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[frash.exe]

 

[jackson113]

Some competition would help WWE a lot.

[Kramerica]

All the feels indeed, Teeray. Thanks for posting that.

And the article was good, too. That part about the "moment" in wrestling for me was definitely watching Mankind win the title against The Rock on RAW. I'll never forget that moment. It gives me chills to this day. 

[teeray]

All the feels indeed, Teeray. Thanks for posting that.

And the article was good, too. That part about the "moment" in wrestling for me was definitely watching Mankind win the title against The Rock on RAW. I'll never forget that moment. It gives me chills to this day. 

I assume you mean this match.  One of the craziest pops in the history of wrestling when the glass breaks.

[Kramerica]

Damnit. Never fails. Stone Cold throwing his hat at McMahon after giving him the double bird is just the icing on the cake. The only thing that could've made it better is JR on the call. But this is actually one moment that even Mitchell Cole couldn't screw up.

[teeray]

"That'll put some butts in the seats"

LOL there is so much awesome about that moment.

Jan. 4th 1999 was the death nail in WCW.  They never recovered after that night and that moment.

In case anyone has forgotten, this is the bullshit WCW gave us the same damn night

First they told people Mick Foley was going to win and were all shitty about it (and supposedly 600,000 viewers immediately changed the channel lol).  Then the infamous finger poke of doom.

Two matches, one night, ended with the death of WCW.

Most important night in wrestling history IMO

[Kramerica]

Teeray, one of my best friends (life long wrestling fan) used to watch the Monday night shows with his dad every week. They would tape RAW and watch it on Tuesday, but Nitro they would watch live. It was this night that changed everything. Once the finger poke of doom transpired, he said his dad stood up and said "This is bullsh-t," and turned it off. From that moment forward, they watched RAW live and taped Nitro. Then eventually Nitro wasn't even worth taping. So basically, your theory checks out.

It was a huge gaffe for WCW in so many ways. Luckily I had already made the commitment to switch affiliations, so I didn't waste my time on that nonsense. At least Schiavone has said many times that he felt terribly about what he had to say. From watching Monday Night Wars, you can tell he still harbors guilt.

[Mol3m4n]

"That'll put some butts in the seats"

LOL there is so much awesome about that moment.

Jan. 4th 1999 was the death nail in WCW.  They never recovered after that night and that moment.

In case anyone has forgotten, this is the bullshit WCW gave us the same damn night

First they told people Mick Foley was going to win and were all shitty about it (and supposedly 600,000 viewers immediately changed the channel lol).  Then the infamous finger poke of doom.

Two matches, one night, ended with the death of WCW.

Most important night in wrestling history IMO

A little background for us whippersnappers?

[teeray]

A little background for us whippersnappers?

Not sure what you mean, but I will recap and fill in some more blanks (as best I remember it) to better explain as best I can.  Here is what happened on January 4th, 1999.  Look back at previous posts for the clips I am talking about so I dont have to post them again (i am lazy)

First thing you need to know is that during that time RAW was pre-taped and not live but WCW was live.  Jan. 4th was in the height of the Monday Night Wars.

I will try to keep this short.

WCW had promoted a re-match between Kevin Nash and Goldberg after Nash had ended Goldberg's winning streak.  People were pretty excited about the match because Goldberg was super over.  Then they had a stupid swerve where Goldberg was accused of stalking or sexually harassing the lovely Elizabeth and was arrested.

Instead the fans got Kevin Nash v Hulk Hogan (who i believe was just returning from some hiatus) for the WCW title, a match really no one wanted.

Okay, so like I said earlier WCW was live and RAW was pre-taped.  After us fans realized we were not getting Goldberg v Kevin Nash, the WCW announcer Tony Schiovane under the orders of Eric Bischoff decided it would be a good idea to spoil the ending of RAW and bury it.

So Tony Schiavone says on the air (paraphrased) "If you are thinking about turning the channel to our competition, Mick Foley who used to wrestle here in WCW as Cactus Jack is winning the title, ha that'll really put butts in the seats"  Then a little later mention it again and start laughing that Mick Foley is going to be WWF champion. *see WCW video #1 I posted earlier.

Well... according to Nielson ratings the idea completely backfired and 600,000 viewers switched the channel to see Mick Foley win the WWF title.  And those that did were treated to one of the greatest endings to a RAW in history with an awesome match and one of the loudest, craziest pops in wrestling history when Steve Austin came out toward the end of the match to give Mankind a hand.   *see the WWE video I posted a few posts back

Meanwhile, on WCW they were giving us a different match than what was advertised and no one wanted to see in Nash v Hogan.  Well they jostled about, then in one of the worst swerves in history Hogan poked Nash in the chest and Nash laid down for him and gave Hogan the title. *see WCW video #2 that I posted.

Then Goldberg made it back to the stadium and came out, and instead of wrecking shop on everyone proceeded to get his ass beat by Hogan and Nash.

It was a triple kick in the nuts to the WCW fans and those that watched RAW that night pretty much changed allegiances overnight (see @Lomez post because it sums up most fans feelings that night)

WWF ended up winning the ratings that night and never really gave it up again.

WCW didnt go under for about 2 more years, but this one night was the turning point of the Monday Night Wars and started WCW's slow death spiral.

