Grimmas Posted September 16, 2014 Report Share Posted September 16, 2014 Discuss here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 He'll be on my list for sure. One of the best big men ever. For as much praise as Bigelow got, Blackwell was better in basically every way. His match with Lawler in 1981 is one of my favorite Lawler matches ever and it's because of Blackwell's performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 I think if we had more Blackwell footage he'd have a reasonable shot of rating ahead of Vader for me on the big man category. As it stands it would be hard to do, but it's worth noting that even the few throwaway studio and arena matches of his we have from the 70's are either really good or really fun, with him doing a lot of different stuff than what we saw just a few years later. Probably the craziest bumper of all time if you adjust for weight/body type. Great brawler, very good highspots for a guy his size, really good selling, equally good as both a face and a heel, and really great about timing and building to big spots and moments over the course of a match. I would put his best stuff from the AWA set (plus the Mulligan match from MACW, the Lawler match from Memphis and the Butch Reed match from St. Louis t.v.) up against the best stuff from any second tier guy in the 80's. Hard to say where he will rate, but he'll rate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 Does he give his opponent too much too easily? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 I don't think so personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted September 20, 2014 Report Share Posted September 20, 2014 He basically dominated that Lawler match, so I think he knew when to dominate and when to feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted September 21, 2014 Report Share Posted September 21, 2014 Lower half of the ballot but the AWA DVDVR set absolutely helped his cause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shining Wiz Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 I have to admit the number of people whose opinion I respect from my short time here who are giving Blackwell so much love legitimately shocks me. By no means am I saying he was awful or even bad, I thought he was fine for a guy as big as he was, and surprisingly athletic, but ahead of Vader? I've seen plenty of Blackwell, and he never struck me as being at THAT level. I've got me some remedial watching to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 What have you seen? I can request matches to help fill in gaps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shining Wiz Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Specifics would be hard....I watched a fair bit of AWA a while ago, and haven't felt the need to search him out specifically since. I seem to remember some matches as Sheik Blackwell with Adnan as his manager, and some tags with Patera. Feel free to suggest anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Just speaking for myself: King Tonga, Masked Superstar, and Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Crusher Blackwell and Sgt. Slaughter (Cage Match) (4/21/85) My rating: ****3/4 / A Da Crusher and Greg Gagne vs. Crusher Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Kaissey (Cage Match) (3/25/84) My rating: ****1/2 / A- Stan Hansen vs. Crusher Blackwell (6/28/86) My rating: ****1/2 / A- Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera vs. High Flyers (11/24/83) My rating: **** / B+ Crusher Blackwell & Sheik Adnan Kaissey vs. Baron Von Raschke & Mad Dog Vachon (Taped Fist Match) (3/13/83) My rating: **** / B+ Crusher Blackwell vs. Mad Dog Vachon (Algerian Death Match) (5/22/83) My rating: **** / B+ Col. Debeers vs. Jerry Blackwell (Ladder Match) (11/27/86) My rating: **** / B+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shining Wiz Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thanks....I'll report back after doing my homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 What have you seen? I can request matches to help fill in gaps Not much here. How about 5 average/good and 1-2 greats to start with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Parv hit many of the highpoints. If the Mulligan MACW match is on youtube, I'd encourage you to watch that. Also the aforementioned matches with Reed and Lawler should be on youtube. I would also encourage people to watch his bodyslam match with Bravo on Youtube and the random match he had with Kevin Kelly in 86 after he had nothing but schtick left which I think is a good example of carrying a total guy with bullshit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Sounds good. With the holidays this week I will essentially have the afternoons on Thursday & Friday to watch a lot of stuff. Hopefully get to these, a little more Billy Robinson and start on someone else then as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Vader was fat and muscular. Blackwell looked like the girl who got turned into a blueberry in Willy Wonka as a hillbilly. And proceeded to be a fucking amazing wrestler, and better than Vader in my humble opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 If you can find it, Blackwell's AWA debut in St. Paul at the arena from January of 1980 against Ron Ritchie is a wonderful example of Blackwell in Crush! Stomp! Destroy! mode. He had the crowd wanting him dead almost right away. It might have been his second Minneapolis arena match but this was the first one that made video. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Basically, whenever you got Blackwell in a cage, great things happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted September 22, 2014 Report Share Posted September 22, 2014 Is that Blackwell/Lawler match the 10 minute one that was on the Memphis set or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted September 23, 2014 Report Share Posted September 23, 2014 The one that was on the Memphis set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Kinda like the mix between a short One Man Gang and a proto-Mick Foley (those bumps as a heel). So yeah, really good worker. Although he had the very annoying habit as a babyface of doing no-sell hulk up/lawler up comebacks, which always suck no matter who you are. So I prefer him as a heel. Better than Bigelow, no doubt. Vader ? Nah. Col. Debeers vs. Jerry Blackwell (Ladder Match) (11/27/86) My rating: **** / B+ Decent match. Nothing special at all. It's Blackwell, a ladder and a tool. Granted, that tool took one nice bump at the end, but he really doesn't bring shit in term of anything else, really. DeBeers is like Jimmy Golden with an offensive gimmick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillThompson Posted November 13, 2014 Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 Col. Debeers vs. Jerry Blackwell (Ladder Match) (11/27/86) My rating: **** / B+ Decent match. Nothing special at all. It's Blackwell, a ladder and a tool. Granted, that tool took one nice bump at the end, but he really doesn't bring shit in term of anything else, really. DeBeers is like Jimmy Golden with an offensive gimmick. He's a really good worker then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted November 14, 2014 Report Share Posted November 14, 2014 Blackwell ? Yep. Really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Garrett Posted January 20, 2015 Report Share Posted January 20, 2015 I think if we had more Blackwell footage he'd have a reasonable shot of rating ahead of Vader for me on the big man category. Well man. He'd be ahead on my list. Of course it wouldn't be fair for me to make that statement and then not re-watch. Which I will do. I saw the guy though and he was great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted August 26, 2015 Report Share Posted August 26, 2015 Blackwell is so damn good. Been watching some of his stuff over the past month that has popped up...somewhere..and I would have a hard time NOT placing him in a top 3 of "big man" wrestlers of all time. Yokozuna was great at the whole "weeble wobble" selling before finally going down but I think Blackwell is the absolute master of it. He's able to look both totally dominant and vulnerable in a very short time span in a match. Pretty damn good as a promo too although that doesn't count for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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