Post by Jindrak Mark on Apr 22, 2022 15:06:15 GMT -5
Putting aside his WCW run as a whole which we all know was a disaster and just focusing on his first night. My God what a listless, forgettable way to debut him. In fact I wouldn't be shocked if a lot of people literally did forgot his debut and just assumed it was at Starrcade.
In case you did forget though, he actually showed up on Nitro 2 weeks earlier in the middle of a segment with Bischoff, JJ Dillon and Mean Gene, looked really uncomfortable, stumbled over his words and was announced as referee for Starrcade. What should have been one of the biggest debuts in wrestling history was literally used to further a Bischoff-Zbyszko feud. "It's...Christian" was almost a more dignified first appearance.
I think the most shocking thing is the lack of a true superstar reaction. It was only a month after the screwjob, one of the most talked about events in wrestling history, and everyone was anticipating him arriving in WCW. He finally shows up though and gets...a decent reaction. This was 97. People like DDP were getting bigger reactions on a weekly basis. I was expecting Bret to get an all-time monster pop. Lesser stars than Bret moving companies (Jericho 99, Cody 22) got way bigger reactions. The generic music obviously didn't help.
How should they have debuted him? I don't know their schedule at the time but if they had a Canada Nitro coming up that would obviously have worked. Otherwise simply waiting until Starrcade and forgetting the referee nonsense. Just have Hogan v Sting, the match breaks down with NWO interference, it looks like Sting is going to be screwed over, Bret comes out hopefully to a huge pop and helps fight the NWO off, Sting submits Hogan clean with no fast count BS then Bret shakes Sting's hand afterwards and they make it clear that Bret plans to work his way up to getting a shot at Sting and the title.
In case you did forget though, he actually showed up on Nitro 2 weeks earlier in the middle of a segment with Bischoff, JJ Dillon and Mean Gene, looked really uncomfortable, stumbled over his words and was announced as referee for Starrcade. What should have been one of the biggest debuts in wrestling history was literally used to further a Bischoff-Zbyszko feud. "It's...Christian" was almost a more dignified first appearance.
I think the most shocking thing is the lack of a true superstar reaction. It was only a month after the screwjob, one of the most talked about events in wrestling history, and everyone was anticipating him arriving in WCW. He finally shows up though and gets...a decent reaction. This was 97. People like DDP were getting bigger reactions on a weekly basis. I was expecting Bret to get an all-time monster pop. Lesser stars than Bret moving companies (Jericho 99, Cody 22) got way bigger reactions. The generic music obviously didn't help.
How should they have debuted him? I don't know their schedule at the time but if they had a Canada Nitro coming up that would obviously have worked. Otherwise simply waiting until Starrcade and forgetting the referee nonsense. Just have Hogan v Sting, the match breaks down with NWO interference, it looks like Sting is going to be screwed over, Bret comes out hopefully to a huge pop and helps fight the NWO off, Sting submits Hogan clean with no fast count BS then Bret shakes Sting's hand afterwards and they make it clear that Bret plans to work his way up to getting a shot at Sting and the title.
