May sound weird but sometimes when I can’t sleep, I’ll throw on one of these oldies and I’ll drift right off. Not a slight on Dave. It’s actually a compliment.
I fall asleep to Observer all the time, and it's the same thing, it's a comfort thing. This is amazing wrestling history, so awesome that it's been perserved!
Funny that most of the cruiserweight guys they thought were out of a job ended up being some of the longest tenured guys. Noble, Helms, Kidman all had good runs and Noble and Kidman are still employed in 2015.
"Where's Jamie Noble gonna go?" Get a good run as Cruiserweight champ in WWE, get injured by Sheamus and earn a job for life with WWE, and even get T.V. time as security for one of the biggest upcoming stars in wrestling history today, I guess.
Dwayne Henry There's one huge mistake WWE hasnt made and its the most important one. They haven't overpayed for talent. They make all the creative mistakes but not the financial ones.
Why did you skip all the way to 2016? WWE started making creative mistakes during the Invasion Era. And by mid 2002 forget about it, pro wrestling completely fell off. And WCW & ECW folding in 2001 was the start of the downfall of pro wrestling.
@Gonzo Lewd - The indies are financially booming a little bit but that's all. A boom also includes general public popularity and major network TV deals. Last time I checked the indies are not popular and there's no promotions on major networks. Hell, even video game tournaments are doing better than the pro wrestling indies. I see video game tournaments on major networks like ESPN and TNT.
I remember Jericho saying he was shocked at how little WWF bought WCW for and saying something like "If I knew it was that price I would've bought it myself."
When you listen to some old wrestling observer shows you find some amazing wrestling marks. A show on the day wcw was dying they were calling in still thinking it was all a work
I remember how bad this PPV was. This and Sin summed up the sad state of WCW at the time. Thanks for uploading these i used to have a harddrive filled with W.O.L and LAW shows but i lost them in a flood a couple years ago. i'm happy to see we have fellow Wrestling Historians on youtube though that uploads stuff like this for everyone enjoyment. As bad as TNA is it'll never be as bad as WCW in 2000 and 2001.
There was a 4.th PPV planned in 2001... I think I still must have the Banner... "WCW Big Bang! 2001" or something like that... I think the Main Event was planned to be DDP def. Scott Steiner (with Midajah). Big Poppa Pump won the Title back from Booker T. with help of the Magnificent Seven one Nitro before the 4.th PPV. I really miss WCW! Specially the Cruiserweights! The Cruiserweight Tag Team Tournament was AMAZING! I hope one day (SOON) it will be on DVD!!!
WCW under easy E was gonna go dark and the big bang show was like the re premiere of the promotion. With a new logo and new show and new announcers basically a restart but once Kellner cancelled the programming bischoff had no desire to purchase WCW assets
Yes! Had WCW Not Been Cancelled Of Their Shows, The WWE Would've Had Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena & Randy Orton & WCW, Would've Had Better, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak, Shawn Stasiak, Chuck Palumbo, Mike Awesome & Possibly Johnny Stamboli. Then Again, The WWE Would've Gone Out Of Business Before They Pushed John Cena, Randy Orton & Batista. Brock Lesnar Would've Helped The WWE A Tad. The WWE Would've Pushed Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit First And While They Would've Done That, WCW Already Had Jeff Jarrett, Booker T & Scott Steiner. Then WCW In 2001/Early 2002 Would've Pushed Mike Awesome Again & They Would've Nonstop Pushed Chuck Palumbo, Sean O'Haire, Mark Jindrak & Shawn Stasiak. The WWE Would've Been Falling & Gone Out Of Business. Of All The New WWE Stars In The 2000's, Only Brock Lesnar & Batista Would've Been Top Stars In WCW. WCW ready Had Jeff Jarrett, Booker T & Scott Steiner Before Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit & Eddie Guerrero Were WWE Stars & They Could've Done The Same In WCW, Got Bigger & Then Got World Title Shots & Won It. The Natural Born Thrillers & Mike Awesome In The Main Event In WCW Would've Destroyed The WWE With Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero & Edge(LOL). Edge, Christian & The Hardy Boyz Were Overrated & Overhyped & Are Not Built/Muscular Heavyweights. WCW Would've Already Had Mike Awesome & Sean O'Haire For Brock Lesnar & Batista. If A Nonbuilt/Nonmuscular 241 Pound Edge Got Pushed In The WWE, Then Johnny Stamboli Would've Deserved A Push In WCW. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero & Chris Jericho Wouldn't Have Been Any Competition For The Next New WCW Stars By 2003/2004. WCW Not Only Didn't Push Small Wrestlers & Small Fat/Nonbuilt/Nonmuscular Heavyweights Who Weren't That Big, Who Were Heavyweights In Cruiserweights' Bodies, They Also Didn't Push Many Small Built/Muscular Heavyweights(1 Or 3). The Only Stars WCW(1988-2001) Made That Were Small Built/Muscular Heavyweights Were Chris Benoit & Jeff Jarrett & Both Of Their Title Reigns Happen Because Of Vince Russo. Yes. Vince Russo Got Fired From WCW 6 Days Before Chris Benoit Won The WCW World Title, He Still Made Chris Benoit #1 Contender & Chriis Benoit Headlined Mayhem 1999 In The World Heavyweight Title Tournament Final Match & Chris Benoit Wrestled Bret Hart For The Title On The Thunder Following Starrcade. And Bret Hart, A Small Built/Muscular Heavyweight Became WCW World Heavyweight Champion While Vince Russo Was In Charge. Jeff Jarrett Became World Champion While Russo Was There. Really Vince Russo Pushed Small Built/Muscular Heavyweights In WCW. Is It Possible That Randy Savage Was A Small Built/Muscular Heavyweight, 237 Pounds, In Late 1998/Early 1999. He Did Get Jacked. I Did Say WCW Didn't Push Many Small Built/Muscular Heavyweights & Randy Savage Didn't Really Look That Small.
Anyone who doesn't think Vince Russo killed WCW should listen to this quote by Meltzer @ the 11:45 mark. "There is no question in my mind that this thing was totally salvageable when Russo took it over, and when he was done with it, it was not" Russo fanboys like to point out all the other factors that went into the demise of WCW, but what it boils down to is the fact that it could have been saved. It was Russo who put the finishing touches on WCW's destruction.
I truly don't get how Russo still has defenders. Sure, he might have had some good ideas during the attitude era in WWF, but since then he has compltely shit the bed. It is so obvious that Vince McMahon was the X factor who was able to filter out the shit ideas of Vince Russo and find the good ones. Also, the WWE entered its creative peak after Vince Russo left in my opinion with late 99 and 2000. There was less swerves for the sake of swerves and more long term booking after he left.
WCW could've had WWE's 2000 creative team and they still would've went out of business. Jamie Kellner didn't like pro wrestling and that's all it took for WCW to die. And from my experience with people who don't like pro wrestling they can't tell the difference between a good wrestling show and a bad one. So it's not like Kellner would've said to himself "hmm, I hate this shit but at least it's good". WCW was gonna die regardless.
Yeah, the UFC was pretty dismal in 2001 though. They were about to go bankrupt before the Fertittas stepped in(which happened a month before this show.) In fact the UFC didnt really turn around in popularity until around November 2002. During this period, Cable wouldnt even put UFC on Pay-Per-View. Keep in mind that previously, before July of 1999 they were still pretty no-holds barred spectacle and weren't really promoting the "Sport" aspect of it. Its funny actually, the UFC suffered from the same thing the WWF did. They marketed how controversial they were, that it was REAL violence and that literally anything could happen, and it bit them in the ass when politicians got wind of it. They shifted pretty well though, got a pretty decent unified ruleset down and managed to rebrand themselves into something that is seen as a pretty respectable form of sport now. But during the late 90s-2002 it was bad.
1:09:00 this is hilarious given both of those libraries are essentially the lifeblood of the WWE via the WWE Network. Anyone wondering what happened with Jamie Kelner he lost the job in 2 years and the company he started after has since folded.
Anyone know if they have these old Observer live audios any where else? I pay for the observer but they only have old backissues not old audio.. any ideas?
So by the sounds of it they knew this was the end of WCW at what point did this become knowledge, if I listen to the 18th March 2001 episode do they discuss future plans for wcw I want to watch these from the point they thought wcw was saved by Eric to Vince buying wcw or at least everyone finding out his intent to purchase wcw
Me too. I'd love to hear how the plans for WCW Big Bang went then going on to the "Replacing RAW" talks with Smackdown supposed to be the main "WWF" Show & Nitro on Mondays until the Booker T Buff Bagwell match.
The WWE Made Way, Way, Way, Way, Way, Way, Way, Way, Way, Way More Mistakes By 2020. There Were Wrestling Videos Done Back In 2012/2013 On 40 Reasons/50 Reasons/100 Reasons/250 Reasons Why The WWE Sucks, Plus 50 More Mistakes Since 2001 And WCW Only Made 12 Dumb Decisions. H There's An Article On The 13 Dumb Decisions That WCW Made, Thete Were Really 12. One Of Those Not Dumb Decisions Were Not Pushing Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero & Dean Malenko.
that technically woulda been for 2002, not 2001 baseball wise. the issue came up after the season ended if you recall. In fact they nearly DID strike in August of 02, they announced a deal the very DAY the strike woulda began. Many thought for sure they'd strike again and kill the game in the process only 8 years removed from 1994. Thankfully it didn't happen and baseball of the 4 major leagues is the ONLY one to not have some sort of work stoppage since then, which is pretty amazing considering how rough things were prior starting in the early 70's, with several stoppages and of course the big one in 94 to top them all.
dave the dusty dustin flair jarrett match was fun the crowd ate that match up they loved it just enjoy it for what it was this guy been over analysing things for 4 decades
That point Dave made about Dusty and flair working an angle from 88’ is spot on, and reminds you how far uncle Dave has fell off, lol. Just kidding unc…But honestly nobody getting over flair and dusty in 14 years doesn’t speak great to your current product, but we are talking 2 of the 10 best ever. They might know a thing or 2, about how to “get a reaction”,,,over like rover!!!!! Those 2 could prob get a pop as long as they lived, at a wrestlemania, cold, with no match build…goats.
