Cobra Commander

After listening to the Titans episode for the MSG card I watched (episode 42: https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/titans-of-wrestling-42-wwwf-at-madison-square-garden-april-14-1975 ). I think the Janitor comp for the opening match referee came up. The episode didn't get to talk about a 20 minute midgets match though. The 70s shows are a little bit of a window into life as New York City teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Like it would be a little off for the main events to not be gritty punchfests in that setting.

GTA: Billy Jack Haynes. Where you're working Arkansas and flying in drugs for Bill Clinton at the Mena Airport.

the cameramen/producer for Tulane/UCF are getting so many honey shots of Tulane fans as they're about to win a Conference title game

Michaels/Mankind was also a ride although the finish probably hurts

Georgia might be making it hard to do a point differential flip unless Michigan beats Purdue by like 50.

Suspect that the committee is hoping for a way to be flexible about Georgia/Michigan so that they don't have a first round rematch. Either Georgia/Ohio State and Michigan/TCU or Georgia/Ohio State and Michigan/Alabama.

I did the Chrome update and it's still doing the same errors for me.

I knew some of the basic premise for Arion/Bruno from a wrestling magazine I read in like 1998 that decided to do a retro piece on Spiros Arion vs Bruno Sammartino in 1998 for some reason. So I get the sense that 70s Bruno is probably worked closer to a video on the fightporn subreddit than some modern workrate match. Bruno and Arion aren't gonna do alternating chest slaps. They'll work it closer to a 70s Worldstar video. I guess that Bruno can't bleed every month butt the lack of blood in the big final Greek Death Match was sorta surprising. Also, a Greek death match was essentially an I Quit match without the ref carrying a mic? Anyways, I don't know if Greg Valentine was being billed as Johnny's brother in the WWWF like he was in other areas (they used the "covering up a teen pregnancy" method to make Johnny seem slightly younger). Greg probably would have thrived a little more than you'd think in this modern era where people were willing to get hit loudly. Like Greg Valentine vs Gunther would basically be two guys trying to make the other bleed from the chest. And naturally, Waldo Von Erich getting a countout win over Jay Strongbow in under a minute was their way to build to a Waldo Von Erich/Bruno match on the next Garden show. This card isn't on the Network and it's probably not on YouTube but..

US just needs to find some strikers and some defenders and they might be able to win a knockout game next time.

Cody Rhodes isn't fat until he starts finishing matches with an awesome looking elbowdrop

Notes from the 4/14/1975 Madison Square Garden Show Tony Altomare vs Mike Paidousis: Poor Mike had his last name misspelled on the graphics. Paidousis looks like a gym teacher. Altomare is a heel because he's fussy, he cheats, and he yells at random people. Contrary to what Jayce Naccarato said on the McAdam podcast about a 1973 MSG show, I think this NYSAC ref looks more like the owner of a car repair shop than a school custodian. "Normal video" cuts out a few times because let's face it, it's an MSG opening match. Paidousis wins after Altomare’s feet leave the mat on a missed move and then Paidousis pins him by cradling his shoulders to the mat (like if he had powerbombed him and then cradled him, only without the powerbomb) El Olympico vs Greg Valentine: Greg Valentine is making his debut at Madison Square Garden. El Olympico is still not allowed to wear a full mask so he looks like a Hungarian Water Polo player wearing a mask with his face visible. Greg Valentine is leaning hard into looking like his dad, like Hank Williams Jr before he fell of a mountain and got his own look. Johnny Valentine was still working at this time (this is 5 months before the plane crash). Greg does his best at hitting Olympico hard enough that it's picked up on the mics. Olympico does some hitting back which looked good. Valentine had some good old time arm work of putting one foot on Olympico's wrist and stomping his shoulder (he mixed it up by also stepping on the wrist and punching Olympico's shoulder). Valentine wins with an elbow drop after he elbowsmashed Olympico down to the mat. We got some instant replay in 1975, folks. Vince has a budget. Waldo Von Erich vs Chief Jay Strongbow: You see, you can tell that Waldo is a Nazi because he repurposed a biker helmet to look like a stormtrooper helmet. Waldo Von Erich is the champion of all Germany, which is pretty impressive when you consider he probably couldn't work his gimmick in East Germany. Waldo wins in 39 seconds by whipping Strongbow over the top turnbuckle to the floor in the greatest Jay Strongbow match i've ever seen. People at ringside are pissed off at what happened. Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook vs Little Louie and Sonny Boy Hayes: People are pissed, bring out the midgets. Louie and Hayes are apparently the Midget Tag Team champions but this is a non-title 2 out of 3 falls match. I didn't pay a lot of attention to this match but you gotta love serious sportscaster Vince calling midget spots. First fall goes to the rudos after some undetected cheating. The tag rope looks very long for this match. The ref spanks Little Tokyo during the second fall. Tecnicos win the second fall after heel miscommunication. Why the fuck is this 2 out of 3 falls. They do midget/ref spots in every fucking fall. People were really a lot more easily entertained back in the 1970s when lead was in everything. The heels win the 3rd and final fall. Considering the WWWF's fan engagement approach, it's surprising they couldn't find a midget to call "Little Italy". This match lasted almost 19 minutes. Spiros Arion vs Bruno Sammartino: This is a Greek Death Match. So the only way to win this one is by submission (no time limit! no pinfalls! no Coke! only Pepsi!). As you'd expect, the crowd is ready for this one. I'd say that Spiros Arion facially/hair-wise looks like Greek Don Muraco (this isn't a body comp). Freddie Blassie shows up, gets booed and departs because WWWF Managers had a great gig at live events of not getting stabbed at ringside. From what I recall reading, this feud might not have fostered understanding between NYC Italians and Greeks. There's some good ol fashioned punching to start this one off as this is worked in the style of dudes fighting in an alley. Arion breaks the bearhug by just low-blowing Bruno (off camera), which seems like a good way to break up a bearhug in a no DQ match. You see, the tag rope for the midget match was really long because it was used in a spot for this match. After 13ish minutes of interethnic street violence, Arion missed a top rope move and Bruno beat him with a half crab. After the win, there was some extra shitkicking followed by Bruno doing a cage match mercy spot by not curbstomping Arion into the apron. You see, sometimes you gotta work the match like the competitors bribed an offduty police officer to allow them to fight each other in a garage. Edouard Carpentier vs Big Joe Nova: Big Joe Nova is built like a guy who was kicked off his high school football team in a move that decimated their offensive line. On checking, this was Carpentier's first MSG match since 1968 and his last MSG match. He's 48 at this time and doing his flip spots in-between moves. By this point in his career, Carpentier works like he's selling a workout plan for middle-aged people. Nova does a flip into the corner so it's always impressive to get a fat boy's feet off the canvas in 1975. Carpentier cannonballs Nova a few times for the win before going off to be the Montreal distributor of Jack LaLanne products. Big Bob Duncum vs Victor Rivera: We got a Grand Wizard sighting. It's one fall or to curfew. Duncum is knocked over some dudes at ringside. Hidden foreign object shots. Maybe we need the return of "the heel is hitting the face with an object out of the view of the ref" spots. The ref in this match (who was also in the Bruno match) looks like someone who yells at high school students who were skipping class to smoke. We got a draw due to the curfew, as they avoid paying the union members overtime once again. Although to be fair, it took 16 minutes to reach the curfew so it was a bit of a mercy killing. There was a Valiants vs Manuel Soto & Pete Sanchez match that wasn't included in this Old School episode.

