WCW ongoing thread

[iamthedoctor]

On 11/5/2020 at 3:18 PM, cm funk said:

Agreed.  I'm also nostalgic for 95 WCW as teenage fan who watched it back then, and I can laugh at the horrible Hogan stuff and other assorted bullshit, but it's undoubtedly more interesting than modern WWE and had a lot of freedom to it that allowed people to get over.  And WCW had great fans who added to the product

I wonder what younger modern fans would think seeing that stuff for the first time.  I think a lot of it has become meme'd over the years

I remembered this time period of fun memories seeing this on DSF as was the only way to catch WCW in the UK but I got wondering say they couldn't get Hogan to sign in 94 what they would have done.

While we had just done the Vader/Flair feud at the end of 93/94 with Steamboat and Flair going into the Spring of 94 what angle comes next? Do we lead into a Sting/Flair feud for Starrcade 94 or maybe trying to make the Steamboat feud last longer?

[flyonthewall2983]

Always wonder what would have happened if they got Savage first, then Hogan say in 95 or 96. Or even not at all. WCW where the worst thing we worry about is how much time Lanny gets jobbing out to Johnny B. Badd or managing High Voltage would have been nice.

[Autistic Dragon]

Pardon me if this has already been discussed but I stumbled across this fact while online and thought I'd bring it up.

Apparently Eric Bischoff's main rival for executive producer was Jim Ross with Tony Schiavone also angling for the job. How does WCW change under Ross or even Schiavone?

[G. Badger]

I've been watching 1994 WCW and it's really surprised me with how good the weekly shows are - Saturday Night & Worldwide especially. I tuned wrestling out in the early 90's beyond video games and the occasional WWF weekend recap show. I'm really sorry that I missed this back growing up because it was more serious and wrestling oriented as opposed to the corny/for kiddies characters of WWF at this time. 

[David Mantell]

On 1/30/2011 at 6:12 PM, Frankensteiner said:

Haven't seen that particular match, but I don't know if that statement is something I would agree with. It seems to me like he didn't get very many opportunities to work singles matches in the first place. Prior to getting the NWA belt, he spent most of the year in tags. Going back to 1991, he had that series against Pillman which were all strong, I think a TV match against Arn late in the year which I liked, then TV title matches in `92 against Austin and Arn which again were at least pretty good. His NWA defenses against Regal, Scorpio, Arn and Johnny B. Badd were great. The only match that kinda sucked was against Muta.

I honestly can't think of any other singles match he had during 91-93. I think maybe a match against Rude during the KOC tournament?

Erm, he had the big GAB 91 cage match where Luger won the world title!

Speaking of which ...

[David Mantell]

On 4/5/2012 at 11:45 PM, El-P said:

Barry Windham vs Lex Luger was subpar for a match between those two, and it was doomed from the get-go, as the audience just didn't want to see this match, and no-one got the fact Luger turned heel. Poor Luger, it was to be his big night, already one year too late, and Flair leaving fucked him pretty good. The heel turn didn't work at all.

The fans DID get the idea by the time Luger, Race and Hughes got out the cage. There's a definite bit of heat as they strut up the ramp, Lex leading the way. They figure it out quicker than the Survivor Series 88 crowd figured out the Demolition/Powers double turn.

It did all hang on Hughes's involvement - without him it's just a face enlisting a legend's help to beat the hated heel who shat on him 3 years earlier.

There's an interesting subplot with all the new moves Lex is doing in the bout, culminating in his new piledriver finisher.  Apparently Harley was supposed to be teaching him them - and was doing this as a shoot!  If Lex had stayed on with Harley until 1993 and had all Vader's reigns and carried on being taught new stuff by Race, he would have ended up quite a decent technical wrestler by American standards.

If it had been that exact same finish but with Flair in Windham's spot, that would have been AWESOME - Harley telling Lex to Do It Now to Ric, Luger screwing Flair after years of the other way round, Race betraying his fellow Legend to go with the New Generation...

Of course originally, a long time earlier it was meant to be Sting losing to Lex, ending a year as champion by getting screwed by his best buddy in what started as a babyface match. Then came  Jan 11 1991 ...

[David Mantell]

On 9/5/2022 at 1:32 PM, iamthedoctor said:

I remembered this time period of fun memories seeing this on DSF as was the only way to catch WCW in the UK but I got wondering say they couldn't get Hogan to sign in 94 what they would have done.

WCW Worldwide was on Saturday afternoon ITV (British wrestling's old slot) at this time. Central had it an extra 6 months after everyone else, continuing to show it until the end of 1995

Hulk and Flair did headline two shows in London and Brum late summer of 94.

[David Mantell]

On 5/2/2012 at 2:06 PM, El-P said:

Late 91, he's still delivering in a match against Simmons that just didn't look good on paper at all.

Amen to this.

He was great as the heel World champion making Simmons look a million dollars before destroying him.  It's no coincidence that Vader - Lex's replacement as Harley's Sith Apprentice - did the job to Simmons 10 months later (Vader took over Lex's spot lock, stock and barrel starting with the Jan 92 Clash tag with Hughes Vs the Steiners) but I wish it could have been Lex who did the job - and then won it back in December.

[David Mantell]

On 2/6/2012 at 2:55 AM, FLIK said:

And Speaking of Superbrawl ll, in another WCW being WCW move, they haven't had Luger on TV all month (WTF is the story with that BTW?)

His contract had run out and he was fine except that he wanted to job to his friend Sting so that Sting wouldn't face thecsane credibility crisis he had faced with the start of his reign.

[David Mantell]

On 11/11/2011 at 8:42 AM, artDDP said:

Was the Flair ponytail part of the makeover one of the WCW execs wanted for Flair? I remember hearing something about wanting him to pierce his ear and be "more 90's".

It was the fashion at the time, sadly. Horrible yuppie trendy look, like Hipster beards nowadays.  Barry Windham and Paul E. Dangerously also had ponytails.

I used to go to school in central London at that time and see these stockbroker/financier eejits walking around the streets with their fn ponytails. 

[PeteF3]

And it's not entirely correct. Luger was let out of his contract early--it wouldn't expire for another year. That's why he was a WBF Superstar for 1992 and absolutely positively not a wrestler. 

Luger's contract called for a specific number of dates per year and WCW, as they would do with Sting himself in 1996, overshot it, mainly because they of course lost Flair. So they had to keep Luger inactive.

[David Mantell]

2 hours ago, PeteF3 said:

And it's not entirely correct. Luger was let out of his contract early--it wouldn't expire for another year. That's why he was a WBF Superstar for 1992 and absolutely positively not a wrestler. 

Luger's contract called for a specific number of dates per year and WCW, as they would do with Sting himself in 1996, overshot it, mainly because they of course lost Flair. So they had to keep Luger inactive.

Okay. But he did the loss to Sting as an act of friendship so Sting wouldn't have the same problems as him.