King Solomon

Cactus Jack and Vince McMahon

Also, back in the day they would tape 3 episodes of each show in one taping, are you going away from that formula? Will the Supercards be close circuited as PPV wasnt really viable in 1983? Close circuiting all those cards may be a monumental task with all that goes into booking the locations and having the equipment set up.

I would love to see a babyface Butch Reed brought in. Also for an announcer if your in the market for another one-Rick Stewart out of Central States.

Any set venues for your Supercards? May I suggest Shea stadium for Summer Slam

Pete, Walter Payton went to Jackson State. Doug Williams was a Grambling guy tho.

Yes great show, entertaining as always. I have always been more of a Backlund guy than Bruno guy due to my taste in wrestling style. I love Backlunds power moves and dare I say athletic ability even Tho I know this is a worked sport lol!

WrestleMania 1 for me, Loved the way every match had something to get over. I liked the way not every star had to be on the card. The build up to this card was awesome in real time as I had become an avid fan in 1983 and watched the tv all the way to this point. Throw in the mainstream coverage and the excitement for this card leading up was great and unheard of in the business. I also enjoyed the card itself, not great form an in ring perspective but the atmosphere was electric. I did enjoy the work in the main event. I even enjoy this more than Mania 3.

When the Honkey Tonk Man won it

I think Sarge beat up Bob with the sawgger stick during his 83 run not his 80 run.

I advertise the Hell out of it!

What happened to Brick? I enjoyed listening to him too

kayfabe Memories was my first board back in 2000 I joined. It used to be an awesome board, the best in my opinion but then the site malfunctioned a few times and it hasn't been the same since.

Least Favorite-L.A. Sports Arena-drab and colorless, no personality. Favorite-Olympic Auditoreum-Nukes and crannys galore and great atmosphere, perect size, rabid crowds. I think a sellout was 11,000

Just listened to this pod cast. There is where I come out on the Bruno-Zybsko angle and who I looked on as the sympatehtic figure in this scenario. I know some of you sympathized with Larry. I go with Bruno for sure on this one. Larry seems to me in this angle like the typical person that has a "Victim Mentality" and blames other people for his lot in life. His first challenge to Bruno was cool but then he started getting whiny about why he is looked at as Bruno's protege. It comes across as kind of him being a "bitc$!". I see this type all too often in the Working world as I am in Management. They don't want to take responsibility for their situation in life or be accountable for their mistakes. Always want something given to them instead of earning it. I could easily see why a 1980 crowd would see Larry this way. These days he might be the face in the situation due to a change in morals as people today in general aren't as mentally tough and they would tend to side with a complaining malcontent rahter than a man like "Bruno" who works hard for everything he's got.. Larry was where Larry was because of him not Bruno (speaking in a Kayfabe sense). So like a little bitc$! he had to betray Bruno like a slimeball instead of be a "Man" about it. Great angle and both guys did a Knock out job playing thier roles. Regarding if Hogan was at fault for the issues he had Orndorff, Andre and Savage I only lay the blame for on the Savage deal. Never get in the way between a guy and his girl. Paul Orndorff was just jealous and insecure, I mean come on so Hogan wouldn't take your calls, what are you his girlfriend? I would laugh at a buddy if he started whining about me not taking his calls.

btw, I loved both Inoki-Backlund matches on that you tube set. Backlund made those matches and showed he could heel up when needed. Great power moves. To me it showed the big gap between Backlund as a worker and Inoki.

