Jerryvonkramer's Cheesy Journey

[PeteF3]

Gorilla being Gorilla--why bother putting over the new heel's finishing move, when you can just dismiss the chance of it ever working on Hogan and that it's a waste of time to even try?

 

Monsoon's refusal, starting around Ventura's departure, to ever, EVER give the heels credit for anything is absolutely his most infuriating aspect.

[thebrainfollower]

That is one loaded Prime Time Wrestling. Granted one of the matches was from Superstars and another from Challenge but that's five quality matchups in two hours. Gotta love the November sweeps.

 

Gorilla post Ventura did get annoying as hell I agree. It's mitigated with Bobby due to the general entertainment value of the duo but anyone else is a disaster post 1990. His work on the 94 Raw's and PPV's is just mind numbing bad.

[Bigelow34]

The whole point of the Savage thing was to push Tuesday in Texas. They teased his return heavily and Tunney caved to reinstate him but not for Survivor Series. That was the big hook to draw TTIT.

[JerryvonKramer]

The Cheesemobile's been warmed up and now it's almost melting! I opened my folder of discs to a random page and the finger of fate landed on this show: Prime Time Wrestling from May 30th, 1988.

Our hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. The Brain starts by calling Jim Duggan a "cheap shot artist". Heenan wants to say something about Duggan but Monsoon stops him because this is a family friendly show. Monsoon mentions that Heenan has had the Islanders doing menial labour around his house.

1. The Bolsheviks vs. The Young Stallions

Fink with the intros here. Volkoff wants to sing the anthem. This looks like quite a big venue, if I had to guess it's the Boston Garden.Could even be MSG with a funky new carpet down. The central aisle is very MSG-like, but it looks too bright there. My guess is Boston Garden.

Gorilla is on commentary with ... THE DUKE OF DORCHESTER PETE DOHERTY and .... Nick Bockwinkel!! Bockwinkel??! Really?! In 88? I thought he was still wrestling in AWA in 88.

Doherty has a very gravelly voice.

Monsoon: "Look at the cranium on Zukhov!"

Doherty is ridiculous on commentary. Boris is able to get a back suplex on Powers after being worked over for 3-4 minutes. Roma's headlocks are very grindy, he wrenches them, can't decide if that's good or terrible, probably the latter.

Bockwinkel accuses the Stallions of having too much emotion, which belies their lack of experience. Doherty sounds like a villain from a cheaply-made cartoon. Volkoff synches in a boring bearhug. Monsoon mentions that he saw Bock many times go to the eye, and take a shortcut. Bockwinkel simply says "touche".

Sooner or later all four men are in. Gorilla: "the referee's lost control of this one". Got to love the fact that his calls were always the same.

Bolshiviks are able to isolate Powers for the 3.

Monsoon mentions that they are in Boston, so that clears that up.

Back to the studio and Gorilla picks up on the fact that Heenan has changed his clothes. Monsoon says it would be interesting to see Demolition vs. The Bolsheviks. Moonsoon has the latest edition of WWF magazine.

2. Outlaw Ron Bass vs. Jose Luiz Rivera

"They hanging from the rafters here, at the garden" - Gorilla

He's with Lord Alfred. This is unmistakably MSG and Alfred confirms it. Gorilla calls it "the Mecca".

Bass pounds on Rivera. He throws a chair in the ring. No DQ. This ref is old, but I don't recognise him. Rivera hits a dropkick. He's looking pretty stacked actually.

Gorilla: "I try to be fair in my commentary, I don't like to pick sides. If a guy does something good I'll exploit that, if a guy does something bad I'll exploit that as well" -- you tell those smark bastards Gorilla!

Rivera works Bass's arm. Gorilla mentions that Rivera is currently looking for a tag partner. Lord Al says that it's a very hotly contested division. In other words, good luck Jose.

I think Bass has struggled with Rivera here, and as I write that Monsoon mentions that he's had more than he bargained for here.

Monsoon: "They longer this match goes, the more it has to favour Rivera. I know what kind of condition he's in, and it's suspect what kind of condition the Outlaw is in"

That's basically Monsoon saying that Rivera is fitter and more in shape than Bass. He says that Bass is likely going to run out of gas out there. You'd think Rivera is the one getting the push here.

Rivera has been stuck in the ropes for an age now. Bass is doing some claw-like move on him. Monsoon mentions that the ref is Jack Lutz, who is "usually astute, but is looking a little lethargic out there to me". Lutz eh.

Now Bass is tied up in the ropes. Rivera makes a comeback of sorts now. Crowd is DEAD. This match has been going on forever now. Bass hits his finisher, the Texas Gordbuster, "stick the fork in Rivera, this one is over".

Back to the studio, Heenan mentions how Bass has grown a beard even though the Summer is coming. Monsoon accuses Heenan of saying that there's "something in the water" in Texas. Heenan denies it. Back from the break, Heenan calls Brutus Beefcake a "cheapshot artist".

But NOW ...

"Hello everyone, I'm Sean Mooney with this special report ..."

Awesome!

"The intense rivalry that currently exists between the reigning Intercontinental Champion, The Honkytonk Man and Brutus 'the Barber' Beefcake is common knowledge to those in the World Wrestling Federation. In the Barber's quest to strip the Honky Tonk Man of the title, he has ... sheared anyone who has stood in his way including Jimmy Hart and Dangeous Danny Davis. The only obstacle that remains is the Honkytonk Man himself. And recently, the Interncontinental Champion sent Beefcake a musical message ..."

You've got to love that po-faced copy Mooney delivers with a straight face.

Jimmy Hart is on his megaphone as Brutus is getting intereviewed and HTM sneaks up and smashes him on the back with a guitar. This is from Superstars, Jesse and Vince are on commentary.

Interesting side note: the interview segments on the footage had Craig De George holding the mic, but the package was fronted by Mooney. Could there have been some cross-over between the two of them?

Speaking of Craig De George, he's back now with an interview segment live in front of a Wrestle Challenge crowd with Hillbilly Jim. They are in Rochester, Minnesota. Hillbilly Jim claims that the local crowd are a bunch of Hillbillies themselves.

De George says that Jim is going to be on some TV show.

Back to the studio and Monsoon talks about how Hogan took Hillbilly Jim under his wing. Heenan has a George "the Animal" Steele ice cream bar. But it has feathers all over it.

3. Steve Lombardi vs. Jerry Allen

Fuck me, talk about star power. This is from Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. Heenan: "Jerry Allen? Is his mother's name Gracie?"

I can't believe I'm watching this match. Lombardi is very loud.

Monsoon: "Do you know the name of this referee Brain? He seems to be new here."

Heenan: "I don't know the names of any referees apart from Joey Marella, he's the only one that sticks in my mind"

LOL, very funny.

This match is acually quite stiff and physical so so far. Allen is quite aggressive. Heenan leaves the booth in search of Jack Tunney after a contract mistake. He seems to think he might be contracted to face his own clients in matches. A bit of business I didn't really get, but he's gone.

