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I’m starting an ECW watch from when they debuted on TNN all the way to the very end (with PPVs and Hardcore TV) and boy does Peacock not want to make that easy for me IE no making a playlist of episodes or anything like that. But oh well, I’m excited for this, since I haven’t seen some of this stuff since I was a kid, and I’ve never watched Hardcore TV, EVER.

I’m skipping the debut episode of the TNN show since it’s just an older RVD/Lynn match.

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On 1/28/2022 at 5:51 AM, LoneWolf&Subs said:

Legit, the Dysfunctional Horsemen were incredibly entertaining. Especially the Jarrett  & Mongo stuff. I’m sure I’ll hit a wall with McMichael eventually, but even with questionable in ring ability, the man still projects so much personality, and natural goofy charisma that makes him more entertaining than your average WCW wrestler from that time period. 

I would gladly state that this incarnation of the Horsemen can rank third all-time amongst all versions of this group.

Isn't this also the time when Arn got his pinfall win over Hogan on Nitro as well?  

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I have been watching random WWF PPVs from between 1988 and 1994 as I work in the background. I watched Summerslam '91 and then KotR '93 (my personal favorite PPV ever because I had it on tape as a kid and know it by heart).

I'm not sure which Hitman/Perfect match is better. Before today, I would have sworn that KotR was better, but man did I love the last few minutes of Summerslam's match. I really love it when someone hits their best shot, it only gets two, and they inevitably slide toward defeat. Perfect's wild bumping and growing realization that he was in over his head was capped off by the Perfectplex getting two. Everything about his facial expressions and body movements read like an athlete who basically was just playing out the string because he had nothing left for his opponent. 

On the other hand, the rematch was suitably mean, built on the finger injury Hart sustained from the match against Razor, and had that fun "my dad can beat your dad" dueling promo beforehand. 

I wish there was good footage of the Anchorage house show match that Bret holds in such high esteem because he seems to think that's their best bout, and if it's better than both of these, it must be something.

It's too bad that in Bret's book, he was mostly sore about not being WWF champ anymore because of the IX fuckery and Lawler being reckless with the throne because he had a fantastic night at KotR. Every match he had was fun and creative, and he sold accumulating damage so well. Tour de force performance from him, IMO.

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On 2/3/2022 at 8:08 PM, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

I have been watching random WWF PPVs from between 1988 and 1994 as I work in the background. I watched Summerslam '91 and then KotR '93 (my personal favorite PPV ever because I had it on tape as a kid and know it by heart).

I'm not sure which Hitman/Perfect match is better. Before today, I would have sworn that KotR was better, but man did I love the last few minutes of Summerslam's match. I really love it when someone hits their best shot, it only gets two, and they inevitably slide toward defeat. Perfect's wild bumping and growing realization that he was in over his head was capped off by the Perfectplex getting two. Everything about his facial expressions and body movements read like an athlete who basically was just playing out the string because he had nothing left for his opponent. 

On the other hand, the rematch was suitably mean, built on the finger injury Hart sustained from the match against Razor, and had that fun "my dad can beat your dad" dueling promo beforehand. 

I wish there was good footage of the Anchorage house show match that Bret holds in such high esteem because he seems to think that's their best bout, and if it's better than both of these, it must be something.

It's too bad that in Bret's book, he was mostly sore about not being WWF champ anymore because of the IX fuckery and Lawler being reckless with the throne because he had a fantastic night at KotR. Every match he had was fun and creative, and he sold accumulating damage so well. Tour de force performance from him, IMO.

KOTR 93 was such an anomaly in WWF PPVs at the time.  It was just a straight rasslin’ show without much bullshit.  Love it!

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3 hours ago, Brandon Bones said:

KOTR 93 was such an anomaly in WWF PPVs at the time.  It was just a straight rasslin’ show without much bullshit.  Love it!

Yep, fun show with solid matches. Even the stuff that's not that great in any objective sense, I really like. For example, I very much enjoy that Luger/Tatanka draw because it's not a great  or even very good match, but I do think that they work the draw in the spirit of their characters and that elevates it a bit. Tatanka has a never-say-die spirit. Luger is very good, but he's also lazy and strategically lax and those things keep him from being what he could be. You get that from the match layout and the way that they work it. I don't know, I can't judge what is otherwise a by-the-book 15 minute-ish draw fairly because it's part of a show that is so familiar to me.

