Scotts Classics Discussion and Q and A

[The New F'n Show]

I'm going to rewatch King of the Ring 1993 soon. I was wondering what rating you've given to the awesome Henning/Hart match? Also are you with the crowd that says it's better than their SummerSlam match?

I have given both matches 10/10 and yes I do prefer the KOTR match. Named it 1993 match of the year.

 

[PHX]

Hypothetical question here that I've given thought to multiple times. Had Hogan not left wwf for wcw how do you feel that would have effected both companies considering wwf went into a transition period after he left with the likes of Shawn and Bret being their main eventers?

 

[EffectsofRaven]

Yeah, I had my mind on Tsuruta and Kobashi... Misawa is just godly.

Read through what you said, I dunno if you seen enough of it all but what do you think the best Terrority was? (I.E Memphis, Smokey Mountain)

Also, what would you recommend to watch from those terrorities.

 

[Chris]

My thoughts on each feud in bold print

1. Hennig-Bockwinkel AWA Title feud. This is an absolutely brilliant feud featuring one of the greatest matches of all time but since it's the AWA it is kind of forgotten. What little I've seen of this one (barely watched any AWA), was great.
2.Flair vs Funk NWA Title. Still think the plastic bag incident and piledriver on the table were at least 5-10 years before their time. Brilliant. By far my favorite WCW/NWA feud of all time. Their "I Quit" match is still the best one in history, and really one of the few "I Quit" matches I like.
3. Triple H vs Kurt Angle. Great feud that I don't think people really consider one of Trips greatest. Angle pure promo gold during this time. I've been watching a lot of old Raws lately (all of '98, '99, and through September '00 so far), and this feud is definitely good. A lot of people are completely against this because it's a love triangle, but I'm loving it. Only gripe I'm having is that they open almost every Raw with a 20 minute (not any less) promo. It's getting old.
4.Tully Blanchard vs Dusty Rhodes TV title feud NWA. Another under appreciated classic. Seen very little
5. Eddie Gilbert vs Jerry Lawler USWA. Gilbert ran over Lawler with a car and people actually called the police on him. Amazing. Only heard of this one, but that does sound pretty cool. Will have to watch some of it.

These were all popular at the time but I find kind of forgotten. As far as a never talked about feud, I loved Brad Armstong vs Brian Pillman in WCW, it was very short but it was Pillman's heel turn.

Another one that I think people forget about is Hogan/Orndorff in the mid '80s. I loved that one.

 

[The Cork]

How should the Goldberg streak have ended (if at all?)

 

[The New F'n Show]

Hypothetical question here that I've given thought to multiple times. Had Hogan not left wwf for wcw how do you feel that would have effected both companies considering wwf went into a transition period after he left with the likes of Shawn and Bret being their main eventers?

Hogan would have continued to be a top guy in WWF for a short time putting over guys like Shawn and Bret and then went to a permanent movie career. WWF wouldn't have been much different in the upcoming years. WCW would have probably ended up trying to bring in another big name in time as Bischoff was determined but they would have never gotten that hot and The Attitude Era never happens. Thus Wrestling probably never goes Global. That move by Hogan's importance can not be overstated although until the Heel turn it didn't mean much.

Read through what you said, I dunno if you seen enough of it all but what do you think the best Terrority was? (I.E Memphis, Smokey Mountain)

Also, what would you recommend to watch from those terrorities.

This one is tough as I have not seen much of these territories as it is hard to find material. I have seen almost no SMW. I have seen some USWA in the late 80's early 90's and that Gilbert/Lawler feud and the Lawler/Jarrett tag team stand out for me. I saw some Global Wrestling Federation as my Uncle had tapes and Jerry Lynn vs The Lightning Kid (Sean Waltman) made me fall in love with both guys.

Another one that I think people forget about is Hogan/Orndorff in the mid '80s. I loved that one.

LOVE THIS FEUD as well. Would have probably made my top 5 had I thought longer. The payoff was really weak though.

How should the Goldberg streak have ended (if at all?)

This is a question you could take a lot of ways but I'll share my thoughts.

I would have kept Goldberg running rampant over everyone as champ for about a year or two (lost it in late 98. I'm thinking to about early 2000) think Cena in 2006-2007.
I then would have debuted Mike Awesome and had him come in and just squash everyone similar to what Goldberg did. I then would have put Awesome over Goldberg and bam your new star is born. Now you could use anyone in Awesome's spot here since hindsight is 20/20 but basically they needed Goldberg to build a new star and that clearly didn't happen.

 

[EffectsofRaven]

Scott, I was just having a discussion with a mate about ECW.