Heenan's back, apparently Tunney is in a meeting. Heenan is worried because he's signed an "open contract" and he needs to clarify what this means. Bizarre goings on.

Meanwhile, Lombardi has been sitting in a chinlock for far too long now.

Heenan: "They asked Lombardi in high school what comes after a sentence. The answer is 'a period' right? He said 'parole'"

Ha ha. Allen hits a suplex. Atomic drop. Some stick kicks and a reverse knife edge. Backdrop. Bodyslam. 2 count. Allen looks pretty good in that stretch.

Hip toss. Put his head down. "When you are young and trying to get to the top, you make a lot of mistakes."

Allen gets the 3, hooks the leg too. Not terrible that match. Allen looked alright.

4. The Islanders vs. Strike Force

This is from MSG. Fink on the classic house mic. Bockwinkel is on commentary again with Monsoon. Gorilla says he can't believe that with a match of this magnitude, that the Brain is not around.

Martel and Santana work over Haku in the shine. Bockwinkel accidentally calls The Islanders "the Samoans", Monsoon corrects him.

Martel hits a side suplex, Tama tags in. The Islanders change the momentum with some cheap chokes. But they don't stay on top long. Satana comes in fired up. Everyone in now. Haku sneaks a headbutt on Tito. Action goes outside.

This has been structurally unorthodox so far. Match has followed no real formula. Islanders go to work on Tito's leg now. He injured his knee on that fall to the outside. Haku hits some cool elbow drops on the leg and now pulls on it. Tamu continues the punishment on the leg. This is very focused work from The Islanders, they don't need Heenan there, he has them well prepped!

Double headbutt by the Islanders gets the first fall. Oh, so this is 2 out of 3 falls.

We go back to the studio for a break. Monsoon criticises Heenan's mangerial acumen.

Santana is injured from that first fall. Bockwinkel says that this is basically a number 1 contender's match, but from Monsoon's response it seems like he made that up on the spot. "They are fighting for the right", says Monsoon.

Islanders go right back to the leg. Tito is forced to go to the eyes. Haku gets in a cheap shot to the thigh from the outside. 2nd fall very clumsy as Martel trips Tama and lets Tito get a flash pin. Only the ref, Jack Lutz, is out of position and takes AN AGE to count three. Tama is pinned for about 30 seconds before he gets there.

Disappointing 2nd fall, but this finish holds some promise. Islanders go right back to Tito's leg.

Monsoon: "No one ever accused The Islanders of being too intelligent, as they are now working on Santana's right leg"

Christ, Gorilla, you don't let up for a second do you! Double noggin knocker now allows Tito to make the hot tag to Martel. Crowd is WILD for him. Big back drop. House of fire here. High crossbody. Gets 2 on Tama, Haku saves. Tama accidentally knees Haku, Martel rolls him up for 3.

Hmmm, this is about a ***, but have to say it's a little disappointing. Told a decent story, but would want more action from both teams. Islanders did well to stay on Tito's leg, but I wanted to see more from these two teams.

5. Don Muraco vs. Jim Neidhart

This is from MSG, Roger Kent and Lord Alfred on commentary. Billy Graham is managing Muraco here. Anvil seems fatter here than he was in 1991.

Kent: "There's a classic wrestler stance, looks like it came out of Greek mythology doesn't it. Now who is going to do what with which to whom?"

WTF is Kent! Ha ha ha. Neidhart is looking PARTICULARLY fat here, bigger than he usually looks. I think it might be because he's not in the overalls.

Kent calls a punch an "Indian punch". He's a very wordy commentary. "Both men are absolutely prespiring profusely". Indeed.

Muraco hits a dropkick. VERY sloppy attempt at a sunset flip by Muraco, Neidhart kinda flops down on him and gets a messy pin. Well that SUCKED.

What was that? Got to be a big upset that too. Strange match and result. Billy Graham looks befuddled.

Monsoon tells us that The Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, has been unhappy of late.

Heenan: "He should be unhappy, the way he was jobbed"

Monsoon: "Jobbed? How was he jobbed?"

Heenan goes through the whole scenario with Ted buying the belt etc.

It's Craig De George again. Ted is in his spangly white goldy jacket, a rare outing for that one -- the jacket around this time is usually the pale green or the silvery one, this white gold number is very seldom seen. I'm EXCITED, which shows how sad I am really. Virgil is there too. DiBiase tells De George to SHUT UP.

DiBiase: "I will do whatever I have to do, to intimidate you, Randy Savage. And if that means grabbing hold of Elizabeth, I'll DO IT! The fact that she's a woman means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to me. She's a manager in a man's profession! And if she can't take the heat, then she should get out of the kitchen! And as far as you go Macho Man, you have now personally tasted the wealth of the Million Dollar Man, and CHOKED on it. Choked on it Savage! They had to fill the ring with wrestlers and physically pull me off of you! But the next time you turn around Savage, it's not going to be a hundred dollar bill I stick down your throat, it's going to be this right here [his fist]. And when I do, Savage, when I do you'll be finished. You won't be Macho, you won't have the glory and you won't have the money and you won't have Elizabeth because she's no different than any other woman here in this building. When the money's gone, when the glory's gone, then the woman's gone. And I've never lost a woman, brother, because I've always got what they want! Who knows, maybe Elizabeth will be ... The Million Dollar Woman, ha ha ha ha ha"

Wow, that was one of the best promos of Ted's career, and I've never seen it before now. Definitely highlight of this episode of PTW. Terrific heel promo, and more serious and angry than many of his Million Dollar Man promos.

Lord Alfred Hayes now with an update. There's an article in the latest WWF magazine by Ken Patera criticising Dino Bravo. And so, of course, the two of them had a tug of war match! Fucking hell, a tug of war??! Bravo's face during this segment is ridiculous as he's pulling on the rope. Ken Patera looks MUCH more 70s here than he did in 1980. How is that possible? Frenchy Martin gets involved, and of course Bravo just beats Patera down and the contest is thrown out. Bravo chokes out Ken with the rope who sells it like he's being killed. Can't help but think that Martin must be hot in that coat.

Monsoon says Bravo has prooved nothing to him. Heenan says that Monsoon is very biased.

6. Harley Race vs. Jim Duggan

I notice that Harley is being referred to almost exclusively as "The King" here. By Heenan and Monsoon and in the captions on screen. I never noticed that before. They haven't called him Race even once yet.

Race bumps around for Duggan to start. But turns it around with a headbutt. Duggan is doing a lot of HOOOOOOOs and is being generally annoying.

Monsoon says that he's heard through the grapevine that Heenan is going to put the tights back on again and step back into the ring. They have been pushing this angle of Heenan being a wrestler again, interesting, did it go anywhere I wonder?

Pretty much all Duggan so far this match. They mentioned earlier that Duggan had hit Andre with the 2x4 recently and Monsoon says that he knows Heenan's plan: to send The King out there to maim Hacksaw so he can't get to Andre again.

It's really weird how Race is EXCLUSIVELY "the King" here. I've never noticed that before, could just be this show.

