Hulk Hogan

20 Years Ago This Week: The Ultimate Warrior’s WCW Debut

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

This week, I went to a time machine on the WWE Network to revisit WCW Nitro. Nitro was the Monday night show for WCW and at the time, it aired on the same time as WWE’s Raw Is War and you would have to change the channels back and forth between USA Network and TNT. We did not have the option to watch it on a live stream 20 years ago and the only way if you can watch both shows is if you put two screens in the same room, or if you tape the other show on VHS and watch it later. Technology was different 20 years ago and i lived through it. On the August 17th, 1998 edition of Nitro, Warrior made his WCW debut. But before that, Eddie Guerrero cut his “worked shoot” promo towards then WCW boss Eric Bischoff as he was disappointed with the direction of his character along with him feeling like he (and more wrestlers that worked with WCW) was being held back for main event pushes that were already given to the bigger stars of the company at the time. This got overshadowed later that night when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff went to the ring to cut a promo on Diamond Dallas Page.

After a few minutes, Warrior appeared on the stage to a thunderous reaction from the crowd and Mike Tenay on commentary even sounded very thrilled that he is there in WCW for the first time. This was not The Renegade at all as it was the real deal. The fans were shocked and the huge ovation lasted for a few more minutes. And then, that long promo from him begun as he talked and talked for almost 10 uninterrupted minutes. It went from a decent promo 3 minutes in, to a disaster for the rest of the promo. In fact, one of the lines are the following:

“Different than you wanna make people believe, I never received an invitation. I showed up on my own accord. And let me tell you, Mr. Eric Bischoff, if you stick your nose in my business, you will only very quickly prepare for your own demise. Furthermore, when I get done with my business here, I’m gonna be sending you a bill. I suggest you pay it. I have…waited…patiently. The WARRIORS have waited all too patiently. Now…NOW…the virtue of justice unties my hands so that I can continue to fulfill a destiny set in motion on that memorable day years ago. A destiny at the next level. A destiny beckoning the next superhero.There really is no sadder sight than when a grown man fears the challenges in his life so much that he rationalizes adolescent behavior to the point where he carries out heinous and self-indulgent actions. Your evilness, an evilness you embodied and portray, is intolerable. I am the one that has the power to destroy you. In sorts, Hogan, the truth is inexhaustible. I come here, not to beat you up tonight, Hogan. Beating you means nothing anymore, everybody already has.”

If you read that part of the transcript of the promo, ask yourself if you understood what he was trying to say and what was he trying to accomplish with this promo. He went on and off topic for most of it and as the promo went on and on, the fans started to turn on him and boo him. While this was going on, Hogan and Bischoff just stood there and took every word he said from start to finish. The promo was only supposed to go for 6 minutes, but that along with the rest of the segment went for a whopping 18 minutes which suffered for the rest of the show since everything after this had to be re-arranged. You would think that if the viewers changed the channel when this happened but only a small amount of viewers did as Nitro did an 4.97 on that hour as Raw pulled in an 4.40 on the same hour. While this was going on also, Raw on this hour had The Nation vs. DX street fight, Bradshaw vs. Draz (Brawl For All), and Val Venis vs. Kaientai. All of this was better than seeing an 18 minute long segment that was supposed to go for 6 minutes. When it is all said and done, That episode of Nitro pulled in an 4.9 rating as Raw pulled in a 4.2 rating overall that night. That promo was a time waster even though it had Warrior’s first appearance in WCW. The plan was for Warrior to come in WCW so that way Hogan can get his win back which he did on Pay Per View a few months later at Halloween Havoc. The match was horrendous as Wrestling Journalist Dave Meltzer gave the match a -5 stars.

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How has TNA wrestling has improved

Julian Cannon Leave a Comment

Julian Cannon back again for another post.and I would like to thank everyone for the feedback I have received on my last post. This time is a follow up to my post last year titled “10 ways to save tna wrestling “..

Within the last year,tna wrestling has changed a lot. Some are good and some are bad.I for one want tna to succeed and oneday compete with wwe THE RIGHT WAY NEXT TIME!. TNA wrestling has been around since 2002 and from that year until 2009, that was their best years. Within the last few years,tna has been compared to Wcw in many ways. Now let me get to the changes that they have made since June 2012..

