APRIL 2022 WRESTLING DISCUSSION

[Ziggy]

8 hours ago, Blue Dragon said:

I forgot about the WCW HOF. 

Lou Thesz

Verne Gagne

Mr. Wrestling II

Eddie Graham

Harley Race

Ernie Ladd

The Crusher

Dick the Bruiser

Ole Anderson

Masked Assassin

Wahoo McDaniel

Dusty Rhodes

Antonio Inoki

Angelo Poffo

Terry Funk

Big John Studd

Gordon Solie.

It would have been interesting to see what WWE/F centric talent with little to no history in that territory would have been put in their Hall of Fame had they still been around. I look at Studd as a WWF guy primarily buy I'm aware he had history in Mid Atlantic and other NWA affiliated Territories.

If WWE never bought WCW and got its library they probably wouldn't even invest and value their history like they do and even think to of having a Hall of Fame as often as they do

[Technico Support]

13 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Random: guessing the overlap between American pro wrestlers who got most of their work in Japan and fans of the song "Big In Japan" by Alphaville isn't that huge

Unless Bruiser Brody was really into new wave synth pop

I love that song but it's up there with Electric Avenue and Born in the USA in the category of "songs that a good deal of people don't realize are depressing."

Quote

The theme was based on two friends who were involved in the sordid drug scene of Berlin's Zoo station. The song tells of such lovers who fantasize about being drug-free. The refrain "big in Japan" symbolises this idea of being successful in another world. Said Gold, "that line has a certain meaning. It means that if you're a complete loser, you're telling other people, 'I'm not a loser because in Japan I'm really big.' It's the lie of the loser and it fitted perfectly into the story of these junkies, which the song is about, in a very tragic way."  Gold later explained "we originally weren’t sure whether we should put it on the album, because it’s a bit autobiographical in that it reflects my time in West Berlin in the late 70s, with the drug scene around the train station and the zoo, and all the underground things. It has nothing to do with Japan."

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by Technico Support

[DragonZombie]

Vince only bought out select WCW assets and their library. AOL Time Warner kept World Championship Wrestling, Inc and reverted it to the originally planned Universal Wrestling Corporation name. Which ended in 2017, so "WCW" the old company really died in 2017.

WCW, Inc. (Started in 2001) is a subsidiary of WWE and is the legal holder of some WCW trademarks and all of the other assets associated with that defunct promotion. The other defunct promotions and their related assets (ECW, AWA, JCP,  SMW, etc.) are the property of WWE Libraries Inc.

The rest of the WCW trademarks are under World Wresting Entertainment Inc.

Some WCW trademarks haven't been renewed, for example; "where the big boys play", the late 90's logo, even the WWF made Alliance era logo etc.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Blue Dragon

[Zimbra]

13 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

Random: guessing the overlap between American pro wrestlers who got most of their work in Japan and fans of the song "Big In Japan" by Alphaville isn't that huge

Unless Bruiser Brody was really into new wave synth pop

What do you think the ratio is of workers who prefer Tom Waits' Big in Japan to Alphaville's Big in Japan?

[SirSmUgly]

That late-'90s WCW logo is so bad that somebody should have burned the paperwork that gave WWE the trademark for it as a symbolic gesture when it came up for renewal.

[hammerva]

Remember when people who put over Mauro Ranallo because he would get generally excited for so much at NXT.  Well good to see Michael Cole having the same feeling at times.

 

You can tell he is SO HAPPY that he doesn't have to deal with the RAW bullshit.

[Ace]

It's the same with Schiavone. The commentary is so much improved when the commentators actually enjoy themselves.

 

[Eivion]

You can tell a lot of it with Cole is because of Pat. The support he gave Pat during the match with Theory is legit the most excited and happy Cole has ever sounded. 

[For Great Justice]

That is sooooo good. Awesome stuff.

[Swift]

I don't really care for either guy, but that joyfulness is awesome.

[The Natural]

I remember this.

[DragonZombie]

Reportedly Bret Hart has signed with WWE, legends contract.  If true, him being WWE and FTR being AEW on that indy show is sorta AEW WWE teamup.

[J.H.]

4 hours ago, SirSmellingtonofCascadia said:

That late-'90s WCW logo is so bad that somebody should have burned the paperwork that gave WWE the trademark for it as a symbolic gesture when it came up for renewal.

Didn't DEAN make the comment that it was really bold of WCW to base their corporate logo on one of Juventud Guerrera's tattoos?

James

[JLowe]

3 minutes ago, J.H. said:

Didn't DEAN make the comment that it was really bold of WCW to base their corporate logo on one of Juventud Guerrera's tattoos?

