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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 2, 2021 11:21:51 GMT -5
ps Finally got to see the clean episode. Onita had won his match in All-Japan, did the trophy presentation (he was the International Jr Hwt Champion) and was leaving the ring and jumped down to the floor, from the ring apron, then suddenly collapses and a ring photographer suddenly reacts and the tv camera moves in and you see Onita lying on the ground, holding his knee and screaming in pain. In his interview he said his kneecap shattered and a piece was protruding through the skin. You couldn't see that, thankfully; but, you could see he was in tremendous pain.
I got it mixed up, Jericho worked with Hayabusa, as Eji Ezaki, during Jericho's second tour with FMW. However, he says Ezaki did the moonsault and was the only guy to do it, which is ludicrously wrong. Maybe Jericho meant in FMW, but Muta had been doing it in the states, Lanny Poffo did it in both ICW and the WWF, Tiger Mask did a variation, in New Japan, and Silver King, among others, was noted for it in Mexico. Not to mention, Jericho's own opponent in Mexico, Ultimo Dragon, was doing his Asai moonsault when he was still wrestling as Asai, in Universal Lucha Libre (and Great Sasuke and Super Delfin both did moonsaults). Megumi Kudo also did the moonsault, in her matches, in FMW.
Watching with a cleaner image, you can see how much of the deathmatches were special effects and how much were real brutality. The exploding rings were basically pyro charges, set around the ring, which were set off, creating huge amounts of noise and smoke, but those are pretty dangerous in their own right (just ask Metallica's James Hetfield) and they are set pretty close to the ring. The electrified barbed wire always seemed to be that hitting the wire completed a circuit and set off a pyrotechnic, not an actual electric shock, though those guys were crazy enough they might have tried it. real electrified wire could have been fatal, even with a low current, in the right circumstances (as with Kerry Von Erich's oldest brother, Jack, who got a shock from an electric farm fence and fell unconscious into a pool of water and drowned). Barbed wire had been done in Texas (they have a shot of Funk and Dusty Rhodes), though not at the same level. The match they show with Sabu is sickening, to me and his scars are gruesome from those kinds of matches. Some of the guys who worked Big Japan and IWA, W*ING and FMW are just masses of scar tissue. Not my cup of tea.
You do get a quick flash of some of the names there, with Mike Awesome and Masato Tanaka mentioned, but no real focus, other than Awesome rescuing Sabu from the Yakuza guys.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 8, 2021 11:27:33 GMT -5
RIP to Reggie Parks, former pro wrestler and "King of the Belt-Makers." Parks was from Edmonton, Alberta and grew up on a farm. He worked out at the Y and developed a chiseled physique. The Y had a boxing and wrestling program and he became one of many trained by the legendary Stu Hart. He quickly stood out, with a herculean body, in the days before steroids. Parks wrestled all over, but a stint in Omaha began his belt-making career. Promoter Joe Dusek used a trophy for the tag-team title and it was falling apart. Parks told him he needed to have belts made and said he could do it. Dusek gave him the challenge, provided it was presentable for tv. Parks spent $75 and made his first set of belts. From there, he would go on to make belts for the Mid-Atlantic territory, the WWF and WCW. The "winged eagle" title belt that Hulk Hogan wore, after it replaced the green leather belt he won from the Iron Sheik, was a Parks belt. The NWA World TV Title belt, with the red leather, and often worn by Arn Anderson, was also his (same central design. He created the Intercontinental title belt, worn by Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior and Ricky Steamboat and others. After retiring from wrestling, he ran a carpet cleaning business, while belts were a side-line; but, with the internet, he discovered a market for belts as special awards outside of wrestling, as well as replica belts and belts for other sports. He made belts for the NFL, NHL, the UFC and even Madonna, which she wore on the cover of her album, Hard Candy (where she is decked out like a fighter, with taped fists and trunks).
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 9, 2021 21:55:42 GMT -5
Dark Side of the Ring unveiled the Johnny K-9/Bruiser Bedlam episode. featured interviews included Jim Cornette (who pitched the subject to the producers, in previous interviews), Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Scott D'Amore, the man's wife, a crime journalist from Hamilton, ON and a cop who investigated the Satan's Choice biker gang (plus a former member who knew K-9 there). The wrestling side is what you would expect, as they were all clueless about his past and thought he had a great look, was a decent worker, and seemed like a nice guy. The other side presented a violent man, low level enforcer for a crime family (via the biker gang) and someone who got manipulated by some of the other, even more violent bikers. His wife gives the most balanced look, mixing both sides and speaking of his rather horrible childhood, with borderline poverty and an abusive, drunken father.
