wrestling / Columns
The Ten Count 11.08.13: The Top 10 WCW Moments
Welcome back to the Ten Count. As always, thank you for reading last week’s column. And here we go…
OF COURSE I MISSED A FEW THINGS
The Samoan Bulldozer, UUUUUU-MAAAAAAAAA-GAAAAAAA? :
And that is one finish we will not be seeing anytime soon.
The “Final” Match with CM Punk:
This really was a great match. I think one of the best things about this new era is that the crowd (and me at home) popped for a piledriver. In thinking about ECW back in the day, you would see 5 of those in 1 match. This new era makes those moves so much more special which is why I think 1 chair shot to the head every year or so is okay. You could probably say the same thing about blood as well.
A Match So Recent I Forgot It:
WWE SummerSlam 2013 – John Cena vs… by BuuPetit
This was an excellent match and I didn’t even think of it as I was making the list.
YOUR THOUGHTS (IF WE WANT TO CALL THEM THAT)
How 11 Falls Make Sense in a Match: 11 falls in 60 minutes makes sense in the context of the men involved. They weren’t slowly wearing one another down like Bret and Shawn. These guys were demolishing one another with high impact moves that expend a lot of energy. It stands to reason that they’d be more vulnerable to being pinned or submitted as the match wore on.
MY THOUGHT: That is some good analysis right there. I don’t necessarily agree with it but it does make some sense.
Is Blood In Wrestling A Bad Thing?: Looking back, I’m actually pretty glad we don’t get matches that end in masks of blood anymore. I’m not against blood, but the amount of it in Cena/Lesnar from Extreme Rules 2012 is a heck of a lot more tolerable than that Judgment Day match. A lot less disgusting too.
MY THOUGHT: People not tapping an artery is probably a good thing. If you look at most Ric Flair matches there isn’t a ton of blood during the match but just enough to show that there is blood. Again, if you use it sparingly I think it is a good piece of the story.
How About More Really Good John Cena Matches: Not to be rude, but I just disagree with quite a few on your list. A lot of your picks seem like they were picked more for spectacle than anything else. I mean the match vs. The Rock was average imo, the I Quit match vs. Orton & the match vs. RVD really bored me, and the match vs. Lesnar was definitely different, but felt just like the I Quit match with Orton in a way. Though I do agree with your top 3 completely.
Here’s a few I would of thrown on the list:
Cena vs. Kurt Angle (No Mercy 2003)
Cena vs. Chris Jericho (Summerslam 2005 or their match the next night on Raw)
Cena vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble 2007)
Cena vs. Bobby Lashley (Great American Bash 2007)
Cena vs. Batista (Summerslam 2008 or WrestleMania 26)
Cena vs. Edge (Backlash 2009)
Cena vs. CM Punk (Night of Champions 2012)
Cena vs. Daniel Bryan (Summerslam 2013)
That’s just a few off the top of my head. Of course they don’t include triple threat matches and such, as well as matches from Raw & SmackDown. Still enjoyed the column regardless!
MY THOUGHT: You were not rude at all. Thank you for the comment.
I Am a Brave Man…..Behind a Keyboard: Wow, you’re a brave man! A top ten Cena match list? I have yet to read the article or any comments but Im sure you’ll get a lot comments saying “How can you have a top ten Cena match list when he’s only wrestled three good matches?” Or “In every good match Cena’s wrestled his opponent carried him?”(this one will mostly come from the CM Punk supporters because, you know, in their series of matches, Punk did all the work.) Or “Another Cena list? Where’s the top ten Daniel Bryan match list?” or, and this one is my favorite, “Cena sucks!” Can’t wait to read the article!
MY THOUGHT: Hope you enjoyed the article (eventually).
A Quick Suggestion: Good column, i would have added the Cena/ Umaga match too but apart from that I can’t fault it. Also, I have a suggestion for a top ten… How about a top ten of William Regal matches? For someone who is considered a great wrestler there’s not that many great matches I can think of. Granted, most of them may have been in WCW or Japan but off the top of my head I can think of maybe three “great” matches and the rest are either notorious (Regal schooling Goldberg) or great multi- man matches (4 way ladder match at Armageddon) which don’t showcase his talent. He often comes up in honourable mentions for other people but rarely makes the top ten. If it’s been done before then feel free to ignore this. Thanks.
MY THOUGHT: I will have to think about this one but it seems like a difficult list to put together. Suggestions?
One Last Thought: This is a real shit of a list
MY THOUGHT: Thanks for reading.
ERRORS, CORRECTIONS, AND CLOSE CALLS
Occasionally Crtl-V Just Doesn’t Work: I guess you couldn’t find video of the Cena/Orton I Quit match…… so here’s video of Taker/HHH! lol
CORRECTION: So yeah, my Ctrl-V didn’t work so well. It is the only thing that I can’t see when I submit the column. I try to make sure the links are all good but sometimes these things happen.
