Hunter's Torn Quad

The drizzling shits for the most part. IIRC, the UK got Worldwide or Pro on Satellite TV for a while, I think from mid-1990 to mid-1991. Then, from later in 1991, WCW Pro aired on network television on Saturday nights, but usually past Midnight, sometimes as late as 3am. Then, they got Worldwide, which aired on a Saturday afternoon timeslot. While the audience grew, obviously, the network that showed it edited it to oblivion. Anything remotely graphic was cut out, so that a 45 minute program would usually wind up lasting about 25 or 30 minutes. This continued until late 93, when the network shifted Worldwide back to a post-Midnight slot on Thursday nights. By this point, Worldwide was being taped in Disney, yet the show still got cut by around 10-15 minutes each week, despite nothing overtly violent being shown. For a while, around late 1995, Worldwide was back in the Saturday afteroon slot, and was actually pretty good, as they tended to show a UK version, and had some good matches. In April of 1996, Nitro was brought to the UK version of TNT. When Nitro went to 2 hours, though, the UK Version wound up being cut down to 1hr, so they didn't see everything, which made for some confusing storylines. Eventually, I think in early 1998, they began to show the full versions, and when Nitro went to 3hrs they showed that uncut.

WCW to Fusient Meida.

Because he and Eric Bischoff got their hairpieces from the same place. He was brought in because he was a big name ring announcer from boxing, and they wanted to give WCW the rub from that. I can't remember exactly what he made, but it was a solid six-figure payoff per show.

Watt's ex-wife got the UWF library as part of their divorce settlement. That happened when Eric took control, and decided to take on WWF head-on.

A further sidenote: Initially, he was going to take the mask off as part of the angle where Mexicans were accused of stealing from Eddie Guerrero, so decided to drop the mask in Mexico the month before so he could presumably get a big payday.

Damien666 was Ultraman 2000 in AAA. Had a tremendous Mask v Mask match with Psychosis in March of 1996.

Joe Thurman

He probably could have done anything he wanted to, but he rarely had anything to do with WCW from a wrestling side.

Austin more hated Hogan than Flair, but he buried that hatchet with Hogan on the flight to Raw from NWO 2003 Foley's current problems with Flair stem from what Flair wrote in his back, but he also didn't like how Flair treated him back in 1990. Flair had the book from late 89 to early 90. It was basically a power play, in regard to Jim Herd, who he hated. Flair certainly pissed off Shane Douglas, who loathed, and still does I think, Flair with incredible passion.

Watts wanted a black World Champion, as he was trying to recreate JYD, who was super over in Mid-South. Booker got the belt because he was felt to be the best choice. For the most part, anyway.

Page started getting over with the nWo angle. And while the results seem to show Savage getting more wins, they pretty much traded wins on house shows. Plus, Page laid Savage out a number of times in angles on Nitro.

No. He always escaped blame. I don't think Funk really cares anymore. Turner and TBS S&P.

He got buried because, like with so many other good to great workers, he couldn't work 'WWE style'. Basically, he didn't wrestle in the accepted WWE style, and that was it for him.

Yep. Because he has to do what Vince wants. They mocked him for it, behind his back. It was also a reason why Undertaker buried him to Vince.

DSB was laid up in hospital, literally at death's door practically, unable to walk or move, and WCW Fed-Ex'd his termination notice to a family member.

$150,000 Johnny Ace's, I think.

Put it this way, you can't screw up a fast count by accident. Also, on the Starrcade '97 commercial tape, they actually speed the count up, so it looks fast. Flair damaged his ankle at WW3. He was really inconsistant. One match could see him work hard, the next could see him dog it. Of course, once the pill problem kicked in, he was history.

Russo's big plan all along was to recreate Montreal and reform the nWo. It didn't last long, in it's intended fashion, because Hart got a billion concussions, and had to retire. The Hummer was originally seen smashing into a limo that had Kevin Nash inside. There was a flash of a long camera shot with a fake Sting in the drivers seat earlier in the night, I think. Later on, they did an angle were someone produced photos of Hogan standing next to a hummer, with the implication it was him. It was dropped for all intents and purposes, until the April 10th 2000 Nitro when one rammed a limo with Hulk Hogan in it. Eric Bischoff and Kidman stepped out, and we were meant to believe it had been Eric all along. Incidentally, the original plan was for Carmen Electra to be the driver.

Management felt Angle would be able to beat all of them handily, purely because of his amateur wrestling skill and because the TE kids were going to be run ragged beforehand. It never occured to them that Puder would, not only challenge Angle, but own him. As for saying Lesnar would have torn him up, that might not be as likely as you think. Lesnar, and Angle, have been out of true competitive wrestling for many years , and plunging them into an all-out shoot, with no prep time, would very likely have seen them embarrassed. as we saw with Angle. If Angle had time to train, then he probably would have schooled Puder. But he didn't, and Puder schooled him.

The original plan for Starrcade 1999 or 2000 was for a Goldberg v Abbott main event. I know that seems ludicrous, but if it was booked right, with Abbott playing the role of the outsider who decries wrestling for being fake, and them playing up his knockout punch as deadly, it could have meant something. The outsider angle is the easiest angle to pull off. Just a shame most people can't see that.

The Abbott knife deal was a shoot. He wasn't meant to pull any kind of knife out. They tried to cover for it on commentary by saying that maybe Abbott was trying to cut Al's hair.

That gets discussed a few pages back. Basically, Nash booked the first hour with no wrestling to try and show that no matter what they did in the first hour, the ratings would stay the same.

I don't recall Ken Shamrock or Dan Severn getting main event pushes at the time either. They were treated as midcard novelties, and seen as such. Fans of wrestling and MMA don't generally cross over to the other, but you know something ? Some of the best angles in wrestling have their roots in legitimate situations of some kind. Shawn and Bret didn't just get heat because of the matches. They got heat because people knew they really did not get along, and it wasn't just a show. Remember when Sean Waltman returned to the WWF, and did a promo that got the crowd going ? That got a reaction, not because of who was doing the promo, but because the fans could tell he was shooting. If something is real, the fans, despite what people seem desperate to believe, can tell if something is not a total work. Granted, it can bore them silly as in The BFA, but if you bothered to hear the reaction to when Puder and Angle went at it, they can and will go nuts for it. That's not to say they want all shoot/worked shoot angles, but one angle of that nature, amidst all the rest of the clearly fake ones, will have a buzz about, because it appears to be real.

It is possible to prolong a feud in other ways, you do know that ? They could have Snow talk for Puder, tell Angle to lay off of him, and maybe put them together for a while. And who says a promo has to be entertaining, at least in the sense you seem to think it has to be ? It doesn't have to Austin or Rock level stuff. The fact that he can't cut a so-called 'money' promo is in some ways an advantage, because if he goes out there as himself, it'll sound more realisitc, than if they try and force him to cut an 'entertaining' promo that sounds false. The fact that it should be presented as real, and that it does have an air of authenticity to it, will help in making fans want to see it. When the fans were watching this unfold, they went nuts for it, and were chanting "UFC", like crazy. And that was with no hype at all. Just think what the reaction would be like if they pushed this as a quasi-shoot. Here's a novel concept: Don't have them work a regular match. Make them work a shoot-style match. Something that looks totally different to a regular match. Because it does look different, and will look real, it'll stand out, and people will pay attention to it.

The WCW/SMW relationship was simple talent trading. Guys from either company would work on cards for the other to make them more special. There would also be guys moving from SMW to WCW when the time was right, making the deal a forerunner of the WWE/OVW relationship.