There is footage from his early days, jobbing in the WWF, to some indie stuff, to Smoky Mountain. D'Amore knew him in the indies and spoke of K-9 threatening a promoter who shorted D'Amore on a payoff. Jericho and Storm spoke of a quirky, yet loveable guy, who really loved wrestling (as did D'Amore.
The journalist gave some background details on crime in Hamilton and the specific murder of a lawyer and her husband, in their home, in which K-9 and the gang were implicated and arrested, but released when the prosecution couldn't put together a strong enough case.
The cop spoke of his investigation and how K-9 and his bunch fell in with one of Canada's most notorious biker criminals and an altercation at a strip bar led to a bombing of a police station. K-9 snitched out the notorious biker, but that put him on the outs with his own gang and put his wife and child in danger. They went off to British Columbia to get away, though the family was reunited, later.
The end result doesn't really give you concrete answers about the guy; but it probably humanized him a bit more than the media did, during the investigations of his crimes (or alleged crimes).
I could have done with less Jericho and more Lance Storm, as Storm is a more thoughtful and insightful interview, but Jericho is narrating and a featured attraction in this season. May have been more accessible, too.
Next week focuses on Luna Vachon, which should be very interesting, based on the clips in the preview show, with Jericho & the producers. They had Lady Maxine, who worked with her in Florida, Madusa Miceli, and husband Dave "Vampire Warrior/Gangrel" Heath, plus clips from their Halloween-themed wedding (Jim and Stacy Cornette were also married on Halloween). They showed clips on the preview show of her early involvement in the Kevin Sullivan Army, in Florida, where she became Luna (she debuted as a fake journalist, named Trudy, who was presenting an award, who gets hit in a melee and falls under Sullivan's spell).
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2021 17:51:11 GMT -5
The Luna Vachon episode of Dark Side of the Ring premiered. It was pretty sad, as it showcased just how good Luna was, as a performer and wrestler, but rarely got the chance to show it off, in the ring, as women were relegated to managerial and valet roles and the focus on non-wrestlers, like Sunny and Sable (and Terri Runnels/Marlena).
They go into her background. Her biological father owned a motel and committed suicide. Butcher Paul Vachon had been staying at the motel when he committed suicide and encounter Luna's mother. they eventually married and he adopted her. She grew up around wrestling, with her father, uncle mad Dog Maurice Vachon and her aunt, Vivian, who she idolized. Her stepfather tried to discourage her, but she was determined and her aunt started her training, then sent her to train with Moolah. She trained with Moolah's group, and, like most of the girls, was pimped out by Moolah, as a story of being sent to do a "photo shoot" with a man, for $500, turned out to be more than just photos, as he attacked her and she fought him off. These segments and her early stuff in Florida feature commentary from lady wrestlers Lady Maxine (aka Mad Maxine) and Penelope Paradise, who both wrestled for Moolah and in Florida, with Luna. Dave Heath, aka Gangrel, Luna's ex-husband, says Moolah was the only person that Luna feared, as she would get very anxious around moolah or if she was brought up. There are allegations of sexual abuse by Moolah, too.
They cover the angle in Florida, superficially, where Luna appeared as a reported, named Trudy, who is there to present an award to Kendall Windham (brother of Barry and son of Blackjack Mulligan), who gets hit by Kevin Sullivan, when he attacks Windham. She then falls under Sullivan's spell, joining his coven, alongside the Fallen Angel ( Nancy Toffolini Daus Sullivan Benoit, aka Woman) and Lock (Winona Littleheart), as well as his other thralls (Mark Lewin, as The Purple Haze, Bob Roop, Mike Davis and King Curtis Iaukea). Sadly, they move quickly through that.
Mick Foley provides some commentary about the Vachons and Luna, at different points, talking about how much he loved working with Luna in ECW, where she had an inter-gender match with Stevie Richards. Foley talks about what a sweet person he was, which echoes everything I have ever heard from fans who met her.
Her son Van Hurd is interviewed, though his father, Luna's first husband, isn't really mentioned, nor his older brother. Hurd is a chef who has appeared on Iron Chef, so he has some fame of his own. he describes his mother, in a mohawk, giving him a hug, at school, with a snake draped around her shoulders, which embarrassed him, at the time.
They talk a bit about managing the Blackhearts, which were Tom nash, an old friend of Luna's, and Dave Heath, who had trained in Florida, under Boris Malenko. Luna married Nash, but ended up fooling around with Heath. the marriage and the team broke up and sin Van describes Heath being around while Nash was gone and thinking it was dirty dealing. Heath talks about being scared of Luna, originally, and she often snarled at him, asking why he didn't like her. He says they were riding somewhere and she punched him in the back and then bit him and then things changed between them. She helped him develop the Vampire Warrior gimmick and they traveled together with it.
