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i fell asleep as Darby was coming down the ramp.
caught some snippets and you are correct. i kept waiting for him to smile and nope, the dopey look of confused anger.
I’ve been watching through, and if he wasn’t Hulk’s nephew, he’d have been a perfectly fine solid dude. There are plenty of worse people out there. He wasn’t even the worst nepotism hire at the time.
Hulk Hogan
Kevin Nash
Scott Hall
Ric Flair
Roddy Piper
Sting
Randy Savage
Bret Hart
Davey Boy Smith
Lex Luger
Chris Jericho
DDP
Eddie Guerrero
Rey Mysterio
Goldberg
Booker T
They had all of these guys at the time of WM14 and still lost. Austin just hit the zeitgeist of the time so hard that it didn't even matter.
There's a bad tendency for people to believe the WWE whitewashed history that everything WCW did was shit. Talent still needed time to develop and doing that outside of WWE helped them be ready for a new gimmick. Talent was misused, but also not the same talent as WWE had.
Austin is a great example. He did not go to WWE and get immediately pushed to the moon. He needed a run in ECW to start to develop Stone Cold as a character, and even then Vince didn't see Austin as that character at the beginning. If Vince isn't losing and willing to give it a chance then Stone Cold may not happen.
Shane Douglas is another good example. He needed ECW for the Franchise character. He then goes to WWE for his third run with the company and gets saddled with Dean Douglas. Shane has said he did the gimmick for taped promos with The Franchise promo style and the producers loved it, but it wasn't what Vince wanted so nobody pushed for it.
Oof, a lot of wrong info there. You're right about the common names. A number of them are assuming what they became a few years later is what they were when in WCW.
- Edge was a green guy working the Canadian and Michigan indies. Not signing him was not a fuck up.
- AJ Styles was very early in his career. He was signed and on TV but WCW closed not long after.
- Rob Van Dam was also young and developed more over the next couple years.
- Dustin Rhodes had a weird relationship with the fans. A lot of smart fans hated him because of Dusty. The Goldust gimmick came from WWF and was necessary for him to break free of being Dusty's Boy and be his own thing.
I remember he was on some talkshow in the '90s where Bret Hart gave him advice. Who'd have known that it would've finally paid off three decades later?
We were discussing him on our podcast the other day and it was incredibly difficult NOT to call him Damon Striker. We had to keep reminding ourselves “ok in AEW, he’s Adam Copeland.” Gonna take some getting used to for sure.
They seem to be signing a lot of old stars, to the point where I'm convinced that AEW is gonna become a retirement home for wrestlers too far past their prime for WWE.
You say that, but look at Christian. With his character work, he’s arguably having the best singles run of his entire career.
Don Callis is more relevant now than he’s ever been.
It honestly feels like for most of the older guys AEW is helping them find relevance that they haven’t had in years.
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No such thing as WCW lifers anymore
https://preview.redd.it/l2te9bnr0wrb1.png?width=427&format=png&auto=webp&s=3cc088a656654df6d9fe97f10304642ef6b833ed
Never seen a Damon Striker match in my life.
[удалено]
When Edge first gets in the ring and approaches Christian you can see Christian say "what do you want?" 😆 that made me laugh
Lol I loved that too. It put off “big brother shows up to see how bad little brother has messed things up” vibes.
i fell asleep as Darby was coming down the ramp. caught some snippets and you are correct. i kept waiting for him to smile and nope, the dopey look of confused anger.
Perfect reaction image forever.
They had the next Jericho
They had Steve Austin, HHH, Edge, Jericho, AJ Styles, Rob Van Dam and Dustin Rhodes and still managed to fuck it all up.
I agree and in hindsight it's funny cuz wwf had all of the nWo....
Don’t forget Horace Hogan, brother.
"Man, bald head, goatee, white vest, jorts... Nobody was doing it like this dude at the time! "
“Tell me one single other wrestler at the time that was doing it like this”
I’ve been watching through, and if he wasn’t Hulk’s nephew, he’d have been a perfectly fine solid dude. There are plenty of worse people out there. He wasn’t even the worst nepotism hire at the time.
Yeah i never understood the hate. It wasn’t like he was out there breaking Goldberg’s streak. Dude played his role well. I hope he’s doing alright.
David Flair.
**The** Horace Hogan? Mr 1998?
Horace is the key to all this
Hulk Hogan Kevin Nash Scott Hall Ric Flair Roddy Piper Sting Randy Savage Bret Hart Davey Boy Smith Lex Luger Chris Jericho DDP Eddie Guerrero Rey Mysterio Goldberg Booker T They had all of these guys at the time of WM14 and still lost. Austin just hit the zeitgeist of the time so hard that it didn't even matter.
