I watched WCW Spring Stampede 1994. This takes place in Chicago. I can’t believe WCW is going north of the Mason-Dixon line. Good for them!

The announcers are Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan. Jesse Ventura is handling the locker room interviews. Gene Okerlund is making some announcements from the stage.


First match is Johnny B. Badd vs. Diamond Dallas Page (w/ The Diamond Doll). Badd wins with the sunset flip off the top rope, which has been his other finisher (along with the Kiss That Don’t Miss, which is just a left hook) in in just under 6 minutes in a pretty decent opening match.


Next match is for the TV Title: Lord Steven Regal (c) (w/ Sir William) vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman. This match ends in a time limit draw as both guys fall over the top rope onto the floor with about 15 seconds left. Pillman suplexes Regal back in but there were only about 2 seconds left when he did that so there was no way this wasn’t ending in a time limit draw. This was a pretty good match, with Regal having Pillman in a variety of holds for much of the match, but probably would have been better if Pillman could have had a flurry of offense and nearfalls the last couple minutes or so of the match, but that never really happened.


Next match is for the WCW Tag Team titles and is a Chicago Street Fight: The Nasty Boys v. Cactus Jack & Maxx Payne. I guess a Chicago street fight means falls count anywhere and no DQ’s.

This was a brutal, ECW style fight. Apparently all four guys are legal at all times (with two referees) and almost all of the match took place outside the ring with Sags battling Cactus and Knobbs battling Payne. The majority of the fight included weapons – chairs, tables, concession stand items, and a shovel. The Nasties win it when Sags hit Jack in the head multiple times with a snow shovel, knocking him out (or at least down enough for the three count). Meanwhile, Payne had apparently had Knobbs pinned at about the same time and both refs missed it. Excellent match, especially if you’re into the extreme type stuff.


The next match is for the WCW United States Heavyweight Title: Stunning Steve Austin (champ) w/ Colonel Rob Parker Vs The Great Muta.

Austin wins when he charges at Muta, and Muta sort of ducks and shoulders Austin (I guess it’s a back drop) over the top rope onto the floor, resulting in an automatic DQ for Muta and Austin retains. Oh brother.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed in this match. Two of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and this match was dull. It lasted about 16 minutes, and the last 3 minutes were very good, until spoiled by that stupid, lame ending (what a stupid rule – and I remember Ron Simmons at a previous PPV literally backdropping his opponent over the top rope and that wasn’t a DQ and this was because of….reasons?) but the first 13 minutes were very slow with some stalling and some very long rest holds.


The next match is for the International World Title Match: Sting vs. Ravishing Rick Rude (champ).

Before the match starts, Harley Race comes out and challenges the winner to a match on behalf of Vader. Since Vader is going to face the winner, gee, I wonder who will win this match.

This match started quickly with Sting jumping Rude and pouring on the offense for the first minute or two. Then things slowed down…a lot. Then we got a flurry of offense. Sting gets the win when Harley race comes out and tries a chair shot on Sting but Sting ducks and it hits Rude instead knocking him out. The ref (who had been knocked down a minute early) finally revives enough to count Rude out and we have a new International champ!

The first minute or so was good, and the last few minutes was good but the middle 6-7 minutes was very slow and boring, consisting mostly of long rest holds. I love Rick Rude but he hasn’t been the same since he was injured and missed about 3 months from late 1992 to early 1993, and in fact, I think this is his last PPV as he suffers a career ending injury in Japan in the not too distant future.

I have to complain again about WCW’s stupid over the top rope rule. Sting clotheslines Rude over the top rope, then later Rude crotches Sting on the tope rope then knocks him off the top rope onto the floor, yet these aren’t DQ’s yet “propelling” someone over the top rope (throwing and usually backdropping, though I’ve seen that not get a DQ before) results in an automatic DQ. This rule is so inconsistent, illogical, confusing, and just plain stupid.


They mention that Ric Flair invited Hulk Hogan to this event, but don’t know if he’s in the building.


Next match is the Bunkhouse Match with Bunkhouse Buck (w/ Col. Parker) vs. Dustin Rhodes.

Apparently a Bunkhouse is just a no DQ match that’s come as you are (so they’re both in street clothes) and I think pins have to happen in the ring. I guess there’s a feud here but mostly between Parker and Rhodes, as Buck hasn’t been in WCW too long though I guess he did something to Rhodes last week.

