1996 saw the birth of the nWo which helped finally put WCW on top of the WWF. Eric Bischoff claimed WCW finally turned a profit in 1995 whether that's true or not remains to be seen but they definitely turned a profit in 1996.
WWF was in really bad shape throughout 1997 and it looked as if Ted Turner was finally going to win this wrestling war. WCW was easily winning the "Monday Night Wars" ratings between Nitro and RAW as it simply was no-contest as WCW won the ratings for the entire year of 1997 and had done so since June 1996.
While the WWF had some really good ideas like former WCW wrestler Steve Austin, they still could not compete with Turner and WCW especially on a financial level. Anytime Vince McMahon looked to have a good idea and perhaps beat WCW, Turner would just spend more money that McMahon and the WWF did not have.
Turner outspent McMahon to get his WWF superstars Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash among others. By the end of the year, he got McMahon's biggest star at the time: Bret "The Hitman" Hart.
1997 started off as 1996 ended very poorly for WCW with the nWo dominating WCW, Eric Bischoff ruining WCW by leading the nWo in their crusade against WCW, Hollywood Hulk Hogan as the WCW/nWo World Heavyweight Champion, Hall and Nash as WCW World Tag Team Champions, and of course, Sting being all silent and not helping WCW.
The nWo hosted their own PPV called Souled Out on January 25, 1997 where each match was to be refereed by nWo referee Nick Patrick. The nWo's Bischoff and Ted DiBiase did play-by-play for the event. The Steiner Brothers defeated Hall and Nash to win the Tag Team Titles after Patrick was knocked out and WCW referee Randy Anderson ran and counted three for the Steiners.
However, Bischoff overturned the decision and gave the belts back to The Outsiders. Bischoff then fired Anderson. Anderson had been battling Testicular Cancer (which he would eventually pass away from in 2002) and it was even announced in a story where he asked Bischoff to give him his job back which Bischoff cruelly rejected him.
He forced Anderson to defeat Patrick in a match to get his job back. Anderson won after using a foreign object but Bischoff again overturned the decision and Anderson was again "fired." Bischoff had been very arrogant and being very abusive with his power to favor the nWo and screw over WCW.
The Outsiders would lose the tag team titles a couple of times only for Bischoff to hand the belts right back to Hall and Nash due to a "technicality." The Steiner Brothers finally defeated The Outsiders (with Syxx replacing an injured Nash) to win the Tag Team Titles on an episode of Nitro in October.
The main event at Souled Out was Hollywood Hogan defending the World Heavyweight Title against former nWo member The Giant, who was kicked out of the nWo late in 1996. The Giant looked to have Hogan beaten when Nick Patrick refused to count three. The nWo ran in and attacked The Giant. The Giant soon joined forces with Lex Luger to take down the nWo.
Hogan defeated "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl when an unlikely ally helped him. "Macho Man" Randy Savage's WCW contract ran out at the end of 1996 and the only way Eric Bischoff would let him wrestle was to join the nWo. Savage helped Hogan beat Piper and helped Hogan beat Piper down and Savage was the latest to join the nWo. Savage was even reunited with ex-wife Miss Elizabeth after Elizabeth joined the nWo late in 1996.
Hogan and Team nWo (Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Savage) defeated Team WCW (The Giant, Lex Luger, and The Steiner Brothers) and Team Piper (Roddy Piper, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, and Steve McMichael) in a Triangle Elimination Match at Uncensored. Hogan brought NBA Superstar Dennis Rodman to the ring with him as a "secret weapon" as he helped with some of the eliminations.
Hogan and the nWo celebrated their latest victory when Sting rappelled down to the ring from the rafters carrying a baseball bat. Many wondered where Sting's allegiance was with WCW or the nWo. Sting showed the world he was WCW all the way as he attacked Hall, Nash, and Savage with the bat and gave them each a Scorpion Death Drop.
Sting then wanted Hogan in the ring as Hogan was out of the ring with Rodman. Hogan demanded Sting drop the bat to come into the ring, which Sting did. Hogan did and Sting took him down and hit him with the Scorpion Death Drop. Great news as Sting was WCW through and through. Sting would make sporadic appearances throughout 1997 to attack various members of the nWo and saved WCW wrestlers from nWo attacks.
