Ron Wright Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Now I know that Bill Watts was brought in back in 1992 to take over for Frye in running WCW, but what if they'd brought him in back in 88-89 instead of Pizza Boy? What if they just let Frey keep running things in 92? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I'm glad Kip Frey got mentioned. I'm in the midst of watching SuperBrawl II and he was mentioned in the beginning of the show by Ross. I'm not incredibly familiar with early 90's WCW but I know well enough that Jim Herd=terrible, Bill Watts=improvement over Herd but a little dated in his ideas, just nothing about Kip Frey. Did he have a wrestling background or was he just a random Turner executive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Z Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Watching the Legends Roundtable on Giants, and what if HHH goes over Taker at Mania 17? I expected HHH to win that match, especially with where their characters were at that time (and at that point, I'd have had no issue of HHH going over there). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iron Yuppie Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Wow, that's a really good one. The Streak was acknowledged at this point but didn't seem important. I don't feel like until the next year with the Flair match, or even until XX with the Kane rematch, was The Streak really treated special. If HHH goes over, I imagine Taker is retired by now and possibly being inducted into the HOF this year since New Orleans seems fitting for the Dead Man. Wrestlemania is also much less exciting for the last few years without that marquee match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 Only thing I remember about Frey is he gave best match bonuses, which led to things like Nash busting his ass in meaningless midcard hell. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I'm glad Kip Frey got mentioned. I'm in the midst of watching SuperBrawl II and he was mentioned in the beginning of the show by Ross. I'm not incredibly familiar with early 90's WCW but I know well enough that Jim Herd=terrible, Bill Watts=improvement over Herd but a little dated in his ideas, just nothing about Kip Frey. Did he have a wrestling background or was he just a random Turner executive? He gave big bonuses which caused wrestlers to (1) be happy (2) bust their ass. All things considered he sounded like a great boss from what little I remember from Foley's book... I wish I could remember the Kevin Nash quote about Kip Frey from that book too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I'm glad Kip Frey got mentioned. I'm in the midst of watching SuperBrawl II and he was mentioned in the beginning of the show by Ross. I'm not incredibly familiar with early 90's WCW but I know well enough that Jim Herd=terrible, Bill Watts=improvement over Herd but a little dated in his ideas, just nothing about Kip Frey. Did he have a wrestling background or was he just a random Turner executive? He gave big bonuses which caused wrestlers to (1) be happy (2) bust their ass. All things considered he sounded like a great boss from what little I remember from Foley's book... I wish I could remember the Kevin Nash quote about Kip Frey from that book too According to his Wiki entry, he was a Turner corporate suit. He's teaching at Duke now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 YMMV but I'd say Kip-era WCW was better than Watts-era. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 YMMV but I'd say Kip-era WCW was better than Watts-era. Yeah, now that I think about it the Pillman/Liger match wouldn't have been as awesome under the Watts regime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 What if Flair and Arn lost to Kevin Greene and Mongo at the Great American Bash? Bam Bam already lost to LT at Wrestlemania the year prior and he was a really good big man, but not a main eventer. If those football players would've beat two of the best in the world at that time, it would've made wrestling look fucking weak compared to football. Sniff at it all you want, but this is WCW and they spent 75% of their existence doing stupid shit so it's not too farfetched of a possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 YMMV but I'd say Kip-era WCW was better than Watts-era. Yeah, now that I think about it the Pillman/Liger match wouldn't have been as awesome under the Watts regime. Holy shit, I hadn't even thought about that! Now that you mention it, though, I'm intrigued to think about how they might've worked around the top-rope ban. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great ML Posted March 6, 2014 Share Posted March 6, 2014 I too, am a fan of the Kip Frey era in WCW. Dangerous Alliance firing on all cylinders, Sting as the top dog, Steiners throwing huge dudes in suplexes, Rude and Steamboat...and even random mid-card matches with great effort all around. Shame it didn't last longer. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamBroken Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What if Triple H didn't tear his quad the second time? Rumored at the time was Cena/HHH II at Mania 23, would H have gotten the win this time which would've meant no year+ long reign for Cena? Wonder where it would've left HBK as well, maybe in that year's MITB. With the way it ended up, I always loved the whole build to and eventual match(es) of Cena/Michaels and Cena's great reign in general afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 So if Frey was liked by the boys and WCW was churning out a pretty improved show than when they were run by Herd, why did WCW turn to Watts? Was Frey always just a stopgap or was WCW not generating enough revenue and they thought Watts would give them a better chance to stop losing so much money? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 They were hemorrhaging cash under Frey. Watts was brought in to cut costs and boost revenues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Well, one out of two ain't bad. (Actually I have no idea if he boosted revenues or not.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 They were hemorrhaging cash under Frey. Watts was brought in to cut costs and boost revenues. I figured that had to be the likely reason. Too bad because didn't both the Steiners and Paul E leave due to Watts cutting costs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I was under the impression the Steiners left because Watts wanted Scott to turn heel, and Scott refused. Which is pretty funny in hindsight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Maybe that was the reason for the Steiners, although Wiki claims that they left because Watts low-balled them on their contract renewal. I think I remember hearing a Jim Cornette interview where he said that Bobby Eaton was another victim of budget cuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cool arrow Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 WCW was really just a clusterfuck from day one, wasn't it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bustronaut Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What if Shieky takes Verne up on his offer, breaks Hogan's leg and takes the WWF title to the AWA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BurningBeard Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 They were hemorrhaging cash under Frey. Watts was brought in to cut costs and boost revenues. I figured that had to be the likely reason. Too bad because didn't both the Steiners and Paul E leave due to Watts cutting costs? Basically, Watts didn't take a salary but took a percentage of the money he saved the company instead... so of course it was in his best interest to cut contracts, lowball what few stars WCW had leading them to quit on his watch. Everyone's so quick to give Watts a verbal blowjob but I honestly think hiring him was one of the worst things WCW ever did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What if Shieky takes Verne up on his offer, breaks Hogan's leg and takes the WWF title to the AWA? I was watching some Hulk matches from 84, I don't think Sheik is breaking his leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petey Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 WCW was really just a clusterfuck from day one, wasn't it? If you mean from the moment Turner bought out Crockett, yeah pretty much. Granted, 1989 was a critical success (not sure how it was from a financial perspective), but once Flair lost power in 1990 and Herd began to exert more of his influence, WCW really started becoming WCW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Bugg Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 WCW was really just a clusterfuck from day one, wasn't it? If you mean from the moment Turner bought out Crockett, yeah pretty much. Granted, 1989 was a critical success (not sure how it was from a financial perspective), but once Flair lost power in 1990 and Herd began to exert more of his influence, WCW really started becoming WCW. I think WCW lost money even then- looking back at the arena results (http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw89.htm), I'd say 3,000 attendance in an arena is hardly what you'd call making money hand over fist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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