Loss

This one really sucks. I always thought Sherri was a great second.

And yes, I realize I just took this thread somewhere else entirely.

Hogan's early WCW numbers could spark an interesting discussion about just how distinct WCW and WWF audiences were from each other. I really think a big part of the WCW audience at that point was fans that consciously made the choice to not watch Hogan in the years before that. The main problem was twofold -- there just weren't enough fans like that to sustain a company AND if at one point there were, WCW was so mismanaged that they ran most of those fans off. For the first few years after Turner bought from Crockett, aside from the Executive VP position, most of the people in charge of running WCW and coming up with angles were people with pretty strong wrestling backgrounds. They were people who were smart enough to do it right, but put their own interests -- getting their sons on TV, getting old friends signed to contracts, settling grudges, etc. -- ahead of anything else. Turner execs saw WCW fail with these kind of people running the show and really thought the problem was that they needed more non-wrestling people running things, which is what made them like Bischoff so much. Granted, Bischoff had more success than his predecessors, but he also had far bigger failures and was given more opportunities and more time and more money to get to that point that Jim Herd or K. Allen Frey or Bill Watts were. When guys like Herd and Watts had talked about doing similar WWF talent raids in the past, it never really got off the ground. Jim Herd mentioned on WOL in 2000, whether it's true or not, that WCW wanted to go head-to-head with Prime Time Wrestling on Monday Nights, but couldn't get Turner execs behind the idea. I guarantee you that WCW in 1989 or 1990 going head-to-head with the WWF after raiding them of Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and The Rockers (all of which were possiblities of happening with only Arn finally jumping), the WWF would have suffered for it. I have no idea if there's any truth to what Herd said or not, but if it is, it makes you wonder how different the next decade might have been, since even when WCW was at their worst, they never got lower TV ratings than the WWF at any point until they started losing the Monday Night Wars. Stories like that don't mean guys like Herd or Watts were really a strong choice to run WCW, but it does make you wonder if they could have been successful with the same budget and opportunities Bischoff got.

From WWE.com: STAMFORD, Conn. – Federal authorities investigating the presumed death of Mr. McMahon visited the Chairman’s office at WWE corporate headquarters earlier this morning, and were seen loading what appeared to be hundreds of boxes into vans, WWE.com has learned. Sources close to the investigation say officials arrived at Titan Tower at 6 a.m. The federal officers, sources said, were gathering evidence in search of any clues in the apparent fiery demise of Mr. McMahon, who may have perished Monday night at the end of Raw when the limousine he had just entered exploded. So far, authorities have not recovered Mr. McMahon’s body or any of his remains. Insisting that they could not comment on an ongoing investigation, FBI officials would not reveal what the agents were looking for or what they removed from the Chairman’s office. But according to one anonymous source, investigators rummaged through hundreds of McMahon’s files and dusted his office for fingerprints. They also, the source said, were seen taking the WWE visionary’s computers off the premises. The agents were said to have spent three hours combing through files and removing materials. When they were finished, the Chairman’s office – which normally was filled with cabinets and state-of-art computers – had been stripped clean. Its carpeting had been removed, and normally organized bookshelves were left in disarray. Federal authorities, sources said, are also looking at the Chairman’s e-mail and all of his writings for any clues. They are especially looking at anything he may have written in the last two weeks, when his behavior became increasingly erratic. Will anything taken from Mr. McMahon’s office – any e-mail on his computers – provide any clues? Stay with WWE.com for further updates on the investigation as details become available. Log on later this week as our reporters hope to talk to the lead detective in the federal investigation. In addition, tune in to SmackDown on Friday at 8/7 CT to find out the latest developments in the probe and watch the tribute to Mr. McMahon.

Comments on this would be interesting.

FYI -- I decided to hold off on the bonus disc for now, in the event that there's some point in the future I'm pressed for time. That way, there's a disc all ready for that month. I also have so much of my collection boxed up right now, so it may take a while to unpack it. So it's probably best to just keep the bonus disc in reserve.

Talk about it here when you get it.

Talk about it here when you get it.

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Talk about it here when you get it.

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Talk about it here when you get it.

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WWF World Title Match: WWF Champion Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid WWF Monday Night RAW 07/11/94 Taped 07/01/94, Bushkill, PA

Fabulous Freebirds Music Video "Badstreet USA" Mid South 1985

Hogan was sparingly on Nitro the year after his heel turn. He had some appearances here and there, but it wasn't every week. WCW wanted Hogan on TV more often around August of 1997 and that's really when the overexposure started. In terms of Nitro appearances, Hogan was used pretty sparingly in the early days of the NWO.

Steve Austin and The Rock pretty much get sole credit (sometimes Undertaker, Foley and HHH are mentioned to a lesser degree) for the success of the Attitude era. However, I think the top guys get credit to a point where the guys that were working underneath don't get the props they deserve. No one can tell me the Hardy Boyz (and Lita) weren't big draws for the company. They had fans dressing like them in the audience every week and were huge with teenagers, especially teenage girls, in a way no one working main events really was. They were an important part of the company's success. That's not to say the company would have bombed without them, but the WWF wasn't going to bomb without anyone at that point, as their biggest year ever had Austin, Undertaker and Foley out for large periods of time. You could argue that the Hardyz are the most successful tag team Vince has ever promoted.

I'd say most of the time, Hogan gets credit for what he has accomplished, but sometimes, the intangibles he had that made him successful are downplayed a little. If it was down to just his look and his build, all of the other attempts to recreate Hogan would have worked, and none of them really did. Although, it must be said that a lot of guys made careers out of being pushed as proto-Hogans and never quite getting over the way the company hoped for. I'd also say while Hogan was the biggest star of the boom era, when we look back, I think he gets a little too much credit. There were so many big stars in that time period. Hogan was the biggest of them all, but he was hardly the only one. Lots of wrestling promotions had big runs in the 80s. The problem was that Hogan and the WWF just outlasted them all.

Hogan benefitted from being in the right place at the right time, but so did Steve Austin. I think he would be over and a main event star if he was around today. However, things would be so drasticallly different without him as a star in the 80s that it's hard to say what kind of wrestling would exist if he came along now instead of then. In wrestling, every era is a reaction to the one before it. How Hogan got over would also depend on what wrestling was like before he entered the picture.

This is really bizarre. Look what Edge was wearing at a house show:

http://www.wwe.com/content/media/images/3883682/4871246