Your wrestling HOT TAKES

[Cleavy]

16 hours ago, tbarrie said:

Was Tito still a name babyface with a connection to the crowd come 1990, though? Given how much WWF marketed to kids in that era, how many viewers at that time would have remembered back when Tito was relevant?

must have had something, since they put him in that ultimate match of survival teaming with Hogan and Warrior.  (and prior to that, the finals of the IC Title vs Mr Perfect after Warrior was forced to vacate the title post WM6)

[odessasteps]

Tito was still IC Champ at the start of the expansion,,so that's only 5 years. And the big drop off in fans would be a little later. 

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, Cleavy said:

must have had something, since they put him in that ultimate match of survival teaming with Hogan and Warrior.  (and prior to that, the finals of the IC Title vs Mr Perfect after Warrior was forced to vacate the title post WM6)

Well they needed somebody to actually work

[Mister TV]

43 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Well they needed somebody to actually work

This, plus they needed someone who could job clean in the final match and not have it interfere with pushes or storylines.

[Technico Support]

4 hours ago, Mister TV said:

This, plus they needed someone who could job clean in the final match and not have it interfere with pushes or storylines.

I applaud their restraint in letting Tito beat Warlord before jobbing instead of just letting Hogan and Warrior eat up all the heels 5 on 2.

[BobbyWhioux]

5 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I applaud their restraint in letting Tito beat Warlord before jobbing instead of just letting Hogan and Warrior eat up all the heels 5 on 2.

Sad to say it may have been more of an indictment of Warlord

[username]

9 hours ago, Technico Support said:

I applaud their restraint in letting Tito beat Warlord before jobbing instead of just letting Hogan and Warrior eat up all the heels 5 on 2.

You are looking at this backwards: Tito was tossed in because there was an odd number of heels and they absolutely had to avoid letting either Hulk or Warrior get one more elimination than the other.

I have not seen the match in decades and perhaps it wasn't an even 2-2 spilt between Hulk and Warrior, I'll take those odds.

[Mister TV]

21 minutes ago, username said:

You are looking at this backwards: Tito was tossed in because there was an odd number of heels and they absolutely had to avoid letting either Hulk or Warrior get one more elimination than the other.

I have not seen the match in decades and perhaps it wasn't an even 2-2 spilt between Hulk and Warrior, I'll take those odds.

Hogan got 2 pinfalls to Warriors 1, but the man from Parts Unknown got the final one, Rick Martel was counted out. 

[ka-to]

I miss crazy wrestlers. I just watched Classic All Star Wrestling on Fight Network. Tully Blanchard paid The Sheik to come to Texas and be his tag partner. Now all of the blood and guts guys are all about mutual respect and love of the business. 

[odessasteps]

3 minutes ago, ka-to said:

I miss crazy wrestlers. I just watched Classic All Star Wrestling on Fight Network. Tully Blanchard paid The Sheik to come to Texas and be his tag partner. Now all of the blood and guts guys are all about mutual respect and love of the business. 

Similar to how Tully bought/rented Abby from Paul Jones in mid 85 to deal with Dusty. 

[Mister TV]

17 hours ago, BobbyWhioux said:

Sad to say it may have been more of an indictment of Warlord

The Powers of Pain should have gotten the makeovers and singles push when they first came in, both could have been decent house show mains against Hogan or Savage, they were basically Malibu Stacy's with new hats when they got the new looks in 1990.

[Technico Support]

50 minutes ago, Mister TV said:

The Powers of Pain should have gotten the makeovers and singles push when they first came in, both could have been decent house show mains against Hogan or Savage, they were basically Malibu Stacy's with new hats when they got the new looks in 1990.

Agreed.  I loved Demolition, but they were roundly criticized in the magazines as Road Warrior ripoffs.  To then hire the other Road Warrior ripoffs and keep that gimmick is crazy.

The PoP quitting Crockett on the spot because "fuck you, we're not doing scaffold matches" is the most Crockett/NWA/WCW thing and one of my favorite wrestling stories.

Edited March 19 by Technico Support

[supremebve]

24 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

Agreed.  I loved Demolition, but they were roundly criticized in the magazines as Road Warrior ripoffs.  To then hire the other Road Warrior ripoffs and keep that gimmick is crazy.

The PoP quitting Crockett on the spot because "fuck you, we're not doing scaffold matches" is the most Crockett/NWA/WCW thing and one of my favorite wrestling stories.

I've literally never understood why anyone ever agreed to a scaffold match.  The only way to have a good scaffold match is for someone to take a bump off of the scaffold, and this is well before the we built the stage to collapse and break your fall era of wrestling.  The only two memorable scaffold matches off the top of my head are the one where Cornette blew out both of his knees and the one where New Jack tried to kill Vic Grimes.  

[BobbyWhioux]

Saying no to ladder matches? Well that just makes Warlord and Barbarian two of the smartest wrestlers you’ll ever hear about. 
 

Which beggars the question of when&how did people start saying yes to scaffold matches? They seem like they’d be more at home if they’d evolved during the “extreme” years rather than when they did.

[supremebve]

14 minutes ago, BobbyWhioux said:

Saying no to ladder matches?

Are you asking me?  Because that's going to be a no from me, dog.  I was scrolling through Instagram one day and stumbled upon a comedian doing a stand up set about the difference between being under 40 and over 40.  He stood on a chair and asked the audience, "does this seem dangerous?"  I'm currently 43, and my life flashes before my eyes every time I change a lightbulb or replace the battery in the smoke detector.

