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Post by horsemen4ever on Jul 2, 2017 17:58:28 GMT -5
The way they set up the whole Krondle / Russian feud in the early months of 85, it seemed obvious they were setting up for Slaughter to return. They kept playing up the Kondle has no partner, he is out numbered.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jul 5, 2017 3:39:17 GMT -5
One can only imagine how things would have gone had Slaughter stayed and worked out an agreement on the merch side that benefit everyone. As big as this boom got, I can but wonder how much bigger it might have been had GI Joe Slaughter been right there in the middle of things. If only Vince had said "Sure thing pal, so long as I get 3% of Slaughter action figures sales, syndication sales of episodes you're in, and that percentage in royalties on any future home media sales of episodes you're in."
The Piper DUI could have been handled without ever breaking kayfabe. Snuka goes in "That f***er hurt me bad and tonight I get to legally beat his ass. I don't want him behind bars, I want to legally beat his ass tonight. Here's the $500 for his bail."
Billy Jack walking so soon after he got there for the reasons he did, because his suggestion to bring in Stan Stasiak wasn't done, was a clear indication already that something wasn't right with that boy.
Tito/Valentine had excellent matches but lord, this series never seemed to end.
George Wells joining WWF seems off. He has results listed for other territories well into summer 1985 before joining the WWF that year. Maybe this one didn't work out and his more well-known(?) was separate?
The Albano incident raises two questions: How was this not the final straw with Capt Lou? And, how did Bruno not beat Lou's ass into oblivion due to this?
Something tells me Thesz probably wasn't impressed by JYD.
It's so weird to realize that Marty Jannetty was already getting NWA World title shots the same month Rock N' Wrestling more or less unofficially kicked off.
20,000 to see Dino Bravo fight Haku. Wow.
I wish I could remember the whys on how Hawaii kept booking everybody's guys like this so far into the expansion. I guess it was far enough away, no one cared.
Long Riders vs. Savage/Poffo sounds awesome. Would love to see that.
If I'm not mistaken, this wasn't the only time they pulled that gag.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2017 16:19:33 GMT -5
About Hawaii, Bob Backlund wrote in his book that everybody liked Peter Maivia and would do anything to help him out when he was struggling to pay the bills out there. (Even after Peter died, the wrestlers kept their word to his widow.) Since that was no longer an-NWA exclusive territory, guys were free to wrestle there. Bob did mention that it was a nice stopover between all the flying between the Lower 48 and Japan. You can get a nice card that way; some guys on their way back from a tour, others on their way in.
What pretty much killed them was the lack of TV. Hawaiian TV was rather bland, you could not get too crazy without people throwing a fit. (Think that explains when I saw film of Lawler-Plowboy Frazier where Jerry's wife made a run-in with her shoe. Frazier gave her a legdrop, but that was cut out of the film. You can't show a 500-pound hoss legdropping a woman 1/4th his size without getting complaints.)
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Jul 8, 2017 0:38:15 GMT -5
Regarding Wells, he's definitely on WWF WTBS shows, which means he had to have been around pre-Mania 1.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2017 5:24:43 GMT -5
Lou has got to be one of, if not THE luckiest guys in the company. Was Lou on the list of people Vince Senior told his son to take care of? (Just thought of this the other day. I know Fred Blassie was on the list. Possibly Skaaland and Gorilla. Andre could be another. But I digress.)
Anyway, Lou Albano... Shitty wrestler who was able to become a manager because he did have a gift for gab...and Bruno saw it. You can put him with anybody in a match and the fans react as if a World title was on the line. He'll take one bump and run away, but the fans of the time didn't care; they will celebrate that their hero busted Albano open. In the W(W)WF of the time, if you were a heel without a manager, you didn't mean shit; the fans didn't see you as a threat. So, most often, if you were about to get a run with the champion(s), you got paired with somebody. Dick "Bulldog" Brower (of all people) got Albano, and he pinned Ivan Putski - which hardly ANYBODY got to do. Lou got about 98% of the tag teams. So he always either had the champions or the top contenders. (I just watched - quite possibly the ONLY - heel champions not managed by Lou, Fuji & Tanaka were managed by Blassie.)
So Lou pulls this stunt and it somehow happens to be around the time he's turned babyface. I know he was recognized as that bearded weirdo with the rubber bands in his face. He'd do charity things, and ends up with the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, Tony Altimore is doing jobs to everybody.
