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Post by codystarbuck on May 6, 2020 19:58:44 GMT -5
Watched the Herb Abrams episode of Dark Side of the Ring. Really felt kind of slapdash, as there were confusing statements and no attempt at clarification. It really seemed like their research seemed to be Wikipedia, then interviewing some of the guys. They talked to wrestlers Mick Foley, B Brian Blair, Sonny Beach and "Wild Thing" Steve Ray, Manager Marty Yesberg, and tv producer Lenny Duge. Sonny Beach and Steve Ray were both small timers who got their only major exposure in the Abrams UWF and both credited him for giving them a break and, despite bounced checks and a cluster-@#$% operation, they seem genuinely enotional about Abrams death. Yesberg, who I have never ehard of and did not recognize, still believes Abrams is alive; or, at least use that gimmick to get more attention on him in the piece. In fact, they are several points where it sounds like people had their "working shoes" on and were feeding the producers a line of bull, to make the story better, make themselves look better, or deliver something to get them more screen time. Only Duge seemed to know anything about Abrams' outside business (a plus-size women's clothing retailer) and no one had the same story about his death. No attempts were made to research public records for a coroner's report or a police report, as police were allegedly called to his office to find him naked, covered in cocaine, smashing furniture and then he had a massive heart attack. There would be records and an autopsy, but no one seemed to go looking for them.
They did not ask Steve Ray about the story that Abrams allegedly paid Dr Death Steve Williams a $100 bonus to shoot on Ray in a match and beat the crap out of him, for fooling around with Abrams wife (or girlfriend). They had a match, which is on Youtube, where Ray gets some stiff shots; but, they are still doing working spots and Williams didn't look any stiffer than he usually did. The title on Youtube and comments from people who don't know better label it a shoot; but, everything I saw said a worked match and that is the general consensus on the Wrestling Classics Message Board, which includes several former wrestlers and several wrestling historians, plus, occasionally, journalists like Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. You'd think they'd at least ask him if it was true or not, to put the rumor to rest. In season 1, during the Gino Hernandez episode, they asked his mother about the rumor that Houston promoter Paul Boesch was secretly Gino's real father. She laughed at that and named his father and showed his picture, though some folks on the WCMB still refuse to believe that. Right, his mother lied, he looks like the father she indicated; but, you people who didn't personally know him know better. Um-huh.
Would have liked some better detail and research. Some good stories in there and several seemed to genuinely miss the guy, despite getting stiffed on payouts and the promotion being a mess.
Next week is the Road Warriors and Hawk's decline into substance problems. These things average about 45 minutes; so, I doubt they will more than scratch the surface about the Road Warriors career. I know I sure miss Hawk's promos.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 6, 2020 20:52:10 GMT -5
Trailer for the Road Warriors episode...
"Oooooooooooooooh.....whata rush!!!!!!!!"
"Tell 'em, Paul!"
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Post by codystarbuck on May 12, 2020 18:54:34 GMT -5
NWA Super Powerrr finally aired. This was supposed to air as the lead in to the Crockett Cup, which was cancelled due to the virus. We were teased at the start with an announcement about the future of the NWA. Matches saw Kamille's debut (which was aired previously, a few weeks ago). Three way with Marti Belle, Ashley Vox and Tasha Steelz. Rock N Roll Express took on Aron Stevens and Question Mark, Tim Storm faced Jax Dane and then got 5 minutes with Danny Deals, and Latimer & Aldis faced Villain Enterprises. Decent show, the women still are bad at promos due to lack of training and mentoring, plus opportunity.
End of the show had Corgan make a non-announcement of something called Carnyland, to premiere next week. mentioned 10 Pounds of Gold series. Didn't elaborate, which is pure carny. I suspect what it means is cash flow is shot, no one knows when they will be able to get back into this and they are going back to NWA branded wrestlers at other indies and trying to do a Youtube show around wherever anyone can work, which isn't too many places, right now, nor should it be. Who knows? The WWE and AEW can weather this, since they have cash. Corgan paid out of his own pocket. I always wondered how much he was willing to sink into this. As Corny has said, "How do you make $5 million in the wrestling business? Start out with $10 million!"
