Ratings show that the most popular non-wrestling segment in WWE history was Rock: This Is Your Life, but my personal favorite was The Alliance singing Wind Beneath My Ring to Stone Cold and Kurt Angle spoiling their fun with the old time-y Milk Truck. What do you consider the greatest non-wrestling segment in WWE to be?
You know that angle was just a ripoff of the beer truck angle from three years earlier, right? To each their own.
My personal favorite is the reunion of Bret with Owen and Bulldog from 1997, where they took the standard heel team breaking up angle and completely turned it on its ear by having the heels pull together in a heartfelt moment that actually turned them into even BIGGER heels. I loved the nuance of Bret’s disgust at the fans booing him while he was trying to have a real moment with his brothers, which was made all the better because that was exactly the reaction Bret was looking for. People wanted to the Owen-Bulldog team implode for the Bulldog face turn, and instead the Hart Foundation screwed them out of it. It was just awesome.
As as I read the title, I thought about the Austin-Tyson confrontation in 98. I've always had that segment high on my list, with Austin being Austin (cursing, confronting Tyson, flipping fingers) and on top of everything Vince freaking out at the end (You ruined it, you ruined it damn it!!!). Love it!
ReplyDeleteGotta go with the original CM Punk Pipe Bomb. Made me a fan again.
ReplyDeleteMy pick is Kevin Nash's first appearance on Nitro. I still watch it on Youtube all the time.
ReplyDeleteI'll go really old school and since Scott and I are about the same age, I'm sure he enjoyed these as well. They're classics really.
ReplyDelete1. Roddy, Snuka and the coconut. As a kid, this was the most violent segment I had seen in wrestling. Sure, the matches were technically fights and violent in their own right, but this seemed more real than anything else on the show until I got heavily in the NWA and saw (I think) Kabuke dismantle some old man in a suit and blood went everywhere. Until then, Piper reigned supreme.
2. Orndorff firing Bobby Heenan, the 2nd time. I think it was on Superstars. Man, did I love seeing The Brain get his in that segment.
When Jake had the cobra bite Savage.
ReplyDeleteLots of good stuff to choose, but I will go with Jake Roberts terrorizing Savage and Elizabeth, slapping her and the subsequent interviews. I had never had such a visceral reaction to wrestling and I havent since.
ReplyDeleteThe milk truck wasn't a rip-off, it was, you know, continuity. Angle's clean-cut version of the beer truck. Great segment, though best ever is a stretch.
ReplyDeleteI would go with when Vince first showed up on the final episode of Nitro. I don't think I have ever marked out more than during that segment.
ReplyDeleteAny of DDP's Positively Page promos. We liked him, he liked us, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that he definitely all of you...
ReplyDeletelike you. =D
Savage attacking Lust Hogan after he carried Elizabeth to the back for medical help stands out. Randy Savage doesnt have to a backseat to anyone.
ReplyDeleteOf course the Milk Truck was a ripoff of the beer truck. And that's part of why it was so damned hilarious. It fit the Kurt Angle character so well because he was a goofy goody goody character. So instead of a beer truck, it's a milk truck, instead of celebrating with two beer cans, he has two milk cartons. It's so great, and I enjoyed it more than the beet truck. It was so ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteBeet truck? Was that the time Dwight Schrute and his cousin Mose hosed down the McMahons with fresh-squeezed beet juice?
ReplyDeleteDon't be a jackass. He obviously made a typo for beef truck, that famous show ender where Meat and PMS hosed down the McMahons with fresh-ground hamburger.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker locking Ultimate Warrior in the casket on The Funeral Parlor. I was 11...and I was TERRIFIED!!!
ReplyDeleteI know the poster asked about the WWE but there's a ton of NWO goodness and I'd have to go with Rey being thrown into the side of production van by Nash.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtc7QzFzjPY&feature=related
If you want WWE angles then Shawn collapsing the ring after the kick from Owen and being taken to hospital does it for me. I just totally suspended disbelief for that and if you check it out on YouTube there are still people who think it was real.
That's wrong. He was talking about the bees truck. You know, the truck that honks its horn and shoots bees at you.
ReplyDeleteI marked out big time when the Undertaker and Kane "broke" Vince's leg with the ring steps. It was pretty damn great when Taker caught VKM flipping the double bird and listening to JR go "Aww, he got caught..."
