TheHitMark-SirJoseOle
A Fan Of Wrestling Not Backstage BS
As the thread title states, I wanted to discuss WCW prior to Hulk Hogan's arrival. My purpose of this thread is not to throw around speculation about backstage politics, egos and what not. I just want to have an insightful discussion about what the promotion was like before Hulk Hogan departed WWF to sign with the competition. So it'd be great if we could keep things reserved to what happened on screen and not off.
As a kid, I wasn't overly intimate or familiar with the Jim Crockett Promotions roster, since the cable company that my town had didn't carry TBS until 1993. The syndicated program which I believe was called the Power Hour was never a consistent or dependable show to base a following on either, a lot of this was due to just how the nature of syndicated stations worked back then. However I was still able to follow some of the promotion's storylines when I would visit my Grandfather's house during the summers and occasional weekends since he lived in another town that did carry TBS.
So through the years I had some insight on stuff like Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard's feud, Ric Flair's animus with Dusty Rhodes (even when The American Dream saved the Nature Boy from the wily assaults of Nikita Koloff and company). The Midnight Express' blood feud with The Road Warriors. And then of course Ted Turner's buy out of JCP effectively turning the company completely into World Championship Wrestling.
With that said, I remembered a lot of events that happened AFTER that, Lex Luger's rise to the World Title, the Steiner Brothers' tag team dominance, The Fabulous Freebirds, Sting's ascension to being the franchise player of WCW. One of my favorite moments though definitely has to be Ron Simmons' being WCW World Champion. This was during the controversial era of Bill Watts running things, but man to see this guy make the strides he did in the organization was amazing. Going back to his days as Doom with Butch Reed, Simmons earned his stripes, and the feud with Vader for the belt was classic.
Anyway, with that said we are moving closer to the mid part of the 90s now, and this is where my exposure to WCW became even more possible because my hometown finally got TBS on its cable systems. So shows like WCW Main Event, WCW Saturday Night, and Clash Of The Champions became regular programming for me. Having already been familiar with the WCW product more or less, I was already aware of who many of the big names were. But now I got to see them every week on a regular basis, which was awesome.
Not to take anything away from Hulk Hogan, again I'm a raging Hogan mark, but WCW was very entertaining even before him. Despite some of the cheesy moments like the White Castle Of Fear and Beach Blast mini movies. But then again, let's not forget that this isn't far removed from the AWA's team challenge series and the WWF's segments like Fuji Vice, don't get me wrong I enjoyed Fuji Vice but it was all around silly stuff.
The wealth of talent circa 1993 was amazing, you had guys like Rick Rude, Vader, Ricky Steamboat, a returning Ric Flair, and Barry Windham who had an incredible year when he took the NWA World Title by beating The Great Muta as SuperBrawl III. Granted the NWA Title wasn't what it used to be it was still great to see a classic and talented wrestler like Barry Windham hold that belt for a good part of the calendar year.
I also don't want to overlook talent such as Arn Anderson, Johnny B. Badd, Bobby Eaton, Dustin Rhodes, Cactus Jack, 2 Cold Scorpio, Steven Regal. Then shift over to the tag team talent like Harlem Heat, The Hollywood Blondes, and even The Nasty Boys still had something to offer then.
A lot of this roster carried over to when Hogan signed in June of 1994. However, familiar faces like Michael Hayes, Ron Simmons, Rick Rude and Cactus Jack, amongst others were being phased out of the promotion by then. With that said, I've barely scratched the surface of what WCW had to offer pre-Hogan. The fact that a lot of these names still were in WCW when Hogan came along didn't hurt the success that WCW would have after Hogan's arrival.
I would say some of my favorite moments in this era of WCW were the following:
Cactus Jack's feud with Vader.
Dustin Rhodes' US Title rivalry with Rick Rude.
The Hollywood Blondes stranglehold on the tag team division.
Barry Windham's NWA World Title victory and revival of his feud with his former superior Ric Flair, this also included that great match at Slamboree 1993 with Arn Anderson.
So as I get ready to post this thread, who else here can share some of their fondest memories of the WCW before Hulk Hogan joined the organization. This can even include Jim Crockett Promotion moments. I look forward to the responses!
As a kid, I wasn't overly intimate or familiar with the Jim Crockett Promotions roster, since the cable company that my town had didn't carry TBS until 1993. The syndicated program which I believe was called the Power Hour was never a consistent or dependable show to base a following on either, a lot of this was due to just how the nature of syndicated stations worked back then. However I was still able to follow some of the promotion's storylines when I would visit my Grandfather's house during the summers and occasional weekends since he lived in another town that did carry TBS.
So through the years I had some insight on stuff like Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard's feud, Ric Flair's animus with Dusty Rhodes (even when The American Dream saved the Nature Boy from the wily assaults of Nikita Koloff and company). The Midnight Express' blood feud with The Road Warriors. And then of course Ted Turner's buy out of JCP effectively turning the company completely into World Championship Wrestling.
With that said, I remembered a lot of events that happened AFTER that, Lex Luger's rise to the World Title, the Steiner Brothers' tag team dominance, The Fabulous Freebirds, Sting's ascension to being the franchise player of WCW. One of my favorite moments though definitely has to be Ron Simmons' being WCW World Champion. This was during the controversial era of Bill Watts running things, but man to see this guy make the strides he did in the organization was amazing. Going back to his days as Doom with Butch Reed, Simmons earned his stripes, and the feud with Vader for the belt was classic.
Anyway, with that said we are moving closer to the mid part of the 90s now, and this is where my exposure to WCW became even more possible because my hometown finally got TBS on its cable systems. So shows like WCW Main Event, WCW Saturday Night, and Clash Of The Champions became regular programming for me. Having already been familiar with the WCW product more or less, I was already aware of who many of the big names were. But now I got to see them every week on a regular basis, which was awesome.
Not to take anything away from Hulk Hogan, again I'm a raging Hogan mark, but WCW was very entertaining even before him. Despite some of the cheesy moments like the White Castle Of Fear and Beach Blast mini movies. But then again, let's not forget that this isn't far removed from the AWA's team challenge series and the WWF's segments like Fuji Vice, don't get me wrong I enjoyed Fuji Vice but it was all around silly stuff.
The wealth of talent circa 1993 was amazing, you had guys like Rick Rude, Vader, Ricky Steamboat, a returning Ric Flair, and Barry Windham who had an incredible year when he took the NWA World Title by beating The Great Muta as SuperBrawl III. Granted the NWA Title wasn't what it used to be it was still great to see a classic and talented wrestler like Barry Windham hold that belt for a good part of the calendar year.
I also don't want to overlook talent such as Arn Anderson, Johnny B. Badd, Bobby Eaton, Dustin Rhodes, Cactus Jack, 2 Cold Scorpio, Steven Regal. Then shift over to the tag team talent like Harlem Heat, The Hollywood Blondes, and even The Nasty Boys still had something to offer then.
A lot of this roster carried over to when Hogan signed in June of 1994. However, familiar faces like Michael Hayes, Ron Simmons, Rick Rude and Cactus Jack, amongst others were being phased out of the promotion by then. With that said, I've barely scratched the surface of what WCW had to offer pre-Hogan. The fact that a lot of these names still were in WCW when Hogan came along didn't hurt the success that WCW would have after Hogan's arrival.
I would say some of my favorite moments in this era of WCW were the following:
Cactus Jack's feud with Vader.
Dustin Rhodes' US Title rivalry with Rick Rude.
The Hollywood Blondes stranglehold on the tag team division.
Barry Windham's NWA World Title victory and revival of his feud with his former superior Ric Flair, this also included that great match at Slamboree 1993 with Arn Anderson.
So as I get ready to post this thread, who else here can share some of their fondest memories of the WCW before Hulk Hogan joined the organization. This can even include Jim Crockett Promotion moments. I look forward to the responses!