Spring
Stampede 1998
Date:
April 19, 1998
Location: Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 7,428
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Location: Denver Coliseum, Denver, Colorado
Attendance: 7,428
Commentators: Bobby Heenan, Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
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.
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
The wheels come off on the Nitro right after this. Interested to see what you'll have to say about it.
ReplyDeleteNitro the next night was one of their better shows that year.
ReplyDeleteThis is where things start getting fun. I cant' wait to see how badly they screw this up.
ReplyDeleteHennig vs. Davey Boy would've been an awesome match anytime from 1987 to 1993. Not so much in 1998.
ReplyDeletePerhaps worst thing about this PPV: Bret Hart isn't on it. What a waste.
ReplyDeleteThe headband Jericho was wearing was one of his trophies--I believe it belonged to Disco Inferno.
ReplyDeleteIf this is the Goldberg/Saturn match I think it was, then I LOVED that match- Saturn got the best out of Goldberg than anyone not named DDP did.
ReplyDelete