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Post by Kilgore on Feb 13, 2024 5:03:57 GMT
You mentioning Steamboat's selling makes me remember that he was the first wrestler that registered as being good at doing that to me. This makes sense, Steamboat is often mentioned as one of the best ever at this, but selling is a multifaceted thing, a strength like longterm selling wouldn't be noticed by me as a boy (especially being raised on Hulk Hogan matches). What made Steamboat so obviously good even a child was his facial expressions. He really looked like he was being hurt. This absolute physical specimen had me worrying for him like he was an overmatched regular guy because he was so good at looking like he was in pain. Old Terry Funk is the only other wrestler that really made me believe he was in pain at that level (besides Sabu when he was genuinely hurting himself, which doesn't count).
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Post by Baker on Feb 15, 2024 0:09:53 GMT
Fabulous Rougeau Brothers vs. Killer Bees- WrestleFest 7/31/88
This is just a few weeks after the Rougeaux turned heel on the Bees. Rougeaux are so new to heeldom that they don't even have Jimmy Hart in their corner yet.
Match takes place outdoors. I love the vibe of outdoor shows. The one area kiddie me preferred NWA to WWF was NWA having more matches outdoors. A bit of research revealed this show took place in Milwaukee County Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. WWF drew a Milwaukee wrestling record 25,000+ fans to a glorified house show. When you're hot, you're hot. Some matches would air on Prime Time Wrestling and an edited version of the show would later be released on Coliseum Home Video as WrestleFest '88.
Bees are wearing stylish black & yellow tights rather than their usual trunks with a different black & yellow color pattern. It's a good look for them but they're still blown away by the fabulous Sweden colors sported by the brothers Rougeau. Billy Graham, Lord Alfred Hayes, and Sean Mooney provide the commentary with Graham insisting the Bees have put on weight. I am sadly not enough of a Killer Bee connoisseur to confirm or deny this claim from "The Superstar."
This was a good match highlighted by a typically great Jacques Rougeau performance. It was a smart, scientific bout where everything built on what had come before. The Rougeaux would do something. Then the Bees would do the same thing better. Or the Bees would do something. Then the Rougeaux would try do the same thing, only to fail because they're heels, and therefore less skilled than the babyface Bees. Pro Wrestling 101. So pure it's painful. Rougeaux got heat by hugging and massaging one another not unlike another great 88-89 tag team in the Midnight Express. I love how Jacques uses his athleticism to get heat. He'll do these unnecessary kip ups and roll throughs and whatnot. Basically what DVDVR DEAN used to call "fruity embellishments." Raymond even gets in on the act a little. You love to see it. Finish isn't great though. Rougeaux win with cheating around the 14 minute mark, but it just didn't come off all that well after all the solid wrestling which preceded it.
Verdict- Recommended as a sort of WWF version of Midnights/Rock & Rolls. Will have this on the mind (among other things) when I rate Jacques in the Top 25 next time PWO does their thing. #25 being a worse case scenario. You never know. I might be cheeky enough to go Top 10.
Rockers vs. Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji- Dark Match 1/22/90
This is real good! Shawn & Barbarian start out, and it's fine, but for once it's Marty & Warlord who steal the show. They have a 5* few minutes. Marty takes some HUGE bumps. First comes what I think is legit the highest back body drop I have ever seen. Other great back body drop takers like AJ, Lance, and Spike can only hang their heads in shame now, knowing they have been beat. Marty then gets launched 10 feet up in the air AGAIN, a la the Borga match at Summerslam '93, only without getting gut punched on the way down this time. Then he goes for a Frankensteiner only to get POWERBOMBED IN 1990 WWF! What got into these guys today? Marty suddenly decides to become the greatest bumper ever in this match while Warlord wrestles like he looks which should have made him World Champion for the rest of the decade. Rockers also break out some nifty Midnight Expresses- back to back double superkicks on the big boys and a sweet Dropkick Double Goozle for 2. Bump King Marty also gets caught coming off the top with a textbook Barb powerslam. Only the wet fart of a finish brings this down. Fuji trips Shawn with his cane. Ref catches it. Rockers win by DQ. Lame.
But we do get a nice little post-match beatdown culminating with the PoP hitting this combo Hart Attack/Doomsday Device on Shawn. Then none other than HULK HOGAN makes the save. Hulkster hanging and banging with the midcarders, brother. As I suddenly want to see Hogan & Rockers vs. PoP & Fuji while stuck here in this glorious Bizarro World.
Verdict- Shockingly good match marred only by a lame finish. EDIT: And the cameraman missing what I presume was Barbarian big booting a Rocker from apron to floor. Still, this was honestly even better than the very good Rougeaux/Bees bout.
EDIT: Shame on me for neglecting to mention the hot crowd and sweet SWORDS on the Powers of Pain's pants.
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Iron Sheik w/ Freddie Blassie- Madison Square Garden 12/28/84- WWF Championship Match
Finish of the last match made me realize I had come this far in a late 80s-early 90s WWF binge without covering the Hulkster. That's unacceptable, brother.
This is almost one year to the day of Sheik upsetting Backlund to win the WWF Championship. He grabs the cool, old school, oversized microphone hanging from the ceiling to rant at Cyndi Lauper, of all people. Crowd hates his guts. Eye of the Tiger hits. Hell yeah, brother! I'm not saying Eye of the Tiger is better than Real American, but it's not not better. Both are HYPE. So it's more like two equally great all timers a la My Time & The Game or All American Boys & I'm The Mountie. And it's better still as Eye of the Tiger gets quasi-New Jack treatment by playing about a minute into the match. Rare 80s WWF balldrop by not making that a regular occurrence in Hogan matches. He'd have been even more unstoppable with Eye of the Tiger/Real American playing during his bouts.
This is a different Hogan than we're used to. We're used to Hogan selling for most of the match before making the big comeback at the end. Not this time. This is a Hulkster out for blood. This is Hogan as an unstoppable force of nature. This is Hogan steamrolling the Sheik as if he had slapped his wife, burned the flag, and shaved off Mean Gene's mustache all while owing Hogan money in the process. I do get a kick out of the announcers (Gorilla & Okerlund iirc) spin job. They claim Sheik jumped Hogan. That's not true at all! Hogan marched right into the ring and took it to Sheik before the bell rang. He choked Sheik with his shirt and clotheslined him with it as well, all to deafening "USA" chants. Sheik does make a little comeback when he kicks a ducking Hogan with his iconic curled boot. He'd later hit his patented gut wrench suplex. But Hogan is just too much, brother. He only needs a little half Hulk Up before hitting the Rocky III powerslam and following that up with a leg drop to put Sheiky Baby away in roughly 4 minutes. Then we get a few minutes of Hogan posing in front of 20,000 adoring Hulkamaniacs.
Verdict- Fun Hogan match because it deviated from the norm. Hogan's badassery usually came in the form of taking all his opponents' best shots and still coming back to win. This was more of an ass kicking Hulk Hogan. "Stone Cold" Hulk Hogan, if you will.
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Post by Strobe on Feb 15, 2024 8:15:34 GMT
Rockers vs. Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji- Dark Match 1/22/90 This is real good! Shawn & Barbarian start out, and it's fine, but for once it's Marty & Warlord who steal the show. They have like a 5* 5 minutes. Marty takes some HUGE bumps. First comes what I think is legit the highest back body drop I have ever seen. Other great back body drop takers like AJ, Lance, and Spike can only hang their heads in shame now, knowing they have been beat. Marty then gets launched 10 feet up in the air AGAIN, a la the Borga match at Summerslam '93, only without getting gut punched on the way down this time. Then he goes for a Frankensteiner only to get POWERBOMBED IN 1990 WWF! What got into these guys today? Marty suddenly decides to become the greatest bumper ever in this match while Warlord wrestles like he looks which should have made him World Champion for the rest of the decade. Rockers also break out some nifty Midnight Expresses- back to back double superkicks on the big boys and a sweet Dropkick Double Goozle for 2. Bump King Marty also gets caught coming off the top with a textbook Barb powerslam. Only the wet fart of a finish brings this down. Fuji trips Shawn with his cane. Ref catches it. Rockers win by DQ. Lame. But we do get a nice little post-match beatdown culminating with the PoP hitting this combo Hart Attack/Doomsday Device on Shawn. Then none other than HULK HOGAN makes the save. Hulkster hanging and banging with the midcarders, brother. As I suddenly want to see Hogan & Rockers vs. PoP & Fuji while stuck here in this glorious Bizarro World. Verdict- Shockingly good match marred only by a lame finish. Honestly even better than the very good Rougeaux/Bees bout. This does not surprise me, because they have a great match (as in one of the best WWF tags of that era) a week before at MSG, which sounds like it was very similar, as to be expected. You should seek that one out and I should watch this one. The Royal Rumble was the day before the match you watched and this match should really have been on it, rather than Rougeaus/Whackers.
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Post by Emperor on Feb 15, 2024 19:58:33 GMT
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Iron Sheik w/ Freddie Blassie- Madison Square Garden 12/28/84- WWF Championship Match For such a historic match, it isn't very good. I know I'm watching it through eyes four decades in the future beaten down by moves and workrate and strong style, but was this actually considered good wrestling in 1984? I can see the theatrical bumping and posturing being entertaining. Well, the crowd certainly enjoys it. While I was busy not enjoying the action, I started thinking about the booking of the time. How did Hulk Hogan earn this title shot? Did he beat some upper midcarders in sub 5-minute matches? Who were the upper midcarders of the era? What were Iron Sheik's title defenses like? Who were his previous challengers? I want to see this more out of morbid curiosity than a quest for fun. In conclusion, those ropes are so bloody loose! Rockers vs. Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji- Dark Match 1/22/90 The YouTube thumbnail is Hulk Hogan being all Hulk Hoganny. I don't want to see that man again! Baker's review actually made me excited for this match, get that lumbering oaf off my screen! Warlord and Barbarian are great wrestler names. This is the WWF Road Warriors rip-off, right? Well, they don't look as good, and they probably don't wrestle as well, but they have far better names than Animal and Hawk. I'd be much more scared running into a Warlord and a Barbarian in a dark alley, than a hawk and an...animal. What animal? A cute puppy dog? The Rockers run to the ring, tassles flying, mullets also flying. I may be ignorant but I have seen The Rockers before, in all their cheesy 80s glory. While I certainly wouldn't describe this match as modern, it felt a lot more modern than the Hogan/Sheik match. The moves are still pretty basic, which isn't a problem. The action moved at a fast pace like Hogan/Sheik but it wasn't anywhere near as corny. The psychology was simple but effective big strong man vs little fast man. The Warlord vs Jannetty segment was the highlight as Baker pointed out. The back body drop was very high indeed, but I also feel the camera angle cleverly made it look higher than it was, so I question the "highest back body drop ever" claim. Great bumps. I expected the comeback to be lame, and it was. I'm not convinced The Rockers' offense would even hurt me, let alone Warlord and Barbarian. The finish was not good, but at least maintained the integrity of the rules, which is something that modern wrestling really suffers from. Incompetent referees who never see anything, and when they do see something, they won't DQ. It's used as a booking crutch and I don't like it.
