Why Did No One Care About WCW Champion DDP in 99-00?

[The Rick Jericho]

The crowds were apathetic. No cheers and no boos either. But he was so over in 1998. What happened here with the heel turn?

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Took too long to put the title on him in the first place and then he's feuding with Jeff f***ing Jareett in 2000

[autisticgeordie]

There was a time in WCW where the fans didn't care about DDP?

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

He came out on the losing end of a feud with Steiner in early 99 that did him no favors. He came back in March and lost a fairly clean match to Hogan who was on his weird face turn. DDP then won the title as still a face with some shenanigans and then finally turned with no real explanation. It was a very modern WWE heel turn. He then won and lost it a few times over the course of a month before going back to the midcard. He never really had a chance with that kind of booking. Now, could he have been a good champion as a face? Maybe, but it was hard when Goldberg was around since he was the most over dude they had. But they never really gave him that shot. I would have preferred that to the Nash face run we got.

[XIII]

The end of WCW was total apathy all the way around, Fans were miserable, wrestlers were miserable, the announcer totally gave up on life. It was an interesting time

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I think around this time it was IWC rumored DDP was only in position because he and Bisch liked to swap wives.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Nobody cared during that time about WCW period lol

I didn’t even remember that Page turned heel.

[Mozenrath]

Things changed REALLY rapidly in that time period. The DDP who had faced off with the nWo may as well have been 5-10 years removed, not just one or two.

I think it was also a period of fatigue for wrestling fans. Storylines had become deeply convoluted in WWF and WCW, and it was tiring.

[Muskrat]

Dec 13, 2019 20:02:01 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Nobody cared during that time about WCW period lol

I didn’t even remember that Page turned heel.

Yeah, by the time he won his first championship WCW was in a full blown free fall and crowds were pretty apathetic to most things. His first 2 reigns lasted all of 28 days total, and his 3rd reign was literally 1 day so it’s not like he was really given a chance to run with things anyways.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

They took so long to pull the trigger his moment had passed, his peak moments as a face squandered on celebrity matches designed to placate Hogan. Nobody came out of a feud with Hogan with their heat intact if he could help it.

WCW had an embarrassment of riches on the main event face side, and one by one, they killed their heat. Flair, Luger, Sting, Goldberg, Bret, DDP...

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 13, 2019 20:15:24 GMT -5 Muskrat said:

Dec 13, 2019 20:02:01 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Nobody cared during that time about WCW period lol

I didn’t even remember that Page turned heel.

Yeah, by the time he won his first championship WCW was in a full blown free fall and crowds were pretty apathetic to most things. His first 2 reigns lasted all of 28 days total, and his 3rd reign was literally 1 day so it’s not like he was really given a chance to run with things anyways.

It’s crazy, the pops he got just years before, and in 2000 the reactions were as dead as the Von Erichs...

[4real]

Remember his feud with Scott Steiner in early 99 I think it was and the crowds were cheering when Scott beat him. I guess they were tired of DDP’s face act then I don’t know. By the time he won the belt as a heel I had checked out of WCW. Flair & DDP as heels and Hogan as a face was unappealing as hell for me.

[Deleted]

People wanted the belt back on Goldberg. I know that’s all I cared about seeing when I was watching WCW

[autisticgeordie]

Potentially unpopular opinion: DDP should've been the one to beat Goldberg, get the title and end the famed streak at Halloween Havoc, that pop he got when he hit the Diamond Cutter was something else, Page was so over at that time that it'd be dumb not to put the title on him!

[chronocross]

It came out of nowhere, he was injured by Steiner at Superbrawl 99 and then suddenly he comes back as a heel for no reason during an interview with Tenay.

[corndog]

Everyone talks about WCW 2000 as the shit year, but it really began to get bad in early '99. Everyone's booking was garbage for the most part, I think this is when Nash had the book. They turned him heel for no reason at all, he was still over as a face. Combine that with missing the boat at Halloween Havoc and then putting the belt on Nash with shenanigans, then dropping it to Hogan with the Fingerpoke of Doom. Because of the shit booking no one cared about the title either, so it wasn't just DDP's fault.

[Deleted]

Dec 14, 2019 9:17:02 GMT -5 4real said:

Remember his feud with Scott Steiner in early 99 I think it was and the crowds were cheering when Scott beat him. I guess they were tired of DDP’s face act then I don’t know. By the time he won the belt as a heel I had checked out of WCW. Flair & DDP as heels and Hogan as a face was unappealing as hell for me.

What a weird program DDP vs Scott Steiner was in early 99:
Steiner wants to have sex with Kimberly.
DDP gets mad.
Steiner throws her out of a moving car and she disappears for a couple months.
They have a match where if DDP wins he gets the tv title.If Steiner wins he gets Kimberly for 30 days.
Steiner wins the match but they completely drop the getting Kimberly part.
A couple weeks later during a sitdown interview Tony asks DDP why Steiner didn’t get Kimberly seeing he won the match? A very heelish DDP says only stupid marks thought he’d let Kimberly go with Steiner.
DDP wins the world title in a 4 way.Post match Steiner attacks him in catering.
The next night DDP beats Steiner when a returning Kimberly hits Steiner with a chair.

This would make a great hallmark movie.

[timelimitdraw]

In '99, it was because they turned DDP heel and nobody wanted to see that. He barely held it in 2000 around the beginning of the cluster of a reboot where all the titles and storylines started from zero, giving those fans who were still loyal to the company no reason to keep emotionally investing in it. The fact that DDP, one day after winning the title in 2000, seemed to enjoy David Arquette pinning Eric Bischoff in a tag match that took the title off of DDP didn't help.

[TheMediocreWarrior]

Dec 14, 2019 11:01:55 GMT -5 autisticgeordie said:

Potentially unpopular opinion: DDP should've been the one to beat Goldberg, get the title and end the famed streak at Halloween Havoc, that pop he got when he hit the Diamond Cutter was something else, Page was so over at that time that it'd be dumb not to put the title on him!

In retrospect that would have been the best booking decision to make. It would cement DDP as a top star, with Goldberg's streak ending in a way that puts someone over huge instead of anticlimactic shenanigans that lead to the Fingerpoke of Doom.

[bmfjules]

DDPs time was in 97 or 98, but WCW was hinging their bets on Sting in 97 and Goldberg in 98.

An argument could be made that you could swap out Lugers Nitro title win in 97 and give it to Page and it would have been an equal or better moment, then book the follow up the same way they did to get it back on Hogan.