Road Wild '99

Legacy Review

Road Wild '99

August 14, 1999 from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, SD

 

Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay

 

Welcome to the fourth and and what would be final trip by WCW to the world's largest motorcycle rally and the accompanying biker crowd. This was always a pure Eric Bischoff project/indulgence as he was a huge biker guy. Somewhat ironically, this would also turn out to be the final WCW PPV with him in full control of the company.

 

The big headline going into this show is the recent return of Hollywood Hogan for the first time since Spring Stampede. Only natural as he was the big draw for the Sturgis biker crowd since he was also a biker guy. After clearly leaning back more face his last couple of months before the layoff, Hogan came back as a full face the Nitro after Bash at the Beach and, as Hogan did, immediately defeated new World champ Randy Savage for the title, ending Savage's final ever world title reign at one whole day. It would also turn out to be Hogan's last WCW World title win. He then jumped into a feud with former champ and former NWO stablemate Kevin Nash. One thing I should mention I haven't really the last couple of reviews, the NWO has finally been pushed to the back burner over the summer of '99, about a year and a half later than it should have been. As the feud progressed both men agreed to put their careers on the line over the title tonight. And to cap off the face turn, on the last Nitro before this show Hogan brought back the red and yellow. Somehow I suspect turning the clock back to 1995 isn't going to fix what's been ailing WCW. Another important note is that Ric Flair is no longer in the position of heel WCW President, which is a plus in all ways possible. Story wise the company is now under more normal leadership again with Dusty Rhodes heading up a new championship committee.

 

WCW Cruiserweight Champion Rey Mysterio Jr, Kidman and Eddie Guerrero def Insane Clown Posse and Vampiro (w/Raven) in 12:20- Insane Clown Posse (Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J) are a full time rap group and part time wrestlers, having worked the occasional match on the indy circuit, not to mention running and working their own backyard promotion. I don't know if people nowadays understand just how big a thing amateur backyard wrestling was in the '90s. They also had a short run with WWF in the summer of '98 that included a short 8 man tag match on Raw, but of course it's WCW that puts them in the ring on a PPV. Their Deadpool stablemate Vampiro is making his WCW PPV debut even though he'd been with the company for a while after coming out of CMLL. Their group targeted the luchadores and cruiserweights when they came in, which supposedly was going to lead to Shaggy 2 Dope winning the Cruiserweight title at some point. Thankfully that at least didn't happen, but it might only because of the change in company leadership that was coming. The face team jumps before the bell and we're on. Vampiro gets isolated in the ring with all three of them. What great job they did positioning hard camera for this show. Gives us a great look at the Sturgis rally food stands. That's freaking hilarious. Talk about half assed. More interesting than what's happening in the ring too. Eventually Vampire gets a comeback on Guerrero and Guerrero gets stuck in the wrong corner to get pounded down by ICP. Tenay mentions the main reason ICP is wrestling, they'll be featured on the new WCW Mayhem album coming out later in the year. Both ICP guys tag in and continue to keep Guerrero in peril. Nice delayed suplex from Dope followed by an elbow drop. Guerrero uses a knucklelock with Vampiro to hop to the top rope and hit a hurricanrana, but J cuts the tag off and keeps Guerrero in their corner. Rock Bottom style side slam from Vampiro for 2. Double delayed suplex from ICP. Guerrero manages to crotch Dope on the top rope and superplexes him. Tags on both sides and Mysterio comes in with a splash and moonsault on J. Raven pulls Mysterio out and tosses him into the stairs. Vamprio gives Mysterio the Vampiro Spike on the ring platform. I like how Vampiro scoops Mysterio up and tosses him in the ring like he's a little doll. J continues the punishment on Mysterio back in. Kneebreaker from J. He knows a wrestling move. Vampiro absolutely TOSSES Mysterio across the ring with a powerbomb. Dope powerslams Mysterio for 2. Mysterio gets tossed out again and Raven....talks to him. Might be reciting some of his poetry. That's worse than the beatdown Mysterio's gotten in the match. Vogon poetry is clearly the third worst in the universe, but Raven's is probably right after. Big clothesline from Dope back in. Mysterio gets a boot up in the corner, climbs up top and hits a split legged moonsault. Tag to Kidman. DONNYBROOK! Guerrero misses a plancha attempt on Vampiro while Mysterio gives J the shitty bronco buster. Vampiro accidentally superkicks Dope. Shooting star press on Dope from Kidman and that gets the pin. It wasn't pretty, but overall it was decent formula tag stuff. ICP looked competent at least. **1/2

