WWE Network Conversation

[Cobra Commander]

Capital Combat 90 was among the WCW tapes that were available at my local Movie Gallery so I saw it awhile ago. I don't know if I want to see SST vs Tommy Rich and Mike Rotunda for 18 minutes, so i'll accept the Turner Home Video version of the show.

Looking at Cage Match and here are the timelines for all the JYD stints in WCW

December 1988 to April 1989

May 1990 to August 1991

March 1992 (Superbrawl 92 was on 2/29/1992) to August 1992

June 1993 to July 1993 for some reason

These lineups look like WCW's D show crew that managed to make it from Mississippi to South Carolina to work high schools:

Quote

WCW @ Louisville, MS – June 3, 1993 (179)
Michael Hayes defeated the Barbarian
Johnny B. Badd defeated Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker
Van Hammer defeated Vinnie Vegas
Keith & Kent Cole defeated Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce
The Junkyard Dog defeated Dick Slater

WCW @ Spartanburg, SC – High School – June 4, 1993 (225)
Brad Armstrong & Johnny Gunn defeated the Wrecking Crew at 16:30 when Gunn pinned Rage with a Thesz Press
Johnny B. Badd pinned Michael Hayes at 19:32 with a punch
The Barbarian defeated Robbie V at 14:43
Keith & Kent Cole fought Shanghai Pierce & Tex Slazenger to a 20-minute time-limit draw
The Junkyard Dog pinned Dick Slater at 10:08 by using the ring ropes for leverage; after the match, Slater attacked JYD with his own chain before Keith & Kent Cole made the save

 

[Dolphman 3000]

10 hours ago, zendragon said:

The Coliseum match was to show Vince the idea of the ladder match.  Bret had the idea to defend the title against shawn in a ladder match at summerslam or do the match with bulldog at wembley. He also made Vince promise to never do a ladder match with anyone else and that became a sore spot for him

Bret always said this, but the timeline doesn't add up - the ladder match was taped on 7/21, Bret vs. Bulldog had already been announced for SummerSlam in mid-June

Unless Vince didn't think Bulldog would be in any condition to perform and was considering alternative options, which I could see happening

[Cobra Commander]

looking at Wikipedia and Clash 11's longest match was 12 minutes (Midnights/Rock'n'Roll) and it had two matches go over 10 minutes (Doom/Steiners and Arn/Orndorff). So there's not an obvious work-around to get Luger an opponent who can go for over a minute unless you want 6 minutes of Lex Luger vs Barry Windham in 1990.

Anyways.. maybe the Clash 11 crowd didn't stick out as hot compared to the normal crowd for South Carolina in 1990 but by todays standards, it's a rowdy crowd of people who haven't gone to many wrestling shows in awhile.

[Cobra Commander]

watching Prime Time Wrestling from 7/11/1988, and Rodger Kent really sounds like Mean Gene (although I think Rodger had more senority in announcing in the AWA, so maybe Gene Okerlund sounds like Rodger Kent).

Also there's Frenchy Martin and his "USA Is Not OK" sign, the epitome of subtlety in heel arts.

[DreamBroken]

7 hours ago, Cobra Commander said:

looking at Wikipedia and Clash 11's longest match was 12 minutes (Midnights/Rock'n'Roll) and it had two matches go over 10 minutes (Doom/Steiners and Arn/Orndorff). So there's not an obvious work-around to get Luger an opponent who can go for over a minute unless you want 6 minutes of Lex Luger vs Barry Windham in 1990.

Anyways.. maybe the Clash 11 crowd didn't stick out as hot compared to the normal crowd for South Carolina in 1990 but by todays standards, it's a rowdy crowd of people who haven't gone to many wrestling shows in awhile.

Sid says in a shoot that Ole got mad at him for playing softball "on WCW's money" while out recovering from injury and that his punishment would be jobbing to Lex in 30 seconds on his return. Sid said he was getting paid so he didn't mind.

[Cobra Commander]

Watching July 1987 World Championship Wrestling and I did not realize that Dory Funk Jr showed back up there post-WWF. Also he looked ancient in 1987 and he's working uberboring Mike Rotundo

[odessasteps]

I think that's the "Crockett south" era of CWF and Dorymayhave been booking it too. 

[SirSmUgly]

On 7/11/2023 at 10:59 PM, Cobra Commander said:

Watching Mid-South

 

awww yes, got a "technical difficulties" disclaimer for this episode!

 

So, I don't think this promotion starts really dragging until later in 83? Or was it dragging a bit by July 83?

I'm pretty sure they just leave that technical difficulties disclaimer up for like every episode going forward, or at least all the ones in '83.

I don't think the promotion starts dragging until 1984, myself. 

[Cobra Commander]

4 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

I think that's the "Crockett south" era of CWF and Dorymayhave been booking it too. 

this Dory/Rotundo match has been going on forever

(checks)

this is going to a time limit draw in 14 minutes.. man, they must have wanted people to go to the Omni for Wargames or go outside for the 4th if they're doing a Dory Funk Jr/Mike Rotunda time limit draw in 1987.

