The Monday Night Wars - The Retro Resistance Take. Part 3.

Continued from Part 3!

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Chapter 10 - The Turning Point

1998 was not that great of a year for WCW.. After the botched ending to Sting v. Hogan at Starrcade '97, the quality of Turner's product started going down hill.

First, they established WCW Thunder, a new B-Show, which was unneeded, since they already Had a B-Show in WCW Saturday Night. Next, Nitro was expanded to 3-Hours. Then, they took a serious loss in the Pay-Per-View Wars with WCW/nWo Souled Out being crushed by WWF's Royal Rumble. A loss they never really recovered from.

Then, Bischoff Insisted on keeping the nWo alive, despite people growing tired of them, their bloated numbers, And the fact that they Rarely lost.

To address this, The nWo was split into 2 factions - The nWo Wolfpac and nWo Hollywood. This only helped a little. Another thing they did was Completely Botch Bret Hart's run. They would continue to refuse to get him right until 2000, when he left the company.

Next is they brought in the Ultimate Warrior and...nothing memorable ever came out of that run. It was a waste. The Only reason why The Warrior was brought into WCW was so that Hollywood Hogan could have his Win back. What A Waste!

And as a punch in the balls to the WCW faithful who were watching at home, the ending of the Diamond Dallas Page v. Goldberg Main Event at Halloween Havoc was cutoff due to PPV time running out. This was due to Hogan wanting a longer match with The Warrior. Selfish!

Oh, BTW, that Warrior/Hogan fight was one of the Worst WCW matches of the year, so there's that..  

Then, they had a very messy War Games match at Fall Brawl. It was Also the Final War Games match to be held at Fall Brawl, as the final 2 didn't have one.

Meanwhile, The WWF was booming. It's Main Event Scene, lead by Stone Cold Steve Austin, was Untoppable and, possibly, the Best in All of Wrestling. Their Tag Division wasn't doing that bad either.

We had the incredible Austin v. McMahon, D-Generation X was gaining traction as the most popular faction of that era. Rising stars like Kane. And The Rock becoming the #2 guy in Wrestling.

Sure there were the terrible stuff, like the Awful Gimmicks and Sexualization. But everything else was good.  

Also, the The Wrestling Ranking also changed. While Hulk Hogan was still #1, "Stone Cold Steve Austin" overtook "The Macho Man" Randy Savage's #2 spot. The Rock overtook Bret "Hit Man" Hart's spot at #3.

Savage was moved down to #4, Hart was also moved down to #5, The Undertaker at #6, Michaels at #7 and Sting at #8. 

On an amusing note, in May of '98, D-Generation X went to War with WCW. And in April, drove a Tank to their event when Both promotions were working in Virginia. RAW at the Hampton Colosseum and Nitro at The Norfolk Scope.

There, DX shouted insults against WCW through a bullhorn, as well as accusing WCW of giving out free tickets to fill up arenas for television while sporting black armbands with the acronym "POWCW" (Prisoner of WCW), which referenced fellow Kliq members Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

They then tried to enter the arena via a loading dock in an army jeep before being stopped by someone closing the door. They also attempted to forcibly secure meetings with Nitro's executive producer Eric Bischoff and WCW owner Ted Turner at WCW headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.  

This stint garnered great rating for the WWF, and decent ratings for WCW.  

WWF's Ratings and PPV Buyouts were rising past WCW's. And...nothing was gonna change that. WWF was Winning the Monday Night War.    

And things were about to go from bad to worse for WCW. In January of 1999, WCW pulled a Triple Whammy of Idiocy. First, in a stupid storyline, Miss Elizabeth falsely accused Goldberg of stalking her, so he was banned from the building, despite having a rematch with Kevin Nash for the WCW Championship.

So, Hollywood Hulk Hogan decided to take Goldberg's place and challenge Nash for the belt. This is what people Wanted to see - Battle of The Legend and Future Legend. This was what people Thought would be the beginning of WCW's Redemption Arc. But they would soon see that this wasn't the case.

Then, on the same night, Tony Schiavone, in an attempt to ruin RAW, revealed the results of the Main Event, where Mick Foley was gonna win the WWF Championship. He then mocked the thought. It backfired spectacularly. Over half Nitro's viewers tuned in to RAW to see the popular Wrestler finally win his first Major World Title. Ouch!

To make matters Worse, When those viewers returned to Nitro after a great RAW Main Event, they were expecting Nitro's Main Event to be even greater. They were sadly mistaken. Instead of an epic match, what WCW fans were treated to was the Infamous Finger Poke of Doom. 

Hogan was Once Again WCW Champion and the nWo reformed. The fans were sick to their stomachs. And as a result, most permanently switched over to the WWF. Trust in WCW's product was dying. And soon the product itself.   

Meanwhile in the WWF... Beloved Wrestler, Owen Hart was tragically killed while being dropped down from the rafters at the Over the Edge PPV. The night after, on RAW, a Tribute Show to Owen was held. Soon, the Over The Edge PPV was retired. 

This also lead to a lengthy legal battle between Vince McMahon and Martha Hart, Owen's Widow.

I'll talk more about this Topic another time..since it deserves it's own Article.

Later, WWF would introduce a brand new B-Show as an "FU" to WCW's Thunder. They called it 'SmackDown!', after one of the Rock's catchphrases. Needless to say, SmackDown! was away more popular than Thunder. 

In July of 1999, to win over ECW Fans, WCW would create a Hardcore division, complete with Championship. It was a mostly forgettable act. 

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Chapter 11 - Virus Russo!  

In September of 1999, after a bunch of failed and cringeworthy segments and angles, WCW fired Eric Bischoff and, in October, hired Vince Russo and Eddie Ferrara, who recently left thew WWF.

Russo was hired as the Chief Creative and in a desperate act to get their ratings back and beat the WWF, WCW gave Him Free Reign. That was a Grave Mistake.

Y'see, even though Russo's Ideas were all Hit and Miss, they were Always filtered by Vince McMahon. However,in WCW, He was free to do whatever. And that was the problem.

Russo and Ferrara said that their reasons for leaving the WWF were a dispute with Vince McMahon over the increased workload that they were facing, with the introduction of the new SmackDown! show. 

During the beginning of their run, Vince Russo became known as "The Powers That Be", unseen management figure. Ferrara became an on-air parody of beloved announcer Jim Ross, named "Oklahoma", who mocked Ross's Bell's Palsy. This angle was Despised Heavily by Wrestling Fans who then fully gave up on Watching WCW.