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Post by Baker on Feb 15, 2024 22:49:32 GMT
Hulk Hogan (c) vs. Iron Sheik w/ Freddie Blassie- Madison Square Garden 12/28/84- WWF Championship Match For such a historic match, it isn't very good. I know I'm watching it through eyes four decades in the future beaten down by moves and workrate and strong style, but was this actually considered good wrestling in 1984? I can see the theatrical bumping and posturing being entertaining. Well, the crowd certainly enjoys it. While I was busy not enjoying the action, I started thinking about the booking of the time. How did Hulk Hogan earn this title shot? Did he beat some upper midcarders in sub 5-minute matches? Who were the upper midcarders of the era? What were Iron Sheik's title defenses like? Who were his previous challengers? I want to see this more out of morbid curiosity than a quest for fun. In conclusion, those ropes are so bloody loose! This isn't the historic title change. It's just a big house show rematch almost a full year after Hogan won the title. Fwiw the famous title change is not that great either! This wasn't considered good wrestling by most "smart" fans even back in 1984. Most hardcore fans were actually fanatically anti-WWF. Little has changed! Only difference is there were a whole lot less of them back in the day. In the end it goes back to something I wrote in a recent thread about the fan mindset being totally different 40 years ago, even 25-30 years ago. Up until roughly 1996 it was all about good guys vs. bad guys. Fans weren't rooting for "good matches." They were rooting for their heroes. And Hogan was the most heroic hero of them all. You said it yourself "the crowd certainly enjoys it." 'Twas just a completely different mindset than what you're used to today. Interesting question about how Hogan earned his title shot. Iirc it was supposed to be a Backlund/Sheik rematch. Backlund was hurt. So Hogan took his place. Won the belt. The rest is history. BUT Hogan had only been back for a month or so and had few big wins in the fed. Maybe he got a title shot based on reputation? He was a big deal in the AWA and already something of a mainstream star based on his Rocky III appearance. Iron Sheik had very few televised defenses and I don't think I've seen any of them. As champ I think he only squashed one jobber on regular WWF tv and I believe there's one Tito Santana house show defense that was taped. Other upper midcarders of the day were guys like Tito Santana, Paul Orndorff, Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, Greg Valentine & Sgt. Slaughter. Rockers vs. Powers of Pain w/ Mr. Fuji- Dark Match 1/22/90 Fun Fact: My favorite Intellivision game, Tower of Doom, had 10 different characters you could play as. Two of them were the WARLORD & BARBARIAN. Warlord was one of the strongest, but Barbarian was surprisingly mid. Oddly enough, the Novice may have been the strongest character of them all. Waif was definitely the weakest. Truly the Jogurt the Yogurt of Tower of Doom. Demolition are the more famous "Road Warriors rip off." Powers of Pain actually started in NWA under the same names with the same look. They were feuding with the Road Warriors when they quit the territory over being booked to lose Scaffold Matches. Not that they had a problem with losing but being 300 pounders they had a problem with falling off scaffolds. So they pulled a "that doesn't work for us, brother." Getting back to what I wrote earlier about a dearth of smart fans back in the day, I heard from reliable sources that a considerable amount of WWF fans thought the PoP were the Road Warriors upon arriving in WWF.
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Post by Big Pete on Feb 16, 2024 6:08:32 GMT
The WWF put the belt on Hogan ASAP. The backstory was that Hogan had left the WWWF in disgrace, but thanks to the vitamins and the prayers, he had found a better path and that made him the biggest star in Professional Wrestling. There was no place he'd rather be in the WWF, he wanted that title and there would be nothing more satisfying than beating the guy his former manager Freddie Blassie hooked up with than The Iron Sheik. In storyline, Backlund helped orchestrate the move, as Hogan was his back-up to take on the Samoans and when Backlund was unfit to challenge Sheik for the belt, Hogan stepped in place. Despite Hogan talking about working to earn an opportunity, he was elevated into the position within days and made short work of the Sheik. With Vince Jr in charge, we started to see a real shift in the roster. It was very similar to NXT 2.0 where the Adam Coles, Johnny Garganos, Samoa Joes etc. made way for the Bronn Breakers, Tony D'Angelos and Von Wagners.
There's a couple of cool moments with Hogan-Sheik. Namely Hogan making his way backstage and walking past Vince Sr as the former owner holds the curtain open - a real passing of the torch. Then there's the post-match celebrations with Andre putting Hogan over, putting the wheels in motion for the biggest wrestling show of all-time.
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Post by Emperor on Feb 17, 2024 14:30:03 GMT
In the end it goes back to something I wrote in a recent thread about the fan mindset being totally different 40 years ago, even 25-30 years ago. Up until roughly 1996 it was all about good guys vs. bad guys. Fans weren't rooting for "good matches." They were rooting for their heroes. And Hogan was the most heroic hero of them all. You said it yourself "the crowd certainly enjoys it." 'Twas just a completely different mindset than what you're used to today. The complete shift in the fan perception of pro-wrestling is remarkable. It's essentially a transition from light, circussy entertainment to entertainment that is somewhat snobby and exposed to a similar level of criticism to movies. I must have missed where you mentioned this theme in another thread.
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Post by Ness on Feb 17, 2024 16:03:27 GMT
In conclusion, those ropes are so bloody loose!
Always felt like this was a WWF trademark, especially in comparison to wCw who always felt ultra tight.
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Post by Baker on Feb 18, 2024 2:32:20 GMT
In the end it goes back to something I wrote in a recent thread about the fan mindset being totally different 40 years ago, even 25-30 years ago. Up until roughly 1996 it was all about good guys vs. bad guys. Fans weren't rooting for "good matches." They were rooting for their heroes. And Hogan was the most heroic hero of them all. You said it yourself "the crowd certainly enjoys it." 'Twas just a completely different mindset than what you're used to today. The complete shift in the fan perception of pro-wrestling is remarkable. It's essentially a transition from light, circussy entertainment to entertainment that is somewhat snobby and exposed to a similar level of criticism to movies. I must have missed where you mentioned this theme in another thread. Great way of putting it. I sometimes forget there is an entire fan generation or two who didn't live through the old way and may never have experienced it at all. It's no wonder there's such a generation gap between wrestling fans. It's no wonder we rarely agree on things! I still have at least one foot firmly planted in the old school way I grew up with. For me, Larry Zbyszko generating heat by stalling is worth as much, or more, than a twisting springboard Shooting Star Press for a two count. Here is the other thread where I went into more detail. Scroll about 3/4 of the way down... pwcom.proboards.com/thread/6526/lookedOne thing I didn't clarify enough in those posts is the fanbase only STARTED changing in 96-97. It was a gradual process that would continue on through the Cena Era. Yeah, the NWO sold a lot of merch, and got more cheers than most heels, but some of the biggest pops in company history were for guys like Luger, Goldberg, DDP, and Sting when they were fighting those NWO jerks. And Austin became even more beloved when they turned him babyface. Philly had a reputation for being a heel town. That's not really true. It was a passion town, or a blood & guts town, more than anything else. They respected hard work, hated laziness, and were not shy about letting you know it. ECW fans may have been smarkier than WWF & WCW fans of the same era, but they still got invested in face/heel stuff. I went to 8-9 ECW shows at the Arena so I can confirm through firsthand experience they LOVED the faces, HATED the heels. They were honestly closer to Southern territory fans than anything else, including your modern day Meltzerians. Somebody here, I think it was Kilgore, once asked "When did kayfabe die?" I answered early 2000s. That seems awfully late. What i really meant by that was fans were still deeply invested in the time-tested good guy vs. bad guy stuff through the Attitude Era. Even if they weren’t technically true believers, they would still lose themselves in the moment, or play along at the very least. People were super into Bret/Austin, Bret/America, Austin/McMahon, Austin/Other Heels, Taker/Kane, Foley’s dream of winning the title. People were desperate to see Rock/Foley/Anybody dethrone HHH in 2000. The vast majority still booed Angle and cheered a seemingly washed Undertaker just because the former was a bad guy and the latter a good guy. Now I'm thinking about modern fans being transplanted back to the Golden Age and having a hearty chuckle over it. A couple guys trying to start a grassroots movement to get Koko & Blue Blazer pushed over Hogan only to be laughed out of town... The same guys trying to convince fans in the arenas Ultimate Warrior is overpushed only to be met by confusion... "You deserve it" chants when indie territory legend Kerry Von Erich wins the IC Title from Mr. Perfect as the Texas Tornado... "This is awesome" chants for Savage/Steamboat at Wrestlemania III... "Welcome Back" chants for everyone from Dusty to Dibiase to 1991 Steamboat to Hennig to Saba Simba.
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Post by Baker on Feb 20, 2024 3:25:45 GMT
I've watched 17 matches from 17 different non-WWF promotions over the past week. Most were from 80s territorial wrestling and most of those were bad, boring, or both with lousy finishes. Not sure I'll be writing them all up because it would get too repetitive. Maybe I'll just stick with quick blurbs. But today I am going more in depth on what turned out to be the cream of this crop...
Doug Williams vs. Jack Gallagher- New Generation Wrestling 6/7/15- 2 out of 3 Falls
I only know this NGW exists because I stole their logo for an old fanfic project of the same name. This is for the Heritage Cup or part of the Heritage Tournament or something to do with Heritage. Commentary spends a lot of time banging on about tru British wrestling and World of Sport and yada yada yada.
Gallagher was a fun discovery several years back. He was working WWE's midget women's cruiserweight division. Had a fun gimmick, unique look, and one of the best matches I saw all decade against Neville.
Williams came around 5 years too early and made some questionable career decisions. He was really the first guy to bring back that old World of Sports style which would soon become all the rage on the US indie scene. Gabe wanted to push him hard in ROH on two separate occasions but Williams was unwilling to move from the UK to the States. Had he done so I'm sure WWE would have picked him up before long given his size. Dude was a legit heavyweight. That, even more than the British technical stuff, is what I first took note of upon seeing him in ROH. But who knows? Maybe he was happy being a big fish in a small pond as "the ambassador for British wrestling."
