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Post by jason1980s on Jun 4, 2021 10:37:29 GMT -5
I thought this would be about the Sheik Tugboat gimmick. Has anyone other than Bruce spoken of this supposed gimmick? Fred is a really good guy and not one to make things up even for shoot money but has he spoken about it? I'm guessing if he didn't know about it Bruce would say it never got past Vince's office so Fred was never presented with the idea. I know things moved slower back then but it seems weird this newcomer who hadn't even had a PPV match, would be taken off the Summerslam PPV because he wasn't popular enough would be slated 8-10 months later for a main event spot against Hogan at Wrestlemania. I know Vince has had some stinkers but I can't see him thinking this far ahead for such a bad gimmick.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Jun 4, 2021 15:16:00 GMT -5
I thought this would be about the Sheik Tugboat gimmick. Has anyone other than Bruce spoken of this supposed gimmick? Fred is a really good guy and not one to make things up even for shoot money but has he spoken about it? I'm guessing if he didn't know about it Bruce would say it never got past Vince's office so Fred was never presented with the idea. I know things moved slower back then but it seems weird this newcomer who hadn't even had a PPV match, would be taken off the Summerslam PPV because he wasn't popular enough would be slated 8-10 months later for a main event spot against Hogan at Wrestlemania. I know Vince has had some stinkers but I can't see him thinking this far ahead for such a bad gimmick. I think it may have been in the works when they brought Fred in & before he stated on the gimmick. But early on Tugboat was so goofy that by the time they toned it down it was too late to have him turn on Hogan have any emotional impact.
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Jun 4, 2021 20:38:00 GMT -5
The question I always had is why Bossman replaced Tugboat as Hogan's cornerman at SummerSlam.
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Post by jason1980s on Jun 4, 2021 21:08:41 GMT -5
The question I always had is why Bossman replaced Tugboat as Hogan's cornerman at SummerSlam. Bossman was crazy popular then and was probably the #3 face at the time. Tugboat wasn't as popular as he was planned to be so fans weren't getting behind him. It made more sense to have Quake take him out, put more heat on him, and replace Tugboat with the more popular guy. Rumors have been Tugboat got a big ego and was replaced to teach him a lesson. I think Fred denied that and I don't believe it to be true at all. Fred is one of the friendliest, easy going men in wrestling. He's one of the guys you will never hear a bad word about from the other wrestlers. But I can see someone starting the rumor and it going simply because it did seem like big things were in plan for him and then he was replaced so easily.
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Post by Sir Woodrow on Jun 4, 2021 21:55:47 GMT -5
When Tugboat turned heel, I blamed it on myself. He was at a house show and I asked for his autograph. All I had was a picture of Hogan in the WWF magazine and he signed it. I blamed myself for years until I got smart to wrestling. You should be ashamed of yourself, go stand in the corner
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J. Hova
Don Corleone
Emotionally exhausted and morally bankrupt
Posts: 2,020
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Post by J. Hova on Jun 4, 2021 23:58:01 GMT -5
I'm really disappointed this wasn't about Sheik Tugboat.
It really is amazing when you think about how far the WWF fell off in 1990/91. I'd strongly argue that Hogan/Warrior or Hogan/Savage could have filled the Coliseum and broke WM3's record.
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Post by johnnyk9 on Jun 5, 2021 7:25:56 GMT -5
He encouraged people to write get well Letters to Hogan, then Hogan comes back and despite thanking him he didn’t really give him much of a career rub I say the heel turn was justified
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Post by Brandon Walsh is Insane. on Jun 5, 2021 23:01:27 GMT -5
The question I always had is why Bossman replaced Tugboat as Hogan's cornerman at SummerSlam. As a kid I never bought Tugboat as a legit main guy; Bossman being there made way more sense. Tugboat was too corny. I do think the Tugster being removed there was the end of his push, and I might be misremembering, but I feel like he just bought time as another guy until the Typhoon gimmick change.
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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Jun 6, 2021 10:20:21 GMT -5
Do you have a huge announcement to make?
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Nr1Humanoid
Hank Scorpio
Is the #3 humanoid at best.
