The Old School questions thread

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Badstreet was Brad Armstrong. Black Blood was Billy Jack Haynes. I don't know if Flair would have ever dropped the belt to Luger.

 

[alfdogg 0]

Flair wanted to drop the title to Barry Windham on his way out, and Windham would then drop it to Luger, is the story I've heard.

[rezinda 0]

So since Luger became No. 1 Contender at Clash then I guess that means Flair would've dropped to Windham prior to GAB.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Flair was going to drop the belt to Luger at the Bash. During the contract problems between Flair and Jim Herd, the plan was changed to Flair dropping the belt to Windham at a TV taping in Macon, GA, and then Windham would lose the title to Luger at the Bash. I think the Windham idea was put in place when WCW felt it was better to not even have the Flair vs. Luger match and to try and hasten Flair's departure.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

So Flair had finally agreed to put Luger over in a championship match, after all those years, and WCW decided against it?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

So Flair had finally agreed to put Luger over in a championship match, after all those years, and WCW decided against it?

I think WCW, Jim Herd specifically, were so frustrated with how the contract negotiations were going, that they didn't care anymore.

[rezinda 0]

Exactly how long was the 6 man tag championship around for?

How did it come about....tournament?

And, how did it end....did they just drop it without explaining?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Exactly how long was the 6 man tag championship around for?

How did it come about....tournament?

And, how did it end....did they just drop it without explaining?

WIA History of the WCW Six-Man tag tam titles

They were around for around nine months. The six-man belts were very minor and never meant anything, so no real thought was put into them. The last trio to hold them were the York Foundation (a criminally underrated stable), and the belts were vacated when the Foundation broke up. It was for the better, as WCW had the World, US, World tag, US tag, TV and Light Heavyweight titles already; another one was overkill.

[rezinda 0]

This is probably the easiest question ever posted.

 

What the hell is the Fingerpoke???

It's referenced EVERYWHERE on this board & seems to be regarded as the end of WCW.

[TheFranchise 0]

Kevin Nash defended the WCW World Title against Hollywood Hogan on Nitro, they teased a match, before Hogan simply poked Nash in the chest, Nash took a dive, and Hogan pinned him to win the title.

 

The nWo then reformed, again, and the rest is, unfortunately worded, history.

 

I believe it was a way of getting the belt from Nash to Hogan to avoid a creative control issue (at least, that's what I seem to remember hearing at the time).

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

 

A couple more things that are important to note:

 

- It was orginally advertised as a Starrcade rematch between Nash and Goldberg, but they ran some stupid angle where Goldberg was taken into police custody after Elizabeth accused him of stalking her. Goldberg was released when it was revealed that Liz was lying, but only in time to run into the Georgia Dome after the fingerpoke went down to get beaten up by the nWo in front of his home town.

 

- This aired opposite of the pre-taped RAW where Foley won his first WWF Championship. Eric Bischoff instructed Tony Schiavone to spoil the results, which included telling the audience that Mankind was going over. This backfired, as a ton of people switched over to RAW to watch the big upset. The fingerpoke did occur in an unopposed overrun, after 11:00, and did pull a strong quarterly rating. However, they managed to give the large viewing audience the exact opposite of what the WWF did that night - a shameful, more-of-the-same conclusion that helped to decimate the credibility of their top championship, and their main event scene, to a certain extent.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The backstory to this started in early November, with the word in the locker room being that Hogan was unhappy with Eric Bischoff supporting Kevin Nash and that he was going to take one of his hiatuses, which Hogan always did when he thought business was going to suffer; that way, he wouldn't get damaged by being on top when things tanked, and because his big return would bump the ratings, he could make it look like WCW needed him and he'd get even more power to return. Kevin Nash was made booker in early November, and Hogan promptly walked, subsequently announcing his retirement on The Tonight Show. The locker room rejoiced because Hogan was gone, and everyone rallied behind Nash because they saw him as finally getting rid of Hogan. Nash then ended Goldberg's streak at Starrcade, and eight days later we got the Fingerpoke of Doom. The whole story of Hogan being unhappy with Bischoff was a work on the locker room. To settle things between Nash and Hogan, as there was tension, it was agreed that Nash would be made booker and get to end Golderg's streak, and in return Nash agreed not to threaten Hogan's spot as the top name in WCW.

