The Old School Questions thread

[PetrolCB]

4 minutes ago, Infinit said:

To continue the Black Scorpion talk in the RAW thread, how could it have been booked better?

I think it would have been remembered as a brilliant angle if they had done it one year later to introduce Rick Rude and kickstart the Dangerous Alliance, targeting US champion Sting.

But if it's Rude, what does he bring up instead of past matches, sleeping with his wife?

[Infinit]

2 minutes ago, PetrolCB said:

But if it's Rude, what does he bring up instead of past matches, sleeping with his wife?

I'd do the same, just mindfuck Sting and put over Rude. It's not like Flair matched up to all the hints that the Scorpion dropped.

[PetrolCB]

To be fair, he couldve hinted at beating his former partner in the Warrior.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

2 hours ago, PetrolCB said:

But if it's Rude, what does he bring up instead of past matches, sleeping with his wife?

 

 

[clintthecrippler]

14 hours ago, PetrolCB said:

To be fair, he couldve hinted at beating his former partner in the Warrior.

If it's a year later and you are using the Black Scorpion angle to introduce Rude into the mix, there's also the added wrinkle of "Warrior is not active on WWF TV" to add to the intrigue, as the Summerslam 91 blowup would have happened by then.

If the timeline remains in 1990, I would say one way to book it better would simply be to cut down on the magic tricks part of the build, it really seemed like WWF-style gimmickry in a bad way. I was the one that brought up Black Scorpion in the RAW thread after doing a 1990 WCW "big show" rewatch last week, and I got a low rent-Undertaker vibe from the special effects side of things before I remembered that this was actually BEFORE The Undertaker had debuted in WWF. Not that there wasn't plenty of room for gimmickry in the Black Scorpion angle, but that gimmickry needed to be more traditional "pro wrestling bullshit". I thought the twist with the first Clash match where they started doing the multiple Scorpion gimmick was brilliant, the idea that this puppet master has disciples willing to do his dirty work is a fun wrinkle, but the magic tricks and disappearing acts with random fans/WCW stagehands was the wrong side of goofy.

[cwoy2j]

21 hours ago, PetrolCB said:

But if it's Rude, what does he bring up instead of past matches, sleeping with his wife?

This reminds me of Scott Keith riffing on Jack Victory being under a mask as The Blackmailer and how just how in the hell that gimmick could even work in wrestling. He joked about how they should make him be "The Adulterer" one week, having him come out in a generic body suit with a big red A on it and let him cut a promo that goes like, "I cheat on my wife!!! (crowd boos) And I'll cheat on all of yoooooouuuurr wives too! (crowd booing intensifies)"

[Shane]

Was the PWF just a rebranding of Florida Wrestling or a completely separate company? Who was the President, Randy Roberts? Money mark or a name from Florida wrestling past?

Found a few episodes of the tv on YouTube and started watching. Seems like a better roster than late-era Florida, but DDP is all over this first show. At this point, his promos are still more annoying than good. He’s definitely working out the kinks.  

[odessasteps]

You mean the post-JCP,  pre-WWF Dusty version? 

[Shane]

Yes. This first show is from early-‘89, building to the Dusty vs. Big Steel Man match at Homecoming. 

 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

On 9/2/2020 at 11:19 AM, Infinit said:

To continue the Black Scorpion talk in the RAW thread, how could it have been booked better?

I think it would have been remembered as a brilliant angle if they had done it one year later to introduce Rick Rude and kickstart the Dangerous Alliance, targeting US champion Sting.

Ole watches No Holds Barred and gets Peter Weller to do it.

[colonial]

On 9/2/2020 at 11:53 PM, Shane said:

Was the PWF just a rebranding of Florida Wrestling or a completely separate company? Who was the President, Randy Roberts? Money mark or a name from Florida wrestling past?

Found a few episodes of the tv on YouTube and started watching. Seems like a better roster than late-era Florida, but DDP is all over this first show. At this point, his promos are still more annoying than good. He’s definitely working out the kinks.  

Dusty mentioned in his autobiography that Roberts was a friend of his who was a casino executive who also "specialized in startups" (Believe Roberts was a higher up for Caesars for a time, and ran their hotel/casino in Lake Tahoe). IOW, a money mark who also had a knack finding other money marks.

Read somewhere that DDP got the Florida job by doing a Dusty impression over the phone.

By all accounts, Dusty really wanted the PWF to replace the AWA as the "third national wrestling company," but the investors quickly tired of it and Dusty signed with WWF. 

 

[sydneybrown]

1 hour ago, colonial said:

Dusty mentioned in his autobiography that Roberts was a friend of his who was a casino executive who also "specialized in startups" (Believe Roberts was a higher up for Caesars for a time, and ran their hotel/casino in Lake Tahoe). IOW, a money mark who also had a knack finding other money marks.

