WCW Road Wild 99'

Road Wild 99'

Sturgis, SD - August 1999

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Hulk Hogan is the WCW World Champion coming into the show, while the US Championship is held by Chris Benoit. Rick Steiner is the recognized Television Championship (though his match is, inexplicably, a non-title one). Rey Mysterio Jr. is the Cruiserweight Champion and the World Tag Team Championships are held by the 3-man Triad (Bigelow, Kanyon, and DDP).

COMMENTATORS: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan, and Mike Tenay

Before I review this show, its worth noting how the main event came up to be. The night after Bash at the Beach, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan returned and wrestled Randy Savage in the main event for Savage's World Championship. After run-ins from Sid (in support of Savage) and Sting (in support of Hogan), Savage looks like he's about to retain the title but Kevin Nash plants him with a Jacknife Powerbomb and Hogan makes the cover. Nash then cuts a poor promo challening Hogan for the title, the two finally set to square off a good year or so after this would've been a meaningful and "big" match. Whoops. 

Onto the show....

A video promo hypes our opening contest - The Deadpool (Vampiro and Raven with support from Jekyll Brother Era the Insane Clown Posse) taking on Eddie Guerrero, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio Jr. I'm not sure the high flyers were going by their eventual name (The Filthy Animals) yet, but they do work well together, the teammates arguably being the most consistently great workers WCW had on their roster at the time. Mike Tenay erroneously refers to ICP's Great Milenko album as their first album (its like 4th or 5th, I think) before plugging their new album. Violent J comes in and gets to live his fantasy, even hitting a jawbreaker. Shaggy lands a respectable vertical suplex too, so, say what you will about ICP's presence here, its not like they didn't at least try. Vampiro comes in and after a brief flurry from Eddie, maintains control with a vicious chokeslam. Shaggy 2 Dope comes in and tries to hit a move from the top but ends up dropping onto the turnbuckle scrotum-first. Eddie makes the hot tag to Rey who takes out pre-diet and exercise Violent J. Finally Raven gets involved for his team and Vampiro hits his Vampiro Spike on the outside of the ring. Vamp sends Rey into the steps and sends him back into the ring soon after where Violent J hits him with a sideslam. It is somewhat remarkable how many more wrestling maneuvers ICP perform than what I'm guessing we'll see in tonight's main event. Still, giving them so much offense in this match, regardless of how well it is performed, is a bit much for me - I mean, in small amounts when its obvious that Raven and Vampiro are really doing the dirty work I can stomach it, but nobody needs to see Shaggy 2 Dope dominating the best three cruiserweights of the 90s. The finishing sequence is action-packed and exciting - too bad the production crew misses some of it. With a better layout, less ICP dominance, and a better throughline, this would have been considerably better, but as it is, it is only slightly below average. (2/5)

Again a video promo sets the stage for our next bout - Harlem Heat vs. The Triad for the Triad's World Tag Team Championships. Harlem Heat had reunited just a few weeks prior, relegating Booker T back into the tag scene after looking like one of the company's best emerging singles talents in 98'. The Triad are represented by Kanyon and Bigelow this time around with DDP prepping for his US Title Match later in the show. Not too bad of a match, but really nothing special. Booker T was over with the crowd (and Stevie was over by proximity), which is somewhat shocking considering the epithets they endured at the first Road Wild show. DDP eventually comes out and accidentally costs the Triad the match and their titles. (1.5/5)

The West Texas Rednecks are up next to take on Saturn, Dean Malenko, and Shane Douglas. Was Douglas joining WCW supposed to be a big deal because he certainly doesn't come off as one in this context...? As expected, Hennig shines, Malenko and Saturn hold their own, and everyone else is just kinda there. Like the match before this, there's not anything outright horrible going on in the ring, but being the third match in and being the third tag match on the show, it just feels samey and any real heat that this match starts with pretty much evaporates the second the bell rings. Another sub-average, instantly forgettable, and seemingly purposeless match. (2/5)

The Cat vs. Buff Bagwell follows in a match that I did not enjoy but did please the fans regardless. They lay the schtick on very heavily, The Cat playing to the crowd constantly and Buff Bagwell doing his own obnoxious taunts repeatedly throughout. The Cat's incessant whining got good heat, but it still strikes me as a very thin veneer of "it"-factor charisma coating an otherwise green and one-dimensional performer. Bagwell, meanwhile, was failed by the WCW producers who didn't have the foresight or creativity to expand the Buff character into something that was able to be rooted for. Instead, Bagwell, who maybe could've shined as a strong babyface ass-kicker, didn't drop a single ounce of the pompous arrogance he displayed as a heel, making him almost impossible to cheer for. Another not so hot match, but at least it doesn't run that long. (1/5)

The United States Championship is on the line next - Chris Benoit defending the strap against Diamond Dallas Page of the Triad. Page controls early and even commandeers Charles Robinson's belt at one point to whip on the Crippler in the corner. As heelish as this is, part of the crowd seems to enjoy it, cheering on DDP's villainous acts. On commentary, Schiavone finally explains that the match is "No DQ," which I must've missed in the pre-match announcements. Benoit's comeback is amazing, Page taking a trio of nasty suplexes after a flurry of furious blows. Just as Benoit looks like he's headed for the winner's circle, Bigelow and Kanyon show up to make it a 3-on-1. Inexplicably, Benoit's buddies, The Revolution, decide *not* to help their comrade and just watch from the back. Miraculously, Benoit is able to survive the numbers game and get the W. Not a bad match, but again, the booking is puzzling as the Triad end up looking incompetent and while Benoit winning "on his own" is good for his credibility, it sure doesn't make The Revolution look like a true band of brothers. (2/5)

Chad Damiani of WCW.com gives away a customized Road Wild motorycle next with the President of Iron Horse at his side. The winner ends up being Darnell Potter of Cleveland, Ohio, the name "Darnell" getting some laughs from Bobby Heenan. 

