JerryvonKramer

Memphis 2.5 Stan Lane & Koko Ware vs. Eddie Gilbert & Ricky Morton (No DQ, 2/3 Falls) (10/81) It's just occured to me that Gilbert and Morton are like the ULTIMATE FIP ragdoll team. It's like Morton squared or something. Koko Ware looks somewhat different from his WWF incarnation here. He also breaks one of my cardinal rules: dancing. Heels don't dance! Dancing is a babyface thing. Struting like Flair or Michael Hayes is fine, but don't dance. It's neither threatening, nor villainous, and it's hardly an effective way of making the crowd hate you. Even as a wind up to opponents, it's not great psychology. What are they going to think? "Oooohhh, he's dancing!" Heels shouldn't dance, end of. I didn't really enjoy the manner in which the first fall was worked here. Mostly Stan Lane using a boring chinlock with the faces stealing a pin. With some dancing Koko thrown in. This commentator is really annoying too. Who is he? Doesn't really feel like a No DQ match if it is one (mislabelled?) Didn't really understand the pin for the second fall, didn't look like a pin to me. And Koko seemed sluggish during the heat segment. Not a good match at all so far. Third fall didn't do much for me either. I wasn't into this match. **

I liked how the first 45 minutes of it was basically them talking about hunting. I have zero interest in hunting, but really enjoyed it.

http://placetobenation.com/titans-of-wrestling-0-a-titans-primer/ Holy retcon Batman! Parv, Pete, Johnny and Kelly make like DC Comics and reset the clock on the Titans universe. It's EPISODE ZERO! This episode is intended as a general introduction to Titans of Wrestling for newcomers, but there is still plenty to enjoy for existing fans. The Titans starters match sampler: 07-21-79 Greg Valentine vs Chief Jay Strongbow (Strap match),Philadelphia Spectrum 01-10-81 Bob Backlund vs Sgt. Slaughter, Philadelphia Spectrum 06-21-75 The Blackjacks vs Victor Rivera and Dominic Denucci, Hamburg, PA; Fieldhouse This show also includes: - General introductions to each of the Titans - Titans Terminology: a beginners guide to our lingo, heros, in-jokes, and former failed segments - Quantum Leaping Lanny Poffo! - The mysteries of the Fu Manchu moustache - And much much more The PWO-PTBN Podcast Network features great shows you can find right here at Place to Be Nation. By subscribing on iTunes or SoundCloud, you’ll have access to new episodes, bonus content, as well as a complete archive of: Where the Big Boys Play, Titans of Wrestling, Pro-Wrestling Super-Show, Good Will Wrestling, and Wrestling With the Past.

It's probably the most I've ever laughed at a rib story. That was my honest reaction.

Now you put it that way, I guess it's a lot more sinister. I think the manner in which Austin was laughing made me laugh too and I didn't think of it in that way.

Are you suggesting that Condrey sort of raped Hickerson?

Housekeeping New Japan d2 rankings: ****3/4 Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen (9/23/81) ****1/2 Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Isamu Teranishi (10/8/81) **** Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet (12/10/81) Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura vs. Negro Navarro & El Signo (10/30/81) ***3/4 Bob Backlund vs. Stan Hansen (9/30/80) ***1/2 Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (11/3/80) Tiger Mask vs. El Canek (12/8/81) *** Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ron Starr (9/30/80) **1/2 Chavo Guerrero vs. Kengo Kimura (9/30/80) Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid (4/23/81) Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada (11/6/81) Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Pete Roberts & El Solitario (9/4/81) ** Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Steve Keirn (11/6/80) Antonio Inoki vs. Stan Hansen (4/23/81) George Takano vs. Stan Lane (7/24/81)

Memphis 2.1 Bill Dundee, Steve Keirn, Rick & Robert Gibson vs. Dream Machine, Nightmare #1 & Heartbreakers (7/25/81) Very enjoyable, action-packed 8-man match here that doesn't overstay its welcome. Kerin especially stood out for the faces. I am guessing Nightmare #1 is Ken Wayne, not Danny Davis. ***3/4 Memphis 2.2 Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (8/1/81) lol at Fuchi doing the Flair strut. The Japanese guys really work this Memphis style, stooging it up like nobody's business. I bit too much stupid comedy schtick for my tastes. Made them seem like incompetent idiots. Awesome post-match beatdown and brawl though, as is the look of moral consternation on the faces of Lance Russell and Dave Brown. Love how disappointed they are by this turn of events. **1/2 Memphis 2.3 Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita (Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl) (9/4/81) Mustard! The ice machine! Fucking insane spots with wooden boards! Tojo Yamamoto slapping a woman! Fuchi weilding a ... BROOMSTICK. Jesus Christ this is nuts. Maybe not as famous as some of the other concession stand brawls, but this was WILD. **** Memphis 2.4 Masa Fuchi, Atsushi Onita & Tojo Yamamoto vs. Roy Rogers, Rick & Robert Gibson (9/5/81) "Roy Rogers" is Johnny Rich, Tommy Rich's brother, fact fans. Onita and Fuchi working as a more competent unit here, they've lost the comedy spots. Tojo still looks like he knows what he's doing in there. The stand-out performer in this match, however, is Masa Fuchi who really brought the offense. Rogers was quite an effective FIP as well. Solid match. ***1/2

Phil Hickerson / Dennis Condrey / Tojo Yamamoto story is one of the best and funniest rib stories of all time.

Randomly just stuck on Jim Cornette part 2. What an AWESOME interview. The stuff about Big Bubba and the Mulkeys and the rib stories are all just GREAT.

