Sept 27, 2019 2:44:58 GMT 🤯 said:

I always wondered if PW's Jay Lethal was a weirdly massive real Jay Lethal fan who just never posted about Jay Lethal... Or if it was just one of the weirdest coincidences.

Testing, testing... @jaylethal?

Baker 's mention of wanting to one day see an NXT run for Jay and the Briscoes has me now thinking: are they to this era what Sting was to his era in so far as being WWE holdouts?

I only vaguely remember PW's Jay Lethal and just naturally assumed he was a big fan of real life Jay Lethal. But now you've got me hoping PW Jay Lethal came up with the name independently. And perhaps "real" Jay Lethal stole it from him. Yes, that works. I guess we'll never know.....

I like your thought process on Lethal & The Briscoes as the Sting of this era. At first I was tempted to agree. But after thinking about a little more I've decided it's a slight overreach. They're more like the Midnight Express and....I can't really think of a good Lethal comparison. Bockwinkel? Nikita? Bill Dundee? Austin Idol? Yeah, let's go with Idol. 

Anyway, I'd say the modern day Sting is probably Kenny Omega (unless his ancient developmental run counts?) with Okada and Tanahashi as other possible candidates. 

Matt Striker will be next. This one is bound to be heavy on the stories. So expect a long 'un.

D’oh! Just realized I forgot someone who definitely belongs on the list, albeit in the lower quadrant. I’ll add this person in with the next batch and make the necessary adjustments.

Matt Striker write up is complete. It's probably the longest one yet. Lots of stories.

Loved the Striker write-up. I always loved him because you could tell that he loved everything he was doing.

It's blatantly obvious that Matt Striker loves pro-wresting like no other, and it's most apparent in his commentary. You're right about the IWC's perception of Striker. At first he was praised for name dropping obscure promotions and names on WWE programming, and then a few years later he got lambasted for exactly the same thing. Never understood it.

I kinda liked his teacher gimmick, and he's a good promo, very articulate, but beyond that, I wasn't a particularly big fan of the guy as a wrestler. But I loved those stories from ECWA about being the best hot tag guy, and so on. Fantastic stuff.

My only Striker experience was watching whatever Wrestlemania he did commentary for (years after the fact), which was a WOAT candidate. I roasted him in one of my match reviews and then someone (I forget who) informed me that Bill Simmons, of all people, kind of ended his commentary career. He had written a column about that Wrestlemania (while still on ESPN) and made fun of Striker quite a bit and that was apparently what turned the tables on Striker's reputation. "OMG cool references" turned to "OMG shut the fuck up" right after that.

Loved the write up. It's an interesting thing that's sometimes hard to reconcile. Somebody loving what they do can be contagious, but doesn't necessarily mean they're good at it. Then this thing happens where the exuberance covers for the shortcomings to some, but wears thin very quickly with others. 

"I'm marking out bro" - Very poor choice of words to use (especially because it was just Booker T...) that seemed to kill his career. But fuck it, I liked his enthusiasm and the knowledge he showed. Felt like it was one of us out there, which may be why he was hated. Dumb mark!

Love Matt Striker's commentary, Lucha Underground did a lot of great things, and that was one of them.

The Striker writeup is my favorite yet.

Loved that you touched on the "other" Stryker too. I remember being aware of the Matts only from wrestling mags, and then Matt Striker pops up in WWE. Recalling the story of the signing of the wrong one-legged wrestler, I immediately wondered if incompetent Laurinaitis was at it again.

I never got the hate on Striker's commentary either, always enjoyed it... But then again, it came during an era when WWE commentary was such hot garbage (I guess it still is?).

I think the backlash against Striker started when more casual fans started watching around Rumble time to Mania - and hadn't heard Striker before, and just couldn't deal with him. And so hating on him became cool and everyone piled on because that's how these things tend to work. But I always loved how important he made everything feel.

I never would have predicted Matt Striker getting the most feedback. You guys are in luck because there's one more Striker story I forgot to mention in my lengthy write up....

This time the scene is 3PW and the year is 2004. 3PW was Blue Meanie's Philly based fed. It was a mix of ECW nostalgia acts, local East Coast indie guys like Striker, and some of the top stars in ROH & TNA. I normally wasn't too interested in this fed. But it was the only place within reasonable driving distance where I could see Christopher Daniels (and AJ Styles) when they left ROH over the RF incident. So I went to this one show headlined by a "5 Star 4 way" (which was the show name) between Daniels, AJ, Chris Sabin, and Joey "Mercury" Matthews.

Striker teamed with fellow ECWA wrestler Rob Eckos in a tag team Royal Rumble on the undercard. They were doing an impersonations comedy gimmick at the time. Once they came out as Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. They were quickly eliminated. BOO! But wait! They came out again a little while later as The Bushwhackers. This marked the only time I ever cheered for that crap act. BOO! Yet again. When Striker and his partner got tossed. But wait! They entered one last time as The Road Warriors! Huge pop! My order may be off, by the way, but they really did get big pops for all these spot on impersonations. It was like a bush league version of the 3 Faces of Foley. BOO! One last time when Striker & Eckos are eliminated on a third occasion. I forget who won the match but I can guarantee you they weren't as cool, or as over, as Matt Striker.

This match went on FOR-EV-ER by the way. I mean the thing just wouldn't end. Striker's appearances were the only saving grace. I would later discover it ran so long because Christopher Daniels' flight was delayed and they had to stall for time so Daniels could make it to the Arena in time for the main event.

Meaning Matt Striker saved the show. That match would have died a brutal death without his impersonations entertaining the still-hostile Philly faithful.

Matt Striker: What a guy.

Main event really was awesome by the way. It's the match that finally sold me on Joey Matthews after nearly 6 years of being a Matthews disliker. He'd finally make it to WWE less than a year later. Coincidence? I think not!

I'm in the camp of Stryker sucking at commentary, it seemed liked forced enthusiasm to me. He felt like a bad SNL parody of a wrestling announcer.

segundacaida.blogspot.com/

^Cool review of a 1990 AWA (attempted) super show. I think this was dying day AWA's last attempt at such a thing. I enjoyed the write up for two reasons...

1. Dying day AWA is one of my weird obsessions. Write about it in a non-snarky manner and I'll be there every single time. Fwiw the writers seemed to enjoy the show, and I get the impression one of them is on his way to becoming a fellow dying day AWA enthusiast. Though I did disagree with their takes here and there on certain wrestlers, and not knowing "Larry Sucks" was a thing is an unforgivable offense.

2. It's chock full of list guys. There are 7 matches. All 7 matches feature at least one act from my list. Is that a record? I have no idea, but it's definitely something I'm going to be keeping an eye on. DeBeers, Destruction Crew, Texas Hangmen, and The Patriot (Trooper) have already shown up on my list, while 4 others who appeared on this show are still to come.
-------------------------
Gonna try knocking out Cappotelli & Cheetah Master at the same time. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow. Then it's on to the next batch.

#132 Matt Cappotelli

A tragic tale. Matt Cappotelli was the Magnum TA of 2000s wrestling. Then things got worse.

He was a great babyface in 2005 OVW. Loved his feud with Johnny Jeter. So good! I would have had it at #25 on UT's Greatest Rivalries Countdown if it went down that far. Not gonna lie. I got a little misty eyed reading about it during the research phase of this post. Words don't do it justice. You really have to watch it unfold from start to finish. Capp was like a combination of both Hardy Boyz. Could have been a star had it not been for cancer.

*The following is a lengthy, yet incomplete, and unedited writeup from late September.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}The story of Matt Cappotelli is one of the more tragic tales in 21st Century wrestling. He was very much the Magnum TA of his generation. Then things got even worse. But before I touch on that, let's go back to the very beginning.....

Matt Cappotelli first got on the radar of wrestling fans by competing on the third season of Tough Enough. He would go on to win the competition alongside the future John Morrison which earned him a WWE contract. His most famous Tough Enough moment was being abused by notorious jerk Hardcore Holly.

