WWF/E Tidbits from the past

[Taxman 0]

Wouldn't this have been about the time that the Rocker's handed in their notices only for Shawn to go behind Marty's back and retract his resignation? That would explain it.

 

Almost. A quick look at Michaels' book says that incident had taken place a couple months before the Survivor Series.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

From the 1/10/92 edition of the Observer... a very interesting write-up concerning Lex Luger giving notice on his then current WCW deal and what it would mean to the WWE:

 

And after all that it turned out to be Vinnie F'n Vegas.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Apparently thought was given to making Dan Spivey Hogan's buddy in the mid 80's to build to a turn and a feud

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Is that the push they gave to Orndorff?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I don't know why Spivey never ended up being more in the business. He had the look and was actually a decent worker in the ring. Just seemed like he kind of wandered from promotion to promotion, though.

[Epic Reine 0]

Spivey's Waylon Mercy (a rip off of Robert De Niro's character in "Cape Fear") gimmick is one of my favorite gimmicks ever. It was so unique for the time as he would act like a face outside of the ring and immediatley snap and become a heel once he wrestled. Unfortunatley for Spivey though, his career was in ruins by then with his age and recurring injuries.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah, it's just weird. He actually had a tremendous match against Lex Luger at at WCW PPV...I think Wrestlewar '91 or something. It was a match for the US Title. After that, I think he might have hung around WCW a bit, went to the terrible Herb Abrams UWF, did some stints in Japan, and then finally ended up in WWF doing the Mercy gimmick. I wonder if he had a bad backstage reputation or something?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

It was an injury that meant the end of Waylon Mercy, right?

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Yeah...injured by a Diesel administered powerbomb if I'm not mistaken.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

I think that was an accumalated injuries type of deal, similar to Steamboat's back injury

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

From Downtown Bruno's (Harvey Whippleman) book:

On of the most disturbing stories in the book is Bruno’s account of the car accident which killed referee Joey Marella (the son of Gorilla Monsoon). Joey Marella and Bruno were riding together in Bruno’s car with Marella driving when Marella apparently fell asleep and ran off a steep embankment killing himself instantly and seriously injuring Bruno. Bruno repeatedly calls Marella a “loser” and makes no bones about the fact that he couldn’t stand Marella and seems to have little or no sympathy for Marella. It was a disturbing chapter to read. I won’t say he seemed happy that Marella was killed because he didn’t but he certainly pulled no punches about his disdain for Marella.

[Damaramu 0]

When did WWF leave the Manhattan Center?

 

 

Also I noticed in a lot of their earlier shows that the arenas were smaller, but nowadays they're huge. Were they running in smaller arenas or did arenas around the country get bigger? (i know there was a rash of new arenas and stadiums being built for a while)

[Damaramu 0]

Also another couple of questions. I watched all of this stuff (didn't miss a RAW from 93 to 2003 actually) but, it's fuzzy 10 years later.

 

 

-It's hard to remember the Rock playing second fiddle to anyone. But, how long was he "just a member" of the Nation before he really started taking over? And when did he kick Farooq out?

 

-Also the Nation was all huge and bloated, then I remember Farooq kicking everyone out and restarting with D-Lo Brown and Kama. Was the Rock and Mark Henry included in this, and how long did it take for them to come along?

 

-Why was the Rock kicked out of the Nation? I remember it was D-Lo and Mark Henry that got rid of the Rock. Where was Owen in all of this?

 

-When and why was the Rock kicked out of the Corporation?

 

[Epic Reine 0]

1.) The Rock started taking over and becoming the focal part of the Nation during his 2nd Intercontinental title run from late 1997/Early 1998. There were internal problems between Rock and Faarooq in the weeks leading up Wrestlemania and the night after Mania, Rock instructed D'Lo, Henry and Kama to turn on Faarooq and he was kicked out.

 

2.) Rock and Henry came in later. Rock just returned from an injury in October 1997 and joined the Nation his first night back. Henry joined in December 1997 I believe when he turned on Ken Shamrock during a match.

 

3.) I'm not sure what the kayfabe reason was for D'Lo and Henry turning on The Rock but Hart left the group quietly months before that when he started teaming with Dan Severn and feuding with Ken Shamrock.

 

4.) I'm pretty sure The Rock actually quit the Corporation and wasn't kicked out. He quit the night after Backlash 1999 because Shane McMahon accidently cost him his match with Austin and regaining the WWF title. I remember Rock coming at the start of Raw that night calling Shane a candy ass.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

The last RAW that I can remember from the Manhattan Center was from mid-September when the Steiners lost the Tag Team Titles to the Quebecers via countout in that stupid "Canadian Rules" match.

 

WWF was running smaller venues because business was in the shitter.

 

Rocky Maivia started referring to himself as The Rock in November '97, just three months after joining NOD. He pretty much became the leader from then on.

 

Faaroooq excommunicated Crush, Savio and Clarence Mason the night after the KOTR '97, but kept D'Lo. A week later Kama and Ahmed joined. Ahmed was injured the week after that, and was declared on the outs between then and his return in September. Rocky joined in August and Henry joined in December.

 

I didn't know that The Rock was kicked out. I just thought that they disbanded, but my memory isn't perfect either.

 

Forget the circumstances of The Rock's ousting.

