World Championship Wrestling/Awesome: Difference between revisions

* Some argue in favor of a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for [[Hulk Hogan]] that arguably trumps slamming [[Andre the Giant]] -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOB4UnRQfdc his infamous Face Heel Turn and joining of the newly-formed New World Order] at ''Bash at the Beach 1996'', kicking off one of the biggest angles in the history of the industry and reinventing himself in the process.

The video of that event on Youtube has a great quote: "I was a little kid when I watched this. I started crying." }}

* [[Goldberg]]'s electrifying defeat of Hollywood Hogan on ''Nitro'' in July 1998 to win the [[WCW]] World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Though the match really should have been saved for a pay-per-view in order to create a massive PPV payday, the deafening crowd reaction (thanks to WCW scheduling the victory in Goldberg's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia) and the mere fact that Hogan took a ''clean'' pinfall loss in WCW make it probably the last truly great [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] that WCW can attest to (since it was the last time ''Nitro'' defeated ''Raw'' in the ratings).

** At ''Road Wild 1998'', Goldberg defended his newly won title in a battle royal where it was him going up against an entire nWo contingent. Not only did he avoid defeat against both the Hollywood and Wolfpac factions of the nWo, he capped off his victory by [[Crazy Awesome|Jackhammering The Giant]]. He would later repeat this spot on ''Nitro'', and hold him up in the Jackhammer for several seconds!

*** Speaking of the Jackhammer, [[Diamond Dallas Page]] reversing it into a Diamond Cutter at ''Halloween Havoc''.

* How about [[Chris Benoit]]'s shoot on the likes of Hogan and Nash?

* [[Ric Flair]]'s promo on the final ''Nitro'' manages to sneak one in just before the end - read the transcript [http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/video_reviews/69054/ here].

* This Troper can't believe he is the first person to mention the first time Sting came down from the rafters by zipline. The blowoff may have been a misstep, but after months of watching Sting in the rafters, this was really a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].

** Or how about ''Spring Breakout 1998'', where he repelled out of a FREAKIN' HELICOPTER.

** Russo's comments about Hogan being "bald" were the basis of a defamation lawsuit Hogan filed after he left the company, which was eventually dropped in 2002.

* The "party" thrown by the New Four Horsemen and Arn Anderson on ''Nitro'' in 1998, with [[Ric Flair]] returning to WCW after a long hiatus. This editor would be remiss in failing to mention the amazing amounts of WIN that was [[Ric Flair]], Arn Anderson, Steve McMichael, Dean Malenko, and [[Chris Benoit]] standing in the ring, reforming the Horsemen, as well as [[Ric Flair]]'s absolute fury at Eric Bischoff for crashing the party.

** Best part is, that was a shoot.

** It should be noted that Malenko was taking time off for most of the feud. Jericho built this feud up ''by himself'', making fun of Malenko at every turn and even carrying around a blown-up version of one of Malenko's promotional photos. This culminated at the aforementioned ''Slamboree'' Cruiserweight battle royal, which was won by Ciclope when Juventud Guerrera jumped over the top rope to eliminate himself. Jericho ran in to gloat (and to attack his challenger) immediately afterward, and Ciclope unmasked, revealing Malenko. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENT6asElNiM The crowd came completely unglued in response.] In his book, Jericho notes that this was one of the top three most electric crowd responses he'd ever heard.

*** [[Crosses the Line Twice|"Hey Dean, how's your dead father doing?"]]

* Who could ever forget the classic [[Ric Flair]] vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat trilogy in 1989? Dave Meltzer (who attended the ''Chi-Town Rumble'' event, where the first part of the trilogy took place) gave all three matches five stars, and the ''Chi-Town Rumble'' match is considered to be one of the best wrestling matches ever.

** Ricky Steamboat, a few years later, had another CMOA at ''Clash of the Champions XVII''. Dustin Rhodes was to challenge the then-tag champs The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Larry Zybysko) alongside his usual tag partner, Barry Windham. The problem was that Windham was dealing with a hand injury, so he wasn't going to be competing, but this was covered up in storyline by having the heels injure him intentionally so that the thread of the Rhodes / Windham tag team would be removed. Dustin shows up anyway with a "mystery man" clad in a cloak and a dragon mask... only for the mystery man to take off his costume and reveal himself to be none other than Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, making his return after departing from the WWF just weeks earlier. The reaction of the heels is pure pants-shitting shock and awe. Arn Anderson sells Steamboat's return in particularly fantastic fashion, mentally trying to psych himself up to deal with Steamboat:

* Dusty Rhodes' amazing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4MmynUrze8 "Hard Times" promo.] He compares the problems of mass unemployment to his injury '''and makes you believe in what he is saying.'''

* With all due respect to [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]], 1997 belonged to the man called Sting, and his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] was at the end of that year's ''Uncensored'' PPV. For months leading up to the event, nobody knew whose side Sting was on in the WCW/nWo war. When the PPV's final match was over and the nWo was celebrating another victory, Sting descended from the rafters and proceeded to completely destroy ''the entire group'' with his now-trademark black baseball bat, culminating in a beatdown on "Hollywood" [[Hulk Hogan]] using just his fists.

** It should also be noted that Rick Rude appeared on ''Nitro'' with only a moustache. He had been appearing on WWF TV with a full beard, including on that taped edition of RAW. So from a chronological standpoint, he appeared on ''Nitro'' clean shaven, and was on ''Raw'' an hour later with a beard. It was not just a powerful commentary on the Screwjob, but also a shot to the WWF's pre-taped format as well.

* ''WCW Thunder'' has a reputation for being bad. But one moment sticks out as being awesome. On the first episode of ''Thunder'', The Giant (you know, [[The Big Show]]) comes down to the ring, which has many members of the nWo in it. The Giant then grabs one of the turnbuckle posts ''with one hand '''and rips it out, collapsing the entire ring.'''''

 

[[Category:Professional Wrestling/Awesome]]