Matt Cappotelli was barely on my radar, and his Tough Enough win meant little to me. I was not a Tough Enough fan due to still being in smarky douchebag mode. It annoyed me that these guys and gals could just waltz in and land a prestigious WWE contract by winning a glorified game show. Where's the blood, sweat, and tears? They weren't bah gawd REAL RASSLERS! I was still under the dumb belief that every wrestler should be Mick Foley toiling away in obscurity for years before finally earning a shot in the big time.

The only season of Tough Enough I watched even semi-regularly was the first. The novelty factor was still there. Plus contestant Jason (Dayberry) was a local guy from the neighborhood. We actually went to the same high school. He was a few years older than me, and I'm not even 100% sure I ever spoke to him, but I definitely knew who he was. We shared some mutual friends. I believe he held the school bench press record. Rumor had it he was on roids even back in high school. Last I heard he was a gym teacher at a nearby elementary school and still living in this general area. Fwiw he dropped out of the competition after realizing he wasn't willing to devote his life to the wrestling business.

The only thing I remember from Cappotelli's season of Tough Enough was Al Snow marking out over John Morrison's standing shooting press. Snow was a lot more impressed than me. I was all "Pfft! Amazing Red has been doing that for over a year!" Like I said, smarky douchebag mode.

Anyway, Cappotelli spent some time in OVW. I think he teamed mostly with Morrison for a year or so. I wasn't paying much attention to OVW at the time. Let alone those two Tough Enough phonies.

Then Heyman replaced Cornette as booker and OVW suddenly became the "cool" promotion. This is where the Cappotelli story really begins...

Cappotelli had been teaming with Johnny Jeter as a Rockers-style babyface team called The Thrillseekers. They scored a double pin over MNM in a #1 Contenders Match where the winner earned the right to challenge OVW Champ Brent Albright. Now there were two #1 Contenders. Confusion reigned for a minute. Cappotelli then suffered a (very timely) knee injury. Sucks for him. But at least now everything has been straightened out in terms of who the #1 Contender was. Capp gave Jeter his blessing and support to challenge Albright for the belt.

Jeter defeated Albright to win the OVW Championship. A happy Capp showed up to congratulate his partner. Then it happened....

Jeter turned on Cappotelli! He was now the OVW champ and no longer needed his partner. It culminated with a crutch shot to Capp's injured knee. Something marvelous had just begun....

The Jeter/Cappotelli feud captured the imagination of the OVW faithful and the wider internet. OVW was now a hot promotion for the first time since like 2001. The weekly tv show writeups at places like the Torch, Observer, and 411Mania made it sound like the best wrestling promotion in the world. There was suddenly a mad clamoring for (previously unavailable) OVW tapes. Before long OVW was indeed releasing tapes. Now there was honestly a lot of good stuff going on in OVW at that particular moment, but Jeter/Cappotelli carried the show.

It was an old school blood feud with a few new school wrinkles. Imagine if Michaels had won the WWF Championship immediately after the Rockers split and went on a tear with the belt while a fuming Marty was out with injury....until they had the big blowoff match at Wrestlemania 9. That's basically what the Jeter/Capp feud, albeit on an obviously smaller scale.

They added so many cool little touches to this feud, some of which I never saw before or since. Explaining them all would take this post to Striker length, and we can't have that. The important thing to know is they made Jeter out to be the ultimate heel. He was so hated.

Now I was no longer a mostly exclusive heel backer. That stopped being a thing by like 1998. From then on I was more 50/50. But, yeah, I was still predisposed to great heels over great faces. So I initially gravitated to the latest heel god, Johnny Jeter.

But Cappotelli was equally good as a babyface. What I liked about Capp is he wasn't some dumb Sting-like babyface. Nor was he a shrinking violet. This was a blood feud, and Capp was not afraid to get dirty. He actually got Jeter a time or two. Capp even came off as a deranged madman on occasion. He was a 100% pure babyface, but he definitely had an edge. The dude was pissed off. And rightfully so!

I thought they were both future superstars. (I'll cover Jeter when his time comes) I saw Capp as a cross between both Hardys. He had Jeff's connection with the crowd while his wrestling style was closer to Matt's. Meaning he was flashy without going overboard and a possessor of solid fundamentals. Also, like the Hardys, he was popular with male fans and beloved by female fans.

#131 Cheetah Master

Aww yeah! I've been looking forward to this one with a Survival Tobita-like level of enthusiasm. Please read!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}There's over. Then there's "Cheetah Master in Delaware" levels of over. It's almost indescribable. You really had to be there to get the full Cheetah Master experience. From a per capita standpoint Cheetah Master in ECWA ranks right up there with peak Austin or Hogan. Cheetah Master in Delaware is RVD or Sandman at the ECW Arena. He's Lawler in Memphis or the Von Erichs in Texas. To back me up here are some quotes I found from multiple outside sources chronicling just how over "The Hulk Hogan of Delaware" was....

He’s against the Cheetah Master, who’s the most popular guy in company history. I’m fairly certain the man could have run for Governor of Delaware on the Leopard-Print Spandex ticket and been voted into office.

The match was awesome for Cheetah Master in all of his cheesy, 80’s bleach blonde glory with the crowd going BONKERS

Prince Nana comes out with E.S. Easton, so the crowd goes nuts with the ''Cheetah!'' and ''What?'' chants. The crowd is so loud I can barely hear him

Cheetah Master comes out. OH MY. The crowd absolutely LOVES this guy. Nana runs away from his nemesis , giving Cheetah the opportunity to pose around the ring for something like 3 HOURS. After the said 3 hours, he gives his shirt to a LUCKY LADY in the crowd and plays with the fans. Another hour seems to pass until Prince Nana finally steps inside the fucking ring

they're doing a good job building the Nana VS Cheetah feud, as the crowd seems to enjoy it

Cheetah comes out and works the crowd for like an hour, but it gets heat. I don’t get it, but I’m not a 14 year old girl. Cheetah is scary over

everything people say about Cheetah Master being amazingly over is 100% true. I’m talking Von Erichs heat, folks… for whatever reason, this kid is over like it’s 1984 and Kerry’s coming out to face Jimmy Garvin for the American title at the Sportatorium.

AND HERE’S THE CHEETAH MASTER! HYOOOOOOOOGE POP! WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, BOYS! But WAIT! Some dude in a mask just jumped Cheetah…and he unmasks as Bobby Roode! WHAT THE FLIP? EFF YOU BOBBY ROODE! I hate you, you poopstain!

Interviewer: OK, who’s your favorite opponent?

Prince Nana in 2009: My favorite opponent ever is Cheetah Master of ECWA.

Can confirm. Cheetah's overness was one of those surreal, "only in wrestling" things.

I knew about Cheetah dating back to my mid-90s Apter Mag reading days but didn't see him for the first time until late 2001 in ECWA.

His look and persona was pure 80s. He (obviously) came out to "Welcome To The Jungle," which was the most popular indie entrance song for like a decade, and probably still is for all I know. Cheetah was definitely inspired by Jimmy Snuka and Shawn Michaels. He basically had HBK's moveset, which actually wasn't all that impressive by the early 2000s, and he used Snuka's Superfly Splash as a finish. His leopard print trunks and lack of boots were also surely inspired by "The Superfly." He was a solid but unspectacular wrestler who took a good DDT. He also had good looking lefty punches. Most likely due to wearing fingerless black gloves, which almost always enhance the aesthetic value of wrestling punches. He was in good shape and had a solid look, albeit in an 80s kind of way. Best case scenario for Cheetah in the big time would be Next Scotty Riggs. I think he only appeared one time on WWE tv*. It was in a backstage skit with Stephanie McMahon iirc.

*EDIT: Wrong! Turns out he once wrestled Essa Rios on an episode of Jakked under his real name, Mike Womer. Somehow I did not remember this. Of course you know I just watched it after discovering its existence.

But he was SOOOOO OVER! Like you have no idea. All my rambling and those quotes don't do it justice. You had to be there. He could shoot somebody in the middle of 5th Avenue (Wilmington version) and not lose any support. I can't even call Cheetah a baby kissing babyface. Cheetah didn't kiss babies. Babies kissed him! Yes, Cheetah was even above and beyond the likes of UK's Big Daddy and SMW Tim Horner when it came to over the top babyface gloriousness.

