Let's Talk About..........The Natural Born Thrillers

[Dobbs 3K 0]

No, it didn't hurt the Booker T, even though Russo was trying to make Booker into a blatant copy of him. I mean, he even had the same finisher.

 

I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Romeo use Rock-esque mannerisms, and some version of the people's elbow, at least in a couple matches.

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'd argue that Booker T copying the Rock hurt him quite a bit in the early going. He went from this fresh-face mid-carder to World Champion overnight, then changed his entire persona to act like the Rock. The mannerisms were the same, the music was changed to incorporate a catchphrase, and his finisher become the Rock Bottom. It might not have bothered you guys much, but for the fans that started viewing WCW as an inferior product Booker came off like a cheap imitation.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I still like the "Don't hate the playa, hate the game" and "Save the drama for yo mama" catchphrases...

[King Kamala 0]

Whoever wants to start this week's Let's Talk About... can do so now.

[Silence 0]

I still like the "Don't hate the playa, hate the game" and "Save the drama for yo mama" catchphrases...

 

I remember some people around that time talking about the catchphrase as a double-meaning for "hate HHH". How true that was for Booker considering all the times HHH buried him in WWE.

 

[Bruiser_Brody_ 0]

Since he used that 3 years before his feud w/ HHH..........

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I'd argue that Booker T copying the Rock hurt him quite a bit in the early going. He went from this fresh-face mid-carder to World Champion overnight, then changed his entire persona to act like the Rock. The mannerisms were the same, the music was changed to incorporate a catchphrase, and his finisher become the Rock Bottom. It might not have bothered you guys much, but for the fans that started viewing WCW as an inferior product Booker came off like a cheap imitation.

 

Don't forget Booker T also started wearing $800 shirts.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Eh, to be fair? The Rock Bottom was being used by DDP and Wrath as early as mid-97, when the Rock still used the Maivia Hurricane DDT and the Crossbody Block. That, and I think that the Book End is the superior version, as it looks like Booker actually SLAMMED the guy down to the mat, not just lifted them and let them fall. It's like comparing any similar moves: some people do them better than others.

 

The NBT is actually one of my all-time favorite stables, if only because they were a huge breath of fresh air. WCW during that period was horrible, but it was still entertaining, and by the time the Magnificent 7 came into play I think the product as a whole was actually better than the WWF. I at least found it more entertaining, anyway.

[ryankeast 0]

So what are all the former members doing now?

 

I know Chuck has managed to position himself as a mid card heel on smackdown, even having a mini feud with Kane by the looks of things. But what about the others.

 

I too am disappointed that Sean O Haire never amounted to anything. He used some great moves in WCW.

 

Anyone remember the Lex Luger rip off that Jindrak was saddled with for a while - the "Reflection Of Perfection". I also believe he was a goon for Kurt Angle for a while was he not? Teaming with Luther Reigns.

 

I know DDP was the most "top" guy thatwas buried by the WWE. However Shawn Stasiak was completely cremated - and then they buried his ashes :-) Planet Stasiak was a dumb gimmick and serves him right I suppose for recording the guys on tape back in 1999.

 

Sanders and Reno never got near the main roster - Sanders suprised me as he could have been a manager in the Matt Striker department.

Don't actually remember much about Reno at all - or Johnny The Bull for that matter in WCW.

 

I know Bull was in The Mamalukes with Big Vito before the NBT and his now with a very shit gimmick in TNA - Rellik. As West and Tenay like to tell us - "It's Killer backwards"

 

 

[Silence 0]

I know Bull was in The Mamalukes with Big Vito before the NBT and his now with a very shit gimmick in TNA - Rellik. As West and Tenay like to tell us - "It's Killer backwards"

 

I wish someone would choke Tenay the next time he says that. He says it every fucking week.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Anyone remember the Lex Luger rip off that Jindrak was saddled with for a while - the "Reflection Of Perfection". I also believe he was a goon for Kurt Angle for a while was he not? Teaming with Luther Reigns.

