WCW facts, tidbits, and stuff people forgot

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Speaking of Hammer, am I on crack or did he shortly do some angle/gimmick where he attacked people while dressed like the killer from Scream?

That was Miss Maddness, aka Molly Holly. It was meant to lead to something, but got dropped.

[JoeDirt 0]

Did Blitzkrieg ever get a win in WCW? I'm sure he did, but I can only remember losses to Rey, Malenko, Juvy, and Eddie. It's really amazing how much he got over with net fans in the short time he was in WCW. Jack Evans says Blitz was a big inspiration to him.

 

Was there any particular reason why Nash was put on the booking team in late 98? Did someone step down or were they unhappy with the product or something?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Was there any particular reason why Nash was put on the booking team in late 98? Did someone step down or were they unhappy with the product or something?

He made a deal with Hogan. In exchange for becomming head booker, Nash agreed not to threaten Hogan's spot as top babyface.

 

I found one lone win for Blitzkrieg, pinning Super Calo on the April 7th 1999 edition of Thunder.

[alfdogg 0]

I remember Blitzkrieg getting the fall in an 8-man tag one night, but I don't remember who all was in it. Maybe that's what HTQ was referring to, I dunno.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I remember Blitzkrieg getting the fall in an 8-man tag one night, but I don't remember who all was in it. Maybe that's what HTQ was referring to, I dunno.

I found a six-man on the February 16th 1999 edition of Nitro, where Blitzkrieg, Juventud Guerrera and Psychosis beat El Dandy, Hector Garza and Super Calo, so he might have gotten a pin in that one. Whatever the case, it was his lone win of any kind on a Nitro.

[alfdogg 0]

That was probably it.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

What was the deal with Hogan laying down for Sting at Havoc 99? Did Hogan not feel like working that night even after all the hype for the rematch?

[JoeDirt 0]

What was the deal with Hogan laying down for Sting at Havoc 99?  Did Hogan not feel like working that night even after all the hype for the rematch?

I'm sure it was angle to help set up the 32-man tournament Russo and company wanted to do. And Hogan was probably hurt or something, too. He had knee problems in 1999.

 

Can you guys think of specific matches where the original booking was changed because of someone's political maneuvering, bitching, etc? There must have been a LOT of that in WCW.

[Guest jm29195]

The obvious ones I can think of hve been previously mentioned, with Nash's repeated ducking of the Giant changing ppv line-ups including starrcade 97.....

[brighty 0]

A question purely based on my own sentimental wrestling past: My first non-squash match I ever saw was Steve Austin regaining the TV title from Barry Windham on Worldwide and I loved that match, watching it at least twenty times in a two week period. However, I haven't seen that match in over 12 years...was it actually a good match or was my 10 yr old newcomer brain playing tricks on me?

here in the UK we get old episodes of Worldwide every week (which is ending after this year unfortunately) and that match was on a couple of months ago. i hadn't seen it since it happened, but loved it when i watched it again, brilliant stuff. the next week Austin defended the title against Brian Pillman in another excellent match, with Schiavone going nuts about Paul E. grabbing the belt and maybe using it to cheat(since Austin beat Windham with a beltshot).

[deancoles 0]

What was up with doing Benoit vs. Mike Enos at Souled Out 99? it was a good match but with the angle they were doing at the time one of the nWo B team would have made more sense.

 

Was Disco Inferno ever an official member of the Wolfpac?

 

Were there ever any plans to push La Parka? He was actually starting to get on tv more during the Russo period in 99.

[Guest jm29195]

Were there ever any plans to push La Parka? He was actually starting to get on tv more during the Russo period in 99.

 

 

I seriously doubt, since Russo hated using foriegn performers and went on record saying that he never thouht they'd draw any money in the States. La Parka was only used with The Powers That Be because Juventend was injured or in rehab at the time, if I can recall correctly. Russo's anti foriegn workers bias went as far as him saying on Nitro that they were forcing him to use Jushin Thunder Lyger- just before The Juice won the IWGP junior heavyweight title by smacking him over the head with a tequila bottle....

 

Heres a couple of questions, not sure whether it ties in with what I said above, but why was the commentary so poor for the late 99 hardcore lucha match, which itself was great but totally let down by the mocking commentary...