Cheetah's popularity was initially mind boggling to my early 2000s douchey smark self. I didn't get it. Nothing about this guy stood out as anything special. Plus I was a huge fan of Cheetah's nemesis, the great 80s style heel, Prince Nana. 

Yet I dare not boo the Cheetah. The last thing I wanted to do was cause a riot. Plus I soon got a kick out of him in an ironic, "embrace the absurdity of it all" kind of way. 

Then came the Big One. Cheetah Master vs. Prince Nana in a Cage at the St. Matthew's Parish Center in beautiful Newport, Delaware circa January 2002. I cheered for Nana, most likely giving him the Wayne's World "we're not worthy" treatment, and golf clapped for Cheetah during the early stages of his 75 minute entrance. 

I got more and more into it as the match progressed. The crowd was SOOOO into it. They were hanging on every move. Cheering like maniacs for Cheetah and booing everything Nana did. They felt the Master of Cheetah's pain when Nana was on the offensive. They somehow managed to reach a new level of support for their hero with every "COME ON!" or "YEAH BABY!" uttered by Cheetah (and you better believe he uttered such things in the style of 1996 Chris Jericho). It was real to them. This was their Wrestlemania. Cheetah was their Hulk Hogan.

At some point a light bulb went off. I was never going to see Lawler in Memphis or the Von Erichs in Texas. This was as close as I'd ever get to glorious 80s territorial wrestling. Cheetah and Nana were the last of a dying breed. Cheetah the last great Local Hero. Nana the last great territorial style heel.

So I switched sides halfway through this classic confrontation, cheering for Cheetah (while still secretly loving Nana too). When Cheetah hit the Superfly Splash from the top of the cage(!) to win it you better believe I popped just as hard as any of my fellow Cheetaholics. Cheetah then had his usual 55 minute postmatch celebration hugging young girls, high fiving grown men, and kissing babies while I popped just as hard as anybody. 

I saw hundreds of live matches. Many of them were probably far superior to Cheetah/Nana. But there are few I remember as fondly. For that reason Cheetah/Nana in a cage has to be a Top 20 live match of all time. 

I'd also have a lot more time for modern wrestling if it was more like Cheetah Master vs. Prince Nana. Modern wrestling needs a new Cheetah Master in the worst possible way. I also wish there were more Cheetah matches readily available on the internet. 

His next big feud was with Bobby Roode. Fwiw this is what first got Rude onto the radar of even the smartest wrestling fans. Before his ECWA run Roode was a complete unknown. 

Following the Roode feud I think Cheetah feuded with a scrub called Johnny Heartbreaker, who sounds like one of our old action figure league characters.

By this point I was tiring of ECWA and even the beloved Cheetah Master. Shame on me. ECWA eventually went back to their bread and butter of Cheetah vs. Nana. I went to a Team Cheetah vs. Team Nana War Games match in (I think) 2003. If my memory is correct that was my last live ECWA show.

Cheetah honestly feels too low. Probably should have been 20-30 spots higher. It seems the more time passes the more I like Cheetah and what he represented.

*Posting this here for now. Maybe I'll delete in the morning. In which case consider this a spoiler for non-Americans and US night owls.

DELETE DELETE DELETE

The plan is to eventually post pics and do SHORT writeups for all these wrestlers. Whether or not I stick to the plan is anybody's guess.

I'm on vacation from work this coming week. My original plan of going to Rochester fell through. I may or may not visit Providence and do a tour of New England. If not, expect (hopefully) short writeups and pics for these 30 acts. If I do go away these acts likely won't be covered entirely until early 2020.

Oct 21, 2019 5:36:20 GMT Baker said:

*Posting this here for now. Maybe I'll delete in the morning. In which case consider this a spoiler for non-Americans and US night owls.

...REDACTED...

The plan is to eventually post pics and do SHORT writeups for all these wrestlers. Whether or not I stick to the plan is anybody's guess.

I'm on vacation from work this coming week. My original plan of going to Rochester fell through. I may or may not visit Providence and do a tour of New England. If not, expect (hopefully) short writeups and pics for these 30 acts. If I do go away these acts likely won't be covered entirely until early 2020.

Holy snot, you'll be in New England!? Any chance you'll be in the Boston area?!

Oct 21, 2019 12:16:19 GMT 🤯 said:

Oct 21, 2019 5:36:20 GMT Baker said:

Any chance you'll be in the Boston area?!

It's a possibility. Call it a 33% chance. I'll let you know if I happen to venture into Beantown.

#130 Dick Togo

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
The man my friends and I dubbed "The Pint Sized Hoss" was a late bloomer who is maybe 30-40 spots too high. BUT consider this the all purpose Michinoku Pro entry since like 7 of those guys landed in Honorable Mention spots between 202-250. 

My intro to Dick came during the awesome Michinoku Pro 6 Man Tag at Barely Legal. I was really into that sort of all action high flying style in the late 90s. Plus I LOVED the International BWO concept. Tremendous parody.

Right before Wrestlemania 14 I got my first Japanese wrestling comp tape titled "Intro To Puroresu." It featured the popular All Japan heavyweights, New Japan juniors, and the famous Funk/Cactus Death Match. Yet my favorite match on that tape, by far, was the famous-among-Puro-connoisseurs Michinoku Pro "These Days" 10 Man Tag. As I said, I loved that kind of wrestling in the late 90s.

The timing was brilliant. Togo, Teioh, and Funaki soon debuted in WWF allowing me to show off my wrestling knowledge. "That's Dick Togo! He's gonna do this, that, and this. That's Men's Teioh! He'll do A, B, and C." Then they did just what I said they would do, making me look like a genius. You better believe I gave myself the ol' Barry Horowitz pat on the back.

Since the Michinoku Pro match was my favorite on that tape, and because I wanted to further "scout" my beloved WWF's latest acquisitions, I got another M-Pro comp tape or two. It was my go to Japanese fed. 

My initial M-Pro guy was Men's Teioh because he idolized Terry Funk. Plus he had some cool power moves. Then I think it was Gran Hamada because he was an old guy doing frankensteiners. Sort of viewed him as a Japanese Terry Funk (it always comes back to The Funker, eh?). Then it was Yakushiji because he was their state of the art Rey Mysterio Guy. Then it was Tiger Mask IV because his mask and outfit were ADORABLE. Sasuke & Taka were more "respect" guys. They were too trendy to really love. It would be like being a fan of the Cowboys, Yankees, or Bulls. Boring! 

Then I learned to love Dick. After initially dismissing him at Barely Legal, I began to like him ironically. "He was a pudgester who didn't even do flips! LOL!" Plus his name was Dick Togo which translates to "Dick To Go" which is precisely the sort of thing that amused dumb late 90s teenagers. 

But after a while I realized he was legit the best of the bunch. This all happened very quickly, mind you. Probably within five matches. Like I had a new M-Pro favorite every time I watched a new M-Pro match before settling on Dick.

The leader of Kaientai just struck me as a ring general. I soon got this idea in my head that he was the Boss calling all the shots in those wild M-Pro tag matches. Apparently this is true! I have no idea how I knew this in 1998. But I swear I did. He was a good heel with tremendous swagger. He had the best taunts. Best powerslam in the biz too. And that fat boy sure could fly. He got great height on his "flying butt splash" (Senton). Not to mention being quick as a hiccup. And his Pirate outfit I chose for the pic was AMAZING.
 
1998 me was OBSESSED with WWF having a good Cruiserweight Division. It was my big thing. Even militant WWF supporters such as myself had to admit the Cruiserweight scene was the one aspect where we were routed by the Evil Empire. "Are they a Cruiserweight?" was my initial response to every single WWF Developmental signing. I distinctly remember being disappointed when I discovered Adam Copeland and Sean Morley were not in fact Cruiserweights.

But Kaientai were! So I fantasy booked a Cwt. Division based around them and Taka. It went something like this....

