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Old School Observations/Questions Thread 2020-21

snuffbox

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Would've been fun to do the title switch in a tables match.
 

Laz

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PE's super brief ECW return was only so brief because, according to those in the locker room at the time, their ego got the best of them and Bubba Ray stiffed the shit out of them.
 

King Kamala

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Epic Springs

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Looking at their Cagematch. They defended their titles twice (once on Nitro against Juventud Guerrera and Billy Kidman dressed as a generic luchador and once on Saturday Night against High Voltage) before losing it to Harlem Heat. What surprised me is they lost the titles on Saturday Night. That had to have been the last title change on Saturday Night besides that weird period in the dying days of the show where Janitor Jim Duggan found the TV Title that Scott Hall threw in the trash and promised to defend it.

Dean Malenko defeated Rey Mysterio on WCW Worldwide around this time for the cruiser title and I THINK Jericho beat Alex Wright for the same title on Saturday Night in '97.
 

King Kamala

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I wonder how many title changes there were on WCW Thunder? I really doubt there were more than a very small handful. Lenny Lane beat Rey Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Title on a Thunder (and I only know that cause I was reading Summer '99 results looking up Public Enemy's 2nd WCW run).
 

BUTT

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Let me see how much I can remember without Wikipedia. Rey beat Ultimo on the first Thunder, I think. Didn't Finlay beat Booker for the TV title on Thunder? There was a Hart-Luger US title change on Thunder but I don't remember if it was Luger winning or Bret winning it back. I think it was the latter. Benoit and Saturn beat the Triad for the tag titles on a Thunder and then lost them three days later on a PPV.

During and between the Russo runs there were a lot more.
- Bret and Goldberg beat Creative Control for the tag titles.
- The Mamalukes beat David Flair and Crowbar for the tag titles
- DAVID ARQUETTE won the world title
- Nash beat Jarrett (and Steiner in a three-way) for the title in May 2000 and then gave the title to Flair on Nitro so he didn't have to job
- I think Chavo beat Mike Sanders for the cruiserweight title in late 2000

I'm sure there are a bunch more, especially once they introduced the Hardcore title, but the Russo era runs together.

Now I'm going to Wikipedia to fill in the blanks

I was right about Bret, he did win it back on Thunder. But I was wrong about Finlay, that was Nitro.
Stasiak and Palumbo won the titles on a Thunder from Kronik, which I kinda remember. And then Palumbo and O'Haire lost the titles in Australia to the Misfits in Action but won them back the same night. I don't remember that at all.
Juventud beat Ultimo on the first Thunder, and Rey beat Juvy on the second episode.
I was right about Chavo. He also defeated Daffney for the title six months earlier.
Terry Funk beat Shane Douglas for the Hardcore title and Crowbar beat Reno.
I think that covers it.
 

Epic Springs

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I remember MIA winning the tag titles on Thunder. Mike Sanders restarted the match right after and Perfect Event won them back.
 

King Kamala

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I should've remembered that David Arquette won the WCW World Title on a Thunder cause I watched it somewhat recently and it's also the Thunder-est moment that ever Thundered.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
I should've remembered that David Arquette won the WCW World Title on a Thunder cause I watched it somewhat recently and it's also the Thunder-est moment that ever Thundered.
Was it possibly pre-taped on Tues, because I seem to recall also seeing this live, and as I stated a little earlier, I could only see cable shows at my bros at the time and that wasn't too often. I would have made the effort to see this disaster.

I also made it a point to watch Thunder when Nash made a Deliverance reference while making fun of Arn Anderson.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
I talked about this with @Fall of Epic recently but I remember being bummed PE lost the titles so quickly because I inexplicably REALLY REALLY wanted to see Public Enemy Vs The Outsiders at Halloween Havoc '96.
DUDE! That Faces of Fear run in mid-late 96 was great, with them murking geeks each week. They would have totally been in the champs had the Outsiders/Steiners stuff not dominated things forever.

I was disappointed that the FoF only got the one PPV against the Outsiders and then were back in mid-card purgatory.

