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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 19, 2019 22:52:27 GMT -5
Promos are completed scripted in the WWE and most matches are laid out in advance and rehearsed. It takes all spontaneity out of things.. In the Monday Night Wars era, WCW was unscripted (mostly) and WWE was only partly scripted. Guys like Rock, Foley and Austin were given talking points and ran with it, because they had been trained that way (and were better at it than the so-called writers (Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara). That chnaged, when they started bringing in writers from tv to concoct storylines and with the preponderance of stupid backstage skits.
In the territory days, everything was improvised. The booker decided who wrestled whom, gave them things he wanted in promos (town, date, stipulations, etc) and told them to do 30 seconds ot 2 minutes or whatever. Then, he gave them the finish to the match and the time frame they had and they went out and called their spots in the ring, based on how the crowd was reacting to the story. For instance, Dusty Rhodes would tell the Midnight Express and Rock N Roll Express that they had 30 minutes, with Cornette interfering in the finish, with the tennis racket, and Midnights going over for the titles. Morton was to get color and the Midnights would flee, with the belts, when the babyfaces hit the ring. They'd go to the ring, have the intros and start the match, usually with the RnR Express getting in some fast action, looking strong. Then the Midnights would start cheating and turn the tide. They might go back and forth. Ricky Morton would get trapped in the ring and double-teamed and beat like a dog, always trying for the tag; but, never quite get it. He might tag in Robert, who starts hitting the Midnights, then Cornette trips him and he sells for a bit. Then another switch and Morton would get over on the Midnights. More sneaky stuff and Morton is selling like he is dying. teanage girls are shrieking in terror (legitimately would happen as the RnR Express draw lots of young women) Morton would be close but dragged back. Fans are screaming at the ref, he misses a tag and stops Robert Gibson from coming in. Midnights switch in and out behind the refs back. Cornette goes for a cheap shot and gets hit by Morton who dives for the tag and Robert comes in and cleans house. the hit the double drop-kick on Bobby Eaton. Ricky goes for the pin and Cornette whacks him with the tennis racket, while the ref is pushing out Stan Lane (or Dennis Condrey, depending on time frame) Morton is out, Bobby covers him...1...2...3...Fans erupt in boos, Midnights have their hands raised and are given the belts. Fans pelt the ring with cups. Robert blasts Cornette and gets double teamed by Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane (or Dennis Condrey). He gets thrown from the ring. morton gets triple teamed and takes a shot to the gut. Police watch for fans about to hit the ring as the babyface locker room comes out and chases off the Midnights. Ricky Morton is bleeding from the forehead (from a blade job) and they vow revenge on the next tv show.
All of that would have been improvised and would be 1000 times more exciting than the scripted and rehearsed stuff now. It would also draw bigger crowds around the circuit and set up the return program.
Here's the Rock n Roll Express vs the Midnight Express, May 11, 1984, from the Houston Colosseum, for promoter Paul Boesch. Boesch booked a lot of talent from the Mid-South promotion, then would bring in others. RnR Express are the Mid-South Tag-Team Champions, defending the titles. This version of the Midnight Express is Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Loverboy dennis Condrey, managed by Jim Cornette. Eaton had been wrestling since he was 15 and was a natural. Condrey had 11 years experience, at that point, and had been part of a noted tag team with Phil Hickerson, in Tennessee. Condrey was part of the original Midnight Express. The team started in Alabama, with Norvell Austin (a black wrestler) and Randy Rose. They came to memphis and Condrey was put with them, as a take off of the Fabulous Freebirds, where any two-man combination of the three would wrestle. Robert Gibson had been wrestling for 7 years, trained by his older brother Ricky Gibson, who was a singles star. the Gibson Brothers had feuded with the original Midnights in Memphis. Ricky Morton had been wrestling 6 years and was a second generation wrestler. His father, Paul, was a wrestler and referee. Rocky started out refereeing, then in a tag-team with Ken Lucas, who helped train him. Jerry Lawler wanted to recreate the success they were having with the Fabulous Ones tag-team (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane), for their secondary circuit. he put Ricky and Robert together as the Rock N Roll Express. However, they weren't given much exposure. Memphis cut a deal with Mid-South wrestling (Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi) to exchange talent and sent Bill Dundee to be the booker, with the Rock n Roll Express as a babyface tag-team and Condrey and Bobby Eaton as a new version of the Midnight Express, paired with B-circuit manager Jim Cornette (Jimmy Hart was the A-show manager, in memphis). Dundee knew all 4 guys could work and Cornette could talk people into paying to see him get his mouth shut. He pitted the two teams against each other and they revolutionized tag-team wrestling in the mid-80s, with smaller guys and faster paced action. The feud carried over into Crockett promotions and Superstation WTBS, selling out arenas across the country for about the next 5 years, or so.
