JerryvonKramer Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Every so often in the big two companies, you'd get these autonomous little C-team units that you got the impression that no one really had their eye on. One example is Jimmy Hart running WCW Saturday Night. Another is some of Gorilla Monsoon's C-show appearances in the mid-90s when he's calling matches with Michael Hayes. Another is basically any time you get guys re-dubbing shows for local markets, Scott Hudson and Larry Zbyszko on Worldwide for the UK standing out in my mind. However, unsurprisingly, my all-time favourite C-team consists of Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes either buried down on Wrestling Challenge or on countless Coliseum Home Video releases. I always got the impression that basically no one in the WWF management was watching what those two were doing or saying, as if Vince literally didn't give a shit what was going out on some of those VHS tapes. What was most awesome is that Hayes was so completely out of touch with what was going on -- which I think is exacerbated by the fact that little if any of the commentary was done live, it's all done after the fact. Hayes was kind of a heel, but not really. He had a habit of just totally burying guys: pointing out that they'd put on weight, criticising the way they'd go for a pin and so on. That is quite amusing in itself, but then you've got Mooney next to him playing this straight-laced newscaster from a 1950s B-movie complete with all of the cheesy cornball lines you'd expect from such a character, and not knowing any moves at all. On most of the tapes, they'd also do these ridiculous skits, Mooney in army gear with bombs going off behind him, Mooney and Hayes on the fakest looking London set you've ever seen pretending they are in the UK, ! This stuff reaches its peak around 92 and early 93. By that stage Mooney was on his way out and Hayes was beyond giving a shit; I want to say he was more or less replaced by Raymond Rougeau around that time. So I'm saying that Mooney and Hayes are the all-time greatest C-team. Who else is there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Chris Cruise and Terry Funk on Worldwide in late 1989-early 1990 stand out for me. I love that Funk called him Crispy Cruiser, and that Funk purposely called the Z-Man "Zeaman" just so Cruise would have to correct him and let him know it was a nickname, and to stop saying it like a name. Funk's response? "That's what I said - Zeaman." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I love Solie/Dusty and Cruise/Dusty from 95 Prime. I love 91-92 Mooney/Hayes, because Lord Alfred had started to lose it a bit and he'd be a really snarky and grumpy heel type figure out of the blue in the most amazing ways, like hating High Energy's pants. I kind of liked Matthews/Striker on ECW but I didn't like Striker when he got moved up to the big leagues probably due to how he was produced. I really loved Tony/Heyman on WCW Power Hour in 91 and Tony/Larry on WCW Pro Chicago. But my favorite is Monsoon/Johnny Polo. Levy just had a way of stymieing Monsoon that was hilarious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 I'm pretty sure Hudson and Larry Z was for the international version of Worldwide and not just the UK because we got it in New Zealand too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Polo/Monsoon had incredible chemistry together. Levy would just destroy him and I think for the life of me Gorilla was in on the joke Dusty and Tony on WCW Prime!! MOOOOOOOO!!! I loved that Prime aired on Monday afternoons. Maybe the most non descript timelsot in wrestling history next to Impact on Friday afternoons. And of course infamously was behind at least a week on storylines so you had Tony and Dusty hyping stuff that had already taken place edit: originally had Pro, it was Prime of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 But my favorite is Monsoon/Johnny Polo. Levy just had a way of stymieing Monsoon that was hilarious. What he said! I never get sick of watching that Razor vs. Crush match, only because Polo and Monsoon get talking about Fuji Vice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 It's all about Josh Matthews & Taz and Josh Matthews & Michael Cole on Velocity. Shades of Pokerface 4-Life yo.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Count me on the Prime fandom too. Dusty was hilarious on these show, no matter who he worked with. I especially enjoyed him with Sollie. On which show was Levy/Mansoon ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 Monsoon/Polo were on Coliseum videos...... I loved the Lance/Freebirds team on WCW Pro in 1990. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted January 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 So Monsoon / Polo effectively replaced Mooney / Hayes on the VHS releases? For whatever reason my arbitrary cut off point for collecting videos was Survivor Series 94. I have virtually everything before that but very little beyond it. It's made me kind of curious now but my days of blowing £100s on ebay are over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted January 19, 2013 Report Share Posted January 19, 2013 A ton of people replaced Mooney/Hayes. Even JR and the Brain did one CHV release that wasn't a PPV. Gorilla and Stan Lane did a lot of stuff too, but remember there were only a handful of random match tapes by 96. 