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The WWF B, C, and D shows.

Brocklock

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Raven taking a bunch of 80's guys and turning them Grunge would've ruled. They should've done the same thing when Ricky Morton briefly was in ECW. Can you imagine 1995 Grunge Michael Hayes?
 

Laz

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Michael Hayes rocking a Suicidal Tendencies shirt
 

Slayer

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A grunge version of Hayes would have eased the shock of a few years later when he was suddenly borrowing from the Hardy Boys' closet
 

King Kamala

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I WISH I could purge the memory of fortysomething, pudgy Michael Hayes wearing skin tight t-shirts and baggy cargo pants out of my brain.
 

HarleyQuinn

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In 2001 the backup shows really became platforms for the 'lesser' WCW/ECW guys, which I liked. Random matchups but you'd get consistent 'key' players that always felt like they were in their own alternate universe if you watched a lot of SNH/Jakked/Velocity at the time.

2001-07-23 Jakked = Haku vs. Shawn Stasiak, Crash Holly vs. Justin Credible, Hurricane & Chavo vs. Taka & Funaki, and Mark Jindrak vs. Jerry Lynn
2001-09-17 Jakked = Kanyon vs. Albert, Justin Credible vs. Crash Holly, Acolytes vs. Mike Awesome & Hugh Morrus, and Billy Gunn vs. Chuck Palumbo
2001-11-01 Jakked = Spike Dudley vs. Justin Credible, Tommy Dreamer vs. Saturn, Scotty 2 Hotty & Albert vs. Raven & Hugh Morrus, and Jeff Hardy vs. Chavo
 

Slayer

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I WISH I could purge the memory of fortysomething, pudgy Michael Hayes wearing skin tight t-shirts and baggy cargo pants out of my brain.

He had just turned forty at that point, so in thinking about it, that'd be the equivalent of me today wearing whatever the hot teen fashion is right now (though I am in better physical shape than he was then)
 

Laz

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In hindsight, he was only a few years early for the Affliction days.
 

geniusMoment

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Hayes was about 10 years younger than Jericho is now when he was with the Hardys.
 

Slayer

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Hell he was a few years younger than the actual Hardys today
 

BUTT

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First time I saw Burchill was about a year before his signed with WWE, someone on old TSM posted a bunch of clips of him from whatever UK indy promotion. he was working for at the time. When I saw him do the C-4 I was convinced that he had the potential to be a main eventer. I don't know what his ceiling was because it's hard to evaluate a wrestler's potential if they never get the chance to show it off in an upper-card position. But I think Paul could have at least been a challenger-of-the-month for Cena or Batista.
 

Brocklock

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Doing some Wikipedia research and 1999 doughy Michael Hayes is

The same age or only a year older than The Miz, Finn Balor, Cesaro, John Morrison, Shayna Baszler, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Mercedes Martinez, Randy Orton, Asuka, and Dolph Ziggler

Younger than Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Sheamus, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Robert Roode, R-Truth, Samoa Joe, Titus O'Neil, Mickie James, Tamina, and Bobby Fish
 

strummer

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In the "come as you are" match against the Von Erichs at Texas Stadium in 1984 Hayes was only 2 years older than Dom Mysterio is right now
 

King Kamala

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Doing some Wikipedia research and 1999 doughy Michael Hayes is

The same age or only a year older than The Miz, Finn Balor, Cesaro, John Morrison, Shayna Baszler, Kofi Kingston, Daniel Bryan, Mercedes Martinez, Randy Orton, Asuka, and Dolph Ziggler

Younger than Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Sheamus, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Robert Roode, R-Truth, Samoa Joe, Titus O'Neil, Mickie James, Tamina, and Bobby Fish
Just another example of today’s wrestlers having much healthier lifestyles than ‘80s wrestlers.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
That's one thing about getting over as a youngster, without big reinventions, you can get stale or seem older than you are.

When 20 year old Hayes headlined the Superdome vs JYD and drew 26-30K (depending on how much Watts inflated the numbers), that match between two guys no one had heard of outside of Alabama and the Mid-South drew something like one of the top 5 attended wrestling shows ever. May have even been in the top 3. Stadium shows were rare, and most arenas guys worked at were 6K or smaller, so massive houses were far from the norm until cities started building bigger venues as populations exploded.

It's almost surprising more of Watts' talent wasn't poached after an event like that. IIRC, the match was only days after the Bruno vs Larry Shea Stadium match as Hogan vs. Andre was on both mega events.

The Freebirds were really an incredible act for 4 years. In 1984/5 they seemed to get too big for their britches and were headaches for promoters as they bounced around WWF, AWA, Florida, and WCCW. Once Baba got ahold of Gordy in 85/86 and Roberts broke down, the act was doomed. Their star power/hype was definitely very real for those of us watching and reading PWI at the time.
 
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Valeyard

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I'll always like Hayes mentioning but glossing over Vince not hiring them in '84 or thereabouts.


The c-show boom did give us Stephanie Wiand, though.
 

Valeyard

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I thought Barbara Clary and I were Facebook friends, but I guess I just like her page. Oh well. I can say with confidence Adrian Street is annoying as hell.

I love that Wiand clip. She's annoying as well as plugging shows in gyms. Greatest time to be a fan.
 

King Kamala

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I love that Wiand clip. She's annoying as well as plugging shows in gyms. Greatest time to be a fan.
Thing I forgot until today; her and Gorilla were the commentary team for WWF RAW for Sega Genesis and SNES. I pray that her and washed Gorilla were an IRL announce team at some point but as Mr. Monsoon would say; “Highly unlikely.”
 

Valeyard

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I loved the lack of fucks they had for things like that. For a while I think Damien Demento was on Raw every week.

I can't remember which show it was (Challenge?) where there was a seemingly never-ending feud with Adam Bomb and Harvey Whippleman. I remember a lot of Well Dunn matches, maybe a Bomb/Duke The Dumpster team was involved.
 

King Kamala

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I loved the lack of fucks they had for things like that. For a while I think Damien Demento was on Raw every week.
Damien Demento was literally in the credits until they debuted their new credits in September '95 for the start of the Monday Night Wars. Over two years after his release.
 

Valeyard

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Yeah I remember seeing him when I finally got a dish and being confused. A lot of guys just vanished from Superstars or wherever so I just assumed he was Raw exclusive or something.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

King Kamala

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Why is the RAW sign on the floor after nearly crushing KWANG? The New Generation era was a mess.

When I was looking up the pic of Gorilla and Stephanie Wiand commenting in WWF RAW, I was flabbergasted to find that WWF acknowledged her departure on air.
There's only a handful of other guys that WWF/E acknowledged leaving (Macho Man, Dean Ambrose, IIRC John Morrison in 2011) and she is definitely the least relevant. I'm surprised they even bothered.

Were there enough hardcore WWF Mania fans out there in the Summer of '95 that they had to settle them down over this? I guess this is the wrong thread to ask that question in.
 
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