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Post by cabbageboy on Dec 16, 2019 9:05:55 GMT -5
At best DDP should have had a cup of coffee in 1998 if I am booking. It's odd that he and Hogan never had a singles PPV match during that time period. Here's what I would do: Not sign Warrior when they did, have DDP win Wargames as he did do, DDP vs. Hogan at Halloween Havoc. Now I guess DDP could get a token 1 week title run, or they could have brought Warrior in to cost Hogan the title to DDP and then do that fiasco at Starrcade and do DDP/Goldberg at Starrcade with Goldberg winning the title.
But by 1999? DDP got crushed by Steiner at SuperBrawl and did a stretcher job. He was off TV for a month or two and came back and had NO heat. DDP was one of those guys that if he's on every week that's good and he'll be over, but if he's gone no one will ever miss him. So he came back and did a random heel turn, jobbed to Hogan on Nitro (where they destroyed the old set), was thrown in to a Spring Stampede 4 way, and won the title. How would he have any heat?
It's undersold how much damage that 1 month of DDP as champ did though. Nitro was still doing a 4.4 or so the night after he won the title but by the time he lost at Slamboree they were down to a 3.5 and never got above that again. WWF was on fire during that time period, Nitro was preempted for NBA games, Flair in the nuthouse, etc. All bad things, but DDP was proven a total anti draw on top.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2019 9:56:13 GMT -5
There was a time in WCW where the fans didn't care about DDP? Early on I don't think they cared much for him, until he got Kimberly and then they could work the Savage/Elizabeth sorta thing where he gets more heat because of her sympathetic nature. He was a face around the time the nWo hit, IIRC, but even then it was a while before his booking blasted him into the stratosphere.
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Post by David-Arquette was in WCW 2000 on Dec 16, 2019 19:39:25 GMT -5
Potentially unpopular opinion: DDP should've been the one to beat Goldberg, get the title and end the famed streak at Halloween Havoc, that pop he got when he hit the Diamond Cutter was something else, Page was so over at that time that it'd be dumb not to put the title on him! I was going to post the same thing.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2019 20:39:12 GMT -5
He was pretty much buried in that feud with Scott Steiner in early 99 as others have said. Steiner just spent weeks trashing him and his wife then beat him to a pulp at the pay-per-view with the crowd cheering him on and booing DDP for being such a loser. He was never the same after that.
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Post by romanstylesiii on Dec 16, 2019 20:46:37 GMT -5
The end of WCW was total apathy all the way around, Fans were miserable, wrestlers were miserable, the announcer totally gave up on life. It was an interesting time There was like 22 World Title changes in 2000. The main event meant nothing
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Bub (BLM)
Patti Mayonnaise
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Fed. Up.
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Dec 17, 2019 0:27:10 GMT -5
The crowds were apathetic. No cheers and no boos either. But he was so over in 1998. What happened here with the heel turn? The heel turn. No one was buying it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2019 8:01:39 GMT -5
he looked like a dork compared to Steiner
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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?
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Dec 17, 2019 8:11:00 GMT -5
Potentially unpopular opinion: DDP should've been the one to beat Goldberg, get the title and end the famed streak at Halloween Havoc, that pop he got when he hit the Diamond Cutter was something else, Page was so over at that time that it'd be dumb not to put the title on him! Yeah, hindsight is 20/20...but that would have been light years better than what ended up happening. Hell, if they were intent on DDP turning heel, having him end Goldberg's streak and then gradually act like a bigger and bigger jackass about it would have accomplished it pretty easily. Also sets up a revenge arc for Goldberg where he eventually beats DDP (after Page ducks him for months). Beats the shit out of what we got.
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Post by realist on Dec 17, 2019 8:21:34 GMT -5
Yeah, by the time he won his first championship WCW was in a full blown free fall and crowds were pretty apathetic to most things. His first 2 reigns lasted all of 28 days total, and his 3rd reign was literally 1 day so it’s not like he was really given a chance to run with things anyways. It’s crazy, the pops he got just years before, and in 2000 the reactions were as dead as the Von Erichs... Heaven needed a reaction?
As far as DDP goes, I think the problem was the execution. They waited too long to pull the trigger. If he had won it in 1997 or 1998 at the peak of his popularity, it could have been huge. Instead, they had him win it after his peak and immediately turn heel.
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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: 41,485
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Post by Ben Wyatt on Dec 17, 2019 9:28:58 GMT -5
It’s crazy, the pops he got just years before, and in 2000 the reactions were as dead as the Von Erichs... Heaven needed a reaction?
As far as DDP goes, I think the problem was the execution. They waited too long to pull the trigger. If he had won it in 1997 or 1998 at the peak of his popularity, it could have been huge. Instead, they had him win it after his peak and immediately turn heel.
The Goldberg loss, combined with getting absolutely owned by Steiner pretty much killed him dead in terms of being a credible main eventer
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