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It closed its doors ten years ago today...


Boon Town Rat

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this is obviously just going on what ive actually seen, im playing catch up on my nitros and ppvs as i only started watching in 99 till the end of the company, im currently up to february 97 nitro wise

 

- Favourite WCW Event?- Spring Stampede 1999- from top to bottom a terrific show, had a mixture of everything, what a wrestling show should be about from high flying to hardcore to tag matches to heavyweight clashes and massive names headlining, superb........ other mentions for Sin 2001, Superbrawl 2001, Starrcade 2000.

 

- Favourite WCW Singles Match?- Chris Benoit vs Bret Hart- Owen Hart Tribute match- Nitro October 1999

 

- Favourite WCW Tag Match?- DDP/Kanyon/Bam Bam vs Chris Benoit and Saturn- BATB 1999- solid match with a GREAT ending

 

- Favourite WCW Gimmick Match?- Russos Revenge Triple Cage Match- Nitro September 2000

 

- Favourite WCW Angle?- im only just getting my teeth into the nWo/Sting angle and so far its been good talk about a slow burner other than that from what ive seen i enjoyed the Goldberg vs Vince Russo angle, i know im pretty much the only one who did enjoy it but i would of loved to see how it would of played out if Russo didnt get that concussion in October 2000, making him do the Streak over again was pretty uch the only thing you could of done with Goldberg at the time

 

- Favourite WCW Moment?- April 10th 2000 Nitro- Enough Said

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I still remember going to WWF.com and seeing this

 

wwfwcw.jpg

 

 

Love this image, I've kept this from the last time somebody posted it on here. Because I'm a nerd, I'd love to see a full screen shot of WWF.com or WCW.com as interesting reminders of the day. I kicked myself for not taking a few after the Benoit thing too, especially when the site was covered in tributes for him first of all.

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I still remember going to WWF.com and seeing this

 

wwfwcw.jpg

 

 

Love this image, I've kept this from the last time somebody posted it on here. Because I'm a nerd, I'd love to see a full screen shot of WWF.com or WCW.com as interesting reminders of the day. I kicked myself for not taking a few after the Benoit thing too, especially when the site was covered in tributes for him first of all.

http://waybackmachine.org/ is your friend.

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Ah, WCW. As a dyed in the wool WWF fan, seeing the figures and the stickerbooks in the early 90s, it seemed a bit second-rate, and almost sleazy. Then I got into the TV when Worldwide hit Sunday afternoons. The first thing I can vividly remember seeing was a recap of a Sting vs Vader segment. Two utterly larger than life characters. Almost face and heel defined. As a child, Big van Vader was a monster incarnate. The smoking elephant helmet and ritualistic killing of jobbers was an irresistable combination. When I saw that Ron Simmons had finally wrested the belt from him, it was as if a real-life Superman had been born. Oh the innocence of youth!

 

Two other things stand out from those days. First was the controversial US title match between Rick Rude and Dustin Rhodes, that appeared a double-pin, only for Rude to get the shoulder up. I'd been out playing football probably and had set the tape to record with an hour left. The tape ran out literally seconds after the finish, with Tony and Jesse furiously debating the outcome and the future of the US belt. What a cliffhanger.

 

Second one was the final Flair/Regal match in the Marquis of Queensbury Cup series, and Flair's alluding to Hulk Hogan coming into the promotion. Now at the time I had no knowledge of Hogan even being linked with WCW, and as a massive Hulkamaniac, I went fucking mental! Quite possibly the most exciting thing I'd ever heard at the time, it was like Christmas morning come early!

 

Then in my teen years, the rise of Goldberg - it was quite something. Going into the comp and hearing more and more about this mysterious guy. Finally managing to get someone to tape me the one-hour edited Nitro, and seeing the guy smash Jerry Flynn to an incredible reaction. Then hearing one day that he'd beaten Hogan, and the combination of disbelief and sheer elation just being awesome. By then I knew exactly what wrestling was, but it still felt a huge, huge deal.

 

That being said I remember one thing getting mye hook, line and sinker. The Flair heart attack angle in December 1998. I was actually in Florida the night of that Nitro, and spent the remaining days of the trip scouring the state newspapers for an update on his condition. Flew back to the UK on the Thursday after the Monday Nitro, and immediately called the Power Slam hotline, at something stupid like 6am, to find out what had actually happened. Looking back it was a lousy angle, but it set up that great Nitro after Starrcade where Flair put his house, his car, his clothes, his wives and his dog on the line against Eric Bischoff, and finally got the payoff to months of Bischoff being a horrible bastard. WCW seemed on top of the world even then, even when Attitude and the WWF was riding high.

