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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2011 9:04:05 GMT -5
From what I've seen of his interviews from back then, he seemed so boring on the mic, which is amazing how different he was as a crazy heel in the mid 90's. It was a different time, though and you didn't have to be great on the mic, but it helped. I have seen quite a few matches of Backlund as champion, and he seemed very over, I remember seeing a match (against Don Muraco?) where they pop huge for an atomic drop. "The atomic spine-crusher" as it was called was his finisher. He beat Superstar Billy Graham for the title with it. (Yes, Billy had his foot on the rope but that was overlooked considering he beat Bruno by using his feet on the ropes as leverage. Live by the rope cheat, die by it I guess.) I can't really say from personal experience about what kind of champion he was, as it was before my time as a wrestling fan. But I can kind of look at it in hindsight like this: the bad guys would have the color and personality, which means they had the ability to make the fans come out to the shows, pay their money and hope the guy gets humbled by the clean-cut, take no shortcuts, babyface amateur champion. If you did have a good guy with some sort of character, that was more than enough. Chief Jay Strongbow never held the World title, possibly for that reason. You can either have a personality or the title, not both. People came out to see Bruno and Pedro Morales, because they were ethnic heroes - back in a time when that mattered to draw fans. It was a time when many fans were one generation removed from getting off the boat at Ellis Island, if not the ones getting off their own selves. But Bob was a different breed of wrestler. Times were changing to where people should support a babyface champion no matter their upbringing or ethnicity. He was a workhorse. But, I can also see how people would point to the AWA and say they had a more colorful champion in Nick Bockwinkel. Nick was flashy, he talked the talk, he mesmerized you with words and actions. He looked like a champion should in the realm of Lou Thesz; nice suits or sportcoats, expensive jewlery, tinted glasses - the perks of being the champion is the ability to afford nice things and show them off. "Look at what being the champion can get you." People like that, it shows credibility. Bob, on the other hand, still pretty much dressed the same. Workout jacket and the ring gear, he looked more like a guy still working his way up the ranks than a guy who held the title almost 6 years. You rarely saw him in a coat and tie, because it didn't look right on him. He resembled some little kid whose mom put him in his older brother's suit for his first Communion, or your accountant.
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Post by The Shareholder is nude on Jun 9, 2011 9:45:34 GMT -5
And yet underneath all that "boring" is a legit wrestling technician and 100% badass who, even at 60 something, could legit shoot take down pretty much anyone in wrestling today with the possible exception of Kurt Angle.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2011 9:53:43 GMT -5
And yet underneath all that "boring" is a legit wrestling technician and 100% badass who, even at 60 something, could legit shoot take down pretty much anyone in wrestling today with the possible exception of Kurt Angle. I'm sure they still hung on to the "shooter" mind-set at the time. Based on Billy Graham's track record, you didn't know if he would have tried to do take something on Backlund and skip town with the belt. (Think it was Bobby Heenan who said Superstar was offered the AWA title against Mad Dog Vachon but turned it down. "No way brother, a man could get hurt out there.") We're not discrediting Bob's ability by any means, just his character.
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Post by Alexander The So-so on Jun 9, 2011 10:32:41 GMT -5
As a worker, he was highly respected-some people said he was the Bret Hart of his generation. However, he had no charisma. Try to find the Graham/Backlund interviews on Youtube right before Backlund won the title. Graham gives a promo that was as good as anything the Rock has ever done, then Backlund steps up and practically whispers into the microphone the whole time. This. Seriously, see the videos for yourself. Backlund sounds like he's talking about a golf game rather than a wrestling match! Especially following the awesomely entertaining Billy Graham doing an interview. Also keep in mind that, from what I've heard, even though Graham started off his title as a heel, by the end of his run he was actually starting to get cheered here and there, teasing a face turn. So its all the more jarring to have a charismatic champion who people are just beginning to like as a full-fledged face be suddenly replaced by a white-bread, unassuming guy like Backlund. I think Kevin Sullivan once put it best when talking about the difference between Graham and Backlund: "It was like choosing between cookies and milk or Jack Daniel's and weed."
