Posted March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497581 I want to explore these sorts of instances. I don't mean instances where a guy is given a big push and then left into free-fall when it didn't work out (e.g. The Renegade), I mean occassions where something is HYPED at an event and then given very little airtime at it and effectively buried. The example I have in mind is the Yeti and the whole "three giants" angle at World War 3 1995. I mean if you watch that show it is absolutely baffling. Yeti is given an almost equal billing to Hogan and The Giant and treated as a major deal in all the pre-show stuff and then at the match itself he's absolutely buried. I mean totally. He's eliminated first. What a massive abortion of an angle. I'm looking for some more examples like that. Where something is built up at an event only to be destroyed almost immediately. WCW were specialists at this sort of thing at the time, they did it again at the cluster-fuck Uncensored '96 Tower of Doom match with Z-Gangsta and "The Ultimate Solution". Again, a total abortion. What I'm wondering is whether this sort of thing is unique to WCW at that time, or whether there are loads of examples from all over the place. Can't think of any others on this sort of level.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497589 I was 12 at the time and I knew they would never show anything. I just figured it was the usual heel bravado from Flair, Perfect and Heenan
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497591 They hyped that they would be showing something in a huge way though, even during the event itself. It felt like a massive bait and switch.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497592 "Sheriff" Austin wow was this bad. maybe it didn't get a ton of hype but Austin thought this was a great idea and would get over huge to clarify this wasn't necessarily hyped on TV but on the net it was reported that Austin had a great idea and that it would work within the storyline. After all the intrigue on the net we get Sheriff Austin
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497593 Most of the WCW guys that came into the WWE in the 2000s. Scott Steiner and Goldberg being the chief examples. They kind of did it to Jericho a little when he showed off. If you look back, they really botched the first 3-4 months of his initial run. Tazz sort of did too. Diamond Dallas Page, motivational speaker. Berlyn in WCW.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497594 Brian Lee at SummerSlam '94. They spent months advertising Undertaker vs Undertaker, brought in Leslie Nielsen to do skits to sell the match, a huge Domino's Pizza promotion...and then basically buried Lee at the event, and that was the end of that.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497595 Brian Lee at SummerSlam '94. They spent months advertising Undertaker vs Undertaker, brought in Leslie Nielsen to do skits to sell the match, a huge Domino's Pizza promotion...and then basically buried Lee at the event, and that was the end of that. That was the point though. Fake Undertaker was there to draw out the real Undertaker and then to lose to the real Undertaker.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497598 Vince's "The crowd is in awe of the action going on in the ring" line during Taker/Faker still makes me laugh to this day. That seemed to be a WWF quirk about getting around silent crowds
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497599 Brian Lee at SummerSlam '94. They spent months advertising Undertaker vs Undertaker, brought in Leslie Nielsen to do skits to sell the match, a huge Domino's Pizza promotion...and then basically buried Lee at the event, and that was the end of that. That was the point though. Fake Undertaker was there to draw out the real Undertaker and then to lose to the real Undertaker. If you read the Observer, though, the plan at one point was for Fake Undertaker to stick around for a while, but they wound up changing course at some point. Either that, or somebody was giving Dave bad info. Really, WWE's track record with fake anything (Fake Undertaker, Fake Kane, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel, etc) is incredibly poor.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497601 Brian Lee at SummerSlam '94. They spent months advertising Undertaker vs Undertaker, brought in Leslie Nielsen to do skits to sell the match, a huge Domino's Pizza promotion...and then basically buried Lee at the event, and that was the end of that. That was the point though. Fake Undertaker was there to draw out the real Undertaker and then to lose to the real Undertaker. If you read the Observer, though, the plan at one point was for Fake Undertaker to stick around for a while, but they wound up changing course at some point. Either that, or somebody was giving Dave bad info. Really, WWE's track record with fake anything (Fake Undertaker, Fake Kane, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel, etc) is incredibly poor. Fake never works well. This one is more of a funny one but the Black Scorpion on the first SMW broadcast. They spent the whole show talking about him and then he jobbed in his first and only match.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497608 Brian Lee at SummerSlam '94. They spent months advertising Undertaker vs Undertaker, brought in Leslie Nielsen to do skits to sell the match, a huge Domino's Pizza promotion...and then basically buried Lee at the event, and that was the end of that. That was the point though. Fake Undertaker was there to draw out the real Undertaker and then to lose to the real Undertaker. If you read the Observer, though, the plan at one point was for Fake Undertaker to stick around for a while, but they wound up changing course at some point. Either that, or somebody was giving Dave bad info. Really, WWE's track record with fake anything (Fake Undertaker, Fake Kane, Fake Razor Ramon, Fake Diesel, etc) is incredibly poor. There are also stories about a bunch of special effects being planned for the match (lighting striking when they first touched, the two Undertakers merging into one, etc.) that were abandoned for whatever reason.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497610 WHAT SIDE IS MR. PERFECT ON! during Summerslam 1992.That one paid off beautifully. He was working both sides, driving a wedge between the competitors and weakening Savage so that he could lose to Flair. I felt that one was a well worked build into Summerslam.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497611 As a kid, it was really disappointing though. I think that was up there with Reign of the Supermen as one of my more disappointing childhood moments from 92-93 for me.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497614 Glacier debuting on WCW Pro after months of hype similar to this, Kizarnie. Months of promos, then they throw him out there as part of MVP's losing streak gimmick, he made one more appearance in a battle royal and then out. Loch Ness in WCW got much the same treatment as the Yeti.
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497617 Agreed about Kizarny, it went on for ages and everyone was talking about how much WWE had invested in the character and then... Nothing, not even a trial feud. How about Vader during his run with WWF in the mid 1990's? His debut with the company was hugely hyped and his first appearances on TV were given a great deal of fanfare, but then it became apparent that WWF had no confidence in him (and the Kliq apparently despised him) and buried him. What a waste of an exceptional worker...
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497619 Glacier debuting on WCW Pro after months of hype similar to this, Kizarnie. Months of promos, then they throw him out there as part of MVP's losing streak gimmick, he made one more appearance in a battle royal and then out. Loch Ness in WCW got much the same treatment as the Yeti. Loch Ness is at least defensible because he retired from wrestling and went back to England due to health problems. Whether that's before or after they decided to job him out is unknown. The bigger question is why bring in 50 year old Giant Haystacks who was really only known in England and give him a big push instead of someone young?
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497620 Glacier debuting on WCW Pro after months of hype similar to this, Kizarnie. Months of promos, then they throw him out there as part of MVP's losing streak gimmick, he made one more appearance in a battle royal and then out. Loch Ness in WCW got much the same treatment as the Yeti. Loch Ness is at least defensible because he retired from wrestling and went back to England due to health problems. Whether that's before or after they decided to job him out is unknown. The bigger question is why bring in 50 year old Giant Haystacks who was really only known in England and give him a big push instead of someone young? IMSMR, Hulk Hogan personally asked him to come out of retirement to be his next big feud ... then completely failed to put him over in any way when he showed up. His few ring performances after that were so bad they quickly jobbed him out to the Giant then sent him home. His health issues didn't occur until later (or perhaps that was only when they were made public).
March 21, 201213 yr comment_5497621 Agreed about Kizarny, it went on for ages and everyone was talking about how much WWE had invested in the character and then... Nothing, not even a trial feud. They didn't even job him out, he just vanished from the program after 2 low key appearances.
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