Raven - How Vince McMahon Ruined Territory Wrestling Stars in WWF
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Raven (Scott Levy) used to produce for WWF in the early 1990s so he worked very closely with Vince McMahon behind the scenes. Watch 10 hours of Raven shoots exclusively on TitleMatchNetwo...
Raven was then known as Johnny Polo on-screen and began writing for WWF All-American and WWF Mania behind-the-scenes. Here, Raven explains why he believes Vince McMahon hired big name talent from different wrestling territories only to bury them on TV.
The theory goes that once the top draws were removed from prominent promotions, they were put in outlandish gimmicks that were doomed to fail. Instead of reaching stardom as they had in their local territory, wrestlers found themselves humiliated as jobbers and cast aside.
Of course the money was likely the best any of these territory stars made in the careers, still the points stands. Think about what happened to territory stars like Rip Oliver (Portland), Wild Bill Irwin or Mike Shaw once they entered the World Wrestling Federation.
Raven reveals what Vince McMahon's possible motives could have been behind these characters. Raven names examples of many guys who were big regional stars that got squashed right after getting signed to New York.
Enjoy this awesome shoot interview from ECW legend, WCW Flock Leader & 27x WWF Hardcore Champion, Scott Levy aka Raven!
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #1 НАЧАЛО ПУТЕШЕСТВИЯ [Новый сезон] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/380Q7gLWGvk/mqdefault.jpg)
Hope you're liking this clip from our new interview with RAVEN! Here's another 10 hours of Raven interviews we have conducted over the years: bit.ly/2nXtBzb Enjoy and don't forget to hit subscribe!
Raven never got recognition in wrestling he should have. One of the most underrated wrestlers ever.
Great talent, willing to do everything, superb talent on mic.
njmfff Absolutely. Could you imagine if he was booked in WCW and WWF like had been in ECW? It's a shame so many of his prime years were spent underutilized.
Title Match Wrestling yeah. I think it was due to those guys jumping from one company to another, so they got stuck in mid card.
Regardless, fans love him, which is usually the most important thing. and let's not forget about his awesome theme at WCW, gotta be one of the best ever. :)
"Jobbing for the Brooklyn Brawler so you know that's not going anywhere" lol
lol that actually is pretty bad if you're jobbing to the Brooklyn Brawler.
@@Machete87 I don't think Lanny Poffo would job to the Brooklyn Brawler !🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️
Still got tons of love for Raven
After my time with NWA and then Dusty's PWF, I got the call from New York promising me the world so to speak. I was promised an early push to the IC title but as anyone who remembers my run with WWF knows I ended up doing the job for nearly every time I was booked. Around the same time NWA was interested in my coming back and I know I'd midcard at the best there because of politics (working PWF pissed them off) so I took the deal with WWF and regretted having done so soon thereafter. What Raven says here is dead on balls accurate. I was just one of many who was a victim of McMahon's need to rule the world without caring about who career he destroys.
According to the Monday Night War DVD, Vince McMahon was a nice, innocent person who would never do damage to any other wrestling company. WCW was the cause of every problem that ever happened in the wrestling industry. That's what people will think with the history WWE has rewritten. Fuck Vince McMahon and his Disneyland empire. I'd rather throw $10 in the garbage every month than pay for that network.
WWE throwing a ton of money at AWA, WCCW and Territory wrestlers to lure them away and cripple the company was totally different than what WCW did to WWE because... reasons. Just like the Monday Night wars crucified Medusa for throwing the woman's title in the trash can which "ruined her career" (not counting the years it went on after she did that) was nothing like ECW having someone throw the NWA title on the floor and disrespect it, and Flair showing up on WWE television with the WCW title were both totally different than what WCW has Medusa do because... reasons.
Ted Turner is just as as bad as Vince,
Ted Turner is a philanthropist. He's active in supporting world peace and preventing poverty. Vince McMahon just cares about money and his ego.
I have to agree Vince is slowly killing wrestling hence why WWE doesn't call them wrestlers anymore now it's "Superstars". WWE buried every WCW and ECW wrestler during the Invasion storyline the only one to survive it was Booker T.
Nathan G Umm RVD?
To this day, I remember a one-page spread in WWF Magazine featuring four of the newest "superstars" they were introducing. There was T.L. Hopper, a dirty-looking plumber (who was famous and successful as The Dirty White Boy in SMW); The Stalker, a survivalist or hunter with camouflage facepaint (better known as Barry Windham); Freddie Joe Floyd, who apparently had no gimmick other than obviously being a Southerner (most remember him as Tracy Smothers); and The Goon, who is mentioned in the video above.
To take four successful wrestlers who could get over on name recognition alone, and give them these terrible gimmicks is almost vindictive. Scott Levy wasn't exaggerating, the WWF was taking these guys and just doing everything they could to humiliate them. It's almost a miracle and a testament to Mick Foley's personality that he could become a legend as Cactus Jack and then start from scratch again as Mankind. Any other person than Foley and that would probably be yet another gimmick lost to the winds.