ReplyDeleteMaybe not the best ever, per se, but it's still a pretty damn memorable moment.
How about the formation of the Mega-Powers on SNME? Even if you hated Hogan you instantly became a little bit of a fan of his...
ReplyDeleteTbf, that was a wrestling segment.
ReplyDeleteThat is fucking terrifying.
ReplyDeleteI can't endorse that one in good conscience due to the whole adjective problem.
ReplyDeleteThat was nothing compared to the truck that Val Venis drove out to the ring and hosed the McMahons with.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLCZjw2FXPE
ReplyDeleteMy favourite was SUPPOSED to be a match: Austin/McMahon on RAW, I believe the night they finally beat out Nitro in the ratings for the first time (I could be wrong).
ReplyDeleteThroughout the whole show, all they kept hyping was the match. It was just hype after hype after hype. "The main event is Austin/McMahon! Austin/McMahon! Finally!"
They get to the match and just staaaaaaall. Brilliantly, I might add. That segment was all Vince. Asking Austin to have one hand tied behind his back, etc.
...and then suddenly, Dude Love comes out and kicks off that feud.
I love it just because of all the hype they gave it, only to give us a total swerve. One of the few that actually worked really well, anyway.
Sean Mooney & Lord Alfred Hayes on the WWF Enterprise.
ReplyDeleteI JUST BROUGHT A HOUSE! I'VE GOT A MORTGAGE TO PAY OFF!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymotion.com/video/xegr9_hart-foundation-reunion_news
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Scott, that was totally awesome to watch again. Kinda sad in retrospect with all of the deaths but man, Brett was SUCH a great heel. Too bad his heart wasn't really into it.
As far as a personal favorite, gotta go with Prime Time Wrestling and Mr. Perfect accepting Randy Savage's offer to be his tag partner against Flair and Razor Ramon. Almost the entire show was dedicated to it and everyone was great in their role, especially Heenan and Henning. The only thing that keeps it from being more memorable to more people is that it was a taped show and thus missing a crowd reaction to the turn.
ReplyDeleteI still love Shawn putting Marty through the glass during the Barber Shop segment
ReplyDeleteMy favorite segment(s) have and will always be Vince in the hospital - I must have watched Austin hitting Vince with the bedpan about a thousand times, and the sound it makes cracks me up every single time.
ReplyDeleteThe stuff with Foley/Socko/Yurple was great, too, and I always loved the somewhat subtle joke of Vince being on life-support for a broken ankle; it's not often that they do a visual joke like that without the announcers beating you over the head with it.
Gotta go with the Hart family reunion as well. It felt like the entire family had been feuding for so long and to have it end like that was amazing.
ReplyDeleteMilk-o-mania was one of the most fun segments of all time IMO, I think the fact that it mirrored the beer-o-mania segment with Austin was what made it so funny. It's probably my favourite non serious segment of all time. I'd put the Austin/Angle/Vince backstage vying for affection segments up there too.. those were just pure gold.
ReplyDeleteI think they could have made something like this again: Imagine Laurinaitis feuding with CM Punk and JL and his lackies standing in the ring, while CM Punk comes out with a Pepsi Truck...
ReplyDeletedoes the Savage/Liz reunion count as a "non-wrestling segment"? if so, that's my favorite.
ReplyDeletethe first awesome non-WWE segment that comes to my mind is the Horsemen assaulting Dusty Rhodes in the parking lot, shattering his hand with a baseball bat in the process. Eddie Gilbert running over Jerry Lawler with a car was also pretty wild.
btw: what I always hated about the "milk truck" segment is Stone Cold absolutely no-selling it. when Austin sprayed McMahon, the latter was falling on his ass and acted like he was trying to "swim" away. when Angle sprayed the Alliance everyone but Austin went down while the latter just kept standing.
I must also admit, I am huge fan of the Roberts/Warrior training segments.
ReplyDeleteHow could I have possibly forgotten this? I remember being in total shock when it happened, despite WWF Magazine running artciles in the months previous about them possibly breaking up.
ReplyDeleteUndertaker locking Warrior in the coffin still ranks, and actually more of a 'Taker fan than a Warrior fan.
ReplyDeleteHonorable mention of moments: Goldust and Booker T's antics from 2002. Crocodile Hunter, the 7-11 sketch, Movie Reviews... all great.
