We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
I just watched a ffw version of the PPV. I kept thinking Dead, Dead, Dead.. Only three guys really active from there in Mysterio the Giant, and I guess Sting. That's the first Benoit match I have watched since the murder and Woman was protecting Sullivan. That was weird too.
ah, old times
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
You couldn't wait ten seconds there, Heenan? Maybe restrain the character for the sake of the story? I always hated that.
Of course he'd say that. He's always said that. He hates Hogan. But just wait ten more seconds here.
I used to feel the exact same way, but it would've been worse had he been a part of the Hogan cheer squad at that moment.
(edited by Stefonics on 7.7.14 1544)
Did you know? Tony Schiavone would intentionally keep the other announcers in the dark about what was going to happen, in an attempt to avoid sounding foolish.
You couldn't wait ten seconds there, Heenan? Maybe restrain the character for the sake of the story? I always hated that.
Of course he'd say that. He's always said that. He hates Hogan. But just wait ten more seconds here.
To me, that was the perfect Bobby Heenan moment where everything he said about Hogan for about 15 years came true. Heenan being the only one skeptical was in keep with his character. I love that line.
Deeper question: how many people saw Hogan's turn coming? I was just getting into the Internets in the summer of 1996, so I don't recall what the general feeling was amongst the IWC/RSPW.
At the time, I was thinking the Mysterious Third Man would be Yokozuna or some other WWF import. The Nitro before the Bash, I remember my dad saying: "it'll be Hulk Hogan. Watch". I hadn't suspected Hogan, at all, until that point. Still, I didn't think it would happen and it was a shock to me, nonetheless.
Hogan had kinda' been off of TV for about a month. At least in terms of live appearances on Nitro. I remember they showed a few hype/clip videos of him on the show, but that was it. The videos had no real point; they just seemed to be hyping up Hulk Hogan in general.
After the turn, I remembered those videos and thought: "oh yeah... shoulda' seen that coming".
I remember a lot of random, non-wrestling fans heard about it, too. I remember some older co-workers saying: "didja' hear Hulk Hogan has finally gone over to the Dark Side?!"-- not knowing I was a wrestling fan.
One little detail I'd never noticed: During Gene Okerlund's quick pre-match interview, Nash throws in a "Let me tell you something," then snickers to the hard camera. Subtle?
Originally posted by dWsDeeper question: how many people saw Hogan's turn coming? I was just getting into the Internets in the summer of 1996, so I don't recall what the general feeling was amongst the IWC/RSPW.
I didn't think Hogan was it. I thought it would be some WWF person, and of course it had to be a heel. I thought it was possible it might be Macho. Out there with Sting and Lugar, buddies and all. Lugar has also played the bad guy.
But I wasn't as aware in 96 as I am today of who is and is not ending contracts, so I literally thought it could have been ANYONE from WWF. I mean look, Lugar showed up first night on Nitro. I thought it might even have been Shawn Michaels or X-Pac. I did know that they and Diesel and Razor were pals. I wasn't aware of the contract thing. When I was a kid, random wrestlers like Buddy Landell or Bruno would show up in Chicago. I know now that by 96, guys were locked in. But at the time...
We'll be back right after order has been restored here in the Omni Center.
That the universe was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, I will no more believe than that the accidental jumbling of the alphabet would fall into a most ingenious treatise of philosophy - Swift
This happened before I was really closely attention online too, but I remember a little bit. WON has this from the issue before Bash
The third member of the heel team for the PPV won't be announced until the night of the show. Speculation is running rampant about who it is. I've been told that the deal was finalized last week for whomever it is. My feeling is that it's Hulk Hogan because a reader was working on the set of the movie Hogan is doing with Roddy Piper and said that Hogan told Piper he was asked to be the third guy and that he probably was going to do it. It wouldn't be a disappointment like most mystery partners turn out to be, and it would be the best thing for Hogan's career in some ways although there is a legit risk that the heel Hulk Hogan won't have the same PPV drawing power of the babyface version and when a guy gets 25% of the cut, he'd better have incredible drawing power or he's not worth it.
Dave got it right, but doesn't seem confident about it.
