BruiserBrody

I don't really like the following from the perception of Mania being the big show of the year and all, but I felt at the time that the angle should have gone like this: Rock kicks out of the stunner and ultimately beats Austin at Mania, proving to be the better man and denying Austin his goal of being champ post neck surgery. The next night Vince opens the show with Rock and announces an instant rematch, which Rock and JR both point out is odd since Vince hates Austin. Then the desperate Austin beats Rock at the end of the night due to Vince's interference. HHH then comes out on stage as a closing shot to start the build to the Two man power trip.

Welcome back! Though I'm currently getting a "bandwidth exceeded" error when I click on it, I look forward to catching it eventually. Have missed the reviews! Side tracked with other writing projects. I'll try to do a shoot review every few weeks. We are switching servers soon to try and rid ourselves of our bandwidth/hacking issues.

Keith's Super Sunday review he just released... --- Clawmaster's record has the two facing off only sporadically before Super Sunday, and then afterwards Hogan went away until Aug. He then spent most of his time with Saito and Schultz, then in November he won a bunch of number one contender battle royals to set up matches that never came to pass.

The Embalming sounds like something I need to see!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/kayfabe-larry-zbyszko/ Larry Zbyszko covers how he broke in the business, why he turned on Bruno, holding up the McMahons for huge paydays, Verne Gagne creating the NWO, Larry's martial arts prowess creating concern among promoters that he'd shoot on their champions, what Mr. Perfect stole from him, heat with Jericho, nearly becoming a Smackdown announcer, how he helped Bruno get into the WWE HOF, and more!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-brawl-to-end-it-all/#.V9qzAJgrLIU The "Brawl to End it All" sees the WWF present the much hyped Wendi Richter vs. Fabulous Moolah grudge match live on MTV. Other bouts include a hard hitting World title match between champion Hulk Hogan and challenger Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, plus Tito Santana grapples with Bob Orton Jr. in a fantastic clash of technical greats, World tag champions Adonis and Murdoch attempt to upend Sgt. Slaughter and Pvt. Daniels in a fast paced battle, Antonio Inoki defends his Martial Arts title, twenty men clash in a battle royal, and other stars such as Paul Orndorff and Bob Backlund compete in singles action!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwf-meadowlands-71584/#.V9PfQZgrLIV One half of a double main event from the Meadowlands sees Hulk Hogan team with the massive Andre the Giant to tackle Dick Murdoch, Adrian Adonis and Big John Studd in a handicap match. The other half sees a bloody brawl between Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka. Mil Mascaras and Paul Orndorff also take part in under card action. Gorilla Monsoon provides the hyperbolic commentary, with some real whoppers along the way.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-day-july-1984/#.V8l6qpgrLIU July 1984: MSG is the site of the MTV special "The Brawl to End it All" with Cyndi Lauper giving the WWF her rub. The AWA loses yet another top guy to the WWF, A WWF Champion works for Verne Gagne in St. Louis, BLACK SATURDAY, the AWA focuses on several new feuds to try and bolster business, A long time heel hears cheers in Florida, JYD works his Superdome magic once again, Jerry Jarrett out duels McMahon, A ref headlines a WCCW card, a wrestler dies under mysterious circumstances, Jim Crockett is accused of being a racist, plus much more news and results!!

Keith scoffed at the idea that Blackwell was the AWA's top face from mid 84-87 in today's review

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-june-1984/#.V8FWUpgrLIU June of 1984 saw Cyndi Lauper and Capt. Lou set up an battle for MTV, another major AWA stars defects to the WWF, JCP invades the WWF area with weak cards, St Louis has a oddball six-man match, GCW and WWF face off with stacked cards in Baltimore, Vince invades Minnesota with Verne's talent, A WWF champion appears on an AWA show, Mike Von Erich beats Ric Flair, Hogan and the WWF charges into Memphis to try and take down Jerry Jarrett - Memphis responds with a loaded show, Mid-South draws a big house for the latest Superdome event, Florida puts on a mega show to decide the "Lord of the Ring", JCP sees a beloved face turn to the dark side, plus the debut of rookie who would headline events for the next several years. Plus much more news and results from around the wrestling world!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-history-may-1984/#.V7f1tJgrLIU May 84 sees Cyndi Lauper getting into it with Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan is rumored to retire to star in a new TV vehicle, A WWF star begins the month as a champion and ends the month quitting, another AWA star defects to Vince, a riot breaks out in St Louis, the mighty Road Warriors suffer a rare loss, the NWA and AWA World titles change hands, Brody wins friends by missing TV tapings, WCCW held it's biggest show ever, Jim Neidhart caused chaos in Memphis, the Brisco Brothers fear they may be forced into a shoot, Crockett runs a big show in Vince's backyard and much more!

