Comments that don't warrant a thread - Part 3

[Dylan Waco]

I posted this in the Yearbook section, but I wanted to share it more widely. Talking about Matt Borne's run in WCW as "Big Josh", the fact that WCW had Matt Borne and told him to wrestle like an untrained lumberjack is so dumb. But how good was Borne considering that he could actually do that, and be convincing?

Pacific Northwest advantage

[Johnny Sorrow]

I posted this in the Yearbook section, but I wanted to share it more widely. Talking about Matt Borne's run in WCW as "Big Josh", the fact that WCW had Matt Borne and told him to wrestle like an untrained lumberjack is so dumb. But how good was Borne considering that he could actually do that, and be convincing?

Pacific Northwest advantage

 

So, I'm trying to decide if you meant the advantage of coming from a territory where a ton of super talented guys came from, or the awesome stereotype that since he was from there he'd somehow know how a lumberjack would act.

 

I'm going with a mixture of the two. It makes me happy.

[sek69]

Matt Borne is an interesting case, he could have been just another second generation territory guy riding off his father's name but he was actually pretty good. I first saw him in World Class teaming with Buzz Sawyer, but of course he was also famous for his run in the Rat Pack for Watts. Even gimmicks that had no business getting over like Big Josh and an evil clown were no problem for Matt. It's a shame he never seemed to get out of his own way and let personal demons mess up what should have been a much better career.

[Dylan Waco]

I posted this in the Yearbook section, but I wanted to share it more widely. Talking about Matt Borne's run in WCW as "Big Josh", the fact that WCW had Matt Borne and told him to wrestle like an untrained lumberjack is so dumb. But how good was Borne considering that he could actually do that, and be convincing?

Pacific Northwest advantage

 

So, I'm trying to decide if you meant the advantage of coming from a territory where a ton of super talented guys came from, or the awesome stereotype that since he was from there he'd somehow know how a lumberjack would act.

 

I'm going with a mixture of the two. It makes me happy.

 

The second of the two. Let's be honest, Borne was probably working half trained Lumberjack's every night for the first few years of his career

[BrickHithouse]

Have been watching a lot of 1988 NWA TV lately. Lots of Dusty. His frequent appearances and promos on various shows reminded me of what my dad said about him back in the day: "That lardass must be their version of Hogan".

[KrisZ]

FANDANGO REVOLUTION

 

[Eduardo]

What were the details of the story of Los Destructores being considered too dark skin (or not having the 'right look') by the network and having to wear those semi-masks in AAA? I think I first heard this from Sims but maybe pantherwagner, KrisZ, or someone on here knows more details.

[Ricky Jackson]

FANDANGO REVOLUTION

 

What gets over is what gets over.

[Matt D]

Ok, that's surreal.

[ButchReedMark]

I think it's great. It's looking like the tune's going to make the charts over here. WWE, the company who invented being a ten years behind pop culture and hot memes, may have actually started one here. Watch it go down the pan by the end of Raw.

[Cox]

I never would have thought WWE would have started this month's version of the Harlem Shake, but there you go.

[Kostka]

This is hysterical.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-23...restlemania.htm

[ButchReedMark]

I like how the Daily Mail's wrestling photo is of Anti-Immigrant Jack Swagger putting down the Hispanic. Even in wrestling, they've got their ways.

[BruiserBrody]

I watch Timeline World Wrestling 1986 George Animal Steele...

 

Steele asks if Sean wants Jim Myers or George Steele? Then playfully chokes him. Steele has near epic Ox Baker like eyebrows here.

 

Steele starts w/ WM 1 and says he was still only wrestling 2-3 months out of the year and Vince wanted him to quit teaching and wrestle full time. Steele sounds more upset over losing his football coaching gig.

 

Steele claims his face turn was impromptu and Vince called an audible while Steele was tearing a turnbuckle up in “anger” over Shieky Baby and Volkoff not tagging him in. Steele was unsure if he wanted to work face.

 

Steele says Cousin Junior quit the WWF after 6 months by showing up in a suit, a limo and a big cigar and declaring “I live in the hills so I’ve already made more money then I will ever need”.

 

Steele says he ribbed Dick Embersol by calling him “Dave” much to Dick’s annoyment…Steele rebelled against NBC wanting to script his matches.

