|
Post by Batflunkie on Sept 16, 2020 21:20:55 GMT -5
Those have to be the worst outfits that I've ever seen in my life...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2020 7:33:19 GMT -5
Fall Brawl 1995 aired on PPV 25 years ago today (taking place in Asheville, North Carolina): The main event was supposed to feature Hulk Hogan, Sting, Randy Savage and Vader against Kamala, Zodiac, Shark and Meng (The Dungeon of Doom). For reasons we all know, Vader left WCW - and his replacement was Lex Luger. Other bouts included a stellar near-30-minute bout between Johnny B. Badd and Brian Pillman, and Diamond Dallas Page challenged Renegade for the WCW Television Championship. A pretty solid PPV, if you ask me.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2020 10:47:44 GMT -5
Those have to be the worst outfits that I've ever seen in my life... If you look at photos or clips of 1970s pro wrestling, you can find far worse!
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Sept 17, 2020 11:33:29 GMT -5
Those have to be the worst outfits that I've ever seen in my life... If you look at photos or clips of 1970s pro wrestling, you can find far worse! Of that I'm sure. It also looks like a really bad piece of cover art from some kind of freeform Jazz record
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2020 23:03:55 GMT -5
Check out these trunks, sported by Angelo Poffo, father of "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "Leaping" Lanny Poffo (aka The Genius)... Angelo vs Wilber Snyder, in the WWA (Indianapolis, which Snyder co-owned, with Dick The Bruiser). He's sporting some interesting long tights... You can also see where Lanny got the Genius gimmick. I wouldn't be surprised if Angelo still had the cap and gown, for Lanny to use! Back to Anglo's tights; somewhere a sofa is missing some upholstery! Slammin' Sammy Menacker on commentary. His verbal sparring with Bobby Heenan was always a treat. They even had a match, at one point (probably several). Angelo is greatly underrated, since he was mostly done, by the time Randy and Lanny were on the national stage. He wrestled as the masked Miser, in his own ICW promotion and had been a mainstay in Chicago (Fred Kohler promoting), Detroit (under Jim Barnett and the Sheik) and Indianapolis (Barnett again, and Bruiser & Snyder). He also booked Emil Dupree's Maritimes territory, in Nova Scotia, in 1979, which is where Randy and Lanny were first pushed as stars and what led to them starting the ICW promotion, in Kentucky & Tennessee (and parts of West Virginia, Illinois and Missouri, eventually). Randy favored him a bit, facially, though you can see a lot of him in Lanny, too. Snyder was a great technician. he was an ex-football star and was one of the ones who transitioned well to wrestling. He was one of the few WWA guys I really enjoyed watching, as it was mat wrestling (we had their tv for short periods, when they were promoting in our area, which was only short term). The WWA wasn't big on storylines and it was a cheap promotion, where old timers finished up and young guys started out. After Heenan and some others (Blackjack Lanza, Blackjack Mulligan, Baron Von Raschke) moved on to better paying gigs, they went downhill. Snyder would work tag-teams, when I saw them, and matches earlier on the card, while Bruiser put himself in main events. Their bread and butter was Chicago, which they co-promoted with Verne Gagne, after buying out Kohler. They would also work AWA cards and St Louis, for good paydays. By the timne I saw it, Snyder wrestled infrequently and they were pushing his and Bruiser's sons-in-law, Steve Regal (Mr Electricity, not British wrestler Steve Regal/Lord Steven Regal/William Regal) and Spike Huber (Regal was married to Snyder's daughter and Spike to Bruiser's). Paul Christy was there and was a decent heel, though not the greatest on promos. He later worked with the Poffos and Randy dropped the ICW belt to him and he promoted it after the Poffos made their deal with Jarrett and invaded Memphis. He infamously went to the WWF (thanks to Randy Savage) and had a nonsensical appearance on Tuesday Night Titans and was soon dropped. In his book, he admitted to drinking before the show, to settle his nerves, as the TNT format was out of his usual comfort zone (betting that he might have already been drinking aside from that; but, he didn't show obvious signs of such behavior) Snyder's leap frogs and flying head scissors were considered high spots, back then!
