Cobra Commander Posted June 1 Posted June 1 In the category of “Terry Funk matches that we won’t see footage of”… was Georgia 1982 the time that Terry Funk gifted Dusty a watch from Dory Sr to prove that Terry wouldn’t turn heel on Dusty in a tag match or was that in Florida?
zendragon Posted June 1 Posted June 1 I wonder if being from Texas 'Taker had exposure to Lucha growing up? Would make him running AAA a little less random feeling. 1
Cobra Commander Posted June 1 Posted June 1 quite a few Lucha or Lucha-ish guys also worked Houston a lot in the 70s. I hedge a little not knowing how much Jose Lothario worked Mexico relative to Texas then again there might be a little of a "name on the wrestling school relative to who is training guys" thing with Undertaker and Borash in AAA 2
SirSmUgly Posted June 1 Posted June 1 12 minutes ago, zendragon said: I wonder if being from Texas 'Taker had exposure to Lucha growing up? Would make him running AAA a little less random feeling. He was probably fed a steady diet of Guerreros, Mascaras, Halcon and Lothario growing up watching Houston wrestling, yeah. My understanding of AAA is that when it came on the scene in the '90s, it was the more cross-border friendly Mexican wrestling company, too, so it's probably easier to fit WWE-ized tropes into AAA matches. I've seen AAA matches that look like they could have taken place in ECW and - though my experience with both companies is limited and someone else surely knows better - I feel like the CMLL brawls I've seen are different from AAA brawls, and that AAA brawls often veer toward ECW-style brawls. 2
SirSmUgly Posted June 1 Posted June 1 And yeah, I'd presume that Undertaker and Borash (one of those pairings where you wonder how these two even know one another) are getting a lot of help from people who know, understand, and respect how AAA approaches wrestling and lucha tropes and traditions. 2
Cobra Commander Posted June 1 Posted June 1 also, the show on Saturday night was in Monterrey, which is closer to Houston than Mexico City (and only a few hours from Laredo to Monterrey) so there can be north/south differences in Mexico too 2
odessasteps Posted June 1 Posted June 1 (edited) It was my understanding that Monterrey historically for AAA drew a good number of tourist fans. Maybe not as many as cMLL does these days, since it’s part of CMLL business strategy. (How goes autocorrect these days to tuesdays) Edited June 1 by odessasteps 2
Pete Posted June 1 Posted June 1 1 hour ago, Cobra Commander said: also, the show on Saturday night was in Monterrey, which is closer to Houston than Mexico City (and only a few hours from Laredo to Monterrey) so there can be north/south differences in Mexico too That would explain why enough fans spoke English that they popped for Gable's post-match promo before the translator could repeat it. 1 hour ago, SirSmUgly said: He was probably fed a steady diet of Guerreros, Mascaras, Halcon and Lothario growing up watching Houston wrestling, yeah. Markus as well. Plus Santo/Blue Demon worked the border towns, and I even remember Perro Aguayo vs Fishman at the Sportatorium at least once. So there's a non-zero chance Taker was more than a little familiar with lucha if he was worth his salt as a young fan in Texas. 4
SovietShooter Posted June 1 Posted June 1 I'm not an expert in this or anything, but Mexico's "territory" system was more of a hub & spoke type of set up, than what we think of in the US. Arenas/venues were affiliated with an office - either EMLL or UWA. Monterrey was it's own circuit, seperate from Mexico City. A lot of the smaller cities along the border and in the north booked talent out of Monterrey. In turn, many of the Texas towns booked luchadors too, so some of those towns, like El Paso, were kinda part of both "territories". EMLL is well known for being very conservative in their booking - they pretty much do not allow any kind of brawling or hardcore wrestling in Arena Mexico. Blood is very very rare. They do not do any real types of gimmick matches at all, they typically do not use any weapons, interference, or any other kinds of shenanigans. They present everything like it is a legitimate sporting contest. UWA was more of just a straight booking office, rather than a promotion, so things were a lot looser in arenas affiliated with them, so that is where a lot of the brawling and bloody wrestling took place. When UWA declined and AAA came in the scene in the 90s, they kinda picked up the UWA mantle, since they were a touring promotion. Then when Konnan worked a few shows in ECW he got the bug for that style of hardcore brawling, and he brought that to AAA. Over the years that devolved even more into just wacky plunder and more sports-entertainment type brawling, while Tijuana kinda earned the rep for where the death match style stuff went down. These days the crazy bloody brawling is really only for independent shows. Monterrey is dead as a weekly town, since Arena Coliseo Monterrey was torn down. 5
