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Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on Feb 17, 2015 19:21:50 GMT -5
Yeah his return as a face sucked but as a crazy out of touch old curmudgeon was he was great.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2015 19:23:18 GMT -5
They made Backlund's age a significant part of his character when Ric Flair, who was on the roster at the same time, was actually older than Backlund.
Frankly, I never found Backlund bland. I just found him weird. The way he would come out smiling and bouncing around, then he would do a gravely serious promo like he was about to snap at any moment. He was doing that way back in the 80's. His return in '92 was my first significant exposure to him, and I thought he was great because he was just different and I couldn't really put a finger on what made him so odd. I wanted to see more of him, and I was jubilant when he won the belt from Bret in '94.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2015 19:24:58 GMT -5
His "I feel like God!!" promo is tremendous.
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Post by Confused Mark Wahlberg on Feb 17, 2015 19:27:14 GMT -5
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Post by 2 Cold Scorkum on Feb 17, 2015 21:28:27 GMT -5
he got major heat from me as a kid when he was running for president or whatever. nothing draws ire from a 9 year old like promising to make saturday a school day....
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Post by dangerousdanpotato on Feb 17, 2015 21:38:45 GMT -5
It was all by design. It was the WWF's version of Falling Down. WWF reintroduced and treated him like a throwback from the past. A nearly forgotten WWF world champion who was bland and dull when compared to the rest of the roster. Bob lost to younger talent like Razor Ramon but still remained upbeat. He finally got a chance to wrestle for the WWF world title again due to Bret Hart's fighting champion run. WWF hyped it up as Backlund's last chance to compete for the WWF title. So when he lost to Bret clean in said match, he lost it and chickenwinged him. After doing that, Bob acted shocked by his actions. Soon he was chickenwinging the hell out of his opponents and innocent people alike. He completely snapped and turned into Mr Bob Backlund. Backlund returned to a WWF ring on 1st July 1992 and turned heel in a match against Bret on 30th July 1994. Over TWO YEARS later. Sorry for the caps, but I think they're warranted. If the intention from the outset was to turn him heel then that's got to be the slowest burn turn WWE has ever managed. I'm sorry, but he was a total after-thought, an opinion supported by him having no storylines (besides enjoying carrot juice) and very infrequent showings on TV and PPV. His performance in the Rumble 1993 was awesome, but resulted in nothing - he went straight back to beating jobbers on Superstars before eventually being squashed by Razor at WrestleMania, putting over guys like Luger and Shawn on TV and rounding out the year working house shows with the likes of Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz. It wasn't until the 'New Generation' angle got going that they figured they could try this heel turn with him; up until then it was a face return in earnest with very little to drive it beyond "Bob is an ex-champ... he's really old, but look at 'im go!"
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Post by Mr PONYMANIA Mr Jenzie on Feb 17, 2015 21:56:23 GMT -5
loved loved LOVED every single minute of his return, his rumble third place being an example of himself ..... then turning on bret and going STRATOSPHERIC in my opinion, probably being THE single funniest thing and character of the era! only second to chris kanyon kanyon cutting everyone in sight, backlund going freaking tonto on someone was always a highlight it SUCKED that he lost the title to deiesel in eight seconds though! and funnily enough i DO fancy a philadelphia cheese steak right about now ..... but it's the middle of the night and i'm not in philly .....
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Post by ________ has left the building on Feb 17, 2015 22:01:43 GMT -5
It was all by design. It was the WWF's version of Falling Down. WWF reintroduced and treated him like a throwback from the past. A nearly forgotten WWF world champion who was bland and dull when compared to the rest of the roster. Bob lost to younger talent like Razor Ramon but still remained upbeat. He finally got a chance to wrestle for the WWF world title again due to Bret Hart's fighting champion run. WWF hyped it up as Backlund's last chance to compete for the WWF title. So when he lost to Bret clean in said match, he lost it and chickenwinged him. After doing that, Bob acted shocked by his actions. Soon he was chickenwinging the hell out of his opponents and innocent people alike. He completely snapped and turned into Mr Bob Backlund. Backlund returned to a WWF ring on 1st July 1992 and turned heel in a match against Bret on 30th July 1994. Over TWO YEARS later. Sorry for the caps, but I think they're warranted. If the intention from the outset was to turn him heel then that's got to be the slowest burn turn WWE has ever managed. I'm sorry, but he was a total after-thought, an opinion supported by him having no storylines (besides enjoying carrot juice) and very infrequent showings on TV and PPV. His performance in the Rumble 1993 was awesome, but resulted in nothing - he went straight back to beating jobbers on Superstars before eventually being squashed by Razor at WrestleMania, putting over guys like Luger and Shawn on TV and rounding out the year working house shows with the likes of Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz. It wasn't until the 'New Generation' angle got going that they figured they could try this heel turn with him; up until then it was a face return in earnest with very little to drive it beyond "Bob is an ex-champ... he's really old, but look at 'im go!" I don't get how the concept of slow burn angles is shocking pre Attitude era. WWF spent over a year building HBK for winning the WWF world title. They spent just as long making Bret Hart a champion who fought all comers no matter their place on the card. Same for Undertaker winning the title for the second time. Back in those days, they didn't rush through angles so quickly. Just because someone is not involved in main event or major midcard angles mean they don't have a plan for them.
