At first when Marvel Comics did that WCW Comic Book and did a nice series to it and you are asking us that Slaughter turn heel and all that. I just don't know the right answer here and later on he turned back and became a hero once more. For him to join COBRA would be cool if story was written well in order to make it work and believable.

To me, I feel (to be honest here) that Professional Wrestling should not be in Comic Book Form because it's doesn't do them any justice at all. It's bothers me a lot back then and now you brought it up and I just feel somewhat numb whether people would buy a comic book seeing Sgt. Slaughter to join COBRA. If Marvel did that ... it would be a huge risk to do that.

In short, Mixed Feelings about your idea heee.

Sgt. Slaughter would be okay in my book to take (either as a good/bad character) part in a GI. Joe as long it separate from the Marvel continuity.  I don't mind that at all.

A trick photography challenge! LOL ...

Interviews were normally conducted by the announcers. Piper had been doing color commentary, as a heel, in Georgia, on the GCW/WCW Saturday Night show. He turned face, rescuing announcer Gordon Solie from an attack by Don Muraco. Piper's Pit was basically an extension of what he had been doing as a heel color man. Others followed from that. Missy Hyatt did a bit of that, in WCW; but, was mostly relegated to managing, until her harassment lawsuit against Turner Broadcasting (she had a wardrobe malfunction on a PPV or broadcast and someone at Turner poster her image in the halls, leading to a very large settlement).

Flair did have A Flair for the Gold, while he finished up his no compete clause. he couldn't wrestle, but, he could interview. They tried that as a gimmick for Mike Awesome, when WCW had their collective heads up their.....

Other than that, they mostly had Gene Okerlund doing interviews, ala the WWF, 'cause Bischoff could only copy what Vince or New Japan had done (NWO angle).

WCW stuck mostly to interview segments and promos, with angles arising at the podium and in the ring. WWF was all about the stupid skits. The watchword for Georgia and Crockett (and WCW) had been "realistic." A hyper-realism, granted; but, they always tried to present a more realistic style of pro wrestling, compared to Vince. Southern style pro wrestling was about matches, angles that instigate or continue feuds, and payoffs in big matches, usually with the babyface getting the win. They liked to keep the promos more realistic, to get people to buy tickets. It is only later, with jim Herd and Bischoff that they started to get as cartoony as the WWF.

Going into the 90s, US wrestling was mostly losing my interest, as WCW was a mess, behind the scenes, which made for dysfunctional tv. There were brief moments; but, not many by this point. Their business was mostly in the toilet. The WWF wasn't much better, between stupid gimmick performers (wrestling hockey players, race car drivers, plumbers, etc) and Vince Mcmahon's legal problems, stemming from an investigation of a ring doctor, who was illegally providing steroids and other drugs to wrestlers.

Meanwhile, a revolution was going on in Japan and Mexico. That was grabbing the attention of long time fans who tape traded.

In Mexico, the top promotion was EMLL, dating back to the 30s. This was the place where legends like El Santo, Blue Demon, Dr Wagner, Dory Dixon and Gory Guerrero (father of Chavo, Hector, mondo and Eddie) made their names. EMLL was a traditional company. It's chief rival was the UWA, who promoted from Naucalpan, just northwest of Mexico City. It had been born in a dispute, when EMLL promoter Salvador Lutteroff was grooming his son to take over. A faction split and set up the rival company, with ties to Japan, the WWF, and some other US promotions. Meanwhile, a new faction, led by Antonio Pena, who had been a wrestler and was booking for EMLL. A dispute about tired angles and promotion led him to split, taking a massive group of young talent and forming Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion or AAA, with stars like Konan, El Hijo del Santo, Art Barr, Eddie Guerrero (the pair known as Los Gringos Locos), Perro Aguayo and others. AAA soon became the top draw in Mexico and ventured north of the border, putting on sellout shows in Los Angeles, when the WWF couldn't even fill an arena. AAA was being booked by Konan, who was a massive star, thanks to a push by Pena in EMLL and his appearance on a popular telenova. Young guys, like Rey Mysterio Jr, Psicosis and Juventud Guerrera were earning a name, as was La Parka. The group grew big enough to co-promote a PPV, with WCW, When Worlds Collide. The card featured top AAA stars in actions, with matches including:

