What are you watching?

[Ricky Jackson]

20 hours ago, Brynn said:

If anyone has any recommendations as to what to check out for Stampede and where to find it, let me know!

Stampede is of course notorious for clipped matches, so match recommendations aren't really the way to go. I grew up on 1986-89 Stampede, so if you can find a good run of full shows from then, especially 86-87, you should have a fun time.

You've probably come across this, but if not this playlist has a good sampling of full shows, although frustratingly not in chronological order

 

[Brynn]

6 hours ago, Ricky Jackson said:

Stampede is of course notorious for clipped matches, so match recommendations aren't really the way to go. I grew up on 1986-89 Stampede, so if you can find a good run of full shows from then, especially 86-87, you should have a fun time.

You've probably come across this, but if not this playlist has a good sampling of full shows, although frustratingly not in chronological order

 

Thanks! Yep, I came across that playlist the other day!

I started with the 1/1/88 episode (not sure why I randomly picked that one) and rather enjoyed it. It was nice and easy to watch and the action was pretty good. I'll check out some of the 86/87 stuff based on your recommendation and go from there.

[strobogo]

Those last 2-3 years of Stampede are far more rematch heavy than modern WWE. There has to be 50 Owen vs Great Gama or Makhan Singh matches.

[southofheavy]

I had disc 6 of the Portland set on while I worked from home today. 

That angle where Dynamite turns on Buddy is so awesome. 

[Brynn]

Stampede 1/16/87
Cuban Assassin & Viet Cong Express #1 vs. Ken Johnson & Jeff Wheeler
Kerry Brown vs. Ron Ritchie
Ted Arcidi & Duke Myers vs. Bill Kazmaier & Mr. Ito
Great Gama vs. Ben Bassarab
North American Title: Mukhan Singh [c] vs. Owen Hart

First thing I noticed on about Stampede is that it has this down-home folksy charm to it, right down to Ed Whalen and Jim Davies on commentary. The matches were all joined in progress but that's fine with me. The angles and what not are the important thing. There's this heel manager in the first match named Zhivago or something like that and he's carrying around a "martial arts stick" as Davies called it. In modern terms, it's known as a kendo stick. After the match, Cong and Cuban just beat the daylights out of poor Wheeler with the kendo stick while he's draped over the ropes. The two singles matches (Brown vs. Ritchie and Gama vs. Bassarab) were fine, nothing really stood out to me worth mentioning. Seeing Arcidi in Stampede after his WWF run and less than a year removed from his WrestleMania 2 appearance is really weird. And here he's feuding with Bill Kazmaier, who's only a few years away from joining WCW and carrying a giant globe on his back. The whole deal here was Arcidi and Kazmaier will eventually tangle one-on-one but they seem to be avoiding each other. Not really sure who's the heel and face based on the promos. The title match was fine but the bigger deal here is Singh. For those who only know him as Trucker Norm/Norman the Lunatic from WCW and Friar Ferguson/Bastion Booger from WWF, you should really see this. He's a great heel and is just constantly pissing off Ed Whalen and the Harts. The in-ring work is really good too where he's bouncing around and not afraid to use his size to his advantage on offense. Show ends with Whalen telling someone (can't remember if it's Singh or Great Gama) "I don't want to talk to you no more!" and then issuing his customary sign off.

[TheDuke]

Martial Arts Stick is a fun name for a Kendo stick, makes it sound like something out of Karate Kid. I am not a big ECW fan but I always loved a Kendo stick being called a "Singapore Cane". It sounds more dangerous to me that way.

[Brynn]

Watched the Impact/Wrestling Revolver “Tales From the Ring 3” show from 2019 on Impact Plus. Had a lot of random people on there like Ace Austin, 1 Called Manders, Rich Swann, Brian Cage, Jessica Havok, Lance Archer and Manscout Jake Manning among others. The main event was an “Iowa Street Fight” between Sami Callihan and Tessa Blanchard. It wasn’t good but I did like some of the Halloween props being used in it. There was also some weird stuff with Jake Manning feuding with a camping tent? Anyway, it was an ok show but nothing I’d really go back and watch again. 