1995 was really it for CHV random stuff, though most of the Gorilla/Polo stuff was on 94 releases. The 2nd tape called Wrestling's Bloopers, Bleeps and Bodyslams and Inside the WWF contain a good portion of their work together. They also did All American Wrestling Sundays at noon on the USA network together for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 I liked Todd Grisham and the Coach on WWE Heat in the mid 2000's. They seemed to have a lot of fun and had good chemistry. In fact, both are now at ESPN doing Sportscenter. The best was Dusty in FCW tv with Byron Saxton and Matt Marrlaro who is now HHH's guy in Creative.. JR/Regal are good on NXT tv too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cox Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 I love that Funk called him Crispy Cruiser I have a friend who we call Chrispy, and every car he's owned for the past 15+ years has been called the Chrispy Cruiser. I had a friend over not too long ago and we were watching some '90 Yearbook stuff, and when Funk dropped the "Chrispy Cruiser" line on Cruise, he couldn't stop laughing - he had no idea that's where I had stolen that from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
med2089 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Dusty and Tony on WCW Prime!! MOOOOOOOO!!!I had completely forgotten about the MOO MATCH OF THE WEEK. Sadly, there are no clips on YouTube that I could find of Dusty mooing through a replay for me to relive and just laugh at. It was so awesomely random - I would have loved to have been in the production meeting (assuming that one even happened) where Dusty said "you know, I have this great idea - I'm going to moo on TV," just to see what response it got. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted January 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 I absolutely hated the guy but did Todd Pettengil ever call any matches? For that matter did Raymond Rougeau? It was like those two replaced Mooney and Hayes but without taking over the commentary half of their roles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregor Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Pettengill did color commentary on Action Zone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 I absolutely hated the guy but did Todd Pettengil ever call any matches? For that matter did Raymond Rougeau? It was like those two replaced Mooney and Hayes but without taking over the commentary half of their roles. Rougeau was announcing on Superstars in 97 with Mansoon. And it wasn't any good. Of course Rougeau had been the French announcer from late 92 when Eddie Carpentier left up to I would think 2001 (I began watching English broadcasts in 97). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Cruise/Dusty and Lance/Freebirds for me. There's an episode or two of Prime where Bisch replaces Cruise and so it's not half as fun for Dusty so he's not as brilliant as he normally is. And Lance and the Birds on The Pro are just the funniest team ever, with the greatest chemistry. I never thought Jim Garvin would be so fun until I heard that team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWOOD Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 I found an old Coliseum tape that is literally called Wrestlings, Bloopers, Bleeps and Bodyslams. It came out in mid-1984 or 5 from the looks of it. Its listed as WF001 so it might be the first tape ever, I dont really check or know. It has botches, highlights from Tuesday Night Titans, Vince and Andre dancing around with steel drums nonsense with Rock n' Wrestling and Paul Vachons wedding where everyone including Vince ends up covered in cake. Its mostly heels at the wedding. It isnt really a C-show but you did mention old tapes they put out and I think this a prime example of Vince not really giving a fuck whatsoever. It reminds me of a tape I had called "Hockey: The Lighter Side" that I got in 1992 although I think got released in 1987. Considering how storied they try to make those day seem today on television with their revisionist stuff it its nice to see old stuff that came out then actually be more entertaining and expose you to things like no Legends Roundtable could. I also like WCW Power Hour in 1991. I guess thats a C-team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I found an old Coliseum tape that is literally called Wrestlings, Bloopers, Bleeps and Bodyslams. It came out in mid-1984 or 5 from the looks of it. Its listed as WF001 so it might be the first tape ever, I dont really check or know. It has botches, highlights from Tuesday Night Titans, Vince and Andre dancing around with steel drums nonsense with Rock n' Wrestling and Paul Vachons wedding where everyone including Vince ends up covered in cake. Its mostly heels at the wedding. It isnt really a C-show but you did mention old tapes they put out and I think this a prime example of Vince not really giving a fuck whatsoever. Freddie Blassie's "performing" chicken! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I want to say Pettingil also did a random episode of Raw with Vince between Bobby leaving and Lawler's legal trouble being wrapped up. I remember it being mind numbingly bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Losing Lawler and Heenan in quick succession was a hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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