The Fake Diesel and Fake Razor of late 1996

[Doomsday Device]

Ive always wanted to know, why did the WWE do this back then. I remember it was around the fall of 1996, and JR came out saying that he was going to bring back Diesel and Razor, many people believed it would happen. Then this ugly Razor imitator came out, followed by Glen Jacobs aka Kane.

1996 was bad enough as it was for the E, they lost Nash and Hall to WCW, Bret couldnt stand Michaels as champion so he went on an 8 month vacation, and WCW was starting to turn the tide on Vince.

I think this was just Vince saying "look, you guys are just a creation, I can put Diesel and Razor gear on some other guy and call them Diesel and Razor"

But in my opinion WWE simply shot themselves in the foot with this. Fans didnt take this kindly and the company just made themselves look silly doing this.

 

[ncwriter2908]

I for one thought it had potential to be good. I think WWE messed it up and made them into a joke. If they would have been serious with it then it may have worked. The Razor and Diesel gimmicks were great. While they wouldn't have been as good as Nash and Hall it still could have worked.

 

[Doomsday Device]

I remember by this happening it gave Hall and Nash the idea to start saying in their promos "often imitated never duplicated" obviously referring to them being copied on wwe tv. Bad move by the E, they should have just put the issue of losing these 2 guys to rest and move on.

 

[Twanfusco]

It was an attempt to be more cool like wcw was and break some kayfabe boundaries, from a kids pov it confused me but looking back, they and jr garnered some serious heat, then again fans seemed to boo and cheer a lot more back then even in 1996. They attempted to make Nash hall and wcw look second rate, it didn't really work but it might have made for some interesting tv if the characters themselves were allowed to develop ect. Not the worst idea of the monday night war by a long way.

 

[bazza187]

it was also an attempt to put good ol jr over as a heel.
if i remember right it was about this time he had his first attack of bells and when he came back he was supposed to be a disgruntled employee and said he could bring back razor and diesel he also had his own mini broadcast table and had Dr death Steve Williams as his bodyguard.
but it failed as nobody could buy jr as a heel but in a way you could say this was a prequel to the Mr McMahon character which did work
oh it was also supposed to be a slap in the face to wcw which failed but saying that we don't watch nitro or starrcade do we so in the long run it don't matter that it failed

please feel free to comment on my points but don't go on about my grammar as i get it alot and people seem to forget there is a problem out there called dyslexia

 

[db82]

Hmmm i seem to remember it being for a totally different reason to all you lot. I was pretty sure they did it so that scott hall and diesel couldnt take the names razor ramon and diesel with them when they jumped to wcw and it went to court or something and wwf/e then to show they still used the names and characters in court decided to put the gimmicks on new wrestlers so it won them the rights to the name trademark. Looking back it ended up being bad for wwf cos the fake ones were awful and hall and nash were that over they didnt need the names anyway tho back then a lot more wrestlers didnt go by their original names so can see why wwf did it.

 

[Via Armbar]

I don't know if anyone in here is really getting the purpose behind fake Razor and fake Diesel. They were trying to turn Jim Ross into a heel character. He was the one who brought in Nash and Hall I believe originally to the WWF in the early nineties, when they left it was a good time to do something interesting with his character. The fact that he was trying to fool people into thinking that these were the real Razor and Diesel came across as heelish, which I believe was the plan. I don't think these characters were meant to be serious contenders or money makers. The angle was short lived as was JR's heel turn.

 

[bazza187]

firstly to db82 the wwe owned the rights to the names anyway the court case was because the wwe said that wcw were fooling the public into believeing that hall and nash were still with the wwe and won the suit if i am not mistaken

second to via armbar i have already said it was to put jr over as a heel and it could have worked if they had been serious about it and had better wrestlers in the roles

 

[Mr-excitement]

It had nothing to do with putting over JR. Vince incorrectly believed that he could convince fans that HALL AND NASH were coming BACK to the WWF and thereby build ratings in the WWF which was losing to Nitro.

After Bischoff made it clear on Nitro that this was not happening, Vince tossed together the horrible angle that JR was SENDING workers to Nitro and it bombed.

 

[bazza187]

the wwe didnt start losing to wcw untill after hall and nash jumped and they formed the nwo untill that point ratings were down for both companys vince sued wcw for portraying hall and nash as wwe stars that were invading hence the name the outsiders and the whole eric saying they were not under contract to wcw and why the first lot of nwo stars were former wwe stars.
vince knew hall and nash were not coming back they left because they wanted too much money and vince couldnt pay them and as i stated it was an easy and cheap shot at wcw that failed but it was still to put jim ross over as a heel as he brought the fakes in it was supposed to put him as the guy that hated the wwe for letting him go
and if you want proof google the debut of the fake razor and diesel and you will get a video of jr explaining why stars are leaving and then the debut of razor

 

[Mr-excitement]

The WWF lost the first head-to-head battle against Nitro and then the companies went back and forth until the NWO was formed, by the time the fake players came to the game, the WWF was losing to Nitro EVERY WEEK.

It was an ATTEMPT to fool the fans and get them to watch Raw and increase the ratings and it did not work. Turning JR was the company trying to save face, after the BLATANT bait and switch did not work and that failed also.

I don't need to watch a YouTube video, I watched it when it happened. I watched the build up of it also. The angle was NOT designed to get Ross over as a heel, it was designed to get fans to watch Raw again.

 

[bazza187]

once again it was jr that was seen in a blurry video talking to what everyone thought was hall and nash it was jr that said he could bring razor back it was jr shouting in the middle of the ring on razors debut how do you like that wwf the fact that he screwed them out of stars they did it to turn jr heel but you are right in saying it was to get people to watch raw but then again everything in the wwf/wwe is aimed at getting you to watch i watched the build up i watched it when it happened but hey you are entitled to your opinion and i am entitled to mine so i guess we will have to agree to disagree either way vince won

 

[Doomsday Device]

One thing I dont get is, why would they want JR as a heel at that time? I understand the disgruntled employee thing, and him getting back at Vince, but what good would he be after that? Was he going to be some heel manager? No. And they didnt exactly need another heel commentator because Lawler was there. This storyline bombed.

I believe it was also around this time that wrestlers were starting to use their real names going into the ring.

Which was a good idea. Not having these silly gimmicky nicknames like Ringmaster, Typhoon, shit like that.

 

[Mr-excitement]

One thing I dont get is, why would they want JR as a heel at that time? I understand the disgruntled employee thing, and him getting back at Vince, but what good would he be after that? Was he going to be some heel manager? No. And they didnt exactly need another heel commentator because Lawler was there. This storyline bombed.

I believe it was also around this time that wrestlers were starting to use their real names going into the ring.

Which was a good idea. Not having these silly gimmicky nicknames like Ringmaster, Typhoon, shit like that.

They just wanted the build up and then probably the weekend before they turned Ross when they realized what would happen once fans tuned into Nitro and saw Hall and Nash. Bischoff made sure they appeared in the first segment on Nitro, so there was no chance that fans would believe they were on Raw.

The point of the story was NOT to turn Ross - that was their way out of writing themselves into a corner.