#267: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting, WCW Monday Nitro (4/26/1999).
This is for DDP’s WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
I first saw this match on the DVD “Best of WCW Monday Nitro, Vol. 1” and I remember it being one of the best WCW matches I’d seen. That was back when I was in high school. Let’s see if it’s aged well!
The bell sounds, and we are under way. They lock up, and Sting takes the side headlock right away. He hits a nice shoulder tackle to DDP, who rolls out of the ring to think about it. DDP returns to the ring to jaw jack with Sting, and then he throws a cheap shot to the Stinger. Good punch exchange between the two, and it ends when Sting hits a clothesline that sends DDP back to the floor once again. They lock up back in the ring, and Sting forces DDP to the corner. DDP switches control, and lands a back kick to the midsection.
DDP takes the arm and shoulders it repeatedly. He takes the side headlock next, and Sting escapes and goes for a hammerlock. DDP grabs Sting’s hair and sends him to the mat. DDP goes to the floor to yell at the fans, and here’s Sting, who smashes the champion’s face off the announcer’s table. They continue to fight around ringside, until DDP goes back into the ring. Sting follows, and DDP attacks on the way in. Sting with a series of clotheslines, and the Stinger Splash.
Sting looks for the Scorpion Deathlock, and DDP immediately grabs the ropes to break it. He rolls to the floor once again, frustrated. DDP takes a swig of water, while Sting waits patiently. DDP returns to the ring, and Sting goes right on the attack. DDP takes control of the arm and hammerlocks it. Sting tries to escape, but DDP keeps ahold of it. The champion nails a nice lariat, and he attempts the Diamond Cutter, but Sting sends him crashing to the floor.
You could play a bingo game with how many times DDP has gone to the floor in this match.
Sting follows him up the aisle way, and smashes his face off various points of the guardrail. He drops him chest first atop the guardrail. Sting continues the assault, and at one point, looks at the camera and says “that’s white trash right there.” He lands a nice powerslam on the exposed floor, and DDP is struggling. Back in the ring, Sting goes for the 10 punches in the corner, but DDP is able to counter it, and drop Sting face first on the top turnbuckle.
Sting goes chest first into the pad, and then eats a back suplex. DDP kicks him in the midsection, then drives his boot into the head. He’s taunting the crowd along the way, who are very much behind the Stinger. Sting ducks a clothesline and hits a shoulder tackle. He bounces off the ropes, and headbutts DDP right in the nuts. Good spot. DDP recovers first, and makes the cover. Sting is able to kick out. DDP goes right into a chin lock next.
He’s taking turns stomping on the hands of the challenger. Sting looks to come back with a flurry of strikes. DDP responds with a swinging neckbreaker. He covers, and Sting is able to kick out. DDP with an elbow to the nuts, though he defends it and says it was to the midsection. While Sting suffers on the mat, DDP gloats to the crowd once again. More right hands to Sting, who’s able to kick out of a pin attempt.
DDP drags Sting’s leg to the ring post, and swings it against the steel. He goes to do it again, but this time, Sting uses his leg strength to send DDP flying into the guard rail. The champion quickly returns to the ring and looks for the Diamond Cutter again, but Sting holds onto the ropes, and DDP lands hard on the mat. Jaw breaker by Sting, and more hard right hands. Inverted Atomic Drop, and another by the Stinger! He lands a bulldog, and then goes to the top rope. Sting lands a frog splash, and DDP is able to kick out. DDP grabs the challenger and sends him to the floor. DDP smashes his head into the guard rail, then the apron, and back to the guard rail.
In the ring, DDP hits a neckbreaker to Sting across the top rope. He taunts at the crowd again, and this gives Sting a chance to hit another jaw breaker. Irish whip to the corner, and followed by a right hand. Sting smashes DDP’s head on all three pads. DDP with a knee to the gut, and he follows with a sit out powerbomb. Alas, Sting is able to kick out of it. Sting avoids a splash in the corner, and pops off a roll up for a quick 2 count. DDP is right back up and hits Sting with a lariat.
Sting with an inside cradle out of nowhere, and DDP kicks out. Sting with a clothesline, and DDP kicks out. Sting gets the crowd to cheer loud for him, as he hits a variation of the Piledriver on DDP! He covers, and DDP is able to kick out. Sting looks for the Tombstone, but DDP reverses it! Sting reverses that, and is able to hit it! He covers, and DDP kicks out at the last possible second! DDP blocks a hip toss with a mid air DDT. He covers, and Sting gets the shoulder up.
DDP sneaks in a low blow, and then goes for the Diamond Cutter out of the corner, but Sting reverses it into the Scorpion Deathdrop out of nowhere! He covers, and that’s the win! Sting is the WCW World Heavyweight Champion! A great moment for Sting, in front of a white hot crowd, and one that was completely undone by the end of the night, when Sting would have to defend the championship against DDP, Goldberg and Kevin Nash in a Four Corners Match, and DDP was able to regain it.
Despite how silly the title reign ended up being, this was a fantastic match, and one that easily ranks among the best matches to ever take place on Monday Nitro. These guys got a ton of time to actually wrestle, and when you consider that this is the Spring of 1999, in the heat of the Monday Night Wars, that’s actually insane. The original broadcast of this match didn’t have any commercial breaks either, so fans at home basically got to see a PPV quality match for free on TNT.
Both guys played their parts well, with Sting being the dominant babyface, while DDP was the sneaky heel throughout. He powdered to the outside often to break the momentum of the match, but that still wasn’t enough to stop Sting, who kept on him like flies on shit (god, I hate that analogy, but it works). The finishing stretch of this was really exciting, with both men exchanging back and forth offense to the delight of the crowd.
Sting hitting the Scorpion Deathdrop on a man known for having a finisher that he can hit anywhere at anytime was a nice touch. The crowd were super into this all match long, and that also helped it. This was great business, and a fantastic matchup. I’d say that while time has aged this just a bit for me, it’s still as great as it was when I first saw it, and rightfully sits atop some of the best matches WCW ever put out.