Nickrj’s rant for Spring Stampede 1997
Live from the Coliseum in Tupelo Mississippi on April 6th 1997
Your hosts are Tony, Dusty and Bobby
Ultimate Dragon VS Rey Mysterio Jr.
Waist lock to start and Dragon turns into a chinlock. Slam by Dragon. Drop toe hold into a crossface by Rey. Camel clutch but he goes throat first into the bottom rope. Roll up gets 2 for Dragon. Dragon takes over with some kicks and there’s a stiff one through the shoulder. Drop kick and a slam for 1. He goes to the arm now and hooks a cross armbreaker. Dragon picks up Rey across the shoulders and drops him in a torturerack. He power bombs Rey and throws him into the top rope. Sleeper hold. Elbow by Dragon and a running powerbomb. Tilt a whirl tombstone piledriver gets 2 and picks Rey up. Another sleeper. Rey gets out and hits a spinning backkick but he goes back down with a clothesline. More stiff kicks by Dragon. Front suplex into a death lock. He goes into a surfboard. Rey is kicked to the outside. Dragon is thrown into the rail. Dragon hooks another sleeper inside though. Rey counters with a sleeper of his own. Dropkick to the back and a spinwheel kick sends him to the outside. He fakes a suicide dive and hits a cannonball on the outside. Lee Marshall talks to Syxx backstage about Kevin Nash but gets no answer. Springboard cannonball from Rey and a springboard legdrop. Dragon misses a spinning cross body and Rey is dropkicked from the top to the outside with his head hitting the post. Dragon kicks him into the rail and slingshots him onto Rey as well. They go back in and Dragon dropkicks Rey in midair. Dragon gives him an airplane spin using the legs. They both miss leg lariats. Hurricurana gets a pair of 2 counts for both men. Enzuguri by Dragon gets 2. Dragon sets up Rey on the top and he gets a spinning hurricurana for 2. Rey gets out of a powerbomb and a dragon suplex and they both trade roll overs. Dragon misses a leg lariat and Rey gets a hurricurana for the pin at 14:55. Another great match from these two! ****
Lee Marshall goes back to Syxx again in the lockeroom and the Steiners want to get their hands on them. Nash says he wants Nick Patrick as ref for the title match later and he spits at Scott Steiner who is maced and handcuffed.
Women’s Title Match: Akira Hokuto (with Sonny Oono) VS
Madusa
Akira throws Madusa by the hair twice. She misses a charge and Madusa comes with some punches. Akira gets a clothesline though and chokes her. Chinlock on the top by Akira as the announcers don’t even care about this match at all. Akira slams Madusa for 1. Head slams by Madusa for 1. Madusa gets a hurricurana with Akira on the top rope. Sonny gets some shots into Madusa. This goes on for awhile. Weak crucifix by Madusa for 2. 2nd rope misses dropkick and another one by Madusa. German suplex gets 2 ½ and Sonny gets knocked off the apron. Madusa powerbombs Akira and Luna Vachon comes in and kicks Madusa in the knee and Akira gets the pin at 5:13 to retain. This match pretty much blew 1/2*
Stalling to start and Regal taunts the crowd. Tony announces that Scott Steiner has been arrested. Both wrestlers go thru a wrestling sequence. Regal gets an armdrag takeover. Prince takes over with a side headlock takeover. Regal has turned it around and Prince gets a springboard bodypress for 1. Nothing is happening for me here. Test of Strength. Regal gets an eyepoke. He hooks a full nelson. Sunset flip attempt blocked by Regal and he goes thru some more of his boring offense. Prince comes back with some chopping. Both these guys just continue to plod around. Prince misses a spinning crossbody by a mile. Backdrop by Prince and somehow gets the pin at 9:16 to retain. Regal continues to attack him though. Match sucked. DUD.
Gene Okerlund introduces the one and only Ric Flair!! Ric is going to return to the ring after a lengthy injury. And it looks like he’s going to return to face Rowdy Roddy Piper. Ric says that Kevin Greene has been released from the Panthers to wrestle in WCW and Ric wants him to join the horsemen. Then Ric goes to talk about Hollywood Hogan and the N.W.O. and he challenges them to a match at Slamboree in Charlotte.