 

WCW World Tag Team Championship: Harlem Heat def The Jersey Triad (c) in 13:06- After going their separate ways for the past year, WCW's most successful team of all time in terms of tag title wins are back together. Just in time to challenge for the titles again as faces at Sturgis, a place where they haven't exactly been made to feel welcome in the past. Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow are defending for the Triad tonight as DDP has other business later on. Bigelow's belt falls off as he's walking down the aisle. He does have a very large waist. Kanyon runs down the crowd on the mic after their entrance in an attempt to get Harlem Heat cheered. And it seems to work some, Heat's reception does seem a bit warmer. Sturgis gets progressive. Another jump start as soon as everyone's in. The faces clear the ring and do get some cheers. The Triad regroup/stall on the floor and we reset with Kanyon and Ray. Kanyon works Ray over with some basic stuff before Ray press slams him. Bigelow runs in, gets slammed, and the Triad go to the floor again. Booker tags in and quickly pounds Kanyon down in the corner. Kanyon back elbows out of a hammerlock. Speed run and Booker hits a dropkick for 2. Kanyon retreats to his corner and tags Bigelow in. He and Ray play to the crowd forever before locking up. Shoulderblock standoffs. Clothesline from Ray. Bigelow responds with a quick headbutt to Ray's gut. Kanyon hits a double ax handle off the top rope and a series of elbow drops. Both Triad guys squash Ray in the corner as Ray is kept in peril for a while. Ray gets a comeback slam on Kanyon but misses an elbow drop. Bigelow goes up top from the apron. Ray counters Kanyon and slingshots him into Bigelow! Tag to Booker! Running forearm on Kanyon. Side kick for 2. He goes for the scissors kick but Bigelow pulls the top rope down, sending Booker down to the floor. Kanyon hits the avalanche legdrop for 2. He goes for it again and Booker counters it into a powerbomb. Tags on both sides. Ray's comeback is stalled by the numbers game. DDP runs in and gets on the apron. Ray reverses and Bigelow gets whipped into him. Missile dropkick from Booker, Ray covers and gets the pin for the titles! It's Heat's 8th WCW World tag title win, breaking a tie with the Steiner Brothers for the record. *3/4

 

The Revolution def The West Texas Rednecks (w/Kendall Windham) in 10:57- More 6 man action here. The Revolution are the initial iteration of the group that would become the Radicalz, with Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn and recently returned to WCW from ECW Shane Douglas in action for them tonight. The West Texas Rednecks are still coming out to "Rap is Crap", which admittedly is borderline comedy gold. Saturn makes me like him more than he ever has, taking a mic and basically saying "We don't give a shit about your music wars, we just want to wrestle, so figure out who's going to get their ass kicked". When he's done we get full team jump start #3 tonight with a quick ring cleanout by Revolution. Reset with Windham and Malenko. Quick armdrag from Malenko. Corner clothesline. Malenko/Saturn double back elbow. Saturn grounds Windham with a headlock, then Douglas lets Windham escape and gets caught in the heel corner. Big boot from Duncum. Douglas responds with a powerslam. Chops from Saturn on Duncum. Saturn gives Windham a t-bone and a belly to belly suplex. Kendall hits Saturn in the back from the floor and Windham hits the flying lariat. Hennig gets the snap mare/neck snap combo. Saturn comes back to plant Duncum with a German suplex and tags Malenko. Suplex from Malenko and he gives Duncum some ground and pound. Douglas hooks up for the Pittsburgh Plunge but Hennig comes in and breaks it up. Kendall and Hennig work Douglas over on the floor. Douglas lifts Hennig and crotches him on the post. He goes up top but Hennig, already recovered, slams him off. Nuts of steel. Back suplex from Windham for 2. Mounted punches and clothesline from Windham for 2. Duncum hits a shoulderbreaker for 2. Kendall chokes Douglas with his rope. Duncum suplex for 2. DDT from Windham for 2. Douglas/Windham midring collision, but Douglas falls to the wrong part of the ring and has no chance to tag. Douglas dodges Duncum in the corner and gets a tag to Saturn. Huge clothesline on Duncum. Everyone in the pool! Malenko gets the cloverleaf on Hennig. Kendall comes in and breaks it up. Saturn hits Duncum with the DVD and gets the pin to win. Fine enough. **

