WCW 1995 - Playing With The Big Boys

[Dave Mac]

 

[Dave Mac]

Ok some of you may remember this from a few years back.  A diary that didn’t get too far as the save corrupted.  But I’m launching this one again as still have all the notes and booking ideas laying around.  Hope some of you will enjoy!

[Dave Mac]

 

[PH71]

Definitely interested in this. Bit of a random roster, 1995 was just a bit before my time in terms of watching WCW but have seen clips of a lot of matches around this time. You've definitely got some top level stars at least.

Dusty Rhodes as the booker has my attention for sure. Any chance of him booking himself for one last run? 😅

How different are you planning this to be than the original WCW timeline between 95-97 etc?

[Dave Mac]

19 hours ago, PH71 said:

Definitely interested in this. Bit of a random roster, 1995 was just a bit before my time in terms of watching WCW but have seen clips of a lot of matches around this time. You've definitely got some top level stars at least.

Dusty Rhodes as the booker has my attention for sure. Any chance of him booking himself for one last run? 😅

How different are you planning this to be than the original WCW timeline between 95-97 etc?

The roster in 95 was mad with odd WWF rejects and obviously some absolute absolute future superstars. Problem was the scatter gun booking made no sense for a long time with WCW.

I love a bit of Dusty and I’m tempted to use him a bit as on screen authority/moral compass type character. But the talent is so lacking there’s a chance he might get a run. The tag division is weak so could pair him with someone and give him a little 3/6 month run. 

Im going to try and book how Nitro was booked. So it’s basically a mad onslaught of the top stars constantly and trying to squeeze in the odd mid carder. It’s going to be majorly built around Hogan/Flair/Sting for the foreseeable future. The main difference I want it to be a bit more coherent than just randomly dropping stories and characters for weeks and weeks! But I don’t plan on following events as they happened in WCW but at the same time if there’s a chance for poaching WWF talent etc I’ll be on it. But I hope anyone who watched st that time will see its true to the WCW vibe without being a complete copy. 

[sonny912]

On 4/26/2024 at 9:27 AM, Dave Mac said:

 

Hey um, sorry bout potentially overwhelming you but i got questions. Firstly why are the Armstrong Brothers called the James Boy And one team called the Barrio Brothers of their not Brothers or share the last name? And why aren't buck and dick not called the Stud Stable? 

Is madusa gonna show up and drop the wwf women's title in the trash like irl? Will the WCW women's division be treated more importantly?

Is sabu actually gonna stay longer here? Can he join the Dungeon Of Doom cause he's whole crazy gimmick would fit in with them and he'd be much better then the yeti dry humping Hogan to death.

Terry richards is a rookie rhino right?

Edited April 27 by sonny912

[Dave Mac]

On 4/28/2024 at 12:13 AM, sonny912 said:

Hey um, sorry bout potentially overwhelming you but i got questions. Firstly why are the Armstrong Brothers called the James Boy And one team called the Barrio Brothers of their not Brothers or share the last name? And why aren't buck and dick not called the Stud Stable? 

Is madusa gonna show up and drop the wwf women's title in the trash like irl? Will the WCW women's division be treated more importantly?

Is sabu actually gonna stay longer here? Can he join the Dungeon Of Doom cause he's whole crazy gimmick would fit in with them and he'd be much better then the yeti dry humping Hogan to death.

Terry richards is a rookie rhino right?

Nope love the questions as any discussion helps me look at other parts of the game.  

So Scott and Steve Armstrong is interesting. Firstly in real like and my game they are well and truly going to be jobbers. But I did a bit of research to least show I care about them a bit.  Looks like as a stable all of the Armstrong's went by the name Armstrong Brothers.  But together Steve and Scott as a tag team went by the name The James Boys. 

Barrior brothers it seems like Fidel Sierra and Ricky Santana at some points went  by the names Ricky Barrio and Fidel Barrio and although weren't called that in WCW as a team they went by Barrio Brothers.  My very basic research as well I think Barrio means neighbourhood in Spanish. So think the name was more like brothers from the same neighbourhood type thing rather than being biological.

