[AAR] WWF December 1997 - Montreal Aftermath

[Syt]

I started a WCW 1991 game once in TEW 2013: https://languish.org/forums/index.php/topic,10669.0.html

TEW 2016 has been out for a while, and most real world mods have been updated.

I'm currently bitten by the wrestling bug again, catching up on 1997. As trashy and silly and stupid as wrestling often is (and as crazy as many people involved are, be it by putting their health on the line, or just being crazy egomaniacs like Mr McMahon), I find the business side intriguing, and the storytelling aspects of it even more so. Occasionally you will have an amazing story just to have it collapse by one bonehead decision near the end (or real life interfering through injuries, suspensions etc.).

This mod starts after what is commonly known as the Montreal Screwjob.


Background

(Warning, long!)

Ted Turner and his WCW had set out to become the primary US based wrestling promotion and take over from the WWF. WCW had its fans, had decent wrestling, had some very popular workers like Sting and Ric Flair, but they didn't have the star power. However, that started to change in 1994, when WCW signed Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. In 1995 WCW started to directly challenge the WWF by launching WCW Monday Nitro to run parallel to WWF Monday Night Raw, and the Monday Night Wars began.

In 1996 WCW signed Scott Hall (WWF's Razor Ramon) and Kevin Nash (WWF's Diesel) and began an intriguing angle: they came in as The Outsiders, didn't really mention the WWF, but implied that they were invading the WCW to take over. They had a mystery 3rd partner which was revealed to be Hulk Hogan. Hogan after being a massive fan favorite for so many year to heel as Hollywood Hogan, and the New World Order nWo was born.



This edgier product brought WCW a lead in the Monday Night Wars, and they kept that lead over WWF for almost two years. The WWF was trying to play catch up. They hit on some good things, but were still trying to find a new footing. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were dominant, the Undertaker was still around, Hunter Hearst Helmsley was a rising star, Goldust, Vader and Mankind were around, Kane was introduced, and Steve Austin became the first major anti-hero, leading into a major feud with Bret Hart with an amazing match at Wrestlemania XIII: it was a true grudge match. Hart and Austin had agreed that Austin would blade himself (i.e. intentionally inflict a small cut on himself with a hidden bit of razor blade to cause relatively harmless but visually impressive bleeding). Austin was supposedly scared but pulled it off beautifully. Vince McMahon was livid, as the WWF had a non-blading stance at the time.



At any rate, Bret Hart was wooed WCW, with the switch planned for after Survivor Series '97. He was still WWF champion, though. It was planned he would drop the title at Survivor Series 1997 in Montreal. But his opponent would be Shawn Michaels - the two had many great matches, but they actually hated each other. Hart said he would not drop the title to Michaels at SS, but he would drop it on Raw a night later. Vince McMahon agreed to it, but didn't trust Hart enough to come through. So during the match he ordered the bell rung when Michaels put Hart in the Sharpshooter (Hart's signature finisher). The ref ruled that Hart had submitted, and that Michaels was the new champion. Everyone involved quickly left, leaving a livid Bret Hart in the ring (he did manage to spit in McMahon's eye, though), signing the letters "WCW" to the crowd.







The screwjob was a major game changer. Wrestling companies had spent decades trying to maintain kayfabe, i.e. pretending that what happened at their events and TV shows was legitimate. Rival wrestlers were generally not allowed to break character in public or be friendly with their in ring rivals. This was not much of a problem when it was a niche product. But with the product becoming ever more popular, the illusion became ever harder to maintain. Some small fan made magazines even laid out locker room secrets and full wrestler bios but didn't see much circulation.

A major chink in the illusion was when Hall and Nash left the WWF. They were friends with HHH and Michaels, and during their last event which was not televised they had an emotional farewell in the ring, even though they were supposed to be rivals at the time. Unfortunately, a fan had a camera with him and filmed it. McMahon was not amused.