 

 

[Mol3m4n]

Not sure what you mean, but I will recap and fill in some more blanks (as best I remember it) to better explain as best I can.  Here is what happened on January 4th, 1999.  Look back at previous posts for the clips I am talking about so I dont have to post them again (i am lazy)

First thing you need to know is that during that time RAW was pre-taped and not live but WCW was live.  Jan. 4th was in the height of the Monday Night Wars.

I will try to keep this short.

WCW had promoted a re-match between Kevin Nash and Goldberg after Nash had ended Goldberg's winning streak.  People were pretty excited about the match because Goldberg was super over.  Then they had a stupid swerve where Goldberg was accused of stalking or sexually harassing the lovely Elizabeth and was arrested.

Instead the fans got Kevin Nash v Hulk Hogan (who i believe was just returning from some hiatus), a match really no one wanted.

Okay, so like I said earlier WCW was live and RAW was pre-taped.  After us fans realized we were not getting Goldberg v Kevin Nash, the WCW announcer Tony Schiovane under the orders of Eric Bischoff decided it would be a good idea to spoil the ending of RAW and bury it.

So Tony Schiavone says on the air (paraphrased) "If you are thinking about turning the channel to our competition, Mick Foley who used to wrestle here in WCW as Cactus Jack is winning the title, ha that'll really put butts in the seats"  Then a little later mention it again and start laughing that Mick Foley is going to be WWF champion. *see WCW video #1 I posted earlier.

Well... according to Nielson ratings the idea completely backfired and 600,000 viewers switched the channel to see Mick Foley win the WWF title.  And those that did were treated to one of the greatest endings to a RAW in history with an awesome match and one of the loudest, craziest pops in wrestling history when Steve Austin came out toward the end of the match to give Mankind a hand.   *see the WWE video I posted a few posts back

Meanwhile, on WCW they were giving us a different match than what was advertised and no one wanted to see in Nash v Hogan.  Well they jostled about, then in one of the worst swerves in history Hogan poked Nash in the chest and Nash laid down for him and have Hogan the title. *see WCW video #2 that I posted.

Then Goldberg made it back to the stadium and came out, and instead of wrecking shop on everyone proceeded to get his ass beat by Hogan and Nash.

It was a triple kick in the nuts to the WCW fans and those that watched RAW that night pretty much changed allegiances overnight.

WWF ended up winning the ratings that night and never really gave it up again.

WCW didnt go under for about 2 more years, but this one night was the turning point of the Monday Night Wars and started WCW's slow death spiral.

 

 

Thanks. I watched the videos but didn't know the story behind them. 

[teeray]

Thanks. I watched the videos but didn't know the story behind them. 

No problem.  I forget that not everyone was watching wrestling at that time and just assume everyone knew about that night, so I might have over explained but it was an important night in wrestling history.

It was crazy.

[Zaximus]

Yeah that was cheap by WCW, so desperate, and everyone knew RIGHT then it was a sinking ship.  They knew before, but it was like you said, the nail in the coffin.

The fact is, no one in WCW had the pop that Austin did when he came out, that night or before.  The same with The Rock.  WCW had aging vets that made their payday and were just going along for the ride.  WWE had people making a name for themselves and they knew it was special.   The funny thing is, WCW may have had the better actual wrestlers "overall" but never used guys correctly.  They had stars on the roster in Jericho,Benoit, Eddie for instance but kept propping up the aging vets that could hardly do moves.   The first hour of Nitro was great with the lightweights and luchadors.    Guys like Dean Melenko and Saturn were solid wrestlers as well.  

The NWO was the beginning of the end for WCW imo.  It was cool early but when half the roster was part of it, it was stupid.  They took it too far.   The Hogan turn was amazing looking back, but they kept going and going and that stable should have never went over 4-5 people.   WWE did it right with DX and kept it in check while letting them have good storylines.   The idea to have DX invade WCW was also genius.

We really do suffer from no competition but no one wants to invest the money it would take to compete with WWE.  

[Zaximus]

And my, how bad is Smackdown now?  I watched it for the first time in a while and it was terrible.   The "replay" of a RAW match always cracks me up.  They need to just kill that show and give the women's division that time slot, imo.

[teeray]

And my, how bad is Smackdown now?  I watched it for the first time in a while and it was terrible.   The "replay" of a RAW match always cracks me up.  They need to just kill that show and give the women's division that time slot, imo.

Generally Smackdown sucks.  Half of the time is RAW recaps and the other half is meaningless midcard rematches that they just had on Monday.

But I thought this past Smackdown was pretty good by Smackdown standards.  I thought Bray Wyatt had a really good promo.  One of his best in a while that just wasnt words for the sake of words.  Also, the show furthered the Wyatt v Shield Light storyline and has me interested to see who answers the call to help Ambreigns at NOC.

Also there was actually progress with divas wrestling.  Fans seemed into Paige v Sasha Banks on Monday night (they even got a "this is awesome" chant) and liked the chaos of their rematch on Smackdown.  It actually has the makings of a story, and the crowd were into it both on Monday and Thursday.  So that is progress.

But generally I agree Smackdown sucks.  There are rumors that they may change it up soon after they leave SyFy and go back to USA soon, including doing Smackdown live.

So hopefully it gets better soon, because I think they are just running out the clock on SyFy deal.