Spring Stampede 2000
Date: April 16, 2000
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 12,556
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, Scott Hudson

It’s the night of a million tournaments because TOURNAMENTS ARE AWESOME. The company was rebooted six days ago so all titles are vacant and Russo and Bischoff are here with their latest spray painting stable with the word New in the name. The main event is Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page for the World Title because the one thing from the last few boring months that needs to stick around is Jarrett in the title scene. Let’s get to it.

A quick note: this show runs two hours and forty minutes with fourteen matches. Wrestlemania V had the same number of matches in about an hour more. You really shouldn’t be able to do that.

The opening video focuses on Bischoff/Russo vs. Flair/Hogan respectfully.

Bischoff has been told that Hogan is out of the hospital and coming here. Kidman isn’t worried because the Hummer can finish what they started. You mean Hogan can’t even sell BEING CRUSHED BY A CAR for a week?

Opening video showing clips of Russo and Bischoff. Good to know what matters here.

Tony says we’re starting a new era tonight. Didn’t we just do that Monday? And we don’t even get a night off from Madden after Tank Abbott beat him up? He looks fine too without even a neck brace. Bobby Heenan would be ashamed if he actually watched this show.

The announcers run down the card, which is a mystery to you if you didn’t watch Thunder. Also, the referees have been told to relax the disqualification rules. FROM WHAT??? The referees are already allowing low blows and interference. What are they allowing now? Wait don’t answer that. I don’t think I can sit through this show if I remember what Russo has coming.

Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Finals; Mamalukes vs. Team Package

Disco is out with the Mamalukes because their split has been erased. Just having the match isn’t enough though so let’s go backstage to Team Package. Flair is in street clothes because this is going to be a street fight. Makes sense I guess. The announcers talk about Hogan being in the hospital. Madden: “Well a hummer can wear you out.” Wait we’re still not ready to go because ten minutes of talking before the first match isn’t enough. Russo comes out to say two veterans vs. two rookies isn’t fair, so the Harris Twins are added to make it 4-2.

It’s a big brawl to start and Flair is knocked down just a few seconds in. The regular teams pair off to beat up a veteran each but the old guys fight back and Flair gets Johnny in the Figure Four. That goes nowhere though as Flair lets go, only so Vito can kick him in the face to take over again. The Twins boot Flair in the face for two before Don pummels him in the corner. Tony doesn’t know what happens if the four men win, though to be fair I doubt Russo does either. Flair gets slammed off the top but avoids an elbow.

The goons keep the referee from seeing a tag as this is getting dangerously close to being a wrestling match. The beating continues and here are two guys to take Disco away. That would be your angle that has nothing to do with the match and has a 50/50 chance of never being brought up again. Luger gets the tag and everything breaks down but Johnny comes off the top with a spinning clothesline for two. Not that it matters as Luger Racks him for the win a few seconds later.

Rating: D. This was a Nitro match with too much added to it. As usual, Russo is convinced that no one is capable of having a match without something going on as a bonus. It’s also not a good sign that we’re seventeen minutes into this show and they’ve already changed the card from what they announced on Thursday.

Mike Awesome has been added to the US Title tournament and can’t wait to beat the nine lives out of The Cat. Bam Bam Bigelow comes in to call Awesome a jabroni, earning himself a beatdown.

We recap Mancow (Chicago radio DJ) vs. Jimmy Hart. I’m not going to dignify this with a recap. Picture any low level celebrity vs. a manager story you’ve ever seen. That would be a small pool to pick from because this is a stupid idea.

Mancow vs. Jimmy Hart

Hart comes out in a Howard Stern shirt with Emory Hale as an enforcer. Mancow gets a good reaction and comes out with some nice looking women and a bunch of his radio show personalities. We hear a bit from Mancow about how he’s doing this for revenge and for Chicago. It’s a catfight to start but a Hale distraction lets Hart get in a low blow. Madden: “This is utter nonsense.” Jimmy goes up but Mancow pulls the referee in the way, allowing Hale to come in and gorilla press Mancow onto his entourage. There’s no referee though so Mancow hits Hart with a chair for the pin.

Counting the recap, this got seven minutes. The whole show can’t even get to two hours and forty five minutes and one match breaks ten minutes, but they had seven minutes to dedicate to a Howard Stern knockoff who was there for the live crowd. Welcome to the new WCW indeed.

Post match Kidman comes out and punches Hart again.

Russo yells at the Harris Twins and the Mamalukes before swinging a ball bat either because he’s manly or because he has deep rooted issues with his masculinity and has a fixation on phallic objects.

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: The Wall vs. Scott Steiner

Scott comes out to Steinerized as the announcers speculate about Russo and Bischoff’s master plan. Of course there’s a master plan. There’s always a master plan. Steiner pounds Wall down into the corner but Wall does the same thing back to him. A low blow drops Steiner, but remember these matches have relaxed rules.

It’s time to start choking with Wall throwing Steiner around. They head outside and Wall sends him into the barricade (Hudson: “He almost threw him into Lake Michigan!” No Scott, he didn’t.) before getting a table. Steiner pokes him in the eye so Wall chokeslams the referee through the table instead, drawing a DQ from a second referee.

Rating: D. I have a feeling I’m going to be making a lot of the same complaints with this show. I’ll give them a point on this one: they kept Wall looking strong. He’s a big power lunkhead but he’s someone new and a potential monster. Steiner is still getting back from injury so this kind of a brawl probably suited him best.

The Cat babbles about James Brown and rednecks until Bam Bam Bigelow beats him down.

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: The Cat vs. Mike Awesome

If there is any justice, the Cat will be squashed like a bug. Not like a cat of course because who would want to squash a cat? Well apparently Bigelow would as he attacked Cat in the back (off camera) and has taken Cat’s place. Fans: “ECW!” Awesome clotheslines Bigelow out to the floor and takes him down with a huge dive. People his size should not be able to do that.

Bigelow is knocked into the crowd so Mike dives over the barricade to take him down again. A good looking top rope clothesline gets two for Awesome as this is a clinic so far. Bigelow reverses a belly to back into a cross body for two. My goodness there are a lot empty seats across from the hard camera. The top rope headbutt looks to set up Greetings From Asbury Park but the Cat is back. Wait can you be back if you were never here in the first place? Bigelow gets superkicked to the floor and it’s dance time! Awesome takes Cat’s head off with a clothesline and the Awesome Splash is enough for the pin.

Rating: C-. I should have known better than to get my hopes up here. This was starting to get good so they had to send the Cat out there to turn it into a comedy thing. There’s a place for those kind of antics, but it’s not in the middle of what was turning into a good power match and our introduction to Mike Awesome, who looks like a star.

In a sign of the WCW way of thinking, instead of putting over Awesome as a monster, they talk about Cat dancing. The important stuff you know.

Russo tells Bischoff to chill out. Bischoff wants Kidman to do something instead of kissing Torrie.

Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas are ready for Harlem Heat and Shane whines about Flair of course.

Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Harlem Heat vs. Shane Douglas/Buff Bagwell

Tony says Awesome was living up to his namesake in the last match. Name, namesake, whatever. I’m surprised he got that close. Say it with me: It’s a brawl to start. Stevie gets double teamed to start with the New Blood working on his arm. The swinging neckbreaker is enough for Buff’s wrestling quota so a quick double team puts him down. T. eats a back elbow in the corner though and a quick Vader Bomb gets two for Buff. The tag brings in Shane but it’s still 2-1. Everything breaks down and a quick Pittsburgh Plunge (which Shane let go, basically making it a suplex) gives Shane the pin on Stevie.

Harlem Heat yells at each other post match.

Booker T. says he’s New Blood but he doesn’t see eye to eye with Bischoff and Russo.

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Booker T. vs. Sting

They seem more respectful here and Sting politely shoves him into the corner, followed by a hiptoss to put Booker down. Sting starts speeding things up and runs Booker down with some clotheslines. They head outside with Booker being sent hard into the barricade. Booker comes right back by dropping Sting face first onto the announcers’ table, which the announcers make sure to chalk up to the relaxed rules.

A chinlock keeps Sting in trouble and a fan will not stop with screaming for as long as he can. Booker’s knee to the ribs sets up the ax kick for two. Sting comes back with a DDT for two of his own as the announcers are dubbing this a classic about six minutes in. The Stinger Splash is broken with a boot to the ribs but his suplex is countered into the Scorpion Death Drop to send Sting to the semi-finals.

Rating: C+. If this is WCW’s definition of a masterpiece and a classic, they’re in big trouble. It’s a good match but there’s only so much you can do in less than seven minutes. Maybe they could have done more of this if not for Mancow and having everything else tonight, since having any of the preliminaries on Nitro or Thunder would have been heresy.

Booker calls Sting back inside for a fist bump.

Kidman is ready for Hogan if he comes back tonight.

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: Vampiro vs. Kidman

The winner gets Sting, who Tony says “gave every ounce of his soul in that last match.” IT WAS A SIX AND A HALF MINUTE MATCH! And about a minute of that was a chinlock! Hopefully this one gets some more time. Vampiro starts fast with a clothesline and release suplex, followed by a top rope clothesline for two. Kidman’s comeback is countered by a sweet running release powerbomb. Add Vampiro to the list of those who can powerbomb Kidman.

The second powerbomb is countered into the faceplant. Madden: “We could have been seeing matches like this one years ago.” This is their fourth televised match this year alone, not counting a three way they had with the Wall a few weeks back. Add that to the list of stupid things said on this show. Kidman gets two off a side slam but Vampiro grabs a Rock Bottom (called a chokeslam, which to be fair is pretty much the same thing) to come back. We go to an overhead camera for no apparent reason and Vampiro grabs an armbar.

That’s enough back and forth action so let’s show Hogan arriving in a 1968 Dodge Charger. Kidman is terrified. I would be too if I could see images of Hogan before he’s actually in the arena. Hogan takes him to the floor and beats Kidman up, sends him into the post and throws the steps at him. A choke throw sends Kidman bouncing off the table and then a regular slam puts him through it. Back in and Vampiro gets the pin. Hogan beat him up for two minutes straight and that’s still covered under relaxed rules???

Rating: D+. This was a moment that brought me back to the days after Starrcade 1999 when Russo turned Nitro into a drama with wrestling involved. It started off as a match but once you have a two minute beatdown in plain sight of the referee, it stops being a match and becomes an angle.

Wrestling is supposed to be about angles setting up matches. With Russo, it was angles to set up more angles. This whole thing, which still hasn’t been explained in detail on TV, has only been going on six days and has seen two beatdowns and attempted murder. Where do you go from here? A bad match? In theory yeah but how big of a letdown is that going to feel like after all of this stuff?

There’s nothing wrong with mixing things up a bit, but this is backwards and leading up to a big letdown because they’re already done all their big stuff. In other words, Russo is a horrible booker who has screwed up what could have been a big story because he can’t wait to build up a story and has to do everything at once.

Oh and just to show how stupid WCW commentators were, direct quote from Tony: “You can’t disqualify him. He didn’t come in to help Vampiro.” HE BEAT KIDMAN UP FOR TWO MINUTES STRAIGHT AND SLAMMED HIM THROUGH A TABLE!!! That’s one of those lines that is so dumb there’s nothing to make fun of. The line itself is the joke.

Hogan says he’s coming for Bischoff.

Russo leaves Bischoff alone, promising to deal with Hogan.

Hogan storms through the back and……walks past the door with VINCE RUSSO AND ERIC BISCHOFF’S NAMES ON IT to open the door next to it. Add that to the list of things that the genius writers SHOULD HAVE THAT OF AND THROWN IN THE TRASH SO A MANIAC CAN’T COME IN AND KILL THEM. As a bonus, add it to the list of dumb things Hogan has done over the years. Hogan gets his hands around Bischoff’s neck so here are the cops with guns drawn for the save. You know, I’m kind of surprised Russo never had anyone get shot on one of his shows. If nothing else he could have made a “now THAT was a shoot” joke later on.

We cut to the arena and come back with Hogan being arrested by promising to be at Nitro. So yeah, this was all a way to set up a TV story. As this is going on, Terry Taylor tells Terry Funk that Norman Smiley is waiting for him in catering to start the Hardcore Title match.

Hardcore Title: Norman Smiley vs. Terry Funk

Terry finds him in the bathroom because where else would you find him. They fight out of the bathroom and it’s already fire extinguisher time. Norman is thrown into a bunch of Diet Coke cans as they head into the kitchen. A trashcan to the head puts Terry in trouble and it’s time for an INDUSTRIAL SIZE cookie sheets to the head. Again, I’d assume Tony meant industrial STRENGTH but Tony has become the wrestling version of Ted Baxter (for you old TV fans out there).

Norman climbs a ladder to get into the plumbing but Funk chairs him down and through a table full of cookies. Some chairs to the head have no effect on Terry so Norman chairs him even more on the way into the arena. They get inside and Norman channels his inner Cat by dancing, but at least it makes more sense here.

Norman actually tries the spanking dance and as you might expect, Funk isn’t pleased and caves Norman’s head in with a few chair shots. It’s ladder time but Dustin Rhodes makes the save and piledrives Terry on a chair. Funk kicks the chair into Dustin’s head though, knocking him into the ladder. A ladder shot to Norman’s face gives Terry the title.

Rating: C-. Yeah it was fine but this this might have been the longest hardcore match of all time at eight minutes. It’s entertaining enough though and that’s all you can really ask for on a show like this. In a different vein though, the Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk feud needs to stop. As far as I can remember, they’re fighting over whether Dustin is a bigger chicken than his dad, who isn’t even with this company. Why is this going on for three months?

If you ordered this show, you can get a MOUSEPAD! Tony: “That’s right. A mousepad.”

Russo tells Booker he’ll forgive him for what he did with Sting if he does a favor now. Madden rants about the handshake with Sting. It was a fist bump but I’d assume Madden was too busy finding stupid jokes to watch the show anyway.

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Mike Awesome vs. Scott Steiner

Steiner takes him down with a nice amateur move, followed by the bicep curl elbow. We pause for push-ups and Mike bails to the apron for a slingshot clothesline to take over. A top rope clothesline gets two so Steiner kicks him low. Hudson brings up the valid question of how far do relaxed rules go. Not that it matters as we’ve got Kevin Nash with a crutch to knock Awesome off the top, setting up the Steiner Recliner to send Steiner to the finals.

Rating: D. Three minutes, a low blow and interference means it’s already time for Awesome to give up to a veteran in just two minutes. I get the idea of pushing Steiner but at the same time I’m not wild on having a newcomer lose this quickly. Then again, that might mean actually pushing someone new instead of giving some newcomer lip service that they’re getting a push.

Russo fires Dustin Rhodes for letting Funk win the Hardcore Title. Russo takes credit for Goldust, which is the only time Rhodes was ever worth anything.

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Sting vs. Vampiro

Vampiro jumps him during the entrance but Sting no sells his offense and punches Vampiro right back. We get the brawling on the floor out of the way as the announcers talk about Sting’s new intensity since the new regime took over. You know, in the six days and about fifteen minutes of wrestling he’s done. A top rope splash gets two for Sting and they fight outside where the Splash hits barricade.

Vampiro kicks him in the face and drops a leg for two as a wrestling match has broken out. Sting pops up after a slam and they kind of botch what I think was supposed to be Vampiro jumping off the top but getting caught in a powerbomb. Instead it came off like he tried a diving hurricanrana but got spinebustered. Either way it wasn’t good looking but it sets up the Death Drop and Deathlock to send Sting on to the finals.

Rating: D+. This is another match that happened tonight and there’s really no reason to see these two fight anymore, though I’m sure they will because Vampiro is creepy or whatever. Sting being involved in the two clean finishes of the night makes sense but I wouldn’t mind these matches having more time for a change. Six minutes shouldn’t be on the longer side of the matches in a night.

Page says he’ll win.

Cruiserweight Title: Shannon Moore vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Crowbar vs. Chris Candido vs. The Artist vs. Lash Leroux

The title is vacant coming in and this is one fall to a finish. Oh and we can’t get a second match to break ten minutes but we can have a 3 Count performance. Make that TWO performances as they actually have to fill in time on a show with matches these short. Thankfully everyone else charges to the ring so we don’t spend another five minutes on entrances.

It’s insanity to start and I’m sure Daffney and Helms are going to get involved. There are tags required here and Crowbar gets an early two on Candido via a northern lights suplex. The Whiplash gets two on Crowbar (just called a signature move by Tony. Not Whiplash or anything but at least he knew it was a signature more) but Juvy flips out of the same move and scores with the Juvy Driver. Everything breaks down and Daffney hurricanranas Crowbar by mistake.

Lash dives on Crowbar but takes out Daffney as well. A big series of dives leaves Candido with Helms, but David Flair comes in to dance. Artist crotches Candido (by shaking one of the ropes he wasn’t standing on) but gets thrown off, only to have Candido miss the swan dive. You can see Crowbar powerbombing Juvy but that’s not important enough to feature. Artist hits an Angle Slam (not a Samoan drop) but here’s the debuting Tammy Lynn Sytch to pull Artist off the top, giving Candido the pin.

Rating: C-. So 3 Count can dance for about two and a half minutes but the match can’t even get 5:15? I’m not sure if this was good or not because the match was another mess with no flow or idea behind it other than “get everyone’s stuff in because we don’t have time to do anything else.” Candido winning is a good choice though as he’s not your standard high flier but can actually have an entertaining match, unlike Artist.

Paisley and Tammy have a catfight post match. Shannon breaks it up and gets his crotch grabbed.

We’ve got three weeks until the next pay per view. Sweet goodness calm down people.

Jarrett says he’ll win because he has everyone in his corner.

Tag Team Titles: Team Package vs. Shane Douglas/Buff Bagwell

Flair is still in street clothes and Russo is out with Bagwell/Douglas to do commentary. Bagwell offers Luger a handshake to start but for once Luger is smart enough to not go for it. It’s time for a pose off, followed by Luger’s standard offensive sequence to take over. Shane comes in and beats Luger down, only to have Flair come in for some revenge. Hudson drops the Dynamic Dude moniker but it’s off to Buff for some right hands and a backdrop.

We hit the chinlock on Flair with Luger trying to make the save, allowing Shane to come in sans tag. Like it matters that the referee didn’t see it anyway. Shane punches Flair a lot and we get half a Flair Flip in the corner. Some F Bombs mess with the censor’s minds but Luger gets in a clothesline from the apron to give Flair a breather. Lex gets to come in for his clotheslines, including the fabled double clothesline. It’s like two at once!

Shane gets caught in the Figure Four but Buff hits Luger low and makes the save. The Blockbuster takes Shane down by mistake but Russo pulls the referee out. Now freaking Kronik debut for High Times on Luger, giving Bagwell the pin and the titles with Russo counting the pin.

Rating: D. How are you enjoying the Russo Show this evening? That’s all this show has been about: pushing Vince Russo as a featured player in a major wrestling promotion because he’s in charge and gets to do whatever he wants and feel important. Lame match again, mainly because Shane isn’t interesting in the ring.

Steiner says he’ll win.

Sting says he’ll win.

US Title: Scott Steiner vs. Sting

So…..I think Sting is the heel here? It’s really not clear. Steiner hammers him down but gets dropkicked out to the floor, allowing Sting to get in a dive. Sting’s top rope splash hits knees though and Steiner drops him with a gorilla press. Back up and Sting breaks up a superplex, only to have the Stinger Splash hit the referee. We’re still not done yet though as Vampiro pops up through the ring and pulls Sting underneath. Sting comes out with a bloody mouth, which is described as covered in blood, setting up the Recliner to give Steiner the title.

Rating: D-. Notice that all of the New Blood guys winning here are veterans? Like I said, it’s because this whole “let’s push the young guys” is lip service and you could tell by watching for five minutes. This was another bad match to add to the pile with Russo making sure to put in everything he could to every match and making the action a backdrop to whatever is supposed to lead up to the next angle. It’s a never ending cycle and Russo never saw why that was a problem because Russo doesn’t get how wrestling works.