Mascarita Sagrada and Octagoncito vs Espectrito and Jerrito Estrada (a minis match; minis are Mexican midget wrestlers)
Fuerza Guerrera, Louis Spicolli, and Psicosis vs Rey Mysterio Jr, Heavy Metal and Latin Lover
Chris Benoit, Too Cold Scorpio and Tito Santana vs Jerry estrada, La Parka and Blue Panther
Los Gringos Locos (Art Barr & Eddie Guerrero) vs El Hijo del Santo and Octagon (hair vs mask)
Konnan vs Perro Aguayo (cage match)

All matches were excellent; but, the show was stolen by Barr and Guerrero, who were using the event to provide a resume to American promoters. Barr was a second generation wrestler, whose father Sandy Barr worked as a promoter and referee, in Portland, OR, for promoter Don Owens. barr's brother Jesse had wrestled under his own name and Jimmy Jack Funk. Art wrestled in Portland and became Beetlejuice, with the aid of Roddy Piper (who homesteaded in Portland). He was brought to WCW as The Juicer, and was considered a top prospect; but, his past caught up with him. prior to coming to WCW, Barr had been arrested for rape, though Barr plea-bargained it to 1st degree sexual abuse, maintaining that the girl was more upset about having sex in a stairwell than was unwilling to engage in sex. he was fined, given probation and sentenced to community service. A journalist took up a crusade to expose Barr and sent faxes of newspaper articles to turner Broadcasting and Barr was fired in an effort at damage control. Barr went to work in Mexico, first as a babyface, then switching heel in a match against Blue Panther. He soon became the top rudo in Mexico, as Love Machine (originally under a mask, then without). He teamed up with former rival, Eddie Guerrero, as Los Gringos Locos, who were portrayed as arrogant, sadistic Americans, who insulted the Mexican fans. Konnan turned heel and joined them and they were drawing record crowds.

Barr and Guerrero gave a demonstration of pure talent in the best of 3 falls match, losing and having their mullets shaved off. Barr was set to make a comeback to the US,as the heat had died down; but, died a week later, of a drug related heart attack. Guerrero was soon wrestling for ECW, then WCW.

EMLL, faced with new competition, soon began to change and develop new stars, featuring foreigners like Ultimo Dragon, Chris Jericho and Sean Moreley (aka Val Venis, who wresled as Big Steel, in Mexico).

Konnan was a trop draw for them, before aligning with Pena. His chief rival was Vampiro Canadiense, aka El Vampiro, who would go on to work for WCW, under Russo.

ECW imported some of the talent, bringing the rey Mysterio Jr/Psicosis feud to their towns, as well as some of the stars of Michinoku Pro, from Japan.

In Japan, they were having their own revolution, starting in the mid-late 80s. The top promotions were All-Japan, under Giant Baba, and New Japan, under Antonio Inoki. Baba was greatly respected and an NWA member. With crockett dominating the NWA and dates for the champion, Baba slowly departed from the NWA and went his own path. he had always alligned with traditional American wrestling, thanks to connections with the Funks, who wrestled for him and helped book US talent. When he decided to go it alone, he began to unite his titles as the Triple crown (the pWF Hwt title, United National title and International title). He then began to promote shows with clean finishes, rather than DQs or other contested endings. he pushed his younger stars, like Jumbo Tsuruta and especially the next generation of Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. They followed the "Kings Road" style, where up and comers would have a good showing against a veteran; but fall short. then, gradually build a momentum of important matches, before finally reaching the top and the Triple crown. It was refined with Misawa, then used to put over Kobashi, Kawada, and Taue. It set Japanese rings on fire and baba had some of his best years, after the 1970s.

