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Post by dbutler69 on May 21, 2024 16:23:11 GMT -5
I just watched Summerslam 1994. McMahon’s steroid trial is finally over with him in the clear, and for co-main events we’ve got the brothers Hart battling for the WWF Championship and the Undertaker vs…the Undertaker? There have been a series of vignettes with Leslie Nielson trying to solve the mystery of the Undertaker(s). Uh, okay. The vignettes were mildly amusing (he plays the Frank Drebin character from the Naked Gun movies, essentially) but they are basically breaking kayfabe by trying to pass Leslie Nielson off as “the world’s greatest detective”. Whatever. McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. I don’t know why they couldn’t have Jim Ross and Lawler, but oh well. First event is the Headshrinkers (w. Lou Albano and Afa) vs Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS (w. Ted DiBiase). This was supposed to be a title match, but the Headshrinkers lost the title the night before to Diesel and Shawn Michaels. And that team isn’t wrestling here. I have no idea why they had the Headshrinkers lost the title the night before a PPV. Really stupid booking. Anyway, this was a decent match. Nothing great but solid, though it have a dumb ending as Afa got caught getting in the ring and attacking Bigelow so Bigelow/IRS win by DQ. Next match is for the women’s championship: Alundra Blayze (champ) vs. Bull Nakano (w. Luna Vachon).
These two had an entertaining match on Raw a few weeks ago that ended in a double countout. Blayze retains her title here when Nakano misses a senton off the top rope as Blayze gets up, kicks Vachon off the apron, then gets Nakano with the bridging German suplex (which was her finisher) for the win. This was a good match. Unfortunately it didn’t save the women’s division in the WWF. Next match is for the Intercontinental Title: Diesel (champ) w. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon w. Walter Payton. We’re in Chicago, so it makes sense for Razor Ramon to have local sports hero Walter Payton watch his back. Razor had lost the Intercontinental title a few months ago to Diesel thanks in part to interference from Michaels. Shawn Michaels actually wearing the tag team belt during this match was a nice touch, I thought. This was a good match, thanks in large part to Razor’s efforts. At the end, Diesel is holding Razor, Shawn comes in (the ref is busy with Walter Payton for some reason) and superkicks, but Razor gets out of the way and Diesel is the recipient, and he is out, but Razor also collapses. Razor eventually crawls over to try and cover Diesel. Shawn tries to pull Razor away, but Walter Payton grabs Michaels just in time to prevent it, and Razor covers for the win! I knew Razor would win because they’re not going to have Diesel walking around with both the tag team belt and the Intercontinental belt for very long, which is another reason I thought it was dumb to have them win the tag team belt just before this PPV. Next up is Lex Luger vs. Tatanka. The story here is the Ted Dibiase, who has been forming his Million Dollar Coproration, has been trying to buy Luger’s services. Luger has been insisting that he hasn’t sold out to DiBiase, and Tatanka has been constantly confronting Luger, saying that he thinks Luger has been lying and has sold out to DiBiase. This match promised to hopefully settle the question of whether or not Luger sold out. After a so-so match of about 6 minutes, Luger gets distracted by DiBiase standing on the apron offering him money, and Tatanka is able to roll Luger up for the pin. Luger then confronts Tatanka, and eventually Tatanka attacks Luger from behind, pounding him. He continues to beat on Luger for a while, then he goes over and hugs DiBiase. The whole thing was a setup! It was Tatanka that had sold out the whole time, not Luger! The match itself was nothing great, but the whole buildup of this story over the past months as well as the final turn here at the end of the match were really well done. Tatanka’s heel turn didn’t amount to much of anything, but at least the turn itself was really well done. I could see being totally surprised by this swerve. The crowd had been quiet during this match. I think it’s because they didn’t know whom to root for. Next match is Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel.