May 1998 PPV- Taka beats that jabroni Funaki (M-Pro Funaki was a blank slate/replacement level wrestler/broomstick type. He lacked flash). Kaientai beats down Taka in the post match.

KOTR- Taka beats Teioh in a **** classic on par with anything Rey, Dean, and company were doing. Again, Kaientai with the post match beatdown.

July 1998 PPV- Kaientai defeats Taka & Friends by pinning Friends

Summerslam- Dick Togo beats Taka to win the Cruiserweight Title. Maybe have Taka get injured on Raw or earlier in the show to save face.

September & October- Togo (and friends?) win matches.

Survivor Series- Taka beats Togo in the epic **** blowoff.

*Then from there stuff happens. Maybe Kaientai splits and they bring Sasuke in as the next Taka rival.

Unfortunately I put far more thought into WWF's Cruiserweight Division than WWF ever did.

Meaning there wasn't really a place for Dick and Friends in WWF. They feuded with Taka & my man Bradshaw, brought Taka over to the EVIL side (indeed), and infamously tried to choppy choppy Val's pee pee. Then they lost to the Oddities in a goofy sports entertainment spectacle that I probably enjoyed more than I should have at Summerslam '98. Then they did....uhh?

I do remember liking a Togo/Gangrel match on Heat. Watched it the other day. It's nothing special outside of a few cool suplexes. Speaking of cool suplexes, Togo hit the GOAT Butterfly during this run. I think it was against Taka. Taka (or whoever) SOARED through the air. 

I got to see Dick Togo live at an ROH show in 2002 (the same one with the London/Shane de facto Ladder Match I rambled about earlier). He teamed with fellow ECW alum Ikuto Hidaka(sic?) in a tag tournament. I think they wrestled the FBI in one round and Daniels/Donovan Morgan in another. Neither match was anything special but you better believe I popped hard for Dick Togo. It was super cool to see the King of Kaientai, the Master of Michinoku Pro, in such a small setting. Pretty sure he got the pin in the FBI match with a Pedigree followed by his patented top rope Senton.

#129 Austin Idol

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
The most Vince wrestler never to actually work for Vince. Austin Idol would have been a perfect fit for 80s WWF. He was only so-so in the ring, but he had The Look, the charisma, the mic skills, and the swagger to have excelled in 80s WWF. He was a top shelf heel who was also capable of pulling off the tricky 'cocky face' gimmick. I guess Jesse Ventura would be the best comparison. There's an alternate universe where Idol is a top tier legend famous for a big drawing mid-80s program with Hogan and an epic feud with Savage based around Idol having eyes for Elizabeth.

So who is this guy? Why wasn't he in WWF? Why have you (probably) never heard of him?

Two words- Plane Crash. 

Way back in 1975 the man who would become Austin Idol was a young up and coming wrestler known as "Iron" Mike McCord. He had a husky powerlifter physique in those days. McCord was severely injured in a plane crash which killed another wrestler named Bobby Shane. 

He took a long time off and resurfaced with a completely different look and name. Enter the Billy Graham-inspired Austin Idol.

Idol quickly became a star in the Southern territories. I know him for his Memphis runs, but he was big all throughout the South.

The thing is that plane crash (justifiably) gave Idol a lifelong fear of flying. He was content to stay close to his Southern home. The last thing he wanted to do was fly around the country for WWF (or NWA). He was also a bit of a flake who would disappear from time to time. Think an 80s Sid. Like Sid, he had that "It Factor" which caused promotions to take him back time and time again no matter how many bridges he burned. Austin Idol was content to be a big fish in a small pond, taking his ball home whenever he felt like it.

He was one of the top guys in Memphis throughout the 80s. Like most 80s Memphis stars he had a love/hate relationship with Jerry Lawler. Sometimes they'd kick ass together as a babyface super team. Other times they'd be mortal enemies with the arrogant Idol desperate to dethrone The King.

Their most famous match, and one of the most famous matches in the long and storied history of Memphis wrestling, was a multiple stipulation Cage Match where Idol emerged victorious due to the dastardly deeds of Tommy Rich who hid under the ring for the entire show in order to cost Lawler the big match. This was one of the most heated incidents I've ever seen in wrestling. Fans were literally climbing the cage trying to get at Idol, Rich, and manager Paul E. Dangerly(!).It was great.  Lawler vs. Idol & Rich won the Wrestling Observer 1987 Feud of the Year Award over such memorable rivalries as Hogan/Andre and Savage/Steamboat. So you know it was good.

I've also seen bits and pieces of Idol's feuds with Stan Hansen & Rick Rude.

Austin Idol is definitely my kind of wrestler. He was a great showman.

Fun Fact: Austin Aries claims to have taken the "Austin" part of his name not from Stone Cold but from Mr. Idol.

#128 Dolph Ziggler

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
Dolph Ziggler debuted when I was getting out of wrestling. I had him pegged as a comedy jobber. He was doing a Robbie Dawber gimmick with a silly WOATC ring name. I was pleasantly surprised by his debut match with Batista. I was expecting a total squash. Now Dolph did lose, but he slipped in this cool kick before going down in defeat. That match (or at least the kick) always stuck with me. 

I lost interest pretty much immediately after that and remember nothing about Dolph Ziggler until.....

Late 2012. I had just joined PW. Being back on a wrestling forum, it seemed only natural that I would begin to watch wrestling again. Yet I had no time for full shows. I just wanted some match/modern wrestler recommendations. An anti-Dolph poster made the very odd choice to share a gif of Dolph taking a sick bump courtesy of Albert as an example of why Dolph "sucked." Not being some sort of "bumps are bad" weirdo (after 7 years I still fail to grasp this poster's bizarre logic) the gif had the opposite of the intended effect. Far from turning me off Dolph, I now wanted to watch this big bumping nutter.

So I asked for some Dolph recommendations. My query was well received. I watched Dolph vs. Morrison, Bryan, Rey, and probably a few others. I honestly remember nothing about those matches today, but I did enjoy them at the time.

Dolph wore his influences on his sleeve. And they were good influences! Mr. Perfect, Shawn Michaels, and....Billy Gunn?

I think it was the Billy Gunn cosplay that really won me over. Perfect & Michaels ripoffs are a dime a dozen. But Billy Gunn!?! He was terribly uncool in 2012. Come to think of it, Billy Gunn is probably cooler today than he's been since the late 90s, if ever. The AEW boys seem to love him. And Tanahashi is an admitted Billy Gunn fanboy. But Billy Gunn was the opposite of cool from like 2000-2015 or something. 

Yet here's this Dolph guy dressing and wrestling like the Son of Billy Gunn...or at least a younger brother to Billy (and I suppose Bart). He did the Famouser and those neon outfits were pure Mr. Ass. 

I also liked how he was a homegrown WWE workrate guy. There were only like two others during the entire 2000s! Shelton, Morrison, and...umm...Dolph? Yep. That's it.

I watched that clip where he beat stupid Alberto Del Rio (a wrestler I feel like I should have liked but did not) for the belt in front of a red hot crowd.

Then I lost all interest in Dolph even from a distance.

Still, he was one of my guys (along with Sandow & Ryback) during my aborted late 2012-early 2013 wrestling comeback.

I don't remember/didn't see him as Nick Nemeth in OVW and must have missed Raw during those two weeks or whatever where he was Chavo's caddy.

Now you might be thinking he's waaaay too high. Here's a guy I only liked for a little while as a part time fan years after I had stopped watching wrestling on a regular basis. Two words...

Spirit. Squad. Yeah, Nicky was the 4th best guy in a 5 man unit. But still! I loved the Spirit Squad. Dolph's Spirit Squad history gave him a good 50 spot boost. No regrets!

#127 Perry Saturn

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
*I already covered the Eliminators in depth during my John Kronus writeup at #142. You may read about the Eliminators there since everything I wrote in that entry applies to Saturn here and I do not wish to repeat myself. Long story short- The Eliminators are the greatest "initial reaction" tag team of all time. Yes, even above Furnas & LaFon. 