 

Buff Bagwell def Ernest "The Cat" Miller (w/Sonny Oono) in 7:27- Hoo boy. I doubt this one will be for the faint of heart or otherwise queasy. Miller and Oono have actually tried to dress up a bit for the crowd. Miller even has Confederate flags on his gloves. I'm not sure if that's going to work as a heel move here. One thing I will give Miller I haven't mentioned before, he does have distinctive music. You could count the number of guys with that in WCW on one Confederate flag gloved hand. Tony praises Bagwell for "always being in a good mood". That's because he doesn't have the brains to know any better. Bagwell tries to talk but Miller keeps stealing the mic away. Then Miller goes out and jaws with the crowd. It's Stallfest 2000 and the bell hasn't even rung yet. The bell rings and....more stalling. Lockup and quick Miller hiptoss. Then he seems to have some kind of spasm attack, I'm not sure. I think he's mocking motorcycle riding but in the weirdest way possible. Scoop and slam from Miller. The crowd chants "pussycat" at Miller. I guess that's some kind of insult in biker circles. A simple "pussy" would be better. Now it's Bagwell's turn for a hiptoss and slams, followed by a clothesline and Miller rolls out. Back in Miller offers a handshake, and after some more crowd playing gets the jump on Bagwell. Corner beatdown. Bagwell slips out of a move and hits a couple of dropkicks. Miller straight low blows Bagwell to get free from the corner, then hits a superkick. Oono comes over and weakly chokes Bagwell with Bagwell barely reacting to it. Heel 101 punchy chokey eye rakey stuff from Miller follows with the odd kick mixed in. Bagwell blocks a suplex and hits his own to turn things around. Regular and inverted atomic drops. Bagwell crossbody for 2. Miller gets him with a jawbreaker and calls Oono onto the apron. Bagwell reverses the whip so Miller runs into the Loaded Briefcase of Death (which I guess has replaced the Loaded Red Shoe of Dancing Doom), rolls Miller up, and gets the pin. Miller beats Bagwell down a bit after the bell to get his heat back. Met expectations. DUD

 

