Guys who were with the company far longer than you remember

[Mad Dog]

It's crazy to think Slaughter only missed wrestling in the WWE in 5 different decades by 10 months.

[Strummer]

Didn't the company keep on the Bushwackers for so long because they were the go to guys for promotional work? Seemed every time they did a charity event or some PR stuff in the 90s they were always right there. Despite not being pushed television characters in years

[PeteF3]

Also, Butch was the in-between man between Vince and Paul Wight, who had been negotiating in secret since like 1996.

[JRH]

I was convinced Haku left after WM7, but he was still around as a JTTS throughout 1991 and even appeared in the 92 Rumble.

[C.S.]

This was after the plan of Lou Albano coming back to manage the team as a face fizzled out.

 

Wait... Lou Albano managed The Nasty Boys?! How do I not remember this???

 

I was convinced Haku left after WM7, but he was still around as a JTTS throughout 1991 and even appeared in the 92 Rumble.

 

Oh yeah. I started watching in the summer of '91, and a Haku squash on Superstars or Challenge is the first match I remember.

[El Boricua]

I don't know about Slater but I remember seeing Valentine, Buck and Pittman on the weekend shows well into the summer of 1997.

Valentine was one of the guys who celebrated Sting's title win at Starrcade 97.

[CarpetCrawler]

Albano would have been a good fit for the Nasty Boys.

 

I believe Muraco and JYD were fired for some backstage shenanigans during a European tour just before Survivor Series '88. Also might have been why the Bulldogs left too, but not before doing a big show like that.

 

Last thing I remember the Bushwhackers doing was some segment with Brian Pillman, then they were gone. I think in an alternate WCW where the NWO didn't rule everything, the Sheepherders could have made an interesting comeback.

 

Albano would've been perfect for the Nasties whether they were face or heel I totally agree.

 

Muraco got fired on the tour because he threatened Nick Bockwinkel, who was agenting at the time, because Bock wanted to give him a drug test. JYD got fired for getting hammered and pissing in the tour bus; I think he literally got out of his seat and took a piss right there in the aisle in front of everyone. It was so sudden they both got fired even though they were already announced for that year's Survivor Series.

 

 

This was after the plan of Lou Albano coming back to manage the team as a face fizzled out.

 

Wait... Lou Albano managed The Nasty Boys?! How do I not remember this???

 

 

 

He almost did. It was during Fall 1992 when they turned the Nasties face. Albano said he had a rift with Bruno over it for a little while because he defended Vince during all the 1992 scandals and then later admitted to Bruno it was because he was close to getting a job again with him and he wanted to play nice. Him and Bruno reconciled a few years afterwards. As for why it never happened afterall... I have no idea honestly and ever since I learned that was almost the case I've been so curious. Albano with the Nasties was almost too perfect.

[flyonthewall2983]

I actually didn't realize until just a few years ago that Hogan worked dates beyond KOTR '93, where he mostly worked Yoko in a bunch of DQ-finish/"Hogan Must Pose"-type matches.

[Al]

The taping cycle after KOTR and then you'll notice the Hogan/Yoko matches were a European tour.

[BruiserBrody]

Ivan Koloff as a face in 1989 NWA was a surprise.

I believe Koloff shows up for a one shot TV match during the 1990 era where Ole was bringing in cheap, older guys.

[GSR]

 

Ivan Koloff as a face in 1989 NWA was a surprise.

I believe Koloff shows up for a one shot TV match during the 1990 era where Ole was bringing in cheap, older guys.

 

Yeah he turns up on the 8/18 episode of World Championship Wrestling facing a job guy. It looks like he was only in for the week as he also wrestled on a few house shows alongside Butch Reed (presumably subbing for Ron Simmons) and was then not seen again until Slamboree '93.

[JRH]

Didnt Ivory stay with the WWE until 2005 at least?

[flyonthewall2983]

The taping cycle after KOTR and then you'll notice the Hogan/Yoko matches were a European tour.

 

Yeah, he was working with Beefcake against Money Inc. in the states just before that tour.

 

The month after KOTR the PWI came out with Hogan and Sting on the cover, and it was the first inkling I had (even at the tender age of 9) he might be going to WCW. Little did I know he was still working shots for Vince.

[brocklock]

Didnt Ivory stay with the WWE until 2005 at least?

 

Yeah they used Ivory as a Heat Color Commentator and co-host of WWE Experience.

 

Terri Runnels was around until 2004.

[Rah]

Of course it's old news now, but it really got me when I realised Tye Dillinger had been with the company since late 2005. Thirteen years!

[GSR]

Of course it's old news now, but it really got me when I realised Tye Dillinger had been with the company since late 2005. Thirteen years!

 

Not consecutively though. Plain old Gavin Spears got released in 2009 not long after being called up to the ECW brand before being re-hired in 2013.

 

[JHawk]

I keep forgetting Koko B. Ware was around long enough to be in the first match ever on Raw. I thought he was gone by 1991.

[PeteF3]

Koko was gone for about a year, from the fall of '91 until coming back in the fall or late summer of '92 to be part of High Energy.

 

What's more forgotten is that he shows up again in early '94, and even works a match against the freshly turned Owen on Superstars.

[flyonthewall2983]

I remember watching the Koko/Owen match, can't remember him in anything else around that time though. Fred Ottman came back as Typhoon that year very briefly too, I think filling in for Earthquake once he quit.

 

One I didn't realize until later was Ron Simmons' last match for WCW was in September of '94. The last thing I remembered him clearly from during that run was his match with Ice Train in that January's Clash.

 

And I had no clue Ice Train himself was repackaged in 1999. One of those "only in WCW" things that they can give the same guy three shots like that.

[CYF]

Billy Gunn being in the fed in 04 surprised me

[flyonthewall2983]

From what I gathered reading thehistoryofwwe.com is that Ron Garvin was in the WWF until about November of 1990, and by the end was doing job matches like this

 

 

[Mrzfn]

Nothing in '91 threw me more than seeing all three Orient Express members in the same match on a random Prime Time before Summerslam. Sato drops off the map after Survivor Series '90 and then suddenly reappears just for that one random match, and never again.

[Kil]

On 6/15/2018 at 12:00 PM, SPS said:

Another one is Jim Brunzell who I didn't remember sticking around in WWF after the Killer Bees but he was there until the Monday Night RAW era in 1993.

 

I remember when Brunzell had a match on Raw, against Damien DiMento I think, and got a regular entrance with music and everything instead of the in-the-ring jobber intro. I thought he'd been promoted to being a "main" guy again, but I believe that was actually his last match.

 

[flyonthewall2983]

He appeared in WCW shortly after, at the first Slamboree in a 6-man tag "legends match"

[JRH]

I was kind of shocked when I found out Mike Rotundo was still with the WWF in early 87, he even had a match with Spivey against Demolition. Speaking of Rotundo, specifically his wcw run as VK Wallstreet, I was also shocked when I saw him on a random weekend show around the summer of 97. What's odd is that the announcers made no indication that he was with the NWO, and he didnt even wear an NWO shirt, instead an anti-WCW shirt, which they also made no reference to.