We recap Monday, which is another way to feature Russo. They throw in the World Title tournament stuff to try to make it sound interesting.

WCW World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Kimberly is here with Page, more or less guaranteeing a swerve. They start fast by trading some big shots until Page’s jumping tornado DDT gets two. Kimberly gets in a slap on the floor and the fight goes into the crowd, which only shows off all the empty seats. Page gets the better of it and they finally get off the wide shot and show them coming back to ringside.

Jeff uses Kimberly as a shield but still gets sunset flipped for two. He’s still able to crotch Page on top though, setting up a superplex. Instead of covering like a wrestler should, Jarrett brings in a chair as Tony starts talking about the WWF for some reason. The match slows down until Page avoids a charge in the corner and hits a good looking sitout powerbomb for two.

We’ve got Bischoff in the aisle because this match hasn’t been entertaining enough. They head outside with Jeff using various things fans hand him, including Page’s book, as they’re now ripping off ECW. Kimberly saves Page from getting crotched on the post (Madden: “Get away you scurvy wench.”) and Jeff gets crotched instead. The Diamond Cutter misses and the referee goes down. Again. A belt shot gets two on Page so it’s Figure Four time. Kimberly has the guitar and just get to the screwjob already.

Page gets to the rope after about a minute and a half and gets a pair of near falls off some rollups. Back up and Jeff dives into a swinging Rock Bottom and it’s sleeper, sleeper, belly to back suplex. Bischoff tries to interfere and there’s the Diamond Cutter but Kimberly comes in with the guitar and hits Page (I’m too tired to even make fun of it at this point) to give Jeff the title. At least the fans popped for the swerve.

Rating: C+. Match of the night here which could have been better had they swapped the participants in the last two matches. Page vs. Jarrett sounds like a US Title match and Steiner vs. Sting could be a World Title match under the right circumstances. This match worked better because it had time and because the people in the match know how to work well enough to get around the lame booking ideas.

The New World Order (yeah it’s the same thing, down to most of the members) celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: D-. I know I’m supposed to yell about how bad this was but there’s a problem: I barely remember anything on this show five minutes after it wrapped up. This show was about two months of TV crammed into two hours and forty minutes. Save for the main event, nothing had time to go anywhere and nothing had time to develop because we had to get in all of Russo’s segments (how many were there? Eight or so?) and all of the other shenanigans, yet the show was only two hours and forty minutes.

The show stayed so short by following a simple idea: don’t let them wrestle. Of the fourteen matches, one of them broke nine minutes. I’ve covered the lame booking and Russo not knowing how to run a wrestling show to death and I’m sure I’ll get to it more in the future, but this show was such a total overload. There’s WAY too much on here to know if anything was really good or not and the little bit that does stick out is quickly forgotten for the sake of whatever else Russo has to throw out there.

The main thing that stood out here was how they’re not even hiding what they’re doing here. It’s another big NWO style superstable with the evil bosses in charge, but you pick JEFF JARRETT as the focal point? I know Russo has always been a fan but good grief you have Scott Steiner right there and you go with Jarrett? The idea of the youth movement is fine, but like I said earlier: the only champion who is actually young (or at least didn’t feel like a veteran) here is Candido, who had years of experience of his own. It’s a youth movement with people who aren’t actually young and WCW hopes we can’t figure it out.

I can’t say it’s the worst show I’ve ever seen, but most of this show’s problems are due to how much stuff it has going on. You can’t tell which way is up on this show (hint: look at the buyrate and go the other way), let alone have anything leave an impact on you. Russo never understood the idea of letting something breathe and it shows badly on something like this. The really bad times are coming, but this is much more about being too hectic for its own good and booking WAY too much into a show that should have been ten minutes longer with fewer matches packed in there.

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Spring Stampede 1999
Date: April 11, 1999
Location: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington
Attendance: 17,690
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone

This is a show that hasn’t had the chance to build up that well as they made the two main events on Monday. The midcard stuff is decent enough but there’s some stuff in the main event that makes me shake my head. There are some matches on this show that pique my interest though which is more than I can say about most WCW shows. Let’s get to it.

We open with a generic video of the main event. That doesn’t really fire me up for the show.

The set has a simple entrance but the usual props on the side, such as wagons and hay. I miss that kind of themed stuff.

The announcers intro the show and don’t have much to say.

Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg

The ring is now sponsored by Little Cesars. The winner gets a Cruiserweight Title shot tomorrow night. We actually get a handshake to start as the announcers continue their recent bickering over which pair is better. Juvy cranks on the arm before taking Blitzkrieg down into a sunset flip for two. They stay on the mat for a bit and Blitzkrieg complains of a mask pull. That goes nowhere so he grabs a headlock instead. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two on Juvy and Blitzkrieg follows up with a handspring elbow in the corner. The spots are actually hitting for a change.

Guerrera is able to send Blitzkrieg face first into the buckle ten straight times as we’re waiting on the dives to begin. Juvy goes first with a springboard missile dropkick and Blitzkrieg bails to the floor. He stands there way too long though, allowing Juvy to nail a huge dive over the top to take him down again. Back in and Juvy puts on a surfboard but Blitzkrieg rolls to the side to break it up.

A running dropkick in the corner sends Juvy outside but he walks away before Blitzkrieg can use the big dive. Instead Blitzkrieg goes around the ring and tries again, only to dive into a dropkick for a nice counter. Back in and Juvy tries a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker of his own but Blitzkrieg rolls out, sending Juvy back to the floor. Blitzkrieg hits a springboard spinning moonsault to take Guerrera down again.

Juvy tries the Juvy Driver but Blitzkrieg flips out and they trade reverse DDT attempts until Juvy takes him down for two. To continue the joke that is Schiavone’s commentary career, after the reverse DDT gets two, Tony says, and I quote, “frustration is setting in for Juvy. He hasn’t tried the Juvy Driver yet. If Blitzkrieg can counter that, frustration will really set in.” This is TEN SECONDS after Tony called Blitzkrieg countering the Juvy Driver. TEN SECONDS!

Anyway Juvy gets slammed off the top but avoids a Phoenix Splash. Juvy still can’t hit the Driver and Blitzkrieg tries something like a top rope victory roll for two. Blitzkrieg tries the same thing again but Juvy counters into a super Juvy Driver for the pin and the title shot. That was a great looking finish.

Rating: B. If this was the Blitzkrieg that I had seen in his WCW run, I would totally understand the love this guy gets. This was an excellent match with both guys nailing everything and having almost no down time in between. Granted I’d assume having Juventud Guerrera for an opponent instead of Super Calo helped him a lot. Great match.

Video on Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow. Let’s get this over with.

Hardcore Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bigelow brings out a cart full of weapons and drives it into Hak’s ribs to start as the announcers oggle Chastity. They’re already fighting by the set and Hak has a table hidden under the stagecoach. He goes up top on the stagecoach for a swanton through Bigelow through the table for a very good opening spot. Bigelow is up first and nails Hak in the head with part of the board and they head to the ring. Luckily for them, Chastity has a bunch of weapons waiting for them.

Bigelow nails Hak with a crutch followed by something made of metal. Hak bridges a table between the ring and the barricade but takes his sweet time, allowing Bigelow to nail him in the head with a trashcan. There’s a broom to the back but Bigelow can’t suplex him. Unfortunately Hak can’t suplex Bigelow either and his knee buckles. Thankfully he’s ok enough to bring in a ladder as the ring is way too full of weapons.

Something resembling a dropkick sends the ladder into Bigelow. Another swanton onto the ladder onto Bigelow has both guys in trouble as the announcers aren’t sure what to make of this stuff. Here’s yet another table and a piece of barricade to go with it as Bigelow is still down in the corner. There’s also some barbed wire wrapped around another corner. Chastity resets the table between the ring and barricade and Hak goes up, only so Bigelow can throw him throug the table. That was one of the most telegraphed spots I’ve ever seen.

Bigelow sets up a barricade in one corner and a ladder in the other. Hak is sent into the ladder but pops back up, only to crotch himself on the barricade. Bigelow is about to drop the barricade on Hak but has to spray Chastity with a fire extinguisher. The White Russian legsweep has almost no effect on Bigelow, likely because it’s a Russian legsweep. Bigelow takes him up for what was supposed to be a Greetings From Asbury Park (looked more like a Death Valley Driver) through the table for the pin. Isn’t that basically the same finisher from the opener?

Rating: C+. The match was more entertaining for the amount of stuff they used and only one really badly telegraphed spot, but I still don’t care to see any more of this. I really don’t need to see ECW in WCW but that’s what they’re obsessed with at this point. The announcers buried the whole thing and I can’t say I blame them. It was fairly entertaining though.

Scotty Riggs vs. Mikey Whipwreck

I have no idea why this match is happening and I’ll spare you the long list of people that should be on this show more than these two. Riggs is now a narcissist who carries a mirror. Slow start with Scotty offering an armdrag and stopping to talk to the camera. Mikey speeds things up a bit with left hands in the corner and a dropkick. They head outside with Riggs being sent into the barricade before going back inside so Mikey can headscissors him back to the floor.

Back in and Mikey gets knocked off the apron and into the barricade in a painful looking spot. Riggs nails a top rope ax handle but stops for some Rude hip swiveling. We hit the chinlock from Riggs as the fans want Goldberg. Mikey scores with a middle rope dropkick and a hurricanrana for two. They run the ropes and Scotty hits a running forearm for the pin.

Rating: D-. This could have been on any given Thunder and I have no idea why they decided to air it here. Yeah it’s filler but there weren’t two more interesting guys to put out there instead of these guys? Nothing match here and Riggs is still his boring self despite a new gimmick. One thing I’ll give this show so far: the first three matches have all been a different style so there’s a nice variety.

Quick video on Disco vs. Konnan. Disco mocked Konnan’s annoying music video and there’s a match as a result.

Disco Inferno vs. Konnan

Konnan calls him a strawberry (whatever that means) and gets stomped down for his efforts. The fans are all over Disco as he stomps Konnan down and starts to dance even more. Konnan comes back with a dropkick and a bunch of right hands of his own. A Sin Cara style armdrag out of the corner has Disco in trouble but he comes back with a running elbow to the face. We hit the chinlock on Konnan for a few moments, followed by a middle rope elbow for two. This has been one sided so far.

Back to the chinlock for a bit before Konnan hiptosses him down, only to miss a charge and fall out to the floor. Disco is sent into the post but kicks the rope as they come back in. For some reason this stuns Konnan and a shaky elbow gets two. We get another chinlock as the announcers are stunned at Disco’s offense. Disco goes up but misses an elbow drop, allowing Konnan to hit the 187 for two. A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Inferno but Konnan uses Disco’s own Last Dance for the pin.

Rating: C. Not a bad little match here but Konnan hit about three moves all match. Disco continues to be a guy that can work hard when given the chance and that’s what we got here. I like Konnan using a Stunner far more than the Tequila Sunrise which is just a fancy half crab. This was better than I was expecting.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Kidman

Mysterio is defending and they’re the Tag Team Champions. Rey grabs a test of strength grip and they flip around for a few two counts each. A headscissors puts Kidman down but Kidman comes back with one of his own in a nice sequence. Kidman backdrops the champion out to the floor and hits a bit dive to take him down again. There’s a legdrop on the floor for two back inside as the fans are oddly quiet for this one.

A chinlock doesn’t get Kidman anywhere so they head to the floor with Rey countering a moonsault and headscissoring Kidman into the barricade. Back inside and Rey hits the springboard seated senton (not a Thesz Press Tony!) followed by a Lionsault for two each. Kidman comes back with something like a standing Boss Man Slam for two. The BK Bomb gets the same and Rey is dropkicked to the floor.

There’s the Shooting Star off the apron but they head back inside where Rey dropkicks Kidman out of the air. The fans are still not all that interested. A top rope bulldog (the move that won Rey the title) wakes them up a bit and gets another near fall on Kidman. Rey charges into a powerslam and it’s back to the chinlock. Back up and Rey clotheslines him to the floor, setting up a big flip dive to take him down again.

They get back in and we hit another chinlock for a bit before Kidman’s powerbomb is countered into a hurricanrana for two. Now it’s Rey holding a chinlock as the fans are clearly bored. Kidman fights up again and hits a sitout Pedigree followed by a sunset bomb for two. Another top rope bulldog gets something resembling a reaction and a two count to go with it. Kidman comes back with Stratusfaction for two but Rey hits a standing moonsault for a two count so fast I thought we had a crooked referee. Kidman counters a powerbomb into a faceplant but Rey crotches him into a top rope hurricanrana to retain.

Rating: C+. This was good but the match had to follow their first match as well as tonight’s opener. They were trying to top what they did a few weeks back and the match collapsed under the weight. It also needed to be about five minutes shorter as the chinlocks really stopped things cold. The match was entertaining but I can see why the fans weren’t that impressed.

We look at Saturn reuniting with Raven and beating the Horsemen a few weeks back. Raven and Saturn then cost the Horsemen the Tag Team Titles, making this match non-title.

Chris Benoit/Dean Malenko vs. Raven/Saturn

Raven and Saturn bring a table with them. Benoit and Saturn get things going and they stall for over a minute. Saturn is sent out to the floor where he sends the Horsemen into each other to take over. It’s off to Raven for a clothesline for two followed by a suplex to set up a top rope splash from Saturn. Benoit sends Raven out to the floor for a double stomping from Malenko and Anderson.

Back in and a double spinebuster lets the Horsemen make a wish with Raven’s legs. Dean nails a dropkick and it’s back to Benoit who is immediately caught in a small package. Referee Charles Robinson is busy doing anything else to count the pin so Benoit is able to beat Raven down again for two. Raven finally gets a boot up in the corner and the hot tag brings in Saturn. The Horsemen’s house is cleaned and a Doomsday Device with Saturn hitting a cross body for two.

Benoit saves Dean from a Death Valley Driver and puts Saturn in the rolling Germans but Raven makes the save. Dean breaks up the Even Flow and puts Saturn in the Cloverleaf. Saturn makes a rope and plants Dean with the DVD, only to have Benoit break it up with a Swan Dive to give Dean two. AWESOME sequence. Dean suplexes Saturn again and the fans are all over him for showing the Horsemen sign. There’s a sleeper on Saturn but Raven makes a quick save.

Benoit sends Saturn into the corner but Dean has to break up a sunset flip. Back to Dean for a chinlock to slow things down until Saturn suplexes his way out. Raven gets the hot tag and cleans house, including clotheslining Dean to the floor. Someone throws a chair inside and there’s the drop toehold for Benoit. Meanwhile, Saturn misses a dive through the table to knock himself silly. Dean nails Raven in the face with the chair but Raven shrugs it off and plants Malenko with the Even Flow. Raven covers but Anderson puts the chair on Raven’s head for the Swan Dive from Benoit to knock Raven silly and give Malenko the pin.

Rating: B+. That might be a bit high but I was loving this one. This is exactly what a good tag match is supposed to be: two teams that work great together and some sequences that make you believe it’s over but you’re so happy that you get more. The ending sequence had the fans totally into it and the whole match was great. This was actually better than the opener.

We recap the US Title tournament that wraps up tonight.

US Title: Booker T. vs. Scott Steiner

This is a rematch from Uncensored where Booker beat Steiner for the TV Title. Steiner stalls by insulting fans at ringside before the match. After about three minutes of walking around and yelling, Scott is ready to go. Booker takes him to the mat with a nice amateur move but Steiner is far more talented on the mat. A dropkick and armdrag send Steiner to the floor but he comes back in with some hard elbows to the face in the corner.

Booker nails him with a hard forearm and a hook kick to the jaw before throwing Booker back to the floor. Steiner charges into a boot in the corner and Booker hammers away at the nutjob’s head. Steiner counters some more right hands in the corner by crotching Booker on the top and momentum quickly changes. Booker is sent ribs first into the barricade and Scott drops an elbow on the ribs back inside.

Now it’s Scott’s turn to hammer away in the corner and the fans chant steroids. A backbreaker gets two for Scott and the chants are getting on his nerves. Scott gets in the referee’s face before putting a bearhug on Mr. T. Booker starts powering out so Steiner suplexes him down. Back up and Booker scores with a DDT followed by some side kicks before Steiner pulls the referee in front of a Booker clothesline. The fans are all looking at the entrance for the run-in as Booker hits the ax kick for no count.

The referee is back up so Steiner nails him from behind. Booker’s 110th Street Slam looks to set up the missile dropkick but Scott crotches him to break it up. Scott’s top rope hurricanrana is only good for two so he pulls out a foreign object and knocks Booker out on a suplex attempt. Another referee helps out the original referee and Steiner wins the title.

Rating: C. This was better than I was expecting with Booker looking like a warrior out there. He’s so ready to move up the card and thankfully he’s still the TV Champion out of all this. Actually it’s better that he hasn’t moved up the card as WCW would manage to screw him up so badly it would ruin him.

Mysterio has a chat on WCW.com.

We recap Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash. Simple story: Goldberg is almost unbeatable but Nash is the only man to beat him. Nash challenged him on Nitro.

Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash

Luger and Liz are with Big Kev. Nash does his catchphrase after the bell for some reason. Goldberg takes him into the corner but gets kneed in the ribs for his efforts. There’s the boot choke and Liz gets on the apron so Kevin can kick him low. All Nash so far. The side slam gets two but Nash misses the big boot and Goldberg shoulders him down.

A single underhook suplex sends Nash flying before he misses another big boot. Goldberg nails a superkick but Nash leapfrogs over the referee (not a bad one either!) and the spear hits the referee. Luger nails Goldberg with his cast and Nash loads up the Jackknife. Goldberg uses a testicular claw (Tony: “JACK THIS!”) to escape before kicking Luger in the face. The spear and Jackhammer end Nash.

Rating: D+. Nothing special here but Goldberg is always a guaranteed way to wake up the crowd. The retribution angle works well here and the match was better because they kept things moving here instead of the slow main event style they worked at Starrcade. Having Goldberg beat both Nash and Luger was a nice touch and maybe his biggest win since losing the title.

A very quick video says who is in the main event and nothing more. There isn’t much of a story here anyway. Hogan won a match to earn a shot but Page and Sting just decided they were in the match as well.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Ric Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page

One fall to a finish. Flair is defending and Randy Savage is referee for no apparent reason. If nothing else we get to look at Gorgeous George. The four quickly pair off with Hogan and Flair falling out to the floor. Sting is already trying the Scorpion on Page as Hogan chops away on Ric. They fight up the aisle as Page gets two off a swinging neckbreaker to Sting. Sting comes back with a top rope clothesline followed by the Stinger Splash but Flair makes the save.

The pairs trade spots with Sting and Page fighting to the floor. Hogan backdrops Flair as Sting drives Page into the barricade. Hogan starts putting the weightlifting belt back on but has to no sell some Flair chops. He Hulks Up as Sting puts Page in the Scorpion in the ring. Hogan drops the leg on Flair, forcing Sting to let go of the hold to make a save. Flair hits Hogan in the knee and cannonballs down on it as the other two guys are back on the floor.

The Figure Four goes on Hogan and Sting splashes Page against the barricade. For some reason Sting doesn’t make a save so Hogan has to turn it over. Page finally comes in for the save before clotheslining Flair to the floor. We get the figure four around the post to Hogan and Hollywood taps but he’s in the ropes. Sting breaks up the hold and the trainer comes out to take Hogan out. Even Bischoff comes out to check on him. I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether the injury was legit or not but Hogan wouldn’t wrestle for three months.

So we’re down to a three way now with Page perfectly fine to let Sting and Flair beat each other up. He finally breaks it up and sends Flair to the floor before stomping on Sting. Savage hasn’t been a factor yet. Flair gets back in and walks into a discus lariat for two. Sting hits the splash in the corner on Page, followed by the running faceplant. Ric is sent to the floor again but comes back in to break up a cover after Page tombstones Sting.