No DQ Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship: Chris Benoit (c) def Diamond Dallas Page in 12:14- A rare smart move to get these guys back together. This was a hot feud (which also included Raven) that produced some great matches in early '98. On the most recent Nitro Benoit ended the national nightmare of David Flair as US champ, finally winning his long overdue first singles gold in WCW. Of course simply reigniting the feud wasn't enough, for some reason DDP has also been insulting Benoit's mother to rile him up more, but that doesn't play into the match at all. DDP jaws after the bell. Benoit responds with a kick and fists. DDP goes for a quick powerbomb but Benoit slugs himself free. A baseball slide almost sends DDP off the ring platform. A chop finishes the job. DDP catches Benoit trying to leap off the platform and runs his back into it. Back in DDP tries to German suplex Benoit off a Bret bump. Benoit tries to fight free, so DDP reverses into a belly to belly suplex for 2. DDP starts focusing on Benoit's back, then drops him face first out of a fireman's carry for 2. Gutwrench into a gutbuster. Knees to the gut from DDP. Benoit counters into a roll up for 2. Counter cradle from DDP for 2, then he hits a clothesline. DDP starts getting cocky and Benoit fires back, but he runs into a DDP spinebuster for 2. DDP fights to try to pin Benoit's arms down for a leverage pin. Benoit again counters with a cradle, and again DDP is back up with a clothesline. Again DDP starts getting cocky and slows things way down. DDP side suplex for 2. Benoit spins free of another side suplex attempt, tries a backslide, but DDP blocks it so Benoit hits a jawbreaker instead. Benoit goes up top but DDP crotches him and pulls him down into the tree of woe. DDP slaps ref Lil' Naitch, forcibly takes Naitch's belt off and whips Benoit with it. Finally taking advantage of no DQ. He chokes Benoit with the belt and.....um, yeah, I'm not going there. But you can't help but think it. Cover for a long 2. Snap mares by the belt. DDP puts Benoit up in a Canadian backbreaker and pulls on the belt to hang him! Benoit uses the ropes to flip over and kick free. He gets the belt off and whips DDP with it. German for 2. Another German for 2. Number 3 and again a 2 count. Throat slash! Kanyon comes out and pushes Benoit off the top rope right into a DDP uranage for 2. DDP gets whipped into Kanyon and Benoit rolls him up for 2. Clothesline from DDP for 2. Now Bigelow is out and splashes Benoit off the top rope. DDP covers. Benoit kicks out! Benoit avoids a triple team and we get much people falling into crotches hilarity. Headbutt off the top on DDP! Benoit covers and gets the pin to retain! All the more impressive that he fought off all three Jersey Triad guys with none of his honorable Revolution stablemates helping him. That was as good as it possibly could have been in this environment. ***1/2

 

Contest time! These things always go good on wrestling shows. WCW is giving away a custom Road Wild American IronHorse motorcycle. I am anything but a biker guy, but I know enough to know Harley and the other big bike names. What the hell is an American IronHorse? Well, it's a company that had barely started in 1995 so clearly they were really wanting some extra publicity. It didn't work as the company went belly up in 2006. Everything late '90s WCW touched died eventually. The winner's first name is Darnell, which greatly amuses Heenan. Thankfully they don't try to call him live or anything.

 

Sid Vicious def Sting in 10:40- Sid is now being billed as the Millennium Man with 2000 fast approaching. Again, if you didn't live through it you have no idea how massive that calendar change was in general culture. I'm forever jaded and uncaring about New Year's because nothing can ever compare to 2000. I don't remember the details and of course commentary isn't very enlightening, but Sting is the one that took the title of WCW President away from Flair. Because he's a good guy he's focused on being a wrestler and is leaving all the decisions to JJ Dillon and the Dusty Rhodes led championship committee. Lockup! Quick corner shots from Sid. Sting dodges and gets Sid caught in the corner. Stinger Splash! Another! 360 clothesline and Sid goes out to the floor. Sting pushes him partially over the guardrail and the biker crowd is more than happy to help Sid over the rest of the way. Good luck to security trying to hold those guys back. Back in Sid dodges another Stinger Splash attempt. Powerslam for 2. Backbreaker for 2 and we go into the usual slow, plodding Sid beatdown. Sid tosses Sting out and drops him on the guardrail. He tries a leverage pin back in but the ref catches him. Sting fights out of a chinlock. Midring collision and Sting does his usual head first flop down into his opponent's crotch. Sid goes up top and Sting slams him off. Sting moves to hit the ropes but Sid puts his knees up early and Sting trips over him, going down in a heap! I don't think that was what they were going for. After a protracted discussion on the mat Sting slams Sid, then they repeat the spot and Sid gets his knees up at the right time this time to block Sting's splash. Snake eyes from Sid. Sting runs into a big boot. Sid goes up top again and this time Sting superplexes him. Sid might want to stop trying that. Another Stinger Splash hits. Another. On a third go Sting leaps into a goozle. Chokeslam from Sid and he gets the pin. Typical Sid match. He overpromised and underdelivered in big matches more consistently than anyone else in wrestling history. Plus Sting's give a shit had been pretty much broken since his mega push ended with the giant clusterfuck that was Starrcade '97 and the months immediately after. 3/4*

