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[Host Samurai]

WWF was definitely in a weird/disappointing place because 2 of their 4 hottest guys (Nash, Michaels, Hall, Hart) had just picked up and left WCW. In fact I remember the whole Michaels/Diesel feud being so disappointing because word was out that Diesel was leaving and that he was going to job for Michaels.

That being said WCW was still hard to watch for me. Even if the wrestling was great, the production values weren't necessarily there. It wasn't until Bash at the Beach '96 that everyone took notice and were like WTF is happening in WCW. I remember watching TSN Sportdesk and seeing them show the Hogan heel turn. It garnered a TON of attention. It was still close even to the run of Hulkamania in WWF that no one ever thought they'd see him turn heel. It was easily the biggest single event in wrestling history.to me.

BTW I'm so bummed that this is not available in Canada yet.

I agree with this. WCW just wasn't a cool brand to begin with until the NWO arrived. I feel that most people associated wrestling with the WWF, just like how people associated MMA with UFC and WCW was for hillbilly rednecks. Everything from the announcers, format and guys like Buckhouse Buck and Arn Anderson just gave it such an "uncool" vibe. Sting was their only cool guy that connected well with what people wanted.

 

[BFIB]

Not true. Jarrett had some pretty damn good matches with Razor Ramon. If you don't believe me, put on Royal Rumble 95. Jarrett vs Shawn at a IYH was one of the best matches of the year in 95.

Jarrett is a gaffer confirmed.

 

[Host Samurai]

Shit, I actually enjoyed Jarrett in the WWF. I don't get the hate. Solid performer all around. Not main event material but a great mid card heel

 

[strobogo]

I agree with this. WCW just wasn't a cool brand to begin with until the NWO arrived. I feel that most people associated wrestling with the WWF, just like how people associated MMA with UFC and WCW was for hillbilly rednecks. Everything from the announcers, format and guys like Buckhouse Buck and Arn Anderson just gave it such an "uncool" vibe. Sting was their only cool guy that connected well with what people wanted.

Which is a shame because Buck and Arn were fucking awesome.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

God, watching WCW in the late 1990's, early 2000's, I'm noticing how many old guys (Hogan, Hall, Savage, Nash, Hart, Hennig, etc.) they have running around wrestling like it's still 1989-1994. Punch, walk around the ring for 5 minutes, irish whip, clothesline, more walking around. God it goes so slow. Meanwhile while this is going on Booker T, Jericho, Benoit were all low carders.

This is why I never, ever got into WCW. It made no sense to me how guys like Hogan were champion when they literally did nothing in the ring.

WWE kind of did it right during his run after that where he put over a lot of younger guys. Same with Flair. The correct story is "can this old guy pull out a victory still," not "Hogan is still the best in the world," and WWE was on top of that.

 

[blurrygil]

OMG I'M DYING.....DYYYYYYYYYING!!!

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Something I've always wondered -- do most people think Hogan made NWO...or that NWO made Hogan (at least in WCW and his career's second wind)?

Obviously it's probably a little of both, but if people had to pick one, which would it be?

Hogan was the one that made the NWO. Hall and Nash were too busy trying to act cool and play for babyface pops. Hogan was an actual heel that gave people a reason to hate the NWO.

 

[VisionaryQuest0]

Oh shit, tomorrow at 1pm the Network will broadcast the Smackdown episode featuring the Iron Man match between Brock and Kurt Angle.

 

[Host Samurai]

Hogan was the one that made the NWO. Hall and Nash were too busy trying to act cool and play for babyface pops. Hogan was an actual heel that gave people a reason to hate the NWO.

How can any WWF fanboy hate the NWO? They were the biggest faces. Let's be real here, back in the day we all wanted WWF to crush WCW

 

[foltzie1]

Its amazing at how bad the PPV graphics and logos were for WCW for their entire run. ECW was just as bad, but in some ways it fit their style

Still, despite, obvious deficiencies, it always interesting to see the WCW and ECW PPVs because they had such different production styles and just look so different, whereas most WWE PPVs look very similar outside of the large dome shows.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

How can any WWF fanboy hate the NWO? They were the biggest faces. Let's be real here, back in the day we all wanted WWF to crush WCW

Everyone hated Hogan enough to cover the ring with trash every time he won.

 

[FyreWulff]

Its amazing at how bad the PPV graphics and logos were for WCW for their entire run. ECW was just as bad, but in some ways it fit their style

Still, despite, obvious deficiencies, it always interesting to see the WCW and ECW PPVs because they had such different production styles and just look so different, whereas most WWE PPVs look very similar outside of the large dome shows.

