Just Dave

8/24/98 Finals: Bart Gunn vs. Bradshaw. Well, we made it. Prior to the fight they show highlights, which could've been titled "Bart Gunn naps fools, version 1.0". Bradshaw enters looking determined not to get embarrassed. Fat lot of good it did him. Bart Gunn enters and looks hopeful. That poor sap walks to the ring with a look on his face like "maybe something will come of this." Well, for tonight, Bart is king of the mountain. The bell rings and Bradshaw comes out fighting, trying to use that long jab to keep Bart away. Well, the problem is that he's still dropping his left to his waist briefly on his jab rebound. Bart abandons his traditional "one two" approach and starts throwing hooks from both hands, exposing Bradshaw's technical flaw. Bradshaw goes down after a series of hard hooks, and most boxing referees would've stopped the fight there. However, Bradshaw takes the standing eight count and the ref lets them go. And that's all she wrote for Bradshaw. Bart hits him with two more hard shots and Bradshaw is out. Like out out. And that's it. The last fight in the tourney is also the shortest and most satisfying. Bradshaw gets hit so hard he wakes up a member of the APA. I imagine that even then there were folks in the locker room that enjoyed seeing Bradshaw get a canvas facial, and Bart seems likeable, so there's that. I still can't decide how much heat there was on Bart for winning. He's always maintained in interviews that if they'd told him to take a dive against Williams, or even if he'd known the office really wanted Williams to win, he'd have happily obliged them, so it wasn't super common knowledge. What doesn't make sense to me is the apparent goal of shoehorning Williams into a top spot. He looked bad in both appearances in this tournament. Out of shape and used up. And was this before or after his brief appearance attacking someone dressed in traditional Japanese getup? Does anyone else remember that or was it just me? Anyway, this re-watch has got me thinking how much better something like this would be now. Even if you disqualified the guys with a super high level of MMA training, you'd have Nakamura, Chad Gable, Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Jack Gallagher, Apollo Crews, Otis, and others. All guys with a high degree of amateur wrestling or shoot fighting backgrounds. Might come off a little better this time. Not that I think it's a good idea.

I thought it was a little disappointing. I wanted a big decisive battle at Kings Landing. But Winterfell was cool and I liked what they did with the different characters. I felt like Cersei earned a higher profile death, but I get why they did what they did...

A week or so.

Just finished "Game of Thrones." Holy butts. They should change the name of that show to "Titties n' Dragons." Arya Stark is my spirit animal. I want to adopt her and raise her as my own.

8/17/1998 Godfather vs. Bart Gunn. Godfather is with ho's this evening. Out in workout gear. Bart Gunn out here looking liked jacked-up Josh Brolin. Godfather with a pre-match promo, knowing that's the one aspect of this confrontation he's in no danger of losing. Round 1 is slow, but there's some tension. I'm legitimately impressed with Gunn's head movement. Dodging punches without taking his eyes off the opposing fighter is a learned skill, and he has a nice mastery of it. Godfather looks like he's expecting the big punch that never comes, and is tentative. Round 2 is actually one of the more entertaining rounds of the entire tournament. Both guys land big shots, and Godfather lands a series of body blows in the corner. With around 20 seconds left, Gunn just throws repeated left hooks, landing most of them. Godfather actually goes down, but time runs out at the same time. It looked like these two giants just got tired of dancing. About fifteen seconds into round 3, Gunn lands a right hook that puts Godfather to sleep. Just absolutely de-cleats him. This fight is what WWE officials had in mind when they green-lit this suitcase full of dog turds. Our other semi-final is Droz Vs. Justin Bradshaw. Round 1 is... interesting. There are some violent punches thrown (and landed) but the technique Gunn and Godfather had at least a rudimentary understanding of is completely nonexistent here. Bradshaw has a nice, long jab, but any cornerman worth a damn would've told Droz to wait for Bradshaw to throw it and then counter with a right, because Bradshaw drops his left almost all the way to his waist after throwing that jab. Pretty even round. Droz gets a ncie takedown at the end of round 2, but this fight is lacking compared to the last one. Round 3 is more of the same, with Droz clearly getting frustrated at Bradshaw tying him up and laying on him in the corner. Bradshaw wins a decision, but this wasn't nearly the fight the first bout was. Also on this Raw episode, DX takes on the Nation in a street fight, so it's worth checking out.

