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Post by Ricky Jackson on May 22, 2024 19:11:30 GMT -5
Speaking of Stampede and the old territories, this YT channel has an amazing amount of carefully curated playlists. Pretty much a "best of" of YT territory and international classic footage m.youtube.com/@angou_toru_noritake/playlists |
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Post by Ricky Jackson on May 22, 2024 19:22:11 GMT -5
As far as Dynamite, Bret and Stampede go, Dynamite vs Bruce Hart is the money Dynamite vs Hart brother feud. And, yeah, Bret doesn't exactly stand out as amazing in the Stampede footage. He really did come into his own on the big stage of New York.
I said this recently to some friends: Mr. T was what got me interested in wrestling/WWF, specifically the hype leading to his boxing match with Piper, but it was the Bulldogs that made me stay. I thought they were amazing as a 9 year old, particularly DK. Looking back now, I still find them fun to watch, but I wouldn't put them ahead of a lot of other top teams of the 80s
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 19:47:59 GMT -5
I read that Rocky Mountain Pro Wrestling has hired Vince Russo as Creative Director/Head Writer/Producer. And Sportskeeda Wrestling has hired him for another year.
There goes their credibility as far as I’m concerned. Any organization that believes Russo’s short attention span has anything to offer is devoid of credibility. I presume Sportskeeda wants a load of articles about how the ‘casual fans’ are important, and how there’s too much wrestling on wrestling shows.
So if I see a Rocky Mountain Pro Wrestling video or a Sportskeeda article, I know to avoid them. For me, it’d reduce the credibility of Esso or BP if they hired a former Enron executive, so it’s a similar thing here.
There’s also mention of him writing a book about his TNA days. Hmm, I suppose all of TNA’s negatives will be someone else’s fault…
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Post by driver1980 on May 23, 2024 5:41:27 GMT -5
The WWF produced 3 Battle of the Superstars tapes. Let’s look at the first one:  The Bushwhackers took on Rhythm & Blues in a bout that ended in a double count-out. It took place at MSG, which always seemed to add atmosphere. Nothing really memorable here. From 1990, we have the Intercontinental Championship final (after Warrior vacated the title). It’s Tito Santana vs. Mr. Perfect. It’s not a classic by any means, but it’s very good. Perfect wins the match and the belt. Next up is a profile of Dusty Rhodes. He battles Akeem (Dusty wins via count-out), Big Boss Man (Dusty wins via DQ), and Macho King (wins by count-out). So, three non-finishes for Dusty’s profile. We also see Dusty share some wisdom, and advocate for American-bought meat in a butcher’s shop. Okay… Lord Alfred Hayes shows us how a ring is set up (in fast-forward). Decent segment, I suppose. In a match chosen by a fan (allegedly), Jim Neidhart loses to The Genius via pinfall. This wasn’t good. The match of the tape is Jake Roberts vs. Ted DiBiase, another MSG bout in late 1989. Jake wins via pinfall. It’s captivating, these two had a great series of matches. We get some trivia questions which really aren’t that hard. The final match featured the Ultimate Warrior defending the WWF Championship against Mr. Perfect. It’s a glorified, extended squash match. Perfect bumps like crazy. It showed how dominant Warrior was, but it’s too short to leave any impression. Only the Jake/DiBiase match is worth it. Nothing else is really much good, even Santana/Perfect felt like it could have been better. |
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Post by dbutler69 on May 23, 2024 17:28:51 GMT -5
driver1980, the other thing I meant to mention in my reply is that yes, an awful lot of those Coliseum home videos did have inconclusive endings, so it's always a plus when a match has a clean neding.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 23, 2024 17:32:22 GMT -5
Not a huge fan of the Bulldogs. They were roided to the gills and Dynamite's body was breaking down. I wish Dynamite had stayed in England as he was an elite teenage talent and could have been as good as Marty Jones and Dave Finlay if he'd stayed on the same trajectory. There's a match from '83 where he returns to England and has a belter with Marty Jones. I'm not a huge fan of early Bret Hart either. Everything I've seen from him pre-WWF has been fairly awful. One slight thing that has soured me are the numerous anecdotes pertaining to pranks by Dynamite. Didn’t I once read he’d put lighter fluid into someone’s inhaler? That’s not a prank, that’s being an evil bastard. That could have had fatal consequences. I think I read he cut up Jacques Rougeau’s clothes. A prank is not a prank when you do things like that. I’ve done pranks myself back when I worked in an office. They were done to me. Someone lowered my adjustable chair and I had a hard time getting it back to the right height. I put a magnet in someone’s box of paperclips. Once someone sellotaped my pen to the desk. It was an office with banter, and none of those things harmed anyone. The ‘pranks’ I read about were malicious, made life difficult, risked people’s health (or worse), and when I read that, I ended up with a very negative view of him. That's one part of pro wrestling I don't like. I hate pranks in general and yes, some of Dynamite's pranks were nasty and occasionally dangerous. But, as said by others, I wouldn't wish his fate on anyone. |
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Post by driver1980 on May 23, 2024 17:43:44 GMT -5
Another one I read was about how Dynamite threw lit cigarettes into the bag that Jake Roberts’ python was in. WHY? That’s cruel. If true, well I don’t know why anyone would do that.
