The cruisers were most definitely the backbone of WCW. The show would open up every week with an exciting match or two from them. Their style was very unique for the American audience at the time. Once the radicals went to WWF it was a final nail in the coffin for WCW. The issue they had in WCW was they had no where to go and couldn’t climb the ladder. The cruisers and undercard of WCW were having awesome matches week in week out. However it was mostly against the same opponents. As the over the hill wrestlers and the NWO wouldn’t give up their spot to help get newer and fresher talent over.
It has been said by Chris Jericho that the heavyweights treated the cruiserweights like they had leprosy, and refused to even work non-squashes against them for the most part...
And they were the guys who, in 1996-1998, were giving Nitro a head start each week with the best matches on TV every Monday, before RAW even started airing.
@@steven5232 absolutely he's using the upswing. I enhanced/zoomed the tapes and there's clear correlation between the pendulous upswing and Alex's vertical. That's the brilliance, we all thought it was a silly Euro dance when really Alex is warming up and refining his technique. A true martial artist.
As a kid, we didn't have the money to watch these PPVs, so Wrestling Bios is really doing The Lord's Work with these in-depth recaps. Thanks a million for your work, homie
@@biggamerjh1Sorry to hear that. My dad died in 98. Monday nights were my favorite time back then. I escaped from the hell I felt all week for a few hours. I remember the Monday night wars fondly because of it
@@axelfoley2061 honestly, watching this I wish I had stuck with it. My dad had been a huge wrestling fan and I sort of stopped watching as a vague way to spite him… the sort of shitty idea that occurs when you’re a kid. Sorry to hear about your dad… 25 years later
Even if you’re into bikes, the Sturgis rally seams like the greasiest place on earth. I can’t imagine any of the talent (except Bischoff) being happy to be there
Kanyon was a legend and a very good Innovator of moves🙏 RIP. Raven should be in the WWE hall of fame and Saturn was very underrated and got screwed over in WWE.
@@UCUSmusic All WCW needed was some NWO jobber named Rod Stuart (could have been played by Ed Leslie). Then Fake Sting, Brian Adams, and Rod Stuart could have sung All For Love.
It's looks like what I would think Vince McMahon would have pulled off if he had got his start as a backyard wrestling promoter instead of a legacy owner.
I remember being lucky enough to see all three major wrestling PPVs from August 1998 live on their air dates. What a great time to be a kid, had a lot of friends that were in to wrestling at the time.
A Wrestling Bios video and an OSW video on the same day. This is truly the best Easter ever! Thank you for all the work you do Ryan, I can’t even begin to tell you how much we all appreciate your dedication to this channel. It’s a staple in so many of our lives!
@@Artmageddin Hogan was on the tonight show all the freaking time giving more publicity to him and the nwo which made Hogan even richer,he was on there every couple of months.
When I think about that Leno match. I just think of that story where Dusty, Sullivan and Jimmy are all driving back to their hotel completely speechless and one of them asks how many more nails they can put in this coffin. 😂
I give Leno credit. however, I'm glad he stuck to Stand up, the Tonight Show and his car collection. An athlete he is not. I've been watching some old Tonight show clips, funny enough.
I was there. Watched Leno roll in with Hogan and Rodman. Rodman had a huge bike, and he had the Heavyweight title belt on too. Miss Wrasslin in Sturgis. Thanks Wrestling Bios! Happy Easter!
So, quick story, I was 16 years old living in Rapid City, South Dakota in '98 (which is only an hour away from Sturgis) and this is the only PPV I ever ordered, and it was because I was excited to see Jay Leno wrestle. After watching years of Reliving the War, I'm so ashamed at my priorities back then, haha. I wanted to put this here as I think this the only moment from Reliving the War where I can say "I was there!" (kinda)
Did it live up to your expectations at the time? 😂 I’ve ordered UK WWE PPVs on sky box office back in the early 2000s under the impression they were basically wrestlemania but in the UK. Looking back at them now they were obviously just televised house shows 😅
@@phillipbailey2525 It did! But to be fair, I was just excited to see Leno wrestle. During the PPV itself I had a few friends over and we were taking bets on who would win each match, and that made it more fun I think. Because we were super tough midwestern teenagers, we used pieces of a breakfast cereal called "French Toast Crunch" for our betting chips.
I don’t think a triple-decker table spot has ever gone that smoothly and successfully. Hell, I don’t think a double-decker table spot has ever gone that smoothly and successfully.
This was the first wrestling anything that I watched. I was nine years old and I was out on my friend's Dad's boat. My friend wouldn't shut up all day about this "pro-wrestling" pay-per-view, and would he be home in time for it. Almost a quarter century later I'm still an avid fan and I'm so excited to watch this back through your eyes. Keep up the great work!
The intro reminds me of a mix of the nWo theme and some porno music. Although I guess the nWo theme already sounds like porn music haha. I honestly forgot that Public Enemy were in WCW mainly. I remember them being on all 3 brands to various lengths. Although I remember that they didn’t last long in WWF. They got absolutely wrecked by the Acolytes. Man the matches you can tell are shoot style are pretty obvious when people are being thrown super hard into the corners and hard chair shots.
Its funny as a kid my best friend would wait for his mom to come home from a party with a recored tape of WCW PPVs...this one was a core memory. Obviously as a kid i remember this PPV as epic. The Disco inferno match was amazing. The wolfpack battle royale was epic. I Could have swarn LaParka was involved in this PPV. I think its awesome that asa kid i was easily entertained by a PPV looking back on wasnt that good
As I've been going through all these, I was trying to remember when I stopped watching WCW and started exclusively watching WWF. I couldn't figure out what exactly caused me to switch. And today I remembered. It was Jay Leno.
I was at all of these, we helped Jay Leno's limo driver and he gave us back stage passes. Got to meet Kevin Nash, big show and Conan. I grew up in rapid city which is about 25 mins from Sturgis.
Here comes Mongo! That guy was an absolute door stop . 😂 Love your videos. This is the coolest wrestling channel I've come across. Keep up the good work
"I hated the idea of a celebrity main-eventing a PPV, but then I saw Jay Leno putting Hogan in a wristlock on the cover of USA Today and I understood." - Chris Jericho
The writing was on the wall so early on with WCW. They had no idea what to do with Goldberg, so they threw him in a match he had no business in. In addition, they chose to highlight a match in the main event that had ZERO long term implications just so they could get some short term benefits with Leno. It really is a shame because they had so many quality players on the roster.
You’re right. But it’s the host of THE late night show on NBC. And the success they just had with Rodman/Malone. I get why they did it but this is when I checked out of WCW.
@@Artmageddin Oh absolutely. As a kid, I was eating this all up, but it's a total "jump the shark" moment and something that was becoming far too common during theses times in WCW.
You're wrong about the "long term implications", the whole point of the Leno feud was because WCW was about to sign a deal with NBC that'd give them a timeslot in 1999 but it fell through when the NBA lockout ended.
@@mrwhopee I would just argue that nothing involving Leno was likely ever going to impact a WCW storyline with any real value. It's revisionist history though, because like I said as a kid I enjoyed it probably. As an adult though, I can clearly see that WCW was running on fumes at this point.
I always looked at Road Wild like those WWE shows over in the UK, or how Crown Jewel is today. They're non-canon, just here because an advertiser or someone threw a lot of money at the company. In this case, Valvoline, and hey, we got another five star Mongo match out of it 😂
With that top rope move alone, Jimmy Hart has already shown more actual athleticism than Kevin Nash ever has. 😂 Saturn, Raven, and Kanyon was a pretty good match. The Even Flow only hitting one of the competitors was kinda excellent.