Back to the ring we go for Sting vs. Sid. Schiavone notes that Sid has the best record in WCW and Heenan chimes in that he is "undefeated" - which is true because WCW only counted his matches that month and ignored the rest of his decade-long career. The idea of Sid being "undefeated" was designed to build him up for a match with Goldberg, which wasn't even a bad idea in theory. As for Sting, his biggest claim to fame at this time was being the man that wrested the Presidency away from Flair and Piper and putting the power back in the hands of the trusted JJ Dillon. Sid is more athletic here than I remember him being in WWE, stumbling over the top rope and the guardrails and selling for the Stinger in a way he never had to against Michaels and Hart in his last run in the WWE. "More athletic" doesn't mean graceful, but at least the effort is there. Sting's 99' work is, to me, underrated considering how uneven (or outright terrible) the rest of the main eventers were performing, but there are some questionable design elements in this match, Sting's offense lacking any strategy and, at times, defying what should be a match built on the idea of Sid's size vs. Sting's resiliency. I'd call this sub-average just because of Sid's general sloppiness and the logic-confounding offense that makes up Sting's comeback, but at least you get a clean finish. (2/5)

A pre-match video package highlights the return of Goldberg and his feud with...Rick Steiner. Only WCW would bring back a star the magnitude of Goldberg (maybe the *only* true in-demand star they had at the time) and immediately have him feud with someone as irrelevant as Rick Steiner instead of literally anybody else. Seeing Goldberg stiff the hell out of Steiner is a little fun, but it also brings to mind how this sort of recklessness ended up costing Bret Hart his career. Steiner exposes Goldberg's left knee by ripping off the brace and using it as a weapon (which, as Schiavone explains, doesn't qualify as a foreign object because Goldberg wore the brace into the ring). Steiner gets in some good shots, but Goldberg doesn't stay down long and things get wrapped up soon after. I would've enjoyed this more if it was even more one-sided. Nothing match. (1.5/5)

Dennis Rodman makes his way down the aisle for the next match. Without the nWo fanfare and ticker tape, Rodman does not come off as a huge star the way he did in previous appearances. It being the summer of 1999 too, Rodman was a good 18 months beyond the days when he even resembled a big deal on court or off. His opponent, Randy Savage, was in the midst of his worst year yet, the one-time storytelling master remarkably bad at this point. He can still take a back bump and, against an actual credible opponent and if he was a face, his selling might actually work, but in this context, its a bit odd how much Rodman dominates early on. The Worm goes after the ref and ends up costing himself the advantage. When Mach takes over, he hits Rodman with a pretty good stun gun across the top of the rope before going after the ringside photographer and some referees. Rodman back body drops Savage out of the ring in a surprisingly risky high spot for the injury-ridden Macho Man, but when he follows him to the outside, Savage takes back control and sends him into the guardrail. They brawl up the ramp and to the back where even more innocent bystanders and pulled into the fray. A "Bullshit" chant briefly starts up as the audience can seemingly not see the action, though they must have some view of it because Rodman getting tossed into a porta-potty (that ends up halfway tipped over for good measure) gets a good pop. Rodman makes his way back towards the ring and Savage strikes him from behind. Some no-selling and telegraphed moments follow, but considering how bad this match began, its actually somewhat impressive that they were able to win over the crowd and make this somewhat entertaining thanks to loads of ref bumps, weapon shots, out-of-the-ring brawling, and an appearance by Gorgeous George. This was better than I expected it to be in that I expected it to be really, really bad. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Hulk Hogan vs. Kevin Nash in a Career vs. Career World Championship Match. Hogan comes out in his old Red & Yellow and has the crowd behind him. He and Nash lock up and, at least initially, its actually kind of cool to see the Hulkster back to his tried-and-true babyface routine. Nash applies a headlock and Hogan is only able to break it with a back suplex, the Outsider rolling out of the ring to collect his thoughts. Back in the ring we get a test of strength and the crowd rallies behind Hogan. Nash cuts it short though and hits Hogan with a series of strikes in the corner. Heenan calls these two "the biggest draws in the sport" and should've been reminded that its 1999 not 1996. Nash continues to control the majority of the match, these two working this like its an epic the scale of Hogan/Warrior or Hogan/Andre but without the benefit of any sort of aura (which is kind of the very reason those two matches worked at all). Predictably, Nash hits his Jacknife Powerbomb but Hogan kicks out and hulks up to beat him clean with a single leg drop. This has to be one of the few retirement matches where the guy in his late 40s "retired" the guy in his early 40s but I don't think anybody believed that the retirement stipulation would hold up anyway. (1.5/5)


While an improvement from the all-time terrible Bash at the Beach show the previous month, Road Wild 99' is still a wretched way to spend 2+ hours. The best match on the show is Rodman/Savage but only because it exceeds one's expectations by featuring some surprisingly fun and hard-hitting spots after starting off very sloppy. The main event is basically the opposite of everything it could've been had it been done in 98' or even 7 months earlier when these characters were still interesting. Even if Hogan was over with the live crowd, from a storytelling perspective, the return to the red and yellow was a band-aid on a gunshot wound for WCW's main event scene. Goldberg's return seems like an afterthought despite him maybe being the only game-changer talent the company had left. Benoit/Page seems unimportant in the midcard, like WCW's best idea for a "reboot" was just to pretend 98' didn't happen and put these guys back on the hamster wheels they'd been fighting to escape in 97'. The same can be said for reuniting Harlem Heat too. Horrid booking and unremarkable wrestling combine to earn this show a Kwang score of 1.78-out-of-5...

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville