2017 Pro Wrestling Thread

I'm still working my way through Dubya See Dubya 1996 on the Network. I'm up to Halloween Havoc that year, when Hogan "owned" Miss Elizabeth and was filming a movie and we didn't know whose side Sting was on.

The nWo was incredibly hot then. Too bad they fucked it up.

 

I remember around 1997 or so, when the NWO was super-hot, and thinking, "How the heck are they going to eventually end this and how will they continue on after this?"

Turns out, they couldn't, at least coherently.

'97 also was around when Internet sites on wrestling started really cropping up. I think it was Jericho who was one of the first wrestlers to have their own site, and there was some consternation from the Old Guard about wrestling's secrets being given away. I first started going to my local library and getting on the web just to read wrestling sites, and it was really the first time that insider stuff was being posted (other than Meltzer and other dirtsheets). The Internet virtually exploded (as much as it could back then) with the Montreal Screwjob, and I remember thinking that the WWF was going to be basically dead with Hart going to WCW. Turns out again, they failed.

 

I post this link every now and then, but it's worth it. It was one of the first internet sites I ever "found" in those early days. The guy running it has kept it up as an archive/tribute site to WCW since the company folded, but hasn't changed the web design since about 1999 and hasn't done too much updating to content in the past decade. So it's really like a time capsule in a lot of ways.
It's fun to occasionally go back and read some of the recaps as they happened in real time, especially the way the writers just visibly snapped and gave up in the 2000-01 period.

DDT Digest

 

That's a fun link. Hard to believe it's been roughly 20 years.

 

It would be a totally different world today had they not so badly botched Sting-Hogan at Starrcade '97. That's when the air started coming out of the tires.

 

They had a bunch of big match opportunities - Piper-Hogan, Sting-Hogan, Goldberg-Hogan, the debut of Bret Hart - and arguably blew them all.

 

IIRC, Bret Hart's first official business in WCW was being the special guest referee for an Eric Bischoff-Larry Zbyszko "match."

 

Yep, plus being the impromptu ref in Sting-Hogan ... all because of a 60-day no-compete clause. You know what you do then? Keep his ass off TV until he can compete.

I understand why you'd want to get him in the fold for Starrcade and arguably the most anticipated match since Hogan-Andre. But god what a shitshow that finish was for all the build to it.

If you want to get Hart involved, fine. If you want it to be a clusterfuck of a finish, fine.

• Have Bischoff and NWO continue to say they signed him right after Survivor Series, he's coming soon, etc., but keep Hart off TV. That way the fans have a hunch he might show up at Starrcade but nothing official.
• Chaos ensues in the Sting-Hogan match between NWO and WCW wrestlers in and around the ring, Hart runs out ... presumably to aid the NWO ... pause ... but attacks the NWO and clears house.
• Sting puts Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock or hits him with the Scorpion Death Drop. But Nick Patrick refuses to count or call for the tap.
• Hart puts Patrick in the Sharpshooter until Patrick, the official ref, is forced to acknowledge Hogan's tap or the pin. The visual of a simultaneous Scorpion Death Lock/Sharpshooter would've been great.

That match still bugs me to this day. F'ing creative control. Alas.

 

If I recall, they also acted stupidly the night after on Nitro by wanting to show the ending of the match, but some unnamed "judge" was impounding the tape for whatever reason. Until the judge, for whatever reason, changed his mind and they did show the ending. It was one of their dumber storylines.

One thing, though, that is a bit forgotten was that Hart had broken his hand when he had punched Vince out in Montreal. He may not have been able to wrestle at first, anyways.

I do agree with keeping Hart off TV until Starrcade, and he needed to be in the main event program right away. Instead, he reffed, then worked with Flair and Hennig in his first WCW matches after already having worked with them previously, and the fans stopped caring.

 

Bret Hart didn't main event a Nitro until July 22, 1998. 7 months after joining WCW.

 

This is for fun. Do it if you wish. If not, then it’s no big deal. Thought it could be fun. Build your own Wrestlemania card. Decide which venue. You can use any wrestler from any company(past or present)

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* ONLY 9 Matches

Must contain:

* At least one tag match

* a Maximum of 4 matches with stipulations

* Only one Multi-man match (Triple threat, fatal Four-way, 6 man tag, 4 on 4) which is optional.

* Must have a WWE Championship match and IC Title matches. The Tag Titles and a "historic championship" are optional.

 

Oh boy. This could be pretty hard to keep it to within 9. But anyhoo:

WWE title: Hulk Hogan vs. John Cena
(Two of all-time icons. The NWO does interfere, but Hogan refuses to allow them to.)

IC title: Steve Austin vs. Randy Savage
(Savage as a great heel, against Austin raising hell. It ends with Austin giving Miss Elizabeth a beer)

Hell in a Cell: Bruiser Brody vs. Cactus Jack
(Got to have some blood and guts, and this could be wild)

Women's Fatal Four-way: Mildred Burke vs. Fabulous Moolah vs. Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte
(Two of the longtime women's greats, plus a couple from the 21st century)

Legends: Bruno Sammartino vs. Ric Flair
(Flair's heeling against Sammartino's emotion. Horsemen make an appearance, and Bruno gets help from DX, just because).

Tag titles: Road Warriors vs. the Dudleys
(A regular tag match that turns into a crazy brawl with tables and a surprise appearance by Joel Gertner, who gets thrown off a scaffold)

Technical masterpiece: Kurt Angle vs. Lou Thesz
(Two all-time legends with legit credentials)

Cruiserweight match: Daniel Bryan vs. Gorgeous George
(I could have gone for another technical battle, but I think this could be fun and we can use a good comedy match. George comes out with his prissy entrance, sprays the ring, doesn't want to be touched, and then a hairy goat comes out with a Yes chant. The contrast couldn't be more great).

Big man battle: Undertaker vs. Andre the Giant
(Two all-time legends. The match won't have a great workrate, but it'll be fine).


Added attraction: Piper's Pit, with special guest ... The Rock
(Two all-time greats go at it on the mic, with Cowboy Bob interfering, and eating a spear from Roman Reigns, who then gets RKOed by Randy, who then gets put through a table by Ambrose and Rollins, as Rock rock-bottoms Piper.)