Gorman

Thoughts on SummerSlam 91 This was a great night to be a babyface. IRS and the Natural Disasters were the only heel winners all night. Even the wedding went off without a hitch! Power & Glory & Warlord kicked out of Davey Boy Smith and Kerry Von Erich's finishers before succumbing to the mighty top-rope bodypress of Ricky Steamboat. Something tells me Hulk Hogan wasn't really in the dressing room when Bobby Heenan took the NWA World title belt backstage and challenged Hogan on behalf of Ric Flair. Not only did Hogan not appear on camera, but the door had a piece of paper with the word "HULK" printed on it. Heenan's fortunate that Lou Ferrigno didn't answer the door. Mr. Perfect is the clear MVP. He showed no signs of his crippling back injury and had a great match with Bret Hart. I'm sure Hart thought to himself, "Boy, Earl Hebner sure rings the bell quickly when someone applies the Sharpshooter!" I love Lord Alfred Hayes, but he conducted a hilariously bad interview with Stu and Helen Hart after Bret won the IC title. First, he asked Stu Hart for a comment just as Bret showed up to celebrate. Then, Lord Alfred took the mic away from Stu when he finally did talk, saying "He's a little bit speechless!" Coach is right up there with the Baron as far as worthless managers go. Let hear what the announcers have to say about him. PIPER: And then there's the Coach. MONSOON and HEENAN: (silence) It looked like the finish was botched in the jailhouse match, as Mountie kicked out the Bossman slam and then later got pinned by what we now call the Alabama Slam. Iron Sheik was great. He was suplexing Hogan and Warrior around like it was 1984 again. Speaking of that year, I love how Sheik slapped the Camel Clutch on Hogan just like he did then, in the same building where Hogan beat him for the title. This time, it's gonna work!

Thoughts on WrestleMania VII Marty Jannetty's timing was way off in the Rockers-Faces of Fear opener. I'm pretty sure the finish wasn't supposed to be a mistimed double dive off the top rope. Hilarious to see the Undertaker measuring Regis Philbin for a casket 24 years ago and Regis is still alive! Power & Glory should have won the tag belts from the Hart Foundation instead of the Nasty Boys. They were built up strong with the win over the Rockers at SummerSlam 90 and won again with the Visionaries at Survivor Series 90. Instead, they hot shotted the belts to the Nasty Boys, and Power and Glory was never taken seriously again after getting crushed by the Road Warriors. The blindfold match gets criticized a lot, but it's a great comedy match. It just doesn't work as a brutal feud blowoff match. Randy Savage is the MVP of this show for putting over Ultimate Warrior in a career-ending match and getting pinned with one foot. Also, his facial expressions were amazing, not just in the reunion with Elizabeth. After FIVE top-rope elbow drops in a row didn't work, he looked at the crowd like, "What do I do now?" Gorilla Monsoon also did a great job explaining Warrior's internal monologue when he was walking out of the match and then back in, questioning whether "his time is over" after Savage kicked out of his finisher. I totally forgot that Greg Valentine turned babyface and feuded with Jimmy Hart's stable. Some guys, like Valentine and Rick Rude, were always meant to be heels. Sherri didn't go very long without a client, jumping from Savage to DiBiase just five matches later. I read on History of WWE that they did a brief angle where Sherri was trying to recruit Andre the Giant as well. Imagine her managing the reformed Megabucks! Unfortunately, Andre could barely wrestle anymore.

When Punk stayed at our house, our daughter was just a baby, so we called him "Uncle Pepsi." I give you permission to call him that. Debate closed.

How can you kill a person with an atomic drop? Well, it is "Atomic." Otherwise, they would call it a "Harmless Drop."

Thoughts on Royal Rumble 91 Rockers-Orient Express and Bossman-Barbarian were both very good matches, allowing the smaller and bigger guys to do what they do best. The fans just weren't that into the Barbarian as a singles guy, and the Bossman-Heenan Family feud just dragged on way too long. Randy Savage attacked the Ultimate Warrior and cost him the WWF title because Warrior would not give him a title match, but Slaughter would. However, I don't recall the Macho Man ever getting that title shot against Slaughter. Savage also missed his spot in the Rumble because he ran away backstage from the rampaging Ultimate Warrior. The fans were so mad about Slaughter winning the title that they didn't care a bit for the Mountie-Koko match. Even the announcers had a hard time getting over the title change. Amazing to see Dustin Rhodes come out with his daddy and know that he would still be wrestling on WWE pay-per-views 24 years later. The crowd went crazy when Virgil finally broke free from DiBiase by blasting him with the Million Dollar title, but he stayed true to his personality by not slapping five with the fans on the way back to the dressing room. The Rumble had a lot less star power than it did one year earlier. The only person the fans could have bought as a legitimate threat to Hogan was the Undertaker, but he was knocked out by the Road Warriors before Hogan arrived. The MVP of the Rumble and the entire PPV was Rick "The Model" Martel. He set a new record by lasting for 52 minutes, and he was not passive at all. His two main rivals, Jake Roberts and Tito Santana, went after him with a vengeance, but it took Davey Boy Smith to finally eliminate him. Martel tossed out Roberts, Jim Neidhart and Saba Simba, plus he helped Hercules to eliminate Road Warrior Hawk.

