(I could have sworn I did a redo of this show that wasn’t terrible, but I can’t find anything, so we’re stuck with the 1997 original rant. Prepare yourself.)
William Shakespeare once wrote of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Those were eloquent words. Slamboree was a three hour waste of time that didn't even have sound and fury to keep the viewer's interest.
I'm not one to toss around phrases like "boring pile of shit" and "total waste of airtime" and "worst PPV of the year" but I think, realistically speaking, that all three apply quite nicely to this insult to the intelligence that was masquerading as a PPV. (Yeah, but Starrcade 97 was still to come.)
Even discounting for the moment the fact that I'm a WWF fan more than anything, I can still watch a show objectively, and this was a really, really, bad show. (My vitriol has died off a lot in the years since, given that I don’t remember a single thing about this show.)
How bad? Well...
Opening match: Steven Regal v. Ultimo Dragon (TV title)
This was the best match of the card, and that's not saying much. And it was the start of a pattern tonight, because this was a looooooooong match. Around 20 minutes, I think. Steven Regal is not made for long matches. To be honest, the Militant Canucklehead contingent lost interest pretty quick and turned to discussing the Simpsons while this was going on, so I'm not even going to give it a star rating. (That’ll show them!) At any rate, Steve Regal eventually hits the Regal Stretch for the submission and his fourth TV title, although at this point you'd be hard pressed to find someone who cares about that title anymore. (Oh, just wait.) This was a SHITTY choice for an opening match, that much I'm sure of.
Madusa v. Luna Vachon (Women's title)
We spent more time making jokes about the implants than watching the match here. Luna has, uh, developed rather dramatically since her appearance in ECW. Both women phone this one in, and that's saying something considering that neither is particularly good to begin with. Madusa wins with the German suplex, I think there's some kind of angle involving the championship belt, but who really cares? (Yeah, that title disappeared right after this.)
Randy Savage comes out for an interview, DDP comes out to accept the challenge, Savage runs away, nWo runs in, DDP takes them out with a crutch, nWo gets the advantage, Giant cleans house. Whatever. This advanced nothing. Savage and DDP don't like each other. Well, duh. Waste of five minutes.
Rey Mysterio v. some Japanese guy whose name I don't remember. (That would be someone from WAR named Yuji Yasuraoka, who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry and apparently was out of the business soon after this. Usually when I’m bitchy about Japanese guys I don’t recognize, it turns out to be someone famous years later, but in this case it was just a guy.)
Why the fuck was this on a PPV? For $27.95, you'd think WCW would deign to at least allow the fans to watch Rey beat someone who they know. Stick this crap on Nitro, but not in the middle of a major show. Rey wins, big fucking deal. I mean, I'm as much a fan of workrate as anyone, but I'd least like to see some name guys on a big show like this. Instead I get Rey Jr. against some kid who just had his debut match in WCW last night. (It was probably a damn good match, but I can’t really be bothered to check YouTube and find out.)
But it gets worse! Yes, it is possible!
I may have the order wrong here, btw.
Jeff Jarrett v. Dean Malenko (US title)
Sorry, folks, but Jeff Jarrett is just not on the same level as Dean Malenko. And this was one incredibly dull match. Jarrett tried the figure four like, 14 times in this match, finally hitting it near the end. The match ends when Jarrett gets tossed from the ring somehow, Steve MacMichael tosses him back in, and Malenko puts him out of his misery. Again, I ask, so what? This advanced nothing. We're an hour and a half into this drek and nothing of note has happened yet. (Also no star ratings or significant match recaps even.) This stupid Horsemen angle has been going on forever. Either split up and get back together or something. (They went with “split up” after September.) And what happened to the big Benoit-Guerrero-Malenko hate triangle that was forming last month? (It disappeared into the vortex of suck that was WCW.) Where did that disappear to?
Mortis v. Glacier
At least it was short. They do some stuff, Adam Bomb (or Wrath or whatever) runs in for the DQ about two minutes in. Then some kickboxing guy whose name I didn't catch because picking my nose was infinitely more interesting than this match saves Glacier. (That would be Ernest Miller.) Canadian Sensation immediately dubbed him "Chocolate Mousse" and I just call him "Mousse" for short. Next match, please.
Meng v. Chris Benoit (death match)
At this point, it's a battle to stay awake. This does nothing to help it. Here's the synopsis: Benoit carries Meng's fat ass for what seems like half an hour, selling moves that he shrugs off when anyone else does them, until Meng hits the dreaded Tongan Death Grip for the submission! (Well, you know, you have to put Meng over here because, um, well…)
Chris, this is a heartfelt plea: Go to the WWF now. Call Vince McMahon. Call Bret Hart. Get out before it's too late. The Hart Foundation needs you. Brian Pillman needs a partner. You can escape the madness. (Well, Pillman and Benoit can certainly form a team now.)
Steiners v. Konan and Hugh Morris.
Glorified squash for the Steiners. I think some kind of face turn by one of the Dungeon members was teased, but I'm nearly catatonic due to boredom so I'm not sure.
I'm begging to be put out of my misery by now, but the worst was yet to come...
Reggie White v. Steve MacMichael.
I take every bad thing I said about Scott Putski back. I would gladly, with a smile on my face, watch Scott Putski from now until the end of the decade as long as Reggie White never, ever, ever steps in the ring again. Ever. He fucked up a clothesline. Twice. He was that bad. It took Mongo 20 minutes, and *two* suitcases, to finally put this idiot down for the count. *I* could have taken Reggie White in two minutes, and it takes Mongo *20*????? This was easily the worst PPV match of the year. (I wouldn’t say “easily”, but this was given WAY too much time.)
The "main" event: Roddy Piper, Ric Flair, Kevin Greene v. the Outsiders
Oh, god, please let it end. I don't care if Sting doesn't come down from the rafters, or if Mr. Perfect doesn't debut, just LET IT END. (I feel the same way about this rant.)
Here's the rundown: nWo member comes in, poses, points to a face. Face comes in, poses, points to an nWo member. Repeat for 10 minutes. Insert Syxx's very gay-looking move (you know the one) which draws a "Faggot" chant from the crowd. (And to think that WWE would make the broncobuster into a major spot for him and GOT IT OVER.) Ref bump, pier-six brawl, nWo goes down, Nick Patrick comes in, counts the pin on all three nWo members at the same time. Match over. Thank god. Tony and Dusty are gushing about how it's a major win for WCW, as though this show actually meant something.
And that's it. Roll credits. No Sting, no Hennig, no Raven, no Luger, no Hogan, no point.
Thumbs down doesn't even do this justice. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, memorable about this tripe. I could hardly even remember what matches took place ten minutes after watching it. (Let alone 15 years later.)
And the scary thing is, I'm sure this won't even be the harshest review of the show on the 'net tonight.
I'm going to go watch some ECW now to wake myself up... (I’m pretty sure that given a proper review today, this show would come off more as a “thumbs in the middle” deal, but the lack of star power here was really glaring and absolutely nothing memorable occurred, so 1997 Scott has a point.)
I just watched the Mysterio-Yasuraoka match, and it was good, 3 1/2-ish stars, which would have made it the match of the night from the sounds of things. Though I agree putting it on PPV with almost no build-up for Yasuraoka was silly.
ReplyDeleteRey even busted out a RVD-style split-legged moonsault. Though I have no idea who would have done it first, as Mysterio might have been doing it in Mexico for a time before this.
Not one, not two, but THREE former NFL players wrestling. And did Hogan only have a set number of ppvs in his contract? He missed a ton of them, you'd think you would want your World champ on every ppv.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Hogan's contract was crazy. Total creative control, limited dates, you name it.
ReplyDeleteIt feels somewhat unsettling that Scott would ever talk about willingly watching ECW.
ReplyDeleteFrom Oct 96 to Oct 98 off the top of my head I can remember Hogan only defending the title 7 times on ppv. Giant twice, Savage, Piper twice, Luger and Sting. I might have missed some but even so, that is a ridiculous low number.
ReplyDeleteWith all the pampered contracts they gv out im surprised that el dandy vs silver king didnt headline some house.shows round this time...
ReplyDeleteHalloween Havoc '96 - Hogan vs. Savage (Title Match)
ReplyDeleteStarrcade '96 - Hogan vs. Piper (Non Title)
Souled Out '97- Hogan vs. Giant (Title Match)
SuperBrawl VII - Hogan vs. Piper (Title Match)
Road Wild '97- Luger (c) vs. Hogan (Title Match)
Halloween Havoc '97- Hogan vs. Piper (Non Title)
Starrcade '97- Hogan vs. Sting (Title Match)
SuperBrawl VIII- Hogan vs. Sting (for the Vacant Title)
So, from October 1996 until October 1998, Hogan defended the title FOUR TIMES on pay-per-view. Once, Luger was the champion, and the other, neither man was the champion going in.
It almost makes more sense to have him not wrestle every show. It makes
ReplyDeletehis title defenses seem like a bigger deal, which actually sort of
worked to their advantage.
The cruiserweights were the other side of the coin, contract-wise. Although they were generally making more money than say, Mexico (although there were exceptions), the control exerted over their time was stringent and ever-changing.
ReplyDeleteBischoff would lure them in with promises of the wrestlers being able to work in Mexico on their time off (say 4 days), then within months or even weeks, change his mind and say he had them under exclusive contract, not allowing them to go anywhere. Meltzer was often detailing the difficulties the cruiserweights had with him.
I used to watch WCW all the time as a kid around this time and yeah, I can't remember a single thing that happened for months in 97. The whole year was a blur. WWF was clearly beginning to take over by that point.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point but he should have been forced to defend the title at least once a month. Even if was just against a lower card guy.
ReplyDeletelol no they weren't.
ReplyDeleteRVD was using the split-leg as a finisher during his 1992 run with WCW, if memory serves.
ReplyDeleteI know this is something you already know, but, that's gotta be the worst review I've ever read from you.
ReplyDeleteAlmost as bad as my first wrestling reviews.
You could argue that creatively WWE was superior around that time but the revenue stream wasn't showing it.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing I like better than reading the very oldest rants, they're all just so deliciously horrifying I'm sometimes amazed you're even brave enough to post them.
ReplyDelete"(Well, Pillman and Benoit can certainly form a team now.)"Jesus man! Well I assume this would have to be a Supershow concept since with any luck they're each spending eternity on different brands.
Yeah they were. Another year later they were kicking WCWs ass in the ratings. That ball got rolling in 97 though. Austin was a runaway train that couldn't be stopped.
ReplyDeleteActually, a year later, I don't think the WWE had won a Monday night yet. Although they were like, a week or two away from it at that point.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to Sebastian earlier, and he was asking me about 90's wrestling. The more I thought about it, wrestling, in the summer of 1998, was as popular as anything has ever been. With Austin running things for WWE, and Hogan/Rodamn vs DDP/Malone and then the Jay Leno thing, pro-wrestling was EVERYWHERE.
I still can't believe the end of this PPV. I mean, 3 nWo members, beaten, cleanly, at the same time? I have no idea how that happened backstage.
Are we sure Benoit made it to hell? Because I haven't seen him on NXT yet.
ReplyDeleteWell, that should answer that. Good to know, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, 1998 or the first few months of 1999 was probably the peak point for wrestling as a whole, due to both promotions having a strong media presence and doing huge numbers. The WWF would surpass their own numbers later in 1999, but WCW wasn't as strong by the point they were really rolling.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather watch 1997 stuff in either promotion though personally.
Holy fuck, I ordered this show with some buddies back in the day and I swear to you, about 3/4 of the way through, we were playing darts and pretty much drunk off our ass because we were so bored. What an abysmal show and if you re-ranted it today, I still think it would fall in the "thumbs down" category.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, Kevin Greene was decent for someone who'd never wrestled and showed way more charisma than Mongo, though that's not saying much.
This was another one of the few shows I missed during WCWs big run.
ReplyDeleteI guess after ordering Slamboree 1996 and renting 1995, I decided to swear off of Slamboree as an event. They did rope me in in 1999 and get my $27.95 though for some reason, although I seem to have lost that tape, so it's like I never ordered it anyway!
It was 11 months after this they won a Monday Night battle (Apr. 98), and they would trade wins over the next few months. WWF would then pull away on the Monday Night ratings.
ReplyDeleteAnd there was apparently a lot of political to-dos and meetings to get the NWO to do the job. If Piper hadn't been involved, it almost certainly wouldn't have happened.
I don't remember him even winning a match in WCW...my memory of him from then is being a TV jobber.
ReplyDeleteYeah, your "first" reviews.
ReplyDeleteBa-dum-DUM, lol.
ReplyDeleteI reviewed this show a few weeks ago. It's pretty bad.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to disagree with your assessment in terms of critical acclaim, because I definitely enjoyed 1997 WWF, but I've always thought this whole "the WWF was ahead even though they were behind" logic is really silly. I do agree to some extent that people are creatures of habit and it does take a little time to change their viewing habits, but people take it so far to the extreme when analyzing these trends. By the same logic, you could say that that Nitro had surpassed Raw by
ReplyDelete1995 and that by 1996 they were finally winning just because they'd
reached the fruition of their momentum.
I don't buy that though. Looking at the numbers, the NWO was an
almost immediate success in terms of ratings -- they
grabbed the attention of the fans with it and didn't look back. It's
really no different than the WWF getting people to take a look at their
product when they brought Mike Tyson and the ratings reflected it once
they got closer to their typical pre-WrestleMania bump. They hooked them fast.
I'm not going to disagree with your assessment in terms of critical acclaim, because I definitely enjoyed 1997 WWF, but I've always thought this whole "the WWF was ahead even though they were behind" logic is really silly.
ReplyDeleteI do agree to some extent that people are creatures of habit and it does take a little time to change their viewing habits, but people take it so far to the extreme when analyzing these trends. By the same logic, you could say that that Nitro had surpassed Raw by 1995 and that by 1996 they were finally winning just because they'd reached the fruition of their momentum.
I don't buy that though. Looking at the numbers, the NWO was an almost immediate success in terms of ratings -- they grabbed the attention of the fans with it and didn't look back. It's really no different than the WWF getting people to take a look at their product when they brought Mike Tyson and the ratings reflected it once they got closer to their typical pre-WrestleMania bump. They hooked them fast.
It just seems like people don't want to give WCW their due in terms of their success when they had it, brief as it was. It just seems to go like "People watched because of the NWO at first for a few weeks but then RAW was better for like a year before they finally won, and then people were watching but, but people only kept on watching WCW out of habit and not because they enjoyed it for a few years."
It's like that Seinfeld episode where Elaine goes with Jerry to visit her parents and hurts her back. She has to stay there against her will for five days, to which Jerry replies something like, "Well today is almost over, so it's really only four days. With sleep and meals that's like a day and a half right there. Then it'll be Friday and weekends go by fast, so really it's only like one day".
I agree with you overall. I think the general idea of the WWF was "ahead" in 1997 was that they clearly had some more inspired writing going on and several motivated workers that were carving out fan bases. It doesn't mean their victory was inevitable, just that in hindsight they were clearly laying the groundwork for a potential turnaround.
ReplyDeleteI do think the nWo is a bit of an unfair example, since it consisted of three very well established stars. Austin, Rock, etc. didn't have that cultural capital and needed more time to establish themselves as entertaining. Just like Dolph Ziggler took a lot of time to start getting some respect.
They did team together a few times. Here's one against a jobber team that features their dragon suplex/dropkick combo, a move I'm still waiting for a team to steal. WGTT came closest with the Star Spangled Blaster.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/rIe0GtJBHWA
And for something different, Pillman & Liger teaming up against Benoit & Beef Wellington. Liger is the oldest and only living one in this match.
http://youtu.be/61Cequ2vK2A
WCW being so successful (mostly at least) in 1997 was probably a curse for the company since it convinced everyone to drag the NWO angle way past it's expiration date around mid 1998.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both points. There was certainly rebuilding going on in the WWF at the time and that the WWF got themselves in prime position to capture the audience. WCW was in a similar situation in a way with the rebuilding of their undercard. When the NWO hit, they also had the best cruiserweights on their roster, plus a lot of other established guys that people recognized.
