Uncensored 1999-what could have been?

[Vader]

While WCW was probably doomed after the Finger Poke of Doom, the argument can be made that remained viable for at least a year or so after.

I have a few possible time slots for the end of the NWO which should have occurred beforehand.

1) Sting ending the NWO after getting a CLEAN win at Starrcade.
2) Fall Brawl, in a perfect world I would have changed up the dynamics...
Team WCW-Sting, Goldberg, Warrior
Wolfpack-Nash, DDP, Hall
Team Hollywood-Hogan, Savage, Giant

with WCW coming out on top and dissolving the NWO altogether.

3)Triple Threat match-Goldberg, Nash, and Hogan with Goldberg winning and dissolving both factions.

Uncensored and maybe Spring Stampede kind of marks the end of the "business as usual" attitude for WCW for me. The programming had already started to change somewhat away from the typical vignettes. Hogan's character started becoming more realistic and the promos with Nash, Hogan, and Torrie Wilson were different from what they were doing a year before (coming to the ring and talking). The NWO attacking Flair in the dessert with a helicopter overhead was an entertaining segment as well. Arguably, this is the last time fans may have been interested at all in a Flair vs Hogan match and seeing the match as legit vs a novelty or a throwback to earlier days.

While I'm not saying any of this would have saved WCW at this point, I think had WCW done some things different the promotion may have been salvageable .

The Horsemen reformed in Sept 98, to much fanfare and one of the last times WCW had high ratings. Unfortunately, WCW didn't really capitalize on this and we didn't see the Horsemen really get involved against the NWO because of the Wolfpack feud. After the Finger Poke of Doom and reformation of the NWO, renewing the Horsemen vs NWO angle started to make more sense. WCW should have realized that reforming the NWO killed most of the fan interest in the stable. The problem is how you dissolve the stable.

Earlier that night Benoit/Malenko won the tag titles in a match that should have been against a NWO team.

In the main event, Hogan put the title up on the line against Flair's presidency. Personally I think the NWO and Horsemen should have been on the line during the match as well.

The match played out with Hogan dominating Flair for most of the match. Hogan started some of his old Hulkster antics and you could tell Hogan was attempting to go face, but still used many dirty tactics like raking Flair's head across barbed wire and hitting him with his belt. The match was supposed to be a first blood match but Flair had the ref in his pocket who ignored Flair's bleeding and Hogan's pin attempt. In the end, Arn comes and hands Flair a tire iron who hits Hogan with it, locks in the Figure Four, and gets a fast count pin. The NWO never shows up. This match results in a double turn for Flair and Hogan.

While I liked the dirty/swerve end, and I think it would be proper for the NWO to end as a victim to their own tactics, I think the Hogan face turn killed this match.

Had the NWO came out and attempted to interfere, but were fended off by the Horsemen and Flair was able to score the win (without a referee in the pocket; but still with the tire iron), won the title and ended the NWO, I think it could have went down as a great PPV.

The most confusing part of all this was that Hogan went face, but was still leading the NWO who were wrestling as heels for another month until the stable quietly dissolved.

 

[relentless1]

yeah, it was stupid and a disservice to the fans and the nWo angle, what should have happened, if we are saying that the Wolfpack reformation happened is Flair should have focused more on his sons betrayal. Have a rematch between Hogan and Flair with David in Hogans corner, Flair wins by DQ. At the same time Nash v Goldberg 2 happens at Uncensored with Goldberg winning, giving Goldberg the World title shot against Hogan at Spring Stampede. Nash claims that this was the path they were going to take with Goldberg, having him run through the new nWo to get to rematch Hogan for the belt. Come Stampede, Goldberg wins the belt, nWo spend the next month trying to injure Goldberg to no avail with Flair challenging Hogan for one more match at Slamboree; presidency vs nWo; If Flair wins nWo disbands. Flair wins with the Horsemen watching his back and the nWo disbands right then and there, next Nitro, Hall Nash and Steiner beat down Hogan for his failure, th Outsiders remain a team while Steiner goes onto be the berserker that we know and love, giving him the World title match at Road Wild which he wins setting up Benoit to win World War 3 and the title from Steiner at Starrcade. Hogan returns in november to challenge Nash at Starrcade as well.

