Post by Sephiroth on Aug 5, 2010 23:28:02 GMT -5
Seeing how the ever atrocious match between Sharmell and Jenna got inducted this week, and the mention made of "that jackie gayda match," I thought I would write up a request for another induction worthy match that seems to get overlooked.
This took place in 99-2000, I forget which year exactly. Chris Benoit finally seemed to be emerging as a major star in WCW, enjoying a run as the leader of a stable called The Revolution, a run with the US, and his fantastic match with Bret Hart in tribute to Owen. The setup was that The Revolution got jealous of Benoit's success and proceeded to dump him as their leader, and replaced him with Asya. Right there, you have a heaping pile of wrestlecrap already thrown in.
Anyway, a match was set on a particular broadcast of Nitro between Benoit and Malenko. Now, any match involving these two should have been good on its own, as the two men were technical wrestling artists at the time, and had proven it together more times than I can count. However, rather than rely on just their in-ring prowess, apparently Vinny Ru decided that this match needed some extra zing, so it was a flag on a pole match, with each man reaching for the flag of his respective country of origin. Now usually a gimmick match like this is good for some cheap patriotic pops, right? But there was just one problem...
The match took place in the United States. Benoit, being the face, had to reach for the flag of Canada, while Malenko, the heel, had to reach for the stars and stripes. And it was obvious through the entire match that the crowd had mixed feelings about being expected to boo the man who was going for old glory. The incredible part is that I seem to recall WCW had just wrapped up a short tour in Canada a few weeks earlier. Had this match taken place across the border, Benoit would no doubt have gone over huge as the face while Malenko would have gotten strong heat as the villain.
Course, after the match, to prove how dastardly they were, The Revolution took both flags and attempted to burn then, and then declared themselves to be their own sovereign nation complete with a flag of their own, that as I recall had a weird symbol on it that looked like a broken poker chip. And evidently Asya was their chief tourist attraction.
This took place in 99-2000, I forget which year exactly. Chris Benoit finally seemed to be emerging as a major star in WCW, enjoying a run as the leader of a stable called The Revolution, a run with the US, and his fantastic match with Bret Hart in tribute to Owen. The setup was that The Revolution got jealous of Benoit's success and proceeded to dump him as their leader, and replaced him with Asya. Right there, you have a heaping pile of wrestlecrap already thrown in.
Anyway, a match was set on a particular broadcast of Nitro between Benoit and Malenko. Now, any match involving these two should have been good on its own, as the two men were technical wrestling artists at the time, and had proven it together more times than I can count. However, rather than rely on just their in-ring prowess, apparently Vinny Ru decided that this match needed some extra zing, so it was a flag on a pole match, with each man reaching for the flag of his respective country of origin. Now usually a gimmick match like this is good for some cheap patriotic pops, right? But there was just one problem...
The match took place in the United States. Benoit, being the face, had to reach for the flag of Canada, while Malenko, the heel, had to reach for the stars and stripes. And it was obvious through the entire match that the crowd had mixed feelings about being expected to boo the man who was going for old glory. The incredible part is that I seem to recall WCW had just wrapped up a short tour in Canada a few weeks earlier. Had this match taken place across the border, Benoit would no doubt have gone over huge as the face while Malenko would have gotten strong heat as the villain.
Course, after the match, to prove how dastardly they were, The Revolution took both flags and attempted to burn then, and then declared themselves to be their own sovereign nation complete with a flag of their own, that as I recall had a weird symbol on it that looked like a broken poker chip. And evidently Asya was their chief tourist attraction.