I read that some of Owen Hart’s pranks were good-natured, e.g. ringing someone and pretending to be a pizza delivery man. I found an old pair of shoes whose shoelaces were tied to the armrest on my chair in that aforementioned office job. It seemed silly. But neither myself nor my colleagues would ever have done anything dangerous.
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Post by commond on May 23, 2024 17:45:55 GMT -5
That Jake/DiBiase VHS cover is cool.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 23, 2024 20:34:21 GMT -5
Another one I read was about how Dynamite threw lit cigarettes into the bag that Jake Roberts’ python was in. WHY? That’s cruel. If true, well I don’t know why anyone would do that. I read that some of Owen Hart’s pranks were good-natured, e.g. ringing someone and pretending to be a pizza delivery man. I found an old pair of shoes whose shoelaces were tied to the armrest on my chair in that aforementioned office job. It seemed silly. But neither myself nor my colleagues would ever have done anything dangerous. I've heard of worse ribs than that. Johnny Valentine, Greg's father, allegedly put lighter fluid into Jay York's inhaler (with the participation of Buddy Rogers). Now, then after, at the next town, York and Valentine pulled a rib where he followed Valentine into the shower with a gun, everyone heard two shots and came running in to find York and Valentine laughing. Apparently, York had also had a second inhaler, so they knew he wasn't going to not have his medicine, though he still could have ended up in bad shape, from the lighter fluid. Further evidence suggests that they pulled the inhaler rib in other territories, too. Dynamite was a miserable POS. In his own book he admitted to giving laxatives to Matilda, the mascot. Dynamite got off on getting a rise out of people. If you want to analyze it, he craved attention and if he couldn't get positive attention, he'd go for negative. I'm trying to remember, because it was 20 years ago that I read his book, but I seem to recall his father being a boxer or something, at some point. I'd be willing to bet there was physical abuse in childhood that just pushed him further and further into being a bully. Fit Finlay was notorious for instigating fights in bars or just general cruelty, to marks, in his younger days. Other wrestlers seemed to have similar attitudes to bars and such, after matches. Mid-South had some notoriety for it, with people like Jim Duggan, Matt Borne, Hercules Hernandez and Steve Williams regularly smashing up the place and patrons. You never know how much of that is tall tale; but, if only half of it is true, it's bad enough, for supposed adults. I've heard enough stories of F-ed up stuff, from multiple eras and territories to convince me that pro wrestling drew people who were even more screwed up than Hollywood. |
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Post by driver1980 on May 24, 2024 7:23:14 GMT -5
I’ve said this before, but Dave Scherer is pathetic. Apparently, he made a booger joke about Dave Meltzer. He also appears to have a fascination with sexual analogies, mentioning lube in relation to those defending AEW. What a way to sell your business. If I was an advertiser thinking about placing an ad with PWInsider, I’d change my mind. There are some really immature people in wrestling ‘journalism’. Scherer cannot seem to refer to people he disagrees with without mentioning sexual references, slurs. Apparently, he’s 63. He should grow up. Incidentally, instead of his pathetic insults, he should fix another issue (this is a 2010 link, but I hear this is still a problem): www.cagesideseats.com/2010/9/20/1700127/an-open-letter-to-the-staff-ofNo wonder us wrestling fans get a bad reputation when people like Scherer are kind of representing our fandom. |
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Post by driver1980 on May 24, 2024 14:45:05 GMT -5
Anyway, enough about Scherer (who also seems to attack people’s appearances, although I doubt he’d win any beauty contests) and his stupid obsession with insults; Meltzer is reporting on plans for a 2-day SummerSlam in 2026. I’m not a Wrestling Observer subscriber, so don’t know further details.
