The New Rockers

[Marvelously Mediocre]

I was reading the WWE Encyclopedia that i bought a few days ago and i noticed a bio for The New Rockers in 1996 with Jannety and.....Al Snow. How were they? did they have any decent matches?

[Cap'n Crud]

From what I heard they were about as welcome as a Michael Jackson sleepover at the local orphanage.

[Prince Petty]

Al Snow as Leif Cassidy. Man, that's a blast from the past.

The only thing I can remember about them is that Leif was wrestling Rocky Maivia, and Bret Hart was doing guest commentary for some reason. Bret, being in the final stages of his heel turn, decided to go and kick the crap out of Rocky, and Leif just stood there watching, gave Bret a thumbs up, and wandered off.

[I Like Your Poetry]

It started out as a random addition to the Tag Team Title Tournament....Marty Jannetty was listed in it, and had a random partner. It wound up being the brand-spanking new Leif Cassidy, who was clean cut and extremely happy go-lucky.

They didn't really do much...they were just kinda there, wrestled a few matches..the most significant I can think of was Leif wrestling Shawn (during Shawn's WWF title reign) with Jannetty on the outside. Didn't really amount to anything, despite the "history."

Jannetty just kinda disappeared at one point, and Leif/Al wrestled single matches getting progessively and progressively angrier, and grew out a goatee that looked out of place.

Soon Leif showed up in ECW..and well, the rest was history.

[johnnyk9]

Snow was decent with Jannetty but the fact that there was no chance at the team getting over, they turned out to be second rate rip off

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

They were actually a heel team, I think.

[rawthentic]

They were OK.

They should not have called themselves the New Rockers. It was not going to get over.

That's like replacing the most popular member of a band with a nobody. People will not give it a chance.

[I Like Your Poetry]

Apr 11, 2009 23:38:54 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

They were actually a heel team, I think.

Absolutely.

You basically had Jannetty going around saying Leif Cassidy was a better partner than Shawn ever was, and that this team was going to be more successful, etc.

So they were heel, but not nearly effective enough to get the gimmick over.

[Dean-o]

I remember not knowing if they were heel or face as a kid. They seemed to be right smack in the middle.

[scifi1980]

Jannetty was doing pretty good during his what??? 3rd comeback with the company??? Then they put him with Cassidy and made them act like a couple of jackasses.

The New Rockers name was a sabotage from day 1, no way would they get over with that name.


Jannetty as a heel??? Sucked. Theyre characters screwed around in the ring so much I don't think anyone could believe they would win. The only match I have of them winning was when they beat the Godwins, after the Smokin Gunns ran interference.

Im not sure if it is the same match with Jannetty and Hart interfering but I remember him and Shawn putting on possibly the best non ppv WWF match from the period of jan 96-may96. The raw shows usually ended in dq's or countouts or no contests but they put on a 17 or so minute technical match that made me hate how they treated Cassidy as a goof even more.


New Rockers were like 2 or 3 steps up from Well Dunn. Still, I supported them because im a diehard Jannetty fan.


AND NODBODY WAS GOING TO CONVINCE ME THAT JANNETTY WAS THE HEEL TO SHAWN MICHAELS AFTER THAT PIECE OF **** THREW MARTY THROUGH A PLATE GLASS WINDOW!!!. Naturally McMahon and everybody else ignored this fact because grudges are only viable within the previous 4 or 8 months


Come to think of it. I think 1996 might of been the WWF's weakest tag team season, excluding everything 02-now. They had the Gunns, and Godwins who feuded from like January 96 all the friggin way through Sept until finally Owen and Bulldog got together and took the belts for a change. Bodydonnas were better than New Rockers but WWF cut their balls off with Cloudy. I completely forgot the Bushwhackers were there, but they were only doing like half the schedule of the others.

[Skywalker]

Apr 12, 2009 4:14:44 GMT -5 scifi1980 said:

Jannetty was doing pretty good during his what??? 3rd comeback with the company??? Then they put him with Cassidy and made them act like a couple of jackasses.

The New Rockers name was a sabotage from day 1, no way would they get over with that name.


Jannetty as a heel??? Sucked. Theyre characters screwed around in the ring so much I don't think anyone could believe they would win. The only match I have of them winning was when they beat the Godwins, after the Smokin Gunns ran interference.

Im not sure if it is the same match with Jannetty and Hart interfering but I remember him and Shawn putting on possibly the best non ppv WWF match from the period of jan 96-may96. The raw shows usually ended in dq's or countouts or no contests but they put on a 17 or so minute technical match that made me hate how they treated Cassidy as a goof even more.


New Rockers were like 2 or 3 steps up from Well Dunn. Still, I supported them because im a diehard Jannetty fan.