(Condrey is in the blue trunks, Eaton in the long red tights; Ricky Morton is the blond, Robert Gibson the dark haired. Jim Cornette is the manager, with the tennis racket. The guy in the gold suit is announcer Boyd Pierce).
Everything was done on the fly.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 19, 2019 23:28:49 GMT -5
ps. Food near ringside will never be eaten.
Angles like this kept the rivalry going. At one point, the Midnight Express tarred and feathered Ricky Morton (poured syrup on him, then dowsed him with pillow feathers).
After the slapping incident, Cornette and the Midnights layed out promoter Bill Watts, so hejoined the RnR Express in 6-man tag=teams, against the Midnights and Cornette, with Cornette taking the beating. They did things like have Cornette banned from ringside, only to sneak in, disguised (badly) in drag and attack Ricky Morton, had Cornette in a straitjacket during a match, so he can't interfere, and locked in a cage, suspended above the ring, during the match.
When the renewed the feud in the Carolinas, they did a scaffold match, where they fought up on a scaffolding, above the ring (about 15-20 feat up) and it ended when one team was knocked off. The climax of the match had Cornette trapped in the middle of the scaffold, between Ricky & Robert. He climbs to the underside (which had rungs, for handholds) and was supposed to drop into the arms of Big Bubba (his bodyguard, played by Ray "Big Bossman" Traylor). Bubba lost Cornette in the lights and missed catching him and Cornette legit blew out his knee, requiring surgery and which causes him problems, to this day.
This was why I could never really get into the WWF style, apart from the Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs, Savage vs Steamboat, and Bret and Shawn.
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Post by berkley on Jul 20, 2019 1:59:56 GMT -5
As a casual fan, the wrestlers who made the biggest impression on me were probably those I saw as a young kid in the early 70s - Carpentier, the Vachons, André, Killer Kowalski, the Great Mulumba (sp?), guys like that. I don't think they had any women wrestlers on the Grand Prix Wrestling show, that I remember. I never got to see Bruno Sammartino or Billy Graham or Mil Mascaras, etc, on tv, though I knew who they were from leafing through wrestling magazines when I was out looking for comics. I remember liking Mil Mascaras, with the mask and cape and everything, probably because it was reminiscent of the superhero comics I read so avidly.
Of the "new" guys - basically anyone from the 80s onwards - I must say, I never understood the popularity of Stone Cold, he seemed a very one-note character to me, and not all that great at the comedy. Hulk Hogan's popularity I could see, though he wasn't a great favourite. I liked the colourful characters like the Road Warriors, and - probably because I'm not a big or athletic guy myself - anyone who was physically impressive like Sid Vicious or Rick Martel or whoever.
I think that apart from the Rock, Scott Hall was the pro-wrestler who always struck me as being the most charismatic and entertaining that I've seen, whether as Razor Ramon or one of his other characters. It's too bad he had all those terrible personal problems, because I could see him having a similar career to the Dwayne Johnson, branching out into action movies, etc - he seemed to me to have the same kind of ability as an all-round entertainer, in addition to the tv-wrestler's size and physique, which most of them had to one degree or another. He was great "on the mike", as they say.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2019 5:07:27 GMT -5
A few years ago, Jake Roberts did an interview with a UK company (now defunct) about ring psychology. It might have been called "Behind The Turnbuckles" or something. He talked about memorised, scripted bullshit. He talked about how no-one would have delivered Gettysburg quite like Abraham Lincoln. He talked about how there's a lack of spontaneity in a match when guys are following scripted moves. He mentioned how he called the match in the ring, knowing only the ending.