In December 1999, Bret Hart suffered a career-ending concussion during a match with Goldberg at Starrcade, after years of being pissed upon by WCW, This pissed off Fans even more and, as a result, left WCW in droves. 

Russo turned WCW into a carbon copy of the WWF, complete with sexulization. He also introduced some stupid match types, such as the {fill in blank} on a Pole Match. His booking was also crap. And WCW fans hated it 

By the end of 1999, WCW lost Billions of Dollars and Millions of Fans. And things are about to get Worse.     

January 2000, both Russo and Ferrara were suspended from WCW after they considered putting the WCW World title on Tank Abbott. The subsequent promotion of Kevin Sullivan to head booker caused an uproar among WCW's wrestlers. Despite winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Souled Out, Chris Benoit quit in protest and dumped the WCW Championship in the trash.

Joining Benoit was Eddie Guerrero, Perry Saturn, and Dean Malenko. All four of them entered the WWF as The Radicalz, debuting on RAW on January 31st.

Also in January, Nitro returned to 2 hours (with the first hour running unopposed and the second hour competing against RAW). That didn't help at All. 

In April 2000, WCW rehired Eric Bischoff (now a creative consultant) and un-suspended Vince Russo (still the master creative). The 2 attempted to reboot WCW by vacating all of the promotion's titles. Bischoff was allowed back with booking powers, but he no longer had control of the company's finances, as he had during his previous reign.

And Now, for the failed angle that Bischoff and Russo hoped would be the Next Big Thing in Wrestling- The New Blood Storyline. 

The Millionaire's Club, consisting of WCW's veteran stars, were accused of holding back the younger talent. Their enemies, The New Blood, consisted of WCW's Younger Talent. 

Due to the unpopularity of this storyline, The New Blood/Millionaire's Club rivalry was aborted before the start of the New Blood Rising PPV, which was supposed to showcase the rivalry. 

WCW became more and more desperate, from sexualizing the women and pushing talent that shouldn't have been pushed to the crowning of David Arquette as the WCW Champion, as a cross promotion for his movie, Ready to Rumble.  

The struggles of WCW since Russo's creative takeover continued though the summer, at Bash at the Beach, Russo insisted on doing another "Fingerpoke of Doom", this time for the Hulk Hogan/Jeff Jarrett match for the WCW Championship.

Hogan hated it, but was forced to go along. After the match he blasted Russo and blamed Him for all of WCW's current problems. Hogan left the arena in disgust.  

The Hulkster would leave the company soon after.

In Late September on Nitro, Russo won the WCW Championship in a steel cage match. At the end of the match, Russo suffered a concussion after Goldberg speared him through a cage, resulting in a head-on collision with the ringside barriers. A week later on Nitro, Russo relinquished the Championship,

"Superstar" Billy Graham-knock-off and 'Roid King, Scott Steiner was pushed beyond pushed during this time, despite not drawing a Damn Dime. 

All of this combined made 2000 the absolute Worst Year in WCW History. Russo would depart WCW late in the year.   

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Chapter 12 - The Wars End

In mid 2000, Time Warner was discussing the situation with WCW. They were going to merge with AOL soon and wanted to know what to do with the failing Wrestling Company, which was costing them Billions.

The suits agreed to cancel WCW and save both face and money. Eric Bischoff, however, thought differently and convinced the suits to let him Buy WCW from them. Time Warner reluctantly agreed to Bischoff's proposal. 

Bischoff went out and found himself a great group of investors - Fusient Media Ventures. I think this Topic deserves it's own Article too. So, I'll talk more about this, in detail, in the future.

Even though, Vince Russo was gone by 2001, the damage was already done and WCW continued it's downward spiral. Eric Bischoff was close to getting a deal done. On the next to last issue of WCW magazine, there was a blurb announcing the first PPV under Eric Bischoff's New WCW - The Big Bang, which was set to air in May. All was going great...until a snag happened. 

An outside source convinced Jamie Kellner, CEO of Time Warner, to cancel All WCW shows. Without a Network, Eric Bischoff couldn't show off his vision of WCW. Fusient also saw this and backed out of the deal. Soon, Vince McMahon and the WWF bought the company and all of it's video library. 

He also bought out most of the WCW Stars contracts. He refused to pay for the contracts of the Top Stars of the company, which were more expensive, and decided to wait until those contracts expired. 

The Final Nitro was held in late March at Panama City Beach in Florida. Vince McMahon opened up Nitro with his infamous "I Own WCW" Monologue.

After the final Nitro, the Monday Night Wars came to an end....with the WWF as the victors.

Following his purchase of WCW, McMahon would purchase ECW, which was also dying.   

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Stars of WCW and ECW would appear during WWF's Invasion Era. And WCW was planned to get RAW and Smackdown's 2nd Hours. But due to the unpopularity of WCW with the WWF Fans, the plan was quickly dropped.

ECW was later revived as a 3rd Brand later down the line.  

Well, that's all for now.  Until Next Time, Punch Nazi's, Kick Commies, Resist Modern Attitudes and Stay Gold.  

The Monday Night Wars - The Retro Resistance Take. Part 2.

Continued from Part 1 

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Chapter 7 - The Rise of the nWo and The Rebirth of Sting.  

The story of the Outsider Invasion begins in 1996, with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who were wrestling their final matches in the WWF as "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon and "Big Daddy Cool" Diesel, respectively. 

Due to contractual disagreements, Hall and Nash decided not to renew their contracts, but were obligated to have 1 more match each. And that leads Us to the (In)famous MSG Curtain Call. 

The MSG Curtain Call was an event where the Federation Backstage was exposed. Let me explain, during the Event,after Shawn Michaels successfully defended his WWF Championship against Diesel (Kevin Nash) inside of a 14-Foot High Steel Cage, The 2 shook hands and Bro-Hugged. They were soon joined by Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) who then bro-hugged the 2. Then Hunter Hearst Helmsley arrived and became part of what, We never knew at the time, was Diesel and Razor's farewell.

Fans were confused, as Big Daddy Cool and Tripe H were Heels...and here they were, paling around with Michaels and Razor, the Babyfaces. This incident was caught on camera by a fan. Another thing we had little knowledge of, is that these 4 Men were Members of The Kliq, a backstage group that held some influence within the company. (I'll talk more about them another time).  

Vince McMahon was mad and when he found out that some one was tapping the incident, he got pissed. Since Razor and Diesel (Hall and Nash) were gonna be headed to WCW soon and Shawn Michaels was still Champion And the #2 guy in the company, they couldn't be punished.

