WWF booking from 1992-1996

[Al]

Take it with a grain of salt but Tito Santana claims they were also considering him for that Hart/Flair title change. I tend to think he's full of shit as he wasn't getting any real kind of push other than making it to the final match in the 91 Survivor Series. Just an interesting little sidenote to that.

Wasn't he still doing the El Matador gimmick at the time? He was in the dark match at Summerslam, jobbing to Papa Shango. No fuckin' way he was getting anywhere near the title around that time.

 

Something weird I was reminded of: Tito was also Eastern Championship Wrestling heavyweight champion at this time, while still working for the WWF. Was it common for them to let their guys work a whole bunch of indy shows like that?

 

Most likely. A bunch of WWF guys were working Memphis. Plus with houses so low, it probably helped to let workers make money on their own.

[Strummer]

Tito hadn't been pushed as a singles star for six years at that point. He is full of shit. He was strictly a JTTS

[Mad Dog]

Tito hadn't been pushed as a singles star for six years at that point. He is full of shit. He was strictly a JTTS

1990 wasn't a bad year for him. He made it to the finals against Hennig in the I.C. Tournament and he was in the final match of Survivor Series that year. He wasn't lighting the world on fire or anything but that was probably the best push he got as a singles wrestler post-Strikeforce.

[Loss]

Can we talk about WWF booking philosophy instead of WWF booking decisions?

[Mad Dog]

I was looking over 1992 and they really broke the norm with Ric Flair. I think that was the first time the heel lost the title and then regained it from the face that he won it from. It really felt like more of an NWA style title run than it did a WWE run.

 

That better?

[Loss]

I have to say I agree and disagree with Loss's central thesis here.

 

A brief timeline of booking in the WWF

 

1991 to early 1992 - This was a very very interesting time and one, if you think about it, in which the WWF was trying a lot of "edgier" things. I remember discussing this a few years back on Wrestlecrap

 

Just to summarise some of the "edgy" things:

 

Jake vs. Macho feud (Tuesday in Texas and all the events leading upto it, including Taker's involvement)

Shawn kicking Jannety through the barber shop window

The DiBiase-Virgil angle (the pre-build was especially dark)

Earthquake killing Damien

The entire Flair vs. Savage angle in 1992, including the Liz centrefold and Perfect and Flair breaking Savage's leg at SS92

Doink in his early "evil clown" incarnation

Berzerker trying to "kill" Undertaker on Superstars

The Mountie's cattle prod and night in jail

The Hogan vs. Slaughter street fight

Yes, by the standards of the time, 1991 was definitely edgier than the years preceding it. I wonder how much Warrior bombing on top impacted this.

 

Then in mid-1992 the steroid scandal hit. And then the thinking of the Office was ...

 

BACK TO BASICS, BACK TO THE OLD FORMULAS

 

For Vince and Pat Patterson that meant two things:

 

1. To rewind the clock back to the "wholesome" days of Backlund.

 

2. To repeat the formulas of the rock n' roll era, even making the cartoony aspects of that era MORE CARTOONY.

 

For the top of the card, first they went with Hogan '85-6 again. Initially with Hogan himself at Wrestlemania 9, then with Luger, the Lex Express in 93 more or less openly being an attempt to make Hogan II.

 

In 93, they stripped out the "edgier" aspects of the product: Flair went back to Atlanta, Savage was sidelined to the commentary booth, Jake was sent packing in '92, Undertaker turned face, Doink turned face, Razor Ramon turned face, etc.

 

In 91-3, they also got rid of, or at least phased out, A LOT of guys who had been hanging around the roster for years, a lot of them I'd describe as "non-cartoony" wrestlers, by which I mean that their gimmicks were not cartoon gimmicks. What's a cartoon gimmick? Hillybilly Jim. The Godwinns. IRS. Isaac Yankem. You get the picture. Off the top of my head: Dino Bravo, Hercules, Haku, Greg Valentine, Col. Mustafa (Iron Sheik), Tito Santana, British Bulldog, The Beverley Brothers, The Natural Disasters, Koko Ware, The Warlord, The Barbarian, Paul Roma, Rick Martel, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Big Boss Man, Ted DiBiase

 

WHY THIS MASSIVE CLEAR OUT AND WHO REPLACED ALL OF THESE GUYS?

 

Adam Bomb

The Headshrinkers

Men on a Mission

The Four Doinks

Ludvig Borga

Tatanka

The Smoking Gunns

Sparky Plugg

Bastion Booger

The Fake Undertaker

Savio Vega

The Godwinns

 

What's my point? My point is that it is not entirely accurate to say that this was a turn towards wholesome 70s style "family realism". Look at the names and think of the gimmicks there. What's the obvious difference between someone like Adam Bomb and, say, Dino Bravo? One is a cartoon, the other is just a guy. In one sense the WWF was NEVER as cartoony as it was during this era. Four Doinks vs. Four midget wrestlers anyone? Godwinns "slopping" people anyone? Undertaker vs. Undertaker? etc. etc.

