WRESTLING 20 YEARS AGO PODCAST

Listen to our June 1996 WCW podcast, looking at the month of Nitro that preceeded the formation of the NWO, and a discussion of the potential options for the third man. 

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“You people, you know who I am, but you don’t, know why, I’m here”. It would become a line that would be played for decades to come; three months after he handed in his notice with the WWF Razor Ramon appeared on the first two hour edition of WCW Monday Nitro. His debut promo would set in process a chain of events that would lead to the arrival of Diesel (Kevin Nash) as the second “outsider”, before the two were joined by Hulk Hogan in one of the most shocking moments in wrestling history. 
 
It’s actually very difficult to properly frame where WCW was at the time when Hall debuted on Nitro. Save the feud between Ric Flair and Randy Savage, that was entertaining throughout and Lex Luger, wrestlers lacked crowd reactions and storylines lacked meaning. Despite all of the very real justifications you could make for Hulk Hogan’s departure at the end of April, the programming felt like it had a more defined (if more predictable) direction.
 
The plan, as it was before the angle started to come together, was for Hogan to depart, Giant to get a title run going (one that really never should have been thwarted when he won the title the November previous), before Hogan could make his triumphant return as a babyface probably in August or September and regain the title. The other bit of info you need to know at this stage was that Hogan had signed a two year deal at the end of 1994, one that had him by a mile WCW’s highest paid performer.
 
Hall and Nash arrived two weeks apart. The first angle with Hall was great, typical of Eric Bischoff’s tactic of making surprise arrivals as low key as possible. Since Nitro had started Lex Luger had walked out abruptly midway through the first show announcing his arrival at the beginning of the show. Alundra Blayze also had made a surprise appearance, famously dropping the WWF Women’s Title in the trash. Neither were necessarily massive long term bets – Luger at this stage was a nice steal from the WWF and a good short term replacement filling in for the suspended (and soon departed) Vader. As for Medusa (Blayze), it would take six months before WCW bought in another female to work with her other than Sister Sherri, her only PPV match was against Col. Robert Parker (yes, really).
 
The debut of Hall had bigger things in mind, but it was no more conspicuous than the rest. Hall walked out during a match early on the May 27th between The Mauler and Steve Doll. Yep, you’d be right to say “who the hell are they” – a match the like of which we hadn’t seen before or since on Nitro. Hall walked out, demanded a microphone, and set off a chain of events that would change the wrestling world.
 
“You know who I am, but you don’t, know why, I’m here”. It was Razor Ramon, except it wasn’t. Hall then cut a promo that only really made sense if you’d have seen the Billionaire Ted segments in the WWF six months prior: “Where is Scheme Gene? Where is the Nacho man?” Hall returned at the end of the show, getting in Eric Bischoff’s face and promised that “we” were taking over.

The show marked WCW’s formal move to two hours after a month of being shuffled around thanks to the NBA play-offs. Raw in the end won five weeks on the spin between mid-April and mid-May, the move to 7pm in the first week in May stopped it being a head to head, but the 4.1 to 1.9 Raw victory was harrowing. And guess who hadn’t appeared on Nitro in four weeks? Yep, the man in red and yellow.
 
The Hall debut, obviously a surprise, coincidenced with a move to 8pm but with the increase to two hours meant Nitro’s second hour would opposing Raw. They now had a full hour to run at Raw, and often lop-sided their shows to feature a big match or angle beginning just before the second hour started, and frequently fired off a deluge of pyrotechnics. Nitro won that week 2.8 to 2.3, the following week (a holding week where Hall showed up at the end, antagonised Sting and reiterated the promise of his “big friend” for next week) saw Nitro win a 3.0 to 2.3. Raw, it should be said, was floundering without Hall, Nash or Bret Hart – Vince McMahon did at least say a goodbye to the latter two on Raw that week (read that here).
 
But don’t get fooled into thinking things on Nitro were coming to a boiling point. The stretch to two hours woefully exposed some cracks in the WCW’s mid-card, the initial two hours shows were pretty dull – particularly as Hall and later Nash only really appeared for a few minutes. Hogan was gone, Savage was kayfabe “banned from the building”… all of a sudden WCW were asking Ric Flair, Sting, the increasingly popular and Lex Luger and World Champion Giant to keep two hours interesting.
 