http://culturecrossfire.com/etc/wrasslin-april-1984/#.V5ttSLgrLIU One of my favorite months to review so far includes the kick start of the Rock n' Wrestling angle, Bill Watts returns to the ring for the "Last Stampede", two of the AWA's top heels are arrested after a melee with the cops, the seeds for "Black Saturday" are sown as Vince McMahon buys GCW, Japan changes wrestling forever by starting up a quasi shoot promotion, plus lots more news and results from around the Wrasslin' world in April of 1984!!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-march-1984/#.V5DigrgrLIU The WWF vs the World continues as the non-WWF promoters plot their counter attack known as "Pro Wrestling USA", the NWA title changes hands, Jerry Lawler teams with a long time enemy, the hottest Mid-South angle in years kicks off "The Last Stampede", the AWA and GCW both manage to lose television ground to Vince, some famous Piper's Pit interviews air, a shoot fighter wins a WWF title, the AWA draws big crowds as they load their cards with legends, Montreal delivers a local dream match and much more!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/david-von-erich-death/#.V4egX7grLIU February of 1984 was a game changer. WCCW lost one it's crown jewels as David Von Erich died tragically while in Japan, Vince McMahon has the rest of the world scared as rumors of a global expansion creates paranoia, an all-time legendary heel debuts in JCP, The Boogie Woogie Man visits a prostitute, Andre loses a battle royal in a shocker, The AWA asks a top heel to take Hogan's spot, the biggest star in the history of Mexico dies, several huge title changes happen, plus tons of others news, notes and results!!

He and Duggan might be fun but his brawl and blade style was ill fitting for the WWF.

I'm not sure it would have drawn any better, but that is a real solid line up. I'm kind of surprised some of the other AWA talent that was floating about weren't booked on the real card,

Regarding the WGN/AWA talk: Maybe this is a whole different situation but the WON in Spring of 87 says: Super Clash 2 in San Fran drew 2800 fans about half of what was expected. In the previous months Salt Lake City drew 6500 and San Fran drew a 9000 house for a battle royal. They even drew 4500 in St Paul whole going head to head with Hogan and the WWF. This new found revival led to talks of starting an office on the West Coast which Wahoo and Ray Stevens would book. Verne and Greg would handle the Midwest. The Tribune Media group, WGN and Chicago Cubs were being rumored to be investing in the AWA and talk of lower card guys getting 60K downsides began flying around. By the beginning of summer all the plans came apart.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwf-hogan-beats-sheik/#.V35xWLgrLIU Hulkamania is born in the WWF as the Hulkster collides with the Iron Sheik, plus Tito Santana takes focus on IC champ Don Muraco, Roddy Piper does some excellent heel work with Paul Orndorff, Andre takes part in a six-man, plus Slaughter, the Masked Superstar, Jimmy Snuka and others take part in undercard action.

Being booked to win the US title doesn't mean he got over to that degree. By that point those titles meant about as much as today's WWE secondary titles. The damage had been done.

So the rest of the Inoki/Ali Mystery Titans Theater was never released?

Found a newish All-Japan channel with a bunch of odd matches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb8LVLQrDwM Harley Race and Crusher Blackwell vs. Tiger Jeet Singh and the One Man Gang https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msmHz2gvU9U Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell vs. Dory Funk Jr and Kerry Von Erich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY2CFuYm2xQ A masked duo of Star Wars rip off gimmicks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EniaqW0Mbs Gorilla Monsoon in a Judo challenge

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wwf-philly-spectrum-12183/#.V3UyirgrLIU A busy month sees McMahon's take over start to rattle the Orient as rumors of a Japanese legend jumping ship has Baba and Inoki in fits, The Hot Rod enters the WWF, An AWA vs. NWA World title unification is teased on TV, A wrestling Hall of Famer makes a very special appearance at the Super Bowl, NWA Champ Ric Flair is pinned on TV to set up the next big heel in JCP, a "rookie" is given a major push and put over a former WWWF champ, Buzz Sawyer is fired after abusing his booking power, a major star holds Verne Gagne up over his push, Jimmy Hart cuts a classless promo in Memphis, a former Olympian assaults a pregnant fan and many other news and notes. A full rundown of the WWF's Philly house show from January 1984 closes out the article.

Got the book coming in the mail. Looking forward to the podcast/MTT.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-iron-sheik-beats-backlund/#.V25bR7grLIV December of 1983 sees the retirement of an all time great, the return of a WWWF champion to JCP, Dick Slater becomes Crockett's top heel in the aftershock of Starrcade, Bob Backlund makes his final successful title defenses, the WWF invades St. Louis and brings out the big guns, Hogan and Flair both take part in mega matches in the Orient, Santa Claus turns heel in WCCW, the AWA adapts to life without Hogan, Macho Man disrupts a live Memphis TV taping, and a ton of other news and notes... Plus a look at the full card from the December MSG show...

This is apparently the final AWA show (circa November of 1990) before they switched to an all-classic bout format. - We get a Verne Gagne and Nick Bockwinkel in studio voice over from one of their past matches. - The show starts by talking about how this is now season 40 of the AWA, which leads to a depressing series of bumpers that show all the big stars the AWA had and lost over the years. - A few squash matches with Greg Gagne and Bischoff over dubbing new commentary - A special feature on Larry Zybysko