Making the Grade 01.22.09: A Rumble Retrospective (PART III)

Making the Grade: Rating the Rumbles, pt. III

While the Attitude Era may have been the most exciting time to be a wrestling fan, that doesn’t mean that the Royal Rumble achieved the magnitude of which it is capable. To be sure that pining nostalgia doesn’t warp any perceptions of the reviews below, here is a brief refresher on the Making the Grade Rating System:

An “A” Rumble exceeds expectations given its participants. It is exceptional in both its caliber of work rate, the narrative transition participants, contains memorable. It should demonstrate a genuine valiant effort by each participant to win the match through eliminating their opponents.

A “B” Rumble match is better than average. This could be a well-wrestled match with good (not-great) storyline. Or, perhaps it has great moments or work rate that is brought down by more halfhearted performances. If it is an otherwise great Rumble that features moments of dullness, or it does not reach the pinnacle of what its participants are capable of – it will most likely fall into this grade.

A “C” Royal Rumble, sadly, is only average. It is nothing spectacular, forgettable, or full of bad work rate (or participants), mistakes, or general lackadaisical storytelling.

A “D” Rumble is below average, mostly boring, practically terrible, but saved by one or two points of merit.

A “F” match is the worst of the worst. It doesn’t belong anywhere in entertainment, let alone in the wrestling ring. It is the type of exhibition that turns fans off the product.

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1997 Royal Rumble

The 1997 edition of the Rumble is the only one to take place in a dome arena, the San Antonio Alamodome. The crowd looks immense, but rumor has it that the event was heavily papered. Crush and Ahmed Johnson begin the match with #1 and #2 and continue their Ahmed vs. the Nation feud that lasted forever and had little payoff. Johnson already looks winded one minute into the match. This doesn’t lead to good wrestling between the two. Fake Razor Ramon enters at #3 with no countdown clock, buzzer, or theme music. McMahon explains the clock problems as Johnson quickly tosses “Razor” out. Johnson then phones in a half-hearted attack on Crush before jumping over the top and chasing Faarooq (who appeared in the entrance ramp). Lawler succinctly notes that “[Ahmed] is an idiot. Phineas Godwinn comes out at #4 drags down the already dull matchup. Crush and PIG trade a few punches while Stone Cold Steve Austin saunters out at #5. This was in the brief period when he wasn’t a megastar (yet), so there is only a mild antagonist reaction from the crowd. PIG gives Austin a nasty clothesline and returns to attacking Crush. Austin tries to help with a top rope clothesline to PIG, but hits Crush by accident, though Austin acts like he could care less. PIG tosses out the prone crush then walks into a Stone Cold Stunner before getting eliminated. The countdown clock finally starts working just before Bart Gunn enters. The Smoking Gunn must have been smoking something because he hits and awful looking fameasser. Austin recovers and tries to throw him out, but Bart blows that spot too, so Austin simply clotheslines him over the top. Austin sits and waits for the next entrant, which turns out to be the instigator of Austin 3:16 himself, Jake “the Snake” Roberts.

Roberts hits Austin with some stiff looking punches and twists his arm into an armlock. Austin fights off Roberts but he won’t let go of Austin’s arm. A Short-arm Clothesline from Roberts doesn’t lead to a DDT, but rather Robert’s elimination as the British Bulldog enters at #8. Pierroth, some AAA guy who gets nary the reaction, comes next, and adds little to the match. The Sultan joins the match at #10, Mil Mascaras is #11 (and actually gets a reaction from the fans), while HHH is #12. All the while, not much happens, as everyone pairs up by the ropes but unsuccessfully eliminates anyone. Bulldog clothelines the Sultan over the top as Austin gives HHH a wicked clothesline himself. Austin throws HHH out, but the Game lands on the apron and returns for more assault from Austin. Mascaras hits Pierroth with a flying forearm smash. Owen enters at #13 and attacks Austin. As Bulldog picks Austin to eliminate him, Owen runs behind them and sends them both over the top. However, Austin lands on the apron and Bulldog, Owen’s tag-team partner and fellow tag-champion, gets eliminated. #14 is Goldust in his first Rumble match, but doesn’t do much. Cibernético (another AAA guy) is #15 and goes after Mascaras. Pierroth eliminates Cibernético, and then gets eliminated himself by Mascaras. Mascaras then hits Pierroth with a top rope splash and the referees direct him to the back. Marc Mero enters the ring and Goldust eliminates HHH, extracting some revenge from losing their IC Title match earlier in the night. The Latin Lover is #17 and kicks Goldust in the butt. Owen then eliminates the Goldust as Faarooq enters #18. Faarooq quickly tosses out Latin Lover and trades punches with Austin. Meanwhile, Ahmed runs to the ring with an oversized 2×4 and weakly batters Faarooq, sending him over the top rope. Owen and Mero fight by the ropes and Austin kindly pushes them both out of the ring. He has the ring to himself for a brief moment before Savio Vega enters at #19. The two recreate their rivalry from the previous year, which lasts about sixty seconds before Austin eliminates him.