The only thing I hate is that Hogan/Yoko, Crush/Michaels, and Hart/Bigelow all had outside interference that lead either directly or indirectly to the finish, but only the last bout was re-started. At the very least, you could argue that Nash interfering on behalf of Michaels didn't lead directly to HBK's victory and that Doink's distraction didn't actually involve Doink running in and attacking Crush, but still. 

I've thought way too much about this show, I admit. 

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I know they had the whole Lawler-Hart feud but damn did they have a wide open path to the basket with Lex. The Narcissist would have been perfect in a heel King role.  They  could have given him a brief title reign and then have Bret come in as the hero to take the belt off of him. Could have made a good story. 

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I love Yokozuna, but he becomes more and more immobile through that run. Even where he is size-wise in the Hogan match is appreciably different from when he came in and was doing thrust kicks and awesome belly-to-bellys where he gets some air and other athletic stuff. 

Honestly, Luger having a heel run as champ sounds decent enough even though I would have preferred Vince going all the way with Bret and having him beat Savage and Hogan cleanly at WM and KotR back to back before having a run through the fall. If you want to take it off him at Survivor Series or the Rumble so that he can have another WM moment in 1994, go for it. Lex as a short-term champ to set up a main event against Bret would be cool.

Then again, it probably wipes out the Owen turn and the fantastic WM X opener (which is another all-time-awesome opener). I really love that match and the feud in general. So that's the downside. I still think overall, I would prefer it.

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Thoughts on Great American Bash 96

The Outsiders' attack on Eric Bischoff showed that they weren't just a new tag team or faction. They were going to change WCW and do some serious damage.

Konnan put together a strong US title reign, defending against a variety of opponents, including El Gato here, who didn't bother not dressing like Pat Tanaka.

Dean Malenko kept Rey Misterio Jr. from having a coming-out party at his expense. While Rey showed off some cool moves, Malenko put on a master class of mat wrestling and retained the Cruiserweight title.

Like Konnan, the Giant had an impressive run as WCW World champion, and he was still a rookie! He added Lex Luger to his list of victims, which also included Flair, Savage and Sting. 

The football players' match was 10 times better than expected, and it elevated the quality of the whole show. Steve McMichael and Kevin Greene looked like they knew what they were doing, instead of being obviously carried by the Horsemen. The finish was great too, with Debra joining Liz and Woman and convincing her husband to sell out to the Horsemen.

Speaking of Horsemen, Chris Benoit is the MVP of the show. Not only did he destroy his top enemy, Kevin Sullivan, in a crazy brawl, but he also kept the Macho Man out of the way while McMichael lowered the boom on Kevin Greene. Arn gave Benoit the Horsemen seal of approval after the match.

Edited by Gorman
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Thoughts on Bash at the Beach 96

Two years after arriving to save WCW, Hulk Hogan showed up again to tear it down. Bobby Heenan got flak for asking "Whose side is he on?" and he said it twice, but he was right! Just like the WWF and WCW, Hogan used the nWo as another vehicle to get himself over, and all three times, it worked. So Hogan is the MVP.

Rey Misterio Jr.'s opener with Eddy Guerrero from Halloween Havoc gets a lot of love, but his opener here against Psicosis was also a classic.

Eric Bischoff was missing all night. The announcers speculated that he had been kidnapped, not that he was secretly behind the nWo, which had recently attacked him. Of course, nobody would have blamed Bischoff if he were afraid of being attacked again.

Dean Malenko seemed almost annoyed to be defending the Cruiserweight title against Disco Inferno.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan dominated his match against DDP, lost to the Diamond Cutter, and popped right back up to knock out DDP with a taped fist. 

Nothing wrong with Ric Flair winning the US title after holding the World title nearly twice as many times as anyone else. No shame for Konnan in losing the title to Flair, either.

Carson City is known as the capital of Nevada and the town where people hit each other with socks full of silver dollars. The sock was placed so high on the pole that John Tenta and Big Bubba had no chance of reaching it. Only Jimmy Hart could do that job. Too bad Tenta gave his "I am not a fish" speech, because it would have been perfect for him to show up at Bash at the Beach as the Shark.

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3 hours ago, Gorman said:

I understand why Hog Wild 96 isn't on Peacock, but any idea why the last WCW PPV (Greed) isn't there?