I haven't heard anyone saying that and I consume on average about 10 hours of analysis a week. When football in the US was last brought up on Football Focus, the consensus from the pundits was "it's still got a long, long way to go and the biggest challenge will still be competing for TV time with American Football and other established sports". No one would say the USA will win the World Cup. And they probably aren't in the top 10 favourites to do so. Big population and lots of money. So what? International football doesn't work like that. China is football mad and they aren't anywhere on the national stage with, what is it, 2 billion people? England has the best league in the world and a lot of money, and they are nowhere. Spain has a population of 47 million people and its economy is in the shitter, but they have dominated for a decade now. The USA have done okay in the past fifteen years or so, but there's a big difference between getting into the quarters and winning the whole thing. I will say though: they have relatively easy qualification to get there every four years. --------------- There's another reason I don't think soccer will ever overtake the other sports in the US: The US is US-centric. It REMAKES TV shows and films that are already in English, let alone shows that are in other languages. The MLS will never, not in 30 years, not in 100 years, compete with the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A or even the Bundesliga. So if American fans want to get into football, they have to have their focus and attention on foreign leagues. The centre of action isn't in New York or LA -- it's in London or Madrid or Milan -- and I can't think of anything LESS American than getting into a sport where the biggest and best are based 3000 miles away. 10 years from now, I don't see anything changing any of that AT ALL.

Where are finding these analysts? They should probably be fired.

This will come across as heelish from me, but I believe that soccer will never be a major sport in the US because Americans like winning things and thinking of themselves as the biggest and best, and in soccer they have to play the rest of the world, unlike "American Sports" where they only really have to play Canadians. Just telling it how I see it. If the US soccer team get thumped 4-0 by Brazil, most Americans can shrug it off: "soccer? Who cares". If it's actually a major deal, then it's going to be damaging to national pride. And, let's face it, no matter how big soccer gets in the US, they aren't going to be winning the World Cup any time soon.

First 20 minutes of this have be awesome awesome awesome. Forgot I was just listening at one point and asked Will a question. Just loving this one. Johnny's on fire.

This is a good series Grimmas, been listening through. Hit the monster episode. Is Stan Hansen not a monster?

The other thing to mention about Wrestling at the Chase in St. Louis is that it took place in the elegant Khorassan Ballroom. Even though admission was free, fans had to get them through the TV station and there was a long waiting list. Only 900 people could be seated. So that made it an exclusivity thing. Not saying at wrestling was at the pinnacle of St. Louis high society or anything, but that it was presented in a way that might push the buttons of the bourgeoise.

On a more serious note, although my instincts are to say that wrestling is a "blue collar" thing and shouldn't be gentrified, if you go and watch St. Louis stuff from the 1970s THAT crowd seems to contain more intelligentsia than your average wrestling crowd. They LOOK* like a congregation of people at a college attending a poetry reading. That might have been a St. Louis thing, or it might have been something to do with the way Sam Muchnick presented wrestling. Low on gimmicks, high on legitimacy and presenting it like a real sport. * Need to note that this is an observation largely based on what people were wearing and how they behaved vs. other crowds from the same time frame. 70s St. Louis has a very different feel from most other towns of that era. However, if you go further back, the 60s Wrestling at the Chase was a suit and tie affair with local dignitaries seated at tables having dinner. The more "formal" feel of the crowd could be a hang over from that. Whatever you say though, there's a world of difference between that and the sorts of crowds you see in Watts country, Mid-Atlantic, or even at MSG.

Hmmmm ... get them to join Pro Wrestling Only?

I am not one to shill, but if you hold off a couple of weeks, we are doing "remastered" editions of the very first episodes with new intros, better audio and some new content. That would be a logical point to start, and these new editions are partly intended as an intro for newcomers like yourself. WTBBP mostly consists of going through old newsletters, top match analysis from Chad (and various guests like Charles and even Jason Mann on a few occasions), and me moaning about Jimmy Valiant's* / Shaska Whatley's* / Ranger Ross's* dancing and Jimmy Garvin's hair and ring attire. *delete as appropriate.

I haven't listened to this yet. If you go all the way back to WTBBP #49, we had Charles on to talk about Wrestlewar 90 then, and that might make a good companion piece to this: http://placetobenation.com/where-the-big-boys-play-49-wrestlewar-1990/ Glad to see Jason back in action too!

Has anyone rewatched the Cactus Rumble match in the past decade? Would be interested to see how that stands up. I'm going on memory from watching it on the night.

I'll go for Foley at the Rumble.

Tenryu is the guy that springs to mind here for me.

New Japan 2.13 Tiger Mask vs. Gran Hamada (11/6/81) Mostly drab matwork punctuated by moments of explosive action. Tiger Mask contines to underwhelm relentlessly. I thought Hamada was mostly disappointing here too. Feel like the match meandered and never really established any sort of narrative or tone. The strikes and high spots were disconnected from the matwork. Failed to cohere. **1/2 New Japan 2.14 Tiger Mask vs. El Canek (12/8/81) I didn't think much of El Canek on the Lucha stuff, so this is not promising. That said, I thought he looked solid here with his clubbing blows and focused work on Tiger Mask's back. This was better than the last match but there's something about Tiger Mask's work that I'm really not enjoying. I was also very disappointed to see El Canek try to do a fucking abdominal stretch during the post-match brawl -- there's real anger for you! ***1/2 New Japan 2.15 Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Andre the Giant & Rene Goulet (12/10/81) Funny to see the flower girls run away from Andre. Andre was just fantastic here -- much better than he's been in WWF 1980 -- and totally carried things from his team's point of view, Goulet just happy to be along for the ride. Fujinami looked like a small boy next to Andre and sold amazingly well for him. Very entertaining match. ****