Ricky Jackson

This time, a rare look at babyface Rodz. This is also the match I alluded to earlier as one that looked promising due to Rodz's opponent. Johnny Rodz vs Mr. Saito - 5/22/82, Philadelphia Spectrum While he was usually a heel in NYC, Rodz did play face from time to time. Basically, a lot of WWWF/WWF job guys went back and forth between heel and face - Jose Estrada is another who comes to mind - with no rhyme or reason, and often switching from month to month and show to show. Rodz himself wrestled heel the previous month in Philly. In general, it seems Rodz played face more often in Philly than he did at MSG, fitting for a traditionally heel-loving audience, wrestling guys like Tor Kamata, Larry Sharpe, The Baron (only days after teaming with him in a tournament for the vacant tag straps), Frank Savage and the Hangman (from Titans #28). Also, to build upon research from last time, Rodz jerked the curtain 22 times at the Spectrum between 1976 and 1985. That is less jerks than MSG, but he appeared on far less Spectrum shows overall, as the venue didn't host wrestling cards until 1974 (Rodz began wrestling at MSG in 1967), so the ratio is higher. The video starts with an absolutely ancient ring announcer introducing the match. We haven't encountered this man before on Titans, as this is usually Cappetta's turf, but it turns out it is legendary Philadelphia sports public address announcer Dave Zinkoff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Zinkoff This guy is awesome. He gives Joe McHugh a run for his money in the "guys who have been announcing since the Roaring Twenties" department. His voice is great, and he introduces the ever fashionable Rodz as wearing "Kelly Green trunks". The referee is slightly younger than Zinkoff, only being active since the Great Depression. Anyway, Dick and Kal are of course on commentary and have nothing but praise for Rodz. Warning for those easily offended: the Japanese wrestler delivers a "Pearl Harbor" attack on Rodz to start the match. Rodz unloads a fired up comeback with the crowd loving it. He still fights dirty - blatantly pulling Saito's hair - and the match is actually more a battle of heels, with Rodz as de facto face, which makes things more interesting. Rodz does the row-row Backlund-style headlock spot, and both men work the headlock well. I've come to really be a mark for a well-worked headlock spot. Man, I MUST be getting old. Saito sells great for Rodz, making him look like a world beater. Rodz lays in some pretty good punches, and for a brief moment this was looking like a possible contender for Best Rodz Match. Unfortunately, after a hot start, things slow down a bit, and then they rush to the finish, which has no impact. (SPOILER: Saito wins, if there was any doubt) Man, this was kinda frustrating, as the match had promise at first, but then went nowhere. Honestly, I really wanted to discover a hidden gem with this one and have people be like "Hey, you need to check out this Rodz match, man". Oh well. The first few minutes were fun and seeing babyface Rodz is pretty cool, but still nothing to recommend. The search continues...

This listing has it as 9/17/78. Seems right - Flair was champ then, according to Wrestlingdata they wrestled each other that night in Asheville, NC, and Andre was in the territory at the time http://www.coreystapes.com/flair.html

People will eventually look back at the "Thanksgiving Snub" as the first seed in my heel turn

Damn, I should have studied McKigney more closely. The Terrible Ted story would have made for a great bio. His Wiki page is amazing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrible_Ted

Rocky Raymond...Unleashed!!!

Yeah, the way I remember it is that Parv thought the commentary by Vince during the match where Larry turned on Bruno from Best of Vol 1 was done by 1985 Vince. But it wasn't...clearly, to everyone one of us but him.

You know what they really should have done? Instead of getting rid of the "F" they should have brought back the extra "W". Yeah, bring back the WWWF. Re-hire Gary Michael Cappetta, start filming Raw in Allentown, dim the house lights at MSG and bring back its noisy ass ring...that's what we need