And The 1-2-3 Kid Sean Walman (the 5th member of the kliq) was still in drug rehab, he had nothing to do with the incident. So the punishment went to Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Initially, Helmsley WAS gonna win the 1996 King of the Ring, but because of this incident, those plans were changed. So, instead, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin won and gave us the iconic (and slightly offensive) Austin 3:16 speech. 

And because of that, Austin got his foot in the door to superstardom. Triple H Would eventually win The King of the Ring the Following year, in '97. 

A week later on WCW Nitro, Razor Ramon, now Scott Hall, invaded the show and declared War on WCW and Turner Broadcasting. 

For a short while, almost every Fan thought that Hall was challenging WCW on The WWF's behalf, believing him, and later Kevin Nash, to be agents of Vince McMahon. Fans really didn't know what was going on behind the scenes.

Interest in WCW was rising because of this angle, and that intrigue was about to rise to levels beyond what Turner Broadcasting could've hoped for. 

2 Weeks later, Kevin Nash joined Scott Hall and the 2 delivered verbal beating to WCW's Stars. They then issued a challenge to the company. At the Great American Bash, Hall and Nash, now known as the Outsiders, challenged the WCW to a 6-Man Tag, promising to bring a 3rd Man.

Now everyone was talking about Who this mysterious 3rd Outsider is gonna be.? Will there be Defections? Will it be another WWF Superstar? Will it be someone from ECW? We were All glued to WCW, 'cuz we Needed Answers.     

Initially, Bischoff wanted Bret "The Hit Man" Hart to be the 3rd man, since Hart was taking a break from WWF and his contract was coming up. However, Bret refused, preferring to stay loyal to Vince McMahon. 

So, Bischoff went to Sting and asked Him to be the 3rd Man. Sting was very unsure, so Bischoff went to Hulk Hogan. Hogan was also reluctant,thinking about how the angle would effect his career if it failed. After some convincing, Hogan eventually agreed to do it.   

Okay, a little backstory about what Bischoff was planning here before I get farther into this angle. Months before, Eric Bischoff was attending a Wrestling Show in Japan, where one Organization was invading another (I forgot which ones). From this, Bischoff got the idea for the Outsider Invasion.

At Bash at the Beach, The Outsiders, sans their 3rd Partner battled Sting, Lex Luger, and Randy "Macho Man" Savage, who represented WCW. People were glued to this match, Really wanting to know Who the 3rd man would be?  

When Lex Luger was taken out early, we all expected Him to come back out later and join the Outsiders as their 3rd man. It made sense, but it was all a Red Herring (aka false lead). Then, when things were getting bleaker and bleaker for WCW, Hulk Hogan shows up and, to Everyone's shock, betrays WCW and joins the Outsiders as the Mysterious 3rd Man.

Hogan made his ,now Legendary, speech damning WCW, the Wrestling World, And the Fans. He then forms The New World Order (The nWo). 

Due to this One Angle, Bash at The Beach '96 became the Very First WCW Pay-Per-View to beat the WWF's in overall buyouts. WCW was Now the Wrestling Company to watch..and Vince McMahon was Livid.

A month earlier, Vince McMahon threatened to sue WCW and Ted Turner for Millions, if Scott Hall continued to act like Razor Ramon on WCW TV, as WWF owned the rights to the Razor Ramon character. 

Turner and McMahon eventually settled out of court and allowed McMahon to buy WCW if the company ever went up for sale (forshadowing!!!!!).

Thanks to the nWo storyline, The WCW became the #1 Wrestling company in the world, with people wondering what'll happen next? Who will be the next person to join this new faction? Will their be betrayls? Will there be more guys from the WWF join it? Everyone was at the edge of their seats. WCW's ratings skyrocketed and became Must Watch TV.

The nWo was So popular, that they got their own PPV in January of '97, called nWo Souled Out. It was a decent show, nothing great, but it Did beat WWF's Royal Rumble in the Buyouts. 

Sting was the Franchise of the WCW since 1992 and had become The most popular star in the company AND was also the #5 Guy in Wrestling, behind Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Bret "Hit Man" Hart, and "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels, who were the #1,#2,#3,and #4 guys respectively.  

And this ranking was Before the Attitude Era.

Anyway, Sting was this larger than life Super Hero, a colorful ring warrior with loads of charisma....but that all changed in late 1996. It all started when Sting was accused of joining the nWo and was framed. But, at War Games 1996, as people were beginning to doubt the Stinger, their doubts were realized when Sting entered the War Games match as a member of Team nWo, unaware that This Sting was a fake. The Real Sting entered the match and angrily left after beating on the Outsiders, Hogan, and Bogus Sting.

The next night, Sting cut a promo venting out his frustrations, telling all that who doubted him to "Stick It",and declaring himself to be a "Free Agent", one who'll drop in when everyone least expects it.

Soon, Sting went from Colorful Super Hero to Dark Avenger. Crow Sting! He would appear up in the rafters, play mind games with the WCW and the nWo, and never spoke once.

This was the Change The Stinger needed. WCW was going into the late 90s and Sting's Colorful Super Hero persona would've gotten stale..So kudos to WCW and Sting for making this change. Also, kudos to the late Scott Hall for giving Sting the idea for the Crow persona.  

Everyone found this New Sting, Crow Sting, to be very interesting and that gave them another Reason to stick with WCW.

Eventually, Sting would challenge Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship at Starrcade '97.

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Chapter 8 - WWF Gets An Attitude!

In 1996, ratings and popularity for the WWF were growing weaker and weaker, all thanks to WCW's stotylines. Their PPV buyouts shrunk and the money was starting to dry up. Sure the product was still good, but it was nowhere Near as interesting as what WCW was doing.

Vince McMahon didn't know what to do. So Head Writer of WWF Magazine, Vince Russo, turned McMahon's attention to ECW for answers.

McMahon found what he was looking for. So, in September of 1996, Vince McMahon made a deal with ECW promoter, Paul Heymen to do cross promotional shows. ECW would invade RAW and a select few WWF Wrestlers, like Jerry "The King" Lawler, would invade ECW. This helped with ratings, but not as much.

In September, to prove that they owned the rights to the Razor Ramon and Diesel Characters, The WWF hired 2 guys to play the characters. Rick Bognar of as Razor Ramon and Glenn Jacobs as Diesel.

These Fakes were gonna be part of the "Disgruntled Jim Ross" storyline,where the commentator aired his grievences with the WWF and Vince McMahon, who was finally outed as the owner of the WWF on TV.