Race hits a piledriver, doesn't hit it properly as Monsoon points out. Knee drop. Diving headbutt, misses! Punches by Duggan. Atomic drop. Race does his rope teetering spot. Duggan pushes him off and he lands on his head! As Heenan mentions, he could have broken his neck.

Race has worked this completely from underneath so far. Crashes to the outside after a Duggan clothesline. Duggan smashes Race's head into the bell. Back inside, knee drop by Duggan. 2 count.

Finally!

Monsoon: Out the backdoor comes Race.

Heenan: The King! Not just "Race", he's not a commoner.

Clearly there's been some directive from Vince just to call him "The King". Duggan manages to get a pin.This was virtually a squash. Not a good match. Duggan chases the ref off with his plank of wood.

So ... did Duggan become "Hacksaw King Duggan" after that match? I don't think so, I think Race remained the King until the Haku match at Royal Rumble 89. OR did Haku win the "Kingship" from Duggan?

----------

Prime time had a lot less nonsense in 1988 than in 1991. This was a much more wrestling-orientated show with the studio spots between Heenan and Gorilla kept to a bare minimum. They also showed a lot less content from Superstars and Challenge, and much more matches from the house shows that I'm guessing were exclusive to PTW. The DiBiase promo is definitely worth seeing, one of his most heated ever.

I'm also interested in whether this was right around the time Craig De George was replaced by Sean Mooney, or whether the two of them had a month or so where they were colleagues. It was strange to see Mooney introduce that segment in which De George was the one conducting the interviews. My guess is that Craig was on the old footage but had already left.

I've defended Gorilla Monsoon a lot before now, but on this show he was really at his worst on commentary. Just so critical of every single worker. I'm trying to decide if that consistency is a good thing, in maintaining the idea of wrestling as a legit sport, with him as a proper sports broadcaster calling it like an old-timer, or whether it's just him being a dick and burying the talent. Hmmmm.

[Bigelow34]

Race was King until he got hurt later in 88... Heenan named Haku King... Race challenged for the crown and lost at the 89 Rumble... Duggan beat Haku in spring 89

 

Keep em coming, Parv!

[dawho5]

Honestly, this completely random and crazy character stuff reads way more entertaining than anything I've ever seen from the WWE. Does Vince not realize that off the cuff nonsense can come across as great entertainment given the right people?

[JerryvonKramer]

Gloomp, gal-oomp, gloomp, what's that noise? It can surely only mean one thing! The wheels of the cheesemobile are turning once more which means ... yes, folks, the machine is taking us back to July 7th 1984 for another editon of TNT!

 

"From the World Wrestling Federation it's Tuesday Night Titans, with your host, Vince McMahon!"

 

Vince is looking pleased with himself as ever. He introducing Alfred by claims that he holds the marathon record in England. They want to talk about the Ugandan Giant, Kamala! They talk about Friday.

 

Alfred: He's a jungle guide or something. Something to do with all those safaris.

 

And behind all of the scenes is Fred Blassie is manager. Later on: Ken Patera! And that famous midget wrestler, the Haiti Kid! Oh joy of joys.

 

1. Kamala vs. Bob Marcus

 

This, believe it or not, was from a Georgia Championship Wrestling taping after Black Saturday -- of course, being the WWF, they didn't tape it in Atlanta but in Ontario, Canada. No idea at all who the ring announcer is, maybe one of our Canadian friends might be able to identify him? Blassie has taken the trip to Ontario and he accompanies Friday and Kamala. Blassie is wearing all red. Kamala has the mask on and Friday attends to him. Don't care what anyone says, in 1984, this was offensive, fuck it would have been offensive in 1964! Vince is on commentary with Tony Garea. Kamala does some chops on Marcus and a couple of splashes. Squash that got Kamala over as a big threat. But the reaction from the crowd is muted, more silence than boos. Perhaps the Ontario crowd had their collective intelligence insulted.

 

Back in the studio and Kamala is going to be coming on the set. Alfred looks worried. Vince runs down some upcoming house shows and they were running two a night at this point including the Boston Garden AND the Philly Spectrum on the same night (August 4th). I'd be interested to see who was on those cards. Why don't I take a little look?

 

WWF @ Philadelphia, PA - Spectrum - August 4, 1984 (12,908)

Televised on the PRISM Network - featured Gorilla Monsoon & Dick Graham on commentary:

Bob Backlund pinned Salvatore Bellomo at 10:56 after hooking his legs between Bellomo's and forming a bridge; after the bout, the two men embraced out of respect (Backlund's last WWF match for 8 years)

Prime Time Wrestling - 6/25/85: Gama Singh pinned Dave Barbie with a missile dropkick at 5:46

Mr. Fuji pinned Tiger Chung Lee at 14:33 after hitting two Vader Bombs

Andre the Giant defeated Big John Studd via count-out at 9:47 when Studd walked out of the match after grabbing the ring ropes to prevent Andre from bodyslamming him and then climbing out of hte ring

WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Greg Valentine with a clothesline and the legdrop at 11:18; after the bout, Valentine shoved referee Dick Kroll out of the ring (Hulkamania, Best of Hulkamania)

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/19/84: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, & Buddy Roberts (w / David Wolff & Cyndi Lauper) defeated Ron Shaw, Rene Goulet, & Charlie Fulton at 5:12 when Gordy pinned Fulton with a powerbomb; the Fabulous Freebirds used Lynard Skynard's "Freebird" as their entrance music for the bout (the Freebirds' debut) (Legends of Wrestling)

The Haiti Kid pinned Dana Carpenter at 3:51 after Carpenter ran into the corner and Haiti moved out of the way

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/19/84: Iron Mike Sharpe pinned Jose Luis Rivera at 5:11 with a forearm blow to the midsection

Jesse Ventura defeated Rocky Johnson via count-out at 4:46 when Johnson rolled to the floor, holding his right shoulder in pain, after sustaining a piledriver

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/12/84: Kamala (w/ Freddie Blassie & Friday) pinned Fred Marzino (sub. for Terry Daniels) at 3:10 with a splash to the back; after the bout, Blassie & Friday had to restrain Kamala fro climbing the top rope

Georgia Championship Wrestling - 8/19/84: Ken Patera pinned Steve Lombardi with a legdrop at 5:43

TNT - 8/21/84: WWF IC Champion Tito Santana pinned the Iron Sheik at 7:51 with a small package; Freddie Blassie was the special referee for the bout but referee Joey Marella made the pinfall when Blassie was busy kicking trash out of the ring and ignoring Santana's cover

 

WWF @ Boston, MA - Boston Garden - August 4, 1984

SD Jones defeated Pete Doherty

Chief Jay Strongbow defeated Butcher Vachon

Paul Orndorff defeated B. Brian Blair

WWF Women's Tag Team Champions Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre defeated Peggy Lee & Peggy Patterson

Don Muraco defeated Tony Garea

WWF Tag Team Champions Dick Murdoch & Adrian Adonis defeated the Wild Samoans; Capt. Lou Albano was the referee for the bout

Ivan Putski defeated Bob Orton Jr.