 

Steele says Capt Lou broke him into ribbing by taking him out to eat nightly in the late 60’s and covering Steele’s dinner tab. Then at the end of the summer Capt Lou reveals he hadn’t paid any tabs and Steele might be on some restaurants “S” lists.

 

Steele thinks Adonis created the gay gimmick.

 

Steele says working with Macho Man was difficult since Savage wanted to plan out matches – Steele was handed a lay out by Savage on paper of how their match would go. Steele threw the papers away. Steele would rib Savage by talking about how hot Liz was.

 

Steele feels Tito should have stayed IC champ since Savage was going to be over either way. Steele says he cost Tito a long run w/ Savage by getting the Liz/Savage/Steele angle over so well.

 

Steele says he resented stuff like “The Slammy’s” for goofing on the biz but he liked the theatrics nonetheless.

 

Steele really liked Cyndi Lauper and blamed Dave Wolff for convincing her to pull back her promotional machine and allowing Madonna to become a star.

 

Steele says he wasn’t paid royalties for the “Wrestling Album”.

 

Mr. T had a attitude and didn’t respect the business or the wrestlers. Hogan protected T from the “heat”.

 

Bundy got a big head from headlining WM 2 and Jay Strongbow ripped him and told him he wouldn’t last.

 

Bam Bam Bigelow got a try out pre-WM 2 which would have been when he was plenty green.

 

Steele says Bret Hart wasn’t a strong enough heel to get a run w/ Steamboat.

 

Steele hated Damien (the Snake). Steele put the bag in his mouth during a match and later realized how gross that was.

 

JYD smashed a jobber’s face into a wall who didn’t sell his powerslam properly. Steele wanted the blood to stay there to warn the other jobbers to sell.

 

Vince was terrified that WM 2 would fall apart due to satellite issues.

 

Steele says Moolah won a battle royal in MSG over the men in 84. I don’t recall that…

 

Steele says he walked into a dark room at WM 2 and Ray Charles was in there alone. They were jovial. Steele laughs hard at this – although it sounds like a bogus tale to me.

 

Steele says Bundy was in over his head at WM 2 and couldn’t carry Hulk the way Hogan needed to be.

 

Raymond Rougeau was a great guy – Jacques was stuck up due to his families success.

 

Adonis was let go for cocaine – not obesity.

 

Thinks WWF pushed Steamboat too hard.

 

Steele road with Haku and watched him body slam a drunk who challenged him.

 

Steele claims Steamboat’s Komodo Dragon ate dogs and cats if left unguarded.

 

Andre stiffed Studd because Studd ignored Andre’s wishes. Iron Shiek was tortured by Andre too.

 

Steele says Andre loved him because Andre called for a slam spot and Steele chose to sell his back instead of doing the slam.

 

Steele claims he was 1st choice to be King after Haku. (Steele was retired for a year by then)

 

Hogan wanted Dan Spivey on top instead of Paul Orndorff in Summer 86

 

Steele says the Federette’s started because a hot woman from Detroit wanted to work w/ Steele vs Liz/Randy…Vince says she was too hot to waste on Steele

 

Steele loved Kamala as a worker and put him over hard to help set up Kamala vs Hogan

 

Steele says Curtis Iaukea was kicked out of his hotel once by a super fan, after helping Kamala hurt Steele

 

Steele thinks SS Graham expected another World title run when he returned in late 86

 

WM 3 broke Steele’s heart because he was 14 miles from home and he didn’t wrestle.

 

Steele finishes by implying he cheated on his wife a lot saying “Jim Myers was married, George Steele was not, when I was on the road, I was Steele”

[sek69]

I know this is like shooting fish in a barrel, but this part really stood out:

 

Steele feels Tito should have stayed IC champ since Savage was going to be over either way. Steele says he cost Tito a long run w/ Savage by getting the Liz/Savage/Steele angle over so well.

I know wrestlers' memories tend to be swiss cheese, but Tito lost the belt only a month after they started doing the Liz/Savage/Steele angle which in those days was too soon to know if something was getting over or not.

[BruiserBrody]

I watched the RF Jesse Ventura Shoot...