Nash’s debut was another moment in time. Bischoff, for the first time since the angle started, found some bravado, but this time Hall had some back up. Nash cut the famous “look at the adjective, play” line but otherwise cut a fine promo that belied the wooden Champion he had been in the WWF a year prior. “What, you couldn’t find a palaeontologist to dust off these fossils you’ve got backstage on dialysis machines?”
 
All thoughts of a home run angle were extinguished within WCW towers a couple of days later when the ratings came back. Nitro 2.6… Raw 2.7. A rating so bad it's said Kevin Sullivan wasn't even allowed in booking meetings the following day! A look at Raw that evening: Owen Hart vs Yokozuna, Marc Mero (WCW’s Johnny B Badd) vs Skip and Davey Boy Smith vs The Undertaker. Nothing there to suggest Raw was doing anything to draw the audience away, in fact the evidence suggested that the two audiences were almost entirely separate. A year later, Raw’s ratings at the beginning of July 1996 were almost identical to the ratings they were doing a year prior without Nitro as opposition. The idea that people were flicking between the two belies the evidence that Nitro had created an almost entirely new audience on Monday Nights. People still had their sides.
 
In amongst the stuff happening on screen was a legal battle taking place off it. WWF took offense of WCW essentially presenting Hall and later Nash as invading forces taking part in an inter-promotional angle with WCW. Reading about the legal wrangling’s was as funny as it was long; the WWF wanted WCW to explicitly say three times a show that both men were contracted WCW performers. In another legal document, they laid claim to everything about both characters – from their names and likenesses, right down to Diesel’s facial hair. In the end it did make both men have to explicitly deny that they were a part of the WWF at the pay per view.
 
At the end of the angle Bischoff promised Hall and Nash that he’d have an answer of their challenge at the Bash At The Beach pay per view. The show itself was the best pay per view WCW had put on since Spring Stampede two years previously, a solid to good wrestling card underscored by three great angles: Arn Anderson reuniting with Chris Benoit, Steve “Mongo” McMichael turning on Kevin Greene and joining the Four Horseman and the confrontation between Hall, Nash and Eric Bischoff.
 
There had been talks of having Dusty Rhodes in the role, with the feeling Dusty could’ve cut a promo for the ages bemoaning the treatment he had in the WWF and drawing close to real life with what had become of his son Dustin (Goldust) in the company the twelve months prior. This idea was (likely) stopped for two reasons: Firstly, Dusty would’ve likely killed it on the promo – Nash had an attitude an Hall was a good talker but both would’ve been gunned out by Dusty on form. The second was exactly what they had planned… and it involved a gimmick table.
 
The bump actually was a pretty dangerous one. Sure Nash was a unit. Sure, Bischoff was light. Sure, the target was big – but that was it. After Bischoff said WCW had accepted the challenge, but couldn’t reveal who their opponents were, the mood of Hall and Nash went from confrontational to hostile, Hall punched Bischoff in the gut, Nash picked up Bischoff into the familiar jacknife power bomb position and just flung him towards the target.
 
It’s worth remembering that this was an era where you didn’t put your hands on people who weren’t talent. Managers of heels were a different issue, but they were the antagonisers – they got what was coming to them. When Nick Bockwinkel was the WCW Commissioner in the two years prior, what he said goes. Bischoff wasn’t the Commissioner, but he was on air talent – as Bobby Heenan famously showed to Brian Pillman six months earlier – you don’t touch on air talent. Like everything in this angle, forget everything you knew about conventional wrestling storytelling.
 
The angle went so well there was actually a decent case to be made that the show could've ended without a main event. Nothing could've followed the Four Horseman match, less an underwhelming World Title match between Lex Luger and Giant never had a hope. The angle was still ridiculously good, but WCW missed quite breaking some new ground. Still, they had a great angle on their hands – but would the ratings back it up?

