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Post by lildude8218 on Aug 26, 2011 13:01:10 GMT -5
I've been reading some of the old Observer newsletters lately and came across this from 3/25/85.
"For those of you who don't know, the bouts announced so far [for Wrestlemania] are......and Ricky Steamboat vs. Don Muraco in a non-conclusive match which has a slim chance of being good."
I had never heard anything about this before. Was it ever announced on TV or was this in some other promotional material sent to newspapers or something similar?
The idea is quite interesting since they wound up feuding anyway but I think having the relative newcomer in Steamboat going over Borne would have been better than having him go up against Muraco who was in the process of being rebuilt. Like Meltzer said, they would have had to have gone to a non-finish to keep both guys strong.
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Post by molson5 on Aug 26, 2011 13:27:53 GMT -5
Interesting, I never heard that and can't add anything - but it does seem they had a preference for jobber matches on WM I, they really didn't want anyone of consequence to lose (and when they did, it wasn't clean). I could see the match scrapped simply because they wanted one more clean finish on the show.
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Post by lildude8218 on Aug 26, 2011 13:33:48 GMT -5
actually I kept reading and later in the same newsletter during his "Updates" section he mentions the change to Steamboat/Borne but no reason was given.
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Aug 27, 2011 0:12:53 GMT -5
I'm kinda curious as to why Meltzer was so sure the match would suck.
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Aug 27, 2011 0:14:24 GMT -5
I'm kinda curious as to why Meltzer was so sure the match would suck. At the time Meltzer hated the WWF If you can ever read the older issues from the 80's The WWF was hated like hell
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Aug 27, 2011 0:48:43 GMT -5
I'm kinda curious as to why Meltzer was so sure the match would suck. At the time Meltzer hated the WWF If you can ever read the older issues from the 80's The WWF was hated like hell So Steamboat hadn't built up enough smark credibility yet to get past his hatred of the WWF?
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andrew8798
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Post by andrew8798 on Aug 27, 2011 0:51:08 GMT -5
Not really Many people was hoping the WWF would fail and go out of business
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Post by molson5 on Aug 27, 2011 16:11:08 GMT -5
Not really Many people was hoping the WWF would fail and go out of business The late 80s/early 90s must have been a god awful time for those fans.....The company that was terrible, broke from tradition, put on horrible matches, turned respected veterans into cartoon characters - turned into the most successful promotion in the history of wrestling while most everyone else faded away. I wish I had access to the dirt sheets them to see that all go down.
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Post by lildude8218 on Aug 28, 2011 0:09:53 GMT -5
after reading several more issues, it seemed that Meltzer would turn on guys at the drop of a hat. there was a mention of Hogan being a great worker in January of 84 (days before the title win) but then every issue after that talks about how crappy he was.
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Aug 28, 2011 2:39:15 GMT -5
after reading several more issues, it seemed that Meltzer would turn on guys at the drop of a hat. there was a mention of Hogan being a great worker in January of 84 (days before the title win) but then every issue after that talks about how crappy he was. That dude who's wrestling tidbits you posted or still post, out of Ontario he was the same way.
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Post by lildude8218 on Aug 28, 2011 2:46:09 GMT -5
after reading several more issues, it seemed that Meltzer would turn on guys at the drop of a hat. there was a mention of Hogan being a great worker in January of 84 (days before the title win) but then every issue after that talks about how crappy he was. That dude who's wrestling tidbits you posted or still post, out of Ontario he was the same way. he HATED ECW with a passion as well
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Aug 28, 2011 2:49:24 GMT -5
That dude who's wrestling tidbits you posted or still post, out of Ontario he was the same way. he HATED ECW with a passion as well Did he like anything? I mostly just read his WWF stuff, since that's all I really followed.
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smokinvokoun
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Post by smokinvokoun on Aug 28, 2011 10:49:37 GMT -5
I'm sure it was a much worse time to be a smark back then, than it is now.
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SAJ Forth
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Post by SAJ Forth on Aug 28, 2011 11:10:34 GMT -5
That doesn't sound like it would've been a bad match.
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Post by lildude8218 on Aug 28, 2011 13:32:21 GMT -5
That doesn't sound like it would've been a bad match. and actually once they started feuding he would often say they had good matches but then later the complaint was that they were doing the same finish, "Fuji salt in the eyes DQ spot," for the entire loop of house shows
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NOwave
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Post by NOwave on Aug 28, 2011 15:41:13 GMT -5
At the time, many fans, wrestlers, and promoters were seeing their hometown promotions dry up and blow away. Consider that prior to 1984 there were probably around 500 guys who were making a good to very good living working only as a wrestler in the territories. Most of them moved around every few months. There were probably another 2000 guys who were working part time in local promotions(and were paid fairly well) and had other jobs, but lived in one place. Compare that to after the territories died(early 1990s) and there were only maybe 100 guys wrestling fulltime, and a handful of local guys, who got paid pennies, relatively speaking.
Would you have been mad at the WWF also?
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 28, 2011 16:51:22 GMT -5
Dragon v. Muraco would've made more sense at WM 2 if their fued (late 85?) had progressed. Orndorff v. Muraco made sense only as Orndorff was a friend of Hogan but given the footage I remember of Bundy and Muraco beating up Hogan I don't remember Orndorff even being their in the ring to rescue Hulk. The result wasn't much either. Hercules v. Dragon was a match just to get Dragon over, I suppose, though not much and newcomer Hercules didn't look too good. Dragon v. Muraco would probably have to be a non-finish though or perhaps Dragon wins with Orndorff interferance. Like Orndorff won't be in a match, then much speculation why he's not on the WM 2 card, then interferes.
Now, at WM 1 given Dragon just came in to WWF and Muraco was a star it wouldn't have been good for the show. The undercard first four match needed a veteran good guy Tito win, a newcomer Bundy squash and a newcomer Dragon win over a undercard wrestler.
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Post by johnnyk9 on Aug 30, 2011 21:35:13 GMT -5
It's amazing how much talent was left off WM 1, although it was a gamble so that's probaly why
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smokinvokoun
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Post by smokinvokoun on Aug 30, 2011 21:43:45 GMT -5
I wouldn't think Steamboat vs Muraco would be a bad match at all. Even if it would have been a non - finish. It certainly would have been better than Brutus Beefcake vs David Sammartino.
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Squirrel Master
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Post by Squirrel Master on Sept 3, 2011 10:58:43 GMT -5
Ricky Steamboat and Don Muraco's house show matches were tremendously entertaining to me as a youngster at ringside. Muraco and Mr. Fuji were the essence of sadism as they tortured our handsome favorite. It seemed to me the sadistic Mr. Fuji was striving to cripple Ricky Steamboat in order to put him out of wrestling for good. I think that's why Vince McMahon opted not to put this bout on the original Wrestlemania card; having Steamboat carted out on a stretcher was not in accord with his vision of getting the mainstream casual fan and the curious excited about WWF. "The Evil One" Mr. Fuji was not to be trusted to behave in front of live cameras during this crucial experiment in national exposure for the WWF. And I may be wrong but Magnificent Muraco seemed high as a kite most of the time...
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