http://uproxx.com/prowrestling/why-d...on-wcw-died/2/

Was wondering LKJ's and everyone's opinion on this story I just saw on my FB feed. I could probably wait to post it as you get further along but I'd just forget.

My short opinion on this story is - I don't agree with it. Will love to get into it more as you continue this trip down memory lane.

I remember the end of Starrcade '97 being a massive letdown for sure. Just awful. But I don't seem to have a strong opinion on the article's conclusion, since I don't have a strong opinion on what killed WCW. Hopefully can form one by the time the war officially goes south on them during this recap thread, if I ever get that far.

WCW's best year commercially was 1998 and the best peak face draw they had (by the numbers, both minute to minute ratings and monetary drawing) was Bill Goldberg, not Sting. So as huge of a letdown Starrcade 97 was, it is hard to see it as an event that sealed the fate of the company.

Yeah I don't think you can put much blame on Starrcade either. At the start of 98 they had Sting actually wrestling, Bret Hart and Goldberg as "new" talent. The next PPV, Souled Out was pretty good by their standards.

Starrcade was devastating for 14 year old me though. I remember just being shocked by that Hogan pin followed by utter disgust at what happened next. I liked Sting having the title but just hated everything else. It didn't help that I was also really looking forward to Nash/Giant.

Watched the Goldberg episode recently, with the lack of stars going into Wrestlemania, maybe it's time Vince picked up the phone?

I'd mark for a one time Rumble entrance, but please nothing beyond that.

.

97-99 was my main wrestling watching years and I followed WCW over WWF mainly because of the nWo angle.

Bischoff has since said in interviews that Sting had a lot going on in his personal life at the time and they didn't think he could handle a title run. Said he didn't even bother to get a tan for Starrcade, lol. He won the title at FallBrawl so not sure what he meant by that, but they did take it off him shortly thereafter. Then he joined the Wolfpack and was strictly upper-midcard.

kept trying to put the timeline together the old way, found the mistake.

Yeah SuperBrawl, then lost it to Savage at Uncensored I think.

I don't think any of that had much to do with WCW going out of business. The main reason was that Turner Broadcasting (now subsidiary of AOL/TimeWarner due to the merger) abruptly canceled WCW TV when they were selling it and Bischoff had no reason to buy once this happened.

Even if that was executed perfectly, you wonder what WCW under Bischoff would have even done from '01 and on, maybe a slightly more popular version of TNA. Wrestling in the mainstream felloff rather significantly after the Monday Night Wars of '96-'00

If WCW was remotely as profitable and well regarded in 2001 as it was in 97-98, it is unlikely that it would have been canceled. By 2001 it was losing a boatload of money and was widely considered a joke, whereas in 97-98 it was a hot mainstream cultural success that AOL/Time Warner likely would have loved to have on as businesses tend to seek profit.

The main cause of just about anything this big depends on how you look at it. From one perspective, sure, WCW went out of business because of the merger. But that probably wasn't both a necessary and sufficient reason for it to have gone out of business if it had remained a relatively good and popular product.

Probably not, you aren't going to cancel a show/sell a business getting a 4 rating every week compared to a 2. Huge merchandise sales, soldout arenas, etc but how possible was that in 2001 really?

WWF could push the envelope much further in terms of content, they created a bunch of new stars, had far more committed management. The stars aligned perfectly for WCW from 96-98 getting white hot WWF stars at the right time with a perfect angle. By '01, most of those guys were old and it wasn't like WCW had some great track record of booking besides that 1 angle.

Also by '01-02 there just wasn't this huge wrestling wave to ride anymore. I felt like Hogan/Rock at WM was sort of the culmination of that era. I know myself and most of the people I knew stopped watching after that. I think I watched some of guys like Steiner/Goldberg in WWE but the SCSA/Rock/Attitude era had largely faded around '03....

Bischoff has said he knew WCW was screwed as far back as '98 because of the merger and billionaire Ted no longer being at the helm. Said he would start getting a lot more input from corporate types above him about his show, what to do, etc

Don't get me wrong, I do think WCW could've been salvaged, but it likely would have been more of a 2nd tier TNA type company. Probably have to do a lot of local disney tapings, no big Hogan/Goldberg type contracts, no more Bischoff stunts bringing in celebs for big $, etc

Then the AOL/TW merger was an outright disaster as well, so maybe once that really goes bad they then just sell to WWE anyway.

It is fascinating WWE was able to buy the entire library/intellectual property for like 3 mill or whatever.

That gets into what I often think of as a main cause of WCW going downhill: a corporate structure that had people who didn't understand wrestling (and/or didn't care) in charge of wrestling. Wrestling is a weird thing that certainly isn't "just a TV show" because most of the money comes from paying customers (PPV, merch sales, house shows), not ads. But it also isn't unscripted like a sport. It takes highly specialized knowledge about what draws and what doesn't. If the people whose money is at stake don't understand wrestling, the others can do things that enrich themselves at the expense of the business without being detected. Principal/agent problem.

Wrestling's popularity as a whole went down so far largely because of some really bad creative decisions. Stone Cold turning, the botched booking of ex-WCW stars, particularly the invasion angle (thereby failing to pick up the WCW audience, who mostly just stopped watching wrestling), replacing Kreski with Steph as head of creative on the WWF side. WCW's bad creative decisions are more publicized because history is written by the victors.

WWF IN YOUR HOUSE 9: INTERNATIONAL INCIDENT



Vancouver, BC

As mentioned, this was my first live wrestling event ever, and I'm not sure I've seen any of this show on tape aside from the main event.

Show opens on highlights from the pre-show of Jose Lothario knocking Jim Cornette over, Vader coming out as if to attack Lothario, and Shawn Michaels coming out to save his dead weight manager.

