BruiserBrody

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-best-of-memphis-wrestling-volume-4/ The Best of Memphis Wrasslin Vol. 4 - Monster heels sing the music of their homeland. - Bill Dundee's ego shows through as he beats up multiple babyfaces by himself. - Jerry Lawler wins a squash in a most amusing manner. - Memphis becomes a hot territory as The Flame, The Torch, The Inferno and Fire all make appearances. - Tojo Yamamoto sets back race relations 50 years with his promos. - Promoter Eddie Marlin is busted up while trying to get involved in a battle between Jeff Jarrett, Pat Tanaka and Tojo's hired goons. - We close with a bonus six man match from JCP where the JYD partners with an ex-football player, and a notoriously awful worker to face off with a former world champ, a crippled manager and a resthold loving Oriental assassin! Can it be as bad as it sounds?

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-in-the-day-cwfs-battle-of-the-belts/ CWF's Battle of the Belts 1!! - Wahoo McDaniel defies his age as he battles NWA champ Ric Flair in a 3 Fall fight for the gold. - The Road Warriors have a FIGHT on their hands as they match up with Stan Hansen and Harley Race! - AWA Champ Rick Martel fails to appear, leading to a poor replacement taking his spot against Nick Bockwinkel - Cocoa Samoa's crazy life outside of wrestling proves to be more entertaining than his match. - Rookie sensation Kendall Windham struggles with a jabroni. - Percy Pringle does his best to entertain us in lieu of the action in the ring. - A raw Rick Rude shows his potential as he grapples with Billy Jack Haynes.

Interesting nugget in this week's Drive-Thru: WWE doesn't pay royalties on NWA footage to the guys for DVDs.

AWA World tag team champions Hawk and Animal (The Road Warriors) vs. Harley Race and Stan Hansen This is an AWESOME match on paper. The heels come down to the Olympics theme. Race and Hansen jump the Warriors in the aisle and the FIGHT is on. Hansen drags Animal into the crowd. Race uses the bull rope to choke Hawk. Race and Hansen both claw Hawk in the eyes to start the action in the ring. Hawk no sells a head butt from Race. The match turns into a four way brawl once more. Hansen and Hawk fight into the stands as chairs fly. BEEF. MUSCLES. REAL MEN! WRASSLIN’! The heels take turns working over Hawk back in the ring. Hansen appears to have dead weighted Hawk on a slam. Hawk struggled to execute the move as if he was trying to pick up Andre the Giant. Animal tries to slow things down as he locks Hansen in an arm bar. Another four-way skirmish breaks out briefly. Hansen suplexes Hawk as the battle of alphas continues. Hawk grabs Race by the throat, picks him up and tosses him backwards. Race isn’t used to being ragdolled. Hansen gets back in and piledrives Hawk. Hawk doesn’t dare to no sell that! Race and Animal slow things down a bit as Animal again tries a bit of arm work. Race no sells some head butts from Hawk. This leads to another four-way brawl and everyone is counted out at the ten-minute mark. As the chaos continues, CWF decides to go to commercial. NOOOOOOO! When they come back, the Warriors are using chairs to try and subdue their opponents. Animal wraps Hansen’s bull rope around his neck as they fight in the aisle. We cut away from the fight for a promo from Ric Flair. This is perhaps the first time I have ever been disappointed to hear Flair speak. I loved seeing the Warriors in a situation where they were paired against men who were as crazed and tough as the Warriors themselves were. This was a fun, wild brawl!

The Portland -cast or whatever it is called on F4W

http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com/ KC is going all digital. 5 dollar DVD fire sale ongoing to eliminate stock.

The AEW review ends with the Bucks match because Jim was tired. He didn't bother watching Jericho/Page. Mind you he DVR'd the show and was watching it Sunday. Highlight #2 was Brian and Jim doing an ad for NFL betting without having a clue about how it works or who would be a good bet to make. Glorious trainwreck radio. Minor highlight #3 was Jim's exasperation about his TV not having an HDMI port and what he would need one for.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-in-the-day-wwf-maple-leaf-gardens-9-23-85/ The WWF at Maple Leaf Garden Sept. 1985 - A multi time champion from the Florida territory wallows in the prelims upon his debut - Dino Bravo cosplays as 1991 Jacques Rougeau - King Kong Bundy tangles with someone less mobile than he is. - The Killer Bee's had theme music?!?!?! - Ricky Steamboat shows great fire as he tears into Don Muraco in a Lumberjack match. - Haku continues to be a poor babyface. - Uncle Elmer proves to be the worst worker on the show. - Lanny Poffo showcases his abilities as he grapples with "Cowboy" Bob Orton - Jesse Ventura proves to be popular with the fans, even though he is challenging IC champ "Chico" Santana.