In New Japan, they wrestled "strong style" with a greater emphasis on martial arts, technical wrestling, and submissions. Inoki fancied himself a deadly martial artist, yet had only won fights in worked matches. he created his World Martial Arts Championship to promote himself, winning fights against martial artists and boxers, paid to take dives for him. His one legit fight, against Muhammad Ali, had been a fiasco, with Inoki crawling on the mat, throwing kicks at Ali's legs, rather than stand up and risk getting knocked out.

In the mid-late 80s, a group of wrestlers, including Tiger Mask and Akira Maeda, who had legit martial arts and amateur backgrounds, broke away from New Japan and formed the Universal Wrestling federation (not to be confused with Bill watts' UWF, which was his renamed Mid-South promotion), where they booked clean finishes and stuck to realistic moves, with an emphasis on submissions and martial arts striking. Many had trained with Karl Gotch, a legit shooter from Belgium, who had lived in England, training in the infamous Wigan Snake Pit (a wrestling school, run bu Billy Riley, a famous trainer of catch wrestlers, including Billy Robinson). Gotch had wrestled in New Japan, then worked with their "young boys" in their training dojo.

The UWF was massively popular, with stars Satoru Sayama (having to give up the Tiger Mask gimmick, wrestling as Super Tiger, then his own name) and Maeda, as karate practitioner known for taking liberties. Sayama and Maeda ended up at odds with each other and wrestled a match where Maeda took a shot at Sayama's groin. The promotion soon fell apart, amid the political squabbles and financial corruption. The UWF wrestlers returned to New Japan, running the first invasion angle, pitting the UWF stable against the New Japan stars.

A few years later, some of these same people and some young stars broke away to form a new UWF, which again caught fire, before it started splitting off into splinter factions: Pro Wrestling Fujiawara Gumi, UWFI, Shooto, and RINGS. Yoshiaki Fujiwara ran Fujiwara Gumi, which featured American talent Ken Shamrock and Bart Vale, as well as Japanese talent Masa Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. UWFI was started by Nobuhiko Takada, with such stars as Kiyoshi Tamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Yoji Anjoh, plis foreign talent, including Bob Backlund, Pez Whatley and Big Van Vader, Leon White, after he split with Inoki. Shooto was an amateur and professional association under Sayama, with an emphasis on submission wrestling. Shooto had legit amateur and professional competition. RINGS was led by Akira Maeda, with greater emphasis on martial arts striking and kicking and submission, with Maeda the top star, as well as Volk Han, and Timmura, who joined when UWFI folded. The wrestlers at Fujiwara Gumi broke away to form Pancrase, wanting to have real fights, with some worked undercard matches. Their stars were Shmarock, Funak and Suzuki, plus Dutch kickboxer Bas Rutten and Shamrock's adopted brother Frank (both adopted by Bob Shamrock, who ran a boys home). Shamrock went on to fight in the UFC and then WWF, after having started out in pro wrestling in the Carolinas, for Nelson Royal's South Atlantic Pro promotion, as Vince Torelli. It was there he was involved in a motel room fight with the Nasty Boys that left him busted up.

RINGS lasted for several years, first doing worked fights, then a mix of shoot and work, before going all shoot. Their popularity waned with the introduction of th K-1 kickboxing league and the Pride Fighting Championship. UWFI ran for several years and drew the biggest houses in wrest;ling, in joint promotions with New Japan, at baseball stadium shows. An angle was worked where the UWFI invaded New Japan and their top star, Takada, defeated the Great Muta, at the Tokyo Dome, before a crowd listed as ^3, 000, though the number is disputed. The feud culminated in New Japan wrestler Shinya Hashimoto defeating Takada to regainthe IWGP title. UWFI then allied with Tenryu's WAR promotion, before folding.

WAR was another new promotion, which grew out of the ashes of Super World Sports, a promotion created with tv backing, with tenryu as the star. they co-promoted a couple of shows with the WWF, with Hulk Hogan wrestling on one and another featuring an infamous match where Koji Kitao tried to shoot on Earthquake John Tenta (who was a legit collegiate amateur and had been a sumo, as had Kitao). Tenta started threatening Kitao's eyes (a defense tactic in a shoot) and yelling at Kitao, asking if he wanted to "go." Tenryu had to intercede to cool things off. WAR was a mix of All-Japan style wrestling, six man tag-teams, junior heavyweights and "garbage wrestling" (hardcore bouts). His best matches were the juniors, with stars like Ultimo Dragon, Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Gedo, Jado, and Rey Mysterio Jr.

