johnnyhanson21
Main Eventer
Joined on: Oct 10, 2019 17:01:41 GMT -5
Posts: 1,004
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Post by johnnyhanson21 on Aug 13, 2022 15:26:56 GMT -5
Watching early 90s WCW and still can't believe just how well it was for in ring quality and a mix of young talents and stars until Hogan and company arrived in late summer of '94.I think the peak year in that era was probably '93 in terms of their best roster which had.
Arn Anderson Barry Windham
Booker T
Brian Pillman
The British Bulldog Cactus Jack
Ric Flair Rick Rude
Ricky Steamboat Ron Simmons
Steve Austin
Stevie Ray
Vader
Sid Viscous
Sting
and others,just stacked with a lot of young hungry talents and a roster that wasn't made up of to many true ex WWF guys besides Rude & Bulldog at that point.Sucks that once Hogan and company came in most of these guys listed where pushed down the card or totally to the side.
It was a damn near perfect blend of guys from the older NWA era,new WCW youngster and a few ex WWF guys.All of which messed so well together and all could go bell to bell.
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Post by The Brain on Aug 13, 2022 17:26:56 GMT -5
Yeah my fav time in company history.The roster plus the great PPVs they were putting on just great stuff all around.
Plus the cherry on top...Jesse being in the booth
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Post by LA Times on Aug 13, 2022 21:35:18 GMT -5
Early 90s WCW gets a bad rap, but I enjoyed it a lot. They were getting almost the same TV ratings as what the WWF was doing at the time but the in-ring wrestling was much better.
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
Posts: 2,351
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Post by nibs92 on Aug 14, 2022 1:17:39 GMT -5
Been getting in to that timeframe recently and have to agree. Loved the use of Japanese workers as well. the NWA tag team tournament in 92 was great, and what a brilliant concept having teams from around the world compete. Of course it had its flaws too, but every wrestling era did.
A veteran from then that really impressed me was Greg Valentine. His match v Marcus Bagwell at Beach Blast 92 has become a personal favourite of mine.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Aug 14, 2022 9:41:22 GMT -5
My favourite time period of WCW was probably from around July 1991 - April 1994
My favourite years were 1992 and 1993 hands down for WCW though.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 14, 2022 13:17:07 GMT -5
Early 90s WCW gets a bad rap. Yes, it was corny as hell at times, but the roster made up for this and there’s a lot of hidden gems from that era.
Rick Rude from 1992-1994 is one of my favorite runs of all time as well. The guy was one of the greatest heels of all time and this run took him to another level.
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Post by MKSavage on Aug 14, 2022 15:03:13 GMT -5
Hard to say which is my favorite time period for WCW, 1992-1994 or 1996-1998, both were great. Early 90s was really good, but wrestling across the board was down, so it gets a bad rap. They had a very good mix of veteran talent (Flair, Anderson, Eaton, Steamboat, Rude, Roberts, Zbyszko, Koloff, Windham, Hayes, Dr. Death, Valentine, Taylor, Davey Boy, Morton, Gibson, Orndorff, etc.) with young talent (Sting, Luger, Steiners, DDP, Cactus Jack, Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Shane Douglas, Rhodes, Vader, Muta, Simmons, Sid, Bagwell, Malenko, Benoit, Hall, Nash, HHH, Nasty Boys, Harlem Heat, etc.) Amazing that a lot of these guys would go on to be the cornerstones of the Monday Night Wars which revitalized wrestling. Also, amazing that many of these guys were the ones that made WWF the top organization by the end of the 90s. Some great feuds during this time: Sting/Rude, Sting/Vader, Sting/Dangerous Alliance, Sting/Flair, Rude/Steamboat, Steamboat/Austin, Austin/Rhodes, Flair/Steamboat, etc.
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Post by The Brain on Aug 14, 2022 15:11:56 GMT -5
SStampede and Slamboree 94 were the grand finales of this great era of WCW
Highly recommended viewing
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2sweeeeet
Main Eventer
Joined on: Jun 7, 2017 22:08:25 GMT -5
Posts: 2,089
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Post by 2sweeeeet on Aug 14, 2022 15:44:14 GMT -5
SStampede and Slamboree 94 were the grand finales of this great era of WCW Highly recommended viewing On this note, any particular matches (not exclusive to just these two PPVs) one should check out if they aren't familiar with this era of WCW? |
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Post by The Brain on Aug 14, 2022 16:00:21 GMT -5
SStampede and Slamboree 94 were the grand finales of this great era of WCW Highly recommended viewing On this note, any particular matches (not exclusive to just these two PPVs) one should check out if they aren't familiar with this era of WCW? Well lets see here.I'll give ya 10 off the top of my head Pillman vs Liger-Superbrawl 92 War Games- WrestleWar 92(The best WG in my book) Sting vs Cactus- Beach Blast 92 Rude vs Steamboat -Beach Blast 92 Steiners vs Gordy/Dr Death- Beach Blast 92 Flair/Arn vs Hollywood Blonds 2/3 -Clash XXIII RNR Express vs Lane/Prichard- Superbrawl 93 Vader vs Sting- Superbrawl 93 Vader vs Cactus- Havoc 93 Vader vs Flair-Starrcade 93 |
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Post by The Brain on Aug 14, 2022 16:02:57 GMT -5
Oh yeah few more TV gems
Flair vs Eaton- Clash XV
Both Steamboat vs Vader matches on WCW SN circa October 93
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Old Zeke
Main Eventer
'Fraid old Zeke, he rides up here with me. Can't trust a pig with watermelons, you know.
