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Mr Harms

By Mr Harms
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

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Liam

Liam

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Brian Fowler said:

If you believe Vince, the whole thing was because he felt Andre was giving up on life, and he wanted to give him something big so Andre would keep going despite all the pain he was in.

Interesting. Was it the plan all along from April 86 though? Or did the decision to turn him heel come later in the year - perhaps after they'd run the Machines feud?

I'm aware there may be no clear time exactly, I've just never really heard too much about that decision.

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PetrolCB

PetrolCB

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Backing up to the Backlund stuff... Now that I think about it, Bret never really got revenge on Owen from that, did he? I mean, they didn't reunite for another two and a half years, but that was pretty much the last major moment in their year long story/10 month feud.

Owen (and Bob) interfered in Bret's title match (along with many others) and in retaliation, Bret attacked Owen as he was entering the Rumble (he was chucked out quickly). You're right though. It's kind of weird that it was just killed off like that.

Obviously a rematch from X at XI would've saved us from that shitty submission match Bret had. Owen benefitted that night though, getting the tag straps with the returning Yokozuna, which was an alright big guy/little guy team. Mainly due to Owen being Owen.

Edited by PetrolCB
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Southside Jim

Southside Jim

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

Backing up to the Backlund stuff... Now that I think about it, Bret never really got revenge on Owen from that, did he? 

 

No, they aired a "No Holds Barred Match" on the 3/27 RAW where Bret decisively beat Owen, forcing him to submit to the Sharpshooter and then holding the move forever while a gaggle of referees tried to pry him off.  

 

That was basically the end of the feud, as Owen transistioned into a tag team with Yokozuna while Bret focused on Lawler/Hakushi/Pierre Ouellet.

 

 

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Southside Jim

Southside Jim

Posted
Posted

What are some examples of feuds/storylines that got blown off in WWF Magazine and were barely acknowledged on TV.

 

Off the top of my head, I can remember from Spring 1988, an article revealing that Dave Hebner had an evil brother named Earl, and Dibiase had bribed him and kidnapped Dave.  This got mentioned by Jesse Ventura once on WWF Superstars when they would do one of those "check out the newest issue of WWF The Magazine" inserts during a squash.

 

In 1989, on an episode of Prime Time Wrestling, Gorilla Monsoon mentioned casually that Danny Davis had been reinstated as a referee by Jack Tunney, and had been required to take an oath vowing never to do anything heinous or nefarious in his career again, or he'd be banned for life for a second time, and that you could read about it in the newest issue of the magazine.

 

And probably most famously, after WrestleMania 8, they did an article where Randy Savage burst into the magazine offices and angrily tossed down the "original, undoctored" photos of Randy and Elizabeth lounging around his mansion, which Flair stole and paid someone to doctor the photos to look like it was Flair and Elizabeth together.

 

Am I missing any?

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Southside Jim

Southside Jim

Posted
Posted

Please tell me I'm not crazy: 

 

I distinctly remember that there were two versions of the Great American Bash 86 and Starrcade 86 commercial tapes, with extra matches added to the start of the tape.

 

The first video store I ever frequented had copies of both tapes that opened with the music video intro before cutting to the announcers, while after I moved, I found a video store that had a copy of Bash 86 that opened with Flair vs. Hawk from Philadelphia, and then cut to the intro, and the Starrcade 86 copy opened with Wahoo McDaniel vs. Rick Rude and then cut to the intro.

 

Does anyone else remember this?

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GuerrillaMonsoon

GuerrillaMonsoon

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Liam said:

Interesting. Was it the plan all along from April 86 though? Or did the decision to turn him heel come later in the year - perhaps after they'd run the Machines feud?

I'm aware there may be no clear time exactly, I've just never really heard too much about that decision.

The WWE official line is that Andre was done with wrestling, and from there either a) needed back surgery after filming Princess Bride and Vince agreed to pay for it if he came back or b) needed time off to film Princess Bride and only agreed to come back if Vince paid for the surgery.

Splitting hairs either way, but get the feeling Andre would have stayed in Hollywood had he not needed the back surgery.

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(BP)

(BP)

Posted
Posted (edited)

Andre must’ve been eligible for a SAG card. Though I don’t know how good their health plan was at the time or if maybe he would’ve been disqualified from coverage based on his extremely unique medical history. 

Edited by (BP)
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Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

Posted
Posted (edited)

Terry Funk was happy to get his SAG card from Road House just for the health care, so it must have been satisfactory enough for him. But as you stated Andre was a peculiar specimen. 

EDIT: To underline this, here's an anecdote I read somewhere (possibly in one of Heenan's books). When Andre went under the knife, he was so large that they didn't know how to anesthetize him without possibly killing him, so they asked him what his alcohol consumption was like to get a variable. He said it took him either a fifth or two, don't recall which, of vodka to make him feel warm in the belly. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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odessasteps

odessasteps

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

Terry Funk was happy to get his SAG card from Road House just for the health care, so it must have been satisfactory enough for him. But as you stated Andre was a peculiar specimen. 

