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Post by dbutler69 on May 19, 2024 7:40:44 GMT -5
Well, you may not enjoy all of Fall Brawl ‘94. As for Hogan/Warrior at WM VI, did you ever read Hogan’s work of fiction…I mean, autobiography? There’s a whole chapter on him wrestling in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. Which he has retold many times. He was in the main event. Funny, I remember a Canadian with black hair wrestling against a Brit with black hair. Perhaps, as I’ve stated many times, Hogan wrestled at Wembley in another universe, and that multiverse’s Hogan is the one who is interviewed. Anyway, I digress. In the book, Hogan admits that when he handed the WWF Championship to Warrior, he did it to steal the spotlight. What a selfish man he was. One might argue Warrior’s reign would not have worked anyway, but was it ever given a chance? Hogan/Earthquake overshadowed Warrior’s title reign. Hogan did the same when Goldberg won the WCW Championship. So, Warrior’s pros and cons aside, Egomania ran wild with its 24-inch pythons at WM VI, so one has to ask whether he really lost clean, pinfall aside. No, I haven't gotten around to Hogan's book yet. I'm tempted, but then I haven't really felt like reading a piece of wrestling fiction. I thought in Bret Hart's book he said McMahon basically challenged Hogan with the clean loss to Warrior to see if he was willing to do it. Of course, Bret wouldn't really have behind the scenes knowledge of that angle. So who knows. Yeah, the biggest arms in the world and the biggest ego in the world. Maybe there's a correlation.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 18, 2024 8:29:02 GMT -5
I watched Clash of the Champions 28 from August, 1994. Okay, so the main event here is supposed to be a rematch between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair for the WCW championship. We have Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan calling the action with Gene Okerlund doing interviews. First match is Special Tag Team Feature: The Nasty Boys v. Pretty Wonderful
Pretty Wonderful are the champs and this is a non-title match but if the Nasties win they get a title shot. This was not a very good match, and the ending was terrible. The Nasties win when Sags does the elbow drop off the middle ropes and covers Orndorff for the pin, in spite of the fact that Sags wasn’t the legal man. Oh, and Orndorff wasn’t the legal man either. Unbelievably stupid and no reason or excuse for the ref to count that, but WCW seems to have an anything goes and anybody can pin anybody and it still counts attitude when it comes to tag team matches. Next, Hogan is coming out to the platform with Gene Okerlund for an interview when someone in a black costume & mask runs out, smashes Hogan in the knee with a metal pipe, then runs off. Hogan is yelling “oh my knee” over and over in some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen. At least he’s got Gene Okerlund to keep him company in the bad acting department here. They spend way too long on this segment, showing Hogan being tended to and taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital. I don’t know how long this went on for, but it was way too long. Next match is US title: Stunning Steve Austin (champ) v. Ricky Steamboat
They even have a split screen during this match showing the ambulance going to the hospital while this match is going on!! Yes, I’d rather watch an ambulance drive down the street than watch Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat. Next match is Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck v. Dustin Rhodes & Dusty Rhodes. This was on okay match. The Rhodeses win by DQ when Arn Anderson (who had cheapshotted Dustin on the outside of the ring a minute earlier) comes into the ring and blatantly interferes. Kind of a dumb ending. No reason for him to do that, since it’s not like Dusty was about to score the win or something. Anyway, like I said, this was on okay match. Dusty was clearly past his prime, but they did keep up a good pace in this match, with Dustin doing the heavy lifting for Team Rhodes. This was yet another WCW tag team match where they pay no attention whatsoever to who the legal man is. Can’t they at least pretend to adhere to some rules? Why should I care otherwise? Flair in an interview demands that Hogan walk to the arena and hand him the belt personally. Good stuff by Flair. Aaaand we get more discussion about Hulk Hogan, and he apparently left the hospital against the wishes of the doctor, his lawyer, and his cronies Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart, and is walking (yes, walking) back to the arena, heroically, with his damaged knee, to face Ric Flair. Also, the lawyer goofed up when he implied that Eric Bischoff is the head of WCW. Next match is Antonio Inoki v. Lord Steven Regal.Regal is still TV champ but this is a nontitle match. Inoki is 51 years old at this point, FYI. Anyway, this was sort of like a boring MMA/shoot match. Regal got in most of the offense until the end where Inoki got him in a choke-sleeper hold and put Regal out. Not the most thrilling match. The best part was where Heenan, upon finding out that Inoki is in the Japanese House of Councilors which is the equivalent of our US Senate, said that this was like Regal suplexing Ted Kennedy. Final match is for the WCW World title: Hulk Hogan v. Ric FlairHogan heroically walked 5 blocks in about 10 minutes on a badly injured knee just so as to not disappoint all the little Pukesters, uh, I mean Hulksters out there. It would be good booking for Hogan to lose the title by hook or by crook to build up this rivalry and also build some sympathy, but what do you suppose the odds of that are? Hmmm? Okay, here we go. They had announced that if Hogan can’t wrestle, he will forfeit the title to Ric Flair. What??? When has a title ever changed hands without an actual match, because the guy got hurt before the match? I could understand the title being vacated, but you can’t just hand the title to the challenger. That’s just dumb and goes against anything I’d seen before in pro wrestling. How can you hand the title to the challenger without a match? But that’s WCW for you. Anyway, of course Hogan comes out at the last moment with his bandaged knee. He comes out with Jimmy Hart and Brutus Beefcake. As an aside, I hate when they call Brutus “Bruti”. I don’t know why, but that just rubs me the wrong way. Hogan