Dylan Waco Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 ....if we had the footage to prove it. I know KrisZ was talking about working up a results package on Tommy to try and get him on the HoF ballot around this time last year. I'm not even going to attempt that. Instead I'll review some of the matches of on my all time favorites as both a wrestler and a manager. Tommy Rich v. Steve Lawler This project was really brought about because of a conversation with Bix where he was telling me about these Tommy Rich matches I have somehow never seen, despite the fact that they have been floating around for a while and I am a pretty big Tommy Rich mark. The name of the tape these are off of is "Bloody Battles of The South," but I prefer to call it "Hep C Hero." Ideally you would add a semi-colon to the end of that and have "The Tommy Rich Story" as the sub-title but "The Tommy Rich Story" is the name of an incredibly awesome and even more obscure tape that I will get around to posting my review of soon enough. So this will just be forever known to me as the "Hep C Hero" tape and I am forever grateful to MrDavidBix for posting this gem on youtube and for attempting to write a "Monday Night Memories" style tune entitled "Hep C Hero" which will assuredly be recorded by Jimmy Hart in the near future. Anyhow this first match starts off great before it's even a match as the visage of Tommy Rich's face they use as a pre-match graphic is eerily similar to a live action, blonde haired depiction of Bob Dobbs from The Church of the SubGenius. I almost wish he had a pipe in his mouth to complete the look, but in a way I think it works better here, particularly because the pictorial choice appears to have been from an earlier Tommy, in a better time in his life when he was six-man tag teaming random ring rats with Tony Atlas and a very Masked Superstar every night around the Georgia loop. The Glamour Shot really captures the fact that Tommy was once your stereotypical, good ole boy with good looks and a great life ahead of him. Now he's wrestling Steve Lawler in a high school gym containing no more than 200 people. Lawler comes to the ring with no music, looking depressed. My guess is he realizes the gate is shit and he's getting no more than twenty bucks even though he's main eventing. Conversely Tommy manages to get a fucking Beatles-level pop from this anemic audience as he comes out to Wild Eyed Southern Boy, mobbed by fans, signing autographs for heavily mulletted kids (I would guess odds are fairly substantial he may be the father of at least one of them) as he climbs into the ring. He's also wearing a jersey that I can't quite make out. In my mind I want it to be an Atlanta Falcons jersey. The timeline probably doesn't work and the number (87) absolutely doesn't, but I really want it to be a Billy Joe Tolliver jersey. Fuck was 87 Michael Haynes number? I can't remember. It would be nice if I could say it doesn't really matter, but to me it sort of does. The opening is pretty slow, standard fare, feeling each other out stuff, but is enhanced by the shittiness of the nameless announcer who says stuff like "what more can I say about Tommy Rich" about ten seconds into the match after saying nothing about Tommy Rich. When Tommy throws a sick looking punch to Lawler's throat the phantom man in the booth notes that "what's good for one is good for the other" and I literally have no clue what the fuck he is talking about. Tommy does a pretty nice double drop down, into a facelock that he follows up with a solid looking suplex and knee to the face. At this point our glorious announcer gives us the time call of five minutes gone, fifty-five minutes remaining which is classic not only because the time is heavily worked, but also because the idea that this might go an hour is so absurd I don't think even a single one of the toothless women in attendance believed it. In this match Rich is to knee based offense as Lawler (Jerry, not Steve) is to punches. He does about nine different knee drop or knee shot variations in the first five minutes. Then Lawler bails to the floor, before coming in and trying to call time out. Why the hell do you come back in the ring to "call time out?" Why not milk the count? Lawler takes over with a cheapshot off of a collar and elbow and throws some Jerry like punching combos before missing a fist drop and getting tossed to the floor by Tommy. Lawler channels Jerry some more, taking a couple of really nice looking post bumps, with Tommy hitting a stiff chairshot in between them. Lawler is a bloody mess which I believe the announcer refers to as a "slasheration." This is a pretty gross blade job as Tommy's arm is covered in his blood almost immediately. Now I had been told before that this was a bloodbath, but with Tommy doing the bleeding. In fact John McAdam allegedly said this was the nastiest Tommy plasma sacrfice of all time. So I was pretty shocked to see them go into a decent enough parity exchange, finishing run with Tommy locking on the figure four and still not bleeding. Then Randy Rose hits the ring, kicks Tommy in the face with his boot and powerslams the ref who I give props to for taking it in such a way that it really looked like the greatest powerslam of all time. I mean it clearly wasn't the greatest powerslam of all time, but for two seconds I thought it was and that's what counts. Then Rose crushes Tommy's face with a boot shot before getting chased off....and at this point you realize John McAdam was right because Tommy Rich is bleeding out like he just took a shotgun to the face. Really sick shit. This was not a great match. Probably not even a good one. But it was fun Southern wrestling and it resulted in you wanting to see Tommy get revenge. I don't know if he ever did, but I'd put money down that he left the gym with a better looking female than Randy Rose or Steve Lawler. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Does anywhere have any complete matches from the Buzz Sawyer feud which is hyped SO heavily by those who saw it live? Youtube only has one of 'em. And hey, why is old Georgia and Florida footage so hard to get ahold of, anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I freaking love heel Rich in memphis while Lawler was out in 80-81. I know the babyface turn is sort of classic, with his mother and all but the heel stuff is just great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I eagerly await the review of the other bloodbath, vs THE MASKED INVADER. Maybe I'll upload some other Tommy Rich, too, like the non blood stuff on the tape. Also, Dylan, have you seen the Lawler '87 matches from that McAdam tape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocSarpolis Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 This is going to be an awesome thread. Thanks for starting it. I'll be watching along as you review stuff since i have both 'Hep C Hero' and 'The Tommy Rich Story' and have yet to make the time to sit down and watch them all the way through. Hopefully this thread also serves as a point of reference for an eventual comprehensive Tommy Rich comp by Goodhelmet. Tommy Rich was a guy I didn't care about 1 way or the other when I started watching wrestling in the mid 80s. In recent years, as I've caught up with older stuff, he's rapidly shot up to being 1 of my top 20 favorite guys ever. The Rich v. Lawler stuff from Schneider Comp. V.24 is just out of this world fantastic. His match vs. Steve Corino from this year is a legit MOTYC for me even. Sure, it's largely a carry job by Corino, but Tommy is still there to bleed and punch and that's all we need from Tommy Rich in the ring in 2012. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 'The Tommy Rich Story' I need to see this based on the bits I've read and heard about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Tommy Rich v. The Masked Invader I swear I will not be writing a novella for everyone of these reviews, but this is more from the "Hep C Hero" tape so I feel obligated to give this a fairly lengthy treatment. The pre-match here is pretty great as this is a pretty full high school gym and when Tommy's music hits there is an avalanche of children that spills down the stands to get a brief moment with their hero (father?) before the bell rings. Then Tommy grabs the mic mid-introduction and screams something about being "fired up"* before going to toe to toe with the masked man in a face off. Some times these face off's spots come across as homoerotic, but regardless of how you feel about his relationship with Jim Barnett (or Mr. Donnie even), this really felt like two guys who wanted to kick the shit out of each other, talking shit, before they kicked the shit out of each other. Early going is lots of setting the stage/feeling out spots, with Tommy being surprised by a couple of Invader spots, than Tommy reels off his own spots with the Invader complaining about tight pulling and bailing to the floor. These are Southern staples and the crowd buys into them. In fact the fans get reprimanded for throwing crap into the ring at about the three minute mark, which might be a record for match occurring in a high school gym in Griffin, Georgia. Back in the ring and Tommy win's an exchange, but the Invader successfully pitches to the ref that Rich used his mask for leverage and he makes Tommy break the hold. Children swarm the ring and rightfully allege mafia/gambling interest involvement in the match. Meanwhile an old woman comes up to the apron and gets into it with the Invader. Naturally on the next lock up, Tommy takes the Invader down by pulling his mask and we get a repeat of ref breaking the hold, righteous fan anger, Invader scaring children/fighting with old women, et. This gets the crowd really hot and they are literally jumping up and down and screaming at the ref and Invader for the duration of the match. We get a break off of a hold and Tommy decks the Invader sending him to the floor where a fan in camo councils him which confuses the hell out of the play-by-play guy. It was at this point that the Invader started to go to the tights, so I'm going to go with the theory that the guy in camo was part of the ref/mafia conspiracy to screw over Tommy Rich. All the kids are swarming Tommy and the ringside area trying to point out to the paid off official the object Invader has, but the Invader keeps hiding it in his mouth which eludes the searches of anti-Tommy Rich ref. Invader ends up tossing Tommy into the ref, who conveniently is bumped to the ground for just long enough so that the Invader can take over with a loaded mask headbutt. Rich is a fucking bloody mess at this point and there is a great moment with girls coming out of the stands to get a closer look at their babies daddy. Rich takes a huge bump over the top to the floor and there is an even better moment as every kid in the building rushes to ringside to help Tommy get back into the ring. For some reason Tommy tries to come in with a chair, which Invader uses on him and we get the great Tommy Rich blood loss selling as he is hunched over, half lifeless and mentally broken, with blood spurting out of his head. Tommy hits a headbutt to the gut and a shoulder tackle for huge pops, but he's just covered in blood, woozy and has trouble getting up. In a cool touch he wipes the blood from his eyes, looks at it, and then hits a superkick and a fist drop to huge pops. Then he starts biting and ripping at Invader's mask. Tommy is trying to get the mask off, but ends up locking on a sleeper hold. He's putting him out when a second masked man hits the ring. All hell breaks loose as the match gets tossed out, with Tommy beating the fuck out of both men post-match. This was a pretty good match, with a fun post-match. Most importantly it featured tons of blood loss and a ref that was so obviously on the take that every redneck in the building probably egged his house/slashes