I did read years ago that Macho Man and Diamond Dallas Page liked to go over their matches. But that appeared to be a minority.
As Jim Cornette said, wrestling is neither fish nor fowl. And he's right. It isn't Blue Bloods (or a show of your choice) where there can be months of preparation, filming, edits, etc. It's a spontaneous form of entertainment. It can have an element of planning (I did read that Hogan and Warrior went over their WM VI match, no idea if that's true). But it has to be spontaneous.
And less is more. Jake Roberts' brief promo towards the Million Dollar Man (WM VI) is great:
Well, well, the Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase. Here we are at WrestleMania, and it's the biggest match of your career. Why? Because everything you stand for is on the line, namely the Million Dollar Belt. Oh yeah, it can be yours once again. All you have to do to get it back is go through Damian and me. But you see, Damian and I don't forget. We remember all the times you made people grovel for your money. These were people far less fortunate than you, people who could use your money for essentials, and what did you do? You made fun of them. You humbled them and you humiliated them. Well, now it’s my turn. I’m going to make you beg, DiBiase. You are going to get down on your hands and knees. This time, you’ll be the one that’s humbled. This time, you’ll be the one that’s humiliated, and this time, you will be the one that grovels for the money. And how appropriate, that the money you grovel for is your very own—a victim of your own greed, wallowing in the muck of avarice.
What's that, 60-90 seconds of airtime? And yet it made an impact!
But it seems modern WWF/WWE had to have these long, rambling promos.
Sometimes, longer is better, e.g. Hogan's heel turn speech, Bret's heel turn speech, etc. But Jake Roberts' WM VI promo, which I am sure he came up with himself, is far better and more to-the-point than the scripted bull on some modern WWE shows.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2019 10:35:42 GMT -5
Here is the art of the promo, Dusty Rhodes legendary "Hard Times" speech, in the buildup for Starcade 1985, against Ric Flair........
Dusty was the master of the promo and one of the most unique and defining performers, ever. No one connected to fans like Dusty; all over. He toured as a special attraction and people came out to see him, after hearing him deliver a 2 minute promo. As he said in one promo, he had "....Dined with Kings and Queens and he had slept in alleys and ate pork and beans!" People believed in him. Not that the matches were real, though he made them forget, even with that silly "bionic elbow". No they knew he was really the son of a plumber, from a little Texas town, who became a star and who represented the American Dream.
He was the booker for Jim Crockett, when they held their own against the WWF onslaught. Vince McMahon took shots at Dusty, through characters like kemm, the African Dream (the former One Man Gang) and Virgil, Ted Dibiase's stooge (Dusty's real name is Virgil Riley Runnels); and, when Dusty came to the WWF (he had worked Madison Square Garden, for Vince Sr, against Superstar Billy Graham), he was make to look like a buffoon. They dressed him up in pola dots, had these stupid vignettes of him unclogging toilets and doing manual labor. But, the joke backfired on them. Dusty was real and people knew it and his legend was something Vince couldn't create and couldn't hide. He connected with the WWF. He just went with the insanity and brought sincerity and the people cheered and he was put in the top spot despite their attempts to humiliate him. Dusty was a pro; he had worked his way up, with his legendary team, the Texas Outlaws, with "Captain Redneck" Dick Murdoch, who were the AWA World Tag-Team Champions. He turned babyface in Florida and started the legend of the American Dream. He was a hit everywhere. And Vince finally gave in.
No one else was "Funky like a monkey!"
If you weeelllll...........
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2019 11:04:52 GMT -5
There was something so credible about the Dusty Rhodes feuds I watched. I can only view his NWA stuff with hindsight/archive footage, but when he feuded against Macho King and Ted DiBiase, there was something very real about the feuds. You felt them.
I think the business has lost its magic. A part of that is the whole "behind the curtains" thing. Yes, deep down, we always knew wrestling was predetermined/scripted. But just like you enjoy CGI dinosaurs for two hours in a cinema, you could enjoy wrestling. You could suspend disbelief as Jake fought Ted DiBiase or the Undertaker put Warrior in a casket.
