WWE Network... It's Here

[The Thread Killer]

In any case, besides Dynamite working the majority of the match, the other reason I don't really buy that the 6-man was a late audible is because by that point, seeing Davis have to get in the ring was a greater selling point than a title match would have been. As for the thing with the IC title change...I wonder if that was a happy coincidence or it was a case of "rainy day booking." We know how far in advance things were planned and it'd be odd for one ref to do double-duty for no particular reason when the Mr. X role could have been filled by anybody. I don't know if it's too much of a stretch to make sure the road agent assigns Davis to that particular match.

 

Santana lost the IC title to Savage in February 1986, Danny Davis didn't officially turn full on heel until February 1987, a year later. They had been building up to the Davis heel turn forever, but I'm 99% sure that it wasn't even on the radar when the Savage/Tito match happened, it was just happy coincidence that they used as justification for Tito being in the WMIII match. Whether or not it the reason they added Tito is because of Dynamite's back is up to debate. I remember reading that somewhere as well, but I don't remember where, and I can't be arsed to go looking for it. That part of the story may well be bullshit, you could very well be right about that.

 

The stuff about Davis being a member of the ring crew and Mr. X as well as being a ref, I got at the time from a friend of mine who worked at Maple Leaf Gardens, plus Davis talked about it in his "Where Are They Now" feature on WWE.com.

[The Thread Killer]

Don't sleep on the Table for 3 with the Nation (Ron Simmons, Mark Henry, and Godfather). It's great fun with some good anecdotes and one nice callback to a previous angle.

 

I saw that one. I thought it was pretty good. Every time I see Mark Henry on Table for 3 or Ride Along he comes across as such a laid back, nice guy. I still love the Table for 3 with him, Kane and Big Show.

[Cornette's racket]

There have been six Boston garden house shows from 1986 added to the network and within the last hour there has been seven world class episodes from 1982 added. In the words of Damien sandow, you're welcome.

[Ricky Jackson]

Watched 1/11/86 Boston last night and it is a really good show by the standards of the day in WWF. Santana vs Savage and Bruno/Orndorff vs Piper/Orton are both great and Funk vs Morales is pretty good

[Cornette's racket]

It appears from looking at the old school folder on the network that they have added a bucket load of MSG house shows with the earliest being in 1973. So there is a nice handy number of old school WWE hosue shows from MSG, Boston garden, maple leaf gardens, and Sam Houston arena in Houston.

[clintthecrippler]

Hoping some more of the Dick Graham/Kal Rudman Philadelphia Spectrum shows pop up. I grabbed most of them from YT before Richard Land's channel got nuked but would still be awesome to watch perfect quality with ease of access via the Network.

[sek69]

the WCCW dump has begun, and a year earlier than the rumors were saying to boot. That's going to be 100% of my network viewing going forward.

[Cornette's racket]

There has been a 1984 world class uploaded. It seems the WWE network are racing through the world class stuff which is good. I don't expect everything the WWE have to be up on the network. BUT I can't understand them uploading a certain territory and leaving gaps. They should either put it all up or don't bother.

[Cornette's racket]

the WCCW dump has begun, and a year earlier than the rumors were saying to boot. That's going to be 100% of my network viewing going forward.

What year was the freebirds vs von Erichs feud in full flow ?

[sek69]

Christmas 82 was the Kerry-Flair cage match where Hayes slammed the door, which was the kick off. So 1983 was the hottest year.

[Cornette's racket]

Christmas 82 was the Kerry-Flair cage match where Hayes slammed the door, which was the kick off. So 1983 was the hottest year.

I've seen that and Hayes was the in ring ref and was it gordy that was at the cage door ? So I'll be checking out 83 world class then on the network.

[sek69]

Yes. The angle was actually set up earlier in the show where David filled in for Buddy Roberts (who was "late" in storyline) to win the tournament to crown the first six man champs, and David vacated his portion for the Birds to give it to Buddy because brotherhood was important and whatnot.

[clintthecrippler]

Yeah, I would classify the time period of Reunion Arena Xmas 82 through the 84 Parade of Champions as the bookends for the full glory of the Von Erichs vs Freebirds feud. After that the Freebirds do their territory hopping and the feud gets revisited a little bit here and there in 85 and 86, but if you started and stopped at the suggested points above, you got the best stuff.

[sek69]

David vs Jimmy Garvin might just be the most entertaining feud they did btw, so don't sleep on the non Birds related stuff. Plus being Texas based there's always the random Mil Mascaras appearances and oddball stuff like Tony Charles showing up under a mask as Checkmate.

[The Thread Killer]

David vs Jimmy Garvin might just be the most entertaining feud they did btw, so don't sleep on the non Birds related stuff. Plus being Texas based there's always the random Mil Mascaras appearances and oddball stuff like Tony Charles showing up under a mask as Checkmate.

 

I remember part of the angle at the time involved Jimmy Garvin losing some match where he had to go to David's farm and do chores for the day, like wash his dog, etc. I remember thinking it was hysterical at the time...but I was about 15 when I saw it, so it's likely one of those things that you look back and remember as being great, but may not have aged well.

 

Then again, this was over 30 years ago and I still remember it quite vividly, and I've not seen it since - so who knows.

[sek69]

The match was the loser had to be the winner's servant for a day, David won and made him and Sunshine be farmhands. I watched it not too long ago and it was still great. Instead of doing it like a wacky skit like WWE would do today, they had Bill Mercer go to the farm and cover it like he was reporting on a news event.

[Hawkeye12]

Garvin and Sunshine on the farm definitely holds up! Almost everything they did with Bill Mercer on location was great.

[sek69]

Started with the earliest 1982 episode, and King Kong Bundy with hair will never not be jarring to see.

[Coffey]

Started with the earliest 1982 episode, and King Kong Bundy with hair will never not be jarring to see.

 

That's how I feel when I see Stan Hansen with the long blonde locks.

[thebrainfollower]

A bunch of WCCW went up, including some stuff from early 82 and some that that WWE has previously told us had damaged master copies. Does anyone know what the first episode of the actual WCCW tv show was?

[sek69]

Somehow I've never seen midcard/JTTS babyface Tom "Boogaloo" Shaft before. If you're wondering, yes he's black.

[sek69]

I just watched Kevin Von Erich win a match via body scissors while the opponent was standing up. He had such ridiculous core strength it's interesting to think about how he'd fare today with all the acrobatic styled guys working today.

 

Like Kevin vs Zack Sabre or Will Ospreay would be an amazing match if Kevin didn't potato the shit out of everyone.

[clintthecrippler]

I just watched Kevin Von Erich win a match via body scissors while the opponent was standing up. He had such ridiculous core strength it's interesting to think about how he'd fare today with all the acrobatic styled guys working today.

 

Like Kevin vs Zack Sabre or Will Ospreay would be an amazing match if Kevin potato'd the shit out of everyone.

Fixed.

[Cornette's racket]

I've asked this question before but if David Von Erich hadn't died who much longer would WCCW have lasted past it's actual closing date ?

[sek69]

Probably about the same time since everyone else in the promotion who died would have anyway with how plentiful drugs were. The only thing that would have changed is maybe Mike would still be alive since there wouldn't have been the pressure to be seen on the same level as Kerry and Kevin.

 

 

Kerry not wrecking his bike and destroying his foot would probably be the better "what if" scenario since that's really what started escalating the drug issues, and a healthy Kerry would probably have been big enough of a draw to keep them running a few extra years.