WCW Spring Stampede 98'

WCW Spring Stampede

April 1998 - Denver, Colorado

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: The WCW World Heavyweight Champion coming into tonight's show is Sting, while the United States Title is held by Diamond Dallas Page. Booker T is the reigning Television Champion, Chris Jericho holds the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and the World Tag Team Championships are held by The Outsiders (though, based on Cagematch.net, they hadn't defended the titles in well over a month). 

COMMENTARY: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay

Bill Goldberg takes on Saturn of Raven's Flock in the night's opening contest. Goldberg is super over to the point that every single thing he does gets a pop. While his work is noticeably sloppy, Saturn (and several other members of the Flock) feed into him so well that the action never ceases and Goldberg really does come across as an unstoppable monster. Still, what makes this match work beyond being just another Goldberg squash is Saturn's brief offensive flurries; the former ECW star's inventive moveset is as fun to watch as Goldberg's raw intensity. Ignoring the hiccups (a bothced back elbow from the apron, a mistimed dropkick) is easy when you get a finish sequence as hot (and incredible) as this. Fun, above-average match. (3/5)

Chavo Guerrero vs. Ultimo Dragon is one of the best cruiser matches I've seen that doesn't include Mysterio, Malenko, or Chavo's uncle Eddie. Dragon and Guerrero bust out a ton of submissions early and, throughout the match-up, both competitors display defensive wrestling techniques (reversals, counter-strikes, blocks) that you don't see often enough in today's product. The attention to detail and crisp execution (save for yet another mistimed dropkick) would make this a better-than-average match on its own, but what keeps the audience engaged is the added bonus of having Eddie Guerrero carrying on ringside, advancing his on-going drama with his nephew. Guerrero's facial expressions are overdramatic and campy, but hey, this is WCW Wrestling, not Masterpiece Theater. A telegraphed finish hurts this one a touch, but overall, a very good (almost great) match that provides quality storyline advancement as well. (3.5/5)

The hits keep coming when the Television Title is on the line - Booker T defending the strap against Chris Benoit. The story coming into this match is that Booker and Benoit had wrestled two time limit draws over the previous few weeks forcing WCW to eliminate the time limit for this showdown. In the early going, Benoit won't let Booker T get any momentum, scrambling out of the ring every time it looks like the Harlem Heater is gonna get on a roll. While the match starts a bit slowly, Booker T working an armbar and Benoit's offense initially just consisting of some of the stiffest, loudest chops ever, as it revs up, Booker T's selling and bumping paired with Benoit's steely determination and vicious suplex display draws the crowd in and transform this match into, easily, the best Television Championship match I've caught in months. Without a heel/face dynamic, the crowd is fully behind both men by the end, especially in the las third of the contest when Benoit delivers several outstanding maneuvers (a picture-perfect diving headbutt, a trio of german suplexes, and a back suplex from the top rope) but can't score a pinfall due to his own exhaustion. Booker's final comeback is not as technically impressive, but the audience doesn't mind, popping huge for an Arn Anderson-worthy Spinebuster, a Tito Santana-inspired flying forearm, and Booker T's very own Spinnerooni. Referee shenanigans taint the winner's victory, but progresses the story without sacrificing either man's overness or credibility. The best Booker T match I've seen on my journey through WCW's pay-per-views and one of Benoit's best performances as well. (4/5)

After three good-to-great matches, I was wondering when this show would sink a little and the next match was the answer - British Bulldog vs. Curt Hennig with Jim Neidhart and Rick Rude handcuffed outside of the ring. I'd guess these two guys worked a ton together in the WWE during the early 90s (and a cursory Google search proved it) but there's not much chemistry to speak of here, both men definitely just going through the motions to get to an unremarkable finish that actually hurts everyone involved (including Bret Hart, who isn't even there for it) by making it painfully obvious that the whole Hart Family/nWo rivalry was at least 2-3 entire rungs down the ladder in terms of relevancy. When Vincent is a key figure in your storyline, you know you're small potatoes. Poor Bret. (1/5)

Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner make their way down the aisle, "The Stuff" showing off a brand new cast on his wrist. Bagwell claims that, due to injury, their match tonight is cancelled, but JJ Dillon (and a doctor in street clothes) show up to put the kibosh on their tomfoolery. Lex Luger and Rick Steiner (with Ted DiBiase in tow) make their way down the aisle and the match has begun, though, despite trying to avoid the match, its the heels who dominate for most of the match's duration, breaking down the Dog-Faced Gremlin and cutting the ring in half. Eventually Luger comes in for the hot tag and Scott Steiner runs away from his revitalized brother like a coward leading to a predictable "feel good" ending. More of storyline-advancing segment than a PPV-worthy contest, but it isn't bad for what it is. However, one does have to wonder, considering how unimpressive the action was, how many people really were clamoring for a Steiner vs. Steiner match so many months after Big Poppa Pump's heel turn? (1.5/5)

