WCW before Hulk Hogan

[HBsam31]

I watched a lot of WCW Saturday Night and also the morning shows. I loved The Clash of the Champions specials. I remember seeing a very young Brain Pillman having matches against Jushin Liger, and that was really my first taste of high flying wrestling. I remeber really getting behind Bobby Eaton when he broke into sigles and went for the TV title. I remember taking a liking to a young Chris Benoit in those time too. I was always a WWE guy first, but WCW was great to me to. In a way I actually preferred WCW in the pre Hogan days, but for different reasons. Don't get me wrong, I loved the NWO, but I always have had good memories of WCW before him.

[comrade_mario]

I started watching it on Saturdays when a British TV company called ITV picked it up to rival Sky's insanely popular WWF programming (seriously, every kid traded WWF cards every lunchtime, you were really weird if you didn't like wrestling in Ireland in the early 90s).

Thoughts on it was that it looked cheap and that their characters were rip offs of the WWF. I, ashamedly, thought Sting was just a poor man's Ultimate Warrior for example (give me a break, I was 10).

Some good stuff did stand out though. I thought the Hollywood Blondes were excellent. I thought Vader and Sid were awesome as a team of ass kickers powerbombing whoever the hell they wanted to. I loved Cactus Jack. Weirdly enough I thought Johnny B. Badd was pretty good as well.

Biggest disappointment was Flair by far and away. The guy who ran our local video store used to tell me about how great Flair and the Horsemen were. I got to see him in action just before he joined the WWF and wasn't impressed. He looked old and dated to my young eyes. He then joined the WWF and I thought he was awesome, but when he went back to WCW he looked like he should retire again. I think it was due to the poor production that he didn't like a superstar, in my Vince McMahon trained eyes, in WCW to me.

[tgrfan]

Originally Posted by TheHitMark-SirJoseOle

I would say some of my favorite moments in this era of WCW were the following:

Cactus Jack's feud with Vader.

awwwwww man you are bringing back memories of my childhood.i remember this feud as well.it still stands out to me today.vader power bombing him on the concrete on saturday night.i was mad and upset.i remember the whole week before that fight i was jacked.telling my mom,dad,bro,sis,grand parents and aunts and uncles about it.i remember the night of the match i was at my gma's house and my aunt says to me before i leave."i hope your man cactus wins tonight".those were the days.i actually looked forward to watching wrestling back then.as a kid the black scorpions story had me hooked in as well.though it seems cheesy now.back then it was awesome

now i dont know if it is just that i am older now,the product not being the same,or the fact that many of the characters now dont compare to those back then.i just cant get to hyped for wrestling anymore.

[Waylon Mercy]

My first real exposure to pro wrestling was through the old NWA programs, airing on WTBS Atlanta. It was right before the Hulkamania and Rock and Wrestling explosion. The announcer was a small-in-stature, bookish little fellow with huge black rimmed-glasses. He had a nasally voice. Despite his nerdy appearance, I grew to appreciate his commentary a great deal. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling holds, and always appeared calm as he was dwarfed in ringside interviews by these intimidating characters. His name, of course, was Gordon Solie.
Gordon introduced me to the likes of Sting, Ric Flair and The 4 Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes, Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer, "Wildfire" Tommy Rich, Barry Windham, and the absolutely fearsome Road Warriors. It was a very intimate environment, live from the WTBS studio in Atlanta. The capacity crowd looked as though it was no more than 50 people. It was very primitive by today's standards, however these characters and the environment in which they displayed their craft was compelling. It was fly by the seat of your pants booking, and as a result, guys like Flair and Rhodes were given free range to cut brilliant unscripted promos. They were truly amazing on the mic.

[FlairFan2003]

I watched in the 80s thanks to TBS, before Turner bought the company, when Jim Crockett Jr was in charge and it was the NWA. The production values were not as slick as WWE (this is circa 86-87 range) but they were good enough. The promos were often more adult and violent in nature compared to WWE and the in ring wrestling was far superior, they also had a much higher level of brutality in their matches (old school NWA cage matches are the basis for todays Hell In A Cell just like todays Elimination Chamber is based in part on the War Games Matches). The talent was unreal, Jim Cornett & Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express was an awesome tag team feud back when tag team wrestling was a big deal (WWE tried to duplicate this creating the Hart Foundation, whth their wimpy, loud, southern manager, vs British Bulldogs), the bad *@# biker Road Warriors had an awesome look and gimmick, one of the 1st true examples of wrestlers changing from heel to face due to the positive crowd reaction to their character in spite of their booking (imitated by WWE with creation of Demolition), The Horsemen were great villains, particularly Flair & Tully Blanchard, nationwide no wrestler in the 80s was more popular than Dusty Rhodes except Hogan, Young stars like Magnum TA, Sting, & Nikita Kolloff were very popular, plus a good mix of veterans like Wahoo McDaniel, et all. Those programs circa 84-88 were often much more entertaining than the more kid friendly, Disney like WWE.

I think the 1st year after Turner's buyout (89) was good at the top of the card with Flair, Steamboat, Luger, Sting, Funk, and Mutah but the midcard was poorly promoted (a problem the company would struggle with throughout the 90s). Once Flair and Road Warriors left I quit watching, although Im aware of how good Ron Simmons was (I liked him earlier with Butch Reed in the tag team Doom), plus Sting, Rich Rude (who wrestled in the NWA 86-87 before joining WWE), Vader, all did good work even if the product was lackluster.

Flair's return and subsequent runs vs Vader & Steamboat were very entertaining pre Hogan. WCW was building a strong undercard in this time period getting good returns on Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Steven Regal, and Mick Foley, not too mention a young "Johnny B Badd" Marc Mero and Harlem Heat tag team. I actually really started enjoying the product in WCW 93-94 range more than WWE. Before Hogan signed it seemed WCW was heading for a Rick Rude faceturn, a major run vs Vader, and maybe a vs Flair and Sting in the World title scene which had a lot of potential. Ultimately Rude's injury and Hogan joining nixed much of that.

Favorite moments, there were many, Dusty & Magnum getting shafted by JJ Dillion in the $100,000 vs TV Title match with Tully Blanchard, Flair's feud with Jimmy Garvin over Prescious (the manequin date promo is an all time classic), Magnum TA vs Nikita Kolloff in the best of 7 series for the US title, Magnum vs Blanchard and the two title changes, Midnight Express cowardly trying to avoid The Road Warriors, Flair vs Ricky Morton (the training bra promo, the cement face rub locker room beat down, the cage matches), Simmons title push, Vader & Harley Race as a tandem, Hollywood Blondes, great Flair bouts vs Whyndam and Steamboat. Lotta great memories.

[Waylon Mercy]

Originally Posted by FlairFan2003

I watched in the 80s thanks to TBS, before Turner bought the company, when Jim Crockett Jr was in charge and it was the NWA. The production values were not as slick as WWE (this is circa 86-87 range) but they were good enough. The promos were often more adult and violent in nature compared to WWE and the in ring wrestling was far superior, they also had a much higher level of brutality in their matches (old school NWA cage matches are the basis for todays Hell In A Cell just like todays Elimination Chamber is based in part on the War Games Matches). The talent was unreal, Jim Cornett & Midnight Express vs Rock & Roll Express was an awesome tag team feud back when tag team wrestling was a big deal (WWE tried to duplicate this creating the Hart Foundation, whth their wimpy, loud, southern manager, vs British Bulldogs), the bad *@# biker Road Warriors had an awesome look and gimmick, one of the 1st true examples of wrestlers changing from heel to face due to the positive crowd reaction to their character in spite of their booking (imitated by WWE with creation of Demolition), The Horsemen were great villains, particularly Flair & Tully Blanchard, nationwide no wrestler in the 80s was more popular than Dusty Rhodes except Hogan, Young stars like Magnum TA, Sting, & Nikita Kolloff were very popular, plus a good mix of veterans like Wahoo McDaniel, et all. Those programs circa 84-88 were often much more entertaining than the more kid friendly, Disney like WWE.

I think the 1st year after Turner's buyout (89) was good at the top of the card with Flair, Steamboat, Luger, Sting, Funk, and Mutah but the midcard was poorly promoted (a problem the company would struggle with throughout the 90s). Once Flair and Road Warriors left I quit watching, although Im aware of how good Ron Simmons was (I liked him earlier with Butch Reed in the tag team Doom), plus Sting, Rich Rude (who wrestled in the NWA 86-87 before joining WWE), Vader, all did good work even if the product was lackluster.

Flair's return and subsequent runs vs Vader & Steamboat were very entertaining pre Hogan. WCW was building a strong undercard in this time period getting good returns on Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Steven Regal, and Mick Foley, not too mention a young "Johnny B Badd" Marc Mero and Harlem Heat tag team. I actually really started enjoying the product in WCW 93-94 range more than WWE. Before Hogan signed it seemed WCW was heading for a Rick Rude faceturn, a major run vs Vader, and maybe a vs Flair and Sting in the World title scene which had a lot of potential. Ultimately Rude's injury and Hogan joining nixed much of that.

Favorite moments, there were many, Dusty & Magnum getting shafted by JJ Dillion in the $100,000 vs TV Title match with Tully Blanchard, Flair's feud with Jimmy Garvin over Prescious (the manequin date promo is an all time classic), Magnum TA vs Nikita Kolloff in the best of 7 series for the US title, Magnum vs Blanchard and the two title changes, Midnight Express cowardly trying to avoid The Road Warriors, Flair vs Ricky Morton (the training bra promo, the cement face rub locker room beat down, the cage matches), Simmons title push, Vader & Harley Race as a tandem, Hollywood Blondes, great Flair bouts vs Whyndam and Steamboat. Lotta great memories.

Great post. Lots of excellent memories. I think it was the perfect antithesis to the eventual empire that Vince was building. I could never forget the heel Nikita Koloff. He was a powerhouse, seemingly unstoppable. He was Goldberg before there was a Goldberg. Magnum TA was the quintessential face who actually stood a chance of beating Koloff. It was a great rivalry. Forgot also about the Midnight Express, and the Rock and Roll Express. As scary as Nikita was, the Road Warriors were downright frightening. I remember the movie "The Road Warrior" had just come out, and these guys looked like something out of that apocalyptic nightmare. truly original for their time.