This is being billed as country music vs. Rap. There was virtually no buildup to this match. They really should have done Jarrett vs. the 1-2-3 Kid, as those two had a bit of a feud going plus it would have been a much better match. Anyway, I know this is a minority opinion, but I thought that this was moderately entertaining, mostly due to double J’s antics. Anyway, double J goes for a sunset flip, but Mabel fights it off and attempts to fall on Jarret but Jarrett moves out of the way and Mabel lands hard, then double J rolls him up with the win. Mabel proves himself a sore loser as he chases Jarrett to the locker room, even though Jarrett won this match totally clean, with no cheating. Should a babyface be doing that? Next we get Bret Hart (champ) vs. Owen Hart for the WWF Title in a cage match! The rules here are the you have to climb over or go through the door and get both feet on the floor. No pinfalls or submissions. This was a great match. So, it is possible to have a great cage match without blood. How about that? They got a good amount of time, over 30 minutes, to work this, which helped. There was one spot in here where Bret reverses Owen’s sharpshooter into one of his own which was really cool, but would have been even cooler in a traditional match where submissions actually count. And Owen would have won this match if he’d shaved his head! I don’t know how many times he got over then got pulled back in by his hair. Bret wins the match when both guys are on the cage wall on the outside, fighting each other and trying to go down, and Owen’s legs get caught in the bars of the cage and Bret is able to drop down for the win. After the match, Neidhart clotheslines Davey Boy Smith from behind (and his wife Diane takes a bump!) then Neidhardt and Owen lock the cage back up with a chain and padlock that Neidhardt brought with him and proceed to beat on Bret. The Hart brothers and Davey Boy frantically try to climb the cage to get in an help Bret, so Owen keeps knocking them down will the Anvil continues the beatdown. Eventually they get in plus someone gets some bolt cutters and cuts the lock, and Owen and the Anvil leave, resplendent in their dastardly deed! For the final match, it’s The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker aka Underfaker (w/Ted Dibiase). A lot of prematch ceremony. DiBiase and his Untertaker come out. Paul Bearer brings out a coffin but it’s only got the urn in it. Then, the real Undertaker comes down the aisle. He and the fake undertaker are identically dressed, except that the real Undertaker now has purple highlights where before he had (and the fake Undertaker still has) gray. It will help us to tell them apart during the match, though frankly I think the fake Undertaker’s nearly 3 inches shorter than the real thing. They’re obviously different facially as well, of course, but you really can’t see their faces with their hair covering everything. How do these guys even see what they’re doing? Anyway, the crowd was quit during this match. I figure it was either because they were drained from the previous match (possible), they didn’t know which Undertaker to root for (possible, I guess, but not likely, since I think they were pretty much all rooting for Bearer’s Undertaker and the purple helped to tell them apart) or because this just wasn’t a very good match (very possible). Paul Bearer’s Undertaker, the real Undertaker, wins after surviving a Tombstone to deliver two of his own for the pin. Frankly, this was a lousy, boring match and I think it was a major good by WWF to have this go on last instead of the cage match. I’m not sure what the thinking was there. The Undertaker sure was involved in some lousy feuds during this era. A mixed bag, overall. One great match(Hart vs. Hart) some good matches, a couple of mediocre matches, and one bad match (the Undertaker thing, which was, by the way, the co-main event). Underfaker was Brian Lee, of Smokey Mountain Wrestling and the USWA. Personally he never wowed me in any promotion. He was tall and big, but nowhere near the level of worker that Mark Calloway was, in any of his gimmicks. Jim Ross was not there because he had been fired. Not sure of the exact time of his second firing, that year. Back in February 1994, just after his attack of Bell's Palsy, he was let go by the WWF He worked for Cornette, announcing Smokey Mountain, with former Crockett announcer Bob Caudle, as well as for the Atlanta Falcons. When Vince was indicted, Gorilla monsoon took over announcing Raw, for a few weeks, then Ross was rehired to work with Randy Savage. Then, after Vince was acquitted (more like not convicted, but whatever), JR was let go, again, allegedly for leaking info to the dirtsheets. He went back to Smokey Mountain. Then, they rehired him in December. I don't know whether Vince was bored, JR didn't kiss his ass enough, the financials were that bad or if Vince just wanted to shake things up; but, that was the mess he had, in the announcing, that year. Just as an aside, I always liked Bob Caudle in Mid-Atlantic. He had the right balance between calling the action and selling the storylines, was enthusiastic, favored the babyfaces but not to ridiculous levels and showed respect for the heels. Way better than listening to David Crockett, that's for sure. The only problem with Bob was that he was a legislative assistant to and friends with Senator Jesse Helms. So instead of Jim Ross and King of the Ring, we got Art Donovan. Thanks a lot, Vince. I knew about JR's first firing but wasn't clear on what happened the second time he got let go. At least Vince finally saw the light. |