ReplyDeleteWithout laying the groundwork first, I'm sure that people wouldn't have hung around in either case, but you still need that spark. It would have been interesting to see if Tyson had been brought in six or eight months sooner what kind of a difference it would have made.
seriously if they had such limited dates they should have kept him off Nitro and had him on all the PPV's instead.
ReplyDeleteWhat you didnt read was the next night after Greene and Piper left, on Nitro The Outsiders totally destroyed Flair, seen by millions more people. The review doesnt show it, but they way the did the job in the match was reminiscent of HBKs overselling Hogan at SS05. It was totally comedy, no war of attrition.
ReplyDeleteOnce they went back to TV, the Wolfpak got all their heat back. It meant NOTHING.
Gotta threadjack real quick: For anyone who marked out to that Bray Wyatt promo that was going around, here's a promo & a match. This gimmick is money.
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/p3ITlgOmmug
Scott Halls take on it was (paraphrasing) when you have to lay down and job, you put the guy OVER. show ass and what not. But the job they did at Slamboree was so over the top and phony it did nothing to the cause that Flair and Piper were trying to sell. At the time Hall and Nash were really in full swing of shooting on camera and generally being cool badass heels. THey pretty much owned the Steiners for being goofs for the last 6 months to the point were they done being makertable and credible as a team, so then they went to ruin "tradition". The Nwo stood on a soapbox and preached started a new tradition when them at the forefront and the unrule teenagers (like myself at the time) totally bought into it.
ReplyDeleteHere u got 97 year old Flair and 187 year old Piper talking about traiditon. against Hall Nash and Syxx doing their lil rebellion thing. It totally exposed Flair and Piper for being too old. Plus they got limited promo time to get the shit over while the wolfpak got all the mic work in the world and the fans ate that shyt up.
OK I originally contended that Moxley/Ambrose was the best mic worker in the industry full time today, but it's scary how fast Rotunda is progressing every time I see him. Where the hell did his mic work come from anyway? It's not like his dad was super good or anything. Maybe this is a case where scripted promos benefit a talent?
ReplyDeleteHe's making the case for why guys need a gimmick to stand out, That's for DAMN sure
ReplyDeleteNever mind that shit, here comes Mongo
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MCjp4FyME
Well if you're a fantastic wrestler like Austin Aries or Daniel Bryan you really don't need a gimmick like this but for someone like Rotunda, who's not near the calibre wrestler and a relative clean slate, it's needed.
ReplyDeleteLooking back, WCW had all the talent in the world and no idea what to do with any of it. I used to love watching Nitro just because of the talent on the show - the storylines were usually pretty bad. Off the top of my head, outside of the nWo, the Benoit/DDP feud, Benoit/Booker T feud, DDP/Raven feud, and Jericho's heel turn/domination of the CW division/feud with Malenko were the only good things I can think of, and even most of them weren't perfect. The Flock break up and emergence of Kidman and Saturn was pretty good to. But almost anything involving the Horsemen, football players or Flair/Piper was terrible. Why was WCW so into Kevin Greene?
ReplyDeleteI think there was a Flair/Syxx promo around this time. Did it lead to a one on one pay per view match at all? It was pretty good, if I recall, with Flair ragging on Syxx for being a punk and Syxx ragging on Flair for being an old guy trying to hold back the young guys.
Did anyone else hate Piper's WCW run? His first promo and match against Hogan was fine, but I got really tired of him really fast, and it's sad to think that with all the talent WCW had at it's disposal, Roddy Piper was pushed as hard for as long he was. Just didn't get the appeal.
Ignoring the fact that they really didn't do anything significant as a group, on paper, Flair/Anderson/Benoit/Pillman is my favorite Horseman group. If they had of come along at a different time, even a couple of years earlier, they would've been great.
