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WCW did a lot of things wrong. There was the Black Scorpion, Robocop, and the infuriating booking. With all the bad came a lot of good, however. The promotion had hot World Title matches, classic tag team battles, and some historic moments. Why do fans refuse to acknowledge all the things the company did right?
In the epilogue for this look at 1990 WCW, we look at the four reasons the company gets a bad rap for the entire year. Is it justified? Leave a comment!
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Thank you for joining us on Leaving a Mark where I fondly look back on the things that
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made me a wrestling fan my whole life. Have we got a big show for you tonight
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My name is Nathaniel Muir and I'm the movie editor at AIPT
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I'm also a long time wrestling fan who knows his stuff. Depending on who you ask
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This is the epilogue for my look at 1990 WCW where I look at the things that went wrong
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and try to figure out why no one wants to remember the good. Finding the good in 1990 WCW sounds difficult
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After all, this is the year the Black Scorpion and Robocop were on top of the marquee
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It would take a Herculean effort for any promotion to overcome these obstacles
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Somehow, 1990 WCW did it. Now, this doesn't mean that the Black Scorpion and Robocop should be forgotten
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Both are ridiculous examples of what not to do with your promotion, especially when you
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have a hot new babyface world champion. The question becomes, why are they the only things remembered about that year
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With the Black Scorpion, it's easy. It was Sting's first and only real feud after winning his first world title
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It also took up the entire second half of the year. The goofy magic tricks and ridiculous promos guaranteed that this angle would never be forgotten
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Robocop, however, that's a strange one. Yes, having the fictional character of a fictional movie save a real life person on a real pay-per-view
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is dumb. That being said, it was a one-time thing. It wasn't the first time that it happened
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It wasn't the last time that it happened, and it will definitely happen again in wrestling
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For comparison, look at Tiny Lister. Lister played Zeus in 1989's No Holds Barred, starring Hulk Hogan
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He eventually came to the WWF as Zeus and challenged Hogan. Apparently, he was jealous that Hogan had beat him in this movie
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Anyway, some fans laughed at the idea at the time. I did, but 1989, even through that, is still considered one of the promotion's best years
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The problem is not so much what had been done, but who had did it, and this leads to 1990 WCW's
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first issue. WCW was supposed to be an alternative to the WWF
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Having Robocop and magical villains upset the fanbase. This is absolutely not what they wanted to see
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At this point, the backlash becomes two-fold. WWF fans, they already didn't like the NWA, they didn't care for WCW, and now they had
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something that was very easy to mock. Fans of the NWA become very angry
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Fans of the NWA become very disappointed and angry. How was Vince able to get away with it
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Quite simply, because he had been doing it for years. And make no mistake about it, he took his lumps in the beginning
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It took him time to prove that he had a successful formula, and it was only then that he reached
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some degree of mainstream acceptance. Now, the NWA, they seemed to stand for everything that was opposite to Vince's circus
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When they turned their backs on what they were good at, they basically turned their
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backs on their fans. 1990 WCW had another huge specter looming over them
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89 was not just a great year for the WWF, it was a great year for wrestling as a whole
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Now, in the NWA, Ric Flair and Ric Steamboat met in a trilogy of matches that are still
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considered the greatest ever. Sting and The Great Muta faced off in one of the most exciting feuds the company had
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seen in years. Lex Luger had turned heel and was the most interesting he had been in a long time
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Following the Steamboat series, Flair then had a tremendous feud with Terry Funk that
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publications across the board called the best one of the year. On top of everything else, the NWA also had tag teams like the Steiners that proved that
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the company was ready for the future. It would be hard pressed for any company to follow up 1989
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I don't think any company could have done it. A letdown was inevitable, but WCW still managed to keep their head above water
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They had an awesome tag team scene. Luger and Flair still managed to have great matches, even though they were hampered by
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horrible finishes. It all boils down to one thing. Was there enough good to offset all the bad
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Obviously, this is going to depend on the person. That being said, there was a whole lot of good in 1990 WCW
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Luger wrestled one of the best matches of his career. The Doom 4 Horsemen feud was great and it played out on pay per view with some excellent matches
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And then you had the Midnight Express who were constantly wrestling top flight matches
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card after card, week after week, show after show. On top of all of this, many of the matches also had historical importance
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In hindsight, all of this good should have balanced out the ledger for WCW in 1990
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But then there's the booking. For better or worse, many wrestling conversations nowadays revolve around the booking
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It's impossible to talk about 1990 WCW without mentioning Only Anderson. I've done it multiple times over the past 4 episodes
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30 years ago, booking was not that big of a deal to me
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Hell, I thought the Halloween Havoc coax was pretty cool. Today, that fake sting angle is just another example of all the awful booking
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No one notices the excellent matches since it's pretty much impossible to get past all
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the strange backstage decisions that were made. Don't believe today's wrestling fans care more about booking than wrestling
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Try this. Tell a modern wrestling fan that the only thing that matters is booking
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Try this. Tell a modern wrestling fan how Bayley has never been in a good match since joining the main roster
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Watch how quickly they counter with how awful she's been booked. This ties into the previous point
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In a vacuum, bad booking can be overlooked. If it were just the Black Scorpion, or just Robocop, the rest of WCW would probably have
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received more notice. But when you also book a 6 month mystery man angle without actually knowing who will play
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that mystery man, and then you book bad pay-per-view finish after bad pay-per-view finish
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fans are going to start to forget anything good you might have. Case in point, the WWE constantly books themselves into a corner
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And most fans will laugh and just say, there's clown school again
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But if you book yourself into a corner, have your cartoonish heel kick out of multiple
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finishers, then no-sell a sledgehammer, then have a ref stoppage in your Hell in a Cell
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main event, you've just booked the worst match of the year. Finally, wrestling fans are jaded by nature
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For every best of list, there's 5 worst of ones. But you know, that's part of the fun that separates wrestling from any other sport
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The worst football or basketball games are not fun to watch. Who wants to see a replay of the worst MMA fight ever
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Talking about the worst parts of wrestling has a certain charm to it
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Watching the Black Scorpion spin that geek's head around still makes me laugh
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The thought that Robocop saved Sting from a shark cage is hilarious
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Of course, there is a downside to all this goofiness. The people who are not fans at that era think that's all WCW had to offer
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And that's a shame. 1990 is one of the most, if not THE most, important years in the history of the company
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It all comes down to one question. Would you like to hear about the Midnight Express vs Southern Boys awesome 5 star match
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Or do you want to hear about the time the Black Scorpion turned a dude into a tiger
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That concludes my look at 1990 WCW. If you like leaving a mark, make sure to like and describe
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I'm also always looking for ideas. Hit me up in the comments below
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Next week, I'm going to change it up a little. I'm going to talk about the moments in wrestling that gave me the feels
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We'll see you next week
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