starts by attacking Flair before the bell, then goes in with a bunch of heroic eye rakes, back scratches, and biting, and outside the ring tries a chair shot but Flair dodges it. They were outside the ring for a minute or more with no countout, but I don’t mind that in a championship match. Hogan basically dominated the match but Hogan falls out of the ring after Flair attempts another figure four (with some help from Sherri) and Hogan is counted out in about the quickest countout in history. The Hulkster doesn’t job, brother! Michael Buffer screws up twice. First, he declares Flair the new champion. Apparently Buffer doesn’t know the rules at all and is just there to collect a fat paycheck. After the ref corrects him, he then screws up again by saying that Flair won by disqualification rather than countout. Anyway, after the match, flair and Sherri go after Hogan’s knee, then the masked guy in black who had attacked Hogan earlier comes out to help, then runs to the back again. I guess that was supposed to be Mr Perfect but was actually Arn Anderson. And Sting runs out finally to make the save. Last year Sting was the biggest start in wrestling. This year he’s not even wrestling at this PPV and is reduced to coming out in civvies at the end to save Hogan . I don’t know if he was injured or if Bischoff just didn’t have faith in him (like he didn’t have faith in Steve Austin – good call Eric!) but it’s amazing how far, how fast Sting has slipped. No room for him in Hogan’s WCW anyway, I guess. This was a pretty decent match anyway, despite my complaints. One amusing thing during the Hogan match, when he and Flair were tussling on the floor, some little old lady hit Hogan with her walking stick. Good for you, granny! It didn’t look like anything that would hurt at all, but I appreciate the thought. So you had one great match (Austin-Steamboat) and a pretty good main event, and the rest of this show was awful, plus they spent too much time mooning over Hogan and his injury. Overall, probably a below average even if it was PPV, but since it was on “free TV” I can’t really complain too much. Has there been a WCW card so far that hasn’t had a lack of logic pertaining to tag matches? This event should have been titled Hulkamania I or something. Thank goodness Hogan doesn’t feature on the next chronological event, Fall Brawl ‘94. I, too, would rather have seen Steamboat/Austin, especially as this was another title win for the Dragon, than hear the announcers drone on about Hogan, Hogan, Hogan. Steamboat/Austin was no doubt the match of the night, but did it feel important? You know, WM VI was a one-match show if you think about it, but at least commentators didn’t keep going on about Hogan/Warrior during bouts such as Jake/DiBiase, and Demolition vs. The Colossal Connection. Main event bouts should speak for themselves. In hindsight, I believe Hogan should have dropped the belt to Flair, perhaps regaining it later on. I’d say the same for Hogan/Vader. Thing is, when you have monthly events, before too long you end up with Hogan running out of opponents. If you don’t already know, wait until you see who he faces at Starrcade 1994. Still, I did read that this Clash drew a good rating, so I guess fans were into Hogan/Flair, who were at least enthusiastic (it would seem) about their feud. It’s a shame the card was only okay, though: I like Pretty Wonderful, but they and the Nasty Boys didn’t really make magic. Inoki/Regal was intriguing, but pretty boring. At least Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck was solid. If you haven’t seen it before, I have a feeling you’ll enjoy Fall Brawl ‘94. No, there hasn't been a WCW card so far that hasn't had a lack of logic pertaining to tag matches. Yeah, Hulkamania I would have been an appropriate name for this show, as everything else seemed very secondary, or even tertiary. And I should have mentioned, I think this was Steamboat's last match due to injury, at least for a long while. You're right, this did draw a very good rating, no doubt due to the Hulkster, I have to admit. I agree that Hogan should have dropped the belt here then regained it, but good luck talking him into that. It's a miracle that McMahon ever got him to lose clean to the Ultimate Warrior. And yes, the fans did seem into the Flair, Hogan feud. No, I haven't seen Fall Brawl '94, so I'm looking forward to that.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 17, 2024 13:16:34 GMT -5
Interesting stuff about Sgt. Slaughter. I'd not heard any of that before. Does sound kind of odd.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 17, 2024 13:16:01 GMT -5
I watched Clash of the Champions 28 from August, 1994. Okay, so the main event here is supposed to be a rematch between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair for the WCW championship.
We have Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan calling the action with Gene Okerlund doing interviews.
First match is Special Tag Team Feature: The Nasty Boys v. Pretty Wonderful
Pretty Wonderful are the champs and this is a non-title match but if the Nasties win they get a title shot.
This was not a very good match, and the ending was terrible. The Nasties win when Sags does the elbow drop off the middle ropes and covers Orndorff for the pin, in spite of the fact that Sags wasn’t the legal man. Oh, and Orndorff wasn’t the legal man either. Unbelievably stupid and no reason or excuse for the ref to count that, but WCW seems to have an anything goes and anybody can pin anybody and it still counts attitude when it comes to tag team matches.
Next, Hogan is coming out to the platform with Gene Okerlund for an interview when someone in a black costume & mask runs out, smashes Hogan in the knee with a metal pipe, then runs off. Hogan is yelling “oh my knee” over and over in some of the worst acting I’ve ever seen. At least he’s got Gene Okerlund to keep him company in the bad acting department here. They spend way too long on this segment, showing Hogan being tended to and taken in an ambulance to a nearby hospital. I don’t know how long this went on for, but it was way too long.
Next match is US title: Stunning Steve Austin (champ) v. Ricky Steamboat
They even have a split screen during this match showing the ambulance going to the hospital while this match is going on!! Yes, I’d rather watch an ambulance drive down the street than watch Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat.