Booker T and Steve Austin's brawl in a supermarket. Correction: Austin whooping the hell out of Booker T in a supermarket.
Wow, a bunch of great selections, since I don't want to duplicate any, just wanted to throw a few more out that haven't been mentioned:
ReplyDelete1)Edge and Lita's Live Sex Celebration (it was just funny to see how far they were actually going to take that
2)Austin attacking Bret in the ambulance at the end of Raw
3)Stone Cold/Brian Pilllman Gun Incident
4)Any John Cena/Maria interaction
5)Earthquake squashing Hulk Hogan on the Brother Love show
OH man, I loved Booker T/Goldust's review of the Scorpion King, complete with green screen.
ReplyDeleteThe Hart reunion also led to another good segment, when Brian Pillman returned to attack Austin after the Harts had laid him out.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you Savage/Liz as a non-wrestling segment. It fits the mold that Scott created in that Bret/Owen/Bulldog were in the ring after a match when the Hart Foundation was formed.
ReplyDeleteTo piggyback on the Savage/Liz reunion, Savage proposing to Liz after all those years was pretty great.
The Rockers were my favorite team as a kid and I was heartbroken after watching this. I remember there was tension leading up to this moment, but they made it seem like things were patched up. When Shawn hit the superkick, 6 year old me was so angry. Then when he threw Marty through the window, I was completely shocked.
ReplyDelete"And I got a sword, too!"
ReplyDeleteGood call. I was too young to have seen this live, but I've watched the tape at least a dozen times. When they finally shake hands and the crowds goes bananas, it's a fantastic moment.
ReplyDeleteYes. And as an unabashed fan of Bret, Owen and everything Hart Foundation-related, I think it was not only the best non-wrestling segment ever, but the greatest segment in the history of television.
ReplyDeleteTake that, moon landing!
"Look at the adjective, play." I still laugh thinking about that one.
ReplyDeleteEasily one of the best and most important moments in WWF history.
ReplyDeleteActually, his heart wasn't in it at the beginning because he had been a strong babyface for so long but once the angle got rolling, he always mentions the Hart Foundation '97 angle as his favourite time in his wrestling career.
ReplyDeleteAustin in the ambulance is one of my picks. It's been said millions of times, but how good was the Hart Foundation/Austin feud? So many legendary moments.
ReplyDeleteThe infamous Nation parody by DX has to be mentioned. It's been overplayed ever since it happened, but there's something about X-Pac in black face saying what the Rock is cooking, "Smells like $#%!" that makes me crack up every time.
ReplyDeleteBret hiding the metal plate under his jersey and getting the best of Goldberg had me marking out.
Jericho's entire WCW run is filled with plenty of great non-wrestling moments. His conspiracy victim vignettes, the 1,004 holds, ripping up David Penzer's coat twice, his promo while wearing the Juvi mask, anything with Ralphus.
I also loved the Los Guerreros short videos they did when they first started teaming.
It's funny enough that Botchamania puts it in their opening video.
ReplyDeleteBesides the original Pipe Bomb, and for that matter the New York Yankees promo, my favorite non-wrestling segment is the Austin/Pillman gun incident. For some reason people consider this Wrestlecrap, but I effing loved it. Two guys, one of whom is an angry badass and one of whom is an unhinged wildman, who used to be partners & friends but have since become hated enemies, take things to such an extreme that Austin is going to break into Pillman's house and attack him at home, so Pillman is ready for him with a loaded 9mm. To me, it's more realistic that when hatred boils over to that big of an extreme, there's always a chance guns will get involved. Apart from the pussy ass announce team calling them "explosions" instead of gunshots, the whole segment was awesome, especially cutting to black so there was a question as to whether someone actually got shot. I guess some people thought this was too over the top for a wrestling show but as a kid, watching a wrestling show turn into some kind of action movie? My mind was blown.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this because of him getting to work with friends and family whilst being on top though? I think I remember reading in his book that he still hated the idea of being a villain. I could be completely wrong on my memory of this though.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to go with parodies, we should go with the original one, the nWo parody of the Horsemen. I'm an unabashed Horsemen mark, but even I laughed at the time. Sorry Arn.