Yep

Thanks for the praise guys Today, Johnny Rodz: The Early Years, 1964-1969 Unfortunately, I haven't been able to locate any 1960s Rodz footage yet. Not sure if any is out there. Instead, I'll give you the next best thing: random historical facts accompanied with illustrations! Rodz (Johnny Rodriguez) was born 5/16/38 in NYC. Wrestlingdata.com and Wikipedia list his wrestling debut as 1964. First results I could find online are from 1965. So he was a bit of a late entrant into wrestling (25-26) if the dates are accurate. First result I have is 4/16/65 for the WWWF, losing to Arnold Skaaland in Trenton, NJ, at a place called Moose Hall The first evidence I could find of a Rodz victory was him defeating Hector Serrano (the future Black Demon from Titans #31) at a TV taping in Baltimore 10/2/65 Other highlights: He defeated a pure jobber (someone who is so obscure you can't click on their name for further information on Wrestlingdata) named Jay Flores 5/7/66 at a TV taping in Baltimore. He lost to Ernie Bemis, one of the numerous men to wrestle under the Mr. Clean/Mr. Kleen gimmick in the 1960s/70s, 9/22/66 in DC Rodz debuted at MSG 7/31/67, defeating Frank Holtz in the curtain jerker I mentioned I would eventually research how many times Rodz jerked the curtain at MSG. The answer is 28 times, with the last coming on 1/22/83, defeating fellow longtime NYC job guy Pete Sanchez. Rodz jerked the majority of his curtains at MSG between 1974-1979. I'm not sure if 28 curtain jerks at MSG is the record, but I'd like to believe that it was, making Rodz the true anti-Bruno. Another interesting MSG-related Rodz fact is that he very often wrestled guys who were in for only one shot, or a very rare appearance. This list includes: Jumbo Tsuruta 4/1/74, Billy Robinson 11/17/75, Chavo Guerrero 12/20/76, Greg Gagne 1/17/77, Gino Hernandez 3/7/77, Carlos Colon 8/1/77, Dick Murdoch 3/26/79, Roddy Piper 7/30/79, Mike Graham 12/17/79, Kevin Von Erich 1/21/80, and Tommy Rich 2/18/80. Rodz also put over Curt Hennig in his MSG debut 6/8/81, and (w.Rene Goulet) the British Bulldogs in their MSG debut (and Rodz's last MSG match) 4/22/85. I think the fact that he was repeatedly chosen to work with wrestlers who the MSG crowd didn't know is an excellent example of the high amount of respect Rodz received backstage as a worker who could make guys look great in the ring and help get over. Rodz often wrestled and defeated a young Carlos Colon during Colon's days as a WWWF JTTS in 1968/69. Colon's early days are interesting. He wrestled as a mid-carder in Calgary and Portland as Carlos Belefonte between 70-74. He once wrestled as Chief Black Eagle in 1971 IWE (Japan). And he also wrestled for outlaw All South in 1974 Georgia, just before becoming a major star in Puerto Rico One last note on Rodz in the 1960s. On 3/3/69 in DC he lost to a pure jobber named Cecil February. This doesn't mean anything other than I think Cecil February is one of the greatest names I've ever heard, wrestling or otherwise. Alas, he is a pure jobber and I can't click on his name to learn more....

It would make sense, as Jesse grew up in Minnesota and it looks like Chico Santana wrestled for the AWA in the 60s. Interesting bit of trivia Here's Chico

Look for it this week. To prepare, watch what Johnny Sorrow proclaimed (not necessarily while sober, but still) "the greatest match of all time" - Tony Garea vs The Wolfman!!!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlLWxwMKe2I

Ok, another week, another Rodz... Johnny Rodz vs Manuel Soto - 10/25/76, MSG We haven't encountered Soto on Titans yet, but he had a very long run in NYC, spanning nearly twenty years from 1963-1982. He was from Puerto Rico, which at least partially explains his longevity in the territory, coming during a time when Vince Sr relied heavily on ethnic talent. In the 60s Soto was billed as "Cyclone", and he often teamed with his brother Roberto "Hurricane" Soto at that time. (and through the years) Soto worked many other territories - Florida, Central States, Texas, Tri-States, Georgia, NWF, LA, and the Carolinas - but always came back to NYC. He was pushed a few times, most notably Georgia in 1969-70, where he held the "Macon Tag Team Titles" with his brother (I believe Macon was a sub-territory within Georgia, similar to Columbus, that used the same talent, but had their own belts, angles, and even TV(?)), and LA in 1974, where he held tag straps with Porkchop Cash and had a one week reign with the Beat the Champ TV title. He wrestled Rodz frequently over the years, as early as 1970 and as late as 1982. This match is the curtain jerker. If Bruno wrestled the most main events in MSG history, I wonder if Rodz jerked the most curtains in MSG history? Something to eventually research. Anyway, Rodz Fashion Watch kicks into high gear, with The Unpredictable One decked out in an extremely colourful vest, with a yellow towel around his neck and yellow trunks with black vertical stripes. Jack Lee is your ring announcer, different than the dude from 75 whose name escapes me, and only a few months before Finkel takes over. Soto has a pretty nondescript look. A fan at ringside yells "Hey Johnny, we love you" right after the bell. Man, I wish I could have been part of these MSG crowds back in the 70s. Scorsese should have made a film about wrestling in NYC back then. (there is your DeNiro as Bruno casting) Rodz stalls and avoids contact for several minutes before getting the advantage with a shot to the gut. Next is a flurry of cheating - kicks, chokes, eye pokes, using the ropes for leverage, etc. Rodz struts around the ring and brags to the crowd. Long beatdown on Soto. Eventually, Soto makes a so-so (or is it So-to?...sorry) comeback, but Rodz bumps around enough to make it look as good as possible. Rodz takes a MASSIVE backdrop, getting major air and almost doing a 360. Soto gets the win with a flying bodypress, and the ref makes Rodz look like even more of a loser by delivering a super slow count. A post-match brawl sees Rodz get tossed over the top rope, adding insult to injury. This match isn't boring, but at the same time it isn't exciting, if that makes sense. It lacks any kind of psychology or purpose that could have made it something other than another dime a dozen curtain jerker . Some of the work was sloppy from both men, with a few mistimed spots, and Soto's punches in particular looked pretty weak. I'm still holding out hope that with the right opponent Rodz can produce another memorable match. The next one I plan on watching has Rodz take on a pretty well respected worker, so there is still reason for optimism.