Austin enjoys his moment of serenity as “Double J” joins the match. Why, Jesse James of course. Austin humors him for exactly 46 seconds before eliminating him. Austin perches on corner and asks for more. He asks, and he receives. In one of the Rumble’s classic visuals, Bret Hart’s music hits and Austin shoots an astonished glare down the aisle. The two fight in a hot sequence before Bret locks Austin in a sharpshooter. Jerry Lawler is #22 and, in a shrewd moment, he leaves the announce booth mid-sentence in order to attack Bret. Bret drops the sharpshooter and hits Lawler with a punch that sends him right out of the ring. Lawler returns to the announce table and finishes the sentence that he left on.

Fake Diesel is #23 and tries to eliminate Austin. Bret tries to help but Austin rakes their eyes. Austin continues his assault of Bret as Terry Funk enters the match before the countdown clock rings him in. Funk and Austin make physical the argument they had on Shotgun Saturday Night the previous evening. Rocky Maivia is #25 and he takes it straight to Stone Cold and Diesel. Too bad nobody would care at the time. Mankind enters at #26 and pummels his mentor Funk. Most fans there don’t appear to care, but smart fans must have eaten it up. Austin and Bret are still going at it as Lawler remarks that he wished he had a chance to get in on the action. Flash Funk comes out, sans Funkettes, at #27. Bret hits Austin with a piledriver, but takes his time trying to eliminate him. Rocky and Mankind fight in the corner before Mankind returns his attention to Funk. Vader is #28, coming off a pinfall victory over the Undertaker earlier that night. Vader gives Flash Funk some stiff looking blows then briefly fights Austin before he settles his attention on Bret. Henry Godwinn is #29, and was sadly considered the brains of the team. Demonstrating his wits, he attacks the fresh, huge Vader. Still, he manages to take him down with a clothesline. Undertaker rounds out the field with #30. He and Vader collide in the middle of the ring, and then Undertaker decides to chokeslam everyone in sight. Vader dumps Flash Funk out with a standing-fallaway slam. Rocky nearly eliminates Bret Hart in one of the few times they met in the ring. Not much later, Taker nonchalantly throws out the Godwinn brother. We’re left with a pretty sweet field of current and future stars: Taker, Vader, Hart, Austin, Mankind, Rocky, Terry Funk and Kane.

Mankind gets the mandible-claw on Rocky and dumps him over the top. Mankind and Funk square off, and Mankind suplexes Funk to the floor. Lawler wants to see Mankind and Funk as a team, and he wouldn’t have to wait long. Taker sees the distracted Mankind and casually sends launches him off the apron. Importantly, Mankind and Funk continue to fight on the outside as the refs try to break them up. Bret cleanly tosses Austin to the floor as the crowd erupts, however the refs miss it, and Austin crawls back into the ring. Vader and Taker fight by the ropes and Austin sneaks behind them and dumps them both. Meanwhile, Hart eliminates Diesel moments before Austin creeps behind him and throws him out. Consequently Austin is declared the Rumble winner by the oblivious refs!

GRADE: B-, this is an exceptionally difficult Rumble to review. There are periods where it is downright dull, there are too many wrestlers that nobody has heard of outside of the AAA, and the ending is a certainly a little shady. However, it cemented Austin as the opportunistic rattlesnake that we’ve come to grow and love. It continues the downward spiral of Bret Hart, serving as another instance in a long list of grievances he would have with WWF administration. It also is the Rumble debut of Attitude mainstays like Mick Foley, the Rock, and the Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Plus, I can’t complain too much about the ending, as it led to the supremely awesome four-way at In Your House: Final Four. So it rates low for workrate and excitement for the first half, but makes up ground with historical importance and setting instilling the aura of the Attitude Era.