They cover her early time in the WWF, as Bam Bam Bigelow's manager and angles with Sherri Martel and Madusa Miceli (as Alundra Blayze). Sherri was a big influence on Luna, particularly self-destructive partying. Madusa shared her frustration with how the women were treated and she tells a story of offering to drop the belt to Luna, in Canada, on a house show, as she didn't care if they fired her and Luna deserved the title. Luna refused to do it, for fear of it being taken out of Madusa and they didn't do it. Madusa talks about how great Luna was in the ring, when she got a chance and how they wasted her.
They touch on the Attitude Era, where Luna was reduced to jobbing to Sable, who was not a wrestler and didn't want to be one; but, Vinces McMahon and Russo were obsessed with her. Not seen, but jim Cornette has comemnted what a pain Sable was, as she was afraid of everything, didn't want to train for the match and threw obstacles left and right. Luna was supposed to hit her with the belt and ended up having to just kind of push it against sable's back as she unconvincingly crumpled to the mat. They do talk about a mixed tag match where Luna jobbed to Sable and made her look great and Vince McMahon, instead of praising her for the job she did (with the restrictions that she couldn't even raise a bruise on Sable), walked right past her and presented a bouquet of roses to sable and praised her to the hilt. Foley talked about how upset Luna was that her work went unnoticed. She then got into a fight with Sunny, after she pushed her too much about the situation. That, coupled with threats of going upside sable's head, plus her substance abuse, led to her being fired, with husband Heath, working as gangrell, staying for a bit longer, before he was cut loose.
Luna deteriorated, with both substance abuse and mental illness, as she was bi-polar and the substances just magnified her manic episodes. It eventually pushed her and Heath apart and led to her death.
Mick Foley and Madusa are really great in this, speaking well of the real person Luna was, her place in the business, her frustrations and speaking thoughtfully on her mental health issues. Miceli trained as a nurse; so she would have the medical background and she speaks about how the industry has done a poor job with mental health issues. Wrestling has had a high suicide rate, with many suffering from depression and substance issues that may have ties to concussions and the wrestler's cocktail of alcohol, steroids, narcotics and things like sleeping pills and muscle relaxers. Add the lack of down time, in Luna's era (compared to modern schedules) and it is not a healthy mental environment.
Van Hurd gives personal insights, but he is also guarded about some things and doesn't seem to be very open in interviews. Paul Vachon appears, but doesn't get much screen time and mostly talks about how he met Luna and her mother. He later says he doesn't believe allegations that there may have been abuse within the family. The feed I saw had audio issues and something is mentioned, but, aside from the Moolah allegation, I'm not sure who Dave Heathw as talking about, within the family, though i saw someone later mention Vivian, which sounds wrong. Heath did say Luna would say different things at different times, so he was never sure what was the truth. That would fit with the bi-polar issues and the substance abuse, though I do believe it is possible and find the Moolah allegations to be highly possible, based on what others who worked for her have said.
Heath is pretty open, but also laughs of things that are rather serious. I have seen a shoot interview with he and Luna and both appear to be on something. he talks quickly throughout and the fang implants don't help him annunciate. He had his own history with substance abuse. he gives some good insight at times, but at others seems too much "one of the boys."
They do mention allegations that Dick Slater beat her, when they were a couple, though Van says he never saw it. Penelope says she heard the same, but never witnessed it; but, she did see unexplained bruises on Luna. I had forgotten they were a couple and Slater was later convicted of stabbing a former girlfriend, while under the influence of painkillers. He was also alleged to have abused valet/girlfriend dark Journey, in Mid-South/UWF. I believe those allegations about abusing Luna.
I wish they had more footage of Luna from the independent scene, as she was terrific in the ring and was never used to her abilities in the WWF. ECW had been a good fit for her; but, they didn't have women for her to work with, as most were valet types, like Francine, Beulah, and Dawn Marie. She would have loved working with groups like Shimmer and the modern women who have come out of the WWE system and could have had awesome matches with Thunder Rosa. They don't really cover her independent work, or time with David McLane's POWW (which he started after he parted with GLOW), which had an agreement with the AWA and she was part of SuperClash III, in the women's battle royal. She had matches with Madusa, there.
