JerryvonKramer

Whoop de fucking do It's a real shame that you are such a total and complete asshole, because we are interested in some similar things. But jog mate, I fucking hate you. Supercilious twat.

Also remember other stuff too. When the final list is passed around to other corners of the Internet, a decent placing for a Greg Valentine or Ron Garvin, or the complete absence of a Dynamite Kid or Kurt Angle (examples), would be "interesting".

Everyone should make their own list. If enough people do it, biases get washed out by the average. This is why I've said before that a guy like Arn Anderson will do extremely well when all is said and done because he's a lock top half pick for almost everyone and doesn't divide people the way others do. Everyone's list will have biases. The point of taking in a lot of opinions is to measure critical consensus at a snapshot in time. I'm sure there are critics who vote for Sight and Sound's decade lists who don't like Hitchcock. Their votes are counted but when all is said and done Vertigo is still up there. The same will be true of the top five guys here. The "interesting" parts of the list will be to see which other names rise and fall. A decent placement for Jerry Blackwell, a worker a lot of us like, is probably more interesting at the end of the day than which order Funk, Flair, Hansen, Jumbo and Misawa finish in. No one will be surprised if Flair finishes at any position from 1 through 5. It would be a shock if he was lower than that, but he's so many people's default #1 that that won't happen. Even if vocal and influential people like Grimmas or Dylan or jdw are lower on him. Same with any of the top tier guys. To OJ's point, in a way the more interesting parts of the list will be to see if someone like Jim Breaks ranks. How high will Buddy Rose be? Will any of the 70s guys make the list and how high? Will guys like Curt Hennig or Brian Pillman or Rick Rude rank? The very top of the list is not going to see a lot of change, but below that I think there's a lot to play for.

Really surprised to hear the reaction to Albano. Glad to hear some defense, but didn't go far enough for me. The dude was absolutely phenomenal and would likely be top 10 for me. I made a compilation of his stuff too, here: https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/titans-xtra-albano Albano might just be the most dynamic promo guy there has been. He has more sides to him than most in wrestling.

I think you were a bit dismissive of Grand Wizard here, who you dealt with in about 10 seconds before spending four minutes on Brian Pillman. I think Wizard made a lot more money for a lot more years as a talker than Pillman. I made an audio compilation of Wizard promos here: https://soundcloud.com/jerryvonkramer/titans-xtra-wizard

Look forward to this one Liam (you are Liam right?), we're planning on running a set of roundtables soon on promos, and this should be a nice entry point to get thinking about it. I also wanted to say that even though I don't always comment, I think this show has been real fun recently. Don't always agree with the opinions (even to boiling point sometimes), but I like the atmosphere of the show. I also think you guys pick some decent topics, so I'll give credit where it is due, you've done really well to stay on the rotation.

What would you recommend Dylan?

I guess I meant "complete ratings of Jumbo of ****+" Sorry, I can see that now.

The impression I got looking through many results is that he was never quite the top guy and worked a lot in semi-mains or slotted in main events as and when required. Similar to like a Dick Murdoch or someone like that. High on cards sure, but not quite a true main eventer.

Huh? I didn't say that. There are 42 matches there, I've seen many more Jumbo matches than that, but that's the stuff I have at the top end that I would build any GWE "great match" case from. Here's a complete list of my ratings from the 80s set, anything below B+ is less than ****: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/20932-80s-catchup-thread/?p=5565451 Plenty of Jumbo in there.

Housekeeping Memphis d2 ratings ****1/2 Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Barbed Wire Match) (3/29/82) **** Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl) (9/4/81) Bobby Eaton & Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Dutch Mantell & King Cobra (7/19/82) Bill Dundee vs. Bobby Eaton (7/24/82) ***3/4 Bill Dundee, Steve Keirn, Rick & Robert Gibson vs. Dream Machine, Nightmare #1 & Heartbreakers (7/25/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Ric Flair (8/14/82) ***1/2 Masa Fuchi, Atsushi Onita & Tojo Yamamoto vs. Roy Rogers, Rick & Robert Gibson (9/5/81) Bill Dundee vs. Sweet Brown Sugar (2/3 falls, Scaffold Match) (6/21/82) *** Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (No DQ) (3/22/82) **1/2 Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (8/1/81) Jerry Lawler vs. Dutch Mantell (Loser Leaves Town) (3/27/82) ** Stan Lane & Koko Ware vs. Eddie Gilbert & Ricky Morton (No DQ, 2/3 Falls) (10/81)