Next match is Terry Funk & Bunkhouse Buck v. Dustin Rhodes & Dusty Rhodes.
This was on okay match. The Rhodeses win by DQ when Arn Anderson (who had cheapshotted Dustin on the outside of the ring a minute earlier) comes into the ring and blatantly interferes. Kind of a dumb ending. No reason for him to do that, since it’s not like Dusty was about to score the win or something. Anyway, like I said, this was on okay match. Dusty was clearly past his prime, but they did keep up a good pace in this match, with Dustin doing the heavy lifting for Team Rhodes. This was yet another WCW tag team match where they pay no attention whatsoever to who the legal man is. Can’t they at least pretend to adhere to some rules? Why should I care otherwise?
Flair in an interview demands that Hogan walk to the arena and hand him the belt personally. Good stuff by Flair.
Aaaand we get more discussion about Hulk Hogan, and he apparently left the hospital against the wishes of the doctor, his lawyer, and his cronies Brutus Beefcake and Jimmy Hart, and is walking (yes, walking) back to the arena, heroically, with his damaged knee, to face Ric Flair. Also, the lawyer goofed up when he implied that Eric Bischoff is the head of WCW.
Next match is Antonio Inoki v. Lord Steven Regal.
Regal is still TV champ but this is a nontitle match. Inoki is 51 years old at this point, FYI. Anyway, this was sort of like a boring MMA/shoot match. Regal got in most of the offense until the end where Inoki got him in a choke-sleeper hold and put Regal out. Not the most thrilling match. The best part was where Heenan, upon finding out that Inoki is in the Japanese House of Councilors which is the equivalent of our US Senate, said that this was like Regal suplexing Ted Kennedy.
Final match is for the WCW World title: Hulk Hogan v. Ric Flair
Hogan heroically walked 5 blocks in about 10 minutes on a badly injured knee just so as to not disappoint all the little Pukesters, uh, I mean Hulksters out there. It would be good booking for Hogan to lose the title by hook or by crook to build up this rivalry and also build some sympathy, but what do you suppose the odds of that are? Hmmm?
Okay, here we go.
They had announced that if Hogan can’t wrestle, he will forfeit the title to Ric Flair. What??? When has a title ever changed hands without an actual match, because the guy got hurt before the match? I could understand the title being vacated, but you can’t just hand the title to the challenger. That’s just dumb and goes against anything I’d seen before in pro wrestling. How can you hand the title to the challenger without a match? But that’s WCW for you.
Anyway, of course Hogan comes out at the last moment with his bandaged knee. He comes out with Jimmy Hart and Brutus Beefcake. As an aside, I hate when they call Brutus “Bruti”. I don’t know why, but that just rubs me the wrong way.
Hogan starts by attacking Flair before the bell, then goes in with a bunch of heroic eye rakes, back scratches, and biting, and outside the ring tries a chair shot but Flair dodges it. They were outside the ring for a minute or more with no countout, but I don’t mind that in a championship match. Hogan basically dominated the match but Hogan falls out of the ring after Flair attempts another figure four (with some help from Sherri) and Hogan is counted out in about the quickest countout in history. The Hulkster doesn’t job, brother! Michael Buffer screws up twice. First, he declares Flair the new champion. Apparently Buffer doesn’t know the rules at all and is just there to collect a fat paycheck. After the ref corrects him, he then screws up again by saying that Flair won by disqualification rather than countout. Anyway, after the match, flair and Sherri go after Hogan’s knee, then the masked guy in black who had attacked Hogan earlier comes out to help, then runs to the back again. I guess that was supposed to be Mr Perfect but was actually Arn Anderson. And Sting runs out finally to make the save. Last year Sting was the biggest start in wrestling. This year he’s not even wrestling at this PPV and is reduced to coming out in civvies at the end to save Hogan . I don’t know if he was injured or if Bischoff just didn’t have faith in him (like he didn’t have faith in Steve Austin – good call Eric!) but it’s amazing how far, how fast Sting has slipped. No room for him in Hogan’s WCW anyway, I guess.
This was a pretty decent match anyway, despite my complaints.
One amusing thing during the Hogan match, when he and Flair were tussling on the floor, some little old lady hit Hogan with her walking stick. Good for you, granny! It didn’t look like anything that would hurt at all, but I appreciate the thought.