Next week is XPW, which should be interesting, with its mix of porn and garbage wrestling that made ECW look like Wrestling at the Chase, in St Louis.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 17, 2021 22:13:29 GMT -5
the Luna episode was great. . but they REALLY skimped on some of her story, and wish it had been a 2 part episode ^ and you mean "Top Chef" not Iron Chef. . he appeared on a season, and then was brought back for All Stars. so he's been on that show a couple of time. . tho I didn't discover he's Luna's son until well after he was on the show (which I'm a fan of and watch)
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2021 1:05:14 GMT -5
I predict Jinder Mahal will be King of The Ring. He can't wrestle his way out of a paper bag but makes a good heel.
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Post by Batflunkie on Oct 18, 2021 9:28:09 GMT -5
I predict Jinder Mahal will be King of The Ring. He can't wrestle his way out of a paper bag but makes a good heel. 420chan's wrestling board, affectionately called /wooo/, has a meme that states "don't hinder the jinder"
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 18, 2021 21:37:12 GMT -5
the Luna episode was great. . but they REALLY skimped on some of her story, and wish it had been a 2 part episode ^ and you mean "Top Chef" not Iron Chef. . he appeared on a season, and then was brought back for All Stars. so he's been on that show a couple of time. . tho I didn't discover he's Luna's son until well after he was on the show (which I'm a fan of and watch) Yeah, got mixed up there. I caught it on youtube, with an edited feed, to keep it from being deleted, before seeing the uncut episode. It was also Van who talked about her being nervous around Moolah, not Dave Heath. I was able to hear clearly that Vivian allegedly abused her, though it isn't made clear if they mean sexually or physically. Van has an older brother (Josh, I think his name is) and both were children of her first marriage, before Tom Nash and Dave Heath. I haven't see Lady Maxine since the 80s, as she wasn't in the business that long, in any major promotions. Penelope Paradise I don't recall at all, though I didn't have access to Florida stuff, apart from what was covered in the magazines and I only recall Luna, Lock, Fallen Angel (Nancy Sullivan) and Lady Maxine being featured in the magazines. I'm not 100% certain; but, I think the footage of Vivian Vachon came from a documentary about her, The Wrestling Queen. It was a kayfabed documentary, though I have never seen it. There was one a little later, about the Sheik (Ed Farhat), called I Like To Hurt People, that you could often find in video rental stores. Vivian was also a singer and had a few records, from what I have read. I have never heard any stories about her, with those kinds of allegations or anything else negative, though she was from the kayfabe era and was killed in a car accident, in 1991, along with her 9 year-old daughter. She also trained under Moolah. There aren't many American women wrestlers who didn't train under Moolah, from the 70s and 80s. Debbie Combs, who worked NWA territories and independents, was trained by her mother Cora Combs, Madusa Miceli was trained by Ed Sharkey, who trained the Road Warriors, Rick Rude, Barry Darsow, Scott Nord, Nikita Koloff and a few of the other Minnesota guys. Candi devine I'm not sure. Bambi/Seina Majors started out with David McLane's POWW and I don't think she trained under Moolah. Just about everyone who worked for the WWF, until the mid-90s came from Moolah, apart from Japanese wrestlers (the Jumping Bomb Angles, Bull Nakano, Rhonda Singh, who was Canadian but trained at All-Japan Women) and Miceli, who came up from the AWA and worked for All-Japan Women and WCW. Jake Roberts' half-sister, Rockin' Robin, was actually trained by former NWA World Jr Heavyweight Champion, Nelson Royal, who trained wrestlers in North Carolina, including Ken Shamrock, before he started to shoot wrestling, in Japan (as Vince Torelli). I really think they could do a second go-round about Moolah and talk to more of the women who trained with her, like Judy Martin, Lelani Kai, Wendy Richter and some of the others who are still around. I know the other women in the documentary Lipstick & Dynamite had nothing good to say about her, other than Mae Young (who was living with her and used to lure men to her hotel room to beat them up and rob them). You could do a whole season on Women's wrestling, from Mildred Burke up to the present. My hats off to the women for what many of them endured, usually with someone else getting a bigger cut of their money than they got.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 18, 2021 21:39:42 GMT -5
I predict Jinder Mahal will be King of The Ring. He can't wrestle his way out of a paper bag but makes a good heel. Couldn't be any worse than Mabel/Viscera.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 18, 2021 22:21:49 GMT -5
Jinder lost tonight.....I suck with predictions.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 21, 2021 21:20:36 GMT -5
This is a nice bit of amusement. Some people on the internet are ridiculously gullible, if they buy into "rumors" like this...