Yeah, you basically said it without saying it. Vince is pretty much a borderline psychopath and truly gets off on other people's misery and failures. The examples are legion with what you outlined above. Road Warrior Hawk said how he was "the most evil" person he ever knew. Rather than just terminate/fire someone, he would rather bury them in the worst of ways and make them look as horrible as possible. He loves to rub it in like that. There's no other explanation for it, because why bring so many of them over, only to barely use them and then make mockeries out of them? It's simply because of his fucked up Rockefeller "no competition" and robber baron mentality, except with a type of sadist slant to it.
Remember The One Man Gang? Vince had the stupid ass idea to turn him into The Singing/Dancing Afrikaner (aka, Ahkeem). Phhhhhfff. Yeah, I get some people liked that gimmick, but a lot of them hated it too, me included.
I wish I could hear Scott speak about Bryan Clark (Adam Bomb), who he actually managed for a bit as Johnny Polo. I absolutely loved that guy...menacing and intimidating look, 6 friggin 6, powerhouse physique and strength, and could move very quick for a guy that size. He pretty much had all the tools to be a top guy. And what does WWF do with him? Well, what else, barely anything except for doing jobs for the 123 Kid (Sean Waltman) and other jobs not even worth mentioning. He went on to have a good run at WCW as Wrath, after leaving the whole "Mortal Kombat" stable with Mortis (Kris Kanyon). He went on to go undefeated and it was rumored he was going to face Goldberg at Starcade 98, but of course, cry baby Nash fucked all of that up by beating Wrath (a totally pointless match all to prop up Nash for Goldberg) and he fizzled out shortly after. But even after that he tagged up with Bryan Adams in KroniK and had a decent run...until Vince got him back in the deal with WCW and both he and Adams were squashed by Kane/Undertaker (Brothers of Destruction). Vince basically fucked him over not once, but twice. Heh...pretty unbelievable stuff, but it's really sad, because to see so much talent misused or not even used at all, left so much more to be desired.
Btw, concerning Barry Windham and this Stalker character you mentioned, I have no idea or any recollection of that and I am guessing it was very short-lived. However, you may find this very interesting. The thing is, Greg Valentine had said how he and Brutus got the tagteam belts off of Windham and Mike Rotunda and were supposed to have another match, but Windham took a plane home and just instantly quit after that (Greg said he had no idea why this happened). They had to replace Windham with Dan Spivey but Greg said how that flopped and didn't work, which led to their classic matches with the Bulldogs. Now, I would have to obviously assume that this Stalker character/gimmick was BEFORE all of that...or am I wrong and Windham came back again as that character (unbeknown to most people) and THEN was fired/buried (or quit again)?
Apparently the deal with that particular influx was Cornette suggesting bringing in some guys slightly above job status to be enhancement guys. Basically card fillers that would help make the top guys look good by beating them. Most of them were SMW/USWA guys. And of course Vince couldn’t resist giving them silly occupational gimmicks.
McMahon used that tactic many times before. He’d sign talent knowing he had no use for them but did so to bury them so badly that said talent would be useless to WCW. Terry Taylor is the best example of this
I respect Raven for his obvious love for the business and how articulate he can be. Quote the Raven never more.
Think of the worst WWF gimmicks of the early 1990s...then watch THIS! Title Match exclusive throwback!
Yeah brother he's a good dude. I'm with you - Raven and Austin would be gold, they go way back too.
***** Not sure. They're talked about Raven on his show before. He'd be a fascinating guest.
***** You disrespectful piece of trash. It was Raven's and Heyman's ideas that were stolen by Michaels and McMahon to create the WWF Attitude.
***** Even if I wasn't a Raven mark, I would still make the same comment, 'cause it's true. The character of Raven was always more interesting than that of a boy toy or a Canadian Patriot or even the demonic at times Undertaker.
***** seemed pretty over in wcw
Raven imo has probably one of the best brains in the business today, guys like him, Kevin Sullivan & Scott Hall, should ALL be on the writing team(s) today
Kevin Sullivan should be put in the chair. Fuckin' psychotic, and not in a cool way....
Jim Cornette
@@kyleshiflet9952 He should be among the brain trust in WWE creative yeah, I mean when are the WWE gonna realise that Wrestling fans tune in to watch Wrestling, with Wrestling storylines, I mean wtf
@@mettinkaytaz6106 exactly
I'm a huge Portland Wrestling fan since I've lived here all my life. Loved Raven as Scotty The Body when he was here. It's a real shame what the WWF did to Rip and Buddy Rose. They were two of the best heels and workers in the business back then. The territories were the glory days of Pro Wrestling.
