BRobb123

A draft might be fun to let people suit their roster to their own needs. I'm in either way. Can you PM me or email me the list too so I can look it over? My email's [email protected]. Thanks!

I'll break out of my usual lurking to say I'd love to participate.

I think from 87 - 90, Duggan was rightfully treated like a absolute tip-top of the upper mid card guy. He acted as the Hogan understudy, including main eventing MSG against Andre. Then he got a feud with Savage in the summer of 1989. Frankly, he would have made more sense main eventing Summerslam that year teaming with Hogan. If he'd carried Hogan's bags like Beefcake did, maybe he would've. I'd put Roberts, and eventually Bossman, in the same stratosphere. Bravo… the still 10-year-old in me from 1990 just doesn't see him as a big deal. Him being a top heel to feud with Hogan/Warrior felt weird, and kind of messed with my belief in kayfabe.

Dundee and... somebody attacked Armstrong at the Saturday Night TV studio, and then Continental (or its successor) used the footage and put the incident to use more than JCP did.

Bill Dundee was absolutely made for Memphis. He pretty much had everything you'd want to get over there. Good punches, occasional crazy bumps, good talker. I just watched a post-WCW match between Dundee and Mean Mark Callous from Youtube. They mentioned Callous had just left WCW to strike out on his own. Calloway ran thru his somewhat limited pre-Undertaker offense before Dundee got counted out while beating up Downtown Bruno outside the ring. To me, for those two wrestlers, that finish could only happen in the USWA. If it happened anywhere else, I don't think it would be believable for anything other than a Callous squash to take place. Pop Dundee into somewhere like Mid-South or JCP, and he just wasn't that special. But Jerry Lawler could, and would, get over pretty much anywhere he worked. I think that's the big difference.

Yeah, the WOS is as good as his stateside work is bad. Other than having to eat his way to 200 pounds just to get work in the U.S., Street seemed to take good care of himself. It's really odd that he used the gimmick, but still was a good technician in Europe, but then he comes here, and other than his rolling armbar escape and a couple of leglocks, he shows none of that. I think he could've gotten farther if he had.

Disclaimer: I enjoy Kamala "for what he is," and don't expect good matches. Poor matches or not, I thought the gimmick, as originally created, worked very well in Memphis and Mid-South. At the time, I'd never seen a Kamala match, and was excited that he was coming back to the WWF in 1992. Hey, I was 11. That being said, I just don't get Adrian Street at all. He's more than decent in the WOS stuff I've seen, but my God, I've just found his in-ring work awful in Continental, Memphis and JCP. For a guy who's well-schooled in mat work, I would kind of expect him to pull out some of the crazy British matwork, but it doesn't play a big part in his matches. And he has the worst European uppercut in the history of our great sport. As for the gimmick itself, clearly in went over well in the South. For a very flamboyant, glamourous man such as Street was portraying, his stuff looks really homemade (which it was, of course). To me at least, it just doesn't work with what he's trying to portray. So, anybody want to try and sell me on Street? Are there any great matches from Stampede or L.A. early in his trip on this side of the pond I'm missing?

His knees seemed to go pretty early, like in his early 30s. Burke might have developed into something similar to early 90s Bret Hart if his body had been able to hold up. From what I've seen (which is mostly late 80s WWC), he knew exactly what to do and when to do it, but just didn't have the physicality anymore to do everything he could have earlier.

That's a pretty cool find. Honestly, if you trade out being a savage for being a deadman, he's basically working like early Undertaker. He sold for Lawler lowering the strap, which is mandatory, but otherwise he worked invincible until the end. Where was this, the Louisville Gardens?

Bret Hart credits Leo Burke for a lot of his development as a wrestler. From everything I've heard and read, Burke was an excellent wrestler. Other than a brief time period in Toronto and a cup of coffee in JCP (losing to Denny Brown!), he doesn't seem to have gotten much a shot in big time territories. There's quite a bit of Burke footage on Youtube, mostly from late 80s, early 90s Maritimes or WWC, at the end of his career. His knees are shot, but it's obvious his heart's still in it even if his body's not. You can definitely see some of where Hart learned to sell as a baby face from watching Burke selling a beating. Any thoughts on Leo Burke, or recommendations for matches closer to his prime that may be out there? Brian