That's the pessimist answer. The optamist answer is they continue to work small and keep brand loyalty high and try to monetize fan loyalty to earn cash to start back up. Sounds a hard road to travel.
Carnyland suggest the old carnival AT shows, with carny wrestlers taking on marks, after working matches with each other. You had "shooters," collegiate wrestlers who could handle most marks and "hookers," who could cripple the dangerous ones. Corgan has rights to the old Houston footage; so, maybe it means using some of it.
Whatever it means, I think the NWA is going to need to rebuild when wrestling can be safely held live, again, which is true for most promotions.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 13, 2020 19:48:58 GMT -5
Road Warriors episode of Dark Side of the Ring aired and was pretty good. They had input from Animal and Paul Ellering, Scott Norton, Barry Darsow, Nikita Koloff and Hawks two brothers, as well as trainer Eddie Sharkey.
They covered thing relatively well, though a couple of memories were shaky. Ellering said Legion of Doom came from He-Man, when it was Challenge of the Superfriends and the piece made it sound like they only used that name in the WWF. It was originally the name of Paul Ellering's stable, in Georgia. Ellering had been injured and was managing Arn Anderson and Matt Borne, when Borne got fired after legal problems outside the ring. Arn was let go and Ole needed a tag-team. Animal originally came in as a solo, called the Road Warrior, in jean shorts, a biker cap and vest and sunglasses. Then, Hawk was brought in and teamed with Animal as the Road Warriors, after working in Vancouver, for promoter Al Tomko. Ellering also managed Jake the Snake Roberts and King Kong Bundy and, collectively, they were known as the Legion of Doom. When the others left and it was just Ellering and the Road Warriors, they would call them The Legion of Doom, The Road Warriors, in ring entrances and on the tv show intros.
Sadly, we didn't get footage of Hawk's classic promos.
Ellering gets misty-eyed as he recounts getting out his old black van, which they used to travel the circuit, to go to Hawk's funeral and delivering the eulogy, which he recalled from memory. Scott Norton, who knew Hawk in Minnesota, starts breaking down, at one point, as does his older brother, when discussing their mother and the younger brother, when talking about Hawk's death. Nikita legally changed his name from Scott Simpson to Nikita Koloff and uses it in his ministry; but, it is weird to hear him use his normal accent, as he used to live the character, to the point he had uncashed paychecks in his apartment, until Ivan told him he was taking it a bit too far.
Barry Darsow was Krusher Krushchev, Demolition Smash and the Repo Man and trained with Eddie Sharkey, alongside Hawk & Animal, Ric Rood, Scott Norton, and Nikita. Darsow, Rood, Nikita, Curt Hennig and Tom Zenk all went to Robbinsdale HS, in Robbinsdale, MN.
They do talk about Hawk's Hellrazors team, with Kensuke Sasake, in Japan, though Animal makes it sound like he was wrestling as a solo. He suffered a back injury and collected on an insurance policy for a coupl of years, before returning as a solo, then back with Hawk. That was WCW and they make it sound like they were reunited in the Attitude Era WWF, which came later. They mention Droz being added as a 3rd member and the horrible angle done around Hawk's substance history; but skipped over Sunny being added as a manager, as Ellering was retired, by then. They also don't bring up Rocco, the ventriloquist dummy, from their first WWF run.
They didn't mention them being part owners of Zubaz, in the 90s.
All in all, it was a good episode. One thing I will say, Animal needs to let the mohawk go, as he doesn't have enough hair to form it. Ellering went on to race in the Iditarod.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 13, 2020 19:56:24 GMT -5
Next week's Dark Side of the Ring is the season finale, focusing on the death of Owen Hart...