NB. Still need to see a few 70s matches vs. Bock, Billy Robinson and a couple of others. These are my complete ratings for Jumbo. Looking at it, I actually wonder if Flair has him beat for quantity by a fairly significant margin. The list isn't quite as long as I thought it would be. (note also, these aren't ranked within the ratings, chronological order) ***** Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair (6/8/83) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu Yoshiaki Yatsu (1/28/86) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (2/5/87) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (6/5/89) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (09/01/90) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (04/20/91) ****3/4 Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk (03/13/75) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Kerry Von Erich (2/3 Falls) (5/22/84) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/88) Jumbo Tsuruta & Kenta Kobashi vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen (7/15/89) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Mitsuharu Misawa (06/08/90) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (09/30/90) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (05/22/92) ****1/2 Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Harley Race (6/11/77) Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk (12/15/78) Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. (11/30/79) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (2/5/86) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Stan Hansen (10/21/86) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (10/28/88) Jumbo Tsuruta, Kabuki & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue (05/26/90) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (11/29/91) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Steve Williams & Terry Gordy (10/07/92) **** Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Jack Brisco (01/30/74) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dory Funk Jr. (12/18/75) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Dick Slater (5/1/80) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Ric Flair (6/8/82) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Nick Bockwinkel (2/23/84) Genichiro Tenryu & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Killer Khan & Riki Choshu (8/2/85) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Stan Hansen & Ted Dibiase (8/31/85) Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu (11/30/85) Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Toshiaki Kawada (2/26/89) Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu (8/31/87) Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara (9/15/88) Yoshiaki Yatsu & Jumbo Tsuruta vs Toshiaki Kawada & Genichiro Tenryu (1/22/89) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (10/19/90) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi (04/20/91) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (10/15/91) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Toshiaki Kawada (09/04/91) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masa Fuchi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (10/15/91) Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue vs. Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi (06/05/92) Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (08/20/92)

Doing this while I'm compiling Jumbo ratings. Will try to remember to do it after each show:

Wait until the list later, but I'd be interested to see how you justify that claim. I should mention that from what I've seen of Fujinami so far, he is one guy I can see making my top 10 easily. And I've only done 80-81.

How boring is this? Shows no forward thinking since 2006. Is the point of GWE to be accurate or novel? I have a major disconnect with people like Dylan, Ackerman and Schneider on Jumbo. I just don't even get the criticisms. I'll post all the matches of his I've given ****1/2+ to later on. Not yet done with his 70s because there are bouts against Billy Robinson and Bock to come. But based on what is on tape, Jumbo is probably a top 10 worker for that decade as well as the next and in 90-2. Only Terry Funk can make a similar claim. Flair has a later start, Baba drops off in the 80s, Fujinami is done by the 90s and has a late start.

