BruiserBrody

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-wwf-msg-4-22-1985/ The WWF returns to MSG three weeks after Wrestlemania. Action includes Matt Bourne doing his best to ruin his WWF gig, and jobbers receiving title matches. The announcers blatantly lie about celebrities at the show. A giant of a man batters an AARP member. We find out if Ricky Steamboat can carry Moondog Spot to a good match. Hulk Hogan attends a circus that Vince McMahon isn't in charge of, then Hogan GRAPPLES - he honest to God puts out a tour de force of technical wizardry unseen in the era of Hulkamania. America's honor is defended by the U.S. Express and Tito Santana's war with Greg Valentine continues in the show's finale!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwe-network-villains-squared-circle/ "Villians of the Squared Circle" sees an early dose of evil Jake the Snake, a bloody fight with Pedro Morales and Animal Steele, Andre squares off with an NFL star nearly as large as he is, Captain Lou takes a beating from Gorilla Monsoon, Don Muraco looks for a porker to screw, highlights from an angle that Mid-South mocked on their TV soon after, Roddy Piper's greatest hits, Macho Man's conniving victory over IC champ Tito Santana, an American hero falls short, Andre falls to Studd and Bundy's assault, and we close with a haircut that spawned months of violence!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwe-network-grand-slams/ WWF "Grand Slams" is a solid starting point for anyone who wants to see some of the best and most famous moments from the early to mid-80's in the WWF. Clips include: Tito and Greg Valentine ending their long feud, Piper taunting Mr. T, Wendi Richter being screwed out of the Women's title, MIDGETS, World title changes, tag title turmoil, Macho Man stealing the IC title from Santana, Gorilla Monsoon boxes Andre the Giant, Ali confronts Monsoon, the Birth of Hulkamania, 3 battle royals, an irate Andre battering Killer Khan, Snuka's cage dive and more!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/from-the-wwe-network-inside-the-steel-cage/ "Inside the Steel Cage" has some classic matches. Randy Savage and Adrian Adonis fighting Bruno Sammartino and Tito Santana is the stand out. Andre vs. Studd is like a monster movie come to life, Piper brawling with Bruno is great fun. The classic endings to Santana against Valentine and Muraco defending the IC title against Snuka are worth the inclusion, plus we get Hogan, Backlund and Bruno title defenses!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-april-1985-part-one/ April 1985 sees a top WWF heel find the error of his ways, a riot breaks out in California, a former NWA champion appears to sign with the WWF-then backs out, a legend appears on TNT and promises to bring in a new heel faction, Hulk Hogan butts heads with the WWF brass over drugs, Vince McMahon looks to fund a sport that is not wrasslin', An NWA legend returned to help his "brother", the National tag team champions implode, Flair fights a Freebird in the Omni, plus more news, notes and results!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwe-network-grudge-match86/ Grudge Match '86 is full of feuds, blood and brawls including Terry Funk's troubles with the JYD, Hulk Hogan's tussle with Don Muraco, a pair of hard hitting Greg Valentine and Tito Santana bouts for the IC title, Bruno Sammartino butting heads with Billy Graham and Ivan Koloff, and the Hogan/Piper rivalry coming to a head!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwe-network-wwfs-unusual-matches/ A look into one of the first VHS releases for the WWF. Featuring legends like Chief Jay Strongbow, Haystacks Calhoun and Ray Stevens in action, plus a hard hitting clash between Tito Santana and Greg Valentine, a pair of battle royals, a ten man tag team contest with Andre the Giant as a centerpiece, a violent brawl with the JYD and Jimmy Snuka fighting Bob Orton and Roddy Piper and other action!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-alibis-dave-meltzer-talking-history/ Dave Meltzer talks up his past as a writer, how he was able to get promoters and wrestlers to give him information - in spite of kayfabe, Billy Graham's WWWF title run, Bill Watts being a racist, Bruiser Brody's murder, the Montreal Screwjob, McMahon's steroid trial, and other bits from history!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/jim-crockett-promotions-wtbs-debut-april-6th-1985/ A look into JCP's debut on WTBS sees an awesome promo from Ole Anderson delivering threats, Jimmy Valiant's boogie, Dusty Rhodes being awesome, wacky music videos, Ric Flair living up to his rep as the "Nature Boy", Tully Blanchard looking for a classy whore, and other fun from some of the best wrestlers of the era!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-alibis-bruce-hart-shoot-interview/ Bruce Hart covers the Dungeon training camps, discovering the Dynamite Kid, the night a Canadian reporter tried to expose the Stampede business as phony (spoiler: David Schultz is involved), the locker room fight that left Bruce with a broken jaw, Brian Pillman's locker room fights with much larger men, Bruce's aborted WWF run, the Montreal Screwjob, Owen's death, his thoughts on the next generation of Harts in wrestling and more!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwf-torontos-maple-leaf-gardens-4-21-85/ The WWF presents one of their best tag team matches of the era as Ricky Steamboat and Tito Santana combine to battle Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. World Champion Hulk Hogan faces Paul Orndorff, who finds himself in a moral crisis. The undercard is full of a healthy dose of bad matches (Ivan Putski), inane commentary, steroids and Bret Hart trying to steal the show while tangling with George Wells.