 

Jesse was a fan growing up and found it neat to wrestle the old farts like Mad Dog Vachon and Crusher when he broke in, since he was a mark for those guys.

 

Broke in around age 24 – Ventura thought about the NFL, but his love of theater made him aim for wrestling. Eddie Sharkey trained him. Ventura says he became the 1st guy to go to AWA after being in Eddie’s camp since Sharkey and Verne had heat.

 

Ted Oates taught Ventura how to survive on the road.

 

Ventura didn’t like bumping so he learned to stall as much as possible.

 

1st match was vs Omar Atlas in Kanas City – last match was vs Tony Atlas in New York.

 

Omar chose to win via DQ instead of pin so Ventura put him over in the WWF days when Omar was jobbing and Ventura commenting.

 

Never made over 90 dollars a night his first six months. His 1st night in Portland he got 100 dollars.

 

Don Owens put the PCW title on Ventura who only had 9 months experience – over Snuka. Jesse says he and Snuka worked together for almost 2 years. Ventura wasn’t allowed to promo – Bull Ramos did the talking for him.

 

Ventura avoided hanging out w/ wrestlers and not drink since he was a SEAL and wanted to keep his wife and knew that bars would lead to sex.

 

1st gimmick was “Surfer” Jesse Ventura. Worked 63 straight nights for Owens in one clip.

 

After a run in Hawaii, Jesse saved money and quit wrestling and was prepping to open a gym when Portland needed a sub on top for a show, so they called Jesse in to AWA studios to cut a promo on Buddy Rose to send to Portland and Verne heard Jesse promo and wanted Ventura to start in the AWA. Jesse told Verne he wouldn’t job on TV. Verne gave him “The Body” nickname.

 

Jesse says Verne was a dictator and treated the talent like crap. Ventura made Adonis train and Adonis did the bumping. Adonis’ idol was Dr. Jerry Graham.

 

Paul Ellering didn’t tell his family the biz was a work and Paul’s brother tried to hurt Ventura after an angle that saw Jesse injure Paul.

 

Verne wasn’t a good tag wrestler in Jesse’s opinion since Verne wanted to call spots even when he wasn’t in the ring. Verne didn’t want to job to the East West Connection so they ran a no show angle and Jesse got the tag straps.

 

Greg Gagne was an office guy and despite being a great worker, Gagne refused to train in the gym to look the part of the guy who was going over all these muscle heads.

Hulk Hogan dislocated Ventura’s jaw accidently during a test of strength spot but Ventura puts Hogan over as working around the injury masterfully.

 

John Studd and Ventura rode together in WWF and were concerned watching Vince take over the biz. Ventura ended up being one of the first guys to jump ship and saw other options dry up.

 

Ventura said Verne shorted him on main event pay offs when houses went up, which made Jesse’s choice to leave easy.

 

Steve Regal (Mr. Electricity) was told by Jesse he was jumping, so as a rib Regal screamed for “Vince HELP ME!” while giving up the shine in a tag match w/ Jesse that night.

 

Ventura said Backlund got the WWWF belt to spite Bruno.

 

Tony Atlas was a great guy who played w/ Jesse’s son in the locker rooms.

 

Jesse cut a deal w/ Lawler to work Memphis part time, Ventura never jobbed to Lawler as his kid got ill and Jesse had to leave. Jesse said he sent the belt back in the mail. Ventura wrestled the San Diego Chicken in a main event tag there teaming w/ Jimmy Hart vs Lawler and the Chicken.

 

Jesse confirms he tried to unionize right before WM 2 after a prompting from Gene Upshaw. Vince almost fired him but Dick Embersol liked Jesse on SNME and went to bat for him. Plus Jesse got a SAG card from working in Hollywood and didn’t need a union anymore. Jesse thought of Hogan as a friend and didn’t know Hogan ratted him out till the video voice rights lawsuit in the 90’s.

 

Hogan told Howard Stern that Ventura was a wife swapper, which ticked Jesse off.

 

Ventura got paid for a round of main events in the WWF that he ended up missing since he suffered blood clots that for all intents and purposes ended his career.

