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Post by stephen90 on Jul 10, 2023 0:29:31 GMT -5
Booker T out of nowhere WCW title win when he had been GI Bro and fighting for latter T in the same year. Remember when Hugh Morrus dropped the Hugh G. Rection name and got a pretty big push towards the end? He killed Lance Storm's short-lived push and won the US title. The weirdest thing was on Nitro the next night when they had most of the roster including Goldberg come out to put him over and tell him he deserved it. It was treated like a long awaited big time feel-good moment but I don't recall many people over the years asking for a Hugh Morrus push. "Above Average" Mike Sanders. The name itself is a self own, basically calling yourself pretty good at best. I always thought he's one of the people who prove that there's a difference between being a good talker and being hugely charismatic. He could talk till the cows came home but it was never particularly entertaining or interesting. WCW though seemed to think they had their own Rock on their hands with the amount of mic time they were giving him in their dying days. Really odd push for Morrus he had become an afterthought after the Dungeon of Doom had disbanded for like 3 years he was on the undercard then in 2000 he got some random push as a mid card babyface and remained there until WCW went under.
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Post by Psicofreak667 on Jul 10, 2023 0:58:45 GMT -5
Hugh Morrus' push was a lot more organic than a lot of people seem to remember. Even though he was just a guy lost in the midcard, he outranked the other lost in the undercard guys, and so he was the obvious choice to lead the Misfits in Action. I've never understood the hate for the Misfits in Action, they were pretty over even before they started feuding with Team Canada, and back then making fill-in-the-blank bland face guy pro-American was almost surefire to get him more over. Then Morrus had the sympathy heat when Chavo and Wall backstabbed the MIA. So he disbands the MIA, goes back to his original character, still feuding with Lance Storm, wins the #1 Contendership, gets cheered by the entire roster and gets a peptalk from Goldberg, wins the US Title, awesome feelgood moment.
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Post by 'Foretold' Joker on Jul 10, 2023 4:05:22 GMT -5
While Lance Storm is definitely the GOAT when it comes to coming out of late-era WCW on top, he also had the benefit of debuting in mid-2000 without any accumulated stink on him. But I'd say two longtime guys on the roster who were served well in the Russo runs were my man Norman Smiley and Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Smiley got his "Screamin'" gimmick during the first Russo run in late '99, and it turned someone who had mostly operated as a lower card heel into the naturally likable babyface he should have always been. And while Miller got a bit of a push in the interim Sullivan-booked period, with James Brown even appearing by his side at Superbrawl, it wasn't until the summer of 2000 that he was turned into a face commissioner and everything just started clicking for him. Since you mention Miller, I just have to note as it has been before that everyone in the "Blood Runs Cold" feud managed to find better things afterwards EXCEPT Glacier. -Mortis became Kanyon, and was memorable in his own right there. -Wrath became Brian Clark, and teamed with Brian Adams to become Kronik and one of late WCW's memorable teams (before the buyout and THAT match with Taker and Kane) -Miller you described up there. Glacier...briefly turned into a coach manager and then a more comedic version of the Glacier character. That's because you can't improve on the genius that is Glacier.
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Post by dynamitekidd on Jul 10, 2023 8:21:00 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push, especially since he got hurt and it ended really before it began, but they got behind Rick Martel pretty quick and handled him really good. Always thought that was pretty cool actually.
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hassanchop
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Post by hassanchop on Jul 10, 2023 9:21:44 GMT -5
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XIII
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Post by XIII on Jul 10, 2023 10:04:35 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push but featuring Al Greene in any capacity is highly questionable…even if he is portrayed as a literal Dog.
WCW was smoking that goooooood shit at the end.
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Post by Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby on Jul 10, 2023 10:15:32 GMT -5
Lance Storm getting a big push in WCW is still so weird to me. I mean I could have seen it in some earlier eras. But this was Russo. But here he was, having bangers every week and winning every title. And it worked! I recall Storm telling a story that his push was the result of a bet between Russo and Johnny Ace? That Ace felt like Lance was money and it ended with Russo conceding to give Lance a big push with all of the title wins? It honestly sounds like a too-good-to-be-true wrestling backstage story, so I have my doubts even if it came from Lance's mouth.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Jul 10, 2023 10:35:35 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push but featuring Al Greene in any capacity is highly questionable…even if he is portrayed as a literal Dog. WCW was smoking that goooooood shit at the end. Fit Finlay and Brian Knobbs were reasonably over as a makeshift "we have the Dudley Boys at home" team, while we're at it.