 

Oh yeah I remember. I remember when he debuted that gimmick. Someone, I forget who, was challenging Theodore Long to a match which gave us the image of a shirtless Teddy Long *shudder*. But before the match could really take place, Jindrak came out and Long introduced him as his new client. He then leapt onto Jindrak's shoulders and celebrated with him.

 

The gimmick didn't last too long at all, actually. Jindrak started doing the gimmick in either April or May with Theodore Long as his manager, but then in July, Vince McMahon named Long the General Manager of SmackDown! and later that summer or in the fall, Jindrak and Luther Reigns became Kurt Angle's henchmen.

 

At least the gimmick lasted long enough for Jindrak to have that be his gimmick in the WWE Day Of Reckoning video game for the GameCube that came out in August that year!

 

And wasn't Jindrak's gimmick pretty much the same exact gimmick as the one Chris Masters had when he debuted in December of 2004?

 

The spring and summer of 2004 had several gimmicks that ended up not going anywhere, more so than usual. Mark Jindrak as the "Reflection Of Perfection", Hirohito, Mordecai, Booker T as a voodoo master. What was up with that?

Edited March 16, 2008 by Ed Wood Caulfield

[King Kamala 0]

I wasn't watching much in the time period (Reading about me makes me glad I didn't) but wasn't Booker T's voodoo master gimmick was only supposed to be short term anyways. Just meant to be there for idiot marks to think he had an actual shot at beating 'Taker. But us smart fans know if it didn't work for Papa Shango, it wouldn't work for Booker.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

I'm pretty sure that it was supposed to become his actual gimmick but they decided against it.

 

Hey, if Booker became a voodoo master we may never have gotten King BooKAH~!

 

 

[muzz 0]

I was a fan of the NBT's, Mike Sanders expecially. How he didn't get picked up by the 'E for anything is beyond me. Team Canada I thought was a good idea, which was some of Lance Storms best work.

[ryankeast 0]

Speaking of Lance Storm. They should of had the Impact Players in the WWE. Sigh!

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I never got why people were so into the Impact Players...mainly because I totally hated Justin Credible.

[King Kamala 0]

I don't get the Impact Players love either. And this may be smark blasphemy but I didn't start appreciating Lance Storm until he jumped to WCW. Of course it didn't help that I started watching ECW regularly in early '00. Even though WCW ultimately fucked it up, there were moments when I thought Team Canada made a damn fine upper mid-card heel stable.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I don't get the Natural Born Thrillers love either. And this may be smark blasphemy but I didn't start appreciating Lance Storm until he jumped to WCW. Of course it didn't help that I started watching ECW regularly in early '00. Even though WCW ultimately fucked it up, there were moments when I thought Team Canada made a damn fine upper mid-card heel stable.

 

 

Lance Storm was great in WCW. I don't know how they pulled it off, but they used him better than both ECW and WWE. His in-ring work was crisp and entertaining, his character played to his strengths and hid his limitations and the Team Canada gimmick actually worked. I really liked how he went over clean most of the time despite being a heel. He was one of my favorite wrestlers in early 2000.

 

I actually think that if WCW had hung around, he could have worked as a heel World Champion.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

I really liked Lance Storm's run as well. I thought a strong heel collecting belts was a pretty interesting idea as it put over Storm huge. Too bad WCW was pretty much dead at that point.

 

As for the Thrillers, I thought Mike Sanders "Above Average" gimmick was great. He would talk about being a "solid 3.0" and such. I also remember seeing Jindrak on the WCW Saturday show...he had this extremely generic basketball gimmick, where he would mime dribbling down the aisle. It was ridiculous, kinda like Barry Darsow's golfer gimmick.