The cover story of that WON is about Ultimate Warrior walking out of WWF - his last appearance there until this year - and I wonder if some people might have that together with the mystery angle. I seem to remember people guessing third third man was Bret Hart, and that same issue notes Bret wasn't actually under WWE contract at that moment.
The next issue, actually covering the show, has an interesting back story: Hogan's WCW contract was done after Halloween Havoc. It's hard to believe WCW would ever part ways with Hogan given what we know now about his relationship with Bischoff, but there's at least a scenario at time where Hogan declines the idea of joining the group, the nWo gets as over with someone else, and Hogan becomes very expendable by October. (Hogan turning was a big part of the angle working, so it's a stretch to be certain it would've still gotten over without him, and even more so with Hogan as on screen opposition with backstage creative control.) Hogan jumping from the AWA to WWF was his best ever decision, but this was a good #2.
I remember thinking at the time it was either going to be Sting (the ultimate WCW guy turning heel would've been a big angle or, of all people, the Undertaker.
As a young fan I wasn't smart to contracts expiring or whatnot, though I did notice when the WWF stopped 'featuring' guys as much or having them do a lot of jobs. For instance, I figured Diesel was on the way out after jobbing to Bret, Undertaker and Michaels in three straight PPVs, and figured Hall was on the way out after unceremoniously losing the IC belt to Goldust, missing WM12 altogether and then jobbing to Vader. Therefore, I wondered if Undertaker was also on the outs after missing the HBK/Diesel IYH, losing to Goldust in the casket match and then losing to Mankind (almost totally clean!) at King of the Ring.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." --- Bart Giamatti, on baseball
Originally posted by thecubsfan I seem to remember people guessing third third man was Bret Hart, and that same issue notes Bret wasn't actually under WWE contract at that moment.
Wasn't that the original plan--the third man was supposed to be Bret, but then he ended up re-signing with WWF instead?
I've always thought it was funny that Hogan turned heel the moment people realized he was there as the legitimate third member of a team, not to interfere illegally to make it 4 against 2. B^)
Originally posted by dWsDeeper question: how many people saw Hogan's turn coming? I was just getting into the Internets in the summer of 1996, so I don't recall what the general feeling was amongst the IWC/RSPW.
Among the folks I read on RSPW back then, it was near-unanimous that Luger was going to be the third man. Some people even called the start of the match correctly - no third man, Luger gets taken out early - but then Luger would come out at the end to join the nWo instead of Hogan. Some folks wanted Hogan to be the one who turned, but nobody thought he really would.
Originally posted by thecubsfan I seem to remember people guessing third third man was Bret Hart, and that same issue notes Bret wasn't actually under WWE contract at that moment.
Wasn't that the original plan--the third man was supposed to be Bret, but then he ended up re-signing with WWF instead?
I've always thought it was funny that Hogan turned heel the moment people realized he was there as the legitimate third member of a team, not to interfere illegally to make it 4 against 2. B^)
The original plan was Sting. Yet, when Hogan saw the merchandise being sold with NWO on it, he latched on. I am sure Eric would have loved to have Bret be the third man, but I don't think it was in the realm of possibility when Vince offered him the what turned out to be bullshit life time contract.
Editing the Heenan line is the Greedo shot first of wrestling.
Originally posted by KJames199Among the folks I read on RSPW back then, it was near-unanimous that Luger was going to be the third man. Some people even called the start of the match correctly - no third man, Luger gets taken out early - but then Luger would come out at the end to join the nWo instead of Hogan. Some folks wanted Hogan to be the one who turned, but nobody thought he really would.
I could see how Luger made sense. They were running an angle teasing dissension between him and Sting, at the time. Luger would act all heelish, then smile and play nice when Sting turned around. I think this tied into the "Luger is camping out at the arena so he doesn't miss his match with The Giant" thing. Luger was trying to prove he was serious and a Good Guy.
He wasn't that far removed from his WWF days. Since the start of Nitro, "whose side is Luger really on?" had been a recurring subplot. Besides, it's just not a legitimate year in wrestling without a Luger turn.
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Angle getting injured would be a disaster, to say the least. Not just for WrestleMania, but also for the next entire year of WWE's business. This would also seem to mean that any hope Kurt had of wrestling in the 2004 Olympics might be shot, too.
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