http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?10420-AsherCameron Wrestling News and Discussion - eWrestlingNews.com Community en Tue, 21 May 2013 09:26:20 GMT vBulletin 10 http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/blog.php?10420-AsherCameron http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?40776-Do-You-Remember-the-Latino-World-Order Tue, 21 Feb 2012 02:19:07 GMT One of my favorite things to do on this planet is to have someone call out a wrestling gimmick or wrestler and I will spill everything that I know or... One of my favorite things to do on this planet is to have someone call out a wrestling gimmick or wrestler and I will spill everything that I know or remember about said gimmick or wrestler. Today I was challenged with Hector Garza, and while all I remember of Hector Garza was his penchant for corkscrew planchas from the turnbuckle to the outside, I was inspired to remember the Latino World Order (lWo).

As long as Paul Heyman lives he will believe that everyone in wrestling was out to bastardize his vision and to profit from his genius. While I am not disputing these claims on anyone's behalf, I will maintain that ECW brought the luchadores to the US but WCW gave them a bigger stage to be highlighted on. Yes, Rey Misterio Jr. and Juventud Guerrera did have an epic match in ECW, those of us who subscribed to Bob and Jim's Basement Cable wouldn't have heard of an El Dandy, a Silver King or a Super Calo if not for WCW.

Between 1998 and 1999 you couldn't take a leak without WCW cramming the nWo into your ear. The story goes that Eddie Guerrero and Eric Bischoff about the direction WCW was taking and that argument was manifsted into a storyline. Jason Hervey (The rat-bastard older brother from the Wonder Years) had came up with the idea of a Latino nWo and was able to get the idea to fly because of his relationship with Bischoff.

Eddie Guerrero had been laid up for some kayfabe reason or another and when he returned he did so with a vengeance. Eddie came back to recruit the major Latino stars in WCW and bring honor back to La Raza (loosely translated to "The Mexican People"). Eddie rounded up the who's who of WCW's Luchadores (to be listed later) and I marked something fierce. The nWo black, white, red and purple were boring me to tears and finally I had something new to catch my attention.

This is the part where the Latino World Order shined. Eddie gathered everyone in his stable that he could and all of them joined except for one: Rey Mysterio, Jr. The details as to why Mysterio wouldn't join are still kind of fuzzy for me, but he wouldn't join and Eddie made life difficult for him. They had singled Rey Mysterio, Jr. out from his people and really put Mysterio's heart out to shine. Finally Mysterio joined and the Latino World Order was in swing.

The LWO wasn't given it's fullest opportunity to run. Eddie was in a car accident and the two factions of the nWo were coming back together. To celebrate their combined mediocrity, they laid the LWO out and threatened them with more bodily harm if they didn't abandon their colors. All of them did, except one: Rey Mysterio, Jr. Mysterio took quite a beating from the nWo on a few occasions until he finally moved on to something else that would propel him to the Super Star Status that we all know him for.

At the end of the day the LWO was: Eddie Guerrero (who went on to be huge in the WWE), Psychosis and Juventud Guerrera (who formed the Mexicools with Super Crazy), La Parka, El Dandy, Silver King, Villano V (there should be a good reason why Villano IV, who was active at the time, wasn't in the LWO. Injury perhaps?), Damien and Ciclope (who went on to be big names in XPW; Ciclope as "Halloween") Hector Garza and Art Flores who was the body-guard Spyder.

I hope that you remembered the LWO fondly; it was a lot of fun for me. Until next time my friends, Viva La Raza! ]]> AsherCameron http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?40776-Do-You-Remember-the-Latino-World-Order http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?40759-Do-You-Remember-quot-Hardcore-Hak-quot Sun, 19 Feb 2012 18:18:34 GMT A lot of people have endearing memories of growing up in a rural setting; they love snowfall and fireplaces and wide open ranges as far as the eye... A lot of people have endearing memories of growing up in a rural setting; they love snowfall and fireplaces and wide open ranges as far as the eye can see. I hated living in the country. It wasn't enough that there wasn't anything that I was remotely interested in anywhere nearby, but our cable provider could afford to be neglectful because my neighbors were busy doing things like making their 4-wheeler's better death machines or milking something. It is because of this blatant dead-beat approach to media that I had to rely solely on wrestling at face value.

Prior to WCW's emphasis on "Hardcore Wrestling" or the WWF's push of Mankind as the unfeeling abonination, the most hardcore act of sports entertainment was Jake "The Snake" Roberts allowing Damien to bite Randy Savage or Jimmy Snuka doing the Superfly Dive. WCW started emphasizing the Luchadores and they were doing amazing things; Rey Mysterio Jr and El Dandy doing incredible dives and flips. On WCW Saturday Night (Because Bob and Jim's Basement Cable didn't carry TNT until 1997) guys like Raven and Public Enemy were doing relatively risque things (things that are acceptable in church by today's standards) and WCW was branding it as "Hardcore." As the 90's progressed, ECW was becoming more and more "emulated" and the envelope was being pushed. In fact, I had heard of ECW while thumbing through the pages of Pro Wrestling Illustrated but because I didn't get any channel that carried ECW I thought of them as some wrestling I'll never get to watch due to circumstance.

On an episode of Nitro in the late 90's "Hardcore Hak" (Jim Fullingtonl The Sandman) showed up wrapped in barbed wire and swinging a cane. I want you to picture a kid sitting in front of his TV with his jaw agape, that was me. Hak had taken out Van Hammer and whatever tomato can he had steamrolled over that night and then proceeded to proclaim himself the King of Extreme. Hak and Bigelow "wrestled" for a few moments and Tony Schiavone Hugh Granted his way through the whole ordeal.

Hak wasn't memorable at all because WCW didn't know how to promote hardcore wrestling. Hardcore Wrestling in the 90's wasn't able who could take the highest leap or bleed the most, it was about taking something from nothing and making it great. WCW would have been better off taking one of Eric Bischoff's bonus checks and starting an indy promotion and calling it hardcore, it would have been much more enjoyable to watch. Hak was involved in the WCW Hardcore Battle Royale in the junk yard in which someone may have legitimately died because of the poor lighting and 500 square yard of hazard they were wrestling in. From what I remember of Hak, he was involved in Raven's "pity me" angle in which we discover Scotty's parents were loaded and Jim was trying to get Scotty help. Yes, Raven actually called Hak by his first name.

I hope you've remembered Hardcore Hak and maybe it took you back to a better time for a little while. If you don't remember Hak, YouTube him and don't blame the taste in your mouth on me! ]]> AsherCameron http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/community/entry.php?40759-Do-You-Remember-quot-Hardcore-Hak-quot