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Luger or Savage as the third man

Hola Scott,

Just reading the Bischoff shoot piece and he brings up how Sting was going to be the third man if Hogan backed out (nothing new there). But in terms of storyline, wouldn't it have made more sense for either Luger or Savage to be the third man? Both had just jumped ship from the WWF, and thus it kind of made sense that they would align with Hall & Nash. To that point, you can even say they made MORE sense than Hogan (and especially more than Sting).

Why do you think they would have gone with Sting as the second option rather than Luger or Savage? I mean in the end, Hogan was the smart business move, but still. 

Well at least Sting and Hogan both had the advantage of never having been a heel before (in the modern era of both performers, at least) whereas Luger turned all the time and Savage was most famous for being a heel.  I just don't feel like the angle would have worked as well as it did with anyone but Hogan anyway.  

Comments

  1. The whole reason that it really worked was that Hulk Hogan turned heel. You could have had something with Sting, but it wouldn't have had the same impact.


    Anyone else at all and it's just any other wrestling angle ever.

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  2. That would've been huge too, but I don't see nWo being as successful just because I can't see Nash and Hall taking a backseat to Bret as the leader.

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  3. So were there any 6 man matches with the newly formed NWO vs WCW that were actually good? Always seemed it was all about the angle and less about trying any harder in the ring.

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  4. The only other person on the planet that could have matched the Hogan reaction was Vince McMahon.

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  5. Hilarious that Hall was smart enough to stay on the winning side.

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  6. So is the best thing that could have happened to WCW (with in the reality of hogan's creative contract) was for Hogan to beat Sting but Hogan somehow turn face by the end of the match so that Hogan could go on and destroy the nWo so WCW could have done something other than rinse repeat till their dying day?

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  7. Sting wins.
    Hogan gets kicked out for failing.
    "I Want the Hulkamaniacs Back!"
    Hogan vs Nash

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  8. Normally, I'd agree that Hogan joining the group was the best thing for business, but I actually thought the nWo breakup would have worked better because by that time Nash had a lot of clout with the company and he seemed like a good choice to be the one to outpolitic Hogan.

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  9. Yea I had always thought something like that was the obvious angle but.....WCW

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  10. Because Sony is a company and not the United States...? Just sayin'...

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  11. No way.


    I'm a Bret mark from way back, but Bret was never Hogan.

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  12. WWF had one of their best creative periods in 97 when Bret turned heel. Bret is just as smart to the business as Hogan is, something I think Sting lacks.

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  13. I don't think his body would allow him to no sell those moves at that point.

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  14. No, Jonah too. Bunch of hacks that aren't nearly as funny or talented as they think they are.

    Not sure what happened after "Freaks & Geeks" and "Undeclared", but Apatow lost it.

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  15. One thing that WCW actually (IMHO) did better than WWE was
    having the ‘mystery’ partner actually be a gratifying reveal. Not only Hogan, but also the ‘Phantom’ – Rick Rude and Rick Steamboat coming out under a mask to be Dustin Rhodes’ partner
    against the Enforcers.

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  16. If it meant Hogan could no sell it, I'm pretty sure Hogan would have personally built an esculator inside the ring so he could take those moves.

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  17. Two shows into his run, and Corey Graves is already better than the entire Raw announce team.

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  18. I sent the email, and my question was more as to why Sting would be the third over the other two. I definitely think Hogan was the right choice, but interesting they went with Sting as the backup.

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  19. "Yep Mode" Abeyance Brown ©December 18, 2014 at 6:07 PM

    He was willing to do anything to keep the title, but his method didn't work. He then says that Sami was the better man. Yeah, it was very good booking.

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  20. I'm new to Steen. I've only seen his two NXT matches. Wow, I'm sold.

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  21. Agreed. Corey Graves has stepped up his game in his new commentary role. I got the vibe from the comments made about him from the 1PW All or Nothing book that he possibly had some potential charisma to make a bigger name for himself in wrestling and it looks like this new gig might be his calling card. Although it will probably all go to shit the minute Vince McMahon is in his ear.

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  22. Shockmaster.

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  23. Twice in the main event Kevin Owens had Adrian Neville in the firemans carry and each time I marked out thinking he would hit the F-Cinq. I'd think I might have a mini-breakdown in markdom if he ever hit anyone with the Package Piledriver!

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  24. CruelConnectionNumber2December 18, 2014 at 6:21 PM

    The spike DDT that Owens hit was amazing, great sell by Neville.

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  25. You hit a lot of points I don't understand about the narrative here. The US didn't "pussy" out or anything; a company in America decided not to release a movie after a bunch of theaters decided they didn't want to show it. It's not even a particularly relevant or meaningful movie. Some comedians tried making a funny movie about a situation in the world and it touched a lot of nerves. That happens sometimes. Sometimes the comedic risk doesn't pay off. Maybe this is a movie that will find a large audience through On Demand or something.

    I guess I don't really understand why people are so upset. Seth Rogan makes movies all time time. He'll go on to make more and be just fine after this.

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  26. CruelConnectionNumber2December 18, 2014 at 6:23 PM

    Becky's finish is called the Four Leg Clover. She botched applying it a bit and had to reapply it when Bayley rolled over, hence why it looked kinda weird.

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  27. They did NOT make more sense than Hogan in any way shape or form and that is an amazingly silly thing to say. Turn in your email and never visit the blog again.

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  28. CruelConnectionNumber2December 18, 2014 at 6:25 PM

    He gave off a (obviously not the same) Vader vibe in how he dominates and kept hammering and taunted Neville. They built a nice match with some hot moves at the end. Good stuff and they got 12 minutes to tell the story.

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  29. CruelConnectionNumber2December 18, 2014 at 6:27 PM

    DeLeon looked like the jobbiest job guy from Jobtown USA... total 1995 WCW Saturday Night geek. I think everything Dempsey does looks GREAT except he looks like a job guy, too. Then again, Rhino once looked like a complete nerd and turned into a killer.

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  30. I wholeheartedly agree. I thought people got butthurt over WWE programming. I thought wrong.

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  31. I had that originally and changed it. Thanks.

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  32. "Yep Mode" Abeyance Brown ©December 18, 2014 at 6:40 PM

    Then we wait till next year to see them handle this then.

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  33. I really do understand why people look at him and aren't impressed. But then you watch him work and see what the fuss is. The dude just radiates charisma. Some people just have that intangible "it". Motherfucker is magnetic.

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  34. This was one of the best overall sets of tapings I've been to.

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  35. When do they have the next tapings? I live in South Florida, it's only a 3 hour drive.

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  36. Hogan as a heel is the only thing that made the nWo work. Hall, Nash and anybody else wouldn't have drawn those ratings and buyrates in 97.

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  37. Dennis Stamp could have, if he was booked.

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  38. The United States is governed by the corporations for the corporations.

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  39. Just bought my first NXT ticket for the tapings on Jan. 15th. Super excited.

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  40. Found it before I could respond heh.

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  41. Only good thing about hogan not being the third man is that nwo wouldnt have won as much

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  42. Sting was the WCW lifer and had been a face for nearly his entire run.

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  43. It had to be Hogan, if only because babyface Hogan would have beaten them before the nWo ever established dominance

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  44. No, the best thing would be Sting beating Hogan and it being no-sold the next night with the rest of the NWO turning on Hogan, triggering a face turn for Hulk and him destroying the NWO while Sting deals with Brett Hart.


    There was HUGE money to have been made had the NWO turned on Hogan for losing the belt and setting up Nash as the new head of the NWO. It would have given a reason for Hogan going good (as opposed to just turning good just because like he did in 99) and they could get six-eight months out of Nash ducking Hogan and Hogan having to run the gauntlet and beat each NWO member to get to Nash and the added tension of Hogan having to win WCW's trust again and building up Sting eventually agreeing to help Hogan against the NWO after Hogan eventually comes to Sting's aid when Brett goes NWO and helps the group try and lynch Sting,,,,,

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  45. It COULD have worked had they gone the route of Sting turning on WCW because WCW cast him aside when Hogan came along, being betrayed by Flair like he was in 1995, and dealing with Lugar's two-faced bullshit. Plus they could pull out the whole "I got buried" line with how he spent two years in the dog house and having to carry Flair's bag as his sidekick before anyone would give him a title shot after he showed up Flair on the first Clash.

