The Old School Questions thread

[The Green Meanie 2,000]

19 hours ago, Happ Hazzard said:

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.

 

7 hours ago, elizium said:

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).

I believe it was a physical set as well, as there was at least three different color variants I can remember:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X6IXkS91JGU/maxresdefault.jpg

Edited October 19, 2020 by The Green Meanie

[Infinit 2,996]

Was Flair injured during the Summerslam 92 period? Weird that they would have him in a match during the show, even if he took part in the Warrior/Savage match.

[Eoae 810]

7 hours ago, Infinit said:

Was Flair injured during the Summerslam 92 period? Weird that they would have him in a match during the show, even if he took part in the Warrior/Savage match.

Yeah,  He was injured by the Ultimate Warrior right before he dropped the World Title to Bret in October.  According to Flair, the injury was the reason for the title switch.  Warrior dropped Ric on his head and he (Flair) suffered some sort of "inner ear problem" which game him vertigo.  Flair worked a couple of dates afterward but couldn't work at much more than half speed and the office decided to have him drop the title right away.

He was out of the ring for about six weeks, irrc, which took him through SummerSlam.  In his book, Flair said he went back in the ring but still had issues with balance and double vision that lasted almost a year.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Eoae

[odessasteps 13,956]

Didn't we discuss the inner ear injury here not that long ago? 

[ChesterCopperpot 4,484]

On 10/18/2020 at 12:41 AM, Happ Hazzard said:

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. 

 

 

[paintedbynumbers 898]

13 hours ago, Eoae said:

Yeah,  He was injured by the Ultimate Warrior right before he dropped the World Title to Bret in October.  According to Flair, the injury was the reason for the title switch.  Warrior dropped Ric on his head and he (Flair) suffered some sort of "inner ear problem" which game him vertigo.  Flair worked a couple of dates afterward but couldn't work at much more than half speed and the office decided to have him drop the title right away.

He was out of the ring for about six weeks, irrc, which took him through SummerSlam.  In his book, Flair said he went back in the ring but still had issues with balance and double vision that lasted almost a year.

pretty sure i have the fan cam of this. Back in the day I would buy a bunch of WWF, WCW, NJPW, and AJPW on crazymax from a guy named Mike who lived in NYC (if anyone remembers him)  I know one of them has a Warrior-Flair match. If I recall it was garbage with a lot of Flair bumping for Warrior.  

[Hagan 1,441]

Who was Jason the Terrible at ECW Double Tables ‘95? Wiki links to Smother’s page because he played the role but I don’t think it’s The Main Man.

[DMJ 19]

Okay, some questions about "The Narcissist" Lex Luger. Not sure if its been discussed before.

So...

Luger gets hired for the WBF, the WBF folds, and Luger comes back to the ring in as a heel with Heenan as his manager. Its not a bad idea, especially as, by this point, I'm guessing Vince knew Flair was on his way out so it makes total sense for Luger to come in as the new top heel.

But what was the long-term plan? To face Bret at SummerSlam? Or did Vince already have Hogan's return locked-in in January? So, Hogan/Luger at SummerSlam? Or was Hogan's deal always just going to be a couple months long and end at King of the Ring 93'? 

I guess I'm just curious where Vince's head was at with Luger and his entire main event scene, especially as, at the time, I feel like they had 6-7 months planned out ahead of time. I mean, Luger was a big enough "name" to come in and be the top heel but at the same time, Vince also had Yokozuna getting a monster push. So, if Hogan never comes back, does Bret beat Yoko and then feud with Luger? Was Luger's heel run always designed to be short-lived?  

[thee Reverend Axl Future 1,786]

Luger was Mr. McMahon's ideal wrestler form at that time - I always surmised (and I don't remember the WON talk from that time) that he was to turn ASAP, face vacuum, heel surplus or not. Look at how he was loaded - pushed as a reformed heel, body builder, super strong, a patriot AND a bionic magic forearm. LL does not have enough personality to carry the main baby champ role (or the main heel role for too long, even with a manager, in my opinion). Hindsight and all that...

- RAF

[Shartnado 564]

Before the face turn, Luger was sort of feuding with Bret already  (since WMIX brunch or something) , but that was abandoned with the face turn. I have heard that the original plan was Hogan vs Bret for the title at SummerSlam, with Hogan putting Bret over as the new top guy. Hogan was OK with it if he got the title at Mania, then went back on his word once he got it, hence the Yokozuna squash at KotR. Now, I have no idea if any of this is accurate or not, but you'd figure that Luger was the next heel in line for the title shot after Bret regained the belt. The face turn did seem very abrupt at the time and still does.

[Infinit 2,996]

28 minutes ago, Shartnado said:

Before the face turn, Luger was sort of feuding with Bret already  (since WMIX brunch or something) , but that was abandoned with the face turn. I have heard that the original plan was Hogan vs Bret for the title at SummerSlam, with Hogan putting Bret over as the new top guy. Hogan was OK with it if he got the title at Mania, then went back on his word once he got it, hence the Yokozuna squash at KotR. Now, I have no idea if any of this is accurate or not, but you'd figure that Luger was the next heel in line for the title shot after Bret regained the belt. The face turn did seem very abrupt at the time and still does.

Didn't Lex knock out Mr Perfect at the Mania brunch?

[Shartnado 564]

1 hour ago, Infinit said:

Didn't Lex knock out Mr Perfect at the Mania brunch?

He did knock out both guys, not quite sure when was which? Either way, Perfect brawled with HBK after his loss to Luger, so maybe Luger knocked out Bret in a press conference afterwards, or something?

I do seem to remember that the said knock out was mentioned as one of the reasons why Bret lost to Yokozuna in the first place, so maybe not?

