Ricky Jackson

I guess it means Cena doesn't seek out career advice from Shawn Michaels.

Now that you mention it, there almost seems to be a reoccuring theme of racism associated with Valentine's late-70s/early-80s character. Besides Strongbow and McDaniel, he also feuded and did injury angles with Pedro Morales and Tito Santana. He had a mini-feud with Tony Atlas in 1982. He also turns up randomly during a promo segment with Slaughter and Kernodle during their famous feud with Steamboat and Youngblood and delivers a "slant eyes" comment about Steamboat. Of course you could say there was a reoccuring theme of racism associated with ALL of wrestling back then, so maybe it really isn't that noteworthy.

Yep, it was IRS. And to answer my own question, the McDaniel leg-breaking preceded the Strongbow leg-breaking by two years.

So I was able to read part 1 of Dave's bio. He writes that the angle in WWF where Valentine broke Strongbow's leg in 79 came BEFORE and inspired the angle in Mid-Atlantic where Valentine broke McDaniel's leg (the famous "I Broke Wahoo's Leg" T-Shirt angle). I thought it was the other way around. Wasn't it? Dave also writes that Strongbow was involved in Tatanka's introduction to WWF "in 1994". Besides being off by two years, I think he was confused with an angle involving Strongbow and McDaniel where they awarded Tatanka a ceremonial headdress which led to some heel (can't remember, was it Bigelow?) attacking them. Was Strongbow involved in Tatanka's introduction in 1992?

I think the whole package of the match, the stipulation, Savage going from extremely hated to beloved over the course of 30 minutes, and the post-match reunion make it one of the greatest stories the WWE has ever told on a show. I also think it is Savage's greatest masterpiece as a performer, and that says a lot.

First show I went to was WWF at the Saddledome in Calgary, January of 1989 (not listed on Cawthon's site). I went with my dad (never a wrestling fan) and don't remember much about the show other than the main was Savage vs. Bad News and sitting behind us was a group of 4-5 college age guys who made sarcastic, funny, and possibly smart (I was too young to know) remarks about the wrestlers all night long. I went to various WWF shows over the years, nothing too memorable, but I got to see guys like Savage, Roberts, Andre, DiBiase, Bret Hart, Santana, etc. In 1993, my friends and I went to several Rocky Mountian Wrestling shows held at a community centre in the shithole neighborhood of Victoria Park, near the Stampede grounds. Jericho wrestled on at least one show, but we all hated him because he was a pretty boy babyface and we were teenage heel fans (and the only teenagers who attended the shows, which were otherwise made up of older people and young kids). A friend of mine even jumped in the ring one night to answer a grandstand challenge by Jason the Terrible and was roughed up in the corner before security broke things up (several heels lectured us in the parking lot later about not doing stupid shit like that again). The highpoint, by far, of my live wrestling experiences was attending the Canadian Stampede PPV in July 1997. Just the craziest, loudest, most fun live experience of any entertainment spectacle I've ever been to, be it heated hockey and football games, rock concerts, whatever. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. My last WWE house show was the one in Victoria, BC in 2009 with the infamous post-show Jericho (funny, him again, 16 years later) confrontation with idiot fans in the parking lot that was a big story for a day or two. The show was actually pretty disappointing, less than two hours long, but at least I got to see Cena, Mysterio, and Punk live for the first time. The Victoria PD called me because I had an eye-witness account of how the jerk who provoked Jericho was behaving during the show (walking around with a merch table belt and pretty much acting like the whole show was a shoot) posted on Pro Wrestling.Net (or whatever the Torch spin off site is called) and told me I might be called to testify in court if it ever went that far (which of course it didn't). Pretty surreal experience at the time.

For those out there with a sub, how was part 1 of Dave's bio on Strongbow?

Thanks Bix. Here's the opening of the IWA TV show, circa 1975: and a decent little segment involving Ernie Ladd http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z28BYFA_Qso...feature=related Also thanks cm.

I'm glad you brought this up, because I've been intrigued by 70s IWA since I first read about it five or so years ago and this reminded me to ask if anyone knows anything substantial about it. I know it was supposedly an attempt to promote nationally with guys like Mascaras and Ivan Koloff and NWA outlaws, and it was backed by Eddie Einhorn who owned the Chicago White Sox and had good TV connections IIRC (and was later involved in Pro Wrestling USA?). I've never seen much written about it and I'm not sure if much if any footage exists. Anyone know anything beyond my bare bones description?

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...deal-with-spike Does this mean the death watch/Hogan and Bischoff coup d'etat is on hold?

At least now I can say I've seen one of the matches on Dylan's list.

It's not really the booking, although by going from Rock to Brock, Cena is basically facing the two top babyfaces (based on crowd reaction) in wrestling back to back. I think two things are happening that make this different: 1) The usual 50-50 (give or take) crowd split has been slowly moving towards a consistent boo-majority for a while now, and I don't think it's only because of Cena being programmed against the Rock. I think the momentum isn't going to be reversed, and I get the sense WWE knows it's futile to resit it any longer. I also don't expect a traditional "heel turn" moment in the short term, but I may be wrong. 2) More importantly for me was Cena's promo on Raw. The tone was different, with Cena coming off more like a whiner, or at least not very sympathetic, and the whole "Will I turn heel now? Nah, I don't want to give you the satisfaction" bit came off pretty heelish, but not in the traditional sense. And Brock coming out at the end totally felt like a heel getting what he deserved moment rather than a babyface being attacked by a monster moment. I think we are going to see Cena booked increasingly like a doucebag in his promos in the coming weeks. Who knows, I could be reading way to much into this. Maybe I just think it's cool that Cena finally turned heel by NOT turning heel. We'll see.

http://blogs.thescore.com/aftermath/2012/0...n-cartoon-form/

I want to believe that's what happened, as opposed to the more obvious and ugly alternative everybody thought last night. Totally random, but speaking of in-ring "accidents", which match was it where Sid supposedly shat himself again? Edit: Never mind, I remember now.