[King Kamala 0]

IMO, WCW screwed up any potential Storm had of being a main eventer and the sliver of potential they had to be big in Canada during that match at New Blood Rising with Mike Awesome. I honestly think that match could have been the one that made Storm a main eventer or at the very least, put him on the fast track to the main event but of course WCW fucked it up. The three month feud with Hugh Morrus that followed shortly after certainly didn't help. I kind of like Morrus but has the guy ever been over? Morrus was The Hardcore Holly of WCW.

[LaParkaMarka 0]

Morrus' group was really terrible, crowds couldn't get behind them. Plus I think they were calling him "General Hugh G. Rection"...I mean, really. Who would buy a PPV to see that guy win? It was a bad stable and a bad gimmick and should have been used as opening act instead of upper midcard.

[Just call me Dan 0]

They also hot-shotted the Booker T/ Lance Storm World Title match on NITRO with Booker going over clean. It was like Nash/Wrath all over again with better workrate. No point.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Morrus' group was really terrible, crowds couldn't get behind them. Plus I think they were calling him "General Hugh G. Rection"...I mean, really. Who would buy a PPV to see that guy win? It was a bad stable and a bad gimmick and should have been used as opening act instead of upper midcard.

 

Oh geez...the Misfits In Action...yeah, that was just a mess. I mean, I think even the biggest WWF marks who thought Val Venis and the Godfather were great at the time probably thought a guy named "Hugh G. Rection" was pretty lame. I really don't get who that was supposed to appeal to.

 

I agree though, Storm was used pretty well by WCW. He kind of got lost in the shuffle in WWF.

[Silence 0]

Morrus' group was really terrible, crowds couldn't get behind them. Plus I think they were calling him "General Hugh G. Rection"...I mean, really. Who would buy a PPV to see that guy win? It was a bad stable and a bad gimmick and should have been used as opening act instead of upper midcard.

 

They were also a shitty cross between DX and the Job Squad, since DX wore the army camo when they were "taking over" WCW in 1998.

[King Kamala 0]

The original concept behind MIA as a group of "young" wrestlers disenchanted with The New Blood wasn't all that terrible but the execution was absolutely terrible. I can't think of many stables that had more of a negative effect on its members than that one, The Wall and Lash LeRoux in particular. The Wall was just starting to get over as an intimidating hoss and LeRoux as a fun loving, midcard babyface and then they joined M.I.A. and their careers never recovered. Chavo was able to gain back some momentum in the last few months after he turned heel.

 

Looking back on it, WCW in 2000 had an unneccessarily large number of stables. Natural Born Thrillers, M.I.A., Team Canada, The Dark Carnival, Three Count, The Jung Dragons in the latter part of the year, nWo 2000, The Varsity Club, The Misfits and The Old Age Outlaws during Sullivan's godawful booking reign, New Blood and Millionaire's Club somewhere in the middle.

 

 

[LaParkaMarka 0]

What was the Dark Carnival? I've completely blocked that from memory.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Raven, Vampiro, and the ICP? Or were they the Dead Pool? The Dark Carnival was Vampiro, Muta, and somebody else, right?

[King Kamala 0]

The Dark Carnival was Vampiro, The Great Muta, and The ICP. I can't remember if The Demon was feuding against them or was with them or both (Gotta love Russo). They feuded with Sting

 

The Dead Pool was Raven, Vampiro, and The ICP.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I can't remember if The Demon was feuding against them or was with them or both (Gotta love Russo).

 

If memory serves, Russo had plans for Vampiro to "baptize" The KISS Demon during a match at the New Year's Evil special to turn him babyface, but those plans were scrapped because it occurred to the creative team that it would be really, really, really, really stupid.

[King Kamala 0]

You're right- but that was all supposed to take place six to eight months before The Dark Carnival was formed. Vampiro did try to steal The Demon's soul at one point or something like that.

 

That whole three way Sting/Vampiro/The Demon feud was so convoluted. I read through DDTdigest's recaps from that time period and I still can't figure out that feud.