Bob Backlund

[The Man in Blak]

What are considered to be Backlund's best matches from the 90's that don't involve Bret Hart in one way or another?

[jdw]

Best is a hard word since it's comparing stuff back to his prime. But these were watchable matches that made Will's set:

 

Bob Backlund vs. Nobuhiko Takada (UWFi 11/7/91)
Bob Backlund vs. Shawn Michaels (San Antonio 1/5/93)
Bob Backlund vs. Shawn Michaels (Poughkeepsie 8/16/93)

 

The Takada match isn't to be confused with their terrific 1988 match, or their 9/26/91 quicky match with an odd finish. It's a solid match, and kind of fun to see them go at it again.

 

The Shawn matches are pretty fun if you're a Backlund fan. If you're a Shawn Fan, and hate Backlund, then you're probably not going to like them.

[El-P]

Backlund and Micheals also had an IC title match in Paris in 1993, which was released on com tape. Haven't seen it in ages, but I remember liking it.

[The Man in Blak]

Thanks for the recommendations, jdw and El-P. I do like the '88 Takada match, so I'll be checking out 11/91.

 

I'm not optimistic about the Michaels matches -- Backlund selling ("selling?") for 1993 Shawn Michaels doesn't seem like an appealing situation-- but I'll give them a shot.

[jdw]

On the first Shawn match, here were Frank's comments after the set came out:

 

 

Here was my earlier comment from memory:

 

Frank wrote:

From the nineties, Backlund challenged Shawn for the IC title in a decent television match in 1992. Despite Shawn being "WON of the greatest workers of all time", Backlund clearly called the structure of the match which is why it stands out as one of the better matches from Shawn's "lost" period between the Rockers and becoming the son of Flair.

 

Seriously, it shows Backlund being able to use his style effectively in front of an audience with almost no connection to his prime. It also shows up how much better Bob was at filling up the body of a match as he's literally walking a typically clueless Shawn through his paces.

 

Seeing it again, Shawn did next to nothing in the match other than a bit of strutting and stooging and a handful of basic moves and holds. This was at a point where Shawn struggled to fill four minute squash matches because his offense was so pathetically underdeveloped.

 

The open is reminiscent of Backlund vs Adonis with Shawn showing up Backlund with an arm drag, a hiptoss, and a body slam to set up eating three payback spots in rapid fire succession. From there Shawn applied a full nelson to set up Backlund's reversal and Backlund's trademark counters to reversals Shawn had never used before in his career. After that, Shawn went to a pedestrian front facelock other than a cool shoulder drive action on the canvas. Bob was so into Bob in wrestling peril that he sold inordinately for both holds. The second hold led to Bob placing Shawn on the turnbuckle and slapping him in the face, another Bob spot.

 

Did Shawn call any spots in this match? Did Shawn do anything Brad Armstrong (solid but dull worker) or Michael Hayes (sloppy but charismatic worker) couldn't have done in this match? This is why I referred to Shawn having a "lost" period between the Rockers and emerging as a main event singles star thanks to splat fu matches like the ladder match with Razor Ramon. Shawn's initial singles push exposed him as a guy who couldn't carry his weight as singles wrestler except when someone else called the match and provided most of the offense.

 

[DR Ackermann]

Watched the Backlund/Valentine Broadway for the first time this afternoon. Pretty awesome. It didn't really drag and I'm at that point in my life where I don't really want to invest a whole hour in a single match. Both guys were great in it and sold very well and kept things interesting. I don't think a whole lot of guys that will be on my list would be able to work an hour long match this well. Looking forward to the Inoki Broadway.

[JerryvonKramer]

I don't get that match. Both guys have gone on record to say that Greg was blown up early which is why they stay in a headlock for 30 minutes.

 

I mean here you have a 30-minute headlock, worked pretty boringly, with both guys saying "yeah, Greg was blown up" ... it's the definition of a rest hold.

 

Why does the first half of that match have so many defenders?

 

Inoki vs. Backlund is the definition of "boring" in my view. One of the most boring matches of all time.

[Parties]

He has a resume of some of the best WWF matches ever. Honestly he's up there with Bret, Mysterio, Cena, Benoit, Valentine, Tito, Cesaro as having the most impressive WWF list of matches to watch from a singles worker. But unlike those guys, he often seems to have that list due to his great, diverse set of opponents moreso than due to what he's achieving. To call him carried would be overstating it, but he's too weird a worker in some ways to make the cut. On paper he's a strong candidate, yet he doesn't feel like a good choice for this list. The Takada and Funaki matches are great, but they aren't enough to put him over the top.

[Matt D]

I just don't know if I'll be able to get Backlund on. I don't have time to watch enough footage to feel secure about his placement.

