clintthecrippler Posted July 7, 2015 Report Share Posted July 7, 2015 Random Russo-era WCW story for you. Went to college during the time of the Monday Night Wars. I became known in my dorm hall as "the wrestling guy", and inevitably on Monday nights I would host a room full of people watching Raw and/or Nitro - gradually more RAW as time went on. Some of these people were there every week, some of these people popped in here and there. One night in September 2000, we're watching Raw in my dorm room, while occasionally flipping over to Nitro during commercial breaks. There is a knock on my door. It was someone that was a huge WCW fan during the glory days of the nWo, but had drifted out of watching wrestling after going home and working nights during the final summer of 99 when Bischoff was in charge, so by then he had been mostly checked out of wrestling completely for over a year. The following words come out of his mouth: "Hey guys, I know I haven't really been paying attention to WCW much, but I was flipping through the channels and....so....what's up with the retarded guy?" All of us in the room were confused. This visitor continued... "I was just flipping through the channels and came across Nitro for a minute. And the show ended with this retarded guy wearing a helmet holding the WCW belt over his head and falling down all over the place." I slowly put together what he had just seen. He flipped across Nitro randomly the night that Vince Russo walked out of the cage with the WCW Championship. He had no idea what a Vince Russo was, just that he saw a disheveled looking man wearing a helmet falling down all over the place holding the WCW Championship, and put together in his head that they were doing a full-blown mentally-handicapped gimmick, and put the belt on him. This lapsed fan, the "casual viewer" that Russo always said he was aiming his writing at, came across Nitro and thought THIS was where WCW had gone with its television show. All of us in the room laughed our asses off, but also none of us had the patience to explain what a Vince Russo was, so we told him, "you know what, you're not missing anything by not watching WCW." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted July 11, 2015 Report Share Posted July 11, 2015 That story is amazing and hilarious. I'M NOT RETAHDED, YUAH RETAHDED! DAT'S A SHEWT!!! On Power Hour 10/5/1991, the Freebirds come out to hassle the Enforcers after a squash. Hayes informs them that the only thing they should be "forcing" is "those bubble butts away from the dinner table" and more personally to Arn, "some hair outta that bald head." It is of course ON, and the crowd is going very wild. Dammit, Hayes, you and your shithead charisma... Later that day, on WCW, the Birds dispense with the Enforcers' squash beforehand, allowing the never-amusing unofficial tag match that is treated by all participants like a sanctioned tag match to occur. Anyway, dumbass disbelief-killing conceit aside, the action is decent enough, the heat is there, and Garvin gets a surprise pin on Arn. So we're about three weeks into this Birds/Enforcers bit and it has to be building to Halloween Havoc, right? Of course not. The Enforcers are booked against the fucking Patriots and the Birds are booked to job in singles matches (one of which would never occur). The Birds haven't been all that amusing in two full years and I'm still begging to see them over the totally inert, heatless Patriots, whom the Enforcers gain nothing from beating anyway. Why am I watching all this WCW, again? Saturday Night 10/12/91: Cappetta accidentally introduces Eaton as "three hundred and thirty six pounds" and I giggle. Bobby Eatin'. He and Rip Rogers produce what has to be the most amusing match of the Referee Zenk experiment. Hey, there is a payoff for Enforcers/Birds! But the setup is better than the execution. Ross and Paul E. hype a sight unseen title contract the Enforcers signed with the Screaming Eagles from England. Paul claims he has tape of them and will interview them, but obviously he doesn't. So of course it's the Freebirds in masks, Badstreet blaring, not even bothering with any duplicity but the masks because the contract is already signed. Ross is in his glory mocking Paul: "'Oh, I've got tape of these guys! They're huge!' You should be ashamed to call yourself a journalist." The action is okay for awhile, because these guys could do this in their sleep, but the heat is absent because the Birds aren't trying very hard for it. Then the finish pisses me right off: the Enforcers go straight from toe holding Hayes to keep him in their half to whipping him right into his own corner for the "hot" tag. Stupid in kayfabe and booking. Garvin lazes through some punches and hits the DDT, but is pinned after one belt shot from Arn. Zzzzz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 any thoughts why Fit Finlay had such trouble getting over in WCW? His style was more conducive to the WCW fanbase but he never could get over to a large degree. He was much more over in WWE which would have been absurd to think back in 1998 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye12 Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 any thoughts why Fit Finlay had such trouble getting over in WCW? His style was more conducive to the WCW fanbase but he never could get over to a large degree. He was much more over in WWE which would have been absurd to think back in 1998 Because WCW didn't put him with his own leprechaun? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMJ Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 I'm admittedly limited in my recent viewing/memory of Finlay, but I did watch the awesomely brutal Regal match from UnCensored 96' a few months back and noted in my review (Kwang The Blog) that I feel like Finlay came in with such a straight shooter gimmick that fans didn't really know how to respond to him. Regal is a great example too because he was the exact opposite - the guy got great heel heat no matter who he fought, whether it was Sting or Johnny B. Badd or Marcus Bagwell (I'm sure someone can point on some even lesser babyfaces that Regal had relatively hot matches with). Also, Finlay doesn't play to the crowd in that match at all, really just focusing on brutalizing his victim in a way that I don't remember many other good guys doing then or really ever. The same can be said for Chris Benoit pre-Horsemen because, despite some strong showings, the crowds are pretty dead for his matches. Compare that to Eddie Guerrero, a natural underdog babyface in 96': In his match with Konnan (also a good guy at the time) from that same period, Guerrero gets really strong pops even up against another clean-cut do-gooder. Konnan wins with a questionable/borderline cheap maneuever and the crowd is audibly disappointed because, while Konnan isn't booed at any point, as the match goes on, the crowd veers from 50/50 to noticeably 75/25 in Eddie's favor. I know that's a long (and completely tunnel-visioned, "missing the forest for the trees") answer, but it stood out to me that Finlay was just too gruff and vicious in his style to get real crowd support in a way that "natural" babyfaces like Bagwell seemed to do just by standing up to Lord Steven and his Blue Blood brethren. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 any thoughts why Fit Finlay had such trouble getting over in WCW? His style was more conducive to the WCW fanbase but he never could get over to a large degree. He was much more over in WWE which would have been absurd to think back in 1998 He had zero personality in WCW and was never put in a position to matter. I know he was the TV Champion, but that title was useless by the time he held it - right before Booker and Benoit revived it again for five minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Didn't Finlay basically emerge out of a 18 month/2 year long occultation period to win the TV title out of nowhere in May 98? I don't remember seeing much of Finlay before he randomly won the belt. As for Finlay getting over thru the Regal feud. Wonder how much they had to hold back on for the angle/build since they could only just imply British/Northern Ireland hostility. Obviously they can't directly say that Finlay is a Nationalist or much more than Finlay just having an interest in beating Regal's face into a heap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Snagged these for five bucks at an antique fair today. There has to be a way I can make this into a drinking game right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted August 16, 2015 Report Share Posted August 16, 2015 Fuck yeah do I remember those cards! There was also a series with black borders and I believe gold stars or some other design on it. Hopefully mixed in with my old baseball cards somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 Sting vs Big Van Vader, Worldwide 2/8/92: I believe this is the first televised Sting/Vader match. Schiavone questions Sting's crazy bravery for taking the match--obviously Vader is there to soften up Sting for Luger, but why would Sting even do this? Vader slaps Sting twice and jaws with him to start. Vader wins the power battle and floors Sting with the corner punches. But Sting punches back and hits an early Stinger Splash! A clothesline, Vader is down, and he bails! Sting is all over him but gets distracted by Harley just long enough for his running charge to turn into a STUN GUN ON THE RAIL! Jesus. Short arm clothesline to the concrete by Vader. Sting is already staggering. Side suplex. Vader misses