I hope we’re not gonna move to a 2-day policy for major PPVs. Wrestling doesn’t seem to understand brevity at times.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 24, 2024 16:30:01 GMT -5
Another one I read was about how Dynamite threw lit cigarettes into the bag that Jake Roberts’ python was in. WHY? That’s cruel. If true, well I don’t know why anyone would do that. I read that some of Owen Hart’s pranks were good-natured, e.g. ringing someone and pretending to be a pizza delivery man. I found an old pair of shoes whose shoelaces were tied to the armrest on my chair in that aforementioned office job. It seemed silly. But neither myself nor my colleagues would ever have done anything dangerous. Yes, I've heard that Owen's pranks were usually harmless and funny, so that's okay, but generally I dislike pranks. The shoe thing is totally fine, too. |
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Post by dbutler69 on May 24, 2024 16:31:14 GMT -5
Aside from Dynamite, Mr. Fuji is another guy I've heard of playing some pretty nasty pranks.
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Post by driver1980 on May 25, 2024 4:35:21 GMT -5
One of my favourite VHS releases back in the day, released in 1991:  The 2nd Annual Battle of the Superstars is a vast improvement on the underwhelming first one. WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect battles Roddy Piper in the opener. This is an intense skirmish - and Piper kicks out of the perfect-plex. It all gets rather fiery, and Piper wins by count-out, which sadly means Perfect retains. Speaking of intense skirmishes and things getting fiery, the Bushwhackers and Nasty Boys had such a bout. You really rooted for the Bushwhackers (well, I did). However, the Nasty Boys won thanks to a pinfall on Butch by Saggs. Bret battled Barbarian in a really believable, brutal small man vs. big man bout. Bret won via pinfall. Jake Roberts battles Kato, but the devious Mr. Fuji is at ringside. Tanaka comes out to interfere, giving Jake the win via DQ. Jake picks up his python and chases Fuji, to no avail. A profile of Hacksaw Jim Duggan begins. He faces Sgt. Slaughter in a rather boring and overlong match, which he wins via DQ. Then he beats Smash in what seems like a glorified squash match. Smash was wrestling some singles bouts in late 1991. Speaking of squash matches, WWF World Champion Ultimate Warrior beat Randy Savage. Savage put up virtually no offence. In fact, Savage doesn’t get any offence in. It’s certainly intense. Tugboat takes on Ted DiBiase in a solid bout. Surprisingly, DiBiase wins, which I did not expect. And, yes, he wins via a rollup. Who would have seen that coming? We end with Davey Boy Smith & LOD vs. The Warlord & Power and Glory. Talk about six guys you’d want to have your back in a pub brawl. This is fun, but a double-DQ deprives us of a proper conclusion. Come on, such a mix there deserve a pinfall decision, surely? Only the Hacksaw/Slaughter bout was boring. There’s enough variety and intensity here to enjoy. Piper/Perfect is the match of the tape. |
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Post by driver1980 on May 25, 2024 4:41:17 GMT -5
I’ve said this a million times before, but when I think about the sheer number of compilation tapes the WWF put out, it puts WCW to shame. All WCW could do were PPVs - and Turner Home Entertainment had a ridiculous policy of making their tapes 2 hours only, which led to edits to matches - and matches being omitted. (That’s when they could be bothered to release tapes, remember how the likes of SuperBrawl IV didn’t even get a home video release?)
Imagine if WCW had had a dedicated home video department - or outsourced it to a company akin to Coliseum Video. Imagine, say, “The Best of WCW Worldwide” or “Greatest TV Championship Matches”. WCW’s UK fan club had a video (a pointless 30 minutes long), and later on, WB released some compilation tapes (late 90s), but in so many areas, WCW, despite its deep pockets, was behind the WWF.
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