Buck and Dick or team get the belts off them right now as far as I'm concerned are down as the Stud Stable which was short lived with Col Parker and Kurasawa as a quartet.  I might change their name. ALthough I detest the name Dirty Dick, for 1995 it feels a bit attitude era and some sort of DX skit name. So I'd rather find a way to get them out the door than update their team name as it stands! They are both horrendous in the ring! 

Medusa is an interesting one.  Currently I have no womens wrestling and only two women on the entire roster which is the Diamond Doll and Sherri. So zero talent to work with.  There is a few decent talents around, especially a few Japanese (Cuty Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki) with some great fundamental skills with a few Americans I could bring in to make a small division that would be a B show filler. But would literally be building from nothing and quite alot of these talents have virtually no pop so would be a slog to get going.  But I like the challenge.  At that time WWF was trying to sprinkle the odd Japanese female wrestler in. But most of the time Vince and Jerry Lawler on commentary would just rip into how they were ugly and make it look a complete waste of time. One of the things that confused me about Vince as he was clearly at least giving the OK to bring these talents in then on commentary doing his best to completely bury them. 

I ran this diary before and the Dungeon of Doom I love and hate. Its cheesy and stupid in real life.  But I do like the idea of the Dungeon being a bit more broody and dark. Spoiler alert, but before I ditched Kamala and Zodiac.  Shark went to being just John Tenta and I added Sabu and a little known new signing by the name of Raven to the group.  I think ultimately there is a nice story to be had of the group eventually breaking up and having like Raven's flock with Sabu and perhaps Meng or the Giant as the muscle. Kevin Sullivan can disappear off into the wilderness. But thats long term I guess.

Yup fresh faced, 19 year old Terry will go on to become Rhino.  Poor lad is on a handshake deal for $20 a night with lol! From research looks like he only wrestled 4 times for WCW as Terry Richards and was well and truly a jobber. Maybe I can make something of him but thats a VERY long term thing as his physical stats look good. But everything in ring is a little way off where I'd need him to be.  Think he needs a few half hour matches with Malenko to bring him up to speed! 

 

[sonny912]

2 hours ago, Dave Mac said:

Nope love the questions as any discussion helps me look at other parts of the game.  

So Scott and Steve Armstrong is interesting. Firstly in real like and my game they are well and truly going to be jobbers. But I did a bit of research to least show I care about them a bit.  Looks like as a stable all of the Armstrong's went by the name Armstrong Brothers.  But together Steve and Scott as a tag team went by the name The James Boys. 

Barrior brothers it seems like Fidel Sierra and Ricky Santana at some points went  by the names Ricky Barrio and Fidel Barrio and although weren't called that in WCW as a team they went by Barrio Brothers.  My very basic research as well I think Barrio means neighbourhood in Spanish. So think the name was more like brothers from the same neighbourhood type thing rather than being biological.

Buck and Dick or team get the belts off them right now as far as I'm concerned are down as the Stud Stable which was short lived with Col Parker and Kurasawa as a quartet.  I might change their name. ALthough I detest the name Dirty Dick, for 1995 it feels a bit attitude era and some sort of DX skit name. So I'd rather find a way to get them out the door than update their team name as it stands! They are both horrendous in the ring! 

Medusa is an interesting one.  Currently I have no womens wrestling and only two women on the entire roster which is the Diamond Doll and Sherri. So zero talent to work with.  There is a few decent talents around, especially a few Japanese (Cuty Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki) with some great fundamental skills with a few Americans I could bring in to make a small division that would be a B show filler. But would literally be building from nothing and quite alot of these talents have virtually no pop so would be a slog to get going.  But I like the challenge.  At that time WWF was trying to sprinkle the odd Japanese female wrestler in. But most of the time Vince and Jerry Lawler on commentary would just rip into how they were ugly and make it look a complete waste of time. One of the things that confused me about Vince as he was clearly at least giving the OK to bring these talents in then on commentary doing his best to completely bury them. 

