Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Comments that don't warrant a thread - Part 4


TravJ1979

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 6.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

 

Hulk hogan shouldn't be praised as much as he is. Yes he had a great theme song and sold merch. And I appreciate that but as an in ring competitor and human being he's shown to severely lacking in both.

 

I have to disagree being a huge Hogan mark and im happy to accept he made a mistake for saying those things. Everyone deserves a second chance even though it was a private conversation. I enjoyed Hogan's wrestling shows particulary his house show matches and stuff in Japan. Hulk is the only guy who had a sucessful Face & Heel run, other wrestlers has been one or the other, kinda like Flair who was great as a heel but not as good as a Face.

 

Just to name a few:

 

Andre was a very successful face in the U.S. and a top heel in Japan

Sgt Slaughter had a very successful run as a heel, and then face in the WWF

Jimmy Snuka - huge heel run in Japan and the WWWF - also followed by a very successful face run

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listening again to the Exile On Badstreet podcast The Price Of Ridiculous pt. 2. Mention is made that there were strange circumstances regarding the departure of Al Perez from NWA/WCW, but they would discuss it when they got to a podcast on 1989. As that podcast has not yet happened, could somebody please fill me in on what happened?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't even have to look that far into history. In the 90s and 00s, people have switched from heel/face so many times, pretty much every main eventer can be pointed to as having (whether we like it or not) a successful run as a heel and a face.

 

Take Triple H. I loathe his DX face work in the 00s and I don't care much for his heel work in the 00s either, but I think we can say both runs were successful (didn't single-handedly light the business on fire, but I'd still call him a "successful" wrestler). I liked the Rock much better as a heel than a face, but he was successful in both roles.

 

That's actually why someone like John Cena is an anomaly in today's wrestling scene. While he has a heel run, it wasn't a main event role - so, he's really only been successful as a babyface (definitely in kayfabe terms but als, if you were to compare merch sales, mainstream media presence, etc. between then and now).

 

Was Hulk Hogan the first guy to be mega successful as a heel and a face? That's a different question but I don't think he'd be that guy either. Randy Savage was pretty successful in both roles in the 80s/early 90s for the WWF.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listening again to the Exile On Badstreet podcast The Price Of Ridiculous pt. 2. Mention is made that there were strange circumstances regarding the departure of Al Perez from NWA/WCW, but they would discuss it when they got to a podcast on 1989. As that podcast has not yet happened, could somebody please fill me in on what happened?

I believe it was a situation where Al was to wrestle Flair for the Title in Flordia in his home town and Al wanted the belt and was gonna shoot on Flair to get it(Al trained with Karl Gotch and apparently was a skilled shooter). Gary Hart who was managing him at the time tried to talk him out of it but Al wouldn't let it go so Gary told the office and he was fired. Gary talked about it in his book and said he regretted having to stooge Al off but it would've been bad business and unfair to Ric to let him walk in there and possibly get hurt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All non-Japanese are considered gaijin. The fact that Rikidozan was ethnically Korean was hidden until after his death.

 

Random question: how closely did old-school masked heels like the Destroyer and the Spoiler guard their identities? Were their real names generally known? Did they appear in public unmasked?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All non-Japanese are considered gaijin. The fact that Rikidozan was ethnically Korean was hidden until after his death.

 

Random question: how closely did old-school masked heels like the Destroyer and the Spoiler guard their identities? Were their real names generally known? Did they appear in public unmasked?

 

How would anyone know if they appeared unmasked in public ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All non-Japanese are considered gaijin. The fact that Rikidozan was ethnically Korean was hidden until after his death.

 

Random question: how closely did old-school masked heels like the Destroyer and the Spoiler guard their identities? Were their real names generally known? Did they appear in public unmasked?

 

From the Assassin book :

 

"When Tom and I got a good distance away from the arenas, and we were sure that nobody was following us, we would take our masks off. Some of the guys, like Mr. Wrestling II and the Destroyer, wore them everywhere they went. Tom and I lived our gimmick, but there was a point where we had to say "Hey, enough is enough!" I don't know Wrestling II kept from getting shot. He would walk into convenience stores to make a purchase. If the guy behind the counter wasn't a wrestling fan, he might have shot him, thinking he was coming into the store to rob him.

I made it a practice to never talk to the fans or answer their questions. Tom told me that I had a very distinctive voice, and they would be able to recognize that voice if they ever ran into me on the street. Later on, I learned that I had a very distinctive walk, too. That was when I became conscious of how I walked when I was in front of people.