his tires every day for the next six months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I really enjoyed Tommy's feud with PG13 in 1995. Then he teamed with them when SMW invaded USWA. Apparently Face Tommy Rich vs Heel billy Jack Haynes happened around this time and I need to see that. Plus Tommy is a top 5 manager of all time with his run with the FBI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 Tommy's also got a huge number of hilarious and awesome backstage stories about him. Like, he was the first wrestler that an 18-year-old Missy Hyatt ever fucked. But my favorite goes something like this (although I sadly can't remember all the details): Tracy Smothers pulls up to an indy show. There was this worthless indy wannabe-tough-guy who has been causing problems recently for Tracy and various others. Smothers sees the guy in the parking lot as he pulls up, so he jumps out a still-moving car (the passenger and storyteller, Chase Stevens, frantically reaching over and mashing the brake with his hands) and runs over to the guy and starts beating the shit out of him. Wildfire runs out of the building, screaming: "Tracy, stop, what the hell are you doing!?" Smothers: "This asshole is trying to hurt all these young kids and end their careers?" At which point Tommy instantly calms down, turns around to walk back inside, and mutters "Aw fuck it then, kill him." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted July 3, 2012 Report Share Posted July 3, 2012 A few years ago, one of the local wrestlers who'd been around the block a few times was telling stories to a handful of marks and trainees, someone asked about ECW, and it somehow veers into the FBI, and into a Tommy Rich story. I forget all the names involved, but the short version was that some big guy purposely worked extra stiff and really roughed up Michael Shane (Matt Bentley, who already had the rep of being a huge pussy). Shane whined to Tommy about it and at the next spot show, Tommy makes a b-line for the guy and knocked him the F out with one punch and was in his face screaming "You don't do that shit!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted July 3, 2012 Report Share Posted July 3, 2012 Tommy Rich will be in the 2nd class of the Goodhelmet Hall of Fame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Finally watched most of "The Tommy Rich Story" a few nights ago. What year was that produced in? 1988-ish, I'm guessing, since Lawler was the AWA Champ? Pretty interesting stuff, surprised it seems to only have started circulating in the last little while considering how long ago it had to have been made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpchicago23 Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Where can i find the Tommy Rich Story? Also found him very interesting and underrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Mann Posted October 7, 2012 Report Share Posted October 7, 2012 Those matches made my day. I used to work with a guy from Griffin, and boy do I feel like I understand him better now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Rich peaked way too early. As a kid he was just a random journeyman opening match-midcard guy to me.....at the time I had no idea that he'd been a major superstar in the late 70's/early 80's. I loved him in ECW with the FBI.....but it wasn't until years later that I got to see some of his early GCW era stuff He wasn't the best looking guy and his body didn't look that great as he aged, I think that's a big part of the reason he wasn't as over and pushed later in the 80's. If he'd roided up he probably would have got a nice run in WWF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Check this shit out. WWE.com has a bit up with video clips that led up to The Last Battle Of Atlanta, calling it the inspiration for HITC. http://www.wwe.com/videos/playlists/last-b...tlanta-playlist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Even better, they did an oral history piece about the match: http://www.wwe.com/classics/last-battle-of...sawyer-26062508 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 WWE did a pretty great job on that for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 While the best photo in the LBOA feature is this: My favorite one in the gallery that's not from the match is this, which the board won't let me embed. When and where the hell was Tommy Rich all juiced up like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 When and where the hell was Tommy Rich all juiced up like that? I read this one sentence for about five minutes before I could figure out the proper meaning of "juiced up." "It's Tommy Rich, he's ALWAYS juiced up..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Tommy was in really good shape between like 78-80. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 It's one thing to see Tommy Rich in good shape, it's another to see Tommy Rich showing visible side effects of steroid use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I don't claim to be an expert, but this doesn't look like a guy who's "obviously" on steroids to me. I have friends in better shape than that who I can say with all confidence are not on steroids. On egg whites, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'm talking about the creepy puffy nipples. ... What? I read about it being a telltale sign of steroid abuse in old Observers. Really! Seriously though, look at that horrifying photo of Daivari that's been making the rounds for a few months. He has the same thing going on: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'm talking about the creepy puffy nipples. ... What? I read about it being a telltale sign of steroid abuse in old Observers. Really! Trying to figure out if that makes Cena commenting on Claudio's large nipples last week on RAW more or less creepy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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