I was always intrigued by WCW Perry Saturn. From an outsider standpoint it seemed like WCW used him pretty well. I'd read about him being the credible Arn to Raven's Flair in The Flock. I'd read about all the cool moves he did. He won some belts and had some relatively high profile matches. The Raven/Saturn feud had some internet buzz. It seemed like a cool midcard thing. 

I dug Saturn's style. Honestly, "cross between Taz & Sabu with some hardcore tendencies" is the ideal late 90s Baker wrestler.

I loved the Raven/Saturn team in the spring of '99 and their feuds with the Horsemen and Filthy Animals.  Raven & Saturn vs. Benoit & Malenko from Spring Stampede '99 is one of my Top 10 WCW matches of the 90s. It was like an updated version of the Midnight Express vs. Arn & Tully. 

Saturn definitely would have been a solid 2nd tier fave had I been watching late 90s WCW. Like somewhere between 6-10 on the WCW favorites list for sure. I dug the guy in tape form.

He was also probably the Radical I was initially most excited to have in my beloved WWF. Benoit & Malenko would be like revisiting old friends. Eddie would surely have good matches. But Saturn was kind of a blank slate....a half-mythical wrestler I had only caught occasional glimpses of in ECW (where he was often "poorly used"). Here's a man who had the GOAT squash at Barely Legal and was rumored to wrestle like a cross between the godly Taz and very cool Sabu. I was hyped.

Aaaaand Saturn pretty much shit the bed. I found all the Radicalz greatly disappointing. See, I was still a movez guy, and they had all toned their kewl offense I remembered from 1996. I assume it was to fit into WWF style. But Benoit & Eddie had also considerably bulked up. Malenko was no longer wrestling little guys he could manhandle. And Saturn honestly looked silly trying to be a suplexing badass while dwarfed by the likes of.....Billy Gunn & Road Dogg, who were hardly considered giants in WWF land. I hadn't realized Saturn was so small. Hell, he seemed like a 'big guy' in ECW! Just goes to show how important presentation is.

Anyway, WWF Saturn came across as a soulless automaton simply going through the motions. I lost interest in him (and all Radicalz) by Wrestlemania 2000 at the very latest. Even when he did do cool moves (which was like only against the Hardys) they lacked meaning. He had become a bland wrestling robot. Then things got even worse....

Enter Moppy (ugh!), a stupid hat, and Scott Steiner's facial hair. Yeah, WWF Saturn sucked. He had a legit DUD of a match with Raven on some pay per view in (I think) 2001. Then he was gone.

This pleased me on two levels. No longer would he stink up WWF C Shows I barely watched by this point. Yet, paradoxically, I was also excited to have a FREE Saturn! WITH NO RESTRICTIONS! I expected him to kill it in TNA, Japan, and maybe do a big guest spot or two in ROH. But nah. He had a cup of coffee in TNA highlighted by a weirdly good match with Bart Gunn, of all people. And there was a pretty cool WWA match with Sabu and (I think) Simon Diamond. And he did some training at New Japan's US dojo. But those were the only "highlights." For all intents and purposes Saturn was done.

Then he weirdly disappeared for years and was rumored to be dead. I think even his good friend Chris Jericho thought he had quietly passed away. Then he resurfaced a few years later. Turns out he was homeless in (I think) Iowa for a while. A sad story to be sure.

Hopefully he has since made some money doing the convention and shoot interview circuit and turned his life around. 90s Saturn was tons of fun to watch.

#126 Big Boss Man

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}
My introduction to Bossman came when he was Jim Cornette's bodyguard, Big Bubba Rogers, in 1987 NWA. I don't remember much about Big Bubba. Pretty sure my kiddie brain just dismissed him as "non-wrestler." He was basically a glorified manager. Although....I wonder what I thought about this "non-wrestler" as UWF Champ? I honestly don't remember my thoughts. Man, that NWA/UWF merger was SO WEIRD. It skewed my perception on many wrestling related things for like 8 years. See, because of that I thought all wrestling could be separated into "WWF" and "non-WWF" with all the non-WWF promotions being somehow affiliated. lol I'm drunk and rambling. So....

The Bossman story really begins when he...uh...actually becomes The Big Boss Man in 1988 WWF. I loved Bossman right from the start. Because kiddie me was obviously a sociopath. Bossman was brutal! He was a badass fatty who would brutalize jobbers. Then handcuff them to the ropes and assault them with a nightstick. Good grief! That's hardcore! Certainly by the standards of 1988 WWF. To make excuses for not being a kiddie psychopath I'll just say I loved early Bossman because he feuded with the hated Hulk Hogan (this is honestly the true answer....or at least 80% true. Any Hogan opponent was a favorite of mine). 

I also loved the Twin Towers. Probably even more than solo Bossman to be honest. They were so badass they ELIMINATED HULK HOGAN IN THE 1989 ROYAL RUMBLE! YES! 814 POUNDS OF BEEF! WHO CAN POSSIBLY STOP THEM?!?!

Only Demolition stood a chance. Man, I really wish the Twin Towers would have got the tag belts and engaged in an epic long term feud with Demolition. They were the two most badass tag teams I knew of until MAYBE The Skyscrapers came along. Demos vs. Twin Towers would have been like the Hogan/Andre of tag teams in its immovable force meets irresistible objectness. I am sooo drunk.

Bossman turned face and became stupid as was usually the case. He feuded with the awesome Heenan Family, awesomer Mountie, and maybe Dibiase, too? Teddy Wrestling was also awesome, of course. And I think Teddy Wrestling played a part in Bossman's face turn? But I don't remember them feuding. Anyway....

I came back around on Bossman a little bit during the Nailz feud just because BBM was the lesser of two evils. Nailz was a creepy psycho. 

Oh, Slick ruled too. I loved The Slickster. Bossman also had a great theme. Hard Times, baby!

BBM really was hardcore because he was the only WWF wrestler I remember doing (light) curses back in the day. He'd occasionally drop a "hell" or a "damn." Maybe even an "ass!" when things got really heated. 

Mossman went to WCW and YAWN! BORING! He was now old and dated. He kept turning. Changing his name too. One week the Boss. Then the Guardian Angel. And finally Big Bubba Rogers. 

Wait a sec....

Hold on just a minute....

Are you telling me Bossman was Big Bubba back in the day?!?! Mind blown! Out of sight, out of mind principle applies yet again. Before 1995-96 I was terrible at recognizing wrestlers with gimmick changes. 

But he was still old, boring, and sucky. Huge lack of me caring....

Until he feuded with fellow old, boring, and sucky tub of lard John Tenta. lol j/k Because John Tenta was none of those things! He was a man, dammit! And he was awesome. I unironically loved that little Bubba/Tenta feud in 1996 because I loved John Tenta again for like a month or two. And Bossman was SO GOOD at being a jerk. I didn't realize it at the time, but in hindsight Bossman was a great heel.

Look no further than his late 90s WWF run for further proof. That's another thing I HATED in real time. Bossman was washed up like 5 years earlier! And now he's back in WWF?!? Give me a break! The people who think Vince is not a genius but a moron need look no further than 1998 for confirmation of their belief. See, the internet told me Vince wanted to bring back Bossman & Earthquake as main events heels challenging Steve Austin in 1990fucking8!!!!! Luckily smarter minds like Vince Russo put the kibosh on this dumb idea.

But Bossman was still a pretty major player. He got put in some big matches. They were all terrible. I hated him.

But you know what I didn't hate? That one time Bossman faked a face turn and came out in his old outfit to Hard Times! HELL YEAH! My friends and I popped so hard for that. Hell yeah! Proper Bossman is back, baby!

But it was all a ruse. DAMMIT, BOSSMAN! Why must you suck so?

But Bossman didn't actually suck. Far from it! In fact, he was the best damn heel in the business circa 1999. It's just that me and other dummies were too stupid to realize it. Bossman was a right proper old school rat bastard heel in a world where everybody else wanted to be a cool heel. Bossman sucked so hard he actually ruled. But only in hindsight. He was basically the Roger Delgado Master in wrestling form. His theme might as well have been Voltaire's When You're Evil.