And I was wondering if you agreed with the idea the best matches in ECW were Mike Awesome's matches, and the best ECW Title match was Awesome/ Spike Dudley at Guilty as Charged.

Thoughts?

 

[The New F'n Show]

Scott, I was just having a discussion with a mate about ECW.

And I was wondering if you agreed with the idea the best matches in ECW were Mike Awesome's matches, and the best ECW Title match was Awesome/ Spike Dudley at Guilty as Charged.

Thoughts?

Awesome matches are up there for sure but best matches in ECW were the Guerrero-Malenko matches and I really enjoyed the Eliminators vs any one (but the Gangstas) as well. As far as best title match Awesome's bouts with Tanaka were my favorites but that Spike match is great also.

 

[Crippler]

I wanna talk about AJPW 03/06/1994 you know what match i'm talking about

THOUGHTS?

 

[Chris]

^^That match :O So awesome!

What year, in your opinion do you think was WCW's best after they fully broke away from the NWA.

Also wouldn't mind a detailed explanation on what happened with WCW and the NWA because I'm fuzzy on that.

 

[The New F'n Show]

I wanna talk about AJPW 03/06/1994 you know what match i'm talking about

THOUGHTS?

Big fan of AJPW in early 90's. MVC mark. I'm assuming you are talking about the Misawa vs Kawada match which is insanely good and behind only Misawa vs Kobashi for me. I date that as 06/03/1994 because it was in June. Been a really long time since I've seen it, totally going to watch it now.

Finished rewatching it. Love the psychology. Start slow, bring in some great mat wrestling, Trade physicality for five minutes, go back to mat work to get crowd ready for more, go back to physical style have a few false finishes and then to the big finish. EXCELLENT.

What year, in your opinion do you think was WCW's best after they fully broke away from the NWA. Also wouldn't mind a detailed explanation on what happened with WCW and the NWA because I'm fuzzy on that.

That's a tough question. On match quality alone (that's how I rate things) I loved 92-94. Lot of good matches in this time, from impact it is 96 easy.

Detailed explanation is hard to find. From what I understand the original split (pre belt) was mainly just because Turner after buying JCP owned the heart and soul of the NWA and just started to call in WCW on his own for licensing rights. The actual belt split happened when the NWA wanted their champion to defend across all territories and WCW wouldn't allow it. Most people attribute it to Flair leaving with the belt or the Rude controversy but it's really that simple.

 

[Keith]

On the Schiavone topic for just a bit: Fuck Schiavone, never hated an announcer more than him.

On the Bobby Heenan topic: I liked that he did the "Who's side is he on?" bit because more often than not, announcers are wrong just because them correctly predicting something would be weird, and 'giving it away', but now that it's expected for them to never pick the winner of let's say a Royal Rumble, no one expects who they pick to win, which is why I was shocked Sheamus won this year because I ruled him out because that was the guy they wanted us to favor. Same thing goes with Hogan, you're, thinking "Psh, Hogan isn't going to be the third guy, he's coming out here to help Savage, Heenan's just fucking with us." I think it was for the better of that moment actually, especially because Heenan always questioned Hulk. Love Misawa by the way, my favorite.

Onto my actual question: What do you think is one of the more underrated feuds in wrestling? One that you thought was great, but hardly anyone ever talks about.

Also as a heel it was quite logical for Heenan to say it maybe to wind up the fans, as Hogan prevous was a big babyface.

The appeal of the Henning-Hart KOTR 93 match was that it was different from their Summerslam match, that match was based more on great wrestling and emotion, this was more of a stiff, hard hitting stuggle, with some sound wrestling also. Personally I love both, but have to disagree with Scott on this one, as I think the Summerslam match is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen, just for pure storytelling, the emotion and just the timing from both was spot on. It was also a more important match because of the impact it had on Hart's career.

On the subject of best Terrortries, always get the impression that Mid-South is up there, many people consider that one of best companies ever full stop. Also I have recently gotten some SMW discs, so will try and post some reviews in the coming weeks.

 

[The Cork]

General thoughts on RVD and if he'd be Hall of Fame worthy if he retired today?

 

[Keith]

I can answer that, no!

 

[The New F'n Show]

General thoughts on RVD and if he'd be Hall of Fame worthy if he retired today?

This is a tough one, but for his importance to ECW and making that product popular, I would say yes. He was pretty much an unknown when he started there and easily became there biggest draw when they were on TNN. He also had a decent enough run in WWE and TNA. I would say no if you only take his WWE run though and don't factor ECW in.

As far as the Perfect-Hart matches it is really close and I can totally see Keith's point on the emotion, love both matches. Also everything I have seen and heard from Mid-South has been very good. JYD-Hayes and JYD-DiBiase the highlights.