The Old School Questions thread

[AxB]

The blue one looks like a play pen for infants. Might as well be plastic. Steel cages are supposed to suggest an animalistic savagery, not please buy the action figure version (figure sold separately).

[Happ Hazzard]

I always liked the promos they'd do with the wrestlers standing behind a section of the blue barred cage.

[odessasteps]

12 minutes ago, Happ Hazzard said:

I always liked the promos they'd do with the wrestlers standing behind a section of the blue barred cage.

This, except the real steel cage in JCP or other places not the WWF.

[The Great ML]

I remember someone referring to the blue bar cage like running into a pile of Louisville Sluggers...hard with no give.

[elizium]

I love the blue cage, but I grew up with it, so nostalgia and all that.

 

My own question: Did anything ever come from Austin Idol coming to the ring and video taping other wrestler's matches? From Mid-Atlantic, 82 or 83 I think? Was it something he ever did in other territories?

[BloodyChamp]

On 11/5/2019 at 2:44 PM, AxB said:

The blue one looks like a play pen for infants. Might as well be plastic. Steel cages are supposed to suggest an animalistic savagery, not please buy the action figure version (figure sold separately).

This, but I’ll say this much, that it was typical WWF fare that somehow just became acceptable because it was the WWF. Kind of like unclean finishes to end every good match WCW ever had (exaggerating...but not by much).

[The Great ML]

On 11/5/2019 at 8:46 PM, elizium said:

I love the blue cage, but I grew up with it, so nostalgia and all that.

 

My own question: Did anything ever come from Austin Idol coming to the ring and video taping other wrestler's matches? From Mid-Atlantic, 82 or 83 I think? Was it something he ever did in other territories?

Not sure...but Jimmy Garvin came to World Class in the Spring of 83 doing that exact gimmick and refusing to wrestle on television because he didn’t want to show a potential weakness for opponents who could scout him.

[sydneybrown]

5 hours ago, The Great ML said:

Not sure...but Jimmy Garvin came to World Class in the Spring of 83 doing that exact gimmick and refusing to wrestle on television because he didn’t want to show a potential weakness for opponents who could scout him.

That could never work now but that was a brilliant angle at the time.  You couldn't see a top heel wrestle unless you actually went to the show to see them.  I say it was brilliant but it was short-lived and no one really stole it afterwards, so maybe it wasn't.

[BurningBeard]

What do you think Rick Rude’s gimmick would have been if he managed to return to the ring?

We know he was in heavy training prior to his death and we know he’d been pestering Bischoff to buy his Lloyd’s policy out, and there was rumours he’d have been brought in to feud with Austin, but I can’t picture him going back to his old shtick when he’d spent so many years as a besuited bodyguard 

[MORELOCK]

7 minutes ago, BurningBeard said:

there was rumours he’d have been brought in to feud with Austin

Were there? Where? He was under WCW contract, wasn't he? I also can't see Vince at the peak of his success bringing in a 40-year-old retiree who hasn't proven he can still go to feud with the biggest star in the business - especially after Rude showed up on Nitro during a taped Raw.

[BurningBeard]

Haha it was always one of those old internet rumours along with Yoko joining the Hart Foundation. It’s probably because of their history 

[LoneWolf&Subs]

2 hours ago, BurningBeard said:

What do you think Rick Rude’s gimmick would have been if he managed to return to the ring?

Probably in the same spot Hennig, and other past their prime upper mid-card stars were in during that period. Basically we would’ve been looking at neat gifs, and weird dream matches he could’ve had in WCW today. But nothing major happening ultimately. Like I don’t see him just jumping to, or near the front of the line of that roster. The only possible positive outcome could be him working a program with Bret. 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

That Hennig tag title run in early 99 still happens just with Rude instead of Windham.

[BloodyChamp]

I wish they would have given the SST another shot. They wrestled a dark match against Stars and Stripes in 1997. Heck them too lol fun times imagine Benoit and Malenko mowing over them on Nitro. And The Steiners to the SST just for the belly to belly suplexes. The Steiners belly to bellying giant fat men is the greatest visual in wrestling imo. A face turn or a tweener 1 off like the Faces of Fear had against The Outsiders would have been cool too.

[Infinit]

42 minutes ago, BloodyChamp said:

I wish they would have given the SST another shot. They wrestled a dark match against Stars and Stripes in 1997. Heck them too lol fun times imagine Benoit and Malenko mowing over them on Nitro. And The Steiners to the SST just for the belly to belly suplexes. The Steiners belly to bellying giant fat men is the greatest visual in wrestling imo. A face turn or a tweener 1 off like the Faces of Fear had against The Outsiders would have been cool too.