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 17, 2020 23:18:08 GMT -5
Bobby Heenan vs Cowboy Bob Ellis, who is sporting some bovine trunks...
Heenan was probably the best worker on the card, in the WWA, in his glory days. he continued to take part in matches when he went to the WWA; but, he had messed up his neck, by the time he was in the WWF and his bumping days came to an end.
Ellis was a big star in the 60s and 70s, in the WWA, St Louis, Kansas City and other parts. The Midwest was a hotbed of wrestling through the 60s and some areas, like Chicago, St Louis, Minneapolis and Indianapolis stayed strong in the 70s; but, the recession and cable pretty much killed off those territories, as they tended to run cheaply and presented old school wrestling. Detroit was done by 1983, the WWA lasted until about 1988/89 (with Jerry Graham Jr keeping it going in Toledo, after Bruiser & Snyder gave up), with Scott Steiner as the last "name" that came out of there. Chicago was still largely an AWA town, but was soon featuring matches from Crockett and the WWF, at the Rosemont Horizon. St Louis shut down with Sam Muchnick and Vince moved in there, but KC ran at Kemper Arena and the Kiel Auditorium. KC limped along, with Bob Geigel turning things over to Crockett, in the mid-late 80s, then taking it back, before shuttering it by the end of the decade. The AWA held out until 1991; but was in bad shape from late 1987 on. Lawler as world champion and the unification with WCCW was probably the lat hurrah of any note and that still didn't sell that well. It helped Memphis a bit and Lawler took the title to a few of the remaining southern territories; but, that was it. Jarrett had already bought Dallas, so it became part of the USWA, when Jarrett renamed the CWA.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 18, 2020 0:20:21 GMT -5
Getting back to the Tiger Mask cartoons, if you want to get confused, check out this 1996 match, pitting all four Tiger Masks (sort of) in tag-team competition with each other. The original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama (in his Tiger King gear) is teamed with Tiger Mask IV (Yoshihiro Yamazaki, who started in Michinoku Pro, in the gimmick; but, became a top jr star in New Japan), the then-latest version (there is a Tiger Mask V and Tiger Mask W, to coincide with the cartoon). They take on Tiger Mask II (originally Mistuhara Misawa; but, portrayed here by Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Tiger Mask III (Koji Kanemoto, who became a top opponent of Jushin Liger and Wild Pegasus/Pegasus Kid Chris Benoit, as well as Super Liger Chris Jericho). Tiger Mask II has the orange mask and piping on his tights. Tiger Mask III has the yellow kneepads. Tiger mask 4 has the teeth around the mouth opening of his mask and Sayama is in the black, white and silver. The ref is wearing a Black Tiger mask. Black Tiger, who was based on the Tiger Cave assassins sent against Naoto Date (with Tiger King as the ultimate one), was first portrayed by Mark "Rollerball" Rocco, then Eddie Guerrero, followed by Silver King (Cesar Gonzalez, who was Silver King in Mexico and WCW and was the son of Mexican star Dr Wagner and brother of Dr Wagner Jr; he was also Ramses, in Nacho Libre), then Rocky Romero. In 2009, NJPW introduced a Japanese Black Tiger V, breaking from the tradition that they were always foreigners, and he was unmasked as Tatsuhito Takaiwa. A 6th Black Tiger, Tomohiro Ishii, was introduced in 2011, but gave up the gimmick quickly (ha was known to be Ishii, anyway) and a 7th, in 2012 (Kazushige Nosawa) until he was arrested for smuggling cannabis. Nosawa used the Black Tiger gimmick in All-Japan, later. There was also a short-lived female Tiger Mask, known as Tiger Dream, in Arsion, portrayed by Arsion wrestler Candy Okutsu, after training with Sayama and Yamazaki. She was rather sloppy in executing the moves and was injury prone, so the gimmick was retired relatively quickly. She sported a pink mask... Here are the 4 Tiger Masks.... Sayama Misawa Kanemoto Yamazaki the 4 main Black Tigers... (Upper, L-R-Rocco, Eddie; lower,L_R-Silver King, Romero) Also, in Michinoku Pro (Great sasuke;s promotion, where he started) Tiger Mask IV fought a doppelganger, Masked Tiger. Misawa unmasked in dramatic fashion, during a tag match, in All-Japan. Over time, he switched from