Will return tonight. Work got crazy. Being deemed "Essential" is like the worst shit that's ever happened to me...

8/10/1998 Droz vs. Savio Vega: Eh. This isn't really bad enough to shit on, but it's not good enough to say much about. It feels like guys really are trying to take this more seriously. Savio is once again dressed to mow his lawn, and Droz wears the green plaid shorts from the first fight. Droz has pretty serious reach advantage here, but Vega strikes me as a guy who doesn't easily back down from a fight. Not a ton to say, except that Droz looks legitimately excited to move on.

More tomorrow. Gotta go to bed, since I've been deemed "essential" and have to be there tomorrow...

I knew that. I just forgot. Ugh. What a weird-ass time.

8/3/1998 Our second Quarterfinal is 2 Cold Scorpio vs. the Godfather. Dan Severn has withdrawn from the tourney, in maybe the only convincing promo he ever cur in WWE, and Scorpio is here because he won the untelevised match against one of the Harris Boys. I would've paid money to watch Scorp beat the shit out of a white supremacist, but alas, there is no entertainment value to be had in this tournament. Godfather brings some ho's, so at least there was something appealing to the eye here. Round one was kind of a bore, as you can tell no one wants to be the next guy to get knocked out on WWE programming. Scorpio and Godfather actually put some time in here. It wasn't good, but they took it seriously, save for the ho's staying out in Godfather's corner. The fight ends with Godfather winning a decision, and it wouldn't shock me to find out that both guys agreed beforehand not to hurt each other. Also, this is the "choppee choppee your pee pee!" episode of Raw, so this fight was only the second or third dumbest thing on this show...

7/27/1998 Our first second round match is Williams/Gunn. This encounter is long cited as the bout that turned this entire thing. Objectively, this first round was the most interesting round of any of the fights yet. Williams comes out on a mission, and dominates early. I really think Williams was shocked that Gunn made it through the first round. I also think Williams understood that his future as a main eventer in WWE depended on what he did in this fight. Round two is much more even. Gunn looks determined and Williams runs out of gas mid round. Towards the end of round two, Gunn manages a takedown on Williams, and I think that moment is when Williams knew he wasn't gonna win that fight. Scorecards be damned. Gunn seems to honestly believe winning this thing could kick-start his career, and Round three reflects that. Down ten points, Bartholomew W. Gunn fights the round of his life, absolutely bulldozing Steve Williams before knocking him out with about ten seconds left in the round. In fairness to both these guys, the crowd legitimately got into this. This bout meant something to both guys, and they fought accordingly. I'm not even gonna shit on this. As bad as both guys' technique was, they showed a lot of guts. This fight has been by far the highlight of this tournament, and is worth an earnest and sincere entry of it's own...

7/20/1998 Our last first round match is "Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. Jean Pierre Lafitte. Was Lafitte legit missing an eye? Because if he wasn't, that's a dick move to make him fight with an eyepatch. This was my first exposure to Steve Williams, and I had no idea what the hype was about. Both guys come out swinging. I think Lafitte figured his best chance was to catch Williams early. Both guys land a takedown, but Williams is already gassed. I saw some earlier posts about Ross being a huge fan of Dr. Death. I wonder if it goes back to their Oklahoma roots and Bill Watts being a big Steve Williams guy. Ross has always been Watts' biggest disciple in terms of booking philosophy and talent scouting. Williams checked off all the boxes at that point; Legit tough guy. College legend. Japanese pedigree. It should've worked. But Williams wasn't in shape and there did not appear to be a clear vision for who Williams was to the WWE at that point. But I digress. Round 1 is pretty even. Round 2 is a slaughter. Williams dominates and throws a few cheap shots while doing it. My theory is that he received instruction before the fight to go out and separate himself from the field. Round 3 is more of the same. Williams runs away with the fight, but instills zero confidence in his prospects moving forward. I believe that's it for the first round fights. There was allegedly one "untelevised" fight, but I don't have the patience to try to find out what happened. Next round coming soon.