Emphatically. After the 2.6 the previous week the rating Nitro rebounded to a 3.4, defeating Raw by an entire ratings point with a 2.3. Not that the TV was, necessarily, improving - the show after The Great American Bash didn't feature either Nash or Hall. There was something, perhaps, to be said for the genesis of the angle lifting the entire industry, along with The Great American Bash being a great WCW show, WWF's King Of The Ring effort a week later was their best show since 1994 also. The tide was rising.

If there was one man the rating was bad news for it was Hulk Hogan. Hogan who, not for the last time, had made a strategically timed exit in attempting to coincide with a dip in rating had overplayed his hand or, at the very least, underestimated quite what effect Hall and Nash would have on ratings. The hope was ratings would sink as WCW was temporarily move to 7pm (which they did), but would struggle meaning Hogan could time his return, pop a rating an re-establish how important he was for the company. In the three weeks following The Great American Bash Nitro never did lower than a 3.3... life after Hogan was stating to become a possibility.
 
If the night after Great American Bash didn't feature either Hall or Nash, it did feature the reveal of who Nash and Hall's opponents would be in the six man tag match. It was said six WCW performers were up for the random selection; the three they went with – Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting; along with World Champion Giant, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. It should also be said that at the time WCW were frequently running video packages on Hogan during Nitros – we couldn't risk the audience forgetting who he was, brother.
 
(Also worth saying they were also running the "Blood Runs Cold" Glacier promos every week at this stage, these had been going since April!)
 
Surprising, perhaps, is that easily the best angle of the "pre-NWO" run of the Outsiders is probably one of the ones that history remembers least vividly. On June 24th, during a main event triangle tag match between Champs Sting and Luger, The Steiners and Harlem Heat Hall and Nash descended from high up in the stands, through the crowd carry baseball bats with no security around them. Tony Schiavone called the segment with the gravitas it needed and the crowd whipped into a frenzy. The pair got to ringside and Hall smashed the ringsteps three times with the bat making a sound like a rifle going off.
 
In amongst the carnage, Harlem Heat picked up the titles, but it was as good as missed as security officials carry side-arms stormed the ring.  The Heat, somewhat comically, scarpered up the aisle way past Hall and Nash with the Steiner Brothers and Luger and Sting were left stood in the ring flanked by half a dozen officers with guns... wrestling had never been so bad ass, far from this being a great heel invasion Hall and Nash looked like two of the most defiant, bad-ass good guys you'll ever see.
 
It was probably this moment that clinched Hulk Hogan's fate. Not only did WCW have an angle that was slowly catching fire, they had a future without Hogan. When Hogan arrived two years prior he signed a lucrative contract that made him WCW's top paid guy and gave him a significant cut of pay per view revenues along with a lot of other perks. As I've written previously, as the level of pay per view opponent for Hogan declined so did his drawing power. WCW had a money drawing angle, and most importantly of all, they had options.
 
The crux of their choices went like this: given the nature of the angle the third man *probably* had to be someone with big ties to the WWF, either a member of the current WCW roster who had wrestled their in the past or someone who was coming in there from the outside. This opened up options, some good, some bad. Jeff Jarrett was rumoured, but his non-compete with the WWF wouldn't expire until months after the pay per view. One ludicrous report in the Observer even suggested Mabel was going to be discussed. The wrestling industry would be in a *very* different place today if Mabel was the third man!
 
But there was one option from the outside that seemed to fit the bill quite nicely: Bret Hart. Even though there was seemingly no chance Hart would be the third man, he fit the bill almost perfectly. A big name current WWF guy like Hall and Nash were, and one that hadn't appeared on WWF televison in months. While it was a rumour that wouldn't stand up to closer scrutiny, it was a plausible story and one that absolutely would've fit the bill of what WCW were looking for.
 
Beyond Hart though, the only options WCW realistically had were ones inside their own walls, namely the six top names considered for team WCW in the first place. Flair would've made no sense at all, so he was a bust, Giant similarly was just a really awkward fit (as he probably was when he did join the group). But in Hogan, Luger, Sting and Savage you had four quite different stories.
 
