WCW March 25th - April 22nd 1996 Catch-Up

[jackknight]

Hashtag said:

Hey guys, sorry this is rough and thrown together, but it’s better to just get it up than to make each show perfect, thanks for being understanding about things. I will have Spring Stampede finished and posted by tomorrow night at the latest.

.
.
.

Coming off of a six-man tag team elimination victory at the Clash of the Champions Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat was feeling very confident, especially with the ability to choose the stipulation for his World Television Championship rematch against the Long-Island Loud Mouth. The Dragon says that he “knows Chris Jericho is not half the wrestler or half the man” that he is! Which is why Steamer does not feel that he need a special type of match or anything like that; Ricky Steamboat can out wrestle Chris Jericho anytime anywhere! But the Dragon knows that a desperate Jericho is a dangerous Jericho, he proved at by attacking him to start their overtime period at Superbrawl. That is why if Jericho does anything to get himself disqualified or counted out in order to save his championship, he will lose it!

The April fools edition of Nitro saw an epic encounter between the two. Chris Jericho spent many a 9 count on the floor, using his wits to stay a step ahead of the Dragon, but Steamboat stayed a step ahead in wrestling department. In the end Jericho was able to survived Jericho/Steamboat II in a time-limit draw.

A very proud Chris Jericho, flagged by the Lenny and Christian, the Highlight Express, came out beaming. “I am finished with Ricky Steamboat.” Jericho says he took his manhood and his pride by coming out of “Ricky’s specialty match” with his title reign intact. Jericho says that there are a lot of other challengers out there and now that he is done with Steamboat he can finally move on to bigger and better things. This brought out the Prez, JJ Dillon. He agrees that there are a lot of guys worthy of challenging the TV champion, but that Chris Jericho would not simply “loophole” his way out of having to wrestle Ricky Steamboat, and that they will wrestle one more time and that on April 28th in Chicago, Chris Jericho would face Ricky Steamboat, “2 out of 3 falls with a 1 hour time limit.” Jericho comes unglued and chases Dillon up the ramp in his ear, screaming the entire way.

.
.
.

Lex Luger surprised the wrestling world by choosing Marcus Bagwell to be his
partner against Scott Norton and Curt Hennig at the Clash of the Champions, and while Bagwell showed a lot of heart he took a helluva beating. The World Heavyweight Champion says he was mightily impressed by the balls that Bagwell has, but that isn’t nearly as impressive as the stupidity showed by Luger. Not one to hide, Lex said that Hennig and Norton’s actions were despicable. This led to a pull apart brawl, and set up a United States Title Match the following week.

After a hard fought, back and forth match-up, Curt Hennig proved to be the difference maker as Scott Norton pinned Lex Luger to become the NEW UNITED STATES HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION! The following week saw plenty of gloating from Norton and Hennig who joked that Luger took Bagwell’s hospital room. This led to JJ Dillon announcing that at Spring Stampede in Chicago, Illinois Curt Hennig and Scott Norton would be defending their titles as Lex Luger will finally get his World Heavyweight Championship match he was promised after Superbrawl, and also that Buff Bagwell would be returning and in Luger’s corner for the contest, and that Norton’s first US Title defense would be against the man who has been after him for weeks, Diamond Dallas Page!

.
.
.

Harlem Heat continued to dominate the tag team division in WCW, but after an inconclusive finish to the #1 Contenders Texas Tornado Tag Match at the Clash, they would have to defend the titles against both The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear in a Triangle Match for the WCW Unified Tag Team Championships of the World.

Several weeks of singles matches between the six grapplers proved to be inconclusive on who exactly is the favorite heading into the big one fall match at Spring Stampede. Dusty seems particularly excited about "duh clubberin'" that is sure to transpire in "search of duh pay windah"

.
.
.

WCW President JJ Dillon delivered a promo discussing the current crop of young talent in WCW, and how the WCW Competition Committee has noticed a different style of wrestling making its presence felt in the United States, specifically in WCW. Vice President Magnum T.A. says that it is heavily influenced by Lucha Libre and Puroresu, and that they proudly announce a tournament to crown the first ever Generation neXt champion.

Magnum T. A. announced that the Generation Next tournament would begin next week, and that the competition committee had decide to fill the brackets with 4 WCW competitors that we feel exemplify what they envision a GenX Champion as being, and also 4 International competitors that exemplify that as well. He would ask that they come out, but that could lead to a problem, as WCW will be entering both Super Pegasus and Hugh Morrus into the tournament. "This tournament is not about weight limits, it is about a style of wrestling that we see developing and we would like to cultivate here in WCW. Those two men are everything that WCW wants this division to be. Next in the tournament will be Christian Cage"….

Which of course brings out the Highlight Express, “that’s really cool and all Maggie, but-uh you could just announced the Highlight Express together, because I know my P.I.C. Lennzilla is the last guy in the tournament” Lane chimes in, “P.I.C. is partner in crime for all you who don’t know! Dude you totally forgot we are taking to idiots,” Totally, **HIGH-FIVE!** Magnum says that Lenny Lane is another athlete that WCW envisions being a huge part of the division, but it just ain’t his night. Christian was the lucky one, because Prince Iaukea is who WCW is looking for!

This led to an aggressive and fast-paced match between Prince Iaukea and Lenny Lane. Christian attacks which brought out Prince’s cousin and tag team partner Rosey.

The International portion of the tournament is set with Germany’s #1 Export, second-generation superstar, Aryan Von Raschke. The Japanese Buzzsaw Tajiri. Catch Wrestling Mid-Heavyweight Champion Black Magic, and finally Michinoku Pro Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Champion El Samurai!

Quarterfinal action saw Super Pegasus defeat El Samurai in a fantastic bout, Aryan Von Raschke w/ Da Baron defeat Black Magic, Tajiri w/Mr. Fuji defeat Christian Cage, and Hugh Morrus w/Kevin Sullivan defeat Prince Iaukea…

.
.
.

Spring Stampede
April 28th, 1996
Chicago, Illinois

World Heavyweight Championship:

Curt Hennig w/Scott Norton defends against Lex Luger w/Marcus Bagwell and Miss Elizabeth

.
.

Unified Tag Team Championship of the World

Harlem Heat w/Sister Sherri defend against The Nasty Boys and The Faces of Fear w/Kevin Sullivan

.
.

United States Heavyweight Championship

Scott Norton vs. Diamond Dallas Page w/Kimberly

.
.

World Television Championship
Best 2 out of 3 Falls, NO TIME LIMIT

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Steamboat III

.
.

Generation neXt Tournament Semi-Finals and Finals
Crowning a GenX Champ

Super Pegasus vs. Aryan Von Rashcke w/Da Baron
Hugh Morrus w/Kevin Sullivan vs. Tajiri w/Mr. Fuji

.
.

ALSO FEATURING

The Steiner Brothers vs. Southern Justice w/Col. Parker
Rick Martel vs. “Beautiful” Bobby Eaton w/Col. Parker
The Highlight Express vs. Dem Aloha Boys