Hi Scott,
It was great to go back and re-watch the amazing Zodiac and Jason promos. For me, what makes them effective is something you don't see at all today in WWE — Zodiac is always calling out the entire Stampede promotion. It's never one guy (although they REALLY hate Owen Hart), but the Harts, Bad Company, Pillman, etc. You know these are bad dudes because no one is safe and it builds to multiple matches down the road while also putting over the faces.
Flair, Dusty, Magnum commonly did this in NWA, and even Intercontinental champ Macho Man always reminded everyone that big picture he was the #1 contender for Hogan. I'm surprised that with HHH such an NWA fan that we don't see more of that even in NXT.
What happened to this style – did it just die with territories/WWE monopoly?
Thanks.
Oh man, Jason was so scary at the time! Even Mr. Hito wore boots for the first time because he didn't want to have his bare feet stomped on! I loved that character.
Anyway, yeah, that was a very territory thing. Nowadays the guys don't call people out, but rather the announcers have to tell us that "they're putting the locker room on notice" on their behalf. That's the new version of saying you want the title, I guess. Or you could be like Kofi and lose the belt in 6 seconds and then be back happily throwing out pancakes in the midcard the next week and never even say anything.