Read somewhere that DDP got the Florida job by doing a Dusty impression over the phone.

By all accounts, Dusty really wanted the PWF to replace the AWA as the "third national wrestling company," but the investors quickly tired of it and Dusty signed with WWF. 

 

You're not wrong about quickly since Dusty was fired from Crockett in January 89 and was in WWF by early-June.  

[Shartnado]

If WCW really wanted Rude as the Black Scorpion, it could have been possible at least in theory, since Rude left WWFsometime before Survivor Series and Starrcade was in late December. They would have to bring him in the minute he became available, but they could have pulled it off. Really interesting idea. I wonder if Luger never wins the world title in '91, if Rude is already there to step in as the top heel, when Flair is fired? A topic for the What If thread, I guess?

[Brian Fowler]

Did WCW have a plan for who the Black Scorpion was supposed to be when they started it, or did they literally just wing the big angle around their new champion with no idea?

[MidnightRider]

Talking of Sting-adjacent angles... it only recently struck me how strongly he resembles (physically and in promos) Max Headroom.

It makes me wonder if he waited 20 years too late to mimic a wacky pop culture star in the Joker when he could've gone heel in the early 90s (let's say if WCW put Lex on top as a babyface). He could've stuck with his same irreverent, vaguely nonsensical promos that made him too cheesy a face and instead been an overly slick sycophant satire of Hogan - call it a dayglo nWo.

Has anyone ever done anything remotely Headroom-esque in the world of faux-fisticuffs? 

[Eoae]

8 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Did WCW have a plan for who the Black Scorpion was supposed to be when they started it, or did they literally just wing the big angle around their new champion with no idea?

Probably the former.  Ole claims he suggested the angle to Jim Herd as. a joke and Herd unexpectedly loved the idea and ran with it.

[Hagan]

I know this is a question better for Wrestling Classics but then I have to register and all. Anyway:

any good histories/articles/books on the Gulf Coast Wrestling territories. I'm out in the Gulf Coast of Florida and would love to find more of the history of this region outside of just random Cornette/Fuller shoots. 

[twiztor]

On 9/8/2020 at 2:21 AM, MidnightRider said:

a dayglo nWo.

i am both intrigued and horrified at this idea.

[Infinit]

I'm not sure if I asked this before...but did the Sunday Night Edition of World Championship Wrestling on TBS have first run matches or notable angles on it or was it a clip/recap show?

[odessasteps]

9 minutes ago, Infinit said:

I'm not sure if I asked this before...but did the Sunday Night Edition of World Championship Wrestling on TBS have first run matches or notable angles on it or was it a clip/recap show?

In the WCW era, it started with new matches and eventually changed. 
 

I think in the GCW era, it was often the latter. 

[Infinit]

I have another question Re: NWA WCW shows. Is there anywhere that translates the relatively big ratings of World Championship Wrestling and Clashes in actual/approximate viewer numbers? I hear Cornette throw around impressive sounding ratings numbers on his pods but do they equal big viewers numbers, given cable availability in the mid to late 80s?

Edited September 24, 2020 by Infinit

[odessasteps]

I thought I heard someone say the torch has them. 

[Happ Hazzard]

The classic WWF locker room background(with the lockers and a payphone) that Mean Gene etc would interview the wrestlers in front of, was that just a green screen thing  or a physical prop they'd bring to events? I suspect the latter just because the green screen for stuff like Vince and Jesse introducing the shows in front of the live crowd is blatantly obvious when looking nowadays whereas the locker room isn't. 

Also, was the Shockmaster going to wrestle in a mask that he'd wear under the Stormtrooper helmet? Obviously he wasn't wearing a mask on that fateful night and he didn't wear one when he eventually wrestled in the Wargames but did they originally plan for him to wear one in the ring? Because they had to realise that the fans wouldn't take the former Tugboat seriously as a new character.

[elizium]

I've always assumed that it was a physical set they'd bring with them, like the Brother Love or Barbershop sets. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a permanent set in Stamford or something too, for pre-taping purposes. A lot of the SNME interviews are clearly not shot at the same time as the SNME cards (there are periodic continuity errors on clothing wrestlers are wearing, like Hulk wearing a shirt ripped in a certain place in the interview, but coming out for his match seconds later with a slightly different rips).

[tbarrie]

11 hours ago, Happ Hazzard said:

Also, was the Shockmaster going to wrestle in a mask that he'd wear under the Stormtrooper helmet? Obviously he wasn't wearing a mask on that fateful night and he didn't wear one when he eventually wrestled in the Wargames but did they originally plan for him to wear one in the ring? Because they had to realise that the fans wouldn't take the former Tugboat seriously as a new character.

They realized nothing.