In order to better deal with the suckage that is the current WWE product, I've been youtubing old NWA footage like a madman.
1.
Was there ever anyone better than Flair? Guy was the complete package.2.
Speaking of Flair, can you explain 1985 to me? Was Flair vs Nikita a heel vs heel feud?3.
And speaking of Nikita, as over as it seems he was after his face turn, was there ever any thoughts to giving him a brief run with the belt?4.
Tully Blanchard was a fantastic heel? Do you ever feel he was overshadowed by Flair?1. No, there was indeed no one ever better than Flair. I feel like that is the objective answer to the question.
2. Kinda. See, back before people were "performers" doing "sports entertainment", the title used to mean something and Flair would defend against whoever the best contender and biggest money draw was. Because the goal used to be making money instead of putting smiles on faces through corporate synergy or whatever the fuck it is now. So Nikita was the biggest contender and although Flair was an asshole, he was an AMERICAN asshole who wasn't gonna stand for some Russian somewhere saying that America was wack. It was a weird dynamic in a lot of ways, but it helped Nikita become a better worker, so there's that.
3. Nooooooo. Oh my god what a disaster that would have been.
4. Tully was awesome, but he was only overshadowed in the sense that Flair was a main event guy and Tully was not and was never going to be, and Tully knew it. Even if Flair was gone it's not like Tully was going to be on top of the promotion. He was the arrogant prick that everyone hated and who always talked shit and then backed down from the fight, and that was his role.
"He was the arrogant prick that everyone hated and who always talked shit and then backed down from the fight, and that was his role."
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't think anyone was better at that role than Tully Blanchard. He could have NEVER been a face.
You gotta to wonder what the late eighties nwa would draw today?
ReplyDeleteBecause the goal used to be making money instead of putting smiles on
ReplyDeletefaces through corporate synergy or whatever the fuck it is now.
It kills me when I hear fans and whatnot talk about brand building/protecting the brand and all of its off-shoots. The fuck do I care about any of that? I want my rasslin dammit
They're not doing a particularly good job of putting smiles on faces at the moment.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point, Shelton. Some people want to be "brand advocates" so they can win arguments on the Internet about Roman Reigns being more over than Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you think they called him The Hammer?
ReplyDeleteRandom NWA fact: we all know what happened to Dre, Cube, and Easy, but Yella is now a very successful porn producer, with over 200 films to his credit.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where MC Ren is these days, and really, who gives a damn. Oh, and HBK is the GOAT, not Flair.
While that's not why I'm a fan, the business side of the wrestling industry has always been super interesting.
ReplyDeleteI should do that more often. "Daniel Bryan has facial hair. You know who else had facial hair?"
ReplyDeleteThat annoys the shit out of me, when people say "Oh, he drew better and got better ratings". The fuck do I care, I don't own WWE stock.
ReplyDeleteHitler was Jesus?
ReplyDeleteI may be recalling it wrong but didn't Tully get shots at Flair in 84 pre-horsemen when Flair was still riding as a face from the win at Starrcade 83?
ReplyDeleteno, i'd call that being cool heels
ReplyDeleteHe was barely face against Bret. I'd say Bret was more of a face than he was.
ReplyDeleteI know they never came to SC. They didn't do tv in Atlanta until 2000. I'm not sure about house shows but I doubt it. First WWE show I remember here was the ppv when the power went out.
ReplyDeleteThey ran Tampa (USF Sun Dome) on a fairly regular basis. One of the SNMEs in '86 was from there, the one with Hogan vs Terry Funk
ReplyDelete"Because the goal used to be making money instead of putting smiles on faces through corporate synergy or whatever the fuck it is now."
ReplyDeleteI think it's pretty clear that WWE is more interested in making money than putting smiles on ANYONE's faces right now.
They did a house show in 91 at the omni with Hogan and flair on top.
ReplyDeleteSure, in Canada.
ReplyDeleteActually it was 92. That did run two shows in 91 as well.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was more Nikita leaving the business to care for his wife than Crockett quitting on him. He was great as a monster heel though, especially well surrounded by guys who could wrestle (Ivan, Barry Darsow).
ReplyDeleteKinda like WWF when Nitro was kicking ass. They had great main events but garbage undercards.
ReplyDeleteI think the jan 89 show was from there as well.
ReplyDeleteFrom 85-89, was there a big WWF presence in the south? I know they bought some southern TV shows, but did they ever do shows in atlanta, florida, north carolina?
ReplyDeleteAt $10 I'll pay to see Wrestlemania flop in front of the live crowd.
ReplyDeleteWhy didn't the wwf ever sign him and do a few month feud with hogan? Feel like that's been discussed but forget the reasons. That seems like such a natural 85-87 type of hogan feud
ReplyDeleteWatching a lot of NWA through the 80's on the network for the first time, I was blown away by how little depth they had. The top of the card was great but then it just falls off a cliff. WWF was way more loaded and it made for better shows.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I don't understand the people who seem to be fans of business decisions and companies making money, rather than fans of there being something good to watch on TV.
