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The Old School Questions thread


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Right - the Poffos made up with Lawler and co. when ICW went under, and Savage and Lawler did some hot main events in Memphis.  Savage ended up going to the WWF and turned babyface on the way out, teaming a couple of times with Lawler and putting over a really green Rick Rude.  (A lot of this stuff is on the Wrestling Gold DVD sets, BTW, and I cannot recommend them strongly enough!)

Actually, Savage quickly turned heel again and had another series of matches with Lawler before he left Memphis for WWF.

 

 

You're right, did some reading up on it right after I posted it, too.  He stuck around longer than I remembered him doing so - my mind was saying he was gone shortly after.

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The story goes that after Jimmy Hart left Memphis for the WWF, he told Vince what a great pick-up Savage would be, and when Vince became interested, Jimmy called Randy to tell him the news, but he had to call the Memphis studios to reach him so he pretended to be an Amway customer to get his attention and not get hung up on.  Because apparently that's what Randy Savage did in the 80s.  Sell Amway.

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The story goes that after Jimmy Hart left Memphis for the WWF, he told Vince what a great pick-up Savage would be, and when Vince became interested, Jimmy called Randy to tell him the news, but he had to call the Memphis studios to reach him so he pretended to be an Amway customer to get his attention and not get hung up on.  Because apparently that's what Randy Savage did in the 80s.  Sell Amway.

I actually think it was Herbalife. 

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Right - the Poffos made up with Lawler and co. when ICW went under, and Savage and Lawler did some hot main events in Memphis. Savage ended up going to the WWF and turned babyface on the way out, teaming a couple of times with Lawler and putting over a really green Rick Rude. (A lot of this stuff is on the Wrestling Gold DVD sets, BTW, and I cannot recommend them strongly enough!)

Actually, Savage quickly turned heel again and had another series of matches with Lawler before he left Memphis for WWF.

You're right, did some reading up on it right after I posted it, too. He stuck around longer than I remembered him doing so - my mind was saying he was gone shortly after.

And he got a longer run than most then-Lawler rivals got because of the blackballing by the NWA. Of course, Memphis had, at best, a complicated relationship with the NWA, plus it was too much of a money match to pass up for political reasons.

Savage was genuinely lucky that he was able to be treated like a star from day one where he wrestled from day one from IWA forward.

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Right - the Poffos made up with Lawler and co. when ICW went under, and Savage and Lawler did some hot main events in Memphis. Savage ended up going to the WWF and turned babyface on the way out, teaming a couple of times with Lawler and putting over a really green Rick Rude. (A lot of this stuff is on the Wrestling Gold DVD sets, BTW, and I cannot recommend them strongly enough!)

Actually, Savage quickly turned heel again and had another series of matches with Lawler before he left Memphis for WWF.

You're right, did some reading up on it right after I posted it, too. He stuck around longer than I remembered him doing so - my mind was saying he was gone shortly after.

And he got a longer run than most then-Lawler rivals got because of the blackballing by the NWA. Of course, Memphis had, at best, a complicated relationship with the NWA, plus it was too much of a money match to pass up for political reasons.

Savage was genuinely lucky that he was able to be treated like a star from day one where he wrestled from day one from IWA forward.

 

I think he's just one of those people with crazy star power and charisma.  

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Reading Backlund's book.  He describes a match against Dusty in New Japan.  The subject of Dusty in Japan is one I've pondered before.

 

Anyhow, the exact specific details of the description of the match in the book would lead me to believe it was taped.  Yes/No?

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According to both documentaries he claims to have quit on the spot after he felt Fritz lowballed him on pay after *that* Star Wars card.

To paraphrase his point, "I just gave you a license to print money and *this* is what I get for a thank you?"

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Reading Backlund's book.  He describes a match against Dusty in New Japan.  The subject of Dusty in Japan is one I've pondered before.

 

Anyhow, the exact specific details of the description of the match in the book would lead me to believe it was taped.  Yes/No?

I have that match on a disc somewhere.

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So randomly decided to watch the first couple ECW on TNN shows...what was the real story behind Sabu is 'banned' from wrestling in the US?

Heyman and Sabu weren't on great terms at this time. Paul E wanted Sabu to take some time off (with pay) to heal some lingering injuries. Sabu wanted to go to WCW. The "ban" may have been a cover story to explain why Sabu wasn't around.

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So randomly decided to watch the first couple ECW on TNN shows...what was the real story behind Sabu is 'banned' from wrestling in the US?

Heyman and Sabu weren't on great terms at this time. Paul E wanted Sabu to take some time off (with pay) to heal some lingering injuries. Sabu wanted to go to WCW. The "ban" may have been a cover story to explain why Sabu wasn't around.

 

 

Let's be fair to Sabu, Paul Heyman had enough trouble paying the guys who were actually there. I can't imagine how difficult it would've been to collect money from him if you were sitting at home.

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not to mention that this would've been the time when most of the bigger stars had moved on and were currently in the "big leagues" (WCW had Sandman, Raven, Saturn, and Mikey Whipwreck; WWF had the Dudley Boyz & Scorpio). Hell, Taz left ECW less than a month after the first episode of ECW on TNN.

Sabu likely heard from some of these guys that he could be making much more money for much less work. Hell, he would've known, since he spent a few weeks in WCW in 1995.

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Pretty sure Sabu "banned in the US" was just an angle to make him look like more of a badass and probably promote him in future "unsanctioned" matches to make you think ANYTHING was going to happen when he did wrestle.

 

I doubt WCW was a serious possibility.  Heyman would have looked like an idiot if he was saying Sabu was banned one week, and then he was wrestling Disco Inferno the next. 

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