Only ever had two wrestling video games:  the WCW Nintendo game and the WWF King of the Ring Nintendo game.  The WCW one was great, with my cheater joystick, as you could be more competitive, since it could repeat commands, like punches and kicks.  I learned the strategy of continually throwing your opponent into the ropes and hitting them coming off, again and again, before hitting them with the finisher.  You advanced through everyone, before facing a masked giant, who looked suspiciously like Andre, as Giant Machine, but without the Machines mask design.  The best wrestler to play, I found, was Mike Rotunda, as you had a bit more versatile method of attack, with knee lifts when you threw your opponent into the ropes, and knee drops off the top turn buckle.  The finisher was the Butterfly suplex, into a backbridge, for the pin.  You could play Ric Flair, Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Mike Rotunda, Rick Steiner or Animal or Hawk, of the Road Warriors.

The King of the Ring was okay, but the control functions were a bit of a pain.  I usually played it as Kerry Von Erich, though he could do more in the game than he actually could in the ring, at that point.

Well, here’s one review that has bothered to show a picture of a cage:

Last night’s viewing:






I received this tape as a Christmas present (thanks, mother). It’s one of the better early Hulk tapes as it’s not “recyling” (for the most part).

Musical Tribute

The tape begins with a montage of Hogan moves on various wrestlers, with Rick Derringer’s “Real American” playing. It gets you in the mood for what is to come, and we all loved “Real American”, right?

Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant

From WrestleFest ‘88. As a kid, I did feel monster heels were disadvantaged by cage matches, doubly so for Andre. Him getting out of the cage - over the top or through the door - was impossible. Or near-impossible. Anyway, this is a heated bout, which I believe is on par with their WM III encounter. There’s an intensity to it which both men had, and the struggle does not let up for a minute. Really, it’s not for ones who didn’t like the Hogan Formula, but for others, it works well. Andre dominates, Hogan makes a comeback, and after attempted interference by Bobby Heenan, Hogan escapes the cage to win.

Hulk Hogan vs. Nikolai Volkoff

This was on another Coliseum tape, but when this tape was released in the UK, it was original, so not “recycling” for this Brit. ‘Heroic babyface’ Hogan chooses to insult the Russian flag and wipe his boots on it. Nice going, Hulkster. As for the match, the crowd reaction is phenomenal, and as Gorilla Monsoon would say, you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. It’s more of the believable Hogan formula. Volkoff, much like Andre in the previous match, dominates, but the Immortal One is too much for the big guy, and Hogan wins via pinfall. (The match took place on a 1986 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, by the way)

Hulk Hogan vs. Haku

From late 1988, we get another believable bout which the crowd seems to be into. Show these matches to any wrestling ‘journalist’ who believes 5-star matches in front of empty crowds are the be-all and end-all. Haku looks like he’s hurting Hogan with a martial arts move or two. Again, it’s the familiar Hogan formula, but from James Bond movies to TV shows like NCIS, the formula is there for a reason. And when such matches aren’t long (this is about 5-7 minutes or so), it’s hard to criticise them. It’s another pinfall win for Hogan.

Hogan Workout

We see some clips or two of Hogan working out. Bizarrely, the music playing is Jake Roberts’ entrance theme. I don’t get that.

Hulk Hogan vs. Ted DiBiase

From late 1987, this is the match of the tape. Mike McGuirk, Bruce Prichard and Pete Doherty provide some GREAT commentary (they all seem so natural). We deviate from the formula - slightly - as this seems more about Hogan dominating an increasingly frustrated DiBiase. Andre the Giant shows up to interfere, but is sent packing after an announcement is made that he will be fined $2,000 (wow!). Virgil jumps on the ring apron and Hogan grabs him. Doherty shouts, “There’s no need to do that to Virgil!” Prichard replies, “There’s no need for Virgil to be on the apron!” The commentary is enhancing the match. DiBiase accidentally knees Virgil and is then rolled up by Hogan, so a slightly different ending from the Legdrop of Doom endings. And when DiBiase throws a chair in the ring, Hogan sits in it and mocks DiBiase - who leaves in anger. Great match, and McGuirk comments on how DiBiase couldn’t buy a victory, and Doherty gets angry about the audacity of the Hulkster. Wow, what a match, where all the elements worked.

