Spritenaut 32 Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Anyone still wondering why Mongo McMichael was a 4 Horseman should listen to Flair's interview with him, he sounds hilarious and a big party guy I hadn't realized just how close we had gotten to a Flair, Luger, Goldberg, Kevin Greene horsemen in 98. It was booked to happen, and not even in an abstract sense. There was a specific date set up for it. It just happened to be the date of Reid's wrestling tournament. Wow, that would go against everything the Horsemen were supposed to be. Awful. More "Ric Flair + Powerteam USA" than The Four Horsemen. As opposed to.... what? Horsemen are probably my all-time favorite stable, but the name should have been laid to rest in '88 when Arn and Tully went to the WWF. Most of the members they added after '88 didn't fit the Horsemen concept, imo. Babyface Horsemen with 100% more Sting were an awful idea that I personally hate more than Katie Vick. I dig Sid Vicious, but his character never seemed like someone Flair would invite to join the Horsemen. Less said about 90's lineups, the better. I liked Benoit and Malenko as a team, but they didn't really strike me as Horsemen types. Standing next to "Slick Ric", Benoit pulled off a suit about as well as Mike Bennett did on Impact this week. Mongo was a fun guy but a terrible wrestler who didn't seem Horseman material. I don't even know what to say about WWF jtts jPaul Roma joining the Horsemen. By fall of '88 (when Arn and Tully had left), the Horsemen had been around 3+ years and subbed out the lineup a few times. They were getting kinda stale then. I realize they were over and moved merch, but I could have lived without the booking voodoo that kept them together after everyone but Flair retired or moved on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sting as a Horseman was great because that meant the Horsemen got to turn on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nature Boy Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sting as a Horseman just made him look like the uncool kid who only got to hang out with the cool kids so they could make fun of him behind his back. It fit Sting's pattern of gullibility quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great ML Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Really, Sting in the 4H Club lasted what? A month? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Really, Sting in the 4H Club lasted what? A month? But it led to an awesome segment at the Clash where they told him to get out of the business. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattdangerously Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Kevin Greene would have been a really good wrestler if he'd taken it up full time. He always seemed to have a natural affinity for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Sting had the rat tail at that time right? Describing him as the dork trying to fit in with the cool kids is about right considering how he wore that suit with his dumbass rat tail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy LaRue Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 And who would of thought, you'd be fingered? by Dave Coulier? There's a hand to hold onto everywhere you look, everywhere you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt McGirt Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Mongo got in because he partied hard and had a Super Bowl ring. Seeing as how that's all that mattered to Flair, I think we can lay their concept of being the elite only to rest. Take in mind that this was HIS decision, not the company's slotting in of Z-Man or Sid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Mongo wasn't even that bad. I mean, he wasn't good, but for a dude who started wrestling around 40, after a 14 year pro football career, he was more than passable. He always seemed excited in the ring and out, showed aptitude in covering up botches a lot better than vets like Crush (especially Crush). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolfan in NYC Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 And who would of thought, you'd be fingered? by Dave Coulier? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Mongo wasn't even that bad. I mean, he wasn't good, but for a dude who started wrestling around 40, after a 14 year pro football career, he was more than passable. He always seemed excited in the ring and out, showed aptitude in covering up botches a lot better than vets like Crush (especially Crush). I can't wrap my head around a dude who bitches out Finn Balor for poor psychology going to bat for Mongo McMichael. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stro Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Mongo wasn't even that bad. I mean, he wasn't good, but for a dude who started wrestling around 40, after a 14 year pro football career, he was more than passable. He always seemed excited in the ring and out, showed aptitude in covering up botches a lot better than vets like Crush (especially Crush). I can't wrap my head around a dude who bitches out Finn Balor for poor psychology going to bat for Mongo McMichael. There's a pretty big difference in a dude who is the top guy and face of a brand as opposed to a dude in the mid card never going anywhere or being a key part of a show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tromatagon Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 US champ Main event of Fall Brawl 97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Broke the streak 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Yeah, as bad as Mongo was - and he was REALLY bad at points - and who the HELL thought it'd be a good idea to give a stiff rookie the Tombstone piledriver as a finisher? - there have been so many others that were even worse since then. It's like Ole said to Cornette once: "Cornette, you're a dumbshit, but so many other dumbshits have come along since that you've moved up without doing anything." 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 The nicest thing Ole has ever uttered. While we're being picky, while Kanyon/Mortis was great at many things, ring psychology was rarely one of them - particularly as Mortis. Sweet look and moves though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Kanyon's approach was "do a bunch of cool shit" when that approach on the mainstream U.S. wrestling level was still novel rather than played out as it is now. He and Dean Malenko benefited greatly from treating matches as moves exhibitions at a time that people like me, who weren't watching anything other than WWF and WCW, viewed that stuff as fun, fresh, and much different than what was typically on TV at the time (especially when compared to the working style in mid-'90s WWF). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiji Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Dean certainly dabbled with that but he knew how to make shit matter and had matches with really great storytelling. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Yeah, he could definitely emphasize a narrative in his matches when they really needed one, particularly during the Jericho feud that was so good. Watching through that time period, though, most of his matches are moves exhibitions. One charitable way to look at that is that he particularly tended to go really moves-moves-moves in Nitro matches, and that makes sense because those matches did so much to help differentiate WCW's undercard/cruiserweight style from the slower and less movesy style of RAW. It shouldn't be understated how much Dean Malenko trading moves with/being a strong base for cruisers helped to make Nitro feel must-watch even before the nWo angle got rolling. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Didn't Cornette essentially reuse that line himself on Heyman years later? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Didn't Cornette essentially reuse that line himself on Heyman years later? Well, Cornette was a proponent of recycling something every seven years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 most of his matches are moves exhibitions. When your gimmick is 'The Man of 1000 Holds', doing the same ones in every match is going to kill your credibility. Of course, they gave him the name after he started doing the style, so it's a circular argument. He had to do that style though, really, because he wasn't going to get himself over with high-flying, wasn't a big power move guy like Benoit, didn't have the natural charisma of an Eddy, didn't have a body like Bagwell, wasn't a prettyboy like Alex Wright, wasn't crazy like Sabu... He played to his strengths and it worked. He was in nobody's top 5 favourite Wrestlers, but he was in everyone's top 5 favourite matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Guy Eddie Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 During that period, Malenko was absolutely in my top 5 favorite wrestlers. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie M. Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Malenko got over wrestling the way he did and in turn, got a lot of other people over in the process. I suppose he was doing it wrong, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts