The Thread Killer

I am way out of the loop on my puro news, so I was surprised to hear that Takeshi Rikio retired at only 39 due to serious neck injuries. The last thing NOAH needs is to lose another main event level guy, but I am heartened to see a star smart enough to understand that there is more to life than wrestling, and get out while he still has his health. I wish Misawa had done the same, and I wish Kobashi would get that message too.

I remember Kane having at least one very good (not great, but very good) match with Kurt Angle, prior to their WM18 match. I am fairly sure the date of the match was November 1, 2001. I do recall being subsequently disappointed with their WM18 match based on the quality of this one, as were Kane and Angle, reportedly. Also, I remember really enjoying the brief but memorable Brothers of Destruction vs. Rikishi & Haku feud. I remember there being at least one old school wild brawl that ended up being a no contest, and a first blood match (which research shows me was on February 1, 2001) as well. The basis of this feud was how Kane and Taker were eliminated from the Rumble that year, and then Rikishi and Haku costing them the WWE Tag Titles. It wasn't a long drawn out feud, but it reminded me of the old Brody & Hansen vs. The Funk Brothers matches I loved from All Japan, just out of control Tag Team brawls. My nostalgia probably colored my perception of their quality, mind you. I am not claiming these were great matches, but I remember them being quite good.

Later on in this thread, when I have time I am going to post about my first house show, and some other noteworthy shows I've been to, but let me tell you about the time I saw Lex Luger beat Ric Flair fair and square in a world title match, that few people ever heard about. NWA @ The CNE Coliseum Toronto, Ontario - June 27, 1990 This show was noteworthy for a bunch of reasons. Firstly, since Jack Tunney was the Toronto promoter, the WWF had Toronto locked up tight for years and no other promoter could ever get anywhere close to running a show in Toronto. There is an outstanding book which partially covers this topic called "Drawing Heat" which I cannot recommend enough. It is the story of the infamous "Bearman" Dave McKigney who ran independent shows in and around the Toronto area. The Bearman was famous because he used to wrestle a bear, which once got loose and mauled his wife to death. He kept on wrestling, and was eventually killed in the same car accident that killed Adrian Adonis. If interested, you can now get an updated version of the book at Highspots, including a new chapter about the death of McKigney and Adonis. I have the original, but it was out of print for years. It gives an interesting insight into the Tunney family, and Original Sheik and how nuts he was too. So this show was one of the first that broke the WWF stranglehold on Toronto, so about 3,000 hardcore fans show up - not as many as the NWA/WCW were expecting. Why? The NWA/WCW had no current TV shows running in the Toronto market. Like...ZIP. Zilch. Nada. I found about the show from an ad in the paper. If you had a satellite dish (and in 1990, who did?) you could get TBS, but aside from that, all you could get was old re-runs of the WCW Power Hour run at 1:00 am, and they were MONTHS behind. Like, they were behind the Apter mags, that's how out of date they were. So the ring announcer tries to hype up the crowd, reminding them that you can catch WCW action on the Superstation, and the crowd starts booing him and throwing shit at him. I almost died laughing. They booked the show in Toronto, and their own ring announcer didn't know that Toronto fans couldn't get the Superstation, and we didn't get current NWA/WCW TV. That explained the small crowd, and why the crowd was dead for some of the matches...they had no idea who some of these people were, or only knew about them from the Apter mags, like my friends and I. Anyhow, as for the show... Mean Mark defeated Nick DeCarlo - first time I saw The Undertaker live, I guess! Brian Pillman defeated Dutch Mantell - Pillman was over HUGE from being on Stampede Wrestling for the years leading up to this, and Mantell played off it brilliantly, getting on the microphone and bashing Canada, and Pillman, etc. Tracey Smothers & Steve Armstrong defeated NWA US Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane in a non-title match Rick & Scott Steiner defeated NWA Tag Team Champions Doom via disqualification The Junkyard Dog defeated NWA TV Champion Arn Anderson in a non-title match - JYD was always over in Toronto but he was so damn big by this point he could barely move. NWA US Champion Lex Luger defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair in what turned out to be a non-title match... So get this...Luger gets Flair to submit in the torture rack, and the crowd loses it's shit...since this was NOT announced as a non-title match ahead of time. Then the ring announcer gets on the microphone and announces that the NWA World Heavyweight Championship CANNOT CHANGE HANDS IN CANADA. There was almost a riot, I swear. Good thing nobody told Harley Race that back on February 6, 1977 when he beat Terry Funk for the NWA World Heavweight Championship in Toronto. The next time WCW came to town, they drew around 500.

