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Post by horsemen4ever on Apr 16, 2020 17:44:10 GMT -5
What is amazing about the Honky Tonk Man in 1987, is he managed to turn both Jake The Snake Roberts and Macho Man Randy Savage face without either of them doing a thing, just be his obvioux self. Now that is ture heel heat. He did not once but twice within a year.
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Post by The Summer of Muskrat XVII on Apr 16, 2020 17:49:29 GMT -5
Honky at his peak could’ve turned Hitler face, that dude was so goddamn hatable
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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 Apr 16, 2020 17:58:24 GMT -5
He also turned himself heel with little effort. Just being himself was enough.
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Post by horsemen4ever on Apr 16, 2020 18:16:36 GMT -5
He also turned himself heel with little effort. Just being himself was enough. Not his fault, the fans had dirty greesy hands and ugly babies. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2020 20:36:54 GMT -5
The Savage one is amazing.He’s the 1st guy to congratulate Honky backstage after he beats Steamboat.Then Honky claims he’s the greatest IC champ of all-time and Macho wants to kill him and the fans are totally with Macho.
Also Gorilla thinks Honky’s 1st name is Honk.
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SmashTV
Dennis Stamp
Big Money, Big Prizes, I Love It!
The Excellence of Allocation
Posts: 4,490 
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Post by SmashTV on Apr 17, 2020 7:45:52 GMT -5
He also turned himself heel with little effort. Just being himself was enough. He played his role perfectly. I remember seeing a clip of him at MSG where he was addressing the crowd. They booed him as he walked to the ring, booed as he entered the ring and booed as he talked to them. He was giving his usual ‘You’re a beautiful audience!’ routine but then added a softer, humble, faux-heartfelt ‘Thank you so much!’ that it added a bit more to his already hateable quality. That said, he’d make 12 year old me laugh a lot and was the first heel I found popular. |
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Post by Aceorton on Apr 17, 2020 10:10:59 GMT -5
Not to detract from Honky's hateability, because I agree he's an all-time master, but if there were two heels the fans didn't need to be asked twice to start cheering for in 1987, it was Jake and Savage. Honky or no Honky, face turns were inevitable for both guys within the year.
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Post by James Fabiano on Apr 17, 2020 12:33:32 GMT -5
The even more amazing thing about it is, he caused RICKY STEAMBOAT to reconcile with Jake and Savage!
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Post by mrpeacock on Apr 17, 2020 12:54:15 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite examples of Honky not working out as a babyface. He’s wrestling Mr. X who’s the most generic heel you can get. It really has to be watched to be appreciated how much the crowd hates HTM. m.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_PGECB6ck |
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Post by meesakeemhorcha on Apr 17, 2020 13:24:37 GMT -5
Not to detract from Honky's hateability, because I agree he's an all-time master, but if there were two heels the fans didn't need to be asked twice to start cheering for in 1987, it was Jake and Savage. Honky or no Honky, face turns were inevitable for both guys within the year. So you believe any other heel in the WWF at that time could've done it. |
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SmashTV
Dennis Stamp
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The Excellence of Allocation
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Post by SmashTV on Apr 17, 2020 13:53:34 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite examples of Honky not working out as a babyface. He’s wrestling Mr. X who’s the most generic heel you can get. It really has to be watched to be appreciated how much the crowd hates HTM. m.youtube.com/watch?v=y-_PGECB6ck Ooooh, that was brutal - even Honky and Mr X seemed taken aback by the reaction. The fact that Gorilla acknowledged the boos makes me think they knew they had no choice but to turn him. |
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Post by corndog on Apr 17, 2020 14:21:50 GMT -5
Not to detract from Honky's hateability, because I agree he's an all-time master, but if there were two heels the fans didn't need to be asked twice to start cheering for in 1987, it was Jake and Savage. Honky or no Honky, face turns were inevitable for both guys within the year. An interesting match from 1986 is the Jake/Savage match for the IC title on Saturday Night's Main Event. Both are heels, but even Vince was surprised by the fans supporting Jake so heavily in the match, which led to his face run. Savage always had some crowd support as a heel, in his IC title win against Tito, the fans were mostly behind Savage. With Savage, it was Elizabeth who really gave Savage his heat. Without her, I think it would have been near impossible to keep him a heel. Also, Elizabeth was a key component to turning Savage face and then heel again. |
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Post by Aceorton on Apr 17, 2020 18:36:19 GMT -5
Not to detract from Honky's hateability, because I agree he's an all-time master, but if there were two heels the fans didn't need to be asked twice to start cheering for in 1987, it was Jake and Savage. Honky or no Honky, face turns were inevitable for both guys within the year. So you believe any other heel in the WWF at that time could've done it. Yes. |
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Post by meesakeemhorcha on Apr 17, 2020 23:58:14 GMT -5
So you believe any other heel in the WWF at that time could've done it. Yes. So who could've done. Throw some names on here. |
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Apr 18, 2020 6:33:04 GMT -5
Honky was so hateable that even having Hulk Hogan's endorsement couldn't get him any cheers, and this was Hulk in 87 whom was still at the peak of his popularity.