Ross would turn heel, but this rant of his made the fans like him even more,so the angle died prematurely. It backfired in a big way. The Fakes were only gonna stay for a month or 2, but they were forced to stay longer when the WWF needed to sell unsold Razor Ramon and Diesel figures (which were repackaged as 2-packs). 

In October, for the In Your House PPV, McMahon created the WWF's first unsanctioned Match, the first ever Buried Alive Match, between The Undertaker and Mankind. 

The Match was a success and it lead to the Rebirth of the Undertaker into a darker character.  In November, As part of an Angle, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin invaded Brian Pillman's home in Newport, Kentucky.

In the Segment Austin was taunting Pillman and his wife and even destroying property, all while trying to break in. Pillman got a gun and to was ready to kill, all while shouting profanities, most of which were un-bleeped.  

This angle was called 'The Pillman's Got A Gun' incident by fans. WWF apologized for what happened and so did the USA Network. However, Vince Russo saw an opportunity and convinced the higher ups at the WWF to explore the option of more mature programming.   

At Survivor Series '96, The Leader of the New Generation Bret "Hit Man" Hart returned to battle "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. And even though we didn't know it at the time, but this match was actually between the Current Leader and the Future Leader, as Steve Austin would be the Leader of WWF's next Big Era.   

Going into 1997, the WWF would see some Changes. First, to counter WCW's expansion of Nitro the previous year, WWF made RAW a 2-Hour Show starting in February. The 2nd Hour would be titled, War Zone. And in March RAW was renamed to RAW is WAR,in reference to their War with WCW.

Second, The Red, White, and Blue Colored Ropes were replaced by Red ones and the Blue Parts of the Ring became Black.  

Third, WWF allowed some more extreme moments on the show, such as more out of the box ideas, greater levels violence (including bleeding), and lesser profanities (which went un-bleeped).

At the same time, Vince Russo went from Head Writer for the Magazines to WWF's Chief Creative, Though many of his more idiotic and extreme ideas were filtered by Vince McMahon.   

Going deeper into '97, WWF was still losing rating, thanks to Goldberg, the Sting Situation, and the nWo going on in WCW. But, there was some hope. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was rising in popularity and was slowly becoming the next big Megastar.

Starting in the Summer, Austin's Merch sales Boomed. Seriously,You couldn't even Watch a WWF show without seeing a Crap-ton of fans with Stone Cold Tee Shirts. Some wore Stone Cold Hats. While a small few had the Stone Cold Foam (middle) Finger. 

After Summer Slam, the WWF Officially entered The Attitude Era, though it was unnamed at that point. It was all kicked off my Shawn Michaels' unhinged rant on the RAW after Summer Slam.

A month later, in September, D-Generation X would debut. DX was made up of the remaining 2 Kliq Members, Shawn Michaels and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. They were joined by Chyna, Triple H's Bodyguard. As well as, temporarily, Ravishing Rick Rude as HBK's "Insurance Policy".

D-Generation X would be one of the focal points of the Era and in March 1998, would get an expansion.  

In October, the WWF would introduce a new type of Cage Match - Hell in a Cell, which debut at that Mont's In Your House PPV. The Hell in a Cell match was more violent and more dangerous than a Normal Steel Cage match.

The first ever Hell in a Cell match was between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. This match was also the Legendary debut of Kane.

The Montreal Screwjob is a subject I will cover in the future, but here is the short of it. Bret Hart was leaving for WCW soon and he was Still the WWF Champion, so Bret and Vince came up with a plan for him to win his match at Survivor Series against Shawn Michaels via DQ and Then relinquish the title the next night on RAW. 

However, behind The Hit Man's back, Shawn Michaels coerced McMahon to change plans. So, during the match itself, Vince Screwed Bret. The Hit Man was pissed and even punched out McMahon backstage. In fact, many Wrestlers though that Vince was scummy for this act of betrayal.  

A week later, McMahon defended his decision at the Survivor Series and played victim. Soon, most Wrestling Fans began hating Vince. And thanks to this interview, Mr. McMahon was born.

On a note that I almost forgot about. "Ravishing" Rick Rude's contract with the WWF had expired and wasn't renewed, due to a pay dispute. So Rude signed on with WCW a few days later.

Thanks to RAW being taped a week in advance and Nitro almost always being live, Rude appeared on Both RAW and Nitro on the very same night.

It was a totally surreal experience. Seriously, It Really Was.  

Anyway, going into 1998, the WWF became even more outlandish and mature. And "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was being prepped to become the face of the Company. And for the first time since 1996, the WWF would score a Victory over WCW in the Pay-Per-View Wars with The 1998 Royal Rumble . 

For the build-up to WrestleMania 14, the WWF brought in Mike Tyson, who would serve as The Enforcer for the Austin v Michaels Championship Match. 

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania and Officially became the Leader of the Attitude Era and Face of the company. At the same time, another WWF Superstar was coming into his own - Rocky Maivia aka The Rock, who would soon become the new #2 guy in the Company, replacing Shawn Michaels.

After WrestleMania, the Attitude Era was in full swing. D-Generation X swapped out Shawn Michaels (who was injured after his WM match) for The New Age Outlaws and a returning 1-2-3 Kid, now known as X-Pac. The WWF grew even edgier by upping the "Sex Factor" of it's product (I was never a fan of That).  

And finally, it was the beginning of the Legendary "Stone Cold" Steve Austin / Vince McMahon feud.  

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Chapter 9 - The Unstoppable, Untoppable, Untouchable Bill Goldberg!!

On September of 1997, WCW would introduce the World to Bill Goldberg. Bill Goldberg was an unstoppable beast that ran though anyone who got in his way. He eventually garnered an impressive undefeated streak of 170-0, before it was broken by Kevin Nash.

Bill Goldberg was a rare breed, rare beast of a wrestler who just drew in crowds naturally. He became an overnight sensation and brought WCW even More popularity.  

His specialty move was The Spear, which He made popular. His finisher was The Jackhammer. In 1998, Bill Goldberg was referred to as just Goldberg. It was effective and it stuck.

In April of 1998 on Nitro, Goldberg defeated Raven to become the WCW United States Champion.  In June, He began using his, now, signature catchphase, "Who's Next!"

In July, Goldberg earned himself a World Heavyweight Title Shot against Hollywood Hulk Hogan on Nitro. And Won. Goldberg vacated the US Title and began his reign as World Heavyweight Champion. 

Many Fans, Pundits, the Bottom WCW Brass, WCW Wrestlers, and even Vince McMahon himself criticized the Company for having This big of a match on Free TV, instead of saving it for a Pay-Per-View. 