So you had one great match (Austin-Steamboat) and a pretty good main event, and the rest of this show was awful, plus they spent too much time mooning over Hogan and his injury. Overall, probably a below average even if it was PPV, but since it was on “free TV” I can’t really complain too much.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 13, 2024 7:55:24 GMT -5
The Tsuruta/Martel match is on YouTube. Personally, I think Vince should have made Martel IC champion in the early 80s instead of going back to Morales. That's purely based on what I've seen of the Martel/Garera tag team. I liked the Model stuff, but like most folks I was disappointed that there wasn't a proper blowoff against Santana. In '94, he could still work decent matches against talented workers, but his ceiling was probably an IC run. I agree on all points.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 12, 2024 11:40:15 GMT -5
That sounds like something Hogan would do, though I certainly wouldn't discount the possibility of photoshopping. I often thought a good way of Hogan passing the torch in WWF or WCW would have been to challenge for either the IC or US Championships. His interview could have been something like this: ”Brother, I’m winding my career down, I have to come off the treadmill, but I would like to give all my Hulkamaniacs the opportunity to see me challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, a belt with much prestige! I’ve held the world championship more than once, and Hulkamania will live forever, but I would like to end my career by giving all my Hulkamaniacs one final run. So, let me put it out there to the Intercontinental Champion: will you give the Hulkster a shot, BROTHER?!”And then we could have seen Hogan add another championship to his accolades (a U.S. Championship reign might have been more fun), before he loses the belt to an up and coming talent. I know some might argue, why would a multiple-time world champion go for a belt of lesser renown? Well, renown is renown. My football team, Aston Villa, might win the UEFA Football League, but if they did next time, I’d be happy to see them also win our national competition, the FA Cup. If a national team wins the FIFA World Cup, it won’t preclude them also competing in and winning the European Cup. So I feel that there’s plenty of good reasons, even within the kayfabe world of wrestling, for a former world champion to challenge for a regional championship. A Hogan run with the IC/US championship might have been good for him and others. But an entire football team doesn't have the ego of Hulk Hogan, so that would never happen. By the way, your fictional Hogan quote should have had a few more "brother"s sprinkled in there.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 12, 2024 8:04:08 GMT -5
That sounds like something Hogan would do, though I certainly wouldn't discount the possibility of photoshopping.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 11, 2024 8:01:59 GMT -5
Maxx's comments seem spot on though hey, as far as age, if a guy is bringing in money, why should the company care how old he is?
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Post by dbutler69 on May 10, 2024 15:32:13 GMT -5
I watched Bash at the Beach 1994 recently. This really kicks off the Hulk Hogan era, brother!
First Match is the TV Title Match with Lord Stephen Regal (champ) w/Sir William vs. Johnny B. Badd.
Badd is a replacement for the injured Sting. I don’t know what the real injury is, but the kayfabe explanation is that Sensual Sherri raked him in the eyes and caused cornea damage.
Regal wins by reversing a sunset flip attempt by Badd. The end was slightly botched, I think, but overall I thought this a very good match.
Next match is Vader (w/Harley Race) vs. the Guardian Angel.
The feud between these two continues. Angel showed some impressive power moves and Vader (!) showed some impressive agility moves (like a spinning heel kick and of course his moonsault) and overall this was a good match. However, at the end, the ref takes a weak looking bump, then Vader takes a telescoping night stick and attempt to hit Angel with it. Angel dodges it then gets the nightstick from Vader. Angel stands there holding the stick, but doesn’t use it. Then the ref recovers, sees Angel holding the stick, and disqualifies him, even though he didn’t use it! So Vader wins via DQ. This was a good match with an awful ending. I guess maybe they were trying to protect Guardian Angel for a future matchup between these two but this was still dumb.
Next match is a tag team match with the Stud Stable (Bunkhouse Buck and Terry Funk) w/ Col. Parker and Meng vs.Arn Anderson and Dustin Rhodes. Dustin has been feuding with Colonel Parker, and Funk still holds a grudge against the Rhodes family, so here you go. Dustin chose Arn Anderson as his tag team partner for this match. Let’s see how that goes. Rhodes takes on both Studs for pretty much all of this match, then he finally tags in Arn Anderson, who promptly DDT’s Dustin then puts the prone Terry Funk on top of Rhodes for the pin. Good heel turn here by Anderson. The match itself was just okay, I though. Not bad, certainly, and did have some nice Dustin vs. two guys at once spots, but perhaps a bit too much of that.
Next match is for the US title: Champ Stunning Steve Austin vs. Ricky the Dragon Steamboat.
This was a great match. Austin wins in about 20 minutes by rolling through a Steamboat crossbody and using the ropes for leverage for the pin. Good pace and good storytelling here. There was a cool sequence here where the two of them kept reversing Tombstone attempts. Unfortunately, Steamboat’s career will come to an end soon due to an injury. Also worth noting that Col. Parker is no longer Austin’s manager.
Next is the Tag Team Title Match: Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff & Paul Roma) vs. Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan (c) (w/ Dave Sullivan).
Okay, this match was awful, IMHO. Boring and much too long at over 20 minutes. Plus, the ending was really stupid. Orndorff pinned Jack (after Jack had hit a double arm DDT – his finisher – but the ref was too distracted to see the pin) with the aid of Roma holding Jack’s feet from the outside. However, it is impossible to believe that the ref didn’t see that. Nearly half of Jack’s body was outside the ring! Plus, Roma was holding Jack’s feet down even before the ref came over to count the pin. How could the ref have not seen this? Answer, he couldn’t have missed it. I guess Jack got himself in trouble by spitting on the tag team belt during an ECW promo so losing the title was a foregone conclusion, anyway.
Way to get the crowd revved up for the main event, WCW.
Next is the main event, the WCW Title Match: Hulk Hogan (w/ Mr. T & Jimmy Hart) vs. Ric Flair (c) (w/ Sensuous Sherri).
I’m not sure why Hulk Hogan needs Mr. T “for security reasons” Does he think Sensual Sherri is going to beat him up on the outside? Well, more on that later. Anyway, Shaquille O’Neil is there and will present the belt to the winner, and of course Michael Buffer does the ring announcement for this main event.
The crowd is seriously behind Hogan here. That would not be the case in other WCW cities, so they were smart to host this in Orlando, near Hulk’s stomping grounds.
They kept saying that Hogan hadn’t wrestled in 2-3 years. That’s not true. He wrestled just a year ago against Yokozuna at King of the Ring.
A couple of (not seated together) Hulk Hogan look alikes in the first row. I pity the fools.