I hate to disagree Marty, but I distinctly remember the man being named the Invasion and Alliance MVP.

As I recall, the Main Event at Uncensored 1999, a Steel Cage match was quite good. If I remember correctly (and I might not be, since it was over 12 years ago and I haven't seen it since the night I saw it live) the match was a double turn, with Flair turning heel, Hogan turning face, and Flair going over. I recall being shocked at how much I enjoyed that match because I agree with DBA...Flair/Hogan matches usually disappointed, which they shouldn't have. I always chalked it up to Hogan being jealous of Flair's GOAT rep and not wanting him to look good - but anyhow - I remember Uncensored 99 being the exception to the Hogan/Flair "bad match" rule and being pretty good. If I am wrong or if others have seen it and disagree, feel free to chime in.

I have seen online today some fans saying that there is no way Brock could have legitimately lost that fight, so it must have been fixed. I have also seen the conspiracy theory floated that Lesnar threw the fight so he could back to the WWE and fight UT at WM, after their post match confrontation. There is so much wrong with both those theories that they call for the biggest facepalm gif in history.

Ugh, I was at that show. It was awful. There were a bunch of no shows, and I remember because of it, Koko B. Ware had to wrestle twice. *shudders* My favorite part was when Duggan tried to get a "USA" chant going...when he was fighting two Americans and a Canadian...in Toronto.

I suspect some of these releases may have also been Wellness related.

Well, we all can't be blessed with a face like that handsome devil, Gabe. Having said that, I have never heard a story about Mil Mascaras that paints him in a flattering light. In the post-Foley wrestling book boom, the one guarantee you had was that if they told a story about Mil Mascaras, it was negative. Not that his ethnicity would have anything to do with that. A jerk is a jerk, regardless of race, age, or sexual orientation.

I wouldn't say that Eddie Gilbert has been considered a great one, has he? If anything, people always seem to see him as a guy who had potential to be better, but blew it by being unpredictable and wasting his life on drugs. From what I have read (so it could be totally wrong) Gilbert had a good mind for the business and could have been a good booker under the right circumstances, but his own self destructive behavior always prevented him from accomplishing what he could have. From what I recall, he was fairly well known for starting off well, but then getting into disputes with owners and promoters before he could finish what he started. As far as his in ring ability, I would imagine that he'd be best remembered for his feud with Tommy Rich, or with Lawler or maybe his time in Mid South in 1987...I know his hardcore matches with Foley on the independent circuit got a lot of praise, but they're more legendary from word of mouth and Foley talking about them in his book, aren't they? I don't even know if they're available on video. Bottom line, I always saw Eddie Gilbert as somebody was was respected to a degree for his mind, not for his in ring accomplishments, which were negligible, and he was ultimately seen as wasted potential, not a great one who died too young. But once again, that's just my perception.

It doesn't help that Brody himself, Matysik, and Meltzer all helped perpetuate the story that Brody was shooting on the inexperienced, unprofessional rookie...when it is pretty damn clear who was being unprofessional in that match...and it wasn't Luger.

I should clarify...Ron Bass tells a story in his Shoot Interview about how he and Brody were both carrying on a sexual relationship with the same female fan in Japan during the same time period but she was trying to hide it from both of them, and they used to joke about it with each other. He also tells a story about partying with Brody that ends up with Bass throwing up out a window. Nothing is suggested about hard drugs, but Bass's story indicates that Brody did drink and mess around with women on the road. Also, I remember Bob Barnett once saying that he knew that Brody had been up all night partying before his infamous cage match with Luger, where Brody refused to sell anything so Luger just climbed out of the cage and left. In the book, Matysik makes it sound like Luger wouldn't sell for Brody, so Brody turned the tables on him, stopped selling for Luger, and stiffed him in order to "teach him a lesson." Another example of the rose colored glasses of Matysik when looking at Brody. I've seen the match in question, and from what I saw, Brody wouldn't sell a single thing Luger did from the get go. Also, Luger claims he and Brody had it out in the dressing room after the match, and that Brody said it was nothing personal...whereas Matysik claims Luger fled the arena in terror. In the book, it is strongly implied that Brody spent all his time in his room eating cold green beans and tuna straight out of the can, pining away for his family. I'm not saying he wasn't a good father...but sounds like he had his share of fun on the road. Barbara Goodish even mentions that women would call their house claiming to be Brody's girlfriend, but that they did that because promoters would put them up to it, to try and get revenge on Brody for all the problems he caused them. The book mentions that Brody tried steroids early in his career, but they made him really sick so he stopped. He took aspirin before every match, but that was due to pain he had in his joints from doing his big knee drop. (I had heard he took the aspirin to thin his blood out so he'd bleed better.) The book also admits that Brody was a regular pot smoker...but he did it to fight the constant pain he was in.

