|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2019 6:22:51 GMT -5
Demolition carved out their own niche, and I was a fan. To a lesser extent, so did the Powers of Pain. But I know what you mean.
Sometimes copycat wrestlers/teams will carve out their own niche, Demolition being a good example. But then you have something like Renegade. Who on earth thought you could replicate the Ultimate Warrior's WWF run? According to one shoot interview, the plan was for Renegade to turn heel on Hogan, Hogan would pin him at a big PPV - and that would mean Hogan would "even the score" with Warrior over WM VI (makes no sense when you think about it).
On an unrelated note, whatever happened to the WWF blimp? Bring it back!
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 6, 2019 8:37:44 GMT -5
Absence did make the heart grow fonder when the LOD/Road Warriors were absent. A frustrating thing in the pre-Google age was wrestlers disappearing - and the WWF not explaining it. Sure, the Apter mags would, but they were sporadic. PWI was on most shelves each month, but distribution of Sports Review Wrestling or Inside Wrestling was sporadic. So when the LOD vanished after SummerSlam 1992, I was left wondering why. Obviously, WWF publications would not say why. Same with Warlord, Davey Boy Smith, Mountie and Warrior in late 1992. I suppose only insider newsletters had the answers then. It was great to see the Road Warriors back on my screens in WCW, circa 1996. Thing is, between 1992 and 1996, whatever matches they had weren't shown here in the UK or on VHS. Different world, eh? For me, their mystique got destroyed when Degeneration X pummelled them in late 1997. Seeing the Road Warriors beaten like that shocked me. Anyone remember this Nintendo game? I can't recall if that was the cover; but I had the WCW Nintendo game. Finishers were a bit off. You faced what looked like a masked Andre, at the end. I always did best with Mike Rotunda.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 6, 2019 19:43:46 GMT -5
Had to work, so I couldn't expound on the Nintendo game. From what I recall,the graphic for Flair's Figure 4 and Sting's Scorpion leglock was pretty much the same (the positioning; the character layout was different). As I recall, aside from those, Ricky Steamboat either had a splash or something else and Rotunda had the butterfly suplex into a bridge. Rotunda was great to use because of his kneelift on the opponent, coming off the rope. You could just keep throwing guys into the ropes and hit them with kneelift after kneelift, until they were spent. You could also come off the corner top rope with either a splash or knee drop, depending on the character/ Rotunda was the only one I could use to beat Masked Andre (Giant Machine?) for the title.
I also had the WWF King of the Ring game. You could do moe stuff; but, the controls were a bit of a pain. You could fight outside the ring and throw dropkicks, from the top rope (or elbows). It was a lot easier to win than the WCW game.
With both, I had an advantage. I used a joystick controller, with a repeat button, which made those games more competitive.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2019 19:48:57 GMT -5
I thought I'd rewatch the first episode of Monday Night Raw earlier tonight as it was only 45 minutes long. Gosh, in January 2020, the show will have been on the air 27 years! I didn't like Rob Bartlett's commentary then - nor did I now. It was juvenile, silly, pointless, etc. He used some toilet humour and added nothing to the matches as he 'commentated' alongside Randy Savage and Vince McMahon. McMahon was very professional, but did have to steer Bartlett once or twice away from the ridiculous toilet humour. There were four matches: Koko B. Ware against Yokozuna; the Steiner Brothers VS the Executioners; Shawn Michaels defending the I-C Title against Max Moon; and a main event featuring the Undertaker VS Damian Demento. Razor Ramon was also interviewed by McMahon about the 1993 Royal Rumble. And throughout the broadcast, Bobby Heenan tried to get inside the building, even dressing in drag at one point! It certainly was Raw. Nearly 27 years later, I guess the WWE is well done. Or maybe it's medium rare. Who knows? I know that first episode was nearly 27 years ago, but how times change. Raw is too ponderous in 2019 at 3 hours. It was a big mistake to go to 3 hours. Less is more. That's why I rarely watch anything other than highlights. An hour-long show was good. Even 2 hours was fine. Three hour is too long. It was interesting seeing the Manhattan Center and the primitive look of that first episode. Everything evolves. 