The Screwjob made it known to the average fan that McMahon was the owner and main decider in the WWF. Insiders knew, of course, but to the regular guy just watching it on TV, he was known as commentator while other people like Gorilla Monsoon or Sgt. Slaughter acted as authorities. Documentaries like Wrestling With Shadows (a camera crew followed Bret Hart during his transition from WWF to WCW) and Beyond the Mat (which followed stars, has beens and hopefuls) showed the background of the business.

And as damaging as the whole affair originally was, the WWF capitalized in a big way.

Following the Screwjob, McMahon assumed the Mr McMahon persona, the asshole, exploitative boss that everyone likes to hate, and he feuded against the ultimate anti-authority figure at the time, Steve Austin, with ratings soaring.



Additionally, the D-Generation X (Michaels and HHH) ran wild. The product changed in that besides the "normal" feuds it became more of a Muppets Show format, i.e. a lot of backstage politicking and rivalries to frame the actual action, and many gimmicks changed towards more generic thug/gangsta personas fighting for dominance.

Eventually, WWF overtook the WCW (some really stupid moves by WCW didn't help) and bought out their rival (which led to an extremely underwhelming invasion angle). And nowadays it's well known and accepted that the action and characters on screen have little to do with the performers themselves - and oddly the business hasn't collapsed.

[Syt]

Taking Stock

The WWF has a decent roster at the moment, and no contracts about to expire.

The current roster is:

Main Eventers: Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Kane, Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock, Vader, Shawn Michaels, Ken Shamrock
Upper Midcard: Faarooq, Steve Blacman, Hawk & Animal, Goldust, Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, Jeff Jarrett, Ahmed Johnson
Midcard: Phineas I. Godwinn, Henry O. Godwinn, Mosh & Thrasher, Marc Mero, D'Lo Brown, Kama Mustafa, Blackjack Windham & Blackjack Bradshaw, Savio Vega, Chainz, The Sultan, Bart Gunn
Lower Midcard: Skull, 8-Ball, Kurrgan, Flash Funk, Bob Holly, Brian Christopher
Opener: Recon, Scot Taylor, Taka Michinoku, Aguila
Enhancement Talent: Miguel Perez Jr, Mark Henry
Occasional Wrestler: Brooklyn Brawler
Managers: Sable, Jackal, Chyna, Sunny, Paul Bearer, Marlena

Mankind is out of action for a week due to legal reasons and therefore excluded from the roster at the moment.

The current faces of the franchise are, in order of importance: Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, The Undertaker, Ken Shamrock

Current talents that can make it big: Goldust, D'Lo Brown, Mosh

Best on the microphone: Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Vince McMahon, Mankind

Show Stoppers (who can do amazing things in the ring): Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Brian Christopher

Ring Generals (who can run a match well and elevate their opponents' performance): Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Owen Hart, Triple H, The Undertaker

High Momentum: Shawn Michaels, Kane, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Road Dogg

Low Momentum: Brooklyn Brawler, Kurrgan, Henry O. Godwinn, Bob Holly, The Sultan

Current storylines:
- Gang Wars, between Disciples of Apocalypse (8-Ball, Chainz, Skull), Nation of Domination (Faarooq, D'Lo Brown, Kama Mustafa), and Los Baricuas (Savio Vega & Miguel Perez) - rated "C"
- Goldust with Luna Vachon vs. Vader - rated "D"
- Light Heavyweight Title Tournament, with Aguila, Bob Holly, Brian Christopher, Flash Funk, Scott Taylor, Taka Michinoku, The Jackal - "D"
- New Age Outlaws vs. Legion of Doom - "C+"
- Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. McMahon, with Ken Shamrock, Shawn Michaels, The Rock (A*)
- Undertaker vs Kane with Paul Bearer and Mankind (B+)

Current teams: D-Generation X, Disciples of Apocalypse, Headbangers, Legion of Doom, Los Boricuas, New Age Outlaws, Godwinns, New Blackjacks, Truth Commission

It's late, so the first show will be booked tomorrow evening. Storyline or angle ideas welcome.

[Tamas]

Cool summary, Syt, thanks, I think this wast a year or two after I stopped watching WWF.