Curt McGirt Posted June 2 Posted June 2 (edited) Funny because all that CMLL on the '80s set is bloody as shit, with apuestas matches all over. Edited June 2 by Curt McGirt 1
Cobra Commander Posted June 2 Posted June 2 looking at the list of nWo Wolfpac members where 5 of the 10 members turned heel on the group shortly after joining... maybe the Wolfpac's application process had a flaw or two the 5 who didn't immediately turn: Nash, Konnan, Savage, Luger, Sting the 5 who did: Hennig, Rude, Dusty, Hall, Miss Elizabeth
Sex Machine Gun Posted June 2 Posted June 2 19 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said: looking at the list of nWo Wolfpac members where 5 of the 10 members turned heel on the group shortly after joining... maybe the Wolfpac's application process had a flaw or two the 5 who didn't immediately turn: Nash, Konnan, Savage, Luger, Sting the 5 who did: Hennig, Rude, Dusty, Hall, Miss Elizabeth "Don't turn your back on the Wolfpac." This wasn't a bug, it was a feature! 1 1
The Natural Posted June 2 Posted June 2 (edited) 9 hours ago, Cobra Commander said: looking at the list of nWo Wolfpac members where 5 of the 10 members turned heel on the group shortly after joining... maybe the Wolfpac's application process had a flaw or two the 5 who didn't immediately turn: Nash, Konnan, Savage, Luger, Sting the 5 who did: Hennig, Rude, Dusty, Hall, Miss Elizabeth I hate Wolfpac Sting. My least favourite iteration of Sting by far. Edited June 2 by The Natural
Pete Posted June 2 Posted June 2 10 hours ago, Curt McGirt said: Funny because all that CMLL on the '80s set is bloody as shit, with apuestas matches all over. Even into the mid 90s you had El Brazo busting Hector Garza open and literally licking the blood off his fingers. Bring the kids! 1
Curt McGirt Posted June 2 Posted June 2 Fletcher letting out his anger at always having to sit in the back for photos cuz he's too tall
supremebve Posted June 2 Posted June 2 12 hours ago, Cobra Commander said: the 5 who did: Hennig, Rude, Dusty, Hall, Miss Elizabeth I clearly remember Dusty being a member of the NWO, but every time it comes up, I feel like it was some sort of strange dream. Of all of the crazy NWO members over the run, he feels like the one who fits the least. 1
Cobra Commander Posted June 2 Posted June 2 I think the main impact of Dusty turning heel to join the NWO is that they put Tenay and Hudson on Saturday Night, which probably doubled as “we don’t care about this show now that we have Thunder”
Technico Support Posted June 2 Posted June 2 2 hours ago, supremebve said: I clearly remember Dusty being a member of the NWO, but every time it comes up, I feel like it was some sort of strange dream. Of all of the crazy NWO members over the run, he feels like the one who fits the least. Even inactive, Dusty still found a way to leech onto a hot act. Gotta respect his commitment to the game. 1 2
Cobra Commander Posted June 2 Posted June 2 It's not like WCW was doing detailed planning in 1998 but I think Louie Spicolli dying messed with some of the NWO Dusty plans since I think they were gonna go towards Dusty vs Larry Zbyszko but then Louie died and that was pretty much it for Larry Zbyszko wrestling in WCW Dusty did run Dusty vs Larry in Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling in 2001 though I think the only way a Dusty vs Larry match would have been worthwhile in 1998 is if it was a bullrope match.. which I guess would have been a novelty for Dusty to work that match as a heel. Face Dusty vs Heel Larry in a bullrope match is easy to book. Larry takes his time getting the rope on. Then Dusty goes to town and wins But considering how many Wolfpac members turned on the Wolfpac, it's like the Wolfpac was a criminal group where half the members were FBI informants 1
SirSmUgly Posted June 2 Posted June 2 They at least set up a Dusty/Flair feud in 1999 and then eventually paid it off in 2001, but generally they needed to use Dusty more between '98-'01 instead of jettisoning him for a huge chunk of that time. As a side note, if you want to see a hot crowd die a thousand deaths, watch that Slamboree '98 main event. Rarely has a crowd been so clearly bummed out by a finish. 1
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