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka

 

Not hard to see who the 'B' Crew was here, although there's still some star power on there.

 

Back to the studio and Friday and Blassie. Blassie tells Vince that "Friday doesn't speak too much". Friday has brought with him an actual real-life chicken in a wire coup.

 

Blassie: It's a very great chicken, it can perform beautifully.

 

Vince: What else does the chicken do?

 

Blassie: Well, it can perform a disappearing act.

 

Now Vince introduces Kamala to some lame studio booing -- sounds like it was literally the sound boom guy and the tea lady. Kamala is drawn to the chicken. Blassie says that Kamala is his greatest find as a manager, not the most scientific wrestler in the world, but the most brutal. Blassie says he's not going to alter his style not even a fraction of an inch. Blassie explains that Kamala has to be fed at the same time daily. He's got down on his knees to get the chicken. Friday grabs the chicken. He's going to eat him alive. THE CHICKEN'S LOOSE. They go to break amid chaos in the studio. This went out on National Television.

 

As we come back, we see Kamala just finishing off the last bits of chicken, there are feathers in his mouth. He catches the glare of the camera and stares down the barrell. Vince has a smirk on his face .. "I don't know what happened to the chicken". Alfred is lost for words. Vince now wants to introduce a match featuring everyone's hero, Sgt. Slaughter.

 

4. Sgt. Slaughter vs. Roger Smith

 

This is from St. Louis. Smith has a cowboy gimmick and is announced from Waco, Texas. Vince calls Sarge the greatest living war hero in America today. Maybe that was offensive to some also, like to y'know, actual war heroes. Slaughter kisses the floor. I much prefer him as a heel, all this patriotic shit is annoying to me. Roger Smith is quite a big guy, looks like a knock-off Bobby Duncum. He gets quite a lot of this match and Slaughter sells for him. Apparently Roger Smith was one half of The Assassins after Tom Renesto retired. Well, well. This was before Randy Colley. Slaughter wins with the Cobra Clutch. Crowd seems like it really didn't give much of a shit. Slaughter gets on the mic and says "It's great to be back in St. Louis!", well that got more of a pop. Cheap heat, ha ha. Babyface Slaughter is always so cheesy, that he seems vaguely tongue-in-cheek to me. The Americans have schmaltz levels that we Brits cannot fathom, a bit like how dogs can hear really high pitched noises or something.

 

Back to the studio and Alfred says that he thinks that impossible as it may seem but Slaughter's skills have actually increased. He says that Roger Smith is very well known to fans in the south of the US and is a very rugged individual so Slaughter did very well to make short work of him. He also mentions in passing that Slaughter has a lisp. Does he? I've never noticed that.

 

Vince introduces Ken Patera now. The sound guy and tea lady boo again.

 

Vince [wide grin on his face]: So, er, obviously you've been away "training" ...

 

Patera: I've been absent from the WWF from a number of years, but it's good to be back.

 

Vince: Couldn't help but notice all the medals dripping from your neck.

 

They are his weightlifting medals from the world championships. He goes through about four or five of them. He mentions the military press one, which is no longer in olympic competition. Vince says that Patera is still the record holder for military press. They've discontinued it because the referees thought it was too dangerous for the competitors.

 

Vince: You've had some trouble with officials have you not? Not just in Olympic competition, but ... it seems that Ken Patera has a lot of problems with officials.

 

Patera says they are arrogant and obnoxious idiots, and are prejudicial. They are biased towards the underdog, and he's never been one.

 

Vince produces a 3-quarter steel inch rod for Patera to bend. Alfred brings up his four gold medals at the Pan-Am games and Patera says that he's still the only American ever to do that. Patera bends the metal rod behind his neck. "Isn't that amazing!"

 

3. Ken Patera vs. Billy Travis

 

This is the same Billy Travis as the one from USWA in 1990. Patera is still in fine shape in 1984. Tony Garea is not the best colour analyst in the world. Travis pinballs for Patera and Capt. Lou Albano, his manager at this time, slams Travis's head on the mat. Vince calls for a DQ. Snapmare into a chinlock by Patera. Suplex gets a shaky leg sell from Travis and Patera pulls him up on two. And after a slam be pulls him up again. Toying with him. Big standing powerslam dumps Travis to the mat. And again, almost dropped him on his head. Elbow drop for 3. Bullybeef squash.This was Patera's TV re-debut.

 

Back in the studio and Alfred is trying to bend a bar himself but can't do it. Patera wants to demonstrate a few lifts now given that the Olympics are taking place this year. Patera rubbishes bodybuilders such as Arnold Schwarznegger. He says they look nice but compared to him, they are not that strong. I quite like this version of Patera's character. He's one of those guys who is so boastful about his own achievements that he's almost boring with it. Like a guy taking you through his own photo album telling you how great he is. He puts on the belt and explains what it is.

 

Vince: Of course, for many people, when Vasily Alekseyev was competing, they thought it was to hold in his stomach.

 

You can tell Vince is fucking loving this. He practically has a hard on. Patera is going to demonstrate the old technique, the split snatch and the new technique, the squat snatch. He does the split snatch with 135lbs, but notes that he has done over 400lbs in the past. Now again. Patera says that a lot of people think that it's just brute strength but a lot of it is technique. This might be one of the most boring wrestling skits ever, but I'm kind of enjoying it in its own way. You can tell that Patera is still a genuine enthusiast and that he knows his stuff. Two-hand clean and jerk now. He still holds the American record, but no longer the World record. "Excellent technique and excellent style", says Vince. Now the squat style. "It's like riding a bike, you never forget", says Patera.

 

Patera says that he's the greatest in pro wrestling and is the man to beat. Vince says that after we come back from the break, Patera is going to attempt to stop a moving vehicle using only his leg power.

 

Vince: The producers of TNT are not going to be responsible for ...

 

Patera: They are responsible.

 

Vince (aghast): They are NOT going to be responsible ...

 

Patera: They are totally responsbile because I will not fail!

 

That didn't seem to go to plan.

 

Now we're back and there's a van. They've gone outside.

 

Vince: I need to repeat, the producers of TNT are NOT responsible for your physical well being.

 

Patera: Let's just put it this way, last few hours you keep saying 'you're not liable', well throw it out, I'm just gonna do this okay? I'm gonna show you I'm the strongest man in wrestling today.

 

Vince: AND you're going on record to say that TNT is not liabel ...

 

Patera: That's right, they are not liabel okay? Drop it then!

 

Christ Vince! He didn't half harp on about that.

 

Lord Alfred is driving the fan. Patera objects.

 

Patera: On second thoughts, the man's from England and they drive on the wrong side of the street. I don't want you driving come on, get out. I don't trust anyone who is gonna be driving on the wrong side of the street.

 

Ha ha. Patera says he doen't want anyone else doing it except Vince.

 

Vince: I do not want it, thank you.

