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RIPPA

By RIPPA
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Hagan

Hagan

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On a slow watch of SNME. I came aboard WWF in late  '87 so those first couple years are blowing my mind. Like, I always KNEW that Terry Funk was around but seeing him bumping around for Hogan in '86 just seems so incongruous. 

I also missed all of the Hogan/Ordorff stuff.

It's also striking how much Piper and Ventura are such key components of the early years. 

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Gorman

Gorman

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Thoughts on King of the Ring 99

Terry Taylor asked Hardcore Holly the question that was on my mind: Why did you hit X-Pac with a chair in front of the ref to knock yourself out of the tournament?  Answer: Because I'm the Big Shot, and I play by my own rules.

Poor Road Dogg had to carry Chyna through a match that was longer than the other three quarterfinal bouts combined. The WWF was doing a great job at pushing her to be taken seriously against the guys, but her offense was just above jobber-level. Very clever finish with Chyna hurting her arm on the low blow, as Road Dogg used a steel cup.

Ken Shamrock's "internal injuries" gimmick was on full display, as he bled from the mouth on Sunday Night Heat and against Billy Gunn, causing ref Teddy Long to stop the match. 

The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian showed the first glimpse of their chemistry together, and the Hardyz earned a title shot against the Acolytes, which they successfully cashed in two nights later.

X-Pac was such a great underdog babyface at this time that it's amazing that WWF fans refused to cheer for him against WCW during the Invasion just two years later.

Undertaker-Rock was an underrated great match, as Triple H continued to insert himself into the title picture. I loved Taker's attempt to win with the old "ether-soaked rag" gimmick.

The main event featured two of wrestling's greatest unsolved mysteries: Who was behind GTV (which caught Shane McMahon trying to get out of the match) and who raised the briefcase when Austin tried to grab it? Although Austin lost his 50 percent control of the WWF, he was smart enough to pre-book a title shot, and he won the belt from Taker one night later.

Billy Gunn is the MVP of the night, even though his King of Ring victory didn't help his career very much. It's not his fault that ...

A. He was booked to get a cheap win in the semifinals when Big Show knocked out Kane with a chair;

B. He was called "Mr. Ass" all night instead of "Billy Gunn";  

C. He was carrying around one of the Acolytes' tag team title belts all night, which didn't help the fans think of him as a singles wrestler; and 

D. He didn't get a coronation or victory speech. 

So when the Rock absolutely smoked him on the microphone before their SummerSlam match, he wasn't exactly killing Gunn's promising push.

 

 

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FireThunder

FireThunder

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On 12/12/2017 at 1:47 AM, Cristobal said:

Ride Along episode with Breezango and Mr and Mrs Rusev is the best one yet. Breezango have a crime board behind them and we get a brief Takeshi Morishima appearance (in footage)

Breezango deciding they were going to bury random people from the locker room, starting with Kofi Kingston, was funny as hell.

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Gorman

Gorman

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Thoughts on Fully Loaded 99

Jeff Jarrett winning the IC title from Edge was immediately overshadowed by Austin coming out and giving him the Stunner. Austin then promised to bust open The Undertaker before their first blood match, and he did it. Darn it, I'm just going to give the MVP award to Austin right now. 

The first four matches saw titles change hands, which led to the law of diminishing returns. However, Bossman's win over Al Snow was another great, brutal Hardcore title match in the pre-24/7 era. Snow was begging Bossman to beat him up to silence the "screams" of Head, which had a spike through it. 

In the other title changes, D-Lo Brown won the European title from Mideon to restore a modicum of luster to that title, and the Acolytes regained the tag team belts. The Hardy Boyz didn't look bad at all because their manager (Michael Hayes) got pinned in the handicap match.

The Iron Circle match was a goofy idea, but it turned out to be a really good fight. I liked the other wrestlers drumming on the cars, and the fact that they didn't interfere - they just stayed out of the way. This was the best of the pseudo-MMA bouts (Dungeon, Lion's Den) that the WWF foisted onto Shamrock.