Posts: 5,535
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Post by Nr1Humanoid on Jun 7, 2021 17:38:49 GMT -5
T'was to teach the kids that TUGBOATS = GOOD TYPHOONS = BAD wasn't it? A good old teachable moment from Uncle Vinnie Beats turning heel over an expected phone call.
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 42,058
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Jun 7, 2021 17:56:58 GMT -5
The question I always had is why Bossman replaced Tugboat as Hogan's cornerman at SummerSlam. As a kid I never bought Tugboat as a legit main guy; Bossman being there made way more sense. Tugboat was too corny. I do think the Tugster being removed there was the end of his push, and I might be misremembering, but I feel like he just bought time as another guy until the Typhoon gimmick change. I was 7 or so when Tugboat was around, even to a 7 year old, I knew he wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
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auph10imitated
Dennis Stamp
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Posts: 4,951
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Post by auph10imitated on Jun 8, 2021 10:09:04 GMT -5
Thing is, would Tugboat have been completely repackaged as an Iraqi Sympathizer ie: like when they changed his look and name up as Typhoon? Or would he genuinely have stayed in the Tugboat gimmick, red and white stripes while also wearing a turban? I find it hard to believe it was the latter, and if the plan was to fully repackage him, then to be honest its not that wild of an idea - he was a big guy - the usual monster heel look that WWF had Hogan face, and he was a Hogan ally, who in storyline land was their go to Hogan feud of them turning on him, so it pretty much made sense to be fair. Since he was the driving force behind him doing the whole write to Hulk campaign, him eventually turning heel was a natural progression - the only oddity is turning him into some kind guy with a boat fetish to an Iraqi sympathizer. They could have renamed him Big Sheik or something. Was it Wrestlemania main event worthy? God no, but I can see why it was a choice They may very well had inspired it by Jerry Blackwell in the AWA when he became a Sheik managed by General Adnan ![https://pm1.narvii.com/7907/1e1b2be529c94787a584419c4d1f085feb1c373br1-959-697v2_hq.jpg](https://pm1.narvii.com/7907/1e1b2be529c94787a584419c4d1f085feb1c373br1-959-697v2_hq.jpg)
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thecrusherwi
El Dandy
the Financially Responsible Man
Brawl For All
Posts: 7,684
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Post by thecrusherwi on Jun 8, 2021 12:27:01 GMT -5
I think they took Tugboat off TV for many months after he turned on Hogan at the Royal Rumble and he didn’t appear again on TV until July by doing a heel turn on the Bushwhackers. At least, that’s what I recall from my 12-year-old self. Does anyone know if his TV absence was injury related or if they just decided to retcon the Hogan turn since a Hulk vs Typhoon match was more suitable for the house show circuit and Coliseum Home Video? Nothing happened with Tugboat at Royal Rumble. He eliminated Hogan from a battle royal on SNME in late-April. There was no real absence before the turn, either. He had a squash match taped on May 7 that aired the weekend of June 1-2, then his heel turn was taped on May 28 and aired June 15-16. It is weird how Hogan just didn't care at all that Tugboat allied with the man who tried to put him out of wrestling. They were positioned as the best of friends up through the SNME after Royal Rumble. I guess they didn't want to back track. But surely a Hogan and Warrior vs. Slaughter & the Natural Disasters would have been a better SummerSlam main event on paper. Probably in practice too. As a kid, I didn't think the Match Made in Hell would last two minutes with Slaughter being teamed with a manager and over the hill Iron Sheik. They could have had Hogan and Warrior selling for the Disasters in the match to get them over. And it would've gotten Sid a lot more over to stand up to those guys rather than little Sheik and Adnan. You could have protected Earthquake and Typhoon by having LOD come down and stop some of the cheating leading to a big brawl that took them to the back. And then still have Warrior chase Adnan and Sheik away (who would've been managers) and have the same finish.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2021 14:55:32 GMT -5
I started watching pretty much right after this happened. My impression of Tugboat has always been "hey, that's Typhoon before he was in a great team with Earthquake," so I kind of wonder what I would have thought of him if I would have started earlier and gotten the full Tugboat experience. It was a really bizarre gimmick, even for the time.
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