Savage had the strongest “WWF past” of the four other than Hogan, but Savage in this role would feel like a left turn. He was in the midst of a really fun and important feud with Ric Flair – he was a babyface who had his own problems, pivoting into this new program would feel a bit like a lame duck particularly in amongst an abrupt ending of the feud with Flair.
 
Luger was originally considered for the turn, someone who had enough of a link to the WWF thanks to his run between 1993-1995. Arriving as a surprise in 1995 Luger had arguably become WCW’s most popular act in the first half of 1996, finding a lovely medium with a tweener character that basically enabled him to play whatever character fitted the town he was in. It also helped that with his Torture Rack finisher he had the most over move in the company.
 
Perhaps the most intriguing of the alternative names, and the one that became the “backup” on the evening of was Sting. Sting was a WCW lifer, and with a story that seemed to run opposite to that of which Hall and Nash were running on. But ever since Hogan and Savage arrived the babyface Sting had sunk down the card, if anyone had a motivation to “turn towards New York” then it was Sting. A heel turn would’ve seriously freshened up his character and perhaps opened up even more potential fresh match-ups than Hogan’s turn did.
 
If Hogan had turned down the opportunity to turn he likely would’ve been writing the last chapter in his wrestling career. Given the acquisitions WCW were taking on there was a case to be made that Hogan was no longer paying for himself, if WCW could maintain key metrics without Hogan – and we were at the stage where his difference on pay per view and on television was sometimes indistinguishable. Never mind the metrics though, his outdated babyface character likely would’ve sunk further, certainly opposite the uber-cool nWo act lead by Sting, Nash and Hall. With the WWF having burned the bridge with Hogan in the six months prior (bringing him back after the months of Billionaire Ted segments would’ve been insanity), Hogan likely might have found himself without a wrestling gig in 1997.
 
As it was, WCW executed the angle to near perfection. Starting the match 2 on 3 at Bash at the Beach, Luger was eliminated from the match quickly after a Stinger splash went awry. The match that followed was OK… it was hard to build any drama given that the crowd were waiting for something to happen. And they got that when Hogan walked out to the ring.
 
With that, the “New World Organisation of Wrestling” was formed. 

Listen to our March 1996 WWF podcast, reviewing Wrestlemania XII and the Bret vs Shawn main event.

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Bret Hart often found himself in the Ric Flair role within the WWF, playing the guy who we give the title to when our plan A fails. After Luger failed, Bret relieved Yokozuna of the title. After Diesel failed, Bret defeated him for the title. Bret was the safety net until Vince McMahon came up with his next great idea. The difference is, in Shawn Michaels - he'd finally found one.  

Shawn had a lot to overcome; despite being (just) over six foot tall, Shawn had that great ability to make himself look smaller – in a promotion run by Vince McMahon that would surely restrict him to a charismatic mid-card role. But in a post-steroid trial world, and one where raw size was beginning to mean less and less. The question was less about who Vince was going to push in his place and more when he was finally going to pull the trigger on him.  

The first taste of the big time came for him at the beginning of 1995. If the Royal Rumble victory smelt like an endorsement from the boss it was more the brutal admission that Shawn – while still excellent, was really their only choice. Him, as a heel, against the much taller babyface in Diesel made little sense, even given their existing relationship. With Diesel attempting to find his feet as a main event level babyface, wrestling a smaller, more charismatic performer who was on his last legs as a heel wasn't the best pairing. The feud, and the match, were below where they could have been. 

As for Bret he found himself in familiar territory. In fact, you can make a good argument that Bret was never truly pushed as the number on guy until 1997 – the year he would leave the company. Certainly since Hulk Hogan's departure in 1993 the company lunged from trying other ideas to falling back onto Bret. His title run in 1994 was famous for four title defencesthat all were mid-card matches. When he regained the belt at the end of 1995, while he was wrestling in the final match on shows it was clear that once again he was a placeholder – this time keeping the seat warm for Michaels. 

It was an odd situation across the board, one that illustrated how sorely lacking the company was that headed into Wrestlemania 12. Their top two matches pitted a babyface Hart against babyface Michaels and a babyface Undertaker against an, at best, tweener Diesel. The arrival of Vader perhaps could've been a better short term fix and, at the very least, we can say with the benefit of hindsight that in Hunter Hearst Helmsley, The Ringmaster and Mankind the company had at least signed the guys that would eventually re-address the balance.  