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Post by dbutler69 on May 21, 2024 16:30:20 GMT -5
I just watched Summerslam 1994. McMahon’s steroid trial is finally over with him in the clear, and for co-main events we’ve got the brothers Hart battling for the WWF Championship and the Undertaker vs…the Undertaker? There have been a series of vignettes with Leslie Nielson trying to solve the mystery of the Undertaker(s). Uh, okay. The vignettes were mildly amusing (he plays the Frank Drebin character from the Naked Gun movies, essentially) but they are basically breaking kayfabe by trying to pass Leslie Nielson off as “the world’s greatest detective”. Whatever. McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary. I don’t know why they couldn’t have Jim Ross and Lawler, but oh well. First event is the Headshrinkers (w. Lou Albano and Afa) vs Bam Bam Bigelow and IRS (w. Ted DiBiase). This was supposed to be a title match, but the Headshrinkers lost the title the night before to Diesel and Shawn Michaels. And that team isn’t wrestling here. I have no idea why they had the Headshrinkers lost the title the night before a PPV. Really stupid booking. Anyway, this was a decent match. Nothing great but solid, though it have a dumb ending as Afa got caught getting in the ring and attacking Bigelow so Bigelow/IRS win by DQ. Next match is for the women’s championship: Alundra Blayze (champ) vs. Bull Nakano (w. Luna Vachon).
These two had an entertaining match on Raw a few weeks ago that ended in a double countout. Blayze retains her title here when Nakano misses a senton off the top rope as Blayze gets up, kicks Vachon off the apron, then gets Nakano with the bridging German suplex (which was her finisher) for the win. This was a good match. Unfortunately it didn’t save the women’s division in the WWF. Next match is for the Intercontinental Title: Diesel (champ) w. Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon w. Walter Payton. We’re in Chicago, so it makes sense for Razor Ramon to have local sports hero Walter Payton watch his back. Razor had lost the Intercontinental title a few months ago to Diesel thanks in part to interference from Michaels. Shawn Michaels actually wearing the tag team belt during this match was a nice touch, I thought. This was a good match, thanks in large part to Razor’s efforts. At the end, Diesel is holding Razor, Shawn comes in (the ref is busy with Walter Payton for some reason) and superkicks, but Razor gets out of the way and Diesel is the recipient, and he is out, but Razor also collapses. Razor eventually crawls over to try and cover Diesel. Shawn tries to pull Razor away, but Walter Payton grabs Michaels just in time to prevent it, and Razor covers for the win! I knew Razor would win because they’re not going to have Diesel walking around with both the tag team belt and the Intercontinental belt for very long, which is another reason I thought it was dumb to have them win the tag team belt just before this PPV. Next up is Lex Luger vs. Tatanka. The story here is the Ted Dibiase, who has been forming his Million Dollar Coproration, has been trying to buy Luger’s services. Luger has been insisting that he hasn’t sold out to DiBiase, and Tatanka has been constantly confronting Luger, saying that he thinks Luger has been lying and has sold out to DiBiase. This match promised to hopefully settle the question of whether or not Luger sold out. After a so-so match of about 6 minutes, Luger gets distracted by DiBiase standing on the apron offering him money, and Tatanka is able to roll Luger up for the pin. Luger then confronts Tatanka, and eventually Tatanka attacks Luger from behind, pounding him. He continues to beat on Luger for a while, then he goes over and hugs DiBiase. The whole thing was a setup! It was Tatanka that had sold out the whole time, not Luger! The match itself was nothing great, but the whole buildup of this story over the past months as well as the final turn here at the end of the match were really well done. Tatanka’s heel turn didn’t amount to much of anything, but at least the turn itself was really well done. I could see being totally surprised by this swerve. The crowd had been quiet during this match. I think it’s because they didn’t know whom to root for. Next match is Jeff Jarrett vs. Mabel.