But now, with wrestlers having social media accounts, and speaking openly about the business, the credibility has gone.
Imagine if, back in the day, Jake Roberts, while feuding with Ted DiBiase, had tweeted this: "Pleasure to have worked with the Million Dollar Man." Or, "Earthquake was a true professional in the ring, and we put together some solid matches." You're stripping the mystique away. We knew wrestling was predetermined/scripted, but they asked you to believe.
It's a bit like the magician analogy. You know he's not creating a bird out of thin air, but nor does he actually come out and say, "For my next trick, I am going to pretend to create a bird out of thin air." And then later tweet the secrets of his trick.
Occupying a strange quasi-reality, wrestling could involve suspension of disbelief. The magic was long gone, though. When did that happen? Montreal Screwjob maybe? I don't know.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2019 15:34:53 GMT -5
Jim Cornette has summed it up best; once you know how the magic trick is done, you stop believing in the magic.
Fans used to get involved in the storylines and care more about it, when it had the facade of being real. It was just like becoming immersed in a film or soap opera. You didn't see the taping or the stuntmen rehearsing a movie fight. You believed in those fights, despite knowing it was fake. You bought into the characters, even though you knew they were actors.
Pro wrestling was the same way, when done well. You could connect with the characters and get immersed in the angles and feuds.
Vince broke kayfabe (the carnival-derived tradition of protecting the facade, including the carny lingo, "kayfabe", a kind of modified pig latin) to get out from under athletic commissions. The commissions taxed wrestling heavily, to support regulating boxing. Quite often, taxes were higher than other types of performances, like ice shows and circuses. So, Vince went to court, admitted it was a show, not a sporting competition, got wrestling deregulated (especially in New Jersey, so they could run the Meadowlands) and used that precedent to get out of commission control in other states. Problem was, he threw out the facade completely. Personnas weren't protected, title belts and the titles themselves just became props. Storylines had no logic. It's all fake, why should it have to make sense?
Good storytelling has a definable logic to it. pro wrestling is about morality tales: good guy vs bad guy. The best angles have personal issues at the center; something relatable to the average fan. Bruno Sammartino brings Larry Zbysko into pro wrestling as his protege. Zbysko gains success; but it is always because of Bruno's training. Any praise heaped on Zbysko is always in terms of Bruno. Zbysko gets annoyed with not being recognized for his own talents and feels like he needs to step out of bruno's shadow. The resentment comes to a head and he attacks his mentor, in frustration. He will prove that the student is now the master and everyone will see his ability. Bruno sees Zbysko as a disloyal student, a cocky arrogant punk who needs to learn a lesson about experience and loyalty. They come to a head, after inconclusive matches, in a cage match, at Shea Stadium, in front of a massive crowd. That is how storylines used to work. They used to simmer for a while, before boiling over. Some ran for years, like the Funks vs the Briscos, Tommy Rich & Buzz Sawyer, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee, or the Rock n Roll Express and the Midnight Express. You might leave a territory and then the other guy(s) arrive and the feud starts all over, for a new audience. In the case of Lawler and dundee, you'd go back and forth of them as friends and enemies. Feuds always built to a big blowoff, in a major show, with special stipulations.
Other feuds might be the young talent chasing the older champion, hoping to become the new champion, or the virtuous babyface hero looking to unseat the cowardly villain champion. There, the money was in the title chase. Once the babyface wins, the chase is over, which is why abyfaces usually spent more time chasing the title than holding it (under the NWA and teritorial model). Some territories always had the babyface on top, like Memphis, where Jerry Lawler always regained the Southern Hwt title.
You always had certain performers that fans weren't quite sure about. They knew wrestling was fake; but, they weren't so sure when certain people were involved. The Sheik, Ed Farhat, was one, Abdullah the Butcher another. They seemed like real maniacs, as they carved up their opponents (and in the case of Abdullah, transmit hepatitis C to an opponent, after blading them). Ronnie Garvin, Wahoo McDaniel and Ric Flai chopped the crap out of opponents and it sounded like a cannon going off, in arenas. Garvin never looked less than real; same with Wahoo. You didn't start bar fights with them. As Cornette would relate, some veterans' attitude was, "They may think it's fake; but, by God, they won't think I am." and they made the fans believe that they were the real deal.