WCW is going all ECW on us at this PPV. This was another good, bloody brawl with no real wrestling but plenty of action. Belts, powder, and sticks used as weapons and both guys bleeding profusely. Rhodes is about to pin Buck after a bulldog (which he often used as a finisher) but decides to beat up Col. Parker, standing on the apron, instead. This gives Buck time to recover. Parker surreptitiously hands him some brass knuckles, and he hits Rhodes with them, covers Rhodes for the win, then sneaks them into his jeans. I’m not sure why all the subterfuge in a no DQ match but I guess old habits die hard. A shocking upset here (Buck has been in WCW for only a few weeks!) but this allows the feud to continue.


Next match is Big Van Vader w/ Harley Race Vs The Boss (not the Big Bossman!). This comes out of the last PPV when the Boss screwed Vader out of the championship with his biased officiating.

This was a very good brawl between two really good big men.

Vader backdropped Boss over the tope rope, which I’m pretty sure is supposed to be an automatic DQ but wasn’t. The announcers claimed the ref didn’t see it, but that’s nonsense.

Vader wins it by going to the top rope for the MOONSAULT atop the prone Boss. Pretty sweet finish.

After the match, Boss hits Vader from behind with his nightstick,, then beats on manager Harley Race with his nightstick. But it’s okay, folks, because he’s a babyface, so ANYTHING he does is justified. Eventually commissioner Nick Bockwinkle comes in and stops Boss’s beatdown.
However, in the locker room afterwards, Commissioner Bockwinkle strips the Boss of his nightstick, his handcuffs, and the Boss monicker for his actions. Which actually sort of makes sense, but I guess they did this because of the threat of legal action from WWF for infringing on the Big Boss Man character.

Between the Rude match and this match, Harley Race has taken some serious bumps tonight!


Next is the main even, the WCW Title Match: Ric Flair (c) vs. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat. A rare face vs. face match.

This was a great match. Not as good as their ’89 matches, but still really good. And, it was a wrestling match, not a bloody brawl. Those were good too, but it was nice to get a more traditional match as well. I didn’t care for the ending, though. Steamboat gets Flair in the double chicken wing (which is how he beat him for the title in Chicago 5 years earlier) but this time he suplexes him and holds him there, both shoulders on the mat, and the ref counts to three and rings the bell. Everyone thinks Steamboat has won the title. However, the commish comes into the ring (along with another ref) and they talk and the ref says that both guys’ shoulders were down so they both got pinned. He then declares Flair the winner. Which doesn’t make sense, as it should have been declared a draw, but it doesn’t really matter, as Flair would retain the belt either way. The commish then says he’ll discuss it with the committee and they’ll read a decision by the time of WCW Saturday Night but for now, Flair is the champ.


Overall, this was a very good PPV. The Rude-Sting and Muta-Austin matches were disappointing, but the rest of the card contained all good matches and some great ones. Some bad finishes, but that’s become par for the course for WCW. All in all, very solid!

Awww.....one of my favourite heels with mic skills, Jinder Mahal, quit WWE on Friday....guess he will head over to AEW.

I went to a WWE show in Vancouver shortly after he won the strap and it was a crazy experience. Vancouver has a large Indian population and the show basically served as a hero's welcome (also for the Singh brothers, who grew up and wrestled in the area for many years as the Bollywood Boys). Alcohol was flowing freely in the stands, Indian flags were everywhere, and the pop for Jinder's entrance was easily one of the loudest I've experienced live (can't top Canadian Stampede!). Very cool

I’ll try something fun.

Me
If Sting had not been able to wrestle at WCW SuperBrawl II, which wrestler would have made a good substitute for challenging WCW World Champion Lex Luger?

ChatGPT
One possible replacement for Sting could have been Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Steamboat was a highly respected and skilled wrestler in WCW at the time and had a strong reputation as a fan favorite. He could have provided a thrilling match against Lex Luger for the WCW World Championship at SuperBrawl II.


Hmmm. Let’s try one more…

Me
If Hulk Hogan had formed a tag team with the Undertaker in 1992, what would have been a good team name for them?

ChatGPT
"The Immortal Deadmen"

Except I don't believe they made much money off of them. My local comic ship got in a case of them and they sat there, since the bulk of the customers had no clue who they were, nor cared about wrestling. On top of that, I believe that was one of the licenses that didn't pay them until further down the road; so, when they received their share of revenue, they were that much further in debt and could never catch up. I know the Acclaim deal hurt them badly, as they saw little or no revenue for a long time and I don't believe it sold very well. To top it off, Acclaim was descending into their own bankruptcy.

Eclipse Comics had similar problems, in the dawn of the 90s, as they had a deal with Harper Collins, to produce trade paperbacks, but only received revenue on Harper Collins terms, which were quarterly, at best. It didn't help Eclipse's cash flow problems and HC played further games, as they were a Murdoch company and somewhat notorious for his type of shenanigans. I believe there were a few authors who squawked, back in the 90s, about royalties owed, which the company was slow to pay.