 

I agree with what has been said about there never again being anything resembling the fall of WCW. In April at Spring Stampede things were still in reasonable nick, with a hot and entertaining show papering over any cracks. By the end of the summer, they were ready to rip up and start again. Sheer plummet. But as is generally agreed, some of that very late WCW stuff holds up pretty well. It's a total 'Sliding Doors' conundrum to envision what route the business would have taken if they'd ended up over Bischoff/Fusient ownership.

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Boon Town, I don't know you from Adam so to speak, but kudos for starting this thread, as it will me somewhere else to post my random shite as I continue my trawl through Nitro 96 set, other than the "random comments" and "what are you watching" threads.

 

WcW was in terms brilliant and maddening. I have just reached the end of a typically eclectic show featuring such seemingly-random bouts / styles clashes as Steve Regal & Dave Taylor vs Public Enemy, Arn & Benoit vs Rock n Roll Express (Gibson looks a state) and Eddy Guerrero vs The Barbarian... and yet strangely marked out hardest for DDP pinning Jim Powers, reversing Powers' Irish whip flawlessly by pulling him into his body to eat a back elbow, then transitioning straight into the Diamond Cutter. Bang.

 

And then it baffles me with one of the strangest finishes ever, Nick Patrick counting Booker T's pin of Luger in the tag title match, oblivious to the masses of armed security guards filling the ring up, as the other four men in the match (five if you count the equally nonplussed Luger) forget about the tag belts, shitting themselves thinking "fuck, there's Razor and Diesel."

 

The day wrestling started to die, damn shame.

 

That's bollocks though, isn't it? Televised pro wrestling will be here long after you're gone.

 

But then, I hear the UKFF is dying too, so we probably won't be here to have that debate for long.

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I never watched WCW in its day, I only read about it on websites, where it was made out to be a pile of shite with old, haggard stars, and a lesser version of wrestling than WWF. When somebody finally lent me some tapes and DVDs of it, I discovered that it was absolutely loads of fun. I reckon if I'd had access to it, I'd have been a WCW fan more than a WWF fan.

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I reckon if I'd had access to it, I'd have been a WCW fan more than a WWF fan.

 

I used to take the piss out of WcW for being WWF has beens. Then we got Sky, and I happened to turn TNT on one night when Nitro was on, so actually watched it. And if push came to shove, I was a WcW fan first and WWF fan second for a good couple of years. I only really gave up on WcW round about the time Benoit did.

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But then, I hear the UKFF is dying too, so we probably won't be here to have that debate for long.

I blame Russo, Nash and the drug policy that the mods have failed to put in place for the death of the UKFF.

 

I was to busy thinking of the million and one matches that a WWF vs WCW feud would produce. Being a teenage and still naive enough to appreciate the business, me and my mates had chats and day dreams about Goldberg vs Austin, DDP vs The Rock, Scott Steiner vs Triple H (wish that didnt happen to be honest), The Undertaker vs Sting, Mick Foley vs Ric Flair, Kurt Angle vs. Virgil and all the special money drawing bouts we'd loved to have seen. And I was daft enough to think WCW would still be on, but it would just be under different ownership. It wasnt until months later that I got a bit gutted that WCW wasnt around anymore. Wish it still was. It was a fine company, with a sense of identity. Even when it was shit, you knew you were watching WCW. There was a familiarity about it due to the history the promotion had. Sad days.

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That's bollocks though, isn't it? Televised pro wrestling will be here long after you're gone.

 

How is it bollocks though? even the most die hard WWE fan can not say the business has'nt declined since WCW went away, someone already mentioned it here, but when WCW went, alot of people just stopped watching wrestling right there, I know this because a shitload of my friends stopped watching it, we used to watch WWF as well but for some reason I remember us talking about WCW more, I guess it was just funnier to us, sure they cameback now again when aot of the top WCW guys came into WWE, but by say 2004 they had lost total interest.

 

I dunno you like games? lets say MS buy Sony and Nintendo and thats the end of those two and you are a DieHard Nintendo fan, are you going to carry on following the gaming industry in a world without Mario/Nintendo stuff etc, its very unlikely and you either immediately or gradually lose interest through the years, and you will just forever stick to playing old consoles/games.

 

Its almost 2012 and still the biggest names in wrestling are TheRock, Sting, Austin, Taker, Lawler(lol), TripleH etc, hell even Goldberg was coming back at one point, and lets face it beofre all these guys cameback, WM was looking very weak (still kinda is imo).

