clintthecrippler

Ha I hadn't put that together myself on my 84 viewing. I did have a HOLY SHIT moment when during his tag run with Matt Borne in 83 they ran an angle where DiBiase came to the ring and bought off a jobber team to take their spots in a match against JYD/Mr Olympia (at least I think that was the face team in this scenario). DiBiase paying jobbers to take their spot in a match four years before the Million Dollar Man warped my brain for the entire day after that.

I preferred playing with the AWA Remco figures as a kid because they were the same height scale as the He-Man/Masters of the Universe line so I could run He-Man/Fabulous Ones vs Skeletor/Road Warriors and Man At Arms (w/Teela) vs Jimmy Garvin (w/Precious) among other matches

A friend of mine some years back was having a go at stand-up comedy and opened on a bill at The Comedy Store headlined by Rob Van Dam also trying his hand at stand-up. The rest of the bill was the usual array of not-quite-headline-level-yet stand-ups working the LA circuit. Some poor kid brought his replica WWE Championship belt to THAT. And sat FRONT ROW. That dude got savaged by damn near every other comedian taking the stage that night. I have never felt more sorry for a wrestling fan with a replica belt than that night.

Has he ever elaborated on how he ended up breaking into wrestling in the Midwest under Ox Baker? That seems like one hell of an "out of the way" path for a kid that grew up in Florida going to CWF shows, especially since Florida had a bunch of places to train at during the initial late '80s wrestling school boom.

I swear that I read somewhere that "Capt Chameleon" was an alias for David Wolff, who was heavily involved with the Cyndi Lauper angle and production for The Wrestling Album and Piledriver, and is also listed as a Producer on the credits for those two Capt Chameleon tracks.

That first six weeks of TV after JYD leaves is some incredible "stages of grief" television from Bill Watts. I was shocked that first week by how almost conciliatory he was and mostly complementing/thanking JYD for his time in Mid-South, and then as you get another 4-6 weeks down the line (and like you, assuming seeing JYD actually on WWF TV) the more antagonistic approach and framing of Butch Reed as "the man who ran off JYD" begins. And yeah, the really cynical side of me had that thought too about the Brickhouse Brown debuting with "job guy" presentation and beating Buddy Landell twice in a row on that very first episode after JYD is gone. And that cynicism is honestly a discredit to Brickhouse, as during his return in spring 85 after a few months hiatus he settles into a solid "plucky midcard underdog" role that he is genuinely really good at and his TV matches during that time period are a highlight. The presentation by commentary of Mike Jackson in Mid-South may be one of the all-time best "he's probably losing but he's a credible threat if one break comes his way" presentations of a job guy ever. And much like you, the Fantastics run here really reinforced that they genuinely aren't praised as much as they should be for being an incredible tag team and "credible pretty boys". This never aired on regular weekly Mid-South TV, but when Power Pro started up in Fall 1984, one of the early episodes aired a 1983 Houston match with Ted Dibiase going over Tito Santana, but newly dubbed commentary by Bill Watts presents it as a "current match" featuring "current WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana" and notes that it is a non-title match, outright stating that Tito perhaps had self-doubt about granting a title defense to Dibiase after repeated matches against softer competition up North. I can't remember, when did you start your Mid-South TV watch @SirSmUgly? Because there is a multi-week stretch in 82/83ish where he is salty about both Orndorff and The Wild Samoans jumping to Georgia where be buries the wrestlers for leaving when "the competition got too tough" but also rants about how "the cable wrestling out of Channel 17 in Atlanta" never books competitive matches on their TV show.

I actually ended up thinking that him and Brickhouse Brown had great chemistry as a tag team together once they finally gave up on the singles push and there is a damn fun match between the two of them and the Midnight Express at some point, but just as they seemed like they were building momentum both of them disappeared, with Brickhouse coming back six months later. I definitely got the vibe that they could have taken that tag team to a few of the Southeast/Southwest territories and had fun runs if they felt so inclined to keep that team going into 85/86.