Summary

This is one of many feelgood tapes of Hogan doing what he did best back then. What we have are four good babyface vs. heel formula matches which do nothing but entertain - as they should have done. The match selection is really good here. What more could one ask for?

Some of the background details are a little off there (and I hate reading white text on a grey or black background....se see "lines" for some time after).  It was Crockett, the AWA, Georgia and Memphis, but Memphis pulled out almost immediately, seeing that they couldn't work together.  I believe Watts was approached, but knew it wouldn't work, with the egos of the promoters.  The initial Medowlands shows did pretty good, but less so as they went on, especially, after it became more of just another AWA show.  Verne also accused Crockett of trying to poach his talent and he did sign away the Road Warriors; but, Verne's own tactics and payoffs had a lot to do with that, as much as Crockett trying to steal people away.  One of the reasons it wasn't going to work as no one put any thought into the production end of things.  They just taped arena matches, in a smaller venue, with overhead lighting, in mostly medium shots, like any other show.  The WWF didn't immediately jazz up their look; but, they were getting glitzier, by this stage.

Also, the WWF didn't "buy time" on MTV; they cross promoted, because of Cindy Lauper.  They were both upstarts and it worked to their mutual benefit.  He didn't buy time on WTBS; he bought the Georgia promotion and the tv show, leaving Ole Anderson, in the dust.  Ole then started a new company, to promote the Georgia territory, before merging it with Crockett.  That is more where Memphis was involved in things, as they helped provide talent for Ole, while still booking the AWA World Champion, for Mid-South Colisseum shows.

You only had to look at the Pro Wrestling USA tv show to know it wasn't going to work.  They had a better chance when Sam Muchnick was still running the NWA; but, he had retired and the in-fighting between members grew.  Crockett pretty much went his own way, with the title held hostage, while Fritz went his own route, too, since he wasn't going to get any more title reigns for his boys or talent...or even dates on the champion.  Florida was beginning to come apart, as Dusty left and others soon followed, Continental was never a strong faction in the organization, Gulas was pretty much dead (as a promotion), Kansas City was comatose, Portland too far away and tending to go their own way and Detroit and LA were already dead (and McMahon picked up LA's business)  Canada was pretty much in Vince's hands, apart from Montreal and Vancouver and Vancouver was too small to bother.

Florida, Continental and Georgia, if united, could have been a VERY strong regional block; and, if they could work with Crockett; they could have controlled a third of the country and kept Vince at arms length.  As it was, until Crockett's over-spending endangered them, in 1988/89, they had pretty well succeeded in cutting off the South and parts of the Midwest to the WWF.  However, egos and personal issues prevented that.  The AWA could also have held them off in the Midwest, Plains and upper West Coast, if Verne had been willing to bring in new voices in the booking and freshen up the look of things.  As it was, the ESPN deal kept them going longer far longer than it should have, on paper.  Verne had some good towns and a lean payroll, as well as a good mix of young talent and veterans; he just needed a younger vision of things.  It wasn't the 1970s anymore, let alone the 1960s.

Humble guy, eh?

x.com/davemeltzerWON/status/1836851287419199906

If you can’t see the tweet, someone asked Meltzer if the Observer would have been as huge without Vince making the WWF what it was. Meltzer’s reply:



I’d have ended up a top sportswriter either way? Wow. Such humility, Dave.

Episode 2 is fun. The timeline is all over the place and it leans heavily into fictionalized drama, but the wrestling is great. Love Jackie's outfits. They went pretty soft on the bullying, but I guess that was to be expected. The Jaguar Yokota/Jackie Sato stuff was silly. Toshikuni Matsunaga never looked as cool as Takumi Saitoh, and I don't think he was pulling the strings as much as the show makes out. I did love Takuma Oto as Shiro Abe. Shout out to the luchadoras as well.