The Smoking Gunns (w/ Sunny) vs. The Bodydonnas: This is not a title match for whatever reason. I remember being very annoyed that they didn't offer a single title match on the card. The Smoking Gunns enter - Sunny looks ridiculously hot - and Vince McMahon talks to the Bodydonnas who are waiting backstage to enter as well. He asks where Kloudi is. Zip says that they want to thank Kloudi for helping them realize that they didn't need a manager, and that all they needed was the fans. Even by 1996 WWF standards that wretched idea couldn't last a month. Skip and Zip come out to another total non-reaction, so they don't really have the fans either.

Vince mentions at the start of the match that unfortunately, Jake Roberts isn't here tonight because of "multiple rib injuries." Jim Ross says that he's home recovering Stone Mountain, GA. Jerry Lawler says, "Since when is the Betty Ford clinic in Stone Mountain?" Jake really was off on a bender unfortunately, so I'm surprised Lawler was still joking about it. Maybe they didn't know the truth at the time. Slow start to the match…basic moves and no real story. Skip does throw a hell of a right at Billy, and Billy comes back at him with a rocker dropper. JR says that you won't find two teams any quicker than the Bodydonnas and the Smoking Gunns. Vince replies, "I would say that the Godwinns are every bit as quick as the Bodydonnas." Ross: "The Godwinns or the Gunns?" Vince: "The Godwinns. I'd say the Gunns are a little bit off." WTF. Sunny reprises her spot where she faints, baits the dumb babyface (in this case Skip) into helping her, slaps him, and then the Gunns pounce.



The Gunns step up the impact on offense, dropping Skip head-first along the apron and then sending him into opposing corners for a couple of hard bumps. Skip reverses a corner whip and tries to follow with a top rope cross-body, but gets caught into a nice powerslam. The Gunns botch a double-team hard when Billy fails to successfully leapfrog Bart, but the heat segment on Skip continues in any case. Skip gets free a couple of times in spots where he can probably tag, but tries to mount his own offense and gets destroyed for it. Finally does make the hot (reactionless) tag to Zip. After some offense, Billy trips Zip, Bart holds Zip up for a Sidewinder, but Billy and referee Harvey Wippleman are distracted by Sunny at ringside, Skip capitalizes and comes off the top with a missile dropkick that floors Bart. Wippleman is about five seconds late to count the pin, but he gets to three anyway. Surprisingly, the Bodydonnas go over in the non-title match. The ringwork in the back half of this match was decent, but the match was still forgettable.



Result: Bodydonnas via pinfall (13:05)
Rating: *1/2

Mr. Perfect is with Camp Cornette. Again they show the highlights of Jose Lothario punching Jim Cornette earlier. Cornette accuses Lothario of having pulled a switchblade on him. Cornette guarantees that his team wins tonight, and says that if they don't, he'll refund every ticket in the audience and everyone's PPV buy. This is an okay promo segment.

Mankind vs. Henry Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim): Henry Godwinn is in for Jake Roberts. He gets the music overdub that just cancels out all commentary throughout his entrance. In terms of name and credibility he was obviously a poor replacement for Jake Roberts, but at this stage in their careers Godwinn was miles better as a worker, so maybe the replacement will help the match. HOG clotheslines Mankind hard over the top and causes him to take a breather.



Mankind lays some stiff shots in on Henry, legdrops him along the apron, then rolls back the mat on the floor to expose the concrete. Swinging neckbreaker on the concrete, but unfortunately Foley protected his man so hard that the spot didn't look good. Mankind continues the assault inside the ring, but an empty corner charge actually causes Mankind's momentum to carry him head-first into the post. Mankind is able to counter and dump Godwinn outside a moment later, but Godwinn catches him following out of the ring and slams him on the exposed concrete. Godwinn goes for the Slop Drop inside, but Mankind holds the top rope to block and causes HOG to go down alone. Mandible Claw, and this one is history.

Result: Mankind via submission (6:54)
Rating: *3/4

Steve Austin vs. Marc Mero (w/ Sable): Jim Ross says that Steve Austin is destined for "superstardom personified," but was still almost certainly underestimating Austin by a ton. Austin is rocking some sort of lame Stone Cold Steve Austin logo on the ass of his classic black trunks. The two men trade right hands early. Austin's look good and Mero's look sub-Ambrose level. Seems that being a skilled puncher doesn't make you a skilled fake puncher. Some half-decent mat wrestling follows…that was still in the Austin repertoire at this point.

Mero dumps Austin out, Austin stalls for a while, Mero follows him out with an axhandle from the apron and returns him to the ring, but Austin plays possum by acting like his mouth got busted open similar to last month, and Mero slows down just enough to get assaulted. Austin clears the Wildman out and then basks in the crowd reaction, which certainly includes some cheering. Stone Cold follows him outside and executes a catapult that sends Mero into the steel post. It was done from pretty close range, so it didn't come off very well.



Austin into the ring, Mero to the apron. Austin hits him a few times and then knocks him off the apron, which features Mero very clearly jumping on purpose into the guardrail. Mero is sloppy as hell tonight. Wildman re-enters and Austin drops him and connects on a second rope elbow. Two-count. Whip and a back elbow, then a camel clutch. Stone Cold releases the hold and attempts to drop a leg across Mero when Mero is draped along the bottom rope. Mero moves, Austin sees it and lands safely to avoid damage, but then when he charges Mero, Mero punishes him by botching an atomic drop and sort of crotching him. More botching a moment later, as Mero and Austin have to clumsily work their way into a hurracanrana that pulls Austin out over the top. Mero with a somersault sentan to land on Austin outside. For all of his botches, Mero does throw a half-decent standing moonsault from the apron on Austin.



