Scott,
Reading your GAB 90 review last week got me to wonder what was the original plan for WrestleWar 90 and the rest of the summer had Sting not injured his knee at the clash. The original lineup for WW 90 had Flair vs Sting, and Luger vs Dr. Death. Would Sting have gone over here or would they have done a screw job finish and saved the title change for the Bash? Was Dr. Death going to receive a singles push or was he just next in line for Luger? Would Luger still have turned face or remained heel?
Thanks,
Jay
I'm sure we all would have just let it play out and see where it went.
Anyway, the only way that Sting was not going to walk out of that show with the belt was if he suffered a crippling knee injury the week before, and that's exactly what happened. Otherwise they wanted that belt off Flair ASAP and Sting was getting it no matter what. Luger was definitely going to remain a heel, probably in a program with Sting. I mean clearly there's no way to know for sure given the volatile nature of everything going on, but Luger v. Sting at the Bash seems like a fair bet. Doc was just a cheap talent brought in by Ole to do a job and go back to Japan and there was no plan for him to do anything past that that I'm aware of. To this day I'm shocked they convinced Stan Hansen to come in and do a job for Luger as it is.
As a ten year old I remember Luger just being a BADASS heel in 89/ early 90. Like you didn't want to mess with him or you would get FUCKED up. Shame Sting's injury forced his face turn really.
ReplyDeletejust like scott said in a rant. he was more over as a face during his heel run than he was as a face.
ReplyDeleteWell I was 10 so I still cheered against him, but point taken. BTW Fuj congrats on your 1000th post. Did you celebrate by partying for 3 hours and bringing back old posts?
ReplyDeleteWhich kind of reminds me of Randy Orton playing a heel today but somehow getting cheers from the under 13 contingent.
ReplyDeletePlease do not forget the awesome rap commercials hyping the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiMb3Q9-GiE ... I still remember watching that as a 10 year old and going OMG. WWF PPV commercials were nothing like that at the time lol.
ReplyDeleteSorry--here's the rap video for the PPV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcpUFvQOsyg
ReplyDeleteI personally think it would've been Luger v Sting after Sting won the belt, and that feud would have made Sting's first title reign work out much better. As a result, I doubt we would have the Black Scorpion angle.
ReplyDeleteBoy, turning Luger face at that point sure was a major fuckup in hindsight...
Man that would have been epic at the time.
ReplyDeleteBut I don't think they had much choice unless they were willing to go back to Steamboat as Flair's chief opponent until Sting healed. Luger was about the only logical choice for someone that could sell out shows against Flair, and I don't know if a heel vs. heel dynamic would have worked so well back then. If nothing else, the fans would have turned Luger face by default.
ReplyDeleteThey could've used fill in opponents for Flair,like Steve Williams, with Sting in their corner. As it is, Luger losing those two matches made him look even worse in kayfabe, as he could *never * beat Flair.
ReplyDeleteThat's why Bash '91 was such a dick move from Flair. Luger took umpteen losses against Flair, and all Flair had to do was ONE job to Lex. I don't care about the politics or Jim Herd. Just lay down once for the man.
ReplyDelete^ 100% THIS.
ReplyDeleteLuger was such a badass because he had great, smaller guys willing to bounce all over the ring for him. Steamboat and Pillman did a tremendous job selling for him, and in return, Lex really stepped up his ring work. He was crisp, had good psychology, and really came into his own when it came to antagonizing the crowd.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Luger was ready in '88 or '90 or '91. He proved to be a lackluster champion, just like Flair thought. Luger was perfect as the U.S. Champ and a guy you'd throw in the main event a couple times a year. Flair went with Sting and he was right to do so.
ReplyDeleteWho cares at the end of the day. We got the best Flair-Luger match, which ended up being better than all the Sting-Flair matches later that year put together.
ReplyDeleteWhat? Sting-Flair > Luger-Flair any day of the week. And no way was that match better than the '88 series.
ReplyDeleteFlair waiting until 1990 to drop the strap helped kill JCP.
ReplyDeleteFlair waiting until 1990 to drop the strap helped kill JCP. And then he did it again in 91. Dick move.
ReplyDeleteOf course Luger proved to be a lackluster champion. He beat Barry Windham for the title years after he was absolutely on fire and the world was ready for him to beat THE MAN for the World title. You have Luger beat Flair in 1988 and have Flair chase him unsuccessfully for the belt and you've made Luger. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy on Flair's part - dick Luger over time and time again until people view him as a choker, refuse to drop it to him yet again in '91, and then pat yourself on the back when Luger flops after beating a guy nobody thought was world champ material by Bash '91. No wonder they call him Slick Ric.
ReplyDeleteAnd then years later, the whole thing would come full circle, as Flair getting pulled from the show at the last minute caused Windham to turn face to face Luger...who ended up turning heel.
ReplyDelete