This is a fun technical match done in the old WoS style. Williams takes the first fall with a fancy pin. "Gentleman" Jack takes the second with an armbar after working the arm. Psychology! Williams takes the third fall, and the match, with his beautiful Chaos Theory finisher.
Only drawback was this one real awkward moment where they sat facing each other, stretching legs spread eagle-style. Hard to explain, but the crowd quite correctly chanted "This Is Awkward." Think they were going for a comedy spot, but it came off as weird rather than funny.
Taz (c) vs. Tommy Dreamer w/ Beulah- ECW tv 12/27/97- TV Title Match
Confession time. I don't watch much ECW nowadays. Partially because it's hard to find complete matches online, but partially because I think it aged the poorest of all wrestling promotions. And it brings me no joy to dunk on something that brought me so much happiness in the 90s. Yet, in truth, I find a lot of it to be cringe nowadays, and Joey Styles is just the worst.
But this is good! They start out with some nice mat wrestling. Taz gets the better of it. The Buffalo crowd is appreciative. Pretty nice looking venue for 1997 ECW, too. Then Tommy takes over with brawling on the floor. Taz does look like a midget when he's on his back. Sorry, not sorry. Big moves are actually teased rather than meaninglessly hit in rapid fire succession. It's the rare ECW match with a brain. OK, so Taz does kick out of Dreamer's DDT finisher. But so did everybody else on the first try! And this IS Taz. The biggest badass in the land. So I'll let it slide. Taz is looking for the katcha... kata...Tazmission when those jerks RVD & Sabu interfere to cause a double DQ.
BOO! This legit pissed me off lol. RVD & Sabu were underrated heels. 1997 me sure did hate them. And they were doing a pro-WWF gimmick! So you can only imagine how great they were as heels if they got me, Mr. WWF, to boo them. Sabu was an overrated, overhyped bum while that RVD was a jerk almost on par with same era HBK. Stare down. Then BRAKUS comes out looking all jacked. Hell yeah! Didn't Taz squash Brakus on one of their pay per views? Now I want to see the Taz/Tommy vs. RVD/Sabu tag match this hopefully led to.
Bruiser Brody vs. Buzz Sawyer w/ Percy Pringle- WCCW 9/13/86
Percy Pringle is Paul Bearer with blonde hair. I'm not the biggest Brody fan. He has a great look and is good on offense with simple stuff done well, but he usually doesn't believe in bumping & selling. Like not at all. Buzz was a good talent, but one who just rubs me the wrong way. Pretty sure he was legit crazy and entirely sure he was a real life jerk. He's short, stocky, and bald. Yet still nothing like George Costanza. He died young and would have been a perfect fit for ECW had he lived.
This is mostly good. Brody actually bumped and sold for once! Buzz was a force of nature as usual. He really did wrestle the way a guy nicknamed "Mad Dog" should. Commentator was either the dumbest man on the planet or he had the biggest balls of them all because he kept referring to noted psychopath Buzz Sawyer as "little man." I can only assume Buzz didn't watch the tv show because I never heard of any rumors of a WCCW announcer mysteriously disappearing or a body being found in Sawyer's backyard. Anyway, this is great when they were brawling. Little man Buzz hit big Brody with a belly to belly! Big Brody breaks out a dropkick! Brody hits legit one of the best big boots I ever saw. Buzz made it look killer. They're brawling and biting and fighting and it's all really good stuff....until they slip in the rest holds. There were several. Really killed the flow. Brody scores the pinfall victory with....I forget. This was an overall win, but could have been something really great if they had cut out the rest holds.
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Post by Baker on Feb 22, 2024 2:34:00 GMT
Mike George (c) vs. Chris Adams- WWA Spring 1988- WWA "World" Championship Match
WWA was basically a rebranded Central States Wrestling. Bob Geigel's old Central States territory had a bad reputation. The tv was boring and the payoffs poor. It was a place wrestlers went when they were just starting out or when they were finishing up.
I liked both of these guys once upon a time. Dug Mike George’s "Timekeeper" gimmick in dying day AWA while Adams was the best in ring talent in AWF 2.0 who also earned bonus points for having the fabulous “Gentleman” nickname. That being said, Mike George has to be the lamest "world" champion of all time and, while I am an Adams fan, bringing him in seemed to be a curse that foreshadowed the death of a promotion. Everywhere he went died- Watts UWF, this WWA, Workd Class, USWA Texas, GWF, AWF, even WCW. WWA had a working agreement with WCCW which is why this match is happening.
First 10 minutes were real boring. One of them worked the arm. The other worked the sleeper. Only one getting tired was me. George had surprisingly lousy punches for a husky 20 year vet with a the pre-Hulkmania look of a Bob Sweetan. It's no wonder George spent most of his career in this jobber territory.
Things finally threaten to get interesting when Adams hits a rare Superkick to the gut. But it's only a threat, as things quickly go from boring to stupid. George sells the gut Superkick like he jammed a bat into his stomach when walking into a fence as I once did when I was like 10. Then Adams hits another Superkick. This time George gently falls into special guest referee Pat O'Connor. Somehow this knocks out the former NWA World Champion. Then Adams hits a killshot Superkick to the face. And it turns into schmozz city after that. Ref is out so wrestler DJ Peterson comes in to count the 3 himself. But wrestling doesn't work that way. Adams gets thrown over the top at some point and that's technically a DQ because Cental States still thinks it's 1978. Adams, the dumbest man on the planet, thinks he won the title. He didn't. O'Connor ended up disqualifying George for throwing Adams over the top rope.
Verdict- Everything bad about 80s wrestling in one 15 minute slog
Terry Gordy vs. Moadib w/ Skandor Akbar- Global Wrestling Federation 1994
"The Nubian Terror" Moadib is Ahmed Johnson in genie pants making this an interesting historical curiosity. Akbar got fat while Ahmed already had an all time great look and Gordy does not.
This is bad, but honestly not as bad as I was expecting considering it's post-death Terry Gordy and an even greener than you're used to Ahmed Johnson. At least the crowd was into it, cheering big for Gordy, even heckling Moadib, who hailed from "Africa," with "USA" chants. Gordy's running clotheslines in the corner sucked though. So did Ahmed's top rope...move? I think it was supposed to be a diving headbutt? Ahmed took an unintentionally reckless bump to the floor. He always did lack polish. But that's one of the things that made him fun!
Second match in a row with a garbage finish. This time there's a lot of cheating and Akbar interference but the ref doesn't call for the DQ until Gordy puts the dreaded Asiatic Spike on Akbar. Then his goon squad, The Rough Riders(?), make the save. Think it was Bill Irwin & Black Bart. They hold Gordy for Ahmed to....drop some headbutts on his legs? OK, then. Interesting choice. Not exactly a career killer. Commentary covers for the strange choice by saying Gordy had surgery on both legs. Finally Michael Hayes, Jimmy Garvin, and a guy named Action Jackson make the save. Texas promotions still out there pushing the Freebirds like it's 1984 rather than 1994.
Verdict- Oh, this was also bad, but at least it was bad in a charming fashion unlike that George/Adams all around stinker.
Larry Zbyszko (c) vs. Tommy Rich- Georgia 1983- National Championship Match- 10 Minute Time Limit
Crazy as it is to believe, this would have been a main event anywhere in the country just a few years earlier. You could make a convincing argument for these two being the top heel & top babyface in the country circa 80-81. Rich was the top babyface on the only nationally televised wrestling show while Zbyszko was the top heel in the heavily populated Northeast who was also helped by receiving tons of Apter Mag coverage. A theoretical Wrestlemania or Starrcade in 80 or 81 could easily have been headlined by these guys.
But we're now in '83. They're still over, but not quite as over as they had been a few years earlier. And things would only get worse for them with the rise of Hulkmania changing everything. Rich had such a weird career. He went from arguably the top babyface in the country to washed before turning 30. Probably the closest thing we have to another Bob Backlund when it comes to a huge star who fell off the face of the earth. Zbyszko arguably never reached his true potential either due to some questionable decisions, but at least he'd carve out a solid career for himself in AWA & WCW.
Hmm...maybe scrap what I wrote about "not being quite as over as they had been a few years earlier" because this crowd is super duper invested. Zbyszko stalls like only he can and the 10 minute time limit stipulation plays to his strength because Gordon on commentary can claim stalling is part of his strategy to run out the clock in order to keep the belt. Tommy Rich was the Sam Malone of Georgia judging by the near-constant high-pitched screaming for "Wildfire." You know he got some after this show. Rich is an underrated rat catcher in general. You always hear about Flair, Lane, and Morton scoring, but what about him? What about Tommy? You know he was right up there with any of those guys during the early 80s. I swear Tommy's fan club were even singing songs. Most of them had to do with Larry being a "chicken."
So we have all the makings of a 10 minute mini classic. Zbyszko is a world class heel. El Gordo is good on commentary. We have a great crowd full of girls treating Tommy Rich like he's The Beatles. But it's let down by Rich himself. He's just so bland on offense. Punch, armdrag, weird stiff arm bionic elbow. Repeat. Time and time again. Punches. Armdrags. Weird stiff arm bionic elbows. Learn a new move! There has to be a happy middle ground between the million moves of 2024 and the three moves of 1983. Oh wait. There is. And that's the sort of wrestling I prefer to watch. Match obviously went to a 10 minute time limit draw.
Verdict- Everything about this was good except for perpetual bore Tommy Rich. For a guy whose whole deal was being "Far Dupp" he sure wasn't very fiery.
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Post by Baker on Feb 22, 2024 23:51:53 GMT
Curt Hennig w/ Madusa vs. Wahoo McDaniel- AWA 3/19/88- AWA Championship Match
Wahoo is another of those revered old timers like Tommy Rich (and Dick Murdoch) who I never had much time for. McDaniel was old when the world and I were young. I have but one notable Wahoo story...
The youngest of the Three Brothers once read his name as "Wooha" when combing through one of my wrestling publications and I found this hilarious. So for a long time I/we called him Wooha McDaniel. Commentary makes this out to be part of a long running feud with the 49 year old Wahoo desperately looking dethrone the pre-Perfect one.
It was a good Hennig performance. Great punches and chops. His big bumps were more of a mixed bag as they ranged from also great to silly looking. But he tried real, real hard to make something out of this. Unfortunately, he was stuck with Wahoo McDaniel. Wahoo was just this big immobile lump who stood in the middle of the ring and showed no interest in bumping or selling. Even his one big move, the chop, didn't look so hot. Hennig's were way better! Hennig gets the win with some real obvious foot on the ropes cheating that the ref missed because all refs are blind. Crowd was weirdly upset by this tired finish though. They chanted "Bullshit." Then Wahoo straight up calls it "bullshit" on the mic! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! E-C-DUB! Wahoo challenges Hennig to a rematch...in a STEEL CAGE. Crowd is way hotter than you would expect for this. Guess the immobile old man still had something that could captivate a crowd. I don't get it, but then I don't get Tommy Rich either.