Mero sends Austin back in, lands a slingshot turning splash. Two. Marc starts a 10-punch in the corner, then looks like he's heading up for a hurracanrana, but Austin pushes him off and crotches him along the top rope. Austin attempts the Stunner, Mero blocks and leaves Austin slamming himself down to the mat. Immediate slingshot legdrop by Mero makes a good, believable false finish at two. Austin's second Stunner attempt goes more successfully, and the King of the Ring gets the three-count and a big face pop. Boring for a long while, but the last 2-3 minutes salvage it a bit.

Result: Steve Austin via pinfall (10:48)
Rating: **

Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer): Yep, this is the match I've been dreading since I turned on the show. The match starts off with - you guessed it - stalling. Goldust eventually gets up in Taker's face, rubs himself, and gets punched down for his troubles. Begin the second stalling session. Giving Undertaker a second feud to help prolong the Mankind feud was a good idea. Picking Goldust for that second feud was the worst idea in history. Eventually Taker follows him outside, the two trade blows, and then Taker sort of chokeslams Goldust ass-first onto the steel steps. Slams him head-first into the steps to follow. Taker picks the steps up to use them as a weapon, but Marlena covers Goldust and prevents Taker from doing it.



Undertaker rolls Goldy back inside and continues the assault. As he's going at him in the corner, Goldust starts loosening the top turnbuckle. Clothesline and legdrop from the dead man. Throws some of those signature uppercuts. Walks the top rope and drops the hammer. Goldust tries fighting back but gets no-sold. Clothesline over the top, and Taker lands on his feet. Dust does manage to throw enough kicks to slow Taker down, and a moment later he removes the turnbuckle pad that he was working on earlier. Whips Undertaker into the exposed steel. Action spills outside, and Goldust drops the stairs on Taker's back. Continues to work the back with a camel clutch inside the ring, but Undertaker fights his way back out. Big boot from the dead man, tries to pick Goldust up for a tombstone, Goldust gives him dead weight and stays down, Taker does a rare counter into a small package and gets two.



Undertaker does successfully hit a flying clothesline and the tombstone a moment later, then basically announces to the universe that he's stalling so that somebody can hit their cue, as he takes forever to attempt a pin. I guess he wanted to pay homage to 1996 Goldust matches in general by finishing on a stall. Referee Jimmy Korderas even blatantly stares off to the side to see if something might start happening so that he can start on the pinfall count. Sure enough, Mankind up through the canvas to interrupt the pin, locks in the Mandible Claw and then drags Taker underneath the ring. Match was awful. Also, they were just doing the "pops up through the ring" thing at In Your House five months ago. Again? Already?

Result: Undertaker via DQ (12:07)
Rating: 1/4*

Mankind emerges from under the ring without Taker. Lights flicker, Paul Bearer holds up the urn, Taker doesn't reappear. Crowd chants "rest in peace"…in this spot, is that an anti-Taker chant or something? Undertaker eventually appears from another corner of the ring and brawls with Mankind to the back.

As the announce team wonders aloud about what it would take to settle this score between Mankind and Undertaker, they go to the back and find those two men brawling in a boiler room. The camera gets knocked out, and they return to ringside to begin hyping the main event six-man tag. They show highlights of Ultimate Warrior helping Shawn and Ahmed out a month ago at King of the Ring, then Monsoon's suspension of the Warrior and the surprise arrival of Sid, capped off by the end of Raw last Monday. Todd Pettengill tries to play up the "can they trust Sid?" thing, but for some reason I never bought that Sid would be anything but babyface here.

Shawn and company backstage. Standard lame 1996 HBK promo. Ahmed again calls Dok "Mike," then says a bunch of incomprehensible words. In one of my favorite unintentionally funny transitions, Sid jumps in with, "You see, what he's trying to say is…" Sid manages to do better than his partners on the stick here.



Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, & Sid (w/ Jose Lothario) vs. Camp Cornette (w/ Jim Cornette): The world champion is out first for whatever reason. Some fans knock over the guardrail trying to high-five him on his way to the ring. Ahmed gets a good pop, Sid gets a noticeably bigger one. Camp Cornette has good heat, and the crowd is officially alive for really the first time tonight.

Vader baits Shawn into facing him first to kick off the match. Shawn tries to jump on Vader and throw some rights, but Vader tosses him off like he's nothing. Shawn actually throws a successful hurracanrana on Vader, then a flying forearm and a cross-body that carries both men over the top. Baseball slide. Pescado. Great flurry of offense by the champ.



Michaels gets greedy and attempts to jump at Vader from the apron, but hits face-first into the guardrail. Vader gets control, and a "Sid" chant starts up. Sure enough, Sid gets a hot tag before long to another big pop and mows down all three of Cornette's men, clearing the ring and kneeling triumphant in the middle. Owen Hart takes the tag, Sid puts him down once, and then things get really scary for Owen as Ahmed Johnson tags in and begins tripping over his own muscles. Terrible trio of belly-to-back suplexes by Ahmed, each pretty much looking like they were intended to dislocate Owen's shoulder. Hart rolls out of the way of an elbow drop and then tags out, favoring his shoulder as he exits.

****ty spinebuster by Ahmed on Bulldog. Pearl River Plunge to follow, but Vader breaks up the pin hard enough that it enables Davey Boy the chance to tag him in. Ahmed blocks Vader's attempts to box him in the corner, turning him around and beating him down. Vader reverses a corner whip and follows Ahmed in hard with an avalanche. Vader tries to follow with a cross-body into the corner, but Ahmed shows impressive strength by catching the big man and slamming him down. Two-count. Vader tags in Owen, who puts the boots to the sloppy musclehead and catches him hard, square in the head, with a spinning heel kick. I hope that one hurt after those Germans earlier.