 

Jesse feels JR was jealous of how much money Ventura was making in WCW. Ventura didn’t want Bruno taken off commentary since Ventura could use him as foil. Jesse claims Bill Murray praised his SNME work during the Hillbilly wedding. Feels Bobby Heenan was jealous of Jesse being on the “A” team announcer team. JR was terrible as a partner – JR wouldn’t feed off Ventura’s lines.

 

Jesse says John Studd was a good traveling mate as both were family men w/ military backgrounds.

 

His favorite memory of “The Body Shop” was asking the Killer Bees “Did you drop any pollen while in Australia” which made the Bees freeze up to avoid laughing.

 

Ventura doesn’t miss the business. Jesse leaving WWF was over a video game that Jesse was offered to be part of and Vince tried to veto it. Jesse gets a WWE check every four months thanks to suing Vince for royalties.

 

Ventura’s biggest pay day was being ref at Summerslam 99. Jesse did it to stick it to WCW since Hogan did an angle mocking Jesse’s governor win.

 

Ventura was paid an absurd amount of money for working with the XFL.

 

Ventura claims he only used one cycle of testosterone a year and 1 cc of steroids a week.

 

Says Dave Meltzer is “a little puke”

 

Bill Watts as booker was a disaster who pushed house shows over TV and Watts didn’t like him since he was paid so much.

 

Eric Bischoff didn’t warn Jesse that Hogan was coming in and Ventura ripped Hogan in the press and thus was benched ASAP once Hogan signed.

 

Jesse feels having guys face to face every week hurts the business. Confrontations should be built to climax at PPV – not weekly yakking side by side.

 

“You give me the money Linda spent and I’ll be President”

 

Ventura lives 100 miles from civilization, has no electricity (solar power) and plans on vanishing forever soon,

 

RF shows his talents as an interviewer by asking Jesse if he wants to be in the WWE HOF someday – Jesse had talked about his HOF speech earlier.

[El-P]

I thought Jesse came off really well in this interview, but RF was as bad as ever. The HoF stuff was embarrassing.

[BruiserBrody]

Just watched: Larry Zbyszko KC Timeline WWWF 1980

 

LZ says McMahon’s were almost bankrupt in 79 (LOL) since Bruno quit.

 

Backlund was a joke since he looked like Howdy Doody and all the heels were monsters and Backlund was tiny.

 

MSG was losing money w/ Backlund as MSG was taking 50% of the house and the IRS took a hunk and Backlund couldn’t sellout MSG. The promoters were also pilfering funds from the houses and not giving the McMahon’s the full monty owed.

 

Hulk Hogan went to Larry Z for advice “Your my hero Larry!”. He wanted help getting away from being Andre’s whipping boy. He told Hulk to leave WWWF and once Hulk did a star was born.

 

Iron Shiek was crazy even in 80 – Larry says Shieky Baby is evidence for why Iran shouldn’t get nukes. LZ says Shieky would beat up groupies who wouldn’t put out.

 

LZ says he avoided drinking and groupies since he worked in his home area and just went home.

 

Bruno and Vince Sr “hated” each other. Politics. Larry knew that the 1st guy to work Bruno after his “retirement” would be a mega star, so he proposed to Bruno that he be the guy. Vince Sr just wanted Bruno back and figured he could ship Larry Z off ASAP and move Bruno onto a “real” heel.

 

Larry got death threats after turning on Bruno. A shotgun blast went over his head one place – a cab was flipped another – he got stabbed in Albany

 

Bruno wouldn’t work spot shows – so they were able to prolong the angle by feeding Larry the Putzkis and Strongbows of the world.

 

Larry claims MSG was busy in August (uh huh) so Larry proposed Vince run Shea Stadium- Vince is not sure lil Larry can carry such a card

 

Lou Albano bladed his cheek through to his mouth during a wild fit of blading. Then Capt Lou would pour after shave in his cuts to show off how tough he was. Larry says Albano would drunkenly cuss out the McMahons to their faces while they were taking Lou and the other top guys out for dinner.

 

March was the 1st MSG match for Bruno/Larry - Larry says Bruno could pull off working well yet since Bruno had a limited moveset in his prime, so his decline wasn’t obvious. Larry and Bruno wouldn’t go on last so Larry could escape w/o a riot.