Bunkhouse Stampede was a good episode. Tony had talking points for most of the discussions and the length was manageable.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-alibis-rick-steiner-shoot-interview/ Rick Steiner covers his days as an NCAA wrestler, how Verne Gagne and George Steele brought him into wrestling, the Olympian who was meant to be Steiner's first tag team partner, Scott Steiner's rampage in the CNN towers, shooting with other pro wrestlers who had legit backgrounds, performing dangerous ribs while driving town to town, the Steiners failed WWF run, getting heat for abusing a midget, beating up Konnan in WCW, Rick and Meng fighting marines in a bar, Bill Watts roughing up his talent, how his TNA run convinced him to retire and more!!

The tape is buried, Sheik doesn't make it out of the Garden with the title, Verne is sued/arrested since Sheik would rat him out, Vince would have picked up even more of Verne's talent out of spite, Hogan would be back by summer - still huge and full of charisma and Sheik enjoys financial ruin after he is black balled by most promoters for being untrustworthy in the hands of their talent. WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - January 23, 1984 (26,292 which included 4,000 at Felt Forum) Televised on the MSG Network - included Gorilla Monsoon & Pat Patterson on commentary; a young Chris Kanyon was in attendance; featured Gene Okerlund conducting a backstage interview with the new WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan regarding his title win, during which Andre the Giant appeared to celebrate and poured champagne over Hogan's head, with Ivan Putski and WWF Tag Team Champion Rocky Johnson appearing moments later; included Okerlund conducting a backstage interview with Hogan's parents Ruth and Pete about Hogan's title win: Tony Garea pinned Jose Luis Rivera at 6:46 by reversing a crossbody into a cover The Invaders fought Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee to a 20-minute time-limit draw at 20:23 The Masked Superstar pinned Chief Jay Strongbow at 7:26 with a clothesline Sgt. Slaughter defeated Ivan Putski via count-out at 11:29 when Putski knocked Slaughter back in the ring as both men were brawling on the floor; after the bout, Putski continued to attack Slaughter, not realizing the match was over Paul Orndorff (w/ Roddy Piper) pinned Salvatore Bellomo with a powerslam and the piledriver at 14:06 (Orndorff's MSG debut) (Piper's MSG return after nearly a 5-year absence) (The Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s) WWF IC Champion Don Muraco (w/ Capt. Lou Albano) fought Tito Santana to a double disqualification at 16:03 when both men continually ignored the referee's instructions The Haiti Kid & Tiger Jackson defeated Dana Carpenter & Pancho Boy in a Best 2 out of 3 falls bout, 2-0; fall #1: Jackson pinned Pancho with a sunset flip at 5:18; fall #2: Haiti pinned Carpenter at 1:35, with the referee seemingly not realizing it was the finish as he hesitated during the pinfall Hulk Hogan (sub. for Bob Backlund) pinned WWF World Champion the Iron Sheik

