JerryvonKramer

Week 5 (Feb, Week 1) MSG House Show: Basically just a placeholder show with not a lot going on. The should be the last house show before the new guys (Ted, Savage etc.) get into the ring. Patterson looks like he's truly done. This match was 12 minutes and he was still knackered. Ironically, this was better than their big blow-off match. I'm honestly itching to get this IC belt off Pedro. I might just have Savage beat him at a random house show rather than wait for a big event. Savage can still be part of the Bruno angle as IC champ. These Backlund matches aren't doing that great either. I mean this will do for a nothing show, but attendance has been going down. Less than 7,000 at MSG is poor. Challenge: I'm starting to see the use of a B-show. You can use it to try out different guys without a lot of penalties. Here, I'm testing out Billy Graham in the ring to see if El Borica's idea might fly. Visibly tired after 12 minutes isn't a good sign. The match with Backlund would probably be better than this, but probably not good enough. Graham seems best used as the host of the talk show. He's still over, and has good mic skills, but he looks done in the ring. Superstars: Ironically, this TV taping drew more people than the last MSG show. This show was mainly about pushing the big storyline with Bruno and the new heel stable "The Elite". Graham: Ted DiBiase, the world wants to know, brother, can you explain the heinous actions of you and your associates over the past couple of weeks? First you attack the big man, Andre, at the Royal Rumble, brother. And then, the main man himself, Bruno Sammartino. DiBiase: I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm going to say to you. You see, we here myself, The Macho Man Randy Savage, Tully Blanchard, and our newest arrival, Arn Anderson we, all four of us ... Graham: I'm listenin', brother. DiBiase: We understand what this place is all about. 1979 I came up here. I was a young punk, I was just paying my dues back then. And when I came up here. It was all "Bruno Sammartino this, Andre the Giant that". And everywhere you turn there's a stooge: An Arnold Skaaland here, a Dominic Denucci there. Chief Jay Strongbow Guys who have been here so long they are part of the furniture. I swear I saw Tony Garea's got cobwebs in that big crop of hair he's got! Savage: Oh yeah!! DiBiase: And let me tell you something. Well, Superstar Graham, you know as good as anyone. You drive down that road, you go out there to Texas, to Minnesota, to Florida and down there, they know what REAL wrestling is all about! REAL wrestling. The fans up here, in Madison Square Garden, in Philadelphia, in Boston all across these towns. Wherever you go it's "Bruno Sammartino". And you got this two-bit champion Bob Backlund. Well, they've got this place locked up very well. But I'm going to let you in on a CONSPIRACY, Billy Graham. You go back down through all the record books. Who did Bruno ever beat? Some Greek guy no ones ever heard of? He stayed up here and never faced any of the REAL wrestlers from all over this country because Bruno was scared he was going to be FOUND out. Savage: Oh yeah, you're gonna be found out Sammartino. DiBiase: I want to tell you people here something. See, me, my father was a wrestler. And this man here, Randy Savage, HIS father was a wrestling man. He grew up in wrestling his whole life. And this man here, my good friend, Tully Blanchard, HIS father was a wrestling man. And HE been around wrestling his whole life. And Arn Anderson, he's from one of the proudest wrestling families this country has ever seen! And YOU people here, you New York people, who think you know everything. You know NOTHING. WE are wrestling. Us. Bruno is nothing. You go down to St. Louis, they've never heard of him. You go to Houston, "who's that?" Go to Atlanta. Go to Florida. But go to those places and say "DiBiase". Say "Blanchard". Say "Poffo". Say "ANDERSON". And look at the respect in those people's eyes. You've got a cartoon champion for a CARTOON CITY. And were here to say enough is enough! It's time for you to GROW UP and learn about what wrestling is all about! Savage: Oh yeah! There's something hit the WWF brothers, and it ain't no flash in the pan oh no! Smell that. Smell the air. That's the wind CHANGE, Oh yeah! Anderson: You know, Ted DiBiase, you just about made a grown man cry. And these people here. These people who are booing now and clamouring for their Bruno, one day. ONE DAY, they'll understand exactly what you were talking about. And I've got a message for all you so-called wrestlers who have been hiding up here for so long: reputation don't mean a damn thing when you're getting your bones broken by someone who has a PhD in Pain Studies. You understand? I don't care, how long you've been here. I don't care if all these people cry like the little girls they are, were going to be coming for you. And there ain't nowhere to hide no more! Blanchard: Amen to all of that. But what my esteemed associates forgot to mention is were also here to make this joint a little more classy if you know what I mean. Were going to teach you people something about style and something about the finer things in life. Didn't anyone tell you that its 1983? How about you get with the programme? No one goes to the disco anymore, Tony. And Sinatra ain't cool anymore, Bruno. Its unbelievable the state these people are in. You wouldnt know class if it hit you in the face! So were going to have to do more than hit you in the face. Savage: Oh yeaahhhhhh! Graham: Well, brothers, you cats have said it all, and now everyone, the world, wants to know what Bruno Sammartino is going to say in reply Because ratings keep sliding, I'm putting title matches on TV for free with Bob against random opponents. Masked Superstar wasn't doing much so he'd do -- and this is probably Bob's best match since I've been booking. In fact, this was the best show overall since I've been booking and the first not to "lose me popularity" in the Tri-State region. The booking of the Andre and Bruno vs. The Elite feud has been going to plan. DiBiase, Savage, Blanchard and Anderson all have great momentum and not one of them has even had a match yet. However, this is going to be a tricky balancing act because while they have momentum, none of them are particularly over in the region and that is going to take time to build up. DiBiase is the most over because of his run from 79, but Savage, Anderson and Blanchard are all more or less unknowns in New York. These guys are going to have to steamroller some of the old guard in the run-up to Wrestlemania. -------------- Some other strategic thinking The TV networks and PPV carriers have opened up for proposals, but none of them want to talk to me. This is because the WWF is still considered a "regional" company and needs to grow to being "cult" status -- I can do this fairly easily by increasing popularity in New England a bit more. This is just a matter of time since Superstars goes out nationwide. But I'm also running the Boston Gardens once a month which should help too. I am a little worried that Vince is going to fire me though. My approval rating with him has dropped to "Very Low". In my first month, the company LOST $90k. In addition, I somehow failed his goal to stop David Sammartino from gaining popularity. I'm not sure how exactly since I've barely used him. But that's pissed Vince off and I'm treading on ice ... I might find myself booking for Dick the Bruiser's WWA or Central States before long if things don't turn around soon.