Ahmed manages to kick Owen in the gut a moment later and press slam him. Tag to Sid. I would be neglecting my duties if I didn't mention how ****ty Sid's punches are after the hard time I gave Marc Mero earlier. Owen escapes and tags his brother-in-law in. Bulldog with the impressive delay of strength, holding Sid up for the delayed suplex. That spot is always pretty nice, but on Sid it's a real beauty.



Vader tags in. The "Sid" chants persist. He's extremely over. Like I said, he was a great replacement for the Ultimate Warrior, even as limited as his skills were. Bulldog tags in, Sid throws a haymaker to get free, and then the big man tags in Shawn Michaels. One hard corner bump for Davey, then another, but Shawn goes shoulder-first into the post following Davey in after the second one. Shawn reverses a whip and incidentally sends Davey hurtling into Vader on the apron. Owen tries to run interference and accidentally hits Davey. Davey manages to tag Owen. Owen and Shawn duel with attempted Oklahoma rolls, Owen ends up with the pinning combo, but Earl Hebner is out of position and can't get to a three-count.



Victory roll by Michaels gets two. Owen counters into his own pin for another two. More great chain wrestling between the two. Man I'm bitter that these two didn't work more together. They were so ****ing perfect when they got some time, and as good as their February match was, I think that they had potential to put on a five-star classic. After another move-countermove sequence, Owen throws a hard clothesline for another two. Unfortunately Owen tags out. I wanted more. Davey in with a legdrop and a two-count. Scoop powerslam for another two. Michaels leapfrogs Bulldog and runs the ropes, but Owen connects on a cheap shot with the cast from the apron, and Shawn is down. Bulldog tags Vader.

Vader destroys Shawn in the corner with a series of punches, whips him into the opposite corner for a hard corner bump that sends Shawn sprawling to the floor. Vader baits Sid, referee is distracted, Owen keeps working Michaels outside the ring amid the distraction, then rolls him back in. Short clothesline by the mastodon gets two. Vader with a modified bearhug in the middle. In the only moment I really remember well from being at this show live, during the rest hold a fan manages to jump the rail and jump up on the apron. The TV camera doesn't do the next part justice, as Ahmed and Bulldog quickly break kayfabe to go charging at the fan together. I can still remember the furious look in Ahmed's eyes. The fan jumps off the apron as quickly as he jumped on, then tries scrambling back over the guardrail. Security took it from there.



Michaels stays in the hold a decent while longer, longer than was probably necessary, and once he breaks it Vader puts him down hard twice. Ahmed runs in illegally and puts Vader down. This blatant cheating nearly gets Shawn free, but happily he doesn't get the hot tag there, as Davey tags in and cuts him off. Shawn tries a crucifix on Davey, but gets countered into a Samoan drop. Shawn gets free again for a moment after dodging a corner charge, but Owen is in quickly to cut off the tag again. Mid-ring collision between the two…Owen is up first, and again the tag gets stopped by Davey. Patented running powerslam by Bulldog, pin probably should have gotten three, but Sid went in and broke it up in the slowest way imaginable, with a slow-moving running legdrop. Earl Hebner just had to not count all the way.

Bulldog and Shawn both slow to get up. Bulldog up first, tags Vader in, Shawn is slow to actually make the hot tag so Vader just comes in and blatantly waits for him to do it. Whoops. The tag is to Ahmed, and…oh, the referee is doing the "didn't see it" thing? Huh. Meanwhile, Shawn gets triple-teamed by Cornette's guys. Earl Hebner turns around to count a near-fall for the Bulldog. Owen tries to keep the momentum going by entering with a missile dropkick, but hits Bulldog. This leaves everyone down on the mat. Incidentally, if Owen hit Shawn with the dropkick, he would be right back up. He hits the wrong guy, and that…hurts him, or something? Whatever. Shawn finally makes the hot tag that counts. Enter Sid.

Sid chokeslams Vader. Then Owen. Then Davey. Tag to Ahmed. Sid and Ahmed double clothesline Vader. Michaels to the top, rocket launcher on top of Vader, Bulldog for the save on the pin attempt (Shawn was nowhere near legal by the way). Six-way chaos, Michaels has Jim Cornette by the necktie on the apron, gets the tennis racket and blatantly hits Vader with it. Believable near-fall. HBK tunes up the band in the corner, but Cornette grabs his leg, Vader avalanches Shawn in the corner, heads to the second rope, Vaderbomb, and Vader pins the world champion. Great match.

Result: Camp Cornette via pinfall (24:32)
Rating: ****

Of course, the faces have to get their heat back after the match. Sid powerbombs Davey and Owen in quick succession. He makes like he's going to powerbomb Vader, but of course Vader escapes to the outside. Then we get an iconic flying over-the-top plancha by Shawn Michaels, and the victors get chased to the back.



The disappointed crowd manages a pity cheer for the faces as Shawn's music plays.

We get an In Your House Extra. Dok Hendrix with Gorilla Monsoon. One month to SummerSlam. Monsoon announces that there will be a boiler room brawl between Undertaker and Mankind. Jim Cornette comes bursting into the shot with Vader, demanding a championship match. Dok just signs off without getting a comment on that from Gorilla.

Overall: The definition of a one-match show.

^ This was true, and correctly so. A bunch of complete trash and then a great main event. If you've never seen this six-man, I do recommend it, and I recommend absolutely nothing else on this show. To WWF's credit, if only one of your matches is going to deliver, it's a lot better when it's the main event.

I tend to think late 90s wrestling was just a popular TV show/fad/boom that had run its course for many. Sure they could've done things differently like actually pay up for WCW stars to have a real invasion angle but I agree with something that Vince has said before, that they were "burning the candle on both ends"....A lot of the nudity, brashness, in your face style from the Attitude era was so appealing because of its novelty.