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cjh
Hank Scorpio
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Post by cjh on Jul 10, 2023 10:46:36 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push but featuring Al Greene in any capacity is highly questionable…even if he is portrayed as a literal Dog. WCW was smoking that goooooood shit at the end. Fit Finlay and Brian Knobbs were reasonably over as a makeshift "we have the Dudley Boys at home" team, while we're at it. Didn't Finlay and Knobbs start wearing the fatigue gear before the Dudleys? IIRC, their team was nearly done by the time the Dudleys started getting pushed in the WWF.
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Post by stephen90 on Jul 10, 2023 12:06:09 GMT -5
While Lance Storm is definitely the GOAT when it comes to coming out of late-era WCW on top, he also had the benefit of debuting in mid-2000 without any accumulated stink on him. But I'd say two longtime guys on the roster who were served well in the Russo runs were my man Norman Smiley and Ernest "The Cat" Miller. Smiley got his "Screamin'" gimmick during the first Russo run in late '99, and it turned someone who had mostly operated as a lower card heel into the naturally likable babyface he should have always been. And while Miller got a bit of a push in the interim Sullivan-booked period, with James Brown even appearing by his side at Superbrawl, it wasn't until the summer of 2000 that he was turned into a face commissioner and everything just started clicking for him. Since you mention Miller, I just have to note as it has been before that everyone in the "Blood Runs Cold" feud managed to find better things afterwards EXCEPT Glacier. -Mortis became Kanyon, and was memorable in his own right there. -Wrath became Brian Clark, and teamed with Brian Adams to become Kronik and one of late WCW's memorable teams (before the buyout and THAT match with Taker and Kane) -Miller you described up there. Glacier...briefly turned into a coach manager and then a more comedic version of the Glacier character. You know WCW wanted fans badly to forget that angle when Wrath returned in 98 acting as if he was some newcomer and pretending like he never lost.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Jul 10, 2023 14:22:47 GMT -5
Lance Storm getting a big push in WCW is still so weird to me. I mean I could have seen it in some earlier eras. But this was Russo. But here he was, having bangers every week and winning every title. And it worked! I recall Storm telling a story that his push was the result of a bet between Russo and Johnny Ace? That Ace felt like Lance was money and it ended with Russo conceding to give Lance a big push with all of the title wins? It honestly sounds like a too-good-to-be-true wrestling backstage story, so I have my doubts even if it came from Lance's mouth. It's from his shoot interview. Basically Russo only came up with comedy ideas for Lance which Lance wasn't a fan of so Russo had no idea what to do (and his comedy was basically Lance being a moron) and Johnny Ace had started as an agent. Johnny basically told Russo if he let him in charge of Lance's segments he'd be the top heel in WCW within a month... and he wasn't far off to be honest
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Post by stephen90 on Jul 13, 2023 13:26:24 GMT -5
Hugh Morrus' push was a lot more organic than a lot of people seem to remember. Even though he was just a guy lost in the midcard, he outranked the other lost in the undercard guys, and so he was the obvious choice to lead the Misfits in Action. I've never understood the hate for the Misfits in Action, they were pretty over even before they started feuding with Team Canada, and back then making fill-in-the-blank bland face guy pro-American was almost surefire to get him more over. Then Morrus had the sympathy heat when Chavo and Wall backstabbed the MIA. So he disbands the MIA, goes back to his original character, still feuding with Lance Storm, wins the #1 Contendership, gets cheered by the entire roster and gets a peptalk from Goldberg, wins the US Title, awesome feelgood moment. I think because most when watching at the height of WCW popularity remember Morrus as the guy who first lost to Goldberg at the beginning of Goldberg's streak. By the time he started getting a push WCW had lost a ton of fans.
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msc
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Post by msc on Jul 13, 2023 13:49:51 GMT -5
Lance Storm had so much momentum he was the first WCW guy to invade RAW (and got a huge reaction) and parlayed it into an IC title run and a big match at Summerslam. Shame the rest of his run never hit those heights.