These days, fans don't believe, wrestlers aren't legit, yet they are more often getting legitimately hurt, to get the crowd to believe. As Cornette says, the "marks" are all in the ring, now. It used to be, you faked a fight and the crowd believed, and the boys rarely got hurt. now, they get hurt constantly and the crowd knows it is all fake.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2019 16:07:02 GMT -5
Fans used to get involved in the storylines and care more about it, when it had the facade of being real. It was just like becoming immersed in a film or soap opera. You didn't see the taping or the stuntmen rehearsing a movie fight. You believed in those fights, despite knowing it was fake. You bought into the characters, even though you knew they were actors. Perfect comparison, my friend! And it's true. You believe in those things. I believed in Lou Ferrigno's Hulk throwing all sorts of things in the air. Deep down, I knew it was a guy in green paint and wearing a wig/contact lenses. But I suspended disbelief during the show. And that's how wrestling was. Deep down, I knew the Hogan/Earthquake feud was entertainment, but there was that 10-year-old Hulkamaniac who was horrified by Quake's attack (on "The Brother Love Show") - and who wondered if Hogan really would come back after a devastating attack. And then he did. And I was emotionally invested at SummerSlam '90. And afterwards. Earthquake had hurt my hero. I wanted my hero to take down the big guy. If wrestling as it is now had been like that, it would not have been the same. Seeing Hogan and 'Quake on a late-night talk show, or exchanging pleasantries via Twitter, would have ruined the illusion. Going further, I hated the "peek behind the curtain" moments on Vince Russo's WCW watch. Didn't Buff Bagwell and someone else, in full view of the camera, go over a script for a match once? Jeez. Shatter the illusions, why don't you? Imagine WWF Superstars, circa late 80s/90s, and Rugged Ronnie Garvin going over a script with the Barbarian as the cameras zoomed in on them? And as for Bash at the Beach 2000, who thought that quasi-realistic bull was ever going to draw a dime? I could be wrong, but didn't Bill Watts, during an interview, say something like, "You knew John Wayne was acting, but at the same time, you never saw his movie character 'break character' and ride off into the sunset with the Indians?" Or words to that effect. Or was it even Bill Watts? Whoever said it was right. Regarding slow-burning feuds, I agree. I spent the summer of 1991 anticipating the Legion of Doom/Nasty Boys match. I'm sure they had house show matches, but after the Nasty Boys took the WWF Tag Team Titles from the Hart Foundation, I had an entire summer to anticipate them, with the blow-off match being the LOD challenging the Nasty Boys at SummerSlam. Or Hogan/Quake. Wasn't it around April-June of 1990 that 'Quake injured Hogan? We had a summer to wait for the payback. And even after that, the feud continued. Of course, there were longer feuds than that. Having fewer PPVs helped. Nowadays, the pace is so fast - and a slow-burning feud isn't necessarily a thing. It's sad. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 20, 2019 17:44:47 GMT -5
Don't get me started on Russo; the man was a jackass who couldn't tell a bedtime story properly if he had the book in front of him. This is the idiot who, in TNA, created a team called the Johnsons, put them in flesh colored tights and gave them names that were penis jokes. This is the idiot that put the title on David Arquette, when even he thought it was a dumb idea. When he turned up in WCW, it became clear how few of his ideas were actually part of the WWE's resurgence, during the Monday Night Wars. He's the one who came up with crap like Val Venis about to get his "Pee-pee choppied" and Mae Young give birth to a rubber hand (why she didn't lap him around the backstage area for suggesting it shows she just cared about the payoff).
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2019 18:21:51 GMT -5
Gosh, where do we begin?
He didn't know how to end a story or build it. He didn't understand how to generate money. He really didn't.
He once boasted in an interview about how David Arquette's WCW Title win made the front page of USA Today. Good. But did that front page article attract PPV buys? Did it increase ratings? Did it attract lapsed or new fans? Did it have any long-term benefits?