According to my baby book, I may have held out until I was nearly 3. "Loves wrestling and can name many guys. Especially likes Hulk Hogan, JYD and Hillbilly Jim" On topic, I can never shake my image as Al Perez being a much bigger deal than he really was due to my memories of him being the champ in WCCW around the time I had the cognition to remember such things.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-march-1985-part-3/ Part 3 of our look back at the wrestling world in March 1985 sees Bruiser Brody creating waves in Japan, an MMA legend debuts as a teenage pro wrestler, Memphis brings in the AWA champ - just not the one who happens to be legally holding the title, The Freebirds turn heel during an infamous angle in Florida, Gary Hart and Chris Adams have a falling out in Texas, Fritz teases expansion, a Hercules backstage brawl story, subterfuge in San Antonio sees Joe Blanchard lose his promotion, an arson nearly sees a promoter arrested, WTBS becomes a wrestling hub with the fate of the nation's wrestling landscape in the balance, Bill Watts threatens to book the Road Warriors with shooters if they don't listen, Dusty plots a closed circuit counterstrike to Wrestlemania, domestic violence gets a big pop, plus more news, notes and results!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-lies-and-alibis-tully-j-j-and-magnum-discuss-the-horseman-era/ Magnum TA, JJ Dillon and Tully Blanchard discuss their memories of the Four Horsemen's legendary first run in JCP. Topics include how the men kept their egos in check while working in a group atmosphere, party life, Dusty Rhodes' booking, Blanchard and Magnum's wars, the car wreck that ended Magnum's career, the exodus of Horsemen members to the WWF in 1988/89, and more!

Tony's seemingly realistic orgasmic moan when Madusa's breasts appeared at Starcade 99 made me a bit uncomfortable. Had it been a comical "UHHHHHHH" instead of a gasp and light moan, I think I wouldn't have been as creeped out. Conrad then egged him on by using his bedroom voice and asking Tony how large he thinks they were.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-march-1985-part-2/ Part 2 of our look into March 1985 sees the AWA stars bomb in St. Louis, 2 legendary sports broadcasters call the action for a special WWF radio broadcast, Harley Race has a falling out with his business partners, Jim Crockett and Ole Anderson invade the WWF's territory with Vince's former stars, the story of the wrestler who sued a promoter over payoffs, the Road Warriors get physical with fans during a TV taping, Pro Wrestling USA runs a mess of a TV taping as the wrestler's feuds are unclear and WWF angles are pushed, Baltimore fans are treated to a card loaded with JCP and AWA talent, plus more news, notes and results!

If this is supposed to be real time, he's pushing a ton of guys who have next to no experience (Steiner/Foley/Spivey/Hall/Diamond/Tanaka) and running a ton of ethnic babyfaces in the mid-west. I enjoy fantasy booking myself, but this all looks way off base.

Conrad is warning people away from the Edge show over at the BOARD. Nothing new to learn + way long.

Any suggestions on what to do with a balding, aging, yet solid worker if not this wrestlecrap? This might be remembered more fondly if Steamboat would have stuck it out for their feud.

Regal just spoke of this on Twitter. The match was called on the fly as Regal had just arrived 15 mins before heading to the ring due to travel issues. He put Psicosis over big.

What is this!? Mooney is gone from WWF at this point, Gorilla is "Bob" and Heenan comes in as a guest in spite being in WCW at the time. Crazy!

I've always been of the opinion that Luger barely bleeding made the call to end the match from blood all the more properly controversial. I wonder if Luger had been bleeding buckets if the Superclash main event would have been booked differently?