1981 matches I've seen look ancient compared to that first Raw episode. That first Raw episode looks primitive through 2019 eyes. As for the first episode, I remember being very disappointed at the cancellation of Prime Time Wrestling, but Bartlett's commentary aside, it was a respectable first hour. Yokozuna continued his dominance in squashing Koko, the Steiners had a solid match against the Executioners, Michaels had a pretty good match against Max Moon, and the crowd went home happy after the Undertaker buried Damian Demento. So it was a good start. I just wish Prime Time Wrestling had never ended.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2019 19:57:00 GMT -5
Had to work, so I couldn't expound on the Nintendo game. From what I recall,the graphic for Flair's Figure 4 and Sting's Scorpion leglock was pretty much the same (the positioning; the character layout was different). As I recall, aside from those, Ricky Steamboat either had a splash or something else and Rotunda had the butterfly suplex into a bridge. Rotunda was great to use because of his kneelift on the opponent, coming off the rope. You could just keep throwing guys into the ropes and hit them with kneelift after kneelift, until they were spent. You could also come off the corner top rope with either a splash or knee drop, depending on the character/ Rotunda was the only one I could use to beat Masked Andre (Giant Machine?) for the title. I also had the WWF King of the Ring game. You could do moe stuff; but, the controls were a bit of a pain. You could fight outside the ring and throw dropkicks, from the top rope (or elbows). It was a lot easier to win than the WCW game. With both, I had an advantage. I used a joystick controller, with a repeat button, which made those games more competitive. Unless one could own every console, there were only certain games one could play. I think my favourite from years ago was WWF Royal Rumble for the Sega Genesis. My all-time favourite game, though, is PlayStation 2's WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2019 20:05:55 GMT -5
I just wish Prime Time Wrestling had never ended. I really miss it. I really do. Case Closed.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 6, 2019 20:08:49 GMT -5
I was never much for video games as I mostly grew up without access to arcades, once they sprung up (I can remember when video games were Pong). I bought a Nintendo after they were being sold cheaply, when Super Nintendo came out and had a half dozen games. Same with Sega Genesis. I actually destroyed my joystick controller for my Sega by playing an F-22 Raptor game too much, as the dog fighting maneuvers put too much torquing on the joystick and it messed up the springs and contacts.
Most of the arcade games I played were the Space Invader variants. On Gaplus, I could beat the game. Gyrus I was pretty good and Galaga pretty decent, We had one in the dorm lounge that had a variation and I could make Space Admiral on it, but can't recall the name. My favorite Nintendo game was actually Rolling Thunder, a spy game where you went through a villain's lair, taking out his men, before reaching the control room and killing him. It reminded me of some of the better Speed Racer episodes. We had the arcade version on board ship, then I picked it up with my Nintendo game, when I saw it in the store.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 6, 2019 20:32:45 GMT -5
I wasn't a fan of Prime Time Wrestling, as it rarely featured the better matches. I watched the earliest days, when it had Jesse Ventura and it was so damn boring I just stopped watching. WWF Superstars was, by far, their best tv platform, at the time. Now, later when it was Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, their schtick was entertaining; but I still didn't care for the matches.
I stomached about 5 episodes of TNT (Tuesday Night Titans), which predated Prime Time Wrestling, before I had enough. TNT was just horrible; bad comedy, boring "Tonight Show" interviews, dumb angles. Just a lot of bad tv.
My regular viewing was Roller Derby and AWA Wrestling, on ESPN, on Wednesdays, World Championship Wrestling, at 6:05 pm, on Saturday, and WWF Superstars, on Sunday, depending on the period. Later, ESPN added World Class to Wednesday and dropped Roller Derby, then started showing daily afternoon reruns of older World Class (Freebirds vs Von Erichs era), That eventually morphed in USWA, after Jerry Jarrett bought out the Von Erichs. By the time I was in the Navy, ESPN debuted Global Wrestling Federation.