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  46. Sometimes it's fun to imagine Bret Hart or HBK in the role, and that could have worked just fine. But the angle never would have taken off the way it did without Hogan.

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  47. Well that's about as stupid as removing the "Super Best Friends" episode from the South Park website. Does Paramount not realize that the DVD is easily available thanks to Amazon? Why do they think that removing the movie from a couple of theaters (or in South Park's case, an episode from TV and its own website) will prevent anyone from seeing it and being morally offended? To quote the great Joe Bob Briggs, "There's a solution to avoiding a movie if it offends you and it's called don't watch the galldarn thing".

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  48. Jonah Hill is hilarious

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  49. Yeah, I was trying to say that Sting would have worked as well, at least to a point, although I think that the novelty would have worn off with him earlier.


    Savage and Luger would have been nothing to the angle.

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  50. "Ha ha ha! Kevin Owens is just having fun out there!"

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  51. If anyone other than Hogan would have been the 3rd man


    The NWO would have been dead by Starrcade 96


    Creative control.

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  52. And DeLeon still lasted longer than Enzo.


    How you doin'.

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  53. I never did understand why the NWO allowed Hogan to stay in the group after the loss, storyline wise. It didn't seem to fit their image at all. I could see them keeping guys who lost lower level titles, but this was their most important piece and he absolutely blew it.

    I think it's important to make a note here of how Vince responded to this in the aftermath of WM 14. DX outright booted HBK from the group for his failure and ultimately poor leadership. Sure, he wasn't going to be there anyway, but it was an important moment in the groups story.

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  54. Oh yeah, you're right. I forgot Sony ordered that last drone strike and sent a carrier to patrol the Persian Gulf...

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  55. Kevin Sullivan had mentioned this is kinda how he wanted to book Hogan and the nWo after Hogan lost the title to Goldberg.

    Said Hogan would lose to Goldberg (at a PPV though, not free TV) and the nWo begin to question Hogan, which would send him over the edge and he'd turn into a crazy guy who'd just tear guys apart in the ring (He likened him to that gollum monster thing from LOTR, talking about getting his "precious" back) and how he'd abandon the leg drop as his finisher and go back to using the Ax Bomb as his finisher. So it'd then be Hogan VS Goldberg again at Starrcade, which Hogan would win, but it'd be because Goldberg went to spear him, missed and KO'd himself on the ring post. So everyone would play it off as Hogan didn't beat Goldberg, but Goldberg beat himself. This causes the nWo and Hogan to give Goldberg a rematch (Hogan is an egomaniac and can't handle people saying he didn't beat Goldberg) Hogan would end up losing the title back to Goldberg again, which would cause the nWo to boot Hogan out because he's not good enough to dethrone Goldberg and then Hogan would turn face and team up with Goldberg to destroy the nWo.

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  56. I have a feeling that nobody got Paramount's permission to show the film -- which a licensed theater would have to do before exhibiting somebody's movie.

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  57. "I just don't feel like the angle would have worked as well as it did with anyone but Hogan anyway."
    Understatement of the century.

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  58. Rhino is a midget with huge thighs.

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  59. Mike Graham was supposed to be the third man, according to.Mike Graham

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  60. Leg Drops all around brother...


    Honestly, Hogan would have just turned them into the newest version of the Dungeon of Doom...

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  61. I think he missed their call.. He was on his trampoline.

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  62. I remember being on early Wrestling Net Boards back in 96 and on the hotlines and I called it when I said Hogan was going to be the 3rd man. Because by that point Hogan was getting booed in the WCW arenas and the yellow and red was stale. Something had to change.

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  63. There's so much to love about NXT and so little that isn't working. Aside from the obvious excellent workers, Corbin's push is being handled perfectly and Enzo/Big Cass are great in their roles.

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