fg76
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,716
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Post by fg76 on Dec 28, 2008 18:15:39 GMT -5
I just read one of Scott Keith's reviews, and I did thumb a few pages of the 1998-99 era of the Death of WCW book the other day.
I am beginning to think maybe the smarks had something on Hulk Hogan, and what the impression I get was that he feared he'd get fired and lose money if he ever worked with anybody. I mean he could have still taken Benoit out there and squashed him in 50 seconds - but felt the fans wouldn't buy it and then he'd be done.
Like WCW really ever bought him to begin with . . . because you book ways the way I'd book them - Hogan still keeps face the way I see it, and you keep on building new fueds and stars, or at least make money on the stars you had.
I mean - Kevin Nash beating Goldberg for the title didn't kill WCW, the way they booked it did. I mean you make the WCW fans remember this is Diesel - a unbeatable monster that ruled 1995 with an iron fist that POWERBOMBED SID - a big man and SPEARED MABLE TO VICTORY AT SUMMERSLAM!
So its the UNBEATABLE MONSTER DIESEL vs. THE UNBEATABLE MONSTER GOLDBERG!
Of course, WCW could use WWF stars, but not their history. Its easy to create video packages and promos, even when they don't own the WWF footage of Diesel. WCW, however, was WCW.
And then the title went right back to Hogan anyways -so what would have been the point.
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 28, 2008 18:19:43 GMT -5
I wouldn't really go using the Death of WCW book as gospel, as entertaining as it is, it has some errors.
I think Nash beating Goldberg the way he did was perfect, the only way a guy like Goldberg could get beat was with some evil tactics.
And honestly I know a lot of people forget this but the ratings went up the following week and stayed rather consistent all the way till May.
And I doubt that smarks had any sort of pull on any of the top guys in wrestling, Hogan included. I personally think you're overestimating their importance.
Also, I believe this belongs in the Wrest of Wrestling section.
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fg76
Dennis Stamp
Posts: 3,716
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Post by fg76 on Dec 28, 2008 18:59:38 GMT -5
I used to think that way, but Hogan seems to market to the mindset most speculate he has.
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 28, 2008 19:02:48 GMT -5
To each his own, but WCW needed a big name and Hogan was that name and I know most smarks seem to take exception to that, but to have a credible name like him on your roster was a plus.
And the WCW fans didn't have a hard time buying Nash as a powerhouse as he was just as over as Goldberg was, so the whole 95 era didn't mean a thing there.
Nash was already making waves there as leader of the ever-popular Wolfpac stable which probably got him more over than anything he did as Diesel in WWF.
As for Hogan, I wouldn't take what I read on the net or books about his position. I doubt he was the last person on earth having to worry about being fired honestly.
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Jay Peas 42
El Dandy
Totally flips out ALL the time.
Is looking forward to a Nation of Domination Kwannza Special.
Posts: 8,329 
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Post by Jay Peas 42 on Dec 28, 2008 20:34:18 GMT -5
Hogan has some insecurities. See the unconvincing method for hiding baldness. So my guess is that in 1998, he was concerned about getting old, and was worried about how much time at the top of the company he still had left. So his goal was to prolong his Main Event Status as long as possible.
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Post by BlackJackRobby on Dec 28, 2008 22:43:09 GMT -5
Acctuly your off on a few points original poster.
Nash was built up to be HUGE in the months before his match with Goldberg.
Nash was the winner of the sixty man over the top rope battle royal.
Nash then beat Wrath a man who was on a tear like Goldberg was, and Nash put him away in like a minute.
You watch the crowd during that show, and they loved every second of it.
It's the stupid booking after the fact.
Merging Nash and Hogan cause they hated each other and would not wrestle one another.
Which is dumb because WCW was banking on the Red vs. White fued for almost a year.
So taking not just that fued and throwing it away, but also doing the same exact thing they did with Sting a year earlier and dumping him.
When they did that to Goldberg and not let him sniff the title for about two years they shot themselves in both feet.
