flyonthewall2983

That's just insanity if you think about it. They had more proven top guys than any wrestling company in history, spreading that star power out a bit would have helped both shows instead of featuring everyone, all the time. They were at critical mass at this point, signing Bret after what was a really hot year for him in the WWF, only to do what they ended up doing with him. This makes me wonder if Spike and CW questioned WWE when did their brand-split 4/5 years later. As far as the NWO job squad, I think it was effective for a little while, essentially having their own security force so faces wouldn't get at Hogan, Hall or Nash so easily. But, as you said, it did jump the shark at this point.

I'm breaking this off from a discussion in the WWE Network thread about Goldberg, but I'll reiterate that I think they are a bad idea. Everybody has to lose eventually, and it's one thing to have a hot streak but to come in from the cold and stay entirely without a L could mean disaster. The one guy who comes to mind for me is Tatanka. He was a mildly popular babyface in 92 and 93, and had some decent matches, and was made on this undefeated streak. They never went anywhere with it until Yokozuna squashed him and he was replaced by The Undertaker at the Survivor Series. When he came back, he steadily went down the card, except for a mildly interesting heel turn and feud with Lex Luger. Anyway, can someone make a better case for them?

Would this development be worth opening up that thread again?

That makes very little sense. So the NWO just fights each other every Monday night? Seems to me the better idea would have just been to put the most over guys on Nitro and everyone else on Thunder, to make it a show where talent has the chance to get over instead of being trampled by the bigger names.

From the sound of it, Goldberg never would have worked as a heel. Both in theory and very likely if you asked him, too. I mean they tried, but I don't think he ever fully bought into doing it. As far as Andre goes, I get the sense that him being undefeated was basically a secondary issue to the attraction. I'm sure it was almost an unspoken thing among promoters to make sure he didn't lay down for a three count, but it wasn't something they belabored in promoting him. Easier said than done with a company that was already red hot, with guys (some rightfully, some not) thinking they were responsible for things being where they are. They could only know what they lost once they did. Jobbing everyone out to him could have been more feasible if they found Goldberg before they had Hogan, and right when Bischoff just came into power. In that anemic situation the company was in in the early 90's, would he have been as huge? Probably not, but the company could have had a fighting chance to rise above with a roster of talent that they didn't need to steal from the WWF. Getting into daydream booking here but imagine in that scenario if they put Goldberg in Flair's place at the end of 93, or maybe extend Vader's title run into the next year. A younger Goldberg with Vader in perhaps his very physical prime, would have been a hell of a match.

If he figured out "You don't know what you don't know" 20 years before things might be very different

He sent out a pretty cryptic tweet around New Years, and it sounded like he had a really rough year. Just to be a fan for a minute, the person I feel bad for in this story is Diamond Dallas Page, because he should have been the one to end the streak. Considering the fact that Bill suffered for some of the bumps he took in that Halloween Havoc match, it feels like they could have called an audible and given DDP the win to end it early. I personally feel that winning streaks can be as detrimental to someone as it can to get them over. It was so WCW that they didn't figure out the endgame for that aspect of his character until Nash did. It's even killed people for Vince. Tatanka was fairly popular, but he went down and down the card once they ended his undefeated streak, not really rationalizing as to why to give it to him.

Bobby Heenan marking out for Goldberg during that whole run might have been some of his best mic work. And some of his calls on this night were on par with his Rumble '92 performance.

Ric Flair had a pretty funny story about calming Greene down backstage at the GAB '96 because Scott Hall introduced himself and apparently made a joke that Greene wasn't sure how to take because he wasn't one of the boys. Funny because the entire NWO angle could have been ruined right there if Scott came out for the Bischoff interview with a black eye or noticeable limp.

Bret and Jim had way better matches as heels. Classic MSG matches with the Bulldogs, Killer Bees and Rougeaus (who I think were better as faces, but I've heard great stuff about their matches with Shawn and Marty). When they turned face, those levels of matches were fewer and far between, and it was clear that at a few stages they were really testing the waters with Bret as a singles guy, giving him matches with Perfect as early as 89 and Shawn the following year.

This was at a house show

I saw Bret/Shawn in a cage in December '93 On this basis alone I give the edge to Bryan. Bret's angles in the 90's mostly sucked, outside of what he did from 96 until he left. The Owen feud was hot and memorable to a degree, but weighed down by family drama that even felt a little phony to me as a kid. The stuff with Lawler had it's moments but was largely placating Bret from the top spot.

He said he grew up watching the Von Erichs on an episode of WWE Untold about the Malone match. Malone did too I guess, I vaguely remember hearing something about his mother taking the whole family from where they lived in Louisiana to see them. My guess is he became more of a casual fan, and mistakes like that could be chalked up to the WWF also having reached out to him around the same time.

13 episodes coming this month. Nothing I know as far as timeframe, but my guess is they would be from around 92-93 to match up with the episodes of Superstars they already have up.

Of the episodes I've seen they never used a voiceover. People laud Bobby Heenan's work at the 92 Rumble as his best ever, but if there was ever anything equal to it in WCW it would have been that night at the Georgia Dome when Goldberg put away Hogan.

13 episodes of Wrestling Challenge coming this month I watched the episode of Untold about Goldberg's undefeated streak. Very good perspectives on that time in WCW. Kevin Nash does not look well.

I realize it's not the most important part of this discussion, but I think it was honorable of Stephanie to use the trending hashtag, since it was using his AEW name.

Apparently Andre was booked in the '91 Rumble to be eliminated by Taker with one blow.

I love the story Brutus Beefcake told about working those tag matches, and that when Tiny got too rough all anyone had to say was "free James Brown" and he'd let go. For some reason I love that he was a face in Puerto Rico, simply because of how much I would think that fanbase would hate Hulk Hogan. His scene in The Dark Knight was awesome. Christopher Nolan knows how to cast deep from the bench, and between his and Eric Roberts' performances that movie might have been the best at that aspect of his style.

I remember in The Last Dance, Michael Jordan saying "whenever they talk about Michael Jordan they should also talk about Scottie Pippen" in terms of how much they helped each other in what they became. I get the feeling, from how much he was talked about being in Vince's ear, that Vince feels the same way.

At Jim Ross' Hall of Fame speech he spoke glowingly of Pat, hinting that he stopped being homophobic because of their friendship. I found that kind of moving, being a believer in the better angels of our nature and all that.

They should do what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and HBO did this year, and just do it all from their homes.

So it's November and no new news. At least nothing I've seen yet. I wonder if they'll scrap the HOF like the did in the 90's.