Where did they go?

[tiger_rick]

Chatting to our kid earlier about the concept of there being no life outside WWE and it got me thinking about when I knew Hogan and Savage were in WCW. I don't think I knew until I started playing WCW vs. nWo on the N64 in 1997. Didn't have Sky, didn’t have the Internet yet, didn’t have any friends who watched WCW. Two of the biggest stars in history just completely disappeared for me.

I was so on board with the whole New Generation shite, I didn’t particularly think about it much. My brothers and I started collecting WWF tapes religiously around late 96 due to a second hand music and video place opening and my student grant being disposable cash and we bought loads of shows and tapes we'd not seen and I still don't recall us speculating where they'd gone. They were just dead to us.

Anyone in a similar boat? With them or others like Hall and Nash. We wete so far behind on WWF shows by 1996, we didn't really know they'd gone.

[Hannibal Scorch]

I’m exactly the same as you @tiger_rick, a friend of mine rented NWO vs The World on N64 (remember when you could rent games?) and I asked what happened to Hulk Hogan because now he’s all black and white and called Hollywood. I had no idea what had happened with him after KOTR 1993. I stopped watching in 1996 so it was this and revenge that started to get me interested again so had no idea about the NWO, the Montreal screwjob, Kane etc. I started reading news sites around 99 but it wasn’t really until Heat started on Channel 4 in 2000 that I started properly watching again.

[Winston]

I had a handful of wrestling VHS' when I was like 4 or 5. From Royal Rumble 92, WrestleMania 8, SummerSlam 92 to Royal Rumble 93 and WrestleMania 9, with a Halloween Havoc 92 randomly thrown in, so I was at least aware of WCW's existence.

However I saw no wrestling until my family got Sky in late 1997 and I got hooked on WWF all over again. I can remember Friday nights I'd tune into Nitro at 9pm but always switched over to Raw at 10pm. WCW had plenty familiar faces at the time but nothing ever grabbed me. Always preferred the WWF's production and style, which is ironically now navigating me away from WWE to AEW.

During my 5-6 year gap I can remember really noticing how much The Undertaker's appearance had changed from ginger to dark. Then when Kane debuted I was certain it was the original Undertaker under the red mask. Used to try and write into wrestling teletext pages and even Livewire to try and get to the bottom of my theory but to no avail.

Thankfully the internet arrived not long after 😁

[air_raid]

I sent a letter to the WWF Magazine by fax (yes) in late 1996 asking why Alundra Blayze hadn’t been on Raw or Superstars for so long.

Edited December 28, 2020 by air_raid

[garynysmon]

Even as a 9 year old, having got Sky installed in 1993, I was such a sad bastard that I quickly figured out enough German to find out on their Teletext what time WCW weeklies and PPVs were on DSF, so was watching just as much WCW as the WWF for the rest of the 90's (just not in English). Even pre-Sky the first tape I ever owned was Starrcade '90.

Going from childhood memories alone, I used to get a few of the Apter mags alongside WWF Magazine and they were a decent source of info, albeit months out of date. I knew what was going on in ECW and Smokey Mountain years before having seen a single match from either promotion.

But even though I watched a lot of WCW, I suspect that I wasn't alone at the time in considering the WWF to be my 'home promotion' and was always hoping that Hulk and the real stars would end up back with the fed. WCW looked and sounded a little different to the WWF didn't it? The production wasn't the same, and having the likes of Okerlund and Heenan in WCW never fit perfectly within my perception. (Funnily enough, I can't stand the modern WWE production).

That was despite the New Generation era just feeling second rate to me and the massive downsize in the arenas that tapings were being held etc wasn't exactly easy to hide.

Another recollection along similar lines is  how shocked I was to catch up on the dramatic change in the WWF's presentation in early 1998. From memory, our Sky box blew out after being struck by lightning shortly after One Night Only  '97. So I ended up missing the Montreal Screwjob etc.

It wasn't until watching the BBC news one day that I saw Tyson's first WWF appearance and all kicking off with Austin, and I was shocked how different it all looked. Austin was seemingly on top and even the logo at the corner of the screen had changed, with Vince McMahon suddenly a heel. After that I had to ask my mate to lend me Suvivor Series and Royal Rumble so that I had a clue what I'd missed out on. 