Goldberg would lose his Title and Winning Streak at Starrcade '98 to Kevin Nash (thanks to scott hall's help).  

Meanwhile in the WWF, in an attempt to mock WCW's Goldberg hype, Ultra-Jobber Duane Gill was repackaged as Gillberg, a funny parody of Goldberg himself. We all had a good laugh at this.

Goldberg's legend still lives on to this day. 

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Concluded in Part 3! 

The Monday Night Wars - The Retro Resistance Take. Part 1.

The Monday Night Wars. Without Question,The Most Interesting Time in Professional Wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation battled their Heated Rivals of World Championship Wrestling in a Bitter TV Ratings and PPV Buyout War. 

From 1995 to 2001, Fan all across the Globe (mainly in North America) tuned in to either WWF RAW or WCW Nitro or Both to see which show would come out on top as the best Monday Night Wrestling show for the Week. 

Eventually though, thanks mainly to WCW's own stupidity, the WWF Ultimately triumphed and bought out their failing rivals in March of 2001.  

And Now. The Retro Resistance presents: The Monday Night Wars - The Retro Resistance Take.

Chapter 1 - The Genesis of a War 

The origins of the Monday Night Wars begins, Not in 1995, but nearly a decade earlier in 1984. It all started when the Brisco Brothers sold their majority stakes in WCW's predecessor, Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) to Vince McMahon in 1984, which resulted in Vince McMahon and the WWF taking over GCW for a time.

This incident was known as Black Saturday.    

Many fans and GCW superstars were NOT happy about this. Superstars, like Ole Anderson,who was also a GCW shareholder, banded together to form Championship Wrestling from Georgia, which aired on Saturday Morning. 

But they weren't the only bunch upset at Vince's take over, Ted Turner, who owned GCW's TV home, TBS, was also not thrilled with McMahon muscling his way into His Network.    

Not too long after the takeover, the ratings for the WWF/GCW hybrid show greatly declined. Vince would sell his share of GCW to Jim Crockett Jr. in 1985. GCW rep was tarnished thanks to these Black Saturday shows and Ted Turner wasn't happy.

In 1988, Ted Turner would purchase Jim Crockett Productions and rename the Wrestling company to WCW (though still under the NWA brand).

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Chapter 2 - Battle of The Pay-Per-Views.  

Between 1987 and 1988, a bitter battle broke out between Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr , the owner of JCP. 

Throughout the 1980s, Crockett had steadily acquired other NWA-affiliated promotions in an attempt to grow his organization into a national entity similar to the WWF. As a result, the term "NWA" became virtually synonymous with JCP.

Then, what seemed like an act of War, on Thanksgiving night of 1987, McMahon's WWF aired Survivor Series on PPV against the NWA's Starrcade, which Crockett marketed as the NWA's answer to WrestleMania. 

However, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time. The WWF then threatened that any cable company that chose not to carry Survivor Series would not carry any WWF PPV events for 3 months following the show. Therefore, the WWF PPV was cleared 10–1 over Starrcade, as only three cable companies opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett.

After this incident, the PPV industry warned McMahon not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, McMahon was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett.  This was an act of War to Jim Crockett Jr. and the NWA brass.

On January of 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA. The NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while WWF aired the Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network.

Later that year, Crockett decided to use McMahon's own tactics against him, developing his own PPV-style event and airing it for free on WTBS on the same night as WrestleMania IV. The result was the Clash of the Champions I. 

CotC1 made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw. The buy-outs were mostly in WWF's favor, as the main attraction for WrestleMania IV was "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who became the 2nd biggest name in Wrestling after that event..

The NWA challenged the WWF again the following year, with another Clash of the Champions against WWF's WrestleMania V.

Although the main event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a best-of-three-falls match that lasted for almost an hour, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations compared to WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting major events would cease for six years.

While Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat were decent guys and great wrestlers, there was just no topping the Battle of the Mega Powers. And Hogan and Savage Were the #1 and #2 guys in Wrestling respectively.

By 1988, Crockett Poroductions was having some big financial issues, due to their acquisition spree. So, he was forced to sell his company to Turner, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, which wanted to retain the steady and strong ratings of the JCP wrestling programs. 

Turner named the company to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the flagship TV show. WCW would remain affiliated with the NWA until 1993.

Now with Billionaire Ted in charge of WCW, The company had the Cash flow to support itself And it's Wrestlers. And in 1994, Turner would prove that his Wallet was both Mega Full and Mega Deep.  

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Chapter 3 - Eric Bischoff and The Acquisition Seen and Felt Around The Globe. 

In 1991, Due to a huge contract dispute with the NWA/WCW Brass, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who was World Heavyweight Champion at the time fled to WCW for the WWF.....With The Big Gold Belt, which Flair claimed that he Owned. Turner threatened to sue Flair and the WWF if they continued to show the belt on TV and demanded it back. 

Well, after a small legal battle, Vince and Flair settled with Turner.       

In 1993, After the failed booking styles of Cowboy Bill Watts, Ole Anderson, and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes,Turner was ready for someone fresh  They decided to place their bets on former AWA commentator, Eric Bischoff, to turn things around.

Bischoff was made VP of the company and was put in charge of most of the day to day duties. Under Bischoff's direction, WCW was able to pull itself together, and things were gonna get bigger in 1994.

Hulk Hogan was the WWF's Main Man from 1984 to 1990 and was the #1 Wrestler in the World, starting in 1985. But in 1992, the WWF knew that Hogan's time was coming to an end, as the company was experimenting with Younger Talent, as well as Gimmicky Wrestlers.

And in 1993, after a failed 5th Title Run, Hogan left the WWF To fully pursue acting. His Show, Thunder in Paradise began airing at the end of Hogan's WWF run and was doing fine. However, Hogan began missing Wrestling. Then, one late afternoon, while shooting the final batch of episodes of Thunder in Paradise, Hogan took notice of a WCW taping that was happening near by, that made him miss Wrestling even more.

Eric Bischoff found out about the TV tapings of Thunder in Paradise and decided to pay Hogan a visit, interested in hiring him. After a meeting on the beach with both Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair, Hogan agreed to join WCW.

In late June, WCW announced that it acquired the biggest name in Wrestling and showcased him at a signing at Disney/MGM studios, home of WCW.Saturday Night (at that point in time, anyway). 

This was the acquisition seen and felt around the Globe. As to most, Hulk Hogan was synonymous with The WWF, But now he's signed on with the WCW. The #1 Man in Wrestling was now working for the competition.