Just off the cuff here a bit, but I have watched several of these Backlund matches starting in Jan 79-Feb 80 (you tube) and I am really impressed with Bob. I have always loved Backlund but this just reaffirmed it. To me he exemplifies what a Champion should be in Pro Wrestling should be: 1. Great offense- Far superior to that of Harley, Hogan, Bruno or Flair. I give him the edge over Savage too. Bob has incredible power which allows him to execute moves with Snap and explosion. I love his mat work as it always seems active. I don't have a problem at all with mat work as that is the foundation of Pro Wrestling, everything else is an add on to give the match seasoning. I can only think of Patera and Studd as being opponents that were stronger than physically than Backlund. I see Flair in jobber matches in the WTBS studios and think "man that jobber can probably take Flair legit", not so with Backlund. 2. Substance over style-While a great promo is entertaining at the end of the day we are all here to actually watch the matches themselves and this is where I believe Backlund delivers in spades. While a Hogan or Bruno may have the ability to talk the fans into the building I find Backlund's matches more detailed and less formulaic. Let's see Backlund has great matwork, great moves and good brawling. His selling can be goofy. He also has great fire in the ring. While his promos are subdued Backlund goes by the old saying "Walk softly and carry a Big Stick". Dusty and Hogan may have more energetic promos but Backlund does his talking in the match and to me delivers a far more varied, fast pace and explosive type of match where Dusty, Race and Hogan can have downright lethargic matches at times. 3. Bland Vanilla Babyface a Myth-For all this talk from people about Backlund being bland and vanilla, I sure don't see that once Backlund is in the ring, he wrestles with the mean streak of a Junkyard Dog. Bob shows unreal intensity in the ring. He loved being Champion. I'm much more scared of a pissed off Backlund kayfabe wise than a Hulked up Hogan or a jiving Dusty. Bruno would scare me. Even his promos, while subdued which is what they were going for, show an underlying intensity. I really believed Backlund could have pulled of the tweener role in the NWA. Backlund I thikn had the one thing Steamboat lacked as Champion a certain "meanness" 4. Overness with the fans- Let's face it, Backlund was over as hell. As a young fan reading the Apter mags in the 80's I was under the false impression that guys like Jimmy Snuka were getting a loot of the cheers when they faced Backlund, not so when you watch the matches. I'm still waiting to see the match where the Fans "turned on Backlund". 5. Credibility- If a fan ever wanted to try and convince someone that Pro Wrestling was even somewhat a shoot Backlund would be the guy they can point to cause no casual fan in their right would think that Harley Race could be a legit champ. Harley may be loved by his peers and have a tough guy rep but his work in the ring and his look don't exactly scream "World Champion" Hogan and Savage are guys that fit the comic hero type champion and Bruno and Morales "Ethnic Heroes". Backlund was a guy that would impress someone who was skeptical about Pro Wrestling and come away with a respect for his athletic ability.

David Shultz in his shoot thought that Buddy Rose was a joke as a headliner in Portland, compared him to Lawler who he also didn't look favorably upon.

I was a big mark for the older storied buildings, that's why I loved the Olympic here in L.A. and hated the Sports Arena. The Forum was alright but it was outta the way for us Eastsiders. I thought it was cool that they had it in St. Louie but maybe it woulda been wiser to have in the Boro or Atlanta.

I think that Brick guy actually flipped me off in a thread about Harley Race, I didn't take it personal tho. I thought it was funny

Yeah it woulda took a bit of out of the box thinking to see the potential as NWA champ in certain guys. This is where some of the NWA Brass mighta got stuck and not gone with an Orndorff.

From what I understand the future NWA champ had to go around the horn prior to getting belt to get established in the various territories. A Martel would have needed prepping. He was already golden in PNW and had worked Georgia, so he woulda had to make dates in Fla., Texas and of course do the Kiel

I Didn't even think about him. After Dibiase, Paul would be my next pick

Interesting How Orton was involved in the Bounty angle leading to SC83. Imagine him having the lead role, might be just a bit of a stretch. A mouthpiece might have helped but I actually liked Bob on the mic.

Would giving Orton a mouthpiece have helped? Adonis could talk and I think could have souped up his ring presence somehow to "fit the mold", if he needed to. Funny as I just said the same thing about Snuka before I read your post. I see Adonis close to pulling it off as he was such an awesome worker during this time frame.

What about a boot wearing, bearded Jimmy Snuka? Of course he would need a mouthpiece which was unheard of for an NWA champ. I pick Buddy Rogers to play the role and Snuka could heel it up or face it up with ther best of them. He was an awesome piece of talent in 81.