Thoughts on Survivor Series 90 I wondered why WWF champion The Ultimate Warrior opened the show, then I realized, "Oh yeah, this is the show with the Grand Finale Match of Survival." Sure enough, Warrior had about two hours to rest before he tagged into the main event. Hilarious that The Undertaker and The Gobbledy Gooker debuted on the same show. Congrats to Koko B. Ware for going down in history as Taker's first victim. Gorilla Monsoon was right there to call Taker's finisher the Tombstone. Gorilla is my all-time favorite, and I learned so much about how to be a wrestling announcer by listening to him. Jake Roberts faced the biggest deficit in Survivor Series history (4 to 1) for the second time, because it happened against Andre's team in 1988. Then later in the night, Sgt. Slaughter faced the same deficit and almost beat Nikolai Volkoff's entire team single-handedly. Ted DiBiase is the MVP of the show for pinning both members of the WWF tag team champions (The Hart Foundation) in the same match. They made a big deal out of the Visionaries being the first team to survive intact. While I like the idea of the Grand Finale Match of Survival, it's a good thing they never repeated it, because most of the night's winners ended up as losers.

Thoughts on SummerSlam 90 Hercules & Paul Roma's PowerPlex was such a great finisher that I'm amazed that no tag team has stolen it in the last 25 years. Too bad we couldn't get the Martel-Santana blowoff on this show from more than a year earlier. Poor Tito had to lose a singles bout to a member of the Powers of Pain for the second straight pay-per-view. I have no idea why Crush had to cause a disqualification after the Hart Attack in the second fall of the Harts-Demolition match. Either way, it counted as a loss in the second fall, and the Harts were going to win the third fall anyway. Duggan and Volkoff singing God Bless America together was hilariously bad and somewhat poignant considering how Duggan interrupted Volkoff's singing of the Russian National Anthem at WrestleMania III. The show-long angle involving Sapphire was great - it's too bad she left the company so quickly that she couldn't be around for Dusty to get his revenge, which never actually happened. Brother Love certainly had a lot of segments on pay-per-view. Sgt. Slaughter came right up to the line when he said American's troops were soft. That would have been an interesting character for him to play. However, the only way he could win the title and headline WM 7 is if he went full-scale Iraqi sympathizer, which ironically cost Vince McMahon his much-anticipated crowd of 100,000 -- a dream he is still chasing to this very day. Hogan couldn't stand not being the champion, as he said his win over Earthquake would lead to a "title wave" of momentum that would lead him back to the top of the WWF. Earthquake is the MVP of the show for his "hardcore" performance in the Hogan match. First, Hogan slammed him onto a table on the floor that DIDN'T break (who made this thing?). Then Bossman blasted him in the back with a chair three times, leaving huge welts on his back. I'm surprised the Philly fans didn't erect an Earthquake statue outside the arena after the show.

All you have to do with Samoa Joe is make him Tyler Breeze's bodyguard for a few months, and then bring them up to the main roster together.

Is this the same future where Dusty is President? State of the Union Address: "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!" "A -- meeeerrricaaaan Dreeeeemm......he's just a common man..."

Was this even the first WWE mixed tag? I know for a fact it wasn't the first in general. Yes, they announced that this was the first mixed tag team match, certainly in WWF history. I haven't heard of any in other feds before this.

Thoughts on WrestleMania VI Gorilla Monsoon absolutely loved Robert Goulet's version of "O Canada." He must have considered Goulet a big improvement over Run-DMC one year earlier. Roddy Piper must have forgotten that at WrestleMania 2, he specifically said he would not paint himself black. Of course, at WrestleMania 3, he said he would be retiring, so I guess all bets are off. Steve Allen is one of the best celebrities in WrestleMania history. He was great playing piano in the shower with the Bolsheviks, and when Honky Tonk Man said he was going to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Allen replied, "I'll warn them that you're coming." Speaking of Honky Tonk, Diamond Dallas Page looked like he was having a great time driving Rhythm & Blues' pink Cadillac to the ring. Howard Finkel also had a blast introducing "Hunka Hunka Hunka Honky Love." Poor Greg Valentine missed most of his one solo singing line because he didn't have his own microphone. Jimmy Hart came to the rescue so we could hear the end of the Hammer's line. Mary Tyler Moore suffered through the longest, most uncomfortable interview while the Rhythm & Blues song was being set up. Sean Mooney kept asking her a bunch a questions about people she knew virtually nothing about. Savage and Sherri worked so hard to make their match with Dusty and Sapphire work. Amazing that this was the first mixed tag match. Big Bossman's successful Bossman Slam on Akeem reminded me of my unsuccessful attempt to hit that move as Bossman against Andre in the WWF WrestleFest video game. Andre wasn't having it. Earthquake almost won the MVP award, as he destroyed Hercules and Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the same night to prepare Quake for his big feud with Hulk Hogan. I remember going to one of these house shows with a "Quake-O-Meter" sign that had a Richter scale dial on it. However, Ultimate Warrior has to be the MVP of this show. He had the presence and magnetism to be chosen to succeed Hogan, but he also had to deliver in the ring. The gorilla-press slam near the end of the match was the signature moment that he was taking over, like Hogan's bodyslam of Andre at WrestleMania III.