All because Lou talked that rapid-paced machine-gun style promo that - when looked upon at face value - made absolutely no sense unless you're on some good shit.
Good work if you can get it.
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The Heenan Family
Unicron
I'm a legend in this sport. If you don't believe me, ask me.
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Post by The Heenan Family on Jul 8, 2017 22:03:12 GMT -5
I guess Bruno just liked Lou too much to stay mad at him.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Jul 9, 2017 11:47:41 GMT -5
Was Lou on the list of people Vince Senior told his son to take care of? He was, but Vince Jr finally had to fire him after he slapped a 16 year old Shane McMahon for stealing his liquor and retorting "What are you going to do about it, fat man?"
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Cranjis McBasketball☝🏻
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball☝🏻 on Jul 9, 2017 18:09:26 GMT -5
Was Lou on the list of people Vince Senior told his son to take care of? He was, but Vince Jr finally had to fire him after he slapped a 16 year old Shane McMahon for stealing his liquor and retorting "What are you going to do about it, fat man?" Heenan said during his HOF induction that Lou "refused to be fired". Sure, it was a joke but it came from some place of truth.
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Jul 22, 2017 4:38:35 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwfatmsg12185/The WWF charges into MSG with a card featuring a triple main event of sorts as Andre the Giant collides with the mighty Ken Patera, JYD aligns with Jimmy Snuka to tangle with Roddy Piper and Bob Orton in a Texas Tornado tag team bout, plus Tito Santana grapples with IC champion Greg Valentine. The rest of the card is brutally bad as Bret Hart, Don Muraco, Blackjack Mulligan, the Spoiler, Big John Studd and others face lesser talents in uninspiring encounters.
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froggyfrog
El Dandy
abababababbabababababa
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Post by froggyfrog on Jul 27, 2017 14:20:13 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-july-1984/#.V8l6qpgrLIUJuly 1984: MSG is the site of the MTV special "The Brawl to End it All" with Cyndi Lauper giving the WWF her rub. The AWA loses yet another top guy to the WWF, A WWF Champion works for Verne Gagne in St. Louis, BLACK SATURDAY, the AWA focuses on several new feuds to try and bolster business, A long time heel hears cheers in Florida, JYD works his Superdome magic once again, Jerry Jarrett out duels McMahon, A ref headlines a WCCW card, a wrestler dies under mysterious circumstances, Jim Crockett is accused of being a racist, plus much more news and results!! Ok I know I'm like almost a year behind at this point but I'm reading through these catching up and I was intrigued by the Dragon Twins. I'm not finding anything about them at all online. Anyone able to shed some more light? A picture? Anything?
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Sept 1, 2017 13:23:18 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-january-1985-part-one/January of 1985 sees the WWF lose a main eventer while he's in the middle of a hot program, Hogan discovers a giant new opponent in Japan, a nearly 60-year-old legend returns to the ring on WWF TV, a 1970's dream match goes down in St. Louis, Verne Gagne cons the fans, the Road Warriors get into a locker room fight after a jobber stops selling for them, a WWF headliner jumps to the AWA, Brody gives Verne more headaches, Pro Wrestling USA nearly falls apart as the promoters squabble, the WWF battles against some loaded cards from the competition in key cities, plus more news, notes and results!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2017 16:47:32 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-july-1984/#.V8l6qpgrLIUJuly 1984: MSG is the site of the MTV special "The Brawl to End it All" with Cyndi Lauper giving the WWF her rub. The AWA loses yet another top guy to the WWF, A WWF Champion works for Verne Gagne in St. Louis, BLACK SATURDAY, the AWA focuses on several new feuds to try and bolster business, A long time heel hears cheers in Florida, JYD works his Superdome magic once again, Jerry Jarrett out duels McMahon, A ref headlines a WCCW card, a wrestler dies under mysterious circumstances, Jim Crockett is accused of being a racist, plus much more news and results!! Ok I know I'm like almost a year behind at this point but I'm reading through these catching up and I was intrigued by the Dragon Twins. I'm not finding anything about them at all online. Anyone able to shed some more light? A picture? Anything? I Googled the "Dargon Twins" and found a bunch of stuff, mainly from KM. Apparently they were friends of Tony Atlas, which got them a job. They won the Southeastern Tag Titles on 6/22/1979 from the Samoans; just their 2nd match. Was also the same day as the largest wrestling crowd in Dothan, AL where 8,000 at Rip Hewes Stadium, saw the title change. (Other matches included Austin Idol vs. Ron Fuller for the Southeastern Title, and Harley Race defending his NWA World title against some guy named Terry "The Hulk" Boulder.) But no end date, they were fired by Ron Fuller a week later, because they were...not good.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Sept 2, 2017 4:00:58 GMT -5
