Ricky Jackson

Sounds interesting. What's the story exactly? From the 03-06-2001 Wrestling Observer Live. You to listen to Dave to tell the story: http://www.sendspace.com/file/s33bjd I dont have a time mark. Somehow, Dave plotting a revenge angle and feuding with his ex-girlfriend doesn't surprise me at all.

Booking a wrestler to lose a bunch of matches and then suddenly announcing them as "number 1 contender" for no reason, like Morrison and Punk recently, has always been a pet peeve of mine. I'm not super anal about, nor am I going to embrace Evolve anytime soon, but I do wish winning and losing mattered a little bit more than it does in WWE. But yeah, I guess most fans don't give a shit about stuff like that, and it's not like the WWE has had much of a track record in that regard since the early 90s.

Sounds interesting. What's the story exactly?

Here's something I had never seen before tonight: Tito Santana recieves NEW Intercontinental Title Belt And for those interested, here's a link to Tito's official YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/hoftitosantana

Man, I totally forgot about this. I do remember watching it. I guess I saw it when the tape was first released and never again. "Please don't hurt my Teddy Bear! Please don't hurt my Teddy Bear!" I I've always loved how Tito added the figure-four to his arsenal during his feud with Valentine and kept using it over the years, long after the feud was over. Nice attention to detail. Razor vs. Backlund is arguably the most random pairing in Mania history, even during an era when the undercards were full of random pairings.

I'm pretty sure Money Inc. had been formed and had at least one match in the can ready for TV when the sudden title win over LOD happened. That is, they weren't just thrown together at the last second and had their first match together the night of the change, even though it sure seemed that way at the time. I think the DiBiase-Tito feud was meant to be short-term thing, almost something just to keep Ted busy until Vince or whoever came up with a better idea for him. But who knows. The only Ted-Tito singles match I could find online was from November 15, 1988, a Prime Time taping. I'm going to watch it later.

I'm a big fan of Valentine from this period and have been intrigued about this match since I first noticed it in the results. Looking at Cawthon's site, I get the feeling this was one of the untelevised MSG cards as none of the matches listed have ever been included on any comp tapes or DVDs. Too bad, because there was also a Texas Death match between Backlund and Adonis on the show (my least favorite ref, Putski, officiated both matches).

Too bad he's been jobbed almost beyond repair. I guess he's still over, but God they have done little to make him seem like a star lately IMO. I know he's got a big match coming up Tuesday. Not a bold prediction or anything, but my gut says his future is as a heel.

Yeah, Tito is almost the dictionary definition of a solid, hard-working, mid-card babyface. I'm not sure where he could have headlined long-term during his prime, other than one of the struggling territories. Maybe in the Martel role in AWA? I guess you could argue that with the right push at the right time he may have caught on as a main eventer, but I'm more than fine with the career he had, even though it kind of came to an abrupt end on the big stage.

Here's a brief taste of some AWA Tito. The Team Eventually Known as Strike Force vs The High Flyers, from St. Paul, 1982. Based on what is shown, the full match was likely awesome. Tito takes a great flying bump over the top rope. And it's funny how during the wrap around bits Greg Gagne speaks of himself in the third person for some reason. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPB-9RVkSE...nel_video_title

I LOVED heel Doink at the time. I even had a poster of him on my bedroom wall, next to Bret Hart and Bob Backlund (the first wrestler I liked ironically). And I was 15. Anyway, one of the great heels of that era IMO, with the creepy music, mysterious side, and also a pretty good wrestler to boot. I even loved the multiple Doinks and remember discussing the rumours of which wrestlers they were with my friends. His involvement in the famous Summerslam match with Hart and Lawler was also awesome. I was pretty pissed when they turned him face, as they had barely scratched the surface of his potential as a heel. I'm sure the poster came down pretty soon after. I knew the smart crowd hated face Doink, but I didn't know they also shit on heel Doink. If I was 20-25 years old in 1992 I probably would have shit on him as well, sadly enough. I think I may have to start a Matt Borne as Doink tribute thread.

I need to get around to watching this someday. Saying it is better than their Mania 8 match is pretty high praise. I watched the Bash at the Beach Lifeguard/Lumberjack match between these two for the first time about a month ago, and it was sure underwhelming. Basically, it only served to remind me how much I despised 90s Jim Duggan.

For your viewing pleasure, the closest (kayfabe wise) Tito ever came to being WWF champ: "Tito is Neato, The Sheik is a Freak" Edit: Tito also wrestled Flair for the title 9/24/92 in Stuttgart, Germany.

I know it was filmed and put on video. I just wondered why it wasn't put on TV at the time. And yes, a reluctance to televise too many title changes probably has something do with it.

Obviously I'm saving that one for my Strike Force tribute.

I think the story was that Jake trained both of them or something, which I have no idea is true or not. Wasn't Jake, you know, too busy wrestling 300 days a year to have trained anybody during that time? And I'm not sure if it was building to something or just typical WCW shoot stuff. Not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but Jake as the Higher Power in 1999 was a pretty prevalent rumour.

