JerryvonKramer

The thing is Hogan IS wrestling history, so how can they erase him? There is no feasible way of discussing wrestling from 1983 to about 2001 without acknowledging Hogan. It would be like trying to do a history of the 20th Century without mentioning Hitler.

I'll take Jerry Grey. He can make a good make shift partner for the developmental scheme guys and flesh out undercard on the house shows.

WWF at Agricultural Hall in Allentown, PA (TV Taping for WWF Challenge) Jul 20th, 1983 Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Lord Alfred Hayes. Joe McHugh: Promoted by Phil Zacko. Supervised by the State Athletic Commission, the honourable JJ Benz Chairman. And Francis Walker is the Executive Secretary. And the officials assigned: Deputy Commission Peter Lash. The doctor in attendance at ringside, Dr George Zahorian. The timekeeper at the bell: Mike Griffin. The referees for this hour of wrestling: Billy Capouto, Alberto Roman, Dick Woehrle. And my name is …. Jooeeeeeeeeee McHugh! Dean Ho vs. The Goon Match: Ho wins after a karate chop in 7:00, this was quite a slow and plodding match. Quotation(s) from announcers: (Gorilla) “Former WWF Tag-Team Champion, Dean Ho, maybe not quite as active in the gymnasium as he once was, your Lordship” (Lord Al) “Haw haw haw, we watch this ‘Goon’ fellow seemingly week in and week out Gorilla, and he never seems to pick up a win!” El Gran Apollo vs. Baron Mikel Scicluna Match: Scicluna wins by count out after 7:43. Apollo dominated until Scicluna went into his tights to get his foreign object; Apollo charged towards him with a flying cross-body but Scicluna ducked out of the way leaving Apollo crashing out of the ring and injuring arm. He could not beat the ten count to get back into the ring. Quotation(s) from announcers: (Lord Al) “This is a classic encounter of young, speed and energy against cunning, experience and know how. An intriguing matchup.” (Gorilla) “The Baron got lucky with this one, your Lordship”. (Lord Al) “A win is a win, Gorilla.” Video package recap of events at Boston Garden including highlights of Brisco vs. Anderson, Steamboat vs. Zbyszko and the angle featuring Dominic Denucci, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, and Bob Backlund. Runs about 15:00. Jack and Jerry Brisco © vs. Dr. Death Steve Williams and Bobby Eaton for the WWF Tag Team Championship, Special 30-minute challenge Match: The Briscos won when Bobby Eaton submitted to Jack Brisco’s figure-four leglock in 28:14. Eaton and Williams gained control early on focusing on Jerry Brisco’s recovering leg injury, they spend over 15 minutes destroying Jerry’s leg. But eventually Jerry made the hot tag eventually to his brother who was a house of fire and dominated until Steve Williams cut him off. But Jerry rallied to dump Williams out of the ring giving Jack enough time to hook on the figure-four to Eaton. Quotation(s) from announcers: (Gorilla) “Jerry Brisco!!! He’s here and the Briscos are going to defend their titles. Jerry has been gone for what is it now? Three weeks, but it looks like that leg is finally recovering. Of course, it was injured by the Andersons, who I’m told are NOT here tonight.” (Lord Al) “This young combination of Eaton and Williams have been extremely tough competitors in recent weeks and whatever you make of their tactics, you have to give it to them, they have surely earned this shot at the Brisco’s titles.” (Lord Al) “You have to fear for Jerry Brisco, I don’t know how much more his leg can take. He has a lot of spirit, but perhaps he has come back a week too early” (Gorilla) “Well you know the Briscos were not going to forfeit the belts due to the 30-day limit, that would be playing into Ole Anderson’s hands” (Gorilla) “Terrific match! The Briscos showed here exactly why they are champions!” WWF at Agricultural Hall in Fieldhouse in Hamburg, PA (TV Taping for WWF Superstars) Jul 20th, 1983 The host is Vince McMahon. Ole Anderson vs. SD Jones Match: Ole Anderson wins with a flying knee drop in 10:45. Gene and Lars Anderson were at ringside and during the bout constantly tripped Jones up and distracted the referee. Quotation(s) from announcer: “Something has got to be done about this situation with the Andersons at ringside. They say strength in numbers is crucial, but this is ridiculous! Poor SD Jones is outnumbered 3 to 1!” Video package recap of events at Boston Garden including highlights of Brisco vs. Anderson, Steamboat vs. Zbyszko and the angle featuring Dominic Denucci, Bobby Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, and Bob Backlund. Runs about 15:00. The Superstar’s Supershow! Billy Graham’s guests this week are The Andersons. Segment runs about 10:00. Graham: What do you say to your critics who say that you can’t win matches without having two or even three of your brothers helping you out? Ole: Shut. Your. Mouth. Glitter man. We Andersons are WRESTLERS. Who are you? A bodybuilder, a rock star wannabe, a strutting, peacock who doesn’t know a wrist lock from a wrist watch! Graham (getting angry): I held the WWF title for 11 months! What titles did you ever hold?! Ole: I told you to shut your mouth Graham. Gene here, he doesn’t like people with a big mouth, they rub him the wrong way. *The camera pans to Gene Anderson who is silent and looking generally unimpressed) Graham: Are you threatening me? Ole: NO, I’m making you a … *without warning Gene stands up, Graham stands up and they go nose to nose. As they are squaring off, Arn Anderson sneaks round the back into the classic school boy and Gene simply pushes Graham over Arn’s back. Ole and Lars start laughing their asses off* Ole: For YEARS they’ve tried to drive a wedge between us, no where could handle all four of us MAGNIFICENT ANDERSONS in one place at one time. But now, in 1983 we’re here in the North East to teach all of you fans what pro wrestling means. *He looks at Graham on the floor* Ole: We don’t wear stupid earrings or feather boas. We don’t play rock music. We don’t … present talk shows like this good for nothing … we WRESTLE. We live to break bones. Now Jack Brisco, I heard from my people that your brother is getting better. So how much longer are you going to HIDE from us? How much longer are you going to keep those belts that rightfully belong to us? Whether it is me and Gene, Lars and Arn, Gene and Arn, or me and Lars, or Gene and Lars, or me and Arn YOUR days are numbered. We are the number 1 contenders, the number 2 contenders, numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6! You will not deny us. We will follow you wherever you go until those belts come to where they belong. Bob Backlund vs. Victor Rivera Match: Backlund wins in 8:20 by submission with a Crossface Chickenwing. Quotation(s) from announcer: “Bob Backlund obviously very frustrated here that Bobby Heenan and Nick Bockwinkel have dodged him at every turn and denied him his rightful rematch for the WWF title. But Backlund is a competitor, and he won’t give up, even if it means climbing back up the ranks match by match!” Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Bret Hart for the WWF Heavyweight Championship Match: Bockwinkel pinned Hart with an inside cradle in 17:23. During the match Bret Hart showed some good offense, but found himself out manoeuvred by Bockwinkel who, for example, was able to trip him up by tapping the backs of his ankles when he was running the ropes. Bobby Heenan also interfered in the match by distracting Bret Hart long enough for Bockwinkel to hook in the inside cradle. Quotation(s) from announcer: “The very arrogant Nick Bockwinkel looks like he might be getting more than he bargained for here against this very promising young star Bret Hart”

