Short lived but, damn, it was good.

[IronSheik]

The Ultimate Maniacs run was criminally short at just over two months, but for some reason it had an incredible impact on me and my friends at the time.

"No sleep, no food, no nothing, just Maniacism"

 

[air_raid]

17 hours ago, theringmaster said:

I dealt many will agree but nWo 2000. Like the initial few weeks with Bret, Steiner, Nash, Harris Brothers, NWO girls and Jarret, the whole black and silver, it started off genuinely good i felt then if i remember correctly Bret got injured, then Nash got injuried and it all went to pits.

They had a great t-shirt.

Whatever good start that Bret, The Outsiders, Jarrett and eventually Scotty got off to as a new and streamlined elite was kind of put to the sword by the atrocious booking whereby Double J was made to sell for fossils Tito Santana and Jimmy Snuka and a risible fake dissension story between Bret and Kev. That’s in all of the three weeks between formation, and Bret and Jarretts concussions throwing the plan for Souled Out straight in the bin.

Imagine, when I went to see WCW in March 2000, I was actually disappointed the black and silver shirt wasn’t for sale and I had to “make do” with the black and white one. With hindsight, I lucked out.

[gmoney]

8 hours ago, IronSheik said:

The Ultimate Maniacs run was criminally short at just over two months, but for some reason it had an incredible impact on me and my friends at the time.

"No sleep, no food, no nothing, just Maniacism"

 

All of the Ultimate Maniac promos are absolutely brilliant. It think there's four of them. Some of the daftest, best stuff Warrior ever did.

[The Reverend]

After flicking through an old episode of Superstars on Youtube, I wish that Barry Windham's Widowmaker persona had stuck around for a bit longer in the WWF in 1989.

Not so much for the character, it was basically just normal heel Bazza (but with a rubbish name) but more because we may have got a few good big matches. I've always been a fan of old Baz, and we could've had an SNME match against Hogan, a Jake Roberts or, as at that time Vince was still pushing for a solo run for him, a Bret Hart match. All would've been interesting matches I'm - and also matches I think that never took place. 

[CL Punk]

Southpaw Regional Wrestling was the best thing The WWE did in years.

[wandshogun09]

13 hours ago, The Reverend said:

After flicking through an old episode of Superstars on Youtube, I wish that Barry Windham's Widowmaker persona had stuck around for a bit longer in the WWF in 1989.

Not so much for the character, it was basically just normal heel Bazza (but with a rubbish name) but more because we may have got a few good big matches. I've always been a fan of old Baz, and we could've had an SNME match against Hogan, a Jake Roberts or, as at that time Vince was still pushing for a solo run for him, a Bret Hart match. All would've been interesting matches I'm - and also matches I think that never took place. 

They were both heels when he was there in 89 but Windham vs Savage could’ve been fantastic as well if he’d stuck around until Macho was face again in 91/92.

Pretty sure Raid covered in the WWF House Show thread that there was at least a Windham vs Bret Hart match scheduled but it never ended up happening because Windham left.

They were supposed to be on opposite teams at Survivor Series 89 as well…

[Chili]

There was two US Express/Hart Foundation matches on non TV house shows in 1985 (8/7/85 being one). So they did meet at some point but Mike Rotunda and Anvil (depending what mood he was in) were there to shit it up and get in the way.

Edited April 12, 2025 by Chili

[Carbomb]

1 hour ago, CL Punk said:

Southpaw Regional Wrestling was the best thing The WWE did in years.

"I miss my father."

[sivy]

A recent one I would go for is Bronson Reed destroying guys. First Seth after summerslam then Truth the week after. Then a few banger moments against strowman. 

Goes to wargames and destroys his ankle and killing his momentum at the time. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

Only time they weren't stealing a living. 

 

[air_raid]

I quite enjoyed that little spell in late 96-97 where they called various matches "tough man" contests on Raw commentary, which was a nod to that they were heel vs heel matches, involving exclusively IIRC Austin, Vader or Mankind fighting each other. The ref did fuck all about any cheating without the match being explicitly announced as "no DQ" even allowing Austin to full bore kick Vader in the balls without calling for the bell. Of course, they all ended up in DQs anyway when whichever Taker or Bret the baddies were feuding with would interfere, but it was a fun way of pushing "here are two bad apples beating the tar out of each other - who do you like?"

 

[wandshogun09]

Yeah vividly remember that Austin vs Mankind one. I think the Sky Sports version kicked off from just after the little Survivor Series highlight they showed at the start of that video you embedded, so the show literally just started with Mankind jumping Austin. No Raw intro video, no cut to the commentators, just straight to business. I had no idea the match was gonna happen either with it being 96 and no internet for me to get anything spoiled. Last thing I was expecting but I was loving every second of it.

I loved those unexpected heel vs heel matches you’d get on Raw around that time. Don’t think it was a ‘tough man’ contest but I remember a fun Owen vs Mankind match from around the same period in either late 96 or early 97 where Mankind won with that pulling piledriver he used to do. Austin vs Triple H at Buried Alive seemed proper random as well. 

[Chili]

Austin/Triple H was originally Austin/Savio Vega but Kwang got injured so they just threw HHH in for a good match. Naturally Savio remembered the favour and stepped in at No Way Out '98.

[air_raid]

On 3/1/2024 at 10:59 AM, air_raid said:

Here's a fun match that I really enjoyed ; heel Owen Hart vs heel Mankind from a January 97 Raw ;

I post it today because it's largely forgotten to history ; even at the time it didn't make it to the relevant "Best Of Raw" tape despite being a good little match with a proper finish. It was especially interesting to me because it was another of the fairly common heel vs heel matches they seemed to not shy away from in late 96/early 97, with Owen playing face more out of the two of them. It's a fun little way to spend 10 minutes if you're a fan of either wrestler or of the era, which I so obviously am.

3 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Don’t think it was a ‘tough man’ contest but I remember a fun Owen vs Mankind match from around the same period in either late 96 or early 97 where Mankind won with that pulling piledriver he used to do. Austin vs Triple H at Buried Alive seemed proper random as well. 

Aye. Fucked up my quoting but you get what I was going for.

On the flip side… here’s an utterly random Marc Mero vs Undertaker match right before Mero did his knee, when they seemed on the verge of turning Mero, Sable or both;

I fucking love waxing lyrical about mid 90s WWF. Where is Butch anyway? He still owes me £30.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

Austin/Triple H was originally Austin/Savio Vega but Kwang got injured so they just threw HHH in for a good match.

Worth adding some context here… this was the night before Hunter would win the ICT on Raw from Marc Mero. They’d heavily built up the Mr Perfect vs Hunter match for weeks which obviously ended up being a ruse for Perfect to side with Helmsley, but within the weeks prior to Buried Alive they had also done a confrontation/argument on Superstars (Austin doing guest commentary on the match of said same Savio, which he’d eventually intefere in) where Perfect had suggested to Austin that once he was finished with Hunter, he’d be coming for him. So when they needed a new opponent for Austin, they decided to do more build with Perfect (who interfered in the match) for both his announced match with Hunter and teased program with Austin - neither of which ended up happening.