Mad Dog

Great Lakes All-Star Wrestling #16: 10/20/1984 taped from Chicago, IL Results: Buzz Sawyer defeated Charlie Fulton at 1:41 Rip Rogers defeated Kelly Kiniski at 3:18 Thunderbolt Patterson defeated Mike Miller at 7:59 Tommy Rich and Wahoo McDaniel defeated Danny Fargo and George Weingeroff at 10:42 Angle Developments: The Marvelous Masked Manager, Don Carsen, Great Lakes Tag Team Champions The Super Destroyers and Midnight Rider start off the show. MMM says that he can't wait for the upcoming show in Detroit. The Super Destroyers are going to put those young punks Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels in their place. Guys like that have no business challenging for one of the most prestigious championships in the sport of wrestling today. You need to spend years toiling away to get a shot at belts like these, not handed them off of arbitrary decisions by Verne Gagne. Rip Rogers walks out. He tells MMM that he might not have a mask like the rest of his team but he points out that he has been on a roll in the Great Lakes region and he thinks he would be a good fit for this little group. MMM thinks about it for a second and says that he would be happy to have Rip Rogers in the group, he doesn't even have to wear a mask. Rip Rogers thanks MMM for taking him on. Rogers talks about how coming up in Detroit, he's going to put another pretty boy in his place in Ricky Gibson. He's going to climb his way back to the top and take that Great Lakes Championship away from Tommy Rich. Buzz Sawyer is out for an interview. He's got a match coming up with Thunderbolt Patterson in Detroit. He talks about how he's chased Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Brett Wayne Sawyer out of the region. Now it's going to be Thunderbolt's turn to get run out of town. Great Lakes is his turf and there is only room for Buzz Sawyer. AWA National Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express are out for an interview. Ricky Morton talks about how they couldn't stand aside and watch Mike Miller and Rip Oliver screw the High Flyers out of a win last week. They know first hand how devious and tough Miller and Oliver are as a team. Morton tells the High Flyers that they need to train extra hard for this title match. They are about to face off with the best team in wrestling today. Ivan Koloff is out for an interview. He introduces his cousin Nikita Koloff. He talks about how the Iron Sheik just wasn't a reliable partner to have so he went back to Russia and chose the best of the best. Koloff hypes up Nikita as a genetic freak and one of the best pure athletes in the world today. They are going to take the tag team division by storm. After the main event, Wahoo McDaniel grabbed the mic. He told Tommy Rich that it's been fun but all bets are off on Saturday in Detroit. He will do whatever it takes to win that Great Lakes Heavyweight Championship.

Detroit, MI card: Main Event: Great Lakes Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich (c) vs. Wahoo McDaniel AWA National Tag Team Title Match: Rock N Roll Express (c) vs. High Flyers Great Lakes Tag Team Title Match: Super Destroyers (c) vs. Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels Thunderbolt Patterson vs. Buzz Sawyer Ricky Gibson vs. Rip Rogers The Sheik vs. Dick the Bruiser Ivan and Nikita Koloff vs. Charlie Fulton and Kelly Kiniski

We're taking a break from wrestling this week to discuss some of our favorite Christmas songs.

Great Lakes All-Star Wrestling #15: 10/13/1984 Results: Wahoo McDaniel defeated Danny Fargo by DQ at 8:14 Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels defeated Barry O and Dusty Wolf at 4:51 Don Carsen defeated Charlie Fulton at 5:03 High Flyers defeated Mike Miller and Rip Oliver at 12:47 Angle Developments: George Weingeroff attacked Wahoo McDaniel during his match which drew the DQ. Fargo and Weingeroff put the boots to McDaniel until Tommy Rich ran in for the save. He caught Fargo with the Thesz Press and then managed to hold both men off until Wahoo recovered and they cleared the ring. Rich and Wahoo came face to face for a moment and the tension was visible before Wahoo slapped Rich on the back and thanked him for the save. The walked to the back together talking. The Marvelous Masked Manager comes out with the Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Super Destroyers. He says that Verne Gagne has it out for his team and that's why this title match is happening in Detroit. So to deal with Verne and his biased decision making. So he went out and got himself an insurance policy. That's why he brought in the Midnight Rider to act as a bodyguard for his team here. The Midnight Rider walks out and Solie asks him a question. The Rider says nothing. MMM says that Hall and Michaels don't have a chance of holding these championship belts while the Super Destroyers have them. Ricky Gibson is out for an interview. He doesn't have a clue why Rip Rogers attacked him a couple of weeks ago. He says some guys aren't happy unless they're causing trouble. He's going to show Rip why you finish fights if you pick them. During the main event, Rip Oliver grabbed a pair of knuckles and went to hit Greg Gagne with it when the Rock N Roll Express hit the ring. Gibson and Oliver fought over the knuckles while Morton checked on the hurt referee. Brunzell jumped into the fray and managed to roll Oliver up and the ref managed to count the three and give the win to the High Flyers.