 

Bruno intro’d Larry to Frank Sinatra and the Gambino mobsters

 

Larry Z thinks Patera should have gotten Backlund’s spot since he had the Bruno body type

 

Lou Thesz told LZ that “You’re the greatest heel I’ve ever seen”. Bockwinkel and Race put over Larry’s shtick too.

 

Larry Z started a riot vs Putzki by giving him a low blow. Several old men were trampled in the mess trying to get to LZ.

 

Rick McGraw, Buzz Sawyer and others were too crazy for Larry and their deaths didn’t surprise him. Larry did over 450 bench presses w/o roids – those guys did drugs meant for horses.

 

Larry says WM 3 gave away 30,000 tickets – He and Bruno drew 46,000 in Shea and thousands were turned away.

 

Larry says he had to shoot on Johnny Rodz since Rodz talked himself up so much. Rodz then in Spanish threatened to stab LZ – but ironically the guy who later stabbed Bruiser Brody, Jose Gonzalez warned LZ what Rodz was saying

 

Ox Baker came in and bombed so Larry got an MSG title match vs Bob instead in July. Larry felt he should have won the belt and helped to sell the Shea show. Bruno convinced Larry to no show some house shows to try and force Vince Sr’s hand. Bruno and Vince Sr were using Jr and Larry as pawns in their feud, as Vince jr was put in charge of getting Larry back. LZ says Vince was literally crying on the phone at Larry and LZ thinks this is why he was never used in WWF.

 

Larry Z goes back to work and demands and receives 10% of each house and he and Bruno are making record business at inflated prices so Larry claims to be pulling in almost 10K nightly. LZ then demands to be paid the same as Backlund and they give in to the deal.

 

LZ says Inoki and Fujinami weren’t paid to be at Shea – they just wanted a tape of them in front of a big US crowd. Backlund got a tag match because Vince knew Bob wasn’t the draw. Larry says he was paid 25K for the Shea match.

 

LZ says they had to put nets up over the ring to catch all the whiskey bottles being tossed at him – even after Shea

 

LZ says the NJ guys who didn’t speak English were ribbed by the US guys into saying nasty things to US women by giving them false translations.

 

Larry says by Fall Vince Sr was intent on jobbing Larry out to the regular WWWF guys and changed finishes. Bruno had planned for this and had Larry tell the promoters “Bruno never pinned me – how bad will Bruno look if ____ pins me???”

[Loss]

Does Larry really think anything there makes him look good? So much of that seems like pure bullshit, and he also comes across as impossible to work with.

[Dooley]

Does Larry really think anything there makes him look good? So much of that seems like pure bullshit, and he also comes across as impossible to work with.

Definitely second that. He sounds like the old drunk telling shaggy dog stories at the corner bar.

 

Also, I like these quick synopses of the shoots. Maybe a separate thread for them?

[artDDP]

I never really understood what Larry did to get so over in late-90s WCW. I doubt most of the fans remembered him being in the WWF in 1980 and he wasn't much more than a mid-carder in the early 90s yet by 1997 fans were chanting his name and he was booked into a feud over the future of WCW.

 

Larry comes off like a complete prick. I remember him bitching about Chris Jericho during one of those off-brand PPV cards in 2002 or thereabouts. To hear him complain about Jericho's height and Backlund being "too small" is just...I don't know. It's not like Larry was six-foot-five.

[sek69]

I'm just surprised Larry didn't claim HHH stole his gimmick of staying on top in a promotion by banging the boss's daughter.

[Death From Above]

Larry forgot to mention he was the first man on the moon, I think.

[blueminister]

I never really understood what Larry did to get so over in late-90s WCW. I doubt most of the fans remembered him being in the WWF in 1980 and he wasn't much more than a mid-carder in the early 90s yet by 1997 fans were chanting his name and he was booked into a feud over the future of WCW.

He was an eccentric with a pronounced midwestern uncoolness that went all the way around to being somehow cool. The clueless fiftyish republican uncle you could root for -- kind of a Second City Foghorn Leghorn. Compare his endearing know-it-all act with Mark Madden's obnoxious basement dweller version of the same thing.

[Indikator]

I wonder if George Steele was even aware of Gorgeous George Wagner as a potentially gay wrestler