7/13/1998 Bart Gunn vs. Bob Holly. Oy. Were they still the New Blackjacks at this point? I'm having to listen without commentary bc my wife is watching "Tiger King." Idk which of us is punishing ourself more. Look at Bart Gunn. Jesus. Could he not speak English or something? I only ask because he checks off every single box on the "Vince McMahon Top Guy" list. Tall. Good physique. Can walk and chew gum. How did he not do more? I don't remember him being actively bad in ring. Was his personality that vacant? Speaking of vacant personalities, here's Bob Holly. Look, I get that Bob was a solid, dependable worker for many years, and I actively enjoyed the "Hardcore Holly" shit with Crash and Molly, but what the hell? I guess they had trouble finding eight guys that wanted to do this. Gunn wins every round, and shows some decent technique. One thing I've noticed consistently through every fight is how hard a time these guys have keeping their hands up. They aren't built for boxing. And there's no shame in that, unless you're asking them to box. Which is what they did. I guess Holly can take some pride in being the only guy in the tourney not to get his head taken off by Bart. Now we got Severn and Godfather. Imagine being Charles Wright here. Not only were you duped into doing these shoot fights, but you find out your first round opponent is legit one of the most gifted MMA artists of his time. Godfather actually avails himself decently in the first round, sprawling out of several takedown attempts and using his long arms to clinch Severn. He's the first guy in this tourney I've seen have an actual battle plan. He's also the first guy in this tourney to need one. I think you can pinpoint the exact moment in the first round where Severn decides he's withdrawing even if he wins. The fucking senselessness of telling guys in boxing gloves to take each other down. Although it might've had something of an equalizing effect for untrained guys who weren't gonna try takedowns anyway. Severn wins round two as well, though Godfather lands a couple of big punches, although they seemed to only anger Dan Severn. Severn lays on Godfather after a takedown attempt, I guess to run out the clock? Jesus this is boring. Why did I do this again? Oh yeah. Quarantine. The "we want wrestling" chants start in between rounds two and three. The wife went to pick up Pad Thai so I got the sound on. Imagine that. Fans coming to a WWE show don't want to see shoot fighting. Hmmm. The third round is more of the same. I typed this sentence before watching the third round. Both guys are clearly frustrated, but there's nothing for Godfather to be embarrassed about. He went the distance with a UFC champ. Severn looks pissed and embarrassed. More in a bit.

I’ll have some more up tonight.

This is very true.