Sting superplexes the champ down but knocks himself silly at the same time. We get the triple sleeper because someone has been watching ECW tapes. Sting breaks it up with a double jawbreaker but gets double teamed against the ropes. He just stares at both guys and takes them down with a clothesline. The fans get WAY into Sting all of a sudden…and then quiet right back down.

Sting puts Flair in the Scorpion but Page makes a quick save. Page tries a suplex on Sting but gets reversed into the Death Drop for a delayed two. Flair knees Sting low and puts on the Figure Four with Page down. Savage pulls them to the middle of the ring and drops the elbow (called the Sky Elbow by Tony) on Ric. Page pops up, stomps Sting and Diamond Cuts Flair for the pin and the title.

Rating: C-. The match was a mess with the injury and everything but Page winning the title kind of works for me. I’ve seen people call it one of the stupidest decisions WCW ever made, but it’s not like WCW was flying on high before they gave him the belt. The match really didn’t need Savage as he and Flair had about a thousand built in stories due to past issues. Hogan leaving was odd and there’s always a chance he was pulling something.

Overall Rating: B+. This was one of the best shows WCW has put on in years. Even the main event wasn’t bad! There are two really good matches on here which make the show more than worth checking out and the only bad match is about seven minutes long. Things are about to implode for WCW and this might have been the last really good, bordering on great, show that they had left.

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Spring Stampede 1998
Date: April 19, 1998
Location: Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 7,428
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

Allegedly we have a double main event tonight but in reality only one of the matches has received any focus at all. The two matches are Sting vs. Savage for the world title and Giant/Piper vs. Hogan/Nash in a bat match. Take a guess as to which is getting all the attention. Hogan and Nash’s problems have gotten nearly all the focus for the last few months and I’m sure they’ll dominate the show tonight. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about the power struggle in the NWO. Sting is there too but why waste time on the guy you spent all of 1997 building up as the great hope for WCW?

Something I miss about PPVs from this era: the sets were always unique. Here there’s a western theme with covered wagons and bails of hay. Today you just have the set except for the occasional show outside of Wrestlemania. It’s a nice change of scenery.

Savage has had the cast removed from his arm and the main event is now No DQ just because.

Perry Saturn vs. Goldberg

Goldberg is 73-0 and has a US Title shot tomorrow night on Nitro. He and Saturn have been staring each other down for weeks now and this is Goldberg’s toughest match to date. Goldberg is billed from Dawsonville, Georgia which I never remember hearing before or after this show. Saturn goes right after him with chops but Goldberg counters a leg lock into a pumphandle suplex. Something resembling a belly to belly puts Saturn down but Goldberg has to toss Kidman off the apron and onto Perry before following up.

Back in and Saturn trips Goldberg down and hits a springboard legdrop to keep him down. A middle rope splash gets one and Saturn takes him into the corner for some kicks to the chest. Goldberg easily blocks a vertical suplex into a swinging neckbreaker, followed by a gorilla press into a World’s Strongest Slam for no cover. Kidman distracts Goldberg again though and Saturn hits a release fisherman’s suplex to take over.

Out to the floor and Goldie is sent into the steps as Tenay talks about how Goldberg has never gone this long before. A hurricanrana puts Goldberg down on the floor again but Saturn slips off on what looked to be an Asai Moonsault. Thankfully he landed on Goldberg or that could have been much worse. Back in and a top rope spinwheel kick takes Goldberg down and Saturn hooks a Fujiwara Armbar. Now it’s a cross armbreaker but Goldberg lifts him up into a kind of powerbomb to escape.

A side slam puts Saturn down and there’s the Bret killer superkick for no cover. There’s the spear but a Kidman distraction lets Saturn hit him low to escape the Jackhammer. Saturn takes him to the middle rope but Goldberg press slams him from said ropes. Cool looking move. Cue the Flock but Goldberg fights them off (including a middle rope dropkick to knock Reese off the apron) and spears Kidman. Saturn takes him down into the Rings of Saturn but can’t get them on full. Goldberg powers his way out into a fireman’s carry before powering Saturn up into the Jackhammer to make it 74-0.

Rating: C+. This was better than I was expecting though Goldberg didn’t look great throughout the match. To be fair though this was by far his longest match to date despite it only running about eight minutes. They did a good job of testing Goldberg here and the crowd was into him as always. His career was about to take off and this was a good step for him, though they made the winner of Page vs. Raven pretty clear here.

Ultimo Dragon vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

If Guerrero wins, he’s free of Eddie’s control but if he loses Eddie is going to be twice as hard on him. Dragon has the awesome looking red, white and green attire with a Mexican flag cape to match. The fans are all over Eddie to start as Chavo takes Dragon to the mat and ties up his legs. Dragon reaches around to grab a headlock before things speed up with Dragon taking over via a legsweep. There’s the headstand in the corner followed by Dragon’s kicks to put Chavo down again.

Eddie is hiding his head under a towel like he did on Thunder as Dragon puts on a chinlock. That goes nowhere so Dragon changes it up to a standing reverse figure four, only to have Chavo reverse into a bridging Indian Death Lock with a chinlock. As usual that hold can’t stay on long though so Chavo takes him down with a headscissors and stomps away in the corner. We hit the chinlock on Dragon as the starting and stopping continues.

Dragon fights out of a headscissors on the mat and hooks a camel clutch chinlock of all things. That goes nowhere either so it’s a seated surfboard (as in Dragon is sitting down and pulling on Chavo’s face) to make Eddie apologize to Mama Guerrero. La Majistral gets two for Dragon but he gets clotheslined down for two by Guerrero. They trade rollups for two each but Chavo gets crotched on top to slow him down again.

Guerrero fights out of the super hurricanrana but Dragon suplexes him from the apron to the floor. The Asai Moonsault puts both guys down so Eddie can yell in Chavo’s face. Chavo gets back in first and tries a dive but jumps over Dragon, barely grazing him on the way down.

Back in and they clothesline each other but it’s Dragon up first with an enziguri. Dragon goes up but gets dropkicked low on the way down. Eddie shouts to get him but Chavo doesn’t want it that way. Chavo eventually tries a suplex but gets small packaged for two. A brainbuster puts Dragon down but the tornado DDT is countered into the Dragon Sleeper for the submission.

Rating: C+. More good storytelling with the Guerreros as Chavo has gone from a pretty basic cruiserweight to a guy having morality issues and wanting to get Eddie off his back. Eddie hasn’t been in the ring much lately but he’s in his element yelling at Chavo and bringing up the Guerrero Family in some hilarious moments. Good stuff here.

Diamond Dallas Page is on WCW.com, talking about going from pinning Savage a year ago to the US Title match here tonight.

TV Title: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T

Booker is defending and there’s no time limit after two straight draws between these guys. They lock up into the corner to start and it’s a clean break by the two good guys. A shoulder sends Benoit to the mat and then out to the floor, holding his head. Benoit seems to be ok though and goes after Booker’s legs back in the ring. Booker superkicks him back to the floor as the stalling continues. That might have something to do with the show being in Denver, meaning the air is very thin and it can be difficult to breathe.

Back in and Booker takes his head off with a clothesline for two before we hit the armbar. Benoit gets bored of the rest hold though and takes Booker into the corner for a mudhole stomping. Booker comes right back with a backbreaker for two and it’s back to the armbar. Chris fights up again and drapes him over the ropes before knocking him out to the floor. Back in and a hard chop takes Booker down and a snap suplex gets two. Off to the chinlock by the challenger as the wind clearly isn’t there for either guy.

Back up again and Booker misses a dropkick and Benoit suplexes him down again. The Swan Dive gets two but Booker comes back with a suplex of his own to put both guys down again. A snap suplex from Chris gets two and a belly to back gets the same. We’re past the regular TV Title time limit and Benoit starts rolling Germans. Benoit takes him up top instead of covering and drops Booker with a belly to back superplex to put both guys down again.

A very delayed cover gets two for Chris but he walks into a spinebuster to put both guys down again. Booker hits a flapjack and spins up, drawing a mixed reaction. The ax kick accidentally takes out the referee and Benoit grabs the Crossface, drawing an unseen tap. Benoit goes to hep the referee but gets caught by the side kick for the pin to retain Booker’s title.

Rating: C+. Good match here but the altitude was clearly taking its toll on both guys. At the end of the day though, Benoit not getting a title is getting annoying. He had the feud of the year with Raven, took the TV Champion to two straight draws and still can’t get a title reign. The match was good, but did you expect anything else from these two?

The referee is helped from the ring.

Curt Hennig vs. British Bulldog

This is one of those feuds that no one cares about but just won’t go away. Rude and Neidhart will be handcuffed together to make sure we get to see this enthralling match. Bulldog pounds away to start and stomps Curt down in the corner before going after the hamstring. They head outside with Neidhart pulling Rude away from interfering. Apparently Hennig has a bad knee coming in so the leg work makes sense. Bulldog kicks at the leg very slowly as Rude is pulled back again.

The slow motion continues as Bulldog is hitting the leg about twice a minute before going for the Sharpshooter. A cop, who is clearly Vincent, goes after Neidhart and gets choked down, allowing Rude to get a key and unlock himself. Neidhart is cuffed to the post as Hennig escapes the hold and sends Bulldog into the post for the pin, meaning the stuff outside accomplished absolutely nothing.

Rating: F. The fact that this is on PPV makes it a failure alone. The match was horrible too with the knee work taking forever and boring the fans to death. At the end of the day though, no one cares about these guys or this stupid feud because it’s somehow about Bret Hart despite him barely being involved with it anymore. Without Bret, there’s no reason for anyone to care about the matches at all, making this feud very boring.

Bulldog and Neidhart get beaten down as the bell rings a lot, making this segment even more annoying.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Jericho vs. Prince Iaukea

Jericho has beaten almost everyone of note so Iaukea is one of the few guys they have left to challenge him. Jericho is wearing a headband which I don’t think has any reason for existing but is awesome anyway. He dedicates this match to the fallen hero of WCW: Dean Malenko. Jericho takes Iaukea to the ropes but gets caught in a wristlock.

Off to a headlock on Jericho but he flips out, only to be caught in the headlock again. Back up and Jericho shoulder blocks him down but walks into a dropkick. Really basic stuff so far and Iaukea hooks another headlock. Jericho tries to skin the cat but gets dropkicked to the floor, followed by a flip dive off the apron from the Prince. Back in and we hit the headlock again because Iaukea is running out of offense.

Jericho drop toeholds him into the ropes and suplexes Iaukea down for two. Time for a chinlock because this match was starting to get slightly entertaining. Jericho slams him down and does his big strut. He takes WAY too long on the top rope and jumps into the feet, giving Prince control again. A Samoan drop and a springboard flip attack gets two but Jericho counters a victory roll into the Liontamer, only to have Iaukea next to the ropes.

Iaukea counters a middle rope sunset flip for two before both guys go to the top and fall down to the floor in a somewhat scary scene. Back in and the Liontamer is countered again but Jericho grabs the rope to escape the northern lights suplex. Back up and Iaukea’s middle rope sunset flip is countered into the Liontamer to finally end this.

Rating: D+. The buildup to this match was boring, Iaukea was incredibly boring and the match itself was very boring. As I’ve said before, at the end of the day there’s nothing interesting about Iaukea at all and any number of guys could have done the same thing he did. Nothing to see here other than a lot of headlocks and sunset flips.

Jericho steals Iaukea’s skirt thing for his trophy case.

Raven quotes Shakespeare to WCW.com.

Scott Steiner/Buff Bagwell vs. Lex Luger/Rick Steiner

Buff has his wrist in a cast but it doesn’t look too professional. JJ comes out and says he thinks it’s fake so here’s a doctor to check the injury. The wrist is fine so let’s fight. Seriously, this was created, executed and ended in less than five minutes. Rick goes right for his brother but gets jumped by Buff. Bagwell gets caught by a powerslam and a Steiner Line but Scott gets in a cheap shot to put Rick down.

Scott comes in while Rick is down and chokes a bit before bringing Buff back in. Buff slams him down and grabs the “injured” hand before getting two. Back to Scott who gets two but runs back to Buff at the kickout. Buff hooks the chinlock but lets it go to argue with the referee.

Back to Scott for a chinlock of his own, though he at least adds in a knee to the back to spice things up a little. Rick charges into Buff’s boots in the corner but catches him in a backdrop to put both guys down. The hot tag brings in Luger but Scott breaks up a quick Rack attempt. Rick nails Buff and it’s time for the showdown but Scott runs. The Rack ends Buff a few seconds later.

Rating: D-. There was no reason whatsoever for this to be on the PPV. It was a glorified Nitro match as the Steiners had about a minute of contact but the real showdown still didn’t happen. That’s wrestling booking in general: keep coming back for the next show to see the stuff you’re interested in. The trick though is you have to give us those moments eventually which rarely happened in WCW.

Call the hotline to find out who is in the back!

La Parka vs. Psychosis

This is a bonus match. La Parka dances a lot before chopping Psychosis down. Psychosis comes back with chops of his own before sending La Parka into the buckle. La Parka stands him on the top turnbuckle but Psychosis jumps backwards into a headscissors takeover to send skeleton man to the floor. A suicide dive takes La Parka down but he gets back inside first anyway. Back in and a clothesline gets two on Psychosis before he’s sent to the floor for a springboard split legged moonsault. Heenan: “Another move I never thought of trying.”

Psychosis might have a bad shoulder but he launches La Parka face first into the buckle. Not that it matters as La Parka kicks him in the head to put Psychosis on the floor again. Back in and Psychosis tries a springboard hurricanrana but can’t get up to the top for a few moments. I guess the fans booing is better than their dead silence. Psychosis misses a top rope splash and gets caught in an Alabama Slam for two. La Parka poses on the ropes but gets dropkicked down, tying his legs up in the ropes. The guillotine legdrop from Psychosis finally ends this torture.

Rating: D. It’s not easy to complain about free wrestling but man alive this was dull stuff. There was no story to the match other than a forgotten chair shot from a few weeks back. The match being very sloppy didn’t help things either and the fans clearly weren’t pleased. Was Juvy not available for this? He was always good at firing up a crowd which would have helped things out a lot here.

The announcers talk for awhile to fill in even more time. Heenan goes into some analogy comparing Savage to a wounded dog with a long series of examples. Now they talk about the tension in the NWO and how it might be a big swerve.

The Giant/Roddy Piper vs. Hollywood Hogan/Kevin Nash

This is a bat on a pole match. The idea here is Hogan and Nash can’t get along at all and they’ll likely turn on each other. Piper immediately goes for the bat but Hogan makes a save by ramming him into the pole. Roddy gets caught in the Tree of Woe for some stomping before it’s off to Nash to pull him out of the corner. Back to Hogan (literally all Nash did was drag him to the other corner) for more old man offense but Piper won’t sell any of it.

Roddy comes back with right hands and pulls off Hogan’s bandana. Piper pulls out what’s left of Hogan’s hair, earning himself a poke in the eye. Hogan takes him down again and goes up but Piper makes the easy tag to Giant. The biggest man pulls Hogan down and spanks him, sending Hogan to the floor in pain. Back in and Piper chokes Hollywood with the weightlifting belt but a low blow allows for the tag off to Nash. It’s time for the battle of the giants and Giant easily sends him into the corner. Nash gets a boot up to stop the charging Giant and fires off his usual stuff in the corner.

Kev walks away to pose but Giant snaps to his feet, setting up a double big boot to put both giants down. The double tag brings in Piper to face Hogan with Roddy pounding away to take over. Nash comes in and gets a low blow as everything breaks down. Giant dropkicks Nash to the floor as Piper puts Hogan in the sleeper. Piper goes up and gets the bat but Hogan knocks it out of his hands and throws it away.

Cue Disciple with another bat so Hogan can blast Giant in the back of the head. Piper avoids a shot to his bad hip and Hogan hits Nash by mistakes. Now Piper gets the bat and knocks Hogan to the floor before knocking Nash down. Disciple grabs Piper’s bat and throws Hogan the original bat so he can blast Piper for the pin.

Rating: D. To the shock of no one paying attention, this match sucked. It was basically the same thing they’ve been doing for weeks now with Nash and Hogan accidentally hitting each other but the NWO standing tall again. The biggest problem though is the quality of the match. Usually good drama can hide the fact that a match sucks, but if it’s bad drama, people notice how bad the match is. That’s what happened here and that’s really bad when this was the main event for all intents and purposes.

Hogan tells Nash to powerbomb Giant but whacks Nash in the back with the bat, basically throwing him out of the NWO. Giant breaks the bat over his knee and swears vengeance on Hogan.

Slamboree ad, which they try to make sound more epic than Starrcade. Side note: why did WCW have so many PPVs that began with the letter S? Souled Out, SuperBrawl, Spring Stampede, Slamboree, Starrcade.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven

Page is defending, Raven has the belt itself, this is under Raven’s Rules and the winner gets Goldberg tomorrow. Sick Boy tries to interfere at the beginning but gets a belt to the face for his efforts. Page shoves Raven into the corner and pounds away to start before hitting a belly to back suplex. A big dive to the floor takes out Raven and Sick Boy but Raven knocks Page off the apron, reinjuring the ribs. Back in and Page counters the Even Flow into a swinging neckbreaker for two.

Raven bails to the floor to avoid a Diamond Cutter and the fight heads up to the set. Page throws Raven off a stagecoach into some bails of hay before diving off said coach to take Raven down. Raven is thrown into a corral and beaten down by a trashcan. Now Raven goes through another wooden fence and suplexed onto the website table. Page is kicked into a wall and Raven blasts him in the head with a piece of metal.

They head to some VIP area with Raven diving onto Page to send him through a table. Raven pulls a bullrope off a horse and chokes Page down before grabbing a trashcan. The can freaks Tony out, despite it being used about two minutes ago. Raven wraps the rope around Page’s neck and drags him back to the ring where Sick Boy has a kitchen sink. The sink is only good for two for Raven and it’s back to the rope choking. Page fights up and drop toeholds Raven onto the sink as Tony and Heenan make plumbing jokes.

Kidman tries to interfere but splashes Raven by mistake, giving Page two. Sick Boy blasts Page with a crutch to give Raven two so Raven calls in the rest of the Flock. Hammer accidentally clotheslines Raven down so Page knocks him out with a sink. A low blow puts Page down and here’s Reese for a chokebomb, giving Raven another two count. Lodi throws in the stop sign but Page knocks it into Raven’s face and takes out a few Flock members. Kidman gets a Diamond Cutter but Horace Hogan debuts by hitting Page with the stop sign, allowing Raven to DDT Page on the sink for the pin and the title.

Rating: C. I’m not a fan of this garbage brawling style but this could have been worse. It’s good that Raven finally won the title that he’s been chasing for months and it makes sense as the numbers and style finally caught up to Page. I wasn’t liking the way most of the brawling was treated as comedy spots when the feud has been serious though. It was a reversal of what had made the feud good up to this point and hurt the match a good deal. Still though, not bad and a decent way to wrap the feud up.

The announcers basically guarantee that Goldberg is winning the title tomorrow night.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Randy Savage

Alleged main event time. This is also No DQ because having three straight hardcore/weapon based matches isn’t copying WWF and ECW at all. Sting, the lamest of all lame duck champions, is defending here. Savage jumps Sting during the entrances and sends him into the barricade as the bell rings. Back in and Savage chokes a lot but hurts his bad hand throwing a punch. Sting comes back with a shot to the ribs and we head back outside again.

Savage walks up the aisle until Sting throws him through another wooden fence. Sting sends him into the hay and through another fence before hitting him with another bale of hay. Tony: “That can be very abrasive to the skin.” Mr. Schiavone, don’t ever change. Back to ringside for the missed Stinger Splash into the barricade and a posting by Savage. They get in the ring for a change and Sting backdrops out of a piledriver, only to have Savage punch him back down.

They head back to the floor because neither guy is interested in having a match at the moment. Savage is suplexed on the floor and sent into the barricade. Sting heads back inside but Randy hits him low and drapes him over the top rope for two. Savage clotheslines Sting into the referee before piledriving the champion down.