***** Buddy hurt himself a lot by not controlling his wait. First time he went to New York he had an awesome run with Backlund. Big Rip Oliver fan myself. Dutch Savage told me Rip was one of the best heels he ever saw, and Dutch was not a guy who handed out many compliments.
booradley126 Buddy didn't weigh as much in Portland as when we went to the WWF for that short time and then returned. For a short time, he even lost a good deal of his girth. Rip was indeed an awesome heel as was The Grappler in his first run in Portland. I created and managed Dutch's web site before he died. He was rough around the edges, but a very nice man. I also worked with Stan Stasiak's wife, Kim, at National Video in the mid- 80's. Stan would come in to pick her up from work. He was such a big guy and super soft-spoken. Very nice. Boy, I miss those days!
Dude! I use to fish with Dutch, and I worked with Stan when he was selling cars. Awesome guys.
Scotty the body, Brian Adams, the grappler, colonel debeers, beetle juice (rip) and billy jack were all portland stars they tore down the old arena and the flea market and put up the church we used to go to Portland wrestling every weekend.
I honestly don't know whether Raven would actually be a great backstage asset for any wrestling promotion. With enough freedom and control, it seems like he would have a great mind for the business. He surely was creative and original as a wrestler.
+Hugo Lalumiere I like how you contradict yourself right after that first sentence.
+cmcunt get him on the writing team lol
+thepublic housebrandcom get that dude?
+cmcunt I like how you don't seem to grasp the meaning of words. Contradict myself? The first sentence is a fact i.e. I don't know for sure. Second sentence is an opinion. My view of things. It SEEMS he might be an asset but I could be wrong BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW HIM OR THE BACKSTAGE ENVIRONMENT ENOUGH TO CLAIM THAT FOR CERTAIN. Happy, smart guy? Please, do keep your eye on the ball.
+Hugo Lalumiere keep your eye on my balls
"You live by the sword, you die by the sword"
Oh, how true is it. Due to Vince killing all of the territories, and still taking any independent talent and doing fuck all with them, he now has a smaller talent pool and less people interested in wrestling overall. He's basically eroding away potential stars and fans slowly but surely.
+TheDalinkwent
Not really. People are still coming into the WWE.
True, but I will say that Vince isn't doing anything that other promoters didn't try to do before him with the national expansion. It's just guys like Gagne and Crockett hadn't got the business sense to pull it off. Things were changing as the 80s came about that would surely make the territory system defunct one way or another, as that only arose because travel was too expensive to tour nationwide efficiently and cheaply.
not many people know who 1st said that. im sure raven does
A very clever man, his IQ is very high
how high is your IQ?
His IQ is 143 and he’s a member of Mensa !
They didn't just do this in the 80s and early 90s. They did this in the late 90s and around 2000 or 2001 also. They brought in guys like Raven, like Taz, like Rhyno, and Al Snow, and many many other guys from WCW or ECW, and then, same thing, did jack shit with em. It's such a pointless tactic. The whole POINT of bringing in a wrestler from another promotion/territory, that has made a NAME for themselves and has STAR power, is the FACT that they are already "somebody", and you're HIRING them to use them FOR that star power.
Vince hated wcw and didn't want to push anyone from their at the time hence ever wwc except Goldberg, who came in 2000 to 2002 was a heel character no matter how much the crowd cheered they were heels.
Rasheed Edwards Yep. Fans were upset at Rock for "going Hollywood" so Goldberg speared him, only for Goldberg to be crushed by Evolution - most of all HHH - later in the year, especially leading into his WM 20 crap fest match against equally departing turncoat Brock Lesnar, who eventually returned with his tail between his legs after being forced out of UFC and using wrestling as a means to an end, rather than actually loving the business.
Rhyno had a decent run in 2001.
How the hell did the Dudley Boyz make it past the "stuttering" gimmick Bubba originally had? I just randomly remember that was a thing initially...
You have to keep in mind that Vince McMahon hates wrestling. He hates that he'll forever known as the guy who made his billions off "Wrasslin" and it's mark's.
Vince didn't just take the talent. He got the guys to leave in short notice, stiffing the promoters who had promoted shows. AWA had promoted dates with Hulk Hogan. He quit on short notice. So AWA didn't deliver what it promised.
Not only did territories lose talent, they "broke promises". With less talent and lost trust, the fan base disappeared,
Crabby Old Gamer thing about that though is that many wrestlers had to leave with little to no notice out of self preservation. Wrestling was such a dirty business that if they found out you were jumping to Vince, they would probably take physical retribution against you and have someone shoot on you and hurt you. Jimmy hart said that when he left Memphis, he had to lie about his intentions to leave for the wwf, and take off like a thief in the night, because the Memphis guys would have seriously hurt him if they found out the truth.
It was terribly dirty. Verne Gagne was so pissed at Hogan for leaving the AWA, he called up Iron Sheik and said he'd pay him to break Hogan's leg during the title match when Hogan won. Sheik said it in his documentary. Sheik had high regard for guys like Bob Backlund. Wrestlers with greco/roman wrestling backgrounds. So he hated Hogan type guys. Gagne knew this. But Sheik stayed true to his word that nothing would happen to Hogan and he would let him win cleanly.
Jim Ross stated in an interview that he was in a men's bathroom stall when he overheard two promoters talking about taking "the kid" (Vince) out when he was scooping up the best talent from other territories.
