khawk20

Funny trend on the ClassicsonDemand AWA TV showings lately is including a JIP arena match from the Twin Cities at the very end of the show, before the credits role. Strange part of it is that the match they are including has been one that happened 2 or 3 months after the tv show airs. The latest example is Tito Santana vs. Sgt. Jacques Goulet airing on the 9/5/81 TV, when the match itself happened on 11/8/81. The same thing happened a few months ago with a Laurent Soucie match. I guess what this tells me is that they have worked quite a bit ahead in converting their AWA TV, and they feel the need to include a non-squash clip in the absence of the interviews that are not included on the TV shows.

Possibly. I really liked the Ivan match from memory, and, though I don't remember which Patterson match specifically that one is, I did like pretty much all of their matches that I did see, so I can see how that match could have got lost in the shuffle a little. I hope that when Backlund gets the HOF treatment on ClassicsonDemand, they pop out a "new" match or MSG card for us. I'd like to see one of the Maivia matches, or perhaps the Adonis rematch from MSG. Hell, even the first Snuka match where Backlund did the stretcher job would be a treat. Even a rematch from that 1978 Ivan match would be pretty sweet as I think the one you listed is the first of two at MSG. My fear is that Bob gets the "nobody really knows who he is, so roll out is best, already-prepared matches" treatment. I suspect that there is enough good Backlund stuff available that they probably don't have to dig deep....we can only hope they do.

I enjoyed this match a lot, I think partially because it seemed a little ragged in spots.

Think he went back to Montreal after the AWA title loss, almost exclusively. He was part of the ownership I think. He did have a non-title rematch in Quebec in the Spring of 86 with Hansen, which he won via pin, that was supposed to set up a title match. That match never happened as far as I know.

You must PM me highlights of this story sometime..I don't plan on getting this book. ...also Brody being the reason Wrestlerock drew well = lol. I don't think it even actually drew all that well, period, at the end of the day, to be honest. But that's neither here nor there....

Especially since he'd likely be hitting on the court stenographer while he was doing it.

the funny part is that it's a WWF match, and the WWF doesn't have it. Their own match! I knew about the GCW stuff, but that's a different animal since they acquired it.

Why buy a book that reads like a series of message board posts and bad news site reviews? It was a Christmas present. He has to read it or it's considered rude. Greg Valentine was always packaged as a remorseless killer-type. I though the did that as good as anyone.

Holy shit, now I'm laughing even harder...

lololololololololol

Bumping this as it got buried early...anyone have any ideas?

Is there any footage online of the "gimmick brawler and true powerhouse" 70s version of Steele that you would recommend? Sounds intriguing. There have been some 70's Steele bouts released on ClassicsonDemand on some of their older MSG shows. 6/30/73 I think was Steele vs. Morales. Steele was thought of far, far differently in the 70's as far as a WWWF heel, as Steven says. He still retained some of the cartoonish arm-waving at certain points of a match, but he was overall presented like a real monster heel.

Has anyone ever traced back/figured out who the first user of the "Cobra Clutch" was? Vachon was using it as AWA Champion in 1966 and I doubt he invented it.

I'm pretty sure there is lots more 80's footage available if that's what you mean. Is there? I may be wrong, but it seems like there's a lot of 70s Florida out there relative to other territories, and that there are footage gaps in the 80s. Maybe it's all relative -- there's less 80s available than for a lot of groups, and more 70s available than for a lot of groups. The impression I get from a quick glance of my own lists shows a lot more 80's stuff than 70's, with things like Turnbuckle Memories and Mike Graham's infomercial Classics show being a mix of both with an edge to 80's material. Relative to other territories, Florida does seem to hold it's own and then some in terms of 70's footage. This is just going by my lists, of course, but I don't think I'm missing much Florida material.

I'm pretty sure there is lots more 80's footage available if that's what you mean.

Parts of Kunze's tape lists still exist online, FWIW. Only place I've ever seen a listing for video of an April 1984 tag tourney press conference, featuring Brody-Hansen at the PC along with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell (they wrestled each other in that tourney).

Robert, along with Johnny Rougeau, are two other iconic Canadian stars but unfortunately there is little to any footage availabe of them.

I think Carpentier was born in France, which, if true, DQ's him by definition. On Watson, you are bang-on. Older folks that watched wrestling in his time frame will tell you he was the best "when it wasn't all bullshit", as they are fond to say. It's probably the ultimate compliment that can be paid by that set, if you think about it.

Watch the Rick Martel-Boris Zurkov cage match from Winnipeg and check out John Ferguson (former NHL hockey goon) as the guest referee, then get back to me about Kiniski. There is probably enough Bravo footage to check out that will help your assessment from the "work" standpoint, but probably not enough of Vachons. Depends on how much you think you need to see of his 50's-70's work. There is some, but not a ton. Mad Dog is such an Icon in Canada that to me the list just seems wrong without him on it. If you didn't grow up around the Canadian wrestling culture, you might not feel the same way, which is understandable. I'm not sure how much Patterson is out there pre-WWF 79, off the top of my head.

I'm pretty sure Martel was still tied in/part owner of the Montreal office at the time, and his departure from the AWA allowed him to go back and be a top guy in that area, so moving to Crockett probably wasn't in the cards from his perspective. I have no idea if Crockett made any overtures to bring him in. Once the writing was on the wall for Montreal would have been when Martel moved to the WWF and formed the Can-Am Connection with Zenk. I'll have to look but the details (and, whether I'm anywhere near correct) will be in the Mad Dog/Screwjobs book. I may have absorbed that from skimming a part of that book...either that or I'm remembering some semblance of that conversation from his shoot interview some time back. Or, I could be talking out my ass, but I don't think I am...this time.

That match is available, FWIW.

He was always thought of as a good wrestler but the questions more revolved around how he compared to Flair and Hogan, who were larger-than-life in the role of World Champion. That clouded how some viewed him and his reign at the time. Most started to pay more attention to his reign when Bockwinkel didn't get the title back within a few months and it appeared he was going to be around to stay as champ for a bit. At that point, he began getting booked against guys like Jim Garvin and later Michael Hayes. Both were solid challengers to Martel and they had good quality programs, but both guys giving Martel trouble (winning non-title matches, "winning" the title with help or an object and having the decision reversed later, before Martel getting a win in the blowoff, as examples) took away from Martel's reign some as well. Backlund was booked similarly with the WWF but it worked to enhance Backlund's reign rather than detract from it. Backlund slayed more monsters, if that makes sense. Looking back at his opponents over the course of his title reign, you see a lot of guys that were not thought to be "serious" title contenders anywhere else until they met Martel. Garvin, Hayes, Zbyszko (a mid-carder in the AWA from 84 through probably mid-86), Mr. Saito (primarily a tag team guy), King Tonga and Boris Zurkov come to mind. The programs were much better IMO with Martel struggling some with each of them, but nobody thought that any of those wrestlers would be a quality challenger to either Flair or Hogan in that time frame. I don't think Martel being booked to dominate them in a one-and-out fashion would have helped and the AWA certainly did not have enough wrestlers on board to make that feasable anyway in terms of booking their Champ. It's much easier to look back on Martel's reign with appreciation for the matches and programs he was in than it was to appreciate them at the time.

Just hang onto your bill, there's a website that will ask for proof of purchase for them to send you the ereader version. Hopefully this offer is good with all copies of the book, not just a special offer from Amazon. If it's sitting on the shelves in bookstores, you should be able to check easily.

...also Coach John Heath makes the majority of pro wrestling announcers that people rag on seem awesome in comparison. He was awful.