But it made for uncomfortable viewing when, in the final Raw in February 1996 Bret and Shawn went to the ring for a promo segment. Neither man being fully embraced and Bret especially receiving boos loud enough for Interim President Roddy Piper to reference them during the segment. While Shawn, via a ludicrous storyline that had him clearing himself to perform after suffering "post concussion syndrome", was riding the quest of the wave, Bret was back in an all too familiar spot.  

His run of three consecutive pay per view events, despite being in the fabled main event spot hardly signaled confidence from Vince McMahon. His battle with Davey Boy Smith in December at In Your House 5 was the exception, although hindsight would show Bret's emphatic clean victory over Bulldog was less to do with how McMahon saw the champ, and more to do with how expandable he saw Davey – who's three months in the main program would swiftly be coming to a conclusion. 

January 1996 saw the first of a pair of main events for Bret that would see him firstly face Undertaker – who was long overdue a title shot, before facing Diesel in February in what would be their fourth encounter in under two years. The Taker match was a struggle, clocking in a nearly 30 minutes and relying (whoever's decision it was) on far too much ground game for two guys of such size. Even worse still was the crowd's reaction to both faces – who were booed at different stages during the match. The marathon match ending with an unsatisfying conclusion didn't help either, with Diesel mearly pulling Undertaker off of the pin. Not for the last time, Bret would only retain his championship thanks to someone else's help.  

Earlier in the night it was Shawn's time to shine. While this was a WWF roster running on fumes, Shawn entered his second Royal Rumble as really the only viable candidate to win it. He should've been, regardless, but only the debuting Vader offered up any real hope of an alternative and if you looked beyond Diesel, a credible if outside shout, there was very little left to speak of. As it was, in a match that included appearances from Jake Roberts, Dory Funk Jr, two Squat Team members and Doug Gilbert.  

A year prior, that would've been that. It would've been set as the Wrestlemania main event – Shawn vs Bret. As it was, in the era of monthly pay per views, we had an In Your House show bridging the gap. Shawn was on top of the word, celebrating with his "Kliq" (in this case, the fans), but he had one more score to settle – since being beaten up by nine marines in October in Syracuse, someone else had been taking responsibility for his demise. That person was Owen Hart – involved in the angle that saw Shawn collapse on Raw in October – it was a strong segment. 

Owen and Shawn at In Your House 6 in February had an excellent 15 minute match. You can be critical of two things from Shawn, namely his lack of selling in the closing moments and his histrionics in the opening minutes of the match by playing with the crowd – having earlier said this was the most important match of his career. That being said, the match was excellent, Shawn continuing the long running story of he or Bret being the only two guys worth watching in these In Your House shows.  

Bret was in the main event, but much like 1994 he was being treated as an afterthought. The match with Diesel was a big disappointment, the latest in a long line of underwhelming Bret Hart gimmick matches (that started with Bob Backlund at Wrestlemania, and included Lawler at King Of The Ring). The escape the cage only rules nullified the drama before Undertaker came out from under the ring and pulled Diesel under, allowing Bret to escape almost like a coward. The show closed with an angle with Diesel and Taker – Bret had disappeared.  

Nevertheless, we had two winners – Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, and we had a match at Wrestlemania. Vince bought both men out on the final Raw of February for a promo. The pair talked of a mutual respect -> Bret admired Shawn, Shawn called Bret the best there was and probably the best there ever will be, even if he questioned whether was the best there is. The pair traded jibes about conditioning, bizarre until temporary WWF president Roddy Piper made the match a sixty minute match where the most falls wins, one quickly christened an “Ironman” match by Vince McMahon on commentary.  

It’s not particularly easy to work out why the company wanted a sixty minute match at Wrestlemania. Sure, it would limit the rest of the show, and limit the amount of other matches they would need at a time where their roster lacked star power. But a sixty minute match? This wasn’t NWA WCW, this wasn’t 1985, their audience hadn’t been conditioned to understand the significance of a long match.  

