Me too. I've felt like this for a long time, and I think it's because we've watched for so long and seen everything in wrestling. And when you think back on it, it's a cool retrospect to hear the backstories. Especially since in the 80's and 90's the business was not exposed.
Mr. Perksy As a wrestling fan in the mid 70s I have to agree with u guys also. Especially since back in the 70s till the mid 80s there was still kayfabe so throw that into the equation too & I can’t watch anything BUT the shoots. Plus what the OSW guys put on RUclips are hilarious.
I must be one of the few people that actually enjoyed the New Generation era. But I guess I look at everything, during that time of my life, through rose colored glasses. Oh to be young again.
I still go back and watch that more than the attitude era.... a lot of the attitude era doesn’t hold up.... I forgot how frantic it was during the late 90s The new generations main event programs were always pretty good... just never had an undercard
1996 was their most star filled year in history. Sycho sid, shawn, diesel, hall, farooq, warrior, hhh, bret, owen, taker, bulldog, austin, vader,pillman mankind were all part of the company. Things really started picking up once sid became champ, the pillman gun incident,austins heel character, bret returning,things were getting wacky
Oh, I couldn't agree more. The only reason I got the network was to watch the old stuff & I LOVE WWF 1995. It just sucks that the Network edits so much stuff out, I definitely wish I invested in the VHS tapes when they were coming out, but then again, I was like 3 back then lol
Yeah I got turned off due to the higher power angle I expected more and during the invasion angle was the nail in the coffin. I quit watching mid 2002 and just never really turned back in until 2013 and I’m more of a passive fan
Mantar, Duke the Dumpster, Barry Harrowitz, Face Yokozuna, Born again Jake Roberts, The Portuguese Man-o-war, heel 1 2 3 Kid, Face Bigalow. That would probably have a part in it.
It was good for Austin to work with Jake. The Austin 316 moment, all that. Even today Jake understands how to make people care about wrestling, more so then the top draws in any organization.
With Flair, Bulldog, Roberts, Sid, Warrior, LOD, Big Boss Man, and Hogan out of WWE by late 92 to mid 93 I stopped watching pretty much till about late 95
I lost my serious interest at about 14 in 94 during the cartoon / occupation era. I was a HUGE Demolition mark, but the Repo Man went waaaaay over my head
I like these Bruce Prichard interviews. Yes, he tends to forget or miss key elements of the time that they speak of. But so does everyone, sometimes based on ego and sometimes due to destroyed brain cells lol.... This is awesome. He's believable.
Right before the 12 minute mark In regards to how many homes they were reaching with their cable deals. Anyone have more info? Specifically if the gap continued through the heart of the Monday night wars and if so why that fact is hardly talked about. Like If wcw is twice as many homes i would hope they'd have higher ratings
Not sure about the homes but both channels were basic cable channels so it was likely similar. And TNT and USA at this time performed similarly in ratings. TNT averaged a 2.1 in 1996 while USA averaged a 2.0
I know there was never much money made on the smaller House shows ... but look at it another business way like volume for example. In the mid 80's to mid 90's there was either a House show or a C-town shown almost every single night ... say them events only make 1k profit, a measly 1k profit per show/event ... that's about 300k a year added into the top line, for 10-years. I wouldn't sniff at it.
WWE was just god awful from 93 to 95. It was sad. They started to rebound in 96 but then Vince decides to let Nash and Hall go and it set them back again.
This Conrad guy. Conrad: “So Meltzer wrote there was a private meeting with Vince, Russo,Wrestler X, Stephanie and Pat Patterson, where WrestlerX was told ‘blah blah blah’ and nobody ever leaked anything about the meeting. Chat me up what happened in that meeting.” Bruce: “I don’t know, I wasn’t there.” Conrad does this show and acts like he has inside info but all it is is a wrestling tabloid from 25 years ago. When he asks about Flair I want someone to say “He’s your father in law, ask him yourself.”
This was doing the time that the WWF was struggling financially, and struggling to win the ratings with WCW Nitro, kept getting beat week after week, year after year. Vince was losing his ex talent to WCW, cause he couldn't offer them bigger deals, cause of the money he lost in the steroid trial. WWE was a mess at the time.
rumar spencer no they actually won. WWF was still the #1 promotion in wrestling since 198(?). Raw had some wins over Nitro. After the 1996 summer WCW became #1. Hogan wouldn't have talked about the "Federation up North" for no reason in his NWO heel turn promo.
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 well yeah in 96 after the NWO, was getting hotter, WWE kept losing and couldn't compete with it, it forced Vince to the attitude era. But in 95, his company was losing money, they were declining big time, and overtime it got worse, as he didn't have money to offer guys to stay, cause of the money he loss due to the steroid trial.
Even when WCW was offering those contracts to former WWE stars WCW was also having issues too. For some odd reason the year of 1995 was not a good year for anyone. Exactly what was happening in that year for the whole world?
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 Yeah it started in 96, after the NWO formation, when WCW became dominant, but the WWF was struggling financially and it showed, when all the guys that left, WWF lost a lot of money, they couldn't offer guys big contracts, cause of the cost of the steroid trial.