ReplyDeleteI watched both shows. I loved Nitro, but it was just there. Nothing really happened, nothing felt important. The nWo was big but nothing that happened week to week ever changed anything. I think I just liked seeing so many guys I knew (even if they were former WWF midcarders like Jannetty, Martel, etc) and so many guys who were new to me - Benoit, Malenko, Jericho. WCW was sort of like the Expendables movie - round up as many big names as you can and figure out a story afterwards.
ReplyDeleteWWF was much more interesting to me. Long-time fan favorite Bret Hart being turned on by the fans, while they start to cheer heel Steve Austin. It was surreal at the time to see how popular Austin was becoming. Not that anyone ever doubts it, but as popular as we acknowledge that Austin was, he was even more so. I know Summerslam 1997 wasn't great match wise, but it was a well built card - even shit like the LOD/Godwinns had a backstory to it, as well as Goldust/Pillman. WCW seemed to be killing time until the inevitable Sting/Hogan match.
But having a great gimmick makes the great workers stand out even more in many cases (See Stone Cold Steve Austin for reference)
ReplyDeleteSub out Benoit for Austin before they broke up the Blondes. Would have been so awesome.
ReplyDeleteI was watching this one promo from around this time that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall cut on Flair, and if I didn't already know the context, I'd be 100% sure that they were both faces. The crowd was cheering them on the whole time and they were playing to it.
ReplyDeleteI loved Nitro, but in retrospect I think it was just due to the talent they had. Established guys I knew were a big deal, new guys who were clearly talented. I think over-all the storylines were pretty bad but the star power kept me watching. But at a certain point it seemed like nothing was happening. The nWo did the same thing every week. You knew where it was eventually going (Sting), but that wasn't in the near future. So it became repetitive. I watched it, and usually enjoyed it, but for the most part not a whole lot was happening on Nitro, story wise. They really did seem to be booking to get through each week and figure out where to go the next week.
ReplyDeleteI thought Raw picked up before WM13. I can't remember exactly was happening in WCW at the same time so I cant' say which show was better, but focusing on WWF, Raw was really good for most of 1997, in the main event scene at least. May/June weren't great, July/August were, September wasn't great, October/November was good, then things got kind of slow after Montreal and until they kicked off the Austin march to Wrestlemania around February.
The best thing in this rant...$27.95 for a PPV... man has that changed in the ensuing 15 years...
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, being "the best in the world" or always having your workrate as your identifiable characteristic is their gimmick.
ReplyDeleteI never felt Benoit or Pillman as Horsemen. Don't get me wrong, both were leagues above Sid or Roma, but they didn't fit as well as Tully, Windham or even Luger imo. I do like Cult's idea of "Stunning" Steve in the Horsemen though and if Pillman has to be in it, Flair, Arn and the Hollywood Blondes works better.
ReplyDeleteI think Tyler Black/Seth Rollins will have the hardest time getting over no matter what they do with him since he's such a bland guy overall. I mean despite being a former ROH champ most consider his singles run their a failure due to the fans not connecting with him.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably thinking of Benoit as he would be years later when he had more credibility, at the time he was just a really talented but somewhat unknown guy. Pillman just seemed perfect for a stable - this cocky little shit who runs his mouth because he knows his backup will prevent him from getting the ass kicking he deserves. But yeah, didn't even consider it, but Austin/Pillman/Arn/Flair would have been great. I wonder if they considered that when they were feuding - that would've been quite the swerve, and odds are Sting would've been on the receiving end of it.
ReplyDeleteOooooh, Sting vs Austin, wonder how that would have gone.
ReplyDeleteThe best part would have been when Austin and Pillman eventually turned on Arn and Flair.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a few Sting/Austin matches and they were always good. A long feud between the two would have been gold.
ReplyDeleteIt would've led right into that New Generation Horsemen angle Pillman wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteImagine after winning a War Games match, Austin and Pillman turn on Arn and Flair. Handcuffing them to the cage and beating the holy hell out of them. WHY DIDN'T THIS HAPPEN?!