Verdict- Lousy match despite the best efforts of Hennig
Kerry Von Erich vs. "Lethal" Larry Cameron w/ "Diamond" Dallas Page- IWA 6/20/90
I know nothing about this IWA promotion. Found one site claiming it was based in Ohio. This is right before Kerry went to WWF. In fact, that same source claims it was his last match before hitting the big time. Both these guys had great looks. Cameron is a jacked, black ex-football player who somehow never made it big. I can only assume it's because he got a late start in wrestling. He was profiled in George Napolitano's Pictorial History of Wrestling, and I saw him during his cups of coffee with dying day AWA & early 90s WCW. Yet he never really caught on here in the States. Instead spending most of his rather short career wrestling in other countries- Canada with Stampede, Austria for Otto Wanz's CWA, and New Japan before passing away in an Austrian ring at the relatively young age of 41.
We get a young DDP sighting as he is Cameron's manager and would later join Lee Marshall(!) on commentary. Cameron doesn't want to waste his time wrestling the jobber he was scheduled to face so he issues an open challenge. KVE answers said challenge to a big pop. He is over in Ohio or wherever this took place.
The two jacked dudes have a short, decent little brawl before going to a double countout in what felt like the first match in a feud. Too bad there would never be a second. Interesting to see Kerry, the babyface and much bigger star, not go over. Guessing whoever ran this promotion wanted to protect "Lethal" Larry. Smart man!
Bill Dundee & Jeff Jarrett vs. Badd Company w/ Downtown Bruno- Memphis 1987- 2 out of 3 Falls Match with TV Time Remaining
Badd Company's Paul Diamond is the only one here who looks ready for big time wrestling. Dundee & Pat Tanaka are too short & dumpy while young Double J is too thin at this early stage in his Hall of Fame career.
Thought we were getting the rare match with a babyface ring general. Dundee holds court early, clowning a member of Badd Company by knocking him down with punches, doing a Fargo Strut, and following that up with a little booty wiggle. Crowd pops for The Superstar's antics. The problem is Dundee does the same exact sequence like half a dozen times. I'm not kidding. Just over and over again with the punches-Fargo Strut-booty shake. I wanted Tommy Rich to learn a new move. Watching Dundee here I'd have settled for just a new dance move. Good grief!
Tanaka bumped well. Diamond had the build of a star. JJ...did stuff. Probably? Jarrett & Bill take the first fall by DQ when the future Harvey Whippleman interfered. Badd Company take the second fall when the ref quite justifiably disqualifies Dundee for repeated interference (highlight of the match was Lance Russell on commentary repeatedly reminding the viewers that Bill Dundee was a jerk, but gosh darn it, he's OUR jerk). And we don't get a third fall because we're out of time. So this 2/3 falls match had two DQ's and an out of time. Puke.
Verdict- One of the matches that honestly made me hate 80s territorial wrestling during this extremely underwhelming binge. So much repetition and lousy finishes. Not gonna lie. The territories deserved to die. I don't know how anybody could still watch rinky dink stuff like this and Central States and Portland after seeing glorious WWF tv.
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Post by Ness on Feb 22, 2024 23:53:59 GMT
Trying to scan through this thread to see if Baker throws out a few "Fairy Tales" in the match reviews to see if anyone catches on. Bit skeptical of Hackenschmidt kicking out of the Whippersnapper...
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Post by Baker on Feb 23, 2024 0:09:28 GMT
Trying to scan through this thread to see if Baker throws out a few "Fairy Tales" in the match reviews to see if anyone catches on. Bit skeptical of Hackenschmidt kicking out of the Whippersnapper... I'll save you the trouble. Haven't yet. Well, not intentionally. I have referenced the occasional match that turned out to exist only in my head, or my old wrestling figure leagues, but I've also owned up to it when discovering the truth. And they may have been in other threads rather than this one anyway. However, I have had one "Fairy Tale" review in mind for years. One day it will happen just to see if anyone is paying attention. One day I even started writing it! Before pulling the plug. Don't recall the exact context but do remember my intent was to pull a fast one of 🤯 & Big Pete. Perhaps it was directly inspired by the original Fairy Tale? Idk. Problem is I'm an ardent believer in old school wrestling being one of the few things worth treating with respect, gravitas, and dignity, so I'd feel kind of dirty about pulling a Fairy Tale on it.
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Post by Baker on Feb 23, 2024 17:54:50 GMT
Terry Funk vs. Ranger Ross- WCW Main Event 6/11/89
This is about a month into Funk's epic run as the best heel in wrestling which made me a fan of his (and Flair tbh) for life. Haven't talked about Ranger Ross much, if at all, during my PW career. He was an undercard babyface I had a soft spot for. The sort of guy who would finish #20-25 on my Favorite Wrestlers of the Year list. Basically the same spot as Sam Houston from a few years earlier. Houston had the Texas jig. The patriotic Ranger Ross had a sweet theme and the "Call Back" Kick...
There was a commercial for a toy called Army Ants that used a goofy version of the US Army theme...
Kiddie me and my even younger brother loved this theme/commercial (though we never did bother with the toys iirc). Ranger Ross used the proper version of this tune as his theme. So that got him over with me. Then he had the "Call Back" Kick finisher. A decade or so later I'd discover it was actually called the COMBAT Kick and was just a regular, run of the mill Superkick. But in my head canon it was the CALL BACK Kick and actually involved two kicks. First he'd sort of dickishly slap you on the cheek with his foot and then he'd CALL BACK by clocking you with his heel on the other side of your head. Think a boxer's 1-2 combination.
Chris & Todd Champion used this move in our action figure leagues. Only that was another Baker boner as I conflated Chris Champion of New Breed fame with Chris "Tatanka" Chavis so the Champions were an Indian babyface team. And I STILL botched it when the Internet smartened me up a little. I then mistakenly had Todd team with Sean Royal in the New Breed and turned Chris into a heel pimp because late 90s. Worth noting the Champions had been a longtime lower card babyface team who did much better for themselves after splitting up. Whoa. I went deep in the weeds on this one...
Funk riles the crowd up with some pre-match mic work and would mockingly say the Pledge of Allegiance when in control. Ross, having had enough of Funk's shenanigans, chases him around the ring. Funk ends up in the crowd at some point. A fan gets in his face. JR on commentary dickishly calls the fan a "doughboy" or something along those lines as security gets in between and Funk (the fan didn't look like he was going to do anything untoward). Ross hits a dive of sorts. OK, so he just leapt over the top and landed on his feet the way Sandman used to when he'd come down swinging the Singapore Cane. Funk catches Ross with a punch to the gut on the way down. Piledriver on the floor! Oh no! Ranger Ross is dead! And sure enough Funk rolls Ross in for the easy 1-2-3.
Verdict- Funk was in the zone as always, and Ross was a pretty good broomstick, but Terry Funk running away from Ranger Ross made no sense. Funk is this monster heel getting nuclear heat for injuring Flair and is about to main event the greatest show in company history. So why he is running away from a lower carder and doing comedy spots? It makes no sense!
Terry Taylor (c) vs. Buddy Landel w/ JJ Dillon- NWA Starrcade 11/28/85- National Title Match
NWA had an absurd AEWesque amount of titles during this period. The National Title is one of them.
Both these guys are Flair clones who were considered future stars and both of them never lived up to the hype. Landel's career was derailed by drugs while Taylor's was allegedly derailed by the Red Rooster gimmick. But I happen to think he just wasn't all that great. He's more of a solid hand Armstrong/Zenk type than somebody you build a promotion around.
But Taylor looked like the better man here. All his stuff looked good while Landel is such a blatant Flair ripoff that it becomes a distraction. Example #3498 of Jim Cornette being full of it: He rails against this guy or that guy for being a "cosplay wrestler" and then puts Buddy Landel, King of the Cosplayers, over in the next breath. Match is built around Taylor looking to hit Budro with his Superplex finisher. I found that interesting. Didn't know the Superplex was making the rounds this early. Fwiw I watched a Lawler/E. Gilbert match from February 1985 during this binge that was too clipped to review with only 9 of 28 minutes show where Lawler ALSO hits a Superplex. 1985: Year of the Superplex? It's looking that way. Anyway, Taylor eventually has Landel in Superplex position when he's tripped up by that dastardly Dillon. Landel falls on top to capture the prestigious (lol) National Title. This was supposed to kick off a monster push for Budro which would see him main event all over the territory against Flair, but Landel would end up blowing that and spending the better part of the next decade drifting around the dying Southern territories, never recapturing the momentum he had here.
Verdict- Average at best match with Taylor looking better than the fake Flair
Eddie Gilbert (c) vs. Sam Houston- UWF tv 5/9/87- TV Title Match where the title will change hands on a DQ
Watching a Ranger Ross match made me think of Sam Houston who would have occupied that same #20-25 spot on a Favorite Wrestlers List from a few years earlier. Ross had the Army Ants theme and "Call Back" Kick. Houston had the Texas jig. He does it here! Yay! It's just this little Texas two step dance, but for some reason kiddie me was a fan... Great matches & cool moves? Meh. Boring. Who cares? A dumb dance or a catchy theme? YES! That's my guy!
Gilbert controversially missed out on my Top 50 favorite wrestlers list last time we did a PW Countdown. I took heat for that and deservedly so considering I included Jericho, Edge & Christian over Eddie Gilbert. Look, we all mistakes. But the truth is 1987 me thought Eddie Gilbert was a jerk for helping to break Dr. Death's arm. I'd have been rooting for slender Sam Houston here. Yeehaw!
This is part of an ongoing feud given the stipulation. I'm sure Gilbert got himself DQed a bunch of times to save the title but I cannot remember whether or not JR mentioned this on commentary. Match takes place about a month after Watts sold the UWF to Crockett.
This is an Okada special, 80s style. Match goes about 10 minutes with the first 9 being painfully slow. Then they go into a balls to the wall finishing stretch to trick the viewer into thinking they've seen an action-packed match. Carny af. I can appreciate it. Gilbert gets the win with a Hot Shot. Worth noting Gilbert did a bunch of Flair spots as well, only his came off much better than Buddy's because Eddie Gilbert was at least pretending to be his own person rather than a blatant Flair ripoff.
Verdict- 90% boring with a hot finishing stretch and a rare-for-this-project good, clean finish.
