WCW's Highway to Hell

[flyonthewall2983]

I was thinking someone could make a comp (if they haven't already) of the best matches from this period.

[jdw]

A trader named CMPunk made a massive comp covering JCP/WCW going back into the 80s and all the way to the end. The WCW one from Jan 7, 1991 to the end was 186 discs. He included lots of angles and non-wrestling.

 

I suspect that someone could redo it and having it even larger. I think people have organized the season sets better since then, some obscure stuff has popped up, and there's likely a different appreciation now for WCWSN stuff than back when he put it together. On the other hand, he also included all the Big Stuff that "work fans" might not include... so who knows.

[flyonthewall2983]

I mean the last 27 months specifically.

[jdw]

Discs #155 - #186.

[Strummer]

The Hogan/Nash/Steiner v Flair/Benoit/Mongo match actually scored a higher quarter hour rating than RAW that night. The last time WCW accomplished that. And of course it showed there was still money to be made with Hogan v Flair. The buy rates for Superbrawl and Uncensored reflected that

[goc]

I bought a hard drive almost specifically for WCW and have barely even watched any. I feel like jumping in and watching along but then that might sour me on going back and watching 1997 when it was still really good.

[goc]

I have no idea how long this will take nor if I'll go the whole route... Maybe I'm just masochistic.

 

WEEK 1 (January 1 to 7, 1999) :

 

Death of WCW angle : The Fingerpoke of Doom. What can be said that hasn't been said already ? Actually in term of execution it was really well done and nobody saw it coming. I had forgotten that they also beat the shit out of Goldberg in the post-match celebration and that no one comes to his aid. No one. Man, WCW sure was depleted in term of babyfaces, as the Wolfpäck had been the big babyface faction for the last 6 months, and most of them (save for Konnan and Sting) turned heel there. I don't remember what was Bret Hart status at the time of Starrcade, I think he had been injured of something at some point while he was playing Hogan's pal and basically manipulating everybody. He's not there at this point. Anyway, it's a reset two years back. The nWo is in full force and Hulk is the champ.

I just watched the first Nitro of 1999 and finally saw the whole thing in context. I did think it was actually really well executed. There was really no indication at all that the swerve was coming and then they really milked it during the Goldberg beatdown afterwards, even handcuffing Goldberg and spray painting him. But I still understand the initial hatred because it kind of does feel like a big reset button.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I loved the whole Raven/ Kanyon "What a mark" shit from back then. It was funny.

[Death From Above]

Also the never ending storyline nobody gives a fuck about gets a lot of airtime, I guess to fill the 5 hours of Nitro/Thunder. I'm talking about Vincent vs Stevie Ray for the control of nWo B-Team.

I still haven't cleared my mind of the PPV match these two had.

 

Burned in permanently.

 

Also... they had a PPV match. Which in itself is boggling enough. I mean... In a sense I commend WCW in an ass backwards way, in that at least for a brief time they got away from "random guy 1 vs random guy 2" as a PPV undercard (I seem to remember A LOT of that on PPVs, which always seemed lazy given the gigantic roster) and at least there's a storyline attached to it. But... these are not the people to use in that scenario.

 

It was also pretty obvious to any sane human being that Scott Norton could have physically ripped either of them limb from limb. The angle still would have sucked if it was Stevie Ray vs. Scott Norton, but at least I can believe that. Norton, Adams and... whoever the hell else was there I can't remember, came off as massive bitches that they'd even allow fucking Vincent to get one over on them and be the boss.

[Ditch]

I think WCW never knew what to do with Norton because he was always going to put New Japan first, yet he was too credible and high-paid to use as a jobber.

[El-P]

Norton, Adams and... whoever the hell else was there I can't remember, came off as massive bitches that they'd even allow fucking Vincent to get one over on them and be the boss.

The last one was Horace Hogan. And he was probably the best worker of the bunch, which is pretty scary. Yep, they came off like bitches. But hey, Virgil is a wrestling superstar.

[goc]

Horace may not be very good but I'm interested to see, if I keep watching, if he keeps trying as hard as he did in his Nitro match with Benoit where he shocked the hell out of me with a pretty good looking suicide dive.

[EricR]

I think Horace is a good worker, personally. During that period I would probably have Vincent above him as a worker though.

[clintthecrippler]

I have no idea how long this will take nor if I'll go the whole route... Maybe I'm just masochistic.