Sting no sells it by popping back up but has to no sell a Liz chair shot instead of going after Savage. Liz gets hit by the Stinger Splash so Savage lays him out with a chair. Cue Hogan of course to break up the elbow and Sting hits a quick Death Drop but there’s no referee. Nash comes in and powerbombs Sting down, giving Savage the pin and the title. There’s a problem though: Savage is holding his knee, which would wind up being a torn ACL.

Rating: D. This was an angle with a few wrestling moves thrown in to pad things out. At least it ends the joke that was Sting’s title reign so we can get the focus back on that earth shattering Hogan vs. Nash feud. That’s the focus of this match: the power struggle in the NWO. Sting looks like nothing as 1997 is pretty much left in the dust lie it never happened. Nice work on that WCW.

The last shot of the show is Hogan yelling that Savage has his belt and that Nash will pay.

Overall Rating: D+. This was almost exactly what was expected: a dull show that kept us in the same loop we’ve been in for months with the focus entirely on the NWO once again. None of the matches here were worth seeing other than maybe Goldberg vs. Saturn to see Goldberg’s first match with some length to it. Other than that we had a bunch of feuds that no one cared about and more worthless angle advancement. Where was Bret, who said that anytime Sting needed him he’d be there? Apparently dealing with Savage, Hogan and Nash doesn’t warrant Bret’s help? Bad show here as WCW is getting into big trouble in a hurry.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/24/spring-stampede-1998-with-bales-of-hay-and-covered-wagons/

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

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Spring Stampede 1997
Date: April 6, 1997
Location: Tupelo Coliseum, Tupelo, Mississippi
Attendance: 8,356
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Dusty Rhodes

I had planned on continuing with the 1998 shows but it occurred to me that I was going to run out of PPVs in my series of Nitro reviews. This is only a few months after where I am in that series though so I won’t be too far removed at least. This is a B show with no Hogan, Piper, or anyone else for the most part and a main event of Savage vs. Page in a grudge match. Savage joined the NWO at SuperBrawl and was put with Page to bring DDP up to the main event. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Page vs. Savage of course. On and the Steiners vs. Outsiders for the millionth time. The third match talked about is the Women’s Title match. See what we’re up against here?

This is where Uncensored 96 happened. It HAS TO be better than that right?

Nash has said that he’ll fight all of WCW if he has to. Scott Hall is missing and has been for THREE WEEKS, but they’ve announced him up to this point just because. Therefore it’ll be a handicap match for the titles with Nash vs. Steiners.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon

No Sonny with Dragon here. Dragon takes him to the mat to start and then Rey takes Dragon down to the mat as well. There’s a camel clutch but Dragon quickly escapes. We get to a standoff so Dragon hits the rapidfire kicks to take Rey down. Flair has a big announcement later tonight. Dragon hooks an armbar and they’re still on the mat. Back up and he hits a kind of spinning crucifix into a modified version of what we call Shock Treatment.

Powerbomb is followed by a hot shot and then a sleeper by Dragon. Not a Dragon Sleeper but a sleeper by Dragon that is. A BIG Liger Bomb puts Rey down but Dragon won’t cover. There haven’t been any pin attempts between falls and it’s kind of hurting the match. Tombstone gets two and it’s back to the sleeper. Rey comes back with a spinwheel kick but Dragon kicks him down because Rey can’t follow up.

Gordbuster sets up an Indian Deathlock. Rey gets out and manages to kick Dragon off to the floor to get a breather. Sleeper #3 goes on by Dragon but Rey counters into one of his own to a BIG pop. Dragon gets thrown to the floor again and Rey hits a dive up and over the top. And let’s cut to Lee Marshall to get a statement from Kevin Nash. Instead it’s Syxx and we can’t hear him so there was NO POINT to this.

Back to see Rey dropping the dime for a delayed two. Rey loads up a moonsault press but Dragon dropkicks him off the top and Mysterio crashes down onto the floor. Dragon dives over the top but hurts himself at the same time. Back in Rey tries a Lionsault press but Dragon dropkicks him out of the air in a cool counter. Giant swing by Dragon puts both guys down. They trade fast pinfall attempts for two each and an enziguri puts Rey down. Super rana gets two for Dragon. Tiger and dragon suplexes by Dragon are both countered by Rey and a standing rana gets the pin for Mysterio.

Rating: C+. It was an entertaining match but for the most part it was a mess. They kept seeing to be missing the chemistry out there and that’s a bad thing most of the time. Also the mat work is the wrong idea here. Not a bad match at all but this was one of those matches you expected more from. Dragon would win the TV Title the next night.

Marshall tries to get to talk to Nash again but gets Syxx again. The Steiners try to jump through the door but security stops them. Scott gets maced and handcuffed. Ok then.

Women’s Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa

This was a weird title as it only existed for a few years. It was won in December of 96 and defended a handful of times ever. It was vacated in the summer, won in Japan in September and never mentioned on WCW TV more than twice again. Later on they actually introduced a Women’s Cruiserweight Championship. Hokuto is champion coming in. For some reason that I’ll never fathom, Lee Marshall, the guy WCW fired for being horrible at commentary, is talking about this match.

They start off fast with Madusa hammering her down in the corner but walking into a clothesline. Akira chokes her in the corner and covers for two as Madusa bridges out. She hits some hair slams for two and Hokuto goes to the corner. Madusa hits a Stratusphere to take her down but Hokuto is right back on the leg. Madusa fights off Onoo and hits a pair of dropkicks. The American hits a German on the Japanese woman but Sonny distracts again. Luna Vachon comes in and takes out Madusa’s knee so that Akira can retain.

Rating: F+. Madusa looked like Kaitlyn a little bit so I can’t call it a full on failure, but dang this was boring. At the end of the day you can’t bring out a title once every four months and expect us to care about it. Nothing to see in the match either with both chicks doing basic stuff for five minutes.

TV Title: Prince Iaukea vs. Steven Regal

So on February 13, 1997, the WWF’s young Samoan Rocky Maivia beat the blue blood Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Title. On February 17, 1997, WCW’s young Samoan Prince Iaukea beat the blue blood Lord Steven Regal for the TV Title. Now I’m sure this was a TOTAL coincidence right? Iaukea had nothing to offer in the ring and lost the title the next night.

Regal stalls for awhile so we’re told that Scott Steiner has been arrested. The Prince takes him to the mat with a headlock as Tony tries to explain that Iaukea is one of the lines of defense against the NWO. Dennis Rodman is part of the NWO and since we hate him, let’s plug his movie and air clips of it tomorrow night on Nitro! Regal comes back with a knee lift but it’s right back to the headlock by the Prince.

Cross body gets two for the champ. Regal complains about a punch so Heenan says that Iaukea doesn’t know that he’s the champion right now. Prince takes him down with a test of strength so Regal hooks a headscissors and nips up into an eye poke. It’s now a singles match for the tag titles with Rick vs. Nash. Regal hooks a full nelson and then pounds him down in the corner.

The Prince Hawaiians Up and then does nothing at all with it. Regal easily takes him into the corner and hits a pair of knees to the face. A cross body by Prince misses and Regal takes control again. He whips the Prince into the corner and tries a rollup but Iaukea sits on him and gets the pin to retain.

Rating: D. Iaukea was just so boring it’s unreal. He never had anything special about him and it never caught on with the fans at all. Regal is great but he can’t work miracles here, and despite Iaukea holding the belt for almost two months, he never got any better for the most part. Nothing to see here.

Regal beats up the Prince post match and puts him in the Regal Stretch.

Here’s Flair for some big announcement. Gene thinks that it’s Flair returning to the ring. Flair says that the Horsemen will win tonight and that he’s back on May 1. He says Anderson will be back but it never happened. As for Flair and Piper…..Kevin Greene is coming to WCW. Seriously, that’s practically a direct quote. Flair wants the NWO in Charlotte and he doesn’t care who it is because the Horsemen are going to run them out of here. WHY DID IT TAKE THEM 10 MONTHS TO FREAKING DO THAT???

Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael vs. Public Enemy

Can Jarrett carry three people? I certainly hope so or this is going to be awful. Mongo vs. Rocco to start us off and it’s time to stall. Rocco finds Mongo’s lack of talent disturbing so he chats with known ring general Johnny Grunge. Mongo tackles both enemies and it’s a double Horsemen strut. Off to Jarrett (thank goodness) vs. Grunge and Double J hooks an abdominal stretch.

Johnny gets out of it and tries a leapfrog but gets caught by an uppercut from Grunge. Jeff gets knocked to the floor and teases walking out but comes back and counts with the referee. Back to the starters and it’s a Mongo chinlock on Rock. McMichael works on the back with a backbreaker and a tilt-a-whirl for two. Everything breaks down and they go split screen.

Rock is thrown into the side of a covered wagon. I’ll give WCW this: their PPV sets tended to be really cool and definitely not generic like most WWE ones today. Grunge tries to put Debra on the table but Jeff saves with a chair. As Rock is thrown into a steer, Grunge dives through a table. Back to the ring and it’s completely broken down. Debra trips Rocco and it’s briefcase time. Jeff cleans house with dropkicks but Rock gets the briefcase. Figure Four to Grunge but Rock blasts Jeff with the case and Jarrett is pinned while holding Grunge in the hold.

Rating: D. This wasn’t as horrible as I was expecting. I thought it was going to be horrible but it wasn’t all that bad. It furthers the really annoying Horsemen split which would finally happen after many more months. Boring match for the most part but the wagon spot was kind of cool.

Gene talks to Harlem Heat who are in a four corners match tonight, as singles competitors with Luger and Giant. The winner gets a shot at Hogan, so who do you think is going to win eventually? Sherri says her guys are ready. This would be the match where Booker rants about Hogan and calls him the N word before immediately panicking. It’s censored in this version (home video) and he says sucka but you can read his lips saying the other word.

US Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit

Dean is champion coming in. They go into the corner almost immediately and it’s a clean break. They go to the mat and neither guy can get control for more than a few seconds. Malenko is sent to the floor but he runs back in almost immediately. Malenko takes him to the mat and works on the knee as Woman screams. Benoit kicks him off and it’s back to a stalemate.

Benoit hooks a top wristlock and things slow back down again. Back up into a test of strength which neither can really win. Benoit does the always amazing bridge which he holds while Malenko lands on him. Chris takes him to the mat and works on the arm before into a chinlock and surfboard hold. It’s a Benoit match so of course they’re flying through holds. Malenko escapes with a belly to back suplex and takes over. Small package gets two for Dean.

Here come the chops from Benoit but they seem to wake Malenko up. Camel clutch goes on for a bit and then it’s off to a short arm scissors. Benoit does the Shawn/Bulldog counter and both guys are down. Clothesline gets two for Chris. Now it’s an abdominal stretch as the submission parade continues. Dean comes up with an interesting counter by dropping to one knee. I don’t remember ever seeing that before.

Benoit works on the ribs some more and channels his inner Dynamite with a snap suplex for two. Dean tries a vertical suplex but Benoit reverses into a reverse suplex….and here comes Jackie to ruin everything that they’ve got going on here. We’ve got a catfight on the floor and Jimmy Hart comes out….to do nothing.

Swan Dive hits and Jimmy is stealing the title. Here comes Eddie Guerrero and Dean gets draped over the top rope. Dean suplexes Benoit over the top and out to the floor, probably breaking the Canadian’s hip. Arn Anderson comes out and beats up Dean but Kevin Sullivan comes out and Anderson lets him hit Benoit with a Singapore cane which gets the DQ.

Rating: B-. This was getting good until we had five run-ins inside of three minutes. This Benoit vs. Sullivan feud went on for over a year and I don’t think anything was ever really settled. The ending here sucked but the match wasn’t great in the first place. They were having a slow submission based match but it wasn’t really that great. The last five minutes before the interference were good though.

Everyone other than Arn leave together and put the belt on Eddie’s shoulder for some reason, in the third (that I know of) stolen belt storyline of the year. Dean says he wasn’t supposed to be here, which was supposed to lead to some faction but it never came together.

Tag Titles: Kevin Nash vs. Rick Steiner

Only in WCW. Nick Patrick is referee because we need more gimmicks in this. Rick jumps him but gets knocked down almost immediately. DiBiase and Syxx are at ringside so this is 4-1. Nash pounds on him in the corner and hits his knees but runs into a boot. Belly to belly suplex looks like Rick is picking up a boulder. That suplex/powerslam move he uses gets two.

Syxx pulls the top rope down and Steiner crashes to the floor. Back in the side slam gets two. Why isn’t Patrick fast counting him? The Outsiders are the champions coming in here. DiBiase gets in a right hand and Nash hits the running crotch attack while Rick is in 619 position. Big boot puts Rick down as we’re totally in squash territory. There’s the Jackknife but Steiner kicks out. I don’t remember many people ever doing that other than Undertaker.

Steiner hits him low on another Jackknife attempt which Patrick actually doesn’t DQ him for. He’s kind of doing a bad job of being an evil referee here. Rick hits the bulldog but it only gets two, even though Nash’s shoulder never came up. Down goes Syxx but Nash comes back with a clothesline to take over again.

Syxx takes off the buckle pad and Snake Eyes onto the buckle sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up the Jackknife for the pin and a forced count (Patrick was hesitant) for the pin. The interesting thing here is that DiBiase says that’s enough in the middle of this and Nash yells at him. DiBiase walks out.

Rating: D-. So Nash wins a squash on PPV in a one on one match for the titles. I guess the more important part here is that DiBiase looks to be defecting which would mean more if he was an actual wrestler. This would lead to him managing the Steiners which would last for awhile until I think February. The match sucked.

Luger and Giant are ready.

Stevie Ray vs. Booker T vs. Giant vs. Lex Luger

One fall to a finish here and the winner gets Hogan eventually. Luger vs. Booker to start which should be interesting. Feeling out process to start until Luger starts slamming Booker a few times. Off to Stevie who punches Luger down a bit but gets caught between Giant and Luger which goes badly as you can imagine. Off to Giant and Stevie looks scared. Stevie knocks Giant back and gets loudly booed but Giant comes back with a clothesline.

Booker gets thrown around as well and it’s time for a meeting on the floor. I keep forgetting this is a four corners match. That gets remedied by Giant vs. Luger who have a power lockup. Luger tries a slam but Giant falls on him for two. The tag in Harlem Heat and the brothers having to fight gets a big reaction from the crowd.

They lock up and Booker works on the arm. There’s a lot of non contact here which makes sense for the most part. Booker tags in Lex and all is right with the world again. Stevie comes back with strikes and it’s Booker with a side suplex to put Lex down. A knee drop misses and it’s Giant time. A big elbow drop misses and Stevie comes in sans tag. An ax kick by Stevie doesn’t work and neither does a side kick so they go to the knees to get Giant down.

Giant gets up with ease and a big boot puts Ray down. Off to Luger again for some elbow drops which get two. Belly to back puts Booker down but Stevie breaks up the Rack. Booker hooks a chinlock and the Harlem side kick gets two. Harlem Heat double team Luger and it’s back to the chinlock. Lex suplexes his way out of it but Booker breaks it up. Giant breaks up a cover off an ax kick but there’s no cover. Harlem Hangover misses and it’s Stevie vs. Giant. Giant kicks Booker to the floor and calls for the chokeslam but tags in Luger so he can win with the Rack instead.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t bad for the most part as it was really a tag match in disguise. That being said, it didn’t mean a thing as Luger wouldn’t get his title shot until August so this was kind of a waste of time. The match itself was pretty fun though as both teams played it like a tag match instead of the fourway which was the right idea.

Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page

We get the long walk to the ring with Savage and Liz. Savage wants to make it a party. “SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYBODY!!!” This is the first main event for Page. He cuts a quick promo before the match about having to stand up for what he believes in. Savage did something to Kimberly so this is a revenge match. It’s not important enough to mention, but it’s worth revenge. Ok then. This is No DQ.

Savage stalls like he’s in Memphis (it’s close to it) but jumps Page to get us going. Page fights back and they go into the ring. He tries something like a suplex but I have no idea what it wound up being. A quick Cutter attempt is countered and Page is sent to the floor. They go into the crowd and the camera chasing after them is kind of cool. Page grabs a trashcan to blast Savage in the head. Savage is NWO in case that means anything to you.

They brawl back to the ring with some choking on the way. Savage hides behind Kimberly and Liz rakes Page’s back. There’s the ax handle to the floor and Page is sent into the floor. With Page down, Savage chases Kimberly but is stopped by an attractive chair. After a shot to the back he beats up Dave Penzer and brings in another chair. Coming back in Page manages something like a Van Daminator but with a shove instead of a spin kick.

Unfortunately for Page he can’t follow up so Savage chokes away in the corner. Page makes a quick comeback but is knocked right back don. Discus lariat out of nowhere puts Savage down but Page is spent. Savage slams him three times and goes to the floor to get the bell. Kimberly steals it from him but Savage jumps anyway, right into the feet instead of the elbow. I HATE that spot. Cutter is countered with a low blow for two.

Savage beats up the referee after the count and hits a good piledriver on him. He takes the belt off of Mark Curtis and whips him a little bit. The elbow hits but there’s no referee. Cue Nick Patrick in the sleeveless shirt of EVIL. Diamond Cutter out of NOWHERE hits and Patrick counts the pin because of the Nash stuff earlier.

Rating: B-. Good match here with Page pulling off a great upset win to pop the crowd and send them home happy. The brawling wasn’t great but they did it well enough for what the purpose here was. These two would feud over most of the summer and it brought Page up to the main event level that he would stay at for years.

Post match the whole NWO (including DiBiase) comes out as Nash has Patrick by the shirt. The fans want Sting but you know he’s not coming out on this show. Patrick gets beaten down and Page is sent to the floor. Savage goes after Kimberly but Bischoff stops a smack. There’s a shoving match and Savage drills Bischoff and the NWO FREAKS to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This was very much a filler show as nothing of note happened here at all. It’s certainly not the worst show I’ve ever seen and I wouldn’t call it bad, but I certainly wouldn’t call it good either. Either way, things would only continue to be this way for the next few months with nothing significant happening until the fall when Sting vs. Hogan really got going.

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Spring Stampede 2000
Date: April 16, 2000
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 12,556
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, Scott Hudson

 

This is a show I’ve wanted to do for a good while now. Russo and Bischoff are in charge now and have rebooted WCW. In short, all titles are vacant and will be decided tonight in a bunch of tournaments and random one off matches. The interesting thing to me is that the titles were vacated on Monday before this show. What was the card for the PPV before they did that? Let’s get to it.

 

The opening video is about Russo vs. Flair and Russo stealing Flair’s Rolex watch. Also Eric has recently turned on Hogan and made the New Blood. Oh and they brought back the stupid Hummer angle (even though it was a different color) and had Bischoff driving it.

 

For those of you that don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, in 1999 there was a BLACK (this was white) Hummer trying to run over various people. The question was who was driving it. It was heavily implied to be Sid and everyone assumed it was him. Bischoff brought it back 9 months later after everyone had forgotten about it. Amazingly enough, no one cared at all.

 

Eric yells at Kidman, Torrie and Russo.

 

Hudson runs down the participants so fast that we can’t keep up with them. I’ll try to give you the brackets as the show goes on but don’t hold me to that.

 

Tag Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Mamalukes vs. Team Package

 

Team Package, Flair and Luger, say that Flair is in street clothes because Russo has made it a street fight. Who wears golf clothes to a street fight? I think Team Package are the faces here but I have no idea for the most part. The Mamalukes have Disco Inferno with them. I have no idea if there has been another round before this one or if there were only four teams in the whole thing.

 

After taking a good while with the intros, here’s Russo to shake things up a bit. Russo says this isn’t an even playing field because you have two rookies against two established veterans so let’s even this up a bit. He adds the Harris Brothers to make it 4-2. After a beatdown to start Flair fights back and gets the Figure Four on Johnny the Bull, only to let it go for no apparent reason.