Hogan actually does some real wrestling moves early on! Also, Hulk with his usual heroic biting and hair pulling.
Sherri is about to clobber Hogan with a chair outside the ring, and Jimmy Hart has to make the save? Where is Mr. T? Isn’t that exactly what he’s here for? Later on, Sherri attack Jimmy Hart. Again, what is Mr. T doing? Finaly, towards the end of the match, after Hogan knocks Sherri out of the ring, Mr. T earns his paycheck by picking her up and carrying her away.
In the end, of course Hogan wins with the boot to the face off the Irish whip, followed by the leg drop, followed by the cover. Yawn. And we have a new champion! And Shaquille O’Neil is happy! And Bobby Heenan is miserable! Heenan’s reaction to all this is great.
Okay, overall, I thought this was a good match. As far as Hogan matches go, I have no complaints. I do think, however, they’d have been better off if Flair retained the belt here due to some chicanery to set up a rematch, but I guess WCW (or Hogan himself) couldn’t wait to put the belt on Hogan. A bit shortsighted.
All in all, a very good PPV. One bad match, but all the other matches were at least good, with one great match (Austin-Steamboat) and the main event was good, if not great.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 7, 2024 16:06:17 GMT -5
Are you thinking of Demolition Ax and Smash, my friend? They drew numbers 1 and 2 in 1989. And yes, allies/friends having conflicts in the Rumble was fun (and something modern Rumbles back, they are often a succession of entrances and eliminations, with the story only being about the last 3-4 participants). I loved some of the stuff in 1992, such as Ric Flair giving the Barbarian a high five after some teamwork - and then slapping his chest. Not a wise strategy against the Barbarian. I loved how Ted DiBiase and Randy Savage worked together in 1990. Savage saved DiBiase at one point, and Schiavone said to Ventura, “Jesse, if it’s every man for himself, why would he save DiBiase? He’s been paid off! He has to have been paid off!” Yup, Ax and Smash. The real Demolition!
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Post by dbutler69 on May 6, 2024 15:48:26 GMT -5
As far as heel vs. heel bouts, I really enjoyed the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Martel at Summerslam 1992. It was fun seeing both guys cheating - yet also trying to abide by the "no hitting the face" rule they had agreed to. That was a fun bout for all the reasons you describe. I remember a Bastion Booger vs Rick Martel match where Martel was repulsed by Booger. Repo Man vs. Papa Shango was a peculiar bout (I was rooting for Repo Man). I’ve mentioned The Quebecers vs. Bam Bam Bigelow & Adam Bomb. I think it was untelevised. I just want to know what Johnny Polo was doing, given he managed The Quebecers and Bomb. Did he cheer both teams on? Shift allegiance for one match? Go on strike? Sit down and just wish the better man to win? I used to like some of the Rumble promos between heels. Earthquake and Dino Bravo did one in 1990, and Earthquake said, “No-one is safe, everyone is going out!” Erm, what about your friend Dino Bravo? And a later promo (same event) had Bravo looking at Quake and saying, “The last man will be there at the end…standing by himself!” Another one I remember (1990) was when Andre, Rick Rude, Haku and Bobby Heenan began bickering over ‘every man for himself’. Starrcade ‘89 is a good PPV for heel vs heel and face vs face bouts as it features round robin tournaments for the singles and tag divisions. So we saw heel vs heel matches such as Lex Luger vs. Great Muta, and Doom vs. The New Wild Samoans. Bastion Booger vs Rick Martel? That would be hilarious! Yes, it would be nicxe to see that Quebecers vs. Bigelow/Bomb match just to see what Johnny Polo did. If he was smart, he sided with the Quebecers. And yes, the Royal Rumble promos could be fun as allies/friends would sometimes argue over what would happen if it came down to the two of them. Remember when the Nasty Boys got numbers 1 and 2 at one Royal Rumble?
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Post by dbutler69 on May 6, 2024 12:04:20 GMT -5
I agree with everything you've said here. And I don't know if there's any truth to the "Legends" idea, but it's a possibility, though I agree with you that it's silly. The main problem I have with being fixated in face vs. heel matchups is that it makes things too predictable. Once one match is over, I already know who's going to win the next matchup, since they almost always tried to preserve that heel vs. face thing. Once Razor defeated Bam Bam, I knew that IRS would defeat Mabel since they wouldn't want two babyfaces wrestling against each other. This also applies to the qualifying matches, where once one match was done, I already knew who would win next week's qualifying matches. Plus, as you imply, by always having face/heel matchups, it reduces the number of possible matches we get to see. We'll never get to see Owen vs. Jeff Jarrett, for example. And yes, Roddy hadn't wrestled in over two years, and this feud seemed totally forced. You’re right in how predictable it makes things. I did like how the 1993 KOTR had two faces go against each other, Bret vs. Mr Perfect. But off the top of my head, the PPV KOTR never had a heel vs heel bout (untelevised KOTR events did, such as IRS vs. Berzerker in 1991). In 1994, something like Bam Bam Bigelow vs. IRS might have been fun. Or a face vs face encounter such as Tatanka vs. Razor Ramon. Just to shake it up a bit. We like face vs face and heel vs heel encounters in the Royal Rumble, so why not at KOTR? It was often the same in other WWF tournaments, such as the 1990 Intercontinental Championship tournament, or 1995’s WWF Tag Team Championship tournament. Not always, of course, but often. I like heel vs heel bouts because of the novelty. But it’s also fun to be torn over who to root for. I mean, I was rooting for Power and Glory when they battled the Orient Express in 1991, because while they were bad guys, Mr Fuji was a real heel, and I wanted to see Hercules and Roma win. Having a heel vs heel dynamic in any kind of tournament could also allow some fun booking regarding torn loyalties. Imagine if back in the day, two of Jimmy Hart’s wrestlers had found themselves facing off in a tournament. Or something like that. As far as heel vs. heel bouts, I really enjoyed the Shawn Michaels vs Ric Martel at Summerslam 1992. It was fun seeing both guys cheating - yet also trying to abide by the "no hitting the face" rule they had agreed to.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 5, 2024 8:07:02 GMT -5