Raw 6/29/1998 First of all, Jim Ross refers to it as "The Brawl for it All," which makes it sound like a "Three Ninjas" sequel. Ross quickly goes over the rules, which are, of course, convoluted as fuck. They're wearing 16 oz. boxing gloves but are scored for takedowns? It's hard enough to take someone down in a fight with MMA mitts. That's like asking them to play the guitar solo to "Hotel California" wearing oven mitts. First up is Marc Mero vs. Steve Blackman. Blackman takes down Mero four times in the first round. Of all the ways they could've established Blackman as a badass, they pick this method. At the end of round 1, Blackman's up 25-0. Of course he is. Blackman absolutely rocks Mero with two spinebuster-like takedowns in the second round. The crowd still seems somewhat into this, chanting "lethal weapon." Blackman toying with Mero in the third round. Mero's gotta be thinking about what a mistake he made leaving WCW. He was a feature guy there. Now he's "Mr. Sable" and getting his ass handed to him by a mid-carder in a third-rate Toughman contest. Blackman wins handily but looks pissed to have to have done this to get exposure. There was enough awkward pauses in just this first fight for them to have called the tournament off. Ugh. Our second fight is Bradshaw vs. TAFKA Henry Godwinn. Mark Canterbury. He and Mideon should've reverted to Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce when they dropped the hog farmer gimmick. Those names were badass. I just noticed that both guys came out to the same intro music. Nothing screams "we think this is a big deal!" like shitty instrumental guitar muzak. Canterbury fighting in sleeveless t-shirt and sweatpants. Bradshaw in his ring gear. The first round is an absolute snoozefest. The second round picks up slightly. Bradshaw gets angry enough about his spot on the card to throw a flurry of stiff rights. The crowd is starting to turn on this. I don't blame them. Imagine waiting for months for Steve Austin and the Rock to come to town and now you gotta watch a boxing match that would be the midcard on your standard ""bum fights" card. Canterbury shows some life in round three with a takedown, but he's clearly contemplating the choices he made in life that have led to this moment. The fight ends and everyone ponders asking for refunds. This crowd did get an Austin title win later in the night, so there's that... 7/6/1998 First up is Brakkus/Savio Vega. Who the fuck is Brakkus? I thought this was Ludvig Borga for a long time, but I guess it's a different dude. So, this first round isn't too bad. If you ever want to see a 'roided to the gills Aryan poster boy get his shit pushed in by a pudgy Puerto Rican dressed like one of my dad's friends that came to help us move, this round is for you. Vega unloads on Brakkus several times, and only the round ending saved a knockout here. Vega's the first fighter who looks like he might be enjoying this, which is odd, but there are people that enjoy Jason Aldean's music too, so who am I to judge? Vega wears Brakkus's leathery ass out again in round two. Jim Ross is trying to sell the tv audience on how tough and brave these guys are for trying this. It's brave to jump out of a plane with no parachute, but that doesn't make it advisable. Round 3 is more of the same. Just complete domination by Vega, who has to be thinking about how far down the card he's fallen. Talk about a guy who could've gotten more from his career. Our second bout tonight is....Droz vs. Hawk? Fuck. I almost don't feel right watching this with the intent of making fun of it, due to where both guys are now. But I'll power through it. JR just said we're "ready" for another Brawl for All bout. Are we, Jim? Are we really? Both guys entering to the same shitty "generic WCW babyface" guitar music. Hawk throws some bombs in round 1, but they aren't of the "Irish Car" variety, so no one cares. Droz actually shows some fairly impressive boxing technique in round 2, and lands some heavy ones of his own. IDK if there was legit heat between the two, but they were both swinging from the fences from the first bell. Of course, if I've learned anything from the extensive martial arts training I've done, it's that sometimes beating the shit out of people you like is fun, too. Both guys spit their mouthpieces out over the course of round three, which is fucking dumb, but "fucking dumb" is kind of the common theme of this tourney. They fight to a draw, which sucks, but neither guy deserved to win or lose. And really, anyone who sat through this lost the fight, although a Jacqueline appearance is the cure for what ails the viewer after all this nonsense.

So, because this quarantine is starting to get to my brain, I'm gonna do some stupid shit; watch the entire Brawl For All in it's entirety. If you'd like to participate and discuss, mock from afar, send the authorities to my house for a wellness check, feel free.

I get what you’re saying, but I’m not talking about talent level. Anyone who read the last Saudi thread knows I think workrate is about the last thing anyone should give a shit about. Matt Hardy can’t bend his knees at this point. He’s been broken down for five years. It’s not his fault, it’s just where we are. Jake Hager can pick up his own car keys if they hit the floor. That’s what I’m saying.

Idk why they wouldn't put Mox in that fifth Elite spot, unless he really is hurt, which wouldn't shock me. Matt is running on empty in-ring, and has been for some time. Fantastic presentation, all things considered. Once again, the guys who have fun at work flat out smoke the guys on the other channel trying to build Triple H's internet cred...

My guess is they're hedging bets if the feds cancel everything for a few weeks.

Other than Fiend needing to go over, you're right...

I think the new Hawks ownership gets that. The Atlanta Spirit Group couldn't have convinced fraternity boys to Cabo San Lucas. Completely inept.

Alabama makes a ton of hay in Georgia. Tons of high school talent here. And to address another point I saw, Georgia Tech just had the second best recruiting class in program history by heavily emphasizing the proximity to Atlanta's party zones. It worked so well Kurby Smart tried to ape it at u(sic)ga. So off-campus life matters to some...

Yes. There's actually a cool basement room full of NWA/WCW artifacts I used to peruse when I worked there...

Did Rowan ask for his release or something? Holy hell.