sek69 Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I figured since we have a neat pinned thread with all sorts of YouTube channels that have classic wrestling, it would be fun to have a thread where we can discuss what we find there. I've been watching 81-83 Mid South stuff here and it's been very entertaining so far. Some things stand out: Bill Watts loved him some "challenger turns because he lost out on a title match". First Paul Orndorff turned face on Bob Roop after Roop sabotaged his car causing him to miss a title shot, then Ted DiBiase turns heel after promising he'd leave the territory if he can't beat Bob Roop only for JYD to beat him for the belt before the match. Somehow Ted's stips still apply and he has to resort to KO'ing the Dog with the Loaded Glove of Doom to keep his job. Not complaining mind you, but it shows how you can recycle the same basic concept fairly quickly and not have it come off as a rehash. Boyd Pierce's suits. My God. Bill Watts kinda sucked as a commentator. He was good at establishing guys' backgrounds and angles but it was like he would get stuck on certain words/phrases and sidetrack himself. Having said that, it's clear JR looked at Watts's style and decided "do that, only be better at it". Surprised to see Iron Mike Sharpe get somewhat of a push, He wasn't too bad either. Between his size and his family history it's baffling he was a straight jobber in the WWF and didn't get at least a midcard push. I don't think I've seen someone go in one one guy like Watts did on JYD. I'm pretty sure at one point he was holding all the titles at the same time . Finally, I think they might give JCP a run for the money in the race for the jobberist jobbers I've ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3h9zzf I have little of note to say here, but I stumbled across this random episode of 1984 AWA the other day, and two things jumped out: At the 1:29 mark you get a rarity and hype for a match that I never knew happened: Bobby Heenan cutting a promo AGAINST Ric Flair. He was going to be in Harley Race's corner for an NWA title rematch in St. Louis. Seeing Bobby make fun of Ric's lifestyle and complaining about how he cheated to win the title is surreal--as surreal as the idea of Jesse Ventura kissing up to Hogan. Also at the beginning, for some reason you hear the World Class fanfare under Harley's promo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 This is a great great idea for a thread. I watch a lot of random wrestling on yt/dm and always have questions about it for the experts here, but never want to start a whole thread to do so. This guy has a ton of 84 AWA. Are there any specific episodes from that run to look out for? In general it seems a blase show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Iron Mike wasn't a jobber in the WWF. He got title shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Well he was pretty far down the totem pole. His gimmick was being called a "wimp" by fans. If he got title shots, he was a placeholder challenger a la Mr. Fuji. On another note: one thing I have to disagree on is Bill Watts as an announcer, I think he's legit great and would make my top 5 play-by-play guys, or top 5 colour for that matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Sharpe was a pushed mid carder with Albano as his manager when he debuted in 1983. He even had a shot at Backlund in the Spectrum. By 1986, yes, he was a jobber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 For AWA 1984, I'd recommend my 1984 Year in Review set instead of individual episodes. Those Heenan/Race promos and many like them appeared on the St. Louis block that featured AWA, WCCW, Central States and WWF. Charles Warburton picked them up and got them out there for the most part, and he got the original tapes from Steve Munari.The quality is superb for the most part. That is also why Harley is cutting an intro promo with WCCW music in the background...it was one he probably cut specifically for that block of TV. I'm personally more a fan of the Minneapolis-aired shows since the promos are closer to home and featured hype for matches at the Civic Center, but those are harder to find in decent quality. There are a few AWA eps worth watching as-is if you can find them...the one where the Sheiks damage some jobbers after getting challenged in-ring by the Blackjacks before that match...Late April IIRC...also the ep where Brody kills the High Flyers...mid-April sometime for that one...The early March TV should feature some promos and highlights of Nick losing to Jumbo which are fun...The post-battleroyal TV from June has a lot of stuff surrounding the Blackwell face turn. Mid-summer should have the Fabs-Bock/Saito confro stuff from TV, and later on nearing September is the promos for Heenan's last AWA tour promoting the great Weasel Hunt matches. I'm not sure what all that channel has and where the tv is culled from will make a difference. there are St. Paul,. Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis sources out there and each has unique promos. Hope that helps some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Put me in the don't like Bill Watts camp. I don't want my wrestling commentary brought by Fox News sorry. This guy spends so much time promoting his world views we're lucky he didn't try to run a "black wrestler gets thrown out of the concession stand and turns heel" story at some point in Mid South. Same reason I am not so big on JR when he begins to blather about college sports. I already know wrestling is run by a bunch of people with opposite world views than me. I can live with that. Just don't shove it in my face, just talk about wrestling darn it. Watched the January 15th 84 AWA episode right after that one. Is there anything Buck Zumhofe ever did worth checking out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Sorry Khawk your reply came as I was posting. Thanks for the excellent response. He seems to have a lot of 84 stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Same reason I am not so big on JR when he begins to blather about college sports. I already know wrestling is run by a bunch of people with opposite world views than me. I can live with that. Just don't shove it in my face, just talk about wrestling darn it. America was a different place in 1985 too. We had yet to be overrun by the lib media brainwashing the masses. It was ok to love mom, apple pie, USA, the police and hate the Russians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Mom is still cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Same reason I am not so big on JR when he begins to blather about college sports. I already know wrestling is run by a bunch of people with opposite world views than me. I can live with that. Just don't shove it in my face, just talk about wrestling darn it. America was a different place in 1985 too. We had yet to be overrun by the lib media brainwashing the masses. It was ok to love mom, apple pie, USA, the police and hate the Russians. This conversation needs not to happen and fast! They were definitely calling Sharpe a "wimp" in 1984. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigBadMick Posted December 30, 2015 Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 I can feel a 'pro wrestling only' post coming from Loss...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Getting back to the topic at hand (quickly).... I had never seen Iron Mike as anything but a jobber in the WWF, he was definitely in the upper level of jobberdom where he was given offense but I don't recall ever seeing him win a match. Speaking of jobbers, I know it's his real name but man did it seem wrong to see Arn as Mid South jobber Marty Lunde. I'm also convinced Arn was born with thinning hair and a beard, since it seems he looked the exact same from 1982 to at least the mid 2000s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazer Posted December 31, 2015 Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 Apologies for the digression. I recently watched the WWF '84 Championship set, and Sharpe was actually on a Piper's Pit, and they were giving him a mini-push towards the end of the year. He won some tv squash matches. He definitely was not the same JTTS that he would become in '86/'87. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted December 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2015 I'm finding more of an appreciation for Mr. Wrestling II in these early years, I've previously only known him as the grumpy old man feuding with Magnum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 I'll just leave this here: https://youtu.be/ofkMReimM5I Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Commander Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 the random collection of flags in the NWA World Championship Wrestling studio is something else. American flag? yeah. Canadian? sure. The Flag of Sri Lanka? Uhhhhh. Buy in bulk at the flag store? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Is there anything Buck Zumhofe ever did worth checking out? Depends if they're legal now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebrainfollower Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Having no idea what this comment meant, I looked Buck up and found some truly disturbing stuff. Was totally unaware of that at all. Back to the topic at hand, there's a guy putting up complete Cap Centre shows from 82-84. Gorilla is solo on commentary for all of them. I do get the Gorilla hate after listening to this as he just nitpicks half the talent to death. He was better with a partner who would set the tone for him. Also someone put up the June 73 MSG show. Is that the earliest complete WWF card out there? (not counting those championship wrestling shows from 65-66) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 It must be, because that was the first ever televised MSG card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infinit Posted January 5, 2016 Report Share Posted January 5, 2016 Links?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoT5DdbAIJkRsL9rneqVrtA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoT5DdbAIJkRsL9rneqVrtA Anything net-new there Kelly? The 70s shows are 24/7 rips. Cap Centre ones seem like they've been circulated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Jackson Posted January 6, 2016 Report Share Posted January 6, 2016 James didn't include any of the April 83 Cap Center card on his 79-83 set Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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