The Al Snow & Big Show feuds featured some great black comedy courtesy of Bossman.

Then they hired some more guys who fit the times better and Bossman was (finally) put out to pasture.

He passed away not long after that. Turns out the "old" guy was barely 40 years old. Sad.

But our story does have a happy(ish) ending. I went to a Jim Cornette Q&A before an ROH show because it was 2004 and I still had some time for Corny. It was a good time. A guy named Brad Stutts, who would later become famous, then infamous, in the North Carolina indies asked Cornette a question about the recently departed Bossman. Even as late as 2004 I didn't connect immediately connect Cornette with Bossman (Big Bubba). My initial, split second, gut reaction was "Did Cornette & Bossman ever cross paths?" Anyway, Cornette told some great Bossman stories in his inimitable Cornette style that brought the house down. Before long Cornette had a bunch of snooty ROH fans (myself included) chanting "Bossman! Bossman!" at the top of our lungs. Good times.

Bossman was great at playing his characters. He was the perfect Bubba. While I obviously didn't realize it at the time, he was also straight out central casting as a stereotypical corrupt southern cop. Cornette tells a great story about Bossman's dedication to kayfabe featuring BBM no-selling having a car door slammed on his hand. Bossman was also INCREDIBLE at twirling a nightstick. We take this stuff for granted, but it couldn't have been easy. You don't think of Bossman as a moves guy. Yet he really did have some trademark stuff that has been stolen over the years. Even when he "sucked" in the late 90s he still had the best punches in WWF. Even my late 90s Bossman hating self realized that. There's a reason BBM managed to last almost 15 year continuous years in mainstream wrestling. The man was very good at what he did.

*I feel good about the first four entries but I might have to edit this one tomorrow when I'm sober

Digging drunk Baker-man!

Love "Teddy Wrestling". Henceforth that *IS* DiBiase's name to me.

I'll still forever wonder what the official spelling is:
The Big Boss Man
Big Boss Man
Big Bossman
The Big Bossman
Thebigbossman?!?!

WHO KNOWS!?!?!?

Oct 22, 2019 16:42:57 GMT 🤯 said:

I'll still forever wonder what the official spelling is:
The Big Boss Man
Big Boss Man
Big Bossman
The Big Bossman
Thebigbossman?!?!

WHO KNOWS!?!?!?

We had this conversation once before. I had always went Big Bossman but it seems the official spelling is Big Boss Man.

Going to Providence tomorrow morning so this project is once again on hold for the near future.

Oct 23, 2019 3:09:27 GMT Baker said:

Oct 22, 2019 16:42:57 GMT 🤯 said:

I'll still forever wonder what the official spelling is:
The Big Boss Man
Big Boss Man
Big Bossman
The Big Bossman
Thebigbossman?!?!

WHO KNOWS!?!?!?

We had this conversation once before. I had always went Big Bossman but it seems the official spelling is Big Boss Man.

Going to Providence tomorrow morning so this project is once again on hold for the near future.

I didn't know if it had been settled conclusively.

Wikipedia says Big Boss Man now, but I could've sworn the was a day where it listed the name every way I attempted above.

The History of Wrestling says the Big Bossman in 1989 and 1999.

Cagematch lists Big Boss Man a.k.a. Big Bossman.

And...

WWE.com says Big Boss Man. So I guess that does settle it. I'll be damned.

The "The" is used intermittently by WWE though, so I guess it's fair game on whether the article is in or out.

Oct 21, 2019 12:16:19 GMT 🤯 said:

Oct 21, 2019 5:36:20 GMT Baker said:

Holy snot, you'll be in New England!? Any chance you'll be in the Boston area?!

Turns out I never did make it to Boston. At one point my tentative plan was to do 2 days in Providence, a day or 2 in Boston and/or Salem, Mass, and possibly another day in either Salem, NH or Western Mass. In the end I didn't feel like putting another couple hundred miles on my car so I just stayed in the general Providence area.

In wrestling related news, I popped when I passed Greenwich, and popped even harder when I passed Titan Towers a few miles later on my way through Stamford, CT. (I had never taken I-95 north of Elizabeth, NJ) My eyes were peeled when I got to Stamford just in case I should happen to pass Titan Towers. And there it was! On the last Stamford exit. I snapped some quick pics (while going at least 70 mph) which resulted in 3 botches. So I made plans to hit it on the way back....

Which I did. CT exit 9 or 10 takes you right to Titan Towers. It's probably not even a half mile off I-95. I got out, took a few pics, and even tried entering the building where some security guard told me it was (predictably) not open to the public. Oh well. I did take a pic of the interior. There was a big statue of some wrestler by the front door. I think it was Bret Hart. I'll let you guys decide when I post all these pics tomorrow.

Then I stopped in Greenwich, which is only a few exits south of Stamford. Maybe 5 miles. Drove around for a bit. Made my way to Greenwich Avenue, which was featured in the Mean Street Posse Titantron video, and is also where I think Ted Dibiase had his Million Dollar Belt made, but didn't stop and get out due to parking issues + sore old man legs from several days of near-constant walking through extremely hilly olde Providence. BUT I did take a pic of the Greenwich Avenue sign just like in the MSP Titantron video! 

Will share all these wrestling related pics tomorrow.....

Then probably get back to the countdown on Tuesday.

Good call on The Universal Heartthrob.

#125 Reggie Bennett (and Terri Power? And maybe Judy Martin, too?)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}If Dick Togo's entry at #130 served as the all purpose Michinoku Pro entry, then consider this the all purpose LPWA entry. Since I have only covered LPWA in passing over the years, this calls for an in depth LPWA storytime before I even get to Reggie (and Friends).....

It's a well known fact that I was a huge AWA fan in 89-90. AWA aired here on Thursday nights at 6 p.m. on grainy channel 50 out of Washington DC. At some point after my family moved in June 1990, AWA went into "reruns" playing a lot of ancient matches from the Era Before Pants featuring Verne, Bock, and other non-pants wearers. I did not care for this throwback stuff. I just wanted my modern wrestling with Larry Legend, The Milkman, and other such greats, to return. The way I remember it, the talking heads who narrated this program swore new, modern matches were right around the corner....

Then tragedy struck. I turned on my once-beloved AWA hoping this was the week we'd finally get new Larry Legend stuff only to find some stupid women's wrestling show. BOO! I was not a happy camper. Where was muh AWA?!? There also may have been a bit of "I don't wanna watch no girls wrestle!" but I cannot attest to that with 100% certainty. I did, after all, watch a bit of GLOW back in the day. 

But I soon got into it because wrestling! Yay! A big draw for me was LPWA having my man Jim Cornette on commentary. I had no idea he left NWA/WCW. Hell, I probably wasn't 100% sure NWA/WCW was still a thing for the bulk of LPWA's run. LPWA having Cornette just furthered my weird "all non-WWF promotions are affiliated" theory. 

I watched a lot of LPWA in what I assume was 91-92. Probably every single Thursday unless I had a sporting event of my own, or a guitar lesson. Yet I honestly don't remember much about it beyond Cornette, a manager named Boogalou Brown, and the Top 3 stars.....
-------------------------------------------
Who were Reggie Bennett, Terri Power, and the dreaded Lady X. Let's talk about them....

Lady X was the top heel and longtime champion. She would later become "Thug" in WOW. I HATED Lady X. When it came to LPWA I was a babyface fan all the way. Lady X was a woman of mystery. She wore a mask and had a mysterious past. "Just who is Lady X?" was the million dollar question. I distinctly remember her being rumored to be both Japanese & Polish. Probably Russian too, but I cannot back that one with 100% certainty. Pretty sure it was also hinted that she was the Fabulous Moolah. I don't know why I was so into this Lady X angle since I doubt I could have named 5 non-LPWA women's wrestlers. But I was. I wanted Lady X unmasked and dethroned. Yet by hook or by crook that dastardly Lady X also seemed to escape with her undeserved title intact.