Why did you put "family realism" in quotes? I never used that phrase. I never even said it was more realistic. I said it was more old school. Of course it wasn't pure old school, Vince was still Vince. But it was way more old school than it had been in the past.

 

The undercard was almost purely comedy gimmick stuff. Men on a Mission are a good symbol of that.

 

Now I think Loss is right to point out that AFTER Lex Express, they booked Bret and Diesel in the 70s style. Hell, they even brought back the actual Bob Backlund for good measure.

 

I think this was Vince and Pat Patterson thinking conservatively. Cartoony product in the main but with a slightly more serious family-orientated, legit-sport 70s-style main event.

 

The radical yeast in this loaf, however, is the Smokey Mountain stuff. Heavenly Bodies, Cornette, Rock 'n' Roll Express, etc.

 

To ME though, it seems that those guys were used as filler. Think about it. Almost the entire roster of talent had gone. They were down to barest, barest bones in 94-5.

 

I mean look at the Survivor Series teams and the Royal Rumbles. The masked wrestlers in "the King's court", the likes of Keith and Bruce Hart getting on PPV cards. Comebacks from Nikolai Volkoff and King Kong Bundy. The Bushwackers actually being on PPV cards where just a couple of years back they'd be doing dark matches. It's ALL filler. The 1995 Rumble entrants list makes for very sorry reading next to the one from 93, let alone 92.

 

So it was back to basics + stripping down to bare bones.

I'm still not sure my point is getting through. Most of what is mentioned here is roster changes, not philosophy changes. During the Hogan era, they weren't going to play up anyone's athletic credentials. They weren't going to play up that they were people with families (unless like Steamboat that in itself was the gimmick). The announcers may talk strategy in passing, but most of the talk was Vince selling the emotion. Somewhere along the way, Vince decided to give this a shot. I don't know if that was a conscious decision or not. There is correlation between the WWF changing philosophy and business going in the tank, but I think Vince may have interpreted it as a causation since he's never gone anywhere near that again. (Also interesting how much more open he was to trying new things during the 90s downturn than the 00s downturn, but that's another topic.)

 

So my point is that we know Vince prefers to build around larger-than-life characters, but during this time, he went against many of his instincts. It's interesting, considering how I don't think he'll ever do that again.

[Loss]

I was looking over 1992 and they really broke the norm with Ric Flair. I think that was the first time the heel lost the title and then regained it from the face that he won it from. It really felt like more of an NWA style title run than it did a WWE run.

 

That better?

How's this? My purpose of starting this thread was to compare how Vince presented his top stars during the 80s to how Vince presented his top stars during this time period. In one time period, playing up the persona more than anything, while in another playing up the toughness and athleticism more than anything. Part of that can be attributed to the people on top being different, but not entirely, as Vince is usually more likely to plug guys into his vision than alter his vision to suit the guys he's pushing. For whatever reason, that's not the WWF during these years. So again, this isn't really about who beat who, who was on the roster, or when they were there (interesting stuff and good posts, but not really what I was getting at.) Does that help?

[Mad Dog]

I was just messing with you.

 

But Flair was a different animal than anything they had done in the 80s.

 

Heel champions in the 80s was a month of Iron Sheik, a couple of days of Andre the Giant/Ted Dibiase and a couple of months of Savage after a heel turn. And on top of that, after those reigns, the heels were essentially discarded for the next challenger. Flair in contrast, had a couple of months as the champion, lost the belt, and then stayed in the chase and regained the belt from the face. That was the first time the WWE had done that with a heel. And if you take that a step further, Yokozuna completely shattered the mold a year later and was the second longest reigning champion in company history. There seemed to be a slight philosophy change for the company in that 92-94 era as the company didn't use heel champions as transitions for their faces.

[Eduardo]

Tito Santana's telling the truth, even Bret Hart confirmed that Santana was in consideration for the title but the company ended up picking Hart over Santana. Also, while they did respect each other as workers, Hart and Santana were not tight, so I don't think Hart is just saying that to go along with Santana's story. Seems legit.

[Ricky Jackson]

I love Tito, but that story just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

Vince: "What should we do with Tito? I'm thinking of either making him our top guy or a jobber, I can't decide"

 

Pat: "Jobber. Go with Bret"

 

Vince: "I guess"

[Loss]

If it's true, it's probably just a case where Vince wanted to put the belt on a good worker and they went through all the good workers on the roster and decided Bret would be the best of the bunch.

[Frankensteiner]

Well, since you're going through it right now, it should be interesting to see what you think of the build for the major programs during the summer of '95. I haven't watched it in a while but it's hard for me to imagine that stuff like Diesel/Sid, Diesel/Mabel, or Bret v Dentists/Pirates was getting something not resembling Vince's typical booking philosophy.

[Loss]

Well, since you're going through it right now, it should be interesting to see what you think of the build for the major programs during the summer of '95. I haven't watched it in a while but it's hard for me to imagine that stuff like Diesel/Sid, Diesel/Mabel, or Bret v Dentists/Pirates was getting something not resembling Vince's typical booking philosophy.

