Brian Pillman: The biggest star of the late 90s

[crabnebula]

I really think he could have been. In his last days in WCW he was so out of control. He was an early Stone Cold character. And then in ECW so controversial. and his WWF run was a letdown after he got deep into it.

but to me he had all the elements of what made most of the stars and angles that started the huge boom in wrestling so popular

he was a little bit D-X before there was a D-X
he was WCW's anti-establishment badboy (Steve Austin)
and he was breaking the fourth wall before anyone else (NWO invasion)

if he had been given free reign and not died, to just go crazy on Raw in 96 and 97, WWF would have won the Monday Night Wars much sooner and Austin & The Rock would have company in the claim for greatest of that era

[Crappler El 0 M]

He had a lot going for him. He was very charismatic. He was good looking and was always in good shape. He was very athletic. He was really good in the ring. He had developed a good character. The car accident really ruined his career. He jumped back into the ring too soon because he couldn't stand seeing his friends like Austin, Goldust, Mankind, and Owen getting nice pushes while he was stuck on the sidelines hosting and announcing. This desire to return coupled with the pain from the injury ended up being a deadly combination as it led to a dependence on pain killers and other drugs.

Had he not died when he did, I think he still would have had a sad life on pain and drug problems. I think he would have been released from WWF as well. According to Bischoff, he was already talking about coming back to WCW in the months before his death.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

He got injured before his WWF debut... I think that took the wind out of his sails.

Not being able to be used in the ring hurt him a lot... and I feel like the WWF did all they could to get him over. But honestly, what was there for him to do, besides use as an announcer?

I think he did have the potential to do something great in the WwF, especially how he watas this real life loose cannon and the hottest free agent available.

Too bad that never materialized... but we will always have the Canadian Stampede event

[crabnebula]

Jun 13, 2011 18:25:32 GMT -5 Crappler El 0 M said:

He had a lot going for him. He was very charismatic. He was good looking and was always in good shape. He was very athletic. He was really good in the ring. He had developed a good character. The car accident really ruined his career. He jumped back into the ring too soon because he couldn't stand seeing his friends like Austin, Goldust, Mankind, and Owen getting nice pushes while he was stuck on the sidelines hosting and announcing. This desire to return coupled with the pain from the injury ended up being a deadly combination as it led to a dependence on pain killers and other drugs.

Had he not died when he did, I think he still would have had a sad life on pain and drug problems. I think he would have been released from WWF as well. According to Bischoff, he was already talking about coming back to WCW in the months before his death.

i forgot to factor in the car accident. that really prevented him from doing more and becoming a bigger star in the wwf or returning to wcw to do the same

[El Dandy]

Since this is a Brian Pillman thread, I felt compelled to ask, what the hell was his finisher? I swear, he is one of those wrestlers who really didn't have a finishing move. To my recollection, when he was a face, he used a springboard clothesline or crossbody finisher. During the Loose Cannon phase, I'm not sure he had a specific finishing move. Can anyone refresh my memory?

[Big Evil]

In his earlier career, his finisher was varied between Air Pillman which was just a standing splash, and a springboard shoulder tackle.

Also, I don't think OP understands the definition of "breaking the fourth wall".

Speaking directly to, or otherwise acknowledging, the audience through the camera, in a film, play or television program, is referred to as "breaking the fourth wall."

I think you mean breaking kayfabe, to which no, Pillman was not the first. He was probably the most controversial at that point, but he wasn't the first.

[Citizen Zero]

Just imagine a feud between Austin and a still-healthy Pillman.

[molson5]

He would have been awesome - probably not the biggest star, but he would have had a Jericho or Guerrero like rise to the main event, but he would have got there a little faster. His best stuff necessarily would have been upper-midcard though, that's no slight on him, he was just too exciting and wild to really need the main event to be over. The WWF clearly loved him, he would have been relevant for a long, long time - the matchup possibilities for him were endless.

[cherry coloured funk]

Jun 13, 2011 21:20:16 GMT -5 Citizen Zero said:

Just imagine a feud between Austin and a still-healthy Pillman.

Indeed. They did have a great match on Raw where Austin accidentally broke his nose. But it could have been so much more.

If I recall, he made a huge impact on the beginning of the Monday Night Wars. Correct me if I'm wrong as my memory is sketchy, but was he not the first to ever be signed by Vince with an actual guaranteed downside contract, which has been the standard since?

[Crappler El 0 M]

I remember Pillman's finisher in WCW being a flying cross body off the top rope. The only match I remember him winning in WWF was against Goldust and this was after Marlena hit Goldust with a loaded purse.

[cherry coloured funk]

Good point, I don't remember him winning very often. Then again, he really didn't wrestle much in the WWF, though was a big part of a handful of memorable angles.