ReplyDeleteBetter answer to question 2: JCP had a Northern part of the promotion (Charlotte) and a Southern half (Atlanta) and they were booked differently. In the Northern half, Flair was the hometown hero who could no wrong. In the Southern half, he was an arrogant jerk who who the fans wanted to see put in his place by Dusty or Magnum. Since the Flair/Nikita match was the main event of the Great American Bash in Charlotte, Flair is the face. The formal Flair heel turn (Flair and the Andersons attacking Dusty in the cage) is in Atlanta where Dusty was the bigger star.
ReplyDeleteI wonder with TNA's utter failure to draw in the south if even good wrestling would draw as well. My theory is that the NWA run in the Carolinas worked so well because of the lack of professional sports teams in the region. Charlotte, Oklahoma City/Tulsa, Calgary, Portland. Big cities without major sports teams to follow. But many (most) of those big cities have pro teams now.
ReplyDeleteI'm just saying, maybe doing everything you can to piss off your customers isn't the best business strategy.
ReplyDeleteIWC, Vince more successful than us, Davey the Meltz, smarks are dumb, I'm overweight in real life, etc.
ReplyDeleteWatching an episode of Superstars from 1990. You think Greg Valentine got bitches?
ReplyDeleteUntil they start losing money, like, hand over fist, I'm sure they don't care.
ReplyDeleteRemember DX? I'd call that working heel and face at the same time.
ReplyDeleteNo, Hitler.
ReplyDeleteWhen Crockett bought the TBS timeslot, things didn't completely unify between Georgia wrestling and JCP immediately. Flair was still a traveling-champ heel on cable but mostly a babyface on syndicated television, hence the Nikita feud. Things didn't fully get organized until the attack on Dusty in the cage later in '85.
ReplyDeleteyes mainly in the carolinas
ReplyDeleteI use comparisons to Hitler to win arguments on the internet.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Nikita, I'm surprised that Crockett seemed to give up on him so fast. After he beat Magnum for the U.S. title they did nothing else with him as a singles guy.
ReplyDeleteI think his wife getting sick and dying had a lot to do with it.
ReplyDeleteHow did it do? WCW promos used to come on all the time. I never heard a commercial for WWF back then
ReplyDeleteJesus?
ReplyDeleteThe ladies loved him because after 15 minutes he was only getting warmed up.
ReplyDeleteWe got us one o them self hating Jews. Let's get em mordecai!
ReplyDeleteWhich is totally the wrong way to make money, but whatever...
ReplyDeleteFlair is the GOAT, sir. He worked face AND heel at the SAME. DAMN. TIME. I work heel, I work face at the same damn time. At the same damn time. At the same damn time.
ReplyDelete4500 with Hogan and Flair on top.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder they didn't run it at Mania.
And anytime he canned bank he was right back in the top of the mix.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, I'm just saying. When they start losing money to a point where investors start to get worried (and it hasn't happened yet), they'll keep doing what they've been doing.
ReplyDeleteHBK wasn't even the best worker in his company for most of his career.
ReplyDeleteNever enjoyed Flair. I share Bret Hart's views on Ric Flair.
ReplyDeleteYeah, for whatever reason that program absolutely bombed on the house show circuit.
ReplyDeleteHe was on tv so yeah.
ReplyDeleteWho was better?
ReplyDeleteI disagree on that. TNA is nothing like the NWA. Indy shows still do ok here if they are booking in the old style. I'd say the issue is while you could run shows in this region NWA-style, where else would it draw?
ReplyDeleteI just think it was the area. WWF did all they could to make Flair look like a joke so why would the locals pay to see it? Flair basically got the Daniel Bryan treatment during that run.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it was because everyone assumed that it was being saved for Mania.
ReplyDeleteFlair was a great promo guy but I think Bret was better as a wrestler.
ReplyDeleteSo instead of trying to make money they're just trying not to lose it. Yeah, that usually works.
ReplyDeleteDo I dare ask if they are too big to fail?
ReplyDeleteBret Hart. Steve Austin.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go that far.
ReplyDeleteFlair got to win the Rumble atleast
ReplyDeleteIt works until it stops working. Then they have to come up with a new strategy.
ReplyDeleteI doubt it, I mean, if that was the case no one would ever go to house shows.
ReplyDeleteI just don't think the WWF audience accepted Flair as a main event guy. The booking could have been better, but I think it was just a bias thing.
I feel ya but I think it's a bit unfair to Flair. During the big heyday Flair was stuck working Dusty, Nikita, Luger or Sting on a nightly basis. What exactly were you going to do with them? He became formulaic because he had no other choice. When working with Funk or Steamboat he was a different guy.
ReplyDeleteNo fucking way.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that qualifies. Heel in the states, face everywhere else. Honestly I would have been backing Bret had I not hated him to begin with.
ReplyDelete