I should note that I was inspired to watch the 2019 show because I went to the Wrestling Revolver show in Dayton last night. I definintely recommend checking out the Speedball vs. Moxley match. Crowd went nuts for both guys and just ate everything up. Speedball took some wild shots from Mox and there was a crowd brawl where Speedball moonsaulted off a speaker. Rich Swann vs. Jordan Oliver also tore the house down and had the crowd going absolutely crazy over how good it was. Definintely worth ordering the replay on FITE for those two matches alone.

[Johnny Sorrow]

The "Manscout "Jake Manning has been one of my favorite indy guys since the first time I saw him. It might be the best gimmick ever. It helps that my gym teacher from K-8 was named Jake Manning and he was a REAL piece of shit.

[Brynn]

Watched the IWA Mid South 2015 Queen of the Deathmatch tournament. That was … really … weird. The setting was like a backyard show, with houses in the background of the hard camera shot and the ring set up in the parking lot of the American Legion hall. The matches were not good. The only two people I actually kind of liked in the tournament were Sage Sin Supreme and Sabrina Sixx and neither made the finals. The non-tournament match with Bryant Woods against Green Phantom (or Green “Phanthom” as it was spelled on the lower third) was probably the best match.

[Champagne]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:57 AM, Brynn said:

There's this heel manager in the first match named Zhivago or something like that...

"Drago Zhivago," which I'm guessing is another name from the mind of Bruce Hart. I grew up on this era of Stampede Wrestling (my display name is a nod to Champagne Gerry Morrow) and, as others have already pointed out, really anything from the 87-89 time period is worth checking out. I particularly enjoy the whole Jason the Terrible-Zodiac saga.

Personally, I've started watching what little there is of Billy Jack Haynes' short-lived Oregon Wrestling Federation. It's an interesting crew on paper—Billy Jack, Kevin Kelly (Nailz), Johnny Ace, Cpl. Kirchner, Hercules Haggerty (Fred Ottman), Ricky Santana, Rip Oliver, Mike Miller, JT Southern, Terminator, Brian Adams, Cocoa Samoa, Blackstud Williams (Ray Candy), Tiger Chung Lee, Bill Alfonso, Tom Magee, Steve Gatorwolf.

[Brynn]

Queen of the Deathmatch 2007

To start the show Ian Rotten gets on the microphone and says "there's only like 50 of you here so please make some noise because these girls are gonna beat the shit out of each other". The whole tournament was a weird round robin deal and I liked the way it was set up with the ongoing story of a possible Mickie Knuckles vs Lufisto finals. There was one match were I just thought Mickie Knuckles was going to absolutely murder this poor girl named BB Walls. It was several minutes of Mickie beating the hell out of BB with stiff punches and every weapon she had at her disposal. My one complaint with the show is that the ropes were wrapped in barbed wire for every match, which eliminated the possibility of running the ropes at all. The finals were as expected with Mickie vs Lufisto and it was quite good, although by that point everyone was exhausted and the two competitors were beat up and covered in blood. Fun show though. 

[Brynn]

 

SMASH Wrestling Super Showdown VI

Watched this the other day after sampling some SMASH stuff on Impact Plus (namely the Rosemary vs. Allie No Holds Barred match). The whole show is pretty fun but there's two matches on there that are really, really good. First is the opening match, a last man standing match between Sebastian Suave and Tarik. Just an absolute emotionally charged bloodbath. The whole story is built upon the fact that Tarik "can't win the big one" and constantly comes up short, with Suave's manager Anthony Kingdom James pretty much calling Tarik and insult to this family because of this. There's weapons, there's a ton of blood and it's an absolute knock-down, drag out fight.

The other match worth checking out is the Tables, Ladder and Boxes match between Well Oiled Machines (Pepper Parks (aka The Blade) and "Psycho" Mike Rollins) vs. The SSB (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson). It's a really fun and unique twist on the tables, ladder and chairs match. The boxes are wrapped up and could be anything. There's some fun and goofy spots, wild bumps and just an overall crazy match.