 

 

I've also recently aqured a couple of random wcw comps and was wondering what dates the following matches/angles took place and what the opinion was of them at the time:-

 

 

Early 99- Sting vs DDP- Sting wins title

Benoit/Malenko vs Raven/Saturn (not the Stampede one but on Nitro)

Hardcore Lucha tag (as mentioned above)

Eddie/Rey/Kidman vs Juvventend/Blitzreig/Psicosis

Bret Hart vs Sting brawl in the back

Sandman comes out smoking, get into stand off with Bischoff

Eddie Guerrero vs Saturn vs Chavo

Kidman vs Psicosis vs Juvi vs Mysterio

Eddie/Jericho vs Benoit/Malenko

[deancoles 0]

Sting vs DDP- Sting wins title

Hardcore Lucha tag (as mentioned above)

Bret Hart vs Sting brawl in the back

Kidman vs Psicosis vs Juvi vs Mysterio

The Sting DDP match was a good match made better by the crowd who were really into Sting.

The lucha tag was ok but the crowd didn't really seem into it which was weird since La Parka was involved.

The Hart/Sting brawl was 10 times better than the Halloween Havoc match and reminded me of some of the Hart/Austin stuff, It made the Hogan/Warrior and Nash/Hall feuds look weak in comparison.

 

Edit: I'm guessing the 4 way match was good as the LWO vs. Kidman and Misterio feud had some good matches and 1 really good tag on a Nitro in December with Eddie/Juvi vs. Misterio/Kidman.

[Tony149 0]

Whatever happened to Fifi? She was Ric Flair's maid/valet and disappeared by Starrcade 1993.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I imagine she was let go when they had to put Flair in the Starrcade main event, and decided to use his family in the build up to his match with Vader. Seeing as he was vowing to retire if he lost, and they were using his family to play the angle up to the hilt, it would have taken a lot away from that aspect if he was shown getting frisky with another woman on screen.

[Guest OSIcon]

What was up with doing Benoit vs. Mike Enos at Souled Out 99? it was a good match but with the angle they were doing at the time one of the nWo B team would have made more sense.

 

Around that time (say from Fall Brawl '98 through the Spring of '99) WCW seemed to throw a lot of plain old filler matches on the PPV cards. Even Starrcade '98 had a Prince Iaukea vs. Norman Smiley match and a Brian Adams/Scott Norton vs. Jerry Flynn/Fit Finley match, both of which had no story behind them at all but were put on the "biggest show of the year". I think it is simply a reflection of WCW's mentality at that time (especially when Nash began booking). The focus was soley on the main event and upper mid card so the undercard matches for the PPV were often just thrown together.

 

On a side note, I really enjoyed the Enos vs. Benoit match also. Perfect opening match the way it was worked. It even had pretty good heat. People always seem to look past the fact that Benoit was always over in WCW. Pick up any match of his from '96 to '00 (especially '97-'98) and see how much the crowd got behind him during his bouts.

 

Was Disco Inferno ever an official member of the Wolfpac?

 

Technically, yes. At one point they kind of excepted him but used him at the same time. That version of the NWO fell apart so quickly though that everything is kind of muddy. In fact, every NWO after the original version (ie. from BATB '96 to Starcade '98) fell apart really, really quickly.

[DangerousDamon 0]

I remember in 99(I think) there was some thing happeneing where someone was standing in the ring and then the lights would go out and there would be a static sound. A shadowy figure with long hair would run into the ring and lay out whoever was standing there then run away before the lights came back on. Did they ever reveal who the attacker was?

 

 

 

 

Why did Shane Helms get such a huge push at the end of WCW?

[Boner Kawanger 0]

I remember in 99(I think) there was some thing happeneing where someone was standing in the ring and then the lights would go out and there would be a static sound. A shadowy figure with long hair would run into the ring and lay out whoever was standing there then run away before the lights came back on. Did they ever reveal who the attacker was?

That was Molly's aforementioned Scream ripoff gimmick.

[Guest Loss]

Why did Shane Helms get such a huge push at the end of WCW?

 

The company was trying to build up new stars in the division. Rey and Kidman were the only real big name cruisers they had, so they used them to elevate everyone else. Chavo was used to get Helms over after he established himself. The booking at this time, especially of this group, was strong.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It's just a shame they waited until it was too late to start trying to do the right things.

[Guest OSIcon]

Why did Shane Helms get such a huge push at the end of WCW?