 

Patera: I realease all liability, you won't be liabel. Come on, get behind the wheel.

 

This is such a weird skit. Vince considers it a moment. "Alright, that's fine with me".

 

Patera: EVERYONE on TNT can see and hear it, Mr. McMahon is not liabel.

 

Jesus Christ what's going on. Still with the liabel stuff! Vince comes round and goes into the van.

 

Patera: Are you jittery?

 

Vince: Yes I'm jittery! Only a FOOL wouldn't be jittery!

 

Vince seems really angry. I can't tell if something has gone wrong here, or if this is just exceptional acting from him. It feels like something is not going to plan.

 

Alfred: You'd have been better off with me, I tell you. I've driven with him before, he's 100 miles per hour.

 

Vince is revving the engine and seems to be getting more and more jittery. Patera puts a cushion behind him. Vince starts beeping the horn. What a fucking psycho! Patera shouts at him "wait for me okay! I'm the one doing it! Patience!"

 

Vince beeps the horn again. Patera gets into position. Patera mentions to Alfred that he doesn't advise anyone at home to do this. Patera puts his feet on the bumper. Gives Vinces the signal. Vince steps on the gas, he's holding the van back. Smoke from the wheels. Patera has defeated the van!

 

Patera shouts at Vince. "I don't you to turn that thing off after about 7 seconds"

 

Vince loses it and starts shouting back. This whole thing is just incredible. Vince seems legit pissed off.

 

Back in the studio and the Haiti Kid has ... THE MAIL BAG on his shoulder. Vince laughs as if to say "how adorable".

 

Letter 1 from Kansas City, Kansas. How can I meet the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan? I am 5 feet 8, 115lbs, and 22 years old. I am considered a very good looking brunette. Yours hopefully, Lisa Murowlski,

 

Vince looks like he's about to crack up. Ha ha ha. He doesn't think he can respond to it. He doesn't have an answer, lol.

 

Letter 2 from Santiago, California. When will you be having another feature on Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndroff, I missed the first one and would like to see him. Peter Mattieu

 

Vince says they'll be another one soon, but there are so many great athletes that it's difficult to have features of them all.

 

Now Vince introduces a long-time favourite in WWF, Mr. Ace Freeman. This is the nostalgia feature. Alfred says he used to watch Freeman as a boy. These nostalgia bits are SO interesting to see. It's Vince acknowledging and paying attention to wrestling history here in 1984. I guess there came a point where he figured that the kids didn't care and erased this sort of thing, but it's so cool to see it while it lasted.

 

Vince asks Ace Freeman how long he was a wrestler.

 

Ace: That's like asking a chorus girl how old she is.

 

The answer is 35 years at least. Now he's associated with Titan entertainment as a promoter in Western Virginia and Eastern Ohio. Vince asks him to compare the new breed of wrestlers to the action he saw when he was an active wrestler. Ace dutifully puts over the current talent. He talks about more people now coming from college and university backgrounds, so they know more. He said that back in his day, they'd have to rely on getting in European competitors from Greece and elsewhere. They show a picture of Ace Freeman in his prime. But Ace continues: today's wrestlers are so much better. He has great admiration for Bob Backlund. And for Ken Patera's strength.

 

And now some old footage.

 

4. Victor Riveria and Tony Marino vs. The Mongols

 

Makes you wonder just how much of this stuff is still knocking about in the Titan vaults. According to Graham's site this is an MSG match from June 15, 1970, which had a record crowd of 20,819 (it was broken by the next WWWF show there). Crusher Verdu and Bruno headlined both. The Mongols, unsurprisingly, both look like Killer Khan. The work is slow and nerve-holdy a la The Samoans.

 

Back to the studio, and Ace Freeman says he's been through all of pro wrestling now so he's very qualified to be a promoter. He says also that he can't say enough about Hulk Hogan, who is very agile for a big man. Vince mentions that Freeman resides in Pittsburgh, "that's the home of Bruno Sammartino isn't it?" "It is." Ace had very little to say about the match from 1970, ha ha.

 

Vince looks thrilled now to be introducing ... The Haiti Kid! He comes out and shakes Vince's hand and then gets on the table to shake Alfred's hand which gets a chuckle from Vince. Haiti Kid says it's a pleasure to be here. I note that he goes to the same clothes store as SD Jones.

 

The Haiti Kid has quite a strong accent. Vince says that if the ref gets in the way, many times he takes matters into his own hands. Alfred insinuates that he cheats, but The Kid no sells it. Haiti Kid is stubbornly no-selling these attempts by Vnce and Alfred that he cheats. I love it!

 

Vince mentions Frenchy Lamont, and when he slipped under Gorilla Monsoon's legs and picked him up at 400lbs. Vince shows a match of Haiti Kid now.

 

5. Haiti Kid vs. Dan Carpenter

 

This is from the Capital Centre in Washington DC. Gorilla Monsoon on commentary. Carpenter looks like a midget Bob Backlund, sticks his ass out like him too. Carpenter bodyslams the Kid and then ... bites on his nails? Then Haiti Kid bites his ass which causes Carpenter to dash around the ring. He shows Dick Whorle but as he does so, Haiti Kid bites his ass too! DQ? Come on ref, you can't have that! Ridiculous comedy spot now as the midgets criss cross but Carpenter just keeps going and Haiti Kid stops and watches him keep running, It's like watching a post-modern deconstruction of a wrestling match as imagined by Looney Tunes. He's still running! Eventually Haiti Kid drops down and gives him a monkey flip. Then he grabs onto the ref and swings down putting his face between Worhle's legs and lools up. I can't imagine Dick liked working these matches too much OR he absolutely loved them, there's no in between. Then he STAMPS on Worhle's foot. What the fuck is this ref? DQ the little prick! Worhle is ridiculously lenient on the little people. Monsoon is laughing a lot on commentary, he loves all this. Carpenter accidentally body presses Worhle and hooks his leg. Haiti Kid counts to three. Worhle is pissed off now. Haiti Kid tries to raise Worhle's arm. The absurdity levels make this quite fun. Airplane spin by Haiti Kid but, of course, he dizzies himself. But despite being giddy, he gets the three. Pure comedy match.

 

Studio now and Haiti Kid has gone, but he jumps over the sofa and he's there. Vince brings up that there were two winners of that match, him and the ref! Haiti Kid seems to no sell it again! Ha ha ha. They ask him about when he went down between Worhle's legs. Haiti says it was scary for him because he just didn't know what to do. What a scamp! Vince calls him one of the all-time great midgets.

 

Vince is ready to introduce his next guest, but what's this? Ah, Alfred is wearing a Mexican Sombreo. He's thrilled to be. This can only mean one thing: Tito Santana is here. He comes out with a full Mexican band, trumpets, violins, guitars. Ariba! Ariba! Santana is wearing shades and a loungue suit. Tito says it's great to see an old-style mariachi band. He beats his chest once. "They are my people!"

 

Tito says being the IC champion is the proudest thing in his life. Vince wants to show some video tape now.