Both are there. Under "view all" WCW Series & Specials. Hog Wild 96 is the very last one listed while Greed is near the bottom with a Scott Steiner graphic 

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Jesse Ventura spends part of SuperBrawl 2 calling Jim Ross "J.R." and telling him that as an Okie, he should be wearing a cowboy hat. 

Jesse is truly a visionary. 

His WCW run on commentary is legit one of my favorite things ever. Like, yeah, his WWF run on commentary is great, but I feel like he doesn't get enough love for his WCW work. 

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Thoughts on Hog Wild

Rey Misterio Jr. wins the MVP award for waking up the biker crowd with his cruiserweight title defense against Ultimo Dragon. These fans had already watched two hours of WCW Saturday Night and didn't seem familiar with what was going on in WCW.

Scott Norton won the first round in Fire vs. Ice, as Ice Train's shoulder was bandaged up and gave Norton an easy target.

The announcers missed the finish of the Madusa vs. Bull Nakano match, and so did the guy ringing the bell. They were surprised when the post-match bike-smashing began.

Dusty Rhodes mentioned what a high-quality, unbiased official Nick Patrick was. Later in the show, Patrick started favoring the nWo.

The biker fans booed the outstanding Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko bout because it kept going past the time limit like the Johnny B. Badd-Brian Pillman match. That was like booing more Christmas presents.

These fans also really hated Harlem Heat for some reason. Several fans were motioning for Heat to come out and fight them, but they wouldn't have lasted a minute with Sister Sherri.

Hog Wild was the opposite of SummerSlam 91, as the heels won the last four matches (Heat, Flair, Outsiders, Hogan).

Even though Scott Hall and Kevin Nash interfered and got chokeslammed by The Giant, referee Randy Anderson didn't disqualify Hogan, who KO'd Giant with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and regained the WCW title. Of course, the fans missed the memo that Hogan was a bad guy, and they cheered for him.

Brutus Beefcake gets no sympathy for the nWo beating him up after Hogan won the title. He turned on Hulk at Halloween Havoc 94, so he had it comin'.

The most surprising thing about Hog Wild? For the first and only time in pro wrestling history, the birthday cake did not get destroyed!

Edited by Gorman
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Thoughts on Fall Brawl 96

I've never been a big Super Calo fan, but he looked great against Rey Misterio Jr. Calo didn't even botch his ankle-rana off the top rope.

Chavo Guerrero Jr. also showed promise before eating a Diamond Cutter.

Ice Train won Round 2 of Fire vs. Ice, beating Scott Norton in a submission match with a full nelson. 

Chris Benoit kept up his momentum with a win over Chris Jericho, who was making his PPV debut.

Having two managers paid off again for Harlem Heat. Sherri and Col. Parker led them to victory over the Steiners at Hog Wild and the Nasty Boys here.

The Giant is the MVP, as his defection to the nWo swung the balance of power. Not only did the Giant beat Randy Savage in the co-main event, he came back to save Hogan from an attack by the Macho Man after War Games.

Lex Luger had a lot of nerve not trusting Sting, after the Stinger stood by his side for months. Ric Flair and Arn Anderson also shouldn't have doubted Sting's loyalty. To be fair, the fake Sting looked a LOT like the real Sting, as you could tell when they were in the War Games cage together. Sting would have to wait more than a year before WCW would allow him to lead the charge against the nWo invasion.  

 

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20 hours ago, Gorman said:

Thoughts on Hog Wild

Rey Misterio Jr. wins the MVP award for waking up the biker crowd with his cruiserweight title defense against Ultimo Dragon. These fans had already watched two hours of WCW Saturday Night and didn't seem familiar with what was going on in WCW.

Scott Norton won the first round in Fire vs. Ice, as Ice Train's shoulder was bandaged up and gave Norton an easy target.

The announcers missed the finish of the Madusa vs. Bull Nakano match, and so did the guy ringing the bell. They were surprised when the post-match bike-smashing began.

Dusty Rhodes mentioned what a high-quality, unbiased official Nick Patrick. Later in the show, Patrick started favoring the nWo.

The biker fans booed the outstanding Chris Benoit vs. Dean Malenko bout because it kept going past the time limit like the Johnny B. Badd-Brian Pillman match. That was like booing more Christmas presents.

These fans also really hated Harlem Heat for some reason. Several fans were motioning for Heat to come out and fight them, but they wouldn't have lasted a minute with Sister Sherri.