[Cobra Commander]

on one hand, Dory vs Rotundo might be trying to drive away viewers. On the other hand, we've had multiple Dark Journey appearances in this episode (on checking: she's gone by the end of the month, but Dark Journey's looking pretty good here)

Good job by Alan Martin in not dying after JJ Dillon hit the Slingshot Suplex on him

[Cobra Commander]

during the 3rd Dark Journey appearance on this show, I decided she's gives off some Jennifer Beals vibes. The glory days of wrestling, when any stripper was one chance meeting away from getting into the wrestling industry.

[odessasteps]

This July 2000 Nitro is somehow worse than I expected it to be

Judy Bagwell menaced by Kanyon, Fat Chick Thriller, Muta v Vampiro and both turning in ref Ernest Miller, Kid man threatening to revenge porn on Torrie Wilson, … 

[JLowe]

Still slowly doing my ECW on Peacock watch, still in the first season (so 1993) when it was Eastern Championship Wrestling. Wanted to watch from the start to see the transition to Extreme, and the past few episodes (leading up to Ultra Clash 93) are clearly part of the shift. Past few episodes were based in-studio with Jay Sulli actually showing some personality and a clearly wasted Eddie Gilbert just riffing, funny stuff and they had a weird chemistry. Anything is better than Steve Wonderful. And then, in the final show before the PPV, Gilbert (and whoever Freddie Gilbert is) are no longer in the PPV or the promotion and the Championship belt has mysteriously gone from Tito Santana to Shane Douglas.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

7 hours ago, JLowe said:

And then, in the final show before the PPV, Gilbert (and whoever Freddie Gilbert is) are no longer in the PPV or the promotion and the Championship belt has mysteriously gone from Tito Santana to Shane Douglas.

Freddie Gilbert was Jerry Lawler's other son, Kevin, who was a USWA ref as Kevin Christian. And the Tito Santana to Shane Douglas switch was a phantom one, but heck if I know what happened there.

[clintthecrippler]

@Cobra Commander as someone who's very deep into my own Mid-South Wrestling watch project at this point, for me 1984 was very watchable from start-to-finish, other mileage may very most depending on how much you can tolerate plucky underdog babyface Terry Taylor, who I don't seem to mind as much as @SirSmUgly did (warning for you now as you continue your watch @SirSmUgly his push goes much harder the first half of 85). Second half of 83 was a bit of a slog here and there for me, but once the Midnight Express arrive towards the end of the year and the Magnum/Mr. Wrestling II protege angle begins, it's off to the races. 

Mid-South for me doesn't really start to show signs of sputtering until summer 85, with the Rock N Roll Express departing for JCP, The Snowman being the nadir of Bill Watt's efforts to "replace" the Junkyard Dog, Ted Dibiase starting to be gone more due to increasing Japan bookings, The Nightmare as North American Champion and the Al Perez/Wendell Cooley tag team push, but even then the rising cult favorite status of Jake The Snake Roberts and The Barbarian with the McNeill Boys Club audience, Butch Reed's push as an NWA World Title contender, the Hacksaw Duggan "blinding" angle, and a very awesome feud between The Fantastics and Bill Dundee/Dutch Mantel (if Watts was so keen on getting the tag belts quickly to a "good looking guys" team it should have been to The Fantastics instead of Perez/Cooley because that feud was damn fun) keep things engaging enough even as other misfires are happening throughout the rest of the card.  

And in October 1985, things pick back up and all hell begins breaking loose with Dick Slater and Buzz Sawyer coming to Mid-South, the former with Dark Journey to feud with Butch Reed and the latter with a HEAVY heat angle to jumpstart a feud with Hacksaw Duggan that leads to some WILD house show matches, Lord Humongous becomes a stand-in for an injured/departed Barbarian to feud with Jake Roberts that has some fun twists, and Eddie Gilbert truly begins to find his way as an obnoxious shithead in the "Hot Stuff" persona after a rocky start as "The General" and a weird Tweener period where he flirted with being a heartthrob babyface.

Oh, and on the most recent episode of Mid-South Wrestling that I watched earlier this week, a man with the nickname of "Captain Redneck" turns the below screencap into a prime candidate for one of those "Images That Precede Something Horrific" social media threads:

 

I am bummed that the run of Mid-South episodes on Peacock is ending soon after this, but thankfully the remaining January/February 1986 episodes of Mid-South after they move out of Irish McNeill's seem to be on Youtube, and the full run of the main weekly UWF TV episodes seems to be on Youtube as well, so I'm planning to keep this running through that transition as well.

Edited July 14, 2023 by clintthecrippler
Typo that bugged me

[odessasteps]

Matt wrote an article for me years ago putting over 1984 babyface Terry Taylor. 