[BorneAgain 0]

Also another couple of questions. I watched all of this stuff (didn't miss a RAW from 93 to 2003 actually) but, it's fuzzy 10 years later.

 

 

-It's hard to remember the Rock playing second fiddle to anyone. But, how long was he "just a member" of the Nation before he really started taking over? And when did he kick Farooq out?

 

-Also the Nation was all huge and bloated, then I remember Farooq kicking everyone out and restarting with D-Lo Brown and Kama. Was the Rock and Mark Henry included in this, and how long did it take for them to come along?

 

-Why was the Rock kicked out of the Nation? I remember it was D-Lo and Mark Henry that got rid of the Rock. Where was Owen in all of this?

 

-When and why was the Rock kicked out of the Corporation?

-Rock got more and more prominence as he got more mic time, but you can basically point to around the DX In Your House PPV as the time he really picked up steam and became the unofficial leader of the NOD. Rock had the Kama, D'Lo, Mark Henry kick out Farooq the day after Wrestlemania 14.

 

-The stable once a lot of members with Clarence Mason, PG-13, Crush, Savio Vega, along with D'Lo, until Farooq grew fed up and fired everybody but D'Lo in June 1997. He started a new version with new members Kama and former enemy Ahmed Johnson. Savio and Crush later formed their own stables: Los Boricuas and the Diciples of Apocalypse, leading the the wretched gang wars period. Ahmed was tossed after he was injured and replaced with a heel turned Rocky Maivia in the late summer. Mark Henry joined in January 1998.

 

-Owen was basically doing his own thing and "retired" after kayfabe injuring Dan Severn with a piledriver similar to the one he gave Austin at Summerslam 1997. Godfather wasn't really a part of the group either at that point. I don't recall why D'Lo and and Henry turned on Rock, but probably was something about him being weak or caring about the fans. Just a guess.

 

-Rock got pissed at Shane for botching in his match against Austin at Backlash 99 and Shane in turned fired him.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The last RAW that I can remember from the Manhattan Center was from mid-September when the Steiners lost the Tag Team Titles to the Quebecers via countout in that stupid "Canadian Rules" match.

 

They did the ECW show / LOD return show from there in 1997, but that was a one shot.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

The last RAW that I can remember from the Manhattan Center was from mid-September when the Steiners lost the Tag Team Titles to the Quebecers via countout in that stupid "Canadian Rules" match.

 

They did the ECW show / LOD return show from there in 1997, but that was a one shot.

 

"Providence of Quebec" rules damn it!

[JST 0]

Province of Quebec, to be accurate.

 

And no, we don't really have such lopsided rules up here.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I seem to recall a PPV match between Rock and Henry announced, and then they went backwards from there. As in, they were still cool at the time and as the weeks went by, they started feuding with each other.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

When did WWF leave the Manhattan Center?

 

Usually after each show.

 

In all seriousness, the last Raw there was indeed the Steiners/Quebecers title change. WWE actually used the venue once since, for One Night Stand '06.

 

 

Also I noticed in a lot of their earlier shows that the arenas were smaller, but nowadays they're huge. Were they running in smaller arenas or did arenas around the country get bigger? (i know there was a rash of new arenas and stadiums being built for a while)

 

Smaller arenas. Madison Square Garden (current incarnation) was built all the way back in the 1960s. This page will give you an idea of some of the historical venues used in wrestling.

 

http://basketball.ballparks.com/NBA/misc/pastindex.html

 

Not all of them hosted wrestling, but that's what was available. Now if you're talking WWWF from the 1970s or early '80s, they would run smaller buildings for their tapings and build towards larger arena shows.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

On the night of the Steiners/Quebecers title change, they taped another ep which had Scott Steiner vs Pierre.

[Aero 0]

When did WWF leave the Manhattan Center?

 

Usually after each show.

 

In all seriousness, the last Raw there was indeed the Steiners/Quebecers title change. WWE actually used the venue once since, for One Night Stand '06.

 

Wasn't the ECW invasion Raw in February 97 from the Manhattan Center?

[bob_barron 0]

actually used the venue once since, for One Night Stand '06.

 

Actually, at ONS 05 and 06 they ran in the grand ballroom at the Hammerstein, which is different than the main ballroom where they did RAW.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

When did WWF leave the Manhattan Center?

 

Not all of them hosted wrestling, but that's what was available. Now if you're talking WWWF from the 1970s or early '80s, they would run smaller buildings for their tapings and build towards larger arena shows.

 

Well, WWF definitely was running smaller buildings from a period of about 1993 through early 1996, when business was in the toilet. I mean, I remember seeing some matches from Colliseum Home Video during this era where I'm pretty sure they were in high school gyms.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

"The 1st time, the last time, the ONLY time!" was the tagline fo LT's WM match right?

[Taxman 0]

It sure was.

[JJMc 0]

On the night of the Steiners/Quebecers title change, they taped another ep which had Scott Steiner vs Pierre.

 

The last Raw there (other than the '97 one) was shown on 9/20/93, which I'm pretty sure had that match.

 

The WWF did TVs in 1995 from Liberty, NY at the high school and you could see a wall clock from the hard camera.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b195/defester/dm3.png

 

What MSG show is this from and how do i see it~!

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Who the hell is that?