the blue, gold and orange to his signature green, with black trunks and boots. He was in a tag match and signaled for his partner to unlace his mask and he took it off and threw it into the crowd, revealing he was Misawa and wrestling under his own name thereafter, in the heavyweight division, as the rising star and eventual top man. Kanemoto lost his mask in a mask vs mask match, to Jushin Liger and continued under his own name, including MMA fights in Pride. Sayama had to give up the gimmick, when he left New Japan; but used the name Super Tiger, in the UWF (sporting blue and silver) and then Tiger King, when he returned to wrestling special matches, from 1996 on. Prior to that, he was training and promoting Shooto and the Japan Vale Tudo.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 18, 2020 0:35:59 GMT -5
ps The crying Freeman manga and anime adaptation included a storyline where Freeman has to fight a giant wrestler, who nearly kills one of his allies. You can find it on Youtube; but, be warned. The series was done for an adult audience, with a lot of violence and sex, both dramatically presented. If you look under Crying Freeman OVA 4, you can find the whole video, which includes the villain first beating up, then raping and then throwing the female ally into the ocean to drown. Like I said; adult audiences and that was a pretty gratuitous moment. The manga had art from Ryochi Ikegami, who did the Spider-Man manga. He was obviously a gan, as he gets the moves correct and the assassin is portrayed wearing the United National title belt, from All-Japan...
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2020 7:33:48 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the feud that Jake Roberts had with Ted DiBiase in 1989/90. When Jake turned heel in 1991, I was hoping he might get to team with Ted DiBiase, perhaps against a combination such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
Does anyone know if Jake and DiBiase ever teamed up in pre-WWF times? Google, as ever, isn’t getting me there...
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 19, 2020 8:05:04 GMT -5
Wrestling Data doesn't list them as partners; but, he and Dibiase were opponents multiple times. I'm not exactly sure of their timelines; but, I believe he was a face, in Mid-South, when Ted DiBiase was a heel. Both were in Georgia, in 1983, but both were heels. Jake was part of the Legion of Doom, which was Paul Ellering's heel stable, not just the Road Warriors. He was part of Buzz Sawyer's face turn, as his major opponent, at the time was Brett Wayne, aka Brett Sawyer, Buzz's brother. During a match. Brett was getting beat on by Jake and Ellering and Buzz finally had enough and pulled Ellering off, then after some pushes and shouting, decked him and drove off Jake, rescuing his brother. They went on to win the National Tag-Team titles from the Road Warriors.
DiBiase came in as a heel and feuded with Tommy Rich, leading to Tommy losing a loser-leaves-town match, then appearing under a mask as Mr R. This led to a tv match, for the National Hwt title, between DiBiase and Mr R, who, if revealed to be Tommy Rich, would face permanent suspension by the NWA. Dibiase wrestled Mr R, who was wearing a track suit and who looked smaller. At one point, DiBiase tore off the mask, revealing Brad Armstrong. Tommy Rich comes out from behind the studio curtain, smiling and pointing to his head ("I outsmarted you!") and DiBiase stood there stunned. Brad grabbed DiBiase in a schoolboy rollup and pinned him to win the title.
Jake then feuded with Ronnie Garvin, over the tv title, while the Spoiler,, Don Jardine, defeated Brad for the National title. Then, Black Saturday occurred and Vince McMahon bought GCW and the World Championship Wrestling tv slot. Ole Anderson started up Championship Wrestling from Georgia, on Saturday mornings, with Ted DiBiase now as National champion, since the Spoiler was appearing in the WWF (briefly). He then feuded with Ron Garvin for the National title, before going back to Mid-South. He turned face in Mid-South, before heading off to the WWF, as the MIllion Dollar Man.
Neither he or Jake were in many tag-team matches during their time in Georgia, as they were usually defending or contending for the singles titles. By the time both were in the WWF they were either on opposite sides or in other programs.
