RIPPA Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 In trying to take advantage of the new site design and pad content... I guess you could call this the first in a series of... something LOVED YOU LATE: 5 Guys Who "Grew" On Me We will see where this goes 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 That was fun. Mind you, it opened with Harley Race and you spoke of His good works. Long may He reign. In all seriousness, that was killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Good start. Looking forward to more articles in the series. I guess these are my five: 1) Mick Foley / Cactus Jack 2) Mr. Gannosuke 3) Dr. Wagner Jr. 4) James Storm 5) Prince Davitt (Finn Balor) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Off the top of my head, the only Judy Martin I've seen is Glamour Girls vs. Jumping Bomb Angels and the Rumble match with Rockin Robin. Now I'm curious. I do know her and Kai did excellent work grounding and Bomb Angels and then taking all the (by late 80's WWF standards) absurdly high end offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 My #1 might be dusty. I was a heel fan from the get go and def preferred tully and flair when i started watch 85 crockett. It didnt help when i learned he was the matchmaker and super pushed himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buy Me a Burrito Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Tully Blanchard Geno Hernandez Rick Rude Bobby Eaton Manny Fernandez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'd rather comment on Phil's choices than mention my own. I'm still not high on Harley. While I think the critique of "1980 Kurt Angle" isn't entirely fair, I think he gives far too much of his title matches to his opponent. There's a difference between making your opponent shine and giving so much of the match that there's never really a narrative threat. I understand that there's a level of vulnerability that draws in a heel champ, but that's not what I want out of Race. I am higher on his 80s Japanese Brawls, especially some of the footage we've seen recently, but not vs Brody/Hansen. He's definitely more interesting when up against a heel (the Gino match was fascinating for instance). Some of the others, though. In general, I'm rarely going to be excited about a new Harley match relative to new matches from other wrestlers though. Man, I don't see how someone couldn't love Eaton from the get go. I have a weird fandom with him though, as I first encountered him as a babyface in 1991 (and my inclinations were always towards the TV title as opposed to the bigger belts), so when he turned again, I was still a fan. But it was hugely exciting to then be able to go back and see all the MX stuff as I got older too. What I love now, looking back, is the amount of Memphis that's part of his act. It's stuff I wouldn't have been able to pick out from his Crockett and Mid-South work before going back further and becoming more familiar with Memphis. There was a Poffo/Bracero vs MX tag where the first five minutes was stalling as they walked around the ring and it was glorious. Tenta is a similar case for me, in that while I didn't care about the roided guys as a 10 year old, I did care about the fast-moving ones. I was a little kid so I was into smaller guys like the Rockers and Owen Hart/Koko B. Ware, and uh, Shane Douglas. I didn't want to see a slow, plodding wrestler. That only got worse, not better in the late 90s with cruiserweights and the rise of the super indy style. It took a long time before I really started value the meaning behind moves, and Quake is awesome at making everything mean something. Also, while the WCW run is no great shakes, he was a great job match worker, and I love the Shark Attack as a finisher. He was a guy who was legit tough and has matches in Japan where you can see that, but that just makes how effective he was working a safe US style and looking incredibly formidable all the more impressive. Tenryu has a great match against Mil Mascaras. Good for Tenyru. I really need to get the 80s DVDVR NJPW set. Judy Martin is great. Great. I watched the Glamour Girls vs Jumping Bomb Angels match a few years ago (the Rumble one) and it wasn't even close. The best wrestler in that match was Martin, by far. Blew me away and I went and watched a bunch of her matches after that and they're all pretty good. She's a great bruiser heel who could really control a match. I have to see if i can find the Judy Martin vs Desiree Peterson from Boston 7/22/85 match online, because it's a total blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 I have to see if i can find the Judy Martin vs Desiree Peterson from Boston 7/22/85 match online, because it's a total blast. I am assuming this is it http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2tu6yk Either way I have never seen it so I am excited Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 That's it. I could tell by fast forwarding to the 8:21 mark or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramsey Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I'm still not high on Harley. While I think the critique of "1980 Kurt Angle" isn't entirely fair, I think he gives far too much of his title matches to his opponent. There's a difference between making your opponent shine and giving so much of the match that there's never really a narrative threat. I understand that there's a level of vulnerability that draws in a heel champ, but that's not what I want out of Race. I am higher on his 80s Japanese Brawls, especially some of the footage we've seen recently, but not vs Brody/Hansen. He's definitely more interesting when up against a heel (the Gino match was fascinating for instance). Some of the others, though. In general, I'm rarely going to be excited about a new Harley match relative to new matches from other wrestlers though. HUSH YOUR WHORE MOUTH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Not goinna lie, I'll miss Matt when 72-year-old Harley Race walks a straight line atop power lines and across river bottoms to the D household and throat-punches Matt to death in his sleep. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I really like the idea of Harley Race. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odessasteps Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 If only Harley had done a missile dropkick instead of a falling/flying headbutt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RIPPA Posted November 20, 2015 Author Share Posted November 20, 2015 I was thinking about this on the way home I think WCW missed a huge opportunity not using Tenta in a big guy/little guy tag team which one of the whole bunch of guys they had meandering around. I haven't figured out WHO that person should have been to team with Tenta but I think it would have been awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 I was thinking about this on the way home I think WCW missed a huge opportunity not using Tenta in a big guy/little guy tag team which one of the whole bunch of guys they had meandering around. I haven't figured out WHO that person should have been to team with Tenta but I think it would have been awesome. La Parka. Tell me I'm wrong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SirSmUgly Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I have always dug Eaton from the moment I saw the Eaton/Lane Midnights, which was my first exposure to him. That still is my favorite tag team ever. Quake, I remember not being interested in as a kid until he teamed up with Typhoon. I'd go out on a limb and say that the Disasters were a very good tag team, worth placing in a top-thirty or so of all-time WW(WF/F/E) tag teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Wyatt Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I was thinking about this on the way home I think WCW missed a huge opportunity not using Tenta in a big guy/little guy tag team which one of the whole bunch of guys they had meandering around. I haven't figured out WHO that person should have been to team with Tenta but I think it would have been awesome. La Parka.Tell me I'm wrong. La Sharka? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The answer's pretty much September 1995 Sabu. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Taker. Sure, the character was cool and all, but it wasn't until his American Badass period that I started to recognize how well the guy can work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spritenaut 32 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 That's partly because it wasn't until then that he started having good matches with any regularity. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo Necro Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I agree with Tenryu and Tenta so much, until I started reading PWI I always assumed Tenta was a 'Fatty' ala Abdullah (who I'm also wrong on). Tenryu is a guy who I skipped on tapes to get to Hase, Kobashi and Misawa and that seems like sin because about 5 years ago how awesome Tenryu is and I realised the awesomeness and figured how terrible I am! I'd like to add Miz, Jesus, if there was ever a dude I hated who I turned on was him. Dude is perfect midcard heel. Second off, lucha in general, so late on it all. Rush and lucha underground single handed changed my view on that. Wild Boar, a small Welsh dude who made me realise, despite living Europe, that the wrestling over here is awesome. Also Big Damo, he is like a big Irish Brodie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo Necro Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The answer's pretty much September 1995 Sabu. Sorry for the double post, but legit RVD, Sabu, Rhino, might be the answer to this thread. Legit all 3 were awesome, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Fowler Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Taker. Sure, the character was cool and all, but it wasn't until his American Badass period that I started to recognize how well the guy can work.Not true at all. In 96-98 he was pretty consistently good with a handful of classics.I don't think his ABA run stacks up well to that three year period or the last several years of his full time career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cristobal Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I like 90s Taker now, too. If you accept the slower pace as part of the gimmick, you realize how well he's working the crowd, even into the smarmy Attitude era groups who you'd think would shit on it. EDIT: Brian, you misunderstand. It wasn't until then that I could look back and recognize what he was doing. Dropping the Deadman bit made me realize it was part of the gimmick, and not any lack of ability on his part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Jim Duggan mainly because I never saw any of his Mid-South stuff until much later. WWF he was as much comic relief as anything and his WCW run is full of huge amounts of nothing combined with him gettin' older. Seeing Mid-South put his whole career in a totally different light for me. There are actually a few Mid South examples for me but he's definitely the biggest net benefit guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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