The Scizz
With only about two months left until the big debuts of Robyn Regehr, Christian Ehrhoff, and Ville Leino, Sabres news has been ridiculously slow. Until Mark-Andy signs and a few chumps are dumped to the AHL, there isn't a whole lot going on....unless you count the Bills, but who cares about those guys, right?
I kid. But this post is about neither the Bills or the Sabres. For today, I head back to write about professional wrestling and what I feel is one of the most important parts of the genre....the debut. You see, I grew up watching wrestling in the late 80's and then watched it's reinvention in the late 90's. During this time, with the battle of WWF vs. WCW vs ECW raging, you consistently saw wrestlers jumping back and forth, without warning to the separate federations. Yes, I know it is all scripted, but when you could watch the flagship shows each week (RAW, Nitro) and never know who was going to show up next, it added a sense of excitement and surprise that has been lacking for the past 10 years. The first time a wrestler would appear with their new federation could sometimes make or break their career. If you don't believe me, watch the video below:
That right there is a man named Fred Ottman, most famous for his role as "Tugboat" or "Typhoon in the WWF in the 80's and 90's. He made the jump to WCW in 1993 and that was supposed to be his big debut as "The Shockmaster". You just witnessed the end of his career. Not only was the glitter storm trooper helmet and fur vest an awful idea, but the falling out of the wall and losing his mask may be one of the most unintentionally funny moments in professional wrestling history. The point is, the debut is everything. It's what the fans first see and what they usually remember the most. So as we wait for the debuts of the Sabres' new big three, I decided to compile a list of the top 10 greatest debuts in professional wrestling history.
Between myself and an esteemed panel of about 12 other gentleman that included The Yachtsman, Apologist, Joe from Buffalo Wins, past guest contributor NateDogg (not the guy from Ep 13 of the CrapTastiCast), and one of the biggest wrestling fans I know, stevewxfan (check out his cool weather blog here), I was able to construct what I believe is a solid list. Joe was even gracious enough to include some great commentary on his top picks.
Below are picks 10 through 6. It was getting pretty long, so check back on Monday for selections 5 through 1. If you hate wrestling, so be it, but I had an effin spectacular time working on this so shut your hole and go back to capgeek. Too much?
Between myself and an esteemed panel of about 12 other gentleman that included The Yachtsman, Apologist, Joe from Buffalo Wins, past guest contributor NateDogg (not the guy from Ep 13 of the CrapTastiCast), and one of the biggest wrestling fans I know, stevewxfan (check out his cool weather blog here), I was able to construct what I believe is a solid list. Joe was even gracious enough to include some great commentary on his top picks.
Below are picks 10 through 6. It was getting pretty long, so check back on Monday for selections 5 through 1. If you hate wrestling, so be it, but I had an effin spectacular time working on this so shut your hole and go back to capgeek. Too much?
10) Earthquake (John Tenta) - November 11th, 1989
I think most of the guys on the panel either forgot about this one, or possibly weren't even watching wrestling when it happened. I will always remember this debut because as an eight year old kid, I was so upset I think I may have cried. Ultimate Warrior was possibly my favorite wrestler, and to see him being man-handled by a bozo like Dino Bravo with this new gigantic man was shocking and appalling to me. Again, I was eight, so the "guy from the crowd" was beyond believable to me. This is an excellent debut. Earthquake, as he would come to be known as, went on to main event against Hulk Hogan and had a very long and successful career. The element of surprise is KEY in a good debut.
9) Eric Bischoff - July 15th, 2002
This was around the time I started to lose interest in wrestling. I was still watching, but my heart wasn't there and I was a junior in college so I had other priorities (booze, girls, booze, parties, booze). I do remember what a huge deal this was, but I'm going to defer to Joe on this one because.....well he can do a much better job than I can explaining how epic Bischoff's debut actually was for the wrestling world.
Joe's take: About a year after WCW was purchased by WWE, Vince McMahon did the unthinkable, he gave Eric Bishcoff (Formerly in charge of WCW) a job! No one, and I mean, no one saw this coming! Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon hated each other. It would be like Ted Nolan giving John Muckler a job. For almost a decade, the two of them exchanged insults, wrestlers and tons of cash to knock the other guy out. Vince won out. However, it the summer of 2002, WWE was growing stale and they needed to shake things up. So, Vince decided to bring Bischoff in to run Monday Night raw as the GM (Kayfabe). Easy E surprised everyone, including people in the locker room, when they had no idea Vince would hire his long-time nemesis. I remember when he came out, there was no tease or build up, Vince just announced that Eric was the man in charge of Raw. Never would have saw that coming four years earlier. I just remember that they hugged afterwords. Yup, Nolan and Muckler hugging, I tell you!
