WCW/Wrestlemania tie-in.

[Ross]

I wouldnt mind some ex WCW wrestling skits backstage not to fussed about a match myself.

 

Bet you'd love

.

[InvertedSmiley]

Bring back Billionaire Ted and the Nacho Man. That's about the only time Vince gave WCW any credible attention on-screen.

 

Throw in The Huckster and Scheme Gene if he's feeling generous.

[TheBigBoot]

frankly no one else came out of the fiasco that was the end of WCW with any value at all (except maybe Sting).

Nobody came out of WCW with any value? Is that why Invasion drew a $900,000 gate and a 1.63 buyrate? Or that WWF signed most of WCW's headliners on high six figure deals and put them in main event positions and there former booker is now the number two top man in the WWE? Flair, Hogan, Goldberg, Booker T, Kevin Nash, Johnny Ace and a few others did very well for themselves post WCW. Also, how do you work out that Sting had any value left then? Sting on his arse and didnt even want to turn up by the end of WCW.

 

I thought he meant name value. He still had name value though. In terms of WCW guys I'm sure he is still one of the first names people think of even today (and even with a lot of them not knowing about his TNA run). WWF could have built him up as being credible with very little effort.

 

But yes, Sting was the absolute master of phoning it in in those days, yes. He made Kevin Nash look like Chris Benoit with the amount of effort 'The Stinger' put in.

 

No one outside of the internet smarks would give a shit for a Goldberg match

 

Oh fuck off. The smarks always hated Goldberg, and he was a big crossover name. In '98 he wasn't that far beind Austin. His shirts were seen at NBA games. He was a real name.

 

That is true. Goldberg always got a hard time from the (generally pro-WWF) IWC and Pure WWFer arena fans (by that I mean the ones who actually despised WCW) both online and when WCW ran WWF country/Canada for "only doing two moves". I used to laugh when the hardcore WWF fans would go online and use those "Goldberg sucks" chants as 'proof' that Bischoff couldn't create a star and that he wasn't as big a deal as Austin so they should base the entire company around Bret Hart or whatever, despite the fact he was getting massive pops everywhere else.

 

Stick them both in Atlanta in 1998 and I'm not saying Stone Cold wouldn't have also been over but Goldberg would have gotten the bigger reaction, IMO.

 

more casual fans i know, know who goldberg is than ric flair. fact.

 

I find it very difficult to believe that there are many fans out there be they casual/hardcore/smart/mutant/whatever that haven't heard of Ric Flair unless they've only started watching in the last eighteen months.

The guy has been in both major companies that made up the Big Two and, even when he was working lower down the card, was always mentioned as being a big deal right up until last May.

 

Even in the Eighties when a lot of fans over here were WWF/World of Sport only, plus maybe Reslo or All Star on Screen Sport if they were feeling daring, I'd still bet that if you asked them to name one non-WWFer/Britwres guy it would end up as Flair or the Road Warriors as I mentioned in my post about "Rick Claire" recently: http://ukff.com/index.php?s=&showtopic...t&p=2263685

 

Over in the States I'd imagine you can times that by ten since Flair has been on National TV for almost as long as the concept of National TV existed.

 

Seriously, unless you only got into wrestling in the last few months how can you call yourself a fan and not know who Ric Flair is (even vaguely)?

 

more casual fans i know, know who goldberg is than ric flair. fact.

 

don't say "fact" you'll just give them ammo

 

In fairness he did say "that (he) knows" so it could well be a fact. I do think its a very, very, very small minority though.

[Ross]

Flair was never as big a deal as Goldberg just due to the fact that, when Goldberg was hot, more people were watching than ever before.

[Ross]

Bring back Billionaire Ted and the Nacho Man. That's about the only time Vince gave WCW any credible attention on-screen.

 

Throw in The Huckster and Scheme Gene if he's feeling generous.

 

This makes me think of Bobby Heenan. I love the guy, but on a lot of interviews he said that these skits were the only reason that people tuned out of WWF and into WCW. He hated WCW so much he could not bare to give them one iota of credit.

[Your Fight Site]

Given that Sting hasn't been seen in TNA Wrestling for months, do people think it's possible he may actually turn up in WWE come spring 2011?

[cokeorpepsi]

Someone (I forget who) earlier in the thread made a point about The Rock returning would get buys. I'd agree and say if they could wrangle that somehow, The Rock would boost buy rates for WM by quite a bit I'd of thought.

[Super Cena]

Given that Sting hasn't been seen in TNA Wrestling for months, do people think it's possible he may actually turn up in WWE come spring 2011?