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Squirrel Master
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Post by Squirrel Master on Apr 18, 2020 11:08:25 GMT -5
He also turned himself heel with little effort. Just being himself was enough. Not his fault, the fans had dirty greesy hands and ugly babies. "I love all of my fans! Even you up there in the cheap seats!" |
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Post by Joe Neglia on Apr 18, 2020 11:26:58 GMT -5
Not to detract from Honky's hateability, because I agree he's an all-time master, but if there were two heels the fans didn't need to be asked twice to start cheering for in 1987, it was Jake and Savage. Honky or no Honky, face turns were inevitable for both guys within the year. An interesting match from 1986 is the Jake/Savage match for the IC title on Saturday Night's Main Event. Both are heels, but even Vince was surprised by the fans supporting Jake so heavily in the match, which led to his face run. Savage always had some crowd support as a heel, in his IC title win against Tito, the fans were mostly behind Savage. With Savage, it was Elizabeth who really gave Savage his heat. Without her, I think it would have been near impossible to keep him a heel. Also, Elizabeth was a key component to turning Savage face and then heel again. I've always believed that match was designed by Vince to test the waters to see which one he needed to push in the babyface direction first. |
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Post by Aceorton on Apr 19, 2020 0:11:17 GMT -5
So who could've done. Throw some names on here. Ron Bass. Dino Bravo. Literally any heel on the roster. |
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Post by corndog on Apr 19, 2020 0:15:17 GMT -5
An interesting match from 1986 is the Jake/Savage match for the IC title on Saturday Night's Main Event. Both are heels, but even Vince was surprised by the fans supporting Jake so heavily in the match, which led to his face run. Savage always had some crowd support as a heel, in his IC title win against Tito, the fans were mostly behind Savage. With Savage, it was Elizabeth who really gave Savage his heat. Without her, I think it would have been near impossible to keep him a heel. Also, Elizabeth was a key component to turning Savage face and then heel again. I've always believed that match was designed by Vince to test the waters to see which one he needed to push in the babyface direction first. That is what I felt as well, they were both already popular heels at the time. Vince was on commentary and I think he was being legit when he said he was surprised the fans were so heavily behind Jake. |
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Post by badkarma on Apr 19, 2020 5:15:18 GMT -5
I was lucky enough to see Savage vs. Honky for the IC title headlining during that period.
I still consider it the best wrestling match I've ever seen live.
Honky's heel work was truly masterful, awe inspiring really.
He acted like he was going to walk off before the match even started and kept teasing the idea.
Eventually Savage is forced to chase him down the aisle and bring him back to ring.
They went back and forth for well over 30 minutes with everyone dying, and I mean dying, to see Savage win.
I've been to a lot of shows over the years but no other match I've witnessed comes close to how it electrified, and united, the audience.
Ultimately, Honky does run off at the end just as Savage had it won, and gets him self counted out.
The place went berserk with boos, but Savage chased Honky down eventually, and cornered him in the ring.
A top rope elbow drop later and the crowd erupted unlike anything I've ever heard in my life.
It was so much joy, and elation, all at once, from so many people, it was overwhelming to take in.
A feud with Honky Tonk Man during this era really was a true rub, because he made everyone he faced shine brighter, perhaps more than at any other points in their careers.
He's still the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time.
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