WCW Road Wild 1999

From Sturgis, South Dakota; Your Hosts are Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay, and Bobby Heenan.


Opening Six-Man Tag Team Match: Rey Mysterio Jr, Eddie Guerrero, and Billy Kidman v Vampiro and Insane Clown Posse: Big brawl to start controlled by the team not wearing makeup, and the dust settles on Vampiro getting worked over by all three until he manages to catch Guerrero with a sloppy spinkick. He and the ICP cut the ring in half, but Eddie manages a superplex to allow the tag to Rey - only for Mysterio to run into a cheap shot from Raven (acting as a second), and getting beat down by the ICP on the floor. Inside, they cut the ring in half on Rey, but he manages a moonsault to allow the tag to Kidman - triggering a six-way brawl. Vampiro misplaces a superkick in the chaos, and Kidman finishes Violent J with the Shooting Star Press at 12:21. Vampiro and the ICP looked horribly green and amateurish here (and yes, I know Vampiro was far from green), especially in there with guys like Mysterio, Kidman, and Guerrero - though they did work hard, to their credit. What a waste of talent and time. ½*

WCW World Tag Team Title Match: The Jersey Triad v Harlem Heat: Kanyon starts with Stevie Ray and controls with forearms, but gets press slammed in short order. Bam Bam Bigelow runs in to take a bodyslam, and the champs bail to the floor to regroup as Booker T tags in. Booker stomps a mud hole in Kanyon (stomps a canyon?), and levels him with a dropkick for two. Tag to Bigelow, but he seems more interested in checking out the sausage tent visible in the background than wrestling - which is weird, since that's usually Kanyon's gimmick. He manages to motivate himself through a headlock before tagging back out, and Kanyon gives Stevie a series of elbowdrops as the champs work to cut the ring in half. Stevie manages to fire Kanyon into Bigelow with a slingshot to allow the tag, and Booker is a house of arson - only to walk into a cheap shot from Bigelow on the apron. Stevie comes back in to trigger a four-way brawl, and a heel miscommunication allows Booker to missile dropkick Bigelow for Stevie to pin for the belts at 13:09. Not technically horrible, just really boring. ½*

Six-Man Tag Team Match: The West Texas Rednecks v The Revolution: Wow, I guess we're getting all the tag team stuff out of the way first, huh? The Revolution win a six-way brawl at the bell, and the dust settles on Barry Windham and Dean Malenko. Windham tries to use his size to control, but quickly takes a cross corner clothesline, and Dean tags Saturn in to take Barry to the mat in a side-headlock. Tag to Shane Douglas, but he ends up in the wrong corner, and triple-teamed. Bobby Duncum Jr tags in to work him over, but walks into a powerslam, and Shane passes back to Saturn. He unloads a series of suplexes on Windham (head-and-arm, belly-to-belly) but a cheap shot from Kendall Windham allows Curt Hennig to come in with a rolling necksnap. The Rednecks briefly cut the ring in half on Saturn before he manages to pass to Malenko, and Dean pops off a quick snap suplex on Duncum. Douglas adds a fisherman’s suplex, but Hennig takes offense and breaks it up, then slams Shane off of the top rope for good measure. Wrestler's court! Windham with a side suplex for two, as the Rednecks do a more comprehensive job of cutting the ring in half than before. Duncum misses a charge to allow the tag to Saturn and setup a six-way brawl, and Saturn manages to catch Bobby in the Death Valley Driver for the pin at 10:56. Well paced, but not much going on, unfortunately. ¾*

Buff Bagwell v Ernest Miller: Lots of stalling in the early going, as Buff plays to the crowd (complete with microphone) and Ernest hangs around at ringside with manager Sonny Onoo. Highlight: Miller (a black man) is wearing Confederate flag gloves. Wow. Also, that's literally the only highlight of this match, as Bagwell controls with bodyslams, and Miller runs away until a heel miscommunication with Onoo's briefcase allows Buff a cradle at 7:22. DUD

No Disqualification WCW United States Title Match: Chris Benoit v Diamond Dallas Page: Benoit goes ballistic on Page with fists in the early going, and knocks him to the floor for a baseball slide - only to get caught in an inverted atomic drop as he tries a follow-up dive. Page brings him in with a belly-to-belly suplex for two, and a fireman’s carry drop is worth two. Page with a modified gutbuster, and a series of short-kneelifts keep the hurt on the midsection until Benoit counters one into a cradle for two - only to walk into a lariat. Page with a spinebuster for a series of two counts, and another lariat is worth two. Sidewalk slam gets two, but another try into countered into a headbutt - only for Chris to get tied in a tree of woe as he tries to capitalize. Page shoves the referee and steals his belt to whip and choke Benoit with (Tenay's 'he's choking the life out of him!' comment a bit more uncomfortable in 2014 than 1999), and tries a hangman with the belt, but Benoit powers out, and whips Page into a German suplex for two. Chris rolls into another German for two, then holds and rolls into a third for two. To the top, but Kanyon shoves him off the ropes, and Page covers for two. Page with a short-clothesline for two, so Bam Bam Bigelow runs in with a flying splash on Benoit to give him another two. The Triad gang up, but Benoit knocks them together, and finishes Page with the flying headbutt to retain the title at 12:14. These two always had some decent chemistry, and this was solid, well paced action - filled with near falls, and not skimping on psychology. **

