Did these matches ever happen?

[JoeDirt 0]

Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Benoit

Hulk Hogan vs. Raven

Hulk Hogan vs Shane Douglas

Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart

Bret Hart vs. Chris Jericho

Bret Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero

Bret Hart vs. Rey Misterio Jr.

Sting vs. Chris Jericho

Sting vs. Eddie Guerrero

Sting vs. Rey Misterio Jr.

Sting vs. Raven

 

 

Maybe I'll add more later. Thanks ahead of time for the answers.

[Guest Rrrsh]

I could have swore Bret and Hogan fought in WCW before.

[JoeDirt 0]

I could have swore Bret and Hogan fought in WCW before.

I know they were involved in angles together and stuff, but I don't know if they ever had a one on one match.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Hart and Hogan had a throwaway match on Nitro that winded up just being a set-up for Sting to be attacked by Bret at the end leading up to HH 98.

[strummer 0]

Hogan and Benoit were on opposite sides of a six man tag on Nitro in Feb. 99. I remember on the net at the time, people were going crazy that Benoit was forced to sell Hogan's shitty offense

[Guest Loss]

Hulk Hogan vs. Chris Benoit

Never in a singles setting. They were on opposite sides of a few multi-person matches.

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Raven

 

No. Hogan complained quite often that Raven was overpushed.

 

Hulk Hogan vs Shane Douglas

 

May have happened in Spring of 2000, but I don't think it did.

 

Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart

 

Yes. Happened on a house show in 1999. Also happened on the 09/28/98 Nitro in a match that was mostly angle and saw Bret turn heel for the second time in his WCW run.

 

Bret Hart vs. Chris Jericho

 

Never happened, and both wanted that feud. A Bret/Benoit/Jericho stable was proposed at one point, but Bret didn't want to do the anti-America thing again and Jericho didn't want to stand in anyone's shadow, as he felt he was over enough on his own. Same reason he turned down an angle to join the NWO.

 

Bret Hart vs. Eddie Guerrero

 

Never happened. Definitely should have.

 

Bret Hart vs. Rey Misterio Jr.

 

Bret attacked him in a few angles in 1998, but they never had a match. Would have been interesting as a title defense.

 

Sting vs. Chris Jericho

 

Never happened.

 

Sting vs. Eddie Guerrero

 

Never happened.

 

Sting vs. Rey Misterio Jr.

 

Never happened.

 

Sting vs. Raven

 

Never happened.

 

WCW never did deliver TONS of promising matches that probably would have generated fan interest because of the Great Divide between the main event and midcard.

[JoeDirt 0]

Wow, I can't believe all those great matches that never happened.

 

When did rumors of the proposed Bret/Benoit/Jericho stable surface? When did Jericho turn down an angle to go nWo? What did Hogan have against Raven?

[strummer 0]

Hogan, Scott Steiner, and Nash v Flair, Benoit, and Steve McMichael took place on the January 25th, 1999 edition of Nitro.

[Guest Loss]

Wow, I can't believe all those great matches that never happened.

WCW didn't see Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Misterio, Kidman, Saturn and Malenko as ME-worthy wrestlers, to a point where they thought it would be a joke for them to even be in the same ring as the headliners most of the time. This is why Jericho's program with Goldberg was aborted. This is why it took Benoit four years to win a belt of any kind in WCW, and then it only lasted a few days.

 

When did rumors of the proposed Bret/Benoit/Jericho stable surface?

 

Jericho said in an interview with 1wrestling.com right after he signed with the WWF in 1999 that it was suggested and that Bret didn't want to re-hash the Hart Foundation angle, and also that Jericho himself felt that standing in anyone's shadow would be bad for him at that point in his career.

 

When did Jericho turn down an angle to go nWo?

 

August of 1998. They started having The Giant help Jericho win matches, including a TV title victory over Stevie Ray on Nitro. This was supposed to lead to Jericho joining NWO Black And White, but Jericho turned it down because he felt, again, that standing in Hogan's shadow would be bad for him at that point in his career, and he preferred to be a loner.

 

What did Hogan have against Raven?

 

Hogan felt that Raven got too much TV time and that he should have had to prove himself as a draw before he started eating up that much time. When the ratings started falling, Hogan blamed a lot of the midcard acts, notably the Benoit/Malenko tag team, Jericho, and Raven/Kanyon, saying they were taking up too much time and making viewers turn to RAW. Hogan did this to a point where he refused to do a segment after any of the above-mentioned names because he felt the "bad lead-in" would hurt his quarter hour ratings.

 

This was humorous, as the Benoit/Malenko v Raven/Saturn v Rey/Kidman segments from March-May of 1999 were consistently the highest-rated segments of the show, with Flair occasionally posting a strong number. Most saw it as Hogan protecting himself, as he'd actually have a STRONG lead-in with those guys ahead of him, and if he didn't draw well in his segment after that, it would look like he was losing viewers. The reality was that at that point in his career, Hogan was having major trouble even keeping people tuned in during his segments.