 

They were rebuilding the cruiserweight division and they (Johnny Ace and others) saw Helms as the best option for a top babyface. There wasn't any insane high flier in the group of cruiserweights they had on the roster at that time, so they instead went with Helms who was more of a well-rounded cruiserweight and had decent charisma/appeal. He also stole the show with Chavo at the Sin PPV (January 2001). That helped him extend his push which could have just ended up being a one title shot deal. Instead, he geled well with Chavo and put on a match that really got over with the crowd.

 

The cruiserweight division from Starrcade 2000 to WCW going out of business (March '01) is criminally underrated. As a WCW fan who stuck with them through the crap in 1999-2000, I was starved for some good wrestling. So once it looked like they were going to start pushing the real cruiserweights again (instead of guys like Alan Funk, Disco, Mike Sanders, ect.), I began taping all of the CW matches on Nitro, Thunder, and PPV. I've got everything from the Helms-Moore match the night after Starcade to the CW matches on the final Nitro on one eight hour tape. A decent amount of those matches still hold up when watched today. None of them are blow away, but most range from fun to really good. Kaz, Helms, Chavo, Rey, Knoble, ect. were all putting on good singles matches. Kidman/Rey, Skipper/Kid Romeo (they were pretty bad as singles but made a really good rudo team), Knoble/Karagias (mainly Knoble) and later Karagias/Moore, Kaz/Yang, Styles/Air Paris, ect. were all fun teams.

 

The storylines were also really good and simple with Chavo forming a heel group with Skipper/Romeo and Helms alligning himself with Kidman/Rey (they had a good six man on the final Thunder). They did nice, simple things like Helsm giving Kidman the first shot at his title since Kidman (via backstage attack orchestrated by Chavo) was taken out of the six way match at Superbrawl allowing Helms to get his spot, earn a title shot, and then defeat Chavo the following month. They were actually putting time into storylines for the division and it was quickly becoming the most over thing on WCW shows in the final months. You could tell they were going places and it was fun watching new guys being developed. Styles got his first Natl. exposure, Knoble was clearly being positioned for a push, ect.

 

Sorry for the tangent, but that three month period with the cruiserweights was really good and a sad reminder that despite what some people say, the booking in WCW was GREATLY improved over the final three months. Unfortunately, it was just too late.

[Guest Loss]

Not to mention that they were planning on signing Rob Van Dam at one point, and if his early time in WWE was any indication, he would have been the star they needed to really ignite things.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I believe Van Dam actually had a verbal agreement with Bischoff to come in when everything was sorted in regard to the sale.

[Guest Loss]

RVD would have probably been more over than Goldberg or anyone else upon his arrival, again, if his late 2001 crowd reaction was any indication at all. They would have had no choice to build around him, and perhaps after 2002 or so, when the contracts of WWE wrestlers started expiring, WCW would start look appealing and we'd see another exodus of talent.

[CanadianChick 0]

Speaking of Rob Van Dam, what was the deal with "Robbie V"? How long was he in the company for, and when?

 

Loss, you said that when Jericho first came, he was on Bischoff's good side and was considered a golden boy. How did he fall out of favour?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

RVD was in WCW for maybe 3 or 4 months from mid-February 1993 until June or so. He was brought in for the Anderson Conference half of the TV Title tournament.

 

The other half was called the Mr Wrestling II Conference. The idea was meant to be that each half was named after a former TV Champion. However, Mr Wrestling II never actually held the TV Title.

[Guest Loss]

In mid 1998, Jericho was about to resign for another three years, but freaked out when Scott Steiner was resigned around the same time for twice the money. At that point, Jericho was far more over than Steiner, was far less of a headache, was a better worker and interview and was less injury prone. So Jericho didn't want to resign unless he could be given equal money to Steiner.

 

Bischoff at least got Jericho to give an unofficial verbal agreement that he'd stick around until they could work out a contract, and I believe eventually got Jericho to sign a 1-year letter of intent to stay in the company. After this, and the whole Goldberg fiasco, Jericho fell out of favor with Bischoff because he was threatening positions of guys higher on the card.

 

Jericho tried to approach the issue again with Bischoff in December of 1998, backstage just before a TV title defense against Konnan. Bischoff got pissed and told Jericho to drop the title in that match, and they never had the same relationship again.

[cmpunk04 0]

Does anyone have the brackets for the Anderson/ Mr Wrestling title tournament mentioned above?

[Guest Loss]

It's here. Bookmark that site.

[JoeDirt 0]

That tournament has a Rob Van Dam vs. Kevin Nash (Vinnie Vegas) match. Weird.