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Post by willywonka666 on Dec 16, 2012 21:48:48 GMT -5
Was just thinking about JYD and really as it was once said, his popularity was 2nd to Hogan's (And Andre's I'd say) in the mid 80s WWF, but suddenly he was on the outs.
What might have happened? I have heard that Vince might not have been happy because he had put on some weight and I'm assuming perhaps they pushed him down the ladder and just didn't give him anything.
He was young enough I'd say (35-just a few months older than Hogan) when they let him go. So what might have happened and what could have been for the Junkyard Dog?
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Post by Kash Flagg on Dec 16, 2012 21:50:17 GMT -5
He just wasn't that good. Charasmatic as hell, and Watts pushed him correctly as a brawler, but as soon as he went to the WWF that was it for him. His matches with Flair in 1990 were atrocious.
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Mac
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Post by Mac on Dec 16, 2012 21:57:25 GMT -5
He was mega over everywhere including WWE. But when you are a mega over face in the WWE you can only go so far behind the Hogan wall. See Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka also. All were mega over, but you'll be second behind Hogan and unless you turn heel your evenually going to chill out into the midcard.
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Post by molson5 on Dec 16, 2012 21:59:11 GMT -5
The clean loss to Race at Mania 3 was really stunning. Faces losing clean was so rare, and for it to happen in a blow-off match with the bowing stipulation was pretty crazy - even as a mark kid I knew was done and washed up then. Only a year and a half earlier he won the wrestling classic tournament. I'm not sure how much weight he gained in between, but he had totally let himself go by the time he got to the NWA
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 22:02:26 GMT -5
Oh my goodness, I decided to wander over to Wikipedia to do some reading about JYD and this is there toward the end.... How awful....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 22:14:01 GMT -5
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Madagascar Fred
El Dandy
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Post by Madagascar Fred on Dec 16, 2012 22:15:20 GMT -5
wasnt he heavy on drugs?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 22:18:08 GMT -5
He did have a problem around the time of his decline. I believe he had cleaned up at the time of his death though.
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Post by molson5 on Dec 16, 2012 22:35:02 GMT -5
She's also the one that appeared at whatever Mania it was when JYD was inducted to the HOF...I hadn't heard about her death either.
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Post by lildude8218 on Dec 16, 2012 23:00:38 GMT -5
he definitely was the #2 or 3 babyface from his debut through to mid-late 1985 and then he was fighting for that spot after they turned Orndorff. he never really got any decent feuds either.
it's a very interesting study though. when you look at the press conference for Wrestlemania 3 there were 3 faces there: Hogan, Piper and JYD. 8 months later at Survivor Series, JYD is nowhere to be found.
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mizerable
Fry's dog Seymour
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Post by mizerable on Dec 16, 2012 23:06:26 GMT -5
The 70's - early 80's style of wrestling that he was able to get over with just didn't cut it with the evolving style of the WWF by 1986. He started looking worse as the years went on, his time in WCW was pretty atrocious...I mean the style of wrestling from how it was in 1983 to what it became by 1990 is just startling. He may have had a shot as the top dog (no pun intended) back in the early 80's, but he didn't have a chance after that. He just wasn't that good.
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Post by Evilution E5150 on Dec 16, 2012 23:17:49 GMT -5
i saw his appearence at ECWs Wrestlepalooza in 1998 not to long ago and he looked f***ing terrible, i was like what happened
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2012 17:36:34 GMT -5
it's a very interesting study though. when you look at the press conference for Wrestlemania 3 there were 3 faces there: Hogan, Piper and JYD. 8 months later at Survivor Series, JYD is nowhere to be found. I've never really followed the week-to-week happenings of the WWF back then (I started watching full-time in 1989 with WM5, and knew of the popular Rock 'N Wrestling people in years before then), so I always figured JYD being in the WM4 battle royal was more indicative of where he was at the moment on the roster. But it seems it was in that spot WELL before then.....
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Lardlad
El Dandy
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Post by Lardlad on Dec 17, 2012 18:44:20 GMT -5
I always thought that if they had stuck the Junyard Dog in a tag team with someone he might have had a better, longer career in the WWF.
It's similar to Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart in my opinion. Singles just wasn't his thing, but when you teamed him with Bret, and to a lesser extent Owen, he seemed to do well. And I think things could have been the same for JYD.
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mrjl
Fry's dog Seymour
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Post by mrjl on Dec 17, 2012 22:55:06 GMT -5
I always thought that if they had stuck the Junyard Dog in a tag team with someone he might have had a better, longer career in the WWF. It's similar to Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart in my opinion. Singles just wasn't his thing, but when you teamed him with Bret, and to a lesser extent Owen, he seemed to do well. And I think things could have been the same for JYD. funny thing, WCW paired them up for a few matches in the early 90's
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Post by Smiley Smile on Dec 18, 2012 16:34:42 GMT -5
People have already touched on what I think the reasons for his decline are. He was a cocaine addict and it seemed to take a huge toll on him personally and physically. He'd started to become unfit and put on weight towards the end of his run with Mid-South, and when the wages he got from the WWF meant more money for coke. He apparently stopped training, his weight ballooned and he became unreliable and by 1988 he was viewed as a spent force and cut loose.
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Post by willywonka666 on Dec 18, 2012 17:12:06 GMT -5
People have already touched on what I think the reasons for his decline are. He was a cocaine addict and it seemed to take a huge toll on him personally and physically. He'd started to become unfit and put on weight towards the end of his run with Mid-South, and when the wages he got from the WWF meant more money for coke. He apparently stopped training, his weight ballooned and he became unreliable and by 1988 he was viewed as a spent force and cut loose. I have heard that Bob Backlund was about the only guy in the dressing room that DIDN'T take drugs though. I'm not sure how it affected JYD more than anyone else. hell I'm sure he wasn't at Jake the Snake's level of drug intake, but I wasn't there
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Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Dec 18, 2012 17:17:15 GMT -5
Going from things I've heard in a lot of interviews and such, Dog was one of those guys that basically needed somebody riding his ass constantly to make sure he stayed in shape and kept working hard. Bill Watts did that. Vince McMahon did not. Obviously, some of his personal choices and problems came into play as well.
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Post by willywonka666 on Dec 18, 2012 17:33:40 GMT -5
Going from things I've heard in a lot of interviews and such, Dog was one of those guys that basically needed somebody riding his ass constantly to make sure he stayed in shape and kept working hard. Bill Watts did that. Vince McMahon did not. Obviously, some of his personal choices and problems came into play as well. That makes sense then.
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Post by cabbageboy on Dec 18, 2012 18:14:59 GMT -5
Yeah the reality is this: JYD was of course on drugs, but besides that the guy was basically a crappy wrestler. Nothing he did looked very good in the ring and it's tough to go that far when you clearly aren't any good. Even by 1987 it was clear that actual workrate was becoming more of a factor in the WWF.
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