artDDP

This brought back a lot of memories for me from a time when I was a teenaged, high-school wrestling fan. Thanks, El-P! I certainly would have never thought back in 1997 when WCW seemed unstoppable that in just a few years the entire promotion would cease to exist and their final telecast would end with a commercial for the WWF's WrestleMania.

I agree with many of the points made in this thread. I've only seen that match twice; once live and a few months ago on YouTube. I think the crowd was just trying to be smart-assed thinking it was still going to be a kick-ass, balls-out Goldberg-Steiner match and when it wasn't they got even more restless. I don't think the match stunk; I think it could have been a lot better. I think everyone was expecting all-out war and what we got was far from it. No big deal for them, they collected their paycheck either way. And back then I totally agreed with Brock Lesnar leaving due to concerns about his future health. I was getting a bit turned off by how needlessly violent the in-ring product had become.

If I'm not mistaken isn't this another time Steiner gets into legal trouble? He kicks someone playing a paramedic who wasn't in on the angle and they sued him.

I can see their point. You can't charge people $65 for something and immediately invalidate the result the following day. It really isn't a good idea either from a business or a creative standpoint. Wonder if I can get my $27.95 back for NWO Souled Out.

I only watched last night because I was expecting the music video versions of the main matches. I was pretty disappointed because I already didn't like this match when I saw it live.

I have a VHS tape of a Superstars telecast where Roddy outs Mustafa as the Iron Shiek and mocks the whole gimmick. Vince simply replies, "Yes, indeed, a former WWF champion now calling himself Colonel Mustafa."

I remember in Ted DiBiase's first book he said a similar thing about Flair during his 1992 WWF run.

The WWF signing Bill Irwin and Alex Porteau (among others) in 1996.

I thought he was just a radio show guy who got a minor gig with WCW in the early 90s who wound up getting TV time on Clash cards and Nitro because he could explain lucha libre.

Tony Schiavone penned an article in the old WCW Magazine about spending a night out with Flair where he did buy rounds for everyone in the bar. I couldn't believe it back then and was still skeptical until recently reading the Grantland article and seeing his behavior on Wife Swap.

I really liked Sean O'Haire dating back to his WCW debut. Admittedly I haven't seen any of his work since then so I have no idea if I'll still feel the same today.

I think Hunter is aware that he isn't one of the company's biggest draws and as a result does an expert job of playing to Vince's insecurities to hold on to his spot. I also believe the fact that Steve Austin wouldn't put him over in 1999 ate him up for a while, if not still to this day.

This is pretty much the only board I make a point of checking daily, even on vacation. I don't know what that says about me.

Van Hammer didn't like being assigned the low rank of private so he insisted on being called Major Stash. There wasn't anyone who could get him to understand the joke in being called Private Stash.

El-P, you are amazing for sitting through this. I found some episodes from this period on some old VHS tapes and I had to fast-forward through most of it. This is around the time I threw in the towel and gave up on WCW after being loyal to them for almost a decade. When Russo left the WWF in 1999 he said to Wade Keller it was due to two things: Feeling they weren't being paid enough for all the TV they wrote and the fact that his name, along with Ed Ferrara, weren't being mentioned in the press for the company's success at that time. I firmly believe that Russo left the WWF solely for that second reason considering he booked himself to humiliate Ric Flair and shave his head and also win the WCW World title in a Hell in a Cell match, among a few dozen other incidents designed to make him the top heel in the company.

I can't remember where I read it but I do remember someone saying Vince would flip out on people who yawned in front of him.

They did leave Benoit's entrance during the 1998 Four Horsemen reunion intact on the first Best of Nitro DVD set. Any commentary mention of him was edited out. So Triple H has another DVD set coming out? I'm hoping the iron man match is included. He's had a lot of praise for Dwayne lately, even if most of it comes from WWE-produced videos. Maybe he's finally comfortable with his place in history? After, of course, making sure no one on the roster ever got the better of him.

I think so. The same matches wind up on different comps from different periods with original or dubbed theme music.

They re-issued a series of WrestleMania DVDs after editing out any scenes of choking so I'm willing to believe they released Bryan for going too far during the initial Nexus angle, then brought him back once the heat died down.

That DVD cover does, indeed, look awesome and this thread brings back the memories. My dad would find anything wrestling on TV to watch with me back then and introduced me to a lot of stuff. I also would love to know where I can find more WWF Magazine scans. I loved trips to the grocery store to beg my parents for a new one every month.

Did that happen on a Livewire telecast? I didn't think it was mentioned until the 1996 Survivor Series, when Faarooq came out in his quasi-Panther gear for the first time.

It's only going to get much, much worse from here.

If I were booking Raw I'd have at least one night where the main event was Zack Ryder vs. Tensai or something and the reason being no one called anyone out earlier. I thought it would make more sense to have at least one match advertised for next week that you could promote with commercials during the week or something. Why do they still do contract signing angles when it seems anyone can call out anyone and it's pretty much binding?

Yeah, it's $10 bucks. I can't imagine who would still be buying PWI?

This reminds me of when I was a kid, learning what the word "defunct" meant courtesy of the Apter mags. I probably developed a lot of my vocabulary from the Eddie Ellner columns.