Joe's take: About a year after WCW was purchased by WWE, Vince McMahon did the unthinkable, he gave Eric Bishcoff (Formerly in charge of WCW) a job! No one, and I mean, no one saw this coming! Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon hated each other. It would be like Ted Nolan giving John Muckler a job. For almost a decade, the two of them exchanged insults, wrestlers and tons of cash to knock the other guy out. Vince won out. However, it the summer of 2002, WWE was growing stale and they needed to shake things up. So, Vince decided to bring Bischoff in to run Monday Night raw as the GM (Kayfabe). Easy E surprised everyone, including people in the locker room, when they had no idea Vince would hire his long-time nemesis. I remember when he came out, there was no tease or build up, Vince just announced that Eric was the man in charge of Raw. Never would have saw that coming four years earlier. I just remember that they hugged afterwords. Yup, Nolan and Muckler hugging, I tell you!
8) The Radicalz - January 31st, 2000
I originally wanted this to be a spot for Degeneration X (The DGWU of wrestling), but as I researched I found that DX never had a legitimate debut. They just gradually became a team over time and there was no big "boom here we are" moment.
I decided to go with the team of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Chris Benoit. The story behind this debut was that all four of their contracts were expiring with WCW at the same exact time, and they supposedly made a pact to either stay or leave together. When WCW low-balled them on new contracts, they called Vince McMahon and jumped ship. This all happened in a matter of a couple days and it was huge in the wrestling world. All four men were career WCW guys who had never stepped foot in a WWF ring. On top of that, all four men were considered some of the best technical wrestlers in the business. DX were the bad guys at the time, so why not bring in these four to counter them? It was perfect timing. The WWF placed them in the front row like they just happened to be attending the show without contracts, giving that whole CM Punk type of "wait, is this for real or not?" feeling. As soon as they jumped the barrier, the crowd went nuts, and thus the Radicalz were born.
I decided to go with the team of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Chris Benoit. The story behind this debut was that all four of their contracts were expiring with WCW at the same exact time, and they supposedly made a pact to either stay or leave together. When WCW low-balled them on new contracts, they called Vince McMahon and jumped ship. This all happened in a matter of a couple days and it was huge in the wrestling world. All four men were career WCW guys who had never stepped foot in a WWF ring. On top of that, all four men were considered some of the best technical wrestlers in the business. DX were the bad guys at the time, so why not bring in these four to counter them? It was perfect timing. The WWF placed them in the front row like they just happened to be attending the show without contracts, giving that whole CM Punk type of "wait, is this for real or not?" feeling. As soon as they jumped the barrier, the crowd went nuts, and thus the Radicalz were born.
7) The Big Show (Paul Wight/The Giant) - February 14th, 1999
Paul Wight was know as "The Giant" in WCW and is famous for being billed at 7 foot, 485 lbs. He makes Howard Ballard look like....well.....me. Paul was also known as the perfect big man wrestler and could put on solid matches with men twice his size, while somewhat keeping up with their pace. This is why once his WCW contract ran up, a bidding war ensued and on February 9th, Paul Wight signed a ten-year contract with the WWF (Christian Ehrhoff?). Five days later he made his debut as a villain attempting to help the evil Vince McMahon win a steel cage match against the anti-hero Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The two really cool aspects of his debut were the fact that he appeared just five days after signing a new contract, totally surprising viewers that the monster had come to WWF, and also the fact that he climbs out THROUGH THE RING and then tosses Austin THROUGH THE CAGE. High school senior me thought that was pretty cool. Then again I also liked Limp Bizkit and DMX. Don't judge me.
The two really cool aspects of his debut were the fact that he appeared just five days after signing a new contract, totally surprising viewers that the monster had come to WWF, and also the fact that he climbs out THROUGH THE RING and then tosses Austin THROUGH THE CAGE. High school senior me thought that was pretty cool. Then again I also liked Limp Bizkit and DMX. Don't judge me.