@@attiepollard7847 But WCW was on it's way to dominance, heading for a great future at that point, they weren't dealing with no steroid trial, like the WWF was, and the WWF lost a lot of money cause of that trial, which is why, they couldn't offer guys big contracts, and WCW could, which is why guys went to WCW instead.
greg mckeaver what the hell you talking about? They are the goats they were just coming up then. Because wcw bought all the known stars wwf had to build stars. So everybody watched wcw because there favs jumped ship. But we see who came out on top.
pc Juggalo WCW didn't need to do that, they already had their stars, they just didn't know what to do with them. WCWs front. office didn't know shit about wrestling & neither do you
pc Juggalo The Kliq was so great, so great in fact they buried guys like Hakushi, Owen Hart, Bulldog, etc. None of them drew big numbers either. Again you don't know jack shit about wrestling
No this wasn't WCW. Hall and Nash wasn't really politicing at this time. And I'm pretty sure they drew money dumbass. I mean shit I wonder why Kevin Nash wakes up every morning to a big ass view of the ocean? I mean after all like you said he didn't draw shit right? Dumbass. Your the one that don't know jack shit about wrestling
I find the business side of wrestling 100X more interesting than the wrestling itself.
Mr. Chopsticks exactly me too
Me too. I've felt like this for a long time, and I think it's because we've watched for so long and seen everything in wrestling. And when you think back on it, it's a cool retrospect to hear the backstories. Especially since in the 80's and 90's the business was not exposed.
Mr. Perksy As a wrestling fan in the mid 70s I have to agree with u guys also. Especially since back in the 70s till the mid 80s there was still kayfabe so throw that into the equation too & I can’t watch anything BUT the shoots. Plus what the OSW guys put on RUclips are hilarious.
Me too brother!!!
Mr. Chopsticks me to i was always intrigued with the numbers during the Monday night wars n how contacts worked
I must be one of the few people that actually enjoyed the New Generation era. But I guess I look at everything, during that time of my life, through rose colored glasses. Oh to be young again.
It was a strange era
Cartoon era
I grew up during that era and to be honest,yes it could cartoony and ridiculous,but it was more interesting than wwe today.
I still go back and watch that more than the attitude era.... a lot of the attitude era doesn’t hold up.... I forgot how frantic it was during the late 90s
The new generations main event programs were always pretty good... just never had an undercard
@@crews-lj3ph Cartoon era or not, 95 was great lol I miss the WWF.
1996 was their most star filled year in history. Sycho sid, shawn, diesel, hall, farooq, warrior, hhh, bret, owen, taker, bulldog, austin, vader,pillman mankind were all part of the company. Things really started picking up once sid became champ, the pillman gun incident,austins heel character, bret returning,things were getting wacky
It was getting rolling
Lmfao
1995 was so bad it scared people off for a bit
great video clip thanks so much for uploading!
im always amazed that i got into wrestling during this so called shitty era.summer of 95 i was a huge fan until mid 2002
Same here and I couldn't stand wcw, couldn't get into it. Everyone 1 knew like wwf even tho wcw takes over in ratings somehow.
Oh, I couldn't agree more. The only reason I got the network was to watch the old stuff & I LOVE WWF 1995. It just sucks that the Network edits so much stuff out, I definitely wish I invested in the VHS tapes when they were coming out, but then again, I was like 3 back then lol
Yeah I got turned off due to the higher power angle I expected more and during the invasion angle was the nail in the coffin. I quit watching mid 2002 and just never really turned back in until 2013 and I’m more of a passive fan
Still would put it above today’s wrestling
History Repeating Itself for the WWE 2018-2019 Now 2020
Great episode
I have a feeling JR knows the answers to many of the questions he's asking
Mantar, Duke the Dumpster, Barry Harrowitz, Face Yokozuna, Born again Jake Roberts, The Portuguese Man-o-war, heel 1 2 3 Kid, Face Bigalow.
That would probably have a part in it.
TL Hopper, Freddie Joe Floyd. Waylon Mercy
@@TroystonB Tony Fucking Devito.
It was good for Austin to work with Jake. The Austin 316 moment, all that. Even today Jake understands how to make people care about wrestling, more so then the top draws in any organization.
TheCastellan don’t forget about The Goon with his hockey skate wrestling boots lol
MVP, that Grunge character, face Crush, Perfect with that coach
With Flair, Bulldog, Roberts, Sid, Warrior, LOD, Big Boss Man, and Hogan out of WWE by late 92 to mid 93 I stopped watching pretty much till about late 95
QuentinDude bulldog and Sid came back in 1994.
Sid didn't come back until Feb 1995 as Shawn Michaels bodyguard
I lost my serious interest at about 14 in 94 during the cartoon / occupation era. I was a HUGE Demolition mark, but the Repo Man went waaaaay over my head
I like these Bruce Prichard interviews. Yes, he tends to forget or miss key elements of the time that they speak of. But so does everyone, sometimes based on ego and sometimes due to destroyed brain cells lol.... This is awesome. He's believable.
