Scott was best as a tag team guy with his brother, and even Bagwell a little because they had good chemistry. On his own he fumbled.

Have posted the podcast in the Publications and Podcast forum, for those who would like to listen (we read and discussed almost all the feedback we got from this board at the time of recording):

 

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/26575-squared-circle-gazette-radio-1-should-have-been-the-top-guy/

 

I'm actually a little surprised that nobody suggested Scott Steiner at all, just because I was expecting it, and a couple of the suggestions were more of a stretch than him.

I always wished Jeff Hardy had a longer run on top in 08-09.

 

In 2011 I briefly thought Alex Riley could've been a Cena/Orton level guy after his face turn.

Scott Steiner didn't WANT to be a singles wrestler in the early 90s. Bill Watts wanted to turn him heel and give him a big push but Scott said no because he didn't want Rick to get lost in the shuffle.

 

I think WWE could have done WAY more with Vladimir Kozlov. He wasn't a great worker but he would have had a much better career if they had built him up to face John Cena instead of building him up for HHH. Cena could have had a great match with him while HHH seemed to go out of his way to have a stinker.

 

Even now I'd like to see them bring him in for a short program to put over Rusev. They could work a short Ukraine vs. Russia deal ending with Rusev beating him on a PPV.

As we've mentioned following the Meltzers on recent editions of WTBBP, they tried Scott in a singles push in early 1991 in WCW and it failed because he was too green for the spot AND he requested to work more tags. They might have known that by the time of the Clash and that's possibly why Flair is so dominant in that match.

They even messed up building Kozlov for HHH. There was no reason for him to job to HBK to set up the Undertaker WM match.

A heel Doink/Undertaker program would have been money. It's Batman and The Joker. The evil antics versus the other-worldly character would have been a perfect fit.

 

Class.

 

Never thought of this before. You'd have to tread carefully not to make 1992 Undertaker look like an idiot though.

They even messed up building Kozlov for HHH. There was no reason for him to job to HBK to set up the Undertaker WM match.

Kozlov was built up for HHH in the fall of 2008, I don't think the Michaels match came until 2009.

Oops. I thought he went into the HBK match totally undefeated.

Oops. I thought he went into the HBK match totally undefeated.

 

HBK was still his first singles defeat. the HHH PPV match was the one that got turned into a triple threat with Edge pinning HHH.

Three monsters that I felt really just got lost in the WCW mix were Earthquake, Bossman and Haku. All three had working ability, size, and could effectively hype a program (especially with the right mouthpiece). They all seem like they could have been so much more. In a similar way I feel like Albert's Giant Bernard era proved that he could be lot more than a geek and his longevity with the company shows they respect his ethic and talent enough to keep him around. Even more than perennial throw-away heel Kane, I'd rather watch a good Matt Bloom match.

See, Brad's another one who I think was exactly where he should have been in the lower midcard.

. Brad had a good run as North American champ in Mid-South . However in my mind Buddy Landel , Phil Hickerson , Tracy Smothers , Eric Embry , Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert are the top guys. So what do I know.

See, Brad's another one who I think was exactly where he should have been in the lower midcard.

If you just judge Brad on WCW and his Mid-South run I can buy that argument . His continental run was fun and he had more charisma than his rep suggests. He was also given more of a chance to be a top guy. He was a good promo in Continental. Though I don't think he could have translated it on the bigger stage.

Bookers always saw something in Brad Armstrong and tried to push him, but it just didn't work for whatever reason. Watts, Dusty, Ole ... they all tried.

Bookers always saw something in Brad Armstrong and tried to push him, but it just didn't work for whatever reason. Watts, Dusty, Ole ... they all tried.

 

I agree it didn't work anywhere. I also think it wouldn't work. Though in Continental he was pushed high on the card and got over. Continental was his peak of being over. Then it was considered a low level territory.

From reading through this it seems like a lot of it is very sentimental in terms of how people are viewing this. not a criticism, just seems like that reading it. Might be that it's difficult to address this topic without that coming up.

 

 

Luger in 1990 - WCW went with Sting, they should have gone with Luger. Better look, better worker, better on the mic. In my watching Luger has dicked all over Sting from 88 to 91 so far.

 

Yes. Not to mention, better draw too.

 

 

It's funny because if you travel out into the "regular" wrestling internet, most fans would immediately laugh at this and say Sting was better in every way because that is how they've been conditioned to think. Despite overwhelming evidence that Luger was much better in a lot of areas in a lot of timeframes. That's what's so cool about PWO.

 

Agreed. There's a pointless, lazy dig at Luger in the review of WCW Greatest Matches DVD in this month's Power Slam that's infuriating.

 

 

Luger in 1990 - WCW went with Sting, they should have gone with Luger. Better look, better worker, better on the mic. In my watching Luger has dicked all over Sting from 88 to 91 so far.

 

Yes. Not to mention, better draw too.

 

 

Drawing power aside, that's an element of wrestling that doesn't interest me, my recent journey through late 80s NWA into early 90s WCW led me to a different conclusion. I definitely appreciate Luger and find him to be a really good worker in that time frame. However, my opinion of Sting has been raised a lot during this rewatch. He knew how to capture the crowd and make them care, he was a really good worker (I'd say that he and Luger were on about equal footing in this area during these years) and he was a great babyface in peril.

 

I've found recently that drawing power and how well a promotion is doing financially can be a massive distraction when trying to enjoy the product. Reading Observers from early 90s WCW is all doom and gloom, not quite ignoring but certainly overshadowing the great matches going on all the time.

 

Don't know if it's watching wrestling in an inappropriate bubble, but as long as the on screen product is entertaining with crowds hot as hell, why should behind the scenes turmoil detract from that?

 

Perhaps this belongs elsewhere, don't mean to derail.

Well no matter how good your product is, if you are going out of business you're not doing it anymore. The first thing to do is stay in business. We're having a Vader debate in another thread and it's not like every time I see a Vader match I think about how low WCW was drawing in 93.

So, not TOP GUY, but certainly a draw and a "Star."

 

Tom Zenk as part of the Can Am Connection. They were getting super over. There was momentum there. They were going to get pushed to the title if he didn't leave.

don't agree on the can-am connection at all, mostly because the WWF had no goddamn clue how to book pretty-boy wrestlers. i've always suspected they would have ended up in the role strike force got anyway - patsy transitional champs to demolition.

On the Cornette pod, Sullivan claims that Steve Keirn was the other guy they were thinking of putting the belt on besides Backlund.

Somewhat ridiculous but I'm curious what people will say about...

 

Van Hammer

 

Good size. Good look in terms of physique. Terrible gimmick and very green. BUT after wrestling in WCW in 92', he disappeared for several years before coming back to WCW in 97'. My question is - does anyone know where he went? Based on his work when he came back, I'm guessing it wasn't anywhere that taught him anything about working.

 

Also, trained by Boris Malenko supposedly?

 

Had Van Hammer been trained properly or gotten some seasoning, I really think he's the type of guy McMahon would've tried to push to the moon. I mean, if he saw potential in Vinnie Vegas, how did he not see potential in Van Hammer?

Vinnie Vegas exuded personality. As dumb as it was, it was Nash's first chance to have a personality as a character. Van Hammer was a cipher.

Of all the suggestions we got from all the feedback to talk about on the show, Mark Jindrak was the most absurd. Everything you can say for Jindrak you can say for Hammer, apart from the awesome head of hair.