Ricky Jackson

For those who can, I suggest a watch-along thread for Super Powerrr this coming Tuesday. I think it's the last bit of footage they have in the can and who knows when they'll tape again. It will be fun to watch something "new" with an actual crowd again

This bad boy just turned up yesterday Has anyone committed the time and know if it's worth a watch?

I used to think so myself until actually getting to know a few people in the last decade who became fans in adulthood. One even trained to be a wrestler and worked for a few years, and the other ended up becoming a pretty massive fan of Japanese wrestling and a lot of non-WWE wrestling in general. A fellow wrestling-loving friend of mine helped convert them through his enthusiasm, but they were both really intigued by realizing wrestling is theatre, with all the possibilities that entails, and disregarding the negative perceptions of wrestling that are often a barrier to people getting into it

Episode 88 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-88 January 21, 1984 The boys review a super fun show this week. Andre the Giant is in town, so it's time to get down and jive! -Rick "Rudd" pops in for a match. Too bad Kamala doesn't have the atomic drop in his arsenal -Has Bill Mercer been hitting the bottle? -Kevin has been hitting "the Shine" too hard and now he's addicted -Plus a wild main event between Andre/Iceman and the Super D's. The snowflakes may want to skip the post-match though!

So, are they actually going to charge full price for an empty arena PPV? I kinda feel like it should be discounted, but I haven't been watching Dynamite, so I dont know if the product they are putting out is drastically less enjoyable without a crowd. Thoughts?

From a pure practicality perspective, yes, there were enough other stadium/arena options in the area. But you would think the cachet of running at Yankee Stadium, a legendary, world famous venue, would've been attractive at some point. The WWF would've gotten a bigger "rub", so to speak, from running a show where Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, etc and great Yankee dynasties called home. It would've made them seem more important than running at Shea

Good question. I guess there are a few reasons. I believe only two wrestling cards were ever held at the old, pre-2009 (or pre-1976 if you consider the result of the massive renovations in the 70s a completely new stadium) Yankee Stadium - one in the 30s and one at the peak of the Rocca era in the early 50s, and both pre-McMahon family promoting. Neither drew well, and as a result the stadium was never looked at as an option for future cards. The big cards of the 70s were all held at Shea Stadium instead, although I think Bruno once pitched the idea of a dream match between him and Andre being held at Yankee Stadium. Some major Ali fights were held at Yankee Stadium in the 70s. So I guess the lack of history is one factor. For years there was the concern of poor weather for a Mania in the New York area, until 2013. One of the reasons they ran MetLife that year was because they wanted to beat the NFL to the punch, (they held a Super Bowl there in 2014), which at times has been a Vince obsession regarding Mania sites. If the mindset regarding running a Mania in colder weather was different around 2010, there may have been a good chance they ran a Mania at Yankee Stadium then, when the new version had recently opened. Lower attendance for Yankee Stadium compared to MetLife and perhaps difficulty scheduling an event there with the MLB season starting around the same time are other factors

It's so silly that there is an actual edict Reigns' name cannot be mentioned on TV, he's been removed from Make a Wish videos, etc. Next Vince will have him edited out of everything on the Network like he's a Russian general from the 1930s who Stalin had purged and removed from photographs

Episode 87 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-87 January 14, 1984 An extremely hot beginning to a feud highlights an otherwise blah offering from WCCW this week, as the boys finally welcome in 1984... -Bill Mercer scolds the Birds for tainting Santa Claus to a generation of Texas children -Nice to see the pointless 10-minute draw is still a thing -Adams vs Garvin is still going strong -And Kerry vs the Missing Link in a crazy main event that kickstarts a new war in Dallas!

Flair in 1988 WWF has always been difficult for me to visualize booking wise. The road to Hogan vs Savage was already well underway, or was at least the plan for Mania V, by Summerslam. So what would Flair do right away? Maybe feud with Savage in the spot Bad News had? Feud with Hogan instead of Bossman? Presumably he would've dropped the NWA strap before coming over unlike in 91, so he wouldn't be working a counter-world champ gimmick. Would he have been paired with Heenan? Would he have been associated with Arn and Tully? He just doesn't seem to fit in 1988-89 WWF, at least as someone who would get a run with the belt. But who knows, maybe he would've had a better run than he did years later. He could've still won a Rumble, unless they were dead set on Studd winning in 89. So many questions

https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/international-house-of-combat-4 This week Kelly and Steve venture to the wilds of 1980s Canada to examine tag team wrestling obscure and(in Quebec at least)legendary! Viewed and commented upon... Ricky Steamboat/Jay Youngblood vs Ray Stevens/Jimmy Snuka (Toronto, 1980) & The Rougeau Brothers vs Ron/Jimmy Garvin x2 (Montreal, 1985) The Toronto tag is a really good match and the Montreal footage is CRAZY! Watch along here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVy--0-BicE&list=PLV6RCTo_Cd0Bo314nxGlwPp-IfC14LctC