I miss how you used to be able to watch Nitro and Raws evolve over time.

Now I feel as long as you stay in the Universal Set era when WWE went to HD, you could splice together a raw with matches from 2009, 10, 11, 12, 13, and now 14 and it'd make sense as a complete show, because they've forced the audience to become so generic in how they act and the storylines are so repeated and interchangeable.

 

[Justin85]

Still, despite, obvious deficiencies, it always interesting to see the WCW and ECW PPVs because they had such different production styles and just look so different, whereas most WWE PPVs look very similar outside of the large dome shows.

Yeah, that's been an underrated cool part of going back and watching these old PPVs and Raws. How the television production has evolved over time and what the commercials for old PPVs used to look like. A lot of the stuff from the WWF I remember as a kid, but a lot of the early WCW and ECW footage I haven't seen before.

Also makes me miss the name WWF. It's still crazy to me they legally had to change their name. Imagine if the NFL was suddenly renamed NFK?

 

[bitesnintendog]

Shit, I actually enjoyed Jarrett in the WWF. I don't get the hate. Solid performer all around. Not main event material but a great mid card heel

This is generally my feeling on Double J. I could even accept him as a transitional champion, just not a long term top guy. I know people give him a lot of (deserved) guff for his TNA run but he took a backseat when Kurt and Christian popped up.

 

[strobogo]

Double J was a great national mid carder, and pretty decent territory top guy. He got pushed way too hard in WCW and his strangle hold on TNA's first 4 years was worse than HHH's death reign of 2002-2003.

It's not at all a coincidence that Double J in TNA became 100% more enjoyable once he was out of the main event and doing fun mid card gimmicks like Southern Gentleman Babyface and Double M-A Double J. The damage was already done in WCW by the time he got shoved down the card, though.

 

[FallingEdge]

Yo real talk, I loved me Triple J in TNA. The stroke was one of my fav finishers.

 

[strobogo]

He had some fun matches, especially in the Asylum days, but god damn the over booking in his matches were out of control. EVERY match had to have 3 guitars, 6 run ins, 4 ref bumps, a table spot, a chair shot, and some kind of biased ref and cheating finish.

Overbooked cheap finishes is what hurt NWA/WCW in the early 90s and helped kill it in the late 90s. And pissed off Memphis fans. I would have thought that Jeff, having lived through dying Memphis and dying WCW, would have known better than to do those finishes EVERY match.


When he started using the pedigree, it was pretty hard to hate him though.

 

[Vylash]

Yo real talk, I loved me Triple J in TNA. The stroke was one of my fav finishers.

He was awesome during his TNA run, especially during the later days where he was a delusional MMA star and has videos of him beating up kids in a dojo

 

[Man God]

He had some fun matches, especially in the Asylum days, but god damn the over booking in his matches were out of control. EVERY match had to have 3 guitars, 6 run ins, 4 ref bumps, a table spot, a chair shot, and some kind of biased ref and cheating finish.

Overbooked cheap finishes is what hurt NWA/WCW in the early 90s and helped kill it in the late 90s. And pissed off Memphis fans. I would have thought that Jeff, having lived through dying Memphis and dying WCW, would have known better than to do those finishes EVERY match.


When he started using the pedigree, it was pretty hard to hate him though.

His matches are brutal. Its sad too because unless he's wrestling an absolute dog the first 40-70% of the match is actually pretty entertaining. But then the run ins, the acoustic equalizer, more run ins, a ref bump or two (his record so far is seven refs in the in between Russo era) and of course, someone turning heel and joining him in a SWERVE.

 

[strobogo]

There has to be a TNA match that has more run ins and ref bumps than any WCW one.

Superbrawl 2000 main event had 5 ref bumps.

 

[Vylash]

There has to be a TNA match that has more run ins and ref bumps than any WCW one.

Superbrawl 2000 main event had 5 ref bumps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NinNy5dsJqk

this is pretty close

 

[Man God]

That run in had what, 80% of the roster?

It is the first thing that comes to mind though.

 

[strobogo]

Sting's last TNA match had 8 run ins. A Buff/David Flair match had 5 run ins in a 3 minute match on Nitro.

 

[bitesnintendog]

Sting's last TNA match had 8 run ins. A Buff/David Flair match had 5 run ins in a 3 minute match on Nitro.