ReplyDeleteMy best friend and I watched Superstars/Challenge/All-American every Sat/Sunday and we were so stoked because the Rockers had wrestled LOD for the tag titles like a week or two before and now they were going to have an interview, something they never got to do. (not that I thought smarkishly at that age, but I still realized that they rarely did interviews) When he kicked him, I'm pretty sure we both screamed. I do clearly remember taking my Shawn Michaels action figure and throwing it in the garbage (only to be recovered later in the day so Marty could beat his ass)
ReplyDeleteHulk Hogan. Andre the Giant. Piper's Pit. WrestleMania III.
ReplyDelete"Don't do it Andre!"
"Hulk, you're bleeding..."
"Will you accept the challenge?"
"YEEEESSSS!!!"
I was like 5 at the time and those segments made me the wrestling nerd Ive become more than any match.
I was always partial to Jericho's Goldberg parodies, where he would get lost backstage.
ReplyDeleteI just read Jericho's bio a couple months ago and remember him writing about how he was prepared to do the most glorious squash job for Goldberg on PPV. Im sad we never saw that.
Owen's facial expressions during the Hart family reunion were great. When Bret was going on about his conspiracy theory about the fans and people screwing him, Owen was like "oh yeah, your right!"
ReplyDeleteThe return of Cactus Jack (both times). The first one (in MSG) was fun--the goofy three-way interview between Mankind, Dude Love, and Cactus--but the second one (in Chicago)--with Mick stripping off the bloody Mankind match and changing character mid-interview--gave me goosebumps.
ReplyDeleteThe Austin/Pillman gun angle was pretty good because as a mark I thought Austin was there to really mess Pillman up. Plus, it happened in KY, which was cool.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Kevin Kelly's screaming like a little school girl really hurt the segment.
Hogan/Heennan/Andre on Piper's Pit...
ReplyDeleteSorry BigNasty, didn't see you'd already posted that one...
ReplyDeleteThe Jake- Cheryl- Rude segment was another non wrestling segment that stood out from back in the day. I thought it was really well done and the feud was pretty hot.
ReplyDeleteGood point! In which case I'll go for the two skits with Vince in the hospital bed, especially the one with Austin as the doctor.
ReplyDeleteConsidering the effectiveness of that superkick out of nowhere on Jannetty, it's hard to imagine it took them a whole 3 years to actually make that his finisher. Though I suppose the out-of-nowhere factor makes it much better as a face move than a heel one. If he had started winning matches with the superkick way back in 1992, I wonder if the fans might have turned him face way before 1995?
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting seeing a lot of people bringing up the Milk Truck segment mirroring the Beer Truck segment, but forgetting the reverse ambulance situation with Austin after Taker threw him through the glass.
ReplyDelete"HELLO BOYS!"
"My God, I almost forgot the 4th Horseman! RIC FLAIR, GET ON DOWN HERE!"
ReplyDeleteWe really should have a rule that when this type of threads pop up, they require a youtube link to every segment being talked about. Someone do the work for me of hunting them down!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Invasion sucked, but man did the Angle/Vince McMahon/Austin relationship made it a bit bearable. I still laugh at the "he's our dork" line.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fuUIr2S_Po
I had just started wrestling, so I didn't know who Cactus Jack was(or even what was the big deal of Hell in a Cell), but man, the way Trips sold the transformation instantly made me realize the stakes had just been raised.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could like this 1,000 times. Probably the hardest I've ever laughed at a wrestling segment -- even the not easily impressed CRZ said "This kinda ruled a lot." Who would've thought teaming up with Goldust would set Booker back on the main event path?.
ReplyDelete"That sounds...delicious"
"Goddamn right it sounds delicious"
(paraphrased) "The only way this could have been better is if it had...umm... Goldust"
"What the hell you talking about?"
Anything from Piper vs. Adonis
ReplyDeleteThe night in MSG when Piper asked Hogan to tag team against Orndorff's team.
Somebody was talking about the Nation parody, but I happen to like when the Nation got their revenge with Chyna. When Rock said he would never kiss a piece of trash like Chyna, the crowd was angry. Then when he said "Mark Henry...." the crowd went rabid.
The thing I remember the most about those was the creepy synthesizer music -- I just loved that. Too bad Warrior left, I would have liked to see a full blown feud.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is my favorite of the parodies too, mostly because it is about as mean spirited as you can get haha
ReplyDeleteI always kind of liked Flair's return to Raw in 2001. Not only were Vince's ridiculous facial expressions in overdrive, they actually used LOGIC by explaining that Shame/Stephanie had to sell their shares of WWF stock to finance the Invasion, which Flair purchased.
ReplyDeleteYeah that whole build up and the big YESSSS were pretty sick. Just great timing all around and a perfect buildup over a few weeks and peaking at just the right moment.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part is when Owen starts bawling and then they hug. Under any other circumstance, this would be a heart warming moment, but the crowd just shits all over it.
ReplyDeleteYeah that whole Horsemen segment is definitely one of the best interviews ever -- and moving too, back when Ric Flair wasn't crying on tv every week. Shame it didn't lead to greatness, although to be honest, by 1998 I don't think a Flair led group had much mileage left to begin with.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of weird how the Hart family reunion put the British Bulldog right in the middle of a red hot angle and yet kind of ruined his career at the same time. Davey Boy was really starting to get over with the face turn he'd been teasing and with how shallow the roster was at the time, he might have ended up actually getting pushed as European champ and climbing the card. Instead he was bumped down to the middle of the pack in the Hart Foundation (clearly the third tier guy beneath Bret and Owen). He lost all his titles to further Bret's feuds (losing the Tag belts twice to Austin/Shawn and Austin/Dude, and then the Euro belt to Shawn) and he was never treated as a singles threat again (Shamrock destroyed him at Summerslam). By the time he went to WCW he was clearly a mid-carder and couldn't even get over through association to Bret, though teaming with Anvil was never going to help him).
ReplyDeleteI'm still surprised he got his brief upper-card run upon making his return to the WWF. I guess that show's how desperate they were for main-eventers when the Undertaker was injured. He was clearly out of place (I still don't get what was up with him wrestling in jeans) by then and it didn't take long before he slipped from relevance.
I think Davey simply wasn't a top guy, but he had the right matches at the right times and it put him in a spot where he could plug a gap in the title scene when he needed to. His capacity to do so pretty much ended when Bret reunited him with Owen. The Hart Foundation may have elevated his profile through association, but it also sapped him of his independent value and he never really bounced back, no matter how bizarre he'd once been.
My first favorite segment was the Piper's Pit/Flower Shop battle and the aftermath. I think it might've been the first extended beatdown I watched on television (though MAN, has time and context done a number on Roddy's argument.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNAN5bQWwSA
ReplyDeletePerhaps HHH's best bit of work.
ReplyDeleteAnd he wasn't even driving the truck with his hands.
ReplyDeleteQuite true. I'm not a big proponent of the Attitude era personally, but there are few moments as electric as that one. I especially love Vince's role in it.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but someone asked JR if he thought CM Punk was reuniting the nWo. I doubt there was any more to it than a random question but it got me to thinking - could it work? Obviously not another Hall/Nash/Pac reunion, but CM Punk leading a faction attempting to take over/destroy/change the company could work. I know they're too set in their own ways to do it but having a rebel nWo group try to shake up the boring corporate WWE could actually turn them face.
ReplyDeleteNOT THE BEES! OH GOD NOT THE BEES!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X4d3D8SncM
I like that promo, but I hate the 'whoops I'm breaking the fourth wall' aspect of it, it's too blatant and drags it down IMO.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Vince stuff with the mic getting cut off --- that makes sense given the characters involved and made for good TV, but needlessly throwing out the "DWAYNES" and name dropping ROH and such is like the smark equivalent of wearing a Lakers jersey in Boston -- it's totally transparent and the cheapest possible heat.
The best part of the whole interview is right at the beginning where he is really just alluding to the politics and then centers it back to a wrestling promo when he says "I hate this idea that you're the best... because you're not, I'm the best". The line about fans selling his autograph on eBay because they are too lazy to get a real job is a great heel line too.
Teeeeeeelll me a liiiiie!
ReplyDeletePretty great -- it was the best of all of Austin's feuds IMO.
ReplyDeleteI always liked the Big Boss Man's face turn, where it started out as the match between Ted DiBiase and Jake Roberts, Boss Man runs in and everyone winds up on the Brother Love Show set with what DiBiase thought would be the big reveal that he bought off Boss Man...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKCVWS4xysQ
I liked it to. I can see why some don't like it but I wouldn't call it crap. They establish that Austin is the kind of guy who will show up at your house to kick the shit out of you after he already crippled you, and Pillman as the type of guy who will shoot you on live tv if you fuck with him. Too bad Pillman's injuries screwed the timing up, that could've been a great feud.
ReplyDeleteThe Rock returning to defend Eugene against Coach was terrific. When Eugene got to the top of the ramp, and Rock's music hit, I went crazy. Also, Rock returning to help Foley leading up to WM XX (I think) was great. So, so much of wrestling is in the delivery of lines and the building of anticipation, making fans want what is coming more. Every one knew that Rock was going to be Foley's partner, and that segment was so awesome at building to it.
ReplyDeleteI think Bulldog WAS a legit main event guy in the early-mid nineties in the role of there or thereabouts contender (not champion), I think the Shawn/Diana angle killed that off, and I think the bag of meat that was in WWF in 99-2000 was a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteI think that's due to Kevin Nash posting all over Twitter that the nWo would have Punk's back.
ReplyDeleteI loved when Mick wrestled as all 3 personas at that one Royal Rumble.
ReplyDeleteFunny how that was really controversial at the time, but was almost PG compared to some of the things that happened a couple years later.
ReplyDeleteTo me the funniest thing about the Nation promo was X-Pac in the giant fat suit. Just hilarious how they had the smallest guy playing the biggest guy in the WWF. Jason Sensation as Owen ("Of course I can smell what the Rock is cooking, look at my damn nose!") was pretty great too, especially the next week when he was doing it again and Owen finally snapped and beat the shit out of him.
ReplyDeleteAll of Kevin Nash's impressions when he was "retired" were pretty good too, particularly where he was doing Vince McMahon.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the Milk-o-Mania segment and hate the beer truck, so there you go. The beer truck was supposed to be "badass," the milk truck was supposed to be completely ridiculous, and it was awesome because of it. Plus JR's over-the-top call made it: "HE'S PULLING OUT THE STRONG STUFF! HOMOGENIZED!"
ReplyDeleteLet it go....if they want to build a heel stable around Punk, it should be it's own group with it's own identity based on Punk's personality (oh wait, they've already done that - twice!).
ReplyDeleteThey've already had way too many lame nWo reunions as is, and like all the attempts to revive the Four Horsemen, each version is just a pale imitation of the original.
agree. it made both guys look like bad asses in their own way.
ReplyDeleteTHE BILLION-DOLLAR PRINCESS IS NOW THE DAIRY QUEEN!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhile Austin took out the house, Kurt was flinging milk cartons at the alliance. Awesome.
"And who's your favorite wrestler of all time?"
ReplyDelete"TRIPLE H!"
"What?"
"Ha ha ha-"
"SHUT UP, Coach!"
As for my favorite non-wrestling segment, probably the Foley promos from ECW -- Anti-Hardcore and Cane Dewey.
ReplyDeleteFrom WWE, it's Stone Cold and the Rock's sing-off. As Paul Heyman said, "This is surreal!" Just awesomely crazy. Loved it.
The second return was better precisely because of the context the first one lent it (Trips having been the victim both times). First time around all Trips has to go on is the legend; second time Trips KNOWS what Jack is capable of and goes from laughing the situation off to "Oh my God I'm gonna die" in less than a second. Absolutely tremendous.
ReplyDeleteBees... My God.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Davey could ever have been a full-on, carry-the-company main eventer. Decent worker, not-so-good promo but perpetually over. I think he was the classic definition of a solid upper-carder who could be slotted in as an opponent for the world champion. Kind of like Kane.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I have a question: why did the Nation and DX start feuding? What was the catalyst?
ReplyDeleteAnd say that you won't goooooo......
ReplyDeleteFucking Hogan. Didn't he have ENOUGH already?!
ReplyDeleteWow, I had forgotten all about that one. I loved that segment so much. That was the same promo where the Rock tried to get over "popcorn fart" as a nickname for the Coach, right?
ReplyDeleteGet chu hand uf mah shouldah.
ReplyDeleteI hate that Goldberg basically vetoed that match from ever happening because he didn't want to work with Jericho. Jericho did such a fantastic job of being a twerp during that feud that the fans were rabid for Goldberg to decimate him. Rather than getting people to pay to see that, we had Goldberg spear Jericho on the floor and that's that. Typical WCW.
ReplyDeleteThe opening of Botchamania gets me every time.
ReplyDeleteI scrolled ALL. THE. WAY. DOWN. to make sure no one else said it.
ReplyDeleteRoddy and Snuka was the original Barbershop window. 10-12 years before The Outsiders I was SURE that angle was real.