James

I've always assumed that it was based off Goldberg's shitty "tribal" armband tattoo

[DragonZombie]

There were multiple new logos made but the one everyone hated got picked and was picked randomly and too late to change when word came around.

They ran ad with the 1999 logo saying it supposed to be bird shit oddly enough.

[zendragon]

5 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I love that song but it's up there with Electric Avenue and Born in the USA in the category of "songs that a good deal of people don't realize are depressing."

 

See also Hillary Clinton using "American Girl" as a campaign theme 

 

Re: the WCW logo someone once called it "the exploding vagina logo" and now I can't unsee it

[SirSmUgly]

The logos @Blue Dragonhas posted above comes from that Nitro book by Guy Evans. It's worth reading for the head office stuff that I don't think was necessarily well-circulated otherwise. 

Honestly, I wasn't a fan of most of those logos. I get that the logo needed an update, but none of those were it.

It's hard to follow that scratch logo rebrand the WWF had, to be fair. That scratch logo is one of the '90s-est things around, and that is meant as the highest of compliments. 

[A_K]

Rico's problem is he was probably a little too old by the time his release rolled around .. what, roughly 45, at a time the fed were trying to reposition youth for the future. Within the next 6 months, the WC/IC/USC would cycle across Shelton Benjamin, Orlando Jordan, Carlito, Cena, Batista .. guys like Cade & Murdoch + La Resistance getting tag title runs .. all of whom would have been in their early-to-mid 20s.

Pretty obvious emphasis on youth, and that's likely why Rico went. He'd be pretty much done with the industry shortly after.

[Ziggy]

5 hours ago, Ace said:

It's the same with Schiavone. The commentary is so much improved when the commentators actually enjoy themselves.

 

I think it does help that he gets to work with JR. He gets to be around people like Tully, Arn, Sting, Jake and other NWA/WCW Alum it also helps that he was away for so long because we all no much like JR he can't hide it if he isn't feeling what he's watching. I think JR probably would be better if he was away from wrestling all together for a significant amount of time maybe not decades like Schiavone was but long enough to have a break from it an appreciate it on a different level. The business has passed him by in some ways but he still loves it. I feel like it passed me by sometimes even at 34 years old lol but it's going to get further and further away from the wrestling I grew up with but I still love it. Like Flair , say what you will be even at 73 he never comes across as the older guy burying the current generation he always puts over the current guys and seems like he's as much of a fan today as he was starting out.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

Some of those proposed WCW logos are dope. How in the world did they land on the one they picked? Like what in the actual fuck. Simple and recognizable are the most important aspects of a logo. When it looks like tribal tattoo or bird shit you fucked up. Not that a better logo would have changed any of the future. It would just be one less talking point for us about the nose dive.

[DragonZombie]

Eric didn't want to use the 1999 logo and was going to use the one WCW Big Bang poster had, if he and Fusient Media Ventures bought out WCW.

I read that the old WCW block logo came in 3 versions, so they changed it slowly over the years in very slight ways. Version 1 and 2 are the same but the second W is flipped in some way for the first version. Version 3 made the C slightly bigger to take up space then the 1999 logo replaced it. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Blue Dragon

[Ziggy]

5 hours ago, Blue Dragon said:

Reportedly Bret Hart has signed with WWE, legends contract.  If true, him being WWE and FTR being AEW on that indy show is sorta AEW WWE teamup.

That sucks for Dax, I was hoping we'd see him in AEW again because for the most part they feature legends pretty well in non wrestling roles. I'm sure if he did start being an on screen talent, he wouldn't be on anywhere close to every week but it would've been fun to see him aligned with FTR.

I hope he got some good money out of it because I'm sure Tony Kahn would have offered good money to have him on. Especially since Chicago is a big Bret town and he's been putting over Punk heavy lately too.

[DreamBroken]

1 hour ago, Ziggy said:

That sucks for Dax, I was hoping we'd see him in AEW again because for the most part they feature legends pretty well in non wrestling roles. I'm sure if he did start being an on screen talent, he wouldn't be on anywhere close to every week but it would've been fun to see him aligned with FTR.

I hope he got some good money out of it because I'm sure Tony Kahn would have offered good money to have him on. Especially since Chicago is a big Bret town and he's been putting over Punk heavy lately too.

Agreed, thought for sure with the Owen connection that we were gonna end up getting Bret joining him in the video game at least. 

[The Natural]

More wrestlers should use the middle rope elbow.

[The Natural]