 

WEEK 1 (January 1 to 7, 1999) :

 

Death of WCW angle : The Fingerpoke of Doom. What can be said that hasn't been said already ? Actually in term of execution it was really well done and nobody saw it coming. I had forgotten that they also beat the shit out of Goldberg in the post-match celebration and that no one comes to his aid. No one. Man, WCW sure was depleted in term of babyfaces, as the Wolfpäck had been the big babyface faction for the last 6 months, and most of them (save for Konnan and Sting) turned heel there. I don't remember what was Bret Hart status at the time of Starrcade, I think he had been injured of something at some point while he was playing Hogan's pal and basically manipulating everybody. He's not there at this point. Anyway, it's a reset two years back. The nWo is in full force and Hulk is the champ.

I just watched the first Nitro of 1999 and finally saw the whole thing in context. I did think it was actually really well executed. There was really no indication at all that the swerve was coming and then they really milked it during the Goldberg beatdown afterwards, even handcuffing Goldberg and spray painting him. But I still understand the initial hatred because it kind of does feel like a big reset button.

 

I have wondered for a while now if the legacy of the Fingerpoke of Doom would be less notorious if the following two factors weren't in play:

1. If instead of being opposite Foley winning the WWF Title, it was opposite a less news-worthy RAW.

2. If instead of being a show attended by 40,000 people in the Georgia Dome, it was in a random arena somewhere else in the country.

[goc]

I think it would be less notorious if it led to a satisfying payoff of Goldberg running through the nWo to get revenge and the title back.

[Death From Above]

Norton, Adams and... whoever the hell else was there I can't remember, came off as massive bitches that they'd even allow fucking Vincent to get one over on them and be the boss.

The last one was Horace Hogan. And he was probably the best worker of the bunch, which is pretty scary. Yep, they came off like bitches. But hey, Virgil is a wrestling superstar.

 

Horace and Sting had a stupid fun match on Thunder once the Russo era begins you'll probably enjoy.

 

As for the Fingerpoke of Doom... I actually argued at one point that in a totally different context, it could have actually been an amazing angle. But it was totally the wrong time and wrong place for it.

[artDDP]

Idiotic angle of the week : Hulk Hogan and Chuck Zito are stalking David Flair. Nitro ends on a stupid cliffhanger leading to... nothing basically, at least that's what we're led to believe to on Thunder. Okay, this is the part where Nitro crosses into Attitude Era WWF sitcomish shittyness, complete with full invisible camera mode on (although the cameraman was actually acknowledge in those vignettes).

I read Chuck Zito's autobiography ten years ago and in it he mentions his time in WCW. There was a Nitro telecast where Bischoff and Hogan wanted a team of Hell's Angels to surround Hulk in the ring. Zito says Bischoff was warning them that the fans might throw things in the ring. Zito replied that if anyone throws anything at a Hell's Angel they will climb into the crowd and stab the person. Bischoff decided instead to just have them ride around the ring on bikes and then go backstage.

[El-P]

WEEK 7 : (January 15 to 20, 1999)

 

Godawful angle of the week : Hulk Hogan and the nWO hitchjack Flair's limo and beat him up in a field. Not only this is awful, horribly acted and badly produced, but the killer is that, much like the Torrie Wilson vignettes (which are still going on BTW), the announcers act like they don't see what happens. It makes the entire angle ridiculous and stupid, and the whole show nonsensical. The invisible camera is bad enough, but the invisible video segment is even worse. This feud was built well for two weeks then it went to hell with those terrible ideas.

 

Match of the week : Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko vs Fit Finlay & Dave Taylor (Nitro) : the tag team tournament is a little bit clearler now, at least we know which team are still going for the finals. With one loss, Benoit & Malenko need to beat basically every other team that haven't been eliminated. This one is really good, especially when Benoit is in the ring. Malenko is okay. Really stiff work from the other three.

 

Would-be match of the week : Fit Finlay vs El Dandy (Saturday Night) : of course the status of Dandy doesn't allow this to got to great lenghs, but what they do in the limited frame they have is, obviously, really damn good.

 

Honorable mention : Blitzkrieg & Juventud Guerrera & Psychosis vs Super Calo & Hector Garza & Dandy (Nitro) : really good lucha style Nitro match, with Psychosis & Juvy keeping things together on the "rudo" side, and Dandy having the opportunity to shine. Super Calo is the worst here, not working smoothly with indy sensation Blizkrieg. Pretty hot match which eventually gets some good heat from the so-so Nitro crowd.

