Johnny Sorrow

But they didn't really play up Flair as an American hero in that feud. At the time Flair was playing both face and heel depending on who he was yelling at on TBS. Flair's issue with Nikita was more about Nikita attacking David Crockett then defending the Red, White, and Blue. Shit, the drunk fan who rushed the ring and tried to tackle Nikita at the Bash was more concerned about USA vs Russia then Flair was.

So Backlund decided to go with that look? That's interesting. He chose to go from this to this It always seemed like it was Vince jr. wanting to give Bob a character, ie: collegiate guy. Was Bob himself trying to tweak his look and character? I mean besides the change in physique.

We had a blast tonight bidding a fond adieu to the AWA in the 1980's. My rankings of disc 11 are 1. The Debut of the Master Blaster 2. Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88) 3. Wahoo McDaniel vs. Manny Fernandez (Strap Match) (12/13/88) 4. Ken Patera & Brad Rheingans vs. Badd Company (3/25/89) 5. Bobby & Jackie Fulton vs. Destruction Crew (11/18/89) 6. Wahoo McDaniel & Tom Zenk vs. Manny Fernandez & Larry Zbyszko (2/7/89) 7. Paul Diamond vs. Pat Tanaka (11/18/89) 8. Larry Zbyszko vs. Nikita Koloff (11/18/89) BUT WAIT!!!! We never did disc one...........stay tuned.

This got me thinking. Backlund always had a look of a typical wrestler most of his reign. Normal trunks, a mop of hair on his head...but right around 83 when Vince Jr. was totally running things, he started wearing an amateur singlet and shaved his head to look like a collegiate wrestler. Was that Vince's attempt to make a "character look" or gimmick for Backlund? Oh, and the magazines sure knew Snuka was hot. It felt like every mag, especially the non Apter ones had a bloody Snuka on the cover almost monthly.

Couple of things here: "The fans in Philly turned on Bob" is something that happened far later than folks like to recall. I'd have to go back through my thread, but it always was amazing to find a later match where he was still over. It's a bit like the old joint claims: - "Backlund never was over after the Snuka feud because Snuka was more cool" "Wait... what about this Backlund-Rose match two months later where Backlund was SUPER OVER against someone who wasn't exactly a massive star in the WWF?" - "Er... what I mean is... Backlund was never over again after crying when Graham smashed his belt. That's the ticket!" "Wait... what about the Muraco feud in 1983 and the first Slaughter match after the riding crop angle? Super fucking over Backlund." - "Um... it was Philly where he died!" After pointing out Philly matches in 1983, I seem to recall that it shifted over to Boston being where he died. Hard to keep track of the bullshit after a while. Anyway... The point at which Backlund took a back seat to Snuka is hard to tell. Perhaps during the Snuka-Muraco feud. Which took place in MSG on 7/31/83, 8/27/83 and 10/17/83... while Bob had a pair of matches against the Animal and one against The Masked Superstar. They're also at the tail end of his run as champ, after having the belt for five straight years. If that's truly when Backlund ran out of steam, that's actually a credit to Backlund, not a knock. I should have said, I'm talking about 83. My pals and I weren't going to shows then, I was only 12-13. We just watched the TV. And we never thought Backlund was dead. I just recall reading later that Philly was the place where "Howdy Doody" got hot as a crowd chant. And as far as Snuka eclipsing him, yeah it was around the time he turned face against Albano and the following Muraco feud. And I'm going on how me and my pals felt as kids. I'm not speaking for fandom at large.

Hey, bro. Who's Curtis Hawkins?

Well, he was only three years older than Backlund.

Killer Tim Brooks and I not only share the same beard stylist but the philosophy of serving who pays best. Say the word and I'll sell you the National title.

I wish I could find that Garea interview. I think it was in the WWF magazine. It was really great, a total career retrospective, non kayfabe deal. The reason I believe that he might have been the choice, even if just for a moment, is based on this interview. It's not a "they fucked me out of it" or a "I got hurt and they went with Bob" bitter thing. It was him saying that at the time he had gone single from being in a team with Dean Ho I think and he was contacted that Vince Sr. was considering him, but it didn't happen. But he continued as a tag guy again and kept on winning the tag belts. The interview sticks out in my mind because when I was a kid Tony Garea was my fucking hero, and reading this made me go, "Wow, that's crazy." Now that I think of it, in the same interview he may have mentioned that Putski was considered as well. I remember digging Backlund when I was a kid. The Philly crowds started shitting on him at the Spectrum but I wasn't actually going to shows back then and wasn't aware of that until later. The deal was that before Hogan showed up we had all become Snuka fans. He was the fucking man, and Backlund sorta took a back seat even though he was the Champ.

I remember reading an interview with Tony Garea a few years back where he claimed that he was almost offered the spot, but they went with Backlund instead. If you think about it, it's not as crazy as it sounds at first. Garea was over, he was a multiple time tag champ, and he was a good looking guy who could work.