The nWo soon lost members as referee Nick Patrick left the nWo and returned to WCW albeit few trusted him with real good reason. Ted DiBiase also left the nWo after a change of heart and joined forces with The Steiner Brothers. There were issues with Scott Hall and his drug and alcohol problems as he would be in rehab and would not be on TV for a while.
Hall, Kevin Nash, and Syxx-Pac all had real life problems backstage with Ric Flair and especially Roddy Piper throughout the spring. Nash and Syxx and Flair and Piper traded insults, especially Nash and Syxx delivering a nuclear shoot on Flair and Piper and all the old timers for taking everything and not leaving anything for the young, up-and-coming wrestlers.
Anyway, Hall, Nash, and Syxx (known as The Wolfpac) took on Flair, Piper, and NFL Hall of Famer Kevin Greene in the main event at Slamboree in May in Charlotte, NC. Despite the problems, The Wolfpac decided to do the job to Flair, Piper, and Greene and let them beat them and have their moment.
Despite getting his butt whipped routinely by the nWo, Diamond Dallas Page became a star in WCW because of it. Page who toiled around being a mid-carder if even that finally became a star in WCW after starting his wrestling career a lot later than most. When the nWo first took over WCW, Page was the last person you would have thought would lead WCW.
Page did not even break into the wrestling business until he was 32 years old because he was running night clubs in Florida and got to know many in the wrestling business, but was only a manager. He finally trained to become a wrestler under Dusty Rhodes in Florida and was a rookie at the age of 35.
Page lasted only a couple of years in WCW before an injury led WCW to fire him, seemingly ending his wrestling career and dream. When Page was healthy, he went right back to work and trained down at the WCW Power Plant determined to work his way back, which he would to his credit.
Page made his way back to WCW in 1994 full-time. Page started make headways in 1995 when he introduced his wife Kimberly, who was known as The Diamond Doll as his valet to the ring. He won the WCW TV Title and the Battlebowl Battle Royal at Slamboree '96. Late in 1996, Page lost to Eddie Guerrero in the finals of the vacant United States Heavyweight Championship tournament.
Page's best friends and nWo members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash actually cost Page the match and the title against Guerrero. They did that to prove a point to Page stating he needed the nWo to watch his back and demanded he joined them. Even Page's really good friend and neighbor Eric Bischoff wanted Page to join.
Page on Nitro in the new year looked to have joined the nWo as he celebrated with Hall and Nash and even took the nWo t-shirt and put it on. However, Page gave them both Diamond Cutters and took the shirt off and ran into the crowd.
At Souled Out, the nWo gave Page one last chance to join them. Page again put the shirt on and again attacked members of the nWo with the Diamond Cutter and ran into the crowd and celebrated with them as Page became the most popular wrestler in WCW except for Sting later in the year when he feuded with the nWo.
Page's first real big feud, which lasted pretty much throughout 1997, was with new nWo member Randy Savage as this was without a doubt Page's first really big feud. Savage would attack Page on many occasions and he along with members of the nWo would constantly beat down Page. Page was the nWo's favorite "whipping boy" since Savage the year before.
At Uncensored in March, Savage publicly outed The Diamond Doll Kimberly as Page's real life wife as he and Elizabeth were shown holding an issue of Playboy where Kimberly was the centerfold. Kimberly then came from the back crying as she had "nWo" spray painted all over her.
Savage then viciously attacked Page as Kimberly threw herself on top of her husband to prevent further damage. All that happened was Savage and Liz spray painting her. Savage made this feud personal by involving Page's wife in it as the intensity of this feud was turned up.
Page met Savage in the main event at Spring Stampede. Page defeated Savage with the Diamond Cutter in what was without a doubt Page's biggest win to that point in his career. Page always credits Savage for putting him over and putting Page in main event status. Page continued to feud with Savage facing him singles matches or in tag team matches where Savage teamed with Scott Hall.
