JerryvonKramer

Randomly watching Hogan vs Flair from a Raw in 2002. And one forgets how much Ric in 2002 looked like classic Ric Flair with longer hair. I happened to watch some random Flair matches from the 2004-08 period and he was in much better shape than any of us would recall but noticeably older and with thinned our hair. Flair seemed to age massively between 2002 and 2004.

Weirdly, I’d never seen this match. Rare Piper loss and rare DiBiase win over a major star (i.e. of Piper’s stature) at a big show. DiBiase was getting a hell of a re-push in 1991 prior to Money Inc which I’ve talked about before. However, as others have said in this thread he was bizarrely uninterested in this match. Sherri was doing everything she possibly could, Piper was hot and doing an excellent sell job. Hard to recall a Ted match where he’s this unengaged. That said, he got to use his old finisher, the figure four in a WWF ring and synched it in pretty well too.

Piper vs Valentine is absolutely awesome as everyone has said. I’d drop major snowflakes on it were I in that sort of mood. Hot crowd, intense physical action. Awesome mix of brawling and wrestling. Piper red hot as a face. Can anyone remember where Greg landed in the GWE? The guy was incredible, and had a good 8-10 year peak. I wish we had more full matches from 1980, because it seems his Mid-Atlantic run was electric.

The clips of Flair vs Valentine make it look like one of the best matches of all time. Is there a full match from these two from that era anywhere? The stuff in the clips looks phenomenal.

Didn’t see it mentioned anywhere in this thread, but Harley Race vs Jack Brisco from 1978 Florida is a nice little treat I don’t recall seeing before. Pretty much both guys in their prime. No commentary. Super heat for Jack, and Race booed heavily. I think this might be a much longer much, probably broadway, clipped down to about 12 minutes. I also watched Buzz Sawyer vs Ted DiBiase from the 1983 Omni show, but too much stalling in the early going but Sawyer was super over with that crowd. For a match containing these two, I disappointed it didn’t contain even one scoop powerslam. BS finish also.

The big angle on this week's NWF Tour on Nickelodeon was NWF President, Lou Thesz, finally addressing Mick Foley's repeated requests for a match. Thesz said that at 67 he could still beat Foley any day of the week. The show took place in Alaska, the first time NWF has head to the North West.

The shocks keep on coming in the wrestling world as only days after winning the NWA World Title, Tommy Rich has lost it again in an epic encounter with Bruno Sammartino. Rich agreed to face the world number 1 contender which was the NWF Champion who has been undefeated since returning to the ring. The Grand Wizard tried to stop the match from taking place, but he was chased out of the arena by Tommy Rich himself. This is obviously disappointing for Rich but he showed tremendous sportsmanship and good character in the shaking the hand of the man who was his better on the day. Bruno held both titles aloft and it seems that the NWA title and the NWF title will be unified. The NWA title had been active since 1948 and the days of Orville Brown. The current NWF President, Lou Thesz, won the belt in 1949 and held it on and off for most of the 1950s. The next great champion was Gene Kiniski and after him Dory Funk Jr, Jack Brisco, Terry Funk and Harley Race. The title held by Bruno Sammartino will now be called the NWA Undisputed Title and it will be represented by the Big Gold belt. However, it will follow the NWF title lingeage and not the NWA's. In practice this means the belt will be exclusively controlled by the NWF and will no longer be defended in other promotions. Many industry insiders are describing the merging of the titles as a "coup" by Sammartino who has effectively ended the NWA World Title and the idea of the travelling champion. Quite why Sammartino has done this is unknown, but it is suggested he harboured resentment at the NWA title going back to his days with the WWWF. It is not yet known what happened in Canada and how Timothy Flowers ever beat Ric Flair, some speculate that it was a screw job. Whatever the case, events accelerated very quickly. Wrestling Superfan Dave Meltzer has suggested that Flowers was paid a large sum of money by Bruno to do the screw job on Flair, get the belt down to the NWF to drop it quickly for Rich and who then quickly dropped it to him in the title vs. title bout. Perhaps the full story will never be known, but this week will surely go down in history as one of the most eventful the wrestling world has ever seen.

In the NWF's first ever show in Atlanta, Tommy Rich made history this evening by beating the new NWA Heavyweight Champion, Timothy Flowers with a Thesz Press in 32 minutes. Jubilant fans rushed to the ring to celebrate with their hero who was joined by Hulk Hogan and the Hart brothers as the champagne flowed. Timothy Flowers had been champion for just a few days, during which he had a single title defence against Cien Caras is CMLL, before dropping the belt. Rich becoming the champion is seen as a major coup and power move by the NWF who now control the world title. This is Rich's second NWA world title after winning his first in 1981. The whole card was devoted to the surprise match with only a Rick Rude squash on the undercard.

