codystarbuck ... I was thinking about that and 1997 is correct and that's was one of few bright spots for WCW that came to fruition and I truly enjoyed watching him on cable television back then. A cameraman's delight.

In addition to the action in that match, I appreciated the emotion. I cared. I was rooting for Barry Windham. I was angry towards Steve Austin.

When a wrestling match elicits emotion, that's good. I didn't care about so many matches towards the end of WCW's tenure. There have been psychology-less matches in promotions that left me disappointed. 99%, if not 100%, of the stuff Vince Russo booked in WCW elicited no emotion. I did not care. I did not care about Russo winning the WCW World Championship. It was incongruous crap.

But I certainly cared about that Windham/Austin match.

Superbrawl 2





The event took place on February 29, 1992 from the Milwaukee Theatre at the MECCA in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was one of 5,000 attended this event. I'm in this video clip at the 2:14 mark look for a guy wearing a checkered black and white shirt. In the middle of the screen.

I was in Milwaukee from the 27th to 2nd of March vacation from Boeing seeing my College Buddies and the 4 of us attended this event.

What Russo didn't understand was that wrestling was about attracting viewers, PPV buys, making money, etc.

In one interview, he talked about how USA Today did a feature - was it front page? - on Arquette winning the title.

Great! Okay, fine. But did that lead to increased ratings, PPV buys, more money, etc?

He seemed to shock for the sake of shocking people. I like logic. Paul Bearer turning on the Undertaker was presented logically; the Rockers splitting up was presented logically; the split of the Mega Powers was presented logically. And those angles led somewhere.

But it felt like Russo thought, 'Who can I shock today? Who can I put the belt on?'

If Russo himself holding the WCW Championship would have led to increased interest, increased ratings, increased PPV buys and profits for WCW, it might have been justifiable. But it led nowhere. Wasn't he champion for two days? What did that achieve other than devaluing a title?

I know this is a random question, but what was with Papa Shango interfering at the end of the Hulk Hogan/Sid Justice WM VIII match? I know it led to the returning Ultimate Warrior/Papa Shango feud, but it was random and bizarre.

Run-ins usually seemed logical. Naturally, if one of Jimmy Hart's wrestlers was battling, say, Davey Boy Smith, it made sense for one of Hart's other wrestlers to enter. Or Shawn Michaels coming to ringside during Marty Jannetty's match with Papa Shango (Jannetty and Michaels were bitter enemies). Or Andre the Giant, who had history with Earthquake, coming to ringside as the Natural Disasters beat up Davey Boy Smith.

It could also be random and logical. Tatanka interfered in a match between Bob Backlund and Razor Ramon (I think it was Ramon). Tatanka had battled with Ramon - and he was being, well, heelish to everyone in 1994/95.

But there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to Shango interfering in the Hogan/Justice match. Had Shango had an alliance with Justice? Had Shango had history with Hogan? I don't think so. It might have made sense for someone like the Warlord, who had been managed by Harvey Wippleman (who was managing Justice), to come out. But even as a kid, Papa Shango inserting himself randomly into a Hogan/Justice match - when he had no history of a beef with Hogan or an alliance with Justice - felt odd. If we're gonna use a comic analogy, it'd have been like Green Goblin arriving randomly to help the Frightful Four plague the Fantastic Four.

For me, he worked in the "Cartoon Era". I didn't mind seeing him battling fan favourites. I remember Bret Hart talking about "honour" prior to a showdown with Shango. And something like Undertaker/Shango was comic-booky!