Garbage Wrestling was an outgrowth of gimmick matches in New Japan (such as Inoki's Island Death Match, against Masa Saito, and Memphis style wrestling, as witnessed by Atsushi Onita, a Japanese junior who wrested there. Onita's best days were behind him; but, he began booking "death match" cards, with violent gimmicks, including rings surrounded in barbed wire, with exploding pyrotechnics (and actual C4 explosives), beds of nails and brokens glass. He called his group Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW) That stuff was violent garbage, perpetuated by guys who never had a prime and young talent who were desperate to become legends, without the talent for the big leagues, including Americans pike Mike "Corporal" Kirchner and Horace Boulder (Mike Bollea, Hulk Hogan's legit nephew). Stars like Onita, Madman Pongo and others butchered themselves for large crowds, at first, then ever dwindling. FMW did have more traditional, though wilder wrestling action, with such stars as Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka. They also wrestled in cross promotions with ECW and Awesome and Tanaka both became ECW champions. For fans, though, the real draw for FMW was Hayabusa, a high flyer with an amazing 450 splash. Hayabusa put on tremendous matches against guys like Mike Awesome, and also participated in matches with other companies, including the 1994 Super J Cup, where Hayabusa and Ricky Fuji (who patterned himself after Shawn Michaels), both of FMW, faced stars from New Japan and Michinoku Pro. Also a topdraw were the leading womens wrestlers Megumi Kudo and Combat Toyoda.

FMW was featured in videos marketed in the US and elsewhere, with greater emphasis on the Hayabusa and Mike Awesome matches, as well as Kudo and Toyoda.

Other garbage promotions included W*ING, Big Japan, and IWA. W*ING lasted a short time and its top performers ended up in FMW and IWA. IWA hosted the King of the Death Match torunament, whose finals came down to terry Funk and Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) Foley won, burning the side of his arm in a pyro explosion. he came back to work for the WWF, who used footage of the tournament to put over Foley and terry Funk, who came for a spell, as Chainsaw Charlie (wearing streetclothes and hiding his face with a pantyhose mask).

FMW moved away from the garbage matches, to more WWF style wrestling; but, financial scandals and the in-ring accident of Hayabusa (he went for a quebrada, aka Lionsault, when done by Chris Jericho, and slipped on the ropes, landing on the back of his neck, severely injuring his spine). Led to their demise.

Lucha was also big in the Japan indies. Mexican luchadors had wrestled in Japan for many years, with stars such as Villano 3 wrestling for New Japan and Mil Mascaras wrestling for All Japan. many younger and smaller wrestlers were sent to work in mexico to learn, before they were brought back (as had Satoru Sayama, who also wrestled in the UK, as Sammy Lee). one of these was Gran hamada. He started up a promotion, known as Universal pro Wrestling, which featured Mexican and Japanese stars, including Great sasuke, Super Delfin, Yoshihiro Asai (the future Ultimo Dragon), Blue Panther, Kato Kung Lee and others. they lasted a few years, but, helped spawn promotions from Sasuke (Michinoku Pro) and Asai (Toryumon).

This was the wrestling to watch in the 90s, aside from a couple of American promotions.

AH, Kevin Dunn. A name I've heard a lot of negative talk about.

In the 90s, there was some Japanese wrestling shown here on Eurosport (a satellite channel). ECW I could only see via tape traders. And it was all very random. Plus, who could afford every tape? Smoky Mountain Wrestling was fun to watch. I'm guessing there may have been 4-5 USWA tapes released over here. I did own a few other tapes with random compilations from various promotions.

It's amazing how one could probably find any promotion now on YouTube or elsewhere. Back then, we had to work at it. Like Kraven, we had to hunt. And that was satisfying!

I did see some Mexican wrestling via a tape trader.