Someone like Austin or Rock did as much in 3-4 years as the previous generation of wrestlers did in 10. I think both of them probably got out at the right time, not saying the fans would've turned on them like they have Cena but to keep the momentum and popularity they had would've been close to impossible.

So in short, I think I chalk WWE/wrestling boom demise more towards the fad ending rather than bad WWE decision making, although that certainly played a role.

Also early 00s the entertainment landscape in general got a lot more competitive with more shows, internet, etc

The fans basically DID turn on Rock if I'm remembering right. Unlike with Austin, the Rock heel turn is something that the crowd really pushed them into.

Yeah Austin was the man but he was a product of that late 90s, trashy Springer TV era as well. He's kicking his boss ass, cursing on TV and just doing whatever the F he wants. I don't think that could go on much longer even if he didn't get the neck injury without getting a little stale.

Similar to how Hogan's act got tired by 92-93. The only difference is Hogan's peak popularity wasn't in an era that had PPVs every month, 5 hours of live TV a week, constant storylines, etc

It wasn't the nudity and brashness that led to the boom. That had a decent sized impact on TV ratings but very few people ever actually spent money to see Jerry Springer's show or other trash or crash TV like that. It always is the larger than life stars that really get people to spend actual money. Creative's job is to keep their fire burning strong. Over time things decay but Hogan was still a huge money draw in 95 long after he was stale to some (and after the steroid issue badly hurt wrestling), not to mention 92-93. WCW PPVs did close to double the buys on average with him than without even when he was a face.

I think we're getting into territory that is probably moot regardless since Austin's neck was messed up and Rock left to do movies full-time but I tend to think those guys got out at the right time before their characters were going to lose some luster.

Would they still have been more popular than say Cena, Batista, TripleH and the other big stars of '04-present? Yeah probably, but that doesn't mean the popularity of the product hadn't peaked and was now in correction mode. Austin and Rock didn't leave until '03 and it had begun to lose interest, ratings decline...

Also to your point about larger than life stars, I think it is true in all forms of entertainment that it is harder to create larger than life stars now because entertainment fragmentation and overexposure. Very difficult to be "larger than life" nowadays because of this.

One thing wrestling started to do a lot of around '99-01 was pull back the curtain, expose the business, have guys do interviews out of character, etc....Not really saying it was dumb to do this because guys need to do media, but it can make it tougher to build stars. I think triple H has spoken about this before.

Like if the Undertaker debuted in 2003 instead of 1991, that just probably wouldn't work. I think people would think it is stupid, corny and say it just isn't believeable, etc.

Boxing, UFC, football and baseball haven't been nearly as impacted by all the new forms of entertainment as wrestling has. In the late 90s more people watched wrestling on Monday nights than football, and now football has many, many times the viewers of wrestling.

If you look at the history of wrestling by the number of paid customers, it looks a lot like UFC and boxing. Business basically rises and falls on the backs of how big the top several stars are.

The narrative that wrestling had to fall so far in popularity because of circumstances beyond the control of anyone in the wrestling business is a narrative pushed by just about everyone in the wrestling business (present and during the late 90s) because it is in their interest to push it. It makes them and all their friends and networking contacts look good instead of blameworthy.

I lol'ed at this because I remember The Lapsed Fan guys played this clip. Just as you say, WTF.

It is striking how often the main angles in wrestling have followed templates from the Monday Night Wars era in the 15 years since.

WWE has basically kept trying to create the wrestler vs. bad boss scenario over and over. Even if it has led to absurdities such as Cena and Reigns, clearly the hand picked company guys, being cast as the underdog trying to overcome the company's resistance.

Meanwhile, TNA basically did the same thing with the NWO angle, having groups of heels (sometimes composed entirely or partially of old NWO members) at the top and cut NWO style promos over and over.

Even in New Japan, the Bullet Club is very similar to the NWO; a group of outsiders trying to change things, even doing some of the same mannerisms like the 'Too Sweet'.

Difference is, I trust that the Bullet Club can lose/be made to look silly. I can't say that about The Authority or either nWo.

July 22, 1996

RAW

Seattle, WA

"I can't get into the flossing thing. People who smoke cigarettes, they say, 'Man, you don't know how hard it is to stop smoking.' I say, 'Yes I do. It's as hard as it is to start flossing.' … 'You seem jittery.' 'Yeah, I'm about to floss.'" That joke by Mitch Hedberg came to mind as I sit down to review what is my fourth straight hour of 1996 WWF programming, to the exclusion of 1996 WCW. Like, I get to watch The Shining, but I have to sit and watch I Still Know What You Did Last Summer first. Yes I know, I don't HAVE to do any of this. Anyway, on with the show.

Vince McMahon welcomes us to "the home of the Supersonics." Go **** yourself, David Stern.

We're right into the action, as Sunny and the Smoking Gunns wheeled some sort of sheet cake out to ringside. There's some fighting before the Tag Team Title match ever gets going. Ahmed Johnson smashes the sheet cake in Sunny's face. Then Shawn Michaels forcibly kisses her again. He seems to like that gig.

Before the next match, Gorilla Monsoon assures us that we'll still do that Tag Team Title match later.

Marc Mero (w/ Sable) vs. The Goon: TL Hopper last week, The Goon this week. We are officially in peak times. Steve Austin comes down early in the match to join on commentary. Austin refuses any congratulations for beating Mero last night, saying that's what would happen every time he faces Marc Mero. Vince says that Austin will face Undertaker next week. Austin says he'll whip his ass, then starts calling out Ahmed Johnson, Shawn Michaels, and…Bret Hart. It begins.

Jake Roberts calls in. Vince asks how his strained muscle is doing. Jake says it's tough right now, but getting better. Jerry Lawler starts in with the drunk jokes, saying that in case Jake had shown up tonight, Jerry brought his tag team partner:



Between Austin's commentary and the Jake call-in, they've distracted from what seems like a bad match pretty effectively. On the outside of the ring, Goon slips and runs into the steel steps as he charges Mero. Mero follows with a somersault plancha, rolls Goon inside, then wins with a slingshot legdrop.