Episode 86 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-86-christmas-star-wars-1983 December 25, 1983* Red hot WCCW draws its third monster house of 1983 at Reunion Arena for Christmas Star Wars, and the boys provide a monster-sized ep to break it all down! They review 87.5% of the card (just missing Mike Reed vs the Mongol, which we can only assume was a classic) and discuss all the hits and misses Seven huge matches: Johnny Mantell vs the Missing Link Iceman Parsons/Adias vs the Super D's, American tag team titles Kerry Von Erich vs Kamala Jose Lothario vs Black Gordman David Von Erich vs Ric Flair, NWA title Kevin/Mike Von Erich vs Terry Gordy/Buddy Roberts, Loser Leaves Town Jimmy Garvin vs Chris Adams, American title + Sunshine gets 5 minutes with Precious if Adams wins Fun was had by all as the boys discuss bad hair, bad wrestlers, bad promos, as well as good hair, good wrestlers and good promos...so it all balances out. See you in 1984! *12/31/83, 1/7/84 & first match of 1/14/84 on the Network

It's not a must listen episode or anything, but things do get fun around the 80 minute mark when JR finally snaps on the creative bankruptcy of 2009-2010 WWE after so many of the angles Conrad brings up keep repeating themselves and getting less and less logical. Good 5 minute plus tirade

https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/international-house-of-combat-3 Kelly and Steve are back, and this week they explore two different countries, which share a language but interpret wrestling in different ways Viewed and commented upon... Carlos Colon vs Dick Murdoch--Barbwire match (Puerto Rico, 1991) & El Hijo del Santo vs La Parka (Mexico, 2001) Two countries united by language and by BLOOD! Watch along here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV6RCTo_Cd0Bo314nxGlwPp-IfC14LctC

I'm done for now and have been since the Rumble, but I haven't had much love for several years really. Something may pull me back some day. Right now I really want nothing to do with WWE. The combination of lackluster product with so much Vince real world bs makes me really dislike the whole thing

I wasn't watching back then, but apparently Tonga was working WWF house shows at least as early as May 83 and looks to have debuted on TV in August. Argentino's death was May 10, so he may have been there?

Episode 85 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-85 December 24, 1983 It's Christmas Eve and Santa Fritz delivers gifts ranging from good to crappy for the boys to discuss... -A David music video with an extremely unfortunate choice of dub job. (and the original song was also unfortunate in hindsight) -The Missing Link makes a memorable splash in his debut -Ernie Ladd is here, and Johnny does an impression of him for the ages (and throws in Kevin and David Manning as a bonus!) -Plus a red hot main event between Adams/Mantell and Gordy/Garvin

Finally caught up with Power today. Was holding off knowing it may be a long time before we see another ep or the Crockett Cup. Fuck it sucks

https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/international-house-of-combat-2 Kelly and Steve are back for another trip around the globe, this time focusing on Japanese wrestling from the 70s and 80s! Viewed and commented upon this week... Giant Baba vs Dick the Bruiser (1975) & Jaguar Yokota vs La Galactica (1983) Both matches are awesome, featuring cameos aplenty from other wrestling stars, blood, and scissors, among other highlights. Follow along with the playlist here! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV6RCTo_Cd0Bo314nxGlwPp-IfC14LctC

Episode 84 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-84 December 17, 1983 At long last, the boys are back! They pick up where they left off, with the clock ticking down on 1983 and the build for Christmas night at Reunion Arena in full swing. Highlights include... -The disfigurement of Iceman Parsons -The life and times of Doug Vines -Bill Destroyer and his swank sense of style -Kevin Von Erich giving Buddy Roberts about 2 seconds of offense -And a wild main event featuring the shocking return of a man nobody wanted back World Cast: What did we miss while we were away?

This will be the first Mania I will not watch at least part of live since 2006 and I'm totally fine with that. I wasn't going to watch even before the world went sideways. The last few Mania's left me hating WWE so I finally had enough

Whoops. Yeah, I thought I was forgetting something https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/international-house-of-combat-1

Join Kelly Nelson and Steve Wille (of "The Main Event" on PTBN Wrestling) for a new podcast adventure--an exploration of the wonderful world of historical international wrestling! Each episode will be a watch-along of matches from around the globe. For the debut, Kelly and Steve examine two contests... Wayne Bridges vs The Mississippi Mauler (England, 1981) & Al Hayes vs Guy Robin (France, 1957) YouTube playlist with the matches to watch along at home! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLV6RCTo_Cd0Bo314nxGlwPp-IfC14LctC

Well put. 100% agree. Being a huge Bret fan, that was such a fun time. I ordered all the main ppvs, watched Raw every week and was also live for Canadian Stampede. Total investment. So much so, I remember being very pissed off that (of all things) Bret didnt finally win PWI wrestler of the year. I dont think he even placed! And then of course it all came crashing down in Montreal and my fandom has never been that intense for one wrestler and one promotion ever again. Great, great year

@JKWebb I haven't plugged this here, or really anywhere other than a couple tweets, but if you enjoyed that Savage pod from years ago (it was actually with Grimmas not Parv), and you have a copy of the Savage Unreleased dvd, you may be interested in me droning on as I watch all the matches. New ep every couple days https://m.soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/sets/the-greatness-of-randy-savage