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Post by Baker on Feb 24, 2024 2:18:59 GMT
Ron Garvin vs. Bob Orton Jr. w/ Izzy Slapowitz- ICW January 1980
ICW was the Poffos outlaw promotion that ran shows in what would become the SMW territory a decade later. Garvin & Orton found themselves working ICW after getting blackballed by the NWA for trying take over the Knoxville territory along with a few other wrestlers. Look up "Plan B." It's an interesting story I don't feel like diving into right now.
Interesting to see the original "One Man Gang" Ronnie Garvin with dark hair and Orton with poofy bleach blond hair. Lanny Poffo and some real mellow dude provide commentary as the Midnight Express(!) theme plays in the background.
The wrestling here is fine. They start off with some real shooty looking amateur stuff. But the atmosphere is legit one of the worst I have ever seen. By my count there were only 13 fans in attendance. 9 on one side, 4 on another, and the other two sides entirely devoid of people. APW drew more to a literal garage and they didn't even have tv. What's even worse is this mess actually did air on tv. It's downright depressing. I never would have aired this. Air a rerun. Air anything else. I would have quit the business if I was a wrestler working this show. I would never have gone to another show had I been one of those unlucky 13 fans. Even watching it on my phone almost 45 years later was a depressing experience. To top off this little trip to wrestling hell, we get yet another ultra lame DQ finish when Slapowitz trips Garvin as he's running the ropes. Ugh. Just shoot me already.
Verdict- My inner troll can't help but recommend this just because everybody needs to see the original outlaw mudshow once in their life
Tim Horner (c) vs. Dixie Dy-no-mite- SMW 3/13/93- Beat the Champ TV Title Match
I won't call SMW bush league until the next time I hear Cornette say something stupid. So probably 5 minutes. But the production and general atmosphere is practically peak WWF compared to that ICW crap. Dynamite is one of the S. Armstrongs as a masked Confederate babyface while Horner is, was, and always will be my SMW guy. He has an all timer of a mullet, throws foam lightning bolts(!) to his adoring fans, enters to Garth Brooks' The Thunder Rolls(!!), and even earns bonus points for pulling off the admittedly easy feat of pissing off noted pissbag Jim Cornette. Basically, SMW would still be in business today if Corny gave Horner the book and all the belts. "White Lightning" is a first teamer in my Babyface Boys stable alongside such notables as Big Daddy & Cheetah Master.
This is actually one of the better matches in this binge. Probably 4th out of 19. They do a 5 minute scientific babyface match that once threatens to get chippy, never does, and then Horner earns a $1000 by retaining his TV Title with a bridging O'Connor Roll.
Verdict- Honestly felt like a 4* classic in context given all the crap I watched during this binge (it isn't). We even got a clean finish! Alleluia!
Rick Rude & Manny Fernandez (c) w/ Paul Jones vs. Road Warriors w/ Paul Ellering- Florida- Eddie Graham Memorial Show 5/9/87- NWA Tag Title Match
Interesting to note this took place the same day Gilbert/Houston aired. That was a UWF match and this a Florida Championship Wrestling match. Yet both promotions were really under the control of Jim Crockett's "NWA." Dude was just a failed Vince McMahon. Many such cases.
The three heels all sport fine mustaches. They enter to Queen's We Will Rock You. I started watching NWA in January 1987. Rude left for WWF in May (without dropping the belt and only 18 days after this LOD match, it turns out). They were tag champs for those entire 4 months. Yet I have no real time memory of this team. Just goes to show how much I paid attention to most non-WWF wrestling. In my defense, Rude & Fernandez would have been BORING to a kid reared on Hulkamania and the build to Wrestlemania III.
Road Warriors enter to Black Sabbath's Ironman and a big pop. Back to back win in the music department. Yay! for themes I know. Credit where its due. The jacked Roadies are looking badass in their spiked shoulder pads. Actually 3 of these 4 guys have WWF ready looks with short, dumpy Fernandez being the only outlier. The little blond poof on the back of his hair only adds to his jabroni image. It's ALMOST the Lance Storm Barely Legal rat tail. *shudders* Like Rich & Wahoo, I was never a Manny Fernandez guy. We have two of the all time worst managers in the Pauls while another scrub manager in Oliver Humperdink provides commentary. Yearly reminder most managers actually sucked.
This is a Road Warriors showcase. They throw the mustachioed heels around with ease and both those guys are pretty big boys. Poor Manny almost gets dropped on his head twice by Animal. It eventually degenerates into a schmozz with the managers getting involved and the crowd staying hot for the Road Warriors.
Verdict- I...umm...don't have much to say about this one. It was there. Honestly think this 80s territory project broke my brain a little bit.
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Post by Baker on Feb 25, 2024 0:42:39 GMT
Brad Armstrong (c) Kevin Sullivan- Alabama 9/27/86- Alabama Championship Match
Some old timers rave about the Alabama territory, but I could never get into it. The few times I tried it was all Armstrongs and Stud Stable. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. But I wanted to be fair to every territory during this ill-fated project. While I am a notorious Brad skeptic, at least he's not a 50 year old chronic bootie wiggler like his Mr. Wrestling II ass old man. And while I'm lukewarm on Sullivan, at least he's not Colonel Robert Parker or Bunkhouse Buck. So, I feel like this is the best we're gonna get out of Alabama*.
Surprise, surprise. This is another boring 9 minutes. Stuff happens. Then we finally get a clean finish! When Sullivan, the heel, pins Brad clean as a sheet in the middle of the ring following a piledriver. Talk about an anticlimactic end to a reign. Guessing Brad was doing a "young up and comer" gimmick and won the title on a fluke? Though I am amused by Brad going down like a chump even in his daddy's home territory. What a loser. Worth noting Brad looked a lot like Kenny Omega here.
Highlight was folksy Gordon Solie on commentary saying hello to his friends Myrtle and Roy in Greenbow or whatever it was. Also worth noting this took place in a pretty big arena with good crowd heat. It was a Wrestlemania III like atmosphere compared to some of the stuff I've watched during this binge.
*D'oh! Forgot about Roy Lee Welch. Shame on me. Roy Lee Welch rules. Should have watched a Roy Lee Welch match instead. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.
Rip Oliver vs. Scott Norton- Portland 3/23/91
Some old timers rave about the Portland territory, but I could never get into it. The few times I tried it was all Buddy Rose vs. Whoever in 30 minute, 2/3 Falls matches and who has time for that? But here we've got the Flashman rather than the Master of the Blowaway Diet, so I'm game.
No, no, no. The alignment is all screwed up. Norton is the heel and Oliver the face. Wanna know why Norton never made it big in the States? Because no promoter had the brains to book him as a badass face like a UWF Dr. Death. That's what he should have been. Oliver is a longtime area heel who probably turned face because the fans grew to appreciate him and started viewing him as an old friend. Happened a lot. AWA Bockwinkle, Flair in the Carolinas, etc. Norton is jacked and wears a red tank top with jeans. Oliver has the typical territory wrestler look of bleach blonde hair, dark beard, and dad bod like the countless wrestlers rendered obsolete by the rise of WWF. Interesting to note he's billed as "Logger" Rip Oliver rather than his usual "Crippler" moniker, while Norton was a flapjack-loving lumberjack a year or two earlier in AWA. Meaning we've got a true LUMBERJACK Match here! Meaning it should have been waaaaay better than it was.
Because this was the most forgettable match in a forgettable string of matches. Stuff happened, I presume, until Norton threw powder in Rip Oliver's eyes giving "The Logger" a DQ win around the 7 minute mark. Norton should be steamrolling this chump! Norton attacks after the bell. A bunch of other wrestlers run in. Faces grab Oliver and heels grab Norton to separate the two gladiators as the crowd chants "Let Them Fight." Credit where its due. At least the crowd was into it even if I thought it was a snoozer.
Interesting to note one of the wrestlers doing the run in was CW Bergstrom. I always wanted to see the evil principal in action. Maybe next time? He had a USWA run in....1993, I think it was. Some (like CW Bergstrom) would have you believe he was supposed to come to WWF and feud with The Kid. Only that never happened, and WWF would recycle the entire thing a few years later for Dean Douglas. A story like that's gotta be true. Weird thing is the original CW was on the babyface side here. Did the evil principal thing come later?
Lady X (c) vs. Terri Power- LPWA Super Ladies Showdown 2/23/92- LPWA Championship Match
LPWA was a women's promotion that aired in syndication during the early 90s. It replaced AWA here in the Thursday 6 p.m. timeslot on DC Channel 50. I was a fairly regular viewer. And I couldn't stand that darn Lady X! She was a mysterious masked woman who held the title for what felt like an eternity. Commentary speculated that she was Japanese or Polish. In reality she was veteran Southern grappler Peggy Lee Leather. That name means little to me now and meant nothing to me in the early 90s. BUT Peggy Lee Leather she was also Thug in WOW. And that name does mean something. She beefed with Lana Star this one time. BOO! So now I'm rooting doubly hard for Terri Power.
Terri would go on to become Tori in WWF. Her and Reggie Bennett were the top two babyfaces in LPWA. Kiddie me viewed them as their Hogan & Warrior. They were my two LPWA faves, though I was slightly more of a Reggie Guy. The way I remember it Reggie and Terri were always *this close* to taking the title from stupid Lady X only to have X get DQed, counted out, or retain on some goofy technicality. Weirdly I couldn't have cared less about WWF Tori. And I think I know why...
I wasn't necessarily anti-women's wrestling. I watched GLOW, LPWA, and WOW! But I had no desire to watch women's wrestling in my beloved WWF until Victoria finally made it cool for roughly 5 minutes in 2002. Sorry, not sorry.
Cornette is on commentary and I'm pretty sure that's one reason I watched as much LPWA as I did. Kiddie me loved some Jimmy C.
This isn't a great match. It's not even a good one. It's sloppy as all get out. There's a real dangerous Hot Shot. They even botch the finishing stretch. Terri was supposed to dodge a high flying move before hitting one of her own for the win. She didn't manage to get out of the way in time but they just ignored it and pretended she did. Anyway, sloppy though it may have been, at least they were out there trying. That's more than I can say for most of the matches in this binge. Both ladies hit hard. T-Pow does a genuinely great skin the cat. Though I find it weird that a powerhouse with Power literally in their name threw a minimum of four dropkicks. A dropkick was the ultimate "flyer" move to early 90s me. She should have used more slams, fewer dropkicks. It's not like Lady X is as big as she would be during her later Thug days. Anyway, Terri POWER wins with a top rope crossbody block. YAY! At least the X's Reign of Doom is finally over. LPWA fans can rejoice!