This match was supposed to be at Uncensored but Mongo and Jeff decided to join Team Piper in the main event so we have this match here. Rocco Rock starts it off with Mongo and they do a shovefest and some stalling. Rock takes control now but Mongo takes down both PE and he and Jarrett do a double strut. Johnny Grunge continues with Jeff Jarrett and Jeff hooks an ab stretch using Mongo for leverage. Grunge gets out of it and throws Jeff into Mongo. Jeff goes halfway down the aisle. Rock gets the tag and so does Mongo and they hit a double elbow. Chinlock by Mongo. Yawn. Sidewalk Slam for 2. Tilt A Whirl slam for another 2. Grunge and Jarrett go at it outside the ring now. And Mongo and Rock go to the covered wagoned set. Grunge gets a chair in the back as she’s setting Debra on the table. Rock is thrown into the fake cattles. Grunge goes to the top and misses Jarrett by breaking the table. They all are back in the ring now and Jarrett gets a flying bodypress for 2. All 4 men are in now. Debra tripped Rock and Mongo works on both PE. PE blocks a noggin knocker and Mongo makes a blind tag. Jarrett goes to work on both PE. Jarrett hooks the figure four on Grunge but Rock nails Jarrett with the steel briefcase and Grunge gets the pin at 10:42. First half was terrible but they picked it up in the second half. *
U.S. Title Match: Dean Malenko VS Chris Benoit (with
Woman)
These two had a classic at Hog Wild and I’m hoping for another one here. They tie up to start. They go thru a nice sequence. Malenko is thrown thru the ropes and they go right back in. Dean goes to a leg lock. Chris gets a tackle though. He goes to the left arm but Dean reverses. Chris reverses again. Slam by Dean. Greco Roman knuckle lock. Chris gets out and goes back to the right arm. Benoit goes to the chinlock. Dean gets a back suplex. Small package gets 2. Hard chop by Chris and another one. Dean starts mudhole stomping. Drop toe hold into a crossface by Dean. He goes into a camelclutch. Dean gets a hiptoss into a arm scissors. Chris picks him up and drops him. He goes to a back suplex for 2. Short clothesline for another 2. Ab stetch by Chris. He continues to hammer on Dean and gets a neckbreaker for 2. Chris gets a snap suplex for 2. More hard chopping. Dean start coming back but Chris gets a face down suplex. Out comes Jacqueline who goes for women and wails on her. Out comes Jimmy Hart now. Chris hits his flying headbutt as Jimmy steals the U.S. title and Eddy Guerrero comes out to stop him. Dean is dropped on the ropes but he suplexes Chris form the apron to the outside. Arn Anderson is out now and he nails Dean but Kevin Sullivan comes out and hits Chris with his stick and the ref calls for the bell at 17:54. Probally the most overbooked ending I’ve ever seen. It’s a DQ win for Malenko and he retains. **1/2 There’s something going on here the announcers say but I can’t put my finger on it.
The announcers said that Scott Hall was not in the building here today and of course Scott Steiner was arrested earlier so we’ve got a one on one match for the tag team titles and Nick Patrick is the ref. Slugfest to start won by Nash. Nash with several elbows in the corner. He misses a blind charge though and Rick hits a belly to belly. Sloppy powerslam gets 2. Syxx pulls the top rope down and Rick goes over it. Wow guess who’s going to win now? It’s 4 against 1. Sidewalk slam by Nash for 2. Dibiase gets a shot as well. Butt splash on the ropes by Nash. Big boot. He goes for the Jackknife and hits it and gets 2!! Can’t believe Rick kicked out there. Rick gets a low blow. He goes to the top and hits the bulldog and Nash kicks out. Steinerlines by Rick and he nails Syxx after he nails him. Nash gets a clothesline. Syxx now loosens the top turnbuckle pad and Dibiase has to come to help him out. Nash drops Rick face first on the unprotected turnbuckle. He does it again. Nash starts jawing with Dibiase now. Dibiase said that’s enough but Nash says “I’ll decide when he’s had enough.” He drops Rick a 3rd time onto the steel as Dibiase leaves the ring. Nash drops Rick a 4th time. And he hits another jackknife for the pin (with a hesitation by Patrick) at 10:20. Boring match but the ending was kind of interesting with Dibiase showing a face turn. 3/4*
Four Corners Match for a WCW Title Shot: Booker T (With Sister Sherri) VS Steven Ray (With Sister Sherri) VS Lex Luger VS The Giant