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, supremebve said:

I've literally never understood why anyone ever agreed to a scaffold match.  The only way to have a good scaffold match is for someone to take a bump off of the scaffold, and this is well before the we built the stage to collapse and break your fall era of wrestling.  The only two memorable scaffold matches off the top of my head are the one where Cornette blew out both of his knees and the one where New Jack tried to kill Vic Grimes.  

Since it’s hard to find and paste a tweet on my phone, I’ll just paraphrase: “some wrestlers are just fucking dumb, I don’t know what to tell you.”  - Big Damo

[Shartnado]

18 hours ago, username said:

You are looking at this backwards: Tito was tossed in because there was an odd number of heels and they absolutely had to avoid letting either Hulk or Warrior get one more elimination than the other.

I have not seen the match in decades and perhaps it wasn't an even 2-2 spilt between Hulk and Warrior, I'll take those odds.

I always figured Tito was there because they didn't want Sgt. Slaughter mixing up with Hogan and Warrior yet at this point because there were bigger plans for him just a month or two afterwards.

Tito getting the cheapest possible DQ win after Sarge (ahem) Slaughtered Volkoff and Bushwhackers and having Santana in the Camel Clutch before the idiotic Adnan interference sure kept him stronger than getting DQ'd in the main event match.

In kayfabe terms, Hogan and Warrior were lucky that it was 3 on 5 instead of 2 on 6 and Tito getting the shock pin on Warlord before getting eliminated levelled things up enough for them to win the match, which otherwise would have been impossible (hah!)

[SirSmUgly]

4 hours ago, supremebve said:

I've literally never understood why anyone ever agreed to a scaffold match.  The only way to have a good scaffold match is for someone to take a bump off of the scaffold, and this is well before the we built the stage to collapse and break your fall era of wrestling.  The only two memorable scaffold matches off the top of my head are the one where Cornette blew out both of his knees and the one where New Jack tried to kill Vic Grimes.  

Though the first one of those I saw was Kidman/Madusa vs. Franchise/Torrie, and uh, Kidman's bg bump through the gimmicked stage wasn't all that spectacular. 

On reflection though, I'd rather watch a wrestler dive onto some crashpads than have a ladder match. As body slams are the most painful move to take with the least benefit of popping the crowd, ladder matches are the most painful matches with the least benefit of popping the crowd, I'd think. Maybe an actual worker who posts here can tell me if I'm off with that take. 

[BobbyWhioux]

3 hours ago, supremebve said:

Are you asking me?  Because that's going to be a no from me, dog.  I was scrolling through Instagram one day and stumbled upon a comedian doing a stand up set about the difference between being under 40 and over 40.  He stood on a chair and asked the audience, "does this seem dangerous?"  I'm currently 43, and my life flashes before my eyes every time I change a lightbulb or replace the battery in the smoke detector.

Preaching to the converted.  Every time I take down the Christmas lights is another time I have that moment of realization of just how fucking dangerous and stupid jumping off would be, and there goes any will to watch another Ladder Match.

[BloodyChamp]

5 hours ago, supremebve said:

I've literally never understood why anyone ever agreed to a scaffold match.  The only way to have a good scaffold match is for someone to take a bump off of the scaffold, and this is well before the we built the stage to collapse and break your fall era of wrestling.  The only two memorable scaffold matches off the top of my head are the one where Cornette blew out both of his knees and the one where New Jack tried to kill Vic Grimes.  

That wasn’t actually a scaffold match IIRC. It was a spot in a normal brawl involving a random scaffold. I liked the Tommy Dreamer vs Brian Lee scaffold match. Otherwise yeah just a dumb kind of match. 

EDIT: wow I didn’t even know about the actual scaffold match. I just Googled it.

Edited March 19 by BloodyChamp

[clintthecrippler]

On 3/19/2025 at 12:49 PM, supremebve said:

Are you asking me?  Because that's going to be a no from me, dog.  I was scrolling through Instagram one day and stumbled upon a comedian doing a stand up set about the difference between being under 40 and over 40.  He stood on a chair and asked the audience, "does this seem dangerous?"  I'm currently 43, and my life flashes before my eyes every time I change a lightbulb or replace the battery in the smoke detector.

I am 46 years old and my thought process on that is if I slip, will it actually be a WORSE outcome if I land on my feet instead of my body. 

[Godfrey]

Last week I thought neither WWE and AEW were putting out a particularly good product and this week both companies showed me why they are utter trash and likely won't get better any time soon. True bottom of the barrel bullshit from Cena and Moxley that combined to kill my interest in wrestling in general. Gonna check out again and watch baseball, nice to talk to some of you for a bit. See ya next time!

[Curt McGirt]

1. I will go to my death saying Takeshi Sasaki vs. Yuki Ishikawa in Big Japan had the best scaffold match that isn't Invader vs. Chicky. And I forgot all about the New Jack Attempted Murder match. 

2. Jackie was not only more talented but way way hotter than frickin' Sable

3. This is the big one: I actually like Randy Orton now. It isn't like he aged like fine wine or anything, but he's doing the grizzled veteran thing just fine. He's got sympathy from his injuries, he can still do the crazy thing, he's over as hell after all these years, I guess I've just come around on the prick. 

[supremebve]

10 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

2. Jackie was not only more talented but way way hotter than frickin' Sable

 

Jackie's facial features look a lot like a friend's mom.  I remember when she was fairly new, my friend and I were joking about her looking like Miss Brenda while walking to that friend's house.  When we got there, that friend decided this was the time he was going to tell us how hot he thought Jackie was and all the nasty things that teenage boys might want to do to her.  Let's just say, if you're between 13-25, do not say anything like that to your friends about a woman who looks even 1% like your mother.

[Curt McGirt]

Having been a victim of a loose tongue and not much good sense at that age... I sympathise