But..that's not all. Later in the Year, thanks to frustration with his position in the WWF, "Macho Man" Randy Savage jumped ship to WCW, making his debut in December on WCW's A-Show "Saturday Night".

Eric Bischoff had pulled off 2 Coups in a single year..and he was only just beginning.   

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Chapter 4 - Heyman's Extreme Mutiny!

ECW had its origins in 1991 as the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon, who renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. 

When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the National Wrestling Allience (NWA), and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert was its head booker. After a falling-out with Gordon, Gilbert was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman (aka Paul E. Dangerously), who had just left WCW, due to creative differences and was looking for a new challenge.

In contrast to professional wrestling of the time, which was marketed more towards a general audience, Eastern Championship Wrestling was geared more toward adults and fans who craved a more athletic and violent wrestling product.

Its eventual successor, Extreme Championship Wrestling, aimed its product at males between 18-35, breaking taboos in professional wrestling, such as blading. Heyman saw ECW as the professional wrestling equivalent to the grunge music movement of the early 1990s, and focused on taking the company in a new direction.   

In 1994, Jim Crockett Jr.'s non-compete agreement with Turner expired, and he started promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in ECW's home city of Philadelphia on August of 1994. 

NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo alleged that Crockett and Gordon were attempting to monopolize the title and stated Crockett did not have the NWA board's approval, which resulted in Coralluzzo personally overseeing the tournament.

Gordon took offense at Coralluzzo for his power plays. He contemplated a plan to secede ECW from the NWA in a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to ECW and insult the NWA organization.

Gordon and Heyman planned to have Shane Douglas, who was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship upon winning it as an act of defiance. 

Heyman pitched the plan to Douglas, noting that the only negative aspect would be that NWA traditionalists would view them as traitors to the tradition. Additionally, there was animosity between Douglas and Coralluzzo, who had publicly criticized Douglas and advised NWA affiliates not to schedule him for shows, believing Douglas to be a risk, as he had the tendency to not appear at shows that he was scheduled to wrestle at.

Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heyman's plan, inspired by his father's motto of "doing right by the people that do right by you". He threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, stating that he did not want to be the champion of a "dead promotion." He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title. He declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship, calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling.  

With this event, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The revamped promotion's unorthodox style and controversial storylines made it popular among many fans 18-35. It showcased many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing hardcore wrestling matches as well as Mexican Lucha Libre and Japanese Puroresu.

ECW was promoted as counterculture and a grittier alternative to WWF and WCW. ECW soon became the the #3 Wrestling Promotion in the World.  

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Chapter 5 - WWF Goes RAW!!!

RAW's origins date all the way back to 1987 and Prime Time Wrestling, which was the WWF A-Show at the time.Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, PTW, showcased never-before-seen taped matches from Superstars. 

Eventually, PTW would change format in 1991 and become a Studio Show, though they still aired unaired taped matches. PTW would change again a year later, in 1992. This time as a Round Table Talk Show, similar to the Political Shows of that era.

Then, in January of 1993, PTW was retired and replaced with Monday Night RAW. The First batch of episodes were aired Live at the Manhattan Center in NYC. The ratings for these live episodes were phenomenal and became the #1 Wrestling Program in the World.

Initially the commentary team was Vince McMahon, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Rob Bartlett, a comedian and entertainer who liked wrestling. Very few liked Bartlett and a few months after his debut, he was gone from the company.  

Despite the success, recording shows live each weak was becoming an expensive endeavor for the WWF. And so RAW would begin to slowly phase out Live Broadcasts for Pre-Taped ones. This would hurt them a bit later in 1995 when WCW Monday Nitro debuts.

Despite this issue, Monday Night RAW was still one of the most watched Shows on TV. .    

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Chapter 6 - The Monday Night War Begins.

While WCW Saturday Night was a fun show, it wasn't the mega hit that WWF Monday Night RAW was. So, Ted Turner gathered the Top Brass at WCW to come up with ways to counter the WWF. Eric Bischoff randomly suggested that they take on RAW with a Monday night show of their own.

After some thought, Turner approved of the idea and Monday Nitro was conceived And On September of 1995, The First Episode of Monday Nitro debut Live at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota (the Only time that a wrestling event would be held there). And was hosted by the commentary team of Eric Bischoff, Steve "Mongo" McMichael, and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. This Trio would be the official color commentary team for Nitro going forward (until nitro becomes a 2-hour show in may of 1996).

The biggest shock of the episode was the return of Lex Luger, who 75% of fans thought was sent as a spy for the WWF, having Zero clue about his departure from the federation a week earlier.

Luger's apprentice and challenge to Hogan gave off a vibe that had an "Anything Can and Might Happen" feel to Nitro. Plus...RAW was pre-empted that night, so Nitro had no competition until the next week.

Nitro officially became WCW's new A-Show, while Saturday Night, which Was the A-Show, became the B-Show.   

One of the Hugest advantages of owning Both a Show And a Network, is that you can air it whenever you want. This was WCW's advantage over WWF, which was bound by the programming of the USA Network...a network that Vince McMahon himself didn't own. 

The next week, the Monday Night Wars would officially begin. Another advantage that WCW Nitro had over WWF RAW was that almost every Nitro was Live, while almost every RAW was Pre-Taped.

This allowed RAW to be aired early in some markets, something that WCW's commentator team would take full advantage of by spoiling the results of RAW on Nitro.

For the rest of 1995, RAW and Nitro would trade wins and even reached a ratings stalemate a few times. WCW also introduced a Cruiserweight Division, which Properly introduced Americans to Mexico's Lucha Libre and Japan's Puroresu.

One of the most shocking things on Nitro was the surprise return of Madusa Miceli, who wrestled as Alundra Blayze in the WWF.

She arrived on Nitro with the WWF Women's Championship Belt and proceeded to badmouth the WWF. She then dumped the WWF Women's Title in a Garbage Can. This segment was a testament to WCW Nitro's "Anything Can and Might Happen" feel. 

Needless to say, Vince McMahon was pissed and threaten to sue WCW if the Belt wasn't brought back to the WWF immediately. The belt was brought back and later in life, Madusa showed remorse fot the segment and mentioned that it was Bischoff's idea.   

 Anyway, moving along. Not only did WWF and WCW engage in a Monday Night TV War, but also warred in the Pay-Per-View market too. In fact, WWF's In Your House series of PPVs were a direct response to WCW's own Monthly shows.. They would trade wins, though WWF's PPVs usually came out on top.  