The Sheik vs Mark Lewin For the US title, loser leaves town. Lewin is champ going in. Creachman trash talks to start. Sheik insists on the pre-match ritual. The should have sent NWA trouble-shooter Mario Savoldi to Detroit, because it's official that their refs are the dumbest. Sheik more or less openly works the object to start, ref must be blind or paid off. Lewin juices, but not a gusher.He spends what seems like an age in he crowd, before finally getting into the ring and getting conrol of the object.Crowd is wild. Creachman actually gets into the ring to break a pin in front of the ref, but no DQ. Commentator's explaination is that stakes are so high here, the ref is letting things go. Well I want a DQ! Lewin carries on pounding away with the object. Pin, Creachman in again. He might as well be Sheik's tag partner. Sheik regains control of the object. Sticks it in Lewin's throat. Ref grabs the object finally -- it's too late now mate, the rules are gone in this one. Lewin pounds on Sheik now with punches. Sleeper! Crowd electric. Creachman goes in and breaks it. Lewin sleepers Creachman. FIREBALL. Seems like Creachman got the most of the fire and he's selling it like he's blinded. Lewin is outside on the floor. Hold on what's this? They announce Sheik is the new US champion. What the fuck? How? Was there even a countout? Can you win the title on a count out? Apparently you can. Official ruling is that Lewin was counted out and Sheik is the champion. Huh? This was crap. No semblance of even the basic rules of a wrestling match, even though this wasn't a no DQ. Referee was terrible both working and kayfabe-wise. Action wasn't really brutal enough for a juice brawl, and Sheik didn't bleed. But the booking was straight shit. I'd imagine it's was stuff like this over the years that burnt out Detroit. Terrible. * The Sheik vs. Andre This looks like arena footage without commentary. Farouk is in Sheik's corner. We get some nice shots of the crowd. Andre looks young and is wearing the waistcoat. Looking at Sheik too this seems 73 sort of time, for Wizard to be there it can't have been much later. Acoustics are great here. Farouk is on the apron almost permenantly. They do a lot of near-10 counts with Sheik on the floor. An announcer counts with the crowd. As Andre grabs Sheik he uses the FIREBALL on Andre seemingly blinding the giant. And that's it. They announce Sheik as the winner, even though Andre wasn't counted out, DQed or pinned. Strange rules they have in Detroit. "Has Sheik used a Fireball?" "Yes? Automatic win for Sheik". Unless the explaination is the ref stops the bout due to injury? So anyway, here's an Andre singles loss on US soil before 1987. * The Sheik vs. Tiger Jeet Singh Another arena match. No commentary. This must be from the archives Ed Fahrat Jr had converted a few years back. There's some weird stipulation here, like they are in a sandpit or a mudpit or something in the ring. Sheik seems covered in something and is blinded. Creachman is involved too and also seems blinded. I think it's mud. What is this? Wrestling in mud? Singh doesn't seem as over as the other babyfaces we've seen. He works a hold in the mud before bringing in Creachman too. Sheik goes over and maybe bites him. Works a nerve hold. Singh comes back and Sheik bumps to outside. Singh grabs a chair. And ... works a hold with the chair? Creachman tries to sneak in and Singh whacks him with a chair. This