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WCW Nitro; I'm watching old ones, I have thoughts
Topic Started: Oct 26 2015, 11:33 AM (7,591 Views)
The Swigg Lebowski
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I started a thread because I think we can get some decent discussion going. If E wants to switch the comments from the "comments without a thread" into here, that's cool as well.

I can see from watching the old Nitro's that there was not a guiding hand with WCW the way there was with WWF at the time. That doesn't mean that RAW was more entertaining, just that Nitro lacks a certain... continuity/consistency in story. Just watching Nitro makes me feel like I'm missing parts of the story, but I'm pretty sure I'm not. I wish I could watch the old Saturday Night shows to verify that, but they're not on the network.

It's interesting to see that Bischoff does have faith in his cruiserweight division, just not as "stars." They get talked up, but you can tell they aren't considered the "bread and butter" as much as the appetizer.

It's interesting to see Hogan's "going to the dark side" with the Dungeon of Doom feud. Though the Macho Man/Luger/Sting side story is as schizophrenic as anything on TNA. There are elements to each that don't make any sense, or are wasted opportunities to build on the story.

I'm also ready to kill Mongo. I get that he's the "fan perspective" but it's like watching wrestling with your cousin who isn't smart to the business. It wears thin FAST.
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Mad Dog
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I think if you were watching all the TV that you would have a better picture of the storylines. I know Main Event at the time had matches that would lead to Nitro matches. I know you can Torrent Saturday Night and with a program like Plex you can cast the files to your TV from your PC.
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SamoaRowe
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I binge watched all the Nitros from 1995 last year and had an absolute blast. I had the same issues with inconsistency that Swiggy mentioned, but I just chalked it up to not being able to see each and every show (and also, because WCW).

To me, the highlight from that era was a random Eddy Guerrero vs. Ric Flair match. It's not an all-time classic or anything, just two pros having fun working a good TV match and seeing where things go.

Also, all the Hogan craziness is hilarious. The Giant trying to mow him over in a monster truck and laughing maniacally is grade A camp.
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The Swigg Lebowski
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I enjoy seeing Hogan doing his Hulkamania shtick amongst all the "serious wrestlers" of WCW at the time. He's all about the over animated promo and actions, and then you go to Dean Malenko in the ring. It's jarring at times, but it does provide variety in a way that WWF, and now WWE, has always struggled with.

I also enjoy the variety of WWF staples who made their way over to WCW. For trying to differentiate WCW from WWF, Bischoff brought in a ton of WWF guys.
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Erick Von Erich
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A big part of Nitro's appeal was having that mix. You had the old favorites from the WWF (Hogan, Macho Man, Hacksaw, Haku/Meng, etc), the old favorites from WCW (Sting, Flair, Pillman, Arn, Harlem Heat, etc.)... then the up-and-comers like Malenko, Guerrero, Giant, Benoit, etc. Heck, even Alex Wright brought something to the table. Plucking away Luger and pushing right back into the main event scene was a huge boost.

WCW really had a "super league" feel to it. As a casual fan, my thought was that spending an hour on Nitro was a better use of my time. Even looking at the competing RAWs, now... I still feel they absolutely stink. I just watched the October 30th, 1995 RAW and it was like a padded-out episode of "Superstars". Full of hype and shilling, too.
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Scrooge McSuck
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WCW definitely had a more attractive roster. When you have 4 or 5 to everyone 1 on the WWF roster, it's much easier to have that appeal, of course.

In the pre-n.W.o. episodes, I just loved how random and whacky the matches could be. With the 2 hour shows, it became a bit less fun, but still, 2 hours isn't too big of a deal and there was enough undercard stuff to keep the quality a tad higher than Raw offered. When Nitro turned to 3 hours, wow, those shows were awful. Not as bad as 3 hour episodes of Raw, but in the case of Nitro, they were so bad they were sometimes memorable. Bad Raw or Good Raw, it's all the same thing to me.
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Mad Dog
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What I loved about WCW until 1999 was you got a bit of everything on the shows. You got your workrate, you got your lucha, you got hardcore and you got your main event style. I really miss that as everything in the WWE now is just so samey.
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The Swigg Lebowski
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That is absolutely the strength of the show. Even the 1 hour Nitro's had a mix of match pacing. For every match involving the Shark or Zodiac, you had a match with Guerrero or Benoit.
There are touches of the things that will eventually bring WCW down early on, too. Lots of run ins, and lots of focus on the Main Event, even when it's not interesting. I'm already sick of Hogan-Giant, and I've watched about 10 episodes. I remember feeling the same way as a kid. I didn't care about Hogan, I wanted to see Malenko
Scrooge McSuck
 
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Mad Dog
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When you get to December it switches to Flair/Savage. Interesting to note that Flair/Savage had started turning business around leading to the nWo angle.
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Erick Von Erich
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I don't have exact memory of every "early Nitro", but did they ever have a segment where Benoit officially joined the Horsemen? Was it on a weekend show?

I just remember him walking out for a match on Nitro, holding up the four fingers, then the announcers saying he was a Horseman. At the time, it made perfect sense to me, considering I had watched ECW earlier in the year. My follow-up thought was: "well, I guess Malenko will be also be a Horseman, soon".
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The Swigg Lebowski
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Right now, where I'm at, the Horsemen is Flair, Arn, and Pillman.

And man, let me just say how much I loathe Mongo as a commentator. I have so much sympathy for Heenan having to put with this mook.
Scrooge McSuck
 
I'm too hefty for my slacks. The zippers off it's tracks. I've stretched it to the maa-a-a-a-x.
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Erick Von Erich
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I should've Googled "Chris Benoit Joins Horsemen" before asking.

Looks like it was on "WCW Saturday Night" on November 11, 1995.

[doHTML]<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5HiEohMv4Yk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/doHTML]

Hadn't seen this before.
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The Swigg Lebowski
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That's just a week or two away from where I'm at. I'm post Halloween Havoc 95

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Edit: Damn, that was a good promo.
Scrooge McSuck
 
I'm too hefty for my slacks. The zippers off it's tracks. I've stretched it to the maa-a-a-a-x.
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torturedsoulv1
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No love for the Yeti?

or as Dusty Rhodes called him, the Yucca
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The Swigg Lebowski
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torturedsoulv1,Nov 20 2015
02:42 AM
No love for the Yeti?

or as Dusty Rhodes called him, the Yucca

He debuted, then nothing so far. I've been too busy the past two weeks to really watch. I'm waiting to see how the "Yeti" handles
Scrooge McSuck
 
I'm too hefty for my slacks. The zippers off it's tracks. I've stretched it to the maa-a-a-a-x.
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