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1998 Royal Rumble

Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Mick Foley and Terry Funk) start the match with “the tag-team that goes at it because it’s the Royal Rumble” shtick. Jack throws some chairs in the ring before the match starts and the two gleefully trade sick looking chairshots. Tom Brandi unluckily draws #3 and gets double teamed by the hardcore legends. They quickly dispose of Brandi and then return to pounding on each other. The Rock enters at #4 and assaults both Funk and Foley to a loud “Rocky Sucks” chant. Rock gets a trashcan to the head for his troubles, and the fans love it. Jack puts the can on Rock and nails it with a chair, sending Rock to the outside. Mosh enters next and sets his sights on Funk while Rock and Jack pair off. Phinneaus Godwinn is #6 and 8-Ball (of DOA) is #7. Neither add much to match. Jack charges Funk, but goes over the top rope himself. #8 is Bradshaw, who at the time is just a Texan and hardly wealthy. Owen Hart is #9, and gets a nice pop (which sadly never materialized into an actual push). Before he makes it to the ring, NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett lays him out in the aisle way. Steve Blackman and D-Lo Brown join the match with #10 and #11 respectively. Rock and D-Lo trade punches, though they’re both members of the Nation. The faction’s internal dissent would be a prevailing them of this year’s Rumble. Kurrgan enters the match at #12 and disposes of Mosh. No longer wild Marc Mero is #13. Kurrgan casually eliminates Blackman as D-Lo and the Rock continue to fight in the corner. Ken Shamrock enters at #14 to a respectable pop. He kicks Kurrgan a few times before bunch of guys unite in throwing Kurrgan over the top.

The Rock hits Funk with a yet to be named People’s Elbow, consequently the people don’t care that much. Thasher is #15 and doesn’t add much to the milling about. Mick Foley makes his second Rumble appearance of the night, entering at #16 as Mankind. Logically, he sets his attention on Funk and quickly eliminates him. The Artist Formally Known as Goldust is #17. Shamrock and Rock continue their fight from earlier in the night. Goldust throws out Mankind as Jeff Jarrett struts down the aisle at #18. This time Owen rushes him from behind, attacks him outside the ring, throws him in, then quickly tosses him out. Honky Tonk Man, a sub for HHH, enters at #19. HHH hobbles behind him and blasts Owen across the head with his crutch, eliminating him in the process. Meanwhile, Rock unceremoniously gets rid of Shamrock. Ahmed Johnson is #20 and a baby-faced Mark Henry is #21. The #22 buzzer sounds with nobody entering the ring. The announcers speculate that it must have been Austin’s number, meaning of course that it wasn’t. Ahmed gets attacked by the Nation members and gets tossed out, along with Phineas shortly after him. Kama is #23 and joins the Nation on Nation violence.

Steve Austin’s glass breaks at #24 and the in-ring action stops as everyone waits for his entrance. Instead, Austin enters through the crowd and surprises them all, eliminating Mero and 8-Ball in the process. Thankfully too, as the ring was getting rather congested. Yet, Henry Godwinn is #25 and Savio Vega is #26 to fill it back up. The Los Boriquas rush the ring and attack Austin along with Vega, but quickly leave without much protesting. Faarooq enters at #27, making it five members of the Nation (or all of it) in the match at once. However, instead of uniting, they fight amongst themselves as Austin and Rock brawl through the ropes and onto the floor. Foley comes back once again, this time as Dude Love, and gets rid of Bradshaw. Chainz is #29 and does little of anything. Vader finishes off the entrants with #30. Vader obliterates Goldust before he easily tosses Honky Tonk. Meanwhile Austin throws Thrasher, Kama and Vega out of the crowded ring. Goldust clotheslines Vader over the top (after jobbing to him earlier in the evening). Godwinn rushes Dude, but Mick learned from ealier in the match, so he ducks and dumps him over the top. Chainz does something productive and gets rid of Goldust, only to get eliminated himself by Austin. Rock then trims the fat off of the Nation, tossing out Henry and D-Lo. We’re left with Austin, Dude, Faarooq and the Rock as the final four. The former tag champions Dude and Austin take on Nation members, but Austin quickly turns on Dude and Faarooq clotheslines him over the top. Faarooq attacks Austin, but Rock creeps behind them and dumps Faarooq over the top. Rock and Austin briefly exchange punches before Rock walks into a Stone Cold Stunner, which weakens him enough for Austin to send him over the top rope and win the match!