 

WTF match of the week : Bret Hart vs Will Sasso (Nitro). So, Bret Hart beats up some guy from some TV show. Okay. And we even get a swerve turn, as Debra Wilson prevents Hart from hitting Sasso with a chair, only to do it herself (and almost showing a tit in the process). And you wonder why Hart's heart wasn't into it. He's also off the PPV now since freaking Roddy Piper has been given the US title.

 

Other lucha match of the week : Psychosis vs Villano V (Saturday Night) : cool little match showcasing Villano V in another capacity than jobbing hard, which is pretty cool.

 

Nash's booking has been uninspired at best (heels costing rival babyface a match against a JTTS, partners turning on each others without much reasons) or downright horrible (facsination for awful vignettes and terrible ideas of stipulations and sitcomish angles). Goldberg has been reduced to an afterthought, as one can easily argue that Hogan vs Flair, the mask vs hair tag and Scott Steiner vs DDP are much more important than Goldberg's match against Bam Bam Bigelow, who has failed to look like a legit main eventer and threat to Goldie. The last angle they run to build this match was Bam Bam making fun of Goldie's support for animal rights, which prompted a few choice insults toward Goldie's wife. Two months after losing the WCW title, Golberg is not in the picture anymore, and is not even feuding with the guys who screwed him... Sad.

[goc]

Goldberg couldn't feud with the nWo at this time, he was injured after putting his fist through the window of the limo remember?

[Loss]

Nash did return the favor to Goldberg at Spring Stampede ... months after Goldberg had cooled off when it wouldn't mean as much. I remember reading that he considered booking a rubber match where Nash would hire a trainer and they would do an old-style build up. Rumors floated around like crazy during that time, so who knows how true that was.

[Guest Nell Santucci]

Nash did return the favor to Goldberg at Spring Stampede ... months after Goldberg had cooled off when it wouldn't mean as much. I remember reading that he considered booking a rubber match where Nash would hire a trainer and they would do an old-style build up. Rumors floated around like crazy during that time, so who knows how true that was.

Yeah, but in an era where people expected the ace in that type of situation like Starrcade to get his comeuppance, doing the favor three months later meant nothing (as you said). That must be emphasized. Goldberg should have smashed the nWo right after the Finger Poke of Doom, and no one would remember the Finger Poke of Doom and Goldberg's drawing power, I don't think, would have cooled off.

[artDDP]

Nash did return the favor to Goldberg at Spring Stampede ... months after Goldberg had cooled off when it wouldn't mean as much. I remember reading that he considered booking a rubber match where Nash would hire a trainer and they would do an old-style build up. Rumors floated around like crazy during that time, so who knows how true that was.

Really? Wow, I don't remember that match at all. I guess it makes sense because Nash went on to win the world title the next month and I don't remember what Goldberg did until his surprise return at the Megadeth concert.

[Strummer]

The Flair angle where he's in the limo and gets beat up in the field made me laugh so hard while watching live. I was howling. Especially the part where he shows up at the gas station afterwards. This reportedly cost WCW hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce.

[El-P]

PPV 2 : Superbrawl 9

 

Death of WCW match of the night : Outsiders vs Rey Mysterio Jr. & Konnan. They had a legit superhero who they could market toward kids (and sell them tons of mask), a young and great worker with tons of charisma and upward mobility. So what do they do ? Make him lose his mask in a tag team match against two giants, at the very first attempt. I mean, if they had built a huge match for Starrcade after 6 months of storylines (Rey should not lose the mask anyway but it would have been big at least)... The match itself it pretty good, and Hall and Nash actually work well with Rey bumping around for him pretty nicely (even Nash at the end), and Rey does get a visual fall on Nash, who also sells for quite a bit post-match. But they kill what should have been the mystique of a great babyface star with this shit. Thankfully Rey looks charismatic withouth the mask too, but it's plain ridiculous and serves no purpose. The best thing WWE did with Rey is putting back his mask on. Well, of course they also gave him the 619 and pushed him to the World Title to exploit Eddie's death so... But that's another matter.