Kanyon showed up from injury Christmas 1999 as "Champagne" Chris Kanyon, who pissed off both his Triad teammates by getting a big head in Hollywood, and stole every show going.
Shane Douglas got quite a sizeable push in 2000.
I quite liked Above Average Mike Sanders. He has killed by the death of WCW though.
Lash LeRoux seemed like a decent rookie too at the time.
Always found Prince/The Artist Iaukea dull as dishwater.
Mike Awesome had a ludicrously stop start push.
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Post by chronocross on Jul 13, 2023 14:11:57 GMT -5
I remember Reno getting a big push towards the latter half of 2000-early 2001 in his feud with Big Vito, then he just kinda fell off and was never seen again.
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Phosphor Glow
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Post by Phosphor Glow on Jul 13, 2023 21:26:44 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push, especially since he got hurt and it ended really before it began, but they got behind Rick Martel pretty quick and handled him really good. Always thought that was pretty cool actually. this run was actually my introduction to Rick Martel, so i've always kind of viewed him as a talented and seasoned veteran i didn't know about the Model gimmick or any of his earlier work or anything until i started renting old WWF PPVs and stuff
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Jul 13, 2023 21:32:49 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push, especially since he got hurt and it ended really before it began, but they got behind Rick Martel pretty quick and handled him really good. Always thought that was pretty cool actually. this run was actually my introduction to Rick Martel, so i've always kind of viewed him as a talented and seasoned veteran i didn't know about the Model gimmick or any of his earlier work or anything until i started renting old WWF PPVs and stuff Similar here, the Model was before I was watching WWF consistently. That said, if I had to pick a favorite Martel match, I have a fondness for him vs HBK, where Sherri keeps pleading for them to not hit each other in the face, etc.
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Post by Hypnosis on Jul 13, 2023 21:35:43 GMT -5
Not sure it counts as a push, especially since he got hurt and it ended really before it began, but they got behind Rick Martel pretty quick and handled him really good. Always thought that was pretty cool actually. this run was actually my introduction to Rick Martel, so i've always kind of viewed him as a talented and seasoned veteran i didn't know about the Model gimmick or any of his earlier work or anything until i started renting old WWF PPVs and stuff The first time I remember seeing him on TV as a kid (and a Spider-Man/Venom comic book ad for the Genesis Rumble game) was as the short-haired Model in pink trunks during the early 90s.
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Post by thegame415 on Jul 14, 2023 10:15:20 GMT -5
Rick Steiner as a heel in the summer of 1999. He even gets PPV matches with Goldberg and Sting. I don't remember anyone giving a crap about him anymore.
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Jul 14, 2023 11:39:13 GMT -5
Rick Steiner as a heel in the summer of 1999. He even gets PPV matches with Goldberg and Sting. I don't remember anyone giving a crap about him anymore. I think he and Bischoff were fishing/hunting buddies so that probably helped him but yeah, by 1999 he was over the hill and not really over despite the fact that just a year earlier he was pretty damn popular after the initial Steiners split. He really did get a strong push upon his return from injury in 99. Slamboree - Wins the TV title from Booker T then later in the night attacks Goldberg and Sting, ruining the first ever big PPV match between them. Great American Bash - Beats Sting after Sting gets mauled by dogs for some reason. Bash at the Beach - Defends his TV title against Van Hammer of all people. Road Wild - High profile match v Goldberg. Fall Brawl - Defends his TV title against Perry Saturn. Halloween Havoc - Beats Chris Benoit to regain the TV title. Mayhem - Was supposed to have a big US champ v TV champ match v Scott Hall but no-showed the PPV and was stripped of the title and his push ended. Within a month he was in the crappy Varsity Club reunion with Kevin Sullivan and Mike Rotunda. Also he had a lot of Nitro main events too. I remember that summer feud with Goldberg/Sting/Hogan v Nash/Sid/Steiner he really felt like the odd man out and clearly didn't have the star power of the other 5 guys.
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Post by nickcave on Jul 14, 2023 13:41:35 GMT -5
Road Warrior Animal being the big main event surprise for the Magnificent 7 despite his last US run being the horrible LOD 2000 storyline
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