Result: Marc Mero via pinfall

Shawn, with Ahmed alongside, gives a nothing promo from backstage.

Bob Backlund is campaigning for President up in the stands.

We get a clip from "earlier today," with Clarence Mason pleading his case to Gorilla Monsoon to let his client into the WWF. It's some tall white dude with dreadlocks, who they don't identify. Hint: it's somebody that we've seen in the past, though that shot of him from the back was the first time he has shown up during the Monday Night Wars.

Mankind vs. Freddy Joe Floyd: Floyd was Tracy Smothers of some mild WCW notoriety, rocking a jobber gimmick like The Goon or TL Hopper. There wasn't much of a character to it…he was just an Okie who came out to banjo music. It was less embarrassing than these other jobber gimmicks at least. He makes a great first impression with a pretty funny botch early in his Raw debut.



Vince actually says that Freddy Joe Floyd beat Bradshaw in his debut, so maybe he wasn't meant to be a total jobber? Still, it's what he was doing tonight, and it's all I ever remember from him. Anyway, some decent work from Mick Foley here in a formulaic enhancement match. He goes over with the Mandible Claw. Nice bumping by FJF here as well.

Result: Mankind via submission

Next week, in addition to Austin vs. Undertaker, we'll see Marc Mero vs. Vader and Sid vs. Justin "Hawk" Bradshaw. Why all the jobber matches on the live show and then a whole set of legit star vs. star matches on a taped show next week?

Brian Pillman limps to the ring, still on crutches, and joins on commentary.

During the next ring introductions, Vince says that Goldust will be facing Marc Mero at SummerSlam. Vince throws it to backstage and talks to Mero, who is standing by back there. He asks him about next week's match against Vader. Mero: "Vader is the biggest cat in my jungle. And next week on Raw, I promise you jungle warfare. And it's Vader who is going to come down with a severe case of cat-scratch fever." Sable stands by his side and wonders what the **** she's married to.

Goldust (w/ Marlena) vs. Barry Horowitz: Goldust actually works this match fast, skipping the stalling and going straight to work. Obviously this is just another enhancement match, a quicker one than the rest, and he goes over with the Curtain Call. Dustin would one day move onto a better finishing move, but today would not be that day.



Result: Goldust via pinfall

Vince talks to Sunny and the Smoking Gunns backstage. Sunny is still partially covered in cake, which is more than a bit silly since she had her little accident about a half hour ago and certainly would have showered it off back in the locker room.

Vader and Jim Cornette in the ring for an interview with Vince, as Vader awaits his WWF Title match at SummerSlam. Okay promo from Cornette, but nothing that really stands out by his standards.



Tag Team Titles - Smoking Gunns (c) (w/ Sunny) vs. Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson (w/ Jose Lothario): The Gunns charge right in and start the action, but Shawn and Ahmed quickly clear them out. When the match resets, Shawn unloads on Billy to knock him out of the ring, then greets him back into the ring by forcibly pulling him in via slingshot. Ahmed Johnson takes the tag and does some sloppy Ahmed things as we head to break.

The Gunns take over after break and have Ahmed down, but Ahmed throws something vaguely resembling a powerslam and gets enough slack from that to go make a tag. Shawn with a flying headscissor, but when he goes for another one he gets caught up in mid-air and hung along the top rope by Bart from the apron. Decent spot. Bart tags in and press slams Shawn throat-first along that top rope. Shawn has fallen into a heat segment, and falls a bit further as Billy whips him hard toward the corner and Shawn takes the hard corner bump.



Shawn makes a tag to Ahmed, but the ref doesn't see it, disallows the tag, and the heat segment continues. They go to commercial, and as they come back, there's a quick thing where Jim Ross plugs the Superstar Line with the tease: "Will SummerSlam be The Undertaker's last match?" Ha. Shawn eventually gets free after stopping short of a double dropkick and clunking the Gunns' heads together. Hot tag to Ahmed. Ahmed takes on both Gunns, knocks Bart outside and keeps trying to work Billy, but as he backs up into the ropes, we get a botched spot where Bart pulls the top rope down and Ahmed kind of forces himself to fall out over it after an initial delay.

Once on the floor, we suddenly get an appearance from some random dude in a ridiculous gladiator helmet, running down and attacking Ahmed. The referee sees the interference and calls for the bell.

Result: Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson via DQ

Jerry Lawler even says, "That looks like Ron Simmons!" Vince responds, "Well, umm, whoever he is, he sure did a number on Ahmed Johnson." Simmons would come to be known as Faarooq. Actually, I think he goes by Faarooq Asad here at first. Sunny beams and celebrates with him. Obviously this was the singles wrestler that she teased bringing in about a month ago.



Shawn Michaels, in defense of his partner, goes at Faarooq, and the two brawl at ringside as the show goes off the air.

Overall: Well, cool to see Ron Simmons show up at least, but that was basically the only thing to really like about this episode.

NITRO

Orlando, FL

Tony Schiavone welcomes us to the show and first tells us about how honored they were to see Muhammad Ali light the torch at the Olympics, then showing footage of Ali getting some sort of award at Halloween Havoc '94. To the broadcast position, Tony is with his usual partner Larry Zbyszko. We will hear tonight from The Giant about whether he accepts Hulk Hogan's challenge for Hog Wild. They tease that the Outsiders could show up whenever, then send it to the ring.

Squire David Taylor (w/ Jeeves) vs. Scott Norton: So Tony introduces Norton as "a guy who just turned his back on his partner," which I guess makes Norton officially a heel here. Obviously he makes his heel debut against another midcard heel that nobody cares about. Schiavone says that we'll see Scott Norton vs. Ice Train at Hog Wild, which will be spectacularly terrible.



