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1 hour ago, lovchunky said:

Where does the Sting/substance abuse stuff come from? I've never heard this anywhere, but have read it here multiple times. Can anybody expand? Was he just drinking too much?

He's admitted in the past on interviews about his turning to God that he was mixing painkillers with alcohol through at least the first few years of the Crow gimmick.

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On 4/17/2016 at 1:07 AM, twiztor said:

can i get an exact issue where this was published?

not that i'm doubting you, it's just something that i've never seen officially confirmed and would love to read it, context and all...

April 11th issue. 

 

Quote

Sting vs. Hogan, who had worked a match most had forgotten once on Nitro, had what was essentially an 18-month build for their Starrcade 97 match in Washington, DC.

The match drew more than 600,000 buys and was the biggest PPV pro wrestling match that wasn’t under the WWE banner. The match was expected to wind up with Sting as the babyface world champion and make him a bigger star than ever.

But it didn’t happen. There has been a ton of finger-pointing over the years. Hogan claimed Sting didn’t show up in shape and he had second thoughts about whether he should lose to him. But Sting’s cosmetic condition, while not at his best, really didn’t matter at that point after the long build.

Hogan took most of the match, which probably should have been relatively short and simple with Sting making an explosive comeback and winning.

Eric Bischoff, having just signed Bret Hart, and with the fallout of the 1997 Survivor Series being the biggest story, by far, in wrestling, wanted to take advantage of it. The idea was that referee Nick Patrick would give a fast count as Hogan pinned Sting, Hart would come out and say he couldn’t stand by and see Sting get screwed, and lead to the match restarting, where Sting would then make a big comeback and get the win.

The problem is that Patrick did a normal count. For years Patrick claimed he thought he was doing a fast count, but that had no credibility. Finally Patrick said that Hogan asked him not to do a fast count, and that even though Bischoff told him the opposite, that he felt Hogan had more power than Bischoff so he did what Hogan told him to do.

 

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34 minutes ago, lovchunky said:

It didn't really show IMO. I always chalked the Starrcade debacle up to Hogan's massive fucking ego.

I don't think anyone accused Sting of not being in condition to perform the night of the match. It was more that he had over a year off to build to the biggest match of his career and he spent it partying.    So when he shows up in less than the best shape of his life it gives Hogan an opening to be Hogan.

Sting actually produced and starred in a remarkably low budget biopic that I think was produced by his church about being saved from addiction. They use WCW footage somehow, but also shot some stuff with TNA. The whole thing's on YouTube. 

 

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4 hours ago, Ace said:

April 11th issue. 

he problem is that Patrick did a normal count. For years Patrick claimed he thought he was doing a fast count, but that had no credibility. Finally Patrick said that Hogan asked him not to do a fast count, and that even though Bischoff told him the opposite, that he felt Hogan had more power than Bischoff so he did what Hogan told him to do

thank you for this. i just read the article in question. My query remains the same, which is: when did Patrick admit and "finally [say] that Hogan asked him not to do a fast count....." ? i can't find a source listed. Has anybody heard this admission in a shoot interview anywhere? I don't fully comprehend why, but this remains as my biggest hangup from the Monday Night Wars era. i'd love to get some closure here.

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On 28/04/2016 at 8:34 PM, Mistah Na1m4rk said:

The man with no talent runs in and hits Sting with a high heeled shoe.

FTFBothOfYou.

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So after Clippers-Blazers (Austin Rivers got some color, buhgawd!) I watched the November 1987 Saturday Night's Main Event. I've long been of the opinion Savage should have been the face in the Megapowers Explode angle, but realize with No Holds Barred coming out in '89, Hogan had to still be the company's face, BROTHER. 

That said, this particular SNME, with Macho and Hogan in two different showcase matches, supports my belief Vince got Megapowers Explode wrong. 

In an awesome match against Bret Hart, Savage plays an excellent face. He's in peril because of ankle injury (sold brilliantly), but still an ass-kicker. He spends the match fighting Hart, but also protecting Elizabeth from Jimmy Hart and The Anvil. The crowd is white-hot for him and you could see the seeds planted for his title win a few months later at WM IV. 

Hogan's in the next match against King Kong Bundy. Andre and Heenan both interfere, grabbing Hulk's ankles at different points in the match (including Brain, setting up a Bundy win (!!!) by DQ), but KKB himself works clean. Hogan, on the other hand, cheats his ass off throughout, then pummels Heenan post-match. The crowd's still very much hot for Hulk; as much as Savage, but definitely not more. 

Hulk could have easily and believably been built slowly to a heel turn for WM V. Hell, you don't even have to change much about the angle except how the two guys are portrayed in vignettes and commentary. I think turning the reins over to Savage as the ace of the company would have been better for business long-term. 

 

EDIT: Meant to point out, in a promo after the Hogan match, Hercules points out how much Hogan cheated and that it's no different than the Heenan Family cheating. Interesting to see it mentioned so clearly. I wonder if there were plans to turn Hogan that got scrapped. 

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Just re-watched One Night Stand 2006, and that show is a forgotten classic. I guess your mileage could vary slightly depending on you feel about some the vestiges of ECW culture, but the crowd was nuclear all night and pretty much every match delivered. I think it belongs among the top shows of the decade for WWE.

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8 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

Just re-watched One Night Stand 2006, and that show is a forgotten classic. I guess your mileage could vary slightly depending on you feel about some the vestiges of ECW culture, but the crowd was nuclear all night and pretty much every match delivered. I think it belongs among the top shows of the decade for WWE.

I also think it's an underrated ppv. The Foley/Edge/Lita vs. Beulah/Funk/Dreamer match is ridiculously fun to watch. The only thing that really missed the mark in my opinion was the finish to Rey/Sabu. That was just an issue with Rey's entire reign though rather than that one particular match.

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On 4/30/2016 at 10:36 AM, The Iron Yuppie said:

 

Hulk could have easily and believably been built slowly to a heel turn for WM V. Hell, you don't even have to change much about the angle except how the two guys are portrayed in vignettes and commentary. I think turning the reins over to Savage as the ace of the company would have been better for business long-term.

They did turn the reins over to Savage as the ace from WMIV to July when Hogan was off making No Holds Barred.  And that right there is reason number one why Hogan wasn't going to be turned. 

And for what it's worth, Savage/DiBiase did suprisingly well on house shows in the spring and summer.  The MSG cage match almost did as much business as SummerSlam in MSG.  But then Hogan/Bossman did HUGE business and that pretty much took care of determining who the #1 draw was.

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