Johnny Rodz and Kevin Sullivan vs The Destroyer and Jumbo Tsuruta, 2 out of 3 falls - 6/13/74, Tokyo, Japan AJPW So, this happened in 1974. Scholars of Japanese wrestling history know that nothing beats 1970s (and early-80s for that matter) AJPW for the most random and unusual pairings of wrestlers ever. Guys who would otherwise never team up in North America routinely worked tags in 70s AJPW. (Random example from the same tour - Gorilla Monsoon teaming with Mr.Fuji on 5/30) On this tour, Rodz also teamed with Monsoon, formed a six-man with Monsoon and Spiros Arion, and wrestled Jumbo to a time limit draw (!) on 5/25. This was one of two tours of Japan for Rodz, at least that I could find results for. (thanks Cagematch!) The other came in 1978, when The Unpredictable One went 1-27, with the lone win coming in a tag match on his last night in the country. Starting off, Jumbo and Sullivan are very young, with Jumbo in particular likely nearly unrecognizable to the fan of early-90s AJPW. Sullivan had only been in the business for two years at this point. Rodz Fashion Watch sees Johnny decked out in full length red and black tights with "JR" and the symbol of a sword on the rear. This one goes about 15 minutes, with lots of action as far as working routines and spots goes, with really no rest holds, but in the end it isn't anything memorable. Rodz and Sullivan are total heels in this, constantly interfering, cheating and complaining to the referee. Rodz is constantly jawing with the referee and being vocal. He busts out his patented selling and bumping, and in general holds up his end of the match well. The Destroyer is of course the star of the match, always working in and out of the ring, and constantly adding all kinds of little touches that make him stand out from the rest. He has a million tricks in his bag, basically directs traffic and controls the flow of the match, and the crowd eats up all his comedy spots. Jumbo gets the pin on Sullivan for the first fall after a back breaker. 2nd fall starts out with total comedy. At one point, Rodz is blinded by a thumb to the eye from the Destroyer and is so discombobulated he goes after Sullivan and puts him in a headlock, while Jumbo, the Destroyer and the crowd react with amusement. Eventually, Rodz and Sullivan work over Jumbo for most of the fall. Not much heat, and this is where the match slows down. Jumbo rallies and begins to work on Rodz's leg, finally makes the tag, and the Destroyer comes in and immediately finishes Rodz off with a figure-four for a 2-0 win. Some fun spots, the Destroyer is almost always great in my book, and the match is interesting from a historical viewpoint and for the sheer randomness factor. Overall, Rodz wasn't out of place in this match and he worked hard. His job is to make the stars look good, and in this respect he always succeeds. Thus far in this examination, the match with SD from 3/16/81 MSG is still the best I've seen from him. However, there are matches still to come that look promising. Here's the match: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfy93o_jumbo-tsuruta-the-destroyer-vs-johnny-rodz-kevin-sulliva_sport

Just to clarify the Clash X point, here is what Meltzer wrote in a 1990 retrospective piece from about ten years ago:

