Wednesday, April 4, 2007

WCW: Perry Saturn, part 2


On May 31, 1997 in Trenton, New Jersey Satullo tore his ACL when he landed on a crutch while executing a kick on Big Dick Dudley. After an intense reconstructive surgery, Satullo was given a recovery time of up to a year. He began rehabilitating after two months and returned to action in August. However, Satullo had become impatient with what he regarded as Caiazo's lack of motivation and dedication, and refused to reform the Eliminators. Paul Heyman offered to release him from his contract if he could find alternate employment, and Satullo entered into negotiations with World Championship Wrestling.

On August 28, 1997 Satullo was offered a job by WCW road agent Terry Taylor, who had been impressed by a bump that Satullo had taken in a Scaffold Match. He debuted in WCW on September 8, facing Billy Kidman, but was sidelined for a month afterwards as his knee had still not entirely healed. Later that year, both Satullo and Kidman would go on to join The Flock, a heel stable of misfits and misanthropists led by the nihilistic Raven. Satullo's childhood was referenced, with Raven bringing up the violence Satullo incurred at the hands of his stepfather. The enforcer of The Flock, Satullo would win gold on November 3, 1997 when he defeated Disco Inferno to win the WCW Television Championship. He held the title for a month before losing it to Disco in a rematch.

Early in 1998, Satullo was defeated by fellow Flock member Van Hammer in a "Loser Leaves The Flock" match. However, Raven opted to throw Hammer out of the Flock instead. Problems began to arise between Raven and Satullo, and the latter eventually left The Flock, turning face by standing up to the domineering Raven. Raven held all the other Flock members in thrall, so Satullo challenged him to match on the September 12, 1998 Fall Brawl pay-per-view. If Satullo won, The Flock would be freed, but if Raven won, Satullo would become his slave.

On the August 26 episode of Nitro, Raven's lackey Lodi challenged him to a match, with the stipulation that Lodi would leave The Flock if Satullo won, and Satullo would become Lodi's servant until Fall Brawl if he lost. Satullo unexpectedly lost following copious interference from The Flock, and Lodi forced Satullo to carry his bags, made him hold up pro-Lodi signs at ringside and ordered him to chant Lodi's name while Lodi wrestled. Lodi also used Satullo to defeat the enemies of The Flock.

Raven began questioning whether Satullo could "hurt those he wants to free so badly" and forced him to face Riggs. Satullo won cleanly, but refused Raven's order to break Riggs' fingers. When Satullo refused, Raven broke his fingers (Satullo would not break his agreement with Lodi because of a personal honor code which would not allow him to break his word, and Lodi ordered him to allow Raven to harm him). Raven repeatedly tried to goad Satullo into breaking his word, but was unable to do so. Finally, on September 13 at Fall Brawl, Satullo defeated Raven with help from Billy Kidman, disbanding The Flock forever.

Satullo went on to feud with Eddie Guerrero and Ernest Miller before beginning a rivalry with Chris Jericho. After Jericho cost Satullo a number of matches with the help of crooked referee Scott Dickinson, he mocked Satullo's complaints and accused him of crying "like a schoolgirl". This lead to Jericho challenging Satullo to a "Loser wears a dress for ninety days" match at Souled Out on January 17, 1999, which he won after some suspect officiating from Dickinson. Satullo began wearing a variety of dresses to the ring, and using a variation of Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People" as his entrance music. He appeared to begin enjoying wearing the dresses, and even began wearing makeup to complement the dresses. Satullo finally stopped wearing dresses after defeating Jericho in a dog collar match at Uncensored on March 14, 1999.

Raven and Satullo reunited in March 1999, feuding with Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit, members of the Four Horsemen. At Slamboree 1999 the former Flock members defeated Benoit and Malenko and champions Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman for the WCW World Tag Team Championships. After Raven was injured, Satullo lost the titles to Bam Bam Bigelow and Diamond Dallas Page when Chris Kanyon betrayed him. He then teamed with Benoit in order to regain the titles. They were successful, but lost the titles several days later to Page and Kanyon. Benoit and Satullo continued to team together, and eventually formed a stable with Shane Douglas and Dean Malenko known as The Revolution. After Benoit left the Revolution to align himself with fellow Canadian Bret Hart, the remainder of the stable began feuding with him. They then moved on to feuds with Jim Duggan and The Filthy Animals before disbanding.

At this point, Kevin Sullivan became the WCW head booker. Sullivan bore a grudge against Benoit (who had had an affair with Sullivan's wife) and made it clear that he had no intention of pushing Benoit, along with a number of other wrestlers, including Malenko and Satullo. Benoit, Malenko and Satullo asked that neither Sullivan nor his friend road agent Mike Graham be allowed to book their matches. In response, Graham allegedly threatened them with a knife while drunk, fearing that he would lose his job. Satullo and the others used this as leverage to be allowed out of their contracts, and they began negotiations with the World Wrestling Federation, along with Eddie Guerrero. Satullo negotiated a three year contract, and, along with Benoit, Malenko and Guerrero, left for the WWF.

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