 

A pretty accurate article is on Wikipedia:

 

Fingerpoke of Doom

 

[rezinda 0]

All good stuff, thanks for the info!

[King Cucaracha 0]

A more obscure question.

 

Watching Vintage Collection in the UK, they showed an event from 1988 in LA. Hogan wrestled Haku and came to the ring in a Gladiator style helmet with "Hulkster" on it and a big fist on the top. It was used in the finish (Heenan stuck it on his head and Haku got smashed into it instead of Hogan) and he wore it during the legdrop and posedown. First, any idea why the hell they'd put the top guy in the industry in a dumb prop? And second, any idea how long it lasted, because it's the first ever I've seen or heard of it?

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

When asked about the Fingerpoke incident, Kevin Nash once replied "If Hogan had given Goldberg the Fingerpoke of Doom, it would've killed him!" in reference to Goldberg's propensity to get himself injured doing routine things at that time. Nash has also defended the incident by claiming that any Nash/Hogan matches would have been terrible.

 

!

[MillenniumMan831 0]

A more obscure question.

 

Watching Vintage Collection in the UK, they showed an event from 1988 in LA. Hogan wrestled Haku and came to the ring in a Gladiator style helmet with "Hulkster" on it and a big fist on the top. It was used in the finish (Heenan stuck it on his head and Haku got smashed into it instead of Hogan) and he wore it during the legdrop and posedown. First, any idea why the hell they'd put the top guy in the industry in a dumb prop? And second, any idea how long it lasted, because it's the first ever I've seen or heard of it?

 

I know he also used it in a match against Ted DiBiase at Boston around this time. I doubt it ever made it's way to the syndicated/USA shows.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I assume the fist helmet was some kind of merchandising idea they were trying to push. Probably figured kids would like it.

 

Speaking of the six man belts...I'm surprised no modern promotions hasn't tried to do a trios type title again. WWE certainly has the roster for it if they wanted. Also, I remember rumors in the late '90s that ECW was going to introduce a six man type trophy, which the FBI probably would have held initially.

[rezinda 0]

At the Clash of the Champions right before the GAB in 91, the Hardliners came out at the end of the Steiners match & worked on Rick's arm. It seemed Rick was going to be "injured" for a little, but instead it ended up Scott took some time off. I assume Scott had a real injury & since WCW was short on face tags they kept Rick around w/ Kazmeir?

 

Also, this isn;t really a question, but I've been watching a lot of COTC lately & all the announcers & commentators seem to always refer to it as Clash of Champions. Kind of interesting they omit "the".

[Diamonddust 0]

At the Clash of the Champions right before the GAB in 91, the Hardliners came out at the end of the Steiners match & worked on Rick's arm. It seemed Rick was going to be "injured" for a little, but instead it ended up Scott took some time off. I assume Scott had a real injury & since WCW was short on face tags they kept Rick around w/ Kazmeir?

 

Also, this isn;t really a question, but I've been watching a lot of COTC lately & all the announcers & commentators seem to always refer to it as Clash of Champions. Kind of interesting they omit "the".

 

Scott was legitimately hurt with a bicep injury at the time.

 

The original plan, apparently, was a Steiners/Hardliners feud. If you go back and watch some footage of the Hardliners, you'll see the concept used in forming the APA. I believe the full name of the group was the Hardline Collection Agency.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

When asked about the Fingerpoke incident, Kevin Nash once replied "If Hogan had given Goldberg the Fingerpoke of Doom, it would've killed him!" in reference to Goldberg's propensity to get himself injured doing routine things at that time. Nash has also defended the incident by claiming that any Nash/Hogan matches would have been terrible.

 

!

If only more Kevin Nash matches resulted in the Fingerpoke finish.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Looking up the Hogan helmet further I found this...