But everything changed in 1996 and the Monday Night wars were about to heat up. First, as a big "FU" to Vince McMahon, Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff extended Nitro to 2 Hours in May. 

Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko hosted the first hour, while Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Steve McMichael hosted the second. The commentary booth would often be joined by other hosts, if Mongo and Bischoff were unavailable. These commentators were Mike Tenay and "Stagger" Lee Martial.

Scott Hudson and Mark Madden would be added to the team much later. 

And Second...they set up one of the most Legendary Angles in Wrestling - The Outsider Invasion. 

I almost forgot This Legendary Gem. In January of 1996, the WWF would start to air "The Billionaire Ted" Series.   

These were a series of sketches parodying Ted Turner, who was referred to as "Billionaire Ted" and portrayed as a bumbling, out-of-touch hillbilly initially trying to improve his WCW product against the "superior" WWF by buying Wrestling Stars.  See, the Gag was that Ted didn't know how to make Stars,so he had to Buy them.  .

Anyway, parodied alongside Billionaire Ted were former 1980s WWF talents who had defected to WCW. We have The Huckster (parody of Hulk Hogan), The Nacho Man (a parody of "Macho Man" Randy Savage), and Scheme Gene (parody of WCW interviewer "Mean" Gene Okerlund).

Hogan and Savage were portrayed as elderly and incapable wrestlers, while Okerlund was depicted as a con man who wanted to scam money from fans via premium phone lines.

These skits led to the Nacho Man v. The Hukster match at WrestleMania XII. Where it was known as the Geriatric Match.   

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To Be Continued!!! 

What Made The Super Nintendo Super?!

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was Nintendo's greatest Game System..without question. But What exactly made the Super Nintendo So Super? Today, We're gonna find out.   

Brief History 

During the Late 80's, in Japan, the Famicom's reign was threatened by NEC's {then} New Game Console, the PC Engine (Turbo Graphix-16 in the U.S.). While Sega, who also released the Mega Drive, was not a huge threat. Nintendo CEO, Hiroshi Yamouchi, worried about Nintendo's future, announced the Super Famicom. 

However, thanks to Super Mario Bros. 3 being such a big hit and the Famicom out preforming The PC Engine in popularity, the Super Famicom's release was delayed. But that victory was crushed in 1989, when Sega was quickly closing in on Nintendo in the North American market with their American Mega Drive, the Sega Genesis.  By early 1990, Sega would gain a slight lead in the market due to having a really good selection of 16-bit hits. 

Yamouchi had to act, so in 1989, the Super Famicom was revealed to the public and a year later, in 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan, with Super Mario World and Pilotwings as Launch titles.

Then a year after that, in 1991, The Super Famicom released in North America as The Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The Super NES was bundled with Super Mario World. Pilotwings and F-Zero were the other 2 Launch titles for the region.   

Eventually, more games would come in that year including Final Fight, Final Fantasy II (IV), Super Castlevania IV, and Actraiser   

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Advantages Over Competitors

So..what are the advantages of the Super Nintendo over it's various Competition? Let's have a look.

The Super NES v. The Turbo Graphix-16 - While the Turbo Graphix was a superior system, tech-wise, to the NES and was very close to beating it in Japan, it became a non-issue for Nintendo after the Super NES hit the market. NEC's machine couldn't compete. Even With their CD-Rom Add-on, they couldn't Touch Super Nintendo. Though...NEC Did conquer Sega in Japan. The Turbo Graphix just didn't have a strong enough library to challenge the SNES. Plus, The Super NES was superior tech-wise.

The Super NES v. The Sega Genesis - The Super Nintendo's Greatest Rival....well, only in America and Europe. In Japan, it was the reverse. While the 2 Systems were almost equal in power, with the SNES being slightly stronger, the Genesis was faster. However, the big advantage, tech-wise, the Super NES had was that it was Smarter. Meaning it's capabilities Could be pushed beyond it's limits without Any Add-Ons (see Donkey Kong Country and Starfox). That and it's Library of games was slightly better than the Genesis'.

The Super NES v. The Sega CD and Sega 32X - Despite being slightly more powerful than the Super NES, the Library for Both Add-Ons were lacking, with very few good games. Plus, they were Add-Ons for the Sega Genesis. The Super Nintendo didn't need them to be strong...or Cool.

The Super NES v. The Neo Geo AVS System - SNK's system was superior in every way...except in 2 Areas - The Price and lack of strong 3rd Party Support. The System and games were very expensive and lacked strong 3rd Party support. These factors hurt this Console's chances in the Market. 

The Super NES v. The Philips CD-I - 1. The CD-I was never supposed to be a full game Console in the first place. 2. It had terrible games. and 3.it was too lame to even put up a fight against Sega and SNK, let alone Nintendo.   

The Super NES v. The Panasonic 3DO - Panasonic's CD-based System suffered in a similar way to the Neo Geo. While it was more powerful than the competition, the Console itself was too expensive and had very little 3rd Party support. While the 3DO's games Were cheaper than the competition, the lack of great titles made Panasonic's system a mostly ignored one. 

The Super NES v. The Atari Jaguar - Atari planned on throwing Nintendo out of the Video Game Market by releasing a 64-Bit System. Atari was sure that they Would succeed and that they couldn't wait too hear the news of Nintendo's Big loss to their new, more powerful system. That day never came and the Jaguar was a failure. Y'see, Despite being a more powerful system than the SNES and Genesis, The Jaguar lacked the 2 Biggest things that made a Video Game Console great - Good Games and 3rd Party support. Atari's system had None of that. So, instead of Atari throwing Nintendo Out of the Console Market, They though Themselves out. 

The Super NES v. The Sega Saturn - The Saturn, despite being a more powerful (32-bit) system and having a really good library of games, The Saturn's popularity both in Japan and in America, was eclipsed by Nintendo's 16-Bit System. And, unlike with the Sony Playstation, the Saturn would Never be more popular than the Super Nintendo.

The Super NES v. The Sony Playstation - Despite being more powerful than Nintendo's hardware, The Sony Playstation was never as popular as the Super Nintendo....until Final Final Fantasy VII came along. And Because of that one game, The Playstation became the Worlds most popular System. The Super Nintendo had an advantage in the early going, but when Final Fantasy 7 hit the market, it was all over for them as the #1 Console in the World.....at least it held on to the #2 spot in Japan, until it's death in Late-2000.      

