Spring Stampede

April 17, 1994

Chicago, IL

Rosemont Horizon

Five years prior to this show, Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat defeated Ric Flair to win his first and only world heavyweight championship. Though the two had wrestled hundreds of times by both men's accounts, their 1989 trilogy is cemented in wrestling history. Spring Stampede provided the next chapter.

Steamboat and Flair, now friends, faced off for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in what would be their last pay-per-view meeting. There's not much story behind this match, and with both men being babyfaces, it takes some of the edge off this match. And Steamboat, while still being a star, didn't have the level of importance he had five years prior.

Still, from a technical standpoint, this match is excellent. Flair was 45 and Steamboat was 41, both considered advanced ages for main event talent in 1994, and yet both guys worked with a pace that you didn't see from other guys their age. Steamboat caught Flair a double chickenwing -- the same move that he forced Flair to submit to in their 2/3 falls match -- but Steamboat falls backward and both men's shoulders are counted down. The match was ruled a draw and Flair retained the title.

In 1994, WCW still had the Big Gold Belt, but it was referred to as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship, with Rick Rude as the defending champion. He defended the title here against Sting in a decent but forgettable match that Sting won. Perhaps more notable is that this would be Rick Rude's final pay-per-view match. A short time after this event, Rude suffered a severe back injury while wrestling Sting in Japan. Sting did a suicide dive and Rude hit the edge of an elevated platform. Though Rude finished the match and won the title, his back injury was severe enough that he was forced to retire.

The world title shenanigans would soon end as Flair and Sting would unify the titles weeks later and put the Big Gold Belt back in its place as the company's top title. Just in time for a debut, brother.

WCW United States Champion "Stunning" Steve Austin took on the Great Muta. An interesting pairing in theory, but this match does nothing more than exist. Muta is a known star to WCW fans, but I don't think there was much investment in him possibly winning the title. And while Austin is holding the promotion's third most important single's title, he doesn't feel as if he's anywhere near a priority. Muta gets disqualified when he sends Austin over the top rope, in what remains one of the dumbest rules ever developed in pro wrestling.

In a non-title affair, WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) face off against Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in a Chicago Street Fight. Mick Foley said years ago that this match was far better than he expected it to be, because at the time, he was mentally done with WCW and looking forward to leaving. This is a wild and crazy brawl, and keep in mind that in the context of 1994, nothing like this was being seen in WCW or WWE. There's a spot where Sags clobbers Jack with a fully-extended table over and over and over again. And the match hardly takes place in the ring, with most of the brawling occuring on the ramp or near a concession stand. Sags beans Jack in the head with a snow shovel for the win. Foley was just 29 years old here, and it's not hard to see why he would retire six years later.

WCW gets a lot of hate for its early 90s stuff, but the stretch of late 1993 through early 1994, built around a main event scene of Flair, Rude, Vader, and Sting, was really special. Enjoy it while it lasts. People talk about the Codyverse or the Learning Tree. Wait until you see 1994-1996 Hulk Hogan.

Other matches on this show:

• Bunkhouse Buck vs. Dustin Rhodes in a bunkhouse match

• Vader vs. The Boss

• WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal vs. Brian Pillman

• Johnny B. Badd vs. Diamond Dallas Page

You can find the B-Show Stories archive here.