 

 

...apparantly it was just a house-show thing, thankfully. Could you imagine if it made it to TV? I doubt any one item would be big enough to bring down Hulkamania back then... but, that might have come close.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

LOL, that's terrible! Another fine addition to Wrestlecrap.

[Zack Malibu 0]

I believe William Regal showcased the helmet during his speech ragging on Hogan to set up a RAW main event between the two of them in 2002.

[Timmy8271 0]

I too have been watching a lot of Clash of the champions and other WCW ppvs, More questions:

 

Was Slamboree 95 the only ppv Eric Bischoff announced? I think he explained that Tony was out because of neck surgery?

 

What was the deal with Thunder and Lightning being at Superbrawl IV? According to Wikipedia, Lightning was the guy that played NWO Sting. How long did they last?

 

How long did Michael Hayes last in WCW 1994? I thought he left in 92? Why did Jimmy Garvin replace him at Superbrawl? Was that his only appearance?

 

Did WCW ever acknowledge that Dave Sullivan was the Equalizer?

[Jingus 0]

When asked about the Fingerpoke incident, Kevin Nash once replied "If Hogan had given Goldberg the Fingerpoke of Doom, it would've killed him!" in reference to Goldberg's propensity to get himself injured doing routine things at that time. Nash has also defended the incident by claiming that any Nash/Hogan matches would have been terrible.

!

If only more Kevin Nash matches resulted in the Fingerpoke finish.

No kidding. Have you guys seen Road Wild 99? Just typing that makes me shudder. When I watched it, my VCR had this option to do variable-speed fast forwarding. I played it at double speed, and me and my brother joked that now it looked like a real match... and then settled into uncomfortable silence once we realized that wasn't a joke, those guys were moving so slowly that it really did look like an ordinary match in double-time.

 

 

Was Slamboree 95 the only ppv Eric Bischoff announced? I think he explained that Tony was out because of neck surgery?

I think he did a couple others around that time, like Halloween Havoc 95 iirc.

[rezinda 0]

Why wasn't Taker in the rumble in 95? I know he wrestled earlier in the PPV, but there's been plenty of other RR that had people wrestle a match before the rumble. He would've added a big name to a craptastic roster of shit & in terms of maintaining his dominant image, they could've had him screwed on elimination by Bundy & the other members of Dibiase's group leading to a stronger build into Wrestlemania. They could've even done a double elimination with Taker & Bundy.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Why wasn't Taker in the rumble in 95? I know he wrestled earlier in the PPV, but there's been plenty of other RR that had people wrestle a match before the rumble. He would've added a big name to a craptastic roster of shit & in terms of maintaining his dominant image, they could've had him screwed on elimination by Bundy & the other members of Dibiase's group leading to a stronger build into Wrestlemania. They could've even done a double elimination with Taker & Bundy.

 

That's a good question. They could have solved the problem the same way that they did the year prior by having some of the top-tier talent pulling double-duty. I guess they figured that it would be a quick and ugly thirty minutes, so there was no need for anybody else when the spotlight was supposed to be on Shawn and Davey Boy.

[rezinda 0]

When someone is "injured" and out for a few months do they still show up to shows or are they allowed to just go on vacation?

 

 

[rezinda 0]

I was just reading on another post that HHH/Taker was originally the plan for Backlash 02 & then Hogan got the match cause of his popularity. So, why did Hogan drop the belt a month later? Did he cool off with the fans that quickly that they had to get the belt off him or was it only suppose to be a month reign?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I was just reading on another post that HHH/Taker was originally the plan for Backlash 02 & then Hogan got the match cause of his popularity. So, why did Hogan drop the belt a month later? Did he cool off with the fans that quickly that they had to get the belt off him or was it only suppose to be a month reign?

Both. Hogan bombed in the role as champion, but there never any long-term plans to keep him that role. The nostalgic kick wore off really quickly once the people saw a 50-year-old man doing an 80s schtick every week. Even then, the transition to Taker was already planned before Hulk got the belt.