Only LPWA fans weren't really a thing. This PPV allegedly did an absurdly low buyrate (said to be under 3,000 total buys) and would turn out to be the last show the promotion ever produced. And just when Terri Power finally freed the title from the clutches of that darn Lady X! Dagnabbit!
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Post by Baker on Feb 25, 2024 3:15:33 GMT
Owen Hart (c) vs. Makhan Singh w/ Abu Wizal- Stampede 5/6/88- North American Championship Match
Singh is the future Norman The Lunatic/Bastion Booger as a Pakistani heel who had been feuding with wunderkind Owen Hart for a while.
This is a great Owen performance. Watching this makes it easy to understand why Dave and the Meltzerians were so gaga over Owen at the time. He was wrestling at the speed of light here, doing a whole bunch of Tiger Mask-inspired stuff. My favorite was when he stood ON Singh and backflipped off him to ultimately hit a dropkick. The proto-619 was also cool. He was basically a gif gold mine in this one. Crowd was hot for Owen and enjoyed heckling Wizal (who?) with "Weasel" chants. That name HAD to come from Bruce Hart.
Unfortunately, Singh doesn't contribute much as a heel. He has weak punches, grinds things to a halt with the occasional resthold, and wins with cheating. Crowd didn't like that one bit. Post-match promo sees him constantly refer to Owen as "Omar" in a proto-Kirk Angel sort of deal. Luckily Owen was in control most of the way, so Singh's general blahness didn't entirely kill things.
Beyond Singh's general blahness, the other thing I didn't like was Owen casually slamming and suplexing Singh multiple times. Owen was billed at 220something and Singh at 380. Owen is already Tiger Mask. He doesn't need to be Hogan too! It's just overkill. Should have built to just one big slam for maximum poppage.
Verdict- Only a so-so match (which is still like 4* in comparison to the crap I've been watching of late) but still worth a look for Owen enthusiasts just to see him wrestling at the speed of light in his younger days.
Dory Funk Jr. vs. Stan Lane- Amarillo 1979
Interesting find here as there isn't much footage available from the Funks old Amarillo territory. Couldn't find a more detailed date, but sources say 1979 was "Sweet" Stan's rookie year so that alone makes it interesting. He already had a good look. And that's not even taking into account that glorious mustache! Dory, as always, looks like a 50something math teacher. In my head Dory has long been the poster boy for boring, headlocky pre-80s wrestling, but the truth is I've seen very little Dory. So for all I know he may actually be good. Commentary is provided by Dick Murdoch and A Guy Named Nick. They're actually really good! They go into strategies and techniques and stuff without being too boring about it. Basically, Murdoch & Nick > Tony "The Reason The Mute Button Was Invented" Romo.
This is a good technical match. Top tier in this 21 match binge. Reminded me of a 2000s Bryan Danielson match more than anything else. Only better in some ways because they only went like 7-8 whereas Danielson would have inevitably stretched it out to 27-28 minutes. They do a lot of mat wrestling and what few moves there are look legit, for lack of a better word. Lane hits an early shinbreaker. Dory blasts Lane with one European Uppercut. Just one. Then stop. That’s enough. Dory hits a Japanese style high and tight belly to back. Dory must be a 70s suplex king because he'd later hit a gut wrench as well. One so textbook it would have made the Iron Sheik jealous. And he gets the win with the Funk Spinning Toehold. A move I never cared for and the finish did come out of nowhere. Felt like they got the cue to go home and Dory just slapped it on with no build or anything.
Verdict- Pretty sweet old school technical match with the vet being too much for the game rookie to handle
Dick The Bruiser (c) vs. Dick Murdoch- St. Louis 3/8/79- Missouri State Championship
Some old timers rave about St. Louis because muh REAL SPORTS FEEL and NO B.S. but I never bothered with it before today because those aforementioned old timers banging on about REAL SPORTS FEEL and NO B.S. made it sound so dreadfully BORING. No b.s.=no buys. The Missouri State Championship was widely considered a steppingstone to the NWA Championship as St. Louis promoter Sam Muchnick had a lot of power within the NWA.
Murdoch is supposed to wrestle some jobber when Bruiser comes out to replace said jobber. OK, this all backwards. The heel challenger is backing down from the face champion when it should be a heel champion backing down from the face challenger. Why wouldn't Murdoch want the belt? Oh, wait, he does want the belt. But he's not ready just now. Clearly Dicky Murdoch was never a Boy Scout (fwiw I did a year). Then he rants and raves against Mushnick and claims GETTING A TITLE SHOT is a conspiracy against HIM. Is he stupid or something? Nevertheless, the Battle of the Dicks is on. Fwiw Bruiser has a real gravelly voice. One ideal for a pre-Hulkamania wrestler.
Getting real mid 20th Century bar fight vibes from these two old men* with white hair and beer bellies. Reminds me of those extended family get togethers from back in the 80s where I'd run into some Uncle So and So from out of town on my dad's side of the family. These old (great)uncles all resembled these two Dicks.
*Murdoch was only 32! wtf? HOW? More like 32 going on 60!
Murdoch tries here. He really does. But Dick The Bruiser is so very bad. In fact, I'll say. Dick The Bruiser is WORSE than late career Ken Patera. Yeah, I went there. First of all, Murdoch actually towers over the Bruiser. That makes it even worse when Bruiser decides he isn't going to sell a darn thing. I mean he doesn't even do the simple basics of selling like whipping his head to the side when getting punched. Nope. Bruiser doesn't even register. I can't even remember the last time I saw a wrestler this bad. They eventually trade some bodyslams. Fitting a 70s match would be based around the most famous of all old school moves. Speaking of old school, this match is so old school Bruiser slaps on an extended stomach claw! lmao. How did anybody ever think this was real? This stuff is phonier than most of what you'd see during Golden Age WWF, New Generation, Attitude Era, Today, or, ok, any era in wrestling history. Anyway, that previously mentioned bodyslam trading means OMG Bruiser actually bumped! It's a March miracle! Murdoch gets his foot on the ropes to break a few pinfalls. Then Bruiser gets his foot on the ropes only to have the ref miss it and count him down to 3. So this was the no bullshit territory, huh? That in and of itself is bullshit. Only problem I see is their b.s. was of the old, stale, moldy variety. Should have got fresher bullshit. Had they done so maybe they'd have remained in business beyond 1/1/82.
Verdict- Dick the Bruiser makes 50 year old Wahoo look mobile as a Young Buck and GLOW's Tiffany Mellon look like Bret Hart. Poor Dickie Murdoch tried but there isn't a wrestler in history who could have dragged that old Dick to a * match on that day in 1979.
*Yay! I plowed through this painful project. Not sure what comes next. Found a bunch of mid 2000s ROH shows uploaded in full so maybe I'll cherry pick my way through those...
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 25, 2024 3:25:14 GMT
Baker, Feel like we'd be full blown Dory Funk Jr. guys if more of his prime was captured. Even as an old man, there are flashes of some sick Danielson/Steiner Bro/Arn Anderson hybrid.
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Post by Baker on Feb 28, 2024 2:48:21 GMT
In keeping with the spirit of the times, I watched 5 ECW matches over the past few days. Only one was good. Today I will cover the good one and the one I found to be the most disappointing. The other 3 I may get to tomorrow. Or I may get to never. We'll see...
Sandman vs. Raven- ECW on TNN 12/3/99 w/ Special Guest Referee Tommy Dreamer
Storyline coming in is Raven keeps doing the right thing only to continually be screwed over for doing these good deeds. Raven & Dreamer are tag team partners who don't get along. Sandman is another longtime Raven rival who had just returned. Only one month after said return Sandman is already back to wearing a shirt after WCW actually managed to get him in shape. Vintage Sandman! Original themes are included on this Youtube video. ECW played a major role in getting me into this type of music. That is no minor thing and should not be forgotten or downplayed.
This match reminded me of the "Best of Times, Worst of Times" rant that's been floating around in my head for years. One day I'll get around to posting it in full. This 9 minute match featured Raven bleeding in the first 10 seconds, 3 separate run ins featuring 6 different people, one of them a returning ECW personality, a catfight, and at least 4 broken tables, all while JOEY STYLES AND CYRUS ARE TALKING LIKE THIS~! Only thing missing was the partridge in a pear tree. It's like this dumb action movie where even the explosions have explosions. At some point my brain just tuned out. Sandman gets the win with the White Russian Legsweep (ugh) after capitalizing on Raven doing the right thing in dealing with Impact Players interference.
Verdict- *. Overkill: The Match. Though I did like Sandman's entrance (duh) and the overarching story of Raven constantly getting screwed for doing the right thing. Should have been a great storyline with Raven finally returning to the darkside. Too bad Raven was checked out during this entire run, just killing time until he could legally return to WWF.
Addendum: You might be thinking I'm being too hard on this match. "But you had to be there!" I get it! I am that guy most of the time! But stick with me. I did some more digging. This match clearly emanated from the historic ECW Arena. I wanted to know when. Well, it turned out to be the November '99 show. Meaning I was there! This was the one Arena show where I sat on camera in ringside seats with some guy from Strictly ECW rather than off camera in the bleachers alone or with my cousin. Now I'm tempted to watch this mess again just to see if I spot myself. But the point of this entire addendum is I WAS THERE and I don't even remember this match. So even in real time it was nothing special. All the bells, whistles, and dogs with bees in their mouth who when they bark, they shoot bees at you failed to leave an impact on me even when I was a kool aid drinking ECW fanatic in 1999.
Chris Chetti vs. Pitbull #2 w/ Pitbull #1- ECW Hardcore tv 12/20/97
Chris Chetti is the up and coming rookie babyface. He was nothing special, and in hindsight I'm surprised the hostile ECW crowd didn't turn on him, but it's still the best run of his career. Just felt like he never progressed. But he was a perfectly cromulent 1992 Marcus Alexander Bagwell in 1997. Had a really good rookie vs. vet match with Shane Douglas this one time. I swear it's true! What ever became of Chetti anyway? I know he signed a WWF Developmental deal right before ECW folded. Then....nothing. Don't even remember him working Memphis or OVW. Let's find out....
OK, I did find one real time(!) mention of him signing a WWF Developmental deal in November 2000, but he has no WWF Developmental territory matches listed on Cagematch. Just one dark match from November 2000-February 2001. Then he's back to working indies with the occasional WWF dark match. Guessing he just slipped through the cracks. Signed at a bad time what with the roster soon to be flooded with ex WCW & ECW guys. Oh well. Sucks for him.