I think he's still actively good until at least 96 if not later. His very very best work is actually as a colour analyst alongside JR in 90-91.

I'm watching 70s Mid-Atlantic tonight and most of the footage is just from Arenas, crowd noise but no commentary. I remember watchinh Flair vs. Morton years ago which also has no commentary. And there IS something to be said about watching wrestling this way. Just the crowd and nothing else. I do love great commentary and would probably be more towards the camp that wants it most of the time. But in recent years I've also become a mark for watching 70s film clips. The only thing I don't like is when it is completely silent. That's very hard to follow.

Totally agree with that Justin on Tony and Jesse.

Arn had a stellar match with Barry Windham in 92.

I'm a massive commentary guy and can never understand it when people say they watch with the sound down or whatever. To me it's absolutely part and parcel of what makes wrestling enjoyable, and it's one of the major barriers for me watching modern WWE for any period of time, or shit like 00s indie stuff. Kal Rudman has made many a boring Philly card about 100% more watchable. I'm also the world's biggest Ventura mark. Perhaps my strong investment in the presentational and "wider world" aspects of wrestling beyond just the match has been a contributing factor for my apparent inability to get into Lucha, where the wrestling has been good or even excellent but I'm still like "I just don't give a shit". That said I plan on finishing the 80s set before WM 2016.