is such a bizarre match. Bell goes for some reason. Someone runs in and attacks Sheik -- I think it's Bobo Brazil. Don't really know what's going on. The Sheik wins the match somehow. If it's one thing I've learned, Sheik doesn't actually need to pin anyone to win matches. The ref just gives it to him for no reason. We get a shot of Brazil (??) working some sort of face hold just outside the locker rooms. Security try to get him off. This guy looks too sprightly to be Bobo, but can't figure out who else he'd be. Must be him. This was a clusterfuck. DUD (pretty rare rating from me) The Sheik vs. Dusty Rhodes Sheiks brings a snake to the ring and chases off a referee, for some reason country music is playing over the top of this drowning out the commentary. I'll just note that I've never liked the Detroit US belt with the gold map of America on the front. Looks silly. Dusty comes out now. Music subsists. Terrible production decision to keep this music going -- this looks like it was done on the commercial release of this Detroit tape. Why the fuck would they do that? Match starts and the music carries on. The ropes of this ring look like they were in AWFUL conditon, all peeling off and scraggly. At first I thought this might have been a barbed wire match but no, I think the ring was just in poor condition. Sheik lays out the referee. Dusty goes to work with an elbow and a figure-four. Various different guys get into the ring now. I don't know what's going on. That Dusty match looked like it was thrown out before it even started. The Sheik vs. Terry Funk Clip to more snake-based antics now with music playing, it's actually the start of the next match. They overlay a Funk promo over the top of this. This production job is a real fucking travesty because this arena footage looks good. Funk's promo is along the lines of "Why is the Sheik wrestling today? Because promoters want to make a cheap buck and will book anything, no matter how obnoxious it is" There was one cool line: "if he can go ahead and run around the ring and jump up like an idiot like a chicken with his legs cut off ..." Almost a burial of The Sheik by Funk! Funk decimates Sheik to start. Takes it outside. Another song starts. Why oh why did they put music on this? There was definitely sound on this footage and even commentary, we can hear it underneath. Sheik turns it around and attacks Funk with the object. Clip, action goes outside and holy mother of blade jobs Funk is COVERED in blood. Sheik throws a chair at him. Shots of the crowd are great. Funk comes back from the bring of death. Knee drop. Bulldog Don Kent turns up. Sheik nails Funk with the belt and applies the camel clutch. This one looks over. Yes. My god, the shots of this crowd are magnificent. A girl is crying. "A black moment for professional wrestling" says the commentator. This seems like it was 1977 just after Funk dropped the belt to Harley. I'd like to see this match without all the crappy production on top. I wonder if it is available without clipping. Looked like a brutal encounter from what we saw. I can't find any info about this this match or find it in listings. Any help would be appreciated, and if it's in full, this one looks good. ----------- Sadly, we saw some of The Sheik at his worst in this batch. Terrible booking throughout, except for that Funk match which was marred by some poor production decisions by whoever released the commercial tape.

