Cobra Commander

following post inspired by the "Diesel on his way out" video posted today: Vince's announcer approach to Diesel saying he'll only slap hands with his fans is some real "protest movement getting co-opted by entities that don't understand it" stuff.. they likely didn't mean for it to come off like that but was amazing also, the WWF product improved so much once Vince stopped doing commentary and turned heel.. even with the obvious parts that age poorly

having seen Bash 85 and Bash 86 this week, I'm pretty sure any complaints about modern refs trying to steal the attention just don't hold up to vaunted old refs because Tommy Young was chewing scenery out there (not even getting into other topics like Sonny Fargo's red pants or David Crockett in a golf outfit) then again, matches sans commentary means you start focusing on the mannerisms and how people look/act instead of commentary

Rick Long would have been a solid "generic enhancement guy name" for someone named Rycklon

Notes from watching the 86 Bash (7/5/86 Charlotte): More blood for the blood God.. I think some of these matches would fit in on the "Blood Sucking Freaks" thread..

yeah this was the Flair/Morton match in the first Phil "Way of the Blade"

the Public Enemy promo from 1995 on the WWF Slam Jam set ( https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gHJJ6hMfGLQ?si=XuEvM0iqGjgVmdyt ) making me realize that Rocco Rock and Marc Mero really never overlapped in the same spot aside from the last months of Johnny B Badd in WCW

Just remembered the great story from the Austin podcast about how Dario Cueto worked the mic live at a show in Mexico and got mega heat as the fans quickly realized that he’s from Spain

Today on the Vaults The story of Diesel’s last months in the WWF: https://youtu.be/NoZhuHFgres?si=xtO5sJCW15_wePMO And the full 86 Bash from Charlotte (Flair/Morton): https://youtu.be/BNh6ZWsBpYs?si=lh0492CR275WoTq0

In regards to the extended Swaggart family, no man has ever sounded more like Jerry Lee than Mickey Gilley performing “Don’t All The Girls Get Prettier At Closing Time”. https://youtu.be/sYu3e6XtjH8?si=Jr9cEQE6WkMdmLmE

the WWE vault releases today reminding us that Stan Lane was working for the WWF deep into 1995

fortunately the Mr. America angle didn't last long enough for Chris Benoit to work under a mask as Mr. Canada, the tag team partner of Mr. America

Nikita's music sounded like they were playing the Soviet anthem from a tape cassette player also... here's Hakushi and Bull Nakano vs Bob Holly and Alundra Blayze for some reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5zDDhOU_hQ

small notes from watching GAB85 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nqDfXv9GIY ) today: I never really thought of Buddy Landel as a heavyhitter until seeing him exchange with Ron Bass Ole probably has all sorts of little interesting features in the ring that could be easier to notice in a match with no commentary in an area where he's used to working his way One of those impressive crowds where there's at least one camera angle that does not do the crowd size justice, like how World Class managed to have a camera angle for Kerry/Flair in 84 that showed the one part of the stadium where they didn't sell tickets EDIT: oh man, the visual of Kamala being driven to the ring in a golf cart is unintentionally amazing Also gotta imagine the concept of the ring being surrounded by grass is unique for large promotions love that they kept in the ring announcer telling people to move their cars out of the way of the fireworks show Don't have enough "champion enters from a news copter" entrances in modern wrestling David Crockett dressed like he's golfing while refereeing this match Flair taps a gnarly bladejob, a fan rushes the ring and the Charlotte cops have to get him out mid-match, the Russians having to wipe out random babyface doofs postmatch, having wrestlers making saves while in street clothes was a decision after there was a fan rushing the ring mid-match, apparently this was a very drunk crowd, awesome times

I wasn't regularly watching before October 97 but one thing I'm noticing on some earlier 97 Nitros is that at sometime, the Hogan NWO group promo moved from being near the end of the show to being closer to the beginning of the show.. someone can probably figure out if that happened like around the time Nitro went from 2 to 3 hours or what if nWo promos weren't the reason for the "beginning of show talk segment" format it might be 1998 WWF that we can blame for that

Nitro, 3/3/1997: Bischoff gets suspended and the infamous Team Piper tryout segment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlxpa57rE8

In light of recent news, which wrestler gets the “Mr. Japan” name

Thinking I need to watch the final week of World Wide pre-Bash 85 before watching Bash 85 https://youtu.be/9nqDfXv9GIY?si=JwMM233am6uj0fE7 is there a version of Bash 85 on the Peacock? Which version did they just upload today?

I had a power outage this morning/afternoon so I'm only now getting around to watching.. World Wide Wrestling (6/29/1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NubAXz8vfl8

the rare triple by a player moving with a leg injury for 180 feet in Detroit (Kerry Carpenter)

"Please do not chant Guardian Angel at me, I am Bubba again" - Big Bubba, 1994 "That's a long name to chant though" edit: upon reflecting... maybe Terry Taylor doing the "don't call me Rooster" gimmick in the WWF as a heel instead of being a lameass babyface in 1989

Beach Blast 93 on the YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toK5piVkqMo

watching Beach Blast 93 on YouTube and thankful that nobody has done a form of the Paul Orndorff "Paula" gimmick to be a heel who reacts angrily to fans "dead-naming" him (the heel does not have to be trans to be dead-named with how often at least the WWE changes guys names)

Sting vs Bret should have been the next long term build after Starrcade 97 but there was a ton of WCW politics that wasn't gonna let that happen

in the spirit of the "Computerized Wrestler of the 90s" gimmick in WCW... a wrestler that claims to be using AI to win matches extra points if they're using AI and still jobbing

uploading matches from GAB96 (Regal vs Sting) and GAB98 (Juvy vs Reese) on back to back days means I can now tell when WCW is in the Baltimore Arena Sting vs Regal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCH3T2WO9yY Juvy vs Reese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBYo17__mok