This is being billed as country music vs. Rap. There was virtually no buildup to this match. They really should have done Jarrett vs. the 1-2-3 Kid, as those two had a bit of a feud going plus it would have been a much better match. Anyway, I know this is a minority opinion, but I thought that this was moderately entertaining, mostly due to double J’s antics. Anyway, double J goes for a sunset flip, but Mabel fights it off and attempts to fall on Jarret but Jarrett moves out of the way and Mabel lands hard, then double J rolls him up with the win. Mabel proves himself a sore loser as he chases Jarrett to the locker room, even though Jarrett won this match totally clean, with no cheating. Should a babyface be doing that? Next we get Bret Hart (champ) vs. Owen Hart for the WWF Title in a cage match! The rules here are the you have to climb over or go through the door and get both feet on the floor. No pinfalls or submissions. This was a great match. So, it is possible to have a great cage match without blood. How about that? They got a good amount of time, over 30 minutes, to work this, which helped. There was one spot in here where Bret reverses Owen’s sharpshooter into one of his own which was really cool, but would have been even cooler in a traditional match where submissions actually count. And Owen would have won this match if he’d shaved his head! I don’t know how many times he got over then got pulled back in by his hair. Bret wins the match when both guys are on the cage wall on the outside, fighting each other and trying to go down, and Owen’s legs get caught in the bars of the cage and Bret is able to drop down for the win. After the match, Neidhart clotheslines Davey Boy Smith from behind (and his wife Diane takes a bump!) then Neidhardt and Owen lock the cage back up with a chain and padlock that Neidhardt brought with him and proceed to beat on Bret. The Hart brothers and Davey Boy frantically try to climb the cage to get in an help Bret, so Owen keeps knocking them down will the Anvil continues the beatdown. Eventually they get in plus someone gets some bolt cutters and cuts the lock, and Owen and the Anvil leave, resplendent in their dastardly deed! For the final match, it’s The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) vs. The Undertaker aka Underfaker (w/Ted Dibiase). A lot of prematch ceremony. DiBiase and his Untertaker come out. Paul Bearer brings out a coffin but it’s only got the urn in it. Then, the real Undertaker comes down the aisle. He and the fake undertaker are identically dressed, except that the real Undertaker now has purple highlights where before he had (and the fake Undertaker still has) gray. It will help us to tell them apart during the match, though frankly I think the fake Undertaker’s nearly 3 inches shorter than the real thing. They’re obviously different facially as well, of course, but you really can’t see their faces with their hair covering everything. How do these guys even see what they’re doing? Anyway, the crowd was quit during this match. I figure it was either because they were drained from the previous match (possible), they didn’t know which Undertaker to root for (possible, I guess, but not likely, since I think they were pretty much all rooting for Bearer’s Undertaker and the purple helped to tell them apart) or because this just wasn’t a very good match (very possible). Paul Bearer’s Undertaker, the real Undertaker, wins after surviving a Tombstone to deliver two of his own for the pin. Frankly, this was a lousy, boring match and I think it was a major good by WWF to have this go on last instead of the cage match. I’m not sure what the thinking was there. The Undertaker sure was involved in some lousy feuds during this era. A mixed bag, overall. One great match(Hart vs. Hart) some good matches, a couple of mediocre matches, and one bad match (the Undertaker thing, which was, by the way, the co-main event). This is one of my least favourite PPVs of that era. The opening tag match was pointless given that the Headshrinkers had lost the tag team titles. At the time, I wondered why the WWF had done what they did. I also thought that in a kayfabe sense, because even heels deserve fairness, Diesel & Shawn Michaels should have defended the belts against IRS and Bam Bam Bigelow, creating probably a more intriguing match. Logically, it makes sense, I feel. Within the context of kayfabe, IRS and Bigelow had been promised a tag team title shot, so why not give them one? (Yes, I realise Diesel would have had to wrestle twice). Blayze vs. Nakano was reasonable, I guess, but the women’s ‘division’ was frustrating back then. It was just one (usually no more than one) opponent at a time fed to Blayze. She and others deserved better. Razor/Diesel was fun - and heated. Lots going on there. I could sense Diesel’s frustration after the match. It told a good story. I did not care about Luger/Tatanka. It was frustrating to think that a year earlier, Luger was challenging for the world title yet here he’s wrestling Tatanka over who has sold out. I could not have cared less. The Tatanka