 

Vito kicks Flair’s head off and they’re legal to start. This is a one night tournament. Luger comes in because he can and the handicap aspect of the match starts to become a lot more clear. Flair wrestling in street clothes looks weird. He tries to go up top but gets slammed off by a Harris Brother. Everything breaks down again and Disco sends Luger into the post, only to get decked by Liz.

 

Two “security” guys come out and take Disco out. No idea who they are. Oh ok this is something to do with the Mamaluke angle that sucked. Hot tag to Luger and after waiting on Vito to jump on him, house is cleaned and Bull is racked after heel miscommunication, sending Team Package to the finals.

 

Rating: D+. It’s just a big brawl but it wasn’t boring. Flair and Luger having to fight off the insane odds was fine I guess but it’s not like the odds ever really came into play after the first minute or so. Flair was pretty easily able to fight off both Harris Brothers and the other Mamaluke, making this pretty weak overall.

 

Mike Awesome is the surprise 8^th entrant in the US Title tournament and fights Ernest Miller later. He’s not afraid of Cat and Bigelow comes up to complain about Awesome being in the tournament. Awesome decks him from behind.

 

We recap Jimmy Hart vs. a radio show host. Yes this is happening on a PPV.

 

Mancow vs. Jimmy Hart

 

Hart has some big guy out there with him and is wearing a Howard Stern t-shirt. I don’t recognize the guy but Hart is able to find people at will so it’s not exactly surprising. Mancow is a celebrity in Chicago so the crowd is completely one sided. The big guy is named Hail. Mancow comes out with his entourage including some hot women. Mancow runs his mouth for a bit and the “match” begins. Seriously what are you expecting here? It’s a bit under three minutes long and there’s a ref bump and a chair shot. Hail interferes and Mancow wins anyway.

 

Kidman comes out to beat up Hart for no apparent reason.

 

Russo yells at the four guys that Team Package beat.

 

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: The Wall vs. Scott Steiner

 

Steiner comes out to his old Steiner Brothers theme here for some reason. This is New Blood vs. New Blood. They’re both power brawlers and they completely live up to those stereotypes here. Steiner pounds away in the corner then Wall pounds away in the corner. Sting is the only member of the Millionaire’s Club in this particular tournament. Wall takes a low blow and Steiner hits a belly to belly to take over.

 

Now Steiner takes a low blow. Are you noticing the whole mirror image thing? Have you noticed how stupid the all No DQ rules are really freaking stupid? Oh wait there are disqualifications but they have to be REALLY big things to cause one. Remember that. We go to the floor and Wall pulls out a table. Steiner blocks a chokeslam through it and a blinded Wall chokeslams the referee through it for the lame DQ.

 

Rating: F+. It was stupid but they had to hurry through it because they have about 13 matches to get through tonight. Wall was a guy who was supposed to be all insane and crazy but when you’re up against Scott Steiner, your craziness is kind of overshadowed. This was nothing significant and was just a way to get Steiner to the final four quickly.

 

Ernest Miller isn’t worried about Awesome. There’s a James Brown reference for no apparent reason and Bigelow drops Miller.

 

US Title Tourament Quarter-Finals: Mike Awesome vs. Ernest Miller

 

This is six days after Awesome, still ECW Champion at the time, ran in on Nitro after jumping ship. Bigelow jumps Awesome and has taken Miller’s spot it seems. Well sure why not. Big dive to the floor takes Bigelow out and then dumps him into the crowd. Awesome busts out an Ahmed Johnson style dive over the railing as the brawl keeps going. Top rope clothesline back inside gets two. Bigelow wakes up and slams Awesome down and adds the headbutt for no cover. Here’s Miller who kicks Bigelow in the head and dances a bit. Awesome kills him with a powerbomb and frog splash to advance.

 

Rating: D. The brawling was decent and Awesome was incredible as usual but the whole Bigelow/Miller thing was totally pointless. Also it makes no sense as either guy not named Awesome should have been disqualified for interference but whatever. This was nothing interesting but was there to have Awesome get pushed harder, which is fine.

 

Russo tells Bischoff to calm down. Bischoff tells Kidman to take care of Hogan.

 

Bagwell and Douglas say they’ll be champions and Shane wants to beat up Flair.

 

Tag Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Harlem Heat 2000 vs. Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas

 

This is Stevie Ray/Big T (Ahmed Johnson). Shane vs. Stevie starts us off after a quick brawl. Harlem Heat beat on Buff for a bit and then we get a tag to Shane who hits a release Pittsburgh Plunge to end this in less than three minutes. I’ve never seen such a nothing match that went so long.

 

That makes the finals Team Package vs. Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas

 

Booker says he’s not New Blood because he doesn’t agree with Bischoff about anything.

 

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: Booker vs. Sting

 

Yes it’s officially Booker after he lost the rights to the letter T to Harlem Heat (don’t ask). They’re treating this like an epic battle and while it’s not quite that it is a big deal I guess. Leave it to WCW to have it in a match on this show in this position that gets about six and a half minutes. Sting gets a hip toss for the first move of the match. Sting keeps up the dominance and we head to the floor.

 

Booker goes into the metal barrier and the crew goes flying. Over to the announce table since we can’t have a match without a brawling segment because that’s what WWF and ECW does. Booker gets in a shot and back inside we go. Off to the chinlock which lasts a bit until we get a knee drop and hey, let’s go back to that chinlock. Axe kick hits for two and the announcers are stunned. Booker spins up but walks into a DDT for two. Stinger Splash hits but a second jumps into the side kick. Booker tries a suplex but gets reversed into a Death Drop to end it.

 

Rating: C+. Not a bad match but you would think this was Benoit vs. Angle at the 03 Rumble based on the reactions. It was certainly good and by far the best match of the night so far but it’s just not as good as what they’re hyping it up to be. If they had more than 7 minutes it could have been but we don’t have time for wrestling here on this wrestling show people.

 

Booker brings him back to shake his hand. Booker is New Blood according to Tony. Whatever man.

 

Torrie, Bischoff and Kidman aren’t worried about Hogan.

 

US Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: Billy Kidman vs. Vampiro

 

Vampy takes over to start with a bunch of headbutts and right hands. It’s kind of hard to get into these matches that are happening for the sake of a tournament rather than a story or a feud between the guys in it. Kidman snaps off a rana to take over and pounds away in the corner the same way. Ten punches are countered into a SWEET release powerbomb but the Nail in the Coffin is countered into a facejam by Kidman.

 

They keep exchanging control with Kidman having it as I type this. Nail in the Coffin (Michinoku Driver) is countered into another facejam and we head outside. Vampiro gets a spin kick in and works on the arm after injuring his rib. And let’s cut to the back where a Dodge Charger containing Hogan is here. Hogan comes in and with the referee watching he beats up Kidman with ease. By that I mean he does it for several minutes. The idea of disqualifications are forgotten though so this is all cool. Hulk uses the steps as a step to chokebomb Kidman onto the table. Kidman is slammed through it and Vampy gets the pin.

 

Rating: C-. Hogan killed this period. The lack of disqualifications is just stupid as why shouldn’t the entire New Blood come in and beat up every member of the Millionaire’s Club every match and ensure that they win? My guess would be that would make sense, which is why this gets really old really fast. I mean the referee is watching the whole thing and doesn’t even try to interrupt it. It takes the wrestling out for the sake of brawling, which isn’t why I watch these shows. Once in awhile is fine, but not in every single match.

 

Hogan, ever the stealth one, gets on a mic and shouts that he’s coming for Bischoff.

 

In the back Russo leaves Bischoff to freak out on his own.

 

Hogan goes Bischoff hunting and finds him in like the 7^th door. And never mind as cops with guns are here to get him off. Yeah that’s not going to go badly at all is it?

 

Oh before I forget, here are the US Title brackets:

 

Steiner

Awesome

 

Sting

Kidman

 

Terry Taylor tells Terry Funk that the Hardcore match is going to begin in catering. “Take a right at the Doritos.”

 

Hardcore Title: Terry Funk vs. Norman Smiley

 

Norman is hiding in the men’s room and is in a catcher’s uniform complete with chest protector. They’re into catering now and it’s all Funk. Funk pours a bunch of Cokes on him (still in cans) as Tony says this isn’t a match, despite Taylor calling it a match and a bell ringing. They’re in the kitchen now and they crawl through a dish return line to get there. Tony talks about the merits of industrial strength cookie sheets as he probably wonders how he still has a career.

 

They head into the hallway and Norman climbs a conveniently placed ladder. Norman gets some chair shots in and we head to the arena. Terry is taking a bunch of chair shots to the head which are scarier each time. Madden wants to know why Terry would do this to himself. The term “middle aged and CRAZY” doesn’t work for Madden I guess. It’s Wiggle Time but you don’t simulate anal sex on a Texan! Funk hits a huge chair shot and we’re back outside.

 

Terry pulls out a ladder and puts it between the bottom and middle ropes on the inside. Dustin Rhodes comes out because we MUST have more Rhodes vs. Funk because the feud only started 25 years ago so we’re all begging for a continuation right? Dustin of course fails because he’s booked like a clueless putz when he’s not Goldust so he causes some pain for Norman. Funk drops a ladder over the top onto Norman for the title.

 

Rating: C. These matches are hard to not smile at a bit. Yes they’re stupid and mindless brawls but at the same time, they’re stupid and mindless brawls. Nothing great and Dustin added absolutely nothing to it at all (which should be on his tombstone), but Funk vs. Smiley was a weird combination that made for entertaining comedy and with the Hardcore Title, what more can you ask for?

 

Russo tells Booker to watch his step and wants a favor.

 

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Mike Awesome vs. Scott Steiner

 

Steiner takes him to the mat to start which is smart as he wants to keep the power/high flying guy on the mat where he can’t use his physical advantages. Awesome is sent to the floor but he manages to get the slingshot shoulder to take over. Splash gets two. This is Mike’s second WCW match after his debut earlier. Top rope clothesline gets two but the spinning belly to belly shifts things again. With Awesome taking back over here’s Nash with a crutch (same thing Awesome did to Nash) to take Awesome out. Recliner puts Steiner in the finals.

 

Rating: D+. They only had three minutes to work with so how good could it be? This was all about Nash getting his shot in on Awesome to set up a match that I don’t think ever actually took place. Awesome’s fate was written on the wall here though as he never would become anything significant in WCW at all due to an extreme amount of talent.

 

Dustin, who is somehow New Blood, is fired for not keeping Funk from winning the title. Russo takes credit for Goldust and making him everything he ever was. I give up.

 

US Title Tournament Semi-Finals: Vampiro vs. Sting

 

Sting charges to the ring as there’s an actual feud to this one. Sting no sells some stuff and hammers away with strikes. Out to the floor and it’s all Sting. Back in a top rope splash gets two after a lot of looking at Vampy. Back to the floor for more brawling and Sting misses the move that always misses, the splash onto the railing. Vampiro gets a chair and puts Sting face first onto it before a superkick puts Sting down.

 

In a weird moment, Vampiro rolls him in and sets for something off the stop but Sting won’t lay still and clearly shakes his head no at Sting. Vampiro is like dude what are you doing and just jumps off with no real contact. I don’t get that. Suplex gets two instead. Another suplex gets two again. A top rope…something is countered into either a powerbomb or spinebuster. Death Drop sets up the Deathlock to send Sting to the finals.

 

Rating: C-. The top rope stuff was rather odd but Sting continues to look good here. He was all fired up and they had to have someone in there to give the Millionaire’s Club a finalist. Not great or anything but these two had no real chemistry in most of their matches. Sting would beat him again the next month in something close to a squash.

 

Sting vs. Steiner for the title later.

 

Page wants to beat Jarrett.

 

Cruiserweight Title: Artist vs. Chris Candido vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Shannon Moore vs. Lash Leroux vs. Crowbar

 

No Evan Karagis for 3 Count here. I think they would split soon after this. The two 3 Count guys do their thing before the match. It’s a Suicide Sixway. The other guys run out and the big fight is on. Shane is on the outside and not in the match. Candido vs. Moore at the moment and I don’t think tags are required. Ok so yes they are. Crowbar escapes a DDT and gets a northern lights suplex for two.

 

One fall to a finish here. If DQ rules have been relaxed why not allow everyone to run in all the time? Lash vs. Juvy now as this is going to be one of those insane matches. Juvy Driver gets two as Artist saves. Daffney accidentally hits a Frankenscreamer on her man crowbar and then screams her way out of trouble. We bust out the dives by everyone and everybody is down.

 

David Flair comes in and beats up Helms and Candido is crotched by Artist. Candido misses a swan dive and Artist hits an Angle Slam (called a Samoan Drop) and Tammy debuts with a chair to give Candido the title. I can’t complain about her in a see through nightgown and a nice thong shot.

 

Rating: C. This was your usual insane Cruiserweight spot fest but I could have gone for it being longer than 5 minutes. The non-high flying power brawler as champion is the usual bit for them and that’s fine. The title hadn’t meant anything in years so throwing this together is fine. Nothing great but it did its job I guess and we have a new champion now and he’s New Blood.

 

Jarrett says he’s not worried about Page.

 

Tag Titles: Team Package vs. Buff Bagwell/Shane Douglas

 

Russo comes out with the New Blood and sits in on commentary. Luger vs. Bagwell gets us going. Russo is guaranteeing victory. Buff rakes the eyes to stop the offense and it’s off to Shane. Luger casually gorilla presses him and Flair gets in a right hand and they go to the floor. Tony shouts BS about something as the New Blood beats on Flair. How a guy that was world champion seven years ago can be considered New Blood is beyond me but it’s WCW so who cares.

 

Bagwell beats down Flair and Tony wants more choking and violence. That would be cool if we hadn’t seen it in every single match so far tonight. Flair gets a chop and they hit the ropes, bumping heads to put both guys down. Luger FINALLY does something to break up the beating on Flair. There’s the hot tag to Luger who cleans house for a bit and there’s the Figure Four on Shane. Russo gets up with the bat as the Blockbuster hits Shane by mistake. Russo pulls the referee out as Kronik debuts and hits the double chokeslam on Luger to give the New Blood the titles with Russo counting the pin.

 

Rating: D+. Just another match here and Kronik added nothing for the most part. The New Blood win the first tournament and I’m sure that’s all they’ll win right, because it’s not like they’re going to put all the titles on the heel faction like the NWO because that would just be stupid when they had done that a few years ago right?

 

Steiner says he’s not worried about Sting because he has big arms.

 

Sting says Steiner is the next casualty of this war.

 

US Title: Sting vs. Scott Steiner

 

Steiner hammers away to start but Sting gets a drop….he gets a kick…we’ll call it a leg attack to take over. They go to the floor for a bit but Sting gets caught coming in off the top rope. We get into a nice rhythm here: Steiner hits Sting to knock him down then yells at the fans then hits Sting to knock him down then yells at the fans. Repeat that for about 2 minutes and you have the middle of this match.

 

Sting starts his comeback and hits the Stinger Splash. The second one results in the referee getting crushed so Sting goes for two more of them. The first one hits but the second is stopped as Vampiro pulls him under the ring through the mat and Sting is gone. He comes back and is busted open and out cold. Steiner puts on the Recliner and wins the title by TKO.

 

Rating: D-. Well this was worthless. Sting was more or less waiting around for the Vampy thing which wasn’t needed as he beat Vampiro cleanly earlier on in the night. Steiner gets the title after beating three guys despite being a terror in the back at this point. Steiner would hold the title for a few months until getting suspended for using a banned hold. Not bad for about 12 minutes combined in three matches.

 

We recap Jarrett vs. DDP which was set up Monday. Jarrett got his spot in this automatically while Page had to beat Luger and then the winner of Sting vs. Sid. Sid was champion but was stripped of the title instead. DDP beat Sting after New Blood interference in all three matches.

 

WCW World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Diamond Dallas Page

 

Kimberly is with Page here. Page hammers away to start us off and a discus clothesline puts Jarrett down. Spinning DDT gets two and a pescado follows. We’re on the floor again and Kimberly slaps Jeff. They go into the crowd and there’s a crutch used on Jarrett’s back. We can’t see anything here for the most part due to a combination of bad camera work and the fans being in the way.

 

Jarrett tries to cheat but gets caught in a sunset flip for two. Almost all DDP here so far and as I say that he gets crotched. There’s a superplex and Jeff goes to grab a chair. Jeff works over the back without using the chair because he’d rather wrestle. I can’t believe I’m saying this but God bless you Jeff Jarrett. Page starts firing back with right hands and a sitout powerbomb gets two.

 

Bischoff is standing in the aisle. They head to the floor where Jarrett uses various instruments on him. He rips up a copy of Page’s book and posts Page’s balls on the post. Page starts a comeback and rams Jeff’s balls into the post for some nice comeuppance. Jeff blocks the Diamond Cutter and down goes the referee. A belt shot puts Page down and the referee makes a two count.

 

Figure Four goes on to Page and Kimberly grabs the guitar. If you don’t know what she’s going to do with it, you’re a freaking moron. Page is still in the hold as we wait for the SHOCKING, yes SHOCKING I SAY heel turn by Page’s chick. He finally reverses it into a small package for two. Jarrett jumps into a spinning Rock Bottom for two. Jeff throws on a sleeper which is reversed, drawing Eric and Kim up to the apron. Diamond Cutter hits and there’s the turn and Jarrett wins the title.

 

Rating: C. It’s probably the best match of the night and that’s because it had some time to develop. If my memory and math are right this was the only match that went over ten minutes all night. I can understand having a problem with that when you have 13 matches, but there’s a simple solution to that: DON’T HAVE THIRTEEN MATCHES. Not a great match or even a good one but after three hours I’ll take it.

 

The New Blood celebrates together to end the show.

 

Overall Rating: D. If you’re a fan of tournaments, RUN out and find a copy of this show because it’s all your fantasies come true. Otherwise, it’s three hours of sloppy brawling in place of wrestling and a total of maybe two watchable matches out of 13. This was a nothing show and shows the problems of rebooting the freaking company six days before a PPV. Not a fan of this at all as the company was on the verge of its final downward spiral due to Russo booking the company so far into the ground it couldn’t see the light of day. Bad show due to the booking being WAY too overdone.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Monday Nitro #81
Date: March 31, 1997
Location: Roanoke Civic Center, Roanoke, Virginia
Attendance: 8,709
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko, Mike Tenay, Bobby Heenan

Man I haven’t done one of these in forever. We’re getting close to Spring Stampede, so close in fact that it’s this Sunday. The main feud at the moment is Page vs. Savage because Hogan didn’t want to defend the world title on PPV for about four months. Tonight will likely just be a lot of build up towards that show, which is going to be very hit or miss. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of last week with Savage vs. Iaukea. I’m still not sure why they didn’t just let Savage have the belt so he and Page could fight over it.

The NWO has arrived sans Hogan, Bischoff and Hall.

Lex Luger/Giant vs. Rick Fuller/Roadblock

The graphic says Luger/Giant are tag champions but that hasn’t been the case for weeks. Giant and Fuller start things off. Fuller is a big guy who looks like a taller Rhyno. Roadblock is even bigger but to the point of being fat. Giant throws Fuller into the corner and clotheslines him before bringing in Lex. Luger works on the arm but gets poked in the eye to bring in Roadblock.

A splash in the corner has Luger in trouble as the fat man is rolling quickly. Lex ducks another clothesline though and there’s the forearm to the head which may or may not have steel in it. Luger doesn’t tag Giant when he has the chance and Roadblock knees him in the ribs. A legdrop gets two for Roadie and it’s back to Fuller. That goes nowhere so here’s Roadblock again. A splash misses and here’s Giant. He kicks both guys down and does it again with a double clothesline. Giant chokeslams Roadblock as Luger Racks Fuller to end it.

Rating: C. What the heck was this? You have Roadblock and Rick Fuller in there and you get a somewhat entertaining match? This was two guys who were big and fat (somewhat so in Fuller’s case) moving very well and showing off a bit. The match was a total surprise and took what should have been a squash and made it entertaining. Fun stuff here all things considered.

Harlem Heat, as in the guys in the fourway with Luger and Giant on Sunday, come in and we have a brawl.