Joined on: Jun 24, 2019 13:46:50 GMT -5
Posts: 3,366
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Post by Old Zeke on Aug 14, 2022 17:24:14 GMT -5
1992 is my favourite year for WCW. The Rude/Steamboat feud being the highlight.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Aug 14, 2022 23:11:07 GMT -5
SStampede and Slamboree 94 were the grand finales of this great era of WCW Highly recommended viewing On this note, any particular matches (not exclusive to just these two PPVs) one should check out if they aren't familiar with this era of WCW?
Starrcade 92... Ricky Steamboat & Shane Douglas vs. Barry Windham & Brian Pillman for the Unified NWA/WCW Tag Titles.... You're welcome.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 15, 2022 12:46:46 GMT -5
Rude/Steamboat is great in 1992.
Rude/Rhodes is another underrated gem of a feud from 1993, especially if you want to see a young Dustin before he became Goldust.
And any Rude/Sting encounter was a classic from that period as well.
Big fan of Rude if you can’t tell lol.
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Post by The Brain on Aug 15, 2022 12:56:18 GMT -5
Rude was amazing. A top 5 fav of all time for me
You talk about classic heels he's gotta be at the top of the list
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 15, 2022 13:04:48 GMT -5
Rude was amazing. A top 5 fav of all time for me You talk about classic heels he's gotta be at the top of the list Easily top 5 for me. A lot of people look to Flair as the prototype for the “modern heel,” and then jump right to HHH who evolved the role even further. That’s a disservice to Rude IMO, who to me should be seen as the next guy after Flair to evolve the heel role into what we see today. Rude was cocky, but not as outlandish and over the top as Flair. Rick had a serious demeanor and looked like a million bucks, similar to HHH, but wasn’t quite as dastardly as we’d know HHH to eventually become. To me, you can’t talk about the greatest heels of all time without talking about Rude. |
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Post by The Brain on Aug 15, 2022 13:08:52 GMT -5
Rude was amazing. A top 5 fav of all time for me You talk about classic heels he's gotta be at the top of the list Easily top 5 for me. A lot of people look to Flair as the prototype for the “modern heel,” and then jump right to HHH who evolved the role even further. That’s a disservice to Rude IMO, who to me should be seen as the next guy after Flair to evolve the heel role into what we see today. Rude was cocky, but not as outlandish and over the top as Flair. Rick had a serious demeanor and looked like a million bucks, similar to HHH, but wasn’t quite as dastardly as we’d know HHH to eventually become. To me, you can’t talk about the greatest heels of all time without talking about Rude. Not to mention he looked like a million bucks with big gold  |
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 15, 2022 13:16:09 GMT -5
Easily top 5 for me. A lot of people look to Flair as the prototype for the “modern heel,” and then jump right to HHH who evolved the role even further. That’s a disservice to Rude IMO, who to me should be seen as the next guy after Flair to evolve the heel role into what we see today. Rude was cocky, but not as outlandish and over the top as Flair. Rick had a serious demeanor and looked like a million bucks, similar to HHH, but wasn’t quite as dastardly as we’d know HHH to eventually become. To me, you can’t talk about the greatest heels of all time without talking about Rude. Not to mention he looked like a million bucks with big gold You ain’t kidding, and I’ll debate anyone who try’s to say Rude wasn’t a world champ. Anyone who held the big gold is a former world champ in my book. It’s why I got Rude’s name on my custom big gold below.  |
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mrassbillygunn
Main Eventer
WF 10+ Year Member
Joined on: Jul 23, 2011 19:35:48 GMT -5
Posts: 4,298
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Post by mrassbillygunn on Aug 15, 2022 14:16:10 GMT -5
Yea I made a thread about this ages ago when I first started going back watching WCW from that era and I loved the wrestling. The roster and quality was great. I agree about Rude, he was great during this time, looked the part, a real proper world champion. I was watching One Night Stand from 97 last night and seen him coming ringside as the insurance policy for Shawn and it must have ate him up inside not being able to wrestle because he still looked in good shape and was still only 37 or so.
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Post by cordless2016 on Aug 15, 2022 14:53:26 GMT -5
Yea I made a thread about this ages ago when I first started going back watching WCW from that era and I loved the wrestling. The roster and quality was great. I agree about Rude, he was great during this time, looked the part, a real proper world champion. I was watching One Night Stand from 97 last night and seen him coming ringside as the insurance policy for Shawn and it must have ate him up inside not being able to wrestle because he still looked in good shape and was still only 37 or so. Eric Bischoff goes into detail about Rick’s injury on his podcast. Eric doesn’t doubt the severity of Rick injury at all, but based on Rick basically begging Eric to pay back Loyds of London for him, doesn’t think it was career ending like Rick originally claimed or was told. When the injury first occurred, he aparently took the payout from Loyds of London right away which effectively ended his career unless he paid them back. This was also before the nWo wrestling boom. Fast forward a few years and the wrestling world was as hot as ever. According to Eric, Rick wanted back in the ring bad, but he couldn’t pay back Loyds of London. Eric said Rick asked both himself and Vince to pay it off for him, but both declaimed. In Eric’s case, he couldn’t justify to higher ups paying off this large sum of money for Rick, and then signing him to a large contract as well (seems fishy to me considering the other people WCW were paying at the time but this is Eric’s story). So Rick sadly had to step into a “non-competitor” role to work around this. I have no doubt it killed Rick to not be able to perform during the hottest period in wrestling history. They guy was only 35 when he retired and nobody knew how much the industry would grow in just a few short years. |
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