The Nature Boy

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article172402277.html There's something very North Carolina about the newspaper reporting on Ric Flair firing his manager.

I would want it shipped to McMahon just because he's the one person who has no profit motive to exploit it and would just let it die. The NWA, once the dominant group in pro wrestling, became an avenue through which marks with extra cash could start their own company and pretend to be Jim Crockett or Bill Watts. It's demeaning to the history of the NWA.

I agree. The whole thing should just be sold to Vince and the NWA should be formally killed off. The NWA World Championship hasn't meant anything since at least 1993 and it's a joke to pretend that that Tim Storm (or whoever the current champ) is actually a successor to the legacy of Thesz, Rhodes, Race, and Flair. The NWA truly died in the late 80s when Crockett made the World Title exclusive to his territory. But I can imagine that Corgan might want greater control over the brand. The problem with owning the NWA is that Vince McMahon owns most of your history so you can't even hype your own history by showing clips of major title changes and angles from the 70s and 80s.

I turned Razor heel because of the need to drop the belt to Bret and because I felt that he'd have more chemistry with DiBiase and could make the uneasy alliance more believable. I also thought it was more believable that DA BAD GUY would sell out to the Million Dollar Man in order to become WWF Champion.

This one makes me sad. Here's how I would've booked it: Razor wins King of the Ring 1995, Diesel comes out to congratulate him and they celebrate together. This closes the show so our final image is of Diesel and Razor celebrating Razor's KOTR win. Their friendship becomes a focal point on RAW and Razor joins Diesel's feud with the Million Dollar Corporation. Razor defeats Bam Bam Bigelow at IYH 2 and comes out at the end to celebrate with Diesel after his victory over Sid, to mimic the ending of KOTR 1995. It is announced the next night on RAW that Razor and Diesel will face off for the WWF Championship at SummerSlam. They continue to be friends but Ted DiBiase begins to sow the seeds of doubt in Razor's mind by reminding that he couldn't get the job done in the past and that he is destined to fail again. Razor ignores it at first but DiBiase's taunts start to get to him. DiBiase tells Razor that he can't win the championship unless he lets his concern for his friend go and unleashes "DA BAD GUY!" On the last RAW before SummerSlam, the Million Dollar Corporation attacks Diesel, Ramon comes down to make the save but stops before getting in the ring and just somberly walks away from the ring, leaving Diesel to be pummeled and us with a cliffhanger going into SummerSlam. SummerSlam begins with speculation from Vince and Lawler as to whether or not DiBiase has gotten inside the mind of Razor Ramon. We get a shot of the parking garage and Todd Pettengill letting us know that Razor Ramon still has not arrived to the arena. Diesel tells us that he has not heard from Ramon since Monday afternoon and has no idea what is going on with him. DiBiase says that he may have gotten into Ramon's head but says that Jack Tunney has given permission for Sid to replace Ramon in the main event if he fails to show up in time for the match. Match time! Diesel comes to the ring with Vince and Lawler reminding viewers that Razor Ramon still has not arrived to the arena. Sid comes to the ring and just as the bell is about to ring, we cut to the backstage area where a car speeds into the garage and Razor run out of it with his tights already on and ready to go. Tatanka and Bam Bam try to attack Ramon in the parking lot but Ramon fights them off and runs towards the arena. Ramon comes to the ring, Sid refuses to leave and DiBiase tries to argue with the ref that Ramon failed to make it in time. Ramon and Diesel work together to dispose of Sid and DiBiase follows him out of the ring. Diesel and Ramon do a high five to show that they're on the same page.....or so we think. Diesel and Ramon have their match but DiBiase and Sid return at the end of it. With Ramon and the referee distracted by DiBiase, Sid hits the ring and drops Diesel. When Sid leaves the ring, Ramon turns around and looks around in confusion. He then turns to DiBiase, smirks and goes for a cover on Diesel but only gets a two count. DiBiase hops on the apron while Sid slides a chair to Ramon. Ramon picks up the chair and uses it on Diesel, eventually covering him for a three count. Ramon shakes hands with DiBiase after the match and the show ends with DiBiase laughing as Ramon holds up the WWF Championship. The next night on RAW, Ramon reveals that the whole thing was a clever ruse and that he had been working WITH The Million Dollar Man since the night of In Your House 2 when he got an offer that he just could not refuse. Ramon leaves us with, "Diesel, you made one mistake, you trusted Da Bad Guy!" and reminds DiBiase that Razor Ramon didn't come to him, he came to Razor Ramon. Ramon says that money talks and now he gets to enjoy Ted DiBiase's money AND the money that comes from being WWF Champion. Ted DiBiase ends the promo by saying, "no price is too small for the Million Dollar Man and now I get to enjoy the one thing I never got and people told me I could never buy, the WWF Championship!" We learn later on that DiBiase paid off Jack Tunney to put Razor Ramon in the SummerSlam main event. The Ramon/DiBiase alliance is extremely uneasy with Ramon viewing it simply as a way to become WWF Champion and with no actual loyalty to DiBiase. Despite Ramon's uneasiness about working with the Million Dollar Corporation, DiBiase still feels an obligation to help Ramon keep the championship since this represents his first and only time with the WWF Championship. At IYH 3, Ramon tags with Sid to take on Diesel and Shawn Michaels and then Ramon beats Diesel with the help of the MDC at IYH 4. Ramon drops the belt to Bret at Survivor Series after the Million Dollar Corporation says "screw it!" to both Razor and DiBiase and refuses to help. After Survivor Series, DiBiase moves on and Ramon can either go back face or stay heel... ----- I tried to come up with a scenario that mixed some things that 1995 could've given us, heel Razor, DiBiase managing a champion, something interesting for Diesel......