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Post by Hit Girl on Feb 17, 2015 22:03:28 GMT -5
In hindsight it was a good thing, because it made his transition into a lunatic far more dramatic.
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Feb 17, 2015 22:16:34 GMT -5
Backlund returned to a WWF ring on 1st July 1992 and turned heel in a match against Bret on 30th July 1994. Over TWO YEARS later. Sorry for the caps, but I think they're warranted. If the intention from the outset was to turn him heel then that's got to be the slowest burn turn WWE has ever managed. I'm sorry, but he was a total after-thought, an opinion supported by him having no storylines (besides enjoying carrot juice) and very infrequent showings on TV and PPV. His performance in the Rumble 1993 was awesome, but resulted in nothing - he went straight back to beating jobbers on Superstars before eventually being squashed by Razor at WrestleMania, putting over guys like Luger and Shawn on TV and rounding out the year working house shows with the likes of Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz. It wasn't until the 'New Generation' angle got going that they figured they could try this heel turn with him; up until then it was a face return in earnest with very little to drive it beyond "Bob is an ex-champ... he's really old, but look at 'im go!" I don't get how the concept of slow burn angles is shocking pre Attitude era. WWF spent over a year building HBK for winning the WWF world title. They spent just as long making Bret Hart a champion who fought all comers no matter their place on the card. Same for Undertaker winning the title for the second time. Back in those days, they didn't rush through angles so quickly. Just because someone is not involved in main event or major midcard angles mean they don't have a plan for them. I think the plan was probably for him to get that Nolan Ryan, George Foreman run as the old guy who still has it; but really he couldn't get over as a face for a generation or two of fans conditioned into a totally different way then a face Backlund could present. I think once that didn't work, they realized that he would be a good foil for Hart.
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Post by thegatewaydrug on Feb 17, 2015 22:57:17 GMT -5
The better question: What was Backlund doing between 1984 and 1992?
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Post by Nickybojelais on Feb 17, 2015 23:05:43 GMT -5
Having been accustomed to seeing bronzed larger than life characters during the Hulkamanaia era, Backlund was so difficult to get behind as a child.
Viewing as a 9 year old, he was the epitome of everything we had become programmed to expect from a jobber eg. No music, pasty skin, no muscles and bland attire.
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Post by abjordans on Feb 18, 2015 0:20:00 GMT -5
Hey, here is something I always wondered.. What did he do those 9 years he was gone?
Mr. Backlund is awesome now and in hindsight, but that shit is 20/20. That Bret/Backlund program was long and made me flip to Nitro a lot as a kid.
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Crappler El 0 M
Dalek
Never Forgets an Octagon
I'm a good R-Truth.
Posts: 58,479
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Feb 18, 2015 0:31:31 GMT -5
Hey, here is something I always wondered.. What did he do those 9 years he was gone? Mr. Backlund is awesome now and in hindsight, but that shit is 20/20. That Bret/Backlund program was long and made me flip to Nitro a lot as a kid. He took a "real job," though I don't remember what it was. I think it was some kind of manual labor.
