Classic Wrestling Discussion (as in non-current): Part II

[Loosie]

Just finished the February 24th 1997 RAW. It's an interesting one for a few reasons.

ECW 'invaded' this RAW. Some early looks at many guys that would eventually end up in WWE. (Perry Saturn, Stevie Richards, Blue Meanie, Little Guido, Taz, The Dudley Boys, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu and of course Paul Heyman)

Miguel Perez Jr. randomly was there condemning Savio's 'turn' (who he would join a few months later to form Los Boriquas)

A surprise return of Legion of Doom, (not sure if it was a surprise to those following at the time, but Vince was suggesting a 'big surprise' right before they came out and there was no advertising for them being there)

They were at the Hammerstein Ballroom where it all started.

Finally it is also the last live 'Monday Night Raw', and last one in the US before the change to 'RAW IS WAR'. That would happen in two weeks, the following Raw was the Raw for Germany that featured the European Championship finals between Owen and Bulldog.

Speaking of the German RAW. HHH is an amazing natural heel. He opened the show against Bret Hart. A fan tossed a Bret Hart teddy bear in the ring. HHH picks up the bear and punts it into the crowd, it's something small, but done so well.

 

[Loosie]

The first Raw is War is also the first one to open with a 10 minute promo segment!

 

[Loosie]

It's hilarious to listen to Vince McMahon openly promote UFC in Raw back in 1997.

Also this was an amazing promo from Bret:

 

[bruins309]

So I'm watching a Sept. 1987 episode of Superstars and Paul Orndorff comes down. They introduce his manager Oliver Humperdink and there is a loud reaction.

And at that point, I realized how much they "sweetened" the crowd noise on these 80s shows.

- Rude is on the show but his pre-match speech isn't quite there yet.
- Early Million Dollar Man using the spinning toe hold as a finisher. More impressive was him doing a powerslam after catching the opponent doing a leapfrog.
- Jesse at one point wonders: "Does Virgil wrestle?" Oh just you wait. Virgil does a lot of things.
- We see the immobile Superstar Billy Graham, hidden in a six man match.
- Jim Brunzell cuts what is possibly the worst babyface promo in history, stuttering and stammering. No wait, Ken Patera does one too talking about his injury though it was far from his worst one.
- I enjoy that the guy who uploaded it left in all the commercials: Cherry 7-Up, renting a TV/VCR combo, buy the newspaper for the insert for some furniture store. Nice look at the happening local businesses of Peoria, IL in 1987.

 

[BostonBob]

- I enjoy that the guy who uploaded it left in all the commercials: Cherry 7-Up, renting a TV/VCR combo, buy the newspaper for the insert for some furniture store. Nice look at the happening local businesses of Peoria, IL in 1987.

I love seeing those old commercials. I've got an episode of Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1980 or 1981 and it's got a commercial for bamboo steamers which apparently were the greatest food invention since fire was created.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I remember that the next TV taping after the 92 Rumble (not sure what it was) had a horribly sweetened version of the ending of the Rumble Match. They had Gorilla and Bobby cut new commentary to make Sid sound more like a heel and added in Hogan chants (which weren't there. Crowd popped when he got tossed).

 

[Loosie]

I remember that the next TV taping after the 92 Rumble (not sure what it was) had a horribly sweetened version of the ending of the Rumble Match. They had Gorilla and Bobby cut new commentary to make Sid sound more like a heel and added in Hogan chants (which weren't there. Crowd popped when he got tossed).

Didn't they do the same for the anthology version? I know they did for the WM VIII recap package.

 

[PolishBingo]

I was just a kid when I saw this but I remember it. Koloff & Smirnoff had the bearded bald head look long before Gallows and Anderson. Workout video with Atlas and Sullivan. Kevin looks to be in horrible shape next to Atlas (who has tiny legs IMO). He is probably 25 lbs overweight and doesn't look like a gym rat. The end of the footrace you can see Sullivan fading badly as several kids are passing him.



Georgia Championship Tag Team titles on the line. April 26, 1980. Referee is wearing a red jump suit? Ring looks very small and the ropes are loose compared to what we see today. The manager of the Russians, Rock Hunter put up $25,000 to get this match. Gordon Solie is classic. Lots of headlocks. Lots of bad sells. Kids in the audience are chanting I love __?__ I love...hey! Russian tag made during a submission on Atlas. That doesn't make sense.