AND NODBODY WAS GOING TO CONVINCE ME THAT JANNETTY WAS THE HEEL TO SHAWN MICHAELS AFTER THAT PIECE OF **** THREW MARTY THROUGH A PLATE GLASS WINDOW!!!. Naturally McMahon and everybody else ignored this fact because grudges are only viable within the previous 4 or 8 months


Come to think of it. I think 1996 might of been the WWF's weakest tag team season, excluding everything 02-now. They had the Gunns, and Godwins who feuded from like January 96 all the friggin way through Sept until finally Owen and Bulldog got together and took the belts for a change. Bodydonnas were better than New Rockers but WWF cut their balls off with Cloudy. I completely forgot the Bushwhackers were there, but they were only doing like half the schedule of the others.

Owen and Davey were together WAY before that.

[noleafclover1980]

I remember they had a good match with the Bodydonnas... the infamous Cloudy debut, I thought the New Rockers were actually gonna win, Marty friggin Jannety powerbombed Skip I think it was off the top rope, wasn the craziest move I ever saw at that point. Ends with Cloudy kissing Leif, and him being pinned by a rollup.

[willywonka666]

Apr 11, 2009 17:15:13 GMT -5 Cap'n Crud said:

From what I heard they were about as welcome as a Michael Jackson sleepover at the local orphanage.

Will you Stop! ;D

[willywonka666]

Apr 11, 2009 18:22:43 GMT -5 I Like Your Poetry said:

It started out as a random addition to the Tag Team Title Tournament....Marty Jannetty was listed in it, and had a random partner. It wound up being the brand-spanking new Leif Cassidy, who was clean cut and extremely happy go-lucky.

They didn't really do much...they were just kinda there, wrestled a few matches..the most significant I can think of was Leif wrestling Shawn (during Shawn's WWF title reign) with Jannetty on the outside. Didn't really amount to anything, despite the "history."

Jannetty just kinda disappeared at one point, and Leif/Al wrestled single matches getting progessively and progressively angrier, and grew out a goatee that looked out of place.

Soon Leif showed up in ECW..and well, the rest was history.

What happened in ECW exactly?

[whitecrxsses]

Al Snow, the 149649692314th character of Allen Sarven, debuts.

[Deleted]

Al: "I found Head. Through the grace of God and a plastic mannequin Head I wouldn't know where I'd be today without it."

("Rise + Fall Of ECW" DVD)

I liked Al Snow, save for his bit as Shinobi, the 97th incarnation of a mysterious Ninja in the WWF.
(Anybody ever notice all Ninjas were sent after the Ultimate Warrior for some reason?)

Until the Head came along, Al was probably best-known for his line at that UFC PPV after his friend Dan Severn won. The announcers asked what he planned to do now that he's a champion.

Al: "What do you think he's gonna do? He's gonna go have sex!"

[blef]

Apr 11, 2009 19:05:52 GMT -5 johnnyk9 said:

Snow was decent with Jannetty but the fact that there was no chance at the team getting over, they turned out to be second rate rip off

That was basically the point.

Jannetty was kind of a heel at that point (or just a face that no one cared about anymore, despite a hot return in 1995) and when he teamed up with Leif Cassidy (who was named after young 70's kid stars) they started to push the "hey we think we're cool but really lame!" angle, with the "I'm a has been!" bonus for Marty.

[MolotovMocktail]

One story goes, that they were supposed to be a legitimate throwback to the original team, with promos and matches similar to the original Rockers. But Shawn Michaels didn't want his old team getting over without him, so he lobbied to have them turned from serious face contenders into comedy heel jobbers. Marty wasn't pleased, but agreed to do it to help Snow get his foot in the door in the big time.

[scifi1980]

Apr 12, 2009 15:43:16 GMT -5 MolotovMocktail said:

One story goes, that they were supposed to be a legitimate throwback to the original team, with promos and matches similar to the original Rockers. But Shawn Michaels didn't want his old team getting over without him, so he lobbied to have them turned from serious face contenders into comedy heel jobbers. Marty wasn't pleased, but agreed to do it to help Snow get his foot in the door in the big time.

I could believe that. Michaels was a straight up doushebag back then until he hit middle age and got scared of his mortality. It was hard to accept him as the companies new babyface champ when he's shoving referees and dropping f bombs here and there inbetween having hissy fits on camera.


I forgot one good moment. Cassidy and jannetty faced the Godwins and brought some stuffed animals to the ring with them. Jannetty was the place holder for a stuffed pig and Cassidy punted it into ringside. That was good stuff ;D

[bob]

even as a kid I knew they were crap...because they were announced as the NEW Rockers and didn't see Shawn with Jennetty