League of Champions was a hot show tonight with The Grand Wizard bringing in King Curtis Iaueka who had a wild brawl with Bruno in the main event, in the second excellent title match in as many weeks. The semi-main saw The Spoiler and Mark Lewin reunited against Bret and Bruce Hart. Bret was a real star in the match. Also, Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper got into a pull-apart brawl after Piper interrupted Hogan celebrating a win over Paul Christy. The bad blood between these two has been simmering for weeks ever since Hogan cost Piper his shot at the NWA title at The Wrestling Classic as revenge for injuring him in the NWF National title tournament earlier in the year. Something is going to have to give soon! Finally, in news that has shocked the wrestling world, Ric Flair 2-year NWA title reign came to an end last night as he dropped the belt to ... Tim Flowers at a Canadian All-Star Wrestling show. The circumstances around this change are not well understood, and it remains to be seen if Flowers will hold the belt for long.

NWF Tour show featured a Hogan interview about Roddy Piper and Savage defending his belt against Dan Miller. This was the first time NWF have run a show in the Mid-South area, specifically in the McGree Arena, New Mexico. These shows have been in a holding pattern, but the storylines will begin to ramp up going into August for the September Supercard "Good Night New York".

League of Champions saw Bobby Eaton get a big chance to add to the Five Star gold collection by challenging Bruno Sammartino for the NWF title in what many are already calling the match of the year. The match ended with Roddy Piper running in from the commentary both to try to hand Bobby Eaton a pair of brass knucks, but it backfired as Bruno spotted him and rushed for Eaton and in the confusion Piper accidentally clobbered him. Earlier they had appeared on Piper's Pit in a tease for what was to follow. Meanwhile, Denucci's in-ring return continued with his old partner Nick DeCarlo coming back in an unsuccessful bid to win the NWF tag titles. Denucci and DeCarlo had been tag champions in Canada in the 1970s. DeCarlo had also tagged with NWF star Frank Monte and perhaps the two of them will reunite in the future to try to recapture their old success.

The NWF Tour on Nickelodeon drew its biggest ever gate in the McCann Ice Arena, Poughkeepsie, New York. Chris Colt, who has already handed in his notice and massively fallen out with the management team was buried on the show as Bobby Eaton defeated him in less than 30 seconds. Dominic Denucci made a surprise appearance to challenge Randy Savage for his NWF National title while Mick Foley continued his demented attempts to wrestle NWF President Lou Thesz, who has yet to respond to the challenge.

League of Champions saw the debut of The Spoiler who -- like Mark Lewin -- has signed a 3-month contract. He is being managed by The Grand Wizard and lost against Bruno Sammartino in a bid to win the NWF title. Elsewhere on the show, Piper's Pit was essentially a massive circle jerk for The Five Star faction as Piper was joined by his stablemates Randy Savage, The Andersons and Bobby Eaton. Savage and The Andersons showed off their belts. Savage bad mouthed Tommy Rich and Piper berated Hulk Hogan. Yatsu worked his last date for NWF with Mr Pogo already having walked out.

NWF Tour went to Orlando, Florida for the first time and saw Randy Savage defend his NWF National Title against Hercules Hernandez. The big news was that Hulk Hogan was back in action and he has his sights set squarely on Roddy Piper. In backstage news, Chris Colt was reported to be wasted on drugs as well as being drunk by Killer Kowolski, and it is expected that he will be severely fined by NWF owner Bruno Sammartino on both counts. He has since walked out of the company.

League of Champions featured Mark Lewin making his debut for NWF on a three-month contract. He worked the main event against Bruno Sammartino in a losing effort for the NWF title. Elsewhere on the show Mick Foley appeared on Piper's Pit wearing a t-shit that read "I beat the legend John Tolos" and claimed to be a "legend killer". He called out NWF President Lou Thesz, who did not appear, and said that it doesn't matter how long Thesz was world champion or how many titles he has, that he -- Mick Foley -- can take down any legend. Tommy Rich went to visit Hulk Hogan who was training at his gym, and says he is almost fit again. Hogan has Roddy Piper squarely in his sights while Tommy Rich seeks a rematch with Randy Savage for the NWF national title.