On King of the Ring ‘94, dbutler69 , I agree with most of your review. It is one of my favourite WWF PPVs of that era (Art Donovan aside, who was as bad as Rob Bartlett on Monday Night Raw). I must admit, though, I wish some of the tournaments hadn’t been so dead set on babyface vs heel finals. I’d have been intrigued by seeing, say, Bam Bam Bigelow VS IRS here, or Owen Hart vs. Jeff Jarrett. But what we did get was good, although the running times were too short. This isn’t the best Bret/Diesel match, but it was pretty good. At the time, I did wonder what Neidhart was up to. It was good to see him back, but when he came out during the Razor/Owen match, and perhaps I was naive, I expected he was out to help Razor and confront Owen. The Owen victory was a good one, but imagine if Razor had won. Imagine him taking his toothpick out as he drank the royal goblet. Oh, and I was also expecting Jerry Lawler to show up. After all, he did consider himself the true king. I was thinking about how Lex Luger’s stock had plummeted after WM X. To not even make the card here was frustrating. And where was Doink? As a kid, I expected Tatanka to win, it felt like he needed a big victory after 2 years of service to the WWF. The tag bout was intriguing, and at least fresh. It was also a rare occasion to see The Head Shrinkers as underdogs, which they rarely were. Now, to the main event (which was okay, I guess): at the time, it felt like the most random main event the WWF could have come up with. Why? Why indeed. I mean, Piper hadn’t wrestled since WM VIII, and as far as I know, he had no prior history with Lawler. It honestly felt like someone at the WWF had come up with two random names and that is what we got. It made Boss Man/Bigelow at RR ‘93 look like a meticulously planned arc. Random doesn’t even begin to describe it! I did read years ago that with Hogan/Flair planned for Bash at the Beach ‘94, which took place a month after this PPV, the WWF wanted to get a “legends match” in first. Is there any truth to that? It’s the most logical explanation anyone has ever come up with. Given the “New Generation” hype/advertising at the time, it just felt odd that neither the KOTR final, nor the Bret/Diesel bout, went on last. So while there was a wild and fun aspect to Piper/Lawler, it’s perhaps the one WWF bout where I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to learn just why it was booked. If there is truth to the “legends idea” of beating Hogan/Flair, well it would still be silly. While some fans did enjoy the WWF and WCW (I was one of them!), not everything is a competition. Did the WWF doing a “legends bout” a month before WCW mean anything? Did it win them any accolades? Were there any bragging rights? I doubt it. I mean, Piper vs. Lawler was one thing, Hogan vs. Flair was another, I doubt Piper/Lawler had any WWF fans saying, “You know, I got my legends match, so I won’t buy the Hogan/Flair bout.” It may just be a theory, but it’s the only one I’ve heard that makes some sort of sense. Overall, I enjoyed this, even better than KOTR ‘93, if I’m honest. I’d say it’s one of the most solid and enjoyable PPVs of the New Generation Era. If anyone has any insight into why Piper/Lawler was booked, please let us know! I agree with everything you've said here. And I don't know if there's any truth to the "Legends" idea, but it's a possibility, though I agree with you that it's silly. The main problem I have with being fixated in face vs. heel matchups is that it makes things too predictable. Once one match is over, I already know who's going to win the next matchup, since they almost always tried to preserve that heel vs. face thing. Once Razor defeated Bam Bam, I knew that IRS would defeat Mabel since they wouldn't want two babyfaces wrestling against each other. This also applies to the qualifying matches, where once one match was done, I already knew who would win next week's qualifying matches. Plus, as you imply, by always having face/heel matchups, it reduces the number of possible matches we get to see. We'll never get to see Owen vs. Jeff Jarrett, for example. And yes, Roddy hadn't wrestled in over two years, and this feud seemed totally forced.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 14:06:21 GMT -5
I recently watched King of the Ring 1994.
We’ve got our tournament, plus Bret Hart vs. Diesel in a champ vs. champ match, plus the tag team belts being defended, plus a grudge match between Roddy Piper and Jerry Lawler!
Vince McMahon sits this one out with neck surgery. We’ve got Gorilla Monsoon and Randy Savage on commentary, along with local football legend Art Donovan. Art Donovan as a wrestling announcer. Boy, I don’t even know where to begin. His announcing is...something. It’s too easy to pick on his commentary, so I won’t bother too much. This guy has clearly never seen a professional wrestling match in his life, and whoever thought it would be a good idea to hire him for this gig should be fired, except that it was probably Vince McMahon’s idea. One of my favorite Art quotes, when Bam Bam had Razon in a Torture Rack: “Gorilla, is he dead?”. And he was being serious. He mostly just asked inane questions throughout the broadcast like somebody's clueless grandpa and also kept asking how much everybody weighed. Honestly, I found it a bit distracting to have to listen to him. Well, the silver lining is that this debacle apparently helped convince McMahon to hire back Jim Ross.
