percymania
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Percymania will live forever! Oh yeah!
Posts: 17,296
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Post by percymania on Dec 12, 2013 23:44:44 GMT -5
I was an nWo mark at the time, but even I thought this was a damn cool moment.
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peter
AC Slater
Posts: 248
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Post by peter on Dec 14, 2013 17:54:53 GMT -5
This was also the night that RAW switched from 8-10 to 9-11, goint head to head with both Nitro hours. In response, WCW turned this Nitro into a 3 hour special from 8-11. It was the first 3 hour Nitro and they would end up doing 3 hour Nitros once a month until permanently going to 3 hours on January 26, 1998.
Also, WCW hotshot booked a lot just to try to keep the ratings advantage. They cared more about that than PPV buyrates. As a fan, it was great to watch quality matches every week but it has done long-term damage. It's hard to get excited for a match when the participants have already wrestled many times before.
The Monday Night War spoiled us, that's for sure.
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Blindkarevik
Grimlock
Rock... Paper... Straight-edge!
I Like To <blank>
Posts: 14,343
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Post by Blindkarevik on Dec 27, 2013 13:55:19 GMT -5
See, I was honestly deflated by that title win.
At that point, it was obvious they were building towards Hogan vs. Sting and I felt the best way to do that was make Hogan completely unstoppable until he stepped into the ring with Sting. It was pretty obvious they were building towards Starrcade for that match, so when Luger won I was like, "Oh great.... there goes that momentum."
Kayfabe-wise, it made sense why it would be a huge deal as it was the first real blow WCW had dealt to the NWO to hurt them. To prove they CAN be beaten and they CAN be unseated from the top belt in the company. Plus, I think they were still toying with having Sting work independently where he didn't trust WCW nor the NWO, so having the top WCW guy take the title was a boost the company needed in the war.
Hogan taking the title back at Hog Wild was predictable, but still... it was tough to build that momentum back for the showdown with Sting because up that point, Hogan and the NWO were portrayed as invincible as was Sting. But now, Hogan HAD lost and had lost the title to someone... so it still felt very one-sided. Then the f-up during their match really deflated the entire thing.... two solid years of, near, flawless buildup just to be flushed away by one miscue.
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Ben Wyatt
Crow T. Robot
Are You Gonna Go My Way?
I don't get it. At all. It's kind of a small horse, I mean what am I missing? Am I crazy?
Posts: 41,417
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Dec 27, 2013 15:29:53 GMT -5
See, I was honestly deflated by that title win. At that point, it was obvious they were building towards Hogan vs. Sting and I felt the best way to do that was make Hogan completely unstoppable until he stepped into the ring with Sting. It was pretty obvious they were building towards Starrcade for that match, so when Luger won I was like, "Oh great.... there goes that momentum." Kayfabe-wise, it made sense why it would be a huge deal as it was the first real blow WCW had dealt to the NWO to hurt them. To prove they CAN be beaten and they CAN be unseated from the top belt in the company. Plus, I think they were still toying with having Sting work independently where he didn't trust WCW nor the NWO, so having the top WCW guy take the title was a boost the company needed in the war. Hogan taking the title back at Hog Wild was predictable, but still... it was tough to build that momentum back for the showdown with Sting because up that point, Hogan and the NWO were portrayed as invincible as was Sting. But now, Hogan HAD lost and had lost the title to someone... so it still felt very one-sided. Then the f-up during their match really deflated the entire thing.... two solid years of, near, flawless buildup just to be flushed away by one miscue. Eh,having Piper beat him clean as a sheet at the previous Starrcade wasn't exactly a great idea either
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Blindkarevik
Grimlock
Rock... Paper... Straight-edge!
I Like To <blank>
Posts: 14,343
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Post by Blindkarevik on Dec 27, 2013 18:04:20 GMT -5
See, even then, it made sense for Piper to win. He was never expected to bring about anything, as he made it very clear it was a personal issue between him and Hogan and he wasn't representing WCW in any way, shape or form. Granted, he was the face in it so he was representing WCW by default, but Luger was a WCW soldier and it seemed like it cheapened the Hogan/Sting match by having WCW deal a huge blow to them so close to their match.
Plus, remember.... Sting was still an island unto himself attacking both NWO and WCW guys during the Piper feud. Once Luger got the title, Sting had already come down and dismantled the NWO at Uncensored, making it very clear he had a problem with them.
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hassanchop
Grimlock
Who are you to doubt Belldandy?
Posts: 14,749
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Post by hassanchop on Dec 28, 2013 5:10:41 GMT -5
Luger explains at 35:39.
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Post by darthpipes on Dec 28, 2013 9:16:28 GMT -5
I'll say one thing about Hogan...he really did put Lex over strongly during this time. He had dropped two matches in a role to Lugar, one a non-title match and I believe the other one was a tag team match, by submission. He bizarrely had 99% of the offense in the title match but again, he lost the title to Lugar by submission. Losing to Lugar three straight times by submission and all clean victories. That is putting a guy over strongly. It was a good move to hot-shot a title change at the time.
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