 

I haven't heard anybody dismiss that possibility so there could be every chance that we'll be seeing Taker and Sting square off, which would be breathtaking - especially at a Mania in Atlanta.

 

If Lesnar could be brought back in for a one-off deal, I'd love to see him clash with Goldberg with Austin as special guest ref.

[Ross]

The Rock would boost buy rates for WM by quite a bit I'd of thought.

 

Yeah...by 2 or 3.

[Ross]

If Lesnar could be brought back in for a one-off deal, I'd love to see him clash with Goldberg with Austin as special guest ref.

 

I don't know if a re-run of Mania XX would work. If they were to bring in Lesnar and Goldberg it'd have to be something fresh. Also, makes you wonder whether they'd pay out for both of them. If they could get Lesnar on board I don't know if they'd want, or need, Goldberg as well.

[Super Cena]

If Lesnar could be brought back in for a one-off deal, I'd love to see him clash with Goldberg with Austin as special guest ref.

 

I don't know if a re-run of Mania XX would work. If they were to bring in Lesnar and Goldberg it'd have to be something fresh. Also, makes you wonder whether they'd pay out for both of them. If they could get Lesnar on board I don't know if they'd want, or need, Goldberg as well.

 

Fucking hell, I can't believe I managed to forget that they've already clashed at Mania before!

[TheBigBoot]

Flair was never as big a deal as Goldberg just due to the fact that, when Goldberg was hot, more people were watching than ever before.

 

More people were watching WWF/WCW than any other point, yes. Not convinced about wrestling in general but that's a different argument.

 

Even if we take the argument that there were more wrestling fans during Goldberg's run, Flair was still around during that period as well, was often the company's second highest ratings draw (behind Bill) and the last time Nitro beat Raw in the ratings was a show built around his return (one of the times WCW used him right) so I still think the vast majority of fans from that era would have heard of Ric Flair.

 

Of course Goldberg was the bigger deal at that point and rightly so. I actually think Goldberg's star power is underrated by people these days - the guy was pretty much even with Austin throughout '98. Then in '99-'00 he was up there in the top three or four. It's just that, as I said above, "I find it very difficult to believe that there are many fans out there be they casual/hardcore/smart/mutant/whatever that haven't heard of Ric Flair unless they've only started watching in the last eighteen months." How can you watch American wrestling, much less call yourself a fan, and not know Ric Flair (even if it is just the name and you aren't familiar with his specific matches)?

 

Like I say in fairness Heavy T did claim he was only talking about people "that (he) knows" so it could well be true (or "fact"). I do think its a very, very, very small minority of casual fans from the last thirty four years (regardless of which specific periods during this era they watched) to not have heard of a guy who has gotten exposure on national TV (in the States) from 1976 to present and was always treated as big deal (even more so post-1981 when he won the NWA strap for the first time) and has always been given a decent amount of TV/promo time (even when he was lower down on the card).

 

Given that Sting hasn't been seen in TNA Wrestling for months, do people think it's possible he may actually turn up in WWE come spring 2011?

 

I hope so. That way we'd finally get that Sting DVD that seems to get discussed every time there's a thread on what DVDs WWE should bring out. Even if it is just a few promos/angles, one match, a HoF induction, some action figures and a DVD before he disappears for a few years again (then pops up in TNA for a lot of money in 2015 or something) I'd like to see it.

 

If Lesnar could be brought back in for a one-off deal, I'd love to see him clash with Goldberg with Austin as special guest ref.

 

I don't know if a re-run of Mania XX would work. If they were to bring in Lesnar and Goldberg it'd have to be something fresh. Also, makes you wonder whether they'd pay out for both of them. If they could get Lesnar on board I don't know if they'd want, or need, Goldberg as well.

 

Agreed. Same with The Rock idea, those kind of matches are some of the few things that could really seem like a big deal for WM and I can't see them giving them away in one go. Something like Sting and Goldberg one year, Lesnar the year after, Rock the year after that, HBK one-off comeback the year after that... Now that could work.

[HeavyT]

Like I say in fairness Heavy T did claim he was only talking about people "that (he) knows" so it could well be true (or "fact"). I do think its a very, very, very small minority of casual fans from the last thirty four years (regardless of which specific periods during this era they watched) to not have heard of a guy who has gotten exposure on national TV (in the States) from 1976 to present and was always treated as big deal (even more so post-1981 when he won the NWA strap for the first time) and has always been given a decent amount of TV/promo time (even when he was lower down on the card).

well Im 21, I mean all the people I know who watched back when we were about 10, played the videogames etc. and might flick on TNA to see guys like Xpac for shits n giggles. If any of them know Ric Flair, its from his last WWE run, not his world title wins... and when we were kids no one even liked Flair cause he was an old man with bitch tits and Goldberg was a monster. We also live in Scotland, not the US, so why would we know of his old title runs besides swatting up on wikipedia or whatever the fuck.

