[1999-04-11-WCW-Spring Stampede] Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan vs Sting vs DDP

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Last few minutes. Great heat for Sting's return. Hogan had been taken out of the match earlier with his knee injury, to write him off for a few months to have knee surgery and let the ratings continue to fall without him around. Referee Savage ends up dragging Flair to the middle of the ring and doing a big elbow. Then Flair eats a Diamond Cutter and DDP becomes World Champion in a major upset that I think was a cool moment.

[Tim Evans]

It would have been ice if DDP won after Savage hit the elbow, not Flair no selling it then getting hit with the diamond cutter. Still nice moment.

[soup23]

Hogan leaving was odd considering how much of a focus he had been so far this year. Anyway, the ending action here was fun but Savage hitting the elbow on Flair seemed like an old rivalry cropping up that I was good without seeing. I remember being shocked DDP got the win here but glad to see his hard work pay off.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Hollywood Hogan vs Diamond Dallas Page vs Sting - WCW Spring Stampede 1999

 

Another reason ten year old Marty Sleeze preferred WCW to WWF, Gorgeous George. Between her and Torrie Wilson, why would you watch any other TV show? Macho Man, YOU DA MAN!

 

Why wasn't this Sting around in 1998? If Sting put all the effort he did in 1999 into 1998, he would have had a HUGE run. Sting was just rocking it in this match. From the early outset, where Sting/DDP worked their normal beginning match (teasing the finishes) to the big Sting comeback, he looked like the biggest babyface in wrestling again. Sting and DDP worked some good stuff in and outside of the ring. Hogan and Flair is a fun matchup, but it does not have the heat of the Superbrawl match. Hogan has put in a ton of effort all year and nothing has changed here. Flair clipping the knee and getting the Figure-4 was a great early match finish tease. I liked DDP honing in on the knee and using the figure-4 around the ring post to take Hogan out of the match. I really liked the drama of all that and I think it added a lot to the match. It gave it an interesting plot point and renewed vigor into the finish. Sting and Flair worked their usual match, which I like in short bursts like in this setting. Flair bumping around for Sting was great and then DDP pounces on Sting. DDP/Sting have insane chemistry with each other. I loved the tombstone reversal leading to DDP actually getting it and a nearfall. The spot where DDP was punching Sting and Flair chops Sting on the ropes and Sting gradually no sells gave me chills. Pray to God, that by some miracle we get this Sting at Wrestlemania. Sting just explodes off the ropes and cant be stopped. Finally the crowd wakes the fuck up. DDP interferes and Flair takes command with shots to the testicles. Figure-4 and Savage pulls him to the center of the ring, which seems to indicate they are in cahoots until Savage drops the elbow on Flair, but no one cares about Flair. DDP hooks Flair in the Diamond Cutter and wins his first World Heavyweight Title. DDP definitely earned it and I really enjoyed this match. I thought it was filled throughout with entertaining segments and there was never any dead time. I was actually pretty surprised that crowd was dead for the majority of this. If you switch the finish with Savage screwing over Sting and DDP winning, I think they would have gotten way more heat. DDP definitely deserved the World Championship after going back and watching his late 90s career so hats off to him. Underrated match that really never has a dull moment. ***1/2

[PeteF3]

What the hell happened to Tacoma that they went from being so hot for a promotion in its death throes, to completely shitting on the same promotion a couple of years later and sinking the biggest angle of the century?

 

Anyway, the action here is kind of a mess as there didn't seem to be much thought put into the layout, and Savage dropping the elbow on Flair doesn't really make much sense in terms of either storyline or execution. Flair pops back up, then gets dropped with a Diamond Cutter with Sting not really convincingly being taken out of the picture. DDP winning the title is a nice swerve finish but I'm skeptical that he was really ready for this role. As Bobby Heenan said in a later shoot interview about him, "Good worker, good guy...sorry, he's not a World champion."

[DMJ]

Just saw this for the first time.

 

To me, this was pretty enjoyable, especially when you consider how overtly choreographed and structured 4-ways tend to be these days. This one is a bit looser and wrestled a bit more like a battle royal until Hogan gets taken out and even after that its not like the match gets too cute with Tower of Doom spots and crazy double-teams. The fact that a double sleeper gets such a big reaction shows it didn't need to either.

 

Sting looked great in this, both physically and when he busted out his signature taunts and moves. After Hogan gets taken out, Sting definitely feels like the biggest babyface in the ring - and that's nothing to sneeze at when Page was plenty over (but was probably not at his peak any longer) and Savage was also just recently back on the scene.

 

What hurts this, to me, more than anything is the way WCW seemed to be trying to do "grey area" characters when they didn't need to and the audience wasn't asking for it. Hogan is basically a face by now - but is still coming out to Wolfpack music and when he's taken out, he's not taken out by a heel Flair, he's taken out by DDP. Speaking of Flair, of all the guys to get screwed, why him? Are we supposed to feel sympathy for Flair or glad that he got cheated out of the title? Sting makes a huge return, looks to be in great shape, but is the only guy to come out of the match with no direction. Page captures his first title, but to do so, he had to capitalize on a referee screwing a participant and unsportsmanlike use of the ring post to eliminate Hulk Hogan - far from the "feel good" title win for him that the audience would've lost their shit over in 98'. I have it at 3 stars.

 

I wrote about it elsewhere, but there's an alternate reality where even after the Starrcade 98' debacle, WCW righted its course and put on really great shows for at least a little while longer. Spring Stampede 99' shows they had the pieces and parts to do it and that, in some arenas at least, they still had the fans' interest too.