Sting v Sid Vicious: Sid misses a charge almost immediately to set up a pair of Stinger Splashes, and a clothesline knocks the big man out over the top rope. Sting knocks him into the crowd for a bit (a weird shirtless biker with a giant beard rubbing Sid like a magic lamp), but another Stinger Splash misses on the way back in, and Sid pounds him. Powerslam is worth two and a backbreaker gets two. Chinlock, but Sting powers up for the old 'shoulderblock hurts me as much as you so I stumble into headbutting you in the balls' spot, and he manages to slam Sid off of the top rope as a follow-up. Bodyslam sets up a splash, but Vicious blocks with his knees, and hooks the leg for two. Snake-eyes and the big boot, but Sid makes the stupid mistake of trying to go to the top rope, and gets superplexed off - which he hilariously sells by getting back up and propping himself in the corner for the Stinger Splash. Sting hits two of them, but a third is blocked with a chokeslam, and Vicious gets the pin off of it at 10:40. Hey, say what you will about Sid (fuck, I'll say a lot of it myself), but the big guy could be entertaining even when he was sucking. As for the match, I've seen lots of Sting/Sid matches over the years - and this was basically exactly like those, but outdoors. *

Goldberg v Rick Steiner: Big slugfest to start - won by Goldberg with a clothesline out of the ropes. He follows with a mistimed shoulderblock, and a superkick knocks Steiner to the outside to take a breather. Steiner gets hold of Goldberg's Austin-like knee brace to take control, and hits a belly-to-belly suplex for two. DDT gets two, but Rick walks into a press-powerslam, and Goldberg spears him to set up the Jackhammer for the pin at 5:38. DUD

Hardcore Match: Randy Savage v Dennis Rodman: Brawl on the floor to start, and Savage takes a shot into one of the poles supporting the overhead lighting. Inside, Rodman blasts him with a backelbow, and looks to nearly break poor Randy's neck with his attempt at a Russian legsweep. It gets two, so Rodman takes out the referee in protest of math - only to get clobbered by noted number enthusiast Savage. Lots of choking follows, until Savage takes out the second referee, and they spill out to the floor again. They brawl backstage where Savage locks him in a porta-potty - then tips it over like Davey in Eight Crazy Nights. Sadly, no frisky deer show up. More brawling as they head back to the ring, and Rodman tries a 2^nd rope clothesline - but misses, and takes out the referee. He still manages a sleeper, so Savage bitch Gorgeous George runs in, blows Rodman low, and gives Randy a chain to finish him with at 11:29. Not good, but fun. And fun is good, so not bad. Except that it was bad. DUD

Main Event: WCW World Title Retirement Match: Hulk Hogan v Kevin Nash: Hogan proved to be about three years too early with this yellow-and-red nostalgia run, but damned if I wasn't into it at the time - even going as far as to write an impassioned piece for Rantsylvania in defense of the Hulkster. But even I wouldn't have guessed he'd actually win the WWE Title again, let alone headline another WrestleMania. They make a big, dramatic show out of Nash overpowering the Hulkster out of the initial lockup, and Hogan coming back and winning the third try. Not that that spot is ridiculous, they just both seemed to go through the motions with it, and didn't really get it over for the crowd - which makes it look ridiculous. Nash with a standing side-headlock, but Hulk manages a side suplex to break, and the challenger bails to the floor. Inside, Nash challenges him to a test-of-strength, and brings him to his knees - nailing Hulk with a cheap shot when he tries to make the yellow-and-red fueled comeback. Nash with kneelifts and a bootchoke in the corner, but he wastes too much time picture-framing an elbowsmash, and Hogan sidesteps. Windmill punch sets up a ten-punch count, but Nash rakes the eyes before the champ can polish him off. Nash with a sidewalk slam as Hogan channels 1987 with his selling, and the Powerbomb triggers a proper HULK UP!! Fists of Fury! Big Boot! Legdrop! 12:17! This was like a greatest hits of all of Hogan's old babyface spots he hadn't done since 1996, but again, he was about three years too early for it to properly click with the crowd. The attempts to manufacture drama out of the stipulations was quite transparent too, and Nash's 'retirement' lasted all of two months anyway, but hey, it's the thought that counts. DUD

BUExperience: Let’s start by saying that I’m generally a big fan of outdoor shows because they’re a nice change of pace, but if you’re going to do an outdoor show (let alone a pay per view) maybe, I dunno, have proper lighting? The entire presentation looked horribly amateurish (especially the earlier portions – bathed in sunlight), and unfortunately the wrestling didn’t make up for it. No intrigue, no historical significance (other than that this was thankfully the last Road Wild show), and entirely forgettable. DUD