This definitely has me wanting to check out a lot more from SMASH. Looks like there's a bunch of free shows and matches on their YouTube channel and a bunch of their TV on Impact Plus. Anyone have any other recommendations about what to check out from SMASH?

[Mr JMML]

Watching my favourite territory 

 

1981 Memphis

Jerry Lawler vs Crusher Blackwell
Ricky Morton & Eddie Gilbert vs. Masa Fuchi & Atsushi Onita
Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk No DQ
Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk Empty Arena

1982 Memphis

Bill Dundee vs Sweet Brown Sugar ⅔ Falls Scaffold Match
Jerry Lawler vs Nick Bockwinkel 11/8
Jerry Lawler vs Nick Bockwinkel 10/18
Jerry Lawler vs Nick Bockwinkel 10/25
Jerry Lawler vs Ric Flair 8/14
Jerry Lawler vs Andy Kaufmann 4/5
Jerry Lawler vs Dutch Mantell 3/22
Jerry Lawler vs Dutch Mantell 3/29
Bobby Eaton & Sweet Brown Sugar vs. Dutch Mantell & King Cobra 7/19

1983 Memphis

Randy Savage vs Ronnie Garvin 1982/83

Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee 6/6
Fabulous Ones vs. The Moondogs 5/2

1984 Memphis

Jerry Lawler & Randy Savage vs. King Kong Bundy & Rick Rude 9/10
Tommy Rich & Eddie Gilbert vs. Pretty Young Things 5/14

1985 Memphis

The Fabulous Ones vs The Sheepherders 8/6
Rick Martel vs Jerry Lawler 10/12
Jerry Lawler vs Randy Savage 6/3
Koko Ware vs Ric Flair 11/18
Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee 12/30

1986 Memphis

Jerry Lawler & Dutch Mantell vs. Bill Dundee & Buddy Landell 3/10
Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town) 7/14

1987 Memphis

Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich 3/16
Jerry Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Austin Idol & Tommy Rich 3/23
Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol 4/27

1988 Memphis

Jerry Lawler vs Curt Hennig 5/9

[clintthecrippler]

Am currently doing a UWF Watts 1986 watch project as a continuation of having watched through all of the Mid-South TV that was on Peacock. Shared these thoughts elsewhere but figured I would share here as well if anyone else was interested in where I thought the UWF stood during their own efforts to expand nationally, circa September 1986. 

The car occasionally runs rough, but this late in the year it definitely does not feel like a promotion that would be sold off merely six months later, and fully shut down eight months after that. 

THE GOOD

The Fantastics - Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers are easily my MVP's of 1986 UWF at this point, and in all honesty, come off like the most over babyfaces in the entire company as well. Potentially because they're the only top babyfaces that don't disappear for a few weeks for Japan tours, they are featured nearly every week and every match that's against competitive opponents are strong contenders for the best American TV matches that year. The vaunted feud with the Sheepherders is well-regarded as it should be, but there's also an incredible title defense against John Tatum and Jack Victory, and their matches with Eddie Gilbert and Sting are also delivering big, and doing A LOT to get both Eddie and Sting over the hump both in terms of credibility and in-ring performance. 

Sting - Holy shit, Jim Hellwig leaving the company was absolutely the best thing that could have happened for Sting at this pivotal early stage of his career. Both wrestlers look terrible in their early appearances as a tag team, but when Hellwig leaves, the flower begins to bloom. Not being trapped working in a "Road Warriors"-inspired beatdown tag team, Sting already begins showing some signs of personality being pushed as a singles as a few weeks. But after linking up with Eddie Gilbert and Rick Steiner (who also similarly is becoming more fully-formed by the week) as part of Hot Stuff & Hyatt International, he really starts to show out, and you can see him getting better and better every time he is in the ring with the Fantastics. The screams and howls that we know and love get more expressive, and he starts adding the more high-flying aspect of his offense that would make him stand out as he lost the more unsightly muscle bulk. Watching him develop in 1986 was a similar feeling to watching John Nord/The Barbarian develop in 1985. 