Verne Gagne was only willing to put his belt on Hogan after he wanted the latter’s Japan & merchandise money, which was total BS, as he never asked his previous champions such as Bockwinkel to do the same.
Nobody should blame Hogan once Vince promised him to what ultimately amounted to an undefeated streak with the belt from 1983-1988, minus any battle royal, count out or DQ losses.
He's absolutely right! Vince loves to destroy top stars... Ultimate warrior (DVD), legion of doom ( shave there heads off and sprayed paint on there backs, Goldberg ( HHH beat him to a bloody pulp), Bret hart ( screwed him over the finish), Kane ( went from top heel to a corporate joke).. And the list goes on and on.
stylechyld Well Corporate Kane is kinda very realistic since he's very corporate in real life
Stops them from being able to carry their momentum to rival companies
Ultimate warrior was an asshole if I’m not mistaken LOD were either the ones to come up with that or were down (I remember hearing on a podcast) Goldberg had no real wrestling talent hints him hurting Bret. Bret screwed Bret but I will agree the completely fucked over Kane.
Raven should redo this interview and add Sting, Booker T..hell the whole WCW roster!
Yeah, There You Go. The WWE/Vince McMahon Might Get Cussed Out.
That Would Draw Every Member Of The Internet Wrestling Community;IWC.
They’d Destroy McMahon.
raven was the highest level of character development in wrestling...hes right the with undertaker and was criminally underused
JOE JUST KILLED HIS LEGACY IN PRO WRESTLING JOINING THE WWE. HE WAS A LEGEND IN ROH, WAS PRETTY GOOD IN TNA. WWE IS A LEGEND KILLER COMPANY
Yep. The WWE Is ran by insecure, bitter, selfish guys. Back when Vince bought WCW they had a great opportunity to become that much better by adding all kinds of huge names and legends that were on the WCW roster. That's when you saw that Vince was salty and never had any intentions of putting WCW guys over in his WWF. The fans lost because of it. What a great opportunity that was, but Vince just couldn't get past his own petty resentment, and because of it he basically flushed millions of dollars down the toilet. It could have and should have been awesome for wrestling fans. It could have been great.
+Brujo Hernandez He is treated well in NXT. He is the World Champion and a heel but a very strong and powerful heel who does not cheat.
Herzogian YOU MEAN NXTNA
Brujo Hernandez You mean next tea
Kim Martin Yeah, keep him around so he can injure some more guys.
I agree with Raven 100%. I remember at the time finding it very amusing that Vince cried about Ted Turner and WCW doing what they were doing (i.e. stealing stars, going head to head on Mondays). He's the biggest hypocrite on the planet.
I love to listen to raven talk wrestling. He kind of reminds me how hubie brown breaks down nba basketball.
Wow..well said..
WWE still makes stupid mistakes with talent even now.. Some things just wont change sadly. Vince just gets those particular ideas stuck in his head.. and once it is in there...
Thanks for the clip guys always nice to see what various wrestlers think about some of the things that have happened.
CaptinTrips Thank you for visiting our channel!
If it's VKM's idea, it's a good idea.
CaptinTrips Well, at least the rumors were wrong about them turning Adrian Neville into mighty mouse. Thank god that was just a fucking rumour. And people wonder why I don't read rumour sites.
timothy anderson Really, VKM wanted to do incest angles, yeah. So I hope you're being sarcastic
The Lovecraftian Grammar Commie He did. Ken's obsession with his "sister" (in story, not reality) was to expose Shamrock as having a thing for Ryan, but luckily, Shamrock turned it down, but look what it got him, it got him buried by Chris Jericho in matches where he constantly had internal bleeding. The Beaver Cleavage gimmick by Chaz (formerly Mosh of the rather unique Headbangers tag team with Thrasher) was basically a parody of the wholesome _Leave It To Beaver_ series but made uncomfortable because The Beav's "mother" in storyline was Chaz's real-life girlfriend Mariana and this was made obvious by Jerry Lawler constantly making sex jokes regarding their "relationship", which lead to Chaz dropping the gimmick to wrestle as himself before dropping Mariana entirely and eventually teaming with D'Lo Brown as Lo Down before ultimately getting released alongside the struggling D'Lo following the incident that paralyzed Darren Drozdov (Droz aka "Puke"). The "closeness" of Paul & Katie Leigh Burchill as siblings was to be exposed as incestuous inbreeding between the two, but luckily both of them asked for their release before the gimmick could close up. The original genesis of the illegitimate child plot was supposed to have Mr. Kennedy as Vince's son, but Randy Orton's moaning and bitching got Mr. Kennedy fired, so McMahon wound up using "Little Bastard" Hornswoggle as his illegitimate child. Before hastily retconning the leprechaun as Finlay's real son, the original idea was to have Stephanie, Vince's own daughter, be his baby mommy, but luckily, Stephanie and HHH had some sanity to turn down their elder's deranged and sick concept.
if i had just started my own wrestling company and had a decent amount of cash to do business with it and hire some main stake kinda names, Raven would be the guy i d put in charge of creative
I follow Raven since ECW days... WWE, WCW, TNA, & ECW...