He seemed to want to shock for the sake of it. If he'd been writing Star Trek, he'd have had Spock turn heel one day - and then be a good guy again the next week. He'd have a Borg Cube blow up a starship - but fail to explain it next week.
He could write a good first chapter, but had an inability to follow up logically.
I mean, he was WCW Champion for two days. How did it benefit WCW? Did it attract PPV buys or ratings? He just didn't get it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2019 7:20:11 GMT -5
Vince Russo is most insane man in Professional Wrestling History ... a total farce.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2019 7:48:23 GMT -5
Vince Russo is most insane man in Professional Wrestling History ... a total farce. I like what he did as an editor. He did bring WWF Magazine into the modern era and didn't talk down to readers. He acknowledged the competition in Raw Magazine. But for what he did in WCW, I am angry. WCW was always one step away from death, pre-Russo and post-Russo. So I'm not going to say he's the one who killed WCW, but he was one of many who didn't help. In 1999, we didn't want WWF-lite. I don't want Jushin Liger to wrestle in a "whatever the hell the item was" on a pole match. I want Jushin Liger to wrestle. There was a shoot interview where he complained about Standards & Practices not allowing things on WCW programming. I bet Standards & Practices might not have had an issue with some actual wrestling; I'd wager anything they had an issue with probably pertained to sleaze. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2019 9:21:11 GMT -5
Vince Russo is most insane man in Professional Wrestling History ... a total farce. I like what he did as an editor. He did bring WWF Magazine into the modern era and didn't talk down to readers. He acknowledged the competition in Raw Magazine. But for what he did in WCW, I am angry. WCW was always one step away from death, pre-Russo and post-Russo. So I'm not going to say he's the one who killed WCW, but he was one of many who didn't help. In 1999, we didn't want WWF-lite. I don't want Jushin Liger to wrestle in a "whatever the hell the item was" on a pole match. I want Jushin Liger to wrestle. There was a shoot interview where he complained about Standards & Practices not allowing things on WCW programming. I bet Standards & Practices might not have had an issue with some actual wrestling; I'd wager anything they had an issue with probably pertained to sleaze. I only knew him in WCW, and only WCW and I have no connections to him in WWF/WWE of which I did not read WWF Magazine at all. He is the blame for Jushin Liger for not having a solid ground in WCW and that's bothers me a lot. I just feel that Vince Russo has no place in WCW and I still think that he is a significant contributor to WCW death. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2019 9:36:05 GMT -5
Having read some 1991-1993 issues of the Wrestling Observer recently, and having become interested in the behind-the-scenes info in the mid-90s, it did feel like WCW was always one step away from disaster. I believe it'd have died a death eventually, anyway.
But that doesn't take away from the fact that Russo, along with many others, loaded the bullets that allowed Jamie Kellner to pull the plug on WCW programming.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 21, 2019 12:33:32 GMT -5
Having read some 1991-1993 issues of the Wrestling Observer recently, and having become interested in the behind-the-scenes info in the mid-90s, it did feel like WCW was always one step away from disaster. I believe it'd have died a death eventually, anyway. But that doesn't take away from the fact that Russo, along with many others, loaded the bullets that allowed Jamie Kellner to pull the plug on WCW programming. WCW was a problem from the onset, because of why it existed. Backtrack a bit. In the 1970s, the Georgia territory was promoted by wrestler Ray Gunkel. Gunkel died, in the ring, of a heart attack. His wife, Ann, inherited his shares in the company. He had other partners and they tried to take over. An fought them and found herself outvoted. She left the company and took almost the entire roster with her and started All-South Wrestling, with prime tv. That tv was on a station owned by Ted Turner, an old friend of Ann's. The war got nasty, as the NWA, as it usually did when there was a threat, flooded the local NWA promotion with talent, to drive out the rival. Ann had the tv; but found her promotion shut out of buildings. She filed lawsuits. Jim Barnett, who promoted wrestling successfully in the Midwest (he originated studio wrestling,for tv) and Australia. He ran the Georgia promotion, with Bill Watts as his booker, and top talent from all over the