Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

MAY 2020 WRESTLING CHAT.

The Natural
 Share

Recommended Posts

Zakk_Sabbath

Zakk_Sabbath

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, D.Z said:

NWA announcement soon. About the future of the promotion.

This can't be good. My understanding is they weren't really profitable even before the pandemic... I really respect the hell out of Billy Corgan for trying to do something different (in wrestling; Zwan is a different story).

Maybe he ends up selling to someone and makes a few bucks on whatever tape libraries are part of it (Houston?) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NikoBaltimore

NikoBaltimore

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, BurningBeard said:

You’ve got issues

Hey, if you determined that from an embellished sentence then more power to you.  Lord knows I don't have many other issues that are things to worry about (stuttering, forgetfulness, etc.)  But for this all I did was just beat him in a couple regular matches then deleted him from the game.  So I'd say compared to what I really have going on it's fine.

Edited by NikoBaltimore
Link to comment
Share on other sites
twiztor

twiztor

Posted
Posted

so, with all the talk about Herb Abrams, and the airing of an episode about him on "Dark Side of the Ring", it inspired me to watch some of his UWF. I'm going in completely blind, as i haven't seen anything else he promoted and i'm not aware of any of the matches or even who's involved. 

Here, spoilered for length, are my thoughts on Blackjack Brawl (#1).

Spoiler

Blackjack Brawl 1
9/23/1994 @ MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV

this show is presented by "Mr. Electricity" himself, Herb Abrams. oh good, right away i get a look at this guy. Man, he's tiny. The ring announcer lets us know that he is also known as "Yellowbird". wtf?
Google tells me this arena was set up to hold 17,000 and only drew 644 (including 400+ comps). ouch. They hype this up throughout the show as the first in a trilogy of Blackjack Brawls. obviously, that never ends up happening, as most (all?) of these guys got stiffed on pay and the UWF never holds another event. 

Our commentary team is Carlo Gianelli and "Golden Greek" John Tolos. Our ring announcer is Steve "the Legend" Rossi. and man, oh man, are all three of these guys absolutely fucking terrible. Let me just get this out of the way right now. The announcers barely pay attention to what's going on in the ring. They miss any psychology or storytelling going on. They mispronounce people's names. They don't know the name of moves. They bicker about stupid shit that actively takes away from the (admittedly not very good) wrestling happening right in front of them. At no point are they even remotely interesting. 
Rossi is just as bad. He thinks he's riling up the crowd by asking if they're having a good time, or telling them to "give it up" to each wrestler, before and after each match. 
OK, i just needed to get that out off the top so i don't have to mention it in every. single. match.

For the America's Championship. or American Championship. Or America's Title. They call it all three. So far as I can tell, this doesn't reflect any actual heritage.
"Dangerous" Dan Spivey  vs  Johnny Ace (w/Missy Hyatt)
I wouldn't call this match bad, but it is rather middling. Neither man looks like they give a shit. Spivey with an abdominal stretch. Ace gets to the ropes.....no, Missy apparently threw the towel in (this wasn't shown in real time or in replay). So i guess this is a heel turn for her. Wait, now Herb Abrams and Blackjack Mulligan are in the ring. Abrams is ranting and raving at Spivey, who looks nonplussed. ok then.

they promise an interview with Curt Henning [SIC] but it isn't on my tape. I don't know if that's a production error or if it was cut out by whoever taped this originally off TV.

Jr. Heavyweight Title:  Mondo Guerreo [SIC]  vs  "Wildman" Jack Armstrong. also called "Wildcat"
Mando comes out to Weird Al's "Taco Grande". i don't know if this was his choice or a rib, but it's bizarre. Mando controls almost the entire match. Spinning headscissors, armdrags, even an Asai Moonsault (!). He's doing his entire repertoire while Armstrong looks lost. Of course, that means Armstrong wins in 6-7 minutes after two elbow drops. ugh.
Abrams in again and disparages Armstrong. Armstrong: "I'm a thinker not a stinker". hmm. that's an interesting catchphrase for a wildman.  Crowd boos.