Billy Gunn's King of the Ring anti-push continued. Not only was he on the losing end of the "Battle for DX merch rights" match, but he got pinned! Later, he helped Triple H beat the Rock in the Fully Loaded strap match, which made him seem like a mere helper rather than a star in his own right. With Hunter getting the rocket push, there was no chance for Gunn to benefit from winning King of the Ring. They might as well have let X-Pac win it.

The aftermatch of the "End of an Era" match between Austin and Taker was really goofy. Austin won the match, but then Taker won a brawl with him afterwards. Triple H came out to show that he was next in line for a title shot, but the Rock attacked Hunter, even though he was out of the title picture. At least the "end" of the Vince-Austin feud was done right. Handshake, boot, stunner.

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elizium

elizium

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Some Mid-South 82 thoughts:

Watching Arn Anderson (I mean Marty Lunde) getting absolutely trucked as a jobber is so bizarre to watch. It just doesn't seem right at all. He's really trying to hang onto that hair too.

Bob Roop has become one of my favourites. I've never really had a chance to watch him before and his work is fantastic. I wish they'd run more with him as the paranoid asshole North American champ. He got the title shot by fucking with the engine of Paul Orndorff's car! But I get that they wanted to get to the Dibiase heel turn...

Speaking of, I was pretty underwhelmed with Dibiase as a face. Fine wrestler, but pretty bland in a Terry Taylor way. He's been fantastic as a heel. Him, Duggan and Matt Borne are such a great sleazy stable. Look at these cocky assholes:

ixuXObH.jpg

Pretty hilarious how they cannot decide how to pronounce Duggan. One episode in late 82 Watts is pronouncing it Doogan, stops to say that its supposed to be pronounced Duggan and then immediately goes right back to saying Doogan.

Mr. Wrestling II looks like he's wearing a diaper. It is very unsettling.

One thing Mid-South is not that great at is promoting monsters. One Man Gang is introduced as nearly unstoppable and is at least 100 pounds heavier than anyone else on the roster, but after about a month he's bumping around like everyone else and wrestling 50/50 matches. I feel like Kamala is about to go the same way.

Boyd Pierce doesn't add much to the show, but damn does the dude know how to dress.

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Brian Fowler

Brian Fowler

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First time I saw heel Duggan I was shocked how good he was at it. Never would've guessed watching him in WWF and WCW. I'd always heard about how much better his ring work was in Mid-South, but not about how great a dick heel he was.

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cwoy2j

cwoy2j

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11 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

First time I saw heel Duggan I was shocked how good he was at it. Never would've guessed watching him in WWF and WCW. I'd always heard about how much better his ring work was in Mid-South, but not about how great a dick heel he was.

Same here. I only knew goofy babyface Duggan but he was pretty great in Mid-South.

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cwoy2j

cwoy2j

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12 hours ago, elizium said:

Some Mid-South 82 thoughts:

Watching Arn Anderson (I mean Marty Lunde) getting absolutely trucked as a jobber is so bizarre to watch. It just doesn't seem right at all. He's really trying to hang onto that hair too.

Bob Roop has become one of my favourites. I've never really had a chance to watch him before and his work is fantastic. I wish they'd run more with him as the paranoid asshole North American champ. He got the title shot by fucking with the engine of Paul Orndorff's car! But I get that they wanted to get to the Dibiase heel turn...

Speaking of, I was pretty underwhelmed with Dibiase as a face. Fine wrestler, but pretty bland in a Terry Taylor way. He's been fantastic as a heel. Him, Duggan and Matt Borne are such a great sleazy stable. Look at these cocky assholes:

ixuXObH.jpg

Pretty hilarious how they cannot decide how to pronounce Duggan. One episode in late 82 Watts is pronouncing it Doogan, stops to say that its supposed to be pronounced Duggan and then immediately goes right back to saying Doogan.

