Piper made his WCW debut at Halloween Havoc in 96 after Hogan retained the title from Savage due to interference from The Giant. Shortly thereafter Savage went on hiatus and then began appearing in all-black in a similar fashion as to Sting and appeared to be odds with the NWO before turning on Piper and joining. It would be another year or so before Savage got back into the title scene.
On a side note, the way WCW played Savage at the time, it was odd that his feud didn't extend with Hogan. Because Sting's alignment was questionable, Savage was certainly the biggest face in the company and at Havoc, Savage had his own Monster Truck and of course the sponsoring company for the ppv was Slim Jim.
Piper headlined Starrcade in 96. In 97 headlined Super Brawl, Uncensored, Slamboree, and Halloween Havoc. He returned briefly in 98.
By no means am I a Piper hater. However, I have never seen the guy as the top anything of the company and he was certainly just that in early 97. Piper cab cut an entertaining promo, but he doesn't appear very athletic and wrestling style lacks any kind of excitement (his finisher is a sleeper hold). Even for 97, Piper's gimmick and style seemed about 10 years late. There was of course the initial nostalgia of seeing Hogan and Piper going at it, but after several times throughout that period it seemed stale. As a face, Hogan relied on his heel opponents to come up with the bulk of the ring action until he brought the match home by hulking up. As a heel, Hogan's move set was limited to dirty tactics or simply striking his opponent. When you couple Piper's generic move set with Hogan's nonexistent set, there's not much left.
IF Bischoff knew the Sting gimmick would run until Starrcade of 97 I can see the need for filler feuds to build up Hogan's; at the time, early title reign.
I believe at the time Ric Flair was on hiatus from wrestling due to some kind of injury. If not, a Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan feud would have been a good filler aside from their Clash of the Champions bout very early in Hogan's heel turn.
DDP was just getting embroiled in a feud with Savage and his main event push.
Luger would have made a better choice in my opinion for a Hogan opponent at Starrcade. Luger would have his run later on down the line around Hog Wild in 97.
In short, Piper didn't see like a good face to be in the main event spotlight for such a prolonged time. If WWF wasn't completely garbage in early 97, I think WCW could have squandered their lead.
On a side note, the way WCW played Savage at the time, it was odd that his feud didn't extend with Hogan. Because Sting's alignment was questionable, Savage was certainly the biggest face in the company and at Havoc, Savage had his own Monster Truck and of course the sponsoring company for the ppv was Slim Jim.
Piper headlined Starrcade in 96. In 97 headlined Super Brawl, Uncensored, Slamboree, and Halloween Havoc. He returned briefly in 98.
By no means am I a Piper hater. However, I have never seen the guy as the top anything of the company and he was certainly just that in early 97. Piper cab cut an entertaining promo, but he doesn't appear very athletic and wrestling style lacks any kind of excitement (his finisher is a sleeper hold). Even for 97, Piper's gimmick and style seemed about 10 years late. There was of course the initial nostalgia of seeing Hogan and Piper going at it, but after several times throughout that period it seemed stale. As a face, Hogan relied on his heel opponents to come up with the bulk of the ring action until he brought the match home by hulking up. As a heel, Hogan's move set was limited to dirty tactics or simply striking his opponent. When you couple Piper's generic move set with Hogan's nonexistent set, there's not much left.
IF Bischoff knew the Sting gimmick would run until Starrcade of 97 I can see the need for filler feuds to build up Hogan's; at the time, early title reign.
I believe at the time Ric Flair was on hiatus from wrestling due to some kind of injury. If not, a Flair vs. Hollywood Hogan feud would have been a good filler aside from their Clash of the Champions bout very early in Hogan's heel turn.
DDP was just getting embroiled in a feud with Savage and his main event push.
Luger would have made a better choice in my opinion for a Hogan opponent at Starrcade. Luger would have his run later on down the line around Hog Wild in 97.
In short, Piper didn't see like a good face to be in the main event spotlight for such a prolonged time. If WWF wasn't completely garbage in early 97, I think WCW could have squandered their lead.
