10 Brilliant Things From Late WCW

1. Spring Stampede 99

Spring Stampede 99 was shortly after everything had gone to hell for WCW. The Warrior/Hogan feud from six months earlier was atrocious and still left a lingering stench on the product, we were introduced to a woman named Judy Bagwell, Goldberg’s Streak was over and just the prior month at WCW Uncensored, we had a ridiculous Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair cage match in the main event.

But for one night, it seemed that they could turn everything around.

Spring Stampede 1999 is one of the best pay-per-views that the promotion ever put on. It was certainly the best one of their last few years in business. The opener featured Juventud Guerrera and the enigmatic Blitzkrieg kicking off the show in a Cruiserweight classic. Rey Mysterio Jr. and Billy Kidman later delivered a great match as well. Both of those were absolutely unlike anything you could see in WWF at the time. It was something you wouldn't see on a national stage for years.

Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko vs. Raven and Saturn was a hard-hitting tag bout for the titles, and Scott Steiner vs. Booker T for the US Title was a preview of what was right around the corner. The main event topped it off with Diamond Dallas Page capturing the WCW Heavyweight Title for the first time after besting Ric Flair and Sting.

WrestleMania XV had taken place just a couple weeks earlier, and yet a silly sounding b-level WCW event completely blew it away. Had the company only committed to pushing the mid-card talent featured on this show in main event roles, they likely could have survived well past 2001.