Sure. Even if that is typical WWF booking, it doesn't negate my point. Look at how Diesel was portrayed. Look at how Bret was portrayed. They weren't larger-than-life characters, they were athletes with specific skill sets and strategies, and with lives outside of the WWF. Vince made a deliberate attempt to make them authentic and relatable instead of pushing them as superhuman. During the Diesel/Sid feud, they actually played up Diesel's legit elbow injury to make him sympathetic. Typical WWF booking would be to ignore the injury for fear that it would make him look weak.

[khawk20]

I love Tito, but that story just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

Vince: "What should we do with Tito? I'm thinking of either making him our top guy or a jobber, I can't decide"

 

Pat: "Jobber. Go with Bret"

 

Vince: "I guess"

I can totally see this conversation happening, to be honest.

[kjh]

If it's true, it's probably just a case where Vince wanted to put the belt on a good worker and they went through all the good workers on the roster and decided Bret would be the best of the bunch.

The other thing to note is that they were probably looking for somebody to appeal to the European market. With the El Matador gimmick, they could push Santana as a Spanish babyface. He was also looking for someone reliable at a time when they were under scrutiny. Bret was clearly the best candidate, but it's probably not too surprising that Santana's name got a brief mention, as he ticks all those boxes too.

[Matt D]

Vince: "...they like Bret in Germany HOW much?"

[Loss]

Not so much in a "This guy is money" way, but I always got the impression based on how long of a run he had that Vince had a lot of confidence in Santana as a mechanic. He trusted him to have good matches and get the point across in the ring.

[Bix]

One thing that gets forgotten about Bret's early push as champion is how hard they pushed the "fighting champion" gimmick early on, with something like 3 title defenses on TV the week of the last SNME special. That was another radical departure from WWF booking.

[Matt D]

I was looking at what happened with Bret post-Summerslam but before the title win. It looked like they were building to a house show run with Papa Shango, though there are a few shots with Kamala in there too.

[El-P]

One thing that gets forgotten about Bret's early push as champion is how hard they pushed the "fighting champion" gimmick early on, with something like 3 title defenses on TV the week of the last SNME special. That was another radical departure from WWF booking.

Yeah, it was odd. All of a sudden Virgil was getting a title shot on Superstars. It could have hurt the perception that Bret was anything special as champion, but it actually helped his character as champion I think.

[El-P]

I was looking at what happened with Bret post-Summerslam but before the title win. It looked like they were building to a house show run with Papa Shango, though there are a few shots with Kamala in there too.

So basically, he was in limbo. All of a sudden the Tito Santana talk seems less absurd (also it still does).

[Matt D]

I couldn't find any easily available footage of it but apparently on Superstars, Bret refuted Papa Shango ... well I'll just C+P from Graham's site.

 

9/26/92 Superstars

Papa Shango pinned John Richner with the reverse shoulderbreaker at 1:28; during the bout, Bret Hart cut an insert promo regarding the supposed curse Shango put on him that caused him to lose the WWF IC Title at Summer Slam

 

10/4/92 Wrestling Challenge - Bret Hart defeated Barry Hardy via submission at 2:30 via submission with the Sharpshooter; during the bout, Hart cut an insert promo saying he wasn't afraid of Papa Shango or his "curses"

[flyonthewall2983]

Bret's said in his book and elsewhere that he thought the meeting where they told him Flair was going to job to him they were going to sack him, so he definitely must have felt in limbo at least. A Santana reign would have been interesting, if one could see it as a response to Ron Simmons winning the belt in WCW.

[Ricky Jackson]

I'd forgotten about the Bret-Papa Shango feud, but yeah, that was Bret's immediate post-Summerslam direction. The feud even had a blow-off match of sorts on the last Fox SNME not long after Bret won the title. One would think Bret being programmed in this feud means the decision to switch the title to him was only finalized less than two weeks before the Saskatoon taping. Who knows, maybe it was all just a sudden whim on Vince's part, with Flair's injury providing the excuse to do a quick switch in front of a hot Canadian crowd, with the potential to create a "special moment" and maybe a new drawing card to boot if all went well.

 

What I still don't get is why the title win over Flair was never televised, at least on Prime Time Wrestling like the previous Flair-Savage switch was. I can't recall the WWF even showing much in the way of clips from the match on TV, although they probably did at some point. You would think that if Vince truly wanted Bret to get over as world champ he would have given the match way more TV coverage than he did.

 

As far as the "fighting champion" gimmick Bix mentioned goes, it definitely was a departure from the norm. Maybe Vince saw Bret as the new Backlund and booked him accordingly. The 92-96 period really was a time of booking experimentation. I wish I had more to contribute to the whole booking philosophy discussion right now, but I haven't seen any of the interviews, video packages, character profiles, etc. from this era since the day they aired, so I can't really remember any specifics in that regard. My memeory of the context of a lot of the matches from this era is pretty hazy at times.

[Loss]

According to Bret, the title win over Flair wasn't televised because Flair refused to put him over on TV.