[Lenin]

I have a 

53 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

Anyone in a similar boat?

I have a boarding pass for said boat. Not only did I not know where the likes of Hogan, Savage or Flair went, I didn't even know WCW existed until about 2000. Living in Eastern Europe as a kid we had American cable so always watched the WWF. It was the best afterall. The ONLY wrestling as far as I was concerned. 

To this day I have always wondered what the fuss was all about and I keep telling myself that I'll watch it one day. However, having watched the introduction of TNA in 2004 (which quickly proved to be a load of rubbish) I'm worried that I'd be wasting my time on it. 

When the Hulkster left, I assumed he'd retired. He had, afterall, looked 55 years old since I was a kid in the 80s. When Savage left, all I remember is thinking how big (which in hindsight means juiced) he was and that he must have left due to illness. Living in my own wee world. 

[rollthedice]

I found out all the WWF guys had gone to WCW because I recieved a WCW annual (94 I think) for Xmas and there was Hogan, Macho, Beefcake, Duggan, Earthquake, Nastys.

I watched the Nitro where Hall turned up the week it aired and from then on pretty much knew where guys were.

Edit: quick Google and it was the 96 annual.

Edited December 29, 2020 by rollthedice

[PowerButchi]

I had that book! Wonder if it's still about anywhere.

[tiger_rick]

10 hours ago, Winston said:

I had a handful of wrestling VHS' when I was like 4 or 5. From Royal Rumble 92, WrestleMania 8, SummerSlam 92 to Royal Rumble 93 and WrestleMania 9, with a Halloween Havoc 92 randomly thrown in, so I was at least aware of WCW's existence.

I was aware of WCW. We had the Galoob wrestling ring and some of the figures along with our Hasbro collection. Used to watch it on ITV, though not religiously. After 1993, I couldn't have told you WCW still existed, let alone who was on it.

[Chili]

As a kid WCW was very much the Burger King of wrestling promotions in the UK as a kid on the playgrounds for me. We caught a bit of it, but it just seemed very substitute. Like their marketing just wasn't as good over here.

Later I didn't understand why TNT didn't show WCW PPV's like Sky did with WWF so I think I saw that as inferior in a naive way.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Chili

[rollthedice]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

I was aware of WCW. We had the Galoob wrestling ring and some of the figures along with our Hasbro collection. Used to watch it on ITV, though not religiously. After 1993, I couldn't have told you WCW still existed, let alone who was on it.

My dad and two older brothers came back from a car boot sale with the WCW ring with the red cage and a few Galoobs for me one Sunday afternoon. One of them being Arn who I recognised from The Brainbusters and that was my introduction to WCW.

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

I can remember seeing WCW Magazine in my local newsagents or WH Smiths and seeing articles on the likes of the British Bulldog and The Nasty Boys, not knowing they had left the WWF.

One thing that I always wondered as a child was where did the Ultimate Warrior, Marty Jannetty go?

I thought that Warrior being off the screen must have been due to the snake bite and likewise with Jannetty, who must have been injured severely by the Barbershop window, but I could never work out why WWF Magazine and magazines like PWI didn't report on this.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz

[JNLister]

Apologies to those who've heard this story many times before, but there was a point in 1988 where Sky had been weeks or even months behind with WWF TV and then suddenly caught up, either by skipping stuff or doing multiple episodes a week. This coincided with WWF having a big round of cuts, which meant that to our eyes a load of guys just disappeared without explanation.

So we made one up. One kid had seen an Apter mag and half-remembered the story about Adrian Adonis and others dying in a car crash. This quickly turned into Chinese whispers and within weeks it was a well-established fact that all the missing wrestlers had died in a coach crash and that Junk Yard Dog was the driver.

[CavemanLynn]

2 hours ago, JNLister said:

This quickly turned into Chinese whispers and within weeks it was a well-established fact that all the missing wrestlers had died in a coach crash and that Junk Yard Dog was the driver.

I trust they were all babyfaces on that coach then, for kayfabe? 

[Weezenal]

3 hours ago, Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz said:

I can remember seeing WCW Magazine in my local newsagents or WH Smiths and seeing articles on the likes of the British Bulldog and The Nasty Boys, not knowing they had left the WWF.

I only knew what happened to Bret Hart when I saw him on the cover of WCW magazine in WH Smiths.