I ran this diary before and the Dungeon of Doom I love and hate. Its cheesy and stupid in real life.  But I do like the idea of the Dungeon being a bit more broody and dark. Spoiler alert, but before I ditched Kamala and Zodiac.  Shark went to being just John Tenta and I added Sabu and a little known new signing by the name of Raven to the group.  I think ultimately there is a nice story to be had of the group eventually breaking up and having like Raven's flock with Sabu and perhaps Meng or the Giant as the muscle. Kevin Sullivan can disappear off into the wilderness. But thats long term I guess.

Yup fresh faced, 19 year old Terry will go on to become Rhino.  Poor lad is on a handshake deal for $20 a night with lol! From research looks like he only wrestled 4 times for WCW as Terry Richards and was well and truly a jobber. Maybe I can make something of him but thats a VERY long term thing as his physical stats look good. But everything in ring is a little way off where I'd need him to be.  Think he needs a few half hour matches with Malenko to bring him up to speed! 

 

Thanks.

What about Akira hokuto and bull nakano? Their legendary women's wrestlers aren't they or are they in wwf right now?

Turning the Dungeon Of Doom into the flock? I like it. But I don't think Sullivan's just gonna disappear, he's wrestling's original satanic bastard. He'll probably form a new group to fight the upstart raven made up of (ironically) some other ecw guys.

Sullivan and Taz used to be 2 time ecw tag champs back when it was Eastern instead of extreme, the dudley's used to work for raven back in ecw so having Sullivan turn them against him would be interesting, Dr death steve Williams used to be apart of the varsity club with Sullivan so they have history together and sense this is still 1995 cactus jack hasn't gone to wwf yet and become mankind so having him by Sullivan's side would be great.

Mind of I pitch an idea for what to do with Terry in the long-term? What if he, sexton Hardcastle(edge) and Christian cage form essentially a 90's version the shield? Rhino would be Roman reigns, edge would be Rollins and Christian would be ambrose. They'd basically fill the same roles they did.

[Dave Mac]

 

[PH71]

I like the idea of bringing in Dave Taylor/Robbie Brookside and having a British type foreign stable. 

I like how you're not planning to bring in all the top stars of the future or like Austin etc which didn't happen in the original timeline. 

I think you do have a decent roster of potential future top guys to be fair. Regal, Guerrero, Pilman, Booker T, DDP, Malenko - there is some real talent there!

[Dave Mac]

19 hours ago, sonny912 said:

Thanks.

What about Akira hokuto and bull nakano? Their legendary women's wrestlers aren't they or are they in wwf right now?

Turning the Dungeon Of Doom into the flock? I like it. But I don't think Sullivan's just gonna disappear, he's wrestling's original satanic bastard. He'll probably form a new group to fight the upstart raven made up of (ironically) some other ecw guys.

Sullivan and Taz used to be 2 time ecw tag champs back when it was Eastern instead of extreme, the dudley's used to work for raven back in ecw so having Sullivan turn them against him would be interesting, Dr death steve Williams used to be apart of the varsity club with Sullivan so they have history together and sense this is still 1995 cactus jack hasn't gone to wwf yet and become mankind so having him by Sullivan's side would be great.

Mind of I pitch an idea for what to do with Terry in the long-term? What if he, sexton Hardcastle(edge) and Christian cage form essentially a 90's version the shield? Rhino would be Roman reigns, edge would be Rollins and Christian would be ambrose. They'd basically fill the same roles they did.

Nakano is available and working at AJW on a hadnshake deal.  At the time she was appearing for WWF, but Vince and Lawler were burying her on commentary, it was odd. She obviously didn't fit what they thought women should be as she was legit bad ass tough so would be on my list if I launch a womens division.  I'm thinking of giving maybe 4/5 women a six mont hdeal and run it on the B show to see how it goes before putting some real effort in.

Sullivan was a satanic bastard both kayfabe and non kayfabe.  I feel like he has alot to offer so wont disappear. Just feuding with Hogan is hard as the whole stable is just mid carders at best and The Giant. And really I don't want to be feeding the Giant to Hogan in the first few months of booking as he's one of the legit main eventers I have as well.