I tried to watch the TNT teaser show with an open mind as perhaps a first time viewer. I am torn on the use of Moxley, Cody and Jericho. I can see people getting a TNA-lite feel from them as former WWE talent are pushed to the top. The same thing goes for million year old JR, and Schiavone. Plus we got cameos from Billy Gunn and Dustin. Hangman Page and Kenny Omega are visually similar. One or the other might want to alter their look a bit to help a new fan differentiate. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MrnNea1zfvg/maxresdefault.jpg The Young Bucks continue to look like geeks. The muscle poses (with no bodies) and awkward promos, combined with a Hardy Boyz vibe just doesn't work for me. I think one issue for me is I grew up during an era of bulky fighters, where as a younger fan has come up in a world where MMA has shown us even the small guys are tough and talented. It is a disconnect I have yet to recover from. Shawn Spears and Tully owned this show. Realistic promos building to a match with an effective background and build. Cody learned from his Dad to write the show to build up his angle as much as possible as Cody/Spears had multiple segments split up throughout. They built Jericho up strong. Page almost has to win the title now based on the build. I don't think Jericho should be saying he has almost 29 years in the business. He keeps his look fresh, so he doesn't feel stale. Exposing his patina doesn't really aid his cause.

Winson is always worth a download!

I made it 20 mins or so in the Punk ep. I wasn't gripped to hear more, even as a Punk fan.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-in-the-day-wwf-boston-garden-9-7-1985/ WWF at the Boston Garden 9/7/85 - Lanny Poffo offers new tricks on wrestling physics - Cpl. Kirschner defends America against the evil forces of the Swamp People. - King Kong Bundy cosplays as Dracula. - Gorilla Monsoon finally finds a wrestler who can apply a proper abdominal stretch! - Monsoon always offers up why women are inferior athletes - Haku makes an uninspired debut - A rather terrible card if your looking for competitive bouts as Hogan defending against Bundy is far and away the most notable encounter - Greg Valentine has to try and do the wrestling for 5 other guys in the co-main event as he is saddled with old guys and Beefcake.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/from-the-wwe-network-smackem-whackem/ SMACK'EM WHACK'EM - Lord Al hosts with the Bushwackers. This ends in his Lordship's untimely death. Uh, Spoiler alert. - The Hitman and HBK have an excellent ladder match - Bret Hart facing Ric Flair proves to be a letdown as two of the best ever cannot gel in the ring. - KAMALA works a much different, but somehow better match with Hart. Yeah, probably not a popular opinion. - We spend 10 minutes watching Yokozuna eat. That is not a metaphor. - Crush and the Berzerker fulfil our daily requirement of HOSS. - Earthquake and the Repo Man have a pointless, terrible little match. - The Undertaker does his best zombie monster act as he battle Razor Ramon in a rare encounter between the two stars.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/awa-wrestling-on-espn-9-3-1985/ With the AWA entering the national (cable) TV world on ESPN, I felt it would be interesting to look at an early episode and breakdown what they did right and wrong in their bid to compete with the WWF and JCP. - One of the AWA announcers is larger than the main event talents. - How long is too long for a squash match? - A future creepy criminal covets a championship - A villian straight off of headlining some WWF shows makes his AWA return - The worst Road Warriors music video ever! - Hawk and Animal, now babyfaces, cut a heel promo. - Champions who are booked don't even bother to show up for a National TV taping. - A top heel is shown being beaten clean. - Future ECW and WWF talents find work as jabronis. - Rick Martel has a big time title defense against Terry Gordy~! - The Freebirds act is neutered by editing choices.

I hope Summerslam 09 is a dark horse because when it popped up as today's episode I couldn't name a single match. I looked up the line up and realized why.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/from-the-wwe-network-the-hulkster-hulk-hogan/ We take a look back at the early days of HULKAMANIA in the WWF as our hero battles Brutus Beefcake, Don Muraco, and the Iron Sheik - Vince McMahon actually manages to make Hogan's title run seem less impressive while trying to put him over - Hogan works in a comedy spot fit for the 3 Stooges while in the middle of a bloodbath with the Sheik Since the Hogan video was short I decided to check out some Harley Race material the Network released upon his recent passing: - Andre the Giant, at the peak of his run as a monster heel, plots with a man cosplaying as a King along with a French artist to plunder the body of Napoleon from his tomb. - Something much different comes next as we see the build to NWA champ Harley Race fighting WWWF champ Superstar Billy Graham - Gordon Solie indulges in his vices in front of the world at a press conference - The warriors cut a face to face promo, with Race putting over his rugged, bad ass attitude, while Graham hypes up his body. Race's response to that is priceless. - 10 minutes of the bloody, war of attrition is then shown.

