The Old School Questions thread

[Peck]

2 minutes ago, Log said:

At some point, didn't they even plant the seeds for a Rude/Vader feud?  

It's sad that we never got to see a tough-guy face Rude run.  

Leading up to the match, there was a backstage interview with both where Vader said Rude owed him one and when Rude wins the title that Vader wants the first shot. That was about it though.

[Log]

20 minutes ago, Peck said:

Leading up to the match, there was a backstage interview with both where Vader said Rude owed him one and when Rude wins the title that Vader wants the first shot. That was about it though.

I thought there was something with Rude accidentally hitting Vader with a chair or vice-versa.  Did that happen?

[RandomAct]

The deal was Vader stepping in at Halloween Havoc to defend the US title against Nikita for Rude, since Rude was facing Chono for the NWA belt. Rude cut a promo saying that he'd give Vader a shot at the World title should he beat Simmons, to return the favor. It never went any further than that.

[Peck]

Any specific reasoning behind the cult following of Tex Slazenger at WCW's Center Stage Theater in early '93?

[DMJ]

Found this on WrestlingClassics.com:

Part of the reason Tex Slazenger seemed to be over more was due to some fans at the Center Stage for tapings of WCW Saturday Night, including future WCW announcer Scott Hudson, adopting him as a comedy cult hero. They would bring signs showing support for Tex and would chant and cheer for him at the expense of his babyface foes. WCW's bookers and other honchos were less than impressed by this and attempted to surpress this fan movement. I think there may have been some incidents of signs being confiscated and fans being told to knock it off or face ejection from the building.

There are some follow-up posts too, including one from someone who seems like they were part of the Tex Fan Club. 

And based on some other discussion about Dennis "Tex Slazenger" Knight, he was supposedly really well-liked backstage and a bit of a goofball and its possible that the Center Stage regulars saw that personality more than the cameras ever captured. Its not all that uncommon to hear similar stories about other guys in the 70s and 80s (and really 92' wasn't that far removed from those eras, especially WCW), whose fans ended up drinking beers with them after the show in a way that today's fans would never experience. So, if your audience is also made up of some of these fans, and the audience as a whole isn't all that big, even a half dozen or so can make lots of noise. But, again, that's kinda conjecture as to how this all might have started as a laugh/joke and then turned into something weirdly cute and endearing.

[AxB]

Isn't that exactly how Lance Hoyt got over in TNA, and Mojo Rawley got over in NXT? By just hanging out with the fans?

[odessasteps]

It's funny how guys either in the business already or wanted to be in the business thought it was more important to try and break kayfabe and be too smart for the room. 

Even though Bruce and John did newsletter stuff, I don't know that the Front Row, Section D guys wanted jobs in the business or were just out to amuse themselves and their friends. 

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

I always marked out for The Texicans. The throwback gimmick, great sleazy look, the good names, the... mask? Solid workers able to get heat, so much more fun than just seeing some bland green babyface get an undeserved W. Southern Justice is a boss team name as well. The Attitude Era surely proved their gameness and sense of humor.

[ReiseReise]

Another old German WWF show, this time it was a WWF Challenge from 1990, and this time I got REALLY weirded out. And one point, in the middle of multiple squash matches, they showed wrestling rankings. This in itself wasn't too weird, but first list was actually a top ten of all wrestling and had actually Ric Flair (who was with the NWA) and several other wrestlers from outside the Federation at that time (Stan Hansen, Jerry Lawler e. g.) 

[cwoy2j]

15 hours ago, thee Reverend Axl Future said:

I always marked out for The Texicans. The throwback gimmick, great sleazy look, the good names, the... mask? Solid workers able to get heat, so much more fun than just seeing some bland green babyface get an undeserved W. Southern Justice is a boss team name as well. The Attitude Era surely proved their gameness and sense of humor.

As a kid, for some reason I always thought it was cool that only one guy in the team had a mask. One dude doesn't give a fuck that people know who he is but the other guy  needs to hide his identity for some reason.

[(BP)]

I was a Southern Justice mark. It sucks that Canterbury got hurt almost right after they were repackaged. When Knight became Mideon I was bummed. 

[Big Z]

On 10/1/2021 at 9:04 AM, Log said:

I thought there was something with Rude accidentally hitting Vader with a chair or vice-versa.  Did that happen?

Close, Harley Race (Vader's manager) accidentally hit Rude with a chair at Spring Stampede 1994 to cost Rude the International Title. I believe that Rude and Vader were scheduled to meet at Slamboree '94 before Rude got hurt in Japan, and Rude was the quasi-face in the abrupted feud.

[The Great ML]

38 minutes ago, Big Z said:

Close, Harley Race (Vader's manager) accidentally hit Rude with a chair at Spring Stampede 1994 to cost Rude the International Title. I believe that Rude and Vader were scheduled to meet at Slamboree '94 before Rude got hurt in Japan, and Rude was the quasi-face in the abrupted feud.

Correct on all counts

[Shane]

Anyone know of a site that has decent listings for early/mid 80s Florida TV? Or are the bits and pieces available so spread out that no one ever bothered? Trying to figure out the dates on some Windham stuff and not having a lot of luck. 

[odessasteps]

Maybe contact Barry Rose / the 104 N Albany folks. 

[Zimbra]

Where did the convention of dickish heels in Japan using one name in all caps come from?  First one I remember was AKIRA, was there anyone before that?

[(BP)]

19 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Where did the convention of dickish heels in Japan using one name in all caps come from?  First one I remember was AKIRA, was there anyone before that?

My understanding is that Kanji doesn’t have lowercase, so any Japanese wrestler that uses an English stylized version of their name uses all caps. It’s probably considered flashy to use English for names there so it’s mostly done by heels. I’m sure someone more familiar with puro has more info on how it’s perceived and who did it first. 

[Infinit]

The "American Starship" gimmick was used in the WWF??

 

[driver]

Dan Spivey?

 

[cwoy2j]

On 11/19/2021 at 1:35 PM, Infinit said:

The "American Starship" gimmick was used in the WWF??

 

I love the "Kung Fu Karate Match" between Steamboat and Fuji. They should've shoehorned "Mok'bara" in there to make it extra Kabuki-ish.

[cwoy2j]

Also, "Kung Fu Karate" basically says, "tell me this poster was written by a white person without telling me it was written by a white person."

[cwoy2j]

Billy Ray Valentine was a noted practitioner of Kung Fu Karate

[Curt McGirt]

Holy shit is that a like 12 year old Giancarlo Esposito right there?

[cwoy2j]

14 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Holy shit is that a like 12 year old Giancarlo Esposito right there?

Yep. He had a cameo as one of the prisoners where Billy Ray Valentine was being held after getting arrested for panhandling. Quick wiki check says he was 25 when Trading Places came out.

[Curt McGirt]

I've only seen bits of the movie on TV before. Clearly Dave Chappelle stole the outfit for Tyrone Biggums from this, only he changed the hood to a red hat.