heel turn was effective, I guess. (Luger’s stock plummeted further; at 1995’s SummerSlam, he didn’t even wrestle on the card, instead performing a run in during Diesel vs. King Mabel) Mabel vs. Jeff Jarrett was solid, I have seen far worse bouts. Good commentary, too. I did like the Bret/Owen cage match on its own merits. But I just never felt “escape the cage” rules were conducive to a good match. Seeing Bret and Owen try for falls or submissions within the cage would have made the bout a five-star classic, I’m sure. Instead, and it was the same when Bret and Shawn had a cage match, 95% of the bout is about trying to escape. So it’s great on its own - how could it not be with Bret and Owen involved? - but if I was giving out stars, it’d be 4 stars. Now, to the main event (why did it go on last?). Not sure about the Leslie Nielsen thing, but it was okay. However, the match wasn’t a good one. On paper, it may have sounded fine. Hell, how many comics have we read about doppelgängers battling the heroes? It just didn’t work. It was boring. Expecting this to follow Bret/Owen was akin to the time the WWF expected Chris Jericho/Triple H to follow The Rock/Hogan. I did read once that there were plans for a series of matches between the two Undertakers (what a bleak thought). I also read that one proposed idea was for lightning to strike the ring in the match, “merging” the two Undertakers. Even by the supernatural standards of the character, that would have been bizarre. I'd read the same thing about the original plans for the Undertaker(s). Thank goodness none of that came to pass. I've been scratching my head as to what that match went on last as well. I like Leslie Nielson, and those segments were okay, but ultimately pointless. I guess Vince just wanted another big non-wrestling name involved. You're right, on paper there's nothing wrong with Undertaker vs. Undertaker, but as codystarbuck pointed out, Brian Lee just wasn't a good worker. And frankly, Mark Calloway was still improving himself at this point. I also agree with you about the whole "escape the cage" thing. I thought this was a great match with plenty of drama, but I have to confess that I'm just not a big fan of gimmick matches. And I consider cage matches to be gimmick matches. Just give me a well done wrestling match with traditional rules (and no mixed tag teams!). |
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 3:00:23 GMT -5
I watched this last night, which I hadn’t watched since I was a kid:  We start with The British Bulldogs vs. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. An interesting mix of styles, I will say. It’s a conclusive pinfall win as Davey Boy pins Volkoff. Quite a solid start to the tape. The Hart Foundation and The Bulldogs had some cracking bouts, but here we got a singles match between Dynamite Kid and Bret. It’s a really good bout which feels ahead of its time for the WWF. Dynamite wins via pinfall, and the two teams then brawl. Then we have a singles match between Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy. It’s a solid effort from both men. Surpassingly, as it is the Bulldogs’ tape, Neidhart wins. The British Bulldogs & Captain Lou Albano vs. The Dream Team & Johnny V is next. It’s not very good. The good guys get the win. We then go to The British Bulldogs versus WWF Tag Team Champions The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) from WrestleMania II. Not sure why we needed this after the preceding bout. It was rather mediocre. The Bulldogs win the match and, of course, the belts. The British Bulldogs battled The Moondogs. Is that a dogfight? (Sorry) This was a reasonable bout, which ended conclusively with a pinfall. I mention this again because quite a few Coliseum Video releases, esepcially as time went on, gave us bouts with inconclusive endings. Two singles matches follow: Davey Boy loses to Greg Valentine in a rather heated effort, while Dynamite Kid beats Brutus Beefcake via pinfall (pretty decent bout). So, on a tape devoted to The Bulldogs, we see two singles losses for Davey Boy and two singles wins for Dynamite Kid. Very odd. The tape concludes with The British Bulldogs vs. King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd. This is really entertaining David vs. Goliath stuff, and the contrast in styles makes for a fun bout. It ends with a win via DQ for the Bulldogs. Inconclusive, yes, but this was an excellent bout to end the tape on. At 90 minutes, even with some clipping, this is longer than some wrestler-specific tapes (which were often 60 minutes). There’s nothing here that is really bad. Putting aside the lack of logic over showcasing 2 Davey Boy singles losses when compared with showcasing 2 Dynamite Kid singles wins, there’s a lot here that is fun, and whoever compiled this deserves credit for giving us different kinds of matches. |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2024 9:58:29 GMT -5
Bret and Dynamite had dozens of matches in Stampede, well before either entered the WWF. Those matches are what really put Bret on the map, in terms of the tape traders.