Doesn't it usually take about a month for PPV numbers to be known?

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...bow-passes-away Just read this. He was from a different era, but for some reason I like watching some of his 70s matches, especially for his comebacks. I know he isn't very highly regarded as a worker, but he was a pretty big star in 70s New York. Plus he wrestled a dude in a shark cage once. The feathers in the mouth angle with Ladd from Georgia is also good (based on the more famous, and lost, angle with Arion in 74). RIP Chief

OK, OK, I was being a dick. Sorry.

Look at this way, Beth wouldn't have even been on the show and received a nice pay day if it wasn't to put over that celeb. Cena once jobbed to K-Fed. Who cares? It's how the WWE has always operated and always will.

I've never been one to critically analyze wrestling matches and attempt to explain why, objectively, a certain match is great (or why it isn't). That's just me. As I've written before, I'm very impressed by the level of thought a lot of you put into analyzing wrestling on this board. But that is like me, a history and art guy, praising someone for their skill at physics or mathematics: I'm impressed with your knowledge of something I have no knowledge of and never will. But at the same time, I don't have a desire to ever learn. For me, a great match is a great match. I've watched enough wrestling over the years to know one when I see it, but don't expect me to explain exactly why it is great. As goodhelmet posted, emotional reaction plays a huge part in it. In the 90's I lived and died with Bret Hart, like I was cheering for my favorite team, and was heavily involved emotionally in the outcome of his matches. If I made a top 10 list of my all time favorite matches, Bret matches would likely take up about 50% of the spots (or at least they would have five years ago, before I saw a lot of other stuff). I could tell you Bret was a master psychologist and all that, but my best explanation for loving his work is pretty emotional: He opened my eyes to a style of wrestling I had never really seen before and I really embraced, he was a breath of fresh air after years of Hogan, and he was, and this is something I can't overstate, a Canadian, a Calgarian no less, and this meant A LOT to my teenage self, in a way I can never recapture or even explain properly. A lot of my love for Bret is/was based on timing and geography. In fact, a lot of my love for wrestling in general is based on timing and geography. I grew up a WWF kid in 80s and 90s Canada. I've been into other wrestling over the years, like WCW, AWA, ECW, Stampede of course, and have been exploring old Japan and Memphis (and other territories) increasingly in the last few years, but I always return to my first love, like a security blanket. I emotionally receive more joy out of watching old WWF on YouTube than anything else. I have enjoyed a lot of the non-WWF stuff I have watched "cold" over the years, as like I said, a great match is a great match. But it is true that I have to be in a certain mood to stray from the WWF canon, as the emotional pull just isn't there (although I'm developing one for Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk's work, among others). I've rambled on long enough.

Were Harlem Heat even still a team in 1999? And if they were, I doubt I would have lost much sleep if ICP went over them clean. So, sure, whatever, you're right, exact same thing. Silly me.

Vince booked a celebrity/non-wrestler to go over clean in the main event of a Wrestlemania 17 years ago...why the hell would anyone expect any other outcome for a meaningless mid-card women's match?

Except it's not at all like that.

Yep. It's the most organic heel turn ever.

I think there will be quite a few interesting stories of what happened behind the scenes and out on the town this weekend.

Good show. Memorable. I watched it with a group of people, and the mix of social interaction with a six pack of beer definitely prevented my usual cynicism with WWE from taking over. First hour was as dull as it gets, though. I'm fine with Sheamus vs Bryan being a shock squash. Made it feel like "anything can happen tonight" right from the get go. That said, considering what followed, maybe Cody vs Show would have been a better choice for squash opener. Sucks for Bryan fans. Hopefully one day we can look back at the match as just a HHH vs Warrior type moment in the grand scheme of his career. HHH vs Taker had everybody I was watching with totally glued to the TV and marking out, even though as I was watching it unfold a voice in my head was thinking "This is the type of match the PWO crew will shit all over", and if I was watching this by myself I probably would have rolled my eyes a few times over the whole bloated spectacle of it all. Still, I liked the match last night. I thought the superkick into the Pedigree near fall was awesome. The finish was a bit anti-climatic, and the cage didn't even really come into play at all, but because of the long backstory of the characters involved, the whole epic drama, Two Gods Fighting on a Mountain-feel worked for me. Will I ever watch the match again? Probably not. Punk vs Jericho was my favorite match of the night. Great, dramatic, finishing sequence. Huge pop for the finish with the crowd I was watching with. Made me feel like I was fifteen again and Bret Hart just made Razor Ramon submit to the Sharpshooter at the Royal Rumble. WWE needs to do more of these big-time, great athletic contest between two great wrestlers-type matches. I felt the main event was a bit underwhelming, but with all the endless hype, and the previous matches upping the ante, it was in a tough spot to meet my exaggerated expectations. I'll have to watch it again someday. I guess I expected a Hogan vs Rock feel, which was unrealistic considering the uniqueness of that situation and the fact that the outdoor shows really mute the heat of the crowd. The finish was well-booked. Instead of closing the book on the feud with a clean Cena win, there is now a feeling of uncertainty with the upcoming direction of both guys. I'm interested in where they go from here. Overall, it was a fun night of wrestling.