After teasing the idea of having the returning Scott Levy as his Raven ECW character being his mystery partner against Savage and Hall at Bash at the Beach in July, Page brought the debuting Curt Hennig as his mystery partner. Hennig abandoned Page by refusing to tag in and walked out on him, causing Page to lose.
Page would then feud with Hennig. Page ended his feud with Savage at Halloween Havoc where he lost in a Las Vegas Sudden Death match when Hollywood Hogan dressed as Sting and hit Page with a baseball bat. Page would then feud with Hogan the rest of the year, facing him the next night on Nitro.
Ric Flair tried to convince his good friend Hennig to join him in the Four Horsemen to battle the nWo. He asked Hennig for a decision only for Curt to say he needed more time to think about it. The time for thinking was over on the August 25, 1997 episode of Nitro as Flair invited Hennig to the ring and again asked if he would join and Hennig again said he could not give him an answer.
Flair then brought out the right person to convince him to join and that was none other than fellow original Horsemen member Arn Anderson. Arn announced his retirement from wrestling in a touching ceremony and in-ring promo where he said he could not wrestle anymore due to a serious neck injury that nearly had him paralyzed.
Arn then offered Hennig a spot in the Four Horsemen but not any other spot: HIS spot!! Hennig had no other choice but to accept as he said "it would be an honor." Hennig would team with Flair and Horsemen members Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to take on the nWo in a WarGames match at Fall Brawl.
The nWo responded the following week on Nitro with their own insulting yet hilarious parody of the Four Horsemen promo. Syxx was dressed as Ric Flair with a blonde wig and a giant fake nose and yelling WOOOO! every 10 seconds. Konnan was Steve McMichael. Buff Bagwell came out as Curt Hennig wearing a baseball hat with a blonde ponytail coming out of the back of the hat.
Syxx and Bagwell did the Flair and Hennig back-and-forth when they called out "Arn Anderson" as Kevin Nash dressed as Anderson with a bald-skin cap, a neck brace, a pillow to make him look like he has a beer belly, and carrying a cooler of beer to the ring. Nash then goes on about giving him his spot and making tons of spot jokes as Bagwell says "it would be an honor."
The nWo "attacked" Hennig backstage and "injured" him preventing him from competing in the WarGames match. Hennig comes down for the match with his arm in a sling and he managed to fight when it was time to enter the cage. However, it was a setup as he attacks Flair and rips off his sling as he was not injured and rips off his Four Horsemen t-shirt.
He pulls out two pairs of handcuffs as the nWo handcuff both Chris Benoit and Steve McMichael to the cage as the five men viciously beat on Flair. They asked Benoit and McMichael whether they would surrender or else more damage would be done to Flair. They refused with Benoit even spitting at Nash.
The beat down continued when they dragged a badly beaten and bloodied Flair to the cage door and put his head next to the cage structure where Hennig threatened to slam the cage door on Flair's head unless the Horsemen surrendered. McMichael finally gave in and surrendered as the nWo won. Hennig slammed the door on Flair's head anyway.
Shortly after Fall Brawl, a crazed Flair "disbanded" the Horsemen so he could go after Hennig and he attacked him any chance he possibly could. Flair took on Hennig for his U.S. Title the next two PPVs at Halloween Havoc and World War 3 where Flair lost via DQ at Halloween Havoc when he kicked the title belt in Hennig's head and Hennig used the title belt on Flair to retain the title at World War 3.
Flair was again supposed to take on Hennig for the U.S. Title at Starrcade but was "injured" at the hands of Hennig and the nWo a couple weeks before Starrcade and could not compete. Diamond Dallas Page took Flair's spot and defeated Hennig to win his first United States Heavyweight Championship as Page's stock continued to rise throughout 1997.
Speaking of World War 3, the 60-man battle royal featured an unusual twist and turn at the end of the battle royal. The winner was scheduled to get a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match in the future. 60 men were supposed to be there but there was only 59 as someone no-showed at that one no-show was Kevin Nash.
At the end it was only nWo's Scott Hall and WCW's Page and The Giant. Hall then motioned out someone to come from the back. First the nWo's music hit as we assumed it would be Nash but no one showed up. Then Hollywood Hogan's Jimmy Hendrix Voodoo Child music hit and Hogan surprisingly came out and helped out Hall.
