JerryvonKramer

Pirata Morgan vs. El Dandy (9/23/88) I really wasn't into this match. Something about the action seemed sort of floaty and weightless. As an example, the first backdrop Pirara delivers, and Dandy's form and elevation in taking the move is almost too gymnastic. And this "floaty" feeling took me out of things a bit, almost like when you watch a fight with a CGI character in it, there isn't enough heft. The storytelling is very basic here: Pirata kicks the shit out of Dandy, takes the first fall; the ref keeps stopping Dandy from punching, eventually Dandy is able to transition and hits a big move off the top and the figure four for the second. Final fall is more of a brawl with some big bumps to the outside. Pirata clearly wasn't worried about AIDS or Hep B here either. Don't really see much of note here. It's a thirty minute match, there's a lot of blood, but I didn't find very much of the work or storytelling very compelling. ***1/2

Orton has a really stand out performance tagging with Jimmy Valiant against Jack and Jerry Brisco that I reviewed recently. It's from Crockett around 83. Anyone thinking about Orton needs to see that. They work double heat with Orton as FIP in both stretches.

Heenan's case has to be built primarily on his performances in those 70s cage matches from Chicago with anything he did in the 80s as supplemental (Survivor Series 89 adds to his case). His character work, bumping and blade jobs are off the charts, I don't think a top 100 placement is impossible for him. In fact, I might have been the original nominator.

I only mention that because I think Ted has some of the best punches in the business, and is consistently underrated on that front. Am very curious to see the Earthquake vs Bossman match though because it sounds great!

Dibiase had better punches in 1990.

Not really saying that discussion of modern stuff should be shut down, but more that it seems increasingly that that's all there is. Perhaps that's just my perception, but there seem to be a lot of threads dedicated to complaining about the same few things. Could be a sign of the strength of people's feelings about what's happening, but if it stayed like this for a real length of time, I'd likely tap out.

I don't know if it's just the influence of the Network or the terribleness of the booking or what, but the board seems more negative somehow now than it has ever been and it feels like the flavour of the whole place has changed. This used to be the place where you can chuck out any old wrestler's name and someone would be able to find a good to great match they had once, whoever it was. Bunkhouse Buck, Shanghai Pierce, The Barbarian, whoever. I always thought that brand of positivity was something that set the board apart. Things seem a bit one-note to me at the moment.

Steven seemed especially Canadian on this episode, his "aye" quota was right up there. I think Tim is a good tag partner for him and a really good addition to PWSS in general.

This was a good show and a great Kris Z star vehicle. Thanks for putting Titans over by the way Steven.

A couple of us feel that over recent weeks, the board has become too focused on bitching about modern WWE, sucking on the teet of New Japan/ROH, and discussion of old wresting, the life and blood of PWO, seems to have fallen off a cliff. I just wanted to voice this somewhere, because this trend of constant moaning about the current product is starting to make this place feel like any other generic wrestling board. I thought possibly making everyone aware of this might help bring back a bit more old-school.

Austin and Wade were saying that the HHH promo on Sting at Fast Lane was the best of his career. Does anyone agree with that? I quite liked the segment. I put "low" because for modern WWE that's the highest I can get, but it's at the top end of "low".

I remember reading or hearing before that in the 70s TV stations were still disparate for content and would pay wrestling promoters to provide it. One of the big changes was that Vince was paying for slots, not getting paid.

Love how far off the deep end parts of this are. On Jack Reynolds, I reviewed the first ep of PTW here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/16786-jerryvonkramers-cheesy-journey/?p=5514524 Kely describing in detail where Super 8 usually sits is hilarious.

I think the idea of the decline of wrestling in the 70s and early 80s is a bit overstated. Detroit went out of business because Sheik booked it into the ground and killed it. LA and San Francisco both went out of business because of shoddy management, not because people had gone off wrestling. Amarillo couldn't survive the death of Dory Sr ultimately. St. Louis was bought by Vince and healthy before that. AWA was healthy. Memphis was healthy. Crockett was healthy. Mid-South area was healthy, ended up going to JCP. Florida was healthy, ended up going to JCP. Texas was up and down. Business up in Canada was pretty steady. There are micro explanations for most of what happened in each area. I think the macro trend of wrestling being on the decline is a bit mythical. This is different from the "cable would have killed it" argument. I'm just saying business was pretty up in the 70s in general in most places.

These guys are tremendous will definitely make my 25, probably around the #15 mark because of relative lack of footage (not a fraction of the available Funks on tape, for example). Good face team, GREAT heel team. I still have a whole disc of Briscos vs. Funks to get through, plus that infamously long match vs. Adonis and Murdoch. But on the strength of what I've seen so far, Jerry Brisco is a really underrated little worker, great all-rounder with some junior-style flash and some nice suplex variations;and Jack is one of the major talents of his generation.

This may be a controversial position -- and sorry to Kelly and Marty for this -- but it is my considered view that the WWF Tag Titles have been shitty for the entirey of their existence. The tag scene in 70s WWF is just utterly shocking and this continues right through to 85. So from Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler in 1971 to The Dream Team in 1985, the tag titles are just SHIT I think the era from 85-91 is overly romanticised by many fans and the tag title picture doesn't get that much more interesting during that time. Most people would probably peg the "nose dive" from that Natural Disasters / Money Inc period, but let's be honest, the tag titles were never treated as that big a deal in WWF. So my answer is "never", because you need to be at a fairly reasonable height to "nose dive" and WWF tag titles started out shit, went to "okayish for a while" and then back to the baseline of shit. It's not a tag company. Never has been. Never will be.

Jack and Jerry Brisco need a tag nomination.

Based on what I've seen so far, not really feeling it for Bock and Stevens. Mainly because the latter just doesn't bring the goods.

Top 5 easily!

Mostly associate him with boring nerve holds. Tell me different.

Not intended as a troll by the way, anyone with the vision to pull off the run from Hogan vs Andre through the evil twin refs to the Mega Powers exploding is a better booker than Dusty. Put Austin vs McMahon as another story arch, and possibly his creative masterpiece, and as a booker I don't think Vince has many rivals. Watts, Baba, and Jarrett are the only others in the conversation. Maybe Vince Sr too.

I envy anyone who grew up in Crockett-land in the 70s/80s. Even so, Vince is a better booker than George Scott, Dory Jr, Ole Anderson and Dusty Rhodes combined.

Be sure to let us know what you make of the footage as well as they show itself. That's one of the things that I really hope to do with Titans is get people actually watching stuff from the 70s. I feel like we managed to do that with the Bruno promos, but not always sure how much people actually watch, y'know. Understandable when it's endless Philly cards opened by The Baron, but this shit deserves to be seen -- I especially like that Hawk and Hansen vs. Weaver and Neilsen tag that Pete was high on. If anyone else watched it, let us know!

I doubt anyone'd lie about "How I got into wrestling". I can't think of many subjects where such a lie would have even less to gain from it. Yes, Butch, but we live in a world where people can take offense at a woman's face being posted on an internet forum. In such a world, anything is possible.

For all his wrongs, I can't understand people saying Vince for this thread. I mean, the man is more or less directly responsible for getting me into wrestling. I wonder how many other people, if they were REALLY honest about their journey as a fan would also admit that Vince's product was the gateway drug. I don't think there's anyone on this board who despises the modern product more than I do, but if there was no Vince I wonder how big this board would even be right now (or whether it would exist at all).