GRADE: C+, another Rumble that is low on star-power. This Rumble suffers from too many lagging moments to call it great, or even solidly above average. Nevertheless, it features and awesome opening portion with Foley and Funk going at it like the 1980s hardcore team, Demolition, did nine years before. Foley’s multiple appearances and Rock’s enduring performance provide the event’s bright spots. Of course Austin was the only credible competitor going in, at least the only one who could headline WrestleMania, so his win was a bit of a no-brainer, but Foley and Rock should get credit for getting us to that obvious ending.

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1999 Royal Rumble

Austin starts off at #1, the first time that the position was predetermined before the ‘drawing.’ Vince McMahon is #2, and the fans can’t wait for them to get at it. This year also has the prevaying narrative of Vince McMahon’s bounty, promising $100,000 for whoever managest to eliminate Austin. Also, before the match, Finkel reminds us that going through the ropes does not constitute elimination. So the foreshadowing is laid on a little thick. Of course Austin destroys McMahon for the first 90 seconds, but he selfishly decides not to eliminate him. Instead he continues to lay on punishment to Vince. Golga is #3, and he predictably goes after Austin. This gives Vince enough time to slink away into the crowd. However, Austin simply dumps Golga and chases Vince into the audience.

Golga is #3, allowing Vince to sneak away into the crowd. Austin quickly tosses Golga, and then chases Vince into the crowd. Droz enters the ring at #4, but has nothing to do — so he stands around while the cameras follow Austin and McMahon into the ladies room. However, it was all a ploy as the Corporation was waiting there and attacks Austin. We don’t get ot see any of it though as we cut to Droz pacing. Edge is #5, finally giving Droz something to do. Gillberg enters at #6, but his stay in the ring lasts shorter than his entrance. Steve Blackman and Dan Severn join the match, but the director is more interested in Austin doing a stretcher job. Blackman and Severn nearly cause a charisma black hole as we see snippets of Austin getting loaded into an ambulance. Tiger Ali Singh is #9, Blue Meanie is #10, and Mosh is #11. But before Mosh can come out, Mabel takes him out and steals his space, which I guess is perfectly legal in Russo’s world. At least he dumps out some of the jobber fodder, including Severn, Blackman, Singh and Meanie. Road Dogg is #12. Edge hits Mabel with a lowblow and gets eliminated by Dogg. Stupidly, the lights go out and the Taker’s music starts. Unfortunately, it’s just the Acolytes and Mideon who stand with Mabel outside the ring. Did he go over? Who cares? Taker talks to Mabel in the aisle while Road Dogg stands idly in the ring. Sadly, the second time its happened before the halfway mark. Gangrel is #13 and has some fire behind him. Yet, Dogg still eliminates him pretty quickly. Kurrgan is #14, boring everybody. Michael Cole reminds us that McMahon is still in the match, basically negating anything that happens in the ring. Al Snow joins the two, not adding much in the sake of entertainment. Snow stupidly climbs the ropes to try and eliminate Kurrgan, but just gets tossed out by Dogg instead. Goldust, Godfather, and Kane come out at #16, #17, and #18. Thankfully Kane gets rid of the jobbers, tossing Dogg, Kurrgan, Godfather and Goldust. However, instead of letting this build into a Diesel push, a bunch of mental hospital wards rush the ring to nab Kane, so naturally Kane eliminates himself and leaves through the crowd. Thus we commense dead time #3. Shamrock is #19 and stands around. Vince McMahon comes back, but not to the ring, but rather the commentary booth. Billy Gunn is #20 and the two continue the fight they had earlier over the IC Title. Shamrock goes right after Gunn’s injured ankle, which was injured earlier. Test comes out at #21. But instead of seeing what he can do, we cut to Mabel getting loaded into a hearse. Serendipitously, Austin happens to hijack his ambulance and returns to the area while the cameraman happens to catch it all. Boss Man is #22, but nobody cares. Austin’s return to the ring peaks the crowd’s interest though. Austin chases Vince into the ring, but he slides out again. Shamrocks attacks Austin, but Austin still manages to easily backdrop him out.