After a break, Harlem Heat says they want respect. Somehow this takes almost two minutes.

Women’s Cruiserweight Title Tournament First Round: Meiko Satomura vs. Toshie Uematsu

Yeah this title existed. The title would be decided on the Sunday show soon after this and then would never be mentioned on American TV more than maybe twice afterwards. It would be retired later this year, probably due to the fact that putting women in weight classes is a bad idea. I think Meiko is in red here. If so she takes over to start with a dropkick and hits a forearm in the corner.

Toshie comes back with a slam and a Daniel Bryan moonsault out of the corner. That gets horribly botched so she does it again a bit better. Meiko goes up but gets armdragged down and a top rope splash gets the win for Toshie. She would win the title and take it to Japan where it was completely forgotten.

Psychosis vs. Villano IV

Time for the random Cruiserweight match of the week. They trade wristlocks to start and Psychosis is put on the mat. He tries to spin out of it but Villano grabs a headlock to counter. I love basic stuff like that. Tenay shows off his knowledge of wrestling, explaining where the name Villano comes from (it means Villain and comes from Villano I being the villain in an El Santo movie). Psychosis headscissors him down and hits a spinwheel kick to a crotched Villano.

A big corkscrew plancha to the floor takes Villano down again. Back inside and Psychosis tries a jumping DDT off the top but gets caught in something like a side slam for two. We cut to the back where the NWO is talking. They say they’re going to take care of business. Wallstreet walks out on them and now it’s back to our match. Villano misses a moonsault and a superkick sets up the guillotine legdrop for the pin. We didn’t see enough to rate but what we saw was solid.

Here’s Flair for a chat. He talks about being in Roanoke and brings out Piper. Piper says Flair’s ears are growing like Pinnochio. He makes sex jokes about Flair and Flair thanks Piper for humbling himself enough to come here. Flair says they’re friends but Piper can never claim to be the best wrestler alive. There are 100 people today that call themselves the best but none of them call Piper out. Flair talks about getting the Nasty Boys out of here in 93 (huh?) and talks about Piper putting Hogan to sleep twice. Piper says Flair hasn’t been beaten ever and they agree to take on everyone together. I have no idea what I just saw.

TV Title: Prince Iaukea vs. La Parka

La Parka kicks him down to start and hits a moonsault for two. Prince avoids a charge and La Parka’s shoulder hits the post. They head outside and the champ (Iaukea) is sent into the barricade. La Parka puts the Prince in a chair on the floor and dives through the ropes to take him out. Prince doesn’t seem that interested in selling so they head back inside. We get an awkward sequence of running the ropes and Iaukea superkicks him down.

The champ misses a cross body off the top though and it’s back to the outside. La Parka baseball slides the chair into Prince’s head which draws a bell, but the match keeps going with Parka hitting a big dive to the floor. Back inside and the fans are booing this out of the building. La Parka gets the chair and Prince dives into it off a cross body. He doesn’t sell it AT ALL, covers La Parka, and retains.

Rating: D-. I have no idea what I just saw in back to back segments. This was very awkward and from what I can tell, that’s mainly due to Iaukea. He wouldn’t sell most of La Parka’s stuff and on top of that the referee looked confused during the ending. These two were on different planets out there but La Parka’s high spots looked good.

Steven Regal vs. Chris Jericho

Regal says Iaukea will be eating through a straw after Sunday. The brilliant fans chant USA for an Englishman and a Canadian. They go to a wristlock and Regal does his usual awesome sequence of rolling on his back and kicking Jericho’s hand away to break it. Jericho knocks him to the apron and hits the springboard dropkick to put him on the floor. Back in and the move that would become known as the Lionsault gets two. Regal tries a cobra clutch but Jericho ducks and superkicks him, followed by a rollup for a BIG upset.

Regal beats the tar out of him and hits a top rope butterfly suplex post match. Jericho gets put in the Regal Stretch and Renegade makes the save. Scratch that as he charges but pulls back without being touched. Joe Gomez comes in and breaks it up but gets beaten up by Regal. Billy Kidman comes in to help but gets headbutted. Lenny Lane gets beaten up as well.

Hour #2 begins and we get the traditional recap.

Mr. Wallstreet leaves.

Women’s Title: Debbie Combs vs. Akira Hokuto

Hokuto is defending and Combs is some old chick with big blonde hair. She turns her back on Hokuto who kicks her in the back to take over. Hokuto chokes her in the ropes and Sonny gets in a shot of his own to Debbie. Combs hits what is supposed to be called a gutwrench suplex for two and a cross body gets the same. Hokuto doesn’t care and grabs a German suplex (called a tiger suplex by Tony) and “he” (Tony again) beats her to retain. This was short.

Madusa says Roanoke rocks and says she’ll win the title on Sunday. Hokuto beats her down because no one wants to hear from Madusa.

The announcers talk about Sting a lot and we get a video on him.

We recap the Horsemen arguing last week.

Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael vs. Amazing French Canadians

After Bobby makes fun of the Virginia state song, we’re starting with Oullette vs. Mongo. Things break down quickly and Mongo cleans house, including dropkicking Rougeau to the floor. Rougeau vs. Jarrett now and double teaming takes Jarrett down. Jeff shrugs that off and dropkicks Oullette, followed by a tag to Mongo. I think it was supposed to be the hot tag but when the match is a minute long so far I don’t think you can have a hot tag. Public Enemy runs out and jumps the Horsemen, but Colonel Parker steals Mongo’s briefcase from Grunge who stole it last week. Rougeau gets the case and hits Mongo with it for the fast pin.

Debra complains about breaking some nails. Oh and the Public Enemy have bad breath and lice. My goodness what did they do the Horsemen? Mongo accuses Jarrett of hitting him with the case. If only there was some way to see the match again and find out what really happened.

Hugh Morrus vs. Chris Benoit

Woman is looking very good here. Morrus jumps him to start but Benoit comes back with chops. A powerslam puts Benoit down but he gets up before Morrus can try No Laughing Matter. Benoit pulls him off the ropes and hits a quick German for a pin. This didn’t even last 90 seconds.

Sullivan and Jacqueline come in and it’s a big brawl. Jackie hits a top rope splash on Benoit but Woman crotches her. Flair finally comes in for the save and gets by far and away the biggest ovation of the night. Arn Anderson gets in Sullivan’s way and they have an awkward staredown before Sullivan leaves. Benoit says that Sullivan is leaving soon and Benoit is the new generation.

We get another quick recap of Page getting beaten down last week.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Lance Ringo

Ringo is more famous as the almost equally forgettable Sick Boy. He brings the Playboy or Penthouse with Kimberly in it with him, making him more awesome than any other jobber in a long time. Page beats him up to start but gets clotheslined on the top rope. Ringo hits a springboard dropkick to put Page down, but DDP gets up and hits what we would call a TKO but here it’s a Diamond Cutter for the pin. Squash.

Post match Page talks about his wife being in Playboy and how proud he is of it. He’s not proud of what Liz and Savage did to Kimberly at Uncensored though, and he’s going to snap into Macho Man’s world. Cue Savage and Liz with Randy asking if Page has any family jewels to go with his diamonds. How did no one else ever make that joke? Page: “I’ll make sure to bring the lady, because you’re bringing the tramp (meaning Liz).” There was great chemistry here and I want to see them fight now.

High Voltage vs. Steiner Brothers

Kaos and Scott start and Scott throws him around with ease. Off to Rick and the barking begins. Rage sends him to the floor and rams the injured ear into the post. Kaos hits a slingshot legdrop to the back of Rick’s head followed by a neckbreaker for two. Rage misses a good looking springboard Swanton and it’s off to Scott. After some power displays, the FREAKING STEINER SCREWDRIVER ends Rage. If you’ve never seen that move before, look it up. It’s one of the most painful looking moves of all time.

Rating: A+. It had the Steiner Screwdriver in it, thereby making it awesome. This was barely long enough to rate and it was a squash for the most part so that’s all I’ve got.

Syxx and Nash come to the announce table and say the rest of the NWO A-Team has bailed to see the premier of Dennis Rodman’s new movie. Nash sounds really mad here and that ends the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This wasn’t much at all. While it did a decent enough job of setting up Spring Stampede, the stuff they were offering on that show isn’t interesting enough for me to care. As annoying as Hogan can get, when he’s not around this show gets very dull very fast. This show wasn’t bad but this is a really boring few months for Nitro and it’s only going to get worse.

Here’s Spring Stampede if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2012/05/02/spring-stampede-1997-the-nwo-civil-war-begins/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Spring Stampede 1998
Date: April 19, 1998
Location: Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 7,428
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay

So we jump ahead a little bit from Road Wild 1997 and into the era where Raw has finally taken the lead. They’ve won two weeks in a row, so obviously in WCW’s mind, it means it’s time to shake things up. Sting is champion here and is defending against Savage in the main event. Hogan is in a tag match with a bat on a pole. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about the problems that the NWO has been having lately. This would result in the split of the NWO and the birth of NWO Wolfpack.

We open with breaking news: Savage’s arm is ok and won’t be in a cast. Oh and the main event is No DQ. So the NWO is in disarray and cheating is legal? I wonder where that might go.

Goldberg vs. Saturn

Goldberg is 73-0 at this point and has a US Title match the next night. It’s weird seeing Saturn with hair. Goldberg throws him around to start with some I think suplexes and beats up Kidman too. Back in Saturn kicks him in the back and trips him to the mat. A middle rope elbow gets two. A series of kicks in the corner looks to set up a suplex but Goldberg counters into one of his own.

Goldie takes over again and hits the gorilla press into the powerslam to crush Saturn. Saturn tries to get him to follow onto the floor and clotheslines him on the top rope. Superkick won’t put Goldberg down. Out to the floor they go and Saturn hits a rana on Goldberg. This is probably the most damage he’s ever taken up to this point. See, that’s how you build up monsters: slowly bring them along and then get to whatever match you want. WWE doesn’t quite get that today. Armbar is easily countered with raw power and a superkick puts Saturn down.

It’s clear Goldberg is almost spent at this point and we’re maybe six minutes in. Spear looks to set up the Jackhammer but Saturn hits him low. Sometimes it’s the easiest things that are the solutions. Saturn tries a superplex but Goldberg gorilla presses him off the middle rope. After destroying the Flock, Saturn hooks the Rings of Saturn. Like that’s going to work. He gets to his feet, throws Saturn into a fireman’s carry and then up onto his shoulders for what’s called a Jackhammer but is more like a powerslam. Either way it makes him 74-0.

Rating: D+. Not bad here and it went on too long for a Goldberg match. He would do the Flock match MUCH better the next night and it became much more entertaining. This was more or less the last match he would have that didn’t have a title on the line until the end of the year other than a stupid battle royal. This would have been better had he not been blown up halfway through.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon

This should be good. Eddie is with Chavo and gets the majority of the heat from the crowd. Chavo wraps him up on the mat to start and sends Dragon into the corner, resulting in the handstand. Dragon takes over and throws on a stump puller which is countered into the bridging Indian Deathlock. That gets boring so Chavo comes back with a bunch of dropkicks and a chinlock. So much for the exciting part.

Elbow drop gets two and it’s back to the chinlock by Chavo. Oh wait now it’s a headscissors. Dragon reverses into a camel clutch and then a surfboard. At least they’re not staying in one hold for a long time. Chavo catches the handspring elbow and they fight over a German Suplex. That results in an O’Connor Roll and La Majistral by Dragon but Chavo comes back and rolls him up for two. Cool sequence.

More rollups both get two counts and Chavo goes up. Dragon crotches him with a kick and looks for the super rana but Chavo elbows his way out of it. Dragon suplexes him to the floor from the apron and hits the Asai Moonsault. Eddie yells at Chavo and threatens him if he loses. I think Eddie is like a coach or something here. Chavo goes back in and hits a huge flip dive (called a suicide dive) and might have hurt Dragon’s shoulder in the process. Back in the ring and a double clothesline puts both guys down.

Chavo hits what might have been a low blow by mistake off a leapfrog but Chavo won’t go for the kill like that. Eddie FREAKS on him, slapping Chavo in the face. Chavo loads up a brainbuster but Dragon escapes with a rollup. A second attempt works but the tornado DDT is countered into the Dragon Sleeper for the tap out.

Rating: B-. This started slow but it got going pretty well. Dragon was a guy that got pushed better than most did and it was cool to see someone outside of the main stars get pushed like he did. Eddie and Chavo would feud for a little while longer, resulting in Chavo going insane. Good match here and it probably would have been a better choice for an opener.

Eddie rips into Chavo post match.

TV Title: Booker T vs. Chris Benoit

Benoit is challenging and there is no time limit due to some draws they’ve had. Feeling out process to start until Benoit gets sent to the floor. I think they’re both faces here. Back in and Benoit goes for the knee as is his custom. Booker kicks him back to the floor before it can do enough damage though. That’s a good enough counter I guess. Booker clotheslines him to the mat and hooks an armbar.

Benoit is like screw that and comes up swinging, pounding Booker into the corner and adding some stomps for good effect. Back to another armbar by Booker but it’s the same result, as Benoit comes back with a chop. A belly to back suplex gets two. Benoit dropkicks him down and hits the Swan Dive for a very delayed two. Snap suplex by the Canadian is countered into one by Booker but he can’t follow up.

Back elbow gets two for Benoit. The real snap suplex gets two. Something I forgot I that this is in Denver, so the altitude is going to become an issue with the breathing. Benoit hits rolling Germans followed by a wicked belly to back superplex which gets a very close two. The champ hits a sidewalk slam out of nowhere but he can’t follow up. Forearm puts Benoit down and a flapjack sets up the Spinarooni. Ax kick hits the referee by mistake and there’s the Crossface, but there’s no referee for the tap out. Benoit goes to get the referee and gets caught by the side kick for the pin and Booker retains.

Rating: C+. Pretty good match here with Benoit doing a lot of high impact stuff as you would expect. Again here the booking is for TV instead of PPV, as Benoit would get the title less than two weeks later on Thunder. These two would go on to have a best of seven series which was totally awesome. There was always good chemistry between them.

Replay shows that Benoit pulled the referee into the ax kick.

Curt Hennig vs. British Bulldog

Rude and Jim Neidhart are the seconds here and will be handcuffed together. A cop does the handcuffing. I would say note that for later, but since it’s Curt Hennig vs. British Bulldog, it’s really not worth doing. They stall FOREVER before the cuffs finally go on. Why these two are fighting isn’t worth explaining apparently.

Bulldog jumps Hennig as we look at the handcuffs being fastened. Smith works on the big leg brace and they head to the floor. Rude goes after Bulldog but Neidhart won’t allow it. Hennig gets a shot to the head back inside as this is going nowhere. Smith works on the leg some more and Neidhart still won’t let Rude in. Despite the big knee brace on his knee, Curt tries to knee Smith in the face. Now it’s Sharpshooter time but the cop goes after Neidhart. He slips Rude the keys and Neidhart is cuffed to the post. Rude breaks up the powerslam and Hennig posts Smith for the pin.

Rating: F. Read the description and I think you’ll get why this is an F. There was nothing to this at all and the ending was stupid. I have no idea why they were fighting or why Neidhart was there, but from what I can tell it was a Hart Family thing, even though Bret was legally prohibited from associating with Neidhart and Bulldog (seriously).

The cop was Vincent and it’s a three on one beatdown on Bulldog.

Cruiserweight Title: Prince Iaukea vs. Chris Jericho

Prince is challenging and he doesn’t even have music. I don’t think Jericho does either. Maybe it’s my audio but for some reason neither guy had music. Jericho dedicates this to Malenko who is injured. The Man of 1004 Holds is mentioned. He has music after his promo so I guess it was a tech issue. Prince takes him to the mat with a headlock which Jericho escapes, but he poses too much and Prince takes him down again.

Chris gets knocked to the floor and back in it’s time for headlock #3. Jericho hooks a drop toehold to put him into 619 position and adds a suplex for two. Off to a chinlock as this is a pretty boring match so far. Jericho goes up and jumps into the feet of the Prince and Iaukea starts what I guess you would call a comeback with a Samoan Drop. Springboard splash gets two.

Victory Roll is countered into the Walls but Prince is right in front of the ropes. Jericho tries a middle rope sunset flip but Iaukea falls on him for two. They go up top and crash down onto the floor in a scary fall. Both guys crawl back in and slug it out a bit and Prince counters another Liontamer attempt into a rollup for two. Northern lights suplex gets two for Iaukea. Iaukea tries a top rope sunset flip but Jericho counters into the Liontamer to retain.

Rating: C. It got better but dang it was boring when it started. Iaukea was a guy for the life of me I don’t get why they kept pushing. The match wasn’t bad but Jericho was carrying it. Not from a wrestling perspective because Iaukea was ok, but why would I care about him? All there is to him is that he’s from the islands. That’s not a reason for me to care and I don’t.

Here are Bagwell and Steiner for the next tag match but Bagwell has a cast on his hand. The announcers don’t buy that it’s real, so I’m going with Bagwell having every bone broken into 99 places. They say they’re ready but the match has to be canceled. Dillon and Gene come out and Dillon says that Bagwell is right: Buff does need a doctor’s release. SO THEY BRING A DOCTOR OUT TO EXAMINE HIM HERE. YOU KNOW, ON A PAY PER VIEW! Dillon says something about Bagwell so Buff grabs him with the bad hand to prove it’s ok. Match on.

Buff Bagwell/Scott Steiner vs. Rick Steiner/Lex Luger

Rick charges down the aisle to get at Scott but Bagwell jumps him. Rick powerslams him down but Scott comes in for the save from behind. Scott comes in legally because Rick is down already. Buff and Scott trade off another two times so it’s Buff vs. Rick at the moment. Off to a chinlock by Bagwell and then one by Steiner. Rick fights up and clotheslines Bagwell and makes the hot tag. Scott breaks up the Rack but Rick runs him off. Rack gets the submission.

Rating: D. Another bad match here. The whole point of this was to tease the Steiners clashing some more and it didn’t happen…..again. I think it would finally happen at some point but of course WCW waited until it didn’t mean anything anymore. Nothing match and it was all about building to something later on.

Gene says call the Hotline.

La Parka vs. Psychosis

This is a bonus match. Feeling out process to start which is stupid for a reason I’ll get into in a minute. Psychosis climbs the ropes and jumps backwards into a rana to send La Parka to the floor. A dive on the outside takes La Parka down but he gets in a kick back inside. A headscissors sends Psychosis to the floor and a dive puts him down on said floor. Psychosis throws him face first into the buckle and crotches him on the top. After a nearly horrible botch, Psychosis hits a rana to send La Parka down for two.

Out to the floor again and Psychosis hits a big flip dive from the top. Top rope splash misses and Parka gets a quick cover for two and then he breaks the count himself. La Parka puts him down again and pulls him up again. He misses a charge and gets caught by the guillotine legdrop for the pin by Psychosis.

Rating: D+. This is what I was going to get into earlier. There’s no reason for us to care about this match, so all they can do is big spots and dives. They did some, but none of them were anything we haven’t seen a million times before by more exciting people. That’s the problem with bonus matches: there’s no story, which is what wrestling is based on. If there’s no story to a wrestling show, a match has to be AWESOME to overcome that lack of a story. This wasn’t and the match didn’t work as a result.

The announcers talk about Sting/Nash/Savage and use a dog metaphor which makes no sense.

Hulk Hogan/Kevin Nash vs. The Giant/Roddy Piper

Bat on a pole match. Nash and Hogan are having issues so they have separate entrances. Piper goes for the bat while Hogan and Nash are talking but Hogan makes the save. Roddy gets caught in the Tree of Woe so Hogan stomps away. I guess they’re starting because Hogan tags out to Nash almost immediately. Nash isn’t in there long so it’s back to Hogan, who rakes the back and wakes Piper up.

Giant and Piper both headbutt Hogan but it knocks Piper down. I guess he needed a nap? Hogan beats him with the weightlifting belt and goes up, but Giant makes the save….and spanks him. Nash finally makes the save as I don’t like where this match is going. It’s time for the battle of the giants and the namesake shoves Nash around but misses a charges into the corner.

