Ricky Jackson

I wasn't a huge fan of Hogan in the 80s, even though I was just a kid and a total mark. I think even then I sensed he was too God-like, too invincible, to ever really embrace, like Superman, and I've always been a Spider Man guy, a Santana and Steamboat and Savage guy. My teenage years coincided with his self-indulgent 91-96 period that to this day I utterly detest. I loved Hollywood Hogan, but by 98/99 I was a total wrestling snob who hated the (as I saw it) "bad workers", so of course I started to hate him again. Today, as has been mentioned by others, I really enjoy most of his 80s work. I think my favorite Hogan match is the cage match with Bossman from SNME 1989. Really fun stuff. I cannot deny he is one of the all-time great performers, probably the best at working a crowd I've ever seen, and at his peak a really entertaining showman who was a much better worker than he has ever been given credit for by the smart community.

If this is true, then we are supposed to take him seriously as a "wrestling expert" why exactly? Oh right, nobody does.

Shit, Lance isn't even in Koko B. Ware's league as a WWE HOF candidate, let alone Tito's. I think the whole WO crew could use a few bong hits so they don't get so infuriated over WWE booking on a weekly basis.

The whole "Bret's contract was too expensive" story has always sounded a bit weird to me. I don't know what the exact annual amount was, but was it really the crippling financial burden Vince made it out to be? Was letting Bret go to WCW really the only answer? As for booking Bret to win the title at Summerslam, wasn't the plan, at least originally, for Austin to finally beat him cleanly at Mania 14 and thus bookend Mania 13 and blow off the whole feud? That has always been the ideal ending for me, anyway. I guess I'm just curious if Vince ever considered having Bret stay until Mania, put Steve over, and then let him go to WCW.

Lance Storm's career is closer to Paul Roma. Comparing him to Tito is laughable, and even though it is a pretend HOF, he should come nowhere near being inducted.

I'm partial to the Norse God of Sports Entertainment, Erick Rowan, myself:

The Calgary phone book/Yellow Pages back in the 90s had a free wrestling news weekly update service (there were also weeky updates for soap operas, sports, celebrity gossip, etc). I think the update was done by some guy from Toronto, but I'm not sure, and most big Canadian cities probably had an equivalent at the time. The news was taken directly from the Observer IIRC, with Meltzer receiving credit.

So, I see the website finally made the jump into the, well, early 21st century.

Yeah, Cactus Jack managed Barbarian and I want to say Butch Reed, maybe some others, for a few months while he was recovering from an injury.

Superstar Graham's influence on wrestling didn't always produce the most eye-pleasing fashion choices.

Lately, I regret not seeing Hogan live at least once, especially in the 80s. I know he wrestled in Calgary a few times back then, but the only cards I attended were B shows headlined by Savage and Roberts (not that I'm complaining, because those are two of my all-time faves). I also lost interest in WWF in 2001, so I didn't go to Mania 18 in Toronto (didn't even watch it on PPV), when only a year or two earlier I would have went out of my way to go to a show like that. Passed on Mania 19, even though I had friends who were going. I also missed the only Superstars taping ever held in Calgary (summer of 91), but I only became aware of that show through Cawthon's site, so it's not like I skipped it when I had a chance to go. I also have never seen Flair live. My friends went to a 92 show where he headlined against Savage, but for some reason I didn't attend, even though I was super into WWF at the time.

What about Bobo? Or was he more of a touring attraction?

To each his own, but my favorite Jake feud is vs Martel.

Yeah, I watched the Bob/Don 83 TDM recently, and coupled with the Tito/Savage No DQ, Gorilla's seeming ignorance of what type of match he is calling is really annoying.

I've always been a DK fan and I'm curious, is the modern DK hate more to do with the idea his legacy (no-selling workrate clones) has ruined indy wrestling for many fans, or is it the perception that his HOF credentials (drawing power, great matches, great worker) are not HOF worthy and he shouldn't have been inducted in the first place?

