WCW MAGAZINE
AUGUST 1995
I know.... I know.... we've reviewed WCW Magazine before here for Magazine Of The Month. Twice, in fact. But doing this kills two birds with one stone - MOTM and WCW Wednesdays. There, I've admitted it. I feel better now.
But at least this magazine is slightly different than the previous WCW Magazine regime. The size isn't quite 8 1/2 x 11 as most magazines are, and it's not quite 11 x 17, but brother.... it's something else.
I'm not sure what necessitated the change in magazine format size somewhere between 1993 and 1995, but if I had to warrant a guess... Hulk Hogan arrived on the scene in the summer of 1994, so.... yeah. But what the heck - it made extra room for lots of bonus stuff.
Case in point: a full-page color spread of Sergeant Craig Pittman.
Now, I know what you're thinking: With all of the political turmoil happening at WCW during this time, how could they choose Sergeant Craig Pittman for a portrait pinup over established stars such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Sting?
Or you may be thinking: who in the bloody hell is Sergeant Craig Pittman?
For about a half-dozen years, Pittman was a bad-ass Marine Corps drill sergeant who mostly stayed on WCW Saturday Night and the like, making for a very unlikely Page Two insert.
Speaking of very unlikely.... what's with the extremely fake letters written to the staff of WCW Magazine? I mean, mark much? NO ONE ever wrote a letter saying "WCW is the wrestling group of the 90s", at least in the year 1995.
The big event that happened in WCW around this time was Slamboree '95. And while I'd love to spoil for you the results of the matches Meng vs. Road Warrior Hawk, Sgt. Craig Pittman vs. Mark Starr and Kevin Sullivan vs. The Man With No Name, we won't get into that here.
Instead, I'll go over the WCW Hall of Fame, an event that wasn't quite as big as the WWF's, but.... well, it was something.
This year's HOF nominees were Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, Angelo Poffo, Wahoo McDaniel, Antonio Inoki, Gordon Solie and for some reason, Big John Studd. Oh geez... six of that year's nominees are now deceased!!
In other news.... how would you like to spend some time with your favorite WCW wrestlers, so long as they're not Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage or Sting?
Instead, a bunch of money mark fans sailed across the Caribbean with mid-carders such as "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright, Johnny B. Badd, Brian Pillman and (at the time he really wasn't that big of a deal) "Stunning" Steve Austin. Hey, at least Sergeant Craig Pittman wasn't there...
I'm not saying it wouldn't have been kind of neat to travel the ocean with a bunch of mid-carders, but I remember WCW hyping its "Bruise Cruise" (not to be confused with the comic book of the same name) as being this whole "be part of WCW" experience. Instead, the trip looks like one could sometimes catch Alex Wright suntanning on the lido deck.
The article wasn't without controversy, however. WCW Magazine's crack photography team caught Austin discreetly conversing with Pillman on the cruise, with the implication being that they were looking to reunite their popular "Hollywood Blonds" team a year or two after disbanding.
The Bruise Cruise - bringing families and former tag teams together.
WCW Magazine also attempted to uncover another controversial mystery - just who was lurking under the cheap-looking facepaint of The Renegade?
Could it have been former WWF star The Ultimate Warrior? Or how about Sting with, um... long hair all of a sudden?
I turns out, WCW Mag couldn't figure out the exact deal behind this guy, despite the writers taking ta trip the company's head office in Atlanta and (alllegedly) bringing top Turner Broadcasting officials.
We never found out who was really behind The Renegade gimmick? I'm still holding out hope that it turns out to be Sgt.Craig Pittman.
Lastly, we close off this month's issue with the wit and wisdom of one Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
Heenan took over for "Fabulous" Freddie Fargo and Paul E. Dangerously as the magazine's resident heel columnist. And while it was nothing more than a glorified Q & A session, it warmed my insides to know the the legendary Bobby Heenan was, quite possibly, writing some of these responses to WCW viewers and putting them in their place.
Hey, it's better than a Sgt. Craig Pittman column!