Nash fires off some knees in the corner and does the boot choke. Both guys try big boots at the same time and both go down ala Kane/Undertaker (I think this one happened first actually). Double tag brings in Piper and Hogan and the Canadiscotsman pounds away on the head and in the corner, and on the head in the corner. Everything breaks down and Giant dropkicks Nash to the floor.

Piper puts Hogan in the sleeper then climbs the post with Giant shoving him up higher. Piper pulls it down but Hogan takes it away. Here’s Disciple with a new bat (are you really wondering why?) which Hogan hits Giant with. Piper avoids a shot that goes into Nash and takes the bat from Hogan again. Disciple takes it from Piper and throws Hogan the other bat which goes upside Piper’s back and it’s over.

Rating: D. The match was boring, and what was up with switching the bat? The problem here was that the match was boring until the very end, which wasn’t particularly good either. This was all about Hogan vs. Nash and Piper/Giant were just kind of there for the ride. The spanking spot was pretty stupid too. This led to the Wolfpack being formed soon.

Post match Hogan tells Nash to powerbomb Giant but as he sets for it, Hogan hits Nash with the bat.

US Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven

Page is defending, it’s Raven’s Rules, and the winner gets Goldberg tomorrow. Sick Boy runs in before the bell and grabs Page but DDP ducks a belt shot to put the diseased one down. A belly to back suplex and a forearm put Raven onto the floor. Page dives onto Raven and Sick Boy and they head back in. Raven tries the DDT but Page drives him into the corner to escape.

The Cutter is escaped as well and we head up the aisle. They walk up to the always cool set and Raven gets thrown off a stagecoach into a pile of hay. Raven gets thrown into a fence, some wagon wheels, and then through the website. He comes back and splashes Page onto a table. Gee that’s kind of boring by comparison. There’s a garbage can to the back and Page gets tied by a rope around the neck and brought back to the ring.

Sick Boy has a kitchen sink for some reason (Tony: “If you’re in the Flock you have to.”) which Raven hits Page with before adding some choking. Page escapes and drop toeholds Raven into it, using what Tony calls the Draino. Kidman comes in and misses a splash, hitting Raven with it. Page knocks Kidman to the floor but gets caught in the back which gets two for Bird Boy. Small package gets two for Page.

Here’s Van Hammer for another run-in. Scratch that as his name is now just Hammer. I wouldn’t want to get my giant jobbers names’ wrong. Either way he kicks Sick Boy by mistake and is sent to the floor, but Raven hits Page low. Here’s Reese (7’2) with a chokebomb on Page, getting two for Raven. Lodi throws in a stop sign but Page clocks Raven and Hammer with it. Sick Boy takes a shot with it too and Kidman gets a Diamond Cutter. Horace Hogan debuts as the newest member of the Flock and blasts Page with it, allowing Raven to DDT Page onto the sink for the title.

Rating: C. The match was fun but it could have done with about three less Flock members. I’d have liked to see this be one on one because Raven could work well enough out there, especially in a brawl, to make something like this work. Raven would of course lose the title the next night to Goldberg. Also, Heenan says this was 20-30 minutes long. It’s more like 12, but knowing Heenan he’s bombed.

WCW World Title: Sting vs. Randy Savage

Savage is challenging and it’s No DQ. Savage is very banged up with a bunch of injuries. He jumps Sting before the bell and we’re ready to go. Savage fires right hands but that’s one of his injuries so he has to stop after every punch. Sting rams it into the railing so they walk up the aisle and Savage is thrown through a wagon wheel. He goes into a fence and Sting hits him with a bale of hay.

Back towards (not into) the ring but Sting AGAIN misses his splash onto the barricade. Has that ever hit? Even once? Back into the ring and Sting reverses a piledriver. They go to the floor again and Sting hits a suplex followed by a kick to the ribs. Back inside and Savage hits a low blow and clotheslines Sting on the rope for two. Liz slides in a chair to put Sting onto, but here’s Hogan to break up the elbow. Liz got knocked down somewhere in there and gets attended to. Sting gets up and hits the Death Drop but there’s no referee. Cue Nash to powerbomb Sting and give Savage the title.

Rating: D. Another bad match to end a show of them. This was a mess but not a big one as it only got ten minutes in total. That’s something I’ll address in a bit too as it makes little sense. The problems here were Hogan and Nash. This became all about them as Nash had no reason to screw Sting over other than to make Hogan mad. That’s not good at all.

Overall Rating: D. It was bad, but there are some far worse shows. The main event wound up meaning nothing as Hogan got the title back the very next night. You know, because CLEARLY the solution to their ratings problems was a lack of Hogan. That’s only partially sarcastic because their ratings run had come with him on top. Now when they put the title back on him and it didn’t help…..well they took it off him and put it on Goldberg about two and a half months later so I actually can’t complain too much here. Anyway the show was bad but not totally bad, with some decent matches in there to help save it.

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Spring Stampede 1997
Date: April 6, 1997
Location: Tupelo Coliseum, Tupelo, Mississippi
Attendance: 8,356
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, Dusty Rhodes

I had planned on continuing with the 1998 shows but it occurred to me that I was going to run out of PPVs in my series of Nitro reviews. This is only a few months after where I am in that series though so I won’t be too far removed at least. This is a B show with no Hogan, Piper, or anyone else for the most part and a main event of Savage vs. Page in a grudge match. Savage joined the NWO at SuperBrawl and was put with Page to bring DDP up to the main event. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Page vs. Savage of course. On and the Steiners vs. Outsiders for the millionth time. The third match talked about is the Women’s Title match. See what we’re up against here?

This is where Uncensored 96 happened. It HAS TO be better than that right?

Nash has said that he’ll fight all of WCW if he has to. Scott Hall is missing and has been for THREE WEEKS, but they’ve announced him up to this point just because. Therefore it’ll be a handicap match for the titles with Nash vs. Steiners.

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Ultimo Dragon

No Sonny with Dragon here. Dragon takes him to the mat to start and then Rey takes Dragon down to the mat as well. There’s a camel clutch but Dragon quickly escapes. We get to a standoff so Dragon hits the rapidfire kicks to take Rey down. Flair has a big announcement later tonight. Dragon hooks an armbar and they’re still on the mat. Back up and he hits a kind of spinning crucifix into a modified version of what we call Shock Treatment.

Powerbomb is followed by a hot shot and then a sleeper by Dragon. Not a Dragon Sleeper but a sleeper by Dragon that is. A BIG Liger Bomb puts Rey down but Dragon won’t cover. There haven’t been any pin attempts between falls and it’s kind of hurting the match. Tombstone gets two and it’s back to the sleeper. Rey comes back with a spinwheel kick but Dragon kicks him down because Rey can’t follow up.

Gordbuster sets up an Indian Deathlock. Rey gets out and manages to kick Dragon off to the floor to get a breather. Sleeper #3 goes on by Dragon but Rey counters into one of his own to a BIG pop. Dragon gets thrown to the floor again and Rey hits a dive up and over the top. And let’s cut to Lee Marshall to get a statement from Kevin Nash. Instead it’s Syxx and we can’t hear him so there was NO POINT to this.

Back to see Rey dropping the dime for a delayed two. Rey loads up a moonsault press but Dragon dropkicks him off the top and Mysterio crashes down onto the floor. Dragon dives over the top but hurts himself at the same time. Back in Rey tries a Lionsault press but Dragon dropkicks him out of the air in a cool counter. Giant swing by Dragon puts both guys down. They trade fast pinfall attempts for two each and an enziguri puts Rey down. Super rana gets two for Dragon. Tiger and dragon suplexes by Dragon are both countered by Rey and a standing rana gets the pin for Mysterio.

Rating: C+. It was an entertaining match but for the most part it was a mess. They kept seeing to be missing the chemistry out there and that’s a bad thing most of the time. Also the mat work is the wrong idea here. Not a bad match at all but this was one of those matches you expected more from. Dragon would win the TV Title the next night.

Marshall tries to get to talk to Nash again but gets Syxx again. The Steiners try to jump through the door but security stops them. Scott gets maced and handcuffed. Ok then.

Women’s Title: Akira Hokuto vs. Madusa

This was a weird title as it only existed for a few years. It was won in December of 96 and defended a handful of times ever. It was vacated in the summer, won in Japan in September and never mentioned on WCW TV more than twice again. Later on they actually introduced a Women’s Cruiserweight Championship. Hokuto is champion coming in. For some reason that I’ll never fathom, Lee Marshall, the guy WCW fired for being horrible at commentary, is talking about this match.

They start off fast with Madusa hammering her down in the corner but walking into a clothesline. Akira chokes her in the corner and covers for two as Madusa bridges out. She hits some hair slams for two and Hokuto goes to the corner. Madusa hits a Stratusphere to take her down but Hokuto is right back on the leg. Madusa fights off Onoo and hits a pair of dropkicks. The American hits a German on the Japanese woman but Sonny distracts again. Luna Vachon comes in and takes out Madusa’s knee so that Akira can retain.

Rating: F+. Madusa looked like Kaitlyn a little bit so I can’t call it a full on failure, but dang this was boring. At the end of the day you can’t bring out a title once every four months and expect us to care about it. Nothing to see in the match either with both chicks doing basic stuff for five minutes.

TV Title: Prince Iaukea vs. Steven Regal

So on February 13, 1997, the WWF’s young Samoan Rocky Maivia beat the blue blood Hunter Hearst Helmsley for the Intercontinental Title. On February 17, 1997, WCW’s young Samoan Prince Iaukea beat the blue blood Lord Steven Regal for the TV Title. Now I’m sure this was a TOTAL coincidence right? Iaukea had nothing to offer in the ring and lost the title the next night.

Regal stalls for awhile so we’re told that Scott Steiner has been arrested. The Prince takes him to the mat with a headlock as Tony tries to explain that Iaukea is one of the lines of defense against the NWO. Dennis Rodman is part of the NWO and since we hate him, let’s plug his movie and air clips of it tomorrow night on Nitro! Regal comes back with a knee lift but it’s right back to the headlock by the Prince.

Cross body gets two for the champ. Regal complains about a punch so Heenan says that Iaukea doesn’t know that he’s the champion right now. Prince takes him down with a test of strength so Regal hooks a headscissors and nips up into an eye poke. It’s now a singles match for the tag titles with Rick vs. Nash. Regal hooks a full nelson and then pounds him down in the corner.

The Prince Hawaiians Up and then does nothing at all with it. Regal easily takes him into the corner and hits a pair of knees to the face. A cross body by Prince misses and Regal takes control again. He whips the Prince into the corner and tries a rollup but Iaukea sits on him and gets the pin to retain.

Rating: D. Iaukea was just so boring it’s unreal. He never had anything special about him and it never caught on with the fans at all. Regal is great but he can’t work miracles here, and despite Iaukea holding the belt for almost two months, he never got any better for the most part. Nothing to see here.

Regal beats up the Prince post match and puts him in the Regal Stretch.

Here’s Flair for some big announcement. Gene thinks that it’s Flair returning to the ring. Flair says that the Horsemen will win tonight and that he’s back on May 1. He says Anderson will be back but it never happened. As for Flair and Piper…..Kevin Greene is coming to WCW. Seriously, that’s practically a direct quote. Flair wants the NWO in Charlotte and he doesn’t care who it is because the Horsemen are going to run them out of here. WHY DID IT TAKE THEM 10 MONTHS TO FREAKING DO THAT???

Jeff Jarrett/Steve McMichael vs. Public Enemy

Can Jarrett carry three people? I certainly hope so or this is going to be awful. Mongo vs. Rocco to start us off and it’s time to stall. Rocco finds Mongo’s lack of talent disturbing so he chats with known ring general Johnny Grunge. Mongo tackles both enemies and it’s a double Horsemen strut. Off to Jarrett (thank goodness) vs. Grunge and Double J hooks an abdominal stretch.

Johnny gets out of it and tries a leapfrog but gets caught by an uppercut from Grunge. Jeff gets knocked to the floor and teases walking out but comes back and counts with the referee. Back to the starters and it’s a Mongo chinlock on Rock. McMichael works on the back with a backbreaker and a tilt-a-whirl for two. Everything breaks down and they go split screen.

Rock is thrown into the side of a covered wagon. I’ll give WCW this: their PPV sets tended to be really cool and definitely not generic like most WWE ones today. Grunge tries to put Debra on the table but Jeff saves with a chair. As Rock is thrown into a steer, Grunge dives through a table. Back to the ring and it’s completely broken down. Debra trips Rocco and it’s briefcase time. Jeff cleans house with dropkicks but Rock gets the briefcase. Figure Four to Grunge but Rock blasts Jeff with the case and Jarrett is pinned while holding Grunge in the hold.

Rating: D. This wasn’t as horrible as I was expecting. I thought it was going to be horrible but it wasn’t all that bad. It furthers the really annoying Horsemen split which would finally happen after many more months. Boring match for the most part but the wagon spot was kind of cool.

Gene talks to Harlem Heat who are in a four corners match tonight, as singles competitors with Luger and Giant. The winner gets a shot at Hogan, so who do you think is going to win eventually? Sherri says her guys are ready. This would be the match where Booker rants about Hogan and calls him the N word before immediately panicking. It’s censored in this version (home video) and he says sucka but you can read his lips saying the other word.

US Title: Dean Malenko vs. Chris Benoit

Dean is champion coming in. They go into the corner almost immediately and it’s a clean break. They go to the mat and neither guy can get control for more than a few seconds. Malenko is sent to the floor but he runs back in almost immediately. Malenko takes him to the mat and works on the knee as Woman screams. Benoit kicks him off and it’s back to a stalemate.

Benoit hooks a top wristlock and things slow back down again. Back up into a test of strength which neither can really win. Benoit does the always amazing bridge which he holds while Malenko lands on him. Chris takes him to the mat and works on the arm before into a chinlock and surfboard hold. It’s a Benoit match so of course they’re flying through holds. Malenko escapes with a belly to back suplex and takes over. Small package gets two for Dean.

Here come the chops from Benoit but they seem to wake Malenko up. Camel clutch goes on for a bit and then it’s off to a short arm scissors. Benoit does the Shawn/Bulldog counter and both guys are down. Clothesline gets two for Chris. Now it’s an abdominal stretch as the submission parade continues. Dean comes up with an interesting counter by dropping to one knee. I don’t remember ever seeing that before.

Benoit works on the ribs some more and channels his inner Dynamite with a snap suplex for two. Dean tries a vertical suplex but Benoit reverses into a reverse suplex….and here comes Jackie to ruin everything that they’ve got going on here. We’ve got a catfight on the floor and Jimmy Hart comes out….to do nothing.

Swan Dive hits and Jimmy is stealing the title. Here comes Eddie Guerrero and Dean gets draped over the top rope. Dean suplexes Benoit over the top and out to the floor, probably breaking the Canadian’s hip. Arn Anderson comes out and beats up Dean but Kevin Sullivan comes out and Anderson lets him hit Benoit with a Singapore cane which gets the DQ.

Rating: B-. This was getting good until we had five run-ins inside of three minutes. This Benoit vs. Sullivan feud went on for over a year and I don’t think anything was ever really settled. The ending here sucked but the match wasn’t great in the first place. They were having a slow submission based match but it wasn’t really that great. The last five minutes before the interference were good though.

Everyone other than Arn leave together and put the belt on Eddie’s shoulder for some reason, in the third (that I know of) stolen belt storyline of the year. Dean says he wasn’t supposed to be here, which was supposed to lead to some faction but it never came together.

Tag Titles: Kevin Nash vs. Rick Steiner

Only in WCW. Nick Patrick is referee because we need more gimmicks in this. Rick jumps him but gets knocked down almost immediately. DiBiase and Syxx are at ringside so this is 4-1. Nash pounds on him in the corner and hits his knees but runs into a boot. Belly to belly suplex looks like Rick is picking up a boulder. That suplex/powerslam move he uses gets two.

Syxx pulls the top rope down and Steiner crashes to the floor. Back in the side slam gets two. Why isn’t Patrick fast counting him? The Outsiders are the champions coming in here. DiBiase gets in a right hand and Nash hits the running crotch attack while Rick is in 619 position. Big boot puts Rick down as we’re totally in squash territory. There’s the Jackknife but Steiner kicks out. I don’t remember many people ever doing that other than Undertaker.

Steiner hits him low on another Jackknife attempt which Patrick actually doesn’t DQ him for. He’s kind of doing a bad job of being an evil referee here. Rick hits the bulldog but it only gets two, even though Nash’s shoulder never came up. Down goes Syxx but Nash comes back with a clothesline to take over again.

Syxx takes off the buckle pad and Snake Eyes onto the buckle sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up Snake Eyes on the buckle which sets up the Jackknife for the pin and a forced count (Patrick was hesitant) for the pin. The interesting thing here is that DiBiase says that’s enough in the middle of this and Nash yells at him. DiBiase walks out.

Rating: D-. So Nash wins a squash on PPV in a one on one match for the titles. I guess the more important part here is that DiBiase looks to be defecting which would mean more if he was an actual wrestler. This would lead to him managing the Steiners which would last for awhile until I think February. The match sucked.

Luger and Giant are ready.

Stevie Ray vs. Booker T vs. Giant vs. Lex Luger

One fall to a finish here and the winner gets Hogan eventually. Luger vs. Booker to start which should be interesting. Feeling out process to start until Luger starts slamming Booker a few times. Off to Stevie who punches Luger down a bit but gets caught between Giant and Luger which goes badly as you can imagine. Off to Giant and Stevie looks scared. Stevie knocks Giant back and gets loudly booed but Giant comes back with a clothesline.

Booker gets thrown around as well and it’s time for a meeting on the floor. I keep forgetting this is a four corners match. That gets remedied by Giant vs. Luger who have a power lockup. Luger tries a slam but Giant falls on him for two. The tag in Harlem Heat and the brothers having to fight gets a big reaction from the crowd.

They lock up and Booker works on the arm. There’s a lot of non contact here which makes sense for the most part. Booker tags in Lex and all is right with the world again. Stevie comes back with strikes and it’s Booker with a side suplex to put Lex down. A knee drop misses and it’s Giant time. A big elbow drop misses and Stevie comes in sans tag. An ax kick by Stevie doesn’t work and neither does a side kick so they go to the knees to get Giant down.

Giant gets up with ease and a big boot puts Ray down. Off to Luger again for some elbow drops which get two. Belly to back puts Booker down but Stevie breaks up the Rack. Booker hooks a chinlock and the Harlem side kick gets two. Harlem Heat double team Luger and it’s back to the chinlock. Lex suplexes his way out of it but Booker breaks it up. Giant breaks up a cover off an ax kick but there’s no cover. Harlem Hangover misses and it’s Stevie vs. Giant. Giant kicks Booker to the floor and calls for the chokeslam but tags in Luger so he can win with the Rack instead.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t bad for the most part as it was really a tag match in disguise. That being said, it didn’t mean a thing as Luger wouldn’t get his title shot until August so this was kind of a waste of time. The match itself was pretty fun though as both teams played it like a tag match instead of the fourway which was the right idea.

Randy Savage vs. Diamond Dallas Page

We get the long walk to the ring with Savage and Liz. Savage wants to make it a party. “SLIM JIMS FOR EVERYBODY!!!” This is the first main event for Page. He cuts a quick promo before the match about having to stand up for what he believes in. Savage did something to Kimberly so this is a revenge match. It’s not important enough to mention, but it’s worth revenge. Ok then. This is No DQ.

Savage stalls like he’s in Memphis (it’s close to it) but jumps Page to get us going. Page fights back and they go into the ring. He tries something like a suplex but I have no idea what it wound up being. A quick Cutter attempt is countered and Page is sent to the floor. They go into the crowd and the camera chasing after them is kind of cool. Page grabs a trashcan to blast Savage in the head. Savage is NWO in case that means anything to you.