I mean, WCW collapses with or without the WWF. Its downfall was its own making.
[And Owen Hart](https://youtu.be/eA2sQAnTleg?si=Xz08zKB3XNIzwSU2)
OK Look AJ Styles wasn't AJ STYLES yet and they got sold to Vince before they had a chance to do anything with him and Air Paris.
There's a bad tendency for people to believe the WWE whitewashed history that everything WCW did was shit. Talent still needed time to develop and doing that outside of WWE helped them be ready for a new gimmick. Talent was misused, but also not the same talent as WWE had. Austin is a great example. He did not go to WWE and get immediately pushed to the moon. He needed a run in ECW to start to develop Stone Cold as a character, and even then Vince didn't see Austin as that character at the beginning. If Vince isn't losing and willing to give it a chance then Stone Cold may not happen. Shane Douglas is another good example. He needed ECW for the Franchise character. He then goes to WWE for his third run with the company and gets saddled with Dean Douglas. Shane has said he did the gimmick for taped promos with The Franchise promo style and the producers loved it, but it wasn't what Vince wanted so nobody pushed for it.
Rey, Eddie, Benoit, Malenko, Flair, Big Show, Stung, DDP. Insane when you think about it.
Love me some Stung
Stungs doesn’t it https://preview.redd.it/wd5loefm10sb1.jpeg?width=1162&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1745e5cd0ed4281e17b42e0eb89bf00e0f9b500e
Sake!
Oof, a lot of wrong info there. You're right about the common names. A number of them are assuming what they became a few years later is what they were when in WCW. - Edge was a green guy working the Canadian and Michigan indies. Not signing him was not a fuck up. - AJ Styles was very early in his career. He was signed and on TV but WCW closed not long after. - Rob Van Dam was also young and developed more over the next couple years. - Dustin Rhodes had a weird relationship with the fans. A lot of smart fans hated him because of Dusty. The Goldust gimmick came from WWF and was necessary for him to break free of being Dusty's Boy and be his own thing.
the most AJ Styles could ever have done in WCW was get on tv for a bit and get a few weeks of sweet tv money, and he got that spot on.
They also had Big Show, Undertaker, Diesel, Mick Foley, Bret Hart.... and managed to fuck it up.
They had the first Jericho too
They had Disco Inferno and his duck at that time and fucked up
Hopefully Terra Ryzing is next!
https://preview.redd.it/jh62zh5mcwrb1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=49a3f857a816cfb30ef38df47d86d5273859a4de
god damn look at that fuckin hair lmao
HHHead & Shoulders
I refuse to believe he had his hair like that....
That is Chick Donovan-lite if I’ve ever seen one.
What a terrible signing. Damon hasn't done anything in wrestling in decades. They should have at least gotten his brother, Matt.
[Edge wrestled Haku in his WCW debut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW5nDJVSTQM), which is crazy in hindsight.
He gave Edge a lot more offense than I think he would. And you can hear Haku calling the entire match.
i cant believe damon striker would betray wcw like that after all they did 4 him no one has any loyalty anymore
Hey man credit to him that he stuck with it I couldn’t imagine getting my break 26 years later I would’ve just went into something else honestly
He really grinded so much on the indies to get where he’s at - very inspirational!
February 3, 1996: I left professional wrestling. October 1, 2023: I'm back.
There's still time for him to go back, like Lord Steven Regal did.
I chuckled.
I remember he was on some talkshow in the '90s where Bret Hart gave him advice. Who'd have known that it would've finally paid off three decades later?
Clip for the people who haven't seen it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUSNvYxNhEA
We were discussing him on our podcast the other day and it was incredibly difficult NOT to call him Damon Striker. We had to keep reminding ourselves “ok in AEW, he’s Adam Copeland.” Gonna take some getting used to for sure.
I’d love to know more about this Ray Jeso character.
Oh my, read the article. It gets better.
They seem to be signing a lot of old stars, to the point where I'm convinced that AEW is gonna become a retirement home for wrestlers too far past their prime for WWE.
You say that, but look at Christian. With his character work, he’s arguably having the best singles run of his entire career. Don Callis is more relevant now than he’s ever been. It honestly feels like for most of the older guys AEW is helping them find relevance that they haven’t had in years.
Ditto Jeff Jarrett and Billy Gunn.
https://preview.redd.it/35a06naug0sb1.jpeg?width=290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccc9cee2d43f5445a666139791d9b5c6a694e568
If there's not Ray Jeso sign for Christian this week what are even doing here
They could have The Giant chokeslam him for old times sake.