Nitro Charged: Glacier

So, here we are. After a long build to one of wrestling's biggest flops, it's time to finally cover the debut of Glacier. And considering that the debut is on WCW Pro and not Nitro, it's fair to give this it's own sidebar to cover everything you didn't need to know about Glacier. It's time to finally enter the realm. This is a blog about Mr. Blood Runs Cold himself, Glacier.

1991: Street Fighter II gets released to arcades. The fighting game not only becomes an instant hit, but becomes the very DNA that defines the fighting game genre. Unique characters, solid combat, and crazy special moves. And with its success came others that vied for the throne and in 1992, the biggest competitor for Street Fighter would arrive in Mortal Kombat. Published by Midway, this arcade fighter wasn't as polished as SF2, but delivered in terms of unique characters, digitized graphics for that early nineties sense of realism, and the most important thing that made it a success...

Fatalities. These brutal, gory finishing moves set Mortal Kombat apart as the more mature and brutal game. And with it came the ire of both parental groups and the US senate, especially when it came time for the game to be released in homes. It was the first major debate on violence in video games. Regardless, it did create the ESRB games ratings system. Mortal Kombat proved a massive success, and would follow with sequels including Mortal Kombat II, and relevant to this blog, Mortal Kombat 3, which gave one of the franchise's most beloved characters a major overhaul.

Sub-Zero had been a character in the franchise since Mortal Kombat 1. A ninja assassin of the Lin Kuei clan, the original Sub-Zero was killed in the original game, and replaced by his younger brother who changed from his cloaked appearance of the prior two games to a more streamline and, let's be honest, nineties as hell attire. Sub-Zero can control ice, using it in his fighting style. Though, considering his name, that seems like a given. Regardless, with Mortal Kombat a massive success, as well as a hit movie released in 1995, that was enough to get the wheels going in World Championship Wrestling.

It's no secret that the mid-90s loved their gimmicks. The WWF were in an era where we saw everything from a wrestling friar to a wrestling garbageman to even a wrestling plumber. In WCW, they were doing a lot of the same, though rarely with as much focus as the WWF. Gimmicks like The Gambler, Disco Inferno, The Blacktop Bully and the like. So, why not add a Mortal Kombat ninja to the roster? Now, it's not the first time WCW blatantly ripped off a copyrighted character (Arachnaman, anyone?), but this time around it didn't seem to lead to any major copyright squabbles. And thus, the early concept for Glacier began. The inspiration, besides the success of Mortal Kobat seemed to come from new signee Ray Lloyd, a martial artist and professional wrestler. He can do martial arts kicks, that's good enough I guess. And on April 29th, 1996, the world was introduced to the concept that was Glacier.

And they waited. And waited. And waited. Twenty weeks. Almost half a full year we saw vignette after vignette. At one point, it seemed that July of 1996 was the time...

But I think the company kind of had a bigger thing going down at the time. July would see the shock heard 'round the world with Hulk Hogan turning heel and aligning with outsiders Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the New World Order. And with the angle ramping up throughout the summer, it was harder to find one perfect time to debut Glacier. But finally, on September 9th, 1996, we finally entered the realm. As Glacier debuted on the C-show, WCW Pro against The Gambler. This is the best quality I could find for the images and gifs, so I apologize on the quality.

Before I go through the match move for move as usual, let's talk about the entrance. Blue lighting with synthetic snow falling from above the arena. An entrance that cost the company half a million dollars. But this is Ted Turner money, so that's a pittance. His gear does look close to Sub-Zero's despite the Shao Kahn style helmet. Unfortunately this also means the ring will keep that blue lighting, giving me bad memories of the first year of Sin Cara's run with the company.

Gambler gets a shot in, but Glacier comes in with a side kick and a series of arm drags. Another kick to the midsection followed by a sweep. Whip, a roll and another elbow, followed by a side kick and a powerbomb. Another roll to the top rope and follows with a kick off the top for the win in a squash. Meaning his entrance and exit were longer than his actual match. It was okay, nothing mindblowing, and Glacier looked fine with all of his martial artistry. Even the tactical rolling feels very much like a ninja. But yeah, not exactly a debut worth waiting 20 weeks for. His debut on Nitro is upcoming and that's where the gimmick will start to fall apart, despite the company trying to salvage it with an upcoming Mortal Kombat themed storyline. But that's all to come in future inductions. But what's important right now is we've finally entered the realm.