Her two primary challengers were the stars of this story, Reggie Bennett & Terri Power. They were the Hogan & Warrior (or at least the Sting & Luger) of LPWA. They were booked as The Coolest....The Strongest....The Best. The were a Super Team who ran through everybody, both as partners and as individuals. Any rare setback either woman suffered was due to shenanigans or a technicality. Plus they were both billed as hailing from Venice Beach, CA so you just KNEW they were Big Deals since Venice Beach was the City of Champions in 80s-early 90s wrestling. Commentary did a great job of putting them over as unstoppable forces. The way I remember it, the commentary team also put them both over as being able to whip most men. Early 90s me bought into this hook, line, and sinker. So much so, in fact, that I gave them The Chyna Push by making them longterm Tag Champs in my early 90s action figure league. So the Chyna Push is just another thing I "invented" in my basement.

So the million dollar question was not "if" Lady X would lose the title she didn't deserve, but "when," and would it be to Reggie or Terri?

Well, it turned out to be Terri....eventually.....on LPWA's lone PPV....which I think was also their last show.

 I was really into the chase. Reggie & Terri were honestly equals. I didn't care which one of these proto-Chyna's won the belt. I just wanted one of them to end that damn Lady X's reign of doom.

I gave Reggie the nod on this list because she had a better post-LPWA career. For the great Terri Power would later become the boring Tori. Tori was in WWF for like 3 years and I barely remember anything she did during that literally forgettable run. I think there was a feud with Sable? And she may have been a living prop in the Kane/XPac feud? And.....yeah. 

While Reggie is undoubtedly my 125th favorite wrestler of all time, Terri honestly deserved a spot on this list as well. In the lower quadrant, for sure. But she deserved to be written about. So Reggie can share the spotlight with her LPWA partner.

While Terri was MIA for a few years, and then taking up space as Tori, Reggie was carving out a nice niche for herself as a monster gaijin in Japan before showing up at Barely Legal to botch a powerbomb on Terry Funk. But I have fonder memories of Reggie than Terri since botching one powerbomb is less offensive than doing nothing of note for 3 years.

Aside from a borderline 2 week blip when Aja Kong was around, I did not care about women's wrestling from the demise of LPWA until WOW started up. So that's almost 9 years. You wanna know why? BECAUSE THERE WAS A HUGE LACK OF REGGIE BENNETT & TERRI POWER (Tori doesn't count) DURING THOSE 9 YEARS!

I was never into Alundra Blayze, and distinctly remember thinking "Meh. Reggie Bennett or Terri Power would be WAAAAYYY better in this spot." I swear this happened! Then I kept waiting for Reggie or Terri to show up as her next challenger. Yet that too never happened. Pretty impressive since this was during my "out of sight, out of mind" period. To be honest, it's not like this was an every week thought. But it did happen here and there when I bothered to think about the WWF Women's Division at all. 

Fwiw I did not know Alundra had been Madusa, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway since Madusa truly was an "out of sight, out of mind" wrestler.
--------------------------------------
Judy Martin (and partner Leilani Kai) were also in LPWA. And even my beloved WWF! Where they wrestled as The Glamour Girls. But they did not make an impact on kiddie me in either place. Hell, they were "out of mind" even when they were in plain sight.

Judy didn't get onto my radar until I saw her hit the first Powerbomb in WWF history (Drip Dry!) on a Coliseum Home Video tape around 1996. And even then she was more an answer to a neat trivia question than a true Baker Girl.

It wasn't until I joined PW that I became a true blue Judy Martin enthusiast. Now I think she's the best wrestler (US) women's wrestling had until......at least 2002. Probably longer, to be honest. Judy Martin was a badass.

Yet she doesn't REALLY fit into the bizarre criteria I established for this list (if Dusty didn't make it....). Yet I still felt like her contributions needed to be acknowledged. So she earned herself this mini writeup. 

#124 Patti Pizzazz

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Patti Pizzazz is one of the best damn lackeys sports entertainment has ever seen. "And who did she serve as lackey for?" you may be asking. Why none other than your hero and mine, "The Fabulous" Lana Star!

Patti was very much the ditzy "Stevie Richards" to Lana's "Raven." OK, so Lana was more Narcissist than Raven, but it followed the same general formula, and both women were just as fabulous as Stevie & Raven in their respective roles.

Patti started life as Patti Pep: fun-loving cheerleader alongside her equally cheery partner, the superbly named Randi Rah Rah. Lana eventually injured Randi's eye and somehow lured Patti over to the darkside in the process.

But Patti never completely lost her innocence.....or ditziness. Which provided a constant source of tension between Patti & Lana. Some of Lana's reactions to Patti's ditziness were priceless. 

In a neat twist, Patti also remained friends with Randi, which obviously annoyed Lana.

Other than that, Patti was the perfect assistant. She'd come up with cheers for Lana. She'd fetch Lana's egg nog (long story), do Lana's shopping, help Lana in matches, and take Lana's place in matches when "The Fabulous One" was "injured." Patti really was the best damn lackey this side of Stevie Richards.

Her theme is also in contention for being the biggest earworm in wrestling history. The sorely missed kashdinero would no doubt agree with me. P-A-T-T-I P-A-T-T-I Patti Pizzazz *clap clap* Patti Pizzazz. Glorious.

Of course Patti was crap in the ring because WOW. But she was fun. And fun > in ring ability any day of the week, and twice at 1 p.m. on Saturday afternoons.

She also played a huge role in the iconic Lana Star Christmas Special, which is undeniably the greatest thing WOW ever did, and one of the transcendent moments in the long and storied history of professional wrestling.

*I said I'd finish this. And I will. Writeups are just gonna get way shorter. 

**If I started this today Nick Aldis, Tim Storm, and maybe WALTER would crack the list. 

123. Christian York 

One of my original 3 indie darlings along with Christopher Daniels and Tom Brandi. York was the most New Style Wrestler in 1998 MCW. Also had a good look. Once Sabu'ed himself on a guardrail like 5 feet in front me. Talked to him for the entire intermission at that very same show. Felt like he (and frenemy Joey Matthews) had a big MCW farewell celebration every other month as they signed with one or another of the Big 3. In between farewell celebrations York seemed to always be winning MCW's big "Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup" tournament. Sadly never stuck around for long in any of the Big 3, or even their developmental territories. Always rooted for him to make it big though. Even after his style had become dated. Glad he eventually did get a little TNA run. At least it's something.

122. Balls Mahoney



 Xanta Klaus is one of those awful/awesome things that can only exist in pro wrestling. Naturally I got a kick out of it. Took a while for me to come around on him in ECW, but he became a solid second tier ECW favorite once I finally did. Underrated in the ring with a handful of cool moves. A great dance partner for RVD. Threw the stiffest chairshots in wrestling. His "Balls" punches were fun as the new "Shah." Also always popped for his AC/DC Big Balls theme. Obviously has an all time great ring name. He and Spike had some cool matches with the Dudleys. As far as I know, Balls was the first man in the US to go through flaming tables and compete in one of those ridiculous "Bomb Matches." Just a pure ECW guy.

121. Kid Kash



 His "man of many names" gimmick in 1996 ECW is another one of those stupid "only in wrestling" things my cousin and I got a kick out of. Because of that we were literally the only people cheering for him when he first returned to The ECW Arena in 1999. He soon became a pretty cool 6/10 up and coming babyface high flyer in 2000. Showed range I never suspected he had by finding his true calling as a dickish heel in 2003 TNA. Dude had no filter, either on screen or in real life, which made him hilarious. Kash/Trinity was my choice for GOAT intergender feud for....ever? Still retained his cool moves, too. Finally made it to WWE in the mid 2000s. Had one awesome segment with Funaki. Won the Cruiserweight Title for a minute. Then got stuck in a tag team with boring Jamie Noble. To make matters worse, WWE had the gall to the call them The Pitbulls. I still liked Kash, but hated everything else about this. Was future endeavored after a few months of this nonsense.

#120 Doink The Clown (Matt Borne)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I have long been of the belief that for hundreds of years clowns were universally beloved figures of fun enjoyed by everyone from oldest to the youngest. Then Stephen King's It and WWF's Doink combined to give an entire generation a stifling fear of clowns. That fear has since been passed down to subsequent generations. And now practically everybody is terrified of clowns.

