WCW Spring Stampede ‘99
April 11, 1999
Tacoma, WA
Reviewed on July 4, 2014
WCW Spring Stampede interests me for one reason. It’s generally regarded that anything past late ’98 for WCW pretty much sucks. Yet, this card actually has very positive reviews. I’m really just curious to see what this show did as opposed to what WCW was doing in early ’99 (where it was pretty much awful).
WCW at this point was getting their ass kicked bad by the WWF in the ratings. While there were many reasons on why this was happening, the most recent was the Goldberg-Hall-Nash-Hogan Starrcade and Finger Poke of Doom debacle. WCW never recovered from that. Ric Flair also returned to the main event…and as great as Flair is, this is a perfect time to show that no new guys were getting pushed to the main event, sans for one (and he isn’t really even new).
How did Spring Stampede ’99 break through and actually be a good show for WCW? Is it actually good, or just good smelling shit? Let’s see.
The Card
This might be the first PPV with the new logo.
#1 Contender to the Cruiserweight Championship
Blitzkrieg vs. Juventud Guerrera
I like how if you watch Juvi here and back at Bash at the Beach ’98, you would have never known he had a heel turn with the LWO inbetween.
Commentary is making fun of Thunder? What?
Ha and they take a shot at Larry Z!
Some great sequences that Blitzkrieg impressively lands on his feet…but he does mess up a tilt a whirl backbreaker.
Juvi busts out the surfboard!
They do the flying off the top rope getting caught with a dropkick spot…but on the floor, which was cool.
Blitzkrieg with a crazy springboard moonsault onto Juvi on the floor. Wow.
They botch something off the top rope, it looked like a Blitzkrieg falls back on Juvi off the top spot.
Blitz misses one of the sicker top rope moves…the Sky Twister Press!
Crazy sunset flip off the top from Blitz.
Juvi hits a Juvi Driver off the top! Wow!
Juventud pins Blitzkrieg in 11:11. After the top rope Juvi Driver the pin was academic. I’m torn here. One on hand, they tried a lot of cool stuff and some of it was downright awesome. On the other, I hate high flying matches with messed up spots, as it looks like a performance as opposed to a wrestling match. In the end I’ll go with good, not great. Interestingly, some think this is one of the best matches of all of WCW. Let’s not go crazy here.
Hardcore Match
Hardcore Hak vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
I did think WCW trying to create a Hardcore Division with former WCW wrestlers was a great idea. Too bad it didn’t stick.
It is a bit of a waste for Bigelow though.
It is also interesting to note that Sandman got in good shape for WCW…he did the same for ECW 2K6.
Hak-ton Bomb off the stage wagon through Bigelow and a table! Eat your heart out Jeff Hardy.
For some reason Tony is explaining that the garbage can doesn’t really hurt but makes a great sound? What the fuck?
Ha, Tenay and Heenan make fun of him after a great garbage can shot.
Hak and Bigelow screw up a DDT I think? Maybe a suplex. I think Hak went for a suplex and Bigelow dropped for a DDT.
Another Hak-ton Bomb, this time on a ladder on Bigelow. Sandman is a sicko.
Hak goes flying off the ladder and throw the table!
Bam Bam Bigelow pins Hardcore Hak in 11:33. Bigelow is about to slam Hak with a safety rail, but Chasity causes a distraction but can’t get the fire extinguisher going. Bigelow gets it working and takes out Chasity. Hak hits the White Russian Legsweep on the safety rail, but eventually Bigelow hits a weird brainbuster through the table (which got a great reaction) on Hak for the win. Pretty entertaining Hardcore Match. Let’s quickly talk about why WCW blew it here and how frustrating it is to listen to the commentary here.
Tony Schiavone already buried the idea of garbage can shots (why?), but after the match all three are laughing about what they saw, with Tony giving a condescending “fans, don’t try this at home”. Not for safety reasons, it is more from a “this is stupid” standpoint. Why the commentary team wants to bury their own product just speaks volumes about WCW sometimes. Hak and Bigelow put on a good brawl and it’s basically laughed about. I hate this company sometimes.