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The Library

What makes a Game System Worth Playing? The Games! And the Super Nintendo had a Great Library of Legendary titles.  You have Excellent 1st Party games like Super Mario World, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda - a Link to the Past, Super Mario Kart, Mario Paint, Super Mario All-Stars, Kirby Super Star, Super Punch-Out, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Star Fox, and Super Metroid.

Great 2nd Party games like Earthbound (aka Mother 2) and Awesome 3rd Party Titles like Final Fantasy II (IV), Super Castlevania IV, Street Fighter II Turbo, Mega Man X, Mortal Kombat II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time, Mega Man 7, Final Fantasy III (VI), and Chrono Trigger 

Plus theirs the Nintendo/Square collab - Super Mario RPG. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I'll be listing My Top 10 games soon. But first, let's talk Peripherals.

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The Peripherals

Now..let's talk about the various Accessories for the Super Nintendo.  

The Super Scope (1992) - The successor to the NES Zapper. Came with a 6-Pak of games, with a few more sold separately. Never owned this or it's games.

The Super Game Boy (1994) - This cart allowed you to play Your OG Game Boy games on tour TV..in Color. You can customise the colors of each game you play, and even make custom borders too. A 2nd Version of this peripheral (The Super Game Boy 2) came out in 1998...though it was Japan only. The biggest reason for this was that in America, the Super NES was on it's last legs.

The Super Advantage (1993) - An Arcade stick by ASCIIWare.

The SNES Mouse (1992) - Came bundled with Mario Paint. A cool little accessory that's only comparable with a small handful of games...most being Japan Only.

The SNES Multi Tap (1992) - This baby allowed SNES players to play 4-Player Games.

The X-Band (1994/1995) - An American Creation. This thing allowed players to play games "Online" via phone line.

The Game Genie (1992) - The Legendary Cheat Device...now on the Super Nintendo. Place in pre-made Cheat Codes from the Codebook or create your own, and have fun. 

The Action Replay (1993) - The Action Replay is similar to the Game Genie, but you can do a few more things, such as create save states.

NP Flash Carts (1997) - A Re-writable Flash Memory Cart that allows players to download Games from a Kiosk....But only in Japan.  

The Broadcast Satellaview (BS-X; 1995) - A Japanese-Only Add-On that allowed Players to play games and read news though the Systems Paid Satellite Service by St. GIGA, a Digital Satellite Radio Station. Had a bunch of exclusive games too. I'll talk more about this interesting thing another time. 

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Recommended Games.

Now time for the games that I would recommend players check out.

Super Mario World (Action Platformer; 1991)

F-Zero (Racing; 1991)

Final Fantasy II/IV (Traditional Role Playing; 1991)

Super Castlevania IV (Action Platformer; 1991)  

Gradius III (Shoot 'Em Up; 1991)

Sim City (Simulation; 1991) 

Final Fight (Beat 'Em Up; 1991) 

Actraiser (Action Platformer, Simulayion, and Action Role Play; 1991) 

Legend of Zelda - A Link to the Past (Action Role Playing; 1992)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time (Beat 'Em Up; 1992) 

Mario Paint (Misc; 1992) 

Super Mario Kart (Racing; 1992)

Street Fighter II Turbo (Fighting; 1993) 

Super Mario All-Stars (Action Platformer; 1993)

Cool Spot (Action Platformer; 1993)

Final Fight 2 (Beat 'Em Up; 1993) 

Star Fox (Shoot'em Up; 1993)

Mega Man X (Action Platformer; 1994)

Super Punch-Out (Sports; 1994)

Super Metroid (Action Platformer; 1994) 

Donkey Kong Country (Action Platformer; 1994)

Super Street Fighter II (Fighting; 1994)

Mortal Kombat II (Fighting; 1994)

Final Fantasy III/VI (Traditional Role Playing; 1994)

WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game (Fighting; 1995)

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: Fighting Edition (Fighting; 1995)

Mortal Kombat 3 (Fighting; 1995) 

Kirby's Avalanche (Puzzle; 1995)   

Earthbound (Traditional Role Playing; 1995)   

Castlevania: Dracula X (Action Platformer; 1995)

Chrono Trigger (Traditional Role Playing; 1995) 

Killer Instinct (Fighting; 1995)

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Action Platformer; 1995) 

Mega Man X2 (Action Platformer; 1995)

Mega Man 7 (Action Platformer; 1995)

NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Sports; 1995)

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (Action Platformer; 1995) 

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Fighting; 1996) 

Kirby's Super Star (Action Platformer; 1996)  

Final Fight 3 (Beat 'Em Up; 1996) 

Mega Man X3 (Action Platformer; 1996) 

Super Mario RPG (Traditional Platformer/ Traditional Role Playing; 1996)

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The Legacy 

And finally, the Legacy.

The Super NES has the Greatest Legacy in All of Gaming History. It lasted from 1991 to 1997 in America, and 1990 to Late-2000 in Japan. And it's all thanks to the Great Games and Fond experiences that they gave us. 

Classic NES franchises like Mega Man, Castlevania, Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Punch-Out, Metroid, Battletoads, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior, The WWF Games, and Kirby, were all greatly improved when they moved to the SNES....and not just technologically, either. 

Also, Legendary franchises like Mega Man X, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Country, F-Zero, and Chrono Trigger, all got their start ON the Super NES.

And lets never forget the Quality Arcade Ports. We got - Super Ghouls n Ghosts (an enhanced port of Ghouls n Ghosts), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (an expanded port of teenage mutant ninja turtles: turtles in time), Street Fighter II Turbo (called hyper fighting in the arcades), Mortal Kombat II, and Saturday Night Slam Masters.

Now, there Were Bad games for the System, but those terrible titles were always overshadowed by the good ones. 

Though, long past, the Super NES is Still beloved today by Gamers from around the World. Years ago, Nintendo released the SNES Mini, which contained many of the Consoles best games. Sadly, That Item was in limited suply and Nintendo refuses to re-release it.

Thankfully, The Switch and Switch 2's Online Service has a bunch of great SNES titles for players to play.     

So, What made the SNES Super? All of what You just read.

And that's gonna do for this Editorial. I have Zero idea how to end this, so...I'll end thing here.

Until Next Time, Punch Nazi's, Kick Commies, Resist Modern Attitudes and Stay Gold. 

The RR Creative

 I started a new blog last week. This one highlighting My Creative Stuffs.

https://retroresistancecreative.blogspot.com/

The Retro Resistance Creative shows the World what My Creative Genius is all about and gives a big F-You to Modern America, while doing it. So stop on by, when you have the time.