Paid Members air_raid Posted August 16, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 16, 2016 The Goldberg one was ruined for me because they announced the fucker at WrestleMania the night before. Â Why do that?! Its the RAW after Wrestlemania anyway.so will always havw intrigue. Â I think you're overstating the importance of "The Raw after Mania" due to the significance that has come to be associated with it in the intervening years. It wasn't the massive show with debuts or surprises that it is now. 1998 was an obvious exception, but the previous two years to Goldberg only had the intrigue because of something that came out of Mania - Hogan turning baby, Austin turning heel. I can't remember a thing about the Raw the night after Mania 15 or 16. Â Putting the Goldberg teaser on Mania XIX was designed to make people go "fuck me, I might watch Raw in case Goldberg turns up" who might otherwise have gone "Raw's been shite lately, I won't bother" - which in 2003 was an ever-increasing number. "Raw after Mania" wasn't the big deal guaranteed ratings draw on its own merit that it is today thanks to years of Lesnar returns, NXT call ups etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 16, 2016 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Never mind 1998. "Raw after Mania" became a big deal for me the night Sid turned on HBK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonworden Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I'll never forget when Brodus Clay made his debut on Raw. I was on the UKFF chat and I think we were all busy discussing Batista's powerful warhammer and/or Todd Carty, such was the anticipation for Brodus. The moment his music hit and he jived his way out to the ramp, the entire chat gave him the sort of reaction you imagine Sable's prime 1998 fanny would get. Â It's also one of my favourite squash matches ever too. Mainly because of the excellent "my bad" calls as he was twatting some nothing. Â I loved that simply for the fact Brodus at the end of the dance says something along the lines of "Didn't see that coming did ya"Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieg1980 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 From April 1996 to debut in September we got Glacier is coming and Blood Runs Cold promos on WCW. Â Come September with Big Bubba in the ring we get Blue lighting and snow falling from the arena out he comes. The biggest Mortal Kombat knock off ever. So good was his debut and subsequent match on Nitro they take him off TV for 10 weeks to tweak the gimmick. It took 10 weeks to work out that matches you can barely see under blue lighting isn't a good thing. Â According to Ray Lloyd (Glacier) in a 2000 interview with the Hannibal Courier-Post, production costs for Glacier's entrance amounted to nearly half a million dollars, while the costume and armor, designed by Atlanta-based AFX Studios, cost $35,000. Â How much?!?! Â Stoic Ray Lloyd as well while having what I remember two decent matches one against Mortis (Kanyon) at Uncensored 97 and tagging with Ernest Miller against Mortis and Wrath at Bash at the Beach 97 was pretty awful and to quote the great James Mitchell had the personality of a 'slow moving block of ice'. Â This was nothing more than another expensive Eric Bischoff martial arts wet dream. Least Mortis / Kanyon and James Mitchell were the best things to come out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Nick Soapdish Posted August 17, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 17, 2016 Hade Vansen anyone? That was an odd one wasn't it. I knew some of his FWA stuff but personally think the jump was to big. Had NXT we had today been around then and he had been developed more I think it could have worked. The Promo was good but can see how it may not have lasted (see O'Haire,Sean).  Razor Ramon stands out for me as well. Those vignettes, basically ripped off for Carlito, were great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian 86 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Jericho.  One of my favourite WCW guys at the time - Greenburg and Ralphus, man of 1004 holds, the conspiracy victim.... He was great entertainment but essentially a 'silly'; mid-card act so what were the WWF going to do with him. More of the same? Turn him into a serious character (in 1999 I doubt it!)?  I could see him coming in a verbally sparring with someone, maybe Road Dogg or Double J, and then getting lost in the shuffle.  The countdown was on, and we all knew who it was for, but when exactly would it hit?  The natural cynic in me wondered how they were going to cock it up and ruin what, for me personally, was the most exciting company switch for some time? Then it's Monday night, the timer is ticking down, and....The Rock is in the ring cutting a promo (on Big Show I think from memory)!? Surely not? They wouldn't, would they? Oh they did....Welcome to Raw is Jericho!!!! Ok he ended up playing with the IC title and Chyna shortly afterwards but the intrigue around the debut itself was the biggest I can remember. As great as it was, I think the memory of his has hurt his subsequent re-debuts, although I definitely wouldn't change it.  Remember when we got excited for the return of Jericho (no, just me then) and he turned up in a Christmas tree jacket, walked around, then left and left us all head scratching? Was it really rubbish, or did the Y2J debut mean we were expecting something of the same level again.  Second, the Radicalz.  A group consisting of the current WCW champion (a vanilla midget) and his 3 midcard mates.  Similar to Jericho, the intrigue was about how they were going to be handled on arrival - would the champ break off or would they be held together as a group.  And was Perry Saturn really on the level of the others (the answer being yes of course and how dare you suggest otherwise!).  Interesting that these are both WCW-WWF transfers. I don't remember much intrigue the other way around.  