They missed this one.

lololol

Does seem pretty racist. Ironically, given the basketball line, Dennis Rodman has his back

Know I shouldn't joke, but Hogan could do a mean line in the "some of my best friends are black" Mr. T, JYD., Koko B. Ware, Virgil, "I've been fighting for the rights of every man for a long time brothers."

I kind of hate how these issues are handled. Racism will never be tackled by making a pariah out of famous people. There is zero positive to come from this, only WWE history being twisted even more than it is already. Sad day for wrestling tbh.

Since he headlined the first 9 Manias and was completely instrumental in the height of WCW's heyday. they cannot really do a scrub job on him from the Network. They have to be more sensible.

This has pissed me off. Not about the rant or anything, just for the sheer inconvenience now of WWE having to act like their biggest star ever never existed. That's literally the only part of it I care about. I hate racism etc. obviously. But this has bummed me out for other reasons.

Chavo and Hector should probably be nominated just to try to force this through.

We reviewed that match on a Titans once ... Actually a Titans Xtra: https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/titans-xtra-chicago-film-archives-gagne-thesz

Are you sure on that 81 date OJ? Just that Walton says he'd always wanted to see these two have a match so I figured it must be 76.

I will say that I didn't hate the match and found it quite exciting. The insane commentator and crowd certainly helped with that though. It was way more fun to watch than the 1990 UWF stuff.

My TV and house show updates going to be a little late this week, tomorrow probably.

I demand a "Jr." after Chavo.