I have nothing to really add to this other than to say that the first WWF card I ever attended was in Calgary at the Saddledome in (pretty sure) early-January 1989. The reason I am unsure of the exact date is because the result of the card is not listed on Cawthon's site. The main event was Savage vs Brown, but this was of course before the heel turn. I've thought about e-mailing Cawthon about this card, and maybe I will someday. I really don't remember much else about the show other than Demolition wrestled (I think vs Powers of Pain). I can remember the next card I attended much better, March 17, 1989 at the smaller Corral, featuring Andre the Giant and my hero Tito, and which is listed on Cawthon's site.

As a kid I really liked Trongard calling the AWA shows from Vegas. I thought he had a great voice, still do. He just *sounded* like a sports announcer, and I thought he made the AWA shows seem more important than they really were. I know he is universally hated around here, a worst announcer of all time candidate. His WWF work sucked, no doubt. In the last few years I've watched more of his AWA work and some of it is pretty bad. Still, I have a soft spot for the guy mainly because of nostalgia for my youth.

Hillbilly did commentary for 7 MSG shows between Sept 89 and March 90 (Cawthon). I'm not as familiar with these MSG shows as I am with earlier ones, but I remember Hillbilly's commentary being quite terrible. Neidhart commentated on 2 shows in 91 (4/22 and 6/3).

Superstar was a better announcer than Ernie Ladd, I'll give him that. And Mongo. Probably some others. Still the shits IMO.

He was a pretty significant singles star in San Fran in the 50s, playing off his fame as a star player for the 49ers.(and he is in the NFL HOF) Drew some big houses challenging for the NWA title against Thesz, I believe record setting ones, and I think at one point he was even involved in a disputed finish/uncrowned NWA champion type angle similar to the more famous Carpentier one later in the 50s.

I bitched about that match a few months ago in another thread. I believe my exact quote was "it is the worst commentated great match I've ever seen".

Awesome post. Thanks Johnny.

Gorilla was by far my favorite announcer as a young fan in the 80s. I couldn't tell you why exactly, kind of like my Tito obsession. Now...well, I won't lie and say he isn't a bit grating the more I listen to him. I especially can't stand his pairings with Lord Al. But I still think he was a good announcer for the time and the product he was selling. Jesse too. Actually, I've come to really like 80s/early-90s Vince a lot, maybe more so than any of them.

I don't. I didn't in the 80s, but I didn't hate Ed either. Of course I was too young to understand why he would be considered bad. Ed was mostly seen by my friends and I as a corny comedy figure, with his catch phrases and goofy appearance. But he was a Calgary icon in a way that may be hard to grasp if you didn't grow up there during a certain time, an ubiquitous presence on Ch. 7 TV as the NHL Flames announcer, sports guy on the 6:00 news, and involved in many charities and causes in the community, in addition to being the long-time voice of Stampede. His death was front page news, a big deal. All that said, I can totally understand why fans loathe his commentary.

One thing that comes to mind: How prevalent were smart fans pre-1980s? Basically I ask this because of something I noticed years ago while watching the Rogers vs O'Conner NWA title match from Comiskey Park in 1961. During the match, in the second or third row facing the camera, there are two teenage/early-20s young men passionately rooting on heel Rogers. Everyone else around them seems to be solidly behind O'Conner, the babyface. The two men are kinda nerdy-looking, in many ways the stereotype of the smark/smart fan. Ever since watching the match I've wondered if those two guys were the 50s/60s equivalent of smart fans/heel fans/smarks. Anyway, I'm guessing hardcore wrestling fandom developed in a modest fashion by at least the 50s---through fan clubs, pen pals, maybe even zines or early newsletters---much like comic book fandom emerged during the same time. There has probably always been "heel fans" to some degree, but it seems cheering the heel really became a cool thing in certain circles in the late-70s during the heyday of Superstar Graham and a young Flair. I'm interested to see what emerges from this thread, as it's different from talking about the same wrestlers and territories over and over again.