Tony Schiavone announces the next match as a bonus bout and what a bonus it is - La Parka vs. Psicosis. As much as I wanted to adore this match (as a fairly big La Parka fan), it just didn't measure up to the peaks that La Parka had previously reached in his WCW pay-per-view appearances. Ditto for Psicosis, whose match against Rey Mysterio at Bash at the Beach 96' is one of the greatest cruiser battles I've ever seen. Part of the problem is the fact that the crowd is beyond dead, barely popping for any of the high spots, even when they're head-spinningly awesome (for example, Psicosis hits a corkscrew somersault to the outside that is way, way riskier than this crowd deserves from him). Now, maybe in 1998, when cruisers could be enjoyed weekly via Nitro and Thunder, a match like this could be seen as ho-hum, but in 2016, we just don't see daredevil wrestling presented as fun and character-driven as these two did it. Plus, even in a slightly-less-than-amazing La Parka match, you're still talking about a guy who exuded so much charisma and worked the actual ring in such crafty ways to gain an advantage (notice the way the Chair Man of WCW utilizes the ropes and, in one great spot, the imbalance of two guys on the turnbuckle) that there is far more to enjoy in this match than there is to complain about. Average on the La Parka scale is above-average on everyone else's. (3/5)

Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan make their way out for the next contest, a Bat-on-a-Pole match against Roddy Piper and The Giant. Piper goes for the bat early on, but ends up taken down by the heels. Piper gets on a bit of a roll, though, and Hogan bumps and sells for him with respectable pizzazz - the fact is, as old and tired as Hogan was even in 1998, he could still draw huge reactions with minimal work. Not a single high spot in the La Parka/Psicosis match popped the crowd as much as seeing the Hulkster put over The Giant's knee and cartoonishly spanked. When Nash and The Giant square off, they don't bother with anything as hard-hitting as what they attempted in their somewhat infamous first match but they don't half-ass it either, stealing a page from Piper and Hogan by keeping it simple but also keeping things moving and reserving their energy for a handful of "That was cool" moments (the double Big Boot and The Giant's dropkick, for two examples). The finish is structured chaos - the babyfaces teaming up to grab the bat while the heels rely on the arrival of Hogan's oiled-up ally The Disciple, Hollywood errantly striking his own teammate with the bat - and as a storyline-pushing angle, it is intriguing. Unfortunately, WCW wouldn't follow this up in the way fans were obviously craving (Nash vs. Hogan sooner rather than later), but in a vacuum, its a pretty enjoyable spectacle match. (2.5/5)

Epic Slamboree commercial next, the announcer promising that this event will...change...wrestling...history...forever. Seeing as I can't name a single match on the show, I'm going to wager that it didn't. (+1)

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Raven for Page's United States Championship follows, a match that kicks off so hot, it is almost a tragedy that it can't maintain that level of intensity and awesomeness for its entirety (an entirety that also feels like it doesn't last quite enough for it to be considered a true classic). Weapon shots galore, wild use of scenery, stiff shots from both guys, emphatic selling and bumping - Raven and Page are just outstanding here and spots by Billy Kidman (DDP hits one of his coolest Diamond Cutters here) and Sick Boy of Raven's Flock just add to a match already chock-full of fireworks. The crowd is thoroughly engaged as well, arguably more than they were in the more "star-studded" match that preceded this one and definitely more than the main event that follows. Even the commentators can't help but mark out. As close to a 4-star match as a match might get. (3.5/5)

Main event time? Sting vs. Randy Savage for the WCW World Championship in a No DQ match is our show's closer, but the bout really serves to just set the table for the post-match angle, a continuation of the brewing Nash/Hogan feud. Overshadowed by the much more hellacious brawl before it, Sting and Savage fight all over the arena and deliver a few decent moments (the Stinger Splash onto the guardrail spot is one I never tire of thanks to Sting's dedication to the bit), but things don't get interesting until the final moments, when Miss Elizabeth gets physically involved to a degree she rarely (if ever) had before. From there, clusterfuckery ensues as was wont for WCW's main event scene at this time (as evidenced by similar shenanigans wrapping up the two matches that came before this one too). Some critics have called this one of the worst WCW main events of the year, but I'm going to hold my judgment until I see how low WCW can go in 1998. As a stand-alone match, it's not that awful, but its also not anywhere close to great. Watching it, one can't help believe that these two could've actually put on a much better match if they had worked together in 94' or 95', when Sting was less dejected and Savage was less hobbled by injuries. (2/5)


WCW Spring Stampede 98' reminds me of Paul Simon's Graceland album. The first third is almost impervious to criticism. Goldberg/Saturn is a red hot opener. Chavo/Dragon is, maybe, the best Chavo Guerrero match I've ever seen and the first Ultimo Dragon match I found myself caring about in months. Booker T/Benoit is a classic TV Title Match reminiscent of the kind of great TV Championship bouts Regal delivered in 93'/94'. And then, with the all too familiar entrance theme of the New World Order, the wheels fall off the show. Hennig/Bulldog go through the motions in their match, both tag matches play out as extended angles that occur after a wrestling match occurs in the background, and the crowd is indifferent to a shoehorned "bonus match" between La Parka vs. Psicosis that is pretty exciting but painfully misplaced on the card. DDP/Raven shakes the cobwebs out of the crowd's collective head only for their brain to be bludgeoned by yet another angle posing as a contest, Sting not necessarily even trying to make the best of a bad situation and Savage, who was remarkably over at the time, essentially positioned as a supporting actor on what should be one of the biggest nights of his career. With a Kwang score of 2.77-out-of-5 thanks to a handful of very good (even great) matches, I'm categorizing this as...

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand