About the creation of Create A Pro Wrestling School: Not being booked in The WWE, I became completely paranoid and fearful of being called on the road and being out of ring shape. And any wrestler knows that you can't really duplicate what we do in the ring conditioning-wise. You can't duplicate wrestling unless you wrestle. To be honest with you, I just wanted a place to train. One night, Pat Buck and I were just spitballing at dinner after a training session at The Pro Wrestling Syndicate School in Rahway, NJ, and I said I'd love to open a school in New York, and Pat Said he'd love to do it with me and I was like, "ok" and it just caught fire from there. It was something I was always going to do and it was always a dream of mine to open a wrestling school, and it might have happened a little sooner than I ever thought, but now that I have it and we're cooking on all cylinders and I get the satisfaction of teaching guys, and seeing guys develop and understand stuff. I can't wait 'til these guys to have matches.
On working with top names like Edge & Undertaker: It was a once in a lifetime, indescribable, priceless learning experience. I can tell you honestly that I probably pitched 400 ideas the whole time I was in WWE and that was the ONE time they said, "Yeah sure" when we pitched can we be Edge's henchmen. You know we'll look like him and they actually went with it. That's how hard it is to get things going. I don't know what it is or why they say yes or no. Sometimes I feel like they need to be the ones that have the idea for it to work it but I'm forever grateful for it because the opportunity was indescribable. I mean, I wrestled Shawn Michaels & Ric Flair in a steel cage in Chicago. I've wrestled The Undertaker more times than I can remember. I basically shadowed Edge for an entire year seeing him prepare for world title matches on PPVs and WrestleMania. I saw it all first hand. It was an incredible learning environment that could never be duplicated again. I'll always be grateful for that.
On NXT: I loved NXT and performing and being a part of the shows. The live arena crowd is absolutely awesome. They are lively and passionate fans and that's all you can ask for as a performer. I had no interest in being a part of NXT and training or things like that because I'm ten years in and I don't think I need to be in there going over headlocks and armdrags, or taking unnecessary bumps that I don't need to be taking.
On his WWE release: It was expected to an extent. Really I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. They weren't using me and I was just living this life of sitting and waiting around and not able to commit to things in my real life. Like if I wanted to go a wedding, I never know if they (WWE) are going to come calling. It was kind of annoying, to be honest with you. And anyone that knows me knows that I'm just crazy about wrestling, and I've had my pulse on the Indy scene and it's something I've been dying to dive into and now I finally can.
For more with Curt Hawkins, including his main run in WWE, not being used, Brian Pillman's influence on his career, his future, and more, go to www.shiningwizards.com and listen to Episode 156: Shining Wizards Wildlife Foundation, Hawks and Fish. The Shining Wizards Podcast is available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, AudioBoo, Geek Life Radio, Clutch and Wiggle Entertainment, Marks 4 Life, and the Shining Wizards Network (www.shiningwizardsnetwork.com).
Rating greatest to worst it obviously goes Y&R, GH, DooL, AMC. Get it together.
ReplyDeleteHOOOOOOO!
ReplyDeleteNo, not the kind Lita is. Or maybe?
One a day, at most. Wouldn't want to burn through them too quickly.
ReplyDeleteTrue. Do it every Monday.
ReplyDeleteBischoff said he'd never been a fan of Luger... and Sting was pushing for Luger to come in. Bischoff figured Luger would want "Sting money." So he did what any dick of a boss would, he cut it in half and made the offer. Surprisingly, Luger accepted.
ReplyDeleteI did, until I saw "re-post". Then I became sad.
ReplyDeleteWhy not, TOUGH GUY!?
ReplyDeleteTrue, but Vince is probably arrogant enough to believe that no one would walk out on him. Plus, I doubt he really saw Bischoff as a threat back then.
ReplyDeleteAs sort of touched on below, the giant moron who didn't book Sting/Luger vs. The Megapowers was Bischoff, because he didn't really trust or want Luger back. Just watched that part of the "Heatseekers" episode of LoW last night. Sting talked him into resigning him (for a low salary he hoped Luger would turn down, but didn't), and while he wasn't stupid enough to waste him in the midcard, he still wanted him to prove he wouldn't run out on them soon as he could.
ReplyDelete"Whoever couldn't put 2 and 2 together and book Sting & Lex Luger v.
ReplyDeleteThe Megapowers on PPV is a giant idiot and should be beaten with a large
piece of wood. If they done a passing the torch deal with those guys at
Starrcade 95 it would have drawn HUGE money."
Scott, let's be honest. At this point in his career, Hogan was laying down for anybody. Hogan lost two PPV matches (Halloween Havoc 95, World War 3 95) from his Bash at the Beach 94 debut until turning at Bash at the Beach 96, and those two losses involved ridiculous screwjobs. He didn't lose again on PPV until facing Piper Starrcade 96.