Bulldogs vs the Hart Foundation were about the only matches I could stomach from the WWF, until we started getting guys like Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage. Paul Orndorff and Tito Santana were the others, though I preferred their Georgia stuff. I just really never cared for the punch-kick WWF style.
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 10:09:25 GMT -5
I just really never cared for the punch-kick WWF style. So, I can’t persuade you to look up the Mabel vs. King Kong Bundy match from 1995, then? |
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 10:12:46 GMT -5
The only Bret/Dynamite match I’ve seen from Stampede was from 1978, featured on the DVD Bret “Hit Man” Hart: The Dungeon Collection.
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Post by codystarbuck on May 22, 2024 11:15:50 GMT -5
I just really never cared for the punch-kick WWF style. So, I can’t persuade you to look up the Mabel vs. King Kong Bundy match from 1995, then? No, I'd rather shove hot pokers in my eyes while listening to Slim Whitman records. |
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 11:24:58 GMT -5
I will defend Meltzer when necessary, but he is just babbling here (40-minute view):
Alvarez has gone up in my estimation.
There does seem (I did say seem) to be a slight AEW bias because whatever Meltzer says, he would probably be a lot harder on WWE.
I’m not letting WWE off the hook. Bobby Lashley has switched between babyface and heel more than once in recent years, without fanfare or a storyline. And years ago, Vince McMahon was a heel one week or a babyface the next week (like when he dressed up as a judge and told Jonathan Coachman to shut up!). WWE has been inconsistent, but so has AEW.
I don’t think Dave is being particularly nuanced with his comment that heel champions tend to face babyfaces and heels. Yes, they have. Always have. But not necessarily consistently and not in every promotion. How far back is he going? I don’t recall Hogan as WWF world champion making too many title defences against B. Brian Blair, Ricky Steamboat or Hacksaw Jim Duggan, do you? It depends what Meltzer is referring to, but he seems to have made a blanket statement as though heels defending world titles against babyfaces and heels was the norm everywhere.
Unless he’s being specific, and there are times it happened, it just comes as pro-AEW babbling.
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Post by dbutler69 on May 22, 2024 15:38:09 GMT -5
I watched this last night, which I hadn’t watched since I was a kid: We start with The British Bulldogs vs. The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. An interesting mix of styles, I will say. It’s a conclusive pinfall win as Davey Boy pins Volkoff. Quite a solid start to the tape. The Hart Foundation and The Bulldogs had some cracking bouts, but here we got a singles match between Dynamite Kid and Bret. It’s a really good bout which feels ahead of its time for the WWF. Dynamite wins via pinfall, and the two teams then brawl. Then we have a singles match between Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy. It’s a solid effort from both men. Surpassingly, as it is the Bulldogs’ tape, Neidhart wins. The British Bulldogs & Captain Lou Albano vs. The Dream Team & Johnny V is next. It’s not very good. The good guys get the win. We then go to The British Bulldogs versus WWF Tag Team Champions The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake & Greg Valentine) from WrestleMania II. Not sure why we needed this after the preceding bout. It was rather mediocre. The Bulldogs win the match and, of course, the belts. The British Bulldogs battled The Moondogs. Is that a dogfight? (Sorry) This was a reasonable bout, which ended conclusively with a pinfall. I mention this again because quite a few Coliseum Video releases, esepcially as time went on, gave us bouts with inconclusive endings. Two singles matches follow: Davey Boy loses to Greg Valentine in a rather heated effort, while Dynamite Kid beats Brutus Beefcake via pinfall (pretty decent bout). So, on a tape devoted to The Bulldogs, we see two singles losses for Davey Boy and two singles wins for Dynamite Kid. Very odd. The tape concludes with The British Bulldogs vs. King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd. This is really entertaining David vs. Goliath stuff, and the contrast in styles makes for a fun bout. It ends with a win via DQ for the