Have to wonder...if the Briscos take the titles, where does that leave the US Express/Volkoff-Sheik dynamic at WM1? A much better pairing overall, but this was the Del Rio/Sheamus of its time. Just. Would. Not. End. It's amazing how many names McMahon brought in for the expansion era. Stellar line-up. St. Louis had amazing "best of" cards, it's a shame that style of promotion ended with SL and Houston. This wasn't an isolated incident; Gagne pulled this crap a lot over the years. Gagne was having the Road Warriors - in 1985 - job to the Crusher. In 1985. And Gagne tops himself by bringing in megahot Slaughter and immediately job him. At least he lost to the LOD and not the Crusher.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2017 7:41:27 GMT -5
I did not know I wanted to see a Bob Backlund & Sgt. Slaughter tag team until reading this post.
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Sept 8, 2017 11:56:01 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-january-1985-part-two/The second part of January 1985 includes a look at the death of legendary promoter Eddie Graham and some of the root causes of his suicide, Kerry Von Erich competes in perhaps the most infamous match of his career, a talent swap between Bill Watts and Fritz Von Erich leaves Jim Crockett out in the cold, the WWF attacks all over the country once again, Jerry Lawler and Eddie Gilbert brutalize one another, The WWF marches into Mid-South's region with JYD headlining, Tully Blanchard's "Perfect 10" is revealed, JCP brings in 3 former NWA World champions to compete, Crockett invades a WWF town only for the fans to rebel against their product, AWA and NWA champions collide on a loaded JCP mega show, plus more news and notes!!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2017 15:52:54 GMT -5
Anybody know if Swede Hanson was getting paid good money to put on the singlet into 1985? That's the only reason I can hope he was still going.
1984 me - a new fan - liked him.
2017 me saw his matches from 1983 on YouTube and just feels so sad.
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Sept 10, 2017 5:31:03 GMT -5
Anybody know if Swede Hanson was getting paid good money to put on the singlet into 1985? That's the only reason I can hope he was still going. 1984 me - a new fan - liked him. 2017 me saw his matches from 1983 on YouTube and just feels so sad. Monsoon sure sounds like he liked him personally while calling his bouts. Maybe friends in the office+love of the sport+good money??
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brody
Don Corleone
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Post by brody on Sept 16, 2017 6:44:39 GMT -5
culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-wwf-philadelphia-spectrum-2161985/Philly fans are treated to the Hulkster colliding with Brutus Beefcake with the World title at stake, plus Bruno Sammartino returns to the ring to team with his son against Bobby the Brain and Mr. Wonderful. Barry Windham tangles with Dick Murdoch in the match of the night, with Nikolai Volkoff, Tony Atlas, Mike Rotunda, Hillbilly Jim and others taking part in action with lesser competition.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Sept 18, 2017 2:27:29 GMT -5
At the same time, Mid-South's version of the Barbarian (Nord, who you mention later) was about as white-hot as his career ever allowed him. Seriously, no joke. He and Jake were getting over huge as a duo. That match-up in a WWF ring will always sound surreal to me. Always.
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brody
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,463
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Post by brody on Sept 22, 2017 11:04:41 GMT -5
Yup, I watched this era of Mid-South TV a few years ago. Nord/Jake/Humongous was great fun. --- culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwf-msg-2181985-war-settle-score/"The War to Settle the Score" sees Hulk Hogan battle "Rowdy" Roddy Piper inside of the mecca that is Madison Square Garden. MTV aired the match live as part of a special that also saw a plethora of celebrities add their opinion on Piper's recent antics. Plus Cyndi Lauper's charge Wendi Richter suffers a major setback, A Donald Trump dream match is booked, Tony Atlas shows his support for female masturbation, plus many bad bad bad matches.... bad.....
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