NWA. Ann finally gave up; but, by the end, both promotions had shows on Turner's station. The surviving promotion continued to run as Georgia Championship Wrestling, on Turner's station. Turner then decided to get into the cable business and his station became Superstation WTBS, with Georgia Championship Wrestling on Saturday evenings, at 6:05. the :05 part was to catch people who might be channel surfing. The show ran for two hours, for many years, with repeats of matches and angles on Sunday. Gordon Solie, who was the Championship Wrestling from Florida announcer, also became the georgia announcer (Alabama, too, at one point). The show was a huge ratings draw for Turner, his top show. Meanwhile, the exposure of georgia Championship Wrestling nationally, on cable, made it a prime showcase for the NWA. Stars would do short tours through Georgia for tv exposure and guys like Dusty Rhodes and Jack brisco would come in for a few weeks, before heading back home. brisco even bought into the territory. It was the premiere nationally broadcast wrestling show. By contrast, the WWF didn't get a regular show on the USA network until 1983, with All-American Wrestling. prior to that, they just broadcast the previous Madison Square Garden card on the USA Network, once a month, on Monday night (which is where I first saw Jimmy Snuka, Bob Backlund, Don Muraco and Tiger Mask). Im 1982, the tv show was renamed World Championship Wrestling, the name Barnett had used in Australia. Jump ahead a year. Vince McMahon Jr has bought out his father and is now running the WWF, with eyes towards expanding outside their home base of the New York area. Vince's first move was to poach talent from Verne Gagne's AWA, acquiring Hulk Hogan David Schultz, Gene Okerlund and Bobby Heenan. Hogan is crowned champion, in 1984, after ebating the Iron Sheik. Vince then starts selling his show directly to tv stations. Actually, he offered it for free, in exchange for the lion's share of the advertising revenue. Stations were happy to take it for free, rather than paying for the local promotion. His show came from arenas, rather than a small tv studio. many shaky promotions started to go under immediately and others had to spend money they couldn't afford. At that point, the strongest syndicated wrestling companies were World Class (from Texas), Mid-Atlantic Wrestling (from Charlotte, NC) Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South (from Oklahoma and Louisiana), the AWA, and Memphis. detroit and Los Angeles were early victims. Indianapolis was pretty much only promoting in the immediate area and hung on for a few more years, mostly because they didn't pay much. The Georgia promotion also started to lose talent to Vince. Prior to Hogan returning to the WWF, Roddy Piper was a color commentator and wrestler for GCW and Paul Orndorff and the Iron Sheik wrestled there. Piper was fired in a dispute and wrestled for Mid-Atlantic (he had been splitting his time between the two) and then went to the WWF. Sheik and Orndorff left Georgia for NY. Box office was down and Ole Anderson forced Jim Barnett out of the company. Business stayed down. Barnett got revenge by brokering a deal for Vince McMahon to buy up controlling shares of the Georgia promotion, which gave him the tv. On Saturday, July 14, 1984, at 6:05 pm EST, fans who tuned into World Championship Wrestling, expecting to see Gordon Solie, were treated to Vince McMahon, at the WTBS studios, announcing the new WCW, now presenting taped matches from the WWF. Most of these matches were the same ones seen on All-American Wrestling and the WWF syndicated shows. Phone lines erupted. People wanted their studio wrestling and they wanted Gordon Solie. Eventually, Ted Turner demanded that Vince put on matches in the studio, specifically for the show. he did it for a point; but, ratings were way down, even before that. Turner had even bought the Mid-South show to broadcast on Sundays and was contemplating giving them the Saturday slot. He had even given a Saturday morning timeslot to Ole Anderson, who had cobbled together wrestlers to do Championship Wrestling from Georgia. Vince finally gave in, as he couldn't understand the fans of Southern-style (read NWA) wrestling and wasn't drawing when he tried cards in that region. He sold his interests to Jim Crockett, the Mid-Atlantic promoter. Crockett brought back studio wrestling, with his crew from the Mid-Atlantic, plus some of the CWG crew. Dusty Rhodes was his booker and he controlled the NWA World title, which was held by his wrestler, Ric Flair. He proceeded to rebuild the rating of WCW until it was back at its glory day heights and beyond. He became the de facto head of the NWA, as he controlled the national tv and the champion. Soon, he bought out