Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
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Post by Sephiroth on Apr 8, 2022 10:50:14 GMT -5
One of those really obscure moments from that era that no one talks about. The set up was a pre-Wrestlemania battle royal where the two final men would go on to face Owen and Jarrett for the tag titles during WM later the same night. For starters it ended up as another excuse to trash on Public Enemy as everyone hanged up to eliminate them first. Second is that most of the men involved weren’t tag trans, as evidenced by the winners-Test and D’Lo. They went on to lose to Owen and JJ, abs that was it. I’ve sometimes wondered if there was any further context to this. It would have been an obvious set up to have Test and D’Lo as reluctant partners who still manage to be a good team and eventually end up friends, ala Sheamus and Cesaro. Or to set up a feud between them after, with each blaming the other for the loss. But instead it just happened and that was it. This may have been another example of Russo tossing something out there just to give a lot of midcarders something to do and seeing if it stuck, which obviously it didn’t.
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Post by wildojinx on Apr 8, 2022 10:54:49 GMT -5
Wasnt Russo high on both D-lo and Test? Maybe he wanted to give them a slot on WM somehow.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2022 11:14:56 GMT -5
Wasnt Russo high on both D-lo and Test? Maybe he wanted to give them a slot on WM somehow. Both were projects for him. |
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Post by jason1980s on Apr 8, 2022 15:47:39 GMT -5
I just watched the battle royal. LOL. I wonder who put the bug in everyone's ear to go after Public Enemy all at once? Like was it a big meeting that everyone but Johnny and Rocco were invited to?
A few of those guys wound up becoming popular later or stars (Hardy Boyz) or were stars (LOD) but at the time they were absolute future endeavor waiting to happen. I'm sure no one in WCW even gave a damn who they were but they wanted Public Enemy so...everyone go after them.
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Post by DiBiase is Good on Apr 8, 2022 15:49:56 GMT -5
WM15 is such a clusterf***.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 8, 2022 16:31:14 GMT -5
I just watched the battle royal. LOL. I wonder who put the bug in everyone's ear to go after Public Enemy all at once? Like was it a big meeting that everyone but Johnny and Rocco were invited to? A few of those guys wound up becoming popular later or stars (Hardy Boyz) or were stars (LOD) but at the time they were absolute future endeavor waiting to happen. I'm sure no one in WCW even gave a damn who they were but they wanted Public Enemy so...everyone go after them. Public Enemy had basically no friends from the sound of things. Not helping was them wanting to put other people through tables, but being reluctant to take table bumps or other big spots themselves. It comes off that, fairly or not, everyone else got the idea they were selfish and really only there to get themselves over without any respect for their opponents. |
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Apr 8, 2022 18:20:10 GMT -5
WM15 is such a clusterf***. It was all the worst parts of the attitude era. A bunch of short title matches. TWO matches ending in DQ on your biggest show of the year. A random gimmick match for no reason (I still have no idea how Undertaker/Bossman warranted a cell match). Hot-shotting titles in the weeks before the show so the IC and Hardcore title scenes basically completely flipped. The only things that felt like you were watching a Wrestlemania were the main event with Austin regaining the title and HHH and Chyna turning heel and effectively ending the most popular version of DX. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2022 21:35:58 GMT -5
This was originally gonna be the continuation of Henry & D’Lo vs Jarrett & Owen furthering the Henry/Debra storyline.