That first introduction of Master G where Watts proclaims that Master G "turned down a five-figure payday in Madison Square Garden to be here because he knows the REAL competition is here in Mid-South" is some insane PRO WRESTLING BULLSHIT even for that era.

Seeing @Elsalvajeloco namedrop Mark Ragin in the AEW Discussion thread made me remember how strange his debut in 1984 Mid-South was. Dude gets the full-scale "next big superstar" entrance coming to the ring to Michael Jackson and breakdancing with the music still playing even after the bell rings...and then he turns out to be extremely NOT ready for that level of presentation, and within a few weeks he's reduced to teaming with Mike Jackson (the wrestler) and people below that level like that "superstar" debut never happened. He's like the Mid-South version of Outback Jack. And no shade on Mike Jackson with that previous comment, matches where he is on the job side of things show that he has always been really good and maybe even better in Mid-South than JCP because he actually gets hope spots in almost every match he is in and Bill Watts talks him up on commentary to give him some credibility. As far as my current Mid-South watching is concerned, I am now into June 1985, but I'll put the rest of this in Spoilers since I know @SirSmellingtonofCascadia is still in 84 right now:

My favorite Adam Cole match in WWE was when him and Pat McAfee finally had their one-on-one because it forced Cole out of his "30 minutes of even-steven and 2.9 kickouts" formula and both competitors looked like absolute stars.

I also wonder if 81/82 held up better under those circumstances because there was already some territorial constriction by then and top talent wasn't as spread out as far as "home territories" were concerned. Detroit, San Francisco, and Amarillo had shuttered by then, Vancouver was already a "locals only" fed, and Los Angeles was a rookies on their way up/veterans that were washed as headliners elsewhere promotion, and I think 81 was the year that McGuirk formally threw in the towel on Tri-State after Watts had split to form Mid-South AND the year that Gulas threw in the towel on his end of Tennessee. And on the topic of Bill Mercer, I really do think his legit news background is the reason why he came off so well in those vignettes. Instead of carnival barker Vince or Mean Gene going to the Double Cross Ranch or the Zoo with George Steele staying in over-the-top WWF hype mode, he really did approach going on the road with the Freebirds or visiting Jimmy Garvin at his palatial estate with the gravitas of a REPORTER doing an on-location human-interest shoot.

I grew up in a region of Northern Michigan that somehow didn't have an affiliate that carried WWF Superstars, the A-show from 86 through 92. But thanks to cable and being able to watch Prime Time Wrestling and All-American Wrestling, and that cable system also beaming in a Detroit station that carried the Wrestling Challenge B-show, I managed to never be lost as to what the main storylines were and major angles despite never being able to watch the true "A-show". I really do think that is an underrated component of the national television takeover from that era. They really did make an effort back then to make sure that you still knew the major happenings of the promotion if you only had access to one TV show from their suite of programming, or had access to the full slate but missed Superstars. Reflecting on that also reinforces what I think is one of the most low-key brilliant production decisions of the time. The call to only note the name of the weekly TV show during show-intros and show-ends, and on commentary segue out of match segments with "stay tuned for more World Wrestling Federation action" to make it easier to stand alongside more "show-unique" content gave a much easier "plug-and-play" when editing matches/segments from Superstars and Challenge into Prime Time, All-American, and Spotlight.

May as well post a wrestling-adjacent one then, CBS Saturday Morning Spectacular for 1985 hosted by Rowdy Roddy Piper with appearances from Captain Lou Albano,, Patti Labelle, Pee Wee Herman, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and more https://youtu.be/aGJ1y_Qsa3g

Is it Just 4 Guys because the trademark for Five Guys was already taken?