Awesome idea, but wasn't happening.
One of my favorite Attitude Era matches. Undertaker tombstones a still blue-blood Triple H on the escalator to win the match. It was like something out of a video game.
ReplyDeleteThat's what Savage is there for, no?
ReplyDeleteYeah, of course. It's only once there's a sedition unto one's identity that a problem arises, which is the very reason they're earning ten times more.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, either Peter North is bisexual, or he values money over his sexuality. I have no problem either way - it's not my business and I don't care - but if we're going to define the preferences of sexual intercourse among people, we're going to have to lump him into a category whether monetary income is involved or not.
True, but Hogan and Savage still went over like 10 guys at Uncensored 1996. Hogan just didn't lose on PPV, even if Savage was his partner.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a nice lead in and preview to an eventual series on the Invasion and how it could have been better booked...
ReplyDeleteGood old Forman Grill... I got my money's worth on that bad boy in and after college
ReplyDeleteIt's actually pretty funny that a guy who played such a major part in making Nitro can't-miss TV was someone that Bischoff never wanted to begin with. I mean, when Luger walked out on that first Nitro, I was dumbfounded, and pretty much hooked on Nitro until it became unwatchable at the begining of 2000.
ReplyDeleteI still use a Forman grill occasionally. Some of the best money I've ever spent.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure when I phased mine out... I guess once I got better at actual grilling? I also got tired of cleaning it after years of it. But yeah, it was pretty damn awesome.
ReplyDeleteI grill sometimes (on a real grill, I mean), but I find it to be a pain in the ass, to be honest. If I have extended family or friends over, though, I'll go ahead and do it.
ReplyDeleteAh yes... my "gateway grill."
ReplyDeleteLE GRILL? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???
ReplyDeleteI think Bischoff wasn't worried about Luger running so or Hogan laying down so much as he was interested in playing with the face-heel dynamic with Luger. Luger was probably one of the most interesting characters over the next ten months because he wasn't clearly a face or a heel, but he was booked in a way in which that made sense. WWE's tries it today with a guy like Cesaro but it's confusing because people don't know how to respond. Luger had an anchor on the face side in Sting so we understood he was a good guy when they were palling around, but we also knew a heel turn was coming (because Sting is a moron). Then there was the tension between Luger and the team of Hogan and Savage which made him a heel in those circumstances.
ReplyDeleteSo I don't think there was ever an opportunity to put them against each other in a situation that doesn't ruin Luger's schtick and doesn't force a premature heel turn for Sting because Hogan sure as fuck wasn't turning until the following year. It would have been kind of fun if Sting was forced to wrestle the match as a face and prevent Luger from cheating the whole match, only to blow up on him there. A non-finish could have worked as Sting and Luger end up brawling with Hogan and Savage forcing them apart until Luger cheap shots whichever one is holding him back and sneaks out of the ring to go full heel.
Luger wasn't allowed to use his "conditioner" then.
ReplyDeleteThose "vitamins" weren't cheap, yanno.
ReplyDeleteThe Sting-Luger angle was one of my favorite things about WCW in the pre-NWO days. I wrote on here the other day that I really wished it would have been allowed to progress to its conclusion. I don't know if that would have been a feud for the World title, or perhaps Sting and Luger each picking a partner and feuding for the tag titles. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteShoot.. I've owned two of them in my life, now I kinda want another one. I loved cooking burgers and sausages on them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I went directly to the network and looked.. Shame on me..
ReplyDeleteThere you go, now you're thinking. Such a match would've been a good way to have Luger and Sting to have a blow-up... as long as Hogan ended up hitting the legdrop and getting the 1-2-3, brother.
ReplyDeleteI think there was so much wasted storyline potential with WCW's top guys from about September 1995 to December 1998. Every awesome opportunity WCW had to do something great aside from the first few months of the NWO, they blew it.
Sting/Luger in 95-96? Sting/Hogan in 97? Goldberg/Anyone in 98? The booking was just so incredibly piss-poor in so many moments that any attempt to add logic to it all these years later just makes you realize how many opportunities were missed.
Looking forward to Nitros being posted on the Network. I was a loyal WWF guy back then so most of it will be completely fresh to me.
ReplyDeleteToo many hits to the head can do that to a former football player.
ReplyDeleteYeah if you read his biography, which sadly I have, his contract started out less than what he was making in the WWF but by the time the nWo rolled around, he was making bank
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the fact that Nitro began and ended in a non traditional venue with a Sting/Flair match
ReplyDeleteI think that's what Hogan claims but who knows...he is the king of delusion. I still laugh at his DVD where he takes claim for everything from creating Macho Man Randy Savage to the demise of WCW being because they didn't listen to him.
ReplyDeleteGotta graduate to charcoal sometime, son.