On Jim Cornette's podcast, the producers talked about interviewing Martha Hart and Owen's children, Oje and Athena, who were very young when he was killed. They said there is discussion about the foundation Martha started, in Owen's name, with the money from the settlement with the WWF and the rigging company (apart from what was used to raise the kids). I suspect there will be talk of how despicable some of Owen's siblings were in all of that, siding with the WWF, in hopes of getting jobs or keeping them, including Ellie) Neidhart left and went to WCW and quickly regretted it and wasn't there long, Diana (Davey Boy left and came back, then ran off with Bruce's wife), Bruce (who was trying to get a trainer/agent job there). At the time, about the only family member who Martha had contact with, aside from Stu and Helen, was Bret. There was always a history there, as Owen never really wanted to be a wrestler and tried to get out of it; but, wasn't able to get on as a firefighter, like Keith Hart. Wrestling was a way to support his family, build their dream home and send the kids to college; but, apart from the boys, Owne's heart was never really in it, even though he was the most natural of all of the Hart kids.
This one is likely to be pretty sad.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 19, 2020 17:40:37 GMT -5
So, the NWA is out of content, thanks to virus lockdown, having exhausted old matches and PPV stuff. Now they are doing Carnyland, which is basically a bunch of home-produced silliness, of varying degrees of entertainment. The presentation was, mildly amusing, at best. It was a teaser; but, I don't know how many were won over. Time will tell. Zicky Dice and Aron Stevens were standouts, in my opinion.
Meanwhile, It was confirmed today that Ricky Starks, probably the first star to really come out of the NWA Powerrr show, has not resigned with them. Starks had worked indies and such; but, he really ran with things here. Now? I suspect he may be looking towards AEW, more than WWE, as I don't see them signing new talent until things return to some sense of normalcy. Too bad. For matches, I came to really enjoy his and Trevor Myrdochs. Starks was creative and Murdoch can flat out work.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 20, 2020 20:16:29 GMT -5
Watched the Owen Hart episode of Dark Side of the Ring. Martha, Oje and Athena Hart all were interviewed. Jim Cornette and Jim Ross were also on there, plus D-Lo Brown and the Godfather (all were interviewed for other episodes, as was Chris Jericho, who talks a bit and narrates). A lot is condensed into 45 minutes, especially how much certain elements of the Hart family worked with the WWDF to sabotage Martha's lawsuit. It doesn't mention that Stu & Helen Hart were co-plaintiffs. Martha takes the high road and just says some of the Harts weren't supportive, but stops short of naming them, though they do point out that Davey Boy and Jim Neidhart were wrestling there or trying to stay in their good graces to get a job there, when they fizzled in WCW. I don't mind naming names. Keith, Wayne and Bret supported Martha and their parents and remained on good terms with Martha. Ellie copied documents that Martha shared with her in-laws and sent them to the WWF's Canadian office. Ellie was married to Jim Neidhart, wo quite when Bret left, had a cup of coffee in WCW and was trying to return to WWF. Diana, who was married to Davey Boy Smith and sided with the WWF, who had resigned Davey Boy, but he had addiction problems. He fooled around on her with Bruce Hart's wife (may have been ex-wife, by then) and left Diana for her and was with her when he keeled over and died form years of steroids and painkillers/narcotics. Bruce Hart was trying to get an agent or trainer job and sided with the WWF. Some of the others were neutral or had their own problems and were just trying to get a piece of the money. Diana also attacked Martha in her book and made false claims that led to her publisher withdrawing the book to avoid libel action and issued apologies and corrections.
Martha showed them the shackle that was used to hook onto Owen's harness. It was designed to raise and lower sails, rapidly and would open with 8 pounds of pressure, on a snap release. When Sting was rigged and when Owen previously did it, he was rigged with a standard locking carabiner, which is specifically designed not to open until it is unlocked and used for professional wire rigs and for people who do maintenance on high items and need safety lines. We used that type of rig for doing maintenance on the stacks or masts in the Navy. The company that had done the rigging was not a professional theatrical rigging company and had never done it before. They were not the people who did it previously. Someone at the WWF found them and they quoted a cheaper price.
They showed press conference footage where Vince McMahon attacked reporters for questioning why they continued the show, just like his buddy Donald.
Jim Cornette breaks down, at one point talking about the senselessness of it. he had been managing Owen, at one point, before he pulled back. He was working in OVW, by this point.