 

the good thing is that he faced a lot of guys I'll be ranking anyway, so I could kill two birds with one stone. And I have seen some matches but not for a while.

[DR Ackermann]

The thing about that 30 minute headlock spot. I don't rememberit that way. It seemed to me like it was no more than 15 minutes tops. Probably half that. If it was longer, then kudoes to them for making it seem much briefer than it was.

[JerryvonKramer]

One of these days, one of you guys is going to have to write a guide for how to dig a 20+ minute headlock. I feel like I'll never get it.

 

Especially one in this case where we know one of the guys is blown up.

[DR Ackermann]

When did you last watch the match?

[JerryvonKramer]

August 8th 2013. It was the very first ep of Titans of Wrestling.

 

I gave the match ***1/2 as I recall, and that rating was based on basically everything after the headlock. The first half bored me to tears.

 

However, we have discussed maybe re-doing the first ep because my boys Pete, Kelly, and Johnny were not on. It was just me and Crazy James. Might give a nice pretext for a rewatch.

[DR Ackermann]

I think you might enjoy and appreciate the first half more now. I know you've explored the 70s a lot since then and are more inclined for towards wrestlers working holds. They really don't hang out in the headlock that much. They go in and out of it and Backlund keeps one upping Valentine by catching him in it again, but there is a lot of stuff they do in between.

[Exposer]

I love 90s Backlund A LOT. I don't know how well it helps him yet because there's some 70s and 80s stuff that I haven't even touched yet. I watched the entire Adonis feud once which was pretty good and I liked the Orton matches too. None of them blew me away though. I do agree that Bob takes a lot of his matches during that period and never looks back though. There are some mid-80s tags where he annoys me with that shtick especially with guys like Murdoch with their own frustrating shtick. Those Bret matches are incredible though. Crazy Backlund is tremendous. I just don't know if the 70s-80s stuff can put him on my ballot. He has a lot irritations that I struggle to look past.

[jdw]

Inoki vs. Backlund is the definition of "boring" in my view. One of the most boring matches of all time.

 

The 07/27/78 match is boring? One of the most boring of all-time?

 

I'd just as soon as watch Attack of the Clones again as watch the one-hour Jumbo-Flair draw. In contrast, I'd be happy to watch that Backlund-Inoki match again tonight.

[JerryvonKramer]

I was talking about one of the ones I sat through from ... I think 1980.

[jdw]

They didn't go to a draw in 1980. One in Miami which is fun, and another later in the year in Japan that folks that folks don't tend to talk about a lot.

[JerryvonKramer]

Watched them both, I think.

 

One of them almost actually turned me to stone it was so dull.

[Ricky Jackson]

On Titans, we watched the title switch and rematch in Japan from late-79 and the Miami match. I liked the first bout the best, the next two less so. Pete was really high on the Miami match. Parv disliked them all I think

[jdw]

That explains things.

 

So the second one hour draw in July 1978 wasn't something you guys watched?

[JerryvonKramer]

No, it's been a real real struggle to sit through late 70s cards generally.

[Ricky Jackson]

I saw the 78 draw years ago and wasn't blown away by it at the time. I think I even watched it based on your recommendation jdw.

[funkdoc]

backlund's book has some interesting info on his cage match vs. hansen, the one that IIRC got hit pretty hard on titans for backlund's lack of selling. turns out that was payback for hansen's backstage politics wrt this program!

[KB8]

I had Backlund at number 66, and that feels megastupid high because he's not really someone I love at this stage of the game, but I'll always have a soft spot for him. Part of that is because he was sort of a gateway to me properly deep-diving pre-Hogan WWF about 15 years ago, and that in turn led to my interest in jumping into other US territories I missed by growing up in the 90s. Honestly, I don't really know what to say about him as a worker now. It's been over ten years since I properly watched any of his best stuff, but I loved a decent amount of it then. Parv says in this thread that's he's a boring worker of holds, and maybe I'd think that as well if I re-watched all of that stuff today, but I certainly didn't think it when I watched stuff like the Valentine draw, or the Muraco series, or at least one of the Patterson matches, or a couple of the Inoki matches. The Slaughter feud was great and I thought the Philly cage match was exceptional. The Patera feud blew me away and I loved the Texas Death Match. I don't really have it in me to sit and watch all of that again, and I do think the point about him smothering opponents is more accurate than not, but I have really fond memories of that stuff and that'll always count for something. Just...maybe not enough for him to get back on the list in 2026. 

 

BOB BACKLUND YOU SHOULD WATCH:

v Greg Valentine (WWWF, 2/19/79)

v Pat Patterson (WWF, 7/30/79)

v Ken Patera (WWF, 5/19/80)

v Sgt. Slaughter (WWF, 3/21/81)

v Buddy Rose (WWF 8/30/82)