Growing up, we had the WWA tv from Indianapolis, on a couple of occasions; but, only for short periods of time. We were in spot show territory; so, they only put the show on for a few weeks to build the advance; or, so it seemed. The first sustained broadcast we got was ICW, from the Poffos, around 1982. That stayed on until about 1984, when the Poffos did the deal with memphis, to come in and feud with Jerry Lawler, and Randy dropped the ICW title to Paul Christy, who then used it for a few shows he promoted in the Chicago area. Once we got cable, we had WTBS, which meant World Championship Wrestling, which was the title of the show, not the promotional name. It was still Georgia Championship Wrestling. We also got monthly Madison Square Garden WWF matches, on Monday nights, on USA (this was the Backlund era), and Southwest Championship Wrestling on Sunday mornings, on USA. SCW got thrown off there (combination of vulgar angles and late payments to the network) and Vince bought the timeslot and put on All-American Wrestling. At first, it showed WWF matches and tapes of matches from various promotions. As Cornette pointed out, the matches shown featured a shopping list of the talent that Vince raided from NWA promotions (and the AWA), including Junkyard Dog (in Mid-South) Jim Brunzell, Hulk Hogan and Bobby Heenan (AWA), B Brian Blair (Florida), Paul Orndorff (Georgia), Roddy Piper (Mid-Atlantic), Greg Valentine, and Bob Orton Jr (all Mid-Atlantic but had worked for Vince Sr, for MSG shows and other shots). We also had Central States, for a brief period, around 1984. With the cable came Peoria stations, which included the WWA show, from Indianapolis (they used to hit Peoria more often); when David McLane (future founder of GLOW) was their (horrible) announcer.
When I was commissioned, I was sent to school in Athens, GA, for 6 months and got to see the 6 hour wrestling block on WATL, from Atlanta, hosted by Joe Pedicino and Bonnie Blackstone. That included Crockett and WWF shows, Memphis, Puerto Rico, USA/Knoxville, and Continental (Alabama/Pensacola, FL), as well as the AWA on ESPN (Barely, they were on their last legs). They also featured Southern Championship Wrestling, a Georgia indie promotion, run by Crusher Jerry Blackwell. Pedicino was involved in it and they regularly had some of their wrestlers on the show, including Ken Timbs, Randy Rose (of the Original Midnight Express), and Mr Wrestling II.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 5:52:39 GMT -5
I remember this game, too:
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 7:04:03 GMT -5
I remember this game, too: My friend Al from Work had it and played it a couple of times with him. Can't remember much of it.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 7:19:56 GMT -5
I just wish Prime Time Wrestling had never ended. I really miss it. I really do. Case Closed. Times change so what worked then wouldn't necessarily work now, but I think one of my favourite shows was WWF Mania. I quite liked Todd Pettengill and Stephanie Wiand. And I believe some matches were exclusive to WWF Mania.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2019 8:28:58 GMT -5
A few years ago, Ric Flair did an interview where he claimed Hulk Hogan and Rick Rude had never worked in the ring. His exact words were, "To this day, Hulk and Rude have never worked in the ring." And yet Hogan battled Rude on January 9th, 1988 (Boston Garden). I watched that match last night. It was a solid match. And it told a good story. Rude challenged Hogan to an arm-wrestling contest early in the bout. Gorilla Monsoon and Jimmy Hart were commentating. Hart was a riot. Both announcers mentioned the strength of Rude and the strength of Hogan. I love it when announcers enhance a match. Rude had Hogan in a backbreaker at one point. Hart swears he heard Hogan shout, "I quit!" But Hogan didn't. Hogan got the win.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Oct 7, 2019 22:08:34 GMT -5
