One of my favorite traditions from The Wrestler that used to run back in the day, the yearly WWF vs WCW feature complete with wrestler histories, individual weak points, and strategies you’d see deployed if these dream matches ever occurred. This time around though, four of the matches listed in this edition had already happened during the time of print (weird), but it’s still fun going through the speculation on how these bouts could play out.
Also, there’s something enjoyable about reading a kayfabe wrestling magazine that’s writing out specific ways for a wrestler to beat another as if it’s a legitimate competition. When discussing a possible Goldust vs Randy Savage match-up, The Wrestler writes:
“GAME PLAN
Goldust: Mind games will work in this situation (at least he hopes they will). A flustered Savage is a beatable Savage. After a mental edge is gained, keep the pace of the bout fast and furious. He must use his youth and speed to keep the match at a frenetic pace. In addition, he should recruit Elizabeth for one night to keep Savage off his game. If that doesn’t happen, Marlena will have to do.
Randy Savage: Keep thing wild and weird. As Intercontinental champ, Goldust had great difficulty with the crazed antics of The Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson. Savage must keep the match in the ring, because Goldust has a history of sneaking away and taking countout losses. While Savage might be able to gain a victory that way, what would it mean? Goldust has had knee problems recently, and Savage could make it difficult for him to run/hobble away if he worked on his knees early in the match.”
Goldust pulling in Miss Elizabeth as his valet for the night during his match against Macho Man Randy Savage?! Too good!!
Other notable piece from this feature, the inclusion of promos that one could potentially hear during a WWF vs WCW match-up. For example, here’s Mankind and Scott Hall:
“Mankind: ‘Who are you? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?!’
Scott Hall: ‘Yo, freak man. I am ready to carve you up. The name may have changed, but the man hasn’t. You’re going down hard at the hands of the New World Order.’“
Gold.
It’s an absolute shame that the Monday Night War never ended up having a joint WWF/WCW pay-per-view, as even as something as terrible as the WWF Invasion show made Vince McMahon tons of money. Weirdly enough, there have been some recent instances of cross-promotion battles happening on WWE television, but it’s just not the same as it would have been involving the key icons of mid-to-late 90’s professional wrestling:
Click through the gallery below for scans of the full feature:
38-year-old World Championship Wrestling fanatic/collector/hoarder. Safety officer by day, scanner of wrestling magazine by night.
He’s got posters on the wall, his favorite rock group’s KISS.
I used to love this feature. I had the 1998 edition as a kid and read it over and over, and I would book my own dream matches in my head in the years immediately following.
Same here — just got this recently, going to have to hunt down all of the other ones.