Dr. Feelgood (w/Missy Hyatt)  vs  Sunny Beach
Feelgood is reported as being from Pain, IA. At least when Cactus Jack does that gimmick, Truth or Consequences, NM is a real town. 
both of these guys are overweight and uninteresting. Sunny is a surfer. 
at 5 minutes, Feelgood takes a powder and loads a rag with ether, or chloroform, or something. Back inside, Sunny shoves it into Feelgood's face for the 3 count win. Feelgood is back up almost immediately, and he and Missy now ether Sunny and beat him up. 
Abrams and Mulligan are back. again. Mulligan cuts a promo on Missy.

Southern States Title: "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr.  vs  Finland "Hellraiser" Thor
Thor is from Helsinki, Finland AND named Finland AND has the Finnish flag on his singlet. overkill much? He is a huge jacked up bodybuilder. [Google tells me he is later known as Ludwig Borga but i didn't recognize him at the time]
This match starts out OK. Thor using his power, Orton with the speed and experience advantage. 
Orton attempts a piledriver, but Thor backdrops him over the top rope and to the apron. Abrams bumps. Good brawl at ringside. Thor chokes Orton with the camera cable, Orton hits Thor with the belt, Thor hits Orton with a chair (that Abrams handed to him?). Wait, now they're calling for the bell. Double Disqualification? lame. 
they kind of mention that Orton retains the belt, but he didn't come out with it and wasn't announced as champ. I dunno.
The ring announcer tries to get the crowd to chant "Thor" to no avail. 

Midget World Title: Karate Kid  vs  Little Tokyo
this is the first ever Midget World Championship. yes, the very first one of all time. They tell us that three or four times. 
Mid match, referee Jesse Hernandez is clearly biased against Little Tokyo, giving slow counts for him and fast counts against. It doesn't seem to spin out of something that happened in match, so i don't know if this is just a spot they always do or something? The commentators completely misread this whole exchange. 
Match goes about 7 minutes. Tokyo via throat chop. Not great but not terrible.
Abrams interviews Tokyo, and it is horrific. "Sake tonight" is about all i get out of it.

Sid with a backstage promo. The sound cuts in and out, mostly out.

"Revenge Match": Sampson  vs  Irish Assassin
Irish has zero charisma and enters under the 2nd rope. They tell us Sampson is replacing Hercules. Are Hercules and Sampson mates? Do they both have something against the Assassin? None of this is explained, nor what we are getting "revenge" for.   Sampson also has zero charisma.
this is bad. real bad. They're both green as grass and spend most of the match looking hopelessly lost. If you told me that either man has had a match before, i wouldn't believe you.  Sampson wins in an agonizing 4:45 with a suplex and bridging pin. yikes.

MGM Grand Championship:  Tyler "the Lion" Mane  vs  Steve "the Wild Thing" Ray
Mane has this Lion poncho on. It looks OK except for the ridiculous cartoony lion head on the front. Oh, and his tights say "Sky". thanks for staying on brand.
this is pretty decent actually. Ray has a ton of energy and bumps big early.  Mane does decent as the big man, playing to his strengths.
Ray attempts a sunset flip, but Mane drops on top of him and holds the ropes for the 3 count. I guess when UWF returns to the MGM Grand, Mane will be a big star.

Women's Title:  Tina Moretti  vs  Candy Divine [SIC]
They also spell it Devine, as it's supposed to be. but the ring announcer pronounces it as "dev-e-on" which is completely absurd. Divine is a real word!
they immediately brawl at ringside. Back inside, this is pretty good. back-and-forth, lots of reversals and pin attempts. Moretti has a lot of energy. Hey, she goes on to become Ivory in the WWF a few years later. 
Candy with a powerslam out of the turnbuckle and the three count. That was abrupt but good for the <4 minutes it lasted.

Dr. Death now with a backstage promo. He's got a lot of respect for Sid for facing him. He's challenged Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, and neither will even respond. 