ReplyDeleteHe needs a mouthpiece, for sure. Pairing him up with a spunky Diva like Kaitlin or someone would help him out tremendously. He's got good body language charisma in his matches, which is more important since he won't have much mic time to get himself over initially, but he'll be a Justin Gabriel in the midcard for a long while without someone to help him out.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought that Husky Harris was good on the mic, and that just based on his time on NXT:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aWYzHcdxaJs#t=297s
He was also really good in the ring. There's really no reason that he couldn't become WWE's version of Samoa Joe.
Well, I guess if I did we're missing out on Stone Cold....but had the rumors of Flair wanting to make Austin a top heel were true that'd be a great way to go about it. Plus by this point there's no shortage of great young talent to round out the new Horsemen - Benoit, Malenko, Jericho. I think Regal was rumored to be under consideration for it as well. But this leads into the Hogan years and him leg dropping goofy evil characters was more appealing, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that at all. WCW from mid 96 through most of 97 was still doing better than the WWF from a ratings standpoint but my point was that you could see the WWF was on the rise and the inevitable was bound to happen.
ReplyDeleteWCW would have been so awesome with Hogan and every other WWF castoff. They wouldn't have made any money but I would have retroactively appreciated it better, which is more important. Plus, imagine the shock when all those guys show up as part of the nWo for the first time, like they really were invading.
ReplyDeleteIt took a little while but yeah, that Flair-Syxx did lead to a decent one-on-one match at Road Wild three months after this show, although their match was ruined by the heckling of those stupid drunken bikers who didn't know a good wrestling match if it hit them in the face.
ReplyDeleteHell, just one month earlier they drew a legit sellout, over 19,000 paid to the Tacoma Dome for the Spring Stampede pay-per-view.
ReplyDeleteThat's a very fast decline.
Man, why in the hell didn't WCW ever think of that? Flair, Arn, Austin and Pillman together would have been a license to print money, especially if you made them the babyface faction and put them up against a heel faction consisting of Barry Windham, Bobby Eaton, Paul Orndorff, Paul Roma and Michael Hayes. That had money written all over it.
ReplyDeleteBut of course, WCW thought that Cactus Jack having amnesia and thinking he was a pirate was a much better idea, so common sense apparently wasn't a priority for WCW in 1993 (then again, when was it ever a priority?).
There's two matches on his WWE DVD set from his WCW days where he won, including his tryout match against Pat Rose which was part of a very short-lived idea Bill Watts had called the "Underdog Challenge" where basically relative unknowns who were not under contract to WCW would get a TV match against an established TV jobber where they would get to show their stuff and possibly get a contract out of it.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand, this was also one of Bill's attempts to get rid of the guaranteed contract system WCW had, since he was trying to sign new guys and re-sign the existing roster to greatly reduced deals and thus make the wrestlers prove they're worth the money, a stark contrast to the guaranteed contract system of guys completely half-assing their matches since they were getting paid no matter what.
Unfortunately, Watts quit shortly after Rob was signed, so we never got to see what the effects of Bill's contract structure would have been.
That structure was definitely a great motivator in Mid-South wrestling, however.
I seem to remember the book "Death of WCW" defended the guaranteed contract system, or at least debunked it as the primary reason for the companies downfall.
ReplyDeleteWCW was mediocre in 1997, bad in 1998, awful in 1999 and cartoonishly, hysterically terrible in 2000.
ReplyDeleteThat transition from bad to awful happened very quickly in spring of 1999. The show plummeted from "bad wrestling show" to "mess" in a couple of months.
Spring of '99 was also when their business started to take a major tumble, a decline from which they never recovered. Too long of bad, nonsensical shows can take a toll.
ReplyDeleteRollins is better off being put into a high-flying pretty boy underdog babyface tag team like the RNR Express or Hardyz. It's a proven money-making gimmick that WWE has seemingly abandoned. Rollins sort of plays into the whole emo thing with his look, so you can have your next gen Hardyz if you kind find a guy to team with him.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a shame there isn't an ECW that Bray Wyatt could go to, to fully flesh out his character. I fear the day he hits WWE TV.
This is in reply to rskva, but I've mentioned before (like on the Tag Team thread, and before that) that Gabriel & Rollins would be a good blowjob team.
ReplyDeleteGOOD NEWS! He finally got that Wikipedia page!
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuji_Yasuraoka