Throughout the 1990s, WCW climbed its way to becoming a powerhouse in the world of professional wrestling, providing the strongest challenge to WWE’s chokehold on the business. They had many classic PPV events over the years, with the likes of Fall Brawl, Slamboree, SuperBrawl, and Starrcade.
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Spring Stampede was an event held five times in WCW, with it taking place every April, in and around the same month of WWE’s WrestleMania, although it was never presented as an alternative or major competition to WWE’s biggest annual event. There was a varying quality between the shows, with some being better than others, with some being up there with the best WCW shows, whilst some are certainly down in the bin with the very worst that WCW had to offer.
5 Spring Stampede 2000
There aren’t enough words to truly explain how much of a disaster and a mess that this show was. After Vince Russo decided to reset WCW by vacating every title, this show put on several tournaments to crown new champions. However, with a depleted roster, this show had little star power. The matches were all incredibly short, with multiple 2-5 minute matches to try and squeeze everything into the show. To make matters worse, almost every match had some sort of shenanigans and interference too.
Notably poor matches included Sting vs Vampiro, the six-man Cruiserweight Title match, Buff Bagwell & Shane Douglas vs Team Package, and Mancow vs Jimmy Hart. The better matches such as Sting vs Booker T and Jeff Jarrett vs DDP seemed better than they were due to the fact that everything else on the show was so horrible to witness. This is among the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to WCW shows, and things unfortunately didn’t get much better for the promotion in the aftermath of this event.
4 Spring Stampede 1997
There were some very solid bouts on this card, but unfortunately there were a few poor showings which dragged the show down. Rey Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon opened the card with an electric match, and the US Title bout was technically sound. The main event between DDP and Randy Savage could possibly have been better, but from a storytelling perspective it was very strong, with Savage producing some stellar heel work. It is certainly underrated, with it only receiving just over three stars from Dave Meltzer, per profightdb.com.
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There were several bland and average bouts, such as Akira Hokuta vs Madusa, and a fatal-four-way number one contenders match in which Lex Luger came out on top. A singles match for the Tag Titles between Kevin Nash and Rick Steiner was very questionable, especially since the match was far from anything special with it acting as more of an angle than a match.
3 Spring Stampede 1998
Although this show had some good matches, it was dominated by nWo shenanigans, which were becoming more than tiresome by 1998. Curt Hennig vs The British Bulldog was poor, with overbooked brawling and run-ins at the end, Lex Luger & Rick Steiner vs Buff Bagwell & Scott Steiner wasn’t interesting, with the usual nWo-style shenanigans, Hollywood Hogan & Kevin Nash vs Roddy Piper & The Giant in a Baseball Bat on a Pole Match was a shocking, plodding affair, and the main event between Sting and Randy Savage was forgettable, ending with more nWo interference.
There were a few saving graces to make up for all that, with Chavo Guerrero and Ultimo Dragon putting on a great cruiserweight display, Goldberg having one of his best matches to date against Saturn, two decent title matches for the Cruiserweight and TV Titles, and the match of the night between DDP and Raven, which was a wild hardcore brawl which went all around the arena.
2 Spring Stampede 1999
There was very little bad about this show, although nothing stood out as incredible either, with it simply being a strong show packed with solid matches. Juventud Guerrera vs Blitzkrieg, Bam Bam Bigelow vs Hak, and Scott Steiner vs Booker T for the vacant US Title belt were all decent matches. The main highlights came in the form of Rey Mysterio vs Billy Kidman and The Four Horsemen vs Perry Saturn & Raven.
The main event four way was a little odd, with DDP overcoming Ric Flair, Sting, and Hollywood Hogan. Hogan was taken out early with a leg injury, which was a bit disappointing in terms of star power, but probably for the best in terms of quality. The match itself felt thrown together and random, although it was still good for what it was, and it didn’t overstay its welcome. Goldberg vs Kevin Nash was a let down, with it certainly being one of their worst matches against one another with little substance.
1 Spring Stampede 1994
The very first Spring Stampede event is often regarded as the very best, with those on cagematch.net certainly believing it to be, with it receiving the highest rating out of them all - and it is easy to see why. The show all the way through was incredibly solid, with there hardly being a bad match on the card. The US Title match between Rick Rude and Sting was perhaps the worst, with Rude not offering a strong performance, with the match also having a botched run-in finish with Harley Race mistiming an interference.
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Elsewhere, Lord Regal and Flyin’ Brian wrestled an enjoyable time limit draw for the TV Title, The Nasty Boys defeated Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in a great brawl for the Tag Team Championships, and Bunkhouse Buck overcame Dustin Rhodes in a bloody and brutal Bunkhouse Match. Whilst it doesn’t compete with their all-time great matches, Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat closed the show with a brilliant wrestling bout for the World Title, with the match ending in a double pin. Fans would have liked to see a decisive winner, but the match was great.
