Talk about it here.

Of COURSE the first thing you talk up about Stan Hansen is his fucking football background at West Texas State. Ross points out that Hansen has been exiled from wrestling in the U.S. Hansen declares he's been wrestling in "the Third World with the Peace Corps people" (!) Hansen rants about his suspension being up with tobacco dripping all over his mouth. Stan is pretty much a cartoon character already.

Jim Ross interviewing Stan Hansen? This should be fun! He's been making his living abroad because he ain't a yes-man. You can see the guys Ole is pushing and bringing in, but they're pretty much all guys of the past. Even Hansen, who whatever reason can't have great matches in the U.S.

I enjoyed this a good deal especially with the tobacco dripping all over Hansen's face.

He seems more like a WWF character than the bad ass from Japan.

Tremendous football player. Gulp. Stan Hansen back from wrestling exile. Stan Hansen has never been a yes guy. All the other wrestlers in NWA will now have Stan to deal with. Statute of limitations has expired. Lariat is back.

I liked the explanation to old time fans that may remember Hansen that he hasn't been around because he was blackballed from the US because he's too crazy. It's a much better explanation to fans than "Because he wouldn't drop the AWA title to Nick Bockwinkel."

If you're going to present Stan as a wildman, why not start right off the bat? He's not too much different here than he was in the AWA, except that he's scaring Jim Ross instead of Larry Nelson. A promising beginning for the Badman from Borger.

 

Yeah, JR, I think we need to scale back the football references just a touch. Seriously, Ole had to like what he was doing; he was never shy about telling people if he believed that they'd messed up. Apparently, he saw value in mentioning the football backgrounds of everyone on the roster. One other thought: was TBS doing a college football package at the time? Maybe this was WCW's way of getting wrestling fans to also think about college football, even in the offseason.

Never liked the Hansen promos in WCW, always felt over exaggerated when they didn't need to be.

Jim Ross introduces a great athlete from West Texas State University, a tremendous football player, but a man who’s always had a problem with discipline. He’s 6’3”, 320lbs and is a man that has basically been exiled from US wrestling, Stan ‘The Lariat’ Hansen. Hansen joins him chewing on tobacco and carrying a cowbell. He says that he’s been out there fighting in the third world because all these promoters in the United States want someone who’ll say ‘yes sir, no sir’ and Stan Hansen has never been a ‘yes man’, he does what he wants! He’s done what he wanted overseas, but now he’s back in the NWA and all the other wrestlers are going to have to deal with him. Ross wonders why is he back? Is he after anyone in particular? He says that he’s back due to the statute of limitations. They tried to suspend him, they barred him from the United States, they took food off his table, but he’s back because there are laws to protect someone like him, and he’s back to run rough shot anyway he wants too. Ross says that he finally has to talk about ‘the lariat’, the most feared hold in all of wrestling. Stan says that everybody is using it, everybody is trying to perfect it, but he’s the one who started it, and he’s the one who was kicked out of the US because it is the nastiest and most vicious of holds.

 

I thought this was a good debut promo from Hansen and that he came across as a crazy, wild man. I think this was the period where he was getting disqualified against jobbers on TV for just destroying them in matches.

Yeah, I always think of Hansen first as a football play....wait, no I don't. Dammit JR, will you just knock off all the college football crap? Hansen cuts a Hansen-y wildman in the States promo. For whatever reason, he never seems to loom as large in the U.S.