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Thunder - July 1, 1999

Thunder
Date: July 1, 1999
Location: Cajundome, Lafayette, Louisiana
Commentators: Larry Zbyszko, Mike Tenay

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

We're into the second half of the year now and hopefully things are going to pick up. After Monday, we have Kevin Nash with Torrie and Gorgeous George and having beaten up eight or so men at once to close Nitro. However, Sting was seen behind the wheel of the Hummer to end the show, but Sting is a weird dude so it could mean a lot of things. Let's get to it.


We open with the ending of Nitro.

Megadeath will be performing Crush Em live on Nitro.

Bret Hart will be on Nitro for his first comments in months.

Diamond Dallas Page vs. Perry Saturn

Saturn jumps Kanyon on the floor before the bell as we hear about Savage and Sid leaving with the belt itself to close Nitro. Page tries to jump Saturn but gets caught in an overhead belly to belly. A Kanyon distraction sends everyone out to the floor and Saturn keeps his control. Back in and Saturn dropkicks knocks Kanyon off the apron, only to get knocked off the apron from behind. Kanyon gets in some cheap shots and things slow down again.

We take a break (and see part of the Crush Em video) and come back with absolutely nothing different. A powerslam plants Saturn but Page takes his sweet time following up. It's off to an abdominal stretch with Kanyon helping in an old classic sequence. After a hiptoss breaks the hold, Saturn ducks the discus lariat and superkicks Page down for two.

Back up and a Batista Bomb gets the same on Saturn but he breaks up the Diamond Cutter, only to bump the referee at the same time. Kanyon comes in and wraps a title belt around the turnbuckle. Saturn goes after him but gets dropped onto the title, giving Page a very close two count. Cue Benoit for a Swan Dive on Page but Kanyon pulls the referee out at two for the DQ.

Rating: C+. Gah I was getting into that one before the ending. That's pretty much the only thing they could do though as you want to keep both teams strong going into the title match at the PPV. It's frustrating but I'd rather have them do this than have a challenger lose his momentum or a title made weak.

Benoit takes out Kanyon with a suicide dive but Bigelow comes out to make it 3-2. Benoit and Saturn get destroyed, which doesn't bode well for their title match.

No Limit Solders vs. Disorderly Conduct

That would be B.A. (Brad Armstrong) and Swoll (picture an even bigger Ahmed Johnson with even less talent) vs. Mean Mike and Tough Tom. Swoll shoves Mike down with ease to start and we get some standard “I'm a big guy with huge muscles” offense including move shoves and slams for both Conducts. Off to Armstrong for a dropkick but Mike pokes him in the eye to take over.

That's still not enough though as Armstrong dropkicks Tom and cranks on a headlock, only to be whipped into a knee from Mike to really change control. An ax handle to the back and a jawbreaker have Brad reeling and a neckbreaker is good for two. Disorderly Conduct starts some fast tags before Mike goes up and misses a knee drop. Swoll comes in off the hot tag and cleans more house as everything breaks down. Armstrong is whipped into Tom in the corner, setting up a palm strike to the chest to give Swoll the pin. Yeah the guy is about 6'6 and 340lbs and his finishing move is a palm strike.

Rating: D. Basic tag match here but I'm not sure how to feel for Armstrong. He was a talented guy but the only way he could get out there is to carry this guy due to the powers of nepotism (Swoll was Master P.'s cousin). On the other hand, it's better than sitting at home and never getting on TV.

La Parka vs. Eddie Guerrero

The camera makes sure to get a shot of a guy in an LWO shirt. They're actually trying for some continuity on this story and I'm digging it for a change. La Parka goes after him in the corner to start but Eddie is too quick for him. They send each other into the corner before Eddie tosses Parka out to the floor, following him out with a big dive. The announcers finally stop talking about Megadeath and Bret Hart for a second but the dive only has so much power.

La Parka is sent into various metal objects before going back inside. Eddie misses the slingshot hilo but nails La Parka in the back of the head before slingshotting onto him for two. We take a break and come back with La Parka firing off some hard kicks to Eddie's back. He shouts into the camera that the LWO is dead, which I thought was a foregone conclusion. A chinlock goes nowhere so Eddie nails his tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to send La Parka rolling to the floor, where he picks up the chair.

Eddie follows him out and takes a chair shot to the ribs, which the referee doesn't seem to mind. Back in and we hit a variety of chinlocks and chokes, followed by a belly to belly to put Guerrero down. He's not down enough for La Parka's corkscrew moonsault though and the crash lets Eddie run to the top for the Frog Splash and the pin.