I've read it. It's not a great read, and it can be quite frustrating in parts. Matysik was a close personal friend of Brody, and an out-and-out Brody apologist, so a lot of stuff gets left out, glossed over, or told from Brody's perspective only. The book includes tons of quotes from people like Gary Hart and Meltzer who go to great lengths to excuse Brody's legendary backstage behavior. One quote that gets used multiple times is "that is just a locker room legend, Frank (Brody) never did that...and if he DID, then some asshole promoter must have given him a reason to act that way." At times he actually has the nerve to try and portray Brody as some kind of locker room role model who is standing up for the little guy against the evil promoters, if only others had been as brave as him. The funny thing is, that even friends of Brody's like Stan Hansen and Terry Funk have to admit in some quotes that Brody was a pain in the ass to deal with, but that the "real person" Frank Goodish was a nice guy. Even still Matysik's writing style is annoying, melodramatic, and he is also outright delusional about Brody's actual in ring abilities and what he would have accomplished had he not died. There is a chapter devoted to what might have happened had Brody lived, and Matysik basically had him headlining Wrestlemania. Stuff like Brody's refusal to sell, his refusal to do jobs, his drug use, and his womanizing all get left out. Of course, his widow co-authored the book, so they aren't going to sit there and talk about Brody partying or all the rats he banged. If you want stories like that, you should check out Ron Bass's Highspots Shoot Interview. The good thing about Barbara Goodish being the co-author is that she provides a lot of personal photos and some interesting background on who he was outside the ring. It's a pity that Matysik couldn't be objective and admit some of the things about Brody that are pretty much common knowledge now. If you read between the lines, you can see that he was a selfish asshole 99% of the time, but that sure isn't the way the book portrays him. Ironically, I am a Brody fan. I grew up watching his brawls with Abdullah in Quebec where Abdullah was actually a face and Brody was the heel, believe it or not. I also love his tag matches with Hansen against the Funks and some of his matches with Jumbo from AJPW. I just know that he was a dick, and that you're rarely if ever going to see him get pinned.

From 411: Shaquille O’Neal To Host Raw Next Week Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.20.2009 It was announced on Raw that the special celebrity host next week would be NBA star Shaquille O'Neal.

The other issue is that very few celebrities are going to want to appear on WWE programming. It's not exactly a sign that your career is on a huge upswing, I imagine that for agents, it's about as prestigious as telling your client you booked them at the auto show in the booth next to Adam West and Burt Ward. If there are famous people of any level that want to appear on WWE programming, then I would imagine WWE will jump on it. A lot of those names Loss mentioned (who for the record I have never heard of...what the hell is a Lady Gaga?!) probably would rather die than be seen on WWE programming.

I have been a ZZ Top fan for a long time...before they even had their heyday in the 80's...and I am very interested to see what Rick Rubin does for them. This is the guy that engineered Johnny Cash's comeback, talked him into doing cover versions which resulted in songs like "Hurt" and generally seems to have a good idea what will work and what won't. Rubin might put ZZ Top back on the map again...but even if he doesn't, I guess my point is that on the C list of famous people, they're not too far removed from the guy who played Scott Evil, honestly. sek makes a good point too...ZZ Top are actual fans of the WWE. I have seen them on television at shows tons of times. Since they already know and follow the product, it's not just a blatant plug for them, they actually want to be there I would imagine. I wouldn't be surprised to see guys like Shaq end up doing it too.