The match also logistically provided a risk. Bret Hart had one finishing move – his sharpshooter. The idea of Shawn submitting as the #1 babyface in waiting made little sense, and it exposed Bret’s lack of an impact finisher – most of his main event matches ended in cradles or rolls for clean if unsatisfying victories. Shawn at least had his vicious superkick, and one would hope that after he went to a time limit draw against Kama at the 1995 King Of The Ring (before superkicking him after the bell). We hoped he had learned his lesson.  

ECW had done an hour long time limit draw, famously in 1994. But the scenario was very different – that involved three men, rather than two (the match divided almost into thirds, with Sabu being carted off after a quarter of an hour before Terry Funk arrived in the match). It also featured an absolute butt-load of interference, the only real time it was a three way was the last 10-15 minutes. For a test of who was the best man, and the way the company had framed the match, Bret and Shawn needed to be mano-e-mano.  

The build throughout March was a bit of a disappointment. While the opening promo exchange probably got a pass, the lack of real beef that developed between the two over the coming weeks was a big disappointment. They went away and filmed training video packages with both of them, but side by side they lacked coherence. Shawn focused on himself, talking about his training and his desire. Bret’s contributions focused almost entirely on Shawn, criticizing his Mexican style wrestling (calling him a tennis ball, amongst other things), and questioning whether he was “tough”.  

But otherwise what we got on Raw a was a bit odd. Shawn came out and scouted Bret during a match with Hunter Hearst Helmsley… then just walked off. On the final Raw before Mania the limit of the build was Bret coming to ringside for an jarringly even match between Michaels and Leaf Cassidy (Al Snow), before getting involved with Marty Jannetty (Cassidy’s tag partner at the time). Jannetty seemed to get involved in the finish, Bret went over for some words and Shawn confronted him after the match. That was it.  

While that kind of UFC style fight promo wasn’t referenceable at this stage, WWF did have a recent history of building a babyface vs babyface feud. Go back to the Raw before Survivor Series in 1995, building Bret against Diesel, and you’ll see a great exchange between the two faces on a split screen. Both talked of respect but in a way that built a beef – they were both likeable but in a way that made it very easy for fans to pick a side.  

But that was all, largely, irrelevant. The only thing people were ever going to remember was the match itself. Afforded such a large portion of the pay per view, it made the entire show lack consequence – not that there was anything earlier on that was in danger of stealing the spotlight. And even if there was, it would’ve been quickly forgotten when Shawn appeared high in the Arrowhead Pond in Anahiem, before zip wiring his way from the rafters into the flat section of the crowd. Bret had to follow that – his standard walk out fit Bret’s serious character, but kind of made him look inferior in comparison. 

The pair were gathered in centre-ring, Shawn was flanked by Lothario (a bizarre addition to Shawn’s character who would stick for the rest of the year). Gorilla Monsoon was also on hand, making his first appearance after a great angle on Raw in January where he was laid out by Vader. Earl Hebner, mic’d up, gave a slightly awkward full introduction of the rules, but one that perfectly framed the prize on offer. It’s the kind of thing that’s common place in UFC now that WWE might think of reviving.    

For all the talk of conditioning the opening half hour was rather flat. Save an angle where Shawn inadvertently superkicked Tony Chimel at ringside, it was largely full of rest holds and submissions, with Shawn largely arbitrarily working Bret’s arm, and Bret working headlocks. It’s perhaps easy to say in hindsight, but it wasn’t an opening that suggested to anyone watching or anyone inattendance that the first 45 minutes were going to be of much note. The lukewarm reaction and reports of people leaving could hardly have been considered a surprise.  

The lack of drama was further driven home by the commentators. What submission work in the early goings that would’ve been effective was largely nullified by both Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler not being able to get over the tactics behind them. Whether the WWF had educated their audience in a way that would’ve seen this tactic work is another story, but it didn’t help. 

The drama picked up on the half hour mark. The rest holds became less frequent as the pair went to some bigger spots, including a ref bump and Shawn being thrown around the ring and taking Lothario out on the outside. But even as the action increased it rarely felt like a fall was incoming. Baring a couple of attempts on the half hour mark Shawn had barely shaped for a superkick, Bret in theory was working towards a sharpshooter but given that it was his deadliest weapon it made little sense for that to stay in the locker either.  