But Henry got injured at the february ppv and they never bothered to build up another team for mania.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 10, 2022 1:01:13 GMT -5
WM15 is such a clusterf***. It was all the worst parts of the attitude era. A bunch of short title matches. TWO matches ending in DQ on your biggest show of the year. A random gimmick match for no reason (I still have no idea how Undertaker/Bossman warranted a cell match). Hot-shotting titles in the weeks before the show so the IC and Hardcore title scenes basically completely flipped. The only things that felt like you were watching a Wrestlemania were the main event with Austin regaining the title and HHH and Chyna turning heel and effectively ending the most popular version of DX. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if the reasoning was just, "Here's a cool special effects stunt we can do. Bossman is the only dude on the roster with attire that can hide a harness. Let's do this." That it was a pairing that didn't make a whole lot of sense and was pretty goddamn extreme even for the Attitude era in terms of simulated murder never crossed their mind, probably. |
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Post by Andee9001 on Apr 10, 2022 2:11:02 GMT -5
I just watched the battle royal. LOL. I wonder who put the bug in everyone's ear to go after Public Enemy all at once? Like was it a big meeting that everyone but Johnny and Rocco were invited to? A few of those guys wound up becoming popular later or stars (Hardy Boyz) or were stars (LOD) but at the time they were absolute future endeavor waiting to happen. I'm sure no one in WCW even gave a damn who they were but they wanted Public Enemy so...everyone go after them. Public Enemy had basically no friends from the sound of things. Not helping was them wanting to put other people through tables, but being reluctant to take table bumps or other big spots themselves. It comes off that, fairly or not, everyone else got the idea they were selfish and really only there to get themselves over without any respect for their opponents. If i'm remembering right that was also part of their gimmick at the time that no one liked them because of "where they came from" in other words WCW. I think on a Raw before mania 15 there was a big tag team brawl to hype the battle royal and once Public Enemy came out everybody turned their attention to them. I guess creative thought it was a good idea to play this up on tv too. |
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Post by Mozenrath on Apr 10, 2022 2:32:51 GMT -5
Public Enemy had basically no friends from the sound of things. Not helping was them wanting to put other people through tables, but being reluctant to take table bumps or other big spots themselves. It comes off that, fairly or not, everyone else got the idea they were selfish and really only there to get themselves over without any respect for their opponents. If i'm remembering right that was also part of their gimmick at the time that no one liked them because of "where they came from" in other words WCW. I think on a Raw before mania 15 there was a big tag team brawl to hype the battle royal and once Public Enemy came out everybody turned their attention to them. I guess creative thought it was a good idea to play this up on tv too. I guess with the name "Public Enemy", it made sense to lean in on that kind of thing. |
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Apr 10, 2022 2:47:15 GMT -5
Maybe they should have let L.O.D. win the battle royal.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2022 8:20:34 GMT -5
My takeaways:
- Public Enemy technically worked a Wrestlemania.
- You called them tag trans instead of tag teams. So now I'm going to be thinking about how badly I want to be tag teamed by trans chicks, lol.
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Post by Non Banjoble Tokens on Apr 11, 2022 0:27:58 GMT -5
My takeaways: - Public Enemy technically worked a Wrestlemania. - You called them tag trans instead of tag teams. So now I'm going to be thinking about how badly I want to be tag teamed by trans chicks, lol.I was already thinking about it to be honest.  |
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Post by RI Richmark on Apr 11, 2022 18:28:56 GMT -5
WM15 is such a clusterf***. It was all the worst parts of the attitude era. A bunch of short title matches. TWO matches ending in DQ on your biggest show of the year. A random gimmick match for no reason (I still have no idea how Undertaker/Bossman warranted a cell match). Hot-shotting titles in the weeks before the show so the IC and Hardcore title scenes basically completely flipped. The only things that felt like you were watching a Wrestlemania were the main event with Austin regaining the title and HHH and Chyna turning heel and effectively ending the most popular version of DX. Don't forget the Outlaw swap. You had Billy Gunn in a program with Ken Shamrock, Val Venis & Goldust for the IC Title while Road Dogg was fueding with Hardcore Holly and Al Snow over the Hardcore Title. Then only a couple weeks away from Wrestlemania suddenly Road Dogg wins the IC Title, Billy wins the Hardcore Title and the Outlaws basically inherent each other's feuds and it throws off both programs. It would be like if DC wrote a story of Superman trying to stop Brainiac while in another book Batman was trying to capture the Riddler only for the two heroes to swap opponents in the final issues for no reason. |
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Post by thegame415 on Apr 13, 2022 9:56:09 GMT -5
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
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Post by Sephiroth on Apr 14, 2022 11:37:01 GMT -5
It was all the worst parts of the attitude era. A bunch of short title matches. TWO matches ending in DQ on your biggest show of the year. A random gimmick match for no reason (I still have no idea how Undertaker/Bossman warranted a cell match). Hot-shotting titles in the weeks before the show so the IC and Hardcore title scenes basically completely flipped. The only things that felt like you were watching a Wrestlemania were the main event with Austin regaining the title and HHH and Chyna turning heel and effectively ending the most popular version of DX. Don't forget the Outlaw swap. You had Billy Gunn in a program with Ken Shamrock, Val Venis & Goldust for the IC Title while Road Dogg was fueding with Hardcore Holly and Al Snow over the Hardcore Title. Then only a couple weeks away from Wrestlemania suddenly Road Dogg wins the IC Title, Billy wins the Hardcore Title and the Outlaws basically inherent each other's feuds and it throws off both programs. It would be like if DC wrote a story of Superman trying to stop Brainiac while in another book Batman was trying to capture the Riddler only for the two heroes to swap opponents in the final issues for no reason. Correct me if wrong, but was t the IC title match originally a three way of Shamrock, Gunn, and Val Venus-but then Goldust got added in last minute as well? Further, Road Dogg retained the IC title by beating Goldust and then lost it to him the very next night? |
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Post by Vice honcho room temperature on Apr 14, 2022 11:48:32 GMT -5
In Conclusion Vince Russo's booking is a land of contrasts.
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