Rating: C+. Eddie has been on a roll since he got back and this was no exception. This is what was always fun about the cruiserweight division: even the second and third string guys were capable of having a good match when they were given the chance. It's a nice little TV match and that's more than you usually get out of this show.

Savage is freaking out when his phone rings. We cut to Kevin Nash on the other end, getting a massage. Savage wants Gorgeous George back so Nash tells him to go to 16th and Norfield in 14 minutes and wait by the pay phones. The look on Savage's face is priceless as he's just stunned that this is happening.

This Week In WCW Motorsports.

I Hate Rap video.

Silver King/Villano V/El Dandy/Damien vs. West Texas Rednecks

Barry quickly sends Silver King into the corner to start but misses a charge and eats a missile dropkick followed by a superkick. The Undoubtable El Dandy and Kendall come in with the less famous Windham hammering away and getting two off a backslide. Villano comes in with a clothesline to Kendall, sending him over to tag in Bobby.

Duncum takes a quick beating but it's off to Damien vs. Hennig as the fast tags continue. Curt chops away in the corner and nails the knee lift. Damien tags Dandy back in for a jam up right hand to Hennig to take over. The luchadors start quadruple teaming Hennig until everything breaks down and Kendall grabs a bulldog on Damien for a pin.

Rating: C-. Not as bad as I was expecting here as they kept this moving. I'm glad they went with this formula too as there was no real need to have the Rednecks beat up a luchador for awhile or waste a lot of time in trouble when the ending is totally obvious. Nothing match but it could have been much worse.

Savage gets to the payphones and tries to figure out which one is ringing until he realizes it's his own cell phone. Nash gives him a bunch of directions to tell Savage where to find him (two blocks down from Quick Pick in whatever city this is taking place in). Savage trying to remember all this is amusing.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Blitzkrieg

It's a rare defense for Mysterio. We get the usual catchphrases from the No Limit Soldiers, including Armstrong in a bizarre moment. Feeling out process to start until Blitzkrieg runs into two boots in the corner and gets backdropped out to the apron. He misses a springboard spinwheel kick but catches Rey in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for a near fall. A headscissors puts Blitzkrieg on the floor for a baseball slide, only to have him catch a diving Mysterio in a powerbomb on the floor.

We head back inside for some moonsaults and chinlocks from the challenger before Rey catches him in another tilt-a-whirl backbreaker (far too popular a move in this company). Blitzkrieg comes back with a clothesline but misses a springboard knee. Rey hits a kind of Stinger Splash in the corner but runs into a second clothesline. A dropkick knocks Blitzkrieg out of the air and the top rope hurricanrana retains the title.

Rating: C. This was back to the old “I do a spot then you do a spot then we both do a spot” formula that dominated the division for so long. It also furthers the idea that Blitzkrieg really wasn't anything special in the ring and was much more flash than substance. Mysterio needs to drop the title already though as he's completely outgrown the thing and it could be used to elevate someone else.

Savage's Hummer pulls up on a street corner and Nash's limo arrives a few seconds later. Nash gets out and talks about how sweet George is. Sid and Savage jump Nash until a clearly fake Sting breaks a ball bat over Nash's back. Sid takes the girl in the back seat (clearly Torrie) and puts her in the Hummer as Nash is left laying.

TV Title: Rick Steiner vs. Buff Bagwell

We get the usual catchphrases from both until Steiner nails him in the back with a dog collar. They head outside with Rick piledriveing on the concrete and hot shotting him onto the barricade. Back in and Buff nails a dropkick and neckbreaker because being dropped head and throat first onto concrete and steel don't have any real effect on him. Buff gets knocked to the floor as we take a break and get to see the rest of the Crush Em video. Yeah remember that from an hour and a half ago?

Back with the champ choking with his chain and then putting on a chinlock. Again, why do we even bother with referees in this company anymore? Rick punches him in the neck a few times and we're right back to the chinlock. After a minute or so of that, we switch to a reverse chinlock to keep things fresh. Buff fights up after two arm drops but Rick stops the comeback after about eight seconds. He puts Bagwell on top but gets kicked away as Buff loads up the Blockbuster. Not that it matters though as David Flair comes out to tase Buff (again, WCW referees are WORTHLESS), giving Rick an easy pin.