The match is a quick one. Norton won't sell anything, but gets disqualified when he throws Taylor over the top to the floor after side-stepping a charge.

Result: David Taylor via DQ

The two brawl on the floor as the bell rings repeatedly. Norton is displeased. I don't really get what the point of this was. The fans aren't happy with the DQ, and generally sided with Norton, since it's basically impossible to root for Squire David Taylor.

After commercial, Mean Gene is with the Four Horsemen sans Ric Flair. Okerlund says Flair's whereabouts are in question, but Arn Anderson says that Flair just likes to make an entrance and will be here on cue. Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting are going to face the Horsemen later. Mongo McMichael and Chris Benoit talk also, but not well. At least they didn't let Debra McMichael or Miss Elizabeth talk.

V.K. Wallstreet vs. Konnan: Konnan has lost the US Title and has gained "WCW" along his tights, so I guess he won't be winning very much for a while. Except for this match, of course. Wallstreet gets far too much offense here, basically controlling most of the match. The fans chant for Konnan. Zbyszko: "What? We're not in Mexico." The fans also go into a mocking "Irwin" chant from Wallstreet's WWF days.

Wallstreet hits a Samoan drop that Tony calls "the stock market crash," so maybe that was his finisher? In any case, he makes a cover laying back, and on the two-count he gets pulled down by Konnan into a pinning combo that gets three. If the goal of this match was to put Konnan over, it was pretty terrible, because that was an incredibly weak-looking win.



Result: Konnan via pinfall

Sting, Luger, and Savage with Gene Okerlund. Gene is rocking a striped polo with a blazer tonight. Luger on the mic: "Last week, I got stomped into a mudhole, I'll be the first to say it, but where were…everybody else? The Stinger, the Mach were in Japan. That's how they want to play it." Somehow the "they" in that last sentence meant the nWo I guess, though I have to stretch hard for that to make any sense. Luger bumbles his way through and mercifully passes it off to Sting. Nitro music starts playing this segment out early, so Sting quickly wraps and Savage jams a promo in quickly as well.

We get another Glacier promo, this one actually showing him practicing martial arts and ****. He was clearly modeled after Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.

And next we get…a montage of Jim Powers, Joe Gomez, Alex Wright, and Renegade taking turns walking along the beach and taking their shirts off. What in the blue **** was that? Oh, apparently they're wrestling together next. So they gathered a bunch of jobbers together to wrestle one match, and they actually filmed a whole beach vignette for them?

Tony says that they're wrestling the Dungeon of Doom, and that the Dungeon is apparently unveiling a new member here. The first three of them come out with Jimmy Hart, then suddenly a small man comes running out behind them and joins. Schiavone says that he's The Leprechaun. Mother of God. He's got fangs.

Jim Powers, Joe Gomez, Alex Wright, & The Renegade vs. The Taskmaster, Hugh Morrus, The Barbarian, & The Leprechaun (w/ Jimmy Hart): Leprechaun just goes pacing around outside the ring, and doesn't actually join his partners on the apron. As the match starts, Tony says that there's a disruption in production, and they send a camera to go check out what's happening in the back. Moonsault by Wright on the Barbarian. Back in production, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash have taken over the main production room. They mess with the crew for a while - to no surprise, Nash acts like a completely unfunny idiot - and they focus the show on them and away from the ongoing match. Security eventually arrives and forces Hall and Nash away.



The match is mostly over when they finally get back to it. I'd be lying if I said I was all that upset about missing it, though it's weird that they did that during a match that they spent several minutes building up before starting. Teddy Long shows up at ringside and gives Jim Powers a pep talk. Powers launches a comeback, the match devolves into multi-way chaos, and The Giant runs out and just chokeslams all the faces to death anyway.

Result: Shirtless Beach Dudes via DQ

Mean Gene joins The Giant and Jimmy Hart. Gene cuts to the chase and asks Giant about Hulk Hogan's challenge. Giant says that when he won the WCW Title, he swore an oath to defend it wherever he needed to. He says that at Sturgis, he's going to chokeslam him in the middle of the ring. So that's a yes to the challenge, and we have our main event for the next PPV.



Can we have an actual good match now?

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Prince Iaukea: Okay, probably not. Iaukea throws a decent dropkick, but gets smashed hard in return by a DDP back elbow. Tilt-a-whirl gutwrench slam by Page, who dumps his man to the outside. Iaukea re-enters with a springboard cross-body that gets one. Another cross-body gets two. Page reverses a corner whip, Iaukea hits hard and staggers out, Diamond Cutter, and we have a really quick squash.



Result: DDP via pinfall

Video recap of the Taskmaster/Chris Benoit feud, featuring highlights of the Great American Bash street fight and the last installment at Bash at the Beach, where Woman pled for Benoit to stop beating on the Taskmaster.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Dean Malenko: So I'm pretty sure that this is Chavo's Nitro debut. Dean hits a running knee to Chavo's midsection and then executes a gutbuster that gets an early two. Nice crisp belly-to-back suplex as well. We get the "OMG it's the second hour" interruption as Chavo executes a sunset flip off the ropes that gets two. Dean puts him straight back down with a clothesline, follows with a measured elbow to the throat and then a headscissor. Malenko proceeds with a half-crab combined with an armbar, then transitions into an STF. Back to a standing position, Dean holds both of Chavo's arms behind and Chavo throws a nice dropkick back to get separation.