Starrcade 1999:

World title: Steiner vs Benoit

#1 contender: Goldberg vs Sid vs Bret Hart

contract match: Hogan vs Nash

 

[Cub McCallister]

I feel that this angle could've been done much better tbh and with Uncensored they could of done a much better main event tbh rather that have Flair have to cheat to win the match, I would perhaps re-book the entire card:

1) Billy Kidman (C) Vs Mikey Whipreck
WCW Cruiserweight Title Match. Stays the same.

2) Stevie Ray Vs Horace Hogan
Street Fight Match. Have Horance try to take out Stevie Ray because he is sick of Hulk and what not.

3) Hak Vs Bam Bam Bigelow Vs Raven
Hardcore Triple Threat Match. Stays the same.

4) Curt Hennig & Barry Windham Vs Rey Mysterio & Konnan
WCW World Tag Team Title Lumberjack Match. Add Mysterio & Konnan to the match instead and have them win the titles.

5) Perry Saturn Vs Chris Jericho
Chain Match. Stays the same.

6) Booker T (C) Vs Buff Bagwell (C)
Wcw United States & Tv Title Unification Match. Add this to the card instead and have Bagwell walk out with both of the us and tv titles.

7) Goldberg (C) Vs Scott Steiner
Wcw World Title Match. I would have Goldberg win the title at Starrcade fro the previous year and have him defend it for a while and have him come up against Steiner.

8) Ric Flair, Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko Vs Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall
Six Man Tag Team War Match. I would make this the main event with the winning team staying together and the losing team having disband with the NWO losing finally and have the Four Horsemen win the match and rid wcw of the nwo.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The double swerve was stupid. WCW went to great lengths to end the ridiculous Wolf Pac vs Black & White feud, reunite the NWO with the Nash heel turn/ stealing the title from Goldberg, and the Finger Poke of Doom which brought Hogan back from his self imposed storyline exile (running for President I believe) and they were purging the mid carders and filler talent from the group, becoming an elite heel group again, the one difference being Flair (WCW) had the Presidency which meant they didn't have Eric Bischoff changing match results and protecting them in matches anymore. For the first time since 1996 the NWO was lean fighting machine and they were on offense, they didn't have control anymore.

Flair was way over as a face as was Goldberg. It was a mistake to push Goldberg into the mid card and waste him in matches with guys like Scott Norton and Scott Hall who weren't going anywhere, as a rising star (not a 48 year old vet like Flair) he should have been front and center leading the charge against The NWO, trying to get revenge for being screw jobbed out of the title and opposing everything the NWO did. After all while Flair may have been the present at his age he wasn't the future, Goldberg was, but after Starrcade 98 he quickly was dropped from the main event and World Title Scene.

I personally think it was a mistake to go with another version of Flair-Hogan although the Super Brawl PPV drew really big numbers, fans were clearly invested in seeing Flair finally beat Hogan but if Hogan loses then where is the build to the match everyone wants to see....Hogan-Goldberg II. Having Hogan win, even by the clear screw job methods he used in an effort to protect was Flair, angered fans who once again wanted to see Flair finally one up Hogan and fail. Still, if WCW had been pushing Goldberg as NWO Enemy #1, working towards a real PPV Main Event re match with Nash (ostensibly one that would give him a title shot vs Goldberg) it still could have worked (although I would have done without the horrible David Flair/Torrie Wilson story, that made no sense).

