2022 Pro Wrestling Thread

Obviously, I don't know how they envisioned it at the start, but if WCW was going to turn Hogan the way they did, they had to figure Sting would be the main babyface rival for "Hollywood."
And as far as the whole "Crow" persona, I've read that Sting knew at the time that his neon beach boy gimmick was right up on its expiration date, and he would have to change things up. I think he's credited Scott Hall with helping him come up with the darker character that became such a success.

 

Watching this episode now …

Spoiler

Disappointing that the rehashing of WCW’s downfall dominates most of the last half. Nothing to do with Hollywood Hogan the character.

 

this is a great point, I mean if Hogan’s the face that chases and beats a Sting led nwo then the whole thing is dungeon of doom on a better budget

then again Hogan never wouldve shown up at Starcade ‘97 with a lousy tan

 

Hogan was the much bigger name, and he had been the top baby face in the world for 13 years. And with little Internet back then, seeing him turn heel was a real shocker. And it made so much sense in the context that he was joining up with Hall and Nash, two other guys from the WWF (nobody cared much about them when they were Oz/Vinnie Vegas and the Diamond Studd).

Sting being heel would have been interesting, but the rationale for why he teams up with Hall/Nash would have needed to make a lot of sense. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been the invasion context.

 

Still cracks me up that WCW almost blew that whole fucking thing because they refused to let the announcers in on significant angles. So, you have Bobby Heenan screaming, "Who's side is he on?!?" as Hogan comes down the aisle, because he assumes he can just be his usual heel self.

Sting in the Hogan spot still "works," but not quite as well. I kind of feel like that's what the WWE would have done. How many times in the ensuing decade would it have made sense for Cena to turn? And they never pulled the trigger. They only did it with Reigns because he was getting such overwhelmingly negative crowd reactions, even after he returned from beating cancer.

 

Heenan's remark kinda made sense, because he was always against Hogan to begin with. Schiavone even tells him, "of course he's on our side!", meaning he expected Hogan to be pro-WCW and that Heenan was being stupid. Right before Hogan dropped the leg on Savage.

I always thought it was kinda nutty that Hall and Nash could hold their own against WCW's three superstars and that WCW supposedly was going to need Hogan to save the group, even though they had Hall and Nash outnumbered.

Reigns was getting the negative reactions before he announced he had a cancer recurrence. When he came back, the response was overwhelmingly positive, and mostly remained so. Which is why the heel turn was such a surprise at that time.

 

I also watched The Miz episode last night, which I felt delved into his heel persona much better than Hogan’s “well the money’s drying up so I better do something” reasoning.

Loved the insight to the Talking Smack incident with Daniel Bryan.

It continues to be truly remarkable how he’s made himself a sure-fire hall of famer.

 

It truly has been remarkable. He's been with the company for, I think, 16 years.

I can't remember where I saw it, maybe on one of the E's documentaries, but Miz said that he always was open to any opportunities offered to publicize the company and himself. If that meant doing media interviews at 6 a.m. on three hours sleep, or making a morning appearance somewhere before a 12-hour day at TV tapings, he would do it. That's a testament to hard work, and I'd think the company actually appreciated that.

 

I'm pretty sure the crowd turned on Reigns *again* once he came back, which is why the WWE finally had to make him a heel. He returned in February 2019, and was finally turned in August 2020.

 

I've watched the Hogan and Sasha episodes, and started Miz. I've enjoyed the various talking heads they've gotten (they got Snoop and Izzy, the NXT superfan for Sasha).

Sasha's episode dove a little more into biography form, even addressing her sabbatical a couple years ago.

Thought it was funny in the Miz episode that Narrator John Cena sets up his own feud with Miz, but doesn't actually address it.

 

I didn’t watch the show, but I remember reading or hearing somewhere that they didn’t know what Hogan would agree to until the day of the Bash, and that he had previously rejected the idea of turning heel.

Sting was the fall-back plan in case Hogan balked again.

 

i think Reigns and Cena are just diffetent guys. Reigns is more like Rock, who played both face and heel. Cena was all about the make a wish stuff, although its said he bought 100 Ric Flair robes to turn heel and then Vince nixed it because he didnt think they could take the merch sales hit