ReplyDeleteThe new ones that you can take apart to clean are great. I want to get one of the larger ones.
ReplyDeleteThere was an episode of "Hogan Knows Best" that talked about it. Don't know if it was scripted or not.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to tell with Hulk where his character stops and his real persona begins. Delusion is never far around the corner.
ReplyDeleteYeah, WCW 1996 without the nWo is a big What If. I remember reading that Halloween Havoc 96 was always going to be Hogan vs Savage no matter what, but that it would have likely been a heel-turned Savage battling Hulkamania. Who knows where they would have gone from there.
ReplyDeleteFirst show at a mall. Last show at a beach. Nitro so wacky.
ReplyDeleteThey even booked Dennis Rodman as a face for a match there against
ReplyDeleteMacho. He even used the line "once you go black you never go back" in
the build up. As a face. For a match in STURGIS. Goddamnit, WCW.
It is weird. Saturday Night was doing 2's, I think, so it's not like WCW had no audience. And this made it clear the audience was separate to WWF's.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think so. Bulldog was part of Mabel's "Royal Plan".
ReplyDeleteLiger/Pillman, Sting/Flair, and Hogan defending the title is pretty much the best card WCW could have pulled for the first ep.
ReplyDeleteEvery result I've seen saw HHH win and then get slopped/hogpenned after the match.
ReplyDeleteOkay, maybe that's what I was thinking of, then.
ReplyDeleteI think at some point Hogan would have turned heel; he was way too smart not to see hear and see the reactions he was getting. He was just waiting for the right angle to make himself the top heel, and he certainly found it.
ReplyDeleteHe was the man
ReplyDeletethe usual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_i-IYjkeSM
ReplyDeletethat didn't keep Steiner from trying it.
ReplyDeleteOk, I listened to this today and I thought of answers to a couple of your questions that you didn't mention.
ReplyDeleteFor a pre-1970 wrestler who could get over in today's product, I'd say Dick The Bruiser. He seemed a bit basic in the ring from the little I've seen of him, but if you go back & watch his promos, he's basically a 1960's version of Steve Austin.
And the wrestler who was in the most 5-star matches without being a great worker himelf would have to be Akira Taue, who was kind of slow & lumbering on his own, but lucked into coming up at the same time and in the same promotion as 3 of the best workers ever.
Ooh good one with Dick. That was a great question but one that was really hard to answer on the spot like that.
ReplyDeleteWe were robbed of a potential HHH/Luger pose down and feud?! Damn....
ReplyDeleteI watched DooL way back in 94 because of my GF at the time. It was during the possessed Marlena shit. Wrestling has nothing on the soaps...
ReplyDeleteWhere I live.. NYC Metro area.. there's no way I'm getting a charcoal grill.
ReplyDeleteI think his contract was up at the end of 1997, I wouldn't have been that surprised if he'd tried to take Hulkamania back to the WWF. Without the nWo, presumably Attitude would never really have existed.
ReplyDeleteI charcoal grilled on the sidewalk in front of my apartment for years before I bought a house... but at least I had some porch steps to sit on.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, you think the guy would have incorporated the date he wrote these into any of the rants.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya.. but for $20 I can buy a George Foreman grill, keep it in my small ass apt and not have to buy charcoal or deal with nosey ass neighbors.. LOL
ReplyDeleteAnd the loud motorcycles were annoying as well. We get it, you have loud motorcycles to compensate for having small dicks.
ReplyDeleteDo what TNA did and put the World title on him at their biggest event of the year only to watch the guy bail on them just two months later.
ReplyDeleteNext question: why are you trying to get a job with TNA?
ReplyDeleteBecause more prestigious companies like Ring Of Honor and Southern States Wrestling are not hiring anyone right now.
ReplyDeleteI believe it was Keller who said there was a possibility of Hogan leaving WCW while never doing the big match with STing at Starcade.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of died after the giant chokes lamed Luger into a table prior to greAt American bash - not sure if that pre-dates Hall or not.
ReplyDeleteRumor had it that he still considered leaving. I don't he would have left in 1998 no matter what. He had enough clout to do what he wanted. I'm still disappointed he cuts one of the greatest heel promos on thunder only to turn face two weeks later in 1999.
ReplyDeleteAnd Andre farted on him at Wrestlemania 3.
ReplyDeleteSadly - Steiner vs. Triple H is still one of the greatest bad matches I ever watched. In the heat of the moment , me and my dad thought it was a good power match. Maybe we were just that anti-Triple H. Then again Luger kept repeating spots in his Starrcade match with Flair.
ReplyDeleteHooooooooooooo
ReplyDeleteAnd then he changed his name to VK Wallstreet.
ReplyDeleteI almost stayed around and paid attention to this. NXT trained me wrong on how to regard main roster women's matches.
ReplyDeleteSeth had a boner lol
ReplyDelete