Eddie Gilbert - after a solid year of start-stop pushes, a babyface tease, and a "manager of foreign menaces" angle that admittedly did have one hot TV angle with the Russian beatdown of Bill Watts but otherwise never really felt earnest and also dragged down by Korchenko and Taras Bulba being super low-end wrestlers, "Hot Stuff" finally shines and feels fully fleshed out being aligned with Missy Hyatt and taking Sting and Rick Steiner under his managerial guidance. The chemistry with Missy in promos is off the charts and it's no shock they ended up becoming an outside-the-ring item, the sniping week-to-week with Tatum over the Hot Stuff and Hyatt International alliance is always entertaining, and being able to brag about taking two up-and-coming stars of the future in Sting and Rick Steiner results in Eddie coming off the most confident that he has been so far on the mic as a heel. Sliding into a manager/wrestler role as well was also a massive help in boosting both his credibility and overall presence on the weekly TV.

Michael Hayes on color commentary - finally, the great "Joel Watts problem" is put to rest. The Fabulous Freebirds as a whole was a nice boost to the promotion, but Michael Hayes stepping in as the regular weekly color commentator roles boosted the TV in such a powerful manner. Joel Watts is finally relegated to an off-camera production position (which to be fair, it sounds like that's where his skills shined the most with the video packages and music videos that he had produced over the last couple of years), and the team of Jim Ross and Michael Hayes feels pretty well-worn and on a good rhythm from Week One of the arrangement. Hayes is generally great as a heel commentator as well, going more for the Jesse Ventura route of "heel advocate" but acknowledging when a face is having a great performance in the ring, not spending entire undercard matches only talking about himself or the Freebirds, and not leaning too much on pretending heels aren't cheating during their matches. Just a major breath of fresh air and I'm sure as the national television push was happening, the team of Ross and Hayes came off so much better to new audiences than Ross and Joel Watts, or the few weeks where it was Bill and Joel father-and-son together.

Missy Hyatt/Dark Journey - Dark Journey returns as a face after a brief absence when Dick Slater leaves the territory, first feuding with Lady Maxine, but when the latter leaves the territory herself, the timing could not have been more perfect as Missy Hyatt has now arrived with John Tatum, and the two of them end up being perfect foils for each other. Their physical interactions are very much "catfight" spots, but when those spots occur it's also the loudest crowd pop of the show, and damn that energy is infectious when watching week-to-week. And I gotta say, this incarnation of heel Missy Hyatt in 1986 is maybe the absolute best "Missy Hyatt" she ever was on TV. She came off as a natural and so much more comfortable as a snotty "Beverly Hills" rich girl heel than she probably did any other time in her career. WCW spent so much time trying to make her a babyface/talking head/announcer that I honestly wonder if some money and/or TV ratings got pissed away by her not being a heel personality from 1989-1993. And aesthetically, I'll just say that I had to tell myself to "calm down" nearly every time she was on TV.

THE MIDDLE:

Terry Gordy as the first UWF Champion - I love Terry Gordy. On paper he is a credible choice as the first UWF Champion. But watching his reign play out on the week-to-week TV, outside of taped arena footage of a clean win over Ted Dibiase, they really don't do a helluva lot to attempt making him as credible of a "absolute TOP GUY" champion as Hogan or Flair, and his status as "UWF Champion" as the weeks go on doesn't feel like that much more of a graduation beyond the previous North American Championship. He has televised defenses against Hacksaw Duggan and Steve Williams, but the former ends with a "we're outta time" finish, and the latter ends with a disputed double-pin finish. I also think that it may have been a mistake making the first UWF Champion someone that was part of a larger group or stable. Ric Flair and Jim Crockett could get away with it because while he was definitely part of a dominant group, at the end of the day, Ric Flair was still presented as the undisputed TOP GUY. Gordy on the other hand is presented as an "equal" with Hayes in the Freebirds in a way that I think does some damage to him being the TOP GUY. I couldn't help but shake my head when one week of television saw Michael Hayes on commentary after attacking Ted Dibiase, and as "protection" Gordy and Buddy Roberts were guarding the commentary booth playing lookout duty. Gordy had his UWF Championship strapped around his waist while doing guard duty, and it just seemed super off having your now-national promotion's champion spending an entire episode on lookout duty for your heel announcer. Though I am almost at the point where that reign is about to end...