Jim Breaks vs. Jon Cortez (2/2/81) As a match for pure schtick, comedy, outrageous heat, world class heel character work, this is a total showcase for Breaks and would be a fantastic entry point for the uninitiated. I mean if you've never watched a Breaks match, I'd watch this one first. All the other elements are there: the nasty limbwork, some neat touches from the opposition, Cortez, who looks a decent worker. But this is like 98% showing you the greatness of Breaks. It's not quite the psychological or technical duel that his matches with Saint are, Cortez seems a bit more outmatched for some reason, and the finish kinda caught me by surprise. But the crowd was so hot for this, and I really loved it. Breaks cements himself as an all-timer every time I see him. ****1/2 Jim Breaks vs Grasshopper Johnson (03/23/83) Grasshopper Johnson is bald and doesn't wear any boots. Weird look. And ... He's not by good at all. Breaks is always incredibly entertaining though, with his constant jawing, but I think this match shows that he does need an at least competent opponent for the match to be simply more than entertaining. ** Jim Breaks vs. Kamakazi (10/7/81) Breaks seems to have a lot of matches with complete no names. Kamakazi is a masked guy and another sub-par talent. Breaks, once again, supremely entertaining throughout but he might as ell be in there with a broom stick. Post-match is super fun here though as Breaks takes an uber cheap win after the masked man injures himself and then e ring announcer sort of gaudy him and rubs it in. For pure heel character work I don't know if I've ever seen better than Breaks. I feel I'm repeating myself a lot on that point, but he's off-the-charts good at that stuff. *1/2

He must have gotten better in the two or three years from there.

Larry Lane vs Chavo Guerrero (1/30/81) Paul Boesch mumbling about various different lightweight categories in Mexico was fairly entertaining. I also dig when lower card guys like Lane get like ZERO reaction from the crowd. If modern WWE wasn't so scared of not having everyone on TV be a "superstar", they'd recognise the value of that in presenting stars as stars. Because you see, what makes tall people tall? It's short people. What makes stars stars? It's non-stars. Simple logic. Lane was not a pure jobber, of course, but he was a no name relatively speaking. You need no names to create names. All that said, I thought this was really fun and well worked. Lane looked decent to me and Chavo is great both on offense and selling. Terrific body slam. Great execution on his piledriver. But Lane had some good stuff too. Seemingly Dory had taught him how to uppercut. His knees looked good. This was like a competitive squash. In Houston terms Lane was a JTTS and Chavo about upper midcard. At least that what it seemed like to me. I dug this a good bit. Just nice watchable old school wrestling, right up my alley. ***

Tony Atlas & Junkyard Dog vs. Tully Blanchard and Gino Hernandez (10/8/82) Who the hell was Bruce's co-commentator here? Sounded like he might be Sean Mooney's long lost brother, and just as natural. What the hell, ha ha ha. I'm not the biggest fan of Tony Atlas, but this looks interesting. Well it was no great shakes to be honest, but an enjoyable enough babyface vs heel affair. I thought Atlas's weird clapping attacks looked quite good. Fake Mooney was hilarious during the ending. *1/2

Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk vs. Wahoo McDaniel and Ivan Putski (1/23/81) This is from Houston courtesy of NWA Classics. One thing I will say about Paul Boesch is that I like the little mini bios he gives of guys. First fall was a lot of control work by the faces, and when one of them is Ivan Putski, that tells you more or less everything you need to know. Putski did look better here though than he tends to in WWF. When this started it wasn't quite clear Funks were heels, so I did love how they ramped up the heeling and cheating gradually as the match progressed. Dory jogging and stalling after the first fall I found pretty funny. Second fall and heat sequence were better, but overall finish felt like it came a bit too soon to me. Funks were solid here and I liked exchanges with Wahoo, but I think there was way too much Putski and way too much headlock here. Awesome to see this, naturally, but not the best Funks tag you'll ever see. I did dig portions though. **1/2

Arn has to do Woo Nation, he's absolutely hilarious. "I don't look like Ric, my nose is normal!"

Did anyone else watch the Dusty special with Arn, Ric, Dillon and Hayes that they put out? Watching it now. Was it discussed anywhere here? Just realised, with Lawler hosting, and Arn, Flair, and Hayes on the panel, four of the legit all time talkers are on the same show.

I just watched this. To my untrained philistine eyes it went something like this: Kick - kick - submission attempt - Commentator cums in his pants - Crowd pops. Rinse repeat for 14 minutes until one of them actually submits. Didn't seem to have any sort of psychology to it at all to me, felt like the last 10 minutes of your typical Cena match only trade the finishers and false finishes for submission attempts. To me this lacked a lot of elements that I associate with pro wrestling. Namely: - Rope running - Collar and elbow tieup - Throws of any kind - Standard strikes that aren't kicks, like the reverse knife edge, forearm smash, or similar I would like fans of this style to answer the following questions: - What specifically do you like about this match? - Tell me about the pyschology, why isn't it like your typical modern WWE style false finish fest? - When you watch these matches do you feel like you are watching pro wrestling? Can you flick from something like this to a normal US-style match or, say, an All Japan match without feeling jarred in any way? - Why would you watch this over UFC?