The "double turn" was poorly executed. WCW thought if Flair faced Goldberg he would be a heel, but they presented the storyline as Flair trying to protect his son David, who he still loved and wanted to reconcile with despite his recent behavior. It didn't exactly make him look like a menacing heel, furthermore the idea Flair might cheat to beat the NWO wasn't exactly a bad thing to the audience, typically fans are OK if a good guy has to resort to dirty tactics to beat a cheater, fans never complained about Austin's rulebreaking in his run vs Vince McMahon, likewise fans had no problem years earlier with Flair beating Terry Funk with a branding iron. Simply having Flair, who was clearly robbed and cheated by these guys at Super Brawl, be willing to turn the tables on Hogan at Uncensored wasn't really a crowd changing move. Meanwhile WCW ran promo vignettes with Hogan, who had spent three years proclaiming his selfishness and disdain for the fans, complaining that Flair was fake and in fact was selfish and more concerned with himself that the fans. What kind of crap was that ? Who he was he to accuse anyone on those grounds ? Im sure this could have been done worse but Im not sure how.

The fact that in the match itself the biggest pops of the night are for Arn Anderson knocking out David at ringside with the tire iron and Flair using the tire iron to club Hogan and pin him shows you what the fans thought.

And during all of this where was Goldberg ???????

The NWO attack in the dessert prior to Super Brawl may have been the single most stupid thing WCW ever did. So the NWO is filming this and showing it as it happens on Nitro but the announcers cant see it and never acknowledge it on air, how can that be, especially when they have acknowledged every single NWO vignette the group ever aired on Nitro since their 96 debut ? Chris Benoit wrestles on the show and apparently he hasn't seen it, although it is being shown on live TV and shown in the arena where Nitro is being held. Yet Roddy Piper has seen it because he comes on TV, delivers a blistering anti NWO promo condemning the attack, and is pummeled by the group upon their retrun to the arena, no explanation on how he saw the attack but Benoit and the announcing team never did.

Also, no explanation as to why the NWO left the camera man behind after the attack was finished (he filmed a badly beaten Flair hitchhiking back to the arena to confront Hogan)....or for that matter why the camera man didn't get help for Flair after the NWO left or why Flair didn't beat the hell out him (instead of letting him film him get a ride in a pick up to the arena) ????? Logic isn't always pro wrestling's best friend and you have to suspend some belief when you watch a soap opera like this but this was so poorly executed it defies explanation!

In the end, post Starrcade 98, The NWO should have been ducking Goldberg every chance they got while Flair (as President) would be trying to even the playing field and help Goldberg get his revenge. Goldberg should have gotten his re match (and win) vs Nash at Super Brawl, which was one of WCW's biggest annual events (comparable to Royal Rumble in WWE). He should have feuded with Nash & Steiner through the Spring leading into a title match vs Hogan. If Hogan was legit injured and couldn't make it till Bash time in the summer have Goldberg beat him earlier and have Nash and the NWO turn on him, angry he dropped the title so soon after they went to such lengths to get it back for him. Maybe he could have dropped a marque non title match to Flair prior to that with some big time stipulation like Flair's WCW Presidency vs Goldberg's title match for instance. This would have allowed Hogan to gain some sympathy and facilitated his full fledged Hulka-Mania return post knee surgery that summer, now feuding against Nash and the NWO. Randy Savage was returning from injured reserve around this time and would have made a great replacement, playing up the "I hate to say I told you so" angle by finishing his feud from a year earlier when he was thrown out of the group by Hogan. A heel Savage vs fan fave Flair would have been a fresh dynamic to their feud and we never had a Goldberg-Savage run which would have been completely fresh.

Keep in mind that in late 98-spring 99 Sting, Lex Luger, & Brett Hart were all on injured reserve along with Savage. They all would have been back by the spring of 99 to inject some much needed new blood, with a lot of star power, into the NWO vs Flair/Goldberg dynamic. DDP was way over at this point too and could have been a valuable player, much more than his token one month title run which was treated as little more than a joke, and ended with Nash getting the belt back (and DDP, another way over face, inexplicably turned heel).