NWF Tour on Nickelodeon went to Charlottesville, NC for the first time drawing a solid crowd of 1,000. Randy Savage is away doing a NJPW tour so Roddy Piper headlined against George Wells making his debut. The main storyline on the card was Piper seeking revenge on Hulk Hogan for costing him the NWA title against Ric Flair at the Wrestling Classic. Piper wanted Hogan to come out but Hogan was nowhere to be seen as he was still recovering from the injury at the hands of the Five Star faction.

Updated: League of Champions Core Crew Pure Jobbers: Faces: Frank Monte, Frank Williams, Italian Stallion Heels: Terry Gibbs, Doug Vines, Buddy Lane JTTS: Faces: Siva Afi, Nick DeCarlo, Joe Savoldi, Jose Luis Rivera Heels: Paul Christy, Dr Jerry Graham Jr, Baron Mikel Scicluna (until he retires), Mr Pogo (until he leaves), Joe Malenko, Dean Malenko Siva Afi, Jose Luis Rivera, NWF Tour on Nickelodeon Core Crew Pure Jobbers: Faces: Don Diamond, Mike Jackson, George South Heels: Ken Timbs, Rick Hunter, Dusty Wolfe JTTS: Faces: David Sammartino, George Wells, Hercules Hernandez, Mike George, Heels: Jos Leduc, Doug Somers, Jerry Valiant, Johnny Valiant, Yatsu (until he leaves), Chris Colt This should give decent depth going forward.

League of Champions show and not much to note, just bedding in the new formula. Frank Williams vs. Paul Christy ten minute time-limit draw is a match practically no one wanted to see! The challenger for Bruno this week was Waldo von Erich who shocked fans by doing a Nazi salute during Piper's Pit. At 49, Waldo showed some ring rust but the main event was fine. Meanwhile, NWF have been in touch with a lot of wrestlers about coming in either as jobbers or JTTS: Nick de Carlo is a former tag partner of Dominic Denucci, while Joe Savoldi is friends with Bruno and Dominic also. Some good hands here to help rotate the lower card a little more. Bids for Dean Malenko, Wayne Ferris, and the Spoiler all failed. Second bids have been made to bring them in on shorter contracts.

The first show using the new formula showed that more depth is needed in the JTTS ranks, and possibly one more jobber also. Not much happened on this show beyond Savage picking up his first title defence in a heel vs. heel match against Doug Somers -- that shows that new recruits are needed.

With the step up in size, the time has come to get down some booking formulas and structure. Thus far Brian Hildebrand has refereed every single match. Earl Hebner is currently a free agent, so NWF has made an offer for him to come in as another referee. As such, there will be a core crew to work League of Champions TV show and a core crew to work the NWF Tour on Nickelodeon. Stars are free to float between the two shows. Stars Bruno Sammartino Hulk Hogan Randy Savage Roddy Piper Tommy Rich Arn Anderson Ole Anderson Bret Hart Bruce Hart Bobby Eaton Rick Rude Mick Foley Shane Douglas League of Champions Core Crew Play-by-Play: Jim Ross Color: Roddy Piper Ref: Earl Hebner Road Agents: Dominic Denucci, Lou Thesz Pure Jobbers: Frank Monte, Frank Williams, Paul Christy, Terry Gibbs JTTS: Siva Afi, Jose Luis Rivera, Baron Mikel Scicluna (until he retires), Mr Pogo (until he leaves) NWF Tour on Nickelodeon Core Crew Play-by-Play: Sean Mooney Color: John Tolos Ref: Brian Hildebrand Road Agent: Killer Kowolski Pure Jobbers: Don Diamond, Ken Timbs, Mike Jackson, Rick Hunter JTTS: Jos Leduc, David Sammartino, Doug Somers, Jerry Valiant, Johnny Valiant (has just joined), Yatsu (until he leaves) League of Champions Formula Jobber vs. Jobber JTTS over Jobber Star over Jobber Piper's Pit Star over JTTS (single or tag) NWF Title defence [Bruno vs. villain of the week] NWF Tour on Nickelodeon Formula Jobber vs. Jobber JTTS over Jobber Star over Jobber Interview Star over JTTS (single or tag) NWF National title defence [Savage vs. whoever] There is a logic to the formula as follows: Week 1 Jobber 1 goes over Jobber 2 Week 2 JTTS goes over Jobber 1 Week 3 Star goes over JTTS That means the JTTS should pick up at least one win before a loss, and the jobber they beat will be coming off a win. This should help to keep stars feeling more special. Looking at things, there likely needs to be a greater number of JTTS in each crew, maybe a couple more heels for League of Champions and a couple more faces for the Tour.