Unfortunately, this will be the last PPV for Joey Morella, as he dies in a car accident falling asleep at the wheel driving back from a show a couple of weeks after this. They say that his father, Gorilla Monsoon, was never the same after that.
Going back to Art Donovan, he was 70 years old at the time of this event and it’s incredible (and sad) to think of how many wrestlers (and refs, and commentators) at this PPV he would outlive, even though he was considerably older than all of them.
They push the use of the term “New Generation” a lot on this PPV.
Unlike last year when Bret Hart was declared #1 seed and didn’t have to wrestle in a qualifying match, all 8 wrestlers in this one had to win a qualifying match on either Raw or Superstars.
First match is Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon) vs. Razor Ramon.
Razon wins in a little over 8 minutes when Bam Bam goes to the top for a moonsault and Razor grabs him and powerbombs him. This was a good, back and forth match, with both guys getting in some offencse and Bam Bam working Razor’s back, as he wasn’t going to get someone Bam Bam’s size up for the Razor’s Edge anyway. As with all of the tournament matches here, this thing clocked in at under 10 minutes.
Razor advances to the semifinals to fac the winner of the next match.
Next up in the tournament is Irwin R. Schyster vs. Mabel (w/Oscar).
IRS wins in about five and a half minutes when Mabel goes to the middle rope and IRS shakes the rope, knocking him off, then IRS covers him (with his arm on the rope, though oddly none of the commentators mentioned that) for the win. This was not a very good match, but at least it was relatively short.
IRS will face Razor in the semifinal.
Next tournament match is Owen Hart vs. Tatanka.
Tatanka blindsides Owen before the bell, in a heelish move. This was a good match with a lot of nearfalls that got the crowd into it (the crowd was great throughout this PPV, by the way) and Owen wins in about 8 and a half minutes by sitting on Tatanka during Tatanka’s sunset flip attempt and hooking his legs. Another example of Owen being clever and coming up with different ways to win. This was a fun, face paced match.
Owen advances to the semis.
Final first round match is The 1-2-3 Kid vs. Jeff Jarrett.
This was another fun, face paced match with good storytelling. The kid missed a corner charge, smashing his knee. Double J attacked the knee a couple of times, then went for the figure four, but Kid grabs him during the figure four attempt and rolls him up into a small package for the win. Another good plucky underdog win for the Kid. After the match, Jarrett hits 3 piledrivers on Kid then goes up top for two or three elbows off the middle rope, and the Kid’s ability to be able to compete in the next round after that beatdown is in question.
1-2-3 Kid advances to the semis vs. Owen Hart – if he’s physically able!
Next is the WWF Title Match: Diesel (w/ Shawn Michaels) vs. Bret Hart (c) (w/ Jim Neidhart).
Diesel is Intercontinental champs, and I don’t understand why they keep saying he can own both belts. When Warrior won the WWF championship while Intercontinental champ, he had to vacate the Intercontinental, which makes sense, and I don’t know why that wouldn’t be the case here. Of course, the WWF never acknowledges that event anyway.
I saw a “Greaseball” sign being held up during this match, which I assume is a reference to Bret Hart. Pretty harsh! Overall though, the crowd was VERY much behind Bret here.
So anyhoo, at the King’s Court a few weeks ago, Diesel, with help from Shawn Michaels and Jerry Lawler, gave Bret a serious beatdown after a Diesel jackknife (powerbomb) so Bret has said that he will have a family member present at ringside for this match to offset the presence of Michaels. A lot of stupid guesses as to who that might be, but of course it’s his brother-in-law Jim Neidhart.
Excellent match here. Good storytelling with Bret working the leg to set up for his sharpshooter and Diesel working the back to set up for his powerbomb. Bret made Diesel look good here (surprise surprise). Diesel wins by DQ (after nearly 23 miutes) when Neidhart comes in an clotheslines Diesel after Diesel jackknifed Bret Hart. So Diesel wins the match but Neidhart’s actions did save the belt for Bret Hart since you can’t win the title on a DQ. Neidhart then walks off. As he does, Diesel and Michaels give Hart a serious beatdown, and the announcers are wondering where Neidhart is. Later on in the show, Bret goes looking for Neidhart, but can’t find him. The ending could have been better, but it did leave open the question of whether or not Bret could have kicked out of the Jackknife, so that set up a future rematch.
I read that Diesel wrestled this match with a torn groin. If that is true, kudos to him!
Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Razor Ramon vs. Irwin R. Schyster
Razor wins with his Razor’s Edge (after just a couple kicks to the stomach) in a little over 5 minutes. An okay match, but nothing special. They’re keeping these matches short since the two guys in the final will need to wrestle 3 times. That’s a shortcoming of this format.
Next match is a King of the Ring Semifinal: Owen Hart vs. The 1-2-3 Kid.
Frankly, this was my favorite match of the entire PPV. It was under 4 minutes, but possibly the best under 4 minute WWF/WWE match of all time. My kind of match – very fast paced with lots of arial stuff plus some good mat wrestling thrown in. They did a good job of building up drama and it actually seemed longer than it was because so much happened. This match was so great that these two wouldn’t meet again in a big match until 1998. Sigh.
Owen started this match with a dropkick on the Kid, who hadn’t even entered the ring yet, but unfortunately, since the WWF now has the wrestlers enter the ring in a darkened arena, with some fancy spotlights, you really couldn’t see that dropkick. A shame.