Sullivan does his double foot stomp before it became his signature move. Again this ring is so small the tagging in or out is ridiculous. Atlas is on Koloffs' back with a sleeper hold. Rock Hunter pours ether onto a towel and wraps it around Atlas' face. Altas is out. Very slow 1,2,3 count. Solie sounds surprised as the 3 count comes down. There is an odor in here, I can't believe it. Solie interviews some fan plants in post commentary and they explain to Gordon that Hunter poured ether onto the towel. One plant says she is a nurse from Miami beach and the smell was ether. A limp Tony Altas is carried out by his fellow wrestling faces right past the cameras. LOL

 

[joshyhockey26]

Recent WWE network watches

Is there a thread for this? Apologies if there is one. Currently watching No Way Out 2001(Austin vs HHH 2/3 falls). What has everyone else watched recently?

 

[S A W F T*]

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=2002077

It's under the "Classic Wrestling" thread linked above.

 

[bruins309]

Love that Georgia stuff above....been enjoying a lot of early 80s stuff of late, particularly WWF stuff from Philadelphia.

Trying to decide what to watch tonight after I finish up a SNME from 1987: Should I watch WWF In Your House 3 from September 1995, or WCW Slamboree 1998?

 

[joshyhockey26]

New to this section of the board but long time wrestling fan. Rewatched No Way Out 2001 today on the network, blows my mind I forgot about the existence of the Austin vs HHH 2/3 falls match. Opening IC title match of Beniot-Jericho-Gurrerro-X Pac is pretty fun aswell.

 

[S A W F T*]

New to this section of the board but long time wrestling fan. Rewatched No Way Out 2001 today on the network, blows my mind I forgot about the existence of the Austin vs HHH 2/3 falls match. Opening IC title match of Beniot-Jericho-Gurrerro-X Pac is pretty fun aswell.

Welcome man! This board is usually very active. However, the ****** product that WWE is pumping out is even turning the diehards away.

Definitely stop by on Monday, a lot of us keep watching just to follow that thread as it's more often than not more entertaining than the actual show.

 

[joshyhockey26]

Welcome man! This board is usually very active. However, the ****** product that WWE is pumping out is even turning the diehards away.

Definitely stop by on Monday, a lot of us keep watching just to follow that thread as it's more often than not more entertaining than the actual show.

I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the heads up!

 

[Disclose]

watching WWE collections: becoming the rock.....

what a crazy charismatic person he was (is)
love how short the matches where and still be fun as hell. (vs farooq, vs shambrok, even Austin).

3 hours RAWs are way too long. (i know we all agree) if they could just kept the same formula with the amount of talent they have know, it would be really sweet.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Didn't they do the same for the anthology version? I know they did for the WM VIII recap package.

I honestly am not sure about the anthology version. I'm pretty sure the network version uses the live version, but I'm not certain.

They definitely did sweetening for plenty of versions of events. Can't let golden boy Hogan get booed.

 

[Loosie]

I about to head into one of the best periods for RAW, at least in my opinion. Heading into the summer of '97. The height of the Hart Foundation 'Canada vs. US' feud.

 

[bruins309]

I about to head into one of the best periods for RAW, at least in my opinion. Heading into the summer of '97. The height of the Hart Foundation 'Canada vs. US' feud.

And what made that great too was how they did a ton of RAWs in Canada, even hitting the Maritimes. Love that storyline so much and it proves something to me about ratings for wrestling: The ratings are a lagging indicator on quality. You book the hot angle, but it can take awhile before that shows up in the numbers.

I really enjoy Summerslam 97 as a show as well. But IYH Canadian Stampede is probably the best IYH of all time. Five matches and all of them are above average.

Wrote about the October 1987 SNME show - http://section309.com/2016/05/13/snme12/

- Randy Savage: King of the post-match angle
- Hulk Hogan shares a ring with Bret Hart for the first time
- Vince McMahon with maybe his greatest line in history on commentary, and it's about Roman Reigns' dad Sika. I am still laughing about it.
- What does Oliver Humperdink remind me of?
- The Harts against the Young Stallions: is feuding over a song better or worse than feuding over a shampoo ad?

 

[UnrealMachine]

So I'm watching a Sept. 1987 episode of Superstars and Paul Orndorff comes down. They introduce his manager Oliver Humperdink and there is a loud reaction.

And at that point, I realized how much they "sweetened" the crowd noise on these 80s shows.