kayfabe just doesn't exist anymore in sports gambling ads

yeah yeah, the match last week with Ishii.

well the WWE employed a dead man for years, so..

"I HAD A JACKASS, AND I LOVEDDDDD THAT JACKASS, ONE DAY MY DADDY SAID THAT JACKASS HAS NO MORE USEEE TO US... MY DADDY THEN SHOT THAT JACKASS, APOLLO CREED"

PERSON WHO ONLY WATCHES WRESTLING: "Yeah, that guy scored a goal for Cameroon and did the DDP hand gesture" PERSON WHO KNOWS OF NON-WRESTLING THINGS: "I mean, that's a popular hand gesture in other things too" and the goal scorer got his second yellow and is out of the game?

Terry Funk wasn't wrestling for parts of the 80s, he could have played Ivan Drago

this is more Bowl Season than Championship Week or Off Season, but there's drama over rumors that Mizzou doesn't want to play Kansas in the Liberty Bowl due to the Liberty Bowl being at the same time as a Mizzou/Kentucky basketball game. Mizzou's Twitter account responded with "Not True … looking forward to our bowl game vs. any team!" So some good college football drama that's like the Briscos insisting they won't face Steamboat/Youngblood in Greensboro because they got a match with East Carolina in Kansas City instead.

So there’ll likely be a knockout round pair of Brazil/South Korea and Croatia/Japan where if Japan advances, either matchup will be interesting for different reasons. Then again Croatia did go to the final last time so don’t count them out. I think Brazil would have to lose and Switzerland would need to win by 3 goals to not have Brazil playing South Korea next week.

I guess Page is still the top babyface in the company as long as Danielson isn’t a committed babyface too. But if they’re not gonna do much with the Dark Order, then having Page drift away from them is gonna be the play. Maybe Page moves up to hanging out with Hook and Danhausen instead. So when Tony brings back Battlebowl in a few weeks, maybe we’ll get a parejas increibles match with Danielson and Page vs MJF and Moxley

Korea scores and Uruguay now needs another goal

The best national anthem in all of the World Cup is close to advancing provided that South Korea doesn’t do something (I have no idea who has the tiebreaker between SK and Uruguay)

Is Liberty a step up or down from Coastal Carolina?

The April 2017 NXT card I saw Aliyah and Ruby Riot over Billie Kay and Peyton Royce Dylan Miley over Cezar Bononi Killain Dain over No Way Jose DIY over Sanity Tye Dillinger over Patrick Clark Asuka over Sonya Deville Aleister Black and Hideo Itami over Andrade Almas and Bobby Roode With Eric Young back, that means that 7 people from this card are in the WWE. Several are in AEW. A few have disappeared into a void in the last few years.