I did have the "Lords of the Ring" tape years ago. That was a good tape to own!

Incidentally, First Independent, the licensee for WCW videotapes in the UK, were woeful. Tapes were edited down to two hours (to be fair, this may have been what the US tapes had done), meaning two gripping tag team matches - The Hollywood Blonds VS Erik Watts & Marcus Bagwell, and The Rock 'n' Roll Express VS The Heavenly Bodies - were omitted. Their first release was Starrcade 1989. Their final release was Fall Brawl 1993.

Their schedule was ludicrous. Silver Vision, the licensee for WWF in the UK, would put out tapes not long after PPV events had aired. Well, First Independent released Beach Blast 1993, which aired in July 1993, in the spring of 1994. That's almost a year. And it was hardly timely, given two of the participants in the main event (Davey Boy Smith and Sid Vicious) had long left WCW.

To prove how incompetent WCW was in many ways (on every level), there were no WCW videotapes released in the UK between 1993 and 1997. Not one. And in an era before the internet, it meant seeking out tape traders. You would have thought WCW would have wanted a videotape presence in the UK, especially during the NWO era. Eventually, an organisation (WCW Video) released Uncensored 1997 on tape - and subsequent PPVs followed. But it's absurd to think that there were no PPVs released on tape here between Fall Brawl 1993 and Uncensored 1997. Oh, and WCW Video tapes were only available via mail order, you couldn't buy them in stores.

They ceased around late 1998 - and WB started releasing PPVs here, but again, some were skipped.

My point? WWF was often superior in every way: marketing, videotape releases, advertising, hype, etc. With wrestling being hot in the UK, it says a lot about WCW that they couldn't be bothered to release PPVs over here between 1993 and 1997. And then did it half-heartedly.

Awesome had been primarily working for FMW, in Japan, in the early to mid 90s, then worked a bit with ECW, when they cross-promoted shows with FMW.  When FMW's business was dropping rapidly, Awesome picked up more work in ECW.  He was a big guy, who could move in the ring and do both the hardcore style and keep up with the flyers.  He came to work full time in ECW, in 1998, with Masato Tanaka brought over, to recreate their feud for an American audience.  ECW had national tv, Friday nights, on TNN (the future Spike).  ECW was bleeding talent, as Heyman's financial trouble meant bounced checks and WCW and WWF offered far better money.  Heyman then began to build around Awesome.  However, money issues meant people came calling and WCW put an offer to Awesome and he jumped ship, turning up on Monday Nitro, while still ECW World Champion.  WCW bought him because he looked huge, yet could fly.  It turned out, he was closer to 6'4" than 6'6" and Heyman was an expert at masking his wrestlers weaknesses (Taz, his badass fighter, looked like a midget in the WWE, at somewhere between 5'7" and 5'9").  They quickly soured on Awesome and started putting stupid gimmicks on him.  Since That 70s Show was popular, they tried That 70s Guy, with Awesome in leisure suits, obsessed with the 70s.  They even had him driving a copy of the Partridge Family bus!  They also had him obsessed with plu size women, as the "Fat Chick Thriller."  With That 70s Guy, they gave him an interview segment, (The Lava Lamp Lounge) with a mock 70s living room set.  Problem was, Awesome was an average talker, at best.  It failed miserably and was yanked after a couple of appearances.  Awesome was shoved down to the lower echelons of the group,

He was brought into the WWF for the invasion angle; but, was buried almost immediately.  His time there was short and he moved on, working for TNA, indies, and a brief return to the WWF, for their ECW reunion, One Night Stand.

In 2007, Awesome was found dead in his him, having hung himself.  he had been suffering from depression, made worse by use of steroids (which can cause depression, with heavy use) and other drugs.  He was 42.  He was also suffering from accumulated injuries, from the stupid hardcore style, taking insane bumps for low payoffs.

Guys like Awesome are the reason for no talent idiots, in cutoff jeans, smashing flourescent tubes over each other, in garbage promotions like CZW and IWA, in front of crowds that can barely number in the hundreds, at their best.