Steve Williams is a great shout to bring in actually.  Guys like Foley I want to avoid signing just because I know he'll become a mega star and want to avoid going for such obvious stuff. HOWEVER a Dungeon of Doom/Raven's Flock feud Mankind really is majorly suited to that, so think it would make sense and not be too much of a stretch to think it could happen.

And absolutely I LOVE people pitching ideas.  Anything to give me something to think about is great and I will say I had Rhino on my notes and the word Radicalz written.  The Geuerro, Benoit, Saturn and Malenko idea of just a stable debuting out of nowwhere. However I do like the Shield idea as well. What do you think about tinkering with it a bit as I could bring in a young Rikishi (Reigns) have the Ambrose role taken by Brian Pillman.  I'm not sure Rhino fits the Rollins type role exactly.  But I do like the 3 man stable type idea and basing it loosely on the Shield. Great idea! 

[Dave Mac]

13 hours ago, PH71 said:

I like the idea of bringing in Dave Taylor/Robbie Brookside and having a British type foreign stable. 

I like how you're not planning to bring in all the top stars of the future or like Austin etc which didn't happen in the original timeline. 

I think you do have a decent roster of potential future top guys to be fair. Regal, Guerrero, Pilman, Booker T, DDP, Malenko - there is some real talent there!

Negotiations with Taylor and Brookside are happening. I really see this as as being a springboard to launch Regal.  So ultimately I need to pick someone from Eaton, Taylor an Brookside to front it. But I want to take it in a Nation of Domination route like you had with Farooq and the Rock and have the young upstart Regal trying to overthrow them and take control.

I don't want to stick completely to the timeline to strictly. But signings have to make sense to me.  I don't want to hoover up all the talent and have  roster within 6 months which is just all the stars of the attitude era.  One of the joys of WCW was their insane booking and signings, so want to keep it a bit scatter gun to keep it fun! 

Booker and DDP are old so need pushing now.  We know in real life they went on to last years, but TEW isn't quite as kind to aging stars.  But also I think the pair of them should have been pushed around that time as it is.  But completely agree that Regal, Geuerro and Pillman have all the skills already and will only get better.  They should be able to hit that upper midcard within 6 months and knocking on the door of the main event. Otherwise I've not booked them well enough. 

[PH71]

42 minutes ago, Dave Mac said:

Negotiations with Taylor and Brookside are happening. I really see this as as being a springboard to launch Regal.  So ultimately I need to pick someone from Eaton, Taylor an Brookside to front it. But I want to take it in a Nation of Domination route like you had with Farooq and the Rock and have the young upstart Regal trying to overthrow them and take control.

I don't want to stick completely to the timeline to strictly. But signings have to make sense to me.  I don't want to hoover up all the talent and have  roster within 6 months which is just all the stars of the attitude era.  One of the joys of WCW was their insane booking and signings, so want to keep it a bit scatter gun to keep it fun! 

Booker and DDP are old so need pushing now.  We know in real life they went on to last years, but TEW isn't quite as kind to aging stars.  But also I think the pair of them should have been pushed around that time as it is.  But completely agree that Regal, Geuerro and Pillman have all the skills already and will only get better.  They should be able to hit that upper midcard within 6 months and knocking on the door of the main event. Otherwise I've not booked them well enough. 

I guess your only issue with the British stable is I’m assuming outside of Regal they’ll all be fairly crap on the mic? Not sure if there’s any retired British guys in the database who could come in as a mouthpiece type for them. 

[Dave Mac]

3 minutes ago, PH71 said:

I guess your only issue with the British stable is I’m assuming outside of Regal they’ll all be fairly crap on the mic? Not sure if there’s any retired British guys in the database who could come in as a mouthpiece type for them. 

You would be very correct! The British scene was not blessed with talkers lol.  I do wonder whether I could pair them with Bobby Heenan as siding with a bunch of Brits who think they are all better than Americans does feel like something Heenan would have done. ALthough I'd need to rethink my commentary desk then if I have him as more of a manager. 