I would need something stronger than alcohol.

I can understand why Corgan might be tired of them, considering his experience in TNA/Impact/GFW/whatever the fuck they're called. Also, if Corgan plans to bring some respectability back to the NWA name, he might be better off starting with a clean slate.

Probably laying the groundwork for a national organization that is free from the carnies who run the regional promotions.

Starrcade 97 honestly makes me sad in retrospect. The match should've involved Sting just crushing Hogan, winning the belt and then feuding with a debuting heel Bret (with Davey Boy and Neidhart) at his side. You already had a natural "champion" vs. champion feud there and most of Bret's posse from his days as WWF Champion were even with him. The nWo then crumbles as it did just months later with Nash and Hall forming the Wolfpac and Hogan leading nWo Hollywood. The nWo could've fucked around with each other in the upper midcard while Sting and Bret feud over the belt. Eventually, the Wolfpac end up as the heels when Hogan makes his big return in the Red and Yellow. Nash becomes the new leader of the reunified nWo, they challenge Sting again for the championship, and Sting lays waste to the Wolfpac, thus killing the nWo for good. Sting really just needed a good, long, badass run with the belt but egos got in the way of what made good business sense. I also imagine that you build to Sting vs. Goldberg at Starrcade 98 where Sting's year long reign is put up against THE STREAK. Goldberg wins the belt from Sting, ends the reign and we get a handshake, passing of the torch type moment.

The average wrestling fan still has no fucking clue what ROH even is. No way that ROH sells out a 10,000 seat venue.

There's also that too. There was some genuinely good storytelling during the Attitude Era. The build up to and execution of Survivor Series was, of course, pretty damn good and helped cement The Rock as a top guy. The Higher Power angle was also well executed and whether you agree with the final reveal or not, you have to admit that it was very compelling television. That's the thing with 1998-1999 WWF is that it was at least compelling TV with storylines that made you watch and care about the characters involved. Today's WWE is closer to early-mid 2000s ROH in terms of storytelling than the Attitude Era. There's a reason that I love old school Southern wrestling and the Attitude Era, both told stories that made you genuinely invest in the characters, understand their motivations, and root for (or against) them achieving their end goals. WWE fails to create a reason to care about its characters today.

Hearing that about Murdoch, I'm surprised that Stone Cold Steve Austin never got an endorsement deal with a beer brand during the Attitude Era.