I think he was in P.R Wrestling also with Savio Vega...
Love Raven is was AWESOME back then & if he was still Wrestling is be AWESOME...
Man raven is old now funny how time goes fast sometime
Miguel Morales Well the years of drugs didn't help him much.
+lastwolflord LOL
+Miguel Morales I know, right? When I did VERY bush league wrestling (not Backyard but not more than two steps above it), Raven was probably my main influence on my gimmick when I was active. The Raven Effect DDT was my primary finisher and since I was active in a time when everyone used the Spear because of Goldberg, it was a good and plausible finishing counter move. My alternate finisher was a Shining Wizard/Running Enzuigiri followed by a Clothesline From Hell combination (timed so my opponent would be on his knees and "dazed" as I slingshot off the ropes to deliver the lariat end of the move) as I was one of the smallest guys in my group, but in promos demonstrated that for short bursts I could deliver the power needed to unload a spinebuster on an opponent twice my size if needed (first time I did a spinebuster was a bit of an accident as my opponent in that match was my best friend and badly botched the chain wrestling sequence so to save the match I shot low, grabbed his legs, exploded with my legs with my shoulder planted in his hips and I did an Arn Anderson spinebuster on him. I'm glad he adapted to the impromptu move and took the bump clean which I used to set up my Shining Wizard/Clothesline From Hell combo which ended up as my ultimate finisher but not commonly successful due to the time it took to execute).
RaderizDorret yo man I want to make it in the wrestling world when I graduate to college any tips for me I also want to train now , I also live in a town that doesn't have any wrestling promotion or class so I think am leaving town and train in a local wrestling gym
I remember Wild Bill Irwin in the UWF. Real believable tough cowboy type.
6soulcontrol Always dug his character too he was bad ass
I can listen to Raven talk all day.
Raven doesn't believe in predatorial tactics
lol
I believe Sting saw what happened with Raven and the others and that's why he held out so long.
@@cretinousjester3475 Raven and DDP were completely buried out of the gate. No question about it. Especially DDP. It felt like they initially TRIED to bury Booker. But his screen presence quickly caught on with the Stone Cold feud and then the Goldust stuff. But it did feel like he was one who they tried to line up with the others at first
@@cretinousjester3475 and it figures that the most undeserving guy, Goldberg......is the one who got the rocket strapped to his ass. And he still couldn't make it work in WWE
Love listen to Raven!! Man is a mastermind and had some great idea and knows his wrestling
Id like Raven to be involved with AEW working behind the scenes as a writer.
Why isn't Raven writing/booking RAW? He has an actual mind for the business and -- most important of all -- experience.
Definitely one of my all time favorite wrestling characters.
rip oliver and the grappler are Portland legends! along with billy jack Haynes
+getyoasshome Those 3 names never seem to get the credit they deserve, classics
Title Match Wrestling man back in the day those matches were excellent every Friday night Portland wrestling was the place to be. Sandy Barr provided a lot of opportunities for young wrestlers and the venue was in the middle of the most impoverished Area in Portland. Scotty the body drove the girls wild, the grappler was a fan fav and billy jack was the guy who would wrestle then come to the housing development area and put all the kids in a full nelson the guys were always in the community.
+getyoasshome Billy Jack was great. Loved watching Portland stuff, loved him in his feud with Billy Graham in Florida as well.
Rip "The Crippler" Oliver.
raven is saying some really really intresting things here..and a lot of it reminds me on how the Top Level Soccer/ Football clubs do business. they will just raid another club of their most promising talents just to put them out of competition..its insane but thats whats going down in the big soccer leagues of europe..just a similarity i found compelling..this sort of predatory behaviour seems to come with the territory of extreme capitalistic structures
Martin Kove, is your post really about wrestling?Or is it just a low key jab at capitalism (in favor of communism disguised as a wrestling comment).
Clever disguise there, but still, it's clearly a straw man argument. In fact the more one peels away the layers, the easier it becomes to see that you are doing just exactly that.
BTW, communist leaders make lots of that "evil" money.
It ain’t just capitalism where man exploits man. Communism does the exact opposite, where man ultimately is still exploited by another, as even in that structure, Napoleon from Animal Farm will still rise.
@@stephenmichaelstm8512 100%.
"Dirty White Boy" Tony Anthony became TL Hopper, the wrestling plumber. It was as successful as you'd think.
that gimmick went down the drain.
Ba dum tss
MrMferg240 lol
This guy is a member of MENSA.
Isn't Vince McMahon the President of MENSA.
Vince McMahon President of Mensa!!!
Raven is underrated in main stream wrestling but is a legend in the underground.
They done this to nearly every wcw wrestler
I agree 100% with Raven.
Barry Wyndham I don’t even remember what they were calling him I just remember Austin on heel commentary work shootin it “idk but that looks like Barry Wyndham to me” 😂
They took guys who were incredible talents and made horrible gimmicks.......oh, you mean like WCW?