- Rude is on the show but his pre-match speech isn't quite there yet.
- Early Million Dollar Man using the spinning toe hold as a finisher. More impressive was him doing a powerslam after catching the opponent doing a leapfrog.
- Jesse at one point wonders: "Does Virgil wrestle?" Oh just you wait. Virgil does a lot of things.
- We see the immobile Superstar Billy Graham, hidden in a six man match.
- Jim Brunzell cuts what is possibly the worst babyface promo in history, stuttering and stammering. No wait, Ken Patera does one too talking about his injury though it was far from his worst one.
- I enjoy that the guy who uploaded it left in all the commercials: Cherry 7-Up, renting a TV/VCR combo, buy the newspaper for the insert for some furniture store. Nice look at the happening local businesses of Peoria, IL in 1987.

Loved this!

 

[bruins309]

A few observations about the 04/06/1981 WWF MSG card that is on the network under Old School, which I have watched in increments over the last few weeks:

- Vince is solo on commentary and to me he is much more bearable during this time. None of the "1....2.....3....he got him! No he didnt..." crap.

- When not motivated, Pedro Morales is among the worst wrestlers ever to watch. At this point he is the IC champion and he's in a stretch of two MSG shows against the Moondogs. So while I can't blame him, it's a fact the guy didn't try very hard.

- Pat Patterson looks very weird as a wrestler in 1981 but he had a great brawl with Slaughter which set up the famous street fight match at the May 1981 MSG show, which is considered one of the 3-5 best WWF matches of the 1980s. Strange finish to this match with both guys shoving the ref down multiple times with no DQ....then he just calls for the bell randomly. Dick Wuerhle everyone!

- Backlund and Stan Hansen in a cage match that was just way too short, Hansen juices and Backlund wins with the stupid "escape the cage" rules. And he goes through the door too even though the cage (chain link, unlike later WWF cages) is literally barely higher than the top rope. Bob also took an extra 5 minutes to get to the ring, no doubt because Arnie Skaaland couldn't be bothered to stop his card game for a minute to walk his guy down.

- The cage match isn't even the final match. Back in those days, the final match on MSG shows would generally be a tag team match most of the time that would go to the curfew draw. Now in this case, it's the team of my man Rick Martel and Tony Garea against the Super Trainers: Johnny Rodz and Larry Sharpe. I think those two guys trained like half of the ECW roster from their heyday. It's just so bizarre that this was on AFTER a cage match with blood.

 

[saintflannel]

Just started watch RAW post WrestleMania XIX. "Hollywood" Rock is so great. Kevin Nash is not.

 

[joshyhockey26]

Just started watch RAW post WrestleMania XIX. "Hollywood" Rock is so great. Kevin Nash is not.

Everything Nash did in the 2000s was....well something

 

[Loosie]

I do remember Bret Hat vs. Shawn Michaels being made on RAW for King of the Ring 1997. However I forgot the stipulations.

Bret had to beat Michaels in 10 minutes or he could never wrestle in the US again, and the Hart Foundation members were to be handcuffed to the ringposts.

It was changed on the RAW just before the PPV because Bret 'reinjured' his knee when Austin attacked him the RAW prior (When Michaels and Austin beat Owen and Bulldog for the Tag Team Titles, they very first 'fighting partners' team).

This was at the height of Michaels' and Hart's issues with each other and they supposedly got into a fist fight, so Vince wasn't sure he could trust them to work together on a PPV.

The original card was as follows:
KOR SF: HHH vs. Ahmed Johnson
KOR SF: Mankind vs. Jerry Lawler
Goldust vs. Crush
Austin vs. Pillman
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
Tag Team Title Match: LOD vs. Owen and Bulldog
WWF Title Match: Undertaker vs. Farooq.

It became Austin vs. Michaels and LOD/Sid vs. Owen/Bulldog/Neidhart.

Pillman 'offered' Michaels his match against Austin so they could 'sort out their issues'

 

[saintflannel]

Everything Nash did in the 2000s was....well something

I honestly didn't remember him being this bad. I do, however, remember going to an episode of RAW in 2003 and remember cringing at him trying to destroy the set of the Highlight Reel.

 

[bruins309]

And now a look at the Saturday Night's Main Event from November 1987:

http://section309.com/2016/05/21/snme13/

- A requiem for George Steele and his surprisingly huge contribution to the first 13 episodes of SNME from the first match on the first show.
- Pondering ways that Danny Davis could have had more staying power
- Then NFL star Brian Bosworth on WWF TV and why he fit in so well with that crew
- Bret Hart gets a chance to shine as a single and does not disappoint
- Randy Savage: giving Eddie Guerrero ideas down the road?
- Hogan-Bundy: never as bad as you might think
- Andre the Giant goes insane on a cameraman
- My disappointment in a lack of a clean copy of Bam Bam Bigelow's original theme song from 1987-88.
- Jesse Ventura definitely feeling good about himself coming off Predator