What did Meltzer write about Hennig? I think I read that bio years ago but forgot the details. I remember something like Meltzer interviewing Ken Patera, who said he'd golf with Hennig, who'd take 20 pain pills, smoke several joints, and drink a six-pack all by 12 PM. Is that what you're referring to? Not for nothin', but ditch the pain pills and that sounds like a fun day of golf.

No, it's Rollins losing a singles match witch has already happened. The point of the Shield is that as a TEAM they're unbeatable.

I loved that story. I'm loving this show. It's like listening to my Dad tell stories. Seriously, the whole story about taking a dump sounded exactly like my old man, and it's great.

I always thought they were CM Punk/Heyman henchmen and that it was going to come out when they attacked Undertaker. They were, but only when they were protecting Punk's title. It came out that they were available for hire because "justice isn't always free." Same with Brad Maddox as the bought ref. Maddox was confronting Heyman and had his cameraman secretly record the incident that revealed all of this.

You're high, Tim. Cena beat Rollins, was about to AA Ambrose when Reigns speared him and then the Shield got dq'd.

That's fucking cool.

I thought that was a fun fucking show. I had a living room full of family and pals, a couple pizzas, some burgers grilling, plenty of beer, and a large screen TV with a paid for show that looked great. ~Jericho/ Fandango was a fine opener and the codebreaker to finish looked sick. ~Kofi/ Ambrose was a blast. Ambrose looked great, and jacked in a good way. His arms are looking bigger every month. He's definitely been hitting the gym. I loved the finish and the whole deal with the Shield all holding gold. In a time where the lower belts can come off as meaningless, it's a killer boost to have the hottest act decide they all want gold and get it. ~Shaemus/ Henry was good. I've never been a huge fan of the old "drag a guy around and tag the buckles" matches but this was good. And Henry losing means nothing. He's always gonna be a dominant monster, whether he loses or wins. ~I loved Del Rio vs. Swagger. All the goofy shit worked for me, and the match was fun. I loved JBL saying that a terrible precedent has been started re: instant replay, but if ya really think about it...doesn't it make kayfabe sense that a ref can look at instant footage during a situation like that in this day and age? Especially if it's a match of importance, like this was considering it was for a number one contender's spot. ~Hell No vs the Shield. Can't add much more to the praise this is getting. Fucking awesome match. Everyone involved was working like a motherfucker and it was a total stone blast. I love Hell No, but again...the Shield holding the gold is some great old school thinking. ~Orton/ Big Show: Orton normally bores me to tears but this match fucking ruled. Orton brought it, Show was awesome, the crowd was crazy, and the match was pretty damn great. ~Cena/ Ryback was a blast. I loved the whole "Clash of the Titans" vibe. This was King Kong vs. Godzilla and I enjoyed it a ton. The crowd was chanting "bullshit" at the finish, and I get that. If I was there live I'd probably be pissed that there was no real finish and it happened backstage on a screen. But as a TV watcher, it was fucking great. ~HHH/ Lesnar. I thought it started out a little slow, but that was the point. After the previous two matches I thought this was gonna be a let down. I was wrong. This fucking ruled. Brock's selling, HHH getting totally dominated for a good while before Brock hurt his knee, Heyman's stuff, it all came together to produce a great fucking match that I again, at first was indifferent to, but by the end I was shouting and cheering at the TV. My match of the night is Orton/ Big Show. I love Show, but I wasn't expecting much. And they went out and tore the house down.

"—White ribbons on top of boots: a roleplay scenario in which the male customer begins as the dominant figure and ends as the submissive party." Or as I call it, marriage.

Hey, unless he pinned or submitted all three guys, then he really didn't beat all three. If a guy is bird hunting and shoots one, and is about to shoot another when a third swoops at him and flies into his face, he didn't effectively shoot all three birds. (And the winner for "The thing I never thought I'd type or say ever award" goes to that.) And I guess they must have announced more matches and stips on SD last week, which I missed. Or I fast forwarded thru stuff on last weeks RAW, which is entirely possible and probable.

He won by DQ and still got his ass kicked. It's not like he beat all three guys.

Holy shit, that Cena/ Team Hell No vs The Shield elimination match on RAW was fucking awesome. I was totally marking out when Daniel Bryan got the hot tag and beat up the entire Shield. And the Ryback/ Cena stuff after the match was great. And RAW was a great go home show. What I don't get is waiting to announce the undercard for the PPV until a week before the show. Extreme Rules looks like a stacked fun now, but a week ago, it sure as fuck didn't.

To not keep smoking synthetic weed?

The microphone can be goofy, but in Magnum/ Tully it's an essential part of the match. The one that's the greatest of all time, not just 1985.

The WWE has backed off of all this in it's recent DVD releases, to be fair.