One Man Gang - I love One Man Gang. He comes in with a super-hot angle where his attack on Hacksaw Duggan arguably costs the roughneck the UWF Championship Tournament. But the follow-up from week-to-week is weird and inconsistent. Instead of straight-up murdering jobbers and midcarders sending them off on stretchers, his squash matches are kind of generic, and any competitive matches he has are also inordinately booked into the "we're outta time" slot. The last TV I've watched was 9/20/86, ostensibly heading into the home stretch of where his push towards becoming the new UWF Champion should be beginning, and he does NOT feel like someone that would be the next UWF Champion.

Ted Dibiase/Hacksaw Duggan/Steve Williams - All three wrestlers are still very over and Dibiase/Williams are presented in a hot manner as foils for the Freebirds, and they do keep Duggan hot as he chases One Man Gang for revenge, even if I have qualms about how OMG is booked during this time. But the tolls of having all three wrestlers also becoming more in demand from All Japan and New Japan are VERY visible in the weekly TV, with BOTH Dibiase and Williams being overseas for the entire month of July and being very conspicuous in their absence, even with the excuse of an injury angle for Dr. Death. And while I am not as down as Terry Taylor as a face in Mid-South/UWF, him being the only main event singles face that doesn't go away for a Japan payday only goes so far.

THE BAD

Bill Watts returns for one more "Last Stampede" - Watts returning in 1984 was AWESOME. I enjoyed the hell out of Watts returning to take it to Devastation Inc. and pulling "Midnight Rider" shenanigans against Akbar in 1985. The 1986 return got off to a fantastic start with the Russian beatdown angle, but after the series of JCP/UWF co-promotion shows with Dusty as his partner against the Russians, Watts hangs around aligning himself alongside Dibiase, Williams, and Terry Taylor in brawls and matches with the Freebirds, with Watts and Taylor essentially being stand-ins for Dibiase and Williams for the month they are away, and now it feels it major diminishing returns. The Freebirds came in hot, and Gordy is the UWF Champion, but now they are all feeding for Watts on beatdowns for a month straight. 

"WE'RE OUTTA TIME!" - As bad of a reputation that 1986/87 Jim Crockett TV has for pulling this stunt, 1986 UWF may honestly have been a much more egregious offender. There are literally EIGHT straight weeks of TV where the main event is "OUTTA TIME". They would do this very occasionally in Mid-South 84/85, but always show the finish the following week. In 1986 during the UWF era, they don't bother with that at all, and to add insult to injury, Jim Ross would be VERY explicit when closing the show about how "you have to come out to see UWF action live". The only time they did show how the match ended the following week during this stretch was when Terry Gordy defended the UWF Championship against Hacksaw Duggan, but even that was a bitter pill because they pulled "WE'RE OUTTA TIME" out of a fucking UWF Championship match that had been hyped for the entire show.

Kamala's departure from the UWF - Kamala returned but after only a few months back, got the big offer from Vince to come up to New York to have the run against Hogan. So what do you do if you are the UWF? You show months-old footage on the main weekly television of Duggan beating Kamala in Houston but dub over new commentary promoting that this match was "THE FINAL BATTLE"! 

Frank Dusek on commentary during the Dr. Death injury angle - They shot the Freebirds piledriving Dr. Death on the floor at an arena show, so instead of Jim Ross being apoplectic selling this angle like Steve Williams got shot to death, we're stuck with Frank Dusek doing voiceover commentary on a special report, and it is one of the worst calls I have ever heard for an injury angle. Dusek's commentary style can be best described as "good at matter-of-factly shouting what's happening no voice modulation in any direction". He steps in on color commentary on a couple of UWF episodes when Hayes has to wrestle a match or work an angle, and really adds nothing to the call.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_20eFRvVnc

Overall, while the tires could use some air, this is still a mostly fun show to follow even this late into 1986.