Hog Wild was the opposite of SummerSlam 91, as the heels won the last four matches (Heat, Flair, Outsiders, Hogan).

Even though Scott Hall and Kevin Nash interfered and got chokeslammed by The Giant, referee Randy Anderson didn't disqualify Hogan, who KO'd Giant with Jimmy Hart's megaphone and regained the WCW title. Of course, the fans missed the memo that Hogan was a bad guy, and they cheered for him.

Brutus Beefcake gets no sympathy for the nWo beating him up after Hogan won the title. He turned on Hulk at Halloween Havoc 94, so he had it comin'.

The most surprising thing about Hog Wild? For the first and only time in pro wrestling history, the birthday cake did not get destroyed!

Oh, there's a reason...

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Thoughts on Halloween Havoc 96

The Rey Jr.-Malenko match perfectly illustrated the importance of the mask. Malenko showed up with a mask he had stolen from Rey, who regained the possession of it and put it back on without revealing his face to the crowd. Malenko wins the MVP award for regaining the Cruiserweight title, showing that mat wrestling could be as much of a signature for the division as high flying.

DDP beat another Guerrero clean with the Diamond Cutter (Eddy this time) to regain possession of his Battlebowl ring.

Jeff Jarrett looked like he was dropped in from the WWF because he wore his old "Double J" outfit, minus the hat. Ironically, he would have fit in perfectly with the southern-style WCW if he had wrestled there first. Jarrett said he would not be chokeslammed by The Giant and he was right, as the Four Horsemen backed him up in a rare showing of solidarity by WCW wrestlers against the nWo.

Arn Anderson shouldn't have placed the blame on Lex Luger for WCW's loss in War Games. Luger said he would destroy Arn, and that's just what he did. 

The nWo ran the table again with victories by Giant, 6, Outsiders and Hogan. Their dominance over WCW was already becoming tiresome.

Even the power of Slim Jim sponsorship could not propel Randy Savage to win the title from Hogan, who really seemed to enjoy his heel role. While the main event was a rematch of WrestleMania V, Roddy Piper came out at the end and invited everyone to relive the first WrestleMania.

Edited by Gorman
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Thoughts on World War 3 1996

DDP shouldn't have gotten excited about winning World War 3 and getting a title shot. He never got his title shot for winning Battlebowl.

Nick Patrick had great heel presence and took a lot of bumps during his match with Chris Jericho. This brings up the question: why didn't Nick Patrick just become a wrestler?

Ultimo Dragon retained his eight titles and targeted Dean Malenko's cruiserweight title as belt No. 9. In a perfect world, that would have been the co-main event of Starrcade.

Roddy Piper brought his own contract to the ring for the Starrcade main event against Hogan. I'm sure Piper fired his lawyer for forgetting the whole "title shot" aspect of the match. Piper attacking Hogan with the entire nWo standing right there wasn't very smart, either.

The Amazing French Quebecers built an elaborate contraption out of tables and steps, only to whiff on the huge version of their Tower of Quebec finisher. Their loss to Harlem Heat allowed Sherri to beat up Col. Parker, which had the announcers howling with laughter.

Eric Bischoff was a game changer as the wrestling boss who joined the top heel group. Even Vince McMahon didn't start playing the evil boss until a year later.

Tony Schiavone noted that Sting's attack on Jeff Jarrett didn't mean that he was joining the nWo, because Sting wasn't out there with Hogan during the segment with Piper.

The Giant is the MVP. Not only did he chokeslam and pin Jeff Jarrett (which he didn't do at Halloween Havoc), but he won the World War 3 battle royale by banding together with the Outsiders and 6 to establish a 4-on-1 advantage over Lex Luger at the end. 

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@Gorman, i am irrationally angry that you keep typing 6 instead of Syxx. 

i never even noticed that DDP didn't get his BattleBowl title shot. he had to defend that ring all the time (at least, compared to any other title shot victory). what a ripoff!

re: Piper/Hogan, i know when that Starrcade match happened, i was shocked at the Piper win but felt duped after they revealed it was non-title. a real Dusty finish that you didn't see much during the MNW era. 

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Thoughts on Starrcade 96

Just when you thought WCW would build its women's division around Madusa like the WWF - surprise! Akira Hokuto wins the belt.