I wish they never dropped the over the top colorful styles and outfits. This pretend gangsta BS is just boring.

[Syt]

Yeah, I know what you mean, and so did I. At the same time this produced some of the most spectacular matches, partially due to wrestlers paying much less attention to their own well being. Take Mick Foley who is good with the microphone, a mediocre wrestler from a purely technical standpoint, but who could take punishment like no other. Or Chris Benoit whose brain at the time of the murder-suicide resembled scrambled eggs according to doctors performing the autopsy - he had agreed to take unprotected chair shots to the back of his head.

Wrestling is a gruelling business - in the top promotions 200+ shows a year are not uncommon, and even though the moves are choreographed and trained they require physical fitness and stamina, and there's still risk of injury - think of Goldberg's badly aimed thrust kick that gave Bret Hart such a concussion he had to quit a few weeks later. Or Owen Hart's botched piledriver that broke Steve Austin's neck. The paycheck for most performers isn't great, so many work through injuries, and quite a few developed a strong taste for whatever dulls the pain.

The WWE has work in the past 10 years to get away from that image and the public awareness that many former stars have died at an early age. They've paid rehabs for former employees, suspend workers for violating the "wellness policy" (which usually means drugs), like recently Roman Reigns who was set up to tbe the new flasghip for the company. They've banned certain cpinal impact moves (like piledrivers). The product these days is much closer to the early to mid 90s (with less exaggerated gimmicks) and more family friendly (it's rated PG now), but the in ring action performed at a higher standard. Even women's wrestling is no longer a complete joke.

What's fascinating is how often there's a disconnect between what the McMahon clan wants to do and what the fans want. Vince and Triple H make no secret of their preference for workers that looks like 1980s He-Man action figures. This sidelines other great workers - Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had to work hard to step out of the shadows of the muscle men, and more recently, Daniel Bryan, who some consider to be one of the best technical wrestlers ever, only was reluctantly pushed by the WWE after massive fan outcry. On the other end you have Roman Reigns who looks impressive, has a few good moves, but is an embarrassment whenever he's on the microphone, is not much beloved by fans and is yet pushed to the top.

Finally, Vince McMahon is a wonderful crazy person. It's no wonder he gets along so well with Trump. He has strokes of brilliance, but he can also be very petty, like when he fired CM Punk on Punk's wedding day. He will let himself be humiliated for a storyline, but ultimately makes sure his ego comes through. Take the WCW takeover in 2001, for example. This would have been an opportunity to give fans what they always wanted - matches between the stars of WCW and WWF and continuing on as two promotions (kind of lilke the Raw vs SmackDown split that happened later and was recently re-introduced). Instead, it was a McMahon family feud. In story, Shane McMahon bought WCW to invade WWF and take over from his dad. WCW was abandoned, most of the big names of WCW walked away (Sting, Flair, Hart, Hogan, Hall, Nash, ...), either out of principle, or because the WWF wasn't offering enough. In the end, Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page were just about the only big names in the WCW squad, and they added Steve Austin from WWF to even the field a bit. The whole invasion was resolved in a few months, and the former WCW workers were made to look weak and inferior to their WWF colleagues.

Another case of wasted chance was Muhammad Hassan. This worker (portrayed by an ethnic Italian ) was a Muslim shopkeep who felt treated like a criminal by his fellow Americans after 9/11 because of his religion, though he was otherwise a well assimilated immigrant. He was what you want from a heel: an image that generates instant heat, but who acts this way out of justified grievances. This gimmick could have gone on for a while, and you could even have him turn face at some point, sending a powerful message of religious tolerance. What did the WWE do: out of the blue, they had him show up on a prayer rug, praying in the isle, while a band of hooded commandos, looking like terrorists beat up wrestlers in the ring. If this wasn't bad enough, this was taped and then broadcast on the day of the London subway bombing. Oops. Hassan got one more match in which he was completely obliterated by the Undertaker and that was that.

Pro wrestling is full of those "what if" situations and squandered opportunities which is why I think it appeals to a certain nerd armchair booker.