Post by chazraps on Aug 28, 2023 0:07:52 GMT -5
I have a softspot for 1996 wrestling. I know I'm not alone in nostalgia for that year (WCW, WWF and ECW had some really great things bubbling in one of the more entertaining transitional years) and every few years I'll do a rewatch of one show on its particular anniversary. I've done Raw 96 a few times, Hardcore TV 96 a few times, Nitro a few times, but had an unexpected incredible amount of fun doing WCW Worldwide two years ago on the 25th anniversary of each episode.
This year I've been doing WWF Mania, the Saturday morning show which was my first regular appointment viewing for wrestling. Most people who, perhaps rightfully so, write-off Mania do it with the show's 93-95 run in mind where it had eras of overly tried to appeal to children's Saturday morning TV plans as well as a time when they were really trying to be a morning news magazine show for WWF.
In 1996, Mania actually has a pretty compelling formula. Todd hosts with his high-kiddie energy turned way down and he sounds much closer to his 90s radio persona. While early in the year there are some shortlived misses (an over-dependence on the fisheye lens effect going into commercial, a "WWF Classic Matches" segment that lasted only two episodes when the selections were the Bret-Lawler foot match and the HHH-HOG Hogpin match, etc) by the summer you actually get the entire roster involved showing Raw highlights between 3-4 weekly exclusives of the roster members out on the town or extensive Jim Ross "Ross Reports" or clips of wrestlers doing the media rounds or the exclusive footage of what happened after Raw as it went off the air. It's fun and what a weekend supplemental program should be.
THAT SAID, some real weirdness on this past week's episode (8/24/96). At this time (kayfabe), Ahmed Johnson had to forfeit the Intercontinetal Title so Gorilla Monsoon ordered an eight man tournament for the championship. As a result, this week Mania unveiled a new segment "Greatest Intercontinental Championship Moments." What do we start with? The June 20, 1979 Pat Patterson vs Ted Dibiase match.
Fans of this era may recall that this match was actually for the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship, as well as that the Intercontinental title didn't exist until Patterson was said to have won a tournament in Rio that, in reality, never happened.
But, the Toddster didn't let the facts get in the way of a good story as the clip ends with him explaining that the clip was of Pat Patterson becoming the first intercontinental champion. To his credit, he at least infers that the title had a different name at the time, but there's still the inaccuracy that Ted was the first title holder (correct me if I'm misremembering, but wasn't this a title he was just given not unlike Pat with the IC?)
So yeah, just a weird bit of retconned strangeness I had to share. Was it ever said kayfabe who Patterson defeated in that IC tournament? Can we say it's canon that he beat Ted Dibiase?
This year I've been doing WWF Mania, the Saturday morning show which was my first regular appointment viewing for wrestling. Most people who, perhaps rightfully so, write-off Mania do it with the show's 93-95 run in mind where it had eras of overly tried to appeal to children's Saturday morning TV plans as well as a time when they were really trying to be a morning news magazine show for WWF.
In 1996, Mania actually has a pretty compelling formula. Todd hosts with his high-kiddie energy turned way down and he sounds much closer to his 90s radio persona. While early in the year there are some shortlived misses (an over-dependence on the fisheye lens effect going into commercial, a "WWF Classic Matches" segment that lasted only two episodes when the selections were the Bret-Lawler foot match and the HHH-HOG Hogpin match, etc) by the summer you actually get the entire roster involved showing Raw highlights between 3-4 weekly exclusives of the roster members out on the town or extensive Jim Ross "Ross Reports" or clips of wrestlers doing the media rounds or the exclusive footage of what happened after Raw as it went off the air. It's fun and what a weekend supplemental program should be.
THAT SAID, some real weirdness on this past week's episode (8/24/96). At this time (kayfabe), Ahmed Johnson had to forfeit the Intercontinetal Title so Gorilla Monsoon ordered an eight man tournament for the championship. As a result, this week Mania unveiled a new segment "Greatest Intercontinental Championship Moments." What do we start with? The June 20, 1979 Pat Patterson vs Ted Dibiase match.
Fans of this era may recall that this match was actually for the WWF North American Heavyweight Championship, as well as that the Intercontinental title didn't exist until Patterson was said to have won a tournament in Rio that, in reality, never happened.
But, the Toddster didn't let the facts get in the way of a good story as the clip ends with him explaining that the clip was of Pat Patterson becoming the first intercontinental champion. To his credit, he at least infers that the title had a different name at the time, but there's still the inaccuracy that Ted was the first title holder (correct me if I'm misremembering, but wasn't this a title he was just given not unlike Pat with the IC?)
So yeah, just a weird bit of retconned strangeness I had to share. Was it ever said kayfabe who Patterson defeated in that IC tournament? Can we say it's canon that he beat Ted Dibiase?