Next is the Tag Team Title Match: The Headshrinkers (c) (w/ Afa & Lou Albano) vs. Crush & Yokozuna (w/ Mr. Fuji & Jim Cornette)
The Headshrinkers retain the title in a little over 9 minutes when Fatu superkicks Crush and covers for the pin. This match wasn’t necessarily great (some botches in there) but it was better than I expected. Lex Luger came out during the match and distracted Crush, which played a role in the outcome. In fact, they had the camera on Luger during that finishing superkick, so that you could barely see that finishing move. Not good, WWF. They kept mentioning that Crush cost Luger the win in the King of the Ring qualifying match but they never mention that Luger retaliated by doing the same thing to Crush. Luger had been feuding with Mr Perfect but then Perfect got injured so Crush is now the guy with the Luger feud.
The crowd started a “USA” chant in this match between two Samoans, vs. a Hawaiian and a “Japanese” guy. Annoying and ignorant.
There was one point in this match where Yoko came in an illegally leg dropped one of the Samoans and the ref pretended not to see it (since it should have been a DQ) but it was obvious to me that he did see it. Whoops. I guess that’s what they mean by a ref being out of position.
Next we get the KOTR Owen Hart vs. Razor Ramon.
I find it strange that the Piper-Lawler match goes on last rather than this. That really doesn’t make any sense to me. The final of the tournament should be main event, plus it would give the guys more time to rest. Really odd.
Anyway, Owen Hart wins the match, and the tournament, after Jim Neidhart came out when Razor had been backdropped onto the floor and gave Razor a couple of cheapshots while Owen had the ref distracted, then rolled him back into the ring so that Owen could just do a Randy Savage elbow drop off the top rope for the win. The match was good, but not great. Both guys were probably tired, so under the circumstances I can’t complain. The final was only about 6 and a half minutes, which is pretty short for a final match. Maybe that’s why this wasn’t the main event? More time to this match would have been nice.
So we see that Neidhart was actually an Owen guy all along and only helped Bret to make sure that Bret would retain the title so that Owen could win the title for him when Owen won the king of the ring. I liked the ending where Neidhart comes out, to the surprise of all, and attacks Razor and we finally see why he disappeared after Bret’ match. Pretty cool betrayal.
In the ceremony to crown Owen as the new King of the Ring, Owen was such an awesome jerk here. I loved the coronation, Also, Neidhart was by his side for this. Owen now wants to be known as the King of Harts. Cool.
The main event is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper vs. Jerry “The King” Lawler.
I find it odd that this is the main event, but I guess they wanted to send the fans home happy. Whatever. I’d rather get sent home with a really good match. Anyway, these two have been feuding, with Lawler insulting Piper and also insulting the kids at the children’s hospital that Piper has been visiting. Piper has promised his winnings to that children’s hospital and Lawler says the kids will get nothing because Piper will lose. The odd thing about this feud is that it’s been done remotely. These guys have not met even once. Odd way to build up a feud. In a recent edition of the King’s Court, Lawler got a very skinny kid to wear a kilt and Piper tee shirt and impersonate Piper (and his Piper impersonation was spot on) then he made the kid kiss his feet and crawl out of the ring. He pretended that that was really Piper. Pipers rebuttal was that Lawler took advantage of and humiliated this poor kid and that he would find him and make amends. Sure enough, Piper comes out to this match accompanied by that kid, after Lawler came out first and grabbed the mic and insulted the crowd as well as Piper.
As far as the match itself, it was okay I guess. I mean frankly, it wasn’t all that great though these are two legends. It probably would have played better 10 or 15 years earlier. Anyway, it was mostly punches and kicks and the kid getting involved a bit and Lawler went after the kid several times and when Piper tried to save him Lawler took advantage. Piper had gotten the early advantage acting rathe heelish, throwing his kilt over Lawler then pummeling him before the bell, then shortly thereafter outside the ring he held Lawler so the kid could poke him in the eye. I’m not sure why that wasn’t a DQ nor do I know how those guys weren’t both counted out during that segment. I will say, Piper looked ripped here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in such good shape. Anyway, Piper wins the match (surprise surprise) when he knocked Lawler off the ropes then hit a belly to back suplex and covered for the win I n a sloppy looking finish.
Overall, though the booking here was quite good. I don’t know who the booker was for this, but good job overall. It thought it funny that they’re pushing this “New Generation” thing and even have a commercial mocking older wrestlers, yet their main event was two guys in their 40s/ Go figure.
Anyway, I thought this was a pretty good show overall. Bret/Diesel was really good, all of the Owen Hart matches were good, Razor and 1-2-3 Kid had good performances and I enjoyed Owen’s antics at the coronation ceremony. The main event wasn’t very good, and some of the tournament matches weren’t get good (especially IRS-Mabel) and many of the tournament matches were too short, but overall, a rather decent show.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 4, 2024 8:24:03 GMT -5
Amazing Spider-Man #37 Avengers #28 Daredevil #16 (Spider-Man! Nice cover, too) Fantastic Four #51 (This Man, This Monster!) Strange Tales #145 Tales of Suspense #78 Thor #128 (Thor vs. Pluto!) X-Men #20 (I think this was the first X-Men back issue I ever bought) Adventure Comics #344 (Legion of Super-Heroes in the Super Stalag of Space!) Detective Comics #351 (Elongated Man backup!) Doom Patrol #103 Flash #161 (Mirror Master) Justice League of America #44 Showcase #62 (The Inferior Five!) Teen Titans #3 World's Finest Comics #157 Tales to Astonish #80 Some of my favorite covers for the month:
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