[PH71]

12 minutes ago, Dave Mac said:

You would be very correct! The British scene was not blessed with talkers lol.  I do wonder whether I could pair them with Bobby Heenan as siding with a bunch of Brits who think they are all better than Americans does feel like something Heenan would have done. ALthough I'd need to rethink my commentary desk then if I have him as more of a manager. 

Yeah it’s a shame Alfred Hayes isn’t in the database from what you saw in the video as he might’ve worked well in that role. 

[Dave Mac]

1 hour ago, PH71 said:

Yeah it’s a shame Alfred Hayes isn’t in the database from what you saw in the video as he might’ve worked well in that role. 

I massively appreciate you taking the time to watch it. I'm a newbie streamer and no real clue what I'm doing yet! So thanks for watching. 

Hayes would have been good.  I've been going a bit more in depth into the roster and looks like Regal is with New Japan alot meaning he'll miss most Nitro's.  So he might have to wait a bit for his mega push! 

[PH71]

1 hour ago, Dave Mac said:

I massively appreciate you taking the time to watch it. I'm a newbie streamer and no real clue what I'm doing yet! So thanks for watching. 

Hayes would have been good.  I've been going a bit more in depth into the roster and looks like Regal is with New Japan alot meaning he'll miss most Nitro's.  So he might have to wait a bit for his mega push! 

Oh dear, yeah always annoying when that happens. Is there any scope to sign him to an exclusive written contract or is he not interested in that? 

[Dave Mac]

25 minutes ago, PH71 said:

Oh dear, yeah always annoying when that happens. Is there any scope to sign him to an exclusive written contract or is he not interested in that? 

I’m going to give it a go as would like to have regal available and not being at my A show each week would be very difficult. I’ll just keep throwing cash at him till he loves me 🤣

[sonny912]

17 hours ago, Dave Mac said:

Nakano is available and working at AJW on a hadnshake deal.  At the time she was appearing for WWF, but Vince and Lawler were burying her on commentary, it was odd. She obviously didn't fit what they thought women should be as she was legit bad ass tough so would be on my list if I launch a womens division.  I'm thinking of giving maybe 4/5 women a six mont hdeal and run it on the B show to see how it goes before putting some real effort in.

Sullivan was a satanic bastard both kayfabe and non kayfabe.  I feel like he has alot to offer so wont disappear. Just feuding with Hogan is hard as the whole stable is just mid carders at best and The Giant. And really I don't want to be feeding the Giant to Hogan in the first few months of booking as he's one of the legit main eventers I have as well.

Steve Williams is a great shout to bring in actually.  Guys like Foley I want to avoid signing just because I know he'll become a mega star and want to avoid going for such obvious stuff. HOWEVER a Dungeon of Doom/Raven's Flock feud Mankind really is majorly suited to that, so think it would make sense and not be too much of a stretch to think it could happen.

And absolutely I LOVE people pitching ideas.  Anything to give me something to think about is great and I will say I had Rhino on my notes and the word Radicalz written.  The Geuerro, Benoit, Saturn and Malenko idea of just a stable debuting out of nowwhere. However I do like the Shield idea as well. What do you think about tinkering with it a bit as I could bring in a young Rikishi (Reigns) have the Ambrose role taken by Brian Pillman.  I'm not sure Rhino fits the Rollins type role exactly.  But I do like the 3 man stable type idea and basing it loosely on the Shield. Great idea! 

Uh I said rhino would fit the Roman reigns type in the group, the big guy who gore's thru everyone. edge would be the Rollins of the group, the ultimate opportunist who coordinates the groups attacks with pinpoint precision.

If you love people pitching ideas here's a few more, four horsemen vs the dangerous alliance. Instead of Flair turning on Sting on Halloween havoc, he stayed a face and they work together to combat Anderson's group consisting of pillman, Benoit and malenko while also bringing in eddie Guerrero and Steve Mc Michael.