I think they actually did that joke with Teddy Long and Zack Ryder if I'm not mistaken.

Unless they're being tossed around by Brock, I can't think of any reason for them to have on screen roles. If hell exists, Big Show vs. Kane will be playing on an endless loop. Well, you know who the devil will be rooting for.

Thoughts on Royal Rumble 90 The Rougeaus, like the Islanders, were good enough to be WWF tag team champions but were just surrounded by too many other good teams. They always delivered, whether they were trading moves with the Bulldogs or bumping around for the Bushwhackers, whom they put over for the second time on pay-per-view here. I didn't like Ted DiBiase and Mr. Perfect revealing that they had No. 1 and No. 30, respectively. Seeing DiBiase walk out first after the previous year's shenanigans would have been a great surprise. Brother Love's segment with Sensational Sherri and Sapphire was awful, but Savage and Dusty saved the it with their brawl. Greg Valentine's submission match against Ron Garvin was a lost classic. They just beat the snot out of each other, capping off a feud that began before SummerSlam 89. The only thing that could have made it better was if it was for a championship. It had the intensity of a title match. The Royal Rumble had a lot of star power with big eliminations: Dusty tosses Savage! Earthquake tosses Dusty! Bravo was hilarious trying to save Quake from getting rolled out because there were too many guys in his way. DiBiase was the early "longevity champion," lasting until No. 24 before Warrior unceremoniously clobbered him out of the ring with a clothesline. Hulk Hogan gets the MVP trophy for the first PPV of the 90s after winning none in the 80s. Even though Warrior saved him from Rude and Barbarian, he didn't return the favor because it's every man for himself, darn it. He tossed out a fresh Mr. Perfect to become the only reigning champion to win the Royal Rumble. Finally, someone on this board rightfully gave Hogan static from taking pro-Hogan signs from fans, displaying them, and then tossing them like garbage. After winning the Rumble, Hogan showed off a bedsheet sign that read "Hulkamania will live forever," then FOLDED IT BACK UP and returned it to its owner.

My "dream finish" of the Royal Rumble is at the end of the video I posted on Page 3. Basically, the first 29 guys enter and exit the Rumble and then we have a big countdown to the guy who drew No. 30, who will just walk in and win the Rumble. This opens several interesting possibilities, and here are the top 4: 1. Sting Seth Rollins walks out with the title, and Sting challenges him at WrestleMania 31. If they hadn't blown through the "Authority is out of power" angle, they could have done it here. Sting would be teaching the WWE how to stand up to the Authority like he taught WCW to fight back against the nWo. 2. Hulk Hogan John Cena wins the title and goes on to have an icon vs. icon match at WrestleMania 31 to wrap up Hogan's career. Hulk will try to achieve his dream of retiring as champion. 3. Goldberg Brock Lesnar retains the title, and we get a rematch of the WM20 debacle, which everyone in WWE can pretend was an all-time classic. 4. Undertaker Lesnar retains the title and we get a rematch from WM30, this time for the title and with Undertaker's career on the line if he loses.

I just did a Royal Rumble preview with my MMA announcing colleague, George Phillips. It was a fun discussion with some interesting ideas about the Rumble and its aftermath. I hope you like it! http://bit.ly/1uhaRrL

Have Bryan win this week and then have Kane break the record for most eliminations ever by eliminating Bryan or have someone take out Bryan before the Rumble and replace him in the match or have a random Bluetista appear and eliminate Bryan. There's tons of ways to troll the audience. Hell I'd have Tommy Dreamer make a one-off appearance and eliminate Bryan. Would be interesting to see how the Philly crowd would react to that one. If Big Dave is busy, since they are in Philly, Blue Meanie could play Bluetista, so the fans won't get mad when he tosses Bryan out of there.

I don't know much, but I know Aaron's not going to want to wear that costume.

