https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40hmzeYajrs Who wouldn't love an episode of Raw that featured Edge and Christian battling The New Age Outlaws, Kurt Angle giving Mae Young an Olympic Slam and Viscera suffering a minor Shockmaster moment when he legitimately slipped on some beer in a backstage area? While that was all quality entertainment, it was four radical men who joined a new company that made that night's episode of Raw one of the best ever. One of the final nails in WCW's coffin was when former wrestler Kevin Sullivan took over creative. Higher-up management was sold on him as their guy, and anyone who didn't like it could leave the company. Unfortunately for them, four incredibly talented men did leave. Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit were among the hardest-working, most athletically gifted men on the roster. But they weren't in favor of the new management change, and took up the company's offer. The four soon showed up on Raw just a couple of weeks later, and quickly established themselves as babyfaces by putting a beating on the New Age Outlaws. The episode of SmackDown that followed had the group fight DX for a chance to gain employment in the WWF. Due to a real life injury to Eddie Guerrero during his match, plans were changed on the fly to have the men lose. On the Feb. 7 episode of Raw, they were going to make their last appearance on WWF television, before they all turned heel on their supposed friend Mick Foley and delivered a beatdown on him. It was an incredibly exciting time to be a WWF fan. The company had just secured four of their competitors' best, and were already using them better than had been in WCW. There was a series of dream matches that were ready to happen, and the night they turned on Foley was just the beginning. A main event was booked with Foley taking on The Radicalz, and X-Pac and HHH...alone. It didn't last long, as The Great One volunteered to join his friend in a 5-on-2 battle. As the main event began, Rikishi and Too Cool also joined in to even up the odds. It was 5-on-5, and the crowd in Dallas was absolutely explosive. Very few matches in the program's history have ever received such a huge reaction. Everyone from the former WCW members to Scotty 2 Hotty was incredibly over. It was an exciting match with a lot of fast action, and truly one of the greatest main events Raw has ever had. Watching it now, it's a little sad in retrospect, as we'll never see a group of guys suddenly jump to the WWE main roster with their same names and gimmicks again.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