Like seven?
sgcocking87
Glacier?
SilenceEnigma Mortis?
The Ding Dongs?
Lol none of the guys in these replies had any talent or drew any money anywhere,this is about proven performers that were trashed. I can remember several that WCW did in the Dusty Rhodes Jim Herd era 1991-92 Big Josh, Black Blood, Diamond Stud, damn WCW trying to impress children like the WWF
Raven speaks harshly but truly.
Raven is an amazing character. One of my all time favorites of wrestling 🤘🔥💯
Raven is a great actor. He is nothing like the character he played in the ring. Seems like a good guy...and we already knew he was very intelligent.
This is what the UFC does to MMA
I never knew Raven was a producer in wwe.
***** back in my day there was no internet. we had to go to the wal-mart and read all the wrestling magazines to know what was going on in the world of pro-wrestling. I am still not used to everything being online yet. back when I started with wrestling you actually had to be a fan to know inside stuff about wrestling and could not simply google something. My knowledge came from watching all the major promotions, the territories when they would get on a channel and I could finally watch what I was reading about. the internet has killed pro-wrestling. we all used to be a brotherhood, an underground cult of outcasts who came together because of the sport we loved. If gaming is now called a sport then WRESTLING is most assuredly a sport.
***** I love me too.
***** internet was not ubiquitous as it is now.now it is in every home but back in my day it was like in every 1 out of 10 people's home. we poor people had to go to a friends house to get online and then that took like 30 minutes to dial up.
King Possum 28.8 modem for life baby lol
***** lol, nowhere near the 60's. there was no internet in the 60's and 70's and if there were only the government had access to it.as later as the late 90's it took forever to dial it up. dsl cost way to much. ever had aol dial up? I would not be able to use that after having 50Mbps.
Fuck, I liked the Goon. Didn't realize he was the real deal, but it still made an impression on me.
WWE is not even sport entertainment anymore.
It's a please Vince contest.
Sadly it's perhaps only entertaining to him nowadays.
+Kim Martin how about Tyler Black (Seth Rollins) Kevin Steen (Owens) CM Punk (ROH) AJ Styles (TNA) Sami Zayne (El generico) they all had a title reign besides Zayne so I rest my case
HUH??? "Wild" Bill Irwin, one half of the World Class SUPER DESTROYERS (The Super D's!) and later The Long Riders--he was that stupid hockey player gimmick THE GOON?!? When the WWF was good, they were pretty good, but when they were bad, they were pretty darn AWFUL!
Pulsar Stargrave How about when they had the Road Warriors playing with a fucking doll I think the doll name was Rocko I think, Lex Lugar when they had him ride that crappy bus the Lex express and that God awful music they had him come out to I think the song was called I'll be your hero. And they wonder why he couldn't connect with the fans down there.
Lol let's not forget The Gobblygooker and The Red Rooster...or Papa Shango putting a curse on UW and making him writhe around in pain. The old NWA and AWA never did retarded shit like that. They had the right balance of humor and wrasslin (being passed off as "real"). Jim Cornett summed it all up as why everything eventually was doomed once Vince was shutting down territories, going national, and dumbing down the product way too much. Wrestling was NEVER supposed to ever become like that. It was a niche industry for a specific set of people, not the typical "brady bunch goody two shoes family". Once Vince turned it all supernational and involving big wigs at the mainstream networks and trying to mold it all so it could fit EVERY type of audience out there, it was basically all downhill from that point, even if there were some good years in between.
ua-cam.com/video/IvuUJi6LQRI/v-deo.html
He's come a looonnnng way since the Scotty Flamingo days!
he sounds very intelligent was a fan of his in wcw. loved his DDT
Stacey cross he has a genius level IQ
The Red Rooster wasn't a complete victim of WWF/E Creative. Upon his arrival to their promotion, they served him the Mr. Perfect gimmick on a silver platter only to be refused. As history would have it, Creative recycled the idea to a another young talent at the time - fans might've heard of him - Kurt Hennig.
raven does not need an interviewer he does it all himself and hope is stoned on weed and nothing else...
I remember watching raven aka scotty the body when he wrestled boys and girls clubs for Portland Wrestling... He was gonna beat my ass when I spit on him.. I was 7. He's got some amazing talent. These old timers he talks about Rip Oliver.. That guy was brutal. He had a crew of guys with him that would cripple guys... They called them the wrecking crew. I seen guys like Billy jack Haynes, mean Mike Miller the grappler nord the barbarian and maniac Matt borne aka doink the clown. Good times
hes doing it now with new japan,ROh and tna.
WWF's worst misuse of talent was Kerry Von Eric!! Kerry and Mean Mark Callous had some great heated matches in WCCW; only in two years later the Undertaker beats the Texas Tornado (horrible name, btw) in less than 30 seconds!
Undertaker was and is still a great gimmick. Texas Tornado was crap though, I'll give you that one.