1.going live

Tna needed to go live for a long time now. Fans who read the results online can hurt the show(this happens sometimes in wwe also). Since they have been live,the show feels different than it did when they were taped. Outside the many botches in the matches they do,the show has been entertaining for the most part. But for some reason, they cannot go higher than a 1.7 rating..the fans wanted them to go live,they got it but they still choose not to watch it..that’s the “internet wrestling community ” for you who cannot decide what they want.
Believe me it has been like that since 1997.

2.world champions

Bobby Roode is now the longest reiging world champion in tna,beating stings record he set in 2009. Bobby has made the belt important again from Jeff Hardy’s tarnished reign in 2011. He then lost it to Austin Aries in July and when Aries had the belt,he was not booked right at all..he held the xdivision title for the longest since Daniels back in 2005 and has had very solid matches and feuds..him with the world title just didn’t seem to click with the fans at all..I was for it but then he made face and heel Turns that didn’t make sense at all..then Aries lost the belt to Jeff Hardy and many believe that Hardy did not deserve it..Hardy has been through a lot before the win and he sells the most merchandise in the company so strapping the belt in my point of view makes sense although I would like to see bully ray or James storm or an styles become champ again.

3.aj styles vs Daniels feud put to rest…or is it?

Styles and Daniels has had over 900 matches (estimated) in total between tna,roh,pwg and new Japan pro wrestling. In bound for glory 2011, their match was tag lined “one last match “..now who think that was going to be their last match..they then wrestled throughout 2012 and at November of that year,they had another “one last match” but this time if an lost, he would not get a shot for the world title until October 2013.. I didn’t believe that would happen but it did. How can tna do this to styles when he has been there from the beginning. For them to do that,that was a slasp in the face to his legacy and his fans..but who knows,these two wrestled a lot of times so we could see it again at bfg 2013 with the championship on the line

4.slashing away ppvs

In December 2012,Dixie Carter announced that tna will only have 4 ppvs a year..this brought confusion to the fans to why she would do this..this may be a good move but a risky one, this worked in wwe when they had 5 ppvs a year back from the “golden age era” to the early stages of the “new generation era”..this also worked for ecw when they had ppvs once every 2 months ..the big question is that can it work for tna..on order to do this,the feuds leading to the ppvs has to be very strong from the start..the problem with feuds is that they are bevy not memorable at all..why, is because after the ppv and then on the next TV show, 9 times out of 10,the payoff match will not get mentioned at all unless it is at the opening segment or music video. So if they want to put a risk for this, they can try.

5.aces and 8’s

The first time this group started in tna I thought that it was a good move.but a few weeks later, I realized that this group can’t be taken seriously at all. They run away from most people knowing that they outnumber those 2-3 people in the ring,they have not won one match until a February 2013 edition of impact, and the members anybody can care less about them. Now taz is the mouth piece of that group but yet he returns to commentary the following week which is ridiculous ..other then Mr Anderson and Devon who were established stars and wrestlers, the other members are ex wwe jobbers and just Eric bischoff son. Fans want to compare it to the nexus but they can’t because they were all new people and rising stars that wanted to get noticed and most of them are very good now in the main event/midcard scene right now..for me I want aces and 8’s to end already.

6. Tna on the road

Also announced from Carter is that tna will no longer tape their show at the impact zone..this is a great move because they have been there since 2004 and every wrestling fan wanted them to get away from Florida for a long time and at March they will start doing that..I am for this 100% but the question is that how long can they do this before the wrestlers get burned out..the one primary reason why ex wwe employees go there because they don’t have a brutal travel schedule..but after March they will hit the road week after week..I’m also for this because not a lot of places know what tna wrestling is so it is good to get your name out there..this year’s bound for glory will take place at the Alamo dome in San Antonio ,Texas..the last wrestling event to have ever sold out that arena was the 1997 royal rumble which would headline Shawn Michaels vs Sid for the wwf championship ..to me this match is the most underrated match of the career of Shawn Michaels and I would watch it over and over again if I had to.

7. The x division

Nobody cannot deny this because the x division is not the same since Hogan and bischoff came along..these were also the matches the fans look forward too and the first thought that comes to mind when you hear the letter “tna”. Rvd is the current x division champion..he was xdivision before the name was even coined. But honestly he does not need to be champion in the xdivision.. Kenny king and a few others are looking good right now..but the wrestlers in this division has been cut down..Alex Shelly is no longer there,Jay lethal is back in roh, Jerry Lynn has retired and few others has moved up to the main event scene..the last person to have made the division important was Austin Aries and since then, it became an after thought. What can improve from the xdivision, the world will never know.