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Post by mauled on Dec 29, 2008 3:40:56 GMT -5
And I doubt that smarks had any sort of pull on any of the top guys in wrestling, Hogan included. I personally think you're overestimating their importance. Also, I believe this belongs in the Wrest of Wrestling section. In Bret Harts book talks about when he wanted to do the Goldberg/steel plate segment he went to Bishoff and Bishoff was very nervous saying that he had to ask Terry and as long as Terry said yes he could do it. Terry of course being Terry Bollea. He has also said that although he cant prove it 100% he has been told that it was Hogan who was the prime mover in burying him when he went to WCW. |
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 29, 2008 10:27:55 GMT -5
And I doubt that smarks had any sort of pull on any of the top guys in wrestling, Hogan included. I personally think you're overestimating their importance. Also, I believe this belongs in the Wrest of Wrestling section. In Bret Harts book talks about when he wanted to do the Goldberg/steel plate segment he went to Bishoff and Bishoff was very nervous saying that he had to ask Terry and as long as Terry said yes he could do it. Terry of course being Terry Bollea. He has also said that although he cant prove it 100% he has been told that it was Hogan who was the prime mover in burying him when he went to WCW. I've no doubt Hogan had pull, I wasn't questioning that. I was talking about how to take what smarks write online about certain things with a grain of salt. As for what Bret thinks, it's his view on the latter part of what you wrote there. That's his opinion, I can't argue with that. |
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 29, 2008 10:28:37 GMT -5
Hogan has some insecurities. See the unconvincing method for hiding baldness. So my guess is that in 1998, he was concerned about getting old, and was worried about how much time at the top of the company he still had left. So his goal was to prolong his Main Event Status as long as possible. Actually Hogan didn't seem to care all that much about the baldness, hell he even played up to it in his match with Savage at Havoc 96 wearing a wig and having it taken off by him and shoved in his mouth. |
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Post by BlackJackRobby on Dec 30, 2008 0:44:00 GMT -5
Remember this is right during the height of Hogan vs. Nash.
On tv they were in a war between nWo.
Off tv they were in a war to mess up the backstage of WCW with the most politics.
Eric was basically the ball going back in forth like a tennis game.
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Post by corndog on Dec 30, 2008 4:25:01 GMT -5
It's pretty obvious that politics are what screwed up WCW and those mostly revolving around Nash and Hogan. They killed alot of wreslters pushes and held many of the younger wrestlers down to the point that they ended up going to the WWF. I didn't see a problem with Nash beating Goldberg for the belt, but why didn't WCW give Jericho and Benoit title shots where they may not have beat Goldberg, but have strong showings with him helping them both look good. Why did WCW let the Giant go when he was still young and had great ability and could have?
WCW didn't plan for the future they only cared about who was on time at that very time. From 1994-1998, they only had two world heavyweight champions that were under the age of 38, out of 8 champions. Obviously Hogan, Nash, Sting, Savage and Flair weren't going to last forever. Then look at how they wasted talents like Brian Pillman, Steve Austin and even though he isn't on the same level Steven Regal.
Was there any reason Hogan held the world title overall for almost the full two years from 96-98!? I don't see a reason that Hogan should have ever been world champion for this long at this point of his career. I understand he was still a big draw and I would use him as one, he would main event at PPVs against top names and usually win. But the world title helps elevate other wrestlers and I would have gave other wrestlers a chance to shine. During the second/third parts of Hogan's nWo world title reign they could have made Sting(a legitimate champ), Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Curt Hennig, the Giant and DDP all have reasonable title reigns. Obviously these guys are all older, but they would have had better feuds/matches with younger guys like Jericho, Guerrero, Misterio, Benoit and Saturn helping put them over.
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Post by Throwback on Dec 30, 2008 14:14:15 GMT -5
Hogan has some insecurities. See the unconvincing method for hiding baldness. So my guess is that in 1998, he was concerned about getting old, and was worried about how much time at the top of the company he still had left. So his goal was to prolong his Main Event Status as long as possible. Actually Hogan didn't seem to care all that much about the baldness, hell he even played up to it in his match with Savage at Havoc 96 wearing a wig and having it taken off by him and shoved in his mouth. well there are rumors that in WWF people were forbidden from mentioning his hair during promos plus didn't he sue Russo when he mentioned his baldness on tv? |
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Hiroshi Hase
Patti Mayonnaise
The Good Ol' Days
Posts: 30,755
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Post by Hiroshi Hase on Dec 30, 2008 14:39:53 GMT -5
Actually Hogan didn't seem to care all that much about the baldness, hell he even played up to it in his match with Savage at Havoc 96 wearing a wig and having it taken off by him and shoved in his mouth. well there are rumors that in WWF people were forbidden from mentioning his hair during promos plus didn't he sue Russo when he mentioned his baldness on tv? Didn't know about that, guess it made sense in a way as he's a face and you want to avoid the things that are true when cutting a promo as I think Heenan made mention in one of his shoots. But still when he was a heel, he played up to it every chance and the commentators referred to it nearly every week. |
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