First a pair of dark matches you'll read about 20 years later on Wikipedia: *Vince shouting at the top of his voice until it is getting audibly coarse* Vince: The Eighth Wonder of the World Andre the Giant takes on the menace from the Orient Killer Khan, with Mr. Fuji in his corner! "Macho Man" Randy Savage, a member of The Elite, takes on Rick Martel, but whose corner will the lovely Miss Elizabeth be in? The awesome ROAD WARRIORRRS take on their toughest challenge yet in the West Texas Outlaws, Stan Hansen and Dick Murdoch. Don Muraco faces "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff. The tag-team champions, The Brainbusters Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard defend their titles against the hottest young tagteam here in the WWF, Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine defends his Intercontinental title against Curt Hennig. In our featured grudge match Bruno Sammartino looks to avenge the memory of Wrestlemania against Ted DiBiase, in a cage! And finally, after a grueling summer fending off challengers from the Three Wise Men, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka defends the World title against Harley Race, who according to The Grand Wizard is their "ace in the hole". FEEELLLL THE HEEATTTT. Its Summerslam!!! (official theme music of the show) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFgj7gFtqZw Vince: Hello everybody and welcome to the Meadowlands arena for this extravaganza. I'm here with Jesse "The Body" Ventura. Jesse: Look at that crowd! It's a big night and everybody is ready. Vince: What's your assessment of tonight's matches? Jesse: I think Bruno has gone one match too far tonight, Ted DiBiase has already shown hes got what it takes to beat Sammatino in that cage, and my assessment is that he'll do exactly the same tonight. As for Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka -- I'll give credit where credit is due -- and he's surprised a lot of people, McMahon, me included in being a real fighting champion. But he hasn't faced a man of Harley Race's experience and talent before, and with Albano, Blassie and The Grand Wizard feeding him strategies, I think the Superfly really has his work cut out tonight. Vince: Well thank you, Jesse, and now over to your announce team: Lord Alfred Hayes, Jim Cornette but first, Gorilla Monsoon. *Gorilla takes over play by play as we see The Fink and Vince McMahon Sr standing in the ring* Finkel: Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special announcement on behalf of WWF President Vincent James McMahon. Hes given me a signed statement to read out on behalf of the WWF Board of Directors. *Finkel takes out a note and reads it out loud* Finkel: The WWF Board of Directors in their quarterly review committee meeting, chaired by WWF President Vincent James McMahon, have reviewed world championship matches over a three-month period. The committee has concluded that far too many matches are seeing outside interference, and that world title matches should remain sacrosanct, that is: free from outside interference even by those carrying a manager's license. Therefore, it is the conclusion of this committee, that we hereby decree, that for tonight's match between Mr. Jimmy Snuka and Mr. Harley Race that not only will Mr. Fred Blassie, Mr. Lou Albano, and The Grand Wizard be barred from ringside, but ... In order to ensure that they will not interfere, they will be suspended 30-feet above the ring inside a specially made CAGE! *The crowd cheer wildly. As they do so, all three wise men come storming down the aisle. Albano is beside himself. Blassie is looking rattled and shakes his cane. Grand Wizard is gesticulating wildly. They get to the ring. Blassie and Albano go over to Vince Sr while the Wizard goes after Fink.* Wizard: Give .. here give me that micro ... *Wizard rips the mic from Finkels hand* Wizard: Now now, listen here, this is an outrage. We were not consulted. We have lawyers. We have rights! Why McMahon for all the years, you sly fox you ... *Blassie and Albano seem to be manhandling the 69-year old Vince Sr and things are starting to get rough. Jimmy Snuka bursts down to the aisle sending all three wise men scattering. It looks like the decision will stand.* Finish here was Fuji going to through salt in Andre's eyes but missing and getting Khan instead. Standard miscommunication spot. Pretty good match out of these two, with both doing a crazy bump for the finish, which was both of them on the turnbuckle (for a superplex) but taking a nasty fall from there to the outside for a double countout. For some reason, the ref has ruled this as a Martel win (overwriting my booking of the match) -- chalking that one up to the NJ State Athletic Commission. Not quite the show stealer I was looking for, but still a good match. Elizabeth looks on dismayed as both men are down and out after the fall. 10 and 0 for Hawk and Animal. This happened. Can imagine these promos were good. Great match and promising for these guys who are set to continue to feud into the Fall. Also a tribute to the old Vince Sr 30-minute curfew time limiit tag championship draw. Only I've got it in the middle of the card. That's Curt's ceiling for now. So there it is, Bruno can finally ride off into the sunset with his head held high. Looking back the feud kind of lost steam after Wrestlemania. I have some ideas for how to use Bruno going forward. This is where the Three Wise Men are getting into the cage and lifted up above the ring. Good bit of business in between the two main events. Phenomenal match which signals that Snuka is now a made man in this territory. Grand Wizard being barred from ringside gives the heels some reason to ask for a rematch, and since this went well, this is likely main eventing MSG and Philly in September. ----- Next, a general stock take of the roster and plans moving forward. This is the end of a major cycle, so a lot of guys need new feuds.