A few random bits and stuff... An atypical look for Tito in this picture, looking almost like a cocky heel. Does anyone know if he had a heel run at some point somewhere? Otherwise, I guess he's one of the few guys who were faces their entire careers. Until doing some modest research (read:wikipedia), I didn't know Tito was trained by the same man (Hiro Matsuda) and debuted in the same year for the same territory (1977, Florida) as Hogan. I forgot he wrote a book, Tito Santana's Tales from the Ring, released in 2008. Has anyone read it? The reviewers on Amazon complain about its lack of depth and factual errors. Appearance wise, Tito's website leaves something to be desired to say the least http://www.titosantana.net/ It does contain a career record book, though, which I'll have to explore at some point.

All the recent talk about Tito surrounding his alleged consideration for the WWF title in 1992 has been fun and has inspired me to create this thread. During the early years of my wrestling fandom (circa 86-89) there were a few wrestlers I really gravitated towards, like Steamboat, Owen Hart, and the Bulldogs. However, the wrestler I considered my absolute favorite during those formative years was the man billed from Tocula, Mexico--Tito Santana. I'm not exactly sure why I embraced Tito like I did, but his passion and emotion in the ring likely had something to do with it. So to begin, in honour of the man, and also as a romantic ode to my youth, I give you this photographic tribute. Please feel free to contribute to this thread with matches, interviews, stories, results, etc. This thread is not intended to be a HOF pimp job, and I don't have the patience to seriously delve into Tito's career record like Dylan has so impressively done with Rose and Patera. Tito Santana: A career in pictures *First, I suggest playing this song in the background in order to capture the mood "¡Arriba!"

That could be another case of Vince bullshitting Bret, because I don't see how Flair had the power at that point (or ever) to make sure a demand like that was fulfilled.

I'd forgotten about the Bret-Papa Shango feud, but yeah, that was Bret's immediate post-Summerslam direction. The feud even had a blow-off match of sorts on the last Fox SNME not long after Bret won the title. One would think Bret being programmed in this feud means the decision to switch the title to him was only finalized less than two weeks before the Saskatoon taping. Who knows, maybe it was all just a sudden whim on Vince's part, with Flair's injury providing the excuse to do a quick switch in front of a hot Canadian crowd, with the potential to create a "special moment" and maybe a new drawing card to boot if all went well. What I still don't get is why the title win over Flair was never televised, at least on Prime Time Wrestling like the previous Flair-Savage switch was. I can't recall the WWF even showing much in the way of clips from the match on TV, although they probably did at some point. You would think that if Vince truly wanted Bret to get over as world champ he would have given the match way more TV coverage than he did. As far as the "fighting champion" gimmick Bix mentioned goes, it definitely was a departure from the norm. Maybe Vince saw Bret as the new Backlund and booked him accordingly. The 92-96 period really was a time of booking experimentation. I wish I had more to contribute to the whole booking philosophy discussion right now, but I haven't seen any of the interviews, video packages, character profiles, etc. from this era since the day they aired, so I can't really remember any specifics in that regard. My memeory of the context of a lot of the matches from this era is pretty hazy at times.

I love Tito, but that story just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Vince: "What should we do with Tito? I'm thinking of either making him our top guy or a jobber, I can't decide" Pat: "Jobber. Go with Bret" Vince: "I guess"

And of course, that angle also produced this awesome moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ymZPM3W2W0

I really didn't need to have the image of the Sandman as a male stripper stuck in my head. Thanks Chuck Langerman.

The story behind Bret's first world title win has always intrigued me. At the time, for a teenager with no real knowledge of any insider stuff, the title change came totally out of nowhere. Bret had not been portrayed as a title contender on TV prior to the switch and no angles had been shot between the two. A non-televised world title change, in Saskatoon of all places, was so unusual in 1992 WWF, and really is an anomaly in WWF/E history in general. It was probably the most low-key world title switch since Graham-Sammartino in 77, and I can't think of anything comparable since (Diesel-Backlund was at least at MSG). Off the top of my head, the usual reasons for the sudden switch are: 1) Flair was leaving soon 2) With the feds breathing down his neck, Vince wanted a non-juiced (or at least less obviously so) main event babyface immediately/Some time between Summerslam and the day of the switch Vince decided upon a radical change in what type of wrestlers would be pushed to the top 3) Bret had "proven himself" as a main eventer with the big Summerslam show in London and the switch was set in motion after that 4) Flair was injured The Flair injury/equilibrium problem likely had something to do with it. After dropping the title on October 12, Flair wrestled Warrior four days later, but was then subbed out by Dibiase, Kamala, and Nailz on subsequent shows and did not wrestle again until November 19. According to Cawthon's site Flair hurt himself during a match with Warrior on October 8. The reason for the switch was likely a combination of all the options plus other stuff I'm forgetting or do not know about. The Flair injury may have speeded up the process, though. It was still a weird switch.

I once read/heard a similar story with the Warrior's name in the place of Hogan, basically in the role Crush eventually filled.