Speaking of the Midnight Express, cuz Jim mentioned them....I was a WWF guy back when they were around, so I never saw them in their day, but now that I go back and watch some of their old stuff on the Network....man, they were one hell of a tag team. Just damn good in the ring
I remember when I was 5 or 6, and Spivey was doing an interview\promo he seemed totally unprepared for, and in a cluster of rambling, the line, "I'm mean, and I like to hurt people!" came out in the most southern accent this Texan had ever heard. From then on, my big sister had a new name for him every time we saw him, Safely Dan Spivey, Mildly discourteous Dan Spivey etc.
i think Dan Spivey kept getting work because of his size. Also, once he got that Waylon Mercy gimmick, he was able to make the look and promo work. Sid has always been my guilty pleasure just because he had that look and had the best squash matches in the business. And who doesn't want to be a 6'9" monster beating up jobbers? I only caught Sid when he became a Horseman. I saw one of those Worldwide late Saturday shows where they had a 6 man involving Barry, Arn and Sid. Fun match. Barry + Sid was beastly because you had two big guys.
@@bigglilwayne7050 Great team on paper, not so great on application. Sid was by for the star of the team, million dollar body, million dollar intensity, but a ten cent brain, his lack of intelligence always screwed his career over. And as Cornette said Spivey was just a generic big man, he had a good physique when he started but years of abuse both from getting into real fights and from snorting anything that looked white and powdery made him look less impressive
@@FerretJohn Any real fighter will tell you fighting fu_ks up your body from the inside out.. While pro wrestling fu_ks up your body from the inside.. Pro Wrestlers need to stay from the real fights cause they are already getting the injuries from the inside of their bodies the outside shouldn't look like sh_t too.. And I agree! Sid was literally the main eventer of the team.. Sid could of went very far cause he had it all except when he does promos.. Like I always say.. If someone has 90% of almost everything find that mouthpiece to complete that 100%..
I think Jims rant on Spivey was more personal than he wants folks to think. I've watched Spiveys career and while he may not be in line for worker of the year , I've seen a lot worse. For Jim to say everything Spivey did was the $hits is not an accurate portrayal of Dan, and anyone can go back and watch Spivey from back in the day and see what I'm talking about. This was definitely a deep seeded personal issue with Cornette in my opinion.
i was too young to know better, but I loved the skyscrapers, they were so huge, had a great look. I was a total mark for the sid skyscraper thing. then when mark callas came along, he didn't thrill me, he looked too thin for his height at that time, had the ginger red hair going. turned out to be one of the greatest wrestlers ever
I remember way back in the day when Scott Keith called the Great American Bash the greatest pay per view ever thinking "you watched the video release, because you wouldn't say that shit if you'd seen the Skyscrapers vs. the Dynamic Dudes." God that was awful.
1988-1989 years being the worse in wcw/Nwa in terms of draws.But look at the talent pool at the time if anything I thought these to be the best years in wcw just because the talents. Mark callous,steiners,road warriors,midnight express,doom,sting,lex luger,Bryan Pullman,great muta,Sid vicious,terry funk,ric Flair,arm anderson and list goes on and on talents in 88-89 and still can't draw.
That's because Jim Herd was a damn idiot and didn't know how to use talented wrestlers. He tried to run Ric Flair off the entire time he was running WCW. Shows how big of a moron he was.
Picture Dan Spivey slipping Cornette's handshake, staggering back to the lockeroom, looking in the mirror, and seeing a seven foot tall prime Ultimate Warrior body with Cody Rhodes' face looking back at him
The first time that I saw Dan Spivey he was when he was wailing mercy in the world wrestling Federation I had no knowledge of his previous wrestling career before he came to the world wrestling Federation
I agree with Jim. I couldn't understand why they kept trying to use Spivey in 88-89 (Varsity Club and Skyscrapers) but had Scott Hall who coincidentally use to team with Spivey in 84 as the American Starship tag team (Starship Eagle - Spivey and Starship Coyote - Hall) and they used Hall as a jobber for the top heels including Sid.
I remember when Sid left and Mark took his place I was pretty disappointed. It wasn't that I didn't think Mark was good, I was actually wishing they'd kept Sid, and gotten rid of Spivey. That would've been a helluva team.
@@pooddescrewch8718 Meh, he was a product of the time. He certainly looked the part, and working as a big man didn't require much. All that was wanted from a guy his size was punch, kick, slam, big boot, chokeslam. Sid did all of those just fine, except for his punches. They looked horrible.
The Skyscrapers I thought were a unique idea - a new thing... but yeah, it is unfortunate the their main run was not Sid Vicious and Mean Mark Callous.... That would have worked best.....There was a lot worse shit in WCW than them
On what planet would a team called The Skyscrapers sell for two dwarves Cornette is talking utter bullshit that John wasn't that much of a difference in Spivey when it comes to size
Spivey was a beast...that is why he got a lot of bookings back in those days. Bookers were afraid of him because he’d turn it on for real in the ring - which he did several times. I think it was both a curse/blessing he was teamed up with Sid because at least that put a time limit on using Spivey. And when Calloway moved on to a more legendary career path, Spivey was - thankfully! - done.
