF. The ones who LOVED Hogan in the WWF were mainly watching WCW, for Hulk Hogan or Hollywood Hogan. The WWF now has a new breed of wrestlers who don't want to see old dinosaurs returning, especially the egotistical man known as Hulk Hogan.
But if Hogan joins the WWF again, who will he face? Do you honestly think he'd join to lose to Steve Austin, the Rock, or Triple H? You're crazy!!! Especially Steve Austin, who had his WCW main event push flushed down the toilet when Hogan arrived in 1994. Hogan refused to job to Jeff Jarrett, and even Sting of all people(I mean cleanly!). Why would Hogan job to guys who he thinks he's bigger than? Hogan still feels that he's the man in wrestling, and he won't job for nobody. Sure, he lost to Kidman and Awesome, but that was just a ploy to get on top again. What says he won't pull that kind of crap in the WWF again?
Many should look back to why Hulk Hogan left the WWF in the first place. The WWF asked Hogan to put over younger or up and coming talent, like a Bret Hart or others, but Hogan refused. He was finally talked into jobbing to Yokozuna, but only with the stupid camera interference to make it a non-clean victory. After that, he "retired" from the WWF because he didn't want to put over the next generation of wrestlers. It even says so in his own A&E biography, which he took part in!!!!
So keep that in mind, if you truly think he'll rejoin the WWF. The only way I see his return is if he fights Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania. Maybe they could do a feud where both of them makes claims to who made the WWF successful in the 80s, and so forth. But after that, what can you do with Hogan? Like I said before, it's highly unlikely that he'll be willing to job. What if he plays his backstage games too? You are opening a nice can of worms if you bring back Hogan.
Funny. These rumors are coming about when the ratings are sagging. If you remember in 1993, Hulk Hogan was brought back to WWF to resurge those ratings. He was awarded the World Title at Wrestlemania 9(the worst ever!), and it actually made the WWF's numbers worse in the long run. I sense some history about to be repeated.
Note:: I'm having some weird problems with my Column Archive pages right now. So if you are wondering why the latest columns aren't up yet, that's why.
NEWS ORGY: NEW Music Rant is up, along with movie reviews on "The Castaway", "Miss Congeniality", "The Family Man", "Dude, Where's My Car", "Vertical Limit", "What Women Want", and many more!
Congrats to the Black Hills Wrestling Federation for winning the Backyard BBQ Site of the Year Award! Be sure to check out the Backyard BBQ for the January 2000 Site of the Month and the best in Backyard Wrestling!
@That's all for today. I shall be back tomorrow with WCW Day, since WCW actually has a wrestling show on tonight. Now isn't that something? So just chill till the next episode.....
Phat Pharm: NEW "Kicking Ass and Taking Names Later", which discusses the life and times of ECW. Click HERE to Read it!
Take Care, and Thanks for Reading.