WCW Head Bookers

[Migs]

Jimmy Hart booked WCWSN from 9/18 until 10/31 or 11/7

In 1999? Just six weeks? Presumed it was longer for some reason.

[Loss]

I think it was 2000, but if we can confirm, that would be great.

[Tim Cooke]

That was his first stint. He def booked in 2000 as well but I don't have exact dates

[Sidebottom]

Watching the Pillman DVD, they reference a new booker taking over as the reason for splitting up the Hollywood Blondes, they bury this guy (JR, Austin, Dusty) but don't mention him by name. Who was it?

[JerryvonKramer]

As far as I know Dusty himself was still the booker in late 1993.

 

The big change in WCW in 1993 was Eric Bischoff taking over as Executive VP from Bill Watts. So I can only assume they are talking about Uncle Eric.

 

They split up too early for it to be Flair.

[Loss]

They were split up because of the low rating for Flair/Arn vs Blondes at the Clash. Dusty's takeaway from that was that Austin and Pillman didn't mean anything as a tag team. So he broke them up and it's been spun as a burial over the years, but Dusty was actually doing it because he saw singles potential in Austin.

[Happ Hazzard]

Was Nitro ever taped outside of North America? Was any WCW TV ever taped outside of North America? Not counting the German only PPV that was a bit of a disaster from what I've heard, I've never seen it.

[Gregor]

The 11/13/00 Nitro was taped in London.

[Tim Evans]

They also did two shows in Australia in late 2000. Nitro and Thunder.

[rovert]

I'd love a truth serum session with decision makers at WCW at time over the Blondes spilt. Went through listening to PWTorch Pro Wrestling Focus archives recently and the explanation there for the low rating was the Flair for the Gold interview segments were a) a too poor of a showcase with the segments being mixed in quality and made Flair too mundane/over exposed on WCW television before his in ring return.

[JerryvonKramer]

I've read before that Dusty wanted Austin to be US champ.

 

Is there any reason why history shits on the idea of their split? I thought Pillman got injured anyway and Austin joined the Dustin vs. Studd Stable feud.

[Jimmy Redman]

I would guess because it was a popular team, and then when people saw the end result of what they did with both guys (well, Austin) afterwards, they felt it wasn't worth splitting up a popular team.

[JerryvonKramer]

I would guess because it was a popular team, and then when people saw the end result of what they did with both guys (well, Austin) afterwards, they felt it wasn't worth splitting up a popular team.

Yeah, I'm a bit confused by that. Austin had a decent singles run in which he was touted as a future big star "wrestler of the 90s", and made US champ. Decent feud with Steamboat until injury cut it short.

 

The big crime is Bischoff cutting his balls off and jobbing him out to Duggan at Fall Brawl 1994, which has basically nothing to do with the Blondes splitting up.

 

Just a bit of a headscratcher for me.

[cm funk]

It's basically that they were a popular, cool team that had way too short a run. The irony is Austin was pissed when he got stuck in a tag team after his long singles push in the Dangerous Alliance....then was pissed when they were broken up. He got a strong singles push coming off of the Blondes...the real victim of the breakup was Pillman who completely floundered until they involved him with The Horsemen.

[ohtani's jacket]

I've read before that Dusty wanted Austin to be US champ.

 

Is there any reason why history shits on the idea of their split? I thought Pillman got injured anyway and Austin joined the Dustin vs. Studd Stable feud.

History has a lot to account for, like telling us that the Blondes were good.

[Sidebottom]

I've read before that Dusty wanted Austin to be US champ.

 

Is there any reason why history shits on the idea of their split? I thought Pillman got injured anyway and Austin joined the Dustin vs. Studd Stable feud.

History has a lot to account for, like telling us that the Blondes were good.

 

Do you dispute?

[ohtani's jacket]

Yes. I would rather watch Stars and Stripes or Pretty Wonderful any day of the week.

[Loss]

Why? When I rewatched the best Blonds matches for the 1993 Yearbook, I thought they were really good.

[ohtani's jacket]

I never liked Austin much in WCW and for Pillman I thought it was a huge step down from the Windham tag team and the end of his good period as a worker. From memory, they had one or two matches I liked but you can make a direct comparison between the Steamboat/Douglas stuff and Pillman with Windham then Austin and I don't think the Blondes stuff is as good. Maybe I'll rewatch them some day but they remind me a bit of Los Gringos Locos in terms of 90s teams that don't quite match their rep.

[Sidebottom]

Los Gringos Locos vs Hollywood Blondes would have been amazing, now you throw their names in the same post.

[JerryvonKramer]

Who exactly was booking for Watts in 92? All this stuff, doesn't have a particularly Dusty-ish feel. Whose idea was it (Jim Ross or Ole's?) to put all the tag stuff on top on all the big shows? Who loved the tournaments?

 

None of this booking feels like Watts's Mid-South stuff. Who is to blame for it?

[Loss]

Dusty booked under Watts' direction.

[JerryvonKramer]

Do you know if Dusty has ever talked about that anywhere in print or in a shoot?

 

If Dusty was booking under Frey too, it looks like almost all his plans were nixed. He really seems like he had his balls cut off.

[Loss]

Dusty hasn't, but Watts has. TBS execs wanted Watts to fire Dusty, and Watts refused to unless he couldn't get Dusty to execute his vision.

[kewf1988]

9/6 Nitro was the last Bischoff Nitro but I'm with Loss in thinking he was faded out before that. I don't recall the WON's at the time really giving any in depth information, other than a new committee taking over with Busch, Sullivan, Nash, JJ Dillon, and a few I'm forgetting.

Watching the stuff on the Network, the feel of the show does change a little bit in late July or August, around the time Sid squashed the Saturday Night/Worldwide jobbers and the cruiserweights to build a feud with Goldberg. The Nitro after Bash at the Beach still feels like Nash booking (I can see Nash dropping the title to Savage so he wouldn't lose it to Hogan twice in a year), though everything after Road Wild feels a little different, though still bad (Sting heel turn, the Revolution getting swept at Fall Brawl, Duggan being Bagwell's replacement at Fall Brawl, the debut of the KISS Demon (during the concert, I know his in-ring debut was during the Sullivan era), Eddie, Rey, and Kidman still feuding with the ICP, etc.). The Russo era started on October 18, 1999 and lasted until Sullivan took over at Souled Out, which lasted until April, when Russo and Bischoff came back. In July-October it was just Russo until the Ace/Taylor/Ferrara regime took over after the Australian tour (Russo's ideas like the MIA, That 70s guy Mike Awesome, and the Filthy Animals still continue till the Sin PPV, and that is when things got more wrestling oriented again until the WWF bought WCW... watching those Nitro replays on the Network, you can see the feel of the shows change after that PPV).