+Billy Rouse thing is "Texas Tornado' wasn't really a gimmick so much as a nickname... if I recall they name checked him as "Texas Tornado Kerry Von Erich" a handful of times, before simplifying it to Texas Tornado
+Kim Cornell No way Vince would put a one legged wrestler over.
+LordSathar I don't know, Zach Gowen had a decent run. Would a one legged wrestler win the World Title, probably not.
+LordSathar what do you mean one-legged? I thought he had two good legs in the wwf back then?
we got some major mcmahon marks on the dislikes
Stars that were buried by Vince that I can think of was: Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Lex Luger, Mike Rotunda, Kane, Mick Foley, Al Snow, Ron Simmons, Steve Regal, Vader, Bret Hart, Diamond Dallas Page, Perry Saturn, Lance Storm, Brian Clark, Charles Wright, Paul Wight, Val Venus, CM Punk, Goldberg, Big Poppa Pump, Buddy Rose, Adrian Adonis, Chuck Polumbo, Tito Santana, Tony Atlas, The One Man Gang, Terry Taylor, Dustin Rhodes, Cody Rhodes, Kerry Von Erich, John Nord, Ken Patera, Matt Borne, the Powers of Pain, Koko B Ware, Owen Hart, Steven Richards, Jeff Jarrett, Tommy Dreamer
+Dafranchise1104 "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell, B Brian Blair, Al Perez, "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers , Sam Houston, Black Bart, Ron Bass, Boris Zhukov, Marty Janetty, "Hands Of Stone" Ron Garvin, Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Bobby Fulton, Tommy Rogers, AWA light heavyweight champ Steve Regal, Brad Rheingans, Angel of Death, and many other names I can't think of.
So Much Burial In The WWE Own Graveyard.
I've been saying exactly what Raven said in this interview forever, Vince brought in these top tier guys from other promotions and buried them not only to hurt the territories they were big in , but to also embarrass the talent as well like saying (I took your best guy and made him a jobber to my mid-carder, and now that he's lost the respect from the crowd I can fire him).
Vince was a very shrewd business man and hurt alot of people, now it's all coming back to him.
They still doing this today!Bryan Danielson Kevin Steen El Generico Cesaro etc.
And now Aj Styles...
I remember a great talent in mid-south wrestling named Hector Guerrero. Hector was a good singles wrestler and a tag team champion. The WWF/E took him and have him the worst gimmick of all time the Gobbly Gooker. It was ridiculous to do that to a guy with that much talent just because they could.
David Bartlett 8
Raven is a legend
raven,you forgot a whole list more of buried stars
matthew wilson He was trying to remember others...any names come to mind?
Oh okay
Rip Oliver. One of the top heels in the Pacific NW and he was terrific! He and Rose ruled the school! WWF also destroyed the Sheepherders, a ruthless and dangerous tag team, by turning them into the ridiculous Bushwhackers.
Oh that is right i'm glad you mentioned the Sheepherders they are legendary for being so brutal.
Ironically Bushwacker sounds more dangerous than Sheepherder
According to Jim Cornette by becoming the Bushwhackers Luke and Butch extended their careers by a good 10 years by working safer cartoon type matches.
Great interview! Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Xoxo
The Clarences
Johnny Polo was supposed to get a job on creative back in 1994, yes indeed. When Polo found out Vince nixed it, Scotty was hot, nuclear hot. Scotty had snapped, and the genesis of the 'Raven' character was created.
I spent many Saturdays at sports arena I saw him as scotty the body was hot territory for long time
Raven underrated.
Scotty Flamingo ftw :D
and they are still doing this today
Rip Oliver, Keirn, Bill Irwin, the list goes on & on & on.
He's dead-on about Terry Taylor. He was a huge star in the UWF and I was really looking forward to him coming over to the WWF. Instead, his WWF run was an absolute embarrassment that pretty much killed his career.
Maple Leaf Wrestling is about to hold it's first card in decades
awesome clip definitely renting this from you guys! of course we can't forget about what they did to Barry Windham. The widowmaker???
***** Yeah it was - would have been interesting to see where it went with it.
***** The Widowmaker was good, but The Stalker was surreal.
happy 51th birthday raven !!!!!!!
Vince changed territorial wrestlers gimmicks and names so he can market them and make money. Making his own creation to feel like a god and quench his ego. also, if the wrestler decides to leave because he doesn't like his new gimmick, it will be harder for him to make it because they leave at a low point. The only wrestler who never got fucked with was ric flair because he carried the NWA belt for a long time and Vince respected his work ethic. He gave poor dusty had those damn polka dots.
+oldschoolfan420 The reason the WWF liked to re-gimmick wrestlers was because they would then own the name and image rights.