a whip clothesline, but hits the second chance so hard that Randy Anderson is checking for a knockout! Sunset flip attempt only gets the big butt splash and Anderson is checking again. Two big elbow drops. Beautiful selling from Sting here. Running bell ringer splash staggers him out of the corner, he eats a scoop powerslam and running splash, and he is DONE. Kickout gets a huge pop! Stiff punches and knee to the ribs by Vader. Whip reversal! Sting tries for the scoop slam but is too weak, but flips to escape a vertical suplex attempt and gets his own side suplex! Now the scoop slam. Top rope splash for 2! Missile dropkick and Vader is outside again! They tussle for awhile until Vader eats post on a bell ringer attempt for the count out in about 6:30. Race attacks Sting and gets the splash and Scorpion until Sting sees Vader coming around and planchas him. Really fun sprint, a sign of things to come, and a nice little moment in history. They really do fit together right away. ***1/4, B/B+ On a side note, around this time WCW is showing packages in which Sting and Luger beat Sid and Flair in flashbacks. Ha. (And, in the SuperBrawl pre show, the Steiners going over LOD and the Nasties.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted September 3, 2015 Report Share Posted September 3, 2015 Ricky Steamboat vs Cactus Jack, Worldwide 2/22/92: If you like high concept and body part work, and really who doesn't, this is a fun little time. Paul E. is out so he and Schiavone can work overtime to get over the story. Cactus is there under pay of the DA to work Steamboat's neck, so that's literally all he does, not even attempting pins. I wonder if they had Paul cut a promo to explain this to the live crowd. Cactus sneaks under the ring to jump Steamboat, which is neat, and from there the neck work is good: tons of kicks and punches, a little guardrail stuff, some apron stuff, elbow knee and leg drops, a long bit of choking with Steamboat's black belt. Steamboat's selling is obviously great. Steamboat makes multiple fiery comebacks, which Tony and Paul dispute the meaning of, and nearly chokes out Cactus with the black belt. Weird finish with a reversed pin and over the top rope DQ win for Steamboat. **, C Rick Rude vs PN News, Main Event 2/23/92: Was Rude *this* good in 1992? On the rare occasion I haven't fast forwarded PN News, I've had to admit he is not quite as bad as El Gigante. Coincidentally, they're now teaming here and there, killing two birds with one stone on the fast forwarding and giving us Gigante trying to dance. At least Gigante was good-humored about his character. I WANT DA BELT!! Anyway. Will this be News' career match? Rude jumps him during his extra shitty rap (he has to fit in "Ravishing Rick Rude and that doesn't go well) and we go directly to the chin lock. News powers him up and into the buckle. Scoop slam. Corner charge. He's going for his fat splash already! He obviously misses and we get the Rude Awakening for the 1:00 finish. False start on the proving anything about anybody here, but now I've already written all this... Anderson/Eaton vs. Windham/Simmons, same episode: Decent action here, but I'm mentioning it for two things. Early on, Arn shouts across the ring and signals to Simmons that he should shine his shoes, which of course makes me do this :-| in 2015 and makes Schiavone uncomfortable enough that he only refers to it as Arn "making those suggestions" when he bravely asks for a handshake moments later. Unfortunately, rather than unleashing righteous rage, Simmons immediately tags out. What he does do is a pretty good FIP selling the left arm. (First and a half notable thing: This match airs during the two on-screen week reign of Simmons as a US tag champ, but of course without his title partner or the belt.) The other thing is that this is a classic appearance of the "pinning a non-participant" finish, and what a cluster it is. Windham apparently pins Eaton with a flying lariat--Arn not interfering, Bobby not kicking out, and Nick Patrick counting 3. A moment too late Zbyszko hits the ring, which has been teased the whole match by Paul screaming "CRUNCHER!!" into his phone, but unfortunately he's followed by Dustin Rhodes. A brawl breaks out until Dustin whips Zbyszko into a Windham lariat, and Patrick counts the Windham on Zbyszko pin. Schiavone takes pains to explain referee discretion to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Sting vs Chris Sullivan, WCW Pro 3/14?