On this date in WCW History: I respect you, Booker Man

by Jesse Holland on Feb 11, 2012 10:00 AM EST in History

On February 11, 1996, "Flyin'" Brian Pillman would begin his "loose cannon" gimmick during World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) SuperBrawl VI pay-per-view (PPV) event from the Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The last match he ever wrestled for the promotion.

Pillman was paired off with head booker Kevin Sullivan, also known as the "Taskmaster," in a "I Respect You" leather strap match. Similar to an "I Quit" match, the only way to win was to grab the microphone and utter those words, thus surrendering.

This match capped off a worked shoot in which Pillman and Eric Bischoff planned for Pillman to go off the deep end, getting "fired" and heading to ECW to reinvent himself as a maniac, so about a minute into his match with Sullivan, he simply stopped wrestling, grabbed the mic and said "I respect you ... booker man."

Pillman then rolled out of the ring, walked out and went to ECW, but the joke was on Bischoff, because Pillman never came back, instead signing with World Wrestling Federation (WWF) later that year, as a "loose cannon."

See his respect, after the jump.

Where do you history buffs rank this in your pro wrestling OMG moments, if at all?

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Was pretty surprised

Good old Sullivan.

Wouldn’t say the joke was on Bischoff though. The dude’s Billionaire Ted bought pushed the line a little bit more than Pillman’s crazy ass did for WWF (he wasn’t even in there that long before he died).

I did love him in the Horseman though, better than Mongo’s dumbass…RIP Flyin Brian

Conewalker
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by WolvesDenHoops on Feb 11, 2012 11:29 AM EST reply actions

This incident is......

basically what turned me into the lame ass person known as a ‘smark’.

by JDP1981 on Feb 11, 2012 3:52 PM EST reply actions

Down the Rabbit Hole

I just fell down the YouTube rabbit hole after that video.

I just spent the better part of an hour and a half watching classic videos of Pillman and the Hollywood Blondes.

Great f’n stuff.

Hollywood Blondes on the Flair for the Gold was f’n legendary. Love that stuff.

by tkatt00 on Feb 11, 2012 11:12 PM EST up reply actions

I say this as a huge Pillman fan. He would have to be in my top 3 or 5 favorites of all time…i do remember being surprised by the end of the “respect” strap match and while it got a lot of chatter going for Pillman it made ZERO money for the promotion. Kind of the first high profile worked shoots of the error that would lead to a series of copies that weren’t nearly as creative or entertaining.

by moidadabum on Feb 12, 2012 5:14 AM EST reply actions

I remember this well

Pillman was pretty awesome. R.I.P.

"Cruelty, It’s not giving another person what they want. That’s our mindset on defense, to go out and play with everything we have and not give the other team anything." -Patrick Willis

by 49erLou on Feb 12, 2012 12:57 PM EST reply actions