Week 4 (Jan, Week 4) Challenge: Ran a video recap of DiBiase, Tully and Savage attacking Andre. Main purpose of this show was to test out Snuka as a good headliner of B-shows. He did very well: That match might also have saved Ray Stevens his job. I thought he was done, but against the right opponent, seems he can still go. I'll try Patterson against Snuka next time. Superstars: Big show on which the storyline featuring "The Elite" (DiBiase, Blanchard, Savage) is launched in earnest. The key idea here is to use the incredible popularity of Andre and Bruno as a "rub" to get these guys over as the company's main heels. Working so far. Re-building Ivan after his loss to Backlund. Finkel: Ladies and gentlemen, it is now time for a very special interview with ... The Living Legend BRUNO SAMMARTINO! Vince: Well, Bruno, how have you been? Bruno: Thank you Vince. And thank you to all of my fans out there, it means so much to me to hear these fans show their appreciation after all these years. Vince: What have you been doing to keep yourself busy these days? Bruno: Well, ya know Vince, I keep myself very active. I still hit that gym two-three hours every day. Some days me and Dominic go down to the lakes and do some fishing ya know. Vince: Do you miss your days in the squared circle? Bruno: Well sometimes Vince, ya know ... a man sustains a lot of injuries in this great sport, and you feel the aches and the strains and, ya know, you think "man, I'm glad I don't have to do that anymore". But then ... then I hear these fans, and I hear how much it means to these people, and YES, I want to do it all over again, Vince. Vince: Do you think there is any possibility of you doing just that? Bruno: Never say never, Vince. But there's also a time when you have to look at the new generation, ya know? Vince: Do you have anything else you want to say to your fans? Bruno: Well only that, ya know Vince, just thank you for everything. I love New York. I love this professional wrestling. I each and every one of these fans lives in my heart forever. Just as Bruno is wrapping up, someone sneaks up behind him and chop blocks his leg! It's ... Ted DiBiase! Tully Blanchard and Randy Savage also hit the ring. Vince quickly bails. Tully lays in some cheap stomps. Savage goes up to the top rope as DiBiase and Blanchard hold him prone. Diving elbow drop!! An enraged Dominic Denucci comes out from the back. He tries to chase off DiBiase and Blanchard, but Savage catches him with a double axe-handle from the top. Shot to the gut by DiBiase. Denucci goes down. Bruno is out cold. Now Andre comes out, and he's pissed. The heels bail. Soul Patrol continue to under perform. I'm wondering if the problem wasn't so much Patterson and Stevens, but these two. Lawler just brought in for a one-shot TV title shot here. He's not that well known in the North East, but I thought he might get a good match out of Backlund. Not bad, but not great either. ---------------- Forward planning to Wrestlemania Tag titles: Arn Anderson has just signed. Atlas and Johnson have been poor so far, so currently, the plan is to build up Arn and Tully week-by-week on TV and on house shows with win after win. While building up Soul Patrol through title defenses against the Wild Samoans, Patterson and Stevens and whoever else. Arn and Tully come out of WM with the titles. IC title: Pedro vs. Muraco seems like a very stale holding pattern. The ultimate idea is to get the IC title on Savage. However, I have other plans for Savage at Mania. Will keep it on Pedro for the time being. With him vs. Muraco at WM, Pedro wins. Savage to take the title at Summerslam. World title: The main plan here is for Blassie to bring in guys I'd acquire through talent trades for 1-shots or 2-shots to keep Backlund's momentum up. He's gone through Ivan Koloff and Iron Sheik already, but they can both have a couple more shots. Will see if I can bring in guys like Abdullah. Whatever heels are out there. Plan for Wrestlemania? Again, the ultimate plan is to get the belt off Backlund and onto DiBiase -- who will eventually then drop it to a turned Savage. But that's a long way off (Ted to win at Summerslam?). I might try to bring in someone like Terry Funk for Backlund at Wrestlemania. Or how about an hour broadway with Dory to send everyone to sleep? The other thing I'm thinking about is maybe turning Backlund heel and have Snuka beat him for it. With Snuka vs. DiBiase at Summerslam. We'll see. Special featured feud: I won't reveal the details of it all yet, but ultimately it should culminate with DiBiase and Savage vs. Bruno and Andre at Wrestlemania in a cage. I haven't decided yet which way to go with that match. Either: 1. It's the blow off with the faces finally coming out on top after weeks of being tortured by the dickish heels. or 2. The faces put over the heels HUGE and make them "made men" in the promotion. For the long-term I like option 2, but in terms of the angle 1. feels more "right".

JCP had too many titles. The National Title was a legacy of the GCW buy out. When Dusty and Tully feuded over that, it was at the expense of the TV title. When Dusty and Tully feuded over the TV title, it was at the expense of the US title. Western Heritage States title was from the Mid-South buyout. Up until the end of 86, the old Mid-Atlantic title was still active too. The 6-man titles were a joke. I've always maintained the US tag titles were one title too many and only really meant anything when the Midnights had them. Arn and Ole held the National tag titles, which were another hang over from GCW and the precursors to the US tag belts (Arn and Ole were never world champs). Crockett had way too many belts.

Career vs. career Ted smokes Greg. You want to have it out? Let's do it shoe.

My vote is for the top one. Really fantastic work!!!

