agent817
Fry's dog Seymour
Doesn't Know Whose Ring It Is
Posts: 21,156
|
Post by agent817 on Dec 11, 2013 0:53:23 GMT -5
I read somewhere how in WCW a title defense happens after 30 days of not defending it, but the question in my mind is why Luger won the title on Nitro only for Hogan to regain it five days later? I think that was pointless for Luger to win that night. What do you think the deal with the booking of that was? This isn't like the debacle that Starrcade was four months after.
|
|
|
Post by Todd Pettengill on Dec 11, 2013 2:34:18 GMT -5
Probably one of the following:
-Luger probably had a championship run guaranteed in his contract with Turner.
-Had to give WCW some small victories over the NWO.
-Bischoff.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 3:01:14 GMT -5
In later years, a stunt like that would've served to pop the ratings, but WCW was still winning at this point. My best guess? It was shocking. The nWo was on top, with no major losses. Luger taking the title from them was a big deal, even if it was taken back shortly thereafter.
|
|
|
Post by thegame415 on Dec 11, 2013 3:18:13 GMT -5
It was the 100th episode of Nitro, so I think they wanted something memorable.
|
|
|
Post by Racksman on Dec 11, 2013 3:28:57 GMT -5
Back then man, they didn't give a shit about the PPV buyrates hilariously. Especially in WCW. Do you know how many times, even in the pre-Bischoff days, WCW would do a go home show to a PPV and only have a single (and very weak) Main Event announced? And no other matches at all! I even recall there was one PPV, f*** I want to say 1999 but I could be wrong, where LITERALLY not a single match was made or announced and they just...had the PPV!
Everything, regardless of the fact that they were winning at the time or not, EVERYTHING had to do with ratings at that point, on both sides. There were more title changes on episodes of Nitro than there were on PPV's. You didn't tune into Nitro to see the build up and aftermath of a PPV, you bought the PPV to see them hype up free TV the next night. And sadly, everybody bought it, because wrestling was just that big at the time.
Also, stupid in retrospect, but f*** me if that wasn't an awesome moment back when I was ten years old.
|
|
SOR
Unicron
Posts: 2,611
|
Post by SOR on Dec 11, 2013 4:06:24 GMT -5
They wanted a surprise for their big show and Hogan was basically unbeatable at that point. Back then man, they didn't give a shit about the PPV buyrates hilariously. Especially in WCW. Do you know how many times, even in the pre-Bischoff days, WCW would do a go home show to a PPV and only have a single (and very weak) Main Event announced? And no other matches at all! I even recall there was one PPV, f*** I want to say 1999 but I could be wrong, where LITERALLY not a single match was made or announced and they just...had the PPV! This is a myth from that Death of WCW book. There were cards where the undercard would be announced on the night or in the pre show but they always went into shows with a main event booked.
|
|
|
Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Dec 11, 2013 4:12:37 GMT -5
They wanted a surprise for their big show and Hogan was basically unbeatable at that point. Back then man, they didn't give a shit about the PPV buyrates hilariously. Especially in WCW. Do you know how many times, even in the pre-Bischoff days, WCW would do a go home show to a PPV and only have a single (and very weak) Main Event announced? And no other matches at all! I even recall there was one PPV, f*** I want to say 1999 but I could be wrong, where LITERALLY not a single match was made or announced and they just...had the PPV! This is a myth from that Death of WCW book. There were cards where the undercard would be announced on the night or in the pre show but they always went into shows with a main event booked. www.ddtdigest.com/updates/1999091m.htmAnd that's not even the case for Fall Brawl 99, as this is the report for the go home Nitro for that show. Notice how there are plenty of matches booked for the upcoming PPV.
|
|
|
Post by thelonewolf527 on Dec 11, 2013 7:49:19 GMT -5
I think Luger had a guaranteed title run in his contract so they wanted to give it to him before a pay-per-view so it could essentially be erased and forgotten immediately after the pay-per-view ended
|
|
|
Post by Racksman on Dec 11, 2013 8:53:14 GMT -5
They wanted a surprise for their big show and Hogan was basically unbeatable at that point. Back then man, they didn't give a shit about the PPV buyrates hilariously. Especially in WCW. Do you know how many times, even in the pre-Bischoff days, WCW would do a go home show to a PPV and only have a single (and very weak) Main Event announced? And no other matches at all! I even recall there was one PPV, f*** I want to say 1999 but I could be wrong, where LITERALLY not a single match was made or announced and they just...had the PPV! This is a myth from that Death of WCW book. There were cards where the undercard would be announced on the night or in the pre show but they always went into shows with a main event booked. Never said it wasn't booked said it wasn't announced.