 

6. Tito Santana vs. Rene Goulet

 

Christ, Goulet still knocking around here in 1984. Stalling by Goulet to start. The ring has a dark green canvas. By my reckoning this was the March 7, 1984 from an All-Star taping in Hamburg. Goulet gets quite a lot of offense against the IC champ, which is surprising given that Goulet was doing jobs to the likes of SD Jones in 1984, he was more or less bottom rung on the ladder, but they make this a really competitive match. Crowd was pretty hot for this and it's because Tito sold for Goulet and made him look like a threat. ABC of how to do an effective 10-minute TV match.

 

Vince asks Tito about his gruelling schedule. Santana says he defends the IC belt more than any previous holder and the travel does take its toll. Vince postulates that surely this makes him more vulnerable than previous champions. Vince and Alfred with some HARD HITTING journalism here. Tito accidently calls the WWF the "World Wide Wrestling Federation". Vince wishes him luck.

 

More mariachi band action now, and we get dancing too. Vince's view of the world seems to have been conceived entirely from going on the "It's a Small Small World" ride at Disneyland. We come back from break with a full banquet of Mexican food. A bit of everything. Burrittos. Vince asks if they are Tito's favourites, and Tito says with Mexican food they are all his favourites. Vince suggests that Alfred has a burrito, Alfred's like "can I try something else instead?". Vince insists, and has some burrito. He tries it as if he's about to eat a piece of actual shit, but he says that it's "smashing". Now they show the tacos. Alfred goes to try some but accidentally on purpose drops them on the floor! But one is saved and Alfred is made to try it. "It's rather ermm..." Tomalis now. I have to say, in fairness to Alfred, that this particular Mexican food looks gross. He's being uber-tentative. He takes a bite of tomal, "gosh, I don't like that". Ha ha, Alfred HATES Mexican food. Enchiladas now. Tito's turn to try some. Vince for some reason spills an entire bowl of salsa all over the enchiladas before Tito can get a fork. Santana likes it.

 

And now they have margaritas! They give one to Alfred. He sips it. They ask the woman there Deborah why they need the salt. She says, from her own personal knowledge, it's to kill the taste of the tequila. Ha ha. Now they've got sangria. They drink to "future victories in Interncontinental title defences throughout the World Wrestling Federation". What a long-winded toast. "And I know Lord Alfred Hayes, that you will ALWAYS remember this, it's done wonders for your palette". "For the next hour at least". Alfred playing the stereotypical rude Brit abroad was quite amusing, I'm not sure how much he was acting either. That's one of the things that has changed massively since 1984, the idea of someone never having had Mexican food would simply not workin 2014.

 

More traditional Mexican dancing now. People who bitch and moan about the El Matador gimmick should watch some of this shit right here! Tito gives us an "Ariba"

 

Now they want to talk about Fred Blassie, and how he brought back to the WWF Nikolai Volkoff, who has never looked better. He's going to sing the Soviet National Anthem. Now I've only just noticed this, but that song Nikolai sings is NOT the Soviet Anthem. The Soviet Anthem is basically the best national anthem ever ever, no question, no debate. But this is not the song Volkoff sings, anyone know what it is he's singing? The tune is completely different.

 

7. Nikolai Volkoff vs. SD Jones

 

I wonder who is going over here. The fans do cheer SD. But oh ... we don't get to see the match, just the intros and now we're back to the studio. Strange, why just show the intros?

 

8. The Spoiler vs. Jeff Lang

 

The hipster Dave Wolf joins Vince and Garea on commentary. If you recall Dave Wolf was the guy with the shades involved with Cyndi Lauper. The Spoiler had recently come to WWF from the GCW purchase and was the National champion at that point. But we barely see any of this match until we're back to the studio. Alfred wants to see more Ken Patera. Vince talks again about having the jitters with that. They plug the Mailbag address and thank their guests before signing off. There's no TNT next week because they are showing that entire card from the Capital Centre in Washington DC. I'm not going to watch it, but let's have a look at the card:

 

WWF @ Landover, MD - Capital Centre - July 28, 1984 (15,000)

Afa defeated Rene Goulet

Bob Backlund defeated B. Brian Blair

Bob Orton Jr. defeated Chief Jay Strongbow

TNT - 8/7/84: The Haiti Kid pinned Dana Carpenter following an airplane spin

Televised on the USA Network 8/14/84 - included Gorilla Monsoon on commentary:

Charlie Fulton pinned Jose Luis Rivera at 9:26 when the momentum of a crossbody by Rivera put Fulton on top for the win

Tony Garea pinned Iron Mike Sharpe at 5:39 after jumping into Sharpe and pushing his knees down on the shoulders during the cover

Sika fought George Steele to a double count-out at 5:30 when both men began brawling on the floor, using the timekeeper's table, and then brawling to the back with a steel chair; prior to the bout, Mr. Fuji escorted Steele to ringside before going backstage

WWF Women's Tag Team Champions Princess Victoria & Velvet McIntyre defeated Peggy Lee & Peggy Patterson at 13:15 when McIntyre pinned Patterson with a sunset flip

Sgt. Slaughter defeated Greg Valentine via disqualification at 10:36 after Valentine pulled referee Dick Worley into Slaughter as Slaughter attempted to apply the Cobra Clutch; prior to the bout, Capt. Lou Albano escorted Valentine to the ring before going backstage

Paul Orndorff defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via disqualification at 12:12 after the referee caught Hogan using the challenger's brass knuckles, which Orndorff had been using moments earlier

Roddy Piper defeated Jimmy Snuka via count-out at 6:17 when Snuka threw Piper back inside the ring after both men began brawling on the floor; after the bout, Snuka hit a headbutt on the referee and continued to attack Piper until several wrestlers and officials came out to restrain him

The Iron Sheik defeated Billy Travis via submission at 3:30 with the Camel Clutch; prior to the bout, Freddie Blassie escorted the Sheik to the ring before going backstage

 

Look at how hot WWF was in 1984, drawing a crowd like that in Landover. 19,800 is a sell out at the Capital Centre though, so could be better. You'd have to credit this one to Hogan vs. Orndorff. I wonder if that Slaughter vs. Valentine match is any good. I might have to take a look at that. Damn you wrestling!

 

-----

 

This was just your typical TNT, but in that of course, there's a ton of surrealness, especially the increasingly heated interaction between Vince and Patera and the truly excessive talk of liabel.

[JerryvonKramer]

Images:

 

An actual chicken.

 

Kamala with the feathers in his mouth.

 

Patera in the world's longest segment on a wrestling show ever, this side of a HHH promo

 

Vince was really revving that van!

 

Haiti Kid crops up between Dick Worhle's legs

 

Alfred does not care for Mexican food

[Ricky Jackson]

I must have watched that Patera feat of strength bit with Vince and the van dozens of times back in the day on the great "The Biggest, the Smallest, the Strangest and the Strongest" CHV tape. One of Vince's greatest performances.

