Bix Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 One year, the football team included Tito Santana, Tully Blanchard, and Ted DiBiase. Yup. Dick Murdoch didn't go there but he was so beloved by alumni that everyone pretended that he did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rainmakerrtv Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 One year, the football team included Tito Santana, Tully Blanchard, and Ted DiBiase. Yup. Dick Murdoch didn't go there but he was so beloved by alumni that everyone pretended that he did. But was he actually a marine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 So, because it's a 91 MSG match, we have it on tape. I went to watch it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVRvH_fN-Ac is their only MSG match). The transition to Roma being on offense is an inverted atomic drop reversal on a 10-count punch followed by a clothesline with a big set up and then a shit ton of posing. And then Steamboat is obviously selling like crazy for him, with big facial expressions. Just a weird claim. Anyway, the match is pretty good and Roma's offense actually looks great. Yeah... just on the face of it without even watching the match, one would think Roma is full of shit. Steamer was a babyface who LOVED to sell and make heels look good. Pretty much everyone has always said what a pro's pro he was in the ring in making you look good. So it's not surprising that the tape doesn't support Roma. As others say, he's a well known douchebag. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 West Texas State was in Amarillo home of the Funks so there is that. Both Dory and Terry went to WTU, at least for a time. I think there's no doubt that they knew they were always following their dad into pro wrestling. Hansen in his book talks about a lot of the football players being wrestling fans and going to the Funk's shows. The other thing is that there were a number of second generation guys among the WTU --> Pro Wrestling group: Tully Blanchard Bruiser Brody Ted DiBiase Bobby Duncum Manny Fernandez Dory Funk Jr. Terry Funk Stan Hansen Kelly Kiniski Blackjack Mulligan Dusty Rhodes Tito Santana Barry Windham That's a pretty good chunk of them. And it's likely that all of those second generation guys were going to end up in Pro Wrestling unless they had some thoughts of going to pro football. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Listening to Tony Atlas Youshoot, and it's pretty fascinating to hear him talk about the psychology of his foot fetish. More interesting than the bullshit about how in the days, 70% of working a match was actually real because you had to take care of yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Somone should've done a "Longest Yard"-type movie with that group of guys in the late-70's/early-80's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 They were typically football players who made the transition. Wrestling appealed to guys who played football for a variety of reasons which there are probably other people more qualified to talk about. But one of the things often brought up by old timers is that there are less "real" athletes getting into wrestling now than ever before. I agree with the old timers, but for different reasons. They feel ex football players in wrestling make it seem more legit, I feel guys with an athletic background are more likely to stick around when the going gets tough and won't bail like bodybuilders and TV actor types. Plus football players in particular are probably more accustomed to things like bullshit hazing, so you'd expect that to appeal to old timey guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted February 10, 2012 Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 Roma's claim of shooting on Steamboat (even aside from the fact that one glance at the tape proves he's lying through his goddamn teeth) is awfully weird. Wasn't Richard Blood a championship-winning amateur wrestler back in his school days? I dunno what Paul Centopani's older athletic credentials were, but I know his short run as a boxer in 1992 was awfully mediocre (one loss to a habitual jobber, and two squash wins over debuting tomato cans who never fought again). Especially when you factor in the whole "wrestlers usually kick boxers' asses in real shoots" old-school tendency of pre-UFC martial arts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 I rather enjoyed the Stallions/Rougeaus match from the 5/88 MSG show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Holy shit, this was a fun show: WCCW Labor Day Star Wars 1986 (part 1) Local broadcast with commercials included. World Tag Team Tournament matches include: Batten Twins vs. Kevin Sullivan/Purple Haze Rick Rude/Jos Leduc vs. Mark/Chris Youngblood Killer Brooks/The Grappler vs.Dingo Warrior/Sako Matt Borne/Buzz Sawyer vs. Kevin/Mike Von Erich Ted & Jerry Oates vs. Youngbloods Sullivan/Haze vs. Borne/Sawyer plus Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher Bad news is that I don't have the second part of the show! I need to find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dooley Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 There are times when people online make little jokes about how Jesse Ventura's Navy SEAL stint didn't really happen. What's true and not about that? I know nothing other than they said it in his A&E biography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wahoos Leg Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Holy shit, this was a fun show: WCCW Labor Day Star Wars 1986 (part 1) Local broadcast with commercials