Ultimo Dragon walked out of Nashville with nine belts after beating Dean Malenko for the cruiserweight title. Jushin Liger's win over Rey Jr. gave Japan a clean sweep of the first three matches, along with a bit of revenge for losing at Starrcade 95.

Jeff Jarrett and Chris Benoit were having a no-DQ match that didn't seem worthy of the stipulation when three crazy things suddenly happened at the same time:

  • Dungeon of Doom tries to kidnap Woman -- and fails!
  • Sullivan breaks a wooden chair over Benoit's head!
  • Arn gives Jarrett a DDT on the floor before accidentally throwing him on top of Benoit for the win!

Eddy Guerrero won the US title tournament, but his win was overshadowed by the nWo beating up DDP before his win and Eddy himself after the pin. Eddy even had his new title belt stolen by Syyxxxx.

With Nick Patrick as the referee for the Outsiders' title defense, Tony Schiavone said there was no way the Faces of Fear would win. So what are we even doing here? To be fair, Nash pinned Barbarian clean after the Jackknife powerbomb.

Mean Gene said Roddy Piper would be in "role of challenger" in the main event. Somehow the Match of the Century (according to Michael Buffer) was a non-title match, and Hogan gloated about that fact after the loss. Piper, his kids, and the fans had been celebrating with fireworks going off, in the biggest case of mass hysteria since Luger beat Yokozuna at SummerSlam 93. Bobby Heenan, who was the voice of reason at that time, was even caught up in the joy of Piper's win.

Speaking of Luger, he is the MVP for finally handing the nWo a loss on pay-per-view. During his match with the Giant, Sting showed up and said, "Give him the heater, Ricky! Hit him with my baseball bat!"

Considering Hogan's career history, it was weird seeing him backed up by DiBiase, Virgil and Elizabeth. Hey, can someone please tell me why Elizabeth was in the nWo? It seems like she didn't want to be there. Did they own her contract or something? Thanks in advance.

Edited by Gorman
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Thoughts on nWo Souled Out

What if the bad guys ran their own pay-per-view? Eric Bischoff gets the MVP award for making this show look and sound as different from regular WCW pay-per-views as possible. They even had a boom camera, which delivered a great shot of the debuting Buff Blockbuster.

The Miss nWo contest was awful, but give them credit for hiring a live house band to play during the finals! I love how the contestants all had to live in Cedar Rapids to save money, and there was no cash prize, either.

Konnan didn't wrestle, but Hugh Morrus took his place in the Mexican Death Match against Big Bubba. It was like the Punjabi Prison match without the Great Khali.

Nick Patrick refereed every match and got chokeslammed by the Giant at the end. If it weren't for Bischoff, he would have easily been the MVP. He did a reverse Earl Hebner from the Hogan-Andre match on the Main Event. Giant had Hogan pinned three times, and Patrick just wouldn't count to three.

The nWo couldn't stop stealing the US title. First, the Giant stole Flair's title, then Syyyxxxxx stole Eddy's belt. Finally, Guerrero was able to retain it in a ladder match, which Nick Patrick was unable to influence.

Another reversal was the WCW wrestlers and referees being the cool outsiders at the nWo show. This resulted in Jarrett and the Steiners' wins, although we had a new version of the Dusty finish. The fans in the building saw the Steiners beat the Outsiders, but the fans watching at home heard the announcer/boss say the decision wouldn't stand.

Giant was a heel in the Dungeon of Doom, then stayed a heel in the nWo, so breaking away from the nWo was the first of many face/heel turns in Paul Wight's career. GIANT TURN COUNT: 1.

As the nWo celebrated Hogan's successful title defense, the fans chanted "We want Sting." Sting appeared in the rafters earlier in the show and didn't come down. So it was probably nWo Sting, who participated in the garbage-truck parade at the beginning of the show. The fans would have to wait all year to see Hogan vs. Sting.

Edited by Gorman
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6 hours ago, Gorman said:

Thoughts on nWo Souled Out

i did not go to this show, despite it being less than 90 minutes from my house. But my friend's dad did. He brought us back a couple of big nWo Souled Out posters (i still have one, although it is now damaged from multiple moves) and an nWo cap, which is lost to time. the show is legendarily bad, and while i can understand why it has earned its reputation, i will always have a special place in my heart for it.  that eddie ladder match doesn't get enough credit, it was a solid good match. 

also, i very much appreciate your emphasis on Mr. Waltman's name. 

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