The WWF ruined Terry Taylor.
totally forgot about terry taylor being cartooned as the red rooster.
doug marcus oh man and remember the red streak down the middle of his hair?
it was gimmicks like that is why i became an ecw fan. let the wrestlers look like wrestles, wwf had them looking like prototypes for action figures. the last good heel that company had was roddy piper. that coconut hit on snuka was awesome. that's how you rile up fans.
doug marcus Same here. I was so fed-up by the early 90s that I was looking for any other wrestling company to come around. Luckily we got ECW. What a compelling product that was too.
doug marcus Sure he does at the 4:44 mark or there abouts
They will do nxt like they did ecw just wait
2001 Raven 👍👍👍👍
If Raven can SMELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Making Terry friggin Gordy the Medieval Dungeon Master or w/e tf was just sacrilege
The Baron worked for Vince Sr. using the familiar German gimmick.
Yeah sure,Vince McMahon loves to think that his version is always true even when its not.
He even thinks that Ric Flair is a 16 times world heavyweight champion when actually Flair is a 21 times world heavyweight champion.
Also,the promotion that once televised the territories is still in business but operating locally and now that it has a new ownership the NWA may go worldwide again soon.
Simply put,I'm glad that Ring of Honor and NJPW are on the rise because it gives us something new to watch from Vince carnival acts and prime time soap operas.
You never really interview Raven... It's more like you just visit for a while.
Not even sure that Raven can interview Raven lol
My favorite Raven "interview" was the one where somebody was supposed to "interview" Raven & Axl Rotten but it turned into Raven interviewing Axl Rotten. The original interviewer became obsolete. Was hilarious. Maybe it was on this channel. I don't remember.
packofhounds lol yeah that me. Got 1 or 2 questions in and then left the room. They were way more entertaining on their own anyway. Glad you enjoyed man - that's awesome!
Raven is a genius, i wonder if he wrote any books.
I’ve met Raven a couple times. Mixed feelings. Skinner was actually the first wrestler I ever met. Nothing but respect for Skinner.
Savio Vega was a crap gimmick for Juan Riveria who was a great worker.
Rhonda Sing was awesome in Japan as Monster Ripper but Vince made her "Bertha Faye" and told her not to use her power moves (which she was known for) and to skip around and blow kisses at Harvey Wippleman.
2Cold Scorpio became a mid-card jobber in the form of Flash Funk
Glenn Jacobs got stung twice by Vince's bad gimmicks in the form of Issac Yankem and Fake Diesel but I suppose he doesn't really count because KANE more than compensates for the 2 failures......
Then there was "Mantaur" which was an OK idea (I thought) but they totally went about it the wrong way - they portrayed him in a comical way instead of an ice cold killer way. If he hadn't kept doing that stupid "Oooooh" lousy attempt at a bull roar and had perhaps demolished opponents in a Bill Goldberg fashion.........
Making Owen Hart return to the Blue Blazer gimmick was just stupid, Owen was a better worker than Bret (and I'm not just saying that to be kind because Owen died young)
Gobbledy Gooker (If you need to ask why....................)
I wish they kept the Black Hart Gimmick. The best music intro and the feud with DX but not siding with NOD.
I seen a hardcore match between raven and aunstin Aries at a one time show once and it was the best match I've ever seen
SO TRUE, Raven is right about Vince Mcmahon acting like a little bitch during the monday night wars, all butt hurt because WCW beat WWF in the ratings for almost 2 years.
"The Super Ninja."
Real creative there, lol.
Raven wins the axle rose award for avoiding baldness.
Soo wise and Intelligent I wonder what raven majored in College
Raaaaaaveeennnn!!!!!
***** What about meeeee????
Title Match Wrestling not u nerd
***** Clearly you are not a Raven fan
+BaDMrFr0zty How can someone who knows who Bad Mr. Frosty is NOT know who Raven is, or that "What about meeee?" is a direct quote from Raven? SMH.
Raven is always snapping at people haha
WWF completely disrespected and mistreated any talent that came from anywhere else with very few exceptions.
Drinking game. Take a shot every time Raven says 'Ya know?'
+CapTashman1 You'll be wasted before the opening graphic finishes
+CapTashman1 Too bad nobody gives a shit about you.
Uhh i drunk!
This is called the 'Scott Steiner' game
+Jay Harper Yeah, Scott does it more than anyone else
rip oliver also jobbed to jake Roberts on wwf challenge. john tolos was coach and don't get me started on sting.
Raven was awesome
It is real easy to pick on the 'gimmicks that bombed' and what 'territory guys' weren't successful in the WWF/E, and it's not 'abuse', it's simply 'did not work out'. Thanks the Network, and watching a lot of those early-mid 90 RAWs, were there bad gimmicks yes, but there was an number that did work to various degrees.
Frederick Ortiz, the saying is very true, "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."
Raven(the man with an experience) was in that WWE locker room for years.
You(the man with an argument), have no such experience. So, for you to try and refute his points are clearly an attempt to grasp at straws.
Also,talking about raiding territories just to use said territories top stars(in order to make one's mediocre talent look better), has nothing to do with it being "easy to point out gimmicks that bombed".
Your use of the level of difficulty of the point-in-question has nothing to do with the actual points being made. Thus, this also is a straw man argument on your part.