But there definitely was shit going down between Luger and Bret, already at WMIX!

[Technico Support 9,986]

LOOOOOL how many times has Hogan pulled the "job for me now and I'll return the favor later, brother" bullshit?  Guy is a master. 

 

[Shartnado 564]

2 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

LOOOOOL how many times has Hogan pulled the "job for me now and I'll return the favor later, brother" bullshit?  Guy is a master. 

 

Several. Oh, that must have been one those rhetorical questions, am I right? '93 was probably still so early in the game, that someone would still fall for his bullshit. It amazes me that people would fall for it in the early 2000's and later.

[Happ Hazzard 472]

I think the Narcissist gimmick really damaged Luger in the eyes of the WWF fans. If they'd brought him in as the Total Package, (and he WAS the Total Package in the WBF, including in his interview at WM8) as a heel and a surprise entrant in the '93 Rumble, and then turned him face the same way they did, I think he gets over a lot more than he did. Obviously the booking was all over the place that year, I don't think they had planned for Hogan to win the title at Mania at the time Luger debuted, and I certainly don't think they knew Hogan was leaving for good in a few months when they put the belt on him at 'Mania.

[thee Reverend Axl Future 1,786]

The Narcissist was a shite gimmick, despite the hard work of The Brain, and it did LL no favors. It did not help that it appeared that he had never heard the word "narcissist", let alone Narcissus, before he joined the WWF. The Total Package was a solid if minimal gimmick and more his speed, Allah bless his pointy little head.

woof,

RAF

[Vgmastr 134]

I'd say what really killed Luger was the finish to the Summerslam match with Yokozuna.  Going into the match he knew it was his only title shot, yet he knocks Yoko out of the ring, then happily counts along with the ref for the 10 count and celebrates with all the babyfaces and balloons dropping from the ceiling.  He blew his one and only title shot and is celebrating like he won the title, it made him look like a complete idiot.  Even as an 11 year old mark who ate up all of the WWF's bullshit like it was ice cream, I knew the finish absolutely sucked.

[Happ Hazzard 472]

6 hours ago, Vgmastr said:

I'd say what really killed Luger was the finish to the Summerslam match with Yokozuna.  Going into the match he knew it was his only title shot, yet he knocks Yoko out of the ring, then happily counts along with the ref for the 10 count and celebrates with all the babyfaces and balloons dropping from the ceiling.  He blew his one and only title shot and is celebrating like he won the title, it made him look like a complete idiot.  Even as an 11 year old mark who ate up all of the WWF's bullshit like it was ice cream, I knew the finish absolutely sucked.

Yeah absolutely, but I think Luger's failure to get over as much as expected was what made them delay putting the belt on him. It was absolutely crazy to do the celebration after the match at SummerSlam, the actual booking was reasonable enough, Luger wins but doesn't win the title, and has to somehow get another title shot, culminating with him entering and winning the Royal Rumble. But he should have been pissed off at SummerSlam, not being paraded round the ring on the Steiner's shoulders, with balloons and confetti dropping from the sky.

[AxB 11,833]

When you consider the entire history of people being on the Steiner's shoulders, Luger should be thanking his lucky stars he was just being paraded, rather than Bulldogged or DDT'ed or something.

[BloodyChamp 162]

Luger was really mad when he lost to Flair by countout, so I guess he was really glad that he beat Yoko by count out.

[Shartnado 564]

Speaking of Luger and Steiners, when there was the Yokozuna bodyslam challenge, was there a coin toss or something to decide which Steiner brother gets to attempt? As I didn't see Scott giving it a go in the recap on Superstars. It's just that if Luger could supposedly slam Yokozuna, I'd have hard time buying that Scott couldn't!

[Brian Fowler 15,280]

On 11/12/2020 at 11:43 PM, Vgmastr said:

I'd say what really killed Luger was the finish to the Summerslam match with Yokozuna.  Going into the match he knew it was his only title shot, yet he knocks Yoko out of the ring, then happily counts along with the ref for the 10 count and celebrates with all the babyfaces and balloons dropping from the ceiling.  He blew his one and only title shot and is celebrating like he won the title, it made him look like a complete idiot.  Even as an 11 year old mark who ate up all of the WWF's bullshit like it was ice cream, I knew the finish absolutely sucked.

And I don't think Vince considered just how much Lex was already seen as "can't win the big one" after coming up short against Flair repeatedly, only getting the WCW belt after Flair was fired without having to take it from anyone, and having such an uneventful reign before dropping it on his way out.

That Yoko match sealed it, he was the guy who got close but never beats the champ.

[DreamBroken 2,596]

On 11/14/2020 at 3:04 AM, Shartnado said:

Speaking of Luger and Steiners, when there was the Yokozuna bodyslam challenge, was there a coin toss or something to decide which Steiner brother gets to attempt? As I didn't see Scott giving it a go in the recap on Superstars. It's just that if Luger could supposedly slam Yokozuna, I'd have hard time buying that Scott couldn't!

the full version is on the Network and includes both Steiners. My favorite of the hidden gem uploads.

[PetrolCB 9,271]

36 minutes ago, DreamBroken said:

the full version is on the Network and includes both Steiners. My favorite of the hidden gem uploads.

Yes, and if you want to watch it and have a laugh, the OSW boys reviewed it...

 

[Shartnado 564]

4 hours ago, DreamBroken said:

the full version is on the Network and includes both Steiners. My favorite of the hidden gem uploads.

Wow, that sucks for Scotty, then! Crush and bunch of others did ok shoot(?) lifting Yoko a tiny bit off the ground, but I guess the metal forearm shot to the forehead made Yoko leap into Luger's arms, instead of getting knocked out, like everyone else (including himself about every other time he got hit with it).