Bulldogs. Inconclusive, yes, but this was an excellent bout to end the tape on. At 90 minutes, even with some clipping, this is longer than some wrestler-specific tapes (which were often 60 minutes). There’s nothing here that is really bad. Putting aside the lack of logic over showcasing 2 Davey Boy singles losses when compared with showcasing 2 Dynamite Kid singles wins, there’s a lot here that is fun, and whoever compiled this deserves credit for giving us different kinds of matches. Thanks for this review! I just checked Peacock and I see that this is available, so I will have to check it out! The British Bulldogs were one of my favorite tag teams from the Golden Era, if not my favorite. It sounds like this is a good, worthwhile tape overall. I'll probably skip the WM II match since I've seen that not too long ago plus, as you point out, it's mediocre and also probably somewhat redundant with the preceding match. I also like that they threw some singles matches in here. |
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Post by commond on May 22, 2024 15:54:39 GMT -5
Not a huge fan of the Bulldogs. They were roided to the gills and Dynamite's body was breaking down. I wish Dynamite had stayed in England as he was an elite teenage talent and could have been as good as Marty Jones and Dave Finlay if he'd stayed on the same trajectory. There's a match from '83 where he returns to England and has a belter with Marty Jones. I'm not a huge fan of early Bret Hart either. Everything I've seen from him pre-WWF has been fairly awful.
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 16:07:39 GMT -5
Not a huge fan of the Bulldogs. They were roided to the gills and Dynamite's body was breaking down. I wish Dynamite had stayed in England as he was an elite teenage talent and could have been as good as Marty Jones and Dave Finlay if he'd stayed on the same trajectory. There's a match from '83 where he returns to England and has a belter with Marty Jones. I'm not a huge fan of early Bret Hart either. Everything I've seen from him pre-WWF has been fairly awful. One slight thing that has soured me are the numerous anecdotes pertaining to pranks by Dynamite. Didn’t I once read he’d put lighter fluid into someone’s inhaler? That’s not a prank, that’s being an evil bastard. That could have had fatal consequences. I think I read he cut up Jacques Rougeau’s clothes. A prank is not a prank when you do things like that. I’ve done pranks myself back when I worked in an office. They were done to me. Someone lowered my adjustable chair and I had a hard time getting it back to the right height. I put a magnet in someone’s box of paperclips. Once someone sellotaped my pen to the desk. It was an office with banter, and none of those things harmed anyone. The ‘pranks’ I read about were malicious, made life difficult, risked people’s health (or worse), and when I read that, I ended up with a very negative view of him. |
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Post by commond on May 22, 2024 16:13:52 GMT -5
He wasn't a nice person, but I wouldn't wish his fate on my worst enemy.
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 16:18:32 GMT -5
He wasn't a nice person, but I wouldn't wish his fate on my worst enemy. Oh no, of course not. Wasn’t he wheelchair-bound before 40? It was a bleak fate. |
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Post by commond on May 22, 2024 16:27:19 GMT -5
It was pretty dire, especially when he grew ill towards the end.
On a cheerier note, check out Dynamite Kid vs. Fujinami from Stampede if you get the chance. That's a great bout and not clipped to shreds like most Stampede footage.
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Post by driver1980 on May 22, 2024 18:12:43 GMT -5
It was pretty dire, especially when he grew ill towards the end. On a cheerier note, check out Dynamite Kid vs. Fujinami from Stampede if you get the chance. That's a great bout and not clipped to shreds like most Stampede footage. Thanks. I’ve only seen a handful of Stampede bouts. I never saw any for sale during my tape trading days (most of my tape trading was WCW PPVs, ECW TV, and Japanese stuff). I only ever got to see Stampede stuff thanks to various WWE DVDs and YouTube. There’s a lot more I’d like to see. Take AAA’s When Worlds Collide. I think one match on there was included on a WWE DVD as an extra, but I’d quite like to see the full event. |
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