KrisZ Posted July 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Not on-subject, but can anyone say why Hogan didn't wrestle at MSG as often as Backlund while champion? It seems like at most, he'd be at every other show. Was it to keep novelty up? I believe that they didn't want to job Hogan at MSG because of the Andre match at Shea Stadium which makes a ton of sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 Not on-subject, but can anyone say why Hogan didn't wrestle at MSG as often as Backlund while champion? It seems like at most, he'd be at every other show. Was it to keep novelty up? I believe that they didn't want to job Hogan at MSG because of the Andre match at Shea Stadium which makes a ton of sense. I wrote it weird, but I mean while Hogan was champion later on. He's only on like 4-5 MSG cards per year for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 In 84 Hogan was still working New Japan a lot. Early 85 too I think. Also, at first Vince believed Hogan was more of a special attraction that shouldn't be booked every month. Vince was also expanding into new areas, so Hogan was also occupied in a way Bob or Bruno never were Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted July 17, 2015 Report Share Posted July 17, 2015 I was checking on the new areas thing as well. Sometimes it's true, but others he just doesn't even compete on days where there is a MSG show, even on the "B" show. Guess you have to figure in that Jr. wasn't necessarily going to follow the pattern of Sr. with MSG usage. Just seems weird that if Hogan was that over, how they still felt he would become stale with the NY crowd with monthly appearances. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JazeUSA Posted July 19, 2015 Report Share Posted July 19, 2015 I would have offered Stan Hansen more money than he was making in Japan to work for me full time & put the belt on him, then had him carry the territory for 2-3 years until I built up a new baby face to take the title off of him with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 FINALLY got around to finishing this one, and I've got to say - Graham hit it out of the park with his closing comments.... Comparing Backlund to Adam Best era Batman, with his charismatic challengers as the rogues gallery of Gotham, was just about as accurate as it gets. Great show overall, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZThomas Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Im half way through this and I was thinking that Backlud during his title run reminds me of Bryans ROH title run. I watched a few of Backlunds title matches a few years ago and he was able to work differently with diffent guys and even the return matches where diffferent. Now I want to see his matches with Orton, Ortorn was able to have some really good matches on some of the house shows even after he split with Piper during his second Run that air on WWE COD. WWE Nework needs to add more of the houseshows from the early 80's because the few the have up now is wack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Outstanding show. So many little stories about many of the names mentioned. So many credible guys who could have had a run with the title, be it transitional or mid or long term. Top 3 for me would be Sarge, Valentine or Masked Superstar. I now look forward to hearing EBS on the UWF, and also the one on The Freebirds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Like the Hansen injury angle. Early 82: Maybe Hansen injure Bob, who has to vacate. Hire Rick Martel who shocks and wins tournament. Holds title (great feuds against Slaughter and Snuka, maybe heel Hogan, Valentine). Sheik beats him, Hogan beats Sheik. Bob never got rematch, turns heel in 84 and feuds with Hogan until the Piper-Hogan feud starts up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 And by the way: another great show, guys! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 Like the Hansen injury angle. Early 82: Maybe Hansen injure Bob, who has to vacate. Hire Rick Martel who shocks and wins tournament. Holds title (great feuds against Slaughter and Snuka, maybe heel Hogan, Valentine). Sheik beats him, Hogan beats Sheik. Bob never got rematch, turns heel in 84 and feuds with Hogan until the Piper-Hogan feud starts up. Solid suggestion, man. I like it a lot, to be honest. In fact, I think there could be more meat to the matter than just that. Replacing Backlund in that interim gives way to some awesome matches - as you mentioned - but there's also plenty of potential down the line. Maybe Backlund disappears for awhile after dropping the strap. Skaaland latches onto Martel, the young rising star & brand new champion during that time - of course. Similar to the Bob deal, you start to plant seeds and subtle signs that Skaaland may be paying off officials or just trying to keep the more aggressive heel challengers at bay. The ring wars and endless cycle of title defenses take their toll on Martel. The wear & tear of the schedule lead him to the Masked Superstar injury angle and - ultimately - defeat at the feet of the Iron Sheik. The towel bit happens, and Martel drops out for a second. Hogan comes in. Gangbusters business. Hulk-A-Mania is born. Then, if Backlund cannot be convinced to come back and resume the role as a heel - just as he declined in real life - then you've got a ready made recipe with Martel going heel and targeting Hulk instead. Maybe he goes ballistic, assaults Skaaland on camera, and Martel could declare that it was HIM directing Skaaland all along. He wanted the refs to be paid off. He wanted a day off here and there. But that doesn't make him a bad guy. And, by the way, he NEVER gave up to the Iron Sheik. He NEVER submitted to the Camel Clutch. He NEVER gave up HIS title. So why are they booing him now? Why are they cheering the Hulkster? He's NOT the bad guy. Maybe he doesn't like MTV. Maybe he doesn't care for rock'n'roll, or Rock'N'Wrestling for that matter. But he's NOT the bad guy. He's the "Role Model", Rick Martel. And he's Hogan's next challenger. I could live with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 SomethingSavage: hell yeah :-) Totally into that. Like Skaaland "protecting" Martel. Kinda like Mickey in Rocky 3 (hey, hey ... Tie in to Hulk as well). My inner fanboy would then love to see Hogan turn in the feud with Martel and keep Rick face, but there's no need to throw away all that good Hulkamania cash, so I'd go with your storyline. New main event for WM2? The Real American vs The Role Model :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 Yup. And, since people are skeptical about Martel as a speaker, you could just use Heenan to heat him up there. Hulk could still have his extensive list of monsters & maniacs as challengers, but I think a strategist like Martel trying to outwit & out-wrestle him would offer some variety. But when we fast forward to '94, does "senile" Rick Martel - snapping backs with his Quebec Crab and hellbent on regaining the title he never lost - work as well as it did for Backlund? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted August 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 You guys have come up with some creative stuff here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 Thanks Kris 😄👍 Savage: yes!!!! The Brain with The Role Model! You've just made me soooo happy!!! ... And I totally see "senile" Role Model going for "President of North America", claiming Canadian supremacy, and he could even be the manager for The Hart Foundation during the Canada vs US feud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 The main problem with this plan is that it requires Arnold Skaaland to do some work, and he's too busy playing cards out the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Then we'll shoot "hidden cam" footage of him playing cards with the enemy. Every other week he'll do a ten second on camera denial or a "stay out of my business" when pasning Vince's mike. Then we'll have harder workers insinuate stuff to Martel, whose mind is as pure and clean as his teeth. You're gonna love it :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomethingSavage Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks Kris Savage: yes!!!! The Brain with The Role Model! You've just made me soooo happy!!! ... And I totally see "senile" Role Model going for "President of North America", claiming Canadian supremacy, and he could even be the manager for The Hart Foundation during the Canada vs US feud. That sounds tremendous. Martel amid the Attitude Era, countering DX's early Rick Rude phase by being the elder statesmen & corner-man for the Hart Foundation is fantastic. And instead of the TV Title run over in WCW, we get latter day Martel working a few special matches here & there for the WWF. He'll never manage the Sultan or any of that shit in '97. Instead, maybe he'll request a "reconciliation ceremony" with the Iron Sheik on a random '97 Raw or something. In true Attitude Era fashion, he swerves Sheiky Baby and publicly ridicules him instead. When the Hart Foundation & Martel put the old beat-down on Sheik, some USA babyfaces could come to save the day. Sheiky waves the American flag for a change, and boom. Payoff to a 20-year angle. Fast forward a bit, and you've got Martel returning circa the year 2000 to mentor a young rookie Kurt Angle (in place of Backlund again). Who better to teach Kurt the ways of righteousness & honor than the "Role Model" Rick Martel? Chris Jericho, who was a primary foe of Angle around that time, would then have open season to fire insults at the both of them on the mic for awhile. Could even lead to a proper "send-off" for Martel with a match vs. Jericho or Angle or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danish Dynamite Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Jabroni! That's awesome! The mental image of Sheiky turning and finally being allowed to play up his true American patriotism made my day. The pop would've been legendary. He would have loved it too :-) ... And I'm all aboard for the Angle/Jericho closer to end it all. I say The Role Model is a lock for the 2016 Hall of Fame! What a career :-) :-) :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badlittlekitten Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Forgot to post this: Basically a MUST WATCH segment for wrestling fans of any sort. For a variety of reasons ... A million hearts for posting this, can't get enough of it. Backlund tumbling from the ring doing his weird 'woah, woah, woah' thing is dumb Bob heaven. I wonder what was going through Vince Jr's mind during Backlund's breakdown. Graham was awesome in this too, i feel I should track down some more of his work. Good podcast as ever. That Cawthon guy has a nice therapeutic voice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted August 4, 2015 Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 I listened to this at work today and a tremendous episode. It was really interesting to have Backlund's title reign broken down by opponents with some gates thrown in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted August 6, 2015 Report Share Posted August 6, 2015 I will say that I've decided to check out a lot more Sgt. Slaughter after hearing him praised so much here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZThomas Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 This has gotten me to go back and listen to the titans of wrestling episodes on the early 80's WWF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted August 18, 2015 Report Share Posted August 18, 2015 Awesome! We have discussed Bob a ton and still have a lot more ground to cover before we're finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigelow34 Posted August 31, 2015 Report Share Posted August 31, 2015 Just finished this up... loved it, you guys did a great job and it kept me hooked all the way through. Fantastic deep dive. That is all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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