[JerryvonKramer]

Just to mention that reading something else just now, I stumbled across the fact that Beppo Mongol, featured in the match of that ep of TNT, was none other than Nikolai Volkoff. I wonder if even Vince knew that, because they show a clip of Volkoff later in the same show. This would be one of the few examples I can think of, of a company, unwittingly or accidentally, showing a guy in two different gimmicks on the same show: Beppo Mongol in footage from 1970 and Nikolai Volkoff from the current product in 1984. I guess it could have been an inside joke, but I doubt it. I wonder if anyone at home noticed.

[JerryvonKramer]

As research for the 1983 booking project, I want to watch a full episode of Championship Wrestling from July 1983. Just to get a sense of how ol Vince Sr was doing things at this late point in his career. This was an interesting time for the WWF. Vince Jr had already started doing some of his power moves and he'd recently made the All American TV show where he'd showcase different promotions from all around featuring talent he was planning to poach (genius). They were also running LA shows already. I will be watching this to see how much is Vince Sr style and how much is Vinnie Mac Attack.

 

This is the July 2nd show,

 

Vince and Pat Patterson open, in lilac suits. Talk about Slaughter and Muraco.

 

Taping is in Allentown. Joe McHugh ring announcing. Dick Woerhle the ref. Not a thing changed since the 70s.

 

1. Don Muraco vs. SD Jones

 

Non-title bout. Muraco is IC champ. Jones over with Allentown crowd. This is actually quite a big match for TV. Jones was not a pure jobber. Huge "We Want Snuka" chant. He was feuding with Muraco at this time. Jones conducts them like an orchestra.

 

Muraco catches Jones going for a crossbody in midair and hits a tombstone for three. Snuka chants continue. Three minutes this match. Cool finish.

 

2. Alec Gerrard vs. Ivan Putski

 

Putski is stacked. Gerrard, not so much. Classic jobber look. Over in less than two minutes.

 

3. Jack Carson vs. Sgt. Slaughter

 

Sarge has military music. Full band march. Wizard with him, he's looking painfully thin here. Jobber Jack Carson has a wet-behind-the-ears look. Cobra clutch, it's over.

 

4. John Callahan vs. iron Mike Sharpe

 

Naturally Sharpe dominates, but he misses a kneedrop and truly pathetic jobber Callaghan gets in a flurry of wimpy punches.

 

There was a weird angle here where Sharpe was being known as a "wimp". Someone in the crowd has a "Iron Mike Wimp" sign and the crowd start a "WIMP WIMP" chant. Fucking hilarious!

 

Would love to know what the deal was with this wimp angle. Wins with a running forearm to the head.

 

Massive WIMP banner in the crowd. Wtf? Why was he a wimp?! Funniest shit ever.

 

5. Bob Bradley vs. Big John Studd

 

Bradley has a headband on and a t-shirt. Like a kind of rock guy. Don't fancy his chances here. Studd was feuding with Andre and managed by Blassie.

 

Bradley does the full body convulsion sell for his clubbing blows. Vince mentions that Bradley is a powerlifter. Torture rack for the submission in less than two minutes.

 

Huge amount of very short squashes in this show.

 

Over now to Rogers's Corner!

 

Buddy is with a Tiger Chung Li and Fred Blassie. According to a lassie he was doing a tour of the orient when he came across this man who was a martial arts champeen.

 

Oh and that's it. Jesus Christ, the way Vince Jr transformed the TV presentation is pretty remarkable.

 

6. Don Kernodle vs. Rocky Johnson

 

So while Slaughter came off the Final Conflict and went back to New York as a big star, Kernodle seemingly was presented like any other jobber. Weird. Like I mean I thought Kernodle would be treated a tiny bit above that.

 

Patterson does mention that Kernodle is experienced and can really go, so maybe he is treated above that? Zero offense so far. Vince calls him a veteran. Johnson works this like he's Appollo Creed.

 

Yeah and Johnson just goes over like Kernodle is a pure jobber. I didn't even know Kernodle had a run in WWF. Isn't a bit weird that he went from selling out Greensboro to this in a few months?

 

7. Steve King, Pete Sanchez and Frankie Williams vs. Samoans 1, 2 and 3

 

Wow, look at that jobber line up!! Jobber ALL STARS! Frank Williams is one weird looking guy, always thought so. Ever see that film Maniac? He could have played him.

 

Bizarrely, the jobber trios get some offense in on Afa. Sanchez with a neat move, Williams will some forearms, King cuts cut off but then hits two drop kicks. Wow, the jobber all stars are pretty good. Frank Williams tries to go toe to toe in a slugfest with Samu, oh dear, that can only end one way.

 

Williams gets himself triple teamed. Eats a DDT. Hot shot. Headbutt. Williams took a fucking pounding here. His teammates might have helped a bit more.

 

8. Chuck Tanner vs. Ivan Koloff

 

Joe McHugh can't make his introductions because Ivan is slamming his chain on the mat, and opts to leave the ring. He's wearing his cool cape too. Koloff kicks the crap out of this jobber. Knee from the top to win.

 

------

 

This was the same incredibly staid TV show as it had been for over a decade. Vince Sr's TV never changed. I'm actually now really interested to see how rapid the transition was once Vince Jr took over. I might try to seek out the exact moment he took over. When you consider the shit on TNT I've covered in this thread from less than a year from this point, it's literally amazing what he did.

[JerryvonKramer]

So out of interest I wanted to see how much if anything had changed in the world of WWF Championship Wrestling by January 7th 1984

I'm not doing a blow by blow account of this show, just wanted to make some observations:

- first of all, a huge change: Gene Okerland has replaced Pat Patterson as Vince's "sidekick". The impact of this one small change to the show is HUGE. Okerlund just makes everything seem so much more like a major deal it's unreal. But we also see him more on camera. He does colour here, but also interviews, and there is a lot more in front of the camera stuff than we saw in July 83. One little quirk of his commentary is the way he says "some kind of an arm bar", "some kind of an elbow". It's pretty funny.

- this taping was still at the Allentown Agricultural Hall, where it has been for years, and we still get Joe McHugh as the ring announcer, even though he's starting to look ancient. Dick Woerlhe is still the ref too. This bit hasn't changed, although McHugh got a few things wrong during this show like called David Schultz "Mr D" rather than "Dr D" and butchering "Rowdy Roddy Piper". Just a flub by him, but I wonder if at this point with Vince Sr increasingly Ill and out of the picture, whether little things like that might get to VKM? I mean he'd just done all he could to get these guys here and the announcer flubs their names? I can't see Vince not caring about that. McHugh's days looked numbered here.

- speaking of Piper, this was his TV debut and he cuts a manic promo after the match. Again, just the presence of Piper seemed to bring this show from the staid mid-70s presentation of just a few months back to modernity, it's amazing to see. No other presentational elements had changed, just personnel. Okerlund + Piper and all of a sudden the TV is out of the dark ages.

- more little things: Iron Sheik was champ here and cuts aphis "Iran Number One" promo after the match in the middle of the ring. Just so much more ... Exciting that what you'd see in the old TV show.