Remember in WCW when he got hair extensions, and was called "California Brian"? I believe his theme music was called "Blondes Have More Fun". No wonder he became the Loose Cannon (or in WWF-speak, "The Ticking Time-Bomb").

[siredger]

I really wish I could've had the opportunity to see more of Brian Pillman other than the Attitude era. I wish I could've witnessed the Hollywood Blondes era, just to see how good they truly were as a tag team. By the time I got into WCW, Pillman had already sided with Arn Anderson and Ric Flair to form the Horsemen (with Chris Benoit joining them later). I have to say that I always had a kick out of the "I Respect You, Bookerman" incident with Kevin Sullivan and that's really when I think I saw the first sign of who truly was Brian Pillman.

[molson5]

Jun 13, 2011 23:37:59 GMT -5 siredger said:

I have to say that I always had a kick out of the "I Respect You, Bookerman" incident with Kevin Sullivan and that's really when I think I saw the first sign of who truly was Brian Pillman.

And that stuff was really wild in 1996 or whenever that was....Not like now when we've seen references to bookers and "creative" and such 10 million times in every promotion.

[crabnebula]

Jun 13, 2011 20:49:34 GMT -5 Big Evil said:

In his earlier career, his finisher was varied between Air Pillman which was just a standing splash, and a springboard shoulder tackle.

Also, I don't think OP understands the definition of "breaking the fourth wall".

Speaking directly to, or otherwise acknowledging, the audience through the camera, in a film, play or television program, is referred to as "breaking the fourth wall."

I think you mean breaking kayfabe, to which no, Pillman was not the first. He was probably the most controversial at that point, but he wasn't the first.

kayfabe was basically the fourth wall in wrestling. with something like the nwo invasion angle we were meant to think that the wwf an outside company was sending people down to take over another company wcw, and instead of a normal good guy vs. bad guy character wrestling angle, you had to know a lot more about who were the behind the scenes people running these companies and you had commentators and wrestlers talking about all this stuff for the first time and breaking character or blurring the lines between their real lives and pasts and wrestling storylines

[Professor Chaos]

If not for that car accident I think he would've been huge. He was Stone Cold before Austin was IMO. I think Pillman-Austin would've been the biggest rivalry of the attitude era instead of Austin-Rock had he been alive and 100 percent.

[Big Evil]

Yeah but let's face it, Pillman's in-ring skills had deteriorated long before the car accident in 1996. When he broke his leg in I think, 94? He spent all of 1995 afraid to do alot of his usual moves, and the things he did do he hesitated on and they'd turn out sloppy. He was still a decent hand, but he was NOTHING compared to what it was just 3-4 years prior.

[Squirrel Master]

I remember a series of great matches Flyin' Brian had with Lex Luger early in his career.

[thereallybigshow]

Jun 15, 2011 4:29:26 GMT -5 Big Evil said:

Yeah but let's face it, Pillman's in-ring skills had deteriorated long before the car accident in 1996. When he broke his leg in I think, 94? He spent all of 1995 afraid to do alot of his usual moves, and the things he did do he hesitated on and they'd turn out sloppy. He was still a decent hand, but he was NOTHING compared to what it was just 3-4 years prior.

But you could argue that entertainment and character-wise Pillman from 1996 was light years better than Pillman in tiger trunks...

If he could have somehow altered history and paired his early in ring work with his late stage character he would have been one of the most entertaining wrestlers in history.

[repomanfan]

Jun 15, 2011 15:26:15 GMT -5 thereallybigshow said:

Jun 15, 2011 4:29:26 GMT -5 Big Evil said:

Yeah but let's face it, Pillman's in-ring skills had deteriorated long before the car accident in 1996. When he broke his leg in I think, 94? He spent all of 1995 afraid to do alot of his usual moves, and the things he did do he hesitated on and they'd turn out sloppy. He was still a decent hand, but he was NOTHING compared to what it was just 3-4 years prior.

But you could argue that entertainment and character-wise Pillman from 1996 was light years better than Pillman in tiger trunks...

If he could have somehow altered history and paired his early in ring work with his late stage character he would have been one of the most entertaining wrestlers in history.

Not necessarily. When he was with Austin in 93-94 he was pretty damn entertaining.

[thereallybigshow]

Jun 16, 2011 11:40:42 GMT -5 repomanfan said:

Jun 15, 2011 15:26:15 GMT -5 thereallybigshow said:

But you could argue that entertainment and character-wise Pillman from 1996 was light years better than Pillman in tiger trunks...

If he could have somehow altered history and paired his early in ring work with his late stage character he would have been one of the most entertaining wrestlers in history.

Not necessarily. When he was with Austin in 93-94 he was pretty damn entertaining.

Yeah, he was great then too.

But, I'm just saying if he could have parlayed his edgy Loose Cannon character with his high impact and high flying style of the early 90's.