Rating: D. Again, why in the world is Rick Steiner getting this kind of a push? He doesn't do anything other than punches and hard rest holds but for some reason he's spent months as the TV Champion. Speaking of Steiners as champions, has Scott been seen since he beat Buff at the PPV a few months back? Also, this drops Buff to 1-3 since he pinned Flair in the eight man tag, with the one win coming via DQ and being followed by a beatdown from Sid and Savage.

Savage opens the car door and finds Torrie because Nash is not only able to beat up eight guys at once and leave with the girls, but he's SMART too!

Overall Rating: C-. The wrestling, save for the main event which was barely wrestling, was tolerable here and it brings the show up a bit. The Nash and Savage stuff is straight out of a low budget movie, which could be a good or bad thing based on your taste. However, at the end of the day we're looking at yet another horrible main event match at Bash at the Beach because no one EVER breaks into the main event around here. The old vs. new story looks to be dead at this point with the new generation shoved back down the card to where they have been forever now. At least Piper and Flair can draw though and that's what matters.


Remember to pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble from Amazon at:


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Comments

  1. Hold that 10 for Johnny B. BadNovember 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM

    I think he's just trolling. It's like the shadow game of the Internet. Nothing wrong with it. Can't stop it, so why even try.

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  2. It was a pretty terrible ppv but I've always enjoyed Big Show destroying Bossman's team.

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  3. Where did you hear that?

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  4. personally I liked the nineties Survivor Series ppvs more - mostly elimination matches, but a few singles or regular tag matches as well. just feel the "flow" of the shows is a lot better that way (even if some of the matches weren't good).

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  5. I guess this might not have be as popular as the other matches that were mentioned but I actually enjoy that Team DX vs. Team RKO match for the fun aspect of it. the whole crowd participation, the wacky small details and the "ultimate babyface win" outcome - it's not a great "match" in the actual sense, but a big fun segment to me.

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  6. If they wanted to drop the teams format, that's fine, then just drop the name Survivor Series name completely.

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  7. I remember when Rock and Cena beat Miz and R-Truth for no real other than ... CENAWINSLOL. I mean seriously they had built Miz and Truth up very well and they were working awesome and her comes Super Cena and Super Rock, who were wrestling each other regardless, and they just beat these guys like jobbers


    It made no sense and killed both guys

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  8. The Luchadores put on an INSANELY awesome Hardcore match not a couple of weeks before this, that blew people's minds and earned a big fan reaction. Tonight... they're all being used as Jobbers. Because WCW.

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  9. I loved that match. I have no idea where it came from and as soon as I saw nothing happen on the next Nitro, I knew it wasn't going anywhere.

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  10. Stop pretending that Hornswoggle is the draw of any of that or that his demographic isn't 8 year old kids.

    Sting is the most iconic WCW wrestler of all time, a 13 time world champion, headlined the most watched WCW PPV ever, and was the top babyface of that company during its zenith. For those reasons, he is and has been the most wanted guy in the WWE for many years.

    Get with reality.

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  11. I don't see Sting being an authority figure....but I could see Vince coming back, doing exactly what you mentioned, but simply taking over himself once again, at least until Vince puts the position on the line at Mania....if Hunter can defeat Vince's chosen representative....Sting.

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  12. Rock's not losing his first match in seven years

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  13. That would be nice, but remember which company this is. They give less than a millimeter

    of a shit whether or not their fans are satisfied.

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  14. Minor edit: Hunter hits a Pedigree on him (instead of Hogan and the legdrop) and then spray paints "HHH is GOD" on Sting's back.

    Now we're more in line with what would actually happen....lol.

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  15. Two of those guys were genuine main event superstars on the way to headlining a WrestleMania, and the other weren't, nor were going to be. Yeah, you could have put two other guys in, but you'd likely have had a weaker match since you likely wouldn't want to sacrifice any bigger stars either. They were a perfectly fine team to beat I thought, and Rock coming back probably gave them a bigger peak than they elsewise would have had.

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  16. I still love this period of WCW for all the potential. So much great stuff could and should have happened. As jabroniville said, the luchas were absolutely killing it around this time in random matches. Before it became a convoluted mess with Rey joining and quitting 5 times each show, the LWO story was pretty good. Even the Master P stuff was entertaining in a complete train wreck way.

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  17. Truth failed the Wellness Policy a day or two before the event.

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  18. I love during at 2006 survivor series, during the DX intro, HHH gets interrupted by a CM Punk chant.

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  19. I think the problem was that Miz and Truth were booked like jobbers leading up to the match, so when Rock and Cena won, it didn't even feel like a big deal. Then Rock and Cena had that weirdly awkward stare down after the match.

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  20. Reading some John Petrie stuff during this time and apparently DDP takes credit for making his WCW career when he finds out he's jumping ship? What the fuck?

    Good thing he rehabilitated his image so well with the Yoga stuff cause man was he deluded back then.

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  21. I'd mark for the 3-d. Greatest tag finisher.

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  22. I'll throw out a few:


    HBK/Orton was an exquisite piece of storytelling, and it's a shame that it has become an unsung forgotten classic. In sum, Regal banned HBK from using Sweet Chin Music. If he did use it, he'd be DQ. Consequently, HBK tried to find different ways to win the match. Orton, meanwhile, received Sweet Chin Music so many times leading up to the match, he was terrified to take another one. Therefore, he became off guard every time HBK looked like he was going for one. Eventually, HBK went for one out of instincts, Orton took advantage, and hit an RKO, playing out-of-the-ring Viper persona. The way they used the stipulation to their advantage and created a lot of suspense and drama out of it was a work-of-art.


    Cena/HBK/HHH. The biggest moment of this match was when HBK superkicked HHH right off the bat. It was an unexpectedly great moment. While this was nothing inventive, it was still three pros putting on a quality main event. All three have good chemistry with each other, and even though it was like their single matches welded into one match, it was still very good and a quality main event.


    Del Rio/Punk. Good match, playing off the new WWE style that we're now accustomed too. There were lots of creative reversals of trademark spots and finishers, along with a really hot crowd.



    That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

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  23. I think he had a real habit of that. I think he, or his character, took credit for Nash, Raven, Kanyon, countless others at this time

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  24. All great matches, especially Orton/Michaels. I'd also throw out HHH/Flair in '05, one of the better LMS and certainly one of Flairs best post-WCW matches.

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  25. I remember this episode and just how totally fake and goofy all the Savage/Nash stuff was.

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  26. WWF & WCW in this era in a nutshell: When Edge & Christian and the Hardy Boyz put on fantastic spotfests on TV, they were given standing ovations in the back, pushed to the top of the Tag Team division, and when all was said and done, three of the four were World Champions on some level. In a business NOTORIOUS for people on top de-pushing guys like this for daring to "get over on their own".

    Silver King, La Parka and the other guys, were all used as TV Jobbers within one week, on the B-shows no less, and never even touched Gold, and the match was basically never referenced again.

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  27. Maxx Payne did the same shit, but with the Attitude Era & Steve Austin, claiming he was putting these ideas in the guys' heads. Some people are just like that.

    DDP is also the most shameless attention whore there ever was (bad even by wrestling standards), and a HUGE self-promoter. Everything he did and does was and is hype for himself and his own stuff. It's a big part of what made him successful, but boy-howdy can it be obnoxious.
    I'm still amazed with his genius in the Benoit/Raven/DDP feud. He attached himself to the hottest midcard act and the best worker in the company, so that his matches were not only hyped, but ALSO ****+ affairs. Then he calmly beats Benoit every time, and eventually takes out Raven as well. Leaving him with an enormous amount of hype.

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  28. Yeah, that's all true, and I definitely resented it at the time as a huge fan of both Benoit and Raven. But I just find it impossible to dislike the guy, even though I know he's full of a fair amount of shit. That's a good salesman.

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  29. Former porn stars find it easy enough.

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  30. Why? Branding is important. Your average 10 year old doesn't really care about survivor series elimination tag style matches anymore than we care about Hogan slamming Andre long before WM3

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  31. I love Everything Wrong With. Such a well done series.

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  32. I don't see Sting as an active wrestler who goes out there every week. I would worry about his body handling the grind, and about his limitations being exposed. The authority figure role allows him to be around, cut promos, occasionally get involved, and make his eventual Mania match (with HHH) a bigger deal.

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  33. Crikey Mate Down Under AussieNovember 23, 2014 at 6:33 AM

    I also LIKE to use capitals

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  34. Oh and I love Megadeth, but Crush 'Em was an utter dud and really didn't work for an entrance theme. WCW really fucked up Goldberg proper this year.

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  35. WCW stupidity hit, I remember hearing they decided 2-3 weeks before the PPV they wanted to do a WarGames, except because that requires more floor space for the two rings they couldn't do it because they had been selling tickets for months before hand in the space they'd need to take away to fit the extra ring.

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  36. La Parka was always over. Watch Souled Out 98 after he clears the ring, crowd was loving it.

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  37. Surely he'd be more likely to due to ring rust and lack of practice?

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  38. He's also a genuinely good person now.

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  39. 03- Team Bischoff vs. Team Austin was fantastic. The SD! brand opener was great. HHH not winning the title back from Goldberg was a huge shocker
    04- pretty bland. main event for raw gm spots was just okay
    05- never seen it.
    06- okay show. dx-rated rko was fun but not great. nothing else jumps out as more than okay
    07- batista-taker was good. hbk-orton was good. don't remember anything else
    08- big edge fan so I liked the WWE title angle. cena-y2j was meh.
    09- never seen it despite getting the dvd. i'll watch it sometime this week
    10- never seen it
    11- Punk's title win with Fink as ring announcer was cool. Tag match was meh. don't remember anything else
    12- Sheamus-Big Show was fantastic. Shield debut was a cool moment
    13- Reigns running through everyone was cool. I don't think I even bothered watcing anything besides that and punk/db-wyatt fam...

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  40. Who HAS done anything for TNA? Jesus could fight the devil on free TV and it would do 1.0 for Impact. It's just the way it is. Sting is an icon and MOST of us get it and greatly anticipate his arrival. Get with the program.

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  41. Ziggler/Orton/Rollins/Bryan/Harper/Wyatt/Cody/Cesaro.. okay, okay. Maybe more than 85%.

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  42. Have you seen him LIVE??? His heads the size of a type writer!!!!

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  43. I wasn't too smart at the time of that feud. Like, I knew it was all a work and stuff, but I wasn't really reading websites to see what was going on. I was really happy at the time DDP put himself in that feud because DDP and Raven were great on the mic. Also, to me it felt like that made the feud a bigger deal.

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  44. People love to joke about La Parka, but he's a great worker and has been a big star in Mecico.

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  45. exactly. they didn't really get the upper hand in the build up.

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  46. Was that the match with the HBK spot with Melina on the outside?

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  47. This would be the greatest thing ever. And WWE could have a montage of Sting's friends turning on him ready to go.

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  48. Mustaine originally said it was a hockey song, and was more meant for a team coming out on the ice and skating around and whatever they do. It was way too mellow with too long of a lead in for a wrestling theme.

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  49. I heard Vince Russo liked the guy too, but it's Russo so he wouldn't know how to get the guy over.

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  50. I always liked the two rings but it was never really necessary, the WCW version of HiaC (ever so cleverly named The Cage With A Top by Mach) would have been fine over one ring. Although the old folks should have been way long gone by this point.

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  51. Russo liked a luchadore? The Hell? Wow....

    I know a lot has been said about Russo in WCW, so I'm not adding anything new here. It was always admirable he tried to give everyone a story, but it just never worked out. He really needs to work with someone who can take his ambition and structure it, but he doesn't seem to play well with others.

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  52. Yeah, I thought it was surprising Russo like Parka too, but he gave him a small push in his 99 run.



    And I know there's generally a lot of Russo hate, but his ideas weren't too bad and had potential to make money, but the problem was he was horrible in executing them and his ADD booking didn't help either.

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  53. Most of those ideas were one note gags though. Like, La Parka had a character, it was Badly Overdubbed La Parka. But what do you do with that character once you've wiped the tears from your eyes, finished clutching your aching sides, and the laughter has subsided to nothing more than a dull throb?

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  54. It's Russo, so if someone laughed at his jokes, he'd milk the joke dry.

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  55. I don't think you're getting my point. If 10 year olds don't care about the elimination tag format, that's fine. Then they also probably don't care about the name Survivor Series, so why keep it? Is the branding of the name Survivor Series really that big of a draw? 10 year olds won't care to watch the November PPV unless its called Survivor Series?

    If they stopped having the Royal Rumble match, should they still call the PPV Royal Rumble?
    If they stopped using the Hell in the Cell cage, should they still call the PPV Hell in the Cell?
    Should they move the Summerslam PPV to February?

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  56. For star power, they could have done Rock/Cena vs HHH/Nash. You were getting HHH vs Nash at TLC whether you wanted it or not, so losing to the face suoerteam could have been the catalyst.

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  57. RVD would suffice. ECW has nothing left to offer and I dont see them getting anyone worthwhile. Raven would be fun, but not likely

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  58. Are we close to the Send for the Man moment?

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  59. The Love-Matic Grampa!November 23, 2014 at 3:18 PM

    Greatest Idea Ever, without question.

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  60. The Love-Matic Grampa!November 23, 2014 at 3:19 PM

    Only 19 upvotes? For shame, BOD.

    For shame.

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