That Schnieder line is baffling to me. I don't understand the people who think Jumbo is dull. He's a guy who performs every fucking move like it's a finisher that can kill you. His basic bodyslam is probably the best basic bodyslam in the history of wrestling. For me Jumbo excels in almost every area. All round performance, charisma, psychology, timing. His FACE is great. If you want to go the Great Match Theory route, he's got a metric ton from 72 to 92. Twenty years of quality matches against a variety of opponents across three different generations. Are you saying we should play that down because he occasionally phoned it in during random tags?

I made a start: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/30890-os-original-sheik/ Without doubt, he is one of the best heat-generating heels of all time. Although for GWE purposes, I don't know how to weigh that yet. It depends if there are any more matches of the quality of the Funks tags in any of this. If "playing one's role" is a criterion though, Sheik is a 10/10.

Yet another of my 70s plates spinning here. But I was intrigued to see more Sheik after his absolutely masterful performances in those Funks tags, the 1978 one in particular. I had an idea that he was at the very least a master of psychology. Well I have a 7-disc set to test that hypothesis. I will likely do this in bitesize chunks because Sheik is a guy you can get burnt out on -- ho ho ho. Also, I'd appreciate any help with dates because I'm not digging through Clawmaster results to find these. The Sheik vs Tom Jones No not the Welsh singer or indeed the Henry Fielding novel, but a black guy working in Detroit in the 70s (possibly even 60s). Footage quite grainy abd black and white, but sound is good. Sheik has Abdul Farouk (aka The Grand Wizard) at ringside wearing a fez. Crowd boo both of them quite a lot. Play-by-play announcer has a strange "posh" sounding voice, calls Farouk "the weasel" at all times, and mentions he's wearing green shoes. I believe this commentator is called "Lord Layton", which dates this prior to 1974. Sheik looks quite young. Sheik is on a prayer rug before and won't start the match until the crowd quieten down to give him the respect to pray. Finally they lock up and Jones a house of fire to start. Sheik gives him a good bit in the shine before taking over on offense. GNARLY hammerlock flipover roll thing by Sheik, didn't expect to see cool spots from him like that. That's it, I think Jones tapped out. Ref raises Farouk's arm outside the ring. But Sheik won't let the hold go and seems like he wants to break the arm. Whipper Billy Watson makes a run-in in his suit to try to attack The Sheik, but he's not dressed to wrestle. AND WE HAVE COLOUR. No, not blood, actual colour on the footage. Sheik is wearing blue trunks I can see now. He decks Watson, who then comes back and they brawl to the back. Fans throw rubbish at the ring as Jones is still out cold with Farouk pointing and laughing at him. Fans surround the ring and they are baying for Farouk's blood. Are we going to see a riot here? Panic in Detroit! Farouk gets on the mic. "This is just a warning about what's going to happen tomorrow night to that organ grinder and his little pet monkey Igor! Just a little example. I warned you and I warned that big nose Watson, and you saw what happened to him!" This looks promising. Farouk (Wizard) was a tremendous heel and a heat magnet, and Sheik seemed like he played his role to perfection. Can't really give a star rating, but 8 minutes of fun! The Sheik vs Don Red Cloud In colour now. Ring is a hideous red. Don Red Cloud has a native American gimmick, he's got to be better than Strongbow. Announcers are Don Adams and Chuck Allen (so they say). Oh speaking of the shithead, they mention that Cloud is a good friend of Strongbow's who helped him get into the sport of professional wrestling. Strongbow is at ringside watching. Sheik visibly older here. Looks like mid-70s. Sheik does his prayer rug gimmick to start. He really takes his time over this. He is upset that Strongbow is at ringside and doesn't want to pray with him there. Too right, stop being so disrespectul Strongbow! Let the man pray to allah and get your big nose out of this. Match is over before it starts almost because Sheik goes straight to the camel clutch and Cloud taps. One thing I'll say here is that Strongbow here looks NOTHING like Strongbow. Nothing at all like him. He has short cropped hair and isn't saggy. To the point where I'm wondering if it really is Strongbow or they've brought in another guy to play the role. Weird. He has the US title here. This match went less than 3 minutes. Sheik throws Cloud out the ring and then steals Strongbow's belt and puts it in the middle of the ring. "Strongbow" -- who I swear is not really Strongbow -- comes in the ring now. Oh hold on, it's not Strongbow at all but Mark Lewin. Okay, this is confusing, the camera didn't go to Strongbow ONCE during all that time and instead focused on Lewin. Terrible direction!! I knew that wasn't Chief Jay Wanker. Sheik goes to remonstrate with the announcer about something. The Sheik vs Tom Reeseman "One-fall, 30 minute time limit" says the ring announcer. I'll make a prediction right here: this isn't