Pretty sure I've read that Tully was backstage at Clash X (when the Horsemen turned on Sting) and ready to go until he saw the $ offer, which was too low for him to accept and he left the building

Doesn't exist

Look out for it Tuesday In anticipation, check out the Backlund-Slaughter cage match from Philly we discuss on the show. One of the best matches we have reviewed to date and required viewing for connoisseurs of Mr. Kal Rudman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcky6VoQdg4

Today: The J. Rodz Saturday TV Super Spectacular!!! Johnny Rodz and Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Andre the Giant - 3/26/80, Hamburg, PA Rodz and Scicluna teamed about 4-5 times in 1980, even participating in a tournament for the vacant tag straps in August 1980, losing to the short-lived team of Dominic DeNucci and Rick Martel. (Actually, according to Wrestlingdata.com, in his career Rodz only teamed with Jose Estrada more often than the Baron) Here, of course, they are sacrificial lambs to the Eighth Wonder of the World. The Baron was actually quite tall, towering over Rodz, and not terribly shorter than Andre, really. Andre seemingly emerges from the crowd, followed by a bunch of children, behaving every bit like the lovable friendly giant he was at the time. Match starts and the Baron immediately teases the hide-the-foreign-object spot, but it goes no further than that, although Bruno on colour unconvincingly attempts to make the point that Andre would be in trouble if the Baron could actually connect with the object. Pure comedy match, and the Baron is the star of the team in this respect. Rodz is just kinda there, besides bumping around pretty well for Andre. Hilarious spot where Andre bearhugs both men at the same time, releases them, and the Baron staggers comically before falling on top of Rodz like he is covering him for a pin. Eventually Rodz succumbs to the big boot-butt splash combo. Fun stuff from the Baron (actually one of the better performances I've seen from him) and Andre, but Rodz was basically just along for the ride. It's a throwaway TV handicap squash, so it is what it is. Next up, Johnny Rodz vs Chief Jay Strongbow - 8/22/79, Hamburg, PA Since these are more or less totally forgettable, nothing affairs, I'm going to start a Rodz Fashion Watch in order to amuse myself, because one of the most unpredictable things about Rodz seems to be his wardrobe. Here, pre-match, Rodz is decked out in a swank cape. To start, Rodz complains about Strongbow's leg brace to the ref (this was during the Chief's feud with Greg Valentine, where he was recovering from a broken leg at the hands of the Hammer) and uses this distraction to blindside him. This was basically a back and forth fight, but, being a meaningless four minute TV bout, of course lacking any emotion or drama. Rodz takes some nice bumps, bouncing off the ropes and staggering around. Rodz eventually succumbs to a throat chop after jumping off the top rope for the three count. Rodz looked good in the short amount of time allowed. His bumping seems to be his calling card. His bumps are fun and unique...one may even say...Unpredictable Lastly, Johnny Rodz vs Tony Garea - 3/30/83, Hamburg, PA A bit later here. This is the Tony Johnny adored as a young wrestling fan, on the cusp of a slide into irrelevance. This time, Rodz is wearing a green t-shirt advertising a gym of some sort, with yellow and green striped trunks. Vince on commentary considers this match a "pick 'em". Ray Stevens (?) on colour agrees, and then goes way over the top by proclaiming that both men are capable of beating any wrestler in the world any day of the week. Rodz works the old taking-the-padding-off-corner spot, which of course backfires. Garea gives Rodz most of the match, with Garea having several hope spot nearfalls. The ending sees Garea win with a bit of an awkward looking flying bodypress. Rodz was fine, with some nice bumps again. Okay, this wasn't much of a Spectacular. These matches are too short to really give Rodz a chance to do anything meaningful psychology or work wise, although the Baron was able to shine a bit in the handicap match in the short time allotted. Not saying Rodz was some hidden genius of the ring or anything, beaten down by having mind-numbing squash after mind-numbing squash. But MSG and Spectrum matches will provide me with a much better glimpse at Rodz as an overall performer. Just need to find the right opponent for him to shine in that setting. We'll see what I can dig up.