Yeah, Triple H is going to give up the cushy life and go work for AEW. How long before the rumor spreads that Vince is looking to sell out to Tony Kahn's father?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2021 23:04:04 GMT -5
Crown Jewel wasn't all that bad...I picked the right winners for the big matches.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 22, 2021 22:18:18 GMT -5
Dark Side of the Ring aired their XPW episode, which features the last time they interviewed New Jack, before his death (they also interviewed him for last season's episode about him). I don't particularly recommend it, not that it's badly done, just focuses on a sleazy promotion run by a scumbag, where people got legitimately and deliberately hurt on a regular basis, for small crowds, all for the jollies of a porn merchant. XPW was Rob Black's vanity ECW-wannabe, after he tried to set-up a deal to be like a West Coast affiliate to ECW. ECW getting tv on TNN killed that (and Heyman wasn't likely to want to split money and had a history of shutting out business partners). Black started his own, but instead of a mixture of style that ECW had, XPW focused primarily on the garbage stuff, with a lot of young guys who didn't know what they were doing. When ECW collapsed, some of their people came through to pick up a paycheck, even Terry Funk, which just saddens me. They became notorious for New Jack using a stun gun on Vic Grimes and shoving him off a scaffolding, without protecting him (like you could, at the ridiculous height and poor structure, plus stacked tables). The people who worked the porn side sounded like marks and the people who worked the wrestling side were even bigger marks.
One of the homegrown guys, who went by the name Messiah (William Welch), had an affair with Black's wife and porn starlet Lizzie Borden, and Black, "allegedly," had two men break into his house and maim him and likely tried to kill him. They cut off his thumb with garden shears or tin snips. It was never proven that Black was behind it, but everyone believes he was. The way it's described I have to wonder is Welch fully cooperated with the police, as there was plenty of motive and opportunity from Black, which makes me curious about the investigation.
Black later drew a target on himself on Nightline, as he challenged the Ashcroft Justice Department to take him down, after they had initiated obscenity investigations relating to porn videos that depicted abduction, rape and murder. The next thing he knew, there were postal inspectors seizing merchandise and computers in their warehouse and offices.
The only really surprising part of it was learning that Dave Marquez worked for Black. Marquez is the promoter and owner of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood and the United Wrestling Network. The promotion was part of the NWA, before the Bruce Tharpe (the guy who sold to Billy Corgan) take-over and then Marquez broke ranks. He later worked with Billy Corgan to launch the new NWA, essentially acting as a tv platform for matches with Tim Storm, Nick Aldis and others, to help build for NWA title matches across the country (along with the Ten Pounds of Gold features, on Youtube). Marquez was involved in the original NWA Powerrr tapings, in Atlanta, acting as ring announcer and interviewer, and working behind the scenes, running the production, along with Dave Lagana (before he had to leave because of allegations against him). Marquez separated from them before they came back after the COVID hiatus, but said he was not asked back, though there doesn't seem to be animosity. He also produces the New Japan Strong Show, done for the US market.
Marquez worked in television production, in Southern California and was involved in wrestling-related tv production, before starting his own promotion. He was hired to run XPW's production, but he says he also had to edit the porn material, as part of his production job. He felt uncomfortable with it, due to the more extreme nature of Black's productions. I'd love to hear how and why he'd work for such a scumbag, given his resume. Was he that much of a mark to be involved in wrestling? The NWA-affiliated stuff was traditional wrestling, with younger talent and modern moves. A lot of the people featured on Powerrr came through Marquez' promotion.
The story is one of violence and sleaze, with things like forged insurance certificates for live events, wrestlers handcuffed so that they cannot protect themselves from chair shots (after previously protecting themselves, as trained), violent assault/attempted murder, sickening rape/simulated snuff porn, bounced checks (as things progressed and the Feds went after Black, over his porn business), deliberate harm to opponents, dangerously negligent stunts in matches and a lot of people, who sound like the worst kind of marks, in the interviews.
The final episode airs next, focusing on Vince McMahon's steroid trial. Heavily featured is McMahon's lawyer, Jerry McDevitt, who orchestrated his successful defense. the producers (on Cornette's podcast) described it as tremendous insight into the case and how McMahon fought it. That side hasn't been really told, even within the dirt sheets. It isn't a WWE production, so we also won't have the usual McMahon spin on reality. Should be fascinating.
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Post by Batflunkie on Oct 23, 2021 10:04:06 GMT -5
Crown Jewel wasn't all that bad...I picked the right winners for the big matches. But will they leave talent stranded in the Middle East again?
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 23, 2021 17:42:20 GMT -5
Crown Jewel wasn't all that bad...I picked the right winners for the big matches. But will they leave talent stranded in the Middle East again? Depends on whose contract is up for negotiation.
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