Week 3 (Jan, Week 3) Boston Garden house show: Not a lot going on for this show. Quick title defense for Stevens and Patterson ahead of the big match with Soul Patrol. Title defenses for Backlund and Pedro. Just two things to note: Pedro and Muraco have good chemistry. And I might try to run this match into the ground to get the most out of it. The lack of selling note appeared again for a Backlund match. Noticing a trend ... Little angle there with Ivan running in for a heel 2 on 1 beatdown with Blassie barking the orders to set up their Rumble match. Challenge: So this was the try out of my updated formula. Rodz vs. Jackson seemed a bit too jobberific for the crowd: They were also completely dead for Goulet vs. Gilbert: Grand Wizard promo lifted things a bit ... But then the main event tanked. I think that's pretty much it for Strongbow. He's shown here that he can no longer main event even a B-show. And this is another bad performance from him. He can do a few more jobs on the way out ... Superstars: So the new "more star-studded" Superstars ... Again, I used this to push the featured Blonde Bombers vs. Soul Patrol feud, but sadly it doesn't seem to be getting that over. Soul Patrol don't seem that over ... Lack of heat is disappointing. Here Patterson and Stevens run in for an instant DQ and another big old heel beatdown: Patterson and Stevens run-in and attack Atlas knocking him to the floor with a pair of brass knucks. He's bleeding from the mouth. Stevens has a pair of handcuffs! And what's this? Oh, what a cheap shot, he's suckered Johnson with the knucks and is ... he's handcuffing him to the ropes. Patterson: Rocky Johnson! You want to talk to us about respect? We're about to show you what that means. See this boy here, Tony Atlas? He's about to learn all about respect. Show him Ray! Stevens grabs the bloodied head of Atlas and gets him into a bull-dog position. He goes to the top rope and comes off it giving him a super-bull dog. Patterson dives in with a huge knee drop. They take it in turns to slam his head into the mat as Johnson is going livid handcuffed to the ring. Patterson: There's your respect ... boy. ---- Sadly, it doesn't seem to be setting things on fire like I'd hoped. Perhaps this booking has been too short-term and both teams needed a longer time to be built up, but I need the belts on Soul Patrol coming out of the Royal Rumble. Billy Graham's Supershow was back. A first bit of proper screen-time for Jesse Ventura, Backlund talks about his up-coming Russian Chain match with Ivan Koloff. In a bid to sell more tickets for the Rumble, I put Andre in the main event against George Steele -- which is a huge match to be giving away on TV. Since this match went only 8 minutes, it's a bit worrying that Steele was so tired here. He's not long for this company. Royal Rumble: Yes, ironically, Pat Patterson wasn't part of the very first Rumble match. Seems like it was a mistake to run with Masked Superstar rather than Muraco against Pedro here. But then again I can run Muraco vs. Pedro at the next 2-3 house shows. This specially supercard edition of the Billy Graham talk show was a time fill. I cut a number of talent trade deals with the AWA and Mid-Atlantic to bring in a whole bunch of talent to compete in the Rumble. All of them on one-night-only loan deals: Terry Funk Dory Funk Jr Mike Rotunda Kevin Sullivan Jim Brunzell Jerry Blackwell Billy Robinson A few more. This was just a segment to say "hey look, The Funks are here". I put Bob over Ivan in his trademark Russian Chain match, and Bob has the temerity to complain about having to work brawls instead of technical matches. He'll have "more technical" opponents soon enough ... So the culmination of this 3-week storyline was pretty fucking disappointing. This was a brutal cage match which the crowd didn't care for. The Baron has some things to say about my booking: Since Stevens is in semi-retirement here and Patterson can no longer seem to go, I think this is going to be it for the Bombers. Soul Patrol need some more wins to get more over. The lack of heat for this feud has been concerning. ---- In the Royal Rumble match itself, Curt Hennig was the number 1 entrant and had an iron man performance, just "one to watch" for the future at this stage, but that's the glimpse of a push for him. Final four were Terry Funk, Iron Sheik, Jimmy Snuka and Andre, with Sheik getting tossed last. And I thought this would be a great time to debut my three new signings: Yes, I was able to get Savage to sign in the end -- AND Miss Elizabeth. I'm glad at least something went right on this show. The surprise attack on Andre got over well. DiBiase, Tully and Savage are going to be in a stable known as "The Elite". I will try to get in Arn from Mid-South as well. Basic plan would be: World title: DiBiase IC title: Savage Tag title: Arn and Tully Long-term with Savage eventually turning face and feuding with DiBiase. First though: DiBiase vs. Backlund Savage vs. Pedro Arn and Tully vs. Soul Patrol That is, if I can get Arn. All-in-all though, things haven't been going too well with the existing talent, so I'm hoping this injection of new top talent can get turn around my fortunes.