The rest of the match consisted of a series of spots designed to up the ante. The fans had flattened out a little, even booing a spot after Shawn kicked out of a piledriver as they realized the scoreline would likely remain 0-0 for the rest of the match. Bret teased embracing the heel role in the match, but never really went all the way. Shawn flung himself off the turnbuckle like a dart levelling Bret on the outside, he also took a bump over the turnbuckle that drew a gasp from the crowd as the cameraman on the floor had to duck for cover.  

The final minutes of the match perhaps lacked the inherent punch and drama that they should. Shawn dominated the final few minutes but inexplicably left the superkick at the door. He came off the top and Bret caught his legs, turning it over into the Sharpshooter with 30 seconds to go. Shawn clung on with dear life, but the sequence lacked drama, at this stage the idea of Shawn submitting with a few seconds left felt far-fetched. The hour concluded and Bret walked off with his title, rightly concluding that in the event of a draw he retained his title.  

That was, of course, until Gorilla Monsoon decided to restart the match in a period of sudden death overtime. Bret, befuddled, walked back to the ring as Michaels recovered and the match restarted. Bret fired Shawn into the turnbuckle, Shawn leapfrogged Bret’s attack and FINALLY hit him with the superkick. Both men were out flat, Shawn got to his feet first and laid in a second superkick for good measure. A three count later and Shawn Michaels had won his first WWE Championship.  

Any chance of a “passing of the torch” moment was denied as Shawn almost demanded the ring be cleared for his celebration, Bret b-lined for the back and Shawn soaked in the adulation of the crowd (minus those – and there were quite a number – who left during the match). The match for both of them represented a significant risk, one of a length rarely seen in wrestling, let alone in the WWF, in years. The match had gone off as planned, and by and large avoided disaster that could’ve tarnished Shawn’s defining moment.  

But questions, for me, linger over whether the match could and perhaps should have been better. What the pair set out to execute the did very well, but the idea of going 0-0 in normal time was perhaps and attempt at trying to be too clever. The fans weren’t ready for it, and it really left them nowhere to go – as the first half of large rest holds illustrated. The format probably didn’t lend itself to lots of falls, Shawn being pinned or worse, submitted on the night of his coronation would hardly have been a smart idea, and Bret’s lack of finish meant this match being 5-4 would not have gone down well if it had have been an exchange of roll ups and cradles.  

An improvement, perhaps, would’ve been to give Shawn the single fall in normal time. Be it at the start of the match, or even right near the end, Shawn picking up the first fall would’ve added a level of intensity to the match that just wasn’t present. Bret being one fall down would’ve put him in chase mode, and (perhaps) would’ve suited him trying more and more heel tactics as the match neared its close. Bret was no stranger for heeling it up where necessary – as his matches with Diesel showed, and with him about to depart the WWF for an extended hiatus to pursue an acting career, would’ve hardly damaged him long term. If Shawn was 1-0 going into the final minute, the spot with him in the sharpshooter would’ve carried much more weight.  
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It’s hard to be overly critical of the Ironman match, both men worked bloody hard and put on what is undoubtedly a very good effort. But given that they denied what almost certainly would’ve been a great “normal” match, they perhaps would’ve set the bar higher than where they reached. It’s perhaps an illustration as to how the company viewed the match that it would be over four years before they revisited the concept – with The Rock and Triple H going 6-5 in an hour long match. Every sixty minute Ironman match the company has ever put on since has included at least seven falls.  

Listen to our April 1995 podcast, reviewing that great segment with Dreamer, Raven and... Beulah!

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"Dreamer has never pinned Raven". It seemed an odd thing to say just a few months into a feud that seem set to go for a long time from a very early stage. Whether it was the first month in January 1995, where Dreamer wasn't even in the country, or the coming months where the program showed little sign of slowing and quickly started sucking wrestlers into its vortex, fairly early on it was clear that Tommy Dreamer vs Raven was no ordinary feud, in no ordinary company.