Mr. Wrestling II looks like he's wearing a diaper. It is very unsettling.

One thing Mid-South is not that great at is promoting monsters. One Man Gang is introduced as nearly unstoppable and is at least 100 pounds heavier than anyone else on the roster, but after about a month he's bumping around like everyone else and wrestling 50/50 matches. I feel like Kamala is about to go the same way.

Boyd Pierce doesn't add much to the show, but damn does the dude know how to dress.

Ha, I always noticed Watts' pronunciation of Duggan/Doogan as well. 

The angle with II taking Magnum TA under his wing and teaching him the knee lift and then turning on him later was great stuff.

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Hamhock

Hamhock

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1 hour ago, cwoy2j said:

Ha, I always noticed Watts' pronunciation of Duggan/Doogan as well. 

The angle with II taking Magnum TA under his wing and teaching him the knee lift and then turning on him later was great stuff.

I just wish they'd put up all of Mid-South rather than just a sprinkling of episodes from each year. I want to see all of '84, '85 and '86!

I really, really like the DiBiase heel turn and the ensuing aftermath - that being said, his shocking use of a hidden foreign object in the glove would have had a better contrast with the others if they didn't have The Grappler loading his boot and mask and Buck Robley "adjusting his forearm brace" on the same show.

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elizium

elizium

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Rookie year Dr. Death is so chunky. It's pretty crazy that he was wrestling during the off-season of Division 1 football. Like, I couldn't imagine Nick Saban or whoever letting one of his starters show up in ROH to wrestle a full time schedule. "Try not to get hurt, see you next fall..."

Williams returns during the first Mid-South show of 83 and Bill Watts of course spends most of the match talking about football. Specifically he starts talking about some of the super heavyweight players, including a 340 lbs youngster from LSU...John Tenta.

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quackhell

quackhell

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On January 2, 2018 at 1:02 AM, The Green Meanie said:

Photo Shoot wasn't bad, interesting to see who else they'll bring in.

Indeed. Simple concept executed pretty well. Fun to see them include some Swiss Money Holding era shots for Cesaro.

Rusev, Owens would be a must but I can imagine a lot of people being fun subjects for this show.

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sydneybrown

sydneybrown

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On 12/24/2017 at 2:06 AM, elizium said:

Some Mid-South 82 thoughts:

Pretty hilarious how they cannot decide how to pronounce Duggan. One episode in late 82 Watts is pronouncing it Doogan, stops to say that its supposed to be pronounced Duggan and then immediately goes right back to saying Doogan.

Ha, I've been going through 82 this weekend and noticed the same thing.  Watts: "It's pronounced DUH-gan, and if you don't say it right, he'll LET YOU KNOW!"  Watts proceeds to then call him DOO-gan for the next three years.

What blew my mind in this was listening to Watts talk about various amateur college wrestlers and at one point he brought up what a star he thought a guy named John Tenta would someday be.  IN 1982!

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elizium

elizium

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He mentions Tenta a couple times. Kinda cool how that worked out, especially since it wasn't like a Dr. Death thing and Tenta was actively trying to become a professional wrestler while still attending school. Also, its pretty crazy how Oklahoma just let Williams wrestle in the off-season. No way a nationally ranked team would let that happen these days.

The Network needs to add more Mid-South, finished off 82/the few 83 eps they have and then it jumps to 85 and is sporadic after that.

Started to watch World Class to tide me over, but after watching an episode from 82, the Network randomly autoplayed an episode from 85 after it. The episode with the Mike Von Erich press conference.... I've seen parts of it before, through the documentaries, but watching it in context just drives home how disgusting of a moment it is. Fritz looming in the background, Kerry and Kevin pushing and pushing that Mike is going to wrestle again and will be at the Cotton Bowl show and all the while Mike is sitting their like a zombie. He clearly is no longer a fully functioning human being and they're parading him out there to sell the fucking show. So crass and horrible. Fuck Fritz and fuck World Class.

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