8.the roster /brook Hogan

I can say that the roster of TNA has had a drastic change within the last 7 months..the gut check segments are quite innovative as well..the best they have picked up is Christian York..he has wrestled in ecw with Joey mercury and in ring of honor for several years so for him to make it to either wwe or tna is a great move..also we seen the most dickhead move that tna has ever done which was bringing in brook Hogan..every time she is on tv, I change the channel because she is very awful as a character..not only that, she is the head of the knockouts division..lets give them a round of an applause because that absolutely sucks.

I really want tna to succeed but there is very little that has to be done to do that..we know it does not happen over night but a change does though..my idea is to get Hogan out there as soon as possible because he has not done anything for them other than making the ring four sides again..

Send your feedback. At juliancannon70@yahoo.com

Wrestle flashback:Hulk Hogan vs HBK in summerslam 2005

Rob Leave a Comment

By Julian Cannon

I have always enjoyed watching HBK ‘oversell’ in matches. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy watching him flip head over heels when he’s thrown into the turnbuckle? So I made a comment on the photo that the Michaels’ oversell always makes my soul smile. That was it, now I have some guy who has some wrestling title out of a cracker jack box, get on my case. He started talking about how Michaels was a goof, Shawn made Hogan, Summerslam, himself AND the business look bad… What the hell is this guy talking about?! I know it’s been a few years since I’ve watched it so, I checked it out again.

Did Shawn blatantly oversell everything to make Hogan look bad? Isn’t it  a better question to ask: If Hogan was so great, why didn’t he make the match look better? Over the past 30 years we have watched Hogan No sell after No sell.

And after watching SS 2005 again, I could almost see this guys point. Michaels did a slight over exaggeration of his selling of Hogan’s punches, Irish whips, clotheslines… But did he make the business look like a joke? Did he make Hogan look bad? NO! Well, the match itself was bad but, it surely wasn’t all Shawn’s fault. Let us all not forget that it’s been 20+ years and Hulk Hogan still can’t sell. He still can’t wrestle. He still can’t do much of anything.

I don’t want to take away from what Hogan gave to the business. I mean, he helped revolutionize the world. But I will say this: “Hogan can perform, Hogan can make money. Hogan can BARELY wrestle!” I’m avidly against this guy and have been for a good 15 years. But, back to his match with HBK at SummerSlam ’05….

If you watch the video I linked above, or if you somehow manage to vividly remember the match, it was slow. Hogan couldn’t do it anymore. Hogan couldn’t do much of it 8 years prior but, especially not in this match. Shawn tried to make Hogan look like the powerful force he was decades ago. Were his oversells obvious? sometimes… But, maybe he was told to oversell and make Hogan look like a force NO ONE could really handle….

So, Shawn, towards the end of the above video, busts Hogan wide open. He even slammed Hogan’s head into a ring post…TWICE! Did Hogan make it look good? Did Hogan fall over, or drop to a knee? Did he sell it? NOPE! Instead he walks around outside the ring with actions that make it look like Shawn poked him in the eyes. But, Hogan is busted open…. Shawn locks in the sleeper and now there is blood everywhere. Down Hogan’s face, all over Shawn’s arm…. But, predictable Hogan emerges from the crimson stains.

The ref checks Hogan. Lifts his arm, drops….lifts his arm…drops…. The third time you can see Hogan clearly starts to raise his arm and hold it out of sync with the referee. Obviously Hogan will now make his comeback. It gets worse. Predictable Hogan then gets nailed and pinned. But, after being bloodied and almost losing to “passing out” he lays in that familiar Big Show/Mark Henry position. Arms under HBK, hands on HBK’s chest just waiting for the 2 count before he throws Michaels off of him.

And that’s it, Hogan “Hulks Up” and beats HBK…..

