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This thread reminded me, and I think Loss alluded to it in the opening post, of a pretty cool program the WWF produced around the time of the 1996 Royal Rumble. It was a TV special hosted by Vince McMahon and Curt Hennig that aired on USA about the various feuds centering around the World championship. They spoke of the title and the wrestlers as if it was a legitimate contest. At the time I was a little disappointed because I thought it was going to trace the entire history of the championship, not just the beginning of Diesel's reign. I figure it was a way to get people who may have started checking out "Monday Nitro" back into WWF storylines in time for the Rumble.

Did Bischoff change the plan? My only exposure to wrestling "news" was the Apter mags at my local grocery during this period and I remember the speculation was that DiBiase was to be the NWO financier.

I remember watching the tag match at Havoc. Anyone could tell how it was going to end but the way it was done was so grand that I went completely bonkers cheering for Flair when he stomped Sting. To contrast, that night ended with the comically atrocious beyond-insulting Hogan-Giant-Luger-Yeti angle. Which ultimately went nowhere.

Was the Flair ponytail part of the makeover one of the WCW execs wanted for Flair? I remember hearing something about wanting him to pierce his ear and be "more 90's".

How was it? Reading results on Observer Roode/Storm sounds like it was real good tho lame that they were stuck working middle of the show pre intermission spot underneath Bubba Ray/Jeff Hardy. Rude-Storm was good. I was surprised how large Roode is in person. Earl Hebner worked most of the show and did his "Damn right, I did!" gimmick all night. He was introduced as "Wrestling's most infamous referee" and came out to Alice in Chains' "Man in the Box." He spent a lot of the time during and in between matches trying to get heat on himself by taunting fans and doing Ric Flair-style dancing. Samoa Joe tried to work heel but the audience still cheered for him. At one point Jeremy Borash said he was going to tell TNA management to bring a PPV to Sacramento. My friend turned to me and said, "I bet he said that in San Francisco, too."

TNA house show tonight in Sacramento drew about 200 in a building that seats roughly 3,500.

I wish there were photos of the times Vince got trashed with the boys.

Is it just me or in every one of these from 1985 or so does Dave think the WWF will get old fast and die?

Personally, I thought the Vince-Austin feud was untouchable in 1998 when JR was selling it like, "Vince, you run the company, YOU CAN'T GET IN THE RING BAH GAWD!!!" Once Vince became a total cartoon in 1999 it lost all appeal for me.

I think WrestleMania XIX was the most uncomfortable I've ever been during a live wrestling card.

I admit I haven't paid any attention to WWE outside of this board and some YouTube videos now and then, so I'll ask: They are running an angle where a majority of the roster quit working because of a run-in?

"Sources close to McMahon tell Pro Wrestling Illustrated that..."

He made Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World" for that one.

Vince never thought pro wrestling would help usher in world peace.

A few years ago, Lance Storm also got injured working with Mark Henry and Henry got the same bullshit blame from online fans as being a careless worker. On a F4W podcast, Storm went out of his way to say it was just an accident and Henry wasn't a careless/dangerous worker, it was just a case of bad luck. He wrote about how guilty and bad Mark felt and how much of a nice guy Mark actually is: Now I can't shake the image of Mark Henry walking to the car with his head down, dragging two sets of luggage and Lance Storm slung over his shoulder.

John, are you saying that Fit Finaly & Jerry Flynn vs. Brian Adams & Scott Norton wasn't one of the biggest matches in the history of our sport?

I personally like it all, especially how knowledgeable you all are about the history of the business. I enjoy reading and posting here because the board isn't littered with 17-year olds whining about Christian all day or posting a million diva boob threads. I feel like I can pour a scotch and share a smoke with you guys.

How about fighting to get out of it? MMA guys fight, kick, and scratch to get out of them but pro wrestlers just lay there a while and then suddenly get their second wind? The guy applying it can just stand there and shake his head "No" while the guy in the hold can do all the work. If someone gets me in a sleeperhold I'm not going to just flail my arms and then crumple!

WTF? Really? I've never heard that but it does make sense. The WWE routinely dump guys who they know are about to collapse at any given moment, even champions and bigger stars. And if it is true, and not just another Everyone Holds Me Back Ric Flair stories, then holy crap. Mostly because the death of Ric Flair will probably end up in a TNA ring, probably a non-televised event too. I mean, at least we don't have to guess whether he is selling or not, he's old, of course it hurts. I wish someone would do an intervention on some of these guys. But I guess there are some dudes who cannot quit. It's all they know. It just sucks watching some of these guys get so fucking old and falling apart before our eyes. I read that Flair quote a while back and I felt sort of weird for being a fan for so long. He literally said he will keep doing it until he has to be swept into a trash bin and I'm almost 100% certain he meant it.

I remember those minute-long squashes getting mentioned in "PWI" at the time and blowing my young mind.

I think this came from his book. His thought was that the consumer would be too occupied by the holiday season and would be less likely to purchase a PPV in December. He thought halloween Havoc was the biggest show of the year. Although 1996 and 1997 would disprove this. Although Starrcade 1995 was barely promoted on Nitro so maybe it was legit I think 1997 was just a nod to that "tradition rules" stuff WCW was running to counter the NWO. By 1998 I think the only person who talked about Starrcade being WCW's "big show" was Tony Schiavone. WCW seemed to put way more effort into promoting the Bash at the Beach cards from 1996-1998.

Exactly this. I loved this angle at the time; it seemed so raw and real compared to the hocus-pocus Dungeon of Doom stuff they were headlining with before the NWO. I liked how even though Savage was pummeling Flair almost every time both still came out strong. Flair completely broke the man and took everything from him. Looking back, I remember that as a 14-year old male Ric Flair was way more fun to cheer for than Shawn Michaels during that period.

Did Vince really think turning Jim Ross heel would help business or was sticking him with an angle that was destined to fail some sort of rib?

This is the best thread I've read here in a long time. New Testament Hogan vs. Old Testament Hogan had me laughing for a long time.

I liked some things about Bischoff as an announcer. He didn't pretend WCW existed in a vacuum. For example, I thought trying to get over how dangerous Lex Luger's forearm was during his initial run with Hogan by mentioning it KO'd Yokozuna was a nice bit of continuity.