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Mr Harms

By Mr Harms
in The PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING

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Word Hoard

Word Hoard

Posted
Posted
On 3/8/2019 at 2:13 PM, RazorbladeKiss87 said:

 

Who would be the announcer for this? I read Hornbaker's website section about Chicago but it doesn't say who was doing commentary. It also wasn't real clear if this was part of the DuMont Network airings or not.

The announcer is Russ Davis. I became a fan after hearing his work on the Chicago footage that came out a few years back. 

"Russell W. Davis was born in Kansas City, Missouri on September 15, 1909. After graduating high school in 1927 he worked at Kansas City radio stations until he left the city in 1931. From 1931 to 1940 he worked at a number of radio stations around the country including KOA in Denver and KWTO in Springfield, Missouri. Starting in 1941 he began working at the CBS radio affiliate in Chicago.

In 1946 he made the switch to television at WBKB, which was Chicago’s first commercial television station. He worked on a variety of shows including two different wrestling shows from the Rainbo and Midway arenas, boxing matches, and Christmas and New Year’s Eve specials. He provided commentary for a women’s baseball league, hosted a short-lived but popular amateur show The Knickerbocker Hours, was the emcee for a man-on-the-street show Off the Cuff, and was the announcer for The Jane Foster Show in which Foster and Davis advised housewives on their domestic problems. No copies of these shows are known to exist.

He left the station in 1949 to co-found IWF, Inc. with his wife Sylvia, who he married in 1946. IWF stood for both Imperial World Films and International Wrestling Films. The company primarily released syndicated wrestling shows that Russ announced. The show was leased to over 160 stations nationwide. Due to its success Russ Davis was considered a television pioneer amongst wrestling fans in the 1950s. The company also made sponsored films and a few other TV series including Raymond Massey Reads the Bible (1951).

From the summer of 1951 to May 1952 Russ and Sylvia hosted a daily talk show on WGN called alternately The Davises or The Russ Davis Show. In the show the Davises attempted to enlighten and entertain the viewers (mostly housewives) by interviewing guests from the world of high culture – opera singers, art critics, ballet dancers, musicians – in a welcoming, yet slightly irreverent tone.

He worked on the IWF wrestling TV shows until his death on March 14, 1969. He died of a heart attack, but had been battling alcohol addiction for decades."

 

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BurningBeard

BurningBeard

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 4/21/2019 at 3:38 AM, BloodyChamp said:

Any NWF historians around? I have a few questions.

Not really, all I know is they were a small time New York independent, Inoki ended up with their title and elevated into something it should never have been before retiring the belt, and it was bizarrely revived by a stable of quasi-MMA fighters in NJPW the early 2000s and was held by Takayama.

Edited by CreativeControl
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clintthecrippler

clintthecrippler

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, CreativeControl said:

Not really, all I know is they were a small time New York independent, Inoki ended up with their title and elevated into something it should never have been before retiring the belt, and it was bizarrely revived by a stable of quasi-MMA fighters in NJPW the early 2000s and was held by Takayama.

I think you have your NWF promotions crossed up. There was a smaller indy in the 80s called the NWF using mostly ex-WWF guys and Philly folks that would end up in Goodhart's Tri State.

The NWF that got tied in with Inoki and NJPW was a non-NWA territory promotion in the 60s and 70s that covered Pittsburgh/Cleveland/Buffalo. It was home of the infamous Ernie Ladd/Ox Baker riot in Cleveland, as well as the promoter of one of the most ridiculous stadium shows of the era, the "Super Bowl of Wrestling", a show with multiple tournaments and matches in three rings at the same time.

When the American promotion closed shop, I believe Johnny Powers was its champion and working with NJPW at the time, so he lost the NWF Title to Inoki and NJ kept it going as one of their main titles into the 1980s. 

Theres an NWF Title match from Cleveland between Inoki and Ernie Ladd that aired on NJ Classics some years ago.

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Tromatagon

Tromatagon

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think I'd hate that three ring circus of wrestling idea so much if I were actually at the show, but it's pretty goddamned intriguing to think about.  I haven't heard that one before.  You know someone had to have gone out there with the intention of just fucking with the guys in the other two matches during their match.

Edited by Tromatagon
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Mister TV

Mister TV

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

I think you have your NWF promotions crossed up. There was a smaller indy in the 80s called the NWF using mostly ex-WWF guys and Philly folks that would end up in Goodhart's Tri State.

The NWF that got tied in with Inoki and NJPW was a non-NWA territory promotion in the 60s and 70s that covered Pittsburgh/Cleveland/Buffalo. It was home of the infamous Ernie Ladd/Ox Baker riot in Cleveland, as well as the promoter of one of the most ridiculous stadium shows of the era, the "Super Bowl of Wrestling", a show with multiple tournaments and matches in three rings at the same time.