 

Shit booking match of the night : Hulk Hogan vs Ric Flair. The match itself is pretty good, even then Hogan was working harder than he did in 1995. What's interesting is that he's basically working almost like good old Hulk Hogan here, no chickenshit stuff, no begging, no stalling, just a more agressive and heelish version of his former self. Kinda odd. Flair is coming up very collected and calm, which is a nice touch. So yeah, match is actually good, but the ending reminds me of the infamous match they had in the Fall of 1994, in reverse (well, almost, since Hogan still wins) : stupid post match involving a woman (Torrie Wilson, hot and useless at this point) and a masked man who reveals himself as the closest man to Flair : David !!! More tazer stuff. Man this was getting old. David Flair had no business in the ring at this point, and his involment and stupid turn ruins the ending what should have been a cool grudge match. Another point, don't give me that Horsemen shit about Benoit & Malenko. They were nowhere to be seen here, they didn't jump the ring to defend Flair. Horsemen my ass. And where was Goldberg ? Hey, those guys stole your title, remember ?

 

Match of the Night : Barry Windham & Curt Henning vs Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko. The tag team tournament, although shoddy booked, was the only saving grace of this period, as it was a simple wrestling angle, teams fighting to get a prestigious title. What a concept. Curt Hennig is making a really surprising comeback thus far, I thought he was done in 98. Benoit is Benoit, and Windham is looking better than he did during his entire WWF stint. I guess being himself and not a Stalker or a Blackjack helps. Malenko doesn't seem to grasp the tag team psychology that well as at one point after a pretty long babyface beating, he just turns thing around and make a complete heatless tag. Anyway, this is really good when Benoit is in. The second match barely happens, as Windham chokes the hell out of Malenko with his belt while the referee tries to get Benoit out of Hennig, and Malenko gets pinned like an idiot by smart cheating heel Windham. Good stuff here. Breath of fresh air.

 

Worst match of the night : Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper. Don't blame Hall, Piper is just putrid at this point. Nothing he does looks remotely decent and he has a shitty timing to boot. Really pathetic to watch. Plus he's not even really over anymore, as most of his comebacks fall flat (well, when your work look so bad, at some point it kills the match) and Hall gets a huge pop when he wins. Piper doesn't get any pop in the (badly done) post-match either. Awful awful stuff, Piper had some decent matches left in 1996 and 97, but he's so done and useless at this point. He looks horrible, dated and embarrassing. Good old woodpile.

 

Honorable mention of the night : Scott Steiner vs DDP. Good match, although not pretty in term of execution. Steiner is a fantastic heel, and he knows how to structure a match now, which is pretty shocking. The way he builds toward a surprise top rope frankensteiner is pretty cool. What's interesting is that this match also clearly points the direction the company should take. Although this crowd was pretty difficult for babyfaces at times anyway, it's pretty clear that DDP is not as over as he once was as a babyface. He's also past his prime now, his work doesn't look as dynamic as it did two years earlier. I think I heard a "DDP sucks" during the post-match when he was put on a gurney ! It was time for him to turn back heel. On the other hand, Steiner is over, and although he's not cattering to the crowd like Nash does, he gets some big time cheers because in a way he was a cool heel like Austin was in 1996. They should have pushed him to the top immediately, they had a strong heel that would have turned himself into a strong kick-ass antihero babyface eventually.

 

"Whatever" match of the night : Bam Bam Bigelow vs Goldberg. I'm afraid this project will confirm my underwhelming impression of Bigelow. As good as he was during the ladder match, here he's not shining at all, and he's pretty boring on offense, working on Goldie's knee in the most yawn inducing fashion. This feud doesn't work, it doesn't comes off as anything special or important. And the rose was clearly off the bloom with Goldie, he doesn't get that huge of a reaction. His explosives stretches of offense do, but it's obvious the guy is damaged goods already. Goldberg should have squashed Bigelow like a bug.

 

The rest of the show was okay but nothing special, Booker T vs Disco was a nice enough opener, Jericho vs Saturn was basically the same kind of match they had the month before, and the angle goes on. Chavo Jr. vs Kidman was pretty good but Chavo is still searching himself as a heel (he was still obviously the best of the two and is always improving). All in all it was a pretty good PPV work wise, as only Piper vs Hall was really bad and Bam Bam vs Goldie underwhelming. The work was at least decent (Jericho vs Saturn) to very good (tag match), but the booking was, well, pretty damn bad, actually worse than I remembered. It may get harder than I thought it would.

MVP of the night : Rey Mysterio Jr.

[Yo-Yo's Roomie]

This is my favourite thread on the board. Enjoying reading your thoughts, El-P.