They brawl back to the ring with some choking on the way. Savage hides behind Kimberly and Liz rakes Page’s back. There’s the ax handle to the floor and Page is sent into the floor. With Page down, Savage chases Kimberly but is stopped by an attractive chair. After a shot to the back he beats up Dave Penzer and brings in another chair. Coming back in Page manages something like a Van Daminator but with a shove instead of a spin kick.

Unfortunately for Page he can’t follow up so Savage chokes away in the corner. Page makes a quick comeback but is knocked right back don. Discus lariat out of nowhere puts Savage down but Page is spent. Savage slams him three times and goes to the floor to get the bell. Kimberly steals it from him but Savage jumps anyway, right into the feet instead of the elbow. I HATE that spot. Cutter is countered with a low blow for two.

Savage beats up the referee after the count and hits a good piledriver on him. He takes the belt off of Mark Curtis and whips him a little bit. The elbow hits but there’s no referee. Cue Nick Patrick in the sleeveless shirt of EVIL. Diamond Cutter out of NOWHERE hits and Patrick counts the pin because of the Nash stuff earlier.

Rating: B-. Good match here with Page pulling off a great upset win to pop the crowd and send them home happy. The brawling wasn’t great but they did it well enough for what the purpose here was. These two would feud over most of the summer and it brought Page up to the main event level that he would stay at for years.

Post match the whole NWO (including DiBiase) comes out as Nash has Patrick by the shirt. The fans want Sting but you know he’s not coming out on this show. Patrick gets beaten down and Page is sent to the floor. Savage goes after Kimberly but Bischoff stops a smack. There’s a shoving match and Savage drills Bischoff and the NWO FREAKS to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This was very much a filler show as nothing of note happened here at all. It’s certainly not the worst show I’ve ever seen and I wouldn’t call it bad, but I certainly wouldn’t call it good either. Either way, things would only continue to be this way for the next few months with nothing significant happening until the fall when Sting vs. Hogan really got going.

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Spring Stampede 1999
Date: April 11, 1999
Location: Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, Washington
Attendance: 17,690
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan

This is the final part of the WCW stretch thank goodness. These past two shows have just killed me as they’ve been completely awful. This show HAS to be better than those. I mean the law of averages has to catch up with WCW eventually right? The main event tonight is a fatal fourway for the title with Hogan vs. Nash for Flair’s title. Oh and Goldberg vs. Nash. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is just a clip reel of the four guys in the main event.

The set is an old style one almost like Nitro but with a Spring Stampede logo and set to it. I like it.

Blitzkrieg vs. Juventud Guerrera

I’ve heard a ton of great things about Blitzkrieg but I don’t remember him that well. Apparently he’s one of the more insane high fliers ever. I’ve heard his music before somewhere but I can’t place it. The winner faces the Cruiserweight Champion tomorrow night. They shake hands pre match and the crowd is hot. They go to the mat quickly and Juvy might have pulled his mask a bit. Well if you wear one it might get pulled you lunkhead.

They speed things up and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg pounds away in the corner but Juvy comes back with a springboard dropkick to take over. Blitzkrieg goes outside so Juvy hits a great dive to the floor. Brainbuster gets two. Here’s a surfboard which always amazes me. Blitzkrieg speeds things up and hits a spin kick. A dropkick puts Juvy outside and Blitzkrieg sets for a dive but Juvy sees it coming and dropkicks him out of the air.

Back in and Juvy is sent out again. HUGE spinning moonsault by Blitzkrieg kills him and they go back in. Things speed up and they bust out some slick counters. A move we would call Yang Time misses for Blitzkrieg and the Juvy Driver is countered as well. Blitzkrieg tries what I guess you would call a spinning hurricanrana into a victory roll driver out of the corner for two. They go up again and Juvy counters the same move into a Juvy Driver off the middle rope for the pin.

Rating: B. Again, the old school WCW formula works: a big fast paced match to open the show with two guys just going insane out there. Blitzkrieg would only be around a few months and never really had a big match with Mysterio that I remember, which is a shame because it would have been awesome. Good stuff and better than most of the usual stuff from this division.

After a quick recap of Hak vs. Bigelow, here’s your generic hardcore match for the night.

Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Hak comes out carrying a table and wrapped in barbed wire. He is, not the table. The brawl begins on the floor and they go to the wagon. Hak has hidden a table under there. Well of course he has. He hits a HUGE swanton off the wagon through the table. Chastity, Hak’s chick, gets the gimmicks (Tony’s term for weapons) out and Bigelow shrugs the dive off.

Back to ringside and they hit each other with various metal objects. Tony flat out says that trashcans don’t hurt that badly. What’s with him tonight? Bigelow whacks Hak with said painless can then a kendo stick shot. There’s a plastic salad bowl to the head. They botch what I think was a suplex and Bigelow falls on Hak’s knees. Out to the floor and here comes a ladder.

Hak dropkicks it into Bigelow and then hits another Swanton onto the ladder onto Bigelow. Now he busts out a piece of a barricade and the table falls to the floor. The ladder is up in the ring and the table is like a bridge between the ring and barricade. Hak climbs up for no apparent reason and goes crashing down through it. Back in the ring there’s a barricade in one corner and a ladder in the other.

Hak gets crotched on the barricade which Bigelow picks up. He stands there with it forever because Chastity is late with the extinguisher. The distraction lets the White Russian Leg Sweep put Bam Bam down. And then he hits what’s supposed to be the Greetings From Asbury Park (single shoulder sitout Tombstone) off the middle rope through the table but it was more like a powerslam. Either way it ends things.

Rating: D+. Not bad but this was just another hardcore match in WCW. Neither guy was worth anything other than this but it filled in a little over ten minutes. The ending bump was pretty solid but the match was nothing memorable at all, which is the major problem with this division as a whole. In WWF, they were bad but they were funny. These just aren’t that good.

Mikey Whipwreck vs. Scotty Riggs

Riggs is a narcissist style character here. I have no idea why this match is happening but that’s WCW for you. Riggs dances around like Rick Rude and tries to show Mikey up. There’s been practically no contact in the first minute. Mikey slaps him in the face and it’s the Cody Rhodes idea where he’s freaked because his face was touched. Riggs is knocked to the floor and this is nothing to see.

Mikey puts his throat over the bottom rope and hits a slingshot legdrop. A rana off the apron drives the top of Riggs’ head into the floor. Get this over with already. Another attempt at the legdrop misses and Mikey goes into the railing. Dropkick takes him down and I put on a Jimmy Stewart movie from the 30s. A quick chinlock gets a big BORING chant. Mikey hits a middle rope dropkick for two. And then Riggs hits a forearm for the pin.

Rating: F. If Scotty Riggs getting a featured match on PPV in 1999 wasn’t enough, the match was terribly boring. The problem here was that no one had any reason to care about these guys and Riggs was in a nothing gimmick that we had seen a million times before. I mean how many times have you seen a character that is obsessed with his looks and talks about how pretty he is?

We recap Disco Inferno vs. Konnan. Konnan had a music video which Disco made a parody of. There’s your match.

Konnan vs. Disco Inferno

Oh and Disco is in the Wolfpack here….kind of. Konnan makes what I presume are gay jokes about Disco’s looks to start. Disco imitates Konnan and hits his rolling lariat. He goes up but Konnan shakes his crotch at him so Disco hops down. Ok then. Konnan takes over and hits his seated dropkick. Konnan has a big bandage on his head which I missed before. They’re both in camo pants. K-Dawg climbs the corner with a running armdrag. Not bad.

Off to the chinlock section of the match. Can we vote to get that removed? It happens in almost every match and it’s really dull. Disco hits a middle rope elbow for two. Konnan gets sent to the floor and this has been almost all Disco. I think he finally realizes he’s fighting Disco Inferno and comes back with the 187 (fisherman’s DDT) for two. Disco gets the same off a neckbreaker. After a bunch of clotheslines miss, Konnan hits Disco’s own finisher the Last Dance (Stunner) for the pin.

Rating: C-. Oddly enough this was better because of Disco. Had he had a workable gimmick and maybe a name change, he could have been a decent midcard guy. The problem is he’s most famous for the idiotic character and he never could escape it. Still though, he wasn’t half bad here.

We recap Kidman vs. Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Title. Rey took the title from Kidman, and they’re also tag team champions. This is the rematch.

Cruiserweight Title: Billy Kidman vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Winner gets Juvy tomorrow night. They do some nice flips to start without much damage being done. Rey gets a headscissors and has a small advantage. Kidman hits one of his own and the first two minutes or so are a stalemate. Rey gets backdropped to the floor and there’s a dive which gets very little reaction. Kidman takes over and Rey goes into the barricade. That’s a surprising amount of violence from two face champions that are smaller guys.

Now Rey sends him back to the floor. Kidman shows off some impressive strength and catches the Asai Moonsault attempt. Rey goes into the steps and both guys are getting mad. Lionsault gets two for the champ. Another rana attempt is countered into a running powerbomb. The crowd is pretty silent for this and to their credit it’s a pretty slow match so far. BK Bomb gets two. They go to the floor and Kidman hits a Shooting Star off the apron.

Back in the World’s Strongest Slam puts Rey down but Kidman jumps into a dropkick. The fans sound like they’re at a golf tournament that doesn’t have Tiger Woods in it. They both go to the top and Rey hits a top rope bulldog for two. I really don’t understand this crowd. The match isn’t a classic or anything but they’re hitting some BIG spots in this. Kidman hits the chinlock and the fans don’t react at all.

After a quick trip to the floor, Rey takes over again. He dives into a clothesline though which is a nice little nod to earlier in the match. The crowd again does not care. Heenan talks about Rey’s fatigue pants and how there are a bunch of pockets in them. “Wouldn’t it be fun to load those up with illegal objects?” Tony and Mike of course use that to talk about Hak and Bigelow, because they don’t get the idea of a heel commentator. Bobby might as well be running with an anchor.

Rey gets a facejam for two. He looks like he’s about to cry. Mysterio gets taken down into position for a Shooting Star but he’s playing possum. Kidman counters his whatever into a sunset bomb off the top for two. AND THE CROWD STILL DOESN’T CARE. Rey counters a wheelbarrow suplex off the top into a sitout bulldog for two. That’s what he won the title with in the first place. A top rope Fameasser and standing moonsault get two for Rey. Kidman blocks a powerbomb and tries another shooting star but Rey breaks it up again. There’s a top rope rana into a rollup for the pin for Rey.

Rating: B-. I really want to understand the issues with the crowd here. This wasn’t a classic or anything but it was really a pretty good match. The near falls until the end were really hot and the crowd just sat there. I don’t know if they were burned out by a weak stretch of matches or what but I was really confused by it.

We recap Raven/Saturn vs. Malenko/Benoit. The Horsemen were tag champs and were fighting Raven 2-1 for some reason. Saturn came in to help and got a submission but it didn’t count for some reason. Raven and Saturn cost the Horsemen the titles so this is a grudge match. See how easy it can be to set up a non-title feud?

Raven/Perry Saturn vs. Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit

Anderson is with the Horsemen here. Raven and Saturn bring out a table. Oh and if you don’t believe WCW went on talent raids in ECW, I present you with this match. Saturn is in a leather skirt because of some big thing with Jericho. The fans are all over the Horsemen already. Dean stalls to start and MAN the fans are on him. Oh ok he’s stalling on the apron so much because Benoit is starting.

The Canadian sends him to the floor and Saturn sends the Horsemen into each other. Off to Raven as Benoit gets beaten down. Benoit dropkicks Raven to the floor so Anderson/Malenko can double team him. Something like a double spinebuster puts Raven down and they work on his legs/hamstrings. The crowd pops more for a Raven kickout than anything in the previous match.

Lil Naitch is refereeing so he just happens to miss Raven’s small package on Benoit. Clothesline gets two for Benoit and Robinson seems to be counting faster than usual. He stops Saturn from coming in and gets great heat. Saturn comes in and cleans house but Malenko takes him down with a right hand. A modified Doomsday Device by the non-Horsemen gets two as Benoit grabs Rolling Germans on Raven.

Malenko hooks the Cloverleaf on Saturn but he makes the rope. Great drama so far in this. Death Valley Driver hits Malenko but Benoit comes in PERFECTLY to break it up with a Swan Dive which also gets two for Malenko. Things settle down again and Benoit works on Saturn’s leg. Malenko comes in with a sleeper and body scissors. Raven breaks it up and things break down a little again.

After a northern lights suplex we go to the floor where Dean kicks Saturn in the ribs a few times. Back inside and he comes in legally for a change. Chinlock goes on now but I can live with this one as they’re probably getting tired. Raven finally comes in and is on fire. He had a tendency to not be in the ring that often but when he was he was incredibly energetic.

Someone throws in a chair and Raven hits the drop toehold onto it with Benoit’s head going in. Anderson pulls Dean off a table on the floor so Saturn goes through instead. Even Flow takes Dean down but Anderson interferes, allowing the chair to be put on Raven’s head so Benoit can hit a Swan Dive to the chair to Raven’s head and Malenko gets the pin. Great match.

Rating: B+. That’s probably high but I was really getting into this one. The ending is good too as the Horsemen cheat to win and the heat on them was great. Excellent match as they gave four very talented guys time and a story and you got a very good match out of it. If WCW could get that that was the idea of exciting wrestling, they might still be in business today.

We recap the US Title match. Hall had been US Champion but got legit hurt so we had to have a new champion. A tournament started and after some Jericho shenanigans, he didn’t make the finals. Instead it’ll be Booker, the TV Champion, against Scott Steiner. Stevie Ray might be in his brother’s corner here but it’s not entirely clear.

US Title: Scott Steiner vs. Booker T

Scott gets in an argument with a fan as the fan’s girlfriend keeps rubbing his chest. Funnier than it sounds. This goes on for a good while as Steiner keeps yelling at fans. Steiner finally gets in the ring and then goes to the ropes to avoid fighting. Back to the floor and now Steiner jumps into the crowd. Steiner finally comes in and taker Booker down with ease.

Booker speeds things up and hits AJ Styles’ drop down into a dropkick to send Scott to the floor. Steiner pounds him down some more and this is looking like it’s not going to be particularly interesting. A clothesline off the apron puts Scott down again as this has been back and forth. Steiner tastes the steel but manages to crotch Booker out of the corner. Out to the floor for some chair shots and we head back inside.

Now we get the push-ups. He shoves the referee and this is going nowhere. There’s a Steroids chant. Belly to belly gets two. Now Steiner just openly chokes the referee and kicks Booker low which isn’t a DQ due to the referee being scared. Steiner has to stop to pose because we need a break or something. Off to a bearhug which is probably the last thing this match needs.

Booker starts to escape but gets caught in a belly to belly drop on the head. It was supposed to be a suplex but it just wasn’t. A DDT puts Scott down and HE ACTUALLY SELLS IT!!! Take a lesson Rick. Booker comes back with some strikes and he goes up top. And there goes the referee. The fans immediately look at the entrance ramp, which shows how jaded they are.

Booker makes his real comeback and hits the axe kick but there’s no referee. Down goes the referee for a second time and Booker gets crotched. Steiner busts out the “Frankensteiner” for two. He pulls out a foreign object and clocks Booker with it for the title. The fans are NOT pleased with that ending.

Rating: D+. I’ve seen worse but the middle part of this was just dreadful. Scott was at least selling here but it wasn’t anything great. This would be the beginning of the mega push that the Steiners got this summer for absolutely no apparent reason other than they were old which is how you get pushed in this company. Still though, not much although Booker would get a lot better push in about a year. Also in a little trivia for you: Scott would win the US Title in a tournament final the next year at Spring Stampede as well.

Recap of Nash vs. Goldberg, although they’re just clips with no actual talking to them.

Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg

Apparently this is the rematch from Starrcade or something. Liz and Luger are here with Nash. Nash says something on the mic but the mic doesn’t seem to work because I didn’t hear a thing. He drives Goldberg to the corner and pounds away knees in the corner. The fans are looking at something to the right of the ring and Nash continues to go as slowly as he can while still being considered alive.

The fans almost immediately chant for Sting as Nash gets a two count. He hits the side slam for another two as this has been completely one sided. The running hip attack to the back of Goldberg while he’s in the 619 position keeps the bald one down. Goldberg snaps off a shoulder block though and something like a hooking superkick to load up the spear. NASH JUMPS OVER GOLDBERG!!! The spear hits the referee so Luger pops Goldberg with the chair. Goldberg blocks the powerbomb with a handful of balls. Spear and Jackhammer end this.

Rating: D+. What in the world was the point of this? Goldberg hit like 5 moves and dominated so he’s back to the point where he used to be, minus the title that is. Still though, was there a point to having this be like seven minutes long? It wasn’t horrible, but I’m sitting here asking if that’s it. Also, was there a point to Luger and Liz being out there? I don’t see it if there was.

Video on the main event. Flair turned heel to win the title last month off Hogan and Page and Sting are there so there can be four guys in it. Savage is guest referee for no apparent reason.

WCW World Title: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting vs. Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan

No Michael Buffer for the intros. No tags here and it’s one fall to a finish. This is one of the final matches under the People’s Champion era for Page. Flair is champion and comes out first for some reason. He and Sting pair off as Page fights Hogan. Those two never had a big PPV title match that I remember. Sting almost gets the Deathlock on Page inside a minute but DDP makes the rope.

Hogan and Flair fight up the ramp as Page tries a Diamond Cutter. Everyone back in now and it’s getting hard to call all of this. Sting slams Flair off the top which makes things feel right. Hogan takes the weight belt off and whips at the champ as STING ACTUALLY HITS THE STINGER SPLASH AGAINST THE RAILING!!! I’ve been watching him over twenty years and I’ve never seen him hit that.

The weight belt goes back on as it’s just Hogan vs. Flair in the ring at the moment. Hulk no sells the chops and hits the boot and leg. Sting hooked the Scorpion just before that and has to let it go to break up the pin. Flair gets in a shot at Hogan’s knee, because that’s gone so well before right? The Figure Four goes on and Sting misses his second attempt at a splash.

Hogan turns the hold over and Page has to break it up. Page knocks Flair to the floor and we get the Figure Four around the post on Hogan. The trainer runs out to check on Hogan and he has to leave. Even Bischoff comes out to check on him. So it’s a triple threat now and they’re all in the ring. Sting beats up Flair while Page just chills. Flair, after eleven years, still doesn’t get that chops don’t work on Sting. Flair Flip in the corner and he gets clotheslined to the floor.

Page works on Sting’s ribs but Flair is back in now. Discus lariat gets two. Savage is counting slow and hasn’t meant a thing yet. Stinger Splash hits Page and he slams DDP’s face into the mat. Page tombstones Sting for two as Flair breaks it up. Sting superplexes Flair for two. Page puts a sleeper on Flair who has a sleeper on Sting. Sting hits a jawbreaker on both and they’re all up at 9.

Sting gets double teamed and THAT STILL DOESN’T WORK ON HIM. He hits a double clothesline and beats them both down. Splashes for both guys but Page breaks up the Deathlock on Flair. Death Drop takes Page down but Sting can’t cover. Flair puts the Figure Four on Sting and Sting makes the ropes. Flair won’t break it so Savage drags them to the middle of the ring and drops the elbow (Sky Elbow according to Tony) to break it up. A Diamond Cutter to Flair gives Page his first world title.

Rating: C-. Not the worst match ever but I really don’t get what Savage was needed in there for other than a single move. A lot of this dragged really badly but they at least did something. It may not have been interesting but they were doing something. Page turned heel soon after this and it bombed HORRIBLY because people had gotten behind him for being the scrappy underdog that kept pushing until he reached the top. As in like Hardy whose heel turn also bombed. Funny how that works isn’t it?

Overall Rating: C+. WOW this was so much better than the previous two shows. I mean man this was a breath of fresh air and a lot of that is because they had some relatively clean endings. You couple that with longer matches and only one match that had no business being on PPV (arguably) and you get a decent show. It’s nothing great but it’s certainly better than the two that follow this one.

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