When the American promotion closed shop, I believe Johnny Powers was its champion and working with NJPW at the time, so he lost the NWF Title to Inoki and NJ kept it going as one of their main titles into the 1980s. 

Theres an NWF Title match from Cleveland between Inoki and Ernie Ladd that aired on NJ Classics some years ago.

Pittsburgh wasn’t part of the Cleveland/Buffalo territory/NWF that Pedro Martinez controlled, they were their own thing and recognized the WWWF champion since Bruno owned part of the office. Martinez bought the Pittsburgh office in 1972 and used local guys, some Cleveland guys with Bruno on top at Civic Arena shows, the spot shows used just the local guys. Martinez bailed sometime in 1973, Bruno and the local promoters ran things until the area became part of the Capitol/WWWF circuit in 1974 when Bruno got the belt back. 

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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

Posted
Posted

I’m trying to figure what regional TV show it was I used to watch every Sunday afternoon on Fox 31 out of Albany, Ga. It came on during an afternoon block of wrestling that included Worldwide and I want to say Mid-Atlantic. 

I could have swore there was a team called “The Masked Man Number 1” and The Masked Man Number 2.” I clearly remember them being called individually but never as “The Masked Men.” I’ve since found a few The Masked Executioners (NWF) matches on YouTube and the announcer referred to them individually and as a tag team. That sounds close I guess this was it.

 

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thee Reverend Axl Future

thee Reverend Axl Future

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, BloodyChamp said:

Which promo thread does this go in ?

https://www.wwe.com/videos/kamala-shark-zodiac-and-meng-in-the-dungeon-of-doom-saturday-night-sept-9-1995

The OS Question is: why is "Zodiac" there to harsh my vibe on this great amazing brilliant slice of Pro Rasslin Genius? He is and always was a downer. Abbuhdein bless the rest.

- RAF

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BloodyChamp

BloodyChamp

Posted
Posted

There was a time and a place for that stuff at 1 time that’s for sure. And it might have even been doable then had everybody not hated the face they were all after. 

Also besides the Zodiac, that promo is a bunch of guys who at 1 time were heels that legit scared the s*** out of people.

 

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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 hours ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

The OS Question is: why is "Zodiac" there to harsh my vibe on this great amazing brilliant slice of Pro Rasslin Genius? He is and always was a downer. Abbuhdein bless the rest.

- RAF

Brutus should have just been on Hogan's side anyway, and the Barbarian should have been put in earlier.

Curtis Iaukea, Sullivan, Tenta, Kamala, Meng, and the Barbarian would have been a straight up terrifying faction. Then, add The Giant and leave it at that.

Edited by Nice Guy Eddie
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Nice Guy Eddie

Nice Guy Eddie

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Tromatagon said:

I really want that helmet Meng is wearing in that Dungeon of Doom segment

I hope he either has that hanging on a wall in his home or gave it to Hikuleo on like his fifth birthday.

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Raziel

Raziel

Posted
Posted

So, this has driven me nuts for years.  As a kid, I saw on TV some cage match.  Chain link cage, but it had several handcuffs on the cage, and you could lock the opponent in one for like a minute, then the ref released them.  I saw this match, but I can't remember who was in it, or what promotion it was for.  Anyone else manage to see this, I haven't been able to find it in years.

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clintthecrippler

clintthecrippler

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Raziel said:

So, this has driven me nuts for years.  As a kid, I saw on TV some cage match.  Chain link cage, but it had several handcuffs on the cage, and you could lock the opponent in one for like a minute, then the ref released them.  I saw this match, but I can't remember who was in it, or what promotion it was for.  Anyone else manage to see this, I haven't been able to find it in years.

Dallas did a few of these during the Jerry Jarrett/Eric Embry time frame of World Class/USWA, in addition to the one Nice Guy Eddie linked.

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Mister TV

Mister TV

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, clintthecrippler said:

Dallas did a few of these during the Jerry Jarrett/Eric Embry time frame of World Class/USWA, in addition to the one Nice Guy Eddie linked.

I think they did something similar during the USWA/SMW feud.

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cwoy2j

cwoy2j

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, clintthecrippler said:

Dallas did a few of these during the Jerry Jarrett/Eric Embry time frame of World Class/USWA, in addition to the one Nice Guy Eddie linked.

Foley talked about one of those in his book. He said he was in one and the fans were popping like crazy. Embry thought it was because the fans were going nuts for his comeback. However, it was really because two faces were about to kick Terrence Garvin, who was doing a gay gimmick, in the nuts as he was handcuffed to the cage. Garvin "fainted" before the deed could be done and then the fans noticed Embry was in the middle of his comeback but it was met only with polite applause.

Edited by cwoy2j
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J.H.

J.H.

Posted
Posted

I would swear they did one of those matches between the Freebirds and /Von Erichs at one point because.. .well that just seems like the perfect match for those groups

James

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