Also Jim Cornette's smw is closing around this time so why not snatch some of there roster before mcmahon does? The heavenly bodies, Stan lane and Tom Prichard, the rock and roll express and the fantastics would be great for the tag team division and they had alot of young wrestlers(at the time) that would make waves on the national stage like Bob Holly, New jack, AL snow, balls Mahoney, Glenn kane jacobs, lance storm, Chris candido, tammy lynn syntch, Brian girard james and d'lo brown.

[Dave Mac]

4 hours ago, sonny912 said:

Uh I said rhino would fit the Roman reigns type in the group, the big guy who gore's thru everyone. edge would be the Rollins of the group, the ultimate opportunist who coordinates the groups attacks with pinpoint precision.

If you love people pitching ideas here's a few more, four horsemen vs the dangerous alliance. Instead of Flair turning on Sting on Halloween havoc, he stayed a face and they work together to combat Anderson's group consisting of pillman, Benoit and malenko while also bringing in eddie Guerrero and Steve Mc Michael.

Also Jim Cornette's smw is closing around this time so why not snatch some of there roster before mcmahon does? The heavenly bodies, Stan lane and Tom Prichard, the rock and roll express and the fantastics would be great for the tag team division and they had alot of young wrestlers(at the time) that would make waves on the national stage like Bob Holly, New jack, AL snow, balls Mahoney, Glenn kane jacobs, lance storm, Chris candido, tammy lynn syntch, Brian girard james and d'lo brown.

I love booking tag teams and find wcw is massively lacking. Especially as I think I’d quite like to push Booker T as a singles wrestlers that’ll take Harlem Heat out of the mix which is one of, if not the best team I have. So definitely think I might look into signing some of those. I feel the roster is a bit bloated so will need to cut a few people at some point though.  

[sonny912]

6 hours ago, Dave Mac said:

I love booking tag teams and find wcw is massively lacking. Especially as I think I’d quite like to push Booker T as a singles wrestlers that’ll take Harlem Heat out of the mix which is one of, if not the best team I have. So definitely think I might look into signing some of those. I feel the roster is a bit bloated so will need to cut a few people at some point though.  

Wcw bloated? Pretty sure that's there thing man. They had over a hundred wrestlers under contacts just so wwf couldn't use them. I heard they gave Randy Savage's brother Lenny a contract and didn't do a thing with him, so he just sat at home getting something $500,000 for no work what so ever.

But if you wanna cut talent that's easy, just drop the Barrio Brothers, Bunkhouse Buck and dick Slater, cobra, Joey Maggs, kurasawa, Kamala, maxx muscle, pez Wheatley, Craig Pittman and the renegade. That's 12 openings for yeah.

[Dave Mac]

54 minutes ago, sonny912 said:

Wcw bloated? Pretty sure that's there thing man. They had over a hundred wrestlers under contacts just so wwf couldn't use them. I heard they gave Randy Savage's brother Lenny a contract and didn't do a thing with him, so he just sat at home getting something $500,000 for no work what so ever.

But if you wanna cut talent that's easy, just drop the Barrio Brothers, Bunkhouse Buck and dick Slater, cobra, Joey Maggs, kurasawa, Kamala, maxx muscle, pez Wheatley, Craig Pittman and the renegade. That's 12 openings for yeah.

Weirdly Machos brother has some decent colour skills, so hes getting a run on a B show doing that for me! 

To be honest mate, that list apart from Renegade who by some miracle has been given a decent destiny roll saying he might be decent in ring, so I want to push that.  But yup the others you have mentioned really are the guys that will be getting the chop.  They aren't even good enough for B show material really! 

[Dave Mac]

 

[Dave Mac]

 

The first episode of WCW Nitro. A bit of a nod to the original, still with a little twist.

Hulk Hogan vs Big Bubba Rogers

Randy Savage vs Brian Pillman

Disco Inferno vs The Giant

Sting vs Ric Flair

[sonny912]

Watched your episode, pretty good but why is bash at the beachyour season finale and not starrcade?