[clintthecrippler]

16 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Matt wrote an article for me years ago putting over 1984 babyface Terry Taylor. 

For me his run in 1984 and first half of 1985 works simply because in Mid-South they do such a great job presenting him as a "fighting from underneath scrapper" IN ADDITION to being the heartthrob babyface. He's not flashy and his promos don't exactly have fire, but the booking is masterful and from bell-to-bell he fits the part for me during that time frame. The fans being on-board for that ride do a lot of heavy lifting for me too. 

Though I'll be a happy man if I NEVER see that goddamn "Freeze Frame" video ever again. 

[SirSmUgly]

Oh, I'm there. Taylor as champ makes more sense than the out-of-nowhere Brad Armstrong title reign, even if I'd rather watch Armstrong a thousand times over.

'85 Mid-South has been some struggle TV for me, and I am slow getting through it.

[clintthecrippler]

1 hour ago, SirSmUgly said:

Oh, I'm there. Taylor as champ makes more sense than the out-of-nowhere Brad Armstrong title reign, even if I'd rather watch Armstrong a thousand times over.

'85 Mid-South has been some struggle TV for me, and I am slow getting through it.

The Brad Armstrong reign is still weird to me. I loved the upset victory (with an incredible finish), but then they did NOTHING on the week-to-week TV with him. No hint of a program or feud. They just occasionally trotted him out to remind everyone he was the North American Champion until he loses to Dibiase in the spring and disappears almost like it never happened.

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Barely Legal

When John Kronus came back to the locker room after the opener, I'm sure The Great Sasuke thanked him for performing the Space Flying Tiger Drop. Sasuke did pin Taka in the Michinoku Pro 6-man, and he beat Taka on a WWF PPV later in the year, but Taka got the last laugh by becoming a bigger star in the US.

Lance Storm's chairshots were not "extreme," and the fans let him know it. Rob Van Dam was a sub for Chris Candido, but he beat Storm and launched his career as "Mr. Monday Night" in the WWF.

Taz vs. Sabu was built up for a year and billed as the "Grudge Match of the Century," but it went on third from the top. Bill Alfonzo was openly cheering for Sabu because after betting on Taz for all of his wins, this time, Fonzie put his money on Sabu. Taz said he was going to bust Sabu up and choke him out, and that's just what he did.

Announcing your first pay-per-view is a nerve-wracking experience, especially when the promoter tells you "don't F this up" before the show starts. At least I had two partners, one of whom was Bas Rutten. Joey Styles called the whole show by himself and did several on-camera spots to boot. 

Terry Funk is the MVP for winning another World title at the age of 53. Kudos to Tommy Dreamer for stepping aside and giving Funk the chance. Bob Backlund had pulled off the same feat in the WWF in 1994, but Funk was eight years older. 

 

[Curt McGirt]

This is something I've always wondered but never asked: when Kimona "danced atop the ECW Arena", did she actually get nekkid? 

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Still on my Superstars rewatch run.

I don't know how Jerry Lawler lasted so long as a commentator. He got absolutely no-one over that was an in-ring talent.

His entire schtick is shitting on everything. This guy sucks. This guy looks awful. That woman's ugly/fat. What a loser.

Him and Savage squabbling on commentary is actively distracting from what amounts to very little going on elsewhere.

[Gorman]

Thoughts on Hardcore Heaven 97

Bam Bam Bigelow gained revenge for his televised loss to Spike Dudley. Bammer threw Spike into the crowd before beating him with the top-rope headbutt.

RVD's match with Al Snow was supposed to be contested under "Monday Night Rules," but it still featured a lot of chairshots.

WORST FAN SIGN: "CubanGF Will You Marry Me" (held up throughout the show)

The Gangstas forfeited the tag team belts to the Dudleys, who fought PG-13 instead. With the big tag team match out the window, the Dreamer-Lawler brawl saved the pay-per-view. For defending ECW from The King's insults and surviving "lights out" surprise attacks from Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, and Sunny, Dreamer is the MVP.

Sandman was injured by RVD and Sabu at the beginning of the show and was taken to the hospital. Fortunately, ECW had rented an EXTREME CHOPPER for just such an emergency. Terrified announcer Lance Wright reported that Sandman had taken control of the ambulance but was wandering around town, looking for the arena in the pre-GPS era. When he finally found the arena, he attacked Sabu and cost him the title, setting up their very good/bad match at November to Remember. Shane Douglas pinned Terry Funk in the rematch from the first three-way dance at The Night the Line Was Crossed to regain the ECW title.

[DreamBroken]

On 7/12/2023 at 6:06 AM, odessasteps said:

Without spoiling next week's BTS, I found a 2000 WWF PPV not on the Peacock And had to resort to Dailymotion to watch it.

I think its probably due to [name redacted] 

as far as I can tell, it's still on the Peacock?

[odessasteps]

Yeah, I somehow didn’t see it when I searched for it.