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Post by Manute Bol on Feb 18, 2015 3:27:39 GMT -5
Backlund returned to a WWF ring on 1st July 1992 and turned heel in a match against Bret on 30th July 1994. Over TWO YEARS later. Sorry for the caps, but I think they're warranted. If the intention from the outset was to turn him heel then that's got to be the slowest burn turn WWE has ever managed. I'm sorry, but he was a total after-thought, an opinion supported by him having no storylines (besides enjoying carrot juice) and very infrequent showings on TV and PPV. His performance in the Rumble 1993 was awesome, but resulted in nothing - he went straight back to beating jobbers on Superstars before eventually being squashed by Razor at WrestleMania, putting over guys like Luger and Shawn on TV and rounding out the year working house shows with the likes of Mike Sharpe and Barry Horowitz. It wasn't until the 'New Generation' angle got going that they figured they could try this heel turn with him; up until then it was a face return in earnest with very little to drive it beyond "Bob is an ex-champ... he's really old, but look at 'im go!" I don't get how the concept of slow burn angles is shocking pre Attitude era. It's not like it's some high concept thing that we can't grasp, it's simply that this was not a case of slow burn booking. Maybe you're applying that with the benefit of hindsight? To believe they were planning on pushing a heel Backlund character in the main event back in 1993 is quite a reach. As I already said, this is more or less confirmed in Bret Hart's book when he describes first hearing about it and his surprise over it. I believe Waltman touches on it in his Timeline '94 shoot as well.
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Post by ________ has left the building on Feb 18, 2015 3:36:29 GMT -5
I don't get how the concept of slow burn angles is shocking pre Attitude era. It's not like it's some high concept thing that we can't grasp, it's simply that this was not a case of slow burn booking. Maybe you're applying that with the benefit of hindsight? To believe they were planning on pushing a heel Backlund character in the main event back in 1993 is quite a reach. As I already said, this is more or less confirmed in Bret Hart's book when he describes first hearing about it and his surprise over it. I believe Waltman touches on it in his Timeline '94 shoot as well. And I said that his run as a main event heel wasn't probably planned but the seeds of a heel turn were.
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odor31
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Posts: 3,240
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Post by odor31 on Feb 18, 2015 7:50:56 GMT -5
After the WWF and semi-retirement (1984–1992) After leaving the WWF, Backlund had a run in the short-lived Pro Wrestling USA, a joint promotion of the NWA and the American Wrestling Association (AWA), meant to combat the national expansion of the WWF. In Pro Wrestling USA, Backlund unsuccessfully challenged AWA Champion Rick Martel. He soon dropped out of the pro wrestling scene. He made a surprise return in 1991 for Herb Abrams' short-lived UWF. At "Beach Brawl" (the UWF’s only pay-per-view event), he defeated Ivan Koloff. Backlund also wrestled for Newborn UWF and UWF International in Japan, in a series of matches with Nobuhiko Takada. During his time away from the ring, he coached amateur wrestling at Bacon Academy and Rocky Hill High School in Connecticut.
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Post by somsta on Feb 18, 2015 8:14:25 GMT -5
Hey, here is something I always wondered.. What did he do those 9 years he was gone? Mr. Backlund is awesome now and in hindsight, but that shit is 20/20. That Bret/Backlund program was long and made me flip to Nitro a lot as a kid. Impressive, considering that feud ended six months before Nitro debuted.
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Post by dangerousdanpotato on Feb 18, 2015 8:42:20 GMT -5
Having been accustomed to seeing bronzed larger than life characters during the Hulkamanaia era, Backlund was so difficult to get behind as a child. Viewing as a 9 year old, he was the epitome of everything we had become programmed to expect from a jobber eg. No music, pasty skin, no muscles and bland attire. Yeah, you're spot on! There was just nothing to get behind, even if they did keep reminding us he was an ex-champion. In 1992 WWF didn't really reference the past all that much and the title history wasn't crystal clear - my buddies and I had managed to piece together the title lineage back to Hogan's first reign watching PPVs, but where Bob's fitted in was a mystery and just made him seem older than the sands of time. He was a complete anachronism. Then he'd get in there with some jobber, looking all pasty, and do that weird butt-hop wiggle thing. We just used to laugh at him. That's how we'd been conditioned as marks at the time. It WAS pretty sad. Then he had the epic rumble performance and we saw him in a new light. He WAS a legit iron man. Perhaps this was going somewhere? But then this happened and he never really recovered until the heel turn...
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Post by abjordans on Feb 18, 2015 11:11:53 GMT -5
Hey, here is something I always wondered.. What did he do those 9 years he was gone? Mr. Backlund is awesome now and in hindsight, but that shit is 20/20. That Bret/Backlund program was long and made me flip to Nitro a lot as a kid. Impressive, considering that feud ended six months before Nitro debuted. Eh, whatever,still yet it wasn't my favorite thing to watch when I was 9 years old.
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