Ricky Jackson

They were for sure available in the Boston area at their 80s peak, that always gets mentioned. Not sure about New York. They had a show on ESPN, but that was just a classics show, no?

Pedro did well as a draw, even better than Bruno in MSG, and fear of unruly crowds was also very real. At the end of the day though, it was a bottom line decision: Bruno was one of the greatest drawing cards ever, and if he was willing to come back for another run in top, you would go with that over Pedro every time

The recent Star Wars show they put up is from February 1981. The Network starts with episode 2 of the World Class show, but the show taped in Ft. Worth dated back many, many years. Not a lot pre-1981 out there afaik, and I have no clue how much WWE has of it I've heard there is a decent little pod chronicling WCCW from the first Network ep, on the PWO feed even, if you're so inclined...

Episode -1 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-1-star-wars-february-22-1981 February 22, 1981 Gluttons for punishment, the boys go back in time nearly two years to check out the very first Star Wars show from Reunion Arena, added to the Network last week! On the docket: -Mil Mascaras vs "Killer" Tim Brooks -Fritz Von Erich vs The Great Kabuki -Kerry Von Erich vs Harley Race NWA title -Kevin/David Von Erich vs Hercules Ayala/Ali Mustafa World Tag Team Trophy -Battle Royal for 5K Also on the show: -The greatest announcer in Dallas history: Jack (?) -Another masterful performance by NWA kingpin Race -How many tag team titles is too many tag team titles? -Another crummy battle royal World Cast: Getting closer to the Swinging 70s!

*Turns on 1/17/81 All-Star* Dom DeNucci and a rookie Jim Duggan vs the Moondogs. Time to get comfortable

Yeah, Ronda yelling at Bliss was clearly part of the match, not her loudly calling spots.

Wrestlingdata has 3 other matches: Fritz vs Kabuki, a battle royal and Kerry vs Harley for the NWA title

Really enjoyed this Charles. Great questions and discussion

Episode 42 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-42 January 15, 1983 (WCCW 55) The boys pop the cork on some champagne and welcome in 1983. There is a noticeable buzz in the air in the Sportatorium following the big angle on Christmas night, Andre the Giant is in the house, bad Network dub jobs reach their apex, Bill Mercer gets worse and worse, and we still have our usual time limit draws and weird gimmick battle royals. Happy New Year!!! World Cast: 1 year down, 6 (7?) to go

Man, I thought this show was great. Come on you sad sack motherfuckers

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. No need to rush things, but then again, this probably won't be the feud ender anyway

Please, not another 10 page analysis of Dave Meltzer's psychological state

http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/video.htm

The media hype went into overdrive in the last week or so, topped off by Hogan and Mr. T hosting SNL the night before the show

Yeah. The Military Industrial Suplex one can be unpinned because that folder doesn't even exist anymore, Vader died a couple months ago, and the NWA On Demand/Houston wrestling ones can probably be sent to the megathread archive

Most overrated match of the 21st century

I was also looking forward to the triple threat as a different chapter in the Gargano/Ciampa feud before doing the eventual final battle. I fantasy booked Almas as a one-night-only surprise replacement for Black, playing into what happened earlier in the year, and also because it would be a great match. I'm sure the Last Man Standing match will deliver and probably provide another wrinkle to keep this feud going, presumably ending at War Games in November

FYI, we are taking a couple weeks off before starting 1983. Next show will drop on the 22nd, our one year anniversary

Super hot crowd here, as to be expected with Bruno and a hot undefeated challenger. Not a lot to this one. Lots of matwork. Finish is a Bruno special, a criss cross spot leading to a mid-ring collision which sends Bruno careening to the outside onto a ringside table, leading to a countout win for Bepo. Next month would be a Texas Death match to complete Vince Sr booking 101. Like the tag, a cool historical curiosity, but not as fun

I enjoyed this match once it got going, which took about 15 minutes, just before the end of the first fall. Mongols go up one fall to none, but the heroes nab the second with a flash sleeper on Geeto. Third fall is really good, as the heroes keep re-applying the sleeper to Geeto knowing they have discovered the Mongols weakness, but Bepo continually interferes and breaks it up before they can finish him off. Geeto finally gets a tag while trapped in an abdominal stretch, and the fresh Bepo takes advantage of an unaware Marino, quickly finishing him off for basically a clean win. Cool historical match, coming from the first card to sellout the new MSG, and uber rare footage of the Mongols team, who had taken the territory by storm and were a big reason for the sellout

They teased the footage on the Bruno doc after his death. Awesome they put this up because there is next to no footage of the original Mongols otherwise

I know a literature professor who used to be a big wrestling fan and has tons of podcast experience. Used to post here a lot as well...

Oh, I'm not expecting a miracle turnaround in quality. It will be interesting to see what changes now that the Candyman has the book though

Episode 41 https://soundcloud.com/prowrestlingonly/world-cast-41-christmas-night-1982 December 25, 1982 (WCCW 53 and 54) It's finally here!!! What everyone has been waiting all of 1982 for...the big 18-man $10,000 battle royal pole match! No? OK, how about the finals of the World Six-Man tag team tournament? OK, OK, right...of course...IT'S FINALLY CHRISTMAS NIGHT, 1982 AND KERRY VS FLAIR IS IN A CAGE AND MICHAEL HAYES IS BEING A BIT TOO AGGRESSIVE AS REFEREE.... The boys celebrate one of the biggest nights in the history of any territory ever. The moment a spark was lit that would become a raging fire in 1983. What made sitting through Gene Goodson, Tom "Boogaloo" Shaft, The Superfly, Jay Saldi, Armand Hussian, Brian Adidas, endless draws and double countouts, and that horrible Great Kabuki music video all worth it. Von Erich's vs Freebirds has begun! World Cast: We just watched all of 1982 WCCW on the Network. What have you done?

It was often Adonis' finish in 1985, but I don't think it was ever given a name. Of course when Roberts came in he stopped using it, or maybe even before