 

Goldberg def WCW World Television Champion Rick Steiner in 5:39- This screams "placeholder feud" while they continue to try to rebuild Goldberg after the end of the undefeated streak, though Rick had been getting his biggest singles push in literally a decade, riding the coattails of Scott Steiner's successful singles breakout. The sun's about fully set as we hit the last part of the card. The bell rings and we're immediately slugging it out. Clothesline from Goldberg and Rick just about falls on his head (on purpose). Coming off the ropes Rick leaps in the air to do....something, but Goldberg just straight runs him over and knocks him down. Not sure if that's what either guy was expecting. They are laying into each other, I'll give them that. Rick always liked to work stiff and Goldberg didn't know any better. Superkick from Goldberg and Rick rolls out for a think. Coming back in Rick shoves the ref into Goldberg then gives Goldberg a Greco Roman Nut Punt. While Goldberg's down Rick pulls his knee brace off, then hits Goldberg with it. Once again, putting a no DQ stip on a match in this era of WCW really meant nothing, they were all worked essentially as no DQ. Rick wraps the brace around his forearm and hits Goldberg with it again, then drops an elbow with it. Clothesline with the brace. Come on ref, what the hell are we doing here. Tony tries to argue the knee brace isn't a foreign object because Goldberg wore it to the ring. Nice try, Tony. More and more and more shots with the knee brace. Rick eventually starts to work on Goldberg's knee. With the brace as a weapon, of course. Braceless belly to belly suplex from Rick for 2, then he picks the brace back up and runs it into Goldberg's head again. DDT from Rick. NOT onto the brace. Goldberg finally has enough and starts slugging back. Press powerslam. Spear. Jackhammer. Done. Goldberg Formula 101. Utter trash, and a mockery of normal wrestling rules to boot. DUD

 

In the lead up to intros for the next match I swear I see a guy in the crowd that has a tan line like he's been wearing a bikini top. And not a small guy either. I don't want to know. But I had to see it so I'm mentioning it to try to spread the pain around a little bit. 

 