Hall and Nash would have buffooned PE and killed off what little cool factor WCW allowed them. They were safer doing endless garbage matches with the Nasties and Heat.
 

Epic Springs

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Here are two things I forgot about the dying days of WCW until now: a slimmed down Ice Train returning as limo driver MI Smooth and Shawn Stasiak getting a singles push while being paired with Stacy Kiebler. I think they actually blew off the "who is Stacy's baby daddy?" angle with this.
 
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King Kamala

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Shawn Stasiak squashed Bam Bam Bigelow on the last Nitro and anytime I watch the last Nitro, I'm like "Why did WCW feel the need to put that on the last Nitro!?"

I would listen to a Conrad Thompson podcast on the career of Shawn Stasiak. His career trajectory kind of fascinates but after listening to the episode, I'd probably think "Shawn Stasiak's career did not justify an entire podcast."

"Here's a name I don't think we gonna hear again on the show, Eric. Chat me up about Reno."
 
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BUTT

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Here are two things I forgot about the dying days of WCW until now: a slimmed down Ice Train returning as limo driver MI Smooth and Shawn Stasiak getting a singles push while being paired with Stacey Kiebler. I think they actually blew off the "who is Stacy's baby daddy?" with this.

Correct, Stacy came out pushing a baby carriage and then revealed that the carriage contained a stack of 8x10s of Stasiak. Apparently she had a Xerox machine in her cunt!
 

strummer

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Damnit, "Wrestling with Paul" channel got taken down. Great channel for old school stuff
 

Valeyard

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Bugsy McGraw was a really underrated promo. Bugsy period is really underrated. Would've thrived in the WWF.
 

Valeyard

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He would've fit right in with the boom era. I can picture him on SNME copying the waterpark bit from World Class only sending Gene down the waterslide instead of Mercer. But I guess they already had Steele for a lot of that stuff.
 

Valeyard

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Bugsy's transition from Curly in the ring to street philosopher on the mic is something else. Very Foley.
 

alkeiper

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He would've fit right in with the boom era. I can picture him on SNME copying the waterpark bit from World Class only sending Gene down the waterslide instead of Mercer. But I guess they already had Steele for a lot of that stuff.
And before Steele they were using the Missing Link.
 

Valeyard

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Link just never fit. One of my favorite looks ever, but he just didn't work in the WWF. Much prefer him to Steele, though.
 

King Kamala

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I love the story where Missing Link thought Bobby Heenan was also his non-kayfabe manager and tried to get him to run errands for him and Brain told him to fuck off.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Supposedly the main reason Link got a run was that Vince didn't want any non WWF talent in the Sports Illustrated wrestling feature.

Link is definitely one of those guys who stands out in my mind as a kid, but my memories are of his WCCW days. I was watching WWF in 85, but he doesn't make the big board of guys toddler Brody loved/hated/remembers.
 

Valeyard

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Link looked so cool. I don't think I could ever buy him as a serious threat, especially in the WWF, but he was the perfect scary monster. The kind of guy who could run a b-show loop against Tito Santana and not bat an eye. Putting him with Heenan was a misfire, though. If you won't bring Akbar in, then it's Blassie or bust for Link.

Skandor Akbar gets lost in greatest manager discussions, too. Gary Hart rightfully overshadowed him, but Akbar was good.
 

alkeiper

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Link had a 17 year career before he took on the gimmick, and he was reasonably successful. Kind of looked like a bigger Les Thornton. I imagine him pulling JTTS duty in 1985 WWF under his real name.
 

Valeyard

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Link was a good sized guy for anywhere else but the WWF. Third string monster was his ceiling, the fodder hanging out with Kamala, Sika, and the Wizard.
 

Epic Springs

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We briefly talked about Survivor Series 1996 in the "Matches You Didn't Think Existed" thread but I want to reminisce about watching the show live when it happened.

I watched it with my older brother and when Flash Funk debuted, he starred at the TV in disbelief and said "WTF? That's 2 Cold Scorpio!". I had only started watching WCW a few months prior and had idea what ECW was yet so I had no clue what he was talking about. I guess my bro was a big fan of "the step".
 
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