Actually I don't remember much intrigue around many transfers either way apart from these two which both featured high potential midcarders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted August 17, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 17, 2016 I'll never forget when Brodus Clay made his debut on Raw. I was on the UKFF chat and I think we were all busy discussing Batista's powerful warhammer and/or Todd Carty, such was the anticipation for Brodus. The moment his music hit and he jived his way out to the ramp, the entire chat gave him the sort of reaction you imagine Sable's prime 1998 fanny would get. Â It's also one of my favourite squash matches ever too. Mainly because of the excellent "my bad" calls as he was twatting some nothing. Â Amazing shout. Sadly wasn't in chat for that. I just stuck Raw on the next morning and when that music hit and he came out I had a simultaneous WTF/trouser tent moment. Â My daughter has never been into wrestling at all but she thought that was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. Just genius. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theringmaster Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 How has Sin Cara not been mentioned yet? All that hype to debut in a botch mania match with Micheal Cole screaming Wow! at every move and claiming at the end Sin Cara will be trending tonight! (Which he did but more because of the fact he nearly broke his neck getting into the ring) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I just stuck Raw on the next morning and when that music hit and he came out I had a simultaneous WTF/trouser tent moment. Â My daughter has never been into wrestling at all but she thought that was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. Just wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 The Dustin Rhodes/Seven gimmick had to be a swerve from the start surely. Even in the batshit mental world of pro wrestling, there was no way that implied child molester was ever going to get over...unless WCW were able to poach The Bossman over to lead a stable of Operation Yewtree faces against the white faced nonce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted August 17, 2016 Paid Members Share Posted August 17, 2016 Â I just stuck Raw on the next morning and when that music hit and he came out I had a simultaneous WTF/trouser tent moment. Â My daughter has never been into wrestling at all but she thought that was the greatest thing she'd ever seen. Just wrong. Â Face palm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted August 17, 2016 Moderators Share Posted August 17, 2016 From April 1996 to debut in September we got Glacier is coming and Blood Runs Cold promos on WCW. Â Come September with Big Bubba in the ring we get Blue lighting and snow falling from the arena out he comes. The biggest Mortal Kombat knock off ever. So good was his debut and subsequent match on Nitro they take him off TV for 10 weeks to tweak the gimmick. It took 10 weeks to work out that matches you can barely see under blue lighting isn't a good thing. Â According to Ray Lloyd (Glacier) in a 2000 interview with the Hannibal Courier-Post, production costs for Glacier's entrance amounted to nearly half a million dollars, while the costume and armor, designed by Atlanta-based AFX Studios, cost $35,000. Â How much?!?! Â Stoic Ray Lloyd as well while having what I remember two decent matches one against Mortis (Kanyon) at Uncensored 97 and tagging with Ernest Miller against Mortis and Wrath at Bash at the Beach 97 was pretty awful and to quote the great James Mitchell had the personality of a 'slow moving block of ice'. Â This was nothing more than another expensive Eric Bischoff martial arts wet dream. Least Mortis / Kanyon and James Mitchell were the best things to come out of it. Â Â (Pedant) That wasn't even his debut! His debut was completely unheralded and unhyped on an episode of WCW Pro a couple of weeks before against The Gambler or something (/pedant) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gaffer Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016  I had been positively Eugene with excitement  This deserves some praise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordyM Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Balor's 'Demon' persona. Â It was cool to watch Devitt get painted up in various ways for his big NJPW matches and like many I was hoping he'd get to do the same in NXT. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. It's not so much the "Venom goes to the Gathering of the Juggalos" look as it is the stupid way he twitched and crawled to the ring like a ten year old pretending to be an evil monster. It ruined the moment for me and since then I've never been buzzed about him "unleashing the demon". Future additions like having multipled copies of him popping out of the mist and gurning behind one of the cage walls hasn't exactly helped matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevieg1980 Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Â Â From April 1996 to debut in September we got Glacier is coming and Blood Runs Cold promos on WCW. Â Come September with Big Bubba in the ring we get Blue lighting and snow falling from the arena out he comes. The biggest Mortal Kombat knock off ever. So good was his debut and subsequent match on Nitro they take him off TV for 10 weeks to tweak the gimmick. It took 10 weeks to work out that matches you can barely see under blue lighting isn't a good thing. Â According to Ray Lloyd (Glacier) in a 2000 interview with the Hannibal Courier-Post, production costs for Glacier's entrance amounted to nearly half a million dollars, while the costume and armor, designed by Atlanta-based AFX Studios, cost $35,000. Â How much?!?! Â Stoic Ray Lloyd as well while having what I remember two decent matches one against Mortis (Kanyon) at Uncensored 97 and tagging with Ernest Miller against Mortis and Wrath at Bash at the Beach 97 was pretty awful and to quote the great James Mitchell had the personality of a 'slow moving block of ice'. Â This was nothing more than another expensive Eric Bischoff martial arts wet dream. Least Mortis / Kanyon and James Mitchell were the best things to come out of it. Â (Pedant) That wasn't even his debut! His debut was completely unheralded and unhyped on an episode of WCW Pro a couple of weeks before against The Gambler or something (/pedant) Then I sit on my arse (in the sun) corrected Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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