Rewatching WCW

[Merzbow]

26 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Who was booking those final few months? I remember Power Slam being very complimentary of the shows during this period but I've never watched any of them myself. 

John Laurinitis was the head booker, IIRC. I vaguely remember talk of a committee with a bunch of people coming in and out in 2000 but with him at the head of the table for the last months. I definitely remember him starting as "the finish guy" in the Pat Patterson role.

Imagine if he went full All Japan booking though, that'd have been hilarious.

Edited Friday at 05:22 PM by Merzbow

[Chico Torres]

Good way to watch late stage WCW is to go with the C and D shows.

Saturday Night when it was being booked by Jimmy Hart as a shadow Memphis-like territory within WCW with Hail as his monster heel, storylines and characters from the green rookies and veterans like Robert Gibson, Tommy Rogers and Hacksaw in the mix.

And for the D shows like Worldwide it’s just random meaningless but fun matches with the infinite roster of luchadors, Japanese wrestlers, British wrestlers and random others like The Bezerker, Barry Darsow in many gimmicks, the Beverley Brothers and neat little feuds like Chris Adams super kick vs Glacier’s cryonic kick, and various Armstrongs vs the likes of Disorderly Conduct.

Outside of mandatory Nitro and Thunder recaps they basically exist in their own universe.

[AshC]

There's a six-man tag match on one of those late Nitros, with Booker T, DDP and The Cat against Scott Steiner, Buff Bagwell and Lex Luger, or something like that... and it's fucking wicked. 

It's a great few months of TV and PPVs, which made it particularly gutting when what happened did. 

[Merzbow]

On the point of dubbing over themes on the Network and now Youtube, some are just strange as hell like Crowbar's which was by Jimmy Hart but maybe it was just too close to that Powerman 5000 song.

2 hours ago, Chico Torres said:

Saturday Night when it was being booked by Jimmy Hart as a shadow Memphis-like territory within WCW with Hail as his monster heel, storylines and characters from the green rookies and veterans like Robert Gibson, Tommy Rogers and Hacksaw in the mix.

Just looked up the last ever proper Saturday Night and it ended with:

WCW Hardcore Title On A Pole Match
Brian Knobbs (c) defeats Adrian Byrd and Dave Burkhead and Norman Smiley and Rick Fuller and The Dog (5:43)

What a way to say goodbye to a historic wrestling TV show.

EDIT: Of course it's been uploaded.

 

Edited Friday at 08:58 PM by Merzbow

[Chico Torres]

The most WCW of all WCW shows, Worldwide, turned in to a recap show for the last month of its existence and the final original match on there featured….The Harris Brothers

But in true Worldwide fashion, the show lived in and its final broadcast was technically after WCW was sold and died so it remained the last gasp of the greatest promotion that ever was, and poetically the last match shown was the Wargames from Fall Brawl 1994 which was also fittingly the last gasp of WCW as a southern territory after Hogan had come in, featuring territory royalty like The Rhodes’, Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Colonel Parker, Bunkhouse Buck and the Nasty Boys in the classic double cage. Intentional or not it was the right way to go.

“And this wraps up WCW Worldwide. Not just for this week, but forever and a day. WCW gone, Worldwide gone. We want to thank you for joining us each and every week here on WCW Worldwide. What a great crew we’ve had, it’s been a lot of fun taping these show, and you can see we have a really good time. For Mike Tenay, I’m Scott Hudson, we’ll see you down the road somewhere else.”

[Arch Stanton]

Had never heard the name Dave Burkhead before in my life. So I Googled him and it turns out... I'd never seen him before in my life either. I did, however, learn that he worked elsewhere under the name Knuckles Zandwich, which is an absolutely incredible wrestler name.

[RedTwoster]

13 minutes ago, Chico Torres said:

The most WCW of all WCW shows, Worldwide, turned in to a recap show for the last month of its existence and the final original match on there featured….The Harris Brothers

But in true Worldwide fashion, the show lived in and its final broadcast was technically after WCW was sold and died so it remained the last gasp of the greatest promotion that ever was, and poetically the last match shown was the Wargames from Fall Brawl 1994 which was also fittingly the last gasp of WCW as a southern territory after Hogan had come in, featuring territory royalty like The Rhodes’, Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck, Colonel Parker, Bunkhouse Buck and the Nasty Boys in the classic double cage. Intentional or not it was the right way to go.

“And this wraps up WCW Worldwide. Not just for this week, but forever and a day. WCW gone, Worldwide gone. We want to thank you for joining us each and every week here on WCW Worldwide. What a great crew we’ve had, it’s been a lot of fun taping these show, and you can see we have a really good time. For Mike Tenay, I’m Scott Hudson, we’ll see you down the road somewhere else.”

I didn’t know any of this. A super interesting and brilliantly written post. I really enjoyed reading that.

[Lorne Malvo]

I'm not much of a WCW fan at all, but if you don't get a lump in your throat watching them dismantle the Worldwide set during the end credits of the final episode, you're not human.

[Merzbow]

Was Tony still producing at that time?  I'm sure I heard him say on his podcast he had a big hand in putting together either Saturday Night or Worldwide, just feels like the kind of match he'd personally pick to end the show.

[BarryOVega]

3 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

Was Tony still producing at that time?  I'm sure I heard him say on his podcast he had a big hand in putting together either Saturday Night or Worldwide, just feels like the kind of match he'd personally pick to end the show.

I'd imagine he was that checked out by then they could've put Malenko Vs Kidman from Souled Out on last and he wouldn't have been arsed

[gmoney]

Jimmy Hart was booking Saturday Night, not sure if Schiavone was involved too. Don't know about Worldwide. 

[Chili]

Didn't WCW in a roundabout way outlast it's own sale on TV? 'WCW Classics' on Turner South had stuff airing until summer 2001, with NEW post buyout segments hosted by Dusty Rhodes, with Ric Flair occasionally popping in.