The Wrestling Classic I at the NY Expo Centre, Madison Square Gardens! The show started with Gary Michael Cappetta introducing Jim Ross and Sean Mooney as tonight's hosts, because both John Tolos and Roddy Piper were in high profile matches tonight. Then to everyone's surprise, Hulk Hogan walked out on crutches and the crowd cheered. He said since he can't wrestle, he wants to join Ross and Mooney on commentary for the night. They were only too happy to have him. The opener featured the legendary John Tolos coming out of retirement to face the deranged youngster, Mick Foley who has been harrassing Sean Mooney on the NWF tour for weeks. Tolos dominated the match, but Foley managed to surprise him with a quick roll up for an upset victory. During the match Foley tried to dive from the top rope to the outside and sustained a legit injury by straining his thigh muscle as he landed awkwardly. Tolos was injured in the match also. The crowd seemed to come alive for it, Ric Flair came to this special supercard to defend the NWA title against the top contender: Roddy Piper! Flair was carrying an injury so this only went ten minutes. Hulk Hogan got his revenge on Piper for orchestrating the attacks that got him injured by continuously distracting him from the commentary booth. Hogan agitated Piper so much that he could not resist going over to jaw with him but winded up getting counted out in the process. Piper was absolutely furious with Hogan for costing him his big opportunity to win the NWA World title and had a massive hissy fit much to Hogan's -- and the crowd's -- amusement. The Grand Final of the NWF National Title tournament between Tommy Rich and Randy Savage was finally upon us. The match went for almost 40 minutes and there was some terrific wrestling on display. After a lot of near falls, Rich seemed finally to be getting the better of Savage when bailed from the ring. Rich followed him and he hid behind Miss Elizabeth -- the crowd booed this loudly. When Rich went for him again he threw Elizabeth at him and slid back into the ring. Elizabeth fell to the floor and Rich tried to made sure she was okay when Bobby Eaton stormed into the ring and suckered him from behind with a chair and rolled him back into the ring. Savage dropped the elbow for the three count to become the first NWF National Champion! Rich came to as Savage was celebrating and was so angry that he gave him piledriver and then hit him with the new belt! Savage had to be carried from the ring with Miss Elizabeth looking on concerned, but even as Savage was being carried out Rich attached him again! The crowd was hot for this, after Savage and his Five Star group had cheated so much and assaulted so many to get to this point. On commentary Hulk Hogan was beside himself with what had transpired. Bret and Bruce Hart finally got their shot for the NWF tag titles against Arn and Ole Anderson. The Harts seemed to be coming out on top of the match when Bobby Eaton ran in rammed Bruce Hart into the steel post. Bret Hart had to go for another 5 minutes two-on-one. He managed to eliminate Ole Anderson by throwing him out of the ring, the landing outside on the concrete seemed to take it out of Ole. Bret was left with Arn Anderson to defeat. He hit his patented backbreaker and started setting up for his sharpshooter, but Arn had seen enough and pulled out a set of brass knucks blatantly in front of the referee, knocked Bret out and got himself disqualified. The fans were almost in riotous mood at this. Has there ever been a faction to bend the rules as much as Five Star? The Andersons lost the match but kept the belts! And in the main event, Bruno Sammartino defeated Superstar Billy Graham in an excellent match. Although the crowd just over 1,000 strong, they made so much noise you'd have thought there was twenty times that many there. Bruno won the match with a sleeper hold, putting Graham to bed. After the match Bruno celebrated with the title, and the commentary put over his 20th title defence against his old rival "historic". Jim Ross said this was one of the greatest nights in the history of this great sport. Around 27,000 people bought tickets to the show on Closed Circuit television. Such was the success of the Wrestling Classic that the NWF grew from "small" to "regional" status.