[JoeDirt 0]

Thanks Loss, that's really interesting stuff.

 

I think I need to start a WCW thread!

 

That stuff about Hogan is ridiculous...I remember Benoit saying in some interview that backstage if he said hi to Hogan, Hogan would just walk by him, not even acknowledging him...

[strummer 0]

This was humorous, as the Benoit/Malenko v Raven/Saturn v Rey/Kidman segments from March-May of 1999 were consistently the highest-rated segments of the show, with Flair occasionally posting a strong number.

 

I really think at this time it became apparent that Raw and Nitro had much different viewers, with WCW fans preferring a more athletic product and longer matches. There was really no way Nitro could have overtaken Raw in the ratings because they couldn't pull in that casual fan.

[JoeDirt 0]

This was humorous, as the Benoit/Malenko v Raven/Saturn v Rey/Kidman segments from March-May of 1999 were consistently the highest-rated segments of the show, with Flair occasionally posting a strong number.

 

I really think at this time it became apparent that Raw and Nitro had much different viewers, with WCW fans prefering a more athletic product and longer matches. There was really no way Nitro could have overtaken Raw in the ratings because they couldn't pull in that casual fan.

Not until Vince Russo, baby!

[Guest Loss]

The only time they ever came close was during Flair's interviews and matches, and Flair was far too old to be the centerpiece of the company at that point, not to mention that he preferred playing the heel, which by that time in his career was always a disaster in terms of losing viewers who wanted to cheer him.

 

Flair had a lot of value at that point and should have been the old figure passing the torch instead of Hogan or anyone else. Hogan's appeal went completely south when he turned face, and his last great buyrate in WCW was working heel against ... Flair at SuperBrawl IX.

 

Twice in 1999, the company came within an eyelash of tying the WWF in quarter hour ratings. Both segments featured Flair.

[strummer 0]

For some reason, WCW fans just wouldn't cheer face Hogan, whether it be loyalty to the old NWA guard or because they were not used to that type of cartoon like character. Heel Hogan did great business in WCW, but when he turned in March 99, it killed whatever drawing power he had left.

[Guest Loss]

The WCW fanbase also changed dramatically when the NWO came in, and most of the fly-by-night fans are the same crowd (although much bigger) who jumped to the WWF when Austin took over. After the NWO had fallen apart, they were back to the same fanbase, who they were alienating at that point through their treatment of Flair and overpushing of Hogan and Nash. Goldberg should have won the belt again in 1999 as well.

[BUTT 0]

I remember reading back in '99 that the Flair/Goldberg vs. Hogan/Nash match on Nitro beat the Austin/Mankind vs. Rock/Big Show match when they went head-to-head two weeks before WM15. I'm not sure if that was correct, though.

[Guest Loss]

I remember reading back in '99 that the Flair/Goldberg vs. Hogan/Nash match on Nitro beat the Austin/Mankind vs. Rock/Big Show match when they went head-to-head two weeks before WM15. I'm not sure if that was correct, though.

Very close. There was only a 0.2 difference, but it didn't beat it. Hogan bragged that it did on WCW Live that week, but he was lying.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Goldberg should have won the belt again in 1999 as well.

 

Its funny you mention it, I figured they would have eventually, but for some reason they decided not to go through it following Havoc 99 ending. Goldberg got a couple of more title shots, but never again did he get the belt back even he was one of their biggest stars. Why? Who knows?

[Guest Loss]

Goldberg should have won the belt again in 1999 as well.

 

Its funny you mention it, I figured they would have eventually, but for some reason they decided not to go through it following Havoc 99 ending. Goldberg got a couple of more title shots, but never again did he get the belt back even he was one of their biggest stars. Why? Who knows?

Because they always switched bookers and those bookers always wanted to start their own chase for Goldberg to the title and they'd get fired before they saw it through. Another booker would come in and start the process all over and the same thing would happen.

[strummer 0]

I really think the Sid feud hurt Goldberg as he was made out to look like an idiot by Russo's booking. No way Russo would have booked him correctly.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Goldberg should have won the belt again in 1999 as well.

 

Its funny you mention it, I figured they would have eventually, but for some reason they decided not to go through it following Havoc 99 ending. Goldberg got a couple of more title shots, but never again did he get the belt back even he was one of their biggest stars. Why? Who knows?

Because they always switched bookers and those bookers always wanted to start their own chase for Goldberg to the title and they'd get fired before they saw it through. Another booker would come in and start the process all over and the same thing would happen.

To further this, when Bischoff got fired, and before Russo came in, orders from above were given to those in charge of WCW to put together some scenarios that would culminate with Goldberg winning the World title at Starrcade 1999, and then get the mega push in 2000. Then Russo arrived, and we got a pointless and beyond useless rehash of Montreal, and the NWO Part 435,278,900.