/92: This aired on every show this week, but was always credited to Pro. Ross on commentary. Very quick squash sets up the first proper angle between Vader and Sting, as Vader tries to jump Sting but Sting gets the jump on him instead. Unfortunately, Vader no-sells the Splash and tosses Randy Anderson 10 feet. Then Vader no-sells a chair shot, looks Sting right in the eye as he catches his top rope cross body into a power slam, and splashes him. Sting valiantly and painfully stands up, and gets a chair shot and second rope splash for his effort. The top 4 faces plus Bagwell and Zenk come out to stare at Vader in awe and haul a *completely* limp Sting out. Great segment. This sets up the first bunch of Sting/Vader house show matches, which apparently ran most of April until Vader broke Sting's ribs and he missed most of May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Watching some 1989 stuff, and it's amazing how much more enjoyable Jim Ross is with a color commentator (in this case Michael Hayes). I find him very grating when alone, or with a color guy who's playing it straight (Caudle, Schiavone). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted December 13, 2015 Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 When did JCP or Turner stop regularly taping World Championship Wrestling in Atlanta? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted December 13, 2015 Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 Snagged these for five bucks at an antique fair today. There has to be a way I can make this into a drinking game right? I totally had those cards as a kid! Still might be somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted December 13, 2015 Report Share Posted December 13, 2015 When did JCP or Turner stop regularly taping World Championship Wrestling in Atlanta? Late 1989, although they still frequently taped at Center Stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR Ackermann Posted December 17, 2015 Report Share Posted December 17, 2015 Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilTLL Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Bob Cook over Joey Maggs in a match that is explicitly labeled an "Underdog Challenge," WCWSN 11/7/92. O...kay... I also might as well mention, since it damn sure isn't a listing in the Yearbook threads, a bizarre angle the week before Havoc '92 with Cactus, Tony Atlas, and Robby Walker to build the Simmons/Barbarian match. Atlas says some shit about Simmons that is so vile (cotton picking boy, etc) they beep out the entire thing when they replay it next week and that doesn't really seem like overkill. I have to think Watts came up with the thing (for whatever God knows reason in 1992!!) and Tony just ran way too far with it, because surely he wouldn't go to that place without some guidance...right? Ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Bob Cook over Joey Maggs in a match that is explicitly labeled an "Underdog Challenge," WCWSN 11/7/92. O...kay... Pretty sure there was an entire tournament around this - The Battle of the Underdogs - which featured Bob Cook, Joey Maggs, Mike Thor, and future stars like Mustafa Saed, among many others. It was one of the most awesome wrestling parts of my childhood. I'm trying to find more information, videos, or at least a tournament bracket, but I'm coming up mostly empty. It looks like Robbie V - the future RVD - was in it too! (I don't remember that though.) Sadly, I just found out through searching for this that Joey Maggs passed away in 2006. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye12 Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 I don't think it was a tournament, and it really didn't last very long (unless it was on Worldwide as well which I didn't get then). The week after Cook and Maggs is Ian Weston vs. John Peterson with an ugly rollup finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topropepodcast Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 If I remember correctly, it was designed to showcase RVD but he wasn't around long enough for it to pay off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.S. Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 I don't think it was a tournament, and it really didn't last very long (unless it was on Worldwide as well which I didn't get then). The week after Cook and Maggs is Ian Weston vs. John Peterson with an ugly rollup finish. There was definitely a tournament of some kind. It was on WCW Saturday Night over a span of several weeks. Bob Cook won it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Lacelle Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 It was my first exposure to Keith Cole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 A jobber tournament would have been an interesting idea, but not sure how it would end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeye12 Posted January 29, 2016 Report Share Posted January 29, 2016 Ricki Nelson vs. George South was another match on Saturday Night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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