Its interesting that it took Funk that long to get it, since he had been acting for a while. 

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(BP)

(BP)

Posted
Posted

I know in one of Foley’s books he mentioned being required to book a certain number of acting gigs a year to stay covered. Plus, that was way before SAG and AFTRA merged, so if Terry did some TV here and a movie there it may not have added up to being eligible for one or the other. 

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odessasteps

odessasteps

Posted
Posted (edited)

Terry & Dory often played a joke on people that ended up with a victim putting their finger in Dory's bare butt. 

I've heard the story on Fuller's pod but I don't know if it's on youtube of either Ron or Terry telling it. 

Edited by odessasteps
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BurningBeard

BurningBeard

Posted
Posted
On 4/10/2020 at 4:16 AM, RolandTHTG said:

The aborted Andre/Taker program would have been the business.

First I’ve heard of this, any more info?

Regarding aborted Andre angles, was he supposed to make a return to face the Natural Disasters after Earthquake put him out of action or was he just too beat up?

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Goitre

Goitre

Posted
Posted
On 4/10/2020 at 9:27 AM, Curt McGirt said:

EDIT: To underline this, here's an anecdote I read somewhere (possibly in one of Heenan's books). When Andre went under the knife, he was so large that they didn't know how to anesthetize him without possibly killing him, so they asked him what his alcohol consumption was like to get a variable. He said it took him either a fifth or two, don't recall which, of vodka to make him feel warm in the belly. 

I remember hearing/reading that the surgeons consulted veterinarians at the zoo, as they had experience in anesthetizing large animals.

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colonial

colonial

Posted
Posted

I seem to recall the WWF contemplated doing an Andre/Jake Roberts vs. Natural Disasters match for SummerSlam 91, but Andre was too broken down to work a full match, so the WWF opted to turn Roberts heel and feud with Savage and slotted the Bushwhackers in the tag match (believe Roberts was also pushing to going back to being a heel again).

Looking at Cagematch, I know Andre was slotted for Royal Rumble 91 but didn't work it due to injuries, but he did complete in two matches for the WWF in 1991. One a six-man in Northern Ireland where he and the Rockers beat Fuji and the Orient Express (Diamond/Tanaka), the second a battle royal at Nassau Coliseum won by Kerry Von Erich. I'm curious how they booked Andre for that battle royal. Can't imagine him being able to take an over the top rope bump at this point (even if the other wrestlers are trying to be as gentle as possible == such as the 1987 SNME battle royal), so did he even get in the ring? 

I recall we had a conversation about Andre in the 91 Rumble and how that would have been booked -- I think the general consensus was either he would have won as a farewell match of some kind, or he would have been taken out before entering the ring. I'm presuming the latter happened for the Nassau Coliseum battle royal.

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Brian Fowler

Brian Fowler

Posted
Posted (edited)

Speaking of Rumble '91 and that six man... The Rockers vs Badd Express match from RR91 is fucking outstanding. With all the love in the world to Savage and Steamboat, I think it was the best ppv match in WWF history up to that point.

Edited by Brian Fowler
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sydneybrown

sydneybrown

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, Brian Fowler said:

Speaking of Rumble '91 and that six man... The Rockers vs Badd Express match from RR91 is fucking outstanding. With all the love in the world to Savage and Steamboat, I think it was the best ppv match in WWF history up to that point.

I fucking love that match.  I've always considered it one of the best WWE opening PPV matches of all-time to this day.   That crowd was molten too.  The Gulf War had just started and there was a lot of anxiety and stress and you can tell the crowd needed a release.  Much like today.  I'll also say that Big Bossman vs. Barbarian match for its time was awesome.  It was promoted as a nothing match and they both brought it.

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PetrolCB

PetrolCB

Posted
Posted (edited)

Outside of Koko/Mountie, the '91 Rumble is pretty good. Shoot me, but I like Warrior/Slaughter. Yeah, it's not a technical masterpiece, but the surroundings made me enjoy it. Everything Savage, the commentary and the crowd's utter hatred for Sarge.

Edited by PetrolCB
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sydneybrown

sydneybrown

Posted
Posted
57 minutes ago, PetrolCB said:

Outside of Koko/Mountie, the '91 Rumble is pretty good. Shoot me, but I like Warrior/Slaughter. Yeah, it's not a technical masterpiece, but the surroundings made me enjoy it. Everything Savage, the commentary and the crowd's utter hatred for Sarge.

This actually inspired me to go back and watch the show again.  Warrior ripping up the Iraqi flag has got to be up there among the loudest pops of all time.  And the Rumble match was fine but Jesus, almost everyone is treated like a megastar.  Kerry Von Erich's moment has passed but when he comes out it's like we're suddenly at the Sportatorium circa 1984 again.

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