WCW lost the March battle to WrestleMania XIV with weak semi-main and main events at Uncensored 1998. Will the company bounce back with WCW Spring Stampede 1998? This show happened on April 19 at the Denver Coliseum and is co-produced with the new World order.
The Best
Prepare for a rarity but the Goldberg vs. Saturn match was actually not only solid but it was exciting. I couldn’t tell you why Kidman of all people—at this point in his WCW run—was given so much offense as interference. Usually, Goldberg would’ve run through Kidman in record time but Goldberg had to work a little for this win as there was interference and Saturn was just a super tough opponent in the midcard.
It was kept basic enough to build around a still green Goldberg while not being too “been there, done that”.
Ultimo Dragon taking on Chavo Guerrero Jr just worked. Chavo at this stage of his career was a pretty damn good wrestler, he just needed a regular company to get experience quickly. His WCW stay paid off as he held his own against the seasoned and respected Ultimo Dragon in a good bout.
This was the year of the awesome Benoit-Booker T “Best of Seven” series and this match over the Television title rocked. The chemistry between these two was great and made for a couple of good matches in a ridiculously talented midcard.
I am not the biggest Prince Iaukea fan but he would hold his own in a match against a skilled opponent. That was the case when he faced Cruiserweight champion, Chris Jericho. Lionheart has had much better opponents in the division but they delivered an above-average bout. It wasn’t as exciting as the TV title bout, the U.S title showdown, or the brief lucha battle coming up next but it was a good part of Spring Stampede 1998.
Psychosis vs. La Parka was only seven minutes and could’ve been on the pre-show but it was an entertaining match. Obviously, I rock with La Parka and Psychosis was very talented at this point of his career but was overshadowed by rival Rey Mysterio. The placement of this match was very important as it provided a buffer between two meh-at-best tag matches.
Rounding out the best of this edition of Spring Stampede is the U.S title match between DDP and Raven. This was the first feud where WCW was with the times and was able to make a pop culture jump. Raven and DDP made appearances on MTV’s TRL and during their old Spring Break programming. Hogan flew in Rodman while Raven and DDP took their hostilities outside of WCW.
As for the match, I loved it! It wasn’t too long—a problem with some Raven matches in ECW—and the brawling-friendly “Raven’s Rules” was right up both men’s alley.
The Rest
Curt Hennig taking on The British Bulldog was below mid. This wasn’t a match that you just had to watch from 1998. Sure, Hennig still had the juice but The Bulldog wasn’t in his best form at this point.
While I do dig what the tandem of Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner would become, it’s interesting to watch this match again. That doesn’t mean that the match against Rick Steiner and Lex Luger was good or anything. This was one of those matches that could’ve easily been on Saturday Night.
WCW gave fans a bit of *and now for something different” as Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash took on Roddy Piper and The Giant—in a baseball bat on a pole match. It seemed like something you’d want to run with Sting—if you just needed something on a pole. I’ve noticed that in the late 90s, Piper was never too far from reappearing on a WCW PPV.
If you just saw the match listings and watched the PPVs, it will look entirely random because sometimes he’s not on a PPV before or after. The match itself is a good point to either go and grab a snack or something or just skip it. This one doesn’t slap at all, it has the right time length but the pace is all wrong.
Fortunately for WCW Spring Stampede 1998, the card placement is such that you’re not hit with meh matches back-to-back towards the end of the show.
The main event saw Randy Savage snatch the World title from Sting in a No DQ match—which has been Savage’s thing for roughly a year now in WCW. It wasn’t dreadful but it definitely wasn’t good. I actually enjoyed it more than the other main eventer battle in Hogan and Nash taking on Piper and The Giant.
Really, I was more stoked that Savage won the title when I first watched this match but now it’s like “another main event that drags the rest of a strong card”. On the bright side, this was a better Savage main event than last month at Uncensored 1998.
WCW Spring Stampede 1998 Verdict: Silver Medal (2.7/5)
These main events really hobble WCW pay-per-views. They’re just not good and drop the score significantly for shows that have ridiculously strong undercard bouts the majority of the time. The important thing is if the stars draw when it comes to PPV but you still want to send folks home happy with at least a solid main event.
You know, so that thing that draws them in is worth the cost of the ticket for buying the PPV. Our match of the evening goes to DDP defending his U.S title against Raven. The very close runner-up is Booker T vs. Chris Benoit over the TV title.
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