#23 is HHH and sets his attention on Test, meanwhile a gimping Gunn attacks Austin. Boss Man holds Austin over the top rope, but HHH breaks it up to attack Austin himself. Val Venis enters the match, and it’s as exciting as it sounds. Austin kicks Gunn’s injured ankle and throws him out. X-Pac comes out at #25 and he and HHH team up against Test and Boss Man of the Corporation. Venis hits a top-rope axhandle drop on Austin. Austin then hits his own top-rope axhandle on Venis. Mark Henry and Jeff Jarrett enter at #26 and #27, but by now everyone just sort of stands around. Meanwhile, I begin to question why everyone didn’t eliminate Austin and split the bounty. D-Lo Brown enters at #28, while Austin puts Test and X-Pac out of their, and our, misery. Owen Hart is #29, but can’t help his tag-team partner, Jarrett, from getting eliminated by Austin. In a gender-defining moment, Chyna enters at #30, the final Rumble participant and first (and only) woman to fight in the Rumble. She quickly eliminates Henry, who was crushing on her at the moment. But Austin stands behind her and clotheslines her out as well. Well, I guess Women’s’ Suffrage took baby steps too. Austin and HHH fight for a minute, but Val interrupts. This leads to HHH tossing Venis from the ring. Austin then gives HHH the Stunner and easily throws him out. D-Lo and Austin pair up while Owen and Boss Man fight in the corner. Then they trade off as Hart hits Austin with an enzuguri. But, as he charges at Austin, he gets thrown out. D-Lo hits a Lo-Down on Austin, but BossMan dumps him while he gloats. Then, while Boss Man gloats, Austin hits him with a stunner and casually tosses him out. Austin then grabs Vince from the announce table and tosses him around a bit. Then, as if we didn’t see enough of this in the WWF Title match, he waffles Vince with a chair shot to the head. Austin rolls a prone Vince into the ring, but instead of tossing him out, he stares at him, giving Vince enough time to low-blow him. This pisses Austin off enough to give Vince a Stunner. But he still doesn’t throw him out. Instead he beats him up some more, eventually drawing out the Rock. Like an idiot, Austin lets Rock taunt him and Vince sneaks from behind to toss him out. So, yea, Vince McMahon wins the Rumble!

GRADE: D-, without a doubt, the most ludicrous, absurd, and painful to watch Rumble in the history of the match. The only angle holding the match together is everybody’s attempt to eliminate Austin and McMahon’s obnoxious performance in ring and on commentary. The fact that the company owner was booked into winning the event was only topped by McMahon winning the WWF title later in the year. Clearly this was an attempt to swerve the fans from believing Austin could overcome all odds and win a Rumble hat-trick, but the whole ordeal leaves a palpably sour feeling, especially since Austin had no credible competition in the Rumble besides his boss. Besides this fault, there is just too many jobbers, too much dead time, and so many inapt eliminations that it’s excruciating.

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2000 Royal Rumble

With Steve Austin injured, this years event was bound to be focused on someone other than the Rattlesnake. D-Lo Brown enters and #1 and Grandmaster Sexay joins him as #2. Lawler reminds us that there are a bunch of upset wrestlers who didn’t make it into the Rumble this year. I’m sure it has no relevance. D-Lo gives Sexay a dropkick and nearly a Droz-drop, but Sexay somehow manages a hurricanrana. Headbanger Mosh is #3, wearing cones that put Madonna’s Girlie Show to shame. Kaientai storm the ring attempting to join the match, but they’re immediately dismissed. Sexay gives D-Lo a bulldog right on Mosh’s ankle, which looks pretty ugly. Christian enters #4 and the participants pair up. That is until Rikishi joins the match at #5. He quickly clears the ring of everyone but Sexay. The two stare down briefly before Scotty 2 Hotty joins the breaks them up, conviently entering at #6. He also brings Rikishi’s sunglasses with him, which means its time to stop everything for a dance session. While it would normally be stupid, the gimmick was hot at the moment and it’s mildly amusing. But as soon as Too Cool starts to get into the groove, Rikishi throws them both from the ring. With nothing else to do for a few seconds, Rikishi dances some more.