So many great memories mentioned by everyone, here are some more of mine:
ReplyDeleteHogan on Smackdown in Toronto after he turned face in 2002. The crowd just won't stop cheering and Hogan gets choked up. I still get goosebumps thinking about that.
Nash powerbombing Bischoff through the table at the Bash. My friends and I kept rewinding the tape and watching it over and over again. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen.
Sabu falling off the Raw R during the ECW invasion. In California, my only exposure to ECW as a kid was through PWI. I was instantly intrigued after seeing this maniac jumping off the Raw sign.
Flair's promo after winning the Rumble always gets me. "With a tear in my eye..."
Also, Flair's return promo in 98 where he goes off on Bischoff. Jesus Christ, is there any promo in history with more fire than that? I watch that and I remember why I love wrestling.
My pick would be Sid's epic "I'm twice as big as you are and I have half the brain that you do" promo from WCW in 1999.
ReplyDeleteEverything about that segment was a comedic home run, from Kevin Nash's Sid disguise to Sid's legendary botch to Scott Hall completely breaking character after Sid delivered said botch, that entire segment was a metaphor for what WCW had become by then.
Austin with the zamboni, followed shortly by the brothers beating the shit out of Vince. I swear I've never seen a crowd lose their minds quite like Detroit did that night.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I can think of is that Owen Hart turned heel and joined the Nation yet he was still feuding with DX, who had just been organically turned face because of their anti-WCW vignettes. Put those two developments together and BAM! Insta-Feud.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite serious non-wrestling segment however would be a tie between Sting getting kicked out of the Horsemen in 1990 (easily Ole Anderson's all-time best promo) and the Randy Savage-Crush summit in 1993. Everyone on the WWE creative team definitely needs to watch that promo to see exactly how to properly do a heel turn with a logical reason and actual motivation behind it.
ReplyDeleteThe greatest non wrestling segment just happened on Raw 1000 with Mae Young and the worlds strongest hand... Too bad dad couldnt make it
ReplyDeleteThis would be #2 on my list. A close one.
ReplyDeleteYeah, not turning that into a full fledged feud was a big mistake. I think they would have had a good dynamic together in the ring -- their 2003 match was one of Goldberg's only good matches in the WWE -- imagine it in 1999 with both of those guys tremendously motivated.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goradio.com/polopoly_fs/1.8822!/image/oprahs-bees.gif
ReplyDeleteThe invasion stuff sucks, but heel stone cold is fun as hell to watch. Like, he shouldn't have been turned from a business standpoint, and his involvement in the alliance is stupid as can be, but man was that fun stuff to watch.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpormSbD9ho
ReplyDeleteSimple, logical and straight to the point.
I thought it was impossible to pick a favourite segment that was that horrendous.
ReplyDeleteThen I realized that it was a Ryan Murphy post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5AuDQBxSQE
ReplyDeleteHilarious.
The zamboni was just absolutely insane at the time, it was almost like the unofficial signal that things were never going to be the same again.
ReplyDeleteWhat a mark-out moment.
I don't believe there was any big kick-off to thing (though I may have forgotten it over time), I just always assumed it was two up-and-coming groups trying to prove their dominance. Granted, it got more personal as time went on, but that's been my interpretation for years.
ReplyDeleteAustin's heel run in 2001 has always been - to me - akin to a great actor in a bad movie: Austin himself was doing a PHENOMENAL job, and showing a side of himself that we hadn't seen since his WCW days, but after basically playing the greatest role in wrestling history, it was hard for the masses to accept him in any other role; combine that with the awful "inVasion" angle as the central storyline and backdrop, and it's little wonder that that particular run isn't so fondly remembered.
ReplyDeleteI was so nervous as a kid watching the Crush heel turn. You could see it coming a mile away and that was the beauty of it. It felt like such a big deal to me and I was ready to see Savage tear Crush up afterwards. Or tie his feet together and hang him upside down. Either one, really.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't remember that AT ALL - I absolutely HATED the idea of Taker and Kane being put back into the main-event at the time, especially after seeing what so many of the smaller/younger guys (Angle, Jericho, Radicalz, Tazz, Hardys, Dudleys, E&C) had done over the previous eighteen months, so I must have blocked that out or something.
ReplyDeleteASuck my fucking dick you Mormon truoll.