Luger starts with T. Hammerlock by Luger but it’s countered quickly. Luger with a press slam.T now goes to work on Luger. Luger comes back with a clothesline. Stevie Ray gets the tag. Ray gets nailed by Giant for a 2 count. Giant gets the tag and Ray starts hammering him but he quickly turns it around. Press slam for T. He’s cleared both Heat out of the ring. Luger and Giant are about to go at it now. Luger tries a slam but it fails. Now they tag both HH and both T and Ray have to fight each other. They just shove around. T gets an armdrag which Ray reverses. Headlock by T and a leapfrog and they show off. T tags in Luger who works over Ray. T is back in and he hits a sidewalk slam. He misses something and Giant is tagged in again who hits a headbutt and a lariat. Big slam. Huge elbow misses. Ray comes in illegally and stomps away on Giant. They double team Giant in the corner. Ax kick by Ray and he tags T who hits another kick. T with some kicks to the legs. Ray is back in who can’t snap mare him. He misses a legdrop and Giant hits a big boot. Luger gets the tag and hits a slam and some elbows. He’s thrown into the top turnbuckle though and in comes T. He misses a charge and Luger hits a back suplex but he’s kicked and suplexed by Ray which gets a two count. Kneedrop by T for 2. He goes to the chinlock. Luger gets out but takes a high kick for 2. Heat double team Luger and a clothesline by Ray for 2. Back to the chinlock. Luger gets a back suplex. T gets the tag and nails Giant on the apron. Fameasser by T gets 2. Sidewalk slam by Ray. T is in again and they miss the rocket launcher. Giant gets the hot tag and he powerslams Ray. He kicks T to the outside. He calls for the chokeslam!! But he tags Luger instead. Luger hooks the rack on Ray and gets the submission at 18:20. Luger will get a title shot on Hollywood Hogan now. Ok match from these 4 **
In my last rant of Uncensored, Savage and Liz humiliated DDP and Kim and now DDP wants revenge. DDP goes after Savage but he bails out. Savage nails him in the aisleway though. DDP turns it around. Savage counters a headdown but it doesn’t affect Page. He almost hits the Diamond Cutter but Savage hooks the ropes. He stuns Page on the top rope. He clotheslines Page over the rail into the audience and they go out into it and brawl. Page takes a trash can from Savage and uses it to his advantage. He chokes him with a cable. They go back to the ring and Savage uses Liz as a shield. Liz rakes the back and both Kim and Page are hit. Savage drops DDP onto the rail. Savage goes to the top and hits a double axhandle driving Page’s throat into the rail. He throws Page into the steps. Kick to the throat and he throws Page to the steps again. Savage tries the Flair pin but Page kicks out. He goes to the outside and grabs Michael Buffer’s chair. He brings it into the ring and nails Page with it. Now he grabs the timekeeper and slaps him around. Savage comes in and Page punches the chair into Savage’s face. Savage punches on DDP but he reverses. Stiff clothesline by Savage for 2. DDP gets a short clothesline. Slam by Savage. Another slam and a third one. He grabs a ring bell. I’ve seen this one before. He goes to the top but Kim steals the bell. Savage is on the top but Page blocks the flying elbow with the double boot. Page calls for the cutter but Savage goes to a backslide and hits a low blow for 2. Savage starts beating up the ref and he piledrives him. He steals the ref’s belt and whips him with it. He throws him out of the ring. Savage goes to the top and hits the flying elbow but there’s no ref and Savage has no one to blame but himself there. He calls out Nick Patrick as the new ref. Kevin Nash is out and he’s smiling. Page gets out of a slam and hits the Cutter. He turns over and pins Savage at 15:38. Nash grabs Patrick and here comes the rest of the N.W.O. Crowd chants “We want Sting” and Nash Jackknife’s Patrick. Savage has got Kim now and Eric Bischoff stops Savage. Another “We want Sting” chant. Savage shoves Bischoff and he nails him and the entire N.W.O comes in the ring to stop it. Anyways this was a good brawl between Savage and DDP ***1/4
Summary: Weeeellllll… This had a mixed bad of some good and some bad. The N.W.O angle was still hot here and it would be until about late 1997 or early 1998 or so. I’ll go with MILDLY RECOMMENDED for this one.