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Thoughts on The Wrestling Classic

 

Adrian Adonis was ahead of his time on this show. He beat Cpl. Kirchner with a DDT (before Jake entered the company) and he put Dynamite Kid in the sharpshooter.

 

Jimmy Hart was slightly ahead of his time by calling Adonis "Adorable Adrian" before Adonis' effeminate makeover.

 

Vince called the show "the first annual Wrestling Classic" but alas, it was the only one.

 

Macho Man beat Steamboat with the foreign object and then won the IC title a few months later using the exact same finish. Santana must not have been watching the monitor.

 

MVP: Savage, of course, wrestling four matches just like he would later at WrestleMania IV.

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CANADIAN STAMPEDE, 1997 --

The main event begins with one of the great, bizarre things. Three women from a group called "Farmer's Daughters" or something like that sing the Canadian National Anthem, which they start with some goose call thing. Howard Finkle is wearing a cowboy hat. They introduce the Premier of Alberta,who isTstanding next to Stu and Helen Hart next to some of the lesser Hart offspring. This is some weird netherworld where the parents of pro wrestlers get to stand as equals with Rick Perry.

Goldust comes out first, and JR mentions how Marlena isn't there because Dakota has a cold. Ken Shamrock's out next and three low-rent skanks are wearing these hideous "Ken Shamrock Fans" homemade T's. Vince calls the Legion of Doom "real American originals." And "Stone Cold" Steve Austin comes out to boos, and he comes out as a hOuteel SO good. Just a total look of defiance and anger, and you can tell he loves it. Even his music seems a little different -- a little lower in tone, somehow.

Out first for the Hart Foundation comes Brian Pillman as the crowd treats him like he's a godhead. He eggs on the crowd to a great degree, and it's awesome. Anvil's out next, trash-talking to the camera. Daveyboy's next, with Diana Hart Smith (wearing a sash-and-tiara), as the crowd celebrates the unique England-Canada relationship. Owen's out next, with Slammy Awards, and gets just a great reaction. That's all it can be said -- the crowd knows he's great and loves him. Then there's a huge pause and delay as the crowd builds and builds for that legendary guitar lick to start Bret's entrance. Bret looks stoic, heroic and mean. Everyone else on his team clapped and engaged the crowd to go louder. Bret's seriousness is a great counterpoint, as he leads them down the ring. Owen grabs a Canadian flag from someone and waves it. Bret gives his glasses to his mom.

This is seriously so great and weird. I've only been to Canada twice, and once was to Montreal, which is something different. I visited Toronto, which I know is very cosmopolitan and big city and essentially like the best possible version of New York City. I also have Canadian friends, but they're all from the GTA and into stuff like the New Pornographers. I know out west is different -- particularly Alberta, which is sort of a right-leaning libertarian area with a lot of oil money (hence the Rick Perry reference above). But this entrance feels like a CANADIAN moment.

I had a friend from Germany in grad school. And he said the number one thing about America that shocked him and he had no idea about was how many people hung American flags at their houses or businesses. I mean, I don't know how many flags I see on a daily basis. They're so omnipresent in our lives. I don't even notice American flags on my neighbors porches or at car dealerships. American patriotism in wrestling feels pretty hoky. A lot of this is because it's rasslin' -- people like us are all sort of tongue-in-cheek about USA chants and the like, and the people who seriously want to kill Lana and Rusev are sorta dwindling. 1997 America was a different America -- pre-9/11 -- but we're not THAT different than nearly 20 years ago, especially in view of how we view ourselves.

But Canada? It seems like the only time Canadians really express their patriotism is during the NHL playoffs or international hockey events. Other than that, it seems like people take pride in being Canadian and love being Canadian, but flying a flag and the like is a gauche exercise that's big in the states. But Bret Hart and the gang -- a family unit from a city in Calgary that's more like a town -- are prairie Canadians getting a rare chance to celebrate this.

This is the greatest introduction to a match ever, quite probably.

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I'll add this about the Bash '91: the show is a complete abomination. Easily one of the worst booked shows I've ever seen. Some matches went way too long, others too short. I imagine somebody lost their job after this. When did Watts come in? Late 91 or early 92?

Herd was fucking terrible, but he lasted until after Starrcade 91.  Kip Frey was hired in Jan 92 and the quality of WCW shot up 1000%.  Sadly, Frey would be ousted by June in favor or Watts because WCW was still bleeding money.  

 

There's another damn What If? for WCW.  What if they didn't replace Frey with Watts in June? 

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I think we actually talked about the Frey/Watts What If in the What If thread. I loved the first half of 92 WCW. Some real fine wrestling. That said, I understand the thought process behind bringing Watts in (they wanted to do it back in '89 but weren't willing to give Watts the autonomy he wanted), especially since it was known that Frey was only running things on an interim basis. Just wish we could have seen Frey's run extend through Flair coming back but hey, had to stop money bleeding eventually.

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Been watching those early ECWs. Sherri was awesome as Shane's valet, both the celebration over the title win in the locker room and then when she was whacking Badd Company with chairs and then sitting on the chair in the corner awesomely.