Pitbulls are heels now and it was wild how quickly they went from beloved babyfaces to hated heels. They got busted for steroids, word got out, and it just killed them as good guys. Pitbull #1 cuts a surprisingly good smug heel promo of the anti-ECW/pro-WWF variety. He speaks with conviction. You can believe that he believes the Pitbulls really are going to WWF soon. He is so confident in 2's ability to beat this rookie that the Pitbulls with LEAVE TOWN if he loses. I was amused by the Buffalo crowd's "Just Say No" heckling of the Pitbulls.
This is perfect for what it was. #2 controls most of the way. His chest pounding taunt worked as a no-selling powerhouse babyface and it also works here as a powerhouse heel standing over the outgunned rookie. Chetti didn't land a single offensive move until countering a Superbomb with a sweet Kid Kash-style mid air Super Frankensteiner. Big pop! 1-2-NO! Nice nearfall there. Crowd is rocking now. And Chetti seizes the moment by following up with a double jump moonsault for the big upset. Hell yeah! Chris Chetti!
Verdict- This was honestly a perfect 3 minute match. You can even extend that a bit to a perfect 5 minute segment if you want to include PB1's heel promo that set up the whole thing. PB2 was the dominant powerhouse most of the way until Chetti's high risk, high reward offense paid off in giving him the upset win. They maximized their minutes. Great job!
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Post by Baker on Feb 29, 2024 2:54:11 GMT
Spike Dudley vs. Erik Watts w/ Lou E. Dangerously- ECW Hardcore TV 1/22/00
Erik Watts comes out to a once-popular Green Day song I'm sure you all know the name of while looking like a bigger, douchier Hardy Boy. Know what Raven, DDP, and Russo all have in common? They all thought Watts should have been a bigger star. But this segment isn't really about the Master of the STF, former WCW Rookie of the Year, and future TNA Baker Boy. He's more an archetype for everything ECW had trained their fans to despise.
This whole segment is total ECW fanwank. The sort of thing that makes me cringe nowadays. Joey Styles motormouths his way through a bunch of anti-Watts talking points, actually focusing more on Bill than Erik because, again, Erik is more an idea than a person in this segment. He is just the stand in for "bad wrestling." Then Lou E. Dangerously (remember him? Didn't think so) actually does a halfway decent Heyman impersonation as he cuts a decent heel promo. Then Paul E. gets a chance to rebut the former Sign Guy Dudley. Most of it is censored because obviously the booker/owner is going to push himself as the most XXXTREME~! of them all.
And finally Spike Dudley comes out to Highway To Hell making doofus faces and doing his stupid wave as I'm reminded how much I couldn't stand Spike Dudley. Respect him nowadays, but he was one of the few major ECW acts who had go away heat with me back in the day. Taz, Sandman & 911 were so much better in this Defender of ECW role. Not gonna lie. I was far too wholesome to get all the drug references back in the day so I just assumed Spike was supposed to be like a retarded Garth Algar.
Spike wins in a few seconds with a dick kick (some babyface, huh?) followed by an Acid Drop.
Verdict- Good litmus test for how much ECW one can tolerate in 2024. Waste of Watts if ya ask me.
Terry Gordy vs. Brian Lee- ECW Natural Born Killaz 8/24/96
Can't remember if I owned the white box tape of this show. Leaning no, but I'm not 100% sure. These are two guys I did a 180 on over the years. A while back somebody here asked "Should promoters always give fans what they want?" I answered "no." There are many reasons for this. One of them is fans are sometimes idiots. I am no exception! Check this out...
I was a Chainz Guy. Yep. In 97-98 two of my bigger gripes was "WWF should push Chainz!" and "WWF needs more Cruiserweights!" So even during arguably WWF's greatest period, this WWF fanatic still found stuff to bitch about. And they weren't even good complaints! I was clamoring for more Vanilla Midgets and whining about the lack of a push for Chainz. CHAINZ! Think about that. This idiot right here wanted to see more Chainz on tv! Can you believe that? "Why?" you ask. Well, because the PWI Almanac taught me he was one of the most decorated stars in Smoky Mountain and I had been fooled into thinking he was good because Tommy Dreamer had a death wish. Point of this rant is just because somebody did alright in Double A, or even Triple A, doesn't mean teams should bend over backwards for them once they reach the majors. Once you reach the majors EVERYBODY is (or at least should be) top tier You need somebody to bat 9th. You need somebody to come off the bench. Sometimes that guy is Chainz. As it should be. His ceiling was always gonna be Tyson Tomko.
Which brings us to Terry Gordy. I thought Terry Gordy sucked. He, like all Freebirds, had go away heat with me from like 87-2000. I was vaguely aware that a small segment of olds were Terry Gordy/Freebird Guys. But I just dismissed them as a bunch of senile old men who wouldn't know good wrestling if it put a curse on them and longed for a return to the BORING pre-Hogan Era Before Pants. So, while I knew Gordy did have some (old) fans, hearing the ECW Arena react to a returning Terry Gordy like he was peak Hulk Hogan was a mind screw on par with discovering Finlay fans existed, people considered Dynamite Kid (the Marty Jannetty of the Bulldogs) the GOAT, and people not liking 95 WWF. Mind blown! Fwiw I finally understood the appeal of Gordy in 00-01 when I watched Watts UWF and a smattering of World Class.
Padded this out with storytimes because there isn't much to the match. It's a slow paced 5 minute walk and brawl with Lee looking better than the washed Gordy before Gordy pins Lee clean with the dreaded Asiatic Spike. Weird booking here as Lee was getting a pretty big push and Gordy would be going to WWF for a failed run as The Executioner pretty soon. But then again Gordy was God to those fans so I guess that's why he went over?
Verdict- *. Skip it.
Gangstas vs. Ricky Morton & Tommy Rich- ECW Hardcore TV January 1997
lol I love that this exists. Remember reading about it in the mags. Even in 1997, even having never seen ECW before, this struck me as a real 'wtf' match. Rich & Morton had been washed for basically my entire decade as a wrestling fan. And yet here they are taking on a very '1997' team in the most '1997' promotion of them all. It's the kind of glorious oddity I had to watch.
Credit to Paul E. He did give back to the guys who helped him when he was breaking in. Rich & Morton weren't exactly hot commodities in 1997. Tennessee rasslin' was sadly dying and the NWA old guard that might have got these guys some decent paying undercard gigs in WCW had less power than ever in Nu WCW. But Paul E. will give 'em a booking. Doubt he paid them well (if at all), but it at least got them back on the radar if only to say "we're not dead yet."
Match predictably isn't much. It's just a few minutes of punches and weapon shots. Maybe a kick or two. Highlight is a fan, or maybe a small group of fans, chanting "Rock & Roll." Amazing. Somebody out there in Philly hanging onto the glory days of 1986 Crockett. Feel like I would be the 2024 equivalent of that guy if I went to a show nowadays. Secondary highlight would be Rich taking a bump over the top. Now that doesn't sound like much, but it counts because Rich looks like he ate Robert Gibson in an attempt to keep up with same era Barry Windham in a gut contest. Bulk of the match is Rich vs. Mustafa on the floor and Morton vs. New Jack in the ring. Gangstas win when New Jack hits Rich with a top rope weapon shot after Rock & Rich Express miscommunication.
Rich & Morton argue after the match. This leads to a heavily clipped impromptu match. The 30 seconds or so shown actually don't look terrible. Rich wins with a sloppy roll up. Makes sense since he would be coming back.
Verdict- Boring, but practical. Gangstas beating these two relics in a few minutes is exactly how it should have went down. Just wasn't exactly enthralling.
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Post by Kilgore on Feb 29, 2024 3:58:21 GMT
Begging Baker to put on a good ECW match before he convinces himself none of it was ever good and he was wrong to love it in its heyday.
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Post by Baker on Feb 29, 2024 23:33:44 GMT
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Pitbull #2- ECW Hardcore TV 6/28/97Watched this before the last Kilgore post. But fear not! It's a (mostly) good match. And TIL Chinese Youtube has a ton of ECW with original music(!) should I decide to stick with this kick. Might have found an even better dark web than Dailymotion. Guessing this is right around the time BBB became a regular. He's already with the Triple Threat. Douglas & Francine escort him out as that indie wrestling staple Welcome To The Jungle plays. Next project might be to name every wrestler who entered to the GnR classic. For starters we've got Bigelow, Steiners, Cheetah Master, and David Morton Tyler Jericho Cash in Full Moon Wrestling during the latter days of our wrestling figure leagues. There are more. So many more. Feel like I heard it at every indie show I went to for years. Pitbull enters to the sometimes ECW theme song by ___ Zombie. A thing I thought was weird for a long time. The once-hot Douglas/Pitbulls feud has been raging on for a year by this point, seemingly with no end in sight. Guys, I'm starting to think PB2 is legit good. I've been a PB2 backer since watching him on white box ECW tapes way back in 1998. Had him as *checks notes* my 164th favorite wrestler of all time back in 2019. Not too shabby. He got there on the strength of being a cool badass babyface against the hated Shane Douglas in 96-97. Now PB2 already had two bonafide classics to his name in Pitbulls vs. Raven & Richards and the 4 Way Elimination Match for the TV Title. Had both in my ECW Top 5 match list. Think at #2 & #4. But I always assumed PB2 was carried in those matches by booking, circumstances, and better wrestlers. Even the very good Jericho match (which also made my Top 50 ECW Match list) and some fun matches with Douglas were chalked up to carry jobs by either better wrestlers or red hot ECW crowds. But I'm becoming increasingly convinced PB2 was the truth. The Chetti match I watched the other day was perfect for what it was, and this one is just as good until the (over)booking kicked in. BBB jumps PB2 and hangs him over the ropes by his own dog collar. The Bammer then punches PB2 in the head until he bleeds. Heck of a way to start a match. Pitbull is sporting quite the crimson mask. Joey Styles gives a BBB punch an "Oh My God" and even realizes how unusual this is, saying something like "that's the first time I ever said Oh My God for a punch." BBB slaps on a bearhug. But it's a GOOD bearhug because of the way they work it. Every time PB2 is about to fight his way out, BBB squeezes a little harder to make PB2 go limp again. Rick Rude on commentary says something like "Bearhug won't get the job done. Pitbull's back is too big. Bigelow should go for a chinlock." Rude wanting a chinlock is extremely on brand. BBB must have heard him because he soon does go to the chinlock. And it's a GOOD chinlock! Because PB2 struggles, but mostly because Bam Bam LICKS PITBULL'S BLOOD! If that isn't enough, Bam Bam then cuts PB2 off with a DROPKICK. Another time BBB stopped a PB2 comeback attempt dead in its tracks with a Powerbomb. This match rules! And it continues to rule when a bloody PB2 finally does make his long-awaited comeback. He makes the most of it with BIG clotheslines that could believably fell the "353" pounder, an Owen-style spinning heel kick that doesn't really fit him under normal circumstances, but does work here given the size of Bigelow, and finally he slams the big "Beast From The East." Then, unfortunately, the booking kicks in. First that scoundrel Douglas interferes. BOO! But Pitbull #1 comes out to fight him on the floor. YAY! BBB hits a top rope clothesline that we don't really get to see. 1-2-NO! Pitbull #2 kicks out. But then that scoundrel Candido interferes. PB2 gets distracted just long enough for Bigelow to hit him with a Bulldog and steal one with a real quick 1-2-3. BOO! Pitbull #2 was robbed! Verdict- Bulk of this was real good with both guys playing their roles to perfection only to be let down by the overly contrived schmozz finish. There's a time and a place for such things and I wasn't feeling it here. Still, this was an 8 minute match with a tremendous first 6-7 until the booking kicked in.