Those guys were just saving the fans from having to sit through a David Flair/Bagwell match. I honestly don't think I can come up with two more unappealing wrestlers to myself.

 

[witness]

Knowing what I know now about Nash and Hogan and how they got whatever they wanted, really keeps me from wanting to watch any of the WCW stuff. Just awful how both those guys just ruined that place (along with Russo of course later). The talent in that company was off the charts but those two would never give anyone else the spotlight. I stopped watching WCW sometime after Starrcade 97 except for just bits in pieces, Goldberg beating Hogan I watched. Starrcade 97, good lord. I remember seeing the clip the next night on Nitro and thinking, hmmmmm that count didn't seem fast to me.

Just such a dissapointment as I was a huge Sting fanboy. To see a guy who is a genuinely good person and was biggest reason, along with Flair, for that company existing just get screwed by Hogans politics sucks. I hope he really is going to WWE so he can have a worthy send off to retirement with a Undertaker match at WM XXXI.

 

[Man God]

Buff Bagwell is WCW's HBK.

Oh, not it wrestling talent.

Or mic skills.

Or backstage politics.

Though maybe in fashion sense.

No, what I mean is that Buff will always turn on his teammate. Everytime. No exceptions.

 

[Frustrated_Grunt]

Im going through all the 80s ppvs chronologically, and the Starrcades feel like a drag to get through compared to the Wwe shows around the same time. With the exception of the main events and a few other matches, it lacks a lot of personality.

 

[geomon]

Buff Bagwell is WCW's HBK.

Oh, not it wrestling talent.

Or mic skills.

Or backstage politics.

Though maybe in fashion sense.

No, what I mean is that Buff will always turn on his teammate. Everytime. No exceptions.

You know it baby!

 

[SaviorX]

Despite being an old video, this has reappeared and made rounds on my facebook recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRRsXxE1KVY

Funniest wrestling related thing I've watched since Jay Lethal impersonated Rick Flair

 

[Man God]

Oh shit this PPV is the first appearance of OKLAHOMA.

VAMPYRO, VAMPYRO, VAMPYRO! Will someone stop this damn match!

 

[Hasney]

Was watching the 1997 Royal Rumble. Good god that roster was dogshit.

 

[TheDrowningMan]

Just noticed that Bash at the Beach '94 has disappeared from the WCW section. Glitch, or are PPVs going to be added / removed arbitrarily?

 

[Mr. Enigma]

Just noticed that Bash at the Beach '94 has disappeared from the WCW section. Glitch, or are PPVs going to be added / removed arbitrarily?

Anything not showing up is a glitch. What platform are you on?

 

[TheDrowningMan]

Anything not showing up is a glitch. What platform are you on?

First noticed it on Apple TV; I thought it might be isolated to that, but it's the same through the website at present.

 

[bloodyroarxx]

How likely is it that they are going to let me try the trial like a couple hours before mania starts and use it to watch mania?

I want to use that as a judge of how the PPV's are going to be on the network.

 

[CaptainSlow]

Well, here's one easy way to see how much WCW was hurting for money in the late 1990's. On some PPVs, there are ads on the ring mat on all four corners.

Also, WCW's mat is terrible. It makes like a metallic sound every time there's a bump while WWE's has a nice thud. The little things...

EDIT: Also, who is the short, tiny, dweeby looking ref on WCW. Dude is so awkward in the ring.

EDIT 2: The main event announcer having long ass introductions was cool at first, but it's a bit ridiculous after the 500th time. ARE YOU READY?! ARE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU RRRRRRRRRRREAAADY?!

 

[Host Samurai]

Have Sting or Hogan ever made a comment of that strange Starcade outcome? Didn't Hogan win the belt back like a month later too? Lol NWO 4 Life

 

[Shiv47]

You know it baby!

Totally fitting that he's a gigolo now.

 

[strobogo]

Knowing what I know now about Nash and Hogan and how they got whatever they wanted, really keeps me from wanting to watch any of the WCW stuff. Just awful how both those guys just ruined that place (along with Russo of course later). The talent in that company was off the charts but those two would never give anyone else the spotlight. I stopped watching WCW sometime after Starrcade 97 except for just bits in pieces, Goldberg beating Hogan I watched. Starrcade 97, good lord. I remember seeing the clip the next night on Nitro and thinking, hmmmmm that count didn't seem fast to me.

Just such a dissapointment as I was a huge Sting fanboy. To see a guy who is a genuinely good person and was biggest reason, along with Flair, for that company existing just get screwed by Hogans politics sucks. I hope he really is going to WWE so he can have a worthy send off to retirement with a Undertaker match at WM XXXI.

Starrcade 1997 is a good place to stop. There are only 2-3 PPVs worth watching from that point on in WCW anyway. Spring Stampede 1999 is the last truly good PPV they had.

 

[Host Samurai]

I'm loving these early 90s RAW's. Only 1 hour and really good booking.

Even some no name jobbers have more charisma than most of the current roster. Seriously

I forgot just how great of a wrestler Scott Steiner was before he became Big Poppa Pump

Doink is by far the most underrated wrestler of all time. He had some really great matches with Mr Perfect on RAW.

 

[Ripclawe]

the thing about the old shows and especially the squash matches is some of these jobbers sell better than most wrestlers today..

 

[Spider from Mars]

Oh shit this PPV is the first appearance of OKLAHOMA.

VAMPYRO, VAMPYRO, VAMPYRO! Will someone stop this damn match!

Whenever they talk about Oklahoma on WWE DVDs, they always do Owen voice and talk about how rude it was and how could Fererra do that. They don't seem to have a problem with McMahon doing the same thing in the middle of the god damn ring. Bunch a hypocrites.

 

[witness]

Have Sting or Hogan ever made a comment of that strange Starcade outcome? Didn't Hogan win the belt back like a month later too? Lol NWO 4 Life

I actually read a interview with Nick Patrick about what happened. He claims he was told two different things, and he said he chose the path of least resistance basically. The politics were so fucked there that he just did the normal count out of fear of retribution (I'm assuming from Hogan). It sounds like Bischoff wanted the fast count but "someone" told him not to.

 

[strobogo]

Whenever they talk about Oklahoma on WWE DVDs, they always do Owen voice and talk about how rude it was and how could Fererra do that. They don't seem to have a problem with McMahon doing the same thing in the middle of the god damn ring. Bunch a hypocrites.

Even worse is that the character (although not named) appeared on WWF television first, with Fererra doing the same offensive impression only to get crushed by Dr. Death. But when he did it in WCW, it was this super terrible thing that can never be forgiven. It started in the WWF. Vince approved it first for his television. Just another in the list of things for Vince to pretend to take the moral high ground on when it comes to WCW.


Besides doing the contorted faces, which is really the only offensive part of the OK character, it was actually a quite accurate parody of JR.

 

[mreddie]

I will sum up Spring Stampede 2000 in one gif.

 

[Ripclawe]

Even worse is that the character (although not named) appeared on WWF television first, with Fererra doing the same offensive impression only to get crushed by Dr. Death. But when he did it in WCW, it was this super terrible thing that can never be forgiven. It started in the WWF. Vince approved it first for his television. Just another in the list of things for Vince to pretend to take the moral high ground on when it comes to WCW.


Besides doing the contorted faces, which is really the only offensive part of the OK character, it was actually a quite accurate parody of JR.

I think it was the contorted part that pissed people off. if it was just the voice, then its fine plus something something WWF but outside the family its just wrong angle.

 

[strobogo]

I will sum up Spring Stampede 2000 in one gif.

It's the worst show I did. Including Nitros and Thunders from 1998-2001.

 

[Spider from Mars]

I think it was the contorted part that pissed people off. if it was just the voice, then its fine plus something something WWF but outside the family its just wrong angle.

 

[Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!]

Knowing what I know now about Nash and Hogan and how they got whatever they wanted, really keeps me from wanting to watch any of the WCW stuff. Just awful how both those guys just ruined that place (along with Russo of course later). The talent in that company was off the charts but those two would never give anyone else the spotlight. I stopped watching WCW sometime after Starrcade 97 except for just bits in pieces, Goldberg beating Hogan I watched. Starrcade 97, good lord. I remember seeing the clip the next night on Nitro and thinking, hmmmmm that count didn't seem fast to me.

Just such a dissapointment as I was a huge Sting fanboy. To see a guy who is a genuinely good person and was biggest reason, along with Flair, for that company existing just get screwed by Hogans politics sucks. I hope he really is going to WWE so he can have a worthy send off to retirement with a Undertaker match at WM XXXI.

The Nitro after Starracade was hilarious too, when they had the rematch and it got cut off at the end of the show (as if every nitro back then didnt do overrun) and the nWos lawyers refused to release the footage.