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Post by Rags on Apr 2, 2024 11:45:30 GMT -5
The only predictions I can make about WM40 are (1) Judgement Day losing the tag-team titles....I hope it's not to Awesome Truth as I really hate R-Truth's simpleton gimmick, but they might actually get the nod *rolls eyes* and (2) Bayley winning the women's title.
Everything else, including Becky Lynch and Cody is up in the air.
I won't be surprised if Drew wins the belt and then Priest cashes in....he's running out of time with that briefcase.
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 2, 2024 12:12:24 GMT -5
The only predictions I can make about WM40 are (1) Judgement Day losing the tag-team titles....I hope it's not to Awesome Truth as I really hate R-Truth's simpleton gimmick, but they might actually get the nod *rolls eyes* and (2) Bayley winning the women's title.
Everything else, including Becky Lynch and Cody is up in the air.
I won't be surprised if Drew wins the belt and then Priest cashes in....he's running out of time with that briefcase.
Someone (on YouTube) suggested someone winning Money in the Bank and having both he and Priest carry the briefcase around. But hasn’t there always been a time limit? I’m sure there has. It’d be silly to have two Money in the Bank winners walking around.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 2, 2024 12:25:42 GMT -5
On this day 35 years ago, Clash of the Champions VI took place at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana (airing on TBS). The main event saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat defend his title against Ric Flair in a two-out-of-three-falls match, which was another great bout between two of the greatest of that era. I did quite like The Varsity Club (underrated stable?), and seeing Mike Rotundo and Steve Williams take on The Road Warriors for the NWA World Tag Team Championship was fun. Other bouts on the card: The Samoan Swat Team vs. The Midnight Express The Great Muta vs. Steven Casey Junkyard Dog vs. Butch Reed Bob Orton vs. Dick Murdoch Ranger Ross vs. The Iron Sheik (what happened to Ranger Ross?)NWA United States Tag Team Championship: Eddie Gilbert & Rick Steiner vs. Dan Spivey & Kevin Sullivan He was arrested, in 1996, for bank robbery, over a 3-year period, and served 3 1/2 years in prison, after pleading guilty to lesser charges. He was also suspected i an arson at a police station, to cover up records of embezzlement, while he was a probation officer. He was released in 1999 and worked Georgia independents until about 2007.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 2, 2024 12:27:32 GMT -5
The only predictions I can make about WM40 are (1) Judgement Day losing the tag-team titles....I hope it's not to Awesome Truth as I really hate R-Truth's simpleton gimmick, but they might actually get the nod *rolls eyes* and (2) Bayley winning the women's title.
Everything else, including Becky Lynch and Cody is up in the air.
I won't be surprised if Drew wins the belt and then Priest cashes in....he's running out of time with that briefcase. I'm actually thinking about renewing my Peacock subscription so that I can watch it. I'm VERY hyped for the Cody vs Bloodline matches. The storyline so far has been amazing and I still can't get over Rock beating the absolute dog dooky out of Cody
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 2, 2024 12:57:38 GMT -5
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 2, 2024 16:05:06 GMT -5
I recently saw Superbrawl IV from 1994. Which apparently was for some reason never released on home video. I can hear driver1980 groaning right now. This WCW PPV is coming from Georgia (of course) and with Tony Schiavone, making his WCW PPV debut, is Bobby the Brain Heenan! Apparently this is Flair’s first job as a booker. The main event here is Flair vs. Vader for the WCW championship in a Thundercage match! The first match was supposed to be Johnny B. Badd vs. Michael Hayes, as they’ve recently started a rivalry (they were partners until Hayes attacked Badd). They introduce Badd with his music and his glitter gun and all that….Then Hayes comes out in a wheelchair pushed by his old teammate Jimmy Garvin, and Hayes and Garvin tell conflicting stories of how Hayes really wanted to wrestle Badd but he got hurt in the way in (reminiscent of what Lawler Pulled at Summerslam 1993 except that in this case apparently Hayes really is hurt) so the match is off. However, new Commish Nick Bockwinkle comes out and says that he’s looked through the old Freebirds contracts (which are still in force) and is Hayes can’t wrestle Badd, then Garvin (who hasn’t wrestled in 2 years and is now a commercial pilot – for real!) must wrestle him, or they will both be heavily fined. So, they have 45 minutes for Garvin to get ready. Apparently, they had to do this because Hayes had a legit injury and since WCW films things months in advance, they got railroaded into having a retired guy wrestle at a PPV. Okay, fine, but why bother wasting 5 minutes on the Badd entrance if you know the match isn’t going to