Where the Big Boys Play #41

[JerryvonKramer]

Where the Big Boys Play #41 – Clash of the Champions 9

Chad and Parv are back with a vengeance to take a look at Clash of the Champions 9: New York Knock Out. In this show: Chad recounts his experiences traveling with Scott, Justin and the Place To Be crew over Wrestlemania weekend, Chad and Parv break with convention to talk modern wrestling for a while and offer thoughts on Wrestlemania 29, John Cena, The Rock, comparing Taker vs. Punk and Taker vs. Shawn Michaels, the booking philosophy of “peaks and troughs”, Parv recounts meeting his all-time hero Ted DiBiase at Southside Wrestling’s Raw Deal 2 in Stevenage, who was the last act to make it with a masked act in the 1980s?, Parv talks about BrickHithouse’s amazing custom-made Gordon Solie WNN comp, some thoughts on Butch Reed, is Funk-Flair “I Quit” a 5-star match?, listener comments and much much more in a longer-than-usual show.

[soup23]

This is a long show so here are the time stamps:

 

Wrestlemania 29 recap and weekend breakdown (00:00:00 - 00:46:55)

Southside Wrestling and Parv meeting Dibiase (00:46:55 - 00:59:55)

Gordon Solie WNN Compilation (00:59:55 - 01:15:58)

Meltzer News Tidbits (01:15:58 - 01:25:02)

Clash of the Champions 9 (01:25:02 - 02:29:18)

Listener Comments and Farewell (02:29:18 - 02:43:13)

[BrickHithouse]

Here is some of the WWF stuff Gordon was referencing:

 

Jake Roberts vowing revenge on Dibiase: Jake was attacked and "put out of action" with a neck injury by Dibiase on Superstars of Wrestling, May 6 1989. This was a cover for Jake needing time off to deal with assault charges. I believe he spent some time in jail, but am not sure.

 

Rude - Warrior: Rude waited for a kiss, puckered up in mid-ring with his eyes closed. Warrior stormed the ring and attacked. This was Superstars of Wrestling June 24, 1989.

 

Bobby Heenan leaving the announce booth: This was a little storyline on Challenge between the announcers. Gorilla and Heenan were having problems, including Gorilla leaving Heenan to announce by himself a week or two before. Gorilla brought in Schiavone as a third announcer and Heenan quit the show, jealous of Schiavone. (I've never actually seen this, but there was a picture and small article about it in a WWF Magazine).

 

Somewhat surprising that Gordon stuck to the WWF storyline when "reporting" these incidents. The Jake Roberts stuff especially was a golden opportunity for him to tell us what was really going on. Well, I guess it was 1989 and not 1999. Gordon's biting commentary and personal opinion gets "better" over time. He'll say something like "This is just my opinion, the Black Scorpion is one mysterious individual".

 

As for the Clash - to this day I haven't seen the entire show aside from the Main Event. A personal story, if you will: When I was 11, my dad begrudgingly took me to my first live WWF show on November 1. Unbeknownst to us, it was a 4 hour Challenge/Survivor Series Showdown taping in the middle of a work/school week. My dad pretty much lost his shit due to the length of this show and imposed a wrestling moratorium in a last-ditch effort to get me to stop watching wrestling and focus on other sports. Suffice to say it didn't work. So...long story short, this Clash was banned in our house and i have yet to see the show. The wrestling ban in our house lasted until around Christmas when my dad finally, once and for all, threw his hands up in resignation.

 

How many people were lined up to meet Dibiase?

[SteveJRogers]

Concerning the Tyson bit, oddly enough he'd be set in Feb/March to be an enforcer or something involved in a match on a Saturday Night's Main Event.

 

Shortly before the taping, he lost to Buster Douglas, whom the WWF scrambled to get into Tyson's place.

 

Doesn't shock me that JCP would at least try to reach out to him at that point as he wasn't yet the sideshow, and convicted rapist, that he'd be in the ensuing decades.

 

I guess he'd be better at doing something than Joe Frazier was!

[soup23]

Thanks for the info Steve, I saw that bit with buster on the 1990 yearbook and it was interesting.

 

Sorry I forgot to mention you in the meeting up with us on Saturday. I was mainly recollecting on the tailgate Sunday.

[JerryvonKramer]

Bobby Heenan leaving the announce booth: This was a little storyline on Challenge between the announcers. Gorilla and Heenan were having problems, including Gorilla leaving Heenan to announce by himself a week or two before. Gorilla brought in Schiavone as a third announcer and Heenan quit the show, jealous of Schiavone. (I've never actually seen this, but there was a picture and small article about it in a WWF Magazine).

See, I thought he was just shitstirring or something, but this was actual kayfabe stuff. Really weird that they'd do that.

 

I have all the Bobby Heenan shows somewhere because I've got all the Primetimes from that period -- actually all the Primetimes from the start of the show to the end of 93 or something. It's just gone into that ever-expanding blackhole of footage I'm accumulating.

 

Somewhat surprising that Gordon stuck to the WWF storyline when "reporting" these incidents. The Jake Roberts stuff especially was a golden opportunity for him to tell us what was really going on. Well, I guess it was 1989 and not 1999. Gordon's biting commentary and personal opinion gets "better" over time. He'll say something like "This is just my opinion, the Black Scorpion is one mysterious individual".

On the show I thought Gordon was kinda shooting or at least semi-shooting on WWF, but from what you've said he was just relaying kayfabe angles. That's really bizarre, why would they do that?

 

 

How many people were lined up to meet Dibiase?

Loads of people. There was an interesting split in the demographics of the DiBiase line and the Tommy Dreamer line actually, but I guess most people there went to both. I didn't have time to see Dreamer because I only realised the meet and greet was there late on so only had the interval to play with.

 

The more I think about it, the more DiBiase's appearance at that show seems kinda random. He only came out for the opener, didn't seem like he wanted to be there, and that was it. Weird. Why would he fly half way round the world for that? Couldn't have been a massive pay day.

[PeteF3]

The more I think about it, the more DiBiase's appearance at that show seems kinda random. He only came out for the opener, didn't seem like he wanted to be there, and that was it. Weird. Why would he fly half way round the world for that?

Writing off a UK vacation as a business expense? Just guessing. Hope his ex-tag partner doesn't find out if that's the case.

 

Here's the angle with Heenan storming off Challenge, for anyone interested.

[thebrainfollower]

Welcome back guys! My month was darker for not having WTBBP to savor! This is indeed one strange Clash show and I agree with both your comments on the opener and the main event. I think the "I Quit" formula is a rare example of modern WWE making something better because the match usually feels so epic you understand why a guy would have had enough. Whereas this wasn't THAT much different from a typical Flair match.

[shoe]

Good show guys. You guys seem to be really hitting your stride . You all seem real comfortable with one another. Ditching the PXP really strengthed the show.

[soup23]

Thanks Brain and Shoe. I do think that while our last two shows have been 2 of our longest, the discussion remained relevant and sustainable throughout.

[King Solomon]

I hated the Dudes as well Parv ,couldn't wait for their run to be over at the time.