They knew each other quite well, so it is a surprise they never teamed. Ted was a top star at several points, for Mid-South and Jake started out there, as his father, Grizzly Smith, worked in the Mid-South office. Jake refereed there, then wrestled as a babyface, before moving on to the Carolinas, as a face, and Florida, where he turned heel. He had been part of Kevin Sullivan's Army, during his long feud with Dusty Rhodes, leading to him losing a loser-leaves-town match, due to Jake's interference (as Santa Claus) and returning as the Masked Rider. Jake heeled from then on, until his face turn in the WWF, against Rick Rude.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 19, 2020 8:08:24 GMT -5
Here's the match where Misawa unmasked, around the 12:30 mark, and finishes the match without it. The crowd starts chanting MISAWA once it is revealed.
Misawa was on the large side, for a junior heavyweight and was having knee problems, from doing the aerial stuff. The All-Japan crowd were also a bit blase about it, and Baba, who was trying to elevate Misawa, after Tenryu left, decided to unmask him. he had already moved Misawa to the heavyweight ranks, to help relieve the knee problems and allow him to do a more mat-based style, but, the mask was a hindrance in communicating with the fans.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2020 8:11:40 GMT -5
It’s a shame they didn’t team.
When Jake turned heel in 1991, I imagined the many partners he could team with, including Rick Martel whom he had feuded with. Or Jake and Shawn Michaels.
Incidentally, a UK shoot interview with Jake (titled “Behind Closed Doors”) had a moment where Jake talked about how his father had never wanted him to be in the business!
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on Sept 19, 2020 18:43:15 GMT -5
It’s a shame they didn’t team. When Jake turned heel in 1991, I imagined the many partners he could team with, including Rick Martel whom he had feuded with. Or Jake and Shawn Michaels. Incidentally, a UK shoot interview with Jake (titled “Behind Closed Doors”) had a moment where Jake talked about how his father had never wanted him to be in the business! Jake has said a lot of things in shoot interviews that may or may not be true. The latter was more common, while he was still messed up on drugs and booze. Jake is one of those guys who works interviewers; so, you are never totally sure what is true or not. I've heard him say his father didn't want him in the sport and him say that he didn't want to go in it, but ended up out of college (or similar), having failed, and decided to try wrestling, top make a fast buck. It sounded more like his father was angry that he blew an opportunity and was coming to him to bail him out. Grizzly Smith was a scumbag; but, Jake was an adult and made his own decisions that messed up his life. He seems on better footing, since DDP helped him out; but, I've heard some stories about some interactions that suggests he still doesn't have his head on right. It's one of those things that is hard to judge, as you usually lack context. I hope he is better mentally and those stories of him acting like a jerk, post DDP, are situational and not the ordinary. If half of what he has said about his childhood is true, then it was pretty messed up, by anyone's standards.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2020 5:23:57 GMT -5
Royal Rumble 1990 is an underrated Rumble, in my view.
So much was going on during the match. Ted DiBiase lasted over 40 minutes. Piper and Bad News Brown went at it. Earthquake caused much devastation in a short amount of time. Bobby Heenan and Mr. Fuji argued after Andre the Giant eliminated the Warlord. We got a “preview” of Hogan vs. Warrior. And so much else!
I loved the build-up - and the “mini-story” involved Ted DiBiase, who drew number 1, but planned to survive until the end. Koko B. Ware drew number 2, but was eliminated. Commentator Jesse Ventura said, “One down, 28 to go...” Marty Jannetty was number 3. DiBiase eliminated him. Ventura said, “Two down, 27 to go...” Despite being a bad guy, I was rooting for DiBiase. Wouldn’t it have been fun, I thought, if DiBiase had eliminated the other 27?
Well worth a watch on the WWF Network if you subscribe.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on Sept 20, 2020 8:54:43 GMT -5
I really enjoyed the feud that Jake Roberts had with Ted DiBiase in 1989/90. When Jake turned heel in 1991, I was hoping he might get to team with Ted DiBiase, perhaps against a combination such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Does anyone know if Jake and DiBiase ever teamed up in pre-WWF times? Google, as ever, isn’t getting me there... Jake's heel theme is one for the ages
|
|