Was the dark match in 94/95 vs Stars and Stripes or in 97 vs The American Males? 

[BloodyChamp]

I thought it was 1997 SST vs Stars and Stripes. I didn’t look it up before posting or anything but I was sure that was it. 

[Vgmastr]

On 11/3/2019 at 5:01 PM, Happ Hazzard said:

When did the WWF start using the steel cage that lowered from the ceiling instead of having to build it and take it down again? Was Mankind vs HHH at SummerSlam '97 its first appearance? I don't recall any cage matches in 95-96 off the top of my head, but they definitely had to build the one for Bret vs Owen at SummerSlam '94.

As stated before, Hell in a Cell 97 was the first time the WWF lowered a cage from the ceiling.  The first time they lowered a traditional cage from the ceiling was at Breakdown 98, and that was still big blue, which I believe that was the only time big blue was lowered.  Big blue made a couple of more appearances, though it got repainted black, with Austin/McMahon at St. Valentine's Day Massacre and they did the finish where the Big Show threw Austin through the cage so they couldn't lower it.  I believe the last appearance of that cage was an Edge/Christian match at Rebellion 2001 where they did a finish where Edge taped Christian's feet together through the cage from inside the ring while Christian was climbing out.

I miss big blue, it was the cage I grew up with, plus you could do spots with it you can't do with the cyclone cage.  The two examples above wouldn't have been possible in the current cage, and the finish to Bret/Owen at Summerslam where Owen got his feet caught in the bars and hung upside down while Bret jumped down wouldn't have been possible either.

Edited November 11, 2019 by Vgmastr

[ReiseReise]

On 11/5/2019 at 8:19 PM, grilledcheese said:

For sure it was. That's the Chyna door slam match.

Wait a minute! Non-hokey? Am I in the minority in thinking that the blue cage is the superior cage? I fucking HATE the cyclone fence version. I like its use for HIAC, but I always thought the 80's WWF cage is the best of the bunch.

Snuka -Muraco, Snuka - Backlund, and Sammartino - Zbyszko are the only matches of the era that jump off the top of my head that were in a cage, and all three in cages made of chain link fence. It changed to the blue bars for Bundy - Hogan  WM2 and stayed that way until Valentine's Day Massacre. After that show, the cage went back to the chain link. 

I bet that blue cage was a motherfucker to bump into, though. Good for the workers that have to be in it that the new (old) style is much more giving, but I dig the visual of the other so much more.

I'm totally with you, always preferred the blue (later Black) Cage. It actually looked like a steel cage to me, other than that mash wire stuff. It was probably really uncomfortable for the wrestlers, though, as you and others pointed out. 

[Mister TV]

I liked the Blue Cage too and always popped when Lord Alfred Hayes would call it an "Iron Cage" or say something like "It's Iron Bars for Heenan!" Also the WWF used cages that had some height to them(big blue & fence style) while the other promotions used cages that were way way too short.

[Log]

Don't think anyone's mentioned this yet, but I think the blue cage had some other purposes.  One, it was easier to shoot for television.  It had the bigger openings that a camera could see through.  Also, those big openings made it easier to climb, especially for WWF's larger wrestlers.  I think its first appearance was the Hogan/Bundy match at WM2.  Two huge guys there.  

[AxB]

By bringing that up, you're dragging this into the realm of the merits of the "escape to win" cage match concept discussion. And we had that discussion (and the best cage match ever discussion) quite recently.

No blue bar match ever measures up to Blanchard vs Magnum in the "Winner marries loser's ex wife and raises their daughter" match, btw.

[Rocco]

Whats the deal with Bob Sapp never being in WWE?  I beleive he was under contract with WCW when WWE bought it and cnsidering Vince's obession with size an JR's love of football players seems like they would have went nuts for him.  

[BurningBeard]

No idea about the buyout, but I do remember RUMOURZ of WWE being interested in him when he was at the height of his popularity in Japan but they couldn't offer him enough money to make it worthwhile. 

 

[Technico Support]

On 11/5/2019 at 7:22 PM, The Great ML said:

I remember someone referring to the blue bar cage like running into a pile of Louisville Sluggers...hard with no give.

As @Log mentioned, it looked better on television.  So in the 80s, the WWF made the ring and the cage both much worse for the workers in the name of TV friendliness.

Edited November 13, 2019 by Technico Support

[colonial]

Forget who reported it initially, but I recall reading that Sapp was in line for the spot that went to Monty Brown in WWECW but Sapp wanted too much money.