u/jldraw

I was just thinking this over this afternoon. In the spring of 1998, the only year of the MNW when both companies were doing boffo business; WCW and WWE each had an opportunity to actually turn the MNW into a true confrontation and they both blinked. Eric Bischoff allegedly forbade the entry of D-Generation X into the Norfolk Scope while simultaneously not permitting WCW talent to interact with them. A few weeks later, Bischoff invited Vince McMahon to fight him at Slamboree but McMahon no-showed claiming he was committed to attending Stephanie’s graduation.

Truthfully though as I’ve been reading Guy Evans’ wonderful books “Nitro” and “Beyond Nitro”, I’ve come to realize how much of an albatross the 1996 toothpick lawsuit was for both companies. Turner legal was legitimately spooked by the lawsuit and told WCW in no uncertain terms that they could not do anything to overtly provoke the WWE as it would weaken their stance in the lawsuit. Likewise, WWE was not going to push boundaries beyond what they staged outside the Norfolk Scope as interfering with a WCW event would’ve likely both vitiated their standing in the lawsuit along with resulting in a counterclaim against them by WCW.

In short, I think a bunch of bottom line lawyers cost us some potentially interesting moments during the MNW.

So this one is a bit out of left field. Does anyone know the genesis or reason behind Bret Hart’s heat with Jerry Lawler after Montreal? I remember reading in 2005 when WWE was going to do that “Screwed” DVD on Bret Hart that Hart got to watch the footage and Lawler was burying him like nobody’s business along with other anti-Bret talking heads like Hogan and Michaels. I’ve also been watching a fair bit of “Attitude Era” WWE in and Lawler consistently “twists the knife in” on Bret stating “Bret Screwed Bret” and “Bret Hart Never Drew Any Money.” Mind you these comments are all years after Montreal and even into the RA era with Lawler “getting his boot in.” So what gives? There had to be something personal between the two but the only thing that comes to mind is the receipt Bret gave Lawler in 1993 and both men worked and drew money together after that.

Anyone have any insight as to why Lawler went out of his way to bury Bret Hart years after he left the company?

Been revisiting the n.W.o. through WrestlingBios “Reliving The War” and Bash At The Beach notwithstanding, Hogan’s heel promos were well…? He never did get past the Hulkamania hyperbole did he? I remember Nash mentioning when they would cut those classic B&W promos they needed to work around Hogan with a lot of quick cuts as he’d go into all of his “Brother Jack” stuff and Nash and Hall felt his promos were very regional as if he was still cutting promos on Lawler in Memphis. Then when they turned him loose in the ring on Nitro, his promos were essentially his babyface promos just with a lot of lies. I’m not denying he got heat but for such a defining and game changing angle, did Hogan ever fully grasp it wasn’t 1986 anymore?

Based on a discussion on the midcard subreddit regarding the New Blood storyline I decided to revisit “The Great American Bash” from the year 2000 and the Bill Goldberg heel turn.

I came to the conclusion that WCW really dropped the ball with this. The consistent narrative has always been that WCW should have never turned Sting or Goldberg heel. Yes to Sting that got no reaction but the reaction that the Goldberg heel turn got was similar to Hogan at BATB. Now the Hogan turn was more significant because he was the bigger star and the turn had two months of build behind it. But rewatch the GAB and you’ll see what I’m talking about. The crowd is absolutely hot for Goldberg’s return and begin chanting his name mid-match. Then when he appears during the finish he blows the roof off the place, “Goldberg” chants everywhere. Then once he turns, WCW got exactly the reaction they wanted as “Goldberg sucks” chants rain down.

It wasn’t dead silence or the “wrong kind of heat.” It was very much the Hogan heel turn reaction as garbage filled the ring and the crowd chanted “Goldberg sucks!” Then the next night on Nitro they inexplicably drop the New Blood angle which was the framework for the Goldberg heel turn and it’s the last we see of Sting, Hogan, Flair, DDP and Bischoff on Nitro for a long time.

Last year nugs did a reduced monthly rate for summer and with Memorial Day coming up next weekend, I was wondering if anyone heard anything?