TEIWCSCSAATBHPHASP
Pre-Show Stalwart
One night after the Spring Stampede 1998 PPV, Bret "The Hitman" Hart interfered in the main event match between Randy Savage and Hollywood Hogan that was defined as the blowoff to the Original nWo chapter of the New World Order era from July 1996 to April 1998. During the match, Roddy Piper was the special guest referee who made the Savage/Hogan match a No DQ match. While it assured Savage a potential victory and possibly maybe to retain his WCW World Heavyweight Championship Belt against Hogan, the No DQ rules also allowed Hollywood Hogan and The Disciple (now a bearded Brutus Beefcake) to do whatever assault beatdowns they wanted to Savage.
And when the Savage/Hogan match got increasingly volatile when Hogan and Beefcake had their way with Savage, Kevin Nash came to the rescue of Savage. Many fans in the audience and their mothers and grandmothers expected Bret Hart to come out and help Nash and Savage put Hogan and Beefcake back in their place. But then, what happened? Bret clocked Nash in the head with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Belt, and helped Hogan bring back the WCW WHC Belt back to the nWo.
At the time of Bret's April 1998 heel turn, The Giant was still a face who was in the middle of a one-on-one feud with Kevin Nash for most of '97-'98 when the feud originated from Nash constantly ducking away from The Giant until Souled Out 1998 when Nash dropped him on his neck, and nearly ended his career. But then WCW bookers portrayed Giant (post-Souled Out '98) as someone who disobeyed doctor's orders and came back from his broken neck too soon. Giant's neck injury was the kayfabe reason why J.J. Dillon banned all variations of the powerbomb move. Anyone else attempting the powerbomb was fined, but for Nash in particular, not only did Nash have to pay the fines but J.J. Dillon put Nash under the microscope of Doug Dillinger and security should he dare to do another Jackknife Powerbomb. Giant himself got cuffed in chains for his own powerbomb.
While Giant was recovering from his broken neck, Randy Savage was on the outs with the Original nWo while Scott Steiner was recently inducted into the nWo as insurance should Savage become a kayfabe liability to them and dare to challenge Hogan over who should be the nWo leader. There were moments when Sting, Giant and Savage had a unique three-man unit composed of two Team WCW stalwarts and an estranged soon-to-be-ex nWo member.
Since Bret turned heel the night after Spring Stampede '98, Giant didn't turn heel until the following month in May 1998, shortly before he was due to team up with Sting to contend for the WCW Tag Team Championship Belts with nWo Wolfpac members Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. While the Wolfpac were initially tweeners, and the ad/hoc team of Sting and The Giant were faces as Team WCW stalwarts; Giant became the obvious true heel of the four, as he jumped ship to the nWo Hollywood camp in a weird twist because the tag match was signed before Giant's heel turn. So Giant quickly reunited with Bret Hart as a semi-ally in nWo Hollywood.
Somewhere between Bret's heel turn in April 1998 and Giant's heel turn in May 1998, I wonder if The Giant (still a WCW face) ever interacted with the recently-turned heel Bret Hart at any point between April-May '98 on opposing sides. Bret was now helping Hogan and his cronies out, and Giant was still defending the honor and tradition of Team WCW when Bret betrayed Nash and Savage to officially be a heel. Giant betrayed Nash by allying with Hogan, Brian Adams and Vincent.
If a match between a babyface Giant and a heel Bret Hart were to suffice, can you imagine a Bret Hart promo getting whiny about The Giant being just another one of the many names interfering in Bret's whiny monologue of how he's been screwed? I need a potential script for a face Giant and heel Bret promo segment.
And when the Savage/Hogan match got increasingly volatile when Hogan and Beefcake had their way with Savage, Kevin Nash came to the rescue of Savage. Many fans in the audience and their mothers and grandmothers expected Bret Hart to come out and help Nash and Savage put Hogan and Beefcake back in their place. But then, what happened? Bret clocked Nash in the head with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship Belt, and helped Hogan bring back the WCW WHC Belt back to the nWo.
At the time of Bret's April 1998 heel turn, The Giant was still a face who was in the middle of a one-on-one feud with Kevin Nash for most of '97-'98 when the feud originated from Nash constantly ducking away from The Giant until Souled Out 1998 when Nash dropped him on his neck, and nearly ended his career. But then WCW bookers portrayed Giant (post-Souled Out '98) as someone who disobeyed doctor's orders and came back from his broken neck too soon. Giant's neck injury was the kayfabe reason why J.J. Dillon banned all variations of the powerbomb move. Anyone else attempting the powerbomb was fined, but for Nash in particular, not only did Nash have to pay the fines but J.J. Dillon put Nash under the microscope of Doug Dillinger and security should he dare to do another Jackknife Powerbomb. Giant himself got cuffed in chains for his own powerbomb.
While Giant was recovering from his broken neck, Randy Savage was on the outs with the Original nWo while Scott Steiner was recently inducted into the nWo as insurance should Savage become a kayfabe liability to them and dare to challenge Hogan over who should be the nWo leader. There were moments when Sting, Giant and Savage had a unique three-man unit composed of two Team WCW stalwarts and an estranged soon-to-be-ex nWo member.
Since Bret turned heel the night after Spring Stampede '98, Giant didn't turn heel until the following month in May 1998, shortly before he was due to team up with Sting to contend for the WCW Tag Team Championship Belts with nWo Wolfpac members Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. While the Wolfpac were initially tweeners, and the ad/hoc team of Sting and The Giant were faces as Team WCW stalwarts; Giant became the obvious true heel of the four, as he jumped ship to the nWo Hollywood camp in a weird twist because the tag match was signed before Giant's heel turn. So Giant quickly reunited with Bret Hart as a semi-ally in nWo Hollywood.
Somewhere between Bret's heel turn in April 1998 and Giant's heel turn in May 1998, I wonder if The Giant (still a WCW face) ever interacted with the recently-turned heel Bret Hart at any point between April-May '98 on opposing sides. Bret was now helping Hogan and his cronies out, and Giant was still defending the honor and tradition of Team WCW when Bret betrayed Nash and Savage to officially be a heel. Giant betrayed Nash by allying with Hogan, Brian Adams and Vincent.
If a match between a babyface Giant and a heel Bret Hart were to suffice, can you imagine a Bret Hart promo getting whiny about The Giant being just another one of the many names interfering in Bret's whiny monologue of how he's been screwed? I need a potential script for a face Giant and heel Bret promo segment.