Original Doink was a great gimmick. Most people thankfully realize this now. It wasn't always that way. But it's always nice to see people come to their senses.

So, yeah, early Doink was great. Loved the angle where he "took off his arm" to assault Crush. Loved the entire Crush feud. LOVED Doink actually defeating Crush at Wrestlemania IX. Loved the use of multiple Doink's. REALLY loved his KOTR Qualifying Series with Mr. Perfect. Thought they were "good matches" before I even cared about such things. Also thought Doink was a "good wrestler" before I cared about such a thing. Doink did good work at Summerslam 1993 with Bret & Lawler. Nowadays it's easy to see when Vince was into a character, and he may have loved heel Doink even more than I did. I totally would have bought into Doink as an IC Champ or WWF Championship contender on PPV.

Unfortunately, Doink declined as quickly as NWA Powerrr. They turned him face. Borne left. And Doink became awful. He had replaced The Bushwhackers as the stupid kiddie comedy guy. Sad. Doink was infinitely superior as a Jake Roberts creepy heel guy. Face Doink stunk up WWF rings for nearly two years and has since become a poster boy for everything that was bad about WWF's (totally NOT bad) New Generation.

But Borne himself went on to have an interesting, albeit short-lived run in ECW as "Borne Again." I really wish we could have seen that play out. But Borne was (allegedly) too drugged up even for ECW. Let that sink in for a moment.....

I missed Big Josh in real time, and was not a fan of the gimmick when I did revisit that period in WCW history, though I'd probably have more time for it today. I've also seen a little bit of Borne's Mid South run where he was basically just a generic brawling "biker" heel. 

But heel Doink was Great.

#119 The Black Scorpion

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}From one great gimmick to another.....

I really wrestled over this selection. Oh, The Scorpion was definitely a favorite. No doubt. But was he a wrestler? Not really. He was a gimmick/character. This is NOT Ric Flair for the purposes of this list. It's just....The Black Scorpion. In the end, I loved the Scorpion so much that I decided to include it. 

I've told the story before of how The Black Scorpion was the first NWA/WCW thing to ever have playground buzz in my neck of the woods. I literally never heard the other kids mention NWA/WCW a single time until everybody was suddenly doing The Black Scorpion voice and talking about his feud with Sting. The Black Scorpion singlehandedly made NWA/WCW kiddie cool. This buzz also brought me back to NWA. I had lost track of it once the Flair/Funk feud ran its course. I distinctly remember watching some WCW right around Starrcade 1990. This is entirely due to the Scorpion. It would also be the last time I watched WCW until the very beginning of 1993, as I soon lost track of it once again.

I already mentioned how WCW never had playground buzz here before. Well, the next time I heard ANYBODY talk about WCW wouldn't be until the fall of 1992 when my friend/soccer teammate Greg would do Cactus Jack's "Bang Bang" taunt. And, aside from me occasionally bringing it up to my extremely casual WCW fan friends and cousin, WCW wouldn't become a topic of conversation again until September 1995 when everybody in my neighborhood suddenly became WCW fans. So the Scorpion was definitely a personal/neighborhood draw. He was also a real life draw.....

WCW wouldn't eclipse the total number of buys for Sting/Scorpion at Starrcade 1990 until Bash At The Beach 1994, and The Clash of Champions rating for the Scorpion's first match with Sting would NEVER be eclipsed in company history.

So the next time some fool tells you the Black Scorpion angle sucked, hit 'em with the facts. The Scorpion didn't JUST rule. He was also $$$$$.

Even dumbass Ole Anderson shits on the best idea he had ever had in the company. If Ole had focused more on Black Scorpions and less on headlock connoisseurs maybe WCW would still be in business to this very day. I'm just saying.....

Other reasons why the Black Scorpion ruled.....

He was basically a Doctor Who villain
He could turn people into tigers
Had an armies of lackeys who dressed him like him
Speaking of attire, The Black Scorpion dressed like the druids on Duck Tales
Came to the ring in a fucking spaceship

So why is he only #119?

Well, as great as the build was, the payoff sucked. Meaning it really was the Higher Power angle! Just 9 years earlier. After all those months of mystery and intrigue, turns out it was just Ric Flair, who apparently dabbled in black magic on the side. 

The Black Scorpion angle is another one of those things I spent years of my life just assuming everybody else loved. If I had to chronologically rank the most memorable NWA/WCW feuds I actually saw, and was into in real time, it would go.....

Midnight Express vs. Original Midnight Express
Flair vs. Funk
Sting vs. Black Scorpion
Vader vs. Cactus Jack
NWO vs. WCW (early days)

So you can imagine my shock when I got finally get online in the late 90s only to read about one of the greatest things in NWA/WCW history being crucified as Wrestlecrap. Mind blown!

TL;DR- The Black Scorpion ruled. Epic build to his feud with Sting. ACTUALLY DREW MONEY. Lousy payoff though, which soured people (including myself to an extent) on the whole thing. 

Why does wrestling so often have lousy payoffs to great ideas?

Something to think about until next time.....

The reason Scorpion was so over is because we all assumed it would be Warrior. I was more than disappointed when I learned it was Flair. Looking back the build up was great.

Evil Doink was great. Good Doink just ok.

Dec 1, 2019 23:52:41 GMT bodyslam said:

The reason Scorpion was so over is because we all assumed it would be Warrior. I was more than disappointed when I learned it was Flair. Looking back the build up was great.

Evil Doink was great. Good Doink just ok.

Is this legit? People actually thought BS was gonna be Warrior!?

Dec 2, 2019 3:39:22 GMT 🤯 said:

Dec 1, 2019 23:52:41 GMT bodyslam said:

The reason Scorpion was so over is because we all assumed it would be Warrior.

Is this legit? People actually thought BS was gonna be Warrior!?

Pretty much.

I think part of Ole's plan involved working the "insiders." The Scorpion claimed to be a figure from Sting's past. Insiders (what we called smarks back in the day) naturally would have put 2 and 2 together and came up Warrior. 

I was too much of a know nothing rube in 1990 to be aware of Sting & Warrior having history together. As far as I can remember, I didn't even hazard a guess as to who the mysterious Scorpion might be. I also don't specifically remember any of the other enthralled kids on the playground saying The Scorpion was going to be Warrior. That's not to say it didn't happen. I just cannot confirm this with my own memory. However, if I had been at that "just smart enough to be more stupid than ever" stage I was at in 95-96, I absolutely would have thought Scorpion=Warrior.

Back then most of these so-called insiders got their news from the mags or the ever-popular "friend of a friend." So they likely would have known, or at the very least heard whispered rumors about Sting & Warrior coming up together as a tag team, and jumped at the Scorpion=Warrior idea. And then, of course, there are those lucky folks living in the Memphis and Mid South territories who would have actually seen the Blade Runners in action.

Dec 2, 2019 3:39:22 GMT 🤯 said:

Dec 1, 2019 23:52:41 GMT bodyslam said:

The reason Scorpion was so over is because we all assumed it would be Warrior. I was more than disappointed when I learned it was Flair. Looking back the build up was great.

Evil Doink was great. Good Doink just ok.

Is this legit? People actually thought BS was gonna be Warrior!?

They played it up as the Black Scorpion was someone from Stings past.  I don't remember all the details, but Warrior seemed like the logical choice.

Dec 2, 2019 3:39:22 GMT 🤯 said:

Dec 1, 2019 23:52:41 GMT bodyslam said:

The reason Scorpion was so over is because we all assumed it would be Warrior. I was more than disappointed when I learned it was Flair. Looking back the build up was great.

Evil Doink was great. Good Doink just ok.

Is this legit? People actually thought BS was gonna be Warrior!?

I remember 1986 being a big tip off to fans in the know about Sting and Warrior's past. Plus the Scorpion claimed to have trained with Sting in California iirc which was a hint at Power Team USA where Sting and Warrior were first discovered.