happen and we’ll just have to do it again. Good ol’ WCW. So, now the first match is Harlem Heat (Kole & Kane) vs. Thunder & Lightning. Thunder & Lightning are a green, generic babyface team who haven’t been in WCW very long. Harlem Heat now sport their new, cool looking leather (or vinyl?) outfits. Harlem Heat win when Kane stomps Lightning in the head (unseen by the ref of course), allowing Kole to cover him for the win. The was a decent match. Kole, AKA Booker T, was the best part of it. It would be pretty weak otherwise. But anyway, this match was fine, if nothing special. Next match is Jungle Jim Steele vs. The Equalizer. Ugh. This match has NO business on a PPV! Jungle Jim is supposed to be a Tarzan gimmick (he sort of looks like a cross between Jimmy Snuka and the Ultimate Warrior) and he’s supposed to be from the jungle and his intro has animal sounds – including monkey – and they say he’s from…the Florida Everglades?! Oh, WCW! Jungle Jim hasn’t impressed yet in WCW but he’s still worlds better than the Equalizer. Jungle Jim wins with his closer, which I think is a Lou Thesz Press. Terrible match. Next match is Diamond Dallas Page (w. a Diamond Doll) vs. Terry Taylor. Both guys are back in WCW after a lengthy absence. I guess DDP had recently come back and was challenging wrestlers by pulling names out of a fishbowl, but every name he pulled was a retired guy. Finally Taylor called his bluff when his name was called, and accepted Page’s challenge. Taylor wins with a rollup, which surprised me. This was a decent match, though the crowd didn’t seem to care much. Perhaps because, like I said, these guys have been away from WCW for a while. Besides, whatever momentum Taylor had is long gone. Oh, and on his way out, Taylor shoves the Diamond Doll for no particular reason. Real nice, babyface. Next, we finally get that Johnny B. Badd vs. Jimmy Garvin (w. Michael Hayes on the entrance platform in a wheelchair) match. Badd wins the match with a nice looking sunset flip off the top rope. After the match, Badd goes over to the platform and threatens Hayes (the guy in a wheelchair) then Garvin jumps him from behind then throws him into the ring. Then Hayes tosses Garvin his boot and he clobbers Badd with it, and the heels go off, crowing. This was an okay match. Considering that Garvin hadn’t wrestled in 2 years, it cold have been worse. They worked the crowd but that doesn’t do much for the people watching on TV. Not a terrible match but not really PPV quality. This match was too long at 12 minutes and really dragged at times. Next is for the TV Championship with Lord Steven Regal (champ) w. Sir William vs. Arn Anderson. Regal wins when Arn goes for the sunset flip, but Regal sits on his chest, then holds onto Sir William’s umbrella for additional leverage, and the win with something like 6 seconds remaining in the match. Normally I enjoy Regal’s matches, but I thought this one was just plain boring. TV title matches are normally 15 minutes (and sometimes even 10 minutes) but for some reason they made this one 30 minutes, and it would have been a much, much better match if they’d kept it at 15 minutes (or at most, 20 minutes). It seemed like they were just stalling and going for the time limit draw. I’ll at least give them credit for going against the grain and tricking us by actually giving us a decision right at the end. I just wish I didn’t have to wait so long to get it. By the way, someone in the crowd was holding up an “Arn rules the world” sign so I’m guessing that that person her about the Sid Vicious stabbing incident somehow, way back in the pre-internet days. Next up is the Tag Team title match with the Nasty Boys vs. Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne. These two teams have had several battles recently, and they’ve been pretty good. No Missy Hyatt as she has left the company at this point and I think had sued WCW for sexual harassment. The match ends when Payne gets Knobbs in his finishing submission move, the Payne Killer (and armbar), then Sags hits him over the head (twice) with the guitar that the Nasty Boys had brought with them to the ring to mock Payne (who was a guitar player) so the Nasties lose by DQ but retain their belt. This will set up a no DQ match between these two teams at the next PPV, I think. This match was fun and brutal. Jack took a nasty bump off the apron onto the cement floor (the Nasties had pulled up the padding) but then doesn’t he in every match? How could that guy even remember his own name? Payne was very impressive here, too, suplexing guys and tossing them around like a Stainer at the beginning of the match, and to this point, Payne hadn’t really impressed me, but he showed me something here. These two guys make a good tag team. Too bad the Hollywood Blonds broke up, I love to see the tackle Jack & Maxx! Next is Thundercage match #1, a 6 man tag team match with Paul Orndorff, Rick Rude, and Steve Austin vs. Sting, Brian Pillman, and Dustin Rhodes. These guys have all sorts of feuds going on between the 6 of them. So here we go! Oh, the cage is a few feet away from the