Mike Re-Books WCW Spring Stampede 2000 (Non Reset version)

Happy Wednesday (moving into Thursday) Everyone!

Back to rebooking today, as I’ve been enjoying Scott Keith’s WCW 2000 reviews and we’ve hit the stage this week where Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo are about to be brought back in for the Big Reset of the promotion.

However, I thought I’d throw together what a possible card would have looked like if WCW hadn’t done the dreaded reset, with Spring Stampede 2000 being the next pay per view on the docket.

So, join me if you dare, for the rebooking of Spring Stampede 2000 in a world where the gruesome twosome weren’t allowed to perform their reset.

The card for the original event can be found below

WCW Spring Stampede 2000 card

WCW World Cruiserweight Title
Champ: The Artist w/ Paisley Vs Chris Candido
10 Minutes

We keep Chris Candido’s run in the Cruiserweight division going here, as he takes on The Artist for the belt. It might be a bit soon to already throw Candido into a Title match, but The Artist was kind of dying on the vine as Champion, so a mercy killing was in order. Candido is outnumbered due to The Artist having Paisley in his corner, but he finds unexpected assistance from Bam Bam Bigelow in the closing states, with Bigelow nullifying Paisley and thus allowing Candido to get a reasonably clean win. Candido and Bammer leave together following the bout, suggesting that they will be allies going forward

– Candido over clean(ish)

WCW Hardcore Title
Champ: Brian Knobbs Vs Hugh Morrus Vs Terry Funk
8 Minutes

I personally found Terry Funk’s run as Hardcore Champ from this timeframe to be one of the few highlights of a pretty dismal period in WCW history; so at Spring Stampede we’ll have The Funker survive the onslaught of his two opponents in order to pick up the win when Dustin Rhode’s interference goes awry. Dustin will be furious that his hated rival has won a belt, laying the table for one more match between them before moving them both on to new things

– Funk over by pinning Knobbs following botched interference from Dustin

Evan Karagias w/ Shannon and Shane Vs Kidman w/ Torrie Wilson
7 Minutes

This one is all about having a quick paced match in order to give Kidman a chance to shine. Kidman can survive attempted interference from the rest of 3 Count in order to pick up the victory, thus giving him some steam in order to go for the Cruiser, TV or US belts

– Kidman over clean

Lane and Rave Vs Los Fabulosos w/ Miss. Hancock
8 Minutes

We finish off this issue between xS and Hancock here at Spring Stampede, as Hancock does a sexy dance to distract Lane, leading to El Dandy getting the win. We can then move both teams onto new things

– Fabs over following Hancock distraction

WCW World TV Title
If Duggan wins he doesn’t have to be a janitor anymore
Champ: Jim Duggan Vs Fit Finlay
7 Minutes

Duggan will be sick of being a janitor and will request the chance to become a regular wrestler again, with resident authority figure Terry Taylor allowing Duggan to do so, provided he put the Title on the line in the process at Spring Stampede. Duggan will accept and Finlay will be named as challenger. During the bout the ref will get momentarily dazed, which will lead to Finlay trying to clock Duggan with a chair for the dirty win. Duggan will see this coming though and will crack the chair with his trusty 2×4, sending the chair into Finlay’s face and then netting the three count from the revived ref

Duggan’s celebration will be short-lived however, as previous foe Shane Douglas will return to attack Duggan, insulted that Duggan found the belt in the trash and was just allowed to be Champion. Duggan will hold his own reasonably well, but Douglas will find assistance from Chris Candido and Bam Bam Bigelow and eventually the re-united Triple Threat will leave “Hacksaw” laid out

-Duggan over by 2×4 shot when ref down
–Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow and Chris Candido attack Duggan post-match

WCW World Tag Team Titles
Champs: The Harris Brothers Vs Harlem Heat 2000 Vs The Mamalukes
10 Minutes

On the most recent edition of Nitro that Scott reviewed, The Mamalukes fired Disco Inferno as their manager. As a result Disco will recruit former partner Alex Wright here in order to teach his former charges a lesson by costing them the tag belts when they look to have them won. We’ll make this a match where all six wrestlers are legal and we’ll mostly have them brawling in a hope to keep it watchable. It’ll probably fail, but hey-ho