A few years ago, Ric Flair did an interview where he claimed Hulk Hogan and Rick Rude had never worked in the ring. His exact words were, "To this day, Hulk and Rude have never worked in the ring." And yet Hogan battled Rude on January 9th, 1988 (Boston Garden). I watched that match last night. It was a solid match. And it told a good story. Rude challenged Hogan to an arm-wrestling contest early in the bout. Gorilla Monsoon and Jimmy Hart were commentating. Hart was a riot. Both announcers mentioned the strength of Rude and the strength of Hogan. I love it when announcers enhance a match. Rude had Hogan in a backbreaker at one point. Hart swears he heard Hogan shout, "I quit!" But Hogan didn't. Hogan got the win. They didn't work a full program, which is what Flair was referring to, in his hyperbolic way. Hogan would not do an extended program with Rude, for the title and he was stuck in the IC mix and facing guys like Jake Roberts, which is part of why he went to WCW. Flair loved Rude and booked him on top, when he was in charge. Flair had an eye for younger talent and championed Sting, terry Taylor, Rude, Austin, Pillman and a couple of others, despite what Shane Douglas says. Flair worked with those guys, despite Jim Herd interfering. Saw Rude when he was a rookie, using his real name (Rick Rood) in Georgia, then Mid-South. He was another Ed Sharkey guy, along with the Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, amd Barry Darsow. Most had gone to the same high school, in Robbinsdale, MN (Curt hennig and Tom Zenk, too). Rude was skinnier than hell when he started and even on steroids he could never pack on bolk; he just got really chiseled. He was tougher than nails, though, and was known to knock out people with an open-handed slap, as a bouncer. Here's rookie Rick Rood, June '83, on World Championship Wrestling, against my "brother," Mike Starbuck (black sheep of the family!).... Rude also worked underneath in Mid-South. Sharkey's guys never really learned to work. Most were muscle guys and learned to do strength spots. The better ones got their training in the territories. Rood was schooled in Georgia and Mid-South, Memphis, and then Florida. From there it was to Dallas, then the WWF. Memphis is where Rude really started to get it together, as a worker and talker, then solidified in Florida. Savage used to do an incredible airpl Rude vs Randy Savage, when they feuded over the Southern title. Savage used to have an incredible airplane spin (he broke it out against Austin Idol, in a match). Rude's valet, Angel, was also one of the hotter ones out there, at the time. In Dallas, he had one named Raven, who was supposedly his sister (she just accompanied him to the ring; they never insinuated they were a couple). Percy Pringle/Paul Bearer was his manager in Florida and Dallas. Jimmy Hart managed him in Memphis. Working with Austin Idol, Jerry Lawler and Randy Savage is going to teach you a lot.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 5:35:41 GMT -5
I watched the Jake Roberts/Big Daddy Ritter "Ladder Match" from July 1979 (Stampede Wrestling).
Obviously, one has to judge it by the standards of the era. It's not going to have the high spots of a modern encounter. Plus, when wrestlers compete, it's about the enjoyment of the crowd at the time, not about the critical enjoyment decades latter. I get that.
It was very basic. There were two referees in the ring, one of whom simply held the very long ladder in place. Roberts and Ritter spent 95% of the match right next to the ladder, fighting each other and then trying to climb the ladder (to retrieve the North American Heavyweight Championship and cash). So you didn't get to see them make much use of the wider ring.
Ladder matches definitely evolved. My favourite ladder match of all time, certainly in WWF/E, is Michaels VS Razor from SummerSlam 1995. I really enjoyed their WrestleMania X ladder match, but the sequel is superior. To top the original, at least for me, is an impressive feat.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2019 5:41:24 GMT -5
Random thought: whether it's a legal requirement or not, I hate how WWE refers to pre-WWE events as WWE. Hulk Hogan was not the WWE Champion, he was WWF Champion. There was a WWF before the panda charity forced WWF to become WWE (2002, wasn't it?).
|
|