Now, this guy tells me that Shawn made Hogan look foolish because of his ego. Shawn was mad he had to lose to Hogan. Can you freaking blame the guy?! Hulk Hogan was a huge name in WWF. But, he bailed and he bailed HARD on WWF because WCW would give him more money! Meanwhile Shawn was up and coming. He was loyal to WWF and worked his ASS OFF! All of a sudden, Hogan needs money and he crawls back to Vince for a few huge payoffs…Like his WM match with The Rock. His SSlam match against HBK… And the guy who has suffered career ending injuries but STILL came back to WWF/E has to put this guy over?

If I was Shawn, I would have tried to make him look even more stupid than he did.

Was this the worst match ever? No, was it slow, kinda boring and OVERLY predictable? Yes.

By the way, the worst WWE match in the history of the WWE was Rock/Cena at WM 28…. Especially when I got to watch The Rock call the next move to Cena on two different occasions. Way to go guys!

Top 5 greatest matches in Wrestling History

Rob Leave a Comment

by Rob Base

 

# 5 Sabu vs Terry Funk

Number 5 is not so much a wrestling match but a life changing event. Terry funk vs Sabu, May not be the most technical match in the annuals of wrestling. Yet it shaped the face of the 90’s “extreme” movement. After this match, wrestling as we once knew it became Gritty and it felt real. And showed that old school tacticians still can give you a fight!

 

#4 Christian Cage wins TNA heavyweight Title

After a fantastic feud with Chris Jericho and John Cena at Vengeance 2005 Christian was headed for his first WWE title run. That unfortunately didn’t happen and the rug was pulled and Christian was shipped to Smack Down.

CHRISTIAN doesn’t resign and joins TNA, this would be their first real acquisition And it showed that CC can wrestle anywhere against any wrestler and that he is heavyweight material winning the NWA title. This would hopefully be the step to a future WWE championship run but as “fate” aka Vince McMahon would have his say. Let’s bring him back give him the ECW title than piss away the rest of his push! Thanks Vinnie Mac .

 

#3 Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series (1991)

Many things can be said about the Undertaker, But one thing is for sure he made an impact on Professional Wrestling. His debut at SS changed the future atmosphere of professional wrestling. Yes, I said it, without Taker WWE wouldn’t have survived the early days of the Monday night wars. But if there was ever one moment in time that moment that started  it all was Taker pinning Hulk Hogan. Even with Flair interfering, you can see the audience slowly changing and cheering for Taker. Hulk Hogan by 1991 had started leaving a bad taste in the mouths of the fans who are now becoming angry bitter teenagers. They want a change and the demonic Deadman was their first taste of new life and a new way of thinking about gimmick wrestlers!

 

side-note Undertaker is to me the greatest Wrestler of all time and should be #1 on all lists.

 

#2 CM Punk vs. John Cena at Money in the Bank 2011

Believe it or not, John Cena has had two very good matches in his history as a WWE superstar/ wrestler. The first was his match against RVD for the WWE title at Extreme rules and the second is his match against CM Punk.  proving that CM is the best worker in the world! The match had so much fanfare build up and a finale payoff not seen well almost ever in wrestling. it really was the summer… No, the season of Punk ! And it will go down as the day wrestling was resurrected.

 

#1  Taz vs HHH

One of the most underrated matches of all time.

Not only is this one of my all time favorite matches, but Taz came on strong and never quit. Rumors later came out that Vince regretted Taz losing this match and I agree. HHH had nothing to lose by jobbing to Taz and it only would have help promote Taz as a WWE all time great. But that wasn’t the case and in the end we get Jerry “the king of Memphis” Lawler injuring Taz’s neck and costing him a great WWE career!

 

Let me know your top 5 email me at Rob@AlternativeMindz.com or post a comment below

10 ways to save tna wrestling

Rob Leave a Comment
by Julian Revolver Ocelot Cannon

1. Bring Back the Six-Sided Ring – Although I wasn’t a huge fan of this particular ring, it certainly set TNA apart from other wrestling promotions, specifically WWE. If the company were to bring this back, I think company loyalists would be happy and new fans might try the product because it looks different.

2. Close The Over 50’s Club – PERMANENTLY! – As big a Hulkamaniac as I am, this company employ far too many on screen senior citizens. Sting, Ric Flair, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan together take up far too much TV time and unfortunately no longer add anything to the product. Sting deserves credit for constantly trying to help the younger talent but since TNA will always treat these older stars as superior, the only way for the promotion to move forward is for this team of legends to leave the sport and let the tradition live on with younger wrestlers.