The separation doesn't last though, and the Iceman is back on offense almost immediately. Delay suplex. As Jimmy Hart runs to ringside and starts shouting commands as if he's managing someone in the match, Dean throws a powerbomb, then turns and confronts Jimmy. A Chavo schoolboy gets the near-fall. Small package by Chavo gets another two. Guerrero up top, does the unfortunate thing where he just jumps legs-first into a double-leg takedown, which gets transitioned into a Texas Cloverleaf. I really wish wrestlers would never ever do that ****. The Cloverleaf wins the match. This one started strong and petered out, then had that crap ending.



Result: Dean Malenko via submission

Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan sit at the desk and talk about The Giant being ready for Hulk Hogan. Back to the action.

Ice Train vs. Meng (w/ Jimmy Hart): High-impact collision on a cross-body by Ice Train gets a two-count in the first minute of the match. The two continue in a slugfest, all pretty basic offense as you would expect, but at least they're working reasonably stiff. Just as I type that, Meng throws the softest headbutt ever. Anyway, this tends to be pretty boring and goes on for longer than it should have. Powerslam by Ice Train gets two. Train goes up to the second rope, but jumps into a crescent kick. The brawl goes outside, and…Scott Norton runs out in street clothes and attacks Meng for the blatant DQ.



Result: Meng via DQ

Norton cuts a promo into the camera, vowing that he has Ice Train's back until Hog Wild so that Train doesn't have any excuses. That…seems like a really odd spot for a save. Ice Train was in a back-and-forth match where each guy got about 50% of the offense. Suddenly Norton interjected himself for absolutely no reason. At least have Ice Train in some sort of real danger in the match when you do that. Also, Scott Norton is really flexing those newly-minted heel muscles tonight, between wrestling a midcard heel and then running out to save a babyface. It's like he's no-selling the heel turn.

Video recap of the nWo angle since Bash at the Beach.

Second run of the same Glacier promo. I'm pretty sure there were more Glacier promos than actual Glacier matches.

Psicosis vs. Eddie Guerrero: Eddie with a sharp armdrag. Some fast-moving mat wrestling that I can't keep up with leads to a modified Indian deathlock by Psicosis as the show goes to commercial. Upon return, Psicosis chops Eddie in the corner, whips him into the opposite, and follows in with a dropkick attempt that comes up empty and leads to a hard corner bump. So much good action just in these wrestlers countering and evading each other, as they're both moving like lightning. Eddie knocks Psicosis to the floor, heads to the top and connects on a plancha from the turnbuckle to the outside.

Back inside, Eddie continues with a back suplex and gets a two-count. A second straight back suplex attempt is escaped from, and Psicosis hits an enziguiri and then a legdrop. Scoop slam by the masked luchadore, then a climb to the top rope and a spinning wheel kick from there. The momentum carries Eddie outside, and Psicosis is quick to follow with a suicide dive. Rolls Guerrero back inside, back to the top, and despite a lengthy delay, the guillotine legdrop connects (albeit not very well). Guerrero surprises with a victory roll that gets two. Hurracanrana and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Eddie. Again, just two.



Psicosis does his own hurracanrana and pin combo, partially botched, only gets two. Psicosis powerbomb, then a somersault splash of some sort off the top by Psicosis. Psicosis continues the attack in the corner, Eddie manages to turn him around, lift him up to the top, execute a top rope hurracanrana, then quickly follows with the frog splash for the win. Fun match, clear match of the night pending the main event.

Result: Eddie Guerrero via pinfall

Ric Flair's music hits, but all that emerges from the back are Mongo McMichael, Chris Benoit, and the three women. Woman is rocking some dark sunglasses. I probably don't want to know. Like, I don't want to keep referencing Benoit/Woman stuff, but it's difficult to ignore in light of what ended up happening.



Bischoff and Heenan wonder where Ric Flair is. After a commercial, Arn Anderson is out in the loading area trying to look through tinted glass into a white limo, seeming concerned. The announcers allude to Flair possibly turning traitor. Anderson gives up and just heads to the ring. The Horsemen huddle up and just nod and look ready to move ahead with the match.

Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit, & Mongo McMichael (w/ Debra McMichael, Miss Elizabeth, & Woman) vs. Sting, Lex Luger, & Randy Savage: Sting with some energetic early offense to take on all the Horsemen until Mongo gets up on the ropes and throws a hard flying shoulderblock to stop Sting in his tracks. Arn and co. take over from there, taking turns working Stinger over. Mongo throws a decent neckbreaker, and is showing a bit more tonight than he has in earlier matches. The Horsemen keep Sting isolated for an extended period, as this match basically went into its heat segment from the very first minute; neither Savage nor Luger get any action until Sting finally executes a back suplex on Arn and delivers the hot tag to Luger.

After the hot tag, we go straight into a six-way melee. Randy Savage steals Mongo's briefcase away from Debra McMichael, wallops Chris Benoit with it, and Luger makes the pin. Not too bad of a match, even if it all felt a bit pointless and had a pretty abrupt ending.



Result: Team Babyface via blatant cheating

Gene Okerlund is with Sting and friends in the ring. Apparently Sting and Lex Luger are facing the Outsiders at Hog Wild. Sting and Lex scream incoherently for their promo time. Macho Man is great though, intensely threatening Hogan. Short and sweet. Mean Gene signs the show off from there.



Overall: Well, not a good episode. I've been very disappointed in these Nitros after Bash at the Beach; they knew how to build to the birth of the nWo, but they didn't seem to have any great ideas on how to immediately follow it. Reminds me of when a TV show has an awesome season 1 and then doesn't know WTF to do once season 2 starts. I'm looking at you, Prison Break.
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Ratings for 7/22/96: Nitro 2.6, Raw 2.2
Ratings Running Score: Nitro 23-17-2

Better Show: Eddie Guerrero vs. Psicosis and a watchable main event are enough to carry the night I guess, but again, unimpressed with WCW's efforts here.
Better Show Running Score: Nitro 36-6

Match of the Night: Eddie Guerrero vs. Psicosis