other NWA promoters. Eddie Graham, in Florida, had committed suicide and his son was failing try to run it. He was one of the first to sell. Ole Anderson sold off his CWG promotion and joined as a wrestler. St Louis had ended with the retirement of Sam Muchnik. Kansas City sold out to Crockett, though all they had were some syndicated tv slots, as their cards had been losing money for a few years (and it was never a strong territory, beyond matches with the St Louis promotion). the WCW tv show was again Turner's top ratings winner and a big revenue draw. Flash forward a few years and business is down for the Crocketts. Dusty's booking had gotten stale and his constant use of false finishes (new champion seems victorious at the arena, then the decision is overturned) led to big drop offs in major towns (especially Chicago). Meanwhile, Dusty had been spending lavish amounts on big cards, like a summer Great American bash tour, with wrestling matches and country music concerts. The shows didn't draw and the concerts were expensive. Crockett had also bought and moved into a Dallas skyscraper headquarters and the company was headed towards bankruptcy. In 988, Ted Turner bought the company and the rights tot he name World Championship Wrestling, to protect his ratings on his top show. That's where trouble began. Turner cared about his tv and put tv people in charge, not sports people or wrestling people. He put Jim Herd in charge of running the promotion. Herd's closest involvement to wrestling had been as a station manager, for KPLR tv, in St Louis, which broadcast Wrestling From The Chase, the St Louis promotion's long running tv show (from the Chase Hotel). Herd had no involvement with the tv show; he just ran the tv station. Prior to working for Turner, he worked for the Pizza Hut Corporation. Herd proceeded to alienate the wrestlers and create chaos in the booking of the shows. A committee was putting together angles and feuds and Herd would ignore advice from seasoned people, like Jim Cornette, Kevin Sullivan and Flair, who was head booker. he would come up with ideas like the Hunchbacks, a tag team with hunchbacks, with the idea that the couldn't be pinned. Ole Anderson sarcastically commented, "I put a submission hold on them and they give up. Bang, their done. Now what?" He wanted to use the fact that Turner now owned the MGM Library to create wrestlers, based on the Wizard of Oz, resulting in Kevin Nash as Oz, wearing a stupid wizard's robe. he also wanted to de-emphasize Flair and wanted him to cut his hair and use the name Spartacus. Flair had enough and jumped ship to the WWF. Problem was, he was the current NWA World Champion and technically owned the belt, as he put a $25,000 bond on it, when he became champion (to keep such things from happening) and was owed that money, plus interest, to surrender it. herd let him go with the belt. Flair appeared on WWF tv with it, though they had to obscure the NWA logo, to prevent a lawsuit from the NWA board. WCW crowned a new WCW World Champion. Herd's management and chaotic booking, plus the losses of major talent, led to Herd being fired. He was replaced by Kip Frey, who tried to work with the wrestlers; but was out of his depth. Bill Watts was brought in, but he had sold off his Mid-South/UWF promotion to Crockett and had been retired and hadn't kept up with the product. He started instituting rules that alienated fans and was an HR nightmare at the corporate offices. he was fired after making a racist comment in an interview. Eventually, Eric Bischoff wheedled his way into running things, with the result of two good, profitable years (the only ones for the company), thanks to the NWO angle. That quickly crashed and burned and the promotion was back to a $60 million losing year. So, the problem with WCW, from the moment Turner bought it, through his merger with AOL-Time Warner, until they sold it for a few million, to Vince, was that Turner only cared about its ratings on his network. It was an anchor for his Saturday line-ups. He put tv people in charge because he only saw it as a tv show. No one had experience in running a touring show, which is what wrestling is. Tv was just a way to sell tickets for live shows (and PPV performances, by this stage). The tv show, alone, could never raise enough revenue to support the live shows and the bad tv and chaotic leadership led to poor box office. It was a losing formula from the beginning. The company only had two profitable years and that was despite the people running it. Those same people had been losing money before and did so after, until they were replaced with Russo, who just slammed his foot down on the gas as the WCW bus was going over the cliff. |
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