[TheBigBoot]

well Im 21, I mean all the people I know who watched back when we were about 10, played the videogames etc. and might flick on TNA to see guys like Xpac for shits n giggles. If any of them know Ric Flair, its from his last WWE run, not his world title wins... and when we were kids no one even liked Flair cause he was an old man with bitch tits and Goldberg was a monster.

 

 

I never said anyone had to like him (a lot of people hated him when I was kid because he was this old guy coming into WWF and feuding with their heroes) but I said I think he's a name that is difficult not to have "heard of". For example, even though he's one of my favourites and was one of the biggest stars of his era I could understand someone not knowing Randy Savage if they'd only watched wrestling the last ten years or so and only casually (not reading the mags, sheets, websites, whatever) on TV. But Flair was on TV for WWE until very recently often in a pretty high profile role (in terms of getting TV time, etc.). I'm sure there are some fans who have never heard of him, but I think they are in the minority.

 

Regardless if you got into wrestling in 1988, 1998 or 2008 I think you would have come across the name "Ric Flair". It actually takes one hell of an effort not to come across the old bastard's work at some point!

 

We also live in Scotland, not the US, so why would we know of his old title runs besides swatting up on wikipedia or whatever the fuck.

 

I also never said the casual fans had to know about Flair's title reigns (those are just an example that he wasn't some throwaway squash boy whom the majority of people forget easily), but I do think the majority of casual fans from most recent eras (apart from possibly those that got into it in the last eighteen months or so when he hasn't been in WWE) would have come across the name. My point is he crosses over several eras including Goldberg's.

 

You will see in my initial response I did talk about the UK:

The guy has been in both major companies that made up the Big Two and, even when he was working lower down the card, was always mentioned as being a big deal right up until last May.

 

Even in the Eighties when a lot of fans over here were WWF/World of Sport only, plus maybe Reslo or All Star on Screen Sport if they were feeling daring, I'd still bet that if you asked them to name one non-WWFer/Britwres guy it would end up as Flair or the Road Warriors as I mentioned in my post about "Rick Claire" recently: http://ukff.com/index.php?s=&showtopic...t&p=2263685

 

The U.S. ratings part came up in response to Whiskey1's point that more people were watching wrestling at that point than ever before. I presumed he was referring to American wrestling, the Monday Night Wars and the casual fans in the States (who might be tempted to buy the PPV to see Goldberg which was being discussed here). If it was purely about the number of wrestling fans living in the UK then there is no chance more people were watching wrestling over here than peak era World of Sport. None at all. But I don't think that's what he meant. Flair is pretty well known by casual fans in terms of wrestling in general, but you can use Japan, Dominican Republic or New Zealand as alternatives. I'm sure a lot of the fans who watched 'Naitch' defend the NWA belt there were casual ones.

 

To bring it back more locally, his WWF run also coincided with WWF's European expansion which peaked around 1992 (whilst Flair was there). If we are talking Goldberg era WCW (which we were) then Flair was part of it too. The kid of someone I know had never watched wrestling until 2007, had no knowledge of wrestling history from previous eras, etc. and I presume wasn't going to go on wiki looking it up. Guess what? Flair was still around then as well. There can't be many casual fans under the age of forty who haven't heard the name at some point.

[neil's bitch]

Im a big old school WCW fan, (nwo style, not the russo era.....although i still watched it up until the day it died), and although people are saying "ITS WCW TURF!", let me just drop this one in.

 

A while back , Austin came in to do a special guest refferee gig at cyber sunday i think. During this time, people who know austin, (slightley older fans now, and i mean oldeer than kids), where like "WOW, Austin!". I asked a 9 year old kid who steve austin was......he said "Hes that guy who comes out and drink beer", and thats all he knew about him.

 

People are correct in saying its WCW old turf, but alot of old WCW either dont watch wrestling anymore, (at lets face it, i know bombs of people who were into just "because it was cool at the time"), so im guessing with the curret WWE audience (children/familys), im guessing they may not know who goldberg even is. His run is WWE was also some time ago, so and fan at the moment wouldnt really know him that well. unless its fans like ourselves.

 

So will it work? Maybe, but they'd have to try and bring in an older audience/former watches of WWE/WCW.