BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) PRE-ATTITUDE ERA STREET FIGHTS
Before the Attitude Era I can’t think of a whole lot of street fights in the WWF. I know they had them, but not as many. In some opinions, that makes it better. It means they’ve spaced them out and made them mean something. Meanwhile, WCW was putting out some great and fun street fights. Dustin Rhodes had a few good ones, especially one in the back of a moving semi. The Nasty Boyz and Harlem Heat had a really fun one in retrospect. The one that stands out more is Vader and Cactus Jack in the “Spin The Wheel/Make A Deal” match. These things were all out brawls and as a child I looked forward to it.
(THREE) TITLE DIVISIONS
WCW had their title divisions down pact. The WWF had divisions, but it was blurry. WCW had distinct divisions. WCW made their Cruiserweight Title one of the most exciting belts of the 90’s, but I dug their TV Title division too. The Cruiserweight belt was for the smaller dudes and the TV Title had specific rules that made it unique. Then once you move up the card you become the US Champion. The US Title was never as cool as WWF’s IC Title, but in comparison of the two companies entire belt divisions WCW had it.
(TWO) STABLES
Once the Attitude Era hit, the WWF added a lot more. Before then, not so much. Demolition was three people and I’m sure you can say Mr. Fugi and Bobby Henan had their “stables of talent”, but as an actual group? Not so much. I guess maybe you could say “The Million Dollar Corporation” can count, but that doesn’t match up at all to the Four Horsemen, the Dungeon of Doom, or the Dangerous Alliance.
(ONE) BUILDING THE HEEL
The WWF’s meal ticket was mainly building up their iconic babyface in Hulk Hogan. It obviously did them well and changed the way wrestling is done. The WWF was smart in this aspect because Hogan sold a lot of tickets and a lot of merch. He’d become the poster boy. This would happen on smaller levels with “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Warrior too. These big time faces would have their rounds with new monsters and villains that they’d surely defeat in the long run. In WCW it wasn’t like that. They had their poster boys in guys like Sting, but they made “the chase” the big part of the show. The different up and coming underdogs who’d get fed to the heels. Eventually a face like Sting would be built up and they’d have the big moment where the good guy won over the Ric Flairs and the Vaders, but it wouldn’t be long before the bad guy got his belt back.
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