Brian Damage
March 26th, 2001 was one of the darkest days in pro wrestling history. On that date, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) folded and was sold to Vince McMahon and the WWE, its main rival. What could have been, what should have been? Those are questions that sadly, we really never got the opportunity to find out. Oh sure, we as fans got to see a very watered down version of WCW in the WWE, but it wasn’t the original plan. Continue reading
Brian Damage
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” – Michael Corleone ‘The Godfather Part 2’
Pro wrestling has been filled with wrestlers, managers, valets and promoters who were friends outside of the ring. It has also seen its fair share of enemies throughout the business. One relationship in particular, captured both the love and hate within a time frame. The relationship I speak of is between former head of World Championship Wrestling Eric Bischoff and the late ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude. Continue reading
Brian Damage
New York City…the Big Apple….the city that never sleeps..etc, etc..this was the largest market in the world and a place where professional wrestling has thrived under the McMahon family. Other promoters have attempted to crack into the New York market and failed for various reasons. Verne Gagne and the AWA, Jim Crockett Jr and many others simply tried and did not succeed to be a player in New York’s thriving marketplace. Continue reading
Brian Damage
A recent inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame, Wayne ‘The Honky Tonk Man’ Farris was a top heel for the company in the 80s, including a lengthy run as Intercontinental Champion. But in 1994 he had a cup of coffee run with WCW – it’s that run that we look at in this latest piece. Continue reading
Brian Damage
Throughout the history of pro wrestling bookers and promoters have always tried to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas to generate interest in their product. Some ideas have not only succeeded but flourished. Others were DOA from the get-go. Then there are those ideas which initially were innovative but for various reasons, faded away. Those are the focus of this latest series of posts titled ‘Great Ideas That Didn’t Last’. This latest piece focuses in on ‘Diamond’ Dallas Page and his mysterious benefactor. Continue reading
Brian Damage
Throughout the history of pro wrestling bookers and promoters have always tried to come up with new, creative and innovative ideas to generate interest in their product. Some ideas have not only succeeded…but flourished. Others were DOA from the get go. Then there are those ideas which initially were innovative but, for various reasons, faded away. Those are the focus of this latest series of posts titled ‘Great Ideas That Didn’t Last’. Continue reading
Brian Damage
Long before the WWE’s dual broadcast of Monday Night Raw’s 25th anniversary special that emanated from both Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Manhattan Center in New York City, WCW had a similar idea. First off, the Manhattan Center has held its fair share of wrestling shows through the years. Not only WWF/E shows, but shows from Ring of Honor, ECW, TNA and even the ill fated World Wrestling Network run by both Paul Heyman and Jim Crockett Jr. Continue reading