|
|
|
Post by BlackoutCreature on Dec 11, 2013 21:09:30 GMT -5
Yeah, the title change was done because Luger had a title reign in his contract and WCW wanted to do something special for the 100th Nitro. The loss of the title back to Hogan was supposed to be balanced out with the Steiners finally beating the Outsiders for the Tag Titles on the PPV, but right before the match Nash and Hall threw a stink about dropping the belts and got that changed to a DQ finish.
|
|
chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 27,946
|
Post by chazraps on Dec 11, 2013 21:27:59 GMT -5
Oh, you mean the night Lex Luger snubbed Dean Malenko to high-five Glacier?
|
|
Mac
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Sigs/Avatars cannot exceed 1MB
Posts: 16,502
|
Post by Mac on Dec 11, 2013 22:11:20 GMT -5
The crowd really popped for it. I think Luger had a run in his contract and it added a little intrigue to the PPV. Wasnt a really bad or mind boggling decision
|
|
|
Post by Racksman on Dec 11, 2013 23:10:55 GMT -5
I think what this showed most about Lex Luger, and I only say this because a few years back I reviewed WCW from 1988-2001 for a different board, but what I loved about Luger's return to WCW was that when he was getting a huge push (Spring '96, Summer '97), he was a decent to good worker and was extremely motivated. But god damn, the minute he sunk to even a hair below main event status, he turned off all burners and just began to relish in the awfulness that was the Total Package post 1992.
I sometimes think what Luger might've become if he had never left WCW in February '92. He had really honed his craft and started to become a damn good performer week in and week out. I think his work in 1989 is extremely underrated, and he played an amazingly strong #2 to Sting in 90-91. Their big title match at SuperBrawl '92 should've been and could've been huge business if booked right, done right and didn't feature Luger off TV for 6 weeks prior because his contract ran out of dates.
|
|
|
Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Dec 12, 2013 0:14:24 GMT -5
Did Luger ever receive a rematch on television? Or was it just...forgotten? I feel like the WCW never really understood the concept of rematches during this era (Sting after dropping it to Savage, Hogan after dropping it to Goldberg, etc).
|
|
|
Post by Racksman on Dec 12, 2013 0:25:48 GMT -5
Did Luger ever receive a rematch on television? Or was it just...forgotten? I feel like the WCW never really understood the concept of rematches during this era (Sting after dropping it to Savage, Hogan after dropping it to Goldberg, etc). Being fair, Hogan was the one entitled to the rematch which he got a few days later at Road Wild. After that, Hogan pretty much stayed off the card until Starrcade, which was probably smart. Then again, Sting wasn't wrestling either, and Sting/Hogan was terrible. People just forget how bad that match was because of how awful the booking and the eventual booking was.
|
|
|
Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Dec 12, 2013 0:31:13 GMT -5
Did Luger ever receive a rematch on television? Or was it just...forgotten? I feel like the WCW never really understood the concept of rematches during this era (Sting after dropping it to Savage, Hogan after dropping it to Goldberg, etc). Being fair, Hogan was the one entitled to the rematch which he got a few days later at Road Wild. After that, Hogan pretty much stayed off the card until Starrcade, which was probably smart. Then again, Sting wasn't wrestling either, and Sting/Hogan was terrible. People just forget how bad that match was because of how awful the booking and the eventual booking was. I understand the booking logic behind it, just in kayfabe terms, it seems kind of silly to have Luger win the title and then be pushed aside after losing it. At least have them main event Nitro and have Sting fight off NWO interference which leads to a no-contest. Just wish they gave something...
|
|
chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
Posts: 27,946
|
Post by chazraps on Dec 12, 2013 1:07:49 GMT -5
Also, out of all the superstars in wrestling history, Lex Luger has to be Top 5 in terms of in-ring post-match celebration. He really made it look like he achieved the greatest anything ever and made you just want to run into the ring, hug him and tell him how proud of him you were.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2013 7:39:11 GMT -5
I wish they had given Luger a bit of a longer run actually, Hogan wasn't booked for Fall Brawl so have Luger face Hall or Savage and have him drop it at Havoc to Hogan in the cage.
|
|
ICBM
King Koopa
Didn't know we did status updates here now
Posts: 12,288
|
Post by ICBM on Dec 12, 2013 9:12:40 GMT -5
If Lex keeps it, it takes some of the piss out of Hogan/Sting build. I'm glad it happened and was po'd they took it back so fast, but I remember asking myself back then, what that would do for sting when he finally came back
|
|
|
Post by Jedi-El of Tomorrow on Dec 12, 2013 10:33:27 GMT -5
Oh, you mean the night Lex Luger snubbed Dean Malenko to high-five Glacier? And he hit The Giant with the title.
|
|