This week on Figure Four Daily, Lance Storm and Bryan Alvarez talk about zombies, fireballs, Eric Bischoff and WCW, The Young Bucks storyline, and much more.
Hera are some highlights:
Lance Storm and Chris Jericho believe the first thing done wrong in WCW was Eric Bischoff joining the NWO: At the time, the day after it happened (Bischoff joining the NWO), I got a call from Jericho, who I believe was still in WCW at the time. He predicted, he said, ”We’re done. We’re going to lose. WWE is going to win this war. Eric Bischoff is now in the NWO.’
To me, it was the first, which means it was the start, big misstep because it made no sense. The whole point of the NWO was they were outsiders. They were invading WCW and they made their big impact by coming in and power bombing Eric Bischoff and basically going, screw you WCW and then the guy they beat up when they got there, turns out was the guy that brought them in. It was like, well you are the head of WCW so they are not outsiders anymore. So storyline wise, it was the first misstep. Yes, it was a couple of years before it all fell apart…I do honestly believe that Eric Bischoff, making himself the focus of the show and making himself one of the cool heels, and I think this is a big contributing factor, and they will have a nice topic they can call me an idiot on 83 Weeks. But, cool heels are what led to the downfall because the babyfaces were no longer cool, they were losers that lost all the time. It’s so hard to see that when you’re one of the cool heels because it’s so much fun being a cool bad guy.
If Eric Bischoff wasn’t one of the cool bad guys and he was still on team WCW as the head of WCW, he would have realized his team was looking like a bunch of geeks who always lost and the home team may not have lost this war. So, again, the start of the downfall, and that doesn’t mean that’s when it collapsed obviously. It doesn’t mean there weren’t many moments along the way that the ship could have been righted, but that was the moment that the first misstep happened and it was the start of a long downfall.”
Storm said the most important thing for him to be invested in a match is the storyline: “I always get frustrated because I’ll hear the build up for a show and they will be like, ‘Well the matches will be good.’ It’s funny because I was always a match quality guy. I enjoyed the good workers. I tried to be a good worker. I always wanted to have good matches, but, unless there’s the story, I find I’m less interested than just, ‘Oh, it’s a good match.’ I don’t know whether it’s because I’ve seen so many matches and I’ve seen so many moves, but I started thinking about it and I go back to, ‘When was I a fan? What do I remember?’ I remember the stories. I remember the Pipers’ Pit segment with Andre pulling the cross off of Hulk Hogan. I remember the Hogan-Orndorff feud with the cage and the stealing of his music and again when he turned on him with the clothesline. I remember those matches being good when I saw them and I enjoyed them, but the reason I gave a s**t was, I was intrigued by the story. I was intrigued at what the outcome would be and the comeuppance to the characters in that story. If it’s just, “Hey it’s going to be this guy and that guy. Oh, it will be a great match.” I’m like, ok, but I guess I’m not a stand-alone match guy. Look at the phenomenal build with Hunter and Batista where you are just sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for Batista to finally be fed up with Hunter’s s**t and turn. They did such a great job of engrossing me in that story waiting for it that by the time it happened, I was so jacked for that match and I was in the business at that point in time. I was never at the point that I was like, “Oh, that will be a great match because Hunter and Dave will do great spots.” It was the build up to it and there are so many of those. The Mega Powers meltdown and all the stages along the way to get to that Hogan-Savage match. Those are what I remember and I find that lacking in much of today’s wrestling. I’m always frustrated when I get the, ‘Well, the matches will be good.’ The angles, the stories if you will, to me, are the setup. They are the foreplay. Les Thatcher likes to use that analogy. That’s what puts you in the mood and gets you there. I wish we got more of that.”
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