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The Attitude Era Thread Vol 1

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What other 80s guys got shots in the 90s and 2000s? Earthquake worked a few dark matches in 2001 and I read the other day the Nasty Boys got a dark match in 2007 against Drew McIntyre and Dave Taylor. They worked stiff and didn't go home on their cue so they were never brought back again.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
What other 80s guys got shots in the 90s and 2000s? Earthquake worked a few dark matches in 2001 and I read the other day the Nasty Boys got a dark match in 2007 against Drew McIntyre and Dave Taylor. They worked stiff and didn't go home on their cue so they were never brought back again.
The TV taping dark matches are uber fascinating to me for the 90s. Paul Roma is one 80s guy who got a try out in the later 90s. Tenta had a tryout the same time as OMG, but Big John was able to become Golga.


Roadblock with the Genius as a manager!
Giant Haystacks got a tryout? I guess I forgot that. (Reading further it seems it was probably a southern indy fattie)
Rip Morgan and Jack Victory had the size, but I can't picture them in the WWF.
 

Valeyard

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Gang was probably up for the Golga gig. That said, I didn't consider how much the Corporate Twin Towers could've added to the show until now.
 

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Gang was probably up for the Golga gig. That said, I didn't consider how much the Corporate Twin Towers could've added to the show until now.
Makes sense as John Tenta had a few dark matches immediately after OMG's appearance.

3/2/1998: Pierre Oulette defeated Mike Drose (Duke Drose). I wonder if Duke came back if he'd have been thrown into a completely different gimmick.
4/13/1998: Ace Darling & Devon Storm defeated the Misfits. I remember Ace Darling being a hot Indy name by the early 2000s. I think he'd have been an interesting lower card/mid-card addition at the time.
6/29/1998: Rhino Richards defeated Breyer Wellington. I know Rhyno appeared on TV a few times but I wonder if this is partly what got Heyman's attention on him.
7/28/1998: Minoru Tanaka defeated Christopher Daniels. Somewhere @cobainwasmurdered creamed at this match up.
 

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Yeah I remember Lothario randomly returning and wondered what happened to him at the time as he was off TV for like two years at that point. I don't think he was written off. Just stopped appearing with Shawn.
 

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Rumble 97 was his last shot. Shawn never wanted him around anyway.

Interesting to see they were booking Sid and Bret vs Shawn and Austin tags in the house shows before Shawn "lost his smile".
Austin was still a heel so that makes for some wild booking for the time.
Bret was pinning Shawn for a finish after Austin "accidentally" hit HBK with a stunner. I'm sure that thrilled Shawn.
 

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I thought Lothario was having money problems and HBK wanted to give his trainer a payday?
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
I thought Lothario was having money problems and HBK wanted to give his trainer a payday?

Then the match happened, Michaels won, and he ordered the match referee to get Jose Lothario out of his ring. That actually happened. Even before this WrestleMania-worthy moment, it was apparent that Michaels did not want his trainer as his on-screen manager. Lothario himself was not keen on the idea, but McMahon wanted it, and so he got it
Here to shed some light is Bruce Prichard.

According to the long-time WWE employee, it was WWE's way to give back to Lothario for training Michaels and bringing him to the sport. He also added that Lothario was a big star and his inclusion added a bit more spark to the building WrestleMania feud with Bret Hart. That said, Prichard did not reveal the reasons to why the angle continued post-WrestleMania and lasted for such a long time, with no major takeaway at the end.

Jim Cornette has claimed that Jose Lothario was mistreated by his own pupil backstage and Michaels did not want him around at all. According to another rumor, Prichard claimed that Lothario was working behind Michaels’ back. Who knows what happened backstage but the on-screen partnership was just not good.
 

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

Brody centric: WWF ran Raw in Green Bay in 96 (I was there) and 97 (Ma said no for reasons I can't recall and I had a rage meltdown beyond my almost 15 years of age)... and both years had a Undertaker vs Mankind dark match. You'd think they'd change it up just because.

Ma promised we'd get tickets early for the next time, but with the WWF being hot I don't think they came back until 2001ish.
WCW had a Green Bay house show I can't recall even seeing ads for in the later 90s. I attended a WCW Sat Night TV taping in early 97ish after I won free tickets from the local Polka station.
 

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McMahon really proved that old Jesse Ventura adage, "sometimes it's better to be lucky than good."
 

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

I thought his booking was pretty meh as 1999 rolled on. Joining the Corporation kind of pushed him to the back of the pack and he and Bossman were a somewhat forgettable tag team.

By the time he got hurt and left he was on the path to be putting over Jericho.

Maybe I'm forgetting something great?
 

Valeyard

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I think they mean in the sense it's a roided white dude who mugged for the camera more than the run, which yeah you're right 1999 wasn't great for Shamrock as a real player or anything.

The IC title run was great and should've happened earlier. I was so happy he finally got a belt but I wished he would just kill people more instead. The Corporation was a blessing and a curse for him.
 

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Was there ever really a plan for Shawn as Euro champ after Bret announced he was leaving and needed to get the world belt off him ASAP? I can see Shawn elevating the title but things worked out better anyway with Helmsey/Owen feuding over it.
 

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Was there ever really a plan for Shawn as Euro champ after Bret announced he was leaving and needed to get the world belt off him ASAP? I can see Shawn elevating the title but things worked out better anyway with Helmsey/Owen feuding over it.
Honestly, I've never really gotten the concept of people thinking the European Title would've mattered. It was never topping the World or IC Title in importance and the Tag Titles always had a bit of a novelty prestige to them. If Shawn had only held the European Title, he'd have ended up dropping it to a Ken Shamrock or The Rock maybe and then it'd have gone right back down the card.

Even with reigns by HHH, Owen, D'Lo, etc. I always thought it was a 3rd/4th tier title even as a young fan. Shawn winning it literally felt like it was a big picture move in re: to the "feud" of US/Canada and less about the actual title itself. Shawn dropping it to Triple H the way he did, from a story perspective, just perfectly fit the characters and gimmick and I can't see it ending any other way. People also forget it was set up as much as an FU to Sgt. Slaughter than anything else.
 

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I thought he only got it because he wanted the grand slam distinction before anyone else and Vince gave it to him. Fucking with the Harts helped too.
 

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But tbh Bulldog did literally nothing with it for months.
 

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Honestly, I've never really gotten the concept of people thinking the European Title would've mattered. It was never topping the World or IC Title in importance and the Tag Titles always had a bit of a novelty prestige to them.
Neither I nor any of my wrestling fan friends at the time were convinced that the European title was going to be worth much, even though the Owen/Bulldog tournament final match was really good. We even commented while watching that it was a really good match, but it didn't really mean anything because nothing was gonna happen with this European belt. I can't remember how long it took to fully confirm those suspicions, but it had to have been during Davey Boy's reign.
 

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The alleged plan at the time was that it would build to Bulldog winning the title back at the next UK PPV in April. I'm sure Shawn would have found a way to get out of losing it even if he hadn't broken his back.
 
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