Hardcore Match: "Macho Man" Randy Savage def Dennis Rodman in 11:30- For the third straight summer Rodman is spending part of the NBA offseason wrestling for WCW, and for the first time in a singles match. It will also be the last time. Rodman tried to kidnap Gorgeous George on Nitro to get this going so Savage is keeping all his women away from the ring tonight. Obviously this is Hardcore stips because they'll need all the smoke and mirrors they can get their hands on. It's just about fully dark now, giving the show a better look that it had in daylight. Rodman takes a mic on the floor and asks Savage "Where's my bitch?". He tosses the mic to Savage and Savage says "Tonight you're my bitch!". Debate point Savage. Rodman, knowing he can't win a battle of wits, gets in the ring and attacks Savage with the mic. He drags Savage out and knocks him around ringside a bit. Post, guardrail, and lighting tower. Back in Rodman drops Savage with a back elbow. Short clothesline. Once again commentary is aghast that Rodman knows how to stand in a ring. Russian leg sweep from Rodman! "Executed to perfection" says Tenay. Not exactly a super hard one to pull off. Rodman gets on the ref for not counting to 3. This isn't the NBA, you can't intimidate/pay the refs to do whatever you want them to do. Rodman decks the ref! That didn't take long. Fortunately there's a backup ref all set to go. Savage grabs one of the 15 pieces of metal dangling off Rodman's face. Take your choice really. A headbutt puts Rodman down. Now Savage goes into a bunch of chokey stuff. He barely gets Rodman up to drop him throat first on the top rope. Savage goes outside and punches out a photographer! OK, that's different. Points for that. Commentary says the victim is the new editor of WCW Magazine. Bet he's regretting his career choices right now. Wonder if he negotiated hazard pay. Savage takes his camera and nails Rodman with it. Cover for 2. Now Savage has issues with the count and takes ref #2 out. Ref #3 is immediately in the ring and immediately gets taken out by Savage too. Rodman backdrops Savage over the top rope to the floor! He about landed on the corpse of the WCW Magazine editor too. Ref #4 has also entered the match. Savage grabs Rodman, drags him out to the floor and starts beating slowly him up the aisle. They go up the ramp to the stage area. Out of nowhere Rodman tosses Savage across the stage. They go down the back side of the stage. Savage goes into a portapotty and tosses out the guy that was using it! Fortunately his pants were on. I cannot imagine how utterly foul the portapotties at a place like Surgis must be. The ones in trackside campgrounds at the NASCAR races I used to go to in the '90s were bad enough. Savage puts Rodman in the portapotty, closes the door and tips it over! There's shit pouring out of it, and it could well be real shit. You could not pay me enough to do a spot like that. They come back up the stage. Tony: "Rodman should wipe his feet before coming up here". A running double ax handle to the back sends Rodman rolling back down the ramp. They get back to the ring and Rodman climbs up the ropes. Savage ducks and Rodman flying clotheslines the ref. Four down. It's a pure ref massacre. Refs are getting slaughtered like Iranian nuclear facilites. Rodman hooks a sleeper on Savage as Gorgeous George makes her way into the ring. Savage jawbreakers free. George hands Savage a chain. Nick Patrick is the last ref standing and he joins the match. George runs up and low blows Rodman. Punch with the chain from Savage and he gets the pin to win. Yeah it's awful, but really it could have been a lot worse. Savage walked Rodman through it step by step and Savage's famously manically detailed layouts helped a lot too. 1/2*

 

Retirement Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def Kevin Nash in 12:16- This is a good example of how Hogan sauntering in with all his demands (or I'm sure "requests" in his mind) messed everything up. Nash was the big face in the company, got screwed out of the title by heel Savage, then Hogan wanted to be a face again so Nash had to quickly flip back heel. Almost as bad as Rock coming in and screwing up everything for Wrestlemania 41 at the near last second. Nash was still head booker at this point so I'm sure he would have done whatever Hogan wanted anyway, regardless of Hogan's creative control clause. Nash is still coming out to the Wolfpac music even though, again, everything NWO had finally been just about phased out. For now. Along with the yellow and red, American Made is back as Hogan's music. Both guys take their sweet time after the bell. Nash wins the early lockups. Hogan tosses his bandana off! Now he's pissed. And, consequently, Hogan wins the next lockup. Long headlock from Nash that Hogan can't get free from. Eventually he back suplexes out and Nash rolls out to think. Coming back in Nash wants a test of strength. So far this has been the most generic formula face Hogan main event you could possibly have. As expected, Hogan initially loses then fights back up. Nash uses the opening to hit a knee to the gut and goes into slow beatdown mode. Corner boot choke. Vintage Nash measured corner elbows. He spends too much time setting up the big one and Hogan dodges. Big corner punches from Hogan. They trade off eye pokes and Nash hits a forearm to Hogan's back. Side suplex for 2. They go outside and back in doing nothing at all of note other than Hogan's exaggerated flop after getting back in the ring. This time Nash hits the picture perfect corner elbow. Big boot. Jackknife. Gee, I wonder what's coming. Yup, it's Hulk Up time. No selling, point, three punches, big boot, legdrop, good night. Pure Goldberg formula and pure Hogan formula on the same show. I'm surprised the universe didn't implode. With that loss, Nash's career is over......which will last a whole two months before he comes back. 1/4*

 

OVERALL SHOW GRADE- The Sturgis shows weren't exactly known as bastions of wrestling quality and this last one is no exception. Pretty much nothing here will matter in the long run either, because the next time WCW was on PPV Bischoff would be gone (for now) and plans in motion for the next era of WCW. It's almost time to put the final nails in the coffin.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D