I think he knows that if he provided links, that would be feeding into some of these people. I do believe he is talking about people like the geniuses that leave comments at 411, and things like that. The RAW report on 411 and many of the comments after it are mocking ZZ Top. For whatever reason, some people check that site out...Mick Foley actually lashed out at them recently.

As somebody who actually is of an age and lived in a place where I was able to watch Stampede on a regular basis, allow me to say that you couldn't be more right. Whalen sucked. He was a terrible play by play guy, his cliches were beyond tiresome, and he was so patronizing and condescending to the wrestlers it was pathetic. He once whacked one of the heels over the head with his microphone during an interview...seriously. That dude freaking sucked.

I think he's pretty much spot on there. If they're going to be doing this "guest host" deal for a while, why NOT ZZ Top? They're a great band, and they have a new Rick Rubin produced CD coming out soon...which I am assuming is one of the reasons they're doing this. They're legit fans, they're at ringside a lot during Texas shows quite frequently. Net geeks who are bitching about the entire concept of celebrity guest hosts, I can see. Ones who thought Trump and Green were fine, but ZZ Top aren't...and that's who Ross is referring to here...need to relax and STFU. Then again, maybe having that opinion makes me hateful and vile.

I haven't posted here in ages...I lurk, but I don't usually post unless I have a question or something to say. There is so much we still don't know about what happened, which I am sure will come out in due time. In the days and weeks to come, I am sure much will be said and written about the cause of Misawa's death. Like some of you, I have read elsewhere that this may have actually been a heart attack, and that his death may not have been as a direct result of the back suplex. Regardless of the cause of death, the bottom line is that for my money (and lord knows I spent thousands of dollars collecting his work, and it was worth every cent) Misawa was the best wrestler of all time. I know that is a heavy tag to lay on somebody, but in his case, I feel a compelling argument can be made. So many classic matches, so many which were considered in contention as "the greatest match of all time." Singles matches, tag matches, six man matches...feuds and rivalries. It is sad when anybody dies, but when somebody who had done so much to entertain others dies, doing what he was best at, it seems especially tragic. Years ago I joked with a friend that Misawa seemed so serious about his work that he'd probably die in the ring. Those words came back to me today and I felt sick. Words and rhetoric about the situation now don't seem to do my feelings or the situation justice. All I can do is echo the feelings of many and say this is one of the saddest days to be a fan of pro wrestling. We may never see his type again...something has really been lost today. That is what keeps coming to my mind...someone has been lost today, a kind of performer who we were lucky to see, and that we will probably never see somebody like him again. That's where my sadness comes from...selfishness, the sense of loss. R.I.P.

Read "Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling" by Heath McCoy. Blood was a major issue, they lost television and lots of support for too much of it. They also got regularly fined by the local athletic commission, which still governed Pro Wrestling. Too much blood and violence was a major issue between Stu and Bruce, and for the old time fans of Stampede, it's a fact.

This story, (and from the looks of it, a lot of the information SK uses) is blatantly lifted from "Pain & Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling" by Calgary Sun writer Heath McCoy. That is an excellent book. That exact sentiment is expressed by McCoy in "Pain and Passion" where he hails Bruce Hart's booking in the 80's as ahead of his time...and similar to what ECW and WWF Attitude ended up doing years later...McCoy mentions the Zodiac and Jason stuff as a specific example. On the Superstar Billy Graham DVD "20 Years Too Soon" Graham makes a comment at the end that even if he had known the effect the steroids were going to have on his body, he might have done them anyhow, because he loved wrestling so much and his jacked up body was what made his career and success possible. I remember that distinctly, because I was pretty shocked that he said that after 90 minutes of stories about how his entire body was breaking down due to steroid abuse. Then again, I don't doubt that he contradicted this statement elsewhere in other interviews...it seemed the main purpose of his WWE DVD was to shift any blame for Graham's health away from McMahon and Company, and onto Graham himself. Some of the grovelling and kissing up in his WWE produced autobiography is quite shocking.

One of the things I loved about this board is the lack of drama...and the focus on discussion of Pro Wrestling Only. "Wild Pegasus" has managed to get banned at TSM and even The Pit for gawd's sake, where it's practically impossible to get banned....for this exactly this kind of weirdness, which has been amply displayed above. Please don't let this kind of goofiness infect this board too, I implore you all.