@Something To Wrestle with Bruce Prichard
Conrad, you guys should do an episode about WWE leaving the USA network & going to TNN.
the ratings now are what they we're back then but I don't see anybody saying WWE is doing bad business now lol
It’s almost like being paid almost $600M to license those shows in 2022 helps to quell that talk.
Right before the 12 minute mark In regards to how many homes they were reaching with their cable deals. Anyone have more info? Specifically if the gap continued through the heart of the Monday night wars and if so why that fact is hardly talked about. Like If wcw is twice as many homes i would hope they'd have higher ratings
Not sure about the homes but both channels were basic cable channels so it was likely similar. And TNT and USA at this time performed similarly in ratings. TNT averaged a 2.1 in 1996 while USA averaged a 2.0
I know there was never much money made on the smaller House shows ... but look at it another business way like volume for example. In the mid 80's to mid 90's there was either a House show or a C-town shown almost every single night ... say them events only make 1k profit, a measly 1k profit per show/event ... that's about 300k a year added into the top line, for 10-years. I wouldn't sniff at it.
WWE was just god awful from 93 to 95. It was sad. They started to rebound in 96 but then Vince decides to let Nash and Hall go and it set them back again.
Disagree. 93 and 94 had their moments. 95 was awful.
this that this that this that for about 3-minutes ... do I have that right Bruce?
A- No.
John Galbraith Hahahaha!
This Conrad guy. Conrad: “So Meltzer wrote there was a private meeting with Vince, Russo,Wrestler X, Stephanie and Pat Patterson, where WrestlerX was told ‘blah blah blah’ and nobody ever leaked anything about the meeting. Chat me up what happened in that meeting.” Bruce: “I don’t know, I wasn’t there.” Conrad does this show and acts like he has inside info but all it is is a wrestling tabloid from 25 years ago. When he asks about Flair I want someone to say “He’s your father in law, ask him yourself.”
What episode is this? doot doot doot
Search it
This was doing the time that the WWF was struggling financially, and struggling to win the ratings with WCW Nitro, kept getting beat week after week, year after year. Vince was losing his ex talent to WCW, cause he couldn't offer them bigger deals, cause of the money he lost in the steroid trial. WWE was a mess at the time.
rumar spencer no they actually won. WWF was still the #1 promotion in wrestling since 198(?). Raw had some wins over Nitro. After the 1996 summer WCW became #1. Hogan wouldn't have talked about the "Federation up North" for no reason in his NWO heel turn promo.
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 well yeah in 96 after the NWO, was getting hotter, WWE kept losing and couldn't compete with it, it forced Vince to the attitude era. But in 95, his company was losing money, they were declining big time, and overtime it got worse, as he didn't have money to offer guys to stay, cause of the money he loss due to the steroid trial.
Even when WCW was offering those contracts to former WWE stars WCW was also having issues too. For some odd reason the year of 1995 was not a good year for anyone.
Exactly what was happening in that year for the whole world?
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 Yeah it started in 96, after the NWO formation, when WCW became dominant, but the WWF was struggling financially and it showed, when all the guys that left, WWF lost a lot of money, they couldn't offer guys big contracts, cause of the cost of the steroid trial.
@@attiepollard7847 But WCW was on it's way to dominance, heading for a great future at that point, they weren't dealing with no steroid trial, like the WWF was, and the WWF lost a lot of money cause of that trial, which is why, they couldn't offer guys big contracts, and WCW could, which is why guys went to WCW instead.
AKA the Dark Ages
Blame the Kliq, Michaels, Hall, Waltman & HHH kept putting themselves in the top of the card & killed a lot of midcarder pushes.
Nash also
greg mckeaver what the hell you talking about? They are the goats they were just coming up then. Because wcw bought all the known stars wwf had to build stars. So everybody watched wcw because there favs jumped ship. But we see who came out on top.
pc Juggalo WCW didn't need to do that, they already had their stars, they just didn't know what to do with them. WCWs front. office didn't know shit about wrestling & neither do you
pc Juggalo The Kliq was so great, so great in fact they buried guys like Hakushi, Owen Hart, Bulldog, etc. None of them drew big numbers either. Again you don't know jack shit about wrestling
No this wasn't WCW. Hall and Nash wasn't really politicing at this time. And I'm pretty sure they drew money dumbass. I mean shit I wonder why Kevin Nash wakes up every morning to a big ass view of the ocean? I mean after all like you said he didn't draw shit right? Dumbass. Your the one that don't know jack shit about wrestling
1995 was such a bad year that’s why I think 1996 was worse. Essentially “scaring” fans off from the bad 95 shows
That’s what happens when the kliq runs the show. Most overrated group of wrestlers ever.
Had nothing to do with having clowns, garbage men and pig farmers as characters?
@@drpepper0911 Hey I actually liked evil Doink.
Decline was from 1990 to 1996. Let's get real. It was pretty unwatchable then
NOPE IN 90 91 & 92 THERE WAS NO DECLINE