5) Hulk Hogan back to the WWF - February 17th / March 17th / April 4th, 2002
Alright so this one is complicated. Let me explian before I turn it back over to Joe. When Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002, it was supposed to be as his bad guy persona "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. He re-entered the WWE with his fellow NWO members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash and they were meant to reek havoc on the wrestling organization. This didn't work out as planned, in fact, it worked out better. Here is Joe to explain a little more.
Joe's Take: When WWE bought out WCW, it not only was the end of WCW and the Monday Night wars, but also the end of the height of the 90's wrestling boom. They always say, competition brings out the best in people and without WCW, I think the WWE got complacent. However, if there was one thing we got out of WCW going down in flames, was how Hulk Hogan came back to the WWE. No one ever would have thought he'd come back to Vince McMahon's company. I mean, he left him for greener pastures and was obsessed with putting the WWE out of business. This was like Lou Saban or Bill Polian coming back to work for Ralph Wilson. Anyways, his return was incredible, as Hogan went back to his roots of being a good guy. If you ever want to watch a cool wrestling youtube video, check out Rock vs Hogan Wrestlemania 18. The fans in Toronto went ape shit for Hogan! The problem was, they weren't suppose to do that! Hogan was the bad guy and Rock was the face. The best part about the match was when Hogan "Hulked up" (It's when Hogan looks to be out of gas, but miraculously, he gets his second wind and does the finger point). That was the first time Hogan did that since 1995. Epic stuff.
Note from the Scizz: The video embedded below is the entire match from Wrestlemania 18. One thing that Joe didn't mention was how well the Rock completely changes his attitude from good guy to bad guy as soon as he can tell the crowd wants Hogan to win. Classic stuff. Skip to the 13:25 min. mark to see the crowd really turn on The Rock, and then the 17 min. mark to see the finish and Hogan help out the Rock once the NWO attacks.
Joe's Take: When WWE bought out WCW, it not only was the end of WCW and the Monday Night wars, but also the end of the height of the 90's wrestling boom. They always say, competition brings out the best in people and without WCW, I think the WWE got complacent. However, if there was one thing we got out of WCW going down in flames, was how Hulk Hogan came back to the WWE. No one ever would have thought he'd come back to Vince McMahon's company. I mean, he left him for greener pastures and was obsessed with putting the WWE out of business. This was like Lou Saban or Bill Polian coming back to work for Ralph Wilson. Anyways, his return was incredible, as Hogan went back to his roots of being a good guy. If you ever want to watch a cool wrestling youtube video, check out Rock vs Hogan Wrestlemania 18. The fans in Toronto went ape shit for Hogan! The problem was, they weren't suppose to do that! Hogan was the bad guy and Rock was the face. The best part about the match was when Hogan "Hulked up" (It's when Hogan looks to be out of gas, but miraculously, he gets his second wind and does the finger point). That was the first time Hogan did that since 1995. Epic stuff.
Note from the Scizz: The video embedded below is the entire match from Wrestlemania 18. One thing that Joe didn't mention was how well the Rock completely changes his attitude from good guy to bad guy as soon as he can tell the crowd wants Hogan to win. Classic stuff. Skip to the 13:25 min. mark to see the crowd really turn on The Rock, and then the 17 min. mark to see the finish and Hogan help out the Rock once the NWO attacks.
The three dates above represent the different moments of Hogan re-debuting; The NWO, his "turn" back to good at Wrestlemania 18, and finally the moment he completely returned to the Hogan of old. The first video is obviously his return with the NWO, the second is at WM18, and below you can see the first time he walked out onto a WWF stage in the classic red and yellow trunks for the first time in almost 10 years. Jump to the 4:30 min. mark to skip HHH rambling and see the Hulkster's entrance. Still gives me chills.
This list was not easy. After eveybody's feedback I had almost 40 different debuts in wrestling to sift through. My original top 10 looks NOTHING like the final list, which is why I'm glad I got outside input. Sometimes certain monents stick out to others more than they do you. For example, I always thought Scott Steiner's final return to the WWF at Survivor Series in NYC was pretty cool, but not a single other person listed it. However, the top five were listed on 75% of everybody's lists, but the order still surprised me.. Thanks to everyone for their help, and especially Joe for his awesome commentary!
Skip back on over on Monday morning for Part two. Cheers.
Skip back on over on Monday morning for Part two. Cheers.
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