That's a cool story. Random as fuck as well. A few years ago I worked in Amman for three months and there were a couple of channels with UFC and WWE on every night. In the city there are MMA shows almost every month. Yeah, that made me intrigued, so I looked around and found this on KM I live about 20 mins away from the arena where the riot occured, which still stands and has a cool history as a place where a lot of iconic rock bands played in the 50-70s

Johnny Rodz vs Kevin Von Erich - 1/21/80, MSG This was Kevin's one and only MSG appearance. At this time, with Vince Sr being a cooperative member of the NWA, it wasn't unusual for outside talent to work MSG. Besides Kevin, David and Kerry each worked a show at this time, as did Youngblood and Steamboat, Mike Graham, Tommy Rich and Roddy Piper (the latter three also against Rodz), among others. This match is interesting if for nothing else as a great example of two guys working together who didn't know each other, didn't really cooperate, basically just flailed away, and thankfully it comes off as gritty and somewhat like a real fight instead of a business exposing disaster. That's the best way to spin this match, because it's nothing special. The match begins with an awkward back and forth exchange with little selling and little structure, while Howard Finkel flirts with a young woman at ringside. Eventually things settle down with Rodz using the same armbar spot as with Jones. Kevin looks like a stud, especially compared to a lot of the talent in NYC at the time - young and athletic like Bob. Also like Bob, (and to the annoyance of Parv) Kevin is always struggling and doesn't sell or show much vulnerability. I've seen it written that many wrestlers considered Kevin a "crowbar" (hard to lead around the ring) and I definitely get that impression here. I also get the impression that Rodz wasn't too impressed with this young punk and accordingly doesn't go out of his way to make Kevin look good, but I may be wrong. Anyway, Kevin wins a Thesz Press. Like I said, this was a bit messy, but in the hands of lesser performers it could have been much worse. Still, nothing to go out of your way to see. Again, Rodz didn't have a lot to work with, as Kevin wouldn't really allow Rodz to get any heat on him, and as a result we get a formless match

What started as Parv throwing me the scraps when it came to wrestler bios on Titans ("Kelly, I don't have time for DeNucci, would you mind...") has evolved into me becoming pretty excited when a new obscure name pops up on the docket to research for an upcoming show (coming soon...Rick Stallone!!!). If I'm fated to be remembered as the jobber expert, well, I'm going to be the best damn jobber expert out there. I'm going to use this thread to work some things out, going where few fans dare tread, and hopefully retain my sanity. You can have your projects where you view the greatest matches of the 2000's or classic Japanese wrestling, that's easy. You can have your Flair's and Misawa's. I think it is high time the job guys, the guys who made the stars look good, get their due. Give me Scicluna, Doherty and Moooooose. *****? I'll be happy with *. When it comes to jobbers, specifically WWWF/WWF jobbers of the 70s and early-80s, perhaps none is more fondly remembered than "The Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz. Rodz was basically the leader of the NYC jobber crew and, as mentioned by Tito during his interview with Parv and Pete, highly respected backstage. Recently, we watched a match between Rodz and SD Jones from 3/16/81 MSG and it was damn good, with Rodz looking fantastic as a total dick heel. This got me thinking, "what do we know about Rodz as a performer? Does he warrant examination?" I say yes he does. I'm going to start by looking at an earlier encounter between the two. Johnny Rodz vs SD Jones - 8/7/76, MSG Rodz is decked out in some of the most pimp 70s wrestling gear possible - Red and white striped trunks, with what appears to be a crescent moon symbol, over top red and green tights with striped boots. Kung Fu eat your heart out! Like their match from 5 years later, we start out with a snug mat exchange. Jones is very young, in great shape, and also quite green. Probably owing to that greenness, this match doesn't really go anywhere. Rodz works an armbar with Jones fighting and failing to escape, aided by Rodz taking shortcuts to maintain the advantage. We get the obligatory black stereotype spot where Rodz punches Jones on the top of his head and ends up hurting his hand. Jones' fired up comeback spot lacks polish, and overall Jones' offense here looks awkward and tentative. Not much heat. The finish has Jones winning with the "WWWF Special" - the double pin spot off a German suplex, where the suplexee gets their shoulder up before the three count and the suplexer is pinned. Not much of a match, but it is interesting to see how far these two would come in 5 years as far as working a compelling match is concerned. Jones was definitely green, but Rodz was a solid performer in 76. He just didn't have much to work with here.

These columns offer such a unique perspective on wrestling. All I can say is read these now if you have not. Brilliant stuff yet again

You had me at Mr. X Fantastic Edit: Wrestlingdata has Danny Davis as Mr. X. Not so sure, he seems bigger

Thanks for the supplemental info OJ. Extremely informative, as always. Hope we did some justice to WoS with the show.

Here it is Also Ladd vs Bruno and Ladd vs Backlund https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yyL7BWQCFpM#t=822