The last TV show before the Wrestling Classic PPV set up the grand final of the NWF National Title tournament, which we now know will be Tommy Rich vs. Randy Savage. The show started by showing a recap of the latest Five Star attack on Hogan who was scheduled to face Savage in the opening match. Gary Michael Cappetta announced Savage who went down to the ring for the match but when he announced Hogan, he was nowhere to be seen. After some minutes with the crowd instensely booing Savage, NWF President Lou Thesz came out and told the referee Brian Hildebrand to start counting Hulk Hogan out. He got all the way to ten without Hogan appearing and Savage went through to the final in the cheapest possible way. On commentary, Roddy Piper cackled at the genius of the Five Star plan recounting how he had gotten himself DQ'd against Tommy Rich to ensure Savage would have a clear run against him in the final. Although Tommy Rich is back in action tonight, he has been softened up. Jim Ross responded by saying there needs to be a steward's enquiry into how the Five Star have gamed this tournament, and regulations should be established to stop something like this happening again. He said he will personally write to Lou Thesz to look into this, and if he gets nowhere, might take it all the way to Bob Giegel and the top brass at the NWA. Meanwhile, Billy Graham warmed up for the match against Bruno Sammartino at the PPV with a win over Don Diamond and cut a promo. Some fans wondered if Superstar had lost something, since the old elecricity seemed to be missing. Nonetheless, The Grand Wizard and Graham seemed to be happy to be back together and the segment went over well in the end. The Harts beat Rick Hunter and Terry Gibbs in anticipation for their match with The Andersons at the PPV. They feel they deserve to be the tag champions now, and Jim Ross on commentary noted that they have racked up a lot of victories. Roddy Piper poured scorn and said that The Harts are children compared to the Andersons and that their old man should never have let them leave Canada. Tommy Rich defeated Mr Pogo but was noticeably limping and did not seem to be at 100% fitness. Roddy Piper mocked him from his position in the commentary booth which led to several near falls in which Mr Pogo took advantage. In the main event, Killer Karl Kox came in for a one shot and had a match with Bruno Sammartino that was way better than it had any right to be. They tore it up as if it were the 1960s.

The contracts of Yatsu and Pogo are up, and -- unfortunately -- Baron Mikel Scicluna is set on retiring. So it's time to bolster the roster, especially at the more jobber end. To this end, NWF has signed Ken Timbs, Rick Hunter, and Jose Luis Rivera. After the upcoming supercard, it will be time to make a FORMULA for how the roster will be booked. Jos LeDuc will also be coming in as a jobber, and Killer Kowolski has signed as a road agent to replace Don Leo Jonathan. He will help Lou Thesz with the day-to-day running of shows. The NWF Tour on Nickelodeon revolved around two storylines building into The Wrestling Classic PPV event next week. First, Mick Foley tried to attack John Tolos who demanded a match with him at the PPV. Second, and much more significantly, Hulk Hogan came back after being hospitalized by the Five Star faction and working hard in the gym to come back only to be ATTACKED AGAIN by Randy Savage who hid under the ring during his match with Doug Somers. Savage suckered Hogan as he was celebrating with a steel chair to the back of his leg. The Andersons then hit the ring and tried to break Hogan's leg. They pinned him down as Bobby Eaton hit the Alabama Jam from the top rope onto his leg. Mooney and Tolos wondered on commentary what this might mean for Savage and Hogan's upcoming match in the semi-final of the NWF National title tournament which was scheduled for next week's League of Champions TV show. Could the Five Star have put Hogan out of action? Elsewhere on the card, the Anderson's defended their tag titles against a debuting Jose Luiz Rivera and Frank Monte and David Sammartino beat Ken Timbs.

League of Champions featured a huge announcement and debut, which is that The Grand Wizard of Wrestling has reunited with Superstar Billy Graham!!! (in actuality Graham is on a three-appearance talent trade loan from Jim Crockett Promotions). They have their sights set on Bruno Sammartino's NWF title and have challenged him to a match at the forthcoming Wrestling Classic Supercard. Meanwhile, the main event saw the semi-final of the NWF National Title tournament, and after a wild brawl between Roddy Piper and Tommy Rich, Piper pulled out a pair of brass knucks right in front of the ref got himself deliberately DQ'd knocking out Rich in the process. Randy Savage, The Andersons and Bobby Eaton then stormed the ring and started stomping the knocked out Rich as Piper laughed and looked on. On commentary, Jim Ross speculated that this had been their plan all along: they've softened up Hogan for Savage and now they are going to serve up an injured Rich to whoever reaches the final. Hogan is still in hospital so it remains to be seen if he will even make it to the other semi-final match. Elsewhere on the card, Mick Foley defeated Frank Monte, but the commentary team spent the match discussing his bizarre attack on Sean Mooney and the ensuing altercation with John Tolos. Will Tolos come out of retirement to take on the deranged youngster? There's speculation he's considering lacing up the boots and putting on the tights one last time to face Foley at The Wrestling Classic! The Harts chalked up another win going over Pogo and Yatsu.

NWF Tour on Nickleodeon came from a packed out arena in Brooklyn New York this week with a very special main event: Bruno Sammartino vs. Dusty Rhodes! The Grand Wizard surprised everyone by luring Dusty Rhodes to be managed by him for this one match. It seems like Rhodes has sold out to the wily manager. The crowd went wild for the match which had tremendous heat even though the in-ring action was fairly basic. The rest of the card saw another title defense for the Andersons and Rick Rude mocking the pudgy body of Frank Williams before beating him in five minutes.