Raven arrived in ECW with a point to prove. Having spent the past couple of years as "Johnny Polo" – a stuck up, goofy heel manager come announcer in the WWF, his character went from forgettable – with the Quebecers - to irrelevant, calling shows that hardly anyone was watching. Having burned through in WCW prior too, ECW (in the short term, at least) offered the last hope of any kind of significance.

Dreamer had been knocking around ECW for the year prior. After a feud with "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, where Dreamer kicked out of not one but two splashes from the top rope. Dreamer went from belts and braces to eventually finding a pair of wrestling trunks, all in the name of "toughening" up the character. After a hellish program with The Sandman, who had gone through an evolution himself, Dreamer needed a new opponent.

In a land of brash, louder than life characters, "The Raven" gimmick offered something different. Arriving as a school friend of Dreamer, Raven's cut promos on an eerie swing, followed by a school classroom. There was plenty of mystique, perhaps not a tonne of forward planning at this stage - Dreamer was wrestling in Japan at the time.

February bought their first confrontation, Dreamer wanted to resolve this – the past issues bought up by Raven would be on hold for now. Raven aligned himself with the man who bought him in, a goof by the name of "Steve Richards". Richards would quickly become a man in Raven's image, wearing the cut off Metallica shirts and Dasie Dukes. Richards was the first in a line of bodies lined up to ensure that while Raven and Dreamer would be closely tied for the coming months, the chances of them meeting in a one on one situation were minimal.

If 1994 was about shedding the "pretty boy" image from Dreamer, 1995 was about trying to turn Dreamer into a legit bad ass wrestler. The other thing that was increasingly becoming important was getting him over full stop. Around this time Shane Douglas was departing for the WWF, Terry Funk had gone back to Japan and (depending on when you want to set your date point) about half of the ECW roster was being linked to WCW as they prepared for the start of the Monday Night War.

The feuds ability to attract continued with the addition of Beulah McGillicutty. Beulah was rejected by Tommy when they were younger, and when she was fat. She wasn't fat any more, she was hot (six months later Beulah would be promoting "Beulah's Box" as an item for the ECW Hotline – ask whatever questions you like). Beulah would accompany Richards at ringside for Raven's matches.

Dreamer faced Raven in a singles match with Richards and Beulah on the outside. The matches were decent, Dreamer was clearly becoming a fan favourite in Philadelphia, taking Sandman's "four corners" piledriver (showing the opponent to all four corners of the crowd) and turning it into his own signature move. That wasn't enough to put Raven away, and when a staged altercation between Richards and Beulah on the outside caused Dreamer to go out and play peacemaker, Dreamer walked right into a perfectly timed DDT from Raven on the concrete.

Dreamer's then faced Raven in a "Generation X" gauntlet match. He would firstly have to run through both of the Broad Street Bullies (hired by Richards), then Richards himself – Raven was even handcuffed ringside to ensure there was no funny business. Dreamer disposed of the trio, then went over to Raven – who had been released by Terry Funk shortly before.
Raven stayed in position before surprising Dreamer with a DDT to the floor and a victory. The story, that ECW were already starting to bill even at this stage, was that Dreamer still hadn't pinned Raven. It would soon become the theme of the feud.

Dreamer got another opportunity to face Raven in one of the best ECW segments of 1995. The match, predictably, decended into chaos – Dreamer got so pissed off he just DDT'd the referee as Richards broke up the pinfall that would've given Dreamer the win he wanted. Dreamer had enough of Beulah's antics – picked her up for the piledriver, revealing her minimal underwear to all four corners of the now rapturous ECW crowd – before dropping her down. If ever there was an indicator at just how underground and unscalable it was ECW's treatment of women. Dreamer mimmicked Raven's signature pose, before channeling Hulk Hogan by cupping his ear to the crowd. Finally he joined the hundreds six rows deep in the bleachers, leading an ECW chant as the segment ended. Again, Joey Styles was on hand to reaffirm, Dreamer still hadn't pinned Raven.

In four months Raven vs Dreamer had become the hottest feud ECW had going. Little did most people know things were only getting started. This will end this first blog, I will write the follow up in the coming weeks and months.