ReplyDeleteSomething to do with Los Boraicuas being DX's heanchmen and that time DX made it look like the Natiaon trashed the Harta Foutdndations' locker rooms.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Mormon, and I don't want to taste your dad's ass.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny that you mention this one. I actually watched that very skit last night, just while looking at old clips on YouTube. Still cracks me up.
ReplyDeleteThis made no sense to me from Goldberg's perspective. Jericho wasn't even angling for an actual feud, he was offering himself up on the plate to to get squashed big-time by Goldberg. They could've easily just done it on the Fall Brawl 1998 undercard, as the rest of the big WCW names were tied up in that goofy nine-man Wargames. It would've taken no more than two minutes, no longer than any other Goldberg squash, and Bill had no issue squashing other 'smaller' opponents during his streak like Brad Armstrong, Glacier, various luchadores, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo you call it a "rip-off" instead of what it really was: a call back, or a homage. The WWF was doing that a lot at that time.
ReplyDeleteI miss when the WWE used logic to link storylines together.
ReplyDeleteRock's promo before Summerslam 1998 against HHH in the ladder match is a forgotten gem. One of Rock's first really good ones. "Climbing the People's ladder, rung, by damn rung, by damn rung"
ReplyDeleteWasn't that during the period of where all the old stars would come back in some capacity or what I like to call the best use of Eugene.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not sure what the logic was either -- at the very worst, Jericho is strictly cannon-fodder for Goldberg. It doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe there is more to it than we know -- I've heard that "Hall, Nash, Hogan, etc got in his ear" kind of stuff and told him it was beneath him -- but how is fighting Curt Hennig or Konnan better? Maybe Bischoff genuinely wanted to build Jericho up as a comedy heel and felt it would kill his heat to have him lose so decisively at the time. Then just forgot about Jericho afterwards.
ReplyDeleteMe too Thomas, me two
ReplyDeleteA few early-Rock segments that got his character going.
ReplyDelete1. Giving a photo of himself as a gift to Farooq
2. His antics during this interview - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W0jadxegNk
3. The Jennifer Flowers WM 14 interview - ("a hung jury")
Others:
Maybe "best" is not the right word, but the sight of a nude Val Venis about to get get his money-maker chopped off by Kaientai certainly qualifies as memorable.
Orndorff gets blown off on the phone by Hogan, who is in the middle of a work-out.
Hogan turns downs Dibiase's attempt to "buy" the WWF title. "Hell Noooooo!!!!!!"
Lweler and Paul Bearer discuss Bearer nailing the Undertaker's mother.
Maybe not the greatest, but how about these two Russo-rific tasteless moments:
ReplyDelete1) Val Venis spraying Mrs. Yamaguchi-san with a white liquid from a Super Soaker 2000 that had been painted pink.
2) Four words: Sweet Jesus! A Penis!
Hurricane and the Rock go at it verbally.
ReplyDeleteI liked that one - especially whenever the 3 I-s version of Kurt Angle threw the milk, and the Hart Family reunion was pretty awesome, but I think I'd have to go with the Nation parody-ing D-X for #1.
ReplyDeleteI think the question was WWE non-wrestling segments
ReplyDeleteTwo stick out: the classic 'Sting kicked out of the Horsemen (Ole destroyed that promo. Dead perfect)', and Pillman's disingenuous praying during a RAW shortly after the Harts got back together (this was the show where Bret whacked Austin with a crutch and knocked him off the stage).
ReplyDeleteI really and sincerely have never understood what was so cool about that. He'd driven stuff to the ring before (a truck at the DX ppv and I think other stuff) and he drove a million other things. That was on that OMG dvd they did and everything, and I just don't get why the zamboni was supposed to be so unique and interesting. How much of that is just that weird thrill people get when they see a zamboni at a hockey game? I've never got that, either. It's just a vehicle.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a simple case of Jericho getting something over that the other top guys didn't want over. So they told Goldberg to squash it, figuratively instead of literally.
ReplyDeleteGranted, Austin had driven his pick-up to the ring before, but the zamboni was just unparalleled chaos at the time; the way he drove right through the gate, ran over the lights and cables, slammed into the ring, and ran down the front were all just totally surreal.
ReplyDeleteHell, I've driven a Zamboni and I didn't think it was that cool.
ReplyDeletePrice check on a jackass! That always cracked me up.
ReplyDelete