included. World Tag Team Tournament matches include: Batten Twins vs. Kevin Sullivan/Purple Haze Rick Rude/Jos Leduc vs. Mark/Chris Youngblood Killer Brooks/The Grappler vs.Dingo Warrior/Sako Matt Borne/Buzz Sawyer vs. Kevin/Mike Von Erich Ted & Jerry Oates vs. Youngbloods Sullivan/Haze vs. Borne/Sawyer plus Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher Bad news is that I don't have the second part of the show! I need to find it. Pretty sure footage does not exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 There are times when people online make little jokes about how Jesse Ventura's Navy SEAL stint didn't really happen. What's true and not about that? I know nothing other than they said it in his A&E biography. He wasn't a Navy SEAL. He was a frogman in an Underwater Demolition Team and never saw any combat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 He pretty much CONSTANTLY pimps the fact he used to be a Navy Seal in interviews I've heard. Like constantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 They were typically football players who made the transition. Wrestling appealed to guys who played football for a variety of reasons which there are probably other people more qualified to talk about. But one of the things often brought up by old timers is that there are less "real" athletes getting into wrestling now than ever before. The main reason was money. NFL players in the 60s/70s didn't make anywhere near what they make now. Most needed an offseason job and wrestling was a good way to make some money. For a hint, the minimum salary for a veteran in 1970 was around $13,000. The average NFL salary for that time frame ranged from 20k to 60k. Not bad for 1970 but you can see why guys would want to moonlight as a wrestler especially if they knew what kind of payoffs you could get. Watts in his shoots said he got into wrestling because he knew Wahoo McDaniel and saw one of the checks he was cashing from just working a weekend. I think he had said Wahoo had made like $3000 for 2 nights or something like that. On top of that, contracts were less restricted. If you remember back in 2004 when Urlacher did a TNA show that the Chicago Bears flipped out and made him stop. Things like Aaron Boone blowing out his knee playing basketball and the various idiots that have injured themselves on motorcycles, a lot of teams have started putting restrictions into the contract of what their players can do offseason, wrestling included. The real answer I think is that wrestling paid more than football in the 60s and 70s and now football is a better payoff. No sense in losing a season worth 2 million because you decided to moonlight in RoH for $750 a match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Then there's the WCW run but I've seen very little Pretty Wonderful. On paper they should be pretty good though, right? I remember them having some decent stuff with Bagwell & Scorpio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 For those of you who are, like myself, fans of comic strips (or, like us all, interested in wrestling triviality), Dick Tracy started a pro wrestling themed storyline on Feb 5 http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2012/02/05 with a character based on Jerry Lawler. Comics and wrestling have often produced rather unsatisfying results when mixed, which is strange considering the crossover appeal, but this looks promising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 The Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation was one of my favorite Marvel storylines. I wish they'd revisit it at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 Yeah, from the 80s Thing comic. I forgot about that. I think I read a few issues when I was young. I should try and track them down someday. I remember thinking the WCW comic was lame at the time, but it probably has some kitsch appeal these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 11, 2012 Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 You could probably get those Thing comics from quarter bins in most shops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NintendoLogic Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 From the Wikipedia article on the UCWF: The UCWF is organized into "weight divisions"... not based on the wrestler's body weight, but on how much tonnage he can lift. The lowest division (for those with the strength to lift (press) two to ten tons) was phased out early in the Federation's history as not being "spectacular" enough. Spider-Man has Superhuman Class 10 strength. Does that make him the Rey Mysterio of Marvel? Also, Letha is a dead ringer for Beth Phoenix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Crackers Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 If you want comics and wrestling you should read Whoa, Nellie! by Jaime Hernandez. The wrestling stuff in Love and Rockets is usually in the background but that book is all about wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Whoa, Nellie! was one of Jaime's weaker pieces of work, IMO. I liked it better when the wrestling was in the backdrop of the Maggie and Rena stories. The wrestling matches are well drawn, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Wow, so after a freakin decade on & off Vince Russo is finally gone from TNA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I'm really hoping they learned something from Ring Ka King and maybe put that kind of effort into making their product good like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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