The Darsow turn was very compelling to watch for me when I completed the 1983 portion of my watch last year. I had never known the full details of what turned him to a Russian heel, and I absolutely loved that the seeds wasn't a generic "turning anti-American over politics" but came from him being absolutely in awe of how dominant Nikolai Volkoff was when beating him to end a winning streak and wanting to know more about how "the Soviets" train and prepare for wrestling competition. And oh man, if you are fascinated now by his attempts at getting someone over to the level of JYD, wait until JYD finally leaves in August 1984. That immediate six-week period is quite the fascinating display of "stages of grieving" in real time with some very interesting panic-booking attempts and misfires in establishing "a new JYD". That North American Championship hot potato was absolutely weird and off-putting to me too. It will stabilize a bit in 84 though, thanks to some of the people that you mentioned having some love elsewhere in your post. And Duggan does get to "almost JYD" level as 1984 progresses, though I will advise now that the real bulk of the Duggan/DiBiase fun is more towards the end of the year. I continue to look forward to seeing how your continued Mid-South watch goes. I am stalled out in April 1985 right now just due to having a lot on my plate at the moment in both work and life, but 1984 was pretty damn great from start to finish.

The Miz better be busting out this clip on RAW and cutting a promo blaming the lateness of the shot on lingering injuries from being unfairly forced to wrestle Bugz last week after taking the stomp from Rollins. Also, a reminder that just like Tully Blanchard, Richard Belzer never said "I Quit".

The sequence of events is actually the other way around, Goodheart ran out of money before the show ever happened and folded up shop, and it was about six months later when Rogers passed.

Getting to see the first Birdemic in a crowded room with a live audience that was as vocally perplexed by what was being presented to them as I was will forever remain one of the greatest movie-going experiences of my life. Being in that same room a few years later for the premiere of Birdemic 2 and having it play to mostly silence after the crowd quickly figured out that some producer had obviously made the filmmaker self-aware of how shitty the first film was so it became deliberate rehash of the genuinely delusional first movie was one of the sadder movie-going experiences of my life. Long story short, if you never saw the sequels but enjoyed how genuinely shitty and misguided the first Birdemic was, leave the memories alone.

I 100 percent have in my head that Flair was legitimately concussed/injured by the door slam, so if that is correct, the secret is just getting hurt for real. I also recall there being heat on Hennig initially for how hard he slammed the door too.

Loving Waltman's sarcastic dig at what had become the pattern for these legends reunion shows over the years. It was awesome finally seeing some legends return to Raw and not having it end with someone being buried. Even the Undertaker merely fed LA Knight to Bray Wyatt for the final blow. The way these segments ended up playing out actually made me think that "huh, maybe Hunter still has final creative say after all". But on the other hand, no sign of Gargano, Candice, Lumis, or Bronson on the big 30th anniversary edition of Raw, so?

My favorite hour of 1970s territory TV that I have watched in a very long time. 45 minutes from Montreal that flies by, with a promo production style that I would love to see someone tweak for a modern audience, and maybe the best segue by the commentary team from a hot angle into a plug for a local charity event ever.

I LOVED how much fan-service the main event gave, from the Great Kabuki to Sting's entrance beginning with his classic 89-92 WCW entrance theme. I was not expecting a death bump from Hakushi in 2023 either. I wasn't familiar with much of NOAH's roster aside from the Kaito/Kenou championship rivalry prior to these recent shows but I am DIGGING and looking forward to seeing more from: Amakusa, Maya Kitamiya, and Inamura. I am definitely keeping the wrestleUNIVERSE sub after the wave of Muta/Mutoh shows complete. And seeing the few minutes of Sting and Hakushi together makes me pine for the alternate universe where Hakushi goes to WCW in 96 and the two of them have an AMAZING 7-minute WCW Worldwide main event in that pre-Crow Sting window.

OOF...this may legit be the worst officially licensed wrestling action figure ever and yes I am aware of the ground THAT covers.

Thinking about how awesome of a manager Scott Thompson as "Francesca Fiore" would have been for Harlem Heat:

I will say that as frustrating as WWE Network/Peacock overdubs can be sometime, the piano-driven ditty they came up with for the Boogie Woogie Man is a joy that fits his vibe perfectly, and I say this as someone that loves him dancing to The Boy From New York City. And while not quite matching the intent of the original post, I will take this time to say that I HATE that the sweet Megaman knockoff Titantron graphic/entrance was wasted by WWE on frigging TJ Perkins.