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The following McNeill's Take was originally published on PWTorch.com two years ago...

Pro wrestling always has its share of new fans. These are people who have been following sports entertainment for a couple of years or less and are often intensely curious about what has gone on before they were watching.

For those people who are interested in seeing a cross-section of what the wrestling world was like in 1991, take a look at the current top talent from World Championship Wrestling. WCW is currently running a main event program which features the heel faction of the "Magnificent Seven" against a small group of babyfaces.

Unfortunately, workers who haven't been in the show for at least ten years need not apply to this particular club. Don't believe me? Here's what WCW's current main eventers were doing ten years ago:

Ric Flair: In 1991, the Nature Boy spent the first half of the year as WCW Champion before a contract dispute caused Flair to leave for the WWF in July. Flair isn't an active wrestler right now, but his "CEO" character is the focus of a lot of WCW television, and it's actually expected that Flair will be active in the ring again soon on a part time basis.

The Steiner Brothers:Rick & Scott Steiner were the arguably the best tag team in wrestling during the early 1990s. No, really. They feuded with the Horsemen in the first part of 1991 until Scott Steiner suffered an injury. Rick Steiner then tagged with a couple of different partners before becoming a singles wrestler and feuding with the WCW Champion at the time, Lex Luger. And speaking of Lex Luger...

Lex Luger -The "Total Package" was around in 1991, and actually had some very good matches. I know that newer fans might have difficulty believing that one, but it's true. Lex eventually went after Ric Flair and was scheduled to win the WCW Title from Ric Flair, but Flair left and Luger ended up beating Barry Windham for the title instead in a match that nobody wanted to see. WCW followed that up by immediately turning Luger heel. By the end of 1991, Lex was preparing to make the jump to Vince McMahon's World Bodybuilding Federation.

Buff Bagwell: Bagwell entered WCW in 1991 as rookie Marcus Alexander Bagwell, debuting at a Clash of Champions. Whether you like Bagwell or not, you have to admire his longevity, as he has been in WCW for almost ten years now. Bagwell's pay-per-view debut came in the awful BattleBowl at Starrcade '91, when he ended up teaming with Jimmy Garvin to beat Michael Hayes and Tracy Smothers.

Road Warrior Animal: Animal and tag team partner Hawk were in the middle of their first WWF run as the Legion of Doom. Their highlights from 1991 included squashing Hercules & Paul Roma at WrestleMania VII and capturing the WWF Tag Team Titles from the Nasty Boys at SummerSlam. They were about as over as anyone in the WWF during that time period.

Jeff Jarrett: Double J was also around during 1991, working for the Memphis-based USWA, which was owned by Jeff's father, Jerry Jarrett, and Jerry "The King" Lawler. Jarrett had a reign as Southern Heavyweight Champion after Eddie Gilbert vacated the title, tagged with Lawler to win the USWA Tag Titles, and won the tag titles three more times that year with Robert Fuller as his partner. That's a busy year by any stretch of the imagination.

Over on the babyface side...

Kevin Nash: Nash was repackaged in 1991 in WCW as "Oz," and was given about the same amount of buildup as Glacier was given when he debuted in 1996. Oz squashed Tim Horner at SuperBrawl, but wound up becoming a non-factor until he was jobbed to Bill Kazmaier at Halloween Havoc '91. By the end of the year, WCW was preparing to repackage him again as Vinnie Vegas.

Diamond Dallas Page: DDP was all over WCW television in 1991. He became one of the multiple managers of the Freebirds, he did commentary on syndicated WCW television shows, and he was even given his own interview segment, "The Diamond Mine" on a WCW pay-per-view. Near the end of the year, Page began training to become a wrestler, and he made his pay-per-view wrestling debut at Starrcade '91 when he and Mike Graham were squashed by Bill Kazmaier and Jushin Liger.

Brian Adams: Adams spent the first part of '91 as Crush of the tag team Demolition along with Barry ("Smash") Darsow. Demolition's highpoint of that year was losing to Genochiro Tenryu and Koji Kitao at WrestleMania VII. Adams went back to the Pacific Northwest for a while, but would return to the WWF in 1992 as a singles wrestler.

Bryan Clark: Clark appeared off and on during 1991 as The Nightstalker. Other than a token appearance at Starrcade '91, Stalker didn't accomplish that much, but he was at least on the WCW roster. He ended up joining Jim Cornette's new venture, Smoky Mountian Wrestling, and wound up in the WWF a few years later as Adam Bomb.

Dustin Rhodes: Dustin and dad Dusty Rhodes left the WWF in January 1991 so that Dusty could return to book WCW. With his father in charge, Dustin received a pretty solid push that year, including feuds with Buddy Landel, Terry Taylor, Tommy Rich, and WCW Television Champion Steve Austin. Dustin ended the year on an up note by teaming with the returning Ricky Steamboat to upset The Enforcers for the WCW Tag Team Titles at the November 1991 Clash of the Champions.

Ernest "The Cat" Miller - Hmmm. I guess every rule has an exception, right?

Torch Team Contributor Pat McNeill of Lorton, Va. has covered WCW Thunder for PWTorch.com since April 2000. His website columns appear on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

To read McNeill's previous Torch website commentary, click here: 2/7 McNeill: Should Steve Austin turn heel or job to Rock? What might Austin say?.

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