Should have stayed in the NWA

[KrisZ]

It was one of those working while staying close to the family deals.

[jdw]

Yep. That kind of ties into my comment that he was probably better than most in not blowing through is money, which allowed him to:

 

* not-work most of June 1987 through March 1991

 

* supplement what he'd saved and/or made off the gym with short term things like

-- late 1987 / early 1988 WWF work

-- Feb-Jul 1989 run in WCW

 

I get the feeling that when he game back to the WWF in 1991 that while perhaps not hard up for cash that... he could use the cash. He likely got a decent deal coming back into WCW in late 1991 (as did Rude). He somehow survived the Watts Cost Cutting Era, though one gets the feeling that Ricky wouldn't be a stubborn as Rude was when it came to staying on his good sized contract... so maybe he was willing to take a cut. Never heard of him being under the pressure like some other guys such as Pillman. Anyway, he kept working through the injury before Eric terminated him. He always had a good push in those years, so no need to walk away and he seemed to be respected by a string of bookers. But given his lack of drive and/or need to work regularly in the prior four years, one wonders if something changed with his earlier investments... who knows.

[JazeUSA]

So I have been talking with a few people about Lex Luger. I feel his mistake was going to the WWF so that got me thinking... Do you feel the same way and also who else if any do you think would have been better off by staying in the NWA/WCW?

Barry Windham is the guy for me who had the WORSE downward slide when he jumped to the WWF, also Ronnie Garvin got shit on pretty good.

[claw64]

Did anyone actually benefit from jumping to the WWF? Steamboat maybe? Flair? Dusty from what folks have said.

 

Piper.

[JerryvonKramer]

Rick Rude too, became a much bigger star as IC champ.

[Negro Suave]

 

How about the Road Warriors? When I was a kid I remember thinking that either of them could be NWA champ if they weren't so focused on tag team gold.

 

Their aura went shortly after they stepped foot in a WWE ring.

 

My two lasting memories of the Legion of Doom are Rocko and Sunny flashing the crowd as their manager.

Don't know who else would agree with me but I feel like their aura had already gone by 1990 -- possibly even earlier. Road Warriors have felt very tired on all the 89 shows. I'd probably back date it to the heel run in 88. After they turned back face, they just feel like they were coasting and had nothing of note to do at all. A far cry from their hey day. The peak is 86-87. You might point to Starrcade 87 as the cut off . Sure, they were still cheered in 88-90, but it wasn't the same.

 

I think the move to WWF was actually a shot in the arm for them and probably added a few years onto their careers as big names. They got over big in Europe too during their WWF run and were used to headline European shows. They probably shifted a shit-ton of merch as well. They were in no man's land in NWA.

 

 

 

I was always a Legion of Doom mark. I remember them returning on RAW being one of the last true mark out moments for me, like get up out of my seat and cheer.

 

I'm surprised Butch Reed wasn't mentioned in the same breath as Ron Simmons. Because man should he have stayed in the NWA.. Much as I loved the Brainbusters they were wasted in WWF.

[goc]

Butch Reed doesn't really count because he never really did anything outside of Mid-South. He worked a little in the AWA and St.Louis but all his success was for Watts. After he left Mid-South it's not exactly like he was in demand. He ended up wrestling in Kansas City for 6 months before he and Slick got picked up from KC to go to WWF. Reed didn't do anything in his WWF run, but it's not like he was going to be having some awesome run in JCP or anywhere else. UWF was dying by the time he'd have been fresh again in that territory.