ring, so it doesn’t come into play as often as in a regular cage match, but don’t worry, guys definitely still got smashed into it! The good guys get the win when Sting picks up Pillman and throws him onto Austin for the pin. After the match, Rude slams the cage door on Sting’s face then gives him the Rude Awakening on the floor. Orndorff and Pillman both got opened up in this match. This was a very good match, with some ood heat segments, and the crowd was into it. At just under 15 minutes, maybe they should have made it longer (and shortened some of the other matches that were way too long) but overall an enjoyable match. The final match is the Thundercage between Flair (champ) and Vader (w. Harley Race) for the WCW championship match (no DQ’s, and Vader brought a chair with him!) and the Boss (AKA Big Bossman) is the special guest referee to bring “law and order” to WCW! The match was pretty good until the last couple of minutes, where it got pretty silly. Vader & Race manage to get the Boss handcuffed to the cage, then Race gets the key to the cage (the cage door had been locked at the beginning of the match so Race, and everybody else, couldn’t get in) then Race goes inside the cage and locks the door. And Vader and Race gang up on Flair. Arn Anderson and Ricky Steamboat frantically try to get inside the cage to help their buddy, to no avail. The Boss eventually breaks the cuffs, then he clips Vader I the knee with his nightstick, then Flair slaps on the Figure Four and Boss calls for the bell less than a second after the Figure Four was applied. Heenan kept saying over and over that Vader never quit, and he’s right. Boss ran the bell so quickly that Vader literally didn’t even have time to say I quit, plus I don’t think Boss even looked at Vader. It honestly looked more like he was calling for the bell due to a DQ, except that this was a no DQ match. Pretty good match but messy finish. Vader is furious after the match, terrifying the announcers, and I can’t say I blame him. Well, I guess this sets up a feud with him and the Boss now. Overall, I thought this a decent PPV. Well, average at best, really. I’m glad you’ve got to see this. Sorry you didn’t enjoy Arn/Regal that much. I did find it absorbing, and was engrossed, but I do remember some negative letters about it in one magazine published here, so I appreciate that its not for everyone. I was never 100% sure what was supposed to be special about “Thunderdome”. Ever. Or perhaps it was that WCW didn’t effectively hype it in the way the WWF did with Hell in a Cell. It just felt like Thunderdome was an afterthought. I thought the good bouts on here were good, others were solid, and the bad bouts didn’t ruin things. I had to get an imperfect copy of this in the late 90s because of WCW’s utter inconsistency with its home video releases. I’m pleased that the Boss/Vader shenanigans led to a heated feud between the two. In 1994, Sting seemed lost in the shuffle a tad. Or is it me? This PPV also shows how relentless and ever-changing wrestling was. When people watched Flair/Vader, did they ever suspect that five months later, Flair would be a heel, challenging Hulk Hogan, who had been synonymous with the WWF for so long? What's special about "Thunderdome" is...the name, I guess. I was thinking the same thing about Sting myself. He was the most popular wrestler at WCW, yet they seemed to move him down the card, which didn't make sense to me. That's WCW, though. Yeah, the Flair/Hogan stuff is a pretty amazing turnaround.
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Post by dbutler69 on Apr 2, 2024 16:09:11 GMT -5
On this day 35 years ago, WrestleMania V aired on PPV, taking place at the the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey: Hulk Hogan won his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship, by defeating the Macho Man. It was a great match, although I believe the two had better matches than this one. The rest of the card was pretty good, too, including Intercontinental Champion Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude, WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition vs. Mr. Fuji and The Powers of Pain, Mr. Perfect vs. The Blue Blazer, Jake Roberts vs. Andre the Giant (with Big John Studd as the guest referee), and The Rockers vs. The Twin Towers. I don’t believe every match needs a storyline behind it, certainly not on an undercard, whatever Vince Russo has to say. Sometimes, competition is enough, so other bouts here, like Brutus Beefcake vs, Ted DiBiase, were what they were. Roddy Piper returned to the WWF here, hosting a “Piper’s Pit”. His guest was Morton Downey Jr. (Brother Love gatecrashed proceedings). My match of the night was the tag team championship match. For over 8 minutes, Demolition and The Powers of Pain held nothing back, beating on each other in the most brutal and believable way. This is one of the best WMs. Speaking of matches on the undercard not needing a storyline behind it, Mr. Perfect vs. the Blue Blazer might have been my favorite match on the card! My only complaint is that it was too short.
