WWF New Generation Thread III

[Hawk 34]

Who is this dork ref? He was there like a year and I don’t fucking think I learned his god damn name.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Roger Ruffin. I found him on Twitter not that long ago.

 

[Hawk 34]

God damn he’s a local boy too and I didn’t know he fucking existed.

Edit: he worked there for fuckin 15 years what the shit I swear I only remember him for the 92-94 period.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I really didn't live the long sleeve solid color shirt/bowtie look. Much prefer striped short sleeves.

 

[Valeyard]

I like the bowties. Mills Lane wore that gear.

Fake edit: went to check Mills Lane to confirm and didn't know he died in 2022.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Edit: he worked there for fuckin 15 years what the shit I swear I only remember him for the 92-94 period.

There were a lot of ring crew/referees/announcers who are mostly live event and/or behind the scene only. Like Tony Chimel worked in WWE as part of the ring crew with Joey Marella since 1983 but I don’t remember seeing him on TV until the ‘90s.

 

[Fall of Epic]

I think Lane was "cancelled" in his later years which is why his death flew under the radar.

 

[Valeyard]

They're gonna come for everyone to appear on Celebrity Deathmatch before it's all said and done.

 

[Hawk 34]

you can’t “cancel” an 84 year old non verbal from a stroke retired person just because his political views aren’t what you want people to have and as far as I’m aware and I’ll be happy to let @Epic Springs show me sources that indicate he did nefarious things beyond being a republican judge.

What are you cancelling? Nothing.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1787505606070358497

GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://www.facebook.com/100044593682255/posts/995221358640978

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

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[Valeyard]

Crush was all natural. Prison and pineapples do that shit to you.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

All of those steroids that were found in his house during that raid…he was going to get rid of them!

 

[BruiserBrody]

The Undertaker says Giant Gonzalez made The Great Khali look like Lou Thesz
Speaking on his Six Feet Under podcast, Taker reflected on his WrestleMania 9 experience:
"I should have been in the ring with Yoko. Instead, I'm riding out on a chariot with a big black vulture. That big black vulture was there to pick the bones of that sorry match. It's amazing I survived the early years of my career. The opponents...I'm not going to name names, but I'll name that one because I've talked about it a lot and he's deceased anyway. Giant Gonzalez, wow. He made Khali look like Lou Thesz. It was such a struggle. It wasn't his fault. It was what it was. You can only do what you can do. On paper, what a viable threat to the Undertaker. He's a foot taller than me. He was damn near 7 foot 8 and had the muscle suit with the fur. Once I was done, I was done. 'I need to have some cold beverages and try to wash this out of my memory.' They were awful. I don't think I had one good match with him. I tried. I tried hard. I was trying to make chicken salad out of chicken s***. I was killing myself. He was so limited in what he could do. 'Just grab me throw me around.' That was no sell Taker where it was all about the character. I was having to reach the outer banks of (what I could do). 'Maybe he kicks the s*** out of me for five or six minutes and we figure a way out of this,'" said Undertaker.

Hell...we could have gotten Taker/Bigelow had they just stuck with the penciled in Kamala/Giant G feud.

 

[Valeyard]

Brilliant character work aside, Taker had maybe five matches break *** between 1991 and 1996, not counting Rumbles. Dude chose character over workrate, and it was a long term brilliant move, but he genuinely could've had better matches against all the big guys without getting beholden to the gimmick.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It might have been better for WWF as a whole during the era if Taker had been able to work guys like Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and HBK (a few years earlier).

Having a big, scary rawboned like Undertaker and pairing him against guys his size or bigger also seems very against WWF’s line of thinking. Yeah, Andre worked other big men fairly regularly but it wasn’t every damn feud.

 

[Valeyard]

Taker/Shawn in 1994 draws. That era of chickenshit Shawn against the ultimate zombie Taker could've been special. Keeping the urn on a shelf in the Heatbreak Hotel and shit before he melts it into chaps.

 

[BruiserBrody]

It might have been better for WWF as a whole during the era if Taker had been able to work guys like Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and HBK (a few years earlier).

Having a big, scary rawboned like Undertaker and pairing him against guys his size or bigger also seems very against WWF’s line of thinking. Yeah, Andre worked other big men fairly regularly but it wasn’t every damn feud.

We can assume it was the Hogan formula. Andre, Kamala, Bossman, Quake...draw. Dibiase, Perfect.... under perform. Mr. Wonderful and Savage are the exception to the rule.

Owen would have to do a lot of work to get heat on Taker. They should have gotten a Taker/Razor in before turning Razor. So WM9/SSlam 93 being Taker/Razor helps both shows.
Damn now I want to lay out a Backlund/El Gigante match in 93.

 

[Valeyard]

Listen, Razor turns and melts the urn into chains, you make money. We never got Razor giving Taker the spooky fingers only to shit himself during the situp.

Vince didn't know what to do with Taker as a face a lot of the time, it seems like. He was always at least the number two face but was in a pocket universe away from the main event for years.

 

[Valeyard]

I've said it before too but Backlund/Gonzalez sounds great just because it would be Bob climbing him like a spider monkey to lock the crossface in.

 

[BruiserBrody]

x.com

x.com

Bruce Prichard apparently was with Taker for his intro here.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

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@BruiserBrody growls in Cornettese

 

[Valeyard]

That ultimately saved the company, though. Arguably the business.

 

[BruiserBrody]

That ultimately saved the company, though. Arguably the business.

I can't tell if this is snark towards WWF revisionist history, a larger statement on the nWo or something else entirely.

 

[Valeyard]

All. But in the long term it did help more than it hurt.

 

[BruiserBrody]

All. But in the long term it did help more than it hurt.

"It" being the curtain call? Eh.
The only thing "it" did was set back HHH's push by six months.
The direct follow up was nil. It made TV over a year later on RAW and most Attitude era fans were still 3-6 months away from tuning in at that point. It gave DX a bit of an edge for a segment, but probably confused more fans than moved anyone to buy a ticket. Almost like the Punk backstage fight tape, except this wasn't hyped beforehand.

 

[Valeyard]

The "bit of an edge" was a significant moment in kayfabe dying and the Attitue Era finding critical part of its voice. The long term significance can't really be understated in terms of how it changed the business and the audience. It doesn't matter what happened in the immediate when the long term changed how wrestling can be seen forever. We aren't here now without the curtain call.

Had it not held HHH back, his career isn't what it ends up being and the actual face of the industry doesn't change and he literally isn't the guy in the charge now. Hell the clique ended up running the business on the largest level afterwards, if you think about it.

The Punk shit is completely different and doesn't feel like airing that accomplished anything despite actively being promoted as doing so.

 

[BruiserBrody]

You are going to have to sell me harder on "HHH wins the IC title in Oct instead of August" is the turning point of the universe.

Austin 3:16 was even ret-conned into being a bigger deal that summer instead of Vince actually booking him to meander until Bret signed and said "I want to feud with Austin"

 

[Valeyard]

Like I said, long term. It changed how kayfabe was seen and how booking would change. By derailing HHH's push, it set him on the path he went on that had him be one of the biggest names of the era and wind up with him marrying Steph and currently being the booker of the promotion. Without the curtain being pulled back, the Attitude Era is wildly different if it happens at all. Short term, it didn't have any positives, but in the long term it completely altered the business. We are literally not here now without it.