Just because we've been talking about Alex Wright (Berlyn)
 

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Somebody finally posted the Berlyn debut on youtube. This was another good idea that was poorly executed in WCW. Good gimmick (superior german wrestler who refuses to speak english), decient wrestler (maybe could have put on some muscle mass durring his time off to make him look more menacing), who got completely screwed over because other wrestlers in the company didnt want to put him over.

With the exception of guys like Sting, Brad Armstrong, and Bobby Eaton, who had been with WCW since Ted Turner bought the company from Jim Crockett, Jr. in November 1988. Those guys were really the ones trying to put over as much younger talent as humanly possible.

the Berlyn gimmick tanked because of the Columbine shooting that happened around that time

Not necessarily. It definitely delayed Berlyn's debut in the ring for a while and it lasted until early 2000, after his feud with The Wall.

The translator sounds a bit wooden, which can't have helped.

Hearing "WCW" in German reminds me of seeing Nitro and Thunder on the German channels you used to get on Sky. Good times. :'(

Alex Wright was more than just a decent wrestler IMO, he was really solid in the ring.

I have a couple of questions about the Berlyn character......did they ever mention on-air that he is Alex Wright? And what is the connection between Berlyn and the Columbine shootings? The only thing I can see common is the trenchcoat.

I think it was during his feud with Vampiro that Gene Okerlund on a Thunder in 1999, he tried to reveal Berlyn's identity, but The Wall prevented him from doing so.

As far as the second question, I don't see the connection between the two either.

The trenchcoat was the only thing really.

I guess WCW were being cautious. Wrestling was being linked as a reason for the Columbine Massacre after all.

No it wasn't. Rap music, Marilyn Manson, violent video games and teenage antidepressant medication use were the medias excuses for Columbine. Instead of looking at the obvious psychological effects of bullying in their high schools they tried to pass the buck on the media. Finally it seems that school bullying is actually getting some attention in the media.

Wrestling was used as a defense by some scumbag lawyer in Florida who was trying to get somebody off for murder in 2001 for a 1999 killing. PTC tried to blame that on WWF and got sued by the company was was forced to pay 2 million dollars and apologize.

I think it was just because of Berlyns trenchcoat.

Great gimmick, but WCW was dying...

Pretty sure I remember wrestling being linked with it. Pretty sure Foley references it in his second book.

Either way, WCW were being cautious due to bad publicity/links to the incident.

If Alex Wright looked then like he does now I think that gimmick would have been awesome.

Obviously after my email (cheap plug) from Mr. Wright, I wikipedia'd him and certainly a lot of people refused to put him over. Buff Bagwell purposely missed a flight to avoid jobbing to him, and as you can see in this match, Jim Duggan was having none of it also.

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It=

<img src="http://mancavenetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/tnawrestling.jpg" id="il_fi" height="372" width="496">

Lol thats where i watched the PPVs, good times indeed :rofl:

On a related note, received another email from him. Seems like a cool guy, though his grammer/punctuation is pretty bad.

fixed. :naughty: j/k

Shit. :(