Great Lakes releases Danny Fargo, Dusty Wolf, Frank Morrell, George Weingeroff, Gerry Morrow, Leatherface, Roger Kirby and The Sheik.

I think the problem with Cornette is that he just wants to do his shit and get out. Stu Bennett tries to interact with him and teases him. The ODB situation is the perfect example of how Stu added to the situation by going "I think she likes you." I think Cornette is a good commentator but he isn't good at coming across like he has a genuine affection for the person sitting next to him.

I quit watching and unsubscribed from the Network in the past few months. I find there to be little redeeming qualities to any of the WWE TV and there is just too much out there that I can watch instead. Their contempt for the audience doesn't help. Open contempt for the audience did drive me away from comic books though.

Great Lakes All-Star Wrestling #14: 10/6/1984 Results: Ricky Gibson defeated Larry Hamilton at 6:49 Rock N Roll Express defeated Doug Vines and Jeff Sword at 10:32 Wahoo McDaniel defeated Roger Kirby at 3:01 Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels defeated The Poffos at 11:03 Angle Developments: The Marvelous Masked Manager came out and claimed that Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels were not getting a title shot because they did not beat the Super Destroyers by pinfall or submission. Verne Gagne came out and told MMM that this isn't how these types of matches work. He points out that Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels won the match and that means they get the title shot. He is making this a mandatory title match for the October 26th show in Detroit. MMM is livid a this and starts yelling at Verne. The Super Destroyers storm out and get in Verne's face about the match. Hall and Michaels come out to get them to back off of Verne. Both teams stare each other down for a really long time but MMM calls the Super Destroyers off. Tommy Rich does commentary during Wahoo McDaniel's match. He talks about their long history together and even held the Georgia Tag Team Titles at one point. He talks about his massive respect for Wahoo and how it would be a pleasure to defend the Great Lakes Championship against him. Rip Rogers blindsided Ricky Gibson after his match. Gibson managed to fight back and even dropkicked Rogers out of the ring. Rogers tried to climb back in but got a fist to the face for his trouble. AWA National Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express were interviewed. Ricky Morton talked about how when you think of tag team wrestling in the United States that the name that comes to mind is the Rock N Roll Express. They've held belts all over this country. He's excited for this match with the High Flyers because it's a chance to have a nice clean match built on respect. But he warns the High Flyers. The Rock N Roll haven't been champions all over the world by going easy on opponents. There won't be anything underhanded from them but once that bell rings all bets are off. They are coming to fight in Detroit and he hopes the High Flyers can meet the challenge.

Yeah. I didn't have Hennig which was a duo of the time but Hall and Michaels seemed like a tag team a promoter might create if they wanted that young up and coming team on their roster.

