graves9: The BWO was so awesome back in the day and
Heyman did the impossible and got Raven's lackey, who Joey Styles would call a
clueless putz and turned him into the most over face in the promotion. Stevie
really should have stuck around, but he followed Raven out the door and WCW
blew past Raven and Stevie's history in a month, and had Raven beat him rather
easily at the Clash of the champions. Stevie soon after disappeared before
doing a few ECW shows and going to the WWE and never really getting pushed
again. Wat could have been for Stevie. If he could have done it again I bet he
would have stuck around.
Tenken347: Having also rewatched this stuff pretty
recently, I was able to put my finger on exactly what it was that I liked about
the bWo. While the nWo angle was something that went on to redefine the entire
industry, it was all just so serious all the time. Stevie and Meanie coming
along to take the piss out of it just wound up being a real breath of fresh
air, and not coincidentally became about the only real opportunity Stevie
Richards got to show the world how good he really could be.
The genesis of Stevie Richards from lackey to top-level threat was, as
graves9 alluded to, nothing short of a miracle. Now, Stevie was never so low he
was perceived as a modern day Virgil; but he definitely looked like a guy who
was never going to get much further than playing “and the challenger…” for the
TV title.
What Paul Heyman did better than anyone else, was recognize when
something worked, and push the hell out of it. The bWo was supposed to be a one
shot deal; another parody as they’d done with KISS or the Jackson 5. But the
reception it got screamed money, and Heyman let them run with it. It’s this
kind of grass-roots stuff that really makes pro-wrestling so much fun (and so
bloody frustrating in the modern era). The creative freedom the mid-card acts
had in the mid to late-90’s to just keep throwing stuff at the wall until
something stuck was always fun; from Crash Holly and his 24/7 gig, to Mr. Socko,
to Chris Jericho Conspiracy Victim, there was rarely a dull moment.
However, since we just ran through Crossing the
Line Again, tonight’s show may in fact be a Dull Moment, since we’re likely to be
rehashing the bulk of that and viewing very little new content. But, for the
sake of giving us the complete picture of the year that was 1997, let’s see
what we’ve got.
Paul Heyman’s passionate pay-per-view announcement is replayed in full.
THE TRIPLE THREAT promote an
upcoming re-match against the Pitbulls and Tommy Dreamer. Douglas promises
people will be talking about their team for centuries to come. Well, I’m
looking at this in the 21st century, so he has a smidgen of hope.
JOEY STYLES welcomes us to
the ECW arena, and introduces the phenomenon of the Blue World Order.
Unfortunately, it’s the re-hashed Ricky Morton (with Ugly Girlfriend) match
against Stevie from CTLA. It’s still *1/2.
Here’s more from SHANE DOUGLAS
and FRANCINE, with a message
directly for Gary Wolfe. He’s tired of hearing from Joey Styles about all the
“awful” things he did to Pitbull #1, considering what he did to Douglas’
reputation. He points out that seconds before he broke Wolfe’s neck, Gary was
on the verge of giving Francine a piledriver like he’d have done to a man. And,
Wolfe was the same moron who attacked HIM while in a neck brace, all he did was
defend himself. So, since he hasn’t given it up, the next time we see Pitbull,
he’ll be getting wheeled around like Christopher Reeves. Hey, as much as I
can’t stand Douglas, the mark of a great heel is to believe what you’re saying,
and the guy brought up some fantastic (if one-sided) points to defend himself.
The Dr. Death / Axel Rotten match, followed by his immediate World Title
shot against Raven is replayed. Williams was well past his prime at this point,
but his brawl with Raven is fantastic stuff, and should have been the start of
a career re-birth in North America.
THE ELIMINATORS didn’t think
their match with Sabu and RVD at November to Remember could be topped; but they
did at CTLA last Saturday. I wouldn’t call a 20-minute ** match anything worth
bragging about; but that’s probably the max you’re getting out of any match
featuring both John Kronus and Sabu. Anyway, apparently they’re doing this
again. Crikey.
The main event is the D-Von Dudley vs. Sandman match that was only 5
minutes long bell to bell, but with all the run-ins and nonsense, went on for well
over 25. The Dudleys homecoming is fantastic, but there is just way too much
stuff going on here, between Bubba’s heel turn, Spike getting sacrificed, the
Gangstas running in and having a mini-match with the Dudleys, all while Sandman
refuses to stay down and keeps wildly swinging away like Casey at the Bat.
And that’s it. No surprise they used their supershow footage since it
hadn’t been syndicated, and this gives everyone awake at 2:30am on a random
Thursday a chance to see what’s been happening at the ECW arena. New content
next week, which is leading us right into CyberSlam on the 22nd.
Loved the BWO but the greatest Stevie/Meanie parody was the Baron Von Stevie and Bluedust segment with Joey Styles.
ReplyDelete"It’s this kind of grass-roots stuff that really makes pro-wrestling so much fun (and so bloody frustrating in the modern era)."
ReplyDeleteI mean....I agree, but we're all of 12 months removed from arguably the highest-level example of this in professional wrestling history.
At ECW's first PPV, Stevie absolutely felt like he belonged in the main event. Had he stuck around, he could have been their poor man's Shawn Michaels.
ReplyDeleteStevie putting the iron claw on Joey, only to have Joey swat it away with the mic and walk off in disgust, gets me laughing every time.
ReplyDeleteDoctor Stevie in TNA was great.
ReplyDeletegraves9 on Stevie -- "If he could have done it again I bet he would have stuck around."
ReplyDeleteUm, only if he was a big mark for himself and didn't want to make any money. I guarantee you that Stevie made more money in his months of WCW work and years of WWE work than he would've made had he worked in ECW for 50 friggin' years.
Yep. And 3 years removed from the last time it was allowed. And probably another 9 years removed from anyone allowing anything organic to happen prior to it.
ReplyDeleteLet's not act like WWE is super progressive just because sports crowds started chanting "YES!" on ESPN and forced Vince to acknowledge Daniel Bryan's existence for a 3 month period of time.
Stevie Richards was never pushed in the WWE/F? That's some revisionist history there. He led a damn over stable.
ReplyDeleteI'm probably giving this away but the Raven promo before Barely Legal where tells Stevie to end my pain is epic. It really brought the Raven/Stevie relationship to the next level and I was hoping we'd get a blow off match before Raven left. My belief is that Raven was gonna fight Richards at WrestlePalooza instead of Dreamer because Raven/Dreamer was set for Hardcore Heaven but Raven leaves, Richards/Funk is signed then Stevie gets hurt, leaves, and nothing is the same again.
ReplyDeleteI'd argue that Stevie leading Right To Censor was a pretty big push, whether he wrestled that much or not.
ReplyDeleteAnd headlined Wrestlemania 20
ReplyDeleteThen Stevie no-sells having the claw swatted away and continues to parade around the ring arm extended.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there word during his WWF time - from Meltzer or Keller - that Vince liked Stevie, that's why he kept getting midcard gimmicks?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I remember Stevie having a couple fo decent matches on Nitro against Macho Man and/or DDP. Not 10-minute classics or anything, but he was able to get offense and wasn't buried - hitting the Stevie Kick and Bomb.
ReplyDeleteBuy the shirt!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=plP2NlCJW7A
ReplyDeleteThis sort of goofy nonsense, in moderation (i.e., not every segment) is one of the things I miss these days.
I didn't act like they were progressive. I just said a thing happened.
ReplyDeleteRTC Steven Richards could have been an effective Honky Tonk Man-type WWF Champion in 2000/2001. The heat for that gimmick was pretty unreal at the time.
ReplyDelete