#7 is Steve Blackman, who is thrown out within moments. Viscera shows up next makes Rikishi work a little harder for an elimination. It doesn’t take him long though, and after a few superkicks and a hearty push, Viscera is gone. Big Boss Man is #9, but he stalls outside the ring until #10, Test, comes out and throws him in. Bulldog is #11, and he goes right after Rikishi. Though Bulldog should know that its fruitless to headbutt a Samoan. #12, Gangrel, comes to the ring, drawing out Kaientai behind him. This time, Gangrel throws TAKA out pretty hard, and he takes a nasty looking bump off the floor. This would serve to delight Lawler for the remainder of the match. Edge joins us at #13 and nearly gets eliminated a few times. Boss Man also receives a Rikishi butt drop as Mr. Bob Backland walks to the ring to an impressive pop. Figuring that Rikishi is the dominant entrant so far, everybody unites in dumping him over the top. The crowd is not very appreciative of this. Chris Jericho comes out at #15 and he dropkicks Backlund over the top. Crash Holly and Chyna join the match at #16 and #17. Chyna and Jericho work a short sequence, continuing their feud at the time, and manage to eliminate one another. #18, Faarooq, comes out next, and the Mean Street Posse comes out right after him. Boss Man throws out Faarooq after the Posse diverts his attention. Road Dogg and Al Snow join the match. Road Dogg spends most his time clutching the bottom rope with all his might, but he does pop up long enough to eliminate the Bulldog. Val Venis is #21. He spends his time focusing on Test. This time Funaki runs out by himself, obviously because of TAKA’s wicked head bump. But it isn’t long before Funaki gets dumped out again. Albert is #22. Venis surprisingly eliminates Edge as Hardcore Holly comes out at #23.

Rock shakes the roof off of MSG by coming out at #24. He also quickly eliminates the Boss Man and later dumps Crash Holly. Meanwhile, Mr. Ass comes out at #25 and the Big Show is #26. Show makes sure to clear the ring some by eliminating Test and Gangrel. Bradshaw joins the match at #27, and the Posse returns to attack the other member of the APA. #28, Kane, joins the match and quickly tosses Val Venis without much effort. The Godfather, with his ladies of the night, makes an extended trip to the ring. Meanwhile, Kane gets rid of Prince Albert. Now that the match is almost over, Funaki tries to insert himself one last time, but is predictably disposed of. X-Pac finishes off the entrants with #30 and proceeds to bounce around the ring. Big Show starts to clean house, eliminating Hardcore Holly and the Godfather. Rock gets rid of Al Snow, which draws the ire of Road Dogg. Mr. Ass, seizing the opportunity, gets rid of Road Dogg. Then, while the Outlaws bicker, Kane casually dumps Mr. Ass. Thus dwindling he field down to Kane, the Rock, the Big Show and X-Pac. X-Pac pulls a Stone Cold as he gets eliminated by the Rock, but sneaks back in while the refs are distracted by the Outlaws row. Kane and Big Show tease a chokeslam duel, but Kane hits an enziguri instead. X-Pac comes from behind, nailing Kane with a spinkick and sends him over the top. Big Show proceeds to grab X-Pac and launch him to the floor, this time in full view of the refs. Rock gets the upperhand though with a spinebuster and People’s Elbow. This doesn’t help him eliminate the monster Show though, as Show grabs Rock in a choke and proceeds to destroy him with a chokeslam. Like a cocky heel, Show lifts up Rock like he’ll casually dump him over, but Rock grabs the top rope and momentum sees the Show tumble out of the ring, giving Rock the win!

GRADE: B+, this Rumble succeeds where so many others have failed. It combined sports entertainment, mindlessly dumb comedy, a running gag with Kaientei and the Meanstreet Posse, had a contentious ending, all while remaining exciting, logical and exhilarating through its entire duration. There is not much lagging about the ring, and even though there are a lot of mid-carders involved, they all at least act like they want to that WrestleMania title match.

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The Rumble had a turbulent existence during the Attitude Era. While Crash TV and millions of swerves may have helped the Monday night ratings, they didn’t lend themselves to good Rumbles. Unfortunately the federation had too many characters and not enough solid workers to pull off an engaging hour long event. Luckily a set of Radicalz and the eventual downfall of WCW would provide the WWF a score of new talent in the upcoming years.