WM9 was pretty bad all together, outside of the Steiners/Headshrinkers. My memory is really fuzzy on Bret/Yoko, but given that it's Bret and Yoko before his weight got completely out of hand, it couldn't have been bad. Hogan walking out with the belt ruins even the best match, though. Even 12 y/o me thought the concept of "the world's largest toga party" was fucking stupid. 22-year-old me wore a toga to my friend's house to watch WM 9. I know I'm not the only one. My friend's reaction: "I knew Gorman would wear a toga!"

Thoughts on Survivor Series 89 "Wrestling" is such a bad word in WWE that they blurred out "Of Wrestling" when they showed clips from "Superstars of Wrestling." Are they trying to convince us that we're not watching wrestling? After Brutus Beefcake pinned The Honky Tonk Man, he totally left Dusty Rhodes hanging for a high five. He gave a big double high-five to the Red Rooster. Dusty reached out for his, but ... nothing. I liked when Hacksaw Jim Duggan's team (The 4x4s) marched to the ring together with their 2x4s. Too bad they botched the part where they tossed the boards to each other. Also, the fans really got behind Duggan when he faced a 1-on-3 deficit against Savage, Bravo and Earthquake. Jesse Ventura accused referee Earl Hebner of being biased in Hulk Hogan's favor after Hebner disqualified 75 percent of Ted DiBiase's team. Of course, this was less than two years after Hebner screwed Hogan out of the WWF title. As Hogan celebrated, my daughter asked, "Is the show over? There should be an hour left." This was the WWF's first experiment with Ultimate Warrior in the main event spot. Warrior delivered, and earned the MVP award. He clobbered Andre the Giant at the beginning of the match and destroyed Bobby Heenan at the end. I like how he mowed Heenan down while running back to the dressing room to end the show. So now, I've watched every WWF pay-per-view from the 80s on the Network and given an MVP award for every show. As you might suspect, the overall MVP Is the Macho Man. Randy Savage 3 Wrestling Classic, WM4, WM3 Bobby Heenan 2 Big Event, WM V Ultimate Warrior 2 SummerSlam 88, Survivor Series 89 Islanders 1 Royal Rumble 88 Honky Tonk Man 1 Survivor Series 87 Terry Funk 1 WM 2 Mr. T 1 WM 1 Bad News Brown 1 Survivor Series 88 Andre the Giant 1 Royal Rumble 89 Zeus 1 SummerSlam 89

No, Ryder got a push. Just watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diny4a32Nsc

Thoughts on SummerSlam 89 This show had an NWA feel, with Tony Schiavone as the first voice you heard, followed by a Tully & Arn match, and then a Dusty Rhodes match. Of course, Ronnie Garvin showed up as well to ring announce, specifically to insult Greg Valentine. It's surprising while watching this show that we had to wait two more years for Ric Flair. The network edited out Mean Gene's "F--- It!" when the sign fell down during his interview with Rick Rude. But don't worry, King Hacksaw Jim Duggan provided the laughs by wearing a crown, royal cape and Demolition face mask, while carrying both the American Flag and a red-white-and-blue-wrapped 2x4 with a little crown on it. Speaking of that match, Demolition and Duggan beat the Twin Towers and Andre by using the 2x4 as a weapon. This is same "babyfaces cheat! yay!" finish they did earlier in the year at the Rumble (Hart Foundation and Duggan over Rougeaus and Bravo) and WrestleMania V (Hart Foundation over Valentine & Honky Tonk Man). Tully and Arn over the Harts was one of the best matches of 1989. Since the champs were going over by pinfall, it's weird that they made it a non-title match. I am actually going to give the MVP award to Zeus. Not only did he perform a lot better than expected in the main event, but he modeled the "monster who is absolutely impervious to pain (unless you hit him with a loaded purse)" template that was later used to great effect by The Undertaker.

The best ROH match I called play-by-play for was Low Ki vs. Samoa Joe at the first Glory By Honor. I watched it recently, and it still holds up. I tried to stop talking during the periods where they just stood toe-to-toe, blasting each other as hard as possible. As far as ring announcing, the best match from my time there was the first Punk-Joe match at World Title Classic. Danielson was kind enough to lend me his watch so I could time the 60 minutes. The "unsung classic" was the 6-Man War between the Prophecy and the Second City Saints at The Battle Lines Are Drawn. I spent the second half of the match trying to steer clear of the chaos at ringside. The end was like a fireworks show, with ref Paul Turner getting smoked by a huge chairshot, then Whitmer killing poor Lucy with a wrist-clutch exploder, and finally Punk putting Chris Daniels out of the company with the Pepsi Plunge through a table.

I announced ROH back then, and well ... we did have a No. 1 contender's trophy (which they dressed up with a little AJ Styles outfit).

(raises hand)