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 2, 2024 16:15:26 GMT -5
I agree. Had to be about 5-6 minutes, surely? (As a kid, I had no idea Owen Hart was behind the mask)
Storylines are good, but Russo, and his acolytes, seem to want EVERY wrestler to have a storyline. That can be commendable, but I like to think of wrestling as at least being akin to a sport (or trying to). And sometimes a payday is enough. Monsoon would mention things like the “winner’s share of the purse”.
Did Barbarian vs. Berzerker on Prime Time Wrestling need a storyline (I have chosen a completely random match)? If Russo had been booking then, he’d have probably had Barbarian murder Berzerker’s dog or some such nonsense, but with something like that, I just saw it as two heels having a match for a payday.
Did Tito Santana vs. The Mountie at WM VII need a story? Or Bret Hart vs Skinner at This Tuesday in Texas? Or maybe we just sometimes want to watch matches. Everyone’s mileage varies.
I feel main events need stories, it’d be silly not to. And midcard matches can have them. But in among the countless utterances of “Bro”, and Russo’s obsession with strawman casual fans, he seems to think EVERY match on EVERY show needs a story. Fine, that’s his view. I disagree. I got into storylines as a kid, such as Hogan vs. Earthquake, but as a kid or adult, while watching shows and PPVs, I didn’t feel dismayed by the fact certain matches didn’t have stories.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 2, 2024 18:08:31 GMT -5
As I mentioned before, this wouldn't be happening if the Rock wasn't becoming a power within the company and it just reeks of revision and pandering to family ego, rather than reality. Granted, the WWE Hall of Fame is a complete joke; but, other then the Thesz/Tragos Hall of Fame, in Iowa, it's all we got. Despite the revisionist history, Lia Maivia wasn't a successful promoter and definitely wasn't the first female promoter. Aileen Eaton was promoting boxing and wrestling at The Olympic Auditorium before Peter Maivia was involved in wrestling and well before Lia was involved in the business as anything other than a spouse. Christine Jarret was promoting Louisville and Ann Gunkel had her All-South promotion, in Atlanta. Hawaii's heyday was under promoter Ed Francis' 50th State Wrestling, in the 60s and early 70s. It drew its most notable talent from guys going to and from Japan, as well as links to Jim Barnett's Australian World Championship Wrestling and Steve Rickard's New Zealand promotion. It was most successful when it promoted shows on the military bases, even more than the civilian auditoriums. However, times change and business declined. Francis eventually shut down and sold his interest to Steve Rickard and Lord James Blears and then Peter Maivia bought in. And made little money. It was not a thriving territory, which is part of the reason Maivia still wrestled away from the islands, as he still had to pay the bills. After his death, it was left in the hands of Lia, a well as son-in-law Rocky Johnson, booker Lars Anderson, and announcer and office man Ripper Collins. Under the Maivias, the fortunes continued to wane and with the advent of cable, their local television, Polynesian Pacific, looked pretty bush league. It got cable access, vie the Financial News Network, which at night was turned over to sports programming, as SCORE (Much like Nickelodeon became Nick at Night, in the evenings, showing old tv shows), but it didn't improve the quality of wrestling, when your stars are Lars Anderson, Siva Afi, Farmer Boy Ipo and Leroy Brown and Superfly Tui. The promotion pretty much made a last ditch effort with a big show at Aloha Stadium, called Hot Summer Nights, in 1985. I was in Hawaii, just before, on my midshipman training cruise, as they were promoting it and I caught their tv show, after my first night in. The show got talent from the AWA, Crockett and New Japan, but not the WWF, since it was an NWA member, though Rocky Johnson was wrestling for them. Estimates of attendance range from 12,000 to 19,000, with Crockett indicating to talent that it drew about 15,000. It grossed over $100,000. But that was the gross, not the net. It was an expensive show, in an expensive venue. The stadium had a football capacity of 50,000 which means they barely filled a fifth of that and football wouldn't include seating on the field, like wrestling. The clips I have seen, on Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling clips, most of the stadium was empty, except the field seating, though the bulk of clips on Youtube are from hot Summer Night II, which drew a much smaller crowd and pretty much killed the promotion. Kevin Sullivan was involved with them, for a bit, at the end, while he was living in Singapore. he got Mark Lewin, who was also living in luxury, in Asia, to come over, as well and it was the swan song for the promotion. Maivia had all kinds of connections in the Samoan community in Hawaii, including the criminal side of things and there have been all kinds of stories. As it was, Dunbar Wakayama, who had worked as an announcer and with the office, for Maivia, tried to put on his own shows and Maivia and Lars Anderson tried to shake him down for "booking fees." As they weren't really running shows of their own any more, they could hardly claim Wakayama was booking their talent, as they weren't paying them. Charges of extortion and racketeering were brought, but the Federal case was weak and they were acquitted, though there were alss reports of witness intimidation from Samoan criminal circles. Lia Maivia ended up deported to Samoa, before the family was able to bring her to the US, to Florida. Lia had a reputation, even before they were promoters, as she and Peter used to get into it, back stage and with others. Lia was even more feared than Peter. Then again, it is wrestling. Good luck finding someone, especially a promoter, who is squeaky clean. Meanwhile, I suspect Rock's half-brothers and sisters will not be in attendance, as that is a whole 'nother story he tries to avoid.