Scotty Riggs vs. Mikey Whipwreck
I have no recollection of this Rick Marterl rip off gimmick Scotty Riggs is doing in WCW.
A lot of hip gyrations from Riggs. Well, two good matches was a good start to the PPV.
Mikey was pretty underrated as a wrestler.
Ouch, Mikey takes a bump off the apron and crashes back/head first into the railing.
Oddly Riggs looks like Randy “The Ram”.
“Boring” chant for Scotty’s offense. You know it’s bad when you are better off as a pirate.
Scotty Riggs pins Mikey Whipwreck in 7:03. Flying forearm for the win (is he just copying Luger from 92?). Out of nowhere win. Match sucked, although Whipwreck tried. Riggs didn’t last much longer. At least they tried to get someone new over though. Not sure why Riggs was the guy.
Disco Inferno makes fun of Konnan’s music video.
Konnan vs. Disco Inferno
Odd history here: Konnan was part of the Wolfpac…and Disco had some weird association with them.
Konnan calls Disco a straight up strawberry. Well then.
Konnan pins Disco Inferno in 9:17. Konnan hits Disco with his own move, the Chartbuster/Last Dance/STONE COLD STUNNER for the win. Interestingly, this match was to put Disco over and Disco dominated the match. Big difference from the Bash at the Beach ’98 “bonus match”. While the choices are odd, WCW does seem to be trying to push some guys higher up, Riggs and Disco are two examples so far.
WCW Cruiserweight Championship
Rey Mysterio Jr.(c) vs. Billy Kidman
They are the co-holders of the Tag Team Title. Winner faces Juvi on Nitro.
This is all post LWO (thankfully). Unfortunately this is the beginning of the maskless Rey era.
Commentary goes silent!
Some good sequences so far…but it does feel like they are going through the motions a bit.
Ref is fast counting everything for some reason.
Kidman actually does a running Shooting Star Press off the apron. No crowd reaction. Really odd match dynamics here.
Tenay with a funny slip: “Both men look like they’ve lost a step from the opening match…I mean opening part of the bout”. That’s probably true, Juvi vs. Blitzkrieg was better.
I am amazed that the crowd just does not give a shit about this match.
Really nice counter to a top rope bulldog from Rey.
The ref counts are really distracting.
Rey pins Kidman in 15:32 to retain. Top rope hurricanrana. This is like one of those EWR matches that got “bad show syndrome”. Everything looked nice, but crowd just didn’t care and it felt a little like they were going through the motions. My theory? They didn’t build up anything as they busted out hurricanranas right away in the opening sequence. Also, I think people may have been against maskless Rey. Kidman got some face reactions, and while he is, Rey didn’t get the same.
Seeing the replay on how they won the tag belts kinda killed my maskless Rey theory.
Raven and Saturn vs. Benoit and Malenko
I should say I loved the idea of Rey and Kidman (flyers) vs. Saturn and Raven (hardcore) vs. Benoit and Malenko (technical).
Benoit and Malenko are part of the Horsemen of course. So Double A is out here.
Raven and Saturn reconciling was pretty cool too. I forgot the story with that though.
Crowd is really hot here…like they know this is going to own.
Shame it isn’t being referenced, but there was history between Benoit and the Flock at one time too.
The Charles Robinson as the ref is an interesting part of this match as well.
Saturn kicks all kinds of ass at one point and takes out Double A at one point…but Malenko stops him.
Malenko dropkicks Saturn into a German Suplex by Benoit!
DVD from Saturn, cover is broken up by a Benoit diving Headbutt!
Raven droptoeholds Benoit on a chair…no DQs? Ah this is great, who cares.
Benoit and Malenko win when Malenko pins Raven in 14:11. Evenflow takes out Malenko and Raven covers. Double A puts a chair on Raven’s head and Benoit hits the Flying Headbutt on the chair (for fuck sakes Benoit) and blades no less. Malenko pins. Great back and forth tag match. Shoulda re-built the division around these two and Mysterio and Kidman.
