This Day in Pro Wrestling History

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1609900123995226113

WWF: Making large swaths of their roster look ineffectual against older talent for over thirty five years.

 

[Valeyard]

Crippled Andre is better than any non-Brock part-timer has been in the last ten years. Don't care.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

That bit of Andre/Bulldogs interaction makes me wish we had gotten a Mega Bucks Vs British Bulldogs match on a SNME leading up to the first SummerSlam.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Main thing that angle does is make me wish some Youtuber will magically have all the NBC SNME teasers someday. A few are out there.
Hogan screaming for revenge while they show Andre choking him out in a little 10 sec bumper is one of my stand out memories as a 5 year old.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1610260016061095939

HBD JR, you cranky, horny old bastard!


(Also love Eric Bischoff using his 1996 Nitro voice on a 2003 RAW. It's crazy that the crowd is into a dumb comedy match more than most WWE matches today. WE LOVE YA JR!)

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1610999523056181248

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

22 years ago today, ECW aired its last PPV, Guilty as Charged 2001.

 

[strummer]

WCW Thunder debuted 25 years ago today.

 

[Valeyard]

Somewhere a taping is still happening.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

In its own way, Thunder was just as damaging as the Starrcade ‘97 and ‘98 main events. It put on full display how exhausted WCW creative was.

It’s weird how adding a second prime time show killed WCW but was what put icing on the cake for WWF during the Monday Night Wars.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Didn't they pretty much almost instantly not put any effort into it after the 1st few weeks?

My biggest memory of Thunder is that I was at my brother's on a random Thurs night and a Goldberg/Johnny Grunge (Rocco?) match came on and I assumed it was just a mid card squash.... and it was the main event.
I had checked out of WCW after the Fingerpoke and the nWo Lobster Sting, etc

8/5/99; Lacrosse, WI; Center
8/5/99:
Chris Adams fought Prince Iaukea to a no contest
Buff Bagwell pinned Scotty Riggs
Billy Kidman pinned Eddie Guerrero
Brad Armstrong & Swoll defeated Lenny Lane & Lodi
Booker T defeated WCW Tag Team Champion Bam Bam Bigelow via disqualification
WCW Tag Team Champion Diamond Dallas Page pinned Chris Benoit
Bill Goldberg pinned Rocco Rock

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Didn't they pretty much almost instantly not put any effort into it after the 1st few weeks?

Yeah, they gave up maybe a month or so in. Looking at Cagematch, it seems like nWo guys and Sting stopped showing up around week five and DDP/Raven/Benoit stuff started main evening. Not that that feud wasn't awesome but it wasn't build a big primetime network show around level important. Sorry @Laz .

They actually put together a fairly big Thunder to go against the pilot of Smackdown! in April '99 then stopped caring again immediately after. Weirdly, I think Vince Russo was the one who realized "Hey. We have a second prime time two hour show and we might as well move storylines on there." And I mean when RUSSO is the voice of reason, you know a show is too far gone.

If Bischoff really really didn't want to do Thunder and he was too afraid to push back against Turner corporate then why didn't he at least delegate some booking responsibilities to someone who would care about it? Them just immediately giving up on Thunder never made any sense. How quickly did they ditch that ridiculous, presumably expensive aggro crag set?

 

[strummer]

When Russo came back in 2000 the top guys started appearing on Thunder again but I don't think it lasted long

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It was definitely the B show from late '99 till the end but you usually had at least a few top guys on every week, which wasn't the case for the first year and a half of the show. It was too late but show was doomed to fail from day one cause the boss obviously didn't want to do it. Like I said, it shows why WWF won the war.

 

[BUTT]

Russo was the one who got them to move Thunder tapings to Tuesday, which it how it should have been all along. The top stars hated going back on the road so soon after Nitro. I know Bischoff had a live TV fetish but they weren't going head to head with WWF (at first). At some point in '98 they started frequently taping two episodes of Thunder on the same night, which meant the second one was a lame duck show that couldn't follow whatever happened on that week's Nitro. The show also looked and felt like a dreary dud. The dark set made it a lot less lively than Nitro and I often remember struggling to stay awake while watching it.

At least its existence prompted Bischoff to begrudgingly hire Bret Hart. But that could be considered a negative considering how much money he took from the company while putting in little effort and drawing no fans.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

The only time Thunder was worth watching was in the post-Russo dying days, as they'd actively follow through on angles from Nitro. Half of the Cruiserweight Tag title tourney was on Thunder, IIRC.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

The one televised Kid Kash WCW match was on Thunder!

 

[BUTT]

Yeah and it was the last Thunder. Coincidence?

 

[BUTT]

Also the post-Russo Thunders were taped on the same night as Nitro so they still got the dregs, even if it was mostly the same guys working both shows.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Yeah and it was the last Thunder. Coincidence?

It turned people away from that scintillating Scott Steiner & Jeff Jarrett Vs Dustin Rhodes main event.

It does feel fitting that the last Jeff Jarrett WCW match was on Thunder. Never drew a dime.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1612595107827699712

 

[Valeyard]

That's so great now. Aged into perfection. Same for the HHH/Steiner build.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1612478083486851075

 

[strummer]

I think I've mentioned this before but Pettengill was a local dj here on the most popular radio station. It was so surreal to one day turn on wwf tv and see the guy I used to listen to on the way to school in like 1987/1988

 

[Sex Machine Gun]

How did no one mention David Arquette winning the WCW Championship happening on an episode of Thunder?

 

[JN News]

Because that's how forgettable that bullshit was. D.A. winning the title was horrid, it was forgettable, even though everyone remembers that a movie actor became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

 

[Valeyard]

Oh I remember it. Many do. WCW was like James Caan in Misery where he was fucked up already and then got hobbled by Kathy Bates Vince Russo.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

First episode of Monday Night RAW was 30 years ago today. Last episode? Potentially soon?

 

[Valeyard]

The first year of Raw is some of the most fun TV any company has ever produced. It's so easy to watch and so much fun. If it weren't for Rob Bartlett everyone would agree. When he left there was some great Heenan work.

 

[BruiserBrody]

The first year of Raw is some of the most fun TV any company has ever produced. It's so easy to watch and so much fun. If it weren't for Rob Bartlett everyone would agree. When he left there was some great Heenan work.

My coworkers and I watched the Quebeccers vs Marty/Kid 1 year anniversary match this week. That is some fine pro wrestling!
I remembered some of the high spots and still popped.
Polo had like a 3 monthish angle going with Marty/Kid and eventually Razor. I did note that Polo worked like a wrestler and not a manager, so I guess Polo is just holding back and is not a kayfabe twerp. Polo is does a dive over the ropes during one of his matches with Marty or the Kid.
Seems a proper blow off at WM 10 with Marty/Kid vs Quebecers would have made that show even better. Just toss MOM in the 10 man.
I also kind of wish Jack Tunney would have ordered Kid/Marty to work the Harts at the next RAW before losing the belts back to the Quebeccers a week later. Or hell, just put the belts on the Harts for 2 weeks to add more fire to Owen's vitriol. It does take some steam off the Kid/Martys issues with Polo then though.
---
The remarkably small Fernwood resort where Raw's 1 year anniversary takes place is still a resort and actually quite affordable. They have nearby mountains and offer tubing, golfing and lots of other adventures.
I'd be the geek ignoring the events and asking the front desk if I can go in the resort's rec center so I can look at a 29 year old RAW TV taping location.