3. Book Kurt Angle as a Part Time Special Attraction – It’s no secret that over the past few years, Kurt Angle has been pretty banged up and has started to look a shell of his former self, looking almost gaunt. In order to maximise the matches Angle has with his injuries and age, it only makes sense that Angle be used sporadically throughout the year in semi to main event matches to help the younger talent and utilise the Olympic Gold Medalist in the best way possible at this stage of his career.

4. Send Garrett Bischoff back to College – I have nothing against Garrett and truth be told, he’s not completely awful on the mic. WWE managed to strike gold with Shane McMahon ten years ago who was decent in the ring and able to handle upper mid card to main event feuds with stars like The Rock and Steve Austin on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Garrett doesn’t have that spark we saw from Shane. It will take a lot more than Hogan’s ‘blessing’ for fans to accept him. Simple fact is Garrett hasn’t paid his dues and doesn’t deserve his spot, something the fans will not forget. So with all due respect TNA lets focus on building someone who can sell PPVs for the company and not an Exec’s son.

5. Don’t book former WWE Talent as Superiors to TNA Veterans – Far too many times have we seen TNA bring in former WWE stars like Nash, Nasty Boys, Val Venis, RVD and they are booked to be better than the roster because they used to wrestle in WWE. It makes no sense. TNA have some great talent from AJ and Samoa Joe to MCMG and Bobby Roode. The sad reality is these guys are booked as being inferior to the former Stamford alumni and this is an area TNA really has to look at, if it plans to grow the brand.

6. Get Behind a Main Event Babyface and Stick With It -As flawed as WCW was in the day and WWE is now, there’s always a clear hero that is fighting for the company in the main events. In WWE it’s John Cena, in WCW it was Sting then Goldberg. TNA have…….well nobody. Jeff Hardy isn’t booked as a main eventer even though he should and they’ve killed off any buzz that Styles or Joe have ever had. TNA need to pick a guy whether it’s Storm, Anderson, Hardy, Joe….whoever it is and stick to it. TNA needs a hero and it’s not Hulk Hogan.

7. Take Impact Wrestling AWAY from Universal Studios – I know TNA struck a deal where they can pack the Impact Zone every week and be guaranteed a full house because they’re in a theme park, but frankly it’s impossible in 2012, to gauge how a fanbase feels about angles when you record in a theme park where instead of going on the Indian Jones ride they stumble into wrestling and just cheer and boo what they want. Obviously there are hardcore TNA fans at the shows but overall a change of scenery would do the product the world of good. What TNA need to realise is they can’t fill out 10,000 seater arenas. So why not play up to that and go and do Impact in smaller arenas where rabid fans can come to the shows and you can make a unique product for the literally, millions of wrestling fans who don’t watch or go to WWE shows. There’s a huge market out there for wrestling, TNA just has to go out into the US and find it.

8. Make the deal with Paul Heyman and give him FULL creative control. – It’s widely known that Paul Heyman came close to signing with the Nashville group on the condition that he had full creative control and he planned to only keep one legend on the roster. Dixie Carter’s figurative monumental erection for Hogan and Flair stopped this from becoming a reality. The fact is she made a mistake. Heyman’s downfall was as a businessman, never in creativity. So the chance for him to be in charge of creative and have none of the business dealings fall on his head would be a great fit.

9. Cut back to 5 Pay Per Views a Year – Although the pay per view model can be very successful in wrestling, based on the findings that of the 1 million people that watch Impact only 8,000 people buy their pay per view events, it’s clearly not a profitable venture for TNA. But there’s no reason they have to stick to one pay per view a month. For this group to get successful, they could build great rivalries over 2-3 months and then make fans fork out their money to see the match.

10. No More Reunions, No More WWE Has Beens – TNA has to look forward not backwards. We don’t want them to re-create Hogan/Sting or 90’s ECW. From now on, the company should brand themselves on being the future of pro wrestling. They’ve proven with their rankings system and open fight night that when they put their mind to it, they can be original. When WWE releases talent, TNA shouldn’t automatically sign them. Only sign wrestlers if they’re worth the price tag and could make a positive change to your product.

I hope you’ve found this column as enjoyable as I found writing it. If TNA implemented even half these changes, I truly believe their show would be much better and they’d be on the road to becoming a long term, successful promotion. We can only hope……