Oje tells a pretty heartbreaking tale of his mother having to sit them down and tell them what happened. he says the three of them slept in the same bed that night, trying not to hear his mother sniffling, while he just stared at the ceiling. Athena has very few memories, as she was only about 4 years-old when he died.
Martha started a foundation, in Owen's name, with the settlement money (aside from what was put aside for the kids and Stu and Helen). They've helped provide housing, worked with battered women shelters, aided single mothers and helped internationally. She felt that was the greatest tribute to a man who always tried to help others. Oje is now a lawyer looking to specialize in human rights laws and Athena is a journalism student. Martha got her PhD in Psychology and is a respected and published researcher with the Univ. of Calgary/Alberta Children's Hospital.
Home video footage shows Owen as a loving husband and father and his kids adored him. Biography did a piece, back after he died and had footage of him with Athena, at kindergarten or nursery school, playing with the kids and he was just huge smiles and Athena doted on him. Everyone in wrestling, except those who had political issue with Bret, loved and respected Owen, as a talent, as a family man, and as a person. I still recall Jeff Jarrett in tears talking about him when the WWF ran their "tribute" to him, the night after the accident. The WWF really should have sent everyone home and offered grief counseling; but, it's wrestling and Vince is all about the Benjamins.
Just sad, but there is an uplifting end, as his family keeps his name alive by giving to their community.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2020 10:59:13 GMT -5
I can't believe such merchandise ever existed: Spinning tops with wrestlers' faces on them? Really? I think this was released in 1991/92. I did enjoy wrestling toys and the like at the time. I cannot imagine this would have interested me in any way, shape or form.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 16, 2020 19:54:02 GMT -5
I can't believe such merchandise ever existed: Spinning tops with wrestlers' faces on them? Really? I think this was released in 1991/92. I did enjoy wrestling toys and the like at the time. I cannot imagine this would have interested me in any way, shape or form. Funny enough, we had some game like that, when I was a kid; Battling Tops or something like that, except a circular, concave "arena."
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Post by Calidore on Jun 16, 2020 20:07:02 GMT -5
Battling Tops was FUN! Looks like the Wrestling Tops game was also published by Pressman, so probably just a licensed version with the gimmick of a square wrestling ring for an arena.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 16, 2020 23:09:23 GMT -5
That looks fun! I'd totally play that. I rememeber I had a 'wrestling Superstars' board game that was, well, really cheesy compared to the (mostly illegal) Superstar Wrestling and Champions of the Galaxy, but it had the ACTUAL guys, so it was cool.
Also, welcome back Taxi!!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 16, 2020 23:13:59 GMT -5
I was thinking back to the good old days of WWE....the worst surprise I ever had was when one of my top favourites killed his family...Chris Benoit. Up until that moment I really like 'toothless agression.' I also miss Chris Jericho...the reason I started to watch RAW....I thought he was HOT when I first laid my teenage eyes on him and he had the best intro...10...9...8...7...
These days, RAW just sucks arse in comparison. There will never be another Attitude era...current stars are too far and wide. I like KO but he's not in the same league as any of the upper tier guys from 20 years ago. They have to keep bringing back old blood like Edge to get it going where the new stars just can't cut it.
I'll still watch it tonight with the hubby.
I'm not sure he can still be classified as hot, but Jericho is awesome on AEW right now He did color commentary a couple weeks when JR and Excalibur weren't able to get to Florida even.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2020 5:28:49 GMT -5
That looks fun! I'd totally play that. I rememeber I had a 'wrestling Superstars' board game that was, well, really cheesy compared to the (mostly illegal) Superstar Wrestling and Champions of the Galaxy, but it had the ACTUAL guys, so it was cool. Also, welcome back Taxi!! Thank you. I did have this game: And this one:
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 17, 2020 14:48:36 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2020 14:50:42 GMT -5
Sorry, my friend, no image showing. Can you see one? If you can't show one, feel free to tell me what it is - and I'll Google it.
EDIT: No problem, I can see it now. Looks like a good game!
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