 

Those early ECW TV shows are fantastic.  Plucky young blue chip babyface Tommy Dreamer, Fat Pat Tanaka, completely deranged Sabu, barefoot Taz, crazier than ever Terry Funk, motivated Shane Douglas, not yet completely inebriated Sandman....so many great characters. 

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Not that this is new info, but WCW 2000 is hot garbage. I've watched Souled Out through Slamboree and I've seen maybe 1.5 decent matches total. It looks like no one wants to be there, except Russo. Maybe Jarrett too. The Millionaire's Club vs. New Blood feud must have been some attempt at post-modern wrestling where obvious face and heel roles were reversed just because.

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Not that this is new info, but WCW 2000 is hot garbage. I've watched Souled Out through Slamboree and I've seen maybe 1.5 decent matches total. It looks like no one wants to be there, except Russo. Maybe Jarrett too. The Millionaire's Club vs. New Blood feud must have been some attempt at post-modern wrestling where obvious face and heel roles were reversed just because.

 

What's the matter, can't find your scissors? I said, what's the matter, can't find your scissors?

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Thoughts on WrestleMania 2

 

Paul Orndorff went from main-eventing the first WrestleMania to curtain-jerking the second.

 

Piper said, "I'm not going to cut my hair like an Indian and paint myself black." Well, he was half right.

 

I love how Darryl Dawkins, G. Gordon Liddy and Cab Calloway are judging the boxing match despite being totally unqualified to do so.

 

Velvet McIntyre got robbed. Her foot was clearly on the ropes, and the announcers were like, "What a quick win for Moolah!"

 

Russ Francis was impressive in the battle royale. Not only did he finish fourth, but he kept going after Andre the Giant with no help.

 

MVP: Terry Funk, bumping like a maniac and making his match the best of the night.

 

Lee Marshall was great as the ring announcer in LA! That's the role he should have played throughout his wrestling career.

 

With Herb (Burger King) and Clara Peller (Wendy's) serving as timekeepers in New York and Chicago, they should have gone with Grimace in LA instead of Ricky Shroeder.

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Survivor Series 92.

 

Nailz was robbed. He cuts a pretty decent face promo about being wrongfully accused here, then the Boss Man cuts a dickish promo about him serving his time but should have served a life sentence for crimes he doesn't go into any detail about.

 

Bossman gets the stick first, Nailz doesn't back off, he takes it from him fairly, wails on him, loses it, gets pinned, and then Bossman acts like an even bigger dick and beats him down with it after the match.

 

I wanted a wrongfully accused face turn, but no, Vince McMahon had to go and molest him. Missed opportunity.

You should look for the Nailz debut angle and you will understand Bossman better.

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Thoughts on The Big Event (WWF stadium show in Toronto in 1986)

 

Howard Finkel introduced King Tonga for his match against Magnificent Muraco, but the commentators were test-driving the "Haku" moniker.

 

Dick Slater was supposed to be the babyface against Iron Mike Sharpe, but the Canadian fans booed him and his Confederate outfit.

 

Even though it was late August, the announcers were complaining about the cold. In Heenan's promo, he also mentioned the "subzero temperatures." 

 

I was disappointed that Giant Machine wasn't wrestling in the six-man, but he made up for it by mopping the floor with Studd, Bundy and Heenan, which caused the Machines and Albano to be disqualified.

 

Ricky Steamboat was outstanding as usual, fighting back from getting busted open on the ring post to win the "Snake Pit" match over Jake Roberts.

 

I usually can't stand Luscious Johnny Valiant on commentary, but he was hilariously helpless watching his Dream Team lose from "a quarter mile away" in the broadcast booth.

 

I also can't stand Hogan most of the time, but I loved how he re-enacted the "I'm your friend...clothesline!" spot against Orndorff before going for the piledriver.

 

MVP: Bobby Heenan, who got beat up by Hogan, Andre and Captain Lou all in the same night.

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So who thought it was a good idea for Steve McMichael to fight Reggie White in a singles match? I will say this, Reggie did hit a nice dropkick in the match.

 

I guess after WM 11, WCW had an infatuation with getting NFL players to wrestle. I actually think Kevin Greene could've been decent if he switched roles with Mongo. He always showed a lot of fire in his handful of matches, including the main event on this show.

 

Actually, Slamboree 97 is one of my choices for most underrated ppv. The Reggie/Mongo match is the lone bad match, and there's quite a few good ones along with being island of good booking in the sea of shit known as WCW vs. NWO in 1997. Regal/Ultimo, Rey/Yasuraoka, and Malenko/Jarrett are all solid. Benoit/Meng was their best match despite the ref not understanding the rules with an all-time great finish. The 6-man main was a lot of fun with good heat and a strong face win against the NWO. Also DDP was swinging wildly with a crutch at Savage and the NWO B-team and The Giant made sure he didn't get beat down again.

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Kevin Greene was so awesome and had the babyface fire to keep all of Antarctica warm. Sometimes his excitement would lead to some awkward moments in the ring but that's something that would've been harnessed over time especially when working with somebody like Ric Flair. Too bad he had to be all good at football and not broken down. Gawd, can you imagine a babyface tag team of Kevin Greene and Steve Williams? And they'd win matches with the football running on the spot thing they both did, not actual moves but just intimidating football on the spot runs. Bill Watts wouldn't have to buy viagra for the rest of his life.

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