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10.11.2011

Tha Classics Part 6

Back in 1997 to me there was nothing hotter in wrestling than when Raven arrived in WCW. I had heard of him from wrestling magazines since I didn’t get ECW at the time. When he popped up sitting in the front row I was like “Finally! I get to see this guy wrestle for once.” Little did I know that I was speaking way too soon. I also didn’t know that I had seen him in WCW years ago under a different name, Scotty Flamingo. Yeah, turned out this was the same guy!

Raven was an free agent and would just chill in his seat as they tried to get him to sign. Eventually he started gathering The Flock. The standout members were Billy Kidman who became just Kidman. Perry Saturn (another I hadn’t gotten a chance to see in ECW at the time). And the biggest shock was Scotty Riggs who became Riggs. Raven tried to get him to join The Flock and after being droptoe held onto a steel chair and losing an eye he eventually joined. yeah, there were other guys like Lodi, Reese, Sickboy, and Horace but I didn’t care about them.

Raven had some awesome feuds with guys like Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Benoit, and Bill Goldberg. Damn, the Goldberg feud was amazing! Not sure if many young fans even know it but at one point crowds booed the shit out of Raven whenever he came out. No music for a while. Just his introduction and climbing into the ring and sitting in the corner. Sometimes he wouldn’t even wrestle. He’d grab one of The Flock and chuck them into the ring instead.

Back to Raven versus Goldberg for a second because I want to point something out. Listen to that crowd. How often do you hear crowds like that during a wrestling match anymore? Not never. Unless its HBK or John Cena or someone. When Raven had the US Title and faced Goldberg the crowd was electric. I know that term gets thrown around a lot but in this case its more than appropriate. Held under Raven’s Rules, which meant that anything goes, you knew The Flock would interfere.

At this point Goldberg was 74-0 during his streak. One of the most shocking things about this match was the fact that Raven did a damned dropkick in the opening minute of the match. I don’t want to sound like I’m some kind of professional in terms of wrestling besides watch it for almost 30 years, but damn Raven sells like a machine! When he gets tossed into the guard rail I thought he was dead. At one pint Raven tried to leave and ends up getting tossed back towards the ring from the crowd!

Many point out the New World Order and the appearances of WWF/WWE wrestlers showing up as shocking or cool moments. Mine was when Raven showed up and made me love wrestling even more than I already did at the time. CLICK HERE to watch his match against Goldberg.


2 comments: on "Tha Classics Part 6"

Anonymous said...

Dante, thanks for writing this. I was super excited when I saw Raven appear on Nitro. I saw him through watching ECW syndication on 1Wrestling.com if you remember, they used to stream the episodes back then.
Raven in WCW was a true breath of fresh air. That initial run he had was on of the best things in WCW at the time. Thanks for this piece, if they ever do a Best of Nitro Volume 2 they should have a segment focusing on Raven arriving with his flock.
Those old WCW were amazing.

Dante said...

Thanks for commenting. I was sitting here the other day before writing and wondered "What was an event that made me super excited about wrestling?" and Raven showing up in WCW was one for sure. How many people could get away with forcing his lackeys to fight for him weekly? And Kidman blew up after leaving. Before that he was "that skinny dude that did that cool move."