going thirty. I bet it doesn't go 10. Sheik comes in and rushes the ring announcer. Does he want to pray? Yes, but Reeseman isn't happy. Sheik seems in a weird mood, he's just stalking around, no real attempt at praying. Commentator mentions "he's sort of in a trance." He also tells us that in the Middle East in places like Suadi Arabia and Syria, they believe in hypnotism. Four minutes in and he prays now. If Allah really does exist, Sheik is somewhere in hell right now. Sheik rips at Reeseman's face and sticks his tongue out making a face. He has his foreign object on him and seems to stick it up Reeseman's nose. He's nasty! Commentator selling this notion that Sheik is in a hynotic trance. Camel clutch and it's over. Sheik's eyes are back in his head. It's a curious gimmick really. He starts eating his head cloth. I get the impression this is a departure from Sheik's usual behaviour. He grabs the ring announcer (Chuck Allen) by his tie and and snarls and growls like an animal. He goes and gets a chair and smashes it over his own head. He's feeling no pain. Grabs at the announcer again. Don Adams says that in ten years of Big-Time Wrestling he's never seen anything like this. Sheik puts the whole cloth in his mouth now and appears to swallow it. The Sheik vs Sailor Art Thomas Sheik rushes Thomas to start. This seems like an arena match, not in the studio. Eddie Creachman ringside, hands Sheik his foreign object. Lays Thomas out with it and chokes him. Some fans try to rush the ring and actual cops are there to stop them. One cop looks about 400lbs. Sheik conceals the object in his tights as the ref tries to check him. Creachman distracts the ref as Sheik nails Thomas in the throat with the object. Atmosphere in this arena is scary, crowd seem ready to riot. Sheik continues his cheap attack on Thomas. Creachman continually distracts the ref. This is next-level cheating. Thomas finally comes back with an elbow and the crowd go mental. Can see the crowd on their feet jumping up and down. Thomas in the ascendancy but ... FIREBALL. Thomas is out and that's three. Crowd is not happy, various fans move toward the ring as we go to a break and hear the commentator say "listen, Creachman, that wasn't a wrestling victory!" The Sheik and Sgt.Jacques (Rene) Goulet vs Dick the Bruiser and Sailor Art Thomas In this arena again. Thomas has his eye patched up. Crowd go wild when Dick the Bruiser is announced. He clears house and the heels bail. Sheik won't get in the ring. Crowd is pretty rabid here. Goulet and Thomas start out. Goulet looks in good shape here. Sheik in with the foreign object. Tag to Bruiser. Sheik immediately bails. He won't face him! Every heel heat generating tactic in the book. Bruiser works over Goulet with a wristlock now. Crowd is so loud. Goulet goes to tag, Sheik drops from the apron. The Sheik will not get in the ring with Dick the Bruiser. Claw by Bruiser on Goulet. Sheik drops to the apron again. Thomas tags in, Sheik comes in now and bites him. Ha ha. Both heels bite at Thomas. Bruiser charges the ring and Sheik bails faster than you can imagine. Really funny. Thomas has Goulet caught upside in the ropes. Sheik has the object and sneak attacks Thomas with him. And again, cheap shot to the throat. Thomas Irish whips Goulet into Bruiser's foot. Bearhug. Sheik comes in, Bruiser comes in, Sheik bails and runs around the ring. Thomas gets another bearhug on Goulet. Bruiser kicks Goulet in the head. Goes after Sheik who drops down to the apron like a cat. Knee lift by Bruiser. Thomas in. Sidehead lock and punch. Goulet grabs a leg and now sheik comes in for cheap offense. Bruiser comes in and Sheik runs, out. Bruiser goes after. In, out, around. Cat and mouse. Sheik gives Bruiser the slip yet again. Grabs a chair. Double count out. This is probably the best Bruiser match I've seen, and it is all down to storytelling and psychology. Sheik just knows how to get heat and works it and works it and works it. Masterful stuff here. I'd recommend this one, even if the "work" is dogshit, the psychology is great. ***1/2 That'll do for now. In five matches we've seen Sheik play a variety of different heel roles, all variations on the same theme but to different ends. Sometimes he wants to pray "for respect". Other times he's deranged and psychotic. Other times he's the total chickenshit coward. At all times he's the most cheating-est heel ever. the Detroit crowds are fucking MENTAL too. I've seen enough to stick with it. Although ask me once I'm done with 7 discs. Forthcoming matches on this one include bouts against Lewin, Andre, Dusty and Terry Funk.

Not enough, I'd like to see a selection. I can already rule him out being better than Jumbo though because that's not happening. I was one of the few people who preferred Jumbo to Tenryu even in the 86 Choshu tags. I actually didn't like Tenryu that much until the Jumbo feud itself after which he he amazing sure. But I don't see Tenryu in my top 10. And even if he does make my top ten, he's not going ahead of Flair or Jumbo. I do see people who are anti-Flair or anti-Jumbo as being "contrarian", but you'll always get that with establishment GOAT picks. Also, Jumbo in the 70s > young Tenyru and then some.

Jumbo > Tenryu without doubt.