– Harris’ over when Disco and a returning Alex Wright cost The Mamalukes

No DQ Handicap Match
David Flair, Crowbar and Daffney Vs The Wall
5 Minutes

We finish off this storyline here at Spring Stampede 2000 by putting Wall over strongly. Flair, Crowbar and Daffney will bravely use the numbers game in an effort to keep the bigger and scarier Wall on the backfoot, but Wall will eventually shrug it off and stack all three of them for the decisive win

– Wall over clean

WCW United States Title
Champ: Jeff Jarrett Vs Booker T
15 Minutes

We reward Booker for suffering through the past 4 months of wretched storylines by having him take the US Title from Jarrett here at Spring Stampede, so that we don’t have to keep putting that belt on ice whilst Jarrett goes for the World Title. Jarrett tries to clock Booker with a guitar shot from the top rope, but Booker will catch him in the Book End to pick up the win. Scott Steiner can stare down Booker following the bout in order to set up future matches between the two over the belt

– Booker over clean

WCW World Title
Champ: Sid Vs Hulk Hogan
10 Minutes

The easy result here would be to just put Hogan over and make him the Champion. However, WCW didn’t need Hulk Hogan as Champ in 2000, so instead we’ll set up a new feud for Hogan by having Wall storm down to the ring and attack Hogan for the DQ, just when it looks like The Hulkster might win the belt. In an ECW moment, Sting and Vampiro will try to run down and rescue Hogan from Wall and Sid, which will lead to Team Package running down for a further brawl to lead directly into the next match

– Hogan over by DQ when Wall runs in
— A brawl between Sid, Wall, Team Package, Hogan, Sting and Vampiro leads into the next match

No DQ
Team Package Vs Sting and Vampiro
15 Minutes

We make this like Sting’s AEW matches, where everyone brawls all over the building in a wild fight. Eventually the babyfaces pick up the win in order to send the fans home happy, with Flair tapping out to the Scorpion Deathlock whilst Vampiro nullifies Luger

-Sting and Vamp over clean

In Conclusion

WCW had a pretty limited roster by the time Spring Stampede 2000 came around, which is why a lot of these matches are brawl based because it’s generally the best style to employ when you want to hide other people’s weaknesses.

Wall Vs Hogan isn’t going to lead to exciting matches, but Hogan can easily plug Wall into his usual formula and it should hopefully get over if done correctly. It also has the bonus of keeping Hogan out of the World Title picture whilst letting him exist in his own universe where he gets to be a conquering hero against monsters of the month.

As for the World Title, the next logical challenger would probably be Sting following the events of Spring Stampede, and we’ve always got Goldberg and Nash waiting in the wings as potential opponents. With Jeff Jarrett and Sid both as Heels, there might not be an immediate path for Jarrett into the Title picture, but maybe he could begin a feud with someone like Vampiro, Kanyon or DDP, with the idea being that the winner gets themselves into Title contention?

Reuniting The Triple Threat with Douglas, Bigelow and Candido will probably illicit some groans, but the three are better together than apart and it’s not like we’re spoilt for talent in WCW around this time. Douglas can eventually win the TV Title and then we can have Bigelow pick up the Hardcore Title in order to give the group some firm footing. DDP, Kanyon and a partner (maybe possibly Raven if we can coax him back from ECW?) against The Triple Threat could possibly work as a feud, with the idea being that Bigelow has abandoned his former friends for the new group in town and now they’re looking for some revenge?

Kidman is in a bit of in a weird place, as he’s kind of above the Cruiserweight Title at this stage, but not really over enough for the US Title. If we do put the TV Title on Douglas, then Kidman makes sense as the guy to eventually dethrone him and we can use that as a way to gradually build Kidman up so that he can hit the US Title scene by 2001.

The Tag Title scene is a bit of a mess. I’d be tempted to turn Team Package babyface and have them win them for a bit whilst we build up a credible Heel team to dethrone them, but Flair probably won’t want to go babyface.

Booker T’s first big challenge for the US Title will likely be Scott Steiner, but Dustin Rhodes could be an option too once Dustin has finally finished his issue with Terry Funk.

Well, that’s Spring Stampede 2000 in a world with no reset. How would you have done it?