WCW US Title Tournament Final
Booker T vs. Scott Steiner
In Jericho’s last great WCW moment, he actually got to be in this tournament twice via loophole, and he lost to both of these guys.
To be fair, these are the two (and Jericho, probably) that WCW should built towards the future with.
This is a rematch also, as Booker beat Steiner at Uncensored for the TV title.
“Steroids” chant midway through. Match has been pretty damn slow.
Time to bump some refs!
Steiner busts out the top rope frankensteiner!
Scott Steiner wins the title in 15:37. Steiner hits Booker with a hidden object for the win. Pretty meh match, although the frankensteiner was a nice touch. 13 minutes of nothing before that with unnecessary ref bumps.
Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg
Story here is obvious: Kevin Nash is the only man to beat Goldberg as he did at Starrcade. REMATCH TIME.
Match is ALL Kevin Nash early on.
Spear attempt…but Kevin Nash leapfrogs it and Goldberg takes out the ref! Lex Luger attacks!
Goldberg pins Kevin Nash in 7:41. Goldberg hits the spear and jackhammer on Nash after getting rid of Luger. Goldberg evens the score. Nash jobs clean! Of course the match isn’t much to write home about, but it was well booked. Made Nash look strong (even if he didn’t need it) and made Goldberg look strong too. That must mean Goldberg is slated for the title right? Lol.
WCW World Championship: Four Corners Match, Randy Savage is the Special Referee
Ric Flair© vs. Hollywood Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting
One fall here.
Ah, the Savage comeback, roided up and all.
My god Gorgeous George…
Flair was a heel here, although it was the result of a weird double turn with Hogan.
Hogan was kinda a face? Came back with the red and yellow later in the year.
DDP also had turned heel.
Sting was the only one with a clear alignment, which was face.
Pretty action packed start!
Hogan is doing the Hulkamania stuff. No selling Flair’s chops, etc.
Page busts out the Bret Hart Figure Four around the ring post!
They carry Hogan out…which is a little hokey as it was just one move (although a devastating one). I guess it’s believable. Eric Bischoff, who has no kayfabe power at this point, shows up here to add legitimacy. See, they did this before Russo.
Tombstone from Page to Sting! Flair with the save!
Double sleeper….double jawbreaker. Never seen that before (well, the jawbreaker).
Sting has….Hulked Up!
Flair locks Sting in the Figure Four, but Sting gets to the ropes. Ref Savage kicks Sting’s hand off then drags Flair and Sting to the center…and drops the BIG ELBOW on Flair?!
Diamond Dallas Page wins the WCW World Title in 17:27 when he pinned Flair. All three get to their feet and Page drops Flair with the Diamond Cutter and wins his first World Title. Overall this was…pretty good! All four men gave it a great effort (even Hogan, for half a match). Action never really stopped. I don’t remember what the explanation for what Savage did was though. Still, a very good main event with the top guys in their giving it their all.
Let’s talk about the DDP decision for a second. I do think DDP could have won the WCW World title so I have no issues with that…but WCW absolutely wasted it here. Page was a big time face in 1998 and his building to the WCW World Title could have been a great story in 1999 (or even he could have been the man to beat Goldberg at Starrcade ‘98). But it was wasted here…and I think he only held it for a couple weeks before he traded it with Sting, then lost it to Nash (who lost it to a returning Hogan).
A pretty good show with little historical significance as Russo was only five months away. Somehow in a couple months we had Sid in the main event despite a roster with Flair, Sting, Savage, Hogan, Goldberg, Nash etc. Still, Scott Steiner moved up the chain a bit I guess.
Some really good matches here: Juvi vs. Blitz had its faults but had some great moments (and a bad ass finish). Hak vs. Bigelow was probably the last time either gave a shit, and it resulted in a good hardcore match. Kidman vs. Rey tried, just missed for some reason. Malenko and Benoit vs. Saturn and Raven owned. Nash vs. Goldberg was fine for what it was, and the main event was actually good for what it was. Only real miss was Riggs vs. Whipwreck. Even Konnan vs. Disco had a solid story to it.
Very good show, perhaps the last of the WCW era.
Final Grade: B+