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-best-of-memphis-wrestling-volume-3/ Volume 3 in the best of Memphis 1986 sees.... - Jeff Jarrett goes from teenage ref to Memphis headliner after one intense angle with his Daddy and some top heels. - Lance Russell is AMAZING in getting this angle over. - The MOD Squad have a dull squash, so I amuse myself with dream 80's movie star tag teams - A cutie heart throb learns how to fight from an ugly old man. - Joe MOTHER F'N LeDuc kicks some butt! - Dimestore Jim Cornette screws things up for his team - My new favorite wrestler of the week, Red Reese is in action - Steroid freaks learn that boots can hurt more than muscles. - Plus promos for a famous Texas Death Match that I hope in this collection somewhere!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-in-the-day-august-1985-part-3/ Wrapping up August of 1985 in the world of wrasslin' - Jerry Lawler struggles to find a partner to battle the Freebirds, leading him to make a deal with the devil - A new monster heel arrives in Memphis. 30 years later and his identity still creates confusion online. - A Playboy seeks to make the Florida mat wars a bit more interesting. - Ric Flair goes racist to build up his title defense against Butch Reed at the Superdome - A legend is forced to leave his beloved home. Can the new masked man in town shed some light on how to save the day? - A movie monster reject destroys Dick Murdoch on TV. - Mike Von Erich endures Toxic Shock after surgery, beginning one of the saddest wrestling stories of the 80's - Inoki finds a new partner to loan talent from - Jim Crockett makes moves to insulate power in the NWA for himself. - A controversial figure who battled being blackballed from the business decides to retire instead of toiling away - Plus more news, notes and results~!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-best-of-memphis-wrestling-86-volume-2/ - With Jerry Lawler away, the heels run amok - Koko Ware mauls a jobber during an infamous squash outing - A new foreigner invades the area to play off the jingoism of Reagan's America - We are teased with a new gimmick "THE THUNDERDOME" - An injury angle shows off just how poor the Memphis area medical care was - We see rip off gimmicks of Thunderbolt Patterson and Dusty Rhodes, as the promoters try and find something that will work - A broken ring helps expose the business - Jobber gimmick infringement! - If your a fan of Bill Dundee, this is your video as he dominates the Memphis scene with the King elsewhere

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/the-best-of-memphis-wrestling-1986-volume-1/ - With Jerry Lawler gone, Bill Dundee and Buddy Landel rule the roost in Memphis - The rise and fall of the Bill and Buddy show! - A GIANT FAT MAN takes over as the top babyface for a week. I am in love. - Bookerman Dundee drives some gimmick matches into the ground. - A Jim Cornette rip off brings in some mall cops to win him glory. - The Fantastics know big girls need lovin' too. - Lawler's "Best of" VHS tape in promoted in a unique manner - The rookie Blade Runners prove to be fueled on steroids and...cake. - Memphis Wrasslin' Fun!

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/memphis-wrasslin-uswa-presents-raw-footage/ This Best of Memphis Wrasslin' on Amazon Prime features the WWF's invasion during the early 1990s. - Lex Luger comes out as a dime store version of his own gimmick - Jerry Lawler promises to fight Steroids with Fire - HBK heads down south for a dandy little match with Double J - The WWF World champ is beaten by Lawler in a result that may have annoyed Vince McMahon - A royal couple reunite in a much different setting. - Sherri Martel drops some casual racism - Scott Levy changes gimmicks mid promo - Papa Shango looks like a true monster heel in the Memphis setting

http://culturecrossfire.com/wrestling/wrasslin-back-in-the-day-august-1985-part-2/ - The AWA loses their top crossover media star, just as they are to embark on national TV - Politics are put aside as World Class and the AWA share some talent - Money arguments cause a change in the Twin Cities' AWA main event - A future convict appears on both AWA and WWF house shows - A Boston TV special is marred by some of the worst commentary in history. - NWA champ Ric Flair takes on some of the AWA's top talents as he ventures away from JCP - Jim Crockett is physically threatened in the locker room as a business deal goes south - Stan Hansen finds a new ally in Japan - A monster from Outer Space invades New Japan. - Paul Heyman promotes his first wrestling event, where he somehow managed to book some of America's biggest wrestling stars to appear at.

Good stuff, but bookerman Wahoo should have accepted his own limitations and not tried to go so long.

This was from the first ESPN taping in late August. AWA World champion Rick Martel vs. Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy The Freebirds entrance is not shown, and Martel is already in the ring as well. Eliminating the "Freebird" music and Hayes' schtick sort of removes the aura of the squad for anyone seeing them for the first time. The pageantry would have seriously overshadowed Rick Martel though. Gordy bumps around well for the significantly smaller champion. Gordy is trapped in a head scissors and bridges himself up and over onto Martel in an impressive moment. Gordy is working pretty cleanly in the early going, perhaps trying to tell the story of resisting his dark side to avoid a DQ in this major title opportunity. Over five minutes in and Gordy is still mostly having a reactive fight, with Martel controlling the pace with moves designed to ground the beast. Gordy finally drops Martel with a nice looking back suplex to take advantage. Gordy follows that out with a snap suplex, which also looked beautiful. A side slam drives Martel into the mat. Gordy then switches up to wear down holds intermingled with multiple more side slams. The ring announcer declares we have one minute left. Instead of Gordy using this as a sign to push for the win, Martel flips out of a side slam attempt and delivers a number of dropkicks and other moves as he fires up. A suplex to the big man comes too late as time expires. The Freebirds apparently run in for a beat down, but this tape of the match cuts this off. Martel challenges the Freebirds to a tag team match in the future, then Verne Gagne has to close the show talking about how he wishes he could still get in the ring but is admittedly too damn old.