- I can't stress the role of Okerlund enough. They do the rolling interviews in front of the ring, which had been a standard spot for years, but switching Okerlund for Vince just brings that whole segment alive. I think seeing it all in this context makes one appreciate Mean Gene for being phenomenal at what he did.

- they were heavily pushing Victory Magazine on this show, and Iron Sheik cut another promo ostensibly as a "magazine interview" with some goon.

- Bob Backlund has a match against one of the Samoans and all three of them are thre plus Albano. After a while, he has had enough and goes back to the locker room to get ... HULK HOGAN!! Crowd goes apeshit. Okerlund puts him over as the star of Rocky III. This seems to have been Hogan's re-debut. Interestingly, Okerlund DOES acknowledge that he's "returning" to the WWF. Big "Hogan Hogan" chant. Poor Backlund, just watching himself becoming irrelevant in seconds.

- After that they cut a promo. Backlund mentions that "Hogan has changed his ways, no more hanging out with Fred Blassie". It is really interesting how they acknowledged the earlier run up front like that. Hogan also says "This is a different Hulk Hogan". It's like he did his face turn in 1-second. Backlund's promo style was different here too, he was actually coherent, closer to Mr Backlund promo style than the gimpy mumbling fuck we'd get in 79-81. Obviously he had his head shaved at this point too. After the Hogan thing, there's a Mr Fuji match against jobber Denny Hill. And they keep talking about "the return of Hulk Hogan". It's cool that they bridged it back to his earlier run.

- Of course, the debuts of Piper and Hogan on one show would be a big deal, but there was more. The July 83 show was just straight up squash matches for an hour, no angles, no star vs star stuff. This is in marked contrast to that, although one does get the feeling that this was a "special" show.

----

Well, I was really expecting this to be less different from the July 83 show, I was expecting the changes to be more gradual, but the sheer impact of Okerlund, Piper and Hogan is just like a fucking seismic shift in the product. In terms of the actual presentation, Okerlund cannot be underestimated. This was probably the most this TV show had changed in the past 15 years. In one hour Vince Jr brought it crashing into the 1980s. Pretty amazing to see. I'd recommend this to anyone who hasn't see the TV debuts of Piper and Hogan.

[JerryvonKramer]

Skipping now to July 14th 1984. I know this was the last TV taping at the Allentown Agricultural Hall. Once again, I only really want to comment on presentational changes.

 

- first things first, the opening credits now have Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as a theme and heavily feature Hogan.

 

- Hogan and Mean Gene are in tuxes now, very smart.

 

- Little thing but the WWF logo is much much more prominent than it was in the past. Come to think of it, I actually wonder if the Vince Sr promotion had a logo at all. Did it?

 

- Joe McHugh still here. I know he was the Agricultural Hall's house mic guy, he sort of came with the venue in the same way that Dr Tom Miller came with Greensboro. You'd never see McHugh outside of Allentown and you'd never see Miller outside of Greensboro. He's wearing a gorgeous white tux here. Maybe his last ever appearance?

 

- another small thing but the graphics on the screen which show the names of the wrestlers have changed from the ugly old yellow ones to big block yellow with the WWF logo prominently displayed along side the name. Branding branding branding.

 

- another thing, shots of individual members of the crowd wearing merchandise, literally world's apart from the show from July 83.

 

- another new segment, WWF update! This is Vince in a news anchor sort of setting with a massive WWF logo behind him. He does this cheesy hard turn to the camera which cuts as he turns, you can tell Vince is loving it and gets off on that shit. This is the genesis of the Craig De George / Sean Mooney role right here. Vince literally runs through the headlines of what is happening in the promotion and all of a sudden you're aware of every single storyline, who is feuding with who and why.

 

- that logo is absolutely bloody everywhere on this show! Piper cuts a promo with a Giant WF above his shoulder. You cannot get away from it, it's front and centre everywhere you look.

 

- Cyndi Lauper video package now with Wendi Richter working out in a gym. Lots of entourage types chanting. Richter looks like an ass kicker here. Lauper is so into it. Again, the idea of a video package seemed improbably just one year before this.

 

- An aside but a random funny moment on commentary when Okerlund tries to put over the idea that SD Jones has everything coming together right now "he has the right level of experience and athletic ability, I think now is the time he's really coming of age". Terrible analysis Gene!! And awful judgement. I wonder how many people at the time watching him vs. Dick Murdoch bought that line by Okerlund. In fairness, he did only take a count out loss to Captain Redneck, not a pinfall.

 

- Paul Orndorff cuts a promo at the end of this show, during which Okerlund is just fantastic. His banter, his chat, his lines, he's just so great at what he does. I think after Hogan and Heenan or Piper, Gene might have been the single most significant acquisition for Vince's expansion. He's transformed this TV product just by being there.

[JerryvonKramer]

Monsoon tells us that The Million Dollar Man, Ted DiBiase, has been unhappy of late.

 

Heenan: "He should be unhappy, the way he was jobbed"

 

Monsoon: "Jobbed? How was he jobbed?"

 

Heenan goes through the whole scenario with Ted buying the belt etc.

 

It's Craig De George again. Ted is in his spangly white goldy jacket, a rare outing for that one -- the jacket around this time is usually the pale green or the silvery one, this white gold number is very seldom seen. I'm EXCITED, which shows how sad I am really. Virgil is there too. DiBiase tells De George to SHUT UP.

 

DiBiase: "I will do whatever I have to do, to intimidate you, Randy Savage. And if that means grabbing hold of Elizabeth, I'll DO IT! The fact that she's a woman means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to me. She's a manager in a man's profession! And if she can't take the heat, then she should get out of the kitchen! And as far as you go Macho Man, you have now personally tasted the wealth of the Million Dollar Man, and CHOKED on it. Choked on it Savage! They had to fill the ring with wrestlers and physically pull me off of you! But the next time you turn around Savage, it's not going to be a hundred dollar bill I stick down your throat, it's going to be this right here [his fist]. And when I do, Savage, when I do you'll be finished. You won't be Macho, you won't have the glory and you won't have the money and you won't have Elizabeth because she's no different than any other woman here in this building. When the money's gone, when the glory's gone, then the woman's gone. And I've never lost a woman, brother, because I've always got what they want! Who knows, maybe Elizabeth will be ... The Million Dollar Woman, ha ha ha ha ha"

 

Wow, that was one of the best promos of Ted's career, and I've never seen it before now. Definitely highlight of this episode of PTW. Terrific heel promo, and more serious and angry than many of his Million Dollar Man promos.

 

Watching this again, it's amazing how red and puffed up with excess DiBiase's face was in 1988. He really is the picture of sick 80s consumption gone over the top.

 

Still think it is a great promo and one of his better ones ever.

[TheDuke]

I just went and read through this whole topic from top to bottom tonight, and I must say I really loved reading it. I know with the GWE, 1983 fantasy booking project, and like 3 podcasts there is a lot on your plate, but I am hoping you can come back and do another review here soon.