Kamala's Random WCW Bullshit thread

[Sex Machine Gun]

How have I never heard of this? I'm guessing the commentary was meant to be recorded later. I like the party after the end of the last match.

 

[strummer]

Was there some backstage political motivation with Flair getting squashed by the Giant for the title in April 96? Flair was just off a super hot program with .Savage and the .Horseman were starting a great run. Hogan was on his sabbatical around this time iirc. My guess is that Hogan wanted to come back in the summer and beat Giant for the title. Well he did do that but under much different circumstances.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Was there some backstage political motivation with Flair getting squashed by the Giant for the title in April 96? Flair was just off a super hot program with .Savage and the .Horseman were starting a great run. Hogan was on his sabbatical around this time iirc. My guess is that Hogan wanted to come back in the summer and beat Giant for the title. Well he did do that but under much different circumstances.

From my CXF where I covered WON notes:

A Look at WCW’s Slamboree ’96 – CXF | Culture Crossfire | culturecrossfire.com

• The Giant won the WCW World title from Ric Flair on a taped edition of Nitro. This was done in part to help boost the Nitro ratings since the show was taken out of it’s normal time slot due to the NBA playoffs occurring.

 

[snuffbox]

Doing a world title match with the taped/different time slot episode makes sense. Strummer's speculation about Hogan makes sense. But maybe they just thought more of a squash would cement Show as a main eventer and wouldn't take away any more of Flair's credibility (that they'd already squandered anyway).

 

[strummer]

I had remembered that the show aired in a different time slot due to the playoffs. Always wondered why it was a squash though. It did help Giant though looking that strong. I could definitely see Hogan returning in the summer as a babyface to beat Giant if the NWO never happened.

 

[BruiserBrody]

This would have been the show I would have watched back in the day, but I don't recall Gary Michael Capetta doing the Mean Gene PPV shill role.

 

[BruiserBrody]

The newest Center Stage Chronicles dropped for Fall 89. Meltz reported that basically every good worker the WWF had was on the WCW wish list (Rockers, Dibiase, Savage, Piper, Bret, etc). Rob Naylor hilariously shits on this since zero of it goes down.

JIm Herd was pissed not only about the angle with Flair having a plastic bag wrapped on his head, but also only days later they aired Doom beating Scott Steiner down in a parking lot after being lured in by Robin Greene.
Considering the 2nd one was a pre-tape, I guess he wasn't watching the TV prior to having it sent out.

 

[snuffbox]

I don't know who Rob Naylor is but of course those guys would've been on WCW's radar at the time. Not that they could, or would seriously try, to sign them (contract length, loyalty, money, travel, there are a lot of reasons) but they'd certainly want them and at least look into any possibilities. Those guys on the 89/90 WCW roster would've been awesome.

 

[strummer]

Pretty sure WCW thought for sure they had Piper coming in but Roddy decided to stay with Vince. Flair tried to talk him into it.

 

[Zetterberg is God]

I have zero recollection of this.

 

[Valeyard]

The newest Center Stage Chronicles dropped for Fall 89. Meltz reported that basically every good worker the WWF had was on the WCW wish list (Rockers, Dibiase, Savage, Piper, Bret, etc). Rob Naylor hilariously shits on this since zero of it goes down.

A world where Flair and Dibiase jump either simultaneously or very close is really interesting. Dibiase at his peak being the top WCW heel while Flair pinballs for the Mega Powers in some form seems like a fun hypothetical.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Dibiase staying in the UWF when JCP bought it does provide a fun bunch of probable matches, especially if Ted stays a face. He might keep things fresh just as the roster stagnation was helping sink the attendance. Dibiase feuds with Arn, Tully, Lex and Flair until Luger turns...then Ted joins the Horsemen and lets his natural dickhead heelness come through.

A big feud with Sting... a feud with Dr Death... pinballing for Dusty... eventually Zenk, Pillman, Steamboat etc....

 

[snuffbox]

The McMahons probably should've learned something from the Crocketts failures after acquiring the Watts thing. In both cases a lot of money and opportunity was left on the table.

Those matches and feuds with DiBiase (Horsemen, versus and aligned with, Sting, Pillman, etc) would've been great. And we know a run with Dusty would've been good because, even when Dust was completely shot, that feud in 1990-Jan 91 was still good due to DiBiase's work and Rhodes's character, psychology, and charisma.

 

[Valeyard]

Dibiase fills the Magnum void super well. Possibly Duggan, as well.

 

[snuffbox]

Yeah, 86-88 Flair could've dragged some classics out of Duggan.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Yeah, 86-88 Flair could've dragged some classics out of Duggan.

Dragged! Nah, Duggan was good. The WWF system kind of wore the ****'s out of his effort. He kind of followed the same trajectory as Hogan where he had a set match he'd work so nothing was really "bad" but by the early 90s his oomph was gone.

 

[alfdogg]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1852143264217911803

 

[BruiserBrody]

More from Center Stage Pod: TBS execs were pissed about the plastic bag angle... WCW then used a clip of it for a commercial. It only made air once.... during an hour block of Tom and Jerry cartoons.

 

[Tino Standard]

To be fair, if you’re watching a mouse stick a cat’s tail in an electrical socket after dropping an iron on his head, is a plastic bag all that bad?

 

[Valeyard]

Cartoon cat > egg suckin' dog

 

[BruiserBrody]

More from Center Stage Pod:

Apparently Meltz helped Pillman plan the layout for his Halloween Havoc match vs Luger. Dave did not disclose this at the time, but did compliment the match layout in his review, mentioning the execution was lacking, thus robbing us of a ***** match

 

[Valeyard]

If that's true, he's a dick.

 

[snuffbox]

I like that match. I think Luger and Pillman were doing a lot of excellent work in that era, over a multi-year stretch and a wide range of opponents, and were misused by the bookers.

 

[Valeyard]

Luger's insanely underrated. That year or so was way more good than bad, and I've come to think the Spivey match is genuinely one of the best of the time.

 

[snuffbox]

Yeah, that match is a classic. Even the ppv cage match with Flair, while the weakest of their series, is still much better than it ought to have been with Luger battling the severe staph infection at the time. He should've gotten a run with the belt. Just a few months as a reward would've been fine. That would've allowed Sting to ease back in with a tag match at the Bash or a Clash before getting his longer run at Starrcade.

 

[Valeyard]

Capitol Combat is one of my favorite WCW shows. Yeah, Robocop, whatever. There's a ton of really fun stuff and everyone was feeling it.

 

[snuffbox]

It is a great show and always a fun rewatch. I don't mind the Robocop stuff either. It's minimal and, in the end, (even though it didn't end up panning out in the longer run), the bookers didn't put Robocop over but rather their own worker, El Gigante.