When Clean Just Isn’t Clean Enough: Very good list, and I agree with most of the picks. Quick correction: the end to Punk-Cena at MitB 2011 wasn’t exactly clean. While they weren’t physically involved in a meaningful way, McMahon and Laurinaitis disrupted the STF and distracted Cena, leading to Punk picking up the win. While I agree the progression was logical, I always felt that ending marginally took away from the match and was an early kink in Punk’s biggest push–unlike Daniel Bryan getting an actual clean win at SummerSlam 2013.
CORRECTION: I think you are correct on this. It wasn’t exactly clean but was about as close as you can get. Very good call, Mike.
NOW SOMETHING NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT, MY FANTASY FOOTBALL TEAMS!
On to Week 9 of fantasy football and my teams went 2-1 all due to Aaron Rodgers getting hurt. I would have been 0-3 if he played a full game. The teams are now 3-6, 3-6, and 5-4 so again not very good. I need to basically go 4-0 to end the season in 2 leagues to make the playoffs and my 5-4 team is basically a completely different team than I drafted because of injuries. On a good note, I survived my suicide (barely) with the Dallas Cowboys. This week, I am on the Titans as they are home to Jacksonville. I think the vast, vast majority of the people left will be doing the same thing.
ALSO, HOW ABOUT THOSE CLEVELAND BROWNS?
For the 1st time since Joe Flacco became the starting QB of the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns won a game against them. They really looked like a good team out there on Sunday. That win once again made me believe that Brandon Weeden could be the worst QB the Browns have had since they came back to the NFL. This team has a real shot at 7 to 9 wins this year. They probably won’t make the playoffs but after the doomsday talk at 0-2 and trading Richardson to this is pretty amazing. This week is a bye so rest and healing are on the schedule. 4-5 at the bye is pretty, pretty good.
Here are the Ground Rules
#10. {WCW Reboot – Monday Nitro; April 10, 2000}
In April of 2000, WCW was on its last legs as a wrestling company so they decided to do something drastic. They stripped all of their champions of their titles and basically rebooted all the storylines. This is something that you normally see on soap operas when the 5-year-old kid is all of a sudden a teenager that is having sex with someone the next episode. The reboot was a surprising attempt to bring people back to the product after the WWE took over the lead in the “Monday Night Wars”. Ultimately, it didn’t bring people back and WCW closed under a year later. The moment itself was never seen before and hasn’t been done since so it is ultimately important to what has become of the wrestling business in the years following.
#9. {Eric Bischoff Gets Power Bombed – Great American Bash; June 16, 1996}
This was the first time in a major promotion that someone who the casual fan knew was the head of the organization had something physical happen to them. Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had just returned to WCW and this was the first PPV they were on. Eric Bischoff was out to tell them that they would be facing 3 men at the Bash at the Beach that July. They were not happy that Bischoff didn’t tell them who those 3 men would be so they decided to power bomb him off the stage to the “floor”. While it was very obvious that there was a crash pad there but it was shocking nonetheless. It also set in motion something that would happen later that year and later on this list.
#8. {Ric Flair Stripped of the WCW Title – WCW Saturday Night; July 2, 1991}
Jim Herd and Ric Flair before this point had a very tumultuous relationship and this was the breaking point. Flair was in the middle of a contract dispute while at the exact same time being the WCW Champion. Flair was set to “pass the torch” to Lex Luger at the Great American Bash 1991 but before that could happen Herd told Flair to drop the title and get out of the company. In my mind, this was bad business to begin with as Luger was finally going to get his win over Flair like Sting did 1 year earlier. At the end of the day, Flair said no, Herd wanted the belt, Flair wanted his $25K deposit back, and next thing you know the belt shows up on WWF Prime Time Wrestling. I believe this one moment set WCW back and didn’t truly recover until another former world champion showed up on the scene.
#7. {Vince McMahon on Final WCW Broadcast – Monday Nitro; March 26, 2001}
I would like to take you back to 2001 and just think about how unthinkable this truly was. Vince McMahon being the 1st face you see on Monday Nitro. Yes, that Vince McMahon. The Vince McMahon whose company almost went under because of that show and the company. The Vince McMahon who would curse the name Ted Turner or Eric Bischoff was the 1st voice we heard on that show. The WWE had finally bought/concurred the final piece in their acquisition of all the “regional” territories that they started in the mid-1980s. The broadcast itself was very memorable with the nice pieces about the former NWA/WCW champions and the thought to be final match between Flair and Sting. It was a moment I couldn’t believe until I saw it and the reverberations are still being felt today.
#6. {Ric Flair Returns to WCW After Being Fired – Monday Nitro; September 14, 1998}
The issues between Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair are very well known at this point but back in 1998 there wasn’t as much backstage stuff that was public. Flair missed a Thunder broadcast to see his son compete in a wrestling tournament. Bischoff responded but taking Flair off of television and suing him for breach of contract. During that time, the WWE made numerous comments pointing to Flair possibly showing up on their television shows (which would have been awesome). Meanwhile in WCW, Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko were trying to convince Arn Anderson to bring the horsemen back. Ric Flair made his return to and brought a lot of that backstage stuff to the main stage and it was fascinating. I was a junior in college and had to listen to the promo on the computer since we didn’t have cable at the time and let me tell you the buffering took forever. Anyways, this moment is more about how entertaining it was and not that it changed history all that much. It was just a great moment in Flair country, nothing more and nothing less.
#5. {Goldberg Wins the WCW World Title – Monday Nitro; July 6, 1998}
Ah yes, this moment. The moment that cemented what everyone in wrestling thought….Bischoff only cares about TV ratings and not money. This match should have been on PPV, the fans should have had to pay for it, and WCW should have been rolling in cash because of it. There were over 40,000 people in the building to see a match that was barely advertised but was something everyone wanted to see. It was probably the biggest positive crowd reaction in the history of WCW. It was supposed to be a moment that was going to turn the tide in the Monday Night Wars away from the WWE. It didn’t turn out the way WCW wanted it to. The atmosphere, the match, and the people involved made it memorable and special but the result was neither of those things in the long run. Short term panic rarely leads to long term success.
#4. {Scott Hall Walks Out on Nitro – May 27, 1996}
There were some “smaller” shots fired during the Monday Night Wars before Scott Hall walked out on Nitro on Memorial Day, 1996. Vader jumped ship, Lex Luger came back, Marc Mero left, Alundra Blayze threw the WWE Women’s Title in the trash but no defection in that time changed history more than Scott Hall and later Kevin Nash. Hall walked through the crowd, got in the ring, and told the audience that he was here to continue the war that Bischoff started. It made you believe that Hall was sent by Vince McMahon to take over WCW. It made you believe that this wasn’t “sports entertainment” but “real life”. It made you believe that this was special. It truly was special and set the wheels in motion for a moment that you will see later in this list.
#3. {Debut of Monday Nitro – September 4, 1995}
WCW’s flagship show in the summer of 1995 was WCW Saturday Night, a taped show that aired in the same spot as shows from 20 years ago 6:05pm Eastern on WTBS. It was sterile, boring, and didn’t have the same level of production or excitement as even the really Monday Night Raw shows. Eric Bischoff knew they didn’t something different and going live every Monday night against the WWE flagship show was exactly what they needed. On Labor Day, 1995 Monday Nitro was born with the first episode broadcast from the Mall of America in Minneapolis. It was also the debut of Lex Luger back in WCW which was not only shocking to the fans but shocking to the WWE as they thought they had an agreement with Luger to stay with them. This night officially started the Monday Night War and brought a new popularity to professional wrestling at heights never seen before and hasn’t since. You have to give Eric Bischoff credit for creating this, whether you like him or not, he earned it.
#2. {Hulk Hogan Signs with WCW – WCW Saturday Night; June 14, 1994}
There is an eternal debate about who is the biggest star in the business but in 1994 Hulk Hogan was that man. Hulk Hogan was a household name. Hulk Hogan was the “face of the WWE” (without being called that). Hulk Hogan headlined WrestleMania. Hulk Hogan brought wrestling into the mainstream. WCW had none of those things, they were a 2nd class citizen in the world of professional wrestling. No one really knew they existed outside of wrestling fans. They weren’t getting the casual fans. That all started to change the day Hulk Hogan signed with WCW. Hulk Hogan brought a level of recognition that WCW never had in the eyes of the casual fan. While I understand that the level of wrestling at the time was not that high you can’t underestimate the power of brand knowledge. Hogan did that then, not so much with TNA, but in 1994 whatever they paid him was well worth it. Little did we know at the time, the biggest moment involving Hogan was yet to come.
#1. {Hulk Hogan Joins the nWo – Bash at the Beach 1996}
By 1996, the bloom had fallen off the rose called Hulkamania. Hogan was routinely getting booed at events all over the country even though he was positioned to be the good guy. The fans were just tired of the say your prayers, eat your vitamins b.s. of the 1980s and were ready for something edgy. Hall and Nash had just arrived on the scene and all the talk was about the 3rd man that would be joining their quest to take over WCW. There was no one more perfect for that role than Hulk Hogan. In one moment, he took something that was going to be an interesting wrestling angle and turned it into something legendary. Hogan, the man who had not been a bad guy for 15 years, the man who made the WWE into the monster that it is today, and the man who people never thought would completely down on the fans did just that. The ring filled with garbage, Hogan cut probably the best promo of his career, and the biggest angle in WCW was off and running. It was the biggest moment not only in WCW over this time period but is the biggest moment in the history of the Turner owed WCW.
So there you have it, the Top 10 WCW Moments! What is your opinion?
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Next week, since we just did the Top 10 WCW Moments from 91-2001 I think we should look at the Top 10 WWF Moments from the same time period. Top 10 Attitude Era lists are interesting but why not extend it a little.
Until then, remember it’s all entertainment and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. And I’m out.
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