Tag Team Titles:  Killer Bees (Bee Brian Blair & 'Jumping' Jim Brunzell)  vs  the New Powers of Pain (Warlord & Power Warrior)
this match was pretty much paint-by-numbers, which usually is an insult, but in this case it's better than most of what we've seen so i'm not complaining.
Bees with a catapult/clothesline combo that looked neat. Ref bump. Power Warrior's twin brother switches places with him (oh, they're the Power Twins. Thanks for not mentioning that until now!) and Warlord with the double axe handle inadvertently hits Power Warrior #2 (the camera misses this, of course). Bees win the titles in a bit over 10 minutes, which makes this the longest match so far. 

Lumberjack Match:  Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka  vs  Cactus Jack
hey! this is neat, Cactus facing his teenage wrestling idol. 
lots of restholds in this one. And the worst extended brawling outside the ring sequence ever. The lumberjacks are just in a big clump and nothing seems to be happening. I find this hard to get invested in due to the lack of coherency. 
The brawl goes outside (again and again) and now up into the stands. It's announced as a Double disqualification. what?
Cactus gets suplexed up in a row of empty seats, but the camera is zoomed way out so we barely see it. 
This match was largely hurt because of the lumberjack stip. seriously, it ruined what may have been a watchable match. And the result is incredulous. 

UWF World Title:  Steve "Dr. Death" Williams (c)  vs  "Malicious" Sid Vicious
i can't decide if i like the "malicious" moniker or not. It kinda works but it's over the top at the same time.
Herb screams into the camera to really set the mood, since he hasn't done so in a few matches.
There's a good match in here somewhere, but it's buried. By restholds, by the ring breaking, by Abrams' commentary, just all of it.
When these 2 get going (read: when Dr. Death is on offense), they show some intensity but it is too start-stop (read: Sid's rest holds) to really buy-in.
Williams with a top rope backdrop followed by the Doctor Bomb in about 10 minutes and the ref counts 3. .....or does he? Dan Spivey dives into the ring to break it up but he's noticeably late. Heels beat down Williams. Johnny Ace makes the save as Vicious gets DQ'd. 
Abrams in the ring (oh my god, again?) He's setting up a Williams vs Sid rematch IN A STEEL CAGE!  Oh man, i can't wait to see that!
lots of yelling between Abrams/Sid/Spivey and we cut back to the commentary team, who take 10 minutes to close the show and give us "final thoughts" about 3 times. 

TL;DR:  This show is a mess.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cobra Commander

Cobra Commander

Posted
Posted

Watching Wrestlemania 3 on FS1. Gotta admit that the Silverdome's roof was an underrated MVP of the night. You could see everything early, and as the night goes on, it'll get darker and darker. Some domes with more solid roofs are gonna be a bit dark for the entire night.

Also, when was the last show where they announcers were essentially in the football media booth instead of ringside/close to the ring, Wrestlemania 8?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Curt McGirt

Curt McGirt

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, twiztor said:

Abrams interviews Tokyo, and it is horrific. "Sake tonight" is about all i get out of it.

Oh no, I remember that from Foley's book now. Herb says "Maybe you have some sake tonight to celebrate", Tokyo says "You know sake?" and Herb replies "Yeah, I was married to a Jap once." *facepalm*

The Brawl has been showing up on my Youtube feed, tempting me to watch it... thanks for taking one for the team and telling me not to. On the other hand, @EricR I think we found a secret treasure trove of Tony Halme matches for you to review on Segunda haha. Finland Thor! 

Also, is that Tyler Mane the Sabretooth, Michael Myers remake Tyler Mane?

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Peck

Peck

Posted
Posted
31 minutes ago, Craig H said:

Could you maybe say what or maybe link to something?

D.Z. is like the anti-Meltzer. I enjoy it. Dave would take "Billy said something new" and turn it in to a 748-word paragraph with no breaks and 17 run-on sentences. Perhaps there's a happy middle-ground somewhere though. 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...