@@poopsyko ……Yeah I think Spivey began to have some mounting injuries for sure. He really was a high impact big guy overall. I heard Sid was a nightmare to work with as well - stabbing Arn Anderson!?!?!!!!
He never gives anyone their due if he dislikes them personally no matter how talented or hard working they are- Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, most of AEW in general, The Miz.
That’s cause everyone you mentioned can’t wrestle for shit. Omega got the happy hands. Miz is clumsy looking as fuck in the ring. The Young Bucks are just high spot artist, they aren’t wrestlers.
@@michaelhunziker7287 In all his other gimmicks, I'll grant you he wasn't very great - Certainly not terribly memorable at all. But Waylon Mercy, at least, while not much to write home about in the ring - those promos were fucking awesome.
Didn't Steve Williams technically replace Rick Steiner in the Varsity Club? Williams started teaming with Mike Rotunda and they beat the Road Warriors for the NWA World tag belts in early 1989.
@@gregorykrug8034 yeah...definitely. you're right that he was in the club. I think he teamed with Kevin Sullivan to challenge for the US tag belts. I don't remember who joined first, doc or spivey. Now that i think about it Doc may have joined after Spivey left the varsity club because part of me remembers when the skyscrapers first formed and dr death was still a face and he was in the ring against them. So much of WCW in late 1988 to early 1990 blends together in my mind.
@@diggitydave75438Dr. Death was in before Spivey. He joined in mid-late 88 after Steiner turned face. Spivey joined in early-mid 89 and once it all ended he became a Skyscraper in the later half of 89.
My father took me to the Great American Bash in 89 at the Baltimore Arena and Cornette is 💯 that Skyscrapers vs the Dynamic Dudes was an awful match but Sid got over CRAZY!!!!!! With his ego I bet he thought he was on Ric Flair, Stings level lol he damn sure wasn't....
How badass would it have been to have Great Muta vs Ricky Steamboat in 1989. The fans went crazy when they battle bowl.I believe it was 91? When had won battle bowl in the previous year and they did mix stage stuff between the faces and heels. Sting paired with vader and Pullman paired liger and sting stepped in to face jushin thunder liger the fans went crazy for this. Why they never done a sting vs jushin thunder liger in 90-91 was beyond me.
Probably what you'd imagine it to be. Every Steamboat match was the same so it would have been Muta to not clash with him. It would have been good, but had it happened, I'm not sure it would have stood out
When I first started wat watching wrestling around 1986. I would always mistake Spivey for Hogan if it was a battle royal. They looked almost the same from far away.
Jim has talked about in detail of why The Midnight Express switched babyface. It all started when they were supposedly starting a potential angle with Tully and Arn, well wouldn't you know it, Tully and Arn quit and go to the WWF.
@@jrsmith3344while Cornette was at his best as a heel manager, there were a couple times when he was a babyface manager, once for a year in WCW/NWA and the second time was in Smoky Mountain in 94 for 6 months.
I don't know what Cornette is talking about but Spivey and the Skyscrapers where awesome! Destroying the jobbers and man handling the road warriors was cool!
Yeah destroying the jobbers was good but when you're in there against the best tag team the company has, you need to be able to put on a good match. Which they could not do.
Corny on Spivey is prime example of everything being personal with Corny. If only Spivey had been nice to him, the analysis would be he was there holding Sid and Taker's hand because they were green and taught them how to be two of the biggest stars of the 90's...by being what Spivey was in Japan, not worrying about "great matches", but being the badass your size indicates and not selling for anybody but the biggest stars...but alas Spivey wasn't nice to Corny
Mark Callous? Who's gonna sign him? He'll never be a world champion! He'll never headline big ppv's and have a historic winning streak! He'll never be a big boss backstage!
I know it was strictly kafab but when Undertaker and Sid had their rivalry in WWE at the time couldn't they of booked at as former tag partners turned big rivals and still kept it interesting ? Even had Undertaker at the time blame Sid for his turn to the dark side.
Dan Spivey. I remember when he started. He was never that good. Jim was right. Sid was the Star of that team but Spivey was always trying to be like the Road Warriors but couldn't pull it off. To bad that Sid and Mark Callous (The Undertaker) never were the Sky Skrapers together. Now that would have been a great team.
Watch that left that the no sell dude caught.... That sums up Spivey... I'm guessing that he punked Cornette out, because its obvious that he has a personal problem with the man...
@@jakekaufman8302 Luger wasn't tall enough but I think he was legitimately 6'5 When asked about Luger Ole Anderson said "Was that the big tall football player?"
Spivey was a good wrestler and they could have done more with him he was nowhere near as bad as Jim is trying to make him out but because Jim doesn't like him he gets no respect the undertaker and Sid always had respect for spivey he was a true badass in the ring and most definitely out
2:04 "He was broken down, looked like shit, physically His work was bland and looked like shit HE was bland and looked like shit His promos were bland and looked like shit"
When they were in different promotions? Why would Cornette be a part of Spivey beating up Adonis when he was working for Crockett promotions when that happened in WWF?
the first time i ever saw sid vicious he was beating the shit out of kerry von eric...sid vicious rules the world...i dont care what you say corny...i have really good memories of the guy