Ahead of Week 3, some small tweaks to my formulas: - TV tapings are now to be on Tuesday nights. Reason? By tripling up on the house show and the two TV tapings, I'm losing some ticket sales. Also, for storyline purposes, the house shows take place on Monday nights, but the TV doesn't go out till Wednesday. So I'd have been taping angles that air after the blow-offs have already taken place. This way, the house show is always on the following Monday. - The Syndicated Networks have continuously been complaining about low ratings for Superstars. Also, because Challenge is a B-show, it affects popularity ratings a lot less than other shows. My ultimate plan is to replace Challenge with a second A-show, but until that time, I will have to do something. The old formula of pure jobber and JTTS matches on TV is producing low ratings. Therefore, a new formula with a TINY bit more star power for Superstars is required. New formula: Challenge: JTTS (Rodz / Somers / over jobber JTTS over jobber INTERVIEW Star over JTTS Superstars: Mid-card star over JTTS Star Tag-team over JTTS Tag-team SUPERSTAR'S SUPERSHOW Top star over mid-card star This should hopefully help boost those declining ratings. Also, I need to widen the pool of guys a bit more: Jobbers: Face: Frankie Williams Mike Jackson Heel: Rene Goulet Iron Mike Sharpe JTTS: Face: SD Jones Eddie Gilbert Brian Blair Jules Strongbow David Sammartino Face team: Tony Garea and Curt Hennig Heel: Johnny Rodz Mr. Fuji Doug Somers Heel team: The Riveras Mid-card stars: Faces: Chief Jay Strongbow Ivan Putski Jimmy Snuka Pedro Morales (once he's done with IC scene) Heels: Big John Studd Don Muraco (once he's done with IC scene) George Steele Masked Superstar

I thought the tag show was absolutely fantastic and one of the best shows ever to go out on our feed (imho). Kelly and Marty Sleaze actually make a perfect tag-team. Their personalities just complement each other so well. Kelly is calm, cerebral, smooth-talking, taking us on engaging and well-informed history lessons, sitting by the fire with a pipe and probably wearing a Scooby-doo-esque cardigan. Marty is so full of energy, excitement and enthusiasm, breaking down the matches in a totally captivating way -- old enough to know his shit, but still too young to be jaded by life. Going to have to dig out that Tito-Steamer vs. Dream Team match. Sounds awesome.

Pete's analysis of the impact and legacy of Liger vs Pillman is really top stuff.

Saturday on the PWO-PTBN Podcast Network feed was like a typical Saturday morning from 1986 with all sorts of different wrestling shows all on one after the other.

Plus, it would end up being a very short thread ...

Good job guys. Loved the drops on this Kelly. Also, Pete's Easter egg, lol. Kelly if you have kept any of the old recordings, we could put out a "best of off-air chat". You always keep it rolling, whereas I hit "off" on the record as soon as humanly possible. Ha ha. But it might be time the world heard jdw-Vader.

After three years, five pages and 83 replies, this is really great insight. The sort of contribution to the board we all value. Keep it up!

I've seen all those mate, cheers though. It's the strength of those that make me want more. With Patterson and Brisco, we have great performances on tape, with Stevens we mainly have just rep.

Prime Pat Patterson and Jack Brisco.

JvK putting the "pwn" into pwo.

I would probably debate these two. Maybe we should do this in Arn's GWE thread? Arn over Tully because while Arn doesn't have the all-time classic with Magnum, I think overall his career was just plain better than Tully's. Not just longevity, but everything he did. I also think Arn overall is a better worker than Tully. Blanchard is great at selling, but not a whole lot else. He's 90% selling and stooging. Arn can do all that but also has killer offense and crisp execution. On top of that he has some GOAT-level facial expressions rivalled only by the likes of Regal. On top of all that I think Arn's an all-time promo, whereas Tully is a B+ on the stick. On top of that again, Arn could work babyface, whereas I don't buy Tully as one, even in his father's South West promotion. ------ The Steamer case is closer, but I think Arn is better working limbs than him, and has better all-round psychology. Yes, Steamer has "great matches" over Arn, but how many stinkers has Steamboat been in too? I've seen Steamboat matches I've actively hated, but can't think of too many of those for Arn. Arn is clearly a better promo than Steamboat. And better at all the character elements of in-ring work.

I would probably debate these two. Maybe we should do this in Arn's GWE thread?

Not trolling anyone, serious question. Who do you think was better? Arn or Waltman? In my mind this is a total no brainer, but apparently not everyone sees it that way. What arguments does X-Pac have to even be in a conversation with an all-time great like Arn?

Okay, I've made a poll. Look what you've done Grimmas!