I don't think that Vince McMahon lets it get that bad. But maybe I'm overstating my faith in McMahon. Russo is the epitome of a guy that works best on a committee. He does have some good ideas but is rather weak storyteller overall. He does genuinely care for ensuring that everyone on the card have a direction or story of some kind and that is sorely needed in today's WWE.

The WWF had started to give Nash his edge back in late 95 - early 96. His match with Shawn at "Good Friends, Better Enemies" is really underrated work from Kevin and I think that if he stuck around, we get the Kevin Nash that we eventually got in WCW. Once Vince gave up on him being the next Hogan, they started to book him competently, he just left soon after so we never got to see where it would've gone. Shawn could've drawn well with the right booking and opponents. You could've also easily maintained the edge that HBK had while still playing up the "Boyhood Dream" angle, especially since I think it did a great job of contrasting Bret, the established and tested WWF Champion from Shawn, the cocky and brash challenger whose whole life has led up to this moment. There were much better ways to book the build to WrestleMania 12 and after. For all of the shit that Vince Russo gets, he balances out the worst McMahon tendencies (and vice versa). If Russo had stuck around instead of jumping to WCW, he's likely remembered much more fondly.

I'm not sure if you can lay that squarely at Shawn's feet though. He had no compelling (and over) options for a long term feud immediately after his title win. Without a strong villain, you're not going to draw shit. There's also the fact that that they lost Bret, Hall, and Nash almost immediately after WrestleMania. For a company with as thin a roster as 1996 WWF, that's a huge blow. The "Boyhood Dream" angle should've ended after WrestleMania. There was no reason to keep Jose Lothario around. I did like the idea of it going into WrestleMania because it put the focus on the championship and how important it was to HBK. After WrestleMania, he should've gone back to being a cocky ass, which would've helped fuel the Bret Hart heel turn I mentioned above.

Are we now crapping on Shawn Michaels getting a WWF Championship run? Regardless of what you think of the guy personally, he was extremely talented and over. The "Boyhood Dream" build was incredibly solid. The WWF did a lot of things wrong in the mid 90s but putting the belt on Shawn Michaels wasn't one of them. If Bret had stuck around after WrestleMania, you could've pulled a heel turn with Bret and turned him into a bitter grizzled vet to lead into Bret/Shawn II at SummerSlam.

Is there a compromise where Bryan doesn't work house shows and only does TV? Protect him in tag matches and the rare singles match on RAW/SmackDown. He does the big matches on PPV. I get that today's style doesn't allow for toned down TV matches but that's a style issue that needs to be addressed anyway.

Watching "Master of None" and there's a throwaway bit where the main character (played by Aziz Ansari) goes on a date with a socially inept WWE fan. She asks if he watched SummerSlam where Dean Ambrose and Samoa Joe fought for the WWE Championship. Surprised to see the writers reference Joe and Ambrose, I would've thought that they'd go for a lazy "John Cena vs. Randy Orton" or "John Cena vs. The Miz."

I mean, considering the success that Sting had when he ripped off "The Crow," WWE having the rights to a Bruce Lee film seems oddly appropriate.

Luger actually held it until that Sunday and dropped it to Hogan at Road Wild, if I recall correctly.

There's also the issue of Vince likely being worried about Shawn threatening to walk out and show up on Nitro. I don't know Shawn's contract situation or how easily he could've gotten out of it but I'm sure that Vince didn't want to fight with his biggest star, whose best friends happened to work for the competition.

You have to add "weekly" in there because soap operas have RAW beat by an enormous amount.

The best option here is just to put a disclaimer before the shows or something. Has a promotion ever had to deal with their World Champion being the subject of an investigation and having to suspend them while having taped shows in the can? The closest parallel I've got is RVD's arrest while WWE Champion but there weren't any taped shows in the can with him as champion.

Look at Hogan next to Bret at WrestleMania IX, Hogan still looked big next to Bret. He's a big dude, on or off roids.

I can buy a Hogan heel turn in 1993 working, especially if Hogan plays the "I can't believe the kids are into this!" angle with regards to smaller guys like Bret and Shawn getting over. Of course, Hogan would insist on going over them and proving that the big muscled guys ARE actually better, which would kill the heat of everyone involved.