WCWs reputation for utterly meaningless, nonsensical booking didnt start when Vince Russo took over booking the promotion in October 1999, you know. Heres a classic case in point: the notorious First Blood Barbed Wire Cage Match at the Uncensored pay-per-view in March 1999, with then WCW President Ric Flair versus Hollywood Hogan for the WCW world title and control of the company. The first snafu was the First Blood concept itself - in the lukewarm build-up for the match theyd forgotten to publicise the matchs gimmick, so it was hastily announced online just before Uncensored kicked off. They then had to qualify that by having Flair order referee Charles Lil Naitch Robinson not to call the finish for a little trickle of blood, a nick or a scratch: itd have to be a proper crimson mask. Even in 1999, Flair versus Hogan in a cage wasnt anything to sniff at. Of course, this wasnt the dream pairing: that was the red n yellow Hulkster and cheerfully nasty heel Flair, whereas this was contemptible nWo heel Hollywood Hogan and a babyface Naitch well, sort of. Just to confuse things still further, Flair was actually in the process of reverting to a heel persona, while Hogan would hit babyface spots throughout the match, cupping his ear for the crowd and hulking up. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x320s3_ric-flair-vs-hollywood-hulk-hogan-w_sport Still, while the story being told didnt make any sense, the action wasnt half bad. That is, until Flair started bleeding. Now, the Nature Boy pours blood like a slaughtered piglet if the neighbours cough too loud, so its no great shock that he was the first to bleed - and hed heelishly given a partisan referee leeway to avoid calling the match for Hogan when that happened. So far so good but then Hogan used the barbed wire from the cage to open up the wound. Flairs face was soon half covered in lovely, lovely claret, with still no indication that the match would stop. Hogan tried a pin, but laughably, Robinson reminded him it was a First Blood match. Flair had brass knuckles up his sleeve (so to speak) and Hogan was soon busted open. At that point Flair went for a pinfall, and Robinson pounced on it for a two count. From that moment on, pinfalls were the way to go, despite the matchs stated gimmick, and Arn Anderson would pass Flair a tyre iron to knock Hogan out and finish the job via a fast count from Lil Naitch. The Nature Boy was WCW World Heavyweight Champion and President of the company, with a referee in his back pocket. The stage was set to complete his heel turn but what was going on in this match? No one knew. No one knew whether they were supposed to cheer Hogan, with his posturing and posing for the fans, or boo the heel whod swaggered to the ring, the man who ran the nWo and no one knew whether to have sympathy for the supposed babyface Flair during his beatdown and bloodletting, or to side with Hogan as Flair blatantly cheated to win. As for the submission and pinfall to win a First Blood match where both men had been bleeding heavily for some time before the finish no, the crowd, the announcers and the fans at home were completely at a loss to know what was going on.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