Hogan beat on Page and threw him over the top rope to eliminate him leaving just Hogan, Hall, and The Giant left. All of a sudden, "Sting" came to the ring as he seemed to have grown about a foot as he easily walked over the top rope and was about the same height as The Giant.
Hogan then threw himself out of the ring to eliminate himself as he was "scared." "Sting" then nailed The Giant with the baseball bat as Giant went over the top rope to be eliminated as Hall won the World War 3 battle royal. Sting took off his mask to reveal himself as Kevin Nash as the nWo pulled yet another fast one over WCW.
NBA legend "The Worm" Dennis Rodman showed he was nWo as he made a bunch of appearances at WCW events alongside his good buddy Hollywood Hogan. Rodman made his WCW in-ring debut at Bash at the Beach on July 13 in the main event where he teamed with Hogan in a tag team match against Lex Luger and The Giant.
Rodman did not look to bad despite being in his first-ever wrestling match. Luger made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack to win the match. Luger earned a World Title shot against Hogan at the following month's PPV Road Wild live from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally from Sturgis, South Dakota.
However, five days before Road Wild on the August 4, 1997 episode of Nitro, Luger demanded his title shot with Hogan that night. Luger again made Hogan submit to the Torture Rack and Luger ended Hogan's 359-reign of terror as WCW World Heavyweight Champion as Luger shockingly won the title as WCW finally felt good for the first time in over a year.
However at Road Wild, Hogan won the title back from Luger when Rodman, dressed as Sting, hit Luger with the bat, allowing Hogan to pin him to win back the title. It was weird that Hogan would drop the title for five days in the middle of his dominant period and hyping up his upcoming match with Sting at Starrcade. Why didn't they let Hogan keep the title from July 1996 and not drop it until Starrcade?
Former football player of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons Bill Goldberg had been training at the WCW Power Plant to become a professional wrestler throughout 1997 after his football career came to an end. Goldberg had been spotted by Sting and Lex Luger and told him to give wrestling a try. Goldberg wrestled some dark matches and house show events (where legend has it he lost one match before going on TV).
Goldberg made his televised and official WCW debut on the September 22, 1997 episode of Nitro where he faced veteran Hugh Morris (Bill DeMott). Nobody at the time knew anything of Goldberg as many felt it would just be a quick "squash match" where Goldberg was the glorified jobber to Morris.
It was a quick squash match alright, but it was far from what we expected. It was Goldberg kicking ass when he no sells Morris' attacks and picks him up like he's going to vertical suplex him only to powerslam him with authority in the move that would be called the Jackhammer.
Goldberg pinned Morris for the 1-2-3 as Goldberg pulled off a "huge upset." Gene Okerlund tried to get a word with Goldberg but Goldberg did not say anything and just walked past him. This mysterious Goldberg would quickly start to defeat anyone that came in his way in quick 1-2 minute squash matches as the mystery continued to grow. He soon dropped Bill Goldberg and went simply by "Goldberg."
Goldberg ran afoul with another former NFL player Steve McMichael after McMichael's ex-wife Debra had Goldberg give him the Jackhammer at Halloween Havoc. She gave Goldberg her ex-husband's Super Bowl ring to him. McMichael knocked Goldberg out with a lead pipe at World War 3 and took back the ring.
Goldberg was supposed to fight McMichael at the World War 3 PPV, but could not due to an injury. Goldberg's legendary undefeated streak might have come to an end long before had he wrestled McMichael there because McMichael would have won and gotten his ring back. Goldberg defeated McMichael at Starrcade in his WCW PPV debut.
Goldberg would end the year undefeated. His winning streak kind of happened by accident as WCW let him defeat everyone in 1-2 minute squash matches to hide his wrestling flaws. All of a sudden, this became popular with the fans and it would be established that Goldberg be pushed as undefeated. Goldberg would continue the momentum WCW built after a really strong 1997 into 1998
There is still one last big story but I am saving for it for Part 2 as there is no more room for it here. Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment