#19 - The Better Roster? WWF 1992 or WCW 1994

I recently wrote a blog on how I would have booked WCW's main event scene in 1994. After writing the blog, I started to re-watch several WCW events from 1994. The latest event I watched was Bash at the Beach 1994, which I had not seen in years. I watched the event and began to notice the Hall of Fame talent that participated on the show as every match seemed to have a wrestling legend battling another legend. The more I analyzed the event's roster, I thought of the WWF's roster in early 1992 which hosted every major wrestling star of the 1980's. After watching "the Bash", I started to question which roster was better? The April 1992  WWF roster or the July 1994 WCW Roster? The purpose of this blog is for you to review the points I raise about each roster and make your decision! I would love to see some comments and answer them accordingly!

Notes

- Both companies had big events during the month's I have chosen for comparison
WWF - WrestleMania VIII
WCW - Bash at the Beach 1994
- Ric Flair was the World Champion of both companies during the era's I have chosen
- There will be some overlap in roster names but there's still enough different names to warrant a comparison
- oth companies were around equal in popularity at the time
WWF - losing popularity thanks to the steroid and sexual harassment allegations
WCW - rising popularity thanks to the signing of Hulk Hogan

WWF - April of 1992

Roster included:

1. Hulk Hogan (took a leave of absence after WrestleMania VIII)
2. Ric Flair
3. Macho Man Randy Savage
4. The Undertaker
5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts
6. Roddy Piper (took a leave of absence after WrestleMania VIII)
7. Bret Hart
8. Shawn Michaels
9. Ted DiBiase
10. British Bulldog 
11. Sid Justice
12. Ultimate Warrior (returned at WrestleMania VIII)
    
    Top 3 Announcers: Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Vince McMahon

WCW - July 1994

1. Hulk Hogan
2. Ric Flair
3. Dustin Rhodes
4. Steve Austin
5. Cactus Jack
6. Ricky Steamboat
7. Big Van Vader
8. Guardian Angel (Ray Traylor "The Big Bossman")
9. Sting
10. Triple H (wrestling still as Jean Paul Leveque) 
11. Arn Anderson
12. Terry Funk
    
    Top 3 Announcers: Tony Schiavone, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan,  Jesse "The Body" Ventura (on the brink of leaving during this time period due to heat with Hulk Hogan)

My Opinion

Both of these rosters were filled with Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers but if I had to choose, I would go with WCW in July of 1994. I have always been a diehard WWF fan but in this case, I have to side with the Atlanta-based promotion. The roster WCW had at this time was just a better mixture of young and old.

• They had depth in the main event level (Sting, Hogan, Flair, Vader) that could have offered great matches for the coming years. 
• They also had depth in the upper mid card level (Austin, HHH, Regal, Steamboat, Jack) who were ready to step up into main event spots and become the stars they would eventually become in later years *cough* WWF *cough* 
• Two great heel commentators that added entertainment value to the product
• A better on-screen authority figure (Nick Bockwinkle > Jack Tunney)
  
  Those are my reasons for why I thought WCW had a better roster in 1994 than WWF in 1992 but I would like to know your opinion, the ones reading my blog! Feel free to start discussion on this blog and I'll try my best to quickly reply. 

#17 - Greatest Line in the History of Pro Wrestling

At 4:30, Ric Flair may have created the greatest quote in the history of professional wrestling. Whooooooooooooooooo!

#13 - Top 5 Books/DVD's

A really short entry today because it's final exam time so time is hard to come by! On the suggestion of my friend Jon Parsons, who frequently comments here on the site, I will list off my Top 5 Wrestling Books and my Top 5 Wrestling DVD's!

Books:

1. Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling
2. Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks 
3. A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex
4. Bobby Heenan: Wrestling's Bad Boy Tells All
5. Ric Flair: To Be The Man

Honorable Mention -> Undisputed: How to Become the World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps

DVD's

1. The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection
2. Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology
3. The True Story of WrestleMania
4. The Best of Saturday Night's Main Event
5. Bret Hitman Hart: The Best There Is, Best There Was and Best There Ever Will Be
   
   Honorable Mention -> The Life and Times of Mr. Perfect
   

#8 - 2012 Hall of Fame Class

WWE Hall of Fame - Class of 2012

Headliner - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (To Be Inducted By Stone Cold Steve Austin)

Co-Headliner - Mick Foley (To Be Inducted By Terry Funk)
*seeing that he has stated he will not resign with TNA this year*

Other Inductees

• Ron Simmons (Inducted by John Bradshaw Layfield)
• Arn Anderson (Inducted by Ricky Steamboat or Ric Flair, depending on availability)
• Kevin "Diesel" Nash (Inducted by HBK)
• Barry Windham (Inducted by I.R.S)

Celebrity Inductee - William Shatner (Inducted by Jerry "The King" Lawler)

Diva - Trish Stratus (Inducted by Lita)

With the main event of next year's WrestleMania already announced to be The Rock vs John Cena, they are looking for a big WrestleMania next year! They're going to have a great amount of media attention for this event, thanks to the Rock's return and it's location of Miami, Florida. The WWE will be counting on fans, both current and those who have lost interest, in buying this event for the historic moments it will deliver. These factors have influenced my decisions for the Class of 2012.

I'll give you a reason for each of my choices

Rock - This pick is a shoe-in for next year's WrestleMania. He will face off in the biggest match of the current generation the night after the event! It's in his hometown of Miami! It will also be the ten year anniversary of Hogan-Rock in the Sky dome. This one is a guarantee!

Foley - With the good relationship Foley has kept with the WWE, it seems that Foley will return to the WWE in some fashion once his contract ends with TNA. I predict that Foley will sign a deal with WWE similar to Kevin Nash, where he is "in the bullpen" if they ever need him for an appearance. Plus, Foley had a great career but I am unsure if he could headline a class, which might piss you off and allow some people to make comparisons that inducting Rock and Foley in the same class is like inducting Hogan and Piper in the same class. While Foley is a legend, I think he is the perfect co-headliner like Mr. Perfect was in 2007. Foley is a big star, a legend that is the perfect compliment to any class

Ron Simmons - He should have been inducted this year seeing he resides from Georgia but it does make sense to induct him in Florida due to his college football history in the state! A great addition to the Hall

Arn Anderson - The most overdue inductee of all time THAT is still with the company! It's almost as if the WWE shuns away their road agents from going into the Hall. It's as if they take the Agents for granted and always look outside for their Hall of Fame class. It took Dusty Rhodes two years to be apart of the Hall of Fame. It took Ricky Steamboat four years before they inducted him. Arn Anderson has been with the company since the WCW buyout! It's not like he doesn't deserve a spot (I just flashed back to his retirement speech and how he offered his spot in the Horsemen to Curt Hennig). He is a multi-time tag champion in WCW, 1 tag title run in WWF, the greatest WCW TV Champion in history AND was apart of the greatest stable in history ... You mean to tell me that doesn't warrant entry into the Hall of Fame alone (they rumored that he would be inducted only as part of the Horsemen, which is a damn shame)

Nash - Let's see ... He is a former WWF and WCW World Champion. He was the 3rd Triple Crown Winner in WWF History (three major titles, all of which occurred within 12 months). He was a founding member of the New World Order, a group who helped facilitate the Monday Night Wars, which rekindled the business! On top of his accolades, he has a renewed business relationship with the WWE and he is a close friend of Triple H and Vince McMahon ... The only question is why he wasn't inducted this year BUT I definitely see him going in next year!

Barry Windham - His story is similar to Arn Anderson. He had multiple reigns as a tag team champion in both the WWF and NWA/WCW. He is known as one of the best in-ring workers of his generation and spent a great amount of time wrestling in Florida. From what I know, he still holds a good relationship with the WWE so why not induct him into the class of 2012? All the elements are there for Windham as well!

Shatner - I would not have made this pick back in 2007 when Shatner was boo'ed mercifully off the stage at that year's ceremony for his induction speech for Jerry Lawler. However, he regained everybody's opinion last year when he hosted the February 1st edition of Monday Night Raw. With three great segments (Singing WWE Entrance Themes, RAW Match Negotiator, and his segment with Vince), he proved that he can be loved by the Wrestling audience. Unlike Drew Carey, he has made several appearances on WWE programming and would be a nice addition to the hall! I also believe that this would be the only time in Hall of Fame history that two people switched places in the Induction ceremony.

Trish Stratus - If they want to induct a diva every year now, how can you go with anybody but Trish Stratus after Sunny! Sure, Miss Elizabeth is still not in the Hall of Fame but that's only until 2013 hopefully! (Hint, I am predicting Macho Man for 2013). Trish was the most dominant diva in history, ruling the division from 2001 to 2006. Her inductor, Lita ... induction in 2013 as well!

These are my choices for the 2012 Hall of Fame. I'd love some comments, both positive and negative on my list!

#2 - Ten Matches Every Fan Should Have Watched - Part 2

6. The Rock vs Hulk Hogan - WrestleMania X8

Man, did this match ever prove how much the fans control wrestling! The WWE tried their hardest to make Hollywood Hulk Hogan the heel in this match but it couldn't happen. This match holds specialness for me because I was at WrestleMania X8. You hear people talk all the time about moments they'll never forget ... this was one of those times for me. My pop took me to Toronto for the event.

Here's a time line of my own Road to WrestleMania

• September 2001 - The WWF announced that WrestleMania 18 would be in Toronto at the Skydome
• November 3rd 2001 - Spent one full hour on the phone, attempting to buy tickets, only to find out that the event had been sold out! The dream was on hold
• December 2001 - WrestleZone had a headline that said "More WrestleMania tickets released". I quickly called my mom and within 20 minutes, the dream became a reality...
  I was going to WrestleMania!
• January 2002 - I believe I heard from Lee Fleming that I should read an article on TSN.ca ...
  It was the announcement that Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash had signed with the World Wrestling Federation ... I would get to see Hulkamania live and in person!
• February 18th 2002 - Hulk Hogan is challenged by the Rock for a match at WrestleMania ... I was going to see history!
• March 11th 2002 - After visiting a bed-ridden Chris Harris a few days prior, I woke up in the middle of the night, vomiting as I had caught the stomach flu. I spent the day on the couch, eating Popsicles and watching RAW
• March 12th 2002 - Still sick but drove to St. John's to fly to Toronto
• March 17th 2002 - The dream becomes true ... I walked down the many stairs to the floor of Skydome. Where Joe Carter won the world series for the Bluejays. Where the Ultimate Warrior defeated Hulk Hogan some 12 years before. People talk about times in their lives that felt like time stood still. I remember walking down the stairs and just looking around and realizing that ten years of watching wrestling was culminating that night. It's hard to explain what it's like to know that one of your life goals had been accomplished!

This match has become legendary for the fan reaction. Hulk was written to play the heel but the fans in the SkyDome had a different idea. We wanted Hulkamania ... one more time! The Rock, probably the biggest face in wrestling during that time, was forced to become a heel for one night to satisfy the 67 237 in attendence. This match, again, didn't do anything flashy because well, Hogan was wore out. He had knee replacements in 2001. But the psychology of the match was amazing. Everything just seemed to click and Hulk gave us one more WrestleMania moment.

7. Shawn Michaels vs Bret Hart - WrestleMania 12

It was the first televised and promoted one hour match, and both men delivered a career highlight. For a fan in 1996 that I was, being 7 years old at the time, to keep my attention for 60 straight minutes was simply amazing. I sat there, watching every second of the match. This match should be shown to anybody who doubts wrestlers as athletes because there never has or will be a performance like this match again.

8. The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels - WrestleMania 25

In the previous WrestleMania matches the Undertaker had ...  there has been only two men who seemed like they could beat the streak

1. Randy Orton @ 21, 
2. Batista @ 23
   
   Shawn Michaels made us believe that he could beat the Streak ... so much that the fans demanded an encore the next year. The match remains the only match ever to be repeated on back to back WrestleMania cards. This match may have been the greatest match of the 2000's ... and that is saying a great deal about this match. The match felt like a never ending roller-coaster of high spots, high energy and great psychology. These three elements was then mixed with the commentary of genius of Jim Ross and we got a match that I can only compare this match to the first Rocky movie. You weren't expecting a hit but damn, did they knock the ball out of the park.

9. Ric Flair vs Terry Funk - Clash of the Champions IX

To quote Jon Parsons, this match looked like a real fight. It was violent and brutality at it's finest. For those who trash the PG era, they should go watch this match. There was no blood. Funk or Flair didn't utter a foul word during their promos or their match. There was no massive chair shots. This match was built upon psychology. I personally think that this match is the prototype for the blowoff to a feud. Its amazing actually that while WWF was giving us Hulk-Zeus, Flair-Funk were tearing apart the NWA. They didn't do a lot of wrestling in this match but they told a story that has been unmatched, even to this day!

10. Triple H vs Cactus Jack - Royal Rumble 2000

I sat in on seminar on pro wrestling psychology held by Scott "Raven" Levy a few weeks ago which is probably why I chose most of these matches for their psychology. This match/feud is a great example of what Raven spoke about. Both Triple H and Mick Foley told a great story. The story was that Mick Foley was pushed to his mental limits and resorted to bringing his Cactus Jack persona back to fight Triple H. This match proved to be very violent and bloody but unlike ECW, it wasn't violent for the sake of being violent. The story of Cactus being sadistic and the violence he intended on administering to Triple H to become the WWF Champion was nothing short of amazing. A match that showed what two talented workers could do when given the right material to work with!

Those are my top ten matches that all fans should watch before stating that they are a Wrestling fan ... Some of you may disagree with me because I put a nice few matches on here from WrestleMania's but I leave you with a quote from Chris Jericho when interviewed for the new "True Story of WrestleMania" dvd.

"You can have a match in Peoria, Illinois in front of 4000 people and tear the house down. But the next day, it's like it never happened. You can have a match on RAW in front of 4 Million people, it lasts alittle longer but at WrestleMania ... WrestleMania is where classic matches are made"