 

At this moment in time whether you like them or not The Miz, Corre, etc do not put bums in seats, so what state will WWE be in the future? is HBK going to have to comeout in his wheelchair to save WM again? the way the business is these days I'm just not very confident that these younger guys will be able to draw big numbers, its not totally there fault either because obviously people like CM Punk have talent, but you just know WWE will find a way to fuck it up.

 

As for pro wrestling on TV? when was the last time ITV showed wrestling? 1992? WCW world wide? when's the last time they even wanted WWE or anything of the sort?

Channel4 and 5 last time, 2001-02? have any of these channels indicated that they want wrestling on their channels, I havent seen it.

 

In the states WWE has tv deals and for now TNA does, but its clear no networks worth talking about want anything to do with wrestling, especially if it doesnt have WWE name in it, UFC/MMA is what everyone is after atleast in america, other than filling the channels with shitty reality tv shows.

 

I think one of my fav guys in wrestling Bobby Heenan summed up current wrestling best when he said "The magic is over".

 

Maybe indeed wrestling will carry on how it is, or what I should say WWE will carry on, but the wrestling industry wont ever be what it was imo.

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My memories of dubbya c dubbya began on late saturday nights / early sunday mornings on ITV in the very early 90's. I remember once looking in the local paper that came out for the borough I live in looking to see what was on tv that weekend. And there it was under the big shows that came on tv on a saturday night from 5:00pm to 11:00pm all with their big rundowns of what was going to happen on that episode. And under that was the programs that came on from like 12:00am to 6:00am in the "graveyard shift" lol and there it was, That one word... wrestling.

 

I didn't know what kinda wrestling it was going to be because all the programming at that time of the night had no rundown after them. I knew it wasn't going to be WWF because it was only on sky or cable which I had neither of at the time. But I stayed up untill I think 2:00 and was witness to NWA. Where I first watched Mean Mark Calloway before he has the Undertaker. And Teddy Long manage his tag team Doom. And The Nature Boy Ric Flair who I thought was going to get KILLED by Dangerous Danny Spivey and Spivey was the one that got jobbed out to Flair. NWA went off the air for a few weeks, But then it came back as WCW and no longer was I jealous of my friends that had sky because I had WCW.

 

MANN if u didn't watch WCW at that time then BOY u missed it. I remember Ricky THE DRAGON Steamboat gunning after Ravashing Rick Rude's united states heavyweight championship title. Rude was in the Dangerous Alliance and I remember all of them once handcuffing Steamboat to the guardrail and beating da holly $h!t out of him in front of his wife Bonnie while she was holding Richie. The next week he came out on tv with a face guard on and black marks around his eyes, And that was just for a secondary title. Could u even picture someone doing that today for Kofi's belt or Kaz'z belt.

 

When it came back as WCW worldwide on saturdays in the early afternoon it was whack, They cut out alot of things they thought was too violent to show in that time slot. I would still tape it and watch it at 2:00am because to me that was the time slot for wrassling

 

FAVOURITE WCW EVENT: Superbrawl II because that was my first ppv that I saw getting built to. i was p!$$ed that we didn't get to watch it over here but I bought it at a wrestling show 12 years later on vhs (Remember those) and I still have it today.

 

FAVOURITE WCW SINGLES MATCH: Sting vs Big Van Vader.

 

FAVOURITE WCW TAG MATCH: Arn Anderson & Beautiful Bobby Eaton vs Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat 2 out of 3 falls for the unified WCW & NWA world tag team titles.

 

FAVOURITE WCW GIMMICK MATCH: Wargames Dangerous Alliance vs Stings Squadren

 

FAVOURITE WCW ANGLE: Who was the hooded man dressed all in black that was randomly attacking Sting. It was Rick Rude I marked out BIG TIME because it was a former WWF wrestler that I could watch on WCW

 

FAVOURITE WCW MOMENT: Ron Simmons pinning Big Van Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Title.

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I loved WCW growing up, watched it more than WWF at the time (due to not always having the Sports channels).

 

I had a set routine every Friday for a number of years. Once I'd finished School I'd stay back for football training for 2 or so hours, then get picked up by my Dad and we'd go to the local chippy for our tea & we'd get home just in time for Nitro starting.

 

Did that nearly every week for say 2-3 years, no idea why I switched from watching WCW to WWE though.

 

I remember my favourite wrestler in WCW at one point being Disco Inferno - I recall being livid when he turned heel. :blush:

 

 

Those were awesome times, I miss being stuck in kayfabe!

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