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 2, 2024 18:56:17 GMT -5
My view is akin to yours. For well over 20 years - in fact, over 25 - I’ve viewed the Hall of Fame as being akin to a toyline, such as Hasbro’s 1990-94 line, in that anyone of note will get a place. I’m sure my mother, who never watched WWF but did watch World of Sport, will be in the Hall of Fame one day. It’s big and cumbersome.
I often joke about how our House of Lords, which now has 800+ peers, is seen by many as not special. If everyone of note is a peer, then no-one is a peer. And I feel that way about knighthoods, too. When every public figure is a “Sir”, then there’s nothing special about such an honour. Oh, you were given a knighthood by the UK Government? Great, so have thousands of other people, maybe even tens of thousands.
It’s kind of how I see the WWE Hall of Fame nowadays.
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 2, 2024 19:35:40 GMT -5
What still can't fathom is that they haven't inducted Ivan Koloff. This is the man who beat Bruno and left the Garden in complete silence at the shock, and is the only Champion not in there. I'm not aware of bad blood there and no dubious criminal stuff. He did bad mouth them, a bit, in later years, after becoming religious, though that didn't stop them inducting Superstar Billy Graham and Randy Savage, despite Vince's resentment of him leaving with the Slim Jim contract (and possibly other things, though there is no proof). Hell, the Von Erichs are in there and only Kerry wrestled for them (other than the 3rd generation that were in developmental). Vince did have a weird crush on them, though part of that was trying to get the Dallas tv markets and part was Kerry's look and ring ability, before his accident. I doubt he would have made a go of him, as the superhero champ, before his drug issues got the better of him. Lia's induction is much a factor of them hurting for women who their audience will recognize or are still alive. There are a bunch, like Penny Banner, who should be in there, but never will....well ahead of later women who are, but meant far less. Stacy Keibler? I like a nice pair of gams; but, come on! The Bella Twins? The entire roster of GLOW should be in before them. I get that it's all about appearances, as they have to have a minority wrestler, a female, some kind of legacy and something related to where they are hosting the ceremony, to draw; but, sometimes, they are really reaching. Doesn't really matter, though, I suppose.
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Post by Ricky Jackson on Apr 2, 2024 20:08:38 GMT -5
The Koloff snub is puzzling. I've never read of any real reason for it, other than it must have been because of some weird Vince hang up. I was fortunate to be part of an interview with him about a decade ago, and he definitely was interested in being inducted. Unfortunately he passed several years ago. Hopefully in the post-Vince Era they will finally get around to it posthumously
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 2, 2024 20:52:52 GMT -5
The Koloff snub is puzzling. I've never read of any real reason for it, other than it must have been because of some weird Vince hang up. I was fortunate to be part of an interview with him about a decade ago, and he definitely was interested in being inducted. Unfortunately he passed several years ago. Hopefully in the post-Vince Era they will finally get around to it posthumously Yeah, all of Vince's friends are cozied up with Russians; you'd think they would have put the word in, for Uncle Ivan. Now if they induct Nikita, before Ivan, then you know someone has an axe to grind.
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 3, 2024 5:52:09 GMT -5
What about Demolition? Wasn’t Ax part of a lawsuit about head injuries? If so, is that the reason Demolition isn’t in?
Prior to the scandal, do you think McMahon would have been inducted?
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 3, 2024 7:13:30 GMT -5
Any views on Mark Madden’s comment here:
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