Great Lakes All-Star Wrestling #13: 9/29/1984 The Marvelous Masked Manager and Great Lakes Tag Team Champions Super Destroyers start off the show. The Manager calls Masked Superstar a loser. He talks about how much he tried to get the guy wins and championship success here but he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory every single time. He even named a battle royal after Masked Superstar and he still managed to lose that match. He says you won't be seeing the Masked Superstar anymore. Now he is going to focus his time and energy on real champions like the Super Destroyers. These men have beaten every team they have faced in Great Lakes so far. Now they have a couple of young punks in Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels looking to get a title shot. Well, he's willing to put the titles on the line if Hall and Michaels can beat his guy in a match on today's show. Rip Rogers defeated Marty Jannetty at 6:01 Gordie Solie asks Rogers why he attacked Ricky Gibson on last week's show. Rogers says some people just like to watch the world burn. He's tired of all of these pretty boy punks running around Great Lakes. He's from the south where wrestling is about grizzled combat and blood. Not these pretty boys with big hair doing flashy moves and technical wrestling. Wahoo McDaniel defeated Barry O at 2:39 Wahoo McDaniel interview. He's traveled all over the world and had success everywhere he's gone. He's here in the Great Lakes region because he's heard of all the success Tommy Rich has been having as the Great Lakes Heavyweight Champion. He wants a shot at that championship belt and wants Rich to name a time and a place. High Flyers defeated Dusty Wolf and Frank Morrell at 4:00 High Flyers interview. They admit they seem to keep coming up on the short end of the stick in these title matches. They thank the Rock N Roll Express for all of the kind words and how supportive they have been over this upcoming title match. They are hoping for a good clean match. Non-Title Match: Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels defeated The Super Destroyers by DQ at 15:08 The Super Destroyers couldn't get the final pinfall on either man. Finally, Super Destroyer #1 had enough and grabbed a chair from the crowd and nailed Hall and Michaels with it drawing the DQ. He laid into both men as the bell rang. The Super Destroyers and The Marvelous Masked Manager pose over the fallen Hall and Michaels as the show fades to black.

Great Lakes All-Star Wrestling #12: 9/22/1984 The cameras catch up with a lot of commotion backstage and they catch Rip Rogers trash talking and walking away from a fallen Ricky Gibson. Scott Hall and Shawn Michaels defeated Barry O and Dusty Wolf at 4:21 AWA National Tag Team Champions Rock N Roll Express are out for an interview. Morton talks about the truly great teams in the sport of wrestling. He calls the High Flyers one of the best teams in the AWA today. He's actually surprised that they haven't won all of the belts in wrestling. He's really looking forward to this match because he wants to test himself against a high flying and technical team. Great Lakes Heavyweight Title Match: Tommy Rich (c) defeated Masked Superstar at 25:31 The Marvelous Masked Manager overthrew Masked Superstar on a roll of quarters and Tommy Rich used them to get the win. The Manager apologized to Masked Superstar after the fact. As they were walking to the back, The Super Destroyers jump the Superstar. The Masked Manager starts barking orders to them as they put a beating on Superstar. They drag a knocked out Superstar to the back as the Masked Manager laughs about it the whole time.

This week we're reviewing NWA Into The Fire.

From what I have read, he is treating RoH and New Japan like a package deal. So he's not choosing RoH so much as he is choosing Japan.

The fact that Baron killed their ratings and is still the top heel blows my mind. His programs are consistently death.

Are you ready for the sequel at the end of the month?

I mostly enjoyed the show. I am not sure it was worth $20 though.I think they needed to do a little more for a paid show than a bigger version of the TV show. This was a Clash of the Champions level show and they needed to be a step better than that. I think the NWA has done an excellent job with the angles and pushing their universe forward on a weekly basis. It feels like everyone has a direction on the card which is good. I think the biggest weakness though is the inring and that's going to hurt them for PPV level shows. Yes, I had a lot of fun with the show but none of the matches at the PPV were super satisfying. I think that is something that can be fixed with time but they still haven't beaten the Aldis/Storm match from week 1. Now my biggest issue story wise. They need to be doing a lot more than Tim Storm and Eddie Kingston. It's kind of ridiculous that Outlaw Inc. didn't have a match on this show. The women's division still sucks but they have gotten Thunder Rosa over quick and she comes across like a star on these shows. Side note to this, I love the TV Title but I don't really feel like they have the roster or the TV time for 5 championship belts. I will continue to watch the weekly show but they are going to have to try harder to get money from me on the next PPV.

They need to get concussion spotters like hockey has.

Why not just bring a crocodile to a Swamp Match?

This week we talk about our favorite foreign objects in wrestling. Shad also talks about weapons that he has used in matches.

Yeah, I put the money down for it. Probably going to do a podcast review of it good or bad.

Mercury said they were still helping him. Vince has a lot of flaws but he seems to take care of guys for a long time after they work for him. I think there are a lot of things Vince has done for people that we will never know about until after he passes away. I'm talking about things like flying Harley Race home so he could spend his last days at home.

Shad Gaspard just went off on him about this. It sounds like people are just sick of his shit now.

Is this like people that delete their Twitter and aren't coming back and are back within a week?

They also are on Fite and I bet they get more views from there.

I can kind of see why though. She came in on the heels of the best writing WWE ever saw and you could see the immediate decline in quality.