In the future, whenever we went into a new territory, Tom and I would tell the promoter that we would not unmask at the end of our run. In most cases, when a masked man planned to leave the territory and go somewhere else, he would take his mask off in all of the towns. On his last week in, he would be featured in matches where, if he lost, he would voluntarily unmask. Tom and I flatly refused to do that, and we told promoters that up front."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently throwing on random episodes of NJ TV from '88. There's this tag team, got red and white uniforms, one has a hood with a Jason mask on the front and the other one has some kinda Texas Hangmen vibe with his hood. Their manager is wearing a doctor's coat and looks like he hosts some cut-rate public access sci-fi/horror show. They've got a plethora of weapons, including a rapier, a megaphone and a whip.

 

Who the hell are these ding dongs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The issue of WrestleMania VII in the LA Coliseum reared it's head again somewhere online. I may have spoken on this before here, but I actually believe that they both couldn't sell the place out, and that there were genuine security issues, relative to the Slaughter angle. I can see a guy phoning or writing in death threats after seeing someone appear to side with the enemy on television. Doesn't have to be a mark, but someone overly patriotic, screwed in the head or likely both. Whether or not they had the capacity or inclination to carry out something is another issue entirely, but I can see it happening.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The issue of WrestleMania VII in the LA Coliseum reared it's head again somewhere online. I may have spoken on this before here, but I actually believe that they both couldn't sell the place out, and that there were genuine security issues, relative to the Slaughter angle. I can see a guy phoning or writing in death threats after seeing someone appear to side with the enemy on television. Doesn't have to be a mark, but someone overly patriotic, screwed in the head or likely both. Whether or not they had the capacity or inclination to carry out something is another issue entirely, but I can see it happening.

I agree with your thoughts here in that it is very believable that security could have been a concern and it's no great feat to see death threats coming from overly patriotic folks.

 

However if there was any possible chance of them selling out or even putting a large crowd into the LA Colosseum then they would've definitely went through with holding the show and having heightened security there just for the sake of a larger gate and the tremendous ego stroke/publicity of putting thousands of asses into the Colosseum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know the mindset of Perez there mystifies me for that specific time frame.

 

But if he had done that, we would all know a helluva lot more about and talk a lot more about Al Perez today than we ever will otherwise.

 

What happened to Al during his time in WWE? I remember seeing him on a odd episode of Prime Time I think he went to a draw against either Rooster or Santana and then pretty much didnt see him. They must have had some interest in a push because he didnt lose the matches I saw but I do remember him on USWA TV back then when it must have been several years old probably footage from World Class or something as he had a title and was challenging either Kerry or Flair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The issue of WrestleMania VII in the LA Coliseum reared it's head again somewhere online. I may have spoken on this before here, but I actually believe that they both couldn't sell the place out, and that there were genuine security issues, relative to the Slaughter angle. I can see a guy phoning or writing in death threats after seeing someone appear to side with the enemy on television. Doesn't have to be a mark, but someone overly patriotic, screwed in the head or likely both. Whether or not they had the capacity or inclination to carry out something is another issue entirely, but I can see it happening.

I agree with your thoughts here in that it is very believable that security could have been a concern and it's no great feat to see death threats coming from overly patriotic folks.

 

However if there was any possible chance of them selling out or even putting a large crowd into the LA Colosseum then they would've definitely went through with holding the show and having heightened security there just for the sake of a larger gate and the tremendous ego stroke/publicity of putting thousands of asses into the Colosseum.

 

 

Bruce Prichard said they asked the gov't for extra security and brought up how they basically did it for free at the Super Bowl. WWF asked for the same thing and were denied. I'm not quite sure I believe that unless the bubble Vince and those guys lived in was fully formed at this point. Just my opinion deducted from what I heard and what I believe, but If they thought more realistically they could have just gotten as good of security from the LAPD and the State Police for a better price to them.

 

Granted, that's all on if they really did sell the Coliseum out which I don't believe they did at all which prompted the move to the Sports Arena. I don't know the history of how well they did in California in general at this time, but it's not surprising to me that they didn't do the number there that they would have gotten in 90 and 92 (inflated of course, but still big houses compared to VII).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The AAA and Taya thing... TNA wishes they could be that bad.

 

There's so many levels of slimy too. Lying to both your women's champ and her fiancé who also happens to be your world champion. Making up bullshit excuses and doubling down when called out. Making an announcement to the live crowd to bury the talent you lied to. The kicker of course is doing all that to bend over backwards for someone who already quit on your promotion just last year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...