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Post by King Boo on Jun 9, 2011 12:10:49 GMT -5
I know my mom hated it from the start because she found Superstar Billy Graham entertaining and Backlund boring as all get out. She'll still comment on it if she sees one them on screen today. well if she still has her old tv set it's possible that their image has been permanently burned into the screen
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repomark
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For Mash Get Smash
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Post by repomark on Jun 10, 2011 6:56:10 GMT -5
Don't know much about his original title reign. I have a few of the matches on DVD - such as against Jimmy Snuka, against Jesse Ventura and the Iron Sheik match. He always seems to be getting a large crowd response. However - he definitely did not have charisma as compared to Harley Race, Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes elsewhere which is probably where the criticism of the reign came from.
However, when he came back and turned psycho I thought that was great. Love his match with Bret at Survivor Series 94, and Owen's performance at ring side is my favourite ever heel moment. Shame he was only allowed to hold it for three days.
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Post by BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps on Jun 10, 2011 15:13:00 GMT -5
Everything I've seen of Backlund's original run combined with his mid 90's run indicates to me he was badly misused. Had he not retired briefly, can you imagine how well crazy Mr. Backlund would have fit into Rock 'n Wrestling, perhaps feuding against Hogan?
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Post by chunkylover53 on Jun 17, 2011 20:32:03 GMT -5
Everything I've seen of Backlund's original run combined with his mid 90's run indicates to me he was badly misused. Had he not retired briefly, can you imagine how well crazy Mr. Backlund would have fit into Rock 'n Wrestling, perhaps feuding against Hogan? Well, I heard a story that after Backlund dropped the championship, they were going to revamp his character into something like Adrian Street to fit into the direction the company was headed in at the time. That would be hilarious to see.
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
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Posts: 15,423
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Jun 18, 2011 2:39:06 GMT -5
Everything I've seen of Backlund's original run combined with his mid 90's run indicates to me he was badly misused. Had he not retired briefly, can you imagine how well crazy Mr. Backlund would have fit into Rock 'n Wrestling, perhaps feuding against Hogan? Well, I heard a story that after Backlund dropped the championship, they were going to revamp his character into something like Adrian Street to fit into the direction the company was headed in at the time. That would be hilarious to see. Now that.... would have been odd. They could, and maybe should, have had Mr. Backland early, have him snap and go after Hogan 'Where's my Sports Illustrated cover? Where are my celebrity fans? I carried this company for 6 years, then this new guy comes and get all the glory!' Kind of angle.
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Post by preferable on Jun 18, 2011 3:35:54 GMT -5
Didn't the WWF title get demoted as being considered a 'regional' rather than 'national' belt under Backlund?
He just wasn't 'MTV' enough for Vince. The fans were very tired of his persona too. Simply didn't have the charisma. His return back in 1992 was amusing, as he'd come out to either complete silence, or if he was wrestling an established heel, he'd be the one getting the heat. People jus thad no idea who he was.
Even as a kid however, I recall the whole 'Isn't he brave, he's over 40' thing odd, when Hogan clearly looked (even though I don't think he was) at least 20 years older than anyone on the roster.
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Post by chunkylover53 on Jun 28, 2011 0:17:16 GMT -5
Ooooh, here's something on wikipedia that was overlooked in his reign....
He also went after the WWF World Tag Team Championship with Peter Maivia but Maivia turned on him and attacked Backlund and Skaaland, which led the usually even tempered Backlund to go berserk in the post match interview, screaming to interviewer Vince McMahon that he was going to "kill that son of a bitch!"
Looks like that was an early preview of Crazy Mr. Backlund, or "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
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Post by wwefan71080 on Jul 3, 2011 23:03:06 GMT -5
His Character was boring, but he was and probably still is a great wrestler, thats what made him tolerable
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Post by lildude8218 on Jul 3, 2011 23:11:06 GMT -5
him constantly kicking out at 1 was very annoying
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Post by Citizen Zero on Jul 4, 2011 1:48:32 GMT -5
Everything I've heard about the guy reminds me of Daniel Bryan (or at least his WWE persona).
...Man, I can't wait for Crazy Mr. Danielson.
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