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Post by Ness on Feb 29, 2024 23:39:27 GMT
Is that the chinese version of YT or just Tiktok?
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Post by Baker on Feb 29, 2024 23:40:49 GMT
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Post by Ness on Feb 29, 2024 23:49:09 GMT
Does a random search.
Bryan Danielson vs. MJF
I hear they have an ironman.
Runtime: 1:07
Oh my god.
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Post by Baker on Mar 2, 2024 3:15:50 GMT
Nova vs. Chris Candido w/ Tammy- ECW Re-Enter Sandman 10/23/99
This has been my all time favorite live wrestling experience since 10/23/99. Not once have wavered. It trumps Survivor Series '95, ROH Midnight Express Reunion, my first live Raw in May '98, and everything else. I'd even go so far as to call this my favorite live entertainment experience, period. Above the game where Cal tied Gehrig's streak, the time I saw Europe live in 2005, and everything else. Being in The Arena for this show was a transcendent experience. My cousin and I were still marking out during the 90ish mile drive home like a pair of schoolgirls. Pretty sure I was hoarse for a week. This show featured Sandman's return, an epic RVD/Sabu 30 minute draw, and the ECW Arena faithful gloriously chanting "HARDCORE HOLLY" during this very match. How cool is that last bit? ECW Arena fans, the most hostile of them all, randomly chanting for our guy BOBCORE. You love to see it.
For some reason this show FEATURING THE GREATEST RETURN IN COMPANY HISTORY was never polished up for commercial release. This particular match never even made it to tv. So it's a single camera shot with no commentary. Far from ideal, but at least you can hear every crowd chant. Nova enters to the Beastie Boys Intergalactic and Candido to Back In Black by AC/DC. We've finally reached a point where I actually listen to popular radio stations and know a little bit about the music of my peers. ECW absolutely 100% got me into AC/DC. Candido actually entered to a nice pop. It would be the last pop he got that night.
Remember what I wrote earlier about ECW fans being the most hostile in the business? Well, they prove it again here. Feel like a good 90% of the modern WWE & AEW rosters would suffer nervous breakdowns and end up spending the next 40 years in therapy if they were transplanted back in time to 90s and forced to endure only 5 minutes in The Arena. Chronicling the chants...
"Show Your Tits" to start. "BORING" begins around the 1 minute mark. Then we get a real light "Fuck him up Nova, fuck him up" singsong chant. Candido wisely covers for a botch with Flair Chops so the crowd can "WOOO" before the light "You Fucked Up" chant managed to gain any real steam. Can't make out the next chant. Then they actually chant "NOVA" despite Nova not doing anything very cool up to that point. And around 4 minutes in we get perhaps the greatest chant in wrestling history- "HARDCORE HOLLY." It lasts for 18 glorious seconds. Light "She's A Crack Whore" chant after Candido slips a kiss from Sunny. Then "This Match Sucks." "Show Your Tits" again. Then a louder "Show Your Tits" about a minute later. Light "That Was 3" and "Referee Sucks" after Candido kicks out at 2.9 following back to back Nova Slop Drops. "CHETTI" when Nova's partner Chris Chetti runs down to plant a kiss on Sunny and carries her off to the back.
Those negative chants were not entirely undeserved. This was a real slow starter with lots of early evasion and not much beyond that. Nova looked a half step off on a lot of stuff. I didn't have many gripes about ECW wrestlers being "underpushed." Largely because ECW couldn't afford to waste talent. Anyone with a modicum of promise (and probably even some without) would get pushed. But the two guys I thought they could/should have done more with were Kronus & Nova because they were over, had cool moves, and were once part of popular acts. Now I understand why Paul E. wasn't so high on those guys. They just weren't that good beyond a few fancy moves.
Anyway, things did pick up during the second half of the match. The negative chants even lightened up as the crowd got more invested in the bout. It was the kind of solid, unspectacular wrestling Candido typically delivered. He's jacked here by the way. The "little guy" was more jacked than 90% of Big Two wrestlers today. Nova scores a relatively clean major upset with the Kryptonite Krunch about a minute after Chetti carried Sunny off. This had to the biggest win of Nova's career up to that point. Candido was middle of the midcard (especially with Douglas gone) but poor Nova just didn't pick up many wins.
Verdict- Did a whole lot of writing for what turned out to be a ** match if I'm generous. Truth is I was just here for the "HARDCORE HOLLY" chant.
Al Snow vs. Sabu w/ Fonzie & RVD- ECW Hardcore TV 4/25/98
Big match I never knew existed. And that's probably for the best because I'd have sought out a tape just for this 1998 dream match had I known in real time. Snow was my favorite ECW wrestler at the time, and a Top 5 guy period, while I had finally come around on Sabu via the magic of VHS. I don't think anybody can hack into a defunct 26 year old AOL account at this point so I'll let you guys in on a little secret. My original AOL password was Snowen based on my two favorite wrestlers in early 1998- Al Snow & Owen Hart. Snow is the hottest act in the company as this is the height of Headamania while Sabu is back to being a beloved babyface after his weird heel stint as a pro-WWF guy. Next PPV is only 8 days away. Snow will be challenging Douglas for the ECW Championship while Sabu will take on his frenemy RVD for the TV Title. So this is #3 vs. #4 in a kayfabe sense.
Yearly reminder that the Head gimmick was incredibly stupid. Just the dumbest thing. Plus most of it went over my head anyway as I was a Woody Boyd in a Sam Malone world. Nevertheless, I was super into 1998 Al Snow just because it meant my guy Leif Cassidy was finally getting a long overdue break. Leif had been the coolest move guy in WWF 2 years earlier and delivered some amusing promos to boot.
Anyway, we're joined in progress with Sabu just about breaking Snow's back courtesy of a Frankensteiner through a table that didn't break properly. Snow basically landed like Homer here...
OUCH! My legit "Oh My God" beat Joey's more enthusiastic version by a split second. Sabu would later hit a double jump moonsault and botch another. Snow hit an Asai Moonsault into the crowd. Styles put over their matches in Michigan "five years earlier." Us Apter Mag readers knew all about them. The more astute ones (raises hand) even knew it was only 4 years. But we'll let it slide. Sabu bleeds at some point. This will come into play later. Interesting to note the ECW Arena crowd is more into Sabu than Snow. Many of them have heads. Many of them throw said heads into the ring to the point of distraction long before the finish. They're not treating babyface Snow with any hostility, but it's Sabu who is getting all the chants and most of the claps.
This all builds to a real dumb dumb finish. There's a table set up near the corner just like the one Snow almost broke his back on earlier. This time Snow is looking to hit SUPER SNOW PLOW THROUGH A TABLE that would surely kill Sabu once and for all. Only Fonzie slips in to trip Snow. It doesn't come off all that well. Honestly looked like Snow still hit a Super Snow Plow through a table. But we're supposed to believe Snow took the brunt of the fall. Sabu covers. 1-2-NO! RVD throws in the towel, surrendering the match for Sabu. Van Dam claims it's because Sabu had that little cut on his head, but we all know he did it just to be a dick. Sabu is naturally pissed. RVD was such a dick! He did stuff like this all the time. Yet fans (including myself) still loved that asshole. Guess that's what having the coolest moves in the business and more natural charisma than 98% of all wrestlers to ever lace up the boots will get ya. About 9 minutes were shown. Fans bombard the ring with heads after the match as Al Snow's stupid non-Hooked On A Feeling theme plays and I'm reminded of somebody back in the day (probably my cousin) telling me Snow used the "Oogachaka" song of Ally McBeal fame as his theme. Felt so ripped off when I finally discovered the truth.
Verdict: Completely different style of match resulting in the same **ish grade as Nova/Candido. You could get a great highlight video or gif package out of this one tho.
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Post by Kilgore on Mar 2, 2024 3:34:58 GMT
This show featured Sandman's return, a Sabu/RVD 30 minute draw, and the ECW Arena faithful gloriously chanting "HARDCORE HOLLY" during this very match.
How cool is that? ECW Arena fans, the most hostile of them, all randomly chanting for our guy BOBCORE. You love to see it. I maintain they were chanting Hardcore Holly at Chris Candido as a diss, like, you remind us all of Hardcore Holly, the worst thing you could tell a wrestler, maybe the meanest chant in ECW history.
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Legend
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Post by Ness on Mar 2, 2024 15:20:03 GMT
Before I die I need to get a BOBCORE chant going.
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Lawlermaniac
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Post by Baker on Mar 3, 2024 1:22:48 GMT
I maintain they were chanting Hardcore Holly at Chris Candido as a diss, like, you remind us all of Hardcore Holly, the worst thing you could tell a wrestler, maybe the meanest chant in ECW history. No way. If anything, it was like those WWE crowds from a decade ago who would just chant random stuff when bored. One time they chanted "JBL." That was cool. This time some genius decided to start a chant for the most hardcore wrestler in the business. No surprise it picked up steam so quickly to become the loudest, longest chant in a match full of chants. I was there. And I can tell you I chanted "Hardcore Holly" because it was funny and cool. Had nothing to do with trolling Candido. Even if you want to believe that was the intent of the guy who started the chant, surely there were others among the hundreds chanting for the same reason as myself. BOBCORE had a following among hardcore fans at the time. RSPW voters awarded him Best Gimmick and Most Improved in their year end awards. Lots of people dug what he was doing at the time. I liked Nova. But he was no 1999 Hardcore Holly. Now seems like a good time to share one of the best takes I've read in the past 3 years... How do you like me now? Before I die I need to get a BOBCORE chant going. You and me both, brother.
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